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“You really are a glutton for punishment, aren’t you?” Jimin said wryly.
Namjoon laughed awkwardly, scratching his neck. “I couldn’t help it,” he muttered, watching as Jimin tapped the glass on his illegal tank.
Hoseok twirled around on his chair across the room. “Last time it was the geckoes, before that the injured bird, now hermit crabs. If the RA gets wind of this, I’ll be getting a new roommate, Joonie. I don’t want that! I’ve only just gotten attached to your clumsy ass.”
Namjoon shrugged, reaching into the tank and pulling out one of his new friends, letting him scuttle over his hand. “The RA won’t find out,” he said. “He’s down the other end of the hall, and as long as you don’t cause any more ruckuses, Hobi, these little guys will be fine.”
Jimin sighed, watching as Namjoon carefully placed his crabby friend back in the tank. “If you’re sure, hyung,” he sighed. “But when Jeonggukie and me go to the beach next week, we should release these little guys back into the wild.”
Namjoon pouted. “I know,” he sulked. “But I can keep them secret for a week.”
Jimin stood, grabbing Hoseok’s sleeve and pulling him out of his chair and towards the door. “We have dance practice now,” he said, grabbing his things. “Have fun with your friends, hyung.”
“I’ll be back later, Joonie!” Hoseok called, shutting the door behind him and Jimin.
Namjoon nodded his friends out of the door, turning back to his desk to study, music echoing softly through the room and the crabs scuttling quietly.
He stayed like that for an hour, making his way through his philosophy readings before his lecture the following morning, before his phone started buzzing frantically.
He picked up, confused by Hoseok’s contact flashing across his screen. “Hobi?” He asked. “Aren’t you meant to be at dance practice still?”
“I am,” Hoseok replied, panting. “But we’re on a break, and one of the guys on our floor posted in the group chat- the RA is doing room checks. Tonight. Hide those damn crabs, will you?”
“Shit,” Namjoon said, abandoning his textbooks and looking around his and Hoseok’s messy dorm. “Okay. I’ll hide them. See you when you get back.”
“Good luck.”
Namjoon hung up, throwing his phone onto his desk as he scrambled around, picking clothes up off the floor and trying to find somewhere to hide his crabby friends. He couldn’t very well leave them on the desk.
He found the container he’d used to bring the crabs into his room, holes punched in the top and a little sand at the bottom. It wasn’t ideal, but it’d work until the RA left. He couldn’t get in that much trouble for an empty tank, surely?
He scooped the little crabs into the container and placed the container on top of his wardrobe, where he knew his shorter RA, Yoongi, would never see it. Satisfied, he tidied up the room as quick as he could, putting all the rubbish in their bins and straightening his and Hoseok’s beds and desks enough so that Yoongi wouldn’t think they were complete slobs (Namjoon knew Hoseok had the most horrific crush on Yoongi- he’d never forgive Namjoon if he let Yoongi think so lowly of Hoseok).
A knock sounded on the door, and Namjoon flicked a cloth over the tank to conceal it, just in case. He strode over to the door, smiling slightly as he opened it before coming face-to-face with a firm chest and broad shoulders.
This wasn’t Yoongi.
He raised his eyes slightly to see a handsome face smiling at him with quirked eyebrows and cursed internally. This wasn’t his floor’s RA- Seokjin lived on the floor above him- why was he here?
“Hello, Namjoon,” Seokjin said pleasantly. “I’m here for a room check?”
“Uh, o-of course,” Namjoon stuttered, moving aside as Seokjin entered, flushing as he closed the door. Hoseok… wasn’t the only one with a crush on an RA.
Seokjin moved around the room, eyes running over every surface of Namjoon’s hasty cleaning. His eyes caught Namjoon’s tank, eyebrows crinkled. “What’s that, Namjoon?” He asked.
“An empty tank,” Namjoon said, fidgeting. “Used to keep some geckoes in there. I haven’t had a chance to get rid of it yet.”
Seokjin hummed, flicking the material off and eyeing the interior of the tank, the divots where the crabs had scuttled through the sand. Namjoon swallowed.
“Didn’t you get written up for the geckoes?” Seokjin asked. “Think I remember Yoongi complaining for a week about finding one of them on his wall at three am. How did it get down the hallway, I wonder.”
Namjoon shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But yeah, I was warned no more animals in the dorm, or I’d be moved. I’m getting rid of the tank soon.”
Seokjin nodded absently, fingertips tracing the lid of the tank. His gaze rested on the inside of the tank still, and Namjoon swallowed.
“I wonder,” Seokjin said, eyes moving to Namjoon. “I wonder why you decided having crabs in here was a good idea, after that. Aren’t you and Hoseok close?”
Namjoon’s eyes widened. “No crabs,” he squeaked. “I don’t have crabs in here, I swear-”
Seokjin laughed, and even in the midst of his terror Namjoon still had to admit- he was stunning. “I’m studying marine biology,” he said, smiling at Namjoon. “I know hermit crab tracks when I see them. Plus, I’m taller than Yoongi- he wouldn’t have spotted your friends, but I did.”
Namjoon swallowed the lump in his throat, hands clasping as Seokjin pulled the container from the top of the wardrobe and peered in at the little crabs.
“I’m sorry,” he said frantically. “I was going to release them at the beach next week, I swear, but they’re so cute and I love crabs and I wanted to look after them for a while, please don’t write me up, Hoseok will kill me, I’ll do anything-”
Seokjin laughed again and held up a hand, stopping Namjoon mid-frantic ramble. “I’m not going to write you up,” he said softly, smiling at Namjoon’s jaw-dropped expression. “Just release them like you said you would, and get rid of the tank, okay, Joon-ah?”
Namjoon’s mouth clicked shut, and his cheeks warmed. “I-I can do that,” he whispered. “Thanks, hyung.”
Seokjin smiled, catching the crabs in his hand and placing them in the tank gently. “You’re welcome,” he said. “Although, there is a favour I have to ask in return.”
“Of course,” Namjoon said readily.
“There’s a guy I’m interested in,” Seokjin said, oblivious to the dropping weight in Namjoon’s stomach. “He’s cute, and smart, but I don’t know if he’s single, or likes men, even. I need to know before I ask him out, you know? And you’d know the answers, so.”
“Yeah, of course you do,” Namjoon said, hands clenched behind his back. “How can I help? Who is it? I can’t tell you if I don’t know who it is.”
“Really, Joon-ah?” Seokjin said, throwing Namjoon an unimpressed look. “Well, you can tell me if you’re single and into men. I don’t really know how much more obvious I can be about this.”
Namjoon’s eyes widened, and he stared at Seokjin. “Me?”
Seokjin laughed loudly. “Yes, you,” he teased. “We’d have to be discreet, since the whole RA-resident thing is frowned upon, but I’d really like to take you out on a date.”
Namjoon nodded quickly. “Yes,” he said. “I’d like that. A lot.”
Seokjin smiled, walking towards the door. “I’ll come see you tomorrow, then,” he said. “I do have to do other room checks, though- I’d better go.”
Before he closed the door behind him, he winked at Namjoon and blew him a kiss, leaving a shellshocked (pun intended) Namjoon in the middle of his room, staring at his tank and wondering how those crabs had landed him a date with the hottest RA in their dorm.
(He asked Jimin and Hoseok the same over lunch the next day, resulting in a screeching Jimin and a pouting Hoseok- “where’s my hot date with an RA, Joon you really are the worst-")
(Hoseok shut up pretty quickly when they returned to their room and found a sulky Yoongi waiting for him there, flowers in hand.)