Archive of Our Own ^beta

Silverleaf College was one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, and Jaehyun was lucky to be here. When he first told his parents he was interested in the school, they both were less than excited, despite the fact that Silverleaf College was only twenty minute drive from the house. Because even if their son wasn’t leaving the state for school, something his mom was vehemently against, he was still making the choice to be an English major.

Over the past four months, ever since Jaehyun had made his final decision about college, he’s had to hear constant subtle complaints about his decision. And of course, the persistent comments about how there wasn’t anything he could really do with an English degree. But all of that would come to an end right now. Jaehyun couldn’t wait. 

He’s practically buzzing on the car ride to the institution. He was less than an hour away from finally leaving his parents behind, at least for a little bit, while he gets acclimated to being a college student. Maybe the time away from each other would help them both at least accept his choices. 

He knows that both his parents just want the best for him. In their eyes, majoring in a subject like English with low job prospects is not exactly what they would define as the best. But he was an adult now, he could make his own choices and he chose English. 

“Looks like we’re here.” His mom says wistfully, a sigh following soon after as his dad pulls into the designated parking area right outside his dorm building. Jaehyun’s half expecting her to start crying right in the car and already has tissues prepared. 

“Why don’t you go in, grab your key. We’ll start unloading.” His dad interrupts before his mom can give yet another sentimental speech about how she can’t believe how grown up Jaehyun is. 

Jaehyun simply nods and walks out the car, an overwhelming sense of relief filling him as soon as he hears the slam of the door behind him.

He finds his way to the lobby of the building. It’s filled with students and parents crowding around the sole elevator. Next to all that, is a pink-haired student, handing out t-shirts focusing intently on the clipboard in hand. 

“Hi.” Jaehyun clears his throat to grab his attention.

“Hello! Welcome to Silverleaf. My name is Taeyong. I’m the Resident Advisor for the year. Well, only if you live on the third floor.” He jokes. 

Taeyong looks him up and down, causing heat to rise to Jaehyun’s cheeks. “You look like you’re a men’s medium.” He states before grabbing a T-Shirt off the table. He promptly shoves it into Jaehyun’s empty hands. 

“Thank you.” Jaehyun replies in a too-high tone, overwhelmed by the palatable enthusiasm radiating off of Taeyong. 

“You’re welcome!” Taeyong beams. “Could you tell me your last name? I’ll look up your roommate and hand you your keys.” 

“Jeong.” Jaehyun answers, though it won’t matter. Jaehyun already knows who his roommate is. He had already made plans with his best friend Johnny to take on college together. Jaehyun’s more than thankful he wouldn’t have to face it all alone. 

“Ah. Jeong Jaehyun. Looks like I will be your RA for the year. Room 301. Your roommate’s name is Nakamoto Yuta.” 

Taeyong hands him a small metal key with a grin, but Jaehyun can do nothing but frown. That didn’t sound right at all. 

“There must be some sort of mistake.” Jaehyun starts. “My friend Johnny and I requested to be roommates.” 

Taeyong glances at his clipboard, mumbling words that Jaehyun can’t hear. “Johnny Suh? He’s in Room 310.” 

Jaehyun groans in frustration. “Well how do we fix this?” 

“Sorry. There’s no way to change room assignments for the first semester. You’ll have to wait until the second semester to appeal for a different room.” Taeyong explains gently. 

“Think of it as another part of the college experience.” He continues. “It’s all about meeting new people and making new friends. Your roommate could become one of the lifelong friends you meet in college.” 

Taeyong’s words sound something straight out of an RA handbook, and Jaehyun still can’t help dread this unexpected change in plans.

After awkwardly hugging his tearful mom goodbye and letting his dad uncomfortably pat him on the back with his last words of advice, Jaehyun decides to hunt down Johnny. 

He takes his phone out of his pocket and opens up his texts, scrolling a bit before finding the old familiar contact. 

Hey, where are you?

Right after hitting send, Jaehyun plops down on his newly made dorm bed. This was the opposite of what his first day at college was meant to look like. He and Johnny were supposed to have the time of their lives living together. Now Jaehyun had to interact with a complete stranger for a semester. 

Johnny doesn’t take long to respond, and as soon as Jaehyun feels the vibration of the notification in his hand, he springs back up. 

I’m at North Campus Diner dude. Got hungry because of all that unpacking. 

An exasperated sigh escapes Jaehyun’s mouth. He didn’t know the campus well enough yet to know where the diner was, but he expects he wouldn’t have a hard time figuring it out. Plus, he had nothing else to do other than wallow since his parents made sure he was completely unpacked and organized before they had left. 

Of course you did. I’ll meet you there. 

Johnny sends a thumbs up emoji causing Jaehyun to roll his eyes. He finds the diner pretty quickly; it’s only a two minute walk away from their dorm building. He just as easily finds Johnny sitting in the corner with a half eaten burger, some fries, and a chocolate milkshake in front of him. 

“Your mom would have a heart attack knowing you were eating all this.” Jaehyun quips as he sits down across from Johnny. 

“That’s the best part of college.” Johnny says before dipping a fry into his shake. “No more health nut parents telling what I can or can’t eat. I’ve only been here for like two hours, but I’m thoroughly enjoying my newfound freedom.” 

“Yeah I guess that’s one good thing.” 

“What’s got you so down Jeffrey?” 

“Stop calling me that.” Jaehyun says under his breath as he grabs a fry off of Johnny's plate. The other tries swatting his hand away, but in the end is too slow to stop Jaehyun from successfully stealing his food.

“If you haven’t noticed by now, we were supposed to be roommates, but we aren’t.” 

“I noticed. I’m not that dense.” Johnny starts. “Thought we could just ask to switch.” 

Jaehyun shakes his head no. “I already asked the RA. He said there’s no way we can change rooms until the first semester is over.” 

“Damn. That’s a bummer.” 

“Yeah. He gave me this bullshit pep talk about how it’s all part of the college experience and I might make a new friend out of it.” 

“He’s kind of right.” Johnny adds with his mouth half full. It makes Jaehyun grimace. Johnny could be so gross sometimes. 

“Of course you would take his side.” 

“I’m not taking sides. I’m telling you to make the best of an unexpected situation. You don’t have to be so negative all the time.” Johnny says in mock seriousness. 

“Besides. I already met my roommate. He’s pretty nice, funny too. Maybe it’s a blessing I can’t switch.”

Jaehyun rubs his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Looks like Johnny couldn’t relate to what he was feeling at all.

He ends up hanging out with Johnny until the evening. After their late lunch together, where Jaehyun eventually caved and got his own fries, they scoped out the campus due to Jaehyun’s incessant demands. 

