Work Text:
Dan Heng considers himself to be old-fashioned.
Despite owning a phone and laptop, he wasn’t what society would call, ‘tech-savvy’.
His girlfriend March 7th (March for short), on the other hand, was the complete opposite.
She was born in the right place, at the right time. She lived and breathed the high-tech world. Even the way she would communicate was so alien—full of emojis, flashy icons, and other canny abbreviations like ‘LOL, LMAO, and ROFL’ always seemed rather cryptic and bizarre for Dan Heng to interpret.
But thanks to her guidance and patience, the twenty-three-year-old was slowly getting used to understanding this extraterrestrial language.
Already three months into their dating and poor Dan Heng would still often meet a dead end from time to time.
A prime example of this was a text she had sent him early this afternoon.
He was finishing up his ten-page report in the library when out of the blue, his phone ‘tinged’, alerting him of a message. Leaning over, he noticed her name pop up and allowed a small smile to grace his reserved features.
Speak of the devil, he thought and with a swipe of his finger, unlocked his phone to check it out.
Once again, he was thrown into a collision of rainbow colors and winky faces sprayed all over it.
But it wasn’t the end of it.
What caught his entire focus was the singular sentence she sent him.
MARCH:
See ya after school, boop~
Dan Heng frowned, taking a moment to reread the message.
“…Boop,” He muttered, testing the waters.
Huh, now that was a new word. Was this a brand new internet slang he should know about? Could it be a funny noise? A different way to say a greeting? Or was it some sort of phrase she randomly made up?
Knowing his girlfriend, it could be anything.
Still, curiosity got to him and Dan Heng decided to use the internet and figure it out.
Define boop, he typed in, clicking the search bar.
A long laundry list appeared with a great majority detailing links to:
Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) is an inflammatory lung disease that’s…
Dan Heng furrowed his eyebrows.
…No, that can’t be right.
And so he searched again. What is a boop?
And again. The word boop derives from which language?
And again. How do you respond to boop?
For the fourteenth time, he finally gave up. Regardless of how many times he’d search this ‘boop’ or attempt to uncover more of it, a thousand more results of disease and medical terms seemed to only grow in his search history.
Dan Heng checked back on his girlfriend’s message and stared at it.
Guess the only way to get his answer was to ask the source herself.
Putting his report to the side, Dan Heng typed away on his phone with fervor and determination.
DAN HENG:
?? Boop?
He was settling back to his workload when a ‘ting’ came from his phone, alerting him of a new message.
Wasting no time, Dan Heng opened up the new notification.
Instead of words, he received a conglomerate string of letters and numbers jumbled together (according to March, this was called a ‘keyboard smash’ as a way to express overloading happiness) and three sparkly pink hearts.
“…Huh?”
Dan Heng would be lying if he said he wasn’t surprised by all this.
Again, this was his girlfriend and as annoyingly adorable as she was, he knew she had a different outtake from the way she saw things.
He was logical and disciplined.
March was carefree and went with the flow.
They were two ends of the spectrum and yet somehow, they surprisingly worked well together.
With a heavy sigh, Dan Heng finally set his phone down and returned to his work.
Perhaps he should try taking another approach?
The bell rang, signaling Dan Heng to head off to the cafeteria.
After purchasing his tray of food, he looked around and spotted a familiar face near the windows.
“Caelus,” He greeted, approaching his science lab partner and friend.
Looking up, the aloof-looking man gave him a lazy smile. “Oh, Dan Heng.”
“Do you know what’s a boop?” Dan Heng asked, straight to the point.
“Boop?” Caelus echoed, making a weird face. “Uhh...is that a new type of sound or?”
“I figured you might know.” Dan Heng murmured, sitting down on the opposite end of the table.
Caelus hummed. “Let me guess…March?”
Watching the latter nod, Caelus grinned. “Perhaps she misspelled it? Could be she wanted to say poop instead?” He suggested, laughing at his own joke. “Like, oh you ‘poopster, pay attention to me~’”
Dan Heng shot him a deadly glare.
