Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The few exchange students are cramped into a small room, much like any other day, the sounds of discussions taking place in a variety of languages bounce off the walls. Truth be told, regardless of the feeling of suffocation via sound, this room has grown on Keeho quite a bit. This sort of after-school program is what the university calls ‘Korean Learning Development’ or just ‘KLD.’ There wasn’t an instructor or curriculum, really, just students and peer tutors. Any opportunity that might provide more experience for his resume as a translator, Keeho took. Meaning, despite being an exchange student himself, Keeho was a peer tutor. It was a bit odd to explain to others, but when asked, Keeho simply answers: ‘Well, my major is in Korean language.’

KLD is also how he met Soul, a Japanese exchange student majoring in entomology. Outside of the program, they’re very close. Keeho didn’t expect tutoring would make him such a good friend, but he’s really glad it did.

“I think you’re underselling yourself, Soul. Your comprehension is much higher than you think, you know?” Keeho explains. Honestly, if he didn’t know better, he’d probably think Soul underestimated himself on purpose for a lighter workload. As it is in reality, Keeho for certain knows better than that, “You may not be confident, but I can tell you honestly, you’re a lot smarter than you think.”

Soul shakes his head gently. Keeho frowns slightly at that. Keeho really wants the answer: Just what makes him this discouraged? Soul’s eyes seem to lose their pupils and become two simple black orbs as he stares quietly.

Keeho starts, “I’m making you try reading a harder book," He pauses for Soul’s reaction. Soul sighs, but keeps quiet, waiting for Keeho to continue, “So when KLD ends, we’re going to the library and exchanging your old book together, okay?”

“I can’t,” Soul replies.

Keeho begins, at this point frustrated, “Soul, I am telling you, you can. You have improved your Korean comprehension so much–”

Soul cuts Keeho off, “No. I can’t go to the library. At least not today, I already told Jongseob we could go to the pc bang after KLD.” (TN: “pc bang” is a gaming cafe)

After hearing that, Keeho is no longer frustrated; his demeanor quickly shifts from ‘tutor Keeho’ to ‘friend Keeho.’ He jokingly rolls his eyes, “You’re prioritizing your boyfriend over your education.”

Soul’s face flushes ever so slightly, “I haven’t seen him in a while.”

Keeho giggles at Soul’s shyness, “You guys are so cute.” Keeho then suddenly remembers the main objective and refocuses, “I’ll go by myself and pick something for you then.”

“Can’t we just go tomorrow?” Soul questions genuinely.

“The library on campus is closed on weekends. If I don’t go, you’ll have nothing to read until after KLD on Monday, so then what’s the point? We would be doing nothing the whole time. I need you to be reading something to gauge your improvement, right?” Keeho answers.

Soul nods, “Ok, I understand,” his lips form a line shortly after he finishes his sentence.

“You think I’ll pick something boring, huh?” Keeho accuses. Soul shrugs. Keeho sighs while he shakes his head, “Just give me your old book so I can exchange them.”

Soul begins rummaging around in his backpack before eventually extending Keeho the book. Keeho begins to reach forward to meet Soul in the middle, just before Soul abruptly pulls his arm back, leaving Keeho’s hand to dangle in the air. Soul giggles, and Keeho lunges his body forward in his chair slightly to take hold of the book, “You act like a little boy.”

“Not all of us are old and single. Sorry, Steph.”

“Just remember that I’m your tutor too,” Keeho says, and while technically that is true, both of them know he’s more or less joking.

Soul nods as he zips back up his backpack, “I’ll make sure to respect my elders from now on, seonbaenim.” (TN: “seonbaenim,” a formal Korean honorific referring to a senior/mentor higher than yourself within a school, workplace, etc.)

Keeho thinks this must be that boy Jongseob’s influence. That kid always liked to mess with him, just like this. Keeho wonders if Soul notices how much he’s picked up on Jongseob’s speech and behaviors. Maybe he’s more susceptible to noticing those details because he’s known Soul since he could barely say a full sentence in Korean.

“Steph, it’s almost time to leave. You should probably go now, otherwise the hallways will be crowded,” Soul informs.

Keeho scoffs, “You’re only saying that because you want to leave early.”

“There’s only a few minutes left,” Soul argues. Keeho raises a brow. Soul sighs before he continues, “Ok. Last time I met up with Jongseob I was late because I got stuck behind the crowd of people.”

Keeho grabs his backpack, places the book inside, and slings it over himself as he stands up. “Honesty is the best policy,” he jokingly remarks.

The two of them leave the room to enter the empty halls. They have a small conversation as they walk together to the point of campus where they must split off. Soul tells Keeho about some video game he and Jongseob have been playing together recently as Keeho nods along to Soul’s explanation of the story and game mechanics. They go their opposite ways, and Keeho begins his short walk from the campus to the campus library, which is a short distance from the school. The library is technically open to the public, so the building is detached from the university itself.

As Keeho approaches the double doors of the building, he shrugs his bag off his shoulder to grab the book inside. He puts his backpack on again and holds the book to his side with one hand, then opens one of the doors with his free hand.

Keeho only makes it a few steps through the door before an alarm begins ringing. He stops in place and swings his head around, trying to locate what might be the issue. His first thought is fire, but it doesn’t sound like the campus fire alarm of which he had heard during the university’s fire drills. If anything, it sounds like the alarm a store might have to defend from shoplifters. Upon that thought, Keeho looks to the sides of where his feet are planted and sees two large plastic pillars flashing red on either side of him. He walks away from the machines, and the sound abruptly stops. Keeho scans the room briefly to see if there were any witnesses to that horrid scene that had just played out. There’s seemingly no one in sight, which checks out, who would be at the school library on a Friday?

