I won’t be home tonight! I’ll be at my friend’s because it’s his birthday :)

 

I’m going out tonight with my friends.

 

Kihyun sighs in frustration, crossing out the words on the sticky note he’s been trying to write for the last five minutes. All the note has to do is to inform his roommate that he won’t be coming home tonight. What’s so difficult about that?

 

Right. It’s a note to Kihyun’s new roommate. 

 

Kihyun has a new roommate but he doesn’t exactly know how to approach him. It’s not that he’s unapproachable. He was nice when they first met, all smiles and so nice to every condition Kihyun had for the flat. Except, Kihyun overlooked the deal and didn’t realise that his roommate works at night, asleep during the day, and barely around on the weekend.

 

Kihyun can’t approach him because they have never been in the same confined space in the flat at the same time. 

 

In the past month of having him as a roommate, Kihyun was never bothered by noise and the dirty dishes. Although sometimes he can feel the front door opening at 4am, it doesn’t really matter since Kihyun can feel him trying to keep his footsteps as quiet as possible. 

 

Kihyun found the perfect roommate. The only problem is he doesn’t really know much about him. All Kihyun knows is that he has a roommate and his name is Chae Hyungwon. 

 

I’ll be out tonight. 

-  Kihyun

 

Satisfied with bluntness, Kihyun sticks the note on the door of the fridge and prepares to leave for his friend’s gathering.

 

Kihyun hasn’t been out with his friends for a while. He had been busy looking for a roommate and Kihyun was just lucky that his co-worker, Changkyun, knew Hyungwon needed a place to stay in Seoul. It was Changkyun who described Hyungwon as the perfect roommate. And who is Kihyun to deny something like that from a co-worker who knew exactly what Kihyun wanted?

 

“How is Hyungwon hyung so far,” Changkyun asked a week after Hyungwon settled in his place. 

 

“I don’t know,” and Kihyun saw how Changkyun raised an eyebrow at his response, “We barely see each other at home.” 

 

And if Changkyun asks about Hyungwon to Kihyun again, his answer would still be the same. Kihyun knows he needs to make an effort to get to know Chae Hyungwon. 

 

The cold breeze outside welcomes Kihyun. The leaves are slowly turning into maple and it was a perfect night to start wearing coats and drinking warm coffee. 

 

and drinking, of course.

 

“What took you so long?” Minhyuk starts off when Kihyun walks into the small club they decided to meet at. 

 

It was a club not too far from his flat. The place was small but still a little crowded. The music was loud and there were people dancing on the dance floor, about to pass out any minute now. 

 

“Happy Birthday,” he pats his back, ignoring the question and slipping inside their chosen booth, “I made it.” 

 

“What do you mean you made it,” Jooheon pouts, pushing a glass of beer in front of him, “If I didn’t stop Minhyuk hyung the last thirty minutes, he would’ve been drunk before you even got here.” 

 

Kihyun takes the glass, letting the bitter liquid run down his throat. It has definitely been a while since he flinched at the taste, “You should’ve allowed him to get drunk. It’s his birthday.” 

 

It was only then when Minhyuk freely took the glass from Jooheon, downing half of the beer in one go. He almost drowned himself, coughing before putting the glass down, “Let’s have fun tonight,” Minhyuk announces, officially starting the long night.

 

Although it has been a while, Kihyun decided to drink slowly. It became an instinct after seeing Jooheon and Minhyuk order drinks continuously with only a little bit of conversation. Eventually their words started to slur, talking about stuff they barely talk about. 

 

“Kihyun-ah,” the tone from Minhyuk’s voice rising, “Didn’t you recently get a new roommate?” 

 

Kihyun just hums in acknowledgement, “Hyungwon,” he bluntly names, not really feeling like talking about him. 

 

“Is he hot?” Jooheon starts to tease, “You don’t talk about him in our group chat.” 

 

“I barely see him,” he mumbles, continuing the facade of disinterest, “I don’t really know.” 

 

“You know who’s hot?” Minhyuk leans against Jooheon, a loopy smile on his face staring at the space behind Kihyun, “That DJ over there.” 

 

Kihyun just rolls his eyes, getting an idea of what the DJ might look like. He knows Minhyuk’s type. Someone tall with a small face, probably muscular, and handsome of course. That’s why he’s dating Hyunwoo. But his boyfriend wasn’t able to come over the night because Minhyuk claims it to be a ‘friends only’ night. 

