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Ⅰ.
Hanbin isn’t afraid to admit that he had a lot of expectations going into college because honesty, who doesn’t? It’s not like he wanted to be partying every night and kissing every cute boy he saw but, he did imagine more than plainly doing his laundry on a Friday night, even if it was his decision.
Could Hanbin be at the party his best friend, Matthew, practically begged him to go to? (“Dude please come with us? Please, I feel like I’ve barely seen you this week,” said best friend pleaded. “That’s exactly why I can’t go Matt, I have so much to catch up on. Next time, I promise.”) Sure, but after the week he’s had of extra hours at the dance studio on top of additional hours at the library, he needed a night in and that was fine with him! Promise, it was fine.
The only problem? Someone left their clothes in the one working dryer that in the godforsaken building he calls home and after waiting approximately 57 minutes for the culprit to come to collect their things, he slightly snaps.
But as he’s going in for his second hand full of clothes to place on top of the dryer, he hears the door open and a feeling of shame rises from his feet all the way to the top of his head.
“It’s not what it looks like!” He all but yells as if he was caught doing the most devious thing imaginable.
“So, you aren’t taking my clothes out of the dryer?” The voice behind him says.
After realizing that he still has his hands all up in this poor stranger's belongings, he puts them down and turns around. “Okay… maybe it is what it looks like? But to be fair, I was waiting almost an hour for you to come and get them out.”
The (very beautiful) stranger just stares at Hanbin with an unreadable expression until his face breaks out into a smile and he laughs.
“Calm down, it’s okay. I accidentally fell asleep.”
“You’re not mad? But I touched all of your clean clothes?” And honestly, why was Hanbin still talking? Did he want the pretty stranger to be mad at him?
“You look like a scared hamster, it’s cute but no, I’m not mad and I really should be the one apologizing. I’m sorry that I’ve made you come to,” he gestures to the dryer, “this, I swear I’m never one to do this and I appreciate you at least trying to wait but an hour is a very long time. Longer than most people would,” stranger said with a small smile. “My name is Hao by the way.”
As flustered as he could be from this whole situation, Hanbin replied with his name as well but stayed put in his spot.
If you asked him, he would tell you that his feet were actually glued to the ground and it wasn’t that he was starstruck by the boy, Hao, in front of him. Nope, not that. It was glue.
“Would you like me to grab my clothes or-”
“Yes! Please! Go ahead! I’m sorry,” Hanbin interrupted with an awkward laugh.
After Hao successfully grabbed all of his clothes, he turned to exit the room but before he left, he turned around to give Hanbin an award-winning smile and thanked him again with an extra “See you around!”
After Hao left, Hanbin waited exactly 30 seconds before he let himself fall to the floor with a groan. Ugh . Embarrassing himself in front of a cute boy? Maybe he should’ve gone to the party after all.
Ⅱ.
To say that Hanbin hadn’t thought about Hao since their brief interaction in the laundry room would be a lie because, well, he has eyes. The day after, he caught himself glancing around more than usual as if to search for the boy.
It felt silly and it probably was but what is Hanbin if not a hopeless, pathetic queer?
As the days went on, he slowly started coming to terms with his dream boy being the one who got away. Dramatic? Hanbin would swear it’s not.
Well, that was until a random Tuesday at 3 am when Hanbin was horribly woken up by his building fire alarm going off for the third time that night.
The first time happened at 10:30 pm which isn’t ideal but Hanbin was awake anyway so he quickly slipped on his shoes and followed the crowd of people filing out.
The second time happened sometime after midnight. Hanbin barely remembered getting out of bed.
And now here we are at 3 am. Hanbin considered staying in bed, putting in his headphones, and blocking it out but, in the end, his conscience got the best of him so for the third time, he slipped on his shoes and walked out of his door. This time though, he was prepared and swaddled himself in his coziest blanket.
Once he reached the front door, he saw students upon students, tired and miserable, trying not to fall asleep standing up.
In his mind, he added a note to send Matthew a strongly worded letter about leaving him to bear this misery alone so his so-called “best friend” could spend the night with his boyfriend. He added Taerae to the list of people in his head to send letters to as well for beind said boyfriend.
