The athletic zombie that stood right in front of his locker had Jongdae stopping in his tracks a good couple feet away, out of sight, most definitely certain that he was going to get the crap beat out of him if he took another step forward. He could not believe the sight in front of him because the university's star quarterback, Kim Minseok, was leaning with his back pressed against his locker as his half-lidded eyes scanned the crowds of other zombies that passed by him in slow motion.
Oh, and he should probably explain, no one here is actually a zombie, but they might as well all be. It is common knowledge that the average university student gets virtually zero hours of sleep when their schedule is full packed of required lectures, part-time jobs, and final exams to study for. In Minseok's case, being the university's star quarterback does not come easy. The circles under his eyes are prominent and dark enough to house Satan himself; hours spent at practice then studying during finals week has not been kind to him. Luckily, Jongdae is only ever involved with his classes and thank the Heavens for his ability to memorize any text in a matter of minutes if he actually puts his heart and mind to it. This is what sets Minseok and Jongdae apart, which makes Jongdae wonder why in the world Minseok is propped against his locker anyways. He did hear a rumor a while back that the football players were looking for new nerds to push around and he most certainly is not about to volunteer himself for the job. God, he certainly feels like the protagonist of virtually every gay fanfiction he has ever read on the Internet— Those were read for scientific purposes and a hundred percent not for his own amusement.
While Jongdae was wrapped up in his own thoughts, he did not realize that most of the zombie-like students had already trudged begrudgingly into their respective classrooms, which left him as exposed as a baboon's behind and in clear sight of Minseok, who had evidentially strolled his way to Jongdae's side.
"Hey, you," Minseok called out to pull Jongdae away from his thoughts long enough to jump out of his skin and make a run for it— Except the killer grip the star quarterback had right at the bend of his elbow prevented him from doing so, "You are the kid named Jongdae, right? Your nerd friends directed me here."
In his mind, Chanyeol and Baekhyun's faces flashed through at the words "nerd friends" and he made a mental note to kill them both later, that is, if he does not die now. Jongdae could only nod in response as a rectangular red paper was waved in his line of sight and Minseok finally loosened his death grip to take a step back, "I need you to tutor me."
"T— Tutor?" Jongdae stammered as that was not at all what he had been expecting from the small man in front of him. Minseok placed the red paper he had been waving around in Jongdae's open palm before flashing a lopsided grin that caused Jongdae's heart to do a couple somersaults. He vaguely remember taping a poster up near the science building on campus offering to tutor any students that need help on their Chemistry or Physics exams. That was what the red paper Minseok placed in his hand was, "Uhm, you could have just called."
"True but it seems you guys are really intimidated by me," the smaller man replied as-a-matter-of-factly, his plump pink lips curved into a small frown as he gazed up at Jongdae expectantly.
"I— I guess I could tutor you then—"
"Great! I will come by your dorm room later?" Minseok's expression lit up like a lightbulb at Jongdae's approval, his hands clasped together and it strangely reminded Jongdae of a kid during Christmas. Speechless, he could only nod his head as Minseok spun on his heels and took off into a nearby classroom. Which reminded him that he had his own class that he had to attend and he was late.
"Stupid quarterback," Jongdae muttered as he rummaged through his locker to exchange his old textbooks for the textbooks for his next class. He slammed his locker close before speed walking towards his next class, which coincidentally was a Chemistry lecture. He passed by the board where he had taped up his poster just a mere hour ago, so he did not expect to find someone who would take up his tutoring offer so soon— Strange. All the rectangular tabs at the bottom of the poster that contained his contact information were still intact but Minseok had handed him one just a couple minutes before. He looked down at the rectangular tab that was still in his hand and yup. It was definitely the same rectangular tab that was on his poster.
"Well, that is just weird."

—

Jongdae did not expect when Minseok meant he would come to his dorm room later, he meant right after Jongdae's last class had ended. He was still baffled by the rectangular tab incident that he completely forgotten about mentally preparing himself to spend time with the small athlete. When he saw him sitting crosslegged on top of Chanyeol's bed, chatting away with the said giant himself, Jongdae almost tripped over his own feet as he closed the door to the room behind him.
"Hey!" Chanyeol greeted as he beamed, his hands waving too enthusiastically while Minseok glanced back to shoot the same lopsided smile he had graced Jongdae with earlier in the hallway.
"Hi?" Jongdae's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion at seeing how close Chanyeol and Minseok were situated on the giant's bed. Was he missing something here?
"I am pretty sure you know who Minseok is, but let me properly introduce you!" Chanyeol practically yelled with that loud, deep voice of his that Jongdae had grown accustomed to," This is Kim Minseok, a childhood friend of mine and this university's star quarterback, of course. He makes me proud."
Ahh, he was definitely missing something here. Jongdae was also a childhood friend of Chanyeol's, and he was more than sure they had lived in the same neighborhood since they were in the womb. Then again, he was not part of the giant's life twenty four-seven so he simply shrugged off the fact.
Chanyeol wiped at invisible tears as he held a hand to his chest, as if he was experience heartburn or something. Minseok, on the other hand, had a rosy hue creeping up his cheeks at Chanyeol's actions and cleared his throat to compose himself as he turned his attention back to Jongdae, "I brought my Physics notes."
"Great!" Jongdae managed to speak without stammering or whispering for once as he set his backpack down onto his bed with a soft thud, "Chanyeol can help you study too. He is a Physics nerd for I do not know the reason why."
"Hey! Physics is a great science!" Chanyeol had a hurt look on his face as he pointed an accusing finger towards Jongdae. Not that he blamed him, Chanyeol had been teased all through high school when he told Jongdae he already decided on his major; Physics was virtually useless to him as sleeping pills were to college students. He was only acing all the sciences because his accounting major can offer economic classes and basically all the business necessities that will not help him obtain enough credits to graduate.
“Yeah but you can never tell if he is sabotaging your education or not,” Minseok quickly plopped himself down right beside Jongdae’s spot on his bed, a large pile of textbooks and notebooks resting on his lap. Jongdae nodded in agreement as he heard a deep snort from the other side of the room. He helped Minseok spread out all of his notes onto his otherwise vacant bed, save from the Minnie and Mickey Mouse couple’s set toys propped up against the farthest corner. The small male had glanced at them with amusement twinkling in his eyes but he did not question it at all as he opened his textbook to a late chapter. It was something that Jongdae had learned last year so his mind took a couple minutes before it could remember even simple concept like potential and kinetic energy but once he was in the right mindset, he quickly re-taught Minseok everything he had slept through in his lectures.

