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Seonghwa woke up in a cloud of a bed, bright sunlight shining into the room from the windows. He could feel that there was someone next to him, and suddenly he realized that he didn’t know where he was or who he was with. All he knows is that he felt comfortable enough to fall asleep and that meant something.
Seonghwa pushed himself up, looking over to his side. The person next to him was jarring to say the least. He was in bed with Hongjoong. Kim Hongjoong, who was sleeping soundly next to him, snoring quietly with his face pressed into his hand.
Fucking hell , he thought. How did I get here?
He’d only talked to Hongjoong a few times, each of those being whenever Hongjoong needed help with his work in the one class they shared. Never anything else. So how the fuck did he end up here, cuddled up in the blankets of Kim Hongjoong’s bed?
Seonghwa pushed the covers off of himself, moving to grab his shoes from their spot next to the nightstand. His phone was completely dead where it sat on the nightstand, although he wasn’t exactly surprised by that. He knew needed a new one. He slipped his shoes on quickly before walking to the bedroom door, but just before he left, he turned around to look at Hongjoong.
The boy was lying on his stomach with his head facing Seonghwa, drooling slightly into his palm. Seonghwa smiled softly before opening the door and heading deeper into the apartment. It was messy, especially the kitchen. For a second he wondered if he should stay and clean for him.
You guys aren’t even friends. Don’t touch his shit, a voice said in his head, one that sounded suspiciously similar to San.
He sighed, grabbing his jacket that was hanging by the door and quickly covering up before heading out. Seonghwa shut the door as quietly as possible, not knowing just how early it was, he certainly didn’t want to piss anyone off in this area. All of the residents could probably buy three of his family’s apartments. He walked to the end of the hallway, finding the door to the stairs and walking down.
When Seonghwa was outside, he realized it was a lot hotter than he thought. He couldn’t be bothered to take his jacket off, though, so he just made his way out of the apartment complex.
Once he reached the student buildings, Seonghwa was sweating like he just ran a triathlon. Even after living in California for his whole life, he was still stupid enough to think he could stand the morning heat. He still always expected it to be cooler than it was.
Oh well, his dorm was close anyway. He wouldn’t be walking through hell on earth for much longer.
Seonghwa walked into his building, heading upstairs to his room. He pulled his key out, unlocking it and hoping he might get lucky enough that San would not be there. But he was, and he was just as bubbly as usual.
“Hi, Sannie.”
“Hi Hwaseong. Where did you go last night?” San turned around in his chair to look at Seonghwa. Something in San’s gaze was mischievous.
“Why do you wanna know?”
“Do you have a boyfriend you aren’t telling me about?”
“No, what?”
“You just seem like you do.. I don't know what it is, but my gaydar is going off big-time.”
“One, stop saying that. Two, I don't have a boyfriend. And for the record, even if I did, you wouldn’t be the first person I told.” Seonghwa smiled at him, ignoring Sans glare.
“Who else do you have to tell?” Seonghwa gasped, feigning offense as he flipped San off. San laughed at him as he moved to grab a change of clothes before heading into the bathroom.
Seonghwa turned on the shower, stripping quickly. He jumped in, letting the hot water run over his body. For once he felt well rested, relaxed. Seonghwa wasn’t used to this feeling, seeing as he only ever slept on the stiff dorm mattress, but he liked it. However, he was still confused about how he somehow woke up in Hongjoong’s bed after speaking to him maybe 5 times in the past few months.
Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door.
Seonghwa jumped, shouting “What the hell do you want?”
“Minki and I are gonna run to the store, ya’ want anything?” San’s voice was muffled, as well as another one that was calling his name from afar.
“I’ll be alright. Thank you, though.”
“Of course, Hwa.”
Sighing, Seonghwa turned off the water, running his hands through his hair before bringing them down to his face, sighing quietly. He got out of the shower, grabbing his clothes and getting dressed. Seonghwa stared at his reflection in the mirror, practicing his best fake smile. It was promising today, maybe people would believe him for once when he told them he wasn’t exhausted.
He opened the bathroom door, stepping out to make it back to his room. Once he made it in and locked his door, Seonghwa pulled his charger from the side of his bed, plugging his phone in. While waiting for it to turn back on, he grabbed all of his things for class, stuffing them into his bag.
Fuck , his first class was with Hongjoong. Under any normal circumstance, this would be fine. But today? After waking up in Hongjoong’s bed? That boy was the last person Seonghwa wanted to see. But as it is, God hates Park Seonghwa.
