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Ngo Hanbin may not have much more than a basic understanding of the Korean language and a cute face going for him, but he is not shy. He has never been shy.
Even as a new foreign student, Hanbin knows people. He knows the names and faces and vague personalities of people he’s never spoken to, picked up frighteningly quickly from little more than overheard conversation and the like.
In fact, he’s what some people back home like to call a social butterfly.
(The other people just call him gay and say nothing more, but that’s another matter entirely).
Considering all this, Hanbin should have a lot of friends already, right?
He should have one foot in every clique and circle around, yeah?
Haha, nope.
That is not the case.
He has, like, one friend.
And out of all the people at that goddamned school, Hanbin happens to be stuck with this damn Taiwanese kid who laughs at everything and is generally an idiot.
Hanbin wonders what the gods had against him to make Nicholas Wang sit next to him in Chem on his third or fourth day of school in Korea.
Though, looking back, it was probably his own fault for being so cheery that day.
(Lord, that was a first impression for the books.
Upon sitting down, Nicholas had looked at the boy next to him with an almost surprised expression, like he hadn’t made the conscious decision to take his place beside him. “Who are you?” He’d asked, eyes still wide and voice unsettlingly deep.
Hanbin blinked.
His brain went devoid of thoughts for a little while, and then, somewhere, a little database started running.
Ding!
Wang Yixiang: Senior. Penchant for trouble. May or may not steal your girl, and maybe your kidneys while he’s at it.
Hm. This was going to be fun.
“Ngo Hungbin.” Hanbin grinned. “But you can call me Hanbin. Everyone does.” He paused. “And who are you?”
“Nicholas.” The boy had replied, the startled look still not leaving his face.
A foreign name. A corner of Hanbin’s mouth quirks upwards.
“Can I call you Nicky?”
“... No.”
“Nick?”
“Nope.”
A pause. The late bell rings.
“I’m calling you Nicky, I hope you’re okay with that.”
A sigh, and a quiet disbelieving laugh.
End scene.)
But that’s that. Hanbin is stuck with Nicholas, and Nicholas is stuck with Hanbin.
Side note: despite all of his blatant stupidity, it is important to mention that Nicholas is not half bad as a human being.
He’s quite alright. Hanbin can see why half the girls he knows from nearby schools are drooling over him.
He, well—Hanbin means—that, uh, he can see that in a completely straight, platonic way.
Of course.
Anyways, Nicholas is a little annoying, yes. Maybe even more than a little. But there is nothing particularly damning about him.
Hanbin trusts him, he supposes.
To an extent.
It’s getting warmer outside, and the goddamned air conditioner has broken.
This damn school... Just the other day there was a power outage and the fucking kids (read: Chu Jimin) had to find the switch for the generator.
Nevertheless, the entirety of Hanbin’s study hall has made their way outside, sitting and doing work on the small soccer field.
And then there’s Nicholas, lying there and staring up at the clouds with that vacant expression he always has on.
Hanbin eyes him warily.
Man, he could just up and leave if he wanted.
(No, he couldn’t. School and laws all that crap. But still.)
Hanbin glances over to the parking lot a short distance away. Perhaps if he could actually drive a car.
“Wow, I really need to learn how to drive.” He remarks offhandedly, looking back down to the homework he’s doing, which may or may not be due next period.
Nicholas turns to look at him, propping his head up on an arm. “I could help you learn.”
“Do you even have a license?”
“Well... No. But how hard can it be?”
Hanbin rolls his eyes. A gentle breeze comes in, making his bleached blond hair flop pathetically against his forehead.
“Thank you for the offer, but I am simply too legendary to die.”
“You aren’t going to die, Hanbin.”
“Nah, one of us probably will.”
Not more than a few hours later, Hanbin finds himself seated on the hood of Nicholas’s dad’s car. “This is a horrific fucking idea.”
Don’t attack him, Hanbin’s honestly long overdue for this. He’ll be 19 soon enough, and it’s not an exaggeration to call him a little desperate at this point.
He has enough foresight to tell that this will not end well.
Nicholas raises his eyebrows, jingling the car keys obnoxiously and opening the driver’s side door.
“Are you driving or am I?”
Hanbin ignores the question. “We’re gonna die.”
“You’re the one who showed up at my house!” Nicholas tilts his head.
“I regret it now.” Hanbin slowly slides down the hood of the car, landing on his knees on the asphalt and then proceeding to crumple completely to the ground as if wounded.
Nicholas blinks.
Hanbin stands up and gets into the car on the driver’s side with a loud sigh. “Get in, Nicky boy.”
It’s probably been five minutes since they left Nicholas’s driveway, and Hanbin’s already almost crashed, like, twice.
“You’re literally going 40 kilometers above the speed limit, my dude.”
Hanbin chooses to ignore that.
Nicholas’s “help” thus far has consisted of asking if Hanbin knew where everything was and what it did and then proceeding to do absolutely nothing but sit there, holding on to the little handle thing above the window for dear life.
Oh, and we can’t forget the periodical exclamations of, “If you wreck this car, my parents are going to murder me.”
