Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sun was dipping low, casting amber light across the concrete paths and ivy-covered buildings. A gentle breeze tugged at Yeonjun’s jacket as he leaned against a lamppost outside the dance building, scrolling through his phone with one hand in his pocket.

Two girls approached, giggling to each other before one of them stepped forward.

“Yeonjun-sunbae?”
He looked up, unreadable at first — tall, lean, red hair catching the sunlight like fire. His posture straightened, aloof but polite.
“Yeah?”

“Um, sorry if this is random,” one started, twirling a strand of hair nervously. “We just… We’ve seen you dance during practice days, and we were wondering—do you maybe have Instagram?”

The other two nodded eagerly. Yeonjun didn’t move, didn’t answer right away. Just stared, sharp and unreadable. Not rude — just cool. A little intimidating, if they were honest. The girls exchanged glances.

Then—
“Yeonjun.”

A voice, soft but familiar, from behind him.

Yeonjun’s entire body relaxed like muscle memory. His head tilted, expression blooming into something gentler, warmer, softer. Soobin stood there, slightly taller, black hair messy from the wind, wearing a too-big cardigan and holding two convenience store drinks in a plastic bag.

The girls watched in stunned silence as Yeonjun’s icy demeanor melted in seconds.

“Soobinnie,” Yeonjun said, voice suddenly a whole octave warmer, practically glowing. He pushed off the lamppost and stepped toward him, hands slipping around Soobin’s waist with casual ease.

Soobin blinked, looked at the girls, then at Yeonjun. “Am I interrupting?”

“God, I hope so,” Yeonjun muttered under his breath with a grin, pressing his face briefly to Soobin’s neck. He turned to the girls. “Sorry—taken.”

The girls stared. One of them bowed slightly in embarrassment, another murmured “It’s okay, sorry,” and they walked off, whispering to each other.

Yeonjun turned back, arms still loosely around Soobin.

“What?” he asked when he caught Soobin’s raised brow.

“You loomed over them like a final boss.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Yeonjun said innocently, “I was just waiting for you.”

Soobin handed him a drink. “You should put that smile on earlier next time. Might save a few undergrads the trauma.”

Yeonjun just smirked and tugged Soobin closer. “Only smile like this for you.”

Soobin flushed but let him pull him down for a kiss on the cheek anyway.

Chapter Text

Soobin knew who Yeonjun was.

Everyone did, really. You didn’t attend the performing arts division of this university and not know Yeonjun — the red-haired dance major who practically floated through the halls, always surrounded by people, laughter, and the scent of expensive cologne. He wasn’t just cool, he was magnetic. Confident. Effortless.

And Soobin… wasn’t.

He was a quiet literature major who liked to read in empty corners and highlight his books until the ink bled through. His glasses always slipped down his nose during presentations, and he got so nervous during oral exams that his ears turned red.

And yet…
There was Yeonjun.
And there was Soobin.
And Soobin had a tiny, awful, unshakable crush.

“Kai,” he whispered, trying not to look across the quad as Yeonjun walked by. “He’s literally glowing. How does someone glow?”

Huening Kai, lounging beside him on the grass, sipped from his iced drink with zero sympathy. “I think it’s expensive skincare and trauma.”

Soobin choked on his spit.

“Relax,” Kai added, patting his arm. “You’re cute too, in a tragic poet way.”

“I don’t want to be tragic, Kai.”

“Too late. You already carry three pens and a stress-induced jaw clench.”

---

That same week, something weird happened.

All three of them — Soobin, Kai, and Yeonjun — happened to have a free period on Wednesday afternoon. So did Beomgyu and Taehyun, Yeonjun’s best friends.

And thanks to Kai somehow being friends with literally everyone, plans were made.

“No backing out,” Kai had warned Soobin as they walked toward the campus café. “It’s just coffee. And a chance for your future boyfriend to see you being effortlessly mysterious.”

“I’m going to die.”

---

Soobin spotted them first. Taehyun, calm and cool in his black hoodie. Beomgyu, loud and animated, knocking over a sugar container. And in the middle — Yeonjun, head tilted, red hair tied up, fingers covered in silver rings.

Kai greeted them like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Soobin trailed behind.

Yeonjun turned — and looked at him. Really looked.

Soobin felt his lungs seize. He adjusted his glasses.

“Hey,” Yeonjun said, smiling, voice rich and warm. “You’re… Soobin, right?”

Soobin blinked. Nodded once. “Yeah.”

And something flickered in Yeonjun’s eyes — like he didn’t expect the tall, shy boy with dark hair and glasses to have such a soft voice. Like he was… charmed.

“I’ve seen you around,” Yeonjun added, motioning for Soobin to sit next to him. “Didn’t know you were this tall.”

Soobin’s ears turned pink. Kai snorted from behind his cup.

Beomgyu leaned into Taehyun and whispered, “Did you see that? The way Yeonjun looked at him?”

“I saw,” Taehyun murmured, amused. “This is gonna be good.”

Chapter Text

It started fine. Actually, it started… weirdly okay.

Soobin sat between Kai and Yeonjun, legs crossed beneath the small café table, his hands wrapped tightly around a lukewarm americano he wasn’t drinking. The conversation had been light. Easy. Beomgyu had most of the table laughing at some story about a dance rehearsal gone wrong, and even Taehyun had cracked a smile.

Yeonjun hadn’t stopped sneaking glances at Soobin.

At first, Soobin didn’t notice. Then he definitely noticed. Then he couldn’t un-notice.

Every time Soobin glanced up, Yeonjun would already be looking — calm, curious, eyes crinkled with the beginnings of a smile. Not teasing. Just… watching. Like he was trying to figure Soobin out.

And that was the problem.

Because with each glance, Soobin’s brain ran faster. Do I look bored? Am I too quiet? Was my laugh weird? Did I blink too much?

He didn’t say much. Didn’t trust himself to.

He hated the way his fingers started to tremble on the coffee cup.

“Everything okay?” Kai leaned in and whispered.

Soobin nodded a little too quickly. “Yeah, just…”

Yeonjun noticed the whispering. Tilted his head slightly.

“Sorry,” Soobin said suddenly, pushing back his chair. “I just remembered I have an assignment due. Forgot to—uh—print it.”

Kai gave him a small, knowing look. “You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna head back. But it was nice meeting you guys.”

Beomgyu blinked. “Already?”

Taehyun gave a polite nod. “See you.”

Yeonjun opened his mouth, like he might say something — but Soobin was already halfway to the door.

---

Once he was gone, Kai sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“He okay?” Yeonjun asked.

Kai nodded. “Yeah. He just gets… a little anxious around new people.”

Yeonjun frowned, thumb brushing the rim of his cup. “Was it something we said?”

“No,” Kai said immediately. “You were all great. Seriously. He just gets in his head a bit.”

Beomgyu blinked. “But he was so quiet. Like… sweet quiet.”

“He’s always like that,” Kai smiled softly. “But once he warms up? He’s one of the funniest, softest people you’ll meet.”

Taehyun sipped his drink. “Then we’ll just give him space.”

Yeonjun didn’t say anything for a second. Just stared at the door Soobin had disappeared through.

Then:
“He left his pen.”

Kai followed his gaze — sure enough, Soobin’s favorite black gel pen was still on the table, next to his barely touched coffee.

Yeonjun reached for it, twirling it between his fingers.

“Maybe I’ll give it back to him next time,” he said quietly.

Chapter Text

Soobin wasn’t even sure how he got back to his dorm.

One second he was at the café table, trying to focus on Beomgyu’s story, ignoring how his ears were hot and his palms sweaty—and the next, he was speed-walking across campus like the sidewalk might swallow him whole if he slowed down.

He hated this part.

The part after. When his chest felt tight, and every second of the last hour replayed like a cruel little film reel on loop.

You barely talked. You probably looked bored. Awkward. Stuck-up. You just got up and left. God, what if they think you hate them?

He shut the door to his dorm behind him and collapsed face-first onto the bed, groaning into his pillow.

Kai was probably still there. With them. With Yeonjun.

Just thinking his name made Soobin’s heart do something uncomfortable in his ribcage.

He liked him. Stupidly. Had liked him from afar for months. He wasn’t supposed to meet him like that. Not all twitchy and red-faced and monosyllabic. Not when Yeonjun looked like that and sounded like that and smelled like—

Soobin groaned again.

He reached for his phone on instinct and opened his chat with Kai.

> Soobin
Sorry
I didn’t mean to just leave
I got too nervous
I hope i didn’t scare your friends away 😭

He stared at the message for a full thirty seconds before adding another:

> Soobin
Also tell them i’m not like… rude
Or cold
Or emotionally repressed or whatever

Then he put the phone face-down and curled into a ball.

He only lasted three minutes before flipping it back over.

Three new messages.

> Kai 🌸
babe you’re fine
they liked you
yeonjun literally picked up your pen like it was some rare artifact

Soobin blinked.

> Soobin
…what
My pen?

> Kai 🌸
yup
he said “maybe I’ll give it back to him next time” in the most nonchalant voice ever
i think you’ve made an impression

Soobin felt his heart stutter.

He sat up slowly, glasses crooked, hair a mess from where he’d face-planted the bed.

> Soobin
Impression like
“Weird quiet guy” or
“Kind of tall and vaguely haunted”

> Kai 🌸
more like
“shy hot guy with a good pen”

Soobin stared at the screen.

Then at his empty pencil case.

Then back at the screen.

And for the first time that day, he laughed. Just a little.

Maybe it wasn’t a complete disaster.

Chapter Text

Yeonjun couldn’t sleep.

It wasn’t unusual — being a dance major meant his legs often ached from late practices, and his brain refused to shut up when his body was tired. But this time, it wasn’t choreography running laps in his head.

It was Soobin.

The tall boy with the glasses. The soft voice. The notebook in his lap and hands that shook just slightly when he picked up his coffee. The way he’d flinched a little when Yeonjun smiled at him, like affection was some kind of ambush.

And the way he’d left, fast, like he was going to drown if he stayed one second longer.

Yeonjun rolled the pen between his fingers — Soobin’s pen, still faintly warm when he picked it up earlier. Black gel ink. Smooth. Simple. Slightly chewed on the cap, which Yeonjun found weirdly endearing.

“Maybe I’ll give it back to him next time,” he’d said to Kai like it wasn’t sitting heavy in his hoodie pocket all day.

Maybe he just wanted an excuse to see him again.

Maybe he already knew that.

He turned on his side and opened Instagram.

Soobin
He paused.
He didn’t know his last name.

He DM’d Kai.

> Yeonjun
what’s soobin’s @
the tall guy with the existential eyes

Kai responded within ten seconds.

> Kai
lol
@choisoobin.jpg

Of course it had a photography handle.
Yeonjun searched it immediately.

The profile picture was a blurry candid of Soobin looking off to the side, a warm beam of sun cutting across his face like a filter.
The bio read:
📖 lit major | film + photography
📍mostly campus + kai
🌫️ quiet but not that mysterious

Yeonjun smiled. Of course it was minimalist. Of course it had ✨vibes✨.

The grid was… honestly? Beautiful.

Muted tones. Golden-hour light. Black-and-white photos of Kai, photos of the two friends, a few photos of Soobin himself — unposed, caught mid-laugh, adjusting his glasses in another.

He was photogenic in a way that didn’t look like he was trying to be.

Yeonjun clicked on one: Soobin leaning against a window, sunlight catching the edges of his black hair, glasses pushed up, a book in one hand and his expression somewhere between curious and distracted. The caption read:

> 📷: @kaiarchives
i didn’t know he was taking it. but i like it. it feels like a wednesday.

Yeonjun stared longer than he meant to.

He went back to the top.
Hesitated.
Then clicked "Follow."

Chapter Text

It happened sometime between Soobin getting his coffee and exactly three steps onto campus.

He was walking up the stairs toward the library when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out lazily, expecting an update from a class group chat or maybe a campus alert about someone microwaving metal again in the dorms.

It was a message from his class groupchat, but right under, he saw it.

📸 @junonbeat followed you

Soobin stopped walking.

Dead in the middle of the stairs. Causing a poor freshman to almost trip behind him.

He stared at the screen. Blinked. Then blinked again. Then made a noise somewhere between a squeak and a dying cat.

Yeonjun followed him.
Yeonjun. The real, red-haired, shines-in-natural-light Yeonjun.

“Okay,” Soobin muttered, spinning around and heading back down the stairs. “I’m not going to class. I’m deleting my account. And changing my name.”

He beelined to the quad, spotting Kai sitting on a picnic table bench eating a banana and looking annoyingly awake for 9 a.m.

“Kai,” Soobin said, marching up to him, “this is an emergency.”

Kai took one look at his face and didn’t even flinch. “He followed you, didn’t he?”

Soobin made another dying animal sound and collapsed onto the bench next to him.

“I’m going to implode. There’s no way he followed me on purpose. Maybe he clicked by accident. Maybe he thought I was someone else.”

Kai snorted. “Soobin. He asked me for your handle.”

