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Fire drills are taxing.
Making the entire school evacuate the building and rushing to the field just to take attendance under the scorching heat of the sun and then running back into the school, attending classes with sweat sticking onto their clothes. What’s the point of them?
I mean, sure, it can be useful if you’re having your chemistry exam and sweet jesus, a fire drill occurs at that time, you’re saved from the agony of doing the goddamn paper.
But on your free period? Wasting your precious time of relaxation and more importantly—watching volleyball matches while drinking a hot cocoa?
Fuck, no.
Seungkwan wasn’t having any of it when the fire alarm went off on a peaceful Friday morning. His math teacher was absent that day and just when he thought he could bunk class and watch the volleyball live match that time, the fire drill just had to ruin his mood.
Why do we need a fire drill every week anyway?
He was too tired to run down five floors and enter the big field, all just to stand under the hot sun. During all the chaos, he quietly crawled and sneaked into the locker rooms since there won’t be any CCTVs to spy on him there.
Seungkwan laid down on his stomach on one of the benches and turned on the live. He was so absorbed with the live that he didn’t notice the person approaching him from behind. Seungkwan fell down from the bench, surprised, when a hand was placed on his left shoulder.
“Son of a bitch!” Seungkwan cursed, as he ran his hand over his back. “Dude, what the fuck—”
It wasn’t that Seungkwan got cut off or anything. He was merely aghast.
Standing in front of him was none other than the hot quarterback from the football team. Every girl in school has a crush on him and he’s also the guy voted by other schools as the man you would want to sleep with the most.
“Um, hey,” Vernon broke the silence. He reached out his hand for Seungkwan. “Sorry, looks like I kinda’ scared ya.”
The quarterback just spoke to him. To him.
Holy shit, my gay ass is clapping, Seungkwan thought as he quickly brushed off the non-existent dirt on his pants and stood up.
“Nah man, it’s fine. I was just caught off guard,” Seungkwan replied, trying to act calm and composed in front of the attractive kid.
An awkward silence filled the air as they simply stared at each other, not knowing what to do. The fire alarm was still blaring, which Seungkwan wished that it would just shut up already.
Before any of the boys could speak up, there was a loud bang on the door.
“Is there anyone in here?!”
Vernon grabbed Seungkwan’s hand and pulled him into one of the lockers. He quietly closed the locker door just in time as the room door opened. The teacher came in, taking his time inspecting the room before rushing out. They held their breath, afraid to be caught.
Seungkwan is gonna fucking die.
His face was buried into the quarterback’s neck. His hands were tugging at the hem of the muscular kid’s t-shirt. He was drenched in sweat and Seungkwan is actually repulsive of that stinky smell but right now, he’s in a daze from the mixture of deodorant and sweat hitting his nose.
Vernon’s nose was buried in Seungkwan’s hair. When the teacher finally exited the room, Seungkwan released his grip on Vernon thus making more distance between them. He sniffed Seungkwan’s sweet-smelling hair again which achieved him a weird look from Seungkwan.
“Lol,” Vernon chuckled, earning an eyebrow raise from Seungkwan this time. He just said lol in real life. “Your hair smell really nice. It’s like marshmallows. What shampoo do you use?”
“Baby shampoo,” Seungkwan answered, a bit puzzled at the mention of marshmallows. It’s not exactly common for teenagers of his age to use baby shampoo but hey, it will never betray you and sting your eye.
“I see,” Vernon replied. Not wanting another awkward silence to fill the air, he continued their small talk. “My name is Vernon by the way, oh and I’m half Korean.”
“Oh, my name is Jeju,” Seungkwan spluttered, still in a trance and then realised what he just said when Vernon made a puzzled face. “I mean, I’m Seungkwan and I’m from Jeju. Um, do you speak Korean?”
“Yeah,” Vernon answered, grinning. Seungkwan getting flustered is such an adorable sight. “I’m guessing you do too, right? You just transferred here last sem.”
Seungkwan nodded. Another surprise…He wasn’t expecting the quarterback to take notice of him when he transferred. Unlike how he was back in his hometown, he doesn’t talk much with the people here. He wasn’t in the spotlight, he’d just hide in the shadows and do his own thing.
Another awkward moment filled the air as they simply stared at each other but neither of them were complaining. Seungkwan’s insides were burning from the strong gaze. Vernon is closely observing the shorter boy’s features.
“Um, I think we’re safe now,” Seungkwan broke the stifling silence. He suddenly got conscious of the acne he has on his left cheek. “We can like…get out from the lockers, right?”
Vernon was snapped back to reality. He took an audible deep breath before nodding. Seungkwan opened the locker and finally stepped outside. The air seemed colder than the insides of the locker, his nerves slowly calmed down.
Seungkwan decided to keep the conversation going this time. It’s not every day you get to talk with the school’s quarterback.
