Work Text:
August 18
Joshua sits down on his chair in the middle of Minhyun and Minki, who happen to be the best of friends and the worst enemies there is; the two wouldn't stop bickering every time about pointless stuff, so Joshua basically ends up being the filling in their sandwich. Joshua always sighs every time that happens, and he's not exaggerating when he says every time, which is every day.
This time, the two are arguing about that Laurel and Yanny shit that has been circulated the internet. Minhyun hears Laurel, but Minki hears Yanny. It's pointless, really, at least for Joshua, that is. The two are having a never ending, pointless debate that it leads to them throwing salivated paper balls to each other. Pointless and disgusting.
Joshua decides to just ignore them and hum to his favorite song while his chin rests on his hand. And then without noticing, he's began to scribble messy tornadoes on his desk, and a line from the song he was humming.
Does the moonlight shine on Paris after the sun goes down?
"Astronomically speaking, the moon doesn’t shine. Rather, it reflects light from the sum"
Joshua almost jumps at the sudden low voice that rang through his ears. He looks around, and sees Wonwoo at his back, hovering him.
“You almost gave me a heart attack, Jeon.” Joshua grunts, glaring at Wonwoo at the same time, to which, the latter laughs, crinkling his nose.
“Don’t you want to sit with me?” Wonwoo asks after he’s done laughing. “I could see your struggle with tweedle dee and tweedle dum.” Wonwoo looks at Minhyun and Minki who gasps comically, absurdly at the same time.
Joshua and Wonwoo roll their eyes at the same time.
“I’ve marked my territory, though.” Joshua shrugs, pointing at his vandal.
“Then move your chair next to me.” Wonwoo deadpans. Joshua thinks that Wonwoo is just being his clingy self either because Mingyu doesn’t go to school until the next week, or it’s unusually cold today.
"Minki, can you please move to Minhyun's right?" Joshua asks nicely, and surprisingly, Minki complies without any complains. Wonwoo sits beside Joshua, and is finally in content.
See, Wonwoo was a born a year later than Joshua, but he's smart ever since he was a kid and got accelerated. They've been friends since they were young and they pretty much know each other like the back of their hands.
That one class passes by lightning speed. Joshua is sure that he's just spaced out for 5 minutes but he went back to earth and their professor had already dismissed them.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Wonwoo waves off Joshua when they were going their separate ways. Joshua gives Wonwoo a thumbs up before heading left while Wonwoo heads right.
August 19
It’s a rainy morning. When Joshua wakes up, the sky is dark, the wind is blowing hard, and the rain is pouring. He opts to bring a raincoat with him even when he’s wearing a jacket.
When Joshua arrives at school, it’s weirdly empty. Usually when he arrives, Minhyun and Minki are there already (maybe sleeping on the desk, bickering, or laughing, he doesn’t know. he just gets surprised). But today, there’s no one there except for Jonghyun and Dongho who are always sat at the back. He checks his phone. He has classes today, right?
"What's up?"
"Jesus Christ, Wonwoo! Stop showing up my back like that!" Joshua had just about lose it when Wonwoo surprises him again.
Wonwoo laughs and finally, the two of them sit down while Wonwoo mutters a sorry.
When Joshua sets down his bag, something in his desk catches his eyes. His vandal from yesterday is still there, but something else is written and it’s not in his penmanship.
“What's up?" Wonwoo asks in curiosity.
Joshua seems to forget the little anger and points at his desk.
If the London Bridge is falling will anybody hear a sound?
"Somebody replied." Joshua says with a light chuckle, and Wonwoo hovers to read it.
Wonwoo chuckles coldly after reading. He looks at Joshua, brows cocked up. "You know vandalism is kinda like against the school rules, right?"
Joshua scoffs. And he scoffs hard that Wonwoo almost wonders why they're friends.
Joshua just shrugs and ignores Wonwoo. Minhyun and Minki both walk in, laughing ridiculously. When they sit down, Minki nosed around Joshua and Wonwoo. As usual.
"What's that—Oooh, somebody replied?" Minki hovers exaggeratedly to get a good view of Joshua's desk.
"Joshua, what if that's a girl? That'd be awesome!" Minhyun dumbly laughs.
Honestly, Joshua couldn't care less if it's a girl or a boy, all he cares about is Minki's weight on his back, and the annoying grin Minhyun is giving him.
Their professor enters once again, and Joshua spaces out once again. Why did he even take this class? By the end of the period, Joshua has unknowingly written something again.
