Super Junior {bandfic ; The Art Of Daring (2/4)}
Title: The Art Of Daring ("Faint heart never won fair lady and shit.") (2/4)
Fandom: Super Junior; DBSK, SHINee (AU, !girls)
Pairing: Hankyung/Heechul, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, Kibum/Donghae, Kangin/Eeteuk, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Eunhyuk/Junsu, mentioned Jonghyun/Key
Word count: 6,261
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Hankyung watched as Heechul shifted and then crossed one leg over the other, skirt slipping down in such a way to be almost indecent, the skin of her thigh pale and silky looking. "Oh," she said.
A/N: Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Apparently something was tripped in my brain and I can't quite stop? crying
The Art Of Daring (2/4)
("Faint heart never won fair lady and shit.")
Hankyung has always known that Heechul is a slut. It's obvious just looking at her - she exudes confidence and coupled with skirts so short that they make mini-skirts look prudish and tops that are so low cut it wouldn't be out of place to say they have more of a stomach-line rather than a neckline, she's nothing short of stunning. When Hankyung first met Heechul, she wished that she was able to get away with clothes like that - Hankyung needed that confidence in this strange, new country where she didn't speak the language - but she knew that she would never be able to wear them the same way as Heechul. On Hankyung, that skirt would have pulled too tight at the hips, that top would have been too loose at the chest, those shoes would have caused her to stumble every five steps. Hankyung is only graceful when she's dancing, awkward in the way she moves and speaks whenever she's not. Hankyung envied Heechul the way she moved, the way that with just the right tilt of her hips, Heechul could have every man in the room hanging onto her every word - Hankyung envied the way Heechul could always have the guy that she wanted.
Later that changed - Hankyung wished that it wasn't quite so easy for Heechul to get any guy that she wanted. Hankyung watched as the only guy that she ever liked in Korea fell to Heechul, be drawn in by her spell and then eventually he was thrown away, like all guys that Heechul catches in her web. He never came around after that, never spoke to Hankyung again. Hankyung never told Heechul that she liked him, possibly Heechul really didn't know, but Hankyung doesn't know about whether Heechul would have even cared. Heechul is described as a slut and a whore (and it certainly doesn't stop her from being popular even amongst the girls) but Heechul doesn't take boys seriously. For Heechul, they are there just for some fun before she moves onto more interesting things, bigger things. Hankyung has wondered more than once if Heechul doesn't find the same enjoyment in shopping. Hankyung envied Heechul her detachment.
Now she envies all the boys that Heechul has ever had. The taste of her skin at the curve of her shoulder; the way her back arches; the feel of the skin at her thigh; they have had all that, something Hankyung will never experience. (She fell somewhere along the line, straight into the invisible web, but Heechul has her back turned onto other more interesting prey and hasn't noticed that yet.)
Heechul stormed into the classroom looking so angry that a couple of girls who had been standing near the board moved off near the window, eyeing her warily. She stamped straight up to where Hankyung was sitting at her desk, reading something, and wrenched Hankyung's headphones from her ears. Hankyung yelped in pain and shock and dropped her book on the floor with a bang. She scowled at Heechul and then leant down to pick it up - Heechul pushed her straight from her chair.
"You stupid fucking bitch!" shrieked Heechul, and kicked Hankyung in the leg. Hankyung yelled out in pain and rolled away and scrambled to her feet. "You stupid fucking bitch!"
"What?" yelled Hankyung, trying to be heard over Heechul's screaming.
"He bought me a fucking teddy bear! Why did you tell him I would like that?" Heechul shoved her in the shoulder. "It was a horrible shade of pale pink, it's disgusting and I know you told him to buy it for me!"
"I thought you would like it!" said Hankyung, injecting just the right amount of indignation into her voice. It was true that she'd told Siwon that Heechul would like the bear, but she had known that Heechul would actually hate the thing. She had been battling the guilt against sabotaging Siwon ever since the previous Saturday when she had helped picked it out; she knew that she didn't have a chance and knew that with the right approach, Siwon would be in with a good chance, but Hankyung was perfectly capable of doing the wrong thing, she wasn't that moral and saintly - it was only the knowledge of the guilt that would always crop up afterwards that ever stopped her.
"You know perfectly well I wouldn't like it," said Heechul, sounding like she was actually seriously annoyed. "I had to carry it all the way to school before I could give it to Sungmin - you know she loves girly shit like that."
"He did pay quite a bit of money for that," said Hankyung ruefully - the guilt was beginning to kick in with avengence.
"Well he should have kept it," said Heechul, sitting down in her seat and pulling her make-up bag from her bag. She pulled her compact mirror out, lay it on the table in front of her and began to expertly line her eyes with yet more black. "If you'd told him that I'd hate it in the first place, then this wouldn't be a problem, would it?"
"So he really doesn't have a chance?"
"Believe me," said Heechul, glancing at Hankyung out of the corner of her eye, tongue sticking out of her mouth slightly from concentration. "Goody two-shoes Choi Siwon is so not my type."
Hankyung watched as Heechul shifted and then crossed one leg over the other, skirt slipping down in such a way to be almost indecent, the skin of her thigh pale and silky looking. "Oh," she said.
"Well," said Donghae to her reflection in the mirror in the bathroom. Quite honestly, she didn't even recognise herself. For a girl that never wore make-up and only ever pulled her hair back with a tie, she had to admit that she probably did scrub up well; it also probably helped having friends like Heechul and Sungmin. She had picked up quite a few tips over the years, and apparently applying eyeliner was one of them.
Carefully she undid the top button on her shirt, looked carefully in the mirror at herself, and then undid the next one, just to be sure. Her skirt was hitched up until it was mid-thigh; at least twice the length of Heechul's, probably three times the length of Sungmin's. Her black Converse, she could do nothing about. Ideally, she would have had a pair of black stilettos, or at least something with a heel, but Donghae had never seen the need before, didn't even own a pair, and probably couldn't walk in them besides. Desperate as she was to complete this bet, she wasn't willing to put her life in danger.
Although she left the bathroom on the second floor carefully, it clearly wasn't carefully enough because suddenly Sungmin was in front of her, clutching her books to her chest and staring in shock. "Donghae?" she asked, eyeing Donghae up and down. "Is that you?"
"Eh," said Donghae.
"Oh my god," said Sungmin. "Wow, Hae, I didn't know you had it in you. You look - well, you just look plain hot. What did you do to your hair? It looks so good!"
"Eh," said Donghae again. "I'm not sure, I think it was blow dry or something?"
Sungmin paused a little. "You've never blown dried your hair before?" she asked, rather incredulously.
"Usually I just leave it," said Donghae. In Donghae's world, showers were short and hair could dry itself - she had more important things to do, more interesting things to do. He had better appreciate this, she thought.
"Stop just leaving it," said Sungmin. "God, Hae, if I had hair that could look like that, I'd spend hours on it."
"I thought you already did," said Donghae, slightly confused. Sungmin ignored her.
"So, what is this in aid of?" she asked, linking her arm through Donghae's as they began their walk down to their Chemistry class. "Are you meeting someone after school?"
"No," said Donghae, who knew exactly what Sungmin's idea of 'meeting someone after school' entailed.
"Oh," said Sungmin. "Are you trying to impress one of the guys?"
"No," repeated Donghae. Sungmin suddenly shrieked and took hold of her arm tightly. The bell rang overhead, but Sungmin paid it no heed.
"Are you trying to impress one of the girls?" she asked, voice slightly high. Donghae glanced at her and put that down to sheer excitement.
"No," said Donghae.
"Oh," said Sungmin. "What the hell? Then why are you so dressed up?"
Donghae shrugged. "Just fancied it," she lied. "It's nice to have a change."
"Hae, you are so weird," said Sungmin affectionately, and then they were walking down the corridor that led to the classroom and Kibum was standing outside, a clipboard in his hands and his foot tapping impatiently on the ground.
"Lee Sungmin," he called, voice annoyed. "You're late. Again."
