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"So... what does oppa mean again?"
He shot her a grin. "You were born in April, right? I was born in January. So... I'm your oppa."
Leia raised an eyebrow mistrustfully, smiling despite herself. "I have a feeling it has a meaning you're not telling me about."
His eyes widened in a display of mock offence. "Of course not."
Leia shook her head, still smiling. "So... you're my oppa."
He couldn't hide his grin, and Leia knew there was definitely some - knowing him, flirty - connotation behind the word he wasn't telling her, when he winked and said "Damn right I am."
"Y'know as soon as we're out, I'm gonna google it." She said, warningly.
"Go ahead." He retorted. "Doesn't change the fact that you said it. I'm your oppa."
Leia shook her head. "You're such a wind-up."
"A wind-up?" He laughed. "Aw, no. You think I'm a wind-up? You should meet my friend Chanyeol. Just be thankful you weren't stuck in here with him. He'd make me look like the most sincere, sweetest guy ever."
Leia laughed. "Wow, he must be unbearable."
The guy laughed along with her, bobbing his head in a nod. "He never takes anything seriously. It drives Kyungsoo crazy, and Chanyeol knows that, so he always winds him up the most." He laughed again, then paused and sighed in a soft, nostalgic way. "I really miss that lanky prankster sometimes. And the small, stoic one too." His laughs trailed off, and he seemed to get lost in thoughts, his eyes falling to the ground, a soft sigh escaping from his slightly parted lips.
Leia sighed softly herself, and unconsciously, her lips pulled up into a smile as she watched him for a moment. He really wasn't so bad...
She tore her gaze away, and let her mind wander... she thought about the past half hour, and how it'd just flown by. After he'd said she was better off stuck in the elevator with him, Leia had buried herself in her knees, to hide her blushing cheeks... and her small smile. When enough time had passed and she got over the weird almost-butterflies feeling she'd gotten, she eventually lifted her head up, and asked "So... what are some other terms like noona?" He'd beamed at her question, his eyes lighting up as he shifted so he was sitting upright, and he said "Ok, so..."
He'd explained to her other Korean terms of affection, and respect, such as 'hyung'. And unlike in high school Spanish class... Leia was actually really interested, and listened attentively to what he was saying, asking him to repeat some things, going over each word with him, its pronunciation and meanings... Leia enjoyed it most of all though, because of how excited he seemed to be to be sharing this with her, and how enthusiastic. It was sort of endearing. Oh, to hell with sort of, it was actually pretty cute – the way his dark eyes glittered, and crinkled at the edges, the way his full lips were pulled up into a smile, the way he'd use his hands to gesture subconsciously at times. It wasn't like she was attracted to him or anything. I mean sure, she was aware even before they'd gotten stuck that he was good looking, and he had a nice voice, and yeah, he'd wound her up, but he'd also helped her out when she'd panicked, and he was actually nice to talk to, but – but she'd only known him for two hours! And heck, she didn't even know his name –
"I'm Kai, by the way."
His voice jolted Leia from her thoughts, and she blinked, looking over at him with wide eyes, and burning cheeks, and she didn't realise she'd been biting down on her lip until she applied a little pressure, and it hurt a little...
For a brief moment, she legitimately worried that he'd read her thoughts, and if he'd heard that she didn't know his name, that means he'd have heard...
So, dumbly, she said "Huh?"
"My name is Kai." He said, paused, and then one side of his lips pulled up slightly. "Well, I mean, it isn't. But it is."
Thankfully, his words managed to distract her from her previous irrational worry, and she furrowed her brow in a frown. "Wait what?" she shook her head. "It either is, or it isn't?"
His amused half smirk grew. "It is. And it isn't."
Leia let out a laugh of indignation. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
He simply raised an eyebrow and smiled a little wider.
There we are again. Wind-up.
Leia shook her head, but didn't reply, instead folding her arms across her chest, and raising her own eyebrow back at him.
He mimicked her pose, folding his arms – despite herself, she noticed then that he had really nice arms, Leia was a sucker for toned arms, damn it – across his chest. They stayed like that for a few, long moments, before he snorted another laugh, and unfolded his arms. "It's the name I go by. Since coming over here. My real, Korean name is Jongin."
Jongin... Kai... they both suited him. And it suddenly felt almost a little bit weird, knowing his name now. Admittedly, a little (lot) satisfying, but... he wasn't just the guy stuck in the elevator with her now. He was Kai. He was Jongin.
"You can call me either, but most people call me Kai." He said, with a shrug.
Leia nodded. And then softly, after hesitating a moment, she said "Leia... My name is Leia."
Kai's eyes lit up instantly and he grinned. "You mean like-"
"Yes, like the Star Wars character." She sighed, more than used to the reaction whenever somebody knew found out her name. "She's... I'm named after her. My dad is a huge fan." She felt her cheeks go pink as she said it, embarrassed.
"Oh my god, that's amazing." He said, and he sounded like he genuinely meant it. He paused, before saying "Please tell me you have a twin brother."
Leia rolled her eyes. "No." She sighed again. "I have an older sister, but she's called Charlie, after my grandma Charlotte. Lucky her got a normal name."
