Work Text:
jisung was mortified. this level of embarrassment was one only he could achieve, he was convinced.
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he had rushed to the bus, satchel barely clinging to his shoulder as he jogged to the stop. the bus was turning the corner, and unfortunately, he knew that the bus driver could not be bothered to wait for him, as he had learned the hard way. his shoes were untied, his satchel wasn’t closed properly, he hadn’t had time to fix his sleep and wind ruffled hair, and he barely had time to apply chapstick. in short, he was a sprinting mess trying to catch the 8 am bus for his contemporary writing and production class. the campus was large, and jisung had settled with the first dormotority he was offered-- which was situated on the opposite side of where the majority of his classes were. so, he relied on the college’s efficient busing system. each day, the bus would arrive at 8 am, waiting on the corner for a swift second before disappearing out of a sprinting jisung’s vision. some days he really was unlucky and would miss the bus, resulting in more running that his body vehemently rejected. those days were bad ones.
today was not going to be like that. jisung was determined and ran a bit harder, arriving at the stop seconds before the bus did. he peered at it, noticing the several visible limbs from the high windows, and crap, he really did have the worst luck. the bus was packed. any hopes of personal space and a few minutes to himself were impossible and quite literally thrown from the window, he thought as he scanned the bus. deciding to stay close the front, he faced the window and observed the rather mundane scenery that they passed, until the bus stopped. another passenger, another loss for jisung. he wondered when someone would get off. the tall girl had simply entered and scooted past jisung, choosing to squish herself against the edge of a chair. mentally, jisung shrugged, hoping that time would pass quickly and he could leave the air-tight confining metal box he was in.
as usual, jisung’s hopes and wishes were carelessly swept away, only for the world to fling something his way. “deal with it,” it seemed to be saying as the bus driver accelerated and swerved some, causing jisung to slip and stumble and slip again on his untied shoelace. the embarrassing moment was not yet over, as the driver swerved again (jisung swore their license needed to be revoked immediately), and consequently, there jisung was: on a stranger’s lap. somehow, the bus had launched the boy so far; he swore the world hated him. someone’s personal vendetta against him had just been settled because there was no way that he was sitting in someone’s lap right now and-- shoot, he needed to get up! his whole body seized up as he realized the gravity of this situation. he scrambled to get up and off whoever’s lap he was launched into, apologies tumbling out of lips that were moving a mile a minute. unfortunately for jisung, the driver was on a mission and had accelerated and swerved as they took a tight turn, and again, his body spazzed, head hitting the bar in front of him and bottom immediately falling back onto the stranger’s thighs.
this time, hands had grabbed him before he could tense up again, helping him get back on his own two feet. apologies were still being muttered and shame was clouding his eyes because he didn’t even know this person, and he didn’t want to be here, nor had he ever expected this to happen. without thinking, he turned around, ready to apologize some more before he froze. hwang hyunjin, the popular sophomore dancer, was eyeing him with a smile that jisung could only describe as confusing, conflicting, and beautiful. “try not to fall for me so hard,” he had said, eyes glinting with the beginnings of interest.
“no , what the hell,” jisung muttered to himself before reminding himself that he was the one who had practically harassed hyunjin, albeit accidentally.
“i’m so sorry,” jisung spoke sincerely, eyebrows quivering as he spoke, “i didn’t mean to fall and not on your lap either. i’m sorry if i made you uncomfortable, i’m really really sorry.” somewhere between his words, hyunjin’s smile had changed to an even more charming one. “how could he smile like that after i, a random stranger, sat on him, twice?” jisung thought, dumbfounded. he supposed it showed on his face because hyunjin laughed a little, like the effects of the incident had finally reached him.
“you sure it wasn’t intentional?” his eyes were lilting and his grin was wide, and there was no way hwang hyunjin was messing with him-- did he sleep properly, is that what was going on, some kind of nightmare? it was either he was messing with me or he was-- no, there was absolutely no way hyunjin was flirting with him.
in a shock, jisung shook his head adamantly, attracting more looks than before. thankfully, the bus had stopped and some people had left at the sciences building, allowing some more space for jisung to breathe and his head to clear and wake up and deal with this properly. “i’m really sorry, is there any way that i can make it up to you?” he asked, head tilting.
hyunjin hummed in reply, handing his unlocked phone over to jisung, the contacts application open and ready to be filled out.
“we’ll see, won’t we?” hyunjin smirked, blond hair falling to the front of his face, and jisung’s heart stuttered as he entered his number, focusing fully on the task at hand. he definitely did not glance at hyunjin every millisecond, just to examine his warm eyes a little longer. his gaze definitely did not linger on the way his hair was tied prettily with a black ribbon and curled so subtly. this was definitely not what he was focused on.
it was safe to say that jisung had almost missed his stop in his trance after the incident. hyunjin had said he was going to text him that afternoon, see how jisung could and would make it up to him. entering the lecture hall, jisung saw that he was one of the first ones there. early. he usually wasn’t, but today was anything but ‘usual.’
[xxx-xxx-xxxx]: hey
jisung: hi? who’s this?
[xxx-xxx-xxxx]: guess 🙃
jisung: changbin you didn’t break your phone again did you?
jisung: ...wait… hyunjin?
[xxx-xxx-xxxx]: and we have a winner
jisung laughed. he didn’t expect hyunjin to be like this and to be so understanding too. he still wanted to burrow himself within the earth and never return, as he often did, but maybe it wasn’t so bad if the incident had turned into a date. or two. or three. or a couple more than that, and then some more too.
maybe he liked more than hyunjin’s smile at his embarrassment, maybe he liked it in other situations, like when he showed hyunjin the song that he had been mixing and had finally finalized, and the older had smiled so wide and sincerely at jisung’s work that he felt so validated and grounded. enduring his embarrassment wasn’t so bad when he got to know more about hyunjin than just that he wore cashmere sweaters a lot. getting to know hyunjin was incomparable to anyone else he had known. from the start, hyunjin had surprised him, and since then, he continued to do so.
getting to know hyunjin was… it was chipping away at a boiled egg’s shell, inexperienced and clumsy with the fingers and the placement, until reaching that one piece where everything was easy to peel and clean and there was the egg, untouched and right there, always right there. it was like planting a sunflower seed and finding a daisy instead, expecting one, but finding the other in him. that was what made him special. jisung couldn’t understand the complexities of the man he had grown to love, but he had learned to love them and everything they stood for: hyunjin.
and who could blame him? he had fallen.
—
“so, that’s it papa?” yuna’s wide eyes leaned in, searching for more. “that’s how you and daddy met?” she held in a giggle when jisung nodded his head, but it soon escaped. there his four year old daughter was, laughing her head off at the two of them, and he could only smile fondly and laugh along.
hyunjin, slinked against the doorway, watched his two loves giggle in the low light of yuna’s bedside lamp. a heart-melting smile found its way to his face; he wanted to frame this moment and the way it made him feel. he knew he couldn’t, but the feelings of warmth and joy that surged through him where ones that he wanted to hold onto and always access. jisung and yuna and shared moments like these...
“and that, yuna, is how i met your father.” hyunjin announced, running to tickle the little girl.
“daddy!” she squealed, already close to tears from laughing so hard, “papa save me!”