NCT Oneshots {ot23} | open

Sunshine: JaeWoo {Request}

▹request acc: a few of you requested jaewoo so here you are :D
▹word count: 1516
▹warnings: n/a

ˑ༄ؘ ۪۪۫۫ ▹❀◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

Jaehyun fights to keep his eyes open, slouched over the desk and mindlessly clicking answers on the quiz he's doing. It's for his least favourite class and due in ten minutes. At least it's not worth any marks, only formative, but his breath still hitches a little at the stark reminder that he knows next to none of the answers.

Oh well. A problem for future Jaehyun.

Present Jaehyun is too tired to even reach into his fraying bag for his notes. He submits the quiz, then doesn't move. He takes a short breath, but it does little to clear the cotton wool from his head. He's been camping in the corner of the library for the past four hours and, while he's survived much longer stints, the chatter of other students surrounds him like an entire swarm of flies he can't escape from. His head droops, then he blinks and sits up with a jolt when someone shrieks with laughter a few desks away. He lays his head down on the desk again, giving up.

He wants to give up every day. Dropping out of university sounds like the dream, not that he knows what else he'd do with his life. He's only here because his family expected it of him, his teachers too, because he got perfect grades in school and was always destined to thrive in a shitty education system.

He's anything but thriving, rather beyond exhausted of deadlines and exams and stupid quizzes that don't even help because he simply stopped trying. He laughed when he failed an exam last week.

The noise picks up when the clock turns the hour and a wave of students get up to rush to their class and a fresh wave takes their places, clattering keyboards and getting their own laptops out while snacking and talking and laughing. Jaehyun hates hearing other people laugh these days. The quiet study areas are upstairs, but he can't move. It takes the last of his energy to untangle his earphones and crank up the volume of the first angsty playlist he finds; the same one he's had on repeat for the past two weeks. The beat pulses through his head and he cups his hands over his ears, leans forward and breathes. He lets his head droop this time. He lets other people talk around him. He lets the world continue while he just sits alone, mind gradually drifting away from reality but not quite to sleep.

Exams. They're coming up soon. The weather is getting warm, but he's not feeling any warmer, still frozen from the shock of whatever the last few weeks have been. He needs a shower. He wants some chocolate. Some fruit tea. Anything to sweeten the bitterness he has towards his professors that set too much work and his classmates who excel with apparent ease.

His mind is stuffed full, near bursting point, and something cold drips down his cheek. He tastes salt a few seconds later and presses his hands harder over his ears. It jostles his earphones and he can't quite hear the music in his left ear anymore, but he doesn't dare lift his head.

He panics now. He feels pathetic, alone, stressed beyond fixing.

A ping startles his from his thoughts, and he releases a hand to read the message.

It's his boyfriend, Jungwoo, and he pauses the song and brings his other hand down to hold his phone.

Hey baby are you awake? I'm across the library ;D

thought we could grab some food together ♥

Jaehyun wipes his cheek as subtly as possible, without lifting his head, and finally smiles as he replies.