Jongin didn't realize how easily he'd fallen asleep in the chair. Despite the pain in his neck from the awkward position the chair put him in, he felt like he'd had a decent rest. It was all in his head. Maybe he just needed to be truly exhausted to pass out properly the way he had. Or maybe there was something wrong with his mattress or the ventilation in his bedroom. All that aside, he couldn't explain the intense feeling of fear and jealousy he had felt overcome him just as he was laying there. They weren't emotions that usually went together just on their own.

Still, he couldn't complain. It was Friday. That meant his classes didn't start till eleven but didn't end till seven, and that meant he didn't have to go into work. It also meant he could relax well that night. Nothing was going to steal sleep from him after he was done relaxing.

He went back to his bedroom and sprawled onto the bed—no longer soaked with his sweat—limbs scattered as he set an alarm for a couple of hours ahead. He didn't want to be up any earlier than he absolutely had to be. There were no sounds coming through the wall. There was no bombardment of crippling emotion. Just familiar smells of his bedroom lulling him back to sleep.

He woke up a few minutes before his alarm was due to ring. That annoyed him immensely. The alarm was there for a reason. If he wanted to be up a few minutes before he would have set it for a few minutes before. He scrolled through social media until the intended alarm went off and then continued scrolling for a while before finally rolling out of bed.

Jongin had been looking forward to Friday ever since he'd decided to enjoy his time with Sehun, instead of worrying about how to ignore his feelings. It was the only day of the week in which every class he had was shared with Oh Sehun. Which meant he got to spend practically the entire day with him and only him, with the exception of their lunch hour, which they shared with Chanyeol and Baekhyun.

He didn't mind either of them in any other environment, of course, but he preferred if they kept away from Sehun for the time being. Because helikes Sehun, and Chanyeol and Baekhyun likely know that, probably having figured it out through his fretful awkwardness throughout the week.

He just hoped they'd mind their own business.

He guessed he should have known that he had no such luck.

He found Sehun waiting for him outside their lecture hall at 11:05. Everyone else was already inside.

“I thought you weren't gonna show.”

“Sorry,” Jongin said, as they entered the class together. “I thought I was on time for the bus but I missed it and ended up having to walk.”

There were only about two hundred people in the class, but the lecture hall was made to seat almost five hundred so finding seats together was easy. They sat near the back, which Jongin noticed Sehun liked to do, and he went along with it, even though he wasn't wearing his contacts, and didn't have his back up glasses. He made a mental note to always keep them with him so that he wouldn't have trouble sitting with Sehun in the back.

----

“Jongin,” Baekhyun started, pretty much as soon as he and Chanyeol joined Jongin and Sehun on one of the picnic tables near the campus field with their lunches, “Don't you have to do a performance with a partner for your first assignment in one of your dance classes? Who have you picked for a partner?”

Jongin looked up from his food, his answer barely above a murmur. “No one yet.”

He was ninety nine percent positive as to where Baekhyun was going with this, but if it was what he was thinking, he regretted ever telling Baekhyun anything and vowed to never share details of his life with the older boy ever again.

“Aw, that's too bad,” Baekhyun pouted. Jongin couldn't believe how bad the acting he was witnessing was.

“Hey,” Chanyeol cut in, “Sehun, you don't have a partner yet either, do you?”

Jongin could not believe that Chanyeol was worse of an actor than Baekhyun was and especially that he was in on this too. He put down his sandwich and hid his face in his palms.

Sehun, however, was surprised at being addressed at all. He didn't know Baekhyun or Chanyeol much at all, only sitting with them because he was hanging out with Jongin. Or at least that's what Jongin assumed. He didn’t really understand why Sehun would choose to sit with them, especially since he didn’t know Jongin’s friends well enough to be all that comfortable with them.

“Uh, no. Haven't thought much about it yet.”

“Well the two of you might as well pair off with each other, right?”

“Yeah!” Baekhyun in again. “Saves you the trouble of trying to find competent people to partner up with.”

“That sounds like a good idea to me,” Sehun said, shrugging.

Jongin's mouth hung open in disbelief for a few seconds, as he let his hands fall away from his face, before he felt he was capable of replying. “Yeah. Sounds good… I guess.”

A strange expression crossed Sehun's face. Jongin was barely able to catch it before everyone's attention was captured by a brawl that seemed to break out on the field. But Jongin wasn’t really paying attention. He couldn't get over how Sehun was unofficially his dance partner for an assignment. Not only was there no doubt they would get an A with their combined skills but he'd get to work and perform with Oh Sehun.

----

Jongin and Sehun had come to know each other in their first year due sharing a few classes. Both of them were in the same programs—planning to double major in dance and criminology—so after recognizing each other a whole bunch of times they finally introduced themselves, getting along great from the get go.

That's how it had all started.

