Chapter Text
Jisung was dead. Well, not really, but he felt like it.
His head was resting on the hard surface of the library table where he was desperately trying to remember all the dates he had to know for his upcoming test in music history. Jisung truly hated that class even though he actually was interested in learning about all the music that had been created in the past. But what his professor wanted him to learn by heart was just plain stupid and it wouldn't help him at all in making his own music.
He sighed. How long would he be able to just sit there with his head lying on the table while pretending to be thinking about the year when jazz was invented or where the first rock bands had their origins? Because if Jisung was good at something besides writing lyrics and coming up with new melodies, it was procrastinating. And who could blame him when his stupid professor made this class more boring than it would have to be.
He sighed again. Maybe he could just stay here for a little while more, maybe...
But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a cough, followed by a melodic voice.
“You're not sleeping here, are you?”, the voice asked and startled Jisung. He jolted upwards and blinked rapidly to make sure he was fully awake.
He hasn't even noticed how tired he had been before. But now that his eyes were finally focusing on his environment, he could make out where the voice had come from.
It belonged to a boy with dark hair who was probably a year or two older than him and he was standing right in front of his table. He had his arms crossed in front of his body, his head slightly cocked to the side while studying Jisung with an unreadable expression. Jisung's eyes found the catlike ones of the stranger before he studied the rest of his pretty face and tried not to gape at him because damn — he was most definitely the most beautiful human being he had ever come across. That was at least what his sleep-deprived, overdramatic ass thought at the moment. But that was beside the point because he was sure that everyone else could see how gorgeous the guy was too.
“Are you okay?”, he asked and snapped Jisung out of his thoughts. “It's late and I have to close the library. So you have to go.”
“What? How late is it?”, Jisung yelped and jumped up from his seat but started to pack up all his stuff into his bag nonetheless.
“2 a.m. in a few minutes”, the boy answered dryly, seeming a bit impatient.
Jisung cursed under his breath. He hadn't noticed how long he had been sitting there, maybe even sleeping. He couldn't really tell.
When he looked around, he could see that it was completely dark outside and that he was indeed the last visitor in the library. His cheeks reddened a little when he looked back up at the pretty boy who was still waiting for him to leave.
The look he gave him was serious so Jisung didn't waste any more time to grab his bag, quickly mutter an apology and leave the library without looking back at the boy as he was trying hard not to trip and make a fool of himself. At least more than he already had.
~
It was a Friday night and Jisung was entering a club together with his best friend.
Going out in public into those overcrowded places where everyone was grinding against each other or gulping down drinks just to forget everything around them was never something of Jisung's interest. It was quite the opposite because despite his cheerful behavior he often found himself anxious in those situations. But now he was here because his friend, Changbin, has planned on meeting his crush tonight but didn't have the guts to go to the club without Jisung.
“That's not true!”, Changbin yelled at Jisung when he brought that up, which was obviously proven wrong by the fact that Changbin had basically dragged him there, muttering something along the lines of “everyone needs moral support sometimes so shut up”.
“Oh my God, Jisung, he really is here!”, Changbin squealed when he spotted the pink-haired boy with freckles in the middle of the dance floor.
“Oh no, Binnie, what's happening to your super dark image?”, Jisung laughed and rolled his eyes. Changbin just glared at him, but when he focused back on Felix his eyes softened.
“You know that you told Hyunjin to bring him to this club, right? So, it's not really surprising that he's here… “, Jisung continued, but Changbin didn't pay any attention to him as he grew noticeably more nervous by the second.
“Changbin, how long have you known him now? 2 years? And we've been friends with him for just as long, for fuck's sake. Just go over and talk to him or dance with him or whatever”, Jisung told him.
After some more whining and talking about leaving on Changbin's part and encouraging and swaying on Jisung's, Changbin finally left into the direction where Felix was dancing.
Jisung looked around to find Hyunjin as he knew he had to be somewhere around. When he couldn't find him, he sighed and plopped down on a stool in front of the bar and propped his head onto its surface.
This was really no place for him to be. He could already feel how the number of people in the room threatened to strangle him and how the loud music hurt his eardrums. Don't get him wrong, he loved music and he should as it was his major. But he enjoyed listening to it on his own in a private space and with a decent volume.
“You have a thing for sleeping on tables in public, don't you?“, someone asked and Jisung was instantly reminded of his encounter with the beautiful man in the library last week.
Now when Jisung looked up just to see the certain man right in front of him behind the bar, his heart started to pound unreasonably faster.
“Me? What, no! I wasn't sleeping”, Jisung only mumbled the last part, but the bartender didn't seem to care about what he was saying in the first place.
