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“You still haven’t found a roommate yet?” Taehyun asks, plopping down on Soobin’s bed like it’s his own. The sound of Soobin’s fingers tapping on his keyboard halts, and Taehyun tilts his head a little to look at where Soobin has been sitting for the past god-knows-how-many hours.
“Well, I would’ve,” Soobin scoffs, swiveling around on his chair to face Taehyun, a cute dog-shaped cushion in his lap. “If a certain someone hadn’t bailed on me two weeks ago.”
A sheepish smile appears on Taehyun’s face as he sits up and says, “Sorry about that… I said yes to Kai without thinking, and you know I always think before saying and doing anything—but for some reason I just don’t when I’m with Kai.”
Soobin waves it all off, already aware of the reason behind his and Taehyun’s current predicament. Back when they were high schoolers, the two of them had talked about renting an apartment together, when Taehyun starts his freshman year. The plan was for Soobin to live either on campus or with whoever for his first two years, and they’d figure out the details of moving as soon as Taehyun received his offer letter. It was the perfect plan—except there was one thing that they failed to consider..
Huening Kai.
Kai had moved to their neighborhood just as Soobin went off to uni, and Taehyun had found himself gravitating to the new kid, like he was the Earth and Kai, the Sun. As fate would have it, Kai became Taehyun’s classmate, and it was easy, so easy, for them to get along. By the time Soobin finished his first semester, they had grown inseparable—you’d never see one of them without the other trailing right behind.
It was easy for Soobin to grow fond of Kai too; his visits home decorated by a pair of glittering smiles instead of just one, and mint chocolate ice cream making its way into their usual order. It was easy, so easy, and Soobin wondered if it was supposed to be that easy, but he was thankful nonetheless—thankful that Taehyun wasn’t alone while he was gone, thankful that Kai was so good, and that it felt like home when the three of them were together.
As the three of them spent more and more time together, it became obvious to Soobin: Taehyun developed feelings for Kai, and he didn’t know what to do about them. Soobin saw it in the way Taehyun easily let loose around Kai, and the way Taehyun’s eyes softened each time he looked at Kai, and how those soft looks turned into lingering stares that were filled with something that one could describe as yearning.
So of course, when Taehyun came bursting into Soobin’s room one day, frantically rambling about how he’s made a mistake and he hopes Soobin isn’t too angry and that he has to figure out a way to cancel on Kai and that he shouldn’t have immediately said yes to living together with him for uni, how could Soobin possibly be mad at him? He had watched Taehyun pine over Kai enough times to make him feel like he was watching some coming-of-age romance film, desperately waiting for something, anything to happen—and now, that something was here, and he didn’t want to take it away from them.
As cute as it was to see Taehyun gush about his best friend and crush (and as fun as it was for Soobin to tease him about it), it did put him in a tight spot and he’s been spending the past two weeks trying to figure out how to get out of it.
“I can pay part of the rent first until you find a roommate,” Taehyun offers. “That’ll help give you some more time to find someone you can trust.”
“Are you insane?” Soobin replies, eyes wide in disbelief. “I’m not letting you do that—you have rent to pay at your place with Kai and I don’t want you to have to pay the same amount for a room you won’t be living in.”
“It’s my fault you’re in this mess anyway, I want to help,” Taehyun insists.
“Well, I’m not going to accept your help if it’s in the form of monetary assistance,” Soobin sighs, placing his head in his hands. “I just don’t know how I’m going to find anyone—I’ve posted flyers at all the notice boards around campus, I put up a notice on the student discussion boards, I’ve asked everyone I know and I still haven’t found a roommate.”
“Wait. Were you really hoping a total stranger would call you up and decide on living with you?” Taehyun asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Maybe—I don’t know, ” Soobin answers as he lifts his head. “At this point, I think I’ll take anyone as long as they’re not gross and not an axe murderer.”
“Are you really that desperate?”
“I’m beyond that desperate,” Soobin deadpans. Taehyun raises an eyebrow in response, a mischievous look on his face.
“Oh, really? Are you sure ?”
“Kang Taehyun. I need to find a new roommate by this weekend so the word ‘desperate’ doesn’t even fully cover what I’m feeling right now.”
Taehyun pauses and tilts his head purposefully, and Soobin can already tell that he has something up his sleeve. He stares at him expectantly, waiting for a response that seemed like it would help him, somehow.
“Well, what if I happen to know a guy who’s been looking around for somewhere to stay?”
Soobin practically jumps when he hears those words leave Taehyun’s mouth, eyes going all wide with excitement at the thought of possibly having found the solution to his problem. Still on his desk chair, he scoots over to Taehyun, who’s been sitting cross-legged on his bed.
“Do you like, actually know a guy? Do you really? Who is it? Is he from our uni?” Soobin asks excitedly, a hand tugging relentlessly on Taehyun’s arm.
“His name is Choi Beomgyu,” Taehyun answers. “Maybe you’ve seen him around? He’s starting his second year and he wanted to move out of the campus dorms.”
“The name sounds kinda familiar,” Soobin ponders. “Can’t say I actually know anyone by that name though—anyway, why didn’t you tell me about him sooner?” he continues, lightly whacking Taehyun’s shoulder.
“I thought you’d want to find someone you already know to live with you…” Taehyun replies quietly.
“I did, at first,” Soobin admits. “But beggars can’t be choosers, especially not when said beggar has to pay full rent if they don’t find someone to move into the free room of their apartment soon,” he huffs, sliding back to his desk.
“I realize that now,” Taehyun says. “So do you want me to talk to him for you?”
