Chapter Text
Seoul National University.
This one university always stood tall and proud in the heart of Seoul, with a lot of expectations of parents poured into the university in the form of money. It was a place where people expected high grades, high standards, insane academic excellence, and a peaceful nature that would bring the students a sense of responsibility and force them into competitiveness.
It was that perfect college from the outside that would have you think it was made only for students who were talented enough to fit, hardworking enough to survive, and decent enough to have friendly natures. And yet—
"Yeah, you wanna pick a fight, shorty?"
"Who did you call a shorty, you fucking weather reporter?"
"Guys—"
"SILENCE!"
The professor finally yelled, eyes glaring with such intensity it was a surprise they didn’t bleed as he folded his hands behind his back, taking slow, deliberate steps toward the students who broke the peaceful morning lecture of the class into chaos.
"Myung Jaehyun, Lee Sanghyeok, Han Dongmin, Park Sungho, Kim Woonhak, and Kim Leehan. You all are going to wait for detention today."
"But—" Jaehyun started with a wounded gasp, only to shut up with a shiver as the professor gave him that piercing look of his. He may be the basketball captain, careless and bossy as hell, but professors as scary as Park Jongseong always managed to make him nearly pee his pants. He looked away, eyes glaring at Dongmin, who started everything.
These were the two famous groups of the college. They were rebellious, loud, always fighting, and sworn enemies. Everyone in the college knew for a fact they hated each other. Mostly Jaehyun hated Dongmin for his guts.
Jaehyun was the captain of the college's basketball team; the other two, Sanghyeok and Woonhak, were his teammates and close buddies. Together they were always rumored to be the most popular boys of the college. With a charm as smooth as butter itself, they always managed to capture hearts—no matter what gender.
Meanwhile, Dongmin was just the famous guitarist of the college, making melodies and music that could melt your heart in an instant when you listened to them—he was that talented, with a rare kind of smile only his friends ever got to see.
Dongmin, along with his two buddies, was almost a decent student of the college minus the life threats and fights he passed or got into casually. Amongst the three of them, Donghyun was somewhat a little softer at heart, though his oddball moments made him stand out and students almost wondered if he was some kind of otherworldly creature—something like an alien. While Sungho was a little more mature amongst them, always taking responsibility for whatever mess Dongmin and Donghyun created, apologizing like a tired mother.
These two groups didn’t even know each other until one day Jaehyun tried to hit on Sungho with a cheap pickup line at the freshers' party, and that was it. Dongmin, ever the protective friend, stepped up, and the group broke into a fight of verbal insults and roast battles. Ever since then, both groups became enemies who couldn't stand each other.
They were like a small group of dogs and cats, always glaring and always ready to tear each other apart. Except for Donghyun and Sanghyeok.
They were comparatively the gentler ones between their groups. When their friends fought, they just stared, wondering if they should join or just stay back and enjoy. They had even noticed each other through stolen gazes and soft smiles, which led Sanghyeok to develop a crush on Donghyun—because a boy so pretty, who wouldn't develop a crush on him? Sanghyeok was a weak soldier, but Donghyun wasn't doing any better, though he tried his best to stay loyal to his friends.
And now as they took their steps toward the library, Jaehyun couldn't help but pass heated glances toward Dongmin, who looked anything but bothered.
"You know you were the one who started it, right?" Jaehyun gritted his teeth, annoyed.
"Oh?! Who? Me?" Dongmin stopped, a sarcastic grin on his face. "Remember you were the one who screamed because I breathed too close to your jersey."
"Because—"
"Can you both stop fighting for once? I don't want another hour of detention," Sungho muttered from behind them, eyes stuck on the ground in slight shame. He didn't even do anything in the first place, but since he was the class president, he was supposed to go through this punishment too because he didn’t tell them to be quiet.
Jaehyun in an instant fell silent, actually feeling guilty now as Sungho voiced it—after all, someone as pretty as Sungho shouldn't be dragged into the mess he created. He sighed, clenching his teeth together as he took aggressive steps away from there. Woonhak followed close while throwing a glare at Dongmin, who did nothing but hold up his middle fingers like a trophy.
While in the back walked two comparatively gentler pairs, side by side but at a respectful distance. Both of them were relatively silent, but the stolen glances spoke a lot.
Jaehyun and Woonhak were the first ones to step into the library, the aroma of old books and stale coffee hitting their noses as they opened the door, making their way to the chairs laid out for them by the corner of the wall.
