Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

It was almost midnight, and the 17 years old Tal Tal was in the middle of going through a locked door.

He was good at picking locks. This was one of his few cool talents (because, apparently, being an absolute god at science classes and a bunch of videogames and being quite great at martial arts was all pretty much useless in the Palace High School, regarding your social life - to be cool here, you had to be either filthy rich like Ta Hwan, or a rebellious bastard like Wang Yu). But, in some rather specific situations, this one skill came as a real blessing.

'Bro, you are awesome' Bayan, his best friend, whispered. 

'I know.' 

'This is sick.' 

'Yeah, thanks. And now...', the lock gave in with a quiet 'tick' noise, 'we are in.'

The school building was like the skeleton of a huge ancient beast from ages forgotten or never witnessed by humankind: it seemed bigger in the dark than during the day, and it was remarkably, almost threateningly empty. Every little noise echoed in the hallways. 

'Where did you lose it?'

'Near the gym, I guess', Bayan answered. 'Or in the physics room? I'm not sure, man. But I need it.'

'I know, otherwise do you think I'd sacrifice my sleeping schedule? I hope we'll find your phone now.'

'You are the best.'

'We are the best, bro. Now, let's split up, okay? You go to the gym hall, I'll go and look at the physics room. Hurry. We are in trouble if someone finds us.'

'Okay.'

'If you need me to open something, scream.'

'I won't, but okay.'

The physics room's door wasn't a challenge: it opened up in no time - he was expecting this. But what he saw behind it was a surprise. Ki Sungnyang, the resident tough girl, the right hand of the school gangster Wang Yu was lying on a desk, curled up like a kitten, quietly gritting her teeth in her sleep. He tried to turn the lights on and walk in as silently as possible. Well, he wasn't silent enough: She woke up and struggled herself in a sitting position.

'What day is it?' She asked, after a melodic little yawn. 

'Friday. For like ten more minutes.  Which means, you cannot have been here for longer than 8 hours.'

'And what the fresh hell are you doing here, if I may ask?'

'Bayan lost his phone and Tangquishi pressed the fire alarm, so they evacuated the building and he couldn't get the phone back during the day, but he needs the history notes that he saved in there to stay team captain. Didn't you hear the fire alarm, by the way?'

'I did. I was locked up here, and look, there are bars on the window. Talahai broke the security cameras last week with a ball, you remember? No one knew I was here. I thought I was going to burn to death.'

'Buddy?' Bayan came in. 'I've found it. Hey, Nyang. What are you doing here in the middle of the night?'

'Hey. Tanashiri's jealousy got out of hand. She has a fixa idea that I took Ta Hwan from her.'

'Ugh. But weren't you and Ta Hwan dating?' Bayan asked. 'They said...'

'That was just a rumor. He had some Christmas feast with his family and he needed a fake girlfriend so his disgustingly rich grandparents would give him a bigger allowance for the year. We are friends. Not that it's your business, though. Anyway, Tanashiri heard that I was there, and now she has completely lost it. She locked me in here.'

'She needs therapy.'

'Totally. Maybe a therapy involving, you know, some physical pain. I could work with that. Wait, you're saying it was Tanashiri's big brother who pressed the fire alarm?'

'Yes. If I can't look through those notes, I'll fail this year and I'll have to leave the basketball team. He wants to become captain, so he keeps trying to get rid of me.'

'How clever' Sungnyang grimaced. 'He gets rid of you, she scares the crap out of me. I bet they did that with the camera on purpose too. Believe me, those three had planned it all.' She got up from the desk. 'Guys, could you please escort me home? It is very late and...'

'Of course,' Bayan said. 'Come. We are done, aren't we?'

'Guys, let's grab some beer tomorrow,'' she said. 'It's my treat. I owe you this one.'

'I've got an idea,' Bayan said.

'Please tell me it doesn't involve any girls.' Tal Tal sighed. 'you can't always interfere with the girls' business.'

'There is a girl. But...'

'Dude. Do you really have to?'

