Started taking requests for drabbles and recieved "college students that stayed in the dorms during the holidays and got to know each other since no one else was around"... and then a drabble turned into over 2.5k words ahahaha...

Daehyun stared out the window at the mountains of snow that had thoroughly prevented him from going home. The cold had seeped into the campus dorms and forced him into his cuddliest sweater and, much to his dismay, forced him to stay in the dorms over the holidays. This unexpected turn of events had caused him a minor disaster when he'd realised his food supplies had run very low.

As he mourned his empty cupboards, the distinct aroma of cooking food wafted its way into his nostrils. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Soup. Nice, warm, all-in-the-pot soup.

Before he could stop himself, he was drifting towards the source of the smell.

Surprisingly it took him through a few blocks until he reached the kitchen where the delightful smell was coming from and he pushed the door open without a thought. Inside stood a single person, probably the same age as him with short brown hair brushed out from his face. At the sound of the door opening, he turned and looked at Daehyun with a mildly confused expression.

“Oh, hey!” Daehyun said somewhat distractedly, eyes on the large cooking pot where the warm smell was coming from, “I didn't realise anyone else was in the building. I thought everyone had gone home.”

The other shrugged a little, “No reason for me to go home, thought I'd stay here.” He raised an eyebrow and followed Daehyun's gaze. “You hungry?”

“Uh, what?” Daehyun turned his eyes away quickly, “Um, that depends...”

“You're welcome to some,” the boy snorted and reached up into a cupboard to procure another bowl. “I'm Youngjae by the way.”

“Daehyun!” He replied, bounding over excitedly, “Thank you so much, I have mostly run out of food. I wasn't planning on staying but to get home is impossible in this weather.”

“Yeah, it looks like a nightmare out there. One of my friends was messaging me just now saying that their car is just stuck in the snow. Glad I didn't bother,” Youngjae mused, filling a bowl with soup and handing it to Daehyun along with a spoon.

“Wow, really?” He asked, “So why aren't you going home? Live too far away?” The last part was muffled around a spoon of soup he was shoving into his own mouth.

“My brother is busy and my parents went off on a holiday. No one else is around so I figured I'd stay here and get on with my assignments.” The brown-haired filled his own bowl and took a small sip of a spoonful. “Do you think this needs more salt?”

Daehyun paused, midway through raising his spoon to his mouth. Most of his soup had already been eaten. “Uh. It seems fine to me.”

Youngjae snorted and shook his head. “Definitely hungry then. You're lucky you found me, you might have died otherwise.”

“Yeah. I can see it now, me withered to bones on the floor, discovered weeks later by my neighbours moving back in.” He wiped away an imaginary tear.

“Or you could've braved the snow and marched to the campus shop.”

“Well, yes, but it's baby cold outside.”

“Did you just use the lyrics of that creepy song?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, anyway, it was nice knowing you Daehyun but I have to kick you out now.”

They developed a sort of pattern. Daehyun would show up at meal times with whatever scraps of food he'd managed to find in his cupboards or lying around his room and they'd use Youngjae's far more vast stocks to make a meal for the both of them. They'd chat about their courses, societies they were in, the people they knew, the local clubs, whatever came to mind. Then when all was cleaned away, Daehyun would leave Youngjae to study in peace while he ether went off to do his own work, or messed around online.

He'd just decided to break out one of his game consoles – which he'd packed away with the intention of taking it home – when he had a thought. After kicking some unwashed underwear out of sight, he bounded out of his room and to Youngjae's block. Despite never asking which room the younger boy lived in, he quickly deduced that the room with the music coming from it was likely his.

He rapped his knuckles on the door and nearly fell back in shock as it opened seconds later, showing Youngjae sat on a computer chair where he'd rolled back from his desk.

“If you're about to ask for food, after the lunch we just had, I will throw you out of a window,” the brown-haired boy warned.

“No, I mean I could definitely eat, but no.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder and quickly said, “I was wondering if you wanted to play some video games or something. I've got plenty of controls for multiplayer.”

Youngjae eyed him for a moment, then looking at his work. “Well...” he hummed for a moment and threw his hands up, “Yeah, sure, I deserve a good break. What games have you got?”

“Loads. You can pick the first one,” he replied, grinning.

Somehow they'd started their gaming session on either side of the room, Youngjae on Daehyun's computer chair and Daehyun on his bed. As they shifted about between games and consoles and swapped place in front of the motion sensor games, they found themselves both sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the floor with the duvet wrapped around them. They'd come to the point of competitively butchering the other's chances of winning by slapping each other's hands or pressing the buttons randomly.

