Chapter Text
Jisung’s leg bounced rapidly as his eyes kept glancing at the clock, counting the seconds until his class was over, until he could finally eat. Unfortunately, for Jisung he woke up an hour after his alarm clock went off, and he had to scramble to get out of the house unless he’d want to miss the bus. Again.
Seungmin would say it’s his fault since he stayed up until 4 am working on a song for his music production assignment, but it’s really not! He swears! It's just that a lot of stuff has been piling up, blocks, especially when there are only two people working on a bunch of songs, and both of them are looking for new housing. So… shut up Seungmin in his head!
“Mr. Han?” The sound of his name snapped him out of the defense case in his mind. He stared blankly at the owner of the voice, his teacher, Mr. Park.
“No? Next time please pay attention,” an embarrassed flush spread across Jisung’s face. He glanced around the classroom and saw someone staring at him with an expression that looked smug, like there was this small smirk on the owner’s rosy lips. Lee Minho’s lips.
Now, hate was a strong word, but Jisung would use it to describe his and Minho's dynamic. The few times he had a full-on interaction with him was when Seungmin’s boyfriend’s friend group merged with Jisung’s for a morning and no matter what Jisung did to be welcoming or at the very least civil, the older would always act cold towards him, it was frustrating. Minho only stared at him the whole time like he wanted Jisung to leave, and he didn’t laugh or crack a smile at any of Jisung’s jokes which was a crime because Jisung was hilarious, Minho only gave a look at his friends. Even when Jisung was minding his own business he could feel Minho’s judgement. The Glares from across the commons, the stares that bore into the back of Han’s head that made his skin crawl, and the fact that Minho tended to either wear a light frown or a smirk when looking at Jisung. Minho’s asshole behavior toward him wasn’t the only thing either, his snarky and judgmental personality was shit, the way he treated his friends like shit was shit, and the fact that he’s popular despite all that was shit, he’s the human personification of shit! Yeah, the hatred was most definitely mutual.
It was only when Minho tilted his head and arched one of his eyebrows did Jisung realized he was staring. He quickly fixed his expression into one of a glare and whipped his head right back around to the front of the classroom. As he was trying to focus on whatever Mr. Park was rambling about, the bell finally rang.
Thank god.
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“That’s an awful lot of food there, Sung.” Changbin, Jisung’s best friend, said while sitting across from Jisung with his tray of food, “You should share with me. You wouldn’t want Binnie to starve, right?”
Jisung laughed at his hyung’s dramatic pout and fluttering eyes, “Eat your own food! We need to make use of the meal plans, dining dollars won’t use themselves.” Jisung leaned over to poke the black-haired boy’s forehead playfully. Changbin rubbed his forehead with an over-exaggerated whine, then stared at Jisung, then Jisung’s tray, then back to Jisung again, “You were late again weren’t you?”
“What? No! I’ll have you know that I ran into the room two seconds before the bell rang,” Jisung let a triumphant smile on his face.
“Wow… two whole seconds. That must be a new record,” Changbin teased. “I bet Ms. Im thinks you hate her class by now.”
Jisung huffed and slouched back into his chair, picking up his chopsticks to poke at his lunch, “I don’t hate it, it’s just- who puts a required class at 7 in the morning? It’s torture.” Changbin just made a face as if to say sucks to be you.
Around the time they were both finishing their food, a pair of hands slammed against the top of the table startling both boys. “What’s up losers,” Seungmin greeted.
Changbin swatted at Seungmin’s arm, “Don’t scare me like that! Also, where’s your respect Jisung and I are older than you.” Seungmin only laughed and slid into the chair next to Jisung.
“I know you guys don’t have classes in the next two hours, so do any of you want to go to the antique store with me? I need to get some old stuff for a class,” Seungmin asked leaning forward and putting one hand under his chin.
“Can’t. I have a shift in 30 minutes, I can’t really afford to miss it if I want to afford a new place,” Changbin responded.
Seungmin made a noise of recognition, “Oh yeah, how’s the search going? I know you and Sung have been looking.”
Jisung grimaced and Changbin just sighed, “No luck honestly, they’re all too far away from the university, too expensive, or just not what we’re looking for.”
“That sucks, you’ve been looking for months now,” Seungmin frowned.
Wanting to change the topic, Jisung turned to Seungmin and asked, “Why can’t your boyfriend go with you?”
“Huh?” Seungmin tilted his head confused.
“To the antique store. Why can’t your boyfriend go with you? I doubt you came to us first. Am I right?”
“Oh,” Seungmin leaning back into his seat, pouting, and messing with his fluffy brown hair. “Hyunjin is being held captive by Minho. Something about needing to workshop a choreography.”
Jisung frowned, “Of course it’s Minho.” The younger boy gave him a look, “Don’t worry, Min, I’m not going to start. Anyways, I can join you to the antique store today.”
Seungmin’s face lit up, clapping his hands, “Perfect! This is why you’re my favorite.” Changbin stuck his tongue out at Seungmin, the latter just ignored him. “I have something I need to do first, but I can meet you at the gate in say…” He glanced at his phone, “40 minutes?”
Jisung gives Seungmin a thumbs up, “Sounds good.”
