Super Junior AU; Hanchul; The Best Days of Our Lives
Title: The Best Days of Our Lives
Chapter: 19/25
Fandom: Super Junior AU (High School)
Pairing: Hankyung/crossdressing!Heechul (main), Kangin/Eeteuk, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, bestfriends!Eunhae.
Word count: 3,250
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Coming into a strange new world can be strange enough. Unfortunately, someone’s forgotten to tell Hankyung something Very Important.
A/N: If Random Chinese Girl (who is an actual character, I swear)'s name isn't actually proper Chinese, please let me know, and I'll do nothing about it, because I can't come up with names.
EDIT: Thank you to cruel_disorder for coming up with an alternative Chinese name, which is probably what I was going for anyway. ♥
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17 / Chapter 18 / Chapter 19 / Chapter 20
Hankyung had been expecting Christmas to be a time of year that the group celebrated together, possibly with a large party at Eeteuk and Kangin’s flat. Apparently this wasn’t the cause. Siwon explained that they spent the time with their families, and so they met up with the group on Christmas eve at the flat, and handed over the small tokens they had bought then, with whatever food they’d decided to bring, and they played some music, which resulted in an argument between Heechul and Yehsung, resolved only when Siwon tried to put something else on, and the two teamed up to defeat him on it.
Eeteuk and Kangin went to Kangin’s family on Christmas day (Heechul whispered that they usually went to put flowers on Eeteuk’s parents graves in the morning, and Hankyung saw suddenly why they didn’t have a party on the day itself); Siwon’s family seemed to flock from miles around to see him; Ryeowook ended up at Yehsung’s, and although no one missed the depressed look that he held for a second, he soon seemed to cheer up when Yehsung announced that he was to have three different types of cake at their dinner. Kyuhyun’s family dinner was an associate thing, full of sniping and veiled insults, and Sungmin went along to keep him company, much to the annoyance of Kyuhyun’s father, which was the result Sungmin had been looking for all along.
Hankyung spent the morning with his parents - he spent the afternoon at Heechul’s, and he met Heechul’s parents for the very first time. The incident did not go how he had planned it to. Be smooth, he thought as he waited for someone to answer the door. Be calm and smooth and don’t be an idiot and show that you are absolutely perfect for Heechul.
A tall woman answered the door, with shoulder length black hair and a smiling face. “Hello,” she said in a bright tone of voice. “You must be Hankyung, come on in.”
“Um,” said Hankyung. “Okay, thanks,” and as he walked in, she smiled at him, took his coat, put it in a cupboard and then wandered off again, calling something to her husband. Hankyung was left standing in the hallway, wondering what the hell had just happened, and also noting that she couldn’t be anyone else’s mother other than Heechul’s.
“What are you doing?” Heechul came down the stairs, apparently having heard the bell ring. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Hankyung just standing there; Hankyung tried to not think about the fact that he could almost see up Heechul’s short denim skirt from where he was standing.
“Um,” said Hankyung, and waved the box of chocolates in the air. “I was going to give this to your mother,” he said. “But she walked away.”
“Oh, yum,” said Heechul, taking the last couple of stairs at a jump and snatching the box out of Hankyung’s hands. “Thanks.”
“They aren’t for you,” said Hankyung in an exasperated voice, and pulled them out of Heechul’s hands and held it above his head where Heechul couldn’t reach it. “They’re for your parents.”
“That’s not very fair,” said Heechul with a smirk. “Where’s my present?”
“You’re wearing it,” said Hankyung, motioning to the silver charm bracelet he’d given him the day before, which now dangled from his wrist.
“So I am,” said Heechul, grinned, and then pulled him by the wrist into the main room, where his parents were sitting. “This is Hankyung,” said Heechul loudly, to catch their attention. “He’s got chocolates for you.”
“Oh, good,” said Heechul’s mother, standing up and taking them off him, and inspecting them much like Heechul had done. She smiled at him. “Thank you, Hankyung. That was very nice of you.”
“No problem,” said Hankyung, and shuffled his feet.
“So you’re the one who’s going out with Heechul, are you?” Heechul’s father asked, a tall, thin man.
“Yes, sir,” said Hankyung nervously.
Heechul laughed softly. “I can’t believe you called my dad ‘sir’,” he muttered.
“Shut up,” muttered Hankyung.
