Chapter Text
The quiet hum of a laptop about to give up on life filled the dark room of Chan’s bedroom, the sun was beginning to peek through the dark mirage of the night sky, casting soft beams of orange upon Chan’s desk. His word document sat pretty much empty, a few halfhearted sentences about a topic Chan was supposed to give a shit about given it was his degree. But in reality he could be threatened with academic dishonesty and booted out of the university right now and he still wouldn’t give more of a shit. It’s honestly what he deserves for deciding to leave two months worth of work right up until the last minute, deadlines were chasing his procrastination and he was unfortunately losing the race. He’d manage to submit one piece of work already, his favourite module so it was easy to sit down and write it. But now he was left with a presentation that had nothing to do with his degree and two essays that he would rather go to a sports social and drink a pint of piss than write.
He wouldn’t admit to anyone, but he really was a perfectionist, especially regarding academic validation. It contrasts with his actual work ethic but if he gets anything less than a 60 on these modules then he might actually go drink that pint of piss. This didn’t motivate him however to actually work on the essay, the word count still sat at a measly 200 out of the 2000 he was actually supposed to write.
Was he worried? Yes. Was he going to do anything about it? No, he’ll just keep worrying about it. He could hear his flatmate getting ready now, a quick glance at his phone let Chan know it was already 6am, he’d been worrying for an hour straight, his personal best.
He didn’t let it bother him though, his flatmate is an early morning freak who finds getting up with the sunrise actually enjoyable, that's Chan's bed time. Sometimes he wonders if he was secretly turned into a vampire without his knowledge, given his rather extraordinary ability to get sunburnt immediately after stepping into the sun, it seems more and more likely.
He couldn’t shit on his flatmate too much though, for all their bickering they were the only Koreans in the flat and therefore had to stick together against all the English ones. He’ll be damned if he lets the English colonise one more thing, Chan’s flat is a one sided stand off against the English colonial powers.
He could hear Seungkwan in the kitchen and decided that now was a perfectly good time to bother him before his morning gym session, he wasn’t going to get anything done like this anyway. He pushes open the too heavy fire door into the kitchen and steps around the wall, locking eyes with Seungkwan who increasingly looks like he’d rather be anywhere else right now. “What are you doing?” He asks before Chan has a chance to say anything, “You’re never awake this early, I don't think I’ve ever seen you awake before 3pm before.” Chan’s eye twitches, whether from annoyance or lack of sleep he doesn’t know, but he replies anyways. “How are you managing to shit on me this early in the morning, I just wanted to say hi to my favourite flatmate in the entire world.” He makes sure to pull out his most dramatic, and admittedly hideous, aegyo whilst saying this, pouting and blinking up at Seungkwan like a desperate cat looking for treats.
“Okay first of all, ew, you’re making me gag into my expensive raspberry tea. Second of all, seriously, what are you doing awake right now; have you even slept?” Chan likes to think that his eye bags and coffee stained t-shirt answer that. Seungkwan isn’t unobservant but Chan thinks he’s purposefully ignorant when it comes to him specifically.
“You know I haven’t slept, I look like I've crawled out of a bin and I’m not a freak who decides to get up when it’s barely light outside.” He’s pretty sure Seungkwan is cussing him out in Korean right now, but his mother never swore around him and his internet access was severely limited, so he honestly doesn’t have a clue what’s going on right now. He does catch a your mum in there though so he’s 90% sure his hypothesis is correct.
“...Do you even know what I’m saying right now?” Chan doesn’t want to admit that he in fact, doesn’t know what Seungkwan is saying right now. So he doesn’t and instead looks away to the lesbian ghost in the corner.
“You so don’t, you’re such a fake Korean how do you not even know how to swear?” He doesn’t want to admit that his mother never taught him, he’s reluctant to admit a lot of things today clearly. “I bet your mother never taught you,” Seungkwan says in lieu of Chan’s non-existent answer. He’s starting to think that Seungkwan can read his mind, maybe he’s a vampire with superpowers.
“I’m not reading your mind and I don’t have superpowers, you’re just the most obvious person when you're thinking.” Seungkwan says like a totally normal person and not a mind-reading vampire. Chan looks to the lesbian ghost in the corner but she’s no help and just sadly shakes her head at him.
Is he really that obvious?
The voices in his head say that, yes he is.
No one’s on his side. It’s a lonely world out here.
“Shut up,” Chan says when he finally remembers that he can actually talk. Not the best response but he’ll take it over admitting that he did actually believe Seungkwan to have mind-reading powers. “Is that how you talk to your hyung? How disrespectful Lee Chan!” Chan would like to admit that they are not in Korea right now and age hierarchies mean basically nothing here, but he’s also aware that he should be more culturally sensitive to the fact that they are in fact Korean and still follow that system regardless. So in response he musters the most disgusting, sweet smile and responds “Sorry Seungkwan hyung, this dongsaeng will never insult you again with his insolent remarks most benevolent hyung-nim”
Seungkwan looks like he’s deciding whether to accept his apology or cuss out his mother again, but he decides on a secret third option and his face becomes concerned as he replies to Chan. “Again that was just, ew, but seriously you should get some sleep, I don’t think you’d call me hyung if you were actually functioning, even if it was a joke.” And Chan doesn’t like that at all, he’s not used to people showing concern towards him, especially from Seungkwan.