If you follow the sunset, will it ever end?
August 20
Joshua has no classes every Wednesdays. It’s good, actually, or at least for him, because he gets to rest mid-week. Just the down side of that is he doesn’t know whether he stays up late so he doesn’t fuck up his body clock.
Today, Joshua wakes up early (yeah, he chose to sleep early yesterday to not fuck up his body clock) and decides to go out for a jog. He thinks that it’s the perfect time because although the sun is particularly gray, the rain has subsided.
He heads out after putting on a proper attire and heads out to jog around the university. He’s heard from people that it’s good to jog around the university at mornings because of the great atmosphere, and Joshua is just about to confirm it.
Somewhere along his jog, he spots a water bottle along the sidewalk. He would ignore it if it’s placed on a tree, but it’s just tumbled there on the sidewalk. He bends down and picks it up, notices that it’s still full. He looks around to find potential owners but no one’s around.
He sighs and starts to walk until he hears a voice.
“That’s mine!”
Joshua stops even before the third step to turn around. He sees a guy jogging towards him. The guy sports a color somewhere in a darker shade of brown, his hair reaches his forehead, and his fringe is almost covering his eyes. But despite the fringe getting in the way, Joshua could see the guy’s smile, and it’s a little bit of entrancing.
“Oh, I thought it’s left behind. Thought I might give it to the lost and found.” Joshua says, smiling sheepishly then handing it to the guy who just reached him.
“Did it look like trash to you?” Joshua would have taken it offensively, but the guy is smiling at him—even grinning and it gets followed by a light laugh—so he laughs as well.
“Sorry. You should probably put it on a tree or something. That’s what people usually do here.” Joshua says politely.
“Ah, really? I’m a transferee student here so I didn’t know. Thanks, though.” Now, the guy’s smile grows even wider, infecting Joshua.
“Yeah.” Joshua nods. “I guess I’ll go now. Have a fun jog!” And just like that, Joshua sends himself off to finish his morning jog. The guy is cute, he thinks to himself and he finds himself smiling as he’s jogging. He even has a decent penmanship, he adds to his thought. Maybe Jeonghan is his name, just because there’s a little Jeonghan scribbled on the cap of the bottle.
August 21
Joshua starts the day by meeting Wonwoo at the entrance of their university. They walk while Wonwoo tells something about Mingyu going home earlier than scheduled, and Joshua tells about Jeonghan that he met while jogging yesterday.
“It’s weird because he’s very.. Captivating.” Joshua smiles to himself while Wonwoo looks at him as if he’s telling a story of santa visiting him last night (which is reidiculous). Joshua catches that looks and frowns at said friend. “You talk about Mingyu like this before. Wow, the hypocrisy!”
Wonwoo laughs, and that’s when they reach their classroom and see Minki and Minhyun hovering on Joshua’s desk.
“What’s with the constant hovering?” Wonwoo asks and the two jerk their heads towards the two who just entered.
“Joshua! Look at this.” Minki signaled for them to come quickly and the two did.
On his desk, Joshua sees that something has been added to the vandal on his desk, and thank god it’s not the school prefect’s note.
I think I’m talking to a professor. This song was released before I was a born. Are you a professor?
Joshua chuckles. By now, Minhyun, Minki, and Wonwoo have each minded their own business, so they aren’t able to see Joshua trying to hold his laugh. He gets a pen from his bag and writes down:
Perhaps, do you happen to have a teacher-student relationship kink? I’m sorry to disappoint you, I’m just a normal student hoping to not get a violation because I’m vandalizing school property. And same, it was released even before I was born.
Joshua shoves his pen on his pockets and turns to Minki.
“Do you know who’s writing this?” He asks.
Minki thinks for a while. “No, sorry. It’s already there since I came here.”
Joshua just nods.
August 22
There’s a new writing on the desk, and Joshua’s surprisingly glad.
I do not want to engage myself in that relationship, thank you very much. Do you have a stranger kink? You seem to reply to me. Ever heard of stranger danger? Hahaha :p
Joshua replies,
Stranger kink? Jesus..
You’re replying to me, too, you know. Check yourself before you wreck yourself, I guess. Hahaha :p :p
August 23
Joshua spends his weekend anxiously waiting for the weekend to actually end, and for the weekday to come. He’s excited to see the person’s reply.
