Hey, Loser - Lee Hoe Taek/Hui x Reader
Word Count - 2.1k
Genre - Rivals to lovers, Hui being Hui, two musicians that wanna be THE musician idk
Synopsis - In the bustling halls of Cube University, two students stood as stark contrasts to one another, destined to be forever entangled in a web of fierce competition and heated rivalry. As the charming overachiever, Lee Hoe Taek clashed with the quiet classmate who always matched his grades, Y/N, their paths continually intersected in a clash of creativity, spirit, and conflicting emotions. Yet, beneath the surface of their animosity, an electric current of undeniable attraction pulsed, threatening to unravel the walls they had built around their hearts. Amidst the chaos of their shared ambition, these college rivals would soon discover that the thin line dividing love and hate had never been more tantalizingly blurred.
Your eyes can't break away from the email you received from your professor. He had sent out the pairings for the full-year assignment for your music production course, worth 40% of your final grade, and your partner was the one person in class you hate the most.
Lee Hoe Taek.
You frantically type back a response, asking to have a different partner, making up a million excuses as to why you need to have anyone else other than him. You begin reading through the assignment, trying not to smash your head on your keyboard.
'Produce a 12 song album with songs of varying styles. No outside sources (vocals, live instruments, samples). One song to be finished at the end of each month, submitted to me to use as a progress tracker.'
For. Fucks. Sake.
As your teacher responds saying theres no way to switch, you bury your head in your hands, greiving for all the time youre going to have to spend with HIM.
Hoe Taek has been a thorn in your side since you started at this University. He was always one step ahead of you in class, even last year when he got a band from his old high school to perform his song live at their years prom, record it, and submit it for an assignment based around audience reaction. Whereas you just had a recording of your group of friends reacting to your song sat around your computer.
But while he could show off in popularity, your grades always battled intensely. Even when you both got an A, Hoe Taek would always check the exact point total, just to see who 'won', as he claims. You never cared for such pointless competition, but the way he acted to smug with you just burned a fire within you.
You snap out of your rage-filled trance to a knock on your dorm room door. As you pull it open, you're greeted with your dorm-neighbour and best friend, Yuto Adachi. You smile at him weakly.
"Hey," you mumble, leaning your head against the door and looking down with a sigh.
"Hey, woah.. you okay?" He responds, immediately worried by your demeanour. He bends down to meet your eyes jokingly, trying to gauge your mood.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What's up?" You force a smile again, not wanting him to be concerned.
"Me and a couple others are going for a grocery run, do you want to come? Or do you want me to pick you up anything?" You look around your room for your phone.
"Uh, yeah, I'll send you twenty bucks, I need more pasta, and um... shit what do I need..." you trail off, trying to visualise your shelf in the fridge.
"Hey, it's okay, I'll have a look before we go, I'll text you, okay?" He says with a huffed laugh, still showing worry about what has you so frazzled. Nevertheless, he leaves you to your own devices.
~~~
The next day, before your first class of the year, you arrived early, beginning to plan for your year long project, by yourself. As you're typing away, your headphones suddenly get pulled off your head, falling to rest around your neck. You huff, knowing what's about to happen.
"Hey, loser," Hoe Taek greets, planting himself in the seat next to you. You groan and put your headphones back on your ears.
"Leave me alone, asshole," you say, going back to typing. This time he just moves one of your headphone cuffs off, placing it behind your ear.
"Don't be like that~ it'll be a long year if this is how we're going to be~" he coos, getting his own stuff out of his bag.
"Oh, don't you worry, I'm planning on killing myself very soon so you can stay away from me," you say with an innocent smile. He rolls his eyes, as he begins typing on his own laptop.
"Don't talk like that, Y/N," he says seriously, "you'd miss me far too much, hm?" He diverts back into his teasing. You hold back a laugh.
"You wish, dumbass."
~~~
Hoe Taek, or Hui, as he asked you to call him while you were working together, was setting himself up in the recording booth. You had both finished composing the music for your first song, and writing the lyrics, so all that was left was to record.
"I'll start now, okayyy?~" He calls out on the mic, you respond with a quick "yes", and begin recording, starting the backing track.
As much as he annoys you, bothers you, embarrasses you, and makes you feel like shit, his voice is beautiful. You end up staring at him through the recording room camera as he sings, resting your head on your hand.
"Yo, Y/N!" you hear from behind you, snapping you out of your trance, you spin around in your chair to see Yuto, leaning in the doorway, smirking at you.
"What are you doing~?" he singsongs, looking between you and the camera feed.
"Nothing," you say spinning back around, "I'll play it again, okay?" You say through the mic to Hui, he puts a thumbs up to the camera and you set him off again. Yuto walks over to you on the desk, bracing his arms on the back of your chair, leaning over your head.
"So you're doing okay with all this, then? If you're looking at him with such heart eyes." Your eyes go wide, looking up at him from your chair.
"What the fuck do you mean?! EW." Yuto looks down at you, eyebrow raised.
"Oh, yeah? So you're saying you hate that man singing that love song right now?" He gestures to the camera feed, and you glance over to see Hui smiling genuinely as his voice fills your ears.
Yuto moves and sits on your desk, hands resting next to his thighs.
