It was just one of those ordinary days where Seongwoo needed to go to university and attend his classes, hang out with his friends, go to his part-time job, head home for the day and repeat. It was a mundane kind of life, one Seongwoo has grown very accustomed to. There wasn’t anything interesting to tear him out of this grayscale life after all.

Seongwoo wasn’t anyone special (well, that’s what he thought about himself), he was an average university student with ordinary parents that earn just enough for their family. He’s had good grades, those that weren’t too high to reach the honor roll but not low enough to fail. He wasn’t one for relationships either.

So when he got on the subway that morning, he didn’t expect anything special or extraordinary. It’s been three years, what could possibly make today different? The ravenette knew his university was at least an hour away so he plugged in his earphones as he flipped through a book he’s been reading for the past week.

Seongwoo doesn’t know how he ended up reading this romantic fantasy. Probably another one of Minhyun’s bizarre recommendations, or was it the one he randomly picked out of the library shelf? He must’ve been unconsciously desperate to have a bit of that ‘magic’ in his life he didn’t even notice he ended up in the fiction section of the library.

Although it had supernatural elements, the story was still a bit cliche for his taste. If anything, it was closest to that of the princes and the frog. The protagonist was cursed and he cannot do anything about the situation but wait for someone else to break the curse for him. It’s not like he had anything else to read anyway so he might as well indulge in his current selection.

Just when the train skidded to a halt for the next station, Seongwoo turned the page to the next chapter. He still had at least half an hour to go. He might as well continue the story than bury his nose in another book about the history of the arts, he’s read too much of those for one night.

As the other passengers got off the train, Seongwoo glanced at the larger crowd that made their way inside. A few of which Seongwoo recognized as fellow students in his university, the working population, and several teenagers. Before he could go back to reading, a flash of color passed by his peripheral vision and he couldn’t help but look.

Because it wasn’t just a flash of color, it was actually a mop of blonde hair.

Now, there wasn’t really anything unusual with blonde hair. It’s just that he was in Korea right now and it wasn’t really a common hair color. Probably dyed, he thought as his gaze went to his face. The man was taller by a few centimeters and had broad shoulders. He looked young, probably around his age and looked rather… bright. In a sea of the mundanities in his life, there stood a sole figure who looked like he could radiate sunshine and warmth.

Seongwoo wished he had a life and presence as bright as that.

Maybe the world would be more colorful than the usual black and white.

~ .oOo. ~

It was during the following week when he found out that the bright-looking boy was actually a fellow student in his university. Just as he thought, the boy was around his age but was younger by one year.

Seongwoo saw him once walking into the College of Science while he made his way towards the College of Performing Arts. “What has you so so distracted?” The ravenette was snapped out of his thoughts as his obnoxious friend who goes by the name Kim Jaehwan pinched his arm.

“Ow! What the hell?” He glared at the younger male but Jaehwan was unfazed, “Did you even hear anything I just said?

“No.” He flat out responded and Jaehwan dramatically gasped, “After everything I just said?” Seongwoo cuts him off before Jaehwan could even think of butchering another of his favorite musicals with his terrible acting.

“Aren’t you late for your vocal class?” Seongwoo interjects as he diverts his attention back to his book. “Oh , I’ll let you off today but I’m not done with you yet!” The vocal major declared as he makes a mad dash ahead towards the same building. For a moment, he thought he was alone but then Minhyun disrupted the silence with his own curiosity.

“Jaehwan had a point though, what’s got you distracted lately?” Seongwoo was instantly flooded with the color yellow, a bright color often used to symbolize happiness and joy. The sun’s rays shining down on the pavement, the sunflowers growing by the sidewalk, and a mop of blonde hair as the boy entered the same train.

“Nothing.”

~ .oOo. ~

There he was again, the standoffish height and blonde hair. The only thing different about today was he had his earphones on and danced along to whatever he was listening to. Though it seemed more like a dance routine than a freestyle because of the pauses in between.

He must be a dancer.

