Chapter Text
❦
When the new semester starts, I gather all my books
I used to think it was too heavy
And put it down in front of the classroom
Now that I’m an adult
Responsibilities are even heavier
“Young Wings,” Stray Kids
“Hi! You’re a freshman too, right? Architectural Engineering?”
It’s the first day of university orientation, and the boy just marches over to Seungmin, pointing at the color coded pamphlet that he has in his hand. It takes Seungmin a couple of seconds to realise that the stranger is holding an identical pamphlet of his own.
“Uh, yeah—?” Seungmin’s brow creases; he’s a little put off by the round-cheeked boy’s daring, but also mildly relieved because as much as he’s loath to admit, he had been nervous, going around by himself.
“Oh, good!” The boy lets out a very obviously relieved sigh; and then he flashes a big and bright grin at Seungmin before giving him a polite bow. “I’m Han Jisung— I’m an Architectural Engineering freshman too, so let’s be friends!”
“Um—” He’s a little apprehensive; the boy is practically buzzing with energy which renders Seungmin somewhat wary. Still, the idea of having someone to talk with is appealing; besides, orientation is partly about meeting new people and making friends. “Okay,” he answers finally, a small smile gracing his lips. “I’m Kim Seungmin.”
Once the introductions are done, Jisung visibly relaxes; he keeps his bright grin plastered on his face, but his more laid back demeanor has Seungmin warming up to him easier. To be fair, despite Seungmin’s initial reservations about Jisung, he ends up making the morning pass by faster, and much more efficiently. He isn’t afraid of going up to random people and asking them Real Questions such as,
“Sunbaenim, where exactly is Area TBA?” And then he points at the paper in his hand, header: OT Day 1, and then slides his finger down to the correct bullet point: Loot Bag Claim Booth, Area TBA, Opens 11.30 AM.
The way the guy they’d approached holds back a snort, or how the girl with him digs her elbow against his side isn’t lost on Seungmin, but Jisung just keeps smiling at them, waiting for an answer.
“TBA stands for to be announced,” the girl eventually answers, and this is when Seungmin thinks that Jisung’s pluck has at least saved them time, because just minutes before he had been insisting they just find Area TBA in the map provided by the university in their OT invitational packet, especially since he didn’t want to go up to seniors, acting like the fresh, new meat he actually is. This way, at least Jisung is the only one to make a fool out of himself, but it helped saved Seungmin time and energy too - so he’s thankful, not that he’s ready to admit it out loud.
“But,” the girl continues, giving Jisung a warm and friendly smile that matches him, “I think I saw them setting up this booth right behind Dormitory A so you can try there first.”
“Thank you, sunbaenim!” Jisung chirps happily, bowing politely and gratefully before turning to face Seungmin again. Behind them, Seungmin can hear the guy whispering to the girl, we should have had a little fun with with the freshmen! which almost makes Seungmin melt with heated embarrassment, even as he feels annoyance bubbling forth from within him. Ssh, the girl hisses back. They were cute, don’t be rude. He thinks there are at least some nice people like her, giving him hope - he decides right then and there that he’ll be a nice sunbae himself, once it’s his turn.
“I passed by the dormitory buildings earlier, so at least I know where we’re headed now,” Jisung is telling him, clearly oblivious to what the older students were talking about.
This kind of irks Seungmin, so he decides, “Let’s skip the loot bags.”
“What?!” Jisung gasps, actually looking quite affronted at the suggestion. “But— freebies,” he presses, like that should be enough to change Seungmin’s mind. “We get free things. How can you just say no to that?”
“I’m hungry,” Seungmin tries to argue. “Let’s get something to eat.”
“Seungmin,” Jisung counters, and it’s not like the two of them had explicitly agreed to drop formalities so hearing his name slide off Jisung’s tongue so casually is a bit discomfiting, but he did agree to be ‘friends,’ so he supposes he should learn to get used to it. “Seungmin, maybe they have free food at the goodie bag station too,” Jisung points out, and really, Seungmin couldn’t care less about free food - it’s not like he’s broke and dying of starvation. He can afford to eat quite well, but Jisung is already pouting at him so he figures arguing would be more trouble than it’s worth.
“Fine,” he gives in, but not without a patented eye roll. “But if there’s a massive line, I’m leaving you and finding something to eat by myself.”
The decision to follow Jisung to 'Area TBA’ turns out to be another good idea that Seungmin will never admit to (at least not out loud, and not in front of Jisun) because it’s after they claim their Freshman Freebies™ that they run into Hyunjin.
Seungmin and Hyunjin aren’t exactly friends, but they’re at least mildly acquainted. The first time they’d met was way back in high school when Seungmin’s baseball team went up against Hyunjin’s school. They didn’t even really, truly meet at the time; half of the team from Hyunjin’s school was sick from food poisoning or something equally as ridiculous, and Hyunjin was one of the substitute players pulled from the other sports teams their school had in order to complete their numbers. Seungmin, as pitcher for his team, had, of course, struck him out, and the only reason that Hyunjin had even made a mark was because the girls from their own side of the field had kept screaming for him.
Apparently that was enough for him to make a mark in Hyunjin’s memory too, though, because when Jisung literally bumps in Hyunjin’s companion, it’s Hyunjin whose expression lights up at the sight Seungmin.
“Seungmin-ssi!” He greets, eyes reflecting nervous excitement. “It’s you, right? Kim Seungmin-ssi, Pitcher, #7?”
Jisung’s obvious surprise - eyes wide, jaw slack - is matched by Seungmin’s own. He hadn’t expected that Hwang Hyunjin, former prince among high school students in their district, would have remembered him.
