Chapter 15: It's Nice to Have A Friend
Welcome back to another monthly installment of 'Starburst'. I can't believe it's April already but this chapter (and the next chapter) are based on Weightless's chapter 7 (one of my favorite chapters for many reasons). Get ready for friendship fluff and mild dose of angst (and also mentions of food)
Disclaimer: I do not own 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' or Ten from "Weightless". Ten and Jeonghan belong to my friend @zealous_light. I only own my original characters. Enjoy the chapter.
After the disastrous event that is known as "Senior Year Homecoming Dance", all Ten wanted to do was just spend the entire weekend at home and do nothing.
…Unfortunately, he forgot that his friends are all extroverts who care about him a bit too much.
His phone starts ringing and he picks up.
"Open up, I'm here with Hansol and Shua!" Jeonghan called out. His voice booming from both the phone. The three friends were standing outside the living room window of which Ten had been sitting next to.
Note to self: close the curtains next time you're home alone. Ten reminded himself.
"What brings you by today?" Tens sighed, opening the door for his friends to enter.
"Kimbap," Jeonghan held up a container of food, "made fresh this morning."
Right now, he's reminding Ten of the Evil Queen from Snow White trying to charm his way into the 7 Dwarves cottage with the poison apple.
Hhm yes, food, the fastest way to bribe your way into Ten's life.
"Will EJ join us?" Jeonghan looked around. Usually EJ would be around Ten's place to play with his pet cats.
"He's with his water polo team. It's one of the team member's birthday." Ten informed them.
"Did he get his car back?" Jeonghan asked. He remembered driving EJ, Ten and Cress back from the dance last night so EJ must've left his car there at school.
"He went on a morning jog to school to collect his car, so he won't be back until the evening." Ten replied.
"That's a shame, we packed more tuna kimbap for him." Joshua shook his head.
"We can keep some for him later," Ten waved it off.
A few minutes later, they heard rhythmic knocking outside.
"Could that be him?" Vernon wondered.
"Door's unlocked, Cress." Ten called back from the coffee table.
"How'd you know it's her?" Jeonghan raised an eyebrow.
"That's her secret door knock." Ten explained. She came up with an elaborate one and showed it to Ten and EJ when they were 13.
"Open up, Tenny. I know where you live!" the door started knocking loudly.
"And that." Ten nodded his head at her voice.
"Good morning, the platonic love of my life!" Cress declared, barging into Ten's house with a container under her left arm. She took off her shoes by the door and walked in.
Jeonghan greeted her by flailing his hands and waving at her like he was a balloon at those car dealerships.
"Cressie! Did you do something new with your hair?" Jeonghan exclaimed, as Cress preened at his compliments.
"They're the same as last night." Ten deadpanned.
"Nonsense, it's clearly a shade lighter today." Jeonghan waved a hand dismissively at Ten.
"Don't let your fanclub hear you say that." Joshua teased. Jeonghan is quite popular at Lakeshore Academy that he's garnered quite a number of admirers.
"Cress knows that I adore her, a lady deserves to be appreciated after all." Jeonghan tut's Ten with a mildly disapproving tone.
"And yet you ran off the moment you broke the window when we were 15 and blamed it on your sister Jisoo." Joshua deadpanned by the sidelines.
"There's a difference between treating your soulmate and your sister." Jeonghan refuted in a playful manner.
"Vernon, Joshua, pleasure to see you both again," Cress smiled over at the other two mutuals.
"I made white chocolate filo tarts, Galaktoboureko (Greek Custard Pie), and lemon baked potatoes!" Cress grinned, holding up a bag full of baked goods. "Also don't worry I switched out the ingredients and got rid of the nuts and milk."
"Thanks, I appreciate that." Vernon nodded his head.
"You can borrow the oven if you'd like." Ten noticed the tray of marinated potatoes.
"Ah, a woman after my own heart," Jeonghan dramatically placed a hand over his heart.
"You stress-baked again, didn't you?" Ten sighed softly, noting the amount of baked goods Cress had brought over.
"Can you blame me? We had a long and difficult night." Cress exclaimed. "I'd be drinking if only Desmond hadn't locked up the liquor cabinet!"
After laying out the food on the coffee table, and setting up the board games on the floor. Ten and his friends started to catch up.
