AN: Hello all! I powered through all my work for this week and managed to finish this chapter before I head to bed! This note is also for me, because I don't want to end up having to go back to search through it, so I'm going to list majors of the characters:

Mingyu: Engineering; Minghao: Philosophy, Psychology, Dance; Soonyoung: Dance; Hansol: Telecommunications; Seungkwan: Medicine; Joshua: Psychology; Jihoon/Seokmin: Vocal/Music

Other than that: I hope you enjoy this chapter! As always, I love comments and questions and I appreciate all the subscriptions and comments! It definitely keeps me going strong...! For those interested, I have a Seventeen twitter @17HlGHLlGHT (each capital "i" is an "l" so you'd find me easier by copy/paste. (Plus I'll be adding this to my profile as well!) Thank you!

The hands of the clock are broken. That’s the only answer that Mingyu can find. His phone is also broken. The person sitting to his right’s phone is also broken. The person to his left’s phone? Broken as well. There was no way that time suddenly decided to move this slow. He had managed to get through his first class, opening his messenger to tell everyone about Joshua. He stared at the screen, reading through the messages between Seungkwan, Seokmin, and Hansol that discussed whether Seokmin should save money and move in with Hansol or if he should just grin and bear it in his dorm. There is the issue of Jihoon that is brought up by Jihoon himself as apparently they have an agreement to live together whenever possible.

He puts his phone up, heading to his next class.

It’s better if he keeps this to himself for now. Without Joshua’s quiet voice echoing in his mind, he needs some part of him to cling to that isn’t broken or anxious. The shy yet endearing look on Joshua’s face when they were setting up for lunch was soft and open. It was hard to believe that those dark thoughts about life being hopeless came from him. Their meeting plays over and over in his mind while he’s in class. He turns over every millisecond in his head until he’s sure that every frame is burnt into his memory. This is something that he never wants to let go of ever. Joshua’s hand at the back of his arm, the fluttering in his stomach, the loss of breath he experienced: all of these composed a moment so intricately important to Mingyu. Just one single moment was all that they were, but Mingyu wanted to live in them.

He couldn’t imagine how lunch would be. After getting Joshua’s number from Hansol after the break (with no interrogation save for a few questions), he sets it up that they will meet at a nearby cafe. It makes him feel light. His stomach rolls as though he’s about to get on a roller coaster; it lurches as though time is going too fast.

A risky peek towards the clock lets Mingyu know that the hands are forever trapped at two-thirty. He pulls his phone out to glance at the time and resists the urge to toss the handheld device across the room. Restlessly, he shifts in his seat. When the professor asks him to read, he tells him, conveniently, he has suddenly forgotten how to read. The letters swim around in his head, but he cannot attach them together to form words. His English course is perhaps the worst for him to daydream in, but he gives today’s lesson up so that he can prep his mind for lunch, for Joshua. The look that his professor gives him is disappointed and agitated, but Mingyu pretends not to notice. It’s easier that way.

When the clock finally starts to move again, he leaves before the professor is even finished announcing homework. Later, he’ll regret that, especially when he’ll have to reach out to his professor or his fellows students to ask them what the homework was.

--

The air is too thin still. He’s been living on another planet ever since he’s departed from Mingyu. A planet where the air is too thin and the sun is too close. He’s not quite sure what it’s like on Venus, if the air is actually thinner or thicker, but he’s sure that this sensation that he’s experiencing is the closest anyone could get to living on Venus without any protective gear. His breaths are shallow, nervous. He gets to his class early and his professor keeps him up-to-date with where they are in the book and the lecture. Joshua nods as though he speaks Korean, but in reality, he’s forgotten the entire language. Now, he only speaks the native, human language of Venus: instant, spontaneous death. “Thank you,” he replies in English. His professor blinks dumbly in response. Joshua decides that taking a seat would be the best option for him now.

Class goes by too fast. It’s a flurry of movement, of changing seats and group work where Joshua sits there quietly, fumbling in Korean. He gives out the ideas that he can manage, but his eyes cannot stop drifting to the clock. It’s only when his group member snorts, catching him as he is once again looking towards the clock, that he snaps out of it for a moment. His eyes travel to evaluate him. He’s got curly platinum blond hair and gentle eyes, but the words he’s spilled during class are anything but gentle. He cuts straight to the point.