“Why?” Heechul’s father said, in a totally confused tone of voice. “Why would you do that?”
“I hate you,” said Heechul, putting his hands on his hips, but he grinned as he said it. “You’re supposed to intimidate the boys that I bring home, not act as though you can’t understand why they would want to date me. I’ll have you know that I’m very attractive.”
“Who to?” His father asked with a grin of his own. “Blind people?”
Heechul gaped at him while Hankyung hid his laughter behind a hand. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to go,” said Heechul desperately. “You’re supposed to threaten Hankyung and tell him that if he breaks my heart you’ll break his face or something. Not make fun of me.”
“I think I prefer it this way,” said Hankyung.
“You, be quiet,” snapped Heechul.
“Dear, stop teasing Heechul,” said Heechul’s mother, coming back into the room after putting the chocolates in the fridge. “Heechul, go upstairs with Hankyung. Just make sure you aren’t too loud.”
“Okay,” trilled Heechul, and started to pull out Hankyung out of the room.
“W-what?” Hankyung stammered as he was pulled up the stairs. “What did she mean by that?”
“She meant that we have to be quiet when we have sex.” Heechul sounded completely matter-of-fact about the idea, and Hankyung felt himself blush.
“But we aren’t,” he said, or more, stuttered. “I mean, what? How can she know?”
“My mother knows everything,” said Heechul, pulling open his bedroom door. “She’s amazing like that.”
Heechul’s room was similar to how Hankyung had expected it. It was painted pink, which was to be expected, and the bed sheets and curtains and pillows were also pink, which was also to be expected. What he hadn’t expected was to see that almost every inch of the pink walls was covered with photos or posters; pictures of the group out, on holiday, celebrating birthdays and Christmases and things that Hankyung couldn’t work out, mixed in with large posters of bands and films. There was a picture of himself on the wall, one that he didn’t remember being taken - one of him down by the beach, laughing as someone off-camera splashed him with water. He ran his fingers over it, and then glanced around for somewhere to sit.
“I’m not sure I want to have sex in your room anyway,” he commented. “It would be like sleeping in Jaymin’s room or something. Plus, I’d feel as though everyone in the group was watching us.”
“Ew,” said Heechul, and flopped down onto the bed. “You didn’t have to put it like that.” Hankyung wasn’t sure to which idea Heechul was referring to, so he just shook his head and sat down on the floor.
Heechul rolled over onto his stomach and looked over the edge of the bed at him, kicking his legs into the air. “Why are you sitting on the floor?” He asked, propping his chin up on his hands.
“Because there’s no where else to sit,” said Hankyung. “You don’t even have a chair in your room.”
“I don’t need a chair because I don’t have desk,” said Heechul. “You’re the one who’s always studying. It makes you boring, you know that?”
“Sorry,” said Hankyung sarcastically. “Where am I supposed to sit?”
“On the bed,” said Heechul, and grinned wickedly at him. “With me.”
“No way,” said Hankyung, holding his hands out in front of him. “There is no way I’m getting on your bed with you. Your parents already think we’re having sex, I don’t want to confirm it or anything.”
“But we are having sex,” said Heechul, in a confused tone of voice.
“I know that,” said Hankyung. “I don’t want them to know that though.”
“They already know,” said Heechul, but then he sighed and stood up. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll come down onto the floor with you.”
The next thing Hankyung knew, Heechul was on top of him, kissing him roughly, pushing his hips down with a firm hand, the other pushing through his hair and pulling slightly, enough to force Hankyung’s head back in what should have been a painful move but instead caused Hankyung to groan and allow Heechul to do whatever it is that he wanted, putting one hand on the small of Heechul’s back and pulling him down. Heechul moaned as their hips connected, and then someone knocked at the door and came in without waiting for an answer.
“Oh,” said Heechul’s mother, staring at them. “Sorry,” she said, and then grinned at them, as Hankyung turned bright red and tried to will the floor into swallowing him whole.
Heechul sat up, still straddling Hankyung’s hips, and wiped at his mouth. “Mother,” he said, in patient tone of voice. “I am trying to seduce a poor innocent boy, and I can’t do that if you are in the room.”
“Oh,” said Heechul’s mother again. “Sorry. I’ll leave you to it.” And she stepped out of the room and closed the door firmly behind her.
“Tell dad to not interrupt either!” Heechul shouted. “Not for at least another hour!”