“Why are you here?” Seungkwan asked. “I thought no one would be around.”
“The same goes for you,” Vernon replied cheekily. “Why are you here? I thought no one would be around.”
Seungkwan snorted at Vernon’s remark. “Well, it’s just a fake fire drill anyway. I wasn’t exactly in the mood to run down the stairs so I just sneaked in here.”
“So, you ditched the drill to watch volleyball?”
“What’s with that tone?” Seungkwan asked, defensively. “It’s an amazing sport.”
“Nothing against the sport, I just found it funny,” Vernon replied, still keeping a cheeky smile on his face.
For the next ten minutes, they simply sat on the bench and talked about the most random stuffs like why are humans born, ‘I mean the world could go on without humans right?’ and many other subjects that has nothing to do with the situation.
“Do you smell something burning?” Seungkwan suddenly asked, in the middle of their serious conversation whether pineapples are necessary on pizza.
“Sheesh, Seungkwan, you don’t need to compliment me like that,” Vernon laughed, playfully hitting Seungkwan’s shoulder. Seungkwan looked at him, confused. Vernon then added, “I know I’m hot, but thanks anyway.”
Seungkwan had to fight the urge to facepalm and instead stuck to his point. “For real, I could feel the smoke, Vernon.”
“I get it,” Vernon replied, this time biting his lower lip and showing a shy smile. “I’m smoking hot, innit?”
Seungkwan made a face at him. He is now incredibly ashamed for having a crush on this guy whose head seems to be only made of muscles.
Instead of replying any further and making his new friend wallowing himself in pride, he decided to check the source of the smoke himself. He walked towards the door and slowly eyed the corridor. He saw bits of smoke coming out of the home economics room.
“Vernon?” He called out, slightly panicking. “I think we have a real fire here.”
“THE SECOND FLOOR IS ON FIRE TOO!” Seungkwan yelled, as soon as he stepped onto the third floor’s emergency staircase. Vernon pulled him and they ran to the other side of the floor to keep themselves away temporarily from the fire.
“WHO THE FUCK EXPECTED A FIRE ON A FIRE DRILL?” Vernon screamed. “How the fuck are there two fires in the building anyways?”
“Someone forgot to turn off the stove in home econs and the other fire is from that direction so it must be from the laboratory,” Seungkwan replied, finally catching his breath. “Okay, we are kinda’ safe here for the time being.”
“Well, not for long,” Vernon replied, he grabbed the hammer next to the extinguisher and broke the glass. He took out the fire extinguisher and faced Seungkwan. “Just in case.”
“Okay, that’s great,” Seungkwan responded. “We need to get down to the ground floor. Never in my life had I thought there’d be an actual fire in our school and that too, this bad.”
“Same, in fact why aren’t the fire fighters here yet?”
“Good point,” Seungkwan answered. “There aren’t any staircase at this end so we better go back to the emergency route and find our way down. You stay here, I’ll go and check whether we can avoid the fire.”
“Seungkwan, you sound like we are on a battlefield or something,” Vernon replied, trying to supress a smile. “You’re over-panicking. We should be calm and collected during times like these.” He grabbed Seungkwan’s wrist. “Follow me, I’ll check if everything is fine and we can escape then!”
It was as if the fear that was consuming Seungkwan’s mind just disappeared into an oblivion, right at once. His eyes are now on Vernon’s grip instead, silently praying that his loud heart beats won’t be heard.
Vernon opened the door to the emergency stair case and only saw smoke of the fire at the floor above of them. He squeezed the handle of the extinguisher and put off the fire in front of him. Throwing the equipment away, he motioned Seungkwan to have a look as well. Seungkwan let out a small squeal and immediately grabbed Vernon’s arm to run down the staircase but just then a chunk of wood fell on Seungkwan’s shoulder.
His shirt is on fire.
He screamed and tried to blow it away. Vernon, who was much calmer, grabbed his hand and took him back to the floor again.
“Take the shirt off!” Vernon yelled but Seungkwan had tears streaming down his cheeks and was completely out of it. Vernon took a deep breath before grabbing Seungkwan’s shirt and ripping it open. Buttons plopped down to the floor and Vernon threw it to the ground, stomping on the fire.
Seungkwan finally calmed down, seeing that he wasn’t gonna be on fire soon. But his nerves started acting up again when he realised he was shirtless in front of the quarterback. He immediately hid his chest, embarrassed.
Vernon, who finally finished stomping on the shirt, took the half-burned shirt and tossed it to Seungkwan who didn’t catch it. “You can actually just roll on the ground, the fire would be put off. I don’t think you can wear it again but her—why are you hiding your nipples?”
It was a pretty strange sight. Seungkwan was literally placing three of his fingers on each of his nipples, even his posture looked funny to Vernon that he burst out laughing. “Dude, we are both guys here, I’m not gonna say anything about your nipple.”
