Chapter Text
Y/N enjoyed his evening walks home after work. The streets of Seoul were never truly empty, but it was certainly calmer in the evenings compared to midday. Especially on days where he elected to take the long way home, Y/N found that it was easier to take in his surroundings and wind down during the evening.
It was bordering on winter, and Y/N had never dealt well with the cold anyway, so he wore quite a few layers. He wore a thick sweater over a long-sleeve shirt over a thick tee, with another duster overtop all of that. He had on a beanie, a thick scarf, and a cloth face mask on as well. He felt sort-of like an awkward, swaddled toddler fumbling down the street, but it was better than turning blue.
He meandered down the backstreets of Seoul. It had been a bit of a lighter day at work, so he was in a nice enough mood to slow his steps and simply enjoy his walk. He liked people watching in particular, so his eyes were always scanning the horizon and taking note of the people he saw.
A group of giggling teens passed by him, and his eyes trailed after them. One of the girls lightly shoved at her friend and they all broke out into a fit of laughter, earning side-eyes from the older folk around them, and a small, hidden smile from Y/N. It’s always nice to see other people having a good time, he thought to himself. He felt his spirits buoyed even more and watched the group enter a coffee shop along the street.
He tilted his head and ran his monthly budget through his head. A warm drink didn’t sound too bad, actually.
He headed into the shop himself. The line wasn’t all that long, which was nice, so he settled himself in. Soon enough, he stood outside once more with a steaming hot mocha in his hands. He cradled it and let the heat seep into his fingers. It hadn’t been as expensive as he thought, either – and it came in decaf! Another smile found its way onto his face, hidden behind his mask, and he started walking down the street once more, with more of a spring in his step.
It was such a nice evening. He hadn’t had one of those in a while. Work and university both had been seriously stressing him out lately. It was… a pleasant surprise to have such an easy day.
He should’ve known something would interrupt his otherwise perfect day.
Y/N had been zoned out in his own little happy bubble when it was suddenly popped by a shriek ringing out through the air.
“JISUNG-AH!”
The girl’s scream was quickly followed by more girls screaming. Y/N inhaled sharply and took a step back to the nearest building, pressing himself slightly against the wall. It gave him a full view of the street, so he could see how a crowd was beginning to form a little ways down. He could spot phones waving about and people pushing at each other. He gave a quick glance to the other folks on the street, but they seemed more annoyed than worried.
“JISUNG-AH! JISUNG-AH!”
“HAN-A~H!”
“OVER HERE, HEY, HAN JISUNG!”
Through gaps in the slowly-growing throng of bodies, Y/N could make out a single person that stood out. The person had slightly small stature and head-to-toe black clothes. They seemed to be trying to navigate the crown without bumping into anyone, keeping their head down and flinching every time one of the girls pushed her way towards him.
It took Y/N an embarrassingly long moment to realize, ah, that was probably an idol. He felt stupid as soon as it hit him. It wasn’t even the first time he saw an idol in the street or even get mobbed, but it always took him a second to recognize that that’s what was going on.
He bit his lip. He glanced around with a sharper eye. The few times he’s seen idols out and about, they always had a manager or something with them – surely, one had to be around to him this one out, right?
And yet, the only people emerging from the streets were more fans hurrying to ogle their star.
He tapped his foot and looked around some more. He ran a hand through his hair. He looked from the growing crowd to the coffee in his hand. He had barely taken a single sip yet.
“JISUNG-AH, JISUNG-AH, I LOVE YOU!”
Y/N saw one of the fans grab at the idol’s hood and yank it down. Somehow, the crowd got even louder – he cursed to himself and quickly set his coffee down on a bench. He marched towards the quite-frankly terrifying gaggle of overzealous fans and shrugged off his overcoat as he did. With as small a frame as he had, it wasn’t too difficult to duck and swerve around the moving mass of bodies to get to the precious bundle in the center.
