Rivalries, Fluff, and Other Feelings
a yusion fic
When the lonely trainee from Japan finally finds a friend (and a makeshift scarf) in the middle of a Seoul winter.
It started with a notification from his vocal teacher. He enthusiastically shared that a boy around his age was coming to start his first day.
“Yushi-kun, don't get too carried away by your feelings of missing home. You'll get a new friend soon. An older brother to be exact.”
Yushi reacted to the notification snarkily as he carried his backpack bigger than himself up to the training room.
Oh Sion. It didn't sound Korean, or at least not what 15-year-old Yushi thought was Korean. But his name rhymed naturally with the ocean, like a slip of the tongue. What was he blabbering about really?
Let's just play EXO’s Monster and start his dance practice of the day like any other full-of-opportunity to the best kind of day, as expected of him, Yushi, the hardworking young boy.
….
This new dude danced so lousily, he missed all the important details just to look bigger than everyone. Yushi observed from the side. But our dance teacher just let it slide?
On the other hand, Park Wonbin was excellent, considering he just started dancing. From what he knew, these two were social media presences, or ‘ulzzangs’, that was how the Korean kids would call it. They got scouted merely because of their looks.
…
“No, eomma. Don't worry, I'm doing really really well here, I have great friends, Wonbin is very nice to me, even the younger kid, Yushi, tries to get close to me as well. You know your son is very good with people,”
Sion was on the phone with his mother and Yushi heard it.
This guy really was something.
Wonbin was nice yet not that nice or warm or whatever, he was rather the nonchalant, cool guy type. And he himself wasn't planning to make friends at all, he was just helping Sion to finally get the step he was struggling with the whole week last night.
That was all.
But then, Sion’s voice got increasingly muffled. Yushi stopped in his tracks, secretly, just to make sure he was fine, watching him from behind the door.
He started to notice more small details of Sion's body language, he was fidgeting less and less, when normally he was very restless, the jumpy and high-energy type of person. Right now, he was holding his phone tightly, as if he could get to feel his mother's warmth from the electronic device.
Oh Sion was crying.
Yushi didn't move nor intrude, instead when Sion finally came out from the room, he decided to cheer the new trainee up,
“Do you want to eat?” his Korean was still a bit stiff, he hoped that Sion could understand it.
17-year-old Sion was taller than him so Yushi had to peer up to check for micro expressions (he didn't have to, only now he started to overthink he was overdoing it). Sion’s undereyes were puffier, his animal-like cheeks were looking softer now. Yushi didn't know who was to blame at that time, but his mind instantly connected the picture of a cute, white-haired, sulky bunny to Sion.
He brushed himself off, focusing on his reply instead.
“I need to save money-” he gave a meekly reply, avoiding eye contact.
He was about to walk away when Yushi grabbed his arm,
“I can pay for both of us.”
“It's a treat.”
Sion nodded in contemplation, but the thing was, Yushi kept his hand on Sion’s the whole time on their way towards Yushi's favourite malatang place. It was late evening, adults and college students alike were walking around in a wobbly, drunken state. But tonight, nobody had to know they were the trainees from the highly acclaimed K-pop company, just two boys trying to find solitude in their fast-paced life.
When they entered the place, the middle aged woman greeted Yushi, “Long time no see, my favourite hardworking boy! Have you been eating well?” she stopped counting down the profit of the day to just come and dote on him.
Yushi smiled, he smiled genuinely for the first time in Sion’s eyes, as he awkwardly found the perfect polite sentence to say,
“I’ve been taking care of myself. Look at my cheeks, ajumma!” he chuckled softly, revealing his cat-like whiskers on his cheeks. Quiet, loyal… And possessive (because of the hand-holding incident), like a cat.
The boys took their seats opposite to the counter.
“Are you a frequent customer?” Sion naturally started the conversation to make things less awkward.
Yushi blinked his eyes, looking lost.
“Carrot?” Only then Sion realised despite the tough, ace exterior Tokuno Yushi had, beneath that he was still a boy in a foreign land.
He smiled reassuringly, “I meant ‘frequent’,” then saw he was still looking a bit confused, “Do you like to come here often?” Sion got more straightforward this time.
“Oh- Yes.”
Yushi nods, realising he made a mistake. From what Sion sees, Yushi was the type to hate making mistakes. He was an all-around perfectionist kind of guy.
“My Korean is still not that good.” he waved his smaller hand, covering his mouth as he was chewing the noodles. The broth was hot and spicy, typical for these places. So Sion wasn't sure if the boy in front of him was flustered because of the mere spiciness of the meal, or because of him.
The thought of Yushi possibly getting shy because of him was making him a bit giddy in response. He liked it.
“Is it spicy?” Sion asked, grinning out and about.
“It is not,” Yushi denied immediately with a sharp stare.
“So why is your face red?” Sion gave a brutal counterattack. Their faces were quite close, both were enjoying their own bowls of noodles, with an occasional eye contact from their banters. Yushi’s slurping got more intense as if he was trying to bury some truth.
