Who Was That Anyway?

Title: Who Was That Anyway?

Genre: Fluff
Word count: ~1.6k Pairing: Kangmin (Kangin/Sungmin) Warnings: AU, OOC Disclaimer: Once again, I wish I owned Eongmin and Raccoon and Anchovy and Fishy. Sadly, I don't. Summary: Uhm.. I think this except should do it.

"Sungmin's last few months of junior year would have gone along pretty much the same way except for one Incident."

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Sungmin's life was going great. He might not have been exceptionally popular but he had a group of friends he hung out with frequently, had decent grades, got along fine with his parents, even managed to not fight with his brother on most days. He had one more year left of high school and would be content spending the next one year with no major changes whatsoever. He spent most of his time playing video games at his best friend, Hyukjae's house, eating cookies Hyukjae's mom baked, Sungmin was even closer to Hyukjae's pretty noona than Hyukjae himself was. Until Hyukjae went and got himself a boyfriend, their classmate and local heartthrob, Lee Donghae. Sungmin often wondered out aloud why Lee Donghae, who was probably the most sought after guy in their year, (except maybe Choi Siwon) would fall for Hyukjae. Skinny Hyukjae with his gummy smile. He liked to see Hyukjae's face change as he said that. A little sadness would creep into those almond shaped eyes, only to disappear as soon as Donghae'd lean over him, kiss Hyukjae's cheek and call him beautiful. Hyukjae'd blush and Sungmin'd be happy just seeing his friend be happier than he'd ever seen him. Sungmin didn't mind being Wheel No. 3, neither did Hyukjae or Donghae. He didn't mind going out for long walks, or staying home while Hyukjae and Donghae got some privacy. Donghae loved Sungmin's company. Sungmin's last few months of junior year would have gone along pretty much the same way except for one Incident. Sungmin thought it deserved to be capitalized, Hyukjae and Donghae thought it ought to be made a movie. Said Incident, occured one beautiful summer afternoon, just as Sungmin was about to head back into his class. Someone asked him out. That's happened to Sungmin before, it's his gorgeous eyes, Donghae says, and none of those deserved capitalization. The person who asked him out was a senior. That wasn't uncommon either. Sungmin was the guy all noonas he was acquainted with had a thing for at some point in their lives. The person who asked him out was a male senior. Now at this point, Sungmin felt he had to clarify. He was completely fine with homosexuality, his own best friend was gay. The shocking part though, was how public the confession was. Hyukjae and Donghae, no matter how cheesy when it was just the three of them, did no more skinship with each other than with Sungmin when they were in public. Sungmin might have been open minded, the rest of the world wasn't. Hence, the Incident was significant. Sungmin was asked out in public by a male senior. Whose name Sungmin didn't even know. Sungmin finds out later, the senior he turned down (very politely, given how shocked he was) was called Kim Youngwoon, more popularly known as Kangin. He'd heard of Kangin, he'd seen the guy around before, he'd just never made the name-face corelation. He tries the name out one night lying in bed, as he replayed the Incident in his mind, playing with the syllables. Kim Youngwoon. On said beautiful summer afternoon, Sungmin was returning from one of his 'long walks' and had just grinned at Hyukjae waving at him from across the football field when he heard a voice saying his name. Sungmin turns around to find the guy, Kim Youngwoon (he tries saying the name out aloud again) looking at him. Sungmin had politely acknowledged Kangin and waited to hear what it was that this guy wanted to say. "I really like you and I really want to go out with you. Please go out with me." The guy said, bowing low at the last five words. Replaying the Incident for the billionth time in his head, Sungmin can vaguely remember Hyukjae's and Donghae's faces, wearing identical 'Holy-Mother-of-God' expressions. Sungmin, though he hadn't got over the shock, managed a coherent reply, "I'm so sorry sunbae-nim. I don't really want a relationship at the moment." He'd bowed too. The senior rose, gave half a smile, nodded and left. The news spread all over the school like wildfire. Sungmin got curious stares all the time. He honestly didn't care, he played it cool. If anyone asked him about it, he said it like it wasn't a big deal, with none of the horror or disgust any other straight man would have expressed. Most of the time he'd avoid the question, smoothly changing the topic with a smile. He wondered if the older boy was doing okay, all the jeering Sungmin got, Youngwoon probably got more. He sighed and flopped onto his stomach. Unless it was some big joke only to make Sungmin look stupid in front of everyone. He had plenty of people with grudges against him, calling his smile and demeanour fake and him all sorts of things. Nobody had taken this approach before though. It was with all these complicated (and slightly depressing) thoughts playing in his head that Sungmin finally fell asleep. He woke up early from a dream in which he was being chased by faceless people who were laughing at him. He was running, and he runs into a tall person coming around the corner. He turns around to see Kangin and woke up with the shock. The part that annoyed him the most about the dream, was how tall Kangin was. 