Kangin/Shiwon high school AU fic
title: the trouble with the good life
theme: 069. sailing; 004/100; archive
Kangin/Shiwon
humor and fluff
obviously i am using this challenge as an excuse to write every ridiculous and clichéd plot i can think of. \o/?
Shiwon was, Kangin thought, one of the very most annoying people he had ever known in his entire life. Shiwon had gone away for a year to model or something in Europe or somewhere and had come back to school twice as good looking and infinitely more humble and gentlemanly and perfect. He'd even almost -- almost, but he hadn't and that was the important thing -- usurped Kangin's place as King of their high school.
But Kangin was the captain of the soccer team, handsome, and manly but not overwhelmingly so, which had kept him in his rightful place in the school hierarchy. Plus his mother had recently been named one of the country's richest and most influential women and they'd moved to an even bigger house with double the amount of pools and more rooms than Kangin had yet been able to count. Those things had contributed to his popularity, of course.
None of that really helped Kangin with dealing with Shiwon, however, because Shiwon was just that irritating. He was always following Kangin around everywhere and asking his driver to follow Kangin's driver back to Kangin's house. Then he would offer to do Kangin's homework and ask if they could play videogames and then maybe he could spend the night because Kangin was his best--
"You're making a strange face," said Heechul. "Are you thinking too hard? Don't; it doesn't suit you."
Kangin kicked Heechul under the lunch table and Heechul kicked back even harder.
"Here," said Shiwon, sitting down next to Kangin. "I got the last piece of cake for you. I know you like it." Kangin frowned, half grateful and half displeased, but accepted the cake anyway.
"What is this?" asked Donghae, poking at his plate. "Is this food? Am I supposed to eat it?"
Heechul rolled his eyes. "It's not food, it's cuisine, idiot. The school hired a new chef and he's one of the best."
Donghae looked at his cuisine skeptically.
"I don't know why I bother with any of you. You all act no better than poor people," said Heechul.
Next to Heechul, Hankyung choked on his imported bottled water, and Shiwon looked scandalized. "It's okay, we're all pretty sure he isn't serious," assured Donghae as he tried to sneak the contents of his plate onto Shiwon's.
"Does anyone really believe that anymore?" queried Eeteuk. He'd walked over to their group, leaned over Kangin, commandeered Kangin's fork halfway to his mouth and took a giant bite. Shiwon stared at both of them, obviously unhappy. "Anyway," continued Eeteuk, taking the empty seat next to Heechul, "The school newspaper has added a new column and I--"
Kangin tuned out. Eeteuk was always talking and, frankly, Kangin would find out the good parts later, if there were any. Instead Kangin mentally countdown the hours until the day would be over and he would be out on the field where he could order people around as much as he pleased. That was the good life, really.
That afternoon Eeteuk was sat on one of the benches in the locker room, talking and talking and talking, while Kangin was trying to change into his soccer uniform before the rest of the team showed up. It was hard to look imposing and strike terror into the hearts of anyone when he was standing around in his underwear. "Is there a reason you're here?" he asked Eeteuk. "You aren't on the team. I've seen you play; you're terrible."
"Can't I just be visiting a friend?" responded Eeteuk, attempting to sound offended.
Kangin pulled his shirt over his head then placed his foot on the bench so he could tie up his shoe-laces. "Are you in love with me?" He paused and placed his hand on Eeteuk's shoulder. "I'm sorry; it'll never work between us. It's not you, it's me."
Eeteuk shoved Kangin away from him. "You're right, it is you. You're not my type."
"Is Kangin hitting on you?" Heechul entered the room and moved over to his locker. "Just punch him or something; that usually makes him stop."
Eeteuk smiled up at Heechul, then turned back to face Kangin. "Does Shiwon know you're like this?"
"What?" asked Kangin.
"You know, like how you are a brute with a giant ego and like how he's all mushy over you anyway," Heechul replied.
"What," Kangin repeated.
Eeteuk sighed, exasperated. "Don't act like you don't notice," he said. "He's infatuated with you."
Kangin stared at Heechul, uncomprehending.
"You are so dumb," said Heechul.
Before Kangin could move to throttle Heechul -- he'd wanted to for years and years and years and one day he would have the chance, he knew it -- Hyukjae and Donghae ran into the locker room, passing a soccer ball back and forth and laughing loudly. Then Hyukjae sort of tripped on Kangin's bag that had been set on the floor and ended up kicking the ball directly into the back of Heechul's head. Kangin couldn't have been more thankful that he was witness to such an event.