Of course, because this wasn’t already embarrassing enough, when Keeho turns his head forward after his check around the room is finished, he flinches in shock that someone is suddenly standing in front of him. The book falls out of his hand, then hits the floor with an almost comical thud sound. Keeho presses his lips together and nods to himself before grabbing the book off of the floor.

The person in front of him is wearing an employee badge, but he’s most definitely a student volunteer based on how young he is, maybe even the same age as Keeho himself. By the look on his face, Keeho can tell he’s trying not to laugh at his misfortune. His eyes are smiling, and one of his hands is covering a large portion of his face. Despite the fact that Keeho is the one being laughed at, the expression of the stranger almost makes him want to laugh alongside him.

“All I did was enter the building, I swear,” Keeho explains, his hands in the air as if he were under arrest.

The man lets his hand drop, no longer covering his face. He smiles and clarifies, “I know. That happens anytime someone with an overdue book comes in.”

“Free entertainment, huh?” Keeho jokes. The employee laughs gently, and now that his face isn’t obscured by a hand, Keeho realizes just how cute the man’s laugh is. His mouth forms nearly perfectly the shape of a heart, and his eyes shut due to how big his smile is.

“You can return it to me, I'll take care of it. Make sure you remember to turn it on time next time. Otherwise, that will happen again.”

“But then how will you know I’m here if I don’t announce my presence?” Keeho jokes once more, handing the book over to the stranger, who giggles at his dumb quip again. Usually, when he’s with Soul or Theo and tells a dumb joke like that, they just tell him to shut up. Keeho can feel a huge dopey smile has formed on his face, one he can’t suppress.

“Saying ‘hello’ might work,” he replies.

“Hello,” Keeho waves.

The man shakes his head with that damn smile on his face again, “Usually people come to a library to read, not to talk,” he brings a finger up to his lips as he speaks, “Keep your voice down.” The stranger then walks away, presumably to attend to his duties.

Keeho walks through the library with a grin stuck on his face. Every once in a while, he giggles to himself as his conversation with the man replays in his head. He’s never seen such a genuine laugh in his life. It was as if pure joy had controlled the man with the way in which he beamed at each thing Keeho said.

After some serious stalling, hoping to run into the young employee again, Keeho chose a book for Soul and went to the front counter of the library to check out. Keeho’s somewhat disappointed not to spot the man again, and the librarian who checks out his new book is certainly nearly as nice as he was.

“You’re checking this book out?” The librarian questions.

“Yes,” Keeho confirms.

“Do you have your library card or student ID?”

“Sorry, but I’m actually checking this out for my tutee, so I don’t have his ID. Are you able to search him up in the system?”

The librarian sighs, “Name?”

“Haku Shota.”

After a moment of excessively loud typing, the librarian speaks again, “His last book was returned late. Tell him to turn his borrowed books in on time or renew them, and that next time he needs to check his own book out.”

“Sure, thanks,” Keeho notes that if he needs to check out a book for Soul again to just check it out under his own name.

On his way to the dormitory, Keeho realizes he should’ve asked for that stranger’s name. 

When Keeho enters his dorm room, he’s surprised at first when a black cat greets him at the door. He quickly closes the door behind himself. “Why is Crypto here?”

Theo’s slippers clack against the floor as he makes his way over to where Keeho’s standing and picks Crypto up in his arms, “Jongseob asked me if we could watch him while he’s out with Soul. He said that he was worried that Crypto might be found if he meowed too loudly.”

“Ah, ok.” Keeho nods as he takes off his shoes. Theo follows Keeho, Crypto still in arms, trailing as Keeho readjusts to being back in the dorm.

“Did you eat yet?” Theo asks.

Keeho answers, “No, I was just going to the library to pick up a book for Soul.”

Theo nods, “Well, there's a few packs of microwave ramen I got today,” Keeho sighs. Theo starts again, “Hey, I’m just offering.”

“I wasn’t sighing at you. It’s just.” Keeho pauses, “Did you know there’s an alarm that goes off if you enter the library with an overdue book?”

Theo grins, “You triggered the alarm, didn’t you? That’s so embarrassing,” he laughs, clearly picturing the scenario in his head.

“I didn’t even know the book was overdue in the first place. It’s Soul’s fault, really.”

“How many people saw?”

“Only one, actually.”

“You got lucky. What a drama queen."

“Yeah, ok, whatever, stupid whore. Where's the ramen?”

Theo nudges with his head the direction of the ramen, “Top cabinet.” Keeho follows his instruction. Theo presses, “Who was it? Someone I would know?”

Keeho speaks as he prepares the ramen for the microwave, “I don’t think so. I don’t even know him.” Keeho interrupts that train of thought for a moment, “Do you want one too?”

Theo shakes his head, “Already ate.”

Keeho nods, then places the container into the microwave, “To be honest, the guy was really cute and I’m kind of mad his first impression of me was what it was.” Theo hums in acknowledgment. Keeho goes on, “First, I triggered the alarm. Second, I flinched and dropped the book in my hand when I saw him.”

“That handsome, huh?” Theo says mockingly.

“He pretty much appeared out of nowhere. The whole place was empty.” Keeho uses his hands to emphasize how vacant the room was.

“What does he look like?”

Keeho thinks for a moment, “He had a library badge on. I think he’s our age. A little bit shorter than me. Monolids. Kind of like a small mouth, but a huge smile in the shape of a heart.” Keeho then adds, “You know what he looks like, actually? He looks like a hamster.”

“A hamster?” Theo repeats.

“Yes, just like a hamster.” The microwave beeps and Crypto meows, scared of the sudden noise.

“It’s ok, Crypto, just the microwave,” Theo assures the cat as he slowly pets him. Keeho watches Theo lull Crypto back into a calm state as he blows on the molten hot ramen. Theo meets his gaze, “I think I might know him.”

Keeho opens the silverware drawer and grabs a pair of chopsticks. He takes a bite of the noodles and asks, “Do a lot of people compare him to a hamster? Honestly, that’s not surprising. He definitely does look like one.”

