Chapter Text
People say that when you get caught doing something you shouldn’t be doing, you’ll feel the undeniable urge to want to find a hole in the ground and hide yourself there for the rest of eternity out of sheer embarrassment.
Right now, Choi Han was feeling exactly that.
For the first time in his life, Choi Han wished he had been born as a turtle instead so he could at least hide himself inside of his shell while pretending that the rest of the world didn’t exist.
Tragically, however, Choi Han had been born as a human and therefore had to deal with the very flustering realization that he had just been caught staring.
What’s worse?
That person was walking over to him right now.
Choi Han could practically feel his brain buffering while his thoughts went into a frenzy.
He’s walking towards me. He’s walking towards me?! Oh no— oh no, no, no, no— what do I do? Do I run? Should I hide? Is it too late to sprint out of the school and take the quickest bus out of town? Should I just run away and become a hermit out in the woods somewhere? Maybe I should smuggle myself onto a plane and change my name and get a face tattoo to hide my identity— AHH DON’T COME ANY CLOSER
Choi Han was seconds away from booking it and running away like a scared rabbit when the boy with red hair began to walk towards him faster. Before Choi Han’s brain could fully start functioning again in order to come up with a good excuse in case he got asked why he had been staring, the red haired boy was already in front of him.
The first thought that came to Choi Han’s mind?
Wow… He’s so much prettier up close…
Boy had his priorities straight— or, in this case, gay.
Wait, was he actually gay though? Choi Han never really had to think about it much before. His only priority in the past was taking care of his sickly mother and hospitalized father. Additionally, he had previously lived in a situation where the only way he could actually access the internet was through internet cafés, and the times he went there were few and far in between. He’d only go there for school related purposes as well, like for printing out papers or researching information for an assignment.
He knew what sexuality was, of course. He just never really thought about it much before. Choi Han never really bothered to explore things like sexuality.
Did thinking that another boy was pretty automatically make him gay?
Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t; Choi Han wasn’t sure.
For now, though, Choi Han decided to put those thoughts into the back of his head. He had something more pressing to think about.
The red haired boy hadn’t said anything yet, so the two of them were just standing a few steps away from the door, staring at each other. Choi Han had broken eye contact at some point, feeling far too nervous to maintain it.
Choi Han gave himself some words of encouragement internally as he thought of what to say. Though, really, it felt more like he was just arguing with himself. Come on, Choi Han, you can do this! Just say hi like a normal person! You’ve done this before, haven't you? Well, I have, but that was way back then in middle school! Idiot, middle school was only a few months ago! Certainly feels like it’s been years, now doesn’t it? Ah, just— just talk already, you’re making things more awkward!
As subtly as he could, Choi Han took a deep breath and turned his head back to the person in front of him. He opened his mouth, and prayed to whatever god was out there that he could speak properly.
“Uh— ja— ah— he— hey—”
His prayers were not answered; he had been forsaken.
Smooth, Choi Han. Real smooth…, was the thought that came to Choi Han in an almost self-deprecating tone.
Right as Choi Han was about to start verbally chastising himself internally for being so terrible at social interactions, the red haired boy in front of him suddenly spoke.
“Hello,” the red haired boy said curtly.
Then—
Silence.
Neither of them talked.
The two of them had greeted each other and immediately fell back into an awkward silence.
Choi Han’s internal panic came back in full swing, Does… does he not know how to talk to people too? Are we in the same socially awkward boat? Ahh it’s so awkward… A part of him almost wanted to cry.
The red haired boy stared at him for a few more seconds before looking away and clearing his throat.
“Are you… lost, by any chance?” He asked.
Choi Han almost sighed in relief, because at least they weren’t just staring at each other in silence now. Plus, the other just asked a question pertaining to his current predicament, so how could he not be relieved?
“I— yes, yes I am,” Choi Han managed to say.
The red haired boy nodded his head in understanding. “I’m guessing you weren’t informed of the seating arrangement, then. You’re not the first one, nor the last, so there’s no need to worry about it. The seating arrangements aren’t by class, but by alphabetical order instead. What’s your last name? I can show you the way to your seat.”
“Ah? Ah! It’s Choi. My full name is Choi Han,” Choi Han hastily introduced himself, desperately fighting back the blush from creeping up his neck. He did not need to look even more flustered right now.
Fortunately for him, the red haired boy didn’t realize how nervous Choi Han looked— or maybe he did notice and just didn’t bother to acknowledge it. It didn’t really matter, though, because Choi Han was glad either way.
“Follow me, I’ll take you to where your seat should be,” The red haired boy said, before turning around and walking towards the seats at the front.
Choi Han paused for a moment before quickly regaining composure and hurriedly following behind. In all honesty, he felt somewhat like a baby duck following after its mother. He decided not to think too much about it.
“You said your name was Choi Han, right?” The red haired boy suddenly asked, fully snapping Choi Han out of his own thoughts and back into reality.
Choi Han nodded his head before remembering that he was walking behind the other boy and therefore couldn’t be seen nodding. “Ah— yes, it is,” he answered.
“Mm. Nice to meet you,” the red haired boy said.
After that, no other words were exchanged. Choi Han bit his lip subconsciously as the silence grew. He was about to ask for the boy’s name as well, but got cut off when the other suddenly spoke again.