—

A couple of hours of hours passed until eventually a quick check on the brightly lit screen of Jongdae's old iPhone displayed that it was nearly midnight and that was the reason the room was so quite; Chanyeol had fallen asleep in the middle of explaining the Principles of Q-er Operation to a quick-learning Minseok, his notebook that contained long mathematical equations scribbled across the pages laid on top of his chest as he continue to snore softly. Jongdae decided to not wake him up because the poor giant could use any rest he could get.
"Well, I guess I should go now, right? It is getting pretty late," Minseok held a tiny hand against his lips as they parted to allow a small yawn to slip past. He stretched his arms above his head before kicking his legs over the edge of Jongdae's bed and beginning to stuff all his academic materials into his backpack.
"Oh, right," Jongdae nodded as he walked Minseok out the door, a polite smile plastered on his face because he was still pretty uncomfortable around Minseok, thinking in the back of his head that his gigantic football friends would jump out and tackle him down anytime soon.
"Hey," Minseok turned around to gaze at Jongdae's face with a blank expression. He waited for Jongdae to pay attention before continuing hesitantly, "Do you really not remember me?"
"Huh?" Minseok kept catching Jongdae off-guard and he was not sure what the small male means by not remembering him. He was pretty sure that he would remember someone like him so Jongdae could only shake his head, "No, I do not think we met before anyways."
"Ahh, right. I apologize," Minseok nodded slowly, his shoulders suddenly slumped down in defeat as he weakly waved and turned away, "Good night, Jongdae."

—

The next morning, Jongdae woke up earlier than usual and found himself having enough time to meet up with his long-term boyfriend for the first time in a couple weeks. So naturally, there was an obvious bounce to each step Jongdae took as he got up to brush his teeth, wash his face, and change into an oversized sweater with dark jeans before skipping out of his dorm room.
Chanyeol was long gone when Jongdae woke up and that was nothing new because the idiot chose to have his first class on Tuesdays and Thursdays start at 7AM in the morning. That was the time Jongdae's boyfriend, a Chinese foreign-exchange student named Yifan, had called him and for once, he woke up to answer it instead of letting the call get passed to voicemail. Yifan had sounded surprised when he was greeted with Jongdae's groggy "Hello?" and quickly asked to meet him for breakfast at a vintage diner just across the street from campus. Naturally, Jongdae accepted, more than glad to be reunited with his boyfriend.
Jongdae took a step inside the diner and immediately the familiar tune of Michael Jackson's "Bad" drifted through his eardrums from the jukebox placed near the kitchen. He had not taken a step inside the diner for the longest time but everything was the same as it had been before. The booths were still colored a red-and-blue combination while the walls were painted a cream color and was decorated with vinyls and newspapers kept in picture frames. It was all simple but still homey and had a unique touch to it that seemed simply aesthetic.
"Jongdae, welcome back!" The waiter that greeted him flashed him a warm smile that displayed deep dimples that made its owner seem a dozen times cuter than usual, "I have not seen you for the longest time."
"Yixing," Jongdae nodded his head in acknowledgement as he slid into his normal booth at the corner of the diner and accepted a menu from the dimpled male. He did not really need a menu because he had memorized everything in heart; this was one of his favorite places to eat when his stomach felt like it could not handle the university's awful cafeteria food. Alright, it was not that bad but he still preferred to eat at the diner.
"Are you here alone today?" Yixing spoke in his slightly-flawed Korean, his head tilting curiously. Just like Yifan, Yixing is also a Chinese foreign-exchange student that had come to Korea just last semester, but his Korean had improved greatly from working at the diner and he loved it when Jongdae and Chanyeol would compliment his improvement.
"No, actually—" Jongdae was immediately interrupted by somebody clearing their throat from behind him and he glanced back to see the familiar sight of his boyfriend in all of his six feet something glory, clad in a black wife beater and gray HBA sweatpants that hugged his toned legs in all the right places. Today, Yifan's hair was in its natural straight state but still shone a gold hue in the sunlight. He grinned as he slid into the space beside Jongdae, an arm wrapped protectively around his shoulders.
"Hi, Yifan," Yixing greeted him in Chinese as he waved, the same