jeonghan is waiting. he's waiting at the bench on campus grounds, watching birds fly by and perch themselves on the oak tree branch shading him from the merciless sun. he's waiting as he reads his current novel, occasionally putting it down onto his lap to look around and feeling disappointed at the sight he’s met with, or lack thereof. he's been waiting for a while now, and every second that passes by without event shakes up his calm resolve even more. 

jeonghan is waiting. waiting for hong jisoo, who is very late.

to say that jeonghan is nervous is a complete understatement. he's been anxious for a week now, ever since jisoo asked him out in the library, flustered and stuttering, cheeks ablaze from the embarrassment, but now that the moment was finally here, he’s nearing the edge. 

the fact that jisoo is running late isn't really helping the situation either. is he really being stood up on the first date itself? as much as jeonghan would hate to admit so early, but he really did like jisoo a whole lot, maybe a little more than he should. and he'd hoped that if they finally went on a date, jeonghan could establish his feelings for him as valid and true, not some petty crush one would have for an extremely good-looking guy you'd typically find on campus. 

jeonghan never thought he’d come to have feelings for a shy american boy with cat-like eyes that twinkled when he smiled. his ideal type has always been those who seemed like they could take down an entire army in one single sweep for him. he had no idea he was wrong all his life until he met jisoo on his first day of university.

they aren't in the same field, let alone the same course, but somehow jeonghan’s unfortunate navigation skills had led him to the engineering building instead of the liberal arts tower that day. the sky started to pour as he was finding his way out of that side of the campus, and he was forced to take shelter at the entrance of the business building. 

not long after jeonghan stood there, he saw a boy hurriedly running towards the shed. he was already half-soaked when he made it out of the rain. the boy huffed, wearing a mildly frustrated expression as he was wiping the rainwater off his arms.

“need to be somewhere?” jeonghan had asked the boy, who was in the midst of flinging water off his backpack. 

jeonghan didn't know what had gotten into him that day to so uncharacteristically go out of his way to start a conversation with a complete stranger who may or may not have been in the best mood. but he did anyway. 

jisoo had looked up with a surprised look and blinked a few times, as if he was trying to process whatever jeonghan had said. “y-yeah, actually,” he stammered, still kind of flustered. “you?” 

jeonghan nodded. “orientation,” he said with an ironic smile. 

“god, me too,” jisoo said and went back to wiping the rainwater off his bag. “you're in engineering too?” 

“nah, i’m in liberal arts.” 

“i see,” jisoo had replied, his tone still a little apprehensive. “then, why are you on this side of campus?”

“i got lost,” jeonghan said and added a laugh for good measure.

jisoo had politely laughed along and let the conversation drift off into a semi-awkward silence.

jeonghan had tried to sneak a few glances at jisoo when the latter was preoccupied with drying his bag (he seemed to be very concerned with it). he was cute with his eyebrows knitted and even though his hair was in a state of disarray, locks of damp hair plastered against his forehead, jeonghan thought he was good-looking. his eyes looked kind and welcoming, and it gave jeonghan a sense of ease and comfort, and an illusion that perhaps making friends with this boy would be an uncomplicated thing.

neither of them tried talking to each other after that. they just stood soundlessly under the shed, watching the rainstorm crash onto the ground in pitter patters from the grey clouds. the wind picked up and it blew against jeonghan’s damp skin, making him shiver from the cold. and he didn’t need a mirror to know that his hair was a complete wreck. 

the rain continued to pour and odds were that jeonghan was going to be stuck in the business building until the showers decided to die down. according to the campus guide on his phone (which he should’ve used half an hour ago), the tower was on the other side of where he was, which was a long way. he never had a strong affinity for rainy weather but after that day, his dislike for this particular weather had evolved into somewhat of an animosity.

“the engineering building isn’t a long way from here, you know,” jeonghan piped up.

“i’m not the best runner,” jisoo had bashfully said with a friendly smile.

“i think your orientation is worth getting wet in the rain for.” 

the boy didn’t speak immediately after that, and jeonghan was afraid that his words came off too brash and maybe he took it the wrong way.

