Chapter Text
It was the second week of classes. The initial orientation and awkwardness of a new year had already worn off, and everyone on campus were heads deep into books and projects.
And that, of course, included Seo Changbin.
It was 8 in the morning. Changbin sat in the far back, elbow on the table and head in hand, staring out the big window in the back of the classroom, waiting for the lecture to begin. He barely got any sleep that night. For some reason, his eyes just couldn't seem to stay closed. He tried water, melatonin, and even a 15 minute unwinding meditation he found online. Eventually, around 4 AM, he drifted to sleep. He was running on barely 4 hours of sleep and stale coffee. Despite his older friends' warnings, he thought that picking an 8 AM class this semester was the right move, since his resolution this year was to be more productive in the morning. By the 3rd class, he knew he would have to drop it next semester.
He felt his consciousness begin to slip before he snapped back to reality as he heard textbook pages flipping around. The class had started. Changbin pushed his droziness to the side and attempted to scoop up as much as he could of what his professor was lecturing.
…
Around 20 minutes before the class was over, his phone buzzed on his desk. He carefully picked it up, and read the notification banner. It was an email from his counselor, telling him to meet her in her office after his class. He sighed, mentally re-preparing his brain and body for whatever she had to say to him. This had completely thrown off his plans to go home and nap till his noon class.
Eventually, his class was over. He packed up everything back into his backpack, and began trudging towards the building his counselors office was in. He enjoyed walks around the campus typically, but with no protein in his body to replenish his muscles, every step felt like kicking up sludge. He tried to enjoy the scenery on the way anyhow, admiring the way the morning light shown through the tree leaves.
…
Finally, he walked into the building and turned to the hall. At the end was a familiar door. His footsteps echoed through the empty hallway, and he reached for the doorknob.
Opening the door, the first thing he saw was an unfamiliar face. A dark-haired boy suddenly sat up straight and looked up at Changbin with his mouth slightly agape. Changbin looked down at him, furrowing his eyebrows. He turned to face his counselor.
“Hello, Changbin! Welcome in! Allow me to introduce you two. This is Kim Seungmin. He’s just transferred here. Since orientation is over and classes have already been initiated, and you both have similar schedules, I thought you would be the perfect person to show him around. Your next class isn't till ..noon, correct?” She took a quick glance at her computer with squinted eyes before finishing her sentence.
“Oh. Yeah, that’s right. I could show him around right now.” Changbin rubbed the back of his head. He wasn’t really the type of person to do something like this, it wasn’t like he didn’t know the campus or couldn’t cook up a conversation, and he didn’t mind helping people, but all he wanted to do at the moment was lay in his bed till noon. He glanced over at the boy again, trying to remember what she said his name was.
“Amazing! I hope you two have a good time!” She gestured towards the door and the dark-haired boy stood up from his seat. Changbin noted he was taller than him. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable, and also annoy Changbin. He was used to this, of course, being 5’6. The boy was a lot skinnier than him and much more awkward. Changbin smirked at him and held the door open for them both. He finally made direct eye contact with the boy. His eyes were deep. It almost looked like he didn’t have pupils. It intrigued Changbin. He waved to his counselor, and shut the door behind him.
“Aaalright, hey…” Changbin rubbed the back of his head again. He felt a twinge of guilt for forgetting his name, but his sleep deprivation was starting to consume him.
“Seungmin. Kim Seungmin.” He muttered. He looked at Changbin through his eyelashes. The combination of his stare and his deep, pupil-less eyes made Changbin feel uneasy and warm. He broke eye contact and swallowed.
“Right. Sorry about that. I’m a little.. out of it today.”
