Super Junior AU; Hanchul; The Best Days of Our Lives
Title: The Best Days of Our Lives
Chapter: 20/25
Fandom: Super Junior AU (High School)
Pairing: Hankyung/crossdressing!Heechul (main), Kangin/Eeteuk, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, bestfriends!Eunhae.
Word count: 3,419
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Coming into a strange new world can be strange enough. Unfortunately, someone’s forgotten to tell Hankyung something Very Important.
A/N: Chapter 24 is killing me. It's like everything suddenly went "LOL NO" when I thought "I'll write about Valentine's day!" And now everyone's refusing to do anything and I've only just come up with presents, and my life, so tragic.
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17 / Chapter 18 / Chapter 19 / Chapter 20 / Chapter 21
The majority of the group seemed to fall in love with Xiao Li the moment they saw her. “She’s like a doll,” proclaimed Eeteuk happily, and proceeded to go all motherly on her, fussing over her and making sure that she had enough to eat and drink: not that she knew this.
“Help,” she said desperately, and Hankyung laughed and Siwon told Eeteuk sternly to leave the poor girl alone, because she didn’t have a clue what he was doing.
“Ni hao,” said Donghae the moment he saw her, because he had been practising and wanted to show off his admittedly limited Chinese skills. “My name is Lee Donghai; I am pleased to meet you.”
“Ni hao,” she said, and told him her name, and then again seemed to take him as someone who was fluent in Chinese just because he could say his name, and started saying something about it being nice that people actually understood her. It wasn’t until she finished that Hankyung stepped in and told her that, actually, that was all Donghae knew how to say, and that only he was fluent, and Siwon was the only other one with any understanding.
“Oh,” she said, and slumped slightly in her seat, a little crestfallen, and a slightly red flush made its way across her nose.
“Wow,” said Yehsung, looking at Hankyung in shock. “You really are fluent in Chinese, why didn’t you say before?”
“It’s not something that comes up in everyday conversation,” said Hankyung, quoting Siwon.
“We hope to make you feel very welcome,” said Siwon slowly and carefully.
“Thank you,” she said in Korean, and smiled shyly at him again.
“She really is like a doll,” said Kyuhyun, entranced. “It’s unbelievable how good looking she is.”
“She’s had plastic surgery,” said Sungmin flippantly, resting his head on his chin and looking intensely at Xiao Li, who didn’t seem to notice. “I can tell these things.”
“No she hasn’t,” said Kyuhyun, amused.
“I can tell these things,” insisted Sungmin, in a slightly darker tone that allowed for no discussion on the matter, and Kyuhyun dropped the subject, though he shook his head fondly.
Eeteuk had not given up on mothering Xiao Li. He insisted on opening her can of drink for her, and kept grinning at her widely, seemingly completely taken with the girl who couldn’t even understand what he was saying. “She’s so cute,” he kept saying, and Kangin’s moans of despair got louder every time.
“I agree with Eeteuk,” said Shindong, staring at her. “She’s just too cute; it really is like she’s a walking doll or something.”
“Stop staring at her,” snapped Siwon. “You’re going to make her self-conscious.”
Xiao Li seemed anything but self-conscious, as she ate, and ate, and then ate some more. After a while, the stares because she looked so cute turned into stares because there simply wasn’t enough room in her body for the amount of food she was eating.
“Hollow legs,” said Eunhyuk faintly, and she didn’t even notice as they all looked at her legs underneath her skirt and decided that even they were too thin to hold anything like what she was eating.
She looked up from her food only when Heechul arrived at the table - she was apparently the only one who noticed this happening, because it wasn’t until after Xiao Li said hello in Korean that anyone else noticed Heechul standing there and staring at them.
“Okay,” he said, watching Xiao Li open another tub of ramen. “Who’s been starving the new girl?”
“She won’t stop,” said Siwon, and he sounded just a little bit impressed by it. “It’s like it’s going into her bones or something.”
“She’s so thin, though,” said Heechul, and he certainly sounded impressed by that. “How can she stay so thin if she eats like that?”
“Liposuction,” said Sungmin, and he sounded a lot jealous.
“Her family is rich,” said Siwon doubtfully, as Xiao Li took a drink and then returned to her food.
“How rich?” Eunhyuk asked, and everyone else leant in too, looking rather too interested for Hankyung’s liking.
“I don’t know,” admitted Siwon. “Her father’s the owner of some big company, and I mean, it’s big. She’s come to Korea to live with her aunt in the hope of having a normal childhood until she takes over the business. Or something like that, anyway.”