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Jisung was walking towards the gate, head down thinking of some possible fixes for a verse he was working on, when he bumped into something- no someone. “Oh my god. I am so sorry about that,” He was quick to apologize before lifting his head. Boy, did he regret looking up because when he did, he was face to face with the man who was tormenting his mind all day. He was face to face with Lee Minho. After what felt like a few long minutes of staring, Minho blinked 4 times, ran his hand through his purple hair, and walked away with a huff to what Jisung can assume is the dance building.
Right at the 40 minute mark, Seungmin appeared. “Ready to go?” Seungmin asked. Jisung responded with a nod. “Then, let’s go! Last one there owes the other an ice cream,” That was the only warning Jisung got before Seungmin spirited off in the direction of the shop.
“Hey! That’s not fair!” Jisung yelled while trying to catch up to the younger boy.
When they entered the antique store the smell of old hit Jisung square in the face, it felt suffocating. He could tell Seungmin was experiencing something similar as he blinked hard and exhaled a lot of air. Looking around he saw clusters of things on countertops, old looking jewelry, porcelain dolls, keys, and some boxes with carvings on them. He could hear the tapping of the front desk lady categorizing some items into the system, she looked to be in her 70’s maybe, with a nice worn smile and heavy reading glasses. The lady looked up at her customers, “Ah, welcome welcome. Some new items just came in, so if you have any questions don’t be shy to ask.” The two boys said their ‘thank you’s’ and walked further in looking around more.
Jisung wandered towards the back of the store, mindlessly touching some old clothes and some jewelry. He found a couple of earrings that looked cool and a cool hat that Changbin would like. He meandered a bit further to a shelf where some miscellaneous knick-knacks were. There was a brass kettle with its handle slightly dented, an ivory pocket watch, a hand mirror with a golden bird with worn-off paint for eyes on the top of it, a small octagonal box that looked to be made of dark wood with carvings of stars on it, and a silver lamp with spiral imprints on it.
One of these items caught his eye and he felt strangely drawn to it as if it was calling out to him, wanting him to take it. He glanced around to see if he could spot Seungmin or the old lady, but strangely he couldn’t find any of them anywhere, the clicking sound at the counter was gone and the light purple of Seungmin’s sweater was nowhere to be seen.
He shifted his gaze back to the shelf and felt that hypnotizing pull again. In a daze, his hand reached out to get a closer look at the object. The silver of the lamp was icy as he pushed it out of the way. His hand finally made it to the box and pulled it closer to him. Jisung brushed his light brown hair out of his face and held the box up. On the top of each of the octagon’s flat surfaces, there was a carving of a star with different carvings under each one. He turned the box in his hand more. He rubbed his thumb on a carving that he thought might be a ballet slipper, the wood extremely smooth. Jisung’s fingers gravitated to the top of the box, he examined the lid more, the hinges were this kind of yellow-gold color though he couldn’t quite tell if it was made from gold or if it was that color from age. Jisung moved to open the similarly colored latch, his nail struggling to get it open. He finally managed to finagle the latch and flicked it open, his hand slowly lifted the lid by not even a millimeter watching how well the hinges worked and- “Hey!” Jisung jumped backward closing the box. “I found some cool items I could take pictures of, what do you have there?” Seungmin said, his hands holding an old brass hand bell, a blue glass perfume bottle with a burnt cayenne puffer, and a weathered book.
“I- It’s uh- a box… where did you go by the way? I-” He blinked, trying to wake himself out of his stupor. “I didn’t see you earlier.”
“Oh? I was by the window basically the whole time. Maybe you should get glasses.”
“Huh.” Jisung looked around again and heard the familiar clicking of the lady at the counter
“Oh, by the way, Jisung, I want a push pop.”
Jisung groaned, “Ughh, I was hoping you forgot about that.”
“Oh please, I would never forget something that benefits me,” Seungmin looks around again. “I’m done here, so if you’re also finished we should probably buy our things and leave. We’ve spent an hour in here.”
Jisung’s eyes went wide, “An hour? Holy shit… yeah okay let’s go.”
The two boys walk up to the counter with the nice old lady. Seungmin buys the stuff he picked out and a rose gold ring with a deep pink gemstone he saw at the counter. Jisung hesitated before putting the box down. The old lady looked at Jisung with a weird glint in her eyes, “Hm... I see.” Jisung shifted awkwardly where he stood. “This doesn’t cost anything.”
Jisung’s eyes widened, “What? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. This old fella has been here for far too long. It’s best he gets some fresh air. I also couldn’t couldn’t bare putting a price on him, just treat him well. He chose you.” The old lady smiled brightly and bid them both goodbyes and the boys waved and walked out.
“Yeah, you so owe me two ice creams after that,” Seungmin said. Jisung only laughed.
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Jisung was lying in his stiff dorm bed and looking at the box again, thinking about the pull he felt towards it initially and what the old lady said, “What did she mean… chose me?” Jisung sighed as he sat up, turning the box over again before finally opening it. The box started playing a melody, a wolf statue in the middle rotating with the phases of the moon on the underside of the lid. When the melody faded out the box started shaking and a glow emerged from each of the stars and moons.
It was blinding honestly, and it took Jisung a hot second to regain his vision. He looked at his hands noting that they were still there, okay good. He looked up and saw a man that wasn’t his roommate, he had black curly hair and wore all black clothes. Jisung blinked at him and the man blinked back before smiling, “G’day mate!”
Jisung screamed.