Yushi was frowning now. But Sion swears he wore that frown like a smile. That was his signature, really. Their small little interaction tonight was bandaging his doubts and worries from earlier.
“The noodles are tasty. I'm enjoying it,” Yushi insisted.
He gulped down some noodles before he pointed to himself, putting the bowl down.
“Look. It's very, very, delicious.”
This whole thing was a sight to behold for Sion as he broke into laughter, clapping his hands, stirring his noodles faster.
“I have no idea you're capable of being funny. I thought you were a serious dude,” Sion loosened up the conversation even more.
“I am serious.” Yushi said with a deadpan look, when he added immediately afterwards,
“Seriously funny.”
Then the other boy’s laughter started to fill in the small malatang shop as well, owning the place like it was theirs.
…
The walk back to their dorm was a quiet one. Both boys had their hands in their pockets, it was February after all.
Yushi kept on sneezing nonstop. From his level (because there was a significant height gap between them), Sion could see the button of his nose growing redder. He offered him his pack of tissues.
“Achoo!” He sneezed harder, it was starting to make the older one worried. Sion patted Yushi’s back gently.
“Easy. A warm scarf would be convenient right now. I thought you had one?” Sion recalled the picture of diligent Yushi always walking around the company building with a thick, wide scarf, almost covering his whole face.
Yushi looked tired from all the sneezing so Sion didn't expect any replies from him. They continued to walk down the pedestrian path to a nearby convenience store Yushi pointed to, just to feel the warmth from the heater.
“I left it. It's in my bag,” Yushi finally said something.
“My mother knitted it for me,” Just like that, the feelings of growing up far from home started to reappear. It was indeed a wistful winter night in the city of Seoul.
Hearing it, Sion’s mind immediately jumped towards buying him a new one from the store, but he remembered that he was broke and… Most importantly, the left-behind scarf by Yushi's mother was more valuable than what he could give to him, that, he was certain.
But he was getting restless about not being able to do anything to help, his mind was coming out with different ideas on how to keep poor Tokuno Yushi’s neck warm for the night.
Then he saw it, a PWP offer.
Buy two slushies, get one free U-shape neck pillow!
Was it stupid to get icy cold slushies in the middle of winter? Yes. Was it even more stupid to wear a neck pillow while walking down the city streets? Yes, 200% more.
But Oh Sion was determined.
He rose from his seat, checking his wallet for any extra cash he could spare, one, two… five, perfect.
“Two grape slushies, please- The offer one.”
“It's ₩10,000.”
“Eh?-” Sion couldn't believe that he actually mislooked the price. It would be ₩5,000 if it were only one slushie, but for the free neck pillow, he needed to buy two.
Before he started to embarrass himself more in front of the cashier, Yushi came and added his share of cash.
“Why didn't you tell me?” Yushi gave him an almost betrayed look. In reality, he was feeling extremely guilty for having Sion spending his last pennies just for him.
“You were shivering. I wanted to help.”
…
The convenience store door chimed as the two got out of the store. Yushi’s face was still a bit sour. By this time Sion was wise enough to take note that Yushi did not appreciate dishonesty, but on top of it, burdening others.
“Yushi-ya, walk slowly! The roads are slippery!”
“You will fall and hurt yourself if you don't listen to your older bro!” At this point, Sion was trying to coax him out of his sulking.
Sion saw his mood and decided to let him be until he saw Yushi walking towards a clear puddle he probably didn’t see.
“Yushi-ya!” Yushi’s eyes widened in surprise when everything happened. Sion was grabbing his arm and holding him closely, to the sheer proximity of their faces. The sharp winter air made them feel each others’ breath, and… Yushi wished on his whole life Sion couldn't feel his rapid heartbeat right now.
“You should've listened to me,” Sion removed himself from Yushi slowly like nothing had happened, at least, in Yushi’s eyes. Still being distraught by the glimpse moment, Yushi just nodded obediently this time.
“Look at you, cute like a cat. Poor cat almost falling down!” To make matters worse Sion started patting his head! Why? He was not a helpless cat to be saved by him!
In his mind, he was just caring for the younger boy, wiping off possible dirt on his head, checking if he was alright.
“I-I’m fine! Thank you!” Yushi stuttered on his words, making him internally curse himself.
Sion looked rather surprised by his gratitude. He was not expecting anything, especially not in his current state.
“No biggie. Now please wear this neck pillow for the sake of my peace of mind,” Sion said as he spontaneously wore the pillow on Yushi’s neck, grinning proudly after he made his younger brother warm and safe.
The cat got even more reactive.
“Hey!” Yushi didn't care anymore now. He was beyond embarrassed and confused and…
“It's for your own good!” Sion laughed as he moved away slightly from Yushi to avoid getting hit by him.
That night was surely an eventful night for both of the boys.
That night, Tokuno Yushi was beyond embarrassed, confused, and…
In love.
