The trip to the school campus was more of a challenge while being hungover than Jongin initially thought. A few pain killers and coffee had somewhat done the trick to fool his brain into thinking he was okay enough to take a shower and get something to eat before heading out. He was still in a daze, but he managed to make it to his first class.

Luckily the teacher had not yet arrived, just a few other students scattered around so Jongin could just sit down and breathe, head on the desk as he remembered all the times his brother told him drinking wasn’t good and that he should not do it. He really should’ve listened. Closing his eyes, Jongin hoped the hour would pass by quickly, so he could at least take another nap in the library.

“Rough night,” he heard a voice he identified too quickly for his liking, his eyes fluttering open again, finding a known face staring back at him. Jongin sat up straight, his eyes scanning the room for a moment before going back to the figure in front of him. The guy who had been staring at him during class was just sitting there, talking to him. Jongin didn’t know what to feel. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to bite you… yet,” he said, running a quick scan of Jongin’s figure.

“Excuse me?” Jongin did not have enough energy for this, he felt a little confused, but he would surely blame the hangover for that. Why did they have to run into each other again? Should he even trust him or just run away? The dude was overall kind of creepy, his eyes were so intense like they held so much more than what anyone could think of and Jongin wasn’t sure he liked it. He wasn’t sure he hated it either.

“We meet again,” Kyungsoo said, smirk in place, exuding confidence. Of course, he was very handsome, he had attractive features. Not that Jongin was looking.

“I can see that,” Jongin replied, sighing. “Are you following me or something? Because that’s creepy.”

“Not at all, but I think you’re interesting,” Kyungsoo leaned in a little, getting just a tiny bit closer to Jongin. He had no idea what personal space meant and that just made Jongin more uncomfortable.

“Why?” he asked and Kyungsoo just smiled in response, the way this guy smiled was made to attract people, Jongin was sure.

He doesn’t get to hear anything else from him when Minjoon sat next to them, with his bright smile, he looked better than how Jongin felt. He placed his books on the table and turned to greet Jongin, his eyes curiously glancing at the new person.

“Oh, hi!” he waved at them. “I’m Minjoon,” he offered a hand that Kyungsoo gladly accepted. “Morning Jongin.”

“Good morning,” Jongin looked back and forth between them, an unsettling feeling creeping up his stomach. Kyungsoo gave Minjoon the same smile he gave Jongin just moments ago and Jongin watched as his friend blushed in response. “Minjoon, about last night…”

“Oh, right! Are you feeling better?” Minjoon turned back to Jongin with worry in his eyes. “We thought maybe we pushed too much alcohol to you, it was so lucky that your friend was there, and he could take you home.”

Friend?

“My friend?” Jongin asked, frowning. He was very sure he didn’t know anyone else in the city other than Minjoon and Jongwoon. He ran a hand through his hair. “Do you remember what this person looks like?”

“Oh, he’s blond and nice… I was kind of drunk too so it’s all blurry,” Minjoon smiled apologetically. “You don’t remember him?”

Jongin shook his head. “I don’t remember much after going into the bathroom.” he did remember seeing blond hair before passing out.

“I don’t remember his name, but we’ll ask Jongwoon when we see him,” Minjoon assured. Jongin took a deep breath, whoever it was, knew where Jongin lived and had been inside his house. Luckily, there wasn’t anything missing and Jongin was unharmed but…

That was so strange.

“Sounds like you had a rough night indeed,” Kyungsoo said. Jongin avoided looking at him for the time being, he had enough on his head already.

“We went to this cool bar and had too much to drink,” Minjoon explained with a nervous laugh and Jongin wished he didn’t say anything at all.

“Well, the semester just started, so it’s cool to have fun.” Kyungsoo shrugged. Jongin could feel his eyes on him, but he just refused to turn and look. Usually, Jongin’s perception of people was right, so he would not risk it by giving in to whatever this guy wanted.

“That’s true,” Minjoon smiled as he pulled his books out of his bag. Kyungsoo and Minjoon had an animated chat for a while and in no time, it looked like he was ready to elope with the creepy guy if he asked. Jongin couldn’t blame him, the guy seemed to be somewhat charismatic for what he could hear but there was still something about him.

