Chapter Text
“Do we really have to go to school tomorrow?”
Such is the daily dialogue of one Myung Jaehyun, sprawled on his bed at 2 am, still wide awake and bothering his roommate. The roommate in question, Lee Riwoo, did not even bother to reply, too engrossed in his online game.
He’s used to it. It’s a scene they’re both all too familiar with. Late night gaming for Riwoo and nightly (over)thinking for Jaehyun. They’re both in their own different worlds but they somehow found a way to coexist without disturbing the other’s peace. And besides, their first class doesn’t start until one in the afternoon, so might as well spend the night to its fullest. They might complain now, but their perfect attendance record remains unbroken.
“Do you think we’ll get interesting classmates this time?” Jaehyun randomly blurted out while moving himself to the center of his bed and sprawling even wider, almost resembling snow angels on winter grounds.
“Nah. It’s probably going to be the same old faces,” came Riwoo’s dry reply.
“Have you checked the class list?”
“Why would I? It’s the same name every time and even if it’s not, it’s not like I care anyway. It’s not like I talk to other people other than you” Which is true. In all the years they’ve been friends, not once did he see Riwoo make a bond with another human being. Stray cats, sure, but never a person. The most socializing he had seen him do is through group projects and that’s it.
A beat of silence passed before Jaehyun opened his mouth again. “I miss Yeppi.”
Now that got Riwoo interested. “Are we still doing this this sem?” he asked, amused.
He received a groan in response. “The only thing that will— or might— keep me going at this point is Yeppi. Probably.” Riwoo snorted at the dramatic response. “Just a glimpse of him will motivate me to start my activities early for a week. I think.”
“You’re such a dork.” Riwoo entertained his friend as if he hadn’t heard that exact same statement and topic on repeat for months now. But he doesn’t get tired of it. Nuh uh. His greatest source of entertainment is watching Jaehyun turn into a flustered and blabbering mess because of a boy he was too shy to approach two semesters ago. Call him a sadist, sure. He likes seeing Jaehyun squirm.
Jaehyun groaned (borderline whined) for the upteenth time that night. “Seriously, is he a ghost or something? He shows up for one semester, for one class, then vanishes right after. I don’t see him around the campus, not even an accidental meet-up on the streets or the mall or a random cafe. He doesn’t post anything online. No. Nothing.” He flailed his limbs as he ranted, akin to a child throwing a tantrum. Heck, he’s willing to throw a tantrum in the middle of the campus at this point just so he could see Yeppi among the onlookers. He’s that desperate.
“You should’ve talked to him.”
“I know.” He didn’t and man did he regret it.
Park Sungho, Yeppi’s real name. Fair and soft-looking skin, long messy hair he wants to run his fingers in, sharp nose he constantly finds himself resisting to boop, and pretty eyes he wants to get lost in. Everything about him is pretty. His face, his voice, his laugh, the way he presents himself. Thus, the nickname. Personality wise, he can only guess, but he bets it’s the same as his pretty exterior. He doesn’t even know him, too blinded by his beauty and too shy to approach, but man was he so love-struck.
They were classmates in photography class. He would secretly snap candid photos of him while pretending to test the school camera or find a good angle or lighting. It came to a point where his SD card contained more photos of Yeppi than the actual photographs required for their activities. He was planning to send some of them, but backed out at the last minute. Not now. Not yet. Not when he hasn’t built the courage to talk to him yet. He will look like a perverted creep if he did. He was supposed to be an outgoing extrovert but when it came to Yeppi, he always finds himself cowering in his shell.
He built up his courage on the semestral break after that, only for Yeppi to seemingly vanish off the face of the earth in the next term, the only signs that he ever existed being the photographs he was never able to send. Jaehyun felt something inside him crack then.
The lights from Riwoo’s pc setup turned off, bringing Jaehyun out of his mental spiral. “You’re sleeping now?”
Riwoo dived face first into his bed with an oof, not bothering to roll around into a more comfortable position over his heap of pillows and blankets. “Good night, Jaehyun,” came the muffled reply.
