Chapter Text
Jeongguk could tell that his first day at the co-op was the start of a whole new chapter of his life.
He had arrived just before six, as the front office was almost closing, but the student working the desk had only smiled and spent fifteen minutes past closing checking him into a double room and patiently explaining all the rules. Armed with several printouts, including his housing contract, rules for his kitchen shifts and bathroom shifts, contact information for anything he might need, and protocol for something called room bump, he made his way to the elevators. He squeezed in after a couple of really tall young men kitted out in their basketball uniforms and a couple holding plates absolutely loaded with food. Jeongguk's stomach grumbled, and he vowed to go back down into the cafeteria as soon as he had dumped his stuff in the room.
The others in the elevator got out before Jeongguk as he rode all the way to the seventh floor. The room he was assigned was empty and the curtains at the floor to ceiling window corner were thrown open. A breathtaking view of the city spread out underneath, around this building atop the hill, sunsetty colors splashed deliciously across the sky. Jeongguk placed his suitcase and duffel bag on the bed closest to the magnificent panorama and placed his armful of printouts on the desk next to it. Smiling in satisfaction, he pocketed his keys and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Downstairs, the buffet for dinner was… quite something. He had known that living in the co-op would come with food, but given the low rent, he hadn’t expected this much food. He took a plate in his hand and rubbed his abdomen. If he wasn’t careful, he would lose the definition he had worked so hard for. He had narrowly avoided the freshman fifteen, and although he was a transfer in his third year, he wouldn’t put it past the co-op food to facilitate a not-so-catchy "junior fifteen." Oh well. He piled the spaghetti and chicken wings high on his plate, promising himself more discipline when he had properly settled in. Then his eyes fell on the ice cream.
Oh man. Should he do it?
"Don’t do it," said a deep voice right behind him and Jeongguk just about threw his plate up in the air. Thanks to his reflexes, though, he was able to compose himself and fix a mildly amused look on his face before turning back to look at his advice-giver.
A stunning duo stood behind him, the shorter of them peeking out from behind the other's shoulder. The man in front had the most beautiful eyes Jeongguk had seen, and he seemed to have been the one who had just warned Jeongguk. His simple black shirt had Frank Sinatra's signature on it, styled with a necklace that was a long hemp cord with a metal saxophone pendant. It went beautifully with his linen slacks and black velvet slippers.
"Don’t," said the Sinatra fan again, slowly, brows furrowed in concern.
"Um," Jeongguk said as his hand slowly moved towards the ice cream scoop. Two sets of eyes widened dramatically. Jeongguk's hand stopped for a moment, then in a flash he had taken a scoop out of the tub and deposited it into his bowl.
The duo groaned in unison and Jeongguk laughed.
"And I thought we could be friends," the taller man whined as the shorter shook his head sadly, “Mint chocolate is a flavor to be spat out, not swallowed!"
"Well, I’ve swallowed worse,” Jeongguk said, not really understanding where that came from, or the exaggerated wink that he followed it up with, but something about the guys’ demeanor made him feel at ease. Also, if the way the two were howling in laughter was any indication, he’d made the right call.
“Alright, I’m intrigued. Actually, I’m Taehyung,” the Sinatra fan said, sticking out a hand. Jeongguk looked at it helplessly and gestured to his full hands with his eyes. Without missing a beat, Taehyung raised his hand and patted the top of his head instead. "Come sit with us," he said, turning on his heel with a flourish, leaving Jeongguk with the other man, who smiled warmly at Jeongguk, his eyes disappearing into adorable little crescents.
"I’m Jimin," he said as they made their way to the table that Taehyung was heading towards, "Which room are you in?"
"Uh, 710, I think?"
Jimin's smile widened further. "Ohmygosh, all of us live on the seventh floor too!"
"All of you?"
They had reached the table where Taehyung was chatting with two other men. The one closest to Jeongguk gasped and stood up when he saw what he was holding.
"Is that mint chocolate?!"
Taehyung facepalmed, dragging his hand down his face while sighing dramatically. "Meet Hoseok. He’s another anomaly that likes food that tastes like dental hygiene products. Hobi, this is Jeongguk, your fellow anomaly."
