He wasn’t thinking about anything in particular. It was too early in the morning, and the music playing in his ears drowned all his thoughts out while on the way to his first class.

But upon seeing you, he was immediately awakened from his morning daze and stood up from his seat. Watching you switch places with him to stand beside your seated figure, he thinks he saw you say thank you, but he’s not sure.

Not thinking much of his gesture of giving up his seat, he looked out toward the city passing by outside. That was until the train entered another tunnel, and he was forced to look at something else; you, in his peripheral vision, had suddenly brought out a crochet needle and some yarn.

He was pleasantly surprised. People were usually on their phones while on the train, while here you were, your hands half buried in your jacket as they worked on some yarn as if you were in your own little world.

He wasn’t actually sure if you were crocheting or knitting or what. He had only overheard from the other students in his classes about how they crocheted in their free time, but he had never actually seen anyone do it.

He tilted his head once in a while to watch you, trying his best not to act like a creep. Not that you would notice anyway. He did this until he had to step off at his stop first.

The second time Taesan sees you, it was a Saturday. He unfortunately had a class in the morning, and he was on the way home after having lunch with his friends and spending some time in the library.

You were already seated on the train, hands busy once again. It wasn’t rush hour, so Taesan took a seat across from you.

You seemed to be counting something, perhaps the stitches, based on the way your mouth was moving. You furrowed your eyebrows, looking closer at your project, before pulling at the string of yarn exasperatedly. He was curious about what just happened, smiling at your frustration.

He caught himself glancing at you from time to time again. And this time, you almost caught him looking at you.

He saw you again a few times after that, to the point that he’s learned where to sit or stand so that he can see your reflection in the window to avoid being caught looking at you directly. He’s even learned what days of the week you usually share train rides.

At first, it was a little freaky how the two of you managed to be on the same train at the same time a few times a week, let alone the same car. But after a while, he started looking for you, wondering where you had gone on days when he’d usually seen you.

Months had gone by like that, Taesan watching you work on what seemed like different projects from a distance.

However, this time it was a little different. There were no other available seats except the one right beside you. There was still some space on the metal bars to hold on to, but something told him to take that seat (perhaps it’s the voices in his head aka Leehan urging him to do something about his little train crush; Taesan always denies it by saying it’s not a crush).

This time, it was difficult to see your face, so he could only look at your hands. He tried so hard to be subtle, but he supposes he wasn’t subtle enough because you suddenly put your needle and yarn down on your lap and took something out from your bag.

“Hey, I uh… made something for you,”

You were now looking at his wide eyes, a rush of different emotions suddenly coursing through him. Ashamed because you noticed him watching; touched because you made something for a stranger like him; and shy because you were talking to a guy like him.

He finally looked at your open hand that delicately held a stuffed black cat keychain.

“Is this a cat?”

“Yeah, that’s you,” you said as you smiled tightly. You acknowledge that he was a good-looking guy, but there was still something about him that intimidated you a little. “Um, I’m sorry if that offends you. I made it based on the vibe you gave off, but I don’t mean to stereotype based on the clothes you wear. Not that I made you a black cat because you always wear black, but the dark hair covering your eyes a little also kinda—,” you rambled, stopping when you see the look on his face and realizing you might have said too much.

Taesan chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m not offended. May I ask why…?”

“Um… no reason,” you shrugged with another tight smile, trying to mask the blatant lie you just told him.

“Well, I’m honored. This is really cute,” Taesan smiled, looking at you then at anything but you.

You finally smiled with a more relaxed expression, lips pursing to keep yourself from smiling too widely.

“I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it to you after already making it, plus you sat here today,”

The truth is, you also noticed him that first time. You noticed his repeated presence the same way he did. When he was looking outside, you looked around the train car only for your gaze to land on him. You actually lied when you said you made a keychain for him. It’s actually a gift meant for one of your friends, but you decided at the last minute to use it to shoot your shot—you could always make another one. If he realized that you were also watching him from what you just said, then he was nice enough to not bring it up.

“This is crochet, right?” Taesan asked as he looked around his bag for a place to hang the keychain.

“Yup! I like to do arts and crafts as a pastime, and crocheting is the most… mindless one for me—for lack of a better word,” you both chuckled. “But it also keeps me from falling asleep when I commute alone. That’s why I mostly do it on the train,”

Taesan nods, his mind still processing what was happening.

“You go to Hybe U, right? Saw your ID,”

You looked down at your lanyard and held it. “Oh yeah. You?”

“I go to KOZ,” Your eyes light up in recognition as it’s the college not far from yours.

“We should—“ “If it’s—“ you both say at the same time.

Chuckling, Taesan gestures for you to go first.

