Chapter Text
“Wait, wait, I’m gonna go talk to the desk person. I didn’t even get my keys yet!” Hongjoong tried not to be too loud, but Wooyoung wasn’t making it easy at all.
“Give me a tour of the room! And introduce me to your roommate! If he ends up being an asshole, I’ll let him know no one touches my Hongjoongie—”
Hongjoong took the phone away from his ears and politely asked for his room keys. He could still hear Wooyoung talk his mouth off through his phone. Once the keys were in his hands, Hongjoong went back to continue his conversation, trying to calm Wooyoung down.
“ —and like, some huge-ass bulk dude won’t have anything on me, got it? Like, we have Jongho on our side, for God’s sake! Anyone who tries something funny with you just because you’re quiet—”
“Wooyoung,” Hongjoong insisted, sighing. He loved Wooyoung to bits, but the other knew how to overwhelm and get on Hongjoong’s absolute last nerve, even though Hongjoong knew he meant well. The anxiety of moving to a whole new place, knowing a grand total of zero people, and the dread that settled over him like a sheet of ice every now and then, whenever he thought about how he was no longer going to live with his parents and with Wooyoung and Jongho just next door — it was too much for Hongjoong to wrap his head around just yet.
“Sorry,” Wooyoung said, having guessed he was being a bit much to handle.
Hongjoong sighed, making his way up the stairs slowly. “I know you’re probably just as anxious as me, Wooyoung. But… let me handle this, okay? I know you’re there for me, always will be. But— just— I need some time to breathe. Is that okay?”
“Hongjoong hyung,” Wooyoung said, and Hongjoong knew he looked all pouty and upset. “I just don’t want you to dread being there, okay? I don’t want you to end up with a loser roommate. I want you to know Jongho and I are there. Am I asking for too much?”
“No, but you’re telling me stuff I already know and it’s making it hard for me to process things that I don’t. Like this whole new place that I now have to think of as home for the next few years.”
After a beat of silence, Wooyoung sighed. “Why did you have to go all the way there…”
“It's not even that far away, you big baby,” Hongjoong said. The college was only an hour away from home. That was the reason his parents hadn’t come to drop him off, despite how badly they’d wanted to — they couldn’t afford to skip a work day, and could trust that Hongjoong knew his way around the public transport and other things of the sort.
“But I can’t see you everyday! We’re— we’re no longer in the same school! Shit, we’re no longer in school! Hyung, why’d you go there?” Now he was just being whiny.
“Because I wanted to, and because I got accepted,” Hongjoong said, knowing that would make Wooyoung all hyper again, since he was the one that never shut up about how no one else deserved that seat more than Hongjoong. Wooyoung didn’t disappoint, immediately launching into a rant.
“Yeah! You’re right. You’re gonna be the best in your class, and you’re gonna make all these paintings and art and architecture and sculptures and statues and blow everyone’s minds and then I can brag about how I have a friend — best friend — named Hongjoong who attends the best university in this state and—”
“Okay, okay! Shut up!” Hongjoong said, embarrassed at the overflow of compliments that he always got from Wooyoung, especially when it came to his talent.
“Make portraits of me and Jongho, okay? I’ll send you all types of pictures under the exact weirdly specific lighting you always want. Or sculptures! Or digital stuff!”
“Sure. That's possible,” Hongjoong said, although a little distractedly, since he had reached his door.
“Yay!” Wooyoung said.
The number 403 stared at Hongjoong, the door waiting to be opened. He heard noises from inside, of someone moving things around.
“Wooyoung?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m gonna open the door to my room now.” It sounded a lot more dramatic than it needed to.
“Oh! Switch to video, quick!”
“No, I think my roommate is already here. It’ll be awkward as hell.”
“Excuse me? More reason for me to be on video, then! Wait,” he said, and promptly hung up before Hongjoong could say anything. Hongjoong really, really didn’t want his first encounter with his roommate to be in the presence of Wooyoung, but he would rather that than deal with the million messages he would get if he didn’t pick the call.
Placing all his bags (which were two) on top of the suitcase so that he could have one hand free to hold the phone to his face, Hongjoong waited for Wooyoung’s call, and a familiar feeling of dread settled over him the moment the air was filled with silence. Hongjoong already missed Wooyoung’s loud voice, but he was a little glad that he could stall going into his dorm for even just a few more seconds.
The call came within said seconds, Hongjoong feeling much better looking at Wooyoung’s familiar, comforting face, and just when he said, “Go on, then,” with the brightest smile, Hongjoong heard a huge thud! from inside. His hands paused mid-air, holding the keys he was about to unlock the door with. His stomach churned, and he was a hundred percent sure that this roommate was some huge-ass bulky dude, and that he was positively screwed. Still, he stuck the keys in and opened the door, not wanting to stand there for so long and look like a fool.
“What was that?” Wooyoung asked, having heard the noise, too.
“I don’t know,” Hongjoong grumbled, trying his best not to freak out as he lugged his suitcase with him, entering the room with as much confidence as he could, straightening his back and all.
What he didn’t expect was to be met with quite possibly the most beautiful human he had ever laid his eyes on. Nevermind the fact that the guy was sandwiched between the floor and a thick mattress — which was probably the cause of the sound — and the fact that Hongjoong couldn’t even see his face properly and his body fully. All he saw were the guy’s toned arms that were holding the mattress above his head precariously, and his beautifully distressed, almost sculpture-like face, hair forming a curtain around it in waves—
“Is everything okay?” Wooyoung asked, and Hongjoong came to his senses, scolding himself for being so distracted.
“Oh my god, let me help you!” Hongjoong ran towards the guy, leaving his suitcase at the door, which he didn’t even close, and his phone on top of it. Hongjoong wasn’t the best at handling weights, but he tried his best to let the beautiful guy slip out from under the mattress just in time before it fully fell on the ground and made another big noise.
Is it made of rocks or what? Hongjoong thought.
“Thank you,” the guy said, breathless, standing up, his voice so deep it tickled Hongjoong’s brain in all the right places. His face was even more beautiful up close, and Hongjoong had to fight the urge to pick up a pencil and draw him immediately.
“It’s no problem,” he said, a little breathless, too, from the unexpected exercise. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah… yeah! I, uh, overestimated my ability to place this huge thing on the bedframe. I wasn’t expecting it to be this heavy,” Beautiful Guy said, embarrassed, cheeks pink.
“We can try doing it together, maybe,” Hongjoong offered, although he wasn’t sure he would be of any help whatsoever.
“Really?” he asked, as if it was the first time someone had offered him any physical help, which made sense.
“Yeah. My mattress is coming this evening, so we can do that together, too, if that’ll make you feel better.”
“Okay!” Beautiful Guy smiled, and Hongjoong was awestruck. How could someone possibly look so ethereal?
Mid-thought, he heard a distant voice from the door — that was when he realized he’d left Wooyoung hanging.