At that moment, Xiao Li lay down her chopsticks and sighed happily. They turned to stare at her and the pile of empty food wrappers next to her, and she blushed slightly. “Sorry,” she said in Chinese. “I was so nervous last night and this morning that I didn’t eat anything.”
“That’s okay,” said Hankyung with a laugh, and translated for the rest of the group. Eeteuk took this as a chance to ply her with more food, which she laughed off and pushed him away slightly, deciding to take his playful antics for what they were. She murmured something in Chinese as she did so that Hankyung did not quite catch, and then smiled at them.
“Thank you,” she said in Korean and Hankyung saw a little bit of himself in her; the sheer joy from just being accepted, of making new friends - of being wanted.
*
According to Xiao Li, her coming to Korea had been a spur of the moment decision by her father, and Hankyung didn’t think it was a very well thought out one. “My grandparents on my father’s side are Korean,” she explained, but the fact remained that she had absolutely no grasp of the language whatsoever, and was completely lost both inside of lessons and outside. He didn’t think it was particularly fair to have just sent the girl over to learn a language that she had never tried before, and she relied increasingly on himself and Siwon over the next week. Hankyung gave up any pretence of just being there just in case things became so bad that he was needed - Siwon simply did not have the skills to be able to communicate everything that was needed, and by Friday, he was starting sentences, and Hankyung was finishing them for him as he got stuck.
Perhaps the worst thing about Xiao Li only speaking Chinese was that only Hankyung understood some of the things she said, and when she walked up to the table about half way through the week with Siwon and announced that she knew that they were all gay, Hankyung choked on his mouthful of coke, and had to be hit quite hard on the back by Heechul. Xiao Li smiled at him, told him that she knew that even he was gay and was going out with Heechul, she could just tell, and then, before Hankyung could say anything, she turned to a confused looking Siwon and asked slowly if he would help her buy some food.
Hankyung translated - Eeteuk did much the same as he did, while Heechul laughed hysterically and clapped his hands.
“I like her,” he said. “I hope Siwon does go out with her.”
“She’d ruin us,” said Sungmin unhappily. “She’s prettier than all of us put together.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Heechul, and flicked his hair back.
“Hey,” said Hankyung, poking his head around Siwon’s classroom door on Friday, just after the bell. “Are you coming? I think Heechul’s already left because you were taking too long or something.”
“Or something?” Siwon asked, looking amused.
“I don’t know,” said Hankyung with a shrug. “He shouted it at me from down the corridor.”
“I can’t,” said Siwon. “I’ve got a council meeting.”
“Okay,” said Hankyung, and then remembered the second reason as to why he was there. “That’s right, Eeteuk wants me to make sure that you’re still coming out tomorrow.”
“The group shopping trip?” Siwon rolled his eyes. “As if I could miss it even if I wanted to, I’m still Heechul’s favourite bag carrier.” He paused, and then looked fairly shifty, or at least, fairly shifty for Siwon, who couldn’t quite pull the look off. “I invited Xiao Li along,” he said. “I don’t like the thought of her sitting at home by herself just because she doesn’t know anyone.”
“That’s fine with me,” said Hankyung, and grinned knowingly at him, and Siwon stuck his fingers up, and Hankyung left the room laughing.
“You’re late,” said Heechul, the second Hankyung stepped off the bus. He tapped his foot against the pavement and folded his arms and looked at Hankyung as if what he’d said was actually true.
“I’m not,” protested Hankyung. “I’m early!”
“You arrived after me,” said Heechul, and smirked at him. “Therefore you’re late.”
“Whatever,” said Hankyung, and waved it off with a movement of his hand. He looked Heechul up and down. “You look nice,” he commented, in that vague way that he always did.
“I know I do,” said Heechul, in that smug way that he always did. He smoothed down the tartan skirt he was wearing, and pulled at the bottom of his black army style jacket, a red cashmere jumper just peeping out of the neckline. Hankyung noted with some amusement that he was wearing knee length black boots, which included a pair of small heels - Hankyung was always fairly shocked when Heechul wore heels, because he wasn’t quite sure how he managed to walk in them, and he spent the entire time almost on edge, waiting for Heechul to go flying over. He hadn’t done it yet, and according to Siwon, never has done it either. His hair had been piled up into a messy bun, his fringe falling onto his face and into his eyes, and while the whole thing looked more than very nice, there was just one problem.
“You’re wearing a skirt,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“I know,” said Heechul. “I did look in the mirror this morning.”
“Xiao Li’s coming,” said Hankyung. “She’s only ever seen you in trousers.”
Heechul shrugged. “It’s not my fault that I’m pretty than her,” he said, brushing his hair from his eyes.
