They become close during fall.

The weeks that follow after their meeting are filled with Hyunwoo being bombarded with pleads to bring Hyungwon over to be introduced because he had told his circle that the sophomore hadn't really found a solid group of friends inside the campus, always jumping from one circle to another. He had told Hyungwon about the matter, and added that he should to do it only if he wanted to; much to Hyunwoo's surprise, the younger male agreed more enthusiastically than initially expected.  

Hyungwon fit in with their group quite perfectly, quiet as he was the first few times. They all fell for his charms easily, the slight baritone of his voice pulling them into his friendly web. Hyungwon already knew Hoseok’s soulmate, Changkyun. They're apparently classmates for one or two classes every Wednesday to Friday, which made it easier the next few times Hyungwon sat with their group, louder and more open. It didn't take too long before Hyungwon has practically made a seat, and was almost never not with them.  

"Hyung! " The sophomore whines, dropping to his knees in front of Hyunwoo, making the older male laugh and tug at his arm to make him stand again. "I'm so done with this place! We can't get through; Jesus fu—"

"We have fifteen minutes left. Let's not waste it, okay?" Hyungwon stands and nods, seeing as he has no other choice. Hyunwoo smiles and ignores the hand that innocently rests on his shoulder as he takes the lead. Their eyes continue to wander around so they can get out, and so that he can regain his slightly fractured composure without using this escape room as a lame excuse.

They're currently on their term break, and they've all decided to spend their first day off at an amusement park located at the end of the city. Much to Kihyun and Jooheon's dismay, majority had agreed to waste their first few hours in this Escape Room attraction. Naturally, the couples had insisted on staying together, which ultimately lead him to pair with his roommate. They were supposed to be a trio, but Jooheon never liked Escape Rooms especially since this one is horror themed. Jooheon's probably outside either roaming around, or munching on food.

Bang!

Hyunwoo's heart leaps, but the soft Oh god he mutters gets washed out by Hyungwon's loud, wavering scream. "Seriously hyung, I'm going to die!"

Hyunwoo bites his lips to try and suppress the laughter forming in his throat; he finds that he really doesn't have to when all it takes for him to choke on air, for his stomach to do Olympic worthy flips is Hyungwon clinging to his back—plastering his lanky self against him—while they continue to look around the room for clues.

The staff occasionally bangs on the doors they've already passed, and it makes the younger cling to him tighter. Hyunwoo's afraid of what Hyungwon might think if he notices how fast his heart is beating, so without much thought, he stops breathing for a moment, as if it’d help calm his heart.  

“Hyung…” Hyunwoo’s eyes gravitate toward a bloody desk with a microscope on top, stacks of papers on each side, gruesome sketches of people taped onto the walls, and books scattered by the desk’s feet. Hyungwon raises his head from where it’s been hiding low behind his shoulder to squint and scan the desk for anything that has potential in getting them out of this last room.

His heart almost stops when he notices how close the sophomore is, face right next to his. He become deaf for a few seconds when Hyungwon screams, "Ah! The books! Open the books!" right next to his ear. Nonetheless, Hyunwoo does as he’s told and jogs to the desk to search the books, and grins when he opens one with numbers that correspond to certain letters and colours painted around the last door.

ing finally!

The moment they get out, they hear cameras shuttering and clicking. Hoseok practically cooes at them while Changkyun whistles encouragingly. "Hah, so cute!"

Hyunwoo raises a confused and curious brow, and Hyungwon tilts his head. Changkyun laughs at them, then wraps his arms lovingly around Hoseok's before cocking his head at them. The pair both look down in unison, then look at each other and shrug while laughing.

Hyunwoo feels some sort of loss when he feels that he has to let go, and when he does let go.

He watches Hyungwon and Changkyun merrily make their way to Jooheon who raises the plastic filled with snacks he bought, Hoseok replacing Hyungwon’s previous spot beside him. “I saw you both through the screen.” His friend says with a smirk playing on his lips before jogging over to Jooheon as well, cackling when he sees Hyunwoo’s eyebrows knit together.

They claim a table where they're surrounded by food booths and shade, save for Changkyun and Hoseok who runs off again to play more games. Minhyuk and Kihyun goes off to take a look around the Aquarium nearby, leaving the three—two of them alone. Jooheon is pretty much absent, quietly smiling at his phone while texting with someone. Hyunwoo relaxes in his seat, commending the sun for being bright, but not enough to burn, and for the breeze that’s been present ever since they arrived.

"Hyung, you don't have a soulmate?" Hyungwon asks him out of the blue, head rested on top of his crossed arms. Hyunwoo nods, poking the sophomore's exposed cheek and sticking his tongue out when the younger grumbles. "So you haven't dreamt..."

"Unfortunately." Is all Hyunwoo says about the matter. It's disappointing that he's already two years over the expected age to dream about one's soulmate, and yet here he is, preserving himself like an ancient fossil while wondering where the hell his soulmate is.

Being unable to dream about bits and pieces of what his soulmate might look like can only mean either of two things. One, perhaps his soulmate hasn't come of age? Or two,  his soulmate had died in some tragic way. He's been praying that it isn't the latter, and will be lying if he denied the fact that he cried about it once before while taking a shower.

