Work Text:
Hyunjin glanced over at the crying closet as he placed the last few books from his trolley onto the shelves. This was day eight now of the same person locking themselves in there until closing time, when Hyunjin would inevitably have to be the one to knock on the door with a kind reminder that everyone needed to leave now.
(Seungmin worked closing hours too, but he had a tendency to disappear around this time. Once, he had claimed it was because Hyunjin was better at dealing with this stuff than he was, which was a blatant lie because Hyunjin was an awkward and introverted bean; Seungmin was lowkey evil, that was all there was to it.)
It was concerning, though, Hyunjin thought. The person was always still clearly upset when they left, though they'd always offer Hyunjin a watery smile and a mumbled apology, and no one should spend night after night in the university library crying. Well, around exam time it seemed to be all some people did, including Hyunjin, but this was the middle of the semester, and there should be no reason for it from that point of view.
So then, what was wrong?
Once all the books had been put away and Hyunjin had rolled the trolley back to its usual spot, he stretched his arms over his head, resigning himself to having to wander over to the crying closet. It was a good idea, really, to have a private area for students to cry it out and then get back to it, but in moments like these Hyunjin felt he needed a closet of his own. He had taken the library job because it seemed easy: he loved books, it gave him a chance to do his homework, and he got to work with his best friend - perfect.
Of course there were the occasional problems, like the back corner of the third floor where he had found people in various states of undress, or the fact that some people returned books with pages ripped out or coffee stains on them. Needing to confront cute crying people was not what he had thought would be in his job description, yet here he was, lingering by the desk and pouting over at Seungmin, who purposely ignored him.
Knowing it would be useless to ask for his help, especially when he realised Seungmin had put on his headphones, he ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath before dragging himself over to the closet, where he hesitated. He hated this part, because it felt so shitty to tell someone "hi, you being upset is getting in the way of me going home, so could you please leave?" but he knew it needed to be done (and of course he'd never actually say those words, because who on earth would?).
"Hello?" Hyunjin knocked, hearing shuffling on the other side. "Sorry to disturb you, but it's closing time again." He cursed himself for his choice of words (was that too insensitive?), but quickly plastered on a smile when the door opened and revealed a disheveled person with red-rimmed eyes and tear tracks on their face, their coat half buttoned and their bag over their shoulder.
"Sorry," a small voice muttered.
Hyunjin shook his head, not wanting anyone to feel bad for crying. Hell, he cried often enough and there was no shame in that, so he'd never let anyone think otherwise. Sure, the timing wasn't great, but no one could plan when they were sad, now could they? "Don't worry about it, honestly." He glanced over in Seungmin's direction, glad he was unable to hear him because Hyunjin didn't need his judgement, and he lowered his voice. "So, I usually try not to pry, but… do you want to talk about whatever is going on?"
When all he received was confused blinking and a tilted head, Hyunjin hurried to elaborate. "It's just that, maybe you'd like to talk to someone, and a stranger can be easier to talk to than a friend sometimes. And I'm a bit of an expert on crying, if I do say so myself."
The boy scrunched his nose. "How can someone be an expert on crying?"
"I-" Hyunjin frowned as he thought of how to answer that. "I cry a lot?" He shook his head and held up his hands. "Not the point. The point is that you have been crying and I just want to check on you."
"Why?"
Why indeed? Hyunjin found him cute and, well, it made his heart hurt that someone would be this upset so often. He couldn't say that, though, right? "You're too cute to cry," he blurted out anyway, wincing immediately after. God, he had never mastered the art of flirting. Or, apparently, of normal human interaction. "No, I didn’t mean that!"
"So you don't think I'm cute?"
When the boy looked like he'd cry again, Hyunjin started to panic. "No, I- it's not like that! Yes, you're cute, but I didn't mean to tell you, and no one can be too cute to cry anyway, crying is a good thing and doesn't discriminate, and- you're laughing."
Hyunjin's shoulders slumped when he realised the boy had been joking and was now chuckling a little, which he decided to take as a win. It was a nice laugh, a little husky, and even though the laughter was at him, he appreciated it.
