Work Text:
Jung Wooyoung lived in one of the older dorms on campus.
He was more than a little annoyed with this fact when he was initially assigned to his dorm at the beginning of his first year (he had wanted to room with his best friend Yeosang, but Yeosang had gotten into the fancy new dorm for STEM majors, taken one look at the crappy showers in Wooyoung's and said "Nice knowing you"), but after living in the old dorm for almost two years, he didn't mind the fact that he had to give the water five minutes to warm up if he tried to shower before 9 AM and was overall quite fond of living there.
It was a little off the main residential quad, so it meant that he never had to worry about being kept up by loud noises and if he wanted to go party, he could go somewhere else and not worry about someone throwing up in his hallway's bathroom, which was quite nice. It had a nice kitchen on the first floor that Wooyoung took advantage of as frequently as he could. It also housed Choi San, who was probably the kindest person Wooyoung had ever met, and also the person most likely to send Wooyoung into cardiac arrest at a young age.
The thing was that Wooyoung was normally pretty confident in himself. Objectively, he was quite attractive and had that kind of friendly personality that drew people in like moths to a flame, so Wooyoung normally had the confidence and the ability to flirt well. He had flirted with San the very first time they met (which should be considered very impressive since it was around 3:00 a.m. and Wooyoung had been crying in a cold stairwell before San had joined him and given him a cup of tea), he just hadn't been able to confidently flirt with San since then.
Honestly, it was a huge inconvenience.
San was pretty and nice and so beautifully human that Wooyoung wanted to give him the freaking world, but Wooyoung ended up tripping over his tongue every time he talked to San. Maybe it was because San had met Wooyoung when he was vulnerable or because San always looked at Wooyoung so softly and asked "how're you doing?" with a casualness that hid how deep the question ran, maybe it was because Wooyoung had never met a person as kind as San and every single time he opened his mouth his brain was screaming at him "don't mess this up."
So yeah. Living in the same building as San was both a blessing (because San himself was a blessing to this planet) and a curse (because Wooyoung has never felt so helpless before).
"I really don't see what the big deal is," Yeosang says one night. They're chilling in Wooyoung's room after two hours of drilling “Pirate King” with Seonghwa in dance studio six, playing Mario Kart on Yeosang's switch, hair wet from cold showers and fingers covered in the grease of the bucket of fried chicken that sits between them. "It's not like San would stop being friends with you if you confessed and he rejected you, he's not rude."
"I don't want to be rejected!" Wooyoung protests, throwing his body to the right as if that will actually help him turn better. Yoshi (Yeosang) lazily drifts in front of Baby Peach (Wooyoung) to take first place as Baby Peach drives straight into the mud and Wooyoung is reminded of the fact that he sucks at video games and such is why he generally dislikes them.
"I'm not saying you would be. I'm just saying that if you were, it's not like you're out a friend," Yeosang says plainly. Yoshi wins the race and Baby Peach comes in sixth, prompting Yeosang to put his controller down and turn to Wooyoung.
Oh god, Wooyoung knows this look. That's the Yeosang-is-going-to-be-brutally-and-painfully-honest look. Wooyoung hates this look.
"I really don't want a lecture," Wooyoung whines, reaching for a piece of chicken only to have Yeosang slap his hand away and hold the bucket with a kind of territorial anger Wooyoung knows too well in this situation.
"You should've thought of that before starting your biweekly series of sangie, im so gay for him texts at 2:00 AM," Yeosang deadpans, his expression completely unsympathetic. (Wooyoung might have actually been intimated by the whole affair if Yeosang wasn't clutching the chicken bucket like it was his firstborn child and Wooyoung the witch coming to collect it.) "You have been pining after San for the past three and a half months, three and a half months! This is getting ridiculous, Wooyoung, you have to do something."
"I don't have to do shit."
"Jung Wooyoung."
"Kang Yeosang."
"I want to kill you."
"What else is new?"
Yeosang sighs heavily, which is never a good sign since Yeosang sighing heavily is normally followed by him emotionlessly tearing a person to shreds. (It's Wooyoung. Wooyoung is the person he is going to emotionlessly tear into shreds.)