“What’s up? You have something going on after class?” He raises an eyebrow, leaning back in his seat. “Meeting your soulmate?” When he says it, it sounds like the worst excuse for not paying attention. Joshua’s eyes widen as he realizes what he’s doing to his group. Expending their time by paying no attention and contributing nothing to their conversations. The schooling that they all have paid for is being squandered because, as the group member rightly suggest, he’s going to meet his soulmate two hours after class.

“I’m sorry,” he apologies sincerely, bowing his head. The group members exchange a look while he’s bowed and the same member speaks again.

“Yeah? Just pay attention. I’m not asking for an apology,” he’s appreciative of the apology, but he quickly hides his expression in an attempt to maintain the cool facade that he had put up when he had originally poked fun at Joshua. He seems to be flustered now that Joshua has actually apologized for his behavior. “We all have our off days,” he says, voice almost a whisper, then pulls out his phone.

Joshua nods, gaze landing upon the worksheet that had been passed out. It was supposed to help outline the discussions in the groups as the answers to the questions were discovered. Even as he reads the questions and instructions, he thinks about Mingyu. Paying attention just doesn’t work for him as the group member on his phone places it down and waves a hand in front of Joshua’ face. “Hey?” He asks, pursing his lips. His expression is pulled, seemingly confused. “Are you okay…? You are really out of it…”

“Sorry,” Joshua apologizes again. “You were right…”

Hand falling to the desk, his classmate his head like a confused puppy. “Huh?”

“I’m meeting up with my soulmate after this. We… just ran into each onto before this class, so we didn’t really have any time to talk. To top it off, I just arrived last night too, so this is all happening really quickly.” With his admittance comes his classmate’s silence. No response is given to him as he waits for even a nod, but when he realizes that he may not be getting any type of response, he lifts his eyebrows, muttering an okay? before returning to his work.

The man seemingly snaps out of his stupor, hitting his hand off of Joshua’s desk in excitement. When Joshua looks back at him, his eyes glimmer with amusement and happiness. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize it when you introduced yourself…” He shakes his head. “Your soulmate is my roommate, Mingyu? Damn, he’s going to get his kicked later for not being the first to tell me about this…” He shakes his head, tilting it up to stare at the ceiling. Joshua can only look on in minor amazement on how fate seemed to be having its own way with him today. First Hansol and Seungkwan, then Mingyu, and now… “I’m Minghao,” he gives Joshua a softer smile. It seems to suit him more than his previous expressions of confusion and annoyance.

“Joshua,” he says needlessly. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Minghao nods. “It’s nice to meet you too,” then he laughs. “Although, watching you pine over the clock and knowing it’s for my nerd of a roommate... “ More laughter falls from him as he leans even further back into his seat. He disrupts those seated around him as he shakes his head, unable to hold back his laughter. “It’s endearing, at least. I’m glad you are excited to be able to get to know him. He deserves that.”

Dumbfoundedly, Joshua simply nods in response.

--

“How’s that timeline coming?” Seungkwan asks, perching himself on the edge of Hansol’s seat in the library. There’s no way that both of them would ever be able to sit on the chair together, but Hansol moves over to give Seungkwan as much room as he can. In response, Seungkwan drapes an arm over Hansol. “...or the vocal library if that’s what you are working on now.”

He laughs, shaking his head. “That library is way too extensive. I open it and lose all motivation to search through the files, but I feel bad since Jihoon put it together for me.” He chews on his lip, opening the cloud system to show Seungkwan just how many people there apparently were who had at least tried out for the singing program. “See? I even set parameters, so this isn’t even all of them.”

Seungkwan whistles low as a reply, then glances towards Hansol trying to gauge his expression. It has been easy now that they are close. In the year that they have spent together, they have become quick friends, so Seungkwan picks up on Hansol’s discomfort effortlessly. “What is it?” He asks, hand dropping to rub gentle circles against his back. Touches like these are normal between them, but Seungkwan usually is the tough love type when it comes to issues. Apparently, today he’s feeling generous with his kindness.

Hansol shakes his head. “It’s stupid. I’ve just been… hyper-focused on this since… Mingyu asked for Joshua’s number. I think that might be the answer to that mystery.” He closes his eyes, leaning back into Seungkwan’s touch.

“Oh,” Seungkwan knits his eyebrows together. “Good for them.”

