Title: This Is The Story Of How They Met
Author: nucleardragon
Characters/Pairing: Gen.
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Wordcount: 2676
Summary: Jongup works with a fansite for three years for the band called Secret. This is the story of how he met his six co-workers/friends.
Jongup threw the black and pink soccer ball up in the air. He heard his computer dinged and got up. He smiled and saw the notification that Zelo replied to him. He clicked on the Line notification and brought it up on his desktop.
I'm here!
Well technically I'm in an airplane, but same thing.
Anyway, the others should tell you when they land.
You're at home aren't you?
Jongup smiled fondly and seated himself in front of the computer.
It's seven in the morning. Of course I'm home.
None of you told me when you're flight is coming.
Except Youngjae.
Youngjae is already here.
Jongup looked at the sleeping lump on the bed across from him. The others are from different parts of the world. Youngjae's from a small town from Illinois. Junhong, or Zelo as he likes to call himself, is from Canada, but his flight is coming from New York, where Yongguk currently resides. Himchan and Daehyun are the only residents from South Korea. The six of them run a fan site for the kpop girl group they have been following by the name of Secret. Himchan and Yongguk created the fan site; Zelo is the English translator while Himchan took the role of the Japanese translator. Youngjae was the photographer and the fanartist, along with Daehyun with the fanart and fanfiction. Jongup's role is all over the place. He knew a bit of Spanish, so he translated some of the videos from Zelo into Spanish for the fans to enjoy. He also translated the news articles and twitter feed from the Secret members and he was the fanfic writer. Not very important to the website, but it had a lot of creative elements. Yongguk took care of the announcements and contests.
Of course.
Where are we meeting again?
Jongup became friends with all of them. First it was with Zelo when he came up with the subbing Secret's videos into different languages so others could enjoy them just as much as the people who spoke Korean enjoyed them. Before that, of course, he was a fanfic writer and Zelo enjoyed them so much that they instantly became friends. He met Daehyun on accident when he discovered that Daehyun created a bit of a fanart based on one of his works. He instantly became friends with the Busan boy, and then friends with Youngjae because for some reason the two worked as pairs and created some crack posts. Youngjae was part of the fan site that Himchan and Yongguk created. Then it all spiraled from there.
At the airport.
I'll be driving to our destination, though. Just you wait and see.
-----
Jongup and Youngjae held out signs at the LAX and tried to find the people they were supposed to be meeting.
"What time does their plane land?" Youngjae asked, looking around.
"They said around seven or eight, although I highly doubt Zelo or Yongguk to give me an exact time," Jongup answered.
About a few minutes of waiting, they saw a tall pale boy with light brown hair walking out, following behind a man that's a few inches shorter than him with black hair and sunglasses and a tired look on his face. Jongup and Youngjae think that those two could be them, but they aren't exactly sure.
After the two grabbed their luggage, they began to search around the airport.
"Is that them?" Jongup asked Youngjae.
Youngjae looked at the two and furrowed his eyebrows. The two spotted them and began to walk towards them.
"Holy shit, it is," Youngjae said.
"Ten bucks says the tall one is Zelo," Jongup challenged.
"You're on."
Jongup was ten dollars richer that day.
"Jongup and Youngjae, right?" the one with the sunglasses asked them. Jongup noted that he sounded like a caveman.
"That is correct," Youngjae said.
"I'm Yongguk. This is Zelo. The only one's we're waiting for is Himchan and Daehyun, correct?" Yongguk asked.
"Yep. Which reminds me, we need to switch our signs," Youngjae tells Jongup.
"Do me a solid and hold this real quick," he tells Zelo, handing him a poster with his name written in pretty colors.
Zelo held onto his sign and the two began to walk towards the international airports where Himchan and Daehyun would be.
After a few hours of waiting, they began to see people coming out of the terminal. They all stood up and looked around to see if they would find their friends. It only took a few minutes. The four spotted them going towards the luggage area and grabbed their bags. Youngjae and Zelo held Himchan's up while Jongup and Yongguk held up Daehyun's. The two spotted them quickly and made their way towards them.
"Oh thank god! That plane ride was exhausting," one of them whined, their thick Korean accent visible in his words.
"It wasn't that bad. Himchan likes to exaggerate," the other commented.
"It was not! Besides, those airplane foods were disgusting," Himchan stated, making a face at the mention of the airplane food.
"They mostly sit in your stomach for a while," Daehyun stated.
"Says you. You practically ate all of it," Himchan stated.
