Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The first mistake he’s made, Sanghyeok thinks as he clamps his pillow around his head, was thinking that he would finally be able to get a good night's sleep. 

It has been ten days since the semester had started, meaning that it’s been almost a week and a half since he’s been able to sleep for more than an hour straight. The last time he’s gone anywhere close to this kind of awful sleeping pattern was four years ago, and that had been when his next-door neighbors were busy renovating their living room (although, to Sanghyeok, it seemed like they just wanted to get on his nerves after he accidentally broke their window. But that’s a story for another day). Even back then, the drilling had only lasted six days. The current situation breaks the record by four days and counting.

So even when he isn’t trying, he still manages to break records. Woo to him.

Earlier, Sanghyeok mistakenly let his guard down because, by 1:00 AM, there had not been a single peep from the room next door. Sanghyeok had thought that the person next door had finally moved to harass someone else. How wrong he’d been. 

He groans as another wave of yells (and is that howling?) comes thundering across their shared living space. There is no way no one else from the other rooms are not bothered by this. He cannot be the only one going crazy because of some screaming student who doesn’t know the definition of sleep. He can’t blame his dormmates if they had decided to run off to apply for another dorm during the last ten days of torture.

Unfortunately, Sanghyeok can’t afford to do that. He had chosen this specific dormitory because of its fast internet speed among the sophomore dorms. His streams, especially his video camera, depends on it. However, it seems like this screaming boy also knew about the ultra-speed internet when he decided to move into this dormitory.

Sanghyeok glances at his digital clock: 2:38 AM, it reads. He groans internally, pulling the covers over his head in hopes to muffle out the noise. Seriously. Where are all of their tuition fees going? Surely the University should have gotten complaints about the paper thin walls by now. He should probably invest in some S-grade earplugs, but he really doubts it’d fully cancel out the noise.

Suddenly, he hears loud thumping noises coming from the room beside his, which are followed by a muffled “damn iiiiiiiiiit,” and a “we can’t end on a loss!”

For the first time in his life, Sanghyeok gives up. 

He whips the blanket off and rises to his feet. He feels the bedside table for his glasses and pushes them on. He is a man on a mission.

Sanghyeok turns on the lights of his room, wincing as the sudden brightness attacks his retinas. He cringes. He’ll have to sue his dormmate for irreversible ear and eye damage. 

He slams the door open, the handle hitting his bedroom wall with a bang. Stepping out of his room and into their shared living space, he turns to face the door adjacent to his. If this was Sanghyeok’s first time in the dormitory, he would have assumed that zoo animals were behind the door, begging to be let out.

Sanghyeok can’t believe he is doing this. After all, direct confrontations are the last thing he wants to be doing right now. 

He knocks on the door thrice and, although he won’t admit to it, prays that no one will answer. He should have known that he wouldn’t be that lucky considering that luck had left his side right when the school year started.

The door flings open and standing in front of him is a normal-looking boy. Sanghyeok pauses. He had honestly expected the person answering to look more disheveled than whoever this is. 

“Uh…” Sanghyeok stares at the boy, his words evaporating from his mouth. Crap. He’s been caught off guard.

“I uh- I’m your dormmate.” Sanghyeok regains his composure and adds, “I can’t sleep. You know, the noise.” 

The boy stares back, his wide black eyes glistening from underneath his dark square-shaped rims. Slowly, a sheepish grin grows on his face. 

“Yeah…” He scratches the back of his blonde head (bleached, Sanghyeok notes). He leans against the doorframe. “I’m sorry about that, haha! I’ve been 5-manning in League and it kinda got out of hand just now.” He offers Sanghyeok a toothy smile.

“Kinda” his ass. And what does he mean by “just now”?

Sanghyeok sighs. “Well, it’s currently almost 3:00 AM, and I have morning classes later, so I’d appreciate it if you could tone it down. I haven’t been able to sleep for days now,” he says as politely as he can muster.

The boy looks surprised, then his face morphs into one of confusion. “Oh…I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was that loud.”

“Didn’t you get a noise complaint?” Sanghyeok half-asks, because he is positive that the boy must have had at least one person barge into his room, telling him to shut up. 