“Don’t talk to me when your mouth is full. Gross bitch.” Keeho shrugs. Theo rolls his eyes and moves on, “No ‘hamster’ is not how people commonly describe him. If he had a library badge on, though, I think who you’re talking about is Choi Jiung.”

“You agree with me, though, right? He does look like a hamster.”

“Actually, he kind of does.”

“Thank you.” Keeho slurps more ramen into his mouth, “How do you know him, though?” Theo’s attitude seems to change immediately. Keeho starts to think he said something wrong somehow. Keeho is on the verge of apologizing until–

“He’s Intak’s childhood best friend, so I’ve heard about him,” Theo admits.

Keeho sets the container of ramen down upon hearing that, “He’s childhood best friends with that guy you’ve been throwing yourself at?!”

“You’re so loud, has anyone ever told you that?” Theo remarks.

“You yell all the time. Stop deflecting.”

“What else should I say?” Theo lightly puts Crypto down, “Yes, that would be the right Intak.”

“I’m just amazed. And why would you not tell me Intak had such a cute friend? You clearly don’t have my back.”

“Maybe you should go to the library more often.” Keeho knows Theo is just joking and implying he’s illiterate, but that sentence gives him an idea.

Chapter Text

Keeho doesn’t typically wake up early on weekends, which is a nice break from his usual weekday where he is forced to be an early riser in order to attend his morning classes. Today, his body naturally woke him up at the ripe hour of six in the morning, he decided not to simply go back to sleep, but to wake up Theo as well. With Monday only one more day away, Keeho needed to devise a plan for his next trip to the library, and he knew Theo would be leaving to go out during the day, so he really only had one option, which was to wake Theo up immediately. 

Problem being, Theo doesn’t stir easily. Though Keeho is ambitious enough to put in the effort and wake him regardless. The first thing he tries is turning on the lights, which results in zero progress. Theo lay peacefully with an alike sleeping Crypto in his arms. The second thing he tries is saying Theo’s name aloud a few times. “Theo, wake up. Theo.” Keeho sighs. If Crypto wasn’t in Theo’s arms, he would have hit him over the head with a pillow awhile back. Keeho walks over to the lightswitch again and begins to turn it off and back on repeatedly. For about thirty seconds he watches Theo’s unmovement. 

“Seriously?” Theo suddenly rises, eyes still closed. Crypto frees himself from Theo’s hug and patters off the bed, probably scared by the sudden shift of Theo’s body. 

“Are Jongseob and Soul ever gonna come pick up their cat? He’s gonna be hungry soon.” 

Theo rubs his eyes with the back of his hands, readjusting to the light, “When I texted Jongseob yesterday he told me that Soul and him would come at eleven.”   

“Interesting how you know all of this information but don’t think to clue me in.” 

“Am I not telling you right now?” 

“Yeah, ok. You’re always right or whatever. Anyways, get up, I need your help before you go out.” 

“What is it you want from me?”

“Tell me about Jiung.” 

“I know as much as you do, his name. I’ve never met him in person.” 

“Well then at least help me think of a plan.”

Theo seems to have accepted that Keeho is most likely not going to let him go back to sleep, he hops off his bed and approaches their small ‘kitchen.' In reality it was a lone microwave set on top of a small table placed next to a cabinet. Theo opens the cabinet and grabs a pack of ramen, “Do you want one?”

“Sure.” 

Upon hearing that, Theo reaches for another packet of ramen and begins to prepare two bowls for the microwave, “I’m guessing this ‘plan’ has something to do with Jiung?”

“Obviosuly,” Keeho states.

Theo shuts the microwave after setting the timer. “And I help you how?” Theo faces towards Keeho now.

“Well, right now, the plan is to go to the library again, but how many times can I do that without an excuse, you know?” Keeho explains. 

Theo sighs, “You’ve become a stalker.” 

“The library is a public building. How is that stalking?”  

“Do you even hear yourself? You totally sound like a creep.” 

“I help you all the time with you and Intak, throw me a bone for once.” 

“Well, I would say make sure you don’t come in with an overdue book again.” 

Keeho rolls his eyes, “Ok, bitch, I shouldn’t have asked.” Theo giggles.

“There is no way to not look weird showing up to the library over and over.” Theo shrugs, “I think you can only show up there so many times before you’re gonna have to ask him for his number at least.” The microwave beeps, Theo switches focus. 

“Yeah ok, but what excuses do I use in the meantime? Should I bring him coffee or something?” 

Theo grabs one bowl of ramen and sets it down, then the other shortly after. “You can’t do that.” 

“Why not?”

“Because it’s a library. No food or drinks.” 

“Oh damn, you’re right.” 

The two of them sit on Theo’s bed while eating cheap ramen due to the lack of a table in their small dorm room. Eventually the general consensus of their conversation becomes that Keeho will show up at the library until he gets Jiung’s number. For a little, they discuss Theo’s upcoming meet-up with Intak in a few hours. 

A knock at the door interrupts their conversation, Theo gets up to answer, while Keeho takes the opportunity to grab the empty bowls of ramen and put them on top of the microwave. Keeho then walks over to the door and watches as Theo lets in Jongseob and Soul. Crypto suddenly runs up to greet his co-owners as he paces between Jongseob and Soul’s legs. 

Jongseob meets eyes with Keeho, “Oh. I didn’t see you before.”

“Hey Jongseobie,” Keeho simply greets. Jongseob immediately starts to laugh and Keeho wonders what joke he told. “Did something funny happen?” 

Jongseob replies, still laughing, “I was just thinking about what Theo texted me yesterday.” 

Keeho hits Theo’s shoulder, “Why would you tell him that?” Theo is entirely unapologetic, he just smiles slyly. 