The teacher walked in then, getting everyone’s attention and Jongin has never been more relieved. However, that soon disappeared when he felt Kyungsoo’s eyes on him once again, not having Minjoon as a distraction anymore. Jongin took in a deep breath and tried to ignore it the best he could.

There was a sudden piece of paper landing on Jongin’s open notebook, he frowned as he opened it and all it said was…

Can I get your number?

Jongin finally glanced at Kyungsoo who had the most annoying smirk on his face. Jongin shook his head, scribbling down a negative reply quickly before putting it on Kyungsoo’s desk. The other didn’t say anything else but he didn’t seem discouraged either. The last thing Jongin needed right now was to get involved with anyone. He was barely starting the semester, so he wasn’t going to start anything with anyone anytime soon.

The piece of paper landed once again over Jongin’s books, he sighed, tempted to not read it at all but he was also curious, so he opened it.

I just want to be friends :(

There was a challenge written all over Kyungsoo’s face when Jongin looked at him again, followed by a stupid smirk that he didn’t even know what to do with. Jongin chuckled, writing down another negative response before sending it back.

He didn’t receive any notes for a while, so he finally focused on the lecture or he at least tried.

Once the class was over, Kyungsoo followed them towards the common area. Minjoon asked him a ton of questions that he answered with that stupid smile on his face, looking at him like he’s the most interesting person in the world. Jongin sighed. They sat at a table together.

“I’m texting Jongwoon to see if he’s out of class already,” Minjoon said, pulling out his phone.

Kyungsoo rested his chin on his hand as he watched Minjoon, leaning forward slightly. “Are you guys doing anything after class?”

“Maybe just hang out,” Minjoon laughed. “After last night I think we should keep it low profile.”

“I agree,” Jongin said. He wasn’t into bars or anything like that for the time being. He suddenly felt that odd shiver running down his spine. This time it could not be related to Kyungsoo, who was talking to Minjoon like everything that came out of his mouth was gold. Jongin looked around, taking a deep breath, there wasn’t anything out of place. Nobody seemed weird.

“Everything okay?” he heard Kyungsoo say, snapping him out of a trance he didn’t know he was falling into. Jongin blinked.

“Yeah,” he ran a hand through his hair. “It’s fine.”

Jongin noticed Kyungsoo looking around as well, his eyes landing on Jongin once again. None of them said anything.

“Jongwoon is on his way,” Minjoon smiled at them, unaware of their staring contest. “If Kyungsoo is going to hang with us he should walk in the middle with me.”

Kyungsoo just frowned, looking at Jongin for answers. Jongin laughed, shaking his head.

“Just do as he says,” was his only response.

They fell back into an easy conversation after that.

Everything else forgotten for now.

…

The two things that make Jongin genuinely happy were food and books. He’s known this his entire life, so the moment he allowed himself to finally visit the bookstore downtown was the first time he was genuinely happy since he moved. The store was bigger than the ones in the town he grew up in, so it took him a good thirty minutes to go over all the books in one section. He never got anything for his birthday, so he was planning to treat himself.

That was the excuse.

A few titles caught his attention, so he grabbed them placing them carefully on the basket he selected. He moved to the fantasy section, grabbing a few books about Greek mythology, and fallen angels. He scanned through the magazines as well, spotting a familiar face in between the shelves. Jongin sighed, it looked like he wouldn’t be able to get rid of this guy no matter what he did.

He stared so hard that the other more than likely felt he was being watched and returned the stare. A smile soon appearing on his lips as he closed the book he had been reading through and walked over.

“Jongin, what a lovely surprise,” Kyungsoo said with that annoying voice of him that Jongin refused to admit he liked.

“Is it a surprise?” they had to admit, at this point running into each other seemed like more than a coincidence. Jongin narrowed his eyes at him and Kyungsoo just chuckled.

“It is, but maybe it’s destiny,” Kyungsoo shrugged, following Jongin around the store.

Jongin scoffed. “You believe destiny exists?” Jongin couldn’t think of a more unsustainable concept, to believe that everything was written and that they had no control over what would happen to them was something Jongin could not conceive. It was great for romance novels, but real life didn’t work that way.