As he was scanning the crowd of people, someone familiar caught his eye.
He slowly made his way over to the boy crouching on the ground and tapped his shoulder. “Hao? Is that you?”
He looked up confused, tiredness prevalent on his face. “What? Who are yo- Oh! Hanbin, was it?”
After sending a quick thank you to the universe for reuniting him with his lost laundry boy and mentally kicking his feet in thr air, Hanbin confirmed and sat down on the ground.
“Isn’t it lovely having the fire alarm go off three separate times in one night for no fucking reason?” Hao mumbled with a grimace.
“Oh yeah, definitely. How did they know this was exactly what I wanted to be doing tonight?”
Hao giggled before he was cut off by a shiver running throughout his body.
Hanbin quickly sends another thanks but this time to his past self for being the best wingman someone could ask for.
“Woah, are you cold? I know it might sound strange but we can share my blanket if you’d like? And you know it’s clean because I actually just washed it the other day with my laundry!”
Hao looked a little wary at first before a second chill ran through him as if the universe was trying to push him to Hanbin and he agreed with a short “if you’re sure, thanks” and a shy smile.
But as always, everything can’t be perfect because just as Hao started to scoot into Hanbin’s arms, the doors to the building opened wide with an “all clear” being shouted.
God. Why Hanbin?
“Oh… well I guess it’s time to go but thank you Hanbin, really. I would have loved to share it with you. You’re very kind and I’m exhausted but please, come find me sometime,” and with that he was off.
Hanbin just sat there, stunned for who knows how long before he got up and made his way back to his bed.
And if it took Hanbin way too long to fall back asleep, that’s no one’s business but his.
Ⅲ.
A few days later, Hanbin finds himself at the store, staring at cookie mixes. Now, is Hanbin a baker? Not in the slightest but he did grow up working at his mom’s cafe.
He was banned from the kitchen after “The Incident” in which the fire department was called and from then on, he was only allowed to work the coffee bar but none of that mattered to him now because, well, he wanted cookies and he wanted them badly.
He could go the easy route and get cookies already packaged up for consumption but he wanted the feeling of pulling them out of the oven and the warm chocolate melt in his mouth.
So with that, his mind was made up and he grabbed everything he needed and headed back to his dorm building.
The rooms themselves didn’t have full kitchen sets but they do have a common area that did so he made his way there, turned on the lights, set his bags on the counter, and got to work.
Just as he was pouring out the ingredients in the mixing bowl, the door opened, making Hanbin jump as he wasn’t expecting anyone to come in at this hour.
“Hanbin?” said the now familiar voice.
“Hao,” said Hanbin as he turned around to smile at the boy. “Crazy running into you here,” he joked.
Hao laughed softly and agreed. Something seemed somewhat off with the boy standing in front of him. Sure, they don’t know each other that well but from the few times they’d run into each other, Hao seemed less bright. “Is everything alright?”
It was Hao’s turn to jump like he had forgotten when he was. “Huh? Oh… yeah I’m okay, just a bit stressed is all. I have a big test tomorrow in my music theory class and I’m just feeling nervous even though I know the material just… ugh, I don’t know,”
“Music theory? Are you a music major?”
“Yeah, well, violin specifically but I want to be a teacher.”
“No way! Me too! Well, not a violin teacher but I want to be a dance teacher. I major in dance,” and it really is crazy how close they’d been this whole time without even knowing. Living in the same dorm, both being in the art department. “We seem to have a lot in common.”
Hanbin couldn’t even contain the smile on his face and the butterflies forming in his stomach as a brilliant idea sparked in his head. “Hey, since you’re feeling stressed, do you want to do something to take your mind off of everything? I’m making cookies and I could really use a sous chef.”
Hao looked him up and down (now why did he have to do that?) before breaking out into a smile, nodding his head and saying, “I’m kind of a danger to have in the kitchen but I’d love to be of assistance to the chef,” making Hanbin’s ears burn as he let out a strained giggle
“I’m not the best either but maybe two wrongs can make a right here? As long as we work together, right?”
“Exactly. Now what do we have to do?”