If Joshua is going to be honest, he feels giddy knowing that he’s looking forward to something, like he’s expecting a letter from someone far away. It’s kind of cute because it’s like he’s back in the old fashioned and he likes it like that. He actually prefers old songs rather than the current songs that are only about partying, sex, and stuff like that. It makes Joshua feel good to be in this kind of setting.
The only thing worrying him, though, is the consequence of this. What if his professor catches him and send him to the office for disciplinary action? That would ruin Joshua’s record, but fuck it.
August 25
Joshua walks into the room a little bit later than usual, but he gets there on time before the professor even goes in.
“You’re a little late.” Wonwoo states the obvious.
Joshua rolls his eyes because he know. “Just woke up a little later.” He answers then sets his bag down and checks his desk only to be brought down. There’s no new writing on the desk, so that means all the anticipation he did for the past days have been in vain.
He sighs loud enough for Wonwoo to hear.
“What was that?” Wonwoo scoffs, but he doesn’t really need Joshua’s answer. He hovers on Joshua’s desk and sees the problem. “Are you kind of implying that you’re sad that there’s no response?”
Joshua just looks at Wonwoo with weary in his eyes. Poor Joshua, his friend probably doesn’t know how to react to that.
“What if he actually doesn’t know what to say, you know.. Because your reply is kind of dry..” Wonwoo smirks at Joshua who glares at him. Did his best friend just imply that he’s a boring texter—writer?
August 26
There’s still no response and that makes Joshua want to drop this writing thing.
August 27
It's a Wednesday, and as usual for the whole term, Joshua has no classes. He wakes up early again to go for a jog. He thinks that he's kind of getting fond of jogging, and besides, it's healthier rather than staying locked up in his dorm.
Joshua has just about finished his rounds (he made 2 rounds around the campus and his sweat is breaking out) when he decides to sit down on a bench under a tree. He decides to lie down, though, when he realizes his back hurts.
Looking up at the sky (that he can barely see because of the branches that cover it), he notices something. It's the familiar water bottle he saw on the first time he's jogged around the campus. He squints his eyes a little just to be sure, and confirms to be the one when said Jeonghan comes into the picture.
"Oh, fancy seeing you here." Jeonghan greets with a smile. Joshua notices that he has a stuffed nose.
Joshua gets up and lets Jeonghan, who is as sweaty as him, sit down beside him. "You're okay?"
"Just a little bug in the system." Jeonghan coughs lightly, then sips on his water. "I caught a fever the past days. It was a bitch."
Joshua chuckles. "It's kind of because of the weather changes. Global warming is a bitch."
Said Jeonghan just hums in agreement. "What's your major, by the way?"
"Music Composition. Senior. You?"
"Ah!" Jeonghan laughs lightly, filling Joshua's stomach with butterflies. He's really cute. "I'm a senior, too, in broadcasting."
"You can't put on a broadcast with that stuffed nose." Joshua jokes and Jeonghan snorts. "You should get home if you don't want that cold to turn up again."
"Turn up like party turn up?" The two of them share the same laugh at Jeonghan's statement. "I just live a couple of blocks away from here. Nothing like a morning jog on Wednesdays." Jeonghan winks and Joshua is sure that he's just about going to lose it.
"Alright." Joshua nods, but stands up, saying that he needs to shower and then write some lecture.
"Okay, cool. I'll see you next Wednesday." Jeonghan says and it makes Joshua's smile reach the moon.
Joshua departs right after that, but then e thought, the two of them don't know each other's names. He isn't sure if Jeonghan is really Jeonghan's name.
August 28
Joshua arrives in his classroom to see Wonwoo smirking at him. Suspicion rises at his said friend so he quickly goes to him, eyeing on his said friend.
"What's your problem?" He asks tauntingly but Wonwoo just takes it as a joke.
"You have a new mail." Wonwoo suggestively says, wiggling his eyebrows.
Joshua lightly gasps at that and immediately checks his desk.
Just curious, are you a girl or a boy?
I'm a boy. But I swing on boys' ways.
Joshua laughs loud enough for the whole classroom to hear, even Minki and Minhyun who almost nosed at him again but thank god the professor comes in.
Joshua quickly writes,
Exactly like you.
Took you a while to respond. What's up?
August 29
Joshua anticipates the letter overnight, and he isn't disappointed when he enters the classroom and see that there's something new on his desk.
Caught a cold. If cold is an animal it would be a female dog because it's a bitch.
Can you believe that this campus has virus? Or is it because I'm just new here?
Somehow, that's reminded him of Jeonghan and how the said boy said that still rings in his head. He hopes Wednesday would come fast.