Hankyung opened his mouth to reply to that statement when Siwon’s bus pulled up and he got off, pulling Xiao Li behind him by the wrist, holding tight to make sure that she didn’t get lost during the five yard walk up to Hankyung and Heechul. “You’re not going to believe this,” he said, as they came closer. “She lives right opposite Kyuhyun, in this huge mansion thing. I had to go through this ritual of telling them my family tree and practically blood testing before they let me into the guests room for her to come get me. It’s unbelievable!”
“Ni hao,” said Xiao Li, nodding her head politely, and then did a double take as she saw Heechul. “Oh,” she said and glanced at Hankyung, a confused expression on her face. “I don’t think I’ve met her.”
“It’s Heechul,” said Hankyung, and rolled his eyes because this was one thing he didn’t want to be explaining.
“What?” Xiao Li looked at him, clearly thinking that she’d misunderstood what Hankyung had said, even though he’d said it in Chinese and perfectly comprehensible Chinese at that.
“It’s Heechul,” he repeated. “Really.”
“But Heechul is a boy,” said Xiao Li with a faint laugh.
“What’s she saying?” Heechul pulled on his sleeve, never content with just saying his name to get his attention. “I think I can recognise my name, and I said you weren’t allowed to talk about me.”
“She doesn’t believe it’s you,” said Hankyung. “She thinks you’re a girl, and this is why you shouldn’t have worn the skirt.”
“But it’s obviously me,” said Heechul, now looking as confused as Xiao Li.
“It’s not,” said Hankyung, who always got annoyed whenever this subject was brought up, because it wasn’t obvious. “It’s confusing, you know, when you think that someone is something and then they turn up as something else. I had a hard time of it when you were dressing like a boy on holiday.”
“But you’re stupid,” said Heechul. “Xiao Li’s not.”
“That is Heechul,” said Siwon to Xiao Li in Chinese. Xiao Li just stared incredulously at him.
“Oh, fine,” said Heechul, exasperated and a little bit bored by now. “I’ll prove it,” and he reached out, grabbed Hankyung by the collar and kissed him. Hankyung jerked back slightly from the shock of it - Heechul could move quickly when he wanted to - and then kissed back, putting his hands on Heechul’s hip for the short time Heechul’s lips were on his. He was just starting to forget that they had an audience when Heechul pulled away and looked triumphantly at Xiao Li, who blinked at them.
“See,” said Siwon faintly, looking fairly nauseous. “That’s Heechul.”
“Heechul is a girl?” Xiao Li sounded even more confused now, and Hankyung knew that he should have known better than to allow Heechul to prove anything, because it tended to just result in tears, broken things, or a poor Chinese girl being completely lost.
“No,” said Hankyung. “He’s a boy. He just dresses as a girl sometimes.”
“Oh,” said Xiao Li, and seemed to just accept this as fact.
“Are you okay with that?” Siwon asked, stumbling slightly over his Chinese, but getting the message across in the end. He looked extremely worried: Hankyung knew that if she didn’t take to Heechul, then Siwon was going to have a hard time for the next week, putting up with someone who didn’t like his best friend.
Xiao Li smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “He makes a very good girl,” she said, and sounded impressed with that. “He looks like a model.”
“That’s it,” said Heechul, after he made Hankyung translate. “I don’t care what any of the others think, we’re keeping her.” He grinned at Xiao Li, who smiled back, and Hankyung rather felt like he saw the bonds of friendship cement themselves before his very eyes.
Kyuhyun and Sungmin were next to arrive, and Sungmin stormed off the bus ahead of a very amused looking Kyuhyun. Sungmin stood off to the side, folded his arms and huffed; Kyuhyun said hello and rolled his eyes in a fond, exasperated manner. “You seem annoyed,” said Hankyung, and exchanged glances with Siwon.
“You’d be annoyed too if your boyfriend was going goo-goo eyed over some random Chinese girl,” said Sungmin, and looked away into the distance.
“Heechul is going goo-goo eyed,” said Hankyung.
“And I’m not going goo-goo eyed,” said Kyuhyun.
“She said I looked like a model,” said Heechul smugly.
Sungmin glanced over at them, and seemed to notice something about Xiao Li when he looked her over. “Channel,” he said. “She’s wearing a Channel skirt, how is that even possible?”
“Is she?” Siwon looked more closely, and Xiao Li blushed bright red and tugged at her skirt to pull it a little lower. “Ah,” said Siwon loudly, and he too turned red and started shaking his hands in denial. “No,” he said, in Chinese. “No, skirt.”