Together, they mix everything while making small talk and to Hanbin, it feels really freaking good and comfortable. They talk about their families and he learns that Hao is currently in his third year at university, same as Hanbin but he’s a year older since he took a year off to figure out what he wanted to do. (“Can I call you hyung then?” “Of course.”) He also learned that Hao moved to Korea for university yet he doesn’t plan on going back to China after.
“Why don’t you want to go back? You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“It’s… complicated. You know, family things and for now, this is what’s best for me. I’ve been happy here and I’m happy to be right here, right now with you. It’s stupidly easy to talk to you.”
“I feel the same way, hyung.”
After the cookies go into the oven, the two boys sit down on the couches in the room and continue their conversation. They seamlessly switch from topic to topic and before they know it, the timer is going off and the cookies are done.
“They came out perfectly!” Hanbin all but yells and Hao cheers right alongside him.
“We make such a good team, Hanbinnie.”
The night ends with more conversation and bellies full of cookies.
“I really should be heading back since I have that test in the morning but really, thank you Hanbin. I’m so glad that I ran into you again.”
“Good luck tomorrow! I know you can do it,” Hanbin cheers. “You’re welcome hyung and thank you for helping me. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Hao jokingly rolls his eyes and waves goodbye before opening the door, leaving Hanbin to wallow in his own misery for not asking for his number.
-
The next day after his test went by as easily as it could have, the only person Hao wanted to tell was Hanbin.
Ⅳ.
Now, Hanbin has never been the biggest drinker, he didn’t like being unaware of his surroundings and the feeling of laying in bed with the world spinning around him? Horrible.
But, he’s young and in college so every once in a while he takes the leap, and if he ends up embarrassing himself? That’s a problem for him to deal with the next day.
He and his friends decided to have a night in at their friend Jiwoong’s apartment. The night consisted of lots of shots, lots of games, and lots of embarrassing moments but also, lots of fun.
As he and Matthew make it back to their dorm building, Hanbin can barely stand up straight and all he can think about is falling into his bed and sleeping for 12 hours straight.
That is until he sees a familiar set of eyes on him. Hanbin isn’t proud of this, not in the slightest but as soon as he saw Hao, his eyes widened and physically hid behind Matthew, as if that would do anything.
“Um? Hanbin?”
Embarrassingly, Hanbin stands up and tries to give Hao a nice smile but he knows that it comes off awkward.
“Well, I’m drunk as fuck and I can’t even see straight so I’ll be in the room,” Matthew says before he sways on his feet and leaves the two boys alone.
“Hi, hyung. I’m so sorry I don’t know why I did that ‘ haha’. I’m just super drunk and I tend to embarrass myself in front of cute boys when I’m drunk. Ugh, I’m embarrassing myself already! Please ignore everything I’m saying. I don’t even know what I’m saying right now! I could be saying nothing at all and I wouldn’t even kno-,”
“Shhh. Hanbin, it's okay. You’re not embarrassing, you’re cute. Let me help get you into bed hm?”
Cute? “You think I’m cute?”
Ignoring Hanbin, Hao pulls Hanbin along and asks him what room is his.
The last thing Hanbin remembers before closing his eyes is Hao tucking him in, wishing him a goodnight, and closing the door.
Ⅴ.
The next day, Hanbin wakes up to the horrible recollection of what occurred the night before.
In reality was it the worst thing ever? Absolutely not but was his hangxiety in full effect? Again, absolutely.
He called Hao cute, so what! Hao called him cute back but what exactly did he mean by that? Hanbin had no idea and he was going to go insane if he stayed in with his own thoughts, and seeing how Matthew is still dead asleep, this next best bet is to go get a coffee and go on a walk to clear his head.
What Hanbin didn’t expect was to see Hao at the cafe he often visits when he needs a little pick me up. He’s never seen him here before, of course, the universe is against him.
Hanbin turns around and walks out and pretends that he doesn’t hear the voice calling his name.
He didn’t end up go on that walk but he did end up going a little insane staying in for the rest of the day.
+1
Since the kind of run in with Hao at the cafe, Hanbin hadn’t seen him. It wasn’t like he was actively avoiding him but he also wasn’t actively looking for him.