“Hah! You died, I win!” Daehyun punched the air triumphantly.

“Ah, damn! Let's play something else. What else do you have?” Youngjae glanced over at the large stack of games they'd managed to work through.

“Uh,” Daehyun stuck a hand into his suitcase and pulled out one last game, “Only karaoke, and trust me I can kick anyone's at this. I have a one-hundred percent perfect score on this.”

“Oh yeah?” The younger raised a challenging eyebrow, “I bet you I will win.”

“I don't think you know what you're getting into, but okay~” He put the disk in and the game started up. “You get first pick if you're so sure.”

Much to his surprise, Youngjae was incredible. His voice was soft but clear and strong, and his high notes made Daehyun feel a little bit threatened. He powered through the song like it had been written for him, but on the outside seemed like he was barely even trying. His end score was a perfect hundred.

“Okay. Well. That was unexpected.”

Youngjae laughed and handed the game-mic over. “I've done vocal training for years. I'd like to see you beat me at this.”

“Just you wait,” Daehyun grinned, and chose his song.

Youngjae was impressed, he could tell. Even without looking at the other, he knew he was being stared at. There was no doubting that he was a good singer. Maybe not as good as he felt he could be, he definitely thought he could get even better, but he was very good. He ended the song on one of his signature long high notes, and proudly watched the screen change to display his perfect score.

“Wow. All right then. Fair enough.” Youngjae nodded, “But the real question is, how long will your voice stay like that?”

The answer, as it turned out, was very long. They sang long into the night, going back and forth as they took turns getting their perfect scores. In the end, they'd completed all of the solo tracks.

“Okay, I have an idea,” Youngjae suggested as he glanced at the time, “How about, we take a break and eat. Then, we get back and do a competitive duet.”

Daehyun checked the time as well and saw it was well past midnight and was amazed his stomach hadn't complained yet. “Good idea, but how about this. We make lots of food in smaller portions and have loads of different dishes. The loser of the duet has to wash up.”

“You're on!”

Dozens of dishes, almost all the cutlery and multiple cups later they positioned themselves once more before the game. They sat with shoulders touching once more, huddled on top of the duvet. When the song began, they both went into it at full force.

It was very evident to both of them that they were too good for the game, and it was likely not intended for more talented singers to use with any seriousness. However, they'd almost stopped caring as they more and more into the song.

As they hit the last notes, harmonising beautifully together, they found themselves turning to look into each other's eyes. Their hands dropped to the floor at the same moment, Youngjae's fingers landing on top of Daehyun's. They didn't even notice the end screen declaring their scores.

There was a long silence before Youngjae finally spoke, “I, um, should probably go back to my work.”

“Oh.” Daehyun blinked, torn from the trance. “Yeah, okay.”

The younger stood up and straightened his clothes out a little and headed to the door. “Thanks for inviting me to play games. See you tomorrow. Good night.”

“Yeah, good night.” Daehyun gave the other's retreating back a quick wave. He stood up and pushed the door shut as quietly as possible, then turned around and slid down it back to the floor. “What was that?” He asked in a hushed tone to the empty room.

The cold seeped further into the building and somehow it felt like Daehyun's room had forgotten that walls were meant to keep the heat in. He huddled up in three layers of clothes , wrapped up in his duvet with whatever else large enough he could find to throw over the top. Just as he was dozing off, there was a loud knock on his door.

He let out a long groan at the thought of leaving his cosy nest. “One moment,” he called out, and dragged himself out from under the pile and half-danced over to the door, hoping it would be a quick visit.

Youngjae stood outside, wrapped in his own blanket and looking like the ice had taken him. His lips were nearly blue and he was shivering slightly. “Can I stay in your room? The heating has broken in my block and they don't know when it'll be next repaired.”

“Yeah, definitely. You look like you're about to freeze,” He stood back and let the icy boy through, who immediately huddled up in a corner.

“I wouldn't have been bothered usually but I can see my breath in my room and the taps are literally frozen.”

“Hey, don't worry about it. You're not being an inconvenience or anything. I can't let you freeze to death, you're my only source of food!”

Youngjae snorted and shook his head a little, “Good to know that's what I am to you.”

“Haha, yeah.” Daehyun grinned awkwardly as he climbed back onto his bed, then glanced back at the younger. “You're seriously planning to sleep on the floor?”