It was large, but everything Jaehyun needed was only a two minute walk from his dorm, including a state of the art gym and modern library with a built-in coffee shop. Despite that, he forces Johnny to explore the rest of the campus with him. 

“I can’t believe you made me walk so much.” Johnny whines. 

They’re across campus now, very far away from their dorm rooms, and sitting on a bench in the school’s garden. The sun has just begun to set. Jaehyun knows they’ll be heading home soon enough, but for now he wants to sit and enjoy the view with his best friend. 

“Stop being a baby.” 

Johnny scoffs. “I’m not a baby. If anything you’re the baby for freaking out over your new roommate.” 

“You know I don’t like change.” Jaehyun mumbles. 

Was it such a crime to want to have one thing stay normal? He was excited for college, but he wanted so badly to get the chance to have Johnny with him, not have to awkwardly interact with some stranger for at least three months. 

Johnny drops his joking tone. “I know man. I’m just messing with you.” 

“I’ll still be around you know. Right at the end of the hall. We’ll still see each other all the time even if we don’t live together.” 

“I guess that’s true.” Jaehyun concedes. 

“We’re still going to tackle college together no matter what. It’s like, our destiny.” Johnny wraps an arm around him. “Now let’s go home. It’s been a long day. I need some sleep.” 

The walk back to the dorms is filled with a comfortable silence. Jaehyun’s too preoccupied with his running thoughts and Johnny’s happy to let him ruminate for some time. They get back a little bit after the sun sets and the sky darkens.

Jaehyun walks Johnny to his dorm room first. He gets the chance to meet his roommate Ten, a Sociology major with a minor in Dance. After they chat for a bit, Jaehyun can admit that Johnny was right. Ten was funny, cool, and a perfect match for his best friend. He could easily see those two becoming fast friends. 

He eventually finds himself walking to his own dorm, and is surprised to hear a soft melody through the walls. 

He sighs and opens the door, only to be met with blasting rock music in a language he can’t understand. His roommate doesn’t seem to notice Jaehyun at all and is instead sitting on the floor, seemingly organizing an endless amount of art supplies. 

Jaehyun shuts the door and notices his roommate has stopped moving. He slowly turns his head around and Jaehyun is met with wide eyes and one of most attractive smiles he’s ever seen. 

“Hi!” His roommate shouts over the music as he gets up, walks over to Jaehyun, and holds out his hand. “I’m Yuta.”

Despite being roommates, he didn’t actually see Yuta in their dorm that often. And maybe it’s a little rude to think, but Jaehyun was relieved they mostly stayed their separate ways. 

Their first conversation with each other was awkward, more than awkward, with Yuta talking a mile a minute and Jaehyun catching only some of what he said. All Jaehyun could remember from that conversation was that Yuta is an art major, and recently moved to the United States from Japan for college. 

After that first night in the dorms, unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, their paths haven’t crossed. Jaehyun was too busy getting acclimated to his classes, sticking to a workout schedule, and hanging out with Johnny. He barely had time to be in the dorm. 

But when he was, Yuta always found a way to somehow get on his nerves with his too loud music, even louder singing, and uncanny ability to always be drawing or painting, inevitability staining his own desk with paint multiple times. Not to mention his incessant need to always interrupt Jaehyun while he’s studying in their small dorm room. Unfortunately, tonight was one of those nights.

It was a Friday night, and Jaehyun could be going to a party with Johnny, getting drunk or high. Maybe even finding someone to hook-up with, but his Biology professor has made sure that none of that was happening this weekend. 

Jaehyun didn’t even understand why he, as an English major, was forced to take Biology in the first place as a general education requirement. He especially didn’t understand why Professor Kim was so insistent on making an introductory course so difficult. 

So here he is on a Friday night memorizing the cycle of photosynthesis for an exam taking place three weeks into the semester that counted for approximately 15% of grade. Science had never been his strong suit growing up, but he wanted to get any mandatory science and math classes out of the way as soon as possible. Though, he didn’t expect he would be this stressed about it this early into his first semester when he signed up for the course. 

As a small mercy, Yuta had been quiet all night so far, until now.

“Hey.” Yuta says from his bed. Jaehyun has his back to him as he sits at his desk and is thankful Yuta can’t see his face fall. 

“What.” Jaehyun grits out. He’s tired of having to deal with Yuta’s uncontrollable need to talk at the absolute worst times. 

“There’s a party, well actually, more of a small get together my friend is hosting tonight.” 

Jaehyun waits for Yuta to continue, but once the silence goes on for too long, he steers his eyes away from his notes and turns to look at Yuta. 

“And?” 

“I was wondering if you’d like to go with me.” 

Jaehyun screams internally. It wasn’t the first time that Yuta had invited him out. He didn’t know why the other man couldn’t take the hint. Jaehyun didn’t want to spend time with him. Even if he did, he especially couldn’t do that right now when his exam was coming up. 

“I can’t.” Jaehyun looks back down at his notes, but he doesn’t miss how quickly a frown makes its way onto Yuta’s face. “I have an exam on Monday.” 

“Oh.” Yuta says in a small voice. 

He sounds so sad that it almost causes Jaehyun to feel guilty for being so short with him. He shakes off the guilt and tries to focus on his studying instead. 

“That makes sense.” Yuta continues. “Maybe next time?” 

“Yeah. Maybe next time.” Jaehyun answers tensely. He doubts there will ever be a next time where Jaehyun actually wants to attend an event with Yuta.

Yuta stays in the room for another half an hour without saying another word. Jaehyun doesn’t even notice he’s there, too absorbed with memorizing his notes, until right before he leaves. 

“I’m going now.” Yuta says, standing in the doorway and chewing on his lower lip. “Have a nice night.”

Jaehyun fights the urge to roll his eyes. Nice isn’t the word he would use to describe his night, but he responds to Yuta anyways.

“You too.”

He barely gets any sleep Sunday night, and Jaehyun’s sure that he’s less than prepared for his upcoming exam even with studying all weekend. He’s so tired that he sleeps through his first alarm and misses his regular workout session. This time, unlike many others, Johnny actually makes it to the gym, leading him to tease Jaehyun over text before demanding they meet at the diner for breakfast. 

Jaehyun doesn’t have much of an appetite, and with how exhausted he is, he’s more likely to fall head first into his bowl of oatmeal than finish it. 

“You need some coffee.” Johnny says, mouth full of his cheese omelet. 

In spite of Johnny’s joking tone, coffee did sound good right about now. Jaehyun makes a mental note to pick some up before he leaves the diner. He could sip on the drink while going over his notes in the two free hours he has before the exam. 