“WHAT.”

“Verbatim text: ‘What’s Soobin’s @ — the tall guy with the existential eyes.’”

Soobin buried his face in his hands. “Kai.”

“Your existential eyes, Soobin.”

He groaned. “This is worse. That means he saw my feed. My dumb captions. The post with the spilled latte. The one where you forced me to pose like a film character. I tagged you as my mom in that one, Kai.”

Kai was already opening Instagram.

“Oh my God,” Soobin hissed, snatching the phone from him. “Do not look. Do not scroll. I’m going to die.”

Kai just grinned. “You do realize this means he likes your page, right? Probably spent last night scrolling through all your carefully curated photography posts and thoughtful little captions and fell even harder in crush with you.”

Soobin froze. “What crush?”

Kai raised an eyebrow. “The one he’s definitely developing.”

Soobin stared at him. “You’re making that up.”

Kai just peeled another banana. “Maybe. But he kept your pen. And now he’s following you.”

Soobin checked his phone again. Still there.

He locked the screen and pressed it to his chest.

“…I need to pick a new major.”

Kai cackled.

Chapter Text

The mid-day campus recess meant one thing: every table on the quad was full of students pretending they weren’t stressed. Laughter, iced drinks, and open laptops littered the grass. Soobin and Kai had scored a shaded bench early, with Soobin’s backpack acting as a makeshift pillow and Kai munching on seaweed snacks like his life depended on it.

“Okay, wait,” Kai said between bites, squinting at his tablet. “This poetry assignment—we have to compare the same poem across two translations, right?”

“Yep” Soobin said casually.

“Then why does this one make zero sense?”

Soobin peeked at the screen. “Because you're reading the dry, literal translation.”

Kai groaned. “Explain. But like... in your weird way. The one I actually understand.”

Soobin sat up and cracked his knuckles like a professor about to drop the syllabus of life.

“Okay,” he began with a dramatic inhale, eyes bright behind his glasses. “Imagine the original poem is this rich, poetic love confession—like, you’re standing in the rain, heart in hand, saying, ‘Even in death, I will remember the scent of your soul.’”

“Okay. Romantic,” Kai nodded.

“Now the literal translation is like: ‘I know your smell and won’t forget it when I’m dead.’”

Kai wheezed.

“That’s the difference,” Soobin said, pointing aggressively. “The translator’s job is to carry the heartbreak across languages. Not make it sound like a funeral Febreze ad.”

Kai lost it, nearly falling off the bench.

And then—
“Wow. That’s... vivid.”

Soobin blinked. Looked up.

Three silhouettes stood in front of the table — blocking the sun like a K-drama moment.

Yeonjun. Beomgyu. Taehyun.

Soobin froze mid-sentence, hands still half-gesturing like an academic owl.

Yeonjun looked amused, his lips tugged into the most painfully soft smile. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt. I was learning a lot about poetic scents and death.”

Beomgyu choked. “Was that about Febreze?”

Kai, unbothered, waved. “Hey. Take a seat. You just missed Soobin’s TED Talk on why poets shouldn’t sound like crime scene reports.”

Soobin looked like he wanted to melt into the grass.

Taehyun sat without a word, sliding Kai’s snack aside like it was his now.

Beomgyu flopped down next to Soobin. “I need you to explain all my readings like that. I understood everything and I didn’t even take the class.”

Soobin blinked. “Oh… I mean, yeah, I guess.”

Yeonjun, still standing, looked down at Soobin with the fondest expression. “You’re way more talkative today.”

Soobin glanced at Kai, who smirked into his juice box.

“I was… just being dumb,” Soobin mumbled, tucking his legs up.

“No,” Yeonjun said, sitting down across from him. “You were being funny.”

Their eyes met. Just for a second.

Soobin looked away first.

But he was smiling.

Chapter Text

Soobin’s cheeks were still warm.

Having Yeonjun and his friends show up mid-rant was not on his agenda for today. He tugged down his sleeves, willing his heart to calm down.

But then—Kai, bless his inability to grasp academic metaphors, nudged him again.

“Okay but explain the part about syntax shifts? Like… what is that actually?”

Soobin blinked. “You want me to keep going?”

Kai grinned. “Please. I need to pass.”

So Soobin nodded, cleared his throat, and this time, he kept it simpler.

“It’s when the order of words gets rearranged, usually for emphasis or rhythm. Like… instead of saying ‘I love you,’ a poem might say ‘Love, I you.’ It throws you off just enough to make you pause.”

Kai slowly nodded. “Okay… okay, that makes more sense.”

Soobin’s hands moved as he spoke — not flailing like before, just gentle, rhythmic gestures that matched his voice. Steady. Clear. Thoughtful.

Across the table, Beomgyu was blinking like someone had just unlocked a hidden part of his brain.

“Wait,” he said, pointing. “That’s why that poem we read for that gen-ed class felt so weird? Like, the one that went ‘To thee I send my sighs’?”

Soobin looked up, surprised. “Exactly. It’s an old-fashioned syntax. But once you reframe it, it reads as a desperate confession.”

Taehyun raised an eyebrow. “I thought it was just broken English.”

“Nope,” Soobin said softly, “just poetic structure from, like, two centuries ago.”

Yeonjun, meanwhile, hadn’t said a word. He was watching Soobin again — but not in the way people usually watch when they’re waiting for someone to finish.

He looked like someone watching the stars for the first time.

Because here was Soobin: glasses slipping just a little, voice soft but steady, explaining language like it was something sacred. And not just explaining it — making them all get it.

The same boy who barely spoke last time was now calmly giving them a crash course in Romantic literature, syntax, and emotional interpretation like he’d been doing it his whole life.

“I’m never reading poems the same way again,” Beomgyu muttered.

“Me neither,” Taehyun admitted.

Kai smirked. “Told you guys. When he warms up, he’s dangerous.”

Yeonjun finally spoke.

“To be honest,” he said, eyes still on Soobin, “I think this is my favorite class I’ve had all semester.”

Soobin, once again, looked ready to sink into the ground. “You’re exaggerating.”

“Nope,” Yeonjun said simply, resting his chin on his palm. “I’m a dancer, Soobin. I like rhythm. And you’ve got rhythm. Just with words.”

And the way he said it — slow, sincere, without any teasing — made Soobin's heart skip a beat.

Beomgyu gagged. “Ugh. That was smooth. Can’t even be mad.”

Kai grinned. “That’s Yeonjun’s tragic flaw. Hot and emotionally literate.”

And Soobin? He was just blushing.

Chapter Text

Yeonjun leaned back in his seat, elbow resting lazily on the table, a soft little smile tugging at his lips.

“I’m a dancer, Soobin. I like rhythm. And you’ve got rhythm.”

Soobin’s brain short-circuited.

He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t even think. All he could hear was a low, alarmed siren in his head blaring:
HE SAID THAT. HE SAID THAT TO YOU.

But before Soobin could even try to recover—

Kai happened.

“That’s because you haven’t seen him dancing to KARA songs,” Kai said proudly, wiping his hands on a napkin like he’d just delivered the truth. “That is rhythm.”

Soobin’s head snapped toward him so fast it was a miracle his glasses didn’t fly off.

“Huening Kai Kamal YOU ARE A DEAD MAN.”

Beomgyu howled, nearly falling off the bench.

Taehyun blinked once, clearly processing this data for future blackmail.

Yeonjun looked like someone had handed him the juiciest drama plot twist of the decade.

“You dance to KARA?” he asked, absolutely beaming.

Soobin groaned, hands flying to cover his face. “Not in public. And it’s not real dancing, it’s just—Kai has videos—”

“Oh he does,” Kai added helpfully. “Step by step, Mister, and once—he did Lupin full choreo with a hoodie tied around his hips. The hips, Yeonjun. You don’t know what you’re missing.”

Soobin wheezed. “I’m changing schools. I’m transferring to the moon.”

Yeonjun laughed, and something about the sound made Soobin peek through his fingers.

He wasn’t laughing at him. He looked… delighted.

“I’ll trade,” Yeonjun said casually.

Soobin blinked. “Trade what?”

Yeonjun reached into his hoodie pocket.
Pulled out the black gel pen.

Held it out between two fingers.
“Your pen. For one KARA dance. Live performance.”

Soobin gawked. “That’s extortion.”

Yeonjun shrugged. “I prefer to call it bartering. For educational purposes.”

Beomgyu wiped a tear. “This is the best lunch break I’ve had all semester.”

Taehyun just took a picture of the pen exchange like it was a historic event.

Soobin snatched the pen and shoved it into his bag, face red but eyes sparkling despite himself.

“No KARA today.”

Yeonjun leaned closer with a grin. “Then I’ll just have to keep the pen next time.”

Soobin opened his mouth to protest, but the bell rang again, breaking the tension like a clean cut.

Kai stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “C’mon, Mister Choi. Time to go pretend we aren’t behind on readings.”

As Soobin turned to follow, he heard Yeonjun call after him.

“Hey,” he said, still smiling, still soft in a way Soobin hadn’t seen before. “Next time, I’ll show you what rhythm looks like on the dance floor.”

Soobin gave a breathless laugh. “Deal.”

Chapter Text

It was sunny again.

Which would’ve been fine, except sunny days meant people wanted to do things. Like gather. Outside. And talk.

Soobin didn’t mind. Not really. He liked seeing everyone again — Kai had dragged him back out to the café patio with the promise of mint chocolate and socializing “only if you want to.” But still, the moment he saw Yeonjun, Beomgyu, and Taehyun already sitting at the table…

He shrank a little.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like them. He did. Too much, maybe.

But his brain still hadn’t processed the fact that Yeonjun — actual Yeonjun, dance major, campus legend, rhythm boy — had said those things to him. Had followed him. Had smiled at him like he was something more than just a quiet lit major with hoodie strings always in his mouth.

So yeah. Today, Soobin sat down quietly. Nodded. Offered a soft “Hey.” Kept his hands folded in his lap.

The others greeted him normally. Yeonjun smiled, Beomgyu waved with a half-eaten cookie, Taehyun offered a calm nod like usual.

But the vibe was… off.

After a few minutes, Beomgyu leaned forward, brow furrowed. “Hey. You okay?”

Soobin looked up. “What?”

“You’re like… super quiet today.”

“I’m always quiet.”

“No,” Taehyun chimed in smoothly, “last time you were passionately explaining 18th-century metaphors with full body movement.”

Beomgyu nodded. “You had a whole monologue about perfume and grief.”

Soobin winced. “I was just… in a mood. You caught me mid-nerd.”

Yeonjun rested his chin on his palm, watching him gently. “We liked mid-nerd you.”

That only made Soobin retreat further into his hoodie.

“I just… I don’t wanna be too much, you know?” he mumbled. “Or say the wrong thing. Or come off weird again.”

There was a beat of silence.
Then Kai reached over and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together with practiced ease.

He squeezed once. “You’re not weird. And even if you were, you’d still be our weird.”

Soobin peeked over at him, trying not to smile.

But across the table… something shifted.

Yeonjun blinked.
Taehyun tilted his head slightly.
Beomgyu’s chewing slowed.

They all looked at the intertwined hands on the table like someone had just dropped a surprise relationship reveal.

Kai, oblivious as ever, was already back to scrolling his phone.

Soobin immediately felt the heat crawl up his neck.

“Oh—uh—” he stammered, untangling their hands. “We’re not—we’re just—Kai’s just tactile—”

Kai looked up mid-scroll. “Wait, did they think we were dating?”

Taehyun raised an eyebrow. “Well…”

Beomgyu pointed with his cookie. “I did catch you feeding him a grape last week.”

“That was for comedic timing,” Kai defended. “Soobin was studying so hard he forgot how to eat. I was saving him.”

Yeonjun hadn’t said anything. He was just watching again, but something behind his eyes had gone… unreadable.

Soobin panicked. “We’re not dating. Just best friends. Since orientation.”

“I knew it,” Beomgyu said. “You’re too chaotic to date each other. You’d implode.”

“Correct,” Kai said, popping a grape into his own mouth.

“Then,” Taehyun said casually, eyes still sharp, “who are you dating, Soobin?”

Soobin sputtered. “No one!”

Yeonjun finally spoke, his voice light, but his gaze focused.
“We never said you had to hold back around us.”

Soobin looked at him. “Huh?”

Yeonjun leaned forward just a little. “You can talk. Or rant. Or explain your weird little theories about coffee cup metaphors and poetic trauma. No one here’s gonna bite.”

Soobin blinked.
Kai gave his hand one more tiny squeeze under the table.
And finally, Soobin smiled.

“Okay,” he said, quiet but sincere. “I’ll try.”

Chapter Text

They ended up staying at the café table longer than usual.

The conversation had drifted into safer, sillier topics — childhood foods, dumb campus rumors, Beomgyu’s ongoing feud with a vending machine that ate his coin every Monday.

And slowly — quietly — Soobin relaxed.

