There wasn't much of a choice when it came to living arrangements for Jongin. Small and cheap, that's all he could manage. Being a second year university student meant that he wasn't exactly sitting on stacks just waiting to be spent but instead living paycheck to paycheck from his part time job and trying to maintain his scholarship, otherwise he'd just have to resort to being homeless to be able to pay tuition. Either that, or drop out.

The year before, he'd received priority, being a first year student, in dorm assignments on campus, but due to external forces that unfortunately controlled him more than he could control them, he wasn't as lucky this time around. He chose to find himself his own place instead of moving back home and having to commit to the hour and a half long commute to campus and another hour and a half back every day.

He hadn't been dependent on his parents for over a year now, and he didn't want to go back to that. He preferred not being questioned every time he went out or wanted to have people over. His parents weren't overbearing, they were just… parents—and he was no longer a child, and didn't want to be treated as one again after tasting independence.

Now that he had committed to adulthood, he was bound to a small flat with one bedroom, a living room that also served as a kitchen and a bathroom that he only barely fit into, but it had its charms. There was a small balcony attached to the bedroom—which was a blessing—looking out onto a street that didn't quiet down much even as the late hours of the night turned into the early morning, but he loved the sounds of the city—a joyous change from the stillness of the suburbs he grew up in.

His campus was only a fifteen minute walk away, his part time job was just across the street, and anything he needed wasn't more than a few blocks away, including a small dance studio he had joined when he started attending university. It wasn't a particularly crime infested area of the city either, and he was lucky to have found a place with such cheap rent considering the rent of the flats in other buildings in the general area. Though he didn't know why it was so cheap in comparison, he couldn't find any surface flaws, and therefore, he didn't really give much thought to it.

The apartment wasn't furnished, but that didn't matter to him. His mother was amazing at finding deals and she had helped him find a few used things—chairs, a small coffee table, what could be considered a nightstand, and a decent desk—at a remarkably cheap price and he didn't mind not having a bed frame for his old mattress. It would have been just as pricey to move his furniture from his room at his parents house than to buy some used furniture himself, even though his parents offered to help him out. He refused. He was, after all, grown up and all.

Plates and cups were easily found at discount stores and most of his groceries consisted of anything packaged with the word ‘instant’ on it. In fact, the most expensive thing he had bought for his new apartment was probably his microwave, to heat up said ‘instant’ paraphernalia. His fridge was one donation from his parents he didn't refuse.

He couldn't imagine that anyone he knew lived any differently. What were normal students even supposed to do in this time if not just try to survive with what they had?

So that's how he found himself, only a week into his second year and a month in what was possibly his home for the next three years at minimum. He hadn't found anything to complain about so far. He hadn't interacted with his neighbors much, but the walls were fairly thin and he could hear muffled movement sometimes late at night when things were fairly quiet. It was never distinguishable, and he wasn't nosy. He was as content as he could be.

He hadn't thought much about being anything other than content.

----

Jongins first week had been rough. His professors dove into lectures from the get go with no time to prepare for anything and his TA’s were dishing out assignments as if they were already well into the year. It didn't help that he had two majors, making his work load twice as much as people with a major and minor or those who were specializing in a single field. He was glad to at least have a passion for what he was doing.

One thing was a problem, however, that despite already having a significant amount of work to do, he hadn't yet bought all of his textbooks. He had attempted to get them before the summer break ended but the campus bookstore had run out and he was put on a wait list of sorts for when the new shipment came.

He had contemplated buying the textbooks online but they cost significantly more with the added cost of shipping and he decided he'd rather stay up late to catch up on chapter readings than to spend more money than necessary as his scholarship only covered tuition.

He found himself at the bookstore early morning on the Monday of his second week, after having received a notification for the new shipment of books the night before. He didn't need to roam the aisles as they already had the books he needed ready for him at cash, he only needed to wait in line. A line that started a mile outside of the store. It seemed like he wasn't the only one waiting for the shipment.

The reason he had come so early was to beat the crowd but the crowd must have had the same idea and so he waited—not-so-patiently—at the very end of the line, hoping that this would be over before his first class of the day started.

Two of his friends passed by on their way to their own classes, stopping to mock his misery.

“This is why I told you to be smart like me and buy your books as early as possible, Jongin,” Baekhyun told him. For someone as delicate looking as him, he seemed to find pleasure in provoking people bigger than him, and Jongin wasn't so sure he was above violence, as the line had only moved slightly forward in the twenty minutes he had already been standing there. “That's what I did and now I don't have to suffer.”

He only stared his friend down. “Do your courses even require textbooks? You're a music major.”

