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Hanbin is not a very studious kid. He’s made for the performing arts and always enjoyed the spotlight when performing, singing and dancing. He was simply built for this life.
So he was only a little bit lost when he entered a library for the third time in his life. The first and second time happened within the span of a week when he was about seven years old. He wanted to read the same book that his seatmate was obsessed with. For an inexplicable reason, he wanted to share as many interests as possible with this cute boy that he had the honour of looking at everyday. Through his elementary school life, they never ended up exchanging a word. Hanbin only admired from the side. The book was supposed to serve as a conversation topic but unfortunately for child Hanbin, he could not get into the fantasy world of dragons and thunderous monsters, and returned the book two days later.
But here he is again. Entering the library to find a book for a very cute boy he inexplicably wanted to share as many interests as possible with. Except this time it was a bit more than just an interest. This time it was a Chinese textbook. Maybe he just really wants to sweep off a certain Chinese man off his feet with some Chinese pick up lines. His friend laughed out loud to his face when he opened up about his academic dreams, saying that he always fell asleep during Chinese class in school. In his defence, it was a difficult language to learn. Which is probably why he should’ve paid attention but he never anticipated ever having a reason to learn the language. Obsession does strange things.
At this point in his life, he’s figured some things out by now. The seatmate was likely his first baby gay crush and the new cute boy who is the reason why he’s currently in a library is likely the love of his life, his soulmate, the other half of his soul and future husband.
And boyfriend. He might have to reach the boyfriend stage first.
As he scans through the colourful spines, a sudden voice calls his name, interrupting his search. He jumps backwards in surprise and whips his head around. He manages to process Matthew’s cute face before he feels a heavy presence leaning over in his direction.
“Watch out!” Matthew, with quick reflexes, leaps over and pushes the shelf back, saving them from being buried underneath stacks of novels. If anyone asks Hanbin if he let out an incoherent yelp, he would deny it although Matthew would say otherwise.
The Canadian man looks quite distressed, probably from narrowly avoiding being the centre of one of their most embarrassing moments together. And they’ve had a lot of embarrassing moments together, like that time when they were doing a group dance at a competition and dropped the girl they were supposed to lift. Or when they misread their email telling them which practice room they were supposed to be in and walked into a rehearsal for Legally Blonde Junior’s Bend and Snap. Or when they ran out of volunteers so they had to dress themselves as a donkey for the kid’s musical. Luckily for Hanbin, he got to play the head. Unfortunately for Matthew, he had to play the behind and was subjected to staring at Hanbin’s ass for forty minutes. Hanbin says Matthew should feel blessed. Matthew disagrees. “Hyung, why are you so jumpy? Why are you even here? You don’t read.”
The words sound very backhanded but as a man on a mission there could be no distractions. “Oh, just… studying, you know. In case this whole idol thing doesn’t work out.” He scratches the back of his neck and feels the tips of his ears burn.
Matthew doesn’t seem to believe him, furrowing his eyebrows. “Right, sure. Either way, I don’t know if studying Diary of a Wimpy Kid will be of much use unless you want to be a professional diary writer.”
Hanbin forgot he was still a little bit lost.
His best friend waves his hand around in circles, pointing in a vague direction above his head. “There’s some textbooks on the third floor. I think the Chinese one’s are near the end.”
There’s multiple floors? What does a library need so many floors for and “Wait, how did you know I was looking for a Chinese textbook?”
Matthew just sighs, pats him on the back and turns towards the comics, leaving Hanbin slightly dumbfounded.
—
Hanbin didn’t attend a traditional academic university like Zhang Hao did but he imagines that it would look something like this. Textbook open, a cup of coffee on one side, a can of Red Bull on the other and messy writing in a lined notebook with random highlighting (for some reason his instincts only picked up the pink and blue highlighters). He’s not sure how useful the phrases ‘where is the closest restaurant’ or ‘I like to play football’ would be especially when he doesn't even like football but he supposes he should always be aware of cultural differences.
Learning a whole language proves to be quite a challenge so he decides it’s about time he took a well earned break after spending about ten minutes practising the characters for the numbers one to three. He stands up and stretches his back before collapsing into bed, picking up his phone and scrolling through his social media. His eyes start to droop after getting through no more than three videos, which is probably a sign he should go to sleep but then Ricky’s ID starts to flash across the screen. When Ricky calls you, there is no choice but to immediately press the answer button. Who knows what troubles that boy could find himself in. Last time he called, the group had to search how to put out a fire. The time before, Jiwoong had to frantically flick through the constitution. Hanbin crosses his fingers and taps the green button, making it back to his desk in case he needs to make an escape plan.
“Have you eaten yet? We ordered too much jjajangmyeon.”
Hanbin audibly makes a sound of confusion but then lets out a sigh of relief hearing the surprisingly unserious scenario, he shakes his head and laughs. “Oh, no I-“ Gurgle ~...
Stupid stomach. He hopes his stomach rumble couldn’t be heard over the phone but something tells him that the snickers say otherwise. He mumbles a quiet “Can you pack me some please…” And then hears a second snicker from the other side of the phone.