"I'm Hyunjin. Hwang Hyunjin."
"Yang Jeongin," the boy mumbled, back to being a little shy. Hyunjin could relate. Where was Felix when he needed him? His friend had an emotional intelligence that had so far gone unrivalled and he'd know what to do much better than Hyunjin did.
"It's nice to meet you," Hyunjin told him. "I mean, we've met before, but it's nice to learn your name." He shuffled on his feet. "So… did you want to talk?"
"It's not a big deal," Jeongin told him, grinning awkwardly. "I'm in my second year and I feel like I picked the wrong course. But I can't really change now, since I argued with my parents a lot so they'd let me come here from Busan alone, so if I suddenly change, they'll be disappointed. It's just… It's hard, you know?"
Hyunjin nodded in understanding. He was close to his parents and hated disappointing them, even though they always assured him that they were happy as long as he was.
"I guess I'm kind of homesick too," Jeongin admitted, "which doesn't help. And my roommate-" Jeongin cut himself off with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I don’t have a lot of friends here so I'm just dumping all my thoughts on you."
Hyunjin shook his head. Although his friend Changbin liked to joke that Hyunjin never listened to him, he actually quite enjoyed listening to people (and sometimes teasing them by pretending not to) and if a cute guy wanted to brain dump on him, who was he to complain? Besides, a smile suited him much better, so he'd try to keep it there.
He glanced over his shoulder and caught Seungmin staring at him. Flushing, he turned back to Jeongin and beckoned him forward. "I'm done with work, but would you like to hang out so we can talk some more? You could even come to my place, my roommate's staying with his boyfriend so we'd be alone." He froze, his eyes wide as he spotted Jeongin's sceptical face. "Oh god, I didn’t mean- I meant you wouldn't be overwhelmed by people." Who allowed him to speak to anyone ever?
Jeongin stared at him a few more moments, then slowly nodded his head. "Sure. Better than going back to my room, I guess."
"Wow, your roommate must be awful if you're willing to go home with a stranger," Hyunjin remarked as he led the way to the main desk, where he'd left his things. Seungmin was definitely judging him as they got closer, but luckily he remained quiet.
"Oh, he is," Jeongin replied easily. "He's kinda homophobic and I'm very gay, so we don't get along." He grasped Hyunjin's arm when he tripped over his own feet and furrowed his eyebrows. "You okay?"
"Perfect!" Hyunjin cringed at his own awkwardness, but he had never been very elegant in dealing with cute boys who liked boys. He gestured over at the desk. "Let me get my bag."
Jeongin nodded and stepped back to wait for him, flashing him a quick smile.
"What are you doing?" Seungmin whispered when Hyunjin walked past him.
"Nothing," Hyunjin hissed as he grabbed his things. "You're okay to finish up, right?" He shrugged on his coat and slung his bag over his shoulder, making sure to show Seungmin his best puppy eyes.
Seungmin sighed. "Yeah, yeah." He looked over to where Jeongin was still looking around the library as he waited for Hyunjin to return. "Don't do anything stupid, alright?"
"Thanks, Min." Hyunjin gave him a quick hug. "I'll see you tomorrow!"
Seungmin waved him off and Hyunjin hurried back over to Jeongin, offering him a shy smile. "Let's go!"
********
"Your roommate sounds like an ass." Hyunjin reached for another slice of pizza - Jeongin's request - and chomped down it with as much grace as possible, which honestly wasn't a lot.
"Oh, he is," Jeongin agreed. "I've asked to be placed in a different room, but my request was denied because apparently I'll just need to deal with his comments. Something about how lifestyles should be private." He rolled his eyes. "He only knows because he asked and I didn't want to lie, it's not like I go around bringing guys home. Even if I did, so what? He has girls over all the time."
