Archive of Our Own

Roughly 13.8 billion years ago, all matter was compacted into a very small ball with infinite density and intense heat called a Singularity. Then, explosive expansion began, ballooning our universe outwards faster than the speed of light.

Park Sunghoon meets the sun on a regular day. 

Well, it was a regular day until he opened the door of his college-mandated apartment to the sun beaming at him and beckoning him in.

Sunghoon tentatively enters and was immediately enveloped in the smell of freshly made pancakes wafting in the air, "Hi?" he says as a resounding bang echoes throughout the apartment, a muted Jake hyung! and the flutter of feet with an exasperated What the hell? follows.  

The personification of the sun grins and helps him with his bags, “Welcome to your new home!”  

It turns out the sun was as mortal as he can be.

Kim Sunoo, 19, born and raised in Gyeonggi-do, studying for a degree in Fine Arts, addicted to pancakes and tteokbokki and anything mint chocolate. It’s impressive how much he learned in the span of minutes from entering the apartment to setting his bags in his room.

“Oh! I’m sorry for rambling,” Sunoo says, eyes wide as he realizes the flood of information coming from his mouth. Stopping at the doorway to Sunghoon’s room, “I didn’t even get your name!” 

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” Sunghoon says, chuckling as he settles in his room, “My name’s Park Sunghoon.” 

Sunoo smiles, warm and bright, “Well then Park Sunghoon-ssi, would you like some pancakes?” 

Sunghoon startles a bit at the smile, but soon offers a shy one of his own, "Sure."

and thus, the beginning of the world starts.

spray god sunday!

The kitchen area is huge, almost quadruple the size of his room.

Sunghoon looks around gaping, “Well worth our college fees, right?” Sunoo says grinning as he pulls out a plate, stacking fresh pancakes on, “Syrup?” 

“Yes please,” Sunghoon replies, pulling out a chair to sit and accepting the plate. He’s starving from the drive to the apartment so he scarfs down, coughing in embarrassment as he chokes on a piece that went down the wrong pipe, “Sorry, woke up a little late so I had to rush here to avoid traffic.” 

Sunoo waves him off, giggling as he hands him a glass of water, “It's fine! The others already ate so take more if you want and we’ll introduce you when you’re done.” 

Sunghoon nods and continues eating. Their apartment was offered by the university, fully covered by the pricey fees that comes from attending an ivy league. It was big, with enough space and individual rooms for 10 people but he heard only 6 others accepted so the rest would be converted into study rooms or workout rooms. 

Right as he finished eating, a yell was heard from one of the rooms. Sunghoon and Sunoo shared a confused look, the former moving to put his plate in the sink when a blur ran past him screaming, “NO! JAY HYUNG STOP!”

"Oh, here they come," Sunoo says, lips curling into a slow grin as Sunghoon looks at him, confused and a little awed because of his smile. 

“That’s Jay hyung,” Sunoo says to Sunghoon, pointing to the person wearing glasses who was currently carrying a spray bottle, chasing the blur that he now identifies as a person, “This is what you get,” he hisses, expression a mix of determination and spite, wielding the spray bottle as he ran. 

“And that’s Ni-ki,” Sunoo continues, laughing lightly, pointing to the blonde being chased.

“I said I was sorry! HYUNG NOT THE BOTTLE NO STOP-” the blonde looks at Sunghoon in alarm and makes the brave choice to dive and hide behind his back, just as Jay rounded the table grinning menacingly.

Sunghoon feels the figure behind his back shiver at the sight and instinctively holds his hands up to placate the glasses wearing, spray bottle wielding warrior, “Uhh,” he eloquently starts. 

“Move,” Jay growls, “I am not afraid to spray you,” he continues, raising the spray bottle straight to his face, proving his point.

Sunghoon freezes as hands grip his shirt and is about to look at Sunoo for help when he sees Jay’s finger move towards the bottle’s trigger and promptly lets out the most embarrassing squeak he’s ever heard in his life. 

Sunoo bursts into laughter and Sunghoon thinks he can hear the angels singing as he does. Never mind that he just let out the most embarrassing squeak like a little schoolgirl, he thinks, it's worth the laugh, he convinces.

His savior comes in the form of, “What the hell?” another voice asks, bemused, and Sunghoon, still red-faced, takes the chance to escape, dragging Ni-ki who was still clinging to his shirt.

Jay whips around, eyes wide and still wielding his spray bottle like an action hero in an intense movie scene, then aims it at the three new guys who entered the kitchen.

“Whoa,” one of the guys says and backs away, moving to stand beside Sunoo and Sunghoon who were looking back and forth between Jay and the other guys. 

“I’m Jungwon,” he whispers to Sunghoon, offering his hand to shake, "That’s Heeseung hyung, and Jake hyung,” he says pointing to the two guys being held at gunpoint by Jay’s spray bottle. 

At the sound of their names, both guys turn towards Sunghoon and lift their arms to wave. Unfortunately, Jay takes their actions as defiance and unhinged, starts spraying water everywhere screaming, “This is what you get when you wrong me!” 

Amused at the absurdity of it all, he attempts to wave back at a sputtering Heeseung and Jake whose arms are shielding their face from the water onslaught, but he sees Jay whirl around and take a step towards him, looking over his shoulder at a shaking Ni-ki who still grips his shirt, “No! Protect me!” 

Sunghoon laughs nervously as he takes a step back, eyes flitting between Jay's predator-approaching-prey figure and Jungwon’s still outstretched hand, "Park Sunghoon," he chooses to introduce. 

“Nice to meet you!” Jungwon exclaims as he grins cheekily, moving his outstretched hand to pull at a shouting Ni-ki from behind him and shoving him towards Jay, cackling as a wet Heeseung and Jake move away to join them and chant, "Spray God Sunday! Spray God Sunday!" 

“Jungwon hyung! No!” Ni-ki shouts, betrayal evident in his face as Jay turns towards his next victim, grinning maniacally as he lifts his spray bottle and says,

“Welcome to hell.”

To say that their introductions to each other was eventful would be an understatement. 

Right after Ni-ki was gloriously sacrificed to the spray bottle wielding God, Sunoo had pulled him away, apologizing profusely, “I’m sorry! We’re all kind of familiar with each other since most of us met a few days earlier during the move.”

Sunghoon nods reassuringly, he spent the last week of his vacation at home, choosing to move to the apartment on the very last day while the others had moved in earlier. He was about to say that it’s fine, that he appreciated their display of chaotic energy since it reminds him of his friends, when someone called for a meeting in their living room.

So instead, he feels a hand (which was ridiculously soft, seriously how can hands be so soft) grabbing him, and leading him to the living room. 

Once they arrived, which Sunghoon has no memory of walking to since he was focused on not combusting on the spot as he realized the ridiculously soft hands were Sunoo’s and the ridiculously soft hands were still holding on to him, he was met with flailing arms. 

