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I.
Jisung first sees him in the library. He's looking for a seat near an outlet when he sees a boy reaching for a book on a high shelf. He takes in the boy's red hair and baggy clothes and thinks nothing of it at that moment. He goes back to focusing on looking for a vacant table so he can start taking his History quiz.
II.
The next time he sees the boy, it's in the cafeteria. The typical lunch rush hour goes like this: Jisung enters the cafeteria, finds a hoard of people lining up in front of all of the food stalls, and tries looking for an available table only to come up empty. It's either he goes to buy lunch somewhere else, or he sucks it up and waits in line to buy takeout and eat it somewhere else.
That day, he enters the cafeteria, is greeted with the usual crowd around the stalls, and sees the red-haired boy occupying a table near the juice stall. The boy is sitting on a table with three other chairs, one where his blue backpack is sitting, and two others that are free. For a split second, Jisung considers asking the boy if Jisung could sit with him, but he chickens out at the last second. He didn't even know the boy! He's just someone Jisung has seen once and just so happened to see again. Heaving a great sigh, Jisung settles for getting takeout again and eating on the outdoor stairs of their college study hall.
III.
He sees the boy again as he's rushing to his next class. Or, if he were being realistic, it was less seeing the boy again than almost toppling over because he bumped into the boy. Jisung was cursing the gaggle of people walking along the hallways of the education complex as he tried his best to squeeze between the groups of people who were walking way too slow. His panic has taken over enough of his mind that he didn't notice the boy until he's slammed onto the other's chest.
The boy's arms immediately wrap around Jisung's waist to stop him from falling.
"I'm so sorry!" Jisung exclaims, out of breath. He raises his head to meet the boy's eyes and realizes that this is the same red-haired boy he's been noticing around campus. He also realizes that the boy's face is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen.
The boy has gentle brown eyes, a straight nose bridge, and naturally pink lips. "Are you okay?" he asks, concern evident in his gaze.
"I'm fine! I'm okay," Jisung vigorously nods. "I'm so sorry I bumped into you! I was rushing and I have a class in the arts building and I didn't want to be late and—"
"Whoa, easy," the boy interrupts him, a smile gracing his lips. Jisung's eyes lock onto the movement. "I get it, back-to-back classes suck. Still, there's a 10-minute grace period after classes start, so you'll be fine. Just try not to steamroll into more people on the way, okay?"
With that, the boy releases his waist, gives him one last nod, and continues on his way. Jisung spends a few moments staring into space, his brain still trying to digest the interaction, and only snaps out of it when a fellow student says "excuse me" from behind him. He checks his phone for the time, finds out that he only has 4 minutes to get to his next class, curses, and starts running again. This time, he makes sure to keep his eyes in front of him so he doesn't bump into any more people. Bumping into someone even once can cause enough embarrassment to last an entire month.
IV.
He finally learns the boy's name when he attends the information seminar for the college dance production organization. The organization has been posting promotional material for the past few days. One of the posts features the production division of the org, which includes the sounds division. When Jisung saw the post, he immediately signed up for the information seminar to find out how to apply for the division.
Jisung is sitting on a seat in the middle of the hall beside Hyunjin and Felix, friends he made during college orientation, when he spots the boy again. The boy is wearing a black polo with pink embroidery on the left chest area and across the back. It is only then that Jisung realizes that the boy is wearing the same fuchsia pink lanyard that every member of the organization is wearing.
The boy introduces himself as Lee Minho, one of the heads of the Street dance division. He proceeds to discuss the usual training routine of the Street division members and what the aspiring Street members are expected to do for both the interviews and the auditions.
Jisung, meanwhile, has frozen in his seat. I bumped into the Street coordinator, he thinks hysterically. Oh my god I bumped into the STREET COORDINATOR THAT'S SO EMBARRASSING! I can never join the org at this rate. Just throw me to the wolves and leave me to die. Oh my god that's SO EMBARRASSING—
Nevertheless, Jisung gets through the information seminar with his sanity intact, mostly. He's leaving with Hyunjin and Felix, who are discussing their plan for applying to the Street division, when he catches the boy's — Lee Minho's — eyes. Trying his best not to panic, Jisung gives an awkward wave. He sees the exact moment Lee Minho recognizes him and waves back. Jisung's face turns pink. He quickly looks away and hurries after his friends. After discovering the red-haired boy's identity that night, the fact he's still standing is a miracle, really.
V.
Jisung is glad that the next time he sees Minho is not during his interview for the organization, even though it makes no sense for the coordinator of one of the performing divisions to be interviewing a production division applicant. Instead, he meets Minho in their college bookstore as he's looking through the different jackets and merchandise the stalls there are offering.
