Jeno sat quietly on your left side as Hyuck told embarrassing stories about you from high school, making you frown at him, crumpling up a napkin to throw at him.

“And then, she yanked her locker door open so hard, it hit me right in the face. Almost broke my nose.”

“Oh yeah. I remember that,” Mark said with a laugh as you sighed, turning your eyes towards the ceiling.

“I guess it’s all evened out now, since you hit me in the face with that ball.”

You, Jeno, Jaemin, Hyuck, and Mark sat around a table at the ice cream parlor, laughing so loud, the other customers glanced over in curiosity before returning to their own sweet treats.

Jaemin elbowed Mark, who suddenly coughed, looking down at his phone.

“Oh, crap. I forgot. Hyuck, did you remember to clean up your side of the room for room inspection today?”

Hyuck raised an eyebrow at Mark. “That’s not today. It’s next week.”

“No. It’s today.” Mark held up his phone, showing Hyuck an email, making him go pale.

“Oh, - I have so much everywhere- - I’m sorry! I gotta go!” He stood up in alarm, ice cream still in his hand as he bolted for the door, Mark sighing and heading out after him, bidding everyone goodbye.

“And I’ve got a project for class I need to work on. I’ll see you guys later.” Jaemin stood up, reaching out to ruffle your hair before leaving you and Jeno alone, winking at Jeno, making him cough.

“Huh. That’s weird,” you said, reaching for your phone to pull up your email. “Room inspections aren’t until next week. I’m pretty sure. Your building does it sooner?”

Jeno shrugged. “No idea. I keep my space mostly neat, so I’m not worried. What the hell does Hyuck have in his room?”

He watched you purse your lips, eyes turned up in thought again like you often did when you were thinking of formulas. “I asked him that once, but all he said was contraband, so I’m guess lots of .”

Both of you snorted before you took another bite of your ice cream. Both you and Jeno got the raspberry rum, you opting for a cup because you knew yours would melt before you could finish it, and Jeno had a cone, biting into his scoops.

“I don’t understand how you can bite ice cream. That’s weird. Doesn’t it hurt your teeth?”

He shook his head. “No. Plus, it’s faster, and I don’t lose any melted ice cream.”

“That’s what the cup is for.”

“But the cone. The waffle cone is what makes it extra good.”

You rolled your eyes at him as he laughed, eyes disappearing into the crescent moons you loved to see.

There was a silence between the two of you as Jeno watched you eat your ice cream.

“So… what’re you studying in school? I know you’re not a science major. Right?”

You felt your heart start racing for a moment. Would it be too much of a dead giveaway if he knew you were a photography student? A deeper sense of dread welled up in the back of your mind. Would he even consider you as the photographer that took those pictures of him?

“You’re… definitely right about that. Take a guess. If you guess right, I’ll pay for ice cream the next time we go.” You wiggled your eyebrows at him, making him furrow his eyebrows.

“Hmm… accounting.”

You gave him an appalled look, making him snort into his ice cream. Jeno almost dropped his cone.

“I will take that as a no. Uh… nursing?”

“No, definitely not smart enough for that.”

It was Jeno’s turn to roll his eyes, taking the last few bites of his ice cream and reaching out for a napkin. “You’re plenty smart. Just, maybe physics is just out of your realm of expertise.”

“I’d probably kill someone if I were a nurse. Starting with Hyuck.”

Jeno laughed. You and Hyuck seemed to have that type of relationship. The one where he was the only one allowed to make your life hell, and if anyone else tried, they would be dead in an instant.

“Give me a hint, then.”

You finally finished your ice cream, getting up to throw away the cup. You made a thinking noise as Jeno followed you, opening the door for you as you walked.

He watched you tap your finger on your chin, bounce in your step. The sun was setting now, it gave you a soft golden glow.

“I’m getting a Bachelor of Arts in this discipline.”

Jeno blinked a few times. “So… Art?”

“Close! But no cigar. Try again.” You laughed, taking a few steps ahead of Jeno and rounding the corner as your phone rang in your pocket. You pulled it out in confusion, seeing Hyuck’s name flash across your screen.

“Yellow. What’s-”

“I’m gonna ing destroy Mark! He had an old email pulled up and gave me a damn near heart attack! I broke the sound barrier running back to our dorm!” You had to hold your phone away from your hear as Hyuck yelled through it, making Jeno laugh from behind you.

“Well, if you didn’t keep contraband in your room, you wouldn’t have to worry. Jeeze, what the heck am I gonna do with you?”

Jeno followed you quietly, hands in his pockets and grin on his face.

What else can you get a Bachelor of Arts in?

--

Jeno didn’t see much of you around campus unless you were with Hyuck or Jaemin. The only class he really knew that you had was physics.

He was still tracking down pictures of the places Ghostie took pictures of. There were only two places left now, the moonlight picture, and a picture of some dusty books.

“Where… Where could this be…”

He sighed and checked his inbox again, hoping to see a reply to a message he had sent last week. “Come on… Come on… please…”

--

You’d been staring at Jeno’s message for the past week.

I’d love to meet you. I want to talk about your photos. I just… I’ll admit it. I feel a little lonely sometimes. I’m always surrounded by people, but none of them really know me, except for my best friends. It’s like they’re looking in my general direction, but never directly at me. But ever since I saw that picture of me… It feels like you’ve known me for a long time.

Please consider it.

• Jeno

What were you supposed to say to that? Hey, Jeno, you already know who I am, you’ve been tutoring me and playing baseball with me every week. Tah-dah! Surprise! It’s me!

You mulled over letting him know who you were all week, all the way up into your tutoring session with him.

He helped you diligently as always, and when the session was over, he sat back in his chair, staring up at the clock.

“Are you okay?” you asked, leaning over the table to slide his pen back to him.

He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again.

“Maybe… Maybe you can help me with this. I could use a fresh set of eyes on it.”

He pulled out a printed photo of your moonlight picture, the closest thing you had to a picture of yourself in your portfolio.

“Do you have any idea where this picture might’ve been taken? All I’ve figured out is that it’s a place high off the ground.”

You pursed your lips and pretended to mull over it for a moment. “High off the ground? The tallest building on campus is the observatory. Have you been there?”

You threw him a bone. You were pretty sure no one there actually knew your name.

“The observatory?”

“Yeah. It’s the thing that houses that giant telescope the astronomy students use. It’s open 24 hours.”

“The observatory… of course. Thank you! I could kiss you!”

You turned a deep shade of pink as Jeno got up and hurried out of the library.