“Yeah. I'm not going to take your bed from you. I might steal a pillow though.”

“It's not exactly comfortable... You'll still be cold.”

“Anything is warmer than my room. Come on, throw me a pillow.”

“Why don't you just...” Daehyun began slowly, “sleep in my bed?”

Youngjae rolled his eyes, “I told you, I'm not going to kick you out of your bed.”

“You don't have to kick me out of my bed...”

“So then I'm sleeping on the floor. Get it together Daehyun, we can't both be in your bed.”

There was a long silence where Daehyun looked anywhere but at Youngjae and Youngjae's eyebrows raised.

“You're suggesting we share the bed?”

“Why not? It's cold!”

“Because... Tow guys sharing a bed... People would talk.”

“What people?” Daehyun gestured a hand towards the door, “The people who all went home on holiday, leaving just us here? Youngjae it's just between guys, it's fine.”

Youngjae squirmed uncomfortably but eventually relented. “Fine,” he sad, “but I want the wall side. I don't want you pushing me onto the floor. And if you snore I will kick you.”

“I don't snore! And even if I did you don't have the right to kick me off,” he huffed as Youngjae pulled himself onto the bed with his own duvet as well.

It took some awkward manoeuvring, lots of uncomfortably tangled limbs and more than one inappropriately placed body part until Youngjae was comfortably against the wall. Neither of them spoke a word as they lay facing away from each other.

The night wore on and Daehyun found himself still awake, slightly uncomfortable with the position he was lying in. After a quick internal argument, he gave in to his discomfort and rolled over.

He came nose-to-nose with Youngjae. Who was wide awake, and equally as surprised as Daehyun.

“I didn't realise you were still awake,” he half-whispered.

“I didn't know you were either,” Youngjae replied.

The younger's soft breath tickled at Daehyun's mouth and he briefly wondered if his breath had done the same to the other. “I um,” he said nervously, unsure why he felt the need to talk, “I didn't really mean what I said earlier.”

Youngjae's brow furrowed, “Huh?”

“That you're my source of food. I mean, you are, it's true that I rely on you because the snow isn't melted enough for me to actually go food shopping or expect a delivery van to make it near campus,” He bit his tongue for a moment to stop himself from rambling, trying his best to get to the point while Youngjae stared at him bewilderedly. “What I mean is, you're more than that. To me, I mean.”

“Oh.”

There was a tense pause.

“What am I then?”

Daehyun spluttered, hoping his reddening face wasn't obvious in the darkness. “W-well, you know, we hang out and, and we talk a lot and- and we played games and-”

“And we sang karaoke together that night,” Youngjae interjected.

“Yeah...”

There was another pause as Daehyun watched the other boy carefully, unsure where he was going with it.

“Daehyun-”

“Youngjae-”

They both stiffened a little as they spoke at the same time.

“You first,” Youngjae said.

“No, you,” Daehyun insisted.

Youngjae bit his lip for a moment, before speaking. “I... I enjoyed singing with you. You have a really good voice. I'd like to sing with you again... Even if it wasn't competitively.”

“Oh,” Daehyun said, feeling thoroughly lost, “Okay. Yeah. Sure.”

“I mean, I would like to do a duet with you,” Youngjae pressed on.

“Sure.”

“Like the one we did that night.”

“Yeah, yeah of course, I'd be happy t-” It dawned on Daehyun what the other was saying. “Oh...! Yes. Right.”

“Yeah...”

“Yeah! Of course, definitely. That would... Be really cool, actually. Maybe, when the weather gets better we can go to a proper karaoke place and maybe get some drinks and some food?”

“Sounds like a date,” Youngjae chuckled a little.

“Awesome~” he let out an airy laugh.

“What were you going to say?”

“Oh, mostly the same thing but without the singing part and more about the 'you make me food and you put up with me' part.”

Youngjae snorted and his fingers reached out, gently twining with Daehyun's under the blankets. Despite the darkness, the older was certain his red face must be visible.

“You know, um, despite my plans getting all mucked up... I've had a really nice time.”

“Me too... I know you had places to be but I'm glad you stayed. I'd have been really lonely otherwise.”

Daehyun grinned and snuggled close to the younger, who happily reciprocated the affection. As they began to doze off, arms around each other and comfortably warm in the bedsheets, Daehyun felt that the new year was going to be a very good one indeed.