“Oh god,” said Hankyung and tried to bury his face in Heechul’s neck. “I can’t believe that just happened. I’m never going to be able to look your parents in the face ever again.” He made a sort of flapping movement with his hands, as if to demonstrate just how embarrassed he was.
“Mmm,” said Heechul absent-mindedly, and nipped at his neck. “Have I ever told you that you’re hot when you’re flustered?”
“Guh,” said Hankyung, as Heechul’s hands undid his belt.
*
“Oh crap,” said Siwon, when Hankyung met him at the gates on the first day back. “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.” He consulted his Chinese phrasebook again.
“You’ll be fine,” said Hankyung. “Believe me; you don’t want her to like you. Bad things only come from dating someone.”
“Oh yeah,” said Siwon absent-mindedly. “I heard about Heechul’s mother walking in on you. How was that?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” said Hankyung darkly, hitching his bag up a notch on his shoulder. “I don’t know why you’re so bothered about this.”
“Because I want to make a good impression regardless of whether I find her good looking or not,” said Siwon desperately. “She could be the ugliest thing on the planet and I’d still be freaking out, because it must be horrible to come to a foreign country and not speak the language. I want her to feel at home.”
“Coming to the city was like coming to a foreign country,” complained Hankyung, but he took pity on the older boy and patted him lightly on the arm. “Don’t worry,” he said, in what he hoped was a soothing voice. “I’m here to help you.”
“I don’t want a translator,” said Siwon, eye wide and looking completely panic-stricken. “I want to be able to speak to her myself. You’re not going to be there all the time.”
“Which class is she in?” Hankyung suddenly realised that while they’d been preparing for the girl’s arrival for quite some time he knew next to nothing about her.
“Mine,” said Siwon. “She was only put in my class because they want someone to help her and they don’t know that you speak Chinese. I can’t believe this. I don’t know any Chinese, she’s going to laugh at me and then spend the rest of the year in a complete blank because she doesn’t know anything at all.”
“Calm down,” said Hankyung, who had only seen Siwon this frustrated once before, and that time it had made sense because it had something to do with Heechul. “What’s her name, anyway?”
“Xiao Li,” said Siwon, staring at the gates as if in fear that she would walk past and he wouldn’t notice. “I thought it was quite pretty.”
“Huh,” said Hankyung, and took a step back. “You haven’t even met her yet and you already consider her name to be pretty.”
“Shut up,” said Siwon, and then grabbed hold of his arm hard as a black car pulled up in front of the gates. “I think that’s her,” he said, as Hankyung tried to pry his fingers off. “They said she was going to be getting a lift every morning, so I had to watch out for the car.”
“Who’s they?” Hankyung asked, in a disgruntled voice as Siwon refused to let go. “What is she, some sort of princess? And anyway, how are you going to miss a car like that? It’s huge and black.”
“Quiet,” said Siwon, without even looking at him. “This needs to go right.”
There was even a chauffer - he opened the door and the girl got out gracefully, one leg in front of the other, smoothed down her school uniform, which, like Heechul’s had been, was worn at the correct length, and accepted the bag held out to her. Hankyung was just about to comment that she seemed a bit stuck up when she laughed at something the man said and rolled her eyes, and she waved goodbye to him as he got back into the car.
She paused just inside the gates, a few feet away from the two boys, and held her bag in front of her legs and swung it slightly back and forward in a nervous gesture. Siwon swallowed, let go of Hankyung’s arm (it had begun to go numb), and took a few steps forward and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
“Ni hao,” he said, and did what Heechul referred to as the ‘big brother smile’. “Xiao Li?”
She stared at him, and then launched into such fluent Chinese that even Hankyung had some trouble keeping up with it. Siwon didn’t stand a chance. His smile faded; his eyes widened; and he turned to look pitifully at Hankyung.
“No,” said Hankyung in Chinese, stepping forward and hitching his bag up again. “He doesn’t speak Chinese. Well, he does, but not a lot. You’ll have to go slowly.”
“But you speak Chinese,” said Xiao Li with a confused frown. “I’ll just talk to you.”
Hankyung held up a hand. “I’m not here to talk to you,” he said with a grin. “I’m here to translate if anything gets really bad, and to provide back-up. Siyuan’s the one who’s going to be looking after you.”
“I heard my name,” said Siwon nervously, recognising the Chinese equivalent of his name in what Hankyung said.
