His evening starts like this: there is a sock on the door knob.  He knows what it means, everyone knows what it means, they should just tape a piece of paper on the door: Come back later, I’m ing. It’s not discrete when everyone knows (and the neighboring rooms can probably hear), so why bother?  As it is that single clean sports sock and barely muffled moans from behind the flimsy dorm door makes Sungyeol want to grab the sock, barge in, and gag Myungsoo with it.  (It’s better than the hanger though; the hanger had incited distinctly more violent thoughts.)

Myungsoo’s his best friend and he loves him, the way siblings love each other even when saran wrapping the toilet seats to prank the other, but Myungsoo is an .  Sungyeol doesn’t even have his wallet, just his cellphone, his Upass, and low grade rage.

Thank god for the Starbucks phone app.

That’s how Sungyeol finds himself at the nearest Starbucks at 9:30, staring awkwardly at the barista as he realises he’s less than a dollar short for his order without any change on him.  He really should start loading the damn card so that he can buy five drinks exactly rather than just throwing twenty on it.  In his mind he’s cursing himself, cursing Myungsoo, when the person in line behind him taps his shoulder lightly, holding out enough change to cover his order.

“Take it,” the stranger says in a startlingly gentle voice.  

He takes it and pays, walking off with his drink before backtracking quickly.

“Thanks!  I mean…uh, thanks!”  His voice is loud over the pop song playing softly from the speakers.  The stranger looks over, startled, and grins wryly.




The other boy’s name is Sungjong and he’s wearing an oversized beanie that really should look stupid but actually suits him.  Sungyeol keeps staring at it as he talks, rambling on about what an his roommate is because Sungjong is willing to listen.  He’s not really sure why Sungjong is humouring him, he has that same wry smile on his face the whole time and mostly just nods along.

“Wow, I’m rambling,” Sungyeol says, somewhat breathless from a particularly long, ranting sentence.

“You are,” Sungjong agrees easily, lips curled at the edges (it would be an annoying expression on anyone else, but on Sungjong it’s not).  He tilts his cup as if to peek into it, “Think your roommate’s done ing?”

It’s well past 10 but Sungyeol knows Myungsoo (not like that), when he goes for it, he really goes for it.  

“Probably not,” he sighs as he casually sends Myungsoo a text.

I hope you die of dehydration ♡




Sungjong must be really bored, Sungyeol decides.  It’s the only explanation for why they end up at the Namsan cable car station, ten minutes after it closed, Sungjong kicking at the ground unhappily.  

“How do you feel about hiking?”

“In the middle of the night,” Sungyeol gives Sungjong a disbelieving look and he just shrugs.  He’s not sure if Sungjong is crazy or just carefree, it’s weird because usually Sungyeol is the one that’s unreasonable but in spite of how everything started he’s the one that’s being pulled along on a ride with no end in sight.  He's a little bit freaked out.

I might be dead by the time you read this.

Still no response from Myungsoo, Sungyeol wonders which of them will die first at this rate.  It’s weird, he feels like he wants to get away from Sungjong but at the same time he’s curious, where will Sungjong end up if he keeps wandering around like this?  He's never had a very good sense of self-preservation.  Sungjong doesn't have to do anything more than glance at him and he's following already.
 



They end up wandering around Myeongdong.  They’re stuck at a pedestrian crossing island, there's a giant digital display screen towering above, showing some random girl group dancing and he can’t hear what they’re dancing to over the chaos of everything else.  Sungjong decides to start dancing, and singing, because he can apparently match the lyrics and melody perfectly just by watching the choreography.  

Sungjong is crazy but Sungyeol thinks he must be crazy too because he ends up dancing with Sungjong and they miss the green light.




It’s almost 2AM, they’re sitting next to each other on stone steps, each sipping on a little bottle of apple yogurt (Sungjong paid, obviously).  

“I broke up with my boyfriend today—yesterday.”

He supposes that Sungjong is trying to explain his behaviour, but Sungyeol doesn’t really get it, because he’s never needed a reason to be crazy and because he’s never cared enough about someone that it’d drive him crazy.  

“You think I’m insane, don’t you?”

“Just a little bit,” Sungyeol answers with a smile.  He doesn’t really get it, but he figures Sungjong is more lonely than crazy.  

His phone vibrates in his pocket but Sungyeol doesn’t notice because they’re getting up and walking somewhere else again.




“Why are all the interesting places closed?”

“Because it’s 4 AM.”  It’s not funny but they end up laughing so hard that they have to hold each other up.




He has a class in less than four hours but they’re still out, still wandering.  There’s no real reason for Sungyeol to still be out, it’s kind of ridiculous— But he figures it’s because Sungjong is driving him crazy (crazier) and he can’t be bothered to fight it.

He’s not thinking when he steals Sungjong’s hat and casually runs his hand through Sungjong’s hair.  

“What are you doing?”

“Um…”  Honestly, Sungyeol really wants to know too.  He has no explanation except that Sungjong is crazy (lonely) and cute.

“I’m pretty sure this would count as rebounding.”  The edge of his lips are curled, and suddenly Sungyeol gets the sense that Sungjong really isn’t smiling at all.

“So I can’t?”

“…you can, but I’m pretty sure you don’t want to.”

Sungyeol doesn’t think so but he figures that Sungjong’s way of saying he needs time, or space, or whatever it is that people feel like they need after a fresh heartbreak.  So he doesn’t push any further, just ruffles Sungjong’s hair.  He figures, they have time.




They end up heading back towards the dorm just past 6AM, watching the sun rise above the buildings as they shuffle their way down empty sidewalks.  Sungyeol’s not sure why Sungjong is still with him (or vice versa) but he figures Sungjong must be a student too, probably from the same university.

It’s not until they’re inside his dorm building that Sungyeol’s really wondering (and his heart is thundering, he doesn’t know why).  “Do you live in this building too?”

“No.”

His throat is dry and tight, he’s not sure what he’s expecting but before his expectations can get out of hand the door to his room opens out onto them, and Myungsoo is standing there in all his disgruntled glory.  

“Sungyeol!  Where were you—”  He’s staring at Sungjong, Sungyeol realises, and Sungjong is meeting that stare, eyes wide and dull, not smiling (not at all, even though the edge of his lips curl like a defence mechanism).

“Sungjong—”

Sungjong steps forward and slaps Myungsoo.

“I hope you had fun last night.”

(This is going to be awkward, Sungyeol thinks.)