Seungkwan stood in front of the dorm room that was supposedly Hansol's, going by the text he got earlier. But it wasn't the possibility of it not being Hansol's actual dorm that made Seungkwan feel hesitant to knock. It was the fact that he was going into some guy's place that he barely knew. Especially at this time at night, which was around midnight, Seungkwan noted as he quickly checked the time on his phone.

 

More seconds passed, adding up to a full five minutes Seungkwan had just been standing there at the door. His arm was starting to become sore from toting the bag of soup groceries on it.

 

Maybe he'd get lucky because maybe Hansol already fell asleep waiting for him. Yeah, that could have happened! It had been thirty minutes since Seungkwan had even agreed to come, and Hansol was sick. It's only reasonable that a sick person sleep at reasonable times. Those thoughts were all it took for Seungkwan to gain the confidence he needed.

 

Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself before lifting his fist and knocking to the beat of the song inside his head - which so happened to be Dumb Dumb. Seungkwan's a er for Red Velvet and will shamelessly admit it. 

 

By the time the second round of 'dumb dumbs', knocking version, came around, he finally heard some footsteps from the other side of the door, followed by it being swung open. Seungkwan's hand froze mid air as he came face to face with Hansol, and his mouth dropped. 

 

One would think that Seungkwan would be taking note of whether or not Hansol looked sick, but no. Seungkwan was completely awestruck by the fact that Hansol's hair was a completely new style. It wasn't the nasty middle part that Seungkwan resented so much anymore. Now it was obviously unwashed black hair, that looked like a normal college guy haircut! 

 

Hansol seemed to be amused by Seungkwan's shocked reaction, so he waved his hand in front of Seungkwan's face to bring him back to his senses.

 

"Hair????" was all Seungkwan said, frantically pointing at the subject of his current distress. Hansol looked upwards to see what Seungkwan was pointing at, realizing he can't see his own hair before focusing back on Seungkwan and laughing.

 

"I'm sick, and all you care about is my hair?" Hansol asked in amusement, grinning as he reached for the bag of groceries hanging on Seungkwan's arm. He was a bit worried that Seungkwan would drop it at any moment so he might've as well saved his future midnight dinner. 

 

Seungkwan wasn't even phased as the bag was stripped from him. He was way too focused and in need of answers for that. Instead of a reply, he crossed his arms over his chest, sporting a look that read 'I demand answers'.

 

Hansol didn't pick up on the meaning of Seungkwan's reaction, instead choosing to turn and head back inside his dorm, beckoning for Seungkwan to follow. He moved towards with kitchen with Seungkwan in tow, who had closed the door behind him (because he's a well-mannered young man), and set the groceries down on the table. "It's a good thing you actually bought groceries. I have absolutely no food."

 

Seungkwan rolled his eyes and moved past Hansol to open the fridge's door. "You can't be serio-". Seungkwan suddenly halted mid sentence as he got a good look at the inside of Hansol's fridge.

 

One slice of bread. Wheat bread, of all things. Not even in a bag. In the middle of the top shelf. That's it.

 

"Okay." Seungkwan put one hand on his hip as he used the other to pinch the bridge of his nose. He let out a deep, strained sigh. "Hansol, one. Bread doesn't go in the fridge. Two. What the ?"

 

Hansol just smiled sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders while unpacking all the food from the grocery bag and placing them on the table. "I told 'ya."

 

Another sigh, and Seungkwan finally shut the door. He turned to Hansol with a reprimanding glare. "Based off the state of your fridge, I'm not surprised that you can't even take care of your health either."

 

"Oh, that's okay. It's not like I'm sick anymore, anyways."

 

Seungkwan made his way over to the table, checking to make sure all the ingredients for the soup were there. It'd be a hassle if he had to go back to get more at this time of ni- Wait. What?

 

"What do you mean you're not sick anymore?" He whipped his head around to glare at Hansol once more, now that his words from before had finally set in. "Then why am I even here?"

 

Hansol pursed his lips, looking around for a moment as if the answer to all Seungkwan's questions would magically appear somewhere in the room. "Uh.... I was hungry?" Seungkwan threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

 

Well, he was already here and bought all these damn groceries, so he might as well cook the guy some soup. Seungkwan was kind of feeling hungry as well, anyways. It's not really a win-win situation for Seungkwan, but it's better than nothing. 

 

He let out a sigh of defeat and continued to shuffle through the ingredients causing Hansol to give a small, happy applause. "Yay, soup!"

 

Seungkwan ignored Hansol's cheer, keeping his eyes focused on the food in front of him as he spoke. "You like chicken noodle soup? I would've got stuff for something different if I knew you weren't actually sick." Hansol visibly gulped when he caught Seungkwan's small glare coming from the corner of his eyes as he said the last words of his sentence. 

 

Laughing nervously, Hansol nodded. "Oops- but yeah. I do."

