For Jaemin, studying biochemistry at SeoulTech was something that just made sense.
Seoul National University of Science and Technology was a big name, and Jaemin was proud to receive his acceptance letter when it arrived in the post. It meant that all of the blood, sweat and tears he'd put in had really paid off. For some reason, studying had always been a huge driving force in Jaemin's life, with those perfect scores as proof of his hard work. If Jeno and soccer was the perfect ship, Jaemin and studying was a close second.
(Of course, nobody shipped Jeno and soccer anymore. Noren was the new thing - and Donghyuck liked to take credit for the ship name.)
The great thing about SeoulTech was that every single person there was a huge nerd. It was a comforting environment for someone like Jaemin, who used his biochem textbooks as a coping mechanism sometimes.
"Goodness me," said Taeyong as he walked through the campus with the Jae Brothers - one brother on either side. "What is this - Nerds R Us?"
They were helping Jaemin move into his new dorm that day, though the youngest of the trio had insisted multiple times that he could do it by himself. Both Taeyong and Jaehyun had refused to allow this to happen, and had firmly told him they would accompany him on his first day to help carry his minimal belongings from the car up to the dormitory. Jaemin only had one large suitcase and two cardboard boxes, which contained an unhealthy number of textbooks that he had purchased over the holiday.
"What Taeyong means to say," Jaehyun amended jokingly, "is well done on getting into a good school, Mini Jae." He would have patted his younger brother on the back, only his hands were full with all of Jaemin's textbooks. "But, yeah, there are plenty of nerds to go around, Yong. Take your pick."
"Hm..." Taeyong pretended to deliberate over the next few students they passed, before a dark-haired boy in a purple sweater crossed the path in front of them and headed off in another direction. "Actually, that guy was pretty cute," he remarked.
"Watch your words," Jaehyun warned, with a teasing look in his eyes.
"He's too young for you, hyung," Jaemin piped up, rolling his eyes at the pair of them.
"I'm pretty sure Taeyong has a thing for younger guys."
Since he didn't have a free hand to give his boyfriend a good slap, Taeyong outstretched a leg to kick Jaehyun instead. "Shut up! I'm not even that much older than you," he insisted.
There was only a year or two between them, but Jaehyun liked to pull the age card at any given opportunity and tease Taeyong to no end. Taeyong had gone back a year in high school, and had ended up in the same year of university as Jaehyun, which is how they'd met - on the same course in marketing. Now that they'd both graduated, they were moving into their very own apartment together, near the office they'd managed to score the same internship at. Apparently, it was nothing but good luck for the pair of them since they could stay together in Seoul for at least another year.
(In the back of Jaehyun's mind, he was wary of the fact that Taeyong could pull the hyung card in retaliation to the teasing and tell him what to do. But Taeyong hadn't thought of that yet.)
"Isn't it this building?" Jaehyun asked, and they all came to a halt in front of one of the on-campus halls of residence.
"Yeah, I think so," Jaemin answered. He watched a few students come and go through the doors of the building, picturing himself in their position as soon as he'd settled in.
"Shall we go up then?" Taeyong spoke up gently, offering Jaemin a smile of encouragement. Jaemin nodded and they headed up to the dorm, and Taeyong managed to elbow Jaehyun in the ribs before they got there.
The dorm number was 18 and it was a small but spacious room with two single beds and an empty desk at the end of each. There was one window which let the midday sunlight flood into every corner, and no other doors since the dormitory didn't have an ensuite. With Jaehyun moving out at the same time, Jaemin's accommodation budget hadn't exactly been too flexible, and so he would spend first year at least sharing a bathroom with whoever else was on the same floor.
"This is nice," Taeyong said positively. He put down the stuff he was carrying and paused to cast his eyes around the room.
"What Taeyong-hyung means to say," Jaemin remarked jokingly to Jaehyun, in the same tone his older brother had used earlier, "is that he prefers Renjun's dorm."
"Hey, I never said that," Taeyong argued. "Renjun might have the benefit of extra privacy... and a double bed, but university is all about making friends. I'm sure you'll love your roommate once you get to know him."
