the time of preparation for finals has been a stretch of three weeks and jihoon is barely holding on. he had just finished his second cup of coffee in the middle of the night, with textbooks piled up on his desk and a physics worksheet on his face.

his phone suddenly rings from under the covers of his bed and he groans, standing up to reach for the gadget only to see a message on his lockscreen: 'sweetie, are you coming home for the new year?' jihoon averts his eyes to the awful pile of books and wishes he could finally come home. the year is ending in a week and he already missed celebrating christmas with his family (not like he actually enjoys the noise though) but thinking about it, his days are already planned out until finals. and the stress, it's been with him for a while now, long enough to keep him company, that the tension can be felt right away upon entering the room.

'i'm sorry, mom. I'll pass, I'll just make it up to you next time' is all he could reply with as he plays with the small ring on his finger. then, he sits back down to veer the focus on his paper. a set of numbers, strain and hooke's law are all that should matter at this time. at least that's what his mind tells him.

coming from the door is the last person he would like to be his roommate. jihoon cranes his neck to the direction, watching the new kid struggle with his luggage. what's he even doing with a huge luggage? does he live that far? the boy pushes his hair back and scans the room until he sees the person seated in front of the desk. before jihoon could turn away to face his books again, a genuine smile spreads across the boy's face. to jihoon's surprise, this new roommate has a pair of cute eyes that form crescents when he smiles.

"hello i'm kwon soonyoung!" he greets with a small wave. oh god, jihoon mutters to himself. if this is the boy he's going to be celebrating the coming year with, then he's going to suffer. jihoon, being that person who never really gets along with strangers nor becomes a friend easily, didn't know what to reply. he's too deranged with his physics topics to be able to form a decent sentence about himself. "lee jihoon," he mumbles.

something tells him. have they met before? or is he just so tired with all the schoolwork that his mind is playing with him at this point.

"nice ring," says soonyoung as he walks towards the petite boy. jihoon's eyes make their way to his finger, then back to soonyoung who seems to stare at his hand in awe. the ring on jihoon's last finger looks brighter than all of saturn's rings combined, beautifully crafted in silver like icy remnants of the moon.

"thanks. it was given to me when I was born."

"looks oddly familiar to me," soonyoung mumbles.

"what did you say?"

"nothing! anyway, I brought donuts for you," soonyoung casually drops the white box next to jihoon's books, his mouth pulling up in a cheerful smile. then they stare at each other for a good five seconds. soonyoung is indeed a charming boy, jihoon thinks to himself. he has jet black hair, full cheeks and perfectly plump lips. he has the kind of face that can make people stop to give a second look. honestly, jihoon had never seen anyone with eyes like soonyoung's. they're slanted in a way that reminds him of the clock at 10:10 in the morning (breaktime, his favorite hour)

jihoon breaks contact and whirls on the chair to continue with his work. "I'm not hungry, you can have the donuts. thank you," he says.

"but they go well with coffee. clearly, you're a coffee lover," soonyoung replies, staring at the opened coffee packets next to jihoon's cup. jihoon stops writing and faces the boy, "if you didn't notice, i'm studying for finals. so please tone the fuck down."

"okay, not a good start," the taller mumbles and continues to fix his things, awkwardly. jihoon seems like someone who is difficult to please, when in reality, he just doesn't know how to act around "new people". he had been alone in this room for more than a month, with his things already piling up at the upper bunk bed because nobody sleeps there. but because he has someone to live with now, he has to occupy the messier bed. sucks.

although jihoon made it clear that he wants to be left in peace, soonyoung doesn't stop introducing himself, saying things like where he's from and what he likes. he also mentions that he has night shift classes.

Night shift classes? jihoon furrows his brows. that probably means that this chatterbox would be studying with him at this hour for the next few days, in this small room with only one desk.

one long desk, at least.

soonyoung grabs a chair and takes a seat while jihoon attempts to throw a crumpled paper at the trash bin nearby. "So, do we share desks?" soonyoung questions, leaning forward to the table and resting his chin on his right hand.

The paper misses the bin and jihoon lets out a sigh, "yeah."

"my schedule is 6pm to 11pm, so i'll be sleeping hard in the morning," soonyoung tells him with a slight chuckle. Okay, not like jihoon cares, but he still nods, stealing a quick glance at his new roommate.

"hey, soonyoung."

the boy purses his lips and turns to the shorter one, "yes?"

"i haven't seen you before. are you new?"

"no, i've been in the university for as long as you have," soonyoung chuckles "i just switched dorms because my previous roommate was being a fucking pain in the ass, i couldn't even study." jihoon's phone rings again and this time, it wasn't his mom. it was mingyu, who wanted to come over.

"ooh a boyfriend?" soonyoung asks upon seeing the message pop up on the lockscreen while he's arranging his books on the table space. jihoon furrows his eyebrows. "stop snooping, we're not close, soonyoung," he says then shakes his head.

mingyu, along with seungcheol, has been his friend for almost ten years. that guy loves to come over just to lay on the bed for a few minutes and do absolutely nothing. jihoon texts back an 'ok, but i have a new roommate' then continues with his paper.