"You know me, Sir," said Sungmin with a slight giggle. "I always like to make an entrance."
Kibum made a disbelieving sound that also sounded amused. "You haven't seen Kim Heechul or Lee Donghae, have you? They're missing too."
"Um," said Donghae, and waved. Kibum did a double take which had Sungmin muffling laughter in her sleeve.
"Donghae-shi?" Kibum's voice was slightly hoarse. "What happened to - what."
"She looks good, right?" trilled Sungmin, completely unaware of any ill intentions on Donghae's behalf - or the increasingly uncomfortable look on Kibum's face. Seeing the way his eyes were drawn to the skin shown by her open buttons, Donghae grinned a little and pushed her shoulders back a little, and could have sworn she saw sweat break out on Kibum's face. With a laugh, she strolled into the classroom, took her seat, and took out her book. It was only at that point that Eunhyuk realised who she was, and immediately accosted her with questions. Mainly as to where she had got the make-up, she needed to try that out on Junsu.
When Kibum came into the room, Donghae stretched upwards, her shirt stretched dangerously over her chest. Kibum, she noticed with some glee, avoided looking at her for the rest of the lesson. Gleeful for now, but sooner or later, he would look.
And Donghae would be waiting.
Ryeowook, Yehsung knew, had Music last period on a Tuesday. Yehsung knew this because Jaejoong knew a boy named Yoochun from the boy's sector who in turn knew a boy called Jonghyun who in turn was going out with a girl called Key who's mother worked in the administration of the two schools, and she had gotten Yehsung a copy of Ryeowook's schedule, no questions asked. Yehsung, Yehsung knew, had a free period on a Tuesday last lesson (and Yehsung knew this because - well, it was Yehsung's own schedule.)
What this meant was that instead of going home with Jaejoong like she usually did, Yehsung hovered in the library pretending to write an essay whenever anyone came near and then pulling another piece of blank paper back on top whenever they went away. Said piece of blank paper was covered in hearts and stars and Ryeowook's intials - and then Yehsung's initials right next to them and with a red pen that she'd found somewhere a year or so back but had never used before, she had drawn a red line between them, signifing the red thread of soulmates. Underneath all this, she had written, "I AM NOT A STALKER OKAY." It's what she got for doodling when she got bored in Maths class - she should never have been caught by Jaejoong.
At five minutes to the bell, Yehsung quickly gathered up all of her things, bundled them into her bag and pulled her music composition out of her side pocket. Then she practically ran to the music rooms, slowing down only when she was in the right corridor, and then the bell rang, and Ryeowook's class came out of the classroom. There was only three of them; Kyuhyun was chatting to Zhou Mi, who was answering back in Chinese, and Ryeowook was walking slightly behind them, engrossed in a piece of music that she held in her hands. Therefore, it shouldn't have been hard for Yehsung to knock her with her shoulders and cause the contents of her hands to go flying everywhere. As it was, she was so nervous that she tripped slightly, fell into Ryeowook, and dropped the papers in her own hands before she fell onto her front.
"Crap," she muttered, and flipped onto her back and sat up to see Ryeowook staring at her with some shock, eyes wide. She looked concerned. Yehsung tried to not go giddy, but it was kind of hard.
"Are you okay?" asked Ryeowook, and Yehsung's head went very fuzzy.
"Um," she said, and then mentally hit herself for acting like such a spazz. "Yeah, I'm fine, I - do this a lot."
"That must hurt," said Ryeowook sympathetically, and while Yehsung hauled herself to her feet, Ryeowook went behind her and began to pick up the papers she had dropped. When Yehsung turned around, Ryeowook held her sheets out to her.
"Oh," said Yehsung, and grinned and took them back. For a second, her fingers were over Ryeowook's hands - Ryeowook blushed, Yehsung's heart jumped into her throat - and then Yehsung took a step back. "Thanks," she said.
"No problem," said Ryeowook, looking towards the floor for a second. There was a pause and then she looked back up. "Do you - play an instrument?"
"Mostly guitar," said Yehsung. "But I can also play a little piano. That's what the composition is for."
"So you wrote that?" asked Ryeowook, and Yehsung's mind went "akjsdklas" over how much interest she was showing. "Is it for a homework assignment or do you just like writing music?"
"For homework," said Yehsung. "I'm not - really that good. I'm better at singing, to be honest."
"You were in the show last year," said Ryeowook softly, as if she had just been reminded. "I heard you sing. Your voice - I really loved it."
Yehsung blinked and then her mind shuddered to a halt. "R-really?"
"Yeah," said Ryeowook, and she smiled at Yehsung, a true smile, that had Yehsung's heart trying to bounce out of her chest. There was something in Ryeowook's eyes, though, that made Yehsung pause - mischief? She couldn't work it out. "I'd love to hear it again some day."
"Ma - maybe you will," said Yehsung, stammering a little even as she tried to be flirty. Ryeowook's smile grew wider and then she waved goodbye and ran down the corridor, and Yehsung could hear her calling of Kyuhyun down the stairs.
"Oh my god," said Yehsung, banging her head off a near-by wall and ignoring the strange look she recieved from a first year. "Could I sound like more of a moron?"
Kyuhyun was fairly certain that being here had nothing to do with her. She certainly didn't remember agreeing to any of this. If it was up to Kyuhyun, she'd have been at home gaming, not at a party where she's fairly certain more of than half of the people here won't remember in the morning, they're so drunk.
Speaking of which, Heechul had just worked her way over and shoved a drink into her hands. "Kyuhyun," she shouted over the music. "You need to enjoy yourself!"
"Unni, I can think of so many other things I could be doing right now," said Kyuhyun, sniffing the drink, scrunching her nose up and then putting it down on a nearby table. Heechul picked it back up and took a sip herself.
"Kyuhyun," she said serverly. "You are so boring. Even Hannie is drinking."
"Hankyung-unni is?" Kyuhyun was surprised. "Where is she?"
"Over there," said Heechul, and flung one careless arm into the general direction of Hankyung. Said girl was sitting on a sofa and was talking to Zhou Mi, the both of them laughing loudly at something every so often. "I don't even know them, okay?" said Heechul in an annoyed tone. "They're both speaking Chinese to each other, and I couldn't understand a single word."
"I just feel like sighing at the lot of you," said Kyuhyun, and struggled through the crowd to where Hankyung and Zhou Mi were.
"Why don't you just tell her?" Zhou Mi was asking when Kyuhyun neared. "It would save you a lot of trouble, and you're running out of time."
"It could ruin everything," protested Hankyung. "I can't just tell her."
"Tell who what?" asked Kyuhyun. Zhou Mi and Hankyung both looked up at her, shocked.
"Oh," said Hankyung morosely. "I forgot you did Mandarin."
"Yeah," said Kyuhyun. "So. Tell who what?"
"Nobody nothing," said Hankyung. "Nothing. Okay, you got that, Zhou Mi? Nothing. To anybody."
"Fine," sighed Zhou Mi, and Hankyung stood up out of the chair, stretched, and then was pulled off by Eunhyuk to dance. Kyuhyun took Hankyung's place.
"Mi," she said.
"You heard Geng," said Zhou Mi. "I'm not allowed to tell you."
"You are all fucking bitches," muttered Kyuhyun. Zhou Mi turned to her with wide, shocked eyes. Kyuhyun snorted. "Oh, whatever," she said. "Don't give me that look, you're the one that dragged me to this damn party."
"It's fun!" said Zhou Mi and pouted in a way that Kyuhyun supposed was supposed to be cute.
"It is not fun," said Kyuhyun. "Everyone's just drunk."
"Yeah, but-" Zhou Mi suddenly choked on her own tongue. "Well," she said after she had recovered - Kyuhyun did nothing to help, just sat there and pretended like she didn't know her. "Sungmin-unni appears to be having fun."
Kyuhyun's head snapped around so fast that she was fairly certain she heard it crick. "Where?" she asked, hoping that she didn't sound as freaked out as she thought she probably did.
