"Hey, hey." From where he's busy typing on his phone - rude, Noah thinks - Hyeok makes a humming noise at the back of his throat, the extent of the attention he's willing to give Noah. "Hey."
A side look, then his eyes go back to his phone. Noah, admittedly, is tempted to snatch his phone and toss it outside the window of the bus they're on. "Yes...?"
Noah huffs. "You do know it's rude to be on your phone when you're with someone, right?" She grouses, crossing her arms and brazenly pushing at Hyeok's knee with her foot. "Either put that phone down or I'm getting off this bus."
Finally, Hyeok looks up from his phone, brow cocked in what's probably amusement. "Do you know how to get back?" He asks, and Noah huffs. Again.
"I'll find a way."
From his expression - or lack of it, really - Hyeok is most likely laughing at her in his head. "Ah, such a moody princess-" Noah kicks him a little harder for the princess comment. "-needing attention all the time. Give me a moment."
He goes back to his phone, typing faster, before he finally puts it away, giving Noah a Look™.
"Alright, you have me." He says, and Noah makes a face at that. "What does the princess want?"
Noah doesn't even hesitate. "Race me again." She declares, pushing absently at Hyeok's knee when he neither stopped her or pushed her foot off. "That last one was inconclusive."
Noah, of course, doesn't bring up the fact that she lost only because her stupid leg cramped at the worst possible moment. That and the way Hyeok didn't continue the race to instead-
To instead help her out and staying with her. Going as far as to buy her a drink to hydrate with.
Hyeok makes an agreeing noise. "Hm, true enough, but not soon." He says, and Noah makes a noise of dismay. At her reaction, Hyeok smirks, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it event. "I do have other responsibilities aside from biking, you know."
Noah huffs, slumps further down her bus seat as she pouts. "What's so fun about school anyways?" She grumbles. "I mean, yeah, sure, you get to work with cute animals but. It's still school?"
Hyeok blinks at her. "... I'm assuming you never went to college? Or even considered going?" He asks, and Noah nods. "Ah. Well, it's not easy, true but..."
Hyeok trails off, eyes glazing over, and Noah waits him out for a moment. Owen does the same thing, especially if he's thinking deeply of something. So Noah waits Hyeok out, wiggling her foot from side to side on top of Hyeok's knee-
"We're close, so we should hop off now," Hyeok says all of the sudden, putting Noah's foot down and standing up, making Noah herself scramble after him in reflex. "We'll have to walk the rest of the way, since it's a little hard to get to."
"Hey, you didn't answer me!" Noah barks, trotting after Hyeok as they leave the bus. Instead of answering her, Hyeok just tugs her along the sidewalk, looking this way and that for some reason. "Tsk, this fucking guy-"
Hyeok sighs. "Later, later, we'll talk later, alright?" He mutters, and Noah is almost tempted to be more of a bitch than she already is just to piss the guy off. "We have to be quick now."
Noah picks up her pace, twisting her wrist out of Hyeok's hold and rubbing at it absently. "Why?" She asks. "With the way you're acting, it's like we're going somewhere we're not supposed to be."
Hyeok stays quiet. A little too quiet, really.
Noah gapes at him. "No fucking way." Maybe Samuel did have a point in worrying about her hanging out with these Sabbath Crew guys...?
"It's just an abandoned skatepark." Hyeok replies, a little too quickly, and Noah squints at him. "It's not like we're breaking into military bases or something."
"But we're still breaking into some place-" Noah stops walking, Hyeok doing the same a few paces ahead of her. He watches her warily, as she breathes through her nose to calm down.
Cool it, Noah Brookes, no need to lose your shit right now.
"Okay. Okay." Noah points at Hyeok. "I'm invested now, so I'll go with you. It's definitely not government property? We're not going to be. I don't know, be flagged by the Secret Service or something?"
Hyeok nods warily. "No to all those questions." He answers.
"Okay. Whew, alright." Noah rakes a hand through her hair. "Please tell me in advance if we're going to do something. Vaguely illegal. Just so I can mentally prepare. Or something like that." She says, pleads with, really, because she really can't afford to be jailed at a time like this.
Sure, she jokingly added 'go to jail' in her bucket list but like... It was a joke-
Hyeok looks away from her. "Yeah. Fine. Sure." He mutters, and he starts walking again, his strides long and quick.
