Do Kyungsoo was exhausted. Finals were under way at university and he’d been studying until the wee hours all week long. It therefore was not surprising that a few minutes into the bus ride home, sleep at last overcame him and he welcomed it with no qualm. His head bobbed every which way before settling on the shoulder of the stranger seated next to him. Kim Jongin, who found Kyungsoo’s jerky head motions both laughable and charming, was stunned by this sudden development. He ought to shrug the resting head off his shoulder, but he didn’t. Instead he paused to observe how angelic the stranger looked as he succumbed to what must be long-denied slumber, and curious of all, how the stranger’s head seemed to fit on his shoulder – like a key in lock…

Like it belonged there.

And at this last thought of his, Jongin found that a smile was gathering on his face, accompanied by a not-too-familiar reddening of his cheeks. He prayed he wasn’t being out of line as he proceeded to caress the stranger’s soft, raven hair, and then with the same tenderness brought his hand to his face. Curious, Jongin thought, how the skin of his hand felt almost magnetized by the skin of the stranger’s face – like friction…

Like it belonged there.

---

Kyungsoo woke up to a heavily sore neck, but was glad he didn’t miss the bus stop. It strikes him as amusing how he unfailingly stirs before having to get off – as if his body has a built-in geographical alarm, if there ever was one. He walks the two blocks home, all the while relishing the tranquility that darkness brings. Careful not to wake his parents, he traipses to his room and disrobes. As he brings his sweater to his nose, he is greeted by an unfamiliar yet pleasant scent. Kyungsoo does not remember the stranger who sat next to him on the bus, but at least he smelled nice.

---

The library is a haven for Do Kyungsoo. Every detail: from the vastness of it to the heavily varnished tables and the musty odor of decade-old volumes, brings him comfort. He is used to the silence and solitude that have since marked his life being an only child. When not in the lecture halls, Kyungsoo is sure to be found at one of the farther tables in the library, intently poring over notes or dabbling in some light reading. He’s predictable that way.

Byun Baekhyun is predictable in that he always interrupts Kyungsoo while in the library, although if this was in any way bothersome to Kyungsoo, he would not have let them settle into such a routine. Baekhyun was after all his only close friend; the rest being mere acquaintances or project partners.

Kyungsoo notes how effervescent his friend is today as Baekhyun sits across from him. He does not in fact have romantic feelings for his hyung, although the same could not have been said for previous points in his lifetime.

The two met in high school when they found themselves frequently sitting one behind the other in class. It was not intentional; they just happened to have the same affinity for window seats. Kyungsoo, being one of the brightest in his class, would finish all his exams ahead of the rest, and he usually whiled the remaining time staring blankly out the window. Baekhyun, not being one of the brightest in class, would stop visibly at almost every question and he usually waited for the answers to come to him while staring out the window. With their strategic seating arrangement, it was bound for them to talk sooner or later and they easily struck a bond. While chatting, Kyungsoo would not be able to focus entirely on Baekhyun’s words; instead examining how his pale skin reminded him of milk, how his eyes shaped into crescents when he smiled, and how his golden hair tumbled smoothly when he moved. Kyungsoo had a crush on his friend, but he was of the opinion that such feelings were transient and better kept secret as they lingered.

He is now especially glad for his previous discretion as Baekhyun proceeds to chronicle the events that led him to being asked out on a date by one Park Chanyeol. Ah, thus the unnatural glow. Kyungsoo is by nature reserved, but Chanyeol comes across more as cold and unpersonable. If Baekhyun were to act his usual vivacious self around Chanyeol, it would make sense to Kyungsoo that the taller boy be utterly annoyed at him. But alas, Chanyeol was instead smitten.

“I am sincerely thrilled for you Baek. But do try to control yourself while inside library premises. It wouldn’t hurt to refrain from squirming giddily.”

“Yeah sure, Soo. But could you imagine it? My first date! Eeeeeek.”

“Well, I’ve always been certain you’d beat me to it, so good job on that.”

“I’d be flattered only if you were actually competition. I don’t even think you see yourself going on dates.”

“Thanks for rubbing it in,” Kyungsoo says with a sarcastic tinge in his voice. “But it’s not that I don’t see myself going out like you; I just have more important matters to delve on.”

“Well, yeah sure Kyungsoo. By the way, and yes I’ve only noticed this now, but isn’t that the same sweater you just wore yesterday?”

Kyungsoo hoped he wouldn’t be called out for that, but Baekhyun just could not let it pass.

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“I just don’t think you’re one to wear the same article of clothing two days in a row. And it’s not like you don’t have a multitude of sweaters to choose from.”

“That is surprisingly petty, even for you Baek.”

Talk about a hypocrite. The reason Kyungsoo chose to wear the same sweater is markedly pettier: he can’t get over the scent that it managed to absorb from whoever he was seated next to at the bus last night. But Baekhyun didn’t need to know that, because his hyung would have surely thought of him a weirdo. And it was pretty weird when he mulled on it.

---

The probability of crossing paths with a stranger on the bus a second time is dismal, so why does Kyungsoo scan his fellow passengers every time he gets on? And why is he disappointed when he fails to detect the passenger’s scent in the compressed air?

---

Jongin is bone tired. As he makes his way home on the bus, he could not help but have his mind stray to the beautiful stranger he chanced upon that one night. As the stranger lay asleep on his shoulder, Jongin did not once lift his eyes away from him so as to imprint every detail, every facet of his features on his mind. He shuts his eyes and pictures those lush eyebrows arching over what he noticed briefly were the widest doe eyes he’d seen, those plump lips that shaped into a heart-shaped pout, and even that slight mole specking his ear. The mental image instantly gives him comfort and eases his body of all previous exhaustion. Kim Jongin is not one to be easily infatuated so he knows that when cupid strikes, the heavens will conspire to eventually bring them together.

He just feels it. 

---

A/N: I feel as if this chapter is too short, but I'm really hoping you guys like it anyway. A longer second chapter is in the works and will be published sometime soon. :)