Zhou Mi pointed to a corner of the room, and for a second Kyuhyun could only see the back of a tall boy, but then he shifted and Sungmin had her arms around his neck and was kissing him, one of his hands already pushing up the soft material of her shirt. As Kyuhyun watched, Sungmin pulled back a little, grinned at him, and then looked around the room quickly. Her eyes came to a rest on Kyuhyun, and she noticed that Kyuhyun was staring; she smiled in a way that had Kyuhyun shivering, and then she leant forward and traced a line on his neck with the tip of her tongue.
Kyuhyun stood up suddenly; Zhou Mi turned from where she had been watching Eunhyuk and Hankyung dance and looked at her in confusion. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"I don't feel well," said Kyuhyun shortly.
"But you haven't even had anything to drink," said Zhou Mi frowning.
"Exactly," said Kyuhyun bitterly.
Kyuhyun woke up at midday the next morning with a hangover the likes of which she would never experience again. She groaned and turned over, burying her head under her covers. "Fuck you, Lee Sungmin," she moaned, and then tried to not think about how she would quite like to, actually, please.
Hankyung always felt slightly out of place whenever she went to Heechul's house. Hankyung's home in China was above her mother's dumpling shop, and until she had won the scholarship for SooMan's after her dance performance at a school show, she had walked to the local junior school with two almost-friends who were in her dance class. Even now, even though she's attending such a prestigious school where money counts, she still lives in a small apartment above a ramen shop where she helps out every Tuesday and Friday. It's about three streets from the school and each morning she walks there, studying from some text book or another because if she doesn't keep her grades up, she can kiss goodbye to her scholarship.
Heechul, on the other hand, lives in a mansion about a mile or so from the school, and each morning gets a ride in a limo into the front gates, and gets a ride back, at which point she lazes around her house, because her parents work every hour of the day as lawyers and her sister is always out partying. Heechul doesn't need to study because there is no way that she's failing out of school or not getting into her first choice university, not with all the money her parents have.
Hankyung, standing in Heechul's bedroom as Heechul got ready, reflected that she could perhaps fit her entire apartment in that room.
"I'm getting you new clothes," Heechul announced as she came out of her wardrobe - about the size of Hankyung's bedroom - dressed in a pair of tight, bright red jeans and a shirt that, although it looked like it should be too big, clung to her when she moved. Hankyung looked at it enviously, and then down at her own jeans and grey shirt, and then sighed. There was no way she'd be able to pull off anything that Heechul thought looked good.
"Wait," she said, as she realised exactly what Heechul had said. "You mean you're going to buy them for me?"
Heechul paused in putting her purse in her small, red leather hand bag and twisted her head to look at her. "Duh," she said. "I know that you can't afford new clothes, and you need some new stuff. Nice stuff. Designer stuff."
"But I-"
"The right clothes can make all the difference," said Heechul, straightening up. "Besides, I just got a new credit card and I want to test it out."
Hankyung sighed. "Heechul, you can't just keeping spending your parents money," she said. "It's not right."
"If they bothered with me, I wouldn't," retorted Heechul, flicking her long hair over her shoulder - yet another thing Hankyung envied, as she fingered the ends of her shoulder length hair - and picking her bag up. "They just want to be lucky I'm not out partying every night like Heejin. She could be pregnant for all we know."
"Eh," said Hankyung. "Heechul, you party all the time. And sleep around too."
"Yeah, but I'm smart," said Heechul. "Heejin's kind of stupid, you know that. Anyway." She waved the credit card in Hankyung's face. "I'm not buying anything for myself, I'm buying it for you. So stop complaining, okay?"
Heechul was true to her word, too, and Hankyung wasn't sure how she felt about that, as Heechul spent 100,000 won in one shop alone and all she bought were two pairs of jeans and a soft woollen coat. Hankyung could only stare in something akin to horror as the bill crept ever higher and Heechul didn't seem like she was going to stop. Eventually Hankyung had to break in.
"Um," she said, laying her hand on Heechul's arm as Heechul tried to pick up a denim mini-skirt that Hankyung would never feel confident enough to wear. "Do you think we could go get some coffee or something?"
"What, now?" Heechul looked at her incredulously.
"Yes, now," said Hankyung.
"Okay, whatever," said Heechul, and dropped the skirt - Hankyung let out a sigh of relief.
Heechul immediately ordered the most expensive coffee on the menu and proceeded to give a list of demands that had to be met while making it; Hankyung just ordered some green tea and sat down at a table which was separated from the walkway only by some metal fencing. She had just taken a sip when suddenly a hand clapped itself over her eyes, causing her to choke.
"Guess who," said a voice brightly.
"Fuck you, Siwon!" shrieked Hankyung in a Chinese, before she doubled over with coughing. Siwon just laughed at her and jumped over the barrier to take the seat next to her.
"So," he said, when Hankyung had recovered. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm out with-"
"Oh," said Heechul's voice, in a disgusted tone. "It's you."
"Hi, noona," said Siwon, grinning at her and pulling the seat next to him out. Heechul took it, crossing one leg over the other and putting her coffee cup down on the table. It was at least twice the size of the one that Hankyung had, and Hankyung wasn't sure but there seemed to be more whipped cream than there was actual coffee.
"You are so lucky you don't have to worry about your weight," said Hankyung sadly.
"Oh, please," said Heechul. "All that dancing you do, you don't have to either."
"Could you imagine if I stopped dancing?" asked Hankyung. "God, it would be awful."
"Oh shut up," said Heechul. "You've got a great figure." She began to play with the cream in her coffee and glaring at Siwon. "What?" she asked. "Are you stalking me now?"
"Of course I am," said Siwon.
"Get lost," said Heechul.
"I was just walking past and spotted Hankyung," said Siwon. "I thought I'd come over and see what was happening. I didn't realise I'd be graced with your presence too, noona."
"I don't know why you're friends with him," Heechul said to Hankyung. "He's such a sleeze underneath, you know that?"
"Yeah," muttered Hankyung, as she realised that actually, Heechul was rather amused by Siwon and that her words lacked any sort of bite. Fuck, she thought. Judging by what was happening here, it was Siwon that Heechul liked, despite all her protests to the contrary.
"By the way," said Heechul after a long sip of her coffee. "Whatever Hankyung tells you is a good idea, don't listen to it, okay? I wasn't going to say anything, but that bear you gave me was so fucking ugly."
"It was?" Siwon sounded amused.
"Of course it was," said Heechul. "How could you not know?"
"Of course I knew," said Siwon. "I was just hoping you could look beyond the ugliness to see my heart and my true feelings."
"Good luck with that," muttered Heechul into her drink.
"Anyway, the bear wasn't the important part," said Siwon. "There was a card with it, didn't you see?"
"What?" Heechul was suddenly listening. "What did it say?"
"I wished you luck," said Siwon. "For the dare. I heard about it at school. I was wishing you good luck."
"Wait," said Heechul. "So that bear wasn't an attempt at getting me to like you, and therefore kiss you?"
Siwon blinked. "Of course not," he said. "Noona, I don't like you like that."
"What?" Heechul looked as though Siwon had just told her to go shoot a puppy.
"I thought that was obvious," said Siwon. "I mean, I like you and all, but I would never go for such a-"
"What?" Heechul looked challengingly at him. "Go on, Christian boy, you can say it."
Siwon laughed at her. "Noona, you are such a whore," he said affectionately. Heechul's subsequent intake of air was so incredulous that Hankyung began to laugh at her. Siwon stood up. "I should go," he said. "Noona, I hope you can make the right decision."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" shrieked Heechul at his back, and then turned to glare at Hankyung, as if she should know. Hankyung just shrugged.
"Here," said Heechul, and pushed a dress into Hankyung's arms before she flopped backwards onto her bed. "I'm so tired," she complained. "We walked for far too long."
"Um," said Hankyung, blinking at the material in her hands. "What is this?"
"What does it look like?" asked Heechul. "A dress, of course."
