Chapter Text
By the fourth week of Wonbin working with him, Eunseok had somehow become a permanent fixture in the studio.
The semester had started picking up speed. Assignments were piling up, deadlines got closer and everyone suddenly remembered attendance mattered. Yet, somehow Wonbin saw more of Eunseok now than he had at the beginning of this whole thing.
He thought that would bother him.
Having someone in his personal sacred space while he worked used to be his worst nightmare, and everyone in the department knew it. That was partly why people usually left him alone in this particular studio. It was as much for them as it was for him, really.
But Eunseok wasn’t invasive.
He didn’t feel like a parasite hovering over Wonbin’s shoulder or constantly asking what he was doing. He didn’t pry or try to make conversation when there was no need for it.
No, he was simply there.
Like the broken dress forms permanently shoved into the corner or the abandoned mugs multiplying near the sink.
At some point around the fourth or fifth session, Wonbin still couldn’t grasp why Eunseok kept staying long after their fittings ended.
He would simply show up with his laptop bag in the morning, settle into the same stool near the window and work silently for hours while Wonbin patterned, sewed and occasionally threatened fabric with violence when it wouldn’t comply. Sometimes he even came on days he wasn’t technically supposed to be there.
It was fantastic to have his model so readily on hand, don’t get him wrong. He could pull him up at any time for trials and alterations, and the best part was that Eunseok never complained. Just removed his jacket or hoodie and stood there waiting.
Wonbin just couldn’t understand why.
He glanced toward the digital clock hanging on the far wall, noticing three hours had gone by before looking back at Eunseok.
“You know you can leave, right? We’re done for today.”
Eunseok didn’t even look up from his laptop, pushing his glasses up his nose mindlessly.
“I know.”
The clicking of his keyboard continued for another few seconds.
“I like working here. It’s quiet.”
Wonbin stared at him.
Quiet was probably the last word he would use to describe the studio. The industrial sewing machine rattled loudly and somewhere behind them, a steamer he’d left on hissed aggressively while shouting could be heard down the hall from students looking for a misplaced item.
This place was everything except quiet. If anything, it was closer to a zoo.
And don’t even get him started on the ancient stool Eunseok insisted on using despite the fact it wobbled like it was on the verge of collapsing.
And yet somehow…
Wonbin understood exactly what Eunseok meant.
“You’re weird.” he said instead.
“Mhm.”
“That machine alone sounds like a plane taking off.”
Eunseok hummed again softly in agreement, fingers still moving across his keyboard and completely unbothered.
After that, they slipped back into working on their own projects in silence.
The room settled into an easy rhythm around them. The sewing machine buzzed steadily while Eunseok’s keyboard clicked softly in the background, the sounds eventually blending together into familiar white noise. Every so often, Wonbin would mutter a violent curse after stabbing himself with a pin, usually followed by one of Eunseok’s quiet sighs whenever something on his laptop stopped cooperating.
At some point, this little something had started feeling normal.
Which Wonbin should probably find a lot more concerning than he did.
He put that in one of his mental drawers to be reevaluated at an ulterior time.
By the time the sun started to disappear outside the studio windows, Wonbin could barely tell whether he was pinning the fabric or his own fingers anymore. The main source of light came from Eunseok’s laptop’s screen, pale blue reflecting faintly against his glasses as he continued working.
Wonbin wondered briefly if he always worked in the dark.
That would explain his terrible eyesight, he’s blind as a mole.
Eventually, whether it had been minutes or hours later, Wonbin honestly couldn’t tell anymore, Eunseok closed his laptop with a quiet sigh, pushing the stool back slightly and stretching his arms up toward the ceiling.
“I’m gonna go grab coffee.”
Wonbin only hummed distractedly, too busy fighting with the sleeve currently ruining his life to look up at him.
He heard however the soft shuffling of footsteps get closer before stopping somewhere behind him.
“You want anything?”
The question made him hesitate for half a second, pin suspended in the air.
The correct answer probably should be yes.
His shoulders were stiff, his eyes burned and he’d been staring at the same sleeve for too long. He couldn’t even remember when was the last time he drank or ate something.
Stepping outside for ten minutes likely wouldn’t kill him.
If anything, it would probably increase his life expectancy and save his posture from turning him into the Hunchback.
But he was so close.
