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It’s mid-November, and the early mornings are starting to dip into near-freezing temperatures. Jay knows this all too well as someone who has all morning classes, except for Thursday which is his free day.
And yet, on Thursdays, Jay finds himself repeating his morning routine of rising at 6:45, scrolling on his phone for 10 minutes, still bundled in his comforter like a burrito, nearly falling back asleep, and then finally getting out of bed at 6:58. The average temperature suddenly dropped 20 degrees over the course of a week, and Jay trudges through his apartment feeling the onset of a cold. Shivering slightly, he takes some painkillers, tugs on his warmest padded jacket, a random beanie, and leaves for his duty.
It started as an off-hand suggestion made over a video call during the summer after Jungwon overslept for class registration, leaving him with the worst selections possible. The boy groaned and moaned about being forced to attend a 3-hour lecture class every Thursday at the ungodly time of 8 am. Jay hated seeing sad animals, especially kittens, so he offered rides for him and Sunoo, who also had to take that class, if Jungwon promised to wake up on time. Jungwon snatched up the opportunity to not take public transportation.
Expectedly, Jungwon isn’t ready by the time Jay makes it to his and Sunoo’s place at 7:13. His poor roommate and best friend was already standing outside, though. Sunoo is dwarfed in an oversized coat and is shifting foot to foot, watching his breath puff out into the frigid air. Upon seeing Jay, he books it into the passenger seat. Jay turns up the heat in his car.
“Hi, hyung,” Sunoo says, teeth chattering, “Jungwon is coming right out.”
Jungwon does not come right out. He has not done so for the past six times Jay has picked the two up.
The cat-eyed boy loves his long morning showers that he claims is the best substitute for caffeine. If it wasn't for the fact that he was Yang Jungwon, Jay’s forever soft spot, and the fact that he does wake up on time technically, Jay would’ve considered their unofficial promise broken and allowed himself the privilege of finally sleeping in on a weekday.
At 7:34, Jungwon finally arrives, strolling without any sense of urgency.
“Jay-hyung!” Jungwon greets as he slides into the backseat. “I like that beanie. Did Sunghoonie-hyung get you that?”
Jay almost doesn’t reply, but the guilt of leaving the younger on heard forces him to mutter a “yes”.
He drives off. The car GPS says that their ETA to school is 9:06am. Jay curses how attendance is mandatory to this class that Jungwon and Sunoo say all their content is read off of a powerpoint. How much easier it would make all of their lives if their professor changed the class format to asynchronous, or, hell, an online Zoom class.
“Hyung…”
Jay grips his steering wheel tighter. He has an idea of what’s coming.
“I think I left my laptop on my desk.”
A vein appears on Jay’s forehead. “Jungwon-ah, just let Sunoo take the notes.”
“No, it’s not just that. I need to work on my presentation.”
“You can’t do it on your phone?”
“All my files are on my laptop.”
Jay pulls over to make a u-turn.
Their ETA is now 8:29. Sunoo is playing a playlist of K-drama osts over the aux and fixes his hair using the sunvisor mirror. Jay takes the few minutes Jungwon is gone retrieving his laptop to recline in his seat and close his eyes. It doesn’t help a lot, but at least his forehead vein goes away.
“Sorry, guys!” Jungwon grins, dimple on show as he gets back in the car, raising his laptop in victory. All Jay does is sigh because he can’t say anything to that smile.
They get back on their way to school.
Sunoo and Jungwon are belting to the climax of a song, when they are jolted forward by Jay slamming on the breaks right before a red light.
“What the fuck!” Jay screams.
A white Nissan Altima just cut him off without a care in the world.
Jungwon and Sunoo are groaning in pain from being lurched against their tight seatbelts, but Jay is already done with the day. He merges to the open lane on their right (why the fuck did that driver need to cut him off, then?!) and rolls down his driver-side window.
“Hey, bastard!”
The Nissan’s windows are tinted ridiculously dark, so, to Jay’s rage, he is left staring at his own maddened reflection. This fucker can drive like this, and also not get ticketed for his tint?
“I know you can hear me! Let’s talk face-to-face!”
In reply, the music in the other car turns ear-deafening levels, bass pounding and exterior vibrating.
The light then turns green, unfortunately, and Jay is forced to keep driving. He keeps his window open despite the constant wind it brings inside. Sunoo and Jungwon complain, but Jay can’t hear them from the ringing in his ears.
