Chapter Text
The alarm clock blared loud. It echoes an awful lot for a place this cramped up. Groaning irritably, Yeonjun patted around himself, he swears he has heard this same sound more than 5 times over the span of the last 15 minutes.
No sign of the godforsaken device anywhere. Opening a sleepy eye, the blond looked around with blurry vision. The shadows, more like the lack there off, meant that there was still time till dawn.
So, why the fuck is the alarm blaring at 5 am in the morning.
(It was 6:15. Yeonjun is dramatic like that.)
As if clockwork, a thump was heard from the desk next to Yeonjun’s, followed by a wince and a sequence of colourful cuss words.
Ah yes.
It’s Choi Soobin.
Yeonjun’s roommate.
Groaning yet again, the elder of the two plunged his head into the mattress, ducking under the covers, trying to obscure his head into a pillow. Drowning the noise as much as possible – the occasional cuss words, which never went past “fuck” or “fucking hell” because Soobin was too jaded to think about anything else.
“Ugh- Soobin stop being so loud!! It’s not my problem you played spiderman the whole evening and didn’t do your assignment!!”
“Stop being so dramatic Hyung I’m not bothering you. It’s due at 9 and I HAVE to get it done.”
“Your existence bothers me Bin.”
“Apply for a roomie change then.”
A whine escaped the raven haired in question, a 2nd year Cyber Security major. Yeonjun himself was a 3rd Year Artificial Intelligence and Robotics major. Grumbling yet again, the elder felt like he was just going to transform into an animal thanks to all these guttural sounds that he was making.
Unable to fall back to slumber, all thanks to ‘Roommate Of The Year’, the blond decided on getting the day started for himself. Might as well you know? Dropping down the single bed with a thump, the blond stretched out his long legs, swaying from side to side in hopes of waking the rest of his body up.
The raven haired peered through his periphery, eyes trailing down the curves of the elder’s lower half. He has been exercising recently. That too a good amount, always in a good shape… always having his life in order. Gaze moving over to his muscular arms that were visible due to the ridden-up sleeves of Yeonjun’s shirt, he took in a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
Absentmindedly, Soobin spoke, fiddling with his pen while chewing on the cap in his other hand.
“Where are you going?”
“Shower. His highness didn’t let me sleep soundly so I thought I should just clean up. I don’t like being a stinky boy.”
Soobin let out a little chuckle at that. What? Yeonjun isn’t ALWAYS annoying.
In fact, he’s never annoying…
Missing the little smile his roommate had on his face, the younger just ended up nodding. Head still peering into the massive shit pile of sheets he had created; yawning, continuing to struggle with the cryptography problems that he was assigned with.
It was exactly an hour and half when the elder returned from his “shower”. Turns out he met a few friends and decided to hop along for a quick work out session with them. Typical Yeonjun.
However, Soobin was still struggling, these problems were taking him longer than expected. Borderline panicking, the 20-year-old boy fidgeted on his seat. Swaying his limbs about the legs of his chair. Eyes peeping towards the clock every two minutes at this point; it read 7: 34. If he manages to finish it by 8: 40, he can still make it to the class in time.
Yeonjun sat there on his bed, observing. His laptop on his lap while his eyes darted between Soobin’s desk and the door. Should he intervene? I mean he had taken this course last semester; he could at least help with a few questions. The younger looked pretty anxious by the way his composure twitched with the passing minutes.
They had known each other for around 3 months now if you don’t count the occasional glances over at a competition or something.
Roommates.
Yeonjun being the president of the Robotics club, most CSE majors and their derivatives knew who he was. Soobin being one of those people knew of the elder’s existence too. But he was never one to make many acquaintances, the whole reason he still struggled to make a proper conversation with the senior.
Not to mention how good looking Soobin found him… but it doesn’t matter. Hell, he has seen him do all kinds of stuff, burp? He’s seen it. Fart? He’s seen it too.
Finally stepping up, the elder took two strides to the younger hunched over his table. Yeah, the room was that small. Patting at his shoulder, he encountered a frazzled looking Soobin with bloodshot eyes gazing up at him, features twisting to whine yet again.