He started speaking up more. Just in little bursts. Adding small comments, laughing softly at Beomgyu’s nonsense, even teasing Kai under his breath. The others didn’t push him. They didn’t crowd him. They just let him be.

And Soobin let himself be seen.

“Okay, okay,” he said at one point, fiddling with the edge of his sleeve, “but if you microwave strawberries, they explode. Like actual war zone. I tried it once in the dorms and it sounded like a gunshot.”

Beomgyu gasped. “You what?!”

“Midnight snack experiment. I had a theory. It failed.”

“You’re a menace,” Taehyun muttered, sipping his tea.

Yeonjun just… watched. His smile was small but warm. He hadn’t looked away from Soobin in the last five minutes.

---

Later, after the others split off to head toward their dorms or practice, Soobin gathered his things slowly, adjusting the strap of his bag and debating if he should just disappear quietly—

“You live in North Hall, right?” Yeonjun asked suddenly.

Soobin looked up, startled. “Uh. Yeah?”

Yeonjun stood and slung his own bag over his shoulder. “Me too. I’ll walk with you.”

Soobin blinked, unsure if he should panic or pretend to be chill. He landed somewhere in between.

“Oh—yeah. Okay.”

They started walking, the quad still lit with warm early evening sun.

It was quiet at first. Comfortable, not awkward.

Yeonjun kicked a loose pebble along the path as they went.

“I liked hearing you talk today,” he said eventually.

Soobin ducked his head. “You mean my microwave war crimes?”

Yeonjun laughed. “That too. But mostly just… you. When you’re not holding everything in.”

Soobin glanced at him. “I’m trying. It’s… scary sometimes.”

Yeonjun nodded. “I get that.”

Soobin tilted his head. “You do?”

Yeonjun gave a little shrug. “You think I came out of the womb being cool and shiny?”

“You kinda give that vibe,” Soobin said honestly.

Yeonjun snorted. “Nah. I just… learned how to fake it. Dancing helped. People look at the surface, you know?”

Soobin hummed. “But the surface isn’t everything.”

Yeonjun looked at him, eyes softer now. “Exactly.”

They walked the rest of the way in a quiet that felt… gentle.

At the doors to Soobin’s dorm, he turned to Yeonjun. “Thanks for walking with me.”

“Anytime,” Yeonjun said. “And hey—”

Soobin looked up.

“You can let go around us. We’ll still like you.”

Soobin flushed. “You make it sound like I’m secretly unlikable.”

“No,” Yeonjun said softly. “I just think you’re more amazing than you give yourself credit for.”

Soobin stared at him, heart trying very hard to leap into the sky.

“…Night,” he whispered.

Yeonjun grinned. “Night, Soobinnie.”

And then he turned and walked off into the dusk like some tragic drama lead with perfect posture.

Soobin stood there for a full minute before going inside, gripping the pen in his pocket like a talisman.

Chapter Text

A week passed, and things had started to feel… easy.

Not perfect — Soobin still got nervous when Yeonjun smiled too long or asked him questions too gently. But he was speaking more. Laughing more. Sometimes he even forgot to be self-conscious.

They’d all been meeting up between classes lately — a quick lunch, a study break, someone’s dorm room full of takeout and loud music. Today was one of those days.

All five of them had squeezed into Beomgyu and Taehyun’s shared dorm, half sitting on the floor, half claiming bean bags, eating spicy rice cakes straight out of the container like savages.

“I think my tongue is dissolving,” Soobin said faintly, cheeks flushed.

“Good,” Beomgyu replied, “it builds character.”

Yeonjun, across from them with his hair tied back in a messy bun, was flicking through a folded program on his lap when he suddenly looked up.

“Oh — by the way,” he said, casual but bright. “I’ve got my mid-semester choreography showcase next Thursday night. It’s part of my grade. You guys should come.”

Taehyun nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

Beomgyu leaned back. “You dancing solo?”

Yeonjun nodded. “Three pieces. Two with partners, one alone. The solo’s the closer.”

Soobin looked up quietly, trying to keep his expression neutral.

He didn’t want to look too eager.

Kai, however, was not concerned with such subtlety.

“Oh, yes,” he said through a mouthful of tteokbokki. “Soobin goes to all of them.”

There was a pause.

An actual pause.

A pin-drop, you-just-said-what silence.

Soobin whipped his head toward Kai, face on fire.

“KAMAL. I SWEAR. LEARN TO SHUT UP.”

Beomgyu’s eyes lit up like a gossip column. “Wait—all of them?!”

“I—” Soobin’s hands flailed. “Not all—just some—”

“Name them,” Taehyun said, because he was evil. “Which ones?”

Soobin buried his face in his hoodie. “Just a few. From far away. Quietly.”

Kai was grinning like a man who knew he was chaos incarnate. “He never comes with me. He always goes alone and sits near the back like a shy fanboy.”

Yeonjun was silent.

When Soobin dared to look up… he wasn’t smirking.

He was smiling — wide, warm, and surprised.

“You’ve been to my shows?” he asked softly.

Soobin wanted the earth to swallow him whole.

“I like watching you dance,” he muttered, barely audible.

Yeonjun blinked.

“Wow,” he said. “That means a lot.”

Soobin immediately turned away and muttered to no one in particular, “I’m never trusting Kai with anything again.”

“Too late,” Kai said cheerfully. “You entrusted me with your heart, bestie.”

Beomgyu fake-sobbed into a napkin. “This is better than cable.”

Taehyun was already opening his notes app to record this for future blackmail.

Yeonjun, meanwhile, just kept looking at Soobin — and that same quiet, genuine look hadn’t left his face since the moment he found out.

Chapter Text

"You’ve been to my shows?” Yeonjun asked, voice low and gentle, almost disbelieving.

Soobin wanted to vanish.

Like, full-on evaporate into thin air.

Across the room, Kai looked so pleased with himself. Beomgyu and Taehyun were leaning in, expressions ranging from mischievous to utterly entertained.

Soobin rubbed at the back of his neck, eyes darting anywhere except Yeonjun’s face.
“I… I thought you knew Yeonjun thanks to Kai? From the other day” Beomgyu said, squinting like he was trying to work out a timeline.

“Yeah, uh…” Soobin’s voice cracked a little. “I, um. I do. Like… now. Thanks to Kai.”

Kai blinked innocently. “He means ‘officially.’”

Soobin glared at him, then looked down again, fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve.
He kept going. Slowly. Like each word had to fight its way out.

“But, like… everyone knows who Yeonjun hyung is,” he said, eyes fixed on a loose thread on his jeans. “Even lit majors. You’re kind of… hard to miss.”

Yeonjun didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.

Soobin could feel his gaze.

So he just kept rambling. “So… yeah. I’ve, uh… I’ve been to your showcases. A few. Before. I just… sat way in the back. Didn’t think you’d notice.”

His voice grew quieter with each word until the last few sounded like an apology.

No one said anything for a moment.

Then:
“That’s really cute,” Beomgyu whispered behind his hand, and Taehyun elbowed him.

But Yeonjun didn’t laugh. He wasn’t teasing.

He just looked… soft.

Like something in his chest had melted.

“You never said anything.”

Soobin looked up. “Wouldn’t that be weird?”

Yeonjun’s smile was crooked. “Weirder than this?”

“…Touché.”

Yeonjun tilted his head, eyes still on him. “You going to this one too?”

Soobin nodded once. “If that’s okay.”

Yeonjun grinned. “It’s more than okay.”

Kai leaned back smugly. “Look at my sons. So emotionally constipated. So in sync.”

“Shut up, Kai,” Soobin muttered.

Yeonjun just smiled and bit back a laugh.

Chapter Text

The auditorium was already half full when Soobin slipped inside.

He kept his head down, hoodie pulled up, camera bag slung across his shoulder like armor. Kai was coming later with the others — Beomgyu had a class, Taehyun a lab. But Soobin? He couldn’t wait.

He didn’t want to.

He picked a seat near the back again — old habits. Close to the center. Good sightline. Close enough to see every movement on stage, far enough that no one would notice if his heart completely fell out of his chest.

Because tonight?
Yeonjun was dancing.

And now Soobin knew him.

Now it meant something.

He fiddled with his camera lens, chewing the inside of his cheek while the showcase started — a few group numbers, some duets. All impressive. All smooth. But he was waiting for one name.

Finally, the emcee announced:

“Next — solo choreography: Choi Yeonjun.”

The lights dimmed.

Then a single spotlight lit the stage.

And there he was.

Red hair damp from sweat, black performance outfit hugging every line of his frame, muscles rippling like silk beneath the lights.

He didn’t move at first.

Just stood there.

And then — music.

Something slow. Instrumental. Full of empty space and soft tension, like breath caught in the throat.

Yeonjun moved with it.

And God, Soobin had seen him dance before — at showcases, in grainy videos, once outside a studio window. But this?

This was something else.

Yeonjun danced like he was pulling emotion out of the air and stitching it into every movement. Sharp turns followed by aching softness. Grace. Anger. Longing.

And halfway through… he looked up.

He looked straight at Soobin’s row.

Eyes scanning the crowd.

And then — found him.

Their eyes locked.

Just for a second.

Soobin forgot how to breathe.

---

After the showcase, the lobby was a buzz of voices and clapping and compliments. Dancers were getting hugged, professors shaking hands. Kai and the others had found Soobin eventually and dragged him to wait with them by the side entrance.

“You okay?” Kai asked, nudging his side.

Soobin nodded numbly. “Yeah. Just… wow.”

He wasn’t sure if it was the performance or the moment in the middle. The part where Yeonjun looked like he was searching for someone — and found him.

Then the doors opened again, and Yeonjun walked out in sweats and a loose hoodie, hair still damp from a quick rinse, face flushed from exertion.

He scanned the group.

And beelined right for Soobin.

Soobin froze. “Oh God.”

Kai casually took two steps back, dragging Beomgyu and Taehyun with him like a mom giving her kid privacy with their crush.

Yeonjun stopped right in front of him.

Still a little breathless. Still glowing.

“So,” he said, smiling. “You came.”

Soobin swallowed. “Yeah. I, uh. I got here early.”

“I know,” Yeonjun said. “I saw you.”

Soobin flushed. “I—wasn’t trying to be creepy. I just wanted to see—”

“You’re not creepy.”

Yeonjun stepped closer. Not too close. Just enough that Soobin could hear the quiet rasp of his voice.

“I looked for you.”

Soobin blinked. “You… did?” The admission caught him.

Yeonjun nodded. “Mid-performance. I wanted to find you.”

“…Why?”

Yeonjun tilted his head, voice warm and low.

“Because dancing for you feels different.”

And that was when Soobin’s heart completely forgot its job and launched itself into the stratosphere.

He opened his mouth, unsure what would come out, when Yeonjun added:

“I’m starving. You wanna come get food with us?”

Soobin blinked.

A date?

No. Group thing.

Still… he nodded.

“Yeah. Okay.”

Yeonjun smiled like he just won something he hadn’t realized he was playing for.

Chapter Text

The classroom was quiet.

Uncomfortably so.

Soobin’s mouth felt dry, his cue cards trembling slightly in his hands. His breath came short, tight in his chest, and the room felt too bright. The professor was already frowning. Some students looked bored. Some didn’t look at all.

He got through three slides.

Stumbled over the fourth.

On the fifth, he lost track of his thoughts completely.

“So… uh… this part… I… I meant to say that the imagery, like, builds tension…”

He froze. The words crumbled.

Someone in the back stifled a cough.

The professor sighed.

“Mr. Choi,” he said sharply, “next time, practice your transitions. And please try not to waste everyone’s time with… whatever that was.”

Laughter. Soft. Enough.

Soobin’s ears rang.

His throat closed.

“I’m sorry,” he managed, blinking too fast. “May I be excused?”

The professor barely waved a hand. “If you must.”

He nodded, grabbed his bag with shaking fingers, and walked — too fast — out of the room.

---

He didn’t stop at the restroom.

Didn’t even stop in the building.

He pushed through the doors and kept going — down the steps, past the quad, around the back of the performance hall, until—

His legs gave out.

Soobin sank to his knees on the grass behind the building, shaking.

His fingers dug into the dirt as he gasped, trying to get air in, but it wouldn’t stick. It felt like breathing through a straw — a short, broken one.

He pressed his palms to the earth, trembling.

This wasn’t new.

He’d had panic attacks before.

But that didn’t make them easier.

---

Yeonjun had a free period.

He’d been on his way to the library, earbuds in, sipping a canned coffee when he spotted something — someone — near the back of the building.

A shape, hunched down. Familiar hoodie. Familiar bag.

He pulled one earbud out, squinting.

Was that…?

He stopped walking.

Then ran.

The closer he got, the more he saw.

Soobin.

On his knees.

Breathing like he was drowning.

“Soobin.”

He dropped his coffee and fell to the grass beside him.

Soobin didn’t look up. Didn’t seem to hear him.

Yeonjun didn’t panic.

He’d seen his little brother have attacks before. Knew the first rule was don’t overwhelm.

“Hey. You’re okay. I’m here, okay?” he said softly, voice steady.