Speaking of his new roommate, nobody else seemed to have arrived yet as the room was almost empty. Jaemin glanced between the two single beds, spoiled for choice, ultimately deciding on the one to the right side of the room. Taeyong and Jaehyun sorted out his bedding, while Jaemin organised his textbooks in the drawers underneath the desk, and all of his blue jeans and white t-shirts were arranged in the closet. His hoodie collection ended up going in one of the drawers, though it wasn't an extensive collection by any means as he'd only brought a few with him: a pale blue sweatshirt, another in baby pink, one with black and white stripes, and finally the infamous white hoodie.
Jaemin figured that he would mostly be studying hard in his dorm or in the library, so there wasn't really a need to bring any flashy clothes with him.
"Daehwi's probably back at school already, right?" Taeyong remarked out of nowhere. He smoothed out a crease in the beige sheets and took a step back to look at the bed. It looked a little empty without any extra blankets or pillows, or plushies of cartoon characters on it.
"Hm?" Jaemin closed the closet doors and turned around, shrugging his shoulders. "Oh, yeah, I guess so."
Taeyong tried to hide the confusion that was evident on his face. "Right," he said. "It's just that I thought he would've wanted to come today, that's all..."
Jaehyun placed a hand on Taeyong's shoulder and shook his head. Taeyong threw him a questioning look, but Jaehyun's brief smile just said, I'll explain later. So Taeyong dropped the subject.
"You hungry?" Jaehyun tried his best to change the conversation topic and lighten the mood, but it was difficult when Jaemin was so unusually quiet.
Jaemin just shrugged. "Yeah, kinda."
"We can run down to the cafeteria and pick up some food," Taeyong suggested. "We'll leave you to settle in. Come on, babe."
He grabbed Jaehyun's hand and dragged him out of the dorm room, closing the door behind them. Jaemin was left alone with his thoughts, so he kicked off his sneakers and tried out the bed.
It was comfortable, but something about the mattress wasn't quite the same as the one he had at home. The room, though not vastly different from his own, felt empty and bare in comparison. When packing, he hadn't thought he would need his poster of all the planets in the Milkyway, or his periodic table. Or that he would miss them this much. Of course, he had smaller copies of the periodic table (and he had almost all of it memorised anyway) but it wasn't the same.
Though, it wasn't about the periodic table, so much as it was about the change. The newness of the place was overwhelming, in its white walls and dark floors and cotton sheets.
Jaemin suddenly wished he could go back to last summer.
You have (1) new message(s).
His phone screen lit up with the notification and he swiped down to read some of it.
Hwi
hyung, did you settle in ok? i know we haven't really talked much lately but i miss ...
Jaemin sighed and swiped the message across the screen to delete the notification. It wasn't that they were in the middle of a fight or anything. Things with Daehwi were... fine. Just fine. They just hadn't spoken in a while, that's all. And that was fine too. Jaemin had a lot on his plate right now.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," Jaemin called. "Did you get me coffee?"
The door opened and a boy about his age poked his head into the room. Caught by surprise, Jaemin got to his feet and waited for the boy to come inside, pulling a navy blue suitcase behind him. They stood there awkwardly until Jaemin remembered to bow and greet him properly.
"Uh... hi," he said. "Sorry, I thought you were my brother. Um, I'm Jaemin. Na Jaemin. Nice to meet you."
The boy had a studious appearance, wearing dark jeans with a collared shirt and a sweater. His hair was cut in a neat, low maintenance style and it was black - as thought it had never touched bleach. He bowed in return and smiled. "Nice to meet you," he replied. "I'm Kim Yonghee. Architectural Engineering."
Jaemin edged towards him and shook his hand. "Oh, I'm a Biochem major."
"Cool," said Yonghee with another smile. He crossed the room to take the bed on the left side and started to unpack. "Are you from Seoul?"
"Yeah."
"Ah, same." Yonghee pulled out his engineering textbooks first, which filled Jaemin with a sense of relief. His roommate seemed to be just as academic as he was.
You have (2) missed calls from Hwi.