Hanbin really doesn’t know where he’s going. He’s just been going straight, and even that is a feat in itself.
Imagine turning. Hanbin shudders.
“Are you okay?”
“No, sir, I am not.” His voice comes out a little higher pitched than usual.
A car’s driving towards them in the same lane. Hanbin just barely manages to swerve in time.
“We’re in Korea, Hanbin. You drive on the right.”
Hanbin drums his fingers against the steering wheel. “There are countries that drive on the left?”
Nicholas looks at his phone. “Australia, Bermuda, Channel Islands, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Indi—“
“Okay, so there are a lot.”
Hanbin blows a stray piece of hair out of his face, and Nicholas notices.
He reaches over to innocently brush it away, but Hanbin, being who he is, brakes abruptly.
Nicholas almost goes flying through the windshield, but both of their seatbelts go taut just in time.
Hanbin’s hand slides limply off of the steering wheel, and the car goes over the curb.
“What—“ Nicholas wheezes, the seatbelt tight against his chest, “What was that?!”
Hanbin’s heart’s going a mile a minute.
For some reason.
“There was, uh, a small rodent-y thing.”
“Sure.” Nicholas pauses. “You’re so short, how did you even see it?”
Hanbin glares.
Somewhere, a siren’s going off.
Nicholas’s eyes widen. “Bro—“
“I’m going, I’m going. Don’t ‘bro’ me, you sad motherfucker.” Hanbin grumbles, turning the steering wheel at the fastest speed he can manage in a feeble attempt to get them back on the road.
“You’re the one who almost got us killed...”
“Irrelevant. I need new friends.”
Nicholas offers a hesitant smile as Hanbin speeds down the road again. “You can have mine.” A short pause. “Jesus Christ, slow down!”
“I am going slow! This is me going slow!”
“You’re never going to get your goddamn license.”
“Fuck you too.”
Hanbin turns on the radio, and sings along to 2 Fast loud enough to drown out the siren.
He steps on the gas.
Nicholas’s grip on the panic handle above the window tightens.
Choi Jaeho gives Hanbin a funny look. “So you’re the one who almost got Nicholas arrested?”
“In my defense, I almost got myself arrested too.” Hanbin reasons.
The little one with the Japanese accent laughs. “I like him. He’s funny.”
Kei (the supremely bored TA who was lurking in the back of Hanbin’s Calc classroom on Wednesday, he remembers) somehow just shows up out of thin air. “Taki, we address people directly when speaking to them.”
“Oh, sorry!”
Kei nods and vanishes, blank expression not wavering. The other TA in the back (Se—Seon? There’s a name Hanbin hasn’t heard before.) seems to be suppressing laughter.
Taki cranes his neck to look at Hanbin. “I like you. You’re funny.”
“Thank you. You’re cute.”
The other Japanese exchange student seated next to Taki seems to stiffen, but it could just be Hanbin’s eyes playing tricks on him.
“Pssh—calm down, Niki.” Park Jay— Jay Park? (Like the singer? Hanbin blinks rapidly.) Whatever, baseball cap kid laughs, ruffling Niki’s hair.
Evidently bored with the antics on the other side of the table, Lee Heeseung (scary) turns his gaze to Hanbin. “So, are you.. y’know...” He holds a hand up and lets it fall forward limply.
Hanbin squints.
Sunghoon sighs loudly and looks away, but not before shooting a glare in Heeseung’s direction.
Nicholas and the smallest one—Daniel—share a look.
“‘Kay, who taught Heeseung American slang?” Daniel says, looking around nervously.
“It’s barely slang.” Yoonwon states.
Taeyong raises an eyebrow. “Can a gesture be slang?”
“Well, we all know what it means.” Says Heeseung.
Lee Geonu finally looks up from the book he’s been reading the entire time, noticing Heeseung’s hand. “Oh my god, Heeseung, you can’t just ask people if they’re gay.”
Oh, so that’s what that means.
“You don’t have to answer that.” Jake sighs, like he was expecting the conversation to end up here at some point or another.
“Yeah, uh, please don’t.” Jungwon laughs nervously.
Jaebeom drops his head down onto the table. “Why are we weird?”
“Shut up, Jaebeom.”
“Shut up, Kyungmin.”
“I hate it here.” Sungcheol says suddenly.
Kim Sunoo is giving Hanbin the strangest of looks out of the corner of his eye. Eyebrows raised as though examining him, the corner of his lips pointing upwards in a tentative half smile.
Hanbin wants to hide behind Nicholas.
Then again, if he did that, everyone would probably know the answer to Heeseung’s pseudo-question.
As if on cue, Heeseung rolls his eyes. “Gay or not, you two are totally engaged.”
“Engaged? Why engaged, of all things?” Youngbin asks.
“Me and who?” Hanbin asks.
The bell rings.
“Come back tomorrow and you might find out.” Euijoo grins.
Hanbin blinks a few times to reorient himself, and then glances up at Nicholas, who looks once again like he did the first time they met.
Petrified.
Hanbin laughs. “C’mon, man, we have Chemistry.”
Nicholas does a double take and smiles hesitantly. “Yup.”