The sun is overbearing and unfairly hot as it beats down on Jinwoo, making his head feel like its on fire and the air just that much more impossible to breathe. He pretends not to notice the judging stares of his peers as he soldiers on, doing his best to keep up but failing miserably. He feels, quite literally, like a dog out on a hot summer day with the way he’s panting. The day has only just begun, but he already wants to quit and go home for the day.

With his lungs on fire, he sets his gaze on the white line where all of his classmates are standing. Just have to make it there, Jinwoo assures himself. He is absolutely kicking himself for drinking so much the night before because he sure is feeling it now. One last burst of energy has him speeding up and finally crossing the accursed line, and he immediately falls to the ground. Everyone claps patronizingly while some awkwardly edge closer to where he lies, heaving.

“You alright?” one guy asks warily. Jinwoo can only hack and wheeze in response. Why, oh why did the instructor insist on having us run on the first day of class? A girl crouches over him too. “Are you sure you’re okay, Kim?” He’s so spent that he ignores the fact that everyone thinks his first name is Kim because the instructor flubbed roll call.

His classmates soon lose interest and return their attention to the instructor, who is wrapping up the class and explaining the course outcomes. Jinwoo eventually stands up and joins the others, his mind on breakfast since he made the unfortunate decision to skip it earlier. He and Jieun have plans to meet up for coffee since they are both free for a while after his class lets out; an ice-cold frappe sounds like just what the doctor ordered. Jinwoo immediately heads back to his dorm after class is dismissed, too shy to shower and change in front of others if he doesn’t have to.

To his surprise, Jieun is sitting in front of his door when he returns. She looks up as he approaches, offering him a smile and a wave. “Hey, how’s it going?” she greets. True to his gentlemanly code, Jinwoo hurries to extend a hand to help her up since she’s in a dress. She slaps it away teasingly and pinches her nose. “You stink.”

The sweaty boy’s expression turns exhausted as he replies morosely, “Of course I do. I did just come from the class from hell.”

Jieun’s eyebrows knit sympathetically as she watches him unlock the door. “You poor thing.” Jinwoo glances at her with suspicion at her tone. Why did that reek of sarcasm just now…?

She floats in once the door is open, flopping over the couch in a manner that could be considered “unladylike.” Jinwoo can’t help but smile at the familiarity she already has with his room. His heart warms a bit and he can feel his cheeks flush with happiness. She peeks up at him from her spot when she notices that he’s been standing there smiling at her for a few moments. Bashfully, he hurries past to his dresser, muttering apologies about her having to wait for him. She replies that it’s no trouble at all, especially if it means he’ll look less “pitiful” in public with her.

After a refreshing shower, Jinwoo exits the bathroom to find his friend sitting on David’s bed. He feels the beginnings of a cold sweat as he yelps, surprising Jieun so much that she leaps off immediately. “What are you doing?” he squeaks, dropping his dirty clothes in favor of hurrying over and smoothing down his roommate’s bedspread. “Are you trying to get me in trouble??”

She shrugs. “Nah. But c’mon, it’s not like he’s gonna notice. Unless you’ve finally seen him in the flesh?” Jieun raises her eyebrows.

Grudgingly, Jinwoo pouts. “No…” His roommate has remained elusive and did not turn up the previous night either. Not that Jinwoo minded at all—he was still nervous about meeting David—but…

It’s still… unusual.

“It’s kinda weird that he hasn’t shown his face even once,” Jieun adds, as though reading his mind. “Have you even communicated at all? Like email or text?”

Jinwoo shakes his head as he moves to put on his shoes. “Nope…” He pokes his lower lip out in thought as he continues, “But he did leave me his number on a note in case I ever needed anything. Which is thoughtful. Right?” She murmurs her agreement when he looks up at her.

They drop the subject in favor of finally going to the café for breakfast, Jinwoo ordering his much-anticipated frappe. He presses the cool drink to his face in relief, glad to have his most dreaded class out of the way for the day already, but dismayed at the prospect of doing it again in two days.

Sipping her hot chocolate, Jieun smirks at him. “I can sense some salt coming from your general direction. Wanna complain?” It was almost scary to Jinwoo how well she knew him already, but he didn’t question it. He was just glad she offered before he started anyway, unsolicited.

“Why is gym class only available at 8AM?” he whines loudly. He honestly didn’t think it would be that bad getting up early for it when he was signing up for classes. But now that he’s actually done it once, he realizes what a grave mistake he made.

