Archive of Our Own ^beta

Fridays, Junhoe thinks, are a bitch.

Blinking at the big digital clock on the wall to his right, he realizes it’s just hit midnight. That means their closing time isn’t in another hour, since the open hours during the weekend are until 1 am.

He sighs, glancing over the counter at the mostly empty cafe.

A man in his late forties, Junhoe guesses, sits in the dimmed corner to the far right, head bowed low. Four bottles of soju he had ordered earlier in the night are now empty, the fifth one cupped by the drunk’s lazy hand. He could be asleep, or passed out for all Junhoe knows.

He was kinda jealous, in a weird way. At least this guy was getting some sleep.

He taps his fingers on the marble counter rhythmically, matching the beat of the quiet jazz song playing out of the speakers as he glances back up at the clock.

12:02.

“Man, I really expected a lot more action today.” Yunhyeong speaks up from behind him, leaning on the brick wall of their fancy modern interior, as Donghyuk calls it.

“I might actually take a nap. Think Jinhwan would notice?” Junhoe grumbles, leaning his forehead on his forearms placed on the lower counter. “I’m so sleep deprived, feels like I’m hungover.”

“Didn’t you only start at 6 today?” Yunhyeong asks, fumbling with the coffee machine to start cleaning it up.

Junhoe doesn’t budge. “Yeah, but I had to meet up with my landlord in the morning. Didn’t close my eyes for more than 5 hours.”

Yunhyeong hums admittedly as he pulls out a small container, grinded coffee filling it to the top, and shakes it out into the trash can. He proceeds to clean it. “What did he want this time?”

Finally picking up his head to stand up straight, Junhoe turns around and decides he’ll help washing the glasses he still has left on his trey. “Wants me to pay more rent again due to pipe restorations. Restorations, my ass. The leakage wasn’t nowhere near my floor, had nothing to do with me.”

He takes a sponge and squirts some detergent on it, adjusting the temperature of the water.

Yunhyeong snorts. “What a pinhead.”

Junhoe shrugs, yawning. He’s ready for his shift to be over but time seems to be going by slow just to spite him.

Two girls that were sat at a table closer to the window stand up, picking up their belongings. Junhoe watches as the taller one runs her fingers through her hair and flips it at the ends, fixing the strap of her leather bag on her shoulder. Then they turn to walk towards the two baristas.

“Thanks guys.” One of them smiles, blush pink on her cheeks. Junhoe doesn’t remember how much they’ve drunk, or what he served them. But that doesn’t really matter. “We thought there’s a live band playing tonight, though. Change of plans?”

“Obviously.” Junhoe mumbles, washing another glass, careful not to cut himself on the slightly cracked edge. He makes a mental note to throw that one away later.

“Actually, we postponed that event because the band couldn’t make it. It’s happening two weekends from now.” Junhoe feels a gentle kick on his ankle and Yunhyeong’s suddenly right next to him, replying politely instead of Junhoe with a trained smile on his face.

“Ah.” Both of the girls’ mouths fall open in acknowledgement. “Well, in that case, see you then.” And they wave, walking through the door and out into the late spring night.

Yunhyeong stands there until they hear the door shut closed. Then he walks away to finish cleaning up the coffee machine, humming to the tune of the song that was playing.

Junhoe closes the faucet as he finishes washing the last glass from his small pile. “I’m sorry.” He exhales, voice exhausted.

“You know I got your ass. But if Jinhwan heard you, better believe it’d make him spit nails again. You know he always yaps about being polite to customers.”

“I really don’t do it on purpose. Honest. I’m just so exhausted, makes my short fuse even shorter.” Junhoe reaches up to hang a long glass on the metal holders on the ceiling, a nice touch that made it easy and practical for them to work fast on a busy day.

“I know. Sometimes you just gotta bite your tongue. We both know Jinhwan likes you too much to fire you, but you don’t wanna push his buttons.”

Junhoe decides Yunhyeong is right. When isn’t he, anyway? He just needs a good, long sleep to get some energy back into his system and he’s sure he’ll be able to plaster up a fake polite mask right back onto his face.

They continue cleaning up, Yunhyeong putting things back to their place, taking the small cupcakes from the set out window and throwing them away to make room for the fresh ones in the morning. Junhoe hops one step down from the bar and grabs a lap to start cleaning up the tables one by one.

The drunk that was passed out in the corner a while ago seems to have woken up, coughing up a storm before he slowly stands up and decides to go wherever his legs take him, leaving the cafe empty at last, with the exception of the two baristas in charge to lock up.

Junhoe feels a pinch of glory seeing how idle the night is going thus far, therefore they can clean up and leave earlier than most Fridays. They were oddly lucky to have had that event cancelled; not in the favor of cafe’s earnings, though.

Whenever they had live bands playing, the place got full to the brim. Students and adults all loved live music and getting plastered, ordering rounds after rounds. Breaking glasses with their clumsy hands and arms, spilling drinks all over the floors and tables. Some would pick up fights, some would exchange nasty spit with sloppy kisses and lazy tongues in the darker parts of the room. Bathrooms would get clogged, the air in the small cafe would become steamy and hot. Junhoe absolutely despises working on those nights, yet those are the nights when most of their baristas are needed.

The thing about people partying in Seoul is that, it’s never ending. They can go until 10 am without stopping, and that’s what Junhoe can’t understand. As soon as it hits 4 o’clock, he’s the first one to turn on all the lights and let the guests know it’s time for them to close up. 4 was the staff’s mutually agreed limit, since some of the workers have classes fairly early, and some of them, like Junhoe, just have trouble sleeping in general.

That said, Junhoe was pleasantly surprised when he arrived to work today and Donghyuk let him know the event’s off.

Glancing at the clock for possibly the fifteenth time in the past thirty minutes, he smirks when he sees the numbers glowing a bright 12:43.

Seventeen. Seventeen more minutes.

He closes off the bigger part of the cafe with chairs so he could mop the floor and rid himself a part of additional work after they close.

When he’s done, he sits on a tall stool from the outer side of the bar, leaning his elbows on the cold dark marble.

“Catch.” Yunhyeong tosses him a water bottle.

Junhoe smiles, thankful, as he twists the cap off and takes a few big sips. Some refreshment was just what he needed.

“You watch the bar now while I’m gone, yeah?” Yunhyeong pipes up, Junhoe taking notice of his friend as he proceeds to pull green rubber gloves onto his hands.

“Where you goin’?”

“Bathroom duty.” Yunhyeong shrugs and walks off.

Right, today’s Yunhyeong’s turn for cleaning the toilets. It’s not that Junhoe loves sticking his head into the stinky piss buckets or rubbing all the mirrors sparkly clean. But truth be told, he’d rather be doing that than having to deal with most of their customers at the counter. And that’s saying a lot.

He takes one last look around the cafe to make sure they did everything they had to do, fixing up a few things he’s missed earlier as he peeks at the clock again. Four more minutes.

He sighs and sticks his hand into his back pocket, pulling out his phone while simultaneously playing with the cafe’s keys in his other hand. He checks for any texts or missed calls, but isn’t surprised to find none except for Donghyuk asking him to meet up before work tomorrow. Apparently tomorrow’s gonna be a bit busier, since Jinhwan needs all four of them working.

Just as he’s about to type out his response, he hears the bell jingle as the entrance door opens. His head snaps up at the sudden sound, eyes landing on someone walking towards the bar Junhoe’s guarding. Literally. With his life.

“Evening.” The guy’s lips move lazily, grey hoodie covering most of his face.

Junhoe feels his eye twitch. You have got to be fucking kidding me.

“Hey.” He tries to sound as polite as possible, imagining his bed slowly drifting further and further away, orchestra playing a sorrowful piece reserved for movies ending in tragedy. Dramatic was an understatement.

“When do you guys close?” The nuisance asks, lifting his head up to look at Junhoe. They look around the same age, Junhoe concludes over his simmering exasperation.

“One.” A single word manages to come out of Junhoe’s mouth, observing as the guy leans on top of the counter to stare at their menu with drinks.

Then he lifts up his arm and tugs his sleeve upwards to reveal a shiny watch. “Nice, made it just in time.” He exclaims mirthfully, as if purposely wanting Junhoe’s blood to boil.

“Are you ready to order?” Junhoe tries to loosen his gritted teeth, but the customer doesn’t seem to bat an eye.

Good, at least I don’t have to smile, he thinks.

“Yeah, can I please have… a beer.”

Junhoe blinks.

See, if it wasn’t for Yunhyeong walking out of his toilet duty right at that moment, if it wasn’t for Yunhyeong spotting the customer right in front of Junhoe with metaphorical or literal steam visible on top of Junhoe’s head, or if it wasn’t for Yunhyeong kindly providing the customer with what they ordered, that beer would’ve ended up in this guy’s face.

But thankfully, Yunhyeong’s there to put yet another piece of favors on top of Junhoe’s huge “I’m in your debt” pile and save his ass for the second time today.

Yunhyeong gives the hoodie guy his change as the customer makes for the corner of the cafe.

“Excuse me, sir, could you please take a seat somewhere in this area? We’re closing so I already cleaned that part over there.” Junhoe yells in a booming voice, a lot louder than necessary.

The guy quickly apologizes and hops towards the table Junhoe pointed at. He stops himself from snorting at the guy’s sudden movements.

He watches the annoying hopper take a seat and put his feet on another stool to make himself comfortable, then pulling his hood off his head and leaning backwards.

A light touch averts his attention, Yunhyeong nudging his arm. “You’re staring daggers into his temples.”

“Wish at least this one metaphor of yours would be literal.”

“Come on, it’s not that bad. At least he didn’t order a freaking frappuccino or something.”

“That’s my point, hyung. He could’ve bought the stupid beer literally anywhere else.”

Yunhyeong sighs, rubbing his sweaty hands on his apron.

Junhoe notices the dark eye bags around his friend’s eyes, as well as the slumped way he’s holding himself. Shoulders kinda slouched, completely contrasting the usual perfect posture he bears. His blond hair is tidy and slicked back as it always is on the job, but there’s no doubt that Junhoe isn’t the only one exhausted.

He feels yet another wave of apologetic regret pooling over him.

“Why don’t you, uh… Just go home, and I’ll wait for this guy to leave and lock up?” Junhoe suggests as Yunhyeong looks at him in surprise.

“Why would I do that?”

“Dunno… Just… Get some rest?”

