003 ☆ derp derp derp
Jan. 3rd, 2012 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gearedSO B1A4SS IS FINALLY OVER. I CAN BREATHE AGAIN. IT NO LONGER FEELS LIKE I AM SHACKLED BY FIC. My last two weeks of December were absolutely, utterly ridiculous. Family dinner on the 19th, I think I wrote my own fic on the 20th-21st (after finally completely scrapping what clearly wasn't working out), idk what i did on the 21st actually, had to scramble to finish cards on the 22nd, a friend was over on the 23rd until the 24th (by this point i knew i had two more fics to go orz), went to the mall and ended up being generally sick on the 24th, spent the 25th and 26th at a friend's house, went to a family dinner on the 26th evening, family friend party on the 27th, went out with a friend on the 28th, FINALLY A BREAK ON THE 29TH (which I mostly spent rolling around and sleeping), finished one fic on the 30th, wrote like...100 words of the second that night, went to bed, and finished it fast because a) people came over at 10 am and b) after that it was running around shopping for last minute things before going to the regular family friend new years party before going to the NYE party at my cousin's. Yikes. I also admit I have yet to read anything I've written except the first one hehe. The only thing was that...because Kelley pointed out the last section was italicised, I realised....I..........forgot..................a bracket. ksdjgksldjga;kldjh;sdkjhk;lds sdklgajsdlgkjsdkl;gjsda;lgjsdlkgjasldkgjlkdsgjsd YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH IT BOTHERED ME. AN OPEN PARENTHESES. AND I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I also ended up playing jigsaw puzzle with the first one, because I was really unhappy with how it was balanced. I think it was missing a few scenes but orz so tired.
...Anyway. I thought I'd post one version of each of the casualties. Herp derp derp.
#1 - Prompt followed was school AU, and tragic ending if possible
Jinyoung/Sandeul or CNU/Gongchan or Baro/Gongchan
Junghwan is an electrical engineer and Jinyoung is a softie. Meanwhile, Dongwoo proves things no one will ever need to know as Sunwoo actually does something useful with his life. Chansik is a skipee with way too much time on his hands. They're pretty sure he's a CS major, but no one really knows.
"I refuse to believe there is not something pathologically wrong with your brain." Jinyoung crosses his arms as he leans back in the chair, contemplating the merits of balling up the pile of scrap paper in front of him and tossing it at Dongwoo's head.
Dongwoo, on his part, glances up at him and settles his glasses a little more comfortably on his nose. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with my brain," he says. "Proofs are far more fascinating than you might think."
Jinyoung just rolls his eyes. "There is no way you actually believe that. Anyway, party this friday? My place."
"Friday?" Dongwoo taps the end of the pen against his teeth as he contemplates this. "I have my Real Analysis midterm—"
"On Wednesday. In a week," Jinyoung cuts in. "And c'mon, you have all weekend to study."
Dongwoo frowns. "Don't you have a midterm next week too?" he asks.
Jinyoung shrugs, picking up Dongwoo's eraser and tossing it at his face. Dongwoo doesn't quite manage to catch it before it bounces off his glasses, much to Jinyoung's amusement. "Astro? Whatever," he says when he finally stops snickering. "Hell week's over and I deserve a break. You too. Look, I don't think you've left this library all week and that cannot be healthy."
"You do realise I go to class right?" Dongwoo asks. "Unlike some people."
"I only skip the morning classes," Jinyoung points out. "And maybe the Monday ones."
Dongwoo sighs, rescuing the edges of his assignment from Jinyoung's now uncapped and wandering pen. "Well clearly I've left the library several times this week. Now if I say yes will you stop bothering me so I can actually get this handed in on time?"
"I'm gracing you with my presence," Jinyoung retorts, but tosses the pen back into his bag regardless.
"Don't you have your own assignments to do?" Dongwoo complains.
"Nah, I finished Algorithms yesterday and 241 was a breeze. But you seriously need to get out more. This is why people think all you pure math nerds are nerds." Someone sitting at the next table glances up at this and shoots Jinyoung a death glare. Judging from the textbook the guys is perusing and the generally messy scribbled notes, Jinyoung would hazard the guess that he just managed to piss yet off another mathie, which would bring the number up to six so far this term. Well, he's done worse.
"Well I am a nerd," Dongwoo deadpans. "And fine, I'll come. On one condition."
"Which is?"
"Acapella concert is tomorrow. I promised a friend I'd show, so you might as well make yourself useful and come to lend me your clearly superior social ways."
Jinyoung snorts. The now more-irritated-than-usual mathie at the next table glares at him again and Jinyoung continues to ignore him. "If I didn't know you better I would say you were mocking me."
"Because I am mocking you," Dongwoo says flatly, kicking Jinyoung under the table. "Now out. You're disturbing the quiet of the library."
"Yeah, yeah," Jinyoung says, pulling his shins out of the way as he slings his bag over his shoulder. "I'll text you the details, you better reply."
"Yeah, yeah," Dongwoo echoes. "And you know where to find me anyway."
Jinyoung laughs, lifting a hand in a casual wave as he troops out the door of the library.
-
When Thursday evening rolls around, Jinyoung finds himself dutifully waiting outside the building that houses the campus theatre in an oversized coat and matching grey earmuffs, the weather far too cold for mid October. According to Dongwoo, Jinyoung hasn't been here since a presentation in first year, and the building has a reputation of leaving even its regular students lost on occasion—the lack of cell reception inside doesn't help. (According to Jinyoung, he skipped the presentation in favour of watching his roommate play Starcraft, but Dongwoo doesn't need to know.) Hence the waiting outside. And Dongwoo has the tickets. A few students meander past him as he waits with hands tucked into his pockets, fingers wrapped around his phone. Every now and then, Jinyoung pulls out his phone to send a scathing text message to Dongwoo, but so far, each time the phone buzzes, it hasn't been from him. He debates lighting a smoke, but decides against it because he has no idea when Dongwoo will actually get here.
Jinyoung is about to give up and either head for the library or home when the door bursts open and some Asian kid sticks his head through the frame. His face lights up in a grin when he sees Jinyoung, and Jinyoung frowns at him curiously, although the frown quickly turns into an eyeroll when he starts babbling at him in Korean.
"Dongwoo hyung said you'd probably be here and that he'd be late and to just come in first," he says, stepping aside and holding open the door. "Although he also said he didn't really think you'd be stupid enough to wait outside you might have 'cause there's no reception inside."
"Uhuh," Jinyoung mutters, following him down the hall. Leave it to Dongwoo to be late.
"But there's wifi! I mean, leave it to our campus to have perfect wifi everywhere but spotty reception. It's worse here than in the math building, and that's built like a fortress—although I guess you're a softie so you know that too. I mean, you're a third year like Dongwoo hyung right?" The kid glances at Jinyoung here, pausing in his nervous babbling long enough to shoot him an uneasy smile that Jinyoung suspects is meant to be comforting.
Puppies, Jinyoung's mind suggests. Arghhh, Jinyoung wants to scream. "Yup," he says instead.
The kid nods, brushing bangs out of his eyes. "Oh, um, I'm Chansik. I'm a second year, but I was born in 93, so I'm actually two years younger than you."
"Oh?" Jinyoung prompts. Dongwoo had been right though—he would have gotten lost for sure. The occasional broken flourescent light doesn't help the atmosphere of brown brick walls and beige floor tiles lining the meandering hallways. The kid pushes open a brown door, waiting for Jinyoung to go through first.
"Skipped a grade," he says with a shrug. "But it was kindergarten, so it doesn't really count."
They get to the theatre at this point, and when Jinyoung sees a hallway that leads to a door that leads outside he wonders why Dongwoo couldn't have just directed him to that door instead. Instead, Jinyoung sighs and trails Chansik into the theatre as he pulls off the earmuffs and stuffs them into his pocket. The person at the door nods at Chansik as they pass, so Jinyoung assumes that the kid must have something to do with the whole affair.
"Do you sing?" he asks.
Chansik gives him such a startled look that Jinyoung can't help the chuckle that bubbles out between his lips. "No!" he denies vehemently, before he sighs. "It's Junghwan hyung who does. I promised him I'd come but I didn't want to come alone so I asked Dongwoo hyung to come too and hyung said he'd bring you."
"I see," Jinyoung muses. Chansik leads him to a few empty seats with jackets tossed over them, and tells him to sit for now and he'll be right back. Jinyoung obliges, dropping into the cushioned seat and pulling out his phone which, unsurprisingly, lacks reception. With a sigh, he switches on the wifi and browses through his email until Dongwoo rushes over with a hurried apology. The hall is surprisingly full—there's a few empty seats at the back but that's it.
"You didn't wait long?" Dongwoo asks, just as Chansik slips into the seat on his other side with a quiet 'hi.'
"Not at all," Jinyoung reassures him. Dongwoo is just imagining the sarcastic bite in his tone.
Dongwoo heaves a long suffering sigh as he sheds his coat. "I got caught up talking to a prof," he explains. "I think I might work with him in the summer."
"The summer?" Jinyoung asks. "That's not for months."
"It never hurts to be prepared," Dongwoo says sagely.
Chansik snorts and Jinyoung grins, clearly not alone in his derision of Dongwoo's habits. "See hyung? I told you," Chansik says at the same moment the MC walks onto stage. They share an amused look across Dongwoo's one of exasperation before they settle into their seats.
Jinyoung has to admit he enjoys the concert more than he thought he would.
SKIP AHEAD
-
"Dude, grab another drink from the fridge!" Jinyoung yells to Dongwoo over the din. The living room is crammed with a mix of engineering students debating the possibilities of building a death ray, although Jinyoung has a feeling the arguments being laid out won't make a bit of sense in the morning. Dongwoo, on the other hand, is sitting on the couch with a long empty beer bottle and his phone.
Dongwoo shrugs. "I'm good," he yells back.
Jinyoung rolls his eyes and pulls Dongwoo to his feet. "C'mon, we're playing Bang! downstairs, might as well join in. No drinks required, promise," he tacks on when Dongwoo looks like he's about to protest again. He'd managed to coax Dongwoo into joining them when Yuuma taught them a Japanese drinking game earlier in the evening, but Dongwoo had been steadfastedly ignoring the mayhem since then. Which, Jinyoung thought, was really rather stupid, all things considering.
Chansik is the only one who looks up when the two of them enter, a quick wave before he goes back to watching the animated conversation Junghwan is having with Myungsoo which largely consists of Junghwan iterating the number of reasons he needs a horse while Myungsoo stares back utterly unimpressed, the others laughing raucuously.
Jinyoung takes a seat next to Jiho, greeting him with a nod and a hi-five, passing his housemate the cooler he'd grabbed on the way down. "I think it's noisier down here than upstairs," Jinyoung says.
"No shit," Jiho agrees. "'cause we're cooler, yeah?"
"No, because your friends are all insane," Jinyoung counters.