Jieun makes a face. “There’s no justification in the world for it. I won’t hear it.” Jinwoo makes a noise to show he concurs, and Jieun glances at him slyly. “Mm, but it probably doesn’t help that you went and compounded the age by taking ‘personal fitness.’”

Jinwoo frowns. “Eh? What’s with the air quotes? And it’s not my fault! I thought it was the regular assessment course.”

The chocolate mustache Jieun sports glistens as she sets her mug down, grinning. “Sounds like something you’d do.” She pokes him when he pouts, resigned to his fate. “And hey, you can build up your stamina for that guy you like.”

“My stamina?” he parrots, not quite understanding. He gets it once she starts wiggling her eyebrows at him. He sighs, muttering, “Your face and the things that come out of your mouth don’t match at all…”

She giggles. “You say that, but then you blush—”

“Because you said something embarrassing!” Jinwoo insists quickly. He still hasn’t fully recovered from the drinking and crying he did the night before, so he’s decided to try to keep thoughts of the raven-haired boy out. The fact that he has promised himself the very same thing before is not lost on him; this time, he means business. No more Seungyoon to distract him from what’s really important. Things like…

“Why, why, why does it seem like we see them in here every time?” Jieun bemoans, sliding down in her seat with a drawn out sigh. Jinwoo doesn’t even look, knowing full well whom she’s talking about. Shoving the last bit of his croissant into his mouth, he tells himself that they have better things to do than notice him and his friend.

It was a wonderful thought in theory, but it was false. Seemingly unable to help himself, Baekhyun struts over to where the two are sitting and smirks down at Jinwoo.

“Well hello there, duckies!” the kohl-eyed boy sings. Ever the diligent sidekick, Suzy sidles up to him and snakes an arm around his waist. She looks Jieun up and down and grimaces.

Jieun, unimpressed, merely blurts, “Why do you two always slither over whenever you see me or Jo Kwon?”

Baekhyun sneers down at her. “Because I’m a generous person and I like to bless you by giving you something to live for.” He gestures at his impeccable appearance, full of pride. “Also, we do not ‘slither’ anywhere, young lady. We walk everywhere we go like it’s a runway.” At this, Jieun clucks her tongue and looks away. Baekhyun’s eyes narrow as he tilts his chin up at her, offended. “Hm? Got a problem, princess? Or should I say peasant?”

“You are so childish,” Jieun states blankly.

Jinwoo meekly looks between the two as they continue to go back and forth, feeling a little invisible. Suzy seems to be in pretty much the same boat as him, choosing to tap away on her phone rather than join in. It’s always been apparent that Baekhyun and Suzy’s problems were mostly with his friends and not him—he was just “guilty by association.” The reason? He still doesn’t know—neither of his new friends has filled him in on the details yet.

One thing he has been able to pick up on is the difference between how Jieun and Jo Kwon interact with Baekhyun. While Jo Kwon always has this slight aloofness about him whenever he addresses the bully, Jieun is far more reserved and apathetic when speaking to him. It makes Jinwoo curious, but he decides the reason behind the contrasting attitudes isn’t something for him to point out anytime soon.

Glancing at his watch, he notes that he should probably be leaving soon if he wants to make it to his class on time. He moves to rise to his feet, on guard as he eyes Suzy; she’s more of a hands-on bully, and he still has some frappe left. Thankfully, she doesn’t seem too interested in him and he glides out of the booth. Both Jieun and Baekhyun pause in their squabbling to look at him, making him feel sheepish like he interrupted something.

He coughs awkwardly before turning to address Jieun. “Sorry, but I have to get going for my class…” Jinwoo really doesn’t want to leave her there to deal with Baekhyun and Suzy alone, but he doesn’t have much choice.

Once he realizes that Jinwoo is leaving, Baekhyun smirks. “Well well, looks like a spot opened up for me to rest my aching feet!” he exclaims, bumping Jinwoo out of the way as he yanks Suzy and himself down to sit across from Jieun.

Almost immediately, the literature major stands up; the movement so fast that she shakes the table. She stumbles a little in her haste to get away, shakily commanding, “Don’t. Stay away from me.”

Jinwoo’s eyebrows furrow as he peers over at Jieun and attempts to decipher the expression on her face. Ah, she looks kind of irritated now, he worries. However, he knows the emotion behind the look on her face is something far deeper than that—he just can’t put his finger on what it is. He wonders if he should try to reach out to her, but decides against it once her clenched fists catch his eye.

