Work Text:
Jisung : why is Sungwoon moping? Fix him 4:31 PM
Daniel : I’ll buy you sweet bread. Don’t be sad :( 4:46 PM
Smallest Hyung : …… the one with sprinkles 4:48 PM
Daniel waited on the curb by the Arts building with a small paper bag clutched to his chest. The promised bread, plus some other treats, packed comfortably in his grasp. He heard Sungwoon before he saw him; bickering with Jaehwan as always. He looked up from his position on the ground much like a puppy awaiting its owner. Jaehwan bounded over to him, Sungwoon following behind.
“Hey honey! Those for me?” Sungwoon slapped the hand reaching for his goodie bag and pushed Jaehwan away with a shove of his arm.
“Back off, fattie. Hands off.”
Jaehwan grimaced. “Rude.” He did back off however, willingly giving the couple time to handle their dispute.
Daniel nudged his head to the right and they began to walk down the snowy path through campus. He held up the paper bag and Sungwoon opened it, digging through the various breads and taking the sugar glazed pastry with the rainbow sprinkles. He pushed the bag back to Daniel for him to hold.
Some freshmen were having a snowball fight and Daniel recognized Jihoon and Woojin building a lumpy snowman. In his peripheral, he caught Sungwoon flailing his arms and cursing under his breath as he slipped on some black ice and soon after, a cold hand was gripping his. Daniel held his hand securely and rubbed the back of his palm with his thumb.
“I can’t believe you said we should break up.” Sungwoon started and he was indeed, moping.
Daniel shook his head. “You misunderstood me. I wanted to explain but I knew you were already upset.” The corners of Sungwoon’s lips drooped and Daniel interlaced their fingers and squeezed.
“Are you scared for us after graduation?”
“Yeah.” Daniel put enough emphasis on his affirmation that Sungwoon bumped their shoulders together. “Are you not?”
Sungwoon bit into the bread. “Not really.”
“It’s because you’re the one who is leaving me behind.”
Daniel felt Sungwoon’s eyes peer up at him anxiously. “I’m not leaving you behind! Don’t put it that way.”
“Well,” He ruffled the back of his head. “How is this going to work? I don’t want to be the clingy, obsessed, younger boyfriend but I’ll want to still see you all the time. That’s not going to change.” He widened his eyes to the floor as his thought process spilled out. “What will we do? How will I cope with not getting my Sungwoon fix every day?”
“Babe,” Sungwoon cooed caringly. “It’ll work out. I’ll come see you. We’ll sync our schedules. We’ll figure it out together.”
“But I don’t want to hold you back if you could be doing more productive things. There will be other things that’ll require your attention instead of coming to see me. Don’t hold yourself back for me.” Daniel said in a quiet voice.
Sungwoon took the last bite and dusted the crumbs off the front of his jacket.
“Daniel. I don’t do things I don’t want to do. I’ve said it before. If I didn’t want to be with you, I wouldn’t. I didn’t want anything serious at first, I told you that.” Daniel took in a nervous breath. “But this is serious now so it’s time for some serious commitment. I’m not afraid of it. I want to stay with you and I think you want to stay with me so let’s do it.” Sungwoon shrugged with all the nonchalance in the world and Daniel exhaled, the tension in his shoulders calming. On a lighter note, Sungwoon added, “I can’t break your heart two times. I’m not that terrible.” He huffed out a small laugh.
Daniel raised their icy hands to his lips and blew warm air onto them. “But… Seongwoo hyung and Sejeong-”
“They’re not us.” Sungwoon cut him off steadfastly. “They don’t have our history. They don’t compare to what we have. No offense to them.”
“But what if it doesn’t work out come graduation? What if I turn into an empty shell of a man?” Daniel cried out, kicking the ground.
Sungwoon held back a laugh and thought for a second. “How do you feel about me right now?” Daniel looked down at him curiously. “At this very moment.” Sungwoon peered up at him.
“Honestly?” Sungwoon nodded and Daniel, maintaining eye contact, said, “I love you.”
Sungwoon’s face froze; the wind completely knocked out of his lungs. Slowly, his gaze fell and he swallowed what little saliva he had in his mouth. He sucked in his bottom lip, nibbling nervously and swiped at it with his tongue all while Daniel watched; capturing his reaction with a blossoming smile. Sungwoon’s cheekbones started to inch upwards then and he suddenly couldn’t meet Daniel’s eyes.