Minho is stapling a couple stacks of papers together when Jisung notices him. He freezes between stalls, unsure whether he should say hi or let the boy do his thing without interrupting. Before he can decide, though, Minho has already spotted him and is waving him over.
"Uhh, hi, Minho-ssi," Jisung awkwardly says as he shuffles towards where Minho is standing.
"Hey," Minho smiles at him, his hands still organizing his papers. "You know, you haven't told me your name yet, so I don't know what to call you."
Jisung's eyes widen. "Oh!" he exclaims. "I'm Han Jisung, first year in music production."
Minho nods. "Nice to meet you, Han Jisung," he replies. "I saw you were at the information seminar last Thursday. What division did you apply to?"
"Sounds," Jisung answers. He fidgets with the straps of his backpack and tries not to let his eyes stray to Minho's veined hands going through his papers.
Minho's face brightens. "It's always good to have new Sounds members," he smiles encouragingly. "Most especially to get new perspectives on the music for our performances."
Jisung nods in assent.
"Anyways, Jisung-ssi, I have a class after this so I have to go," Minho says. He gathers all the staples papers and cradles them in one arm. "But it was nice to officially meet you. I wish you luck in your application to Sounds."
He makes to leave, but stops when Jisung blurts out, "You can just call me Jisung, I don't mind."
Minho turns back to him with a smile. "In that case, please call me hyung. See you soon, Jisung."
And with that, he exits the bookstore.
VI.
Jisung isn't sure if Minho's last words are foreshadowing or if he's just overthinking it. Still, he indeed sees Minho soon after they interacted in the bookstore.
It's between his classes and he has nothing important to do for his next class, so Jisung decides to visit the museum in their fine arts building. He signs in and deposits his bag onto the designated shelf before entering the museum. He spends time looking over every artwork, reading the artist statements pasted beside each painting. He does the same to the artworks on the second floor of the museum, which features more installation pieces than paintings. Finally, he gets to the third floor, and guess who he sees.
If you guessed Lee Minho, then you're absolutely right.
Of all people, Jisung sees Lee Minho examining the large projection on the blank wall. The third floor is dimly lit compared to the other two floors, to emphasize the specific installations featured on that floor, such as the projection. He approaches the boy, planning to say a quick greeting and walk away.
"Hello, hyung," he says.
Minho turns to him. "Ah, Jisung," he replies. "Are you here to look at the art as well?"
Jisung levels him with a slightly disbelieving look. "Hyung," he starts. "This is an art museum."
Minho smirks. "Yeah, but you never know."
They fall into a comfortable silence. Jisung turns to look at the projection Minho has been observing. At first, it seems like the credits to an old movie, with the way the sentences are slowly floating away to the top of the projection, but it is actually a Sci-Fi story set on a distant planet. The more sentences Jisung reads from the story, the stranger it becomes. What starts with a girl and her dog traveling through outer space becomes a political story with the author criticizing the decision-making processes of the planet's inhabitants, then becomes a love story with the girl's dog falling for an alien animal. Jisung watches the words float away with increasing confusion, wondering who wrote the story in the first place and what the point of it all really is.
Minho catches Jisung's expression and huffs out a soft laugh. "I was wondering the same thing," he shares. "It's like the story doesn't even make sense. But, I looked around and found out that this is an interactive installment, so anyone who goes here can type keywords and that's what influences what the story becomes."
"Ohhh," Jisung says. "That's why."
Minho smiles. "This isn't the only artwork on this floor. If you want, we could go through the rest of the displays together."
"Sure, hyung," Jisung agrees. He tears his eyes away from the projection and follows Minho through the door leading to the main rooms of the exhibit.
The light in this room is even dimmer. There are mini spotlights illuminating the art installments along the walls. When they take a closer look, they notice how resin was used to make up most of the artworks. The mini spotlights showcase enough of what the artist has encased in the resin while maintaining the mood of these pieces. The installments focus on the different natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, and fires.
Jisung stays to more closely examine the volcanic eruption, while Minho moves towards the typhoon-based one. Right as Minho looks over the details of the winds and the destruction being brought about in the wooden houses, the lights catch his hair, turning it to flames. Jisung's gaze goes from the artwork to Minho as the other's eyes shift to gold.
The art curators have got it all wrong, Jisung thinks dazedly. Every artwork in the room disappears, leaving only Minho with his flaming hair and golden eyes. They've got it all wrong. Minho hyung belongs to this museum. Minho hyung himself is ART.