"For me?" asked Hankyung. "I thought we'd established that I didn't go well with dresses, Heechul."
"Shut up and go try it on," commanded Heechul.
The dress was made from a red jersey material and fell to her knees, with medium straps over her shoulders and a gentle v-neckline. Hankyung spent a couple of seconds just admiring the material - she had no idea how much such a thing had cost, and probably didn't want to know - before she slipped it on. "Heechul?" she called. "Could you help me?"
Heechul appeared at the door of the closet. She stood there for a couple of seconds, just looking. "I knew it would look good," she said smugly. "Do you need help with the buttons?"
"Yeah," said Hankyung. "I can't quite reach."
Heechul walked over and slowly did up the buttons at the back, her finger tips cold where they accidently brushed against Hankyung's skin; all the while, Heechul looked over Hankyung's shoulder to see her reflection in the mirror. Hankyung shivered a little under the scrutiny. Once Heechul was finished, she lay her hands on Hankyung's waist and stepped up close behind her, the move rather too intimate for Hankyung to quite believe.
"That dress," breathed Heechul into her ear, lips just brushing the lobe, "looks incredibly hot."
Hankyung had forgotten how to breathe; the air had disappeared from her lungs at some point and she couldn't work out how to get it to come back in. Her legs shaking, she shifted slightly and then Heechul was walking out of the doorway, calling; "I bought it for you, you should wear it to the dance next Saturday."
The warm spread of nerves - and a little joy - suddenly became an upsurge of anger in Hankyung. She should have known that Heechul would just treat the whole thing as a game, without taking anything seriously; without knowing how any of it affected Hankyung. Fingers trembling now through anger, she pulled the dress up over her head and got dressed in her own clothes, suddenly fiercely proud of the fact that they weren't designer, that they were just normal. She left the dress on the floor.
"I'm leaving," she said as she walked back into the bedroom and picked her bag up from the floor. Heechul glanced up from the magazine she had been flicking through and frowned.
"I thought you were staying for dinner," she said.
"Not anymore," snapped Hankyung, and she stormed out of the room; even Heechul calling her name after her didn't make her stop.
The first thing she did once she got home was to snatch up her phone and ring Siwon, and the second he answered with a hello?, she exploded; "I don't even know why I'm friends with her!"
"Geng?"
"She's just so selfish! Doesn't she realise what that does to me?" She threw herself down onto her bed and screamed. "God, Siwon, I just want to - sometimes I just want to strangle her."
"Heechul-noona? What happened?"
"She just - Siwon. I have something to confess to you."
"You like Heechul."
"Eh?"
"I already know."
"How can you already know?" whispered Hankyung.
"Come on, Geng. It's obvious. You look at her sometimes and it's just like. Wow."
"Is it really that - Heechul's perceptive."
"She is."
"She probably already knows."
"And she's still friends with you."
"Oh," said Hankyung.
"I don't know what she's done, but you know Heechul-noona so well. If she knows that you like her but she's still willing to be friends with you, doesn't that say a lot?"
Hankyung sighed. "But I thought you liked her. It's been so weird. I didn't want to get in the way."
"I don't like like Heechul-noona," said Siwon patiently. "Why would I? She's brilliant as a friend but she's already demanding. You're the only one who knows how to deal with Heechul when she's like that, Geng."
"But what if she likes you?"
"She doesn't like me, Geng," said Siwon. "Believe me, I know perfectly well that Heechul-noona doesn't like me, don't worry about that."
"So what do you think I should-" Hankyung broke off as there was a knock at her door. "One minute," she said, lay the phone down on the bed and pulled open the door onto a delivery man holding a clipboard out to her expectantly. Frowning with confusion, she took it and signed her name, and then the man took the clipboard back from her and walked back down the stairs, revealing a large cardboard box and what looked like a suit carrier standing in the hall. Hankyung stepped forward and opened one of the flaps on the box - it was all the clothing that they'd bought that day. She opened the zipper on the carrier; it was the dress that she had left crumpled in Heechul's room. As she lifted it to get a better look, a note dropped out and fluttered to the floor.
Hankyung,
I'm sorry.
Heechul
Hankyung sighed and picked the phone up. "Trying to be angry at Heechul is like trying to be angry at a child who doesn't know that what it's doing wrong," she said, a little bitterness in her voice. Heechul always did get away with everything.
"Geng, jaiyou!" said Siwon cheerfully.
"I have something very important to say," announced Eunhyuk, dropping her rucksack onto her desk with a loud bang. Donghae lifted her head up from her maths text book and blinked at her. "Kim Junsu is the most stupid boy I have ever met."
"Well, there's a revelation," said Heechul sarcastically as she went past. Eunhyuk just ignored her; Eunhyuk was slightly in awe of Heechul.
"What happened?" asked Donghae, as Eunhyuk threw herself down onto her chair and huffed.
"I asked him if he wanted to go to the cinema with me on Saturday," said Eunhyuk, sounding more annoyed than Donghae had ever heard her be before. Eunhyuk was rarely angry at anything. "It was supposed to be a date, but that boy was so dense that he couldn't even work it out. I suggested seeing that new comedy - I'm not going to see a romantic thing even if it is a date - but he said that he'd rather see that stupid horror thing that's out. Like, excuse me, I do not want to see a bloods and guts film while I'm on a date."
"There's a horror film out?" asked Donghae in interest. Eunhyuk looked at her in dismay.
"Hae~" she whined. Donghae laughed.
"I'm just messing," she said. "What happened then?"
"I got all annoyed at him, and he just said that if I was going to be like that then he would go anywhere with me. And then, he rang me later on to tell me that he'd arranged to go out with his friends from school that Saturday to see the horror film, and did I want to go with him?"
Donghae couldn't help it - she burst into laughter, holding her stomach as tears sprang to her eyes. Eunhyuk glared at her until she too began to see the funny side and started to laugh. After a couple of minutes, she lay her head on her desk and groaned. "God, Hae," she said. "I can't do this at all. It's not going to work, okay? I should just give up right now."
"So he's a little stupid," said Donghae. "You've always known that."
"Not this stupid," said Eunhyuk. "I mean. Hae, he's clearly not thinking of me in that way at all, and trying to kiss him will just ruin our friendship. I don't want to do that."
"You've forgotten," pointed out Donghae. "Heechul and Sungmin are making up the punishment for this one."
Eunhyuk groaned again, her arms hanging lifelessly by her sides, fingertips brushing the floor. "Just kill me now, Hae," she said.
Eeteuk couldn't quite believe that she had managed it. Actually, no, she couldn't quite believe that Kangin had agreed to it. In all honesty, she had expected Kangin to just laugh at her and send her out of the office, instead of agreeing to her request. After all, there was no need for Eeteuk to do extra gym lessons, or, in fact, any gym at all, because none of the universities that she was aiming for needed any sort of physical education, and besides, her father owned a chain of department stores, he would just pay for her graduation if they decided that gym was needed.
So she had expected Kangin to realise that she was up to something when she asked for extra practice after school, because she was worried that it could affect her graduation; she hadn't expected him to be so enthusiastic about it and to immediately mark each Thursday night as the time for him to help her. He had said that they'd start with basic coordination skills, because - and he'd stopped but Eeteuk knew what he meant. She knew perfectly well that she could fall over without even moving.
Now all she had to work out was how to working kissing him into the plan.
"I did it!" she said excitedly to Eunhyuk and Yehsung who were sitting at one of the picnic benches on the field. "I finally did something! Soon I'll have completed this stupid dare!"
Yehsung looked up from doodling what looked like initials and hearts on a piece of paper. "Huh?" she asked. "Sorry, did you say something?"
"I'm just going to curl up here and die," said Eunhyuk miserably. Eeteuk frowned at them.
"I thought you'd be happy for me," she said, and flounced off to tell someone else. Probably Ryeowook, because at least Wookie paid attention to her unni.
(Ryeowook was in the library, trying very hard to ignore the fact that Jaejoong, doing research for a paper across the room, kept looking at her and grinning, and Ryeowook had no idea why.)
