Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

What is an eshay? 

Depends who you ask.

To the media, they’re gangs in tracksuits. To parents, they’re the reason their kids don’t catch the late train. Whilst to teachers, they are the troublemakers in class that barely pass. You’ll spot the mullet cut first, then the bum bag strapped across the chest like armour before noticing the Nike TNs. Most come out of the inner suburbs of Sydney or Melbourne, but don’t get it twisted. Anyone can be an eshay, so long as they’ve got the respect for people meaner than a junkyard dog, and the kind of mates who think cramming together half-naked isn’t “gay,” just loyalty.

So what is an eshay? It’s Australia’s answer to the British chav or roadman.

The desks were in rows and the teacher had her laptop connected to the projector which displayed brightly on the whiteboard. Gyuvin sat up at the back of the class with his laptop open, playing some random uninteresting game on Cool Maths Games as he waited for the time to tick by and for class to end. 

Kim Gyuvin was a 15 year old boy attending Boys Planet Academy in year 9. He had a mullet cut with eyes that were just as dark as his hair colour. Coming in as one of the tallest boys in his year, he had long lanky legs and big hands. 

Completely ignoring the teacher, he tapped away on his keyboard making obnoxiously loud click sounds as he farmed endlessly for some kind of in-game currency in whatever game he was playing. With his eyes glued to the screen, he looked up when he heard the teacher suddenly call on him.

“Gyuvin, what are you doing?” His teacher Wakeone who they usually referred to as Mr. Wk1 approached him at the back of the room. 

“Working,” He quickly switched his tab to the word document that contained the work sheet for that class. 

“You were playing games again, I’m not stupid,” his voice was firm and strict. 

“I never said you were stupid sir!” He said, baffling

“Just please do your work, I don’t want to send another email home to your parents,” Mr. Wk1 sighed. 

“Okay, okay, I will!” He looked up at the teacher who was sighing in exhaustion from having to deal with Kim Gyuvin’s bullshit. “Can I go to the bathroom first though?” He asked.

“Fine,” he responded before moving away to focus on helping another student who sat along the back row of desks. 

Gyuvin got up and exited the classroom, stepping into the light breezy air with his laptop in hand. As he had no intentions on going to the bathroom nor going back to class at all. 

Making it to the locker bay, his eyes darted to his best friend Ricky who was leaning against the lockers.

Ricky was Gyuvin’s closest and bestest mate. The two had known each other since primary school. The two had been notorious troublemakers back at Yuehua Primary School. From getting caught vandalising the bathroom with their silly drawings and words, being a distraction during class time, pulling ‘funny’ faces, or talking back to their teachers, when the duo had finally graduated year 6, it had been rumoured that the teachers threw a celebration in joy of getting rid of them without somehow losing their minds.

When they had then advanced into high school together, their shenanigans had only worsened by then. They had developed vaping addictions and became what one in society would refer to as an ‘eshay’.

Ricky had a bleached blonde fashionable mullet and dark eyes like Gyuvin’s. He had a tattoo on the back of his neck reading ‘role model’ that he had gotten done illegally, as he was way too young at the time of it being done, that was when he was 13. Even now at the age of 16, only a few months older than Gyuvin, he was still too young for a tattoo. Ricky was more of an introvert whilst Gyuvin was an extrovert but differences aside the two made a good troublemaking duo. They didn’t have many classes together but that didn’t seem to bother them as they often ditched class anyway. 

Putting his laptop in his locker, he swung the locker door shut before turning to Ricky, who continued to lean against the locker with a bored expression. 

“Let’s ditch,” Ricky said, walking off as Gyuvin followed. 

“What class did you ditch?” Ricky asked whilst looking ahead as they left the school grounds with ease. 

“Science,” Gyuvin responded. “Mr. Wk1 was all up my ass, wouldn’t leave me alone bruh.” 

“Mr. Wk1 needs to back off,” Ricky replied. 

“For real it’s fucking bullshit!”

Airpods in, the duo walked down the pathway, moving further and further away from school. They crossed the small crossing over the road and made their way over the heavily vandalised bridge as they made their way to the skatepark they often hung out in.

The ramps and slopes were worn down from years of usage, the wheels of BMX bikes and skateboards having gone up and down them millions of times. The outdoor benches and tables that were sheltered by a little roof and 4 sturdy poles became vandalised and wrecked from teenagers sitting on them and destroying them for the fun of it. 

They entered the small skatepark and were welcomed by a lot of teenagers varying in age. 