"Are you ready to move on, Jisung?" Minho asks suddenly.
Jisung's head snaps back to Minho's eyes, clarity overcoming his senses. "Oh uh—" he stammers. "Yeah, yeah sure, of course."
Minho looks at him strangely for a moment before walking towards the next room. Jisung lets out an awkward little laugh and follows him.
In the next room, there is what seems to be a 1960s living room set up on one side and a large projection, even larger than the earlier projection on the other side. The two approach the "living room" first and notices that both the table and the TV have joysticks, a couple of red buttons, and led screens. On the screens were 2D planes and what seems to be a jet fighter game.
"Do you want to try it out?" Minho asks.
Jisung nods enthusiastically. "Mhm!"
They each pick a side of the couch to sit on and start trying to figure out how the game works. Luckily, there are instructions on a laminated piece of paper beside the screen. First of all, they need to pick a plane, and then they need to use both the joystick and the button beside the joystick to attack opposing planes to collect points from the game.
They play three games in total. The first one is to figure out how to play the game as they're playing the game. The second one is to see if they could play better than the first game they played. The third one is just for fun, now that they are more familiar with how the game works. Throughout the games, Minho and Jisung rib at each other and laugh as loudly as the museum environment will allow them as they attempt to dodge the incoming bullets and defeat the "boss" of the game, a really large plane with an equally large health bar.
When their third game ends, Jisung happily sighs, letting out all the stress dodging in the game has caused.
Minho bumps their shoulders together and says, "Do you want to try the other game?"
"What game?" Jisung asks, but Minho has already stood up to head to the large projection on the other side of the room. He gets up from the couch to follow him.
"What's that?" Jisung looks at the projection to see small hearts floating in front of a generic city background.
"It's an interactive game," Minho answers, then brings lifts his hands in front of him, facing the projection. "Look, all you have to do is use your hands to catch the hearts on the projection to collect points."
He proceeds to demonstrate it to Jisung. He moves around, waving his hands in order to "catch" the hearts projected on the screen. There seems to be a motion capture device somewhere, because Minho's movements are translated onto the projection and "catching" the hearts indeed gives you points.
"How did you know how it works?" Jisung asks.
"I've been here before," Minho says. "But other students were playing the airplane game, so I did this one instead. C'mon, let's see if two people can play at the same time."
Jisung walks over to Minho's side and raises his hands in front of him as well. He experimentally moves them around and is surprised that he can also catch the hearts. "It works!" he grins.
Minho smiles back. "I'm ready when you are."
They face the projection, officially starts the game's program, and begins collecting as many hearts as possible. As the game progressed, various obstacles appeared. If their hands pass through the obstacles, it deducts points. The hearts also start to move faster the more they play, which means they have to make very interesting and energetic movements in order to continue collecting points.
Jisung finds himself wiggling his entire body in the effort to collect the rapidly moving hearts. He looks over to Minho, just to see if his hyung is also facing the same predicament, but instead finds the other moving in a very controlled way. It almost looks like he's dancing, which probably makes a lot of sense seeing as he's one of the heads of their college's dance organization's Street dance division.
The game ends with Minho as the winner. Jisung's braced against his knees, trying to catch his breath. "That…was really…fun…" Jisung starts, then has to pause again in another attempt to control his breathing. "But…I think I need…to fix…my stamina…"
Minho laughs. "It's not that bad," he grins teasingly. "Maybe you just need to exercise more."
Jisung aims a halfhearted glare at him.
Later on, after going through the rest of the artworks on the third floor, they head back down to grab their bags. Both of them have a class soon, and since their buildings are beside each other, Minho offers that they walk together. Jisung agrees.
While walking towards their classes, they talk about the artworks and what they thought of them. Jisung personally finds the projection with the story the most memorable, mainly because of how strange the story was, while Minho cites the interactive game with the hearts as his favorite.
Without noticing it, they are standing in front of Jisung's classroom door. "I guess we have to get going, then," Minho says. "It was nice to explore the museum with you, Jisung. I had fun."
Jisung beams. "I had fun too, hyung! Let's do something like that again next time."
Minho grins back. "Of course, Jisung. It's a date."
With that, Minho leaves to walk towards his classroom. It is only when Jisung enters his classroom and settles down on his seat that the words catch up to him.
Minho's voice echoes inside his head for the rest of the class. It's a date. Damn. How is Jisung supposed to survive that?
As Jisung walks back to his dorm after class, the words still bouncing around in his skull, he comes to a startling realization about himself. He may or may not be harboring a crush towards his hyung.
