I Hear Ramona Sing (and I think of you).
Fandom: SM Town
Character: Henry-centric
Pairing: Henry / Amber
Rating: PG-15
AN: Many, many thanks to pyknotic who betaed this without even being asked (okay so I can be passive-aggressive) and who found the title, which is why it doesn't suck, for once, but instead comes from the 'Scott Pilgrim VS The World' BO.
I Hear Ramona Sing (and I think of you).
One of the many drawbacks to being only a part-timer in a successful Korean boy-band is that you get a lot of free time. Fair enough, free time isn’t that bad and can be put to good use. Mainly, Henry satiates his most primal needs and jerks off.
(“Oh my god, ew,” Jay used to say when he walked in the living room. “Dude, not on the communal couch!”)
But spending your entire days home while the rest of your ‘bandmates’ are off frolicking in France or God-knows-where also means that you have to put up with a lonely Kim Heechul who won’t hesitate to wake you up by slipping into your bed.
(“Hyung, aren’t you supposed to be in the army?”
“Oh shut up Jungmo, can’t you see how hard I’m already investing myself for the country?”)
That, and there is also dealing with your similarly partially-employed roommate’s fashion addiction, which involves sorting out clothes at every new season, battling for a place where to throw your sneakers amongst piles of Ermenegildo Zegna boxes and suffering through intense sessions of springtime shopping.
(“Henli-yah, come try this shirt on!” Zhou Mi trills happily, holding up a transparent asymmetrical silky monstrosity.)
But the main thing is, free time inevitably ends up translating into self-reflecting time. It always starts fairly inconspicuously: you’ll be trolling Youtube and link after link, you end up watching a certain someone’s latest music video, you click on the ‘like’ button because you’re a nice troll like that.
And then it gets you thinking about Life Stuff. It makes you pull your hand out of yours pants, where it was all cozy because let’s be honest, Krystal is hot in that ‘bitchy cheerleader’ way that gets any guy going.
But you wonder.
After wondering for a while, Henry inevitably reaches the conclusion that while Krystal is hot (yes, in that ‘bitchy cheerleader’ way), his hand always seems to slip back down in his pants out of its own accord when it’s another girl shaking her nonexistent butt to bubbly pop on the screen.
To fend off the awkward, embarrassed feelings that surge up after this realization, Henry gorges on comic books and music, burying himself under into a brightly colored pile of pop culture until Zhou Mi comes to drag him out of his room so they can have ‘dinner as a family’.
As he stares at Zhou Mi chiding Jungmo for splashing noodle soup around when he eats, Henry thinks his life can’t get any more insane anyway.
Basically it’s how he finds himself sending texts he regrets immediately after:
“sometimes u remind me of ramona flowers. without the hair ofc :)”
People think having entire days to do the things you love the most would be heaven on Earth. It’s not. It’s closer to hell, actually: Henry goes batshit with the mere thought of all he could be doing, but instead he spends hours doing nothing. Literally nothing. His room clutters and every now and then Zhou Mi will come in with a trash bag and throw everything hosting bacteria in a two-meter radius.
(“You know we love you, Henli-yah,” he says nicely. Zhou Mi is always Very Nice. “So it kills me a bit to have to tell you to get your ass out of bed.”)
Henry is putting on some weight. He would have swept the truth under the carpet if one morning Jungmo hadn’t tenderly kneaded his love handles whilst giving him a back-hug.
(“Come exercising with me!” Zhou Mi offers with a winning smile.
Henry opens his mouth to say yes before smelling a rat. “I will not go shopping with you, hyung.”
The edges of Zhou Mi’s smile drop infinitesimally.)
He’s reduced to doing half-assed push-ups in his room; on the third attempt, his wrist just seems to give up for him and Henry collapses face-first, arms bent under him at an awkward angle.
(“So you just gave up?” Jay asks incredulously. Even on the phone he manages to be stupidly jock-like handsome.)
“i think there’s a reference i don’t have here.” she wrote back. “so, what’s up?”