"Oh," Donghae whispered. "You should probably run."
In a moment Hyukjae tore out of the room, and Heechul was to the door faster than Kangin had ever seen him run on the field. Donghae stared after them both sadly. "He was a good friend. I'll miss him."
"A great teammate, too," added Kangin.
"Amen," finished Eeteuk.
"Um," Shiwon said as he opened the door and stepped inside. "I think I just saw Heechul chase Hyukjae into the girls' bathroom." He looked around the room for confirmation that he couldn't possibly have seen anything like that and he must have been imagining things.
Kangin heaved a sigh of the long suffering and Donghae tried to hide his laughter behind both of his hands. Eeteuk stood up and moved toward the exit. "Someone should probably stop them," he mumbled quietly. "I'm coming, too. I need to see this," called Donghae, following Eeteuk out the door.
Kangin glanced at his watch. At the rate things were going they wouldn't even start practice until sometime around the turn of the next century. He sighed, again, then turned to face Shiwon. "Unless you've joined the team without telling me, you're not supposed to be here."
"No," said Shiwon, smiling. "I just wanted to tell you that I can't go to your house tonight because I have--"
"--Model stuff, I know. I'm not your keeper; you don't have to keep me updated about everything you do."
Shiwon blinked. "Oh. Then I guess I'll see you later," he said softly.
When Shiwon had finally left Kangin alone, he rubbed at his eyes in frustration. Not only was Shiwon this newfound constant source of confusion, aggravation, something in his life, but all of Kangin's friends were absolutely insane. Also, his entire team seemed to have disappeared of the face of the Earth and now he'd have to chase them all down. Kangin hoped that Heechul hadn't actually managed to cause any real harm to Hyukjae because he really didn't want to deal with that. Especially because then Hyukjae's lawyers would call Heechul's lawyers and then the soccer team would be divided until a settlement had been reached and they'd already gone through that twice already since the term had started.
Heechul, Kangin knew, was pretty much the worst vice-captain he could have. He cursed the fact that he'd lost the bet that had given Heechul that title. Obviously Heechul had cheated. Kangin just didn't know how.
That night Kangin lay in his bed and stared discontentedly up at the ceiling. At least it was the weekend, he thought. All of his problems could wait a few days.
"Kangin?" his mother knocked softly on his bedroom door once, then opened it before he had a chance to respond. "Today I had lunch with Choi Shiwon's mother and she was telling me about how his father recently bought a new yacht, so we made plans for all of us to go out on it this weekend. Doesn't that sound nice?"
"No," answered Kangin. "It doesn't."
"Don't be silly. Remember when your father used to take you and little Shiwon out sailing every month? You loved it back then and this'll be just like that, except on a much bigger boat."
Kangin groaned, rolled over, pulled his pillow on top of his head, and tried to go to sleep. Maybe in the morning he'd wake up in a world where his driver wasn't five minutes late picking him up from school, the family chef hadn't prepared fish for dinner instead of steak like Kangin had wanted, and where attractive male models weren't mushy in any way at all for any reason having anything to do with Kangin. His life was so tragically hard.
Sunday morning Kangin begrudgingly went along with his mother to the new Choi family yacht. It was big, Kangin noted, and surrounded by water. "Fascinating," Kangin muttered dryly, but he'd seen bigger.
"Kangin!" Shiwon yelled over the railing. He was waving his arms madly and grinning like and idiot. Kangin slowly made his way up the ramp, making sure to keep as far away from the edge as possible.
"Isn't it pretty?" asked Shiwon, gesturing out toward the ocean once Kangin had finally approached him. "It looks better at night though."
"Yeah," said Kangin. "Sure."
Shiwon turned around to face Kangin better, and frowned. "I thought you liked boats and sailing and things like that?"
"I did. I do." Kangin sighed.
Shiwon took hold of Kangin's hand and smiled warmly. "We had a lot of fun when we were kids," he said.
"Yeah, I guess. Except for that time you pushed me overboard," Kangin responded. Shiwon's eyes widened and his mouth opened in shock. "I didn't! You fell when you were trying to push me in."
"Oh," said Kangin thoughtfully. "Are you sure?"
Shiwon nodded his head vigorously. He was so damn earnest that Kangin had a hard time doubting him. Also, he wasn't entirely sure Shiwon even knew how to lie. "Fine, maybe that's how it happened."
