Chapter Text
On a windy fall day, the sun was waking up from the night just as the city of Seoul was as well.
The streets were crawling with adults heading to their work and students running to start their school day. Just another busy morning.
For a 16 year old boy who was new to the city it was definitely overwhelming. Thankfully, his abnormally tall height had its advantages. Like being able to see above heads to know if he was going the right way. Which honestly, he didn’t know which way was right and wrong.
Apparently a lot of people used the bus transportation where he was heading, since there wasn't a moment he didn't have anyone beside him brushing their shoulder against his.
"Oh my", whispered Soobin under his breath when he saw the rows and rows of people trying to get inside the bus.
He looked down to his mobile phone checking if he had the right bus. Which seemed like a simple task, but not when there was many people pushing him around.
Soobin looked around to see if he could find an area that wasn't too crowded, he spotted a black bench. As he made his way towards it he saw a pigeon snacking on a bread crumb. His stomach grumbled as a response to being in such a rush this morning, he didn't get the time to get something inside it.
When he sat down he heard a loud ding, he looked up to see that to his unfortunate luck the bus he was supposed to go on had shut it's doors about to head off.
"Oh no no no", he hastily got up trying to push around the many people that were also apparently too late. To his great dismay the bus had taken off, leaving behind a disheartened boy.
As he walked back to the bench to wait for the next bus to come, he takes off his backpack to put it on his lap. This was definitely a bad start to his school year. From nervousness before his first day of school, he didn't get much sleep.
His eyelids began to feel heavy as his head dipped down once, and the second time he allowed it to fully dip not knowing where it landed.
+×+
Soobin awoke when he heard another ding, thinking it was once again a bus he missed. To his relief it was just a phone notification. But when he went to check his phone it was blank.
"Yeah I know I promised that last time would be the last time I was late, Hyun", a low voice sounded from right next to Soobin. He slowly turned his head to the right to check who his bench partner was.
Beside him was a boy who seemed to be around his age, his eyes were unique monolids, and his black hair seemed to be gelled or freshly washed, he couldn't really tell. Half of his face was covered with a black mask.
The only thing Soobin found similar to the boy from himself is their clothing. Both were wearing a beige school uniform. Guess he found a schoolmate.
"Oh hey, you're up".
Soobin was startled when he realized the boy was talking to him.
He wasn't sure what to say, so he just had his mouth agape.
The boy chuckled while opening a granola bar. "Did you enjoy your short nap", he asked before taking a bite from his snack.
"Uh...yes?", Soobin responded sounding as if he was questioning himself. He once again got reminded of his hunger while he looked at the now unmasked boy enjoying his snack.
Oh, he finally got to see the lower half of the stranger's face. Those must be the biggest lips he has ever seen on someone.
"Eyes up here bud." Soobin flinched back hearing the boy's voice. His ears flushed light red from embarrassment, while the boy grinned.
"You attend Hybe...Academy?". Black-masked boy nodded his head then pointed to his uniform as if saying obviously.
"Are you new? I don't think I've seen you around before", asked the boy now on his phone.
Soobin was about to answer yes when the boy abruptly stood up putting on his backpack.
"Come on", he took ahold of Soobin's wrist and pulled so that he clumsily stood up. Soobin was confused until he saw that a new bus had just arrived.
He grabbed his backpack just before he was pulled by the boy. They were dodging people left and right. Once they got on the bus and sat down, they finally took a breath.
"I didn't...get..your...name..", said the boy in between pants.
Soobin opened his mouth to answer but he immediately shut it again, remembering that he couldn't just say his real name.
The boy looked at him confused with his eyebrows scrunched.
Come on Soobin think!! He was panicking which you could clearly tell since his hands started to tremble.
The boy noticed this and gave him a weird look.
“Uh you don’t have to tell me if-“
"STEVE".
Everyone on the bus turned around to see two shocked boys at the outburst. Soobin covered his mouth with his hand.