 

So when Kihyun turns to look at the person Minhyuk was pointing at, he does end up seeing someone tall with a small face. He can’t say he’s muscular but he has a lean figure. And he’s handsome.

 

And he’s Kihyun’s roommate.

 

He almost spits out the beer that he was trying to drink before looking, speechless that his roommate was standing a few metres away from them behind a turntable, and indeed, looking hot. 

 

Hyungwon was wearing a black and white sleeved shirt that Kihyun probably saw at least once drying at home. Some of the buttons were undone, showing a little bit of his skin. His hair was naturally done, tousled with a hair product that made it look like it was wet. 

 

Holy shit. His roommate is a DJ and that is hot of him. 

 

“Too handsome?” Jooheon teases and Kihyun debates whether he will tell his friends that the person is roommate, “He looks like Kihyun’s type.” 

 

“He’s Minhyuk’s style,” Kihyun defends, and Minhyuk raises an eyebrow at him, “Right?”

 

“Do I need to remind you of your type?” Minhyuk grins, amused by Kihyun’s reaction, “That dude over there is your type.” 

 

Kihyun suddenly remembers how fazed he was when he first saw Hyungwon. He acknowledged Hyungwon was handsome and all but he didn’t think much of it. It helped that he barely saw him at home so Kihyun never really took interest in his roommate. 

 

“I can’t.”

 

“Says who?” Jooheon pushes, “You’ll just try to hit him up, not ask him to get married and move in with you.”

 

Kihyun scoffs at how ironic the timing was for Jooheon to mention living together. 

 

Sighing, Kihyun mumbles quietly, “I can’t because I already live with him.”

 

This time, Minhyuk really does spit out his drink, staring at Kihyun wide eyed, “What did you say?” 

 

“That’s Hyungwon.”

 

“Say that again?” 

 

“That DJ over there is Hyungwon, my roommate.” 

 

Minhyuk hits him across the table, voice getting louder,  “Why didn’t you tell us he was a DJ?” 

 

Kihyun had to hush him because the music wasn’t too loud for people not to hear each other, “I didn’t know either.” 

 

“Let me get this straight,” Minhyuk backtracks in disbelief, like all of the alcohol in his system washed out, “You’ve been living with a hot DJ and you didn’t even try to hit on him?” 

 

“That’s not very straight at all,” Kihyun argues, making Minhyuk hit him again, “I barely meet him! I work during the day and he works at night. All I cared about was someone sharing the bills with me.”

 

“And you still don’t dare to try right now when he’s right here in front of you?”

 

Kihyun blinks, thinking about the pros and cons of doing that to his roommate. 

 

Pros would be he’d finally have the chance to get to know his roommate. Living together would be much more comfortable than simply sharing a space. 

 

Cons would be Hyungwon might get weirded out and Kihyun will lose a roommate. And that tops all of the pros he could think of. 

 

“I don’t want to lose my roommate,” Kihyun directly says, waving his hands, “I can’t risk it.”

 

“What are you overreacting about?” Jooheon groans, displeased by the way Kihyun is acting, “I said you’ll just hit him up and not ask him to get married.”

 

Funny how Jooheon decided to redact living together. 

 

“But–”

 

“But it’s my birthday, so you’ll try to hit him up and get to know your roommate, right?” Minhyuk butts in, fluttering his eyes, “Get to know him,” he enunciates more clearly.

 

“Technically your birthday was a few days ago,” Kihyun mumbles.

 

“And I said you’ll go there right now.”

 

Kihyun sighs, not really knowing why he is overreacting. In fact, Kihyun is not bad with people. He gets along with people easily because of his personality. 

 

But Kihyun and Hyungwon always had this line between them that Kihyun never dared to cross because he didn’t want to overwhelm Hyungwon since he is his roommate and Kihyun needs a roommate. 

 

Then again, maybe this is the time that Kihyun will try to get to know Hyungwon. All he needs to do is to not let the alcohol in his veins take over and completely forget that Hyungwon looks so attractive under that dim light.

 

“Fine,” Kihyun pushes himself up the table, downing the water they had on the table, “I’ll be back.”

 

Kihyun moves out of the booth, hearing Minhyuk and Jooheon cheer that’s our friend!. He glares at them before turning back, slowing down his pace as much as possible, walking in between the crowd on the dance floor to make his way where Hyungwon was.

 

To be frank, it was the perfect timing. Hyungwon’s hands weren’t on the turntable. He was seated on the side, drinking his own glass of beer while scrolling through his phone. He probably had a few minutes of songs set on the turntable, giving him time to rest for a bit. 

