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The dorm is usually silent when one o’clock in the morning strikes. However, it was a bit different since Seokmin just realized he needed to print something out that he needed to bring to tomorrow’s, or rather today’s, lecture.
Normally, he would just take on his laptop in class and open the document his professor sent him, but tonight was different. Reading his email, which he does less often than he’s supposed to, Seokmin read that his professor required them to print off a packet since the professor’s printer broke. They weren’t allowed to bring their laptops this week due to the wi-fi in the lecture hall being out.
The packet was only three pages, but it was three pages between Seokmin and the Dean’s list. Every semester, he’s always been so close, but was never quite there. His courses were easy and to his liking this time around, so he was sure he was going to make it. A small packet wasn’t going to stop him.
–
A small printing jam might.
Seokmin ran down to the computer lab on the first floor of his dorm in his hoodie, sweatpants, and glasses that something that he never wears out.
He logged in with his student information to the computer closest to the printer so he could grab the pages and book it out of there once he was done.
Once he reached his email and saved the document to the computer, he opened it and went through with the printing.
“Easy,” he told himself.
He was surprised to see a message pop-up when he clicked on the ‘print’ button.
“You have $0.50 on your account. You are paying $0.15. Do you wish to proceed?” he read. “Hell yeah I do,” he snickered as he clicked ‘OK.’ He didn’t even realize his tuition paid for printing. What luck.
He stood up from his seat and towards the printer as he heard the machine at work. He rubbed his hands together, getting ready to grab the first piece of the packet when the printer stopped printing half-way.
Seokmin blinked. He scurried back to his computer to see that ‘printing was still in progress,’ as said by the progress bar on screen. Grimacing, he walked back to the printer.
Nothing.
“What the hell?” he muttered to himself. He hit the printer on it’s side, but that didn’t seem to work. He looked over on the screen that he saw on the printer to see that there was an error. “Are you kidding me!” Seokmin yelled as he kicked the wheels of the printer.
Just then he heard grunting in the room. He peaked his head back to the computers to see someone lean their head up from the desk. Seokmin, too worried about the packet, didn’t even realize there was somebody else in the room.
Said person turned their head to Seokmin’s direction. “Oh,” Seokmin anxiously began, “I didn’t mean to, uh, wake you.”
The other student scratched his eyes as he waved it off. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I should stop dosing off in here.”
“Notes?” Seokmin asked, still lightly hitting the printer once again.
“Yeah,” the student nodded while lifting his notebook up. “But I was doodling and watching a few YouTube videos before passing out,” he admitted. “What time is it?”
“Uh…” Seokmin quickly pulled his phone out of his sweatpant’s pocket. “Almost one-thirty.”
“Damn,” the student hissed. “I have seven hours to finish this…” He threw the pencil behind his ear to the notebook. “Soonyoung, by the way.”
“Ah, Seokmin,” he nodded.
“What brings you here at this ungodly hour?” Soonyoung asked as he stretched his arms in his seat.
“Oh, I needed to print something for class…”
“Print?” Soonyoung chuckled. “Professors still do that?”
“Apparently.” The two laughed. “I think the printer’s jammed though.”
“Really?” Soonyoung asked as he stood up from his seat. “Let me see.” He walked towards Seokmin and began scanning the printer and, wow, he smelt really good as Seokmin had observed.
“I– I tried hitting it already,” Seokmin added.
“Ah, maybe it’s not printing because it thinks you’re mean,” Soonyoung snickered as he saw the error message on the printer.
“Oh, I’m sorry printer!” Seokmin jokingly cried out as he rubbed the sides of the printer. Soonyoung began laughing as Seokmin joined in.
Miraculously, the printer started making noises again. “Oh! That have worked!” But then, the noises died down as the error message popped up again. “Nevermind.”
“Maybe it wants a kiss instead,” Seokmin snickered.
“At this rate, you might need to treat it out to lunch,” Soonyoung commented as he checked the error message again. “Looks like this thing is really jammed.”
“Really?” Seokmin asked as he felt his anxiety blow through the roof. He definitely wasn’t going to get participation points tomorrow, he definitely wasn’t going to get a high grade in the class, and he definitely wasn’t going to make the dean’s list this semester.
“I’ll tell the RA about it later– Hang on,” Soonyoung snapped his fingers as he rushed over to the computer Seokmin was using. Seokmin followed behind as he watched Soonyoung log into his email. “Oh, I’m sorry. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh, please, go ahead.”
“Is it okay if I email the document to my friend?” Soonyoung asked. “He lives off campus and can print it at his house, but can probably give the sheets to you before your class tomorrow.”
Seokmin smiled a huge smile. What a saviour. “That’d be great!”
“Awesome!” Soonyoung began composing a new email. “Uh– what building and what time?”
“Uh, the science department building near the library and before two-thirty, please.”
“In the afternoon, right? Not in an hour?” Soonyoung joked.
“Yeah, afternoon,” Seokmin snickered.
Once he was finished typing it, Soonyoung sent the email. “Done!” He smiled.
“Dude, thank you so much,” Seokmin replied. “If there’s anyway I can repay you–”
“Oh, you don’t have to, it was– actually,” Soonyoung averted his eyes, “do you know if the convenience store down the street is still open?”
“I think it’s a twenty-four hour store,” Seokmin replied.
“Care to join me? I’d go by myself, but, I don’t like going alone,” Soonyoung blushed.
“S-sure!” Seokmin grinned.
“Great!”
“Are you staying in the lab ‘til your class too?” Seokmin asked as they walked out of the room.
“Yeah, I have an eight-thirty, so I’m probably just going to camp out in the lab as well.”
“I can keep you company as well!” Seokmin suggested. The two shared a smile as they walked out of the dorm together as the clock read almost two in the morning.
What luck, Seokmin thought. He definitely owned the jammed printer a kiss for the turn of events that occurred.