“Your seat is that one over there, right behind that boy with the yellow hair clips.” Without waiting for Choi Han’s response, he began to walk away back towards the stage. Choi Han’s mood began to drop a bit while watching the person he just met disappear behind the black curtains of the stage.
He didn’t even get to ask for his name.
Sighing to himself, Choi Han held onto the straps of his backpack again and made his way towards the seat the red head had pointed towards. Luckily, the spacing between each row of chairs was quite spacious, so it wasn’t too hard to walk through. It might be a bit more troublesome once more people begin to sit down though, but for now, there weren’t many people he had to walk around to get to his chair.
After quickly sitting down, he took off his backpack and put it on his lap so he could sit down easier. It was a pain having to sit at the edge of his seat. He made sure that the straps were tucked in properly so that someone wouldn’t get caught on it. There were still a lot of seats on either side of him, so the possibility of more people having to walk through was a certainty.
As the clock ticked by, the number of students in the auditorium began to grow. Choi Han wasn’t exactly sure how many students there would actually be, but his uncle had mentioned that there might be around 150 or so students. It certainly wasn’t enough to fit the entirety of the auditorium’s size.
Choi Han fiddled with the zipper of his bag, trying to seem like he was just minding his own business. If people looked at him and guessed that he was zoning out and thinking deeply about something, they would actually be half right. In fact, at this moment, Choi Han was listening to the entirety of the Wii-Sports theme in his head while imagining the coffin dance meme, all on repeat.
The human brain was wonderful, wasn’t it? The things it could conjure just to distract the mind of a teenager in an unfamiliar environment was amazing.
Just then, a voice spoke out and broke through Choi Han’s very occupied mind.
“Um, excuse me? Could you get that for me?”
The voice sounded closer than others, so Choi Han was naturally startled. He looked up and realized that the boy that was sitting in front of him was now facing him, with a shy expression while pointing a hand towards the floor in front of Choi Han.
Automatically, Choi Han looked down towards the ground and noticed a button pin with what looked like two yellow spears forming an X laying by his feet. His mind clicked and he quickly reached down and took the button pin before handing it over to the boy in front of him.
“Thanks!” The boy in front of him gave him a wide smile. He looked like one of those easy-going and cheerful types.
Choi Han, not really knowing what to say, simply nodded his head.
He was expecting the boy to turn back around and for that to be the end of it, but contrary to how he expected it to go, the boy instead began to introduce himself in a happy tone.
“My name’s Bae Puh Rum! I’m a first year, which you can probably already tell anyway, since we’re both sitting here— anyway! I’m completely new here and I don’t really know anyone. Well, other than Min Joon-hyung, but he’s a third year student so it's not like I can talk to him that much. Oh, but I do know another first year! Her name’s Kim Min Ah, and she’s Min Joon-hyung’s younger sister! Though, she probably won’t be coming to orientation today since she just got back from vacation earlier in the morning so she probably needs rest. Anyway, what’s your name? Where’d you come from? Are you from here, or somewhere else? Do you know anyone here?”
Choi Han was immediately bombarded with questions, which made him quickly feel overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do at first.
The boy, Bae Puh Rum, must’ve noticed his slight discomfort because he stopped talking so quickly and gave Choi Han an almost sheepish smile. “Sorry, I just get really excited when meeting new people. Did I make you uncomfortable?”
Choi Han, being the honest person that he was, nodded his head at the question. However, he immediately added, “It’s no problem, though. I’m just… not really used to this kind of environment.”
“Ah, I see. I completely understand where you’re coming from though. This school takes a while to get used to, huh?” Bae Puh Rum gave him a smile, one that was softer this time.
“I’m wondering if I could ever get used to it,” Choi Han said, letting out a lighthearted chuckle as he spoke. He could feel his previously chaotic mood start to calm down after finally finding someone to talk to. “My name is Choi Han, by the way. I was originally from Busan, but I moved in with my uncle recently and started living in Seoul ever since.”
“Busan? Wow, that’s so far away, isn’t it? Must be hard having to move to somewhere so distant,” Bae Puh Rum said, “But why did you move in here with your uncle anyway?”
“Ah… that…” Choi Han averted his gaze, subconsciously biting the inside of his cheek at the question brought up. “Let’s just say that something came up and now I’m here.”
Bae Puh Rum noticed Choi Han’s evident discomfort towards the topic and decided to move away swiftly from the subject. “Hey, do you think we’re in the same class?”
Choi Han looked back at him, body relaxing at the very welcome change of topic.
“Have they told people what classes each student is in yet?” Choi Han wondered. He had apparently missed the whole seating arrangement previously, so it was possible he missed other things on top of that as well.
“Ah, no, not yet. Apparently they’ll be announcing which class each student is in during orientation. At least, that’s how Min Joon-hyung said it would go.” Bae Puh Rum shrugged his shoulders. “But I really hope we’ll end up in the same class together! It’s nice having someone you know in the same classroom. It’ll be even better if Min Ah’s with us! Min Joon-hyung’s always teasing her, saying that she has terrible grades so she’ll end up all the way in the last class, but the school’s class sorting system isn’t based on grades anyway so he probably just wants to scare us.”
“So the school’s way of sorting classes is purely based on RNG?” Choi Han joked.
Bae Puh Rum looked at him in confusion. “What’s… RNG?”
“Ah,” Choi Han looked at him and paused.
He wondered how long it would take to explain.