Chapter Text
Ricky is halfway done with his lunch when Gyuvin finds him.
He’s good at that, Gyuvin. It seems that no matter what obscure place on campus Ricky picks to eat in peace, Gyuvin will come and bother him. Not that Ricky doesn’t like it. Depends on it, almost.
It’s what best friends are for, he tells himself. Ricky pushes and Gyuvin doesn’t move—unstoppable force versus immovable object—two forces of nature that could not be more different, but that need each other to exist all the same.
“What’s for lunch?” Gyuvin asks him. His sweaty arm settles on Ricky’s shoulder and Ricky scrunches up his nose. Not because of the distinct smell of sweat-soaked polyester and bodyspray Gyuvin is dousing him in. He’s frowning because even though it’s the same question that Gyuvin asks him every day, there’s a certain air of excitement missing from the way he says it. Ricky frowns, holding out his chopsticks instead of an answer.
He closely watches Guyvin’s face as Gyuvin sucks up the braised duck he’s holding out for him. As always, Gyuvin doesn’t hesitate to take his food, but he moves slower than usual, that twinkle missing in his eyes as he successfully steals Ricky’s food. Alarm bells start going off in Ricky’s head. There’s two things Gyuvin loves in this life. Disturbing Ricky’s peace and protein. Right now, he’s got both and he still looks fake in the way he smiles.
“What’s wrong?” Ricky asks him.
Gyuvin’s eyes bulge as he chews. “What should be wrong?”
Liar. Ricky knows when he lies. He knows every single intonation and facet of Gyuvin’s voice. That is not his normal voice.
Squinting, he leans closer and Gyuvin audibly swallows.
“You’re upset.”
There’s a blush high on Gyuvin’s cheeks but he doesn’t deny Ricky’s words, “How’d you know?”
It comes out softer than usual, droopy just like Gyuvin’s shoulders. Gyuvin is sad. That’s not right. It’s not—it’s not right. Ricky is the artistically sad one. Gyuvin is the happy and excitable one. Together, they create a perfect equilibrium. The world is off-balance and Ricky will not stand for this.
“Was someone mean to you?”
Gyuvin laughs at this. “Who would be mean to me?”
That is a fair question. Unlike Ricky, who keeps his circle small, Gyuvin is popular. He’s got the whole popular-athlete captain-of-the-basketball-team campus-crush thing going for him. The chances of anyone being mean to Gyuvin are relatively low; anyone who’s their peer at least.
“Was it a professor?”
Gyuvin falters and Ricky knows he’s dead-on.
“Which one?” he hisses. This is something he can solve. He’s gone head to head with professors before. For Gyuvin, he’d even start a petition.
Gyuvin swallows, his eyes falling to the floor. “It’s nothing much.”
“But?”
Gyuvin shrugs. “Professor Ko wants to fail me for my final paper.”
“But it’s a good paper!” Ricky would know. He was there to make sure it gets written.
“That’s the thing. She says it’s too good. She doesn’t believe that I ‘have progressed this much in less than a month.’ She says I should be grateful she’s not failing me for plagiarism.”
“But you wrote it yourself!” Gyuvin did. Ricky watched him do it. He struggled with literature research and maybe Ricky wrote him the introduction, but when it comes down to it, Gyuvin did the work.
“She doesn’t care. I begged her and she doesn’t care.”
“Can you redo it? She has to at least let you do that, right?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Why wouldn’t it matter?”
“The game.”
The rest of Ricky’s protests die in his throat.
Right, the game. Ricky should have remembered it. Two weeks from now, Gyuvin is going to play in the varsity championship game and he’s going to win and get scouted into a professional basketball team. That is the plan. It has been the plan since they were both six years-old. It was the plan until this very moment.
If Gyuvin fails Professor Ko’s paper, he’s failing the class and failing students aren’t allowed to play. Student athletes have to remain in the top eighty percentile at any given moment otherwise they get benched until they’ve improved their academic score.
The problem is that the game is in two weeks, which is too little time to salvage his grade, even if Gyuvin were to file for a second attempt. They might be able to rewrite the paper within a week if Ricky helps him, but there is no way in hell Professor Ko is going to grade it that fast. In the meantime, Gyuvin’s first, failed grade is going in the system for everyone and his coach to see. It’s over.