“Yeah,” Seungmin confirms, nodding. “Uh— this is Han Jisung,” he adds, gesturing towards Jisung. “He’s on the same track as I am.”
“Oh, cool!” Hyunjin grins and lowers his head towards Jisung’s direction. “I’m Hwang Hyunjin, and this—” He gestures towards his companion this time, Seungmin’s gaze following and falling on a petite looking male. He’s taller than Jisung, but his face is small, and he has big eyes that make him look younger than all three of them. “This is Felix. He’s an Industrial Engineering freshman, like me.”
“Nice to meet you,” Felix says in English, with an accent that seems familiar but Seungmin can’t quite place. That isn’t what surprises Seungmin though; the tone of his voice is deep and gravelly - a complete one-eighty compared to his otherwise bright demeanor.
“He’s from, uh— Australia,” Hyunjin explains, also in English. “But he says he can understand us,” he adds, sounding just a tad relieved to be able to switch back to his native tongue. Seungmin can tell that his English is nervous and rusty, at best.
“Oh,” he nods, regarding Felix with some curiosity.”Nice to meet you, too,” he echoes; he isn’t that confident in his conversational English, either, but he supposes he can only get better with practical use.
“Cool!” Jisung is as open and friendly with Hyunjin and Felix as he has been all morning with Seungmin. “Australia? That’s cool— that’s where you grew up?” He’s switching between Korean and English, like it’s so natural for him to do just that despite the words leaving his tongue heavily accented.
Felix nods, just as Hyunjin opens his mouth to speak again, “Do you guys, uh, want to go around together?” He sounds unsure, but hopeful, and Seungmin wonders if it’s because he’s feeling self-conscious about his language skills with Felix. Either way, before Seungmin can respond, Jisung is already answering for both of them with a hearty nod.
“The more the merrier, right?” Jisung declares, while Felix nods along. “Let’s go get lunch, I’m starving!” Jisung adds, while Hyunjin exchanges glances with Seungmin, who just shrugs - he’s pretty sure, considering that him and Jisung belong to a different department from Hyunjin and Felix, that they’d end up separated sooner or later, but he supposes this is another argument that wouldn’t be worth it.
It turns out that Seungmin is wrong - at least for DAY ONE. Jisung is quick to compare his photocopied itinerary with Hyunjin’s, and they find out that most of the activities for the first day of orientation are free for all events welcome to all Engineering freshmen.
“Oh,” Seungmin mutters to himself. “Okay.” He finds that he doesn’t really mind. Hyunjin is courteous, but friendly, while Felix is quiet, but agreeable. Not bad, considering Jisung has more than enough energy for all four of them. They get more than a few heads turning their way, which Seungmin is sure is because of Hyunjin, but every time it’s Jisung with a smug smile.
“So hard to be this good looking in real life,” Jisung declares, half snickering, half wheezing. They’re watching a game of soccer between juniors from the Architectural Engineering and Environmental Engineering departments, and Seungmin can’t tell if he’s being serious, or if he’s joking, so he just snorts, but both Hyunjin and Felix laugh heartily.
“Shut up,” Seungmin snaps before he can stop himself; he’s supposed to be more patient and forgiving - these are resolutions he’d made for himself, but Jisung is making it hard. He winces when Jisung’s jaw drops, and he sighs, prepared to make an apology - as ridiculous as Jisung is being, Seungmin hates that he let it get to him. “Sorry—” he starts, but Felix suddenly interrupts, coughing back uncontrollable laughter. It’s enough to break the suddenly tense atmosphere, because within seconds all four of them are laughing together.
“It’s cool, Seungminnie,” Jisung says, snickering as he casually slings an arm around Seungmin’s shoulders. “I’m sure some of them were looking at you, too.” This causes both Hyunjin and Felix to double down on the laughter, while Seungmin decides that if Jisung is going to be this bold-faced with him, then it should be fine if he digs his elbow hard against Jisung’s side. Which he does, and when Jisung whines in response, Seungmin himself resumes his laughter.
“Violence is not a solution to your problems, mister,” Jisung grumbles, but the corner of his mouth is turned up, and Seungmin thinks that means they’re good.
“Shut up,” Seungmin says again, but this time there’s no bite to it.
“Don’t wanna,” Jisung returns, his grin cheeky. “Anyway, you know who probably turns heads even more than I do?”
“Hyunjin?” Felix offers, to which Seungmin almost laughs again, especially because Felix sounds so earnest about it.
“The Architectural Engineering department’s goalkeeper,” Jisung says, ignoring Felix’s suggestion. Upon squinting at the male in question, Seungmin thinks that he’s somewhat familiar. “He’s… beautiful.”
“He—” Hyunjin winces, his voice dropping to a hushed whisper as if he’s ashamed to say what he’s saying. “He kind of has a funny way of goalkeeping.”
Right. Seungmin remembers that Hyunjin was originally from his school’s soccer varsity in high school, so he should know what he’s talking about; but then, even Seungmin can tell that the goal keeper isn’t doing his job well.
“He sucks,” he says bluntly. “He’s the reason our team is losing.”
“It doesn’t matter with a face like that,” Jisung points out, and beside him, Felix looks like he’s staring at said goalkeeper intently, as if doing his best to understand what Jisung means. “I talked to him up close earlier,” Jisung adds. “His nose is art— he’s like a moving sculpture.”