Yunhyeong smiles. “Don’t go around playing my godmother all of a sudden. We’re both equally tired. He’s not gonna be here for that long anyway so there would be no point of me leaving now. And besides, we still have to walk together halfway. You don’t really think I’d go back alone at this time of night, or let you go alone either, do you?” he lands a light flick on the middle of Junhoe’s forehead.

Junhoe frowns with a stubborn pout, looking like a spoiled grown up baby.

He turns to look at the guy sitting at the window table just to see him doodling something into a small, worked up notebook. His hand is moving in a hurried manner, head bopping slightly in silence, as if he’s hearing some kind of music inside of his head. Junhoe can’t decipher if the guy has headphones in. He also notices small curls hopping up and down as he moves his head, obviously very into whatever he’s putting down on those wrinkled up pages.

Junhoe’s body slowly relaxes as the anger starts to dissipate from his body.

He leans his butt on the counter and turns towards Yunhyeong, reaching for one of the cupcakes Yunhyeong saved instead of throwing them away, just like he usually does. “You workin’ tomorrow too, right?”

Yunhyeong nods his head. “Jinhwan’s coming as well. Said he’s gonna be here early cause he’s bringing that one friend of his.”

“The Hanbin dude? You think they hookin’ up?”

Yunhyeong snorts. “God, no. I think they’re high school friends.”

Junhoe nods. “Weird that he hasn’t introduced us before then.”

“Think I remember Jinhwan saying something about him just getting back to Seoul. Dunno, maybe he just moved.” Yunhyeong takes a bottle of water from the fridge. “Also, how are you asking me if they’re hooking up if you know Donghyuk and Jinhwan are like, a thing.”

“A thing, my ass.” Junhoe frowns. “They could be drooling all over each other’s ballsacks and they’d still be too blind to notice.”

Yes, Junhoe isn’t the brightest light in the harbor when it comes to having a love life, but even he can tell his best friends are pining over each other from five miles away. They’re just pussyfooting around, wasting each other’s time and everyone else’s patience.

“Give them time. It’ll happen when they’re ready. Also, don’t be so sure that ballsack thing hasn’t already happened.” Yunhyeong comments, holding his chin with his finger, as if in deep thought.

Junhoe shivers. “Really didn’t need that mental picture. Honest. You’re terrible.”

Yunhyeong puts his hands up in defense. “You’re the one who brought it up.”

The clock hits 1:30 as Junhoe and Yunhyeong keep the light chit chat. They’re both sat at one of the tables close to the register, chins leaning on their palms, legs spread out, tired.

It’s then when they hear their last customer of the night stretch and yawn loudly, Junhoe’s attention dragged towards the noise.

The curly guy slowly stands up, taking another sip of his beer and putting his notebook into his big pocket. He swings the hood back onto his head and politely puts the chair he was sitting on back to its place.

“Sorry for keeping you guys here for so long. Lost track of time.” His voice comes out raspy and low. Junhoe notices the long sleeves covering the guy’s hands. He’s drowning in his four sizes too big of a hoodie.

“No worries, man. You’re not the first nor the last.” Yunhyeong waves his hand dismissively like the polite guy he is. Junhoe doesn’t say anything.

The guy turns to leave, but he accidentally knocks over his bottle of beer and spills some over the table, groaning under his breath. “Shit.”

Junhoe sighs.

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll take care of that.” He somehow manages to energetically jump left right, looking at the spilled beer in panic like he just discovered fire for the first time. Junhoe wonders how one can look so calm and relaxed in one second, and then turn into a rabbit on meth in the next.

The guy proceeds to pull his sleeve over his hand completely, trying to wipe the beer with it.

“Alright, don’t worry, I got it.” Junhoe stands up and grabs a lap from the top of the counter, walking towards the table and wiping it spotless. When he straightens up, the guy is looking at him with an inscrutable expression on his face. Apologetic? Maybe, but what for.

“Sorry.” He repeats again, scratching the back of his head.

“You said that already.” Junhoe deadpans, flipping the lap onto his shoulder and walking behind the counter to put away the empty beer bottle.

The guy stands there awkwardly for a few seconds, switching his weight from one foot to the other. His sharp eyes look blank, dark, somehow saddening, but at the same time alive. Shoulders slouching a bit, appearing quite small in his baggy pants and huge Nike sneakers, yet Junhoe can tell his broad back is adorned by bulks of muscle, traveling from his neck all the way down his arms.

He kinda looks standoffish, lost. Junhoe doesn’t think it’s because of him, no. It looks natural, as if he’s just normally not interested in other people or having any interaction with them.

“It’s fine, don’t apologize.” Yunhyeong adds on as he stands up as well.

The guy nods and thanks them both politely, finally scuttering out through the door, the tiny bell ringing into the quiet night as another tiring day comes to an end.

~

Junhoe looks out the window at the sun beaming through the clear glass, glistening over the peaceful coffee shop with its radiant sun rays. The weather seems to be warmer than the previous days, afternoon hours starting to look more colorful, as if saturated right in front of his eyes.

He’s been working for barely an hour but he can already tell today’s going to be better. Because, for one, he got more sleep than usual.

He can’t remember the last time he got more than six hours of sleep. The constant nipping in the back of his head, drowning him with thoughts, slapping and kicking at his mind as he tosses and turns in his bed, sweat collecting on his forehead profusely despite the cold air in his room because he just can’t fall sleep.

He’s abandoned his sleeping medication, probably out of spite, but would never admit that to himself. Donghyuk says he’s just being stubborn.

Either way, six and a half hours of sleep are something he’s currently proud of, so he tries to go about today positively. Glass is half full, or however else that crap goes, he doesn’t know.

“What I’m trying to say-“ Donghyuk proclaims loudly, in order to quiet Yunhyeong down, “You just don’t do that when it’s only the first date.”

Junhoe doesn’t know what they’re arguing about since he’s been zoned out, so he just leans his chin on his palm, turning towards his three friends and deciding to listen instead.

Yunhyeong’s eyes widen. “Why not?! It was perfectly okay for me to do that!”

“No, what would be okay is if you, I don’t know, slept over or… made him dinner.” Donghyuk’s face is earnest. He’s trying to prove a point here.

“It was just an innocent game that popped up on my feed! Why is it such a big deal!” Yunhyeong’s voice comes out panicked as he crosses his arms on his chest.

Jinhwan speaks up in a calming tone. “You mashed your faces together to see what your child would look like… Though I believe your intentions were innocent because I know you, he was probably freaked out.”

Junhoe snorts quietly.

“He probably thought things were moving too fast.” Donghyuk adds on, leaning his back on the edge of the sink.

“Oh, you two should know about things moving too fast, huh?” Junhoe pipes up with a smirk, smiling in a goofy manner.

The two baristas standing next to each other blush, Jinhwan swiftly looking around to find himself something to do. Donghyuk clears his throat and walks over to Junhoe, smacking his thigh.

“Ouch.” Junhoe exclaims without any truth to it, laughing at the color of his friend’s face.

Yunhyeong fumbles with his apron after wiping the top of the counter where a customer was just sitting. “He still gave me head, so you’re both spouting horseshit.”

“Okay, let it go.” Donghyuk giggles, covering Junhoe’s ears.

“I’m not a baby.” Junhoe flaps Donghyuk’s hands away. “I’ve seen more dicks in the last three months than you have in your life.”

“Daddy fucks twink on pornhub doesn’t count as seeing dicks.”

“You little—“

“If you three don’t quiet down right now.” Jinhwan interrupts them with a threatening shaking fist as they were both starting to get too loud for the customers. “Junhoe, the register.” He averts Junhoe’s attention to a customer waiting in line to order.

Junhoe jumps and quickly scurries over to his asserted spot. “Hello, sir, would you like to order?” He asks, politely smiling at the tall guy with glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. His shiny black hair combed backwards is a contrast to his white button up shirt that’s tucked neatly into his pants.

“Yeah, uh, can I get a soy latte, with extra sugar?” He rumbles, eyes scanning Junhoe from head to waist, and would probably go lower if there wasn’t for the bar counter in between them.

Junhoe types on the touch screen in front of him, pressing buttons to put down the guy’s order. “Of course, anything else?” He asks, Yunhyeong already walking past him to start making the drink.

“Your number?”

Junhoe wastes actual energy in order to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “I’m sorry, sir. I’m at work right now. If you wouldn’t like to order anything else, please proceed in that direction while we finish your drink.”

The guy’s jaw clenches at the rejection as he blinks at Junhoe. “I can just leave you my number, then.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Junhoe smiles a bit passive aggressively, he was never good at mastering the art of swallowing down annoyance and anger in front of rude customers. That was Yunhyeong and Donghyuk’s specialty. Hence why they always joke about how Junhoe should’ve been hired here as security instead of a barista.

Working at a cafe, having to initiate constant contact with people also meant unwanted attempts of charming. Whether it be girls or guys, Junhoe’s been hit on more times than he can recall. He’s learned how to not get flustered by it by now, knows that he should just try to ignore them while still providing them with the service that his job requires of him.

It’s, after all, how he met his ex. Who he doesn’t like to think about, or spare another second of his time on. That was a time of his life when he liked to use sex as a distraction, or a cure for his problems in life, troubling thoughts and sleepless nights.

He hadn’t realized love wasn’t the factor in that relationship, in fact, it was quite the opposite. He was being used and emotionally abused without batting an eye to it, until it became obvious once his friends finally made him see.

Junhoe completely disregards the flirty guy’s next attempt as he looks at the customer that’s waiting next, already smiling at the short girl with red hair. “Hello, what would you like to order?”

“I’ll take it from here, go on your break.” He feels a hand on his shoulder and sees Jinhwan fixing up his own name tag on his chest.

It isn’t as busy at this time of day so they usually take breaks in pairs before the big wave of customers starts flooding in.

“Alright, thanks.” Junhoe nods and unties his apron that’s hanging from his hips, throwing it on the small stool at the corner of their bar. He walks over to their snacks area and grabs a croissant, turning over to see Donghyuk waving him over to the table by the wall.

“So today I’m stuck with you, huh?” Junhoe half jokes, sitting down next to his friend.

Donghyuk shrugs. “What happened over there?”

Junhoe crosses his ankles under the table, leaning his elbows on top of it. “Another day, another entitled idiot.”

“Was he trying to make a move on you?”

