Chapter Text
Heeseung tiredly put his backpack in the space underneath his desk, having just returned from a biotechnology class. He stretched his arms, laying his head on the desk as he contemplated whether or not he should just skip his AP Literature class and do the work later.
As he was weighing the pros and cons of skipping as the cool wood of his desk started to dig into his forehead, he was suddenly startled into sitting up straight when he heard a loud bang next to him.
He turned to his right where the sound was emitted from, watching an ash-blonde man sit down next to him with complete exhaustion in his eyes. Heeseung could tell that the hair was dyed because of the slight peek of dark brown roots from his scalp.
He watched with curiosity as the man set down his cup of iced americano with a slight slam, slumping into the seat next to him.
Heeseung nearly let out an amused chuckle, stopping dead in his tracks as he watched the man reach into his backpack and pull out a Monster energy can.
Heeseung watched in abject horror and awe as the man popped open the can and poured nearly the entire thing into the iced americano, pausing a little bit before deciding to pour more. The man then chugged the whole cup made up of an honestly scary concoction in one swig before Heeseung could blink.
He then slammed the now empty cup down on his table; the only thing left in there was the droplets of his leftover brew, staring solemnly into the cup as if it was sobering him up to his reality.
"I'm going to die this semester."
"Are you okay?"
The question forced itself out of Heeseung's mouth, his face flushing to the point where it felt like he turned into a furnace when the man turned to him, Heeseung only now noticing how handsome he actually was, despite his dark, growing eye bags.
"Physically, maybe not. Mentally? I'm already six feet underground," the man said with a laugh, the sound making Heeseung's already red ears tingle a little bit.
"That bad, huh?" Heeseung replied with a laugh as well, internally cringing at his horrible attempt at trying to make small talk with the handsome dude. He knew his social skills were god-awful, but he didn't realize that it was to the point of being cringe-worthy.
The man made a noise between a snort and a giggle, the sound becoming way too endearing way too quickly.
"I was up 'till 5 am trying to finish essays; it is that bad," he said, laying his head down on his desk, his head still turned to Heeseung with a soft smile.
"Essays? Plural?" Heeseung asked again, only able to speak one-word questions and answers. The man nodded as best as he could with his arms pillowing his head.
"Yup, the deadlines for all of them were today, so I decided to finish them all in one go. Each one five pages each," The man said with a tired groan, rubbing his eyes in the sleeves of his arm.
"Oh, by the way, my name is Jake. Or Sim Jaeyun," Jake mumbled tiredly, a fond smile fighting its way to Heeseung's lips.
"Lee Heeseung."
—
Heeseung sighed as he melted into his chair, Jake doing the same right next to him, solemnly staring at his empty cup again as if to summon that same concoction from before the glass back into his cup so he could take another swig.
"Heeseung hyung- Ah! Hi, Jake hyung!" Sunoo said as he rushed up to the two nearly dead and exhausted men, his smile as bright as the sun.
"Sunoo-yah, please turn off your smile, it's too bright right now, and I want to sleep," Jake muttered as he covered his eyes with his hands.
"Jake-hyung, don't be mean," Sunoo pouted, Heeseung's eyes crinkling softly as he smiled at Sunoo sulking.
"Heeseung-ssi, I didn't even ask. Are you my hyung as well?" Jake asked as he peeked at the ravenette behind his hands, Heeseung nodding.
"Should I call you sunbae-"
"Don't do that. He hates being called a sunbaenim," Sunoo said in a teasing tone, Heeseung rolling his eyes as Sunoo got rid of his sulking at the chance to make fun of the older man.
"Oh, really? Why is that?" Jake asked as he stood up, the man slightly swaying before balancing himself properly.
"It makes the age gap feel too big. I'm still young like the rest of you punks," Heeseung said directly at Sunoo as he took Jake's cue to stand up as well, packing his materials. He thanked the lord that he had no other classes that day.
Jake snorted at the contempt in the way Heeseung said "punks" as he started putting his stuff away, too, Sunoo waiting patiently for his two hyungs, his patience quickly running out in less than a second.
"Hurry up! Sunghoon-hyung is waiting for me!” Sunoo slightly yelled as he started sulking again, Jake sighing and turning to Sunoo, one hand landing on his jutted-out hip.
"Why don't you go ahead without us?" Jake said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and watched Heeseung tiredly and mechanically put his stuff into his bag.
Sunoo just huffed, blowing his black hair out of his face before turning around to find Sunghoon.
"Ever since those two have started dating, they've been attached at the hip, annoyingly so," Heeseung muttered slightly under his breath. Jake nodded in agreement, exiting the lesson hall with Heeseung by his side.
"Do you have any classes left, hyung?" Jake asked, the two reaching a crossroads within the university. One path went towards other lesson halls, and the other path was towards the library.
"Nah, I only had the AP Lit. class and a biotech class earlier. I'm probably gonna study there until Jay picks me up since I'm his roommate," Heeseung said as he stretched his arms above his head.
"Darn. Also, you know Jay hyung? Does that mean you know Jungwon too?" Jake asked, Heeseung tiredly nodding in response.
"Yeah, it's weird that it's the first time we're meeting when we have so many mutual friends," Heeseung said with a soft laugh, Jake softly laughing as well.
"Well, I'll see you around then. Hopefully sooner than later?" Jake said, the last part of his sentence posed as a question.
Heeseung stared blankly at Jake, who was internally praying that somehow this hot, tall, ravenette would read his mind and offer his number.
"Oh! Yeah, do you want to exchange numbers? Since we share the same class and friends, we might as well try to get closer, right?" Heeseung said suddenly, snapping out of his daze as he quickly tried to fish his phone out of his pocket.
Jake sighed internally in relief, feeling light and giddy as they exchanged phones and typed each other's numbers in, quickly giving the other's phone back.
"You should probably head off now. I don't want you to be late for your class," Heeseung said with a smile, waving slightly before turning towards the path to the library, Jake watching with light pink cheeks.
Suddenly, the Monster energy-americano drink seemed less energizing than Heeseung's soft smile.