“Hello,” she said to Siwon, in unbelievably accented Korean. “My name is Xiao Li. I’m pleased to meet you.” She tripped slightly over what she was saying, but Siwon just smiled at her widely.
“Hello,” he said, in Chinese that was at least much better than her Korean. “I’m Siyuan. I will be looking after you this week.”
She smiled shyly at him. Hankyung grinned at the sight.
“Aw,” said Heechul, appearing out of nowhere beside Hankyung and making him jump. “Isn’t that cute? She’s already in love.”
“Shut up,” said Siwon.
“I have a timetable,” said Xiao Li. “I don’t know what classroom I’m in though, and I think I might need some help during lessons. I know such little Korean, you see.”
Siwon glanced at Hankyung. Even though she had said it slowly, he was still completely lost. “She’s got a timetable but no room,” translated Hankyung. “She says she would like some help in lessons.”
“See?” Siwon’s eyes widened and he looked at Hankyung in total desperation. “She should be in your class, not mine.”
“If you keep relying on me,” said Hankyung, “then you’ll never get anywhere in life.”
“When did you get so high and mighty?” Heechul asked, sounding amused.
“Hello,” said Xiao Li to Heechul, still in that accented Korean. Hankyung half expected Heechul to make fun of it, but he didn’t. He just smiled quite nicely at her, unusual for him, and nodded. “I’m Xiao Li.” She seemed to have learnt this much Korean and then stopped.
“Ni hao,” said Heechul. This was as much Chinese as he’d learnt - he claimed that Hankyung would help him with the rest if he wanted to talk to her.
“This is Heechul,” said Siwon, making up some sort of an approximation of Heechul on the spot to make it easier for her to say.
“I’m Hangeng,” said Hankyung, and nodded his head at her.
“I am pleased to meet you,” she said to Heechul. She seemed slightly intrigued by him. “He is very girly,” she said to Hankyung in Chinese, who snorted and nodded.
“Yes,” he said. “He is.”
“I hope I am not being rude,” she said, although there was a mischievous spark in her eye.
“No,” said Hankyung. “Please feel free to insult Heechul all you like, he can’t understand you anyway.”
“That’s very generous of you,” said Xiao Li with a frown.
“What’s she saying?” Heechul started pulling on his arm, frowning in much the same way as Xiao Li was. “I don’t like it when I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“She likes you,” said Hankyung.
“You’re such a liar,” said Siwon with a grin. “She said he looked girly.”
“What makes you think that that doesn’t mean she likes him?” Hankyung hadn’t quite realised that Siwon had understood what they were saying - he hoped he hadn’t understood the rest of the conversation.
“I like her,” said Heechul, flicking his hair out of his eyes with a movement of his head. “Girly is good in my books, it’s what I’m going for.”
“Only you would be happy with that,” said Siwon, exasperated.
“Sorry,” said Xiao Li in Korean, just to get their attention, and then reverted back to Chinese. “I should like to go inside,” she said slowly to Siwon. “It is very cold.”
“Oh,” said Siwon, seeming to understand. “Okay, this way.”
He led her into the school in silence, while Hankyung and Heechul lagged along behind them, Heechul making insinuating comments that Siwon couldn’t answer because then Xiao Li would think he was talking to her and he’d have to explain, in Chinese, that he was yelling because Heechul was being an idiot and that he wasn’t angry at her. Hankyung thought the whole situation was rather hilarious and wasn’t even bothered about the way that Heechul made him carry his school bag.
“Help me,” said Siwon desperately, when they were stood outside of Siwon’s classroom, Xiao Li looking expectantly at him. “It’s so awkward and I don’t know what the hell to say. How am I supposed to get her through lessons?”
“Just try your best,” said Hankyung, as Heechul got bored and wandered up the corridor. “I’ll come along at break-time if you want and take her off your hands for five minutes, if you want.”
“She’s got to go see the administration office then,” said Siwon miserably. “I’ll have to take her there too. I just hope my Chinese teacher will be there.”
“Lunch time, then,” said Hankyung, noticing that Xiao Li was looking between them and looked as though she wanted to know what they were talking about. “Bring her down to the table; I’m sure the others will want to meet her.”
“Yeah,” said Siwon, and opened the door to the classroom and held it open for her. “Yeah, whatever.”
Really, thought Hankyung. He could almost see why Heechul teased Siwon so much. He really was very funny when he was depressed.