Noah could only stare after him, rooted to the spot, because-
"Hey, don't leave me!" Noah yells after him, practically sprinting just to keep up. She slows to a much more reasonable pace when she reaches him, and with a sly grin, she looks at Hyeok. "Are you pouting?"
Hyeok gives her the blankest look ever and Noah is actually impressed with how empty he can make his face go. "No. Do I look like I'm pouting?" He asks, sass all over his tone.
Noah grins, delighted. "No. But I know you are." She cackles, moving in front of Hyeok and walking backwards, her hands clasped behind her. "Getting huffy when I tell you off, hah! Can't take rejection from a girl?"
Hyeok looks at her. "May I remind you when I told you 'no' the first night?"
Noah freezes.
"... Alright you win."
This bastard.
"Thought so." Hyeok reaches out and grabs her by the shoulder, spinning her around before pushing gently, making her move. "Now come on, we're already a little late as it is."
"Oi, stop- fucker-" For such a skinny looking guy, Hyeok has the grip of a gorilla. Noah doesn't think she'll have bruises on her shoulders, but damn, she can't wiggle out from under his hands. "Asshole, let me go."
"Only if you behave, sure." Hyeok replies, absolutely merciless, and Noah could only sigh loudly and pointedly as she stops struggling in his grip. "Good girl."
Noah pouts. "Fuck you."
Noah lets herself be steered, peering around the place in curiosity. They're far as hell from the city center at this point - the farthest Noah has ever been - and while Noah doesn't think they're in the slums (if Seoul even has slums) the place is... There's not a lot of people, Noah spotted some sad looking strays in alleyways, and the overhead streetlights are well enough that they could at least see where they're going.
But even so, Noah can't help but be a little apprehensive, her hearing picking up every little noise; the scrape of their shoes against the pavement, the way their clothes would swish, and their breathing. It sounds like they're breathing too loud, and it makes Noah just a little bit nervous.
Just a small amount. A reasonable one.
"We're not going to get... jumped here, aren't we?" Noah asks quietly, one hand drifting to the pocket of her hoodie where she hides the taser Samuel gave her a week ago.
Hyeok leans closer, his hands on her shoulder squeezing for a second. "I'll keep you safe." He replies just as quietly, and in the silence of their surroundings, their whispers sound louder than it should be. "Don't worry princess."
Noah would probably never admit it, but that was actually pretty fucking reassuring, which is. What the hell. Maybe it's a good thing Hyeok is pushing her in front of him, because this way he wouldn't see her face. See how red it's become.
Noah takes a deep breath to calm herself down. It barely works.
"You'll have to answer to Sam otherwise." She manages to say, and she's pretty damn proud of herself for it to come out pretty calm, despite her internal screaming.
"Mhm. Don't want that." Hyeok pats her shoulder. "We're here."
Noah startles "Wh- hey!" She almost jogs after him, but Hyeok merely walks over to a sad looking store, practically fucking decrepit with how one side of the glass wall is broken and is half-heartedly covered with a tarp covering. "What the..."
Hyeok beckons her closer, and Noah may or may not have scuttled over as quickly as possible over to his side, peering warily into the abandoned store.
"Entrance's inside," Hyeok whispers, pulling the tarp aside. A little light spills into the building, and the interior is just as pitiful as the exterior, Noah realizes. If not worse than the outside, really. "You first, but don't move away too far."
"You're fucking insane," Noah hisses quietly, just a little bit alarmed when Hyeok guided her inside with an insistent hand. "How did you guys even find this place?"
Noah moves aside when Hyeok himself shimmies through, watching him rearrange the tarp to cover the way they came through. Once he's done, Hyeok offers his elbow to her, much to Noah's surprise.
"When it comes to Wooin-ssi, I've learnt not to ask." He replies, and that... That isn't really comforting. "But it's a good place, if a little hard to get to. Sometimes, you just want to be away from everything, and this place is one of the places we can hide away for a while."
Noah... Noah could only stare at Hyeok.
The answer wasn't something she expected, even though it's not really a strange answer. But the fact that it came from him, from this blank-faced, ruthless bastard... It definitely could throw someone off.