“Fuck.”
“Fuck,” Gyuvin agrees, burying his face in his hands.
Reluctantly, despite the fact that Gyuvin is still wearing his sweaty uniform, Ricky places a hand on his back.
As slow as his hand moves, his mind is racing. He can’t accept this. Gyuvin doesn’t deserve to lose out on his chance to fulfil his dream because of one paper, one single grade. The course is not even part of his normal curriculum. Professor Ko’s class is an elective.
Ricky can’t let this happen.
Gyuvin needs to be happy. Otherwise, Ricky’s world will forever be off-kilter.
“We’ll find a way.”
It’s not a cheap shot at consoling Gyuvin. It’s a promise.
Gyuvin doesn’t lift his head but he flops against Ricky’s side, sinking lower and lower until he’s draped over Ricky’s thighs like an overgrown lap dog. Ricky lets him. He plays with the sweat-matted strands at Gyuvin’s nape and thinks.
*
It’s three in the morning and Ricky hasn’t slept a wink when he comes up with a solution. The idea starts out as no more than a spark, which quickly turns into a flame, which turns into a wildfire in his mind. It’s idiotic and illegal. Ricky is aware of that. It doesn’t keep him from holding on to the idea.
The first thing he looks up are legal consequences. He scrolls and scrolls and finds nothing he couldn’t live with. Then, he texts Gyuvin.
kim.ricky [3.35 a.m.] Meet me in front of the cafeteria tomorrow. 12:00 sharp.
Ricky expects an answer in the morning because Gyuvin takes sleeping very seriously. It’s all the more of a testament to how seriously messed up Gyuvin is over the whole thing that his phone dings not a minute later.
bambi.boy [3.36 a.m.] you’re eating lunch with me?? willingly??? ˚‧º·(˃̣̣̥∩˂̣̣̥)‧º·˚ ♥
kim.ricky [3.36 a.m.] No. Come to think of it, eat a big breakfast. You won’t get anything until after we’re done.
bambi.boy [3.37 a.m.] done with what?
bambi.boy [3.38 a.m.] done with what? (⊙︿⊙) ricky??
bambi.boy [3.40 a.m.] okay
bambi.boy [3.40 a.m.] see you tomorrow (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡
*
As promised, Gyuvin is waiting for him in the cafeteria the next day. He’s dressed in the varsity tracksuit that bears their university logo and he’s got his gym bag slung over one shoulder, but unlike the day before, he doesn’t smell of sweat and gym floor. Ricky can just imagine him trying to drown himself in the gym showers. He really has to put an end to this. One look at Gyuvin’s sad eyes is enough to strengthen his resolve.
“Stop jiggling your leg,” he tells Gyuvin as he passes him by without stopping in his trek.
Predictably, Gyuvin puts his nervous energy into running after him. “You thought of something? You really thought of something?”
Ricky nods. It’s a short walk to the Humanities building where Professor Ko’s office is located. He stops short in front of the big doors, turning so he’s facing Gyuvin.
“Before we go in there, I have to know one thing.”
Slightly flushed from running after him, Gyuvin nods. “Anything.”
“How badly do you want to play in that game?”
“Badly.”
Ricky searches Gyuvin’s face for any signs of hesitancy before he nods. “Good, because we might have to commit a crime.”
“What? A crime?” Gyuvin crows as they enter the building.
Ricky ignores him as long as they are surrounded by other people. With lunch around the corner, students are flooding out of the building and who knows who might overhear. It’s better not to risk anything.
They take the elevator up to the third floor because Gyuvin may be an athlete, but Ricky is not.
Once they elevator doors have slid shut, Gyuvin turns to him again. There’s real worry on his face now, a different kind than before. It’s not just about him anymore. “What are you planning, Rui?”
Ricky sighs. He waits until they’re out of the elevator and fast approaching Professor Ko’s office before he says, “Remember when you asked me whether we’d be friends forever and I told you I’d hide a dead body for you?”
“Yes?”