“Gyuvinnie-ah, Ricky, what are you doing out of class?!” One of the older ones asked. 

“Ditching, Mr. Wk1 is all up in my ass, I can’t stand it,” Gyuvin replied.

“Hanbin, I could be asking the same about you!” Ricky said with a snarky, sly grin.

“Oi shut up, no one said nothing about me being in class,” his voice loud. 

Hanbin was one of the eldest among the group Gyuvin and Ricky hung out in. Being in year 11 caused younger year levels to fear him, but behind his popular, eshay facade, Hanbin was a nice kid who just so happened to have a vaping addiction and a mullet. 

Next to Hanbin sat the one and only Zhang Hao. Similar to Gyuvin and Ricky, Hao and Hanbin were close friends, they weren’t as much of a notorious troublemaker duo as Gyuvin and Ricky though. But despite that, the two year 11 boys shared a close tight-knit friendship. Hao was excelling in academics, A+ after A+ yet he never really seemed to give a fuck. He also played violin which he started at a young age. But as Hao grew into his teens and late teens he lost interest in playing the violin, his only interest being hanging out with his mates and vaping but despite all he continued playing the violin to please his parents. 

Matthew, who sat on the bench leaning against the table as he took a blow of his vape, watched vapor flow out of his mouth as he blew out. The vapor rose in the air. The scent of sweet blueberries wafting the surrounding area. 

“You have Mr. Wk1 on your ass? Try having Ms. Mnet hunt you down for the essay you haven’t handed in yet!” Matthew then said. 

Jumping into the conversation before Gyuvin could make a snarky remark back towards Matthew, was Taerae. 

“Well maybe you should’ve handed your essay on time–” 

“Shut up Taerae,” Matthew retaliated. 

At first glance it would go unexpected that Kim Taerae, the year 10 who played guitar and has a bright smile with adorable dimples was an ‘eshay’, but behind the music and the charm lay the truth: that he is in fact an ‘eshay’. He might not have the classic mullet cut anymore, but he had good reason for why. It had all started when his parents received a report from his teachers, expressing concern over the crowd Taerae was spending time with. His grades had begun to slip, and there were complaints about him being a distraction in class. In response, his parents demanded he stop hanging out with those friends (he didn’t) and, as an extra measure, they made him cut off his mullet. Now he was stuck with a lopsided bowl-cut-looking hairstyle, the kind that invited endless teasing from his friends. 

Matthew wasn’t much better off though. Even though he was the main culprit when it came to teasing Taerae about his haircut, he was just as often the target of jokes himself, mostly being the butt end of jokes about him being half Canadian. His hair was dyed an ashy blonde and his mullet was cut uneven and terribly choppy. It was like someone had taken scissors to it in a hurry. Like Taerae, he was in Year 10. And while Taerae secretly puffed on apple-flavoured vapes behind his parents’ backs, Matthew had his own vice… an unshakable addiction to the blueberry flavour.

As Matthew and Taerae bickered, a familiar voice cut through their squabble.

“I just pulled off a super cool trick.” Park Gunwook announced. 

Gunwook hopped off his BMX and sauntered over, deep-purple mullet catching the sunlight. Despite being one of the younger ones, he carried himself with unbeatable pride and somehow was the most sensible one in their chaotic crew. Sure, he wore the ‘eshay’ label and skipped class every now and then, but unlike the others, he always caught up on his work at home. Gunwook was firmly anti-vape, anti-bullying, and had somehow become the group’s unofficial “mum.” It was bizarre yet simple of how Gunwook came to be friends with the others. They all shared a love for skateboards and BMX bikes and back in year 7, Gyuvin had been told by his mum to look out for Gunwook. Which you could say was a reasonably fair request considering they were cousins afterall…

Alongside Gunwook stood Yujin, the youngest of them all. A fresh Year 7, he’d only started high school a few months ago, and just like with Gunwook, Gyuvin had taken him under his wing from day one. Sporting a classic mullet and a cotton candy–flavoured vape habit, Yujin was also the last piece in their family puzzle, playing the role of the younger cousin of Gyuvin and Gunwook. 