“We should hang out some time… is what I was gonna say,” you smiled, looking at the boy beside you.

“Yeah, I’d like that. And I was gonna say that if it’s any help, I could wake you up at your stop,”

You frowned in confusion. “But you get off first,”

“It’s okay. I have time before class,” Taesan smiled shyly, unsure what to do with himself after making such an offer.

You looked away, realizing the boy wasn’t as intimidating as you thought.

“Well, I’ll hold you to that.”

BONUS:

True enough, by midterms season, you spent most of your train rides asleep on Taesan’s shoulder. You started falling asleep in the middle of crocheting more often to the point that you stopped carrying your projects altogether and opted to indulge in Taesan’s insistence.

The both of you were on the way home when he was reminiscing about his conversation with his friends earlier that day.

“Look at you. Who would’ve thought you out of all people would carry so many keychains on their bag?” Leehan commented after the boy in question mentioned how that first black cat keychain was apparently not even meant for him. You told him after a while that you gave it to him in the spur of the moment as an excuse to talk to him.

“Yeah, it’s kinda funny seeing you in your band shirts then you turn around and suddenly there’s a bunch of colorful animals and characters. Personally, I really like the Sanrio ones,” Sungho said teasingly. “Plus the way I just know it’s you when you enter a room because your bag is so noisy,”

“It’s not funny, Y/N made them! The plastic ones they also got for me,” Taesan blurted in faux offense, smiling and internally agreeing with the older boy.

“Yeah no, it’s cute actually,” Sungho said before bursting into laughter.

“Then ask Y/N for one. Actually no, don’t do that,” his friends chuckled at him.

“Then make one for me,”

“You know, I’ve already asked them to teach me. But I sucked so bad, and Y/N fell asleep while waiting for me.” Taesan chuckled while recalling the first time you hung out at the library.

“Man, he’s got it pretty bad.”

In fact, you were so reserved that whenever people were asked for their first impression of you, they would always include the word “intimidating” in their responses. Even some of your friends tend to liken you to a black cat—won’t shut up about it, even—that every time they see a cat with any hint of black, they would call out and say “Look, it’s Y/N!”. And when you would ask them why they thought of you that way, they would say it was because of your calm and collected personality and your neutral-colored wardrobe.

But you were never bothered by any of these (perhaps by the fact that people thought you were intimidating when you really weren’t) but you didn’t put any effort to change your attitude and personality just to have people like you better.

The same goes for your new block. The semester just began, and you were still in the process of getting to know and getting comfortable with your new blockmates. You had already made your own little circle of friends, all of you had the same major and shared almost the same classes together.

But that didn't mean you didn't hang out with your other blockmates either. Sometimes they would walk with you and your friends to your next class, other times they would ask to hang out once you were all free. You were thankful for all these interactions since you always struggled with approaching new people, but one of your blockmates in particular has left quite an impression on you.

At first glance, it was hard to deny that the guy wasn’t good-looking, which made him also appear somewhat intimidating, especially when he was so focused on something that he almost looked mad. But you were beyond surprised when you heard a cheery voice one day and turned around to see that it actually belonged to him, your blockmate Sim Jaeyun, more known as Jake.

You weren’t sure if he was like that with everyone else (but you were so sure he was). Whenever he entered your vicinity, he would always have a smile on his face and would usually be asking you or the people around you how they did on the exam you just took or how they were doing in general. With his bright personality, he quickly became everyone’s friend, even those from other classes dapped him up along the hallways.

But even if he seemed kind of distant, there were moments that the two of you quietly shared that would suddenly pop in your mind whenever you got lost in thought.

You see, although people thought you gave off “black cat energy”, there were still very rare moments when you’d act “cute” unknowingly. And no, you wouldn’t self-proclaim to be cute because you have heard people compliment you saying so. And you suppose those moments happened quite a lot around Jake because if there was one thing he did around you, it was to pat your head.

This, you were almost sure he didn't do with anyone else, not that you were paying attention… But he’s done it one too many times for you not to notice.

The first time, he asked if you wanted help with your things but you declined saying you were “used to it” and that you had your “big boy pants on now”. He just chuckled and patted your head while you walked to your next class—not gonna lie, it was kind of awkward. You’d never really had your head patted before, so the sudden action caught you a little off guard.

The second time, he did it because your class just took a quiz and you said you got a good score for the first time in that class. And then again, and again until you found yourself becoming comfortable with the gesture. Sometimes, you would even catch yourself wishing he did it for a longer period of time, immediately telling yourself that that might be weird.