 

Then, suddenly, Hansol whipped out matching aprons that were hanging on a nearby cabinet door handle and tossed one towards Seungkwan. Seungkwan was concerned as to why Hansol had aprons, but only a slice of bread in the fridge. What a strange guy.

 

He held up the apron, so he could give it a look over. There were the words 'I cook' written in large print on it. When he looked over at Hansol, who was tying his own apron around his waist, Seungkwan could clearly see the words 'I clean' written on his. It took a minute for Seungkwan to add two and two to realize the situation at hand.

 

"Are these couple aprons?!" Seungkwan half-screeched, causing Hansol to jump in surprise.

 

The latter tilted his head to the side, not understanding what all the fuss was about. "Yeah?"

 

Seungkwan set the apron down and facepalmed, dragging his hand down his face. He seriously could believe this. Am I being pranked right now? was all Seungkwan could think at that moment. 

 

Deciding it'd be better to just not argue with Hansol over some dumb concept such as couple aprons, Seungkwan let out yet another sigh and picked the apron up again. However, before he could start putting the garment on, Hansol had moved to Seungkwan's side, taking the apron from his grasp in the progress. 

 

"Here. Lemme put this on for you."

 

Hansol unfolded the apron, holding the front part against Seungkwan's torso then swinging around behind him so that he could tie the strings around Seungkwan's waist. The whole time it was happening, Seungkwan just stood there frozen. Seriously. When Hansol wasn't spewing ty pick up lines, he sure was smooth. If Seungkwan didn't have his guard up, then he was sure he would've swooned at the gesture. 

 

And then it happened.

 

"Damn. Is your dad a baker 'cause you got a nice set of buns."

 

Seungkwan immediately stepped away from Hansol, turning around so quickly that he almost gave himself whiplash. Seungkwan's face showed how utterly unimpressed he was with Hansol's pick up line. "That's it. I'm poisoning the soup."

 

Holding his hands up in defense, and waving them a bit, Hansol thought about how to fix the situation. "I didn't mean-"

 

And then it happened (part two).

 

Hansol's stomach growled. Loud. And then Seungkwan busted into laughter.

 

Well, that works too, Hansol thought. 

 

"I want to say that you're an idiot, but since you're handsome- it's just endearing," Seungkwan said after laughing for a few seconds, barely able to get himself together to say anything at all.

 

Hansol didn't know what to say at that. Somehow, he made Seungkwan say something to him that wasn't an insult, and he felt sort of proud with himself. He opened his mouth to say something but Seungkwan cut him off. "I know you have your apron on, fully read to clean, but I can cook by myself."

 

Simply nodding, Hansol decided it was best to go watch TV or something to wrap his head around how this whole situation was progressing. He headed into the living room and plopped himself down on the couch. From this spot, he had a view of Seungkwan in the kitchen - somewhat - and he could watch reruns of Law and Order at his pleasure while said cook was making him soup. Man, he was living the life tonight. 

 

As he switched the television on and picked the channel he aimed for (aka whatever Law and Order plays on), he caught a glimpse of Seungkwan putting something into a small bag and setting it down on a food scale that Hansol didn't even know he had. 

 

It hadn't even been a minute since Hansol left the kitchen, but that didn't stop him from storming back into it and placing himself right next to Seungkwan's side, watching the weighing process happen. 

 

Seungkwan glanced at Hansol before continuing to weight the chicken pieces he had prepped in a baggie just a moment ago. When he realized that Hansol wasn't leaving, he hummed in confusion. "Uh, can I help you?" Hansol was blocking his way to the stove. He kinda needed that. 

 

"I ain't ever seen anyone put chicken in a bag and weigh it before. That is ridiculous."

 

"Hansol, the recipe says-" 

 

"But why the bag-"

 

"The recipe-"

 

"I don't want the chicken in the ba-"

 

"Choi Hansol," Seungkwan deadpanned, thoroughly shutting Hansol up. "I don't even know what the you're rambling about right now. Just go watch television like a good boy before I kick your out of your own kitchen."

 

At that, Hansol gave a small nod and retreated out of the kitchen, theoretical tail tucked between his legs after being scolded like that. 

 

Forty minutes passed like that. Seungkwan cooking the promised soup in the kitchen, and Hansol staying in the living (like a good boy) watching his show and not bothering Seungkwan anymore while he was cooking. 

 

Once Seungkwan had finished, he came into the living room, shuffling his feet across the floor loudly, while carrying the pot of soup with some pot holders that Hansol also didn't know he had. He honestly didn't know he had the pot either, but he supposes it's a good thing he did. 

 

Seungkwan set the pot of soup down on the table that was in front of the couch and tossed the pot holders off to the side, so he could scurry back into the kitchen to fetch some bowls. Along with the bowls, Seungkwan brought some small containers of instant rice that he had bought along with the ingredients for the soup. He set all the stuff down on the table then took a seat on the floor. 