Shiwon laughed. "Come on, I want to show you the rest of the ship," he said, dragging Kangin below deck. They were still holding hands so Kangin had little choice but to follow. Unless he wanted to pull free, causing Shiwon to make than annoyingly pathetic face where he looked like a small, baby animal that had recently been kicked. It was funny, sometimes, but mostly it just made Kangin feel guilty and he hated that.
The interior of the yacht was tastefully decorated with expensive everything. Kangin preferred his father's old sailboat with its saltwater smell and haphazard designs. "Why are we down here?" Kangin asked suspiciously, watching Shiwon out of the corner of his eyes.
Shiwon tugged Kangin over to the small sofa and sat down. "We can play video games in here." Kangin concluded that the Choi family yacht had some perks after all.
It was nearly midnight when they docked and Kangin was allowed to finally go home. He had spent hours trying to be quiet while he killed things on the television screen because Shiwon had fallen asleep with his head on Kangin's shoulder and his body pressed against Kangin's side. Kangin had almost not wanted to leave. But they had school the next day and Kangin had the soccer team and his legs were going numb from sitting so long and, more importantly, he had friends who could never, ever find out about that weekend.
Except, of course, they did. Somehow.
"Rumor has it that you had a date with Shiwon yesterday," said Heechul, sitting down across from Kangin at their usual lunch table. "I really was hoping he'd turn out to have better sense than that."
"Is that true?" Eeteuk asked as he sat down next to Heechul. He pulled a pen and small notebook from his bag and started writing. "Would you call this a fairytale romance or an after school special?"
Kangin blinked in confusion. "What? What are you writing?"
"The new school gossip column for the newspaper." Eeteuk look up and frowned at Kangin. "I've told you about it at least twice," he said.
"You really should stop expecting him to listen," said Heechul. "Oh, Shiwon!" Heechul called and waved Shiwon over. "Tell me, what is Kangin like on a date: suave and sophisticated or bumbling and stupid?"
Shiwon's eyes went wide as he set down his lunch and moved into the chair beside Kangin. "Why would you want to know that? Do you want to date him?"
Heechul gaped and sort of choked on the air in his lungs. It took a moment for Kangin to get over the horror and shock of that terrible idea, but when he looked over to Shiwon he could see his lips tilted in a subtle smirk. Kangin laughed and knocked his shoulder against Shiwon's. He decided that yes, Shiwon might occasionally be one of the most annoying people he knew, but Kangin liked him anyway.
theme: 069. sailing; 004/100; archive
Kangin/Shiwon
humor and fluff
obviously i am using this challenge as an excuse to write every ridiculous and clichéd plot i can think of. \o/?
Shiwon was, Kangin thought, one of the very most annoying people he had ever known in his entire life. Shiwon had gone away for a year to model or something in Europe or somewhere and had come back to school twice as good looking and infinitely more humble and gentlemanly and perfect. He'd even almost -- almost, but he hadn't and that was the important thing -- usurped Kangin's place as King of their high school.
But Kangin was the captain of the soccer team, handsome, and manly but not overwhelmingly so, which had kept him in his rightful place in the school hierarchy. Plus his mother had recently been named one of the country's richest and most influential women and they'd moved to an even bigger house with double the amount of pools and more rooms than Kangin had yet been able to count. Those things had contributed to his popularity, of course.
None of that really helped Kangin with dealing with Shiwon, however, because Shiwon was just that irritating. He was always following Kangin around everywhere and asking his driver to follow Kangin's driver back to Kangin's house. Then he would offer to do Kangin's homework and ask if they could play videogames and then maybe he could spend the night because Kangin was his best--
"You're making a strange face," said Heechul. "Are you thinking too hard? Don't; it doesn't suit you."
Kangin kicked Heechul under the lunch table and Heechul kicked back even harder.
"Here," said Shiwon, sitting down next to Kangin. "I got the last piece of cake for you. I know you like it." Kangin frowned, half grateful and half displeased, but accepted the cake anyway.
"What is this?" asked Donghae, poking at his plate. "Is this food? Am I supposed to eat it?"
Heechul rolled his eyes. "It's not food, it's cuisine, idiot. The school hired a new chef and he's one of the best."
Donghae looked at his cuisine skeptically.
"I don't know why I bother with any of you. You all act no better than poor people," said Heechul.
Next to Heechul, Hankyung choked on his imported bottled water, and Shiwon looked scandalized. "It's okay, we're all pretty sure he isn't serious," assured Donghae as he tried to sneak the contents of his plate onto Shiwon's.
