Request: OC (Tina) x Seventeen's Vernon in which they're stuck in an elevator.

Hansol couldn’t remember the last time he’d been on a date. Probably because it was in the back-burners of his mind (something about bitter coffee and forced hand grips that were a bit too strong) and besides, he was focused on his career now. He didn’t have the time or the ability to date. So why bother with anyone?

Dating, to him, was more or less that feeling of being a kid in the pet store, and having to leave the adorable puppies after his mom finished checking out. He couldn’t stay around long enough to mean something to them, and in the end it just hurt his own heart more than anything else. He unconsciously made dating a taboo- something that he’d never willingly go near unless he was one-hundred percent confident the other person was the one.

So Hansol, in all forms and connotations of the word confusion, decided that being trapped with his arch-enemy in an elevator was absolutely, in no way, shape, or form, a date.

“Seungkwan, for the love of Christ, I’m not on a date. I’m stuck in an elevator,” Hansol sighed into his phone, trying his hardest to stare at the repetitive beige tiles on the wall in front of him. Thank God the company elevator didn’t have a mirror. 

“Whatever you say, man. Just make sure you don’t get too frisky. There’s a camera in there,” Seungkwan laughed, “I would know.”

Hansol grimaced. “Dude, what does that even mean?” he asked.

“Eh, doesn’t matter,” Seungkwan replied, quick to change subjects, “Anyway good luck in there and make sure you two use protection!”

“Seungkwan! I called you to get help, not give me the talk!” Hansol yelled into the receiver, but he heard the familiar click of the line going dead and he sighed. After multiple attempts at pressing the emergency call button, Hansol figured it was broken and that he should call one of his group-mates for help, but that, too, turned out to be a wasted effort.

Hansol slid to the floor and put his head in his hands. He wanted more than anything to not be stuck in an elevator with her right now. He would even trade it for an angry Jihoon coming after him with dull knife.

“This is all your fault,” he grumbled and gave a narrowed glance at the other person in the elevator with him, AKA the most obnoxious girl he’d ever met in his life: Tina. Well, that was her stage name anyway. No one knew her real name except for management. Something about it sounding too much like “Tuna.”

“My fault?” the girl retorted, “I was the one who said we should take the stairs!”

Hansol rolled his eyes. Normally, he was a kind person.  A loving person. Even a charismatic person when he wanted to be. But this girl- this Tina girl- really made him want to rip out his hair. Every time she talked it was like hearing ice crack. He didn’t even know why his entertainment label let her in as a trainee. She couldn’t dance, couldn’t sing, couldn’t even rap, and yet she was hailed as the next up-and-coming star of the company. She was pretty, he’d give her that, but all that went away when she opened .

“You were the one that got us roped into this stupid mission in the first place,” Hansol said, desperately trying to keep his temper under control.

“Right, because I can totally control what the producers want us to do,” she replied, sarcasm dripping off her words. To Hansol, it sounded like a chainsaw.

“Whatever,” he said dimly, refusing to let her get the better of him. He was the high-road kind of guy. Or, at least that’s how he liked to think of himself.

After several moments of tense silence, Tina finally sat on the floor, too, making sure to keep her distance from Hansol. It was torture, really. She didn’t have a clue why they guy hated her so much, but maybe it was something about their company constantly pairing them up to do trainee missions. One time she had to teach him how to do one of her girl group routines in heels. Boy, those were some awkward off-camera moments.

Or maybe it was the fact that he’d been at the company for so long. Her three months paled in comparison to his three years of hard work and preparation. She auditioned on a whim and was ecstatic to get called back. It’s just that she never knew she’d have to work this hard.

“Hey Hansol...” she muttered, trying to catch his attention in the most casual way, but knew her voice sounded fairly unstable. That tended to happen when she was around him. Something about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer, right?

“What,” he replied, but it sounded more like a grunt than anything else.

“...Why do you hate me so much?” she asked tentatively. Who knew when they’d be out of the elevator. It was time to clear things up between them.

Hansol was taken aback by the sudden question. She sounded off when she asked it, too- not like her normally loud, confident self. Instead, she sounded somewhat distant and... sad.

“What?” he asked, looking over at her. She had her head down as she traced a pattern into her workout pants.

“It's just... We’re always so mean to each other. Since day one we haven’t gotten along. Why? Was it something I said or did? Is it the fact that I haven’t been here for as long as you?” she asked, picking up her gaze from the floor to meet his eyes, his eyebrows knitting together in a mix of confusion and empathy, something she’d never expected to see on his face.

Hansol looked away, contemplating the question she just asked. Yeah, she was annoying, and yeah she had no talent, but that wasn’t why he hated her. No... he didn’t hate her. He just disliked her. In fact, as a senior to her in the trainee program, he should be helping her. But all he did was bring her down.

“I don’t... hate you,” he finally said after carefully picking out his words. In retrospect, the choice was pretty lame, but it was the best he could come up with.

Tina stared at him and how he was refusing to meet her eyes. It baffled her. He didn’t hate her?

“Then... why...?” she trailed off, sure he got the message. Why did they fight all the time, then?

“I guess...” he started, staring at a particular wad of gum that was stuck so tightly into one corner of the elevator that it had been there for a year and a half without the management being able to get it off. “I guess I was jealous of how quickly everyone liked you. You don’t even have to work hard. Everything you do is perfect to our managers, and I’ve had to work my off for three years. Three years, Tina.”

Finally the two met eyes and Hansol immediately felt uncomfortable. Her expression said everything. All the betrayal and hurt she was feeling was right at the surface of her skin like a fish right before it jumps out of the water. He couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“I’m sorry,” he said, breaking their eye contact, “I’ve been a jerk. I’m sorry.”

Tina coughed, trying to put everything together in her mind. So it was that he was jealous, huh? 

“No, it’s fine. If I were in your shoes, I think I’d feel the same way,” she said hesitantly, “But it’s not that easy, actually. Everyone expects so much from me because I made the cut on a whim. I have to be perfect or else... I don’t know. Maybe I’ll have to be here for three more years, too,” she joked, finally finding a way to make light of the situation.

Hansol turned to her, the corners of his eyes barely crinkling up as he laughed ever so quietly. 

“Well, when I’m done touring in three years, I’ll have to come back and see how you’ve improved, right?” he said, the glint in his eyes sparking something in Tina that she swore was like taking a sip of ice-cold soda on a hot summer day.

“Yeah, I guess so,” she agreed, letting her lips curl upward. 

Suddenly, without any warning, there was a loud crash somewhere above them- maybe the elevator shaft?- and the small box roared back to life.

“Safe at last,” Hansol breathed, standing up and stretching. He looked down and held out his hand, something he’d never offered Tina before. She met his eyes and broke out into a smile once more before taking his hand. Maybe this Vernon punk wasn’t so bad after all.