Chapter Text
If there was one word Boo Seungkwan would use to describe his life, it was passionate.
Whether it was the various sports he put his all into, the heated arguments he would partake in debate club, or simply the amount he would involve himself into all his friends’ problems, Seungkwan rarely found a dull moment.
And if not that, Boo Seungkwan would at least consider himself somewhat of an extraordinaire at quickly figuring people out; that is, until he met Chwe Hansol.
He remembers the first time he saw him- it was during his freshman literature class, while he had been absentmindedly taking notes, when suddenly the school dean had interrupted class to introduce a new transfer student to the class.
“Hello. My name is Hansol Vernon Chwe.”
The new transfer student had dark, brown hair with wispy bangs which were parted slightly to the sides. He wore the same school uniform as the rest of them, except maybe a size or two too big for him. There wasn’t anything else too notable about his appearance at first glance, so being the socialite that he was, Seungkwan made up his mind to speak to him after class.
“We’re glad to have you, Hansol. You can take the empty seat next to Seungkwan over there, by the window,” the teacher said. “Seungkwan, could you please raise your hand?”
“Ah, yes,” Seungkwan replied, straightening his back when he realized he had been called on. He raised his arm to wave at the new student, offering him a welcoming smile as Hansol’s eyes drifted over and focused on his own.
“Hi there, I’m Boo Seungkwan,” he said, extending a hand to Hansol as he sat down to his right. “It’s nice to meet you!”
Hansol glanced at Seungkwan’s outstretched hand for a heartbeat before moving to shake it with a small nod. “Hey, you too. I’m Hansol.”
After their brief introduction, the two of them didn’t talk for the rest of the class and Seungkwan went back to focusing on his notes. He couldn’t say that literature was his absolute favorite class, though he did like when the teacher asked for volunteers to dramatically read Shakespearean lines out loud. Today, however, was a rather boring lecture of literary motifs that Seungkwan couldn’t really bother to put his full attention to. Instead, his eyes drifted over to his right to catch a glimpse of Hansol again.
What he didn’t expect was for Hansol to be staring right back at him- rather obviously and unabashedly, in fact. Seungkwan flushed a bit, embarrassed that he had been caught, and went back to focusing on his notes. He ran a hand through his light brown hair, using his propped arm to hide his face.
That was certainly not his finest moment.
Nevertheless, after the class bell rang, Seungkwan turned to his side with a leg propped over his knee and prodded Hansol further. “So, Hansol. Where’d you transfer from?”
Hansol put his pencil case into his backpack, seeming to be deep in thought. “Hmm. I’m not sure.”
Seungkwan frowned in confusion. “What do you mean you’re not sure?”
Hansol tilted his head. “I guess I’ve been moving around so much I lost track. The last place was still in Korea, at least.”
Seungkwan’s mouth morphed into the shape of a small ‘o’. “Oh, do you travel overseas a lot? That’s so cool.”
“Yeah. I got family back in America. I’m glad I was able to settle down somewhere more permanent before high school kicked into gear, though.”
“Mm, I see,” Seungkwan hummed. He checked his watch. “Oh, we’ve gotta get to our next class soon. Wanna walk together? We’ll both be in Class E for the rest of the year.”
“Sure,” Hansol replied with a small nod.
One thing Seungkwan immediately came to notice about Hansol was that he was really quiet.
Like, really quiet.
They walked almost in complete silence on their way to class, though the cacophonous background chatter of the bustling hallways easily provided background noise. It was no matter to Seungkwan though, because if there was one thing he was good at, it was filling in silence.
“So, were you born in Korea?”
“Nah. I was born in New York, and lived there for a few years before moving to Korea,” Hansol paused. “My mom’s American.”
“You must be great at English, then!” Seungkwan exclaimed.
“Yep. I’m fluent.”
“Lucky, we’re on our way to English class right now. Mind giving me a few pointers?” Seungkwan asked cheekily.
“Yeah, of course.”
Seungkwan smiled inquisitively, slowly warming up to the blunt responses that Hansol seemed to be accustomed to giving. Surprisingly, he found it quite refreshing.
“Oh, I should introduce you to Shua! He’s from America too. I think he said it was…. LA?” Seungkwan replied, stretching out the English letters in his mouth in as well of an American accent as he could. Hansol gave him a small smile of recognition. “He’s in the junior class, but he’s super chill and I’m sure he’d love to meet you.”
“Sounds good.”
“We can go find him after English, it’ll be the lunch break then.”
***
The second thing Seungkwan noticed about Hansol is that his voice sounded really nice when he talked in English.
He’d heard others talk in English before of course, namely Shua, but it wasn’t quite the same.