'I'll explain. Look, Tangquishi and Talahai are sick, evil little mofos, aren't they?'

'They are.'

'And their sister is even worse.'

'Yes.'

'And these sick, evil little mofos are messing with us, and we can't deal with them by beating the shit out of them like I'd prefer, because their father is the godforsaken principal.'

'Can you please get to the part that isn't painfully obvious?'

'Look. Tangquishi has a crush on Nyang, everybody knows. So, why don't we attack him through her?'

'What, you want to hurt her or...'

'Nah, I like her. Not like I like her, you know, she is not really my type, I'm more into blondes, but she is cool. I mean, we should pretend that you guys are dating. You and her.'

'You must be messing with me.'

'I'm serious. Do you have something against it? It's okay if you hate her or you like someone else.'

'It's nothing like that' Tal Tal sighed. 'Fine, I'm in, but I don't know if she'll like the idea.'

'So, basically, you want us to be fake dating,' Sungnyang summarized the next day, when the three of them went to drink the beer she promised to buy.

'If you don't want to...' Tal Tal started.

'I'm cool with it,' she said, and wiped some beer off her chin with the back of her hand. 'We can drive Tangquishi mad and make his sister finally leave me alone? Sign me up. By the way, what exactly do you want to do to pretend that we are a thing?'

'You are the one with experience. What did you do with Ta Hwan?'

'Well, we slept in the same room in his grandparents' house, which means, I had the bed and he slept on the floor, we always held hands at the table and one time he kissed me on the cheek' she said awkwardly. 'We didn't have to act a lot. If we do it now, this will be different. In school, everybody watches.'

'Okay' Bayan has finished his beer with a big, loud chug. 'Well, since Tal Tal always comes to school by my car, I'll pick you up on Monday too. You should go around holding hands. Some hugging and maybe a few kisses would also look convincing. Nothing too uncomfortable though,' he added, as Sungnyang started to look at him angrily. 'I trust you two.'

'It's easy for you, it's us who have to put on a show.'

'Well said' she nodded. 'Let's go then. See you on Monday, at half past seven. Take care.' 

'I like this girl.'

'Then why don't you fake date her?' Tal Tal asked.

'I'm a terrible actor, that's why.'

'Are they watching?' Sungnyang asked.

'Yeah, don't worry.'

'Good. Smile.'

'I never do that.'

'It's time, then.'

As they were walking in, holding hands, fingers linked, everyone was staring at them. Wang Yu looked like he got punched in the stomach, and Tangquishi had left his mouth open in his utter shock. 

'You see them?' Tal Tal asked so quietly that only Sungnyang could hear. She just nodded and giggled like a middle schooler, and he laughed with her without even thinking, without playing any role. Honestly, it frightened him a bit.

'You are good' she whispered.

'Thanks. See you at lunch, then.'

'What? Lunch? Why? We didn't talk about this.'

'Because it's pretty obvious. We play a couple. Couples eat together.'

'Okay,' she sighed. 'See you at lunch' and gave him a little peck on the nose. 'Bye.'

Tal Tal, master of lockpicking, god of every science class ever, king of RPGs, needed a few seconds to fully regain control over his own mind. 'She is not even that hot' he thought, a bit angry at himself.

At lunch, Sungnyang seemed quiet and, maybe, Tal Tal didn't dare to jump to conclusions, a bit sad. She let him hold her hand, but didn't really pay attention. She was constantly looking around, and after a little while, she leaned over to Tal Tal.

'Is Wang Yu here?' She asked, whispering.

'Yeah', he answered. 'He is sitting over there with Musong, Jombak, Bang and that weird girl, Heesoo or whatever.'

'Yon Feisu. Oh gods, they must have fallen for our stupid trick.' She seemed to be on the verge of bursting into tears. 'Gods. Do you mind if I go after them when they have finished eating?'

'You are free to do whatever you damn well want, just blow me a kiss when you leave. For the show'.

'Good. Won't you eat those?' she asked, looking at the nice little pile of raisins on Tal Tal's plate - he had picked them out of his cookie.