“Dunno, wasn’t really paying attention to him.”

Donghyuk sighs. “You’re too hot for your own good.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Junhoe frowns, gaping.

Donghyuk laughs, looking at his lunch before taking a small bite.

“Not my fault they all forget their manners because their dicks take the initiative.” Junhoe mumbles and dives into his croissant, eyes traveling above Donghyuk’s head and landing on the pissed off glasses guy who currently looks like someone trampled over his ego. He lets out a quiet snicker.

“Think Jinhwan might let us go early tonight.” Donghyuk averts Junhoe’s attention back to him, fingers picking at his sandwich.

Junhoe raises his eyebrows. “How come?”

“We’re not busy at all. That new club opened down the road so I guess people thought that’d be more fun than our open mic.”

“Our open mic nights are the only reason I manage to stay at this job during my night shifts.” Junhoe almost yells offendedly, eyes burning into his friend.

“I know.” Donghyuk continues. “It’ll probably go back to normal in a week or two when the club’s hype calms down.”

“I’m not complainin’. At least I get to bust my ass off less than usual.”

They finish their break soon after that, stomachs half full. Or, in Junhoe’s case, empty because what the hell is a croissant gonna do to fill his hungry needs.

Time goes by quite fast with his friends constantly bickering about this and that, joking around, making plans no one is sure will ever come true due to all of their busy lives.

Junhoe isn’t sure they’d be this close if they didn’t work together. Donghyuk and Yunhyeong are attending college so if they’re not working they’re usually in class. Jinhwan owns the coffee shop so it means he needs to be here most of the time and take care of things. Junhoe’s the only one who somewhat has free time when he’s not on the job, but he still chooses to spend it right here because that’s where everyone usually is.

The small cafe has become their meetup spot, their hangout spot, their fun spot. They drink there, they have fun there, they work there. Everything just sort of happens… there. So that’s why, even when Junhoe doesn’t have to come in, his legs subconsciously take him to the oh so familiar coffee shop. Sometimes they stay there way past the closing hours, enjoying the alcohol and having fun. It’s just how it works for them.

The clock hits 12:30 before he knows it. The sun is long gone, the bright colorful city falling into darkness as the moon graces the sky elegantly. Cars are passing by the shop’s windows more frequently than on any other night, but that was expected since it’s Saturday. Every once in a while you could hear a group of young people laughing and yelling on the street, probably going home, or just now going out into the world.

Junhoe, Donghyuk, Yunhyeong and Jinhwan are all sitting by a table, the rest of the cafe completely empty. Some old school rap music is playing out of the speakers as Junhoe violently shakes his head to the beat, humoring the other three.

Yunhyeong then stands up. “We’re closing soon. Can you show me how to fix that machine in the staff room now?” He asks Jinhwan.

The older boy nods. “Junhoe, you come too. You should all know how to manage it in case it breaks down again. Donghyuk you stay by the register, okay?”

They all shuffle into the room with the shake machine and watch as Jinhwan takes random tools to prepare. Honestly, Junhoe isn’t sure why he’s being expected to memorize this process, everything he’s being told is entering his mind through one ear and shooting out of his mind through the other. He’s positive if he tried to fix it he’d only make it worse.

Jinhwan goes on and on about which button they’re supposed to press at which time, which part to empty because it becomes unhygienic, which place they’re supposed to pour a certain chemical that cleans the thing spotless. Instead of paying attention, Junhoe just stands there and dazes off, wondering what time it is by now.

As he switches his balance from one foot to the other and scratches his neck, he hears a hiss.

“Shit!” Jinhwan is holding his hand with a pained expression on his face.

“Crap, let me see!” Yunhyeong is quick as he looks at the scratch on Jinhwan’s palm. “It’s not deep, you’re fine. Donghyuk should be able to fix you up.”

“Let me go get him.” Junhoe hurries towards the door, reentering the cafe to find Donghyuk peeking towards him.

“I heard something.” He says, confused.

“Jinhwan hurt his hand, go patch him up while I watch over.” Junhoe lets him know as he swats him towards the staff room.

“Wh- Is he okay?” Donghyuk stutters, looking backwards as Junhoe keeps hustling him.

“Why don’t you make five steps ahead and find out.” He complains at his friend’s density.

Donghyuk doesn’t say much after that, disappearing into the back.

Cold breeze catches up to Junhoe’s arms as he involuntarily shivers, rubbing his forearms with his hands. He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror on the backside of the bar, half of his black fringe falling over his forehead and the other half still combed neatly. His work attire graces his toned body like it was tailored just for him, accentuating his broad shoulders, sleeves stopping right above the strong curve of his arm muscles.

The dark slope of fatigue is evident below his eyes, dimly lit ceiling lights casting shadows under his cheekbones, making him look skinnier than he actually is. Despite looking like he hasn’t slept in months, which - in fact, he hasn't, his skin still shines. But then again, that can as well be grease from all the time he’s spent in this closed up area running around making coffees all day.

He sighs, realizing he hasn’t been doing anything in order to keep himself fit and healthy lately. He’s become a couch potato, eating fast food in his bed and laying around all day. Even at work he barely eats anything proper, always a muffin or a croissant, maybe a cupcake. He hasn’t eaten a cooked meal since forever.

The noise effect of a ticking digital clock seizes his attention, numbers glowing a pretty 12:50. He contemplates just locking up right now, but decides against it, since he can’t legally or morally do that. Jinhwan would scream up a storm.

So he settles on taking a bite of a chocolate cupcake that he takes from the set out window, stomach growling from hunger as he realizes he hasn’t eaten anything short of a croissant during break and a poor sandwich when he woke up in the morning.

He hears racket coming from the back as his three friends reemerge noisily, yapping about some kind of event Junhoe wasn’t familiar with.

Donghyuk drapes an arm over Junhoe’s shoulders heavily, tugging him down a bit with his weight. “Junhoe’s on my side with this, 100%.”

“What?” Junhoe’s voice comes out monotonous.

Jinhwan starts explaining something about pickles on pizza and Junhoe decides he definitely does not want to be a part of that conversation right now. He has no clue how his friends end up on topics as random as this one, probably Yunhyeong’s doing. He looks towards the door just as a dark silhouette stands behind it, knob pressing down as the bell chimes when the door moves past it.

A slouched guy in baggy pants and huge Nike sneakers walks in, this time a dark violet hoodie draped over his head. A big, scrunched up notebook is sticking out from the waistline of his pants that are secured with a leather belt.

“Are you fucking-“ Yunhyeong pulls Junhoe to the side before Junhoe can finish his wrathful outburst.

“Hello, how can I help you?” He provides the typical polite approach as he gives the newcomer his order, which is, yet again another beer that he could’ve gotten anywhere else.

Junhoe shoots lasers towards their direction as Donghyuk giggles next to him. “What’s up with you?”

Yunhyeong returns from the register after the customer took a seat at one of the tables. “He’s got inconspicuous beef with this guy.”

“Was he a bad fuck?” Jinhwan asks directly, Junhoe’s eyes threatening to pop out of their sockets, lost for words.

“Did his bubblegum get stuck in your pubes while he was sucking you off?” Donghyuk cackles, earning himself a punch on the shoulder from Yunhyeong.

“First of all, that was one time. And it was painful.” Yunhyeong whines in a loud voice.

“Wh- No, I- He- This is the second time he comes here right before we close and then sits there for hours with his beer that he could’ve gotten anywhere else in the damn city.” Junhoe stutters through his teeth angrily, eyes never leaving the curly guy sipping his drink at the opposite side of the room.

“Okay, he was only here for like 20 minutes yesterday. Don’t exaggerate.” Yunhyeong cuts in. “Besides, he’s a nice guy. Even wanted to clean up the spilled beer with his sleeve.”

“Doesn’t sound nice to me if he makes me work overtime because he’s lazy to take five more steps to the store on the corner.” Junhoe pouts stubbornly for being called out as Donghyuk and Jinhwan try to keep their laughter in.

“He kinda looks familiar.” Jinhwan frowns, trying to put the pieces of his memory together. “It’s weird, I don’t usually forget people that look like that.”

Donghyuk looks at him. “Look like what?”

Yunhyeong cuts in. “Hot.”

Junhoe rolls his eyes at his friends. “Yunhyeong, weren’t you just on a date with the guy whose face you used to create your imaginary child with?”

Yunhyeong gasps, offended. “Been there, done that.” He states. “I’m open for anyone who’s willing to win me over.”

Junhoe lets his forehead fall on the counter, resting his mind. “Can this guy just leave.” He whines like a baby, peeking at the curly guy who’s dribbling into his notebook just like the day prior.

To his surprise, he stands up, walking right towards the four baristas that are hurdled up behind the counter. His eyes seem sharper than yesterday, determined. Like he’s been awakened from a really energizing sleep.

Junhoe panics, eyes shaking from left to right as he realizes all of his colleagues are behind him
and he’s the one being forced to encounter the curly head with whatever he wanted on his own.

“Hey.” The guy speaks, voice just as low and raspy as the day prior.

“Hey.” Junhoe croaks, still slightly taken aback from the sudden approach. He never knows how to act when he’s put on the spot.

The guy slips his hood off of his head and runs his fingers through his loose curls, taking a seat on one of the high stools by the bar. Junhoe notices the eyebrow piercing glistening in the dimmed lighting. “I need your advice.”

Junhoe blinks. “My- What?”

“Your advice.” Curly hair repeats, matter-of-factly. “What rhymes with I like you?”

“I’m gonna punch you?” Junhoe blurts out, face turning red. He hears Yunhyeong snort behind him.

“I’m not trying to hit on you.” The guy waves his hands in the air so fast Junhoe thinks he might get whiplash. “Honest. I’m tryna write a song.”

“And you need my advice because I’m the songwriter of the year or something?” Junhoe lifts an eyebrow, scowling at the guy, unimpressed.

Curly hair’s face goes from attentive to playful, eyes softening as his lips curl into a smile. “Just got a hunch about you.” He shrugs.

A wave of heat flashes over Junhoe’s face and he isn’t sure why. A hunch about me.

“I can’t write. Don’t ask me. Just go finish your song so we can lock up and I can go home.” His eyes avert from the guy’s face and he looks down at his own fidgeting hands.

“Oh, sure you can write, Junhoe. What about all those notebooks filled with your heartfelt poetry?” Donghyuk chimes in, leaning his chin on his palm right next to Junhoe as he flutters his eyelashes.