"I-I mean it's Steve", he coughed because his throat started feeling dry all of a sudden.
The boy was still a little surprised, until he snapped out of it he chuckled at his now red companion. This is the second time I've embarrassed him and we just met, he thought.
"Well Steve, I'm Yeonjun. Choi Yeonjun.", he put out his hand to shake the others.
Soobin was still quite flustered so he didn't register what the boy was trying to do.
Yeonjun shook his hand trying to give him a signal. Soobin just stared at his out stretched hand. Yeonjun sighed and retreated his hand to run it through his hair. That’s awkward.
"So... Steve", Soobin looked up since he had to get used to that being his (fake) name now. "Is that American?"
Soobin wasn't sure what he was talking about since he was fully Korean. Then he realized. His new name wasn't. Damn it Soobin you couldn't have thought of a Korean name??? he internally scolded himself.
But he knew that it was probably because he was panicking like an idiot at the time.
"Um.. yeah I guess it is", he faintly said looking at the interesting floor.
Yeonjun came to the conclusion that this boy was very shy and easily flustered. Yet, he wanted to know more about him.
"What grade are you in?"
Soobin still wouldn't look up from the floor even as he answered. "I'm in my third year of high school."
"Ah so you're a year younger than me, I'm in my last", Yeonjun said.
Soobin made a 'o' shape with his mouth as he finally looked up. He regretted it though, because Yeonjun's stare was making him more nervous.
Yeonjun continued to stare for a bit more, but then he decided to put in his ear buds and listen to music until they arrived at school.
Soobin didn't really know what to do, except continue fidget with his fingers. A nervous habit of his. He then looked out the window to see the beautiful view of fall.
+×+
When Soobin looked up his new school online he honestly didn't think it looked too big in the picture, oh was he terribly wrong. Now Soobin stood like a statue, staring unblinking at Hybe Academy.
Yeonjun got off the bus, humming whatever he was listening to. "Come on, I'll show you ar-", he didn't get to finish his sentence when he stared at something, Soobin wasn't sure what it was.
Yeonjun gasped then sprinted to the nearest bush he could find and hid behind it. For the first time since they met Soobin was now the confused one.
Suddenly a shrilling bell rang through the air.
"Shit", Yeonjun knew he would be late if he continued to hide from the person who would definitely slap him to the future. Look, he knows it sounds dramatic but if you knew who he was hiding from you would understand. He’s had too many strikes already.
Yeonjun forgot that there was a frightened boy who needed his guidance. He looked over to Soobin who, you guessed it, has not moved from his frozen spot. He faintly smiled.
"Hey Steve you should head to the office, there should be someone there who will help you get to your classes", he whisper yelled looking around for potential danger.
Soobin was about to ask for directions, but Yeonjun did a loud sigh of relief then ran off as fast as he could towards the school. Leaving Soobin dumbfounded once again.
It took Soobin quite a few minutes to get ahold of himself and to at least try to find the office, as instructed by Yeonjun. He guesses that's where the people in charge of the school would be.
+×+
The freaking school was bigger inside. Soobin could not believe what he was seeing, or experiencing for that matter.
Since he entered the school he has walked in a classroom that laughed at his confused face, a closet filled with brooms, and apparently where students exercised.
All of this was foreign to Soobin, anybody could tell at one look to the boy's face. As he walked out from yet another place that wasn't the supposed office he was looking for, he felt like just giving up and going home.
That is until he heard the bell ring once again, by now Soobin knew what it meant. Students would be walking out to head to another class. He didn't want to get caught in that stampede, so he reached for the nearest door and went inside.
He pressed his back to the door with his eyes shut. Planning on waiting out until he no longer heard many footsteps. He opened his eyes once he was sure, but paused when he saw the view in front of him.
It was a room filled with different types of plants. Soobin couldn't help but marvel at the room which he guessed was a garden. He walked further into the room looking closely at them. Gaze lingering on some white roses.