“This is that moment.”
Gyuvin looks between Ricky and the door to Professor Ko’s office before he gasps. “We’re not killing her!”
Ricky rolls his eyes.
“I’m serious, Rui, you’re too pretty to go to prison! I won’t be able to protect you in there!”
Ricky scoffs. “First of all, it’d be me protecting you in there.”
Gyuvin nods. He can’t really refute that. Gyuvin may be broader and taller than Ricky, but he’s afraid of the dark and he cries if someone’s mean to him. Ricky has no such qualms. He’ll totally shank a bitch if it means keeping Gyuvin out of harm’s way.
Case in point: their current situation.
“Secondly,” Ricky continues on, “we’re not going to kill her, obviously. If everything goes well, we won’t ever even come into contact with her. What we’re going to do is not legal, however, and might get us expelled if we’re caught so we are not ever going to talk about this once it’s done, understood?”
Gyuvin nods. “If we’re not hurting anyone, I’m fine with it. What’s the plan?”
The thing about Gyuvin is that he’s the most ridiculous person Ricky knows, but when he’s serious, he’s serious. More than anything, he’s down with whatever as long as Ricky is. That’s how they’ve always worked. It’s not something they have to talk about. They just do what it is that the other needs.
“Look inside.” Ricky moves and Gyuvin does. He moves right into Ricky’s space, his arm coming up to wrap around Ricky’s waist so he doesn’t lose his balance. With their heads so close, Ricky points at the vertical window embedded in the office door. “Do you see that guy?”
Gyuvin nods.
“His name is Sung Hanbin. He’s Professor Ko’s TA.”
Gyuvin nods again, brows furrowing. “That’s cool, but how is he supposed to help us?” Ricky doesn’t think about how close their faces are when Gyuvin turns his head. “I doubt he’s going to be able to convince Professor Ko to change her mind. She might like him more than me, but definitely not that much. I doubt she keeps him around for more than her paper work.”
“Exactly.” Ricky smiles. Gyuvin’s eyes fall to his mouth for a second, trailing the motion. “He does her paper work.”
It takes a minute. Then, Gyuvin’s eyes light up with understanding. Then, they darken with refusal. “No.”
“Yes.”
“That…” Gyuvin swallows, his voice dropping into a whisper. “That is so illegal, Rui!”
“It’s an oversight,” Ricky amends, “at least, that is what we will sell it as. To him.” He points at Hanbin again, who is blissfully unaware of their presence where he is sitting at his desk, hunched over a bunch of papers. Maybe, one of them belongs to Gyuvin. “Your coach will be forced to bench you if you fail her class, but you’re not failing if your grade never gets logged. That’s why we’re here.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Do you want to play or not?”
Gyuvin falters. He wants it. Ricky can tell he wants it. He always knows when Gyuvin wants something. He lightly pats his friend’s cheek. “You don’t even have to talk. Just follow me.”
He pulls away from Gyuvin to approach the door. Gyuvin follows him. Ricky wasn’t sure he would and he would have gone in even if Gyuvin didn’t, but Gyuvin follows him. In the end, that’s the way it works between them. If it comes down to it, they’ll stick it out together.
Hanbin lifts his head when the door opens, blinking owlishly at them as if he’s not quite sure whether they’re real or not. Ricky can’t blame him for that. He can see the countless cans of coke zero littering Hanbin’s desk. Ricky’s been there, done that.
“Hi,” he says, putting on his best smile.
Hanbin seems to start believing he’s not hallucinating just then and springs up from his seat.
“Oh, hi!” Despite the obvious sleep deprivation and rather rumpled state of the rest of his clothes, he greets them with a bright smile.
It’s nice. Ricky really hopes Hanbin is just as nice as his smile.
“How can I help you? Professor Ko isn’t in yet, if you have an appointment with her.”
“Actually,” Ricky gives him his best smile back, “we’re here to talk to you.”
The way Hanbin startles reminds Ricky a little bit of that one hamster meme Gyuvin used to send him every day for a month. “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“Oh.” Hanbin flushes, pushing his thick-rimmed glasses higher up his nose. “Okay?”