Chapter: 19/25
Fandom: Super Junior AU (High School)
Pairing: Hankyung/crossdressing!Heechul (main), Kangin/Eeteuk, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, bestfriends!Eunhae.
Word count: 3,250
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Coming into a strange new world can be strange enough. Unfortunately, someone’s forgotten to tell Hankyung something Very Important.
A/N: If Random Chinese Girl (who is an actual character, I swear)'s name isn't actually proper Chinese, please let me know, and I'll do nothing about it, because I can't come up with names.
EDIT: Thank you to cruel_disorder for coming up with an alternative Chinese name, which is probably what I was going for anyway. ♥
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17 / Chapter 18 / Chapter 19 / Chapter 20
Hankyung had been expecting Christmas to be a time of year that the group celebrated together, possibly with a large party at Eeteuk and Kangin’s flat. Apparently this wasn’t the cause. Siwon explained that they spent the time with their families, and so they met up with the group on Christmas eve at the flat, and handed over the small tokens they had bought then, with whatever food they’d decided to bring, and they played some music, which resulted in an argument between Heechul and Yehsung, resolved only when Siwon tried to put something else on, and the two teamed up to defeat him on it.
Eeteuk and Kangin went to Kangin’s family on Christmas day (Heechul whispered that they usually went to put flowers on Eeteuk’s parents graves in the morning, and Hankyung saw suddenly why they didn’t have a party on the day itself); Siwon’s family seemed to flock from miles around to see him; Ryeowook ended up at Yehsung’s, and although no one missed the depressed look that he held for a second, he soon seemed to cheer up when Yehsung announced that he was to have three different types of cake at their dinner. Kyuhyun’s family dinner was an associate thing, full of sniping and veiled insults, and Sungmin went along to keep him company, much to the annoyance of Kyuhyun’s father, which was the result Sungmin had been looking for all along.
Hankyung spent the morning with his parents - he spent the afternoon at Heechul’s, and he met Heechul’s parents for the very first time. The incident did not go how he had planned it to. Be smooth, he thought as he waited for someone to answer the door. Be calm and smooth and don’t be an idiot and show that you are absolutely perfect for Heechul.
A tall woman answered the door, with shoulder length black hair and a smiling face. “Hello,” she said in a bright tone of voice. “You must be Hankyung, come on in.”
“Um,” said Hankyung. “Okay, thanks,” and as he walked in, she smiled at him, took his coat, put it in a cupboard and then wandered off again, calling something to her husband. Hankyung was left standing in the hallway, wondering what the hell had just happened, and also noting that she couldn’t be anyone else’s mother other than Heechul’s.
“What are you doing?” Heechul came down the stairs, apparently having heard the bell ring. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Hankyung just standing there; Hankyung tried to not think about the fact that he could almost see up Heechul’s short denim skirt from where he was standing.
“Um,” said Hankyung, and waved the box of chocolates in the air. “I was going to give this to your mother,” he said. “But she walked away.”
“Oh, yum,” said Heechul, taking the last couple of stairs at a jump and snatching the box out of Hankyung’s hands. “Thanks.”
“They aren’t for you,” said Hankyung in an exasperated voice, and pulled them out of Heechul’s hands and held it above his head where Heechul couldn’t reach it. “They’re for your parents.”
“That’s not very fair,” said Heechul with a smirk. “Where’s my present?”
“You’re wearing it,” said Hankyung, motioning to the silver charm bracelet he’d given him the day before, which now dangled from his wrist.
“So I am,” said Heechul, grinned, and then pulled him by the wrist into the main room, where his parents were sitting. “This is Hankyung,” said Heechul loudly, to catch their attention. “He’s got chocolates for you.”
“Oh, good,” said Heechul’s mother, standing up and taking them off him, and inspecting them much like Heechul had done. She smiled at him. “Thank you, Hankyung. That was very nice of you.”
“No problem,” said Hankyung, and shuffled his feet.
“So you’re the one who’s going out with Heechul, are you?” Heechul’s father asked, a tall, thin man.
“Yes, sir,” said Hankyung nervously.
Heechul laughed softly. “I can’t believe you called my dad ‘sir’,” he muttered.
“Shut up,” muttered Hankyung.
“Why?” Heechul’s father said, in a totally confused tone of voice. “Why would you do that?”
