Homeless ➹ 2jae [✓]

- 05 -

Jinyoung was out of the room again, but this time, Youngjae was alone, as Jaebum had classes to go to. The strange thing about his schedule was that he had a lot less class time then Jinyoung did. The bulk, for him, would come during the second semester.

Reaching the end of the same book he'd been reading the previous day and night, Youngjae closed it, setting it down right next to him. He sat there, staring at the wall, reminiscing on the contents of the book. He always liked to do that. He didn't think it was fair to just read something and think nothing of it afterwards. He liked to remember it, so it would stick with him longer.

After a few minutes, he yawned, despite it being only the middle of the day. Being cooped up in a dorm room all day, even though he could go out and do whatever he wanted, got boring after a while. He'd gone through the book he brought, and the one Jinyoung was reading while they traveled to Seoul; He didn't want to read the textbook without him.

Looking around the room, trying to find something, he looked to Jaebum's bags. He thought, maybe Jaebum had a book. He didn't want to go through his stuff, though. That was too far. If he didn't like when people did it to him, he shouldn't do it to others, right?

After thinking a bit longer, he didn't think it would be particularly terrible. Maybe he didn't care if people did it to him. He had nothing to hide, anyway. Besides, it was only a book he was looking for; Something to sooth his literary necessities. It wasn't like he'd pay any attention to the rest. He didn't think Jaebum would mind, and, as long as he didn't find something like condoms, he would be fine.

Youngjae looked at the clock, seeing that it was nearly 20 minutes before Jaebum would return, and probably another 23 for Jinyoung. Slowly stepping off the bed, he made his way over to the black duffel bag that had been sitting, unopened, since Jaebum arrived.

"Just a book, Youngjae... You only want a book..." he murmured to himself, unzipping the bag. Inside, he found a bag of toiletries and a bottle of pills, putting them on the side. As he continued digging around, much to his surprise, he did find a book. It was an old comic with yellowing pages, still in surprisingly good condition.

Pleased with his find, Youngjae picked up the book to begin reading it, discovering a plastic bag underneath. The bag drew him closer, as if it was calling for him to open it up. He thought he shouldn't have been doing this, but his curiosity got the better of him.

The plastic bag contained a thick stack of polaroids. There wasn't any possibility that he could look at all of them. He didn't have any intention of looking through them at all, but he saw the first few. The one on top was of a man and a woman next to a burning wood fire, cuddling up with each other. Sliding that one underneath, Youngjae saw the second one was the same man and woman, with a baby this time. He furrowed his brows, flipping to the next. The third, and final, photo he saw was of a child, aged about 14, with the same woman in the rest of the pictures, sitting at a small table.

Something about the photos felt sketchy to Youngjae, and he became uneasy at the thought that he could have been holding onto something that Jaebum didn't want anyone to see. But what was it? Hiding it under a book – a place so clever, where no one would look – surely, he didn't intend for anyone to find it. Youngjae's hands started shaking, and he scrambled to put the photos back in the bag the way they were. He put the photos back, placed the book on top of them, and put back the toiletries with the pills, as close to exactly like they were as he could get. He didn't want Jaebum to find out about this. He should have gone with his instinct.

-:-:-:-

Later that day, when the other two were back in the dorm, Youngjae decided to take a shower. He felt icky from not showering for a few days, and wanted to wash himself off. He brought a towel and some clean clothes in with him, borrowing Jinyoung's shampoo until he could buy some for himself.

Once again, he locked the door, dropping his clothes on the toilet seat, taking off the worn ones. After adjusting the water to be on the hotter side, he stepped in, enjoying the sensation of the water washing over his back. While he stood in there for the first few minutes, letting the steam rise, he saw a shampoo bottle sitting on the corner of the tub; One that he didn't recognize.

Without thinking of it, he picked it up, and read the label as it was soaked by water. On the back of the bottle, IM JAEBUM was written out in big letters that covered most of the information on the back. Youngjae smiled a little, amused by the ownership his new roommate seemed to have over his things. It made him regret looking at the photos in Jaebum's bag, more so than before, but he brushed it off. He wouldn't do it again, anyway.

Youngjae's curiosity, however, bested him again, and he opened the cap to see what it smelled like. Stepping away from the shower head, so water wouldn't get into it, he put his nose to the bottle and sniffed the contents inside. While he couldn't give the scent a name himself, he recognized a vanilla-like odor. He thought it seemed pretty feminine for a guy of Jaebum's looks.

Scolding himself in his head for what he'd just done, Youngjae scrambled to put the bottle back, exactly like it was, and grabbed Jinyoung's shampoo to squeeze into his hand and wash his brown hair with. Massaging the top of his head, evenly spreading out the suds, he tightened his eyes to make sure he didn't get any shampoo in them. When he was younger, he did that a lot, and he never was able to break the habit. Even then, at 18 and staying in his friend's college dorm, the soap managed to fall into his eyes, leaving him to be in a silent pain. He chuckled a little, furiously scrubbing his eyes, just before he exited the shower and put his clothes back on.

When he left the room, he put his clothes back into his bags, hair still dripping from the shower. "Youngjae, you never dry yourself right, do you?" Jinyoung laughed, attacking his friend from behind with his towel to dry his hair. When Youngjae turned around, he added, "What happened to your eyes?"

"Shampoo, you idiot, what else?" They both laughed a little before Youngjae climbed to the back of the bed, Jinyoung following behind. Youngjae felt more comfortable sleeping against a wall, and Jinyoung closing the other side was just an added bonus. "Goodnight," he said quietly, pressing his head against Jinyoung's back.

"'Night." Both of them closed their eyes, before Jinyoung asked, "Jaebum, can you turn the light off soon?" in a slightly annoyed voice.

"Ah- Yeah, yeah, I'm done. Sorry. Goodnight." Even with his eyes closed, Youngjae listened to everything before he fell asleep. The silence of the dorm allowed him to hear Jaebum's sheets ruffling, even with the sound of his and Jinyoung's breathing being the loudest sound to him.

-:-:-:-

a/n: loll sorry this chapter's kinda boring, but it's important!!

next one is more exciting haha

anyway, thank you for reading my story :) make sure to keep voting, too, it means a lot

♡