Soobin nods (a bit too enthusiastically) in reply, earning a light giggle from Taehyun. He watches as Taehyun taps away on his phone, the weight of his worries flying away with each tap.
“He says he’s busy right now, but he can come by some time after 7 to discuss all the details with you,” Taehyun announces, just as Soobin’s eyes start to flutter shut (a result of staying up too many nights trying to find a new roommate).
“So he’s okay with moving in with me? Just like that?” Soobin questions, surprised at how easy that was. “He doesn’t even know me—for all he knows I could be an axe murderer. Better yet, what if he’s the axe murderer? That’s probably why he said yes so quickly.”
“Neither of you are axe murderers,” Taehyun retorts. “You both just happen to be desperate for a roommate to live with.”
Soobin scrunches his nose and throws his dog cushion at Taehyun, resulting in the younger falling into a fit of giggles.
“I hope desperate means he won’t be a pain to live with,” Soobin mutters, taking back his cushion before Taehyun can retaliate with it. “How do you even know this Beomgyu guy anyway?”
“He’s a friend of a friend,” Taehyun answers. “Or friends. He knows a lot of people and everyone says he’s a nice guy, so I wouldn’t be too worried about it.”
“Didn’t know you had any friends other than me and Kai,” Soobin grumbles, earning a pillow to his face. “But alright—if you say he’s nice, then I’ll believe it. I trust you.”
“Of course,” Taehyun says, grinning, before launching into a retelling of his and Kai’s most recent lunch date, and how Kai managed to charm their waitress into giving them free dessert (Soobin can tell that the waitress wasn’t the only one who fell for Kai’s charms). It’s a cute story, so Soobin tucks away all questions about Choi Beomgyu, and listens.
—
The Choi Beomgyu of Soobin’s concern shows up knocking on the front door of his apartment at exactly 7:01pm.
“I thought you said he was coming some time after 7!” Soobin half-whispers, half-shouts as he dumps all the takeout containers into the trash can before turning his attention to the plates in the sink. He and Taehyun had just only finished their dinner of japchae and yangnyeom chicken when a few knocks at the door startled them.
Soobin had wanted to wait for Beomgyu and invite him to join them for dinner, but Taehyun argued that they didn’t even know what time exactly he would come, and that he was so hungry he was bordering on hangry , and Soobin didn’t really feel like being put in a headlock today, so he caved—which brings them to their current predicament.
“It’s 7:01! That is after 7!” Taehyun argues, tidying up the living room and trying to make it look as cozy and appealing as possible for Soobin’s potential roommate. “Are you going to get the door or should I?”
“Can you do it?” Soobin asks, focused on the task at hand: scrubbing all of today’s dishes. He makes a mental note to start washing the dishes as he uses them again instead of leaving everything for after dinner. “I’ll be done in a sec,” he adds, and when he turns his head, he sees Taehyun already walking towards the door.
“Hi—sorry about the wait, we were just cleaning up,” Taehyun says, and Soobin can hear the apologetic smile in his voice.
“No worries,” another voice replies. It’s quiet and relaxed, not what Soobin was expecting (but he wasn’t really sure what he was expecting anyway).
Putting away the last dish and drying his hands on the back of his shirt, Soobin braces himself as he walks back to the living room to meet Choi Beomgyu, the person who can solve all his problems in the blink of an eye, as long as he agrees to move in with him.
The Choi Beomgyu in question is nothing like what Soobin imagined (although, again, he wasn’t sure what he had imagined in the place).
Pretty—that’s the first word that comes to Soobin’s mind when he sees Beomgyu, sitting on the sofa next to Taehyun, and the word lingers as he sits in the armchair, between thoughts of how come I’ve never seen this guy around before and God I hope I don’t mess this up.
“Hi,” Soobin greets, still a little stunned by how pretty Beomgyu is, and when Beomgyu focuses his puppy eyes on him, Soobin can feel his heart flutter. “I’m Soobin, I’m the guy looking for a roommate.”
“Yeah, I know,” Beomgyu laughs. It makes Soobin’s cheeks grow warm with embarrassment, but Beomgyu only sounds kind. “I’m Beomgyu—the guy who’s also looking for a roommate. It’s nice to meet you,” he says, a brilliant smile gracing his face that makes Soobin wonder if it’s legal for a person to be as pretty as Beomgyu.
“Likewise,” Soobin says in return, with a smile of his own. “You wanted to come over to talk about like, the details and ground rules and all that, right?”
With a soft nod from Beomgyu, Soobin launches into the basics, which is really just him explaining how they’ll share everything house-related together (chores and household expenses included!), and that as long as they actively try to get along with each other and Beomgyu makes rent on time, that’s good enough for Soobin.
“Any questions?” he finishes, with an eager and hopeful smile on his face.
(Soobin belatedly realizes that he should probably have more detailed rules for living with a stranger, but he doesn’t really know what those detailed rules would be, so he decides to take a deep breath and just hope for the best.)
“Just one, I think,” Beomgyu answers after a moment. Soobin gestures for Beomgyu to go ahead, so he does. “Is Taehyun also going to be living here?”
The question elicits an awkward laugh from Taehyun as he slowly shakes his head no. “I was supposed to,” he explains. “Actually, that’s the entire reason why Soobin desperately needs a new roommate—I mean, it’s a long story but I guess that sums it up nicely.”
“Does the story perhaps involve a certain… Huening Kai?” Beomgyu questions, a knowing smirk on his face that shifts into an amused smile when he sees the way Taehyun’s cheeks fill with color. “You have to tell the full story to me—you know that right?”