“i guess i’ll be getting wet then,” jisoo said, sliding his arms into the loops of his backpack. “where is the direction of the building again?”

jeonghan pointed it to him. jisoo said his thanks and took off into the rain. 

after that day’s events, jeonghan went about his university life without giving the boy much thought. he didn’t see him around campus or anything coincidental like that. it wasn’t like he had any reason to anyway - their buildings were on opposite sides of the campus. 

it wasn’t until jeonghan’s first exam season rolled around that he saw the boy again. he had been at the library doing late-night cramming when he heard the seat in front of him scrape noisily against the ground. looking up, he was met with familiar eyes and an even more familiar backpack (it was dry this time). 

“it’s you,” the boy said, eyes round from surprise.

“you remember me.”

“w-well, yeah,” he stuttered, caught off-guard. “it’s your hair.”

jeonghan took it light-heartedly as a compliment. “thanks,” he said, smiling. “you gonna sit or what?” 

“right,” he said and proceeded to take his seat across the table from jeonghan. “i’m jisoo, by the way.”

jeonghan didn’t know why a grin had so easily stretched across his face when he heard the boy’s name for the first time. “jeonghan,” he simply introduced himself. 

jisoo returned jeonghan’s smile with a slight upward tug of his lips before ping his bag to pull out his books onto the table. 

jeonghan brought his attention back to his own textbook and involuntarily let out a small, quiet sigh at all the literature notes he had to memorize in less than nine hours. silently, the two of them did their own studying for the next couple of hours. jeonghan would sometimes catch himself stealing quick glances at the engineering student who looked, quite frankly, unbelievably handsome under the soft, dim light of the library. 

jeonghan was the first to leave their little unofficial study group. he quietly packed up his things scattered across his side of the table as to not disturb the other who looked completely immersed in his calculus worksheets. 

“good luck for your tests,” jeonghan softly said, getting up from his seat. 

jisoo looked up, eyelids heavy from fatigue. “you too. and, uh, thanks for letting me sit here with you.”

“no problem.”

jeonghan returned to the same spot the next day but a little later this time. he was surprised to see that jisoo was seated in the exact same spot as the night before, hunched over sheets of paper spread out messily across the table. jeonghan contemplated leaving to find another unoccupied table, but his legs brought him over to jisoo before he could protest.

“you don't mind, right?” jeonghan asked, pulling out the chair. 

jisoo jumped slightly at his voice, looking up at jeonghan with startled eyes. the latter couldn't help but chuckle at his caught in the headlights expression. 

“y-yeah,” jisoo stuttered. “no! i mean no, i don't mind,” he quickly corrected himself, clearing his throat after. 

that was the first instant jeonghan thought jisoo was straight up adorable when he was stumbling on his own words. 

like the day before, the both of them did their own studying without much talking. jeonghan did his cramming in the company the other boy offered. the mute ambience of the library; studying in another’s silent presence made jeonghan wonder if jisoo would be here again the next day. 

he was. 

and the day after that. and the day after that. 

by the second week, they've met more times in the library to not progress beyond simple ‘can i sit?’s and ‘how was your test?s. sometimes small talk would ensue when one of them decided on a break. they’d talk about mundane things, complain about their hefty courseworks, and other anecdotes university students usually share for a short while before returning to their studies. 

jeonghan realized the other boy fumbled on his words a lot if he asked a question about him out of the blue. he smiled a lot but not necessarily always showing teeth. jeonghan didn't show it but sometimes jisoo’s smile would momentarily make jeonghan forget his words too. 

jeonghan first started noticing his own feelings for jisoo when his exams ended and they haven't seen each other in the library for three days, which was a long time considering they had spent every night together for the past three weeks. jeonghan began wondering what the other was doing while he was eating at the cafeteria or when he was spacing out during one of his lectures. he often thought about jisoo before he went to sleep at night, which was a definite sign that he was beginning to view jisoo as more than just an acquaintance. 

jeonghan was in denial at first. he didn't want to acknowledge the fact that he had so easily fallen for a guy he barely knew for a month over cliche late night study dates in the library. he tried convincing himself that it was nothing but good looks that had charmed him and that this trivial infatuation would pass soon enough. 