Up close, it was plain to see just how badly this sudden mobbing was affecting the idol – they had their hands over their ears and were hunched over, wide eyes roving wildly looking for an escape. Briefly, their eyes met. Y/N held out his duster as he fought to approach the man. Maybe it was his overall unthreatening demeanor or the fact that Y/N was the only one there not shoving a phone in the poor man’s face, but either way, when Y/N reached him and threw his coat over his shoulders, the idol didn’t fight him. If anything, the idol stepped closer to him. He took the chance to put his arm over the man’s shoulders protectively and leaned in closer.
“Hey, it’s gonna be okay. I’m gonna get you out of here,” he reassured, though even he could feel his voice shake – the surrounding fans were audibly upset at his arrival. “Keep your hands over your ears, okay?”
The idol didn’t nod or say anything in response. He could’ve been too shaken too, or maybe he just couldn’t hear Y/N clearly. Y/N didn’t wait to make sure he was understood, though, as he shoved his hand in his pocket and closed his fingers around an old relic he took from America. The idol blinked rapidly at him as he took out his old safety whistle, pulled down his face mask, and blew into it as hard as he could.
Immediately, the adoring cacophony around them was replaced by yelps of pain and yells of indignation. Beneath his arm, the idol flinched hard at the sound – Y/N himself winced heavily. He didn’t spare a second though once he saw a gap in the crowd formed by people trying to escape the sound and pushed at the idol. It took a few light shoves before the man caught on, and then they were both booking it through the crowd and down the street. A couple shouts rang out behind them as they escaped, but Y/N figured that unless they were true sasaengs, then the two of them would be left alone for now.
Just to be safe, Y/N led his charge along multiple turns and through a multitude of alleyway short-cuts, doubling back and circling around a few times. If he could brag about anything, it would be his ability to lose pursuers.
Eventually, they came across a mostly empty lane of shops closed for the day. They had been moving for long enough that, were the skyline visible, the sun would only just barely be peeking out from the ground. They stopped in front of one of the closed shops – a clothes boutique by the looks of it, though nothing that Y/N would buy for himself. Y/N let go of the idol and took a good step away from him, giving the man space to breathe. The idol lowered himself to the ground and wrapped his arms around his legs. Y/N could hear his heaving breaths even from where he stood.
Y/N deliberated for a moment before crouching down as well, though he didn’t make any moves closer to him. The idol’s breathing was rapid and uneven. Was it from the running, or was it panic? Y/N bit his lip.
“Hey, do you – um,” he said awkwardly, “do you need me to, like, count? For you to match your breaths?”
The idol didn’t respond. For a second, Y/N thought he would have to repeat himself, or just start counting anyway, but then the man gave a jerky shake of his head.
“Oh. Okay, um…” Y/N’s eyes roamed their surroundings for a brief moment, thankful that this area seemed to be deserted, even if he could still hear life on the streets beyond. “Do you want me to – call someone?“
“Just – just give me a second,” the idol finally said, his voice scratchy and tense. Y/N relaxed a fraction. If he was good enough to talk, then that was a relief.
Y/N stood back up and rubbed his thighs. Running down the streets like that had been the most exercise he’d had in a while. He was definitely waking up sore tomorrow. Ah, was this a sign that he should start working out again...? He didn’t really have time for that…
He idly rocked on the balls of his feet, deliberately looking away from the idol to give the man some privacy. It was a rather pretty street they were on, all things considered. He didn’t really recognize it, though. The realization made his brows furrow a little. He’d have to use a navigator app to get home, then. Hopefully, it wasn’t too far off his normal route.
A scuff made him look back towards the idol. It appeared that the man had been able to put himself back together, for the most part, as he got up from the ground. Y/N’s coat looked oddly big on him despite the fact that, now standing straight, the man was definitely a bit taller. Y/N was definitely broader, though. The idol’s hands held onto the hem of the coat over his shoulders a little awkwardly.