“You want poetry? I’ll deck you in the face.” He hisses at Donghyuk as the curly guy in front of them chuckles.

“Okay, no worries. Just thought I’d try my luck.” He lifts up his hands in defense as he stands up from the stool, locking eyes with Junhoe in a way that seemed both intense and challenging at the same time. Junhoe breaks the contact by shooing Donghyuk away.

“Anyway, I’ll be going now, then.” He says and then turns around to grab his beer and notebook on the table he was earlier sitting at. This time he doesn’t knock the bottle over.

The quiet sounds of him walking on the wooden floor as well as the rustling noise of the paper being crumpled up when he picks up his beat up notebook and sticks it into his pocket fill the room. Junhoe wonders who turned off the music from the speakers as he realizes how quiet it’s gotten.

The customer fixes his hoodie back on top of his head as he rubs a hand over his face. Then he seems to check if he’s got everything in his pockets and suddenly Junhoe feels awkward as he realizes all four of them are just quietly staring at this random weird dude picking up his things.

He wants to turn around and actually do something when the nuisance speaks again. “Until when do you work today?”

“Until ten minutes ago.” He answers quickly, leaning his chin on his palm. “We work until 1 on the weekends and until midnight on regular days.”

The guy’s eyes travel over the ceiling as he processes the information. “Cool.”

“Cool.” Yunhyeong repeats behind Junhoe and they both nod their heads like idiots.

“Okay, well, see you around.” The guy finally states as he waves and exits the cafe, doors closing with a quiet sound as Junhoe hurries to lock it.

When he turns back around, he’s faced with his three friends giving him the devil’s grin. “What?”

They all scatter around, mumbling excuses about what they still have to do around the shop before they go home, and Junhoe joins them, ready to pass out.

“By the way, guys, don’t forget tomorrow’s the open mic.” Jinhwan reminds them, yelling from the back where he’s going over some papers. “I’m also bringing Hanbin so you can finally meet him.”

“Wasn’t he supposed to come today?” Donghyuk asks as he finishes up stacking the paper tissues under the sink.

“Yeah, but he’s coming tomorrow.” Jinhwan explains dryly and no one asks much after that.

They finish cleaning up quite soon after, deciding to treat themselves with a relaxing drink before they finally go home.

~

The night is warm, streets empty. Street lights are shining brightly down the edge of the road, one of them right in front of the small cafe Junhoe’s currently wiping a table in.

He’s on mic duty today, so it means he’s expected to set up their small stage and bring their mic up, get everything ready for the night. That was five hours ago though, and currently they’re deep into the night of random strangers singing their heart out on stage, hoping to get their big break or just having a laugh with their friends.

Junhoe cleans up the table he was standing by and then looks towards the far end of the cafe where a small wooden stage is set up, ceiling lights shining right at it but not too heavily. The atmosphere is great, lots of chatter in the air, people clinking their glasses and laughing. There’s a birthday party in a small booth by the window, Junhoe knows because the group of young people ordered a champagne and they brought in a cake. Five of the people have birthday caps secured on their head, and the birthday girl is wearing a tiara.

There’s been about four candidates up on the stage so far, an older guy strumming his guitar calmly as he serenaded a ballad, a girl who decided to bring up the atmosphere with Queen’s We Will Rock You, and two friends who sang a heart wrenching love duet that was probably from an old musical or something.

Contrary to the expectations, Junhoe enjoys listening to numerous untalented, screeching, out of tune people gripping the mic tightly and singing their heart out up there. It might not appeal to someone else, might not be pleasant to one’s ears, but Junhoe thinks that’s the beauty of it. It’s just people having fun, enjoying their time, living their life. It helps him loosen up a bit, get rid of the knots in his mind that keep him up at nights.

So he walks back to the bar and leans his elbows on top, glancing towards the small stairs by the stage to see if there’s any more volunteers. Not for now, he concludes, as upbeat music starts playing out of the big speakers, announcing a short break.

“Excuse me.” He hears someone say to his left as he quickly straightens up.

A girl in her twenties stands there, red lipstick perfectly shaping her round lips and her long, brown hair falling beautifully down her chest. “Can I get another daiquiri?” She grins, eyes hooded.

Junhoe smiles. “Sure thing, comin’ right up.”

He walks over to their cocktail designated area, avoiding bumping into Yunhyeong and Donghyuk who were busy serving the customers, maneuvering trays full of drinks. He grabs a bottle of rum and measures the exact amount needed, then pours it into a shaker. He does the same with the lime juice and demerara sugar syrup, in the end adding ice. When he’s done shaking it until it’s well chilled, he pours it into a coupe, adding a lime twist on the edge.

He puts all the ingredients back to their place in order to avoid a huge mess that would otherwise occur, and takes the drink to give it to the girl still waiting by the bar.

“Here you go, miss.” He offers. “That’ll be eight thousand five hundred won, please.”

She hands him the cash and Junhoe gives her back her change as she smiles. “Thanks. Also, I hope I don’t sound rude, but” she bites her lip, “my friend over there likes you. I was wondering if you wanted to join us on your break? Or maybe when you’re off work?”

Junhoe blinks. “Oh-“ He starts, gathering all the information in his brain. “Sorry, but I can't.”

The girl’s smile falters a bit. “Come on, I promise we’re a fun bunch! You can just get to know us all!” She sounds energetic and positive, Junhoe will give her that.

The thing is, maybe he would have agreed if the circumstances were different. If he was interested. If he didn’t refuse to have any other plans except sleeping and coming to work, the process repeating every day. But that’s all there is to Junhoe’s life right now.

So he refuses again. “‘M sure you’re a great group of people, but… Just not interested in going out right now.”

The girl’s lips press into a thin line as she nods at the rejection. “Okay then. Have a great night.” She lifts up her glass at Junhoe and twirls around to join her friends again.

Junhoe catches a glimpse of Jinhwan by his side, smiling like in pain. It looks more like a grimace than a smile, and Junhoe knows it’s meant for the encounter that’s just occured. “You doin’ good?”

Junhoe nods. “Yeah, it’s not as chaotic as it usually gets.”

Jinhwan agrees as they both scan the cafe. “Hanbin just texted me he’s outside.” He then states, squinting towards the entrance door.

Junhoe would help in spotting Jinhwan’s friend but he was no use since he has no idea what the guy looks like. But soon enough the barista by his side smiles, waving towards a crowd of people, a sinewy guy making his way through. His hair looked stubbornly wild yet not quite messy, a perfect in between. It was long enough to almost cover his ears entirely, wavy fringe laying on top of his forehead and framing his face. His black tee fit him well, a red bandana tied around his neck. Or it could be a scarf, Junhoe doesn’t care.

He looks directly at the two baristas behind the counter and his lips spread into a wide smile, exposing a row of perfectly white teeth, eyes closing in the process. “Hey.”

“You made it.” Jinhwan greets back as his friend takes a seat in front of them. “This is Junhoe.” He looks to his right and Junhoe’s already nodding his head.

“Hey, I’m Junhoe.” He repeats, putting out his hand after he wipes it on his apron.

“Hanbin.” Hanbin shakes his hand.

“Whatcha want to drink?” Jinhwan asks, voice a bit louder than normal due to loud music.

Hanbin rests his palm on his knee as his elbow sticks up, slouching a bit. It reminds Junhoe of the way his grandpa used to sit. “Give me some juice.”

“We’ve got all the juice you can think of.” Junhoe spreads his arms towards their liquor stash right behind him.

“No, I mean like, actual juice. I can’t really drink.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll just bring you something non alcoholic.” Jinhwan cuts in and walks off.

Junhoe leans on the counter in front of Hanbin, kicking the bottom of the counter lightly with the tips of his toes. “So, ya moved back here recently?”

“Yeah, my family moved out of Seoul after I graduated and now that I’m finally on my own I got to move back.”

“Interesting. So I take it you got a job here right?”

Hanbin nods, pursing his bottom lip out in acknowledgment. “I mean, kinda. One of my friend’s got a studio here and I compose there.”

Junhoe’s eyebrows lift up in surprise. “Compose? That’s sick!”

There’s a shy smile spreading over Hanbin’s face as he looks down.

Jinhwan comes back holding Yunhyeong with one hand and holding a soda in his other. “Here you go.” He says and Hanbin thanks his friend for the drink. “By the way, this is Yunhyeong.”

Yunhyeong smiles the same charming, beautiful, irresistible smile that only he owns as he puts out his hand for Hanbin to shake. “Nice to finally be able to connect the name to the face.”

“Likewise.” Junhoe notices Hanbin studying Yunhyeong’s face kind of intently.

“Okay, well, Yunhyeong you can take your break now.” Jinhwan announces right after, and the three of them stay chatting there when Junhoe goes back to work.

After a few hours people start to dissipate, the open mic coming to an end after a few more singers showed what they were capable of. Now there’s a much calmer atmosphere as the wild euphoria finally settled down, all four baristas and their newly made friend chit chatting by the register.

They’re talking about Hanbin’s weird hiking adventure when they hear the door open, signaling a new customer. Junhoe excuses himself as he’s the one covering the register tonight, walking towards his designed spot just to see a familiar guy in a plain white tee, a denim jacket hugging his shoulders and broad back, looking a bit lost. His eyes are innocent and wide as he looks around the cafe, probably looking for a free spot.

“Ooh.” He hears Donghyuk sing song from a few meters away. Junhoe internally rolls his eyes at his friend’s absurdity.

The curly haired guy finally decides to walk up to the register, eyes locking with Junhoe’s. “Hey.”

Junhoe presses his lips into a thin line before he answers. “Hey. Would you like to order a beer?”

The guy sits right in front of Junhoe and snickers, eyes scrunching up into crescents. “Sure, thanks.” He takes his old notebook out of his pocket and immediately opens it, turning the pages until he finds the right one.

Junhoe stares at him for a second, catching his own self by surprise, then shaking his head and walking away to get the guy’s drink.

He walks next to his friends and opens the small fridge that’s placed next to the counter, noticing everyone staring at him.

“What’s going on?” Hanbin asks, confused as to what on earth all of them were being so secretive for.

“The hottie’s got the hots for this hotheaded idiot.” Donghyuk explains.

“Yeah, see that guy over there writing in his notebook? He keeps coming here right before we close and it’s driving Junhoe insane.” Yunhyeong adds on.