“I’m sorry Sunghoon-ssi! I got a little carried away with the bottle, it’s nice to meet you!” 

Jay says as his torso bends down into a bow, apologizing. 

Sunghoon pushes him upward back into standing, “It’s okay! Really, at least I wasn’t sacrificed to the Spray God,” he jokes.

When Jay cracks into a smile he feels a little relieved, “You can call me Sunghoon, or hyung, or whatever you like,” he turns to the others, offers a smile and bows, "It's nice to meet you all. Please take care of me!" 

Someone chuckles but Sunghoon doesn’t pay attention, not when Sunoo moves in front of him to smile, still so warm and still so bright, and say, "Of course, Hoonie hyung!" and he thinks, oh, as he feels his heart stutter at the nickname, oh no. 

He's fucked. 

the PowerPoint

Let it be known that Sunghoon is a clean guy. He values orderliness and follows through with cleaning routines religiously. This is why, despite all his instincts telling him not to, he volunteers himself as the leader of cleaning duty. Designating Jay as well, as his co-leader. 

He comes up with a cleaning schedule for their apartment based on their class schedules (maybe he’s a little biased by putting Sunoo into the same schedule and maybe he’s a little too happy that they almost have the same class schedule, but no one needs to know that), and it goes like this: 

On Mondays, Ni-ki and Jungwon were in charge of dishes and bathroom duties.

On Tuesdays, Heeseung and Jake. 

On Wednesdays, Sunghoon and Sunoo were in charge of dishes and Jay for the bathroom duties. 

It repeats for the remaining days and Sunday is spring cleaning day. It’s perfect, Sunghoon thinks. Nothing can go wrong, he thinks, because seven full grown boys can handle a single apartment, right? 

And since it was a Sunday, they all decided to do some spring cleaning before their classes start. Jake went ahead with Ni-ki and Jay to continue fixing their rooms as well as to prepare the vacant rooms for transforming into study and workout spaces (which explains the resounding bang Sunghoon heard when he entered, it turns out Jake and Ni-ki were moving the furniture into the vacant rooms when Jake slipped and brought the whole table down with him).

Sunoo and Sunghoon were dusting and sweeping all around when Heeseung and Jungwon arrived from the supermarket, carrying some groceries and a flyer clutched in the elder’s hands.  

“We’re baaack!” Heeseung said as he entered the living room, “Ni-ki, can you get my laptop from my room, please?” 

“Oh shit,” Jungwon muttered following Heeseung, looking like he regrets everything in his life that led to this moment, “Oh shit, here it is.”

Heeseung murmured a small thanks as he reached for his laptop from Ni-ki, “Give me a few minutes, yeah?” he looked around the room, narrowing his eyes as he focused on Jungwon, “Clear the groceries, then come back to the living room with your full attention on me.” 

Jungwon paled as he nodded, padding into the kitchen to place down their groceries, “Run hyungs,” he whispered, wide-eyed as he passed by Sunghoon and Sunoo, “Run while you still can.” 

“What’s happening?” Jay asked, coming from his room.

Sunghoon opened his mouth to ask the same thing when he was cut off by the man himself, “Oh shit,” he said when his view landed on Heeseung rapidly typing on his laptop, “It’s happening again,” he continued, horrified. 

“What is?” Sunghoon, confused. 

“It’s his PowerPoint,” Sunoo answered him, “The first time we experienced the PowerPoint was about an hour after he arrived, it was about him, an introduction, pictures, notes, everything.” 

“He made us take notes,” continued Ni-ki, shuddering, “I don’t know where I’ll ever find the need to use my knowledge on how many times he can burp in a minute. We don’t even need a detailed presentation, we already knew each other from high school!”

“Shh!” Jungwon said, walking towards them, slapping a hand over Ni-ki’s mouth, “Don’t let him hear you say that,” he glanced over at Sunghoon, “You and Jake hyung are the only ones that haven’t experienced the PowerPoint yet, be grateful.” 

“Why?” Sunghoon asked, side-glancing Heeseung who was muttering and typing faster than before. 

“It’s because-” 

Sunoo started, but was interrupted when Heeseung abruptly stood, looking extremely proud as he showed them his laptop and in a booming voice said, “WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR APARTMENT BURNS DOWN!”  

“What?” Jake whispered, the last to enter the room, looking so confused that Sunghoon almost pitied him. 

“It’s fire awareness month!” Heeseung exclaims, waving around the flyer and looking too happy for someone presenting a burning home on his screen. 

“Aren’t we too old to be having fire drill PowerPoints, hyung?” Jake asked, “I mean, we aren’t stupid enough to burn our apartment down, right?” 

“No,” someone beside Sunghoon whispers, horrified, “Jake hyung. No.” 

Jake turns to look at the shaking Jungwon, a questioning look in his eyes, “Did I say something wrong?” he stuttered out, feeling a little bit nervous as he was met with complete silence. 

Heeseung narrowed his eyes even more, “Okay then,” he said slowly. Sunghoon wonders how someone can be so threatening with the utterance of two words, “No PowerPoint.” 

“Wait hyung! I want to see the PowerPoint-” Sunoo attempts to encourage the eldest who was closing his laptop slowly while looking Jake dead in the eyes. 

“It’s okay,” Heeseung says, still keeping eye contact with a very still Jake. Suddenly his face clears and he puts his laptop down to look at them and beam wide, which should have been okay were it not for the scheming glint in his eyes, “It’s completely fine!”  

“I wonder if my mom can take me in for the week,” Jay wonders nervously, glancing at Heeseung still beaming creepily. 

Henrietta

“What about a dog?” 

“No. Our class schedules take too much time, we can’t potty train the dog so there’ll be poop everywhere and he’ll be lonely.”

“A cat?”

“Same thing.” 

“A fish!” 

“Jake, the last time you had a pet fish you named him Chicken so that every time someone was coming over, you’d say ‘I’ll go get chicken!’ and come back with a fish in a fucking jar.”

“Oh c’mon! You got to admit Heeseung hyung’s face was funny when I came back with Chicken!”

“Hilarious,” Heeseung deadpanned, making a show of using a bright red marker to cross fish under the lists of pets allowed by the school, written in a whiteboard procured from somewhere in Sunoo’s room. 

“What about a cockatoo?” 

“What’s that?” Jungwon whispered to Jay, “A bird, kind of like a parrot,” Jay whispered back, watching as Jake argued the obvious benefits of having a pet that can talk, namely 1. It can talk, 2. It can boost morale, 3. It can talk. 

