APPETIZER ✕ THE FIRST BITE
🥢 EAT ✕ EAT : RISE TO THE TOP! 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣. read update!it's past midnight.
the sky's opaque, a long stretch of black painting thick across the tops of stripped trees lining the sidewalk. curtains have been pulled shut, street lights turned off, silhouettes are indiscernible, meaning the only factor preventing kang doheon from falling and eating as he runs to new leaf is pure muscle memory.
forty hour stays at éclatant is nothing new and sneaking back into his dorm room after curfew is almost expected, (he still thinks it’s unfair to ban high school students from staying overnight and rebelling against the restrictions forced upon him is his life philosophy) so doheon knew this route better than he knew the back of his hand.
the routine was this:
1) doheon skillfully ignores all the non-culinary related coursework as much as he can to focus on cooking. he aces all his gastronomy courses and passes the practical final exam with flying colors.
2) he’ll then realize he knows absolutely nothing about the other five requirements. he begs junseop to tutor him, his cries go on ignored, and subsequently spends two straight days cramming in the library. he runs off of bottled water, granola bars, and 20 minute power naps on fabric couches. plus points if junseop stops by with vegetable kimbap for sustenance.
3) at the end of the second day his hair is too greasy and his face is too crumbly with eye boogers and flakey skin to go on, so he sneaks into new leaf at around 2am to take a well-deserved shower and konk out.
4) to accomplish this, he climbs up the back of the building with the rusty ladder near the gutter. junseop’s usually reading through his textbook and gnawing at some fish jerky, and four out of five times has already left the window open for doheon to wiggle through.
easy.
he twists left, weaves through dried up shrubs, steps right over the ant hill, and s blindly along the brick wall before clasping around the cool leg of the ladder. re-adjusting the leather straps of his backpack he clambers up the back of the building, taking it one mindful step at a time to keep his jacket from scraping along the rusted metal. their dorm chaperone has notoriously keen ears (he wonders if it's because of the sheer size of them. that's not how things work, ninth grade biology taught him, but it's still a working theory) and a single noise too loud could cost him.
calloused fingers grappling at the windowsill, doheon pulls himself up to dive into the crack of the window. his voice drops into a dramatic stage whisper, “jesus christ it’s so ing cold—”
there’s a dull thud and doheon recoils, half lidded eyes jolted open in shock, and it’s only when he feels a tight throb in the crown of his head that he processes the sound came from him.
he frantically palms at the foggy glass in front of him because this can't be happening in 5° C at 2 in the morning, but all he sees in front of him is his own face squinting back. the lights are turned off, the beds are empty, and he's halfway through taking his phone out his pocket to text junseop when he spots something shift in the corner of the room. he blanches.
the shadow shifts from their original spot in the corner, an unkempt mop of brassy, orange yellow hair peeking past the wooden bed frame. its head is hung low as it slides along the carpeted floor, crawling weakly towards him with its shoulders hunched forward and fingers trembling. all he can hear through the pane is a rugged groan, and he's just about to take a breath when its neck snaps back to reveal a toothy glower with bloodshot eyes. “you’re finally here.”
doheon screams.
///
flashback: two days earlier.
“...and as you know, the entire e-board will be graduating this year so we’ve constructed a list of our replacements,” kim ahyoung announces, tapping the bottom of her stack of papers onto the podium to line them up neatly. “if you wish to reject the position, please notify us by the end of today so we can edit the new roster as soon as possible.”
it was reaching the end of december, marking the last day of classes and the last gbm across all clubs on campus. all updated executive board forms were to be submitted by the end of the week but vegetable rs was behind schedule—mostly because ahyoung procrastinated in favor of planning the annual fourth year send-off party—and judging by the dull circles tugging below their eyes, none of them were up for pulling yet another all-nighter to deliberate.
ahyoung’s jaw unhinges into an obnoxiously long yawn, and everyone takes it as a plea to just deal with whatever they’re given.
she wipes a stray tear from the inner corner of her eye with a deft swipe of her thumb, blinking once, twice to regain focus. "okay, so. first, the new treasurer for vegetable rs is... incoming second year, jung sungyeon."
junseop's hands clench into fists against the top of his desk, rounded nails digging into the worn cuff of his blazer. (it was a jacket borrowed from one of his seniors after doheon soiled his, but the way it drowned out his entire frame made it clear it was two sizes too big.) his back straightens, lips press into a thin line, and his chin lowers expectantly.
junseop, you see, is a hopeful.
with the exception of the executive board's fourth years, junseop is the only member of vegetable rs to stick with the club all throughout his academic career in yuhwa. he'd spent just about all his time cooking for fundraisers or helping his seniors coordinate events, and after his cha soba brought in extra funding after selling out at the cherry blossom festival, he was a shoo-in for president.
sure, he's only an incoming college first year. he isn't exactly the friendliest person in the club either, and he's scared away underclassmen once... twice... possibly multiple times. but yuhwa is a meritocracy and when it comes to cooking skill, junseop has more confidence than anyone that he'll rise above his peers.
in conclusion, junseop was meant for this position.
