During Jongin’s first night in the dorm, he dreaded visiting the bathroom. He was okay with doing his business and everything since there were stalls that locked but the shower – the shower? He hated it. He hated communal showering even if all the spaces were separated and had an ugly beige shower curtain for some privacy. He was someone who needed the whole space to himself to shower comfortably.

He hated every second he spent in the showers. He forced himself to go with Sehun for the sake of getting to know the boy more and to loosen up around him but all he could think about was the people waiting outside. He didn’t like knowing that they could just pull his curtain aside by accident and expose him to all the residents of the second floor. It was a struggle for him to wash up but he gritted his teeth and managed to get through it somehow, even though he felt nauseous the whole time.

It’s been a week since Jongin started living in the dorms and he still couldn’t find it in himself to go to the shower with Sehun. He could tell his roommate knew something was wrong but he was nice enough to keep it to himself.

Choosing the best time to shower required a lot of trial and error. Jongin learned that early mornings were when the showers were the quietest. The dorms were usually empty during the afternoon as well so that was a great time to clean himself up but unfortunately, all of his classes didn’t end until late afternoon. The busiest time was definitely between eight and eleven but during that time, Jongin was working on his assignments, eating or fooling around with Sehun. So, he had to settle with showering during the wee hours of the morning just for the sake of privacy.

“Hey, I’m gonna hit the showers. Wanna come with?” Sehun asked as he grabbed his clothes and little basket of toiletries.

Jongin looked at the clock and saw that it was nearing midnight. He gave him an appreciative smile and said, “Um, I’m good. I’ll go a little later after I finish looking this over.”

The blond stared at him for a bit before shrugging and leaving to wash up.

Jongin let out a sigh as he fell back onto his bed. It was getting late and he wanted to sleep soon but he just had to hold out for a little longer to shower. He hated admitting it but the whole shower timing thing was starting to wear him down and he considered just showering during normal times like all the other students so he could get his sleep. But every time the thought crossed his mind, he shuddered at the thought of his rear end being accidentally shown to the whole world and decided to just continue with his routine.

 

 

 

It’s nearly three in the morning when Jongin finally decided to shower. He had accidentally dozed off as he waited for the time to pass by and his eyes snapped open when he realized he still hadn’t washed up. He his lamp and saw that Sehun was sleeping peacefully surrounded by his textbook and his laptop. It was a mystery how he hadn’t knocked either of them off his bed yet. With a grunt, he got out of bed, grabbed his clothes and pajamas, and headed for the showers.

He entered the bathroom and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that all the shower stalls were empty. It was to be expected since everyone was either sleeping or partying. He made his way to the stall at the very end and started to clean himself up. He let out a moan as the warm water rushed down his back and slowly melted away his fatigue.

Right when he started reached out for his bottle of body wash, the curtain to his stall was suddenly pulled aside. Jongin let out a shriek when he saw Yixing standing in front of him, a glazed over look in his eyes as he stared him down. He backed into the corner of the stall and tried covering himself to the best of his ability.

“Yixing, what are you doing?!” He sputtered as he brushed his hair from his face. Things were going extremely wrong. The showers should’ve been empty at this time and it had been for the past week but there were always unexpected situations that he didn’t take into account such as the one occurring right now.

The Chinese boy continued to stare at him before he started to tug at his shirt and step into the shower. Jongin’s mind was spinning and he felt like throwing up as he helplessly watched what was unfolding before his eyes.

Luckily before he could even get his shirt off and slippers wet, the door to the bathroom slammed open and Chanyeol rushed in. He looked like he literally just rolled out of bed with a huge cowlick on the side of his head. He skidded to a stop right next to Yixing and tugged the boy’s shirt down before flashing Jongin a sleepy smile. “Sorry ‘bout that, dude. Yixing has a habit of sleepwalking sometimes and getting himself into awkward situations.” The junior then gave him a once over and smirked. “Wow, someone’s hung.”

All the color from Jongin’s face was drained as he watched Chanyeol drag a clueless Yixing out of the bathroom. He stood in the corner of the stall, water growing cold and the bottle of body wash on the floor before he snapped out of his daze and quickly washed up before running back to his room.

 

 

 

Sehun grunted as he to his side, the corner of his textbook digging into his ribs. He sat up with a huff and tossed the damn thing onto the floor and placed his laptop on top of his drawer. Right when he was about to lay back down again, he noticed the warm glow of a desk lamp on the other side of the room and he squinted at his clock. It was four in the morning and he wondered if Jongin forgot to turn off his lamp before falling asleep.