It was cute, Y/N decided.
“Are you okay?” He asked, instead of voicing that thought. In fact, the mentally took a broom and batted the thought away, never to show its face again.
The idol nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. That was, uh – I should really be more used to that, so, uh… Sorry.” He looked down at his shoes. “And, um, thank you. Really, I mean it.”
Y/N was waving him off before he even finished. “No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about.”
“It’s not nothing,” the idol insisted, “you seriously could’ve gotten hurt doing something like that.”
True enough, Y/N thought, but persisted nonetheless. “They were already hurting my ears, so I was doing myself a favor more than anything.” He shrugged. “I can deal with a sprained wrist, but not with damaged hearing, y’know?”
That made the idol snort. Y/N mentally gave himself a fist bump. “Understandable, honestly.”
His temporary charge seemed to be doing alright now. That was good. Y/N tried not to worry about things as a general rule, but knew he would’ve been up fretting all night if he’d witnessed a mobbing genuinely hurt someone. Tension released from his body he hadn’t even realized he was keeping.
“I’m L/N Y/N, by the way,” he said. The idol gave him a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it once-over that definitely didn’t make anything in him squirm and nodded.
“I’m Stray Kids Han,” he said, “but you probably knew that already, huh?”
Y/N blinked, face suddenly heating up a bit. “Oh, um, well –“ This was going to sound so rude! “ – see, I could tell you were an idol, but I’m not… really into the k-pop scene, you know? So, I kind of… don’t… know who you are, actually…”
The idol – Han – stared at him. Y/N quickly fumbled to put his face mask back on to hide whatever embarrassing expression he was making. Why would you tell him you’ve never heard of him directly to his face?! he screamed to himself. He berated himself over and over. But then,
“Ah. That’s fine, I totally get it.” Han said, sounding not at all offended. If anything, he looked somewhat pleased, though it was a little hard to tell behind the mask he himself wore. He brought his arms down to his sides and bowed. “I’m Han Jisung. It’s very nice to meet you.”
Y/N was startled for a second before hurriedly bowing back. “Yeah, uh – nice to meet you, too. Circumstances aside, I guess.”
Han snorted again. As he straightened up, the coat over his shoulder started to slide and fall. He fumbled for a moment to catch it before gasping and thrusting it towards Y/N. “Oh, right – here! Your coat.”
Y/N reached for it, but then Han seemed to get an idea. He stepped closer and, in a mirror of their earlier meeting, draped the coat over Y/N’s shoulders. He then leaned back and pulled down his mask, showing off his smile.
This was, of course, the most sensual thing anyone had ever done for Y/N in his entire life. Naturally, he felt himself go red as a tomato. He ducked his head and took a step back, struggling to now put his arms through the sleeves of his duster. By the time he glanced back up, Han had placed his mask back up, but was looking at him with very obvious amusement. It just made Y/N go even hotter.
“…Thanks,” he mumbled.
“Don’t mention it,” Han said. He turned his head and looked off down the street. He suddenly looked really thoughtful. “Listen, is there any way I could pay you back for what you did earlier?”
“Huh?”
“You know what I mean,” he said. “I owe you for that.”
Y/N quickly shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine –“
“No, just -” Han insisted. He cut himself off with a sharp sigh and looked back at Y/N, looking almost angry. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and regarded Y/N with a serious expression. “Look, they all had their phones out taking pictures and videos, yeah? There’s no way they didn’t catch you in any of them. You’re all covered up, but that doesn’t mean it would be impossible for people to figure out who you are if any of them leaks their photos to, like… Dispatch, or something.”
Y/N froze. A chill ran up his spine that had nothing to do with the oncoming night. Han saw the alarm in his eyes and nodded.