After an awkward trip to Hyunjin's place ("What do you study?" "I want to be a social worker." "Oh. I study art." "Cool."), which luckily hadn't taken that long, Jeongin had somehow gotten much more comfortable (perhaps too much so) once he had kicked off his shoes and curled up on the sofa with Hyunjin's favourite pillow. He was still pretty shy, but Hyunjin had deduced he was also a bit of a brat. In an endearing way, he supposed.
"Maybe you should bring guys home," Hyunjin commented. "And pretend to have really loud sex with them. Or really have it, whatever you prefer."
That startled a laugh out of Jeongin. "That's the worst idea I've ever heard. I love it." He grinned cheekily. "Are you volunteering?"
Hyunjin knocked over his drink, but luckily Jeongin had quick reflexes and caught it before it spilled everywhere.
"Sorry, sorry!" Hyunjin's shoulders slumped. Well, wasn't he making a great impression today? "I'm a mess."
Jeongin shrugged. "So am I. I cry in a library closet every night."
Hyunjin snorted, smiling widely when Jeongin did. God, he was so very weak for cuteness. In the first weeks after he met his roommate, Felix, he had barely been able to speak to him, something he still lovingly teased him about now. "Fine, we can be a mess together."
Hyunjin genuinely didn't understand why Jeongin claimed not to have friends, because he was nice and fun, and perhaps Hyunjin was a little biased because he couldn't help but notice Jeongin's eyes on him whenever he thought Hyunjin wasn't looking. So he liked the attention, sue him. Jeongin was much sweeter about it than guys usually were, almost innocent, in a way, and it was… nice. It was nice.
He was also happy at how much more relaxed Jeongin seemed to be. Sometimes, all someone needed was a friend, and even though it was far too early to call them that, at least this might show Jeongin he didn't need to be alone.
"You know, you're welcome to crash here whenever you'd like," Hyunjin told him, picking an olive off his pizza. "Felix - my roommate - wouldn't mind either, he loves people and he'd probably just keep on hugging you. He's one of the sweetest people ever, you'd love him." It was impossible not to fall for Felix even platonically once you met him, so Hyunjin could be confident in this aspect.
"Ah… I don't want to impose."
"You wouldn't be imposing!" Hyunjin protested. "And if you don't want to meet Felix yet, you can just come over when he's not here. Or we could meet somewhere else." He lowered his head, flushing when Jeongin blinked at him. He wasn’t really someone to force his company on anyone, but if he was determined, he was determined. "Sorry, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable."
"No, no, I'm not uncomfortable," Jeongin told him, though his hesitant tone made Hyunjin doubt the truth behind his statement. "Confused, though." He shoved his plate away and pulled his knees up to his chest. "Hyung, why am I here?"
Hyunjin sputtered, unsure how to respond. Because why was Jeongin here? Why had he invited him to his home, of all places, like they were old friends? It took him ages to invite anyone into his private space, something Jisung had complained about many times (once Hyunjin did invite him round, he had promptly fallen for Felix and vice versa, so now Jisung regularly came over unannounced). Yet: "Why did you agree to come?"
Jeongin furrowed his eyebrows and stared at the tabletop. "I don't… know. You seemed nice?"
Hyunjin raised his eyebrows. "Do you go home with any guy who 'seems nice'? Because believe me, that's a terrible idea." He had been there and it didn't always lead to a good time, some guys far too selfish. And sure, he knew Jeongin didn't mean it that way, but deflecting was easier sometimes.
This time, Jeongin rolled his eyes before meeting Hyunjin's gaze straight on. "Believe me when I say that this time it isn't."
Well. Hyunjin cleared his throat and climbed to his feet, nearly stumbling again in his hurry. "Do you want another drink?"
Jeongin stared at him, then reached for the bottle of pop on the floor and showed it to him. "We still have some here."
"Yes, well." Hyunjin lowered himself back to the floor, a little stiff, a lot nervous, and a little scared because he didn’t understand why he was nervous in the first place. "Maybe you wanted something else, I don’t know."
After a few beats of silence, Jeongin shifted and spoke up again. "Tell me about your art."