"What are you smiling at?" Wonwoo asks, making Joshua trance out.
"Nothing that you should know. Don’t you have Mingyu to attend to?” Joshua snaps, darting a tongue out at Wonwoo.
You're okay now?
September 1
I'm fine. Somehow, jogging made me feel better.
It's only a Monday and Joshua's brain is already in knots. There's a student rally just this morning and the noise made him cranky; he's the person who has the highest tolerance ever, so this is something new. And now, his pen-pal just made him think of something impossible.
What if Jeonghan's his pen-pal? Who got a cold and took a jog the same time as Jeonghan?
Well, okay, there's about 23,000 students in the campus and approximately about 17% of that is from his department and 50% of that 17% is the amount of students who uses this room. The chances are low, but he'll never know.
Really? Do you jog around campus? When do you jog?
September 2
Wednesdays. My classes aren't until the afternoon on Wednesdays.
I jog every Wednesdays as well. That's so cool!
September 3
It's Wednesday again, and Joshua's more than enthusiastic to jog and see Jeonghan again. He wakes up with a smile on his face, and that smile never left even until he's panting and finishes jogging. He reaches the usual bench under the tree, and waits for Jeonghan there. He should be here any time soon.
Before Jeonghan could come, Joshua thinks about finally asking for Jeonghan's name. It's just about time since they both meet here every Wednesdays. They've shared information about their majors, anyway.
"You came!" Jeonghan's voice ring, and Joshua sees him jogging towards to where he sits. Jeonghan grabs his water bottle from the tree first before settling by Joshua's side.
"I told you I always jog here." Joshua smiles, and Jeonghan returns one to him, too. "Do you have classes today?"
Jeonghan nods, now currently putting the lid of his water bottle back. "I have lecture at 1 PM."
His pen-pal has classes in the afternoon..
"Nice.." Joshua mutters. "Uh, I'm Joshua, by the way." Thank Jesus he doesn't stutter but he's sure his voice did shake a little.
"Jeonghan." Finally he could call him Jeonghan confidently when he's having a little internal monologue for himself.
September 4
Wednesday mornings are nice.
This is creepy but I want to know who you are
I can't give my information here, you know :p
"It's getting serious now, huh?" Wonwoo nudges Joshua's waist.
Joshua sees Wonwoo wiggling his brows again and smirking. He scoffs. "This is weird, but remember Jeonghan?"
"Your imaginary boyfriend?"
"Oh my god, shut up." Wonwoo only snorts at Joshua's little outburst. "He was sick last week, and he takes a jog every Wednesdays."
"So?"
"Just.." Joshua hesitates for a while but proceeds. Wonwoo's his best friend anyway, and deserves to know his thoughts. "This pen-pal exactly has that case."
"So you think Jeonghan is actually your pen-pal?" Wonwoo cocks a brow and Joshua nods reluctantly. "There's like 23,000 peo—"
"I did the math. Just.. What if.."
"Then ask him the next time you jog. You can't just give out personal information literally on your desk." Wonwoo shrugs.
Joshua agrees. Great. Another metal preparing of how he should ask that.
When his class gets dismissed, Joshua and Wonwoo get out of class right away to grab a quick snack from the vendo. When they were about to go to their next class, Joshua abruptly stops and Wonwoo asks what's wrong.
"That's Jeonghan." Joshua says under his breath. Wonwoo follows the direction of Joshua's eyes.
Jeonghan is entering the classroom from Joshua and Wonwoo's first period along with a couple of friends. Joshua freezes there and almost chokes on the jelly drink he's sipping on.
"Well, I understand why you like your imaginary boyfriend." Wonwoo says. "He's really.. Pretty."
"Yeah, he's pretty." Joshua mutters, a smile mustering on his face. He stares at Jeonghan for a while (creepy, he knows), until he snaps out and asks Wonwoo to start walking with him to class. They were about to walk away, really, but Joshua get called out.
"Joshua!"
It's Jeonghan, that's for sure. Jeonghan's the only one Joshua knows with that beautiful voice.
"Nice." Wonwoo snickers before the two of them turn around.
Jeonghan's approaching them, and Joshua could feel his grip on his jelly drink tightening.
"Didn't expect to see you here." Jeonghan says with a huge grin.
"Yeah, you too." Joshua says quietly. He looks over at Wonwoo who is obviously checking the guy out. He nudges Wonwoo's waist hard. "This is Wonwoo, my best friend."
