Que Sera Sera (for prompt 80)
Prompt: #80
Author: ANONYMOUS until reveals
Title: Que Sera Sera
Rating: PG-13
Other pairings involved: Lay/Sehun
Length: 7,581 words
Warning: LoL (League of Legends) jargons. (see notes at the end)
Notes: cuddlymods, thank you so much for your patience! ;_; Prompter, I hope I gave this justice, even if for a bit.
It is two in the afternoon and when you add it up with the scorching heat of the summer, staying inside the airconditioned lecture hall seems so inviting.
Kim Jongin isn’t an exception. He keeps on absentmindedly playing with his mechanical pencil as he squints his eyes while looking at the lesson slides in an attempt to stay awake in class. The font their Professor used is too small for a class that almost looks like a mini-auditorium in size. While the rest of the class were taking notes, the opened page in his notebook looks more of a doodle rather than a decent-looking note worth of reviewing into.
His phone vibrates and pulls out his mobile phone from the front pocket of his jeans and reads the text message.
LoL night later. 5v5?
No bets, just fun
-SH
sure. He messages back, flexing his fingers in anticipation. While the invitation saved him from falling asleep - and the horror of being called by the professor for recitation, it immediately eliminated any form of concentration he had mustered earlier.
The professor called the class to an end, and all Jongin hears is the announcement is something along the lines of a long test and right minus 25 something wrong which doesn’t bother him in the slightest before sprinting out of the lecture hall.
His phone vibrates again, this time from the dorm director telling him to pay his overdue rent within 48 hours or else he’ll be kicked out of the dorm. He dismisses the message and continues to walk to his next class...if he feels like going.
--
While in the middle of setting up laptops and patch upgrades, Jongin’s concentration breaks at the sound of the door clicks and the presence pale-skinned person enters the house. Of course there’s nothing wrong with wearing knitted cardigans (a pink one at that) over a crisp white polo - Only that it’s still summer.
If he remembered correctly, this guy’s name is Junmyeon, and is also the owner of Barracks where his friends are staying.
“Yo hyung!” Sehun waves. “Wanna join 5v5 with the Stat guys?" He notices the look of hesitance upon Junmyeon's face.
“I don’t even play League.” The man protests, brushing past them but Sehun managed to grab his hand. “Excuse me? Come’on! The last time we taught you to play you were actually pretty good! And we need a support!” He says encouragingly.
“Where’s Minseok-hyung?” His eyes darted around, trying to find an excuse to escape the scene. “Isn’t he the one always playing your support?”
“Hyung cancelled at the last minute.” Yixing appears from the kitchen, a bowl of nachos in one hand and a dip bowl on the other. He places the food in “He called me just now only to say that his thesis defense moved on an earlier date because his adviser’s an ass.”
Junmyeon sighs in defeat. “Alright, one game.” He retreats briefly to his room to get his laptop.
“Jongin, go adc.” Yixing says and Jongin flashes thumbs-up and sets the game.
“Um, so what’s your gameplan against them?” the house fell into an awkward silence.
“Just don’t get yourself killed by the enemy in-game.” Jongin says, eyes on the laptop, fixing his last-minute modifications.
“Okay.”
--
Ten minutes later into the game, the house roars with non-stop keyboard and mouse clicks, and a few curses from here and there. The game turned out smoother than Jongin expected it to be. Of course early game was a bit difficult and Junmyeon had difficulty with the mouse he was using but later in the game they were easily raking up the number of kills which eventually led them to victory.
“Hyung, you’re not bad for a beginner.” He laughs, patting Junmyeon’s shoulders. “I’m sorry for my tone with you earlier.”
“We taught him, and hyung’s a quick learner.” Chanyeol grins, until the chat captured his attention and he grinned even wider. “Hoho, they’re saying our support was good. Bet they’re gonna flip if they found out they’re beaten by a newbie!” He exclaims, pointing at his screen for his teammates to see.
“Alright, I’m uploading our game in Twitch today! Minseok-hyung wants to watch it when he feels like dying because of his thesis.” Sehun says, waiting for the upload to complete. “Hey hyung, one more game?”
“Thanks guys. But I need to get my homework done. Maybe next time.” Junmyeon says apologetically before closes his laptop and carries it with him to the room.
“He looked upset because you forced him to play earlier.”
Yixing disagrees. “He’s probably really busy today that’s why he’s like that. But I’m pretty sure he enjoyed our game earlier.”
“Hey guys, Jongdae’s online in case you want one more game.”
Jongin groans. Jongdae-hyung loves to mess up with the meta and although victory comes out of it, putting them into a lot of stress because his gameplay ideas are unpredictable isn’t going to cut it. He reluctantly agrees, and this will be for a long night of troll games.
--
Jongin returns to his dorm room the next day, finds a familiar envelope sealed with the university logo on his desk. He doesn’t need to open it; he knows all too well that he’ll be evicted within 48 hours. He hears a knock on the door minutes later, and he opens the door a little and just as he predicted - the dorm head at his doorsteps
“Kim Jong--”
“No need to remind me hyung.” Jongin interrupts him, showing the envelope with the school seal enclosing the letter. “If this is about me getting an ultimatum to stay, just don’t. I can’t pay for the rent so I’ll just leave. Relay that to our director”
“Found a place to stay?”
“I think I’ll manage.” he says coolly, closes the door but the other man’s hands prevented him from doing so.
“Where?”
“Probably at the Library.” He absent-mindedly says. The look of surprise can be seen in the chairman’s face but he doesn’t let it bother him. “Please leave. I really want to get a few hours of sleep.” he bows before closing the door without even waiting for a reaction. He drags himself by the feet to the bed and flops down, sleep finally taking over.
He wakes up around late in the afternoon. He packs his things and leaves the dorm by nightfall and stays in the library. The aircon’s colder than usual, but nothing he can’t handle. He uses his backpack as a pillow, and lies down.
The next morning, Sehun and Yixing finds him there hiding behind a book he randomly picked out of a random shelf. His eyes are puffy and there are dark circles under his eyes.
“How did you find me?” He whispers.
Noticing the bags at his feet, Sehun whispers back. “Dude, did you just got kicked out of the dorms?”
“Forgot to pay 2 months’ worth of rent.” Not that he doesn’t have the money to pay for it, he just forgot where most of his allowance went. “Don’t tell noona or she’s gonna flip.”
And as if the fate is coming to hate him, his phone vibrates in his pocket. Without thinking, he takes the phone call until his sister started shouting along the lines of allowance cut and scolding him from the from the other side of the line. He hangs up the phone immediately and puts it back to his pocket.
Jongin rummages through his duffel bag and pulls out a paper and a pen. He scribbles quickly, and shows it to the two persons in front of him the message. Who the fuck told her I got kicked out?
Sehun glares and grabs the paper to write back, It’s your fault, you have zero control over pretty much everything!
Yixing takes the paper away from Sehun before Jongin had the chance to grab it and writes a few sentences and shows it to the latter. Let’s take this outside. Do you have time? Any class of the sort?
Jongin pauses to think. Chemistry will be in the afternoon, and his Stat class will be in fifteen minutes. The hell why Bio majors have to put up with Stat classes anyway? He scribbles Just chem lab classes for today and shows it to Yixing.
Sehun mouths a you liar, I’m taking Stat classes with you!, but Jongin ignores him.
--
“I’ve got an idea what to do with your...problem.” Yixing fishes out his mobile phone and dials a certain number and puts it on speakerphone. It rings a few times before a voice can be audibly heard. “Yes, Xing?”
“Hi hyung! Are you okay with having a roommate?”
The long pause after Yixing’s question sets butterflies in Jongin’s stomach.
“Not sure. If it’s someone you know very well I think I can manage.”
“Kim Jongin. Do you remember him?” Yixing asks. When silence answers him Jongin adds “Your adc.”
Another pause before the person on the other side answers. “Okay. I’ll just fix the room. You can come by tomorrow.”
“Ayt hyung. Bye!” Yixing hangs up, and Jongin almost tears up at the promise that he won’t live like a homeless man for the rest of the semester. Another night at the library won’t hurt.
--
Jongin shows up in the front door of the boarding house the next morning, along with his two backpacks. A half-awake Sehun lets him in and hands him a duplicate of the house keys. “Your room’s over there.” He points to the door. “Hyung provided you already with an empty cabinet for your stuff. If you need anything else just knock on the other room.”
As he steps inside the sunlight from the window lights up the whole room, and from there he wasn’t able to prevent himself from noticing everything - from the neatly-made beds, the desk and its neatly stacked books on the right side and a metallic finished penholder on the left, and the corkboard standing beside it. It’s full of reminders or checklists for each post-its in every color one can find in the bookstore and the one thing in particular that he noticed is the lavender-colored paper with a handwritten checklist of things to do.
He felt like he’s in a different world, far from the kind of order he was used to. It just feels…new. There is so much to take in from the surroundings, if anything.
His thought gets distracted when the door creaks open and Sehun walks in. “Surprised?”
“Kind of.” Jongin chuckles. “I thought I was in a hotel.”
“Same reaction when I moved in here.” Sehun finally steps into the room and looks around. “Hyung did the same thing for me when I first moved in. Pretty nice, huh?”
“Not the nice I’m used to but yeah… it IS nice.” He can’t help but admit it. He now turns his attention to the things pinned on the corkboard. Some are rainbow post-its - most of them looked like reminders, task lists, and schedules. The rest are pictures of places. “What are those?”
“Post-its and reminders, captain obvious.” Sehun scoffs.
Jongin elbows his best friend. “I know, you little shit, I mean - “ He pauses, “why so much? Does my roommate have amnesia or something?”