"C'mon, Sangie, please don't do this now," Wooyoung says, hoping to every god that might be out there that his pouting tactic will actually work on Yeosang for once.
"I wouldn't have to if you would get your head out of your ass," Yeosang shrugs and Wooyoung knows that once again, pouting has failed. "Honestly, Woo, you two are ridiculous. If you think that San doesn't look at you the same way that you look at him, you're legally blind and we need to go get your eyes checked again. San is so whipped for you."
"As if," Wooyoung groans, pulling a pillow into his arms and shoving his face into it childishly. "He's like, he's like the nicest person on the planet. No way he likes me back."
"I'm willing to bet you like 100,000 won that San has had some version of this conversation with Yunho," Yeosang must have finally put down the chicken bucket because Wooyoung can feel the older trying to peel the pillow away from Wooyoung's face.
"Why Yunho?" Wooyoung's voice is clearly muffled by the pillow despite Yeosang's best efforts.
"I don't know, I just get the vibe that in the Yunho-Mingi-San trio, Yunho is the primary voice of reason."
"Well that's a terrifying image," Wooyoung grunts and the bed shakes with their combined laughter, Yeosang successfully pulling the pillow away from Wooyoung's face so that the two of them can flop back on the bed laughing together. "How did we become friends with these people again?"
"San is entirely your own doing," Yeosang says, poking at Wooyoung's ribs. "Everyone else we can blame on Hongjoong and Seonghwa too, I guess."
"You say that like you haven't been harboring the biggest crush on Jongho as long as I've been crushing on San," Wooyoung scoffs, attempting to swat Yeosang's hands away.
"I do not have a crush on Jongho!" Yeosang protests, cheeks coloring for the first time that night much to Wooyoung's amusement. "Wooyoung, stop laughing at me. Wooyoung! He's a kid!"
"Oh come on, Sangie, he's only a year below us," Wooyoung continues to tease, enjoying this chance to pester Yeosang. Too often it's the other way around. "Put the poor boy out of his misery and just do something , right? I'll confess to San if you do something about Jongho."
To be fair, Wooyoung realizes his mistake the minute the words leave his mouth. Most of the time Yeosang would never rise to this bait. Yeosang is too patient and level-headed to feed into Wooyoung's bullshit. But one look at Yeosang's face is enough to tell Wooyoung that Yeosang is so freaking tired of Wooyoung complaining about San that Yeosang would actually do something about Jongho, the same Jongho Yeosang won't even admit to liking, if it would shut Wooyoung up.
"If I do something about Jongho, you confess to San," Yeosang says, eyes burning with determination. "You said it first, no take-backs."
"Hang on, Yeosang," Wooyoung protests, pushing himself up but it's too late because Yeosang is already on his phone.
"This is way easier than I thought it was gonna be," Yeosang grins, texting rapid-fire and hitting send with triumph. He reads the text aloud, showing his phone to Wooyoung, " Let's grab lunch tomorrow. My treat. I did something, it's your turn now."
"You cheat!" Wooyoung sputters, diving at Yeosang much to Yeosang's amusement if his laughter is anything to go by. Yeosang extends his arm past his head, just out of Wooyoung's reach. "You're such a little shit! In no way does you asking Jongho to lunch compare to me confessing to San! You guys get lunch every other day!"
"Ah-ah-ah, you didn't say it had to compare," Yeosang grins like the devil. "You just said I had to do something. I did something. Ergo, it's your turn."
Wooyoung screeches, wrestling Yeosang in an attempt to grab the phone because if Wooyoung's going down, there's no way he's going down without dragging Yeosang down with him, which inspires a whole competition between Yeosang and Wooyoung of screeching and pinning and kneeing each other and all Wooyoung has to show for it are a few keyboard smashes sent to Wooyoung himself before Yeosang's phone lights up with a call from Mingi and the two of them cease wrestling.
"Does Mingi normally call you?"
"I didn't even know I had Mingi's number."
Limbs tangled together, they stare at the phone.
"..."
"I should answer this."
"Probably."
Wooyoung and Yeosang attempt to untangle themselves, which mostly involves a lot of shoving and "get your ass away from me"s, and by the time they've actually untangled themselves the phone has stopped ringing.
