Yixing was making coffee, jumping when he stumbled into the kitchen the next morning.

“Morning?” Yixing asked, looking at Jongdae with a slightly amused expression. He was by no means a morning person, but Yixing handed him the first cup of coffee to be safe. Jongdae mumbled a thank you, taking a sip of the dark liquid and grimacing as it slid down his throat.

His roommate munched on his toast as he watched Jongdae drag himself slowly around the apartment, his mug tightly in between his hands and eyes only half-open. Yixing snorted after he ran into his door, then grumbling and opening and closing it again. 

Fifteen minutes later, his bedroom door opened again and Jongdae was back out, looking wide awake and completely ready.

“Morning!” Jongdae grinned at his roommate, almost making the Chinese man choke on the last bit of his toast at the sudden 180 that his roommate had accomplished in such a short amount of time. Jongdae raised an eyebrow at him, “Come on now, we have to go get the wi-fi password!” 

That seemed to spark Yixing’s motors, because soon the medical student was up and tripping over his sweatpants, gulping down his own coffee and brushing his hair. Ten minutes later, the two were out the door and climbing the stairs (at Yixing’s insistence, it was only one flight!) towards the complex’s techie’s apartment.

“What?” Jongdae screeched as they stared at the door. Apparently, the techie was out at the moment,according to the piece of paper taped to the door, which Yixing read aloud. 

“‘Out, might be back… Who knows?’” Yixing’s eyebrows raised at the statement, “‘Leave your name and number and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible?’ What a strange sign…”

Jongdae grumbled, heading back to the staircase. “Does he think a door is really a proper answering machine? Who even is this guy?” He went down the stairs, leaving Yixing behind and looking thoroughly confused. A few minutes later, Jongdae came through the staircase’s door again, this time with his bag and a pen in one hand. He kept unintelligibly grumbling as he scribbled down his name, cell, and apartment number just in case. 

“Come on, Yixing,” He huffed, shoving the pen in his pocket as he straightened up, “I remember seeing a coffee shop on the corner. They’ll have decent wi-fi and free coffee. Nothing like drinkable motivation to get our work done.”

Two hours had since past since the pair had entered the Ediya Coffee shop, holing themselves up in a corner table and spreading out their work, Yixing pouring over his textbooks and notes and Jongdae angrily typing away, occasionally stopping to slurp at his iced Americano. Yixing had excused himself to the bathroom a few minutes ago, and now that he was on a roll in editing mode, he might actually finish today's work early.

"Hey you!" He tore away his eyes from the screen, a smile already on his face when he heard her voice. Yongsun was as bright and beautiful as ever, her latte in hand as she made her way over. He saved his work and stood up, greeting his girlfriend with a hug and peck, "Hey you." He greeted back, "What brings you all the way over here?" 

She tucked her hair behind her ear, following him and taking the seat beside him, "Byulyi took the afternoon classes from me, so I decided to surprise you after getting coffee. I'm glad I stopped here rather than the one in the subway station!" Yongsun ran a preschool with her three best friends, usually working the afternoons and daycare for parents who wanted to pick up their kids, but had to wait until they got off of work. "That's nice of her. I'm afraid you won't be highly entertained at the moment, though." He motioned to his and Yixing's work, "We're hard at work while waiting for our techie to get back in."

"Trouble with wi-fi already?" A small frown worked its way onto her face, "But you only just moved in. Isn't that why you moved in the first place?" 

Jongdae took another sip of his coffee, "Yes, but it's not a problem with the wi-fi, Yixing's usually at school so he doesn't need to use the wi-fi in the apartment. I have to get the password from the tech guy but he's out right now. So we came here to wait it out." Yongsun seemed to accept this reasoning, leaning back in her chair. Yixing appeared again, wiping his hands on his jeans, only to be caught off guard at Yongsun's cheerful 'hello!'. Jongdae laughed and Yixing sank into his seat shyly.

"Yixing, this is my girlfriend, Yongsun." He introduced, watching Yongsun shake his roommate's hand and settle back into their seats. "So, Yixing," She attempted, "You're a student? What for?" At this, Yixing lit up and went into a detailed explanation about his dreams and goals for his degree and future practice. Yongsun listened to every word, Jongdae smiling to himself as he went back to work so he wouldn't lose any time before the 5 o'clock deadline. Yongsun was always making new friends, it was hard for her to not like or get along with anyone she met, which is what drew Jongdae to her in the first place. 

"I'm so glad you're rooming with Jongdae, Yixing!" Yongsun made the remark, pulling him back to the present. "He's very kind. You're very lucky to have him." Yixing smiled, seeming much mroe comfortable in Yongsun's presence. Jongdae scoffed. "I think i'm lucky to have her. Yongsun's totally out of my league!" He claimed, wrapping an arm around her, kissing her cheek fondly as she laughed.

"You always say that." She rolled her eyes, smiling. Jongdae smiled back, "And I always mean it." Yixing coughed, ruining the romantic moment. "Sorry, just, uhm, right here..." Yixing was sheepish.

