Mingyu was waiting for the train home, trying to work through the day’s events. He hadn’t seen the stranger in the beanie again and was relieved about it, after having spent his day in fear of running into him again and not being able to avoid the obvious question.

He had considered deleting the pic, but one look at it confirmed that the stranger was impossibly good looking, even when photographed within the second of waking up. He’d have to keep that pic. Not for any weird reasons, just for… reasons.

Lost in thought Mingyu stepped into the arriving train together with a crowd of what felt like ten thousand people. He managed to rush to the seats just by the door and sat down in time, glad he didn’t have to spend his ride standing pressed against strangers. He put his bag next to his legs and relaxed as far as possible surrounded by lots and lots of people.

Beanie sat down next to him.

Their eyes met and even though none of them said anything and the eye contact broke after half a second, Mingyu felt like he was being interrogated, strapped to every torture device ever conceived.

This was the most inconvenient coincidence ever as far as he could recall. His heart hammered its way up into his throat and he began to sweat. He was riding this train straight to hell. Beanie didn’t make a sound but also didn’t seem to care to move anywhere else. He couldn’t. Neither of them were able to move to a different section of the train, completely surrounded by other people – all of which were in the way of Mingyu’s wellbeing.

An obscenely fat person pressed their way into the corridor and pushed Beanie into Mingyu’s side.

Nope. Nope. Not happening. Activate escape plan Alpha One. Engage the catapult seat.

There was only one stop left until the dorm. Mingyu could easily walk the rest. He jumped up, grabbed the bag next to him and pushed his way to the door, using the avalanche of human flesh getting off at the same station to quicken his flight.

The cold realization hit him just a moment before the train door’s closed behind him. He had put his bag next to his legs. Whatever he had grabbed could not possibly be his. He looked down and saw what was clearly a certain person’s possession. His bag was still on the train. Beanie was too, but Beanie’s bag wasn’t.

Then it started to rain.

♦

Sinking onto the bed in sweatpants and an ancient shirt, Mingyu continued to rub a towel all over his hair which seemed to have soaked up rain drops like a sponge.

His roommate Jihoon held the “stolen” bag in the air. “Well, you’re going to have to look inside. How else will you find any contact data? You can only hope that boy took your bag. After all the stupid things you’ve done today – which is slightly more stupid things than you do on most days – the last thing you need is to lose all your notes for good.”

“Yes, Jihoon.”

“Don’t you ‘Yes Jihoon’ me! I know very well that I’m right. Act a bit smarter.”

The short sized and even shorter tempered boy dropped the bag on Mingyu’s desk and began to rummage on his own accord, his delicate hands producing regular student things from the depth of the bag.

He stopped only after fully emptying the textile victim of his enthusiastic search. “Well, there’s no contact data. Looks like you’re f***ed. Bring it to class, I guess. Oh, and the lightbulb in the bathroom is out. You reach up there, so it’s your duty. Bye.”

“Wait! Jihoon, you have to help me.”

“Do I?”

“We’re roommates.”

“And?”

“And I get things for you off the top shelves at the grocery store?”

“And?”

“And… you help me because you’re a nice person? Maybe?”

“Aaaand?”

Mingyu sighed and resigned to his fate. “And I’ll let you ride my back around the dorm again.”

“Deal. His name is Jeon Wonwoo. Perhaps he has social media. Look him up.”

“How did you- ?”

Jihoon’s smile belonged on the face of a demon, not on someone resembling a cuddly pixie in an oversized sweater. “He writes his name on all his books and folders. You could have just looked.”

But then the small boy wrinkled his forehead and added “Jeon Wonwoo… Hm, did you delete the picture?”

“No.”

“Is it any good? Let me see.”

Mingyu pulled out his phone and navigated to the terrible mistake that showed Beanie’s face in all its glory. “He’s really pretty, isn’t he?”

“I don’t care. But you may care to know that I know him.”

“What?”

“He lives in this very dorm. Other side of the building. He’s in my music theory class. …What is it now? Please don’t have any more terrible ideas.”

“I only think… I can’t just show up and throw the bag at him. I should at least have, I dunno, something for a proper apology. Bake him a cake?”

“Can you bake?”

“No.”

“Bad idea then.”

“How do I apologize properly?”

“No idea, I never do that. Bake a really, really simple cake, maybe?”

Mingyu stood up and put the stuff back into Beanie’s bag, contemplating his options. Since the boy lived so close by he could probably afford to get something nice for him before showing up. How long could that take anyway?

Wonwoo… what a lovely name. He couldn’t ruin this any further. He had to make the greatest apology ever and then, maybe, he would get a second chance. Since he had monitored the boy so well through his superhuman caffeine resistance experiment.

“Jihoonie? Do you have Wonwoo’s number?”

“Yes, but I’m not giving it to you. You would just find a way to embarrass yourself.”

“Alright but at least text him that his bag is safe and sound. And ask if he has mine.”

“Should I tell him to come over or are you going there?”

“No, not yet. I want to do something first. How long does baking a cake take? Five minutes? A day?”

“We don’t have any ingredients. I’ll text on the way to the store.”

“You’re coming with?”

Jihoon jumped in Mingyu’s back, his knees tugged into the tall boy’s sides. In turn, Mingyu’s knees almost gave in.

“Of course I’m coming with. I can’t leave you alone today, or you’ll burn down the store or something. Now, move, manservant!”