He stops walking and groans. He might not survive that next meeting with Minho after all.
VII.
Jisung only learns that there is an org event when he walks to class and sees a large number of stalls set up near the student org building and the nearby field. The stalls offer a variety of things: lanyards, prints, plushies, stickers, keychains, jewelry, clothes, makeup, perfumes, water jugs, and other things Jisung could not see just by walking past.
He decides to visit the stalls after his class and after eating lunch. He has a 3 hour vacant right after lunch, so it's perfect for exploring.
After he eats his lunch, which was fish fillet with rice and fries, he walks towards the venue and looks around the nearest stall. The vendor is selling a wide variety of items, all related to Kpop groups. There are organizers filled with photocards, a shelf of albums to the side, keychains, plushies, and many more.
Jisung is examining a mini music box when someone grabs his shoulder from behind and whispers, "Boo!"
Startled, Jisung screams and jumps away, only to see none other than Minho behind him, clutching at his stomach and laughing. "Hyung! That's not funny!"
Minho continues laughing at him. "You're too cute, Han Jisung," he smiles, wiping invisible tears away from his eyes.
Jisung levels him with an unimpressed look. He places the music box back to its proper place on the stall's table. "What are you doing here, hyung?" He tries to channel some disappointment in his voice, but it ends up taking a more curious note.
Finally, Minho stops laughing. "I don't have classes, so I figured, 'why not have a look around?'"
Jisung sighs, his heartbeat slowly getting back to normal. "I guess…" he acquiesces. "In that case, do you want to look around together? Just like the museum?"
Minho nods. "We're both here, so why not?"
Jisung turns back to the stall to look at the other products on sale. This time, Minho joins him. They walk from stall to stall and examine the products they are selling. The stall beside the Kpop themed one is selling stickers and art prints. The stall beside that has various jewelry like necklaces and rings on display. The stall after that has many different plushies of varying sizes stacked upon one another.
Jisung finds a cute cat plushie and coos. He takes it and holds it up beside Minho's face. "Look, hyung! It looks like you!" Then, he takes out his phone and holds it up so he can take a picture.
When he lowers his phone, he finds a fond look on Minho's face. It catches him off guard. There is clear affection in the other's eyes, and he can't believe it's being directed at him.
As Jisung is trying to stop himself from overthinking the fondness, Minho has grabbed a frog plushie and says, "Look, it's you."
Jisung looks at the frog in his hand and furrows his brows. "You see me as a frog?" he asks, bewildered. "That's not cute! I'm the cutest person in the world, I deserve something cute!"
Minho snickers, then grabs another plushie, this time a spider. "On second thought, this looks more like you."
He suddenly brings the spider close to Jisung's face, causing him to scream for the second time that day. "Hyung!" he whines, swatting at him and the spider. "Stop it!"
Minho starts laughing again. "Okay, okay," he relents. He returns the plushie and comes back with another one behind his back. "This is the one that looks the most like you."
Jisung, thinking it's a joke, refuses to get it at first, but eventually extends his hands so Minho can hand him the plushie. A hand-sized brown hamster stuffed toy tumbles onto his hands. It has large, beady eyes and a tiny smile. It's the cutest thing Jisung has ever seen.
"Aww, hyung," Jisung beams. He squishes the hamster's cheeks and runs a hand against the hamster's soft fur. Minho smiles back, then takes the plushie, fishes his wallet out of his shoulder bag, and heads to the cashier.
Jisung only registers the action when it's too late. "Wait—" he tries, but Minho has already bought the hamster for him.
"It's a gift," Minho says when Jisung attempts to give it back to him. "I bought it because I wanted you to have it. So just take it, okay?"
Jisung nearly tears up right then and there. He holds the plushie close to his chest as they move to look at the other stalls.
Later on, after an hour or so has passed, they decide to buy fries and churros as an afternoon snack. They sit on the study hall's outdoor stairs, as Jisung sometimes does when the cafeteria runs out of seats, to eat their food. After eating, Minho invites him to buy coffee as well, so that is what they do.
They get their coffee orders just in time to have 10 minutes left before their respective classes. It's actually a little amusing, now that Jisung think of it, that he and Minho generally seem to have the same schedule for classes.
Minho walks Jisung to class again that day. They stand in front of his classroom door, not quite wishing to leave one another yet.
"Thanks for today, hyung," Jisung quietly says.
"Of course, Jisung-ah. It's my pleasure," Minho replies, smile fond once more.
