LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES...CHAPTER 1/? (Jongdae's POV)
Title: Love knows no boundaries...
Author: tikibuddy91
Pairings: LayChen for now
Other Characters: Wufan (Kris), Minseok (Xiumin)
Word Count: ~1670
Rating: G
Genre: College, AU, idekwhatelsetolabelthis...
Summary: Most of them are college students...You can consider them to be unique...They just feel out of place. Some call it a disability. Some call it an ability to prove people wrong. Flirtations lead to relationships, between two parties of people that you could not possibly dream of. (A/N: There may be possible multi-band crossovers but they're not as important as the people listed above.)
Mmnnggh…mmmnngghh…mmmnnnggghhh
The bed is vibrating with a series of intermittent hums from his alarm clock. He groans to wake up and stretches in his bed. Bones are cracking and muscles are stretching to ease off the stiffness from his restless sleep last night.
Jongdae wakes up to the darkness, and he feels the heat from the sun’s rays through the curtains. His hands scramble for the alarm clock button that tells him the time.
A female monotonous voice informs him, “Jongdae-ah..it is 8:15AM.”
Oh dangit. It’s 8:15…Class is in 45 minutes!!
Jongdae grabs for the clutch on the side of his bed as he moves his legs over the side of the bed, and rises up to start the day. He turns his head to the door opening and feels the hurried footsteps drawing near him.
“Yaah~,” Minseok calls to him, petting his head. “Jongdae-ah, are you fully awake? It’s already 8:15 in the morning. Why aren’t you getting ready? Come on, up up you get.” With that, he pats his dongsaeng’s butt with care and leads him to the bathroom. “Come on, you got class soon. Your friend’s about to come by our apartment.”
“Yes, hyung.” Jongdae, voice laced heavily with sleep, nods and goes into the bathroom to take a shower. He takes off his clothes and discards them neatly on the toilet seat. He reaches for his toothbrush and walks into the tub-less shower and draws the shower curtain close.
Whhiiiisssshhhh…tisk tisk splatter splish…
Jongdae gasps and jumps in shock of the instant cold water spraying down on his back. Suddenly it starts to feel warm and his muscles relax under the soothing sensation. He gives a long sigh, bowing his head in contentment and just stands there under the shower spray.
Three minutes has passed since he entered the shower…and he has not moved from his position. He remembers with a start, Right…I shouldn’t be taking too long, Yixing-ge will be here soon.
Jongdae brushes his teeth quickly and spits out the white goop of toothpaste, using the shower spray to rinse his mouth. He places the toothbrush in a safe place and reaches for the shampoo and soap shower dispensers to quickly soap and wash his body. All showered, he gets his toothbrush, hurries out of the shower, grabs his towel, and dries himself off before wrapping his towel around his waist. He did not need to worry about his hair since it was short and not much to take care of. He places his toothbrush on the sink counter and leaves the bathroom.
Meanwhile, Minseok is cooking up breakfast and Wufan is sitting down on his chair in the dining room, reading his newspaper about the economy. Their apartment is really spacious with 2 bedrooms, one bedroom having a bunk bed and a single in one room, as well as another bedroom having a bed for their high schooler dongsaeng. Sun Young has left for high school already, having joined up with Amber, Soojung and Jinri an hour ago. There are two bathrooms, one with a tub and the other without a tub. The apartment has an easy flow as the dining, kitchen and living space are combined into one big room, taking up half of the apartment’s square footage. These siblings have lived well off from their parents, having left them (temporarily) in the countryside to pursue education. There are four of them; with the older brothers doing well with their degrees and jobs, they were able to fend off living in the city, helping their younger siblings attend schools. Minseok is a professional chef-in-training enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu, while Wufan is a student with a major in International Business Management. He has a knack for English, as he favored English professors for his major classes. Their father is Korean but their mother is Chinese, so they have a mixed background; outside of home, they call each other with Korean kinship titles but inside home, they are free to alternately use Chinese and Korean kinship titles.
As Jongdae leaves his room all dressed up in his school uniform, he inhales the aroma of food cooking in the kitchen. Mmmm…Minseok-hyung must be cooking up my favorite omelette for breakfast. He walks with his hand stretched out to brush against the wall, walking the familiar path to the kitchen/dining/living space.
Step…step…rustle…
“Good morning, Chenchen,” Wufan calls out to him as he spots him walking in the hallway. Minseok whirls around to glare at Wufan, as he was about to flip the omelette, because he hated hearing that nickname. (It’s so disgustingly cute that I cannot help but cringe every time you say it, hyung, Minseok had reasoned to him years ago.)
“Ah- morning, Wufan-ge,” says Jongdae cheerily, turning his head to the source of the speaker. Meanwhile, he hears clatters of containers as Minseok reaches for a plastic bowl container that Jongdae uses to carry his meals for school. He can smell a slight scent of Kris, the cologne that he uses. He jokes, “I didn’t think I’d see you there.”