Baekhyun, for his part, looks taken aback at her reaction. Even Suzy is now looking on with interest. “What’s with you?” he laughs. “You really are doing the most right now. It must hurt to be so bitter and jealous that—”

“Oh my—Jesus, just shut up!” interrupts Jieun. Her hands fly up to rub at her temples. She speaks again after she’s lowered her volume, as some others had started looking over at them. “Don’t talk to me like I’m Jo Kwon, because I’m not. I don’t even know how he can stand to look at your face and speak to you like you’re a normal human being.”

For the first time, Jinwoo saw some semblance of seriousness seep into Baekhyun’s expression. “Oh, get over it, Jieun! Jo Kwon has, I don’t know why you’re still in shock over it. Like yeah, I did it, so what?” He shakes his head, the familiar taunting smile back on his lips. “And you’re right, miss thing! I’m not a normal human being. I’m a god in front of the likes of you and that, at least.” The jut of his jaw in Jinwoo’s direction and his and Suzy’s laughter is enough to indicate who “that” is. Jinwoo doesn’t even have enough time to be offended. The change in Jieun’s demeanor has all of his attention.

She outwardly doesn’t have much of any particular emotion on her face, but that lack of expression is chilling in and of itself because it's Jieun—she’s always smiling and laughing. It must take something out of this world to get her like this, Jinwoo muses.

A tiny, mirthless smile slowly blossoms on Jieun’s face, and her eyes narrow almost imperceptibly. “It’s incredible how shameless you are,” she observes icily.

Baekhyun swallows, having noticeably less fun now. “Incredible is the best word you’ve used to describe me yet.” Jieun shakes her head at him again, her smile turning deceptively sweet. Her voice drops in volume, but it’s just loud enough for those involved to hear her.

“You’re a snake, and I mean it when I say never approach me when I’m alone again. I have nothing to say to you.”

The mood takes a sharp turn for the worse as something akin to hurt flashes in the normally boisterous boy’s eyes at Jieun’s words. Jinwoo can only look on in confusion and shock at all that just happened. He flinched, Jinwoo notes belatedly, snapping out of his trance upon noticing Jieun’s calm retreat. Once again, he can’t even take offense to anything—according to Jieun’s statement, he isn’t there—since there are much bigger things to worry about.

Awkwardly, Jinwoo rushes out of the café and jogs to catch up to his friend. She doesn’t acknowledge him as he falls into step beside her, making him worry.

Cautiously, he probes, “Are you okay?”

Jieun silently shakes her head. “Not really,” she murmurs. Suddenly, she stops and promptly turns kind eyes on Jinwoo. “I’m sorry. You probably felt really awkward and confused.”

Well… yeah. Jinwoo only nods, to which she manages to give him a small, apologetic grin. “I know you probably have questions, but I don’t think either of us are ready to talk about it. At least I’m not; you could probably ask JoJo. He likes to act like he isn’t still bothered by it, but I know it’s all a front…” She trails off, playing with her hair.

He blinks, still a little lost at how quickly things seemed to escalate back there. Vaguely, he remembers them mentioning that Baekhyun had stolen a boyfriend from Jo Kwon. Jinwoo had figured that was the big reason behind the drama between everyone, but it seems that there’s more to this than meets the eye.

Jieun snaps out of her trance, settling her gaze back on Jinwoo’s. “Sorry, but I’m going first. My class is in a different direction than yours, and I kind of need to calm down.”

Internally, Jinwoo is having a dilemma. Is it weird if I hug her? But I need to offer her some kind of support! He may not have all the details, but Jieun is obviously in need of some comfort anyway. Jieun must notice his fretting, for she offers him a friendly touch on the shoulder.

“Don’t fret, my pet,” she assures, making Jinwoo feel useless. He should be assuring her, not the other way around, in his mind. Before he can say anything else, she’s already spun on her heel and walked away. He pouts all the way to his math class, feeling like a bad friend.