 

Hansol slid off the couch to take the spot next to Seungkwan, saying a quick thanks for the food, before he leaned forward to lift up the lid that was covering the pot. Seungkwan tried to stop him, but ended up watching with amusement as Hansol was hit with a flood of steam coming out of the pot, causing the latter to tear up a bit from the heat. 

 

To be honest, even without the steam, Hansol probably would've teared up because the soup was so damn beautiful. He hadn't had a cooked meal since he moved to Korea. The main reason being that neither him nor his sister could cook worth a . 

 

"Woah, it looks good," Hansol complimented, reaching for a bowl and scooping out some of the soup into it. He wafted in the smell a bit before chowing down, not caring about the fact that the soup had not cooled down one bit yet. He made a gleeful hum of approval after the first bite. It would be well worth the scorched tongue later, Hansol thinks.

 

Seungkwan gave a warm smile as he decided to watch Hansol enjoy his food for just a bit longer before he took some for himself. Until now, Seungkwan had only ever been able to cook for Mingyu and Wonwoo, since they were his closest friends, but he didn't feel as happy hearing their compliments as he did when Hansol did it.

 

He sort of guesses the reason is because the other two's opinions don't really matter. Mingyu eats just about anything, and Wonwoo's compliments only included a half assed smile. So the new reaction was something Seungkwan appreciated. It also helped that Seungkwan had one of those housewife mindsets, so seeing someone appreciate his cooking was something he secretly yearned for. 

 

"You're not eating?" 

 

Seungkwan briefly shook his head as he snapped out of his thoughts at Hansol's question. He'd been thinking to himself longer than he had thought based off Hansol's concerned look directed at him. 

 

He brushed it off with a light laugh and grabbed a bowl to fill it up with the soup. Hansol was already finished with the first bowl and was now enjoy a quick bite of rice before filling up his own bowl once again. 

 

"Ya' know. You're pretty good at cooking. If I was capable of owning more than just a slice of bread, I'd hire you to cook for me." Hansol took a loud slurp of the soup after speaking, as if what he said was no big deal. But the words were making Seungkwan feel all giddy.

 

"I can if you want me to."

 

Damn his housewife mindset - and his lack of ability to think before speaking.

 

Hansol flashed Seungkwan a genuine grin. "Gnarly."

 

Seungkwan supposed he could dismiss that lame word since he was presented with the opportunity to cook for someone else. Besides, the 'someone else' apparently really needed it. It was obvious to Seungkwan that Hansol didn't have any sense of how to take care of himself. 

 

It wasn't just the slice of bread in the fridge, but also because Seungkwan fully noticed the large pile of, what he assumed was, dirty laundry unskillfully hidden in the corner of the room. 

 

In other words, Junhui was right. Hansol really is pure and needed to be protected. Protected from the catastrophe that is his capability (or lack of) to live alone.

 

-

 

Both had soon finished their dinner - if it could even be called dinner since it was nearing 2 in the morning - and became absorbed in what was playing on the television. 

 

Originally, it had been the classic Law and Order reruns that Hansol was watching before, but after much protest, Seungkwan earned himself the remote and the power to choose what they'd watch. 

 

Seungkwan had somehow wound up logging into his Hulu account and playing Your Name. Hansol hadn't seen it, so Seungkwan argued that it was only 'the best animated movie 2016's ever seen'. Needless to say, Hansol isn't going to win in an type of battle with Seungkwan, so he just gave in. 

 

They were only halfway through the movie, and Seungkwan was so immersed that he didn't notice that Hansol had directed his attention towards watching Seungkwan instead. Hansol was watching, eyes showing that he had the intention of saying something, but he stayed quiet for just a while longer.

 

Finally, he decided to say what was on his mind, "Hey, Seungkwan. It's a bit late, so-" He paused once Seungkwan tore his attention away from the movie to see what Hansol had to say. With the eye contact happening, Hansol was internally doubling back on what he was going to say, but decided to go ahead. "You can just stay here for the rest of the night if you want."

 

Seungkwan tapped his phone that had been sitting on the floor next to him, gasping quite loudly when he saw what time it was. "Oh ! You're right, it's late!" He hurried to stand up after grabbing his phone, quickly shedding the apron that he'd forgotten to take of earlier and placing it on the couch. 

 

Hansol opened his mouth, with the intent to try and repeat his offer again to see if Seungkwan would stay, but he didn't have the chance as Seungkwan rushed over to the door, turning to rub his together as an apology. "I hate to leave and make you wash all the dishes, but I gotta go. See you next time!" 

 

With that, Seungkwan disappeared out the front door so fast that Hansol didn't have the time to realize he had just basically struck out. He heaved a sigh as he paused the movie on the screen, slowly heaving himself off the ground and collecting the forgotten remains of their dinner together. He hoped Seungkwan would stay true to his words, and that there would be a next time.

 

--

 

a/n: *wipes sweat off brow* this was supposed to be a lot shorter but twice's knock knock gave me too much inspiration. pls enjoy.