Chapter Text
Down to the very bottom of his core, Kim Sunoo’s electron spin was irresistible. Hand-crafted, undeniable, and addictive. Magnetic. The smiles he practices in the mirror, the soft tone he takes when he meets new people, the fluttering of his lashes when he’s pleased are all part of his routine. It’s a habit; part of his charm. And it works. Every single time. He liked the attention. Felt euphoric when people would turn their entire body toward him, listening to him with that dreamy, hazed out look in their eyes. He was proud when he could convince someone to do just about anything he wanted them to, no matter how crazy it seemed in the moment. Fed off the laughter that was conducted by him. He was captivating, and he knew it.
It’s not like the world had to revolve around Sunoo. No, he’d let that slide. It is his first life after all. Maybe in his next one, he’ll tackle that issue. For now he was okay emphasizing the love for those very few people whose entire world revolved around him.
Yang Jungwon was one of those people. His very best friend in the entire world, the one he’s had since childhood. Sunoo was his everything. Always fussing about eating, folding his laundry when Sunoo forgot, humoring Sunoo’s quick mood changes. They had been two peas in a pod since they met, going to the same university, and were apart of a lot of the same clubs. They took care of one another in the same possessive kind of way where they were often mistaken for a couple, and Sunoo wouldn’t have changed that for the world. Why would he? They probably would’ve ended up stitched at the hips and married to one another to save each other from eternal damnation and still being single at fifty.
The thing was: Sunoo never accounted for Park Jonseong. Jay, as Jungwon refers. Jungwon’s boyfriend. The change, unsurprising really (Jungwon is extremely attractive), completely blindsided Sunoo when one day after inviting Jungwon out for lunch, he got rain checked. Something that very rarely happened without the excuse of school, clubs, or previous plans that Sunoo had forgotten about. That too happens often, Sunoo is a busy guy.
But it continued to happen.
Canceling plans, rearranging an otherwise very open schedule, and finding less and less time for Sunoo. Until he finally introduced Jay to Sunoo, as something other than his study partner from a class Jungwon didn’t even take.
And don’t get him wrong. The problem wasn’t that Jay wasn’t a decent guy… it was that he was the perfect guy for Jungwon. Soft-spoken, polite, caring. He listened to the fast paced rants Jungwon went on after he ate too much sugar before a meal, met Jungwon’s clinginess tenfold, and never bat an eye when he walked back into a room he had just left to see Jungwon snuggling with Sunoo. Most of the time, he was the one inviting Sunoo out when they did activities or bringing something to Sunoo from the apartment that Jungwon couldn’t give to him. He took Sunoo’s suggestions for Jungwon seriously and had somehow whittled himself a soft spot in Sunoo’s heart in the process, becoming a close friend and confidant when Jungwon was unavailable. Jay was a doting boyfriend whose eyes lit up when Jungwon did anything and gave him all the attention in his body.
Sunoo wasn’t jealous. He was happy for them. They were cute. Perfectly balanced. One of those campus couples who never parted and weren’t annoying about their love. It just made Sunoo realize that he wanted someone to be like that with him too. When they dimmed the lighting in the apartment and piled onto the couch in heaps, Jungwon would nuzzle against Jay and practically purr like a cat while Sunoo watched from the sidelines. When Jay would stop by the school newspaper room when Jungwon had to work on his article with a bag of all of his boyfriend’s favorite snacks and drinks (and even some of Sunoo’s) just to make sure he was eating something.
And maybe… just maybe, it was loneliness. But it wasn’t, Sunoo denied it so fast because he wasn’t lonely. He was one of the top students in journalism at university, best and most requested writer for the school’s newspaper, he had three other clubs that he excelled in and had friends in each one. People gravitated toward him. Orbited around him in rooms of people. It wasn’t loneliness, no it had to be something deeper.
“Sounds like FOMO.”
Sunoo sighs with his entire body, hanging his head over his lunch tray. He can feel a headache coming on.“This is why I don’t go to you with my problems, Nishimura.”
The younger boy sat across from him at the lunch table laughs and pops a fry into his mouth. The two had met at one of the school festivals last year, when Ni-ki was a freshman floundering around in a sea of upperclassmen. Sunoo had swooped by in time to save Ni-ki after being cornered by a group recruiting freshmen for a survey and the boy had been following him around ever since.
