Onew ran across campus at 7 am trying to get to work on time. His job consisted of giving what ever the school called food to the hands of half-asleep students. Despite waking up early, Onew enjoyed his job. He met a lot of people, and usually had a funny story or two to tell his friends later. After working every morning for five weeks, he had a good grasp on what certain people wanted. For example, the person that always looked judgemental probably wanted eggs, but Onew most likely would put them on the plate wrong in relation to the bacon. On this particular day, Onew met someone he had never seen before. Their campus was small, and finding someone new was very rare, so Onew couldn’t help but be surprised. He looked over the glass display and grinned, “Hi!” he said a bit too cheerily for 7:30 in the morning.

The tall boy blinked at him with his big eyes, trying to clear the sleep from them. “Um, hey.” he said in a lower voice than Onew was expecting. “I’ll just, um.. Have some eggs I guess.” The boy looked like a deer in headlights, and Onew assumed that the boy must have just woken up.

“Eggs it is then,” he smiled, and plopped a spoon full of scrambled eggs on to a new plate. “Any thing else?” The boy shook his head, “Okay, thank you!”

As the boy walked away, Onew admired his back. The boy must have been on some athletic team; he had a lean figure and a muscular form. Onew shook these thoughts aside and continued keeping himself busy with the passing time until the end of his shift.

By the end of the day, the boy was exhausted. After two exams and three meetings with various teachers, he collapsed on his bed, hoping to take a quick nap before dinner. His roommate had a “friend” over, and they seemed to be enjoying each other’s company a little too much. “Hey Jjong?”

Jonghyun stopped tickling his younger friend, “Yes?” he asked cocking an eyebrow at the lump that was Onew.

“Do you think it’s possible to meet someone new in the fifth week of school?” Onew asked, turning his head to look at the two on the opposite bed.

“I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but for you it’s basically impossible because you’re so sociable. I mean you’re vice president of the student body, so it’s sort of your job to know everyone.”

Onew sighed, “I guess you’re right.”

“Why? Did you meet someone?” Jonghyun’s friend asked.

“I’m sorry, your name is?” Onew was embarrassed to ask, but this was the second day he saw the younger boy hanging around, and Jonghyun had never bothered with formal introductions.

“Oh! Sorry, right, I’m Taemin. I’ll be coming to this school next year, I live just down the road.”

“Ah, so you’re corrupting the youth now are you?” Onew smirked as his roommate blushed. “Oh come on I’m just kidding, but yeah, I met someone I’ve never seen before, and the best part was that he was hot!”

“I bet you just fell asleep at work and started daydreaming.” Jonghyun said, “I’ve been through all of the hot guys at this school, and none of them compare to my Taeminnie.”

The younger boy blushed, “Come on, I told you not to call me that, especially in front of other people.”

Jonghyun grinned, “Well I guess we’ll have to go with your other nickname, little .” At that, the younger started to pinch Jonghyun in the sides where he was the most ticklish sending them back into a tickle fight.

Onew scoffed at them, “Are you guys even dating?” But the two were so busy trying to get a good tickle spot before the other could attack, they couldn’t hear the older boy.

The next day Onew went through the same routine of getting ready for work, and arriving as close to 7 as he could. He was happily serving his usual customers when the same tall boy from yesterday walked up to the line. Today he looked much more awake and put together. Onew greeted him with a smile, “what will it be today, the eggs again?”

The taller boy smiled back, “I don’t think the eggs agreed with me yesterday.”

“That’s probably because they’re made from a can,” Onew laughed.

The boy chuckled, “Ah so that’s what it was.” he looked down at the options, seemingly pondering what to get. Luckily there wasn’t anyone behind him waiting so Onew could spend the time admiring his features. The boy had dark brown hair that was styled up with gel, and a seemingly permanent smile on his pink lips. His eyes were big and soft, and shifted quickly as he looked over the options.

Onew ducked his head down trying to get the boy to make eye contact with him. The taller boy slowly met Onew’s eyes, as the brunette started to say, “You know, it would be more helpful if I knew your name so I could get your attention better.”

The taller boy smiled, “I’m Minho, Choi Minho. I’m surprised I haven’t seen around campus! You are?”

“I’m Onew, and I’m the vice president of the student body, you should know who I am!” he pretended to be shocked.

Minho laughed, “I’m sorry, I basically live in the gym or in my room, so I don’t get out much, but it looks like I’m holding up the line, so I’ll just have some bacon and a slice of french toast.”

“There you are Minho, I’ll see you around!” Onew smiled as the boy took his food.

Minho took the food and turned away, Onew didn’t see him grinning from ear to ear as he left for the dining room.