Jongup cleared his throat for them to focus their attention back. The two turned around and looked at him.
"I'm on a meter. If we hurry this up, I can show you all around and let you all crash at my apartment," Jongup said.
They all nodded their heads and followed Jongup towards his beat up burgundy car that seats five people. He knows it's a piece of shit, but it's his piece of shit car. He opens the trunk of the car and lets everyone pile their luggage inside the back of the car. Jongup closes the trunk and opens the car door.
"Shotgun!" Zelo called out, making Youngjae and Yongguk groan.
"Why would Americans need a shotgun?" Daehyun asked.
Jongup wasn't going to get into the whole thing about front seat mentality and everybody piled into his rather large, yet somewhat small car.
"So where are we going?" Himchan asked him as he is squished in between Youngjae and Yongguk.
"That's a surprise," Jongup answered, turning the car on and beginning to exit the airport.
"So how did you like it here, Youngjae?" Daehyun asked him.
"It's actually really nice. I'm surprised about the weather, though. I thought it would be cooler," Youngjae admitted.
"Welcome to Los Angeles where it's summer until the end of October, beginning of November," Jongup said, turning on the radio and putting it on his favorite station.
The car ride was silent. The only sounds that were made were the soft beat of the radio and a singer's voice that hardly anybody recognized. Jongup quickly changed the channel until he found the right one. It was mostly generic pop that most people have heard on the radio, but it killed the silence, and it's needed.
-----
After about half an hour of being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Jongup finally made his destination to a bubble tea shop that he most frequently came to, along with an outdoor shopping mall.
"You shop here?" Himchan asked, gaping at all the shops and people that were roaming around.
"Yep. You should come here when it's the holidays. This place really glows," Jongup said, pulling into an empty parking stall and parked it, and then soon killing the engine.
They all exited the small car. Well, Daehyun mostly jumped out and landed hard on the concrete floor.
"Did you ever think of investing in a much bigger car?" Daehyun complained.
"It's a car, it has wheels and an engine, and it takes me places. What else would I need?" Jongup questioned, locking the door once everybody was out of the car.
"Gee, I don't know. Maybe a bigger car so that your friends can breathe inside it?" Himchan questioned, closing the door behind him.
Jongup mostly ignored them and walked out of the parking garage. The others followed behind him.
"So where are we going?" Youngjae asked him.
"There's this pizza place I know that serves really great pizza and a bubble tea shop right across the street," Jongup said.
"Is that a music shop?" Yongguk asked.
"Yep. We can go to that one later. Right now, I know all of you are starving, so this is on me. Just don't order anything too expensive," Jongup said, eyeing Daehyun.
Daehyun looked behind him, fully aware that Jongup is looking at him.
"California Pizza Kitchen?" Yongguk read off the name.
"Yep. Right next to it is a Baskin Robin's ice cream and in those stalls over there is the bubble tea. We have many stores here," Jongup pointed out.
"Are there kids playing in the fountain?" Zelo asked, moving out of the way when a small train for small kids began to make its rounds.
"Its summer, so of course they're playing in the fountain. Now are we going inside to eat or just stand around and watch kids all day?" Jongup questioned.
The six entered inside the small restaurant. After getting their table and menus, they all began to talk in a fury.
"I heard Secret is coming out with a new album," Himchan announced.
"Wait, are you serious?" Zelo asked.
"Well, it's a rumor right now, but many are speculating whether they are or not. After Hana's single, I would think they would," Daehyun explained.
"I wonder what their concept is going to be. What have they done so far?" Yongguk asked.
"The last one was I think pirates. Hana's was more of a combination of cute and sexy," Youngjae answered.
"I bet it's going to be a cute concept. They like to switch off sometimes," Zelo said.
"I think it's a sexy concept this time," Daehyun said, setting his menu down.
"Why?" Himchan asked, still looking at the options.
"Well, they sometimes like to do things in a row. They did a sexy concept, so I think they'll do sexy again," Daehyun explained.
"Either way, I still want that jazzy feeling that they have in their songs. They pull off the jazz beat so well," Jongup piped up.
"That is true. Cute or sexy, they can pull it off like nothing," Youngjae said.
After a few arguments about Secret ("She's in a drama right now. How could she possibly be in a photo shoot?" "You don't know Jieun, okay. She can pull it off really well." "You're only saying that because she's your bias."), they ordered their meals and waited patiently.
"Maybe next week, we can go somewhere. Like Six Flags or Disneyland," Jongup offered.
