Chapter Text
My One & Only (Mom)
I miss you already!
Have a good day at school today
Join something, okay. Your college experience will be better if you do! I expect to hear all about it when you come back
Seungcheol rolled his eyes and pocketed his phone again, a smirk forming on his lips nonetheless. It was his second year of college and his mom was acting like it was his first. He expected nothing less though. He was actually quite fond of the affection his mom gave him no matter how much he liked to groan and grumble about it. He was the only child after all.
Classes technically started last week, but this week was particularly special-- well in his parents’ opinion-- because it was rush week… or some form of it. It's where all of the school’s organizations and clubs set up tables on campus and tried to recruit new members. Last year, Seungcheol’s freshman self avoided it at all costs. Large crowds of people just weren’t his thing. Still isn’t.
But, his mom wanted him to join something so badly, so Seungcheol made a deal with himself while he was making his little ten minute walk from his home to campus. He’ll walk through the field where all the tables were gonna be, scope everything out, sign up for one or two things that didn’t take too much commitment and leave.
Simple as that.
Seungcheol wasn’t really the type of student to be involved unless he had to. He was the typical student that went to school just to go to class and immediately went home as soon as the day was over. Yeah, he’d go to a few parties here and there, drink, have fun, and do whatever else he tended to do at those parties, but his favorite part of going out… was being able to come back home.
As the next song on his playlist began, Seungcheol made a right onto the street that led directly to his university.
Even though it was his second year of college, Seungcheol felt like a new college student all over again. Just like last year, he had no friends and no particular expectations or ideas for what this year would bring for him.
Hopefully, it was something completely different from last school year… It was the reason he had no friends now. But Seungcheol would rather not think about that right now. He could hear the loud, combined chatter of college students as he neared the center of campus.
Just as he thought, there were banners and tables lined up along the brick pathway that led to various buildings. Some students were already skimming their options and some students going directly to what they wanted. There were places to get free food lined up in the grass areas.
The event started like thirty minutes ago yet it was already bustling with students. Seungcheol stood still for a moment and took a deep breath.
“I just need one club, that’s it,” Seungcheol uttered to himself. And with that, he took his phone from his pocket to increase the volume to as loud as he could get it, drowning out the noise around him.
Then he was off, his hands stuffed in his hoodie pocket, bobbing his head slightly to the beat of the music blaring in his ears.
Cheerleading. No.
Dance. No.
They had a bowling team? Anyway, no.
Sports were off limits.
Was golf even a sport?
Taekwondo sounded good. But he was already a black belt in that.
Fraternities? Not anything too big.
Baking club. Maybe.
“S. ∆. T.,” Seungcheol muttered to himself. He’d heard of this club last year but nothing much, which Seungcheol saw as a good sign. It meant that they weren’t that involved on campus. It was probably like an honor’s society or something.
Seungcheol approached the table.
“Hello!” A boy behind the table noticed him and was on his feet in just a millisecond. “I’m Chan.”
“Hey, I’m Seungcheol.” He made quick of pausing his music and listening to the short boy talk. He must be a freshman so why was he behind the table?
“Would you like some information on our honor’s society. Or club. Or fraternity. Whatever you wanna call it.” Chan shrugged. But even without a straight answer from Seungcheol, Chan was already gathering up a few flyers and a little rubber wristband with the club name printed on it.
“Uh, yeah. Thanks,” Seungcheol said, kind of put off by Chan’s excitement and smile. Yeah, he was definitely a freshman. No college student was this happy. It was only proved further when another guy walked up from behind him, a clipboard in hand, looking a lot less ecstatic to be there as he placed the clipboard in front of Seungcheol, telling him to sign his name if he was interested.