Seungmin was wearing a very oversized hoodie, the kind that fell over to your thighs and you couldnt keep the sleeves up without pushing them all the way up your forearm. He had baggy jeans on that curved around his legs, leading to very chunky, spikey-looking shoes that Changbin thought looked uncomfortable to walk in. His gaze walked back up to Seungmins face. He had soft-looking, glowy skin and soft features. It took Changbin aback with how clear his skin was. He looked like he could be in a moisturizer commercial. However, beneath his eyes were dark, deep eyebags that matched the color of his sweatshirt. His hair was whisped in his face, and he looked like he had a constant pout. Tired Changbin realized he was staring and an awkward silence was growing. He felt his face flush as he turned around on his heels to begin leading Seungmin while thinking of what place he thought necessary for a new student.
They only made it a few steps down the hallway when Seungmin finally said something other than his own name.
“You look tired.” Wow. Changbin was glad his back was to Seungmin, because he couldn’t control the annoyed expression he made.
“Thanks. I am. Im running on 4 hours of sleep and yesterday’s leftover coffee from my roommate.” He said deadpanned. However, he noticed that Seungmin had a slight rasp to his voice. similar to his at the moment.
“It sounds and looks like you are too.” Changbin turned to face him, while still walking forward. He smirked at him, and Seungmin smiled back.
“Is it that obvious? It’s all the jet lag.” He laughed quietly. He caught up to Changbin’s pace, and they faced each other directly now.
“Jet lag? You didn’t transfer from somewhere nearby?”
“Yeah.. It’s a whole thing.” He looked down, and his body tensed. “Where are we headed first?” He added suddenly. Changbin noted the quick, desperate change in conversation, and decided to let it go.
“Well.. I was thinking we could stop by the cafe on campus before we officially start. It seems like we could both use some coffee.” Seungmin hummed in agreement, and they began walking with purpose now.
…
“A Chocolate mocha? That’s an interesting choice.” Seungmin teased, as they walked out of cafe.
“Well, It’s not like an Iced Americano is a very original choice.” Changbin teased back. He liked that he and Seungmin seemed to connect pretty fast. It would be nice to have another friend other than his roommate and all of his friends.
“Okay, I was thinking I’ll show you the cafeteria, then how to get to a few of your classes, and then your dorm building.”
“Alright. I'm in the Dean building… I think.” Seungmin checked a file of papers he had in his bag.
“Oh, really?? That's my building too! Maybe you could actually get me up for my morning class.” Changbin laughed.
“Awesome! At least I’ll have one friend around here.” Both of the boys smiled warmly at each other.
…
Changbin finally reached his dorm, scanning his card and stepping in. He heard his roommate shuffling off his bed to come greet him.
“Hey, Changbin!” Han Jisung greeted him in the doorway, holding his arm up onto the wall and leading into it.
“Didn’t bring me any?” Eyeing the almost empty coffee cup.
“No, sorry. I got some after my class with this new student I had to show around.” Changbin finished the last of his coffee and threw it in the trash before taking his backpack off his shoulders and onto his bed.
“Really? A new student? That’s interesting. You also don't seem like you’re qualified to show him around though.” Han laughed. When he laughs, his full body laughs before him. Sometimes his face doesn't even change, but his body pulses anyway. Changbin thought that was cute.
Han was certainly a character. The two had met during summer orientation, they were in the same assigned group that split off and did ice breakers together. Together they silently made fun of the others in the group with eye contact, and they got lunch together afterward. They exchanged numbers and texted a few times before the semester, and when Changbin got to his dorm to move in, Han was there welcoming him with open arms. Han said it was fate they met before. They've gotten close over the time classes have started, considering their constant close proximity. Han typically got back to their dorm way later and stayed up all night working on projects. But, of course, last night, the one night Changbin couldn’t sleep and stayed up way too late for his own good, Han slept like a baby. Han would sleep all day and work all night on his days off, and would sometimes invite his friend Bangchan over to hang out in their dorm. Changbin never minded, though, because he would always bring interesting foods for all 3 of them to try. They had an ongoing inside joke that they were going to make a food review blog together.
Han Jisung was also a very emotional person. Changbin would come home to find him curled up in bed with swollen eyes. When he would show concern and ask him what happened, Han would show him a video of some small animal in the pound. Just last week, Han ignored Changbin for 45 minutes because he beat him in a game of Mario Kart.