He hopes that the class will serve as a distraction from all of the things running in head, but unfortunately for him, it does not. The professor is content to take the entire class time to talk about the syllabus at length, so Jinwoo’s mind tunes out once he realizes this. I hope Jieun is doing okay… Despite becoming fast friends with Jo Kwon and Jieun, the incident that just happened serves as a reminder that he still has only known them for a few days. He doesn’t know much of anything about them in the grand scheme of things. Jinwoo knows this, but still can’t help feeling bad that he wasn’t able to offer Jieun any support as a friend. The situation also hinted at there being more than he initially thought to what happened between the three of them; judging from Suzy’s relative aloofness earlier, he assumes she didn’t have much to do with it. He wants to ask about it, but knows he should leave it alone for now until he at least knows them better.

On top of all that, he has no idea what he wants to do for his fashion project. Something that describes me? he mopes as the professor continues to drone on. There are so many things I could do for that… Humans are complex beings, which is why Jinwoo is confused as to how he can nail himself in just one project. It isn’t like he hasn’t given any thought to it since yesterday—he’s just feeling conflicted.

A part of him that has recently become important in his life is finally accepting his uality. He’d like to try designing something with that in mind, but a part of him is afraid of it coming off as cliché. In Korea, he felt stifled because he could not freely express it. Even when he started to try with people who he thought were his closest friends, he was abandoned the minute he told them. Knowing the risks, he ended up telling his parents as well before he left for America. One always holds out hope that their parents will accept them no matter what, but the end result was pretty much as he expected. As anticipated as it was, it doesn’t mean it hurt Jinwoo any less. If he hadn’t received a full-ride scholarship to Dehoya University, he’d have to rely on his parents’ support to pay for school and, thus, keep the secret until after he graduated. He was always going to tell them because it was important to him to live his truth; it was just a matter of when, and the opportunity presented itself before he moved out to the States.

Starting to come out of his thoughts, Jinwoo twirls his pencil between his fingers. I’d still like to do it, he decides. This is something I want to do for me… I think I deserve to be selfish just this once. He starts packing up his things as the class ends, his determination lit up anew.

He has another class, Drawing & 2D Design, right after that is more of the same. His only homework is filling out a personal information sheet, so Jinwoo is feeling pretty good about the day. He’s still fired up about his project after thinking about it earlier, so he looks around for a bench to sit on. I think I’ll be satisfied if I just sketch a little today. There’s an empty one in the open quad in the middle of the campus, so he hurries to claim his spot. As he pulls out his sketchpad, his fingertips tingle in excitement. With how hectic it’s been, he hasn’t had the chance to draw or sketch anything since he landed in California. Needless to say, he’s looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

He looks at his surroundings to draw inspiration from something for a couple warm-up sketches. A scrub jay sitting in the nearby bird fountain catches his eye, and the idea starts to take shape. A tall, thin woman. She works in a corporate office so she favors the sleek and professional look, but she still has an eye for fashion. Her style is the same when outside of the office, but she ups the y a little bit. For a night out on the town, she chooses a taupe silk chiffon blouse with a bow collar. Maybe a cold shoulder too? Jinwoo contemplates, drawing the curve of her slender shoulders peeking out from the fabric. Wide, celestial blue trousers with a pleat and high slits on the outside show off her more mature side. Perhaps a cape of the same color would tie the ensemble together; Jinwoo considers whether it would have pleats as well or if that would be too much.

Despite being a man, Jinwoo has always been drawn to women’s fashion. Not wearing it, per se, but the wide variety of styles and silhouettes one could create for a woman. Since his initial interest in fashion, designing for women has always been his passion. Jinwoo fondly recalls the nights in high school when they would all cram into Minseok’s apartment—he lived alone—on the weekend. Jinwoo would sketch, Hani would sew, and Hyuna would model (Minseok would leer at her). Those nights were always filled with laughter, and that place became like a safe zone for Jinwoo to be himself. When he was with them, everything felt achievable; all dreams were possible. He loved to design for Hyuna, and she would always say things like, “I want to wear your clothes someday… clothes that say ‘By Jinwoo Kim’ on the tag!” In a sense, Hyuna was—and still is—his muse. To him, men’s fashion always felt restricted and one-note; only when women wore it did it gain some modicum of interest. Jinwoo always wondered why men couldn’t wear skirts and crop tops as well, since then it would be more fun designing for them. I suppose even guys can wear those things nowadays too, but it’s still not really caught on…

Jinwoo finishes up his scrub-jay sketch and proceeds to look around again for more inspiration. He ends up people watching, gaze drawn to the many different styles of the students at such an esteemed art university. It’s mostly outfits that he’s paying attention to, but then one face in particular grabs his attention…

He sighs. He really should be used to this by now. Of course he has to notice Seungyoon; the universe has decided that their fates are tied together now. Or at least, I’m doomed to always notice him and die alone because I can only have eyes for Seungyoon, Jinwoo thinks morbidly. Why is he so damned dreamy? The object of his affections is preoccupied with something on his phone, not a smile in sight.