"I just put the baked potatoes in the oven, it should be done in an hour's time." Cress set up a reminder on her phone alarm. She looked up and stared in amazement at the variety of food on the table, Ten's already had Thai food his mom made, and Joshua made kimbaps. "Woah, look at the feast!"
"So what game did you bring over?" Ten looked over his shoulder.
"I brought Dixit this time." Joshua took out a board game from his bag.
"Ooh I love this game!" Cress cheered, taking a seat between Ten and Jeonghan.
"Never played this game before, but it sounds like fun!" Ten nodded his head approvingly.
Joshua spent a few minutes explaining the rules of the game before he started distributing the game pieces and cards.
"So you never followed up from last night. I was worried about you." Jeonghan began, while looking at his distributed card.
Ah, so that's the true reason why they showed up for a visit.
"Sorry about that, it was weird." Ten shook his head, he didn't want to dig up painful memories.
"Jeonghan said you sounded off and that you came back home early from Homecoming," Vernon said slowly, casting a glance at Joshua, "Surely something happened."
"Look, it was nothing, ok? I just felt tired at the dance and wanted to go back early." Ten lied with a flat voice.
"Really?" Vernon raised his eyebrow, didn't seem entirely convinced by his story.
"Don't think you can hide your feelings from us, Ten. You know we can see right through you." Jeonghan spoke.
Ten sighed at his friends' remark. Despite being capable of hiding his emotions, his friends could always see past his facade.
"Am I really such an open book?" He mused out loud.
"Yes." Vernon piped up from his seat on the sofa, before he took a bite of some of the baked pastries Cress had brought. "But that could be just us."
His immediate and closer friends (like the Lakeshore Trio, EJ and Cress) are the few who had the chance to see what Ten is like beyond his Ice Prince Facade he puts on at school.
A few seconds later, he was ready to talk.
"Do you think I try to protect EJ so much because he's the only person I hang up with?" Ten asked out loud.
"EJ? You've been friends for so long, it'd be unusual if you didn't care about him." Joshua started shuffling the cards before distributing the game pieces to the 5 teens on the smooth table, "Why?"
"Rodent shit happened, that's why!" Cress snarled in displeasure. She's in that bad of a mood that she's swearing out loud unfiltered.
"Cress, don't swear in front of the children!" Joshua exclaimed, covering Vernon's ears. Vernon didn't really seem bothered or annoyed by the little antics, he was technically younger than the rest of his friends by a few months. The only one younger than him in their dance group is Dino.
Jeonghan can't help but snort in amusement at her unhinged and unfiltered behavior.
"Rodent?" Vernon and Joshua raised their eyebrows in confusion.
"She meant Ricky Bowen." Jeonghan nodded his head understandingly, seemingly able to decipher Cress.
"The guy who came in at the last minute and still somehow got the role of Troy?" Joshua raised his eyebrows.
"Also the same guy who's EJ's latest ex's ex." Cress nodded in confirmation. "The sucker sung Nini's love song as a pathetic attempt at a Take Me Back song."
"How desperate!" Vernon crossed his arms in dismay.
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Jeonghan shook his head.
Ten decided to recount what happened at the dance, but Cress occasionally intervened to give her two cents about the matter.
"Ricky called me out during Homecoming and said that I didn't have anyone else besides EJ, which is why I stand up for him regardless of what he does." Ten ended his story.
"He basically called Tenny here a spineless coward in front of the Theater Club and a few of the student body." Cress interjected, being blunt at rephrasing Ten's statement. Ten has a way of saying things delicately, while Cress is blunter than a knife.
Welp, leave it to Cress to rip the bandaid off.
His friends all looked at each other as they processed the feelings, all of them looking concerned and rightfully upset on his behalf.
"Ok it's official, us Lakeshore Ducklings do not like Ricky Bowen at all." Joshua declared, looking upset.
"Ok here's what I'm thinking, we go to his house in the middle of the night and egg his place…" Jeonghan declared.
"Good idea, I have some prank supplies I got on Christmas I've been dying to use." Cress nodded. "I know where the sucker lives!"
"No, no egging or vandalizing anyone's house! We do not need to stoop that low!" Ten exclaimed.
"But it's for a good cause!" Cress whined.
"She's making really valid points, nobody messes with our friend and gets away with it!" Jeonghan nodded.
"Oh Ten," Joshua sighed, wrapping his arms around Ten for a comforting hug.
