1. I'm a Fool of Love For You

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There's an annoying tapping noise on the window, a thunk as something heavy clatters in the night against the pane and onto the pavement below their shared windowsill.

Jeonghan stirs in his sleep, still tired. It's dark apart from his blue string lights, but a faint white light is coming from across the room, from his roommate's cell phone. The dorm is quiet but Jeonghan can hear the unmistakable phrase being repeated from below, yelling heard even from his bunk bed.

There's a faint "...down your hair!" coming from the darkness outside. Jeonghan grumbles, sitting up this time to look at his roommate, who's apparently already awake.

Jeonghan rubs his eyes and yawn, picking at the crust that had already begun to form around his eyes. "What... what time is it?"

"He's doing it again." Seungkwan ignored him, rolling his eyes and turning to lay on his other side. He pointed lazily towards the window with a scowl. "It's too late for this shit."

"Again? Here we fuckin' go." Jeonghan drawled, climbing out of his bunk bed groggily and dropping to the floor. He walked to the window, wincing at how cold the floor was against his sockless feet.

Jeonghan drew the blinds with a sigh, glaring down at the sidewalk where a certain somebody has decided to stand, peering up hopefully at him.

Fuck his life, really.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair" From outside, Choi Seungcheol tosses another rock and it hits the second story window, the one with the blue lights around it.

Jeonghan opens the window, half-asleep with crust still around his eyes. "For fuck's sake, Cheol!" He yells, running a hand through his long, tangled hair. "It's four in the morning!"

Seungcheol smiles at the sight of Jeonghan, pulling his hand back again. Jeonghan can spot another rock in hand, one that he would have thrown if Jeonghan hadn't opened the window.

"Hey, pretty boy." Seungcheol swoons, his voice airy and giddy. Jeonghan scoffs, trying to swallow down the feeling of flutters in his heart after hearing such a thing.

"This is the fourth time this week... and it's Thursday!" Seungkwan yells from his bed before Jeonghan can even reply, making Seungcheol's already sly grin grow sheepish.

"Go home, Seungcheol!" Jeonghan yells back, knowing that his next-door-neighbors would snitch on him to his floor's RA... again. "You're gonna get me in trouble!" He hissed, realizing how loud him and Seungkwan had been.

Seungcheol wiggled his eyebrows up at the other boy, no doubt preparing to fire off some clever quip about getting in trouble. But before he could do that, Jeonghan flashed a quick middle finger Seungcheol's way and shut the window, drawing the blinds closed once again.

"I wish he'd stop doing that." Jeonghan yawned again, climbing back into his bed with a small grunt.

"You like it." Seungkwan's voice is quiet but there's a teasing little melody at the end of his words that makes Jeonghan whip his head around in surprise.

"Huh?" He asks, dumbfounded. Surely he'd heard his roommate wrong, right?

"The attention he gives you. You like it." Seungkwan accuses, voice light. "That fucker's been doing this since before I got here, right?" He asks. Jeonghan flushes and looks away from the window, folding his arms over his chest.

Seungkwan isn't wrong; Since Jeonghan moved into his first residence hall their freshman year, Seungcheol started this stupid chant. He'd call Jeonghan "Rapunzel", tugging playfully at his long hair when Jeonghan wasn't paying attention. It was childish and frustrating, really, and at one point Jeonghan's first-year roommate beat Seungcheol up in the dorm hallway for it.

Jeonghan never really liked his long hair. It made him feel small, feminized and girly. It didn't help that Seungcheol made a spectacle of him for the entirety of their freshman year, only leaving Jeonghan be around the beginning of their second year. Still, poking fun at something he felt so insecure about rubbed Jeonghan the wrong way, and he'd been a hostile and unforgiving bitch towards Seungcheol ever since.

So why hasn't Jeonghan cut all ties? That's what Seungkwan would like to know.

"Whatever. He's so annoying, nobody in their right mind would like that guy." Jeonghan grumbled, thankful that the dim blue lights can't illuminate his very prominent blush. He pulled the covers up to his neck, wrapping his shoulders and arms as best he could. "Especially not while I'm trying to sleep."

Seungkwan only shrugged, grinning to himself and turning back to face the wall. "Sure, Hannie." He whispered. The light from his phone disappeared after a few moments and Jeonghan was left awake, bathed in blue LED lighting.

Nobody in their right mind would like Seungcheol back. He's sure he doesn't like Seungcheol back, only frustrated by all of the stress and childish teasing he's had to endure semester after semester. But maybe he isn't in his right mind, because he can't get Seungcheol out of his head. He hears the other's voice in his ears and sees the dimly lit grin when he shuts his eyes. It's driving him crazy and not in the good way... no, in the "I don't want to like Seungcheol... but the parasites... the parasites want to like Seungcheol" kind of way.

Jeonghan should really, really get off of the Tik Tok. His inner monologue is filled with quotes from trending audios, goddammit (...and now all he can envision as he ponders his screen him is the Lisa Frank dolphins jumping out of the water to that one Zara Larsson song).

He shuts his eyes and his world is bathed in darkness as his thoughts run wild and his heart pitter-patters, as it does every night that Seungcheol is by his window.

 Maybe something about the constant teasing is endearing, but Jeonghan would rather die than admit that to anyone.

Not to Seungcheol, not to Seungkwan, not to Joshua, and not to himself.

Because fuck, Yoon Jeonghan is not in any way, shape, or form, ready to love. He'd rather kiss a raccoon on the mouth (and he doesn't think twice about the fact that Seungcheol does, in a way, resemble a raccoon. No, that was purely coincidental and not an indicator that Jeonghan is in too deep to be pulled away).

And everything he seems to think about reminds him of Seungcheol.
And he fucking hates it.

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⏰ Last updated: Sep 09 ⏰

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