Fandom: Super Junior; DBSK, SHINee (AU, !girls)
Pairing: Hankyung/Heechul, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, Kibum/Donghae, Kangin/Eeteuk, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Eunhyuk/Junsu, mentioned Jonghyun/Key
Word count: 6,261
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Hankyung watched as Heechul shifted and then crossed one leg over the other, skirt slipping down in such a way to be almost indecent, the skin of her thigh pale and silky looking. "Oh," she said.
A/N: Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Apparently something was tripped in my brain and I can't quite stop? crying
The Art Of Daring (2/4)
("Faint heart never won fair lady and shit.")
Hankyung has always known that Heechul is a slut. It's obvious just looking at her - she exudes confidence and coupled with skirts so short that they make mini-skirts look prudish and tops that are so low cut it wouldn't be out of place to say they have more of a stomach-line rather than a neckline, she's nothing short of stunning. When Hankyung first met Heechul, she wished that she was able to get away with clothes like that - Hankyung needed that confidence in this strange, new country where she didn't speak the language - but she knew that she would never be able to wear them the same way as Heechul. On Hankyung, that skirt would have pulled too tight at the hips, that top would have been too loose at the chest, those shoes would have caused her to stumble every five steps. Hankyung is only graceful when she's dancing, awkward in the way she moves and speaks whenever she's not. Hankyung envied Heechul the way she moved, the way that with just the right tilt of her hips, Heechul could have every man in the room hanging onto her every word - Hankyung envied the way Heechul could always have the guy that she wanted.
Later that changed - Hankyung wished that it wasn't quite so easy for Heechul to get any guy that she wanted. Hankyung watched as the only guy that she ever liked in Korea fell to Heechul, be drawn in by her spell and then eventually he was thrown away, like all guys that Heechul catches in her web. He never came around after that, never spoke to Hankyung again. Hankyung never told Heechul that she liked him, possibly Heechul really didn't know, but Hankyung doesn't know about whether Heechul would have even cared. Heechul is described as a slut and a whore (and it certainly doesn't stop her from being popular even amongst the girls) but Heechul doesn't take boys seriously. For Heechul, they are there just for some fun before she moves onto more interesting things, bigger things. Hankyung has wondered more than once if Heechul doesn't find the same enjoyment in shopping. Hankyung envied Heechul her detachment.
Now she envies all the boys that Heechul has ever had. The taste of her skin at the curve of her shoulder; the way her back arches; the feel of the skin at her thigh; they have had all that, something Hankyung will never experience. (She fell somewhere along the line, straight into the invisible web, but Heechul has her back turned onto other more interesting prey and hasn't noticed that yet.)
Heechul stormed into the classroom looking so angry that a couple of girls who had been standing near the board moved off near the window, eyeing her warily. She stamped straight up to where Hankyung was sitting at her desk, reading something, and wrenched Hankyung's headphones from her ears. Hankyung yelped in pain and shock and dropped her book on the floor with a bang. She scowled at Heechul and then leant down to pick it up - Heechul pushed her straight from her chair.
"You stupid fucking bitch!" shrieked Heechul, and kicked Hankyung in the leg. Hankyung yelled out in pain and rolled away and scrambled to her feet. "You stupid fucking bitch!"
"What?" yelled Hankyung, trying to be heard over Heechul's screaming.
"He bought me a fucking teddy bear! Why did you tell him I would like that?" Heechul shoved her in the shoulder. "It was a horrible shade of pale pink, it's disgusting and I know you told him to buy it for me!"
"I thought you would like it!" said Hankyung, injecting just the right amount of indignation into her voice. It was true that she'd told Siwon that Heechul would like the bear, but she had known that Heechul would actually hate the thing. She had been battling the guilt against sabotaging Siwon ever since the previous Saturday when she had helped picked it out; she knew that she didn't have a chance and knew that with the right approach, Siwon would be in with a good chance, but Hankyung was perfectly capable of doing the wrong thing, she wasn't that moral and saintly - it was only the knowledge of the guilt that would always crop up afterwards that ever stopped her.
"You know perfectly well I wouldn't like it," said Heechul, sounding like she was actually seriously annoyed. "I had to carry it all the way to school before I could give it to Sungmin - you know she loves girly shit like that."
"He did pay quite a bit of money for that," said Hankyung ruefully - the guilt was beginning to kick in with avengence.
"Well he should have kept it," said Heechul, sitting down in her seat and pulling her make-up bag from her bag. She pulled her compact mirror out, lay it on the table in front of her and began to expertly line her eyes with yet more black. "If you'd told him that I'd hate it in the first place, then this wouldn't be a problem, would it?"
"So he really doesn't have a chance?"
"Believe me," said Heechul, glancing at Hankyung out of the corner of her eye, tongue sticking out of her mouth slightly from concentration. "Goody two-shoes Choi Siwon is so not my type."
Hankyung watched as Heechul shifted and then crossed one leg over the other, skirt slipping down in such a way to be almost indecent, the skin of her thigh pale and silky looking. "Oh," she said.
"Well," said Donghae to her reflection in the mirror in the bathroom. Quite honestly, she didn't even recognise herself. For a girl that never wore make-up and only ever pulled her hair back with a tie, she had to admit that she probably did scrub up well; it also probably helped having friends like Heechul and Sungmin. She had picked up quite a few tips over the years, and apparently applying eyeliner was one of them.
Carefully she undid the top button on her shirt, looked carefully in the mirror at herself, and then undid the next one, just to be sure. Her skirt was hitched up until it was mid-thigh; at least twice the length of Heechul's, probably three times the length of Sungmin's. Her black Converse, she could do nothing about. Ideally, she would have had a pair of black stilettos, or at least something with a heel, but Donghae had never seen the need before, didn't even own a pair, and probably couldn't walk in them besides. Desperate as she was to complete this bet, she wasn't willing to put her life in danger.
Although she left the bathroom on the second floor carefully, it clearly wasn't carefully enough because suddenly Sungmin was in front of her, clutching her books to her chest and staring in shock. "Donghae?" she asked, eyeing Donghae up and down. "Is that you?"
"Eh," said Donghae.
"Oh my god," said Sungmin. "Wow, Hae, I didn't know you had it in you. You look - well, you just look plain hot. What did you do to your hair? It looks so good!"
"Eh," said Donghae again. "I'm not sure, I think it was blow dry or something?"
Sungmin paused a little. "You've never blown dried your hair before?" she asked, rather incredulously.
"Usually I just leave it," said Donghae. In Donghae's world, showers were short and hair could dry itself - she had more important things to do, more interesting things to do. He had better appreciate this, she thought.
"Stop just leaving it," said Sungmin. "God, Hae, if I had hair that could look like that, I'd spend hours on it."
"I thought you already did," said Donghae, slightly confused. Sungmin ignored her.
"So, what is this in aid of?" she asked, linking her arm through Donghae's as they began their walk down to their Chemistry class. "Are you meeting someone after school?"
"No," said Donghae, who knew exactly what Sungmin's idea of 'meeting someone after school' entailed.
"Oh," said Sungmin. "Are you trying to impress one of the guys?"
"No," repeated Donghae. Sungmin suddenly shrieked and took hold of her arm tightly. The bell rang overhead, but Sungmin paid it no heed.
"Are you trying to impress one of the girls?" she asked, voice slightly high. Donghae glanced at her and put that down to sheer excitement.
"No," said Donghae.
"Oh," said Sungmin. "What the hell? Then why are you so dressed up?"
Donghae shrugged. "Just fancied it," she lied. "It's nice to have a change."
"Hae, you are so weird," said Sungmin affectionately, and then they were walking down the corridor that led to the classroom and Kibum was standing outside, a clipboard in his hands and his foot tapping impatiently on the ground.
"Lee Sungmin," he called, voice annoyed. "You're late. Again."
"You know me, Sir," said Sungmin with a slight giggle. "I always like to make an entrance."
