Seulrene AU where Irene has an 7AM class and Seulgi is the kid who sits next to her who literally pours a monster energy drink into her cup of coffee and says “I'm going to die” before drinking the whole thing. (Inspired by a tumblr post)

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Quite frankly, Irene has literally no idea what kind of magical mushrooms she was on when she decided to register for her university’s only 7AM class, but then again, here she is, at her desk, at 6:54 AM, absolutely suffering.

Hauling herself out of bed so early? Doable, she supposes. Keeping up that energy to actually last through the whole class? A bit less than that. It's gotten to the point where she’s actually been contemplating whether to bring a pillow, because she can't remember the last time she stayed awake for the full two hours, nor can she ever remember just what exactly the lesson is about (bless professor Seo for putting all of her PowerPoint presentations up on the class website every morning, honestly).

And, yet again, here she is, sitting at the back of the classroom, at what is now 6:55 AM, absolutely suffering.

Then again, so is the girl sitting in the seat to the right of her.

In all honesty, Irene thinks that this girl might actually be doing worse than her, and that's quite the feat in itself.

Irene stifles a yawn; looking at the drowsy girl beside her is not helping her own mental state in the slightest. Admittedly though, the sight is quite a cute one.

Her seat neighbor’s catlike eyes are practically closed this early in the morning, as sleepy-girl’s friend - Irene recognizes her as Wendy from the university’s renowned acapella group - stands next to her desk disapprovingly.

“Seulgi,” Wendy scolds lowly, arms crossed, and oh, so that's what her name is, “Why did you take this class if you're just going to be asleep the entire time?”

Through much effort, Seulgi pries open an eye, blinking blearily. She catches Irene’s stare briefly before Irene hastily looks away, and from the corner of Irene’s eye, she sees Seulgi smile tiredly in her direction before craning her head up to look at Wendy.

“You said you'd be lonely,” Seulgi says before her words disappear as she choose to not fight the incoming yawn. “And I'm like, your only friend so—”

“I do too have other friends!”

“Ah, but are they as cool as me?”

“No, of course not. No one else could possibly stoop down to your level. It's inhumane to be so uncool.”

Irene doesn't understand how Wendy can be so energetic in the morning. She fleeting wonders if she should try sitting next to the small girl. Perhaps Wendy’s energy would rub off on her? Judging by the neat notebook resting on Wendy’s desk a few rows ahead, she’s the studious type as well— not that Irene isn’t studious, because she is. It's just that she's not the best morning person. Maybe Irene could like, obtain Wendy’s good habits through osmosis or something.

Good god, what the hell am I even thinking about?

She’s brought out of her thoughts by Professor Seo entering the classroom, thermos in one hand, notebook and laptop in the other. The older woman addresses the students present, makes a joke about the class population being even smaller this week than the last, and turns away to plug an HDMI cable into her laptop, chuckling lowly to herself.

Irene swears that behind the kind exterior, Professor Seo is secretly an evil person who only chose this time slot to screw with all her students’ minds. Like, why else would a professor willingly wake up at such an ungodly hour to deal with a room full of barely-adults and put themselves through such misery?

On second thought, Irene chooses not to scour for an answer to that. Her imagination doesn't work correctly at this hour.

As per usual, five minutes into Professor Seo’s talk, and Irene’s attention is already waning. Pulling out her laptop, she sighs and opens a Word Document, pretending to type notes down when the reality is that she can't even hear a word that the professor is saying.

Her gaze begins to wander from one corner of the classroom to another, her eyes meandering lazily across the back of the heads of the room’s occupants, trying to keep herself awake for the next hour-and-a-half.

Finally, her gaze lands on Seulgi seated next to her.

The slightly taller girl fiddles with a coffee cup that Irene hadn't realized she’d brought in. Seulgi twists and turns the cup, frowning slightly after taking a sip, as if not satisfied with the taste. She pries the lid off the cup, and Irene watches steam rise into the air; still hot.

Suddenly, Seulgi catches Irene’s eye yet again, successfully spying the other girl’s staring. This time, Irene doesn't have the reflexes to look away so fast, and she gapes at the small smile that crosses Seulgi’s lips.

No words are exchanged as the two girls maintain eye contact, but for some reason, it doesn't feel too awkward? If anything, Irene’s expression transforms from mortified to contentedly amused. Seulgi is definitely of higher quality entertainment than whatever weird article Irene would have pulled up from Buzzfeed to keep herself busy.

And then it happens so flawlessly, so perfectly, that Irene doesn't even have time to comprehend what the hell is going on.