Henry’s thumb starts typing four different beginnings before erasing them all. In the end he just sends her a link to a Youtube video.
The full-time employees come back in a joyful, loud bunch and mainly it means that Henry’s tranquility is now disturbed by the stomping from upstairs.
He also gets glomped in hugs and fed a full-course meal by a for some reason apologetic Ryeowook, as if he wants to make himself forgiven for leaving him here.
(“I’m glad that you had fun, hyung,” Henry says peacefully. “I watched your fancams, you were really good.”)
Henry practices piano with Sungmin and even if it’s another acoustic cover of some hit song by the latest boy-next-door, it feels like making music again. Sungmin is scarily focused when he plays, though, so more often then not Henry finds himself inching away from him on the piano bench.
(“I’ve noticed you being distant towards Sungmin,” Leeteuk tells him with his typically worried/earnest/eager/creepy/super-gay expression.
“He scares me,” Henry says plainly.)
On some mornings Heechul will call on the main line; upstairs, no one ever answers because they’ve learned to screen his calls. In their kitchen, Zhou Mi, Jungmo and Henry freeze when they see his name on the caller ID. Then it’s a rapid game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who is going to pick up.
But Heechul-hyung gives good life advice, in between recriminations against the recording studio that refuses to accept Heebum in the booth during broadcast.
(“Henry-yah, Heebummie never mewls. That cat has always been creepily silent.”
Jungmo gives him a pained thumbs-up from the breakfast table.)
One day there’s a huge commotion because Kangin is back from the army. They’re all waiting from them to come home to the twelfth floor and there are snacks and beer; Jongwoon is tapping his foot annoyingly. It’s like an awkward, sausage-fest surprise party, Henry thinks with a chuckle.
Zhou Mi is nervous. He spent two hours instead of only one in the bathroom and he changed his outfit twice; unfathomably, he decided to go for jeans and an old, worn-out “varsity league” hoodie. It makes him look like a nerd dad trying to be cool. Henry bro-punches his arm because that’s what bros do.
(“Kui Xian, Henli-yah hit me!”
“Oh really now.”)
They’re a bit stupid about this, though, because when Kangin finally - finally! - arrives, Donghae and Hyukjae and Ryeowook and Leeteuk and Sungmin trailing and jumping after him, he hugs everyone indiscriminately and ruffles Henry’s hair for good measure. Zhou Mi relaxes incrementally and starts twitching because of the hoodie.
(“What on Earth are you wearing, Seasoning?” Heechul cackles.
“Why are you even here, hyung?” Zhou Mi protests feebly.)
Somehow someone ends up calling Girls’ Generation; the apartment is rapidly crowded. Henry feels like laughing when he notices Taeyeon smiling up at Kangin with little twinkling stars in her eyes.
“That’s cute,” someone says behind him.
Henry spills his drink all over himself.
“You- what are you doing here?”
“Jessica told us to come,” Amber replies with a shrug. “Do you have a minute?”
He’s ready to give her the entire clock if she asks.
They escape to the kitchen where Sunny is mixing cocktails with a maniacal grin; Sungmin is watching her, looking equally predatory.
“On second thoughts,” Henry says, “let’s go downstairs.”
They sit side-by-side on the couch; in three rapid seconds, Henry considers: offering tea, offering oral sex, offering to play violin for her. He’s really, really lost here.
“So I watched the Youtube video,” Amber says. “And, I looked up Ramona Flowers.”
Henry makes a wheezing little noise.
“Dude, are you okay - yeah, I Googled her. And the first images I find, there’s this really hot, kind of hipster girl with pink hair. And that’s not-” Amber gestures desperately towards her own body, crushing Henry’s heart a little. “That’s not me, is it?” she says finally.
They’re still necking on the couch (and there might have been some second base action) when Henry’s stupid roommates come in.
(“Song Qian is never going to believe this!”
“We have to tell Heechul, like, now!”)