Seungmin snorts, because that’s when it clicks why he’s familiar. “Jisung, I’m pretty sure he tried to mess with us earlier. If his girlfriend wasn’t so nice and upfront, and told us exactly what TBA is, we would have probably ended up lost, and late to your beloved freebies.”
“Sssh,” Jisung shakes his head at him, eyes still glued to their department sunbae who had let yet another ball slide right past him, earning their competitors another point. Felix cheers, and Seungmin groans. “Also, don't be too quick to assume that was his girlfriend,” Jisung adds after letting out a loud boo.
“I think what Jisung means is that with a face like his,” Hyunjin says, already laughing even as he talks, “it doesn’t matter either.”
“See? Hyunjin already knows me so well!” Jisung asserts, grinning toothily and playfully punching Hyunjin’s arm.
Later that evening, they have an outdoor party where barbecued meat and alcohol flow freely all around - Seungmin shouldn’t be surprised, because he’s heard that this is usually how these things go, but it’s still complete culture shock for him, anyway. Unlike a lot of his peers in high school who he knows have all gotten drunk off beer and soju long before they were officially allowed to, Seungmin has had exactly one shot of soju his entire, and it only happened after he turned legal earlier that year, and it was because his father had sat him down on New Year’s Eve to congratulate him for ‘turning into a man.’ He didn’t have much of an opinion on the taste, really, so he hangs back, only taking shots whenever a sunbae passes him one.
Jisung’s the life of the party though, taking shots in between pouring drinks for sunbaes, who all seem to warm up to him quite nicely. Felix, as well, is getting quite the attention, as older students ask him to recite various English phrases, his Australian accent apparently enough to entertain them.
“Are you cold?” At one point, late in the evening, when most of the other students have dispersed and formed their own smaller groups, Hyunjin finds Seungmin.
“Um, a bit,” Seungmin admits as he hugs himself, rubbing his own arms for warmth. It’s the middle of February, so while spring is approaching, it’s not quite there just yet.
“Here, let’s share,” Hyunjin says, offering the blanket that he has wrapped around his shoulders. He parks himself on the bench where Seungmin is seated, and extends one end of the blanket to drape it around Seungmin as well.
“Thanks,” Seungmin mumbles, unconsciously moving close towards Hyunjin. At the back of his mind, he wonders if it’s safe to refer to him as his friend now - Jisung and Felix, too. “You know,” he says, choosing to start a conversation instead, “I don’t understand why we’re out here, in a pension in the middle of nowhere, having this orientation. It kind of defeats the point, don’t you think? Shouldn’t we be doing this in campus grounds instead?” This has been on his mind the entire day, especially after he and Jisung had issues navigating the area - at least he’s visited the actual university grounds before, after he had found out he'd been accepted, because he wanted to familiarize himself with the buildings. (Also because he was really, really excited, as geeky as that might sound.)
“My dad says back in his day, the OT was a one day event held at school grounds, actually,” Hyunjin shares, eyes bright and shiny as he laughs. “I guess it just kind of got grander in scale, and these days, orientation is like a full scale MT.”
“That makes more sense to do,” Seungmin mutters. But he supposes, he can’t complain too much, because according to his orientation pamphlet, part of the purpose is to befriend new peers, which he’s managed to do, largely thanks to Jisung and his shamelessness.
“I guess this is a more… um? Effective way? To bond with your new classmates?” Hyunjin offers, almost as if he'd just read Seungmin’s thoughts. “I’m so glad Felix and I ran into you and Jisung. It was really nice seeing a familiar face.”
“I’m sure a lot of others would have eagerly become your friend,” Seungmin muses.
“Having someone familiar makes me feel more at ease,” Hyunjin explains; which is silly, really, because the two of them were just as much strangers with each other before that day. “But Jisung and Felix— having them around has been fun, too.” Hyunjin laughs, eyes crinkling like half moons, and for a split second, Seungmin gets what the all the fuss about Hwang Hyunjin is.
The moment is brief, however, because he suddenly realises something. “Hey, come to think of it, have you seen Jisung and Felix?”
Hyunjin immediately snorts, and Seungmin narrows his eyes, taking the reaction to mean that he has.
“Even better— or worse? I saw them, together. Maybe hanging onto each other a little too much.”
“Huh?”
Hyunjin laughs again. “I’m sharing a room with Felix, right? And so I was there earlier, grabbing this,” he tugs at a corner of the blanket they're sharing, “and then the door just opened— and they entered, tongues shoved down each other's throats.”
“Oh.”
“I think they were both pretty drunk,” Hyunjin adds, still laughing. “Not sure they noticed me— but it doesn't matter, because the funniest thing? By the time I left them, they were both passed out, on top of each other, in Felix’s bunk.”
“Wait, what—?!” Seungmin is confused, and Hyunjin unhelpfully laughs harder.
“I don't know but I’m kind of glad, I guess. They're both pretty drunk, so it's best if they just sleep it off. Felt a bit awkward to stay in the room with them like that, though.”
“Ah.” Seungmin snorts. “Guess I’m left without a roommate, then.”
“Unless you want to help me haul Jisung off, back to your room,” Hyunjin suggests; this time it's Seungmin's turn to laugh. “Guess that sunbae’s pretty face didn’t matter that much in the end either,” Hyunjin adds.
“Maybe Jisung just has a type,” Seungmin jokingly scoffs. “I mean, Felix is pretty, too.”
“Oh? You think? Is that your type?” Hyunjin asks, his tone light and teasing.
Seungmin feels warmth creeping up his cheeks for some reason. “He isn’t,” he mumbles, too tired to sound more decisive. “Besides, Jisung’s his type, and that’s what seems to matter here now, don’t you think?”