Jongdae understood though. Not everyone was as lucky as they were, waiting around for someone to metaphorically and literally bring color into their life. A few minutes later, Yongsun decided to take her leave. "Not that I don't want to spend time with you, but we have our date night coming up anyways so I'll have you then too. Call me tonight, okay?" She made a ringing gesture, shouldering her purse and leaving the shop after kissing Jongdae goodbye. 

"So..." Yixing brought the attention back to the table, "How long have you two been dating?" 

Jongdae mentally counted, "Almost a year. We met when I was helping my older sister pick up my niece from daycare. We hit it off and the rest is as they say, history." He smiled. Yixing nodded, "So you see color?"

"Of course! Do you...?"

Yixing shook his head, "No, not yet. Joonmyun does, though. Any of your friends besides you?" Jongdae shook his head, "No, none yet. They're too busy with their careers, if they shared the same elevator with their soulmate they wouldn't have realized it." Yixing laughed, "Ah, they're those types, huh?"

"They should take a note from you, I mean, you work and you still found your soulmate." Yixing pointed out. Jongdae swallowed. He didn't usually come out and tell people he was born seeing color, it was personal and only his close friends knew. "Something like that, yeah." He forced out. One day, he'd explain to Yixing, but he'd only lived with the Chinese man for two days. He wasn't going to spill his life story just because they lived together. Yixing gave him a dimpled smile and slipped back into reading, taking notes once more. Jongdae slipped back into work as well, replying to a comment Baekhyun had made about the newest edits. They'd get there eventually, he knew.

He was currently in a heated argument with Baekhyun about emojis (because really, how can you properly convey flipping a table with simply your written words? It just couldn’t be done) and Minseok occasionally jumping in reminding them of editing work that was due the next day, to which the other two had ignored and continued their argument. Due tomorrow? Do tomorrow, in Jongdae’s opinion, feeling satisfied with his last comeback to Baekhyun as he clicked send.

Baekhyun’s typing bubble popped up at the same time that his phone went off, buzzing insistently against his thigh. Jongdae pulled the device out of his pocket, clicking ‘answer’ without even looking at the number. 

He didn’t even get a word in before a voice started, “Come to apartment 42c. We have your wi-fi password and if you bring coffee, we might be able to trade off.”

“What is this, a verbal ransom note?” Jongdae snorted after pulling himself together. He hadn’t been prepared for this techie to be some sort of weirdo.

The other line was silent before admitting, “No, I just want coffee.” And then hanging up, leaving Jongdae confused and Yixing looking over in curiosity. 

“They didn’t even tell me what kind of coffee they wanted.” Jongdae rolled his eyes, getting up and walking over to the line anyways, eyeing the board as he tried to figure out what kind of coffee this techie wanted.

In the end, Jongdae thought that you couldn’t go wrong with an iced Americano and was jogging up the steps by himself. Yixing had a study group to hurry off to, apologizing and wishing him luck as he ran out towards the subway’s entrance as they parted at the coffee shop. 

Jongdae didn’t take any mind of the wish, however, he was too excited and practically buzzing as he climbed up the steps. Maybe it was because of the extreme excess of coffee currently coursing through his bloodstream, but he was pretty sure it was because once he got ahold of the wi-fi password, he could become the anti-social hermit he had always dreamed of being. Not moving from bed, still doing your job, and getting paid while not moving an inch from aforementioned bed was so close to being a reality for Kim Jongdae, and he wasn’t about to let it slip through his fingers. 

He reached the door to find a different sign taped to it this time, reading, ‘Back, I guess. Knock and I might answer. It’ll depend on if I can hear you. I’m kinda deaf.’

He knocked, jumping from one foot to the other, counting the seconds until this techie would open the door, take the coffee, and give him his password. It’d be quick and they’d both be able to move on with their lives.

No one answered. Jongdae poorly suppressed an annoyed screech, knocking again and counting some more. Still no answer. Was this person actually deaf? He assumed not, but just in case...

“Coffee is here and so is the person who’d like their wi-fi password!” Jongdae all but yelled, probably gaining some attention from the nearby tenants, but he was sure that this was called for. This was for his job.

A rustle from behind him gained his attention, and he looked away as the door opened in front of him. An elderly lady had come out to grab her newspaper on the door. She caught his stare and smiled, waving at him as she cupped the paper under her arm. Jongdae smiled, completely unaware to the person in front of him and waved back at the older woman. It could possibly be Mrs. Boo, after all --

“Hold on, sorry, my--Holy .” That caught his attention, and he swung his head back around to see what caused such language to be directed at him --

Suddenly, everything was black and white. The only thing that stood out was the petite girl with glasses who was just gaping at him, jaw dropped, eyes wide, looking totally caught off guard, and honestly, so was Jongdae. 

He wasn’t known for being a coward. Jongdae didn’t believe in ghosts or the supernatural, and haunted houses he was more worried about the safety of the workers rather than being terrified of the special effects -- but this was new territory for him.

So for the first time in his 23 years, he gave into his fears.

He ran.