True to his word, Hansol had indeed given him a few pointers, as the two of them had decided to team up during class when the teacher asked them to practice conversation.
“Your pronunciation is pretty good, but try to enunciate your Vs more.”
“ I habe been enjoying this… conversation…” Seungkwan tried again.
“Close,” Hansol said. “You can practice with my middle name. Vernon. ”
“Bernon…”
“Ver…non”
“ Vernon? ”
“Yep,” Hansol said with a smile. “You’ve got it.”
Seungkwan let his shoulders decompress with a sigh. “And I thought I was good at English.”
“No, you are! I’m actually impressed,” Hansol reassured him.
“No need to lie, I can handle it,” Seungkwan said jokingly.
“I’m not, though,” Hansol said, completely serious.
Seungkwan just blinked at him. Then smiled.
“Um… thanks. If you say so.”
Seungkwan couldn’t help but notice it too, when Hansol talked to Shua.
“Ahh, you’re from New York!” Seungkwan heard Shua say. Shua’s warm, brown eyes practically glittered, lit up with stars from finding someone to converse with in his native language. “My name’s Joshua.”
“Seungkwan told me you’re from LA?”
“Born and raised,” Shua said.
“Awesome.”
“It was so hard adjusting cause I came here when I was already a teenager. My English is way better than my Korean, actually.”
“I get that. I travel between the states and Korea a lot.”
“Did you just move here?”
“Nah, I came here when I was pretty young. I’ve just been relocating around Korea a lot recently.”
“Ooh, I see. Oh-” Shua’s eyes suddenly flickered back to Seungkwan, a bit ashamed. “Sorry Seungkwan-ah, I got a little carried away. Didn’t mean to cut you out of the conversation.”
“No worries,” Seungwkan said with a wave of his hand. “I’m just tryna introduce Hansol here around.”
“Shuaa, are you done yet?” A new voice suddenly said. It was Shua’s best friend, Jeonghan. Jeonghan casually laid an elbow on Shua’s shoulder and leaned his weight against him.
Shua rolled his eyes. “Speaking of introductions, this is Jeonghan. He’s a lazy bastard.”
“Okay, rude,” Jeonghan replied, though he did not sound offended in the slightest.
“Anyways, Hansol- let’s exchange numbers and keep in touch.” Shua took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Hansol. Hansol quickly typed in his number and handed the phone back. “Sweet. I’ll text you soon!”
Hansol nodded and Shua was soon dragged off into whatever new shenanigan Jeonghan had gotten himself into.
“That’s Yoon Jeonghan, Shua’s best friend. They’re both from Class C,” Seungkwan explained with a hand on his hip. “He is certainly… a character. Oh! There’s some more people from our class over there. I’ll introduce you!” Seungkwan started towards a table to their left.
Hansol nodded silently and followed.
***
“I’m sorry, Hansol. I got so caught up trying to introduce you to everyone in our class that we barely had time to actually eat,” Seungkwan huffed with a pout. They were sitting outside on a bench after school had ended, enjoying the pleasant weather and snacking on the leftover food they had originally packed for lunch. It was surprisingly warm for fall, and Seungkwan could have easily mistaken it for an early spring day if not for the colorful leaves floating down around them.
“It’s okay,” Hansol replied with a shrug.
“No, it's not,” Seungkwan sighed. “I would offer to treat you at one of my favorite cafes, but I’ve got basketball practice right after this.”
“Oh, you play basketball?” Hansol asked, sipping on a carton of chocolate milk.
“Amongst other things,” Seungkwan said with a grin. “I’m pretty good, if I do say so myself. Usually the basketball team is pretty snobby at letting in freshmen, but I was just too damn good I guess.”
“Wow, awesome. What other sports do you play?”
“Tennis, badminton, soccer, to name a few,” Seungkwan listed off. “Though, my favorite has got to be volleyball. Anyways, I better start heading off to practice now.”
“Can I come?”
Seungkwan raised an eyebrow. “You want to watch our practice?”
“Yeah. Don’t have much else to do.”
Seungwkan shrugged. “Suit yourself. Oh, we can get something to eat afterwards then!”
“Sure.”
Seungkwan beamed, head already spinning with ideas on which cafe to take Hansol to. The two of them threw away their trash and began to head over to the gym while Seungkwan gladly pointed out landmarks around the school on their way. Hansol listened attentively.
Soon, they arrived to the recognizable echo of sneakers squeaking against the floor and basketballs hitting the ground. Seungkwan led Hansol to the stands, situating him on the bleachers before waving goodbye and heading towards the locker rooms.
“See you after practice,” Seungkwan said. Hansol looked at him, expression mostly neutral but somehow also perfectly content.
“See ya.”