— ❦ —
“You’re hungover,” Seungmin observes in a disapproving tone as Jisung slides into the seat next to his. “Again.” His friend just grunts in response, all too used to Seungmin’s nagging by now. “You do realise that finals start next week,” Seungmin continues with a sigh. Jisung, as usual, just nods before leaning down and pressing his cheek against the flat surface of the desk in front of him. He isn’t the only one in class with a very obvious hangover - around a third of their classmates are sporting identical headaches and looking like death thanks to a night of heavy drinking, and considering this 8 AM is held in a medium-sized, lecture hall that holds up to a hundred students, a third is a sizeable amount.
“I know,” Jisung mumbles. “Next year there’s no way I’m taking a class that’s earlier than 10 AM.”
“Suit yourself,” Seungmin answers noncommittally.
The truth is that Seungmin’s also gotten used to this attitude from Jisung as well. Second day of their university orientation, Jisung had attended their departmental introduction in exactly the same condition, and Seungmin had needed to keep an eye on him for the rest of the day, nudging him awake whenever he’d doze off, and once, rubbing his back when he’d needed to throw up in some bushes behind the resort’s rec hall.
“The start of a beautiful friendship,” Jisung always jokes, whenever Seungmin brings it up. In return he’d roll his eyes, and point out that Jisung owes him, and that one day he’s going to collect. Several months have passed since then, and instead of ‘collecting’ anything, he keeps lending Jisung his lecture notes instead.
“Seungmin—” Jisung whispers, trying to get his attention.
He has his notebook opened to the latest page, because as a habit, he tries to reread his notes from the previous session before their professor arrives. Meanwhile, Jisung’s habit is to bother him whenever he does this.
“Seungmin,” he repeats, this time, whinier.
“What—” Seungmin finally answers in a deadpan tone, even though he keeps his eyes glued to his notes.
“I worked my way up to two—” Jisung declares in a tired and sleepy tone, lazily holding up two fingers to show him, “—and a half bottles of soju last night.” And then he flashes a satisfied grin as his hand drops back down to his side.
Seungmin snorts and shakes his head. ‘I’m going to work on my alcohol tolerance,’ was one of the personal resolutions Jisung had shared with Seungmin (and Hyunjin, and Felix, because somehow the four of them had become some kind of unit) a couple of months earlier, after orientation, when the semester officially started. Seungmin thought it was a dumb resolution, and he never failed to let Jisung know that he thought so.
So of course, in return, Jisung never fails to update him on the status of his resolution.
“Congratulations, you really pushed yourself out there last night, buddy,” he comments sarcastically.
Jisung sits up and sticks his tongue out at Seungmin like a fucking child, which is maybe why Seungmin shouldn’t be stooping down to his level. He can’t help it though, that Jisung brings out the kind of pettiness in him that has him sticking his tongue out right back.
His friend looks like he still wants to say something more, but their instructor chooses that moment to enter the room. The regular din around the room trails off into cooperative silence as everyone turns their attention to the teacher.
“By the way,” Seungmin whispers as Jisung straightens up in his seat. “I mentioned to Hyunjin that we don’t have Calculus today, so now Hyunjin wants to meet up after this class. Apparently he and Felix always get late breakfast around that time.”
Jisung at least seems to brighten up at the mention of their friend. “Felix, too?”
“I assume,” Seungmin mutters, shoulders shrugging.
“Okay, cool—” Jisung is grinning now, and he seems to have a bit more life in him. “Hyunjin owes me a meal, because I bet him that Felix likes that— uh, I forgot his name, but? That sunbae from the Chemical Engineering department? Short guy with a sharp chin—?”
Seungmin bites the inside of his cheek as he attempts not to laugh; their instructor is doing a quick recap of last session’s lecture, but he really wants to make a pointed remark about how Jisung isn’t exactly one to make casual remarks about other people’s shortness. He also doesn’t understand how Jisung can be as casual as he’s being, just betting on Felix’s love life with Hyunjin, like the two of them weren’t nearly, almost, a thing at the start of the term.
“...was insisting that he wasn’t Felix’s type,” Jisung kept on going, and Seungmin can’t help but lend at least some of his attention to his friend even though he knows better. “But I knew,” Jisung insists. “Felix is so obvious when he likes someone, and—”
He only shuts up when the roll call sheet reaches them, and they both have to sign in for attendance; Jisung looks like he wants to keep going after, but Seungmin beats him to eat by shushing him preemptively.
“Your gossip can wait,” Seungmin mumbles, and Jisung simply hums in response. The latter is already cradling his head again, halfway through his journey back to dreamland by the time the instructor introduces his lecture topic for the day.
Most of Seungmin’s first year in university ends up being quite uneventful. After orientation, he had exchanged contact details with Jisung, Hyunjin and Felix, and by the time lectures had begun, they’d been keeping steady communication thanks to a group chat that Jisung had invited all of them to.
Enough time has passed for Seungmin to have strong opinions on his friends: for example, Jisung can be a bit of a handful - which is exactly what Seungmin had expected him to be when the other male had approached him that first day at the OT. It didn’t really take long before Jisung had perfected the Art of Getting Under Seungmin’s Skin, but for some reason Seungmin found himself sticking by his side anyway. At first he told himself that it was because he had no choice - Jisung was there, and he shared almost all of Seungmin’s classes with him. Eventually he just grew on Seungmin, “Like mold,” Seungmin likes to joke, even though, after half a term, he admittedly is aware of Jisung's more positive qualities - such as how he's always the mood maker, no matter what group of people surround him. Or how he's really, actually very smart, something that's both impressive and annoying, since this is how he affords slacking off and procrastinating for most of their classes. Jisung is also incredibly loyal, which Seungmin is appreciative of, not that any of these traits are things that he will praise to his friend's face for fear of fueling his ego too much.
