Chapter Text
The sound of heavy rain echoed through Soobin’s ears as he shakily tried to open the front door to his apartment. He threw his belongings to the floor, not caring about where they were landing, and carefully placed the navy blue umbrella he carried besides his front door. Soobin made his way to the sofa, seeking for the comfort it would surely give to his desperate self. Lying down, Soobin stared at the ceiling. A second later he grabbed a pillow and screamed into it, thanking heaven Taehyun still wasn't home to see him in this state.
Now, you may be wondering: why the hell was Soobin screaming at his ceiling all by himself on a rainy day? Well, his frustration had a name and a surname. Choi Yeonjun. When Soobin chose photography as his elective, he expected to have a nice semester in an easy class which he would enjoy and easily pass. He was not prepared for the weekly torture that was sharing a class with the one who should not be named. Not that Yeonjun was a bad person, far from that, actually. He was actually kind, caring, sweet and very, very fucking handsome. And that was the whole problem.
Having a ridiculous crush on his classmate would not be a problem, not at all. If Soobin did not completely shut down his Windows’ system every time Yeonjun came into his line of sight. And that was very often in that semester, for Soobin’s therapist's despair. But that really wasn't the problem right now. The problem is the umbrella resting by his door. The umbrella Choi Yeonjun had just lent him half an hour earlier.
The fact that Yeonjun even lent him that cursed umbrella was shocking to him, on its own. Even though Soobin paid tons of attention to Yeonjun's every single move, they weren’t close. In reality, they had barely spoken to each other more than simple ‘hello’s or ‘good morning’s. So, Yeonjun's sudden approach and kind gesture confused Soobin. He also may or may not have stared at the street for five or so minutes after Yeonjun walked away, brain trying to reload, but no one needed to know about that.
Soobin was pretty sure the universe hated him, too. He never left the house without an umbrella, ever. Except Taehyun had gotten home late from a party the night before and completely ignored all of his alarms. Soobin, being the great friend he was, tried to wake the younger up. But Taehyun didn't want to get out of bed, and then he begged Soobin to help him with his outfit for the day, and then when they noticed it they were both late for class. Needless to say they didn't really double check their belongings before rushing out of their shared dorm room. When Soobin realised he didn't have his umbrella with him it was already too late to go back.
A ripping sound brought Soobin out of his thoughts. He took the pillow away from his face and blinked rapidly, trying to get used to the light. His eyes, then, zeroed on the umbrella. Which was no longer propped against the wall, but was instead on the floor. With Soobin's cat on top of it.
Taehyun opened the door carefully, having heard some strange noises from the hallway, only to be met with an… interesting scene. Read: a very distressed Soobin, holding their cat up to his face, total despair in his eyes.
"Hyung…" Taehyun started, with a low voice. “What are you doing?"
Soobin turned to him, a maniac look in his eyes, and Taehyun noticed that his hair looked a bit like he had put his finger on a socket. He looked right into Taehyun's eyes. And screamed. Taehyun did the only thing he could think of. He screamed back.
“WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING AT ME?!”
"THIS DEMON RIPPED YEONJUN'S UMBRELLA!" The cat in Soobin’s hand seemed more scared than anyone inside that room. The umbrella looked completely destroyed on the floor. “TELL ME HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS TO HIM?! I DON’T EVEN TALK TO HIM?!”
"WHO THE FUCK IS YEONJUN?"
“WELL, NOW HE IS MY EX FUTURE BOYFRIEND!”
At this point Taehyun, though, it might be better to stop screaming. Soobin wasn't making any sense and was clearly distressed, and Taehyun was not in the mood to get a noise complaint.
"Ok, how about we make some tea, relax a little, and you explain to me what happened?"
"Is it magical tea? Will it fix the umbrella? If not, then no, thanks."
Taehyun stared at him for a second, then nodded.
"Ok. I'll go make some tea. Non-magical, sorry. Please, leave the cat alone for now."
Taehyun let out a silent relieved sigh when Soobin put the cat down. Soobin stayed where he was, unmoving, staring blankly at the umbrella. He looked a bit like he might start screaming again, but there was nothing Taehyun could do about that, so he left to start preparing their tea.
Luckily, Soobin didn't start screaming again. Once Taehyun was finished with the tea and went back to the couch, he found Soobin sitting down - taking baby steps here - and staring at the umbrella, still - really, though, baby steps.
"So..." Taehyun decided to try and have that conversation again. “Let's try this again. All I got from your screaming was that Misty ripped Yeonjun's umbrella."
Soobin nodded. "Yup." He sipped on his tea, taking a deep breath, seeming traumatized.
"And who exactly is Yeonjun?"
“He is just a guy from my photography class.”
"Oh! OH! The one you're always stalking on ig, right?"
Soobin glared at him. "I don't stalk him, shut up." Taehyun snorted.
“Sure. And why exactly were you with his umbrella?”
Soobin looked at him through teary eyes.
"Because he lent it to me," and buried his face on the closest pillow, screaming into it. Well. At least no noise complaint.
"Oh, come on, you can just explain to him what happened. I'm sure he'll understand."
Soobin looked at Taehyun as if preparing to murder him.
"No, I can't. In fact, I can't ever go to that class again. And all because of you."
“Uhn, excuse me? How would that be my fault?”
“If it wasn’t for your lazy ass making me late to class, I would’ve remembered to grab my own umbrella, and Yeonjun wouldn't have needed to lend me his.”
Taehyun snorted. “Yes, sure. Whatever. But the fact here is, you will need to tell Yeonjun about this, eventually. You can't just stop going to class.”
“Watch me." Taehyun rolled his eyes. Soobin rolled his eyes right back at him, then sat up, smiling. "Or. I could buy him a new umbrella. Identical to his old one."
Taehyun stared at the older in stunned silence.
"Please tell me you're joking."
“Does it seem like I’m joking to you?” Soobin shot Taehyun a deadly stare. “He won’t even notice the difference, and it will be like nothing has ever happened.”
“I… you know what, I'm not even gonna try to argue with that." He stretched, "I'm going to sleep, now. Goodnight."
Soobin set the plan. He was determined, and he would do that. Nothing could go wrong with that, and since he would only meet Yeonjun again the following week, he would have plenty of time to search for the exact brand and for his order to be delivered on time. It would be alright, there was nothing to worry about, right?
Convinced that his plan was perfect, Soobin decided to head to bed as well, trying to relax. He could start looking on the next day.