Ricky amps up his smile another couple of watt. “You are Sung Hanbin, correct?”
“Y-Yes?” Hanbin stutters as if he isn’t quite sure himself. He catches himself quickly though, clearing his throat. “I mean, yes.”
“Perfect.” Ricky steps up to the counter between them and beckons Hanbin closer.
Hanbin comes closer. He’s visibly nervous, but also visibly intrigued. Ricky counts on the later.
“I have an offer for you, Sung Hanbin.”
“An offer?”
Ricky nods. “I’m offering you a favour.”
“A favour?” Hanbin frowns. “What favour?”
Ricky shrugs, mostly to ease some of the tension from Hanbin’s shoulders. Right now, he reminds Ricky a little of a turtle caught without his shell. That is to say, he’s very tense. “It can be whatever you want, really. You just say the word and me and my friend here will get you whatever you want.”
Ricky watches as the confusion on Hanbin’s face gives way to disbelief, gives way to confusion again when he realises Ricky is serious. Hanbin isn’t stupid, though and he shouldn’t be. He’s a TA after all so Ricky isn’t surprised when he asks, “And what do you want in return?”
Ricky smiles at him. “A favour from you, obviously.”
He doesn’t falter even when Hanbin’s expression turns wary. “What do you want from me?”
Ricky thought a lot about how to phrase what he’s asking for, but in the end there’s no beating around the bush and he’s got the feeling that Hanbin wouldn’t appreciate that. So, he just tells it to Hanbin as it is, “I need you to ‘forget’ to log in my friend’s grade. Professor Ko is failing him and we can’t have that.”
Hanbin’s mouth drops into a perfect o , his glasses sliding down with the motion. He pushes them back up and Ricky is genuinely surprised by the sinister expression on his face when he says, “I think you should leave.”
Ricky sighs. Of course, it couldn’t be that easy. He raises his hands to placate Hanbin. “I know how this must sound to you, but think about it for a moment, okay? There has to be something you want, right? Whatever that is, me and my friend here, we’ll get it for you.”
Gyuvin has the mind to step closer and Ricky can see the way Hanbin’s eyes briefly brush over the varsity logo on Gyuvin’s tracksuit. It seems to make them just a smidge more trust-worthy in his eyes, but he still doesn’t look convinced.
Ricky repeats himself, “I’m serious. Just say what you want and we’ll make it happen. Anything you want.”
Ricky is fully prepared to pay. He brought his black card and bad intentions. Whatever Hanbin can think of, Ricky will order it via express courier. Hanbin just has to think of something. That’s what his plan hinges on.
Hanbin is halfway through a shake of his head when he stops. “Well…”
Like a fisher at the pond, Ricky leans forward. Hook. “Yes?”
“I guess there’s one thing I want.”
Line. “Name it, it’s yours.”
“Zhang Hao.”
Pull the line back. “Excuse me?”
“Zhang Hao.” Hanbin smiles and Ricky would find the creeping blush on his cheeks cute if Hanbin hadn’t just destroyed all his hopes and dreams which really are Gyuvin’s hopes and dreams which is the reason why Ricky takes this personally. “Do you know who that is? Zhang Hao?”
Ricky does, obviously. He’s pretty sure there’s no one on campus who doesn’t know who Zhang Hao is. It’s in that precise moment that he realises Gyuvin and he are in a world of trouble. Forget getting expelled, this one might get them killed.
“You want…”
“Zhang Hao.” Hanbin blushes further. He blushes while Ricky is silently writing his own eulogy. “Well, you don’t have to kidnap him, obviously! I don’t want him to kill you two. But, a date would be nice. Yes, that’s what I want. I’d like a date with Zhang Hao.”
“Are you—” Ricky is trying really hard to phrase this in a way that won’t hurt Hanbin’s feelings. It’s not like he knows Zhang Hao personally, but he knows enough about him to know that he’s going to eat Hanbin for breakfast. Sweater vest and thick-rimmed glasses and all. “Are you sure about that?”
“Positive.” For a guy that looks like he got shoved into a locker one too many times, Hanbin looks remarkably sure of himself as he shrugs. “The heart wants what it wants.” He side-eyes Ricky. “You’ve never had a crush?”
