"It goes down, down, baby~ 리듬에 온몸을 it goes down, down baby~ 맡기고 소리쳐 oh, oh, ohhh~ 우린 oh, oh, oh~ we go-"

Hoseok's hand weakly dragged itself out from under the blankets and had to try 4 different buttons on the alarm clock before finding the one to shut the thing up. At least he didn't break this one. Kihyun would be so pissed if Hoseok hadn't even been able to keep this new alarm clock intact for 24 hours.

Hoseok grumbled and to his stomach so that he could be surrounded in darkness instead of facing the horror that is the sun.

Just five more minutes and I'll get up.

************************

Hoseok opened his eyes. He blinked a couple times before parting his lips to let out a long yawn. For once he actually felt refreshed and not sleep deprived! Well this was a complete change.

Turning onto his side, Hoseok reached for his phone on the gray table top next to his bed.

Then he stopped, his eyes fixated on his alarm clock.

He blinked once, then twice. That's how long it took for him to register the fact that the fiery red numbers read 10:15.

Hoseok's head shot up so fast he got lightheaded. Eyes widening, his thoughts were finally able to realize that the clock reading 10:15 meant that he was 45 minutes late for his 9:30 class.

"Crap!"

He practically threw himself out of bed, almost ending up on the floor and scrambled towards his dresser to shove himself into some clothing.

As he was struggling to fit his legs into their respective pant sleeves as fast as possible, his stressed-out thoughts raced in his head. How in the world did he manage to wake up late for his first class on the first day of first semester?? Hoseok wanted to cry. Once he had decent enough clothes on, he raced to the various rooms in his apartment and all but crammed everything he needed into his backpack for the day- summer reading work, glasses, lined paper, laptop, binders, some snacks- Hoseok choked on his own spit when looked at his watch and saw it indicating 10:24.

Still hacking up a lung, he raced towards his kitchen all while tripping over his own feet. He yanked open a cupboard door and grabbed a granola bar, then reached over and snatched a banana from the countertop. He peeled said fruit before unceremoniously shoving it into his mouth and practically sprinted to the door, launching himself out of his apartment after having locked the door behind him and flew down the hallway.

*********

By the time he got to campus, Hoseok was an exhausted, heaving mess. He had had to run all the way to school, because the public bus he usually took only came at 11 and he had no time for that. And although he worked out quite a bit, sprinting for 30 minutes while carrying a backpack filled with 1000-page textbooks was not the easiest task.

Once he reached the brick history building, Hoseok leaned against the wall for a few seconds to catch his breath, just enough to avoid the risk of passing out before taking the stairs two steps at a time up to the 3rd floor.

Hoseok raced towards hall 1148 and, grabbing the handle, burst into the room.

Big. Mistake.

As soon as he entered the lecture hall, he was met with 110 pairs of eyes staring at him. That was 220 individual eyeballs observing his representation of a college student failing at life.

Hoseok felt his face lose all of its color.

This is what he wanted to avoid. This is a sensation he absolutely despised. Being the center of attention. Having all eyes on him. The feeling of having the spotlight directly above your head.

-last semester-

Hoseok had stayed up all night preparing and studying for his advanced modern physics exam. The stress had overtaken fundamental logic and reasoning, compelling him to stay up until 3am staring at his notes.

When he had finally made his way to his bed, he had immediately passed out and barely managed to set an early alarm to study some more.

The next morning, Hoseok woke up at 6am, feeling completely sleep deprived. He had 3 hours to study before his 9am class. 2 and a half hours of sleep was not exactly enough to provide the necessary energy to maintain human function, but Hoseok convinced himself that it was all for the best. As long as he passed this damn exam.

While slipping into comfortable blue shorts and a lightweight grey t-shirt, Hoseok could feel his eyelids attempting to slip over his eyes and kidnap him to dreamland, but he fought the feeling with all his might. There was no way he was missing this exam. It was just too important. Sleep could wait.

Grabbing his notes, his keys and his phone, he decided to go study at the student café, in order to avoid the desire to just throw himself into bed and go missing for a week in his apartment.

Walking down the stairs and out of his apartment building, he could feel the morning sun washing warmth over him. It wasn’t exactly helping Hoseok’s cause, the gentle rays strengthening the heavy mist of sleep still clouding his head.

He had to stop multiple times while walking to shake the sleep away from his poor brain. The result was subpar, but it was enough for Hoseok not to crumble down and fall asleep in the middle of the sidewalk.

He let out a breath of relief once he breached the doors of the student café. At least now he could distract himself from sleep by studying.

Hoseok made sure to grab two bottles of iced coffee before going over to plop himself down into an orange couch. He was going to need all the energy he could get his hands on, artificial or not.

Taking out his notes, he began to study.

It was while he was reviewing the equation for impulse-momentum that he felt everything go downhill. His hands went limp, the room started swerving and going in and out of focus, and it was the 5th time he had looked at the same equation, yet he couldn’t remember a single symbol every time he looked away to copy it down.

He gripped the table and grit his teeth, willing himself to focus and continue studying.

That was when everything went black.

The next thing Hoseok knew, there was a hand on his shoulder and he jerked up, “THE ALTERATION OF MOTION IS EVER PROPORTIONAL TO THE MOTIVE FORCE-!”

Eyes springing open, limbs flailing, he spun around to see a middle-aged woman looking at him gently.

“You’ve been asleep for 3 hours, young man,” she said kindly, “you looked so tired that I wanted to let you sleep, but you may have a class so I-”

“WHAT?!” Hoseok yelled. “I slept for 3 HOURS??”

He felt like he had just run into a brick wall of stress and anxiety.

Scrambling up into a standing position, he whipped his head from side to side, looking around him. He was still in the café, and he had literally fallen asleep on his notes an-

HE WAS LATE FOR HIS PHYSICS EXAM.

Hoseok's breath was knocked out of his lungs as the reality of the situation slappe dhim in the face.

Starting to hyperventilate, he all but stuffed his notes into his backpack and took off into a sprint, oblivious to the café worker looking at him sympathetically as he disappeared through the café doors.

He ran all the way to his physics class, paying no mind to the angry honking directed at him for racing across the busy streets of Seoul.

When he finally, finally made it to his classroom, he yanked the door open and sprang into the room, heart aching with every pant that ripped out of his heaving chest.

Everyone was staring at him. Every. Single. Person.

He started to tremble, his hands turning clammy and his vision blurring with tears. His breath came out in short bursts as he made his way to his seat, the eyes of amused students following him like hawks. He hated this feeling. This was never supposed to happen. He could’ve avoided all of this if he had just managed to stay awake and be a good student. This was all his fault- he could've prevented himself from being in this situation.

-present-

These were the thoughts racing through Hoseok’s head as he stood there, frozen, in the doorway of the lecture hall. He could feel the tears collecting around his eyes, and he prayed for them to go away.

He was not going to cry.

Not in front of all these students.

Not in front of all these students that were watching him, observing his every move.

Judging him.

Taunting him.

Daring him to cry in front of all of them.

He was not going to cry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't hate me for ending this chapter hereeeeee

I didn't know how to end this lol please don't attack me

I tried

Okay but like this is the fastest I've ever updated a chapter after the previous one so imma give myself a lil pat on the back for that one ahdfbKLDAFB

What even is this fic anymore idk

ANYWAYS I hope y'all enjoyed this mess! 

Comment! Subscribe! Upvote!

Just kidding you can do whatever you feel is right ㅋㅋㅋ

See you next time~

<3 Simone