“No, look, telling myself that I hate him is the only way I can ground myself, because I know if I admit I’ve fallen for them, then I will only hurt myself. I know he would never like me like that, he's hated me since the day we both started here.” You didn't want to admit that, since you've felt some form of attraction to Hui ever since you met, but you're convinced he only sees you as an obstacle, so you've pushed your feelings far enough down that he could never tell.
“So, you’re going to continue to pretend to hate him, even though, deep down, you know that’s the opposite of what you really feel?” Yuto questions, not moving from his spot on your desk. You simply nod.
"And then you'll come back to the dorms every day and ramble on about him for ages?" he continues, as if he's trying to egg you on.
"I do not!"
"Do so."
“He's the biggest fucking asshole known to mankind, so why the hell would I ever let his stupid face and stupid smile and stupid laugh and stupid everything consume my brain on a daily basis?” You spit, then go wide eyed, realising what you said. You cover your mouth, not expecting your feelings to re-emerge like that. Yuto simply smiles and hops down from your desk, kissing the crown of your head before leaving, calling out that he's ordering pizza to your dorms tonight. Shaking your head to return focus, you begin editing Hui's recording.
"I'll play it back for you, okay?" You say, your voice ever so slightly softer than before. Hui smiles and nods, listening intently to his own voice. He nods along with the beat, as do you.
As the incomplete song wraps up, Hui claps a couple times before taking off the headphones. "Your turn, loser." He says through the mic, heading out of the booth.
~~~
You're hanging out at the campus baseball field, working on your assignment while Yuto's practising with his team. You and Hui had finished 4 songs already, one month ahead of your professors guide. You were beginning to compose your fifth, looking through the concept notes you had both talked about. You hear a cheer come from the field and look down to see one of Yuto's team mates running after the baseball, looking at the base plate to see Yuto holding a bat. You smile to yourself, proud of your best friend. Looking back down to your laptop, you listen through what you have so far. Your eyebrows furrow, and you can't tell if you like it or not. You end up texting Hui the file -
"Hey, I can't tell if I like this, what do u think"
"where are u? I'll come work on it w u"
"bball field"
"coming loser xo"
You feel your heart flutter, and lightly slap your cheeks, as if you were telling yourself off. You clear your throat as you continue trying to work on the song.
After about 15 minutes, while you were engrossed in working, your headphones get pushed off your head once again, telling you Hui was here.
"Hey, loser." You both say in unison, your tone dripping with sarcasm.
"Aww, do I say that too much?" He teases, sitting down next to you. You unplug you headphones, shoving them in your bag.
"Yes. Yes, you fucking do." You sigh out, shoving your laptop onto his thighs. You rest your head on your hand and watch the baseball practise as Hui listens to what you've worked on.
"Can I change some stuff?" He asks, and you just wave him off with a "yeah, whatever". You see him looking at you from the corner of your eye, as he pushes your laptop screen down a bit.
"Y/N, what's going on?" you look over at him, and he genuinely looks upset.
"Hm? Nothing, just frustrated, with the song." You mumble, looking back towards your friend on the field. Hui looks down at your laptop, then back at you.
"You really hate doing this with me, don't you.." He almost whispers, and you can't tell if he was actually asking you, so you don't answer. He stays quiet, working on your laptop while you watch Yuto.
"How's your high school band friends?" You ask, growing more uncomfortable in the silence.
"Oh? They're good, you remember them?" He asks, surprised.
"How could I forget the video that showed me up for that assignment last year?" You laugh half-heartedly, twiddling your thumbs. The typing stops.
"Hey~ I didn't do that.." He whines, looking at you again. You face him too.
"Course you did, you have done for every assignment, because for some reason you despise me being just as good at this course as you." You say bluntly. His lips ever so faintly curl into a smile.
"Did my stupid face and stupid smile and stupid laugh and stupid everything make you think I hate you?" He smirks, looking back down at the laptop to avoid your eyes. Your eyebrows furrow, not clocking on to what he meant.
Until you remember.
"How, how did you?"
"I heard it all on the microphone feed that day we were recording the first song."
"But I wasn't pressing... the button..." your eyes drift down to the field.
You motherfucker, Yuto.
Hui gives you your laptop back, pressing play for you to listen through what he had changed.
As the song finishes playing, Hui tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. Your cheeks flush red straight away. You glance over to him and he's looking out at the field.
"Just because we're rivals, Y/N, doesn't mean I don't like you. You challenge me the way no one else can. I actually, really do like you," he rubs the back of his neck, "hearing you tell Yuto about your feelings made me realise I have been harsher on you than I meant." He admits, leaning back on the stalls.
You're frozen, stunned. Did he? Just confess to you? No, no surely not. No way.
You feel a hand hold your chin, and turn you to face him. Your faces are inches apart.
"Stop overthinking, Y/N. I like you, okay?" He smiles, looking down at your lips. You're breathing shakily, and you nod ever so slightly. He sighs in relief and places his lips on yours. His hands hold your cheeks gently, as if he's worried anything could hurt you. It's short, it's sweet. He pulls away, pushing another strand of hair out of your face.
"Hey, here's an idea. When we graduate, lets produce songs together, for real." He suggests, smiling brightly. You return said smile.
"I'd like that. Let's finish this very important assignment before we go planning stuff like that, huh?"
"Whatever, loser." He teases, pushing your shoulder gently. You laugh softly.
After a year of working hard, you both get given an A+ for your album you both decided to title "Losers", a special set at your university's showcase,
and a beautiful, loving relationship.
