everyone collectively groaned when the professor for their freshman realism course said their new assignment was to be a model standing still, but still having motion. a drawing of just a mere second, a frame of an entire process. it could be a stranger, a friend doing a favor, a model you can hire. jeongguk groaned internally, he couldn't just wait to complain to jin and jimin when he comes back to his dorm, it's not like he has a whole list of half finished assignments. but he digressed, packed his paint tubes inside of his bag, and left the assignment he had just finished besides the teacher's desk like everyone else.

he didn't have the money to hire. he’s living off the packs of ramen and cheap bakery food that he can barely afford. and to hire himself a model is out of the question, no doubt. and he can’t ask his friends either, they don't have the time to stand still for five hours for their friend. his only option left is a stranger.

and that was a particularly hard task, because this is a college common room full of bright, coloured hair, lack of sleep, but overflowing with caffeine. everyone was moving, moving, moving, not a single person or group standing still. none of them really fit the criteria of the assignment.

the music kids were at their own corner, exchanging smaller instruments between each other. some of them were playing random tunes they could think of on the spot, others were tuning guitars and looking at sheet music. the film kids were excitedly talking about lenses, and partnering up with the acting school next door to make a film together.

the art students, the one that jeongguk falls into but sits separately from them, were seemingly a gigantic group of friends. he could spot two boys with a sketchbook in their hands, one of them explaining to other the agony of horse anatomy. everything was moving, advancing, moving from one place to another, everyone just couldn't stay still -

expect for the literature kids.

they huddled around a table, talking about books or assignments. they were quiet, sophisticated looking, and polite — and jeongguk had his eye on one particular lot of them.

he was honey skinned, had a deep and raspy voice, his hair was everywhere but still managed to look soft and well put under a dad hat. wearing a comfortable looking hoodie that was one size too big, his name was kim taehyung and he was facing his back towards jeongguk. he was still as a statue, a rock. but he was writing, still in the middle of a process.

jeongguk liked the sound of this.

maybe he doesn't like the sound of loud laughter belonging to the nearby dancers, or the excited chatter of the film students, but what he does like is the faint noises of what he could make out of taehyung. he keeps looking between the rough watercolour paper, steady under his fingertips, and to taehyung. the literature kid who has a beach themed and poetry sculpted body.

he makes rough outlines of his head, and moves down to his shoulders, back and arms.

as jeongguk moves to drawing taehyung’s shoulders, he faintly recalls how he even knows who he is despite taehyung not knowing jeongguk’s name. he takes his head back to almost two months ago at a pool party.

truly, it’s not like jeongguk likes parties. prior to this one, he never even went to one. he’s only here because jimin, his junior roommate who is a dance major, asked him to go with him and jeongguk always has a comically difficult time to say the word ‘no’. funnily enough jimin knows this fact and abuses it to its fullest extent.

maybe jeongguk would actually be at least okay with a house party. but this is a pool party, where he has to be in red swimming trunks (god, why did he only bring a red pair? red is the most eye catching colour, and jimin's are all too small for him. goddammit, past jeongguk) and shirtless. apparently the guy hosting the party is quite popular (was his name something with j?) so not only will people see him shirtless, quite a huge crowd of people will. and more than five people seeing him with a bare chest exceeds the amount he is comfortable with for being a freshman.

he was standing at the edge of the pool, only one part of his calves touching the water. he was very shamelessly showing how disgruntled and uncomfortable he is, even if jimin is already neck deep and is cooing for jeongguk to go deeper into the pool.

maybe it’s childish, maybe it’s just plain petty - but he takes his sweet, precious time into the water.

until he doesn't.

before he knows it, a man, presumably around jeongguk's age, wraps his arms around him and his chest pressed up against his back, and pushes jeongguk into the water with him. he resurfaces as quickly as possible, and he darts his eyes around. they land on the man, who is laughing his off, and he prays to any lord above that they can see steam coming out of jeongguk's ears from how pissed he is. or at least, jeongguk feels there’s steam.

jimin notices the murderous glare on his face, and he puts his hand on jeongguk's shoulder. “don't mind tae, he just likes to mess with freshmen that way.”

“i want to go home.”

“jeongguk, come on, don't be like that.” jimin pouts.

“i have an assignment to do, anyway.” jeongguk says as he’s already swimming back to the edge and trying to get his hand gripped around the pool ladder.

“no, you don’t.” jimin snaps back, following after him.

“you don't know that.”

"yes, i do. only reason why i do is because when you have an assignment, your workspace is a ing mess." ah yes, when his workspace becomes a physical representation of the state of his mind. tubes of paint scattered on the floor, scrunched up pieces of paper left stranded on his table like stranded men on an island, his brushes left in a cup labeled 'paint water', besides another cup labeled 'not paint water'.

it doesn't help that jeongguk is a messy person even when he doesn't have an assignment and he's pretty lazy to clean up after it.

"and your table right now is clean as a in' baby. you don't have any assignments right now."

