Clash of Red and Raven: Midnight Talk

A/N: Darn, it's been quite a while! So many fics to read, and a few of mine to update. Lucky for me, this coming week's off, but I dunno where this piece came from. It was just bugging me. Now I haven't much experience with Jin/Hwo stuff, the least I can hope for is that this is original. Oh and it's set in the Alternate Life universe, when Jin and Co are in the final year of high school.

Interphase…prophase…metaphase… anaphase… telophase…

Jin Mishima repeatedly recited this holy mantra of Latin-derived words, growing wearier by the second as they continued to echo dully off the walls of his exhausted brain, eventually rendered into a meaningless mush of wasted effort. The desk before him was littered with flow charts and diagrams, which were interspersed with crinkled sheets of A4 paper that were packed to full capacity with hand-written notes, and the centerpiece of this wonderful portrait of studiousness happened to be the cumbersome, three-inch-thick Advanced Placement Biology textbook, the pride and joy of rookie weight lifters.

Advanced Placement tests, what with their results being crucial to getting accepted at prestigious universities, were every student's nightmare, but to Jin, attempting to churn out countless silly-sounding, tongue-tying syllables in an exam setting ,from memory, was akin to being placed in a ring and expected to fight using moves from a martial art which you had begun to learn just the day before: next to impossible with the given time frame. In any case, the ring was far more preferable, Jin thought wryly, because his stint as a martial artist was not nearly as important as his fledgling career in the field of medicine, and the latter was bound to go up in flames if-

Think positive, Jin chided himself, even as he attempted to absorb with his tired eyes the neat little diagrams that corresponded to the Latin mumbo-jumbo, and failed miserably, seeing nothing more than indistinct blurs. He sighed, clawing at his sticky eyelids, pushing his chair back with undue force, drawing level with his open window, and staring hopelessly out at the night-time scenery he was offered. He noticed how the shafts of moonlight filtering into his room were forming playful patterns against the smooth, polished wood of his floor, tantalizing him with the allure of the nocturnal outdoors. Again he sighed: Never had a midnight stroll in the garden seemed more inviting than then, on the eve of a career-making( or breaking, God forbid), exam. He gritted his teeth and turned back to his onerous task …temptation be damned…

And then-

"Hey, Mish-mash."

The slow, lazy yet familiar drawl violently clashed with his inner turmoil, making him jump. He whipped around.

"RANG?" he thundered, reeling with shock, and looking around wildly.

"The one and only," came the cheery reply. There was a rapid streak of red amidst the velvety midnight canopy, and the Korean youth materialized in the flesh, precariously perching himself on the window ledge, still as the night.

"What the-" Jin blinked away his surprise. " What on Earth are you doing up here? We're on the second floor! If you fall and break your neck-"

The red-head rolled his eyes, quickly settling himself into a more comfortable position, lounging insolently, yet gracefully, against the window frame, looking more street-wise and catlike than Jin had ever seen him before.

" As much as you might want that to happen to me, just so you won't have any more competition-" he grinned." It ain't about to happen." He was light-hearted, almost dementedly cheerful.

Jin squinted suspiciously at him. "I don't suppose you'd like to tell me what you've been smoking tonight, and more importantly, why you're performing silly acrobatics at my window?"

The Korean stiffened, grimacing." I come to give you moral support, " he gestured at Jin's cluttered desk, " and then you tell me I'm a stoner? Geez, Mish-mash, how cold!" he finished in a mock stung voice, reinforcing it with an eye roll, in case the other boy failed to detect the sarcasm.

Jin, for his part, shook his head and sighed. "What you are, my friend, is a distraction, rather than support." When this did not elicit a response from the red-head, he threw up his arms in exasperation." Then again, I don't suppose you actually know the difference, " he huffed, then stomped back to his desk and flung himself down on the chair, muttering darkly, intending to continue revising as though his Korean friend and self-proclaimed rival had not just appeared to him out of the blue, in what seemed like a pot-induced high.

Jin's discontented mutters did not escape Rang's keen ears. " You know, " he began pleasantly, "that last bit, about locking your window and bolting it to keep me out next time? It won't keep me out." He smirked. "See, picking locks, breaking in and the like were always cake to me. Care to remember that for future reference?"

Jin looked up at him, as though seeing him plainly for the first time. " I thought dope dealing was all you used to do, back in the day?"

Rang threw back his head and laughed mirthlessly. "Uh, newsflash, Mish-mash: That was all what I used to get caught doing."

Jin owed the Korean youth another headshake, this time one of wonder rather than irritation. " I should have known." He fell into silent contemplation, staring blankly at his textbook.

