Kyungsoo noticed the stranger leaning against the industrial off-white wall of the train, but he couldn't get a good look at his face. The young man's gaze was unwaveringly focused on the steel floor of the train, the white wires of his headphones hanging gracefully down from his ears. Frustrated that he couldn't see his face, Kyungsoo consoled himself with staring at the straight, inky black fringe that fell softly across his forehead and concealed his eyes from view.

The guy's skin was a warm shade of light mocha. Kyungsoo glanced disconsolately at his own tofu pale skin and sighed.  Sometimes he felt almost transparent, he was so fair. His gaze returned to the tanned stranger. Even hunched over as he was, he looked tall. Maybe around six feet? Long, lean legs were clad in faded black jeans which had seen better days; and a nondescript grey tee and scuffed black leather jacket hung from a pair of nicely broad shoulders.

But it was his shoes that really caught Kyungsoo's attention. They were a really beat up pair of navy Converse All Stars - which was nothing unusual in itself since every third pair of shoes on the subway was a pair of Chucks. What made the guy's Chucks stand out from the rest were the silver and gold sequined stars that winked defiantly from the sober navy blue canvas.

In every other way, his well-worn outfit and his hunched posture, and even his straight, understated black hair were designed to blend into the crowd. So the sequins intrigued Kyungsoo because no matter how you looked at it, sequins just did not "blend". It was a puzzle and Kyungsoo had never been able to resist puzzles. He was curious. Very curious. He needed to know the story behind the stars and if he was really honest with himself, he wanted to see more of the guy's face than his jaw and nose.

Kyungsoo's breath hitched a little when they both got off at the same stop. His entire body was tense with anticipation because the stranger's face was about to be revealed. But as Kyungsoo was in mid-pivot, the crowd jostled him roughly along for a minute or two and by the time he was able to actually scour the surrounding area for Converse Guy, he was gone.

                                                  ***

"... grab some galbi after the 6 o'clock lecture and - Kyungsoo! Were you even listening?" Baekhyun looked as exasperated as he sounded but Kyungsoo's thoughts were drowning too deeply in a midnight blue sea of gold and silver stars to give a damn, really.

Baekhyun had been Kyungsoo’s friend since high school and they were taking the same Electronic Engineering course at Hongik University. Anyone who had been in a longstanding friendship with Baekhyun immediately earned the dubious right of being bossed around by the dynamic but temperamental young man and Kyungsoo was no exception.

"You mentioned something about … galbi?" Kyungsoo asked cautiously. Baekhyun was volatile on any given day so it was never in one's interest to aggravate him – especially when he was already in a pissy mood.

"That's not all I said! I was talking for at least 3 whole minutes before I realized you weren't even on this planet. Why so spacey? You've been holding that piece of kimbap for 2 minutes now. The last time I checked, this was not normal behavior."

There was no way Kyungsoo was going to confess that his chopsticks had been suspended in mid-air for 2 whole minutes because he'd been daydreaming about a tall, dark and handsome stranger he'd seen on a train. Well, technically he hadn't actually seen Converse Guy's face yet but what bits he had seen had hinted at utter gorgeousness. He hastily stuffed the kimbap in his mouth and mumbled something asinine about solving an algorithm in his head.

Baekhyun looked sceptical but he dropped it because Kyungsoo didn't want to talk about it - and if Kyungsoo didn't want to talk about it, nothing short of sodium pentathol was going to make him cough up anything worthwhile.

"So what I was saying was we'll meet Sehun and Chanyeol at the usual place at 7 and ..."

Kyungsoo nodded but really, the only details filtering into his head concerned a beautiful light mocha jaw and silky black hair ... and stars. Pretty silver and gold sequined stars.

"YAH! DO KYUNGSOO!"

"Yes, yes, we'll meet Sehun and Chanyeol at ... um ..." Where was the rendezvous point again? Kyungsoo gave a drawn out sigh - he could tell it was going to be a long day, a VERY VERY LONG day.


                                                     ***

Two days had passed but no matter how hard he looked, Kyungsoo hadn't seen Converse Guy on the train again. He scanned the train car a third and last time - no luck today, either. It was only half full so he could see very clearly that Converse Guy wasn't there. Disappointed, Kyungsoo flipped open The Life of Pi, and began reading distractedly. He vaguely registered that a guy had sat down beside him, and stretched out a pair of lanky legs with a kind of languid grace.  Whoever it was had somewhat oversized feet encased in scuffed navy blue Chucks dotted with silver and gold stars. Silver and gold st- !

"It's you," he blurted out in surprise - finesse deserting him altogether. Not that he had ever had large reserves of it to begin with anyway.

"Sorry?" the young man's voice was deep and smoky ... and utterly confused. And it was at this point that Do Kyungsoo finally beheld the tall stranger’s face. He hated to admit it but he felt like he was living every romantic cliche ever written - the main protagonist of a cheesy romance who meets his lover-to-be for the first time and is struck dumb by his devastatingly handsome face. Because there was no question now that Converse Guy was extremely attractive. The only thing missing from the scene of their first encounter was actual lightning and the rumbling of distant thunder, oh, and strong winds whipping at their hair.