“You’re gonna laugh at me, so let’s just ignore what I’m doing and try to get out of here instead.”
“Yeah, right, what’s so embarrassing about nipples?” Vernon asked, rolling his eyes. “It’s not like you have pink nipples or something.”
The silence that came afterward answered Vernon’s question.
“No way,” Vernon gasped, his eyes were so wide you’d probably mistake them for tea cup saucers. “I mean, it’s not something bad, dude. Don’t worry about it.”
“You promise not to laugh?” Seungkwan asked, after a few seconds of silence passed. Vernon nodded, giving a smile trying to ease Seungkwan.
He slowly removed his hands, letting Vernon see the sight.
Vernon tripped.
It wasn’t funny or anything but it looked strangely so attractive? Seungkwan was blushing so hard that the tinge of red was everywhere, contouring his shoulder blades even and that made the sight even more beautiful. The way Seungkwan was standing, still shy and his head down made him look really small that it somehow tugged Vernon’s heartstrings. Vernon had to fight the urge to pull Seungkwan to a tight hug.
“Stop staring,” Seungkwan finally spoke up and lightly hit Vernon’s arm, bringing him back to reality. Vernon’s eyes finally looked back up to Seungkwan’s face.
“It’s cute.”
“What?” Seungkwan responded, stammering a little bit.
“I mean, it looks good on you,” Vernon rephrased. He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks, similar to Seungkwan. This is a pretty strange situation, Vernon had no control over his words.
“Thanks, I guess?” Seungkwan replied, more of a question than a statement. “I feel like just burning to death here, rather than getting down and exposing the shirtless me to the entire school out there on the field.”
Vernon pondered for a short while before removing his top and giving it to Seungkwan. “You can wear mine. The school has seen me shirtless plenty of times anyways.”
Seungkwan thanked him and wore his top. He asked before he could stop himself, “I wonder if anyone saw you pant-less here then.”
Just when Seungkwan thought Vernon’s eyes couldn’t get wider than how it looked like when he found out about his nipples’ colours, Vernon’s eyes got so wide he thought that they would pop out of his face. Seungkwan slapped his forehead so hard and kept covering his face, embarrassed to show his face.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean tha—”
“Uh, not really,” Vernon interrupted. “Well, that was abrupt.”
Seungkwan wanted to ask what does he mean by not really but he has been self-humiliated enough for today so he decided to let it pass. “Let’s get back on track, we are on fire here.”
As soon as Seungkwan finished his sentence, another chunk of wood fell creating a large noise bringing in attention from them both to the blazing fire. They looked at each other for a millisecond before running back to the other end of the corridor for safety.
They entered a laboratory, a biology laboratory, and plopped onto the stools. For now, they are far away from the fire, it will take at least twent minutes for the fire to reach their place.
“We need a plan,” Seungkwan muttered. He was so distressed, he’s nearly crying.
“Yeah, we should but,” Vernon started. “How on Earth are we supposed to escape when literally all the exits are closed?”
This isn’t really the time for Seungkwan to be fawning over Vernon’s abs but it’s seriously distracting. Seungkwan gave himself a mental slap before replying to Vernon’s question. “There has to be a way. I mean, we can always jump from the building right and why the actual fuck isn’t the FIREFIGHTERS HERE YET I AM GONNA—”
Vernon wrapped his arms around Seungkwan which immediately stopped his rant. Seungkwan’s face is squished into Vernon’s broad chest.
Actually… it’s fine if I die today, my face is in Chwe Vernon Hansol’s cleavage.
Vernon on the other hand had only serious thoughts. He caressed Seungkwan’s hair trying to calm the flustered boy. “It’s going to be fine. We won’t get burned to death. Help is gonna reach soon. We will see each other again tomorrow and laugh at how panicked and anxious we were today. Seungkwan-ah, it’s going to be just fine, so don’t cry, okay? Just stay strong and we can get through this safely, without any injuries…,” Vernon kept blabbering but Seungkwan wasn’t listening.
Seungkwan’s thoughts right now is how Vernon’s tiddies looked so appetizing.
Seungkwan pondered for the longest time how on earth can a man’s boobs look so huge. A part of him really wants to poke the boob but people don’t just poke boobs when they first meet. Seungkwan’s thoughts trailed off even further to his bucket list. He has exchanged a conversation with a super hot guy for more than an hour—check. He has hugged a man—check. He has been hugged by a man—check. He’s wearing another man’s clothes—check. He has been kissed by a hottie—che—wait.
Seungkwan bobbed back his head, his head hitting Vernon’s chin. Vernon looked at him in surprise while stroking his chin.