“That’s not important right now,” Taehyun replies, still a little shy. “What do you think about moving in with Soobin?”
Soobin is almost startled when the attention turns back to him. “Right, uh, yeah—what do you think?” he repeats, a little shy himself.
“I think it’ll be great!” Beomgyu answers. His enthusiasm leaks into his voice and it lights up his face in a way Soobin didn’t know faces could light up, and it makes him smile.
“Me too,” Soobin breathes out, and he means it. He thinks this will be great.
—
If Soobin could turn back time to the day he first met Beomgyu—or better yet, if he could turn back time to the day Taehyun asked him what was the best way to tell Kai he couldn’t move in with him—Soobin would do it in a heartbeat, without a second thought.
Beomgyu is nice—Taehyun was right about that. He’s chatty sometimes, and when he isn’t, he’s awfully quiet. He tries to get to know Soobin, asking about his family and his major and what uni has been like for him, and Soobin appreciates it, considering he’s not one to start any conversations himself, so he tries to get to know Beomgyu too. Overall a great guy, really, the kind of person Soobin would rate a 9/10 if you were supposed to rate people like that.
But as great of a person Beomgyu is, he’s also the kind of person to leave his things lying around because it’s convenient, and Soobin has learned this the hard way, throughout the span of a single week—the very first week, to be exact.
After a weekend of helping Beomgyu move in and getting used to having each other around, coupled with Monday blues and the terror of starting another year of university, Soobin was looking forward to going home. He had planned to throw himself onto the sofa and just lay there while waiting for the right time to ask Beomgyu what he’d like for dinner.
It was a solid plan—except Soobin came home to various stacks of files and books occupying one side of the sofa, and a fleece-lined denim jacket and a heavier-than-it-looks backpack on the other side.
Maybe I’m just a little too tired today, Soobin reasoned with himself. I’ll just move these aside and he’ll probably notice and realize he’s not supposed to leave things in places people are supposed to sit and sprawl out on after long and tiring first days.
So he did, and Beomgyu’s things took up what little space there was on the coffee table, but Soobin figured it would be fine then since they could make use of the tiny dining table to eat at, and they both had desks in their individual rooms anyway. Everything would turn out just fine.
Except it didn’t.
It’s been a week of Soobin coming home to Beomgyu’s things scattered around in all the places it shouldn’t be; a week of Soobin reluctantly moving those things back to the coffee table and sometimes Beomgyu’s room; a week of Soobin giving Beomgyu very gentle reminders not to leave his things everywhere; and a week of Beomgyu nodding and thanking Soobin, only to continue leaving his things lying around anyway. Soobin wants to believe that he’s only mildly annoyed, which is what he told Kai three days ago over lunch, and for the most part, he is.
Right now is not one of those parts.
Soobin is sitting at his desk, in the middle of studying early for a linguistics quiz in the way he’s inclined to do at the beginning of every semester, and it’s a quiet and peaceful night—or at least, it would be a quiet and peaceful night if it weren’t for the fact that Soobin can very clearly hear Beomgyu going I live so I love! I live so I love! at the top of his lungs.
Most days, Soobin is an avid fan of music, really, and he’s almost always listening to music—but not now, not when he’s been trying to write notes on the fundamentals of language and taking a break every 2 sentences. It was already challenging enough for him to try and focus without hearing various 2010s love songs being played at an astonishingly high volume, and it got even worse with them, but hearing Beomgyu’s enthusiastic singing is making the task nearly impossible.
Soobin slides his chair back, about to get up and tell his roommate to please quiet down before he goes crazy, but just as he does, he hears his door crack open.
He turns his head to find a pair of pretty brown eyes peering at him from behind the door, eyebrows raised like they’re asking him can I come in? Soobin found it puzzling how Beomgyu’s managed to irk him nearly everyday since he moved in, yet he can’t bring himself to say no to Beomgyu.
“Come on in,” he finds himself saying instead of get out . A very pleased Beomgyu awkwardly steps into his room and instead of saying please leave , Soobin finds himself asking, “What’s up?”
“Oh, I just, um,” Beomgyu starts, sounding and looking like he just realized that he didn’t quite think this through. This is amusing to Soobin, who continues looking up at Beomgyu from the comfort of his chair as he waits for the younger to continue.
“Yeah?” Soobin prompts, a smirk on his face as he raises an eyebrow at Beomgyu. Soobin finds it a rare opportunity to see Beomgyu at a loss for words, and it’s fun, entertaining even to see him like this.
“Do you wanna like, I don’t know, hang out? Maybe?” Beomgyu finally says. “We don’t have to like—we don’t have to really do anything, y’know, we can just listen to music and just—just chill, I guess?”
There’s a shy yet hopeful look on Beomgyu’s face, and Soobin can’t help but to marvel at how endearing Beomgyu was to him.
“I can’t,” Soobin ends up saying, a little more regretfully than he had intended—probably because he’s feeling a lot more regretful than he thought. “I have a quiz in two weeks that I’m studying for,” he explains.
Beomgyu’s smile falters just the tiniest bit, but it doesn’t fall all the way. The sight of it almost makes Soobin want to take his words back and tell Beomgyu, sure, of course we can hang out—but before he can, Beomgyu is already backing out of his room.
“Right, yeah! Pfft, what was I thinking—I mean, you were obviously in the middle of studying when I just, I just barged in,” Beomgyu rambles. “I’ll let you get back to that and, uh, sorry for interrupting.”