"Speak for yourself," Jiho says.
Jinyoung snorts. "Actually, most of my friends are upstairs building a death ray because you guys chased them out with your Korean."
"Not them," Jiho says with a roll of his eyes. "The double-e kid. Shit, you'd never have guessed, he looks like such a geek." As if on cue, Junghwan grins at them and gives them a thumbs up. Between his unstyled hair and thick glasses, Jiho isn't too far off the mark, not that Jinyoung would tell him this.
"Dude you're double majoring in Chemistry and Economics I don't think you have a right to talk. Who the fuck takes those courses anyway?"
"Oh stuff it," Jiho says, elbowing Jinyoung in the side. "You're a fucking softie minoring in physics, you nerd."
"I think the real nerd's over there," Jinyoung says with a nod at where Dongwoo was secretively checking Chansik's cards, giving him hints. Dongwoo just rolled his eyes, and casually directed Chansik in killing off Junghwan's remaining two life points. Junghwan let out a great wail of despair at this, huffing as he tossed his Renegade card at his friend's face. Chansik grinned and gave him a thumbs up. Noticing Jinyoung looking his way, Junghwan's eyes crinkled into a smile before he got up and wandered around the circle of people who hadn't been eliminated yet.
"Hey, thanks for inviting us," Junghwan said, dropping onto the floor next to Jinyoung. Jiho clapped him on the shoulder and stood to wander back upstairs, mentioning something about more drinks.
"Yeah no problem," Jinyoung said. "The more the merrier. Second year double-e right? I heard it's tough."
Junghwan nodded. "Electrical's not that bad. Although I kind of picked my program out of a hat," he said with a laugh.
"Brave," Jinyoung said. "Hey, you want another drink?"
"Sure," Junghwan said, standing when Jinyoung did.
He trailed Jinyoung upstairs to the kitchen where an impromptu dance party had started. Jinyoung crossed his arms as he debated the merits of squeezing through people before throwing his hands up in frustration. "Or not," he said, turning to Junghwan with a shrug.
"I don't mind," Junghwan said—or Jinyoung thought he said, the surrounding volume deafingly loud. Jinyoung pursed his lips before jerking his head and pointing upstairs—he had a stash of soju in his room and a sixpack of beer, albeit not chilled.
Jinyoung shut the door after Junghwan followed him in, grateful for the quiet respite. So too, it seemed, was Junghwan. "Beats losing your voice trying to have a conversation," Jinyoung said.
"Yeah. Oh, is that the washroom?" Junghwan asked, pointing to the door.
Jinyoung nodded. "Although I wouldn't go there if I were you," he warned. "Unless you want to see a third-rate porno."
"Ah."
Jinyoung laughed at the barely concealed scandal painted across Junghwan's face. "What'd you expect? It's not like we're elementary kids."
Junghwan grimaced, waving his hands in denial. "I've had a girlfriend!" he protested.
"Uhuh," Jinyoung said, giving him a pointed look-over. Junghwan had to be the least self-conscious person he had ever seen when it came to clothes, if his giant hoodie tossed over a pair of baggy jeans was anything to go by. Even Dongwoo put in more effort, although between his sister and Jinyoung's nagging, it would have been surprising if he didn't.
"Really," Junghwan said, sticking his hands into his pockets.
Jinyoung just laughed as he fetched two bottles of soju from under his bed. "Or beer?" he asked over his shoulder.
"Whatever's fine," Junghwan said.
"Mm, we might as well stay here a while," Jinyoung said, passing Junghwan one of the bottles and pointing to the chair. Jinyoung perched himself on the edge of his bed. "So how do you know Dongwoo?"
Junghwan shrugged. "Hyung? You know, Chansik. Just one of those 'I'm Korean you're Korean' sort of things. I was on the same floor as Channie in first year."
"Channie?" Jinyoung queried, amused.
Junghwan rolled his eyes, sipping tentatively at his glass. "What, he's cute, okay," he said.
Jinyoung stared at him, before finally relenting with a laugh. Puppies, he remembered. "He is," he agreed, knocking back a large swallow of soju. "Although don't tell him I said that."
"Dongwoo says you used to sing," Junghwan said. His eyes were staring at him curiously.
"Did he?" Jinyoung shrugged, smiling. He was going to have to throttle Dongwoo for that later. "So why do you?"
It was Junghwan's turn to shrug. "I've always liked it. If my parents let me, I would've been a singer."
"Good luck with that," Jinyoung muttered. The soju was doing what three beers before it hadn't, a warm tingling spreading through his limbs. Junghwan was still toying with his—not a heavy drinker, Jinyoung guessed.
"Choirs in highschool and joining the club was the next best thing," Junghwan said. And then: "you have a pretty voice."
Jinyoung contemplated thumbtacks in Dongwoo's shoes, because he knew exactly what Junghwan was talking about. Some friend Dongwoo was. Jinyoung smiled wider. "Not really, and that was a long time ago."
"I asked my girlfriend out with a song too," Junghwan said, and Jinyoung imagined driving Dongwoo's head through a wall. "I think that's the only reason why she said yes."
"Are you still together?" Jinyoung asked.
Junghwan shook his head, laughing. "We broke up after a week," he said, grimacing. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he let out another graceless laugh. "She decided I wasn't good looking enough."
Jinyoung chuckled in agreement. "I can see why," he said, drawing a noise of protest from Junghwan's side. "Kidding, kidding. So when'd your family move here?"
Junghwan frowned. "Is it that obvious?"
"Mm? No, I was just asking," Jinyoung said.
Junghwan shrugged, head at a tilt as he considered. "Young," he finally said. "When I was three?"
"Young," Jinyoung agreed, and then: "you sure you don't want a beer instead?"
Junghwan glanced at his bottle before taking a drink, grimacing at the taste. "I don't usually drink," he admitted with another laugh.
"I can see," Jinyoung teased. The sound of a door opening had them both looking up at the same time. Jinyoung nodded towards it. "Guess it's free."
[STUFF]
-
"If you say 'I told you so' I'm going to punch you in the face," Jinyoung warned Dongwoo.
Dongwoo pursed his lips and nodded, laughter clearly bubbling through anyway. Jinyoung groaned, burying his face deeper into his pillow. People had started trickling out after three, with Yuuma in charge of kicking everyone out by four. A few people had stayed over to help clean up in the morning, and Dongwoo was unfairly not hungover. Jinyoung made it a point to tell him so.
"You do know the solution would be to not drink in the first place?" Dongwoo asked, amused.
"Shut up," Jinyoung said, although his voice was muffled by the pillow. "Don't want to hear it."
"If it makes you feel better, I picked up all the empty bottles, although there's still poker cards everywhere. They're still sleeping in the basement, but they didn't make much of a mess."
Jinyoung rolled over, blinking at Dongwoo's face. "I take that back, you're a godsend," he said, sitting up. His head swam, and Jinyoung felt vaguely like he was going to hurl and said as much.
"I made coffee downstairs, although I'm not sure how much is left," Dongwoo said.
-
There was a tap on his shoulder, and Jinyoung pulled out his headphones as he turned around. Junghwan grinned at him before sliding into the seat at the computer next to Jinyoung, tossing his bag under the table.
"Hey," Junghwan said. "You're here early."
Jinyoung glanced around him—one in the afternoon on a Sunday morning, the library was still half empty. Early indeed. "You too," he said to Junghwan, stretching. His OS assignment stared back at him, and Jinyoung shrugged, hitting ctrl-s and alt-f4 in quick succession. "Busy?"
Junghwan made a face. "Unfortunately. The prof for logic is insane."
"Logic and computation? I thought you were EE?" Jinyoung quirked an eyebrow.
"CS minor," Junghwan explained. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, not so much. My longest assignments."
Jinyoung laughed, nodding in agreement. "I did hear the CS version was tougher," he said.
Junghwan's eyes opened wide, his expression comical. "Wait—you're software engineering, you could help, right?"
Jinyoung frowned as he considered this. On one hand, his own OS assignment. On the other— "Yeah sure, I guess. Where are you guys?"
"Uhhh, hang on!" Junghwan rummaged through his bag and came up with a UBS key, plugging it into the desktop. "Modal logic, I think?"
"You think?" Jinyoung asked.
"Okay, we are doing modal logic," Junghwan clarified. "I'm not that stupid."
"Uhuh," Jinyoung hummed, but reached over to scroll through the notes anyway.
Junghwan, as it turned out, was really, really good at asking stupid questions, and when Jinyoung called for a break fourty-five minutes in, he wondered what he'd gotten himself into. "Smoke?" he asked, standing up from the computers.
Junghwan gave him a funny look. "I don't smoke," he said, and Jinyoung shrugged.
"Well I need one," Jinyoung said, grabbing his jacket. To his surprise, Junghwan followed him out.
"I thought you don't smoke," Jinyoung commented, offering Junghwan a cigarette once they'd passed through the glass doors. The express bus had just passed by, and a stream of students laden with groceries walked into the building in front of them, chattering loudly.
Junghwan shook his head, stuffing his hands deeper into his pockets. "I don't," he said. "I just thought you'd be lonely by yourself."
Jinyoung gave him a strange look, to which Junghwan just shrugged. Jinyoung lit up, cupping his hand around the lighter, a stiff autumn wind stirring around them. He took a deep drag, rolling the cigarette between his fingers. Junghwan was watching him curiously, and Jinyoung shot him a grin. "Sure you don't want one?"
"What's it like?" Junghwan asked instead.
Jinyoung shrugged, taking another drag before answering. "Calming," he said. "Relaxing."
Junghwan laughed inexplicably, eyes crinkling behind his glasses. A few passerby gave them strange glances before going throuh the automatic glass doors. Jinyoung wondered what he'd done to deserve this. "Sorry, that's probably my fault, isn't it?" he said, when he finally stopped.
"Yup," Jinyoung said, not bothering to mince words. "Sounds around right."
"I think I've got it for now," Junghwan reassured him. Jinyoung crossed his arms, giving him a critical look. "Anyways, just work on your own assignment when we go back in!"
"If you say so," Jinyoung said, amused.
Junghwan sighed. "You don't believe me, do you."
"Nope," Jinyoung chuckled, and only laughed longer at the indignant look on Junghwan's face.
"Why are you so mean," Junghwan complained, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm actually a pretty good student."
"I believe you," Jinyoung said, a teasing lilt still in his voice. Junghwan huffed, puffing out his cheeks. Jinyoung reached over to poke them, and was rewarded with a surprised squeak.
"What was that for?" Junghwan rubbed his cheek, giving Jinyoung a wounded look.
"You looked stupid," Jinyoung explained. He took one last drag of his cigarette before dropping it on the ground and grinding it under his heel. Junghwan's eyes narrowed briefly at the action, but since he remained silent as he turned to go in, Jinyoung didn't comment.