Sunghoon glanced away from the impressive persuading power of his roommate and looked around the room. His other roommates were spread out in the living room, Heeseung in the center as he was the oldest and therefore the self-proclaimed manager of the apartment, Jungwon and Jay were sitting together at the sofa listening intently as Jake persuaded Heeseung to buy a pet bird, Ni-ki was drying his hair by the fan, freshly showered, and Sunghoon and Sunoo were sitting together at the floor, the latter looking at his phone and speaking up in between Jake’s monologues to add on. 

“A pet bird is fine! Right, hyung?” Sunoo asked, bumping his shoulder, “It says here that they’re very intelligent and clean in nature,” he says as he shoves his phone to show Sunghoon. 

“Yeah, I think it’s fine,” Sunghoon murmurs, squinting to look at Sunoo’s phone, pointedly ignoring the tingling in the parts of his shoulders that Sunoo was mushed up against. 

“Great!” his roommate exclaims and calls out to Heeseung to say they agree with a pet bird, earning a Yeah Cockatoo! from Jake. 

Heeseung turns to look at Sunghoon, raising his eyebrows as if asking Really?

He just shrugs and nods, again, pointedly ignoring the teasing smile Heeseung sends him as he looks between Sunghoon and the beautiful man beside him. 

“Fine! We’ll go down to the pet store,” Heeseung concedes, writing Talking bird under their agenda for the meeting. 

This is how Sunghoon finds himself in a cramped pet store with all six of his roommates-turned-friends a few days later. 

“Henrietta!” Jake gasps from somewhere in the store, “Jake jake jake!” echoes a croaky, high-pitched voice in return, “Guys, come here!” says Jake excitedly, waving around his arms.

Sunghoon rounds the corner, along with Ni-ki and Jungwon who was carrying a carrot chew toy he got from somewhere in the store, (“Birds don’t need chew toys, Wonie hyung,” Ni-ki said, “It isn’t for the bird,” Jungwon replies suspiciously) to meet with Jake who had the ugliest creature Sunghoon has ever seen in his life perched on his shoulder. 

“What is that?” Sunghoon asks, horrified, the same time Jungwon says, just as horrified, “This is nightmare fuel.” 

“It’s Henrietta!” Sunoo answers, cooing at the creature as it spreads its wings and does the weirdest flapping dance Sunghoon has ever seen, “Yeah! Henrietta!” Ni-ki cheers from behind him.

“Who’s Henrietta?” Jay asks, catching up to them, carrying a bird cage along with Heeseung who carried bird feed. 

“It’s my bird friend!” Jake says, pointing to his shoulder, “I met her before when I was moving into the apartment and fed her a little, taught her how to say my name too,” he explains.

“Jake jake jake!” croaks Henrietta in her scratchy voice, “It’s a bird?” Heeseung mumbles, equally horrified as Sunghoon and Jungwon. 

Jake ignores him and scratches Henrietta’s beak instead, “How did you even get here, huh?” he coos at the bird as it lets out another croak, “Yeah it must be fate-”  

Sunghoon tunes him out in favor of looking at Sunoo who was coddling Henrietta as well, God he’s so cute, he thinks, noting the way Sunoo’s also good with pets, the excessive soft pecking Henrietta was doing to his cheeks was making him giggle and it is very very bad for Sunghoon’s poor heart. 

“-taking you home with us, Henrietta!” 

Jake’s voice pierces Sunghoon’s thoughts. He turns toward Heeseung and Jungwon as they share horrified looks.

“Ah Jake! Are you sure you don’t want to look at the other birds?” Heeseung asks hopefully, pointing at the birdcage.

“Yeah, hyung! Look at this one!” Jungwon says, nudging Jake towards a small domestic canary that in Sunghoon’s opinion, is far better than the talking monster perched on his friend’s shoulder.

“Nah,” Jake says, Sunghoon notes how determined he was to get the evil bird into their loving home and says in panic, “I think I’m allergic to birds!” paired with some sneezing and coughing and sneaking glances at the other two. 

“I think I am too!” says Heeseung catching the plan, sneezing and coughing even more than Sunghoon, he nudges Jungwon who catches on and then starts sneezing and coughing as well, “M-me too!” 

“Oh,” laughs Sunoo, “We’ve been here for an hour, if you’re all allergic then you should have died like, 45 minutes ago.” 

“Yeah,” Ni-ki said, eyeing them suspiciously, “You just don’t like Henrietta, do you?” he asks, moving to protectively stand in front of Jake and the evil bird, which makes it look like they’re having a ridiculous standoff with sunshine incarnate, the human version of a teddy bear with an evil monstrosity on its shoulder, and an aggressively tall blonde. 

“Hyung? Can we take her home?” Sunoo looks at Jay, and Sunghoon thinks he can see him using his puppy eyes.

“That is so unfair,” he grumbles under his breath, “Who can say no to that?”

Apparently not Jay because ten minutes later, they were walking out of the store with the devil croaking, “Jake jake jake!” on his shoulder. 

the dumbass jar

Sunghoon fit right in their little friend group. Unfortunately, this also means that he was roped into whatever shenanigans his roommates had: Jake and Ni-ki were the most frequent causes of destruction and surprisingly, Sunoo was a close competitor. Which also, unfortunately, started a competition for the ‘best prankster/destructor’ place that somehow made everyone except Jay extremely competitive, (“What do you mean everyone has to participate, can’t I just keep score?”) 

Too bad keeping score means that he suffered the brunt of almost all their attacks, and one can only suffer until one reaches their limit. For Jay, it was six months into their prank war.  

“I can’t fucking do this anymore,” Jay said walking dangerously calm into the kitchen where they were having dinner. Silence covered the room as they stared at the usually loud boy, only interrupted when Henrietta squawked in her cage, “Fucking fuck fuck!” 

“This is the dumbass jar,” he said, slamming a big jar on the countertop, a “dumbass hahaha!” echoes through the apartment as Jake glared at Jay, “No bad words! Henrietta knows enough from Heeseung hyung.” 

Both of them ignored an offended “Hey!” as Jay continues, “And this is for keeping score of how much y'all put every time one of you decides to be a dumbass,” he said, hanging a clipboard with their names on next to the jar. 

“This also includes activities such as getting people on your side in a fight between whether or not water is wet by drenching yourselves in water and staring at your fellow roommates until they ask about it then going on a five minute spiel while flooding the floor.” 

Jay said, looking straight at the eldest and the youngest who both looked away, whistling innocently. 

“This also includes whispering ‘Yesssss’ or ‘I bet you didn't feel me lick your ear’ or ‘He knows, don't go home’ or any other creepy shit in someone’s ear completely randomly, the first time someone did it Sunghoon literally sucker-punched Jake so hard he walked around with a black eye for a week.”  

Jake snorts and Sunghoon laughs bashfully, remembering how panicked he was when he realized the whispers came from a person and not some sort of ghost.