“Hey—Beomgyu,” Soobin calls, causing his roommate to stop, just before he’s completely out the door. “I’d love to chill and listen to music with you when we’re both free.”
“Yeah, sure,” Beomgyu says, with a half-hearted smile on his face that makes Soobin’s chest clench a little. “Good luck for your quiz,” he adds as an afterthought, before leaving and closing the door behind him.
Soobin doesn’t hear any music coming from Beomgyu’s room for the rest of the night. He doesn’t manage to get any more studying done either.
—
“So how are things going with your roommate?” Taehyun asks, looking up at Soobin instead of his biology notes for the first time since they sat down at their table.
It’s been about three and a half months since Beomgyu moved in with Soobin, and it’s been okay, really—or at least, that’s what Soobin has been telling himself the entire time.
“It’s fine,” Soobin says, a little half-heartedly, and Taehyun picks up on this immediately.
“Has he been causing you a lot of trouble?” Taehyun questions, raising an eyebrow at Soobin.
“No, not really—it’s fine,” Soobin insists, trying to wave it off, but Taehyun’s concerned look doesn’t waver at all. They sit like this for a minute, just staring at each other and waiting for the other to break and give in. With a defeated sigh, Soobin continues. “He’s just—sometimes he leaves some of his things lying around, and he’s invited a few people over without me knowing a few times—but really, Taehyun, it’s fine, it’s just a little tiring and awkward sometimes but it’s not bad ,” he quickly says, adding on the last part to reassure Taehyun that, again, it’s fine.
“That doesn’t sound fine to me but sure,” Taehyun grumbles. “Gosh, I’m really sorry, Soobin. I didn’t think he’d be like that.”
“Hey, you don’t have to be sorry—it’s really not that bad, I promise,” Soobin says. “I’m sure things could end up a lot worse if I had found a roommate through the discussion boards, so in a way I’m like, thankful, y’know?”
“Still… if he’s bothering you with those things then I think you should talk to him about it,” Taehyun suggests. “You guys are supposed to be living together, not just tolerating each other’s existence. There should be mutual respect, right?”
“It’s not like he’s being an outright jerk or anything,” Soobin sighs. “It’s really okay. They’re annoyances, yeah, but minor ones—annoyances that I can live with. Plus—I can’t really afford to kick him out right now. I don’t even have the time to make any new friends, much less look for a new roommate.”
(Beomgyu is also impossibly hard to stay mad at because a) he’s always quickly apologizing the second he sees a change in Soobin’s face, and b) he’s cute—but Taehyun doesn’t have to know that, Soobin thinks.)
“Anyway—enough about my roommate. I have exciting news,” Soobin announces, earning an intrigued look from Taehyun. “You know Choi Yeonjun?”
“The visual arts major?”
“The one and only,” Soobin confirms, grinning. “I have a study date with him this weekend.”
“Oh em gee,” Taehyun gasps dramatically, with a hand over his mouth, earning a light slap on the shoulder from Soobin. “I didn’t know you guys were close?”
“We’re not,” Soobin says sheepishly. “Well, not yet anyways.”
“Do you… like him?”
“Maybe,” Soobin remarks, and he can already tell Taehyun is about to launch into one of his lectures on Expectations, Heartbreak, and Other Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Fall In Love Too Easily. “Before you start another one of your TED talks—I don’t like like him. I don’t know enough about him, honestly, but he is nice and funny and insanely attractive and maybe the study date will lead to more study dates and then maybe to a real date or two and then maybe something more… the point is that I'm not expecting anything serious.”
Taehyun doesn’t trust Soobin, because that’s exactly what he said about his past heartbreaks too, but instead of arguing, he just sighs. “For your sake, good luck with the study date, and I hope it goes well.”
“Thanks, I’m gonna need it, I think,” Soobin sighs. “I just hope Beomgyu doesn’t start playing his obnoxious love songs again.”
Taehyun raises an eyebrow at him again, but Soobin quickly waves it off and points him back to his biology notes. “The Various Activities of Choi Beomgyu aren’t going to come up in your quiz next week,” he says, and Taehyun rolls his eyes before turning his attention back to studying.
—
“Hey, Beomgyu,” Soobin chimes, leaning against the doorframe of Beomgyu’s room. He scrunches his nose at the sight before him: sheets of paper sprawled out on the floor in a rather large semi-circle, decorated with lines of different shades of pastel highlighters, with Beomgyu sitting in the middle, surrounded by the chaos of academia.
Soobin quickly relaxes his expression when Beomgyu finally looks up at him. “Hi, Soobin. What’s up?”
“So like, I have a study date in two days, and I was wondering if you could maybe not play any of your obnoxious love songs the way you always do whenever I’m trying to study while that’s going on,” Soobin says, as nonchalantly as he possibly can (which admittedly, isn’t much, considering he’s nervous about the whole thing).
“You have a study date?” Beomgyu asks, visibly surprised. “With who?”
Soobin lets out a deep sigh before answering. “Yes, I do, and it’s with—okay, that’s not the point. The point is, I really want to make a good impression so I really need your help to make sure there aren’t any distractions on D-day. Can you do that?”
“Can you tell me who your date is?”
“Fine,” Soobin reluctantly says. “It’s Choi Yeonjun.”
“The visual arts major?”
“Do you know any other Choi Yeonjun at our uni?” Soobin quips, growing more annoyed by the second, but all Beomgyu does is give him an amused smile.
“So your date with Choi Yeonjun the visual arts major is tomorrow?” He asks again.