Hyeok extends his elbow to her once more, pulling Noah out of her thoughts and bringing her attention back to himself. "Shall we?" He asks, and Noah scoffs, even as she lets herself loop her own arm with his.
"Don't think this will make me forget how you fucked over that guy from the fish crew." Noah says, patting Hyeok's arm as he guides the both of them through the dark, decrepit store. She can't see much, especially not if it's farther than a couple meters from her, but with the way Hyeok moves so surely, she's not too worried. "Pretending to be a gentleman, psh!"
"Believe it or not, it wasn't personal." Hyeok says, and Noah could only stare at him, disbelieving. "Let's just say he's... an unfortunate casualty."
Noah snorts at that. "How many 'unfortunate casualties' have you had, huh?" She snickers, stepping walking around the shards of broken glass on the floor when Hyeok points it out. "Lying is bad, you know."
"That guy's the only one, really." With the lack of light and his usual bucket over his face, Noah can't see Hyeok's face. She doesn't need to see it to hear the humor in his tone, though. "The rest... well. They're a different story."
Noah shakes her head. "Maybe Sam was right to warn me about you guys." She says in amusement.
"He's right, you know. Warning you about us" Hyeok replies. "I may be nice to you, princess, but don't think we're nice people. That kind of thinking is dangerous."
Noah looks at Hyeok. He's looking at her too, gaze careful. Right now, Noah can't tell what's going on his mind, and truthfully, Noah isn't sure what she's thinking either.
If she's thinking at all, really.
"I'll keep that in mind." Noah ends up saying, turning back to where... wherever Hyeok is leading them, really. She doesn't have a single clue where they are, where they're headed to, and well. Noah is good with directions, but she's not that good.
Noah can see from the corner of her vision that Hyeok is still looking at her, even if he's not talking, but Noah keeps her eyes forward, waiting. In the end, Hyeok says nothing, looking back towards the front as well, and he leads them to the very back of the decrepit store.
At first, Noah thinks it's just a wall, but when Hyeok reaches out and pushes it aside, she realizes with awe that it's actually a fake wall. With wheels installed at the top and bottom to make it easier to move.
What the fuck.
"You guys have a secret hideout?!" Noah hisses in excitement, practically grinning from ear to ear, and Hyeok huffs a short laugh, tugging her along and suffering through her excited antics with nary a complaint. "What the fuck, this is so cool!"
"As I said-" Hyeok grunts as he closes the door behind them. "-Wooin-ssi knows some interesting places. Come on, we're almost there."
Hyeok untangles his arm with Noah, only to take her hand in his and taking off into a light jog, forcing Noah to do the same lest she trip and fall flat on her face. Over the sound of their footfalls, she could hear noise, someone laughing loudly, and when they rounded the corner-
"[The lovebirds are finally here!!]" Someone cheers, not that Noah understood.
She claps a hand over an ear as a loud as hell cheer comes from the people already in the abandoned skatepark, but Noah finds herself grinning, eyes roving all over the place, taking in everything she possibly could.
For an abandoned skatepark, the ramps, rails and even the bowl is in good enough condition; clean and in good shape, if a little lacking in new paint jobs and polishing. The entire area is relatively clean, actually, and off to the side there's a large drum being used as a fire bin, several old-looking couches and chairs surrounding it. Noah sees girls and some guys seated there, while the rest are hanging around the area with the ramps. There's only two people with bikes, Noah realizes, and they're pulling tricks, much to their friends' whoops of encouragement.
"What the fuck." Noah breathes in awe, letting go of Hyeok's hand to turn around as they walk. "What the fuck."
"It's not much, but it's our little haven away from the city." Hyeok says from somewhere beside Noah. "Or at least, one of them."
Noah turns to him. "You mean, you got more places like this?" She asks, bewildered, because why the fuck would they have so many out of the way hidey-holes???
Hyeok shrugs. "As I said, best not to ask Wooin-ssi." He looks over her shoulder, straightening up. "Ah, here they are."
Noah looks in the same direction as Hyeok was looking at, and he sees Wooin and Joker walking over. Noah waves back when Wooin does, and when they duo reaches them-
"Hello, No-ah!" Wooin hooks his arms under Hyeok's shoulders, Hyeok's eyes going wide in absolute shock as his leader just. Bodily drags him away. "Goodbye, No-ah!"