"And this especially includes conspiring at three in the morning to one up each other in your prank war only to coincidentally do the same prank, I was dyed blue for two weeks, two weeks.”

Sunoo and Jungwon glared at each other playfully, “I still believe you somehow spied on me,” uttered Jungwon to which Sunoo stuck his tongue out. 

Jay opens the lid of the Jar and points to Sunghoon and Sunoo, “You two, put down ten bucks each. You’re lucky it isn’t more after the incident.” 

Sunghoon and Sunoo stared him down, but he was unaffected. In the span of six months Jay had mastered defense against the puppy eyes and developed an amazing skill at remaining stoic that even Sunghoon was impressed by. 

“Fine,” Sunoo mumbles, retreating to their room to get his wallet, “Don’t worry about yours, Hoonie hyung! I got it.” 

Sunghoon quickly whips out his wallet to put twenty bucks in the Jar before Sunoo returns, looking at Jay to say, “Don’t let him pay, thanks!” as he runs to his room, red-faced, letting out an ‘eep’ as he bumped into Sunoo. 

“What happened to Sunghoon hyung?” Sunoo asked curiously as he reached their table to open the Jar, “Oh,” he said, “He paid for me too?” 

“Yeah,” they all said, smiling knowingly. 

“What?” Sunoo asked, looking at them weirdly. 

“Nothing, it’s cute how Hoonie hyung paid for both of you, isn’t it?” Heeseung asked Sunoo. 

“Y-yeah,” he stammers out, “It’s really kind of him! He treats me like a great friend.” 

“A great friend,” Ni-ki deadpans, squinting. “A great friend,” he repeats. 

“A great friend,” Sunoo confirms.

“A really great friend.”

“A really great friend! Yup!” Sunoo repeats. 

“A really really great friend?” Jungwon joins in.

“Yes, a really really great friend,” Sunoo says again and looks at them suspiciously,  “Why? He’s a great friend! Don’t you think so? One time I had a really bad headache and he got me medicine but we didn’t have any in the cabinets so he probably went out of his way to buy it even if he had classes, isn’t he nice? He’s got nice hands too! And a pretty face but well I guess it’s expected to have a pretty face when everything else is pretty about him. He’s also very thoughtful! He gets me those pork buns I like from the store down the street whenever I feel sad, which he also somehow always knows when? And he’s funny too, one time he got bit by- Oh.” 

“Yeah. Oh,” Jake snickers, glancing at Sunoo who looks like the perfect imitation of a gaping fish. 

“He doesn't treat me just as a friend, does he?” Sunoo whispered slowly, horrified as they all nodded.

“Oh.” 

“Took you long enough,” Heeseung said, teasingly. 

“I need to apologize,” Sunoo said in a rush as the others looked at him confused. 

“I was wrong. He doesn’t treat me like a great friend, he treats me like a best friend!” 

They all made him put another ten bucks in the Dumbass Jar. 

the incident

Their movie night was something Sunoo started as a reprieve from the constant studying and sleep deprivation that comes from hell week at their university, “Might as well do something enjoyable if we’re going to lose this much sleep,” he muttered as he herded his roommates and a bowl of popcorn towards the silent living room. 

(Henrietta was at the vet, he didn’t bother knowing why, all he needed to know was that it involved “Ni-ki” and “party tricks.”)

“Hey guys, did you know beige tastes like a Thursday afternoon?” Jungwon drawled absently, eyes glazed as he obviously fought off sleep. 

“Mmm, blue seems like a Tuesday color for me.” 

Sunoo was halfway through a laugh when Sunghoon leaned in to whisper, “How long do you think it’ll take for him to realize he’s talking to himself?” 

“Probably once he goes to sleep and wakes up,” Sunoo chuckles.

The rest of them were spread haphazardly in the living room, Sunghoon sat comfortably beside him under the blanket they shared. Sunoo does not blush when the press of skin against his spread warmth all over. 

Sunoo glances towards his right, the movie was playing in the background, its light shining a faint glow on the older boy’s face. “Pretty,” Sunoo blurts out and he immediately follows it up with, “P-pretty cool movie,” smiling nervously. 

“Yeah, Spiderman’s pretty cool,” Sunghoon said, nodding, and Sunoo thanked those above him that his sleep-deprived mind and no filter mouth has somehow not ruined his secret pining. 

“I’m pretty sure Ni-ki has a Spiderman costume somewhere in his room,” Sunghoon continues, “Or maybe Jungwon borrowed it?” 

He nudges Ni-ki who was lying on the ground beside the sofa, “Where’s your Spiderman suit?” he whispers. 

“Wha?” the younger one sits up, rubbing his eyes, “It’s in Wonie-hyung’s room, no blood, I think?” 

Sunghoon looked at him, not paying attention to the offhand blood comment and gestured for them to slip out of the living room, “If one of us wears the suit do you think they’ll know?” Sunoo asks the other boy as they made their way to Jungwon’s room. 

“They’re running on at least five cups of coffee each,” Sunghoon starts, turning the knob to open the door, “Jungwon can taste colors and I’m pretty sure Jay thinks he has three hands.” 

Sunoo peeks back to see Jay flexing his fingers and mouthing counts as he slowly brings a finger down, “Oh God, they need to sleep,” he says, slightly concerned until he remembers that he and Sunghoon were also running on at least five cups of coffee each, “You need to sleep, too.” 

“Don’t we all?” Sunghoon grins, a little maniacally as he pulls him into the dark room. Sunoo runs through quick scenarios in his head, looking for the same maniac grin, and realizes that it only ever shows when the other boy is so sleep-deprived that his usually calm demeanor turns a little crazy.

“Fair enough,” Sunoo succumbs to whatever caffeine-induced high they are now both on and joins Sunghoon in rummaging through Jungwon’s room. He pats around, using the light from his phone to search for the suit, carefully making his way past the boy’s extensive amount of chew toys? 

“Why does Jungwon have so many chew toys?” 

“Maybe he likes to collect,” Sunghoon says noncommittally, “Can’t judge him, I collect figure skating memorabilia.” 

“You skate?” Sunoo asks, surprised.

“Have been for more than half of my life. Kinda miss it too.” 

What the hell, he thinks. Kind, pretty and a skater too? Sunoo’s weak little heart cannot handle adding more to his list of ‘Why Sunghoon is The Perfect Man.’ 

“Aha!” 

Sunoo was ripped out of his internal monologue by a small shout of success, “I found it!” 

He was about to congratulate Sunghoon when he saw a blurry object move past him and out the door, “Did you see that?” he asked, pointing the light towards the direction the object moved.  

His question was promptly ignored in favor of Sunghoon removing his shirt, “W-what are you d-doing?” he squeaks out, blushing and turning away from the stripping boy. 