“Night, Riwoo.”
★ ☆ 🎬 ★ ☆
Fast forward to three days later with Jaehyun looking even more dejected than ever. Every day passing without a glimpse of Yeppi turns his mood down by 5%, at least according to Riwoo and his made-up statistics. He gets his hopes up every time they arrive at a new class, only for it to slowly diminish with every person entering that is not Yeppi. The cycle repeated, all ending the same.
By the time they entered their last class on a Wednesday, Jaehyun stopped looking at the door. Normally, Riwoo would find it amusing, but today is different. It felt like his friend just gave up altogether, ready to move on from the ghost that is Yeppi. And Riwoo doesn’t want that. He wants his bubbly and dreamy best friend back, even if it means sacrificing sleep just to hear him pour his thoughts out every night until there’s nothing going on in that complex brain of his.
So Riwoo watched the door for him.
‘Please be Yeppi. Please be Yeppi,’ he chanted like a mantra in his head. The class slowly filled up, but there’s still no sign of his friend’s savior. As time ticked by, he was also losing hope. But no! He can’t let that happen. Not unless everyone in the class list is here.
Right, the class list. Come to think of it, neither of them bothered to check it. How absolutely stupid. That could’ve saved them from all the expectations and heartbreak!
Right as he whipped out his phone to check, their professor started talking. Riwoo let out a long sigh and slumped on his seat. He can’t believe this is really happening. Hope is gone. Jaehyun is gone for good. Might as well join the depression hole now. This absolutely sucks.
“We’ll start off with a good ol’ self-introduction. Just tell us your name and your film forte so you’ll have an idea on each other’s strengths.” Riwoo groaned internally. He’s so sick and tired of self-intros. They’re already in third year. Why is this still a thing?
“Who wants to start?” their professor oh-so-enthusiastically said as he scanned the crowd, Riwoo sinking deeper in his seat.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. The person opened it only slightly, asking for permission if they could come in.
“Sorry I’m late, sir.”
“No worries. Please come in.”
The latecomer revealed himself and lo and behold, it was none other than Park Sungho in his full angelic glory, white fluffy-looking sweater and all. Riwoo does not remember being this ecstatic in his entire life, not even when he reached the highest possible rank in his favorite online game after grinding for so long. Hope is back. Life is good again. He has this urge to kneel on the ground and thank the heavens.
Riwoo nudged his still sulking friend with his elbow a little too enthusiastically, causing him to almost fall out of his chair. Jaehyun was about to retort, but Riwoo beat him by saying, “Hey, it’s Yeppi.”
That was all it took to make Jaehyun’s aura 200 times brighter. The sparkles in his eyes were back in place and his back 100 times straighter. Riwoo could’ve sworn there was a gush of wind and an ost playing somewhere, mimicking a k-drama moment.
Sungho cheekily shuffled inside the classroom while holding a cup of coffee, likely from one of the booths in the plaza. “They were giving away cute stickers so I had to get one. They gave me an extra sticker sheet. W-Would you like one, sir?”
Their professor couldn’t help but laugh. “That indeed looks cute. Thank you. I’ll forgive your tardiness this time because of this,” he said as he accepted the sticker sheet. “Since you’re in front already, let’s start the self-intro with you. Just tell us your name and your film forte.”
That seems to have caught Sungho off guard, almost losing grip on his coffee. “O-Oh, okay.” He laughed nervously before composing himself. “I’m Park Sungho. My forte isn’t really in film but in illustration. But I’m confident in handling the camera and I guess, I can act a bit too. Looking forward to working with you.” And with that, he left center stage with a bow.
That whole ordeal was so… Yeppi. He’s the only one Riwoo knows who could pull off showing up late to class with coffee and cute stickers as an excuse while looking cheeky and absolutely adorable. No wonder Jaehyun was so smitten with this guy. He gets the vision. Fully. And looking to the right, he just witnessed Jaehyun fall in love for the second time with the same person, if that’s even possible.