 

Kihyun stops a few feet from Hyungwon, clearing his throat to be acknowledged. That was when Hyungwon looked up at him, their eyes finally meeting properly for the first time. 

 

“Oh?” Hyungwon locks his phone, squinting his eyes to see if it was really his roommate standing in front of him.

 

“Hi,” Kihyun quietly says, waving his hand up awkwardly, “I didn’t know you work here.” 

 

Hyungwon simply hums, standing to meet him at an eye level, “So this is where you’re out for the night.” 

 

Kihyun furrows his brows, unsure how Hyungwon found out he’s out, “What do you mean?” 

 

“Your note?” 

 

Right. Kihyun left a note not too long ago that he will be out for the night. Kihyun didn’t realise that Hyungwon actually reads those. 

 

“You alone?” Hyungwon comfortably asks and Kihyun shakes his head.

 

Kihyun points at the place where Minhyuk and Jooheon were, looking at them with a big grin on their faces, “I’m with them,” and waving after noticing that Hyungwon was looking at them. 

 

Hyungwon waves at Kihyun’s friends, a low chuckle leaving his lips at how frisky his friends look. Kihyun realises this is the first time Hyungwon saw his friends.

 

“So…” Kihyun trails off, fingers gliding the edge of the turntable, “I didn’t know you were a DJ.” 

 

Hyungwon shyly nods, “You never really asked.”

 

His response makes Kihyun raise his eyebrows in disbelief, “You’re making me sound like a bad roommate,” and Hyungwon shrugs playfully, “Am I?” 

 

“It’s just difficult to hang out with you,” Hyungwon says softly, looking away as if what he said was something embarrassing, “that’s all.”

 

“What do you mean? We barely see each other at home because you work at night and I’m out during the day.” 

 

“Yeah, but I haven’t left yet whenever you get home. You always walk straight to your room so I never really get to say goodbye at least.” 

 

Kihyun blinks, surprised at the newly known information, “You could’ve knocked so we could at least eat dinner?”

 

“I was thinking you’re already tired from work.”

 

Kihyun stares at the way Hyungwon was talking to him at that moment. He keeps on avoiding Kihyun’s eyes when they started talking about their living situation. Heck, he’s probably still surprised in his own way at Kihyun being in the club he works at.

 

He realises that he was the one who unconsciously drew a line between them. From Hyungwon’s words, he could easily guess that Hyungwon probably had been trying to reach Kihyun as much as Kihyun was trying to reach him. They just weren’t too sure on how to break the ice and actually be each other’s roommate. 

 

And right now, Kihyun has the upper hand of bursting the bubble keeping them from each other.

 

“Chae Hyungwon-ssi,” Kihyun says with a small smile, “Or Hyungwon? Can I call you that?” 

 

It makes Hyungwon smile, getting the note of where the conversation will go, “As long as I can call you Kihyun.” 

 

“Okay Hyungwon,” he starts off again, “What time does your work end?”

 

Hyungwon’s head tilts to the side in confusion before checking the time on his phone, “In an hour,” he looks back at Kihyun again, “Why do you ask?”

 

“Do you want to go home together?” 

 

Kihyun can feel his insides burst at the way he builded up the question he asked. Especially when he noticed that Hyungwon froze, probably startled by it as well. 

 

“What about your friends?” Hyungwon hesitates a bit.

 

Right. Kihyun is here with Minhyuk and Jooheon, and promised Minhyuk he’ll sleepover at his place for the night. 

 

“Minhyuk still has a lot of birthdays to come…” Kihyun mumbles quietly, looking back at his friends who finally lost their attention at him, back to drinking peacefully in the booth. 

 

When Kihyun turns back at Hyungwon, the latter was looking at him closely. It makes Kihyun step back in surprise at how close his face was.

 

“You sure?” Hyungwon asks, his tone different compared to his first question. Kihyun slowly nods, unsure but feeling like he is sure, “because I can leave now.” 

 

“You said you’ll be free in an hour.”

 

“That was before you asked to go home together,” Hyungwon says, walking to the turntable to press a few buttons, “It’s not a packed night so I can leave anytime I want.” 

 

Kihyun just stares at him, suddenly surprised at the switch of aura with Hyungwon. Wasn’t he just shy a few minutes ago? Why does it suddenly feel like Hyungwon is the one steering the wheel for the two of them?

 

He probably noticed Kihyun spacing out in surprise, turning back at him to ask, “That is if you want to go home now?” 

