Homeless ➹ 2jae [✓]

- 08 -

Knock knock knock.

"Knock knock, bitch."

Jackson and Mark snickered at the younger's quiet greeting as he earned a slap to the arm. Patiently, they waited until the door to the overpopulated dorm room opened, chuckling to themselves at how awkward the air felt.

Though they were expecting either Jaebum or Jinyoung to open the door, inside, the youngest of the group was biting his lip, wondering if he should take the risk. He didn't want to keep whoever was waiting waiting, but he didn't want it to be a member of the school board; He was scared of being caught.

Though he'd been living pretty normally, the thought always hung around in his head that he would be found by somebody and punished. Or – worse – that Jinyoung would get in trouble for sneaking him in the university in the first place. The whole complication always left him with a subtle anxiety, but he let it go when he asked who was at the door, and was answered, "It's Jackson!"

"And Mark!"

"Shut up, they don't care," followed by another fit of quiet laughter, given that it was quite late. Instantly, Youngjae's chest and shoulders felt lighter, and he opened the door to see the two boys with goofy smiles on their faces.

"Yahh, I care about Mark," he quietly chuckled, watching Jackson receive a mocking face. "Uh..." he began, switching between which foot to put his weight on, "Jaebum and Jinyoung aren't here yet... Jinyoung has a study group, I think... But Jaebum should be back soon. He said he was going to get food."

"Damn, that guy's always by himself!" Jackson remarked, the comment earning Youngjae's attention. "Why didn't he take you with him?" Youngjae's head snapped up at his senior, and he looked at him with wide and baffled eyes.

"W-why should he?" Youngjae asked, a breathy giggle passing his lips. "He said he'd bring some back for me, it's okay..."

"Really? He never brings us food," Mark pouted, Jackson reaching his arm around the smaller's shoulders in a sarcastically sincere manner.

"Wait, why are you still standing there? You can come in." Youngjae moved out of the way to let the two boys walk inside. Just as they all got settled inside the room, and the door had closed, it flew open again with a loud thud against the wall. Enter Jaebum; The boy with a sharp-looking piece of fabric hanging from the side of his jeans and take-out in his hand.

"Niiiiice scarf!" left Jackson's mouth, sounding more snarky than it was meant to, making the others laugh. Even Youngjae, who was now more hesitant around Jaebum than before, allowed himself to let out a silent laugh.

"Thank you, thank you," Jaebum replied, purposely using the same tone. He closed the door and walked over to his bed, snaking himself behind Youngjae to put his things where they belonged. "Oh, Youngjae, do you like udon?" No.

"Ah- yeah," he smiled, being handed a few different containers. One contained noodles, another for the broth, and a third for the vegetables that would go in with the two other things if they had a bowl to combine them all in. "Uh... Get some noodles and dip them in the broth when you eat them," Jaebum instructed, looking at the Younger's face that indicated he had no idea what to do with the food.

"Thank you," he replied, pulling up one of their little tables to put the food on. He opened all of the containers and snapped apart the wooden chopsticks he'd received, reluctantly eating the food he was given. Youngjae was more of a soba person; Something about the texture of udon left a nasty impression on his tongue. It felt too slimy for him. It was his own fault, though, that he didn't tell Jaebum what he liked and didn't like; Only that he had no allergies.

"How the hell do you have money for all of this food?" Jackson asked, sounding like a concerned parent. He stood up to snatch the menu, eyes wide when he opened it. "This place is expensive!"

"Well, I had some money, so I figured I'd use it!" Jaebum snapped back, quickly taking the menu from Jackson's fingers, the shorter one stepping back. Meanwhile, Youngjae was slurping his noodles one at a time, cringing a little at the feeling it left in his mouth. "Youngjae, you okay?" Jaebum had noticed his face, concerned that he felt sick, not knowing what the reason was.

"Yeah, yeah," confirmed the younger, holding a noodle in the side of his cheek, dreading the moment that it would snake down his throat.

"What happened, does that taste bad?" he asked, sitting on the bed next to Youngjae. Jackson, more than anybody, noticed that Jaebum was frantic, speaking quickly and without filter. Concern ran through his mind – minute, but very noticeable. He knew Jaebum, better than anybody else in the entire university, and a silent alarm rang in his head whenever the stylistically dark boy was even a little bit irritated with something.

"Jaebum, why does it look like you're gonna stab the poor guy with his chopsticks?" he asked in a joking tone to calm the atmosphere. Jaebum's hair was in his face when he turned to Jackson, anger clearly shown through the look in his eyes.

"Some fucker tried to mug me on the way back here, so I got angry and kicked his ass before he ran away with his little purple-haired turnip buddy." He huffed before reaching behind him to open the curry chicken rice he'd ordered for himself, eating the first few bites while Youngjae played with his food. "Cocky piece of shit," he muttered, angrily chewing through chunks of carrot and potato.

While Mark laughed to himself, Jackson scolded him, saying, "Yahh, what'd you do to him?"

"I told you, I kicked his ass. He came up behind me to twist my arm, but I grabbed his first and shoved my foot where his back pockets were. I didn't have to do anything else before he walked off and took his friend with him."

"Oh my god," Jackson remarked, rubbing his forehead. Mark didn't get a chance to say anything; He was too caught up in trying to hide his reddening face as he laughed at the whole situation.

"Mark, it really isn't funny!" Jaebum yelled, laughing with him.

"No, no, I'm–" he began, choking on his laughter, "I'm just trying to imagine you with... With the food in one hand, and your leg in the air just kicking this random-ass guy..." He could hardly finish, laughing in between every sentence. "And him just walking off?" Once again, they were all in a fit of laughter; All except for Youngjae, who wanted to laugh, but he was too caught up in regret that he didn't tell Jaebum that he really hated udon.

"God, Mark, you're fucking ridiculous," Jackson remarked, grabbing onto the other's hair, receiving a small giggle in return. Soon, they'd all regained their regular breathing patterns, and had returned to the quiet that was there previously.

"Seriously, Youngjae, are you okay?" Jaebum asked, looking at the boy who was leaning against the wall with his legs hanging off the bed. He nodded, glaring at the udon that was staring right back at him. Jaebum looked at his own food, holding a piece of chicken in his mouth, and pushed it to the side of his cheek. "Do you want this instead?"

"What? No, no, that's your food."

"Youngjae, I'll eat the udon if you don't like it," he suggested with raised eyebrows. "Here." The younger was handed the food that had previously belonged to Jaebum, taking the chopsticks he'd already been using, and began to eat. Jaebum started to eat the soba, stuffing his mouth until he couldn't talk.

"Thank you," he said, holding back a small grin.

After they finished eating, Jackson and Mark went back to their rooms so they would make it back in time for curfew, and left Jaebum and Youngjae by themselves. They didn't mind, though. Maybe it was awkward, but they felt good around each other. Before Jinyoung returned, at least.

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a/n: hey! i'm so sorry for the late update T-T i hope you enjoyed this chapter, though!