Noah could only stare after them, and she stares some more when the Joker guy pats her on the head and walks after his other crew members. Another guy - one with red-tinted glasses - comes over and he picks up Hyeok's legs, Wooin and the red-glasses guy cackling like maniacs as they carry Hyeok between them. Hyeok looks stupidly funny, just letting them pick him up with the blankest bewildered face, and the way the Joker guy is casually just strolling after them, it was-
Noah muffles her giggling behind her hand, and she has to turn away lest she fucking lose it and end up laughing.
Noah pauses.
"Ah..."
They took the only person Noah knows in this place.
Noah stands where she is, quietly panicking about what to do and struggling on whether or not she should go after them, save Hyeok from what looks like an interrogation by his own crew mates.
But before she could come to a conclusion, she feels someone tap her shoulder. She turns to look, and blinks owlishly at the woman smiling up at her. She holds out a bottle.
"Sit with us?" She asks, in slightly accented English, and Noah stares a little more, until she remembers how to function like a normal human being and hastily accepts the bottle with both hands.
"A-ah, sure."
The woman - wearing a Sabbath Crew jacket, Noah notes with surprise - giggles, before gesturing for Noah to follow her, which she does. The lady leads Noah over to where the fire bin and the couches are, and Noah feels a little flustered when she realizes that everyone there is already looking at them, curiosity and fascination clear on all their faces.
No doubt wondering who's the foreigner Hyeok showed up with.
"[Iseul-unnie, is this the one Hyeok-oppa raced with?!]" A girl, with blonde-ombre hair, speaks up excitedly, practically leaning out of her seat as she stares shamelessly at Noah. "[Oooh, she's so pretty...!]"
Noah is, honestly, sick of being monolingual.
She looks towards the lady who brought her over to the others, and the lady titters, covering her mouth with a dainty hand. "She says you're pretty, and she asked earlier if you're the one our Hyeokkie-yah raced with before." She explains patiently, and Noah makes a noise of understanding.
Huh, so she's practically known amongst Sabbath Crew's people...? Not really surprising, Noah thinks, considering she did pick a fight with one of their members... And made a fucking debacle with their race...
(Oops...?)
Noah, not knowing what else to do, awkwardly dips her head towards the others. She saw some Koreans do that as greeting. She's doing it right... Right...?
The people around her burst into excited chatter, all the while looking at her, and suddenly, Noah wishes Wooin didn't take Hyeok from her. Fuck, she should've followed them instead.
"Forgive us, we're just very curious about the girl our Hyeokkie-yah raced with," The lady who invited Noah to sit with them says, smiling apologetically. "My name is Seo Iseul."
"A-ah, nice to meet you." Noah awkwardly dips her head again. "I'm Noah. Noah Brookes."
"Finally, we have a name for Hyeokkie-yah's princess. " The lady, Iseul, laughs brightly, and Noah feels her face flush in embarassment when she realizes that no, Hyeok isn't the only one calling her princess. But apparently, the entire Sabbath Crew people do.
And from what it seems like, no one (who knows her name) actually uses 'Noah' when calling her, but instead just calls her 'princess'.
Noah groans, covering her face with her hands as she swears out Hyeok's name to hell and back in her mind. "He's not stopping about the 'princess' shit?" She moans out in misery, and Iseul pats her shoulder in an attempt at comfort.
Not that it works, but. The thought counts.
Probably.
"It's fitting, I think." Iseul disagrees with a smile, before she raises her bottle towards Noah. "Here's to meeting Hyeokkie-yah's princess, Noah Brookes."
Noah makes another pained sound, but nonetheless, she opens her bottle - ooh, fruit juice - and bumps it woth Iseul's own. "Here's to me holding back from punching Hyeok's head in." She replies grumpily.
She takes a swig of the juice, sighing in relief, and she looks up when she realizes that everyone is looking at her, their eyes wide. Some of the other girls even have their hands to their mouths, gaping.
Noah frowns. "What?" Did she say anything bad...?
"Ah, it's just..." Iseul laughs, and there's a gleam in her eye that got Noah nervous. "Hyeokkie-yah lets you call him by his given name?"
... Huh? "I mean... I guess?" Noah tips her bottle in the general direction of where Hyeok is. "Isn't that his name?"
