It was during mid-December when the midterms finally ended and everyone was more than happy to finally get lazy and do whatever during their winter break. Seongwoo just got out of the building and was stretching his arms over his head when his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. The business major fished out his phone and there he saw a text message from both Daniel and Minhyun.

From: Daniel

Hey! Thought you might be up for

A ramen lunch? Something like a

Small celebration for finishing

Midterms :)

From: Minhyun

Jaehwan and the others wanted to

go out for karaoke tonight, want to come?

Seongwoo should have been torn really, but this time he didn’t hesitate to pick Daniel over the others. Don’t get him wrong, he loves their small group of friend. It’s just that he doesn’t think he’s ready to sing in front of them yet. Though if it was his friend, no doubt they would make everyone (even Jonghyun) sing a whole song.

To: Minhyun

Sorry, I don’t think I’m ready

to do that just yet.

To: Daniel

Sure, where do you plan on going?

From: Daniel

There’s a new ramen shop that

Just opened nearby.

I just have one last exam to take

And I’ll be free by then. I’ll send you a

Message when I’m done so you can

Get ready.

To: Daniel

Alright, I’ll just be lazy ‘til you

Send a signal for me to move my .

And that settles his plan. Seongwoo made his way to the dorm, placed his spectacles on the bedside table, and practically dropped everything before he plopped down on his bed. He still had an hour before Daniel would finish his test and he thought about taking a nap. No matter how much he tried, he only ended up staring at the ceiling as if it contained Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine Chapel.

If he was just going to be bored out of his wits, then he might as well pass time in a more productive manner. The bespectacled male sighed and sat up, putting on his glasses again before he proceeded to text Daniel.

To: Daniel

Gave up rotting in my dorm room.

I’ll stay in yours and play around with

Niel instead.

Text me when you’re on the way up.

With that, Seongwoo packed up his wallet, glasses case, and beanie before slinging the bag onto his back. Daniel’s dorm room was just two floor down so he took the stairs, ears plugged with earphones as he hummed along with the tunes while entering the door’s code. As expected, Niel’s ears perked up at the sound of the door opening and immediately ran over to his direction.

While Seongwoo was distracted by the clingy white kitten, Jisung came out of his bedroom and Seongwoo’s eyes widened when he saw Jisung’s eyes on him. “I-I’m sorry... I t-thought.. Um..” Seongwoo kept his head down while Niel proceeded to climb and settle itself onto his shoulder. “I thought... N-no one was.. Here..” He muttered with the volume of his voice going lower until he was barely audible but Jisung found it cute and offered a smile.

“It’s alright, I was just about to leave.” The junior made his way to the door and gave Niel a pat along the way. “If Daniel trusts you enough to give you the code then I trust you too. Just don’t let Niel break anything okay?” Seongwoo, still in his flustered state, nodded and made a bow with a small ‘take care’ for Jisung. The older male smiled at the freshman’s actions before he said thanks and finally left Seongwoo alone in the dorm when he closed the door.

Seongwoo finally released a breath he didn’t know he was holding and looked back at Niel. “You sure are lucky the students in this room are nice.” Seongwoo sat on the sofa and placed the white kitten on his lap while the feline plays around with his fingers. When the freshman checks the wall clock, he still had at least 40 minutes ‘til Daniel would finish his exams. Good thing he decided to bring his Bluetooth speaker with him.

After carefully placing Niel on the sofa, Seongwoo took out his speaker and placed it on the coffee table and proceeded to set it up on his phone. “So what should we listen to, Nielie?” He said as he voiced out his thoughts to the pristine white cat on his side. “Well, it’s a nice today so let’s go with a ballad playlist.” Seongwoo scrolled through his variations of playlist before he selected the latest ballad playlist he created during their midterms and proceeded to let it play in the background as he shifted his attention back to Niel.

“You like that?” He asked while scratching the feline’s small head to which he replied with a pur. There was still plenty of time left to spare so Seongwoo spent his remaining time unconsciously singing along with the tunes radiating from the speaker.