It wasn't until a full week, several courses, and seven smoke breaks later that Junghwan commented "the ash trays are there for a reason, hyung," disapproval laced heavily in his voice.
"Oh, are they?" Jinyoung said lightly, but obligingly dropped it in the proper receptacle when he finished. The ground was still littered with cigarette butts, with or without his help.
-
[JUNGHWAN POV?]
-
"So I heard from Chansik you've been hanging out with Junghwan lately," Dongwoo said. It was Jinyoung's turn to make dinner, but Dongwoo tended to tag along just to make sure Jinyoung didn't burn the house down by accident. Jinyoung was pretty sure Dongwoo should have been more concerned about this when it was the others, considering both Jaehyo and Yuuma had succeeded in setting off the smoke alarms three and two times respectively in the past month alone.
"Yeah," Jinyoung said, dumping the noodles into the boiling water. "Helping him with his Logic homework."
Dongwoo chuckled, passing Jinyoung the salt. "I didn't know you had it in you to be nice."
Jinyoung rolled his eyes. "I have a knife here and I'm not afraid to use it."
"I have a drawer full of butter knives," Dongwoo countered, pulling it open for emphasis.
"I still haven't forgiven you for showing him those songs," Jinyoung said.
"Who? Chansik or Junghwan?"
"Both," Jinyoung said. He grabbed the carrot and started chopping it with a vengeance, the only sound other than Jiho's hiphop music being the one of the knife hitting the cutting board.
"It's really not such a big deal," Dongwoo said. "And hey, Junghwan said so too, didn't he? You sing well. And that's something, coming from him."
Jinyoung didn't respond, only pressing his lips together tighter. So he was being childish about it—so what? Dongwoo had brought that point up enough times before. The tap was dripping, and Jinyoung reached over to shove the handle down.
"She wasn't good for you anyway," Dongwoo said pragmatically.
Jinyoung took a deep breath, and put the knife down with a quiet click. "This isn't about her," he said, his voice dropping. "And Shin Dongwoo, I swear to god if you don't stop bringing it up, I will do something drastic."
Dongwoo had his arms crossed across his chest when Jinyoung turned, back pressed against the archway to the kitchen. He pursed his lips, frowning. "You're the one who keeps making everything I say about it. Seriously, I've never seen you so hung up on something."
"I'm not hung up on it."
"Lover's spat!" Yuma called teasingly from the living room, shattering the tension that Jinyoung hadn't noticed build up inside the kitchen.
"Shut up!" Jinyoung called back in English.
Dongwoo just shrugged. "I have homework," he said, and disappeared before Jinyoung could say anything else. Jinyoung, on his part, turned his attention back to dinner, which was finished in short order.
"I'm heading out, stuff's on the counter," Jinyoung said to the general vicinity of the rest of the house.
Jaehyo glanced up from his psych textbook, nodding at him. "Dongwoo says not to stay out too late—probably."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jinyoung said, shoving his feet into boots and grabbing his jacket from the closet.
Winter was creeping into the air, with Halloween over and done with, the entire affair far more muted than necessary owing to the fact that four out of six members in their house had midterms or assignments of some sort the next day. As for Junghwan, his midterm was in a week, but considering the ridiculously high marks he was getting on his assignments, Jinyoung really didn't think that it was a source of concern.
Jinyoung Library? he texted anyway.
junghwan Hyung ^^ you know me too well kekeke. leaving soon!!
junghwan lab due tomorrow t_____t
junghwan but wanna meet at the cafe?
Jinyoung Sure
Jinyoung slipped his phone back into his pocket and headed down the street towards campus. Leaves swirled around his feet, piling up against the curb and fences. Winter was definitely on its way, the telltale bite omniprescent in the air that wormed its way under the collar of his jacket. Students with heavy backpacks and giant headphones walked past him in the opposite direction, heading home after a long day of classes or late library sessions. The wind was in their faces—it pushed against Jinyoung's back.
Jinyoung stepped into the parking lot of the plaza with its brightly lit shop signs, crossing to the back corner where the cafe was. He grabbed a coffee from the counter, settling into an empty booth by the window to wait.
Junghwan showed up some five minutes later, cheeks red and flushed from the cold. He dropped his bag and jacket into the seat opposite of Jinyoung with some fumbling, coming out of the entire ordeal with ruffled hair and crooked glasses.
"You look ridiculous," Jinyoung pointed out to him. Junghwan groaned, grabbing his wallet and heading to the counter. [BLAH]
"By the way, Sunwoo says he wants to check out the new building tonight, wanna come?" Junghwan asked.
Jinyoung arched an eyebrow. "You mean the new Physics building?"
"Yup." Junghwan nodded, a grin on his face and a glint in his eye. "The roof's great for stargazing."
"I doubt that's allowed," Jinyoung said.
"Well, we've never been caught," Junghwan said slowly. "So it's probably fine."
"You mean you've done this before?"
Junghwan shrugged. "Sure, every now and then. Sunwoo's friends do stuff like that all the time. I don't always go, though."
[STUFF. rooftop running? exploring the in-construction building.
At one point, they find themselves by themselves, and when Junghwan's fingers brush against his wrist, something tingles in Jinyoung, etc.]
-
"By the way, whenever you're ready for a break, I have something to ask you," Junghwan remarked casually one day when they were both working in the library on their own assignments. Jinyoung glanced up at Junghwan across the table, pen pausing over his page. Junghwan had his circuits textbook open and was attacking it with multi-coloured highlighters, the end result looking like a gay unicorn had vomited all over it.
"Just ask now," Jinyoung said, bending back to his calculations. The usual library chatter was loud around them, despite it being labelled as 'quiet study'. Jinyoung glanced in annoyance to his left at a particularly irritating chip bag being crumpled.
Junghwan hummed thoughtfully, dropping his chin onto his textbook. "You really do have a nice voice," he said. "It's a little thin, but it's pretty."
"What are you talking about," Jinyoung deadpanned.
Junghwan grinned at him, pulling his laptop over and tabbing through a few pages before turning it around to show Jinyoung. Jinyoung pulled it towards him, feeling a rather calm, murderous urge rising towards both Junghwan and Dongwoo, but largely towards the latter. He'd forgotten that Dongwoo might have kept some of the songs he'd sent him back when he still wrote them. Familiar notes stared back at him in the unforgiving black and white of sheet music, and Jinyoung pushed the laptop back towards Junghwan.
Junghwan was watching him, guaging his reaction, so Jinyoung smiled. "Let me guess, Dongwoo?"
"Obviously," Junghwan said. "Anyways, what I wanted to ask you was if you could finish them."
"I stopped writing music a long time ago," Jinyoung said. "And no matter what Dongwoo says, it's because I'm busy."
"Not all the time," Junghwan pointed out.
"I'm too busy for that," Jinyoung said flatly.
"You can find enough time to finish those, can't you?" Junghwan asked.
Jinyoung could feel a headache coming on, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm busy," he said. "And why do you want me to finish them anyway?"
Junghwan cocked his head, shrugging. "No reason? Well, for me."
"Let me get this straight. You want me to write you a song?" Jinyoung asked incredulously. "Helping you with your homework isn't enough?"
Junghwan looked put out, mouth stretched in a grimace. "You don't have to put it like that, hyung. It was just a question. And I didn't ask you to write me a song, I just wanted to know if you could finish some of them."
"Good luck with that," Jinyoung said. "Find someone else."
"No point," Junghwan said with another shrug.
Jinyoung fixed him with another hard look, but Junghwan had already gone back to colour-coding his notes with a vengenace. When he didn't look back up, Jinyoung turned to his own assignment. He'd just managed to lose himself in the mindless calculations when Junghwan spoke up again.
"Why did you stop singing?" he asked.
"Busy," Jinyoung answered automatically. It was only half a lie.
Junghwan hummed, tapping his pen against the laptop. "Your girlfriend?" he asked.
Jinyoung snorted. "She was a bitch," he said.
"Dongwoo hyung mentioned that," Junghwan said.
"Why do you ask him these things and not me?" Jinyoung asked.
Junghwan gave him another one of those curious looks that Jinyoung was getting used to, the one where his eyes narrowed the tiniest amount, nose wrinkled, a 'but isn't it obvious?' all but on the tip of his tongue. "Dongwoo hyung doesn't make fun of me," he said.
"I don't make fun of you," Jinyoung said.
Junghwan shrugged, chewing on the end of his pen. "I bet Dongwoo hyung would have finished the songs if I asked him," he said thoughtfully.
"Well I'm not Dongwoo," Jinyoung said wearily.
"I know."
A girl complaining loudly about her boyfriend carried the tone of conversation for their corner of the library, and Jinyoung let it. He hit the play on his ipod, STUFF
Junghwan stood, gathering his notes. "Leaving?" Jinyoung asked, glancing up.
Junghwan nodded. "Sunwoo
THEY MEET AGAIN IN THE LBIRARY WORKING ON ASSIGNMENTS.
Since Junghwan is minoring in CS, he asks Jinyoung to help. Jinyoung, amused, agrees.
At one point, Junghwan turns up with Jinyoung's old compositions, courtesy of Dongwoo. He persuades Jinyoung to work on them again because Junghwan wants to record them. In return, he gives Jinyoung a flash drive with some of his own covers.
Jinyoung is impressed by his voice - it had been pleasant to listen to as part of the group, but it was really powerful as a solo. Not that he says this.
He does, however, drag Junghwan to the city (aka Toronto) one weekend to get him a proper haircut and take him shopping in general. The hairdresser convinces him to get his hair dyed.
Assignments happen and end of term rolls around, with a EOT concert. Jinyoung goes both nights without being asked. He ends up chatting with Sunwoo who hints that Junghwan likes Jinyoung.
Jinyoung, meanwhile, has an identity crisis. It turns out that his girlfriend from first year had broken up with him because she grew gradually more and more convinced that he was gay with Dongwoo. Jinyoung was like 'what the fuck he's my best friend and that's it,' and they had an argument, and they'd broken up after that \o/ Dongwoo had thought the whole thing rather silly, and deemed her not good for him anyway.
Winter term, and Jinyoung purposely avoids Junghwan, sidestepping his texts and emails etc. leaving some vague excuse on his facebook about being busy. Dongwoo still thinks he's being silly, but doesn't interfere. Chansik, on the other hand, does, showing up at his house one day and being all 'hyung, fix this,' because Junghwan has just been extra clingy to him lately. In the meantime, Sunwoo says exasperatedly that Chansik's been clinging to him and it was probably all Jinyoung's fault.
Jinyoung is like 'nope not my fault' and pretty much ignores it all. He also gets a girlfriend during this time, although it lasts all of three weeks because he finds her annoying and clingy and (aka is not junghwan).
He is also not actually busy, choosing instead to bury himself in composing again. Jiho convinces him to sing them too, and it's as he's recording one day that someone walks into his room and he's about to rip them apart because they know better than to do that, and then Junghwan is standing there.
