Chapter Text
Out of all the bad decisions Seungkwan had made, this was by far the worst. He was alone in the 24-hour library at 3am, cramming for his math final that was going to start in six hours. It had been a few hours since the librarian left, muttering a small ‘don’t stay up too late’ to Seungkwan and dimming the back lights. Now, Seungkwan was sitting in semi-darkness, hunched over his math textbook. He rubbed his eyes a couple of times and took big gulps of coffee, trying his best to stay awake.
Suddenly, a shadow flashed past him, startling Seungkwan. He was immediately wide awake, frantically checking his surroundings. There was nothing. The library was empty. He patted his cheeks, willing himself back to reality. After checking a second time, Seungkwan brushed it off as something from his imagination. He went back to his textbook, now feeling less sleepy. Though, he could not let go of the feeling of being watched. Because of that, he could not concentrate, his focus on math formulas and equations starting to blur. Seungkwan jumped again when a loud bang sounded somewhere from the back of the library.
“Who’s there?” Seungkwan called out, feeling chills along his arms. He was facing the back of the library now, hands searching for his phone. When he finally found it, he dialed the first person he could think of.
“...hello?” A tired voice drawled out from the tiny speakers of his phone.
“Shua hyung!” Seungkwan practically shouted into the phone. “Are you awake?”
“I am now.” The person on the other side of the line yawned. “What do you want, Seungkwan?”
“I’m sorry for waking you up so late…uh early? What time is it? Anyway, nevermind, I’m at the library right now and supposedly I’m alone but I think there’s someone because I heard a sound just now but I’m not sure if it was just my imagination or something and… Hyung?”
The line was dead. His phone had run out of battery.
“Aish!” Seungkwan cursed, putting his phone into his bag. He was starting to think of going back to the dorm. However, he could afford to get another bad grade on a math paper. His professor already told him that if his grades keep slipping, he would have to attend summer school and he was planning on going back to Jeju for the summer.
Calming his nerves a bit, Seungkwan sipped his coffee and sat down again, pushing the thoughts of ghosts and other supernatural stuff out of his mind. He had to focus on math now. The test was in five hours. However, just when he had started reading his textbook again, a weird tapping noise began. Seungkwan snapped his head to the back of the library again, a paranoid look on his face. His sanity was growing thin and he was also scared out of his wits.
Gathering the bit of courage he had left, he slowly surged forward to the back of the library. It was dark but he could easily see the rows of bookshelves. He had really wished he was not alone right now but he did not think Jisoo hyung would appreciate it if he dragged him to the library at 3 in the morning just to watch him study.
I could have asked Hansol, we’re in the same math class, dang it I could have even asked Jeonghan hyung, he wouldn’t mind, beside he stays up late anyway, Seungkwan was scolding himself in his head, trying to think of the possible situations he could have been in instead of cowardly walking to check the back of the library.
Seungkwan almost fainted when he saw a figure in between two bookshelves, sitting slumped on the floor. He seemed to be reading. However, what was more important was Seungkwan shouting as if he had just seen a ghost which startled the boy on the floor. He jumped up from his position and started shouting at Seungkwan too.
Seungkwan managed to calm down when he realised that the boy was not a ghost, though the frightened look on his face was still there. The boy on the other hand stared at Seungkwan, horrified. One of his hand went up to fix the glasses on his face.
Seungkwan seemed to realise the situation and started apologising profusely to the other boy.
“I’m so sorry!” He started. “I thought you were a ghost or a demon or something. I heard something just now and I went to check and you were just here and it was dark and you looked scary and I’m rambling, aren’t I? I’m sorry, I was just studying for my finals and I think I’ve lost my grip on reality and I may be on my third cup of coffee, oh God, I’m sorry.” Seungkwan wheezed out, his brain-to-mouth filter stopped working when he was terrified.
The other boy had a confused look on his face, his eyes were wide, brows drawn tight, lips pressed in a straight line. The glasses he was wearing seemed to make his eyes even bigger. He looked cute.
“Uh, thanks?” The other boy said.
Seungkwan realised that he must have said that thought out loud and mentally slapped himself. His cheeks started to turn red.
“Oh my God, this is so embarrassing. I’m so sorry,” Seungkwan blurted.
However, all the other boy did was smile softly at him. It made his insides flutter.
“It’s alright,” the boy assured him, his quiet voice contrasted Seungkwan’s loud one. “I’m Wonwoo. I’m sorry I scared you.”
“I’m Seungkwan and it’s fine, I get scared easily,” he chuckled awkwardly. “Also, what are you doing at 3am in the library?”
“Reading,” Wonwoo replied nonchalantly.
“Reading.” Seungkwan repeated, voice filled with confusion.
Wonwoo scratched his head. “Sometimes, when I can’t sleep, I’ll read.”
“Why can’t you just read in your dorm?” Seungkwan asked.
“My roommate’s an asshole.” Wonwoo shrugged, saying that as if it completely made sense.
Seungkwan decided to leave the subject be. He also needed to go back to studying.
“Look, I really need to go back to studying and you can go back to reading, I won’t disturb,” Seungkwan said, gesturing to his table near the front of the library.
Wonwoo nodded. “What are you studying?”
“Math. Calculus.”
Wonwoo flashed him a sudden grin which caught Seungkwan by surprise. Why couldn’t he smile like that all the time, it makes him look more approachable and more beautiful, the thought popped into Seungkwan’s head.
Seungkwan forced the thought away before focusing on Wonwoo again.
“Do you need any help?” Wonwoo asked. “I’m quite good at the subject.”
“Ah, Wonwoo-sshi,” Seungkwan began, not knowing how to respond.
“Hyung,” Wonwoo corrected. “Just call me hyung. Uh, you’re a freshman, right?”
Seungkwan nodded. “Then, in that case, hyung, I can really use the help.”
Wonwoo beamed. “Great! How many days left till your test?”
“More like, ‘how many hours left’. It starts at 9,” Seungkwan muttered.
“Hmmm, then we better get started, shall we?” Wonwoo said.
That was how Seungkwan ended up studying for another two hours and with Wonwoo’s help, he was certain he could scrape at least a B on his final. Also, he got Wonwoo’s number and a promise for ice cream afterwards. Out of all the bad decisions Seungkwan had made, maybe this one was not so bad.