Chapter Text
November 28th, 2006
It was late fall, stepping outside felt like a cruel bite as the cold air hit his skin. He carefully walked down the concrete steps, avoiding any spots that had iced over, tightening the scarf around his neck. Fallen leaves crunched beneath his feet on the pavement. He shoved his hands in his pockets when a particularly strong gust of wind hit him, sinking impossibly further into his scarf.
“Yo! Yeonjun,” A voice called out to him; Choi Beomgyu, a guy around 5 '11 with big brown eyes and shaggy brown hair that almost reached down to his shoulders which whipped with the wind. A small smile formed on his face.
“Yo” He said, “It’s really fucking cold out here.” He came to a stop in front of the shorter man, normally he'd go in for a handshake, but every single instinct in his body was begging him to keep his hands in the warm safety of his pockets.
“No shit, it’s almost winter” They fell into pace with each other, walking together side by side, neither of them had an actual destination in mind.
“Doesn’t change the fact I’m freezing my balls off, let’s get inside.”
“I actually have to go to the library to check out some books, wanna come with?” Beomgyu asked, slightly turning his body to face Yeonjun with a tilt of his head. Yeonjun thought about it for a second, he didn’t have anything else better to do and the library was definitely warmer than the middle of the courtyard.
“Sure, why not? But let’s get something to eat first, yeah?”
“Ah shit I forgot I haven’t eaten breakfast yet” Beomgyu started to pick up his pace, strutting towards the direction of a small café on campus. Yeonjun trailed behind him, the wind making his hair fall all over his face. He yanked Beomgyu's backpack when he got close enough, forcing the younger to face him.
“It’s my treat today.”
Beomgyu beamed at him, a large sparkle in his eyes, almost like glitter. “Dude I could kiss you right now,” he leaned in while puckering his lips and making smooching sounds. Yeonjun just leaned back and tried to fight him off while giggling.
"Sorry Gyu, you’re not my type.” Beomgyu let out an overly exaggerated gasp, holding his hand to his chest like he'd been shot- or like he'd been turned down at the altar- if Yeonjun had to guess what he was imagining? probably both.
“I can’t believe you would say that, I’m everyone’s type!!!” He said, while wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye, they both laughed.
Yeonjun had met Beomgyu when the two were still in diapers.Their mothers were friends, so they were often hanging around each other's houses and occupied the same social spaces. Truthfully, he hated his ass when they were younger. And you would too if you were forced to hang around a kid you found mildly annoying for multiple hours on end, several times a week! Though in the end, things turned out well for them, thankfully.
A bell chimed as Yeonjun pushed open the door to the cafe, the smell of pastries and brewing coffee filled him. The two walked over to the counter to examine the men; for a campus café their food was actually pretty good, not much to complain about. They placed their order, Yeonjun swiped his meal card while Beomgyu had started making his way across the café. He chose a table far from the entrance, at the back right corner of the store. The building was rather small, making it feel homey. Natural lighting seeped in from large videos, despite the icy weather, the Sun had decided to show itself. It was a nice shop, a favorite spot of theirs. Yeonjun took a seat, he made himself comfortable while he tried to regain feeling in his fingers and face. He gazed up at Beomgyu and saw the younger doing much the same, huffing into his palms.
“How was class today?” Yeonjun asked, he shifted in his seat, sitting up straight.
“Fucking boring dude, I fell asleep during lecture, I really need to stop doing that. Fuck I’m gonna have to get notes from someone.” He rambled, still huffing into his palms occasionally.
“Finals are coming up, it’s arguably the worst time to nap during class.” Yeonjun started getting up as he heard their order number be called.
“Aughh, don’t remind me I’m dreading it so much” His face twisted, making it seem like he’d eaten something sour. “There’s absolutely no way I’m passing social psych. My parents are going to kick my ass.” He’d started pulling at his hair, which earned him a small sympathetic laugh from Yeonjun. He'd warned him against morning lectures, he knew the guy wasn’t an early riser; but Beomgyu, ever the contrarian, took the class just to spite him. Now he has to deal with the consequences of his actions, such is life. “Enough about my impending doom in the form of a psychology final, what about your finals?” He asked as he took a bite out of his cheese stuffed croissant sprinkled with bacon bits on top.
“There’s no hope for me,” Yeonjun said, sipping on his hot apple cider, which was great by the way, honestly people don’t appreciate apple cider enough. “My final for art history is to base three works around the same subject– more specifically, same face– inspired by the techniques of three different artists.” Talking about it brought his morale down. “Well, it’s better than the‘500 different drawing in four weeks’ fiasco”
“It’s rough out there huh? You looked like hell that whole month,” Beomgyu swirled his own drink around. “like you hadn’t left your room in years and were on the verge of being dragged away by death, eugh.” He added a shiver for emphasis.