“Oh,” she said, and gave a playful spin, giggling. Hankyung, who knew nothing about these sorts of things, had to admit that it was a nice skirt, a layer of some sort of expensive pale pink material that flared out around her knees as she spun. “Birthday,” she said in Korean, and waved her hands around as a further explanation.
“It’s nice,” said Kyuhyun absent-mindedly, putting his arm around Sungmin’s shoulders. It looked like he wasn’t quite thinking about it - it looked like instinct, but when Sungmin seemed to take it as an apology, and slipped his arm around Kyuhyun’s waist, Kyuhyun winked at them, and Hankyung had never known that Kyuhyun could be so calculating.
Eeteuk was only too happy to have Xiao Li with them while they shopped. “She’s so cute,” he said happily, and started fiddling with end of her plait and generally fussed over her until Kangin let out a yell off annoyance and dragged her away. Sungmin seemed to have calmed down slightly now that he’d realised that she at least had very good taste in clothes. Siwon didn’t think it was a good idea to mention exactly where Xiao Li lived, because he didn’t want to submit Kyuhyun to that trauma. Heechul linked arms with the poor girl and talked in Korean to her, making Hankyung translate everything he said. Xiao Li, for the record, didn’t seem too bothered about walking with a boy in a skirt, and just looked at Heechul like he was the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen.
“Xiao Li seems to like Heechul,” said Hankyung to Siwon, who quickly made out that he hadn’t been watching the two and shrugged in an uninterested way.
“Does she?” He asked. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”
“Keep lying like that and you’ll never get into heaven,” said Hankyung with a grin.
“It’s good, though, isn’t it?” Siwon looked vaguely panicked and glanced at Hankyung desperately. “It’s good if they like each other, because then I can.” He stopped and scrunched his face up. “I can’t even talk to her,” he said with a derisive laugh. “I can’t even talk to her and I’m already thinking about asking her out.”
“I’d say go for it,” said Hankyung, as Xiao Li slid her eyes over to their direction and her gaze stopped on Siwon for a few more seconds than was strictly needed, “but like you said, you can’t even talk to her. There is no way I’m coming on a date with you, just to translate.”
Siwon thought about this for few seconds, before he smiled slowly, and Hankyung didn’t like the look of that, because it suggested that Siwon had a Plan, and Hankyung didn’t want to be part of that. “We could double date,” said Siwon happily, and Hankyung held his hands up and took a few steps back.
“No,” he said. “No,” and Siwon just grinned at him and Xiao Li giggled and pointed at something, and Heechul yelled at him to come translate, and Hankyung wondered what the point was, if he was just going to be used all the time.
“Siwon thinks we should double date with him and Xiao Li,” said Hankyung that night, when he was locked in his room with Heechul.
“Siwon thinks too much,” said Heechul, and kissed his neck. “You think too much, too. Shut up when I’m trying to kiss you.”
“Have you ever thought,” said Hankyung, as he put his hands on Heechul’s shoulders in a futile attempt to get him to listen to him, “that maybe it’s you who doesn’t think enough?”
“I think just enough,” said Heechul. “At least I don’t think about other men when my boyfriend’s kissing me.”
Hankyung blanched. “I’m not,” he said loudly. “I’m not thinking of him like that, and you know it. I’m just telling you what he said when we were out today.”
“Go look timing up in the dictionary,” retorted Heechul, but his expression softened and he seemed to think about something. “Okay,” he said and kissed Hankyung softly on the lips. “I’ll do it if you will.”
“What?” Hankyung jerked back slightly and hit his head quite hard off the wall behind him. “What?” He repeated in a softer tone of voice, and rubbed the back of his head and pretended that it didn’t hurt as Heechul laughed at him and didn’t see if he was concussed or anything like that. “You mean you’ll double date with Siwon if I will?”
“Siwon’s my best friend,” said Heechul, in that tone of voice special to him which suggested that this was obvious and whoever he was talking to was an idiot. He used it a lot around Hankyung. “Of course I’m going to help him. Siwon’s useless on his own - he’s a perfect gentleman, and that means he can’t actually ask any girl he likes out. He just sits and pines for them, while they gush over how good looking he is and think that they have no chance with him whatsoever. It’s pitiful to watch, seriously. He only ever goes out with girls who ask him.”
“Okay,” said Hankyung slowly, and nodded, and then seemed to realise something very important. “Wait a minute,” he said. “If Siwon wants to go out with Xiao Li, then that means that I’ll have to ask her out for him.”
“You do that,” said Heechul cheerfully, “and I’ll break your feet.”
“I’ll teach Siwon what to say,” said Hankyung quickly.
