Chapter Text
In a world where soulmates were whispered secrets of the heart, revealed not through grand gestures but a subtle ocular shift at twenty-two, life carried on with its mundane rivalries and fleeting connections. The eye color change was a private affair vague, demanding introspection, and reversible only upon true, profound love. But for Jeon Wonwoo and Kim Mingyu, two physics majors at Seoul National University, such cosmic interventions seemed distant, irrelevant to their daily battles of intellect and ego. They were rivals, pure and simple, locked in a dance of competition that had defined their college years long before any eye could betray a deeper truth.
It started in their freshman year, in Introduction to Classical Mechanics. Wonwoo, with his sharp features, wire-rimmed glasses, and a perpetual aura of quiet intensity, sat in the front row, notebook pristine, answers calculated to the decimal. Mingyu, towering and charismatic, with a disarming smile and an effortless athletic build, lounged in the middle, cracking jokes that lightened the lecture hall but irked the professors. Their first clash came during a group discussion on Newton's laws. Wonwoo proposed a meticulous derivation; Mingyu countered with a flashy analogy involving basketball trajectories.
"Oh, come on, Specs," Mingyu had teased, leaning back with a grin. "Not everything needs to be solved with a ruler and a frown. Lighten up, Brainiac."
Wonwoo adjusted his glasses, unfazed. "And not everything needs your circus act, Puppy. Stick to the equations, or we'll all fail because of your showboating."
The class chuckled, but the nicknames stuck—like reluctant badges of their budding antagonism. "Specs" for Wonwoo's glasses, "Puppy" for Mingyu's boundless energy and loyalty to his friends. It was weird, almost affectionate in its mockery, but neither would admit it. From then on, their interactions were peppered with these endearments, hurled like verbal sparring gloves in the ring of academia.
By sophomore year, the rivalry had escalated. In Thermodynamics, they were pitted against each other in a debate on entropy. Wonwoo argued for the inexorable increase in disorder with cold precision, citing statistical mechanics. Mingyu, ever the optimist, spun tales of reversible processes and human ingenuity, his hands waving dramatically.
"You're such a pessimist, Gloomy," Mingyu shot back, using a new one that referenced Wonwoo's brooding demeanor. "The universe isn't all doom—there's room for miracles, you know."
Wonwoo smirked, crossing his arms. "Miracles? Coming from you, Clown Prince? Stick to reality, or you'll entropy your way out of the top ten."
The professor had to intervene, but the class buzzed with their energy. After class, Mingyu caught Wonwoo in the hallway, tossing him a protein bar. "Here, Mr. Serious. You look like you need fuel for all that overthinking."
Wonwoo caught it, rolling his eyes. "Thanks, Golden Boy. Try not to trip over your ego on the way to practice."
These moments accumulated like layers of sediment, forming a foundation neither recognized. In the library, they'd claim opposite ends of the same table, sneaking glances at each other's notes. Wonwoo would mutter about Mingyu's messy handwriting—"Chaotic as your theories, Messy Pup"—while Mingyu ribbed Wonwoo's organized tabs—"Control freak much, Neat Freak?"
One rainy afternoon in their junior year, during a study session for Quantum Mechanics, the bickering hit a peak. The group project had forced them into proximity, and as they pored over wave functions, Mingyu suggested a bold interpretation.
"That's ridiculous, Dreamer," Wonwoo said, erasing Mingyu's sketch with a flourish. "You're collapsing the wave function with wishful thinking."
Mingyu snatched the eraser back, laughing. "And you're so rigid, Stick-in-the-Mud. Loosen up, or you'll quantum tunnel right into boredom."
The nicknames flowed endlessly: "Bookworm" for Wonwoo's reading habits, "Flash" for Mingyu's quick but sometimes inaccurate insights. "Ice King" when Wonwoo was particularly aloof, "Sunshine Idiot" when Mingyu's optimism bordered on naivety. It was a thousand little jabs, each wrapped in familiarity, turning their rivalry into something oddly intimate. Friends noticed—Seungkwan would tease Wonwoo about his "arch-nemesis crush," while Mingyu's buddies joked about his fixation on "that quiet guy." But to them, it was just competition, nothing more.
There was the time in the cafeteria, midterms looming. Wonwoo sat alone, buried in notes, when Mingyu plopped down uninvited, tray clattering. "Mind if I join, Loner?"
"Yes, actually, Intruder," Wonwoo replied without looking up. But he didn't move, and they ended up debating string theory over lukewarm coffee. Mingyu's laughter echoed as Wonwoo dismantled his argument, but there was no malice—only a spark, like friction igniting warmth.
The university festival. Wonwoo manned the physics club's booth, demonstrating optics with prisms. Mingyu wandered by with his basketball team, heckling. "Hey, Wizard, make me disappear?"
Wonwoo handed him a lens. "Look through this, Magician. Maybe you'll see your mistakes magnified."
Mingyu peered, then grinned. "Nah, all I see is your grumpy face, Cutie Pie." The endearment slipped out, weird and unbidden, making Wonwoo's cheeks heat. He brushed it off as sarcasm, but it lingered.
Hallway encounters became routine. Mingyu would bump shoulders "accidentally," calling out, "Watch it, Daydreamer!" Wonwoo would retort, "You first, Tornado." In lectures, notes passed surreptitiously: Mingyu's doodles mocking Wonwoo's precision, Wonwoo's corrections on Mingyu's wild ideas. "Perfectionist" met "Wild Card," "Hermit" clashed with "Party Animal." A thousand endearments, each chipping away at walls neither knew they had.
As senior year dawned, their dynamics had evolved into a comfortable tension. They were neck-and-neck for valedictorian, professors using them as examples. In Electromagnetism, a heated discussion on Maxwell's equations led to after-class lingering.
"You're brilliant, but stubborn, Puzzle Master," Mingyu admitted, packing his bag.
"And you're talented, but reckless, Adventure Seeker," Wonwoo countered, a rare smile tugging his lips.
It was in this backdrop of bickering and banter that the soulmate reveal crept in, unannounced and transformative.
Wonwoo, fresh into his twenty-second year, sat in the finals hall for Quantum Field Theory. The pain hit mid-exam a twinge in his left eye. He blinked, attributing it to stress. But post-exam, in the mirror of his phone, the truth stared back: his left eye, once deep black, now a light, honeyed brown. Seungkwan and Vernon's mischief confirmed it—soulmate eyes.
Heart pounding, Wonwoo scanned the exiting crowd. There, amid the chatter, was Mingyu, rubbing his own eye absentmindedly. Wonwoo froze. Mingyu's right eye remained his warm brown, but the left—it was black. Stark, inky black. Like Wonwoo's original.
The world tilted. Mingyu? The Puppy, the Clown Prince, the Sunshine Idiot? Their eyes had swapped hues, binding them in the universe's quiet decree. But no words were spoken, no confrontation brewed. Wonwoo slipped away, mind racing with the implications, the bickering now reframed in a new light. Mingyu, glancing around as if sensing something, carried on, oblivious yet not.
And just like that—bam—the rivalry had a hidden layer, waiting to unfold.