Work Text:
Jihoon looked up at the clock. His head pounded, typical aftereffects after a night of drinking. A quarter past three and Jihoon wasn’t even surprised. Jihoon unplugged his phone from the charger and that was when he realized something wasn’t right.
Looking back at him was himself. To be fair, it was a nice picture of himself. The quality was almost like one of a fansite of some idol group. Jihoon inspected the picture further. How it was able to capture even the smallest details like the sweat trickling down his forehead, his eyes full of passion. Judging from the outfit he was wearing, the picture was taken during the college opening ceremony roughly three months ago when the dance majors performed for the new students.
Flattered and amazed was Jihoon’s initial reaction. He had a fan somewhere in the school. There was someone who looked up to a sleaze like him. The next emotion was panic. He had someone else’s phone meant that someone had his.
Jihoon’s instinct? Run to the other side of the dorm building, shake his most reliable friend (aka Kim Donghan) awake and screech.
“What do I do? Donghan, help me! What if whoever has it, finds my totally unsuspecting folder of pictures of Woojin?” Jihoon screams while shaking Donghan uncontrollably. The poor elder, barely awake, forced to listen to Jihoon’s cries the moment he wakes up, smiles through the pain.
“I don’t know, Jihoon. Maybe if you were smart enough to set a password like the anonymous fellow whose phone you are holding onto now, you wouldn’t be panicking,” Donghan rolled his eyes.
“Yo Taehyun hyung, you know any hackers? Or a list of the people who came for the party last night?” Donghan turned to face his roommate who was too busy bashing his phone keyboard. Donghan assumed he was typing an essay to Sungwoon. Again.
“Hmm, basically the entire dance major. To be exact, my team, Daniel’s Team, Eunki’s team and Jung Jung’s team. I don’t know the names of the rest of the kids,” Taehyun spoke. His eyes not leaving his phone.
With sufficient information, Jihoon thanked Taehyun and ran to the dance studio with Donghan, dragged by the wrist. The elder groaning but he couldn’t say no to Jihoon. Saying no to Jihoon is well known as asking for death and Donghan didn’t want to be beaten up first thing in the ‘morning’.
Donghan wasn’t surprised that the studio was basically empty on a Sunday afternoon. Jihoon on the other hand was disappointed. And still worried. His face. His image. His status. His secret. His entire life, in a nutshell, was at risk. Jihoon circled around the empty studio. His pace gradually increasing. His hands getting more fidgety. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Donghan watched as his friend descended slowly into madness.
“Can you maybe chill? Maybe the kid is nice enough to not intrude your privacy and snoop through your phone.” Donghan’s voice broke the silence.
Jihoon only thought of the worst-case-scenario, hence why Donghan is his best friend and the more realistic one between the two. To put it simply, Jihoon is a drama queen and Donghan is a bitch slap to Jihoon’s world. Jihoon stopped in his tracks.
“Now what?” Jihoon gazed at himself. A mess. He looked at Donghan through the mirror. A smirk on his face, other than that, also a mess.
“We wait.” The elder looked triumphant. At this moment, Jihoon really questioned his choice in friends.
Jihoon was starting to lose his mind. Staring as the clock hands circle around, the tick-tocking sound slowly hypnotizing him. Occasionally, Jihoon would click the home button and look at the lockscreen of himself. Totally not creepy as Jihoon was well aware of his fanclub but was never really bothered by it. It was rather comforting and heartwarming knowing someone admires him for his dance skills instead of just his face. Donghan lay down enjoying the cool air and his best friend’s demise.
“Excuse me, is Park Jihoon here?” a boy, slightly younger than Jihoon walked in.
“Your phone is with me,” his voice was soft, his eyes bright and innocent. Jihoon’s heart skipped a beat.
Donghan’s grin was plastered to his face, Jihoon hated how smart yet cocky Donghan could be. Of course the only logical action would be texting his own phone and Jihoon was just being dramatic again. He was a child actor after all.
But Jihoon couldn’t even fight back because Jihoon recognized the kid. He remembered his audition, how breathtakingly cool he was on stage. Yet, he’s just a cute, innocent first year in reality.
“Jihoon hyung, your phone?” the boy held out the phone Jihoon had been so desperate for yet didn’t really want it anymore.
Jihoon snapped back into reality after realizing the younger boy was talking to him. “Oh, thanks for keeping my phone safe. You are?” Jihoon exchanged phones with a smile.
“Samuel Kim, I just moved here. I’m sorry if my lockscreen creeped you out, I just really admire your dance skills a lot! I watched your videos while I was in America hence the reason why I moved back to Korea and joined this college.” Samuel looked away but Jihoon could clearly see that the younger was blushing but so was Jihoon.
“What a precious boy,” Jihoon thought to himself.
“Don’t worry, Samuel I’m not creeped out at all. Honestly, I was really impressed by your dance during the freshmen audition. You’re really charismatic, You’ll definitely go far, kid.” Jihoon pat Samuel on the shoulder.
“You two can keep talking, I’m going back to bed,” Donghan yawned and left the room.
The two boys walked to a nearby McDonalds and continued chatting. It seemed they were more alike than it seemed. The two talked about literally everything under the sun. Cafés, animals, friends, clothes, ideal types, literally everything. Even though the two had only just met, it felt like they’ve known each other for years. Perhaps they were friends in their past lives. Jihoon enjoyed being with Samuel even if it was only a few hours.
Before they knew it, the sun was beginning to set. Jihoon and Samuel walked under the orange and pink marbled sky. Jihoon was amused at how easily he befriended Samuel knowing how socially awkward he can get and this was a friendship that Jihoon wanted to hold onto forever.
“This sounds ironic but can I have your number?” Jihoon laughed, holding out his phone to Samuel.
“Well, of course!” Samuel exchanged the phones, the second time that day.
The pair returned to the dorms. A day that started with panic but ended with a new friendship. Just as Jihoon was about to sleep he received a message. Looking at the phone that rightfully belongs to him.
Muellie ^^ : your secret is safe with me ;)