“I don’t know why you don’t,” the blond exchange student hummed, “I give fantastic advice, hyung.”
“I just gave you a three hundred word speech about my life and the best you could do is diagnosing me with FOMO?” Sunoo lifts his eyes to deadpan at the boy. “Me? Kim Sunoo?”
Ni-ki’s grin grows. “Then get a boyfriend.”
Sunoo scrunches up his face in disgust unconsciously. He twiddles with the edge of the stainless steel tray, watching it streak under his fingertips and then wipe it away.
He hasn’t given up dating, he just didn’t date people. He had one girlfriend in middle school (an experiment) who broke up with him because he didn’t want to hold her hand after school. He dated a guy during his first year at college (not an experiment) who turned out to have a very serious girlfriend on the side and only liked Sunoo because he was “girl pretty”. Since then, he’s simply been too busy to date. Jungwon called it an allergy to commitment, but Sunoo called it ambition.
An ambition to be the loneliest fifty year old in existence. He could hear the ten cats already meowing in his head already.
Shivering, Sunoo looked back up at Ni-ki, who was happily sucking down his smoothie that he had gotten with his lunch. Ni-ki was tall. Attractive in a way that made him look celestial. Confident. Had a decent personality. Only problem was, Sunoo was unsure of his sexuality. He never flinched when Jungwon and Sunoo talked about their love lives or taste in men, but was always entertaining a sea of girls anytime Sunoo happened to pass by him on campus. Plus, Sunoo wouldn’t date him. They don’t balance each other out visually and they’re too good of friends to try.
“And do what?” Sunoo scoffs. “Fall in love?”
Ni-ki blinks over at him, tilting his head to the side. Sunoo realizes he likes when Ni-ki ties off some of his hair in a little ponytail behind his head.
Lowering his straw, “That’s kinda the point, hyung.”
It’s later in the newspaper room that the headache rears a particular punch to his skull that would’ve knocked him out if it were a physical blow.
“Can I ask you for a favor?” Sunoo’s eyes strain as he looks up from the screen, Choi Soobin hovering over his desk.
The tall man was the editor of the newspaper, an odd choice, but was voted in by the rest of them at the end of last year. He was popular, academically astounding, and a huge goof ball. He liked to keep people’s spirits high in the intense atmosphere, so he made a bunch of unfunny jokes until one landed or pity laughter ensued.
“Sure, sunbae-nim.” Sunoo dropped his hands from underneath his chin and leaned back in his office chair. Favors from Soobin were often just work disguised in his bright tone and twinkling eyes. Sunoo cocked his head. Soobin was attractive-
No, bad boy. Down. Soobin was always elusively referring to the person he was dating AND he’s technically Sunoo’s boss. That’s just wrong.
Soobin sits on the edge of Sunoo’s desk.
“How many times have I told you to call me hyung, Sunoo-si?” His tone wasn’t anything other than friendly. Trying to pass off as friendly. Sunoo and Soobin weren’t exactly close, maintaining a healthy work relationship where Soobin just let Sunoo do whatever he wanted.
“It feels wrong.” Sunoo shrugged. One of his hands snaked up to the longer ends of his hair at the back of his head, twirling it into a circle. He should get a haircut soon.
“Try it,” Soobin pushed. Sunoo squinted up at him. He’s trying to get fresh with me, Sunoo thinks. Whatever he wants must be bad.
“What’s your favor, sunbae-nim?” Sunoo’s eyes dart to his computer screen, cursor still hovering near a typo he had corrected on his article. It was a piece about the academic arts departments receiving less funding than the sports department, although the school was recognized more for their excelling arts programs which in turn brought in more money.
The piece, he’s sure, has been done before by just about every university newspaper in the last decade, but none had Sunoo’s charming and whimsy approach to it.
Soobin sighs, obviously disappointed.
“Wonyoung had a family emergency to attend to in Busan. She’s not going to be back for a month. Which means-“
“Her sports beat won’t be covered,” Sunoo finishes. Jang Wonyoung was one of his friends, so he already knew where she was and even sent her home with a fruit basket yesterday. Soobin nods solemnly.
Sunoo pauses.