He turned his head and saw Jongin sitting on the edge of his bed, an empty look in his eyes as he mumbled under his breath. He rubbed his eyes and said, “Hey, you okay?”

Jongin looked like it was the end of the world and Sehun sat up in alarm. “Hey, what happened?”

The freshman shook his head and kept repeating, “He saw everything. He saw everything. He saw everything…”

The blond blinked and scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. “Wait, what? Who saw everything?”

Suddenly, Jongin looked him straight in the eye and cried, “He saw everything! How am I ever going to look him in the eye again?! It was so mortifying!”

“Wait, hold on. I’m going to need you to back up and tell me everything from the beginning.” Sehun pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to figure out what happened.

A sniffle escaped Jongin and he pitifully wiped his nose. “I’ve been showering really early in the morning for the past week because I don’t like showering when others are around and that’s when it’s empty. So I went to wash up like usual but then, Yixing came and just pulled the curtain to the side and stared me down. He was about to get in before Chanyeol came in and dragged him away saying that he was sleepwalking. And then he said I was hung.”

Sehun was so dumbstruck all he could do was stare at his roommate with his mouth agape. He took in a breath and rubbed his temple. “Let me get this straight. You were showering and Yixing walked in on you and Chanyeol said that you had a big .”

Jongin looked like he was close to tears and Sehun said, “So you’re upset because Yixing and Chanyeol saw you in the shower?”

When the brunet nodded, Sehun stared at him for a moment before getting back under his covers. “Okay, goodnight.”

“What do you mean goodnight?!” Jongin exclaimed, tugging the blanket off of his whining roommate. “This is a serious problem for me! How am I going to shower? How am I going to look at Chanyeol and Yixing in the eye without remembering that they’ve literally seen my entire body? God, I feel like burying myself five feet below.”

“Look man, it’s not that big of a deal. We’re all guys, we all have the same parts so it’s not embarrassing at all. And just shower whenever you want! Honestly, I thought you wanted to shower alone just so you could in peace.” Sehun huffed as he sat back up.

“What?! Why would you think that?!” Jongin’s face was redder than a tomato.

“I don’t know! But anyways, I think you should just get comfortable with the idea of showering around others. It’s not like you have a choice anyway. We’re here until May so you should start getting used to it.”

Jongin sighed and he fell back onto his bed. “I know that but I just feel so uncomfortable. I’m the type to need the entire space to myself to shower peacefully. I don’t like other people looking at my body or knowing that there’s the possibility of everyone seeing my body when I’m showering.”

Sehun ran a hand through his hair as he yawned. “I feel you but I can’t do anything about it. Besides, I’m pretty sure the residents aren’t erted enough to just pull your shower curtain aside and stare at your . I think you just have to get used to it.”

“But it’s so uncomfortable,” Jongin whined.

Sehun yawned once again and started climbing back under his covers. “I know. And as much as I want to keep talking about your dilemma, it’s like 4:30 in the morning and I have class at nine so I kind of want to sleep.”

The brunet’s shoulders deflated and he nodded sadly. “Okay. Good night.”

“Night.”

 

 

 

Jongin slept through all five of his alarms yet again and was fumbling to get dressed without hurting himself in the process. He flung the door open and started down the hallway when he bumped into someone. He quickly apologized and looked up and felt his heart stop when he stood face to face with Chanyeol.

“Hey Jongin, running late?” The junior asked with a knowing grin.

“Yeah. I’ll see you later,” the boy said and mustered up an awkward smile before running to class. The whole way there, all he could think about was how the elder had seen him in his birthday suit and how he said that he was hung. His comment rang in his ears for the entirety of the day and he couldn’t focus during class (not that he really did since he always had his laptop open and available to distract him).

 

 

 

Jongin dragged his feet back to his dorm room when the day was over and collapsed in his bed like a lifeless heap. Sehun, who had already finished classes for the day, looked over from his bed and shook his head. “This is why you don’t shower at four in the morning,” he said as he turned his attention back to his laptop.

Jongin groaned into his pillow and to his back. “Shut up. I was doing just fine until that happened. Sehun, what should I do?”

The blond shrugged and he sighed. “It’s hopeless for me. I’m just going to stop taking showers and use Febreze to freshen up instead. At least I’ll smell Island Fresh.”

Sehun looked at him pitifully and said, “Please don’t. As much as I like the smell of Febreze, I don’t think BO and Island Fresh will mix nicely.”