"The one and only." Wonwoo gives Jeonghan a gesture of salute.
Jeonghan acknowledges that. "I'm Jeonghan, nice to meet you!" Then he turns around. "Hey, you fools, come here!"
Jeonghan's two friends who were laughing about something they were talking about turn to him then goes to him at his command.
"This is Jun, and this is Jihoon." Jeonghan introduces the two to Joshua and Wonwoo, and as if on cue, the bell rings. "Gotta go, Joshuji. I'll see you tomorrow?"
Oh, right. It's a Wednesday tomorrow.
"Definitely." Joshua grins, and that's a sign that they all go their separate ways. Joshua walks away with a huge grin on his face.
"Joshuji? You're in pet names with your almost non imaginary boyfriend?" Now it's Wonwoo's turn to nudge Joshua's waist hard.
"It's the first time he called me that!" Joshua, instead of getting mad about that muscle twitching nudge, smiles fondly at the memory. Joshuji.
It's at the third period when Joshua gets called by a school administrator. He doesn't have a clue, but maybe it's because of that course last semester that hasn't yet been credited. That's what he thought, because it turns out that he's been called to go to the dean's office.
He almost shit his pants there, but thank god for self-control.
He follows the said administrator towards the dean's office where it's awfully quiet and all you can hear is just the whirling sound of the AC. Or maybe his loud heartbeat because he's really not ready to be a college drop out.
The administrator asks Joshua to sit down in front of the dean and so he does.
Joshua waits for the dean to say something, but the dean's just fumbling through the newspaper, probably finding the crossword section. He just sits there, staring at the dean and thinking of ways on how he could break it to his parents—how their only son has failed in life.
Suddenly, the door swings open once again, and Joshua's surprised—actually, it's more than surprised, he needs to look at the dictionary for that word—to see Jeonghan enter the premises.
The dean finally set down his newspaper when Jeonghan finally sits beside Joshua.
"Good to see you two here." The dean says rather sarcastically with a stiff smile plastered on his face. "It has come to my attention that the two of you have been violating a school regulation."
He pauses.
"Vandalism." The dean finishes.
Joshua and Jeonghan both choke on air and look at each other with horror in their eyes. Horror? Or maybe it's surprised, whatever.
"You two, Mr. Hong and Mr. Yoon, the desk is school property." The dean says with a pleading tone. "I really don't want to put students on disciplinary action, but the vandals are almost filling up the whole desk."
Joshua and Jeonghan share knowing looks, and a giggle that they thought only high schoolers could only do.
"You two—" The dean could most certainly not believe that they could laugh at this situation. "—the desk isn't a place to meet, okay? The campus is wide, and you could share stuff there."
The two nod.
"I'm going to have to ask you to repaint the desk, and do a five hour community service in camp—"
"Do I get to do it with him?" Jeonghan interrupts the dean. Joshua's eyes widen at Jeonghan's enthusiasm.
"I—No, but—Okay, fine. You can do it together." The dean sighs, undefeated by Jeonghan's pout when he was almost denied. Jeonghan claps with joy, and Joshua just smiles at him fondly.
"But do it tomorrow."
"No problem." Joshua says coolly then he looks at Jeonghan who's already looking at him. "After jogging?"
"Yup." Jeonghan grins.
"You're the one talking to me? Through the desk?" Joshua asks Jeonghan with utmost curiosity and surprise in his voice.
The two have decided to ditch their last period and just go to the bench under the tree, where they meet for a jog. Wonwoo's going to be looking for him, but it's worth the scolding.
Jeonghan nods enthusiastically.
"I didn't see this coming." Joshua laughs, Jeonghan following.
"Me neither. It's a pretty unique way to meet, though."
"You're a hopeless romantic."
"I am." Jeonghan agrees at that, nodding.
Joshua locks eyes with Jeonghan, and that goes on for more than a minute. He notices that Jeonghan looks at him fondly, exactly like how Wonwoo would look at Mingyu every time they meet. He doesn't want to assume things, but it's quite evident.
"So, would now be a great opportunity to ask you out?"
"W-What?" Joshua stutters.
Jeonghan laughs menacingly. "I'm asking you out, Joshuji." There it is again, that Joshuji. "Tomorrow. Our community service would be our first date, how does that sound?"
"It's a unique date." Joshua nods with a grin. "Okay, I'd like that."
Joshua could just imagine the look on Wonwoo's face when he tells how his first date with Jeonghan is them cleaning the campus together. How romantic.