“I hate you,” said Heechul, putting his hands on his hips, but he grinned as he said it. “You’re supposed to intimidate the boys that I bring home, not act as though you can’t understand why they would want to date me. I’ll have you know that I’m very attractive.”
“Who to?” His father asked with a grin of his own. “Blind people?”
Heechul gaped at him while Hankyung hid his laughter behind a hand. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to go,” said Heechul desperately. “You’re supposed to threaten Hankyung and tell him that if he breaks my heart you’ll break his face or something. Not make fun of me.”
“I think I prefer it this way,” said Hankyung.
“You, be quiet,” snapped Heechul.
“Dear, stop teasing Heechul,” said Heechul’s mother, coming back into the room after putting the chocolates in the fridge. “Heechul, go upstairs with Hankyung. Just make sure you aren’t too loud.”
“Okay,” trilled Heechul, and started to pull out Hankyung out of the room.
“W-what?” Hankyung stammered as he was pulled up the stairs. “What did she mean by that?”
“She meant that we have to be quiet when we have sex.” Heechul sounded completely matter-of-fact about the idea, and Hankyung felt himself blush.
“But we aren’t,” he said, or more, stuttered. “I mean, what? How can she know?”
“My mother knows everything,” said Heechul, pulling open his bedroom door. “She’s amazing like that.”
Heechul’s room was similar to how Hankyung had expected it. It was painted pink, which was to be expected, and the bed sheets and curtains and pillows were also pink, which was also to be expected. What he hadn’t expected was to see that almost every inch of the pink walls was covered with photos or posters; pictures of the group out, on holiday, celebrating birthdays and Christmases and things that Hankyung couldn’t work out, mixed in with large posters of bands and films. There was a picture of himself on the wall, one that he didn’t remember being taken - one of him down by the beach, laughing as someone off-camera splashed him with water. He ran his fingers over it, and then glanced around for somewhere to sit.
“I’m not sure I want to have sex in your room anyway,” he commented. “It would be like sleeping in Jaymin’s room or something. Plus, I’d feel as though everyone in the group was watching us.”
“Ew,” said Heechul, and flopped down onto the bed. “You didn’t have to put it like that.” Hankyung wasn’t sure to which idea Heechul was referring to, so he just shook his head and sat down on the floor.
Heechul rolled over onto his stomach and looked over the edge of the bed at him, kicking his legs into the air. “Why are you sitting on the floor?” He asked, propping his chin up on his hands.
“Because there’s no where else to sit,” said Hankyung. “You don’t even have a chair in your room.”
“I don’t need a chair because I don’t have desk,” said Heechul. “You’re the one who’s always studying. It makes you boring, you know that?”
“Sorry,” said Hankyung sarcastically. “Where am I supposed to sit?”
“On the bed,” said Heechul, and grinned wickedly at him. “With me.”
“No way,” said Hankyung, holding his hands out in front of him. “There is no way I’m getting on your bed with you. Your parents already think we’re having sex, I don’t want to confirm it or anything.”
“But we are having sex,” said Heechul, in a confused tone of voice.
“I know that,” said Hankyung. “I don’t want them to know that though.”
“They already know,” said Heechul, but then he sighed and stood up. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll come down onto the floor with you.”
The next thing Hankyung knew, Heechul was on top of him, kissing him roughly, pushing his hips down with a firm hand, the other pushing through his hair and pulling slightly, enough to force Hankyung’s head back in what should have been a painful move but instead caused Hankyung to groan and allow Heechul to do whatever it is that he wanted, putting one hand on the small of Heechul’s back and pulling him down. Heechul moaned as their hips connected, and then someone knocked at the door and came in without waiting for an answer.
“Oh,” said Heechul’s mother, staring at them. “Sorry,” she said, and then grinned at them, as Hankyung turned bright red and tried to will the floor into swallowing him whole.
Heechul sat up, still straddling Hankyung’s hips, and wiped at his mouth. “Mother,” he said, in patient tone of voice. “I am trying to seduce a poor innocent boy, and I can’t do that if you are in the room.”
“Oh,” said Heechul’s mother again. “Sorry. I’ll leave you to it.” And she stepped out of the room and closed the door firmly behind her.
“Tell dad to not interrupt either!” Heechul shouted. “Not for at least another hour!”