Sehun was always the one initiating the interactions. Jongin spoke a lot more than him, but Sehun was usually the one who started the conversations. It was good for Jongin, in a way. It reassured him, that Sehun actually wanted to talk to him. Because otherwise, he felt like he was the only one who spoke. If it wasn't for Sehun speaking first, Jongin would think he was bothering him.

He was grateful that Chanyeol and Baekhyun were a year older than them and therefore didn’t share any classes with them. Since he had known them well from high school, they knew him well enough to know when he developed a crush and would have been able to pinpoint the exact date and time that Jongin's feelings for Sehun went from platonic to much more, better than Jongin would have guessed himself.

One second he was sharing a laugh with his friend and the next he was blushing at everything Sehun did. But apparently Sehun hadn't noticed, because for some reason Jongin thought he would be the type to comment on it if he did. Sehun wasn't a talkative person but he said what he thought.

----

They walked to their next lecture together, after watching the kid who had initiated the fight on the field get the beaten out of him, but Sehun wasn't really looking at him, much less talking to him and Jongin didn't think it had to do with watching the fight. It didn't bother Jongin too much, he was too excited about working with him in the evening to really notice Sehun was replying to whatever he was saying with one word answers and grunts, and not really initiating conversation the same as before.

The day didn't progress quickly enough, but finally they were standing outside the main dance studio that their last class was held in. Jongin reached for the door handle but Sehun stopped him.

“You don't have to be my partner, you know. I can find someone else.”

Jongin felt his heart sink to his stomach. “You… don't want to be my partner?”

Sehun scowled. “No, you're the one that seems to have a problem with us being partners.”

“I honestly don't know why you would think that.” And he really didn't. Had he done something? Said something? He had no idea.

“I know your friends were trying to get us partnered up to annoy you or something. That is, if the fact that you looked like you were going to murder them was anything to go by.”

“That's not why I—”

“And then you agreed to it as if I was your last choice to begin with. ‘Sounds good… I guess.’” Jongin couldn't believe Sehun had just imitated him. “So spare me my pride.”

Sehun sounded like such a petulant child, Jongin couldn't help himself, he laughed. That only seemed to aggravate Sehun further. He looked just about ready to walk away, stomping his feet as he went, but Jongin put a hand on his shoulder.

“I do want to be your partner.” Sehun rolled his eyes. “I swear! I couldn't ask for anyone better.”

Sehun cast his eyes to the floor at that comment. Jongin almost started regretting he'd said it until he realized that Sehun looked like he was fighting a smile.

“Great. Well, let's go then, partner.”

----

Jongin could call it a good day. He was a little off his game while dancing because of the awkward posture he'd slept in on his cheap chair, but despite that, he'd enjoyed working with Sehun and only Sehun for the better part of two hours after clearing up the misunderstanding from earlier in the day. He couldn't help smiling to himself as he walked back to his apartment.

He was looking forward to the rest of the night as well. There was a little box waiting for him in his desk drawer that he hadn't had the chance to break out in a while. He got out of the elevator and practically skipped to his door. The knob of the door a couple of feet away rattled slightly. He paused, key in hand. He thought for a second someone would come out and he'd officially meet his sleep ruining neighbours—if he could even call them that. It was still possible he was suffering from some kind of acute insomnia. No one came out. The handle didn't move again. He shrugged internally and opened his own door. His bag slipped off his shoulders and landed on the floor and he stretched, yawning. He grabbed the box from his drawer and sat cross legged on his bed.

Upon opening it, Jongin was hit with the familiar, pungent smell of dope. The bud was in a little zip lock bag and he got to work on it. He didn't have a grinder so he had to use his fingers but the pot was flaky enough that it practically fell apart in his fingers. It took less than a minute to roll, he wasn't great at it, but he wasn't horrible either. He was absentmindedly wiping the stickiness from his fingers on his blanket when a loud knock resounded from his door. It surprised him so much he almost knocked over the rest of the pot onto his bed. He swore out loud before getting up to answer his door.

He slid the lock and pulled the door open a little to see who it was. There was no one there. The hallway was completely empty. He frowned. He wassure there had been a knock. But it could have been at a different door, maybe he's just still really tired.

He closed the door and went back to his room. He picked everything on his bed up and moved it to his desk before he lay down on his back and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He had a few texts. One was from his mother, asking how he was doing. He replied quickly and politely. The second, third, fourth and fifth were from Chanyeol.

did u gve me my notebook back???

baek?????

r u ded baek anser meee

oops wrong person nvr mind jonginiiieee this is 4 baekhyun :)))))))) ignre me thnks

So that's what Jongin did. The last one was from Baekhyun.

You can thank me later for setting you up ;))) :*

Jongin rolled his eyes before texting back.

I don't owe you anything and we're not ‘set up’. We’re just doing an assignment together.

The reply was immediate.

Yeah sure. We’ll see

Jongin was just about to put his phone down when it began ringing in his hand. He was so surprised, he dropped it on his face. He groaned pathetically, rubbing his nose, before answering.