He lowered himself slowly, kneeling beside Soobin, then gently — very gently — placed a hand near his arm.

Not touching. Just close enough to feel.

“Can you hear me?”

Soobin nodded once, shakily.

“Can you copy me, Soobin-ah?” Yeonjun asked. “Just copy me.”

He inhaled slowly. Deep breath in. One hand on his own chest.

Then exhaled, softly. Out through his mouth.

“Just like that. In... and out. Take your time. You’re doing good.”

Soobin’s breaths hitched, but he tried.

In.

Out.

Yeonjun stayed there. Steady. Quiet. A grounding presence.

“Good,” he said, after a minute. “You’re okay. It's alright. It’s just me now.”

Soobin nodded again, jaw tight.

After a few more minutes, his breathing evened. Not perfect. But better.

Soobin finally looked up — and his eyes were red.

Yeonjun’s heart cracked.

“Sorry,” Soobin whispered. “I didn’t mean to— I just— He said, and I— I couldn’t—”

“Don’t,” Yeonjun said gently. “Don’t apologize for this.”

“But I ruined my grade—”

“Screw your grade. You’re more important.”

That made Soobin blink.

Yeonjun finally, slowly, rested a hand over Soobin’s.

It was cold. Trembling.

He didn’t let go.

“Do you get these often?” he asked, voice still soft.

Soobin hesitated. Then nodded.

Yeonjun squeezed his fingers lightly. “You don’t have to hide it from me.”

Soobin didn’t speak.

But he didn’t pull away.

Chapter Text

They sat there on the grass for a while.

The wind was soft, rustling the leaves above them. Somewhere in the distance, a club was playing music too loud through a window, muffled and distant. Campus life carried on.

But here, behind the building, everything was still.

Yeonjun hadn’t moved his hand.

Soobin’s was slowly warming up under his touch — still trembling occasionally, but less like he was falling apart.

Yeonjun kept his voice low. Calm. Just for him.

“You don’t have to answer,” he said, “but… have these been happening for a long time?”

Soobin was quiet for a few seconds. His eyes were on the grass, picking at a little weed like it was the only thing keeping him grounded.

Then he nodded.

“Since high school,” he said softly. “It started after a group project presentation went wrong. I blacked out halfway through it. Everyone laughed.”

Yeonjun’s heart twisted.

Soobin kept going, voice flat but controlled. “After that, I couldn’t do oral things anymore. I tried. I practiced. But it’s like… my brain just empties out. Like it’s trying to protect me, but it forgets I still have to perform.”

Yeonjun listened.

No interruption. No pity. Just space.

Soobin took a deep breath.

“It’s not every time. But when it’s bad… like today… it just hits too fast. I can’t breathe. Can’t think. And then I feel stupid for making it a big deal when everyone else can just… do it.”

He let out a shaky laugh. “Even now, I feel dumb telling you this.”

Yeonjun shook his head. “You’re not dumb. And you’re not weak.”

Soobin looked at him.

Yeonjun’s voice was firmer now, but still soft. “You were humiliated by someone in power. That’s not your fault. And you got yourself out. You protected yourself. That’s strong, Soobin.”

Soobin blinked at him. Then looked down again. His voice cracked just a little.

“…I didn’t think anyone would say that.”

Yeonjun moved his hand — not away, but up — gently brushing his fingers against Soobin’s sleeve. Just a touch, just enough.

“You deserve to hear it. As many times as it takes.”

They stayed like that — knees in the grass, hearts a little sore — for a long time.

No one rushed him. No one told him to move on. No one laughed.

Just Yeonjun, beside him.

Still holding his hand.

Chapter Text

They sat shoulder to shoulder now, legs stretched out, their fingers still loosely tangled between them like a silent agreement neither had dared break yet.

The sun was lower now. A soft orange glow hit the edges of the building, brushing against Soobin’s hair like warmth incarnate. Yeonjun watched him, hesitating for just a second before he spoke again.

“…The first time we met. At the café,” Yeonjun said slowly, “when you left early.”

Soobin looked over at him, wary but open.

“Were you… feeling like this then too?”

Soobin let out a breath through his nose. A kind of laugh, but there was no humor in it.

“Well. Kinda.”

He rubbed at his wrist with his sleeve, eyes flicking down to their hands before he kept going.

“I wasn’t having a full panic attack, but… I was close. My brain was on edge the whole time. You were there. The guys were loud. It was all fine, just… not for me. Not yet.”

Yeonjun nodded quietly.

Soobin glanced sideways, like he was checking to see if Yeonjun still thought less of him now that he knew.

But all he saw was a face full of soft understanding.

Yeonjun didn’t press. Didn’t pity.

Just asked, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Soobin bit the inside of his cheek. “…Because I didn’t want to be that guy. The quiet one who always runs away. Who needs ‘special’ treatment. Who makes things awkward.”

Yeonjun’s voice dropped, gentle and firm.

“You’re not making things awkward. You’re making them real.”

Soobin swallowed hard. His voice was smaller now.

“I just wanted you to think I was cool.”

Yeonjun blinked.

Then broke into a soft, helpless laugh — not at Soobin, but because his heart couldn’t handle that.

“You are cool,” he said. “Even when you’re anxious. Even when you can’t breathe. Even when you ran away from your own presentation. You’re still Soobin. And I like that version of you.”

Soobin looked at him again. Properly.

“… Really?”

Yeonjun didn’t hesitate. “Well, of course Soobin.”

And Soobin didn’t reply, but his hand squeezed Yeonjun’s — just once — like he was saying thank you without words.

After a moment, Yeonjun stood slowly, brushing dirt off his jeans. “Wanna head back?”

Soobin nodded, taking Yeonjun’s hand when it was offered.

And this time, he didn’t let go.

Chapter Text

They walked slowly.

Neither of them said much at first. The tension from earlier had eased into something lighter — not gone, but no longer pressing down like a weight.

Soobin held Yeonjun’s hand loosely, like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to. Like it might disappear at any second.

But Yeonjun didn’t pull away.

They turned a corner near the quad, the grass soft with late light, students passing by in little clusters. Laughter in the air, bikes in the distance. Campus settling into its late-afternoon rhythm.

And then, Yeonjun spoke — quiet, thoughtful.

“…Now I get it.”

Soobin glanced up at him. “Get what?”

Yeonjun gave him a sideways look. “Why Kai took your hand the other day.”

Soobin froze just a little.

Yeonjun didn’t say it with judgment — not even curiosity. Just certainty.

“It’s not that he’s just tactile,” Yeonjun said softly. “It’s because you need it.”

Soobin didn’t reply right away.

But Yeonjun didn’t press.

“I didn’t realize it then,” he continued, voice even. “I just thought you were close. That he was being cute. But now…”

He looked down at their hands, still joined as they walked.

“…Now I see it. You need the grounding. The reminder that someone’s here.”

Soobin’s throat was tight again — but for a different reason this time.

He nodded slowly, eyes fixed forward.

“…Yeah.”

Yeonjun’s thumb brushed gently over the back of his hand. Once.

“So, if it ever gets bad again…” he said, quieter now, “you don’t have to wait for Kai.”

Soobin finally looked up at him.

Their eyes met.

Yeonjun smiled — not flashy, not charming, just warm.

“I’m here too.”

Soobin didn’t say anything.

He didn’t need to.

He squeezed Yeonjun’s hand again. A little firmer this time.

Like maybe, just maybe, it was finally sinking in that he didn’t have to go through this alone.

Chapter Text

The music was already loud when Yeonjun walked in.

It was one of those semi-official college parties — hosted by the art majors, meaning lights were weird, drinks were questionably strong, and there were probably five people vaping in a makeshift blanket fort.

Yeonjun made his way in with Beomgyu and Taehyun, all three looking effortlessly cool as usual. They'd come late, assuming Kai and Soobin wouldn’t show up until way later — if at all.

Beomgyu was already saying something about tequila when someone near the front door gasped and went:

“Wait… is that Soobin?”

Yeonjun blinked.
Turned toward the hallway.

And froze.

Soobin had just walked in.

But this wasn’t hoodie-and-glasses Soobin. This wasn’t shy, soft-spoken lit boy with his sleeves half-chewed from nerves.

No.

This was styled Soobin.

His glasses were gone. His hair was pushed back, subtle waves curling slightly at his temples. He wore black — all black — jeans, boots, a button-up shirt tucked in, and a ring on his index finger. His eyes looked sharper somehow. Lips a little glossy. Shoulders relaxed like he belonged here.

And beside him?

Kai, absolutely smug.

Beomgyu turned to Yeonjun, eyes wide. “What the hell?”

Taehyun whistled low. “Damn. He looks… different.”

“No,” Kai said, appearing out of nowhere, drink in hand and grinning. “He looks the same. Y’all just didn’t pay attention.”

Yeonjun’s heart was pounding.

He hadn’t seen Soobin like this before.
Not styled. Not confident. Not walking into a party like he knew exactly what kind of attention he was about to get.

Their eyes met across the room.

And Yeonjun?
Yeonjun was done for.

Soobin’s lips curled into a tiny smile, and he headed straight toward them.

“Hey,” he said, voice low, steady, playful. “You guys started without us?”

“You—” Beomgyu blinked. “You go to parties?!”

Soobin tilted his head. “Sometimes, when Kai's begging gets annoying.”

“You like parties?!”

“Depends on the music.”

Kai leaned over to Taehyun and whispered loudly, “He danced to SHINee’s ‘Lucifer’ on a table in high school once. Blacked out from embarrassment after.”

“I heard that,” Soobin deadpanned.

Yeonjun was still staring.

Kai smirked. “Jun-hyung, you good?”

Yeonjun coughed. “Fine. Yeah. Totally. Just… you look…”

Soobin raised an eyebrow. “Different?”

Yeonjun nodded. “Yeah.”

Soobin leaned in, just close enough that Yeonjun could smell his cologne — warm, subtle, something with amber and mint.

“Still me, though,” he said, soft but teasing.

Yeonjun swallowed hard. “Yeah. I know.”

And the worst part?

Soobin smirked. Like he knew exactly what he was doing.

Chapter Text

It started subtly.

They were all sitting together now — a little sweaty from dancing, leaning on one another, laughing about someone spilling half a drink on Taehyun’s shoes. Beomgyu was half on the couch, half in Yeonjun’s lap. Kai was scrolling for more music to queue.

Soobin had a third drink in his hand.

He was relaxed, legs crossed, eyes glassy with that warm, tipsy glow — his smile looser, cheeks flushed.

Yeonjun was lowkey obsessed. The way Soobin was leaning against Kai’s side, laughing openly, talking more, hands animated? He was lit up from the inside.

And then it happened.

The beat dropped.

"Mister" by KARA started playing.

And Soobin’s head snapped toward the speaker.

His entire face lit up like muscle memory had just slapped him awake.

Kai didn’t even flinch.

He just sighed.

“Oh no,” he muttered, setting his cup down. “Here we go.”

Yeonjun barely had time to react before Soobin stood up, smooth and steady, and walked to the open space in the room.

He didn’t announce anything.

Didn’t say a word.

He just started dancing.

Perfectly.

Hip sways. Leg lifts. The full choreo.

He even sang along — clear and cheeky and slightly breathless. “거기, 거기, Mister~!”

Beomgyu choked on air. “Is that—?!”

“IS HE—?!”

“HE KNOWS THIS?!” Taehyun yelled over the music.

Yeonjun just sat there.

Staring.

Eyes wide. Mouth parted. Completely still.

Soobin killed it.

Not just the dance — the attitude. The expressions. He was playful and sharp, a little messy from the alcohol but somehow even hotter for it. He winked at the group at the exact right beat.

Beomgyu was wheezing. “I thought he was gonna like, sit in a corner and write poems—?!”

Kai sipped his drink with zero shame. “I told y’all. You just don’t know him.”

Soobin hit the chorus again, hair falling into his eyes, hips rolling like he’d done this in front of a mirror at 3AM more times than he’d admit.

And the other three?

They were ruined.

Yeonjun was trying so hard not to make a noise that would embarrass him.

Beomgyu had his hands on his face. “I am so confused right now.”

Taehyun muttered, “He has no right being this hot. None. This is violence.”

Soobin finished with a flourish, arms up, a proud grin on his face as the final beat dropped — and then stumbled slightly with a giggle, falling into Kai’s lap like it was routine.

“God,” he sighed, head back. “I love that song.”

Everyone was dead silent.

Soobin opened one eye.

“…What?”

Yeonjun coughed. “So. Uh. Soobin. When exactly were you going to tell us you were a literal K-pop backup dancer in disguise?”

Soobin snorted. “I’m not. I just grew up on second-gen girl groups. Kai knows.”

Kai smirked. “I’ve seen him perform STEP by KARA too. That’s a whole other religion.”

Soobin looked at the boys, eyes glassy from laughter and drinks.

“You okay?” he asked, blinking innocently.

Taehyun: “No.”

Beomgyu: “Not even a little.”