Caelus laughed anyway. “Did you ask her yourself?” He asked, quick to steer the topic.
“I did but it still doesn’t make sense.”
“Really? What did she say?”
Pulling out his phone, Dan Heng showed his friend the text message.
Caelus read it and whistled, leaning back on his chair. “Yeahhh, I don’t get it.”
“For all I know, she could just be typing it while doing her homework…” Dan Heng muttered lowly, shaking his head.
“If it’s March, that silly word could be anything.” Caelus pointed out, already digging into his meal.
At the thought of his scatterbrained girlfriend, his gaze softened. “Yeah.”
For the rest of his lunch hour, Dan Heng decided to best wait until he finished with his classes to ask her.
The clock rang for five pm, marking the end of the school day.
As always, Dan Heng headed straight to their usual meet-up spot: under the willow tree in the courtyard. “Made it,” He uttered and looked around to check his surroundings. To his relief, there weren’t many people loitering in the area. He tweaked his glasses, feeling rather awkward.
“Dannnn Hengggg~”
Hearing his name, Dan Heng looked over his shoulder. His tense shoulders relaxed when a ball of sunshine and bubblegum hair madly dashed toward him, arms waving wildly and ecstatically (and not caring if anybody saw her running about like a headless chicken).
Upon reaching him, March flashed him a toothy grin. “Heyyyyy! Did I make you wait too long?” She asked, slightly out of breath.
Dan Heng shook his head. “Not at all,” He took a step forward, gently taking away the bag she was holding.
March grinned sheepishly, thanking him, and then naturally linked her arms around the other arm that was available.
“Ready to go?”
March beamed. “Yeah!”
And so they left the university camp together and out into the open streets. Dan Heng readjusted the bags he was holding, eyes trained forward.
“How was your day?” He started, keeping his pace slow for her to keep up.
“Pretty good!” March chirped, smiling away. “The photography club is finishing up a few pieces—“
It was always like this.
Dan Heng would initiate the conversation and then let March chatter away for the rest of the walk. He would be listening, sometimes chiming in here and there, but most of the time, he’d let her do most of the talking.
It was a fact (and much to March’s embarrassment) that the silent raven-haired man was quite fond of her voice.
Once, he’d buried himself too deep into his studies and the first thing he did was call her up. It soothed him, a sort of remedy that brought him peace and relief from his workaholic life. Soon after, it became a regular routine for them with March having to call him at seven pm to remind him to take breaks and drink some water.
Turning around the corner, the pair finally reached the train station.
“You can just drop me here,” advised March, pulling away from his side. “Wouldn’t wanna waste too much of your time if you’ve got lots to study!”
Dan Heng frowned, disappointed at how brief their time together was. “I’ll stay a little longer.” He assured. He reached out to take her hand, rubbing his thumb gently on her knuckles.
March blushed at his offer and smiled. “If you say so~”
As they waited for her train to arrive, Dan Heng took this opportunity to speak up.
“I’ve been meaning to ask…”
March shot him a teasing look. “Yeahhhh?”
“Earlier, you messaged me with a weird-sounding word.” Dan Heng explained, glancing at her iridescent eyes. “That word boop…what did you mean by that?”
All of a sudden, March tilted her head back and laughed.
…Okay, now that was unexpected.
At the sight of her boyfriend’s pure confusion, the pink-haired girl nudged him playfully. “Ahh, so you don’t know!” She said with a wink.
Dan Heng blinked. Was he supposed to?
“It’s okay! Since you waited this long to ask, I can tell you!” March said and went on her tip-toes. Her hot breath hitting the side of his exposed neck made Dan Heng blush.
“Boop means ‘I love you’!” March reveals into his ear, followed by a fit of uncontrollable giggles.
Dan Heng stood frozen. “Oh.” was all he could say when deep down, his heart was thrashing madly from her silly way of declaring her love.
“Do you get it now?”
Dan Heng cleared his throat, embarrassed to look her in the eye. “I…I do now.”