"Does anyone really believe that anymore?" queried Eeteuk. He'd walked over to their group, leaned over Kangin, commandeered Kangin's fork halfway to his mouth and took a giant bite. Shiwon stared at both of them, obviously unhappy. "Anyway," continued Eeteuk, taking the empty seat next to Heechul, "The school newspaper has added a new column and I--"
Kangin tuned out. Eeteuk was always talking and, frankly, Kangin would find out the good parts later, if there were any. Instead Kangin mentally countdown the hours until the day would be over and he would be out on the field where he could order people around as much as he pleased. That was the good life, really.
That afternoon Eeteuk was sat on one of the benches in the locker room, talking and talking and talking, while Kangin was trying to change into his soccer uniform before the rest of the team showed up. It was hard to look imposing and strike terror into the hearts of anyone when he was standing around in his underwear. "Is there a reason you're here?" he asked Eeteuk. "You aren't on the team. I've seen you play; you're terrible."
"Can't I just be visiting a friend?" responded Eeteuk, attempting to sound offended.
Kangin pulled his shirt over his head then placed his foot on the bench so he could tie up his shoe-laces. "Are you in love with me?" He paused and placed his hand on Eeteuk's shoulder. "I'm sorry; it'll never work between us. It's not you, it's me."
Eeteuk shoved Kangin away from him. "You're right, it is you. You're not my type."
"Is Kangin hitting on you?" Heechul entered the room and moved over to his locker. "Just punch him or something; that usually makes him stop."
Eeteuk smiled up at Heechul, then turned back to face Kangin. "Does Shiwon know you're like this?"
"What?" asked Kangin.
"You know, like how you are a brute with a giant ego and like how he's all mushy over you anyway," Heechul replied.
"What," Kangin repeated.
Eeteuk sighed, exasperated. "Don't act like you don't notice," he said. "He's infatuated with you."
Kangin stared at Heechul, uncomprehending.
"You are so dumb," said Heechul.
Before Kangin could move to throttle Heechul -- he'd wanted to for years and years and years and one day he would have the chance, he knew it -- Hyukjae and Donghae ran into the locker room, passing a soccer ball back and forth and laughing loudly. Then Hyukjae sort of tripped on Kangin's bag that had been set on the floor and ended up kicking the ball directly into the back of Heechul's head. Kangin couldn't have been more thankful that he was witness to such an event.
"Oh," Donghae whispered. "You should probably run."
In a moment Hyukjae tore out of the room, and Heechul was to the door faster than Kangin had ever seen him run on the field. Donghae stared after them both sadly. "He was a good friend. I'll miss him."
"A great teammate, too," added Kangin.
"Amen," finished Eeteuk.
"Um," Shiwon said as he opened the door and stepped inside. "I think I just saw Heechul chase Hyukjae into the girls' bathroom." He looked around the room for confirmation that he couldn't possibly have seen anything like that and he must have been imagining things.
Kangin heaved a sigh of the long suffering and Donghae tried to hide his laughter behind both of his hands. Eeteuk stood up and moved toward the exit. "Someone should probably stop them," he mumbled quietly. "I'm coming, too. I need to see this," called Donghae, following Eeteuk out the door.
Kangin glanced at his watch. At the rate things were going they wouldn't even start practice until sometime around the turn of the next century. He sighed, again, then turned to face Shiwon. "Unless you've joined the team without telling me, you're not supposed to be here."
"No," said Shiwon, smiling. "I just wanted to tell you that I can't go to your house tonight because I have--"
"--Model stuff, I know. I'm not your keeper; you don't have to keep me updated about everything you do."
Shiwon blinked. "Oh. Then I guess I'll see you later," he said softly.
When Shiwon had finally left Kangin alone, he rubbed at his eyes in frustration. Not only was Shiwon this newfound constant source of confusion, aggravation, something in his life, but all of Kangin's friends were absolutely insane. Also, his entire team seemed to have disappeared of the face of the Earth and now he'd have to chase them all down. Kangin hoped that Heechul hadn't actually managed to cause any real harm to Hyukjae because he really didn't want to deal with that. Especially because then Hyukjae's lawyers would call Heechul's lawyers and then the soccer team would be divided until a settlement had been reached and they'd already gone through that twice already since the term had started.
Heechul, Kangin knew, was pretty much the worst vice-captain he could have. He cursed the fact that he'd lost the bet that had given Heechul that title. Obviously Heechul had cheated. Kangin just didn't know how.
That night Kangin lay in his bed and stared discontentedly up at the ceiling. At least it was the weekend, he thought. All of his problems could wait a few days.