“It fits!” Sunghoon says excited, and grabs Sunoo’s shoulder to face him, “I’m Spiderman!” 

“Y-you’re Spiderman!” he echoes back joyfully, smiling at Sunghoon’s childlike glee, mentally jotting down ‘Sunghoon in a Spiderman suit’ in his extensive list.  

Sunghoon beams and pulls down the mask, grabbing his wrist and quickly tugging him out of the room. He barely had enough time to close the door when multiple shouts were heard from the living room.

“Heeseung hyung licked me!” 

“I did not! I got licked too!” 

“I feel left out,” Sunoo rounds the corner, just in time to hear Jake’s pouty statement followed by, “I want to be licked too.”

His brain takes a while to process what he heard and when it still doesn’t click, he looks beside him to ask if he’s hearing things only to be met with empty space. He glances around the room for a stray figure skating Spiderman and sees him tiptoeing to crouch behind the sofa. Sunoo shakes his head, amused and absolutely endeared, decides to let him run his antics. Opting to attempt to ask why his roommates were licking each other in the dark. 

“I did not lick you!” Heeseung huffed at Jay, the same time Jake said, “I haven’t been licked yet!” 

“Why would you even want to be licked?” Ni-ki wonders, peering up at them from the floor.  

“Being licked is fun,” Jungwon distractedly says as he pokes his tongue with his pinky and offers the wet finger to Jake. 

Sunoo pulls a hyperactive Jake back before he reaches the finger and wonders why he ever thought sleep-deprived people gathering together was a good idea.

“What the fuck?” he hears Ni-ki say, “Something licked me!” 

“No fair!” Jake whined and struggled out of Sunoo’s hold to move towards Jungwon who was dozing off with his still outstretched pinky.   

“Stop it!” Sunoo struggles back, and was about to succeed when he felt a long wet lick on his ankles, “Oh my God!” he shrieks and lets Jake go, falling to the floor as he cradles his ankle while Jake takes Jungwon’s pinky and swipes it across his cheek.

“Gross,” Heeseung says lightly, moving away from Jake who was now grinning, “I got licked!” 

“What was that?” Sunoo asks, horrified as takes out his phone and swings it around, turning the flashlight on. A white blur sped past him and shot over to Ni-ki’s face who screamed so loud he was sure they’d have to apologize to their neighbors, “FUCK! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF HYUNG! IT”S GONNA KILL ME!”   

The blur, who was shaken off by Ni-ki who scrambled away, hopped to Jay who was running away from it, “STAY AWAY!” he shouted as he ran into the kitchen. A crash was heard followed by a string of very colorful words as Jay rushed back into the living room swinging around a frying pan, knocking over the bowl of popcorn. 

“Argghg,” garbled Heeseung when the blur, running towards the fallen popcorn bits, crashed into his calves, “That hurts!” he scolded the white thing who seemed offended by the wall that was Heeseung’s legs and kicked it, “Shit!”

Sunoo and Jake chased the blur around the room with a makeshift net-blanket, stopping and slowly approaching when it perched on top of the sofa, “Catch it,” Jay hissed behind him, holding his frying pan at arm’s length, “Catch it or I’m going to swing.”

“I’m trying to,” Sunoo hissed back, carefully stalking towards the sofa, “Come here,” he coos encouragingly at the object. He sees its weirdly long ears twitch and makes the executive decision to dive forward, the white blur moving faster and escaping before Sunoo tumbled over the couch.

“Oww,” he hears a groan underneath him and he groans back, the adrenaline rushing out of him as he rests his throbbing forehead on a warm chest. Wait. 

“You killed Spiderman!” 

Sunoo scrambles to stand, does not blush at the thought of his roommates warm chest, and apologizes as he helps Sunghoon stand up, “I didn’t kill Su - Spiderman!” he exclaims, hoping the dim light hides his flaming face, and pointing beside him, “He’s alive!” 

Jake claps at the sight of the hero, “We’re saved! Spiderman catch the abomination!” 

Sunghoon whirls towards Sunoo and tilts his head questioningly before shouting in surprise, “Ah! Something bit me!” 

“The abomination!” the others shout simultaneously, “I guess it doesn’t like spiders. Oh no, Spiderman-ssi you got bit! What if you turned like the thing? Please don’t! It’s so sca-” Ni-ki was cut off by Heeseung’s gasp, “It moved past me! Spiderman-ssi!” 

“Spiderman-ssi save us!” Sunoo joined, tone teasing but underlined with alarm as he pushed Sunghoon towards Heeseung. 

Sunghoon was about to respond when he sees the blur move, running on protective instinct, he ran after the object moving towards a sleeping Jungwon, “It’s too fast!” he said quickly.

“Use your web shooters!” someone shouts back.

“Web shooter this,” he mutters, snatching Jay’s frying pan and throwing it towards the object. It misses and hits Jake instead, “Sorry!” Sunghoon exclaims to the teary-eyed Jake as he picks up the fallen frying pan, takes aim again and throws. 

The frying pan hits the ground with a loud bang that fully wakes Jungwon, they wait on bated breath as the thing thumps to the ground, “What’s going on?” 

“...”

After a few seconds of the thing not moving, they all relaxed and dropped down. Sunghoon fell to his knees as the others profusely thanked him, “Spiderman-ssi thank you! Thank you so much,” Ni-ki, Heeseung, and a bruised Jake gape in awe.

“Nooooooo! Carrots!” 

Stunned silence enveloped the room as they stared at Jungwon who was clutching the object in his arms, “Who hurt my bunny?” he asked slowly, looking at them, the bunny, and then the frying pan discarded beside him.

“B-bunny?” 

“My bunny. Carrots,” Jungwon says, glaring at the frying pan, and then at his roommates, and then back at the frying pan until his brain made the connection between the frying pan and Jay. 

“Jay-ssi,” he says, setting his bunny down gently and threateningly picking up the frying pan as Jay’s eyes widened and shook his head, “It wasn’t me! It was Spiderman!” he refutes, pointing at Sunghoon who had the right idea to shed off the suit before Jungwon could even stand up. 

Clad in boxers, and looking flushed, (again, Sunoo does not blush), Sunghoon flatly says, “Aw, you think of me as a hero?” 

“Sunghoon is Spiderman? Shit, our friend is a hero.” Sunoo hears Jake mutter to Ni-ki, “We need to get his autograph,” Ni-ki says back, nodding determinedly. 

Sunoo snickers as Jay let out a betrayed shout of, “Liar! He’s lying, Jungwon, he’s Spiderman!” 

Jungwon ‘tsks’ and raises the frying pan, “Spiderman doesn’t defend bunny injurers,” and swings.  