Woonhak sat first, eyes darting toward Professor Park. Noticing that stern 'did I tell you to sit?' look on the professor's eerily calm face made the younger one shiver and stand up immediately, earning a barely stifled laugh from Jaehyun, who immediately shut up at Professor Park's piercing gaze. Body stiffening, Jaehyun looked down at the floor, suddenly finding it more interesting, as if he hadn't just been about to laugh at Woonhak's misery.
Taesan was the next one to set foot inside, body language nonchalant as he stood inside, throwing a smug look at both scared boys because Taesan knew he, Sungho, and Leehan were Professor Park's favorite students, privileged to be spared from the professor's wrath. Taesan was kind of glad that Sungho and Leehan were his friends.
As the rest of them filled the room one by one, the usually divided group was about to sit in their respective places when Professor Park's clear voice cut through the room, making them freeze in their places. “Did I tell any of you that you could sit with your usual friends?”
“Mr. Park?” Taesan let out, stunned for a moment.
Professor Park looked over at them, his eyes intense before he said, voice clear and commanding, “We have enough space in this room. So, Jaehyun and Sungho will sit on the first bench by the side; Dongmin and Woonhak in the middle bench on the same row—I hope I don't have to tell you twice—and lastly, Donghyun and Sanghyeok will sit on the opposite row from Jaehyun and Sungho, first bench. I hope it is clear to everyone.”
Professor Park announced it, looking up at everyone to see if anyone opposed. And just as Dongmin was about to open his mouth to protest, Professor Park spoke once again: “It's for your betterment, so I hope no one is going to complain now.” He threw a sarcastic smile at all of them before continuing, “And oh, I have some business to attend to, so I will be back within thirty minutes. If I hear even a whisper of a voice from any of you, trust me, I am going to make each one of you clean the gymnasium with toothbrushes.”
After Professor Park left, Dongmin slumped back in his seat, glaring at the floor as if it were responsible for everything that was happening, while Woonhak took a seat beside him with an exasperated sigh.
All of them took their respective seats, silence filling the room until—
“It was all your fault!” Dongmin hissed at Jaehyun from behind, while Jaehyun just looked over his shoulder, sticking out his tongue at Dongmin in an attempt to rage-bait the other guy. And as if it were working, Dongmin let out a wounded gasp, about to jump the menace of a captain when Woonhak pulled him back with a glare.
“You are just going to get us into more trouble, so sit your ass down,” Woonhak hissed, crossing his arms near his chest with a scowl. Dongmin blinked, caught off guard for a few seconds before diving right into a roast battle.
“Then maube tell your captain to behave like a responsible adult. Oh wait, you are a giant baby yourself—such a waste that I asked you,” Dongmin rolled his eyes.
"A giant baby?!" Woonhak's jaw dropped. "Who are you calling a baby? You're the one who throws a full toddler meltdown if someone plays a single note out of tune!"
"That's called having ears, something your squeaky-shoe basketball brain wouldn't understand," Dongmin sneered back, leaning back comfortably in his chair. "Do you ever stop stomping around like an angry dinosaur?"
"At least I can run five feet without gasping for air, you stick-figure raven!" Woonhak fumed, leaning across the table as his patience wore razor-thin.
"And yet, here you are, losing your mind over three words," Dongmin smirked, tilting his head with a smug grin. "Look at your face. You're about to pop a vein.”
"I am not—" Woonhak's brain completely short-circuited under Dongmin's relentless smirk. Unable to handle that smug face for another second, Woonhak abruptly stood up, marched straight over to the high corner wall, glared up at the CCTV camera, and pointed aggressively right at the lens.
"I WANT TO CHANGE MY SEAT!" Woonhak yelled right at the camera, his voice echoing loudly through the quiet library stacks.
Dongmin burst out laughing, hiding his face in his hands as he wheezed at how absurdly easy it was to push the younger boy's buttons.
Meanwhile, across the room at Table Two, the atmosphere was completely different.
Sanghyeok and Donghyun sat opposite each other, silently laughing as they watched the two dramatic pairs bicker across the library. As the chaos from Table One reached a peak with Woonhak's breakdown, their shared amusement settled into soft, quiet giggles.
When their laughter finally died down, their eyes met across the table. In that split second, Sanghyeok felt a sudden surge of heat flush his face. He quickly cleared his throat and coughed into his elbow to hide his blush.
Seeing the flustered mess he had created without even trying, Donghyun smiled brightly, his dark eyes sparkling with gentle amusement.
"Um... hey," Sanghyeok offered softly once he recovered his composure, giving a small, timid wave.