“What’s wrong, Seungkwan-ah?” Vernon asked, his eyebrows furrowed. Seungkwan was lost in his thoughts, still staring at Vernon, thinking about how he hasn’t been kissed by a hot guy yet and his thoughts trailed off even further.
“Can you like fuck me right now or something,” Seungkwan muttered under his breath “I’m gonna die a virgin. This is really bad.”
Vernon honestly thought that he wouldn’t get any more surprises today but boyyyy, was he wrong.
Seungkwan was still lost in his thoughts, unaware that Vernon heard him muttering very clearly. Seungkwan thoughts wandered off again about how he wanted to adopt a puppy but never happened till now.
Vernon’s heart was racing. He was clearly flustered.
It wasn’t just Seungkwan’s words that got him flustered. He was afraid that he got found out by Seungkwan.
Since the first day Seungkwan transferred there, Vernon’s been eyeing Seungkwan. It’s not just the fact that he’s from Korea like his dad but also the fact that Seungkwan has one fine ass.
In fact, unknown to Seungkwan’s knowledge, he’s voted as the man with the best booty by the football team. Also voted as the man a straight would go gay for.
And the first one to vote for Seungkwan in both these categories was none other than yours truly.
Unlike most of his peers, Vernon wasn’t much keen on dating or all that mushy ish. Neither was he so into sex and body types and all that but something triggered the inner beast in Vernon when his eyes first laid on Seungkwan’s blossom.
What an ass.
Naïve Seungkwan doesn’t realise how his butt gets eye-raped every day when he walks through the corridors. Bonus points if Seungkwan drops something and bends down to get it.
Ever since then, Vernon has been in denial about his craving towards Seungkwan’s plump buttocks.
“Vernon, did you hear that?”
Vernon was snapped back to reality. Seungkwan was facing the window, his hand placed near his ear. Vernon followed Seungkwan who walked towards the window and opened it.
“—CHWE VERNON HANSOL AND BOO SEUNGKWAN. SHOUT BACK IF YOU ARE IN THERE!”
Seungkwan rolled his eyes. “Looks like Mr. Andy finally realised that two of his students are missing.” He took a deep breath before shouting, “YES WE ARE HERE IN LEVEL THREE BIOLOGY LABORATORY!”
“ARE YOU SAFE?!”
“FOR NOW!” Vernon yelled this time.
“GOOD, NOW STAY PUT, HELP IS GONNA ARRIVE SOON!!”
Seungkwan slapped his forehead for the umpteenth time today. “I should’ve just stayed in Jeju.”
“Jeju seems like a nice place, if I were you, I would’ve stayed there,” Vernon replied, cocking a smile.
“Thanks, Vernon, that wasn’t helpful.”
“Call me Hansol.”
Seungkwan raised his eyebrows questioningly as cue for Vernon to continue. “It’s my first name,” Vernon explained. “I’d feel more comfortable if you call me Hansol.”
“Okay, Hansol,” Seungkwan replied, smiling. “If that’s your death wish, so be it.”
Hansol rolled his eyes. “We are not gonna die.”
“I have accepted my fate, I wish I would be able to see my mom one last time but I guess God wasn’t kind enough to let me—”
The door was knocked open and a senior walked into the lab. He combed his dark brown, silky hair coolly before saying, “Y’all are dramatic as fuck. You’re not gonna die in front of me today.”
“Yoon Jeonghan?” Hansol gasped. And after a second a thought he added, “This isn’t Korea but should I call you a sunbae or?”
“Call me whatever you want, now quick follow me you lil’ brats,” Jeonghan answered. He walked out to the corridor, Seungkwan and Hansol followed him after looking at each other feeling puzzled.
“Who is he?” Seungkwan asked.
“A powerful senior,” Hansol replied. “When he first entered as a freshman, he was known for his androgynous features, his mid length hair and his math skills. Even after cutting it off, his popularity just boosted even more. He’s considered a legend—the most athletic person in this school, recruited by all the sports club here but he rejected all of them.”
Seungkwan suddenly realised the familiar back of Jeonghan. He has seen him in his music clubs, how did he not recognise him immediately?
“Um,” Seungkwan started. “How did you find us?”
Jeonghan kept walking but looked back to look at Seungkwan before flashing him a small smile. “I’ve never taken fire drill seriously so I just sneaked into the rooftop to take a nap. I was woken up by the announcement calling the missing students; which is just the both of you and I. I was quite surprised to see two names being called out after mine.”
“How did you get down here?” Hansol asked. “The fifth floor is on fire.”
“I have my ways, kid,” Jeonghan answered, sending a wink to Hansol.
Hansol looked at him, appalled. Jeonghan is famous for being witty and he just witnessed it first-hand. He just came in and saved Seungkwan and his ass from getting burned to death. What a hero.
Jeonghan opened the door to botany room. He walked straight to the balcony and stopped in his tracks when he reached the railings. Turning back to his juniors scooting behind him, he told them what to do.