“Yes,” Soobin sighs. “And I would really appreciate it if you could help me make sure I don’t mess it up. Can you do that?”
Beomgyu fake-ponders for a few moments, and Soobin can tell it’s fake-pondering because he knows what Beomgyu’s actual thinking face looks like. Still, he waits for the younger to finish his acting, hoping for a positive answer.
"Sure," Beomgyu says.
"Do you promise?"
"Oh my god— yes Soobin, I promise," Beomgyu replies. He pauses, then says, "You must really like this guy, huh?"
Soobin feels his cheeks darken. "Kinda? He's nice. I want to get to know him, at least."
Beomgyu nods thoughtfully, and for some reason, it leaves a funny feeling in Soobin's stomach, but he tries to ignore it.
"Anyway, I also came to ask you if you have plans for dinner," Soobin says.
"No, why?"
"Do you wanna order in with me?" Soobin offers, trying to hide the fact that he's a little shy and that if Beomgyu says 'no' he'll probably move countries from the embarrassment. He thought that maybe he's been a bit unfair to Beomgyu, and that it wasn't right for Beomgyu to always be the one trying to get close to him—so this is his own way of trying to get closer to Beomgyu.
Soobin is convinced Beomgyu is going to reject him, and that he'll have to think of how to transfer universities and find a new place to live, when Beomgyu looks back at him with a soft smile. "I'd love that," he says quietly.
It takes Soobin aback just a little bit, but he quickly returns Beomgyu's smile with one of his own. "Great, that's—that's great."
"Great," Beomgyu repeats. Soobin knows Beomgyu is teasing him, but this feels nice. It feels like they're friends. Or on the way to becoming friends—either way, it's nice, and Soobin can't hide the fondness on his face, nor does he try to.
"I'll just—I'll leave you to your studying then," he says, more awkwardly than he'd prefer. "Just—when you're ready to take a break for dinner, just let me know," he adds.
"Okay," Beomgyu says with an amused nod.
"Okay," Soobin repeats, before backing into the hallway. He really needs to work on his socializing skills—not that he's been meeting any new people to socialize with anyway, but if all his conversations end up the same way as the one he just had with his roommate… he's doomed.
Still, it was nice, and it made Soobin feel all warm and happy inside, the feeling lingering even after he’s gone back to the living room, even after he’s started looking through their dinner options, and it comes back stronger when Beomgyu plops down on the sofa next to Soobin, leaning in close to look at their choices.
The erratic thumping in Soobin’s chest isn’t unfamiliar, and he has to tear his eyes away from Beomgyu’s face to look back at the delivery options open on his phone because wow he’s really handsome up close and his eyelashes are almost doll-like and this is very very bad.
Dinner continues without a hitch, and Soobin finds himself growing a soft spot for Beomgyu. Conversation comes easier than he thought it would, and something about Beomgyu makes him feel at ease. They talk like they’ve known each other for years, which is an incredible feat for someone as introverted as Soobin, and the warm feeling from earlier never leaves him, even for a second.
Soobin has lived in this apartment for a couple years with a couple of different people, but tonight is the first night that it feels like home. Maybe Beomgyu can feel like home, Soobin thinks.
—
It’s Friday, 2.54pm, and Soobin is anxiously pacing the living room.
He’s been pacing around for the past 20 minutes or so, nervously waiting for Yeonjun to show up, and each time Beomgyu heads to the kitchen and back to his room, Soobin grows increasingly nervous, which he didn’t even know was possible.
“I really think you should wait while sitting down instead of pacing like a ghost,” Beomgyu suggests, currently on his fifth trip to the kitchen.
“I was sitting earlier—but then I started to shake my legs,” Soobin huffs. “That makes me get more nervous and restless even faster than pacing around and watching you come in and out combined.”
“I’m not sure I understand how that works but okay,” Beomgyu says. “Look, it’s not even 3 o’clock yet, right? I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”
“I’m not worried about him not showing up—I’m worried about like, literally everything else that could possibly happen today,” Soobin tells him. “Y’know, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if he didn’t show up actually.”
“Soobin,” Beomgyu calls. He looks like he’s about to go off into a TED talk (not unlike a certain Kang Taehyun) when there’s a knock at the door.
“Oh god,” Soobin groans. “He’s here.”
“I’ve really never met anyone who wants to get stood up until you,” Beomgyu remarks. He’s on his way to the door before Soobin realizes what he’s doing, and the next thing he knows, Beomgyu has the front door open and is cheerfully welcoming a very puzzled Choi Yeonjun.
“You must be the famous Choi Yeonjun!” Beomgyu exclaims.
“Sorry, I’m a little, um—this is, this is Choi Soobin’s place, right?”
Soobin manages to step in between Beomgyu and the door before Beomgyu gets a chance to confuse Yeonjun any further. “Hey,” Soobin says, gesturing for Yeonjun to come inside and willfully ignoring the (very obvious) feeling of being glared at by Beomgyu at the same time.
“Soobin, hey,” Yeonjun replies with a sigh of relief, stepping in. “I was worried I got the wrong ad—”
“I’m Soobin’s roommate!” Beomgyu interrupts, peeking out from behind Soobin before quickly shoving him a little off to the side. “I’m Beomgyu.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Beomgyu,” Yeonjun says. His charming smile is on full display, and it makes Beomgyu’s eyebrows furrow just the slightest.
“Very nice,” Soobin jumps in. “Well, Yeonjun and I have some studying planned so we’re gonna go and do that now!” he says, gently steering Yeonjun off to his room. He’s fairly certain that Beomgyu is shooting daggers at him right about now—he’ll simply have to deal with Beomgyu’s wrath later .