"Should I call him back?" Yeosang wonders aloud. "Maybe it wasn't important?"
"If he calls again, it's important," Wooyoung deduces. "If he doesn't, shoot him a text in 15 minutes asking what's up."
They stare at Yeosang's phone until the tell-tale sound of the generic iPhone ringtone goes off, except Yeosang's phone doesn't light up.
"Your turn," Yeosang says, gesturing to Wooyoung's phone and an incoming call from Yunho. "It's a Friday night, wherever Mingi is, Yunho's likely with him."
Wooyoung sighs, cautiously holding his phone up to his ear and answering the call.
"WOOYOUNG!" Yunho's shout is loud even without speakerphone and Wooyoung wrenches the phone away from his ear while Yeosang laughs. "Wooyoung! Are you with Yeosang?!"
"Yes?" Wooyoung turns to Yeosang quizzically, who just shrugs in response.
"PERFECT! Come hang out with us!" Yunho cheers and Wooyoung can faintly hear Mingi cheering in the background. "We're in San's room! Come hang out with us! We're having so much fun!"
Wooyoung's mouth is dry, because Yunho and Mingi are clearly drunk as hell and who knows what state San will be in. Wooyoung's not sure his sober gay heart can take it.
"We'll be there in five minutes," Yeosang shouts into the phone, hanging up the call for Wooyoung and facing him with a sadistic smirk.
Fuck. Wooyoung knows this look too.
"No, Yeosang, no! No way in hell!"
"Get yourself together Woo, we have five minutes to save San from the chaos that is Yungi."
These are the moments where Wooyoung thinks it's okay Yeosang knows him so well. Even if Yeosang wasn't here to help push him out the door, Wooyoung probably would have gone anyway, because he's a sucker for San. At least Yeosang is here to direct Wooyoung into an old t-shirt that “brings out his eyes” and shove a packet of gum at him so that Wooyoung is some semblance of presentable.
(These are also the moments where Wooyoung envies Yeosang, who is so effortlessly beautiful that even when he tries to look bad, he still looks good. So their ensemble of sweats and oversized t-shirts give Yeosang the appearance of a leisure-wear model, while Wooyoung looks like a sleep-deprived college student. Which he is.)
Wooyoung leads the way to San's room on auto-pilot, he doesn't have to think twice about navigating the hallways and hop the stairs up a floor to where San's room is. Yeosang, of course, teasingly comments on how Wooyoung's memorized the route to San's room as he hitches his skateboard up under his arm, and Wooyoung can't do much more than scowl at him because, unfortunately, Yeosang's right. Wooyoung is whipped.
Momentarily forgetting that Yunho and Mingi are there, Wooyoung does his customary double knock against the closed door before pushing it open into San's room, where he's met by the sight of a very flustered San trapped underneath the sprawled form of Mingi while Yunho tosses shirts out of San's closet. It's all very familiar, considering Wooyoung was in San's position not five minutes ago and Yeosang was in Yunho's position and fortunately it was only a pillow in Mingi's position.
"Told you so," Yeosang says, calling the attention of the other three to where Wooyoung and Yeosang stand in the doorway. Wooyoung panics, because he is totally not ready to admit that he was doing the same thing five minutes ago, but is saved by Yeosang saying, "The giants are drunk as fuck."
"WOOSANG!" Yunho and Mingi cheer excitedly.
("Mingi you're crushing me," San flounders.)
"I never disagreed with you," Wooyoung pouts, pushing himself into the room and tickling Mingi until the taller rolls off of San with a high pitched squeal. "There you go."
"My hero," San smiles, eyes turning into crescents as he rolls upright and squeezes Wooyoung into a tight hug. Wooyoung swears his heart stops beating. "Missed you, Woo."
"Please tell me you're not also drunk," Yeosang interrupts, propping his skateboard against the now-closed door and making his way into San's tight room. Yunho and Mingi collapse in a pile underneath the window, whispering together excitedly. "I signed up for drunk Yungi, I cannot deal with a drunk, clingy Mountain."
"Haven't had a drop, I've got a make-up seminar tomorrow," San says, releasing Wooyoung from the hug but keeping an arm wrapped around Wooyoung's shoulders. Instinctually, Wooyoung nestles closer to San, wrapping an arm around the other's waist. "Honestly, they haven't had much either. I'm kind of amazed they're this gone."