but jeonghan was wrong again. coincidence (or maybe something a little more uncanny) had brought them back to the library on the same day, at the same time, to the same table a few weeks later. and maybe then, the both of them knew that they were meant to meet again. 

and so they let things slowly unravel through hushed conversations in the library, lingering eye contact, and shoulder shoving when the other cracks a joke. jeonghan doesn't find himself having to grasp at words to keep the conversation going; it just did. 

one time, jisoo bought jeonghan a cup of iced coffee because the latter had mentioned of an important 10-page essay he had to write on a classic he absolutely despised. even worse, he had to do it in less than 48 hours because he kept procrastinating. 

jeonghan was at a lost for words; he couldn't believe jisoo had cared enough to listen to his rants and had gone out of his way to buy him non-ty coffee. (the ones they sold at the cafeteria were diluted and gave no effect of caffeine.) it was a simple gesture but it had a strange grounding effect on jeonghan he couldn’t really shake off.

the next day, jeonghan came to their usual table with a bag of five doughnuts of different toppings because he didn't know which ones jisoo preferred. to jeonghan’s relief, jisoo had told him he was a er for powdered sugar doughnuts and both of them scarfed down all five in one sitting. needless to say, the librarian was furious at the mess they had made but they were let off the hook because jisoo had a way with words. 

jeonghan had exceeded the point of no return and had stopped denying his own feelings for jisoo. he knew it’d be a hopeless feat because jisoo was endlessly fascinating and ceaselessly charming. he always had the right words for the right time and jeonghan can feel himself falling deeper and deeper, faster and faster. 

and so jeonghan waited for jisoo to make the first move because he was a coward and hated the sound of his voice confessing to the man of his dreams over and over again in his head. it sounded weak and nothing like what jisoo would want to hear. he let doubt reside in him for the longest time. he questioned if jisoo really did have feelings for him or if he was a charity case in the form of a lonely english literature major. 

and then finally, finally, jisoo asked him the one question that sounded even better coming from his lips. jeonghan had said yes, like the many times he had said in his head. they had hastily decided on a cliche date plan because they were university students and often times university students were low on funds and movie tickets and a meal at a burger joint seemed like cheap thrills. 

jeonghan had been running on euphoria ever since that day in the library but now as he's sitting on the very bench he's been sitting on for the past twenty minutes, the same doubt starts eating up at him. it's an unnerving situation and jeonghan’s growing more impatient and losing more courage every passing second. 

another five minutes have passed and jeonghan decides that it's time to return to his dorm room so that he could shrivel up into a ball of regret and watch reruns of law and order for the rest of the day. he gets up from the bench and takes his first step towards the dormitories. he’s about to put his other foot in front of the other when he hears loud footsteps halting to a stop and his name being called right after. 

said boy turns around and finds jisoo trying to catch his breath; exhaling and inhaling heavily. there are beads of sweat on his forehead and his backpack is hanging dangerously off-leveled on his shoulders and jeonghan can only sigh in relief because jisoo showed up. he feels the euphoria rushing back up to him all at once and he knows the heat isn’t the reason behind his light-headedness.

maybe one day, if the universe allows it, everything would fall effortlessly into place, the stars would align at fate’s calling, and jeonghan would come to love this boy. 

“sorry i’m late,” jisoo finally breathes out, panting still and hunching over his knees. 

jeonghan lets out a chuckle because he’s forgiven; forgiven for being late, forgiven for making him wait out under the sun, and forgiven for every mistake he might make. because jisoo ran all the way here when he could've saved himself from getting sweaty and tired, because he cared if jeonghan waited long under the relentless heat. and that's all that matters. 

jisoo grins at him just then. he grins so wide his eyes curve into crescent moons in the most perfect way possible. 

and the first piece falls into place. 

-

a/n: thank you so much for reading until the end! comments will be greatly appreciated ❤️❤️❤️ (i’m a very lonely person) hit me up at http://curiouscat.me/antiyjh