Hoseok grinned, a brilliant smile that almost blinded Jeongguk. "Welcome to the co-op, Jeongguk."
***
Jeongguk jogged up the stairs, huffing and puffing. He had excused himself after dinner, citing the need to unpack, while the rest of his new friends had decided to hang around downstairs and take turns playing pool. He was regretting his decision to not wait for the next empty elevator, but not too much. At least he was burning off all the noodles and ice cream. He patted his belly.
"Don’t worry, my babies, I won’t lose you,” he murmured.
Abs. He was talking to his abs. It was perfectly normal behavior, thank you very much.
He had had a great time talking to Taehyung and his friends, their little group quite diverse. Taehyung and Jimin were seniors, both studying architecture design. Hoseok was in his second year of grad school, studying physiological science. Jeongguk was quickly introduced to Namjoon, who was a grad student as well, in his first year of a PhD in art history. Jeongguk was a little taken aback when he first learned that Hoseok and Namjoon were in grad school, wondering what about the dynamics of undergrads and grad students living in the same building. They explained it was something everyone got used to relatively fast.
They also pointed out that Hoseok was by no means the oldest in the co-op, and it was evident once Jeongguk had torn his eyes away from his beautiful new friends and looked around. The co-op was a much more diverse place than he had imagined. The people in the cafeteria were of different ethnicities, spoke in a large number of tongues (Jeongguk was pretty sure he picked out snippets of Chinese, French, Spanish, Tagalog and what seemed to be a bunch of Indian languages) and were visibly anywhere between their late teens to their mid-forties.
As he turned around the corner of the staircase to the final flight, Jeongguk marveled at how lucky he was to have come to such a place. He was looking forward to the rest of his time here, to meeting all the people from different parts of the world with varied viewpoints. Jeongguk wondered if he could do a language exchange with someone here, he had been longing to learn Spanish so he could-
Jeongguk’s train of thought stopped as he threw the door open. Someone had moved his bags and his printouts to the other side of the room and had started unpacking their stuff on Jeongguk’s side of the room. That someone was rummaging about the wardrobe, hidden from view by its doors. Quickly letting out an annoyed huff, Jeongguk filled his lungs with air and strode towards the stranger, probably his new roommate, determined to give him a piece of his mind.
Before he could say a word, the stranger, probably having sensed his angry presence approaching, closed the wardrobe door and faced him.
And Jeongguk forgot what he was going to say.
Because in front of him stood- a cliché. Jeongguk’s mind was dying to formulate the word “angel” but he absolutely refused to do that to himself. Instead, he took another deep breath, ignoring the plush, perfectly formed lips set in a perfectly oval face, right beneath the most perfect nose between the most perf-
Oh my god, stop it!
Jeongguk mentally scolded himself and tried to focus on the person in front of him, looking at one raised eyebrow, perfectly arched-
Dammit!
Jeongguk cleared his throat. “Um,” he started, slightly high-pitched. He shook his head slightly and tried again. “I kept my stuff on that side when I had come in. I-I thought it was- I mean I was told that the first person who comes in gets to pick their bed.”
The angel- cliché! – frowned a bit. Jeongguk bit his lip to keep himself from screaming at how unfair it was that it didn’t make the stranger look any less good. If anything, it turned him, impossibly, hotter. Witchcraft.
“Do you mind?” the modern-day Adonis said, looking mildly apologetic but mostly indifferent, like he knew he was supposed to be sorry about what he did but didn’t really care because it was all going to work out for him anyway. “I usually sleep next to the window.”
Jeongguk’s body was screaming at him to just let the beautiful man have what he wants but Jeongguk knew how that would go. He would give in and take the other bed, resenting his roommate every day, feeling sad every time he looked at the window and thought about how it was taken away from him so easily. Jeongguk thought about all those years in high school when he was too shy to speak up for himself and avoided confrontations like the plague. It had resulted in so many missed opportunities, so many instances of people taking away things that he wanted, just because he was too nice to deny them what they asked. He had promised himself he would never allow anyone to do that to him again.
Plus, this man had touched his things and moved them without his permission. Rude. That thought gave him some courage, that he was right in wanting to have what he had claimed first.