“No-“
“Wait.” Soobin holds up his hand, stopping Sunoo from going any further. “It’s just for a month.”
“But I’m writing the features beat,” Sunoo contradicts. “And I’m good at it, sunbae-nim. I’ve practically been assigned it since birth. It’s all I am.”
Okay, a little dramatic, but well intentioned. Sunoo had practically fought tooth and nail for this beat his sophomore year.
Soobin chuckles. “Relax, Sunoo. It’s only for a month. You’ll write both because you’re the only person I trust to balance two beats, good grades, and a healthy social life without dying.” Soobin sends him a charming grin. “You’re my best writer, so you can handle it.”
“Heard that,” Jungwon, in the desk next to Sunoo, calls from his chair without glancing over at them. Soobin sighs and his posture drops against himself animatedly.
“Think of it like a promotion,” Soobin continues.
Sunoo sinks his teeth into his lower lip, folding his arms against his chest. His muscles, once relaxed, start to tense up.
“I’ll need a photographer,” Sunoo hums. His foot starts tapping against the floor.
“Of course,” Soobin nods. “There’s plenty of-“
“You know who I want,” Sunoo counters quickly, jaw tense. Soobin pauses mid-sentence, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.
“Sunoo-“
“Him or someone else can take the sports beat,” Sunoo finalizes. He smiles as he says it, grainy and malformed. He’s being a dick, he knows this, but Sunoo is a perfectionist. “Jungwon’s a good writer.”
“Agreed,” Jungwon adds as he wheels over his chair with his feet, taking more interest in the conversation than whatever he was doing at his desk.
Soobin squints at Jungwon.
“Jungwon has a boyfriend. He’s not going to want to spend more time here than necessary.”
“How’d you know that?” Sunoo tilts his head, momentarily sidetracked at the switch in conversation.
“Do you think I have friends who bring me huge bags of convenience store snacks and wait for me out in the hallway?” Soobin asks.
Jungwon grins. “Choi Yeonjun was literally in here the other day-“
“He doesn’t want to work with you after last time,” Soobin interrupts quietly, shutting down the topic with a forced segue. Sunoo’s interest peaks, back to the most pressing issue. “He’s not going to do it.”
“Sunbae-nim,” Sunoo breathes out delicately, lassoing an anger he didn’t realize he was feeling, “what did he say? Exactly.”
Soobin looks like a deer caught in headlights, eyes widening to saucers. He was pale too, most likely rephrasing the actual words spoken to soften the blow against Sunoo’s ears.
“That you’re… tough to work with.”
Jungwon bursts into laughter. It only infuses heat into Sunoo’s veins. A hand claps on his shoulder.
“Don’t overreact, Sunoo hyung. You can’t murder your favorite photography student.”
Sunoo’s jaw clenches. I’m tough to work with? Sunoo schools his features with an enviable amount of self restraint and looks back up Soobin with a tense smile.
“When’s the next game? I’ll need two tickets.”
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
“You blocked my number.”
The figure walking toward Sunoo from the entryway pauses, looking up with dark furrowed brows. As he processes the sight of Sunoo lounging with his legs crossed at the knee and arms folded sternly against his chest, his frown deepens.
“How-“ breathlessly, “how did you get into my apartment?” His deep voice asks, nearly startling Sunoo when waves of shivers tide down his spine. Even his ears were rejecting this man.
“Jake let me in,” Sunoo hums with a delighted smirk. He was reveling a little too much in the man’s perturbed expression by walking into his own apartment to see Sunoo. Sunoo wanted to say: you thought you could get rid of me? but refrained to have at least a little chance of this working.
Said man folds his arms against his chest to mimic Sunoo’s posture, challenging him.
“I highly doubt-“
“Oh hey Sunoo!” Jake’s unmistakable voice plays from the speaker on Sunoo’s phone, Sunoo’s eyes crinkling more to accommodate the massive grin that overtakes him when the figure before him stills. The recording plays a snippet of his voice asking for help, to which Jake replies: “Sure! Come in. Sunghoon should be home soon.”
Park Sunghoon stands frozen in the entryway, bag slung over his shoulder because he hadn’t had the proper time to unpack his day. His expression morphs from annoyance to astonishment to blank in just a few seconds, so quick that Sunoo wouldn’t have caught it if he blinked.