"[Iseul-unnie, what is she saying!!!]" The blondie from before whines, practically writhing in her seat as she demands something from Iseul. "[Don't keep us out of the loop just because you're the only good enough at English! Why is she referring to Hyeok-oppa so casually already, ah?!]"
"[Now, now, just calm down, Soojin-ah, let unnie talk to Hyeokkie-yah's princess, alright?]" It sounded like Iseul is gently scolding the other girl, and judging by blondie's huff and pout, Noah's guess is probably correct. Iseul turns back to her though, and Noah subconscious sits straighter, feeling like she'll be found lacking if she sits like a degenerate. "Here, it's only polite to address someone with an honorific when they haven't been given explicit permission to use just their name, you see... Did Hyeokkie-yah tell you to just use his given name?"
"Well, yeah-" Noah pauses. She thinks back, all the way to that night they raced, when she first asked his name. "... No."
Fuck. Was she being impolite all this time? Is this the reason why that asshole Hyeok refuses to stop calling her princess?
Iseul giggles at Noah's look of horrified realization, and the lady pats her comfortingly on the knee. "Don't feel too bad. Hyeokkie-yah's a bit of a troublemaker."
Noah grinds her teeth. "I'm kicking his ass later." She growls, and Iseul translates her words, making the others laugh and cheer. "That fucker...!"
"How about this..." Iseul leans close, whispers, and Noah-
"Is that a swear word?" She'd be fine if it's a swear word. In fact, she should learn some Korean swear words so she can cuss out Hyeok if he's being a fucking ass to her. "What does that mean?"
"It's not actually a swear word. If anything, it's polite a polite form of address, if I'm right in assuming that Hyeokkie-yah is older than you." Iseul explains, but her smile is mischievous and scheming. "But I think this way will have much more of an effect on him. Ah, here's your chance."
Noah practically snaps her neck to look around, grinning widely when she spots Hyeok finally free from his crew mates and making his way to them.
Standing up, Noah waves to him, and breathing deeply, she calls out, as loudly as possible-
"HYEOK-OPPA!!!"
The effect was instantaneous, and Iseul wasn't lying when she said that it will have much more of an effect than cussing out Hyeok.
The guy trips - fucking trips!! - and almost falls flat on his face if he hadn't caught himself in time. He stares at Noah, and for the first time ever, his blank expression is absolutely broken, surprise clear on his face and-
Is his face red-???
Someone gasps beside her, and in the silence that suddenly fell over everyone, it was pretty fucking loud.
Noah laughs, almost falling over from how hard she was laughing. "Oh my- oh my fucking god, your face!!" She cackles some more, wheezing helplessly from how hard she's laughing. "Fuck, my ribs hurt-"
Her laughter apparently snapped the others out of their own shock, and the place goes absolutely loud with catcalls and cheers. No doubt making fun of Hyeok, and Noah gives up and collapses against the couch she was sitting on earlier as she laughs her guts out. Laughs so hard she's actually tearing up.
"Thank me later, No-ah." Iseul giggles with a sly wink and a smug sip from her bottle, and Noah breaks out into another round of uncontrollable laughter.
Noah almost chokes on her own laughter when someone hauls her up to her feet, and she sees Hyeok - yes, his face is red, and he looks so fucking embarrassed, holy fuck. He drags her away, his hand like a vise grip on the back of her collar, and Noah cackles as she lets herself be dragged away.
She spares Iseul and the others a wave goodbye, the others returning her gesture with laughter and more catcalls, and Noah giggles maniacally to herself when Hyeok pulls into a secluded part, practically dragging her behind a massive pillar.
She grins at Hyeok unapologetically, batting her eyes prettily at him. He only glares at her, which isn't so scary considering his face is so red.
"Awww, is Hyeok-oppa mad?" She coos, voice dripping with faux-sweetness, and she watches with pure, utter delight when Hyeok's face reddens further. "Aren't I calling you respectfully now? Don't like it?"
Red. God, his face is so red he looks like a tomato.
"You..." Hyeok - or rather, Hyeok-oppa now, Noah supposes - turns to the side to take a deep breath, and Noah can't help but snicker at that. God, this is pure fucking comedy. "If you know what's good for you, you wouldn't tease me."
Noah scoffs, crossing her arms and tilting her chin up in a show of defiance. "Or what?" She challenges, smirking.