Kibum made a disbelieving sound that also sounded amused. "You haven't seen Kim Heechul or Lee Donghae, have you? They're missing too."
"Um," said Donghae, and waved. Kibum did a double take which had Sungmin muffling laughter in her sleeve.
"Donghae-shi?" Kibum's voice was slightly hoarse. "What happened to - what."
"She looks good, right?" trilled Sungmin, completely unaware of any ill intentions on Donghae's behalf - or the increasingly uncomfortable look on Kibum's face. Seeing the way his eyes were drawn to the skin shown by her open buttons, Donghae grinned a little and pushed her shoulders back a little, and could have sworn she saw sweat break out on Kibum's face. With a laugh, she strolled into the classroom, took her seat, and took out her book. It was only at that point that Eunhyuk realised who she was, and immediately accosted her with questions. Mainly as to where she had got the make-up, she needed to try that out on Junsu.
When Kibum came into the room, Donghae stretched upwards, her shirt stretched dangerously over her chest. Kibum, she noticed with some glee, avoided looking at her for the rest of the lesson. Gleeful for now, but sooner or later, he would look.
And Donghae would be waiting.
Ryeowook, Yehsung knew, had Music last period on a Tuesday. Yehsung knew this because Jaejoong knew a boy named Yoochun from the boy's sector who in turn knew a boy called Jonghyun who in turn was going out with a girl called Key who's mother worked in the administration of the two schools, and she had gotten Yehsung a copy of Ryeowook's schedule, no questions asked. Yehsung, Yehsung knew, had a free period on a Tuesday last lesson (and Yehsung knew this because - well, it was Yehsung's own schedule.)
What this meant was that instead of going home with Jaejoong like she usually did, Yehsung hovered in the library pretending to write an essay whenever anyone came near and then pulling another piece of blank paper back on top whenever they went away. Said piece of blank paper was covered in hearts and stars and Ryeowook's intials - and then Yehsung's initials right next to them and with a red pen that she'd found somewhere a year or so back but had never used before, she had drawn a red line between them, signifing the red thread of soulmates. Underneath all this, she had written, "I AM NOT A STALKER OKAY." It's what she got for doodling when she got bored in Maths class - she should never have been caught by Jaejoong.
At five minutes to the bell, Yehsung quickly gathered up all of her things, bundled them into her bag and pulled her music composition out of her side pocket. Then she practically ran to the music rooms, slowing down only when she was in the right corridor, and then the bell rang, and Ryeowook's class came out of the classroom. There was only three of them; Kyuhyun was chatting to Zhou Mi, who was answering back in Chinese, and Ryeowook was walking slightly behind them, engrossed in a piece of music that she held in her hands. Therefore, it shouldn't have been hard for Yehsung to knock her with her shoulders and cause the contents of her hands to go flying everywhere. As it was, she was so nervous that she tripped slightly, fell into Ryeowook, and dropped the papers in her own hands before she fell onto her front.
"Crap," she muttered, and flipped onto her back and sat up to see Ryeowook staring at her with some shock, eyes wide. She looked concerned. Yehsung tried to not go giddy, but it was kind of hard.
"Are you okay?" asked Ryeowook, and Yehsung's head went very fuzzy.
"Um," she said, and then mentally hit herself for acting like such a spazz. "Yeah, I'm fine, I - do this a lot."
"That must hurt," said Ryeowook sympathetically, and while Yehsung hauled herself to her feet, Ryeowook went behind her and began to pick up the papers she had dropped. When Yehsung turned around, Ryeowook held her sheets out to her.
"Oh," said Yehsung, and grinned and took them back. For a second, her fingers were over Ryeowook's hands - Ryeowook blushed, Yehsung's heart jumped into her throat - and then Yehsung took a step back. "Thanks," she said.
"No problem," said Ryeowook, looking towards the floor for a second. There was a pause and then she looked back up. "Do you - play an instrument?"
"Mostly guitar," said Yehsung. "But I can also play a little piano. That's what the composition is for."
"So you wrote that?" asked Ryeowook, and Yehsung's mind went "akjsdklas" over how much interest she was showing. "Is it for a homework assignment or do you just like writing music?"
"For homework," said Yehsung. "I'm not - really that good. I'm better at singing, to be honest."
"You were in the show last year," said Ryeowook softly, as if she had just been reminded. "I heard you sing. Your voice - I really loved it."
Yehsung blinked and then her mind shuddered to a halt. "R-really?"
"Yeah," said Ryeowook, and she smiled at Yehsung, a true smile, that had Yehsung's heart trying to bounce out of her chest. There was something in Ryeowook's eyes, though, that made Yehsung pause - mischief? She couldn't work it out. "I'd love to hear it again some day."
"Ma - maybe you will," said Yehsung, stammering a little even as she tried to be flirty. Ryeowook's smile grew wider and then she waved goodbye and ran down the corridor, and Yehsung could hear her calling of Kyuhyun down the stairs.
"Oh my god," said Yehsung, banging her head off a near-by wall and ignoring the strange look she recieved from a first year. "Could I sound like more of a moron?"
Kyuhyun was fairly certain that being here had nothing to do with her. She certainly didn't remember agreeing to any of this. If it was up to Kyuhyun, she'd have been at home gaming, not at a party where she's fairly certain more of than half of the people here won't remember in the morning, they're so drunk.
Speaking of which, Heechul had just worked her way over and shoved a drink into her hands. "Kyuhyun," she shouted over the music. "You need to enjoy yourself!"
"Unni, I can think of so many other things I could be doing right now," said Kyuhyun, sniffing the drink, scrunching her nose up and then putting it down on a nearby table. Heechul picked it back up and took a sip herself.
"Kyuhyun," she said serverly. "You are so boring. Even Hannie is drinking."
"Hankyung-unni is?" Kyuhyun was surprised. "Where is she?"
"Over there," said Heechul, and flung one careless arm into the general direction of Hankyung. Said girl was sitting on a sofa and was talking to Zhou Mi, the both of them laughing loudly at something every so often. "I don't even know them, okay?" said Heechul in an annoyed tone. "They're both speaking Chinese to each other, and I couldn't understand a single word."
"I just feel like sighing at the lot of you," said Kyuhyun, and struggled through the crowd to where Hankyung and Zhou Mi were.
"Why don't you just tell her?" Zhou Mi was asking when Kyuhyun neared. "It would save you a lot of trouble, and you're running out of time."
"It could ruin everything," protested Hankyung. "I can't just tell her."
"Tell who what?" asked Kyuhyun. Zhou Mi and Hankyung both looked up at her, shocked.
"Oh," said Hankyung morosely. "I forgot you did Mandarin."
"Yeah," said Kyuhyun. "So. Tell who what?"
"Nobody nothing," said Hankyung. "Nothing. Okay, you got that, Zhou Mi? Nothing. To anybody."
"Fine," sighed Zhou Mi, and Hankyung stood up out of the chair, stretched, and then was pulled off by Eunhyuk to dance. Kyuhyun took Hankyung's place.
"Mi," she said.
"You heard Geng," said Zhou Mi. "I'm not allowed to tell you."
"You are all fucking bitches," muttered Kyuhyun. Zhou Mi turned to her with wide, shocked eyes. Kyuhyun snorted. "Oh, whatever," she said. "Don't give me that look, you're the one that dragged me to this damn party."
"It's fun!" said Zhou Mi and pouted in a way that Kyuhyun supposed was supposed to be cute.
"It is not fun," said Kyuhyun. "Everyone's just drunk."
"Yeah, but-" Zhou Mi suddenly choked on her own tongue. "Well," she said after she had recovered - Kyuhyun did nothing to help, just sat there and pretended like she didn't know her. "Sungmin-unni appears to be having fun."
Kyuhyun's head snapped around so fast that she was fairly certain she heard it crick. "Where?" she asked, hoping that she didn't sound as freaked out as she thought she probably did.
