sanghyuk is convinced.

his fingers don’t grow red in the cold winds of late winter; his hair is the same ebony black, shiny and smooth as if just dyed, unrealistic; his sneakers are void of any speck of dust or dirt; his lips never dry; his cheeks always the same dusty pink. sanghyuk doesn’t know his marks but he bets he’s acing all his classes, and while sanghyuk hasn’t ever seen him speak to anyone in their shared classes or in the cafeteria, he’s absolutely certain he’s inhumanly popular and loved.

although he has raised all these suspicions on his own with no one else to confirm - or deny - them, sanghyuk is convinced.

taekwoon is an alien.

-

“i’ve been meaning to tell you but i kinda forgot,” sanghyuk speaks quietly as he leans into jaehwan’s shoulder in the library, having told him about his worries in a hushed tone over their essay papers.

“well, you..,” jaehwan hums in thought, tapping his pen against the back of a book. “i dunno, you don’t really have a lot to go on. he didn’t like, attack people, right?”

“well.. no,” sanghyuk sighs and leans back on his elbow. “but--“

“and people, or things, haven’t been mysteriously disappearing, no?”

“no,” sanghyuk admits in defeat.

“i’m not saying he isn’t.. one..,” jaehwan whispers back, casting a glance up at the tables around them before he continues. “keep an eye out for weird stuff, sure, but the thought never hit me before.”

sanghyuk pouts at the other and picks back up on drawing little circles in the corner of his notebook. not that jaehwan goes around suspecting people are aliens that often, but it has happened, and sanghyuk did come to him because there was some glimmer of hope in the back of his mind that said jaehwan would agree with him.

“he is inhumanly hot, though,” jaehwan adds when they leave the library, the supposed alien walking across the hallway.

“oh, shut up,” sanghyuk mutters, growing increasingly more flushed when he meets taekwoon’s eyes for a split second.

-

when he timidly steps over to taekwoon’s seat in their art history class, sanghyuk isn’t entirely sure it’s actually him controlling his legs.

“wanna team up?”

..nor his mouth.

“me?,” taekwoon’s voice is small and he blinks up at sanghyuk with something like surprise written over his face. sanghyuk isn’t too sure if aliens feel human emotions or not.

“yeah, i mean, for the..,” sanghyuk trails off, pointing back at the whiteboard. “for the discussion thing.”

“ah,” taekwoon’s mouth falls open as he looks to the front of the classroom, like he hadn’t been listening to their professor’s ten-minute explanation of their assignment. “if you want.”

despite the circumstances - or sanghyuk’s wild imagination, maybe - sanghyuk chatters away about the later years of romanticism and realism sprouting in france. taekwoon doodles in his notebook as he listens, replies, fills sanghyuk in and comes with ideas of his own, and sanghyuk slowly realizes he has been assuming taekwoon would be quiet. he’s not.

their professor forgets about time eventually, as does sanghyuk, and she calls the discussions off with a laugh as she explains class is over, that they’ll continue next time. there’s a small curl of taekwoon’s lips when the professor tries to explain she got lost in thought, and sanghyuk curiously studies his face.

“we’re working together next class too, right?,” taekwoon’s quiet question snaps sanghyuk out of his thoughts.

“if--,” he blinks dumbfoundedly back at the other. “if you want?”

“yeah, sure,” taekwoon shrugs, reaching up and a strand of hair out of his face as sanghyuk starts picking his books and notes up from taekwoon’s table.

“see you, then,” sanghyuk smiles and stands up.

“yeah,” taekwoon hums again, smiling just a little as he speaks, and a phantom hand squeezes at sanghyuk’s chest as if to empty his lungs of air.

“um,” he adds to end the conversation, then quickly goes to pick up his bag and dodge out of the classroom.

-

while sanghyuk does in some ways doubt his own alien theory, he still slacks off on his assignments for art theory and googles how aliens might go about to brainwash humans in general, social settings. he comes up with nothing, and when he texts jaehwan about it he simply gets a short “peitho? lol” in reply. after another quick googling, sanghyuk offers jaehwan a “shut up” and decides that his assignments are more important than this.

-

“space,” sanghyuk mumbles as he picks at his food aimlessly, eyes trained on taekwoon sitting in front of him.

“what?,” taekwoon tilts his head as he chews, his dark hair falling into his eyes.

“nothing,” sanghyuk says quickly, looking back at his plate and continuing his flattening the warm potato mash out over the plate.

“you’re weird.”

his eyes are still on sanghyuk and sanghyuk feels them, wonders briefly about telepathy while he tries to analyze taekwoon’s facial expression. jaehwan had made numerous comments in the past couple of weeks about sanghyuk possibly having a crush on “alien boy”, but sanghyuk wouldn’t have it. still, his heart beats a little faster when taekwoon’s feet brushes against his own under the table, coming to rest leaning against sanghyuk’s.

sanghyuk mentally scratches subtle hints off his list of methods to bust taekwoon’s.. being an alien. jaehwan had tried to help him find another answer to, well, taekwoon, but at the end of the day the two of them just ended up discussing artificial intelligence while sliding further and further down from jaehwan’s bed, and the positions eventually lead into jaehwan turning on his playstation for the two to play clone wars.