“Oh, wait!” he said, rushing towards his phone so he could reassure Wooyoung that it was nothing to worry about.
“Hongjoong, what the fuck!” Wooyoung said once Hongjoong picked the phone up, dropping honorifics. “Are you okay? What’s going on? What was that sound?”
“Nothing, nothing,” he said, pulling his suitcase and bags in and closing the door. “My roommate had trouble with his mattress, that’s all.”
“You’re telling me a mattress made that sound?”
“Yeah. I guess it’s got some… interesting stuffing,” Hongjoong said, not to sound too offensive, though he was curious himself.
“Show me him!” Wooyoung bellowed, and Hongjoong cringed, knowing Beautiful Guy heard everything.
“I’ll call you back later, okay?” Hongjoong said, as calm and quietly as he could.
“No! Introduce me to him! I waited so long!” How could he tell Wooyoung that they hadn’t even introduced themselves to each other yet?
“Wooyoung—”
“Is that a friend?” Beautiful guy asked, eyes curious.
“Uh… yeah,” Hongjoong said. “I’m Hongjoong, by the way. Please ignore him. I’ll try to hang up as soon as I can.” Wooyoung made an angry face.
“Oh… I— I’m Yeosang. Sorry we had to meet under such awkward circumstances.”
“Wow, his voice!” Wooyoung said, face immediately changing into one of awe, and it was loud enough for Beautiful Guy — Yeosang — to hear, and Hongjoong thought he was going to die from second-hand embarrassment.
“No, I’m just glad you’re okay,” he said instead, wanting nothing more than to hang up on Wooyoung and make this conversation less awkward.
“Uh… yeah,” Yeosang agreed, possibly at a loss for words, too. A few seconds went by, and the two of them simply stood there, fidgeting and clearing their throats.
“So will you show me this guy or not?” Wooyoung broke the silence. Yeosang laughed, the sound vibrating in Hongjoong’s head, as he came over to glance at Hongjoong’s phone.
When he came into view, Wooyoung gasped, eyes going wide, much like Hongjoong’s own probably had, too.
“Hi, Hongjoong’s friend,” Yeosang waved. Wooyoung continued to stare for a few seconds, and then broke into his ever so charming smile.
“Hi! Nice to meet you, I’m Wooyoung! I’m Hongjoong’s best friend, and since I love him to the ends of the earth, I wanted to meet his roommate to make sure he wouldn’t be in any unnecessarily awkward situations. That guy’s a huge introvert, you know? And since he can’t talk to people very well, I thought of helping him out. And also, I was a tad worried he’d end up with a prick. I mean, I don’t know if you’re a prick. But surely, someone with a face like yours wouldn’t be too mean, right?”
Hongjoong had to physically restrain himself from ending the call, the red button only growing more tantalizing by the second.
“Oh… Um, I myself am a bit of an introvert, so I guess we’d get along fine? And I— I’m pretty sure I would be bullied far earlier than I’d ever bully anyone, so. I think your best friend will be fine, Wooyoung.” Yeosang covered his mouth with his hands as he talked, and Hongjoong had an inkling he was a little taken aback by Wooyoung’s fast-paced talking and too-bright personality.
“You’re so cute! But also, what’s your name?” Wooyoung asked.
“I’m Yeosang.”
“What course are you in, Yeosang?”
“I’m in design. Fashion design, specifically.”
“That’s so cool! I’m in cooking. Wait, not cooking. Baking. Culinary arts, damn it.”
Yeosang’s ears visibly perked up, his eyes widening. “What? No way! That’s so much cooler than my course! So are you taking business on the side, too?”
“Oh, you’re so clever! I am, although I’m not the brightest at math. I think I’ll survive, though.”
Laughing, Yeosang said, “I’m pretty good at math, so... hit me up if you need help, maybe?”
“I will take you up on that offer!”
“Sure,” Yeosang said, and Hongjoong could only wonder how easy Wooyoung made striking up conversations with strangers seem. How did he know more about Hongjoong’s roommate in five minutes than Hongjoong himself?
“Are you gonna go or what,” Hongjoong said flatly, arm sore from holding the phone at a weird angle to fit both him and Yeosang in one frame for so long.
“Hongjoong, I like Yeosang! He’s Wooyoung-approved!”
“Amazing, show-stopping,” Hongjoong said, trying to sound unimpressed, but his heart did feel lighter at the declaration. With one of the people in his college, someone as important as his roommate, being Wooyoung-approved, Hongjoong felt like he had the courage and energy to face the rest of his hurdles. Maybe those, too, wouldn’t be half as bad as he expected.
“Our room is a mess right now,” Hongjoong said, looking around, Yeosang doing the same. “I’ll have to go. Tell Jongho everything went well… Oh, shit, I have to call Mom!”
“Do that, do that! I’ll take care of Jongho. Call your mom and get the room ready!”
“Yeah. I’ll call you at night.”
“Okay! Love you!”
“Yeah, bye.”
“Love you!”
“Bye.”
“Love you!”
Hongjoong let out an exasperated breath. “Love you too, Wooyoung. Now please go, I’m already getting a headache.”
Wooyoung only giggled. “Bye!”
“Bye,” Hongjoong said, finally hanging up on Wooyoung. Putting his phone away, he turned to Yeosang. “I’m really sorry. He’s always been a handful, I hope he didn’t make you too uncomfortable.”
“No! Are you kidding? I feel like me and you— we can be way less awkward now because of him. And I usually am— painfully awkward. I put that mattress down freaking out about that. How did he make talking so easy?”
“That’s just Wooyoung,” Hongjoong said; he had to agree.
“Also, this is so weird of me to say, because I spoke to him for, like… two minutes. But I’m glad to know I’m… Wooyoung-approved?” Yeosang smiled.
“Oh my god,” Hongjoong said, burying his face in his hands in embarrassment.
“No, don’t be embarrassed! It felt like— like a compliment?” Yeosang said, shy.
“I mean, of course. I just don’t like how much he babies me in front of other people. He thinks he’s my mom or something. Which… that’s embarrassing.” Why was Hongjoong digging himself a deeper hole by admitting all of this to a stranger?
Yeosang chuckled. “I think Wooyoung and my best friend would get along really well. They’re pretty alike… although Mingi’s a little more childish?” Hongjoong noticed that Yeosang spoke in questions more often than not.
“Oh, no, no, Wooyoung gave you the wrong impression. He’s childish as hell, too, but knows how to charm people’s pants off. That’s how he gets away with it.”
“He totally seems like that kind of person,” Yeosang said, nodding. “Now I can’t wait for him to meet Mingi.”
“Don’t tell him that, or he’ll pester you to introduce Mingi to him right away. Speaking of which, he’s probably blowing my phone up, asking me to send him your number.” Hongjoong didn’t know how to tell Yeosang that Wooyoung was absolutely going to take him up on his offer to help Wooyoung with math, even if help wasn’t even needed.
