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Often times people say that when you're madly in love with somebody, doing crazy things for your significant other are bound to happen. Often times Jeongguk thinks they're wrong. Things that you do when you're in love, you do it for love, voluntarily, willingly. In fact, it should be labelled as normal as everything else that you do for yourself in your everyday life. It’s not supposed to be a big deal in the first place.
His part-time shift at the small gyoza shop in the midst of Tokyo Metropolitan Area ends at ten o'clock at night. He goes home straight away after cleaning up and hops on the train fifteen minutes away from the shop, and arrives at home half an hour later. Climbing up the stairs to the fifth floor—where his rented room is located (the building doesn’t have elevator in it, damn)—feels five times heavier at this hour. But he doesn't really have anything to complain, for he knows this is probably the only place he can afford at the moment. The apartment complex is quite recent, its rent fee is way cheaper than other student apartments in the area, and as an active university student with government scholarship and very limited amount of pocket money who needs to budget literally everything in a foreign country, it's just a perfect place to live.
Jeongguk opens his apartment door and finds the room pitch black. He frowns a little as he takes off his shoes, socks, and cream-colored checkered spring coat. He lets the door behind him automatically closing as his hand lurking on the wall to find the electric switch and turning on the lights. When the bulb finally illuminates his small loft room, he finds it empty, the cushions still placed tidily on the sofa, the kitchen clean and spotless, just like how he had left the room earlier this morning. He has been expecting somebody to be present tonight, but much to the boy's disappointment, nobody even seems to visit his place throughout the day.
The boy throws his coat on the coffee table and himself onto the fluffy sofa, resting his head on the its backrest immediately, his eyes focusing on the plain ceiling as he does so. He remembers his boyfriend had called him early in the morning before he went to the campus, saying he would spend the night there because he would have a pre-final exam quiz tomorrow. Therefore, he would have had been here at the moment, because Jeongguk knows Taehyung's class for the day ends at five in the afternoon. Besides, Taehyung has had his own spare key to Jeongguk's apartment, so his apartment being locked shouldn't have been an issue.
And it grows a certain concern in his heart.
He fishes out his phone from his pants pocket and dials the number that he has been familiar with the most in the past year.
"Hei, Gukkie," Taehyung's voice greets from the other side of the line.
"Where are you, Tae?" Jeongguk asks, his voice calms yet soft.
"At the lab," He answers, making Jeongguk rather puzzled, his eyebrows furrowed. "I need to finish writing down this project before tomorrow."
"It's your professor?"
"Yeah—no—well, it's a group project, but," There is a small pause before he continues, "I kind of screwed up so I need to reconfigure."
Jeongguk sighs, a little bit annoyed, a little more relieved.
"You've had dinner yet?" Jeongguk waits for the other to speak something, but instead of answering, Taehyung replies him with dead silence. Knowing that he might have probably not eaten anything since afternoon, Jeongguk stands up from the sofa. "Is Sukiya okay?"
"Thank you, Jeonggukie,"
Jeongguk closes the phone with a chuckle after saying see you later. No, he's not mad at all. He simply understands, knowing how hard it is to be a student in this monstrous capital city so far away from their hometown. He has been struggling himself for more than two years in his architecture major, having to go back and forth to the lab to finish his projects and constantly being scolded by his professor for even the smallest thing. He's now in the third year, so his only concern nowadays only revolves around final examination along with some individual projects here and there. Taehyung, on the other hand, is a fourth-year student. He's been struggling a lot this year, especially when it comes to finishing his graduation thesis and getting full time job back in South Korea, preferably in industries related to his major. The hardship will be tripled in no time, and he needs to make it all through that sometimes he doesn’t even think about his own well being.
Putting his shoes and coat back on, Jeongguk turns off the lamp and opens up the door before locking it from the outside. He checks the clock on his phone and it shows an hour before midnight. It’s fortunate that his apartment is quite close to the train station and their campus only ten minutes away. When he arrives at the station right across the campus' gate, he stops by Sukiya to buy a bowl of gyudon, the most expensive one among other bowl in the menu.
He then walks into the tall building and goes directly to the left wing, immediately finding the elevator that will bring him straight to Taehyung's laboratory on the fourth level of the building. Only a few people are present in the vast lobby; they drink hot cups from the coffee machine on the sofa provided by the campus. Jeongguk walks past them and opens the door to Taehyung's lab after a few knocks, finding Taehyung whipping his head at his arrival, staring at him with a tight-lipped smile on his face.