And he went to Korea in the break and went shopping and got contacts and is kind of gorgeous now and Jinyoung is like 'fuck'. Turns out he bumped into Yuuma leaving who let him in.
Shit happens and they end up kissing and Junghwan is like 'no fuck you for fucking with my feelings' and Jinyoung is like 'shut up' and they just kind of...make out more. ARGUMENT and then Jinyoung is the one who leaves, leaving Junghwan in the house.
When Jinyoung eventually goes back, he's a little surprised to see Junghwan gone. There is, however, a new file on his desktop. It turns out Junghwan recorded one of Jinyoung's songs and it's...really good. Jinyoung is like, 'I'm an idiot.' and Dongwoo is all, yeah, you are. Turns out Chansik told him what had happened.
And Jinyoung is like 'I'm not gay,' and Dongwoo is all 'who the fuck cares you're being an asshole,' and forces him to go apologize.
So Jinyoung goes to a coffee store, picks up a latte, and shows up at Junghwan's door. Sunwoo is like "...do I let you in," and Jinyoung is all "I have coffee?" and stuff.
Jinyoung apoloises and is like 'I'll treat you to dinner' and Junghwan is like 'wtf' and about to say no when Jinyoung....sings something to him idk and they go and it's basically a date and they make out more :|
...and then it ends. idk. I guess they agree that it wouldn't work out anyway because, well, they're both guys. OR SOMETHING.
#2 SF
A sickingly sterile shade of white greeted him when Jinyoung cracked open his eyes, and he bit back a groan on reflex. The hosp again. This wasn't the first time he's passed out like this, and Jinyoung could bet it wouldn't be the last, either. His head pulsed faintly as he levered himself upright. Only one other bed was occupied, one of the kids from the newest batch if Jinyoung's guess was right. Otherwise, the room was empty.
Jinyoung made his way to the doorway where his shoes were, the floor clinically cool under his bare feet. He adjusted his shirt as he walked, feeling the fabric resettle itself across his shoulders, pleasant contact with his skin as it slid downwards. A twinge. He frowned and pressed a few fingers softly against his temple—the moment of discomfort passed as quickly as it had arrived.
The inner ring was eerily quiet, but it always was. The door to the hosp slid shut behind him with a hiss of pressurised air, and Jinyoung was left with the faint whispers of activity from the outer rings and the muted whirr of the generators tucked within the inner wall. Jinyoung quickened his steps; he'd never been a fan of this part of the complex. There was something too clean and stark about it all, and quiet. He'd always preferred the softer feel of the outer rings, noise and all, with the false-expanses and vistas of stars and neighbouring complexes.
He'd always been somewhat of a romantic.
Paging Shin Dongwoo, Jinyoung thought aloud, passing between the airlock of the inner and outer ring. Any time you want to come pick me up—
You're awake? Dongwoo's surprised thoughts interrupted Jinyoung mid complaint-cum-request, and Jinyoung grinned. The second airlock door closed behind him, and Jinyoung found himself smack in the bustle of the younger kids moving between classes, laughter and chatter both loud in the halls. Whether he felt lighter from the reduced gravity further from the core or the playful atmosphere was anyone's guess.
Apparently, Jinyoung commented back wryly. I'm at lock 3B.
Dongwoo did a few quick calculations before giving him a mental nod in response. I'm at the gym, so I'll be there in five. Don't move until I get there! he cautioned, and then he was off.
The moment Dongwoo terminated the mindlink, Jinyoung opened it slowly to a more general channel, scanning through the banal thoughts of the student body to search for what he was looking for. Class 2 had an upcoming test, and class 3 needed to run a make-up session because their teacher had been down with a fever the last week. There were always the few that wondered if it was possible to hop a transport to the neighbouring (girls) complex, and tinges of homesickness or fear or anticipation, but that was somewhat of a constant. The teacher of class A, on the other hand—
—a chance we'll need to graduate a team sooner. There's, them but they're still short a few and then the matter of—
his thoughts cut off abruptly, and Jinyoung frowned. He couldn't tell if he'd been detected or if the man had simply been distracted by someone apparently telepathically pulling books from the shelves and tossing them at the blackboard. Someone's going to get detention for that. He picks up a thought trail near the staff room, something about deployment and mind mapping (ergo referring to him) before the door was shut and the trail ended abruptly again. He gathered a few other teachers who corroborated what teacher A had been musing over, but more interestingly, it was being passed around a few students as a rumor. And if it had made rumor status already, then that meant it was more than likely to be true.
"—young. Jinyoung!" Someone calling his name jarred Jinyoung out of his thoughts, and he smiled easily as he straightened.
"Dongwoo?" he queried, quickly shifting his focus back to his surroundings. Dongwoo blinked into existence beside him, and Jinyoung's smile grew wider.
Dongwoo just sighed in exasperation. "Of course it's me, who else would it be. And I wish you would wait until you're in your room before you do things like that. What if it weren't me?"
Jinyoung shrugged. "Everyone's in class, except for me, you, that new kid who's in the hosp, and a handful of others. The chances were good of it being you."
"Some day you're going to realise I'm right," Dongwoo said. Jinyoung just shrugged again, and casually touched his fingers to Dongwoo's arm. Dongwoo nodded, placing a hand on Jinyoung's shoulder as they headed down the hall.
"So how long was I out for?" Jinyoung asked.
"Two days give or take. Why? Hold on, it's right here—"
"I know," Jinyoung said, making the turn. "Contrary to popular belief I am capable of more than standing around and looking pretty and useless."
"No one said you weren't—left, and yes I know you know. Don't worry, since it was just a routine training session, only Chansik saw. What happened this time?"
The sounds of their steps against the floor were largely absorbed by the walls, but even so, they were the only audible sound for a few minutes as Jinyoung frowned in attempted recollection. Dongwoo's grip on Jinyoung's shoulder tightened for a few seconds, and Jinyoung shook his head. "No idea," he admitted.
It was Dongwoo's turn to fall silent. A few turns later, they found themselves standing in front of a door, Jinyoung leaning against the opposite wall as Dongwoo unlocked it.
"They want to deploy us soon," Dongwoo said.
Jinyoung let loose a breath of laughter. "I know," he said, and felt Dongwoo's surprise before he could voice it. He tapped his head in response. "I am good for something."
Dongwoo sighed and thought sarcastic thoughts, opening the door. Jinyoung brushed past Dongwoo on his way in. Chansik was sitting on one of the beds, flipping through one of Jinyoung's strategy manuals. When he heard them come in, he stood up quickly, letting the manual drop harmlessly onto the mattress. "You're back!" he exclaimed.
"Shouldn't you be in class?" Dongwoo asked, dropping onto the other bed and shutting the door shut. "I thought you said he was in class."
"He was," Jinyoung said, cutting off Chansik's protests. "He only got here a few minutes ago."
"I heard you were awake," Chansik admitted sheepishly. Jinyoung nodded absently, and flicked the switch. The room flooded into view at the same time Dongwoo let out an irritated 'hey!', followed shortly by the blanket Dongwoo had been folding telepathically crumpling into a pile on the bed again. Jinyoung just grinned brightly.
"I wish you'd warn us when you do that," Dongwoo grumbled. Now that Jinyoung could see again, it was clear Dongwoo hadn't been back in the room for the two days Jinyoung had been out, if the rumpled state of his clothes, his training clothes, were any indication. On the other hand, Chansik was dressed immacuately in his uniform with his hair neatly groomed and schoolbag still at his feet.
"Well you could have switched the filter on yourself," Jinyoung reminded him gently. Dongwoo flinched, turning away. It was what they had agreed on, but Jinyoung didn't really blame Dongwoo for having forgotten. After all, it wasn't like there were any downsides to his supplementary EX.
Chansik coughed softly, interrupting the impromptu staring contest him and Dongwoo had been having. "Anyway, we still have to complete the training module that we didn't finish," he said.
"Is that why you're here?" Dongwoo queried. Chansik nodded.
Jinyoung frowned.
-
Jinyoung strapped himself into the chair, and flicked open the switch that released the filter from the room. Chansik and Dongwoo instantly flooded into his mind, and he took comfort in their familiarity even as darkness enveloped his regular vision. Dongwoo was worried that Jinyoung would be overwhelmed again, and Jinyoung couldn't help a slight smile. Dongwoo's worry was almost cute.
"Systems expanded," he said aloud, largely for their benefit.
"Roger."
"Roger."
His eyes slipped shut as he leaned back in his seat, probing tentatively at the other two. Chansik fiddled with the controls of the simulation module, while Dongwoo waited patiently for instructions, relaying to Jinyoung a steady stream of observations in the meantime. Jinyoung filed them away, and focused on the targets instead. Three central, two mobile units, middle of an asteroid field. Chansik responds to his mental prompt and slides his sim off to the right, Dongwoo dropping down quickly. Jinyoung controls the two dummy mechs, sending one to the left, and the other to shadow Chansik.
Textbook stuff.
Jinyoung drifted into autopilot with his directions, leaving them to handle the finer points of operation. So he'd been out for two days, not all the instructors were aware, and there was some sort of crisis that required new teams being deployed despite not being battle ready. The only explanation Jinyoung could come up with was that the impending war just got a lot more impending. Which, put simply, sucked.
A deviation in pattern tripped one of Jinyoung's mental triggers, and he sat up, frowning.
Dongwoo? he probed.
I'm on it, Dongwoo assured him, entering a sharp dive to double back. Jinyoung watched the rouge mech approach, firing a test shot it easily dodged.
"What about me?" Chansik asked aloud.
"Lutry manuever, hold pattern," Jinyoung said. If he redirected fire away from the main ships towards the mech—no, that was probably what he was being goaded into doing. "Dongwoo, thoughts?"
No idea. I'm just here for the legwork. I'm—roll, goddammit—I'm on this one though.
"It's. Coming. Closer," Jinyoung ground out between his teeth.
I can tell, Dongwoo replied just as testily. Just—
He could see the mech as clearly as if it had been in front of him, even though it existed only as a blip on a screen, a point of false consciousness nestled in his own. His limbs felt heavy, and the protective armour of the mech seemed to have disappeared. He raised an arm in front of his face, an attempt to block it from view, but it was still there.
"Jinyoung, move!" Chansik yelled through the earpiece, just as a door slid open. A wave of thoughts and emotion hit Jinyoung from behind, his head jerking forward, fingers pressed against his temple, eyes squeezed shut, the mech approaching from the front. He tilted his control mech aside, pulling it back back back and breaking fire from the main targets, but it was too fast and he was too late and Dongwoo was too slow and there was a girl (a girl?) standing in front of him, hair cropped to her shoulders and a pilot's uniform hugging her body and—here we go again, Jinyoung thought dryly, as listlessness began to creep around the corners of his consciousness, as Dongwoo began to blink out from the realm of existence.
A door closed, and the cacaphony quieted. Jinyoung slumped forward against the straps anyway.