"the new secretary is incoming third year, bae yohan."
junseop doesn't even bother to spare a glance at the upperclassman when he makes his way over to the front of the room, hands firmly clapping at a sloppy rhythm out of sync with the others. instead, he focuses in on the stack of paper sitting pretty in ahyoung's hands, eyes narrowing into a dour glare as if attempting to see right through it.
ahyoung catches it. junseop doesn't notice. "the new vice president is incoming third year, ma huiling."
he inhales. exhales. inhales. exhales. inhales. exhales. he wasn't exactly the type to get anxious, and if he ever were the smallest bit nervous he most definitely wasn't the type to let it show. but becoming the president of a research society for his first year in yuhwa's college division is a pretty impressive feat, and—
"—the new president is incoming fourth year, hong suho."
junseop freezes.
the rest of the room bursts into applause, loud whistles of congratulations bouncing from one wall to the next. he sees random hands fly out to give suho firm pats on his back, but the third year remains unperturbed as he slinks over with a slight slump in his shoulders. his face is uninterested, blank, almost as if he doesn't care for the position in the first place and it sets something off inside the pit of junseop's stomach.
"and that concludes our last meeting," ahyoung chirps with a freakishly large grin, delightedly waving an open palm to the lineup of students beside her in grandeur. "let's have one more round of applause for our new executive for vegetable rs and have our final group dinner at blue sea!"
hong suho. hong suho.
hong suho was known in vegetable rs to be the one upperclassman that unfailingly misses out on coordination meetings; he was a no-show when they were advertising during rs fair week, high school orientation, the cherry blossom festival, and only ever appeared every other week for their regular meetings. he was a new transfer that was only admitted into yuhwa during this year as well, and it was obvious by the few times they ever had a chance to try his food. he practically bathed in mediocrity.
there was... no legitimate reason junseop could think of for him to lose out the position as president to someone like this.
"hey, you okay chapaeng?"
junseop jerks back to life, fingers loosening from the fists they were clenched in. there's an uncomfortable buzz in his hands from the sudden rush of blood flowing back, skin glowing a soft red. within what just felt like seconds, the room was already long empty and ahyoung was staring down at him in mild amusement. "yeah, —sorry," he murmurs, chair squeaking along the tiled floor when he stands straight up. he haphazardy tosses his backpack onto the top of his desk to arbitrarily shove his papers into any empty space he can find. "for holding you back, i mean."
"listen," ahyoung says, tucking a stray clump of dark hair behind her ear. "i know how much you wanted to be president. but—"
"you don't have to give me some half-assed pep talk," junseop cuts in, and he groans in frustration when his zipper gets caught in the fabric of his bag. "i didn't get it. that's it. it but i'll get over it within the day."
she stills, simply watching him frustratedly tug at the worn material to tear it free from the mouth of plastic. "i've known you for the three years you've been here," she says, "i know compliments won't do anything for you. i'm just going to tell you clearly that he got the position because he's simply the better chef."
his eye twitches. "that's a lie and you know it," he grumbles, and he swings his half-open backpack over his shoulder. "the few times we tried his food it was painfully pedestrian."
"then let's test it."
junseop's eyes narrow in confusion. "what?"
"let's test it," ahyoung repeats, "we'll have a hwayojeon."
THE FIRST BITE!
in which junseop is given his very first challenge.
hi friends! here's the very first teaser of the fic that'll show u a bit of how the story is going to be written. much like food wars the story is Very lighthearted but no..... unlike shokugeki no soma there will be no explicit foodgasms.... cus i didnt publish this fic 2 write descriptive food
anyway this is part 1 of the teaser plot, and it takes place at the end of junseop's last year as a high school student!!! hopefully this gives a better idea of how junseop is and satisfies the ten day long drought ive created. ~_____~ and i SWEAR the first part of this teaser will make sense soon... and yes, this is the bleach op before the show went to !
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
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