Chapter Text
When Changkyun had applied to colleges in South Korea, it had simply been because his childhood best friend in Korea had buggered him to the point that he’d sent in the application just to get him to shut up.
It had been with the expectation that even if he got in, he wouldn’t be going. It was hard enough for his parents to consider sending him to a college in a different state, let alone to one in another country. And if he was to be honest, he wasn’t all that keen on the idea of living alone in Seoul either.
The last time he’d been to Korea was years ago and well… it hadn’t been the best trip, what with Changkyun falling off the stairs and breaking his leg two days in.
So, when he got his acceptance letter from Yonsei University, he tossed it on his bed and continued to read the book he’d been reading. He even forgot to mention it to his mother over lunch and only remembered about it when his mother asked him to bring his bed covers into the laundry room.
“Mom, here.”
His mother reached for the bed covers, but he gave her the letter instead before stuffing the sheets into the washing machine himself.
“What’s this? I don’t have my reading glasses.” his mother asked, peering at the letter.
“You can read it later,” he pushed the door shut and looking back over his shoulder, added, “it’s an acceptance letter from one of the Korean universities.”
“Oh.” His mother’s eyebrows shot up. “Which one?”
“Yonsei.” Changkyun answered before turning back around and spinning the dial till it showed fifty-six minutes. He could never understand why washing machines always had the weirdest time settings. One hour six minutes, two hours thirty-four minutes. He supposed he had seen a few normal washing machines at the laundromat, but most were like their own. He pressed the start button and the machine whirred to life, taking their clothes on one hell of a ride that would last for fifty-six minutes. Gradually, the colorful clothes spun fast enough to create an indistinguishable blur.
Behind him, his mother moved closer, still squinting at the contents of the letter. “The Yonsei University?”
“Yes, the Yonsei university, whatever that’s supposed to mean.”
“Why, it’s only one of the best universities in Korea.”
“Oh right, right. What was it called again- FLY?”
“SKY. Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University.” he didn’t even have to look at her to know that she was rolling her eyes. “You got into one of the top three?”
Changkyun looked away from the clothes and faced his mother with narrowed eyes. “Is it that shocking?”
His mother smiled and handed him back the letter. “Not really. Congratulations. Are you gonna go?”
Changkyun waited for his mother to laugh but when she didn’t, he said, “Nice joke, mum. Am I gonna go, really? Not even a ‘do you want to go?”
“Yes, why?”
Changkyun sputtered in disbelief. “Well are you going to let me go? To Seoul, of all places?”
“Why not? Korea is your motherland. It would be a good chance to get to know your country and improve your speaking skills while you’re at it. Joohyun would be delighted too.”
“Jooheon,” he corrected shaking his head. “You’re serious? I mean, you barely even let me hang out with the Korean kids here.”
“That’s because most of the people you wanted to befriend were bad influences.” His mother shrugged before walking out of the room.
Following her out and into the kitchen, he asked, “and what’s the guarantee that I won’t make friends with ‘bad influences’ there?”
His mother handed him the chopping board. “Get me some cucumbers.”
“Mom!”
“I don’t know, Changkyunie, you are old enough to pick good friends now. Not to mention that Joohyun-”
“Jooheon!”
“Yes, Jooheon. He’s attending Yonsei too, right? That means you have someone whom you can trust. Also, get some garlic too.”
“He is but that’s beside the point! You didn’t want me applying to universities in New York but you’re okay with me living half-way across the world?”
“I’m just saying that it wouldn’t be a bad idea. It’s your choice really.”
“And if I choose to go to New York?”
“Well, you could. Your dad would rather you went to a university nearby-”
“Exactly and New York is way closer than Seoul! If I go there, I may not even be able to come back during my vacations!”
“You’re forgetting that your dad graduated from Yonsei. Anyway, I suggest that we have this conversation when he is back. Maybe during dinner, which you promised to help me with so now move.”
Later Changkyun would think back to this moment and wonder how he hadn’t predicted then, what was to happen next. Long story short, after an enlightening discussion over dinner, Changkyun found himself typing away on google, looking up everything about Yonsei. After a few days of google-searching and several consultations with Jooheon, he finally replied to the email they had sent him, accepting their offer.
Of course, he had his doubts but after careful consideration it had occurred to him that he’d never get a chance like this again- to discover not just any country but the place he was born. Also, Yonsei was a pretty good college and their program for Civil & Environmental Engineering was pretty much everything he had been looking for. With it he would also have the option to take a Korean Studies Minor which would teach him more about his ‘motherland’ as his mom had put it.
Jooheon, of course, was delighted and although Changkyun wasn’t the kind to express his excitement overtly, he couldn’t help but feel enthusiastic whenever Jooheon spoke about all the places they could visit together.
“Sinchon has some decent matjibs.” Jooheon told him, grinning from ear to ear, his prominent dimples clear as day even on video call. It was quite late in Korea but obviously Jooheon was wide-awake, claiming that SKY students didn’t need sleep. He had dark circles under his eyes though and Changkyun was once again grateful to have a friend like him.
