The Space Between Smiles

**The Space Between Smiles**

Eight students.

Two friend groups.

One campus.

And a past that refuses to stay buried.

Kim Seungmin believes routines are safer than people. Lee Felix hides his worries behind a smile bright enough to light up any room. Han Jisung makes everyone laugh, even when he's falling apart, while Yang Jeongin smiles because he's afraid of what people will think if he doesn't.

Across campus, Bang Chan carries everyone else's burdens without complaint. Lee Know speaks through actions instead of words. Changbin hides his own insecurities behind confidence, and Hwang Hyunjin pours every emotion he can't say into his art.

They all have one thing in common.

Every smile hides a story.

When college brings the two groups together, old wounds reopen, misunderstandings grow deeper, and feelings they never expected begin to bloom. A friendship destroyed by silence. A childhood bond left behind. Strangers who slowly become each other's safe place.

Sometimes, the hardest person to understand...

is the one you've known all along.

**A college AU featuring enemies to lovers, ex-friends to lovers, strangers to lovers, slow burn, found family, healing, angst, humor, and a whole lot of unspoken feelings.**