Seulgi’s motion of pulling out the tall Monster energy drink can from her bag is all too smooth; it must've been rehearsed at some point. What's even more scenic is the way that Seulgi opens the can without any hesitation, not flinching at the fshhh sound of carbon being released, not even sparing Professor Seo pacing around the front of the room a single glance.

Their eyes meet again, and then Irene’s back to gaping as she wordlessly watches Seulgi pour the entire Monster energy drink into her coffee cup, the pair of catlike eyes never leaving Irene’s face as she blankly dumps the liquid in.

And then—

“I'm going to die,” Seulgi deadpans.

Her expression is the perfect poker face, spoken in a way so perfect that had Irene been told this out of context, she would’ve believed her.

The other girl then proceeds to chug the entire concoction down in less than a minute.

What the actual .

“Holy ,” Irene whispers in awe.

Seulgi sets down the coffee cup, letting out a content ahhh and a pleased smile before turning to Irene again and waggling her eyebrows.

“You really are seeking death,” Irene whispers, trying to keep quiet. Thank goodness they're in the back of the room. She shakes her head, taking a swig of water from her own water bottle— it’s no coffee, or whatever it is that Seulgi just drank, but that's more than okay.

“I wouldn't be mad if you were the last person I saw before I died,” Seulgi replies swiftly, and Irene nearly chokes before realizing that is still parched beyond belief.

She takes few gulps of water before replying.

“This might be your lucky day then, because I'm in the mood for ending lives.”

That sounded stupid, even by Irene’s standards. And she thought her standards couldn't be lowered any further once they've been set to three meters below the surface of the earth.

“Great!” Seulgi grins, still trying to keep her voice down to a hush. “I've got nothing else to lose then! I'm actually at the bottom of the barrel.”

Irene snorts. “With that toxin you just drank? You might as well be tunneling beneath the barrel. Which is still good though. You can join me and my motivation.”

“And where is your motivation?”

“Rolling in its grave.”

Irene mentally pats herself on the back as Seulgi struggles to hold in a bout of shocked laughter. When the other student finally composed herself, she grins impishly at Irene.

“Great! We can be ghosts together. Because if I,” she gestures around to the classroom setting, “Have to go to yet another one of these morning torture sessions, my soul my actually die of boredom and leave this earthly realm.”

“I'm not gonna lie, this is the longest I've actually stayed awake in this class,” Irene admits, glancing at a nearby clock and noting how fifty minutes have already manages to pass. She turns back to Seulgi. “I have you to thank for it, I suppose. And to think I was actually gonna try sitting closer to the front.”

“No, don’t!” Seulgi protests, before quickly looking around to see if she accidentally disturbed anyone (not that she really could’ve, given that all the other students seated nearby were all fast asleep). “We can't talk if we’re in the front!”

Irene giggles.

“What do you mean, ‘we?’”

“Irene,” Seulgi says as seriously as possible. Then she pauses. “Er… at least I think that's your name.” Irene elicits another giggle. “You just witnessed me chug an entire blasphemous mixture of coffee and Monster energy drink out of sheer desperation. You’re a bystander who did nothing to stop me!”

“I didn’t know you!” Irene protests in some form of a whisper-yell. Then it hits, “Actually, come to think of it I still don't know you, Seulgi.”

Seulgi tsks, reclining backwards in her seat. “Still not an excuse to let someone commit an act like that. At this point, I think we’re basically obligated to get to know each other.”

“Oh?” Irene raises an amused eyebrow. “Is that so? And how do you expect we do that?”

“Perhaps go on a date with me?” Seulgi asks like it's the most normal thing in the world, and Irene’s heart does funny little things— like outright hammering its way out of her chest. Little things.

“Sounds like a plan,” Irene says, the exact face of composition and suaveness. She's totally not having an internal break down.

Much to her amusement, Seulgi’s eyes go wide.

“W-wait, seriously? Just like that?”

Irene giggles. “Just like that.”

“Is this how people normally ask you out?” Seulgi stammers, struggling to keep her voice down. “Like, are people usually this confident? Because I think the coffee-Monster combo is affecting my body and decision making skills a bit more than I expected.”

“Just a bit,” Irene says with a grin, pinching her index and thumb together cheekily.

And that's how Irene ends up walking out of her morning class at 8:30AM, a new number registered in her phone, as well as the promise of a date in the near future. Although, Seulgi does step out of the building, into the blinding early light in time with Irene’s footsteps.

“Don't tell me you have other classes after this,” Irene says teasingly.

Seulgi scoffs, playfully nudging Irene. “Oh, you wish. I'm heading back to my dorm room to literally crash and burn.”

Irene places a thoughtful finger on her chin.

“Hmmm… should I bring you another Monster drink next week?”

“No! Absolutely not! I'm never doing that again!” A pause. “Or I'm at least waiting until finals week.”