“Shut up.” 

Johnny cackles and takes a large gulp of his orange juice before taking yet another large bite of his omelet. 

“Isn’t that Ten?” Johnny says as his eyes travel behind Jaehyun. 

“Hey Ten!” Johnny shouts, making Jaehyun’s head throb at the noise. 

Jaehyun turns slightly to see that it is Ten, walking enthusiastically over to their table with none other than Yuta trailing behind him. His head pulses even more at the prospect of having to deal with his roommate so early in the morning. 

“Hey Johnny, Jaehyun. This is my friend Yuta.” Ten says, pulling Yuta next to him by his sleeve. “Johnny’s my roommate and Jaehyun is his hot friend.” 

Jaehyun’s ears heat up at the compliment but he stays quiet. 

“Actually, Jaehyun’s my roommate.” Yuta clears his throat. “But it’s nice to meet you Johnny.” 

Jaehyun can tell Johnny’s eyes are on him but pointedly ignores his friend. He would deal with whatever Johnny wanted to say to him later. 

“Likewise.” Johnny says. 

Ten gasps dramatically. “It’s such a small world.” 

“Do you two want to sit?” 

Jaehyun sends a glare over to Johnny who simply just grins in fake innocence. 

“Yuta and I are actually heading to a dance club meeting, but thanks for the offer. You two want to come along?” 

“Jaehyun can’t. His biology class has been giving him a hard time. He hasn’t hung out with me at all since he’s too busy studying.” Yuta beams at him. “He has his exam today right?” 

“Right.” Jaehyun breathes out. 

He knows he’s been a total jackass to Yuta, that he wasn’t always occupied with studying. But the way he’s looking at Jaehyun, features softened and eyes shining, makes it seem like Yuta didn’t hold anything against him. 

“Well good luck with all that then.” Ten interrupts his thoughts before dragging Yuta away again. 

“So that’s the mysterious Yuta.” Johnny says, smirking at Jaehyun. “He seems cool and he’s very cute.” 

“You, on the other hand, seem very uncool. Rejecting all of his invites to go study? Didn’t your mom teach you better manners than that?” 

He groans. “Shut up Johnny.” Jaehyun repeats for what feels like the one-hundredth time today.

He’s an absolute idiot. In the rush of getting ready in the morning, he had forgotten to put the most important item in his backpack. His notebook with all of his class notes, not to mention a study guide that was meant to cover everything on the exam, was nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, Jaehyun didn’t notice this until he was already set up in the library, ready to get his last minute cramming done. 

So now he’s fast walking back to his dorm with a cup of coffee in tow. His class was actually pretty far away from the building, at least a 10 minute walk, so he had set himself up in a different library than usual. Now he’s not so sure it was the smart choice to make. 

By the time he finally gets to the dorm, he only has about 45 minutes before his exam starts. He’d be lucky if he managed to have 30 minutes of study time by the time he made it to the library again.

Jaehyun unlocks the door and heads straight to his desk, shuffling through the millions of papers on it. 

“Hey!” He hears Yuta say while sitting on his bed, a pencil and a sketchpad in his hands. 

“Yeah. Hi.” Jaehyun replies distractedly. He can’t find his notes anywhere. If they weren’t on his desk, and they weren’t already in his backpack, then where could they possibly be? 

“What are you looking for?” Yuta says right behind him.. 

Jaehyun jumps. When did Yuta come over to him? Usually Jaehyun is hyper aware of Yuta’s movements. Afterall, he wasn’t exactly the most subtle person, but just right now, he hadn’t heard a thing. Yuta has no sense of personal space. He's so close that Jaehyun can feel his breathing on the back of his neck and smell his cologne. It’s distracting. It’s annoying. 

“My notes. I can’t find them anywhere.” 

“Oh.” Yuta pauses for a moment and walks back to his own desk, picking up a stack of papers. He takes the first packet off the stack and holds it up for Jaehyun to see. “Is it this?” 

Jaehyun immediately snatches the papers from Yuta. His notes are completely covered in doodles. Most of what he had written was barely legible. How was he supposed to study with these? 

“What did you do to them?” Jaehyun shouts, louder than he was intending to. 

Yuta flinches. “It was on the floor, nowhere near your desk, so I just assumed it was a piece of trash and drew on them.” 

For all intents and purposes, Jaehyun knew that Yuta didn’t do anything wrong on purpose, but right now he was too tired and annoyed to think logically. 

“Yeah well it wasn’t.” Jaehyun says in his coldest tone. 

When he sees Yuta shrink into himself, he’s sure that the other could tell he was at fault. It’s harsh, Jaehyun knows that as soon as he says the words, but he doesn’t care right now. He doesn’t give Yuta a chance to respond, stuffing his now useless notes into his backpack and slamming the dorm room door shut as soon as he can.

All throughout taking the exam, Jaehyun felt as if he wasn’t even in his body. He could barely register what the questions were asking, and he doesn’t remember any of the answers he put down. By the time Professor Kim shouted at them to put their pencils down, Jaehyun was about two minutes away from puking. 

He didn’t realize how hot he was until he stepped out of the sciences building and into the cool September air. It was breezy today. As soon as a gust of wind hit his burning skin, Jaehyun was suddenly aware of the thin sheen of sweat on his forehead and palms. 

He walks home in silence, not even bothering to take out his phone and listen to music like he would usually do. Jaehyun was utterly defeated after taking that exam. He can already imagine how disappointed his parents would be once they heard the news.

Before he knows it, Jaehyun finds himself in front of his dorm room. Once he opens the door, he immediately hears sniffling coming from Yuta’s bed, where roommate has covered himself with his heavy comforter. 

A rush of guilt travels up Jaehyun’s spine. Did he really hurt his roommate that much? Jaehyun debates leaving the room and heading to Johnny’s, not wanting to make things even worse for Yuta. Unfortunately, before Jaehyun has the chance to slip out of the room, the door slams shut, and Yuta throws the blanket off his head. 

“You’re back.” Yuta says, continuing to sniffle. His hair was a mess and his eyes were almost bloodshot red. How much had he been crying? 

“I am.” Jaehyun says hesitantly before making his way to his own bed. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine.” Yuta replies in a watery tone, like he was about to burst into tears all over again. 

Jaehyun’s ready to simply nod and put the whole thing behind them. To pretend he hadn’t just walked in on a very vulnerable Yuta, which may or may not have been caused by his overblown outburst. But then his roommate speaks up again. 

“It’s stupid.” He sniffles again, and then laughs softly. “I’m just a little homesick.” 