“Send it to him,” Yeosang said, smiling. “I could use some friends.”
“That… is dangerous. Because the guy will not shut up. I’ll let you think about this, Yeosang.”
Yeosang only laughed. A few beats of silence passed, the two of them slipping into a bubble of awkwardness.
“Uh, should we arrange our things?” Hongjoong asked, not knowing what else to do.
“Oh— yeah. We should,” Yeosang agreed, immediately walking over to his own luggage that was placed in the area that looked like it was supposed to be the kitchen.
Their dorm was basically just a studio apartment, though a lot smaller in size. Hongjoong immediately started calculating how to best fit the two of their beds for the room to have the most empty space, and how they were going to arrange all their belongings in the singular wardrobe (which was huge, but for two people?) and the singular table (with drawers) they were provided with.
“Let’s start with my mattress, maybe?” Yeosang asked, and Hongjoong shook his head no.
“It would be a lot harder to move the whole bed around if we put it on the bedframe already… since it was, like, so heavy. Let’s push it to the side and unpack our clothes and stuff first. We’ll do the outside work after arranging the inside stuff. Sounds okay?”
“Oh… okay. Do you already have an idea about, like, the layout of our things?”
“Yeah. With the way these beds are placed, we’d be running into a bunch of problems, and I think one of them being so close to this kitchen area is a really bad idea. Once we get the suitcases and bags out of the way, we can decide. Or, I mean… uh, you don’t have to do it that way if you don’t want to…” Hongjoong thought he was being too bossy, although he did, in fact, know how to best place their things to have more room to walk around.
“What? No, let’s do as you say, you obviously know what you’re talking about,” Yeosang said, shaking his head. “What course are you?”
“Architecture,” Hongjoong said, a little shy, because Yeosang had noticed that his knowledge about the layout had something to do with his course.
“Wow… wow! Wait, we’ll probably have many classes together then, since I’m in design!”
“Oh, yeah. That’s nice,” Hongjoong said, and he really did think it was nice that he could go to his first class with a familiar face — if their first class was the same one at the same time.
“Yeah, oh my god. I was so worried I’d have to go and make friends all on my own. Not everyone is like Wooyoung.”
“Going alone is much better than going with me, though,” Hongjoong mumbled. “I’m kinda miserable. I don’t even try, like— if no one walks up to me or if they do and don’t reach out again, I just… stay alone, I guess.”
“What the hell,” Yeosang said, but immediately followed it up with, “Sorry! I meant— like— people usually stress out about this kind of thing before college, right, so I was just surprised that—”
“No, Yeosang,” Hongjoong said, laughing, “that was probably the most valid reaction to whatever I said. Don’t sweat it. What the hell, indeed.”
“Still, I’m so sorry. We’ve just met, and I already cursed.”
“Apology accepted,” Hongjoong said, smiling. Yeosang, for all his muscles and other-wordly looks, was just another guy like Hongjoong, and that made him so much more human, and made Hongjoong feel like he could do this — maybe, it wouldn’t be as hard as he’d thought, not so daunting.
“So should we… get to work, then?” Hongjoong asked.
“Yeah, let’s get this over with. Let’s— let’s get to know each other later?” Yeosang’s cheeks were dusted with pink, and he was fiddling with his fingernails.
“Of course, yeah,” Hongjoong said, smiling a little — he meant it. He was really glad his roommate was someone who not only had a course similar to his, but was also similar in terms of personality. He also had the most pleasant face to look at, and the most calming voice to ever exist. Hongjoong would love to know the brain and heart behind those, too, as much as he would be allowed to.
Right then, Hongjoong thought, even if he didn’t make any other friends, he’d be fine with it — fine with just sticking to Yeosang and calling Wooyoung and Jongho every night. The worst of it was over, and now that Hongjoong let that thought settle in, it was easier for him to go over to start unpacking — not just his suitcase and bags, but this new life that he’d just entered.
The afternoon air was sticky and hot, and white light poured into the room through the little balcony next to the kitchen. With his heart a little more at ease, and with Yeosang giving him a small smile, Hongjoong removed his shoes and socks and got to work.
»»———— ★ ————««
Hongjoong and Yeosang finished arranging all their clothes first, the wardrobe proving to be a lot bigger and more efficient than Hongjoong had expected when he first laid his eyes on it. It was split neatly in half, and the two of them were able to accommodate all of their clothes and a bunch of their books, too. Hongjoong knew he would have to think of a way to make it easier for the two of them to share the table, but he was okay with figuring that out later.
“Have you… did you eat anything? Before coming here?” Yeosang asked. “We could grab something, maybe. Before doing the rest of the work.”
Hongjoong only then remembered the fact that he not only hadn't eaten, but he also hadn't called his mom yet.
“Shit, shit, shit,” he said, reaching for his phone to call her immediately. It barely rang twice before she picked up, and even though Yeosang’s company was loads better than Hongjoong had imagined, hearing his mom's voice was what finally made him feel some semblance of comfort ever since shifting to the dorms — although it had been, what, three hours?
“Is everything okay, baby? All settled in?” she asked.
“Mom! Mom. I'm sorry I didn't call the second I reached. Wooyoung took up all my time and— I was busy arranging everything in its place with my— my roommate, so—”
“Roommate! My Hongjoongie already made friends with his roommate? How is he?”
“Uh— I guess alright—”
“He won't give you a hard time for anything, not for your belongings or clothes or anything of the sort! Because your dad and I spent as our hearts desired to get you your bed and pillow and art supplies. They’ll arrive at your address soon! And for your monthly expenditure there's already money that we've kept aside—”
“Mom,” he said, so close to tearing up. While his family wasn't in the trenches, they definitely weren't in the position to be spending money without thinking twice — they always had to sacrifice a lot more than the average person to not run out of money by the end of the month. So knowing that Hongjoong’s parents spent so much on him only sat on his heart heavy — how was he going to do justice to all of it and prove he was worth all of that?
“Yes?”
“I’m perfectly fine with the things I have. You don’t have to do all that for me.”
“Maybe. But we want to, so we are,” his mom said, simple as that. But Hongjoong knew it wasn't that simple.
“I knew I should've bought everything on my own,” he grumbled, fidgeting with the thread of his t-shirt. He could've taken his old, worn-out quilt that he'd slept on his whole life. Wholeheartedly. But his mom had said it was a new, fresh chapter in Hongjoong’s life, so it only made sense for him to walk into it new and fresh, too. Hongjoong only agreed because he thought his mom knew better than to go around spending without a care on him — but apparently not.
“Shush. How do you like your room? Is there plenty space? Send me a video if you can!” his mom said.