When Jay eventually wakes up with a bruise that rivals Jake’s, he will chase Sunghoon with the frying pan until he confesses and apologizes; later, he will chase Sunoo for playing a part in the cause of his throbbing head; and even later, Jungwon will solicit him for the bunny’s vet appointment. 

the damp towel 

Sunghoon was having a great day so far. He woke up before his alarm which was a key contributor to his great morning and he had a delicious breakfast with Sunoo, pancakes, per his request, which only solidified his already amazing morning. 

Nothing can get better than this, he thought. 

His good mood wasn’t even ruined when Henrietta said her daily greetings. 

“Good morning fucker demons!” croaked the monstrosity that is their pet bird from somewhere in the apartment, followed by a long burping sound and an eerie echo of Heeseung’s laugh. ‘Fucker demons’ is apparently the bird’s default name for the inhabitants of his apartment, much to Jake’s dismay. 

(“She doesn’t even call me Jake anymore! It’s always Fucker demons!” he exclaimed to them, after trying and failing to make Henrietta say his name. “This is your fault,” he sneered to Heeseung, bursting to tears as a string of “Fucker Demons! FUCKER Demons!” was heard.)

Instead, he greeted the bird back, “Good morning to you too Fuckertta!” 

“Fuckertta! Fuckertta!” 

Sunghoon grinned, he was secretly teaching the cockatoo to say “Fuckertta,” and was almost caught a few days ago by Jake were it not for Jay exclaiming “Fuck!” right before Henrietta croaked “Fuckertta!” for the first time. 

“Good girl,” he cooed, filling up her feeder with bird seed before making his way to the bathroom to shower. 

They had a huge bathroom, almost the gym type with separate stalls for showering and towel shelves, which was okay since there were seven of them sharing and they all had enough respect to not do anything disruptive of the fragile treaty they had in the bathroom. 

That being said, the damp towel incident had almost broken the wonderful peace they had. 

He was brushing his teeth with Jungwon, they almost always have the same morning routine, when a muttering Jay exited the shower stalls, “Damp. Why is my towel always damp?” 

“Probably because you just showered?” Sunghoon answered helpfully. 

“No, doofus. I mean my towel was damp before I even used it,” Jay said, reaching for the cluster of hair products on the shelf, “It feels like I’ve been licked by a golden retriever,” he shudders. 

“Then why use it?” Sunghoon asked, “You could just use another towel,” he continued, pointing to the shelves they had for towels. 

Jay shook his head, “This towel is made of a specific material, it makes my hair less poofy,” he says while simultaneously squirting three different hair products on his palm. 

“Maybe you should just tone down the hair products you use, hyung. I’m pretty sure it’s what’s making your hair poofy,” teases Jungwon, poking at the items scattered on the shelf.

“Oh fuck you,” Jay replies, shaking his hair at Jungwon, “This is my holy grail,” pointing towards even more products hidden in the back of the shelf, “No one. Touches. My. Products.” 

Jungwon looks at him contemplating, then at the towel shelves, then back at him, “Should we just install towel racks so it’ll take less time drying because they aren’t folded?”  

“That is the wors-” Jay cuts himself off, bobbing his head up and down, “Oh, that’s actually a great idea. I’ll let the others know, thanks bro!”

They installed the towel racks later that day and that should have been it. But no, the universe decided to somehow make Sunghoon’s life more eventful because the second he stepped into the bathroom the following day, Jay was shouting “-ill damp. EVERYBODY BATHROOM NOW.”

Sunoo trickles in first with a smile and light bounce, (God, he’s so cute), “What’s up hyung?” 

Jungwon and Jake follow after, “What is it this time?” with Ni-ki and Heeseung right behind them, still rubbing sleep off their eyes. 

“Is someone playing a joke on me? Honestly,” Jay says, hands shaking as he points to his towel, “Why is my towel still damp?” 

Sunghoon moves away a little, because the last time he’s seen Jay this unhinged he was held at gunpoint by a spray bottle. He is not taking that risk again. 

“What towel?” Heeseung asked slowly. 

“This towel!” Jay shouts, full on shaking as he grabs the blue towel from the rack. 

Ni-ki frowns, “That’s not your towel, that’s my towel.” 

“Nope," a voice pipes up. They all look at the person who spoke and saw Jake shaking his head.

"It’s not any of your towels, it’s mine.” Jake says, “Your towel is the red one, hyung. And Ni-ki’s is the yellow one,” he says pointing to two towels on the left side. 

“What?” Jay whispers very quietly and Sunghoon thinks about whether or not he should grab the others and escape while it’s still early. 

“I’ll tell you this, hyung. I’ve never used that towel,” Ni-ki says, pointing to the yellow towel, “But I have used that towel every single day,” now pointing at the blue towel.

“Oh God,” Jay, eyes wide as the situation finally sinks in. 

Sunoo pulls the yellow towel, “This towel is so warm and fluffy,” he says, nuzzling his face in. 

“It’s like it’s been in the sun forever,” Jungwon agrees, holding the red towel between his fingers. 

Sunghoon and Heeseung share an amused look, screw everything Sunghoon said about the universe, this is the best day of his life. 

“That means the three of you have been drying your junk with the same towel,” Heeseung guffaws.

“Intimate,” Sunghoon adds in smiling, a safe distance away from Jay who’s gone incredibly pale to incredibly red in three seconds. 

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!” Jay looks at Ni-ki. 

“What do you mean am I out of my mi-” 

“HOW DO YOU THINK THIS IS YOUR TOWEL?” he turns to Jake, and in a complete 180 says in a quiet voice, “Please tell me you at least washed the towel.”

Jake snorts, “What do you mean wash the towel? I don’t wash the towel, the towel washes me.” 

Silence washes over them as Sunoo lets out an indignant noise, looks at Jake in concern and says, “Hyung, you don’t wash your towel?”

“You wash the towel?” Jake asked, surprised,  just as Jay let out a sob.

Ni-ki, who was processing the situation for the last two minutes, finally snaps back and looks as horrified as Jay, “YOU NEVER WASH THE TOWEL?!”

Sunghoon looks back and forth between the sobbing Jay, the horrified Ni-ki, and Jake who seems to grow more confused.

Yup, this is the best day of his life.

“What am I going to do?” Jake asked, raising his voice as well, feeling pressured by the stares sent his way, “Wash the shower next? Wash a bar of soap?!”

Heeseung and Jungwon snorted, looking like they were watching the world’s best comedy show, which is fair, Sunghoon thinks, it is pretty hilarious. 

“You got to think here guys!” Jake claps his hands condescendingly, “Who washes what washes them?” he asked, waving around his hands to prove his non-existent point.

“Oh God,” Ni-ki mutters this time, sliding down the floor. 

“I AM FURIOUS RIGHT NOW!” Jay shouts wetly, leaning against the bathroom wall as he lets out another sob.