"We all knew Mingi was a lightweight when we did bonding after the first group practice," Wooyoung comments, ignoring the cheeky grin on Yeosang's face. "But I thought Yunho had some crazy tolerance or something?"
"Not when it comes to Irish cream, apparently," San snorts.
"You had Irish cream and you didn't care to share earlier?" Wooyoung is affronted, pushing away from San. "What the fuck?"
"We could have made spiked Thai tea," Yeosang murmurs thoughtfully from his perch on San's desk. "Wooyoung's right: what the fuck?"
The only thing that saves San from Wooyoung and Yeosang's righteous investigation (because goddammit, Wooyoung loves spiking all kinds of milk tea and Yeosang does too) is the unstoppable force that is Yunho and Mingi, who push themselves off the wall and towards Yeosang.
"Yeosang! Yeosang!" Mingi chants, eyes gleaming with mischief.
"Is it true you punched Jongho in the throat?" Yunho continues.
"Mmm, Jongho did mention something like that to me," San comments, happy to have been spared the wrath of Wooyoung and Yeosang.
Yeosang sputters and his face flushes.
"He was teaching me to spar! It was an accident!"
Wooyoung chokes out a laugh, the others falling into raucous laughter as Yeosang sputters and tries to explain himself. Yeosang's never mentioned this before and Wooyoung will be damned if he doesn't hold this over Yeosang's head for the rest of his life.
"Wow Yeosangie, I can't believe you punched your crush in the throat," Wooyoung teases, which pulls an excited "ooh" from the other three.
"Yeosang has a crush on Jongho?" Yunho asks eagerly, leaning towards Yeosang with the most devastatingly happy puppy eyes Wooyoung has ever seen.
"I don't have a crush on Jongho," Yeosang protests. Wooyoung snickers at how Yeosang clearly turns his eyes away from Yunho's. Not even the great Kang Yeosang can resist the power of Jeong Yunho's puppy eyes.
"You totally do though," Wooyoung says. God, he loves teasing Yeosang. It's so much fun. "You guys do everything together and you never stop texting him."
"That's not true."
Yeosang's phone pings and Wooyoung's grin is reflected on the faces of the other three.
Yeosang reddens further.
"Who is it, Yeosangie?" Mingi giggles.
"10,000 won on Jongho," San goads.
"Jongho's the only person he's texted tonight," Wooyoung boasts his insider knowledge proudly. "It's totally Jongho. What's it say, Yeosangie?"
Yeosang scowls at Wooyoung because of course Yeosang knows that Wooyoung knows what the text is about. "He's probably just agreeing to lunch tomorrow."
Yeosang, bless his heart, does not know the virtue and advantage in lying. Wooyoung and the others howl their approval, laughing loudly at Yeosang's progressively reddening face.
"It's like you said earlier, Woo, we get lunch together every other day," Yeosang argues, swatting away Mingi's hands as they attempt to crawl up Yeosang's calves. "It's nothing out of the ordinary."
"But you want it to be," Yunho sings, launching all but Yeosang into another round of laughter.
"I do not," Yeosang grumbles, lips turning downwards into a pout. Most days, Yeosang pouting would be enough to stop Wooyoung from teasing further. But Wooyoung feels high off the feeling of San pressed against his side and Yunho and Mingi cackling their amusement and the lightness in this room. It's all very wonderful and youthful and human and Wooyoung wants to exist in this moment for just a little bit longer, so he continues to tease and Yeosang's pout quickly makes way to a bemused smile as he lets them poke fun at him, never affirming whether a crush on Jongho exists.
It's easy like this. Life feels easy like this. Full of laughter and celebration about the end of midterms season, Mingi being halfway through his "stupid as fuck" differential equations class, and Yunho winning a solo in the dance department's spring showcase. They tease and laugh and talk about how excited they are to film "Pirate King" and Wooyoung is so inexplicably happy that he just smiles, leaning into San's side, laughing and screeching along with the others.
"It's nearly one," San says at one point, smile tugging down into a frown for the first time that night. "We should either finish up or quiet down, I don't want to disturb the other guys in the stairwell."