Knowing what he was about to do, he suddenly felt really uncomfortable, like a thousand fire ants were crawling under his skin. His heartbeat sped up to the point he could feel it and his chest got tight. He breathed deeply, trying to ignore a sudden onset of dizziness, and steadied himself.
“Well, I chose that side of the room for the window too. I chose it before you were here. So, I would like to stay on that side.” Jeongguk spoke calmly but firmly, resisting the urge to add a “please” or a “if you don’t mind” because that would give his roommate an opportunity to take advantage of it.
The lines between those perfect eyebrows deepened. Jeongguk gulped drily. His roommate looked stunned. He had probably been in very few situations like this. Perhaps none.
“It couldn’t have been very long since you started unpacking,” Jeongguk continued, looking at the man’s mostly full bags on the floor, “I can help you move what you have already unloaded.”
They stood in silence for about fifteen seconds. Then the handsome man moved back behind the wardrobe door. Jeongguk frowned, and was about to say something again when he saw that his roommate had an armful of stuff he was bringing out of the wardrobe.
Then he spoke. “Thanks for the offer but it won’t take too long to move my stuff, I haven’t really unpacked much.” His tone was clear, and nowhere near as annoyed as Jeongguk expected it to sound. In fact, it was too carefully controlled to betray any feeling at all. No aggression or guilt or anything, just matter-of-fact. His face matched his voice.
Jeongguk stood uncomfortably as the man dumped his armful of clothes on the bed next to the door. He quickly lifted Jeongguk’s bags from it and moved towards the bed next to the window. Jeongguk started to protest, saying he could carry his own bags back, but the guy was too quick. In less than a minute, everything his roommate had unpacked lay in a shapeless pile on his new bed.
“Thanks,” Jeongguk blurted. He couldn’t help it, even though he wanted not to thank him for a solution to something that should not have been a problem in the first place. But he had seen the redness flushing the man’s neck and ears as he had rushed past him, moving their bags around, and felt something unexplainable, between embarrassment and regret.
The man just nodded.
Jeongguk walked to his chosen bed and started unzipping his bags. Then he paused and turned.
“I’m Jeongguk, by the way,” he said, biting his lip. It would sound too insincere right then if he followed that up with a nice to meet you, given what they had just gone through.
The man nodded. “Seokjin,” he replied. Short but not curt.
They spent the next half hour in silence, unpacking. The window grew darker.
When Jeongguk felt he had enough of his things situated, he began to get restless. He didn’t feel comfortable enough to initiate a conversation with Seokjin, who was still unpacking. He decided to go and see if his new friends were still playing pool. With a quickly muttered “See ya,” he ran out of the room without waiting to hear Seokjin’s response.
***
Jeongguk spent hours chatting with people downstairs, playing pool and foosball. He introduced himself to many new people, repeating his name endlessly so people could learn how to pronounce it properly. With the multitude of different ways people found to pronounce his name, it was beginning to sound strange to his own ears. At around eleven, a bunch of people began playing Sushi Go and Jeongguk joined with Taehyung. Jimin wanted to just watch, and Namjoon and Hoseok excused themselves for the night.
One by one, people began to leave every time a round ended. At one point, Jimin began to doze off on Taehyung’s shoulder despite the raucous whooping of the people still playing pool.
“I think I want to take this one upstairs after this round,” Taehyung said, gesturing to Jimin’s sleeping face. He was beginning to drool a little on Taehyung’s Sinatra shirt. “Want to come upstairs with us?”
Jeongguk hesitated. “Yeah, okay,” he said. To be honest, he was not really looking forward to more awkward silence in his room. He knew he would have to eventually break the ice so they could live together in peace, but he had no idea how to go about it.
Taehyung raised his eyebrow. “Is something bothering you? Did you meet your new roommate yet?”
Jeonggkuk nodded.
“What, do they, like, stink or something?” Taehyung laughed.
“No, erm,” Jeongguk looked uncomfortable enough that Taehyung was immediately intrigued, readjusting himself to face Jeongguk so quickly he almost dislodged Jimin’s head from his shoulder. Taehyung patted Jimin’s head as he grumbled sleepily, staring at Jeongguk’s face with wide, expectant eyes.
Jeongguk huffed out a laugh and told Taehyung about what went down.
