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By the time Donghyuck heaved up the stairs with the last of his boxes, his mom was in tears, his dad had finished setting up the furniture, and his siblings were napping on the couch. Golden rays poured from between the blinds. His roommate had disappeared from the room after they had gotten their respective introductions out of the way.
“Was that the last of it?” his dad patted him on the back after he dropped a box by the foot of the bed.
“Yeah,” Donghyuck checked the bed raisers his dad had installed, “the truck is empty.”
Donghyuck’s mom weeped louder when she heard that.
“Our little adeul , he will be all alone in a strange city,” she cried.
“ Eomma ,” Donghyuck rolled his eyes, “stop crying, I’ll be just fine,”
Donghyuck, in fact, will not be just fine.
The first of his immigrant family to attend college, he was the rising hope of the small town community back in their home state. There was pressure on the child prodigy who had gotten accepted into a prestigious university with a full ride. Donghyuck had played into this persona for his whole high school career, making sure to impress his parents, his neighbors, and his teachers. He kept a 4.0 GPA, packed stellar extracurriculars in his resume, and had written for his application a boastful essay parading his humble beginnings and immense accomplishments. The recommendation letters his teachers wrote for him were only praise for the diligent, disciplined, yet humorous student, the life of the classroom.
But behind the facade was a procrastinating mess who had just barely gotten into his school. Anything he had written for college was last minute and ingenuine. In short, he was fucked—and to top it all off, he knew no one in the city.
Outside of his room, Donghyuck could hear other families starting to leave their kids behind, signaling the end of move-in day.
After resting a bit, his family was ready to head back home. Donghyuck waved them off after ultra-tight hugs and long farewells. By the end of it, his siblings were itching to get on the truck and his smaller siblings’ sleeping faces were propped on his parents’ shoulders. He smiled when his mother, with tear blotched eyes, blew one last kiss from the window of the truck that carried them all here. The now-empty truck, previously piled with boxes and miscellaneous things, trotted away with his entire life and childhood. College had just gotten a bit too real.
Donghyuck’s mysterious roommate was not back before nightfall. He paid no mind as he continued to unpack into the night.
Orientation would start from the following day, the days only getting longer and busier from there. Donghyuck suspected that anything left in the boxes now would not see the light until the next summer, when he would be forced to move out of freshmen dorms. He began to unpack with more rigor.
It was already 1 AM when he had finished carrying the emptied and flattened boxes down to the disposal area of his dorm in the basement. Most of the residents were either asleep or at least quietly preparing for the next day in their own rooms.
Donghyuck passed by the darkened common area, and sauntered into his room to get to sleep.
When Donghyuck suddenly woke up to severe dehydration, it was 3:12 AM on his bedside clock. His roommate was snoring lightly in the bed across the room, back faced towards him.
He hastily threw on a gown over his tanktop and shorts, and slid into his slippers; he would have to venture out to find water. The air was stale and chilly, and Donghyuck sniffled as he opened the door. Opened the door to spot a mound of skin on the floor, on the other side of the hallway.
A man (?) with a skinny build, butt naked face down and spread on the cold floor. Quite literally so, with nothing obstructing Donghyuck’s view of a shapely bare ass. His pale skin faintly reflected the dim streetlights and silver moonshine trickling in from outside. The black of his messy hair blended in the shadows.
Looking around, there was no one to be seen. No one who might know what to do with a naked guy passed out in the hallway at 3 AM.
Donghyuck awkwardly hopped closer to Pantsless Man. Using the string around the waist of his gown, he swiped at the stranger’s shoulder in an attempt to wake him. It took him three tries, each followed by a jagged hop away, until the man finally stirred.
“Oh fu—” the stranger slurped drool as he cast a dazed look at his surroundings.
Gross.
Donghyuck watched on as the stranger collected himself slowly, and his eyes landed on the person stooped over him.
“I’m on the floor?” the man let out a pathetic drawl.
“Yes, you were sleeping,” Donghyuck helpfully observed.
“I—” he inhaled, looking at his own bare biceps, “I have no clothes on, and I am on the floor,”
“No clothes, “ Donghyuck gestured vaguely at his evident exposure.