March smiled, giving him another nudge on the shoulder. “Haha~ What didja think it was?”
When Dan Heng refused to look her way, the pink-haired girl retained her smile.
“Awww~ Dan Heng, it’s okayyyy!” She assured, patting him on the back. “But hey, at least now you know what it means!”
Once March’s laughing ceased, silence followed.
“You know…” Dan Heng started, his voice noticeably low and soft. “I don’t think we’ve ever said it before.”
March blinked. “Huh? Said what?”
“The three-letter word,” He tried to explain rather bashfully. “It’s not fair you know, for you to say it so easily.”
Realizing what he meant, it was March’s turn to go crimson. “Well…it’s true, you know? I really do love you!” She admitted quite confidently and loudly, head high. “Is there a problem?”
Dan Heng finally turned to glance her way, his face turning grim. “…Yes.”
Noticing this right away, March was quick to speak up. “Hey, Are you alright, Dan—”
A loud whistle erupted in the air, signaling an incoming train’s arrival.
“OH NO! That’s my train! Gonna run!” March cried in a hurry. Reclaiming her bag from his grip, she went on her tiptoes again to give her boyfriend a quick peck on his cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow, 'kay?”
As she was about to dash off, something warm latched onto her wrist.
March gasped, surprised by the sudden force as it reeled her back.
She didn’t get the chance to react as her lips touched something soft and warm.
March squealed, taken aback by her boyfriend’s surprise attack. And yet she gladly welcomed it, throwing her arms around his neck to deepen it. They stayed still like that for a moment until her train made its way closer to the platform.
Dan Heng was the first to tear away, taking a step back to silently admire her.
He took a great liking at the redness coloring his girlfriend’s cherub face and half-gazed look.
“I wish I’d said it to you sooner,” He said softly, knocking their foreheads together. “But you beat me to it.”
March hummed, a smile slowly creeping in. When she noticed his eyes darting down to her lips again, she flushed, knowing what was about to happen next. She waited with eager anticipation as Dan Heng made his move, choosing to close their distance once more.
Right away, March shut her eyes closed, trying her best to keep her nerves still, bracing for another one of his sweet surprises.
Only, this wasn’t it.
A light poke hit the tip of her nose, alarming her.
“HUH?” She gasped, reopening her eyes to see her boyfriend.
“Hey! What was that for?”
Dan Heng chuckled, a smile slipping past his controlled features. He leaned in and said in his softest voice, “…Boop.”
March’s eyes widened at her boyfriend who coiled away.
An overwhelming burst of warmth erupted within her. Without thinking, March tackled him into a bear hug, hitting his chest headfirst.
“I gitchee gitchee goo you too~” She cried cheerily, laughing.
Recovering from her surprise attack, Dan Heng glanced down at her, his eyebrow raised. “Is that a new word I should know?”
March stuck out her tongue. “I’ll tell you tomorrow~!” She guaranteed, followed by a playful wink.
Away she flew off, darting straight inside her train.
Dan Heng watched in amusement as March managed to effortlessly hop inside one of the train cars, then twirling around quickly to give him a thumbs up to secure her success.
Dan Heng waved back, a smile seeping through the cracks of his usual, cool features.
As her train left the station, he decided to head home himself…only to stop midway when a thought occurred to him.
“Gitchee gitchee goo…” He muttered lowly, brows furrowing. Yet, another bizarre-sounding word he wasn’t used to. Curious, he pulled out his phone and tried his best to type it into the search bar.
Define gitchee gitchee goo.
This time, a video of a cartoon show showed up on his feed.
Making sure his earphones were plugged into his phone, he wasted no time clicking on the video, determined to know what the new word meant.
While listening, a dark blush crept up to his ears.
“Gitchee Gitchee Goo means that I love you~”
Dan Heng hung his head, covering his mouth in an effort to contain the laughter threatening to spill out of him.
Honestly, that girlfriend of his…so ridiculous yet thoughtful.
Truly, one of a kind.
In this ever-fast-pacing, techno world, Dan Heng was lucky to have her.