a/n: will be updated shortly. this is part 1 of Night Cycling AU, there's more to come. had to split it up bc it was too much.

also HOLY COW ABNORMAL SUMMIT IS REMOVING TAKUYA, ALONG WITH ILYA, JULIAN, BLAIR, SUJAN AND ROBIN FROM THE SHOW? 

(Part 1 of the Night Cycling AU 🚴 🚵)

🎧 🎤🚺👠🇰🇷 

It’s already 10 p.m. when they set out, but as Hyosung always says, the later the better. It’s actually true to a certain extent; there’s less possibility of people spotting you, and there’s also less traffic on the road, which makes cycling safer.

Most of the time, they don’t talk that much while cycling. It’s mostly a silent battle of who’s cycling faster, who’s in front, who knows the route better, because they’re both pretty much the most competitive people on the earth (but they’ll never admit it). But today, it’s only 10 minutes of being on the road, and they haven’t even hit the highway, but the silence is deafening, almost suffocating for Hyosung.

She wills herself to look ahead and to not feel so jittery, because she feels like the moment she opens , she might say something so mushy that she’ll regret it for life. The problem is, the person in directly in front of her is Takuya, bending over his bike in his neon orange windbreaker like he was meant for the roads and pedalling to some imaginary beat with one of his earphones dangling in the wind and she just. Can’t think straight.

They’re on the bridge and the wind is in her hair, sweeping her bangs to the right. Random cars honk at each other and the noise of engines zooming past fill the surroundings, but it isn’t enough to drown the silence and Hyosung just hates it.

“Takuya,” she says finally.

There’s no response. It must be too loud out here.

“Hey Takuya!” she shouts over the noise. If she could overtake him now, she would, but the pavement at the sides of the bridge is far too narrow for that. If she tried, she’d probably fall into the river if not for the protective barriers at the side.

“What?” he shouts back, his head turning to face Hyosung for a second and then back on the road when he sees some (probably drunk) men staggering towards them on the pavement. He and Hyosung both squeeze to the side as they pass them. (In that split second when they meet, Hyosung swear she could smell the waft of liquor reeking from them.)

She almost forgets what she wanted to say to him but she steels herself to try to make conversation anyway. “Remember Match Made In Heaven Returns?”

“Yeah, what about that show?” Takuya says, the word “show” coming out muffled due to the noise around them.

“It was stupid right?”

They’re at the end of the bridge and the path finally widens. She pedals faster, and reaches Takuya’s speed.

“I thought you liked it though,” Takuya says, his eyes crinkling when he notices Hyosung’s pedalling right next to him.

She doesn’t answer. Yeah, she’s always liked the small talk and romance on that show, and he knows Hyosung’s a closet romantic. But Takuya doesn’t believe in the whole “love at first sight” bull, that’s what she knows.

“Well,” Takuya says after a while, “Hyunwoo and Fuji Mina seemed pretty real.”

“They dated for a month after the show, you know,” Hyosung says finally. She has no idea where she’s going with this conversation, and it feels like flying blind.

“That’s… sweet. I guess. They seemed like the only people on the show that were taking it seriously.”

“Yeah,” she chuckles.

“Did you actually like anyone on that show?” he asks suddenly, but he isn’t looking at her, his eyes steadily planted on the road.

Yeah, you.

It’s starting to rain, and she can practically smell the downpour waiting to happen.

“Did you?” she asks back, taking in the sight of Takuya next to her when he isn’t paying attention.

“If you’re talking about Junghwa, then no.”

“She seemed pretty into you,” Hyosung says, trying not to wince at the tinge of jealousy in her words.

“Why are we discussing this like, five months after the production anyway?”

They’re passing the Han river now, the light of lamp posts and buildings reflected prettily on the surface of the river but blurred by the continuous pit-pattering of the rain drops.

Finally, she speaks up. “I’m curious! Why did you go for her at fi