“What is matjib?” He asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. With the time difference being so extreme between Cupertino and Seoul, he had to wake up at 7:30 am and Jooheon had to stay up till 12:30 so that they could talk. This was why they had mostly stuck to texting over the past few years but with Changkyun moving to Seoul soon, the two of them found themselves calling each other every other day, even if it meant getting fewer hours of sleep.
“Just good and famous restaurants.” Jooheon explained.
Since Changkyun spoke with his parents and relatives in Korean, his speaking skills were relatively good. Writing and reading were a different story though and as for slang, he only knew whatever Jooheon had taught him over the years. While Changkyun tried to store the new word he’d learnt in his mental dictionary, Jooheon went on about all the things they could do.
“Since Hongdae is really close to Sinchon, it’s another place we can frequent. There’s better matjibs in Hongdae for one. There’s always good busking performances that happen there and there’s some nice clubs we can go to.”
“Clubs?” Changkyun repeated incredulously. “No thanks.” He didn’t have anything against people who liked or frequented clubs but they just weren’t for him. He did occasionally dance when he was alone at home but he was too stiff to ever consider dancing in public.
“Why not?” Jooheon pouted at once, looking like a cute piglet, forcing Changkyun to hold back a chuckle.
“I can’t dance.”
“Doesn’t matter, half the people who go to clubs cannot dance. That’s not why people go there anyway. You go there to enjoy the vibes, bro.”
“Okay, bro.”
“Oh come on, are you telling me you’re not even slightly curious about all the hot girls that come there?” Jooheon asked with a smirk.
Changkyun rolled his eyes, not bothering with a response. In fact, he pretty much zoned out as Jooheon went on about some or the other club, only zoning back in when his phone pinged with a notification from Instagram. Looked like Jooheon had sent him a video.
“What’s this?” He asked warily.
“Just to show you what you would be missing out on, dongsaeng.”
Changkyun sighed and glanced at the video disinterestedly. Jooheon had obviously been drunk when he’d clicked the video, judging from how much the video shook. The blaring music was giving him a headache and he hadn’t even seen half of the video.
It seemed like Jooheon was expecting him to see him having a good time- surrounded by attractive women and agree to go with him.
Truth was, Jooheon didn’t know that Changkyun was gay. It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered telling him but he had no idea how Jooheon might react if he did and it wasn’t something Jooheon had to know for them to be friends so he’d never brought it up.
On his laptop screen, Jooheon was going on about how Changkyun might finally get a girlfriend if he went out more and how when he got there, Jooheon wasn’t going to allow him to stay in all the time.
Changkyun was about to toss his phone aside and give Jooheon a generic response when the camera focus shifted and focused on a guy with silver hair, headphones around his neck, nodding and hopping along to the music. The video zoomed in on him and Changkyun realized that he was the DJ.
The silver haired man smiled at the crowd that was cheering for him as if he was some famous idol. There was something so genuine and yet sheepish about his smile. He then started mouthing along to the lyrics of the English pop song that was playing, hips swaying slightly as he danced in place and Changkyun watched, entranced, even though there was nothing particularly extraordinary about the action.
“See, even you can’t look away. Who caught your eye? Is it the girl with the blonde hair? She’s a regular there and I know her so I can introduce you to…”
But he heard nothing, eyes fixed on the DJ, who was smirking now, dancing along to the beat in that restricted place, pushing the silver hair out of his eyes_ the action revealing his forehead for just a second before the hair fell back and Changkyun just couldn’t look away.
“Changkyun?”
He didn’t answer as the video had restarted and once again the guy was nodding along to the music, smiling, arms moving at his sides, smirking in the direction of the crowd, pushing his hair back- just having a good time.
“What the hell? Did your video get stuck or-?”
“I’m here.” he said, locking his phone and keeping it aside.
On the screen, Jooheon’s eyes were narrowed in suspicion. “What were you staring at?”
Changkyun felt heat rising to his cheeks. “Nothing in particular, I just uh zoned out. Sorry, it’s the lack of sleep. That happens to me sometimes, I just zone out and don’t hear anything. My mum is always scolding me for it…” He knew he was rambling but he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t like he could tell Jooheon he’d been ogling at the DJ in the video he’d sent.
“Oh ya, I should get to sleep. You sleep for a while too.” Jooheon said and smiled almost sadistically before saying, “while you can.”
The second the call ended he unlocked his phone and the video restarted. Once again Changkyun was hooked, unable to comprehend the power it held over him.
Who was this guy with silver hair that managed to be both cute and sexy at once? Did he work there regularly? What was his name?
A part of him was tempted to ask Jooheon under the pretense of liking the music but he didn’t want to raise unnecessary questions so after typing a deleting his words several times, he finally replied with a “I guess we could go here sometime.”
Maybe he’d actually get to see this beautiful man in real life if they did.
Don’t be ridiculous, Changkyun. It’s not like you can just run into him because you want to.
Shaking his head at his own silliness he put his phone aside and rolled out of bed, swearing when he stubbed his toe on the little side table.
Like someone that beautiful and graceful would like you anyway.