"You're not the only one.” Hyungwon says under his breath, dramatically shifting his head so his face falls in the spaces of his crossed arms. “I wonder if mine is dead or something..." Hyunwoo shakes his head, patting the sophomore’s back gently.

"Don't say that." Hyungwon nods slowly and sits up, only to rest his head against Hyunwoo's shoulder. "They probably haven't come of age yet." He stiffens at the sudden change in position because when the younger moved, his arm didn’t get a chance to retract and is now resting over his shoulder. 

Don’t beat.

Don’t—

"Okay." Hyungwon whispers against his sweater.

He prays for his soulmate to come quick, because he doesn't know who his heart is going to start beating for anymore.

When they get back to their dorm hours later, they both lay themselves down on the bottom bunk to listen to the songs they bonded over while going home, and because Hyunwoo's too lazy to climb up. His eyelids are heavy and his eyes can't seem to focus, exhausted. He can’t even be bothered freak out about Hyungwon not freaking out over the fact that he took off his shirt before lying next to him.

Hyungwon's mouth is running, talking about something he can’t find in himself to process. Too tired. The younger's voice drowns out into nothing after a few minutes though, probably fell asleep himself. There’s mellow music playing from his laptop on top of Hyungwon's desk right next to their bed. He hears the sheets shift and feels something heavy, but sleep is keeping him from reacting to anything.

He finally shuts his eyes and falls.

It's snowing, and he’s freezing. It takes a few seconds for him to notice that there’s someone whispering words he somehow can't decipher. The person’s voice is a little muffled, but Hyunwoo hears himself laugh clear as day.

Why is he laughing?

At what?

With who?

When the person steps away, Hyunwoo sees a knit turtleneck. It's tawny brown, with a giant picture of a koi fish in the middle. The collar is folded in half, probably too long for their neck.

The person is making hand gestures that make a fond smile spread across his lips, because he sees that the person keeps trying to grip on to the edge of the sleeves to keep it from falling. When they put their arms down, the sleeves bunch up over his hands with only the tips of his fingers showing. How cute.

Hyunwoo concludes that he’s talking to a man, based from the slightly deep muffled voice and his unkempt honey brown hair—It's also the only other part of him that isn't blurred out.

Hyunwoo looks around, and sees everything covered in white, save for a few browns and greens and blues—still blurred. Ah, right. It’s snowing. Everything starts to disappear one by one around him, and he feels a warm and soft hand against his cheek.

“It's nice... Right, h—” It's annoying, how the only time the person's voice isn't distorted by his dream is when everything is fading. The voice familiar, but why can’t he connect it to anyone?

Before he gets to say or ask anything, everything fades to black.

Hyunwoo grunts, annoyed by the continuous clicking that rouses him from his dreams, making him forget to be happy for a moment. He also hears faint whispers, and identifies an individual as Minhyuk when he hears, "I think he's waking up!" in a pitch higher than usual. He's happy or excited about something, Hyunwoo thinks. 

He rubs sleep off of his eyes with the heel of his hands, then plants his elbows back down onto the mattress so he could sit up—

"Mornin, love birds." Hoseok has this eating grin on his face that Hyunwoo wants to punch, but he's too sleepy. Maybe in a few minutes, if that grin is still present. But why is he grinning like that?

He falls back down when he feels a light weight on top of his body, and something tickling his chin. He stiffens the moment he realizes why his friends are smiling like that, and feels the person on top of him shift, murmuring unintelligible words. It's Hyungwon lying on top of him, arms wrapped around his torso with this head tucked under his chin and legs tangled with his.

When did they even shift positions?

With a soft whine the sophomore raises his head, eyes still shut, voice deep and slurring, "Minhyuk hyung?" He yawns and lays back down on Hyunwoo, stretching. Does he even know what—who he's lying on? The older male just closes his eyes, praying that his friends don't notice how awkward he's being. "What are you doing here?"

"We're here to invite you both for breakfast!"

Hyunwoo opens his eyes to glare at Changkyun and Kihyun who wiggle their eyebrows at him. "Is hyung up yet?" Hyungwon manages to garble out in his half asleep state, rubbing his cheek against Hyunwoo’s bare chest. Minhyuk bites his knuckles to keep himself from laughing loudly, shoulders bouncing subtly. Hyungwon is completely vulnerable and clueless at the moment, which the rest of his friends try not to laugh at, lips pulled in between their teeth.

"He's not exactly...up." Minhyuk says after schooling his facial muscles while pointing at him. Hyungwon props himself up, his elbows on either side of Hyunwoo's body, eyes following the direction the redhead is pointing at: him.

"...Hello."

Again with the English, are you kidding me?

J ust stop talking.

Hyungwon blinks sleepily a few times, and then squints his eyes before his expression morphs into that of understanding. "Ah, hyung...?" The sophomore rolls off, then moves to stand up before stretching again. "I didn't realize we fell asleep."

"Neither did I." Hyunwoo replies, sitting up and stretching as well. Why isn't he freaking out?