Hyeok looks at her, and before she could react-
His hands slams against the wall beside her head, and he leans in close. Too close. Close enough that he can mutter right into her ear. Close enough that they're almost pressed right against each other and Noah could feel him breathe-
"I'm not a nice person, princess." He whispers, and Noah feels both fear and excitement snake down her spine and pool in her blood. Almost shivers with the thrill of it, really, and despite the hitch in her breath, she keeps grinning. Hyeok pulls back, and Noah recklessly meets his gaze. "Keep that up, and you just might regret it." He murmurs, a threat or a warning, Noah has no clue. Has no care, really. She's enjoying this far too much.
Noah grins, gets up on her tiptoes and leans in just a little close, snickering when Hyeok tries to keep his distance, his cold expression flickering.
"Would I?" She challenges. She feels reckless. She feels electric.
She feels like pushing Hyeok's buttons and see what he'd do.
She literally hears Hyeok grind his teeth. "You-"
A sharp, ear-splitting noise cuts through the air, making Noah lose her balance and stumble right into Hyeok, and he catches her with ease, even as he snarls something vicious under his breath.
Noah looks over her shoulder, frowning when she hears the others making a commotion-
"What the fuck is going on-"
She stumbles when Hyeok grabs her hand and pulls, and she almost swears at him until she sees the genuine apprehension on his face.
"Cops found the place. We gotta run." Is all he says, and Noah gapes.
"Wh- I THOUGHT WE'RE NOT BREAKING INTO GOVERNMENT PLACES?!" Even as Noah screams, she breaks into a sprint with Hyeok, clinging hard to his hand as she follows him into the deeper parts of the abandoned skatepark. "DUDE, WHAT THE FUCK?!"
"Not a government property, but we're still considered as delinquents for hanging out in places like this!" Hyeok replies sharply. "Less talking, more running!"
Noah makes a frustrated noise, but does as told, picking the pace until she's level with Hyeok, forcing him to let go of her hands as they sprint side by side down the dark hallways.
Far behind them, Noah thinks she can hear the others running as well, panicked yelling as well as manic laughter - that was probably their insane leader, Noah thinks - and on top of those, sounds of what are probably the police.
What the actual fuck, Hyeok.
"This way!" Hyeok orders, turning a sharp corner, and Noah bolts after him.
They come out into a street, dark but not as pitiful as the street the came through earlier. If anything, they look a little closer to the city, judging from the lights above the buildings.
Hyeok looks left and right for a moment, before picking a direction and running once more, grabbing at Noah's wrist.
"Here, quick!"
Noah does so without question, because she just heard noises coming from where they just left, and those don't sound like the other Sabbath people-
Hyeok and Noah scuttle into an alleyway, dark and somewhat cramped, and all of the sudden, Hyeok swears, vicious and definitely pissed.
"What, what?!" Noah manages to wheeze through her labored breathing, supporting herself against the wall - fuck, this wall is disgusting - "Hyeok-"
"They fucking walled up the shortcut here." Hyeok snarls, and he kicks at the wall with prejudice, not even flinching with his foot connects with the brick wall. "Fuck, I trapped us."
Noah gapes. "Please tell me you're fucking joking." At Hyeok's frustrated look, Noah sinks against the wall with a groan of misery. "Shit. Shiiiiit. Sam is going to kill me if Owen won't."
"[I think I heard some of them run this way!]"
Noah's head snaps up when she hears the loud exclamation, and despite not understanding what was said, she knows that's definitely not one they could trust.
"Oh, for fuck's sake-"
Noah looks around in panic, eyeing the wall. No, it was too high, and there was nothing they could use to climb over it either. Judging from how close the voice sounded, they're near, and there's not much time to find another escape-
Hyeok stands in front of her and holds her by the upper arms, his expression twisted with something-
"Do you trust me?" He asks all of a sudden and Noah could only gape at him.
"What the fuck-"
Hyeok shakes her gently but firmly. "Yes or no, Noah. Yes or no." He hisses, frantic now, and Noah can't help but panic as well.
"Yeah, yeah, fuck, sure, I trust you, I suppose!" She squeaks out, flustered, because this is totally not the time to have a heart to heart!
"You can punch me later." Is all Hyeok says, before he presses her against the dirty wall, leans forward-
And kisses her.