“Yeah, good for them,” He echoes. “Meanwhile, I forgot the voice of my soulmate. How does a person do that? How?” From somewhere deep within Hansol, there’s a crash. His insides all fall down upon one another. With his insides scrambled, he feels both nauseous and uneasy. His homework had been put aside for this, and now it seems as though everything in his life would have to be put aside for this or he may never locate his soulmate. Seokmin and Jihoon had informed all of them that meeting one’s soulmate reduced all the stress and after a few days, reduced the starry-eyed newness as well. Jihoon had been able refocus on his priorities within two days after meeting Seokmin. Seokmin had been able to return to normal after a similar time period. In their early-to-mid-twenties, humans just seemed to conjure a general anxiety for locating their soulmate.

With Hansol’s so close to him, his anxiety is increased until he’s hardly able to focus on anything that isn’t trying to find his soulmate. If he doesn’t, then he would end up alone. All of his other friends were scrambling about quickly in need to find their soulmate, if necessary. The biological function that drove them to search and travel to meet up with them were in high gear for most people who have had the misfortune of missing out on meeting with their soulmate or who couldn’t travel to meet up with them because they were across the world.

A realization washes upon Hansol in waves. “Hey…?” He whispers, turning to look at Seungkwan. His face is mere inches from his own. Hansol swallows hard, feeling nervous.

“Hm?” Seungkwan yawns, not turning to peer at Hansol, instead he’s scrolling through the library of vocals that Hansol had pulled up. The names of various students littered on the files. When Hansol does not respond, Seungkwan finally turns to look at them. “What is it, Hansol?”

He looks so unsure. As soon as the question leaves his lips, he knows that he doesn’t want to be asking Seungkwan about this. It feels like an invasion of privacy and he realizes that he doesn’t want to know the answer anyways once it is out there. “Why haven’t you been searching for your soulmate?” Hansol asks, gazing up from behind his eyelashes. For once,he’s coy towards Seungkwan. Painfully shy, he waits.

Seungkwan looks at him as if the answer is obvious.

“He’s in a different country, I’m pretty sure. I don’t have the funds to travel to find him right now. Clearly, putting it off is for the best. Men don’t reproduce, so there’s none of that need within me, so I’d just prefer to get through school for now. When I’m a rich pharmacist or doctor, then I can relax and find him,” he shrugs. “You can defeat the voice in your head if you use reason. The trouble with you is that reason is telling you that for the next two years, your soulmate might be on campus with you, so after that, it’s all up in the air.”

Hansol exhales slowly, pursing his lips. “Yeah…”

Seungkwan continues to rub his back. “You’ll find him. We can listen to the vocals together.”

--

Mingyu sees Minghao before he sees Joshua.

Annoyance claws up his spine as he flushes. “I thought you couldn’t make lunch at three,” Mingyu says, walking towards Minghao who is toting a quiet Joshua. “I thought you had class until eight…?” He continues, stopping in front of them as they settle themselves in front of the cafe. Minghao puffs his cheeks out, looking more adorable than threatening when he pokes a finger into Mingyu’s chest.

“You didn’t tell me,” he pouts.

Mingyu swats his finger away gently. “I was going to later, I thought you were busy!”

Quietly, Joshua joins, “I’m in Minghao’s psychology of motivation course.”

The look that Mingyu gives him is incredulous, but it makes Joshua smile. His whole face lights up as he giggles, putting a hand in front of his mouth to cover the sound up. Minghao, beside him, groans uncomfortably, but dramatically.

“Jeonghan always told me it was like an after- glow without the , usually.” Joshua says. “It wears off after a couple days.”

Minghao rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I’ve never witnessed the meeting of soulmate’s, but your friend sounds just about damn right.” He blushes, thinking on what Joshua had said. “Well, I really do have class, so I’m headed off. I just thought I’d walk with him and scare you into thinking I was going to crash your date.”

Mingyu’s about to tell him that it isn’t a date, but he doesn’t know the validity of that statement and before he can say anything, Joshua is bidding him farewell, waving after him excitedly. Admittedly, when he sees him like this, he cannot believe that the voice he heard regularly and this boy are the same people. Perhaps it is just the meeting that is making him feel somewhat positively now, but either way, it makes Mingyu feel odd. it reinforces the fact that Mingyu doesn’t know a thing about this Joshua. He knows a thing about a Joshua that is buried away under layers and layers of professionalism, of jokes, of smiles and pleasantries.