With a nod, Seungcheol took the flyers away from Chan, reading the first one that listed the rules:
- Must be ****+
- Help Chan get things from high spaces whenever he asks
- Keep a GPA over 3.0
- Attend meetings
- Never make Jeonghan upset or sad (Rule added by the courtesy of the members)
The rules seemed easy, just like he’d expected of an honor’s society. All he had to do was keep his grades up, get things for the small guy over there, not upset whoever the hell "Jeonghan" was, and attend a few meetings every once in a while. He could do that.
But… what did “****+” even mean?
“Um, excuse me,” Seungcheol said, calling the taller boy back over since Chan was busy grabbing more wristbands from a box behind the table.
“What's up?”
“Can you tell me what these stars here mean?” Seungcheol asked, somewhat yelling over the steadily increasing noise around him. The boy chuckled as if the question amused him.
“It’s exactly what you think it means,” the tall guy hummed. He even had the nerve to pat him on the back with a mischievous smirk. Then, he returned to whatever he was doing behind the table.
Okay… There was still one problem here. Which was the fact that Seungcheol still had no idea what these stars could possibly mean. But fuck it, if it’s something bad, he’ll just leave the club.
Seungcheol picked up the pen that was sitting on the table and wrote his name, year, and major, which was cognitive psychology with a concentration in mental illness. Long name for a major but to Seungcheol, it made him sound smarter.
***
After walking for about five more minutes and getting a few cookies, nothing else caught Seungcheol’s eye. He was considering writing his name down for the baking club, but he honestly thought that it required a little too much commitment for a club that just put stuff in the oven. He could do that with his mother whenever he wanted to.
So instead of waiting around any longer, Seungcheol made his way to his 12:30 class: social psychology. It’s only the first day of the second week of classes so Seungcheol had to take his phone from his pocket to check his schedule that he screenshotted.
“Room 214, in the Science building,” he read aloud to himself. He made it to class about ten minutes early, but at least he wasn't the first one there. Three other people were already in there.
Seungcheol took a seat and scrolled through absolutely nothing on his social media page. He hadn’t noticed how many people had begun shuffling in until someone tapped his shoulder.
"Huh?"
“Hey! I remember you from when you stopped by the table,” the guy said. His smile was bright as if competing with the shine of the sun. “What’s your name again?”
“Seungcheol.” It came out a lot more timid sounding than it was meant to. He was just trying to rack his brain for when he saw this guy’s face.
“I’m from S.∆.T.,” he said, noticing Seungcheol’s hesitance. “You know, that club you stopped by? You probably didn’t see me because I was taking care of stuff in the far back with our leader.”
“Yeah,” Seungcheol nodded, watching as the guy took a seat.
“I’m Seokmin.”
"Oh. Okay." Normally, that would’ve been the end of the conversation. Seungcheol was social, but not social enough to lead a conversation so easily. But he didn’t really have that luxury at the moment. He had no friends. And honestly, he could really use some.
Plus, Seokmin didn’t seem that bad either.
“So, what’s your major?” Seungcheol asked, finally putting down his phone completely to focus solely on Seokmin. If he learned anything while being a psychology major, he definitely knew what made people feel comfortable. Step one to that was ensuring that you seemed interested, starting with eye contact… Or something close to that because Seungcheol wasn’t someone who looked people in the eye regularly.
Eye contact was only for his family, close friends (which he had none of), and sex.
“Sociology and political science,” Seokmin said brazenly. He seemed more than ecstatic about being asked about his major and Seungcheol understood completely. Anyone who double majored deserved the bragging rights that came along with all of that work. “What about you?”
“Cognitive psychology… with a concentration in mental illness.”
“Cool! So you wanna be a therapist or something like that?”
“Pediatric psychiatrist,” Seungcheol corrected. “I want nothing more than to be able to help children, you know.”
“Definitely,” Seokmin said, taking a notebook from his backpack. “I think I’ve always wanted to help the community, but from a legal perspective. Like-”
After that, Seokmin never stopped talking. Seungcheol really didn’t mind. With his slightly introverted personality, he thought he fit quite well with Seokmin who seemed to be really extroverted.