He knows Seungkwan can be a caring person, overbearingly caring to his friends especially from what Chan’s seen when he’s accidentally interrupted their hang outs before. But to have that directed to him? It feels especially weird. “Hyung,” okay he should seriously get some sleep, “I’m fine, I’ve done this before I know what I’m doing.” Seungkwan looks like he wants to say something more, but he recognises the uncomfortable look on Chan’s face and relents. Chan’s not sure how their usual friendly argument has devolved into actual concern for each other's wellbeing, out of the few months they’ve lived together, their conversations have never strayed from petty jabs at each other or usual smalltalk about the mess in the kitchen.
“Okay whatever, listen Chan, me and a few friends are going to a restaurant this afternoon, we made a booking but someone cancelled and we have an empty spot. Do you want to come?” Okay now he seriously doesn’t know what's going on. Has Seungkwan inherited body swapping vampire powers or something.
The concern was one thing, but an invite to actually hang out was another. He looks to the lesbian ghost in the corner, but she’s no help whatsoever, looking just as confused as him. Chan swears again that the whole world is out to get him.
Chan’s and Seungkwan’s friendship had never expanded outside of these kitchen chats, but now he was extending an invite for a friend group hang-out to him, even if it is just because someone else cancelled. Chan decides he’s too sleep deprived to think about the implications of this and nods in response to Seungkwan’s question, too busy silently communicating with the ghost to actually form the words in his mouth.
He’s pretty sure he hears a, what are you looking at? But he doesn’t grace Seungkwan with a response. He hears Seungkwan sigh before saying “okay whatever, I’ll send you the details later, just make sure you’re awake by like 2pm.” Chan must've replied or acknowledged what Seungkwan says because the next minute they’re saying goodbye and walking out of the kitchen, with Chan heading to his room and Seungkwan making his way to the front door. Maybe he’s got body swapping vampire powers because he’s suddenly lying in bed with the blinds down, eyes already closing and essay long forgotten in the sea of opened tabs on his laptop.
He’s asleep before he knows it.
────୨ৎ────
Chan startles awake to the sun shining right in his eye, somehow creeping through the black out blinds and finding personal offence that he’s still asleep. His phone buzzes from where it's squished beneath a pillow and he quickly fishes it out with the desperation of a man looking for water in a desert. His vision is still blurry and his motor function has barely returned but he manages a glance at the time, 1pm. He’s impressed he managed to wake up vaguely on time without an alarm, he’s never done that before. He opens Seungkwan's message after doomscrolling through tiktoks for a few minutes, now more awake and actually able to comprehend what he’s reading. ‘Meet [here] at 3, plz don’t b late.’ Chan decides not to take offence to the fact that Seungkwan believes him to be someone late to everything because he’s not entirely wrong, but still. It's the principle of the matter.
Instead he decides to shower so he’s not showing up smelling like he’s crawled out of a bin, he may look it but if even one person thinks that he smells he’s going to seriously reconsider drinking that pint of piss.
By the time he’s showered and gotten dressed it's already quarter past two and the restaurant is a 30 minute walk away, so he just grabs his things and heads out the door, accounting for the extra time where he’ll definitely get lost. Sue him, he doesn’t go out that much.
Cold winter bites at his skin as he walks, his four year old coat not doing much at its actual job and keeping him warm. His shoes are scuffed but he doesn’t have any other shoes to wear or money to replace them, in fact he doesn’t even have enough money or time for this lunch but he’s tired of being a loser, friendless chud so he’s going even if he won’t be able to afford his food shop for the rest of this week. He’ll just live off this meal for as long as he can.
He’s checked google maps about 10 times since he’s left the flat, he knows he’s going the right direction but the time that he got on the wrong bus and ended up in a different city still haunts him, so he decides to continue his anxious glancing uncaring of any judgement he may be subject to. It's five to three when he finally spots the restaurant, his anxious checking had taken up quite a big chunk of time, speeding up his steps to make sure that Seungkwan can’t shit on him for being a minute late.
He opens the message Seungkwan had sent him 20 minutes ago ‘when u get there say ur with Seungkwans booking.’ and steps inside, warm air defrosting him into a human being rather than a snowman. After responding to the worker at the front he’s led towards the back of the restaurant where a suspicious amount of noise was emanating from.