Seongwoo didn’t realize he was staring until the boy stopped dancing when they made eye contact. The ravenette instantly looked away and could feel his face redden in embarrassment. They barely knew each other and yet he was caught staring. Hopefully, the blonde doesn’t remember his face. Good thing he had his book open so he raised it a little higher to cover his face.

Once they reached the station by their university, Seongwoo made sure to let the younger boy out first before he got off his seat. He wouldn’t want to bump into him after being caught staring red-handed.

Luckily, it was one of those days where Minhyun and Jaehwan decided to wait for him by the station. Though his eyes widened his surprise when the tall blonde waved to Minhyun and even stick his tongue out at Jaehwan. His two friends only saw him just as the blonde left to go on ahead.

“Oh, I didn’t know you took the same train as Daniel.” Jaehwan casually commented. Seongwoo couldn’t help but raise a brow.

“Who?”

“Daniel, Kang Daniel.” Minhyun finished, “The tall blonde guy teasing Jaehwan earlier.”

“You knew him?”

“Yeah, almost everyone does. Didn’t you?” Minhyun asked but Seongwoo shook his head.

It was during the second week when Seongwoo knew the name, Kang Daniel.

~ .oOo. ~

The third week came rolling in, and Seongwoo started seeing Daniel around more than he ever did in the past years.

Turns out, Daniel was the popular kind of guy. Almost everyone knew him as that happy virus in the Biology department. Despite having a large physique, the boy was incredibly bright and easy-going. Contrary to what he looked, the blonde was, as Minyun described, mentally 5 years old.

Apparently, he was like a kid whenever he wasn’t on stage performing. He would sometimes make small pranks and would practically laugh at anything and everything you say for hours on end. Jaehwan even told him Daniel ended up laughing about a joke for a whole week and he’d still laugh if he told him that joke again. As if to prove a point, Seongwoo saw him on campus laughing with the other Biology majors and he didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.

Unfortunately for him, Daniel caught him staring again but this time he smiled and even waved at him. Seongwoo, being the not so social person he was, blinked at the gesture not knowing how to respond. He even looked behind him just to make sure he was really the one Daniel was waving to.

Daniel doesn’t look away though and he still had that warm smile plastered on his face but his ears took on a pinkish hue. The cold must be getting to him , Seongwoo thought. Eventually, he decided to just wave back. Albeit small, Daniel still managed to catch the motion and even smiled wider than earlier.

Seongwoo wasn’t so sure why his heart felt like it jumped up to his throat.

~ .oOo. ~

The third week since he first saw the blonde, the third time he saw him ever since. Apparently, the world must find it fun putting them both in the same room.

Seongwoo was in his part-time job that day in a dainty flower shop owned by his grandmother when he first saw Daniel outside of the campus and the train. The junior was a bright person in every aspect of his entire being. From his personality to his choice of hair dye, and even his clothing wasn’t an exception.

Daniel came into the shop in a yellow shirt, denim ripped jeans, white long coat and sneakers. A complete contrast to Seongwoo’s current ensemble of a black hoodie and jeans with only the sky blue apron acting as a splash of color. The young man smiled once he saw him at the counter before he bounced over, looking at the flowers that filled the entire store.

“... Can I help you?” Seongwoo hesitantly asked since Daniel seemed a little distracted, “Ah! Right, sorry” He sheepishly scratched his cheek, “I wanted to give flowers to my mom today, do you happen to have carnations?”

“Ah… Sorry, I think we just ran out during Mother’s Day…” Seongwoo said with a bit of guilt at the disheartened look on Daniel’s face. “Maybe you have an alternative in mind?” Seongwoo asked but Daniel shrugged, “I don’t know much about flowers... Can you tell me about the meaning of the others?”

Seongwoo hummed in thought, finally placing down the book he had to walk around the various flowers at the walls. For once, Seongwoo was thankful he read about flowers since he had to know about them if he wanted to help with the shop. As he scanned through the variations, his eyes were instantly attracted by the hydrangeas. Specifically, it’s pink variation.