“I’ve lived through destiny several times.” the way Kyungsoo said this made Jongin turn to look at him. He thought there was something in his eyes that was genuine like he believed what he just said.

“Well, I don’t believe in that. I like to believe that I have some control over what’s going to happen to me.” Jongin shrugged, picking up another book. “It’s the same when you fall in love. Are the people that break up and suffer destined to break up and suffer?”

“Sometimes they are,”

They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before Jongin cleared his throat and kept walking around the store.

“Are you doing something after this? We could go eat something,” Kyungsoo offered, and Jongin didn’t have to look at him to notice the smile in his voice.

“I’ll pass on that, but thanks anyway,” Jongin placed another book in his basket and Kyungsoo sighed.

“Come on, I’m not as bad as you seem to believe,” Kyungsoo stood between Jongin and the shelf. “If you give me a fair chance, I can prove it to you.”

Jongin took a deep breath, considering this. Maybe he hadn’t been very fair to him, but it wasn’t his fault the other decided to start a friendship by staring like a predator. This was all Jongin’s self-preservation instinct kicking in. He was alone in this city, so he had to do whatever he could to protect himself. Although if he was admitting things to himself, on a normal day Kyungsoo didn’t seem half bad.

Jongin sighed.

“Okay, one meal,” he had a knot in his stomach that he wasn’t sure was excitement or fear. “Or coffee.”

“That is all I’m asking,” Kyungsoo smiled, taking the book from Jongin’s hand, and putting it inside Jongin’s basket. “This one is really good; you should read it.”

Jongin could only hope he didn’t regret this.

…

A few hours later Jongin was laughing and he couldn’t believe it. He was laughing and the reason why he was laughing was none other than Kyungsoo.

Do Kyungsoo, as he recently found out.

They were sitting at this lovely café just a few stores away from the bookstore they were in, the bags on the seat next to them as they drank coffee, and Jongin listened to all these stories about Kyungsoo’s friends. Apparently, they were outgoing, and it seemed they cared about each other a lot. Story after story Jongin could only laugh and make comments and think that he had never been through anything similar. He had never been in such a large group of friends, and the few he was able to make during his school years had lost contact with him now that they were in college.

So Jongin only listened to him, chin resting on his hand, with a smile as Kyungsoo went on about the crazy things his friends put him through.

“They seem like a handful,” Jongin chuckled, taking a sip of his still warm coffee.

Kyungsoo nodded. Jongin could tell by his smile that he cared about them too. “They are, I’ll probably introduce you to them someday.”

“A few books and coffee and you’re already introducing me to your friends?” Jongin didn’t know why he said this, he didn’t know why it came out in a flirty tone either. Was he flirting? He wasn’t the flirty type, but his body appeared to be acting on its own.

“We’ll get to know each other more, I’m sure,” there was so much certainty in his voice. Jongin raised an eyebrow.

“Why? Because it’s destined?” Jongin teased, and he was rewarded with a laugh from the other.

“Oh, dear Jongin, if you only knew,” Kyungsoo shook his head, looking amused. His stare then got lost in the space, fixated on something over Jongin’s shoulder for a second before he cleared his throat. Kyungsoo sat back, none of them had noticed they were leaning in over the table, towards each other. “I should go, I’ll go pay for this and then I can take you home.”

There was a sudden change in his voice, it went from soft to stern in a second.

“Oh, it’s not necessary,” Jongin blushed slightly, he wasn’t sure if he had done something wrong but Kyungsoo was now frowning.

“I insist,” Kyungsoo gave him a tense smile before going over to pay for their coffees. Jongin observed him, sulking a little. What changed? They were having fun just a few minutes ago. Jongin went over their conversation in his head and he couldn’t find anything he had said that could be wrong in Kyungsoo’s eyes.

It was probably better to let it go.

Jongin sighed and grabbed his stuff when Kyungsoo walked back to their table. Kyungsoo’s features were tense, his whole body was too as they walked towards the exit.

“Is there something wrong?” Jongin asked when Kyungsoo took one of his bags to help him carry them.

“With you? No,” Kyungsoo sighed. “But I have a feeling I’ll have to explain the rest to you soon.”

Jongin frowned.

“The rest?”

“Yeah… you’ll see.”