Baekhyun looked ready to push him down a flight of stairs, but it was Chanyeol that replied. “For some classes. Music Theory, History of Composition, you know, the nitty gritty stuff.”

“Whatever.”

“Come on Chanyeol,” Baekhyun said. “Why should we subject ourselves to his negativity? He can drown in his own self pity.”

Chanyeol laughed at the way Jongin's jaw dropped. “You're going to leave me here? Alone?!”

Baekhyun was already walking away. “I'm not going to wait in a line when I don't have to just because you're lonely.”

Chanyeol followed him, still grinning.

Jongin couldn't believe he called them friends. Some friends they are. Leaving me here all alone. He would wait in a line for them. Maybe.

He guessed he understood how Baekhyun might be offended, even though Chanyeol seemed unfazed. His poorly worded comment on them being music majors and his grumpy tone probably put him off. He told himself he should apologize later.

Jongin had known Chanyeol and Baekhyun since high school. They had been a year older and had graduated before him, but for three years before that he had been in many of the same clubs and sports teams as the two, so there had been plenty of familiarity between them. They had spotted him during his first few weeks of first year, looking lost and confused, trying to find a lecture that he was already twenty minutes late for and greeted him as if it hadn't been a year since they had last spoken. He had stuck with them ever since.

Not that he hadn't made friends and acquaintances in his own year. He had, but he didn't know most of them quite as well as he knew these two just yet.

“Don't worry. I'm sure it won't take much longer.”

Jongin looked up, surprised that someone had spoken to him. He had to turn around to see who it had been, not realizing how many people had lined up behind him since he had joined the line. Directly behind him, was one of the aforementioned acquaintances from his year, Sehun.

He was the one who had spoken, but Jongin couldn't believe he hadn't notice Sehun join the line.

They had shared some classes the year before and even worked closely on a project with some other people but it had been a while since they had talked. Jongin hadn't reached out to him over the summer because over the time they had known each other, Jongin had discovered something to do with Sehun that he wasn't sure he was entirely comfortable with.

“How long have you been standing here?” he blurted out.

Sehun's eyebrows knitted together. Wow, I'm on a roll with insulting people today.

“Not much longer than you. You didn't notice me, did you?”

“Guess not. Sorry…” Why didn't he say something when he got here?

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why are you sorry?”

Jongin was surprised by the question. This was his first time seeing Sehun since the summer had started, and he had forgotten how direct the boy could be.

“Uh, I don't know. For not noticing you earlier, maybe?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

Jongin didn't like the direction of the conversation. He couldn't tell if Sehun was angry at not being noticed or not.

“No?”

Sehun cracked a smile then. Not angry then. “I'm just teasing.”

Jongin frowned. “Well, don't. It’s bad enough I have to stand here for who knows how line and get from Baekhyun who absolutely loves saying ‘I told you so’.”

“Okay, I'm sorry.”

“Why?”

“What?” Sehun tilted his head slightly to the side in confusion, his lips parted slightly. The only way it could have been any more amusing is if he reached up and to scratch his head.

Jongin smirked. “Why are you sorry?”

“Huh? Oh,” Sehun grimaced. “Don't start.”

Jongin laughed softly.

“Hey, I'm stuck in this line just like you.”

It felt easy to get back into groove with Sehun. Though Jongin wasn't sure how close he considered them to be, he didn't expect Sehun to be so easy to talk to after three months without contact. Their conversation went much better than the small talk he'd shared with some of the other people in his year. They found out they were taking some of the same courses, and they were both double majors in the same subjects. That didn't surprise Jongin. He already knew Sehun was a dancer and was taking criminology too, that was how Jongin had met him.

The time passed quickly with Sehun to talk to him and keep him distracted, and he tried to keep his attention focused on Sehun's words but his mind wandered to other things. Like whether they were in the same time slots for the courses they shared. Whether he already had people to sit next to or if he had someone he would consider as a primary person to ask about group assignments for the rest of the year.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed when they reached the counter and it was Jongin's turn. He payed for his books and waited at the entrance for Sehun to pay for his.

“So where's your first class?” Jongin asked him, hoping it was the same as his.

“Instructional Centre. You?”

“Same.” Jongin heart skipped a beat before he could ask the next question. “Which room?”

“403. I don't think I saw you there last Monday.”

Jongin's spirits dropped. “I'm in 405.”

“Ah, we're in different sections.”

Jongin huffed slightly and Sehun laughed.

“We probably have other classes together though.”

Jongin took a leap of faith. “Wanna meet up after and compare schedules?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

It does? It does!

“Great.” They reached their building and made their way inside, stopping when they reached Sehun's class.

“Meet me here when you're done?”

“Yeah. See you then.”