“A girl’s dream,” Seongwoo blurted out and Daniel looked confused, “The pink hydrangeas can also mean a girl’s dream,” In an instant, Daniel’s expression brightened up into a wide grin Seongwoo almost had to squint.

“That’s perfect!” The tall boy excitedly said with a bit of bounce in his steps.”My mom was a girl once, after all,” Seongwoo gave a quick nod and proceeded to pick the most beautiful hydrangeas before arranging it into a small bouquet.

“You’re a senior, aren’t you?” In the silence of the small shop, Daniel continued to look around before popping out the small question.

“... Yeah,” Seongwoo hesitantly asked, “I major in theatre,”

“So that’s why you’re friends with Jaehwan,” The other said but it seemed more like he was talking to himself.

“Are you friends?”

“Well, he’s my cousin,” Daniel said as he sheepishly scratched his cheek.

“I hope you aren’t as bad as him then,” Although it wasn’t much of a joke, Seongwoo was startled when Daniel started laughing. Teeth in full display, nose scrunched, and his eyes that disappeared behind crescents.

“I’m not as bad, I promise,” He cheekily replied just as Seongwoo finished tying the entire bouquet.

“Wah~ Thanks a lot, hyung!” The junior said after he paid for the bouquet and was about to bolt outside when he suddenly skidded to a halt, “O-Oh um, I can call you that right?”

“Um, yeah I guess,” Seongwoo shyly responds since he himself was slightly taken aback by Daniel’s casual slip of the tongue. Yet the blonde boy smiled in relief and once again waved as he left the shop.

“See you around, hyung!”
 

~. oOo. ~

It’s been two weeks since Seongwoo last saw Daniel. The finals for their first semester raised the tension as everyone was barely leaving the campus to study for the exams. Seongwoo even took a few days of leave from his part-time job just to get a few study hours in.

Just one day to go and he could finally get things over with.

Once again, he boards the train that morning but he couldn’t read the fantasy story today. It was the last day of their finals before their semestral break so he opted to reread some of the material he read through last night. He still plugged in his earphones and put on some classical music as to not be distracted by lyrics. The train seemed a little crowded today so Seongwoo chose to stand beside the seats and hooked his arm onto the pole by the side.

As usual, whenever they passed by the station halfway, plenty of people would leave only to be replaced by an equally large amount of passengers. But today was a bit different as more people flooded the train to the point that he felt a little pressed towards the window. The lack of proximity was quite suffocating, to say the least, or maybe Seongwoo just wasn’t used to crowds.

It wasn’t that he was claustrophobic or anything, the difficulty to breath was just making him a little panicked. As if to add to his pain, the train’s movement would occasionally make the other passengers stumble causing them to bump onto the others. Luckily, the guy by his side seemed to notice his distress as he took a step back to give Seongwoo some space. Although he didn’t know the guy, he mumbled a shy ‘thanks’ to let him know he appreciated his efforts.

“No problem,” He didn’t think a rather deep voice would reply. The ravenette couldn’t help but look up out of curiosity and he definitely didn’t expect to come face-to-face with happy virus Kang Daniel himself.

“Hey, hyung!” The now shockingly silver-haired male smiled and Seongwoo averted his eyes feeling rather embarrassed to end up being this close to the younger man. Well... There’s no harm in initiating a bit of conversation.

The older student looked back up at Daniel who was still smiling at him and wow that smile would feel anyone feel warm. “Hi―” The train suddenly screeched as it abruptly stopped just as it enters a tunnel. To make things worse, even the power suddenly went out and now they were stuck in the tunnel with no light source whatsoever.

The people grew panicked and suddenly started moving around. No matter how much they tried to stay still, the panicked passengers were unconsciously pushing the others causing the inside of the train to turn chaotic. The passengers were making a fuss and the already crowded space was getting smaller by the minute.

Seongwoo could feel panic spreading through his system, all the pushing was making everyone bump into each other and he felt like he was being squeezed further into the windows. But he couldn’t do much. For the first time in his life, he cursed how he was physically weak to do anything. He couldn’t do anything but close his eyes and cover his ears, hoping the chaos would subdue soon and maybe his rising panic would eventually calm down.

