The countdown to semester exams had officially begun, and the entire campus was drowning in panic, caffeine, and existential crisis.

For Ben, things weren’t that bad. He had been preparing, struggling here and there, sure, but at least he wasn’t spiraling into an abyss of despair.

Unlike Kai.

The six-foot-tall puppy sat in the corner of the dance studio, hunched over, cradling a mouth organ and playing the most tragic tune Ben had ever heard.

Daniel didn’t let the opportunity go to waste. He immediately threw himself into an exaggerated performance, swaying with theatrical grace, stretching his arms out like he was a grieving widow.

"Kai, my dear hubae, don’t leave me so soon!" Daniel wailed, sinking to his knees as if mourning a fallen soldier.

Kai didn’t even look up. "I’m already dead," he whispered, glaring at his unopened textbooks like they had betrayed him.

Meanwhile, Terrence was done.

"If you two don’t shut up now, I will make sure neither of you passes."

The threat hung in the air, but neither Kai nor Daniel took him seriously. Terrence pinched the bridge of his nose like a man surrendering to fate.

And that was how Terrence, the savage genius, became their unwilling tutor.

***

Ben had always been an independent learner, so he wasn’t sure how this was going to go. But, to his surprise, Terrence was freakishly good at teaching. 

His explanations were concise, his patience impressive, and, most shockingly, he wasn’t throwing too many verbal slaps. Even better, Ben was actually getting it.

"Wah, neo jinjja jalhanda," Ben admitted after finally understanding a concept that had been tormenting him for weeks. [Whoa, you are really good at this.]

Terrence barely looked up. "Of course, I am. I don’t associate with dumbasses."

Meanwhile, Kai was experiencing an entirely different reality.

The dude could not focus.

One minute in, he was snoring into his textbook. Next, he was doodling cats on the margins, and then he got distracted by a fly.

"Kai," Terrence sighed, rubbing his temples, "I swear, if I have to repeat this one more time, I’m legally disowning you as my friend."

"You can’t disown me if we aren’t related," Kai muttered, still following the fly’s movements like it held the answers to life itself.

"I will make it happen."

And so, the study war continued.

***

Daniel, on the other hand, looked like he was holding onto life by a thread, juggling two jobs, endless practices, and now exams. Ben wasn’t even sure why he was taking them so seriously.

“Don’t you always say your entire existence revolves around dance? Why are you even studying?” he asked.

Daniel groaned and collapsed onto his desk. “My parents are already paying for my tuition. If I fail, I might as well set their money on fire.”

Ben snorted, but as he watched Daniel drag himself upright again, he had to admit, chaotic or not, his discipline toward dance was admirable.

"You never miss practice, huh?" Ben mused.

Daniel cracked one eye open, a grin tugging at his lips. “Passion never takes a day off, babe.”

And just like that, any flicker of admiration Ben felt shriveled into instant regret.

***

The next two weeks were brutal. The dance studio sat abandoned; no one had the time or energy to set foot inside, except, of course, Daniel. For Ben, the exam period was nothing short of hell. He had never poured this much effort into studying before, and now his entire world had shrunk to books, classrooms, and the four walls of his dorm.

The moment exams ended, Daniel dragged everyone out to celebrate.

"We have survived! We deserve a drink!" he declared, eyes shining like a man liberated from war.

Terrence and Ben both refused at first. Kai didn’t even consider it.

"My baby sister is waiting for me at home. I am her responsible older brother."

Terrence snorted. "She babysits you, not the other way around."

Kai pouted but didn’t deny it.

In the end, Daniel got his way, as he always did.

***

If Ben thought Daniel was a menace until now, he discovered something horrifying: Drunk Daniel was a natural disaster.

The man rapped a love song to the bartender.

Tried to dance battle a beer bottle.

Told an absolutely terrible dad joke.

"Why don’t skeletons fight each other? Because they don’t have the guts!"

Ben wanted to disappear.

And to think, he and Terrence had only managed one glass of soju each before admitting defeat. Kai refused alcohol entirely, calmly sipping on some neon-colored mocktail like he was judging all of them from his barstool. Meanwhile, Daniel had gone through his drinks like water and was now three soju-bombs past common sense.

By the time they left, Kai had taken Terrence back to the dorm, leaving Ben alone with the absolute catastrophe that was Daniel.

***

Getting Daniel home was an ordeal.

The man stumbled, sang random songs, cracked more dad jokes, flirted with a streetlamp, and tried to fight his own reflection. And when they finally reached his place—

Daniel spent ten entire minutes poking random numbers into the keypad, humming like he was cracking a secret code.

"For the love of—just tell me the code," Ben groaned.

"I got this," Daniel slurred, fumbling with the keypad lock.

Ben resisted the urge to punch him. 

After what felt like an eternity, they stumbled inside. Ben half-dragged, half-carried Daniel to his bed, dropping him with an exhausted sigh.

“Okay, sleep,” Ben muttered.

But just as he turned to leave, Daniel suddenly grabbed his wrist. Ben barely had a second to react before– 

Thud.

He fell forward, right into Daniel.

Their lips brushed.

Ben’s entire body froze. His brain short-circuited.

Daniel, meanwhile, blinked blearily, completely unfazed. With a sluggish push, he slid out from under Ben and flopped onto his side. “Mianhae,” he mumbled. [I am sorry]

Ben lay there, heart pounding.

What the hell just happened?

His face burned red. His hands trembled slightly. He could still feel the faintest sensation of warmth.

Daniel, of course, was already snoring.

Ben swallowed hard, practically fled from the room, and slammed the door behind him. He pressed his hands to his face, groaning.

What. The. Fuck.