For the next few weeks Minho shared small banter with the elder as he was served the crappy cafeteria food. Minho noticed that Onew was enjoying his company just as much as he was enjoying Onew’s. The younger boy didn’t like to admit it, but he thought Onew was cute since the day he first saw him, and he was practically speechless. He started to make it a point to go to breakfast as much as he could just so he could see the older boy. By the Thursday of the third week, Minho decided it was time to man up and ask the elder out. He had been rejected plenty of times, but he really thought that he had a chance with this one.

Early Thursday morning, Minho woke up and made sure he looked perfect for asking Onew. He took extra time styling his hair and making sure he smelled nice. Donning his best fitting shirt and pair of skinny jeans, he made his way to the cafeteria. Minho went through the usual chatting with Onew, and getting some random food that he thought looked good, but he knew deep down it would taste awful. He grabbed his plate and sat in the dining room. Minho was too nervous to eat; he kept checking his phone to see if it was almost 9:30, when Onew would be off of work. Minho quickly noticed how stupid he was waking up early just to wait for the elder to be done at work. He still had an hour to wait, and he couldn’t imagine surviving for that long. If anything, he would end up chickening out before Onew’s shift ended. So the boy started to make his way back into the cafeteria, dropping his uneaten food into the garbage can on his way.

When he got back, Onew seemed to be daydreaming behind the counter without anyone to serve at that moment. As Minho got closer, the elder boy noticed and frantically tried to straighten himself. “Oh! I didn’t expect to see you again, hi!” Onew sounded surprised.

“Okay, just let me say what I want to say, and then I’ll leave.” Minho started, setting a serious tone, “I think you’re cute and fantastic, and you’re the only reason I’m able to wake up every morning with a smile on my face to come to breakfast, I’m really not a morning person, and I think it would be nice if maybe we could hang out somewhere, like I don’t know, maybe go for a walk in the woods, or have a coffee, or just play video games in my room, I can kick my roommate out, and oh god, I’m rambling.” Minho blushed at his poor confession, and looked at his feet, “Just, tell me your answer tomorrow, I have to get to class.” The taller boy fled before Onew could even begin to respond.

The day went by as slowly as it possibly could. Minho just wanted it to be the next morning, he even decided to go to bed as soon as he finished his homework to make the night go faster, but that sadly didn’t work because his thoughts were keeping him awake. Go for a walk in the woods, he thought, what was I thinking. Onew’s probably too busy to even think about that stuff, and I bet he has women crawling all over him he wouldn’t even think of a guy like me. Minho was finally able to sleep by one in the morning, entering a dreamland where Onew and him had been dating for a while, and he didn’t have to worry about the elder possibly rejecting him. His happy dream was interrupted by his roommate kicking him for his alarm being too loud.

“Ya! Choi, you always wake up too early to get ready! I’m way more fashionable than you’ll ever be, and you still wake up earlier than me, what gives?”

Minho groaned, but quickly remembered that he got to hear his answer today. “, what time is it?”

“I don’t know, what time do you have your alarm go off? Because it’s about half an hour after that.”

“I have to go, I’m so late!” Minho said, getting out of bed and started to get ready.

“What hot date do you have at seven in the morning, every single morning?” his roommate annoyingly asked.

“I confessed to this boy, and he’s going to give me an answer today.” Minho said, grabbing his jacket as he ran out of the door.

“I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY IT HAS TO BE AT 7AM!” His roommate yelled after him.

Minho didn’t have time to worry about the other boy; he just had to make sure he was there to get his answer. He quickly made his way to the student center and into the cafeteria. Minho stopped in his tracks when he saw who was behind the counter. It was someone different. He was greeted with a frowning face of a short boy when he was expecting to see the smiling face of Onew. Minho was heart broken. Had the elder changed his work schedule so he didn’t have to see me anymore? He thought, suppressing tears.

He pushed his feelings aside as he met the new person behind the counter. “Hi, um, I’m not sure if you know who worked here before you, but where is Onew?” He hesitantly asked.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to replace him. That decided to get sick this morning and ruined the rug I got for our room, and then on top of that, he made me take his shift,” the boy grumbled.

Minho couldn’t help that a smile appeared on his face. It was good to know that the elder wasn’t avoiding him.

“So do you actually want something to eat, or are you just going to stand there grinning to yourself.”

Minho laughed, “I’ll just have a roll.”

About halfway through the day Minho decided that he couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to know what Onew’s answer was. So during lunch, Minho grabbed some chicken noodle soup to go, just in case the elder was hungry, and then looked through the student directory online to find out which dorm the boy was in. He typed in “Onew” into the search bar, but nothing came up. Panic immediately set in. Maybe he had spelled it wrong? How else could it be spelled? “Ohnew” nothing, “Oneyou” nothing, “Ohnewyou” that one doesn’t even make sense. Minho was at a loss for words, how could the boy not exist? He sat looking at his laptop for the longest time until he decided to call his roommate. The kid was a social butterfly, not only did he know everyone on campus, but he also knew everyone in the town, and the town next door. Minho didn’t know how he did it, but he had never been as grateful as he was now. After a few rings the boy picked up, “Did you burn my clothes some how? Did you get mud on them? I swear to god Choi if you touch my Marc Jacobs you’re dead, it took me forever to save up for that stuff.”