“Jump from here.”
The two little juniors stared at him, startled by his order.
Seungkwan echoed, “Jump from here? It’s the third floor.”
“It’s not gonna hurt much,” Jeonghan replied.
Hansol spoke up this time, “Is there a trampoline down there or something?”
“Wish it’d be that fun but nah, kid,” Jeonghan answered. “Don’t worry, it will only hurt a little.”
Jeonghan continued his talk when he saw that neither of his juniors were making a move. “I’m going to jump after the both of you did, so I can make sure that you’re both safe. Go on.”
No response.
“Alright then, I guess I’ll go first, feel free to either die or live.”
Still no response.
“Wow, thanks guys, I’ll just go now and leave you two to yourselves, but before that there’s something bothering me for the past few minutes….Did the both of you ditch fire drill to fuck?”
“Wait what?” Seungkwan asked at the same time Hansol responded with “I’m sorry?”
“Thank you for finally responding,” Jeonghan replied, sassily.
“Where did that came from?” Seungkwan asked right after Hansol asked, “What made you think that?”
“Bitch, who you fooling?” Jeonghan clucked. “Quarterback is shirtless and that’s nothing new but he’s not on the filed right now, is he? Small, cute boy wearing the quarterback’s top that’s way too big for him—and people call this boyfriend shirt, by the way. You put two and two together and even Seokmin would realise that you’re both fucking.”
“How did you know Seokmin?” Hansol asked. “And it wasn’t like that, it was because of the nipples!” This left Seungkwan even more confused.
“Wait, how did you know about Seokmin?” Seungkwan asked. “And Hansol, don’t talk about my nipples! I thought that was our unspoken promise!”
“Because he’s your best friend! How would I not know your best friend?” Hansol replied. “Also, it’s alright, your nipples are cute!”
“That made no sense, Hansol.” Seungkwan has never felt so lost in his life. “Don’t you dare say more or I would expose all the tea regarding your pant-less experience!”
“What on earth do you mean by that? And hey, don’t nipple shame yourself!”
Jeonghan wanted to smack the bickering couple in front of him arguing about some nipples but he decided to let it pass since they are after all just kids being kids.
“Dear children, listen to me,” Jeonghan finally spoke up, clapping his hands for attention. “Seungkwan-ah, if you are confused about how he knows Seokmin, that’s because you’re his best friend. That’s a dead giveaway that he’s been eyeing you for a while now. Now to answer Vernon’s question, I know Seokmin because I’ve been pining him for a while now, which reminds me…Seungkwan, tell him to respond my DMs.”
Seungkwan opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out. He was rendered speechless.
“Oh wait, actually, return my favour. I saved your ass today so score me a coffee date with Seokmin, thanks.”
Seeing that none of the kids are responding, Jeonghan sighed before continuing. “I’ll take that as a yes. I’m gonna jump now, see you guys in detention.”
Jeonghan climbed over the railing and leapt off the balcony before any of his juniors could respond.
Hansol cleared his throat. “I thought our Special Teams’ Captain, Seungcheol was after him. That’s a lot of surprises today.” He was clearly trying to deviate the subject how he got exposed by Jeonghan about stalking and looking up about Seungkwan.
Seungkwan finally closed his mouth and faced Hansol. “Hansollie, what did he mean by eyeing me for a long time?”
Hansol internally wanted to jump off a cliff (well yeah, he is near the railing so he could easily jump off but anyways). Seungkwan looked really adorable while asking him his impure intentions and the way Seungkwan says his name made him feel that he could die happily now.
“Kwannie,” Hansol started. He wrapped his hands around Seungkwan’s waist and pulled him closer. “I really wanted to get to know you, that’s why.”
Seungkwan looked up to him, a bit startled by the close proximity. Their noses were almost touching. He took a deep breath and exhaled before smiling sweetly at Hansol. “That’s nice, I wanted to get to know you too!”
Yep, Hansol thought. All that questions about being pant-less should have gave it away. I can so fucking die happily right now.
“But do we really just jump off?” Seungkwan asked, interrupting Hansol’s internal happy dance. “I mean, it’s really scary, your body can get crushed and I might lose a leg or something. I guess it’s better than getting burned to death but I’m still scared, isn’t it just really dangerous—”
Hansol’s eyes wandered off and looked below the railing. He smiled at the funny sight and winked at Jeonghan who was giving him a thumbs up. Looking back to Seungkwan, he wanted to calm him down so leaned in and kissed Seungkwan’s plump lips.
Seungkwan flinched and it took a whole minute for him to realise what was happening and then only he started responding to the kiss. It was a long kiss for their first kiss, but the both of them didn’t mind. Hansol could hear a soft whistle which he assumed was from Jeonghan below since there was nobody else in sight.