“Well it’s either that or I shower at four in the morning and get no sleep.”

The boy pressed his lips together and breathed out. “Hey, would it help if we went together? I mean, we’re obviously not going to be in the same shower stall but I could be next to you and keep you company.”

Jongin ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, man. I feel really paranoid.”

“Well, why don’t we try it out tonight? We can go together before we grab dinner. I sometimes go around like six since it’s not that busy. There’s bound to be two empty stalls next to each other.”

The freshman stared at the eggshell white ceiling, eyes tracing the cracks as he mulled over the offer. Sehun was right; he had to get over this as soon as possible because like it or not, he was stuck there until May. His roommate was even nice enough to help him get over his discomfort so he would just be a if he turned him down.

“Okay, we’ll go at six. But I swear, if someone even touches my shower curtain, I’m going to stick to my Febreze shower.”

 

 

 

Later that night, Jongin felt a looming presence over him and he looked up from his laptop to see Sehun staring down at him. “It’s time for you to face the music,” the blond said.

“You know what, I actually really have to finish this assignment so you go first,” Jongin lied, still not ready to shower.

Sehun gave him a look and leaned forward to get a look at his screen. “You’re literally watching puppy videos. Let’s go, I want to shower before grabbing dinner.”

Jongin sighed and got out of bed reluctantly. “Fine.”

He grabbed his clothing and toiletries and trailed behind Sehun on the way to the bathroom, deliberately walking slower than the other because he wanted to hold off on entering the bathroom for as long as he could. Unfortunately, the bathroom was just down the hall so stalling didn’t really do much for him.

The moment he entered the bathroom, he noticed that one of the stalls was occupied, the sound of the water hitting the tiled floor and soft humming floated from the back. The only one other person in the room stood by the sink and was busy brushing his teeth.

“So far so good?” Sehun asked.

Jongin grimaced and said, “Would be better if it was completely empty but I guess so.”

Sehun rolled his eyes and the two entered the last two stalls that were furthest from the door. The boy stepped into the stall and said, “Okay, you’re on your own from here. If anything happens, just holler.”

“Okay…”

Jongin stepped into the stall and pulled the curtains, making sure there wasn’t so much as a sliver of the outside showing from the sides. He undressed and hung his clothes up on the little hook outside. He took one last glance outside to make sure no one was getting within a foot of his stall before closing the curtain once again and turning on the water. He let out a breath as the water cascaded from the shower head and could feel his sore muscles slowly relax.

As much as he missed his shower back home, the wide space clean and all for him, he found himself slowly coming to peace with the communal shower. Sure, it that the space was tiny and that the wall rack wasn’t big enough and that he had to wear flip flops because god knows what could be lurking on the floor but it was this or spraying Febreze all over himself for the rest of the year. He was definitely going to apply for a suite next year.

By the time Jongin dried and got dressed, Sehun was already done and waiting for him on the bench by the door. The brunet had an awkward look on his face as he said, “Sorry for making you wait.”

“It’s fine, I just got out. So, do you feel better about showering?”

“Not really but I guess I’ve just come to peace with it. Like you said, I can’t really do anything about it so might as well it up for the year.”

“That’s good.”

“But I think I can only deal with it if you come shower with me.”

There was a blank look on Sehun’s face before the blond sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair. “Guess I don’t really have a choice.”

Jongin smiled and threw an arm around his shoulders. “Thanks, you’re the best roommate.”

Sehun nodded as they exited the bathroom. “Oh I know I am. And because I’m the best roommate, you’re going to buy me some Starbucks later as a thank you.”

“What?”

“I want a venti peach green tea lemonade.”

“Starbucks is expensive though…” Jongin pouted as he unlocked their dorm room.

Sehun shrugged and hug his towel behind the door. “Okay, then you can go shower by yourself for the rest of the year.”

“You said venti peach green tea lemonade?”

“Atta boy. Now let's get dinner, I'm starving.”

 

 

 

wow it's been 2 months since i updated lol
i'm kind of sad because i had an image in mind for this chapter but for some reason, i just couldn't write it the way i wanted to
btw fear of communal showers is a thing, i've read online that a lot of students are hesitant about it at first because they don't want to expose themselves but they all eventually got used to it or found a way around it
again, sorry for such a short chapter, i tried my best and hopefully the next chapter will come out the way i want it
see you guys next time!
p.s. i am an actual college student (if you guys haven't figured that out already) so if you have any questions about it or need advice, i am here to listen!