'He isn't all that much taller than me in real life,' he mused during his English class, just before his teacher called on him to answer a question. Sungmin did well in English, he managed to answer, but before asking him to be seated, his teacher gave him a pointed look and asked him to stop dreaming in a teasing tone. Sungmin sat down with a sigh, ignoring the voices of the guys in front of him saying 'KangMin!' Kangmin sounded good though, Sungmin admitted to Hyukjae and Donghae later that evening, when Donghae talks about a bunch of girls asking him if Sungmin really was dating Kangin. Donghae laughs, asking what kind of a name Kangin was anyway and Sungmin defends the older boy, 'It's a cool name' he says. After a particularly rough day with a senior girl approaching him in the middle of the corridor during lunch and accusing him of turning her boyfriend gay (in a loud, screechy voice), Sungmin who is usually unaffected runs away to hide in the library. He doesn't attend any of his afternoon classes, sitting at a table in between the least frequented shelves, pretending to read a book on - pause internal monolouge to check title - Advanced Particle Physics. Physics wasn't even his main subject. His phone buzzed during the second lesson and it's a text from a worried Hyukjae, asking him if he wants company. Sungmin replies that he just wants to be alone. He puts his phone back into his pocket and looks down at his book to see a shadow fall over the page. "Mind if I sit down?" It's Kangin. Sungmin's mind doesn't quite register, his brain is too busy telling his subconscious, 'Ha! I knew he wasn't all that much taller than me!' but he shakes his head anyway and Kim Youngwoon plops into the seat in front of him. Sungmin is terribly confused but looks back down at his book - which seemed like the best option - until Kim Youngwoon says, "Um.." Sungmin looks up and maintains eye contact with his sunbae while Kangin struggles to frame a sentence that was more eloquent than his last. "I'm sorry you're going through all this because of me." Sungmin's first response is, "You're not all that much taller than me." but bites it back just in time to say, "You're- I mean, it's not your fault." And just because Sungmin is really hurt and gets really bitchy when he's hurt, he adds, "Unless of course, you did it only to make me look -" but stops midway. There's something in those eyes that makes Sungmin think that all that Kangin said - the confession the other day, the apology today - was all sincere. He's not sure why he is relieved to know that. Kangin smiles, "Yeah, I should have thought it through. It seemed like I did it to make you look stupid, didn't I?" Sungmin doesn't know what to say and Kangin continues, "Would it have been better if I said I've been crushing on you and I'd like to get to know you?" Sungmin doesn't know whether that question was rhetorical but he answers, rather blurts out an answer anyway, "I'd like to get to know you too." Sungmin stops mentally slapping himself when he sees Kangin's expression change. Hope creeps into those soft eyes and Sungmin, for some weird, unfathomable reason, wants to keep Kangin happy. Kangin looks like he doesn't dare to believe what he just heard Sungmin say. Sungmin finds himself waiting, heartrate increasing as his brain slowly caught up to what his subconscious already knew. Kangin blinks, shakes his head and asks, he looked a little silly in Sungmin's opinion, and asks, "What?" Sungmin can see where this is headed and though the sensible part of his brain is flashing bright red lights and yelling 'RETREAT!' he leans forward and says, "I'd like to get to know you too, Youngwoon-sunbae." Kangin's sudden smile is beautiful, and Sungmin is a little shocked at the choice of words. He realizes in a few months that he'd started to understand Donghae, who calls skinny Hyukjae with his gummy smile beautiful. Kangin grins for a few seconds before he says, "Call me Kangin." A few minutes later when they get thrown out of the library for talking too loudly, Sungmin is embarrassed, sure. Deep inside though, he just likes seeing Youngwoon smile. -end-