"Whatever. Get dressed and let's move. I'm starving!" Changkyun raises his arms, then gets tackled by Hoseok who peppers kisses all over his cheeks and neck. "Yah!"

Their university's territory is large enough to encourage people to use cars or bikes as a means of getting around. They also have a local mall within their campus, near the dorms. That's when it hits Hyunwoo, when Hoseok is poking at his hand wrapped around Hyungwon's. They're not even a couple, but he doesn't find it uncomfortable at all. When did I even do that? Hyungwon sticks his tongue out for the lack of better response, and he just laughs.

They've gotten so close that they even sit beside each other on instinct. Either that, or his friends just notice how close they've become and practically embedded it in their minds to leave a space beside Hyunwoo, just for Hyungwon. Sneaky ers. Also, he didn’t used to mind walking behind his friends around campus without anyone to hold himself. But ever since becoming close with his roommate, he finds himself feeling a little bitter when he sees Minhyuk coddling Kihyun, or whenever Hoseok smothers Changkyun with kisses when he catches the younger off guard.

He supposes it’s because Hyungwon tends to lean into him, and he finds himself not minding it at all these days. He welcomes it, and finds himself actually missing the subtle intimacy when the younger isn’t around to give it.

When their food comes, everyone at their table (and  possibly the neighboring table) stops whatever they’re doing because Minhyuk suddenly beams up and screams. He kisses Kihyun's forehead, and then squishes their cheeks together. "Guys! Jooheon found his soulmate!" He announces giddily, and their table breaks out to give a round of applause.

"Wow, congratulations to him. Who's the unlucky fella?" Kihyun says, a proud smile on his face. Minhyuk playfully nudges him, probably whispering about how mean he is.

Minhyuk starts typing to ask Jooheon about it. He's their one friend who doesn't attend the school they all go to, since he decided to study about music and went to a university solely for it. "He sent a picture! Aw he looks good—They look good!"

Minhyuk flips his phone so everyone could see. Jooheon is grinning widely at the camera, with a man riding his back who is smiling possibly even wider, his bunny teeth showing. The man has his hair dyed a platinum blonde, his bangs falling over his eyebrows, and he’s wearing a blue cap to match his blue jacket with fur outlining the hood. The phone vibrates, and Jooheon says the man's name is 'Jackson Wang'. The senior that he considered his first friend in the university, and he also happens to be the person he has rap battles with aside from Changkyun.

"'s cute, yo!" Changkyun exclaims, shoving a strip of bacon into his mouth. Their little celebration dies down as they start eating with a promise to continue once they meet up with Jooheon and hopefully, his soulmate.

Their conversation starts again after eating, satisfaction settling in their full stomachs. "Have you dreamt yet?" Minhyuk turns to ask Hyunwoo, and he nods his head while smiling sheepishly. He laughs when their table erupts in another series of clapping before they start interrogating. They know he’s been dying to get those dreams, so now when he finally gets one...

"I saw his hair," Hyunwoo fails to mention the turtleneck because suddenly, Hyungwon is all too quiet. "that's pretty much it."

"What color?"

"Honey brown." He steals a quick glance at Hyungwon who seems to be brooding over something. "It was kinda messy, but cute." Hyunwoo snaps his eyes back toward his friends, shrugging to show a little indifference—even though he's screaming and excited about it inside.

Minhyuk cheers loudly, while everyone else claps. He sees Hyungwon smiling tight lipped beside him, clapping less enthusiastically compared to his friends. Is it because he's jealous that he finally started having dreams? That he's finally found a solid group inside the campus and will be left alone again? As if on instinct, the moment everyone brings their hands down, he sneaks his over to squeeze Hyungwon's hand under the table. A form of comfort he didn't know he’d come to give.

"Congratulations, hyung." Whispers Hyungwon, expression unreadable for a moment before slipping his hand out of Hyunwoo’s hold. It's unusual for the younger to let go first, and unusual for him to be the one to initiate skinship. What is this? Something squeezes at Hyunwoo's heart painfully. What's happening?

Hyungwon starts to avoid him the following days, always finding excuses to not hang out with him whenever he’d come forward to ask. It didn’t bother Hyunwoo much at first, but when Hyungwon doesn’t come back to their dorm for a few days, he phones Changkyun. He’s tried calling the sophomore himself, but he doesn’t get any answer. He’s just worried.

Changkyun informs him that they have a huge project that needs to be done: their thesis, and that Hyungwon is pretty much camping out in the library with his groupmates. It’s a relief, but it’s weird sleeping in the dorm alone, since he usually talks to Hyungwon about anything and everything before sleeping.

The coming nights, he dreams of blue denim jeans and black slip-on shoes, but that’s it. He stops dreaming there. Days move and bleed into weeks, and still nothing. It upsets him, but he can't do anything but accept it. At least he already had the dream, so he's sure that he does have a soulmate waiting to be found.

In other news, when Hyungwon does come back, he’s normal and talking nonstop about what he and his groupmates had done. He’s happy that his roommate seems okay now, but that also means it’s time to play the stop-yourself-from-touching-him-too-affectionately game.

Whatever.

As long as they’re fine.