Jake starts raising his voice again, insistent, “I get out of the damn shower, I’m clean as a damn baby, and I use the towel!” 

Ni-ki composes himself for a few seconds, looking pale and asks in a quivering voice, “Well then let me ask you this then, hyung. Have you been wearing my underwear?” 

Several horrified gasps are let out as they wait for the answer. 

“Sometimes, yeah. Who cares?” Jake answers, shrugging his shoulders. Ni-ki sobs into his hands and Sunghoon beams, he loves this, he loves his life, he lives for this. 

“You guys don’t wear each other’s underpants?” several shouts of ‘No!’ were heard. Jake shakes his head in disbelief, “You’re all lying. We all wear each other's underwear!” 

Sunghoon snaps out of his happiness for a while to mutter out a soft, horrified, “What?” 

From that moment on, they dry their towels in their separate rooms and Jake was forced to put two bucks in the Jar for every day he spent using the towel. 

the fire drill

Heeseung held a grudge, he was out for revenge. With his fallen PowerPoint in mind, he set into motion his plan to show his roommates what happens when they disrespect his PowerPoint, as well as how important it is to be prepared for fires (if anyone asks, this is the only reason his plan was formed, he was not out for revenge).

It came to head on a Saturday where he made sure his roommates were camped out in their workout room, Heeseung slipped away from the others with the excuse of grabbing towels and drinks.

“A few months ago, I tried to give a fire safety presentation but Jake stopped me,” he bitterly started, talking to the go-pro he clipped on himself. Heeseung reached under his bed to pull out a blowtorch and a box filled with necessary supplies, “It was my own fault for using PowerPoint.” 

“PowerPoint hahaha! Boring! Fucking fuck fuck!” Henrietta croaks from her cage.

“PowerPoint is boring. My plan is not,” he mocked Henrietta darkly, grabbing the items and exiting his room, making sure to lock his door as well as the other doors except for the bathroom, the workout room, and the study room.

Heeseung pocketed a few items, clipped on the blowtorch, and started heating all the locked door handles, “People learn in lots of different ways,” he continued narrating to the go-pro, “But experience is the best teacher.”

He lowered the blowtorch once he was finished and took out a lighter and a can of lighter fluid, pouring it into the paper bin placed in their study room. Heeseung smirked at his go-pro, and said, “Today, smoking is going to save lives.” 

He flicks the lighter, beams, and ignites the bin as he shuts the door.

A few seconds later, all evidences removed, he returned to their workout room carrying a few towels, “We don’t have any drinks left,” he said to the others.

Jay groaned, dropping his dumbbells, “I told you we needed to go to the grocery already!” 

“You were supposed to do the groceries this week,” Ni-ki quipped, not looking up from where he lay on the floor.

Heeseung surveys the room, notes that he was again going to take matters into his own hands, and asks.

“Does anyone smell anything smoky?” 

“Did you bring your jerky again?” Jake mused. 

Heeseung ignored his question and saw Sunghoon and Sunoo starting to sniff around. He clears his throat, “Ahem,” widening his eyes at Sunghoon, he tilts his head towards the door.

“What?” 

“Ahem,” Heeseung tries again and catches Sunoo’s attention; widening his eyes even more and tilting his head, Sunoo follows and sees smoke coming out from under the door.

“Oh my God!” Sunoo shrieks, scrambling to stand up and move away from the door, “Oh my God!” he points a shaking hand.

“FIRE!” 

“Oh fire?! What’s the procedure?” Heeseung shouts over the clamoring of his roommates, “What do we DO?!” 

“I can’t find my phone!” Jake exclaims, flinging the workout equipment to search for his phone as Jungwon panics beside him, “Carrots is out there!” 

“The fire is out in the h-hall!” Ni-ki points out and coughs from inhaling the smoke.

“No, we don’t know that, it could be coming from an air duct,” Heeseung chastes.

“I can’t find my phone either!” 

“Oh how did that happen?” Heeseung smugly says, as a “Fucking fuck fuck! Fucker demons fire hahaha!” screeches through the apartment. 

“HENRIETTA!”

Jake screams and wranks open the door, letting in more smoke as the rest scramble to follow him. 

“Everybody stay calm,” Jay says to his roommates as he, himself, runs to the living room, frantic, “Everybody stay calm!” he continues as Heeseung simply interjects, “What’s the procedure, guys? What do we do?” 

“STAY FUCKING CALM!” 

“Carrots!” Jungwon calls out, running to his room. 

“EVERYBODY CALM THE FUCK DOWN!”

Before Jungwon could grab the handle, “Wait wait wait wait!” Heeseung cuts him off, “No! Jungwon! No! Touch the handle, if it’s hot there could be a fire in your room.” 

Jungwon tentatively touches the handle, “It’s warm. What does warm mean?” 

“Shit, try the other doors!” 

“Not a viable option,” Heeseung says. Sunghoon tries the door to his room, all the while Heeseung narrates through the smoke, “Fine, here’s a door! Check that one out,” he nonchalantly points to the study room. 

“It’s-it’s warm!” Sunghoon quickly says at the same time Sunoo shouts, “AH, MY HAND! IT’S HOT!”

“Sunoo!” Sunghoon shoves past Heeseung to join Sunoo in cradling his hands, “Are you okay?” 

“We’re going to die,” Sunoo mumbles, horrified, “We’re really going to die. Oh my god. I’m too young to die. I haven’t even graduated college yet! I can’t die. You can’t die. We can’t die. I still want to eat the stupid cake at the bakery you want-”

“Sunoo, we’re not going to die-” Sunghoon tries to calm him down and sneaks off a glare at Jay who’s running around screaming they’re trapped and at Jake who was clutching Henrietta’s cage to his chest, the bird keeps on repeating, “Fuckertta! Die! Die! Die!”

“- I still haven’t even told my parents I loved them today! Oh my God, what if I die with them thinking I don’t love them? Where’s my phone? Oh my God, I can’t do thi-” 

“Hey-” Sunghoon tries again, waving off the smoke, just as Jungwon kicks down his door, screaming, “CARROTS!” and Ni-ki rushing after him, trying to pull him back, “Hyung! Don’t risk your life for the bunny!” 

“- We’re going to die. Oh my God, Hoonie. We’re all going to die so it doesn’t matter anyway but I really like you. You and your stupid handsome face and you getting me those buns that I love. You in a Spiderman suit and you unhinged every time you lose sleep. Did I mention I liked you? Because I really d-”

“SUNOO!” Sunghoon shouts, flushed and very overwhelmed, in a good, hopefully not dying, way. Sunoo stops and stares at him, wide-eyed as he struggles to breathe after rambling.

“I like you too.” 

“Procedure! What’s! The! Procedure!” Heeseung punctuates his words with a clap of his hands to gain control of the situation, snorting as he startles Sunghoon and Sunoo apart. He reaches into his back pocket and thumbs the small firecracker, grinning evilly as he pulls it out and quickly lights it, throwing it into a corner.  