.

"Hey, is that Bio?" Rang suddenly blurted. Jin, with his back to the red-head, heard him sit up straighter.

"Yes," he replied uneasily, trying to guess at what his friend had in mind.

"Nice!" Rang declared, elongating the word in a way that was customary to his lilting drawl. Where he had learned to talk like that, Jin had little idea. " Hey, when you get to Chapter 15, tell me, okay? I happen to be an expert on that topic."

Jin flicked to the index to see whatever it was Rang was so enthused about. ""Chapter 15: The Reproductive System and the Human Reproductive Process."" He snorted, " Why am I not surprised? And to think Julia let you borrow her book, thinking you had a real interest in Bio." Keeping his amusement off his tone was a chore, but Jin was nevertheless gratified that the stiff glare with which he then countered the red-head's wolfish grin was genuine enough to make the latter look away in discomfort.

"I do try, Mish-mash, honest," Rang defended, with the same mock hurt voice he had used earlier. This time, he must have decided to give credit to Jin's powers of perception, because he left out the eye roll. His eyes soon narrowed. " I don't like your tone much, Mish-mash. It looks to me that you're about ready to start slitting your own wrists. C'mon, lighten up!" he paused, and Jin let his words sail right past his ears, considering them too absurd to deserve a well-articulated response.

Jin soon heard the other's fist slamming violently into the window ledge. " Dammit, Mish-mash!" he flared, frustrated. " Then how about we play a game, huh? Remember the Counter-Career Choice game we used to play with Steve back in the day, when we were supposed to be studying together ? And look at me, dammit!"

Jin, mesmerized by the forcefulness of the red-head's tone, felt his face involuntarily jerk up in the other's direction. The two boys' eyes met and locked together in an intense battle of wills, but Rang's vehement attitude won the day, and Jin gave in. "Right," he muttered. " We'll play it, for old times' sake, at least. I'll go first: " I want to be a doctor" " Jin solemnly intoned.

Rang smirked. "Honestly, d'you always have to start it off like that? My answer's never changed: "I want to be the kind of lawyer that gets to sue the doctor". " He nodded at Jin. "Your turn. And be more original, damn it!"

Jin ran some rather unorthodox options through his mind. " An actor."

It did not take long for Rang to deliberate. " Then I'll be the movie critic who gets to Rotten Tomato your ass into forced early retirement."

Jin rolled his eyes. "Good for you. An astronaut, then."

Rang's eyes gleamed with premature triumph. " Then I'll be a space pirate and capture your ship!"

"You're adamant, " Jin remarked. " I feel twelve all over again. Hmm… I guess I should be a powerful businessman then, unrivalled, with deep, deep pockets."

Rang smirked, " And you think that will save you when I become the Credit Crunch because…?"

Jin frowned. " How can you become a credit crunch? It's not like that's a career path."

"I can be anything I want, as long as I get to take you down, dumbass!" Rang scoffed.

Jin could not help but smile at the Korean's fierce competitiveness and tenacity. He threw up his hands in mock defeat. " You got me then. As always."

"As always, " Rang echoed, looking smug.

Still smiling, Jin swiveled back to face his work, attacking it with renewed vigour; he felt strangely uplifted. Sensing Rang's eyes on his back, he began conversationally, " So then, what were you up to, before coming here?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just hanging out at Ling's. " The nonchalance with which he said it set off alarming bells in Jin's head.

"And?" he pressed.

" Got her so pissed off, her grandpa basically threw me out of the house."

Jin sighed. "Whatever did you say to her?" he stole a glance at the Korean and noted the wicked gleam in his eyes.

""What do you get when you cross a vampire and a fairy?"" It came out in an annoying sing-song voice that was emphasized a hundred times over by the Korean's infamous drawl.

"Ha-ha, " Jin's syllables were hollow, frosty, as he knowingly anticipated the next thing that would come out of Rang's mouth.

""A Cullen!"" Rang hooted gleefully.

Jin put his pen down and turned to face his friend. "Must you always tease her about her favourite fictional character?" His tone was heavily laced with disapproval.

" That's the whole point!" Rang emphatically enthused, oblivious to Jin's tone. "She's so damn obsessed with what somebody wrote in a steaming pile of crap of a book, she reacts like I'm insulting her precious pandas or unicorns or something! That's why it's so damn funny!"

Jin shoved his face behind a diagram of the human skeletal system, figuring that if all Rang was doing was insulting a character from a book, there was nothing unconstitutional about it. He suddenly looked up at Rang. "Did you do something else?"