“Thank you.” He blurted out without really thinking but then shook his head like he was shuffling his thoughts around in his mind looking for the correct one. “Wait, what-no. Fuck. That’s- that’s not what I meant.” He glanced at Daniel for a split second and knew Daniel was almost as baffled as he was at his response.
Daniel rolled his lips into his mouth and bit them, repressing an amused grin. He massaged Sungwoon’s tense shoulders prodding him to continue what he was saying and the older went shy at his touch. Not only the tips of his ears going red but the entire thing.
Sungwoon cleared his throat. “So, um, yeah. If-if you feel like… that then we have a good chance of making it.” He took a moment to inhale and let the breath out through his mouth. “We still have a few more months. Let’s see how it goes.” He continued slowly. “And if at the end of the semester it’s not working out then we’ll call it quits. But don’t do it now. I don’t want to long for you from far away for the next few months for you to realize at the end that you made a mistake and want to be with me but now you wasted the little time we had together.”
Daniel took Sungwoon’s hand in his again and absorbed everything he was saying. “You’re right. I jumped the gun a little bit.” He rubbed circles into the back of Sungwoon’s hand. “I’m sorry. I know we have time. I just worry.”
They walked a few steps not saying anything and viewed their surroundings. Sungwoon wrapped his free hand around Daniel’s bicep. “Do you see me in your future?”
The younger stared off into the distance and smiled. “Remember I said we should open up a studio together? I wasn’t kidding. The more I thought about it the more I thought ‘huh this is actually doable.’ I guess I said that stuff in the library because I wasn’t sure where we stood. If this was truly long term. If you wanted to be with me even after you graduated. Yeah, I wanted you, you pushed me away and then wanted me back, but I didn’t know how much deeper your feelings went. I had an inkling, but I needed to hear it expressed aloud.”
“We had to have this talk eventually.” Sungwoon said and swung their joint hands. “Better you tell me how you’re feeling now then blindside me later when we’re moving in together or something.”
Daniel tilted his face down, so he could see Sungwoon better. “…You want to move in together?”
Sungwoon’s mouth twitched. “Well. Eventually, yeah.”
“You can’t live without me.” The teasing smile in Daniel’s voice could be heard from miles away.
“I can, actually. But I choose not to.” Sungwoon grinned. Daniel stopped walking, moved out of Sungwoon’s grip and trapped his face between his hands. The paper bag of treats plopped on the floor unimportantly.
“I love you.” He stated unwaveringly. “I know you’re not going to say it now but that’s okay. I know.” He smiled and Sungwoon, for the tenth time that day, looked away embarrassed. Daniel kissed him then, pleasantly surprised with the force with which Sungwoon returned the pressure on his lips. Their faces hovered close by as they pulled away and Sungwoon pressed three short successive kisses into Daniel’s lips. With each punctuated press of their lips, Daniel knew what Sungwoon was trying to say and he smiled at the effort.
The temperature was dropping ridiculously fast and soon enough the sun was setting as Sungwoon and Daniel walked through campus; the last rays of light blinding Sungwoon as he tried to look out for patches of ice.
“I’m freezing my ass off.” Daniel’s teeth chattered. “Can I have a bite?”
Sungwoon paused mid bite and offered Daniel his cinnamon bun from the paper bag. He yanked it from the other’s mouth with a yell when Daniel’s giant bite ate half the bun.
“Are you cold or are you hungry?” Sungwoon glared.
“Both.” Daniel mumbled.
They were so invested in taking the last bite of the cinnamon bun that they didn’t notice the cute freshman barreling towards them.
“Sungwoonie hyung!”
Sungwoon turned in the direction he was being called and failed to ward off the hungry mouth that stole the bread right from his hand. His head snapped back to Daniel and he punched his bicep.
“Hey Daehwi. What’s up?”
“I need help with my Harmony 1 final. I was looking for Jaehwan hyung but-”
“You don’t need him. I can help you.” Sungwoon smiled condescendingly and Daniel snorted. “Do you mind?” He asked Daniel but Daehwi was already pulling at his arm.
“Not at all. Go ahead.”