-
"Is he going to be okay?" a worried voice asked. Jinyoung tried to nod and assure whoever it was that everything was fine, but his mouth didn't seem to want to co-operate. A faint hum of thought meant that this wasn't the hosp. They liked to keep the inner ring clean and filtered.
[DONGWOO DOES THINGS. JINYOUNG CAN READ MINDS. DONGWOO CAN MOVE THINGS TELEPATHICALLY. THEY'RE TRAINING TO FORM A TEAM. THE NEW KID IS SANDEUL. shit happens and they overcome ~*hostility*~ and ~*adversity*~ and they form the team and prepare for a first mission with ~*hope in their eyes*~
jinyoung's constant passing out is partially a mental block, partially a real problem. sandeul/chansik can solve the real problem part by spelling each other off, and dongwoo helps him through the mental block.]
...Anyway. I thought I'd post one version of each of the casualties. Herp derp derp.
#1 - Prompt followed was school AU, and tragic ending if possible
Jinyoung/Sandeul or CNU/Gongchan or Baro/Gongchan
Junghwan is an electrical engineer and Jinyoung is a softie. Meanwhile, Dongwoo proves things no one will ever need to know as Sunwoo actually does something useful with his life. Chansik is a skipee with way too much time on his hands. They're pretty sure he's a CS major, but no one really knows.
"I refuse to believe there is not something pathologically wrong with your brain." Jinyoung crosses his arms as he leans back in the chair, contemplating the merits of balling up the pile of scrap paper in front of him and tossing it at Dongwoo's head.
Dongwoo, on his part, glances up at him and settles his glasses a little more comfortably on his nose. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with my brain," he says. "Proofs are far more fascinating than you might think."
Jinyoung just rolls his eyes. "There is no way you actually believe that. Anyway, party this friday? My place."
"Friday?" Dongwoo taps the end of the pen against his teeth as he contemplates this. "I have my Real Analysis midterm—"
"On Wednesday. In a week," Jinyoung cuts in. "And c'mon, you have all weekend to study."
Dongwoo frowns. "Don't you have a midterm next week too?" he asks.
Jinyoung shrugs, picking up Dongwoo's eraser and tossing it at his face. Dongwoo doesn't quite manage to catch it before it bounces off his glasses, much to Jinyoung's amusement. "Astro? Whatever," he says when he finally stops snickering. "Hell week's over and I deserve a break. You too. Look, I don't think you've left this library all week and that cannot be healthy."
"You do realise I go to class right?" Dongwoo asks. "Unlike some people."
"I only skip the morning classes," Jinyoung points out. "And maybe the Monday ones."
Dongwoo sighs, rescuing the edges of his assignment from Jinyoung's now uncapped and wandering pen. "Well clearly I've left the library several times this week. Now if I say yes will you stop bothering me so I can actually get this handed in on time?"
"I'm gracing you with my presence," Jinyoung retorts, but tosses the pen back into his bag regardless.
"Don't you have your own assignments to do?" Dongwoo complains.
"Nah, I finished Algorithms yesterday and 241 was a breeze. But you seriously need to get out more. This is why people think all you pure math nerds are nerds." Someone sitting at the next table glances up at this and shoots Jinyoung a death glare. Judging from the textbook the guys is perusing and the generally messy scribbled notes, Jinyoung would hazard the guess that he just managed to piss yet off another mathie, which would bring the number up to six so far this term. Well, he's done worse.
"Well I am a nerd," Dongwoo deadpans. "And fine, I'll come. On one condition."
"Which is?"
"Acapella concert is tomorrow. I promised a friend I'd show, so you might as well make yourself useful and come to lend me your clearly superior social ways."
Jinyoung snorts. The now more-irritated-than-usual mathie at the next table glares at him again and Jinyoung continues to ignore him. "If I didn't know you better I would say you were mocking me."
"Because I am mocking you," Dongwoo says flatly, kicking Jinyoung under the table. "Now out. You're disturbing the quiet of the library."
"Yeah, yeah," Jinyoung says, pulling his shins out of the way as he slings his bag over his shoulder. "I'll text you the details, you better reply."
"Yeah, yeah," Dongwoo echoes. "And you know where to find me anyway."
Jinyoung laughs, lifting a hand in a casual wave as he troops out the door of the library.
-
When Thursday evening rolls around, Jinyoung finds himself dutifully waiting outside the building that houses the campus theatre in an oversized coat and matching grey earmuffs, the weather far too cold for mid October. According to Dongwoo, Jinyoung hasn't been here since a presentation in first year, and the building has a reputation of leaving even its regular students lost on occasion—the lack of cell reception inside doesn't help. (According to Jinyoung, he skipped the presentation in favour of watching his roommate play Starcraft, but Dongwoo doesn't need to know.) Hence the waiting outside. And Dongwoo has the tickets. A few students meander past him as he waits with hands tucked into his pockets, fingers wrapped around his phone. Every now and then, Jinyoung pulls out his phone to send a scathing text message to Dongwoo, but so far, each time the phone buzzes, it hasn't been from him. He debates lighting a smoke, but decides against it because he has no idea when Dongwoo will actually get here.
Jinyoung is about to give up and either head for the library or home when the door bursts open and some Asian kid sticks his head through the frame. His face lights up in a grin when he sees Jinyoung, and Jinyoung frowns at him curiously, although the frown quickly turns into an eyeroll when he starts babbling at him in Korean.
"Dongwoo hyung said you'd probably be here and that he'd be late and to just come in first," he says, stepping aside and holding open the door. "Although he also said he didn't really think you'd be stupid enough to wait outside you might have 'cause there's no reception inside."
"Uhuh," Jinyoung mutters, following him down the hall. Leave it to Dongwoo to be late.
"But there's wifi! I mean, leave it to our campus to have perfect wifi everywhere but spotty reception. It's worse here than in the math building, and that's built like a fortress—although I guess you're a softie so you know that too. I mean, you're a third year like Dongwoo hyung right?" The kid glances at Jinyoung here, pausing in his nervous babbling long enough to shoot him an uneasy smile that Jinyoung suspects is meant to be comforting.
Puppies, Jinyoung's mind suggests. Arghhh, Jinyoung wants to scream. "Yup," he says instead.
The kid nods, brushing bangs out of his eyes. "Oh, um, I'm Chansik. I'm a second year, but I was born in 93, so I'm actually two years younger than you."
"Oh?" Jinyoung prompts. Dongwoo had been right though—he would have gotten lost for sure. The occasional broken flourescent light doesn't help the atmosphere of brown brick walls and beige floor tiles lining the meandering hallways. The kid pushes open a brown door, waiting for Jinyoung to go through first.
"Skipped a grade," he says with a shrug. "But it was kindergarten, so it doesn't really count."
They get to the theatre at this point, and when Jinyoung sees a hallway that leads to a door that leads outside he wonders why Dongwoo couldn't have just directed him to that door instead. Instead, Jinyoung sighs and trails Chansik into the theatre as he pulls off the earmuffs and stuffs them into his pocket. The person at the door nods at Chansik as they pass, so Jinyoung assumes that the kid must have something to do with the whole affair.
"Do you sing?" he asks.
Chansik gives him such a startled look that Jinyoung can't help the chuckle that bubbles out between his lips. "No!" he denies vehemently, before he sighs. "It's Junghwan hyung who does. I promised him I'd come but I didn't want to come alone so I asked Dongwoo hyung to come too and hyung said he'd bring you."
"I see," Jinyoung muses. Chansik leads him to a few empty seats with jackets tossed over them, and tells him to sit for now and he'll be right back. Jinyoung obliges, dropping into the cushioned seat and pulling out his phone which, unsurprisingly, lacks reception. With a sigh, he switches on the wifi and browses through his email until Dongwoo rushes over with a hurried apology. The hall is surprisingly full—there's a few empty seats at the back but that's it.
"You didn't wait long?" Dongwoo asks, just as Chansik slips into the seat on his other side with a quiet 'hi.'
"Not at all," Jinyoung reassures him. Dongwoo is just imagining the sarcastic bite in his tone.
Dongwoo heaves a long suffering sigh as he sheds his coat. "I got caught up talking to a prof," he explains. "I think I might work with him in the summer."
"The summer?" Jinyoung asks. "That's not for months."
"It never hurts to be prepared," Dongwoo says sagely.
Chansik snorts and Jinyoung grins, clearly not alone in his derision of Dongwoo's habits. "See hyung? I told you," Chansik says at the same moment the MC walks onto stage. They share an amused look across Dongwoo's one of exasperation before they settle into their seats.
Jinyoung has to admit he enjoys the concert more than he thought he would.
SKIP AHEAD
-
"Dude, grab another drink from the fridge!" Jinyoung yells to Dongwoo over the din. The living room is crammed with a mix of engineering students debating the possibilities of building a death ray, although Jinyoung has a feeling the arguments being laid out won't make a bit of sense in the morning. Dongwoo, on the other hand, is sitting on the couch with a long empty beer bottle and his phone.
Dongwoo shrugs. "I'm good," he yells back.
Jinyoung rolls his eyes and pulls Dongwoo to his feet. "C'mon, we're playing Bang! downstairs, might as well join in. No drinks required, promise," he tacks on when Dongwoo looks like he's about to protest again. He'd managed to coax Dongwoo into joining them when Yuuma taught them a Japanese drinking game earlier in the evening, but Dongwoo had been steadfastedly ignoring the mayhem since then. Which, Jinyoung thought, was really rather stupid, all things considering.
Chansik is the only one who looks up when the two of them enter, a quick wave before he goes back to watching the animated conversation Junghwan is having with Myungsoo which largely consists of Junghwan iterating the number of reasons he needs a horse while Myungsoo stares back utterly unimpressed, the others laughing raucuously.
Jinyoung takes a seat next to Jiho, greeting him with a nod and a hi-five, passing his housemate the cooler he'd grabbed on the way down. "I think it's noisier down here than upstairs," Jinyoung says.
"No shit," Jiho agrees. "'cause we're cooler, yeah?"
"No, because your friends are all insane," Jinyoung counters.
"Speak for yourself," Jiho says.
Jinyoung snorts. "Actually, most of my friends are upstairs building a death ray because you guys chased them out with your Korean."
"Not them," Jiho says with a roll of his eyes. "The double-e kid. Shit, you'd never have guessed, he looks like such a geek." As if on cue, Junghwan grins at them and gives them a thumbs up. Between his unstyled hair and thick glasses, Jiho isn't too far off the mark, not that Jinyoung would tell him this.
"Dude you're double majoring in Chemistry and Economics I don't think you have a right to talk. Who the fuck takes those courses anyway?"
"Oh stuff it," Jiho says, elbowing Jinyoung in the side. "You're a fucking softie minoring in physics, you nerd."