“Great.” He turns on his heels to take off his bag, dropping it onto the kitchen counter that broke up the open floor plan. “Now I have to move and execute my best friend.”
Sunoo was great with people, truly. One smile and a few words from him and they were putty in his hands. Moldable. Approving of whatever he wanted. Park Sunghoon, though he took on the shape of your average human and did all the same things you’d expect a human to do, was more beast than human. He grunts as a response to questions, is so stoically quiet that you never really notice when he walks into a room until he jump scares you with his presence, and stares way too much without ever saying anything. You’d probably have more luck trying to have a decent conversation with a lamp, honestly. Dense. Rude. Stupidly handsome.
Oh yes, so stupidly handsome. The kind of handsome that makes you want to devote your life to him. Strong jawline, beautiful brows, eyes that you wish your future children will have. He’s tall and fit, perfectly proportioned. Smart. Quick witted. Walks around like he’s God’s gift to mankind. Maybe a little ugly if he were to open up his front camera from his lap. Annoying.
Right. So annoying. The most annoying thing about him is that he’s never agreeable. He’s immune to Sunoo… and most of society. The only person Sunoo’s ever seen drag (tooth and nail) a smile out of Park Sunghoon was his best friend, Jake.
And it irked Sunoo endlessly.
“Aw,” Sunoo pouts. “Don’t kill Jakey. He’s too cute to die.”
Sunghoon pauses, hand outstretched as he moves through his bag, to level Sunoo with a glare that could kill if looks did. “He’s straight.”
Sunoo clicks his tongue against the back of his teeth and rolls his eyes.
“The cute ones always are.”
“What are you even doing in my apartment, Kim Sunoo?” Sunghoon grumbles. “How did you even know where I lived?”
Now that’s the story Sunoo should write an article about. He became a proper journalist just by this task’s needed deduction skills alone. Sunghoon was a photography major who didn’t have a ton of friends that Sunoo knew about because well… these two weren’t exactly friends. They met up every once in a while for the newspaper, per Sunoo’s request, and barely ever spoke at a normal volume when they did. They bickered, loudly, and once got into a heated argument in the parking lot of the school’s amphitheater after they got kicked out for disrupting the audience. Their most recent spat came from an interview Sunoo was having with the dean of the school about this year’s academic achievements when Sunghoon took a picture with the flash on.
They had kept it professional for the rest of the interview, but argued all the way from the hallway to the courtyard where Sunoo stormed off after calling Sunghoon a jerk.
So how do you find a friendless guy whose schedule you were clueless about? Camp out in front of the photography department until you see someone you do know. Luckily, Lee Heeseung, a business major Sunoo had partied with, happened to walk by at just the right moment. Heeseung grabbed the nearest girl and asked where Sim Jaeyun - Jake - lived, and ta-da! Here Sunoo was.
“Heeseung hyung told me.” The glare rolled off of Sunoo’s poised shoulders, he was used to this treatment from only this person. Even though ripping his teeth out one by one would probably feel better than a single conversation with Sunghoon, Sunoo had to do what was needed to succeed this year.
The key? Park Sunghoon’s only talent: standing behind a camera. Sunoo didn’t know how Sunghoon worked his magic. Good pictures taken by the other photography students looked sad next to Sunghoon’s works of art. They were beautiful, like life through Sunghoon’s eyes and camera lens was always better than what everyone else saw. If Sunoo could get the pictures without the sass, he would in a heartbeat.
“It would be harder to find someone who didn’t know where you lived. Your roommate is… quite popular with the ladies.”
There’s a few brief moments after Sunoo’s words, and Sunoo wonders if maybe he overstepped. Of course, waiting in your arch nemesis’s apartment after his roommate ran off late for a coffee date may have been a tad much, but what was Sunoo to do when he realized Sunghoon had blocked him?
“Whatever you came here for, the answer is no.”
Sunoo rolls his eyes with Sunghoon’s broad back turned to him, leaning back on the couch with his hands. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy. The two of them never saw eye to eye since they met working together on a piece Sunoo was doing last year. At the time, Sunghoon was assigned to him. Every other time, Sunoo requested him because of his purely magic photos. And every time, Sunghoon would say it was his last time agreeing to the sheer audacity of Sunoo that he had to put up with. That he was getting gray hairs just from breathing the same air as Sunoo.