“Thanks Beomgyu. I'm glad to know I have such a loving friend.”
“Aren’t I just wonderful” He batted his eyelashes at him and clasped his hands, pressing them against the side of his own face.
Yeonjun laughed at him “oh yeah just the wonderful-est” Beomgyu joined him. They giggled away in their own little corner of the universe.
—————
The library smelled of printed pages and cinnamon candles. One could see the dust settling from the streaks of light that were let in by high windows. The place was lined with rows upon rows of books, both old and new, but mostly old. The librarian, a sweet older lady with a thick Italian accent, greeted them as they walked in. It was fairly empty, an odd occurrence, especially for this time of year. Typically this place would be filled to the brim with students studying for exams. Though from what he could see, it was just Beomgyu, him, and five other people, in the main room at least. Still, the place was baren..
“I think I might be able to find what I’m looking for that way” They two headed deeper into the library, where even more ancient books resided. Beomgyu started scanning through worn spines, picking them up only to take a quick look at them then put them back in their place. He did this a few more times, picking up speed. Yeonjun quickly lost interest in this and started to wander to the tables towards the back, looking for something to distract himself with.
Sitting in a corner with his nose down a book was a guy with black hair and thick framed glasses. Though he could not fully see his face it was obvious the man had a handsome quality to him. “Cute” he said quietly, to no one but himself, really.
“Who?” Well, to himself and Beomgyu, apparently. He'd come to find him, now holding three books in his arms. “Glasses?” He paused, squinted a bit before his face lit up with recognition. “I have class with him– shit he’s actually pretty damn smart, always answers the professors questions when no one else will”, a pause again, “you think he’d help me study for the final?” Beomgyu jumped from one thing to another and before he could even give him an answer, he’d already started making his way over to him.
Yeonjun followed after him, though not without a little hesitation in his steps. The glasses guy looked like he was really engrossed in his studies, he’d probably hate to get interrupted by two randos. But Beomgyu was determined to pass this damn final. Really, the worst thing he could say is no, and that’s why he pulled out a chair across from this guy, awkwardly making eye contact with him. “Yo, I’m Beomgyu” He said while stretching out his hand. Yeonjun could only cringe internally, he’d gone and done it. Glasses guy stared at his hand for a bit, confused, naturally. Unsure of what to do, he slowly started raising his own hand and shook Beomgyu’s.
“Hey…” he broke off the handshake and brought his hands down to his lap. He switched from looking at Beomgyu to Yeonjun, then back to Beomgyu again.
“I don’t mean to disturb your studying, I won’t take much of your time– but we have a class together, social psychology, and finals are coming up and I’m having a hard time understanding the material so if you would be so kind as to help me study I would really, really, reallyyyy, appreciate it!!” He let it all out in one breath, clasping his hands together in front of him in a praying motion. Yeonjun was at a loss of what he should do in this situation, if anything at all. He did notice, however, that the glasses guy looked even more lost than before, staring at Beomgyu dumbfounded; they needed to leave the poor guy alone.
“Hey Gyu, I think we should go," He tapped Beomgyu’s shoulder from where he’d been standing, urging the other to stand up as well. He was practically dragging Beomgyu by the arms when he turned, “Sorry for bothering you, I hope it wasn’t too much trouble, we’ll see you around uh—“ he stopped speaking, realizing he didn’t know his name.
“Soobin,” A small smile cracked on his face. “My name is Soobin, and um, I wouldn’t mind helping you study”
Beomgyu perked up at those words, escaping from Yeonjun’s hold and leaning on the table excitedly. “Are you sure?” Soobin nodded, only backing up slightly from the looming Beomgyu. “You’re seriously saving my life, thank you thank you thank you! I cannot thank you enough” He looked like he was seconds away from leaping over the table and kissing the poor guy- and he would’ve, if it weren’t for the fact that he was practically a total stranger.
“It’s no problem really,” He started picking up his textbooks from the table and placing them into his backpack. “I sort of have a lesson in 15 minutes so I can’t exactly help you right now”
“Oh yeah that’s fine, we can do whatever time works for you”
“Then what about tomorrow at 2, at this same place?”
‘That should work for me”
“Yeah? Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” he slid out of his chair and adjusted his backpack onto himself. “This has been strange, you guys are strange,” he flashed them a quick smile. ‘It was nice meeting you Beomgyu and-‘
He turned towards the other man, raising an eyebrow at him. “Yeonjun”
“-And Yeonjun” he finished saying before turning on his heel and heading towards the exit.
Beomgyu and Yeonjun stood still there for a second before Yeonjun broke the silence. “Holy shit, I can’t believe he actually agreed to that”
“I’m not surprised at all, how could anyone say no to me?”
"You're obnoxious dude.”
“You love me” A smile broke out on his face, quiet giggles escaped them. ‘We better leave before they kick us out for being too loud.”