While Donghyun rested his chin on his palm, his smile softening into something warm. "Hey, Sanghyeok."
Sanghyeok felt another flutter in his chest at how smoothly Donghyun said his name. "Sorry about... all of this," Riwoo mumbled, gesturing vaguely toward Table One, where Woonhak was still glaring aggressively at the ceiling camera. "They're always like this."
"It's okay," Donghyun said gently, watching the other boy with open curiosity. "It's kind of like watching two territorial betta fish in a small tank. They splash around a lot, but nobody really gets hurt."
Sanghyeok blinked, processing the odd metaphor before a soft laugh slipped out again. He covered his mouth with his hand. "Betta fish?"
"Yeah," Donghyun nodded earnestly, pulling a small notebook out of his tote bag. "I read a lot about marine life. Do you have any hobbies? Besides basketball?"
"I really like dancing," Sanghyeok admitted, shyly scratching the back of his neck. "And listening to music... mostly acoustic stuff."
"Acoustic music is really nice," Donghyun agreed, his tone steady and soothing. "It feels like water flowing. Smooth and quiet."
Sanghyeok felt his cheeks stay warm under Donghyun's focused attention. There was such a unique, quirky charm to the way he talked about the world. Sanghyeok couldn't help but find his silliness adorable, realizing very quickly that sitting at this table wasn't going to be a punishment at all.
While at the first table, there was something else cooking.
As soon as the professor left with instructions, Sungho sat down in his place quietly and sincerely, with only one single word roaming in his mind—just ignore Myung Jaehyun and everything will be fine.
And that was exactly what Sungho did: ignore. He took out his notebook and pencil, drawing random doodles on his page to completely avoid the disastrous guy who sat right beside him.
And Jaehyun? Well, he just sat down beside Sungho with a dreamy smile plastered on his lips, staring at the side profile of the prettiest man he had ever seen in his entire life, possibly even imagining a full married life with kids in his mind.
Ten minutes into the silence, Jaehyun let out a soft sigh. He reached out and gently brushed a strand of Sungho's dark hair behind his ear, making the latter freeze in place.
Leaning in just a fraction, Jaehyun murmured, "You know, you are really pretty."
Sungho blinked a few times, still unable to process the fact that Jaehyun had just casually touched him as if they were a real couple. Snapping out of his shock, he threw a sharp, lethal glare right at Jaehyun.
"Watch out before I break your legs, captain."
"Threatening? How cute. Do it again?" Jaehyun teased, resting his chin on his palm while his eyes crinkled with pure delight.
Sungho clenched his right hand into a fist, raising it up between them in a clear warning gesture. "I'm serious, Jaehyun. Keep pushing it and this fist goes straight into your jaw."
Instead of flinching, Jaehyun leaned forward with zero hesitation, gently grabbing Sungho’s wrist and pressing a soft, lingering kiss right against the knuckles of Sungho’s fist.
Sungho gasped, his whole face burning hot as he yanked his hand back with a flustered grimace. He snatched his heavy hardcover notebook off the table and held it up threateningly. "I swear to God, I will hit you with this notebook!"
Jaehyun sighed dreamily, holding his chest with both hands and leaning even closer into Sungho’s space. "You could skin me alive and I'd still say I like you."
Sungho felt his pulse spike dangerously high. Reaching out out of sheer panic, he placed his index finger right onto the tip of Jaehyun's nose, pushing him firmly backward until Jaehyun was forced to lean back into his seat.
"Stay in your lane," Sungho grumbled, trying desperately to keep his voice stern while his cheeks flushed bright red.
Jaehyun let out a low, lighthearted laugh, his dimples showing as he held Sungho's gaze. "You are so cute, Prez. You make it impossible for me to not like you."
Before Sungho could pull together another threat, the heavy library doors clicked open.
Professor Park stepped back into the room, sweeping his sharp eyes over all three tables. The entire room went dead silent in an instant: Woonhak speed-walked back to his chair, Taesan wiped the smug grin off his face, Leehan and Riwoo closed their notebooks with quiet synchronization, and Sungho swiftly pulled his head away from Jaehyun.
"Time's up," Professor Park announced coolly. "You are dismissed. I expect complete decorum in my lecture tomorrow."
As the six of them gathered their things and filed out into the hallway, Jaehyun caught Sungho's eye one last time, flashing him a lingering, mischievous wink. Sungho quickly looked away, clutching his notebook tightly against his chest to hide his fluttering heart—realizing with terrifying clarity that keeping his guard up against Myung Jaehyun was going to be an impossible battle.