About an hour and a half into their study date, Soobin calls for a quick break, to which Yeonjun happily obliges.
“Your roommate seems really cool,” he says, out of the blue.
“Really?” Soobin asks as he sorts through some of his notes.
“Yeah, totally,” Yeonjun answers. “We should all hang out sometime—you, me, Taehyun, Kai, and Beomgyu. I think it would be really fun, what do you think?”
“I think my roommate would be delighted to know that the Choi Yeonjun is interested in becoming his friend,” Soobin teases. He’s pleased about the lack of interruptions in the form of 2010s-love-songs-blasting-throughout-the-apartment or otherwise, and he thinks it would be great, really, for his friends to get to know Beomgyu and for Beomgyu to get to know them.
Just as Soobin is about to suggest a trip to the movies or maybe an amusement park, he hears a smoke alarm go off.
“Is that…?” Yeonjun asks. Bewilderment is written across his face, and Soobin realizes it’s probably written all over his own face as well.
“I’m just gonna go and see what’s going on,” Soobin says, getting up onto his feet. “You can stay here, I’ll be back in a sec.”
A million different curses run through Soobin’s mind as he makes the short trek from his room to the kitchen, wondering what the hell Beomgyu could be doing now that’s setting off the smoke alarm.
Soobin, of course, was not expecting Beomgyu to be setting fire to their kitchen.
“What the—”
Before Soobin can even finish his sentence, water starts pouring down on them.
“How do you turn off the sprinkler? ” Beomgyu yells over the sound of them being rained on. Soobin wants to yell back an answer—except, he can’t. He’s not quite sure what you’re supposed to do to turn off a sprinkler.
Soobin tries to think, tries to rack his brain looking for that one piece of information that he must’ve acquired over the years, tries to string together the correct solution to their problem, but he can’t do anything, can’t form a coherent thought other than water there’s so much water I’m drenched I’m soaking wet my kitchen is wet what do I do what do I do Choi Beomgyu what did you do—
Just as suddenly as it started, the sprinkler stops.
“I turned off the shutoff valve,” Yeonjun pants as he comes into the kitchen. “What happened?”
Both Yeonjun and Soobin turn their attention to Beomgyu. Although Yeonjun’s gaze is gentle and inquisitive, it doesn’t do anything to help soften the sharpness of Soobin’s accusing gaze.
“I just wanted to make some cookies,” Beomgyu confesses, sounding very much like he doesn’t know what to do with himself. “I really don’t know what went wrong, I have no idea, but something must’ve went wrong because—because the next thing I know the oven was on fire and, and the smoke alarm went off and I couldn’t even think and—”
“Beomgyu, hey, it’s okay,” Yeonjun tries to calm Beomgyu down, placing his hands on Beomgyu’s shoulders and gently trying to ground him to their surroundings. “It was an accident—accidents happen all the time. C’mon, I’ll help you guys clean up.”
“Thanks but I think—I think you should go home,” Soobin says. He can see that Yeonjun is perplexed, probably thinking Soobin is a little insane for refusing his offer of help considering the state the kitchen was in, but Soobin really doesn’t care anymore.
“Yeah—yeah sure, okay,” Yeonjun nods. Soobin helps him pack up his things before showing him the door. Yeonjun tries to crack a few jokes in an attempt to lighten the mood, but Soobin doesn't budge.
"Sorry for the commotion," Soobin says when they're at the door, with an apologetic smile. "We barely even got any work done."
"We got some work done—that's better than nothing," Yeonjun replies, and his smile is reassuring. Soobin isn't sure how someone could be this sweet and this kind and this gentle, but he decides that this is what he likes about Yeonjun. Maybe not enough for them to be anything more than friends, but being friends with Yeonjun is more than a big enough privilege to him. "I'll see you around, yeah?"
Soobin waves goodbye and watches Yeonjun disappear into the elevator before shutting the door with a heavy sigh. He turns back to the living room, and when he sees Beomgyu, the words start flying out of him before he can even think twice.
“What the hell was that?” Soobin snaps at Beomgyu, startling the younger boy who had been staring off into space.
“I told you—I was trying to make cookies.”
“Really? Is that the only thing you were trying to do? Because it seems to me like you just wanted to ruin my date!”
“And why would I do that?”
“Hell if I know!” Soobin yells. “For the past few months you’ve been making my life just a few inches shy of being a living hell and every single day I endured it thinking we could be friends but today—I can’t take this anymore.”
“And when exactly did I make your life a living hell?” Beomgyu questions.
Soobin lets out a frustrated sigh, finding this whole thing “How about every single time I have to move your things because you can’t seem to keep anything in your room like the rest of the human population? Or maybe all the times you decided to play your stupid, obnoxious love songs at full volume whenever I’m trying to study? Better yet—how about all those nights you brought your friends over without so much as telling me? Do any of those things ring a bell to you or should I keep going?”
There's an expression on Beomgyu's face that's not quite blank and not quite amused. Soobin can't read him, can't figure out what the look on his face is supposed to mean, and it only prompts Soobin to keep going.
“And today—Beomgyu you nearly set my kitchen on fire, while I was in the middle of a date because god forbid I have any sense of peace in this apartment!”
“Do you really believe that I would try to burn this place down just because I wanted to ruin your date?”
"I don't know! " Soobin yells, tired and exasperated and wondering how all of this happened in the first place. "I just don't know. I don't know much about you and I don't know why you seem so hell-bent on making things difficult for me and it’s so—”
"It’s because I like you."