Chapter: 20/25
Fandom: Super Junior AU (High School)
Pairing: Hankyung/crossdressing!Heechul (main), Kangin/Eeteuk, Kibum/Donghae, Yehsung/Ryeowook, Kyuhyun/Sungmin, bestfriends!Eunhae.
Word count: 3,419
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Coming into a strange new world can be strange enough. Unfortunately, someone’s forgotten to tell Hankyung something Very Important.
A/N: Chapter 24 is killing me. It's like everything suddenly went "LOL NO" when I thought "I'll write about Valentine's day!" And now everyone's refusing to do anything and I've only just come up with presents, and my life, so tragic.
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15 / Chapter 16 / Chapter 17 / Chapter 18 / Chapter 19 / Chapter 20 / Chapter 21
The majority of the group seemed to fall in love with Xiao Li the moment they saw her. “She’s like a doll,” proclaimed Eeteuk happily, and proceeded to go all motherly on her, fussing over her and making sure that she had enough to eat and drink: not that she knew this.
“Help,” she said desperately, and Hankyung laughed and Siwon told Eeteuk sternly to leave the poor girl alone, because she didn’t have a clue what he was doing.
“Ni hao,” said Donghae the moment he saw her, because he had been practising and wanted to show off his admittedly limited Chinese skills. “My name is Lee Donghai; I am pleased to meet you.”
“Ni hao,” she said, and told him her name, and then again seemed to take him as someone who was fluent in Chinese just because he could say his name, and started saying something about it being nice that people actually understood her. It wasn’t until she finished that Hankyung stepped in and told her that, actually, that was all Donghae knew how to say, and that only he was fluent, and Siwon was the only other one with any understanding.
“Oh,” she said, and slumped slightly in her seat, a little crestfallen, and a slightly red flush made its way across her nose.
“Wow,” said Yehsung, looking at Hankyung in shock. “You really are fluent in Chinese, why didn’t you say before?”
“It’s not something that comes up in everyday conversation,” said Hankyung, quoting Siwon.
“We hope to make you feel very welcome,” said Siwon slowly and carefully.
“Thank you,” she said in Korean, and smiled shyly at him again.
“She really is like a doll,” said Kyuhyun, entranced. “It’s unbelievable how good looking she is.”
“She’s had plastic surgery,” said Sungmin flippantly, resting his head on his chin and looking intensely at Xiao Li, who didn’t seem to notice. “I can tell these things.”
“No she hasn’t,” said Kyuhyun, amused.
“I can tell these things,” insisted Sungmin, in a slightly darker tone that allowed for no discussion on the matter, and Kyuhyun dropped the subject, though he shook his head fondly.
Eeteuk had not given up on mothering Xiao Li. He insisted on opening her can of drink for her, and kept grinning at her widely, seemingly completely taken with the girl who couldn’t even understand what he was saying. “She’s so cute,” he kept saying, and Kangin’s moans of despair got louder every time.
“I agree with Eeteuk,” said Shindong, staring at her. “She’s just too cute; it really is like she’s a walking doll or something.”
“Stop staring at her,” snapped Siwon. “You’re going to make her self-conscious.”
Xiao Li seemed anything but self-conscious, as she ate, and ate, and then ate some more. After a while, the stares because she looked so cute turned into stares because there simply wasn’t enough room in her body for the amount of food she was eating.
“Hollow legs,” said Eunhyuk faintly, and she didn’t even notice as they all looked at her legs underneath her skirt and decided that even they were too thin to hold anything like what she was eating.
She looked up from her food only when Heechul arrived at the table - she was apparently the only one who noticed this happening, because it wasn’t until after Xiao Li said hello in Korean that anyone else noticed Heechul standing there and staring at them.
“Okay,” he said, watching Xiao Li open another tub of ramen. “Who’s been starving the new girl?”
“She won’t stop,” said Siwon, and he sounded just a little bit impressed by it. “It’s like it’s going into her bones or something.”
“She’s so thin, though,” said Heechul, and he certainly sounded impressed by that. “How can she stay so thin if she eats like that?”
“Liposuction,” said Sungmin, and he sounded a lot jealous.
“Her family is rich,” said Siwon doubtfully, as Xiao Li took a drink and then returned to her food.
“How rich?” Eunhyuk asked, and everyone else leant in too, looking rather too interested for Hankyung’s liking.
“I don’t know,” admitted Siwon. “Her father’s the owner of some big company, and I mean, it’s big. She’s come to Korea to live with her aunt in the hope of having a normal childhood until she takes over the business. Or something like that, anyway.”