“Your boyfriend didn’t eat.” Ricky’s voice is muffled and Hanbin knows that the remark is not directed to him but instead to whoever he was laughing with.
Still, Hanbin feels offended “I did eat!”
The retaliation he’s used to hearing from Ricky after a scolding never comes. Instead of arguments, nothing but static can be heard before the beep sounds out, signalling they hung up on him. Hanbin, again, feels offended. He thinks about how the ending of their conversation played out, first realising that whoever was on the other side of the phone referred to him as a boyfriend. Second, he realises that the sentence was spoken in Chinese. Ricky must’ve been with Zhang Hao. Hanbin bangs his head off his desk. He feels a fizzy liquid bubbling against his forehead like a cartoon character bleeding from a headshot. “Shit, the Red Bull.”
——
ZEROBASEONE are an observant group of children. It doesn’t take long for them to notice how their Chinese members are no longer communicating in Chinese. While they tend to switch between the languages, a complete absence of spoken Chinese is very strange. In fact, they have generally gotten quite quiet which is not particularly new but even Ricky isn’t squabbling with Gyuvin like usual.
Gyuvin, missing his friend, leans over the back of their couch one day next to where Ricky was seated. “Kim Ricky, why don’t you talk with Hao hyung in Chinese anymore? I never understood a word you said but it was nice seeing you two talk in your first language”
Ricky doesn’t say anything, letting the high school Kdrama consume the silence. Gyuvin gingerly reaches for the remote and presses pause, nudging his best friend's waist. Ricky finally turns his head but lacks his silly little smile and says with a straight face “There’s secret spies under this roof”, and leaves the room without another word.
Gyuvin’s eyes widen in horror.
--
“What do you mean we’re living with Chinese spies?” Matthew and Hanbin ask in unison after Gyuvin’s exclamation.
“That’s what Ricky said! That’s why he’s not talking to Hao hyung in Chinese anymore. Are we going to die?” Gyuvin curls himself in his bed, hiding under his blankets, letting his eyes peek out to eye Ricky’s bed from across the room. He’s been fidgety ever since he entered the room.
Mathew pauses the episode of Pokemon they were watching. “Why don’t you ask? You’re his best friend.”
“I did! And he didn’t respond.” Gyuvin's eyes shift from Matthew to Hanbin. “You’re our leader, can you ask for me? Please? It’s him or Hao hyung but I just ate Hao hyung’s last cheese ball so I don’t think he’ll want to talk to me.” He clasps his hands in front of him like he’s praying to God Hanbin.
God Hanbin just laughs. “Hao hyung won’t mind. I always eat his cheese balls but sure, I’ll ask Ricky.”
“Of course he lets you near his balls…”
“Matthew? What do you mean by that?”
———
Hanbin isn’t quite sure how he should approach Ricky for something like this. They didn't teach him how to deal with spies when he was watching the ‘How to be a Good Leader’ crash course so he’s on his own. He spends hours planning spreadsheets, wondering how he could sweeten Ricky up and drag out as much information as possible. He semi considers wrestling it out of him but as it turns out, the sacrifice of sleep was unneeded. He did not account for Ricky asking about it first.
“Why do you know Chinese?” Ricky has him cornered while Hanbin makes his morning coffee. Not the exact conversation he was expecting but he can work with it.
“Well, there’s a lot of Chinese fans and I should be able to say a few things to them, don’t you think?” He is particularly fond of the learn to meow challenge. Ricky knows that, they meow at each other all the time.
He’s answered with furrowed eyebrows. Hanbin smooths out the wrinkles with his finger, Ricky’s still young, far too young to be getting wrinkles. He deserves another three years of clear skin, after that he can grow wrinkles and grey hair like himself. Although, Ricky’s hair is currently a bit closer to grey than his own.
“Okay then, let’s arrange a test. A Chinese exam.” Ricky moves his head backwards to avoid fingers tracing his face.
An exam?
“Not now, sometime later in the week. I’ll let you know about it” Ricky looks far too happy, it’s suspicious. It’s the first smile he’s seen on him in days. But he supposes he shouldn’t turn down free education. It’s not like Ricky’s an actual teacher. Or gave him a choice, seeing how he waltzes away after his self made proposition. It’s only when he’s gone, he realises he forgot to ask about the spies.
————
miaomiao: Go to wookies room.
yaongyaong: am i getting a chinese test in wookies room?
miaomiao: You heard me.
Not ominous at all.
miaomiao: Now.
“Okay, okay” He mutters aloud to nobody, getting up and heading off towards Gunwook’s room.
It was only a few days since their conversation and he still had no idea how he’s going to get tested. Not to mention his level of Chinese is terribly low. He’ll certainly fail but it’s okay, it’s not like Ricky actually cares about-
“Hello Hanbinnie.” Zhang Hao cheerfully says while lying in his bed, scribbling in a pink fluffy notebook. He looks like a teenage girl protagonist writing in their diary. Hanbin finds it cute although he’s not very fond of that particular notebook because there’s big googly eyes on it that freak him out. He wishes he just got a unicorn one to match with Ricky.