Hansol finally broke the kiss and stared right back into Seungkwan’s eyes. His hands cupped Seungkwan’s face before reassuring him, “Just hold onto me. It’s not gonna hurt much. Close your eyes and we will get out of here soon.”
Seungkwan nodded in approval and closed his eyes. Hansol climbed over the railing and stood at the edge after guiding Seungkwan to do the same. Hansol gently wrapped Seungkwan’s hand over his neck and hold onto his body tightly.
“We are gonna live, suckers!” Hansol yelled idiotically before jumping off.
Seungkwan shut his eyes tightly in fear and didn’t open them until he sensed a familiar feeling. Slowly, he opened his eyes to see the body of water surrounding the both of them.
“Oh right, the swimming pool.” Seungkwan sighed a breath of relief.
Hansol combed back his wet hair and smiled broadly at Seungkwan, his gums showing. His breath hitched at how gorgeous Hansol looked right then, his hair was glossed by the wetness. The droplets of water streaming down his face just made him look sexier, if that was even possible.
Seungkwan smiled back and leaned in closer to give him a kiss.
“Chwe Vernon Hansol!!” Hansol’s mom scolded when she finally reached school. They were brought to a safe place and the fire fighters finally did their job and saved the school from getting entirely burnt down. “Why didn’t you run down to the field when you heard the fire drill?!”
Hansol bit his lip. “Mom, I’m really sorry. It was just a fire drill we get every week and I was pretty tired from all the continuous practice so I thought I’d nap or something meanwhile.”
“Promise me you’ll never do that again.”
“I promise, mom.”
Hansol’s mom sighed, relieved. She noticed Seungkwan sitting right beside Hansol. “Who’s this adorable young man beside you?”
“I know him!” The pretty girl beside Hansol’s mom spoke up.
Seungkwan cooed at the sight of the cute kid. She was so adorable, with rose cheeks and puffed out cheeks. “Are you Hansol’s sister? You’re so smol, what’s your name?”
“Sofia!” She answered, and before Seungkwan could reply, she continued, “You’re Boo Seungkwan, right? I know you!”
Seungkwan looked back and forth between Sofia and Hansol. Hansol buried his face in his hands, he was so exposed.
“Hansol here—,” Sofia started to which Hansol’s mom corrected her, reminding her to use honorifics. “Okay, mom, sheesh, Hansol oppa here has a lot of pictures of Seungkwan saved!”
“Pardon?” Seungkwan responded, stunned. He could not believe all the tea he’s getting from this kid.
“It’s true!” Sofia argued. “I’ve seen him staring a good ten minutes at your bum!”
“I’m not sure if I should be listening to this,” Hansol’s mom muttered.
“Wait, no this is not what it looks like, mom!”
“That’s what they all say,” Hansol’s mom retorted. “Let’s go Sofia, leave these two lovebirds to themselves.”
Seungkwan turned around to face Hansol. “Did you take pictures of me without permission? I don’t care if you’re hot or whatnot, that’s fucking creepy bro.”
“No, those were from facebook okay! You have like thousands of supporters for your ass,” Hansol argued, trying to make a nonsensical point. “And don’t bro me, your tongue was inside my mouth just now!”
“It was a small peck, what are you talking about?” Seungkwan gasped dramatically. “He’s not just a stalker, I’ve fell for a delusional stalker!”
“Wait, what do you mean by fell?”
“Uh, that’s not the point here!”
“Boys, I’ll have to interrupt you right there before you go mouthing off each other,” Mr. Andy stepped in, interrupting their bickering. “Look here, I couldn’t care less if you’re getting off with each other or whatever it is you guys were doing there, could you not do it during a fire drill. Geez, such raging hormones.”
“This is not what it looks like!” The both of them retaliated.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Mr. Andy shrugged.
“It’s true!”
“Anyways, that’s not what I’m here for,” He gumbled. “You kids of this new generation are so dumb, I don’t know what to do with you.”
Seungkwan spluttered, “Mr. Andy, you actually didn’t even check the attendance t see if we were there, so I don’t think you’re actually in the position to talk—”
“Silence!” He bellowed. “You could have just sent me a signal or anything! A message will do!”
“How do we do that?” Hansol asked. “We were literally stuck there ya know.”
“There’s something called phones.”
“Oh,” The both of them responded. Admist the panic and all that chaos, they forgotten their phones, their precious phones that they can never walk around without.
Seungkwan remembered how he left his phone in the locker rooms and slapped his forhead. Hansol followed the suit when he fished his pockets for his phone and found it all wet and cracked.
“I’m a teacher of these idiots,” Mr. Andy commented, walking away. “Detention for a month!”
Seungkwan cursed at the teacher once he was out of earshot. Hansol gently squeezed Seungkwan’s hand. “It’s alright, kwan, at least we have each other. It won’t be that boring.”