“My nephew just turned one, and my sister sent over a video of his first steps. I think seeing it just made me realize how much I’ll miss in Japan while I'm here. And it’s been so hard to make friends. I guess I just feel lonely.” 

“See. It’s stupid.” Yuta continues to ramble. “I’ve only been gone for a couple of weeks. I shouldn’t be this emotional about it.” 

Jaehyun couldn’t relate to Yuta at all. He’s only ever lived in the same house all of his life. Even now, his parents were just a short drive away. He can’t imagine how hard it could be to pack up your entire life to move half-way across the world. 

“It’s not stupid. It’s human.” Jaehyun cringes at his own words. “You shouldn’t feel bad about missing home.” 

“I guess you’re right.” Yuta says, seeming to be a little bit less teary-eyed than before. “There’s nothing wrong with being emotional.” 

“Right.” Jaehyun says. “And you have friends. What about Ten?” 

“Ten is friends with everyone, I don’t think he counts. All the people we hang out with are his friends, not my friends.” 

Yuta stays silent for what seems like hours while Jaehyun grapples with what to say to him. He had no idea Yuta felt so alone. 

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Yuta blurts out.

“Okay.” Jaehyun says. “We don’t have to talk about it anymore.” 

They sit in an uncomfortable silence in their respective beds until Yuta speaks up once again. 

“I’m sorry, by the way. For drawing on your notes. I really thought they were supposed to be thrown away.” Yuta explains, wringing his hands together and refusing to meet Jaehyun’s eyes. 

“I may have gone a little overboard about that.” Jaehyun admits. 

It’s mortifying to remember as he thinks back on it. For all intents and purposes, an extra hour or two of studying wouldn’t have helped him. Not after he spent the entire weekend memorizing those notes, that in the end, barely aided him with what was actually on the exam.  

“You don’t have to apologize.” 

Yuta looks up, teary eyed and tired, but still so endearing. Jaehyun can do nothing else but send him the slightest smile that is thankfully returned.

The rest of the night didn’t involve any more awkward crying. But it did involve ordering in a pizza and watching One Piece on Yuta’s subpar laptop. The only way they could both watch the show was if they sat together on Yuta’s cramped bed. 

While Jaehyun didn’t have the capacity to understand the show, letting Yuta excitedly tell him about the anime seemed to have a positive effect on his roommate. So Jaehyun let him go on until he was too tired to keep speaking and was unable to stop succumbing to sleep. 

It was the most time they had spent together since they had moved into the dorm. As much as he was hesitant to admit it, the most fun he had with anyone else, besides maybe Johnny. The guilt that coursed through him last night makes a comeback. Yuta had been nothing but kind from the beginning, and Jaehyun had been nothing but rude.

Even if Jaehyun wasn’t the most receptive person to change, Yuta deserved better than to be judged before Jaehyun even really knew him. He owed him an apology for rejecting his invitations to hang out, for yelling at him for a simple mistake, and for just being a less than pleasant person to live with. 

Jaehyun turns on his phone; his next class starts in about an hour, and that’s about enough time to trek down to Jenson Avenue and back. Jenson Avenue was a collection of shops a walking distance from the University all on the same street. Jaehyun had heard there was an Asian dessert shop down there, and he had been wanting to try it out anyways. 

Perhaps it was a longshot, but maybe he could find some Japanese desserts on their menu. He wanted to find something that would remind Yuta of home. Maybe serve as a peace offering for being a nightmare of a roommate so far. 

When he gets to the shop, he’s greeted by a friendly elder Asian woman in accented English. 

“How can I help you?” 

“My roommate. He’s Japanese. We don’t really know each other that well, but everyone loves dessert, right?” Jaehyun pauses for a second, realizing he was slipping into word vomit territory. “I’ll get to the point. He's homesick and I was wondering if you sold any Japanese desserts.” 

The woman beams at him despite his long introduction. “We have a couple of desserts, though I’m not sure how traditional they’ll be.” 

“That’s fine.” Jaehyun starts. “I’m sure it’s better than nothing.” 

“The most popular Japanese dessert we sell is our Japanese style cheesecake, but I’d also recommend our matcha crepe cake.” 

“Perfect, I'll take both.” 

“It’s really nice for you to do this for him.” The woman says while beginning to pack up the desserts. “He’s lucky to have you.”

Jaehyun makes a small noise of affirmation from the back of his throat, even if he didn’t necessarily agree with her statement.

He drops off the desserts on Yuta’s desk with about twenty minutes left to get to his class. He glances at his roommate. Yuta’s still sleeping now, even though it was close to being noon. Jaehyun guesses he doesn’t have classes until later that day. He looks younger when he sleeps, a whistling tone escaping his mouth while his eyes never close fully.

He gets a C on the biology exam. And after spending half of the class chastising the students forced into his introductory course, there was no doubt that Professor Kim was more than disappointed with them all. Despite his rant about how each year college students become less and less competent, Professor Kim decides to curve the exam. 

Jaehyun breathes the biggest breath of relief when he hears the news. His C would now become a very low B. He’s sure that his parents expect him to do better even with the curve, but he could worry about their reaction later. For today, he’s determined to stay positive. 

When he gets home, the room is dark and Yuta is nowhere to be found. Jaehyun ignores the pang of disappointment he wasn’t expecting to experience; he had wanted to see if his roommate felt better today. If his gift serves its purpose by making Yuta’s own day a bit brighter. 

Jaehyun sighs when he sits at his desk, planning to simply rearrange his backpack for tomorrow. He’s already thinking about the poems he’ll have to analyze in his English class and the start of the new unit for his Biology one. 

But then he notices the papers on his desk. Jaehyun’s desk is usually neat, but in the throes of preparing for his exam, he’s really let it go. Papers from all his classes are all over it. He was planning on storing them until he needed to use them to study for midterms and finals. As he’s organizing his notebook, he notices that on the margins of some of them, are doodles drawn by none other than Yuta. 

He drew cartoon-like desserts this time and Jaehyun finds himself smiling. They are cute; Yuta was talented, he couldn’t deny that. And he supposes he could still study using these notes since the drawings are on the margins this time. They aren’t that distracting after all.

In a blink of an eye, half the semester is already over. But it wasn’t all bad. Jaehyun had finally nailed down his schedule. Workouts in the morning, sometimes with Johnny, sometimes without. Breakfast afterwards. Classes for the rest of the day with built in time for lunch and studying. And last but not least, dinner often involved getting take out from one of the diners on campus and watching something with Yuta. 