Cute.
“Go wash up Bin. You’ve been at it the whole night. This isn’t going to get any work done.” The elder reasoned with the younger who was already shaking his head, a whine about to erupt from his throat yet again.
“Soobin. Listen to me for once.” Sounding a little annoyed, he just can’t help it. Functioning on 5-ish hours of sleep is hard.
Just take the assist and let me get on with my day, the elder thought.
“What? Why? What is in it for you?”
The taller scoffed, speaking with a small pout, eyebrows knitted, making him look like an annoyed puppy. Still very much aware of the hand on his shoulder. It felt like it could burn into his skin.
Why is Yeonjun making him feel this way? He swears he only thinks of him as his very capable and good-looking roommate and nothing else.
“You’re miserable. I’m just trying to help. I took this course last semester. And I also know that all these all-nighters do is more harm than good. Trust me, go wash up I’ll take care of it.”
And so, the boy stood up, letting the older male take over. Within the next 20 minutes, the raven haired was no longer a stinky boy and his assignment too lay done and dusted on his desk. Along with a very smiley Yeonjun.
This is the first time Soobin has seen him smile like that… in front of him at least. Round cheeks, plump enough to collide right with his thick rimmed glasses. Soft pink lips twisted in a grin while the elder clapped his hand in glee once, standing up and giving Soobin a firm pat on his back and then moving over to grab breakfast for himself.
Leaving a stunned Soobin in the middle of the dimly lit dorm room, with a faint pink blush creeping up the back of his neck.
Slamming his notebook shut, a little too loud for comfort, Yeonjun stretched irritably at his seat. Eyes moving to look at the time in the now emptying hall. Today was an ass day. Everything seemed to be going wrong.
First thing that happened to the blond in the morning was that he slipped and fell in the shower, then he dropped his coffee while rushing to class over his favourite hoodie. Then, he forgot his laptop charger in the library during a study break, so he had to run all the way from the lab building, which was objectively the longest route around any place at university, to get it back.
It had been a long week, and an even shittier day. Poor Yeonjun couldn’t hope for anything more.
Only a good night sleep could tame him, the fatigue slowly catching up to the guy. If only he finds himself a quiet dorm room upon arrival, he’d just doze off to the soundest slumber he has had in a while.
Walking back to the dorm in a fast pace with that hope, wishing to God that it’s empty; heart dropping immediately though, when he realised that he told Soobin that he was going to be out studying till late. Don’t blame him though – it had just been a few minutes since he had fallen in the shower, his morale was still intact for the day.
Groaning at his absentmindedness, Yeonjun already knew what awaited him back home. Reaching the hallway, he could hear the clamouring from outside, audibly sighing at that.
Of course, Soobin invited his friends over, after all it is Friday night.
Opening the door, his tired eyes were first met by Taehyun, Soobin’s friend from class who shared most of the same lectures as him, and then Beomgyu. Their music major friend, who was also extremely loud.
Charming, but loud.
It was a little weird though, the friend group. Yeonjun doesn’t know how that guy ended up with them but they seemed pretty close, so he didn’t say much whenever they came over.
The elder’s eyes finally met Soobin’s, an annoyed gaze by Yeonjun’s side.
“Hey Beomgyu. Taehyun. Bin.”
A curt nod.
Soobin knew where this was going to go, regret immediately clawing at the back of his head. He knows something’s up; he can tell by the pissed expression that Yeonjun so desperately was trying to hide.
Gulping, trying to handle it in the best of his abilities, Soobin tried to hold eye contact as he began to speak.
“I wasn’t expecting you to be back so soon Hyung.”
Yeonjun just stood around with slumped shoulders. He could feel the lump in his throat building up, his eyes getting glassy from the tiredness.
“Yeah, I wasn’t going to actually but I just- you know what? Forget it.”