“And me.” Jeonghan popped out of god-knows-where. “Seungkwan, you better tell Seokmin about the date, okay?”
“Jeonghan hyung, you could have told me that we were jumping into a swimming pool,” Seungkwan whined, pouting his lips which fluttered Hansol’s heart.
“Ungrateful brat,” Jeonghan replied, poking his tongue out teasingly. “I scored you a kiss, didn’t I? Anyway, glad to know I’ve a little bit of respect now. From no honorifics to hyung, you’re getting there.”
“This is America,” Seungkwan retorted, reflecting back his expression. “Honorifics doesn’t matter!”
“I mean, it’s always nice to respect your culture no matter where you are,” Hansol commented.
“Hansol-ah! I thought you were on my side!” Seungkwan smacked Hansol’s forearm playfully.
The three of them laughed heartily.
“You never told us how did the two of you meet, you know?” Sojeong questioned while combing Seungkwan’s hair.
“I told dad that I started dating him after graduation but to be honest, it was during a fire,” Seungkwan answered. “The fire sparked our relationship.”
Jinseol snorted. “Was that supposed to funny or should I say….punny?”
Sojeong sighed. “Jinseol-unnie, you’re just as bad.”
There was a knock on the door. “May I come in?” It was Seokmin’s voice.
“Darling, come on in!” Seungkwan gushed. Seokmin walked in smilling wide and handed Seungkwan a present. “Oh, you didn’t have to,” Seungkwan said, feeling quite happy.
“I’m here too,” Jeonghan announced. “Seungkwan-ah, you better throw your bouquet at me. I wanna get married next.”
Seokmin blushed, embarrassed by the bold Jeonghan. Seungkwan gagged at how gross they were being. “Please don’t flirt in front of me!”
“Says the guy who argued with his fiancé about nipples in front of me.”
“Jeonghan hyung, that was like ten years ago!” Seungkwan cried, feeling completely humiliated. Jinseol snorted again while Sojeong just sighed more audibly.
“I don’t really want to hear about my little brother’s nipples, so I’m just gonna walk out,” She explained before taking her purse and walking out of the room. Jinseol tagged along.
“Anyways, how did Hansol get this place? The venue is in an emporium, that’s really expensive,” Jeonghan queried.
“Well, he’s a star football player now, hyung,” Seokmin answered. “It’d be weird if he didn’t chose such a grand location.”
“Actually it was Sofia that decided on the place,” Seungkwan corrected. “She gave it her all along with my sister. The wedding was all planned by them three. Hansollie and I were fine with a small wedding with just close friends and families at a church.”
“I’d do the same for my sister’s wedding actually,” Jeonghan replied. “Though this is a whole new level, the media are all lined up in the hall. I saw a lot of famous stars in the hall, gosh this feels like an award show.”
“I saw Brad Pitt in there,” Seokmin commented. “I pinched myself twice, I thought I was dreaming for a moment there.”
“No way,” Jeonghan retorted, shaking his head in denial.
“I remember Hansolie mentioning about inviting Scarlet Johannson,” Seungkwan added on, trying to supress a laughter. They sure knew how to rile up Jeonghan.
“You know what?” Jeonghan narrowed his eyes at them. He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “I’m just gonna call my Seokmin to sing at my sister’s wedding. That defeats every other celebrity you’ve got here.”
Seungkwan and Seokmin laughed at Jeonghan’s childish pettiness. The frowns knitted on Jeonghan’s forehead disappeared and he soon joined them laughing.
“Seungkwan-ah.”
Hansol poked his head inside the room. “Are you busy?”
“Come on in, lover boy,” Jeonghan whistled. “Seokmin and I were just leaving.”
Hansol smiled at their friends who left the two lovers by themselves. “Are you doing fine?”
Seungkwan placed each of his arms on both sides of Hansol’s neck. “I’m doing just fine. What’s wrong, are you having wedding blues?”
“No, it’s not that…,” Hansol trailed off, biting his lip. He looked really nervous. “Are you sure you want to be with me?”
“Yes, Hansol, I’ve mentioned this a thousand times already.”
“I mean, I’m not exactly the perfect man out there and I know I annoy you sometimes so I just—”
“You think too much,” Seungkwan cut him off, flicking Hansol’s forehead. “You’re my man, you know. I mean, yeah I feel like killing you whenever you dab or send me messages with c ya but that’s alright. It’s the desire to kill in a good way.”
Hansol cocked his head to the side. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m saying that it doesn’t matter, stupid,” Seungkwan chuckled. “Now, give me a kiss and off you go.”
Hansol smiled before leaning down to give Seungkwan a kiss. “I love you, you know that, right?”
Seungkwan smiled into the kiss. “Hansollie, I love you and everything but save your vows later. You can’t spoil the suspense.”