Hyunjin, on the other hand, is the nicest, sweetest boy Seungmin has ever met, and he can't help but have him as his secret favorite. Hyunjin is very good looking, obviously, but Seungmin appreciates that he never lets it go to his head. If anything, it was even a little annoying how much he tries to downplay his looks. (“False modesty,” Jisung called Hyunjin out on it once. “You’re good looking and you know it! Otherwise, why would you post ten thousand selfies a day on your instagram?!” Hyunjin had sputtered in response, and Jisung had smiled smugly and even Seungmin had to admit it was a little funny.) Still, Seungmin likes him because Hyunjin is genuinely sweet and hardworking. He wears his heart on his sleeve, which is something, because he has the biggest heart among the four of them, and Seungmin thinks he can use a little of that in his life.
Felix, lastly— Well, Seungmin thinks Felix is Felix. He’s always with Hyunjin because they have 80% of the same classes, and he’s always with Jisung because they get along terribly well, so in effect Felix is always with Seungmin too. He wishes he could say more about the Australian, but as sweet as Felix seems, as bright his smile is, to Seungmin he still appears to be mostly opaque.
“Hey, Jisung,” Seungmin calls to his friend; he’s overcome with sudden curiosity as the two of them walk down a winding path along the university grounds as they head over to the Humanities building so they can meet up with their two other friends. “Why did it not work out between you and Felix?”
The question isn’t exactly new; it occasionally circles around in Seungmin’s thoughts every now and then, especially whenever the four of them are together. But it’s only now that he remembers to bring it up when it’s only the two of them.
Jisung coughs. “What—?” He gawks at Seungmin before breaking out into laughter. “I kind of assumed that we all collectively agreed to forget anything ever happened,” he continues while wheezing. Seungmin is confused, as usual, by Jisung’s attitude towards the subject and it irritates him. True enough, these days, they all ignore their Felix and Jisung's almost tryst at the orientation - and if someone brings it up, it's always in a joking manner, or its treated as such like Jisung is doing now. Really, even if they're his closest friends, Seungmin doesn't get their humor 80% of the time.
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” He says, interrupting Jisung’s laughter.
“Well, there’s no actual answer anyway,” Jisung tells him, giving Seungmin a weird look like he's the strange one for sincerely wondering about this. “We just realised that we weren’t into each other like that? Felix is a cool guy, it’s more fun being friends with him than anything else. But—” Jisung shrugs, “—we just don't match in that sense. Besides—” Jisung laughs again, “I told you! He’s into that senior with the chin.”
Seungmin would have prodded further, maybe even berate Jisung and remind him not to be rude because people have names, but he’s easily distracted by Hyunjin calling out to them, waving happily with both arms from where he stood at the bottom of the steps of the Engineering building.
“Seungmin-ah! Jisung-ah!” He yells, and then Felix is peeking out from behind him, all smiles when he bounces down the steps to meet them halfway.
“Hey,” Seungmin greets back, his own smile naturally growing wide. He supposes that’s something he can add about Felix, at least. The boy is always so happy and positive, in a way that’s very much contagious.
“Hyunjin’s paying for food!” Jisung announces, one arm immediately swinging around Felix’s small body frame.
“What?” Hyunjin stares at them, confusion evident in his eyes as he stops right next Seungjin. “Why me?!”
“Because you refused to believe when I said that Felix has a big fat crush on that— uuhhh—” Jisung frowns and turns his head to look at Felix, as if to ask for his support on this. “What’s that guy’s name, again?”
“Eh? You mean Changbin-sunbaenim?” Felix asks, unwittingly giving himself away in the process.
Seungmin can only sigh and shake his head, because he could tell that this is exactly what Jisung had expected him to do.
“Well, see—!” Jisung laughs, hand gesturing grandly as Hyunjin groans. “What did I say? You owe me, Hyunjin!”
“Fine,” Hyunjin’s shoulders are sagging in defeat, but the laughter that escapes him shows that he really doesn’t mind.
“I feel like you should know better by now than to bet against Jisung,” Seungmin muses, disapproving even as he squeezes Hyunjin’s shoulder for comfort.
“Sssh—!” Jisung elbows him, all of them walking down the steps of the building together now. “Let Hyunjin do what he wants! If he keeps losing to me, it’s not your responsibility to cut him off this vice!”
Hyunjin’s laughter echoes all around them, followed immediately by Felix. Soon, Jisung joins them, and eventually, despite trying his very best not to partake in his friends’ tomfoolery, even Seungmin cracks down and laughs along.
Why am I friends with idiots? He thinks, even as he’s unable to wipe a smile off his face and he allows himself to be swept along, Jisung’s arm wrapped around him from one side, while Hyunjin links arms with him from the other.
— ❦ —
“Seungmin!”
Felix’s familiar baritone echoes around the small convenience store, catching Seungmin by surprise. He turns towards the direction of the voice calling to him, and is met with Felix’s bright smile.
“Seungmin-ah!” His friend repeats, this time waving happily as he approaches.