Sehun nodded and pulled open the door, disappearing inside. Jongin took a few moments to gather his thoughts before he head down the hall to his own class.

----

If possible, the second week was far worse than the first. Jongin guesses it's his own fault since he asked Sehun about his schedule, because now Sehun sits next to him in every class they share, and even sometimes joins him when he has lunch with Baekhyun and Chanyeol. However, he can't say he hates it.

He doesn't know when, but as his and Sehun's friendship was just budding in their first few months of knowing each other, Jongin had come to a point where he couldn't stop thinking about the other, despite their minimum interaction. The more they talked, the stronger his attraction became—and it was uncomfortable at first. He wasn't sure what to do. His feelings were evolving, slowly but surely, and he knew he had to somehow overcome the uneasiness.

So he did. By the time the end of the year rolled around, he accepted what he felt, and even considered him and Sehun to be good friends. But interacting with him for the past few days, he didn't know how he had done it—ignored, suppressed, somehow pushed his feelings to the back burner—because it seemed as though the summer had erased any progress he had made and he was once again unsure of what to do around Sehun.

He wished it was as easy as just deciding to do it. To just decide to overcome his crush and do it. But it wasn't. Instead, he figured he might as well enjoy Sehun's presence, even if it made things worse. He'd rather not continue to seem uncomfortable around Sehun, because he was sure that others, namely Baekhyun and Chanyeol were noticing, even if Sehun himself seemed clueless.

But that wasn't the only reason his week was stressful. His neighbours had for some reason decided that they were going to fight all night, everynight.

Monday evening they were yelling outside his door, and though he couldn't make out what they were yelling about, it didn't sound good. Tuesday the fight lasted a lot longer than the night before, and after it was over, sleep still refused to come to him. He was overcome with sadness the entire night, as if his neighbours were projecting their feelings through the walls to him. It didn't help that he could hear tireless, muffled crying throughout.

Wednesday morning was horrible. He felt a finger prodding his arm. He rubbed at it absentmindedly but didn't raise his head. All of a sudden, someone smacked his shoulder. Hard. His eyes flew open and he turned his head from where it was cushioned on top of his arms to see who was suicidal enough to disturb him and realized, blinking rapidly, that he was in class and people were gathering their things and getting up to leave. Sehun was regarding him with an amused expression.

“Rough night?”

It had been. The crying from the night before was somehow still ringing in his ears.  “Leave me alone.”

“Thought you were dead. You barely looked like you were breathing.”

“Yeah, well, I'm breathing now, I guess.”

Sehun cocked his head at him. “If you're already so stressed about school that you're not getting any sleep, I don't think I want to see what you're going to be like near finals.”

Jongin didn't bother correcting his assumption.

That night wasn't as extreme, there was just as much fighting, however he didn't feel sad after it was over and there was no crying. He didn't know why it was keeping him awake at all. The sounds themselves weren't loud. But he just couldn't bring himself to fall asleep for more than a few hours in the early hours of the morning.

The next day went better than before. He only had two major lectures and he had a few hours in between them so he found a quiet corner in the campus library and took a well deserved nap. His day ended fairly early on Thursdays, around one in the afternoon. He had work after. He had a part time job at a small privately owned cafe right across from his apartment building. He had actually found the flat because of his job.

He had started working in his first year and his buildings landlord had left flyers looking for new tenants at the shop. His boss lived in the same building and attested that the landlord was a decent man and the building had no major issues and a lot of students over the years had rented there with no issues, so he contacted the landlord and chose to move in.

The coffee shop was owned by a nice, but strict man named Yifan. He had told Jongin that he usually didn't hire young students but Jongin had experience working at a chain coffee place in high school and he convinced Yifan that he'd need minimal training and supervision. So far his boss seemed satisfied with his work ethic.

Despite his uncaring outer demeanor, Yifan ran a tight ship. He required everything to be executed in a particular manner in order for things to run smoothly, as the coffee shop had a lot of regulars from the area, as well as a lot of foot traffic since it was so close to the university campus and a lot of offices. He was a bit of a clean freak too and had his employees clean the equipment extensively at least once every three hours to ensure quality and health.

Jongin was scrubbing an already spotless oven when Yifan approached him.

“Settling in okay?” he asked, not so subtly looking over Jongin to make sure he was cleaning properly.

“Yeah, there wasn't much to settle in the first place.”

Yifan leaned back, seemingly satisfied. “That's good. The buildings really not bad. Some of the people are… interesting. But other than that, it's pretty good especially in terms of rent.”

Jongin stopped scrubbing. He pulled his head out of the oven to raise an eyebrow at Yifan's comment. “Yeah, there's some interesting people alright.”