Even though the boy is only passing by, Jinwoo finds himself getting lost in his features in profile. The gentle bump of his nose, the sharp lines of his jaw, the flutter of his eyelashes against his cheeks; Jinwoo is so captivated by him, he’s frustrated. His hair isn’t hiding under a hat or a hoodie today either, so he can see it in all of its soft, fluffy glory. The way it catches the sunlight showcases the brown, almost chestnut, lowlights. The contrast against his porcelain skin has Jinwoo subconsciously biting his lip. Noticing his all black outfit of jeans and a jacket, he wonders whether Seungyoon would ever wear a dress or a skirt…

After a few moments, he blinks and looks down at his sketchpad to see that he’d been drawing the whole time he was ogling his crush. Stupid hand, moving on its own! Jinwoo curses, his face flushing as he looks down at the sketch. It was Seungyoon in profile as he’d seen him, with some embellishments brought forth from his own memory. It would be obvious to anyone who looked at it that the artist was fond of the subject—he promised himself he’d rip the drawing out and throw it in the trash once he got home.

He didn’t.

----------------------------------------------------------xxx-------------------------------------------------------

That weekend finds Jinwoo still with an invisible roommate and himself snuggled up with his friends atop a pile of blankets on his floor. He’s sandwiched between the two, Jieun with her head lying on his shoulder and Jo Kwon up under his arm with a leg intertwined with one of his.

The eldest hums, rubbing his cheek against Jinwoo’s sweater. “Mm, you’re soft,” he nearly purrs.

“Sorry oppa, JoJo hasn’t had human contact in a long time,” Jieun teases, giggling.

“Little girl, I swear,” the victim mutters, swiping at her over Jinwoo.

“Ouch!” said boy yelps. “You scratched me!” Jieun just laughs while Jo Kwon apologizes with a pat to the face.

With somehow sparkling eyes, he asks, “Do you want me to kiss it better?”

“Nope. No thanks, all healed now.”

Jo Kwon sniffs, triumphant. “That’s what I thought. So anyways, how was everyone’s week? First week of school is over, whoo-whoo!”

Jinwoo has nothing exciting to report—there was no way he was telling them that he ended up drawing Seungyoon the other day. Not only would they demand to see it, but they’d also never let him live it down. Still, because he knew they’d ask about his crush anyway, he merely said he hadn’t talked to him since he walked him back to his dorm and had only seen him in class and around campus. They were disappointed at this, so he shared that he and his sister Seulgi were texting occasionally as a sort of consolation, which he was glad for. Jinwoo loves the pair currently snuggled up on him, but he’d like to have more than just two friends at school.

Suddenly, Jieun gets a glint in her eye and turns on her side to properly face them. “Speaking of new friends, guess who I discovered I have a class with?” Jinwoo assumes it’s someone only she and Jo Kwon know by the mysterious way she’s smiling, so he stays silent.

Jo Kwon, on the other hand, raises an eyebrow. “Who?” he inquires.

Her grin gets even more mischievous, and she wiggles her eyebrows. “Cream.”

The other groans, burying his face in Jinwoo’s armpit. “Oh, Lord have mercy…”

Jinwoo raises a questioning eyebrow. “Should I be concerned?”

Lifting his head, Jo Kwon gives him an imploring look. “Yes! Someone creepy with a nasty nickname is breathing the same air as our Jieun!”

Okay, time out. Jinwoo is even more confused. “Hah?? Nasty—?”

“Cream is a guy who went to our high school and got his nickname from the girls he slept with!” Jieun explains almost gleefully, her smile radiant.

He blanches. “Ew…”

“Right? What kind of foolishness is that? What a creep!” Jo Kwon huffs like a put-out parent. “Honestly, what is that stupid look on your face for, JiJi? You look way to happy about being in his presence.”

Jieun rolls her eyes. “Chill, helicopter mom. If the man’s hot, the man’s hot!”

“I see… so that’s your type, Jieun. Wow.” Jinwoo honestly doesn’t know what to say.