The sleeve was finally starting to cooperate after nearly forty minutes of psychological warfare and if he stopped now, he might lose the momentum completely.
“No thanks,” Wonbin muttered, stabbing the fabric with a sick sense of satisfaction. “I have to finish this.”
There was no sound for a second.
“ I didn’t ask if you wanted to come, just if you wanted something… Do you wanna come?”
Wonbin wanted the floor to swallow him actually.
That’s what he wanted more than anything right now.
Instead what came out was an embarrassing jumble of words.
“ NoIamgoodthankyou!”
“ Oh ok…”
The footsteps resumed, heading towards the door and when Wonbin briefly looked up all he saw was the grey hoodie disappearing behind the sliding door.
The studio felt strangely empty after that.
Not quieter.
If anything, the hallway had somehow gotten louder. Every sound seemed to rush back tenfold and attack his eardrums all at once. Someone laughed obnoxiously nearby while another studio door slammed shut hard enough to rattle the walls. Students leaving for the night probably.
Their voices and footsteps echoed down the hallway, grating heavily on his nerves.
Wonbin frowned when he looked down at the sleeve in his hands realizing the meticulous pinning he’d been working on was all crooked.
He took a slow, controlled breath before pulling the pins out one by one.
In and out.
He’d done it a million times before, he could do it.
Unable to stop himself, he looked up again, staring directly at the empty stool a couple feet away.
Had the studio always felt this big?
His phone suddenly buzzed against the table, putting a stop to his thoughts before they could spiral any further.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
Hellooooo, Wonbin-ssi?
Another message immediately followed.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
It’s your BEST FRIEND btw
If you remember me
Wonbin snorted, a smile pulling at his mouth despite his best effort as he dropped the fabric beside him and grabbed his phone instead.
Wonbin
Unfortunately.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
HE LIVES!!◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜
Wonbin rolled his eyes automatically before typing back.
Wonbin
Yes Hyung, I’m still alive🙄
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
crazy!
thought the fashion department finally got you
Wonbin
It’s working on it.
Might actually succeed.
The three little typing dots immediately appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
It went on for a little while, just enough to make Wonbin narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He’d known Shotaro long enough to recognize the beginning of a problem.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
Soooooooo
There it was.
Wonbin
No.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
you don’t even know what i was gonna ask!
Wonbin
I know it was gonna be something annoying.
What do you want. I’m busy.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
Very busy, You’re answering me in 2 seconds
But Sungchan mentioned that Eunseokie was still with you
Wonbin’s smile instantly flattened into a frown.
Wonbin
Ok, and?
Your bf needs to find a new hobby.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
No but it’s just interesting that he’s been spending time
with you in the studio instead of being holed up in his dorm
He glanced instinctively toward the empty stool near the window once more.
It was becoming a bad habit.
So what if Eunseok had been spending time here lately? Was it really that strange for someone to work somewhere other than their dorm? Plenty of students did it. Wonbin genuinely couldn’t understand why Shotaro was making a big deal out of it.
Eunseok said it himself, he liked it here.
Wonbin
He works here sometimes.
He said he liked it here.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
Most people don’t voluntarily spend 6 hours in the fashion building.
It’s depressing in there.
Wonbin
That sounds like a you problem.
Shotaro replied with about six laughing emojis in a row before another message popped up.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
i’d like to keep my eyes and back in a
semi-functional state thank you!
The three dots appeared again.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
But seriously though
i’ve literally never seen eunseok voluntarily leave his room this much before
Wonbin should probably be embarrassed by how fast he typed back.
Wonbin
Why? You make him sound like he’s some sort of hermit.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
I meannnnnnnnn… It’s not too far off
idk he usually vanishes for an extended period of time
drives Sungchan crazy, honestly
His gaze locked onto the abandoned bag resting beside the stool, laptop discarded and waiting for its owner to come back.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
He’s been a little jealous, ngl
Wonbin
Cute.
Tell Hyung he has nothing to worry about.
Shotaro-Hyung 🕺
You can tell him that yourself! he’s been in his feels
sungchanie said he barely sees him anymore
That still didn’t fully make sense to Wonbin.
The way Shotaro and Sungchan talked about him, you’d think Eunseok had been living in complete isolation for the past five years.
Meanwhile, he’d been in the studio three days this week alone.
Was that truly so out of the ordinary?