The elder stood looking at his feet, the clock, the opened bottles of cola, pizza boxes littered on Soobin’s desk. Looking everywhere but in the stunned doe eyes of his roommate. He looked apologetic but Yeonjun didn’t need it. Not after his day had been so ass. Sympathy was the last thing he wanted.
Picking up his coat again, the elder motioned towards the door, trying to tell the lot that he’s just going to go out for a walk or something. Soobin interjected, urging him to stay, maybe sit with them. Standing up when the blond vigorously shook his head.
“Hyung stay. Don’t worry about it. Right Tyun?”
Yeonjun let out a dry chuckle. That’s really nice of Soobin though. He really isn’t all that bad huh.
Well, he never really had a problem with him anyway, he’s just a little loud for the elder’s comfort but everyone is. He’s a nice guy, really. Their eyes meet in a humble nod.
“Yeah, yeah really! You should stay, we weren’t doing much anyway.”
Taehyun said with a smile, looking at Beomgyu with loaded eyes, the smaller looking away immediately, blushing. Quirking an eyebrow, Yeonjun looked at Soobin, an expression of amusement that the taller didn’t catch up on.
What do these two have going on? Yeonjun never really asked what they really were. Always together so he just assumed they must be you know…?
Dating?
This was the first time the elder was really spending time with the lot, and he had to admit, they were a bunch of nice chaps.
Very loud but nice, immediately toning down though when Soobin would urge them to, the younger mindful about the elder’s comfort.
The blond ended up letting out a tiny rant about how absolutely jack shit his day went, prompting a loud screechy laugh from Soobin. A series of pats from the raven haired as he smiled back at him with glee, reassuring him that he can totally laugh about this tomorrow.
Yeonjun already started to feel better, making up his mind to try and talk to the younger more frequently too. A gleam lay shimmering in the taller’s eyes every time their gaze met, it was reassuring – his positivity.
Chugging down a small bottle of cola, burping here and there, earning laughs, Yeonjun finally diverted his attention to the other two. The two who still happened to be looking at each other with those eyes? Clearing his throat, Yeonjun smugly quirked an eyebrow up, as if he were to make an absurd joke.
“Sooooooo, Beomgyu. Taehyun. How long has… you know? This? Been going on?”
Leaning his back on the rolling chair, Yeonjun made a funny gesture pointing at both boys.
What he didn’t expect was Soobin to almost choke on his drink. Sputtering awkwardly as he diverted his attention to the guys that were in the spotlight.
Both of them looked shocked, eyes blown out in astonishment. Cheeks red, ears red. Beomgyu just looked away, stuttering as his brain refused to cooperate. Taehyun just kept looking at his lap, at the half-eaten pizza in his plate. Yeonjun realised what was happening, his eyes immediately flashed panic, trying to think of a way to undo it.
Shit.
There actually might be a slight chance that they aren’t dating… or that they haven’t even told each other they like each other.
“I- uh- we. I mean I-”
Beomgyu faltered painfully.
Holy fuck this has to be the most awkward sight to witness. Soobin was already on his back, whining, thrashing his legs as he let out squeals.
Taehyun tried his best not to smile though, his dimple on the right side of his cheek poked threateningly. Yeonjun too was trying to look everywhere but at those two, already starting to apologise for stepping too far, he didn’t mean to.
It just seemed like they were… you know?
Bonking bottoms…
“It’s okay Hyung I mean-”, Taehyun mumbled, still looking down at his pizza with the difference being the appearance of a smile on his face.
“I mean… I do like him…”
Looking to his side, catching the sight of the flustered brunette who looked like a lost puppy. Eyes softening with every passing second.
“I like him a lot actually…”
Woah.
The smaller brunette just giggled awkwardly, then loudly bursting into laughter. Letting out a scream of nerves, apologising straight after for the chaos. Sitting up properly, he placed his hands into Taehyun’s, treading headfirst into it.
Well, nothing can be done now can it?
“I uh- I like you too Taehyunie…”
…
…
“What. The. Fuck.”
That was all Soobin could muster, a confused look plastered on his face as he looked everywhere but those two. Yeonjun soon realising too when his eyes met the taller.