“None of the sort, he just keeps everything in check.” Sehun elbows him back. “If you haven’t maximized your absences you can call it a day and get some sleep. You look dead. I’ll just sign the attendance for you.”
“You’re the best.” Jongin smiles before retreating to the room. He puts down his duffel bag and lies down and lets the cool, lemon-scented linen sheets comfort him It’s been days since he’d been on a real bed and the sensation felt nice, and lets himself fall asleep.
--
Jongin wakes up later to the sound of clicking keyboard he hears that breaks the silence of the room. He notices the blanket covering him, which he was sure wasn’t there before. He slowly rolls to his right and sees Junmyeon.
“Don’t sleep in the bed with your shoes on.” Junmyeon’s continuously typing a report on the other side, eyes on the screen. That’s when Jongin realizes what happened earlier.
“Sorry, I--” He stammers, trying to find the right words to explain that it wasn’t intentional. “How long I was out?”
“Long enough. It’s already four in the afternoon.” At that, Junmyeon did a few clicks of the mouse before folding the laptop and finally looking at Jongin. “Rough night? You still look pale.”
“Sort of.” Not that the couch in the library wasn’t comfortable enough to sleep in, but the idea of whatever he’s sleeping on that is not his bedroom is enough to keep him awake through the night.
“At least you were able to sleep in the bed even though it’s your first day in here.” Junmyeon smiles and nods. It may not show his teeth, but the eye-smile was enough. “I heard from Sehun that you have some trouble sleeping in a room that isn’t yours.”
Jongin had trouble looking for words at first but managed a “Thanks for the concern” and the other acknowledges it.
“It’s nothing. You’re my roommate, after all.” One could sense that it has been some time since Junmyeon had a roommate judging by the eagerness in his voice. He wants to ask why but couldn’t bring himself to ask.
“Anyway,” he looks away from Jongin and opens one of the drawers in his desk to pull out a piece of paper and a pen and hands it to the younger. “Here. Write your class schedule and part-time job schedule - if you have any. Give it back to me when you’re done.”
“What for?” Jongin reluctantly takes the paper and pen.
“Task lists.”
“You mean chore duties.” The last time he heard of those was in seventh or eighth grade, and he even tried escaping from those once. Not that he hated cleaning, but there are days - more often than not, that he finds it troublesome to clean the classroom with everyone else.
“It’s a must for everyone in this house.” Junmyeon pats his shoulder. “We live together in this house so everyone takes part on keeping the place livable. Just because we’re males and in college doesn’t mean we can’t clean up after ourselves.”
Jongin rolls his eyes and takes it as a cue to write his schedule down and not counterarguing Junmyeon further. He already sounded like his mother.
“So...just cleaning?” He hands the now-written index card to Junmyeon.
“Yes.” Junmyeon replies. “I leave Yixing to do the cooking. He’s really good.” His eyes are scanning the index card for a good minute there before he opens his laptop again and types. “No part-time job?”
“If the housework in here does count, then yes.”
Junmyeon raises an eyebrow at him. Jongin gulps. Looks like his roommate doesn’t tolerate snarky humor as much as Sehun does.
“No, I left my last part-time job. The wages was too low and it was interrupting tourneys.”
“Sehun never told me you were part of the varsity.”
“I meant the E-sports kind of tourneys. The one where you were part of it was just a sort-of practice game. The real deal’s a lot more serious than that.” The longer their conversation goes, the more he realizes that Sehun just gave out his biography to his new roommate.
--
Jongin’s first week isn’t easy. Sleeping at night still remains a challenge, and during the day he keeps on forgetting almost all of his duty schedules and had to be constantly reminded by Junmyeon about it. There are times when he still What keeps him from rebelling away is Junmyeon’s consistent reminding him of such things. It’s like his sister, but a lot nicer, and a lot less nagging. It makes him wonder if he had been that way ever since, and what will happen in case that gargantuan amount of patience runs out.
LoL nights remained the same and it keeps Jongin sane. Sometimes Junmyeon joins them, and they’re more than happy to keep him company. Besides, it’s the only time they see their hyung rattled whenever a shot misses or when the lag suddenly spoils a few seconds of their gameplay. It amuses him, seeing Junmyeon like that - human in his eyes rather than a Mr. On-the-Dot with some angelic aura kind of person.
By the second and third week he’s more adapted to the new lifestyle. Although, there are things that still puzzle him: one the never ending carpet of post-its on the corkboard, the checklists that changes two or three times a week, and two, the annoying thump thump he feels whenever his roommate smiles at him - especially in the morning.
--
“Why do you plan?” A lot of it. His brain screams to shout it at Junmyeon but somehow managed not to.
“Don’t you?” Junmyeon asks, looking straight into Jongin’s eyes for a moment there before resuming his writing on the maroon notebook.
“I don’t know. Maybe not as elaborate as yours.”
“What about your degree? Sure you did some thinking over that.” Junmyeon pauses and adds, “-Unless you didn’t.”
“Mom wants it, younger noona was against it, and my older noona abstained from it.” Jongin recalls, as he looks up into the ceiling as if it had the answers. “I forgot what my father said about it.”
“...and you chose Biology because your mom wants it?”
“Yes and No? It’s the most peaceful decision I can come up with that time. Whenever mom decides, everyone kind of agrees anyway.” His sisters did express their decision against it later on, but in a more subtle way.
“Do you like it?”
“Bearable.” Jongin says nonchalantly.
“So you don’t.”
Jongin doesn’t answer him, and changes the topic of discussion. “What about you, hyung? Did you plan to get in this university, and get this degree?” He never asked for his roommate’s degree, as he never finds it important anyway. But judging by his observations, the amount
Junmyeon raises his eyebrow. “Why do you sound so apprehensive of what I do? It’s not even bad!”
“Did I?” Jongin clears his throat a bit. “Sorry, just curious. So back to the question: Did you plan everything?”
“Since high school, I think?”
Jongin gapes, his eyes also wide open in awe.
“I did have a clear idea what I’ll be doing in college.” He closes his laptop and opens his drawer, pulling out a leather-bound notebook. He then opens it and shows a page of it to Jongin. “See? I wrote some of them before I even graduated from high school.”
Junmyeon’s handwriting looks very neat, as if a girl was the one who wrote it. Jongin reads the checklist, even the ones that had a strikethrough. Get lowest loan. Get Part-time job. Take care of hyung’s place. Dean’s list (lol yeah dream on).
The list goes on, and as much as he likes to turn the page to read the rest, he returns the diary to its owner. “I’m pretty sure you’ll get into the Dean’s list.” Jongin laughs. “Who’s hyung though?”
“Jonghyun-hyung? He’s my cousin.” Junmyeon closes his notebook and returns it to the drawer. “He used to live here before he moved overseas. I asked him if I could stay here instead of finding a dorm so in a way I don’t pay that much. But this house was too big for me to stay in so I asked people to stay here.”
“That explains my rent.” Jongin’s monthly fees doesn’t skyrocket high, which was to his advantage. His sister still sends him money - though lesser than what it used to be to pay for things and he gets a little extra because he’s paying less.
Junmyeon nods. “Yes and I can split my bill with other people. Two birds, one stone, right?” That was probably the reason why he’s okay with having more people around.
“Two birds with one stone indeed.” Jongin nods back in agreement.
--
Thursday’s weather was Rainy. Just as when Jongin enters the lobby he finds Junmyeon amongst the crowd of students rushing in, pacing back and forth on one side of the Building’s lobby. He gently taps Junmyeon on the shoulder.
“Junmyeon-hyung, what’s wrong?” He notices the anxiousness on Junmyeon’s face and his pale skin growing even more pale.
“I…” he breathes heavily. “..don’t have an umbrella and I have to get home. Professor Lee needs the results by tonight and I can’t go home because of the rain!” He continues to ramble about timetables and readjusting schedule before Jongin interrupts. “And what in the world’s name is contingency time?” Well, he knew what contingency meant but for it to be used that way just sounds way too odd to him.
"I have a timetable to stick to because I like to keep things in order. You should do the same since you keep on forgetting to do things!" Junmyeon ignores the younger’s glare at him as fishes out a piece of pastel blue paper roughly the size of a folded letter-sized paper and hands it to Jongin.
"These aren't even for today!" He's appalled by how accurate his roommate can be, and calculated even down to the last minute.
"That's for next week. Appointments and Group meetings."
"So in other words you are worried because you're off your schedule - by TEN minutes?" All Jongin gets is a pout and nod from Junmyeon. At that point Junmyeon seemed like an elementary student nodding to a teacher and it made him wonder if the guy in front of him was actually older than him or not. Not that it’s a bad thing. It’s actually adorable.
In an effort to hide his blush, he takes his hoodie off and hands it to Junmyeon. “Hyung, take this. The rain’s probably gonna stop later and I’m in class till seven.” He runs up the stairs, feeling like a hero who saved a friend from eternal damnation and it wasn’t until the third floor that he realizes that his class in on the seventh floor of the building.
--
By the time classes are dismissed the the rainfall becomes heavier, and he resorts to running through that rain because he’s hungry and he wants Buffalo Chicken (which Yixing promised earlier that day). He should’ve brought a jacket with him, or at least, an umbrella.
Oh wait, he had a hoodie but he lent it to someone.
--
Jongin wakes up on an afternoon. and that is when Jongin realizes that being a hero comes with a price. He wanted to get out of bed but his body burning with fever betrays him to do it. After an internal mini-mini-minie-mo of choosing whether to leave the bed or not, he gets up mainly because the sweaty shirt he was wearing is making him uncomfortable.
He changes his clothes before shuffling to the kitchen and finds a plate of food with a small post-it on top of it.
I feel responsible for your flu today so here’s some food. Please eat it before taking the medicine.