“See you tomorrow then.” Sungwoon said and hearts were practically shooting out of their eyes at each other as their hands separated.
Daehwi had pulled Sungwoon a few feet away when the older stopped with an “oh!” to run back to Daniel. The taller smiled and opened his arms awaiting his hug but instead, Sungwoon forgoed any contact with him, and snatched the paper bag out of his hands.
“Forgot my bread. Bye!”
Daniel blinked a few times. “I’m a damn fool.” He shook his head and shuffled to his dorm.
+++
“Hey Minhyun! Do you have a minute?”
Minhyun bit into his apple and wiped off his mouth with the tips of his fingers. Looking for the voice that called him, he paused his chewing. Waving an arm by the audio booth of the university’s black box theater was the only man that could make Minhyun’s knees weak. The only man who could quite possibly convince Minhyun over a cliff without thinking twice. He took another bite of his apple, willing himself to stay cool, and wandered up the aisle to the setup in the back of the room.
“Hey,” Jonghyun smiled and in the words of Tina Belcher, Minhyun’s heart pooped its pants.
“Hey.” He returned quietly. “What’s up?”
Jonghyun ducked down beneath the counter and resurfaced with a box of mic cables. “I need help untangling these XLRs. Can you give me a hand? Sanggyun was supposed to be here but he couldn’t make it and I have to set up for your rehearsal.”
Jonghyun, head TA of the audio division, was asking Minhyun, VP of the men’s division honor choir, to what? Unwrap cords from a dusty box?
“Yeah, it’s no problem.” He grinned, oozing pleasantness from his every pore. Jonghyun rewarded him with another smile and Minhyun had to watch his step as he followed the audio major down a few steps into a row of vacant seats.
“So how I do it is I take one of the ends, doesn’t matter which one, in my hand and wrap it around my elbow to form a loop.” Jonghyun quickly wrapped the cable around his arm with the swiftness of a professional and clicked both ends together. “Like this.” He held up the circular bundle. “Think you can handle it?”
“I think so.” Minhyun breathed out a small laugh and took the tangled wires from the other’s outstretched hand. He did as Jonghyun instructed, taking the end of the cable in his hand and winded the thick rubber around his joint. The first two loops were successful, but it was around the third and fourth that the cord started to twist, and he lost formation of his bundle.
“When that happens, just follow the natural twist of the cord and it should fall into place.” Jonghyun unraveled his cord and redid them correctly, fingers grazing the back of Minhyun’s elbow and placed the now situated XLR in his palm to be finished.
“Oh,” Minhyun called softly. “You make it look easy.” He said finding the pile of wrapped XLRs at Jonghyun’s feet.
Jonghyun chuckled huskily. “I’ve been doing it for years. I wouldn’t expect a vocalist to be an expert at it when there’s people like me willing to do it for them.” His gaze met Minhyun’s fondly and the latter held his gaze before returning his attention to the semi-wrapped cord he was holding.
“Hyung!” Jinyoung called from the stage. “We’re going to start in five minutes!”
“Okay!” He yelled back, suddenly remembering his purpose for being in the theater. He eyed Jonghyun and found him already watching him. He gave him a haphazard smile and dropped his finally wrapped cord on the ground next to the six Jonghyun had finished. He took one more from the box aiming to at least finish two by the time he had to hit the stage. “Turns out I’m not very good at this.”
Jonghyun laughed and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. If you can finish this one that’ll be two less that I have to do.”
Minhyun admired his positivity. One of the many qualities he had seen from his college crush. The second XLR was properly coiled up significantly faster than his first and Minhyun found himself a bit disappointed.
“Alright, well. I’ve been summoned.” He pointed a thumb to the choir that awaited him.
“Oh, yeah. Thanks for helping. I appreciate it.” Jonghyun sincerely said and moved the box underneath a chair so Minhyun could pass through.
“Yeah, no problem.” Minhyun stepped by him and stood on the declining steps. Their stares lingered on each other for a bit until Minhyun raised a shy hand with a smile and hopped down the stairs.
“Minhyun!”
Once again, he turned to the call of his name and hummed. Jonghyun threw the last XLR into the box and stood up, dusting off his lap. “Do you want to go out sometime?” A timid smile spread across his features.