It made him sad because he did like Hao. It was kind of crazy how much he liked him a lot for only knowing him for a short time but since the cookie night, he couldn’t get the boy out of his head. He couldn’t bear thinking about how he could have made him uncomfortable or anything like that while he was drunk.
Matthew tried to reassure him multiple times that everything was okay and that Hanbin was being an “idiot” since he didn’t even do anything embarrassing but Hanbin just needed time to reflect. Was he being stubborn? Of course he was. He knew he would see Hao again, it was inevitable but for now, he would yearn from the sidelines.
He knew that he needed to make a move the next time he saw him or else this whole thing they had going on wouldn’t ever go anywhere, especially since their last time seeing each other, but that was what was scaring him most.
What if he got his heart broken? He knew that Hao was a nice person, one of the best and nicest people he’d ever met, and he knew that Hao would never intentionally hurt him and if he did get rejected, he would be let down easily but Hanbin didn’t think he could handle that right now.
Ugh, whatever.
Hanbin does end up seeing Hao again, even though it’s sooner than he thought in the last place that he expected: a frat party.
He wasn’t the biggest frequenter of these parties but Matthew and Taerae both dragged him out because they said he needed to “get over himself” and “be a normal person”. The universe really is against him.
He locks eyes with Hao and he can tell that Hao seems hesitant so, Hanbin goes over to him and says hi.
Hao looks Hanbin in the eyes with a somber expression on his face. “Not ignoring me this time?”
Hanbin flinches as if he was slapped in the face even though he deserved it. “Hey, I’m really sorry about that. Do you want to go somewhere quieter to talk?”
Hao agreed much easier than Hanbin expected him to and they made their way through the crowd of people all the way to the back of the house and sat on the steps leading to the backyard.
“So… again I'm so sorry. It’s not an excuse for blowing you off but I was embarrassed after our encounter that night and I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. I honestly don’t know why I felt so embarrassed and I don’t even know if I even didn’t make you uncomfortable but I still felt bad about it”
“Hanbin, you didn’t make me feel uncomfortable at all. I was worried that I made you uncomfortable with taking you home and tucking you in. I was scared that I was being too forward or something.”
“Not at all! It wasn’t your fault at all! And I’ll be honest with you, I like you a lot. I didn’t want to confess to you in this way but you deserve to know why I was acting strange before. I really like you.”
Hanbin felt like his heart was going to fall out of his chest as each second passed after his confession. He was about to apologize again for putting Hao in an uncomfortable position when he cleared his throat and looked at Hanbin with a confused expression.
“Why was that worrying you? I thought I was making it obvious that I like you.”
What? Hao likes me? “What? You like me?”
Hao giggles to himself as if Hanbin isn’t having a full meltdown in his head “I think you’re just a little oblivious Binnie”
“I did think there was a possibility that you liked me back but, I was really in my head because you’re really pretty and kind an-”
Hao cuts Hanbin off with a finger to his lips and a small “shh” before smiling. “I think you’re really pretty and kind and I really, really like you so get out of your silly little head and just kiss me.”
So Hanbin does. It’s a short peck, lips to lips ghosting over each other before they both start smiling too hard and have to pull away just to laugh together.
“Every time we ran into each other it felt like that universe was pushing us together, no matter how cheesy that sounds.”
“I mean it is cheesy but I like it and I like you,” Hao says before he dives back into the kiss.
What started as sweet and slow very quickly turned desperate as Hao looped his arms over Hanbin’s shoulders and leaned closer into Hanbin's touch.
Hanbin took that as a sign to reach out to Hao and he squeezed his waist, just a little, and the breathy moan that left Hao’s mouth sounded heavenly, he needed to hear it again and again so he squeezed lower and lower until he reached his ass.
Hao leaned back to whisper into Hanbin’s ear, “If you don’t stop I’m going to end up letting you fuck me right here in front of everyone so should get out of here before we cause a scene.”
The idea of fucking Hao in public made his stomach tighten but fucking Hao in his own bed sounded just as good.
“We can go to my place. You know where it is.”