"Um, yeah, " the Korean replied, slightly unnerved at Jin's perception. " There were a couple of WTF scenes in the last book of that gay-ass series, and she kept bringing up how gory and 'gross' they were, so I thought, what the hell, and I chased her around the house, reading out those parts to her. Best Ling-torture ever!"

Jin gave him a smouldering look. "Careful, Rang, you're on thin ice." He dropped his gaze." Then again, some of those scenes were so full of medical misconceptions, they actually put all the medical ignorance of the Middle Ages to shame. I'd feel tortured too, if I were Xiao.

Rang stared at him, trying to process his answer." Damn it, Mish-Mash! Stop giving me all these half-assed, nerdy comebacks whenever I say something cool! It spoils the moment. Seriously, are you, like, channeling Julia or something?"

Jin actually found himself smirking at that, and not wanting the red-head to miss this strange reaction on his part, he turned towards him. "My, how touchy! But tell me, then, if you don't like my responses, why do you always keep coming back for more?"

Rang's own reaction to the question was unexpected: At first, his face was the picture of earnest surprise, and his facial muscles began to contort, signaling that he was about to give an angry response, but then his features suddenly mellowed and the trademark smirk reclaimed its rightful place on his face.

"You know, I was gonna flip out on you and give you a piece of my mind, but then the answer came to me. See, while I was at Ling's, I went through her stuff, looking for her English paper, "On Perfection", cuz I was clueless about what to write in mine, and I hoped for a coupla ideas. I had a good kick out of it when I found it." His smirk broadened. " Her piece was on you, Mish-mash. And there was this one line that jumped right into my head when you said what you just said: " He's resilient in the face of negativity, just like the bamboo plant is resilient to the whimsical wind; it just rolls right off his back." He said that part in a high-pitched, breathless voice, and then pulled a face. " Damn, that came out mushier than mushroom soup!" He ran a hand through his flaming hair, looking flustered. " I guess if you translate that from the Loony Ling Language, it basically means that whenever I say something meant to piss you off, instead of exploding on me like a PMS-sy girl, you come up with a lame comeback that takes the fun out of it all. Breaking you is a challenge, Mish-mash." His grimace of distaste suddenly devolved into a serene smile." And you know Itotally dig a challenge." Jin detected a flicker of some unknown emotion behind the Korean's eyes. " And that's why I keep coming back for more."

A chorus of wow's was now running through Jin's mind, instead of the desired Latin magic . He concealed his wonder at the red-head's seldom-seen earnestness behind a mask of disapproval. "You didn't taunt Xiao about what you read, did you? She could report you for cheating and then they'd give you an F on your own paper."

Rang made an annoyed tsk sound and rolled his eyes." I don't need you to tell me that. Honestly, Mish-mash, I do think that far along myself."

Jin felt himself relax. " Yeah, I noticed. Because I no longer hear a loud echo whenever I hit you on the head during our sparring matches." Before Rang could gather his wits for a scathing response, he added. " Oh, well, at least Xiao's comparing me to something more corporeal this time. I'm glad."

"I know, right?" Rang laughed appreciatively, thankful Jin was not the type to really enjoy gloating. " It's not Edward freaking Cullen all over again."

As the amusement began to leak out of the situation, Jin once again pulled at a different topic. " You hear from Steve, lately?"

" Don't even get me started on him!" Rang snarled. " He's sitting exams too, because apparently, the only thing that Hot Mom and Hot Aunt are agreed on is that he should go to Oxford. So he's under a 24/7 study-scheme. And they take turns babysitting him. And keeping me away from him when I come around to visit. It's either Hot Aunt and her cookies , milkshakes, and ice-creams, or Hot Mom and her gun collection. And Hot Mom is pretty freaky, 'specially when she points her Berretta at you and hints that she'd be filling the front yard with land mines the next time around. So I stopped going. I mean, seriously, I can now write a paper about Irish desserts and Irish weapons, so why bother?"

Jin smirked towards the end of Rang's extra colourful narrative. " That bad, huh? A Berretta isn't an Irish gun, though. It's Italian, and if I remember correctly, it went out of production in 1967, so I guess it does make for a good collector's item."

Rang gaped at him. "Shit, Mish-mash, why the hell would you even want to know that?"

It was Jin's turn to roll his eyes. "I don't. But I did pay attention to one of the workshops Officer Lei organized, and this little piece of info accidentally lodged itself in my head. But too bad about Steve, right?"