“I did, actually. A few days ago, the dorm supervisor guy sent me a long email about how I was bothering students and that I should tone it down or else I’d be forcibly kicked out.”

“...and you didn’t think to do just that?”

“I mean I did. It’s just that no other complaint was brought up afterward, so I thought I wasn’t bothering anyone anymore.” He gives Sanghyeok an apologetic smile.

Sanghyeok mentally facepalms. Maybe it’s because everyone else decided to move out..? Whatever. He isn’t being paid enough to deal with this any longer. He gives the boy a nod.

“It’s fine. I usually go to bed at twelve, so try to keep it down after then.” Sanghyeok turns his back on the boy, very ready to finally go back into the comfort of his own room and hibernate until his alarm wakes him up. He opens the door to his room, feeling his bed luring him in.

“Wait,” the boy calls out. Sanghyeok stops in his tracks. What now?

“I’m Jinseong. Park Jinseong!” 

Sanghyeok turns to face Jinseong. “Lee Sanghyeok,” he responds. Please let him go already.

“I promise I’ll leave you alone. Thanks for bringing this up.” Jinseong waves cheerfully, as if they are long-time best friends departing for the night.

Sanghyeok just gives him a nod in response, and closes the door behind him. Sweet peace at last.

—

The second mistake Sanghyeok makes is thinking that Jinseong will actually leave him alone. 

Although Jinseong did quiet down after the confrontation earlier, his promise about not bothering Sanghyeok is limited to just that instance. Don’t get him wrong. Sanghyeok is beyond grateful to finally have had more than an hour's worth of sleep. After all, the espresso shots he’d consumed during the previous mornings had been slowly losing their effect. 

However, the moment he decides to step out of the comfort of his room, a migraine nestles itself in his head. No thanks to Park Jinseong.

“Good morning!” Jinseong practically yells. He stands in front of the coffee machine and pours himself a cup of coffee. He's smiling, the corners of his mouth stretching from ear to ear.

Sanghyeok looks behind him, trying to find the person Jinseong is addressing. It takes him a second too long to realize that the morning greeting was addressed to none other than him. He groans internally. Of course it was. They're the only two souls left on this entire floor!

“Good morning,” Sanghyeok musters back. He doesn’t really want to wish Jinseong a good morning because, unlike a certain someone, the latter seemed well rested, but that doesn’t mean Sanghyeok could be rude.

Sanghyeok walks toward him, grabbing a spare mug from the dish rack and filling it with whatever coffee was left from Jinseong's brew. He lifts the cup and brings it to his lips. The moment the aroma hits Sanghyeok’s nose, he feels rejuvenated. The fog in his mind dissipates, and he doesn't remember the last time his head felt this clear. It really helps that Jinseong hasn't made a single peep after saying good morning. Speaking of which…

Sanghyeok looks to his left, fully expecting Jinseong to be long gone. However, he's still there, his eyes transfixed on Sanghyeok’s cup of coffee.

“Is something wrong,” he states. It's not much of a question, but that seems to startle Jinseong back to reality.

“Ah. I just didn't expect you to like your coffee black,” he muses, mixing milk and two packets of sugar into his own cup. Sanghyeok is beyond confused. Is Jinseong trying to psychoanalyze him or something? And what did he mean by not expecting him to like his coffee black?

Sanghyeok shakes his head and lets out a sigh. “Maybe it's because I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep for over a week now due to…certain incidences that didn't allow me to sleep.” 

Jinseong cocks his head and gives him a quizzical look, as if not understanding which “incidents” Sanghyeok was referring to. The former’s eyes suddenly light up. 

“Oh riiight. College workload is pretty tough.” His response is so genuine and sincere that Sanghyeok has to physically resist the urge to slam his head onto the counter. What is actually wrong with this guy?

Sanghyeok clears his throat, “Well anyway, I've been meaning to ask, why don't you go to a PC cafe to play instead of the dorms? It would accommodate your party, not to mention that you wouldn't get noise complaints.”

“Oh that!” Jinseong shoots him a sheepish grin, “I may or may not have gotten kicked out of the PC cafe last month. So, I really have no other choice!”