“Steph, I really didn’t know my book was overdue, or that there was an alarm,” Soul says. Keeho can tell he’s trying to be comforting, but all he can take from that sentence is that Soul also heard his horror story.

“It’s fine, Soul. I got your book, so that’s what matters. I’ll give it to you on Monday” Soul nods.

Then, Soul, wearing an oversized jacket, removes his arms from the jacket’s sleeves and picks up Crypto, hugging Crypto closely against his chest. Jongseob turns to face Soul and zips up the jacket. Crypto meows at the sudden darkness. The couple leaves shortly after. 

Theo starts getting ready to see Intak, styling his hair, picking out clothes, cologne and all. Keeho scrolls absentmindedly on his phone while Theo asks for feedback on how he looks every so often.

Theo does of course leave to go out, leaving Keeho alone in the dorm. In his free time he decides to actually do some of his school-work. As he reads through his class assigned reading, his mind drifts back to the library again. Keeho wonders how much money he could’ve saved if he had just borrowed these books instead of buying every single book he was assigned. He wonders if he would’ve known about the alarm if he had. He wonders why he didn’t meet Jiung sooner, around campus. With all these questions filling his head, it’s hard to focus on the actual book in his hand. It doesn’t help how boring the text itself is. Though because he has nothing better to do, he forces himself through the required reading, occasionally interrupted by daydreams. Keeho’s not sure how long he sits on his bed in auto-pilot mode, annotating and note-taking the text, but it had to have been hours, because before he knows it, Theo is already back at the dorm.

Theo’s face has a slight frown and he holds a bouquet in one hand. He enters silently. Keeho closes his book and puts away his pen and highlighters as he watches Theo transfer the bouquet from its wrapping paper into a ‘vase’, which was actually a mason jar previously used to hold kimchi. 

“Intak gave you flowers?” Keeho questions.

“Yeah,” Theo answers. His tone is unreadable. 

“Are you ok?” Keeho asks with genuine concern clear in his voice.

“He gives me flowers, but still acts like we’re just bros or something. I lean in, and he backs up and starts rambling about some stupid story. I’m so confused. If he doesn’t like me then why does he gift me flowers and all of this stuff? Anytime I try to make a move, he just backs away or changes topic. If he wants to reject me, why not do it already? Why does he have to be so nice all the time?” Theo finally spills it all out. His eyes are watery like he’s about to cry. 

Keeho urgently hops off his bed to rush over to Theo to prevent him from bursting out into full blown tears. Keeho put a gentle hand on Theo’s shoulder, “Hey, it’s ok, if he was going to reject you, he would have already, right? You’ve made so many moves on him, he definitely knows.” 

“Does he? It’s been a year of this,” Theo sounds absolutely defeated. 

Keeho pulls him into a hug, “I think… he just needs more time. Friends don’t buy each other flowers.” Theo nods and hugs Keeho back.

Chapter Text

At this point, a large pile of clothes has formed on the ground. Not that it was hard to make the dorm look like a mess, due to it being practically the size of one room, but the dorm looked like a disaster thanks to Keeho’s morning efforts. Sifting through his wardrobe all morning, trying on different combinations, over and over. Keeho doesn’t want to look like he was trying too hard, but also didn’t want to seem like he wasn’t trying at all. It was extremely frustrating, and all his time spent playing dress-up was sure to make him late to his morning lecture. Alongside his own tardiness, Keeho was dragging Theo down with him, naturally.

Keeho held up a simple black sweatshirt with the words ‘Los Angeles’ written in cursive. “This is kind of boring, huh?” he asks.

Theo just shrugs, “I think it’s fine. Not eye-catching. But not too boring.” 

“You know, I want to be at least a little eye-catching.” Keeho throws the sweatshirt aside. 

“I don’t think you need clothes to be eye-catching; you catch my eyes a lot just being yourself,” Theo says.

Keeho shakes his head, digging through, still searching for the perfect clothing item, “What’s that even supposed to mean?”

“You’re unbearable,” Theo replies.

Keeho doesn’t stop his search, he stays silent, shuffling until picking out another cloth, “Well, I guess that this situation really sucks because I actually can’t stand you either.” 

Theo sighs, “I’m glad we both finally admitted it.” Keeho grabs a random shirt and throws it towards Theo’s direction. Theo quickly grabs it off the floor upon its landing and launches it straight back at Keeho after wrapping the shirt into the form of a ball. Theo aims directly at the center of Keeho’s back and pitches.

Keeho groans, “Ow, holy shit, what did you just hit me with, dude?” Keeho turns around to see Theo’s predictable devious grin, "Seriously, was that a baseball or what?”

“When would I even have time to grab a baseball? It was the shirt, I just rolled it up,” Theo answers.

Keeho finds the shirt rolled into a ball and unravels it, “Hey, this is kind of a good choice, no? I like it.” 

“If you didn’t like it, you wouldn’t have bought it in the first place,” Theo states.

“Well, all I know is that I have good taste.” 

Theo leaves the dorm first, presumably to attend his morning class. Keeho, on the other hand, will be a bit later to class. He gets changed and sets his phone down between the floor and his bed frame to see the full outfit. There’s hardly any room to put a mirror, let alone a full-length mirror. Sometimes Keeho considers asking Theo if they should ask the administrators to replace their individual beds with one bunk bed. It would save a lot more space. Keeho backs away from his phone with the camera app open as he pats his shirt down. Satisfied with his outfit, he walks back to his phone and slides it into his pocket. He’ll be about twenty minutes late to class based on the current time, but he doesn’t care, and he’s sure no one else will either. 

Keeho’s in zero rush as he grabs his bag and leisurely walks to his class. Once he reaches the class, he slips in and silently finds an empty seat. No one bats an eye. His professor blabbers on and on as Keeho attempts to focus with all the strength in his body. Another lecture, more reading assigned, notes taken. Keeho wonders why he shows up to class at all sometimes, when he knows he will still end up having to self-teach himself most things. He hopes that when he tutors Soul, he isn’t this useless of a teacher. 