Jeongguk notices no one else is there with him. It's nothing new, but he feels sorry for him for having to stay this late when nobody's around.
"I'll heat this up," He says, his eyes still on Taehyung when he nods so dashingly bright.
Taehyung's hair is messy and Jeongguk can figure that he's dead tired, but he will never tell it to him nor anybody else because Taehyung likes to be considered tough. He puts the gyudon into the microwave that is provided by the lab, and as he waits for the timer to stop, his eyes land back to Taehyung's figure, who is now staring at the laptop in front of him, his fingers typing fast on the keyboard, focusing on whatever he’s been doing. The light from his laptop is reflected on to his face, and for no apparent reason, Jeongguk remembers all the year he's been with Taehyung.
The boy is the first person to cheer him up when he feels miserable about himself. His parents divorce, his financial difficulty, and his dropping self-esteem after coming to Japan to pursue education, had made it very difficult for him to stand up straight and look ahead. Last year, he couldn't even decide whether he should just drop out of the university or continue his study. Even if he had decided to drop out, he didn't really want to work nor did he have any desire to face the society. He had really wanted to be a shut in, just staying in his room and playing video games all the time, cutting all ties with everyone including his parents. He had had his lowest point at such moment. But Taehyung had always cheered him up with his big bright rectangular smile, telling him he would be okay every time any mishap occurred from out of nowhere. Last summer, on a regional seminar of college of architecture, his near-abstract-and-impossible-to-implement mock-up that was displayed was highly praised by the visiting professors, and Taehyung was probably the proudest.
He’s so precious, and Jeongguk feels the luckiest.
"Thank you so much, Jeonggukie," Taehyung claps his hand, grinning adorably when Jeongguk serves the bowl on the table in front of him. "You really are the best."
No, you are the best. This is the least I can do.
Jeongguk sits on a chair and drags himself next Taehyung. He glances at his boyfriend's side profile when he eats his dinner, still reading journals on his laptop screen. His nose sharp and his lips plump, and although he always teases Taehyung about his somewhat squarish chin and his friends always commenting that he's very plain, he always, always finds Taehyung to be terribly gorgeous.
They spend two hours in the laboratory, with Taehyung struggling to finish his report and Jeongguk playing mobile games on his phone, checking his social networks once in a while. When Taehyung abruptly stands up and surprising Jeongguk in the process, they realize that it's almost 1.30 in the morning, and they need to catch the last train or else they will be forced to spend the entire night at the lab. Besides, Taehyung still has pre-exam quiz tomorrow on the first term in the morning, so staying overnight at the lab would mean just adding another nightmare to his crammed schedule.
"Hurry, hurry!" Taehyung tells himself while packing up all his belongings into his backpack.
Jeongguk chuckles as he watches Taehyung holds his hand and drags him out hurriedly. They walk down the hallway to the lobby and the train station, which is almost empty by the time they get into the platform. They line up behind two salary-men still wearing their typical black suit at this hour. Their fingers entwined with each other all the time.
"You tired?" Jeongguk asks.
"Your question is rhetoric," Taehyung glares at him, rather squinting his eyes dramatically.
Laughing, Jeongguk leans his body forward to get even closer to Taehyung. He frees his hand just to slip both of his arms around the older’s waist, feeling the warmth responding to his call as Taehyung leans his back against his chest. He then rests his chin on Taehyung’s shoulder letting himself sniffing his strawberry scented shampoo.
Jeongguk willingly comes to the lab just to accompany Taehyung for two hours, voluntarily buying him the most expensive set of gyudon in Sukiya despite his strict financial condition. He's probably just so madly in love with Taehyung that people would think what he’s giving Taehyung is crazy. But it’s not, it’s normal, it’s what he wants to do. They are both tired, yet despite Jeongguk's project that hasn't had any progress due to his busy part-time schedule not to mention his supervisor who's barely at the lab at all, being together in an open space with Taehyung in such bizarre hour feels kind of nice. And he’s happy.
The last train of the night come not long after that, and they enter the train with only few people in it, their one and only destination to be Jeongguk's apartment, and it's a couple of minutes away.
At least it's close to summer holiday and they will have plenty of times for themselves. And, well, they should probably plan to spend summer in Seoul and eat as many Korean food as possible.
*-*-* FIN *-*-*