[Kpop] Ice Cream Puppy Love

[fivethreerin]

Ice Cream Puppy Love
Hyoyeon / Hyukjae
3,068 words, G
Summary: She remembers that one summer very long ago, Hyukjae offered to be the bodyguard for Hyoyeon’s heart.
A/N: I wrote this for the kpop_het summer challenge. and hated it. H-A-T-E-D it. i didn't do the two of them justice at all. then i realised i hadn't put it here, and after reading i was like 'What the hell', so here it is. Many thanks to K for the beta.



Hyoyeon loved dancing with the guys- they learned all the fun stuff (not just the almost-posing that the girls did but popping and jazz basics and everything). Hyoyeon liked hanging out with them too- even though she was several years younger than them, they all treated her like their little mascot, and she especially liked Hyukjae-oppa, who was easily one of the best dancers in the whole company.

“Don’t just hang out with the boys, Hyoyeon ah,” one of the unnis warned once when they were making cucumber masks for each other one night and she had been trying to steal a few slices. Hyoyeon figured she had to be saying that because she took classes with the boys. “You’ll get too chummy with them and they’ll see you just as their little brother, and you’ll never get a boyfriend that way!”

Hyoyeon hadn’t realized what that meant until she developed a crush on one of the older boys. He wasn’t there before she went to China, and when she got back she was floored by this pale skinned, tall boy with floppy blonde hair. She finally picked up the courage to confess her feelings to Kyungsam at the corridor of the neoraebang one day in late June, and all she got was stunned silence.

“Hyoyeon-ah,” Kyungsam said gently. “I just… you’re like my little sister. Almost my little brother,” he said, with a half-smile. “I’m sorry, I don’t think of you that way.”

He gave her arm a squeeze before walking back to the room where one of the boys was belting out an old trot song, and Hyoyeon had been so focused on trying not to cry that she did not notice Hyukjae and Junsu watching, returning from a trip to the vending machines.

“Hey Hyoyeon,” Junsu called out as she picked up her bag. “Hyukjae and I, we’re going to go eat. You wanna come?”

Hyoyeon grinned and nodded. “Can we ask Sooyoung?”

“Of course, yeah,” Junsu grinned. “Meet us at the front in fifteen minutes.”

Hyoyeon nodded. She headed down the opposite corridor in search of Sooyoung, who was having a vocal class with some other girls.

“… and she just suddenly tells me that she likes me!”

“Kim Hyoyeon? Wow boy, you’re kind of unlucky. She’s… really, well, tomboyish. Remember that time she carried that big box of posters songsaengnim got us to bring to the store room?”

“Yea, I remember that! She’s got muscles, that girl.”

“She’s not like a girl at all. Bet you were wishing for Jessica, or even the other one, Yuri, right?”

Hyoyeon froze in her footsteps, recognizing the voices. She was pondering whether to continue walking to the classroom or head backwards and find a place to sulk and cry (the second option was definitely better), when she heard them walk towards her, and she panicked, wondering what to do.

She made to run back but it was too late- the boys had turned out of their corner and now they were looking at each other, face to face. Or, well, his face to the top of her head because she was looking down at the ground.

“Oh, Hyoyeon-ah,” Kyungsam said. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she whispered, willing herself not to cry. “I… I’ll just go to…”

“Hyoyeon-ah, have you found Soo…”

She turned around, startled to see that Hyukjae was walking towards her. He frowned, seeing the situation in front of them. “Hyung,” he smiled. “You’ve worked hard today,” he bowed.

“You’ve worked hard too,” the two boys nodded, bowing before making a speedy escape, guessing that their conversation had been overheard by Hyoyeon.

“Hey,” Hyukjae whispered, walking up to her and trying to look at her face, but she kept her face down. “Are you okay?”

Hyoyeon nodded.

“Do you still want to have dinner? We won’t go if you’re… not feeling well,” he said. “I’ll… I’ll walk you home.”

“It’s okay,” she sniffled, but shook her head, and the next minute she was bawling. Hyukjae gasped. He looked around quickly to see that no one was looking before pulling Hyoyeon with him into the empty stairwell.

He waited patiently for her to stop crying- after sending Junsu a quick message telling him the situation- and she finally looked up, eyes all puffy and red and Hyukjae couldn’t help but smile.

She looked cute.