“I’ll see you in a bit, then,” Hansol chuckled, breaking the kiss. He gave him one last peck before heading back to the hall.
Seungkwan plopped back down onto his seat. He grazed his lips, the tingling sensation still feels new. Staring at himself in the mirror, he noticed eyes were wet. Tears overflowed, strolling down his face as he felt overwhelmed by the emotions.
Memories kept flooding in and Seungkwan felt so grateful to have a Hansol in his life. At times, he even wondered what he would do if Hansol wasn’t by his side. How did he live his life until he met Hansol?
“Silly you, Seungkwan,” Seungkwan let out a small laugh. He wiped away the tears and slapped his face hard. “You’re really happy right now so why are you crying?”
Seungkwan double checked for any signs of tears stains on his face before fixing his tuxedo again and heading towards the hall.
His father linked with his arms and walked towards the aisle. Seungkwan bit his tongue to hold back from crying.
Hansol on the other hand was a crying mess, which surprised a lot of the audience. The media didn’t let this rare chance get away as they started clicking and filming the Chwe Vernon Hansol crying. Tears stung his eyes when he saw Seungkwan walking into the hall. The cheesy and overused music played by the orchestra in the background wasn’t helping with his situation either.
Seungkwan stepped onto the platform and faced Hansol. He chuckled, wiping away his groom’s tears.
Seungkwan faced the audience, joking, “Hansol here was the one who told me not to cry during the wedding but look, who’s crying right now!”
Hansol buried his face in his hands but Seungkwan immediately grabbed his hands and kissed them instead.
“Hansol-ah, it’s alright, don’t cry,” Seungkwan said. He’s going to cry as well but if the both of them cry then the hall is gonna get flooded.
The priest cleared his throat. “Erm, it’s time to exchange your vows.”
The both of them looked at each other again. Hansol squeezed his fiancé’s fingers before opening his mouth to speak his vows.
But just then, the alarm went off.
“Holy shit, it’s a fire!” Someone in the hall screamed.
“Maybe it’s just a fire drill.” Hansol heard Seokmin’s comment.
Jeonghan laughed, “This is an emporium, and we should probably escape.”
“Are you guys just gonna kiss and wrap this up or are we doing that after the fire burn us down?” The priest asked.
Hansol and Seungkwan exchanged looks before rolling their eyes. Seungkwan took the microphone from Hansol to speak towards the chaotic audience.
“Calm down, everyone,” Seungkwan said. “We can escape safely as long as everyone exits the hall calmly and follow the instructions properly.”
“Why are you so sure?” A child actress screamed at the groom. She was immediately shushed by her mother, standing right beside her.
“We’re pros at this,” Seungkwan answered.
Jeonghan sneered, “Liars, I’m the real pro.”
Seungkwan lined them up and pointed them towards the emergency stairway to escape. When almost everyone left with just his families and friends left behind, Seungkwan started laughing.
“This is actually what we wanted, right?” He asked.
“A wedding just with our families and close friends?” Vernon voiced out Seungkwan’s thoughts.
Seungkwan nodded, still laughing. Vernon laughed along seeing that his beloved is laughing uncontrollably. Soon, everyone was laughing in the hall. Even the priest.
“You both are weird,” The priest commented. “We are in the middle of the fire yet here you are laughing.”
“We are used to it,” Vernon replied, leaving the priest confused. “We will exchange our vows now so you could quickly leave as well.”
The couple looked at each other and exchanged sweet, sappy words and finally wrapped it all up with the iconic you may kiss the bride scene you’d see in cliché hetero movies.
Hansol stiffened. His nerves were giving up him, kissing Seungkwan suddenly felt like something he really want to do but also such a hurdle since he might cry. Seungkwan sensing Hansol’s anxiousness pulled Hansol in for a kiss instead.
The small crowd in front of them cheered while the priest excused himself with well I’ll be going now, I’d like to live. Seungkwan threw the bouquet, tried to aim at Jeonghan which failed miserably but Jeonghan being Jeonghan caught the bouquet by leaping off a chair.
Finally, Seungkwan’s mom spoke up, a bit weirded out by how calm everyone is and worried that they might not make it in time. “Seungkwan-ah, shouldn’t we leave now? We don’t want the fire to get to us. We all wanna live you know.”
“Madam Jwa, you don’t have to worry,” Jeonghan reassured her. “Your son is a professional at this.”
Seungkwan nodded. “Just follow us everyone, you’ll be fine. All you gotta do is use the stairs. Now, Hansol, will you do the honours?”
Seungkwan passed the mike to Hansol, smirking. Hansol grinned knowing exactly what was Seungkwan hinting it. He grabbed the mike, taking a depp breath before yelling into the mike.
“We are gonna live, suckers!”