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Monday morning, 7:45am. Freshman year, day one. Wonwoo walks down the stairs of his dorm building- the special one for performing arts majors- and spots a small boy walking down the hallway toward the same door as him. They both reach the door at the same time, and Wonwoo holds the door open for the other boy who nods his thanks. Wonwoo has longer legs, but the smaller boy seems like he’s on a mission and they end up walking side by side, a few feet apart on the sidewalk, until Wonwoo turns off at the dining hall where he grabs a muffin and some coffee before making his way to his class. (Human biology, in case you were wondering.)
He doesn’t think much of the occurrence, it’s just a one-time thing, he’s sure. Until it happens the next day, and the next. And then it’s the end of the semester and every day they’ve walked next to each other on their way to their classes and never talked.
Winter break comes and goes and everyone has moved back to the dorm.
Day one of the new semester, 7:45am. Wonwoo walks down the stairs to head to his 8am mandatory gym class, and spots the same boy he walked next to every day last semester. Maybe this time Wonwoo will be brave enough to talk to him.
They walk in silence again until the taller boy breaks off to get his regular breakfast before he reaches his class. Once he’s gotten his muffin and coffee, he makes it to the gym at 7:55, just in time to figure out where he needs to be and what this is all about. As Wonwoo looks for where to put his things down, he spots the boy he’s walked next to for all these months, and decides to go over and introduce himself.
“Hey, uh, I’m Wonwoo. We live in the same dorm building?”
The smaller boy eyes him up.
“Jihoon.”
Wonwoo takes that as a sign that Jihoon doesn’t really want to talk and instead walks back to where his bag is. As he pulls out a water bottle, the teacher arrives and tells them all to find somewhere to sit while she hands out the syllabus for the class. It’s a fairly straight-forward syllabus; make sure you come to class prepared, here’s how you’re graded, here are the units we’ll go through. Wonwoo is excited for the volleyball unit. He had been on his team in high school, and was pretty good if he did say so himself, but didn’t continue on to play in college because of an injury he sustained late in his senior year.
Since it was syllabus week, the teacher let the class out early after everyone had asked the questions they needed to, and Wonwoo decided to go back to his room because he didn’t have class again until 1.
Halfway back to the dorm, Jihoon appeared at his side. He looks like he wants to say something to Wonwoo, but stays silent, and Wonwoo doesn’t want to press him. They part ways when they get into the dorm and don’t see each other until the next time they have class.
They become partners in their shared class and slowly get to know each other through their time together. It’s almost impossible to just stand there silently while practicing archery.
- - -
It’s nearly the end of the semester for them now, and Wonwoo, the silent yet popular type, has been invited to a frat party. His roommate convinces him to go, and of course Wonwoo agrees. What he doesn’t know is that Jihoon will be there, and alcohol and the boy you secretly like never mix well together.
Jihoon is standing outside by the pool with some other friends he has from a music production class. Wonwoo has just walked in the door and is immediately pulled into the kitchen and handed a glass of a mysterious pinkish liquid.
“What’s this?” he asks.
The person who handed it to him just laughs and says, “drink it, dude! Loosen up!”
Wonwoo looks at it again suspiciously but decides to drink it anyway. It goes down smooth; sweet with only a hint of that alcohol aftertaste. The dangerous kind of mixed drink, because you never know when you’ve had too many, since you don’t know how much is in each one. He hasn’t seen Jihoon yet, so he doesn’t think he has to watch his alcohol intake.
Big mistake.
Three more mixed drinks and a (losing) game of beer pong later, Wonwoo isn’t thinking straight anymore. He half walks, half stumbles outside to get some air and sees Jihoon standing there, light from the moon and the porch lights framing him and Wonwoo thinks he looks like an angel. He turns to the guy standing next to him, Soonyoung, maybe, he isn’t sure, and says “he looks like an angel” in a dreamy voice before turning back around and gazing at Jihoon. Soonyoung isn’t nearly as drunk as Wonwoo is, and looks at him for a moment before asking, “dude what?”
Wonwoo sighs, then seems to realise Soonyoung is talking to him, and he blanches.
“Did…. did I say that out loud?” he asks.
“The bit about being an angel? Yeah man, but I hope Woozi never hears you talking like that, he would kill you,” Soonyoung replies.