Wufan chuckles at the irony. He folds his newspaper as he gets up to draw Jongdae to sit on his lap. “Had a good sleep last night, Chenchen?” At the sound of the nickname, Minseok has to resist slamming the cupboard drawers. Why does he call Jongdae “Chenchen”, I don't know…but it is really getting annoying. He’s a college student, sheesh… He scoops up some cooked rice from the rice steamer and puts it in the box, putting some vegetables, bibimbap, and his dongsaeng’s favorite omelette in their appropriate sections.
Jongdae giggles because he secretly likes it when Wufan-ge calls him by his nickname. As he was about to reply, there was a noise behind him.
Knock knock…click…shuffle shuffle…
“Annyeonghaseyo, Xiumin-ge. Ni hao ma, Wufan-ge?”
A familiar voice of such gentleness fills the room and Jongdae’s ears as he recognizes it to be none other than Zhang Yixing, a close friend that he met while he was in high school. He had no idea how they met because it all started with an intriguing scent, a simple “Hi, my name is Yixing. What’s yours? Zh…J….Johng..de? Eehm…May I call you, Zhongda?”, and a friendly handshake. He wonders what gave this guy such confidence to talk to him, because they would feel he was uninteresting. To this day, Yixing remains by his side as a friend, even when Jongdae did not ask for it. Thinking back on the past, he is shaken back to the present as he hears his brother replying back with a “Fine, thanks for asking” and “Ayyoo, wassup, Lay-xing??” Wufan pats Jongdae on the shoulder to stand up and leads him to Yixing while grabbing his brother’s college bag and giving it to Jongdae to put it on.
“Jongdae-ah, I’ve packed your meal box for you. Do well on your exams, you hear? Hyung will treat you to his best dinner creation tonight! Hwaiting!” Minseok gives the box to Yixing and turns to Jongdae, giving him a slight affectionate pinch on his cheek. Wufan grins a bit as he watches his younger brother smile with these easily visible dimples and ruffles his hair in the same manner as Minseok had done. He’s a college student and yet he’s not even embarrassed with the slight display of affection from his brother in front of his friend. “Jongdae-ah, good luck on your exams! You’ll do fine. Jia you, Chenchen!”
Jongdae misses the arm pinching and death glare by Minseok towards Wufan as Wufan smirks in retaliation, and replies with a “Hwaiting! I’ll be going now~” as he feels around for Yixing’s hooked arm and links his arm with him. Jongdae feels the frictions of crisp fabrics rubbing against each other as they link arms and he could smell a fresh, clean scent of lemon from his friend.
Yixing leads him safely out the apartment and down the stairs from second floor to the first floor. Jongdae holds on to both Yixing’s toned bicep with his arm and the stair railing as they descend. When they are finally out the apartment complex, he immediately feels the wind blowing in his face and chuckles at the sudden sensation.
Whrr…whhooooshh…whooosshhhhh
“It sure is a windy day today,” Jongdae says, chuckling, as Yixing beams at him. As they walked against the windy breeze, Yixing notices a slight worried expression on his friend’s face.
“What’s with the frown, Zhongda?” His Chinese accent, though gentle, is still prominent, but Jongdae finds it really endearing, in a friendly way, that he has another nickname to respond to. Growing up with Jongdae-ah, Chenchen, Jonggie-oppa, Jongdae-hyung, Chen-ge, Jonggie-yah and Zhongda, he’s able to tell who is who just by hearing the nicknames.
Jongdae does not look at him but rather looks up to the sky, “I’m a little nervous for my exams. I studied as much as I could last night.” Jongdae expresses some of his worries that had been keeping him up all night. “I don’t want to disappoint Minseok-hyung and Wufan-hyung…”
Yixing, upon hearing his worries, pats Jongdae’s arm with his free hand. He hates seeing his Zhongda not looking happy. “You’ll do fine, Zhongda. You studied what you could. Use what you know and don’t feel bad if you made a mistake. It’s not like this is the only exam you have for the school year. You can get back up and reach the top in the end. Fall 7 times, get up 8, yes?” Jongdae gives a little grunt in agreement. “Now, come on, our friends are waiting for us!”
Jongdae wonders what made him so lucky to have a friend like Yixing, someone who does not know what it is like to be in his shoes yet could offer a sense of peace and comfort for a friend. He feels really blessed that he had been easily accepted as a friend, not for what he has but for who he is. Together, with high spirits and the wind now blowing them to the direction of their destination, they walk in a hurried pace to the entrance gate of their college.
- If you haven't figured out by now, Jongdae is blind. :) Hints were obvious: Sound effects in Italic Bold, and Descriptions of surroundings around him.
- Sun Young = Luna, Jinri = Sulli, Soo Jung = Krystal (yes, they're from f(x))
- Chenchen = Kris's actual nickname for Jongdae, it's so precious I cannot. And his reason as to how/why he came up with that name? "It's cute for him". PERIOD. NOTHING ELSE. /DEAD. KRIS YOU ADORKABLE GEGE-HYUNG YOU.
- Jia you! = Mandarin cheer of support similar to "Good Luck!/Fighting!"
- gege/-ge = Chinese title for older brothers/male cousins