“Yeah, it's… small. But yeah, it's fine. I still have to arrange our stuff. Only the clothes and books part is over. I also…” didn't eat lunch, he was about to say, but held himself back on time, since he knew the kind of worry that would make itself home in his mom's heart if she knew her son's bad eating habits were still intact, especially because she wasn't there to force feed him food anymore.
“What?”
“Nothing. Anyway, we have to set up the beds and stuff so… I'll call you later?”
“Mm.”
“Anything else, mom?”
“Is… is your roommate okay? You never answered that and didn’t talk about it. Is it… can you handle it?”
Oh, mom, how I love you, he thought, heart bursting.
“He’s okay!” he rushed to inform her, sneaking a peek at Yeosang, who curiously looked up from his own phone to see if he'd been addressed. “We both are— pretty similar, actually. He's in design, so we may have classes together. Wooyoung talked to him, too. Would it make you feel better to know he's Wooyoung-approved?”
“Oh! If Wooyoungie likes him then I have nothing to worry about, do I? What's his name?”
He glanced over at Yeosang, gesturing to him to come. Yeosang did, although he looked frightened.
“His name is Yeosang. Say hi to him?” he asked, eyeing Yeosang, putting the phone on speaker.
“Yes!”
“Uh— hello, Mrs.— um. Yeah. I'm— I'm Yeosang, Hongjoong’s roommate,” Yeosang said, cringing to himself at how awkward he sounded.
“You sound so sweet! Since Hongjoong doesn't really make friends I was surprised to hear he was already friends with you!”
“He’s— he’s a nice guy.”
“Oh, my dear boy, be kind to Hongjoong, alright? And you guys must help each other out! And please make sure Hongjoong eats, he never eats well, and don't wake him up when he's asleep! He’s a very light sleeper—”
“Okay, that's enough,” Hongjoong said, embarrassed beyond words at the second time this was happening — Hongjoong being babied in front of his roommate.
“I— uh, sure, ma'am, I'll… try to take care of him,” Yeosang said, unsure of what else he could say.
“You, too, take care of yourself! Don't skip meals! Take naps whenever you can! Don't stay up all night!”
“Yes, I'll… I'll keep that in mind, thank you…” Yeosang looked at Hongjoong with a sort of desperation, and Hongjoong could only look apologetically at him for having dragged him into this — he should've known his mom was just as overbearing as Wooyoung.
“Okay mom,” he said, taking away the phone, “I'll talk to you later, for real. There's a lot I need to finish now. And I also need to look around and see where my classes are, stuff like that…”
“Okay! Take care, Hongjoong,” his mom said.
“Bye, mom.”
“Bye. I love you!”
“I love you, too…” Hongjoong didn't say it back often. But he wanted to. Because he did. He loved his mom so much, and talking to her fueled his energy up more than lunch ever could have.
“Oh, Hongjoong! I love you so much! Call me any time of the day, and I'll pick up, okay?”
“Yes, mom, I know,” he said.
“Good. I'll let you down your thing, then. Make more friends!”
“Sure, mom.”
“Okay! Bye!”
“Bye,” he said, finally ending the call.
Turning to Yeosang, he said, “I'm sorry. I only wanted her to know there actually was another person and that I actually had made a friend…”
“No! I'm— I'm the one who's sorry! Ugh, that was such a bad first impression to such a sweet woman.”
“No, Yeosang, you were randomly put in the spotlight, so you reacted the way a normal person would have. Don't sweat it.”
“Still, ugh,” he said, facepalming. Hongjoong didn’t know what more to say.
“Well, uh, we could… go get lunch. I'm guessing you asked because you were hungry?”
“No, I usually— uh— don’t eat lunch. I thought you might be hungry, so I asked.”
“You… don’t eat lunch?”
“Yeah, I mean… I just have a heavy breakfast and then some— you know, protein… stuff. During the day. Then I eat a big dinner at about five in the evening. Uh— sorry…”
“Oh… okay, then. You don't have to be sorry. Why are you sorry?” Hongjoong laughed. He guessed those weird eating habits were related to the whole fitness thing he clearly had going on.
“I don't know,” Yeosang said, scratching his head.
“Okay, then. Let's move on to— your mattress? Mine will arrive in about an hour. So we can arrange the bedframes and stuff by then.”
“You're not gonna eat?”
“Ah— I can last. It's not a problem.”
“No, it is! Hongjoong, you need to eat right now.”
“Wait, what? I can survive—”
“I told your mom I'd take care of you! I can't fail five minutes after I said that to her! Come on, let’s go to the canteen,” Yeosang said, gently grabbing Hongjoong’s hand. His was rough and calloused, as opposed to his soft, tender face.
“Oh my god,” Hongjoong groaned. “What the hell. It doesn't matter, Yeosang. I can take care of myself. Let's finish up—”
“No, we're going,” he decided for the both of them.
“Whatever happened to the awkward guy you were a few minutes ago?” Hongjoong wondered out loud.
“All awkwardness out the window once I have a responsibility. Come on,” he said, urging Hongjoong till the door. Just as they put their shoes on and were about to turn the door knob, they heard voices. They both immediately froze.
Hongjoong had momentarily forgotten the fact that he and Yeosang weren’t the only ones in that building. The two of them turned to each other at the same time, a frightened look on both their faces, and then burst out laughing at the comedy that was them trying to socialise.
“Uh— go ahead, Hongjoong! Open the door,” Yeosang said.
“You know I’m perfectly fine with us not going, right? You’re not hungry, I don’t wanna go. It’s a lose-lose situation. Let’s just get our room ready,” Hongjoong said, bending down to remove his shoes.
“No! You know what, fine,” Yeosang said, and then bravely opened the door.
The moment Yeosang opened the door, Hongjoong peeked out tentatively, and he was met with with three loud people standing huddled together in the narrow space of the corridor — fully in Hongjoong’s line of sight, but he doubted they’d be able to notice him if he found a way to swiftly walk past them with no noise.
As Yeosang went back in to get his keys, Hongjoong took the brief period of time to see their faces — a guy built like a mountain but with the prettiest dimples, another guy whose back was to Hongjoong and was possibly the tallest human he had ever seen, and another, more soft-looking, almost angel-like guy with a shy, boxy smile. Hongjoong’s building had rooms that only fit two people — so he was confused as to why there were three of them. But by the looks of it, they were close — so Hongjoong guessed they were probably a group of friends who chose the same college and nearby rooms.
That immediately spooked Hongjoong, who knew that best friends living with each other next door would pose a problem — because hey, what do you mean you’re not also awkward and new and don’t know anything about anyone else? — so he tried to manoeuver his way out of that side of the corridor without anyone noticing.
But of course, if only he was ever that lucky, because he caught the attention of all three of them the moment Yeosang yelled, “Hongjoong, wait!”
Internally facepalming, Hongjoong took a deep breath and turned around, the corridor going silent and four pairs of eyes on him — all at once.