“Are you disillusioned with her yet?” The eldest pokes Jinwoo’s cheek. “It really that he actually is pretty attractive, in that stupid straight boy way.”

His curiosity is piqued. “Well now I have to see!” Jieun excitedly pulls up “Cream’s” Instagram account. It looks like a typical guy’s page: random shots of the street, dark pictures of some household cats, a few artfully taken selfies sprinkled throughout. And man, were those some good selfies.

“Ooh,” Jinwoo couldn’t stop himself from cooing. He gives a final hum of approval before handing the phone back to her. “His nickname seems a little more fitting. Looks like the kind of guy who’d claim it.”

“Right?” Jieun sighs dreamily. “Oh? He’s just posted a new selfie. …Ooh, look at it!” She shoves her phone back in the boys’ confused faces before snatching it back to scroll through his page again, giggling to herself. “I’m wet.”

!!! “NOOOO!!” Jinwoo and Jo Kwon shout in unison, both reaching over to cover as she cackles maniacally. “TMI, TMI!” wails Jinwoo, pinching her on her arm.

“Your fixation on him is weird! Gross, girl! He’s not even THAT cute!” Jo Kwon whines woefully.

After everyone calms down, Jinwoo asks Jo Kwon about his week in an attempt to erase the past five minutes from his memory. It works, because then Jo Kwon launches into a long rant session that consists almost entirely of complaints about Baekhyun. Apparently, they share a theater class together and Baekhyun had the nerve to call Jo Kwon a “typical theater gay.” While he rages, he doesn’t even notice the younger two looking over at each other and shaking their heads.

“I’m still joining theater club, though. See if his is gonna stop me from living my life,” he finishes with a huff, crossing his arms. Upon seeing his friends’ dead stares, he rolls his eyes. “What? You guys should join some clubs too.”

That’s not what the stares are for… Jinwoo deadpans. Jieun raises her hand, perking up. “I will! I’ve already got poetry club on my radar! They meet next week.”

Jo Kwon nods his head, looking over at Jinwoo. “And you?” he questions, eyebrow raised.

The fashion major runs his hands down his face. “I don’t know… I haven’t even thought about it, to be honest,” he replies.

“Hm…” Jo Kwon takes a moment to consider something. “Well, there’s quite a few clubs you can join. You could join dance club, art and design club, poetry club; I think there’s a choir? Or, hey, you know what? Just join theater club with me!” He does his best cute face, which only makes the other two grimace.

Jinwoo couldn’t dance, didn’t get along well with art students for some reason, couldn’t rhyme, and couldn’t sing. As for theater club, he very much understands Jo Kwon not wanting to be alone with Baekhyun, but that didn’t mean he’d willingly put himself through the stress of seeing the bully’s face every week, guaranteed. “Sorry, but none of those sound appealing…”

Jo Kwon pouts, crossing his arms and looking away. “Well, fine.”

Jieun snaps her fingers, sitting up. “You could join ASU!”

“ASU?” the boys echo.

“Asian Student Union!”

“Ugh,” Jo Kwon cringes. “Now why would he go there? Who wants to go hang out with a bunch of Asians?”

Jieun glances about, wondering if he’s serious. “Uh… Asians? Like us?”

“And creepy people with yellow fever.” Jo Kwon shivers. “No thanks.”

She her cheeks in. “Well, it wasn’t a suggestion for you, it was for this oppa. What do you say?”

“I don’t know…”

“There’s also Midnight Donut Club,” Jieun offers. “They meet at midnight and like, get donuts.”

“Ohoho…?” Jinwoo sits up, much more interested.

“Just see if you join that club,” Jo Kwon chastises. “You won't lose weight like you want to if you do all that midnight snacking, my darling.”

The other two stick their tongues out at him. “They only meet once a week… nice try, JoJo.”

After considering for a moment, Jinwoo decides he’ll check out both. Honestly, what has he got to lose? He needs something to do for fun, anyway. College is stressful, especially when you’re studying the arts. There’s society telling you that your degree is useless, and the prospects of making into these industries are usually slim. With Jinwoo’s growing dilemma with Seungyoon, he needs something to lighten his mood. He gets the information for both clubs from Jieun before they leave, making a commitment to himself that he will actually give these clubs a chance.