As he rounds the corner he’s greeted by two tables pushed together and a rather large crowd of men sat around them. From what he can see there’s no food on the table so Chan’s relieved he’s not too late even if he’s arrived exactly on time to what Seungkwan told him. He then makes eye contact, that borders on too long, with a man who’s sat at the table, the man then turns towards who Chan assumes is Seungkwan and says something.
He’s proven right when Seungkwan looks at him and waves, and Chan is suddenly looking at him and a mob of men who look very interested in who the newcomer is. He feels like an errand boy who’s just fucked up a delivery and is about to get obliterated by the mafia he works for. The worker who he was beginning to consider his ally, a fellow errand boy who's also fucked up, has walked away at this point and Chan tries to feel betrayed by that but he’s more distracted by the impending sense of doom that he’s currently feeling. His urge to turn around and walk straight back out the restaurant grows bigger by every awkward second of staring but Chan reiterates to himself that he doesn’t want to be a friendless chud anymore and unconfidently walks over.
Some shuffling around and the noise of scraping chairs later there is a spot next to Seungkwan that Chan is ever so graciously ushered into by said man who is simultaneously laughing in his face. As he sits down he can finally hear what Seungkwan is saying through his giggles but he immediately wishes he didn’t.
“You looked so scared,” followed by more laughter “Your face immediately dropped I can’t,” even more laughter “You looked as if you were getting robbed, your face was so funny!” Some of the others are looking on and smiling, in what they assume is a friendly greeting but Chan takes it as a personal attack against his dignity.
He’s going to kill Boo Seungkwan. And make him drink a pint of piss.
Every feeling of nervousness immediately evaporates out of his body and before he can shut himself up he’s already arguing with Seungkwan, face tight in irritation. “I actually hate you, you invite me here and are already laughing at me,” he’s pouting before he can stop himself. “Are you trying to get me annoyed and make a bad impression because it's actively working right now.”
He hears a few laughs at that and his mood and ego is immediately inflated, however that doesn’t stop his irritation at a certain individual who is still laughing in his face. Seungkwan finally composes himself and transforms back into a normal person instead of a vampire with a laughing disease, this obsession with vampires needs to stop, he smiles at Chan and makes some remark about being surprised he wasn’t late.
Chan doesn’t exactly hear this as he’s currently having a crisis about vampires and the attention of what must be about 10 men looking at him as if he’s the second coming of Christ. Silence stretches on as Chan belatedly realises that Seungkwan must’ve asked him something and he was too locked out to hear it. He wishes that the lesbian ghost was here, at least he’d have someone sort of on his side. Sort of, she hasn’t done much for him.
“...What?” Chan asks whilst dreaming about becoming a gay vampire ghost and being able to cast his judgement upon others without repercussions, he’d be able to insult Seungkwan without him ever knowing he dreams wishfully. Chan immediately back tracks though when he realises it's much better when Seungkwan can hear him. Seungkwan looks mildly disturbed as if he can actually read Chan’s mind but instead shakes his head and repeats himself. “I said, do you want to introduce yourself? I’d do it for you but I think you’d get offended at that.”
He’s right, but that doesn’t override Chan's current dread at having to interact with a group of close friends after a cumulative 10 hours of sleep over the past week. Out of all situations Chan would really appreciate Seungkwan’s need of being in charge of conversations right now, even with the slight patronisation that he’d feel.
The world is really against him today.
Chan determines to actually introduce himself before everyone decides the awkward silence has gone on too long and they cast him out forever until he’s a small mollusc drifting in the pacific ocean. “Hello it's nice to meet you all, I’m Chan, Seungkwan’s flatmate, thank you for having me,” he ends with a slight bow. Not too bad of an interaction considering he was spiralling into an ocean themed panic. When he looks up everyone else is still smiling at him, he’s glad no one else noticed his increasing panic since sitting down at the table. Or maybe they did and they’re just being nice. Probably the second option as he thinks back to this morning and Seungkwans laughing fit.
He looks at Seungkwan who stares back encouragingly until he takes the hint and says to the rest of the table like a nice friend who’s consciously aware of social norms. “He’s not normally this nice, this is the first time I’ve actually seen him be polite.”
Okay so he did not take the hint. Or understand social conventions.
Chan’s face grows tight at familiar irritation as he jabs back, “I'm polite to everyone but you hyung,” spitting out the last word with as much venom as he can muster without sounding like an actual dick to Seungkwan’s friends.
His friends all laugh, ha that's what you get, but they all get the hint that Chan was desperately trying to pass to Seungkwan and begin introducing themselves going in order around the table. It sounds sort of like an interview and Chan has forgotten half their names but all he knows is that they’re all also Korean (and Chinese but they speak Korean as well for some reason?) and that he has gained 10 new ‘hyungs’ plus the mystery guy who hadn’t been able to make it.
Chan hasn’t decided whether that's a good thing or not, but from the comfortable chatter with those around him he’s leaning more towards the former. It’s going to be a long day. His pleas for the lesbian ghost to help him go unanswered.