The dance major practically leaped off the stairs of the performing arts building when he finished his exams and he was feeling ecstatic. Midterms were finally finished and he could finally visit that ramen shop he has been eyeing for weeks. Daniel took out his phone and checked for any unread messages. When his screen came to life, he only had 2 unread messages so he tapped onto the notification.

From: Minhyun

Jaehwan and the others wanted to

Go out for karaoke tonight, want to come?

From: Seongwoo

Gave up rotting in my dorm room.

I’ll stay in yours and play around with

Niel instead.

Text me when you’re on the way up.

Daniel kinda felt bad he had to turn down his friends for the sake of hanging out with just Seongwoo but he was the one who invited him in the first place. The pink-haired freshman continued his walk to the dorms, glancing every once in awhile to make sure he doesn’t bump into anyone while he texted a polite decline to Minhyun’s offer.

By the time he was about to reply to Seongwoo’s text, he was already one block away from the dorms so he proceeded to the entrance first before replying to the other freshman’s text. Daniel’s fingers hovered over the ‘Send’ button when a sudden thought came to mind.

Why does he want me to text him when I’m on the way up?

Suddenly, Daniel grinned and left the text unsent before he decided to just surprise his bespectacled friend. Who knows, he might have just fallen asleep on the sofa this time. When Daniel reached their floor, he quietly made his way to their door and was about to punch in their security code when the soft melody of “Galaxy” by Bolbbalgan4 was heard from the other side of the door.

But it wasn’t the choice of music that surprised him.

It was the singing voice that sang along with it.

지나간 새벽을 다 새면

(When the day breaks) 
 

다시 네 곁에 잠들겠죠

(I’ll sleep by your side again)

너의 품에 잠든 난 마치

(I think I become an angel)

천사가 된 것만 같아요

(When I sleep in your arms)

난 그대 품에 별빛을 쏟아 내리고

(In your arms, the stars spill)

은하수를 만들어 어디든 날아가게 할거야

(And make the milky way, I can fly anywhere)

Daniel has heard Jisung sing on multiple occasions and this was most definitely not his hyung. If memory serves him right, Jisung also mentioned something about being about the whole day so that voice doesn’t belong to his friends either. Amidst his overwhelmed state, his thumb unconsciously starts to lower itself until it eventually landed on the ‘Sent’ button on his phone.

Cause I’m a pilot anywhere

Cause I’m a pilot anywhere

Lighting star shooting star

줄게 내 galaxy

(I’ll give you my galaxy)

Cause I’m a pilot anywhere

Cause I’m your pilot 네 곁에

(Cause I’m your pilot, by your side)

저 별을 따 네게만

(I’ll pluck those stars)

줄게 my galaxy

(And give them to you, my galaxy)

Suddenly, a ping came from the speaker which Daniel snap out of his thoughts. He knew that tone, it was Seongwoo’s message tone and so he looked at his hands and noticed that he sent the text by accident. Unfortunately, the beautiful singing voice stopped singing after that.

When Seongwoo heard his message go off in the middle of the song, he picked up his phone that was left abandoned on the side.

From: Daniel

I’m already on the stairs on the dorm entrance.

Be there in a bit. Hope Niel was enough to

keep you busy.

That was obviously his signal to get up and stretch his limbs before Daniel arrived. Seongwoo looked around and made sure everything was still okay, nothing broken or misplaced. “Hm... Might as well use the bathroom now before Daniel arrives.” And so he walks over to the bathroom while humming to himself, leaving the speaker playing ballad music in the background.

After his quick bathroom break, Daniel was already entering his bedroom by the time Seongwoo was out. “Oh, you’re already here” He greeted with a smile and Daniel was taken aback. First was the actor-like visual hiding under wire-framed glasses and now a voice as beautiful as any other top singer?

Daniel was taking too long to respond that Seongwoo unconsciously tilted his head, his usual habit when he becomes curious. “What’s wrong?” The pink-haired male blinked and suddenly started to wildly wave his arms while claiming that nothing was wrong before he hurriedly said he’ll change clothes and closed his bedroom door.

Seongwoo was left confused, scratching at his neck before he shrugged and went back to where he left Niel on the sofa. Not too long after, Daniel finally came out of his room with a smaller backpack and white hoodie, practically matching Seongwoo’s black one.