Striding into the skatepark with a mullet cut, a KFC bag swinging in one hand, and a cigarette balanced between his lips was Kim Jiwoong. The last member of their crew. The eldest of them all, he was in Year 12 and set to graduate later that year. Surprisingly, he wasn’t a dropout. Jiwoong preferred cigarettes over vapes and skateboards over BMX bikes, but he still managed to fit right in with the others as an ‘eshay’ in both look and attitude. His friendship with the group went back to his early high school years, when he’d grown close to the Year 11s, Hao and Hanbin, and before he knew it they group grew as the others began to join high school as the years went by. Right behind him rolled Seobin, his best mate, sometimes a little too close for people not to notice. With his own mullet and the same taste for cigarettes, Seobin was Jiwoong’s best buddy and had been since year 7. 

While Seobin wasn’t really considered part of the group, he was more just there occasionally with Jiwoong. 

“What’d you get at KFC?” Gyuvin called out as Jiwoong and Seobin strolled up to the heavily vandalised table under the skatepark’s tiny shelter.

“Wicked Wings and chips,” Jiwoong replied, dropping into a seat with Seobin sliding in beside him.

“You were gone for ages,” Yujin smirked. “You sure you weren’t making out with Seobin?”

“No, I’m not fucking gay,” Jiwoong shot back instantly, Seobin echoing him with the same defensive edge every eshay seemed born with.

“That’s gay,” Matthew muttered through a cloud of blueberry vape.

“No, it’s fucking not!” Jiwoong snapped.

One by one, the crew gravitated to the table. Jiwoong and Seobin, Hao, Hanbin, Matthew, Taerae, Ricky, Gyuvin, Gunwook, and Yujin. The school’s most talked about eshays, gathered in one place, their presence loud even before they opened their mouths.

Chapter Text

Gyuvin took a drag of his mango-flavoured vape, exhaling into the late afternoon air. Ricky sat slouched beside him, puffing his strawberry one, the two of them hidden out back behind the local Bunnings. The place was half fenced off, scattered with old, abandoned buildings that gave it a perfect “no-teachers, no-parents” vibe.

“Jaehyun and Sohee from Hanbin’s year are throwing a party this Saturday,” Gyuvin said casually, watching the smoke curl up. “Hanbin asked if he could bring us and the others. Jaehyun’s cool with it. We should go.”

“Maybe.” Ricky shrugged, taking another hit of his vape.

“I think the others plan on crashing, even just for a bit.”

“What’s the party for?”

“Jaehyun’s seventeenth. Sohee apparently convinced him it was worth making a scene out of.”

Before Ricky could answer, an obnoxiously familiar voice cut through the quiet.

“What up, brothers!”

Matthew swaggered around the corner before he dabbed Gyuvin up with exaggerated flair and stood grinning while Ricky just stared at him.

“What are you even doing here?” Ricky asked flatly.

“Heard from Gunwook you were hanging out down here.”

“So?”

Matthew only shrugged, that smug little grin still stuck on his face.

“Whatever,” Ricky muttered, hitting his vape. “We were about to dip anyway for a Maccas run.”

Matthew’s eyes lit up. “Oi, can I come?”

Ricky rolled his eyes, already standing. “Fine. Whatever.”

“Taerae, this behaviour is unacceptable!” his mother snapped.

“So what, bruh?”

“Don’t ‘bruh’ me! It is 11:55 p.m. You know you were meant to be home at 11:50.”

“It’s only five minutes, chill out, bruh.”

“What happened to my sweet angel who loved cars and playing the guitar?” She clutched her chest like she’d lost her son to a tragedy.

“You’re the worst, Mum! Let me be who I am! I’m still not over the bowl cut. You made me chop my mullet, and now my mates won’t stop dissing me for it.”

“Well, they don’t sound like very nice kids. Maybe you should sit with someone else and invite your new friends over for a playdate .”

“Seriously, Mum? I’m sixteen. We don’t do playdates anymore! It’s called hanging out.”

“Well, it sounds like you all hung yourselves, and I won’t tolerate that kind of language in my house.”

“Gosh, you’re such a Karen.”

“No, I’m not, I'm just a mother who is worried for her son!” 

“Whatever. My friends are going to a party Saturday, and I’ve been invited. Can I go?”

“I’ll have to think about it.”

“You’re coming to the party this Saturday, right?” Sohee whispered to Hanbin during biology.

“Yeah, of course.”

“And Hao?”

“Yeah.”

“And the others? You invited them?”

“Yeah. Jiwoong is, and he’ll probably drag Seobin with him. Dunno if the rest will actually show though.”

“Cool, whatever.”

“Hanbin and Sohee, please refrain from speaking while I am speaking,” Ms. SM cut in sharply.

The second she turned back to the board, Sohee leaned closer again.