“Key, Kibum settle down. I’m not even in our room. Do you know a kid by the name of Onew?”

There was a pause on the other line “Yeah, what about him?”

“Okay I looked him up in the student directory, and he doesn’t seem to exist, I was just making sure I didn’t make him up or something.”

“Oh, so this is the magical boy that made you actually start waking up every morning.” he could hear key smirking through the phone.

“Shut up, he’s just really nice okay?”

“You guys would be cute together, and seriously Choi, you’ve needed someone in your life for a while.”

“Whatever Kibum, I have to go on a wild goose chase to find this kid now, so I’m going to hang up.” Minho said pulling the phone away from his ear.

“WAIT, WAIT, WAIT,” He heard from the phone right before he hung up.

“What do you want Key,” Minho sighed.

“The name you’re looking for is Jinki. Lee Jinki, it’s his original name, he just prefers Onew.”

“Oh my god, thank you so much.”

“See? I’m good for something.”

Minho quickly hung up and went back to the directory. He typed in “Jinki” and up came his profile.

Lee Jinki

Junior

Class vice president

Clubs: 3

Residence: Buck House

RM: 304

Minho grabbed his soup and made his way to the other side of campus looking for the dorm. Minho was still a freshman and didn’t go exploring much, so he had never been to this side of campus. The dorm he arrived at wasn’t too big, but it made him nervous just looking at how it loomed over him. He couldn’t back out now, if anything he is just going as a friend to help Onew get better. There were no other intentions at the moment.

The tall boy arrived at room 304 with much difficulty. The dorm wasn’t laid out in a very organised way, so finding his way on his own was hard. It took the help of a senior to guide him down the right corridor. Minho stood in front of the door trying to slow down his heartbeat. He didn’t realise he had already knocked on the door until he heard a groggy voice inviting him in. Onew’s voice was usually soft like honey, but this was different, and Minho feared it was just his annoyed roommate on the other side. “Oh great, now I’m hearing things too.” Minho heard come from the other side of the door, so he quietly opened it.

“Um, I’m sorry to disturb you, but I brought soup and..” Minho stopped in his tracks when he saw what was in front of him. Onew was sprawled on his bed seemingly wearing only boxers. The sheets were wrapped around him, and you could tell that he had been sweating a lot. Minho had to take in the sight of Onew’s before he could focus back on the task at hand.

“Minho!” Onew happily exclaimed. “I must be dreaming, right now. What a wonderful dream, and dream Minho brought me soup! Will dream Minho feed me?”

Minho smiled as he sat down opening the container of soup, “You must be really sick if you think I’m just in your dream.”

“What type of soup is it?” Onew asked.

“Chicken noodle, I hope that’s okay?”

Onew smiled wide, “I love chicken!”

Minho put his hand up to feel Onew’s forehead just to check how bad the fever was. It felt like you could cook an egg on Onew’s skin. Minho leaned down to kiss his forehead where his hand had been. “I think you need some soup okay?”

“Okay, but what if the soup makes me throw up again?” Onew asked, the older boy was acting very childish, but Minho thought it was cute. Onew must have been acting like this because of the affect the sickness was having on his mind.

“If you throw up, we’ll just have to give you medicine, and let you sleep more, okay?” Minho started to feed the older boy, hoping he didn’t make a mess. Onew must have not eaten anything all day because he quickly finished the soup and wanted more. “I can go get more soup if you’d like?”

Onew shook his head, “I don’t want you to go dream Minho, stay here until I wake up, okay?”

Minho looked at the elder as he lay down and pat the bed next to him, asking Minho to join him. Minho laid down letting the boy wrap his arms around Minho’s chest, and they both quickly drifted off into dreamland once more.

Onew woke up to the feeling of being in someone’s arms; it took him a moment to register where he was, and what was going on. He looked behind him to see Minho happily asleep holding Onew’s waist. Despite Onew’s confusion, he was happy to have Minho’s body pressed against him. Onew couldn’t remember when the younger boy had arrived, or what happened between then and now, but all he wanted to do was stay in his arms, even if it was just a dream.

He felt Minho shift behind him, and then felt the low rumble that was the younger’s voice at his back. “So, I’ll take it that you’re saying yes to a date in the future.”

“I’ll think about it,” Onew joked, feeling the chuckle behind him. “But this is nice, I like this.”

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Minho said, kissing Onew’s head, as they both drifted back to sleep.