Monday evening finds him in an unfamiliar building, hunting for the location that ASU will be meeting in. Good thing I decided to come early… True to form, Jinwoo was hopelessly lost. As he’s turning this way and that looking for the room, the time he and Seungyoon first met suddenly comes to his mind. Haha… wouldn’t it be funny if he came to save me from being lost yet again? It’s a fun thought at first, but the possibility that Seungyoon very well could be attending the ASU meeting as well suddenly made the scenario less funny and more realistic. Oh god, I hope not. Please don’t let him show up suddenly. “Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease,” Jinwoo mutters to himself repeatedly, his efforts to find the room becoming more frantic. “Honestly, it’s been a few days. I thought I’d have known the campus a little better by now…”

Somehow, he eventually ends up back by the entrance. Jinwoo hangs his head in shame, dejected. He’s just about to give up when he hears a deep voice call out to him from behind. Oh, no… With the feeling of dread creeping up his spine, he slowly turns to look behind him.

Well, the good news is that it isn’t Seungyoon. He’s very much not Seungyoon at all.

The bad news? He’s insanely attractive. Jinwoo is convinced the universe hates him.

Especially since the guy is grinning and approaching him. “Hey!” the mystery boy greets again in English. After giving him a very obvious once-over, his grin widens. “Are you looking for ASU?”

Jinwoo gulps. “Yes,” he answers slowly, trying not to stammer. Damn it all to hell! That smile!

“Great! So am I! I’m VP, actually.” The boy has a smug smile like the other’s supposed to be impressed. Jinwoo just nods good-naturedly. “Come, I’ll walk with you!”

“O-Okay…” Jinwoo concedes shyly. The taller boy leads the way and he trails behind him, feeling stupid when the other points out that it’s only a few turns before they’ll reach the room.

“Ah!” The VP stops suddenly, spinning around a few steps away from the room to face him. “I never told you my name! I’m sorry. Guess I got too excited about seeing a new face this year.” He sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, and Jinwoo has to purse his lips to keep his smile in. Too cute…

“I’m Dongwoo. Again, in my native language, I’m Shin Dongwoo!” Dongwoo rattles off the last part in Korean, laughing when he’s finished. “Non-Asian people I meet are always so impressed with that. Isn’t it funny?” He laughs again, having already switched back to English.

Something comes over Jinwoo, and he suddenly has the urge to intentionally be cute with Dongwoo. He isn’t sure why exactly; he’d be embarrassed to do such a thing with Seungyoon, but he just can’t resist the urge with this somewhat dorky guy.

With this in mind, Jinwoo lets out a tiny chuckle and grins up at him. “Shinwoo,” he chimes.

The other boy blinks, adjusting his glasses on his face. “Eh?”

“Shinwoo,” Jinwoo repeats, laughing at his bewildered expression. He’s so expressive and cute, I can’t… “No one’s ever called you that?”

“No?”

Jinwoo decides to try flirting. He’s not good at it, and he’s still not sure what his gay-dar is telling him about Dongwoo, but he thinks this guy is the type to be oblivious enough to not even understand what’s going on. He tilts his head back and laughs, playfully hitting his chest. Whoa… hard! “It’s a cool nickname, right? That’s funny how no one’s used it before! I’ll call you that from now on, then.”

Slowly, the light bulb inside Dongwoo’s—Shinwoo’s—head begins to turn on. Jinwoo watches with interest as red begins to tint tan cheeks, and a hand comes up to fiddle with long brown hair. “Ehhhh…” Shinwoo murmurs, the beginnings of a charismatic grin lighting up his face. “I like it! Haha! I’ve never had a nickname before. Thanks, man!” He turns back around with a spring in his step and gets as far as one foot before he faces Jinwoo again. “Ah! Your name?”

His cheeks are beginning to hurt from smiling at Shinwoo so much, but he can’t help it. “Kim Jinwoo,” he supplies helpfully.

Shinwoo sticks out a hand, which Jinwoo takes gingerly. He shakes once firmly before saying, “Nice to meet you, Kimwoo,” with a serious expression on his face and a voice an octave lower than before. That lasts for approximately five seconds before they both burst out laughing. Jinwoo brings up his free hand to cover his smile, appreciating the warmth emanating from his new friend’s hand. “I like you, you’re fun,” Shinwoo admits, pulling the other closer by their conjoined hands and throwing an arm around him. They enter the room together, Jinwoo breathing in Shinwoo’s cologne and deciding that ASU might not have been such a bad idea after all. He reminds himself to thank Jieun the next time he sees her.

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