He’s surprised, to say the least. He hadn’t expected to bump into Felix in the area - it’s early Saturday morning, and Seungmin is on his way home from an all-night study session held at one of his classmates’ house. Jisung had been there too, and normally he would have hitched a ride with Seungmin to the nearest train station, but as it turns out, Jisung’s one room apartment is on the way for one of their other friends so he’d ditched Seungmin and gotten a ride with them instead.
So this is how he’d ended up, making a convenience store run by himself, before heading home.
“Hey, Felix,” he greets, smiling as he places a couple of bottles of energy drink in his basket. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh—” Felix’s eyes widen like he’s surprised that Seungmin is even asking. “I live nearby, actually— I share a place with my older sister barely a ten minute walk away from here. What are you doing this side of the river this early in the morning? Jisung told me you live in— somewhere in the Gangnam district?”
“Ah,” Seungmin slowly nods. A part of him feels bad - he’s been over to Jisung’s small studio apartment countless times that he can probably drive there with his eyes closed, while he’s dropped Hyunjin off at his family’s home a couple of times before so he knows where he lives, but he’s now realising that this is the first time he’s even hearing about which area of Seoul Felix resides in. He thinks that he’s at least aware that Felix is only in the country with his older sister - but even that is because Hyunjin or Jisung mentioned it once before. “We had a group study last night at a classmate's,” he explains, offering a small, sheepish smile. “She lives close by, and I—”
Felix gestures at Seungmin’s basket; his smile is still bright and wide and almost blinding. “And you went for an energy drink run?”
“Yeah—” Seungmin answers with a curt nod; he doesn’t know why he’s being so awkward, until it dawns on him that even after almost being a year of supposedly being friends, this is the first time that he’s been alone with Felix.
“Cool,” Felix comments, reverting back to his native English tongue. He visibly shifts his weight from one foot to another, which is how Seungmin realises that Felix is also somewhat tense. “Hey, have you had breakfast yet?”
Seungmin shakes his head. Everyone in their little study group of five had been in a hurry to go their separate ways, since half of them had Saturday morning classes, and the rest - also known as Han Jisung - had been in a hurry to go home so he can sleep. “I’ve had coffee,” he admits. “Nothing else.”
“Ah, are you—” Felix looks down at Seungmin’s basket, and then back up at him, “—getting anything else?”
Seungmin checks the contents of his basket - half a dozen bottles of Vita500, together with two packs of boiled eggs, and three packs of chocolate pudding - and then he shakes his head again at Felix.
“Come on, then!” Felix says, casually and enthusiastically taking Seungmin’s arm so he can lead him to the counter. His excess energy immediately reminds Seungmin of Jisung, while the easy skinship reminds him of Hyunjin - it’s no wonder that Felix gets along so famously with both of them. It makes Seungmin briefly wonder, though, what his place is in their little group, but Felix is also rambling away, not really leaving Seungmin any time with his personal thoughts. “My sister always cooks breakfast during weekends, and she always cooks too much!”
“Um,” Seungmin slowly unloads items in his basket for the cashier to ring up, but he’s a little confused, still. “What about you? You’re not buying anything?” He asks Felix.
“Huh—?” Felix mirrors his confused expression at first, taking a few seconds for it to click that he was originally there for himself, likely to buy something, and not because he was expecting to run into Seungmin. “Right!” He laughs, low and throaty but also incredibly jolly. “I was supposed to get milk— okay, just pay for your stuff, I’ll be back in a jiff.” And then he’s zooming off through the aisles, leaving Seungmin once again momentarily confused, at least until the cashier announces the total bill and he has to hurriedly take his card out of his wallet.
“It’s starting to get really cold,” Felix comments as they step out of the store together. He’s rubbing his hands together and blowing into them as he starts to walk down the sidewalk.
“December does that,” Seungmin answers unthinkingly. “And, uh— my car is this way,” he adds, gesturing towards the opposite direction. “We can just drive, right?”
“Oh—” Felix stops in his tracks, and laughs as he does an about turn. “Right. Your car. And—” he grins, and easily falls into step next to Seungmin, “—not in Australia. Back home December gives us the sun.”
“Oh—” Seungmin mirrors his tone. “Right,” he laughs softly, embarrassed. Of course he knows that seasons are switched around down under, he just wasn’t thinking straight. “You miss it?”
Felix shrugs. “It’s not as bad as it was when I first moved here,” he says. “But it’s a given to be a bit homesick every now and then, isn’t it?”
Seungmin supposes he’s right, and now he’s embarrassed at his own stupid question. Truthfully, even though he’s starting to realise right in that moment that he doesn’t know a lot about Felix - at least not as much as he knows about Hyunjin and Jisung. Furthermore, he definitely does not as much as those two know about Felix. Nevertheless, some things that he’s always admired about the other boy are his courage and tenacity. He’s pretty sure that Felix has a lot of both, considering it’s his personal choice to move to Korea and study here, his older sister the only family he has around.
“Are you planning on going home over winter break?”
Felix hums; they’d just reached Seungmin’s car and he’s waiting as Seungmin unlocks the doors, depositing his convenience store loot in the back before moving to slide into the driver’s seat and motioning for Felix to follow into the passenger side.
“I’m not sure— If I do, it won’t be for long. I might need to register for some extra courses during the winter term,” Felix tells him, wincing as he has a little difficulty tugging the seatbelt across his chest. “Some, um, language courses,” he adds, mumbling, sounding embarrassed, and Seungmin isn’t sure if it’s because of the fact that he needs to take extra classes during break, or if it’s because of how much trouble he’s having with putting on a simple car seatbelt.
“Um here, let me—” Seungmin mumbles, leaning over and easily pulling on it. “You have to jiggle it a bit,” he explains; his car used to belong to his older sister, and it developed more than a few quirks during it’s two year tenure with her.