"Um, do I know you?" Converse Guy asked hesitantly. Kyungsoo desperately tried to compose a witty answer but he was too consumed with eyes the exact color of bitter chocolate and generous lips etched into a questioning half smile, to manage more than an embarrassingly pedestrian response.

"I'm so sorry! You looked like someone I knew, " Kyungsoo apologized. It was about as boring as you could get but at least Converse Guy wouldn't think he was some kind of stalker. Relief flooded Kyungsoo when his features eased into a warm molasses smile. Kyungsoo kept thinking molasses as he watched his eyes slowly crinkle and form the most endearing laugh lines. He had laugh lines and Kyungsoo liked that. So much.

"So ... who is he?"

"Who?" Now it was Kyungsoo's turn to sound dazed.

"The guy you mistook me for - what's his name? I'm Kim Jongin, by the way." Kyungsoo began nervously reciting the 11 times table in his head so he wouldn't spontaneously freak out. He couldn't believe Jongin had actually introduced himself instead of fleeing to a distant corner of the train. 11 times 8 is 88, 11 times 9 is 99 ...

"Um … I thought you were this guy I knew in high school," Kyungsoo tried to sound as calm as he could, only to notice Jongin looking at him expectantly. Realization slowly leaked into his consciousness.  Oh , Converse Guy asked me what the other guy's name was. Get a grip, Do Kyungsoo. Get. A. Grip.

"Baekhyun, his name is Baekhyun." Kyungsoo added hastily. OH GREAT, KYUNGSOO, JUST GREAT. BAEKHYUN? THAT'S THE BEST YOU COULD COME UP WITH?!  Not to mention Baekyun would probably break both his legs if he ever found out Kyungsoo had used his name to facilitate the telling of a lie, no matter how harmless.

"Ahhhh, Baekhyun ... I see.  So, aren't you going to tell me your name? I've told you mine," Jongin pointed out reasonably. Kyungsoo wanted to kick himself for being caught unawares again. Dammit! He must think I’m a total social retard.

Jongin observed quietly as an entire range of emotions chased each other across Kyungsoo’s face – from frustration to embarrassment to wide-eyed disbelief. This was the first time he had ever set eyes on this doe-eyed guy and he found himself ... well, utterly fascinated to be honest. Perhaps it was because the other guy was so … transparent. He truly didn’t seem at all capable of masking his feelings - which was why Jongin suspected there was no high school buddy named Baekhyun, and even if there was, he probably didn’t resemble Kim Jongin much at all.

“Let’s try this again,” Jongin offered Kyungsoo his right hand, “My name is Kim Jongin and I’m happy to meet you. Your name is …?” Jongin’s face was perfectly serious but his words were warm and his eyes were filled with a kind of gentle amusement.

"Kyungsoo, my name is Kyungsoo!" he blurted it out so abruptly that Jongin laughed in surprise. His deep, throaty chuckle immediately triggered a whole plethora of unwelcome sensations in Kyungsoo. Much to his chagrin, his ankles and knees felt like they were going to dissolve right there on the train ...

"Nice to meet you Kyungsoo-sshi," Jongin shook Kyungsoo’s hand, and the latter discovered, to his pleasure, that Jongin had a firm grip like his own.

"Oh … you can just call me Kyungsoo."

"Are you older than me? I'll be 20 on January 14."

"I'll be 21 on January 12!" they looked at each other and laughed.

"I should call you hyung then," Jongin smiled.

“Ok, hyung is good.” Kyungsoo groaned inwardly at his complete lack of even the most mundane conversational skills.

“So do you take this train every Thursday?”

“Actually, I’m on it every day because I live in Hongdae. What about you?”

“I only take this train on Monday and Thursday afternoons. I ah … I live in Garusogil,” Jongin volunteered the unsolicited information casually.

“Are you at um …university?”

“Yeah, I’m majoring in Architecture – at Korea National. What about you, hyung?”

And before he even realized what was happening, Kyungsoo found himself telling Jongin that he was studying Engineering at Hongik University, that he lived on his own in a studio apartment in Hongdae, that he was an atrocious cook, and that he had two goldfish which he kept in a stereotypical glass bowl.

Kyungsoo was reticent by nature – usually content to let more commanding people like Baekhyun and Chanyeol dominate the conversation, and only offering responses when directly prompted. So he found his sudden and highly uncharacteristic over sharing frankly quite disconcerting.

Jongin did not seem to mind in the least though, eliciting yet more detail from Kyungsoo.  What Engineering stream he was in ... Electronic ... where exactly in Hongdae did he live ... Cheondong Street ... what kind of goldfish did he own ... shubunkin ...

"What do you mean by atrocious cook? How bad can you be? Give me some examples?" Jongin's tone was a subtle mix of inquisitive, pleading and teasing.

Kyungsoo grinned and shook his head firmly, "No! No wayyy ... I'm not into public humiliation, thank you very much."