At that moment, Xiao Li lay down her chopsticks and sighed happily. They turned to stare at her and the pile of empty food wrappers next to her, and she blushed slightly. “Sorry,” she said in Chinese. “I was so nervous last night and this morning that I didn’t eat anything.”
“That’s okay,” said Hankyung with a laugh, and translated for the rest of the group. Eeteuk took this as a chance to ply her with more food, which she laughed off and pushed him away slightly, deciding to take his playful antics for what they were. She murmured something in Chinese as she did so that Hankyung did not quite catch, and then smiled at them.
“Thank you,” she said in Korean and Hankyung saw a little bit of himself in her; the sheer joy from just being accepted, of making new friends - of being wanted.
*
According to Xiao Li, her coming to Korea had been a spur of the moment decision by her father, and Hankyung didn’t think it was a very well thought out one. “My grandparents on my father’s side are Korean,” she explained, but the fact remained that she had absolutely no grasp of the language whatsoever, and was completely lost both inside of lessons and outside. He didn’t think it was particularly fair to have just sent the girl over to learn a language that she had never tried before, and she relied increasingly on himself and Siwon over the next week. Hankyung gave up any pretence of just being there just in case things became so bad that he was needed - Siwon simply did not have the skills to be able to communicate everything that was needed, and by Friday, he was starting sentences, and Hankyung was finishing them for him as he got stuck.
Perhaps the worst thing about Xiao Li only speaking Chinese was that only Hankyung understood some of the things she said, and when she walked up to the table about half way through the week with Siwon and announced that she knew that they were all gay, Hankyung choked on his mouthful of coke, and had to be hit quite hard on the back by Heechul. Xiao Li smiled at him, told him that she knew that even he was gay and was going out with Heechul, she could just tell, and then, before Hankyung could say anything, she turned to a confused looking Siwon and asked slowly if he would help her buy some food.
Hankyung translated - Eeteuk did much the same as he did, while Heechul laughed hysterically and clapped his hands.
“I like her,” he said. “I hope Siwon does go out with her.”
“She’d ruin us,” said Sungmin unhappily. “She’s prettier than all of us put together.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Heechul, and flicked his hair back.
“Hey,” said Hankyung, poking his head around Siwon’s classroom door on Friday, just after the bell. “Are you coming? I think Heechul’s already left because you were taking too long or something.”
“Or something?” Siwon asked, looking amused.
“I don’t know,” said Hankyung with a shrug. “He shouted it at me from down the corridor.”
“I can’t,” said Siwon. “I’ve got a council meeting.”
“Okay,” said Hankyung, and then remembered the second reason as to why he was there. “That’s right, Eeteuk wants me to make sure that you’re still coming out tomorrow.”
“The group shopping trip?” Siwon rolled his eyes. “As if I could miss it even if I wanted to, I’m still Heechul’s favourite bag carrier.” He paused, and then looked fairly shifty, or at least, fairly shifty for Siwon, who couldn’t quite pull the look off. “I invited Xiao Li along,” he said. “I don’t like the thought of her sitting at home by herself just because she doesn’t know anyone.”
“That’s fine with me,” said Hankyung, and grinned knowingly at him, and Siwon stuck his fingers up, and Hankyung left the room laughing.
“You’re late,” said Heechul, the second Hankyung stepped off the bus. He tapped his foot against the pavement and folded his arms and looked at Hankyung as if what he’d said was actually true.
“I’m not,” protested Hankyung. “I’m early!”
“You arrived after me,” said Heechul, and smirked at him. “Therefore you’re late.”
“Whatever,” said Hankyung, and waved it off with a movement of his hand. He looked Heechul up and down. “You look nice,” he commented, in that vague way that he always did.
“I know I do,” said Heechul, in that smug way that he always did. He smoothed down the tartan skirt he was wearing, and pulled at the bottom of his black army style jacket, a red cashmere jumper just peeping out of the neckline. Hankyung noted with some amusement that he was wearing knee length black boots, which included a pair of small heels - Hankyung was always fairly shocked when Heechul wore heels, because he wasn’t quite sure how he managed to walk in them, and he spent the entire time almost on edge, waiting for Heechul to go flying over. He hadn’t done it yet, and according to Siwon, never has done it either. His hair had been piled up into a messy bun, his fringe falling onto his face and into his eyes, and while the whole thing looked more than very nice, there was just one problem.
“You’re wearing a skirt,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“I know,” said Heechul. “I did look in the mirror this morning.”
“Xiao Li’s coming,” said Hankyung. “She’s only ever seen you in trousers.”
Heechul shrugged. “It’s not my fault that I’m pretty than her,” he said, brushing his hair from his eyes.