"I think the real nerd's over there," Jinyoung says with a nod at where Dongwoo was secretively checking Chansik's cards, giving him hints. Dongwoo just rolled his eyes, and casually directed Chansik in killing off Junghwan's remaining two life points. Junghwan let out a great wail of despair at this, huffing as he tossed his Renegade card at his friend's face. Chansik grinned and gave him a thumbs up. Noticing Jinyoung looking his way, Junghwan's eyes crinkled into a smile before he got up and wandered around the circle of people who hadn't been eliminated yet.
"Hey, thanks for inviting us," Junghwan said, dropping onto the floor next to Jinyoung. Jiho clapped him on the shoulder and stood to wander back upstairs, mentioning something about more drinks.
"Yeah no problem," Jinyoung said. "The more the merrier. Second year double-e right? I heard it's tough."
Junghwan nodded. "Electrical's not that bad. Although I kind of picked my program out of a hat," he said with a laugh.
"Brave," Jinyoung said. "Hey, you want another drink?"
"Sure," Junghwan said, standing when Jinyoung did.
He trailed Jinyoung upstairs to the kitchen where an impromptu dance party had started. Jinyoung crossed his arms as he debated the merits of squeezing through people before throwing his hands up in frustration. "Or not," he said, turning to Junghwan with a shrug.
"I don't mind," Junghwan said—or Jinyoung thought he said, the surrounding volume deafingly loud. Jinyoung pursed his lips before jerking his head and pointing upstairs—he had a stash of soju in his room and a sixpack of beer, albeit not chilled.
Jinyoung shut the door after Junghwan followed him in, grateful for the quiet respite. So too, it seemed, was Junghwan. "Beats losing your voice trying to have a conversation," Jinyoung said.
"Yeah. Oh, is that the washroom?" Junghwan asked, pointing to the door.
Jinyoung nodded. "Although I wouldn't go there if I were you," he warned. "Unless you want to see a third-rate porno."
"Ah."
Jinyoung laughed at the barely concealed scandal painted across Junghwan's face. "What'd you expect? It's not like we're elementary kids."
Junghwan grimaced, waving his hands in denial. "I've had a girlfriend!" he protested.
"Uhuh," Jinyoung said, giving him a pointed look-over. Junghwan had to be the least self-conscious person he had ever seen when it came to clothes, if his giant hoodie tossed over a pair of baggy jeans was anything to go by. Even Dongwoo put in more effort, although between his sister and Jinyoung's nagging, it would have been surprising if he didn't.
"Really," Junghwan said, sticking his hands into his pockets.
Jinyoung just laughed as he fetched two bottles of soju from under his bed. "Or beer?" he asked over his shoulder.
"Whatever's fine," Junghwan said.
"Mm, we might as well stay here a while," Jinyoung said, passing Junghwan one of the bottles and pointing to the chair. Jinyoung perched himself on the edge of his bed. "So how do you know Dongwoo?"
Junghwan shrugged. "Hyung? You know, Chansik. Just one of those 'I'm Korean you're Korean' sort of things. I was on the same floor as Channie in first year."
"Channie?" Jinyoung queried, amused.
Junghwan rolled his eyes, sipping tentatively at his glass. "What, he's cute, okay," he said.
Jinyoung stared at him, before finally relenting with a laugh. Puppies, he remembered. "He is," he agreed, knocking back a large swallow of soju. "Although don't tell him I said that."
"Dongwoo says you used to sing," Junghwan said. His eyes were staring at him curiously.
"Did he?" Jinyoung shrugged, smiling. He was going to have to throttle Dongwoo for that later. "So why do you?"
It was Junghwan's turn to shrug. "I've always liked it. If my parents let me, I would've been a singer."
"Good luck with that," Jinyoung muttered. The soju was doing what three beers before it hadn't, a warm tingling spreading through his limbs. Junghwan was still toying with his—not a heavy drinker, Jinyoung guessed.
"Choirs in highschool and joining the club was the next best thing," Junghwan said. And then: "you have a pretty voice."
Jinyoung contemplated thumbtacks in Dongwoo's shoes, because he knew exactly what Junghwan was talking about. Some friend Dongwoo was. Jinyoung smiled wider. "Not really, and that was a long time ago."
"I asked my girlfriend out with a song too," Junghwan said, and Jinyoung imagined driving Dongwoo's head through a wall. "I think that's the only reason why she said yes."
"Are you still together?" Jinyoung asked.
Junghwan shook his head, laughing. "We broke up after a week," he said, grimacing. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he let out another graceless laugh. "She decided I wasn't good looking enough."
Jinyoung chuckled in agreement. "I can see why," he said, drawing a noise of protest from Junghwan's side. "Kidding, kidding. So when'd your family move here?"
Junghwan frowned. "Is it that obvious?"
"Mm? No, I was just asking," Jinyoung said.
Junghwan shrugged, head at a tilt as he considered. "Young," he finally said. "When I was three?"
"Young," Jinyoung agreed, and then: "you sure you don't want a beer instead?"
Junghwan glanced at his bottle before taking a drink, grimacing at the taste. "I don't usually drink," he admitted with another laugh.
"I can see," Jinyoung teased. The sound of a door opening had them both looking up at the same time. Jinyoung nodded towards it. "Guess it's free."
[STUFF]
-
"If you say 'I told you so' I'm going to punch you in the face," Jinyoung warned Dongwoo.
Dongwoo pursed his lips and nodded, laughter clearly bubbling through anyway. Jinyoung groaned, burying his face deeper into his pillow. People had started trickling out after three, with Yuuma in charge of kicking everyone out by four. A few people had stayed over to help clean up in the morning, and Dongwoo was unfairly not hungover. Jinyoung made it a point to tell him so.
"You do know the solution would be to not drink in the first place?" Dongwoo asked, amused.
"Shut up," Jinyoung said, although his voice was muffled by the pillow. "Don't want to hear it."
"If it makes you feel better, I picked up all the empty bottles, although there's still poker cards everywhere. They're still sleeping in the basement, but they didn't make much of a mess."
Jinyoung rolled over, blinking at Dongwoo's face. "I take that back, you're a godsend," he said, sitting up. His head swam, and Jinyoung felt vaguely like he was going to hurl and said as much.
"I made coffee downstairs, although I'm not sure how much is left," Dongwoo said.
-
There was a tap on his shoulder, and Jinyoung pulled out his headphones as he turned around. Junghwan grinned at him before sliding into the seat at the computer next to Jinyoung, tossing his bag under the table.
"Hey," Junghwan said. "You're here early."
Jinyoung glanced around him—one in the afternoon on a Sunday morning, the library was still half empty. Early indeed. "You too," he said to Junghwan, stretching. His OS assignment stared back at him, and Jinyoung shrugged, hitting ctrl-s and alt-f4 in quick succession. "Busy?"
Junghwan made a face. "Unfortunately. The prof for logic is insane."
"Logic and computation? I thought you were EE?" Jinyoung quirked an eyebrow.
"CS minor," Junghwan explained. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, not so much. My longest assignments."
Jinyoung laughed, nodding in agreement. "I did hear the CS version was tougher," he said.
Junghwan's eyes opened wide, his expression comical. "Wait—you're software engineering, you could help, right?"
Jinyoung frowned as he considered this. On one hand, his own OS assignment. On the other— "Yeah sure, I guess. Where are you guys?"
"Uhhh, hang on!" Junghwan rummaged through his bag and came up with a UBS key, plugging it into the desktop. "Modal logic, I think?"
"You think?" Jinyoung asked.
"Okay, we are doing modal logic," Junghwan clarified. "I'm not that stupid."
"Uhuh," Jinyoung hummed, but reached over to scroll through the notes anyway.
Junghwan, as it turned out, was really, really good at asking stupid questions, and when Jinyoung called for a break fourty-five minutes in, he wondered what he'd gotten himself into. "Smoke?" he asked, standing up from the computers.
Junghwan gave him a funny look. "I don't smoke," he said, and Jinyoung shrugged.
"Well I need one," Jinyoung said, grabbing his jacket. To his surprise, Junghwan followed him out.
"I thought you don't smoke," Jinyoung commented, offering Junghwan a cigarette once they'd passed through the glass doors. The express bus had just passed by, and a stream of students laden with groceries walked into the building in front of them, chattering loudly.
Junghwan shook his head, stuffing his hands deeper into his pockets. "I don't," he said. "I just thought you'd be lonely by yourself."
Jinyoung gave him a strange look, to which Junghwan just shrugged. Jinyoung lit up, cupping his hand around the lighter, a stiff autumn wind stirring around them. He took a deep drag, rolling the cigarette between his fingers. Junghwan was watching him curiously, and Jinyoung shot him a grin. "Sure you don't want one?"
"What's it like?" Junghwan asked instead.
Jinyoung shrugged, taking another drag before answering. "Calming," he said. "Relaxing."
Junghwan laughed inexplicably, eyes crinkling behind his glasses. A few passerby gave them strange glances before going throuh the automatic glass doors. Jinyoung wondered what he'd done to deserve this. "Sorry, that's probably my fault, isn't it?" he said, when he finally stopped.
"Yup," Jinyoung said, not bothering to mince words. "Sounds around right."
"I think I've got it for now," Junghwan reassured him. Jinyoung crossed his arms, giving him a critical look. "Anyways, just work on your own assignment when we go back in!"
"If you say so," Jinyoung said, amused.
Junghwan sighed. "You don't believe me, do you."
"Nope," Jinyoung chuckled, and only laughed longer at the indignant look on Junghwan's face.
"Why are you so mean," Junghwan complained, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm actually a pretty good student."
"I believe you," Jinyoung said, a teasing lilt still in his voice. Junghwan huffed, puffing out his cheeks. Jinyoung reached over to poke them, and was rewarded with a surprised squeak.
"What was that for?" Junghwan rubbed his cheek, giving Jinyoung a wounded look.
"You looked stupid," Jinyoung explained. He took one last drag of his cigarette before dropping it on the ground and grinding it under his heel. Junghwan's eyes narrowed briefly at the action, but since he remained silent as he turned to go in, Jinyoung didn't comment.
It wasn't until a full week, several courses, and seven smoke breaks later that Junghwan commented "the ash trays are there for a reason, hyung," disapproval laced heavily in his voice.
"Oh, are they?" Jinyoung said lightly, but obligingly dropped it in the proper receptacle when he finished. The ground was still littered with cigarette butts, with or without his help.
-
[JUNGHWAN POV?]
-
"So I heard from Chansik you've been hanging out with Junghwan lately," Dongwoo said. It was Jinyoung's turn to make dinner, but Dongwoo tended to tag along just to make sure Jinyoung didn't burn the house down by accident. Jinyoung was pretty sure Dongwoo should have been more concerned about this when it was the others, considering both Jaehyo and Yuuma had succeeded in setting off the smoke alarms three and two times respectively in the past month alone.
"Yeah," Jinyoung said, dumping the noodles into the boiling water. "Helping him with his Logic homework."