3x a day after meals
Also, thank you for the hoodie. :D -JM
A small medicine box lies beside the plate, with its labels AM, NN and PM - each has a piece of medicine in it. Very hyung-ish, if anything.
Jongin’s lips curls into a smile. He’s not sure about what the thump thump in his chest meant, but it was probably the fever talking to him.
--
“Good to see you bouncing around. Hyung says you look dead this morning.” Yixing says while chopping a few vegetables for dinner. “Feel any better?”
“Yeah, thanks to hyung’s meds and your cooking.”
Yixing stops slicing and looks back at Jongin with a puzzled expression. “But I just got home about two hours ago. I wasn’t around during the mornings.”
He pauses to think. “Did you teach Sehun to cook?” Yixing doesn’t answer him and smiles briefly before returning to his duties.
Jongin on the other hand did not notice the smaller frame standing behind him. “Ok I don’t know why you’re not telling me but whatever.” Before he even turns around, the figure behind him isn’t there anymore.
--
By the time hell week comes on a LoL night, and everyone except Jongin called it a pass. By the middle of the night Junmyeon comes home, exhausted to the bone. Jongin pauses his current progress with Call of Duty and helps his roommate organizing.
He then notices a red folder with application forms in it. His curiosity got the better of him when he asks: “Hyung, are you transferring schools?” The thump thump returns, mightier and a lot faster. It’s probably the lack of sleep talking, he tells to himself.
“Exchange student program.” Junmyeon says. The weakness in his voice prompts Jongin to put him to sleep. “Two years.”
--
“Where’s hyung?”
“As if I know. You have his number, right?”
“I do, but my line got cut off. I just streamed one game, then when I was about to pay it last week when I saw the bill skyrocketed. Fuck that shit.”
“Why the hell are you on contract if you can’t even monitor your consumption?” Sehun rolls his eyes. “You should’ve gotten prepaid in the first place!”
“Ok, I get it! My fault already!” he really hates being told by others. “I’ll just get a new sim card then.”
Junmyeon suddenly barges in, a plastic bag with alcohol on one hand. “Are you guys free?”
Sehun nods, and when he looks at Jongin, he swears by the seven gods that his roommate’s eyes practically pleaded him to say yes. “Yeah, I’m free tonight.” Two exams tomorrow and he hasn’t done any reviewing. Yes, definitely free.
“Let’s drink!” He smiles, raising the plastic bag. The younger two exchanged confused glances with each other, but rides on with what Junmyeon wants.
--
If Junmyeon’s very tolerant and considerate of people, he has the exact opposite tolerance to alcohol. Who gets drunk after three swigs of light brandy anyway? “Is he like this when you guys drink?”
“He never drinks.” Sehun replies sternly, attempting to take away the glass from Junmyeon’s hands.
“NO! We havn’t finishd the bottle!” Junmyeon slurs.
“You’re DRUNK, hyung!” Sehun tries to takes away the glass away from Junmyeon once more, while he motions Jongin to and pulls the other up and helps him walk.
“NO! I AM NOT DRUNK!” he breaks free of Jongin’s grasp, and walks a few steps before tripping and falling on the carpeted floor face-first down.
Despite Junmyeon’s attempts to break free, but Jongin’s hand is stronger. Finally, Jongin scoops the drunk man into his arms and tosses him over his shoulder.
“NINI!” Jongin blushes a bit at the nickname. “I CAN WALK! STOP ACTING LIKE A CAVEMAN!”
Jongin ignores the protests, and drops junmyeon unceremoniously to the bed.
“Not on my bed…” Junmyeon whimpers. “Please.” The crazy drunk dissipates and a different Junmyeon appears, something that would make Jongin believe that this person in front of him isn’t the Junmyeon he knew.
From a mess of a drunk madman to a kid crying himself to sleep. Kim Junmyeon sure is full of surprises.
“Can you...stay till here till sunrise?”
He knows he shouldn’t sleep because there’s an exam, he also knows that he can’t sleep on someone else’s bed for crying out loud, but he also couldn’t bring himself to say no. Not when Junmyeon is curling up against him and sobbing. He nudges Junmyeon to move and Junmyeon rolls to the right. Jongin sits beside him, legs stretched, and turned on the bedside lamp.
“I...don’t know anymore” he says in between sobs. “I did everything I could...thought about it everyday,” Jongin is at a loss of words to pacify a crying person so instead he pats his head, like how his mother does to comfort him when his sisters made him cry. He fishes out his cellphone from his pocket with his free hand and reads the soft copy of the lecture slides.
“I didn’t pass.” Junmyeon must be talking about the interview for the exchange student program. Jongin’s heart does the thump thump thing, torn between happy - because Junmyeon gets to stay; and sad - because his roommate is taking the whole issue harder than he expected to be and it hurts him to see Junmyeon hurt.
“I don’t know that feels hyung.” Jongin sighs. “But I do know what’s it’s like to have zero control and even if you try to take control, someone---something always comes to take it away. It’s a vicious cycle.”
“Is it so bad wanting to be certain of what happens in the future?” Junmyeon’s eyes are half-lidded now, and he leans into his roommate’s hand.
“It’s like wanting to be certain of what’s always been uncertain.”
--
Jongin covers his eyes with his hand as soon as the first sunlight penetrates in the room. He remained in his seated position from last night, his other hand still on his roommate’s silky hair. Knowing that hangover can be a little bitch for someone who rarely drinks, he reaches for his drawer and pulls out a clear bottle of medicine with a few pills remaining inside and puts it on Junmyeon’s desk, along with a note.
You’re a horrible drunk. Drink this after vomiting.
- JI
--
“Sorry to call on you so suddenly.” Chanyeol says. He explains about the increasing number of dogs in the dog daycare and his co-worker had to take a leave because of the flu.
“You’ve explained that to me for the tenth time, man.” Jongin fixes the twisted straps of a large, pink dog harness. ”As long as I get paid for this I’m good. Extra cash is always good - more steam games and IP points for me.” Jongin beams, placing the harness on a Golden Retriever.
“Are you taking her for a walk?”
“We aren’t allowed? But this dog looks like it’s begging for some kind of activity.” He pats the golden’s head before adjusting the harness and locks it. “Good girl.”
Chanyeol looks strangely at him before he agrees. “Okay.” Jongin wastes no time, and connects the leash to the harness before walking out of the daycare with the golden. The chime rings, and it drives Chanyeol’s attention away from Jongin to the customer who just came in.
--
Jongin returns half an hour later, sweaty and heaving heavily. Chanyeol comes out from the back of the daycare, arms and apron wet from giving the dogs a bath. “I’m guessing Ginger tired you out?”
“I haven’t done any running in ages, what do you expect?”
“Looks like Ginger isn’t the only one that needs for activity.”
The chime rings again. A girl comes in looking for Ginger. Jongin introduces himself as the new part-timer while the usual guy’s on leave. “Take her on walks when you have time, even just for five to ten minutes. She really enjoys it.” The girl nods in agreement and smiles back, before leaving the daycare with Ginger.
“Whoa there man. Did you just hit on a high school student?”
“I said take the dog for a walk, not ask her out.” He huffs, brushing past Chanyeol and into the employees’ locker to change clothes. Running with the dog helped him clear his mind of things.
--
Jongin finds himself in front of the dog daycare the next day, and helps Chanyeol the minute he finds out that his co-worker is not coming for the day. There are also times when the daycare was busy, and he still finds himself helping Chanyeol out even if the co-worker returned.
“You really love this, don’t you?” Chanyeol asks him on one occasion.
“It’s been a while since I feel so enthusiastic in doing something other than League.” He’s filling up the dog bowls with food while Chanyeol puts away the dog toys. “I might actually do this for the rest of my life.”
“Most of the clients thought you were the new vet. You know stuff more than I do.” Chanyeol closes the plastic box of toys after putting away the last one.
“I googled a lot of dog-related stuff last night.” When Jongin finishes filling in the dog bowls, he motions his hand at Chanyeol to help him out. “Also, noona had a dog.”
“No, I meant you’re a natural at this.” He tells Jongin.
--
“What are those?” Sehun points at the stack of papers on the desk.
“List of requirements for transfer.” Jongin’s eyes stay focused on the application form he’s filling up.
“Are they finally kicking you out of uni?”
“No you little shit, it’s for transferring to another degree.” He senses Sehun’s attempt to disrupt his writing and so he elbows him early on.
“Which one?”
“Vet Med.” Sehun’s jaw drops open. “Are you fucking serious?”
Jongin responds a nonchalant ‘yes’. Sehun places his hand on Jongin’s forehead to check for fever. “Are you high? What have you done to Kim Jongin?”
“Why, who’s on coke?” Yixing emerges from the room. Upon seeing the transfer papers on the coffee table, he sits down and gives Jongin a puzzled expression. “Are you even sure of what you’re getting into? Or is this one of your whims to try just because you can?”
“Do I look like I’m joking around?” Jongin finally looks back on Sehun and Yixing.
the two answered YES in unison.
“Some help you are.” He says in an annoyed tone before fishing out his mobile phone and calling Chanyeol. The phone rings a few times before Chanyeol answers the phone. “Sup.”
“Do you happen to know someone from Vet Med whom I can ask for help.”
The room silences as the other two listened at the response from the other end of the line. “Help for what?”
“Shifting. I got the application forms needed, but I really don’t get the process.”
“You should’ve gone to the College Director’s office and not ask me for those!” A pause. “Wait, shifting to what, Vet Med?”
“Is that a problem?”
“Dude are you high? If this was about the daycare dog thing, that was supposed to be a joke!”
“Why does everyone think I’m high on coke right now?”
“I thought you’re on memphetamine!” Chanyeol shouts on the other side of the line.
“Seriously guys.” He turns to look at Sehun and Yixing. “You’re pissing me off.” He ends the phone call and storms off from the living area and slams the door of his bedroom.