Fuck.
Soobin didn’t know about them liking each other. I mean, it’s pretty obvious. It would be extremely obvious to anyone who saw them but…
It’s not his fault he didn’t see the way his friends looked at each other. Hell, he was only trying to have a good time.
Collecting himself, Soobin immediately brightened up without making it too awkward. Patting both their heads endearingly, squealing about how cute they are. However, Yeonjun could still see a hint of sadness in his eyes.
Could it be loneliness?
The next hour passed without much hassle, all boys standing up, shuffling around sleepily. Soobin saw his friends off, teasing them about using protection, earning a slap or two at that. Yeonjun chuckled in the back and that was that. They called it a night.
However, after that was what felt a little weird…
The air was heavy with tension. Dreaded silence surrounded them. All Soobin said to Yeonjun after Taehyun and Beomgyu left was a good night. Clicking the lights off, covering his head with the blanket, Soobin closed the night off to sleep.
What the fuck just happened…?
Twisting his spoon at the cereal in front of him, the raven haired chewed absentmindedly. The cafeteria was bustling at this hour but none of that seemed to pull Soobin out of his head.
Events of last Friday night kept repeating in the poor boy’s mind.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy for his friends. Don’t get him wrong, he was the happiest of the lot, sending texts of extreme elation at both boys. Cooing at them for finally getting together to which they responded with awkward but happy smiles, a selfie in each other’s arms.
It was great, it really was. The boy continued eating at a sloth’s pace, completely zoning out the other boy in front of him, Kai.
Kai, who coughed cautiously at that, earning a surprised spacey look from the elder.
“Soobin Hyung are you alright?”
The brunette asked kindly, his usual screechy loud demeanour toned down at the look of his friend. Seriously, all Soobin’s friends were extremely loud.
Nodding sharply, sputtering at his cereal, Soobin replied.
“Why wouldn’t I be?? Of course! I’m fine. Just a little stressed about the test in a few.”
Sighing at his clean excuse, surely a white lie doesn’t hurt anyone. Besides, he was kind of scared about the test anyway.
Soobin’s eyes then diverted to the pair that entered the cafeteria just then, hand in hand. Beomgyu giggled when Taehyun laced his fingers with his, pressing a kiss on his cheek, showing his boyfriend off to everyone. Eyes meeting with their friends at the small table, waving at them cheekily.
A big smile plastered itself on the raven-haired male’s face, Kai brushed his demeanour of earlier to just stress of the day as the elder had reassured and left it at that. Soon the pair arrived at their table, clamouring, and settling down next to each other and talked their asses off about how it was the best weekend ever. Saying how Yeonjun is an angel in a human’s body, how they need to thank him immensely.
It wouldn’t be possible without him.
The raven haired smiled, yeah… they are right though, it wouldn’t be possible without his roommate.
Roommate.
His roommate could tell they liked each other before Soobin, Soobin who knew them for 2 years now. And Yeonjun had barely seen them 4 to 5 times prior to last Friday. The raven haired couldn’t believe how he could be so blind to something right in front of him.
Taking a deep sigh, he put up a happy face for his friends, putting his own thoughts to the back burner. He can think about this all he wants after he’s back at the dorm. In the comfort of his bed.
Yeonjun was observing though, not far from the lot. Sitting with his own group of friends, Jay and Heeseung – Jay who kept on harping about how they need to win this Hackathon coming up next week while Heeseung just gave him a disgusted nod.
Not at the concept of winning but because his coffee was too sweet.
The blond eldest too nodded absentmindedly as his eyes traced the features of a certain raven-haired twisting at his bowl. He noticed how Soobin’s smile faltered every time his friends diverted their attention from him.
Eyebrows knitted; the blond tried reading his roommate’s expression from afar. The distance didn’t help that much, squinting his eyes again and again, lips twisted in an unknowing pout.
“Hyung ahaha-”
Jay started when he caught Yeonjun staring, giving him a knowing smirk. Nodding suggestively. Throwing the elder an air gun, clicking his fingers at him while Heeseung suppressed a snigger himself. Throwing his eyebrows up, creases of surprise lined the eldest’s forehead.