He holds the door open for Mingyu. “Let’s go, I’m starved.”

It begins.

Mingyu’s hands shake as he hides them underneath the table. Joshua smiles like the sun; it blinds him and makes him feel jittery as he sits across from him, sipping a latte that he doesn’t really care for since he can make anything that this place has to offer better with more taste. This place had never let him down before with the taste of food, but now everything is tasteless. He wonders if he burnt his tongue. He wonders if something’s wrong with him. Joshua seems to be enjoying his food as he takes careful bites from it. When he drinks, it’s poised and graceful. Mingyu has never felt more out of his element and this isn’t even his first date with someone.

“Tell me something,” Mingyu sputters, nearly knocking over his uncapped coffee onto the table.

“Like what?” He asks, tilting his head. There’s only curiosity in his gaze. A playful smile tugs on his lips. “I could tell you the sky is blue and the grass is green.”

He clarifies, “About yourself.”

The smile is still on his face, but it transforms and softens. “About me? I’m from California. I can speak pretty fluently in five languages. I can play the guitar.” A shrug.

Mingyu cuts him off before he can continue. “You can sing.”

A faint blush overtakes his features. “I can sorta sing…” He half-heartedly agrees, ducking his head so that he can hide as he takes a sip from his drink. “That’s embarrassing, I never even thought about how you might have heard me singing inside my head while I did things. Songs get stuck in my head easily.”

“You usually sang when i was drifting off to sleep. It was nice. You shouldn’t be embarrassed when you have a voice like that,” he says. It’s an honest proclamation. He turns a deeper shade of red as he realizes how he is doting on Joshua already. There’s something awkward in the air that makes their compliments weigh heavy, but there is also too much happiness. Mingyu cannot stop himself from smiling. When he catches himself doing it, he tries to wipe the smile from his face, but Joshua will catch it and smile. It’s cheesy. They are so happy to be sitting across from each other. They cannot look away from one another. This was the dream. This is always the dream of any pair of soulmates, platonic or not. Happiness was what everyone got out of the relationship.

Minghao could have even been happy with his soulmate, in a way. She probably would have understood that he didn’t want to be with her and after they met, they would have departed easily because that’s what soulmates did for one another. More than anyone, they understood the needs of their partners. Mingyu understood that Joshua needed for them to be happy now.

That’s why he doesn’t mention those darker thoughts.

“What about you?” Joshua sits up in his seat excitedly, leaning across the table as he cups his drink with his hands. “Tell me something about you.”

Pursing his lips, Mingyu gives him a similar answer to his own. The exchange of simple things felt better than divulging into all of their secrets. They knew each other’s secrets, but what they didn’t know… that was the easy stuff. The stuff that Mingyu could recite about Minghao, Seungkwan, Hansol. The stuff that Joshua knew about Jeonghan. These were the things that they were yet to uncover about one another. “I’m left-handed,” he says. “I like to clean and cook a lot, it’s important. A lot of people don’t realize that it needs to be done, but I think that isn’t important to both notice that it needs to be done and to take care of it. I’m lucky that Minghao cleans too, or I’d be constantly trying to keep the dorms clean. Actually… when I lived with Hansol and Soonyoung, I had to clean up a lot after them. Hansol apparently still tries to invite me over to cook and help out since he’s rented that big place out to people…”

He stops, realizing how stupid he had just sounded.

Joshua bites down on his lip, unable to hide his smile. He’s still leaning forward in interest. Mingyu thinks he must enjoy boring stories because he’s listening in rapt, active attention to him talk about cleaning. If he could rewind time, he would. He would tell Joshua about some other activity that he liked to engage in. Some activity that didn’t make him sound like a housewife or a maid. He felt like an utter fool in that moment, but Joshua was looking at him as though he was anything but that. He seemed genuinely interested.

If he could still hear Joshua’s thoughts, then he would know that he thought of him as nothing but endearing when he told his mini-story.

“Do you help Hansol when he asks you?” He asks, placing his chin in one of his hands and sticking a finger into the froth of his coffee. Mingyu can’t help but to watch as he it off of his finger. Immediately, he snaps out of it though.

He nods. “Sometimes. Sometimes I’m busy with schoolwork, but I like to help him when I can.”