"This isn't public, it's just me! Come on, just ONE example. I really would like to know ... more about you," Jongin's tone had become just a shade serious as he said the last three words and Kyungsoo's eyes widened in barely concealed curiousity.

"You can trust me, ok? I swear I won't tell a soul! Promise." Jongin forced himself to sound more upbeat and fortunately Kyungsoo ceased staring at him in that penetrating way of his. He bit his lower lip, clearly contemplating whether to give Jongin the story he wanted.

Meanwhile, it was Jongin’s turn to mentally kick himself ... Who's the transparent one now, Jongin? Kyungsoo probably thinks you have a flaming crush on him. Really smooth, Jongin, really smooth.

"Okay, fine! There was this one time I was making kimchi stew and I kind of accidentally added sugar instead of salt. I swear I spent the worst 34 minutes of my life trying to finish it. No joke. I kept telling myself I couldn't afford to waste the meat and the kimchi, and the vegetables and the water and the gas. And ugh ... I'm not sure if I'll ever recover from the trauma of eating sweet kimchi jigae!" Kyungsoo's culinary misadventure wasn’t even that funny but they both looked at each other and laughed as if it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

The more Kyungsoo heard of Jongin's chocolatey voice, the more he realized his ankles and knees weren't the only parts of his body that felt like they were melting. And aside from Jongin's y voice, there was the whole matter of his arresting face - the subtly square jaw, the not-quite-perfect nose, the slightly sleepy bitter chocolate eyes, and his attractively full lips. Stop ing staring, Kyungsoo, he reminded himself and tried to concentrate on Jongin’s account of the time he managed to burn rice, which naturally made him a far worse cook than Kyungsoo could ever be.

The train came to a halt.

"So this is my stop," Jongin turned to look at Kyungsoo … almost regretfully. They'd spent the last 15 minutes talking and laughing about nothing and everything. Corny as it sounded, Kyungsoo had just had the best 15 minutes of his life.

"Mine too." Kyungsoo smiled a little shyly and immediately regretted it. Try to be a little less obvious, oh my God!

"I'm glad," Jongin gave another one of his warm smiles that seemed to reach his eyes. They exited the train together - their backpacks slung over one shoulder, their arms almost touching as they strolled down the platform. They were chatting comfortably about The Life of Pi, which Kyungsoo had been rereading earlier. Jongin had hated the ending while Kyungsoo had loved it.

“Do you read sci-fi at all? One of my all-time favourite books is a sci-fi novel called Ender’s Game – have y-“ Before Jongin could finish, a panicky commuter abruptly crashed into Kyungsoo as he was blindly sprinting to the almost departing train. Kyungsoo toppled backwards thinking, , I'm going to get a concussion. Do I even have medical insurance?

He braced himself for impact with the hard station floor but instead, he felt strong arms grab him from behind and hold him tightly against a leanly muscled chest. Maybe it was wishful thinking on Kyungsoo's part but it seemed like Jongin didn't quite let go of him immediately. Kyungsoo could almost hear the strains of violin music at the cheesiness of it all - the world at large conspiring to make sure the main protagonist falls into would-be-lover's arms. Kyungsoo couldn't help but enjoy the sensation of being held in Jongin's embrace even if just for a brief moment.

"Thanks for being my airbag, heheh. Oh my God! Sorry, that was really lame." Kyungsoo apologized awkwardly; and as for Jongin? Jongin's cheeks looked suspiciously pink and his smile ... it reached his eyes like all his previous smiles had but this time he looked embarrassed - like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't have.

The uneasy silence was interrupted by the sudden buzzing of Jongin's phone. He quickly retrieved it from his pocket and stared at the screen. He looked perplexed and then finally, his eyes crinkled at the corners. Good news, then.

"So, is there somewhere you have to be? Because if not, there's this vendor nearby that sells the best ddukbokki in Seoul," Jongin asked anxiously and hopefully. He sounded so unsure of himself and Kyungsoo found that deeply endearing..

"I love ddukbokki!" His pants were on fire, he was such a big liar. Of all the foods Kyungsoo hated the most, ddukbokki was right up there at the top of the list. The rubbery, slimy texture and general tastelessness ... Kyungsoo was starting to feel ill just thinking about the vile stuff. How in actual was he going to eat it and look like he was loving it? So. ing. dead.

Totally oblivious to his companion's mental and gastronomic turmoil, Jongin beamed and started telling Kyungsoo how he'd discovered the stall a few months ago and frequented it every time he was in the area. Meanwhile Kyungsoo's levels of dread continued to rise as his head started swimming with images of ddukboki.

He was so. ing. dead.

--------

Hi hi! Hope you liked Chapter 1! I've given each chapter a title by the way, to kind of capture what each chapter is about. Are you curious to know what happens when Kyungsoo meets his old enemy, ddukbokki? I do hope you guys are enjoying the story and I'd love it to bits if you could tell me what you loved or hated about this fic. Feedback is food for the writer's soul :).

Have a great thanksgiving for those of you who celebrate it, and happy weekend to those who don't ...

Muaks,

LotusK

PS: isn't Baekhyun just the crankiest? Love it.