Chapter Text
Lee Chan is a hardworking young man. Everyone knows this.
He’s at the top of his class, he’s the youngest on the elite dance team at his school, and he holds down a part-time job at the supermarket downtown. Lee Chan is hard working and he’s been finished with his training for months and he doesn’t know why he hasn’t gotten his assignment yet, which is more than a little embarrassing.
All the other Cupids his age have gotten their assignments; even Kangmin had received his first assignment just days ago. Chan should definitely have his by now, but he doesn’t. He should be past sulking about it by now, but he’s not. This sucks.
“This sucks,” Chan breathes out, slumping further onto the floor at the foot of Kangmin’s bed. They’re all gathered in Kangmin’s dorm, only Yerim and Tzuyu giving the younger boy pointers seeing as they had already completed one assignment each. Yerim is probably due to get a new one any day now, if the success of her first assignment is anything to go by. Chan has remained as silent and as useless as he had since their first contingency meeting a few months ago, with no experience or help to offer. Yerim shoves her elbow into Chan’s ribs in what he thinks is supposed to be a gesture of camaraderie.
“Don’t worry about it, Chan, you’ll get your assignment soon,” Yerim says, giggling slightly when Chan curls up in a ball because that hurt. No one should be allowed to have that bony of elbows.
“Yeah, cheer up Chan. This Cupid thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” Tzuyu says from Kangmin’s desk chair. She emphasizes her point by giving a half-hearted spin while looking up at the ceiling, letting her head fall back and her hair flow over the back of the chair.
“Guys, can we focus on me now, please? I’ve had this name for three days and I still don’t know how to start!”
Chan looks over at Kangmin, who looks a bit disheveled sitting at the head of his bed with his hands in his dark hair and his eyes bugging out a little bit. Yerim immediately turns her attention to Kangmin, reaching up to pat his knee sympathetically and speaking to him with soothing words.
Chan takes his phone for something to do while Yerim continues to encourage Kangmin and Tzuyu spins in the desk chair, contributing a joke every so often that only riles up Kangmin’s nerves. He hates feeling this useless. He sighs and looks through his messages, which he hadn’t had a chance to look through since he rushed to Kangmin’s dorm after his last class.
There’s only two new messages: one from his mom to remind him to come home this weekend for his grandma’s birthday party, and an obligatory “don’t forget about practice tomorrow!” text from his dance team captain with one too many emojis.
Wow, Chan needs some non-Cupid friends. He pockets his phone and tries to turn his attention back to the conversation at hand, but Chan can’t make himself seem to care.
It’s not fair, really. In Cupid lessons, Chan had been every bit as good as the others, better even. He’d studied hard, he aced his Love Triangles and Long Distance Relationship courses, and he hadn’t missed the target in Applied Archery in almost a year. Yet, for some reason, the Council had yet to send Chan out into the field. He doesn’t understand, and seeing everyone his age get an assignment before him is more than a little frustrating.
Chan is so focused on his thoughts that he doesn’t notice Tzuyu inching her way closer to him. He jumps when she kicks a socked foot at his knee and raises her eyebrows in a question that doesn’t reach her lips. Chan just shrugs already tired of feeling sorry for himself in front of his more successful friends. Tzuyu doesn't say anything to Chan, just keeps shooting him questioning looks every so often which he chooses to ignore. He doesn't want her pity right now.
Eventually, Yerim seems to notice Chan’s mood, and she steers the conversation into safer territory.
“So…how’s everyone doing? We haven’t all gotten together in a while after Cupid classes ended,” Yerim says, ignoring Kangmin’s weak attempts to keep the focus on his assignment.
“S’good! Weird, without seeing you guys all the time,” Tzuyu starts, joining Yerim’s valiant attempt at lightening the mood. “We should meet up more regularly!”
“What about weekends?” Yerim asks. She knows that the four of them, as new and over-achieving freshmen in college, would likely be studying late on week nights.
“I work weekends,” Chan mutters.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. Are you still dancing too?”
Chan nods in confirmation, not meeting anyone's eye.
“Shit Chan, I barely have time for school and homework and my friends, let alone this stupid Cupid thing,” Kangmin comments as he leans his head back against his headboard in defeat.