"so, what's for tonight's review?"

jihoon lets go of his pen for the second time and runs his palms over his face. only half an hour in and he already misses being alone without a roommate to annoy him. he feels as if staying for a whole year with soonyoung would be like babysitting a child who never shuts up.

"hey, I'm trying to study okay? I don't want to talk right now because this lesson is shit."

"hooke's law," soonyoung nods "F = kX with constant k."

jihoon falls silent for a few seconds. even though soonyoung is being annoying, something tells jihoon that he could gain something from the boy. well, if he asks.

"are you familiar with hooke's law then?" jihoon questions, "I've been having a hard time dealing with this worksheet." the older scoots closer and rests his left arm on jihoon's chair, tilting his head to read the worksheet. "familiar? that's funny. robert hooke is like a brother to me!" soonyoung jokes as he takes the pen and starts scribbling some equations down.

the smaller boy feels uncomfortable with soonyoung being close and his arm slung behind the chair's support. he didn't know whether he should focus on the messy handwriting or on the boy's face. he steals quick glances and captures soonyoung's sharp eyes on the paper as he thinks deeply. wow, jihoon was in awe. about two minutes passes by and the boy lets go of the material.

W = Pe = (1/2) k (Δx)^2 = 0.5 × 150 × (- 0.05)^2 = 0.1875 J was written on the paper. without thinking, jihoon mumbles "you fucker, how did you do that?" soonyoung flashes a smile, "do you need a tutorial for that? you know i could teach you but i guess i do have to tone the fuck down, don't i?"

"I take that back. I will do something for you in return."

soonyoung shakes his head, "kidding. you don't have to do anything. I'll gladly help, jihoon."

jihoon's face flushes to the sound of his name. And before he could say another word, there comes a patterned knock on the door. He's about to make a run for it but soonyoung is fast to stand up and get it himself. The door opens, revealing a dark haired boy in a sleeveless shirt. "Oh! You must be the new roommate," mingyu peers at the shorter. soonyoung casually introduces himself and clasps his hand with Mingyu while jihoon snickers at the sight. "kim mingyu, it's fucking winter, where are your sleeves?"

"i'm hot, does that make sense—"

"get the fuck out."

"woah little man, find your chill." mingyu walks around and slips his backpack off his shoulder before taking a seat on the lower bed, which belongs to soonyoung now. Then he makes himself comfortable, his head on the headboard and one leg resting on the bed. jihoon scoffs, "That's not my bed anymore, Gyu."

the boy couldn't care less about what he was told. "soonyoung wouldn't mind, would he?"

"I don't mind," soonyoung replies, then jihoon criticizes him for tolerating an asshole who happens to be mingyu. the older one laughs and goes back to studying while mingyu stays for a good two hours to do nothing but relax and make himself comfortable. soonyoung seems to like his company, because unlike jihoon, mingyu lets him talk as much as he wants. they discuss a few topics for a while, until mingyu finally waves off. he's so useless, jihoon muses.

the moment is a perfectly good time for jihoon to trace the starry night with his eyes as he rests his chin on his arms. other than the stars looking so familiar tonight, he doesn't know what else to think of. soonyoung notices his roommate in deep thought and admires the sight to himself as he contemplates whether he should call the boy's name or not. suddenly , jihoon shoots a gaze. their eyes meet. soonyoung squeals a little inside.

"what are you looking at?"

"i was wondering if..." soonyoung looks down and plays with his fingers "you could make coffee for me too."

jihoon snickers a bit at what he just heard. he wanted to say no but because soonyoung is probably going to be his physics tutor and roommate for one more year, he stands up and ruffles the boy's hair before heading to do what he suggested. why the fuck did i ruffle his hair? jihoon presses his palm on his forehead.

soonyoung claps a little when jihoon places the cup on the desk, "thank you, jihoon." the latter shrugs.

"k."

a buttoned up atmosphere covers the room as they continue to study. soonyoung finishes the cup of coffee faster than he expected. it tastes really good and has the right amount of sugar: exactly how he likes it.

silence. the only thing that could be heard is the sound of jihoon's pencil tapping on the desk, and the gears grinding inside his head. physics is too much for him to handle. equations and numbers are tossed in different directions inside his head, and his thoughts are incoherent. on the other hand, soonyoung is in a state of relaxation as he enthusiastically scans the book on his face. that is, until he opens his mouth to yawn and rubs his bleary eyes. "jihoon, let's sleep, it's late."

"you should go, if you're already sleepy."

"what about you? look at your eyes," the boy moves close to examine jihoon's face. "come on now, let's both rest. I can't sleep with that blinding night light on." jihoon slightly flinches at the skin contact when soonyoung grabs his wrist. he never really liked the idea of skinship, especially with his own gender. the boy stops all the blood that could color his frozen cheeks red, then he moves soonyoung's hand away.

"y-yeah, whatever, I changed my mind, I'll go to sleep now," jihoon stands up and hurries to climb the ladder to his messy bed while soonyoung downs a glass of water and drags himself to sleep. the lights are turned off and jihoon covers himself with the blanket, trying to clear his thoughts.

"jihoon." he hears his name

"yeah?"

"you make good coffee. goodnight." the small boy smiles a bit. he pulls his blanket up a little more, burying his face on the pillow. then falls into deep slumber.