“Hey,” he said, when she turned away, thinking that he was laughing at him. “Hey, I’m sorry. We’re… boys are kind of bad at this, aren’t we?” he stammered, searching through his bag and surfacing with a pack of tissue advertising a nail parlor. “I’m sorry. We’re jerks.”

“Oppa, you’re not a jerk,” Hyoyeon hiccupped, taking the tissue Hyukjae offered and dabbing her eyes with it.

Hyukjae was still standing, and she was sitting on the top step of the flight of stairs. After a moment of deliberation, he sighed and sat down next to her but kept a safe distance between the two of them. Crying women, he definitely did not know how to handle. “Are… are you hungry? We could go get McDonalds.”

Hyoyeon turned to him, still holding the tissue at her nose. “Will you buy me French fries?”

Hyukjae winced, but, “Yea,” he nodded. “Yea. Whatever you want.” The ’as long as you stop crying’, was unspoken, but Hyoyeon got it anyway.

Hyoyeon ate a cheeseburger, a pack of large fries and finished up with an ice cream sundae, and nobody would believe it after that when she told them that Hyukjae-oppa had treated her to dinner. Especially not Junsu, even though he knew Hyukjae brought Hyoyeon to McDonalds.

“Hyoyeon-ah,” Hyukjae said softly.

“Hmm?” she looked up, and there was an ice cream smudge on her lip. Hyukjae laughed and handed her a napkin.

“I’ll be your personal bodyguard,” Hyukjae grinned. “What do you say?”

“My personal bodyguard?” Hyoyeon frowned, thinking for a moment. “Ah,” she turned to him. “About Kyungsam-oppa?”

“I don’t know what happened between you and hyung,” he said, looking away for a moment before turning back to her. “But he shouldn’t have made you cry, no matter… Anyway, I’ll take care of keeping him away from you. And because I’m so nice, I’ll do it for free!”

“I don’t need a bodyguard,” Hyoyeon laughed as she flexed her biceps, showing nonexistent muscles.

“How long does it take for a girl to get over something like that anyway,” Hyukjae thought out loud and Hyoyeon almost hit him, if not for the serious look on his face as he took a sip of cola, looking as though he was really contemplating that problem.

“How long will it take for you to get over a girl?” Hyoyeon asked.

Hyukjae grimaced. “Ah. I see. How about… for the summer?”

“The summer?”

“Yea, at the end of this summer, you’ll totally be over him,” Hyukjae promised. “Then I’ll retire from my bodyguard duties.”

Hyoyeon laughed. This was ridiculous. She didn’t need a bodyguard but… it was really nice. The thought that someone cared about her that much, and saw that she was just a girl with a silly crush that got, well, crushed. “But what if he makes me cry again?” she whispered.

Hyukjae thought about it for a moment, before looking at Hyoyeon’s half-finished ice cream sundae. “I’ll buy you ice cream if he ever makes you cry again.”

“Promise?” Hyoyeon brightened, sitting up and grinning at Hyukjae.

“Yea,” he laughed. “But just for this summer!”

Hyoyeon only had to think of it for two seconds, “Deal,” she held her hand out, and Hyukjae shook it.

“You’re a girl too, you know,” Hyukjae said softly, as Hyoyeon returned to her ice cream.

Hyukjae laughed out loud- really laughed out loud over the phone, and Hyoyeon grinned.

“That was great, Hyo,” he laughed. “Seriously. Do it next week. I bet even songsaengnim will have nothing to say to such a good joke.”

Hyoyeon grinned, propping her feet up on her giant stuffed cat as she closed her eyes.

“Hey, are you tired? You should go to sleep.”

“I’m not tired!” Hyoyeon jumped up. “I was… just thinking about this afternoon. It’s really nice of, of Sungmin-oppa, and Yunho-oppa and Junsu-oppa and Donghae-oppa to want to hang out with me too.”

Hyukjae snorted. “They just wanted female companionship.”

“What would they want that?” Hyoyeon frowned.

“Why do you want male companionship then?” Hyukjae said. “I heard the girls said they were going out shopping and all. You never want to go with them.”

Hyoyeon frowned, picking at the fluff on her old school tee-shirt that served as her pajamas. “I don’t know. After Kyungsam-oppa… they seemed to always think I need to be consoled. Or they try really hard not to talk about him but I see it in their eyes. I mean… they thought I’d be more upset about what happened.”