Dongwoo chuckled, passing Jinyoung the salt. "I didn't know you had it in you to be nice."
Jinyoung rolled his eyes. "I have a knife here and I'm not afraid to use it."
"I have a drawer full of butter knives," Dongwoo countered, pulling it open for emphasis.
"I still haven't forgiven you for showing him those songs," Jinyoung said.
"Who? Chansik or Junghwan?"
"Both," Jinyoung said. He grabbed the carrot and started chopping it with a vengeance, the only sound other than Jiho's hiphop music being the one of the knife hitting the cutting board.
"It's really not such a big deal," Dongwoo said. "And hey, Junghwan said so too, didn't he? You sing well. And that's something, coming from him."
Jinyoung didn't respond, only pressing his lips together tighter. So he was being childish about it—so what? Dongwoo had brought that point up enough times before. The tap was dripping, and Jinyoung reached over to shove the handle down.
"She wasn't good for you anyway," Dongwoo said pragmatically.
Jinyoung took a deep breath, and put the knife down with a quiet click. "This isn't about her," he said, his voice dropping. "And Shin Dongwoo, I swear to god if you don't stop bringing it up, I will do something drastic."
Dongwoo had his arms crossed across his chest when Jinyoung turned, back pressed against the archway to the kitchen. He pursed his lips, frowning. "You're the one who keeps making everything I say about it. Seriously, I've never seen you so hung up on something."
"I'm not hung up on it."
"Lover's spat!" Yuma called teasingly from the living room, shattering the tension that Jinyoung hadn't noticed build up inside the kitchen.
"Shut up!" Jinyoung called back in English.
Dongwoo just shrugged. "I have homework," he said, and disappeared before Jinyoung could say anything else. Jinyoung, on his part, turned his attention back to dinner, which was finished in short order.
"I'm heading out, stuff's on the counter," Jinyoung said to the general vicinity of the rest of the house.
Jaehyo glanced up from his psych textbook, nodding at him. "Dongwoo says not to stay out too late—probably."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jinyoung said, shoving his feet into boots and grabbing his jacket from the closet.
Winter was creeping into the air, with Halloween over and done with, the entire affair far more muted than necessary owing to the fact that four out of six members in their house had midterms or assignments of some sort the next day. As for Junghwan, his midterm was in a week, but considering the ridiculously high marks he was getting on his assignments, Jinyoung really didn't think that it was a source of concern.
Jinyoung Library? he texted anyway.
junghwan Hyung ^^ you know me too well kekeke. leaving soon!!
junghwan lab due tomorrow t_____t
junghwan but wanna meet at the cafe?
Jinyoung Sure
Jinyoung slipped his phone back into his pocket and headed down the street towards campus. Leaves swirled around his feet, piling up against the curb and fences. Winter was definitely on its way, the telltale bite omniprescent in the air that wormed its way under the collar of his jacket. Students with heavy backpacks and giant headphones walked past him in the opposite direction, heading home after a long day of classes or late library sessions. The wind was in their faces—it pushed against Jinyoung's back.
Jinyoung stepped into the parking lot of the plaza with its brightly lit shop signs, crossing to the back corner where the cafe was. He grabbed a coffee from the counter, settling into an empty booth by the window to wait.
Junghwan showed up some five minutes later, cheeks red and flushed from the cold. He dropped his bag and jacket into the seat opposite of Jinyoung with some fumbling, coming out of the entire ordeal with ruffled hair and crooked glasses.
"You look ridiculous," Jinyoung pointed out to him. Junghwan groaned, grabbing his wallet and heading to the counter. [BLAH]
"By the way, Sunwoo says he wants to check out the new building tonight, wanna come?" Junghwan asked.
Jinyoung arched an eyebrow. "You mean the new Physics building?"
"Yup." Junghwan nodded, a grin on his face and a glint in his eye. "The roof's great for stargazing."
"I doubt that's allowed," Jinyoung said.
"Well, we've never been caught," Junghwan said slowly. "So it's probably fine."
"You mean you've done this before?"
Junghwan shrugged. "Sure, every now and then. Sunwoo's friends do stuff like that all the time. I don't always go, though."
[STUFF. rooftop running? exploring the in-construction building.
At one point, they find themselves by themselves, and when Junghwan's fingers brush against his wrist, something tingles in Jinyoung, etc.]
-
"By the way, whenever you're ready for a break, I have something to ask you," Junghwan remarked casually one day when they were both working in the library on their own assignments. Jinyoung glanced up at Junghwan across the table, pen pausing over his page. Junghwan had his circuits textbook open and was attacking it with multi-coloured highlighters, the end result looking like a gay unicorn had vomited all over it.
"Just ask now," Jinyoung said, bending back to his calculations. The usual library chatter was loud around them, despite it being labelled as 'quiet study'. Jinyoung glanced in annoyance to his left at a particularly irritating chip bag being crumpled.
Junghwan hummed thoughtfully, dropping his chin onto his textbook. "You really do have a nice voice," he said. "It's a little thin, but it's pretty."
"What are you talking about," Jinyoung deadpanned.
Junghwan grinned at him, pulling his laptop over and tabbing through a few pages before turning it around to show Jinyoung. Jinyoung pulled it towards him, feeling a rather calm, murderous urge rising towards both Junghwan and Dongwoo, but largely towards the latter. He'd forgotten that Dongwoo might have kept some of the songs he'd sent him back when he still wrote them. Familiar notes stared back at him in the unforgiving black and white of sheet music, and Jinyoung pushed the laptop back towards Junghwan.
Junghwan was watching him, guaging his reaction, so Jinyoung smiled. "Let me guess, Dongwoo?"
"Obviously," Junghwan said. "Anyways, what I wanted to ask you was if you could finish them."
"I stopped writing music a long time ago," Jinyoung said. "And no matter what Dongwoo says, it's because I'm busy."
"Not all the time," Junghwan pointed out.
"I'm too busy for that," Jinyoung said flatly.
"You can find enough time to finish those, can't you?" Junghwan asked.
Jinyoung could feel a headache coming on, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm busy," he said. "And why do you want me to finish them anyway?"
Junghwan cocked his head, shrugging. "No reason? Well, for me."
"Let me get this straight. You want me to write you a song?" Jinyoung asked incredulously. "Helping you with your homework isn't enough?"
Junghwan looked put out, mouth stretched in a grimace. "You don't have to put it like that, hyung. It was just a question. And I didn't ask you to write me a song, I just wanted to know if you could finish some of them."
"Good luck with that," Jinyoung said. "Find someone else."
"No point," Junghwan said with another shrug.
Jinyoung fixed him with another hard look, but Junghwan had already gone back to colour-coding his notes with a vengenace. When he didn't look back up, Jinyoung turned to his own assignment. He'd just managed to lose himself in the mindless calculations when Junghwan spoke up again.
"Why did you stop singing?" he asked.
"Busy," Jinyoung answered automatically. It was only half a lie.
Junghwan hummed, tapping his pen against the laptop. "Your girlfriend?" he asked.
Jinyoung snorted. "She was a bitch," he said.
"Dongwoo hyung mentioned that," Junghwan said.
"Why do you ask him these things and not me?" Jinyoung asked.
Junghwan gave him another one of those curious looks that Jinyoung was getting used to, the one where his eyes narrowed the tiniest amount, nose wrinkled, a 'but isn't it obvious?' all but on the tip of his tongue. "Dongwoo hyung doesn't make fun of me," he said.
"I don't make fun of you," Jinyoung said.
Junghwan shrugged, chewing on the end of his pen. "I bet Dongwoo hyung would have finished the songs if I asked him," he said thoughtfully.
"Well I'm not Dongwoo," Jinyoung said wearily.
"I know."
A girl complaining loudly about her boyfriend carried the tone of conversation for their corner of the library, and Jinyoung let it. He hit the play on his ipod, STUFF
Junghwan stood, gathering his notes. "Leaving?" Jinyoung asked, glancing up.
Junghwan nodded. "Sunwoo
THEY MEET AGAIN IN THE LBIRARY WORKING ON ASSIGNMENTS.
Since Junghwan is minoring in CS, he asks Jinyoung to help. Jinyoung, amused, agrees.
At one point, Junghwan turns up with Jinyoung's old compositions, courtesy of Dongwoo. He persuades Jinyoung to work on them again because Junghwan wants to record them. In return, he gives Jinyoung a flash drive with some of his own covers.
Jinyoung is impressed by his voice - it had been pleasant to listen to as part of the group, but it was really powerful as a solo. Not that he says this.
He does, however, drag Junghwan to the city (aka Toronto) one weekend to get him a proper haircut and take him shopping in general. The hairdresser convinces him to get his hair dyed.
Assignments happen and end of term rolls around, with a EOT concert. Jinyoung goes both nights without being asked. He ends up chatting with Sunwoo who hints that Junghwan likes Jinyoung.
Jinyoung, meanwhile, has an identity crisis. It turns out that his girlfriend from first year had broken up with him because she grew gradually more and more convinced that he was gay with Dongwoo. Jinyoung was like 'what the fuck he's my best friend and that's it,' and they had an argument, and they'd broken up after that \o/ Dongwoo had thought the whole thing rather silly, and deemed her not good for him anyway.
Winter term, and Jinyoung purposely avoids Junghwan, sidestepping his texts and emails etc. leaving some vague excuse on his facebook about being busy. Dongwoo still thinks he's being silly, but doesn't interfere. Chansik, on the other hand, does, showing up at his house one day and being all 'hyung, fix this,' because Junghwan has just been extra clingy to him lately. In the meantime, Sunwoo says exasperatedly that Chansik's been clinging to him and it was probably all Jinyoung's fault.
Jinyoung is like 'nope not my fault' and pretty much ignores it all. He also gets a girlfriend during this time, although it lasts all of three weeks because he finds her annoying and clingy and (aka is not junghwan).
He is also not actually busy, choosing instead to bury himself in composing again. Jiho convinces him to sing them too, and it's as he's recording one day that someone walks into his room and he's about to rip them apart because they know better than to do that, and then Junghwan is standing there.
And he went to Korea in the break and went shopping and got contacts and is kind of gorgeous now and Jinyoung is like 'fuck'. Turns out he bumped into Yuuma leaving who let him in.
Shit happens and they end up kissing and Junghwan is like 'no fuck you for fucking with my feelings' and Jinyoung is like 'shut up' and they just kind of...make out more. ARGUMENT and then Jinyoung is the one who leaves, leaving Junghwan in the house.
When Jinyoung eventually goes back, he's a little surprised to see Junghwan gone. There is, however, a new file on his desktop. It turns out Junghwan recorded one of Jinyoung's songs and it's...really good. Jinyoung is like, 'I'm an idiot.' and Dongwoo is all, yeah, you are. Turns out Chansik told him what had happened.
And Jinyoung is like 'I'm not gay,' and Dongwoo is all 'who the fuck cares you're being an asshole,' and forces him to go apologize.