Yeah, no, this isn’t happening, he thought, stuck in his spot. Surely I can go back in time to five minutes ago when I was in my room.
Yeosang froze, too, his set of keys dangling in his hands.
“Oh! You guys already moved in? I thought we were the first!” the tall guy said, breaking the silence that lasted a beat too long, his face breaking out into a smile big enough to rival Wooyoung’s.
“Well, technically, it’s me and him,” the guy with the dimples said, pointing to the guy who appeared to be rather quiet.
“Uh— yeah, I came here in the morning. And he — Hongjoong — came a few hours back,” Yeosang said, finding his place next to Hongjoong. “You guys are right next to us?”
“Yes! As you can see, this place is a huge mess right now, so we were trying to think of what to do, where to start, you know?” Dimples Guy explained.
“Ah— yeah, that did take us a bit to figure out…” Yeosang said.
“So you guys finished arranging your room?” Tall Guy asked, tilting his head animatedly.
“Not really… but we did finish arranging our clothes and stuff, so— yeah.”
“Oh! Was the single wardrobe enough for two people?” Dimples Guy asked.
“For now— yeah…”
“That’s reassuring,” Dimples Guy said, smiling, his dimples deep and pretty. “I’m San, by the way.”
“I’m— I’m Yeosang.”
“I’m Yunho! Nice to meet you guys!” the tall guy said.
“I’m Seonghwa,” the other, quieter, more reserved one said. Hongjoong thought he had the gentlest voice, and a very warm, almost comforting demeanor. Anyone who wasn’t loud at first glance immediately caught Hongjoong’s eye, as strange as it sounded. Seonghwa, he said to himself in his head. That suits him.
The rest of them looked at Hongjoong, and before he could say anything, Yunho said, “Hey, Hongjoong. We already know your name thanks to Yeosang.”
San laughed at that, and Hongjoong felt embarrassed, his ears burning. He was the only one who hadn’t spoken a single word this whole conversation. So he decided to try, even though, as Yunho pointed out, they all did know his name.
“Ah— yeah. I’m Hongjoong. Nice to meet you guys.”
“So we’re all in the same year, right? First?” Yunho asked.
“Yeah,” Hongjoong and Yeosang said.
“We were going to look around the campus later this evening, maybe after dinner. All of us should go together!”
“You’ll be away at the sports quarters,” San pouted. “We have to get your room ready, too, don’t forget.”
“Oh, you’re in sports?” Yeosang asked, interest piqued.
“Yeah! What major are you guys?”
“I’m in design,” Yeosang said.
“I’m— architecture.” Hongjoong’s throat caught.
“Wow! That’s how you guys finished your room arrangement so quick!” San said, eyes wide.
“No, it’s— we’re not even halfway done yet,” Hongjoong said, more shy now than embarrassed.
“But you know where to put what and all, right?” San said.
“Well— I have a vague idea—”
“He does! He’s really smart!” Yeosang declared.
“I knew it! Hongjoong, help with our room too, please? It looks like a store room — worse.”
“I mean, sure, but I wouldn’t want to do something my way and have you guys not like it…”
“We’ll tell you! Just help us, that’s all! Please?” San had a serious case of puppy-face, because there was no way Hongjoong was about to say no to him.
“I mean— sure, if you want that,” Hongjoong agreed.
“Okay! Yay!”
“Wait, were you guys going to the canteen? Or just to look around?” Yunho asked
“Oh— my mattress will arrive in about an hour. So just a quick trip to the canteen, yeah,” Hongjoong said — he almost forgot that was what he and Yeosang had planned to do.
“Really? We were gonna go, too! Let’s go together!” Yunho said his excitement radiating off his body.
“Oh, uh… sure,” Hongjoong said, quickly glancing at Yeosang. These people looked friendly enough, and Hongjoong was not opposed to making friends with their neighbours.
Yeosang nodded — at what, Hongjoong didn’t know, but somehow, it was reassuring. The five of them walked down the stairs after locking San and Seonghwa’s door in search of the canteen, San, Yunho and Yeosang falling into easy, friendly conversation. Hongjoong found out that San was a business major. Seonghwa had fallen into step next to Hongjoong, and the two of them walked quietly behind the other three.
Curious, Hongjoong asked, “So you’re— you’re in arts, too?”
Seonghwa shook his head no. “Ah, no — I’m a computer science major,” he said. Hongjoong’s eyes widened.
So cool! he thought.
“Wow,” Hongjoong said, “that’s— that’s so cool.”
“Not as much as you guys, I’m learning,” Seonghwa said, laughing. His smile was shy and boxy, and his laugh was husky, deep. Hongjoong liked his voice.
“Not true,” he said, more so to himself.
They slipped into silence again, and Hongjoong didn’t know if it was an awkward one or not because he spent majority of the time thinking about whether it was awkward or not. Nice shoes, he thought unhelpfully, glancing at their feet.
“Hongjoong also has the coolest friend,” Yeosang said, and Hongjoong’s ears perked at hearing his name.
Why is he bringing Wooyoung into this, he thought.
“That’s one way to put it,” Hongjoong said, “I’d say he’s the loudest person on earth.”
“Oh! Introduce us to him, too!” Yunho said.
“It’s only because of him that Hongjoong and I didn’t go through a horribly awkward starting stage.”
“He sounds so sweet! I wanna talk to him, too,” San said, Yunho agreeing.
“Um, I mean, sure, he’d love that,” Hongjoong said. More than that, Wooyoung would probably just be shell shocked at the fact that Hongjoong knew and had talked to more than one person.
A few minutes later, after getting away from their dorms, Hongjoong thought they were walking in what felt like circles around the same area. He and Seonghwa remained silent, Yeosang, too, as San and Yunho tried navigating their way through the campus to the canteen.
“Would Google maps work here?” Hongjoong wondered.
“Probably,” Seonghwa said, taking his phone out. After some clicking and typing and scrolling, Seonghwa figured out that there were no separate canteens — all of them were situated inside buildings. So with Seonghwa’s help, the five of them reached the canteen in the computer science and engineering department and sat down.
“Oh, this is your department,” Hongjoong said to Seonghwa.
“It is,” he said, giving Hongjoong a small smile, which Hongjoong thought was so— sweet. Seonghwa just had a warm, sweet aura about him, and Hongjoong would be lying if he said he wasn’t immediately drawn to it.
The five of them sat down, ordered, ate their food, and just as they were throwing out plan after plan, Hongjoong’s phone rang — the mattress was arriving in minutes.
“You— you guys can go ahead,” he said, “Yeosang, too. I’ll take care of this.”
“What? No, our first plan was to finish your room, did you already forget?” San said, frowning.
“No, you guys wanted to look around and stuff… I can do this on my own—”
“That’s okay. Let’s go together,” Yunho said, giving Hongjoong a warm smile.
“Well— okay,” Hongjoong said, not knowing what more to do.