"I know that's what they think of me," Ten threw a rubber ball against the ground and let it bounce back into his palm to calm his nerves, "I just didn't imagine it'd hurt so much having it said to my face."
To most of the school, he's just 'EJ's Best Friend', the 'Ice Prince', and 'that guy who looks like a Kpop star'. But why should that even be the only thing they see of him?
"He's wrong, he doesn't even know you or EJ or us." Cress shook her head, her curls moving wildly.
"But he said–" Ten slurred out, before Cress promptly placed a hand over his mouth.
"F_ck his opinion!" Cress declared with a serene smile.
"Again, no swearing in front of the baby." Joshua gestured to Vernon, the latter had a 'Seriously?' facial expression.
"Does EJ know of this?" Vernon asked.
"Oh wow, this pie is good!" Ten shifted his focus on Cress's pastries, deliberately ignoring their question.
"You do know you have to tell him, right?" Vernon stated.
"Ten, answer his question." Joshua raised an eyebrow at Ten's direction.
"I was hoping it'd disappear if I didn't talk about it." Ten looked away.
"Tenny, you do realize that if you're not telling Eej what happened, I will do it myself right? We know Eej already hates Ricky in general, he'd be mad if he found out what the Rodent said to you." Cress raised her eyebrow at him.
"You've been there for him all the while, he should be there for you too." Vernon pointed out.
"It's not like he isn't, right?" Joshua's voice is soothing and calm, "but he deserves to know."
"I just want it to go away." Ten hugged his knees close to his chest. "I just don't want EJ to worry."
"Running away from your problems doesn't solve them. I should know, I run away from my exes all the time." Cress commented, looking at her nails.
"You two are neighbors and best friends, it's been that way for many years." Joshua pointed out, his tone is concerned, "Tell him, ok?"
"Don't take his words to heart, you know it's not true." Vernon hugged Ten, patting his shoulder reassuringly.
"Should I though? Seeing how I'm with EJ all the time, maybe I'm just doing it without knowing..." Ten was voicing his self-doubts.
"Don't be silly, Ten. You're friends with EJ because you two get each other. Just like how we all get along." Joshua playfully threw a cushion at Ten.
"He's right! Ten, you are the kindest and most genuine person I'd ever met, you're the moral compass in our dynamic circle. So take whatever empty threats or false claims that Rodent said and throw it into the bottom of Salt Lake, because he's a piece of lice-infected sh!t." Cress assured him while simultaneously cursing Ricky under her breath.
"C'mon, let's eat." Joshua changed the subject, "you'll feel better after lunch. Board games can wait."
"Ooh the baked potatoes must be finished!" Cress exclaimed happily, her baking alarm had just rang.
"If it's as good as your pastries, we're in good hands!" Joshua nodded his head, still chewing on the white chocolate filo tarts.
These two chapters are more filler-based than Plot if you follow the show's episodic standards. But face it: after the behemoth that's known as Homecoming Night, the Trio needed space and time away from Hurricane Ricky. EJ will only appear in the next chapter because that itself deserves its own separate segment.
Chapter Talk: -
(1.) The fact that we have Ten with Thai Food, the Lakeshore gang with Korean food (courtesy of Joshua) and Cress with Greek food (white chocolate filo tarts, Galaktoboureko, and lemon baked potatoes), wow we have quite a wide buffet spread going on.
(2.) We get to see the Gremlins officially interact. These two are Platonic Soulmates (since Cress is Aromantic) and have a playful dynamic. The bit where Jeonghan openly compliments her looks is a reference to "What If..." on A03 by ArcticVulpix and Raven_Feather1991 (in which Alma was the who died instead of Pedro) in which Felix's dad Carlos and Casita develop an interesting dynamic.
(3.) Re-mentioning Cress's baking hobbies and stress-baking habits, I feel like after last night, she'd be baking instantly the moment she reached home. On the bright side, she's bringing as much Greek baked food (pastries and meals) over to share with her friends. Food is one of her love languages, if she makes food for you it means she likes you enough.
(4.) The only reason I mentioned Dixit is because I played that board game with my brother and our cousins earlier this year. I figured it'd be a cool game for Ten and his friends to play. Sidenote: the only reason Cress (and the Lakeshore guys) know about the game is because her brother Zale was the one who introduced the game.
That's all for now. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading and have a great day.