It takes him a while to convince Yuta there’s a world of visual media they can watch other than anime. But once they get through that hurdle by deciding to switch off every other week, it’s nice to be able to wind down with him at the end of the day. Even if the only space they have is Yuta’s extremely tiny dorm bed. 

“There’s a free early showing of the new Spider-Man movie at the campus theater next week.” Johnny says, mouth half full with his toast. “We should go.”

Jaehyun was really getting sick of having to see Johnny’s food almost every day, but’s sure his friend is doing it on purpose at this point to annoy him. 

One of the best perks of being a student was the free stuff they would get, including early showings of the most popular comic book movies. Getting tickets would still be a bloodbath, afterall, it is a Spider-Man movie, but Jaehyun’s willing to set an alarm. 

“We should invite Yuta. He’s going through a Marvel phase.” Jaehyun adds. 

They had been slowly working their way through the entire cinematic universe together and Yuta was the definition of a rigid fan. He wouldn’t even let Jaehyun skip the more underwhelming movies. Instead saying that they needed to watch every movie to get the full fan experience. 

Johnny sends him a smug grin in Jaehyun's way. Jaehyun already knows his ears will start to burn in embarrassment soon. He never liked it when Johnny gave him that look. It only leads to discomfort for Jaehyun. 

“You sure do talk a lot about him these days.” 

Jaehyun scoffs. “We’ve been watching the Marvel movies together. It would be against bro code to just go without him.” 

“You two follow bro code now?” Johnny smirks. “You never follow bro code with me.” 

Jaehyun rolls his eyes and has a retort ready on the tip of his tongue but before he can say anything, Johnny’s eyes brighten up.

“Hey, Ten! Yuta! Over here!” He shouts. 

“What a nice surprise.” Ten says, holding a bag of sliced apples in his hands. He and Yuta sit across from Johnny and Jaehyun respectively, Yuta giving him a small, yet almost shy, smile to Jaehyun. 

“Maybe you two can get through to Yuta since he doesn’t want to listen to me.” Ten says in his usual dramatic tone.

“Ten.” Yuta groans. “Stop.” 

Ten pointedly ignores Yuta’s protests. “I was just telling Yuta that he needs to put himself out there. He needs to find a nice boy or girl to date.” 

“Ten.” Yuta whines again. “I’m perfectly happy being single.” 

“This is supposed to be the time of our lives and you’re spending it in your room.”

“So?” Yuta starts. “And that’s not even true. I’m spending it with you most of the time.” 

“I agree with Ten.” Johnny interrupts, a sly smirk directed at Jaehyun. “And I think I know the perfect guy for you.” 

For a second, Jaehyun thinks that Johnny is planning on suggesting him. But that would be too easy, and Johnny never did things the easy way when his goal was to embarrass someone. 

“Our RA, Taeyong. You’re both super into anime and art.” 

Ten gasps. “Now that you mention it, they would be great together. They would totally look like they walked off the pages of a manga if they stood next to each other.” 

“I am not going to date Taeyong.” Yuta squeaks. “And I’m done having this conversation.” 

Johnny and Ten leave Yuta alone after that and move onto other topics. But Jaehyun stays mute. Yuta and Taeyong? Where would Johnny get that idea from? He's never even seen those two talk to each other at all. It just didn’t sound right.

The next time Jaehyun sees Ten is at a Halloween party. He’s already slightly buzzed, but he’s not planning on drinking more than that. Someone had the bright idea to host the party on a Thursday, and while Jaehyun did enjoy getting drunk every once in a while, he did not want to have a hangover throughout his lectures the next day.

About fifteen minutes into the party, Johnny had already ditched him to talk to some potential hook-ups, and by the time he finds them, it looks like Ten is ready to do the same to Yuta. 

“Oh thank god.” Ten says as Jaehyun walks over to them with a drink in each hand. Ten promptly takes one from Jaehyun and downs it in a second. “You can keep Yuta company while I go mingle.” 

Before Ten leaves, he raises his eyebrow at Jaehyun. “A vampire? Seriously? Jaehyun, I thought you had more creativity than that.” 

Yuta lets out a giggle, and as soon as Jaehyun takes his eyes off of Ten completely forgetting his comeback once he hears Yuta, the other disappears. 

Yuta’s dressed up as some anime character from a show that Jaehyun has never heard of, but is sure that he’ll eventually end up watching once Yuta finds that out. He could hear the other calling him uncultured already. 

“I’m a little tipsy.” Yuta says. “Sorry you got stuck with me.” 

“I don’t mind.” 

Jaehyun means it. If he had to be stuck with anyone he’s glad it’s Yuta, even if he seems much more out of it than usual. He wonders how much he had to drink before Jaehyun arrived. He doesn’t seem too drunk, but definitely more inebriated than Jaehyun. 

Yuta sighs and grabs the drink out of Jaehyun’s hand. He drinks it faster than Ten did. Then, he grabs Jaehyun's hand. 

“Come on, let’s dance.” 

Jaehyun wants to refuse. He was never the type to dance at any party, but he’s discovering quite quickly that it’s hard for him to say no to Yuta. Not when he looks at Jaehyun with eyes the size of the moon with a downright adorable pout to his lips. 

“Okay.” He says. “But you can’t complain when I’m bad at it.” 

Yuta laughs, but drags him to the makeshift dance floor in the living room. There’s only a couple people dancing, if you could call it that. Despite that, Yuta gives it his all. He’s uncoordinated. Jaehyun definitely blames that on the alcohol considering he’s seen Yuta dance much better before when he’s simply just goofing around with Ten, but his clumsiness is masked by his sheer enthusiasm. You can tell with one look at him that he’s having the time of his life. 

Jaehyun starts off just awkwardly shuffling from side to side. He looks stupid, especially next to Yuta, but he’s unsure what else he should do. Yuta quickly gets fed up with his lack of energy and forces him to basically jump around. Now they both look ridiculous, but Jaehyun has fun. 

They dance like that until Yuta gets too tired and hangs his arms around Jaehyun’s neck. He nuzzles into Jaehyun and sighs. And almost as if he’s done it a million times before, Jaehyun’s hands quickly find purchase on Yuta’s hips. Somewhere in Jaehyun’s hazy brain he knows this is a tad too intimate for their relationship as roommates, but he finds himself not caring at the moment. 

“You know.” Yuta whispers softly into Jaehyun’s ear. “Ten told me that his roommate had a friend who wanted to move out next semester.” 

Jaehyun stills. Of course Johnny would tell Ten they wouldn’t be roommates next semester if Jaehyun had his way. Of course Ten would tell his best friend. 