"I'll head home," Yeosang says, pulling Yunho and Mingi up with him. "I can walk these two back to their apartment, we're headed in the same direction anyways."
"Yeosangie, you're so nice," Mingi says, petting Yeosang's head absently. Yeosang eyes roll in a mix of disgust and fondness.
"And pretty," Yunho adds, similarly petting Yeosang's head. "Like you, babe!"
"Awwww," Mingi coos and crashes into Yunho's side.
"Need a hand?" San offers with a laugh.
"Nah, I got it," Yeosang says, dragging Yunho (and thus, Mingi) by the sleeve to the door. "I'll see you guys at practice tomorrow!"
This is a setup, Wooyoung realizes. This is totally a setup and Kang Yeosang, I am going to kill you.
Killing Yeosang will have to wait till tomorrow, however, because Yeosang has used his unconventional strength to shove Yunho and Mingi out the door and close it with a cheerful wave, leaving Wooyoung to face the reality that is his raging crush on San.
This shouldn't feel awkward, because Wooyoung and San have hung out on their own tons of times. They hold hands when they walk to the dining hall sometimes and crowd against each other in public, it's normal for San to drape his lanky arms on Wooyoung's shoulders and hold him from behind. Wooyoung is used to the sensation of San's tiny waist against his fingertips and the press of San's body against his as they sit on San's floor and watch dramas together. Wooyoung has held and talked San through a panic attack and San has stroked Wooyoung's head with featherlight touches while he cries from the sheer exhaustion of being a university student.
Wooyoung knows that they are so acutely aware of each other and so intimately familiar with each other that they should be dating at this point. They just haven't ever talked about it. Have never even asked each other if they're interested in being more than friends.
(Maybe it's because they know they're more than friends, because friends don't perfectly exist together like the two of them do.)
It doesn't really matter, because Wooyoung is terrified of messing this up.
And frankly, fuck Yeosang's pep talk from earlier tonight. Wooyoung doesn't want anything to change between him and San, he just wants to maybe add kissing to it, but confessing to San will definitely lead to San not being as comfortable around Wooyoung if San ends up rejecting Wooyoung, so fuck Yeosang's pep talk.
"I should get going," Wooyoung manages, pushing himself from the warmth of San's side with some regret. "I don't want to keep you up too late."
"It's okay, you can stay longer," San protests, but Wooyoung is already standing up and brushing invisible dust off.
"I don't wanna bother, it's fine Sannie! I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Woo," San catches Wooyoung's wrist, forcing Wooyoung to pause his movements. Wooyoung is an absolute mess of a human being when it comes to San, but he's a good friend so he steels himself and turns to look back at San and oh-
San's face is redder than red, so red that his ears are like the color of cherries. Wooyoung is struck by the thought that maybe San is just as afraid of messing this up as Wooyoung. "Stay?"
Wooyoung feels like he's been struck by lightning and his heart is pounding so loudly he wonders how San doesn't hear it. Wooyoung has never felt this nervous in his entire life.
But maybe San wants this too.
So Wooyoung turns his wrist so that he can catch San's hand, threading their fingers together. He beams at San, who smiles right back at him, eyes in those familiar crescents. "Okay."
(Sometime after 3:00 AM, Wooyoung is woken by the bed shifting and creaking as San attempts to roll himself over and ease out of bed. Faintly, he registers the echoes of someone crying in the stairwell.
"Sannie?" Wooyoung's voice croaks out in groggy confusion as Wooyoung blindly reaches out for San.
"'M here, shh shh," San catches Wooyoung's hand in his own and nuzzles his nose into Wooyoung's neck in a tired act of affection. "Just give me a few minutes, wanna check on them."
"Don't forget your tea," Wooyoung mumbles with a tired smile, pulling a low chuckle from San. San leans over and presses their lips together in a lazy kiss and it's soft and chaste and it feels like home. Then he's gone, quietly tiptoeing to poke his head out of the door, shutting it softly behind him as he goes into the stairwell to comfort another broken person. Wooyoung snuggles further into San's pillow and closes his eyes, content with the warmth blossoming in his chest, drifting peacefully as he waits for San to return.)