 

“Sure.” 

 

Hyungwon nods, excusing himself for a moment as he went to the back to get his stuff. Kihyun doesn't know why he stayed right by the turntable, waiting for Hyungwon to come back. Heck, he wasn’t even sure what was happening at that moment.

 

Kihyun turned to look at his friends. Jooheon wasn’t at his seat so he pulled out his phone to send a quick message to Minhyuk.

 

Kihyun

I’m leaving

 

Minhyuk

???

where

 

He saw Minhyuk’s head snap to his direction, glaring at him.

 

Kihyun

Going back home

With Hyungwon

 

Minhyuk

!!!!

ok 

but only because you’re going with hyungwon

 

He rolls his eyes at the response, seeing Minhyuk give him a weird look on their faces from the booth. 

 

“You good to go?” Kihyun jumps a little, startled by the sudden return of Hyungwon. He nods though, before noticing the change in Hyungwon’s clothing. Instead of the black and white shirt, he was now wearing a grey hoodie. 

 

Kihyun turns to his friend one last time, Jooheon finally back at his seat, waving at them. Hyungwon does the same to which Minhyuk overreacted with a more playful wave. 

 

“Your friends seem nice,” Hyungwon chuckles, walking ahead of Kihyun to open the door.

 

“Wait until you get to know them,” Kihyun retorts before walking out the door that was held for him.

 

The cold breeze hits him once again, the chill running over his spine. The club was in a street where it was filled with trees of different shades, indicating the official change of season.

 

“It’s autumn now, huh?” Kihyun speaks his mind out loud. 

 

Hyungwon simply replies with a hum before they both start walking back home. 

 

The walk was peaceful and quiet. It was in the middle of the night and there were barely any buses left so they decided to walk instead. Compared to the light banter at the club, the atmosphere felt different. 

 

It felt like they were in their own little bubble, shoulders brushing with each step.

 

“Kihyun-ah,” Hyungwon breaks the silence, looking at him. 

 

It was the first time Kihyun ever heard his name come out from Hyungwon’s mouth as a call and for some reason, he felt like it’s something he would want to hear for a long time. 

 

Kihyun just hums in reply, waiting for Hyungwon to say more, “Can I ask you a question?” 

 

They stopped walking for a moment. Kihyun looks up at Hyungwon to see the look on his face. He wanted to know what he was about to ask but Kihyun couldn’t exactly read the expression on his face. 

 

“What is it?” Kihyun gently says, not really sure of what to expect.

 

“Why did you want to go home together?” Hyungwon asks and he asks so innocently that it makes Kihyun’s heart flutter.

 

It was a question Kihyun wanted to ask himself too. In fact, he wasn’t too sure of the reason why he asked Hyungwon to go home. His head was still fazed whether he really did want to get to know him or if he wanted to know all about him. 

 

“If we’re going home to the same place, why not?” Kihyun says bluntly, avoiding the question he wasn’t too sure of the answer to. 

 

Kihyun starts walking again, creating a small distance between them. Hyungwon catches up, facing Kihyun and walking backwards.

 

“Your friend says otherwise though,” all of a sudden, there was a mischievous smile on Hyungwon’s face. Like he knows something that he’s not supposed to know.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Jooheon?” Hyungwon names the friend, “Is that his name?” 

 

“What did he say,” Kihyun says sternly, feeling the betrayal of his friend. 

 

Hyungwon halts, grinning, “You think I’m hot?” 

 

“No, it’s cold,” Kihyun retorts. Even going to the extent of rubbing his arms just to show how cold it was, “Really cold.”

 

Kihyun couldn’t believe the switch in personality Hyungwon has been showing him. One minute he’s all shy and demure, the next minute he’s all cheeky and proud. 

 

“Did you know I worked there?” Hyungwon pushes further.

 

“Ya,” Kihyun lightly hits Hyungwon’s arm, “Do you have no conscience?”

 

“I thought you didn’t like me,” Hyungwon says with honesty.

 

“I have to get to know you to like you,” Kihyun says casually, “Or to hate you,” Kihyun felt the need to add in case Hyungwon gets the wrong idea.

 

Hyungwon cheekily smiles, finally feeling comfortable, “You like me though,”

 

Kihyun stares at Hyungwon, thinking if he likes the roller coaster kind of rush he feels whenever he’s with Hyungwon. Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn’t.

 

But there is one thing Kihyun is sure of.

 

“I want to get to know you.”