“Wow.” Sehun sighs in disbelief.
“I know, right. And he’s actually cute when he’s pissed though.”
Sehun sends Yixing a glare.
--
Due to Sehun’s insistent nagging about switching degrees in the middle of the semester of the second year, he takes all his paperwork out of prying eyes and into the room, where he sits on the bed - back leaning against the headboard, legs outstretched and eyes continuing to read the booklet regarding Veterinary Medicine. As he reads on, It isn’t just about dogs and cats - the two only a part of a bigger structure.
“If you really want to transfer, make sure you pass your Micro and Chem with flying colors first.” Jongin jolts, his heart almost close to jumping out of his chest. He was so busy reading the leaflet just to pay attention to his surroundings.
“Dammit, hyung! You could’ve knocked!”
“Didn’t know I had to knock before I could enter my own room.” he deadpans. When Jongin realizes his mistake, he hides his embarrassment behind the booklet.
“The dean’s very strict with transfer requirements so if you don’t get your grades up and flying by the end of this semester, you can kiss your Doc Jong ambition goodbye.” Junmyeon storms out of his room, leaving Jongin in utter confusion. The sequence of current events doesn’t make much sense. Just like his life.
Also, his heart winces at the sound of Doc Jong. Doc Nini sounds much sweeter and cuter.
--
Jongin spends most of his time in the library now. His pride isn’t letting him go home and just study there because most likely Sehun’s just going to tease him on his struggle to pull up his almost-failing chemistry grades. Some friend he is. Also, Junmyeon’s At least Yixing doesn’t comment and just gives him food.
(All in the name of transferring to Vet Med)
When he finishes typing and sending in the latest lab report, he stuffs his things inside his backpack and walks out of the library. He never felt this determined to do something in his life before. Something so overwhelming pushed him to do it, and as he stares up into sky he wonders if that’s because of the attachment he had with the dogs at the pet day care, or probably Junmyeon’s influence to finally try and be certain. Or maybe both.
When his heart did that strange thing again, his mind gets creative. He imagines what the barracks looked like in the morning: messy, everyone sleeping in the living room because the last League game ended up at five-thirty in the morning, him waking up when Junmyeon gently tapping his shoulder, saying ‘good morning doc nini’ and offering coffee, and the good morning turns out for the better when three fluffy poodles approach him, tails wagging excitedly and barking happily, as if it’s their own way of saying ‘good morning!’.
He blushes at the thought. Even if with the gamer life attached to it, it still seemed so domestic, and so full of love. It made him giggle, even if for a while.
A minute later the giggles are being replaced by a pathetic sigh, signalling his surrender to cupid for this abomination of a predicament he’s in. He fumbles through his pocket for a spare coin and tosses it in the air. Heads, and he will ask Junmyeon out for a date. Tails, and he shuts up and shoves all of these emotions six feet under.
The coin lands on his palm, heads face up. But something tells him that even if they got together, they could eventually split, and Junmyeon may have a family of his own. And he doesn’t have the kit for that to happen.
He tosses the coin again and lands on tails. Godammit.
--
He takes one last look at the moonless sky, thinking that maybe shooting star suddenly passes by that could give him a sign on what to do with his problem. But when his neck starts aching he sighs and proceeds to step into the front porch of their house. Exhausted, he fumbles with the house keys in his back pocket, and as he clumsily tries to insert the key into the lock, he realizes that someone left the door unlocked.
Feeling that something’s off, he leaned closer and leaned his ear on the door to listen to the strange sound coming from the other side. He hears a faint moan, a gasp and a faint groan. Assuming that someone might have intruded the house, he slowly turns the knob and silently opens the door.
“WAIT!” Jongin jolts in surprise and freezes for a moment when he hears Sehun shout in a frantic voice. “DON’T FUCKING TURN THE LIGHTS ON!”, silence took over for a moment until the the sound of heavy breathing and the faint rustle of fabric breaks it.
“He’s fine.” It’s Yixing’s voice this time, but unlike Sehun’s, he sounds collected. “You can turn the lights on.”
“I…” Jongin stammers. “Don’t think I should.” He pauses, especially now when thinking about what his friends did got him also blushing. “I thought there was an intruder but instead…” he stammers, trying to find a euphemistic equivalent to ‘I just bumped into two of my friends having sex with each other’. “I’m guessing...Anatomy 101?”
Yixing laughs. “Anatomy 300. Masteral courses.” he says, with an emphasis on the word course. A loud smack follows moments later, and then the sound of Yixing yelping in pain comes next.
“I...really don’t think I should turn the lights on.”
“No, please.” Yixing replies. “We’ll explain properly.”
Jongin fumbles with the light switch and turns it on. Sehun and Yixing sits beside each other, sweat trickling on their foreheads and lips slightly swollen. Sehun is wearing a shirt inside out, eyes away from Jongin and his face blushing a bright shade of crimson while Yixing only has his boxers on.
He approaches the two with caution and sits on the floor across them. He isn’t that dumb to ask what was going on between the two of them. “Since when?” he starts.
“When Sehun moved in here.” That was last year.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jongin turns to look sternly at Sehun.
“As if telling my straight-but-not-in-life best friend ‘hey, I got a boyfriend, and I have nothing to ask for’ was easy.” Sehun’s blush brightens when he realizes what he said.
“At least tell it in a more normal way? Like ‘I’m gay’ or ‘I think I’m gay’ or something!”
“And then what?” Sehun retorts. “Watch my closest friend run away from me because I’m a homo?”
“Are you blind?” Jongin interrupts his best friend. “Do I look like I’m running away from you anywhere right now? If I did, I would’ve done it the moment you shouted at me not to turn the lights on!” He admits to himself he was rattled by the sudden turn of events and it’s adding to his temper and mini-headache so before he says something that may deem catastrophic to their friendship he says, “Just give me a day to adjust and register all of these.”
Sehun nods in agreement and smiles, eyes holding back tears of joy.
“Are you sure the two of you are just friends?” Yixing asks jokingly, interrupting the two.
“Are you jealous?”
“I would be lying if I say I’m not.” Yixing kisses Sehun, wipes the tears from his boyfriend’s cheeks before whispering something in his ear. Sehun nods, retreating to his and Yixing’s room.
A moment later Yixing turns his eyes to Jongin. “Hey, thank you by the way.” He says.
“For what?”
“It’s a load off his shoulders.”
Jongin thinks. “It’s nothing. He has a shoulder to lean on and I’m happy to see that.”
Yixing changes the topic. “What about you? Did you manage to find a resolution to your personal struggles?” Jongin internally screams at the word struggle.
“Not yet,” he sighs. “Not until the semester ends and I get my transfer results.”
“Not that struggle, we all know that!” Yixing says. “The more heart-wrenching one.”
“But I don’t have anyone---”
“Stop lying.” Yixing smirks at him. “Your words could lie but your eyes doesn’t. Especially when hyung’s within your field of vision.”
Jongin wonders to himself if he was that easy to read or the guy in front of him is good at reading people, or was he staring at Junmyeon hyung that much. “I---don’t know.” He mumbles. The more he’s trying to put the words together in his head before explaining, the more he can’t explain it properly. “I like him, I think he likes me but not the way I like him, but sometimes he gives off that feeling that he’s feeling the same way and… I don’t know anymore, does that make sense to you?”
“60% yes.”
“I know right? This thing drives me nuts way more than my last exam!” He hides his face behind his hands.
“The only advice I could give to you is just ask.”
“Ask what, hyung?”
Yixing shrugs before standing up and retreating to his bedroom, leaving Jongin clueless.
Ask what?
--
A few days after the semester ends, Jongin finds himself inside the Dean's office. The Dean isn’t there, only the Secretary, who hands him an envelope. He opens it, and inside is an acceptance letter saying Congratulations and the words College of Veterinary Medicine as the header.
“Please accomplish the two separate papers in the envelope and bring it their Office as soon as possible in order for them to officially register you. Looks like you’ll grow old in here instead of out there.” Jongin laughs at the joke. He finished his first two years and there’s an additional four.
“Please send the Dean my thanks,” He bows before leaving the office on a high note.
Finally.
--
When Jongin reaches home, he usually expects no one at home, so when he sees Junmyeon sitting at the sofa, he internally panics. He clears his throat, causing the other to turn his attention to him.
“Hyung!” he greets nervously. “So rare for you to be here at this hour!” Well, so much for small talk.
“For a change.”
Silence takes over, which makes the aura even more uneasy.
There’s only the two of them in the house, and he’s taking his chances. He suddenly remembers Yixing’s advice. Just ask. If he fails, he needs to accept it like the sore loser that he is. Either way, good game, well played..right?
He reaches for his acceptance letter and shows it to Junmyeon. His roommate instantly smiles and hugs Jongin tightly. He hugs back just as tight.
“I’m so proud!” His roommate is at a loss for words.
“I’ve got the best support.” Jongin breathes, his heart thumping loudly. “Thank you hyung. Anyways can I ask you something?”
The two breaks free of their embrace, staring into each other’s eyes. Jongin’s not sure if he’s blushing any redder or anything, “Um, can you be my support forever?” He also realizes that his brain to mouth filter isn’t working. “I mean---”
“Only if you’ll be my adc.” A bright shade of crimson decorates Junmyeon’s cheeks. He brings his hand up to pinch Jongin’s cheeks.
notes:
Hi, I kept the jargons as minimal as possible. /gets shot
adc - stands for attack damage carry. This character is usually someone who is long-ranged (e.g. archer), one with the highest pure attack damage, and is paired with a support usually in the early part of the game.
5v5 - shortcut for 5 vs 5.
ggwp - aka good game well played.