“So, you reckon Gyuvin’s crew is gonna pull up?” He smirked.

Hanbin shrugged. “Maybe. If there’s free drinks, they’ll show.”

“Gunwook? He’s in year 8. Won’t even get let in. Same with Yujin, he's in year 7.”

Hanbin smirked. “Trust me, they’ll find a way. Both of them are smarter than half the seniors here.”

Sohee snorted under her breath. “Whatever. Just make sure no one trashes the joint this time.”

Hanbin grinned. “Can’t make promises.”

“Boys, speak one more time and you’ll be sent straight to the office,” Ms. SM barked without even turning around.

“Sorry, miss, won’t happen again,” Sohee and Hanbin moaned in unison, already smirking at each other.

Chapter Text

Ricky arrived at Gyuvin’s house before the party that Saturday. Gyuvin’s cousins, Yujin and Gunwook, were already there, lingering awkwardly in the living room and doing their best to avoid Gyuvin’s mother… well, for them their aunt, trying not to get dragged into a conversation. Meanwhile, Gyuvin’s three little siblings, who Ricky had nicknamed the Gyuvettes, tore around the place like wild animals.

“The party starts at seven, but it doesn’t matter when we show up,” Ricky said, leaning against the doorframe.

“Does my hair look alright?” Gyuvin suddenly asked, stress flickering across his face, which was considered rare for someone who usually didn’t care about much.

“Looks fine,” Gunwook replied flatly, not even glancing up from his phone.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Gyuvin stepped up to the mirror, fixing his mullet with exaggerated pride. He smirked at his reflection. “Looked in the mirror, sharp as a bullet, GODDAMN! I love my mullet,” he chortled.

Ricky rolled his eyes. “Bro, it’s a house party, not a modeling gig.”

Yujin snickered. “He’s acting like he’s about to pull the hottest girl in school.”

“Shut up, rat,” Gyuvin shot back, tossing a cushion at him. It missed and smacked Gunwook instead.

Gunwook barely reacted, muttering, “You’re cooked, bro,” without lifting his eyes from the screen.

Ricky stood, brushing himself off. “Anyway, let’s dip before your mum makes us do chores. We rock up late, flex a bit, grab some drinks, then bail before it gets dead.”

The Gyuvettes came screaming back through the room, one wielding a half-broken Nerf gun. Gyuvin groaned, grabbed his jacket, and slung it over his shoulder.

“Alright, let’s bounce. No way I’m staying here any longer with these fuckers running around”

The boys exchanged glances, smirks forming. They were ready.

The party was already in full swing. Chaotic, loud, and hazy. Vapes clouded the air, half-empty bottles were scattered across every surface, and junk food bowls were being raided like a free-for-all.

Yujin immediately spotted his year 7 best mate, Ollie, across the room. He grinned and rushed over, dapping him up.

“Didn’t know you were coming,” Yujin said.

“I crashed,” Ollie smirked, stuffing chips into his mouth.

“Nice.”

Across the lounge, Hanbin and Hao were sitting comfortably with Jaehyun’s and Sohee’s crew, drinks in hand like they belonged there. Jiwoong and Seobin were with a cluster of fellow year 12s, trading cigarettes on the back porch and laughing like they owned the place.

The guest list was a mess. Basically at least one kid from every year level had shown up, from clueless year 7s to smug year 12s.

Matthew rocked up not long after, loud as always, dragging Taerae behind him. Taerae looked jumpy, checking the time on his phone. His mum had made it very clear that he had to be home by 9 p.m. sharp. Thus, Taerae only had a couple hours to actually enjoy himself.

Meanwhile, Gunwook had already wandered off into the crowd, probably finding trouble.

Ricky and Gyuvin snagged a pair of vodka Cruisers from the esky, smirking at each other. “Let’s go scope out the place,” Ricky suggested, nodding toward the packed hallways.

Gyuvin cracked his bottle open, taking a swig. “Bet. Let’s see who’s already cooked.”

They slipped through the crowd, music blasting so loud the floorboards rattled, kids shouting over each other as if the neighbours didn’t exist.

After a few too many drinks, neither Gyuvin nor Ricky could explain what had happened that night. But by Monday at school, seeing the same video of them making out at the party over and over finally jogged their memories.

Gyuvin had been an emotional drunk, which Ricky should’ve remembered, but after sipping their first Cruisers that night, Ricky had completely forgotten. To be fair, Ricky was also drunk that night. 

