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Living with Jaehwan isn’t all bad. His shouts of I’m late every morning wake up Hongbin on time for his own classes; though according to Jaehwan only freshman care about being on time. It doesn’t explain why Jaehwan wrestles with his clothes every day after rolling out of bed thirty minutes after his alarm goes off. Why he yells at his shoes to get on his feet and cries out what do I do all the way to the elevator and even to the first floor.
Jaehwan keeps the bathroom relatively clean, a result of three weeks of Hongbin replacing all his hair products with dye, vinegar and that one time he switched the hair gel with honey. Jaehwan didn’t look too bad with pink hair. He’s almost to the point of organizing the bathroom supplies and cleaning the toilet every other day. Hongbin has trained him well.
He can’t be trusted to cook anything, he’ll just burn it and call it Cajun. Hongbin isn’t a five star chef either but at least his meals are edible. Jaehwan pays for pizza deliveries and take-out enough to make up for burning half their groceries a few times. Hongbin can’t complain, Jaehwan puts more of the money for the grocery budget than he does. It’s 75 to 25 percent but the 75 is usually cookies and candy bars, college students can’t survive on that.
Watching movies with Jaehwan is fun, he doesn’t talk through them unless it’s a horror movie and he’s warning people not to go in the basement. Jaehwan doesn’t scare easy either but enjoys being scared so he’s usually disappointed after the movies are over and Hongbin is sleeping with his head on Jaehwan’s shoulder or lap.
Jaehwan’s thighs are thick and comfortable, like perfect pillows made for Hongbin’s head. He’d stared at them the first day he walked into the apartment with a flyer in his hand that stated seeking roommate who enjoys One Piece and breaking into musicals at random. The asking price had been within the budget of Hongbin’s shoe store part time job so he’d endure all the episodes of One Piece he had to for that room.
Jaehwan was a good roommate who even allowed Hongbin to take a ridiculous amount of pictures of him for his photography 101 course. He didn’t complain when most of the images were of the slope of his nose, the bow of his lips and the strong jaw he possessed Hongbin liked to stare at through the lens.
There was only one problem living with Jaehwan that Hongbin hadn’t even realized existed until two months after bringing the last of his few belongings to the apartment. Jung Taekwoon, a third year performing arts major and Jaehwan’s boyfriend that appeared like a ghost mooching off their coffee after nights of creaking bed springs and Jaehwan whining so that the neighbors filed complaints to the night security.
The same Jung Taekwoon who had tutored Hongbin in his final year of high school with an impatient (and unexpectedly high pitched) voice. Hongbin had been studying business then, a suggestion of his parents but after Taekwoon noticed his expensive camera he’d been giddy enough that he shared books filled of self developed pictures with Taekwoon. The only person besides the professor he was forced to show them to who had been privy to Hongbin’s many photo albums except for those pages with pink heart stickers over the transparent pockets.
Taekwoon didn’t remember him or he did and Hongbin had just mattered that little to him. Wonshik had told him Taekwoon was cold and smacked a red marker out of his hand as Hongbin drew another heart with H + T in the center.
What did Jaehwan have that Hongbin didn’t? That was what Hongbin aspired to find out so that maybe he could have Taekwoon. Jaehwan was a good roommate but Jaehwan was also his competition and Hongbin wasn’t known for giving up.
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“I don’t know why I’m friends with you.” Wonshik shook his head and pushed aside the stack of napkins with Taekwoon, Taekwoonie, Jung Hongbin written all over them. Finally finding a clean one he brought it up to wipe the remains of ramyun from his lips. Letting Hongbin talk on and on about his crush and room mate let him eat most of the pot.
“I like Jaehwan, he’s nice but Taekwoon… is it wrong to say someone is too good for someone?”
“When you’re talking about Jung Taekwoon, yes.”
“What would you know?” Hongbin huffs, making another heart around the H & T on his napkin. Wonshik reaches over to take the napkin, ball it up and throw it towards another table.