Yeonjun?
Yeonjun was looking at Soobin like he was in love and didn’t know how to recover.

Chapter Text

The café was warm, a little too bright for someone who was pretty sure his skull was trying to fold in on itself.

Soobin sat curled up in the corner booth, hoodie up, sunglasses on indoors like he was trying to avoid paparazzi. His iced americano was mostly untouched. He had one AirPod in. Lo-fi beats to regret your choices to.

Kai walked in first.

Completely chipper. Because of course he was.

He took one look at Soobin, grinned, and slid into the booth. “Oh good, you’re alive.”

Soobin groaned. “Barely.”

“You deserve it,” Kai said sweetly. “You destroyed three men in one night. You danced to KARA like your life depended on it. Yeonjun hyung almost passed out. Taehyun hyung literally said, and I quote, ‘this is violence.’”

Soobin groaned again, pulling the drawstring of his hoodie tighter. “I told you not to let me have a third drink.”

“I didn’t. You stole mine. Mid-sip.”

Before Soobin could respond, the bell above the door chimed again.

Oh no.

It was them.

Yeonjun walked in with Beomgyu and Taehyun behind him. All three looked alarmingly fine. Slightly tired, but standing upright. Clear-eyed. Conscious.

Soobin debated climbing under the table.

Instead, he froze in place.

They spotted him instantly.

“Found him,” Taehyun said, like he’d spotted a rare Pokémon.

“Hey, rockstar,” Beomgyu grinned. “Slept well?”

Soobin didn’t answer.

Yeonjun slid into the booth across from him, arms crossed on the table, eyes glittering with unholy interest.

“Hi,” he said, too softly. “Soobin.”

“Yeonjun-hyung.”

“You look like death.”

“I am death.”

Yeonjun smiled sweetly. “You danced to KARA. At full power. In front of everyone.”

Soobin buried his face in his sleeves. “Please don’t. I was drunk ”

“Where’d you learn to move like that?” Taehyun asked, sliding into the seat next to Kai, grinning. “That was not beginner energy.”

Beomgyu slapped the table. “You winked. You did the hip rolls. You even sang.”

Soobin peeked out from his sleeves, miserable.

“I blacked out emotionally halfway through, okay? I don’t remember anything after the chorus.”

Kai snorted. “You winked on beat and posed at the end. That was intentional.”

Yeonjun leaned in a little.

“…Soobin.”

Soobin flinched.

“You can’t just do that to people.”

“Do what?”

Yeonjun stared at him. “Look like that, dance like that, and then come in here looking like a kicked puppy and expect us to function like normal people.”

Soobin blinked behind his sunglasses.

“…You think I looked good?”

Yeonjun’s eyebrows raised. “Soobin. You looked like a final boss.”

Beomgyu held up his phone. “We have video proof, too.”

Soobin lunged across the table with a desperate “DELETE IT—”

Chaos ensued.

Kai just sat back, sipping his coffee calmly, watching his best friend be emotionally demolished by one lovestruck, stunned boy and his two best friends.

"Justice," he murmured.

Chapter Text

Later that afternoon, after caffeine had saved Soobin’s soul and the chaos had mellowed into teasing and secondhand embarrassment, the group scattered off to their respective classes.
Really, who hoes to a party mid-week?

Yeonjun didn’t have one until late.

So he found himself lingering near the quad, headphones in, trying to read something on his phone.

Except he wasn’t really reading.

He was replaying the memory of Soobin dancing to KARA in his mind like a GIF on loop.
The hips. The wink. The stupidly soft laugh after. The way he flopped into Kai’s lap like a devastating little prince.

Yeonjun leaned back against a tree and sighed.

“Hyung.”

He blinked and looked up.

Kai stood there. One brow raised. Hands in the pockets of his windbreaker. Backpack half-zipped like always.

Yeonjun pulled a weak smile. “Hey, Kai.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

Kai squinted.

Then grinned like a shark. “No, you’re not.”

Yeonjun groaned. “Don’t start.”

“Too late. Already started.”

Kai leaned against the tree next to him, clearly not in a rush to go anywhere.

“So,” he said casually. “Wanna tell me how long you’ve been spiraling over my best friend?”

Yeonjun didn’t respond. Just shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and looked away.

Kai cackled.

“That long, huh.”

Yeonjun rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not spiraling.”

“Oh no?” Kai said sweetly. “You’ve been staring into the void for ten minutes straight like Soobin just rejected your marriage proposal.”

“I didn’t—! He didn’t—!”

Kai tilted his head. “Do you like him?”

Yeonjun froze.

Then, quietly: “…I don’t not like him.”

Kai snorted. “That’s the gayest non-answer I’ve ever heard.”

Yeonjun groaned, head tipping back to hit the tree.

Kai leaned in a bit. “Look. I’ve known that man since we were thirteen. I’ve seen him cry over poetry and pass out from caffeine crashes. And I’ve seen every single crush he’s ever had.”

Yeonjun stilled.

Kai smiled knowingly. “You’re his favorite one.”

Yeonjun turned his head sharply. “You’re messing with me.”

Kai raised both hands. “Swear on every KARA comeback.”

Yeonjun blinked, speechless.

Kai’s smile softened. “You don’t have to rush anything. He’s skittish. He overthinks everything. But you make him feel safe. And I haven’t seen him that confident in a while — not just at the party, but lately. Around you. That means something.”

Yeonjun looked down.

“…I really do like him.”

Kai clapped him on the shoulder. “I know. Now go be soft and pretty about it, loverboy. I’m late to class.”

He turned on his heel and walked off, leaving Yeonjun standing there with his heart beating a little too fast and the words you’re his favorite one echoing like a bell in his chest.

Chapter Text

Soobin was half-dead in bed when the knock came.

He blinked slowly from his cocoon of blankets, hair a mess, glasses crooked, a hoodie three sizes too big swallowing his frame. His hangover wasn’t awful anymore — just enough to make the lights feel rude and his body move like wet laundry.

The knock came again.

He frowned, dragging himself out of bed, muttering, “If it’s Kai, I swear to God—”

He opened the door.

And froze.

“…Yeonjun-hyung?”

Yeonjun stood there, leaning casually against the doorframe with a soft smile and a plastic bag in hand.

“Hey,” he said. “You look alive. Barely.”

Soobin blinked. “What are you doing here?”

“I brought snacks,” Yeonjun shrugged. “Figured you’d be too lazy to feed yourself.”

He held up the bag like it explained everything: a banana milk, some crackers, a triangle kimbap, and—peach gummies. Soobin’s favorite.

Soobin stared at it. Then at Yeonjun.

“…You remembered the gummies?”

Yeonjun grinned. “You talk about them a lot.”

Soobin’s ears turned red.

He stepped aside without a word.

Yeonjun entered slowly, his eyes scanning the room — it was neat, but lived in. A few books stacked on the desk, a camera on the windowsill, a tote bag hanging off the back of the chair. Fairy lights above the bed that definitely weren’t Soobin’s idea but Kai’s doing. A photo of the two of them tucked into the mirror frame.

It smelled like fabric softener and paper.

Yeonjun liked it immediately.

Soobin sat on the edge of the bed, looking awkward. “Sorry I look like roadkill.”

Yeonjun chuckled. “You looked like a rockstar yesterday, so this balances it out.”

Soobin groaned, flopping back dramatically. “Please don’t bring that up.”

Yeonjun sat beside him, cross-legged. “Why not? You slayed. I’m still recovering.”

Soobin peeked at him from under his sleeve. “You’re teasing me.”

“I’m in shock. There’s a difference.”

Soobin rolled his eyes but didn’t argue.

Yeonjun handed him the banana milk.

They sat in silence for a minute while Soobin drank it, grateful.

“…Thanks for coming,” he said, voice quieter now. “You didn’t have to.”

Yeonjun shrugged. “I wanted to.”

Soobin looked up.

Yeonjun was already watching him.

“I just… wanted to see you,” Yeonjun added, more honest this time.

The silence stretched.

Soobin’s fingers tightened around the bottle, but his voice stayed soft. “I’m glad you did.”

Yeonjun smiled.

No teasing. Just warmth.

Soobin looked at him like he didn’t know what to do with all the affection he was being handed so freely.

And Yeonjun?

Yeonjun was already thinking about the next excuse to see him again.

Chapter Text

They didn’t talk for a while — not in a heavy way, just comfortable. Soobin leaned back against the wall, sipping banana milk and letting the fog in his brain clear. Yeonjun opened the crackers and passed him one without saying a word.

Eventually, Yeonjun stood up to stretch and wandered toward the bookshelf. “Can I snoop?”

Soobin blinked. “You’re already doing it.”

“True.” Yeonjun smiled over his shoulder. “Just wanted to sound polite.”

He scanned the shelves. A mix of literature and poetry books, photography collections, a row of neatly stacked sketchbooks. A little framed photo of Soobin and Kai at the beach — both laughing, hair a mess, arms around each other’s necks.

Then, lower down, he spotted them.

“Wait…”

Yeonjun crouched, pulling a box from the shelf.

It was full of K-pop albums. Not a few. A lot.

Soobin straightened, eyes going wide. “Hyung, no—”

Yeonjun was already flipping through the stash. TXT, of course. SHINee. Taeyeon. IU. Stray Kids. A few Twice and 2PM albums.

And then—

“KARA,” Yeonjun breathed. “So many KARA albums.”

Soobin groaned, face going red. “I was fifteen!”

“Why do you have five copies of Step?”

“I like the concept photos!”

Yeonjun pulled out the Mister album with a smirk. “This one should be in a museum after last night.”

Soobin covered his face with both hands.

Yeonjun flipped through it gently. “Honestly, your taste is elite. This era was iconic.”

Soobin peeked at him. “You’re not judging?”

“Not even a little,” Yeonjun said, placing it carefully back. “I think it’s cute.”

He stood up, hands brushing his jeans off, and leaned against the desk casually.

“You like girl groups, old poetry, and peach gummies. You're basically built to be adored.”

Soobin stared at him.

Then blinked. “What?”

Yeonjun gave a crooked little smile. “Nothing.”

Then something else caught his eye on the mirror above the desk. He stepped closer and pointed. “Is that you?”

Soobin looked over. “Ah—yeah. That’s, um, me and Kai.”

A tiny photostrip, just the two of them. Kai was making stupid faces, Soobin trying not to laugh in the first two frames, then openly smiling in the last two.

Yeonjun leaned in. “You look happy.”

“I was. Kai dragged me to this photo booth like two minutes after I cried about an exam.”

Yeonjun smiled at the strip, then turned back to Soobin.

“You smile like that around me too.”

Soobin froze.

His ears went red so fast it was impressive.

“I—uh—”

Yeonjun’s voice was softer now, his gaze a little more intense. “Just saying.”

Soobin hid behind his banana milk.

Yeonjun didn’t push.

He just sat back down beside him.

Like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Chapter Text

Soobin closed the door behind Yeonjun.

He stood there for a second.

Then two.

Then three.

Just... staring at the wood like it might offer answers.

It didn’t.

His face was still warm. His hands weirdly shaky. He kept hearing Yeonjun’s voice in his head like a broken record:

> “You smile like that around me too.”

> "You're basically built to be adored."

Soobin dropped onto his bed like a rock. Stared up at the ceiling.

> That was just how Yeonjun talked, right?
Like. Charming. Easy. Like breathing.

Because Yeonjun was cool. Like, actually cool. Dance major. Red hair. Loud laughter, bright confidence, walk-into-a-room-and-everyone-turns-to-look cool.

Soobin was... not.

He was Literature Department quiet. He was “forgot to answer the group chat” shy. He was photostrips with Kai, KARA albums, mild social anxiety and banana milk.

There was no universe where Yeonjun liked him. Not really. Not for real.

He fumbled for his phone and called the only person who could handle this level of spiral.

Kai picked up on the second ring.

“Hi bestie who can’t emotionally regulate, what’s up.”

“Kai,” Soobin said, voice already shaky.

“Uh-oh.”

“I—he—Yeonjun just left and—he likes me? He said stuff. Like stuff stuff. But he doesn’t, right?”

Kai blinked audibly through the phone. “What.”

“I mean, he can’t like me,” Soobin rushed. “He’s Yeonjun-hyung. He’s dyed his hair like three times and still looks good. He dances. People swoon. He was probably voted hottest on campus without even trying.”

“You did swoon.”

“Exactly!” Soobin cried. “I swoon. That’s what people do around Yeonjun. He doesn’t do the swooning! He’s the swoonie!”

“‘Swoonie’ isn’t a word.”

“Not the point!”

Kai sighed. “Okay, slow down. What exactly did he say?”

Soobin curled further into his blanket. “He brought me snacks. Said I smile around him like I did in that photo strip with you. That he wanted to see me. And when he found the KARA albums he said my taste was cute. CUTE, KAI.”

Kai paused.

“Do I need to call him and scream I told you so directly into his ear?”

Soobin groaned. “Kai. He can’t like me. I’m just—me.”

There was a long silence.