Hyunjin lit up and relaxed, relieved at finding a safer topic he could take about for hours, encouraged by Jeongin's display of genuine interest. By the time he went home, it was long past midnight and it was only due to the promise of a text once he got to his dorm that Hyunjin even let him go, not resting until he saw that Jeongin was safe and sound and ready to sleep.
He himself, unfortunately, barely slept at all.
********
"Oh my god, the place looks fine," Jisung whined while Felix and Hyunjin tidied their dorm like they were due an inspection. "It wasn’t even dirty, maybe a little messy."
"I'm not taking the word of someone who throws all his things wherever he can and who needs Minho hyung and Felix to remind him to clean the bathroom," Hyunjin quipped as he ran a duster along the top of the TV.
"You used to keep your clothes in a pile on the floor," Jisung pointed out from where he was lounging on the sofa, phone in hand and reading a webtoon of sorts.
"I didn't have a wardrobe!"
"Guys, please," Felix said as he brought in the hoover, "we only have an hour left until Jeongin gets here, can we just finish cleaning?" He turned to Jisung and looked him over. "Or stay out of our way and keep quiet until we're done?"
Jisung's mouth dropped open, but before he could complain about unfair treatment, Felix turned on the hoover and his words were drowned out.
Hyunjin did see Jisung's point, as much as he hated to admit it: there was no real need for them to take it this far. A normal clean, sure, but Felix had done an extra clean behind the fridge and Hyunjin had dusted the tops of all the shelves and cabinets, things they should do anyway but usually saved for cleaning day, not for 'having friends over'. It wasn't even as though Jeongin hadn't been over plenty of times - by now he knew Felix and Jisung quite well, in fact - but tonight would be the first time he'd be spending the night. Platonically! But still.
Although Jeongin still frequented the library, now he usually sat at a desk or chatted to Hyunjin, and he hadn’t visited the crying closet in a while now. Seungmin had commented on it only once, giving Hyunjin a significant look that went ignored. Hyunjin couldn’t deny being pleased, though: the more he got to know Jeongin, the more he liked him, and knowing that he finally had some people in his corner - even though he had met them through Hyunjin - to help him through his days made him happy.
Jeongin was… cute. Introverted, yes, a little shy, but cheeky and always telling Hyunjin off when he didn’t look after himself well enough. He was attractive, too, with the loveliest eyes Hyunjin had ever seen, and hearing him sing at noraebang once had been an experience Hyunjin wasn’t likely to forget any time soon. And yes, perhaps Hyunjin had a tiny bit of a crush, or a big one. Felix kept encouraging him to confess, but jeez, how could he? If things got awkward between them, Jeongin might feel the need to avoid him - which would mean avoiding his newfound friends and then where would that leave him? He didn’t want him to be alone again.
Of course things could end up fine, but was it worth the risk? (According to Felix: yes. But then, Felix was much more honest with his feelings.)
“Okay!” Felix said once he had put the hoover back in its place and Hyunjin had finished his dusting. “I think we’re done.” He looked around the living room, smiling. “It looks good, right?”
“It already did,” Jisung mumbled. When Felix pouted at him, he sighed and held out his arms so Felix could crawl into them. “You did well, baby,” he cooed, pecking Felix on the lips. “You worked hard, come rest now.”
“Hey, I worked hard too,” Hyunjin grumbled as he put the duster away.
“Yes, you did, baby, do you want a kiss too?”
Hyunjin recoiled while Jisung puckered his lips and Felix only laughed. Before he could tell him off, though, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and read Jeongin’s message, a smile coming to his face unbidden. “He’s on his way.”
“Cool, that’s our cue to leave then.” Jisung nudged Felix, who hurried into his bedroom. “You’ll be okay, right?”
“Erm.” Hyunjin watched in confusion as Jisung got up and stretched. His confusion only grew when Felix came back in holding an overnight bag he must have packed earlier today. “What’s going on? Weren’t we all going to hang out?”
