1. Jae Bum is everything Jin Young isn’t;

Sharp lines and muscular frames where Jin Young is soft curves, quiet and brooding when Jin Young is warm and gentle and friendly. Jae Bum is tall and broad and sturdy and dwarfs the other’s slighter frame whenever they stand shoulder to shoulder, yet Jin Young has never felt homelier embraced in the elder’s arms, enveloped by his musky, earthy scent.

If Jae Bum is an oasis, Jin Young will be drowning in his senses.

Everything about Jae Bum speaks silent volumes of his tenacity and boldness; he’s never one afraid to experiment and delve into the unknown. From his hairstyles to his fashion sense and choice of accessories, Im Jae Bum is Im Jae Bum from head to toe, through and through, never compromising himself for anything else.

Jae Bum is brave and spontaneous and unrestrained. He comes up with the wildest ideas on a whim and is quick to pitch them to Jin Young to get the younger onboard his plans. It’s how Jin Young often finds himself out in an open field or the roof of an abandoned building stargazing at midnight, in a jeep cruising down a coastal highway a mere week before finals or running hand in hand with the elder, haversacks on their backs and hastily printed itenaries in their hands, through the airport terminals thirty minutes before their flight the exact same day they end their papers. Being with Jae Bum is a daily adventure of the unknown that Jin Young can’t wait to embark on the moment he opens his eyes in the morning.

Jin Young has seen Jae Bum go through nearly half the colours on the rainbow spectrum since they’ve known each other; bleached blonde – with streaks of bright neon hair chalk – when they first met, silvery grey when Jae Bum mustered the courage to ask him out back in the last year of high school, jet black when they finally got together (Jackson will never let them live down exactly how hesitant and ball-less – as the rambunctious blonde puts it – they were taking the last step), and then an array of coppery browns and reds with each passing relationship milestone. Jae Bum, synonymous to change, is always trying out something new.

Jin Young on the other hand likes to take the more conservative route – nothing lighter than dark chestnut browns – for fear of damaging his hair. He doesn’t think he can pull off the eccentric colours Jae Bum does with natural ease, anyway. (Besides, he’d also read somewhere online that intensive hair dyeing can cause brain damage and has been slightly paranoid ever since, despite Jae Bum and his hairdresser’s repeated reassurances.)

His fashion choices, while he wouldn’t consider them conservative, weren’t entirely avant-garde either. He’d like to think of himself as someone who is fashion forward, always keeping in touch with the latest trends and modifying them to fit his physique and create his own unique look.

Pepi, he likes to call his style. Chic, clean-cut, presentable, just like how he likes to organise himself.

(Jae Bum, however, cannot be neat if his life depended on it.)

A simple request from the younger to pack up his side of the bedroom always leads to a nagging tirade that either ends in a truce or Jin Young waving the white flag and personally cleaning up after his disorganised boyfriend. Kind of like a slave but a happy one, and Jin Young wouldn’t want it any other way.

2. Whenever they walk around campus they never fail to make heads turn;

Necks strain and tongues wag as the undergraduates stop in their tracks and peer over one another to watch the coveted Campus Couple go by – long, confident strides, warm, tender gazes that shine of love and trust and cold hands intertwined and tucked into a coat pocket.

Their school is a sprawled mix of traditional architecture and contemporary low-rise buildings tucked away in the fringes of the metropolitan city – their playground. There was not one person unfamiliar with the high-flying pair; Im Jae Bum and Park Jin Young, the former specialising in post-modern film arts and an integral member of the university’s street dance crew while the latter, a Business Administration major and resident student choreographer for the musical department.

Despite rarely ever uploading pictures of themselves together, they’ve gained a significant mutual following on social media, Instagram feeds bare but tagged sections filled with trails of photographs documenting their track across campus ground. The fact that they’re from different faculties does little to deter the young high schoolers and college mates alike that loiter around common hallways unnecessarily long in hopes to catch the It Couple in action.

Im Jae Bum and Park Jin Young, always, their names never mentioned one without the other.

 (It definitely didn’t help that they, as a favour owed to a friend, appeared in a seven-page spread for the monthly school editorial, sky rocketing their popularity to an all-time high.)

Even sitting in a corner of a cosy on-campus café is a work of art – Jin Young and Jae Bum sitting across from each other, the latter nursing a steaming cup of camomile tea in his hand as he quietly peruses through his lecture materials, while the younger takes occasional sips of his iced latte as he works on his latest assignment. Whenever Jin Young gets stumped by a particularly difficult concept, brows furrowing in confusion, Jae Bum will set his cup down in its holder and lean across the table to offer help.

