Chapter Text
Wonwoo lays on on the grass, fingers sprawled, as he soaks in the sun’s rays. He indulges in the nostalgic scent of summer and slow sounds of West Coast rap, as he drowns out the material world. The air is crisp. It’s rare when humidity is absent during this season, so he decides to enjoy letting the sunlight dance lightly upon his skin. His newly dyed chestnut hair collects a slight sheen from the outside lighting making his hair look almost fake. Every aspect of his pleasing surroundings seems too surreal. However, the cushion of green beneath him creates a slight irritation on his skin, causing him to itch after his prolonged stay. For the time being, the pros heavily outweigh the cons, but he knows he can’t stay out much longer because he, unfortunately, has responsibilities to attend to before the day wastes away. With much hesitation, he lugs his lazy form up from the grass, and retreats into his house.
The one-story house Wonwoo grew up in is all too familiar. Drawings from elementary school hang loosely by magnets on the refrigerator and the once vibrant yellow walls have dulled down to a pastel banana. The mahogany cabinets in the kitchen are in desperate need of replacement, but they’ve remained unchanged since he could remember. There are photos of his mother and him spread throughout the living room and hallway, leading up to both bedrooms. His house is by no means large, but fairly comfortable for just the two of them. Lemon scented soap from the newly washed dishes somehow is able to fill its sweet, yet tart, aroma throughout the rooms, attaching slightly to each item in the house. Wonwoo has become accustomed to being told he smelt of fresh citrus whenever anyone is near him, usually most people would enjoy compliments of the like, but Wonwoo would much rather stray away from odd interactions with strangers.
“Wonwoo is that you?” Wonwoo’s mother calls from down the hall. “I put away your bedding while you were outside. Are you ready to finish packing?”
While he is quite confident in his packing abilities, he would not dare refuse his mother’s offers of aid, so he simply lets her do what she wants with his belongings since he doesn't have anything to hide .
It has been ten years since Wonwoo’s father had passed. The death of his father meant a rough few years for his mother and him, but they've grown closer from the loss. Since he was only nine, it had been his mother who had taken the majority of the blow. With the thought of so many more years until her son is grown, and all the time he will have to live with out a father constantly weighing down on her, she had nearly driven herself mad with depression. Many nights had been spent by the small fireplace as Wonwoo sits calmly next to his sulking mother. She would complain constantly of how her efforts to pray his father back to life had been useless, sobbing through her sentences, and wetting her hands with her tears. After those years of hardship had ended, Wonwoo decided to dedicate himself to his mother and her happiness.
Wonwoo shuffles his way down the hall and into his room; air from open window tickles his neck as he enters. “My room looks so empty. I mean, it's not like I had much in it before, but I hate when it looks so bare.” He sighs as he picks up one of his pillow pets that he'll sadly be leaving behind and tosses it on his twin-sized mattress.
“I’m proud of you for having a job already lined up,” his mother states. Of course delivering fried chicken wasn’t ideal; the helmet is ridiculous, and riding a moped throws his masculine all-black-look down a few notches. Fortunately, it paid pretty well. “I am also proud that you’ve been able to find an apartment with Soonyoung. I’ve always thought he was good for you. He’s definitely helped you break your habits of isolating yourself in your room.” His mother said to him with joyful eyes through thick-rimmed glasses. He couldn’t remember how tall his dad was, but he certainly did not get his height from her.
“Yeah,” Wonwoo replies with a curl to his lips, slightly smiling. Soonyoung had been his randomly assigned roommate last year. He’s a few centimeters shorter, a much better dancer, and more social than Twitter. It worked out well, and by the end of their Freshman year, they ended up creating a close friendship. “He’s definitely the shining star he claims to be. Anyways, we should probably finish packing up before dinner. I want to be completely packed and ready before I leave tomorrow.”
After what seemed like an eternity, Wonwoo’s room is thoroughly packed into his car, leaving only the driver’s seat clear.
He searches for any last items that he might have missed. His bed is made up with his mother’s old rose colored sheets and comforter, not suiting his personality. At least they’re clean. His old Spiderman alarm clock, paint-chipped piggy bank, sunglasses, and academic awards are scattered on the top of his dresser. Where his desk would normally be, was only a side table with a few books stacked upon each other. Everything was where it should be. When he returns, he knows there will be quite a bit of dusting to do. If he had thought his room was bare before, he feels now as though it is deserted.
His stomach grumbled angrily. Apparently he hadn’t realized how long he spent working on his room. From his room he calls to his mother, “Can we order pizza tonight? I don’t want you to cook, and honestly, I don’t feel like cooking either. I’m spent.”
“Yeah sure honey, order whatever you like. I’ll still eat it.” She replies quickly, engrossed in her television drama.
Waiting for food after he placed an order only seems to increase his hunger, so when it arrives, he can’t help himself. Wonwoo quickly devours every slice his mother neglects to eat. He hadn’t thought of the consequences, and is quickly placed into a drowsy state- from which there is an extremely high chance that he will crash at any moment. His eyes begin to droop as he walks in a zombie-like state toward his room. He decides it’s a sign to call it quits for the night since tomorrow will be extremely busy.