After a few minutes, his phone finally turned back on. Seonghwa picked it up, unlocking it. He saw a few texts from his mom that were sent overnight, which was never good. The last time she texted him, his cat died. His cat wasn’t even at their house, she was with him, his mother was just a bad omen.
Seonghwa opened her messages, regretting it almost immediately. She was complaining about his tuition- again. The funniest part was that his parents didn’t even have to pay that much. Seonghwa lucked out with his scholarships, so they covered most of the costs. And yet, despite this, she still complained about it every chance she got. If she wasn’t yelling at his dad about it, she was yelling at him about it. Sometimes, Seonghwa wished he could just cut her off completely.
Seonghwa turned his phone off, laying down on his bed. He could hear San and Mingi coming back, they were laughing loudly outside of his door. If Seonghwa didn’t know better, he would assume they’re together. They certainly act like they are.
San started knocking on Seonghwa’s door as soon as he got close enough. Seonghwa sighed, getting up so he could let the twin idiots in. Luckily, he wouldn’t have to deal with their pining for long. He had the perfect excuse to escape: his 10:30 class..
San smiled when the door opened, “I know you said you didn’t want anything but I got you a pack of cookies. You need more sweet things in your life.”
“You’re enough for me, San. Being around you gives me cavities.”
“Cute, but seriously. You need to loosen up, and I know you love cookies so here, stress relief.” Seonghwa could help but smile as San handed him the packet of cookies.
“Thank you, Sannie.”
“Anything for you, Hwaseong.”
Seonghwa sighed, “As much as I’d like to stay and get more cavities, I need to head out if I want to be in class on time. See you two later, don’t do anything I wouldn't do.” Seonghwa walked back to his bed to grab his bag. On his way out of his room, he ruffled San’s hair.
“Bye Hwaseong.”San said, feigning despair. Mingi waved at him from behind San, giving him a small smile.
☼☼☼☼
Seonghwa walked out of the student building, heading to the lecture hall for his first class across campus. He didn’t understand exactly why Hongjoong was in early childhood and development, but that didn’t matter right now, did it? What mattered was that he wasn’t paying any attention, and walked directly into Hongjoong.
“Fuck, sorry.” Hongjoong muttered.
“It's cool, I wasn’t paying attention. It’s my bad.” Seonghwa tried to smile, but he was a bit stunned. Hongjoong looked beautiful.
Hongjoong smiled at him, “Say, did you sleep well last night?”
“What?”
“Did you sleep well?” Hongjoong repeated, slowly this time, as if Seonghwa was supposed to read his lips.
“I, uhm. I slept fine, yeah, I slept fine.”
“Cool.” Hongjoong stepped around him, walking in the direction of their lecture hall.
“Cool,” Seonghwa said to himself as he looked at Hongjoong questioningly before following behind him. They made it to the lecture hall with Hongjoong entering first. Hongjoong, despite having entered first, waited for Seonghwa to find a seat. Directly after Seonghwa sat, the other boy was sitting down directly next to him. On an entirely empty row.
“Hi?” Seonghwa didn’t mean for it to come out as a question.
“Hi. You know if you need a good night's sleep again, my bed is always open to you.”
“Okay..” Hongjoong was smiling at him again, leaving Seonghwa confused. “Why was I even there this morning?”
“You crashed last night at the library. You were exhausted, clearly, so I brought you to my place and let you sleep. And I’m realizing now that it’s creepy, but I promise I had nothing but good intent.”
“Oh.. You didn’t have to do that. I would’ve woken up eventually.”
“I wanted to, don’t worry,” Seonghwa smiled slightly at Hongjoong.
“Thank you then.”
“Always. Besides, I would never pass up the opportunity to have a cute boy sleeping in my bed,” Songhwa blushed, turning away from Hongjoong.
The other boy laughed quietly, turning his attention to their professor who had just entered the room.
Throughout the whole class, all Seonghwa could focus on was just how close he and Hongjoong were. Every once and a while, Hongjoong would do something to mess with him, like reaching over and writing something illegible on his notebook. Seonghwa couldn’t help but laugh every time he did, too.
Once the class was over, Seonghwa packed all of his things quickly. Hongjoong had poked at his shoulder a few times, whispering his name.
“Yes, Hongjoong?”
“Do you wanna get lunch with me?” He was smiling big and sweet.
“Not right now. Maybe one day, but today I have too much going on.”
“Then I'll be waiting, Hwa.” Seonghwa blushed as Hongjoong stood up to leave.