“What??”
“Hyungie has a crush huhhhh~”, Jay continued drawling in his accent, poor Heeseung still tried his best to not burst into laughter.
“What rubbish-”, Yeonjun fake grumbled, a chuckle leaving soon after. He really thinks he has a crush huh.
“Then why are you staring so attentively at the resident nice boy hmmm?”
Heeseung finally spoke, chewing his words with each bite.
“Pshhhh please, I’m not staring. He just looks… sad.”
Yeonjun mumbled, looking down on his own food, soggy cereal.
Yuck.
He should’ve eaten faster.
But well, I mean, is Heeseung wrong though? An incriminating sight his staring was, of course it looks like Yeonjun has a crush on his junior, his roommate. He is a very good-looking guy though… but right now it doesn’t matter.
Realising not to mention his roommate’s friends dating because of himself as it isn’t the best and the most convincing reason ever; even if it’s true, Yeonjun decides to just take the teasing. He could just talk to Soobin privately. They could talk it out at the dorm perhaps, away from prying eyes.
Just as Yeonjun was about to divert his attention from the tall, extremely handsome but pouty bunny, the guy in question raised his eyes. Immediately meeting with the elder who instantly looked away, cheeks red with embarrassment.
Both out of being caught staring and… kind of liking it too?
What the fuck. What the fuck indeed.
Looking down at his half-eaten bowl, Soobin’s lips twisted in a little smile, Yeonjun isn’t subtle. Deep dimples, someone could literally swim in them, as Taehyun rarely pointed out. Yeah, those kinds of dimples? They were rare. Eyes flickering back to the elder for a split second, he noticed how his pierced ears were slightly redder than their natural tone.
Missing the whole point of it though.
Too bad, Soobin is as thick as one gets in these matters.
“Soooo, Yeonjun Hyung…”
Soobin lay in his bed, parallel to Yeonjun’s, who had a white face mask on. Lying comfortably on his own single bed, the elder was reading a file he printed out some minutes ago. A ‘hmmm’ in response, the elder urged Soobin to go on with his train.
“How did you know?”
The younger wasn’t being specific at all, trying to meander here and there over the topic. He was curious. He wanted to know why Yeonjun was so quick to notice whatever Beomgyu and Taehyun had going on. This thought clawing at his brain, he needed relief somehow.
Sitting up, Yeonjun shifted a little, trying to face the taller as he closed his file, placing it next to him. The raven-haired burst out in a loud cackle when he saw the way Yeonjun had his lips pouted, his beady eyes looking so much cuter through the holes of the face mask. He looked so adorable, he wanted to pinch the blond’s cheeks so desperately but thought against it…
Because:
- It’s Yeonjun Hyung.
- It’s his fucking roommate.
- It’s plain weird to do to anyone regardless of how cute they look. What the fuck Soobin.
- There is no d.
Knitting his eyebrows, the wet cloth shifted on the elder’s face as he thought deeply before speaking. Nasally hums leaving his throat, his own fingers laced together in his lap.
The Gray HoodieTM the man donned still had some residue of the dreaded spilt iced coffee, he must resort to wearing it only in front of close friends… and his roommate by extension.
“I uh- I just had a feeling in my gut you know?”
Pointing at his abdomen, the elder carefully spoke. Soobin nodded with a pout, clicking his tongue in thought.
“I’ve known them for two years Hyung… don’t get me wrong. I’m really happy with how things are right now. Seeing them happy genuinely makes me happy.”
The elder just nodded, there isn’t much to say here.
Soobin is opening to him, it’s a first. In fact, they’ve never had a conversation that lasted this long, most of them started with ‘fuck’ and ended with ‘you’ – due to Soobin’s limited vocabulary when it came to framing proper sentences in front of the blond.
Yeonjun really likes this Soobin, calm, articulate.
“…But I couldn’t help but feel a little awkward you know?”
“I understand Bin.”