Sanghyeok stares at him, dumbfounded. How did someone even manage to get themselves kicked out of a public gaming area? Wasn’t that, like, nigh impossible? Whatever. He doesn't want to know. This interaction is getting dumber and dumber by the second and he can practically hear his braincells dying.

He musters an “I see…” then promptly swings the mug to his lips and swallows the rest of his coffee (the mug is ¾ s full [not ¼ empty because he does believe himself to be a pretty positive guy]). Which may have not been a good idea in hindsight because the liquid is boiling and scalds his tongue and he has to muster up all his willpower to not double over in a coughing fit. No. That would be embarrassing. 

Sanghyeok wipes his lips, practically slamming down the mug onto the counter as if he had just finished chugging a pint of beer (trust him, he knows what it feels like) and stares at Jinseong, who had, this entire time, been observing him (seriously, what’s up with this guy and his staring habit?).

“What,” he deadpans—it being more of a statement than a question—and turns on the faucet to wash his mug. “Do you not have classes?”

That seems to—again—jolt Jinseong back to the present, who gives him (another) toothy grin, “I do.” He sips his coffee and seemingly waits until Sanghyeok starts moving to follow suit. 

—

Sanghyeok’s backpack weighs him down, and he’s really not super stoked to have to walk all the way from his dorm room to the psychology building to attend his 9AM (damn him and his lack of sleep, and his blindsightedness to submitting a request for that specific dorm, but who can blame him because…fast wifi. Duh. Monkey see, monkey do), but he chose this elective (which he’s kind of starting to regret after his…regretful, a euphemism, living conditions) and he’s a good student who needs to maintain his GPA for that scholarship. But in reality, what’s bothering Sanghyeok right now isn’t the fact that he’s sporting huge eyebags that may or may not be mistaken for some early 2010s emo fashion, but the fact that Jinseong has been trailing him like some lost duck, all the way into the building. This. Entire. Time.

To his dismay, Jinseong gets on the elevator with him and when Sanghyeok presses 6, Jinseong just stands there, phone in hand, too preoccupied scrolling through Twitter, and doesn’t bother to press any buttons himself. Sanghyeok can literally hear his heart sink, the crevices of his mind blaring alarm bells as his thoughts go from “he has a class in the same floor as me” to “the only 9AM that isn’t a postgrad on this floor is my psych lecture” to his despairing conclusion of “he’s in the same class as me, and I never noticed.” Clearly his map awareness in game didn’t translate into real life. 

After a sort of awkward elevator ride (the elevator was pretty empty considering how they were 15 minutes early to the lecture), Sanghyeok enters the lecture hall and takes a seat near the front, sighing as he boots up his laptop. Although all his friends (Junsik, Jaewan, and Wangho) have made fun of him for being a “try-hard” and being “no fun because you can’t really doze off respectfully while sitting in the front rows,” to which Sanghyeok replied that there is no non-rude way to doze off during a lecture, he likes how it helps him focus on the lecture and steers him clear from all the not-so-silent chatty students in the back of the hall. Which is precisely why Sanghyeok glares daggers at Jinseong when he plops his bag into the seat right next to him. In an almost completely empty lecture hall, save for the students who have their heads in their arms, shamelessly sleeping and hungover. 

“I can sit here, right?” Jinseong asks innocously, and Sanghyeok wants to rip that stupid smile off his face. He contemplates saying, “No. Of course you can’t sit here. This entire room is literally empty,” but decides against it. It’s the 10th day of the semester, and he can’t go around acting antisocial and making enemies. Especially not due to the impulsive decisions he is bound to make due to his terrible mood from his lack of sleep.

So, like the sane person he wants to seem like, Sanghyeok offers him a nod, to which Jinseong “yays” to. Sanghyeok suppresses an urge to let out a whimper. This is going to be a long class period.

—

Sanghyeok may have overreacted a little bit. Okay, fine. Maybe he had overreacted by a lot and the class wasn’t really as bad as he thought it would be. First off, Jinseong was actually pretty studious. Contrary to Sanghyeok’s first impression of him, Jinseong really did try. He took notes all class long, seemingly very intent to absorb the information the lecturer was throwing at them. Second, the lecturer let them out ten minutes early, so now Sanghyeok and Jinseong are chilling on benches outside of the lecture room, the latter retelling the story of how he and his friends got kicked out of the PC cafe they frequented. 