Keeho pushes through the bulk of his classes and then, during his break between his last class, not counting his time spent after school in the KLD program, decides to go to the café on campus. He grabs two slices of individually wrapped castella cake, one for him and one for Soul. For a moment, he considers whether or not he should buy three to give one to Jiung. Then he remembers Theo’s words from a few days ago, ‘no food or drinks.’ Damn. Besides that, Keeho orders a small black sesame latte. 

Keeho sits down at a table with two high-top stools. He places his bag on the table and unzips it to place the castella slices into his bag carefully. He stares at the empty seat in front of him blankly afterwards. After a few minutes of waiting, Keeho’s latte is placed onto the counter by the clearly overworked barista, sweating pinballs. Keeho grabs his drink with a simple, “Thank you,” and a gentle smile on his face. 

He walks to his next class, sipping his latte peacefully. The caffeine greatly assists to help him persevere through his boredom in his class. People begin shuffling out of the room, and Keeho follows. Tossing the empty cup of coffee, he walks to the KLD program room and sees Soul immediately upon entering the room. Keeho waves as he approaches his usual seat next to Soul. He opens up his bag and hands Soul the cursed book along with the castella slice. 

“Kasutera!” Soul takes the book and cake from Keeho’s hands. “Thank you, Steph.” (TN: “kasutera” is the more commonly used name in Japan for castella cake, a popular Japanese sponge cake.) Soul unwraps the cake slice as soon as he receives it. Keeho smiles at Soul’s eagerness and fishes out his own cake slice from his backpack to eat along with him.

Keeho takes a bite before instructing, “Read the back of the book summary and tell me what it’s about.”

Soul is able to explain the synopsis fairly well. Keeho does note Soul’s unsureness rather than anything else. Though this is just like any other day, Soul is great; he just needs confidence. Keeho gives Soul time to read the new book as he stays silent, focused on his own schoolwork. The room isn’t entirely ideal for either of them, much too loud, but it would have to do. 

Every once in a while, one of them will suddenly speak up throughout the general silence. 

“Where did you get the kasutera cake from?” 

“The café on campus. Have you not been there?” Soul shakes his head, affirming no. “Really? Everyone goes there.” Soul shrugs.

It’s quiet for a while.

Keeho can feel Soul’s gaze. He finally says, “You’re dressed so handsomely. Trying to impress someone?” 

“I’m always dressed handsomely, ” Keeho retorts.

Soul giggles lightly, “I don’t agree.” 

Keeho and Soul banter a bit more before realizing KLD would close soon and then preparing to leave. Now that the school day is actually over, Keeho is starting to feel a slight nervousness rush over him. Soul seems to pick up on Keeho’s uneasiness that underlines their meaningless hallway conversation as he asks abruptly, “Steph, is something wrong?” 

Keeho shakes his head, “No, I’m fine.” Soul’s expression is doubtful, but he doesn’t push further, which Keeho appreciates. They split ways soon after, and Keeho walks to the library alone again. During his walk, he rehearses things in his head of what he might say. 

‘Come here often?’ seems like something that would make Jiung laugh. Or, ‘Fancy meeting you here.’ Though both of those lines are so cheesy, he’s not sure he can mutter either of them aloud, even if it is ironically. 

Then he remembers what Jiung said. 

Saying ‘hello’ might work. 

Right. That’s easy enough. 

Keeho opens the door and is thankful for the fact that this time, when he enters, no alarm is triggered. The library isn’t exactly thriving, but there are a few people sprinkled around. Keeho walks around, attempting his hardest to look like he isn’t looking for anyone. He wanders around several sections before hearing a conversation between two others nearby. 

“I don’t know how to help you anymore,” Keeho leans in after recognizing it to be Jiung’s voice. He hides himself behind a wall of books. 

The unknown other asks, “Do you think he’s mad at me?” 

“If he hasn’t talked to you in two days, then yes, he’s mad,” Jiung explains. Keeho creeps closer, attempting to see the other person. 

“Are you mad at me?” 

“I’m starting to be.” 

Keeho inches forward and finally sees the other person’s face. Instantly, he recognizes Intak through his knowledge from pictures Theo has shown him of the two of them together. He almost wants to gasp aloud at the shock, but he makes sure to suppress any of those obvious giveaways that he is currently eavesdropping on their conversation. 

“What should I do? I really don’t know what I did wrong, though. I can’t think of anything I did that would upset him.” Intak whines.

Jiung sighs, “I already told you, I don’t know how to help you anymore.” 

“Please, man,” Intak begs once more. 

“Well, you need to find out whatever is wrong, and then you need to apologize.” 

“How am I supposed to find that out if he won’t talk to me?” 

“And how am I supposed to help you? I wasn’t there.” Jiung throws his arms up and lets them fall back down.

“I dunno… but…” Intak huffs through his nose. Entirely defeated.

“You’ll have to find some way to find out what the issue is. I can’t do that for you.” Jiung walks away. He seems pissed. Intak stands there for a moment by himself before quietly leaving with a somber expression made evident through his eyes. 

Keeho lets out the breath he had held the entire time, too scared to release it at the slight chance he might exhale too loud and be caught. Keeho doesn’t attempt to locate Jiung again, deciding it would be best to let him have his cooldown period after whatever argument between him and Intak just occurred. 

It seemed exceedingly obvious that they were discussing the other end of what he had heard of from Theo. Keeho couldn’t say it with full certainty because his name was never explicitly stated, but the timeline worked out just right. On Keeho’s way back to the dorm, he comes to the conclusion that it would be for the best not to bring it up to Theo. Jiung was right, Intak should have to find out what was wrong for himself. 