'No, I hate raisins. Do you want to eat them?'

'Well, if you don't...'

'I don't. Here they are,' he put them on Sungnyang's plate. 

'Thank you.'

'No problem.'

'Since when are you and Bayan's nerdy sidekick a thing?' Jombak asked.

'His name is Tal Tal. And we have been dating for a little while.'

'You could have told me.' Wang Yu, the unofficial king of the school (there was something about his personality that made other kids follow him even into some pretty risky adventures), the tall, long haired metalhead in his Wintersun shirt and military boots, suddenly looked like a sad puppy who had just been unfairly kicked in the tummy.

'Sorry, Yu. I wasn't sure you wanted to know about it.'

'I thought we were close enough to...'

'Please' Yon Feisu rolled her eyes. 'Could you two please not start this shit over again? Plus, we should go, PE class starts in like 2 minutes.'

'Nyang, are you coming to Tangquishi's party this saturday?' Musong asked.

'With you, guys?' Sungnyang smiled.

'Yes. The squad' Wang Yu smiled back. 'You can bring your boyfriend too.'

'I'll ask him. Bye.' 

As Ki Sungnyang walked towards the biology lab, she was certain of one thing: she wouldn't bring Tal Tal anywhere. Later, she changed her mind, but she had a reason to do so.

'Guys, can you help me, please?' she asked on Wednesday, when Bayan treated them for pizza.

'What is the matter?' Tal Tal looked up from his Pizza Tonno.

'Talahai stole my necklace, the one I got from my dad. I have to get it back.'

The boys looked at each other. They both knew Ki Jaho, Sungnyang's father. He was a cop, he died two years ago in a shooting. They knew how much she loved him. Right now, Tal Tal just hoped that his friend won't say anything stupid or tactless.

'What exactly do we have to do?' (Thank gods, Tal Tal thought.)

'I have a plan. You probably know, Tangquishi is throwing a party this weekend...'

'Hey, babe' Sungnyang greeted Tal Tal, when he arrived at the party, and kissed him on the cheek. The cherry fragrance coming from her dark red lipstick made him feel dizzy. (He hoped he didn't blush too much.) She was wearing an Arch Enemy tank top, with a short, black skirt. 'Come in.'

'I hope you haven't started drinking yet.'

'Do I look completely dumb?' Nyang laughed. 'Feast comes after the job. I was just pretending to be tipsy to fit in.'

'Good. You are good. Where is that thing?'

'It's Tangquishi's room, probably, since I've been in every other room in this house tonight, and I haven't found it so far. Oh, and the door is locked, just as we expected.'

'Talking about Tangquishi, did he do anything to you?'

'He tried.'

'Should I kick his ass? For the show, of course.'

'Oh, no need, I got it covered. After he tried to touch my butt and said some next level creepy things, I dared him to mix vodka, gin and Jäger, and drink it up. That moron, of course, did it. It has kicked his ass pretty well, from the inside. I think he is crying on Byong Su's shoulder at the moment.'

'Good job.'

'Thanks. Want to dance? We could check out if anyone is guarding his room.'

'I cannot dance.'

'Don't worry. Look at them. Does anyone here look like they can?'

'Okay. But you will lead.'

Sungnyang was right: the two of them were just as ridiculous as everyone else in the party. Once they almost bumped into Yon Feisu and Wang Yu, who were slow dancing and making out, not caring at all about the music in the background (some crappily mixed, fast pop song). Tal Tal apologized to them, but they were too busy to react. Nyang was too shocked to say anything, and he didn't ask because he didn't want to be rude.

They lingered around the locked room, dancing, until the guard (a freshman boy, well known as a minion of Tangquishi's) walked away in the direction of the bathroom. Then, Nyang grabbed Tal Tal's arm.

'We must go in. Now or never.'

'But...'

'This is our only chance,' she said. 'I want that necklace. It's important. I don't care why they stole it, I just want to get it back.'

'But if we get caught...'