“Keep dancing.” Yuta whines, and Jaehyun has no choice but to oblige. 

“I get it. I’m sure being roommates with your childhood best friend is way more fun than being roommates with me.” 

“And I know you didn’t like me at first.” Yuta says. 

Jaehyun can’t necessarily deny that, but he thought he did a better job at hiding it. He never expected Yuta to actually know. Maybe Yuta was more observant than Jaehyun gave him credit for. He’d make it up to Yuta in the near future, in one way or another. 

“But I’m glad we’re friends now.”

Jaehyun wakes up when the sun shines on his face through his curtains. He’s disoriented, and he can tell he’ll have a slight hangover even if he didn’t drink that much. His body has never done well with alcohol. But all in all, he’s relatively okay, better than most would be. 

It’s Friday. Jaehyun had deliberately made sure he had no morning classes on Fridays. He glances at the bed next to him. Yuta wasn’t so lucky in that regard. But he doubts Yuta is worse for wear. 

His roommate was a partier, you kind of had to be when someone like Ten Lee was your best friend. So Yuta ended up going out more than Jaehyun ever did, and he had never seen the other experience anything close to a hangover, leaving him free to go to class without any trouble. 

He remembers last night well despite the alcohol that was flowing through his system. He remembers how close Yuta was, the knock of his limbs against Jaehyun’s on the dance floor, his slurred words whispered in Jaehyun’s ears. 

It was a good night, and he finds himself wishing for more nights with Yuta in a setting excluding the seclusion of their room. Jaehyun shakes his head, and wills himself to get up, only to immediately see a muffin and a small coffee on the desk across from his bed. 

He can feel his cheeks filling out as a grin graces his face while he walks over to his desk. A small sticky note is left next to the food, with a cartoon drawing of muffin, a single speech bubble coming out of the drawing's mouth. 

Have a nice day!

Taeyong somehow manages to rope Jaehyun and Johnny into helping with the yearly Thanksgiving food drive. Well, he manages to rope Johnny into it, and then Johnny forces Jaehyun to give up his Saturday to sort through piles of canned food. 

Taeyong was very adamant that they make sure all the cans donated were ones that were eligible to be given to the homeless shelter. So he, Johnny, Jaehyun, and the second floor RA, Doyoung, were stuck verifying all of them. He never knew college students could be so generous, though he supposes the promised free food for the floor that managed to collect the most cans was a good motivator.  

Frankly, neither Johnny or Jaehyun necessarily needed to be there. But Taeyong wanted them to count the cans for integrity reasons, especially since Doyoung wanted to see their count with his own eyes to make sure Taeyong’s floor won fair and square over his. 

“Doesn’t it worry you that the diners close down over Thanksgiving break?” Jaehyun says absentmindedly to the table as they all work. 

“Worried about Yuta?” Johnny teases. “I'm sure your boyfriend can last a weekend without you here to hold his hand.” 

Jaehyun glares at him. He did not need to hear Johnny’s jokes. Johnny especially did not need to make fun of him in front of Doyoung and Taeyong of all people. 

Besides, Jaehyun had reason to worry. Yuta already barely remembered to eat unless he was with him or Ten. Without easy access to the campus diners, Jaehyun can already imagine him forgetting to eat in favor of drawing all day or binge watching a new Netflix show. 

“You and Yuta are dating?” Taeyong gushes. “That’s so romantic. See, I told you a random roommate assignment could lead to good things.” 

“We aren’t. Johnny’s just being a jerk.” 

“They aren’t dating but our Jaehyun here seems to be pretty interested.” Johnny adds.

“We’re just friends. Can you please drop it?” 

Jaehyun didn’t know why Johnny couldn’t just shut up for once. He and Yuta were in a much better place than they were in the beginning of the semester, but romance was nowhere involved in their current relationship. 

“Sure.” Johnny says disbelievingly.  “So if I set him up with Taeyong you wouldn’t mind at all?” 

“Why would Yuta date Taeyong?” Doyoung, who had since been silent the entire conversation, snaps. 

Johnny doesn’t acknowledge Doyoung at all and instead looks at Taeyong. “Yuta’s very cute and very funny. You both are interested in anime and art. Not to mention, you would look like a walking manga couple together.” 

“So what do you say Taeyong? Would you be willing to take our lovely Yuta out on a date?” Johnny insists.

He now goes back to looking right at Jaehyun who opts to ignore him and the sinking pain in his chest in favor of staring at the still unsorted cans in front of him. 

“That would be abusing my position of power.” Taeyong mumbles, but Jaehyun can see the blush on his cheeks from the corners of his line of vision.  

“I agree.” Doyoung deadpans. “Now, can we please get back to work?”

He doesn’t get the chance to say goodbye to Yuta before his parents pick him up for Thanksgiving break. And over the holidays, he’s too busy avoiding questions from his parents about his time in college and entertaining his extended family that he barely has time to text Yuta like he had planned to do. 

He’s a terrible friend. He knows how much Yuta misses home, and Jaehyun was just leaving him all alone in a cold dorm while he went to his childhood home a mere twenty minutes away. Yuta doesn’t seem to mind even if Jaehyun takes forever to respond to texts in the middle of cooking, cleaning, and being stuck answering his relatives' somewhat intrusive questions. 

He shoots him a simple ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ text before the end of day. To Jaehyun’s surprise, he gets more than just a text back. Yuta sends back a selfie of himself, mouth wide open and eyes widened larger than normal for comedic effect. He’s holding a drawing of a cartoon turkey. He looks ridiculous, but Jaehyun has the urge to save the photo anyways. 

When he gets back on campus, it’s almost as if he and Yuta aren’t even living in the same room anymore. Their class schedules already barely lined up, with Yuta’s art classes often occurring in the afternoon and Jaehyun making the choice to take mostly morning classes. It wasn’t an issue before, now with finals right around the corner, both of them are too busy to continue their nightly Netflix routine.

Jaehyun would be lying if he hadn’t been affected by the sudden lack of Yuta in his life. He didn’t know how much just a simple conversation with the Japanese student could lift up his mood. 

But despite the end of their One Piece marathons held at night in favor of studying for their respective exams, Yuta’s presence is still felt through the dorms. Jaehyun wakes up to a new doodle on his every morning, often telling him to remember to drink water and eat. He almost rolls his eyes, fondly of course. Jaehyun rarely forgets to do those things, the same cannot be said for Yuta.

The next time he sees Yuta outside of their room and for more than a few seconds is the middle of exam week. Right after he finishes his English exam, he sees Yuta in the corner of his eyes in the courtyard. He’s bundled up in his winter jacket, but Jaehyun knows it’s him immediately and finds himself grinning, already beginning to walk over and have a conversation. 