However, Changbin appreciated his company. He was light and easy to talk to. They never snapped at each other for their bad habits, like leaving dirty laundry out or snoring. They understand each other'sq mutual stress of college life.
“Yeah.” Changbin chuckled with him. “But my counselor said it was because we had similar schedules.”
“Huh. That's cool. Was he cool?”
“Oh yeah. Super cute too. and his eyes were so… deep.”
“Ooohhh Binnie’s got a crush!” Han teased.
“Oh, whatever.“
But Changbin felt his heart twinge at the comment.
…
When he walked in, all Seungmin could look at Changbin's muscles. He felt that his mouth was open, and he knew he was staring, but just. Wow.
He was wearing a black compression shirt with baggy track pants and pure black basketball shoes. He had a grey sweatshirt tied around his waist. He looked like he was on his way to the gym. It looked like the sleeves of his shirt were stretching out around his muscles. If the counselor hadn’t begun talking to them, he thought that he probably would’ve begun drooling.
…
After he and Changbin went their separate ways, since Seungmin had left all of luggage in the counselors office, he began walking back to only the building he recognized. As he walked back, he thought over every moment he just had with Changbin.
Seungmin would not say it was love at first sight, no, he didn’t believe in that.
But he had never felt like he did with Changbin just now.
He didn’t know how to describe it, it was a warm feeling, but he also felt lightheaded and felt dizzy each time they made eye contact. He wanted more.
It wasn’t just his muscles. The way he spoke and the tone of his voice, the way he laughed in syllables, the way he smiled to the side of his face. It was burned into his mind.
It felt stupid. They had just met. He didn’t expect Changbin to push him against the wall and stick his tongue in mouth.
And it's not like he would want him to do that. Not in front of their counselor.
he felt gross to even think about that. They had JUST met. Literally. They have only known each other existed for an hour.
But that doesn’t mean there can’t be a spark, right?
Did Changbin feel it too? Seungmin thought he must be delusional.
…
When he reached the counselors office again, he pushed everything about Changbin aside as he knocked on the door.
“Ah! Seungmin! How was your tour? Was Changbin good to you?” The counselor laughed to herself at her comment before standing up and helping him pick up all his bags.
“Oh, yeah!”
*Oh yeah.*
“He was great. It was great. Speaking of Changbin, do you have any way I can contact him? If you’re allowed to give me that… We have the same dorm building so I was gonna see if he can help me move in.”
“Oh! Yes of course! I don’t think Changbin would mind, it seems like you two hit it off!” Her eyes darted to the coffee he held with only two fingers while the other fingers were used to support every little trinket he held as a part of his luggage.
…
As Seungmin walked out with his suitcase and bags, he smugly smiled to himself. How smooth was that? He was so entranced by the physical presence of Changbin, he didn’t think to ask for a way to contact him after. He planned to call him immediately after he reached his dorm.
He felt a little stupid walking around campus with luggage while everyone else only had tote bags and backpacks. He definitely got strange looks.
…
Eventually, after going down the wrong hallway 3 times and having to sit down and have a quick mental breakdown because of how much his arms hurt because of the luggage and feeling hopeless that he would never find dorm 143, he made it. He scanned his card, dropped all of his luggag, and flopped onto the hard, sheetless bed. After letting his muscles regain strength and his brain to catch up to him, he checked the time. 12:30 PM.
The counselor had said Changbin had a noon class. He had about an hour before Changbin would get out of class, but he had to confirm that he would even help him before laying around waiting. He pulled out the small slip of paper the counselor gave him and opened his messages.
…
**hey this is seungmin
counselor gave me ur number hope u dont mind
do u think u could help me move into my dorm after ur class? i have a lot of stuff lol
— 12:32 PM
hey!
no i dont mind, and yeah i can help after. i get out around 1:45. what number is ur room?
— 12:35 PM
perfect! im in room 143
its a date c:
— 12:36 PM**
…
Changbin stared at that last text for awhile. He breathed in. He breathed out. But his face was still hot. He put the phone down.