“What?!”

“Whoa... what’s up your ?”

“Sehun?”

“Uh, yeah. Don't you look at your screen before answering?”

“Not always…” He heard Sehun’s laughter. “Why are you calling?”

“Well, I did say I would. We still haven't finalized the music, remember? You said you'd figure it out when you got home and then tell me.”

“Right…” he did say that.

“You're doing it again.”

Jongin frowned. “Doing what?”

“Sounding like talking to me is the last thing you'd rather be doing right now.”

Jongin's eyes flicked to the joint he'd rolled earlier. “Well…”

“Hey!”

“I'm joking,” Jongin said, laughing, borderline giggling. He was once again glad that Sehun was so easy to talk to. He wondered if Sehun was thinking about what he was saying to Jongin as much as Jongin was about what he was saying to Sehun. He doubted it. Only he could be so conscious. Everything Sehun did and said seemed so effortless to him. “To be honest, I haven’t done much since I got home.”

“That's okay, neither have I.”

Jongin wanted to ask Sehun if they could meet up to discuss it the next day, Saturday. He and Sehun had never hung out off campus before. Hopefully he wouldn't think that was too weird. Before he could even try to build up the nerve to say it, Sehun spoke up again.

“Wanna meet up tomorrow? We could discuss it then and maybe grab coffee or lunch or… something.”

Jongin's tongue forced his words back into his throat and when he spoke all that came out was: “What?”

“Never mind, I'll just—”

“That sounds great,” Jongin found himself saying. “I know a bunch of decent places near my apartment. And I'm a member of a dance studio in this neighbourhood too, we could even practice there if we feel like it.”

“Oh. Yeah, that's perfect.”

“I'll, uh, text you my address.”

“Yeah, yeah, do that.”

“Hmm”

“So…”

“So?”

“What's up?” This was the first time he'd ever heard Sehun sound almost meek. Almost.

“Not much, I'm just lazing around. What about you?”

Before he had a chance to hear Sehun's reply, the loud sound of a door opening and slamming into a wall sounded from through the wall his bed was pushed against, followed by breaking glass and yelling. Jongin shot up and stared at the wall as if maybe he looked long enough, he'd figure out what was going on.

“Jongin? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I just— there's something happening next door.”

“What?” The confusion in Sehun's voice was evident.

For the first time he could make out two distinct voices amongst the muffled and incoherent yelling. Every night before that, it had just been too jumbled up. But he could tell now. One voice sounded angry, and the other was definitely scared. The fear from the night before that had had him sweating a pool into his mattress returned as there were several loud thuds that sounded suspiciously like—he didn't want to imagine what could be happening.

“Jongin what's going on?”

“I think my neighbours are fighting.” His voice was barely above a whisper.

“Damn. That doesn't sound good. Are you okay? You sound terrified.”

“I don't know what's wrong with me,” he continued whispering. He hoped it was too low for Sehun to hear but he wasn't that lucky.

“Listen, take a deep breath.” Jongin listened. Inhaling deeply. Before he could exhale, there was another thud, much louder this time, because it was right against the wall separating him from his neighbours.

“!” he scrambled off the bed as the yelling continued. He went straight out of the bedroom and out his front door, without even donning shoes and paced in front of his neighbor's door, not sure what he should do. Sehun was still talking into his ear.

“I should do something, right? That's not normal. Someone in there is definitely not okay.”

“Jongin, relax.”

“I should do something. Call the police or- or break down the door or something!”

“Definitely do not do that.”

“But—”

“Listen, not only could you make it worse, you could get hurt yourself.”

“Then… then the police?”

Sehun sighed. “I know it's not easy. But you don't know the exact situation. You don't know what calling the police could do.”

“What if- I don't know! What if—”

“What's happening right now?”

Jongin took a deep breath. He strained to hear something but it was eerily quiet.

“Nothing.”

“Then try to calm down okay? And maybe talk to your landlord tomorrow? They might know the situation and they can tell you what to do if you hear anything again.”

Jongin thought about it for a minute. He still would rather just call the police. He stared at the door. There was something about it that made him want to turn away.

“Jongin?”

“Okay.”

“Are you alright now?”

“I think so.” He heard Sehun sigh. At first he thought the other boy might be annoyed. After all, this was more of an outburst than anything. Most people ignored things like this fairly easily and Jongin apparently wasn’t most people. But Sehun didn't sound annoyed when he spoke up again. “You'll call me if anything happens?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. Don't forget to text me your address and what time I should come alright?”

“Yeah. I won't forget.”

He hung up first. He still couldn't tear his eyes away from the door despite the dread in the pit of his stomach. He reached out and attempted to touch the knob, but the door shook ever so slightly, as if someone had passed by it in close proximity from the other side, and he quickly retracted his hand. What am I doing?

I edited this slightly drunk I'm so sorry........

Comments will be greeeatly appreciated since I want to know everyone's individual thoughts!!!