“you got potato mash,” taekwoon mumbles between chewing, pointing at sanghyuk with his pinky. “on your face.”

“hm?,” sanghyuk darts his tongue out at the corner of his mouth, frowning when realizing there’s nothing there.

“the, the other side,” taekwoon directs him and purses his lips, looking down at his food and - sanghyuk frowns even harder - slumping his shoulders and shrinking into himself just a little.

“what?”

“nothing,” taekwoon squeaks, and sanghyuk forgets about his alien theory for a moment to adore how taekwoon’s face grows red.

-

at first, hanging out with taekwoon was part of sanghyuk’s plan to figure him out, but as days grew into weeks and taekwoon never made phone calls in suspicious languages (nor did he glow in the dark, disappear on the weekends, or keep strange communication devices or weapons in his dorm room, from what sanghyuk could figure), sanghyuk also grew a bit less suspicious. it was tiring, constantly trying to make out if taekwoon was doing completely normal human things or if he was up to alien business.

still, sanghyuk mumbles a “roswell” under his breath one saturday evening when he and taekwoon are on their way back to the dorms from a coffee shop a couple of blocks down.

taekwoon splutters, coughs when he chokes on his coffee, and immediate guilt showers over sanghyuk.

“sorry-- i’m sorry, are you okay?”

his hands come up to taekwoon’s shoulder and the side of his neck as he leans in to check on him, the other frowning as the coughing dies out.

“what did you say?,” taekwoon asks with a weak voice as he looks up at sanghyuk, his face inches away, and sanghyuk needs a few long seconds to recover from taekwoon’s eyes staring right back into his own.

“r.. roswell,” he admits quietly, trying to come up with a quick excuse as he notes the tiny freckles spotting the bridge of taekwoon’s nose and patches on his cheeks.

“oh,” taekwoon breathes quietly, clearing his throat as if to rid himself off the memory of coughing. “why?”

“um,” sanghyuk deadpans, blinking as his eyes start to sting from staring and subconsciously moving his hand on taekwoon’s neck to fit it closer, rest it against taekwoon’s warm skin. “i was just, uh, thinking.”

taekwoon raises an eyebrow at him, and sanghyuk pulls back.

“um,” he repeats, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “sorry.”

“you’re weird,” taekwoon says, lips curling up into a tiny smile while he gives sanghyuk a short, small shake of his head. sanghyuk’s stomach flips and he finds he’s curling his fingers painfully hard into his own sweater, kicking at the ground with one of his feet.

“sorry,” he says again as they continue walking, but taekwoon only chuckles quietly and takes another sip of his coffee.

(sanghyuk stops the subtle hints completely after that.)

-

“whether he’s an alien or not,” jaehwan says as he and sanghyuk are picking their stuff together after class - one that sanghyuk doesn’t share with taekwoon. “it doesn’t look like he’s planning to abduct anyone or.. destroy the world, or anything.”

“that’s not the point,” sanghyuk hisses, aiming a kick to jaehwan’s shin and having the other grin before he continues.

“so what is the point?”

sanghyuk pauses in his tracks, glance landing on a ufo doodle on the front of his notebook.

“i.. don’t know?,” he tilts his head and looks up at jaehwan again, resigned.

“thought so,” jaehwan is still grinning, reaching up to ruffle sanghyuk’s hair. “you’re probably freaking him out, you know.”

“i know,” sanghyuk mumbles, dropping his head down on the desk with a sigh. “or, i guess..”

jaehwan sits back down on his chair and rests his chin on the desk next to sanghyuk’s head, waiting for him to finish sulking before they drag themselves out of the classroom. sanghyuk’s heart does a somersault or two when they walk past taekwoon in the hallway, and jaehwan won’t stop smiling at how red sanghyuk’s ears grow.

-

while sanghyuk busies himself with midterms, the alien aspect of the taekwoon case remains uneventful. not that taekwoon is any less inhuman, his lips still look just as soft and smooth as always, sanghyuk was sure of that. his hair had grown a little longer lately though, he noticed, and he had developed a habit of jerking his head to the side to get it out of his eyes rather than going to get it cut. it was cute.

“did you go through the expressionism chapters yet?,” taekwoon asks, leaning over the edge of his bed to peer down at sanghyuk lying on the floor.

“don’t remind me,” sanghyuk groans and buries his face in the book he’s holding, squirming where he’s lying.

“i take that as a no,” taekwoon hums, shifting on the bed while sanghyuk’s squirming simmers down to him stretching his legs.