It felt like angels were singing to Minhyun and he resisted the urge to break out in song.
“Yeah.” He answered calmly, eyes filling with mirth. “I would like that.”
Jonghyun ducked his head bashfully, hiding his smile. “Okay, cool. I’ll see you later then.”
Minhyun nodded and smiled brightly, skipping down the steps. Ready to sing his heart out because his life was beautiful.
+++
Sungwoon and Daniel killed their art history final the next day thanks to Sungwoon’s well received notes. After the test however, they’d had just enough time to goof around with their friends before dashing off to their next finals and recitals.
Which was why Sungwoon had showed up at Daniel’s dorm with his book bag filled with clothes and his favorite humidifier that night.
Sungwoon stepped out of the bathroom, switching off the light and balancing all his face creams in his arms. Daniel liked to complain that he took too long in the bathroom but Sungwoon was too proud of his flawless skin to cut his time short. He doused his face in mist as he entered Daniel’s room, noticing Seongwoo had not returned yet.
Daniel was sprawled across his bed, manga held a few inches away from his face, munching on a gummy worm. Sungwoon deposited all his items onto Daniel’s desk and got onto the bed, raising Daniel’s arms a bit more to slide onto his chest and lay down. He bit onto the end of the red worm hanging from Daniel’s mouth and their lips brushed which made Daniel giggle as if it were their first time being in close proximity. Sungwoon exhaled loudly and hugged the younger comfortably, joining him in reading his current manga, completely content in one another’s company.
The low hum of the humidifier was like a lullaby to Sungwoon and along with the steady beating of Daniel’s heart beneath his ear his breathing began to even out. His mind drifted off into the events of the past week and he noticed that in almost every memory his big, puppy boyfriend was involved. He remembered what the younger had said earlier and suddenly felt the weight of how much truth his statement held.
“You can’t live without me.”
That was a sobering thought.
Sungwoon quietly angled himself so he could admire Daniel. Goofy smile. Small eyes squinted in amusement. Candy sticking to his chin.
He sat up a little, resting his chin on Daniel’s chest and got a light whiff of his cologne. Daniel removed one hand from the book and ran it down Sungwoon’s back, patting his butt like a baby.
“Daniel.”
“Hmm?”
“I love you.”
And wow was Sungwoon struck by how much he really meant those three little words. Struck by how much emotion he was currently feeling. He knew he had caught Daniel off guard based on how fast the younger’s eyes shifted to him.
The manga was lowered and Sungwoon watched as Daniel’s cheeks started to stretch to his ears and his lips twitched into an ecstatic smile. Giving into his lack of self control, Daniel flung the manga into the air and quite literally crashed his lips to Sungwoon’s. Their noses bumped and Daniel’s lips vaguely assaulted Sungwoon’s in overwhelmed joy, but it didn’t matter to either of them.
Daniel flipped their position, almost tossing Sungwoon off the mattress in eagerness and Sungwoon laughed loudly, stumbling to find his balance. Once he was secured to the bed, Daniel leaned in, gentler but equally as eager as if he were pouring every last drop of passion that he usually saved for dancing right into Sungwoon’s mouth because words were not enough for him at that moment.
Sungwoon’s fingers tangled in his messy hair, tugging him near, filling the nonexistent gap between them while his other hand was wrapped around Daniel’s back digging into his t-shirt.
Sungwoon’s mind was hazy when Daniel’s lips slipped off his with labored breaths. Both lightheaded and taking a minute to regulate their heartbeats in the electrically charged air that surrounded them. The palms of Daniel’s hands were holding Sungwoon’s waist when they opened their eyes.
Sungwoon swore he saw sparks when he met Daniel’s gaze and he felt super cliched for thinking it. He killed the thought before it could make it out of his mouth and embarrass him.
It was scary how much love he had for this bunny toothed kid but it was the best scary feeling he’d ever had.
“I love you.” Daniel said as if the weight of the world was off his shoulders. He kissed Sungwoon’s cheek and proceeded to whisper endless confessions of love paired with a smattering of kisses to his neck and face.
A ticklish sensation crawled up Sungwoon’s stomach, weaving through every part of him until his smiles and laughs were pouring out recklessly. He was too genuinely happy to play it off or tease Daniel for being so excited.