“Not today,” Felix told him, his eyes flashing with something Hyunjin couldn’t quite understand. He wrapped his arms around Hyunjin and gave him one of his warm hugs that Hyunjin could only melt into, hating that it made him willing to forget whatever was going on. “We’re going back to Jisung’s, but message us if you need us, alright?”
“Why would I need to-”
“See you tomorrow!” Jisung told him when Felix let go, leaning in to give Hyunjin a hug as well and then tiptoeing for a quick kiss on Hyunjin’s cheek, cackling when he pulled away. “Have fun!” he called over his shoulder. Felix echoed him and then the two of them were gone, leaving a very confused Hyunjin behind.
What on earth?
“Everything alright?”
Hyunjin hummed, then actually processed the question and looked up from his chicken, throwing a smile Jeongin’s way. “Just fine.” Confused. But Jeongin had shown up excited and eager, and Hyunjin didn’t want to ruin his mood just because his friends were acting strange. He probably would have dismissed it had Changbin not sent him a message shortly after Felix and Jisung had left, wishing him a fun evening, accompanied by a winking emoji. When Hyunjin had sent back a bunch of question marks, he had been left on read.
Of course he had been fine with Jeongin, greeting him with a hug and joking with him as usual, but he couldn’t help but get stuck in his head at times, especially whenever there was a lull in their conversation, only filled by Netflix in the background. Something just felt different.
“My friends are weird, that’s all,” he added when Jeongin didn’t seem satisfied by his response. “They’re…” He paused, unsure how to explain exactly. Perhaps he was the only one who found it odd? “They kept telling me to have a good night.”
“And that’s… bad?”
“Not bad, I just don’t get why.” Hyunjin shook his head and smiled. “Sorry, it doesn’t matter. I do want us to actually have a good night, so I’ll focus on you now.”
Jeongin chewed on his lips, then shifted so he was facing Hyunjin head on. “I always have a good time with you, hyung. That’s kind of…” He took a deep breath and held one of Hyunjin’s hands in a loose grip. “I just wanted to spend more time with you, and maybe escape my roommate for a full evening,” he admitted. “But Felix hyung, he said… He said I could use this as an opportunity.”
Ever more puzzled, Hyunjin tilted his head. An opportunity for what?
Jeongin groaned and covered his face with his free hand, laughing a little. “Ah, you’re so cute and oblivious, hyung. I know you’ve noticed how I look at you, I don’t hide it very well. Do you think I look at all of my friends that way? Because you’ve met every single one of them and you should know that I don’t.”
“Wha-” Hyunjin blinked a few times and tensed. Surely he didn’t mean… “So you think I’m good-looking?”
Jeongin scoffed. “Everyone does. I don’t like you because you look good, that would be dumb. I also don’t like you just because you were nice to me, but that did help. You’re just…” He shrugged awkwardly, his gaze aimed somewhere past Hyunjin’s shoulders. “You’re you, I don’t know. I think it would be hard not to fall in love with you, though I don’t know if I’m in love yet, but I probably could be, at some point. I definitely have the biggest crush on you.” He cleared his throat and seemed to fold in on himself, betraying his nerves. “And I wouldn’t have told you, but Jisung hyung told me it’s not one-sided and I thought… maybe I should try? Because I really, really would like to try, hyung.”
Stunned into silence, Hyunjin could only sit there and try to process. It was a little overwhelming, to be honest, from Jeongin’s confession to the knowledge that his friends had apparently known and not told him, to- to realising that the boy who had seemed so shy and been so alone when they first properly met had been able to take the leap Hyunjin had been unable to.
Rather than reply with words, since right now he had none, he decided to cup Jeongin’s cheek and lean in for a kiss, relishing the little gasp that earned him before Jeongin kissed him back. His inexperience was clear in how he smacked his teeth into Hyunjin’s, but it was nonetheless Hyunjin’s favourite kiss so far. Besides, he’d gladly teach him.
“Hyung?” Jeongin whispered when they parted.
“Hmm?”
“I’m really glad you got me out of the closet.”
Hyunjin paused, then groaned in disappointment and quickly went to kiss Jeongin’s grin off his face.