“Or is it?” Donghyuk wiggles his eyebrows up at Junhoe and Hanbin’s mouth forms an “o”, finally grasping the situation.

Junhoe loses control over his face. “It is driving me
insane, you twatheads.”

“Okay, we believe you.” Jinhwan yells, putting his hands up in defense. Junhoe walks away and catches Jinhwan mimicking to the others the opposite of what was just said, but decides to ignore them.

He puts the beer bottle in front of the curly guy with a clink against the marble. “Here ya go.”

“Thanks.” He rasps out, not looking up from his notebook as his hand moves furiously over the paper. Junhoe notices the entire left page scribbled out, words crossed over, rows and rows of letters and verses. There are some doodles, Junhoe can’t decipher what they’re supposed to represent so he subconsciously leans closer in order to see. Smiley faces? Characters? Just random facial expressions? Could be anything. The handwriting is sloppy and shaky, barely distinctive.

“You gonna jump into the page?” Junhoe startles and snaps his eyes off the paper as the curly guy speaks suddenly.

He feels his face start to burn. “Um- I didn’t mean to-“ his voice is booming again. “-pry… Or something.”

“I don’t mind. Just looked like you were about to fall over.” The curly hair smiles in a charming manner and Junhoe can’t believe he just used those words to describe it in his head.

“I wasn’t.” He assures, feeling the heat on his face. He swears his ears are red right now.

“Your ears are red.” The guy points his pencil in Junhoe’s direction. Junhoe insists he just saw his eyes sparkle.

This pernickety, shameless little- “Thanks for pointing it out.” His voice gets louder the more flustered he gets.

Curly hair squints his eyes as he studies Junhoe for a few seconds, Junhoe’s stubborn, stupid blush only growing worse as Junhoe sinks lower and lower into his embarrassment. “Looks like today isn’t an off day for you.”

“That’s because no one’s walked in 2 minutes before I’m supposed to go home.”

Curly hair studies him again with a soft, playful smile. Junhoe feels exposed, the intense stare coming from the guy’s sharp, dark eyes makes him want to hide himself in a shell like a turtle.

Their proximity is so close Junhoe can see his face so clearly, skin dark and shiny, nose small and slightly rounded at the tip, lips plump and red. He’s got strong bone structure, perfect cheekbones. A shiny metal piercing on his left eyebrow. Junhoe averts his eyes away from the intense eyes, wanting to just get away.

“I’m Bobby.” Curly hair then says, snapping Junhoe out of his daze.

“Cool.” Junhoe barely rasps out, like a screeching cat.

Bobby nods his head as if he’s jamming to a beat, looking at Junhoe expectedly as he opens up his palm, gesturing for Junhoe to speak.

Junhoe shakes his head, a big question mark floating above his head. “What?! I have to go back to work.”

“Junhoe, there’s a customer waiting to order.” Jinhwan yells from a few meters away, his friends visibly tampering with him.

“Thanks.” Junhoe yells back passive aggressively, the gratitude as real as Yunhyeong’s platinum blond hair.

He doesn’t spare Bobby another glance because he decides he doesn’t want to deal with that anymore, so he turns to the new customer to get them their drink.

As he’s done making the caramel macchiato, he turns around to Bobby clicking his pen on the counter top, eyes set on him. He walks right past the inconvenience and off the bar, serving the man his coffee.

When he walks back, Bobby’s gone back to his scribbling and Junhoe lets out a sigh of relief, rejoining his friends on the further side of the counter.

“Welcome back, Casanova.” Jinhwan provokes, clinking his glass with Junhoe’s beer bottle.

“Fuck off.” Junhoe bites back without any malice to it. “He’s annoying.”

“He was undisputedly checking you out.” Yunhyeong laughs loudly, cheeks already rosy from the alcohol he’s drunk so far. It’s funny because Jinhwan usually lets them drink on the job by the end of the open mics when people start leaving, but all it takes for Yunhyeong is half a bottle of soju and he’s a goner.

“Do you think he’s writing love songs about Junhoe in that notebook?” Donghyuk pipes up, earning himself a glare from Junhoe who’s clenching his jaw.

“Is he a songwriter?” Hanbin asks curiously. Junhoe notices his arm resting on the back of the chair Yunhyeong is sitting on.

“He said he was trying to write a song yesterday.” Jinhwan provides, Hanbin nodding in understanding.

Junhoe flaps his hands in the air in the middle of them all. “Can we not talk about Bobby? You’re all like old neighbor grandmas exchanging rumors to each other over their windows.”

Jinhwan smirks. “Bobby? Oh, they’re on name basis now.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t just yell my name across the entire cafe on purpose when he was talking to me.” Junhoe deadpans, staring at Jinhwan who recoils towards Donghyuk a little.

“We’re just sayin’, Junhoe. Maybe it’s time for you to let loose a lil. Live a lil. Have fun.” Donghyuk’s tone becomes gentler, careful not to tip Junhoe off.

Junhoe disregards him, scoffing. “Whatever.”

He notices another customer approaching the bar so he gets up to serve them, creating a wall in his mind to stop himself from thinking.

~

“I dunno, I haven’t eaten this morning and I think I might need an ambulance if I don’t bite something right this second.” Yunhyeong holds his stomach as they walk out of the subway station near Yunhyeong’s university.

Junhoe sympathizes, stomach grumbling in response. “Should we get kimbap takeout?”

The streets are buzzing, traffic at its peak. People are walking past them in a fast pace, everyone having somewhere to be. The sun is shining directly into Junhoe’s eyes and he regrets not wearing a short sleeved shirt. He’s sweating his balls off.

It’s always busiest at this time of day, yet they had no choice but to blend with the crowd and get to work. The routine is always the same, Yunhyeong’s classes finish by three o’clock at max, Junhoe picks him up somewhere on the way and they get food before they go to Jinhwan’s for their shift. The two of them mostly share their shifts so the walks to work and back home together have become a habit.

“I’m really feelin’ fried chicken right now, though.” Yunhyeong looks across the road at the huge letters spelling Mexicana Chicken as both of their mouths water.

Junhoe ate about an hour ago and he swears he isn’t that hungry, but walking down the streets of Seoul and getting hit in the face with all the street food aromas in the air, it messes with your brain and your stomach. “I don’t care what we eat, just as long as we do it now.”

They get their little takeout boxes with chicken, neither of them being able to wait another 10 minutes until they get to work as they both dive in, chewing like their life depends on it.

“Hanbin’s gonna stop by the cafe tonight.” Yunhyeong says mid bite, catching Junhoe’s attention.

“Hm?” He hums. “What’s cookin’?”

Yunhyeong smiles the shy smile, the one he does when he’s embarrassed. “We’re just hanging out.”

Junhoe laughs a loud, high pitched ha ha into the sky. “Look at you, getting it.”

“We haven’t done anything. Shut up.”

“It’s been, like what- four days? And you’re tellin’ me you haven’t even seen each other’s doodaloodles?” Junhoe takes another bite of his delicious lunch.

Yunhyeong cringes at the name. “We’re getting to know each other first.”

“Cute.”

“Shut up.”

They reach Jinhwan’s, entering the nicely climated cafe as they both cool off from the heat outside.

“Hey, sup.” Chanwoo greets them from behind the register, small smile playing on his lips. His dark hair seems shorter, he probably got a haircut.

They usually see Chanwoo when their shifts intertwine with each other, since he works morning until 5 when they switch. On rare occasions they share shifts with each other, but Chanwoo’s classes are usually in the afternoon, so it doesn’t give them much time to hang out.

“Hey, Woo.” Yunhyeong greets back, walking over the bar into the ‘staff only’ room, Junhoe and Chanwoo following behind.

“We’ve got smoothies on sale today, so it might get a bit busy later.” Chanwoo warns them as both of the boys whine in despair of the news.

Junhoe finishes his bite of chicken and puts the box into his locker, getting out of his shirt to put on his uniform.

The day does get a bit busy. Junhoe’s in charge of serving tables and cleaning up the lobby, since today’s Thursday. He runs around with a tray in his hand, memorizing complicated orders with special wishes, connecting them to the tables he’s supposed to bring them to. He also cleans the tables whenever someone leaves, but it gets more difficult once people start coming in like a flood, making him lose track of who’s new and who’s leaving.

Yunhyeong’s handling the register, unable to help out with the drinks due to the infinite line of people waiting to order, so Junhoe and Donghyuk are on their own, scurrying around trying not to mix everything up or make people wait for too long. Donghyuk handles the takeout drinks, yelling out names written on the plastic cups, whereas Junhoe handles the table orders.

He’s a bit exhausted by the time another wave of people clears out and he finally gets to sit by the counter and have a sip of water. “Damn, work days are supposed to be chill.”

“It’s probably because of the sale. They swamp in like wasps.” Donghyuk has droplets of sweat on his forehead, the AC clearly not helping too much.

“It should be alright from now on, it’s gonna be dinner time soon so people are mostly going home.” Yunhyeong takes a glance around the half full cafe, estimating the situation. “Junhoe, isn’t it your time for break?”

Junhoe jumps excitedly, jogging to grab his box of chicken as he walks back and takes a seat by one of the tables. They aren’t usually allowed to take breaks in the costumer's area but they always do it regardless, giving Jinhwan the excuse of their changing room feeling too stuffy and dark.

There’s a vibration in his lap and he startles before he realizes he had stuffed his phone in the pocket of his apron, taking it out to see a text from his sister.

“I think Bbangdaeng misses you, she keeps chewing on one of your socks. When are ya gonna come visit?”

Junhoe stares at the letters on his screen, face blank. He misses Bbangdaeng, and his sister, mom and dad. He hasn’t seen them in months, can’t remember when the last time was. But that’s how it goes, right? When you move out on your own and barely make the ends meet, you can’t just waste your money on travel costs.

He sighs.

His fingers hover over the reply button when he hears shuffling in front of him as someone slides into his booth, placing a tall glass of frappuccino on the table in between them.

“Hope you don’t mind.” Bobby’s smirking up at Junhoe as Junhoe startles, dropping his phone in front of him. He turns around himself to take a look at the other tables, spotting about five other empty ones right off the bat.

“I really like this spot by the window.” He explains before Junhoe gets to ask, knocking lightly at the clear glass window next to him.

Junhoe squints his eyes for a second. “Okay, I’ll just move then.”

