Red string
Title: Red String
Pairing: Khunyoung with side Junbros
Rating: pg-13 for minor swears
Summary: Nichkhun's neighbour tells him about the red string of destiny and he spends his life following it.
Nichkhun likes the idea that there's a red string tied around his pinky finger that connects him to his soulmate, someone in the world he's never met. He remembers how the old chinese lady next door sat him down and told him the legend of it one day when he was barely old enough to spell the word love, let alone understand the concept of it. "This..." She had said, wrapping a red string just below his first knuckle "Is a red string of fate. Of course, Khun-cub, it's not the real one, you can't see your real string, but somewhere out there, maybe in another town or even another country, is your soulmate and this string holds you together" She tied the string in a loose not that would come undone a few days later. "Your soulmate is the person you're meant to be with. They'll be perfect for you" Nichkhun stared at it in wonder, could something so small and delicate really promise such a thing? Nichkhun looked up at the greying lady in concern."What if it breaks?" The very idea scared the young boy but Mrs Lau laughed and ruffled his hair.
"Don't worry. That'll never happen"
As Nichkhun grows older, the idea of a string of fate stays with him, grows more appealing and consuming of his thoughts with each passing day. Mrs Lau has long gone now, moved back to China and died happily in a little house with her son, his wife and her grandchildren but her words ring clearly in Nichkhun's head each and every day, even when Nichkhun is 18 years old. He goes to parties and libraries, meets girls in fast-food restaurants and beauty parlours but his string always leads him back out the front door. He follows the imaginary string down cobbled streets and dirt tracks, through open fields and art galleries. It twists and turns but everyday it leads him to the open sea and Nichkhun knows, just knows in the bottom of his heart, that his soulmate is somewhere on the other side, in a city just like his. A city just like his with brick houses, concrete parks and swaying trees, just the language is a little different.
He goes to America first, he knows the language AND so the few culture shocks are easy to overcome. He's introduced to a girl named Callie with large blue eyes, bleached hair and he meets his first love with happy sighs and butterflies in his stomach. She's loud and brash with a slight southern twang that he doesn't always understand but she's fun and the days go quickly when she's around. There's always something to do, scratching his knees in skate parks and throwing up into trash cans after having eaten too much cotton candy and going on fast roller coasters. A boy named Brad joins their little group of troublemakers as a friend of a friend. 6 months later his first real relationship is over and his string still leads him to pebbled beaches.
He moves back home after 7 more failed relationships and the end of college, just in time for his mother to insist on a family trip to Korea. His sisters sit either side of him on the plane ride, asking silly questions about Callie and America that Nichkhun grudgingly answers. 'Yes, her hair was dyed'. 'No, she wasn't a cowgirl, she wasn't a goth or a preppy school girl either'. 'She didn't have plastic surgery and he's most certainly never slept with her' (even if he had at the time wanted to).'No, he hadn't been serious about David, or Gomez, or Thomas, but he's open to options'. The plane ride is too long for Nichkhun's liking, the journey to their rented apartment even longer and Nichkhun's heart hurts when they drive passed the sea and his string still lead towards it.
He spends the month they stay there ignoring his string. His days are spent with family, taking his sisters around the fashion boutiques and picking up trinkets for friends and family back home. Evenings, after family meals, are spent wondering the busy streets of Seoul, following the string, but not really, when he takes a left instead of right, and several streets later ends up back on track. Korean girls are pretty with their small frames and jet black hair and the men are just as attractive. Nichkhun notices a brown haired boy when they visit a music shop in Daegu, a scar on his chin and a black cap pulled over the majority of his. The cap amuses Nichkhun, the design a neon blue monster face with jagged teeth. He's browsing the RnB CDs when Nichkhun's sisters drag him into the store, both girls giggling when he glances their way. Nichkhun's eyes follow the dark red string that's curled twice around his little finger and trails off towards the counter. There's another boy with thick black hair and barely visible eyes behind the till who breaks into a wide smile when they step through the door.