Eventually, it did feel like the moving stopped, but the noise was still loud so he kept his hands around his ears. But ever so often, he would feel someone brush against his arms. Slowly, he opened his eyes and was met with the view of a white shirt underneath a long beige coat with a considerable distance between them.

Kang Daniel stood in front of him and braced his arms on either side of Seongwoo to keep the crowd from pressing him further.

Seongwoo looked up and came in contact with Daniel’s own brown orbs. Despite all the pushing going on, Daniel kept his smile and tilted his head in concern. “You okay?” He gently asked. Although Seongwoo covered his ears, he caught on to what Daniel asked and shyly nodded.

“You don’t have to…” He shyly said but Daniel merely smiled with a slight shake of the head.

“It’s alright, you weren’t looking so okay,” He said with another warm smile and Seongwoo was so glad it was dark. Otherwise, Daniel would have been curious why the tip of his ears was looking quite pink.

“Attention all passengers, there has been a minor technical difficulty and the staff is currently looking into it. The power should be back in the next five minutes. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Seongwoo looked back at Daniel as the younger boy sighed,”Looks like we’ll need to wait a little longer,” The latter hummed in agreement. “Are you still feeling okay?” The younger boy couldn’t help but ask with all the concern written all over his face. Seongwoo found it a bit cute though, his lips looked a little pouty too with the look he was giving him.

“I’m fine, thanks” He smiled back in hopes to reassure the younger boy and that seemed to do the trick. “You have a nice smile,” He didn’t think he’d get a compliment in return. Seongwoo could feel another wave of warmth on his cheeks, hopefully Daniel wouldn’t notice.

“T-Thanks,” Seongwoo wasn’t so sure if Daniel was just pretending not to notice, or maybe he did but decided not to question it. “I usually see you around here and around campus, but you don’t smile as much. I thought a smile would definitely suit you and I was right.”

The older student couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. Whether it was because of the compliment or Daniel saying he’s seen him around, he wasn’t really sure.

“I only saw you a few weeks ago because of your blonde hair. But now…” He trailed off as he eyed the mop of silver hair swept to the side.

“.. Is it odd?”

“Huh? Oh! Uh... No! No, it’s just that... It’s quite a bold choice”

“Yeah well… someone told me I could probably pull it off” He sheepishly admitted as he scratched the back of his head.

“They weren’t wrong though.” Seongwoo blurted out. His eyes instantly widened as he covered his mouth when he realized he actually said that out loud. Although Daniel looked surprised, he smiled at the honest compliment.

“Thanks.”

Before any of them could carry on, the floor shook as the train finally rebooted. Seongwoo took a step to regain his balance but he wasn’t able to stabilize himself and closed his eyes expecting he’d fall. Yet Daniel continues to surprise him as he instinctively wrapped an arm around his waist. “Careful,” He worriedly said as he helped the senior back up.

“T-Thanks… again” Seongwoo stuttered out of embarrassment and Daniel couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You’re pretty clumsy, aren’t ya?”  

“I guess that’s why my friends call me Ongcheongie…”

“Guess I should make sure you don’t always fall on the train then.”

“What?” Seongwoo blinked with a small head tilt. For some reason, Daniel found it quite adorable. Looked like something his cats at home would do when they couldn’t understand each other.

“You take the same train every day, don’t you?” Seongwoo nodded in reply.

“Then we can go to uni together every day!” Daniel excitedly said with a wide smile that often made his eyes disappear to turn into crescents. “I-I mean if it’s okay with you,”

“Oh, um, sure.” Daniel once again smiled and Seongwoo couldn’t help but smile back.

For once, his day didn’t seem as mundane as it used to be.

Maybe Daniel was the ‘magic’ he sought to break this monochromatic life.

Notes:

ONGNIEL WEEK HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!
Here's one work to contribute and to kick off the wonderful week ahead!

Happy Anniversary to the iconic Ongniel subway date!