Kai shook his head. "Don't say that. Your name is great! It's so cool."
"It isn't." She shook her head.
"Oh, it is." Kai said, his tone assured.
"It isn't."
"It is."
"It isn't!"
Kai chuckled and held both hands up in a sign of a truce. "Let's agree to disagree," He paused, and his grin became a devilish (and annoyingly attractive) half smirk once more. "Skywalker."
Leia wanted to be annoyed at the nickname (it wasn't the first time somebody had said it to her, and it had annoyed her then - though a lot less than when people said 'how's Jabba?') but for some reason... She didn't actually mind it when Kai said it. In fact, she maybe kind of liked it.
"You know Leia's last name was Organa and not Skywalker, right?" Leia asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kai made a 'phsst' noise, waving away her words with his hand. "Technically, yeah. But she was a Skywalker by birth." He said. "And besides, Skywalker is a way cuter nickname than Organa."
Leia felt her heartbeat pick up a little. It is.
There was quiet between them for a only moment, when Kai sighed longingly.
"Wouldn't it be great if Jedi's actually existed? I would love a lightsaber."
Leia snorted. "I wish you did have one. Then maybe you could cut through the metal and get us out of here."
Kai laughed, and it was a sound of surprise and amusement. "Oh wow... Was that a joke, Skywalker?" He said. "Are you warming up to me?"
Leia snorted again, and tried to suppress her small smile. "You wish."
Kai grinned back, before he seemed to have some sort of realisation- and he half smirked and closed one eye, raising both hands up to the open one, cocking his fingers like a gun... or as Leia was about to find out, a laser blaster. "Maybe I'm not a Jedi... Maybe I'm Han Solo."
Leia opened her mouth to retort - but in all honesty she couldn't argue against that. She knew he was saying it as another flirty line, but... hey. It worked. He was a little Solo-esque. And maybe she was even a little Princess Leia-esque. And –
"You going to see the new one?" Kai asked, breaking her out of her thoughts once more.
"Huh?" she asked.
"The new one." Kai repeated, then paused, and added "Star Wars?"
"Oh." She said, then paused, and lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "Probably, yeah." she paused again, and chuckled. "My dad would be mad at me if I didn't. I watched all the old ones with him when I was little, and he took me to see Revenge Of The Sith when it came out."
It was Leia's turn to drift off into a memory, as Kai had before when he'd talked about his friends. She chuckled softly to herself, her voice slightly wistful. "We did my hair in the buns, of course. My dad had never done anybody's hair before, but he took his time, made sure he got them perfect. We didn't have anything close to Leia's outfit, so I just wore a white t-shirt, jeans and boots, and dad bought me this cheap silver blaster toy gun from the dollar store, but I loved it, and made all the laser noises all morning around the house. It drove my mom and sister crazy. I made the ticket guy laugh when I said 'I'm Leia!'. He thought I meant it cos I was dressed up, but I was like 'no, really, I'm Leia'. My dad told the guy that was my actual name, and he let me have my popcorn for free." Her lips pulled upwards in a nostalgic smile and she snorted softly, before Kai murmured 'whoa', and she blinked, suddenly realising she'd been rambling, and her cheeks heated up –
But when she looked over at him, his eyes were wide, and interested, and he was watching her like he'd genuinely been listening to her and enjoying it.
She looked away quickly, and went quiet.
Eventually, Kai said, as firmly as he'd told her she was better off here with him "Your name is the coolest. I love it."
"Thanks." She mumbled, self-consciously, her stomach getting that weird... butterflies feeling again.
Kai eyed her for a moment, and as she had before, a small smile tugged his lips up. Sure, this girl was neurotic and a bit snappy at times, but she seemed interesting, and kinda cool. As he'd said before – he could've been stuck with someone worse.
And, obviously, someone way less cute.
He reached up and ran a hand through his dark locks, before clearing his throat and brightly saying "So, I think we've covered the basics of terms of affection and respect, which as I said before, is huge in Korea." He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "So how about something a little more fun?"
Leia raised her own eyebrow back. "And by 'fun' you mean...?"
"Well, if you ever happen to find yourself stuck in an elevator with a hot Korean guy, I have a few pickup lines you could use..."
Leia groaned, and pressed her face into her hands – maybe a little to hide the smile she couldn't help, but mostly because there he goes again. "You're unbelievable."
Kai laughed. "Well, I gotta admit that that's the first time a girl has said that to me before we even-"
"Oh my god. Stop." Leia said, and pressed her hands more into her face, biting her lip as she felt her cheeks heat up. As if she needed that in her mind... "You just can't help yourself, can you? Honestly."
Kai eyed the girl for a moment, before his gaze, and smirk, softened, and he ran his hand through his hair once more – this time his fingers tightened a little and gripped his soft locks, before he chuckled a little. "Or, I mean, I could maybe teach you a few basic things, like 'hi my name is' instead?"
Leia was quiet for a little bit, and Kai felt his brow furrow a little, and he bit down on his bottom lip, and he began to worry he'd pushed it too far this time, he didn't mean to, and-
Leia's voice was small, but anticipative as she said "Okay."