Chapter Text
Willian Sean Hunter knew something was off as soon as he entered the lecture hall. Conversations dropped to a low hum, and his classmates' eyes kept darting his way, accompanied by smirks, arched eyebrows, and more than a few suppressed laughs. It was like walking into a movie scene where the lead character is the last one to realize they're the center of attention.
"Did I miss the memo or something?" he muttered under his breath, adjusting his shoulder bag as he slid into his usual seat at the front.
Just then, his friend Hyun Jin dropped into the seat beside him, sporting a grin so wicked it had to be hiding something juicy. She leaned in, and Sean could already tell she had a headline ready.
"Well?" she prompted.
"Well, what?"
She leaned closer. "You, my dear genius, apparently have a new boyfriend."
Sean's brow furrowed. "A new... what?"
"Oh, c'mon!" Hyun Jin all but squealed, giving him a playful shove. "The whole campus is talking about it. Apparently, you and Eric Young are a 'thing'."
Sean nearly choked. "Eric Young?"
"Mr. Popular? Band guy? Star pitcher on the baseball team?" She listed his titles as if Sean lived under a rock.
"And since when am I dating him?"
Hyejin waved a hand, delighted. "According to campus gossip? Since last night. You two went to the movies together, alone."
"Alone?" Sean echoed, baffled. "I didn't go to the movies last night."
"Oh, sure. That's 'exactly' what someone who was at the movies with Eric would say," she teased, her voice dripping with playful suspicion.
Sean rolled his eyes. "I was literally at home, working on Dr. Han's assignment. Unless he snuck into my room and helped me balance equations, I think you're way off."
She gave him an exaggerated look of pity. "Deny it all you want, my dude. People 'want' this to be true. You know how wild they get with stories about him. And now? The campus power couple rumor of the year."
Sean sank back in his seat, pinching the bridge of his nose. The last thing he needed was for the university to turn him into some kind of headline.
As if the universe were intent on testing him, Sean had barely settled into his physics lecture when he felt the familiar buzz of whispered conversations drifting his way. The subtle glances and hushed remarks were almost enough to make him sigh, but he kept his focus. Today was about keeping his cool.
Dr. Han strode in, and the room quickly quieted as students shuffled to pull out laptops and notebooks. After a moment of silence, the professor launched straight into a difficult question from last week's reading, scanning the room with a hard look.
He waited, his gaze roaming, but no one dared to raise a hand. One student tried, stammering through an answer that missed the mark. Dr. Han's frown deepened as he moved to another, and then another, only to be met with awkward pauses and more wrong answers. Frustration was clear in his voice as he finally turned his attention to Sean.
"Mr. Hunter?" Dr. Han prompted, expectantly.
Sean cleared his throat and answered carefully, his tone even and polite. "The solution involves applying the conservation of momentum. Given the initial conditions, we can use this to predict the outcome by..." He explained the concept, breaking it down concisely.
A few heads turned his way, some with wide eyes, others with looks of mild envy. Dr. Han gave a curt nod, clearly appeased, and moved on, but Sean barely noticed the ripple of attention around him.
Just as he began to settle back into his seat, though, he caught a murmur from a few rows over. "No wonder he's the top student—Sean's practically a walking physics textbook."
Another voice chimed in, almost conspiratorially, "Guess that's why Eric Young's into him. The dude's a genius. They'd make, like, super-kids or something."
Sean's eyes widened slightly, resisting the urge to turn around. Eric Young? He'd barely spoken to him—let alone imagined they were a rumored campus couple.
Sean's next stop was the cafeteria, a space buzzing with energy and chatter, as usual. But today, it felt more like a carnival—and he was the main attraction. He tried to shrug it off, but it was impossible to ignore the stares and whispers that followed him all the way to the food counter.
"Alright, this is officially ridiculous," he muttered, grabbing a sandwich and heading over to find Hyun Jin, who was already sitting with her tray, scrolling on her phone and trying not to laugh.
"So," she said, looking up with a grin as he sat down, "How's life as one-half of the hottest new 'it' couple?"
"Stop," he groaned, unwrapping his sandwich. "This whole rumor is out of control."
"C'mon, it's not that bad. I mean, you could've been paired up with... I dunno, Liam from Psych 101. That would be tragic."
Sean snorted, taking a bite. "Yeah, thanks for that mental image."
She was about to respond when a group of girls at the next table glanced over, giggling and not-so-subtly pointing at Sean. One even whispered, "That's him, right? The genius dating Eric Young?"
Hyun Jin couldn't hold it in anymore. She leaned across the table, clutching her stomach as she stifled her laughter. "This is too good. You're officially the new campus sensation, Sean."
"Great. Just what I wanted," he muttered sarcastically.
As they finished eating, Sean glanced up, his gaze drifting around the cafeteria—and landed on Eric Young and his friends across the room. Felix, Jangjun, Mark, and, interestingly, Mingyu. The guys were laughing, talking animatedly, unaware that they were indirectly the source of Sean's newfound popularity.
For the briefest second, Eric's eyes met Sean's. It was quick, casual, and didn't hold any significance—but in that split moment, Sean could almost feel the rumor solidify, taking root in every curious gaze.
He quickly looked away, focusing on his half-eaten sandwich.
"Oh, no," Hyun Jin said, catching his reaction. "Are you actually flustered?"
He rolled his eyes. "Please. I barely know the guy."
"Uh-huh. Sure. Whatever you say, lover boy," she teased, nudging him with a knowing smile.
After lunch, Sean decided he needed some quiet to clear his head. The library was practically his second home, a place of refuge from the chaos of campus life. He found a secluded corner, surrounded by towering bookshelves, and started flipping through a book for his next paper.
But within minutes, Hyun Jin found him. She pulled up a chair, her eyes gleaming with the satisfaction of someone who'd just gotten ahold of major gossip.
"Guess who just got hit up by the rumor mill?" she whispered, sliding her phone across the table.
Sean glanced at the screen. It was a campus forum, and there it was, in bold letters:
BREAKING: William Sean Hunter and Eric Young—Campus' New Power Couple?
"Are you kidding me?" he groaned, scanning the comments that ranged from wild theories to oddly enthusiastic congratulations.
"Oh, no. This is gold. You're practically a celebrity now. People are 'shipping' you two."
"I don't even know him," Sean said for the tenth time that day, sinking into his chair. "And shipping us? Like, what is this? Some kind of fan fiction?"
Hyun Jin shrugged, barely able to hide her amusement. "Welcome to the internet, Sean. Where facts don't matter and people create love stories out of thin air."
The rumor followed him to the club fair in the afternoon. As Sean wandered the booths, he ran into Daniel, one of his few actual close friends. Daniel, a physics major with a penchant for bad puns and conspiracy theories, wasn't one to miss gossip.
"So... you're dating Eric Young, huh?" he asked, a smug grin creeping across his face.
"Oh, for the love of—Daniel, not you too," Sean groaned.
Daniel laughed. "Hey, I'm just saying, this whole rumor has potential. Think about it. You're the quiet, smart guy, and he's the band-playing, baseball-throwing charmer. It's like every rom-com ever."
"Do you hear yourself?" Sean deadpanned.
But as he walked away, he couldn't shake the lingering curiosity. What was it about Eric that made everyone so obsessed with the idea of them together?