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It’s always difficult when he leaves home, but it’s nice to finally be living on his own. Wonwoo reflects on his good-bye to his mother while he makes his drive to Seoul. She, as most mothers do when their children leave home, watched him leave, waiving franticly with a smile plastered to her face that didn’t quite meet her eyes, which threatened to burst with tears. He hopes she didn’t get any of those tears on her glasses. This is always a situation he tries to avoid, but in moments such as these, they’re inevitable.
On most occasions, the drive from Cheongju to Seoul seemed to drag, but today it speeds by in a flash. The city creeps up on him without a warning, and he is suddenly engulfed in large buildings and hectic traffic. Thankfully, he knows how to navigate this area well after a year of exploration. He then is able to find his apartment building with hardly any trouble.
Once he was able to find a parking space, Wonwoo slowly pulls out two boxes and begins to carry them to his apartment. By the time he reaches the third floor, he realizes that he shouldn’t have chosen the two heaviest boxes in his car. His arms are aching and threatening to detach at any moment. Why did he even act like he had the muscle mass for this? Carefully placing the boxes on the floor with his already overworked arms, he unlocks the door. He barely has enough time to take his hand off of the knob before he’s engulfed in an overwhelming hug by Soonyoung. Maybe not quite a hug, but more like a koala attached to a tree in a tight embrace.
“WOW WONWOO SUMMER WAS EXTREMELY BORING WITHOUT YOU. I MISSED YOU SO MUCH. I MADE US FOOD ALREADY AND I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO GET HERE ALL MORNING! YOU STILL SMELL LIKE LEMONS! I MISSED THAT SCENT SO MUCH!”
Wonwoo stands uncomfortably with his arms crushed to his side. He attempts to break free, but this only causes Soonyoung to tighten his grasp. The messy faded blue hair tickling at his neck is beginning to drive him insane. His skin smells of maple syrup and vanilla, causing Wonwoo to become slightly queasy from the overbearing sweetness. “Hey Hosh. As much as I missed you, and as happy as I am to see you, it would be amazing if you could give my arms circulation again.”
“Oops. Sorry,” Soonyoung apologizes with haste. “Here, let me help you with your boxes since I’ve seemingly broken your arms.”
Soonyoung grabs a box as Wonwoo reluctantly picks up the other with exhausted arms. He feels defeated from the effort he has put into struggling with two boxes up three flights of stairs. Luckily, the movers had brought up the large items like the television, couch, beds, desks, and other heavy furniture pieces the boys would have broken their backs attempting to carry them up to their apartment.
“What did you do this summer?” Soonyoung asks Wonwoo with a struggled breathing as he brings the last box up the stairs.
“When I don’t have you, I don’t have a reason to go out and meet new people,” Wonwoo says, struggling to get out of his mouth through ragged breathing and exhausted lungs, “so I stayed at home, reading novels and playing my guitar.”
“Oh man.” Soonyoung says sounding slightly upset. “If I would’ve known you were going to stay in, I would have invited you to my house for a few days. I could have brought you into the studio to meet some of my new friends. You would’ve loved all of t-”
Soonyoung is so engulfed in his conversation with Wonwoo, he ends up hitting the toe of his foot on the edge of the stairs. Thankfully his years of dancing created fast reflexes, so he is able to saves himself and Wonwoo’s boxed items.
Wonwoo looks around his room realizing all of the work that will need to be put into emptying these boxes. Eh. He thinks to himself, as he struggles to keep his eyes open. I’ll do it tomorrow. He unpacks his bedding hurriedly. It is only a matter of seconds before his legs would give way, causing him to plummet to the ground, so he made his bed with haste. Once his face hits the pillow, the world goes black.
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Knock! Knock! Knock! “Wonwoo wake up!” The loud banging of Soonyoung’s fist on the door makes Wonwoo jolt upward, panick, and topple over onto the carpet.
“It would be nice if you would speak at a lower volume sometimes,” Wonwoo replies, hand rubbing against his newly injured head. “What do you want?”
“What I want is for you to wake up and open this door,” Soonyoung replies with a tinge of annoyance. “I have a question for you.”
“Why does this question involve me opening my door?”
“Because I want to see your shining face!” Soonyoung seems all too eager to ask his question.
For fuck’s sake, what could be this important? “Fine. I’m coming, I’m coming.” Wonwoo lazily uses his palms to push himself up from the carpet and into a standing position. He pushes a few boxes away with his feet, and proceeds to open the door.
“So, I called my friend from my summer dance classes over, and I wanted to know if you were willing to have an unpacking party. Please?” Wonwoo glances over Soonyoung’s shoulder as he speaks in order to grab a good look at the stranger in his living room. His slightly tousled hair is taking on a lavender color that seems to be a dye over what used to be… pink? Blue? Both? Those arms...arms and legs that are just a tad too elongated to fit him. What was the look this kid was going for? A lost puppy? Those large, deep brown, friendly eyes, are somewhat innocent, yet inviting. Wonwoo feels the need to protect him as though he is too fragile to be on his own. “I mean well not really a party, but more like we blast music, dance, and unpack our shit. Since there were only two of us and a bajillion of these boxes, I figured we could use an extra hand.” Soonyoung suggests all of this without properly introducing the puppy-like figure in the background.