Today, however, was a little different. He already gave you a head pat in the morning—you, Jake, and one of your friends were called to line up for your departmental moving exam in one of your lab classes. The three of you lined up together, but it was mostly just you and your friend chatting while waiting for your turn. Both of you were trying to release your nervousness by laughing it off while Jake was doing a great job at keeping his composure. Out of impulse, you took your friend’s wrist and swung it back and forth while whining. Your friend chuckled at your sudden show of skinship, but Jake placed his hand on your head again. You looked up at him to see the small smile on his face, but he just as quickly retracted his hand.

Now, your next class had just ended, and your blockmates were still hanging out inside the classroom. You didn't feel like standing up yet, so you decided to act like you were sleepy (which you were) and try to lay your head on your friend’s table. Unbeknownst to you, Jake was approaching your group of friends and saw how you were struggling to “lie down” in the little space you had between you and your friend’s chair. He reached out his hand and attempted to pat your head the second time that day, but he missed since you sat up out of nowhere. You were surprised to feel something touch your head and realize it was Jake’s hand that you almost wished you hadn’t gotten up from your lying position so quickly.

When you thought he had finally left, you pulled out your phone and set its brightness to the lowest possible setting. You quickly connected to the building’s wifi network and opened up your group chat with your high school friends. You had already told them about your blockmate Jake, but you didn’t think he needed a codename like your friends’ crushes do, so you didn’t hesitate to type his name.

y/n: GUYS

sunghoon: dude i js found out my prof is a cannbis user

y/n: IT HAPPENED AGAIB

y/n: @sunghoon what 😭

y/n: anw i got head pats again,, TWICE

y/n: istg if jake doesn’t stop

“You don’t like the head pats?”

Upon hearing the voice, you turned your head around and planted your phone on your lap so quickly.

“Huh?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn't mean to read your messages,” Jake said, looking anywhere except you. That was a straight up lie. There was no way he “didn't mean to” when your phone screen was so dark even you could barely see it.

“Um, wait no, it’s not that I don't like the head pats. It’s just— they’re nice... I guess,” you almost whispered that last part, but astonishingly, Jake still heard it.

Once he was reassured that you didn’t actually dislike his little display of affection and that you actually enjoy it, a smile and a light blush bloomed across his face, and he reached his hand out to pat your head again.

“You're really cute, did you know that?”

“Yeah, I've heard that a few times. And don't worry, I don't dislike hearing it from you.” you looked into his eyes and stared at each other for a second too long, causing you both to chuckle and look away in shyness.

"Good. Because you'll definitely be hearing that more often." he said, still stroking your hair gently like it was delicate and fragile.

If physical affection wasn’t your love language before, it definitely is now.

𓂋˚˖ TAGLIST. @wooyoung-a @nyujjan @winterbeartaehyungbestboy @ja4hyvn @ahnneyong @noempathyy @2hyunjae @sunwoahkim @sunnysunuu @feireads @igotkpoops @ilovechanhee @baehaechannie @mochibabycakes @ilvaussie @justsayk @beomsun @aurumness @pengbi @meowtella @ily-cuz-i @kiyokoism @erodemyedges @kswr1d @neoguriku @hwasatiny @woosunnie @yogurteume @renjuunsz @meltinghershey @lavayeon [open, dm/send an ask to join!] — bold cannot be tagged!

“Why are there so many kids and elderlies sitting around? This isn’t an amusement park, and I’m sure the grandparents just want to rest at home,” you pause before reaching for the tag of an interesting-looking bookshelf and surprising yourself with the price. “And so many couples on dates too,”

“We’re a couple on a date too, aren’t we?”

Turning around, you reach for Sunghoon’s hand and pull him out and into the next showroom. “Yeah, but I am at least here to actually buy furniture,” Sunghoon giggles as he notices the tips of your ears growing a little red. “And you’re here because I need another head to help me and you’re the only one available,”

“I literally saw your roommate lying on the couch when I came over to pick you up. They seemed to be free,” he retorts in a teasing manner.

“Just shut up and tell me what you think about this coffee table,” you say pointing to the short-legged table in front of you.

“It’s… okay,”

“You’re no help,”

“But my presence is helpful, right?” he says, obviously staring at you with a cheeky smile while swinging your interlocked hands.

Turning towards him, you find his smile quite contagious and do the same as well. “Why are you being so clingy today?”

He only giggles, letting go of your grasp and moving to sit on the couch beside the rejected coffee table. “I think we should put something like this in our future house,”

Snickering, you move to sit beside him. “You wish,”

“Why? You don’t want to live with me?”

“No, I just don’t really like this couch,”

“So you want to live with me?” you turn to find him already looking at you, smiles growing slowly from the atmosphere. 

In your peripheral, a child starts skipping in your direction, bringing you back to reality. “Let’s keep going, Hoon.”