Twitch - much like YouTube, but more on gameplay videos.
Author: ANONYMOUS until reveals
Title: Que Sera Sera
Rating: PG-13
Other pairings involved: Lay/Sehun
Length: 7,581 words
Warning: LoL (League of Legends) jargons. (see notes at the end)
Notes: cuddlymods, thank you so much for your patience! ;_; Prompter, I hope I gave this justice, even if for a bit.
It is two in the afternoon and when you add it up with the scorching heat of the summer, staying inside the airconditioned lecture hall seems so inviting.
Kim Jongin isn’t an exception. He keeps on absentmindedly playing with his mechanical pencil as he squints his eyes while looking at the lesson slides in an attempt to stay awake in class. The font their Professor used is too small for a class that almost looks like a mini-auditorium in size. While the rest of the class were taking notes, the opened page in his notebook looks more of a doodle rather than a decent-looking note worth of reviewing into.
His phone vibrates and pulls out his mobile phone from the front pocket of his jeans and reads the text message.
LoL night later. 5v5?
No bets, just fun
-SH
sure. He messages back, flexing his fingers in anticipation. While the invitation saved him from falling asleep - and the horror of being called by the professor for recitation, it immediately eliminated any form of concentration he had mustered earlier.
The professor called the class to an end, and all Jongin hears is the announcement is something along the lines of a long test and right minus 25 something wrong which doesn’t bother him in the slightest before sprinting out of the lecture hall.
His phone vibrates again, this time from the dorm director telling him to pay his overdue rent within 48 hours or else he’ll be kicked out of the dorm. He dismisses the message and continues to walk to his next class...if he feels like going.
--
While in the middle of setting up laptops and patch upgrades, Jongin’s concentration breaks at the sound of the door clicks and the presence pale-skinned person enters the house. Of course there’s nothing wrong with wearing knitted cardigans (a pink one at that) over a crisp white polo - Only that it’s still summer.
If he remembered correctly, this guy’s name is Junmyeon, and is also the owner of Barracks where his friends are staying.
“Yo hyung!” Sehun waves. “Wanna join 5v5 with the Stat guys?" He notices the look of hesitance upon Junmyeon's face.
“I don’t even play League.” The man protests, brushing past them but Sehun managed to grab his hand. “Excuse me? Come’on! The last time we taught you to play you were actually pretty good! And we need a support!” He says encouragingly.
“Where’s Minseok-hyung?” His eyes darted around, trying to find an excuse to escape the scene. “Isn’t he the one always playing your support?”
“Hyung cancelled at the last minute.” Yixing appears from the kitchen, a bowl of nachos in one hand and a dip bowl on the other. He places the food in “He called me just now only to say that his thesis defense moved on an earlier date because his adviser’s an ass.”
Junmyeon sighs in defeat. “Alright, one game.” He retreats briefly to his room to get his laptop.
“Jongin, go adc.” Yixing says and Jongin flashes thumbs-up and sets the game.
“Um, so what’s your gameplan against them?” the house fell into an awkward silence.
“Just don’t get yourself killed by the enemy in-game.” Jongin says, eyes on the laptop, fixing his last-minute modifications.
“Okay.”
--
Ten minutes later into the game, the house roars with non-stop keyboard and mouse clicks, and a few curses from here and there. The game turned out smoother than Jongin expected it to be. Of course early game was a bit difficult and Junmyeon had difficulty with the mouse he was using but later in the game they were easily raking up the number of kills which eventually led them to victory.
“Hyung, you’re not bad for a beginner.” He laughs, patting Junmyeon’s shoulders. “I’m sorry for my tone with you earlier.”
“We taught him, and hyung’s a quick learner.” Chanyeol grins, until the chat captured his attention and he grinned even wider. “Hoho, they’re saying our support was good. Bet they’re gonna flip if they found out they’re beaten by a newbie!” He exclaims, pointing at his screen for his teammates to see.
“Alright, I’m uploading our game in Twitch today! Minseok-hyung wants to watch it when he feels like dying because of his thesis.” Sehun says, waiting for the upload to complete. “Hey hyung, one more game?”
“Thanks guys. But I need to get my homework done. Maybe next time.” Junmyeon says apologetically before closes his laptop and carries it with him to the room.
“He looked upset because you forced him to play earlier.”
Yixing disagrees. “He’s probably really busy today that’s why he’s like that. But I’m pretty sure he enjoyed our game earlier.”
“Hey guys, Jongdae’s online in case you want one more game.”
Jongin groans. Jongdae-hyung loves to mess up with the meta and although victory comes out of it, putting them into a lot of stress because his gameplay ideas are unpredictable isn’t going to cut it. He reluctantly agrees, and this will be for a long night of troll games.
--
Jongin returns to his dorm room the next day, finds a familiar envelope sealed with the university logo on his desk. He doesn’t need to open it; he knows all too well that he’ll be evicted within 48 hours. He hears a knock on the door minutes later, and he opens the door a little and just as he predicted - the dorm head at his doorsteps
“Kim Jong--”
“No need to remind me hyung.” Jongin interrupts him, showing the envelope with the school seal enclosing the letter. “If this is about me getting an ultimatum to stay, just don’t. I can’t pay for the rent so I’ll just leave. Relay that to our director”
“Found a place to stay?”
“I think I’ll manage.” he says coolly, closes the door but the other man’s hands prevented him from doing so.
“Where?”
“Probably at the Library.” He absent-mindedly says. The look of surprise can be seen in the chairman’s face but he doesn’t let it bother him. “Please leave. I really want to get a few hours of sleep.” he bows before closing the door without even waiting for a reaction. He drags himself by the feet to the bed and flops down, sleep finally taking over.
He wakes up around late in the afternoon. He packs his things and leaves the dorm by nightfall and stays in the library. The aircon’s colder than usual, but nothing he can’t handle. He uses his backpack as a pillow, and lies down.
The next morning, Sehun and Yixing finds him there hiding behind a book he randomly picked out of a random shelf. His eyes are puffy and there are dark circles under his eyes.
“How did you find me?” He whispers.
Noticing the bags at his feet, Sehun whispers back. “Dude, did you just got kicked out of the dorms?”
“Forgot to pay 2 months’ worth of rent.” Not that he doesn’t have the money to pay for it, he just forgot where most of his allowance went. “Don’t tell noona or she’s gonna flip.”
And as if the fate is coming to hate him, his phone vibrates in his pocket. Without thinking, he takes the phone call until his sister started shouting along the lines of allowance cut and scolding him from the from the other side of the line. He hangs up the phone immediately and puts it back to his pocket.
Jongin rummages through his duffel bag and pulls out a paper and a pen. He scribbles quickly, and shows it to the two persons in front of him the message. Who the fuck told her I got kicked out?
Sehun glares and grabs the paper to write back, It’s your fault, you have zero control over pretty much everything!
Yixing takes the paper away from Sehun before Jongin had the chance to grab it and writes a few sentences and shows it to the latter. Let’s take this outside. Do you have time? Any class of the sort?
Jongin pauses to think. Chemistry will be in the afternoon, and his Stat class will be in fifteen minutes. The hell why Bio majors have to put up with Stat classes anyway? He scribbles Just chem lab classes for today and shows it to Yixing.
Sehun mouths a you liar, I’m taking Stat classes with you!, but Jongin ignores him.
--
“I’ve got an idea what to do with your...problem.” Yixing fishes out his mobile phone and dials a certain number and puts it on speakerphone. It rings a few times before a voice can be audibly heard. “Yes, Xing?”
“Hi hyung! Are you okay with having a roommate?”
The long pause after Yixing’s question sets butterflies in Jongin’s stomach.
“Not sure. If it’s someone you know very well I think I can manage.”
“Kim Jongin. Do you remember him?” Yixing asks. When silence answers him Jongin adds “Your adc.”
Another pause before the person on the other side answers. “Okay. I’ll just fix the room. You can come by tomorrow.”
“Ayt hyung. Bye!” Yixing hangs up, and Jongin almost tears up at the promise that he won’t live like a homeless man for the rest of the semester. Another night at the library won’t hurt.
--
Jongin shows up in the front door of the boarding house the next morning, along with his two backpacks. A half-awake Sehun lets him in and hands him a duplicate of the house keys. “Your room’s over there.” He points to the door. “Hyung provided you already with an empty cabinet for your stuff. If you need anything else just knock on the other room.”
As he steps inside the sunlight from the window lights up the whole room, and from there he wasn’t able to prevent himself from noticing everything - from the neatly-made beds, the desk and its neatly stacked books on the right side and a metallic finished penholder on the left, and the corkboard standing beside it. It’s full of reminders or checklists for each post-its in every color one can find in the bookstore and the one thing in particular that he noticed is the lavender-colored paper with a handwritten checklist of things to do.
He felt like he’s in a different world, far from the kind of order he was used to. It just feels…new. There is so much to take in from the surroundings, if anything.
His thought gets distracted when the door creaks open and Sehun walks in. “Surprised?”
“Kind of.” Jongin chuckles. “I thought I was in a hotel.”
“Same reaction when I moved in here.” Sehun finally steps into the room and looks around. “Hyung did the same thing for me when I first moved in. Pretty nice, huh?”
“Not the nice I’m used to but yeah… it IS nice.” He can’t help but admit it. He now turns his attention to the things pinned on the corkboard. Some are rainbow post-its - most of them looked like reminders, task lists, and schedules. The rest are pictures of places. “What are those?”
“Post-its and reminders, captain obvious.” Sehun scoffs.
Jongin elbows his best friend. “I know, you little shit, I mean - “ He pauses, “why so much? Does my roommate have amnesia or something?”
“None of the sort, he just keeps everything in check.” Sehun elbows him back. “If you haven’t maximized your absences you can call it a day and get some sleep. You look dead. I’ll just sign the attendance for you.”