Character: Henry-centric
Pairing: Henry / Amber
Rating: PG-15
AN: Many, many thanks to pyknotic who betaed this without even being asked (okay so I can be passive-aggressive) and who found the title, which is why it doesn't suck, for once, but instead comes from the 'Scott Pilgrim VS The World' BO.
I Hear Ramona Sing (and I think of you).
One of the many drawbacks to being only a part-timer in a successful Korean boy-band is that you get a lot of free time. Fair enough, free time isn’t that bad and can be put to good use. Mainly, Henry satiates his most primal needs and jerks off.
(“Oh my god, ew,” Jay used to say when he walked in the living room. “Dude, not on the communal couch!”)
But spending your entire days home while the rest of your ‘bandmates’ are off frolicking in France or God-knows-where also means that you have to put up with a lonely Kim Heechul who won’t hesitate to wake you up by slipping into your bed.
(“Hyung, aren’t you supposed to be in the army?”
“Oh shut up Jungmo, can’t you see how hard I’m already investing myself for the country?”)
That, and there is also dealing with your similarly partially-employed roommate’s fashion addiction, which involves sorting out clothes at every new season, battling for a place where to throw your sneakers amongst piles of Ermenegildo Zegna boxes and suffering through intense sessions of springtime shopping.
(“Henli-yah, come try this shirt on!” Zhou Mi trills happily, holding up a transparent asymmetrical silky monstrosity.)
But the main thing is, free time inevitably ends up translating into self-reflecting time. It always starts fairly inconspicuously: you’ll be trolling Youtube and link after link, you end up watching a certain someone’s latest music video, you click on the ‘like’ button because you’re a nice troll like that.
And then it gets you thinking about Life Stuff. It makes you pull your hand out of yours pants, where it was all cozy because let’s be honest, Krystal is hot in that ‘bitchy cheerleader’ way that gets any guy going.
But you wonder.
After wondering for a while, Henry inevitably reaches the conclusion that while Krystal is hot (yes, in that ‘bitchy cheerleader’ way), his hand always seems to slip back down in his pants out of its own accord when it’s another girl shaking her nonexistent butt to bubbly pop on the screen.
To fend off the awkward, embarrassed feelings that surge up after this realization, Henry gorges on comic books and music, burying himself under into a brightly colored pile of pop culture until Zhou Mi comes to drag him out of his room so they can have ‘dinner as a family’.
As he stares at Zhou Mi chiding Jungmo for splashing noodle soup around when he eats, Henry thinks his life can’t get any more insane anyway.
Basically it’s how he finds himself sending texts he regrets immediately after:
“sometimes u remind me of ramona flowers. without the hair ofc :)”
People think having entire days to do the things you love the most would be heaven on Earth. It’s not. It’s closer to hell, actually: Henry goes batshit with the mere thought of all he could be doing, but instead he spends hours doing nothing. Literally nothing. His room clutters and every now and then Zhou Mi will come in with a trash bag and throw everything hosting bacteria in a two-meter radius.
(“You know we love you, Henli-yah,” he says nicely. Zhou Mi is always Very Nice. “So it kills me a bit to have to tell you to get your ass out of bed.”)
Henry is putting on some weight. He would have swept the truth under the carpet if one morning Jungmo hadn’t tenderly kneaded his love handles whilst giving him a back-hug.
(“Come exercising with me!” Zhou Mi offers with a winning smile.
Henry opens his mouth to say yes before smelling a rat. “I will not go shopping with you, hyung.”
The edges of Zhou Mi’s smile drop infinitesimally.)
He’s reduced to doing half-assed push-ups in his room; on the third attempt, his wrist just seems to give up for him and Henry collapses face-first, arms bent under him at an awkward angle.
(“So you just gave up?” Jay asks incredulously. Even on the phone he manages to be stupidly jock-like handsome.)
“i think there’s a reference i don’t have here.” she wrote back. “so, what’s up?”
Henry’s thumb starts typing four different beginnings before erasing them all. In the end he just sends her a link to a Youtube video.
The full-time employees come back in a joyful, loud bunch and mainly it means that Henry’s tranquility is now disturbed by the stomping from upstairs.