He was about to take a turn when he heard rustling behind one of the bushes. "Hello?", he called out but didn't receive an answer.
He walked closer to the bush expecting to see some kind of animal, but jumped back knocking over many plant pots once he saw another human.
"Oh! I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you!"
The stranger apologized running over to fix the pots that had been broken with Soobin's clumsiness.
Soobin took the time to examine the bush stranger. He had a sharp jawline from a side view. His hair was dark brown with some loose curls in it. It seemed pretty fluffy.
"Are you okay?", bush stranger asked now dusting his hands off on a towel, which Soobin questioned where it came from.
He just simply nodded offering the stranger a small smile which was responded with a grin from the other.
There was then a silence that left Soobin uncomfortably shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
"I'm Hueningkai". He wanted to get rid of the silence so he decided to introduce himself. That peeked Soobin's interest. He has never heard such a unique name like that one.
As if Hueningkai could read his mind he chuckled, "Yeah it's foreign, like me". Soobin's eyes opened a bit wider, that also must have been the reason why the bush stranger had such distinct features as well.
"To be specific, half American", the boy said looking away scratching his neck awkwardly. He tended to speak a lot when he was nervous and he was doing that to this stranger that looked like he would run any minute now. Not an unusual setting for him though.
"Nice to meet you Hueningkai. I'm, um, Steve". Hueningkai looked at the boy with surprise evident on his face. Was this boy foreign like him as well? But as he looked carefully at the boy, all he resembled was a bunny to him. That thought made him laugh, which Soobin looked confused at.
Hueningkai went back to the bush he was previously in to grab what looked like his backpack to Soobin. He then walked to a small stoned bench and sat, beginning to grab something out of his bag.
The brown haired boy paused his actions to look up at the boy examining the white roses. "Do you like roses?". Soobin nodded still looking at the many pretty colored plants.
"My personal favorite are these". Soobin looked to see the boy holding a small type of flower with colors ranging from red to yellow. They were very pretty.
"They're called Icelandic Poppies", Hueningkai said looking fondly at the flowers. He then put them aside in a spot that looked separated from the other plants. Soobin wondered why.
Out of nowhere Soobin's stomach decided to make an announcement that it was craving food. Hueningkai looked at the embarrassed boy blankly, but then let out a dolphin like laugh.
Soobin's embarrassment was erased once he heard the boy's laugh. It was yet another thing he has never heard before. He thought this Hueningkai is very unique. It made him want to get to know him more.
Hueningkai composed himself just as he remembered what he was going to do. He took out a small bag and opened it to reveal a sandwich.
"Oh. Do you want half of it?", he asked to the boy that had his eyes on the food in his hands.
"It is lunch time after all".
"Lunch time?". Is that like tea time? Soobin wondered.
"Yeah. Most go to the cafeteria and eat but I...", the brown haired boy didn't continue his sentence as he looked down to the floor with an expressionless face. Soobin looked concerned towards him.
Before he could ask, the boy shook his head and put on the grin he previously wore. It didn't look genuine as it did before.
"Anyways, you should go get something to feed that stomach of yours".
Hueningkai took a big bite of his sandwich, wondering why the boy wasn't moving to leave and eat.
Soobin cleared his throat awkwardly, for the thousandth time that day. "Well, you see, I don't really know where that is", he said timidly.
Huenigkai looked confused, "The cafeteria?". Soobin nodded slowly.
"Oh! You must be new then!", he exclaimed with his hand outstretched towards Soobin.
Hueningkai seemed to realize that he should show him where the cafeteria was. Yet, he was hesitant to leave his garden. He loved it there. Not a big place filled with many loud students.
But when he heard Soobin's stomach complain once again, he decided he should be kind. He hoped maybe this would earn him a new friend.
The thought made Hueningkai smile. "Let's go show you where it is then", he said as he got up.