But then he sees someone else walk up to his roommate with two coffees in hand. The man looks stoic, but the smile that Yuta gives him is one that he’s never seen on the other’s face. Filled with adoration that Jaehyun has never been on the receiving end of. It bothers him more than it should knowing that he never would be. 

Yuta snuggles up to the man and plops a kiss on his cheek. Even from a distance he can tell the man is embarrassed, but blushing nonetheless. Jaehyun watches them talk and have coffee, Yuta being especially touchy, for a few more minutes before he can’t bear it anymore and makes his way home.

It’s a normal day in December. It’s actually cold now, and Jaehyun is prepared for the possible snow later today. He’s even hoping for it in case some professors decide it’s enough to cancel classes.

He’s sitting across from Johnny at the school diner. They had both just finished their workout for the day and needed to replenish. Johnny is scarfing down his pancakes like no tomorrow, as always. While Jaehyun picks at his oatmeal, as always. 

It’s a normal day, except it’s not. Because Jaehyun can’t hear what Johnny is saying. Or taste his already bland oatmeal. Or process anything other than the fact that he likes Yuta, more than just a friend and definitely more than he expected to when he first met his roommate. 

He likes his smile and laugh. Jaehyun especially enjoys being the reason for those smiles and laughs whenever he tells a lame joke that only Yuta would understand. He likes spending time with him in their cramped room, and more often than not, on one of their cramped beds watching an anime Yuta couldn’t stop talking about. He likes taking care of Yuta; he could imagine bringing him meals forever. He likes Yuta showering him with the same amount of attention: the doodles, the clinginess in bed, the cups of coffee Jaehyun found on his desk.

But none of that mattered now. Yuta was clear about what they were, and that was just friends. Any unconscious hope Jaehyun had about that changing was quickly squashed before Jaehyun had even known it existed once he saw Yuta being more than just clingy with the mysterious man. Yuta never looked at him like that. He never hugged him like that. Jaehyun hasn’t stopped thinking about it since. 

“Okay what’s up with you today?” Johnny asks, mouth half full. 

“Huh?” 

“You’ve barely said a word to me today and you only get like that when something’s bothering you.” Johnny swallows what’s left of his food and takes a swig of his orange juice. “So just tell me what’s going on.” 

Jaehyun looks down and goes back to picking at his oatmeal with his fork. It’s not like Johnny didn’t already basically know. He had been teasing Jaehyun about Yuta for weeks. But Johnny would be annoying about it if Jaehyun didn’t tell him, and maybe talking to his friend would help, just a little bit. 

“If I tell you.” Jaehyun starts. “You can’t make fun of me.” 

Johnny waves him off. “Stop being dramatic and just tell me what’s going on.” 

Jaehyun takes a deep breath. “You were right.” 

“Of course I was.” Johnny pauses. “Right about what?” 

“I like Yuta.” Jaehyun mumbles, still intensely focused on his oatmeal. “As more than just a friend.” 

Jaehyun doesn’t need to look up to see that Johnny is trying his very best not to snicker or say I told you. 

“Well it’s good you’ve finally accepted it.” 

“It doesn’t matter anyways. He already has a boyfriend.”

“Wait huh.” Johnny basically shouts. “When did this happen? The last time he said he was happy being single.”

“Yeah well not anymore. I saw him in the courtyard with some guy.” 

“Okay so he was with some guy, how do you know they’re dating.” 

“Yuta kissed him. Trust me, they were looking way more than platonic.” 

“I’m sorry Jae.” Johnny says sincerely. “There’s less than a week left of the semester though. You can switch rooms like you wanted to and give yourself some space from Yuta. It might help.” 

Johnny’s hypothetical plan is logical. If he wanted to maintain some sort of friendship with Yuta he needed some time to get away to get over him. The space wouldn’t last forever, but he couldn’t deal with living in the same room, especially if Yuta eventually brought his boyfriend home. But somehow, even knowing all that, it doesn’t make Jaehyun feel any better about the situation. 

Jaehyun only has one exam left and then two free days to pack before heading home for more than a month. Spring semester starts at the very end of January. It’s a long break, much longer than the ten day winter breaks he had throughout his years in the public school system, but he wasn’t quite ready to leave yet.

Expectedly, there’s still the issue of where he’s living next semester. He wasn’t sure if he still wanted to change rooms like he had been planning to at the beginning. He would miss Yuta. Regardless of his annoying crush, he still considered Yuta a friend, a good one at that. Probably even the first real friend he made in college if he was being honest with himself. 

But then he thinks about eventually having to meet Yuta’s boyfriend. Or having to watch them together on Yuta’s bed if he accidentally walked in on them together. Jaehyun would like nothing less. Johnny was right. Winter break would give him time. Moving out would give him space. And hopefully, once Jaehyun gets over his crush, his newfound friendship with Yuta could still be salvaged in the end.  

Yuta walks in later that night carrying a strange, or as his art major roommate would call it, abstract, sculpture. 

Yuta gives him a small smile as he walks in before dropping off his sculpture on his desk and flopping onto his bed. 

He sighs heavily. “I spent forever on that project and my professor graded it in about two minutes. The schooling system is a scam. I’m so ready to get out of here.” 

“You’re going back to Japan for the holidays right?” 

“Yeah. I’m really looking forward to it.” Yuta pauses, sending a look to Jaehyun that he can’t even begin to describe. It’s curious, but there’s something more behind Yuta’s eyes that he can’t put a finger on right now. “But there are things I’ll miss about the states too while on break.”

Jaehyun blushes under Yuta’s intense stare and silently begs for his heart to calm down. Yuta didn’t mean he would miss Jaehyun. His life didn’t revolve around Jaehyun. He probably meant that he would miss his mystery boyfriend. 

“Anyways, I wanted to ask you something.” Yuta starts. “You have a couple free days after your last final right?” 

Jaehyun nods, not trusting himself with words at the moment.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go ice skating with me, you know since you’re so good at it.” Yuta smirks.

Jaehyun's ears heat up. He might have drunkenly told Yuta he was the best ice skater around when they decided to watch Yuri on Ice together. He’s surprised Yuta even remembered that, but he’s always been better with alcohol than Jaehyun. 

“I’d love to.” Jaehyun replies in a higher pitch than normal. “Do you want to invite that guy you’re always with? Or maybe Ten or Johnny?”  

Yuta furrows his eyebrows. “Sicheng? Oh, he finished up a while ago and already went back to China. Besides, I want this to be just me and you.” 