"He's a freaking prisoner, " Rang agreed slowly, still staring uneasily at Jin. " We should seriously break him out. Somebody call Michael Scofield." He meant that last part as a joke but his expression hardened. "On second thought, why bother calling him? We got you. You'll figure something out. You always do. So much, it pisses me off; I mean, is there even anything you can't take care of, with all that crap you know?"

Jin detected the grudging awe with which the Korean's voice was liberally laced. He sighed. " I don't really know what the issue here is, Rang, but I'll have you know that I'm a product of my upbringing, and not a masterpiece of divine creation." His eyes narrowed. " Wait, does that sound blasphemous?"

"Dude, I don't even know what that B-word means!" Rang growled.

Jin turned to look at him. " That was a rhetorical question, Rang, " he said pointedly. " I guess what I'm trying to say is, " he went on with a sigh. " I owe the way I think and act to my parents, especially my father. When he was growing up, there were some… circumstances," he spat the word like it was an abomination, " that made him miss out on a lot of good things, like friendships, and even a complete education. That's why I was always encouraged to learn, and to go to any lengths to help you guys out. You could say Dad was living the life he should have through me. He eventually got his PhD when I was five. I remember how Asuka and I used to crawl around in his study, playing with our toy cars, while he'd sit at his desk, reading and watching over us."

"Eh? So your old man does have a heart after all," Rang drawled, amused. Jin meant to award him a scathing look, but he noticed that the red-head had his face turned up towards the ceiling, his eyes distant. Was he toying with the image of a toddler, toy truck-pushing Jin in his mind? If so, then he must have liked it, Jin decided, because soon, a reluctant smile broke across his face. " Much more of a heart than Baek does, in any case."

Jin blinked. "How come?" he inquired curiously.

"Because," Rang began, the light-hearted touch once again restored to his voice. " The only time Baek did not want me to get lost from his study was when had me hand-cuffed to his desk, writing , "I will not kick a basketball around the house" fifty times.

Jin found himself chuckling at that. " You used to kick a basketball? I was already learning how to do lay-ups when I was five!"

A muscle twitched in Rang's jaw as he stared, ashen-faced, at Jin.

"That was a joke, Rang, " Jin assured him, still laughing.

"Heh, you almost had me going there for a second, " Rang conceded with an unsteady smirk.

"Well, look at the bright side," Jin announced." If you hadn't been kicking the ball, then Baek wouldn't have realized he had a potential Tae Kwon Do prodigy on his hands."

The praise took the Korean boy off-guard, and a dull flush crept up his face. " True, that," he affirmed with a smile that Jin rather thought was reserved for his fans and hangers-on. To quash the awkward moment, the red-head looked up at the star-studded night sky and began, " So…."

"So…." Jin echoed, his mind fervently seeking the next topic of conversation, but grasping only at empty shells.

They lapsed into their first real silence. Rang was still distracted by whatever it was he saw outside, and Jin could not help but stare, transfixed, at the aesthetic figure his friend's inert form cut, elegantly framed as he was against the backdrop of midnight blue, which contrasted finely with the red of his hair and attire, and the paleness of his flesh, flattering them all. He then took in the easiness with which the Korean lounged, two stories above the ground. His back resting against the window frame, he had one leg bent at the knee in front of him, his right arm balanced across it, while his other leg dangled out of sight, and his left hand rested lazily in his lap. Jin's eyes traveled to what he could see of the red-head's face, generously illuminated as it was by the slivers of moonlight dancing playfully on his refined features, throwing them into relief: the contented, slightly lopsided grin, which was the hybrid offspring of his perpetual smirk and its rival sneer, and the serene eyes that reflected the light of the stars. Jin's hand strayed longingly to the bottom-most drawer of his desk, where he kept his drawing kit and watercolours in a rosewood box, meaning to capture with the powerful and reliable strokes of his brush what his eyes could not stray from.

And he knew then, with an awful air of certainty, that he was in as much awe of the red-head as the latter was of him, and judging by his racing pulse and the queer tingle of excitement that had suddenly beset him, it was not the healthy kind of awe either.

And he badly wanted Rang out of the picture for it.

"You should get going now," he was struck by the huskiness of his voice." If my Dad comes in to check on me-"

" I hear ya, " Rang cut him off cheerfully. He shifted his position, stretching and yawning, then abruptly dropped out of sight. " See ya, Mish-mash," came his departing voice, then he was gone for good.

Jin sat there for a moment, waiting for his heart to slow, then he turned to confront his textbook and diagrams, thinking, maybe…just maybe…

Maybe midnight talks with friends did help after all.

Because the grey matter of a certain exhausted brain was back to being the damp sponge it used to be, absorbing every drop of knowledge in its path.

.