Seonghwa left the lecture hall with an idiotic smile on his face. He made his way to his next class, thinking about what Hongjoong had said. He called him cute. He called Seonghwa cute. Him, average Park Seonghwa. He didn’t know what he did to change God’s mind on him, but damn, was he grateful.
Luckily for him, the rest of the day went by quickly. When he got back to the suite, he found San’s door open. He peeked inside, seeing San and Mingi lying on San’s bed, sound asleep. Seonghwa took a picture- for blackmail purposes, of course- before heading to his room and collapsing onto his bed.
He was just about to fall asleep when his phone started ringing. He picked it up, and once he noticed that it was his mom, Seonghwa dropped the phone back onto the bed. He dozed off thinking about Hongjoong, even if he would never admit that to anyone, ever.
☼☼☼☼
Seonghwa woke up in the morning to his alarm blaring directly into his ear. He groaned, picking up his phone from where it was laying next to him, shutting it up. Seonghwa sighed, sitting up to stretch before San would inevitably make his way into his room. Then, he remembered Mingi. The same Mingi that was cuddling with San the night before.
It made him think. Could he and Hongjoong be that way? No, no, that was a ridiculous thought. Hongjoong just wanted to be friends, if even that. Nothing else.
It didn't matter. Seonghwa had work in an hour and he needed to get up and get ready. He stood up, making his way out of his room to go wake San.
When he entered the room, Seonghwa went to poke San’s shoulder. San groaned, “Leave me alone, you wench.”
“Don’t you have class?”
“I don't feel like it today.” Seonghwa smiled deviously before grabbing a pillow and hitting the two boys.
“I'm not letting you miss class, so you better get your ass up, Sannie boy.” San groaned, grabbing the pillow before Seonghwa could assault him and Mingi more.
Seonghwa smiled and left the room, knowing his job was done. He went back to his room to grab his things before heading into the bathroom to brush his teeth and change. He could hear Mingi and San talking quietly but he couldn’t quite make out what they were saying.
Just as he walked out of the bathroom, he saw San kiss Mingi through the still open door.
“Oh shit.”
San startled, pulling away from Mingi quickly. “Fuck, Hwa! Why are you so quiet?”
“Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm gonna go,” Seonghwa laughed awkwardly, approaching the door to slam it closed before running back to his own room.
He leaned up against the closed door, laughing a little. What the fuck was that?
Seonghwa grabbed his shoes and put them on before leaving his room and exiting the suite. Once he made it outside the student buildings, he made his way to the cafe on campus. It wasn't a fun job, but it helped him out.
As he drew closer to the cafe, his phone started ringing. It was his mom. He sighed before answering, figuring that he couldn’t ignore every one of her calls.
“Hi, mama.”
“Hi Seonghwa, honey. I need to talk to you about something.” He hated how she said it, it made his whole body ache with worry.
“What’s going on? Did something happen?”
“Honey, your dad and I are getting a divorce. I'm sorry I had to tell you over the phone but I figured you wouldn’t exactly want to meet up with me. You’ve never wanted to before.”
“What the fuck, mom?”
“I’d like to say I’m sorry, honey. But it’s what’s best for all of us. Besides, you’re almost an adult. This shouldn’t affect you that much.” Seonghwa stayed quiet, biting on his tongue.
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s fine. I've gotta go to work now.”
“Okay Seonghwa, I love you, kid.” Seonghwa didn’t answer, instead he quickly hung up and walked inside.
He went straight back to clock in, stopping when he hit his shoulder hard against the doorframe of the break room.
“Oh, fuck me...” Seonghwa groaned.
“You okay, Hwa?” Wooyoung was sitting on the counter, looking up from where he was talking to Yunho, who was doing his school work.
“Yeah, I'm fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Wooyoung tilted his head, “You don’t look fine... Do you need anything? Like a hug or...” Seonghwa smiled at him.
“A hug would never be denied and you know that.” Wooyoung smiled, pushing himself off the counter to hug him.
“Whatever is going on, if you ever need a hug, you know where I live,” Wooyoung whispered to him.
Wooyoung squeezed him before letting go, going to sit in his previous spot next to Yunho. Seonghwa smiled at the two, remembering how he introduced them to each other. If soulmates were real, those two would absolutely be soulmates.
Seonghwa went through his shift without any problems, besides the few stressed college students coming through. He didn’t care about the way they acted because he understood, college fucking sucked.
As the end of his shift drew closer, he wanted nothing but to go to bed. Seonghwa sighed when he heard the bell that signified someone entering. When he saw the customer, his breath caught in his throat. The boy came up to the register with a pretty smile on his face.
