Tastebuds (And Photos of You)

- one

Seokmin had a plan; a good one actually.

- Live with his parents during his first year of college (reduced stress about food, bills, clean living area, etc.)

- Keep his part-time job at Vanilla Cafe (he was only in it for the free coffee at this point.) Focus on classes as much as he could in his free time (along with trying not to die.)

- Text and call Mingyu and Wonwoo whenever they were all free, and have monthly get-togethers (his two best friends had taken the opportunity to go to a different university together, and rent an apartment. Seokmin cried when they told him because he was so proud.)

That was it! That's all he had to do! As long as nothing came in the way of his studies, Seokmin expected that his first year of college would go smoothly. He expected to be well-fed, well-rested, and clean, just like high school. He didn't expect anything to rile him up this year.

He expected to be fine.

What he did not expect, was a letter in the mail from a Mr. Kwon Soonyoung, introducing himself as the teacher one of Seokmin's classes that was not required for his major: Your Future 101.

He also did not expect the bite of green peppers to flourish on his tongue as he read the name:

Kwon Soonyoung.

~

Seokmin was frustrated. First of all, he was angry with himself for filling out that optional survey the university had emailed him. This was how Seokmin interpreted it:

Have you met your soulmate? Yes __ No __

Are you a lonely hermit? Yes __ No __

Do you expect to die alone? Yes __ No __

Okay, so maybe it wasn't exactly like that, but that's how it made Seokmin feel. And now, he was sitting on the edge of his bed at ass o'clock in the morning, thinking about his soulmate, and the way Mr. Kwon Soonyoung had smiled at him when he introduced himself, and how Seokmin's stomach tried to jump into his throat, only to be stopped by the overwhelming taste of an entire spice rack.

Seokmin literally wanted to vomit in frustration. Not just because of his new teacher, or school, but because of life in general. He was just mad at himself. He was upset with the apprehensiveness he felt whenever he thought of his soulmate, and how he had developed a numbness to bell peppers, and didn't even question the nausea he felt every Wednesday at 9:15pm. He was frustrated with the "rules" he had to follow to successfully find his soulmate, and he was so beyond pissed that his school required him to take a class called "Your Future 101".

He knew he was doing a shitty job at being a soulmate, and he knew that his soulmate probably hated his guts because all they ever tasted was bile and bananas, but he didn't need a class to remind him. Then again, he didn't mind seeing Mr. Kwon Soonyoung's squishy cheeks and wrinkled khakis three times a week.

(Mingyu would later tell Seokmin that he was "massively fucked".)

~