This time, when Minho leaves, Jisung can't deny it anymore. He likes Minho. He likes Lee Minho, and it's something that goes beyond friendship. He considers confessing, but the puts a stop to those thoughts first.
Maybe one day, he thinks. Maybe one day, he'll gather enough courage to tell Minho he likes him.
VIII.
Jisung finally makes it up the stairs to his dorm's floor, huffing and puffing. His backpack is unusually heavy today, but it's most likely because he decided to bring his laptop to class. His last class for the day has just ended. He almost wants to crash onto his bed and sleep for the next 30 years, but the door opening near the other side of the hall stops him from doing so.
It's Minho who exits the door. He closes the door and turns to his left, spotting Jisung. "Jisungie," he says, surprised. "I didn't know you dormed here."
All traces of exhaustion left Jisung immediately. "I didn't know you dormed either, hyung," he replies. "But yeah, I stay at 307."
"I'm at 305. I'm surprised we haven't bumped into each other here yet."
"I think it's because we have different schedules."
Minho nods. "That makes sense. Did you eat already? I was just about to make dinner."
Jisung's stomach grumbles at that. "No, I haven't. I was planning to take a nap first before ordering something to eat."
Minho pauses for a few moments to think. "I can cook for you, if you want," he offers.
Jisung flails. "I, uhhh, you don't have to!"
Minho smiles. "I want to. What would you like to eat?"
And, damn, what else could Jisung do but follow him to the kitchen?
He sets his bag down at one of the seats in their dorm's private dining hall. Minho heads to the refrigerator to start pulling out ingredients for dinner. They decided on simple stir fried noodles and kimchi. Jisung waits at the table, heartbeat accelerated at the thought of his crush cooking dinner for him. He tries to distract himself by scrolling through his Twitter, but he isn't very successful.
Soon, Minho sets down the pan of noodles on a potholder on the table, along with borrowed plates and utensils. "Eat up," he says, taking a seat opposite Jisung. "I hope you like it."
And boy did Jisung like it. It might be the best thing he has ever eaten in his entire college life, even though he's only been a freshman for 3 months and all he eats are fast food. He practically slurps down his noodles, nodding all the while.
"It's so good, hyung," he says sincerely. "Thank you so much for this. Let me pay for our meal together next time."
Minho sighs, content, a smile blooming on his face.
A comfortable silence settles between them. Jisung's heart is full. Minho, the boy he likes, has just cooked dinner for him. He bought Jisung a hamster plushie from the last art market without Jisung needing to ask. He played the interactive games with Jisung in the art museum even if they did not know each other very well at that time.
It might've been the overwhelming affection Jisung feels for the other. It might also have been because it's been a long day and Jisung is ready to hibernate all throughout winter. Whatever it is, Jisung is opening his mouth before he can stop himself.
"I like you, Minho hyung," he confesses. "I hope that doesn't affect our friendship negatively or anything." He tries his best not to shrink into himself, but he doesn't quite manage.
There is a moment of silence. Jisung doesn't know what Minho is thinking, mainly because he's avoiding looking at the other's face as much as possible. Inside his head, many possibilities of varying successes bounce around like a DVD screensaver.
Finally, Minho lets out a slow exhale. "I thought…" he starts to say, then pauses. "I thought it was just me."
Jisung lifts his head at that. His face takes on a hopeful expression. "What do you mean, hyung?"
Minho shrugs minutely. "When you bumped into me in the hallway, I thought you were really cute, but I also thought that was the last time I would ever see you. It came as a pleasant surprise that it was only the first of my encounters with you. Every time we would hang out, I find myself liking you more and more. I only realized it recently, but I've developed a crush on you, Han Jisung."
Jisung cheeks turn red. "It's the same for me, hyung," he says. "I actually started to notice you even before I ran into you. You were really pretty and you caught my eye. Before I knew it, I developed a crush on you too."
A couple more seconds of silence pass between them. After a while, Minho smiles. "Does that mean you want to date me?" he asks.
Jisung turns even more red, if that were even possible. "I mean…" he laughs awkwardly. "If it's okay with you, then yes, I want to date you. I want to become your boyfriend."
"That's great." Minho places a hand on Jisung's cheek, caressing it with his thumb. "Because I want to become your boyfriend too."
Minho leans in to give Jisung a kiss. Jisung melts into it. He thinks of first seeing Minho in the library, then continuing to notice and meet him in the cafeteria, the hallway, the meeting hall, the bookstore, the art museum, and the org event.
I won't mind if we spend the rest of our lives meeting like this, Jisung thinks. He knows deep down in his heart that it's true.