Joshua follows, nodding. “That’s nice of you…”

Lunch turns out well. They depart because Mingyu has one more class for the day.

Before they separate, Joshua squeezes Mingyu’s upper arm with a smile on his face. “You know...  I wouldn’t be too upset if you were less busy and you could help Hansol out a little more.” The look on his face is innocent, but his voice is anything but. He wonders if this is how Joshua was. On the outside everything was so different than the inside. Mingyu’s stomach feels as light as the pressure on his arm. He wants to say and do so many different things, but he’s just met Joshua. He doesn’t want to misinterpret what he means. When Joshua’s expression changes for the most brief moment, he catches him pout, gently bite down on his bottom lip, then release it. His face is back to normal and his touch is gone. “I’ll be seeing you!” He turns back around and waves at Mingyu with both of his hands.

“Yeah,” Mingyu’s mouth is dry. He doesn’t know how he’s lived so long without him.

--

“Gross,” Minghao wrinkles his nose. “I don’t want to hear anymore gushy from you, Mingyu. it is unsettling and weird. I haven’t heard you talk about this sort of thing in years. The last date you went on was… about three years ago.” He shakes his head, goes back to sorting through his cds. “I have to leave though. Dance practice and all that.” He jazz hands as he backs up out of the room. Mingyu buries his face into his pillow, ignoring the soft ding of his phone.

--

“You are rushing things already, aren’t you?” Jeonghan says, voice crackling mechanically. “Sorry, this microphone is . I’ll be sure to go out with Seungcheol and get a new one before we call again… but that’s not why I called. It’s not like you to flirt with someone so soon into knowing them. I understand that it’ll always be different with soulmates, but this is unusual for you, Joshua. I think that you should keep it slow. He’s not just going to up and leave, or reject you for some reason. I think he would have done it already if he was going to do that. I think what’s important is that you focus on building the relationship up. Ideally, you two are strangers.”

Joshua sighs.

Jeonghan interjects, “Even if you see it differently.”

The noise that slips from Joshua’s mouth is of irritation, but he has to concede that Jeonghan is making sense. “The only problem is… is that you’ve known your soulmate since you’ve heard his voice. You literally have always lived in the same place. You have a lifetime to be together and to take your time. I’ve already wasted ten years without him.” Another sigh; this time it is of resignation. “I’m not rushing it. I won’t. He’s just making me happy. It’s been awhile…”

“...since you’ve been happy, I know.” Jeonghan is quiet when he speaks, looking away from the camera. He pushes his hair back while he tries to think of what Joshua might need to hear. He wishes that he could just be with him through this, through everything. “Listen, it’s good that he makes you happy. If you take it slow, then the happiness is just bound to last even longer…”

What Joshua didn’t need to hear came next. “He knows about your troubles and about your depression. You two might not bring it up, but it’ll just build up and fester. You have to take care of it so that you two can be strong together.” A gentle smile is given, but Joshua cannot but to look helplessly at his best friend.

It’s true that Mingyu knew more than Joshua wishes he did, but he couldn’t know for sure what Mingyu had listened to. Mingyu could have been asleep or preoccupied while he was feeling down on himself. While he moped and gave up his happiness, Mingyu could have been feeling grateful for what he had. Mingyu always had had happier thoughts: thoughts that Joshua didn’t think he deserved to get a peek at because of how sweet they were… how optimistic. Joshua considered himself optimistic too, but things started to get hard when he had to step into the role of adult. Things had been hard while he was working on stepping up to the role.

“Okay,” he nods, looking away from the screen yet again.

Jeonghan smiles. It’s a slow process.

--

Mingyu: I can’t hear you anymore, but now I can talk to you.

Mingyu: It doesn’t seem real.

Mingyu: But what I wanted to say was goodnight. I look forward to seeing you again.

Mingyu: I never imagined that a stranger could make me so happy.

Joshua smiles down at his screen, feeling tears well up behind his eyes. It’s simple, but he misses home and misses his family. Even after just meeting Mingyu, he’s already stepped in to fill an impossible role: to fill an impossible hole in his heart. He drops his phone to his lap as he holds the palms of his hands against his eyes, trying to barricade his tears before they poured.

It doesn’t work.

With teary eyes, he picks his phone back up.

Joshua: We aren’t strangers. I know you. You were always there.