Hyukjae laughed out loud again. “I don’t know. Shouldn’t girls get upset about all that and mope? I know my sister definitely does.”

Hyoyeon frowned. “So I’m kind of weird?” she sighed, shaking her head.

“No,” Hyukjae’s voice was slightly amused, but it was warm and gentle and made Hyoyeon feel a little dizzy. “You’re just special. Special Hyoyeon. M… Our, special Hyoyeon.”

She giggled and flopped back down onto the bed. “Thank you, oppa.”

“Are you touched? Are you crying?” he teased.

“You’ll have to buy me ice cream if I am!” Hyoyeon cried out, kicking her stuffed cat off in excitement and Hyukjae started laughing again.

Hyoyeon did end up spending a lot of time with Hyukjae that summer. They went out for meals after practice, hung out with the rest of Hyukjae’s friends (Sungmin, Yunho, Junsu and Donghae) in the studios after classes eating snacks with Yoona and Sooyoung.

She didn’t bump into Kyungsam much for the rest of the summer, but if she did there was always someone with her, be it Sooyoung, Taeyeon-unni, or sometimes, Hyukjae.

At the end of summer, some of the kids decided to sneak out and head off to the beach. It was a big thing- everyone had to create alibis for the managers. (Going to the countryside to visit relatives, school activities, and one boy even had his sister make up a story for him). Sooyoung decided they had to go with them, and Hyoyeon couldn’t do much but follow.

“Hey, don’t be so depressed, okay?” Sooyoung sighed, as they got on the train. They were going to meet there- going separately so as to not arouse suspicion. “He’s a jerk.”

“He isn’t a jerk,” Hyoyeon said sadly.

Sooyoung sighed. “If that person can’t see how pretty you are he’s a jerk. And that thing where they talked about you? They’re both jerks.”

“I’m Princess Fiona,” she sighed. “Even my younger brother calls me a pig.”

“All younger brothers are built to torment their sisters.” Sooyoung paused. “And,” she said, slowly and carefully. “At least Princess Fiona meets Shrek in the end.”

Hyoyeon punched her arm.

Some of the boys were already at the train station waiting- Hyoyeon grinned when she saw Hyukjae and Junsu making faces at each other with Sungmin and Yunho laughing at them. She ran up to them, grinning and grabbed Hyukjae’s backpack, causing the older boy to flail backwards.

“Hi!” she grinned.

“Oh, Hyoyeon-ah! And Sooyoung,” Yunho grinned. “What stories did you make up?”

“I’m helping my mom spring clean,” Sooyoung grinned.

“Lame,” Sungmin laughed, as the boys turned to Hyoyeon expectantly.

“I’m visiting my cousin’s new baby,” Hyoyeon grinned.

“Really?” Junsu asked.

Hyoyeon pulled out her cellphone and starting showing pictures of her baby niece, as some other kids arrived. To Sooyoung and Hyoyeon’s dismay, Kyungsam was one of the boys in the group.

Soon there were about fifteen of them all going to the bus station, and Hyoyeon found herself with Sooyoung, Hyukjae and Junsu, gossiping about the vocal teacher that everyone was terrified of but sang like an angel.

Hyukjae was taking her bodyguard role seriously, Hyoyeon thought, when she realized that Hyukjae was making sure the two of them stood as far away from each other as possible. It was really nice of him, she thought. She had to thank him for it later. Things were still awkward between the two of them.

When they got off the ferry and reached the beach, it was almost noon. The girls had brought lunch- kimbap rolls and jeon; but they supplemented the meal with ramyeun from the convenience store. After lunch and a short break the boys all took off running to the beach. Someone brought out a soccer ball, and soon a game was in progress. Soon Hyoyeon was the only girl running all the guys, crying out fouls and kicking up sand to distract the players.

It was all fun until she got into a rough tackle with Kyungsam and fell headfirst into the sand.

“Hyoyeon!” she heard someone call out, and the next moment she was flipped around. As she groggily wondered who could be that strong to flip her around just like that, she found herself starring at the face of Hyukjae, who was shoving off Kyungsam angrily.

“She’s a girl, you idiot! How could you just crash into her like that!” he cried out.

Everyone on the beach froze, and Hyoyeon flushed a deep red. “Oppa, I’m okay, see?” she sat up and waved both arms up in the air.

“No, it isn’t,” Hyukjae frowned, getting up and brushing the sand off his knees. “It’s not okay, okay Hyoyeon?” he said, before marching off towards the shelters.