The self-introduction went on. Their other classmates took the stage one by one starting from the front, as decided by their professor (again, a little too excitedly), until it became his and Jaehyun’s turn.
“Lee Riwoo. My forte is videography and editing,” came Riwoo’s simple intro, ending with a small bow and awkwardly shuffling back to his seat.
Jaehyun, however, is another story.
With a presence rivaling the sun itself, Myung Jaehyun marched to the front of the class, chest out and head held high. “Myung Jaehyun!” he declared with a booming voice, too loud for Riwoo’s ears, and mind you, he’s already sitting at the back. Different degrees of surprise were observed around him and god did Riwoo want to dig a hole where he sat and bury himself for good. Nope. He doesn't know that person. It’s these kinds of moments where he just wants to declare that ‘Lee Riwoo is not associated in any way with Myung Jaehyun.’ But of course, he’s a hypocrite. He cannot survive without this goofball.
And just like that, Jaehyun’s whole mood changed. He now wore that flirty smirk of his that Riwoo hated so much, and with a gentle voice said, “I’m an all-arounder in film but my forte lies in writing. Nice to meet you all and I'm looking forward to working with you.” He ended it with a wink and a heart, causing an uproar of laughter in the class.
“What was that? I will seriously disown you one of these days,” was the first thing Riwoo said when he got back to his seat.
“Yeppi looks cute when he laughs.”
“Well, of course it’s about Yeppi. Why am I not surprised?”
“He’s really back.” Jaehyun went back from being cheeky to dreamy, placing his head on his palm and wearing that lovestruck face.
Riwoo simply rolled his eyes. “What am I going to do with you?”
Once everyone got their turn for the self-intro, the professor stood up again and started talking. “Welcome again to film production class. First of all, as you all probably already know, your final output for this class will be a short film for the university’s yearly film festival. The reason why I made you introduce yourselves in front of the class is so you will have an idea on each other’s forte and choose your groupmates accordingly. We will start our lesson proper in the next meeting. But for now, I want you to already make a team. Minimum of 6. You can start now.”
Riwoo turned to Jaehyun with a knowing look. “Now’s your chance.”
“But I’m shy…” Jaehyun whined with a pout.
“You? Shy? Since when?”
“But it’s Yeppi.”
“So what if it’s Yeppi? Are you going to waste this opportunity? Do you want to keep your distance again and regret it later?” When Jaehyun did not respond, Riwoo continued with a more determined and firm tone. “The Myung Jaehyun I know may be shy sometimes but he’s not a coward. You only get this chance once in a lifetime. Dude, man up. I’ll be right behind you, okay? I thought you’re the extroverted one among us?”
Riwoo’s passionate pep talk almost sent Jaehyun to tears. Who knew his usually passive and happy-go-lucky best friend could get this determined about something other than gaming? Riwoo is right. He can’t chicken out now. Not when Yeppi is within reach. The last thing he wants right now is to regret not taking action. Myung Jaehyun, fighting!
“Riwoo, I love you.”
“Ew.”
“As a friend, of course. I love Yeppi more than you.”
“Okay, that’s so much worse. I am hurt.”
“What? No!” Riwoo laughed at Jaehyun’s frustrated noises. “My point is, I will talk to him right now. Let’s go!”
Riwoo let himself get dragged to the other side of the classroom where their point of interest was being surrounded by three other students. Jaehyun approached them with a small wave and a smile. “Hello, would you like to team up with us?”
Sungho’s face visibly lightened up in response, almost as if saying they arrived at the perfect time. “Oh, perfect! We need two more members to make it to the minimum.” Which they really did.
“Ah, then we’re right on time. Let’s work hard together!”
“Yes, let’s do that. Thank you!”
Riwoo can’t help but laugh at the interaction. Of course they will hit it right off. They both give off the same sunshine-like energy. Jaehyun was just too much of a coward until now.
He sighed and smiled in contentment. Finally, something’s happening.