“My name's Jisung by the way. Han Jisung.” The boy only raised an eyebrow at him and didn't tell Jisung his name as the other had expected.
“So, Han Jisung, do you want to drink something?”
Jisung had to suppress a shudder when he heard the other's melodic voice say his name. Jisung ignored that and ordered a coke.
“So, you work in the library and in this bar? Isn't that too much with college and everything?”, Jisung asked when the guy came back with his drink.
“It can be sometimes”, he stated but didn't elaborate on it.
“What's your major then?”, Jisung wanted to know.
“Finance.” Jisung made a face at his answer.
“Ugh, isn't that the most boring thing ever?”, Jisung asked but the boy only shrugged indifferently and sighed as if he really wanted this conversation to end soon.
“You really don't want to talk to me, do you?”
“I don't”, the guy answered, his beautiful eyes serious.
Jisung felt a pang in his chest at the boy's words but it wasn't really unexpected. Not everyone liked talking to strangers. Jisung took a few nips from his coke. He just never had luck when it came to his love life. He couldn't remember the last time he had had a real crush but everyone he had ever found attractive had turned him down, just like the barkeeper now. Jisung didn't know if it was his open personality or maybe just his looks. He was rather short and skinny and his dyed blond hair was a little messy and almost reached down to his puffy cheeks. So the biggest compliment he would get was for looking cute but no one ever called him hot or attractive or anything along the lines.
“Everything alright?”, the guy in front of him pulled Jisung out of his thoughts.
“Sure, why are you asking?”
“Because you haven't said anything in quite some time”
“Well, you didn't want me to. Right?“
“Right”, the other said and nodded as if he wanted to stress his point.
“What's your name?”, Jisung blurted out after staring at the guy for probably a good minute.
The barkeeper hesitated as if it was important information he was about to give away, but he replied after some time.
“Lee Minho.”
Jisung could barely make out his voice at this point because of the ridiculously loud music coming from the speakers, but he could capture his name. Lee Minho. It somehow fitted the reserved guy with the all dark hair and clothes in front of him.
“Well, Minho-ssi, then I won't disturb you any longer”, Jisung said after gulping down the rest of his coke and turned away from the bar to continue to look for Hyunjin. Or any of his friends really. His heart told him to go back to the bar, maybe order another drink and just talk to Minho. But Jisung knew when he had lost and Minho obviously wasn't interested in him, not in any kind of way, and he also didn't want to make the other uncomfortable. He hated when people wouldn't respect his privacy, so he followed his own advice there.
Only after looking around for a minute or two, he spotted Hyunjin at the back of the club talking animatedly with some guy Jisung hasn't seen before. He had brown hair and an angry expression on his face as far as Jisung could tell from this distance.
When he came closer, he could hear that they were arguing, but he couldn't make out why exactly they were shouting at each other at the top of their lungs in order to drown out the music. When Jisung stopped right next to Hyunjin, the other boy spared him a quick look and left to the exit.
“What was that about?”, Jisung asked frowning.
“Oh well, that's just this annoying medicine student I have to do a project with. Only because we share this one stupid class. Seungmin's really driving me crazy with his nerdy attitude”, Hyunjin ranted while making wild gestures in every direction.
“Nerdy attitude?”, Jisung scoffed. “Maybe you and your lazy ass are the problem here and not that Seungmin guy.”
“Hey, I'm not lazy! I just have different priorities and studying is not necessarily on top of that list. And he really is annoying, so don't blame me for his behavior”, Hyunjin pouted.
Jisung just chuckled at him and dragged him to the spot where Changbin and Felix were dancing close to each other. Jisung had known that Changbin had been worrying too much because Felix was obviously whipped for him, but they kept dancing around each other — both figuratively and literally — and it was quite annoying for all of their friends. Hyunjin and Jisung exchanged a knowing look and started dancing a few feet away to give them some privacy.
After dancing for maybe half an hour, Jisung decided to go back to his dorm since he had fulfilled his duty as Changbin's wingman and hadn't wanted to come here in the first place. He bid his friends goodbye and walked right towards the exit, eager to get out of the club as the cramped feeling he had tried to suppress while dancing reemerged.
But before he could slip out through the door for good, he turned his head into the direction of the bar where the pretty boy was still mixing some drinks. Jisung watched Minho for a while. It was fascinating how his face looked in the dim light. His skin was glowing, his beautiful long lashes cast subtle shadows over his cheeks and he was biting his bottom lip in concentration in a way that should have been illegal. Jisung blinked to get back to his senses. He shouldn't keep thinking about Minho and still he did, even though he didn't know him. Not at all. And now he also wouldn't get a chance to do so. Jisung sighed and left into the cold night air with a thin smile on his face.