attention | gyuricky

four.

It's well past eleven by the time Gyuvin's coherent enough to be considered awake. As expected, his head's pounding and he continues seeing stars for no less than five minutes after he gets out of bed, but he braves his way through it to brush his teeth and rinse his face so he feels less disgusting.

It reoccurs to him now that he has a roommate, though the apartment has been silent since he woke up. Ricky's probably out, doing whatever he does when he's not working at the club or ignoring him at home.

As Gyuvin stumbles over to the kitchen area to get some water, he catches sight of something in a plate left out on the counter. Upon closer inspection it's what looks to be a dill and cream cheese bagel, and a blister pack of Tylenol with a square piece of paper torn from a sketchbook, scribbled with neat, elegant handwriting.

Take two of these if you need to, AFTER you've eaten and drank something.

There's a silver thermos sitting beside the plate. Coffee, he can tell by the aroma that permeates the room when he unscrews the cap. Still hot.

Gyuvin smiles, taking a bite from the bagel. It's clearly the kind you can only get from those artisan bread shops around Itaewon, the kind normal college students can't afford to have every day. He wonders absentmindedly how much Ricky's job must be paying him for him to be able to afford stuff like this.

He finishes the bagel and the hot coffee diligently, and by the time he's done with both he finds his headache has subsided enough to forgo the Tylenol. Flipping the note over to the blank side, he grabs one of the pencils Ricky's left on the table next to his brushes.

Thanks for the food. Have a good day!

"Hey," he greets, when Taerae finally picks up the phone. He's already dressed and out of the apartment, keys jangling in his hand. "What's Junhyeon's room number? I'm going over to see if he's still alive."

"It's 308 in the 7th block," Taerae answers. "Look for the building that has the trees with the yellow leaves around the bottom. And good morning to you too."

"Good morning," Gyuvin says, laughing. "You guys wanna meet for lunch later?"

"It's almost one in the afternoon, my dear."

"Late lunch."

"Go check on Junhyeon first. I'll text you."

"Got it. See you later!"

The dormitories housing music students are mostly about a five minute walk away from Gyuvin's own building, and he manages to locate the building with ease, heading up to the third floor. Room 308 is the last apartment right at the end of the block, and he finds himself listening cautiously at the door before knocking, three polite knocks.

The door opens within the next couple of seconds. A boy stands on the other side of it, someone he doesn't recognise, with fluffy brown hair and a gray hoodie. "Hi. Sorry, who are you?"

"I'm here to look for Junhyeon," Gyuvin says quickly. "My name is Gyuvin."

The boy opens the door wider and lets him look into the apartment. The layout's exactly the same as theirs, and to his massive second-hand embarrassment, Junhyeon is sprawled facedown on the couch in yesterday's clothes, out cold. "Is that Junhyeon?"

"Yes it is," Gyuvin answers apologetically. "Can I come in? I'll wake him up and get him settled."

"Yeah, sure. Come on in."

Gyuvin heads over the couch and knees Junhyeon mercilessly. "Hey. Wake up, dude."

It takes a good two minutes of kneeing and prodding to get him conscious, all the while his roommate watches, amused, from where he's seated at the kitchen counter, sipping at a mug of tea. He manages to get Junhyeon coherent enough to go shower, and the peace in the apartment is temporarily restored.

"You're a music major too?" Gyuvin asks, coming back into the living area. "I'm an architecture major. Nice to meet you, by the way."

"Nice to meet you too," the boy says, smiling warmly. "Yeah, I'm a music major."

"What instruments do you play?"

"Violin and piano mostly, but I've dabbled in a bunch of others over the years."

"Oh? That sounds really cool."

Gyuvin is saved from the terrors of having to continue small talk by another knock on the door. The boy gets up from the chair and opens it. "Hey, you're here."

A familiar tall, blonde-haired boy stands at the doorstep. "Yeah, sorry I'm late. Let's-"

Ricky seems to catch sight of Gyuvin sitting on the couch just then, stopping short. Gyuvin can't, for the life of him, tell from his expression if Ricky's happy or angry or sad or confused to see him here.

"You following me around or something?" he says lightheartedly. "Thanks for the stuff you left me."

"It's nothing," Ricky replies. "Don't make a habit of getting drunk. Hao, should we-"

"Wait, you guys know each other?" the boy Ricky had called Hao asks.

"Yeah, he's my roommate."

"Oh. It's a small world, isn't it?"

They're interrupted once again by the arrival of Taerae, clearly puzzled to see so many people gathered at the doorstep of 308. "I'm looking for Junhyeon..." he trails off, unsure of what's going on. "Is he in there?"

"Someone else is here for him too," Hao says, pulling Ricky away from the door to make space to let Taerae in. "Got any more friends coming?"

"We'll be out of your hair soon, I promise," Gyuvin says placatingly, and Hao laughs.

"I'm joking. Ricky and I are leaving, so you guys have the place to yourselves. See you around, I guess," he says, finger-waving as he follows Ricky out the door, letting it shut behind him.

"Ricky? Isn't that the name of your roommate or something?" Taerae asks, sitting down next to him on the couch.

"Yeah, it is," Gyuvin sighs, putting his arm over his eyes. "Long story."