At some point, they had slipped outside to breathe in for once air not fruity flavoured vapes. It was there after escaping the chaos, in the cool night, that Gyuvin blurted out his feelings for Ricky, all tangled up in nerves and alcohol.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he’d worded it, but it had gone something like:

“Ricky… I remember last year in Year 8, you were saying how your girlfriend back then didn’t want to give you a blowjob and I remember thinking at the time ‘I’d definitely give him one without hesitation—’ sorry I've gone off track… my point is I like you a lot” 

Ricky had laughed, calling him “gay”, their usual mix of teasing, slightly homoerotic humor, and faux homophobia. Gyuvin had stormed back inside, sulking.

By the time they returned to the couch, Gyuvin had calmed down. The teasing returned, the flirting started, and somewhere between laughing, bumping knees, and more dares, their faces had drawn closer… and then they kissed. Brief, chaotic, impulsive… the perfect product of a wild house party and two teenagers drunk on both alcohol and adrenaline.

They sat on the skatepark shelter bench, Yujin’s phone between them, replaying the infamous video. Gunwook, true to form, was narrating it for what felt like the tenth millionth time to their friends.

“They kissed, right? And then everyone went completely nuts,” he said, eyes wide with mock seriousness. “But they were too drunk to care. I’m telling you, for real, for real, they went tongue-deep in each other, moaning like… in a blink of a second.”

Gyuvin groaned, burying his face in his hands. “Gunwook, I swear, if you say one more word about that…”

Ricky snorted, trying to suppress his own laughter. “Dude, stop acting like it’s the end of the world. We were drunk. It’s a party.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yujin added, barely able to hold back a grin. “But seeing it again… it’s still hilarious.”

The rest of the friend group, clustered around the bench, erupted into laughter, teasing, and exaggerated impressions of the kiss. Gyuvin and Ricky swatted at them, but the damage was done and now they were the meme of the week.

By Tuesday, the video had done more than just embarrass Gyuvin and Ricky, it had led to full blown rumors being sparked across the school. Whispers followed them down the hallways, texts blew up with emojis, and their classmates couldn’t stop speculating.

“Bro, I didn’t know you were into Gyuvin like that ,” one kid whispered to Ricky during lunch.

“I–I’m not,” Ricky stammered, cheeks burning.

“Sure you’re not,” Gyuvin muttered under his breath, trying to sound annoyed but secretly wondering if he should feel something more than embarrassment.

Matthew, ever the instigator, decided to stoke the fire. “So… are you guys… together now? Or is this just a party fling?”

Jiwoong and Seobin exchanged smirks, Yujin and Gunwook rolled their eyes, whilst Taerae raised an eyebrow.  

It wasn’t just the others who were questioning things. Gyuvin found himself replaying the kiss over and over in his head. Was it just drunk impulsiveness, or did he actually… like Ricky?

Ricky, too, caught himself thinking about Gyuvin when no one was watching. He’d always joked about being slightly “gay-but-not-gay,” but now the line between joking and feeling was blurring.

The group’s teasing didn’t help. Every laugh, every nudge, every whispered comment was a reminder that something had shifted, something none of them fully understood yet.

Even though they tried to act normal, inside, both Gyuvin and Ricky were starting to question not just their actions that night, but their feelings, and maybe even a little about who they were. 

By the end of the week, the video had been watched, rewatched, and endlessly joked about. Gyuvin and Ricky had become the unofficial stars of the school, teased relentlessly but surviving it together.

Sitting on their usual skatepark bench that Friday afternoon, surrounded by the chaotic laughter of their friends, Gyuvin nudged Ricky. “So… no homo, huh?” he teased, smirking.

Ricky groaned but couldn’t hide his grin. “Yeah, yeah… no homo. But don’t think I didn’t enjoy it a little.”

Gyuvin laughed, punching Ricky lightly on the arm. “Good, because I did too.”

The rest of the crew consisting of Matthew, Taerae, Hanbin, Hao, Yujin, Gunwook, Jiwoong and Seobin cheered and hooted, clearly delighted by the moment. Even the teasing couldn’t ruin it; it only made them closer.

For the first time, Gyuvin and Ricky realized it didn’t matter what anyone else thought. They had each other, laughter, and the wild chaos of their group of friends to lean on.

And somewhere between skateboards, vapes, and endless dares, a new chapter had begun. One filled with mischief, friendship, and maybe, just maybe, something more. 

The video? Still played in whispers and snickers, but they learnt to get over it.