“I would know that over there is Jung Taekwoon with Cha Hakyeon comfortably sitting on his lap.” Hongbin turned in his seat to face the pair three tables away. He’d met Hakyeon during freshman orientation, met him a little too well and almost filed a sexual harassment claim against the other but Wonshik had rescued him. Wonshik who used to write raps all about Hakyeon’s mocha skin and how he’d like to get a taste of it. Hongbin stopped listening to them when they started going on about how Hakyeon’s cream might be better than the kind Wonshik put in his coffee. He hadn’t heard Wonshik mention Hakyeon in quite a while.
“They could just be friends.”
“I don’t kiss my friends like that.” Taekwoon should have been pushing away. Taekwoon was with Jaehwan and Jaehwan was important. Hongbin’s chest ached because his friend was being hurt not because the H in H & T stood for Hakyeon not Hongbin.
“Well maybe your friends don’t like you as much as you think.” It was a weak retort and he knew it, so one better was getting up from the table and stomping away.
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Jaehwan is hunched over the sink when Hongbin comes back to their shared apartment later that day. Hongbin watches him from the kitchen doorway, arms crossed over his chest and eyes roaming from the t-shirt stretched across Jaehwan’s back to the Chopper socks on Jaehwan’s feet. He wonders if Jaehwan has spoken to Taekwoon today, if he knows about Taekwoon and Hakyeon but Jaehwan appears as relaxed as usual. Hongbin moves off the wall ready to leave the room but stops as he hears a muttered curse.
“Shit, Bin is going to kill me.”
“Why would I kill you?” Hongbin can almost be amused at the undignified scream Jaehwan lets out. He steps closer to peer down the sink catching the glint off something metal. He leans further; Jaehwan behind him starts to slowly creep away. “Hyung, what were you doing?”
“I wasn’t using one of your necklaces to get out a ring I dropped down the drain. Not at all.”
“Hyung…”
“Not the one with the star on it.”
“Hyung!” He tackles Jaehwan down to the floor, catching flailing arms and attempting to pin them down. Jaehwan is strong but Hongbin who enjoys trips to the gym is stronger, he eventually gets the other’s arms down by pressing his wrists to the floor. It doesn’t bother Jaehwan who laughs and wriggles around like a worm in mud. His body feels good rubbing up against Hongbin’s; he knows the details of muscle under Jaehwan’s shirt having traced them with his camera while Jaehwan blushed and asked if he could put his shirt back on.
He’s never taken pictures of Taekwoon, the other wouldn’t allow it during his tutoring sessions. Hongbin has a personal collection of Jaehwan photos he’d never share with anyone else, ones where the light caught Jaehwan’s eyes just right or the jeans Jaehwan chose to wear that day hug in all the right places. Before he knows what he’s doing Hongbin leans down to press his lips to Jaehwan’s. They’re rigid against his but in a matter of seconds Jaehwan is kissing back with the same kind of over enthusiasm he throws into everything he does. Adding a little loop to a T isn’t that hard.
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Living with Jaehwan isn’t that bad. He lets Hongbin hog the covers when he’s cold even though it’s Hongbin’s own fault because he likes to sleep with the air con on. Jaehwan will even cuddle against his back to provide more heat with his body, though most times something pokes Hongbin’s butt when he does that. He doesn’t whine too much when Hongbin pretends not to notice.
He picks up the clothes that get tossed around when they haven’t been able to spend too much time together and the minute when they can pops up. Hongbin juggling classes and work while Jaehwan is preparing to graduate so doing the routine sucking up to get good recommendations for employment right out of college. He’s promised to support Hongbin so he can’t afford to be idle for too long.
It’s not even a problem that Taekwoon still comes around and Hongbin doesn’t exactly believe the story that they were never dating, just going through Taekwoon’s script for a school play. One that Taekwoon ended up getting the role of lamp for because the director couldn’t hear him even after putting his microphone at full volume.
The only downside of living with Jaehwan while dating Jaehwan is that one room is no longer being used and Jaehwan feels it needs to be filled. So Hongbin sits on the loveseat nearly pressed against Jaehwan as across from them their new room mate draws a heart around an S & J over his class schedule.