“I swear, this is the last ing time…” Luhan doesn’t consider himself a light sleeper, but he jolts awake as he hears his boyfriend’s cursing echoing through the empty dorm room.

Boyfriend. Although the word isn’t said out loud, it still rolls off his tongue in a deliciously strange way as he mouths it to himself. Strictly speaking, they’d only made things official about two months ago – then again, whatever they had going on between them had been going on for ages and everyone had been glad and relieved when the two of them had decided to get together. As Jongdae had so nicely put it, it had been “about damned ing time”.

As Luhan walks into the dorm’s main living area, he’s greeted by the sight of an extremely flustered Minseok – his boyfriend, and he grins to himself – furiously attempting to clean something while muttering under his breath.

With Baekhyun and Yixing gone for the Christmas holidays (Baek had gone to visit his grandmother and had invited Yixing, who had gladly accepted), it’s just the two of them left in the dorm and Minseok’s taken the opportunity to move his work for a final project to the big table.

“What’s up?” Luhan asks as he shuffles over to plop himself down – still yawning – beside Minseok, who gives him a quick kiss before scowling at the pen he’s holding in his hand.

“I dropped my pen into my coffee again,” he sighs. “Honestly, I’m not usually this careless but I’ve been so out of it with this project that I somehow keep mistaking my coffee cup for a penholder.”

“Seriously, it’s the third time this month – think of all the poor pens you subject to the torture of being drowned in hot coffee. Imagine how they must be screaming!” Luhan jokes.

Unfortunately, Minseok is unamused. “I think my poor wallet’s screaming louder because I have to keep buying new pens and coffee.”

“Well, look on the bright side – at least you don’t buy the really expensive coffee, so I guess it’s not going to hurt as much to have to brew a new cup?”

Minseok just groans and slumps on the table. “I’m so tired I don’t think I’d actually mind drinking it.”

“That’s the fatigue talking, baozi – besides, something tells me that ink isn’t safe for consumption.” Luhan feels a little concerned as he sees Minseok eyeing the inky coffee. “You know what? You need a break. From the looks of it, you pulled another all-nighter, didn’t you?”

Minseok blinks. “How did you-”

“You’re still wearing the same clothes you had on yesterday, and I’m pretty sure you haven’t moved from that chair since I kissed you goodnight about 10 hours ago.” Luhan sighs. “I know you’re working hard on your project, but you really need to rest before you collapse and then who’s going to lug you to the hospital?”

Even while fatigued, Minseok manages to make Luhan’s heart skip several beats as he throws him a puppy-eyed look. “You, maybe?”

 “You’re lucky you’re cute, Kim Minseok,” Luhan grumbles. “Now move it, get your to bed – you’ve got some time before your deadline, and I promise your work’s still going to be here when you wake up.”

He sends a silent prayer of thanks to whichever god who took the liberties of making Minseok too tired to fight back, as his boyfriend simply seems to accept that it’ll be useless trying to argue with Luhan (who has already made his mind up to physically haul Minseok to bed if necessary) and shuffles toward his bedroom with a huge yawn barely stifled behind the back of his hand.

Seconds after he disappears into the room, however, he pokes his head back out to stare blearily at Luhan. “Forgot to ask, but don’t you have class in about…” He checks the clock. “Half an hour’s time, or was it cancelled?”

“Oh, me.” Luhan groans and Minseok raises an eyebrow. “As much as I’d like to, babe… Maybe when you’re not late for class and I’m not this close to passing out?”

“Very funny.” Luhan shoots Minseok a mild glare as he hurriedly changes into clothes more presentable than a loose-fitting jersey and boxers. “Professor Wu’s returning our graded papers today and I swear I’m gonna fail – why I took that Art elective is beyond me and I’ m dropping it first thing next semester.”

“Well, have fun – let me know if you want to meet for dinner later or something.” Minseok yawns as he disappears back into the room.

Luhan’s about to leave when the coffee mug catches his eye and sparks an idea. He really is running late for class, but he decides that hey, Professor Wu and his failed grade can wait an extra five minutes or so – besides, didn’t the professor himself say one should never ignore artistic inspiration?

*

Later, Minseok wanders out of the room to spot something taped onto his coffee mug. Curious, he picks it up and laughs – it’s a post-it note that has a cartoon steamed bun drawn onto it, with a little speech bubble above it holding the words “I AM NOT A PENHOLDER I DO NOT LIKE PENS” in bright red ink.