Kangmin inadvertently hits another one of Chan’s insecurities, though he knows the other Cupid doesn’t mean to, and he winces. Not only has Chan not gotten an assignment even though he’s more than ready but he also doesn’t really have friends. He has people he acts friendly with, like the hyungs in his dance team or his roommate who is still older than Chan and loves to lord it over his head, but he has no friends his age who aren’t Cupids. There’s no one to hang out with during class or text with late at night when he’s bored and tired of filling his brain with knowledge he’s probably going to forget after the next exam anyways. He really needs non-Cupid friends. Friends who like Chan for who he is and don’t pity him because he hasn’t gotten an assignment yet.
Yerim seems to notice Chan’s mood souring again and backtracks, making each of them promise that they’ll hang out soon, despite their busy and often conflicting schedules. They chat for a bit, reminiscing about Cupid classes and their high school days, before Kangmin starts freaking out again and the focus goes back to him.
Chan leaves Kangmin’s room a few hours later, more tired and disheartened than he’s been in a while. He tries not to blame the other Cupid for his mood, but he can’t help it. It just…it sucks and there’s really nothing Chan can do but wait.
He kicks his shoes off when he gets back to his own dorm, only a few minutes’ walk away since he lives across campus form Kangmin. Though they all hadn't meant to, the four Cupids had ended up applying and being accepted to the same college. It was close to home, and while being relatively cheap, was actually pretty prestigious. The school had attracted Chan's childhood neighbor to attend as well, much to Chan's disdain, because the sophomore liked to continually fill in both of their mothers on how Chan was adapting to college life. Luckily, Chan only runs into Seungkwan on rare occasions and has taken to updating his mother about his life pretty regularly through text. This, at least for the past month or so, seems to be appeasing his mother's nosiness.
Chan’s roommate, Hansol, is sprawled across his bed on top of multiple textbooks and what look like copious amounts of handwritten notes. His eyes are closed and Chan would assume that he is asleep, except for the huge sigh that erupts from the sophomore when the door clicks shut.
“I think you’re studying wrong,” Chan says as he throws his backpack on the ground and flops onto his own bed.
“Actually, this is a superior method to studying,” Hansol says, his eyes fluttering open. He turns his head and grins when he sees his roommate in a similar "X" position staring miserably up at the ceiling.
“I think if I lay like this for long enough, I’ll absorb everything through my skin and I won’t have to read,” he continues, giving a wriggle so that all of the textbooks crinkle underneath him. Chan just groans at the older boy's antics.
“What’s wrong?” Hansol asks, propping his head up in his hand to look at his roommate properly.
Chan sighs. “Just…stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“Yeah,” Chan says. “Nothing really. Do we have any ramen left? I’m starving.”
“Yep.”
“Nice.”
Even though they've only known each other for a little over two months, Chan and Hansol get along pretty well. Chan knows Hansol well enough to know when to remind him to study and when to let him rest and Hansol knows Chan well enough when to let him drop the topic because he's stressed. Despite his quirks, Hansol is actually a pretty good roommate.
After two servings of ramen, Chan spends the next few hours catching up on the homework that he should have been working on at Kangmin’s emergency meeting. He tries to focus on his work, but he keeps getting caught up in the doubts that run sprints through his brain. What if the Council doesn’t think he’s good enough or not mature enough to get an assignment yet? What if they forgot about him? What if this is all a test and he is failing miserably?
Chan does his best to push those thoughts aside, but it takes him noticeably longer than usual to write a two-page paper for his Intro to Lit class, which makes him more frustrated at himself, which makes him lose focus more.
Chan decides to give up on his homework after Hansol goes to sleep at midnight, burrowing under his blankets like he usually does. He still can’t sleep after a long shower, so he grabs his laptop and watches stupid YouTube videos with his headphones so he doesn’t wake his roommate.
It’s just past three in the morning when Chan finally shuts his lap top off. He tosses and turns for a while until he finds a comfortable position and the young Cupid finally falls into a restless slumber, unknowingly missing a text message from the Cupid Council by mere minutes.