You have (1) new message(s).
Jaemin glanced down at his phone.
Hwi
mr oh nearly caught me texting haha, hope everythings okay and your roommate is ...
"Hey, should we just speak casually?" Yonghee asked, breaking Jaemin out of his thoughts. "Since we're the same age, and all."
"Yeah, sure," Jaemin said with a nod.
It wasn't until Yonghee was completely unpacked that Taeyong and Jaehyun came back with food. They brought back a black iced coffee for Jaemin (with an extra shot, just the way he liked it) and a whole collection of vending machine snacks to leave with him. Jaemin made the rounds introducing everyone, though when it came to Taeyong he wasn't sure exactly what to call him.
"This is my brother Jaehyun," Jaemin said, after introducing Yonghee as his roommate, "and... his boyfriend Taeyong." He watched the expression on Yonghee's face carefully, but Yonghee didn't seem at all phased.
"Nice to meet you both," he said. "My step-dad dropped me off just now, but he couldn't stick around to meet anyone."
"What does he do?" Jaehyun asked.
"He's an electrician," Yonghee told him, and they got into a whole conversation about how good electricians are in short supply, and how Jaehyun considered quitting school and becoming a car mechanic a few years ago.
Taeyong put the bag of snacks at the bottom of Jaemin's bed and sat next to him on the mattress. "Your roommate seems nice," he whispered with an encouraging smile.
"Yeah," Jaemin agreed.
Taeyong studied the younger boy, trying not to let his concern show. The pink was faded in Jaemin's hair with his dark roots showing through, and he didn't seem quite as happy as he used to. Maybe that was just Taeyong's observation, though. Maybe Jaemin was just nervous about starting university.
"Well, we're going to head off soon," Taeyong said, "but don't forget dinner on Friday! I can't wait for you to see the apartment when it's all finished."
Jaemin nodded. "I won't forget," he promised. "As long as it's you cooking, and not Jaehyun-hyung."
Taeyong laughed at that and patted Jaemin's arm. "It's definitely me," he said. He paused, meeting Jaemin's eyes with sincerity. "You will call me, won't you? If you need anything. I know Jaehyun's not always the easiest person to talk to when you're upset."
"I'm not about to get upset, hyung," Jaemin told him with a chuckle.
"I know, I know," said Taeyong. "But you know what I mean, right? He's such a Fix-It person, when all he needs to do is listen."
"Yeah, you're right."
Later that night, when Jaemin was lying awake in his new dorm room, he suddenly thought about what Taeyong had said to him. Yonghee was typing away at his laptop, and the glow of the screen cast shadows across the rest of the room.
You will call me, won't you? If you need anything... when you're upset...
Jaemin swallowed the lump in his throat. Like he'd said, he wasn't about to get upset. But everything around him felt so foreign, so strange. It would take some getting used to, at least.
You have (2) new message(s).
He pulled out his phone to scroll through the notifications and skim through his group chat with the guys.
dream team (72 new)
hyuck
Ok but I have this
bitch of a roommate
jun
how sad for you
jeno
I haven't even met my
roommate yet
jeno
renjunnnnnn
jeno
i miss u
hyuck
go flirt somewhere else
Jaemin smiled at his friends, but clicked off the chat and checked his other messages. There was another text from Daehwi, and one from Taeyong.
Yongie-hyung
forgot to mention, feel free to invite daehwi to dinner on friday!! :)
Hwi
let me know when you're free to call :(
Jaemin stared at the message. There was a weird feeling in his stomach. He quickly typed a response to his sort-of boyfriend before going to sleep.
To, Hwi:
taeyong-hyung wants to know if you can make dinner on friday? i'll call you after you finish class tomorrow.
Heaving an empty sort of sigh, Jaemin rolled over and tried his best to fall asleep.
__________________
ok so i know its been ages
but ridin inspired me to get
a move on with this book bc
i actually love it (???)
there will be a jeno chapter
and then each chapter will have
a bit of everyone's story to keep
all the plot lines going :)
predictions for the rest of the book?
love y'all, stay safe, have a nice day xx