“Hey Hao hyung, where’s Ricky?”
“Why do you need Ricky? He’s gone to get ice cream with Gunwookie. They promised to bring back some red bean ice cream, I haven’t had any since I was in China.” Zhang Hao flicks through his notebook without looking up. He’s a very studious man so there was nothing out of the ordinary. Unless…
“Are you two Chinese spies?! Is Ricky going to kill Gunwookie?! Are you going to kill me?! Is this what this test is about, torture?” Hanbin is already backing up against the door. He looks at the window. He would consider escaping from there but they’re a couple floors off the ground and he’d rather die by the hands of his beloved hyung despite the betrayal.
“What the fuck are you talking about? This feels quite targeted, I expected better from you. I really thought that you were an accepting man.” Zhang Hao stops writing and looks up, sounding accusatory. Hanbin figures it’s fair considering he is also being accusatory.
“What? No, Gyuvin told me that Ricky said that there’s Chinese spies. I can’t think of another explanation.” Hanbin tiptoes forwards and makes himself a space at the foot of the bed, finding enough trust in him to believe that today will not be his last day.
Zhang Hao cocks his head to the side like a confused puppy. “What are you talking about? Chinese spies? I haven’t heard anything about this.”
“Ask Ricky!” Hanbin throws his arms up, exasperated. The other man squints his eyes like he’s judging him and sighs, reaching for the phone resting on his nightstand. He starts texting, which disappoints Hanbin because he would’ve liked it if they called so he could hear some of the conversation. He really wants to know why Zhang Hao is throwing his head back in laughter. It certainly does not help the “Hariboz secret spy” narrative.
He shuts his phone off and picks up his notebook again. “The only spy under this roof is you.” He says. “Ricky says I owe you a test?”
“I’m the spy?” Hanbin’s eyebrows shoot upwards and he points to himself.
“Ricky likes being able to switch between languages so the people around him won’t know what he’s saying. I’m just going to see how much we can get away with without you butting into our business.” Zhang Hao says while he scribbles on a page and then tears it out, placing it in front of the other man, who only stares, wanting to retaliate about butting into their business.
“Hey-” But Zhang Hao throws a pen in his face. It’s a pretty pen, covered in blue glitter with a fluffy pink pom pom on top. There’s a cute cat on top. He finally looks down at the page, there’s numbers in the margins and the top of the page says ‘Teacher Hao’s exam’ in Chinese. He can read that much.
“Just translate whatever I say, okay?” Zhang Hao says as he reaches for another pen. This one has pink glitter and a blue pom pom. Hanbin thinks they’d match his notes.
“你不必学中文”
“因为我可以说韩文”
“但是”
“我们不需要言语来沟通”
“我爱你”
The only one Hanbin knew was the last one, I love you . He slowly writes it at the end of the page, leaving the rest of the paper blank. He knew he was going to flunk this test but there’s still shame handing back a mostly blank page. Surely Zhang Hao knew that this was far above his level?
“Don’t you want me to correct it?” Zhang Hao asks, teasingly. He can definitely see the empty lines from where he is. “Don’t worry about it, I used complex sentences for fun.” He says with more care, like he really is talking to a student. “Just let me show you.”
Hanbin timidly hands the page to Zhang Hao who picks up a red pen and fills in the blanks. It’s not even five phrases but he finds himself bored, pawing at the duvet. He’s close to creating a featherless spot with how much he has played with it when the page is handed back to him.
You don’t have to learn Chinese for me
Because I can speak Korean
But
We don’t need words to communicate
I love you.
“Matthew told me that you’ve been learning Chinese for me.” A gentle pink blush takes over Zhang Hao’s face. “You don’t have to woo me like that, I already like you.”
Hanbin feels his eyes heat up. They’re starting to water and he knows he’s about to start crying. “But I wanted to, I wanted to do this for you. I wanted to surprise you. I wanted to be the first to tell you.” Hanbin’s eyes don’t leave the page. The neat red handwriting contrasts his own messy black penmanship. It’s harmonious in a way.
“Technically you said it first. You wrote ‘I love you’. I made you say it first, hehe.” Zhang Hao scoots forwards, and wraps his arms around the other’s waist. “If you want to say it properly I won’t stop you.” He smirks. Nothing fuels his confidence more than a pretty boy confessing their love for him. Hanbin is more than happy to oblige.
“ I love you. I want to be your boyfriend.” Hanbin accentuates his vowels and he sounds stiff and formal. He’s not sure if he even said it right. The damn book didn’t say boyfriend anywhere so he has to improvise. But Zhang Hao’s eyes dart away so it seems to be effective either way. He brings a finger up and wipes away a tear that Hanbin didn’t even know was there.
“ Okay. I love you too, my baby . You can return the book, from now on I’m your only Chinese teacher.”
“I didn’t know you were that kind of guy.” Hanbin laughs and wiggles his eyebrows. It doesn't have his desired effect thanks to his dried tears. "You like roleplay?"
"Brat." Zhang Hao slaps his shoulder but they're laughing.
"Only for you."