Jaehyun doesn’t know how to react to that. It almost sounded like Yuta wanted to go on a date. But that wouldn’t make sense. Jaehyun was simply getting his hopes up for no reason. Yuta just wanted this to be a roommate hangout, not a date. Never that when he has someone else.

He meets Yuta at the rink. He hadn’t been ice skating since sometime in middle school since Johnny decided they were too old for it. Jaehyun went along with his friend. But his memories of  when he did go remain pleasant. He remembers it always being fun, especially when it was the holidays. 

The local ice rink would have a light show to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. It would be nice to take Yuta there if they had the time, but between finals, projects, and getting ready to leave Silverleaf for a month, he’s surprised they even had the chance to do this at all. So the local, much less impressive rink near campus would have to do for now. 

“I’ve never been ice skating before.” Yuta says right before they go into the rink. 

“It’s like riding a bike.” Jaehyun replies. 

“That analogy would work if I knew how to ride a bike.” 

Jaehyun laughs softly and holds his hand out. “We can start off together.” 

Yuta laces his gloved fingers with his. “Fine, but if I get injured you’re buying dinner.” 

Once Jaehyun finally convinces Yuta to let go of the vice grip he has on Jaehyun’s hand, the other actually isn’t so bad at ice skating. Yuta almost slips a couple of times, but he never falls. And he’s a fast learner. Before long, he’s almost as good as Jaehyun on a pair of skates. 

They mess around on the ice for a while. Jaehyun has to repeatedly talk Yuta out of trying to attempt the tricks he had seen when watching Yuri on Ice. But it’s fun and easy to be around Yuta, like always. Eventually, when they both are tired enough, they stand off to the side of the rink. 

“This was fun.” Yuta takes Jaehyun’s hand in his, moving closer than Jaehyun expected him to. He can smell his cologne again and it takes him back to the first time all those months ago Yuta got too close. “I’m glad I got to do it with you.” 

Suddenly, like a truck, it hits Jaehyun that Yuta might be flirting with him. Maybe even has been flirting with him for months. It doesn’t make sense. Not when Yuta has Sicheng. But the way he’s looking at him with wide eyes, his coy smirk, and all the touching makes Jaehyun believe Yuta might actually like him more than just a friend. 

It’s something he’s wished for in the past two weeks since he came to terms with his own feelings, but he can’t let it go on. Not when Yuta has a perfectly nice, albeit stoic, boyfriend. Jaehyun just wasn’t that guy. He was sure up until now that Yuta wasn’t either. 

“Yuta.” He moves his hand away. “We can’t.”

Yuta furrows his brows. “What can’t we do?” 

“I can’t help you cheat. You have Sicheng. You two are so good together. No matter how much I like hanging out with you. I can’t be that person.” 

“Wait. What are you talking about?” Yuta asks in confusion. “Me and Sicheng?” 

“You two are always together. You’re all over him all the time. It’s clear you have something going on. You don’t have to lie to me about it.” Jaehyun rambles. 

“I don’t know whether I should be more offended that you think I’m a cheater, or that you think I’m dating Sicheng. He’s the most heterosexual person alive Jaehyun.” Yuta says in disbelief. 

“But you just seemed so close. Definitely not in a just friends way.” Jaehyun adds weakly. “What was I supposed to think?”

“You were supposed to think that I’m simply an affectionate person.” Yuta says flippantly. “And that me hugging Sicheng every once in a while doesn’t compare to the fact that we basically cuddle every night in my bed. Seriously Jaehyun, I laugh at all of your jokes. That’s basically flirting 101.” 

Jaehyun has no argument for what Yuta’s saying. He’s been dense and assumed the worst was happening. It’s embarrassing. He’s so embarrassing. 

“So forget Sicheng, and the non-existent relationship between us you made up in your head, and just tell me you like me too.” Yuta says. His cheeks are bright red. Jaehyun has a sneaking suspicion it’s not all because of the cold. 

“Unless I read it wrong.” He adds nervously, chewing on his bottom lip. 

“Yuta.” 

His roommate's lip twitches up in what seems to be like the beginnings of a smile. “Yes?” 

“Can I kiss you?” 

“I don’t usually kiss on the first date.” Yuta puts his hand to his chin and pretends to think. Then he grins widely at Jaehyun as he skates away from him and to the middle of the rink. 

“But maybe if you catch me!” Yuta shouts. 

Jaehyun laughs silently, bewildered more than anything, but he chases Yuta anyways. He had a feeling he would be chasing after him for a long time from now on.

It’s extremely hard to focus on getting ready for winter break when his newly acquired boyfriend constantly drags him back to bed to either watch another episode of One Piece, which more often than not leads to kissing, or simply just cuddle.

“We have to pack.” Jaehyun says as Yuta pointedly ignores him in favor of snuggling his face into the juncture of Jaehyun’s neck. His lips leave feather light pecks that almost make Jaehyun’s brain short circuit.

“We’re going to be away from each other for a month. Even more than a month. Five weeks total.”  Yuta pouts at him. “The least you could do is let me savor these last few moments we have together.”

Jaehyun chuckles this time. He moves back on top of Yuta to kiss him some more. First on the lips, then one of each of his checks, and lastly, the tip of his nose. 

Yuta scrunches his face once Jaehyun’s done. It’s adorable.

“I’m going to miss you.” He says solemnly after.

And Jaehyun understands. They, mostly Jaehyun himself, have wasted so much time. It’s almost tragic that they got together at the end of the semester only to be separated again until the end of January. 

“I’ll video chat with you every day.” Jaehyun offers to soften the blow. 

“You better.” Yuta says before flashing a smirk at him and pulling him back down to kiss him again. 

It’s more heated this time, leaving Jaehyun more than just breathless. Yuta stops before it gets too intense. Not only should they go on an actual first date before doing much else, but it’s also basically impossible to be comfortably making out on a small dorm bed.

“You know.” Jaehyun starts. “We should probably apply to move into an apartment next semester.”

Apartments on campus were more expensive, but also much nicer and bigger. Plus avoiding having to share a bathroom with the entire third floor was especially enticing. 

Naturally he and Yuta could have their own rooms, but Jaehyun expects they wouldn’t be using both of them. 

“That does sound nice. But you’re awfully confident that I’ll want to stay your roommate.” Yuta smirks down at him, hand carding through his hair. 

Jaehyun chuckles nervously. It’s almost as if the Jaehyun who was so incessant on switching rooms was a million years away. 

Yuta drops the facade and cackles. “You should see your face. You look like you’d seen a ghost.” 

“Please shut up.” He whispers right before bending back down, pressing their lips together once again.