First, the cold. Then, Jungwon. Now, this asshole on the road. What’s next? They’re going to get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic near the on-ramp because of a crash on the highway?
“Hyung, let’s take some deep breaths,” Sunoo tries to console the fuming older. Jungwon is reaching up around the headrest to firmly massage Jay’s shoulders. The music has long been paused, window rolled back up, and the offending Nissan is lost somewhere in the lines of cars.
“Guys, e-mail your professor because we are not making it to class today.”
“That’s fine by me. It’s our first absence.”
Jungwon chirps up, “Are we still getting lunch after?”
“Of course. Sunghoonie-hyung’s paying!”
“Then, are we going home right now?”
Jay sinks back into Jungwon’s hands, defeated. “Yes, my place, but we won’t be moving for a while.”
Sunoo takes it as his sign to start the karaoke session back up, this time blasting some bubblegum K-pop. The car slightly rocks side to side with Jungwon’s excited shimmying in the backseat.
Jay can’t help but to finally crack a smile. It’s hard staying pissed when you have two of your favorite dongsaengs hyping you up as you rap along to Saja Boys.
Eventually, they make it to the end, where the two lanes merge into a singular one to get onto the highway. Jay is too busy bobbing his head to Stayc to take in his immediate surroundings.
Big mistake.
The car skids to an abrupt halt once again as the same white Nissan Altima speeds to jut its hood in front of Jay, forcing its way into the merge. Jay doesn’t forget to lay on the horn this time.
“This fucker?!”
“Hyung-”
“Where the fuck is he speeding to?! Does he know what a fucking zipper merge is? Wait. Your. Damn Turn.” Jay emphasizes each word with a drawn honk.
The anger has come back tenfold, and rises to the top of his beanie-covered head. If it wasn’t for the fact that he cannot afford to repair his car, he would have driven straight into the other to assert his position in line. Jay settles for warbled screaming and slamming his forehead into the steering wheel. That white car ruined his morning twice already.
Jay mutters, decisively, “I need to know what this motherfucker looks like.”
After they merge onto the highway and pass the initial mind-numbing traffic, Jay tailgates the speeding Nissan, forgoing the original objective of just going home. Sunoo has a whiteknuckled grip on the door handle, giving terrified looks to the boy in the backseat. Jungwon just looks shocked and slightly intrigued.
The Nissan makes its way to the exit lane, Jay following right behind.
Huh.
This is the same exit he takes to go home.
These are the same turns onto his block.
This is the same parking lot he parks at, which is residents-only by the way, “violators will be towed.”
The white car pulls into the lot. Jay slides up right beside it.
“Be right back.”
Jay gets out, and stomps over to knock on the other car’s driver-side window. The bass is still booming, clashing with the K-pop still playing in his own car.
Knock, knock, knock.
The music lowers. Slowly, the annoyingly-pitch black window rolls down, and with a held, furious breath—
It is the most beautiful man Jay has ever seen.
“What seems to be the problem, officer?” the man asks in a faux-innocent tone, voice as gentle as the heat from Jay’s bedroom space heater. The man has long, wavy deep brown hair and a wide, glimmering, upturned smile. It jumbles up Jay’s next words in his vocal cords, but he manages a strained:
“You.”
“Me?”
Jay clears his throat. “You,” he reiterates, “need to stay off the fucking road.”
“I think I’m free to drive as I want.”
“Not after what I experienced, you bastard—“
“Hey, that’s not very nice.”
“I should’ve just drove into you and wrecked your stupid, ugly car.”
“My car is not ugly either.”
“You have your windows tinted basically black.”
“Cool, right?”
“I bet you’re too broke for a Benz or Ferrari so you drive this stupid Nissan.”
“Well, yes, I’m still a college student, but this car wasn’t cheap either.”
“Pick a struggle: Broke. Can’t drive. Ug— um.”
“Huh?”
Jay and the man pause and stare at each other, the former’s eyes widened like saucers. He didn’t mean to pause in the middle of his roast, but he couldn’t lie and say the man is ugly. In fact, the more he looks at the living Prince Eric in front of him, the more he feels his anger slipping. This must be the pretty privilege Sunoo talks about experiencing all the time.
“Nothing,” Jay snaps. His eyes trail over to the parking permit pass hanging from the man’s rear view mirror. Belift University.