Hankyung opened his mouth to reply to that statement when Siwon’s bus pulled up and he got off, pulling Xiao Li behind him by the wrist, holding tight to make sure that she didn’t get lost during the five yard walk up to Hankyung and Heechul. “You’re not going to believe this,” he said, as they came closer. “She lives right opposite Kyuhyun, in this huge mansion thing. I had to go through this ritual of telling them my family tree and practically blood testing before they let me into the guests room for her to come get me. It’s unbelievable!”
“Ni hao,” said Xiao Li, nodding her head politely, and then did a double take as she saw Heechul. “Oh,” she said and glanced at Hankyung, a confused expression on her face. “I don’t think I’ve met her.”
“It’s Heechul,” said Hankyung, and rolled his eyes because this was one thing he didn’t want to be explaining.
“What?” Xiao Li looked at him, clearly thinking that she’d misunderstood what Hankyung had said, even though he’d said it in Chinese and perfectly comprehensible Chinese at that.
“It’s Heechul,” he repeated. “Really.”
“But Heechul is a boy,” said Xiao Li with a faint laugh.
“What’s she saying?” Heechul pulled on his sleeve, never content with just saying his name to get his attention. “I think I can recognise my name, and I said you weren’t allowed to talk about me.”
“She doesn’t believe it’s you,” said Hankyung. “She thinks you’re a girl, and this is why you shouldn’t have worn the skirt.”
“But it’s obviously me,” said Heechul, now looking as confused as Xiao Li.
“It’s not,” said Hankyung, who always got annoyed whenever this subject was brought up, because it wasn’t obvious. “It’s confusing, you know, when you think that someone is something and then they turn up as something else. I had a hard time of it when you were dressing like a boy on holiday.”
“But you’re stupid,” said Heechul. “Xiao Li’s not.”
“That is Heechul,” said Siwon to Xiao Li in Chinese. Xiao Li just stared incredulously at him.
“Oh, fine,” said Heechul, exasperated and a little bit bored by now. “I’ll prove it,” and he reached out, grabbed Hankyung by the collar and kissed him. Hankyung jerked back slightly from the shock of it - Heechul could move quickly when he wanted to - and then kissed back, putting his hands on Heechul’s hip for the short time Heechul’s lips were on his. He was just starting to forget that they had an audience when Heechul pulled away and looked triumphantly at Xiao Li, who blinked at them.
“See,” said Siwon faintly, looking fairly nauseous. “That’s Heechul.”
“Heechul is a girl?” Xiao Li sounded even more confused now, and Hankyung knew that he should have known better than to allow Heechul to prove anything, because it tended to just result in tears, broken things, or a poor Chinese girl being completely lost.
“No,” said Hankyung. “He’s a boy. He just dresses as a girl sometimes.”
“Oh,” said Xiao Li, and seemed to just accept this as fact.
“Are you okay with that?” Siwon asked, stumbling slightly over his Chinese, but getting the message across in the end. He looked extremely worried: Hankyung knew that if she didn’t take to Heechul, then Siwon was going to have a hard time for the next week, putting up with someone who didn’t like his best friend.
Xiao Li smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “He makes a very good girl,” she said, and sounded impressed with that. “He looks like a model.”
“That’s it,” said Heechul, after he made Hankyung translate. “I don’t care what any of the others think, we’re keeping her.” He grinned at Xiao Li, who smiled back, and Hankyung rather felt like he saw the bonds of friendship cement themselves before his very eyes.
Kyuhyun and Sungmin were next to arrive, and Sungmin stormed off the bus ahead of a very amused looking Kyuhyun. Sungmin stood off to the side, folded his arms and huffed; Kyuhyun said hello and rolled his eyes in a fond, exasperated manner. “You seem annoyed,” said Hankyung, and exchanged glances with Siwon.
“You’d be annoyed too if your boyfriend was going goo-goo eyed over some random Chinese girl,” said Sungmin, and looked away into the distance.
“Heechul is going goo-goo eyed,” said Hankyung.
“And I’m not going goo-goo eyed,” said Kyuhyun.
“She said I looked like a model,” said Heechul smugly.
Sungmin glanced over at them, and seemed to notice something about Xiao Li when he looked her over. “Channel,” he said. “She’s wearing a Channel skirt, how is that even possible?”
“Is she?” Siwon looked more closely, and Xiao Li blushed bright red and tugged at her skirt to pull it a little lower. “Ah,” said Siwon loudly, and he too turned red and started shaking his hands in denial. “No,” he said, in Chinese. “No, skirt.”