He would have to get used to how loud Seokmin was but the guy was likeable nonetheless. He kind of had to since he was obviously in the club too.
Just as Seungcheol was about to ask Seokmin more about S.∆.T. (specifically what the hell those stars were supposed to mean), the professor walked in and began class immediately.
***
Seungcheol was starving by the time his last class of the day ended, which was a random history class that he was required to take. He wasn’t fond of history at all so he was happy when he was able to get into a simple “Global History 102” class.
The only bad part was that it ended at 5.
He went straight to the campus market after class to buy some chocolate for his short walk home. The day crept by like it usually did when he was by himself. He guessed that the saying was true: time flies when you’re having fun. It seemed to slow down when you weren’t though.
He had no one to pass the time with so during his breaks between classes, Seungcheol sat alone and listened to music.
What a shitty start to the week , he thought as he ripped open his favorite chocolate candy.
Seungcheol decided to walk home without his headphones in, mostly because he didn’t feel like getting them out of his bag so he opted to just walk with the tune of the wind as his music. Not that ideal but it was a nice, quiet evening anyway.
Just as he turned on his street, his phone started vibrating in his pocket. If it were his mother, he would have ignored it and just talked to her when he got home but instead, it was from Nayoung.
Nayoung wasn’t his girlfriend. Just someone he got close to after losing all of his friends and his girlfriend at the time.
Nayoung was only someone he talked to periodically at first. But when last summer began, they started talking a lot more.
You see, it started when Seungcheol went through a small depressive episode. He was used to them. His anxiety and depression getting the best of him sometimes that all he really felt like he could do was lay there in his bed and stuff his face.
But, his girlfriend at the time didn’t believe Seungcheol one bit. Her reasoning behind his sudden disappearance was that he was cheating.
Which Seungcheol would never do, by the way.
His small group of friends believed her too. Even going as far as to scold him for lying about depression as a cover up for cheating. No matter how much Seungcheol tried, his friends refused to talk to him.
One day during his lonely summer, Nayoung invited him over to her house. Seungcheol knew why. He knew exactly what it meant. What else was he doing besides laying there and baking things with his mom and dad?
So he went. And him and Nayoung have been having casual sex whenever either of them wanted to.
And it looked like today was one of those days for her.
Seungcheol smirked as he followed the path up the front door of his home. After a horrible, lonely day, he wouldn’t mind spending the night with her.
He typed out a quick “On my w-” but suddenly received a call.
Seokmin
“When did he- Oh.” Seungcheol almost forgot that he and Seokmin exchanged numbers earlier before he left his social psych class. He hadn’t even remembered because so much had happened in that hour that Seungcheol needed a breather from him.
But… he was hoping that Seokmin would be his friend one day, so he answered the call as he entered his house.
“Hello?” He said, shutting the door behind him, kicking off his shoes, and waving to his parents who were in the living room.
“Hey!” He was still as happy as ever. Did he ever get tired? “Good news. I talked to the club. Initiation is next Monday, okay? We’ll go after our class together. Sounds good?”
“Sounds great, Min.” Seungcheol checked the pots on the stove to see what his mom made for dinner. It smelled great.
“We have nicknames already? I’m flattered! I’m gonna have to think of one. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow. Yeah?”
“Yup.” Seungcheol let out a deep breath. He wanted to ask Seokmin to hang out more… to be his friend. But it sounded too elementary so he just said “alright, bye,” instead.
“Bye.”
Almost as if she had been listening from behind the wall-- he wouldn’t put it past her-- his mom rushed into the kitchen with a bright smile on her face.
“Tell me all about your day.”
Seungcheol sighed and allowed himself to be enveloped by his mother. His father came in next to listen to Seungcheol explain his day, so of course he attempted to make it sound much more fun than it was.
Beginning with the club he’d joined this morning.
It looked like Nayoung would have to wait a bit.