Chapter Text
I looked around the dorm lounge hastily, waiting for this RA to start this required floor meeting so I could get on with my night. I felt a little weird, still living in the dorms as a junior, but my job working the desk required me to live on campus, and I was on a full-ride scholarship, room and board included. Sure, it would have been nice to live on my own or even with friends in one of the shitty apartments off-campus— that’s half the fun of college! But I was too poor to really even be a student here. I couldn’t throw away anything given to me. So instead, I had a double room all to myself— much better and much roomier than sharing the space, but a little lonelier than I had expected.
A few students sat on the couches, some on the windowsills and ledges, chatting happily while we waited for the mandatory floor meeting to start. A couple of students from a different floor were cooking in the kitchen, blaring music in a language I couldn’t understand— kind of a bop, though. Though they were only a few years younger than me, the freshmen all looked so incredibly young, and I squirmed in my seat. Am I really getting old? Maybe. I figured, yeah, I was probably getting old. I was almost the dorm grandma, at this point. I followed this train of thought down twists and turns, planning an old lady costume and a decorated door for once Halloween rolled around, when the RA would inevitably be told to program some kind of trick-or-treat program. Poor sucker, I thought, having to give up your first year of legal drinking in college to hang out with a bunch of babies and me…
Before I could ruminate much longer on my old lady-persona or this poor RA in front of me, a loud pod of boys came tumbling into the common room, yelling and laughing and causing a fuss. One with a premature beer-belly carried at least three pieces of pizza in his bare hands, two skinny blonde boys threw a NERF football over everyones’ heads, and in the middle of the pod was a boy with black wavy hair, shyly laughing with them.
The NERF football sailed past the boys and smacked the RA in the shoulder with a thud, and she groaned as she snatched it up. “OK, nope, you get this back after the meeting, go sit down so we can get this over with!” The two boys mumbled an apology, as did the rest of the group, before the mass of boys dissolved into tiny clusters of two and three all over the room.
“… anyways. That probably did nothing for my reputation as the mean RA, sorry… I promise I’m not that mean! I just have really bad RBF.” The RA laughed half-heartedly, trying not to lose the group of students before she could even go through the meeting. “Anyway, I’m Michaela, and for all of my first-years, welcome to college! For all my upperclassmen, welcome back. Sorry you have to sit through all this stuff you already know, but… y’know, rules are rules. Anyways, uh, let me take attendance!”
Michaela leaned forward and grabbed a clipboard off one of the tables in the lounge, and began reading off of her roster. I was called pretty quickly towards the first few names, and had started to tune out…
“Jeo— Jeng-- I’m super sorry, how do I say your name? Both initials start with a J?” The RA called out to the room, looking flustered.
The boy from the middle of the pod, the one with the dark and wavy hair, looked up. “Ah, I’m… uh, last name Jeon. First name Jungkook.”
He caught my eye for some reason, and I couldn't figure out why.
“Ah, OK, Jin— Jung… I’m sorry, one more time?” She asked again, turning a little red. “I’m so sorry, give me time and I’ll get it right!”
“My English name is Ian, if that’s better.” The boy said, looking aside for a second before looking back at the RA.
She nodded. “Are you sure?” Jungkook nodded back. “OK, sorry about that, Ian… do you want me to change the name on your door dec?”
He shrugged, a quiet and half-hearted “I don’t really mind.”
Michaela, ready to move past the awkwardness, nodded quickly, and continued reading.
I looked at him for a moment longer— probably too long, actually. Maybe I had seen him on campus before?
Was he another upperclassman living in the dorms for some reason?
He looked so familiar, like I’d known him before, maybe a long time ago.
I made a mental note to maybe say hi, later, ask if we had taken a class together or been in the same student organization, or something.
And then he looked back at me, locking eyes, staring at me staring at him.
God, he must think I’m a lunatic.
But why can’t I stop looking at him?
I didn’t listen to a single thing the entire meeting.