Chapter Text
The campus library is painfully silent. Walls lined with dusty books, the fluorescent lights humming, a tension in the air thick enough to chew. Students are hunched over laptops like defeated soldiers. Somewhere near the back, buried in a maze of textbooks and broken dreams, sits Sangwon.
He has two notebooks open, three highlighters scattered across the table, and the expression of someone who is five minutes away from joyfully dropping out and becoming a goat farmer in the mountains. He taps his pen against the page. Tap. Tap. Tap. He sighs, dramatically. Every few minutes, he glances at the door like he’s expecting a miracle, but instead he just misses Leo, though he will physically die before admitting that out loud.
Just when he’s about to pack up and go home—
THUNK.
A shadow drops across the table.
Sangwon freezes, then looks up.
Leo is standing there like a knight in sweatpants, holding a backpack the size of a household appliance. Seriously, the thing looks like it could contain a full camping kitchen, a tent, and possibly a small raccoon.
Sangwon squints. “…Did you move in here?”
“No,” Leo says, completely serious. “I came prepared.”
He sets the bag down and starts unloading it like he’s stocking the shelves of a miniature supermarket: noise-cancelling headphones, Sangwon’s favorite pen, the one he swears magically improves his handwriting, a heated eye mask, peach gummies, energy drink, vitamin water, strawberry milk, a tiny hand warmer, and, for reasons that do not need to exist, a portable neck pillow.
Sangwon stares at the growing pile. “Are you opening a convenience store?”
Leo calmly keeps unpacking. “This is for you.”
“I needed one pen.”
“I brought seven,” Leo replies. “In case the first six get scared and run away.”
And Sangwon wants to be annoyed, he really does, but Leo is already kneeling beside him, fitting the headphones over Sangwon’s small ears. Soft music hums through them, Leo’s fingertips ghosting across his jaw as he adjusts the headphones gently. It makes Sangwon’s heart trip over itself.
“Focus,” Leo whispers. “I’ll sit here. You don’t have to be alone.”
He drags a chair right next to him, too close, knees touching, thighs pressed together, and sits like Sangwon is something fragile that needs guarding. The warmth is distracting and comforting at the same time.
Sangwon tries to read, and slowly, the panic clogging his chest starts to loosen. Just because Leo is here. Just because he cares in all these ridiculous, unnecessary ways that Sangwon secretly loves.
Twenty quiet minutes pass before Sangwon pokes Leo’s thigh with his pen.
Leo turns instantly. “Snack break?”
“How did you know?”
“You poked me with the ‘feed me’ pen.”
Sangwon refuses to confirm this.
Leo opens the strawberry milk, pushes the straw in, and then, holds it to Sangwon’s lips. Sangwon glares daggers at him, cheeks burning, but… drinks anyway.
Of course that’s when a passing classmate walks by, pauses, and stares.
“…Are you two okay?”
Leo answers without shame. “He’s studying. I’m assisting.”
Sangwon wants to crawl under the table and cease existing.
“I’m not a baby,” he mutters.
Leo leans closer, voice low and soft enough to melt bones. “If I stop babying you, you’ll fall apart. Let me take care of you.”
Sangwon’s ears go bright red. He swallows hard, picks up his pen, and pretends nothing happened.
Every few pages, Leo slips a gummy bear into Sangwon’s palm like they’re dealing contraband. The sugar keeps him awake, the quiet keeps him focused, and the warmth pressed against him keeps him calm.
Hours later, Sangwon finishes his chapter, tired, but steady. He leans back, eyes heavy, shoulders finally relaxed.
Leo gently tucks a loose strand of hair behind his ear.
“Good job,” he murmurs.
Sangwon’s throat tightens for no reason. “…Can I have a hug now?”
Leo doesn’t even hesitate. He stands, wraps his arms around Sangwon, and lifts him right out of the chair like he weighs nothing—princess-style, full chest-to-chest contact. Sangwon instantly hides his flaming face against Leo’s neck.
“You did well,” Leo whispers, hand stroking the back of his head. “Next time, I’m bringing a blanket fort.”
Sangwon groans into his shoulder, mortified but secretly glowing.
“…I’ll allow it,” he mumbles. Leo smiles against Sangwon’s hair, holding him like he’s the world’s most precious thing.
And Sangwon, still pretending he’s not soft, melts anyway.