Then Kai said, softly but firmly:

“You’re Soobin. You’re smart. You’re sweet. You overthink yourself into a coma and still find time to help me format essays at 3AM. You love lyrics more than air. And yeah, you drink too much banana milk and collect albums like they’re currency. But you are not invisible. You’re not less.”

Soobin didn’t speak.

Kai went on. “So maybe it’s time to stop deciding who’s allowed to like you. Because from where I’m standing, he already does.”

Soobin stared up at the ceiling.

Swallowed hard.

“…But what if he changes his mind?”

“Then he’s a damn fool.”

Another long pause.

“…Thanks,” Soobin mumbled, voice thick.

Kai smiled through the phone. “Anytime, swoonie.”

“Don’t. Ever. Say that again.”

Chapter Text

Soobin didn’t expect to see him that morning.

He’d barely made it to his 9 a.m. class, hair damp from a rushed shower, hoodie sleeves covering half his hands, brain still spinning from what Kai told him the night before.

> “Maybe it’s time to stop deciding who’s allowed to like you.”

He’d barely processed it.

And then—

“Soobin.”

He looked up mid-step.

Yeonjun stood there, leaning against the wall outside the lit building, hands in the pockets of a denim jacket, red hair glinting in the sun.

Soobin blinked. “Hyung?”

Yeonjun smiled. “Hey. I was… waiting for you.”

Soobin immediately panicked. “Did I—are we meeting? I didn’t check my texts this morni—”

“No, no,” Yeonjun cut in, waving a hand. “I just… wanted to catch you before class.”

Soobin paused. “…Why?”

Yeonjun looked at him for a second. Then sighed like he was psyching himself up.

“I wanna hang out,” he said simply.

Soobin tilted his head. “We hang out all the time.”

“No,” Yeonjun said. “I mean, just us. Me and you. No Kai. No Beomgyu. No Taehyun. No distractions. Just…”

He trailed off.

Soobin stared at him, stunned.

“…Like a date?” he asked quietly.

Yeonjun’s lips twitched. “Yeah. Exactly like a date.”

Soobin blinked.

Then blinked again.

“I mean—only if you want to,” Yeonjun added quickly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t want to pressure you or anything. You don’t have to say yes just because I brought you snacks once or—”

“I want to.”

Yeonjun froze. “What?”

Soobin looked away, cheeks pink. “I want to go. With you. On a date.”

Yeonjun smiled — that wide, soft, Yeonjun when he really means it kind of smile.

“Cool,” he said, too casually, but his ears were turning red too. “Cool cool cool. So… Friday?”

“Friday,” Soobin repeated.

Yeonjun nodded. “I’ll text you.”

Soobin ducked into the building a minute later, still stunned, heart pounding, hoodie sleeve clutched tight in one hand.

Behind him, Yeonjun let out the breath he’d been holding and whispered to himself:

“Holy shit.”

Chapter Text

Soobin✒️ → Kai (1:12 PM)

> Kai
Kai
kai
HE ASKED ME OUT?????

Kai🌸→ Soobin (1:12 PM)

> I KNOW
I SAW IT COMING IN 4K
tell me everything or I’ll block you

---

Yeonjun🕺 → Taehyun & Beomgyu (1:13 PM)

> soobin said yes.
like. yes yes. like a date. with me.
WHAT DO I WEAR. DO I BRING HIM A GIFT?? DO I BE NORMAL???

Taehyun🧊 → Yeonjun(1:13 PM)

> Bro breathe
You already flirted with him over banana milk
the bar is manageable

Beomgyu🐻→ Yeonjun(1:14 PM)

> wait are you texting US about this while he’s probably texting KAI???
oh my god we’re in the middle of a romcom

---

Kai🌸→ Taehyun, Beomgyu (1:14 PM)

> guys
we have a situation
Soobin is LOSING it

Taehyun🧊→ Kai, Beomgyu (1:15 PM)

> Good
Yeonjun’s currently spiraling over what shirt makes him look “casually dateable but not desperate”

Beomgyu🐻→ Kai, Taehyun (1:15 PM)

> if these two don’t kiss by the end of this month I’m going to lock them in a room with KARA playing on loop

---

Soobin✒️ → Kai (1:16 PM)

> Ehat do I even WEAR?
I only have like three moods: sleepy, softer sleepy, and funeral-core

Kai🌸 → Soobin (1:16 PM)

> wear the soft black turtleneck
the one that makes you look like a hot tortured poet
I KNOW you know the one

Soobin✒️→ Kai (1:17 PM)

> Okay but
What if I mess this up?
What if he realizes I’m just... me?

Kai🌸 → Soobin (1:17 PM)

> you ARE just you
and he asked you out
not some filtered version
you’re everything he thinks about at night, trust

---

Yeonjun🕺 → Taehyun & Beomgyu (1:18 PM)

> I’m scared I’ll ruin it
he’s so sincere. I’m not used to that. what if I act dumb or say something stupid?

Taehyun🧊 → Yeonjun (1:18 PM)

> You’re literally always dumb and he still said yes
You’re fine

Beomgyu🐻 → Yeonjun (1:18 PM)

> say something stupid
he’ll blush
mission accomplished

---

Kai🌸 → Taehyun & Beomgyu (1:19 PM)

> they are the same brand of disaster
we’re just watching two oblivious idiots fall in love
it’s like national geographic

Taehyun🧊→ Kai & Beomgyu (1:19 PM)

> We’re witnessing history

Beomgyu🐻 → Kai & Taehyun (1:19 PM)

> god bless

Chapter Text

The plan was simple: café, walk, something chill.

But nothing felt chill when Yeonjun saw him standing there.

Soobin was already waiting outside the café when he arrived — swaying gently on his feet, hands tucked into the sleeves of his baby blue cardigan, the soft knit contrasting the sharp line of his black top, which hugged him just right and exposed a thin sliver of skin above his jeans.

No glasses. Hair fluffy. Face open and nervous.

Yeonjun actually stumbled.

“Soobin?” he asked, because his brain needed confirmation before short-circuiting.

Soobin turned.

And smiled. Shy. But real.

“Hey.”

Yeonjun blinked. “You look—”

> You look ethereal. You look like you walked out of a dream. You look like you’re gonna ruin me, actually.

“—really cute,” he said instead.

Soobin flushed. “Oh. Um. Thank you. I almost wore something else, but Kai threatened to burn it.”

Yeonjun grinned. “Remind me to thank him later.”

He himself was in a black denim jacket, white tee, and silver chain — relaxed, cool, effortless like always. But next to Soobin?

He felt like he was trying too hard and not hard enough all at once.

They stepped inside together, ordered drinks (iced americano for Soobin, obviously), and settled into a corner booth.

For a moment, it was quiet.

Then Soobin spoke first — barely above a whisper. “Is this weird for you?”

Yeonjun looked up. “Weird?”

Soobin tugged on his sleeve. “I mean. We’re friends. We hang out. But this is… different.”

Yeonjun tilted his head. “It is.”

Soobin’s shoulders tensed.

“But it’s a good kind of different,” Yeonjun added.

He leaned forward a little, fingers playing with the edge of his straw. “I’ve liked you for a while, you know.”

Soobin blinked. “You have?”

Yeonjun laughed softly. “You think I ask everyone about their favorite milk flavor?”

Soobin hid his face behind his drink.

“You’re easy to talk to,” Yeonjun went on, more honest now. “Even when you’re anxious. Or rambling. I like your brain. I like how you explain stuff like it matters. I like… you.”

Soobin peeked up from his cup.

“…I thought you were just being nice.”

“I’m not that nice,” Yeonjun smiled. “You’re kind of my exception.”

Soobin’s heart was thudding so loud it might’ve shaken the table.

He didn’t know what to say.

So Yeonjun reached across — just brushing the back of Soobin’s hand with his fingertips. Light. Careful.

But Soobin didn’t pull away.

And then Yeonjun smiled.

“You’re real, right?” he asked softly.

Soobin smiled too, small and crooked.

“I think so.”

Chapter Text

They were still at the café when the conversation turned a little quieter — the kind of hush that came naturally when the nerves had faded and something real wanted to fill the space.

Yeonjun was looking at Soobin like he didn’t want to blink. His elbow was propped on the table, cheek in his palm, eyes soft.

“So,” he said, voice warm. “Can I ask you something?”

Soobin nodded slowly. “Yeah?”

Yeonjun tilted his head. “When did you… start liking me?”

Soobin blinked.

Then blinked again, visibly panicking for a second.

Yeonjun smiled gently. “You don’t have to answer if it’s weird—”

“No,” Soobin said, cheeks going pink. “No, I… I want to.”

Yeonjun waited.

Soobin took a breath.

“It was my first year,” he started quietly. “I was completely lost. The campus felt massive, I had no clue how to talk to people, and I didn’t know where I fit.”

Yeonjun nodded, listening.

“And then… I saw you,” Soobin continued, looking down at his cup. “Your hair was still blue, back then. Not the bright one. That soft sky shade.”

Yeonjun blinked. “Oh my god. That era?”

Soobin smiled a little. “Yeah. You were laughing outside the dance studio. I didn’t even know your name yet. But you looked so…” He paused. “So cool. But soft too. You were surrounded by people and you still looked like the brightest part of the room.”

Yeonjun sat very still.

Soobin glanced up, voice softer. “And then I saw you dance.”

“Oh no,” Yeonjun whispered. “You saw my first-year choreography?”

“I saw everything,” Soobin admitted. “After that day, I never missed a single showcase. Not one. Even the small studio clips. Even when I had deadlines.”

Yeonjun’s heart was gone.

He blinked fast. “You… stalked me?”

Soobin squeaked. “I didn’t! I just— I mean— I was curious! At first! And then— okay, maybe a little! But only academically!”

Yeonjun burst out laughing.

Soobin groaned, hiding his face in his sleeves again. “Kai said I shouldn’t admit the showcase thing…”

Yeonjun reached across the table again, this time taking Soobin’s hand fully.

“You have no idea how much that means to me,” he said softly.

Soobin peeked up.

Yeonjun’s thumb brushed his knuckles. “That whole year, I thought I was just flailing around. Trying too hard. I didn’t think anyone was really watching. And now I find out this quiet, brilliant lit major with banana milk in his veins was in the crowd every time?”

Soobin flushed deeper.

“I just liked seeing you move,” he said honestly. “You made me feel like things could be okay. Even if I didn’t know basically anyone.”

Yeonjun smiled.

Then he leaned in, just a little. “You know what the best part is?”

Soobin tilted his head.

“I’ve been watching you now. And you move me the same way.”

Chapter Text

Soobin didn’t know what to say.

He was still stuck on “You move me the same way.”
His heart had cracked wide open like a peach, and now he was just sitting there, skin warm, hands clammy, tongue tied in knots.

Yeonjun was watching him, fingers still wrapped around his hand, smile soft and all-knowing — like he knew exactly what kind of havoc he’d caused.

Soobin blinked once.

Then twice.

Then—

> “Do you want to come to my room again?”

Yeonjun’s eyebrows lifted.

Soobin froze.

A full beat passed.

“I-I meant like last time! Snacks and talking and—and not like that, I mean it can be like that, I mean not that that, just—”

Yeonjun was smirking.

Soobin buried his face in his cardigan sleeve. “Oh my god. I’m gonna throw myself into traffic.”

Yeonjun chuckled, still holding his hand. “I would love to come over again.”

Soobin peeked up. “You would?”

“Of course,” Yeonjun said, that warm honesty still in his voice. “I like being around you. Even when you say ridiculous things.”

Soobin groaned softly. “I don’t usually. You just make me…”

“Flustered?”

“...Yeah.”

Yeonjun smiled. “Good.”

They sat in it for a moment. The soft buzz of the café in the background, their hands still joined.

And then Yeonjun leaned forward just slightly, voice dropping lower.

“Do you want me to come over tonight? Or are we pacing this whole romance thing?”

Soobin turned bright red.

But he didn’t say no.

Instead, after a very long breath, he whispered:

“…You can come.”

Chapter Text

The knock on his bedroom was gentle, but Soobin’s heart skipped anyway.

He’d barely gotten on his oversized hoodie and soft sweatpants when Yeonjun appeared at the door, holding two steaming cups of tea.

“Hey,” Yeonjun said softly, stepping inside like he belonged there — because, somehow, he already did.

Soobin smiled, a little shy. “You made tea?”

“Thought you might need it after all the banana milk,” Yeonjun teased, setting a cup down on the desk.

They settled on the bed, sitting close but not quite touching — yet.

Soobin fiddled with the hem of his sleeve, eyes flicking up to Yeonjun every now and then. Yeonjun, on his sweatpants and oversized shirt.

“Thanks for coming.” he said quietly.

Yeonjun reached over, brushing a stray strand of hair behind Soobin’s ear. “Wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

The room felt small and warm and perfect.

Minutes passed in comfortable silence, the soft hum of the city outside barely audible.

Then Yeonjun’s hand found Soobin’s, fingers intertwining naturally.