They fell asleep under the moonlight minutes later when the bursting realization that they were in love died down a bit. Sungwoon urging Daniel to brush his teeth and Daniel brushing him off in favor of stroking soothing patterns into his back.
The last thing Sungwoon recalled was a faint whisper of a goodnight pressed to his forehead with a fleeting thought that everything was how it should be.
+++
The freshman table was abuzz with chatter. Daehwi, Guanlin and Jinyoung speaking over each other, relaying funny and bad experiences while shoveling endless cafeteria food into their mouths. Jihoon and Woojin joined adding underclassmen diversity to the table.
“You know what I’m wondering?” Daehwi questioned, interrupting all conversation. “How we all became good friends if we have different majors? It takes time and dedication to build a friendship like this. I’m grateful for you all.”
“Aw shucks, Daehwi.” Guanlin smiled wholeheartedly and elbowed him softly.
“You going to eat this?” Woojin reached over with his fork and speared the tiny tomatoes off Daehwi’s plate. Blatant disregard to anything “mushy” the younger was saying.
“If you guys keep eating like that you’re going to get the sophomore fifteen. It’s not a myth, you know.” Daehwi admonished, stabbing his fork into his Caesar salad. “Someone’s looking a little pig-like over there.” He said casting a shady glance at Jihoon.
Jihoon opened his eyes completely scandalized. “Pig?” He repeated and pointed a finger to himself. “Why, I never-!”
“Guys, I got the saxophone solo for next semester’s spring concert!” Jinyoung exclaimed in a rare showing of his emotions.
“I’m sure you worked really hard for that, hyung.” Daehwi blinked cutely and smiled animatedly.
Woojin and Jihoon shared a condescending look and smirked mischievously.
“You worked so hard!” Woojin mimicked in a high pitched girly voice.
Daehwi swung at him with a sudden downturn of his lips.
“I can’t believe the first semester is over.” Guanlin sighed.
“I know, right? Just last semester I was dying to join the dance crew and now I’m officially a member!” Jihoon jumped a little in his seat. “What did you guys accomplish these past few months?”
“I managed to steal all of Jisung hyung’s spoons in an ultimate prank.” Guanlin inputted and everyone cheered like the disobedient kids they were.
“Daniel hyung became my mentor.” Woojin added proudly.
“Aww the hyungs!” Daehwi cried. “Honestly, what would we have done without them? They taught us and guided us well. And can I just say how glad I am that Sungwoon hyung and Daniel hyung got together?”
They all gave a round of applause in agreement.
Jinyoung took a sip from his Snapple. “Seriously, that was painful to watch and it didn’t even involve us.”
“I hope when we find someone we like we’re not as stupid as them.” Woojin pointedly looked at Daehwi who stuck out his tongue menacingly.
“We need a name for our group. Like in the movies.” Jihoon stated.
“The bomb squad.”
“We’re not a terrorist group.” Daehwi cut his eyes at Woojin.
“What about 1x1?” Guanlin spoke out thoughtfully.
“1x1?” They all repeated in various levels of confusion.
“You know,” he shrugged. “Because we’re stronger as one. 1x1=1. When we’re together, you take one, you take us all. Like a package. Stronger as one?” The youngest was met with blank stares. “Um, never mind.”
“Nooo! No, no, no!” The other four chimed in simultaneously. “We like it!”
“Those are some deep thoughts you got there kid.” Woojin grinned and elbowed Guanlin, earning a gummy smile.
“1x1?” Daehwi called and ushered the others to pile their hands at the center of the table.
With child-like smiles and delighted eyes they lifted their arms into the air. “ONE!”
+++
“So, you’re telling me I have to be jealous of Jisung hyung now too?”
Sungwoon laughed childishly, his yellow Converse hitting the ground with each excited kick of his legs. “You don’t have to be jealous of him! It was a drunken New Year’s kiss. Dumb and harmless.”
Daniel turned to the side and glared into space. “I thought Jisung hyung was on my team. Never again will I rave about his rice.” Sungwoon threw his head back in continuous laughter. Daniel could only bore his eyes into the older, almost cringing at how loud his shrieks of laughter were. “I’m glad you think this is funny.”
Sungwoon wiped his eyes. “You’re so petty.”