Wonbin placed his phone face down on the table, no longer feeling like entertaining the older man.
Him and Sungchan were just being dramatic and exaggerating.
They’re the ones who set this up in the first place.
The thought lingered unpleasantly as he returned to the sleeve in his hands, trying once again to pin it straight.
The silence felt heavy now.
Long enough to let him sit in whatever strange aftertaste the conversation with Shotaro had left behind.
Why shouldn’t he take what Eunseok said at face value? He had no reason to lie to him. No ulterior motive for staying here other than the fact he genuinely, in some deeply twisted masochistic way, seemed to enjoy working in this studio.
He let out a yelp when he pricked his finger, looking down to see the sleeve was pinned worse than before.
Breath in.
Breath out.
The momentum had officially been lost.
Curse Osaki Shotaro and all his descendants once more.
The studio door slid open before Wonbin could seriously start entertaining the idea of black magic and voodoo dolls.
Eunseok stepped back inside, balancing a tray with two coffees and a paper bag in one hand while using the other to slide the door shut behind him.
“There was a line.”
He explained automatically when their eyes connected, as if Wonbin had been keeping tabs on how long he’s been gone.
Maybe he had.
He didn’t need to know that.
It was between him and whatever higher power was up there, laughing at his misery.
“ You’re back…”
The words slipped out before he could even process the thought of stopping them.
Wonderful.
At this point his own brain was ganging up on him.
This was so embarrassing.
Eunseok blinked once, tray suspended halfway to the table as he looked at him.
“Were you expecting me not to?”
Wonbin immediately put on an offended look, suddenly becoming very busy with a random piece of fabric beside him.
“No. Don’t make it weird.”
“ My bag is still here…”
“ I just said don’t make it weird!”
He heard Eunseok laugh softly, the sound coming out in clear ‘Ha Ha Ha’ as he placed the tray down onto the table and picked out one of the coffees from it to place down next to his elbow.
“ Here.”
“I said I didn’t want anything.”
The comeback came out way more petulant than he’d wanted to.
“ I know.”
The answer was almost instant as Eunseok pushed a straw into his own drink before taking a tentative sip and giving a small nod of approval.
“ But you haven’t had anything else since I got here. I heard your stomach growling a couple times.”
Now he had to add his own body to the ever-growing list of traitors actively working against him.
Wonbin couldn’t even trust himself, could this day just end?
Eunseok, unbothered by his internal collapse, pulled a sandwich from the paper bag next, placing it beside the coffee.
Wonbin stared at it.
Then at him.
Then back at the sandwich.
The smell hit him instantly, making his stomach twist and turn in anticipation.
Grilled chicken in a sweet and spicy sauce on warm toasted bread with some lettuce for crunch.
His mouth was watering just at the thought of it.
“…How did you know my order?”
Eunseok looked genuinely confused by the question.
“You always buy this one. It’s all I’ve seen you eat aside from jellies.”
Wonbin felt suddenly strangely exposed.
Like Eunseok had quietly been collecting little details about him this entire time without Wonbin even noticing.
Meanwhile, all Wonbin really knew was that Eunseok did something involving computers, disappeared for concerning amounts of time and possessed 3 black t-shirts in rotation.
That felt a little unfair.
Eunseok walked back to his stool afterward, reopening his laptop with the same calm ease as always, like buying Wonbin coffee and memorizing his eating habits was the most ordinary thing in the world to do for someone who was basically still a stranger.
Wonbin watched as he pulled out his own sandwich, a simple plain grilled cheese, and brought it to his nose, sniffing it before taking a bite.
The familiar clicking filled the room again seconds later.
He looked down at the coffee beside his elbow, condensation gathering against the plastic cup.
It was the perfect colour.
“…Thank you,” he muttered after a moment. “For the coffee. And the food.”
Eunseok only hummed softly in acknowledgment, eyes still fixed on his screen.
Wonbin hesitated, awkwardly fidgeting with his fabric before building up the courage to add:
“Next time, it’s on me hyung.”
The clicking of the keyboard stopped.
Eunseok looked at him properly then, expression unreadable for half a second before the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
“Okay,” he said simply.
Then, after a beat:
“I’ll hold you to that.”
And somehow, if Wonbin’s heart did a triple somersault against his ribcage, he’d blame it entirely on the lack of caffeine and nutrients in his body and absolutely nothing else.