So Jinyoung goes to a coffee store, picks up a latte, and shows up at Junghwan's door. Sunwoo is like "...do I let you in," and Jinyoung is all "I have coffee?" and stuff.
Jinyoung apoloises and is like 'I'll treat you to dinner' and Junghwan is like 'wtf' and about to say no when Jinyoung....sings something to him idk and they go and it's basically a date and they make out more :|
...and then it ends. idk. I guess they agree that it wouldn't work out anyway because, well, they're both guys. OR SOMETHING.
#2 SF
A sickingly sterile shade of white greeted him when Jinyoung cracked open his eyes, and he bit back a groan on reflex. The hosp again. This wasn't the first time he's passed out like this, and Jinyoung could bet it wouldn't be the last, either. His head pulsed faintly as he levered himself upright. Only one other bed was occupied, one of the kids from the newest batch if Jinyoung's guess was right. Otherwise, the room was empty.
Jinyoung made his way to the doorway where his shoes were, the floor clinically cool under his bare feet. He adjusted his shirt as he walked, feeling the fabric resettle itself across his shoulders, pleasant contact with his skin as it slid downwards. A twinge. He frowned and pressed a few fingers softly against his temple—the moment of discomfort passed as quickly as it had arrived.
The inner ring was eerily quiet, but it always was. The door to the hosp slid shut behind him with a hiss of pressurised air, and Jinyoung was left with the faint whispers of activity from the outer rings and the muted whirr of the generators tucked within the inner wall. Jinyoung quickened his steps; he'd never been a fan of this part of the complex. There was something too clean and stark about it all, and quiet. He'd always preferred the softer feel of the outer rings, noise and all, with the false-expanses and vistas of stars and neighbouring complexes.
He'd always been somewhat of a romantic.
Paging Shin Dongwoo, Jinyoung thought aloud, passing between the airlock of the inner and outer ring. Any time you want to come pick me up—
You're awake? Dongwoo's surprised thoughts interrupted Jinyoung mid complaint-cum-request, and Jinyoung grinned. The second airlock door closed behind him, and Jinyoung found himself smack in the bustle of the younger kids moving between classes, laughter and chatter both loud in the halls. Whether he felt lighter from the reduced gravity further from the core or the playful atmosphere was anyone's guess.
Apparently, Jinyoung commented back wryly. I'm at lock 3B.
Dongwoo did a few quick calculations before giving him a mental nod in response. I'm at the gym, so I'll be there in five. Don't move until I get there! he cautioned, and then he was off.
The moment Dongwoo terminated the mindlink, Jinyoung opened it slowly to a more general channel, scanning through the banal thoughts of the student body to search for what he was looking for. Class 2 had an upcoming test, and class 3 needed to run a make-up session because their teacher had been down with a fever the last week. There were always the few that wondered if it was possible to hop a transport to the neighbouring (girls) complex, and tinges of homesickness or fear or anticipation, but that was somewhat of a constant. The teacher of class A, on the other hand—
—a chance we'll need to graduate a team sooner. There's, them but they're still short a few and then the matter of—
his thoughts cut off abruptly, and Jinyoung frowned. He couldn't tell if he'd been detected or if the man had simply been distracted by someone apparently telepathically pulling books from the shelves and tossing them at the blackboard. Someone's going to get detention for that. He picks up a thought trail near the staff room, something about deployment and mind mapping (ergo referring to him) before the door was shut and the trail ended abruptly again. He gathered a few other teachers who corroborated what teacher A had been musing over, but more interestingly, it was being passed around a few students as a rumor. And if it had made rumor status already, then that meant it was more than likely to be true.
"—young. Jinyoung!" Someone calling his name jarred Jinyoung out of his thoughts, and he smiled easily as he straightened.
"Dongwoo?" he queried, quickly shifting his focus back to his surroundings. Dongwoo blinked into existence beside him, and Jinyoung's smile grew wider.
Dongwoo just sighed in exasperation. "Of course it's me, who else would it be. And I wish you would wait until you're in your room before you do things like that. What if it weren't me?"
Jinyoung shrugged. "Everyone's in class, except for me, you, that new kid who's in the hosp, and a handful of others. The chances were good of it being you."
"Some day you're going to realise I'm right," Dongwoo said. Jinyoung just shrugged again, and casually touched his fingers to Dongwoo's arm. Dongwoo nodded, placing a hand on Jinyoung's shoulder as they headed down the hall.
"So how long was I out for?" Jinyoung asked.
"Two days give or take. Why? Hold on, it's right here—"
"I know," Jinyoung said, making the turn. "Contrary to popular belief I am capable of more than standing around and looking pretty and useless."
"No one said you weren't—left, and yes I know you know. Don't worry, since it was just a routine training session, only Chansik saw. What happened this time?"
The sounds of their steps against the floor were largely absorbed by the walls, but even so, they were the only audible sound for a few minutes as Jinyoung frowned in attempted recollection. Dongwoo's grip on Jinyoung's shoulder tightened for a few seconds, and Jinyoung shook his head. "No idea," he admitted.
It was Dongwoo's turn to fall silent. A few turns later, they found themselves standing in front of a door, Jinyoung leaning against the opposite wall as Dongwoo unlocked it.
"They want to deploy us soon," Dongwoo said.
Jinyoung let loose a breath of laughter. "I know," he said, and felt Dongwoo's surprise before he could voice it. He tapped his head in response. "I am good for something."
Dongwoo sighed and thought sarcastic thoughts, opening the door. Jinyoung brushed past Dongwoo on his way in. Chansik was sitting on one of the beds, flipping through one of Jinyoung's strategy manuals. When he heard them come in, he stood up quickly, letting the manual drop harmlessly onto the mattress. "You're back!" he exclaimed.
"Shouldn't you be in class?" Dongwoo asked, dropping onto the other bed and shutting the door shut. "I thought you said he was in class."
"He was," Jinyoung said, cutting off Chansik's protests. "He only got here a few minutes ago."
"I heard you were awake," Chansik admitted sheepishly. Jinyoung nodded absently, and flicked the switch. The room flooded into view at the same time Dongwoo let out an irritated 'hey!', followed shortly by the blanket Dongwoo had been folding telepathically crumpling into a pile on the bed again. Jinyoung just grinned brightly.
"I wish you'd warn us when you do that," Dongwoo grumbled. Now that Jinyoung could see again, it was clear Dongwoo hadn't been back in the room for the two days Jinyoung had been out, if the rumpled state of his clothes, his training clothes, were any indication. On the other hand, Chansik was dressed immacuately in his uniform with his hair neatly groomed and schoolbag still at his feet.
"Well you could have switched the filter on yourself," Jinyoung reminded him gently. Dongwoo flinched, turning away. It was what they had agreed on, but Jinyoung didn't really blame Dongwoo for having forgotten. After all, it wasn't like there were any downsides to his supplementary EX.
Chansik coughed softly, interrupting the impromptu staring contest him and Dongwoo had been having. "Anyway, we still have to complete the training module that we didn't finish," he said.
"Is that why you're here?" Dongwoo queried. Chansik nodded.
Jinyoung frowned.
-
Jinyoung strapped himself into the chair, and flicked open the switch that released the filter from the room. Chansik and Dongwoo instantly flooded into his mind, and he took comfort in their familiarity even as darkness enveloped his regular vision. Dongwoo was worried that Jinyoung would be overwhelmed again, and Jinyoung couldn't help a slight smile. Dongwoo's worry was almost cute.
"Systems expanded," he said aloud, largely for their benefit.
"Roger."
"Roger."
His eyes slipped shut as he leaned back in his seat, probing tentatively at the other two. Chansik fiddled with the controls of the simulation module, while Dongwoo waited patiently for instructions, relaying to Jinyoung a steady stream of observations in the meantime. Jinyoung filed them away, and focused on the targets instead. Three central, two mobile units, middle of an asteroid field. Chansik responds to his mental prompt and slides his sim off to the right, Dongwoo dropping down quickly. Jinyoung controls the two dummy mechs, sending one to the left, and the other to shadow Chansik.
Textbook stuff.
Jinyoung drifted into autopilot with his directions, leaving them to handle the finer points of operation. So he'd been out for two days, not all the instructors were aware, and there was some sort of crisis that required new teams being deployed despite not being battle ready. The only explanation Jinyoung could come up with was that the impending war just got a lot more impending. Which, put simply, sucked.
A deviation in pattern tripped one of Jinyoung's mental triggers, and he sat up, frowning.
Dongwoo? he probed.
I'm on it, Dongwoo assured him, entering a sharp dive to double back. Jinyoung watched the rouge mech approach, firing a test shot it easily dodged.
"What about me?" Chansik asked aloud.
"Lutry manuever, hold pattern," Jinyoung said. If he redirected fire away from the main ships towards the mech—no, that was probably what he was being goaded into doing. "Dongwoo, thoughts?"
No idea. I'm just here for the legwork. I'm—roll, goddammit—I'm on this one though.
"It's. Coming. Closer," Jinyoung ground out between his teeth.
I can tell, Dongwoo replied just as testily. Just—
He could see the mech as clearly as if it had been in front of him, even though it existed only as a blip on a screen, a point of false consciousness nestled in his own. His limbs felt heavy, and the protective armour of the mech seemed to have disappeared. He raised an arm in front of his face, an attempt to block it from view, but it was still there.
"Jinyoung, move!" Chansik yelled through the earpiece, just as a door slid open. A wave of thoughts and emotion hit Jinyoung from behind, his head jerking forward, fingers pressed against his temple, eyes squeezed shut, the mech approaching from the front. He tilted his control mech aside, pulling it back back back and breaking fire from the main targets, but it was too fast and he was too late and Dongwoo was too slow and there was a girl (a girl?) standing in front of him, hair cropped to her shoulders and a pilot's uniform hugging her body and—here we go again, Jinyoung thought dryly, as listlessness began to creep around the corners of his consciousness, as Dongwoo began to blink out from the realm of existence.
A door closed, and the cacaphony quieted. Jinyoung slumped forward against the straps anyway.
-
"Is he going to be okay?" a worried voice asked. Jinyoung tried to nod and assure whoever it was that everything was fine, but his mouth didn't seem to want to co-operate. A faint hum of thought meant that this wasn't the hosp. They liked to keep the inner ring clean and filtered.
[DONGWOO DOES THINGS. JINYOUNG CAN READ MINDS. DONGWOO CAN MOVE THINGS TELEPATHICALLY. THEY'RE TRAINING TO FORM A TEAM. THE NEW KID IS SANDEUL. shit happens and they overcome ~*hostility*~ and ~*adversity*~ and they form the team and prepare for a first mission with ~*hope in their eyes*~
jinyoung's constant passing out is partially a mental block, partially a real problem. sandeul/chansik can solve the real problem part by spelling each other off, and dongwoo helps him through the mental block.]
