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Kyungsoo couldn't know, not really, but he did have a distracted tendency to stop every time he passed someone attractive and wonder to himself, Is that him? Is he the one? Is he my soulmate? The Do boy assumed his soulmate was a guy because Kyungsoo swore by the idea of soulmates but would probably ask for a refund if he got a girl one. (Those were just not his type.) He was gay and had been out about it for a while—had even dated a little in high school and when he'd first come to college—but a slew of disappointing boyfriends had reminded Kyungsoo of something he'd secretly believed in all along: love at first sight.
He winced at the cold drop of rain through the fabric of his bright red coat onto his shoulder, pausing from his daily perusal of Pinterest to readjust the hood. Without an umbrella there wasn't a lot Kyungsoo could do to protect himself while he waited for the bus, but there were vegan recipe hacks and, even better, smiling gifs of a shirtless Lee Jongsuk waiting for him on his phone. That, in Kyungsoo's opinion, was worth getting soaked for. He could have gone inside to wait, of course, but his student ID was hidden somewhere in his bag and it was simply too much work to look for it. (And Kyungsoo secretly dreamed that maybe one day he'd meet Jongsuk-hyung in the flesh and find out at first look that they were destined to be soulmates. Just the thought of it made his face heat and his body hot, so sitting inside with lots of other warm-blooded college students wasn't the best choice. Even with the rain.)
Shifting from foot to foot, Kyungsoo returned his attention to his phone, shivering but relatively content. Some time passed like that, Kyungsoo blissfully in his own little world, humming under his breath as he pinned a recipe for some wacky chocolate Depression cake and then a picture of baby-Jongsuk back in the days of his School 2013 drama. A tap on his shoulder alerted him to the bus' arrival, and Kyungsoo was surprised at the suddenly flood of people waiting around him. They must have been hiding indoors, he surmised, turning after a beat to the helpful student who'd drawn Kyungsoo from his hot men-induced stupor. The other student had moved, though, or else was hidden under the lip of an umbrella that reminded Kyungsoo, and not for the first time that day either, how silly it had been to leave his own umbrella at home. He was usually much better prepared for life in general but in Kyungsoo's defense, it wasn't his fault that his phone's weather app was useless.
Kyungsoo squinted from student to student, searching in vain under dripping umbrellas and the hoods of raincoats, having a hard time of it since his glasses had long been removed from his face after becoming too water-logged for use. Still, no one particular caught his eye and when the mass of students surged forward suddenly, Kyungsoo whirled around to join their mad rush for a seat on the bus, any thanks to his helpful classmate forgotten. Luckily, Kyungsoo was small, and he soon managed to squeeze under the arm of someone tall enough to be a basketball captain, flashing the ID he'd somehow managed to locate in his bag and falling into a seat right before someone else managed to.
At least, he tried to fall into the seat, but Kyungsoo discovered at the very last second that what he'd assumed was an empty seat was actually just the resting place of a very fancy looking black leather bag.
"Um," he began tentatively, eyes taking in the imposing figure attached to the designer purse-thing. The other student was tall even while seated, and the black of his hooded jacket and dyed hair was enough of a contrast to his pale skin that Kyungsoo briefly considered the existence of vampirism. Kyungsoo took a deep breath, and tried again.
"Um," he repeated, trying to shuffle out of the way of the tall basketball captain without losing his claim over the empty, not-empty seat. "Can I sit here?"
To Kyungsoo's surprise, when the man looked up from his phone his expression was apologetic and nothing at all like the anger Kyungsoo was expecting. Even more surprising was that Kyungsoo found the other guy absolutely breathtaking, so much so that all he could utter was a grateful squeak of thanks and then apology when the guy nodded and moved his bag but then Kyungsoo managed to soak him accidentally with a quick shake of his wet bangs from his forehead.
"You're?" Tao began, his voice higher than Kyungsoo expected and slightly tinged with an accent that Kyungsoo thought might be Chinese. Strangely, his tone was curious, but hopeful too. He didn't seem at all upset that Kyungsoo had probably just water damaged his extremely costly accessory. (Though Kyungsoo did notice that his fellow student did bring the bag a little closer to his chest when Kyungsoo's nerves had him messing with his soaked hair again.)
"Kyungsoo," Kyungsoo finally managed to breathe out airily. "I'm Kyungsoo." And actually, Tao was going to ask "The cute, miniature guy who was so into Pinterest that he almost missed the bus?" but Kyungsoo didn't need to know that, especially since Tao would have eventually gotten his name anyway.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Tao," the other man said with an adorably warm smile as he stretched out his hand to grasp Kyungsoo's from off his lap and give it a firm shake.
(Tao's grip was comfortable, and comforting, and so wonderfully familiar for some reason. And in that moment, somehow, Kyungsoo just knew.)