“You’re the best.” Jongin smiles before retreating to the room. He puts down his duffel bag and lies down and lets the cool, lemon-scented linen sheets comfort him It’s been days since he’d been on a real bed and the sensation felt nice, and lets himself fall asleep.
--
Jongin wakes up later to the sound of clicking keyboard he hears that breaks the silence of the room. He notices the blanket covering him, which he was sure wasn’t there before. He slowly rolls to his right and sees Junmyeon.
“Don’t sleep in the bed with your shoes on.” Junmyeon’s continuously typing a report on the other side, eyes on the screen. That’s when Jongin realizes what happened earlier.
“Sorry, I--” He stammers, trying to find the right words to explain that it wasn’t intentional. “How long I was out?”
“Long enough. It’s already four in the afternoon.” At that, Junmyeon did a few clicks of the mouse before folding the laptop and finally looking at Jongin. “Rough night? You still look pale.”
“Sort of.” Not that the couch in the library wasn’t comfortable enough to sleep in, but the idea of whatever he’s sleeping on that is not his bedroom is enough to keep him awake through the night.
“At least you were able to sleep in the bed even though it’s your first day in here.” Junmyeon smiles and nods. It may not show his teeth, but the eye-smile was enough. “I heard from Sehun that you have some trouble sleeping in a room that isn’t yours.”
Jongin had trouble looking for words at first but managed a “Thanks for the concern” and the other acknowledges it.
“It’s nothing. You’re my roommate, after all.” One could sense that it has been some time since Junmyeon had a roommate judging by the eagerness in his voice. He wants to ask why but couldn’t bring himself to ask.
“Anyway,” he looks away from Jongin and opens one of the drawers in his desk to pull out a piece of paper and a pen and hands it to the younger. “Here. Write your class schedule and part-time job schedule - if you have any. Give it back to me when you’re done.”
“What for?” Jongin reluctantly takes the paper and pen.
“Task lists.”
“You mean chore duties.” The last time he heard of those was in seventh or eighth grade, and he even tried escaping from those once. Not that he hated cleaning, but there are days - more often than not, that he finds it troublesome to clean the classroom with everyone else.
“It’s a must for everyone in this house.” Junmyeon pats his shoulder. “We live together in this house so everyone takes part on keeping the place livable. Just because we’re males and in college doesn’t mean we can’t clean up after ourselves.”
Jongin rolls his eyes and takes it as a cue to write his schedule down and not counterarguing Junmyeon further. He already sounded like his mother.
“So...just cleaning?” He hands the now-written index card to Junmyeon.
“Yes.” Junmyeon replies. “I leave Yixing to do the cooking. He’s really good.” His eyes are scanning the index card for a good minute there before he opens his laptop again and types. “No part-time job?”
“If the housework in here does count, then yes.”
Junmyeon raises an eyebrow at him. Jongin gulps. Looks like his roommate doesn’t tolerate snarky humor as much as Sehun does.
“No, I left my last part-time job. The wages was too low and it was interrupting tourneys.”
“Sehun never told me you were part of the varsity.”
“I meant the E-sports kind of tourneys. The one where you were part of it was just a sort-of practice game. The real deal’s a lot more serious than that.” The longer their conversation goes, the more he realizes that Sehun just gave out his biography to his new roommate.
--
Jongin’s first week isn’t easy. Sleeping at night still remains a challenge, and during the day he keeps on forgetting almost all of his duty schedules and had to be constantly reminded by Junmyeon about it. There are times when he still What keeps him from rebelling away is Junmyeon’s consistent reminding him of such things. It’s like his sister, but a lot nicer, and a lot less nagging. It makes him wonder if he had been that way ever since, and what will happen in case that gargantuan amount of patience runs out.
LoL nights remained the same and it keeps Jongin sane. Sometimes Junmyeon joins them, and they’re more than happy to keep him company. Besides, it’s the only time they see their hyung rattled whenever a shot misses or when the lag suddenly spoils a few seconds of their gameplay. It amuses him, seeing Junmyeon like that - human in his eyes rather than a Mr. On-the-Dot with some angelic aura kind of person.
By the second and third week he’s more adapted to the new lifestyle. Although, there are things that still puzzle him: one the never ending carpet of post-its on the corkboard, the checklists that changes two or three times a week, and two, the annoying thump thump he feels whenever his roommate smiles at him - especially in the morning.
--
“Why do you plan?” A lot of it. His brain screams to shout it at Junmyeon but somehow managed not to.
“Don’t you?” Junmyeon asks, looking straight into Jongin’s eyes for a moment there before resuming his writing on the maroon notebook.
“I don’t know. Maybe not as elaborate as yours.”
“What about your degree? Sure you did some thinking over that.” Junmyeon pauses and adds, “-Unless you didn’t.”
“Mom wants it, younger noona was against it, and my older noona abstained from it.” Jongin recalls, as he looks up into the ceiling as if it had the answers. “I forgot what my father said about it.”
“...and you chose Biology because your mom wants it?”
“Yes and No? It’s the most peaceful decision I can come up with that time. Whenever mom decides, everyone kind of agrees anyway.” His sisters did express their decision against it later on, but in a more subtle way.
“Do you like it?”
“Bearable.” Jongin says nonchalantly.
“So you don’t.”
Jongin doesn’t answer him, and changes the topic of discussion. “What about you, hyung? Did you plan to get in this university, and get this degree?” He never asked for his roommate’s degree, as he never finds it important anyway. But judging by his observations, the amount
Junmyeon raises his eyebrow. “Why do you sound so apprehensive of what I do? It’s not even bad!”
“Did I?” Jongin clears his throat a bit. “Sorry, just curious. So back to the question: Did you plan everything?”
“Since high school, I think?”
Jongin gapes, his eyes also wide open in awe.
“I did have a clear idea what I’ll be doing in college.” He closes his laptop and opens his drawer, pulling out a leather-bound notebook. He then opens it and shows a page of it to Jongin. “See? I wrote some of them before I even graduated from high school.”
Junmyeon’s handwriting looks very neat, as if a girl was the one who wrote it. Jongin reads the checklist, even the ones that had a strikethrough. Get lowest loan. Get Part-time job. Take care of hyung’s place. Dean’s list (lol yeah dream on).
The list goes on, and as much as he likes to turn the page to read the rest, he returns the diary to its owner. “I’m pretty sure you’ll get into the Dean’s list.” Jongin laughs. “Who’s hyung though?”
“Jonghyun-hyung? He’s my cousin.” Junmyeon closes his notebook and returns it to the drawer. “He used to live here before he moved overseas. I asked him if I could stay here instead of finding a dorm so in a way I don’t pay that much. But this house was too big for me to stay in so I asked people to stay here.”
“That explains my rent.” Jongin’s monthly fees doesn’t skyrocket high, which was to his advantage. His sister still sends him money - though lesser than what it used to be to pay for things and he gets a little extra because he’s paying less.
Junmyeon nods. “Yes and I can split my bill with other people. Two birds, one stone, right?” That was probably the reason why he’s okay with having more people around.
“Two birds with one stone indeed.” Jongin nods back in agreement.
--
Thursday’s weather was Rainy. Just as when Jongin enters the lobby he finds Junmyeon amongst the crowd of students rushing in, pacing back and forth on one side of the Building’s lobby. He gently taps Junmyeon on the shoulder.
“Junmyeon-hyung, what’s wrong?” He notices the anxiousness on Junmyeon’s face and his pale skin growing even more pale.
“I…” he breathes heavily. “..don’t have an umbrella and I have to get home. Professor Lee needs the results by tonight and I can’t go home because of the rain!” He continues to ramble about timetables and readjusting schedule before Jongin interrupts. “And what in the world’s name is contingency time?” Well, he knew what contingency meant but for it to be used that way just sounds way too odd to him.
"I have a timetable to stick to because I like to keep things in order. You should do the same since you keep on forgetting to do things!" Junmyeon ignores the younger’s glare at him as fishes out a piece of pastel blue paper roughly the size of a folded letter-sized paper and hands it to Jongin.
"These aren't even for today!" He's appalled by how accurate his roommate can be, and calculated even down to the last minute.
"That's for next week. Appointments and Group meetings."
"So in other words you are worried because you're off your schedule - by TEN minutes?" All Jongin gets is a pout and nod from Junmyeon. At that point Junmyeon seemed like an elementary student nodding to a teacher and it made him wonder if the guy in front of him was actually older than him or not. Not that it’s a bad thing. It’s actually adorable.
In an effort to hide his blush, he takes his hoodie off and hands it to Junmyeon. “Hyung, take this. The rain’s probably gonna stop later and I’m in class till seven.” He runs up the stairs, feeling like a hero who saved a friend from eternal damnation and it wasn’t until the third floor that he realizes that his class in on the seventh floor of the building.
--
By the time classes are dismissed the the rainfall becomes heavier, and he resorts to running through that rain because he’s hungry and he wants Buffalo Chicken (which Yixing promised earlier that day). He should’ve brought a jacket with him, or at least, an umbrella.
Oh wait, he had a hoodie but he lent it to someone.
--
Jongin wakes up on an afternoon. and that is when Jongin realizes that being a hero comes with a price. He wanted to get out of bed but his body burning with fever betrays him to do it. After an internal mini-mini-minie-mo of choosing whether to leave the bed or not, he gets up mainly because the sweaty shirt he was wearing is making him uncomfortable.
He changes his clothes before shuffling to the kitchen and finds a plate of food with a small post-it on top of it.
I feel responsible for your flu today so here’s some food. Please eat it before taking the medicine.
3x a day after meals
Also, thank you for the hoodie. :D -JM
A small medicine box lies beside the plate, with its labels AM, NN and PM - each has a piece of medicine in it. Very hyung-ish, if anything.
