“Juyeon! Lee Juyeon, open up!”

Instead of his alarm waking his up the morning after his coffee date (was it a date?) with Hwall, Juyeon woke up to incessant knocking and shouting at his door. He could already tell who it was by the voice alone—Changmin, of course—but there was a louder scuffling that followed that meant he wasn’t alone. He knew this was definitely because he left them hanging after announcing his plans the other day, but it was 9AM and didn’t they have class?

Juyeon made them wait another five minutes as he freshened up.

“Finally,” Changmin said as a way of greeting once the door was opened. “How could you make us wait that long?”

“You’re lucky I’m even opening this door.”

The other boy walked into the room with Chanhee and Haknyeon in tow, ignoring the snark in Juyeon’s statement as they made themselves at home on his bed, leaving him the only one standing in front of them. 

Haknyeon pouted, “you didn’t even open the group chat yet, hyung.”

“He was preoccupied,” Chanhee answered instead, smiling teasingly. “Which is exactly why we’re here to squeeze the details out of him. How was the date?”

Juyeon opened his mouth to say it wasn’t a date, because it wasn’t, right? It was then that he remembered all that happened that afternoon, starting from when Sunwoo left. He learned enough about Hwall to say that he was interested in the younger boy to an extent, and the way Hwall asked questions about him and would blush at every compliment was hopefully an indication that he felt the same way. 

“It went pretty well,” he said instead of denying it, which made Haknyeon giggle and Changmin’s jaw drop in surprise. 

“No way!” The latter exclaimed, bouncing on the bed excitedly. “So is Hwall your The One? You know his real name? You saw his mark?”

“I don’t know, no, and no.”

It felt a little bad to answer that way, but it was the truth. After being denied Hwall’s real name again, Juyeon ended up forgetting all about it in the midst of their conversations. Hwall was extremely easy to talk to, along with his amusing reactions to Juyeon’s own stories. Time passed quickly between the two of them, with Juyeon hoping it didn’t have to end, until it was time for the younger boy’s class. He had to set a good example, somehow. 

Chanhee hummed in thought, “there’s something different with this situation, though. You’re still interested.”

“Of course,” Juyeon said easily. 

“What if he is your soulmate?”

“Then that’s great, right?”

“And if he isn’t?”

Juyeon paused to consider the question thrown at him by Chanhee, ever the realist. He had a bit of a routine when it came to liking people who weren’t his soulmate, after all, with how he tried to get things to work, but it just never did. He was rarely optimistic about dating someone, but it was different with Hwall. Maybe it was the bit of hope he had clouding his thoughts and blinding him from reality, but he genuinely felt that things would be okay.

At least, if he didn’t think about it for too long. 

Dwelling about it for longer than a few minutes had him actually thinking instead of just feeling. He felt like it was alright with Hwall, but his thoughts said otherwise, screaming the name he had marked on his wrist. A constant reminder of why he was this troubled in the first place. A part of him wondered that shouldn’t that be the opposite way? That he felt something for his soulmate, but would think it was alright with Hwall?

“Juyeon?”

Snapping out of his thoughts, Juyeon gave a shrug.

“I haven’t thought that far yet.”

Changmin scoffed, “as if that moment of being dazed wasn’t you thinking, Juyeon, please.”

“Whatever,” Juyeon said with another shrug, nudging the other boy out of the way so he could sit on his bed himself. It was significantly cramped having to squeeze four boys sitting by his bed, but somehow they managed, even if he was shoulder to shoulder with Haknyeon and Changmin. He could almost feel what they were thinking: curiosity, excitement, and a hint of doubt. Honestly, he felt the same.

Haknyeon broke the sudden silence first, “so, when are you seeing him again?”

“Uh, I don’t actually know,” Juyeon admitted.

He no longer had an actual excuse to see him again; his interview for the project was technically over and done with. Juyeon was almost resigned to never seeing Hwall again, which was something he sulked about al