So despite how hard it was to keep it in, when Keeho arrives back at the dorm and Theo mockingly asks, “How’d it go?” 

Keeho replies, “I didn’t get the chance to talk to him.” The flowers in the mason jar need water, Keeho thinks as he stares blankly at the out-of-place flowers next to Theo’s bed.

Chapter Text

This morning, Keeho had planned a bit better. He had picked out the outfit for the day already the night before, saving both his and Theo’s time in the morning, and perhaps saving their dorm from being a mess. Keeho changed into his preselected clothing and headed out the door, though not before having to withstand Theo’s degradation of how much time he wasted yesterday just to not even see Jiung. 

“I’m seeing him today,” Keeho states, matter-of-factly. How does he guarantee nothing else will interfere with his plans? He can’t, but he sure can have his hopes. 

So when he leaves the dorm, he leaves with a smile plastered on his face and a mission. He zones out for most of the day, too excited to be able to properly give his focus to another day of repetitive lectures. Not that he paid attention on normal days, but today he was especially uninterested in his education. He walks around campus as if mind-controlled by the muscle memory of when and where his classes are, stepping thoughtlessly and sitting absentmindedly in the classrooms when he reaches his destination. This is how the whole day continues. Like a filler episode of a show. 

Of course, Keeho is able to tap back into ordinary life once it becomes time for KLD. Something about being unproductive the entire day allows him to be much more productive. Soul seems to match his energy; they get a surprising amount of work done. Soul asks for help with writing an essay, unsure of his wording and general grammar. Keeho reads over it a couple of times with him, and they finish it together by the end of the session. 

“Good job, Soul. We will have to celebrate later.” Keeho affirms. Part of being a good tutor is positive acknowledgement. Soul smiles and nods. Soon then after it comes time for KLD to end, and suddenly that excited feeling in Keeho is reignited, which was previously shoved down in favor of his day-to-day schedule. 

Keeho steps lightly, making his way to the library like a child who has just learned how to skip. Upon entering, he doesn’t need to search for Jiung, as he was almost directly in front of the door, as if placed in a perfect position for Keeho’s arrival. Keeho quickly walks to Jiung with a giddy smile, though Jiung doesn’t seem to notice his presence whatsoever. Jiung seems to be entirely engrossed in his current actions, and Keeho couldn’t quite figure out what exactly those ‘actions’ were. There is a large table propped up near the entrance that’s not usually there, and the table has an assortment of items on it that Jiung is actively arranging: colored pencils, markers, and a variety of different papers. Keeho stays silent for a moment, observing Jiung as he carefully curates, well, something. Keeho decides to speak up after what must have been a minute or two of simply staring, “What’s this?” 

Jiung pauses in the midst of a movement,  “Ah, what did you say? I’m not very good at multi-tasking.” 

Keeho rewords his question slightly before he replies, “What are you setting up?” 

“Oh. It’s for people to make their own bookmarks, if they want to. Sometimes we have activities set up, just for fun,” Jiung explains.

Keeho nods, “I see, so all of this is like a DIY bookmark station?” 

Jiung then nods too, “Yes, exactly.” It seemed that those must’ve been the words Jiung was looking for, but he was unable to find them. The feeling of success washes over Keeho. Jiung brings his full attention off of the arrangement and to Keeho before he speaks again, “Do you want to make one with me?” 

Keeho restrains himself from showing too much excitement, “Sure.” 

Jiung smiles, “Ok, pick whatever you want, and we can go sit over there.” Jiung says, gesturing towards a table close by. Keeho begins weighing his options. The first thing he grabs is a glitter pen, before he ultimately grabs all of the pink supplies available. By the time he grabs all of his supplies, he notices Jiung doesn’t have a single thing in his hands. Jiung looks as if he were in the middle of a complex math equation, his eyes darting across the assortment of stationery. Keeho can tell Jiung is so deep in thought that he almost wants to laugh at how much brainpower Jiung is using to choose from a table of art supplies. Keeho patiently waits as Jiung hesitantly chooses white paper, a pencil, both light blue and dark blue colored pencils, as well as a purple colored pencil. 

The two of them walk over to the vacant table and sit together. Keeho expects Jiung to pick the seat across from him, it being a table with four seats with two on either side of it, but Jiung sits down right next to him. Keeho was surprised, but definitely not complaining. As soon as Jiung sits down, Keeho picks up on just how good he smells. Keeho is honestly disappointed in himself for not noticing earlier, as well as slightly ashamed of himself for actively trying to sniff the man next to him. 

Theo’s voice rings through Keeho’s mind.

Do you even hear yourself? You totally sound like a creep. 

Keeho shakes his head and begins to actually concentrate on the task at hand. 

Keeho cuts a straight line into the paper to the best of his ability. The meticulous Jiung, on the other hand, is using a ruler, drawing a line onto the paper carefully, then cutting out the perfect shape of a long rectangle. Keeho then looks back at his craftsmanship, a thin rectangle with wonky edges. Jiung draws faintly a template for his design onto the paper, cut out with a light-handed use of a pencil. Keeho reaches for one of his many pink writing utensils with no rhyme or reason, drawing senseless doodles onto the emptiness. Keeho sets down the colored pencil in his hand, exchanging it in favor for the glitter pen; he writes his name in both Korean and English. 

Peering over at Jiung’s progress, Jiung has just picked up his first use of color. He fills in purple details on the paper, the pattern beginning to become increasingly visible as he colors more shapes in. Keeho watches the slow process as the image of a night sky becomes fleshed out. “Finished already?” Jiung suddenly says, and Keeho feels as if he had been caught doing something terrible.

“Not quite,” Keeho shifts back into looking at his creation. Of course, he had finished already. Who took bookmark decorating this seriously? Keeho evaluates his paper, trying to think of something more to add to it. It suddenly dawns on Keeho that he hasn’t considered simply putting a design on the back as well. He flips the paper over and again begins drawing on the paper with no plans in mind.