Bobby puts a long spoon into his glass and starts swirling his drink. “No, that’s okay. I don’t mind you sitting here. You were here first.”

Junhoe stops midway out of the booth, conflicted. He freezes, sitting awkwardly and then settles on staring at his fried chicken. “I’m on my break.”

Bobby nods. “I know.”

They avoid eye contact.

“I’ll be going in about fifteen minutes.” He adds on lamely.

“That’s alright. Your shift’s still not over though, right?”

“Nope. Work ‘til closing.”

Bobby nods again.

Junhoe sneaks a look at Bobby, his plain white shirt looks thin and soft, his hair curly and shiny, some of the curls falling over his forehead. Junhoe can see the muscles on his arms now, since they’re bare. There’s a watch hugging his left wrist, a bunch of huge, shiny random rings gracing his fingers on both hands. Junhoe doesn’t think he’s seen anyone’s skin looking as nice as this guy’s, sun kissed and golden.

Then he realizes there’s nothing stuffed in Bobby’s pockets or pants. “Just you today?”

Bobby looks up from the table, eyebrows raised. His face reminds Junhoe of a puppy that’s paying attention to whatever you’re saying. “Hm?”

“Your scrunched up notebook? You don’t have it with you today.”

Bobby presses his lips together in agreement. “Oh. Yeah, I can’t work over my writer’s block. I’m just out looking for inspiration.”

“Know what you mean. Never got over mine.” Junhoe takes a bite of his chicken, glancing over to the counter where Yunhyeong’s giving him wiggly eyebrows. He’s never gonna hear the end of this.

There’s confusion on Bobby’s face. “Really?” He takes a sip of his drink before he continues. “So do you only write poems?”

Junhoe doesn’t understand. “What else am I supposed to write?”

“I don’t mean in writing terms… Like, are you interested in anything else in the art department? Photography? Painting? Music? Dance?”

“I don’t think all of that’s in the same department.”

“Irrelevant to my question.” Bobby smirks and Junhoe feels a blush creeping up to his cheeks.

He clears his throat, straightening up in his seat. He’s a confident guy, his ego might be big, but he’s not gonna let Bobby make him look so flustered and giddy. “Uh- I, I like music. And dance.”

He doesn’t miss the way Bobby’s eyes travel up and down his body as if asserting whether or not Junhoe could be a dancer. It causes Junhoe to cross his arms over his chest and squint his eyes defensively.

If Bobby notices, he doesn’t show it. “You do sound like you could be good at singing.” He offers, Junhoe’s defense mechanism malfunctioning.

“How’d you know that?”

“You’re just naturally loud.” Bobby explains, eyes set on his face so firmly Junhoe feels like he’s gonna melt like an ice cream cone in the sun. “Like, you know, if you tried to whisper the entire planet would shake regardless. So you probably have powerful vocals too.”

There’s a snort erupting from Junhoe’s throat involuntarily, making Junhoe annoyed at himself for laughing when he’s sure he should be offended by that. “All I know is I always get yelled at whenever I sing, so… Me saying I like singing doesn’t necessarily mean I can sing.”

Bobby purses his bottom lip out, debating whether he agrees or not. “Guess you’re just gon’ have to let me be the judge.”

Junhoe’s caught off guard so he decides to play around Bobby’s suggestive idea. “You said you write songs? So who sings them, then?”

Bobby presses his lips together into a smile before saying “Whoever wants to. Usually me, to my two dogs at home. They howl along.”

Junhoe wonders why he’s suddenly giggling to something Bobby said as he puts his hand over his mouth. “Why don’t you sell them?”

Bobby shrugs. “Haven’t had the opportunity yet.”

“You can show me your favorite ones.” Junhoe then says, taking a bite of his chicken as he realizes he’s just essentially suggested another meeting between them. “I- I mean. I don’t care, so if you don’t wanna let them collect dust or anything… I can give you feedback. Or… Whatever.”

He then stands up, stuffing his phone into his pocket. “My break’s over.” There’s a wall clock staring right at him, clearly indicating he’s got roughly around four more minutes of his break, but Junhoe just wants to get out of uncomfortable situations as quickly as possible.

“Do you like poetry a lot?” Bobby then asks, looking up at the tall guy holding his chicken box like his life depends on it.

“I’m not serious about it.” Junhoe grimaces. “I just write down my thoughts and try to make it sound nice.”

“Bet you’re fucking good at it, though.” Bobby smiles and Junhoe feels a punch in his stomach, just to realize there was no punch, just his gut twisting for an unknown reason.

“Dunno ‘bout that.” He shrugs, rubbing off the subject. “Anyway, see ya around, yeah?” He finally slips away from the conversation, walking behind counter and into the back room, ignoring the questions ready to spill from his friends’ mouths.

He gets back to work, cleaning up the lobby as some more people leave, then washing the glasses he collected. He remembers the text he never replied to as he takes out his phone, staring at the lit up screen again.

He doesn’t reply.

~

“Pizza’s here.” Yunhyeong fumbles with his wallet before taking out a few bills and wrapping his fingers around them, hopping off the elevated bar area and through the entrance door where a delivery man just parked his red scooter.

A growling sound comes from Junhoe’s stomach indicating just how hungry he’s become. It’s Saturday and their open mic night just ended, most of the customers scattering around the street and off to other parties. Since there’s barely anyone in the cafe at this hour, the three baristas agreed to order some food for their health’s sake. They haven’t gotten a chance to eat anything properly and all the running and serving has really made Junhoe feel lightheaded.

Yunhyeong reenters the cafe with two pizza boxes in his hands, smiling from ear to ear at the mouth watering smell of their food. Junhoe grabs two water bottles and walks around the bar, taking a seat at the table nearest to the cashier as Yunhyeong follows. They call Donghyuk from behind back and once all three of them are there, they dive in.

“Mm, this shit is why I live.” Junhoe moans as he swallows his first bite, immediately taking another one, stuffing his mouth with more than he can actually chew.

“Hanbin’s late?” Donghyuk looks at Yunhyeong as the latter shrugs.

“Had to stay in the studio. A member of their team just quit and now they’re trying to figure out how to go from there. But I feel like they’re kinda screwed.”

Junhoe gets up to grab some napkins behind the counter. “Damn, sucks.” He mumbles. “Were they working on something big?”

“Dunno.” Yunhyeong takes another slice as he watches the hot cheese stretch. “Think they have a deadline for a track but the dude that left owns the song they’ve been working on.”

“Fucked them up last minute, huh?” Donghyuk shakes his head.

Junhoe chews loudly and annoyingly. “Doesn’t Hanbin compose? He should have a bunch of songs stashed up on his computer or something, no?”

Yunhyeong shrugs again. “He said he just doesn’t feel like any of them should be released right now. They’re not finalized or something.”

Junhoe frowns in confusion. “They can borrow my book of poems. Could probably stitch somethin’ up from all of that.” He snickers.

Yunhyeong chuckles and his eyes fall on the table, a sad expression appearing on his face. Junhoe and Donghyuk exchange looks and squirm in their seats. “C’mon, why you suddenly look all sulky?”

“I just really looked forward to this date and now it overturned.” Their friend props his chin on his hand and pouts. “Who knows when he’s gonna find free time to see me now.”

Donghyuk puts his hand on Yunhyeong’s shoulder, patting him gently. “You two have really been hitting it off, though. He’s gonna find time for sure.”

Junhoe nods. “Yea. Don’t jump to conclusions. It was probably an emergency meeting or something this time. He’s gonna dig up some free time for you, hundred percent .”

Taking a miserable bite of his slice of pizza, Yunhyeong sighs. “It’s not just that. He was really fucked up because of that guy leaving. I think he’s really stressing out over this.”

Junhoe readjust in his seat, resting his ankle on top of his other knee. “Stuff like this always happens. They’ll deal with it.”

Yunhyeong then looks at Junhoe, eyes suddenly looking brighter. “If only we knew a songwriter that could help them out.”

Donghyuk’s head snaps towards Junhoe as well, both of them giving him some kind of a hopeful look and Junhoe’s confused. “I’m not keeping up with yall’s looks of implication.”

“We do know of a songwriter.” Yunhyeong props on, as if just telling Junhoe straight on wouldn’t make it easier for all of them.

“I- I said I’d borrow them my book of poems? I dunno if they’d have the nerves to create songs from it, though. Also, they’re really short poems and each of them has a completely different theme, so I dunno how they’d work with that if they wanted to create one song–“

Donghyuk lets out an exasperated sigh as Yunhyeong laughs. “Idiot. We mean Bobby.”

Junhoe’s mouth forms an ‘o’. Donghyuk and Yunhyeong proceed to nod their heads further, waiting for Junhoe’s response. The realization hits him. “Oh, me? You- Why are you looking at me so expectantly?”

Yunhyeong goes straight into his pleading mode, dropping his slice of pizza on the cardboard box and grabbing one of Junhoe’s hands tight. “Can you talk to him about it? Please.”

Junhoe stutters. “Wh- Why me? Why do I have to do that?”

“You’re friends with him. He’s gonna do it if you ask.”

“I’m not- I’m not friends with him. I’ve barely ever talked to him.” Junhoe’s voice starts booming in defense.

Donghyuk shushes him quietly. “June, help your friend get some permanent dick, would ya?”

“I don’t wanna- What makes you think he’ll listen to me?”

That seems to make his two friends smirk. “Oh he’s gonna listen to you.”

He frowns, the idea unsettling in his stomach. He grimaces, looking for more excuses. “I can’t even get into contact with him. I really don’t wanna do this. He knows you too, why can’t you just ask him about it.”

“I’m sure he’s gonna come here to drink a beer or something. You can ask him then, please! I’ll buy you lunch for the next week!” Yunhyeong’s now squeezing Junhoe’s hand so tight his hands get sweaty so he has to move them away.

After some more uneasy complaints, Junhoe repines “Ugh, fine.”, earning a celebratory cry from his friend. “I don’t understand why you can’t just ask him yourself with your stupid butterfly social friendly ass mouth, but whatever. If I’m getting a week’s worth of free lunch out of it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Yunhyeong seems unfazed by Junhoe’s hostile remarks as he nods readily, wide smile plastered on his face making him look like a kid on Christmas morning.

As if on cue, the bell above the entrance door signals someone entering the cafe. All three of them turn around to greet the customer when Junhoe’s eyes settle on a mop of soft, curly brown hair tied up in a high ponytail before trailing down to a familiar toothy grin and small eyes squeezed in little crescents from the force of his smile.