“Oh god,” said Hankyung and tried to bury his face in Heechul’s neck. “I can’t believe that just happened. I’m never going to be able to look your parents in the face ever again.” He made a sort of flapping movement with his hands, as if to demonstrate just how embarrassed he was.
“Mmm,” said Heechul absent-mindedly, and nipped at his neck. “Have I ever told you that you’re hot when you’re flustered?”
“Guh,” said Hankyung, as Heechul’s hands undid his belt.
*
“Oh crap,” said Siwon, when Hankyung met him at the gates on the first day back. “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.” He consulted his Chinese phrasebook again.
“You’ll be fine,” said Hankyung. “Believe me; you don’t want her to like you. Bad things only come from dating someone.”
“Oh yeah,” said Siwon absent-mindedly. “I heard about Heechul’s mother walking in on you. How was that?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” said Hankyung darkly, hitching his bag up a notch on his shoulder. “I don’t know why you’re so bothered about this.”
“Because I want to make a good impression regardless of whether I find her good looking or not,” said Siwon desperately. “She could be the ugliest thing on the planet and I’d still be freaking out, because it must be horrible to come to a foreign country and not speak the language. I want her to feel at home.”
“Coming to the city was like coming to a foreign country,” complained Hankyung, but he took pity on the older boy and patted him lightly on the arm. “Don’t worry,” he said, in what he hoped was a soothing voice. “I’m here to help you.”
“I don’t want a translator,” said Siwon, eye wide and looking completely panic-stricken. “I want to be able to speak to her myself. You’re not going to be there all the time.”
“Which class is she in?” Hankyung suddenly realised that while they’d been preparing for the girl’s arrival for quite some time he knew next to nothing about her.
“Mine,” said Siwon. “She was only put in my class because they want someone to help her and they don’t know that you speak Chinese. I can’t believe this. I don’t know any Chinese, she’s going to laugh at me and then spend the rest of the year in a complete blank because she doesn’t know anything at all.”
“Calm down,” said Hankyung, who had only seen Siwon this frustrated once before, and that time it had made sense because it had something to do with Heechul. “What’s her name, anyway?”
“Xiao Li,” said Siwon, staring at the gates as if in fear that she would walk past and he wouldn’t notice. “I thought it was quite pretty.”
“Huh,” said Hankyung, and took a step back. “You haven’t even met her yet and you already consider her name to be pretty.”
“Shut up,” said Siwon, and then grabbed hold of his arm hard as a black car pulled up in front of the gates. “I think that’s her,” he said, as Hankyung tried to pry his fingers off. “They said she was going to be getting a lift every morning, so I had to watch out for the car.”
“Who’s they?” Hankyung asked, in a disgruntled voice as Siwon refused to let go. “What is she, some sort of princess? And anyway, how are you going to miss a car like that? It’s huge and black.”
“Quiet,” said Siwon, without even looking at him. “This needs to go right.”
There was even a chauffer - he opened the door and the girl got out gracefully, one leg in front of the other, smoothed down her school uniform, which, like Heechul’s had been, was worn at the correct length, and accepted the bag held out to her. Hankyung was just about to comment that she seemed a bit stuck up when she laughed at something the man said and rolled her eyes, and she waved goodbye to him as he got back into the car.
She paused just inside the gates, a few feet away from the two boys, and held her bag in front of her legs and swung it slightly back and forward in a nervous gesture. Siwon swallowed, let go of Hankyung’s arm (it had begun to go numb), and took a few steps forward and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
“Ni hao,” he said, and did what Heechul referred to as the ‘big brother smile’. “Xiao Li?”
She stared at him, and then launched into such fluent Chinese that even Hankyung had some trouble keeping up with it. Siwon didn’t stand a chance. His smile faded; his eyes widened; and he turned to look pitifully at Hankyung.
“No,” said Hankyung in Chinese, stepping forward and hitching his bag up again. “He doesn’t speak Chinese. Well, he does, but not a lot. You’ll have to go slowly.”
“But you speak Chinese,” said Xiao Li with a confused frown. “I’ll just talk to you.”
Hankyung held up a hand. “I’m not here to talk to you,” he said with a grin. “I’m here to translate if anything gets really bad, and to provide back-up. Siyuan’s the one who’s going to be looking after you.”
“I heard my name,” said Siwon nervously, recognising the Chinese equivalent of his name in what Hankyung said.