He also gets glomped in hugs and fed a full-course meal by a for some reason apologetic Ryeowook, as if he wants to make himself forgiven for leaving him here.
(“I’m glad that you had fun, hyung,” Henry says peacefully. “I watched your fancams, you were really good.”)
Henry practices piano with Sungmin and even if it’s another acoustic cover of some hit song by the latest boy-next-door, it feels like making music again. Sungmin is scarily focused when he plays, though, so more often then not Henry finds himself inching away from him on the piano bench.
(“I’ve noticed you being distant towards Sungmin,” Leeteuk tells him with his typically worried/earnest/eager/creepy/super-gay expression.
“He scares me,” Henry says plainly.)
On some mornings Heechul will call on the main line; upstairs, no one ever answers because they’ve learned to screen his calls. In their kitchen, Zhou Mi, Jungmo and Henry freeze when they see his name on the caller ID. Then it’s a rapid game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who is going to pick up.
But Heechul-hyung gives good life advice, in between recriminations against the recording studio that refuses to accept Heebum in the booth during broadcast.
(“Henry-yah, Heebummie never mewls. That cat has always been creepily silent.”
Jungmo gives him a pained thumbs-up from the breakfast table.)
One day there’s a huge commotion because Kangin is back from the army. They’re all waiting from them to come home to the twelfth floor and there are snacks and beer; Jongwoon is tapping his foot annoyingly. It’s like an awkward, sausage-fest surprise party, Henry thinks with a chuckle.
Zhou Mi is nervous. He spent two hours instead of only one in the bathroom and he changed his outfit twice; unfathomably, he decided to go for jeans and an old, worn-out “varsity league” hoodie. It makes him look like a nerd dad trying to be cool. Henry bro-punches his arm because that’s what bros do.
(“Kui Xian, Henli-yah hit me!”
“Oh really now.”)
They’re a bit stupid about this, though, because when Kangin finally - finally! - arrives, Donghae and Hyukjae and Ryeowook and Leeteuk and Sungmin trailing and jumping after him, he hugs everyone indiscriminately and ruffles Henry’s hair for good measure. Zhou Mi relaxes incrementally and starts twitching because of the hoodie.
(“What on Earth are you wearing, Seasoning?” Heechul cackles.
“Why are you even here, hyung?” Zhou Mi protests feebly.)
Somehow someone ends up calling Girls’ Generation; the apartment is rapidly crowded. Henry feels like laughing when he notices Taeyeon smiling up at Kangin with little twinkling stars in her eyes.
“That’s cute,” someone says behind him.
Henry spills his drink all over himself.
“You- what are you doing here?”
“Jessica told us to come,” Amber replies with a shrug. “Do you have a minute?”
He’s ready to give her the entire clock if she asks.
They escape to the kitchen where Sunny is mixing cocktails with a maniacal grin; Sungmin is watching her, looking equally predatory.
“On second thoughts,” Henry says, “let’s go downstairs.”
They sit side-by-side on the couch; in three rapid seconds, Henry considers: offering tea, offering oral sex, offering to play violin for her. He’s really, really lost here.
“So I watched the Youtube video,” Amber says. “And, I looked up Ramona Flowers.”
Henry makes a wheezing little noise.
“Dude, are you okay - yeah, I Googled her. And the first images I find, there’s this really hot, kind of hipster girl with pink hair. And that’s not-” Amber gestures desperately towards her own body, crushing Henry’s heart a little. “That’s not me, is it?” she says finally.
They’re still necking on the couch (and there might have been some second base action) when Henry’s stupid roommates come in.
(“Song Qian is never going to believe this!”
“We have to tell Heechul, like, now!”)
- Henry with his hand in his pants is real. I’m not even inventing anything here.
- Ermenegildo Zegna is a designer, obviously.
- Ramona Flowers is the sexiest, most badass comic-book heroin ever.
- Ryeowook was a sexy mofo at SS4 Paris. No kidding.