Huh? Soobin drops into the armchair, wondering if he had heard things wrong. That definitely doesn't sound like the I hate you that he was expecting. That doesn't sound like any of the other words of hatred that Soobin was expecting either.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Beomgyu asks, biting his lip. He looks a little embarrassed and Soobin isn't sure what he's supposed to be feeling right now. His head is spinning, and his heart is acting up too, thumping faster than usual. He’s never been confessed to before, and certainly not by someone who he was sure despised him for months.
"You," Soobin hesitates. "You like me?"
Beomgyu doesn’t immediately answer, and in the silence, fear finds a quick way to settle into Soobin. It makes Soobin think that Beomgyu’s hesitation is because it’s a joke, just something Beomgyu said to make him shut up, not something Beomgyu honestly means. It makes Soobin’s stomach churn and his chest grow tight, and the rational part of him is saying that’s too cruel and there’s no way Beomgyu would do that, but rationality isn’t exactly effective when you’re confused and uncertain and five seconds away from crying.
“You were joking,” Soobin whispers, like a realization.
Beomgyu’s eyes widen upon hearing Soobin’s remark, and he notices the tears brimming Soobin’s eyes, making him scramble to mend the situation.
“No, no, I would never!” Beomgyu exclaims, desperation coloring his voice because he wants to make things better, he wants to show Soobin that he meant it, but he doesn’t know how. The only thing he can think of is confessing again, in a way that hopefully conveys what he really feels, so that’s exactly what he does. He takes a deep breath before saying, “I like you, Soobin—I mean it. I really like you a lot. Probably more than you would expect—more than what I’ve shown you.”
The fear in Soobin leaves as suddenly as it came, chased away by the sincerity of Beomgyu’s words, but that doesn’t quite stop him from trying to reevaluate the situation they’re in.
Firstly, Soobin had been certain that Beomgyu secretly loathes him and only really agreed to be his roommate because he didn’t have any other choice. His proof and reasoning come from the fact that they were both desperate for a roommate when they met, without any prior knowledge of each other, and the way Beomgyu has been getting on his nerves since then.
Secondly, Beomgyu is very pretty. This is a known fact, of course. It doesn’t really have anything to do with what’s happening right now, except it’s very distracting to Soobin, because he’s trying to think and Beomgyu is looking at him with his puppy eyes all wide and shy and hopefully waiting, and Soobin is but a confused boy with a weakness for pretty eyes and hopeful smiles and beautiful boys who drive him crazy and are too attractive for their own good.
Thirdly—well, Soobin can’t think of a third thing really, not after noticing the way Beomgyu was looking at him. He’s decided that pretty people shouldn’t be allowed to look at him like that, and if they do, they should be held responsible for the emotional distress it puts him in.
Soobin wants to believe Beomgyu, wants to let go and trust him and just fall. If he’s being honest, his heart is already there, sitting in Beomgyu’s lap, waiting for the rest of Soobin to catch up—but the fear is still there, still holding him back, and he needs to make sure, needs to know for certain that this isn’t a cruel prank, needs to hear it just one more time before he can let himself find a piece of home in Beomgyu.
Soobin asks again, “Do you really?”
He fully expects Beomgyu to refute it, to admit that this is just a ploy to get back at Soobin for yelling at him earlier—but Beomgyu surprises him again when he says, “I do, really. I like you so much I barely even know what to do with it.”
Soobin trusts him entirely this time, but he’s still a little confused about everything else, so he asks, “Then why—why did you do all those things that I…?”
There’s an apology written in Beomgyu’s eyes, paired with a hint of embarrassment, as he answers. “I didn’t really know how else to get your attention.”
“You were trying to get my attention?” Soobin repeats.
“Probably not the best of my ideas, but it was the only way I could get you to talk to me,” Beomgyu admits sheepishly. “I tried to get closer to you in so many ways but it never seemed like I was getting anywhere, and you never seemed all that interested in talking to me unless I did something annoying first… I’m really sorry, thought—I didn’t know it was that bad for you. I should’ve stopped after the first few times or like, I should’ve not done any of that at all and just try harder or just give up, even. But I really didn’t want to give up. I like you too much.”
“You’re so,” Soobin cuts himself off, sighing deeply. “I mean—I mean, yeah, they were all kinda annoying, but it wasn’t really that bad until—until today, with the fire and the smoke alarm and the sprinkler. I just figured that you hated me and that you got a kick out of seeing me in perpetual distress.”
“Oh I do get a kick out of riling you up,” Beomgyu grins. “Only because you’re really cute when you’re annoyed.”
Soobin’s cheeks grow warm, betraying him, and Beomgyu giggles in a way that makes Soobin feel a little shy.
“You blush a lot,” Beomgyu says. “You blushed when you were inviting me to have dinner last night too. And also the first time we met.”
“Do you keep a Soobin-blushing-tracker or something in a journal somewhere? Why do you remember those kinds of things!” Soobin questions, eyes wide in disbelief and embarrassment and also a little awe—he’s never met someone as observant as Beomgyu, and it’s both embarrassing and endearing to think of Beomgyu noticing things like times when Soobin blushed (it could also be a little creepy, Soobin realizes, but this is Beomgyu, so it’s not).
“You’re really cute when you blush,” Beomgyu continues. “It makes me want to kiss you,” he adds in a quiet voice, and Soobin barely manages to catch it.
“Why don’t you, then?” Soobin asks, his voice equally as quiet, like this is fragile and delicate and he doesn’t want to break it by pushing things too far.