“I’m on the floor, and I have no clothes on,” the man looked around once more, “and I’m in Freshmen Hall,”
“Yeah,” Donghyuck put on a sympathetic frown, “Where’s your room?”
“It’s, uh—” the guy heaved himself up on his elbows, body still facing down (thankfully), “I think it’s across the street, Sophomore Hall,”
Pantsless Man paled, the mild pink flush gone from his raised cheekbones.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been out here like this?”
“No clue,” Donghyuck replied.
“Oh boy,” he put his head in his hands, “So you don’t know how many people have seen me like this, while I—”
“No, sorry,”
“Great. I’m gonna be known around campus as the Naked Guy by tomorrow,” he sighed, deep, “You know what’s really great?”
“What?”
“When the nickname spreads across campus like wildfire, I’m gonna be in my third hour of throwing up.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, it’s been pretty quiet for a while so there’s a chance no one’s come by other than me.”
Naked Guy groaned deeply, avoiding eye contact.
“That’s precisely the problem,” eyes trailed Donghyuck's legs, up, up, and finally his face. There was a dazed look about him again, but this time a bit different from the last.
“What was that?” Donghyuck asked back.
“It’s nothing,” he averted his eyes once more.
“If it makes you feel even better, I won’t say anything.”
“Oh yeah?” the man smiled small, with a jokingly hopeful glint in his eyes.
“Yeah, sure,” Donghyuck said, “Soon, you could be known by a completely different nickname like, the Wasn’t-Ever-Pantsless-Man,”
“You’re a very kind person,” Naked Guy grunted as he started to raise himself up.
“Wait!” Donghyuck shrieked, but apparently not in time.
A peek was all that was needed to acquire adequate information. There was much to look at. In the nanosecond that it took for Donghyuck to slam close his eyes, an eyeful of it had prised through.
“It’s a bit too early for an in-depth introduction, no?” Donghyuck managed with his eyes shut. It would be hard to cleanse his brain of the image. An image of a full house, high resolution with accentuated colors.
“Oh shit,” the stranger covered up with awkward body movements.
“Here, you can borrow this,” Donghyuck said, while swiftly taking off his periwinkle gown and tossing it in the man’s general direction.
“Thank you,” he whispered, hurriedly putting on the gown, “And uh—”
Donghyuck faced back toward him, after the ruffles had quieted.
“I’m Mark, by the way. Mark Lee,” a hand stretched out.
Donghyuck looked at Mark, formerly Naked Guy, formerly Pantsless Man, properly for the first time. He really was an attractive guy, despite looking haggard and being totally wasted.
“I’m Donghyuck,” he took the hand.
Mark smiled, dimples appearing on each side of his cheeks. He repeated Donghyuck’s name.
“I might not remember that tomorrow,”
“Perfectly understandable,”
“I should probably find my keys, huh.”
“That’ll be a good place to start,”
“But my keys are in my pants,”
“Pants first, then.”
“Right,”
Mark looked into Donghyuck’s eyes. Naturally, he became slightly uneasy.
“Uhm,”
“Oh God, sorry dude,” Mark rushed and cast his eyes elsewhere, but he stayed put.
“I really won’t tell anyone,” Donghyuck assured, guessing Mark was maybe hung up on that.
“Yeah, I would appreciate that,” Mark laughed, shaking out of whatever was possessing him, “I’ll see you around then, I guess.”
Sighing with a grin, Mark trudged past Donghyuck to head to the doors.
“Good night,” Donghyuck called out.
“Yup,” Mark raised his hand and muttered, “I’m officially stupider than my own brother. Never thought that would happen.”
Donghyuck watched on as the guy dragged his feet down the hallway. When he got to the doors, he pushed the pulling door and looked back with utter embarrassment. Face retaining some of the red from before, he gave one last appreciative smile at Donghyuck and slipped through, into the late night.
Donghyuck finally let himself release the wild guffaw, before realizing where he was and stifling it behind his palm. Briskly, he withdrew into his own room, and tucked himself back in his bed.
It was barely the first day of college and life was already happening, and in the strangest way, it was very lively. Donghyuck shook his head deeper into his pillow, and closed his eyes for some well-earned sleep. The water he wanted was the last thing on his mind.