omona-mark (AFF)
Hwiyoung wasn't good at talking to handsome guys. Nope, not at all.
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Hwiyoung was very careful with his actions. Really. He was. He would at least like to think he was better than his roommate Dawon when it came to Very Important Stuff. He's never left the water running in the bathroom, nor has he ever forgotten to close the refrigerator door; that was a pain, both cleaning up and the spoiled food that had to go to waste, but at least Dawon was in charge of buying food supplies for a whole week and made Hwiyoung's wallet breathe a sigh of relief. So maybe he wasn't the most careful guy out there, but he was definitely more careful than Dawon,
Which could only mean that the reason why his usually fully charged laptop was teetering over the edge of 10% was Not His Fault.
He blames Dawon, of course.
Hwiyoung didn't just forget to plug it in the night before. Of course not.
Normally, this wasn't a problem. The cafe Hwiyoung frequented when he had to cram his papers or work on projects had outlets situated near every other table. His usual process involved arriving at the cafe and looking for a seat next to an outlet— if there's none available, that's no problem, his laptop should be charged at 100% anyway and wouldn't die off till a few more hours. By then, there's usually an outlet available for him already.
Sadly, today was just not Hwiyoung's day because first off, the cafe was packed full of students who were most likely cramming their last few requirements too. It was the last few weeks till Christmas break, which meant the university students pretty much lived on coffee, and Hwiyoung just barely found an empty seat. The table did not have a nearby outlet, however. In fact, every outlet in the cafe was in use by a rushing student (or a dying student, or both. It's usually both.)
Except one.
Just to put it out there, Hwiyoung was also, usually, not the type to have qualms about speaking to people. Maybe a few years back when he was still getting used to the Seoul atmosphere, but not anytime recently. The blonde guy sitting by the only unused plug was probably around his age, a year or two older judging by the books on his table. He had no laptop in sight, which was pretty rare, but it gave Hwiyoung the very obvious notion that the boy would not be using the outlet any time soon. His problem had nothing to do with the age difference, either, since he's used to having much older peers.
The thing is, said blonde guy sitting by the empty plug was undeniably handsome.
Hwiyoung wasn't good at talking to handsome guys. Nope, not at all.
Especially when the blonde guy had warm chocolatey eyes and a smile brighter than a thousand suns. It's no exaggeration, Hwiyoung has been eyeing the plug— and in turn, the Handsome Guy— enough to have seen the latter smile once his food order was served. He had smiled, bright and blinding, and enough to melt Hwiyoung right down to his knees and toes. It didn't help that Handsome Guy was bundled up in what would have been a ridiculous looking baby pink hoodie except that it looked absolutely great on him and matched with his hair in just the right way.
He was definitely the type that Hwiyoung would be Very Very Shy around.
Hwiyoung would have been perfectly fine with just staring for his seat, except the reason why he went to the cafe was to finish (read: start) his paper that was due in about 4 hours or so. His laptop did not have 4 hours to live and working in the dorms just didn't give him the same drive when it came to working in the cafe. There was only one option left. Hopefully, Handsome Guy won't mind. He should probably ask.
After a few more minutes of prepping himself up, Hwiyoung slides into the chair infront of the blond boy, making the latter look up from his book.
"Okay, look," Hwiyoung began to say, a bit too quickly. "I need to finish this paper of mine and I only have 4 hours to do it. My laptop's at 10% because of my roommate Dawon, I don't know what he did, but it's his fault. You're clearly not using the outlet, so can I please sit here? I promise I won't disturb you?"
Handsome Guy blinks once, twice, before his lips curve up to form that mindblowing smile. He could say no but Hwiyoung wouldn't care, not one bit, because being graced the smile was enough for him. Screw that philosophy paper.
Okay, no, he needed to pass.
"I've been wondering why you were staring for so long," Handsome Guy said, still smiling, and promptly making Hwiyoung want to run away because he had just been Exposed. "Turns out you were interested in the outlet and not me, but I don't mind you using it."
"I'm interested in both," Hwiyoung blurted out before he could stop himself. "If that makes a difference."
Handsome Guy's eyes widen a bit, and even Hwiyoung is surprised by the bluntness of his words. Maybe he's not so careful after all.
"I'm Taeyang. Junior Yoo Taeyang. And you are?"
"Kim Hwiyoung. Freshman," Hwiyoung replied, suddenly Extremely Nervous at talking to an upperclassman. He decides to busy himself with the plug, staying bent down a bit too long but not long enough that it was obvious. When he sits back up, Taeyang is still smiling That Smile and Hwiyoung really wished he would stop.
Taeyang nods, a quick jerk of his head that made his blonde hair bounce, before settling back to his book.
Hwiyoung is only mildly disappointed, but not as disappointed as his professor would be if he turns his paper in late, so he gets to work. He may or may not have raised his laptop screen a little bit more to prevent seeing any part of Taeyang from the corners of his eyes. He had no time for ridiculously good looking distractions. Not yet, anyway.
Time passes by quickly when you're trying to cram a 5 page reflection paper. It does for Hwiyoung, at least, because by the time he stretches his ailing back and looks around him, the cafe was nearly empty. Save for a few students with their eyes still glued onto their laptop screens, there were empty outlets all around now. Still, he was pretty sure if he had waited, he never would have finished on time. A few more clicks and the hell-sent philosophy paper was successfully emailed.
"Does that sigh of relief mean you're done?"
Truth be told he had almost, just almost forgotten about the other boy's presence.
Hwiyoung looked up to find Taeyang still sitting there, except with his books tucked away in his bag. Had he been waiting for Hwiyoung to finish? Can Hwiyoung dream of such a thing? The younger boy nods, not trusting himself to speak because Taeyang was Handsome and Hwiyoung, now without the urgency of his paper in his face and having it instead replaced by Taeyang's bright smile, was actually much more aware of it.
Taeyang smiles brighter, if that's even possible, "that's good to hear."
"Does the sun live in your face?"
Hwiyoung wanted to escape shortly after blurting those words out. Escape into a far, far away place and hope he never has to see Taeyang and his blonde hair and cute pink hoodie ever again. Except he doesn't really want that, if he was to be perfectly honest with himself. He wanted just a little bit more.
"Well," Taeyang finally replies with a laugh that makes his face even brighter, how the hell, "it's not the first time I've heard of that. I'm not named Taeyang for nothing, you know."
"Oh, good point."
"It's probably also the blonde hair, I guess."
"Good hair," Hwiyoung mumbles in return.
Taeyang grins, "Do you dorm? Can I walk you back?"
Hwiyoung blinks, once, twice, before smiling his own bright smile.
"Good idea."