“Fuck this, I’m not dying.” Jake mutters and sets down Henrietta who’s now joining the cacophony of panicked, “Carrots! Where! FUCK fuck fuck hahaha!” 

The firecracker lets out a series of loud sparks, followed by an even louder, “THE FIRE IS SHOOTING AT US!” Jay screams, horrified. 

“Use the surge of fear and adrenaline to sharpen your decision-making!” 

Ni-ki coughs as he drags Jungwon and his bunny out of the hallway and into the living room, tears stinging his eyes as the smoke slowly fills the apartment, “What the hell is going on?” 

Jay stops his screaming to copy Jake who was about to throw a chair into their locked front door, “Yes-yes! THROW IT!”

He grabs a chair and throws it to their window. The sound of glass shattering shakes Sunghoon and Sunoo from their awkward staring as they sprint to the living room to see Jay wailing, “Help! THERE’S A FIRE!” 

Jungwon coddles Henrietta and Carrots to his chest as he starts to cry, seemingly changing places with Sunoo as he was the one who now mutters, “We’re going to die.” 

After a quick video recording of the panicked faces of his roomates, Heeseung decides that this day has reached its peak and squeezes an airhorn, “Attention! Residents and fellow friends!”

The sound catches the attention of his roommates in various states, Jungwon who was crying, Ni-ki who was close to tears, Jake and Jay who were gaping mid-scream, and Sunoo and Sunghoon who were both still blushing furiously with a slight crazed look. 

“This has been a test of our emergency preparedness. There is no fire,” a choked noise is heard, “It was only a simulation!” 

“What?” Sunghoon says, shocked.

“Fire not real,” Heeseung says slowly, as if talking to a child, as another noise is heard, this time obviously a growl, “This was only a drill.” 

“WHAT?” Sunoo yells, the crazed look becoming very apparent.

Heeseung takes a final survey of his roommates and decides he wants to live another day, “I tried to give you guys a PowerPoint of this scenario!” 

“Is that what this is about?” Jake asks, still gaping. Henrietta follows with, “Fucker demons! Fuck fuck fuck my plan hahaha!” 

“Hyung,” Jay starts, narrowing his eyes, “You better run.” 

“H-huh?” Heeseung stammers, smiling nervously as he raises both hands in surrender. 

“You better fill the jar too,” Jungwon adds threateningly. 

Ni-ki finishes by throwing Carrots who lands a solid kick on Heeseung’s chin. 

the beginning of the world

The past months were filled with questionable experiences that somehow show how easy they fit as roommates and friends, including all the chaotic mess that filled their dumbass jar. 

He learned that Jay was a great cook and a caring friend, (this was demonstrated when Sunghoon was up until midnight studying for an exam, litters of pizza boxes and instant noodles scattered around him, Jay took one look at his pitying image and decided he’d make the world’s greatest fucking scrambled eggs, according to Sunghoon, really it was just scrambled eggs but somehow it was so amazing he had to bribe Jay into making it for him every late night study session).

He learned that Heeseung was unfairly talented at everything, and very humble. So humble that Sunghoon took it upon himself to promote his friend’s songs on all platforms whenever he releases a track. (Sunghoon passed by his room one night and heard him humming and writing some new songs, he also had mean basketball skills, annihilating Sunoo who cutely tried to challenge him, and he’s also unfairly good at games, like how can one person be so good at everything?)

He was closest to Jake, with him experiencing the worst of his embarrassing crush on their roommate, which helped him realize how perceptive and patient his friend really is, (“Hey Hoon, do you like Sunoo?” he asked one day, which led to Sunghoon choking and spluttering on air for a few minutes until he gathered himself enough to say, “Whaaat?” This led to countless times Sunghoon found himself venting his feelings to Jake who always calmly listened to him and offered advice).

Jungwon, surprisingly, was just as responsible as him, maybe even more, and astoundingly smart. It surprised him the first time Jungwon offered to tutor him at subjects, but soon, he found himself proud at how his friend balanced all his academics without fail. The younger one was also incredibly charming, especially to the older ladies down the block, (Jungwon once arrived at their apartment carrying four loaves of home baked bread and three cartons of eggs, with a sheepish smile, says, “I was ambushed by Miss Han and her friends down the street.”)

Ni-ki, their youngest, was also unfairly good at everything. They learned he can play the piano as well as being an incredible dancer, he’s also amazingly sporty and was often playing with Jake or Heeseung at the university field and gym, (“Hey Ni-ki, you’re really good at everything,” Jungwon once complimented him, Ni-ki stared at him for a long time until Jungwon got confused and asked him what’s wrong, “Do you believe in love at first sight,” Ni-ki said, slowly, “or should I try walking by again?” he finishes, smiling softly, leaving a flustered Jungwon). It turns out, Ni-ki also responds to compliments with cheesy pick-up lines.

And finally, Sunoo, bright and shining Sunoo was incredibly kind, taking over cooking duty and ensuring the apartment stays clean whenever Jay was too tired from classes, learning how to cook Ni-ki’s favorite meal so he can make it whenever the youngest feels homesick, helping Heeseung with his songs-- singing samples from time to time which made Sunghoon fall a little more because his voice sounds sweet and soft and made him feel so many complicated things. He’d talk with Jake for hours at night whenever the latter couldn’t fall asleep, even if it means shaving hours off his prized beauty sleep and he’d watch movies with Jungwon and walk with him whenever it rains because he knows that Jungwon likes both but doesn’t want to do it alone. 

Sunghoon thinks back to the time his sunshine boy confessed in a panicked state. He remembers being shocked, disbelieving that someone like him actually managed to attract someone as beautiful as Sunoo was. He feels himself flushing bright red, overwhelmed by fond emotions as he confesses back. He sees himself pulling the boy into his room after Heeseung's stunt and he hears himself confessing again and again until Sunoo cut him off by asking him to be his. 

Sunghoon remembers, “The world started with a bang,” his Astronomy professor says. 

He’d like to disagree. 

The world doesn’t start with a bang, he thinks. 

It starts with the smell of fresh pancakes in the morning and it starts with the laughs he hears whenever he makes a successful joke during dinner in the evening. It starts with the kind smiles that offer Sunghoon comfort and it starts with the kind hands that wrap blankets around him at night whenever Sunghoon studies too hard and falls asleep on the couch. 

It starts with every, “Good morning Hoonie hyung!” excitedly said and it starts with every, “Good night, hyung,” softly whispered. It starts with the warmth he feels in his words and it starts with the stories he sees behind his eyes. 

The world doesn’t start a bang, he knows. It starts with Kim Sunoo and seven university students in an apartment.