Hyoyeon gave everyone a slightly worried glance before running off after him.

“Oppa, why are you mad?” she asked once she finally caught up with him.

“And look at you!” he turned around, and frowned. “I’m walking twice as fast as you. You shouldn’t catch up. You don’t have to. You’re a girl!”

“But I’m fine, oppa,” Hyoyeon frowned. “I really am. I mean, I’m mostly like a guy anyways, bumbling around and everything and…”

Hyukjae frowned, taking her arms and shaking his head. “Hyoyeon-ah,” he said softly. “You shouldn’t ever think like that. You dance well but the fact of the matter is you’ve got less stamina than us because you’re a girl. You’re always pushing yourself, and one day that’s going to hurt you, and it has, and that’s just stupid because he doesn’t deserve you anyway if he’s so stupid.”

Hyoyeon frowned. “How much did you hear that day, oppa? When I bumped into Kyungsam-oppa, and you offered to be my bodyguard?”

Hyukjae let go of Hyoyeon a moment, and turned away. “Well, there was that day, at the… neoraebang, but… we didn’t mean to overhear it!!” he said quickly once Hyoyeon started to moan and squatted down on the ground, hiding her face in her hands. He squatted down in front of her immediately. “I mean,” he said, awkwardly putting his hands on his knees. “I’m sorry?” he finished weakly.

“You don’t have to be sorry,” she said, voice muffled behind her hands. “I’m just really embarrassed.”

He laughed. “I’ll buy you an ice cream,” he offered.

“I’m not crying now,” she peeped out from behind her hands.

“No you’re not. But I’ve got to buy you something so that everyone will actually believe I bought you McDonalds,” he rolled his eyes, and after a moment, said, “Am I really that stingy?”

Hyoyeon laughed. “Yes oppa, you really are.”

When they walked back to the group, Hyoyeon was eating a large chocolate ice cream cone and tucked in her bag was a Hello Kitty charm that Hyukjae had bought for her because he said he hoped she would be like Hello Kitty- without a mouth so she would not talk that much.

They stayed to watch the fireworks display and raced back to the train station immediately after to make sure everyone could catch the last trains to go home. Hyoyeon was staying with her relatives (it was true, that part of her lie) in Incheon, but she followed the boys, who were taking the same train back to the dormitory to their transfer platform, after waving goodbye to Sooyoung and the others.

When the train reached the stop, Hyoyeon said goodbye to the boys, waving enthusiastically and promising to see them next Monday morning, bright and early for class. Hyukjae stepped in last, and as the other boys laughed and said goodbye Hyukjae had a very serious expression on his face, and Hyoyeon stopped waving for a moment to say, “Oppa, are you all right?”

Then the doors started to close, and the next minute Hyukjae was standing in front of her, and the train carrying the boys had trudged away.

“Oppa?” Hyoyeon whispered.

“Hyoyeon-ah,” Hyukjae stammered. “I… I…”

She frowned. “Is this about the ice cream? Because I’m not going to pay you back you know. You never treat anyone, it’s ridiculous. I know I didn’t cry, but he did crash into me and…”

Hyukjae only looked down at his feet, and Hyoyeon turned to check when the next train was coming. She turned around, and suddenly Hyukjae was so close, and they bumped noses and recoiled backwards from the shock.

“Oppa!”

“Sorry, sorry!” he exclaimed. It took them both a moment to calm down, Hyoyeon the bridge of her nose with a sigh, and he said, “Hyoyeon-ah.”

She looked up at him. His knuckles were turning white from gripping onto his bag strap, and he looked like he was breaking out into a cold sweat. “Yes, oppa?”

“I’ll… I’ll always be your bodyguard, okay?” Hyukjae said. “I may not be the best person for the job, but I’ll always try my best. So if you’ve got any problems… I’ll always be here to solve it for you.”

Hyoyeon grinned, and leaned close to him, whispering into his ear, “So does this mean I’ll get ice cream, even after this summer?”

Hyukjae laughed, and Hyoyeon could see his entire body relax as he leaned forward and whispered in her ear too, “Only if you cry.”

Many years later, Hyukjae would buy ice cream for Hyoyeon on the day she turned on her television and watched a variety program where he bungee-jumped off a cliff in Australia screaming, “Hyoyeon, saranghae!”

And of course, those were entirely happy tears.