“Hmm,” Taehyung looked thoughtful. “So, all we know about him is that he takes things for granted sometimes but has no real problem with doing the right thing.”
And that he looks divine, Jeongguk’s mind supplied. He had conveniently left that detail out of his narration to Taehyung.
“Are you sure he wasn’t being passive aggressive?” Taehyung asked.
Jeongguk nodded again.
Taehyung frowned. “He doesn’t sound entirely bad?” his voice went up like he wasn’t sure if he was stating his opinion or asking Jeongguk a question. “And if it is really bad, you can always go to a new room next month during bump.”
Jeongguk cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, about that. The person at the front office tried to explain the concept of “bump” to me but I didn’t really get it. I haven’t had a chance to look at the hand-out yet. How does it work, exactly?”
So Taehyung explained it to him. When you move in to the co-op for the first time, you are in a room temporarily until “bump.” You enter a bump list and are arranged in order of seniority, where seniority is basically the number of days you have stayed in the co-op. If you decide to bump with another person, both your seniorities get added and you can move to a higher position in the list than you would have been in if you were bumping by yourself. During bump, groups or individuals get called upon in order of their seniorities. Their current spots are now up for grabs, and if someone of higher seniority than you wants your room or your spot in the room, you get bumped out. Similarly, you can bump someone out of their room. Once you have participated in bump at least once, you get “tenure” in that room and don’t have to participate in bump again if you don’t want to, and no one can then bump you out.
“Jimin and I have tenure in our room, so do Joonie and Hoseok,” Taehyung explained. “And if we were in a triple we would have taken you in in a heartbeat, Jeongukkie!”
Jeongguk nodded, “No, yeah, I totally get it. Wait, does that mean that someone can potentially bump me out of my current room?”
Taehyung shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way of getting out of the roommate situation.”
Jeongguk frowned. He quite liked the room he got. Especially the window. “I actually like my room, though,” he said.
“Don’t worry, Jeongukkie, we can get you a friend with some seniority so you can keep the room and get a new roommate at the same time. Let’s make it happen!” Taehyung said and Jeongguk felt a strange mix of hope and despair at his words. “And I don’t think you should feel awkward,“ he continued, “you stood up for yourself and I’m proud of you, Jeonggukie. Just go talk to him like everything is normal. Fake it till you make it, right?”
Looking at Taehyung’s large, boxy grin made Jeongguk feel ten times lighter, and he felt himself mirroring it with his own wide smile.
“Yup!” he laughed, “Thanks Tae.”
Taehyung made a squeaky noise of delight and pinched Jeongguk’s cheek, pulling on the elastic tissue until he was satisfied. “Come on, let’s go get some rest,” he said, putting his arm around Jimin and hoisting him to his feet. Jimin curled his arms loosely around Taehyung’s shoulders and continued to keep his eyes shut as they walked to the elevators.
When they got to the seventh floor, Jeongguk bid the two goodnight and walked to his own hallway. He brushed his teeth in the common hallway bathroom before entering his room. When he opened the room, it was completely dark except for the glow of the city lights through the window. Seokjin was asleep already, dark hair covering what little of his face peeked out of his duvet. Jeongguk quietly huffed out a laugh when he made out the pattern of fishes on his duvet cover. If it amused him a little bit, it was only because he was surprised, he decided.
Tiptoeing quietly to the other side of the room, he undressed quickly and slipped into his sheets.
He had no idea how things would turn out with this whole rooming situation, but he kept turning various hypothetical post-bump scenarios in his mind. He hoped he could stay in this room, wishing at least one of his new friends had a triple so he could move in with them. He imagined a faceless new roommate, assigning all sorts of made up attributes to them, and thought about how it would play out for the rest of his stay at the co-op. He felt grateful to have met Taehyung and the others on his first day, glad that at least he already had people who he could turn to when he needed company. Their faces hovered behind his closed eyes, the memories of their smiles warming Jeongguk. Somehow, he knew they would be friends for a long time. For some reason, he also kept remembering Seokjin’s flustered look and flushed neck when he had rushed to take Jeongguk’s bags back to the bed near the window, the only time his face had not been controlled into a blank, emotionless page. Mind swirling with faces and emotions, it was a while before Jeongguk drifted off to sleep.