Yifan mirrored his expression. “Get yourself in trouble with someone already?”

“Not really. My neighbours are just a little noisy.” Noisy probably wasn't the correct word to use. They hadn't made much noise really, Jongin was just having a bout of insomnia for some reason and happened to up to hear whatever was going on.

Yifan frowned. “You're on the fourth floor right? Apartment 410?”

Jongin was almost taken aback by the fact that Yifan would know that. But then he remembered that he'd had to update his information after moving. Of course his employer would know his exact address when he'd just told him a while ago. “Yeah, why?”

“I think I know who you're talking about. They're loud, alright.”

Jongin ducked his head back down and went back to scrubbing. “I think the people next door are just having… trouble, or something.”

“Trouble? Hm… don't know about that.”

Before Jongin could ask his boss what he meant by that, he heard retreating footsteps. He huffed slightly. He'd just leave it alone for now. His first few nights had been quiet enough so it couldn't be that bad. He'd talk to his landlord about what to do if it did happen to get loud instead of trying to confront his neighbours himself. Or maybe he'd just get his regular sleep patterns back and he wouldn't have to worry about anything.

As he was leaving at the end of his shift he looked up at the sun setting behind his building. His gaze travelled down across all the balconies facing the street. He counted the floors to try and figure out which balcony was his and found it pretty quickly. It was one of the only ones that was completely bare, no furniture under the shade or clothesline running across the railing.

His eyes flitted just for a second to the balcony directly to the right—identical to his in the respect that it was also completely bare—and he noticed a man standing there, leaning against the railing. He couldn't see any distinguishable features from where he was but he wondered who it had been from the past nights. Was he the one who would do most of the yelling and then leave, slamming the door in his wake, or the one who would sob all night? Then he realized he didn't really care.

The evening started out quiet for the most part. He got all his work done, even managed to copy Sehun's notes from the lecture he had slept through. Feeling accomplished, he stripped and got under his thin blanket. Just as was falling asleep he heard the telltale sound of a bed creaking rhythmically. He groaned out loud. He couldn't believe that his neighbours—who seemed to have had a pretty serious arguments the nights before—were getting more action than he was. It was quite annoying.

At least they weren't fighting anymore. He figured this was better. Maybe he had a better chance of getting some sleep this way.

Jongin did his best to drown it out and it worked but sleep came and went as if someone was flicking a switch on and off in his brain. For some reason, he could almost feel the walls pulsating with emotion. It had been sadness before, oozing through the air and suffocating him like a thick blanket, not letting him get any rest. There had been a point during the night on Tuesday where he couldn't distinguish if it had been his neighbour crying or him. Now, it was fear and maybe… jealousy?

Jongin wasn't an expert when it came to emotions but he was decent at recognizing his own, and he was appalled that he felt jealousy surging through him, hearing soft groans coming from next door. But what was even more appalling was the fear. He couldn't comprehend why he felt so scared.

Jongin's heart was racing. Despite the lack of clothes and only a thin sheet covering him, he began sweating profusely. He had the most unnerving feeling that something bad could happen at any second. Or it might already be happening.

A slam of a door echoing through the walls pulled him out of his half asleep reverie, and it started again. The sobbing. He was sure he was still on the verge of passing out from exhaustion as the crying reached his ears, sounding like it was coming from television with a bad connection through a closed door.

He threw the blanket off in an attempt to cool off. He turned his pillow over and buried his face into the cooler side and when he pulled away for a breath it was already soaked with sweat. Jongin got up quickly, thinking there was no point in lying there if sleep wasn't going to come. He opened his door and stepped out into his half kitchen half living room area, the only other room in the tiny apartment besides his bedroom and the bathroom.

He was glad he did because when he closed the bedroom door, he could no longer hear the crying and the heat seemed to dissipate from his body. He grabbed a glass and filled it with water and sat down on one of the two chairs he had in his living room with a shaky sigh. He downed the glass in one go and put it down by his feet, not even bothering to stretch forward and set it on his small coffee table.

What's going on with me? He didn't have a history of insomnia. He wasn't taking any kind of medication that could affect his sleep patterns or emotions. The semester had only just started and he was caught up on everything and even his part time job wasn't bad, so he wasn't even stressed out or anything of the like. He was perfectly fine.

This is my first time posting EXO fanfiction!

Comments are greatly appreciated whether it's constructive criticism or just what you think about it.

The only reason I really post anything I write is to get feedback on my writing and since I'm writing as I'm posting, your opinions will affect my writing and hopefully you'll like the story even more that way :)

Chapters will take from two days to week depending on how much time I have that particular week.

Thank you for reading the first chapter and I hope you will continue!