"Kangin?" his mother knocked softly on his bedroom door once, then opened it before he had a chance to respond. "Today I had lunch with Choi Shiwon's mother and she was telling me about how his father recently bought a new yacht, so we made plans for all of us to go out on it this weekend. Doesn't that sound nice?"
"No," answered Kangin. "It doesn't."
"Don't be silly. Remember when your father used to take you and little Shiwon out sailing every month? You loved it back then and this'll be just like that, except on a much bigger boat."
Kangin groaned, rolled over, pulled his pillow on top of his head, and tried to go to sleep. Maybe in the morning he'd wake up in a world where his driver wasn't five minutes late picking him up from school, the family chef hadn't prepared fish for dinner instead of steak like Kangin had wanted, and where attractive male models weren't mushy in any way at all for any reason having anything to do with Kangin. His life was so tragically hard.
Sunday morning Kangin begrudgingly went along with his mother to the new Choi family yacht. It was big, Kangin noted, and surrounded by water. "Fascinating," Kangin muttered dryly, but he'd seen bigger.
"Kangin!" Shiwon yelled over the railing. He was waving his arms madly and grinning like and idiot. Kangin slowly made his way up the ramp, making sure to keep as far away from the edge as possible.
"Isn't it pretty?" asked Shiwon, gesturing out toward the ocean once Kangin had finally approached him. "It looks better at night though."
"Yeah," said Kangin. "Sure."
Shiwon turned around to face Kangin better, and frowned. "I thought you liked boats and sailing and things like that?"
"I did. I do." Kangin sighed.
Shiwon took hold of Kangin's hand and smiled warmly. "We had a lot of fun when we were kids," he said.
"Yeah, I guess. Except for that time you pushed me overboard," Kangin responded. Shiwon's eyes widened and his mouth opened in shock. "I didn't! You fell when you were trying to push me in."
"Oh," said Kangin thoughtfully. "Are you sure?"
Shiwon nodded his head vigorously. He was so damn earnest that Kangin had a hard time doubting him. Also, he wasn't entirely sure Shiwon even knew how to lie. "Fine, maybe that's how it happened."
Shiwon laughed. "Come on, I want to show you the rest of the ship," he said, dragging Kangin below deck. They were still holding hands so Kangin had little choice but to follow. Unless he wanted to pull free, causing Shiwon to make than annoyingly pathetic face where he looked like a small, baby animal that had recently been kicked. It was funny, sometimes, but mostly it just made Kangin feel guilty and he hated that.
The interior of the yacht was tastefully decorated with expensive everything. Kangin preferred his father's old sailboat with its saltwater smell and haphazard designs. "Why are we down here?" Kangin asked suspiciously, watching Shiwon out of the corner of his eyes.
Shiwon tugged Kangin over to the small sofa and sat down. "We can play video games in here." Kangin concluded that the Choi family yacht had some perks after all.
It was nearly midnight when they docked and Kangin was allowed to finally go home. He had spent hours trying to be quiet while he killed things on the television screen because Shiwon had fallen asleep with his head on Kangin's shoulder and his body pressed against Kangin's side. Kangin had almost not wanted to leave. But they had school the next day and Kangin had the soccer team and his legs were going numb from sitting so long and, more importantly, he had friends who could never, ever find out about that weekend.
Except, of course, they did. Somehow.
"Rumor has it that you had a date with Shiwon yesterday," said Heechul, sitting down across from Kangin at their usual lunch table. "I really was hoping he'd turn out to have better sense than that."
"Is that true?" Eeteuk asked as he sat down next to Heechul. He pulled a pen and small notebook from his bag and started writing. "Would you call this a fairytale romance or an after school special?"
Kangin blinked in confusion. "What? What are you writing?"
"The new school gossip column for the newspaper." Eeteuk look up and frowned at Kangin. "I've told you about it at least twice," he said.
"You really should stop expecting him to listen," said Heechul. "Oh, Shiwon!" Heechul called and waved Shiwon over. "Tell me, what is Kangin like on a date: suave and sophisticated or bumbling and stupid?"
Shiwon's eyes went wide as he set down his lunch and moved into the chair beside Kangin. "Why would you want to know that? Do you want to date him?"
Heechul gaped and sort of choked on the air in his lungs. It took a moment for Kangin to get over the horror and shock of that terrible idea, but when he looked over to Shiwon he could see his lips tilted in a subtle smirk. Kangin laughed and knocked his shoulder against Shiwon's. He decided that yes, Shiwon might occasionally be one of the most annoying people he knew, but Kangin liked him anyway.