'Please! If we mess something up, you can blame it all on me, but please, for fuck's sake, don't back out now! It's absolutely unfair. You promised to help me.' 

Tal Tal felt his reasonable thinking weakening and he couldn't do anything to stop it. She was clever, stubborn, determined and fearless, which was already a deadly hot combination, and she was irresistibly cute when she was swearing. His brain cells were considering to commit group suicide.

'Okay' he sighed, knowing that he just gave up the only chance to get home tonight without getting into some nasty trouble. 'Let's do it.'

The lock wasn't a challenge: they were in the room fast enough. He was standing by the door and kept an eye on the corridor while Sungnyang was furiously searching through Tangquishi's room.

'He is such a pig' she said, whispering. 'I knew it. And he doesn't have any books. He does not even read comics. Yikes! Can you imagine he still gets laid?!'

'I didn't want to, but thanks. Can't you hurry a bit? I think someone has seen me. They will be here in a few minutes, probably.'

'Okay.'

'Hurry! They are coming!' Tal Tal came into the room, about a minute later. 'Nyang, stop whatever you're doing, please, because...'

'Oh, fuck' Sungnyang whispered, and suddenly, just a fragment of a second before the guard came in, she attacked Tal Tal's mouth with hers.

It wasn't really a kiss, or, at least, it definitely didn't start like one. It was fast, violent and intense, he could feel her teeth grabbing his lower lip, her warm and mostly uncovered chest pressed against his body, and the sweet smell of her skin which somehow got him more drunk than anything else he has ever tried. It wasn't a kiss, it was both less and a lot more than that, but it definitely did the job it was supposed to do.

'Ugh' the freshman said, he took a step back and closed the door on them, giving a perfect opportunity to Nyang to hide the necklace in Tal Tal's back pocket. 'Could you do this somewhere else?'

'Why?' Sungnyang asked. 'Love is love everywhere. Mind your own business, loser.'

'Didn't you know this room was off limits? How did you two even get in there?'

'It was open' Tal Tal tried to sound as confident and douchey as possible. 'Now, back off.' And he kissed Nyang again (yes, this was a real kiss, warm and tender and only a little bit shy). The minion, poor kid, really, got uncomfortable.

'Okay, do whatever you want to, just please go somewhere else.' He said, and locked the door again. 

The two walked away, pretending to be pissed.

'Don't laugh,' Tal Tal whispered into Nyang's ear.' We won. We absolutely cannot ruin it now.'

'I know, just don't make me look at you' she whispered back. 'I can barely keep a straight face. Let's get the hell out of here.'

They made it out of the house without getting caught, and luckily, on the way out, they even managed to snatch themselves a whole bottle of expensive Spanish red wine. They went to the playground and sat on a bench. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence and some wine, Tal Tal dared to ask her.

'Do you like Wang Yu?'

'No, not really,' she answered. 'We dated for a while, but that's past.'

'Why did you break up?'

'He had a drinking problem. It was really  growing on him. I couldn't watch it, so I broke up with him. Shortly after, he quit drinking, but he still hasn't really forgiven me. Stop looking at me like that' she snorted angrily. 'It's no tragedy. I can live like this, and I'm glad he has moved on. They are mad cute with Feisu. I hope they don't fuck it up.'

'What? I thought you loved him.' 

'Oh, I do,' she smiled. 'I could die for him. I would follow him to Hell and back. But, I don't have any intentions to fuck him.'

'Oh' Tal Tal tried to keep his chill, with not much success. 'Okay.'

'Sorry' Sungnyang laughed. 'I swear a lot. Especially when people say it's unladylike. But if it bothers you, I can stop.'

'No, it's no problem. You are just kind of... bold.'

'Yeah, that's one of my many flaws.'

'No, really. It's not a bad thing. I was just surprised. You surprise me a lot, you know.'

Nyang laughed again; until now, Tal Tal didn't know it's possible to laugh sadder than how most people cry. He awkwardly hugged her. She hugged him back.

'You know what's kind of funny?' She asked. 'That you are the closest thing to a boyfriend I'll ever have, probably.'