“Oh good, you’re finished. Let me just leave some food for Niel.” He said before getting up and getting one of the cans of cat food in the pantry. The bespectacled male poured out all its contents on a small cat bowl with a bit of milk on the side to make sure Niel wouldn’t be left thirsty. Seongwoo the cat a little more until Daniel had to call him out or it would be too late by then.

The business major finally detached himself from the feline and got his beanie and jacket (He gets cold easily) from the sofa’s armrest. The two freshmen were now on their way outside of campus on their way to the ramen place which took them longer than expected if it weren’t for all the animals that distracted them along the way.

By the time they reached the ramen place, it was already 2:34 pm and both were already cold from the prolonged exposure to the harsh weather. That was how they ended up sitting somewhere on the corner where it was slightly warmer. After they ordered their own food, the freshmen to joke around about how they should have arrived earlier if they weren’t so easily distracted.

( “You know, if you weren’t so distracted by every dog in their winter clothes we could have arrived at around 2 pm.”

“Don’t act so innocent when you did the same to cats.”

“They were being cute.”

“Then so were the dogs” )

When their orders finally arrived, they fell into a comfortable silence with both freshmen being occupied by their own phones. “You have a few green onions on the corner of your lips,” Daniel said out of the blue and Seongwoo looked up with a raised eyebrows, “Really? Where?” He asked while trying to wipe along the area of his mouth but he kept failing to get it every time.

Seongwoo pouted as Daniel only chuckled at his struggles and decided to help him out by getting tissue from the table and raising it up to Seongwoo’s mouth. At first, Seongwoo thought he was just handing the tissue to him but Daniel wiped his lips for him to get it off his face for good. “There, now it’s gone.” Seongwoo only blinked in reply before he playfully hit Daniel’s shoulder.

“Ow!” What was that for?” Daniel asked in between laughs and Seongwoo only pouted at him. “I could do it on my own, geez don’t forget I’m also older than you!” The pink-haired man playfully rolled his eyes at the remark

“You’re only older by like 3 months and a few weeks”

“It’s still a considerable gap.”
 

“Are you going to be like how Jimin is to Jungkook and tell me that you were born in Busan first?”

“What? No, you were born in Busan. I was born in Seoul― but that’s besides the point! I was still born first.” Daniel could only laugh at his friend, they were both equally childish at times anyway. And so they were once again enveloped by a calming silence when Daniel found a random article on the internet about the latest trend among idols: the comma hairstyle.

Which nothing else better to do, Daniel leaned back and browsed through the article filled with images of various idols sporting the comma hairstyle. When Seongwoo was suddenly in Daniel’s field of sight, his fingers froze and eyes looking over at his bespectacled companion. At that moment, a sudden thought came to mind and that was the same moment when the filters in Daniel’s brain chose to abandon him.

“I think you’d suite a comma hairstyle”

Daniel blurted out and Seongwoo looked up at him with his head slowly tilting to the side out of habit when he’s curious “What?” Well, he had nothing to lose and the cat was out of the bag anyway. “You should try a comma hairstyle,” Daniel repeated and showed Seongwoo his phone to let him know what he was talking about.

The latter only blinked at the images of handsome celebrities with the same hairstyle “But why?... I don’t even think that fits me…” He muttered under his breath as he pushed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose but Daniel kept shaking his head. “Nonsense, it suits you just fine. What do you say we try it now?” Said the pink-haired male with the brightest smile on his face.

“Wait, now?”

“Yeah, now.”

Seongwoo blinked.

“But why..”

“Then let’s do it in your dorm room!”

“But Minhyun might be there―”

“My dorm room then? Jisung-hyung won’t be home ‘til 8 pm” If Seongwoo were to squint, he would definitely see Daniel’s excitement to try this out. Heck, he doesn’t even need his glasses to see it. That’s just how evident it was and Seongwoo finally sighed in defeat.

“... Fine.” His pink-haired companion suddenly fist pumped the air as if he just did the impossible and proceeded to drag him back to the dorms after they both paid for their meals on the counter.