“didn’t even skim through it,” sanghyuk mutters into his book.

“wanna take a break?”

sanghyuk looks up to see taekwoon reach him a box of chocolate milk just over the edge of the bed, only the top of his head and his eyes visible from sanghyuk’s slumped position. he’s smiling and sanghyuk has to hide his face in the book for another minute before he can climb up on the bed and accept the chocolate milk box, still slightly unsure if the redness of his ears subdued or not.

“thanks for keeping me company,” he sighs after his first sip, eyes shut and his head rolling back against the wall.

“i thought it was the other way around,” taekwoon shifts to sit next to sanghyuk by the head end, pulling his knees up a little to balance the carton between them.

“thanks for letting me have you keep me company in your room, then,” sanghyuk chuckles and looks up at taekwoon, chewing down on his lip as he watches the other focus on the box in his hands.

“no problem,” taekwoon says quietly, all his attention on the chocolate milk box for some extra long moments before he glances at sanghyuk, catching him looking.

sanghyuk thinks he should say something, but his lips won’t move, and he thinks absently that he has no idea what to say either way.

“can i kiss you?,” taekwoon asks then, eyes still on sanghyuk.

somehow, sanghyuk manages a nod, and taekwoon chews on his bottom lip as he leans in closer. the first kiss is quick, chaste, and sanghyuk can’t register anything but the brief warmth on his own lips before taekwoon is leaning back again, just a few inches but long enough for sanghyuk to want him back. he reaches his free hand up to taekwoon’s neck and carefully pulls him back in to kiss him again, and this time it’s slower, taekwoon putting one hand down on the mattress between them to keep himself steady while he parts his lips just a little.

he tastes like chocolate milk, is all sanghyuk can think - they both do, probably, but sanghyuk is way too deep into what he’s doing to produce any thought that makes any kind of sense.

they break apart after another minute, sanghyuk pulling in a long breath and feeling way, way too embarrassed to open his eyes and look up at taekwoon. he feels his breath against his own lips, slow and warm and he wishes he had the courage to lean in just one more time.

“the milk is gonna fall over,” taekwoon mumbles, and sanghyuk looks up to taekwoon eyeing him, the two of them breaking into quiet, shy laughter when their eyes meet.

just then, taekwoon flinches away and reaches over just in time to catch the box falling off his knees.

“sorry,” sanghyuk whispers when taekwoon starts wiping at a stain of chocolate milk growing on his jeans, a small pout on his face.

“it’s fine,” taekwoon shoots a quick glance back at him, cheeks dark. “i’m doing laundry tomorrow, anyway.”

-

it’s 5 am when sanghyuk wakes up, the room soft with the early morning sunlight and everything around him warm. taekwoon stirs next to him under the covers, his tuft of black hair tickling sanghyuk’s nose when he moves. for another couple of minutes, sanghyuk lies on his back and studies the ceiling, rubbing at his eyes with his free hand - the one not attached to the arm taekwoon is sleeping on top of.

“what time is it,” taekwoon asks with a yawn after stirring another time, rolling over on his side and squinting at sanghyuk with puffy eyes.

“no idea,” sanghyuk mumbles in reply, reaching back down for the comforter and pulling it up to his shoulder.

“it’s sunday, right,” taekwoon asks next.

“i think so..”

they fall quiet and sanghyuk rolls back to his side, taekwoon nuzzling close and tucking his head in under sanghyuk’s chin. his arm wraps around sanghyuk’s waist and fingertips run slowly up and down his back, almost putting him back to sleep.

“i thought you were an alien,” sanghyuk blurts out into the silence, frowning at himself when the words leave his mouth. the fingers on his back come to a stop.

“you what,” taekwoon’s voice is muffled against sanghyuk’s chest. it tickles.

“thought you were an alien.”

there’s a shiver to taekwoon’s body then, and it takes sanghyuk a moment to realize he’s laughing.

“you thought i was an alien,” taekwoon repeats, shifting to look up at sanghyuk with raised eyebrows and lips pressed together in an attempt to hold his grinning back.

“just a little,” sanghyuk tries to hide his face in the pillow but taekwoon pushes him over on his back with a smile, reaching up with one hand to cup sanghyuk’s face.

“if anyone acts like an alien out of the two of us,” he his head to the side, black strands of hair falling out of his eyes. “it’s you, weirdo.”

“me?!”

“yeah, you,” taekwoon folds his arm over sanghyuk’s chest and rests his chin on it. “you’re weird like hell sometimes.”

“because i thought you were an alien,” sanghyuk tries, but embarrassment takes over and he breaks into a quiet laughter, pushing the other over again so he can hide his face in taekwoon’s neck.

“space..,” taekwoon whispers dramatically. “roswell.”

“please shut up,” sanghyuk groans into taekwoon’s shoulder, the other chuckling quietly and combing his fingers through sanghyuk’s hair.

“make me.”