“Hello,” she said to Siwon, in unbelievably accented Korean. “My name is Xiao Li. I’m pleased to meet you.” She tripped slightly over what she was saying, but Siwon just smiled at her widely.
“Hello,” he said, in Chinese that was at least much better than her Korean. “I’m Siyuan. I will be looking after you this week.”
She smiled shyly at him. Hankyung grinned at the sight.
“Aw,” said Heechul, appearing out of nowhere beside Hankyung and making him jump. “Isn’t that cute? She’s already in love.”
“Shut up,” said Siwon.
“I have a timetable,” said Xiao Li. “I don’t know what classroom I’m in though, and I think I might need some help during lessons. I know such little Korean, you see.”
Siwon glanced at Hankyung. Even though she had said it slowly, he was still completely lost. “She’s got a timetable but no room,” translated Hankyung. “She says she would like some help in lessons.”
“See?” Siwon’s eyes widened and he looked at Hankyung in total desperation. “She should be in your class, not mine.”
“If you keep relying on me,” said Hankyung, “then you’ll never get anywhere in life.”
“When did you get so high and mighty?” Heechul asked, sounding amused.
“Hello,” said Xiao Li to Heechul, still in that accented Korean. Hankyung half expected Heechul to make fun of it, but he didn’t. He just smiled quite nicely at her, unusual for him, and nodded. “I’m Xiao Li.” She seemed to have learnt this much Korean and then stopped.
“Ni hao,” said Heechul. This was as much Chinese as he’d learnt - he claimed that Hankyung would help him with the rest if he wanted to talk to her.
“This is Heechul,” said Siwon, making up some sort of an approximation of Heechul on the spot to make it easier for her to say.
“I’m Hangeng,” said Hankyung, and nodded his head at her.
“I am pleased to meet you,” she said to Heechul. She seemed slightly intrigued by him. “He is very girly,” she said to Hankyung in Chinese, who snorted and nodded.
“Yes,” he said. “He is.”
“I hope I am not being rude,” she said, although there was a mischievous spark in her eye.
“No,” said Hankyung. “Please feel free to insult Heechul all you like, he can’t understand you anyway.”
“That’s very generous of you,” said Xiao Li with a frown.
“What’s she saying?” Heechul started pulling on his arm, frowning in much the same way as Xiao Li was. “I don’t like it when I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“She likes you,” said Hankyung.
“You’re such a liar,” said Siwon with a grin. “She said he looked girly.”
“What makes you think that that doesn’t mean she likes him?” Hankyung hadn’t quite realised that Siwon had understood what they were saying - he hoped he hadn’t understood the rest of the conversation.
“I like her,” said Heechul, flicking his hair out of his eyes with a movement of his head. “Girly is good in my books, it’s what I’m going for.”
“Only you would be happy with that,” said Siwon, exasperated.
“Sorry,” said Xiao Li in Korean, just to get their attention, and then reverted back to Chinese. “I should like to go inside,” she said slowly to Siwon. “It is very cold.”
“Oh,” said Siwon, seeming to understand. “Okay, this way.”
He led her into the school in silence, while Hankyung and Heechul lagged along behind them, Heechul making insinuating comments that Siwon couldn’t answer because then Xiao Li would think he was talking to her and he’d have to explain, in Chinese, that he was yelling because Heechul was being an idiot and that he wasn’t angry at her. Hankyung thought the whole situation was rather hilarious and wasn’t even bothered about the way that Heechul made him carry his school bag.
“Help me,” said Siwon desperately, when they were stood outside of Siwon’s classroom, Xiao Li looking expectantly at him. “It’s so awkward and I don’t know what the hell to say. How am I supposed to get her through lessons?”
“Just try your best,” said Hankyung, as Heechul got bored and wandered up the corridor. “I’ll come along at break-time if you want and take her off your hands for five minutes, if you want.”
“She’s got to go see the administration office then,” said Siwon miserably. “I’ll have to take her there too. I just hope my Chinese teacher will be there.”
“Lunch time, then,” said Hankyung, noticing that Xiao Li was looking between them and looked as though she wanted to know what they were talking about. “Bring her down to the table; I’m sure the others will want to meet her.”
“Yeah,” said Siwon, and opened the door to the classroom and held it open for her. “Yeah, whatever.”
Really, thought Hankyung. He could almost see why Heechul teased Siwon so much. He really was very funny when he was depressed.