One-Shot; Falling, rated G
a/n: heavily inspired by wong fu production's when five fell and mekimigure
falling
gongstal ; g
1,219 words
He falls in love with her in the morning.
He’s just moved to Seoul, and it’s his first day of junior high after the move. Chansik has never believed in love at first sight.
She is the first that comes up to him in class. She smiles shyly while extending a hand. As they shake, she states a soft greeting. Hi, I’m Jung Soojung. It’s nice to meet you.
Hi, I’m Gong Chansik. It’s nice to meet you too, Soojung.
His heart gets thrown into arrythmia as she brushes a strand of hair behind an ear while asking where he’s transferred from (Suncheon Isu Middle School) and is he new to Seoul (he is).
He thinks he may be dying a little inside.
(But it’s just love, isn’t it? he reasons inwardly while asking his beating heart to slow down.)
---
Kibum’s a really irritating guy, she states with a huff one day. They’re second years in high school now, and they’ve quickly grown close since their first encounter in junior high.
Chansik doesn’t comment as he simply nods or shakes his head at the appropriate moments, allowing the other girl to go on and on about how Kibum’s done this, Kibum’s done that.
You’ve been talking about him a lot lately, is all he says after she finishes her rant. She stares at him in response before bursting into laughter.
Have I?
You have.
(There’s a fine line between love and hate, is what comes to Chansik’s mind later, when she leaves him alone in the library.)
---
It’s late, and Chansik offers to take her home after a karaoke play date with others. Her friends tease her about her “overprotective boyfriend”; his friends tease him about being a “loyal dog.” She doesn’t take any of the teasing seriously and simply sticks out her tongue before gradually wrapping her fingers around Chansik’s wrist.
Thank you, she mutters when they’re farther away from the crowd.
It’s no problem, he responds, and really it isn’t (even if his apartment building is 20 kilometers in the opposite direction). He feels his heart beat erratically in his chest as she leans into his arm and moves to grasp his hand instead. As Chansik takes the opportunity to gradually interlock their fingers together, he stares at the stars above their heads and begins to point out the constellations and asterisms they pass as they walk. Chansik feels his heart beat more erratically when he realizes she doesn’t draw away until they finally reach her house.
(It’s an unsaid promise to be there for her, he thinks as he stares at his empty palms.)
---
She’s taken to wearing perfume lately. Chansik points this out when they’re slow-dancing together during their high school formal. He closes his eyes as he breathes in and thinks Soojung Soojung Soojung.
She laughs bashfully, covering her mouth with the back of her left hand, before returning it to its original position around his neck. A friend of mine gave me this perfume. I just -- I thought I would wear it.
It’s a nice scent, he comments as they continue to sway left and right. She simply laughs again and talks of how the compliments should be paid to the person who bought the perfume and not her.
(It’s your scent, he thinks when he’s returned home later that night, the smell of perfume still lingering on his tuxedo jacket.)
---
They graduate from high school in the evening.
After they’ve thrown their caps into the air, after they’ve taken pictures with family and friends, after they’ve stripped off their gowns and reminisced about their school days and lost youth, Chansik finds her and leads her away from the crowds of congratulations and well wishes.
He kisses her then, while her eyes are shining and bright, cheeks flushed from excitement about the impending future. He draws away from her lips slowly before touching his forehead to her forehead.
I like you, he confesses.
She smiles shyly, and it reminds him of that first meeting all those years ago. Only now, the smile is traced with a hint of anxiety as well. That was my first kiss. If it was anybody else, I would have replied with a slap to the face.
He isn’t sure how to react to her non-answer. That was my first kiss too, he wants to say. Instead, he simply repeats his confession again. I like you.
I know; I like you too, is how she responds this time. She looks too amiable about all of this, and Chansik is perplexed.
You know I don’t mean it like that. Chansik states, voice low and mouth close to her ear. I like you; I think I may even love you.
She stills after that, and her eyes are no longer as shining and bright as they once were. They’re wide and dark; surprise is etched into her features, and Chansik is once again unsure how to react. He ends up leaving her, incapable of waiting for a response after watching how her expression has shifted.
He doesn’t fail to notice a peer with bleached hair make his own way over to her afterwards.
Yah, Soojung, what’s with the stupid expression on your face?
Shut up and go away, Kibum.
He doesn’t look back once.
(We shared our first kiss together; that has to mean something, something sure and true.
Chansik drowns in his thoughts that night.)
---
I’m sorry, is how she begins their next conversation. They’re in a cafe that’s in between both their homes.
That wasn’t the answer he was hoping to hear, but Chansik knows that deep down, he had expected this. He tightens his grip on his coffee cup after slowly gulping down a mouthful, and he steels himself for further explanation.
You’re the perfect guy, Channie. The nickname has slipped out, and Chansik actually thinks he can feel his heart deteriorating into nothing more than ashes. You’re just not the one for me, I guess.
There’s a silence that settles between them, and it’s a heavy one that also manages to feel fragile, as if a wrong statement could break whatever relationship they currently have. He doesn’t want to lose her; being friends is better than being strangers again.
So he smiles, and reaches out to ruffle her long, dark hair playfully. I know. (He doesn’t.) Kibum’s the one for you, isn’t he? (It comes out less like a question and more like a concession.)
He watches as a blush spreads from her cheeks to the tips of her ears, and his heart aches at the sight. If he makes you cry, I’m going to beat him up, okay.
She laughs then, and reciprocates his smile with one of her own (hers being the more happy of the two, but both are equally as sincere). Thank you.
Chansik nods before raising his cup in an attempt to toast with hers. What are friends for?
(Comfort can be terribly blinding.)
A/N: I haven't written het in almost a year, herp derp. I'm not sure what I was thinking at two in the morning, but this was pretty much word vomit spurred on by memories of my senior year and a sudden desire to look back on WFP videos. Have fun trying to identify the order of the senses if you've never watched WFF before.
A/N2: I ship KeyStal, but mekimigure has gotten me onboard the GongStal ship as well.
A/N3: Un-beta'd. Blegh.