When they reached the dorms again, Hongjoong found the delivery person already there, waiting with his mattress.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he said, running towards him. “How much do I pay?”
“It’s already been paid for. Where should I put it?”
“Uh— just— here, at the door would be fine,” Hongjoong said, gesturing vaguely, letting himself and the delivery guy into the room.
Four other heads peeked curiously from outside, and Hongjoong stifled a laugh at the sight.
“Thank you so much, sir,” he said, handing him a tip. He thanked Hongjoong and left, and Hongjoong was left to wonder how he was going to let himself sleep on this — this expensive-looking, soft, comfortable bed — without feeling guilty and thinking about what his parents were sacrificing now because of it.
“Should we start, then?” San said, still peeking from outside.
“Yeah, sure,” Hongjoong said, sighing, removing his shoes and getting to work. He would have plenty of time later to feel all the guilt that was hiding away now with how busy he was.
He took the mattress with both his hands and tried moving it to make way for the others to come in, and maybe it was his socks that were slippery, or maybe it was his lousy grip — Hongjoong fell on his butt, the mattress on top of him. It didn’t really hurt, but he was embarrassed.
“Shit— Hongjoong, are you okay?” Yunho said, running over to help him out. The rest of them rushed in, too.
Well, Hongjoong thought, glancing at Yeosang as he helped him up, this is one weird full-circle moment.
»»———— ★ ————««
Hongjoong quickly realized that Seonghwa was not as quiet and reserved as he appeared when they first met, although the other two were definitely louder. The three of them were chaotic and treated Hongjoong and Yeosang’s dorm like they would their own homes, and even though Hongjoong found it to be annoying at first, he quickly warmed up to their shenanigans and even joined them. He was so surprised — he hadn’t expected any of this to happen. Hongjoong had been so ready to spend his entire four years at college alone and barely make any friends, but here he was, not even one day in and already having fun with four other people as they failed miserably at setting up his room.
Seonghwa seemed to get to his senses first. “Guys, we have a whole other dorm to finish arranging, we should—”
He was cut off by a painful smack in the face by Yeosang’s pillow.
“I’m sorry! Oh no, I’m so sorry! Seonghwa!” Yeosang rushed over, but Seonghwa only sighed in the way a tired mom would, and took the pillow from the floor and smoothed it out.
Hongjoong laughed, and despite how much fun their meaningless banter was, and how big of an ice-breaker it ended up being, he agreed that they should start working so that they could do Seonghwa and San’s room, too. They had to sleep there that night, and it was almost dinnertime.
“Seonghwa’s right,” Hongjoong said, glancing over at him. “This room doesn’t have much to do — let’s finish it quick.” Seonghwa gave him a grateful smile.
“Yeah, okay,” San agreed. “Yeosangie and I can put up his bed!”
“Yeah, but before that, we need to shift these bedframes around a little.”
“How?”
“Okay… wait,” Hongjoong said. He needed to know what Yeosang was comfortable with before anything. So he asked, turning to him, “Yeosang, do you want us to split the room in two, have two separate spaces, or are you okay with us having our stuff— like— all over the room?” He could’ve worded that better, but hoped Yeosang got the message.
“Oh, um… if we were to have separate spaces, how would you split it?”
“Good question,” Hongjoong said, smiling. He was thinking of how he’d do it, too, and he’d come up with a plan that included the bedframes placed on the two ends of the kitchen-area, so they would both have proper access to everything — the kitchen would be the same distance to walk to, the table would be in the middle, and both corners had two charging ports. The only thing in their way would be the shared wardrobe, which they couldn’t move as it was attached to the wall. So any time someone wanted to access it, they’d have to walk into the other’s space to do so — not so ideal. The fans, too, were awkwardly right in the middle of the room, so the person who would be next to the wardrobe would get no air.
But if they were to share spaces, the disadvantages were obvious — they wouldn’t have much privacy and would have to share the remaining empty space that the beds didn’t take up, and one person would have to take longer walks to the kitchen in any midnight scenarios. The placement of the table would be a little hard, too, if the two of their beds were close to each other. The advantage, though, would be that they could shift things around in any way they wanted in order to accommodate the person that needed the space the most at that particular time.
Hongjoong laid all of this out to the three of them — Yunho had left to buy necessities for his own room a while back, not trusting his friends to finish their work in time to help him do his, too — and they listened attentively. Once he was done, Hongjoong looked to Yeosang to know what he thought.
“What if we— say, move this one more next to the door rather than the kitchen?” he asked, pointing to his own bed. “We’d have more area in the middle to do our work, and the table would have space.”
“You wouldn’t get any air, then,” Hongjoong said, pointing to it.
“Ah, yeah,” Yeosang agreed, scratching the back of his head. “I’m— I’m okay with the other option, then.”
“Us sharing the whole thing and not separating the room?”
“Yeah,” he said, nervous — why was he nervous? “If— if you’re okay with it?”
Oh, Hongjoong thought. This guy’s sweet.
“I am, I thought that would be best, too,” he said, smiling. “I assumed you’d want your own space, so I thought of something for that, just in case.”
“Yeah, well— sharing the whole thing would be less awkward than either of us just walking into the other’s designated space every time we need something from this huge wardrobe, because, I mean— it has basically everything, right?”
“Yeah, you’re right — I’m glad we’re on the same page, then.”
“Wow, this guy has a sexy brain!” San said, eyes bright.
“What the hell,” Hongjoong said, embarrassed.
“I agree,” Seonghwa said, his smile small and shy. “How did you come up with all this in the little time you spent here?”
“I mean, I guess that’s my whole niche, so…”
“Still, it’s mad impressive that you came up with all that in such little time. Your sense of space is spot on.”
“I, uh, I actually took a year off to really work on this, so, I guess— yeah…” He wanted to keep that information a secret as long as he could, but something about their appreciation for every little thing he did made Hongjoong want to confess that he wasn’t just some genius — he’d taken a year to master his skills to get into the state’s best college, something his parents couldn’t have afforded if he’d tried for it fresh out of high school. With a winter-term scholarship in a university abroad that he’d attended online, thanks to his high grades in school, he was able to secure a scholarship in his current college — which would last as long as his grades were up to par.
“Wait, what! So you’re— you’re also a year older?” Seonghwa asked, eyes blown wide in surprise.
“You’re ‘98, too? Really?” Hongjoong asked, surprised, too.
“I am! What!” Seonghwa’s voice went high-pitched, and the others burst into laughter. Hongjoong, although just as surprised, knew it wasn’t that uncommon for people to wait to get into college, to really hone their skills to stand out.
“Seonghwa hyung, Hongjoong hyung, what is this? I mean, I obviously know about Seonghwa, but you, too?” San said, and Yeosang nodded, surprised, too. Hongjoong didn’t think it was that big of a deal, so he found their reactions rather amusing.