In his alcohol plagued mind, Wonwoo doesn’t process what a “Woozi” is until he’s already opened his mouth and said (louder than he really should have) “no, I’m talking about Lee Jihoon!” and what gets someone’s attention better than their own name?
Nothing, really.
Wonwoo sees the world move in slow motion now. He sees Soonyoung’s raised eyebrows, watches Jihoon turn around, watches some random girl he doesn’t know spill her beer in the pool. As he turns his head back around from that distraction, suddenly the world has sped up and now Lee Jihoon is in front of him.
“Hey, Wonwoo, I didn’t think I’d see you here.”
Wonwoo focuses very hard to make sure his words don’t slur and that he’s looking at the right Jihoon— why are there three of them?— and replies, “Hey Jihoon, what’s going on?”
Jihoon narrows his eyes almost imperceptibly, basically something you would never be able to see if you weren’t focusing very intently on the other person’s face, and follows it with a bright smile that Wonwoo can’t tell is forced or not.
“Hey, do you wanna talk somewhere with a little less noise and that smells less like cheap beer?” Jihoon asks.
The taller boy nods vigorously and immediately regrets it due to the way his head starts spinning, but he follows after his friend anyway. Jihoon leads him down the driveway and into the street where things are quieter and smell less like cheap beer and sweat.
“So,” Jihoon starts.
Wonwoo stands there, the light breeze of the May night cool against his red cheeks.
The smaller boy takes a deep breath.
“I’m not really good at this stuff, but I don’t like making things awkward. I like you and you look really good tonight in those ripped jeans and I kinda want to kiss you.”
Wonwoo stands there, wondering if one of those drinks he chugged had some drug in them other than alcohol. Jihoon’s face is half clouded from view by the shadow from the oak tree that stands tall on the edge of the sidewalk, and Wonwoo can’t read the emotion that’s placed there but he thinks he sees what might be a glimmer of… hope in the smaller boy’s eye.
He realises suddenly that he hasn’t said anything in, like, an awkwardly long amount of time and Jihoon is turning away with a sigh and Wonwoo panics and he stumbles forward, grabs Jihoon by the shoulder, and kisses him.
Jihoon is tensed and resigned, but Wonwoo’s tall frame wraps itself around him and Jihoon melts. They’re lit by a frat house porch lamp and there’s some weird old guy staring out the window two houses down and the background noise is bad ‘90s hip-hop but both of them agree there’s nowhere they’d rather be than right here.
Wonwoo’s first thought when they pull away is his lips are so soft and when Jihoon giggles a little, he realises he said that out loud.
“Cute,” Jihoon tells him, still with a half grin on his face.
Wonwoo just pulls him in for a hug this time, and Jihoon buries his face in the taller boy’s shoulder, feeling safe and warm and kinda like he’s home right now until Wonwoo starts to sway to the left..
“C’mon, I’ll call us an uber. I don’t think we really need to be here anymore, yeah?”
Wonwoo smiles with so much adoration in his eyes that Jihoon thinks his heart is going to burst.
“Yeah that sounds good.”
Wonwoo is still tipsy and combined with the warm, balmy air and sleepiness he feels, he’s in and out of consciousness all the way back to the dorm. Jihoon shakes him gently when they reach the building, and brings the taller boy back to his room. Wonwoo flops down on the bed after taking his shoes off and makes grabby hands at Jihoon.
“Come cuddle.”
Jihoon can’t keep the fond smile off his face as he jumps onto the shitty dorm mattress next to his new boyfriend- at least he thinks Wonwoo is his boyfriend. He sits up.
“Are we dating now????” Jihoon asks, suddenly serious.
“Yes, now get down here and cuddle before I pass out.”
Wonwoo pulls Jihoon down next to him and curls his body around the smaller boy.
“Mmmm, warm,” Wonwoo says as he snuggles into his boyfriend.
Jihoon huffs out a small joking sigh and pulls the blankets around him.
“Goodnight boyfriend.”
“Goodnight small angel!”
Jihoon turns around abruptly and narrows his eyes at Wonwoo. Wonwoo plays oblivious. He pecks Jihoon on the lips and closes his eyes, quickly pretending to be asleep. Jihoon can’t stay mad at such a pretty face, so he burrows deeper into the blankets
and his new boyfriend’s chest. Year one of college is shaping up to be the best of all.