Zhou Mi pointed to a corner of the room, and for a second Kyuhyun could only see the back of a tall boy, but then he shifted and Sungmin had her arms around his neck and was kissing him, one of his hands already pushing up the soft material of her shirt. As Kyuhyun watched, Sungmin pulled back a little, grinned at him, and then looked around the room quickly. Her eyes came to a rest on Kyuhyun, and she noticed that Kyuhyun was staring; she smiled in a way that had Kyuhyun shivering, and then she leant forward and traced a line on his neck with the tip of her tongue.
Kyuhyun stood up suddenly; Zhou Mi turned from where she had been watching Eunhyuk and Hankyung dance and looked at her in confusion. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"I don't feel well," said Kyuhyun shortly.
"But you haven't even had anything to drink," said Zhou Mi frowning.
"Exactly," said Kyuhyun bitterly.
Kyuhyun woke up at midday the next morning with a hangover the likes of which she would never experience again. She groaned and turned over, burying her head under her covers. "Fuck you, Lee Sungmin," she moaned, and then tried to not think about how she would quite like to, actually, please.
Hankyung always felt slightly out of place whenever she went to Heechul's house. Hankyung's home in China was above her mother's dumpling shop, and until she had won the scholarship for SooMan's after her dance performance at a school show, she had walked to the local junior school with two almost-friends who were in her dance class. Even now, even though she's attending such a prestigious school where money counts, she still lives in a small apartment above a ramen shop where she helps out every Tuesday and Friday. It's about three streets from the school and each morning she walks there, studying from some text book or another because if she doesn't keep her grades up, she can kiss goodbye to her scholarship.
Heechul, on the other hand, lives in a mansion about a mile or so from the school, and each morning gets a ride in a limo into the front gates, and gets a ride back, at which point she lazes around her house, because her parents work every hour of the day as lawyers and her sister is always out partying. Heechul doesn't need to study because there is no way that she's failing out of school or not getting into her first choice university, not with all the money her parents have.
Hankyung, standing in Heechul's bedroom as Heechul got ready, reflected that she could perhaps fit her entire apartment in that room.
"I'm getting you new clothes," Heechul announced as she came out of her wardrobe - about the size of Hankyung's bedroom - dressed in a pair of tight, bright red jeans and a shirt that, although it looked like it should be too big, clung to her when she moved. Hankyung looked at it enviously, and then down at her own jeans and grey shirt, and then sighed. There was no way she'd be able to pull off anything that Heechul thought looked good.
"Wait," she said, as she realised exactly what Heechul had said. "You mean you're going to buy them for me?"
Heechul paused in putting her purse in her small, red leather hand bag and twisted her head to look at her. "Duh," she said. "I know that you can't afford new clothes, and you need some new stuff. Nice stuff. Designer stuff."
"But I-"
"The right clothes can make all the difference," said Heechul, straightening up. "Besides, I just got a new credit card and I want to test it out."
Hankyung sighed. "Heechul, you can't just keeping spending your parents money," she said. "It's not right."
"If they bothered with me, I wouldn't," retorted Heechul, flicking her long hair over her shoulder - yet another thing Hankyung envied, as she fingered the ends of her shoulder length hair - and picking her bag up. "They just want to be lucky I'm not out partying every night like Heejin. She could be pregnant for all we know."
"Eh," said Hankyung. "Heechul, you party all the time. And sleep around too."
"Yeah, but I'm smart," said Heechul. "Heejin's kind of stupid, you know that. Anyway." She waved the credit card in Hankyung's face. "I'm not buying anything for myself, I'm buying it for you. So stop complaining, okay?"
Heechul was true to her word, too, and Hankyung wasn't sure how she felt about that, as Heechul spent 100,000 won in one shop alone and all she bought were two pairs of jeans and a soft woollen coat. Hankyung could only stare in something akin to horror as the bill crept ever higher and Heechul didn't seem like she was going to stop. Eventually Hankyung had to break in.
"Um," she said, laying her hand on Heechul's arm as Heechul tried to pick up a denim mini-skirt that Hankyung would never feel confident enough to wear. "Do you think we could go get some coffee or something?"
"What, now?" Heechul looked at her incredulously.
"Yes, now," said Hankyung.
"Okay, whatever," said Heechul, and dropped the skirt - Hankyung let out a sigh of relief.
Heechul immediately ordered the most expensive coffee on the menu and proceeded to give a list of demands that had to be met while making it; Hankyung just ordered some green tea and sat down at a table which was separated from the walkway only by some metal fencing. She had just taken a sip when suddenly a hand clapped itself over her eyes, causing her to choke.
"Guess who," said a voice brightly.
"Fuck you, Siwon!" shrieked Hankyung in a Chinese, before she doubled over with coughing. Siwon just laughed at her and jumped over the barrier to take the seat next to her.
"So," he said, when Hankyung had recovered. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm out with-"
"Oh," said Heechul's voice, in a disgusted tone. "It's you."
"Hi, noona," said Siwon, grinning at her and pulling the seat next to him out. Heechul took it, crossing one leg over the other and putting her coffee cup down on the table. It was at least twice the size of the one that Hankyung had, and Hankyung wasn't sure but there seemed to be more whipped cream than there was actual coffee.
"You are so lucky you don't have to worry about your weight," said Hankyung sadly.
"Oh, please," said Heechul. "All that dancing you do, you don't have to either."
"Could you imagine if I stopped dancing?" asked Hankyung. "God, it would be awful."
"Oh shut up," said Heechul. "You've got a great figure." She began to play with the cream in her coffee and glaring at Siwon. "What?" she asked. "Are you stalking me now?"
"Of course I am," said Siwon.
"Get lost," said Heechul.
"I was just walking past and spotted Hankyung," said Siwon. "I thought I'd come over and see what was happening. I didn't realise I'd be graced with your presence too, noona."
"I don't know why you're friends with him," Heechul said to Hankyung. "He's such a sleeze underneath, you know that?"
"Yeah," muttered Hankyung, as she realised that actually, Heechul was rather amused by Siwon and that her words lacked any sort of bite. Fuck, she thought. Judging by what was happening here, it was Siwon that Heechul liked, despite all her protests to the contrary.
"By the way," said Heechul after a long sip of her coffee. "Whatever Hankyung tells you is a good idea, don't listen to it, okay? I wasn't going to say anything, but that bear you gave me was so fucking ugly."
"It was?" Siwon sounded amused.
"Of course it was," said Heechul. "How could you not know?"
"Of course I knew," said Siwon. "I was just hoping you could look beyond the ugliness to see my heart and my true feelings."
"Good luck with that," muttered Heechul into her drink.
"Anyway, the bear wasn't the important part," said Siwon. "There was a card with it, didn't you see?"
"What?" Heechul was suddenly listening. "What did it say?"
"I wished you luck," said Siwon. "For the dare. I heard about it at school. I was wishing you good luck."
"Wait," said Heechul. "So that bear wasn't an attempt at getting me to like you, and therefore kiss you?"
Siwon blinked. "Of course not," he said. "Noona, I don't like you like that."
"What?" Heechul looked as though Siwon had just told her to go shoot a puppy.
"I thought that was obvious," said Siwon. "I mean, I like you and all, but I would never go for such a-"
"What?" Heechul looked challengingly at him. "Go on, Christian boy, you can say it."
Siwon laughed at her. "Noona, you are such a whore," he said affectionately. Heechul's subsequent intake of air was so incredulous that Hankyung began to laugh at her. Siwon stood up. "I should go," he said. "Noona, I hope you can make the right decision."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" shrieked Heechul at his back, and then turned to glare at Hankyung, as if she should know. Hankyung just shrugged.
"Here," said Heechul, and pushed a dress into Hankyung's arms before she flopped backwards onto her bed. "I'm so tired," she complained. "We walked for far too long."
"Um," said Hankyung, blinking at the material in her hands. "What is this?"
"What does it look like?" asked Heechul. "A dress, of course."
"For me?" asked Hankyung. "I thought we'd established that I didn't go well with dresses, Heechul."