“I mean, is it not common to want to stand out among others…? Why is this so surprising…”
“We’re here just to get our damn degrees!” San said. Was he not fond of business?
“He’s right,” Yeosang said, and Hongjoong was more surprised at that.
“What? So you don’t even like designing?”
“Uh… um, you could say that. Well, no, I love design! Just not, you know, the whole process…”
“You know you’re not making any sense, right?” Hongjoong said. Yeosang blushed, scratching the back of his head, not really elaborating any further.
“You— you’re a model, aren’t you?!” San said, pointing a finger at him accusingly. Hongjoong snapped his neck to look at Yeosang, whose face only grew redder.
“N-no! Not, yet, I mean, I need this degree to fully— like, establish myself,” Yeosang said, all fidgety and pink cheeks.
“I knew it, I knew it! I wanted to ask, but— but I didn’t because— oh my god, I knew people didn’t just look like that. Shit, I’m friends with a fucking future legend!”
“Wow…” Seonghwa said, and Hongjoong had to agree. Although this was the most well-reputed college in his state and one of the best in the country, he was surprised at the various kinds of reasons people were there, attending — one who was genuinely passionate, one who just needed that goddamn degree, and one who needed this as a push-through to reach higher levels. Which left… Seonghwa.
“So you’re also secretly some world-class dude who’s here just because? Are you some high-level, I don’t know, ethical hacker?” Hongjoong asked.
“Yeah, no,” Seonghwa said, “I’m here because… I liked computers better than my other school subjects. And because I need a well-paying job.”
“Great, one normal person,” Hongjoong said, which made Seonghwa laugh, which in turn made Hongjoong giggle. He found he loved making Seonghwa’s boxy smile pop up every now and then. “Why’d you take a break year, then?”
“Well, I… frankly, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I wasn’t the best at school. Like— I was so painfully average at everything — not bad, but never good enough. So I guess I took one year to just… figure my stuff out. I attended some programming courses, and then some coding contests, and then, well, I liked it enough to want to make a job out of it. Nothing ground-breaking.”
Nothing ground-breaking indeed, but Hongjoong could feel in his bones that Seonghwa had a wealthy family, an upper middle-class one at least. Definitely much wealthier than Hongjoong. Because who else could afford to take a whole year off just to, as he put it, “figure stuff out”?
“Ah… that makes sense,” he said instead, trying to hide the mild discomfort that crept its way up Hongjoong’s stomach. Surely they wouldn’t randomly turn their backs on him if they found out he didn’t have the small, seemingly insignificant privileges people of their status had, right?
“So we have two older brothers! Yay!” San said, his pretty, pretty dimples on full display. Hongjoong, despite the many tiny turmoils he was going through internally, couldn’t help but soften at the sight of them.
Yeosang stayed silent, but smiled, too, although he looked like he’d seen just a ghost.
With there being so much left to do, Hongjoong thought they could have conversations like this later — after they were done with their rooms.
“Okay, we keep getting side-tracked,” Seonghwa said, reading Hongjoong’s mind. “It’s almost seven. Let’s finish this fast, since we know where to put what.”
“Done!” San said, and they finally got back to work.
Yeosang and San, the bulkiest of them, took care of arranging the bedframes as noiselessly as they could while Hongjoong and Seonghwa worked on removing the plastic wrapping off Hongjoong’s mattress. They were both not as well-built, but since Seonghwa was tall, they were able to get it done without much difficulty. The bed was so, so soft — Hongjoong would be out in a few seconds on it. He had to keep his emotions in control for now, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t feel the urge to burst into tears at the thought.
“Wow, this is pretty high-quality,” Seonghwa said, patting the mattress. “Mine’s pretty similar, but really old.”
“Yeah…” Hongjoong said, not knowing what else to do.
Seonghwa glanced back and saw that Yeosang and San were almost done with putting everything in place, and so he looked back to Hongjoong and said, “Let’s carry it together on the count of three?”
Hongjoong nodded, and the two of them carried it, Seonghwa shouting a warning in advance to Yeosang and San that they were coming. Once it was in place, Hongjoong placed the pillows and comforter — which came with the mattress, also new — on top of it and they were all done. How they got Yeosang’s mattress on his bedframe was something Hongjoong was left to only wonder, but he felt a sense of relief that their room was all — well, mostly — set now. At least enough to fall asleep comfortably.
Seonghwa and Yeosang pushed the table in between the two beds, and it fit like the missing piece of a puzzle. Hongjoong was satisfied with it, and when he asked if Yeosang was, too, the other nodded. “We could always change it if things don’t work out,” he said. Hongjoong agreed.
“Okay, let’s go to your room now,” he told Seonghwa. He already felt exhausted. He’d been pushing and arranging things all day, and hadn’t had a single second to himself since the moment he walked into his room. Hongjoong thought it would take him a while to get used to this.
“Should we… eat dinner first?” Seonghwa asked, as if he wasn’t sure the others would agree. Hongjoong wasn’t hungry, and even though he could go without food for another hour or so, he thought taking a small break wouldn’t be too bad of an idea.
“Sure,” he said, “we can go. You guys?” Yeosang and San nodded, too, and Hongjoong took notice of the way Yeosang said yes even though he apparently didn’t usually eat dinner — well, he didn’t have any high-protein stuff during the day like he said, so he was probably hungry, too.
The four of them walked to the canteen the same way they’d done just a couple hours before, and San took charge of calling Yunho to join them.
During dinner, San and Yeosang fell into conversation about their work out routines, their diets and such — Hongjoong had no part in that conversation. His diet was messy at best, and his work-out routine non-existent. This left Hongjoong and Seonghwa at each other’s company — was this going to become a thing now?
Hongjoong, honestly, had nothing to say. He was tired, and he wanted to talk to his mom again, and his dad, if he could. He wanted to talk to Jongho, who was in his senior year at art school, but had already been sent to various national-level institutes for his exceptional vocals, and Hongjoong was a little sad he couldn’t be there for his little brother — well, not blood-related, but he might as well be — and watch him be fought over by companies to scout him. He wanted to hear Wooyoung’s happy, comforting voice.
“So… where are you from?” Seonghwa asked in between bites of food.
Hell no, Hongjoong thought, I’m in absolutely no mood for small-talk.
“I’m from Anyang,” he said, and as courtesy, asked Seonghwa the question back.
“Jinju,” he said, to which Hongjoong only hummed. “So your home is pretty close-by, right?”
“Yeah, only an hour by train.”
“Ah… that’s nice. I’d have to either travel six hours by train or take a flight. Not so economic,” he said, smiling, although it was a touch sad. And Hongjoong, right then, felt bad, too — he wasn’t the only one who felt homesick. Everyone around him was trying to get used to this.
“Not very economical for me to go and come as much as I want, either,” Hongjoong said, but immediately cringed — no one had to know.