"No offense, but I'm not going to be trapped in that airtight car of yours," Youngjae said.
"I'm borrowing my mom's car. It seats eight people," Jongup told him.
"We'll think about it. Right now, we just want some normal food and probably some sleep," Himchan answers, taking a sip out of his cherry smoothie.
Jongup only nodded his head. The conversation was mostly light. It went from school ("I am still in school." "Yes, but how are your grades?" "What are you, my mom?"), to family matters ("My mom still makes me kimchi soup." "My mom makes practically everything. She once made me mole and it was delicious."), to social life ("Yes I still have friends. No, I am not a loner." "You sure? I'm pretty sure the last time I talked to you, you said you reached level 90 in your video games." "Who asked you?"), and lastly to Secret itself ("Your bias is still Sunhwa, right?" "Yes. I am not changing bias to suit your Hana needs." "But why? Hana is so pretty." "So is Hyosung, but you don't hear me bragging about her.") until they finally finished their meals. Jongup mostly paid (with Yongguk paying for his meal plus a large sum of the tip) and grabbed their bubble tea from one of the vendors. They soon made their way back to the car.
"Are you sure your mom will let you borrow her car?" Zelo asked, taking the back seat since Yongguk called shotgun when they were leaving the bubble tea shop.
"She owes me. She crashed my car when she was going shopping because hers was way too big to carry her groceries," Jongup said, unlocking his car and letting them all pile in.
"Is that why there's a large dent on the side of the car?" Youngjae asked.
"Pretty much. She claims it's the other car's fault, but I still blame her. It's a fortune to get this fix, no matter if my uncle can fix it," Jongup said, climbing into the driver's side and turning the engine on.
They mostly drove in comfortable silence, letting one of Secret's CD's play on the stereo ("I like Yoohoo okay shut up!"). It took about half an hour to get from the outdoor shopping mall to Jongup's apartment in the middle of LA. He parked his car in his parking stall and turned the engine off. He unlocks the doors and opens the trunk of his car. Everybody gets out and lands perfectly on the ground. They all grabbed their luggage from the trunk and Jongup closed the trunk. He closed the garage door and walked up to his apartment house.
"You live here?" Himchan asks.
"Yep. All houses look like mine, though, and it's not really the most spacious place you've ever seen. Some of you will share air mattresses, though," Jongup said, digging into his pocket and reaching for his apartment key.
"As long as it's neat and clean, I don't care," Himchan said, taking a sip of his bubble tea.
"Good, because you'll be sleeping in the living room with Youngjae and Zelo with all the neatness. Yongguk will be sharing with Daehyun in the office where all the clutter is," Jongup stated, opening the door and letting everyone in.
"Seems fair," Youngjae said.
"Yeah. One of you will sleep on the couch while the two fight for the air mattress," Jongup said, taking off his shoes and letting everyone else do the same.
"As long as I get a place to sleep, I don't care," Daehyun said, closing the door behind him.
"Oh you will. It's now eight at night. We can play video games until we pass out or watch movies-"
"Do you have that new karaoke game with all the kpop songs on it?" Zelo asked.
"I-I think so," Jongup said, unsure if he even ordered it.
"If not, I have mine," Yongguk said, holding out said videogame to Zelo.
"Sweet! We can play this until our throats get sore," Zelo said.
And they did. For six hours.
Jongup's neighbors banged on their door to complain about it.
"I'm going to bed. We'll clean up around here tomorrow," Jongup told them.
Himchan was already passed out on the air mattress with Youngjae snuggling up to him, Zelo making himself comfortable on one of Jongup's couches.
"Our rooms are where you have the sign right?" Daehyun asked.
"Yep. You two will be staying in here, or one can stay in here and the other can sleep on the other couch. It doesn't really matter," Jongup explained.
The two looked inside and saw a bunch of clutter in the office, with two lone couches in the middle of it.
"Why don't we all just sleep in the living room? We can pump up another air mattress for all of us to sleep on," Yongguk offered.
"And if not, Yongguk can share with Himchan and Youngjae and I get to sleep on the mattress by myself," Daehyun suggested.
Jongup and Yongguk stared at him, who whistled innocently.
"I'll just move the air mattress Youngjae had in my room over and we can all share. And no, Daehyun, you cannot have the air mattress all to yourself," Jongup told him.
After a few minutes of moving the mattress, Yongguk settled onto the couch while Daehyun and Jongup made themselves comfortable on the mattress. And soon they all fell asleep.