The man notices his gaze and asks, “Do you go to Belift, too?”
“Yes, but I’ve never seen you before.”
“Me neither. I’m a junior.”
“Me too.”
“What department?”
“Economics.”
“I’m in engineering.”
“That must be why then.” Jay then squints, remembering their surroundings. “Do you live here?”
“I do, so I’m going to call security to get you, your pretty face, and your car towed.”
Pretty face? The tips of Jay’s ears are red as he retorts, “Don’t get cocky. I’ve lived here for a year.”
The other man’s shit-eating smile fades at that. It’s a little unnerving, but Jay feels the same about their predicament.
“… Me too,” the man says in a near whisper. “Are you stalking me? What’s your apartment number?”
“312.”
“I’m 311.”
“What the fuck? What’s your name?”
“Jaeyun, but just call me Jake.”
“I’m-”
“Jay-hyung!” Said male jumps as a palm slaps onto his shoulder from behind. It’s Jungwon, brows furrowed and lips pursed. “You were taking a while so we got scared you two were beating each other up or something.”
“Jungwon-ah?”
Jungwon leans around Jay to peer inside the Nissan. “Jake-hyung?” His mouth is open in a perfect ‘o.’ “You’re the asshole driver?”
“Jungwon-ah, how do you know this guy?” Jay at this point is bewildered and a little freaked out.
“What’s going on here— Oh, Jake-hyung, hi!”
Jake gives Sunoo a smiley wave back.
It feels oddly like a reunion episode of a sitcom.
So, this guy goes to the same school as Jay, is in the same year, has the same first initial of their English name, moved into the same floor of the same apartment building around the same time, knows the same people, and, yet, they have never met before until now?
“Are you coming to lunch?” Sunoo asks Jake.
“Yeah, Sunghoon owes me money.”
He knows Sunghoon, too, of all people? Jay feels a tension headache forming underneath the beanie that pale, vampire-looking man got him. The cold he was putting aside is probably starting to take effect after the whole morning of mishaps and stress.
Jungwon beams, glancing excitedly back and forth between Jay and Jake. “What a small world! I was already planning to make you guys meet one day. Guess this was fate!”
Fate indeed. Jay thinks if he doesn’t take a nap he’s going to die.
Jake seems to notice this. “Hey, Jay, are you good? Let’s go back up.”
Jay finds himself being half-carried by Jake, who is way stronger than his lithe frame implies, all the way through the lobby, into the elevator, and down the hallway to the apartment— the door right across from his.
It is as messy as the living space of your typical, young, male college student, but it isn’t horrible enough to defer visitors.
“Ignore the mess,” Jake says, turning on the lights, his other arm still wrapped around Jay’s waist. “Haven’t had a chance to clean because of midterms.”
“It’s okay, hyung. I’ve seen worse.” Jungwon is on Jay’s other side, helping the man sit down on the sofa.
The room spins a little as Jay settles. His body suddenly feels too cold and hot at the same time, and he shuts his eyes with a groan. He hears Sunoo click his tongue from behind him, “Jake-hyung, look at what you did to Jay-hyung.”
Laughter blooms from the three standing.
“Sorry, Jay,” Jake apologizes in his soft tone. The sofa dips next to Jay’s knee, and a careful hand unclenches his fists to give him some pills and a glass of cold water. “Take these. You might have a cold or the flu, I don’t know.” As if on cue, Jay sniffles.
Jake lays a warm, soft hand on Jay’s forehead. “Yeah, you’re burning up.”
“Hyung,” Jungwon says, sternly, “you should’ve told us you were sick.”
Jay groans. “I was fine earlier; it was nothing.” He takes the pills and gulps down the rest of the water. Jungwon takes the glass from him and pushes him down to lay down fully.
“The rage probably heated him up even faster,” Sunoo quips.
Jake snickers. He sounds oddly close to Jay’s ears. “Jay-ah, I’ll repay you.” The same soft hand cards its fingers through Jay’s hair, lightly scratching his scalp. “I’ll get him a cold towel for his head.”
As their voices trail down out of the living room and into a room further into the apartment, Jay falls in slumber, cooled a little bit under the neatly folded towel Jake placed on his forehead, wishing the other would’ve played with his hair some more.
Well, he can just walk across the hallway for that. Maybe that can be Jake’s repayment.