Jongin’s lips curls into a smile. He’s not sure about what the thump thump in his chest meant, but it was probably the fever talking to him.
--
“Good to see you bouncing around. Hyung says you look dead this morning.” Yixing says while chopping a few vegetables for dinner. “Feel any better?”
“Yeah, thanks to hyung’s meds and your cooking.”
Yixing stops slicing and looks back at Jongin with a puzzled expression. “But I just got home about two hours ago. I wasn’t around during the mornings.”
He pauses to think. “Did you teach Sehun to cook?” Yixing doesn’t answer him and smiles briefly before returning to his duties.
Jongin on the other hand did not notice the smaller frame standing behind him. “Ok I don’t know why you’re not telling me but whatever.” Before he even turns around, the figure behind him isn’t there anymore.
--
By the time hell week comes on a LoL night, and everyone except Jongin called it a pass. By the middle of the night Junmyeon comes home, exhausted to the bone. Jongin pauses his current progress with Call of Duty and helps his roommate organizing.
He then notices a red folder with application forms in it. His curiosity got the better of him when he asks: “Hyung, are you transferring schools?” The thump thump returns, mightier and a lot faster. It’s probably the lack of sleep talking, he tells to himself.
“Exchange student program.” Junmyeon says. The weakness in his voice prompts Jongin to put him to sleep. “Two years.”
--
“Where’s hyung?”
“As if I know. You have his number, right?”
“I do, but my line got cut off. I just streamed one game, then when I was about to pay it last week when I saw the bill skyrocketed. Fuck that shit.”
“Why the hell are you on contract if you can’t even monitor your consumption?” Sehun rolls his eyes. “You should’ve gotten prepaid in the first place!”
“Ok, I get it! My fault already!” he really hates being told by others. “I’ll just get a new sim card then.”
Junmyeon suddenly barges in, a plastic bag with alcohol on one hand. “Are you guys free?”
Sehun nods, and when he looks at Jongin, he swears by the seven gods that his roommate’s eyes practically pleaded him to say yes. “Yeah, I’m free tonight.” Two exams tomorrow and he hasn’t done any reviewing. Yes, definitely free.
“Let’s drink!” He smiles, raising the plastic bag. The younger two exchanged confused glances with each other, but rides on with what Junmyeon wants.
--
If Junmyeon’s very tolerant and considerate of people, he has the exact opposite tolerance to alcohol. Who gets drunk after three swigs of light brandy anyway? “Is he like this when you guys drink?”
“He never drinks.” Sehun replies sternly, attempting to take away the glass from Junmyeon’s hands.
“NO! We havn’t finishd the bottle!” Junmyeon slurs.
“You’re DRUNK, hyung!” Sehun tries to takes away the glass away from Junmyeon once more, while he motions Jongin to and pulls the other up and helps him walk.
“NO! I AM NOT DRUNK!” he breaks free of Jongin’s grasp, and walks a few steps before tripping and falling on the carpeted floor face-first down.
Despite Junmyeon’s attempts to break free, but Jongin’s hand is stronger. Finally, Jongin scoops the drunk man into his arms and tosses him over his shoulder.
“NINI!” Jongin blushes a bit at the nickname. “I CAN WALK! STOP ACTING LIKE A CAVEMAN!”
Jongin ignores the protests, and drops junmyeon unceremoniously to the bed.
“Not on my bed…” Junmyeon whimpers. “Please.” The crazy drunk dissipates and a different Junmyeon appears, something that would make Jongin believe that this person in front of him isn’t the Junmyeon he knew.
From a mess of a drunk madman to a kid crying himself to sleep. Kim Junmyeon sure is full of surprises.
“Can you...stay till here till sunrise?”
He knows he shouldn’t sleep because there’s an exam, he also knows that he can’t sleep on someone else’s bed for crying out loud, but he also couldn’t bring himself to say no. Not when Junmyeon is curling up against him and sobbing. He nudges Junmyeon to move and Junmyeon rolls to the right. Jongin sits beside him, legs stretched, and turned on the bedside lamp.
“I...don’t know anymore” he says in between sobs. “I did everything I could...thought about it everyday,” Jongin is at a loss of words to pacify a crying person so instead he pats his head, like how his mother does to comfort him when his sisters made him cry. He fishes out his cellphone from his pocket with his free hand and reads the soft copy of the lecture slides.
“I didn’t pass.” Junmyeon must be talking about the interview for the exchange student program. Jongin’s heart does the thump thump thing, torn between happy - because Junmyeon gets to stay; and sad - because his roommate is taking the whole issue harder than he expected to be and it hurts him to see Junmyeon hurt.
“I don’t know that feels hyung.” Jongin sighs. “But I do know what’s it’s like to have zero control and even if you try to take control, someone---something always comes to take it away. It’s a vicious cycle.”
“Is it so bad wanting to be certain of what happens in the future?” Junmyeon’s eyes are half-lidded now, and he leans into his roommate’s hand.
“It’s like wanting to be certain of what’s always been uncertain.”
--
Jongin covers his eyes with his hand as soon as the first sunlight penetrates in the room. He remained in his seated position from last night, his other hand still on his roommate’s silky hair. Knowing that hangover can be a little bitch for someone who rarely drinks, he reaches for his drawer and pulls out a clear bottle of medicine with a few pills remaining inside and puts it on Junmyeon’s desk, along with a note.
You’re a horrible drunk. Drink this after vomiting.
- JI
--
“Sorry to call on you so suddenly.” Chanyeol says. He explains about the increasing number of dogs in the dog daycare and his co-worker had to take a leave because of the flu.
“You’ve explained that to me for the tenth time, man.” Jongin fixes the twisted straps of a large, pink dog harness. ”As long as I get paid for this I’m good. Extra cash is always good - more steam games and IP points for me.” Jongin beams, placing the harness on a Golden Retriever.
“Are you taking her for a walk?”
“We aren’t allowed? But this dog looks like it’s begging for some kind of activity.” He pats the golden’s head before adjusting the harness and locks it. “Good girl.”
Chanyeol looks strangely at him before he agrees. “Okay.” Jongin wastes no time, and connects the leash to the harness before walking out of the daycare with the golden. The chime rings, and it drives Chanyeol’s attention away from Jongin to the customer who just came in.
--
Jongin returns half an hour later, sweaty and heaving heavily. Chanyeol comes out from the back of the daycare, arms and apron wet from giving the dogs a bath. “I’m guessing Ginger tired you out?”
“I haven’t done any running in ages, what do you expect?”
“Looks like Ginger isn’t the only one that needs for activity.”
The chime rings again. A girl comes in looking for Ginger. Jongin introduces himself as the new part-timer while the usual guy’s on leave. “Take her on walks when you have time, even just for five to ten minutes. She really enjoys it.” The girl nods in agreement and smiles back, before leaving the daycare with Ginger.
“Whoa there man. Did you just hit on a high school student?”
“I said take the dog for a walk, not ask her out.” He huffs, brushing past Chanyeol and into the employees’ locker to change clothes. Running with the dog helped him clear his mind of things.
--
Jongin finds himself in front of the dog daycare the next day, and helps Chanyeol the minute he finds out that his co-worker is not coming for the day. There are also times when the daycare was busy, and he still finds himself helping Chanyeol out even if the co-worker returned.
“You really love this, don’t you?” Chanyeol asks him on one occasion.
“It’s been a while since I feel so enthusiastic in doing something other than League.” He’s filling up the dog bowls with food while Chanyeol puts away the dog toys. “I might actually do this for the rest of my life.”
“Most of the clients thought you were the new vet. You know stuff more than I do.” Chanyeol closes the plastic box of toys after putting away the last one.
“I googled a lot of dog-related stuff last night.” When Jongin finishes filling in the dog bowls, he motions his hand at Chanyeol to help him out. “Also, noona had a dog.”
“No, I meant you’re a natural at this.” He tells Jongin.
--
“What are those?” Sehun points at the stack of papers on the desk.
“List of requirements for transfer.” Jongin’s eyes stay focused on the application form he’s filling up.
“Are they finally kicking you out of uni?”
“No you little shit, it’s for transferring to another degree.” He senses Sehun’s attempt to disrupt his writing and so he elbows him early on.
“Which one?”
“Vet Med.” Sehun’s jaw drops open. “Are you fucking serious?”
Jongin responds a nonchalant ‘yes’. Sehun places his hand on Jongin’s forehead to check for fever. “Are you high? What have you done to Kim Jongin?”
“Why, who’s on coke?” Yixing emerges from the room. Upon seeing the transfer papers on the coffee table, he sits down and gives Jongin a puzzled expression. “Are you even sure of what you’re getting into? Or is this one of your whims to try just because you can?”
“Do I look like I’m joking around?” Jongin finally looks back on Sehun and Yixing.
the two answered YES in unison.
“Some help you are.” He says in an annoyed tone before fishing out his mobile phone and calling Chanyeol. The phone rings a few times before Chanyeol answers the phone. “Sup.”
“Do you happen to know someone from Vet Med whom I can ask for help.”
The room silences as the other two listened at the response from the other end of the line. “Help for what?”
“Shifting. I got the application forms needed, but I really don’t get the process.”
“You should’ve gone to the College Director’s office and not ask me for those!” A pause. “Wait, shifting to what, Vet Med?”
“Is that a problem?”
“Dude are you high? If this was about the daycare dog thing, that was supposed to be a joke!”
“Why does everyone think I’m high on coke right now?”
“I thought you’re on memphetamine!” Chanyeol shouts on the other side of the line.
“Seriously guys.” He turns to look at Sehun and Yixing. “You’re pissing me off.” He ends the phone call and storms off from the living area and slams the door of his bedroom.