But he’d always begrudgingly agree the next time. It was their gusto, a silly game of push and pull before they tried chomping one another’s head off. It gave them meaning. Plus, Sunghoon liked when his pictures got praised and even received some awards for the ones he’d taken for the paper. It was technically a win-win situation for both of them if you didn’t look too closely.
“I didn’t even get a proper greeting and you’re already shutting me down?”
“You’ll live.” Sunghoon responds. His back was still turned to Sunoo as he browsed through his bag with a feigned interest. “You know, I think I’ve had this conversation before. Oh yeah, I did. With Choi Soobin. Just this morning.”
“Aw, your first thoughts of the day are of me?” Sunoo kicks out his legs in front of him and leans his head against his shoulder. “I’m flattered, Park.”
“You’re also delusional and about three other synonyms for crazy,” Sunghoon snaps back. He’s still looking in his bag. “Can you leave?”
“Not until you say yes.” Sunoo drops back against the back of the couch, as if to prove a point, and brings his hand in front of him to longingly stare at his cuticles. Once he set his mind to something, Sunoo was like a train that chugged along through everything to reach his destination. His determination was something to be admired, even if his ways of going about it were questionable. Sunghoon was just another obstacle he had to encounter, like harsh weather and squeaky brakes.
“Breaking and entering, trespassing, and now squatting?” Sunghoon turns to look at Sunoo incredulously. “Wonder which one will put you in jail longer.”
“What should we get for dinner?” Sunoo blinks over at Sunghoon. “Spicy? Savory? I like pizza.”
Sunghoon’s shrillness continued, gazing at Sunoo. The younger boy’s ears felt hot under the attention.
“What will it take to get you to leave?”
Sunoo folds his hands into his lap. “A month of your time.”
Sunoo is very comfortable with who he is as a person. He’s not above begging or pestering to get what he needs when he needs it. This… this is nothing.
“A month?” Sunghoon’s tongue pushes against the inside of his cheek and hands at his temples. Unfairly hot. “Why?”
“Sports beat,” Sunoo shrugs. “Temporary promotion.”
“Does everyone just give you what you want all the time, princess?”
“Pretty much. Yeah.” A noncommittal nod.
Sunoo glazes over the condescending nickname. Sunghoon likes to whip it out whenever he felt Sunoo was being “entitled and demanding”.
Sunghoon taps his foot against the floor. He hasn’t looked away from Sunoo, and Sunoo was wondering if the flush in his skin was noticeable. Large, steady hands drop from his head to his hip as he looms near the kitchen, as if afraid to sit too close to where Sunoo had made himself at home and was prepared to run if needed. His face is drawn, nipped tight, and vaguely resembles the statues Sunoo has seen in the arts building.
”Every single sports event?” Sunghoon’s wild eyes land on Sunoo. “Even swim team?”
”For a month.”
”And the away games?”
”Just a month,” Sunoo repeats. His tongue feels like liquid.
“Will you promise to leave me alone after this?” Sunoo doesn’t know what to say to that because Sunghoon most likely won’t like his answer, so he just nods. A white lie. Was it a lie if he didn’t actually speak it?
“Why don’t I believe you?” Sunghoon moves toward the couch then, shrugging off the jean jacket layered over his forest green hoodie. Sunoo can’t help but watch it, both too scared and too proud to take his eyes off of Sunghoon for more than a second. For all he knew, Sunghoon could be shrugging it off to suffocate Sunoo with.
“Because your inner child is as helpless as its adult presentation,” Sunoo answers.
Sunghoon drops his jacket on the edge of the couch, running a hand through his fluffy hair. He looked tense, caught between refusing profusely and throwing a tantrum. But Sunoo came prepared for a fight, armed with about three hundred insults and a quick thinker in case he ran out. Sunghoon’s eyebrows were sitting too nicely on his face, so those will be his first target.
“I’ll do it,” Sunghoon sighs. “But you have to promise me this is the last time. You and your antics bother the hell out of me.”
A disgustingly satisfying lick of pride swarmed heat in Sunoo’s chest. Ha-ha, I won.
“Funny,” Sunoo grins, “that was what I was going to say to you.”