Beomgyu laughs. “I don’t know if you’d like that. I mean, up until just now you were still convinced that I hated you, even after I told you I like you, twice —and you still haven’t given me an answer yet either.”
Soobin takes a few moments to think, to look at Beomgyu, and his breath hitches.
Pretty brown eyes that always look so bright, like they’re filled with so many stars, too small to see clearly but filling those eyes with the same kind of celestial beauty anyway.
Dark curls that always look so soft, always tempting Soobin to run his fingers through them to test out that theory for himself.
Hands nervously fiddling with a loose thread; hands that make Soobin want to reach over and pull those hands into his own.
Lips upturned in a sweet smile that makes Soobin’s heart beat faster than usual, and he realizes that he’s wondering what those lips would feel like against his own.
Soobin barely realizes what he’s doing, but Beomgyu is sitting on the side of the sofa closest to him, so the space between them isn’t that far, so Soobin leans in. He leans in and kisses Beomgyu, he’s the one who takes the first step this time, and he’s thinking how glad he is that he did.
It’s beautiful, to say the least. Brief, but sweet. Soobin finds that Beomgyu’s lips feel as soft as they look, and the newfound knowledge makes him buzz with glee. People say that your first kiss is supposed to feel like fireworks, and when Soobin had his first kiss under the bleachers in high school, he thought it was a scam because it didn’t feel like that at all. Today, however, he decides that if people had said that your first kiss with Beomgyu would feel like fireworks, they would be right.
When Soobin (reluctantly) pulls away, he finds those puppy eyes looking at him again, and it makes him squeeze a little. Pretty, he thinks. Everything about Beomgyu is pretty, really. Even when he’s being annoying. Even when he’s only just looking at Soobin.
“You still haven’t given me an answer,” Beomgyu says, laughing softly. His laugh is pretty too, Soobin thinks.
“I like you too,” Soobin says softly. “I think I’ve liked you since I first saw you.”
Beomgyu beams upon hearing those words. “I know I’ve liked you since I first saw you,” he confesses. Soobin has never met someone who can say things like that so casually, but hearing it fills him with warmth. He realizes that it’s Beomgyu—Beomgyu is warm.
“What do people do after confessing?” Soobin asks suddenly, and it makes Beomgyu laugh again.
“I don’t really know,” Beomgyu admits. “I guess they decide if they’re going to date or not?”
“Oh.”
“You sound disappointed,” Beomgyu teases.
“Not disappointed, just—would you?” Soobin asks, hesitant. “Date me, I mean. Would you date me?”
“I’d love to,” Beomgyu answers in a heartbeat. “The real question is whether or not you’ll date me .”
“Of course I would—I will,” Soobin replies, just as fast as Beomgyu did. Beomgyu is looking at him like he gave him the moon, and Soobin doesn’t know if he’ll ever get used to this.
“So we’re,” Beomgyu pauses, letting out a giddy laugh. “We’re dating now?”
“I guess we are,” Soobin confirms, smiling in a way that makes his eyes look like pretty crescents.
“So we’re… boyfriends?” Beomgyu asks again.
“And roommates,” Soobin adds, making Beomgyu roll his eyes before laughing again, and he’s so endearing, and Soobin is so fond that he can’t resist leaning in to kiss him again. It catches Beomgyu by surprise and Soobin likes that—he likes catching Beomgyu by surprise.
“So—do you want to order in for dinner again tonight, roommate?” Beomgyu asks when they pull away from each other again.
Soobin scrunches his nose at roommate (he'd rather hear boyfriend), and it makes Beomgyu laugh again. “Sure thing, roommate,” Soobin answers. “But first we have to clean up the mess in the kitchen.”
“Right… I forgot about the kitchen,” Beomgyu sighs.
“Come on,” Soobin says as he stands up. Beomgyu extends his arms towards Soobin, pleading for his new boyfriend to help pull him up, complete with his deadly weapons of puppy eyes and a cute pout. Soobin can’t say no to Beomgyu, even without the eyes and the pout, so he obliges and pulls Beomgyu up—except he uses a little more strength and necessary, and it leads to Beomgyu crashing into him.
“Whoa,” Soobin gasps, somehow managing to stay on his feet instead of toppling over. It takes Soobin a second to realize that he’s got his arms tightly around Beomgyu’s waist, and that Beomgyu is a giggling mess, and it takes him another second to realize that he doesn’t want to let go.
Soobin leans down for another kiss, but Beomgyu manages to wriggle his way out of Soobin’s arms, leaving the taller boy dumbfounded.
“No kissing until we get the kitchen cleaned up!” Beomgyu announces.
Soobin trails along behind Beomgyu with a pout, just as he remembers what led the kitchen to its current state. “Hey, you said you were baking cookies, right?” Soobin asks.
“Yeah,” Beomgyu hums, already making himself busy.
“Why?”
Beomgyu stops and turns to look at Soobin, an embarrassed look on his face. “You know how you thought I wanted to ruin your date?”
“Yeah…?”
“I didn’t want to ruin it, per se—but I did have the full intention of interrupting it,” Beomgyu confesses with a sheepish smile. “I was going to bring you and Yeonjun the cookies and join you guys in studying but I guess I forgot to consider the fact that I’ve never baked before.”
“You’re terrible,” Soobin laughs.
“But you like me,” Beomgyu counters, a smug look on his face.
“Unfortunately so,” Soobin replies, and just as Beomgyu is about to protest, Soobin kisses him, and it feels like coming home.