“Ah, thanks!” Felix smiles shyly. “I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”
For some reason, Felix’s simple assumption about a ‘next time,’ endears him to Seungmin; It’s perfectly understandable, of course, he tells himself, that Felix would assume a next time. They’re friends after all, best friends with the same people, so it makes perfect sense that this won’t be the last time that Felix is in his car.
“Okay, good, thanks,” Seungmin tells him, smiling as he turns the ignition on. “Jisung is always pulling at it too hard— like that’s going to help any,” he adds, eyes rolling despite the hint of fondness evident in his tone. “Newsflash: it never does! You just have to do the little jiggle first.”
Felix instructs him on which turns to take, and sure enough, barely even five minutes pass before he’s pulling over to park across a modest apartment building. He’s led up to the third floor of the building, where Felix lets him in while calling out to his older sister.
“Noona! I brought a guest along with me!”
Seungmin curiously glances around; it’s quite modest in size, but it also looks quite comfortable and fully lived in.
“I don’t exactly have a room,” Felix whispers to him. “But—” he gestures above their heads as Seungmin gets to work on carefully removing his shoes, “—the loft area is all mine.”
Seungmin nods, and is about to make a comment when a woman pokes her head out of the doorway which he assumes leads to the kitchen. “Guest—? Is it Hyunjin again— oh! Hi! You’re new—”
Felix’s older sister looks just like him - big eyes, a small face and curiously shaped lips. She looks surprised, but happy to see Seungmin, who politely bows in greeting.
“Seungmin, this is my sister, Rachel,” Felix introduces them. “Noona, this is Seungmin. Ran into him at the GS25 one block over, so I invited him— is the food ready?”
His sister nods, and motions for the two of them to come over. “Everyone here just calls me Yongsoon, though, so you can call me Yongsoon-noona if you want,” she informs Seungmin with a warm smile. “That's my Korean name— Our Yongbokie here hates his Korean name,” she adds teasingly; he could tell she likes doing this in front of Felix’s friends, and it makes Seungmin laugh. To be fair he already knows about Felix being Yongbok - Jisung just loves pulling out the Yongbok card at the most inopportune times, and Seungmin is just now realising that Jisung likely knows about the name because of Felix's sister as well.
“Noona!” Felix groans, ears adorably red at the tips.
Rachel smirks sassily, before turning to Felix and asking, “You didn’t forget why I sent you over there though, did you?”
Seungmin can’t help but laugh some more at that one, because he knows that’s almost exactly what happened. Felix laughs along, and he proudly holds up the plastic bag he’s carrying. “Almost did, but I didn’t! Seungmin reminded me at the last second,” he adds, grinning.
“You’re more than welcome to breakfast then,” his sister says, winking playfully at Seungmin who actually feels a wave of shyness pass over him. The rapport between the siblings fascinates him - it’s so natural and easy. He has an older sister of his own, and he’s always thought that the two of them get along quite well, but he’s never actually considered them to be close, at least not like Felix and his sister clearly are.
“Thank you,” he says, taking the seat that Felix pulls out for him before he puts the milk away. He takes in the breakfast spread on the table - Felix really wasn’t joking when he said that his sister makes enough for more than two people. There’s toast, bacon, sausages, eggs (poached, not scrambled, which admittedly excites Seungmin more than it probably should) - and a few more things on the table that Seungmin can’t quite identify at the top of his head.
“Help yourself to anything you want,” Rachel gestures at the food before she takes her seat. She’s looking at Seungmin curiously, like she’s waiting to see what Seungmin will reach for first. Felix, on the other hand, just plops himself down beside Seungmin, and starts piling his plate with food.
“Do you always eat this much in the morning?” Seungmin asks. His family used to have daily breakfast together, with rice and some side dishes, but they haven’t done it as much after he graduated high school. Most of them are always hurrying in the morning, and these days, Seungmin usually just grabs coffee on the way to class.
“No way,” Rachel laughs, head shaking animatedly. “It’s too much work to do this every day, but yeah, weekends I make a point of it. It’s how we do it back home, too.”
“Aww, man!” Felix groans. “Don’t remind me—” He laughs, and turns to Seungmin with an excited expression. “Sometimes, Mum makes steak and potatoes for breakfast, I miss that. Rachel says that’s too wasteful to do here.”
“Steak…?!” Seungmin blinks and stares. “You have steak for breakfast?!”
Rachel laughs, and Felix simply grins. “Mum makes it really good, too. Noona and I usually do the potatoes—”
“Yeah,” Rachel interjects. “We all wake up at an insanely early hour— you saying you actually miss that just for breakfast?”
“Well, no, but—” Felix laughs. “I miss steak.”
“I’ve only ever had steak once,” Seungmin interjects. “At a restaurant.”
“Oh! Well, when our folks visit maybe you can come over for steak breakfast,” Felix suggests, which for some reason cracks his sister up, which leads Seungmin to laugh as well. “What—” Felix huffs. “It’s just an idea!”
“Well, to be fair, I’m sure they’d love to meet your friends— Hyunjin and Jisung, too,” Rachel offers.
“Noona’s obsessed with Hyunjin,” Felix leans in as if he’s telling Seungmin a secret, but he says the words loud enough for everyone in the room to hear anyway.
“He’s a nice boy, and I’m glad you have a nice boy for a friend,” Rachel points out. “Is that so bad?”