“Wow.” Sehun sighs in disbelief.
“I know, right. And he’s actually cute when he’s pissed though.”
Sehun sends Yixing a glare.
--
Due to Sehun’s insistent nagging about switching degrees in the middle of the semester of the second year, he takes all his paperwork out of prying eyes and into the room, where he sits on the bed - back leaning against the headboard, legs outstretched and eyes continuing to read the booklet regarding Veterinary Medicine. As he reads on, It isn’t just about dogs and cats - the two only a part of a bigger structure.
“If you really want to transfer, make sure you pass your Micro and Chem with flying colors first.” Jongin jolts, his heart almost close to jumping out of his chest. He was so busy reading the leaflet just to pay attention to his surroundings.
“Dammit, hyung! You could’ve knocked!”
“Didn’t know I had to knock before I could enter my own room.” he deadpans. When Jongin realizes his mistake, he hides his embarrassment behind the booklet.
“The dean’s very strict with transfer requirements so if you don’t get your grades up and flying by the end of this semester, you can kiss your Doc Jong ambition goodbye.” Junmyeon storms out of his room, leaving Jongin in utter confusion. The sequence of current events doesn’t make much sense. Just like his life.
Also, his heart winces at the sound of Doc Jong. Doc Nini sounds much sweeter and cuter.
--
Jongin spends most of his time in the library now. His pride isn’t letting him go home and just study there because most likely Sehun’s just going to tease him on his struggle to pull up his almost-failing chemistry grades. Some friend he is. Also, Junmyeon’s At least Yixing doesn’t comment and just gives him food.
(All in the name of transferring to Vet Med)
When he finishes typing and sending in the latest lab report, he stuffs his things inside his backpack and walks out of the library. He never felt this determined to do something in his life before. Something so overwhelming pushed him to do it, and as he stares up into sky he wonders if that’s because of the attachment he had with the dogs at the pet day care, or probably Junmyeon’s influence to finally try and be certain. Or maybe both.
When his heart did that strange thing again, his mind gets creative. He imagines what the barracks looked like in the morning: messy, everyone sleeping in the living room because the last League game ended up at five-thirty in the morning, him waking up when Junmyeon gently tapping his shoulder, saying ‘good morning doc nini’ and offering coffee, and the good morning turns out for the better when three fluffy poodles approach him, tails wagging excitedly and barking happily, as if it’s their own way of saying ‘good morning!’.
He blushes at the thought. Even if with the gamer life attached to it, it still seemed so domestic, and so full of love. It made him giggle, even if for a while.
A minute later the giggles are being replaced by a pathetic sigh, signalling his surrender to cupid for this abomination of a predicament he’s in. He fumbles through his pocket for a spare coin and tosses it in the air. Heads, and he will ask Junmyeon out for a date. Tails, and he shuts up and shoves all of these emotions six feet under.
The coin lands on his palm, heads face up. But something tells him that even if they got together, they could eventually split, and Junmyeon may have a family of his own. And he doesn’t have the kit for that to happen.
He tosses the coin again and lands on tails. Godammit.
--
He takes one last look at the moonless sky, thinking that maybe shooting star suddenly passes by that could give him a sign on what to do with his problem. But when his neck starts aching he sighs and proceeds to step into the front porch of their house. Exhausted, he fumbles with the house keys in his back pocket, and as he clumsily tries to insert the key into the lock, he realizes that someone left the door unlocked.
Feeling that something’s off, he leaned closer and leaned his ear on the door to listen to the strange sound coming from the other side. He hears a faint moan, a gasp and a faint groan. Assuming that someone might have intruded the house, he slowly turns the knob and silently opens the door.
“WAIT!” Jongin jolts in surprise and freezes for a moment when he hears Sehun shout in a frantic voice. “DON’T FUCKING TURN THE LIGHTS ON!”, silence took over for a moment until the the sound of heavy breathing and the faint rustle of fabric breaks it.
“He’s fine.” It’s Yixing’s voice this time, but unlike Sehun’s, he sounds collected. “You can turn the lights on.”
“I…” Jongin stammers. “Don’t think I should.” He pauses, especially now when thinking about what his friends did got him also blushing. “I thought there was an intruder but instead…” he stammers, trying to find a euphemistic equivalent to ‘I just bumped into two of my friends having sex with each other’. “I’m guessing...Anatomy 101?”
Yixing laughs. “Anatomy 300. Masteral courses.” he says, with an emphasis on the word course. A loud smack follows moments later, and then the sound of Yixing yelping in pain comes next.
“I...really don’t think I should turn the lights on.”
“No, please.” Yixing replies. “We’ll explain properly.”
Jongin fumbles with the light switch and turns it on. Sehun and Yixing sits beside each other, sweat trickling on their foreheads and lips slightly swollen. Sehun is wearing a shirt inside out, eyes away from Jongin and his face blushing a bright shade of crimson while Yixing only has his boxers on.
He approaches the two with caution and sits on the floor across them. He isn’t that dumb to ask what was going on between the two of them. “Since when?” he starts.
“When Sehun moved in here.” That was last year.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jongin turns to look sternly at Sehun.
“As if telling my straight-but-not-in-life best friend ‘hey, I got a boyfriend, and I have nothing to ask for’ was easy.” Sehun’s blush brightens when he realizes what he said.
“At least tell it in a more normal way? Like ‘I’m gay’ or ‘I think I’m gay’ or something!”
“And then what?” Sehun retorts. “Watch my closest friend run away from me because I’m a homo?”
“Are you blind?” Jongin interrupts his best friend. “Do I look like I’m running away from you anywhere right now? If I did, I would’ve done it the moment you shouted at me not to turn the lights on!” He admits to himself he was rattled by the sudden turn of events and it’s adding to his temper and mini-headache so before he says something that may deem catastrophic to their friendship he says, “Just give me a day to adjust and register all of these.”
Sehun nods in agreement and smiles, eyes holding back tears of joy.
“Are you sure the two of you are just friends?” Yixing asks jokingly, interrupting the two.
“Are you jealous?”
“I would be lying if I say I’m not.” Yixing kisses Sehun, wipes the tears from his boyfriend’s cheeks before whispering something in his ear. Sehun nods, retreating to his and Yixing’s room.
A moment later Yixing turns his eyes to Jongin. “Hey, thank you by the way.” He says.
“For what?”
“It’s a load off his shoulders.”
Jongin thinks. “It’s nothing. He has a shoulder to lean on and I’m happy to see that.”
Yixing changes the topic. “What about you? Did you manage to find a resolution to your personal struggles?” Jongin internally screams at the word struggle.
“Not yet,” he sighs. “Not until the semester ends and I get my transfer results.”
“Not that struggle, we all know that!” Yixing says. “The more heart-wrenching one.”
“But I don’t have anyone---”
“Stop lying.” Yixing smirks at him. “Your words could lie but your eyes doesn’t. Especially when hyung’s within your field of vision.”
Jongin wonders to himself if he was that easy to read or the guy in front of him is good at reading people, or was he staring at Junmyeon hyung that much. “I---don’t know.” He mumbles. The more he’s trying to put the words together in his head before explaining, the more he can’t explain it properly. “I like him, I think he likes me but not the way I like him, but sometimes he gives off that feeling that he’s feeling the same way and… I don’t know anymore, does that make sense to you?”
“60% yes.”
“I know right? This thing drives me nuts way more than my last exam!” He hides his face behind his hands.
“The only advice I could give to you is just ask.”
“Ask what, hyung?”
Yixing shrugs before standing up and retreating to his bedroom, leaving Jongin clueless.
Ask what?
--
A few days after the semester ends, Jongin finds himself inside the Dean's office. The Dean isn’t there, only the Secretary, who hands him an envelope. He opens it, and inside is an acceptance letter saying Congratulations and the words College of Veterinary Medicine as the header.
“Please accomplish the two separate papers in the envelope and bring it their Office as soon as possible in order for them to officially register you. Looks like you’ll grow old in here instead of out there.” Jongin laughs at the joke. He finished his first two years and there’s an additional four.
“Please send the Dean my thanks,” He bows before leaving the office on a high note.
Finally.
--
When Jongin reaches home, he usually expects no one at home, so when he sees Junmyeon sitting at the sofa, he internally panics. He clears his throat, causing the other to turn his attention to him.
“Hyung!” he greets nervously. “So rare for you to be here at this hour!” Well, so much for small talk.
“For a change.”
Silence takes over, which makes the aura even more uneasy.
There’s only the two of them in the house, and he’s taking his chances. He suddenly remembers Yixing’s advice. Just ask. If he fails, he needs to accept it like the sore loser that he is. Either way, good game, well played..right?
He reaches for his acceptance letter and shows it to Junmyeon. His roommate instantly smiles and hugs Jongin tightly. He hugs back just as tight.
“I’m so proud!” His roommate is at a loss for words.
“I’ve got the best support.” Jongin breathes, his heart thumping loudly. “Thank you hyung. Anyways can I ask you something?”
The two breaks free of their embrace, staring into each other’s eyes. Jongin’s not sure if he’s blushing any redder or anything, “Um, can you be my support forever?” He also realizes that his brain to mouth filter isn’t working. “I mean---”
“Only if you’ll be my adc.” A bright shade of crimson decorates Junmyeon’s cheeks. He brings his hand up to pinch Jongin’s cheeks.
notes:
Hi, I kept the jargons as minimal as possible. /gets shot
adc - stands for attack damage carry. This character is usually someone who is long-ranged (e.g. archer), one with the highest pure attack damage, and is paired with a support usually in the early part of the game.
5v5 - shortcut for 5 vs 5.
ggwp - aka good game well played.
Twitch - much like YouTube, but more on gameplay videos.