Bobby enters hurriedly, walking with his arms glued to the sides of his body, slightly bowing at the sight of the three baristas staring at him. The black turtleneck hugs his body snugly, black jean jacket on top making Junhoe’s heart thump against his ribcage unnaturally. There’s a what looks like a silver, or it could be metal for all Junhoe knows, chain hugging the back of Bobby’s neck and falling down his chest, breaking the darkness of the outfit.

Junhoe can’t help his eyes trailing down to Bobby’s black pants which are, surprisingly, tight around his legs for a change, hugging his muscles too gracefully for Junhoe’s sanity.

As he greets the three guys staring at him, he walks over to the register next to the table they’re sitting at, looking up at the menu on the wall as if he doesn’t already know what he’ll order. Junhoe turns to Donghyuk and Yunhyeong and is greeted by them deadpanning at him, probably trying to telepathically tell him to go take Bobby’s order.

He whips his head back to the man in front of the cashier just as Bobby bends down in front of them to adjust the cuffs of his jeans. Junhoe’s eyes shoot up to the ceiling as he immediately stands up and hastes behind the register, tripping on the elevated step of the counter and smacking the top of the marble surface with his hand in order to stop himself from breaking his nose. He hears his two friends quietly snort at his actions behind him.

He feels his face burst into flames from embarrassment as he coughs lightly, trying anything to avert the attention away from himself. There’s light pain in his wrist from how hard he smashed his hand against the counter top so he twists his fist around a few times, finally looking up at Bobby’s unreadable face expression.

“Hey.” He’s thankful his voice doesn’t come out shaky. “What would you like to order?”

“Is your hand okay?” Bobby’s eyebrows twist as he asks, Junhoe noticing he’s talking in a pout. Or maybe that’s just his plump lips that make it look like he is. Either way Junhoe has to look away from his lips.

“Uh” This time his voice does shake a bit, so he has to clear his throat again. “Yeah, no worries. Happens all the time. Walking klutz over here. But anyway, the regular?”

“I have a regular?” The distraction seems to have worked as Bobby’s lips spread into a smile. And why does he look handsome?

Junhoe decides to stare at the cashier screen in front of him. “A beer?”

“Sure.” He hears Bobby say and there’s a hand placing money on the counter within Junhoe’s eyeshot. Then Bobby takes a seat on a tall stool by the counter and whips out his notebook.

Junhoe taps in the order and looks towards Donghyuk and Yunhyeong, who look like audience in a theatre watching a play. He swats his hand at them and grabs the money Bobby left, placing it on Bobby’s notebook a few seconds later. “It’s on the house.”

Bobby looks up at Junhoe confused. “Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

“‘s fine.” Junhoe almost cuts him off. “I kinda like your hair today.” He blurts out, mentally kicking himself for his lack of brain to mouth filter. Sometimes it’s like his brain fails to calculate which thoughts are meant to be said out loud and which ones are meant to be kept silent.

Bobby squints his sharp eyes at Junboe, a smile of suspicion playing on his lips. “Why’re ya being nice to me?”

Junhoe panics. “Jus’ making small talk.”

Bobby’s observing Junhoe for a bit too long for Junhoe’s stress levels before he finally speaks again. “Okay.” He shuts his notebook closed. “What’s different about today, then?”

Junhoe’s muscles seize up and he feels his brain short circuit. His eyes dart to his two friends behind Bobby as if looking for their help. “So uh, written any new songs lately?”

He can’t do this social shit. He could’ve just said no to Yunhyeong’s free lunches offer and let him handle it himself.

“Not really.” Bobby leans his chin on his hand. “What ‘bout you and poetry?”

“Not really. Been busy with work.” Junhoe shrugs. “Haven’t seen you in here for a few nights.”

“I went to visit my brother and baby nephew.” Bobby’s smile becomes warm when he says that, making Junhoe stare like a goat. “Didn’t think you’d notice.”

Once again Junhoe’s face burns. “So anyway, I have this friend.” He starts, and Bobby tilts his head in an annoyingly attractive way. “He works at a studio and they’re looking for a songwriter.”

Bobby’s warm smile turns into a smug one, as if he finally managed to solve a riddle. “So that’s what it is.”

“That’s what what is?” Junhoe asks and Bobby leans back on his stool, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You need a favor. Ever since I first entered this cafe all you’ve ever been was hostile.” He speaks, but there’s zero rigor in his voice. He sounds amused.

“No I haven’t!” Junhoe yells in defense quickly, eyes widening. “That’s just how I am.”

Bobby’s looking at him with his eyes half lidded, smirking in non conviction.

“It’s just because you always get here the minute before we close and I just want to go home and sleep, damn it.” He blurts out quickly. “I’m sorry, okay, but please at least meet up with my friend!”

Bobby quirks his eyebrow and Junhoe wishes he could erase that smug look from his face. “This isn’t some kind of setup, right?”

Junhoe sighs and leans his elbows right in front Bobby, lowering his head so Yunhyeong and Donghyuk can’t see him anymore. “Look,” he whispers for only Bobby to hear. “My friend over there is trying to date this guy but he’s fucked up because his love interest is very stressed over losing their songwriter. So he kinda forced me to play musical cupid and drag you over to their studio or whatever, I dunno.”

Bobby places his elbows right in front of Junhoe’s and leans closer. “What’s in it for me?”

“Free drinks?” Junhoe smiles sourly. “And you get your music published? You should be thanking me, really.”

Bobby sticks his tongue below his top lip as he thinks over Junhoe’s request. After tapping his finger on the marble counter a few times, he nods. “Fine. What’s this studio guy’s name, anyway?”

Junhoe has to contain his childish grin as he straightens up and flattens out his apron. He doesn’t know why he got so happy over this small victory. “Kim Hanbin. I’ll write down his number for you, and all other contact information that you might need.” He snatches Bobby’s notebook and opens it from the back, scribbling down numbers and letters.

“You should write down your number as well.” Bobby adds on. “You know, just in case I can’t reach this Hanbin guy.”

“Sure, whatever.” He keeps scribbling as Yunhyeong and Donghyuk walk up behind him, peeking at the notebook patently.

“So is one of you guys trying to date this studio guy?” Bobby asks and Junhoe whips around in surprise, just to be smacked on the forehead by Yunhyeong.

“You can’t keep anything a secret, huh?” He frowns, but Junhoe can see he’s actually glad that Bobby agreed to this.

“Fuck off, you should be kissing my feet right now.”

“I didn’t know you had a feet kink.” Donghyuk teases, glancing at an uncomfortable Bobby.

“I don’t have a feet kink.” Junhoe yells too loud for the customers’ liking. “God, just— can you two not be yourselves for one night?” He pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration.

He turns around decidedly avoiding looking at Bobby’s face as he finishes what he was writing down before. “There, that’s Hanbin’s number, the number of their studio, his email and that’s my number down here.” He clicks the pen closed and nods proudly when the realization hits him. He blushes, shaking his head and fumbling away from the three guys with the excuse of having to wash the glasses from his tray.

~

It’s Wednesday when Yunhyeong doesn’t stop bouncing around Junhoe excitedly, constantly repeating the fact that Hanbin liked Bobby’s stuff and that they’re meeting again today to go over some finishing touches to seal the deal. It’s not that Junhoe’s interested, but then again it was kind of disappointing when he didn’t hear anything from Bobby regarding the subject.

Yunhyeong told him they met up on Monday and Bobby showed Hanbin his stuff, they got to know each other, they tried out some stuff in the studio and Bobby also met the entire team down there. They all hit it off and apparently they’re all excited to have Bobby on board with them.

“Hanbin called him the hidden treasure. He doesn’t know how the guy hasn’t been recruited to some kind of publishing company yet.” Yunhyeong yaps on as Junhoe nods, pretending to be focusing on the cafe machine in front of him. “They should be meeting here right around now.”

That spikes up Junhoe’s attention. “Here? How come?”

“We’re going out after they’re done so it’s more convenient transport wise.” Yunhyeong explains as he wipes the counter clean, a smile playing on his lips.

“I’m happy things are working out for you.” Jinhwan speaks up from leaning against the wall by the ‘staff only’ door.

“What about you and Donghyuk?” Yunhyeong asks, throwing Jinhwan off.

“What about me and Donghyuk?”

Yunhyeong and Junhoe both throw their hands in the air, exasperated. “My god, hyung you’re gonna die alone if you don’ do anything about this.”

“You should let loose a lil. You two could’ve been joining Hanbin and Yunhyeong on a double date tonight but instead you’re playin.” Junhoe adds on, finishing up the coffee he was making and handing it out to an old lady that was waiting on the side.

“Says the guy whose pride is so big he pretends to have no interest in anyone but kept sulking all week because Bobby never texted him.” Jinhwan shoots out and Junhoe glares at him

“I did not sulk.” He crosses his arms over his chest.

“You sure check your phone often, then.”

Junhoe throws a fit. “I was waiting for my sister to text me back.”

“Oh, sure.” Jinhwan plasters a fake smile on his face and Junhoe’s cheeks redden.

“Oh, there they are.” Yunhyeong speaks up and walks down from the elevated aisle to greet Hanbin and Bobby. Junhoe casts a glance at the latter man, ponytail peeking from the back hole of his cap, same tight jeans he wore the other day hugging his legs just as offensively as the last time.

He looks towards Junhoe and gives him a quick wave which makes Junhoe’s motor skills crash and burn as he fumbles with the spoon he was holding and drops it on the floor. When he picks it up the two newcomers are already sitting into a booth as Yunhyeong jogs back to make their orders.

“Smooth.” Jinhwan speaks from behind and Junhoe clenches his jaw in shame.

“Junhoe, can you please make an iced americano with a pump of caramel?” Yunhyeong provides a saving hand and Junhoe gets to work, finishing up the drink and placing it on a tray next to an espresso.

“It’s Hanbin and Bobby’s order.” Yunhyeong says from the register before greeting a new customer and Junhoe nods, picking up the tray and trying to swat away the annoying feeling in his gut.

“Hey.” He says as he walks over to them, eyes glued to the middle of the table. “Espresso?” He asks, picking up the small plate with the cup on it.

“Yeah, mine.” Hanbin smiles as Junhoe places his order on the table.