“Then the manager literally had to drag us out and dumped us on the street. Which was kinda unfair because we still had like, 50 minutes left on those PCs,” he groans, taking a sip of his still-alive super-sweet latte he had made earlier in the morning (which still had coffee remaining, to Sanghyeok’s shock). 

Sanghyeok doesn’t know what overcomes him. He usually wouldn’t care, but maybe he feels a tad bit guilty for never realizing the fact that his dorm mate of 10 days literally has the same Friday 9 AM as him, but he offers him a (what he hopes it to sound like) throwaway comment.

“You know, there’s another PC cafe close to our dorms.” But before he can regret talking, Jinseong doesn’t miss a beat and replies.

“Seriously? What’s it called?” His eyes are all but sparkling, and Sanghyeok’s cheeks flush with the sudden attention. What’s with that guy…

“It’s called T1 PC House. You know, the one sponsored by SKT Telecom.” Sanghyeok replies casually, “it’s to the right of the bank.”

“Oh seriously?” Jinseong furrows his eyebrows, “I didn’t know we had a PC cafe so close to our school. I’ve literally lived here for a year already.” He gives Sanghyeok a toothy grin, which the latter takes as a form of gratitude. “Well, I’ll be sure to check it out.” 

As if on cue, Jinseong’s phone dings with a message and Sanghyeok can see the way his eyes widen. He quickly types something on his phone and turns his attention back to Sanghyeok. “My friends and I are meeting up outside of the building and I wanna introduce you to them.”

Before Sanghyeok can protest, Jinseong stands up and looks at him expectantly. Sanghyeok stiffles a sigh, before begrudgingly following the other back outside of the building. Well, it isn’t like he has any other classes today. 

When he reaches the ground floor, he sees two other students loitering outside of the building. He has an inkling that these are the people Jinseong was howling with the previous night. 

“Yo!”

Jinseong’s voice cause the two of them to simultaneously look up, which reminds Sanghyeok of synchronized swimming and would have been funny if he wasn’t in this situation right now. Jinseong skips over to them, putting his hands around two of them. They exchange greetings, and Jinseong starts to complain about the psychology lecture, completely ignoring Sanghyeok, and Sanghyeok wonders if he could just slowly slink away while they are all preoccupied with Jinseong.

However, as if Jinseong had read Sanghyeok’s mind, he quickly stops talking and then beckons Sanghyeok to come over. “Ah! And this is Sanghyeok, same year as us. He’s the guy I talked about yesterday. My dorm mate.”

The other guys stare at him as if he is some circus act, and before Sanghyeok can cover his face due to the pressure, they break into smiles and start introducing themselves. The person without glasses introduces himself as Son Siwoo and the other offers him a small wave before calling himself Kim Kwanghee. Sanghyeok releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding (cliche, he knows) at the fact that they don’t seem as batshit as Jinseong. Normal people do exist, after all. 

“Well, we’re gonna head to the PC cafe you mentioned earlier.” Jinseong cocks his head toward his friends, “wanna join?”

Hell no!…is what Sanghyeok wants to say, but he’s thankfully sane (and PR-trained) enough to simply shake his head no. “I appreciate the offer, but I have work to do,” he states straightforwardly. Jinseong scrunches up his face in a fake-disgusted manner.

“You’re boring.” He draws out the “o,” and gives Sanghyeok a toothy grin, “I guess I’ll be seeing you later then.”

—

Later has thankfully not yet arrived for Sanghyeok as he enters his dorm to find it empty. Predictable. Jinseong, if he follows the same schedule he has for the past week and a half, should be back during the crack of dawn. Fantastic. Perfect. 

Sanghyeok enters his room, locking the door behind him (a very crucial step), turning on the lights, and booting his laptop on. After checking, and then checking again, that everything is perfectly in place and his DPI isn’t set to some crazy setting, he presses “Start Streaming.”