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y/n scurried out of her dorm room, shoving her dirty laundry between her arms before quietly closing the door after her with her foot.
sleepily, she shuffled down the dormitory hallway to the direction of the communal laundry room. her used clothes safely tucked between her arms, she padded down the stairs and made a swift turn around a corner.
she ignored the laminated labels for each laundry room and instead headed directly for the one at the very back of the cramped hall.
any other school would have normally closed most of their public facilities past curfew, but since not all universities were like the one she was currently attending, they wouldn't always have one laundry room available even at the dead of the night.
she was never a big fan of the line for the laundry room that stretched across the dorm circle during the weekdays. she never liked the hassle, and the most logical solution for this as a busy college student would be to reuse her clothes more than once. however, she wasn't quite fond of that idea either.
so instead, she found herself making a routine out of waking up at three in the morning every friday to use the only available laundry room ─ laundry room 9.
the closer she got to the back, the louder the sound of what seemed to be whirring machinery became. she paused, slowly shaken awake by the fact that the washing machine was already on.
curiously, she walked inside and glanced around the room.
there was nothing new about the clothing lines criss-crossing near the ceiling. nothing new about the messy stack of hangers by the hamper. there wasn't anything significantly different about this friday morning from the last ─ except for the boy standing by the washing machine.
probably sensing her presence behind him, the boy suddenly glanced over his shoulder. he was clad in a loose white hoodie with their university logo printed in the middle, the attire baggy on his tall, lean frame. his light hair, lined with blue streaks, was a bit ruffled, almost as if he had just gotten out of bed too. he wore a pair of gray joggers and a beat-up pair of slippers.
he looked like he was a year or two older than her, she noted carefully.
just the sight of another person was enough to make her flush hysterically. shifting awkwardly by the laundry room's door frame, she positioned the clothes she bought with her to hide her obnoxious batman pajama pants from the boy's view.
the boy eyed her for a moment, probably judging her strange behavior, before speaking, "my laundry won't be out for a while. i hope you don't mind."
"s'okay," she blurted out quickly, then cleared her throat when she realized her voice came out higher than usual. "i can wait."
"suit yourself."
the conversation seemed over. the boy didn't seem to have any plans to strike up another conversation starter, and she wasn't really planning on it either.
if meeting absurdly attractive boys in the laundry room in the middle of the night was anything close to normal, then maybe she would have said something witty. but instead she spent the next few minutes staying quiet. they were only there to do their laundry, after all.
belatedly, she noticed the book carefully tucked into the pile of clean clothes next to the washing machine. he must had been reading while waiting before she arrived. now, though, the book laid untouched while they both dwelled in complete silence, his blue eyes glued on to the buzzing metal appliance while hers jumped around the room restlessly, finding refuge in anything that wasn't the stranger in front of her.
eventually, once the boy had collected all his finished laundry and dumped them inside the bag he had brought with him, he stepped down the small platform and slowly made his way out. she instinctively stepped aside and watched him leave.
he slung his bag over his shoulder and, running a hand through his messy hair, gave her a parting nod on his way out.
"cute pajamas, by the way," he commented over his shoulder, and she swore she saw his lips twist into a crooked smirk before he disappeared down the hallway.
it was almost two in the morning in laundry room 9, just like every other friday when she did her laundry. except that this time, she was burying her head between her hands to hide the angry blush creeping up her face.
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