"Shut up and go try it on," commanded Heechul.
The dress was made from a red jersey material and fell to her knees, with medium straps over her shoulders and a gentle v-neckline. Hankyung spent a couple of seconds just admiring the material - she had no idea how much such a thing had cost, and probably didn't want to know - before she slipped it on. "Heechul?" she called. "Could you help me?"
Heechul appeared at the door of the closet. She stood there for a couple of seconds, just looking. "I knew it would look good," she said smugly. "Do you need help with the buttons?"
"Yeah," said Hankyung. "I can't quite reach."
Heechul walked over and slowly did up the buttons at the back, her finger tips cold where they accidently brushed against Hankyung's skin; all the while, Heechul looked over Hankyung's shoulder to see her reflection in the mirror. Hankyung shivered a little under the scrutiny. Once Heechul was finished, she lay her hands on Hankyung's waist and stepped up close behind her, the move rather too intimate for Hankyung to quite believe.
"That dress," breathed Heechul into her ear, lips just brushing the lobe, "looks incredibly hot."
Hankyung had forgotten how to breathe; the air had disappeared from her lungs at some point and she couldn't work out how to get it to come back in. Her legs shaking, she shifted slightly and then Heechul was walking out of the doorway, calling; "I bought it for you, you should wear it to the dance next Saturday."
The warm spread of nerves - and a little joy - suddenly became an upsurge of anger in Hankyung. She should have known that Heechul would just treat the whole thing as a game, without taking anything seriously; without knowing how any of it affected Hankyung. Fingers trembling now through anger, she pulled the dress up over her head and got dressed in her own clothes, suddenly fiercely proud of the fact that they weren't designer, that they were just normal. She left the dress on the floor.
"I'm leaving," she said as she walked back into the bedroom and picked her bag up from the floor. Heechul glanced up from the magazine she had been flicking through and frowned.
"I thought you were staying for dinner," she said.
"Not anymore," snapped Hankyung, and she stormed out of the room; even Heechul calling her name after her didn't make her stop.
The first thing she did once she got home was to snatch up her phone and ring Siwon, and the second he answered with a hello?, she exploded; "I don't even know why I'm friends with her!"
"Geng?"
"She's just so selfish! Doesn't she realise what that does to me?" She threw herself down onto her bed and screamed. "God, Siwon, I just want to - sometimes I just want to strangle her."
"Heechul-noona? What happened?"
"She just - Siwon. I have something to confess to you."
"You like Heechul."
"Eh?"
"I already know."
"How can you already know?" whispered Hankyung.
"Come on, Geng. It's obvious. You look at her sometimes and it's just like. Wow."
"Is it really that - Heechul's perceptive."
"She is."
"She probably already knows."
"And she's still friends with you."
"Oh," said Hankyung.
"I don't know what she's done, but you know Heechul-noona so well. If she knows that you like her but she's still willing to be friends with you, doesn't that say a lot?"
Hankyung sighed. "But I thought you liked her. It's been so weird. I didn't want to get in the way."
"I don't like like Heechul-noona," said Siwon patiently. "Why would I? She's brilliant as a friend but she's already demanding. You're the only one who knows how to deal with Heechul when she's like that, Geng."
"But what if she likes you?"
"She doesn't like me, Geng," said Siwon. "Believe me, I know perfectly well that Heechul-noona doesn't like me, don't worry about that."
"So what do you think I should-" Hankyung broke off as there was a knock at her door. "One minute," she said, lay the phone down on the bed and pulled open the door onto a delivery man holding a clipboard out to her expectantly. Frowning with confusion, she took it and signed her name, and then the man took the clipboard back from her and walked back down the stairs, revealing a large cardboard box and what looked like a suit carrier standing in the hall. Hankyung stepped forward and opened one of the flaps on the box - it was all the clothing that they'd bought that day. She opened the zipper on the carrier; it was the dress that she had left crumpled in Heechul's room. As she lifted it to get a better look, a note dropped out and fluttered to the floor.
Hankyung,
I'm sorry.
Heechul
Hankyung sighed and picked the phone up. "Trying to be angry at Heechul is like trying to be angry at a child who doesn't know that what it's doing wrong," she said, a little bitterness in her voice. Heechul always did get away with everything.
"Geng, jaiyou!" said Siwon cheerfully.
"I have something very important to say," announced Eunhyuk, dropping her rucksack onto her desk with a loud bang. Donghae lifted her head up from her maths text book and blinked at her. "Kim Junsu is the most stupid boy I have ever met."
"Well, there's a revelation," said Heechul sarcastically as she went past. Eunhyuk just ignored her; Eunhyuk was slightly in awe of Heechul.
"What happened?" asked Donghae, as Eunhyuk threw herself down onto her chair and huffed.
"I asked him if he wanted to go to the cinema with me on Saturday," said Eunhyuk, sounding more annoyed than Donghae had ever heard her be before. Eunhyuk was rarely angry at anything. "It was supposed to be a date, but that boy was so dense that he couldn't even work it out. I suggested seeing that new comedy - I'm not going to see a romantic thing even if it is a date - but he said that he'd rather see that stupid horror thing that's out. Like, excuse me, I do not want to see a bloods and guts film while I'm on a date."
"There's a horror film out?" asked Donghae in interest. Eunhyuk looked at her in dismay.
"Hae~" she whined. Donghae laughed.
"I'm just messing," she said. "What happened then?"
"I got all annoyed at him, and he just said that if I was going to be like that then he would go anywhere with me. And then, he rang me later on to tell me that he'd arranged to go out with his friends from school that Saturday to see the horror film, and did I want to go with him?"
Donghae couldn't help it - she burst into laughter, holding her stomach as tears sprang to her eyes. Eunhyuk glared at her until she too began to see the funny side and started to laugh. After a couple of minutes, she lay her head on her desk and groaned. "God, Hae," she said. "I can't do this at all. It's not going to work, okay? I should just give up right now."
"So he's a little stupid," said Donghae. "You've always known that."
"Not this stupid," said Eunhyuk. "I mean. Hae, he's clearly not thinking of me in that way at all, and trying to kiss him will just ruin our friendship. I don't want to do that."
"You've forgotten," pointed out Donghae. "Heechul and Sungmin are making up the punishment for this one."
Eunhyuk groaned again, her arms hanging lifelessly by her sides, fingertips brushing the floor. "Just kill me now, Hae," she said.
Eeteuk couldn't quite believe that she had managed it. Actually, no, she couldn't quite believe that Kangin had agreed to it. In all honesty, she had expected Kangin to just laugh at her and send her out of the office, instead of agreeing to her request. After all, there was no need for Eeteuk to do extra gym lessons, or, in fact, any gym at all, because none of the universities that she was aiming for needed any sort of physical education, and besides, her father owned a chain of department stores, he would just pay for her graduation if they decided that gym was needed.
So she had expected Kangin to realise that she was up to something when she asked for extra practice after school, because she was worried that it could affect her graduation; she hadn't expected him to be so enthusiastic about it and to immediately mark each Thursday night as the time for him to help her. He had said that they'd start with basic coordination skills, because - and he'd stopped but Eeteuk knew what he meant. She knew perfectly well that she could fall over without even moving.
Now all she had to work out was how to working kissing him into the plan.
"I did it!" she said excitedly to Eunhyuk and Yehsung who were sitting at one of the picnic benches on the field. "I finally did something! Soon I'll have completed this stupid dare!"
Yehsung looked up from doodling what looked like initials and hearts on a piece of paper. "Huh?" she asked. "Sorry, did you say something?"
"I'm just going to curl up here and die," said Eunhyuk miserably. Eeteuk frowned at them.
"I thought you'd be happy for me," she said, and flounced off to tell someone else. Probably Ryeowook, because at least Wookie paid attention to her unni.
(Ryeowook was in the library, trying very hard to ignore the fact that Jaejoong, doing research for a paper across the room, kept looking at her and grinning, and Ryeowook had no idea why.)