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Intak woke up slowly, consciousness foggy and uncooperative. The sunlight is pouring in way too confidently for a day that already felt wrong. His mouth was dry. His limbs felt… expensive?
The room didn’t smell like his. It smelled like cedarwood cologne and filtered air. The pillows were softer. The mirror across from the bed caught his attention, and the face staring back wasn’t his.
It was Keeho’s.
Intak bolted upright.
“No,” he whispered. “No, no, no-- oh my God. That’s Keeho hyung’s face. That’s hyung’s jawline. That’s hyung’s nose. That’s--”
“INTAK?!” a voice shouted from the other room. “WHY DO I HAVE YOUR SHOULDERS?!”
<><><><>
By 8:30 AM, every member was awake thanks to the shrieking. Jiung was squinting at them both like a scientist examining a failed lab rat. “You probably body-swapped,” he said with concerning calm.
Intak, now trapped in Keeho’s shorter, smaller frame, scowled. “What, like in a Webtoon?”
Keeho, in Intak’s very symmetrical, impossibly photogenic face, winced. “Dude, your eyes are so intense. How do you not scare people?”
Jiung sipped his tea. “Did you say anything weird last night? Like a wish? Something about wanting to switch lives?”
They both froze.
Last night, in the dorm kitchen at midnight, the conversation went a little bit like this.
“Dude, your life must be so chill. You’re like 95% cheekbone,” Intak said.
“Please,” Keeho replied. “You live like a golden retriever on vacation. Your life is probably so easy.”
“I bet I could live your life better than you,” Intak said.
“You’re on. Prove it,” Keeho shot back.
“I wish I could live your life for a day,” they both said at the same time.
Back in the present, Shota walked in, saw Intak’s body flailing like a balloon man, and said, “Okay, which one of you is possessed?”
<><><><>
Intak spent the morning poking at Keeho’s cheekbones in the mirror like he was sculpting a statue. “Seriously, how are you real? It’s like your entire face was designed by Photoshop.”
Keeho, meanwhile, opened Intak’s phone and gasped. “Why are there so many selfies of me on your phone?”
Intak glanced over, his face turning cherry red. “Uh… research.”
Keeho narrowed his eyes.
“You post, like, two pictures a month,” Intak said casually. “Someone has to archive the… the cheekbone era.”
The room went quiet.
Neither of them said anything. Keeho just raised an eyebrow, watching as Intak turned redder than a tomato. He snickered quietly. Cute.
<><><><>
Despite the crisis, and despite their protests, Taeyang insisted they attend dance practice.
“You can’t skip training just because you swapped bodies,” he said firmly, like that was a normal sentence.
Keeho tried to dance in Intak’s long limbs but couldn’t get his center of gravity right. “He walks like a giraffe on roller skates,” he gasped. “How is this your natural state?”
Keeho, meanwhile, was unbothered. He strutted through the choreo in Intak’s body, occasionally blowing kisses at the mirror.
Jongseob paused the music. “Stop flirting with yourself.”
“I’m not flirting,” Keeho said, flipping Intak’s hair dramatically. “I’m admiring the artistry.”
Intak glared at him. And something in Keeho’s smile faltered.
There was heat behind Intak’s eyes. Not just irritation.
Something else. Something Keeho couldn’t exactly name.
No. No thinking like that. Not when you’re literally in his body.
<><><><>
That night, the dorm was mostly quiet. Intak was curled up in Keeho’s bed, staring at the ceiling. Keeho was across the hall in Intak’s room, surrounded by chaos.
They texted each other at the same time.
INTAK (7:49 PM):
do you think we’ll be stuck like this forever
KEEHO (7:49 PM):
hope not
no offense but ur body is exhausting
Intak laughed softly.
INTAK:
ur welcome for the cardio
KEEHO:
is it really my cardio if i did it in ur body
INTAK:
i guess not
There was a pause before Keeho replied.
KEEHO:
I didn’t think your brain would be this loud
it’s like there was a whole musical playing in here
how do you ever get anything done?
INTAK:
kinda thought you’d be colder
but u weren’t
KEEHO:
kinda thought you’d be clueless
but u weren’t
it’s actually a little refreshing, tbh
They didn’t reply after that.
But neither put their phone down for a while.
<><><><>
Intak woke up feeling wrong in a familiar way. Stretching out his limbs, he groaned, checked the mirror, and let out a barking laugh.
His face was back. His face.
Across the dorm, Keeho yelled something unintelligible that sounded like “MY EYEBROWS!”
They ran to meet each other, both grinning, breathless.
Intak bumped into Keeho’s shoulder too hard. Keeho swore. Intak laughed harder.
They didn’t say anything profound. They didn’t do anything at all.
But Keeho clapped a hand on Intak’s shoulder and Intak didn’t brush it off. In fact, he even leaned in closer.
Keeho grinned.
“I knew you liked me.”
Intak groaned. “Ruined it. You ruined it.”
“I ruin everything,” Keeho said, still grinning. “You like that about me.”
He does.
And for once, he didn’t want to deny it.
<><><><>
After they were back in their own bodies, a few things happened.
Intak tried to swap bodies with Keeho again on purpose. It didn’t work. He sulked for a week.
Keeho now sent him moisturizer recommendations every morning, unprompted. Whether Intak actually used them was up to interpretation.
Shota definitely caught them holding hands in the practice room. He looked at their hands, then at their faces and shook his head, walking right back out.
Jongseob started a group chat titled “Soulmate Swapgate ‘25”. Keeho and Intak both resolutely ignored every message.
Jiung still insisted it was scientifically explainable. Keeho and Intak just thought he was reading too many webcomics.
Taeyang walked into the kitchen one morning to see Intak in Keeho’s hoodie, and Keeho in Intak’s sweatpants, smiling softly at each other.
He just sipped his tea, a small smirk gracing his expression.
“Back in the right bodies, huh?” he said.
“Yep,” they answered at the same time.