Soobin didn’t pull away.

Instead, he leaned in just a little, and Yeonjun mirrored him.

Neither said it out loud, but the promise was clear.

They were exactly where they were supposed to be.

Chapter Text

They’d been sitting side by side for a while now — the tea mostly forgotten, the world outside the dorm reduced to a muffled blur.

Soobin had curled into the corner of the bed, legs tucked under himself, hoodie sleeves pulled halfway over his hands again. He looked soft. Too soft. Dangerously soft.

Yeonjun was watching him, propped up on one elbow, his thumb lazily brushing the back of Soobin’s hand every now and then.

And then, softly—

> “Aren’t you gonna take off your contacts?”

Soobin blinked at him.

Then blinked again. “…Huh?”

Yeonjun smiled. “You’ve been blinking like your eyes are dry for the past ten minutes.”

Soobin flushed. “Oh. I—uh. Yeah. I usually take them off before bed. But, like, you’re here, so I didn’t want to look—”

He cut himself off.

Yeonjun raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t want to look what?”

Soobin shrank into his hoodie. “...Glasses-y.”

Yeonjun stared for a beat.

Then sat up straighter. “You mean cute as hell? That’s your reason?”

Soobin groaned and covered his face. “I’m not—”

Yeonjun reached over and gently tugged his hands away. “Soobin. I saw you dance to KARA in a crop top. You think glasses are gonna change anything? Besides, I've seen you in them once or twice before.”

Soobin mumbled something that might’ve been “you’re unfair” but it was muffled by how much his face was trying to melt into the mattress.

Yeonjun leaned closer, nose brushing Soobin’s cheek.

“Please put them on,” he whispered. “I’m emotionally invested in seeing sleepy Soobin with glasses and messy hair.”

Soobin swatted him. Lightly. Half a protest, half a blushing mess.

But a minute later, he got up, shuffled over to his desk drawer, took off the contacts and returned with his glasses in hand.

Yeonjun sat up a little straighter as he slipped them on.

And then promptly stopped breathing.

Because now Soobin looked like someone who’d just rolled out of bed and a romantic poetry final — all wide eyes and flushed cheeks and tousled hair.

Yeonjun blinked. “You’re trying to kill me.”

Soobin looked at him, eyes confused. “What?”

Yeonjun smiled slowly, then tilted his head. “You really have no idea how pretty you are, do you?”

Soobin opened his mouth to argue.

Nothing came out.

So instead, he buried his face in Yeonjun’s chest with a squeaky groan, and Yeonjun just laughed, wrapping his arms around him like he’d been waiting to do it forever.

Chapter Text

It was barely 9:00 AM when Kai pushed open Soobin’s dorm door without knocking.

In his defense, he basically lived here too, and Soobin usually kept it locked when he had company.

He just needed his charger.

What he didn’t need was to be mentally scarred by the overwhelming domestic vibe that hit him the moment he stepped in.

The room was still dim, light filtered through the curtains. The two mugs from the night before still sat on the desk.

And on the bed — Soobin and Yeonjun.

Cuddled up under Soobin’s navy duvet like a damn couple.

Yeonjun on his back, one arm tucked behind his head, the other curled protectively around Soobin’s waist. Soobin, with his glasses askew, breathing softly into Yeonjun’s chest like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Kai froze.

So did his soul.

“…You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he whispered to himself.

He pulled out his phone with the solemn urgency of a man documenting history.

---

🌸 Kai → Taehyun & Beomgyu (9:01 AM)

> I FOUND THEM
I FOUND THE LOSERS
CUDDLING
FULL BOYFRIEND MODE
GLASSES AND ALL

🐻 Beomgyu → Kai, Taehyun (9:01 AM)

> SEND. PICTURES. OR I’M CALLING THE COPS.

---

Kai did not send pictures.

He had enough mercy in his soul for that.

Instead, he slowly backed out of the room and shut the door like he’d just stumbled upon a sleeping dragon and didn’t want to wake it.

---

🌸 Kai → Taehyun & Beomgyu (9:03 AM)

> No pics
but let me paint you a picture:
soobin was tucked into yeonjun like a goddamn custom body pillow
one (1) hand on back
one (1) head on chest
glasses still ON
I want to throw them both in the laundry

🧊 Taehyun → Kai & Beomgyu (9:04 AM)

> They’re not even dating yet and they’re already like this
I’m terrified of what’ll happen once they kiss

🐻 Beomgyu → Kai & Taehyun (9:04 AM)

> they’ll spontaneously combust we’re gonna have to separate them with a hose

---

Meanwhile, inside the room, Yeonjun stirred.

Soobin mumbled something into his chest.

Yeonjun cracked one eye open. “Was that Kai just now?”

Soobin didn’t move. “Probably. You didn’t lock the door, right?"

Yeonjun hummed, pulling him in closer. “Guess we’re doomed.”

Soobin nodded sleepily.

And neither of them moved for another thirty minutes.

Chapter Text

Brunch had been Taehyun’s idea.
“Well,” Taehyun’s mouth said.
But really it had been Taehyun, Beomgyu, and Kai huddled in the group chat like:

> “We need a public intervention.”
“If I see them ‘accidentally’ brush hands one more time I’m shaving Yeonjun’s head in his sleep.”
“Let’s get food. If they don’t kiss by the third mimosa I’m throwing mine.”

So they met at a small café near campus, five of them crammed into a corner booth.

And right away, it was chaos.

Because Soobin and Yeonjun showed up together.

Not just “we arrived at the same time” together.
No.
Yeonjun was wearing Soobin’s hoodie.
Soobin was wearing Yeonjun’s silver chain.

> War crimes.

---

Kai’s internal monologue:

> “They’re already sharing clothes.
They shared a bed.
THEY SHARED A CHAIN.
JUST SHARE A KISS AND SAVE US.”

---

Meanwhile, Yeonjun was sitting dangerously close to Soobin. Like thigh-to-thigh, knee-to-knee close.
They weren’t even being subtle.

“Did you sleep okay?” Yeonjun asked him, voice soft.

Soobin nodded. “Slept better than I usually do.”

Taehyun deadpanned. “Gee, wonder why.”

Soobin blinked. “Hm?”

Beomgyu groaned into his iced coffee. “We’re all suffering.”

Kai leaned over and stage-whispered to the two of them, “Just for the record, this isn’t subtle. You’re not subtle people. You’re very loud about your pining.”

Soobin flushed. “I’m not pining.”

Yeonjun, without missing a beat: “He’s not. I am.”

Chaos. Absolute chaos.

---

At some point, Beomgyu nudged Kai under the table. “Bet he kisses him before the check arrives.”

Kai snorted. “Bet he doesn’t. He’s gonna hover like a coward.”

Taehyun took a bite of his pancake. “They’ll hug. One of those long ones with hand-on-the-back-of-the-neck energy. But no kiss. Losers.”

Meanwhile, Soobin had leaned his head onto Yeonjun’s shoulder.

Yeonjun, like it was second nature, ran a thumb across Soobin’s knee under the table.

Taehyun dropped his fork. “Kiss him or I’m calling the cops.”

---

Eventually, the check arrived. The moment of truth.

Soobin reached for his wallet. “I got mine.”

Yeonjun, softly: “You’re not paying for your own brunch, are you kidding?”

Beomgyu screamed into a napkin.

Yeonjun paid. Soobin blushed.

Everyone stood up.

And the moment hung there — thick and trembling and asking for it.

Yeonjun turned to Soobin. Reached up.

Brushed a thumb under his eye. Moved a strand of hair.

Soobin looked up at him, dazed.

Yeonjun leaned in, so close, lips parted like he was finally going to—

“AHEM.”

All three maknaes glared at them.

Taehyun crossed his arms. “Are we going to live through this kiss or do we have to give you a private room and a sign-up sheet.”

Soobin made a squeaky sound.

Yeonjun laughed — breathless — and leaned in the last inch.

And finally, finally, kissed him.

It was soft. Careful. Gentle.

Like they'd been building toward this for years.

When they pulled apart, Soobin looked dazed.

Yeonjun smiled and whispered, “Hi.”

Soobin whispered back, “Hi.”

Chapter Text

It was just a free period.

Kai had a club meeting. The others were scattered. Soobin had no real plans.

And somehow… he ended up in the dance building.

Yeonjun had mentioned earlier — offhand, casual —

> “You can come watch if you want. We’re running sets for next month. Nothing fancy.”

Soobin wanted.

Now he stood at the back of the practice room, quietly slipping through the open door and pressing himself into the far corner, unnoticed.

And Yeonjun?

Yeonjun was glowing.

Hair pulled back messily, sweat glinting at the nape of his neck, his oversized shirt sticking just right as he moved.

There were about ten people in the room — some sitting, some standing, all watching him with hungry eyes. Girls in cute skirts. Boys with jawlines sculpted by gods. All of them pretty. Confident. Laughing like they knew Yeonjun. Like they belonged beside him.

Soobin folded his arms tighter.

Because Yeonjun didn’t just dance. He commanded the room.

When the music hit, he exploded into motion — sharp lines, loose rhythm, sharp again. Controlled chaos.

And everyone noticed.

People whispered about him. Laughed when he winked during the breakdown. Two girls in the front row leaned into each other and giggled when he smirked mid-spin.

Soobin’s chest tightened.

He looked down at his own sweater. Oversized. Soft. Too soft. He hadn’t styled his hair. He’d left his contacts in but still carried his glasses in his pocket just in case. He wasn’t wearing anything bold or cool. He never was.

And standing here, watching that — watching him — he started to think…

> Maybe I don’t belong here.

Maybe Yeonjun invited him to be nice. Maybe he liked him, sure. But this?

Yeonjun was someone people chased.

Soobin wasn’t the kind of person people chased. He was the kind they sat next to in libraries and forgot about once the exam ended.

When the music stopped, the room clapped. Loud, giddy. Someone whistled. Yeonjun laughed, grabbing his water bottle, sweat dripping down his neck.

He caught sight of Soobin then — eyes going wide, smile softening.

He waved.

And Soobin, already halfway to panic, offered a little wave back.

Yeonjun turned back to say something to the choreographer, but his eyes flicked back to Soobin. Twice.

As if to check he was still there.

Soobin’s heart stuttered.

And yet, when someone in the front leaned close to Yeonjun’s shoulder to talk to him — pretty, tall, probably a fellow dancer — the same thought kept looping in his head like a curse:

> They fit so much better than I do.

Chapter Text

Soobin waited until the second routine ended.

It wasn’t even that long — maybe ten more minutes — but it felt like a lifetime with how his heart was twisting in his chest.

The room exploded with another round of cheers as Yeonjun finished, his breathing heavy, cheeks flushed, smile wide.

And then he got swarmed.

Some dancers fist-bumped him. A few girls drifted closer, phones in hand, laughing over something he’d done mid-routine. One of the tall, older guys leaned in, hand brushing Yeonjun’s shoulder casually — confidently.

Soobin stood frozen at the back.

Out of place. Invisible.

He hugged his arms around himself and stepped quietly toward the door.

No one noticed him go.

Not even Yeonjun.

---

By the time Yeonjun got free of the crowd, flushed and still catching his breath, he glanced around the room—looking for one face.

Tall. Soft. A little shy. Always in a hoodie too big for him.

But Soobin wasn’t there.

Yeonjun frowned. Scanned again.

Still nothing.

“Hey,” one of the girls said, giggling. “Was that your boyfriend earlier? That guy with the huge eyes?”

Yeonjun blinked. “...Huh?”

“The tall one in the back,” she said. “He was watching you like you hung the moon.”

He turned to face her. “He was?”

“Yeah?” she laughed. “Didn’t you see him?”

Yeonjun didn’t answer.

Because his chest was suddenly cold.

---

He texted him on the way out.

> Yeonjun🕺:
where’d you go?

No reply.

> Yeonjun🕺:
did I do something?

Still nothing.

Then—finally.

> Soobin✒️:
Sorry
I didn’t stay long

Yeonjun stared at the screen.

Something was off. He could feel it. The tone. The way Soobin was typing. No emojis. No flustered follow-up. No “you looked really cool btw.” Just silence.

And Yeonjun hated it.

Chapter Text

> [5:03 PM] Soobin✒️→ Kai
Tell me a color

> [5:04 PM] Kai🌸
???
like... blue?
wtf is going on why are you texting me like a cryptic fairy

> [5:04 PM] Soobin✒️
Thanks

> [5:04 PM] Kai🌸
SOOBIN WHAT DID I JUST CONTRIBUTE TO

---

Soobin put his phone down.

His hands were shaking a little.

There was no real plan. Just... a feeling. A pressure behind his ribs like he was about to burst.

Because earlier that day, he had seen Yeonjun in his world — surrounded by people who moved like they were born to be seen. Who were bold. Pretty. Polished.

And he thought:

> I don’t look like that. I don’t move like that. I don’t belong next to him in that space.

So maybe, just maybe…

If he looked different — even a little —
He’d feel different too.