Keeho wants to say something, but he isn’t sure what he would say. Jiung’s focus is so intense it’s almost as if his energy was physically preventing Keeho from interrupting it with a dumb quip. Though with how quiet is, Keeho’s mind starts drifting off to the scent of Jiung’s cologne again. Keeho starts to seriously consider whether or not he should go out and buy a stronger cologne. 

Keeho can see Jiung break out into a wide smile through his peripheral vision. Keeho turns to Jiung, “Feeling accomplished?”  

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Jiung presents his bookmark proudly, “I did a night sky theme.” 

Keeho can really tell how proud of himself Jiung is. “I really like it,” he affirms. 

“Thank you.” Jiung’s gaze lingers, and Keeho starts to feel like he said something weird. “Aren’t you going to show me yours?” 

Keeho looks at his bookmark and attempts to cover it in a non-suspicious way, resting an elbow atop it. “You want to see mine?” 

“Of course, we made them together,” Jiung finalizes. 

Keeho could cry. His bookmark looked… in simple terms, so stupid. Shamefully, he lifts his elbow and grabs the embarrassing paper. Keeho presents it to Jiung, unable to think of an excuse not to. 

Just like their first run-in, Keeho can tell Jiung is trying not to laugh. The shape is all off, and in general, it looks like the creation of a toddler. Jiung’s slight snickering under his breath is, in fact, heard by Keeho.

Keeho walks home from the library nonetheless, happier than before he went in. Preparing for Theo to kill most of his joy, he enters the dorm with his ugly bookmark in hand. Upon opening the door, he almost runs into Theo, who happened to be leaving at the same time as he was entering. 

“Hey, wait.” Keeho starts all of a sudden. “I was going to ask if we could go out and go cologne shopping.” 

“You want to try a new cologne? That’s weird. I’ve never seen you use anything other than your usual one.” 

“I’m just changing things up, you know?” 

Theo squints. 

 Keeho sighs, “Will you just come with me, man?” 

“With what money are you buying a fancy cologne with? I am about to go fishing. Go make Jongseob come with you.” 

“Why the hell would I ask Jongseob?” 

“Jongseob collects perfumes and colognes. I’m sure he’d be more helpful than me.” Before Keeho can even attempt to argue, Theo just shoves his way past Keeho and leaves. Fishing over friendship. Damn you, Theo. 

Keeho makes his way over to Jongseob’s dorm regardless of Theo’s betrayal. Knocking on the door, Jongseob’s roommate, who Keeho isn’t sure of the name of, opens the door instead. “Is Jongseob here?” The other student simply nods and leaves, presumably to go get Jongseob. 

“Keeho?” 

“Hey, are you busy? I want to go buy a new cologne. Theo just ditched me.” 

“I’m working on something but…” Jongseob pauses, “I feel a bit bad for you, actually.”

Keeho knew Jongseob was going to say something like that. He just rolls his eyes, “Let’s just go, come on.” Jongseob laughs a little before he closes the door and they begin their way to the closest store that sells fragrance. 

“What do you have in your hand?” Jongseob questions.

Keeho looks down, completely forgetting he never set the bookmark down. “It’s a bookmark I made.” 

“You seem to like reading nowadays,” Jongseob says, slyly. 

The walk is somewhere between far and near, about thirty minutes away. Keeho would prefer to simply drive there, but it wasn’t like he had a car. 

Once inside the store, Keeho realizes Theo was right, Jongseob was actually surprisingly helpful. Keeho found something that smelled nice after all. On their way back to the dormitory, Keeho places a hand on the back of Jongseob’s head, petting him, “You’re pretty helpful, Jongseobie.” 

“Well, I just thought, maybe if I helped you get a boyfriend, you wouldn’t be so annoying and sad all the time.” Keeho retracts his hand. Jongseob giggles. 

“You and Soul… I swear.” 

The two of them are quiet for a moment, the sound of their footsteps taking over. “Theo told me about your crazy stalker plan. You know you can’t go in there every day, right? He’s gonna think you’re weird.” Jongseob says.

“What should I do then?”

“Probably ask him out on a date. Or get his number. Something,” Jongseob suggests. 

“I don’t even know if he likes men,” Keeho realizes, horrified.

Chapter Text

Keeho stares blankly at Soul as Soul’s eyes skim across the words of the book in his hands. Soul glances up once, and they make eye contact. Soul glances up twice when he realizes he is being stared at, and Soul finally speaks up after glancing up for the fifth time, “Are you ok, Steph?” 

“How did you know Jongseob liked guys?” Keeho asks bluntly. 

Soul lowers his book before he answers, “It’s obvious, isn’t it?” 

“What if it wasn’t obvious?” Keeho asks. Soul closes his book. Keeho hopes he remembers what page he was on before he did that. 

“Steph, why are you asking me this? Haven’t you dated before?” 

Keeho sits up stiffly in his chair, “I mean, in high school I did, but…” Keeho relaxes his body before continuing, “I guess I haven’t since then.” 

“You’re a senior, though…” 

“I’ve just been so focused on school up until this year that I didn’t have time for any of that. Honestly, I feel happy just having you, Theo, and Jongseob as friends.” 

Soul nods, “We’ll still be here. If you’re interested in someone, you should go for it, Steph.” 

Keeho then nods too, “Thanks, Soulie.” 

Soul returns to reading his book. The book. Keeho sits anxiously, tapping one foot onto the floor, thinking of how he might approach Jiung today. Some sort of move needed to be made, he knew that. Keeho didn’t want to loiter around the library creepily forever. Soul’s encouragement could only take him so far, but it was enough for Keeho to decide he needed to at least try to make a move today. 