“Oh,” she said, and gave a playful spin, giggling. Hankyung, who knew nothing about these sorts of things, had to admit that it was a nice skirt, a layer of some sort of expensive pale pink material that flared out around her knees as she spun. “Birthday,” she said in Korean, and waved her hands around as a further explanation.
“It’s nice,” said Kyuhyun absent-mindedly, putting his arm around Sungmin’s shoulders. It looked like he wasn’t quite thinking about it - it looked like instinct, but when Sungmin seemed to take it as an apology, and slipped his arm around Kyuhyun’s waist, Kyuhyun winked at them, and Hankyung had never known that Kyuhyun could be so calculating.
Eeteuk was only too happy to have Xiao Li with them while they shopped. “She’s so cute,” he said happily, and started fiddling with end of her plait and generally fussed over her until Kangin let out a yell off annoyance and dragged her away. Sungmin seemed to have calmed down slightly now that he’d realised that she at least had very good taste in clothes. Siwon didn’t think it was a good idea to mention exactly where Xiao Li lived, because he didn’t want to submit Kyuhyun to that trauma. Heechul linked arms with the poor girl and talked in Korean to her, making Hankyung translate everything he said. Xiao Li, for the record, didn’t seem too bothered about walking with a boy in a skirt, and just looked at Heechul like he was the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen.
“Xiao Li seems to like Heechul,” said Hankyung to Siwon, who quickly made out that he hadn’t been watching the two and shrugged in an uninterested way.
“Does she?” He asked. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”
“Keep lying like that and you’ll never get into heaven,” said Hankyung with a grin.
“It’s good, though, isn’t it?” Siwon looked vaguely panicked and glanced at Hankyung desperately. “It’s good if they like each other, because then I can.” He stopped and scrunched his face up. “I can’t even talk to her,” he said with a derisive laugh. “I can’t even talk to her and I’m already thinking about asking her out.”
“I’d say go for it,” said Hankyung, as Xiao Li slid her eyes over to their direction and her gaze stopped on Siwon for a few more seconds than was strictly needed, “but like you said, you can’t even talk to her. There is no way I’m coming on a date with you, just to translate.”
Siwon thought about this for few seconds, before he smiled slowly, and Hankyung didn’t like the look of that, because it suggested that Siwon had a Plan, and Hankyung didn’t want to be part of that. “We could double date,” said Siwon happily, and Hankyung held his hands up and took a few steps back.
“No,” he said. “No,” and Siwon just grinned at him and Xiao Li giggled and pointed at something, and Heechul yelled at him to come translate, and Hankyung wondered what the point was, if he was just going to be used all the time.
“Siwon thinks we should double date with him and Xiao Li,” said Hankyung that night, when he was locked in his room with Heechul.
“Siwon thinks too much,” said Heechul, and kissed his neck. “You think too much, too. Shut up when I’m trying to kiss you.”
“Have you ever thought,” said Hankyung, as he put his hands on Heechul’s shoulders in a futile attempt to get him to listen to him, “that maybe it’s you who doesn’t think enough?”
“I think just enough,” said Heechul. “At least I don’t think about other men when my boyfriend’s kissing me.”
Hankyung blanched. “I’m not,” he said loudly. “I’m not thinking of him like that, and you know it. I’m just telling you what he said when we were out today.”
“Go look timing up in the dictionary,” retorted Heechul, but his expression softened and he seemed to think about something. “Okay,” he said and kissed Hankyung softly on the lips. “I’ll do it if you will.”
“What?” Hankyung jerked back slightly and hit his head quite hard off the wall behind him. “What?” He repeated in a softer tone of voice, and rubbed the back of his head and pretended that it didn’t hurt as Heechul laughed at him and didn’t see if he was concussed or anything like that. “You mean you’ll double date with Siwon if I will?”
“Siwon’s my best friend,” said Heechul, in that tone of voice special to him which suggested that this was obvious and whoever he was talking to was an idiot. He used it a lot around Hankyung. “Of course I’m going to help him. Siwon’s useless on his own - he’s a perfect gentleman, and that means he can’t actually ask any girl he likes out. He just sits and pines for them, while they gush over how good looking he is and think that they have no chance with him whatsoever. It’s pitiful to watch, seriously. He only ever goes out with girls who ask him.”
“Okay,” said Hankyung slowly, and nodded, and then seemed to realise something very important. “Wait a minute,” he said. “If Siwon wants to go out with Xiao Li, then that means that I’ll have to ask her out for him.”
“You do that,” said Heechul cheerfully, “and I’ll break your feet.”
“I’ll teach Siwon what to say,” said Hankyung quickly.