Giving him a tense smile, Yeonjun’s cheeks felt tight as he felt the water drying up from the mask. A small unknowing grin crept onto Soobin’s visage as well when he saw the slight struggle, to which the elder’s heart responded with a flutter. He concluded that he liked to see the younger smile, more so when it’s because of him.
He should make him smile more often.
“So… what did you feel awkward about?”
Treading lightly, as if he were attempting to pet a small animal. Yeonjun didn’t want to scare his roommate off by coming off as too pushy, but it seemed that it wouldn’t be a concern. The taller’s whine died at the back of his throat as he sat up with his back pressed against the wall. Pulling his legs in closer, making himself smaller when he peered at the elder from between his knees.
“I uh- I’ve never really had that much of romantic experiences before. I mostly used to stick by with them. Well, I guess I had a few girls crush on me here and there in high school but-”
Mumbling between his legs, the taller’s eyes met the elder to see if he was listening – he was.
“But well- I like guys… so I wasn’t interested. And I didn’t even know that they even were queer in the first place. You know? It’s like a lot to take in at once.”
Finally letting out a sigh, still peering through his knees, Soobin hoped for a reply.
Phew, he decisively has come out in front of his roommate. For some reason, it felt better than he expected. Maybe it was the way Yeonjun’s gaze softened when he heard that, or because it kind of felt good to let these thoughts out occasionally.
Chest already felt light, and he hadn’t even said much yet.
Pulling off his mask in one go, Yeonjun crumpled the piece of fabric as he again nodded while putting his glasses on, but this time with a proper smile on his face. ‘Cheeks puffing up, the apple of his cheeks lifting up’ kind of smile. The younger unknowingly held his breath, a gush of giddiness filled his lungs.
“Now I probably know why you didn’t notice a lot of things Soobinie~ Oh! Can I call you Soobinie?”
Raising his palm up to cover his lips before he could catch the nickname, it slips. But the elder was immediately reassured when the younger hastily nodded in compliance.
“I’m queer too, and I thought you were too hehe. It really is alright if you didn’t think your friends liked each other in that way. It’s not every day a straight up book cliché comes true.”
The elder let out a nasally giggle, everything kind of started to make sense. This really made Soobin put his guard down by a lot.
And yes.
Fairy tales don’t really come true at all, usually. He is happy for his friends.
Chuckles and laughs filled the small, dim space with joy that night, both boys getting more and more comfortable in each other’s presence. Not so stiff anymore. Yeonjun found out that Soobin is a little bit of a geek, he likes collecting comics and has a huge comic book collection back home.
In the heat of the moment, he ended up nudging Yeonjun to come over one day so that he can show it to him. Ears readily reddening but Yeonjun didn’t mind. He just found him extremely adorable. The elder too, ended up telling him how he can watch 5 movies in one day, how he genuinely finds pleasure staying home even though he’s extroverted, to which the taller responded with squeals of glee.
“We really aren’t so different are we Hyungie?!”
Gleaming, Yeonjun shook his head at that.
“I guess not Soobin-ah.”
The next few weeks were spent like this, in each other’s company on weeknights. Growing fonder and fonder with every passing day. Soobin would sometimes ask random weird questions, nothing too serious or out of the blue. All of which as normal as things get.
One fine Wednesday night though, Soobin lay flat on his back. Twisting and fiddling with his fingers, about to doze off to sleep. The elder too lay on his back, looking at the taller as he moved his lips in preparation.
“Hyung, do you think I’ll find someone here if I look for them? Maybe try setting up dates or something?”
There was silence for a few seconds, Soobin turned his head to look at the elder.
Maybe he slept.
Crosschecking, he turned only to find the elder’s eyes already gazing at his own self. A soft unknowing blush creeping up his visage.
“Sometimes you don’t need to look too far, they just happen to be right where you are Binnie.”
And with that, Soobin hummed, chirping a groggy good night to the elder, dozing off to the dreamland. The elder too, slept soundly a few feet away from him.
Their hearts warm and beating peacefully, faint rouge painting them both.