“I’m petty?” He dug his index finger into his chest. “I learned it from you. You’re the king of petty!”
Sungwoon’s chuckles died down and he stood up dusting his hands off. “I’m only petty because you bring it out in me. Seriously though, don’t worry about Jisung hyung.”
Daniel squinted at him but let it go. “Alrig-”
“But maybe you should be worried about Minhyun.” Sungwoon said walking passed Daniel with a tiny, provoking smile.
Daniel clamped his lips shut; pissed. He tucked his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and let his head tilt to the side. His eyebrows were almost raised in defiance.
“What?” Sungwoon asked daringly innocent when he noticed Daniel’s heated gaze.
Daniel said nothing; waiting for Sungwoon to come to terms with the foul shit he just said.
Sungwoon bounced up to him and batted his lashes. He touched Daniel’s arms, settling his fingers at his forearms and smiled charmingly, craning his neck. “Haha?”
“You know you went too far.” Daniel pursed his lips and stood straighter, almost glaring down at Sungwoon at his height.
Sungwoon tiptoed, puckering his lips but Daniel raised his chin. He left a barely there kiss on his neck instead. “But I love you.” He said in retaliation.
“Oh, now you love me! Now you can say it with such ease!” Daniel threw his arms around Sungwoon and squeezed him, muffling his giggles. “You said you were going to be nicer to me.” He growled and Sungwoon snickered evilly. “I don’t like this habit you’ve picked up, either. You think you have me wrapped around your little finger when you act cute.”
The older widened his eyes and shook his shoulders obnoxiously. “I do though.”
Daniel averted his gaze. “Yes, but don’t take advantage of me, you- you tiny terror!” Sungwoon guffawed and snuck his hands into the back pockets of Daniel’s jeans. “I’m going to have a full head of gray hair by the time you graduate.” He pressed his index fingers to his temples as the sounds of Sungwoon’s laugh etched themselves permanently into his brain.
+++
“Yeah, yeah.” Sungwoon breathed into his phone. He bobbed his head left and right waiting for Daniel to finish speaking. “I’ll let you know. Mhm. Love you too. Bye.”
“DID WE HEAR CORRECTLY?” Jisung and Jaehwan gasped simultaneously.
“I almost dropped my croissant.” Jaehwan said, placing his plastic plate on the counter.
Sungwoon lowered the phone from his ear, facing his two abnormal roommates. They looked at him almost expectantly as if he was holding back a huge secret and they were waiting for him to spill it.
Minhyun joined the stare off. “What?”
“Didn’t you hear what he just said to Daniel?” Jisung said to him in complete astonishment.
Minhyun flapped his hand at them. “Oh, that?” Sungwoon still stood dumbly, looking back and forth between them. “That’s not the first time they said I love you.” He directed himself to Sungwoon then while Jisung continued his melodramatic gasps. “You guys were saying I love you that night you got drunk.” He mimicked their respective low tone and high tone voices. “I love you. No, I love you more. No, I love you more. You probably don’t remember.”
Sungwoon’s face was one of shock. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“At least one of us could forget it. It was repulsive.”
Jisung clapped his hands together gleefully. “Oh my goodness! Our little Sungwoon is growing up.”
Sungwoon rolled his eyes, inhaling deeply. “Hyung, please.”
Jaehwan came up to him from behind and jostled him about. “Our little Sungwoonie hyung is in love!” He singsonged. Sungwoon smiled, letting himself be tossed around and teased.
“I called it from the beginning!” Jisung yelled. “Did I not?”
“...Yeah, yeah…”
“YEAH, YEAH!” They all mocked and laughed in unison. The teasing was all out of love for Sungwoon. Truly, they were happy for their best friend.
+++
“Look at this picture.”
“Wow. When was that even taken? Were you stalking me back then?”
Daniel laughed loudly and the phone shook in his hand. “No! I think Jisung took it maybe.”
Sungwoon pulled Daniel’s hand closer to himself so he could zoom in on the picture. “What were we doing?” They were on a bench somewhere outdoors and the sunlight beaming on Sungwoon’s face made him look even paler than he was.
“Flirting.” Daniel’s teeth popped through his lips and his eyes curved. “I can tell because I’m leaning into you and you’re leaning away.”
“You thought that was my way of flirting, huh? I was seriously trying to get away from you.”