Their foreheads lean close as Jae Bum patiently explains the general idea behind those blasted macroeconomics policies. They speak through hushed tones and gentle meetings of the eyes, and for each question Jin Young gets correct he receives a loving peck on the temple and a pat on the head. He beams, immediately throwing himself into the next question like a puppy yearning for its master’s praise, while Jae Bum watches on fondly and runs the pad of his thumb over a smooth cheek as though Jin Young’s the most precious being that has ever been entrusted into his care.

It’s a beautiful sight to watch two people who are irrevocably in love interact, to see the love spilling out when they cast tender gazes at each other as though the other person is all that they need and see and breathe. It’s already been over three years, but it still never fails to surprise Jin Young and Jae Bum how much more they’re continuing to fall each passing day.

3. They contrast each other completely yet compliment one another perfectly;

Jae Bum is almost never seen without a pair of prescription-less frames resting on the bridge of his nose, while Jin Young has a hoard of headgear ranging from labelled snapbacks to fedoras and fisherman hats enough to make Michael Jackson proud. They’re two hobbies, dirty pleasures, that they regularly indulge themselves in.

“If people don’t know better, they’re going to think that I’m the b-boy instead.” Jin Young huffs as he stares forlornly into his overflowing wardrobe, top shelves positively exploding with his hat collection. He either needs more closet space or to start donating some to the local charity, neither of which he is willing to do. “You always goad me into buying new ones, claiming that I look good in them, when in actual fact you just want to steal them to wear for your competitions.”

“I would never lie to you, not about how good you really look in a newsboy cap.” Jae Bum sidles up to the younger boy, arms snaking around a slim waist, as he presses a light kiss to the brunette’s temple. “It is also a lot more organised to keep all of the hats in one place.” He jerks his head towards the matching set of doors on the other side of the room. “It’s not like you don’t have half your cardigans sitting in my wardrobe.”

Jin Young shrugs. “You look amazing in autumn wear.” He states matter-of-factly. His mind is already spinning at a thousand revolutions per second, reminiscing how absolutely domestic the elder looked in that merino wool scarf, tortoiseshell spectacle frames and navy military coat combination – good times. Jae Bum pecks him on the cheek. I know.

“We need bigger living space,” Jin Young finally voices out the same thought lingering in both their minds after a lapse of silence, as he carefully lays his hands over the elder’s, squeezing into the spaces between Jae Bum’s own. “We’re terrible hoarders.”

Jae Bum hums as he considers the options. “So let’s move off-campus next semester.” He suggests, comfortably hooking his chin over the younger’s shoulder. “We’ll find an apartment near school so commuting to and fro won’t be a nightmare. Yugyeom can probably hook us up with something, given his wide connections.”

“Oh yes,” Jin Young chimes in delight, momentarily pushing the initial dilemma out of his mind, “A neat little place with two bedrooms – one for us and the other as a spare for guests and our extra closets – and a spacious living room and a nice kitchen that isn’t simply a ramyeon heating area. I can already imagine it, a place to call our own!” He turns around without wriggling out of Jae Bum’s grasp, cheeks ruddy with anticipation, and bops the elder on the nose. “You absolutely have to let me be in charge of decoration.”

“Definitely, two bedrooms and a living room and a kitchen,” Jae Bum repeats, his voice merry with laughter. “And yes, I will keep my inartistic nose out of the décor.”

“Good,” Jin Young beams, brighter than a thousand suns. He gather’s Jae Bum’s face in his hands and presses a full kiss to his lips. As he pulls away, he can’t help but get drawn into the way his cardigan is pressed against Jae Bum’s sweater; meek dove grey against black and white, the perfect mediator between polarised ends of the colour spectrum.

Just like the two of them. No matter how different they are as individuals, they can always find common ground between them.

Jin Young can’t wait to move off campus next semester, he can’t wait to finally graduate from school once and for all and put his burdensome degree to good use, and he can’t wait to officially step into adulthood with Jae Bum by his side. The future ahead is bright and promising, and everything is worth looking forward to.

Like an us against the world feeling, Jin Young reckons. Jae Bum is his knight in shining armour, his saviour and his nirvana; his lover, his best friend and his partner in crime rolled into one. When his hand is in Jae Bum’s he is invincible, ready to take on the world.

Im Jae Bum and Park Jin Young, never one without the other.