"yeah, i know i don't, i still wanna ing leave." jeongguk hissed. what's great about having a friend who kindly deals with all of your bull is that he never minds or takes jeongguk's petty toxic to heart.

jimin's hand leaves jeongguk's shoulder, his face obviously conflicted. it's either he leaves the pool party with his grumpy freshman roommate, or he stays at the party and drink with the rest of their friend group. he ends up sighing, and makes a motion at jeongguk that translates to 'let's go'.

jimin will have many opportunities to go to parties anyway, and this definitely won't be the last time he gets invited to a pool party at jaebum's house this semester. it's fine, he'll go with pissed off jeongguk. he's the one who dragged him here anyway, reluctantly.

they leave the pool, and jimin grabs two towels. he tosses one at jeongguk, jeongguk slender hands quickly catching it. they dry their chests off, and grab their previously discarded shirts. as jeongguk shifts the towel towards his hair, tiny water droplets falling from his locks of hair, he questions jimin silently.

"who was that guy, anyway?"

as jimin's towel leaves his hair, now residing in his hands, he turns his neck slightly to look at jeongguk.

"the guy who suplexed your into the water?"

"excuse me, do you even know what that means? he pushed me into the water with him, he did not suplex me -"

"his name is kim taehyung. he's a literature kid, same year as me."

jeongguk's eyebrows furrow, "how do you know him then? you're majoring in dance."

"well, we used to be roommates in freshman year. like, you know, the school likes putting two different majors together, so that they can share their experiences with having different majors and compare or some ? that's how you ended up with me even if you're an art kid. makes no sense, but whatever. i was with a music major last year. i'm guessing i'm gonna be with a film major next?"

he listens in to jimin's babbling, more to himself than to jeongguk. jimin smiles softly, "don't worry, guk. tae's a good guy, you just gotta give him another chance."

"another chance? really, jimin? i have never even seen his face before he pushed me into the water and when i resurfaced. he didn't even wanted to introduce himself or apologize after. like, if you want to push me into a pool, knowing i don't want to get in, at least take me out to dinner first, get to know each other a little, jesus ing christ." jeongguk is petty and can't let go of a grudge all that easily, it's the worst combination to have - and you're asking him to give kim taehyung another chance?

"it's just like how i told you." now their towels are hanging loosely around their shoulders, and they move towards the exit. they shuffle through the tipsy college kids, and jimin is holding onto jeongguk's wrist as to not accidentally lose each other in the crowd. "taehyung likes messing with uptight freshmen to get them to loosen up a little. to stop worrying about having a good first college party and start having fun. he thinks he's helping, and often he actually does end up helping."

"often?" he tilts his head, and even through the loud music he can make out jimin's tiny snicker.

"yeah, since sometimes he gets freshmen like you. that can never let go of their worries and have fun." jeongguk smiles, even just a little.

"you're mean, pipsqueak." jeongguk retorts.

"i'm just telling the truth, palm tree."

and they left the pool party with soaked swimming boxers, a concerned jimin and a mildly pissed off jeongguk, and that's all because of kim taehyung. that was in april, and now it's almost two months later, in late may. and he's sitting in a college common room full of restless hearts and the same kim taehyung who threw jeongguk into a pool is sitting from across jeongguk's table. this time he's more fixated on getting the curves of his back right rather than giving him a petty death glare. the lines of his back start making sense, and before he knows it, the sketch is finished and taehyung is starting to get up from his seat.

in the fear of getting caught, as he turns around, jeongguk hides his drawing and replaces it with another blank sheet of paper. taehyung spots him, and his eyes show a hint of surprise, but it dies back and he waves. because even if taehyung still probably doesn't even know jeongguk's name, whenever he spots him in a crowd, taehyung still waves and smiles. and embarrassingly, every single time taehyung's mouth forms into a smile directed only at jeongguk, his heart without fail does a backflip. every single goddamn time.

not surprisingly, jeongguk never waves back. and it's only cause he's petty as . but this time, he finds himself waving back. only because he feels like he should, a subtle way of apologizing for drawing taehyung for an assignment without the guy's permission first. and that reason, and that reason alone. definitely not because every time, he realizes that taehyung is cuter and cuter.

taehyung's literature friends call for him, and his gaye finally leaves jeongguk's and jeongguk is left to stare at his back as he leaves, the same one he's been sketching for the last thirty (30) to fourty-five (45) minutes. he glances down at the blank sheet over paper, slowly removing it to reveal the sketch. he sighs. he has a week to finish this, and finals are already up and gone. where's the rush? he should get going too, and finish the line art tomorrow. there's no rush. no reason to run. he just has to pack the sketch into a binder of file of some sorts, stuff it into his worn and torn bag and get up and go. go to an art room. go find jimin, or jimin’s film major boyfriend seokjin. go anywhere instead of not even moving from his place because he can't stop thinking about taehyung's grin when he waved back. and can't help but sketch it, so that's in one way or another completely carved into the wrinkles of his mind.

it's stupid, but he does the latter.