“Hello, I’m Minghao.” He says shyly with a small smile and bow.
“Ah, the puppy speaks, AND he has a name,” says Wonwoo jokingly.
“Isn’t he a precious little thing?” Soonyoung asks excitedly, ruffling Minghao’s hair. “He was really shy when joining my classes because he moved here recently from China. His Korean has improved so much since I met him, and I’m proud to call him my dongsaeng. He’s super nice. Also, he’s a year younger so he’ll just be beginning university courses. Luckily he had someone as wonderful as me to help him find a place two floors up. Dorms are a nightmare that I do not want any of my friends to live through. I’m such a great friend.” He states while beaming proudly, as his uniquely shaped almond eyes crease upwards.
“You speak so much that he isn’t even able to tell me these things himself, but I guess you’re a pretty okay friend…” Wonwoo says this with a smirk while continuing with, “It really is nice to meat you Minghao. Thanks for the help tonight. We can definitely use it.”
“Yeah, it’s no problem, I would rather be here than alone in my apartment. My roommate said he was going to be gone for awhile, although when I left, he seemed to be searching for something important in his pile of barely unpacked clothing. I didn’t ask. Not my problem.” He lets out a lighthearted laugh. Wow, for such a puppy, he has little bite to his bark.
“I’m sure he found it. Anyways, since the introductions are out of the way, how’s about you open this box?” Wonwoo asks as he shoves a box across the carpeted floor.
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A few hours passed, and the dancers eventually got bored. They completely stopped packing, investing themselves in feeling the beat and rhythm of the music. Typical. Wonwoo, continued packing while giving the distracted dancers evil glares from time to time. They were so close to finishing. Why did they have to end their ‘party’ when there was only little further to go? Three boxes remained of Soonyoung’s, while only two were left of Wonwoo’s. Wonwoo thinks about shoving a box toward the dancing machines so that they’d fall, but thinks better of it. His wondering mind is brought back to reality and he reaches for a box. This one is labeled ‘kitchen’, which means since he unpacked his dishes first, he gets to decide where their kitchenware will go. Should he make it hard on Hoshi? Should he place all the dishes where he would have difficulty reaching them? “Hey Hosh!” Wonwoo yells over the blaring bass of the music. “If you want dishes where you can reach them you go-”
There’s a sudden knock at the door.
Wonwoo pulls his phone from his pocket to check the time. 2:30 am? Already? Wait. Who would be knocking on the door at this hour? Their music was loud, he admits, but were his neighbors THAT bothered by it? It is going to be a rough year if his neighbors couldn't take a little noise. Before he could even think to stand up, Soonyoung bolts to the door, opening it without looking through the peephole.
“Hey man, can I help you?” He asks. Wonwoo was still unable to see the stranger since Soonyoung had only opened the door wide enough to peak his head through.
“Yeah I left my keys somewhere in my apartment. I thought Minghao would have been back by now, so I hadn’t bothered to search hard enough to find them.” He sounds a bit uneasy, as if he had made a mistake in the apartment number. “He told me he would be here, so I came down for his extra set of keys. I might’ve remembered the number wr-”
“Yo Ming!” Soonyoung calls for Minghao, who had quickly run to the restroom once the door banging had disrupted his dancing. There is a sound of the toilet flushing, and a quick washing of hands, then Minghao appears once again. “This kid says he’s your roommate and that he’s locked out.”
Soonyoung opens the door wider in order for the younger to decipher whether the boy was his roommate or not. Finally, Wonwoo was able to get a good look of Minghao’s roommate.
Fucking hell. He silently cursed to himself. Wonwoo felt as though he would fall to the ground if he had not already been on his knees. This boy was clean cut, tall, dark, and handsome. Long legs looking fit in his dark ripped jeans that stretched up to his structured hips. He’s wearing a baseball tee that clings loosely to his body. Wonwoo thought he, himself, was tall, but the stranger looks like he might have a good inch or two on him. To top it off, the medium brown hair he had is messy, as if he had run his hands through his hair a few too many times. Man, I’d like to run my fingers through his hair...Fuck. Get your head out of the gutter. He’s just the type of man mom warned you about. Although he looks kind, he also seems mischievous. There's that special glint to his eyes. Quickly, Wonwoo shakes his head, realizing he is gawking in awe at this boy, and returns to pulling dishes out of the box. Thankfully, the handsome roommate of Minghao’s leaves with a set of keys for their apartment, not noticing Wonwoo’s staring from a minute prior.
“Minghao,” Wonwoo calls and then says in a hopefully convincing tone, “I know we’re all tired, plus we were able to unpack a majority of the boxes, so I think it’s time to go to sleep. Thank you for helping us out, you definitely made a difference. You should follow your roommate back to your place. I don’t think you would want him to accidentally lock you out. Speaking of your roommate, what’s his name? I don’t believe you ever told us?”
“Mingyu.”