“If we all went together, it would be fine, though, right?”
“Together? To my house?”
“Yeah, why not? I wanna meet your friend. Get to know other places in Korea I’ve never been to. It would be fun.”
“Yeah, maybe…” Hongjoong knew this person for less than a day, and he was already talking about visiting his hometown?
“Sorry, did I… cross a line?” Seonghwa asked after a beat of silence, after Hongjoong didn’t follow up with anything else.
“Ah, I was just kinda taken aback… I don’t really know how— how to act when…” I make new friends, because I’ve never had to make new friends. But that was pathetic, and Hongjoong caught himself before saying that out loud.
“It’s— it’s okay! I’m sorry again…” Seonghwa said, and the two of them ate their food in a silence that was a bit awkward, but Hongjoong had a little too much on his mind to really pay it much attention. San called Seonghwa and the two of them fell into conversation quickly enough, so the rest of their time went by pretty okay.
Hongjoong, on their way back, asked San why Yunho hadn’t shown up, and apparently the sports quarters only had rooms that a minimum of six people could share, so he was caught up with that. Hongjoong thought, then, that that was his worst nightmare.
When they reached the dorms again, they quickly got to work on Seonghwa and San's room, and maybe it was because Hongjoong was very obviously, visibly tired, or maybe it was because they all were — the guys wasted no time in telling Hongjoong their preferences and needs before Hongjoong quickly came up with a decent plan. They got to work right away.
The hardest part about arranging San’s bed wasn’t even the bed itself, but trying to collect the sheer number of plushies that had tumbled forth when Hongjoong opened the bag that he thought had all of San’s pillows.
That’s cute, he thought, chuckling under his breath at the sight of it, and San animatedly told him the order in which to arrange them. Hongjoong found putting them together in San’s weirdly specific order to be a little calming, even, after a day of pushing things around and being with people nonstop.
“Why are you making him arrange all that, San,” Seonghwa said, coming over to them. Him and Yeosang were apparently done with their share of the work. Hongjoong got a quick glance back, and saw that Seonghwa’s bed was simple, and he only had a minimum amount of stuff. The covers were grey and his pillows a different shade of the same colour, and the comforter looked fluffy and soft. It did look like Hongjoong’s, but of course, a lot more used.
“They’re cute,” Hongjoong said. “It’s fun making them sit with each other.”
“This one is so cute,” Yeosang said, pointing at one that looked like a purple kitten. “Wait, it looks like you!”
“It does!” Hongjoong said, shocked — the resemblance was uncanny. “The eyes and the smile! It’s you!”
Seonghwa laughed, San with him. “It does. Yunho won it for me at some beach carnival. He wouldn’t leave the place without it.”
“You— you three went to the same school?” Hongjoong asked, although that was pretty obvious.
“Yeah. We had a bigger friend group at the start of high school, but well… we’re the only ones that stuck,” Seonghwa said.
Hongjoong hummed. That made sense. Wooyoung had plenty friends and was part of a million friend groups, Hongjoong’s only actual friend group was back in elementary school, and Jongho had a few friends here and there, but when it came down to being close friends — it was Hongjoong, Wooyoung and Jongho, right from childhood.
“Seonghwa’s mom was mine and Yunho’s favourite teacher. So we hung out a lot and our moms became friends, and yeah, we just, kinda stuck together even after,” San said, smiling at Seonghwa, which Hongjoong found endearing. He would admit, he was a little jealous that they got to go to college together and room together while Hongjoong didn’t even know when would be the next time he’d see Wooyoung and Jongho, but there was more warmth in his heart than envy seeing San and Seonghwa.
The sound of Yeosang yawning caught Hongjoong’s attention. “Yeah, let’s go, let’s sleep,” he agreed. “It was one stressful day.”
The two of them got up from the floor next to San’s bed, bidding the other two goodbye. At the door, San attacked the two of them with a sudden hug, and Hongjoong's fight or flight instinct kicked in and he squirmed away like he would when Wooyoung tried to hug him unprompted.
Shit, this isn't Wooyoung, he probably feels embarrassed now, Hongjoong thought.
“Sorry—” he started, but was promptly cut off by San, who almost yelled, flinging Yeosang to the side, who only stood still, and looked like he was still trying to process what had just happened.
“I'm so sorry! I should've asked! I’m sorry! Hongjoong hyung!”
“No, it's just— I'm not… used to this…”
“San, we've known them for less than a day,” Seonghwa reprimanded.
“No, I mean yeah— uh, sorry I made it awkward… I’m just really tired,” Hongjoong stuttered. God, someone get me out of this, he prayed. I don't have the energy.
“Can I— can I give you a side hug?” San asked, and wow, Hongjoong was already in serious trouble, because he wasn't about to say no to San now, either.
“Uh, sure,” he said, awkwardly waddling back to him.
His embrace was warm, although brief, and if Hongjoong was someone who liked hugs, he would’ve snuggled into him and fallen asleep right there. Was that something a person who didn't like hugs thought about? Hongjoong didn’t know. He didn't want to think about it.
When they pulled apart, Hongjoong glanced at Seonghwa, who only took his hands and held them gently, tentatively.
“Not one for hugs?” he asked, voice low and warm and kind. Hongjoong didn't take his hands out of the other’s grip. Even though Hongjoong had more awkward moments with Seonghwa than the others that whole day, he couldn’t help but think Seonghwa would be the one to make the best friend out of them all; he just radiated the kind of energy Hongjoong was drawn to.
“Yeah— yeah…”
“San is pretty touchy with everyone. Sorry about him. He thinks everyone is his best friend.”
“He's adorable,” Hongjoong admitted, “but yeah, I was— just, caught off guard. I didn't mean to cringe away like that.”
“It's okay. He should've asked.”
“Mm.” Hongjoong didn't know what to say. The smell of the night air, combined with Seonghwa’s sweet, sweet voice, made him all the more sleepy. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see San and Yeosang standing there hugging, and Hongjoong thought that was really cute.
“Thank you for helping us. You did us a huge favour, one I don't even know if I can do anything to repay,” Seonghwa said, meeting his eyes.
“It was nothing, really,” Hongjoong said, looking at his feet, shy. “You don't have anything to repay me for.”
“Let me decide that.” Seonghwa squeezed his hands a little, and Hongjoong thought they were as warm as his voice.
Hongjoong only mildly chuckled, too tired to deny him any further.
“I'll let you go, then,” Seonghwa said, “good night.”
“Good night,” Hongjoong said back, nodding, and maybe it was the tiredness in his body, or the feeling of homesickness that Hongjoong could see reflected in Seonghwa’s eyes; he attempted to squeeze the other's hands back, just as a gesture of thanks, of friendship.
When they let go of each other, Hongjoong already missed the warmth of Seonghwa’s hands as the sticky, humid air of the night was back on his skin.