Daniel kicked him under the table provoking his high pitched laugh. “You’re a jerk.”
“But you love me anyway.” Sungwoon grinned, all mischievous eyes and raised cheekbones.
Daniel threw his arm around his neck and pressed their heads together. “That I do.”
Inspired by the throwback photo, Sungwoon reached up to touch his brown hair. “Should I go back to black?”
Daniel paused and gazed down at Sungwoon. “Should I go back to pink?”
They turned to each other with matching sly looks and stood up. “I have black hair dye in my room.”
“I have pink.”
Pause.
Sungwoon edged towards the door; excitement bouncing off his features and onto Daniel’s. “Meet you back here in ten minutes?”
“Deal!”
At ten minutes to seven, Seongwoo crossed the threshold of the dorm and found Sungwoon and Daniel hogging the couch, watching yet another drama they were obsessed with. Nothing unusual about it besides the foil paper that clung tightly to their scalps. He could have peacefully settled into his room and minded his own business but that was not who Seongwoo was.
With a wicked smile, he turned on his Instagram Live and broadcasted his current living room situation.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”
The couple’s necks snapped back so fast and the camera captured their reactions.
“Salon day, ladies?” Seongwoo zoomed the camera in, framing Daniel’s head down to the small towel wrapped around his shoulders.
“Get reckt.” He said before lunging at Seongwoo, foil pieces flying in the wind.
Epilogue: Effective Gifts
“Seongwoo hyung! I need your help!”
It was ten in the morning on a rainy Thursday and Daniel barreled through the foggy glass doors of his dorm building into the first floor lounge. The tutoring session that Jisung had been running had just ended and there were still a few students milling around. Including Seongwoo who had not been there as a tutor but a tutee. (Daniel had made fun of him for three days.)
Seongwoo sat relaxed on a cushioned lounge chair reading through a thin script with the cover folded back. Much to no one’s surprise, Seongwoo turned out to be not only great at dancing but acting as well. He’d auditioned for a secondary role in the university’s production of the short play Check Please for next semester and had gotten one of the main roles instead. “With what?” He answered.
“It’s about Sungwoon hyung.”
Seongwoo turned the page without looking up and with very little interest said, “Suck his dick.”
In the vicinity, Daehwi and his eternal love crush Bae Jinyoung startled at the older’s crudeness in the open space of their common area.
“Oh my god!” Daehwi shrieked; his virgin ears unprepared for such language. Jinyoung took it upon himself to cover the younger’s ears protectively; trapping the warmth of his hands around the sides of Daehwi’s face. (Daehwi who suffered from not knowing what was worse: Seongwoo’s words or being so physically close to Jinyoung.)
Daniel side-eyed the young lovebirds. “Jesus, man. That’s not the answer I was looking for.”
“But does it work?” Seongwoo lifted his gaze and smirked.
Daniel’s face turned red against his will and he bit the inside of his cheek in silence.
Seongwoo pointed his paper script at him. “Exactly. Now what is it that you need, my son?”
“I need to get him a gift for Christmas.” He folded his hands in front of him, ready to speak business. “You know, something nice.”
“And sucking his dick wouldn’t solve that problem?”
“NO!” Daniel almost roared. He snapped the beaded black bracelet that he had on against his wrist. “Something that says I’m serious about you.”
“Nothing says serious like your boyfriend’s dick in your mou-”
As abruptly as Daniel had entered, he exited, slapping the script out of Seongwoo’s hand; unable to handle his roommate’s ridiculous humor.
Seongwoo cackled, holding his stomach and bent over to collect his script. Jinyoung wandered over to him then, crouching a little to meet Seongwoo’s height.
“Hyung?” He peered around the room making sure no one was paying him any mind and faced the elder who hummed in answer. “Is that, uh, technique really effective?”
It took Seongwoo a few seconds of staring into the younger’s face to realize what he was asking. “No!” He bellowed, elongating the ‘o’. “No, no, no. Don’t listen to me. I was just joking. Bad joke. Stay innocent, kid.”
Jinyoung’s chiseled cheeks colored and his lips hung open embarrassedly. “O-oh. O-okay.” Seongwoo sent him away with a light pat to his back and a nervous smile.
“I’m going to hell.”