“Hi, what can I get started for you?” Seonghwa tried his best to remain calm, pushing down the blush that was threatening to take over.
“Hi Seonghwa, can I have a date?” Hongjoong smiled at him.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I'm asking you out, idiot.”
“That's no way to get me to agree to a date with you,” Seonghwa laughed a little bit, trying to keep his voice steady as he spoke, “Is there anything from the menu that I can get started for you?”
Hongjoong paused, pouting cutely as he stopped to think, “I don’t know, what’s your favorite drink here?”
“I, uh. I tend to like the caramel lattes the best.”
“Great! I’ll get two of those,” Seonghwa smiled as he rang Hongjoong up.
“Your total is $9.75 and I'll meet you out front in a few minutes. For that date.”
Hongjoong smiled widely as he paid, stepping over to the other side of the counter as he was done to wait for the drinks. Seonghwa sighed happily as his relief, Jongho, showed up. Jongho sent him to the back to clock out, and Seonghwa briefly saw Jongho talking to Hongjoong.
Seonghwa walked out front after he clocked out, seeing Hongjoong sitting outside on the curb with two cups next to him. Seonghwa left the building and sat beside him, looking down at the two cups.
“Have you tried it yet?”
“No, I wanted to wait for you.” Hongjoong smiled at him sweetly before picking up one of the cups. He took a sip before placing it in its original spot. “The other one is for you. You looked sad, so I thought it would be a good pick-me-up.”
“How sweet of you,” Seonghwa smiled as he picked up the other cup. “Now, for this date. What did you want to do?”
“I was thinking that we could go back to my place, maybe watch some movies and make some cookies.” Hongjoong met his eyes, “What do you think?”
“I think that’s a great idea.”
“Then let’s go.” Hongjoong pushed himself off the curb, extending his hand out to Seonghwa.
“Are you gonna leave your coffee here?” Seonghwa laughed as the other boy smiled sheepishly before leaning down and grabbing his cup.
Hongjoong extended his hand back out to Seonghwa when he stood back up. Seonghwa quickly accepted the outstretched hand. Hongjoong pulled him up, not letting go of his hand as they set off, walking in the direction of his apartment.
Many times on the way, Seonghwa had stopped Hongjoong to point out random flowers or birds. Each and every time he did, Hongjoong gave him a smile that made his heart feel as though it would burst out of his chest.
Once they made it to Hongjoong’s apartment, the other boy released Seonghwa’s hand so that he could retrieve his keys from his pocket. After unlocking the door, Hongjoong grabbed his hand again, pulling Seonghwa inside.
It was cleaner than the last time, his couch being completely empty and his kitchen counter, too. It was like Hongjoong had prepared for this.
Hongjoong released Seonghwa’s hand, walking to the cabinets in the kitchen. “So, I've never made cookies on my own before. Ever. I'm just warning you now that I might be an awful partner in this.” Hongjoong smiled at him as he pulled ingredients out of his cabinets.
“Well, I've made cookies plenty of times, so maybe I can teach you.”
“Maybe you can.”
Hongjoong moved from the cabinets once he got the ingredients, heading to a drawer to pull out a recipe, handing it to Seonghwa. The two of them got to work, getting all the measurements and setting the oven. Everything was going well, that is until Hongjoong dropped the cup of flour he was holding, sending the powder all over the two boys.
“Oh... my god.”
“Shit, I'm sorry!” Hongjoong exclaimed, noticeably calming when Seonghwa started laughing, trying to wipe some of the flour off his shirt. Hongjoong started laughing too, wiping the flour off his face. They met each other’s eyes, with huge ass smiles adorning their faces before Hongjoong placed his hands on Seonghwa’s face, pulling him into a kiss.
Seonghwa froze before he snapped into reality and kissed Hongjoong back. He placed his hand on the back of Hongjoong’s neck, which was bent at a strange angle to make up for the difference in height between them. Seonghwa found the short hairs on his neck, running his fingers through them. Eventually, Hongjoong pulled away, stepping away from Seonghwa slightly.
“Well then...” Seonghwa muttered, unable to hide the smile on his face.
“You don’t mind that I did that, right? If I crossed the line, tell me.”
“Are you kidding, Hongjoong? Of course not. I wouldn’t have kissed you back if I didn’t want it.”
Hongjoong giggled quietly, “Your breath smells like coffee,” the boy got close again, leaning up and kissing Seonghwa again.
Seonghwa reluctantly pulled away, “We should finish the cookies.”
“They can wait, can’t they?”
“Guess so,” Seonghwa pulled Hongjoong back in, kissing him sweetly.