As if Keeho was off to war, Soul gives him what feels like the last hug he’ll ever receive in his life before Keeho begins making his way to the campus library once more. His shoes start feeling like they’re made out of metal the closer he gets to the building. Just as he reaches the doors, someone opens it, as if they had opened the door just for his arrival. Keeho looks up to meet eyes with a gloomy-eyed Intak. Keeho tries to suppress any reaction that might be too obvious and act normal, “...Thanks.” Intak stays still, clearly analyzing Keeho’s face, while entirely blocking Keeho from entering. Keeho had thought he was doing so well, pushing his expression down too. 

“I’m sorry if I’m wrong, but… Are you Choi Tae Yang’s roommate?” 

“...Yes…”  

“...Is he ok? I’m not sure what I did wrong, or if something happened, or, I don’t know…” Intak's eyes plead desperately for answers, “I just don’t know anything.”  

Keeho wants to say, Yeah, you keep friend-zoning him, that’s what’s wrong. Though, based on Intak’s genuineness, Keeho’s sure Intak is oblivious. It almost makes him angry at how lost Intak looks. “Did something happen?” 

Intak explains further, “He hasn’t talked to me in three days. Are you sure he didn’t say what was wrong?”

“He didn’t mention anything to me,” Keeho says. Intak sighs somberly. Keeho continues, “I will make sure he knows you’re worried about him.” Intak nods and then clears Keeho’s path, leaving quietly. 

Keeho recalibrates and spots Jiung with the book cart, returning books back into their place. Keeho makes his way directly to Jiung, who, alerted by Keeho’s footsteps, looks up suddenly.

“Hello,” Keeho says simply. 

“Hello,” Jiung responds. Most likely waiting for Keeho to inquire about some sort of library-related information, Jiung keeps his eyes on Keeho and doesn’t return to his task.

“I think I already know the answer to this, but… You’re a student at the nearby university, too, right?” Keeho asks. 

“All of a sudden?” Jiung questions back, surprised by Keeho’s out-of-the-blue question. 

Keeho realizes it might have been a good idea to ask some other questions before he said that, “I thought you might want company. It must be boring to be in silence all the time,” he attempts to backtrack. 

Jiung shrugs, “I actually like the quiet. But yes, I am also a student.” Jiung pauses for a moment, “I also have a sudden question. Have you been hearing meowing? Because I’m pretty sure someone is hiding a cat in their dorm.” 

Out of all the things he could have asked, Keeho wasn’t expecting that. There’s no way he meant Crypto, right? But he didn’t hear any other animal noises besides Crypto in the dorms. 

Keeho whispers, “You won’t tell on them, right? To be honest, I actually know the person who has the cat.” 

Jiung inches a bit closer to Keeho, picking up on Keeho wanting to keep the cat hidden, thankfully. Jiung shakes his head and waves his hands across each other, “No, no, of course not. I just really love animals, so I’ve been jealous of whoever’s cat it is. Actually, I am studying to become a veterinarian.” 

“Me and my roommate sometimes watch him, the cat’s name is Crypto.” Keeho considers for a moment before deciding to add, “If you want, you can give me your phone number so I can tell you when Crypto is over, and you can meet him.” 

“Just to let me know when Crypto is over?” Jiung seems suspicious.

“Well…” 

Jiung laughs, not giving Keeho the opportunity to come up with some nonsensical excuse or explanation. Jiung reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a small memo pad with a pen attached. He flips the small book open and scribbles onto a page before ripping it out and handing it to Keeho. Keeho grabs the paper and reads it, recognizing that it must be Jiung’s phone number. 

Still slightly in disbelief, Keeho asks, “You carry a memo pad with you?” Keeho looks back up at Jiung. It would’ve been easier for Jiung to just take out his phone and add his contact right then in there, wouldn’t it? Jiung’s strangeness is extremely endearing to Keeho. A veterinarian major volunteering for the library, who carries around a memopad everywhere. Everything about Jiung seemed unrelated.  

Jiung looks at the memo pad in his hands, then back at Keeho, “Yeah, I write a lot of things down. So it makes my life a bit easier.”

“That’s somehow not very surprising.” 

Keeho decides not to push his luck by asking anymore questions, allowing Jiung to return to his task. Keeho, on his way back to the dorm, thinks about two things: How am I supposed to talk to Theo about Intak? And, what will Jiung save my contact as? 

Keeho reaches the dorm, his prized paper in hand, slightly crinkled from how much grip he had used all the way home, scared it might be lost to the wind. Theo is sitting on his bed, eating noodles with one hand, scrolling on his phone with the other. Keeho wonders how either of them survives when all they eat is the same microwave ramen for almost every meal. 

“Hey,” Theo welcomes. 

Keeho raises his hand up, “I got his number.” 

Theo puts his phone down, intrigued, “Really?” 

“Yes, really. Why would I lie?” Keeho gets out his own phone to add Jiung’s contact. “What do you send as the first text message?” 

“Well, I guess like… your name, right? So he knows it's you.” Theo says.

“Oh shit. I never told him my name.” Keeho sighs, “How could I forget to tell him my name?”

“You didn’t tell him your name?” Theo sounds unimpressed. 

Keeho groans, “Yeah, whatever. Leave me alone, bitch.” Keeho’s hands hover over his keyboard. “Is ‘hello this is keeho from the library’ ok?” Keeho asks. 

“It’s a text message. Just send it,” Theo states. Keeho presses send, pacing around, awaiting Jiung’s reply. Keeho keeps the chat open, staring at the screen emptily. He watches the typing bubble appear and stops walking around. After staring at the repeated bubble animation for at least two minutes, Keeho begins to walk around the room again. “Can you stop stomping around with your big feet? We're gonna get noise complaints.” 

“My feet aren’t even big.” Keeho rolls his eyes before refocusing on his phone. 

Jiung

Ah, so it was your name that you wrote on your bookmark the other day, Haha.

Hello, Keeho!