Minutes later, Nichkhun is browsing through the classical section, fingering the cases of several pianist albums when he hears a barely audiable, but very male squeak. CDs fall or rather, are swept off the counter and when Nichkhun turns his head, the brown haired boy has the stunned clerk pulled halfway over the counter. Nichkhun watches for a few moments, watches as the clerk comes to his senses and presses the brown haired boy away. Nichkhun notices the dark red string ends around his finger and when the clerk smiles shyly and scrambles around the counter to pick up the fallen cds, all the while blushing like a school girl, Nichkhun knows he'll find his own soulmate. He decides to take pity on the two and puts the mozart CD back in it's place and pulls his sisters out from the store before either notices the cute display of the two boys.
They visit Busan a few days before they're scheduled to leave and his sisters talk their parents into letting them spend time at the beach. His mother sets up a blanket whilst he and Nichan set up an umbrella. Their father puts out deckchairs and his sister's work under the pretense of putting sun cream on each other. In reality, it's a rouse in which they pretend to rub suncream on each other, insisting it's a special brand that all the Thai models use when really it's just apple scented moisturiser. They both regret it later when the resemble freshly cooked lobsters at dinner. Nichan pulls out a frisbee that Nichkhun has never seen before and his father throws it too far. It whizzes over the heads of several korean sunbathers, a large group of senior citizens and lands somewhere in a pack of boys.
Nichkhun runs after it, grateful when a tall boy with thick limbs hands it back. There's sauce and icecream smudged across his cheek and Nichkhun gestures towards his face. The boy doesn't understand and tilts his head to a side, looking even more confused when Nichkhun stutters 'You've got stuff- i.. icecream on your face' in english. Another boy with large teeth appears at their side and shouts to a couple of the others. The black haired boy from the CD store appears with a tissue and the icrecream is wiped away. 'Sorry about that, man. He's such an idiot sometimes' The boy with large teeth claps Nichkhun on the shoulder and Nichkhun instantly recognises the boston accent, despite the Korean twang. The black haired boy lets out a booming 'Yeah man!' and blushes as he comes face to face with Nichkhun. Nichkhun's smiles, his own cheeks a little pink and glances at the dark string around his pinky. He doesn't have to look far because the brown haired boy appears moments later, slinging tanned arms around his bare shoulders. 'Yo man, whassup! You're familiar. You where at the music shop, right?' Nichkhun nods, impressed by the boy's english when a fifth, stunning boy appears, ice cream cone splattering to the sand.
The boy who passed him the now forgotten frisbee whimpers and it takes the toothy american and both boys from the music store to stop him diving on the wasted icecream. They mutter something about buying him another icecream and ask their friend if he'd like another icecream but are completely forgotten. The fifth boy is shorter than Nichkhun and his cheeks puff out in a cute way that reminds him of his youngest sister's hamster. His eyes dart back and forth from Nichkhun's hand to his own and it takes Nichkhun a few moments to register the movement before he looks at his own hand. There's nothing particullarly interesting about his hand, he thinks as he turns his own hand over infront of him but the bright red string is now pulled taught, stretched over a small distance. Nichkhun's heart beats faster, twisting his stomach in knots as his eyes follow the red string to it's end. The Korean boy extends his hand towards Nichkhun and he can see the bow that ties the end to the boy's pinky with startling clarity.
'Ne, Woodong?' The brown haired boy nudges Nichkhun's soulmate, pressing his finger to the boy's puffy cheeks. It startles the boy and a slow smile spreads across his face, lighting up his eyes as he turns to the toothy American. Nichkhun doesn't understand what they say but the American casts a confused look to his friend before turning to Nichkhun. 'He wants to know your name' It's more of a question than a request but Nichkhun nods, grinning goofily. 'It's Nichkhun' He says, staring directly into the chubby cheeked boy's eyes. The boy says something else as he takes Nichkhun's hand in his own, not taking his eyes from the Thai boy. 'His name is Wooyoung and he wants you to buy him icecream' Nichkhun laughs at the American's confused tone and lets his soulmate pull him away from the group. He doesn't return to Seoul with his parents that night, or the next but when he tells his parents he's staying in Korea, Wooyoung hanging awkwardly in the living room, they realise he's finally found what he's been looking for all these years.