“I don’t know if any of them will upload that stuff, or if anything would really come out of it anyway – but there is a chance. And I’d feel really, really bad if something like that happened to you and you didn’t, like, even get anything out of it.” He tilted his head to the side. “So, what do you want? Tickets, something exclusive signed – just, I don’t know, money? I can talk to my managers. I promise they’ll be as thankful for today as I am, they’ll have no issue –“
“Can’t you just –” Y/N shut his mouth with a clack. Han looked at him. Y/N swallowed past the dryness in his mouth and tried again. “Can’t… can’t your managers just – keep Dispatch from releasing any photos with me in it…?”
The look Han gave him was sympathetic, bordering on pitiful. “If we could just stop outlets from posting stuff like this, then our jobs as idols would be a lot easier,” he said, not unkindly.
Y/N cursed himself out internally. How could you forget something as vital as that? He thought, over and over and over. He balled his hands into fists and crossed his arms to hide how they shook. It felt like there was something heavy and hot sitting right on top of his chest. How could you forget about something like the press?
“Y/N-ah? Are you okay?”
He took in a shuddering breath and closed his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m –“ He gulped, “I’m not really sure about the whole, um, paying me back thing. I’d rather you just – not owe me at all, actually. It’s fine. All fine.”
“I really have to insist.”
“Don’t. I said it’s fine.”
“Y/N-ah,” Han said, displeasure in his voice, “Could I at least – I don’t know, have a good number or e-mail from you? I’ll give it to one of my managers. If something winds up happening, we can get in touch with you then – if not, then don’t worry about it. How about that?”
Y/N worked his jaw. He had half a mind to skip town. Alas, he knew that was just the anxiety talking, so, after a moment, gave a reluctant nod. He held out his hand.
Nothing happened for a second, so he opened his eyes. He raised an eyebrow at Han’s befuddled face. “Your phone, please?”
Han looked from his face, down to his open hand, and then back up to him. He blinked.
Y/N reiterated, “I don’t have anything to write with, and I doubt you do either, so I’ll have to put my number in directly into your cell.”
Han gasped lightly. “Oh! Yeah, you’re right!” He proceeded to pat down all his pockets before producing and presenting his phone.
Never in Y/N’s twenty-three years of living did he ever imagine himself standing on an abandoned street in the Seoul nighttime, putting his phone number into an idol’s cellphone. He couldn’t even say it was the craziest thing to have happened to him. Just what has his life turned into?
He wavered for a moment on what to save his name as before deciding on inputting it as ‘L/N From The Street’. It wasn’t too familiar, right? That was fine. This was fine.
He handed the phone back and said nothing at Han’s quirked eyebrow, having clearly read the contact. Han huffed what was probably a laugh and put his phone back away. “I’ll be in touch with you, yeah?”
Hopefully not, Y/N thought. “Sure, I guess,” he said. “I’ve gotta be getting home, though. Are you okay walking – uh, wherever you’re going by yourself?”
“Hey, despite what recent events may have lead you to believe, I am more than capable of walking down the street unsupervised.”
“If you say so.”
“I do!” Han nodded resolutely, and then nodded again in a more respectful manner. “You get home safe too, alright?”
Y/N hummed and nodded back. They said their farewells to each other. Y/N slowly headed down the street in the opposite direction that Han Jisung went. It was only when he was sure that the idol was out of sight that he stopped and leaned against one of the buildings. He put a hand over his mouth and focused on just breathing. He hadn’t had to worry about a tabloid for years, and for something like this to suddenly get sprung on him so suddenly –
“Shit,” he whispered to himself. Tears burned in the corners of his eyes that he quickly wiped away. He should wait until he was home at least to have a nervous breakdown over this.
He took a deep breath to pull himself together and took out his phone. He opened up his navigation app – long unused until now – and sighed as he scrolled through the long route ahead of him to get back to his apartment. His breath puffed out in a small cloud as he sighed, the cold of the season really seeping into the air.
It was at that moment that he realized he had completely forgotten about his coffee.
“Shit.”