Unexpectedly you - YokLongtae

Chapter one

"I'm glad you think that. But maybe the artist of this painting would disagree with me. Do you know the student that painted it?"

"You mean Yok? I guess you could say that I know him pretty well."

Yok smiled suggestively, feeling rather strange that someone didn't know who he was.
After everything that had happened, their popularity at the university had grown quite a lot, and Yok's good looks even got him an impressive growth of followers on Instagram. It was maybe the first time that someone didn't recognize him.

Maybe he was a new student.

"This is from Yok?! Wow, I'm not surprised then, I heard some things about him."

"You did?"

"Mh, him and his friends are very popular. You should know it, you said you know him."
The boy finally diverted his eyes from the painting and observed Yok with curious eyes and furrowed eyebrows.
He was quite cute. Yok couldn't deny it.

"Right. But you know, it's still strange that he's considered popular."

Neither of them had moved since the first encounter. There was still an impressive distance between them, something that wasn't noticeable since the whole atmosphere was comfortable.

"Why wouldn't he be? It was really impressive what he did with his friends. I wish I had the courage to fight for my beliefs. I admire them."
Yok looked at the floor before resting his eyes yet again on the painting.

He sighed.

"You do know that they almost died, right? Fighting for their beliefs almost cost them their lives, and what changed now? Nothing."

"Nothing? What do you mean nothing? They got Tawi arrested. If it wasn't for them, we would still have a criminal representing our country."

The boy's stare was burning Yok's skin. He could feel his eyes on him, yet still didn't want to acknowledge them. He knew he would meet an angry expression.

"Yeah, and that's the only thing they accomplished."

Other than Tawi's arrest, everything else got left behind. Yok's desire to finally see his mom get the job she deserved without being overlooked because of her disability didn't come true.

"Only thing? You think that's the minimum?"

"They were fighting for a lot of other rights too."

"Yet they did what much bigger groups of protestors couldn't."

"You know that if it wasn't for them, they would have died, right? It was all Yok's fault."

Yok immediately regretted saying that.

He closed his eyes and hoped the boy wouldn't notice the regret on his face.

He felt hot on his neck. He didn't know if he had been raising his voice; he hoped not, but he was getting so heated that it felt like a one-sided conversation, like the boy in front of him was sent by the universe just to let him finally blurt out everything. It was the first time he was talking to anyone about that night for more than a minute.

"Yok? What does he have to do with the fact that they got kidnapped?"

Yok took some time before giving that stranger an answer.

You know what? Fuck it. It's not like I'm going to see him again. Maybe he doesn't even frequent the university.

"They got kidnapped at the hospital. They were at the hospital because of Yok. Because he got shot."

He saw a smile forming on the boy's face. His shiny cheeks slowly rose.
"Are you smiling? Is this funny to you?"

"Are you dumb?"

Yok paused. "What?" He was rather speechless.

"Are you seriously blaming Yok for getting shot? You think he wanted to get shot?"

The tall boy stayed quiet. This felt like a reproach. Why was he letting himself get scolded by a stranger?

"Are you sure you're really Yok's friend? A friend wouldn't blame someone they care about for something that couldn't be controlled. Sounds like you rather hate him."

He did.

Yok hated himself.

His heartbeat was ringing through his ears, getting louder with every pump.
He feared he was about to have a panic attack—it would have been the second of the day—but before he could focus on his quick breaths, that gentle voice reached his ears once again, this time much softer than the harsh tone he had been using till now.

"Listen, I don't know why you're so defensive about this, but it takes all the courage in the world to fight for your rights knowing what could happen to you. It's true, it put them in serious danger, but why focus on the ifs? Why only see what could have happened when it didn't? Is it so difficult for you to think about the present? To think that no one died and Tawi is out of the picture?"

Yok finally looked at the boy; he didn't hear his footsteps and didn't realize he had gotten closer. His facial features were clearer now. He really did look like a fairy. He looked unfairly pretty. Maybe Yok was imagining everything.

"Don't get stuck in the past, you'll lose yourself. Just look ahead. Don't look back. Leave the past in the past, don't mourn it or you won't be able to enjoy the present anymore, and that's all we have, because even the future isn't promised."

Yok's instinct told him to actually look back. To turn around and see if he could watch what happened that night from another perspective.

A quiet vibration made him look at the boy's pants instead.

The boy reached for his phone and answered, looking Yok straight in the eyes. He had some seriously big brown eyes. They made him look extremely young. How old was he?

"Yeah? I'm at the art exhibition. No, there's no need for you to come. Just give me a second." He took some steps back, bowing his head a little to Yok before turning and walking away.

"The present is all we have" played in Yok's head for the rest of the day.

~~

About their characters:

In this story Yok's character will be very vulnerable. I wanted to portray him as someone who's aching for love, yet still is afraid of it. Yok will be strongly affected by what happened in the series, yet except for the first chapter I won't give too many details, because I want you readers to have an open view of how Yok feels at the same moment as Longtae will. I would like you all to understand more about Yok's character when he will finally trust Longtae enough to also tell him. This means, it will be hinted, but not deepened.

As per Longtae, we know him as a very cheerful character and maybe even child-like. I want to keep these traits of him, yet Longtae will be a very perceptive person, who will understand immediately what's wrong with Yok. I want him to be a very selfless character. A person kind by nature, who will try to help Yok as early as the first chapters. I want him to be so pure, that Yok will immediately feel how warm-hearted he is, even though he'll still be scared by it. Also, to help Yok regain his confidence, Longtae will develop a crush on him pretty quickly (also because I don't want this story to be too long), and he'll be the one chasing after Yok.

Also, don't imagine him as young as he was in the series, but as he looks now when he has his hair down.

Author's note !

Hello to everyone who might be reading the fic !
Just wanted to say I also have an ao3 account with the same @ , but I thought of posting here as well to try it out!

Disclaimer I wanted to clarify on here as well, english is not my first language, so I already apologize for any misunderstanding !!