“This is true,” Seungmin finds himself compelled to join in the conversation. “Hyunjin’s really nice, and I think noonim is justified to have him as her favorite friends of yours if all she has to compare him with is Jisung.”
“Hey! You do Jisung dirty, mate,” Felix teases, laughing. “But you’re the one who spends most time with him!”
Seungmin makes a face. “Not exactly by choice,” he retorts, but soon he’s laughing good-naturedly.
More laughter is had throughout breakfast; Felix and his sister regale Seungmin with stories about their lives back in Australia; Rachel also inquires about Felix’s week so far, and it dawns on Seungmin that weekend breakfast is probably the siblings’ way of making sure they’re caught up in each other’s lives. It’s sweet, Seungmin thinks. Occasionally they end up switching to English, but Felix always catches himself every so often, turning to Seungmin so he can attempt to translate what they’re saying to English. Not that Seungmin needs it - his English comprehension is at a high level, after all, but he appreciates Felix’s attempt to make sure he’s always included.
“Hey, you ever had vegemite before?” Felix suddenly asks halfway through the meal.
“What’s that—?” Seungmin is in the middle of cutting up his bacon into smaller, bite-sized pieces, when he pauses to look up.
“Oh, you should! Here—” Felix takes the liberty to transfer a piece of toast from his plate to Seungmin’s; it has something brown and sticky looking spread over it, which sort of reminds Seungmin of black bean sauce. “Our parents just sent over a care package, so we’ve got more than enough to go around!”
Seungmin is tentative as he picks the toast up, and from the corner of his eye he sees that Rachel looks amused, while Felix just seems eager to see his reaction. He slowly bites into one end of the bread, only to be surprised at the taste that spreads on his tongue.
“Um—” He chews very, very slowly, unsure how to voice out what he thinks of the taste. “It’s, uh—”
“Good, right?” Felix tries to confirm, while his sister looks like she’s doing her best not to crack up.
It tastes salty, with a sort of bitter aftertaste, Seungmin thinks. Not exactly his favorite flavor, but Felix looks so pleased that Seungmin doesn’t have the heart to say that he doesn’t like it. So instead, he tries to take another bite, but this time around it’s like it tastes even worse.
“Yeah, hey, don’t worry about it,” Rachel says as she fills Seungmin’s glass with water. “Vegemite isn’t for everyone.”
“Awww, you don’t like it?” Felix looks bummed and Seungmin kind of feels bad for it. “But yeah, I guess, it’s not for everyone. But hey! At least you can say you’ve tried it!”
Seungmin ends up staying until almost noon; he makes an offer to help wash the dishes, which Felix graciously accepts.
“Thanks for breakfast,” he tells Felix as they work together - Felix is in charge of soaping up and rinsing the dishes while Seungmin wipes them dry with a dish cloth. He’s once again thinking about how this is the first time the two of them have spent time together without Hyunjin or Jisung, and it’s definitely been nice.
“No problem! We always end up with a lot of leftovers, so it’s better this way,” Felix assures him. “And—” He pauses and takes a deep breath, and Seungmin realises he’s nervous, which is kind of cute even though Seungmin has no idea what he can be nervous about. “And,” Felix continues again, “It’s been nice hanging out with you. I mean— we’ve been friends for almost a year, but it feels like we don’t really know much about each other. So when I saw you this morning, I kind of just— yeah.” He wipes his hands on his apron, and turns to flash a shy grin at Seungmin, who, for his part, is actually surprised at Felix’s words. He hadn’t realised that they’d been thinking of the same thing.
“Yeah, it’s been really good,” Seungmin agrees wholeheartedly, nodding and returning Felix’s smile with his own as he places the last dish on the rack. He’s never really thought much about Felix - he knows that his friend is a nice guy, a fun guy to have around, even, but it’s never really occurred to him how interesting he can be, at least not until today. And now, he finds that he’s curious to learn more. “By the way,” he adds, suddenly in the mood to share thanks to the comfortable atmosphere, “I might take some classes during the winter term, too.”
“Oh?” Felix looks surprised. “You need to, or—?”
Seungmin ducks his head and wipes his hands on the dish cloth he’s holding in them. “No, uh, I just kind of want to get some advanced units?” He winces because the one time he’d mentioned this idea to Jisung, his friend had just gawked and looked at him like he’d grown horns or something similarly out of the ordinary.
“Wow, that’s cool! I wish I had to stick around the winter term for similar reasons, and not because I’m an idiot,” Felix comments, laughing like he’s joking around, but Seungmin detects a hint of something there.
“Maybe I’m an idiot for wanting to go,” Seungmin shoots back, chuckling in an attempt to joke as well. “But hey, we’ll at least see each other around campus.”
“Oh! Yeah—” Felix grins, hip playfully knocking against Seungmin’s. “That’s at least something to look forward to.”
lix_the_cat (02:32 PM):
hey! it was gr8 having u this morning!
sis wants 2 make sure u got home safe
ddaengmin (02:33 PM):
i had fun too
and yea im alive
pls thank her again 4 bfast
lix_the_cat (02:34 PM):
hehe maybe next time u’ll like vegemite better
ddaengmin (02:34 PM):
um..
lix_the_cat (02:35 PM):
jk haha
but swear to everything holy!
next time i’ll let u have it on avo toast
10x better!!!
ddaengmin (02:37 PM):
um..!!
lix_the_cat (02:39 PM):
ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
that aside tho
btw
after finals u wanna coordinate?
so our winter sem schedules match
ddaengmin (02:41 PM):
that sounds gr8 actually
lix_the_cat (02:41 PM):
cool!
tbc.