He checked the time. It wasn’t too late yet.

He pulled out his party clothes. The ones he rarely wore. Dark jeans that fit him just right. Mesh layering. That soft black satin shirt with silver threading he only wore once but never forgot.

Then he went to the store and bought blue hair dye and hair bleach.

Not permanent. Not too bright.

Just enough.

> Just enough to feel like maybe he could keep up.

---

That evening, Yeonjun texted him again.

> [8:13 PM] Yeonjun🕺:
Still thinking about you. Are you okay?

> [8:16 PM] Soobin✒️:
I’m fine! Just a bit of work to catch up on
I’ll text you tomorrow, okay?

> [8:17 PM] Yeonjun🕺:
okay.
(you sure?)

> [8:17 PM] Soobin✒️:
yeah 💙

He stared at the blue heart for a second too long.

Was it too much?

Was it just enough?

He hit send.

Then stood in front of his mirror. Rubber gloves on. Dye ready.

And whispered to his reflection:

> “Let’s see if this makes me look like someone he could really fall for.”

Chapter Text

The next day, the group met at the usual café on campus.

Kai got there first. Then Beomgyu and Taehyun. Yeonjun ran a few minutes late because of class.

So when the bell above the café door chimed, and Soobin stepped inside—

Every head turned.

Because, holy shit.

His hair was a deep, rich blue — not bright or electric, but cool and striking, like navy velvet in moonlight. Styled back a little, not messy. No glasses. Black mesh shirt layered under a dark cropped jacket. Rings. Boots.

Not the soft Soobin they were used to.

This Soobin walked in like he might be a pop star if you looked twice.

Beomgyu blinked. “Whoa.”

Taehyun nodded. “Okay, King.”

Kai said nothing.

But he knew.

---

Yeonjun walked in five minutes later. His eyes went straight to Soobin—

And he stopped walking.

Like his brain stuttered.

Soobin, sitting there with his hair dyed and his jaw set just a little tighter than usual, looked unreal.

And Yeonjun? He couldn’t breathe for a second.

“...You changed your hair,” he said, like it was a question and a prayer all at once.

Soobin gave a small smile. “Yeah. Thought I’d try something different.”

Yeonjun slid into the seat across from him.

He stared a little longer.

“You look…” He paused, eyes flicking over him. “You look incredible.”

Soobin ducked his head. “It’s not permanent.”

Yeonjun leaned in, tone softer now. “Still. I like it.”

And he did.

But something felt… off.

Soobin was all dressed up. His words were fine. His smile was fine. But there was a tension in his shoulders, a tightness behind his eyes that didn’t match the boldness of his look.

Yeonjun knew that kind of overcompensation. He’d worn it too.

Later, when the others were ordering and Kai was helping Beomgyu pick a dessert, Yeonjun leaned across the table and said, just low enough:

“Did you do this because of me?”

Soobin blinked.

“Because of yesterday?”

Soobin froze. Just for a second.

“Because if you did…” Yeonjun said gently, “I think we should talk.”

And Soobin?

He looked away. Fast. Lips parting like he was about to argue. Or deny it.

But he didn’t.

Because Yeonjun saw through him too easily.

And suddenly, the blue hair felt less like armor and more like a highlighter — pointing directly at everything he didn’t want to say.

Chapter Text

Yeonjun didn’t press him.

Not in front of the others.

But his hand grazed Soobin’s under the table — just enough to say, “I see you.”

And when Kai raised an eyebrow in silent question, Soobin nodded once.

They slipped out the café door together a minute later.

The cold hit immediately, soft and biting. Campus trees rattled gently in the breeze. The sky was steel-grey above them.

Soobin pulled his sleeves over his hands. The wind caught in his new-blue hair.

Yeonjun stood beside him, quiet for a long second.

Then—

“Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling like that?”

Soobin didn’t answer right away. His lips pressed together. He looked anywhere but Yeonjun’s eyes.

Then, softly:

“Because it’s stupid.”

Yeonjun’s voice was patient. “Try me.”

Soobin exhaled shakily.

“Yesterday, at your practice… I saw you. I saw how everyone looked at you. They— They were all so confident. So cool. They fit in with you.”

He glanced down at his clothes. His boots. The hair dye catching wind.

“And I just… didn’t. I felt like a spectator. Like someone you were being nice to. Not someone who’s… allowed to stand next to you.”

Yeonjun's jaw tightened, but not in anger — in heartbreak.

Soobin kept going, eyes glistening just barely:

“I know it’s dumb. I know we’ve been close and that you like me but I— I panicked. I wanted to feel like I could keep up. That maybe if I looked more like… them, I’d feel less like the awkward lit major you had to slow down for.”

He laughed, bitter and quiet.

“So yeah. I dyed my hair. Put on something cool. Told myself it’d help. But it just felt like a costume.”

A long silence stretched between them.

Soobin sniffled once, then turned slightly, ashamed.

Yeonjun reached up.

And with infinite gentleness, tucked a piece of Soobin’s blue hair behind his ear.

“You don’t have to keep up with me, Soobin. I don’t want that.”

His hand didn’t move. It just rested there, fingertips brushing his temple.

“I want to walk with you. Not ahead of you. Not behind you.”

Soobin looked at him — properly looked — and something fragile cracked open in his chest.

Yeonjun smiled softly.

“And for the record… you don’t look like a costume. You look like Soobin. A little bolder today, maybe. But still you. And I like you this way, and the soft way, and the sleepy-hair, glasses-on, cardigan-wearing way.”

Soobin’s throat worked.

“You’re gonna make me cry.”

Yeonjun shrugged. “Good. Then we’ll match.”

Soobin let out a laugh that trembled.

Yeonjun stepped closer, warm hand still on his cheek.

“Don’t ever change thinking I need you to. I like you. All of you.”

And this time, Soobin leaned in first.

Their second kiss was slower. Deeper. No audience.

Just the wind, the cold, and Yeonjun’s hand steady on his cheek.

Chapter Text

The dorm bathroom was small and steamy, the mirror fogged up as Yeonjun ran warm water over Soobin’s blue-streaked hair.

Soobin stood still, eyes closed, the weight of the day settling off his shoulders with each rinse.

Yeonjun’s fingers worked gently, massaging the shampoo in slow circles, careful not to pull or tug.

“Thanks for helping me,” Soobin said softly, voice a little hesitant.

Yeonjun smiled in the mirror’s reflection. “Anything for you.”

Soobin opened his eyes and looked at Yeonjun’s profile, the way his red hair stuck damply to his forehead, the calm focus in his gaze.

After a pause, Soobin swallowed and said, “You know… I used to have white hair.”

Yeonjun’s hand froze mid-rinse. Then, incredulous: “You had white hair?”

Soobin chuckled, a little embarrassed. “Yeah. It was a phase... well, more than a phase. Kai’s the only one who really knows about it.”

Yeonjun raised an eyebrow, smirking. “How did I miss that?”

“I didn't post any photos back then.” Soobin replied with a soft smile. “But I liked it. I think… it suited me better than I thought.”

Yeonjun looked back at him in the mirror, eyes warm. “I want to see it sometime.”

Soobin shrugged, still feeling the water wash away the blue but hoping maybe the white might come back.

“Maybe I’ll go back to it,” Soobin said quietly. “It feels like... me.”

Yeonjun’s hand moved to rest on Soobin’s shoulder, steadying.

“No matter the color,” Yeonjun said, “you’ll always look like you.”

They shared a smile in the fogged mirror, the silence between them full of understanding.

As Yeonjun finished rinsing, Soobin felt lighter, not just from the water, but from finally being seen — all colors, all versions, all of him.

Chapter Text

Soobin stared at his phone, fingers hovering over the screen for longer than he wanted to admit.

Finally, he tapped Kai’s name and hit call.

The line rang once, twice...

“Soobin! What’s up, hyung?” Kai’s cheerful voice came through immediately.

Soobin took a deep breath. “Hey... I want my white hair back.”

There was a pause on the other end.

Then Kai burst out laughing. “Wait, what? You actually serious?”

“So serious,” Soobin said, smiling despite himself. “It felt like... me. You were right.”

Kai chuckled. “Dude, I always knew that white hair was your vibe. It’s iconic.”

“So,” Soobin said, a little sheepishly, “you think I can pull it off again?”

Kai didn’t hesitate. “Hell yeah. And I’m coming over to help. This needs to be documented.”

Soobin grinned, relief washing over him. “Thanks, Kai. Really.”

“Anytime, Soob. Gonna make you shine brighter than ever.”

As Soobin hung up, he felt lighter — like maybe, just maybe, he was finally starting to be exactly who he was meant to be.

Chapter Text

The sun streamed through the café windows, casting warm golden light over the group as they sipped their morning coffee and laughed quietly.

Beomgyu was already halfway through his pancake stack. Kai was scrolling on his phone. Taehyun was mid-story, animated and grinning.

And Yeonjun, as always, was leaning back, arms crossed, a smirk playing on his lips.

The door chimed softly.

Heads turned.

Soobin stepped in, a little breathless from being late, but completely worth the wait.

He wore a soft pink cardigan that hung just right over a crisp white turtleneck, paired with loose, flowing pants that added an effortless elegance to his look.

But the real showstopper?

His hair.

Snowy white, glowing softly even in the café’s warm light. Styled just enough to look casually perfect.

For a second, the room went quiet.

Then Beomgyu’s eyes went wide. “Whoa.”

Kai smiled knowingly.

Taehyun’s jaw slackened. “Are you an angel?”

Yeonjun’s smirk softened into a genuine smile as he stood to pull Soobin into a side hug.

“You look amazing,” Yeonjun said, voice low and sincere.

Soobin felt his cheeks warm, but for once it wasn’t from nerves.

It was from belonging.

Because here, with them, with Yeonjun, he wasn’t just a soft lit major or the guy who dyed his hair on a whim.

He was Soobin.

And that was enough.

Chapter Text

It was a quiet afternoon, the campus bathed in soft golden light as the group’s study session slowly wound down.

Soobin sat cross-legged on the grass, flipping through a battered poetry book. Yeonjun was sprawled beside him, fingers idly tracing patterns on Soobin’s arm.

Their friends were chatting nearby, giving the two some space without even realizing it.

Yeonjun cleared his throat, voice low but steady.

“Hey, Soobin?”

Soobin looked up, heart already picking up pace.

Yeonjun’s usual confident smirk was softened, almost vulnerable.

“I’ve been thinking… We’ve been kinda… this,” he waved his hand vaguely between them, “but not really.”

Soobin blinked, cheeks warming.

“So, I guess what I’m trying to say is…” Yeonjun took a small breath, locking eyes with Soobin, “Will you be my boyfriend?”

The words hung in the air, tender and nervous.

Soobin’s breath hitched.

A shy smile broke over his face.

“Yes.” he whispered.

Yeonjun grinned, relief and happiness flooding his features.

He pulled Soobin close, a soft kiss pressed to his lips.

“Officially us.” he murmured.

And Soobin knew, right then, that no matter what, this was where he belonged.

Chapter Text

The music pulsed low in the dance room, rhythmic and warm, muffled by the closed doors.

Yeonjun danced like he always did — sharp, fluid, untouchable. The mirrors caught him mid-spin, hair pushed back by a headband, sweat glinting on his collarbones. His red hoodie was discarded in a corner. He was in his zone, eyes bright, breath fast, alive.

Soobin leaned against the far wall, a coffee in his hand, sleeves tugged over his wrists. His black hair was back — soft and slightly messy, falling over his forehead. He looked comfortable. Quiet.

And tired.

There were papers in his tote bag he hadn’t touched yet. A presentation due tomorrow. A week of barely five hours of sleep each night. His body was aching from sitting too long in campus chairs and living on cheap caffeine.

But he watched Yeonjun — and he smiled.

Because somehow, even in the middle of exhaustion, being here grounded him.

Yeonjun caught sight of him through the mirror, mid-routine.

His whole face lit up.

He grinned, stumbling the last few steps of choreography, and didn’t even try to fix it.

Instead, he jogged over, cheeks flushed, still catching his breath.

“You’re early.” he said, voice bright as ever.

“I missed you.” Soobin said simply, offering him the coffee.

Yeonjun’s heart stuttered.

Still. Even a year later.

He took the cup, their fingers brushing.

“You look tired.” Yeonjun murmured, eyes softening.

Soobin chuckled. “I am.”

Yeonjun tilted his head, a silly smile on his face. “You still like me when I’m sweaty and smell like a laundry basket?”

Soobin leaned his head back against the wall, watching him.

“You’re sweaty, smelly, and the love of my life. So yes.”

Yeonjun blinked. Then laughed — that warm, breathless laugh Soobin adored.

He tugged Soobin forward, arms wrapping around his waist as he pressed a kiss to his soft lips.

“Sit with me,” Yeonjun whispered. “Just for a bit.”

And Soobin did.

Curled into Yeonjun on the studio floor, heart still tired — but full.

Because love like this didn’t need fixing.

Just soft places to land.

The End.