Hopelessly Naive

How to protect your squish from assholes (don't tell Luhan we cursed.)

The first thing Jongin notes as he enters the building is how starkly quiet it is. When he walks the halls of his own department, there's music and excited conversation coming from every corner. It's one of the reasons he spends a lot of time in his studio after hours, because the extra noise in the arts building is distracting to his natural flow. But he wouldn't change his major for his life. Jongin loves being surrounded by talented, creative people who get excited about the difference between chalk and graphite drawings or the quality of a picture and how it changes based on light.

But here, it's starkly quiet, almost deafeningly so. Jongin feels unease crawling up his skin. The arts building is so lively, but here it feels cold, empty. Not to mention the halls are deserted. Not a soul in sight. Perhaps most of the student are in class or labs.

Jongin can understand why Kyungsoo prefers to study away from the science and technical department.

He shakes it off and makes his way to the specific room Kyungsoo had told him and quietly steps inside. At first he stands there, shocked at the sheer size of the room. Rows and rows of tables, staggered on different levels like an auditorium leading to a sort of stage at the front while the tables wrap around the classroom in a semicircle.

Jongin has heard about these large lecture halls, but none of his own classes have ever taken place in one. It's huge. Intimidating almost. He nearly backs right out but then he hears that deep, centering voice; the familiar tone that plays on repeat in his head to keep him calm. It pulls his heart forward, moving his feet without consent.

His gaze zeros in towards the small stage at the bottom of the stadium style class and finds his little lover. He's already presenting and is full swing into his speech. Thank gods he didn't miss it. Jongin had been in full creative mode and lost track of time earlier. He was so worried that he'd miss this since it seemed important enough for the bean to actually invite him.

The attractive artist steps further into the room and slides into an empty seat at the back, covered by the concealment of the dark room. Luckily it seems that most of the student populous is correlated to the bottom half of the room, so he doesn't have to deal with curious eyes or judging stares. He prompts himself up and focuses on Kyungsoo, the other's deep honeyed voice easily capturing his attention.

The smaller man has been working on this presentation for the last three weeks. He's been stressing himself to his end. Jongin has all but had to force him to eat and sleep. Jongin's even woken a few times to find Kyungsoo going over his notes or practicing his speech in a low tone to not wake him. Perhaps he even admits to listening for a while too long before getting up and leading his lover back to bed. He just can't help the way Kyungsoo's voice tugs at his insides. But he still had to be firm and make sure Kyungsoo was taken care of. 

This is a big part of his boyfriend's grade and Jongin knows with how hard he worked on it that Kyungsoo is going to get high marks. His baby is just so brilliant.

He pays close attention, or at least he tries to. Science has never been his thing and most of the things Kyungsoo is talking about is just lost on him. He can't really force himself to understand something that even Kyungsoo had to work hard to put together and Soo is one of the smartest people he's ever met.

There is one thing however that makes him not want to look away and keeps his mind from wandering and it's Kyungsoo himself. The way he speaks, so clear and precise. He holds himself with a surprising amount of confidence and seems at ease speaking about his presentation. If Jongin didn't know any better, he'd never guess his Soo was different than most people. Not a single Kyungsoo ramble or unsure thought. No confused expressions or lost eyes shifts. No tenseness in his shoulders he always has out in public. Kyungsoo is completely in his element here and it's startling.