Ricky doesn’t answer that question. He has bigger things to consider. “Okay.” The word slips out of his mouth before he can regret it.
Gyuvin next to him gasps. “What?”
Hanbin perks up. “Really?”
Ricky nods. No holds barred. If this is what he has to do, he’ll make it happen.
“My friend’s paper,” he demands, slapping down the paper slip he prepared, “this is the name and title. You’re not logging the grade. At least, not until the championship game is over. That’s in two weeks. If Professor Ko asks about it, tell her you logged it already. If she doesn’t, all the better. You know nothing. Understood?”
“Understood.” Hanbin nods, taking the slip. His eyes briefly scan over the paper slip before he turns and drops it in the shredder under his desk. Ricky raises an eyebrow. He has to give it to Hanbin, the guy is efficient.
Next, Hanbin grabs a yellow post-it from on top of his desk and scribbles something down on it before folding it so the sticky part keeps it closed. He slides the paper over with a smile.
“This is my number. Text me once you’ve secured me my date. Or, you can also give it to Hao directly.” The blush returns. “Whichever one he wants.”
Ricky is going to cry at Hanbin’s funeral. He will, if he’s not right there next to him. “You got it.”
“Awesome.” Hanbin looks downright giddy as he drops back onto his chair. He grabs one of the cans of zero cola he’s got stashed and pops the lid, downing the thing in one go. “Awesome,” he repeats, at a slightly higher frequency, and returns to whatever he was doing before Ricky and Gyuvin disturbed his peace.
Deal done, Ricky lets himself out, dragging Gyuvin out of the office with him.
As soon as the door’s fallen closed behind them, Gyuvin lets out a hysterical little noise. “We’re fucked.”
Ricky would have worded that better, but, “That’s about what it comes down to, yes.”
Gyuvin looks like he might throw up where he stands. His knees buckle and Ricky barely manages to drag him over to the next bench.
“Oh my God,” Gyuvin buries his face in his hands, “I’m going to get benched. I’m going to get benched and all the scouts Coach invited are not going to see me play and my dad is going to have to have to talk with his boss so he can get me a job after graduation.” He looks up with red-rimmed eyes. “I can’t work in insurance, Ricky. I’ve crashed every car I’ve ever had.”
Ricky knows that. He was in the passenger seat all three times.
He sighs and softly runs his hand through Gyuvin’s hair. Usually, Gyuvin would have to bribe him to do that, but desperate times call for desperate measures and there’s little else that calms Gyuvin down quite as well.
“First of all, that second accident wasn’t your fault. Between that dog and your mom’s car, anyone would have chosen the dog. You are the reason Skippy got to go home that day. Secondly, who says it’s over?”
“Did you just miss the part where he asked for a date? Which is already a crazy difficult wish in itself, but he wants to go on a date with Zhang Hao?”
Ricky winces. “I know.”
Gyuvin wails again, “We’re fucked!”
Ricky feels a surge of anger. He’s not angry at Gyuvin, obviously not, but he’s angry at the situation and he needs that kind of spirit to carry him through. So, he clings to it, that anger he feels. He uses it to push himself to his feet. He doesn’t give Gyuvin a choice when he pulls him up with him. That’s what they do for each other. They pull each other back up when one of them falls.
“It’s not over until I say it is.”
“But—”
“No!” Ricky pushes his finger into Gyuvin’s face. Gyuvin’s eyes cross. “Hanbin’s wish is going to be tough to make come true, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. We’ve made it this far, we are not going to give up now. You’re not a quitter, Kim Gyuvin, and neither am I! So what if Hanbin wants a date with Zhang Hao. There must be something in this world Zhang Hao wants and we’re going to get that for him.”
Gyuvin gulps, but Ricky can see a flicker of hope in his eyes. If nothing else, Gyuvin knows Ricky would never lie to him.
Ricky smiles. “Just you wait, Zhang Hao has never met anyone like me.”
“No.” Finally, the corners of Gyuvin’s mouth twitch upwards into a smile. “I don’t think there’s anyone else in the world quite like you, Rui.”