“And an iced americano with a pump of caramel.” He picks that up too and places it in front of Bobby. “It’s on the house.”

Bobby snorts, putting his hand over his mouth as Hanbin glances between them. “Really? Thanks, Junhoe.”

“Thank your boyfriend.” He deadpans and sees Hanbin’s cheeks turn bright red, feeling a bit guilty for directing his passive aggressiveness towards him. “Anyway, enjoy. Call me if you need anything else. Or call Yunhyeong. I dunno, whatever.” He rambles on as he walks away, not giving them a chance to respond.

The rest of the night goes by slow since there’s barely any traffic in the cafe. Jinhwan and Junhoe chat about some boring movie they saw on tv the other day as Yunhyeong sits next to Hanbin in their booth, having been invited since the “meeting” with Bobby ended early and they just decided to take it easy and hang out. Jinhwan let him go since there was barely a soul outside in the streets.

After around an hour before closing Yunhyeong gets back with a grin on his face.

“How’s it goin, loveshot?” Junhoe smirks as Yunhyeong swings his cleaning rag at him.

“Great. Bobby was just telling us about this great place that serves killer food. We might go check it out for dinner.” His eyes go wide just like they always do with his enormous sense for good food.

“Junhoe, you should go with them. I can hear your stomach all the way here.” Jinhwan suggests.

“There’s no way I’ll third wheel.” Junhoe cringes, shoulders swallowing his ears.

“Bobby’s coming too.” Yunhyeong provides, surprisingly in on the idea.

Junhoe’s face falls. “Aren’t you having your big date with Hanbin?”

“I’m going to his place later anyway. It’s no problem if we all have dinner together.”

Junhoe ponders over the thought for a minute, sneaking a glance at the two guys chatting in a booth by the window. “I don’t wanna impose.” He admits at last.

“I’m literally inviting you.” Yunhyeong articulates each word as if Junhoe was dull.

He is quite hungry. “Who’s gonna help Jinan close up?”

He can practically feel Jinhwan rolling his eyes. “There’s no one here. Think I’m gonna be fine. Just both of you go change your clothes and leave.”

Yunhyeong waits a bit to hear Junhoe’s decision, but as soon as he sees him sigh, he grabs the sleeve of his work shirt and drags him behind into the changing room.

He strips out of his work pants and shirt and grabs his personal clothes, squirming into his jeans and pushing his arms through the sleeves of his white button up. He didn’t know he was going to go out for dinner but at least he has clothes for the occasion.

“I’ve seen Bobby checking you out the entire night.” Yunhyeong speaks up as he ties his shoelaces.

“What?” Junhoe asks as he buttons up his left sleeve.

Yunhyeong stands up, tucking his shirt into his pants. “Mhm. He’s hot, too. Why do you keep giving him the cold shoulder?”

“Why does everyone keep blaming me for everything?” Junhoe says a bit too loud so Yunhyeong nudges him with his elbow. He lets out a quiet ‘ow’ and rubs the painful spot. “I was just annoyed by him at first.”

“And now?”

Junhoe stares at Yunhyeong, and he stares back. They blink at each other in silence for a few seconds. “Dunno. Have this gut feeling like Ima be nauseous or dizzy when he does certain things. That annoys me too.”

“When he does certain things… you mean like, breathe?” There’s a shit eating grin on Yunhyeong’s face that Junhoe wishes to punch off.

“He’s just an annoying dude, okay? Why are you tormenting me with these questions?!” Junhoe puts on his shoes and hangs his backpack over his right shoulder, walking past Yunhyeong out through the door.

His friend follows and they’re greeted by Jinhwan at the register.

“Have fun.” He says and both of the boys nod, Yunhyeong beelining towards Hanbin as Junhoe walks slowly, suddenly feeling nervous.

He sees the blond mop of his friend’s hair right in front of the window booth as he hops off the elevated area and gets closer to the trio waiting for him. They seem to be exchanging some words as all of them nod and then Yunhyeong turns to look at Junhoe, Hanbin and Bobby following right after him and suddenly Bobby’s eyes feel like a punch in the gut every time they move an inch over Junhoe’s body. And Junhoe’s a whole lot of inches in height.

He’s finally by their table and they all stand up. “Ready to go?” Hanbin asks Junhoe and he nods, words not leaving his mouth. Since when was he shy?

They exit the cafe waving bye to Jinhwan as they walk their way towards wherever Bobby’s leading them. “Is it close enough to go by foot?” Yunhyeong asks.

“It’s about a fifteen minute walk.” Bobby says, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Junhoe wonders how his pants don’t snap around his hips when he does that, giving how tight they seem to be around the back area.

“Like your outfit.” Bobby suddenly says and Junhoe shakes his thoughts away, feeling like he was just caught in his unruly thoughts. There’s a hot flush creeping up to his cheeks.

“Huh? My ou-“ He stutters, voice incredibly embarrassingly high. “Outfit.” He says again in a deeper tone. He looks around for Yunhyeong and Hanbin, but realizes they’ve hurried up in front, holding hands walking into their own romantic night and left him and Bobby behind.

They walk in a street that’s silent and dark, there’s no cars making noise or big street ads lit up. Only street lamps following the road. There’s a sweet aroma of cherry blossoms in the air, the trees following the left part of the street, making the asphalt they’re walking on look like a pink miracle. The atmosphere is calm and relaxing. Except Junhoe’s anything but that.

“So, I take it things with Hanbin are taking off?” Junhoe tries to redeem his fallen ego.

Bobby nods. “He’s such a talented guy. I’m kinda glad you forced me to meet up with him.” His voice is quiet and husky, Junhoe feels like he’s losing his mind. “Did you know we already started recording a song?”

He glances up at Bobby. “How’d I know? ‘s not like you have any of my contact information to be able to tell me?”

Bobby opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water. Then he snickers. “I figured you’d only get annoyed if I texted you for trivial things.”

“No- Yeah- Yeah, I would. I didn’t mean it like that. Please don’t text me at all. I mean, unless there’s like an emergency and your house is on fire, or something.” He turns his head away from Bobby and looks at a tree of cherry blossoms, rolling his eyes at his own self.

Bobby laughs. “Okay.”

They continue walking in silence for a few minutes and for some reason it’s driving Junhoe crazy. Everything seems to be driving him crazy. And it’s not because it’s an awkward silence, it’s because it’s a wasted silence. He wants to talk. But his stomach is in knots and he’s nervous and he just wants to get out of here and lay in his bed and sleep.

So when they get to the front of the restaurant he stops in his tracks. “Uh, I think I’m gonna head home after all. I don’t feel so good.”

The three boys in front of him look at him with confusion on their face. Yunhyeong steps forward. “Are you okay?” He puts his palm on Junhoe’s forehead. “Are you burning up? You’re not falling sick, are you?”

Junhoe swats his hand away. “I’m not dying. I just feel nauseous. Think it’s best if I go home so I don’t rain on you guys’ parade.” He rubs his palms together in a nitpicky way, eyes falling.

“Want me to walk you home?” Yunhyeong offers and Junhoe quickly shakes his head.

“No, you’re on a date with Hanbin. It’s fine. There’s no danger out here for a big guy like me.” He tries to joke but his friend still looks a bit worried. Junhoe’s thankful for Yunhyeong and his mom senses.

“I’ll walk you.” Bobby steps off the stairs they stopped on before the entrance door. “If you feel nauseous someone should keep an eye on you until you’re safe at home.”

Junhoe can’t help the grimace forming on his face. “I- It’s fine, really- It’s nothing. I’m like twenty minutes away from this place-“

But Bobby seems to pay him no mind as he says bye to Hanbin and then Yunhyeong, who no longer looks as worried. The pair disappears through the restaurant door as Bobby walks up to Junhoe, offering him a small smile.

“You really don’t have to go with me. You’re missing out on a whole dinner.” Junhoe complains as they turn around and start walking.

“You think I wanna third wheel them?” Bobby’s voice cracks and it makes Junhoe laugh full heartedly.

“That’s what I said too, before Yunhyeong told me you were coming along.” His mouth works faster than his brain again, cheeks reddening in the speed of light and Junhoe’s glad it’s too dark for Bobby to notice.

Bobby hums, lightly kicking his feet with each step he takes in order to see the pink petals roll on the ground. They walk around a small park, street lights following them as Junhoe breathes in fresh air.

It helps clear his mind and settle the nerves in his stomach, so when he sees a bench by the pink path they’re walking on, he decides to sit. Bobby walks a few more steps before he realizes Junhoe sat down, so he stops, turning on his heels and staring at the latter.

“You good?” He asks, taking his hands out of his pockets.

“I feel good now. Just wanna sit for a bit.”

Bobby nods, staying in his spot as he rocks back and forth, looking around the park like he’s there for the first time.

“So here’s the thing.”

He starts, and the tone of his voice makes Junhoe feel like he’s anticipating something he doesn’t want to hear. “What thing?”

“Don’t you think it’s weird of me to agree to meet a random stranger because another random stranger practically forced me to?” Bobby starts, rubbing the back of his neck. It makes the fabric of his denim jacket tighten around his bicep so Junhoe forces himself to look away.

“I’m not a total stranger.” Junhoe tries lamely. “And I did force you, so I don’t think it’s all that weird. In my defense, I was kinda forced into doing that too. Yunhyeong was ready to bring out the best friend card if I refused one more time.”

Bobby chuckles. “It was the last thing I expected from a hot hostile bartender right after getting back from seeing my lil nephew.”

Hot hostile bartender.

“You like kids?” Junhoe averts the subject, placing his cold palms over his burning cheeks.

Bobby takes a few steps forward and sits next to Junhoe. “I’m indifferent. I adore my nephew, though. Wish I could drive out to see him every single weekend.”

Junhoe smiles softly at Bobby’s words. “Do they live far?”

“They’re down in Daegu. A solid 3 hour ride.”

“Whew.” Junhoe huffs out. “My family’s in Daejeon. Not as far as Daegu but I still know how hard it gets to save up and find the time.”

Bobby rests his arms on top of the backrest of the bench, resting his ankle on his other knee. “Damn. So, ‘d ya move here to Seoul by yourself?”

Junhoe nods. “Wanted to finish college here, but I dropped out. I met Yunhyeong and Jinhwan there, though, and that’s how we came about.” He leans against the bench as well and turns to look at Bobby’s shiny face. “What about you?”

“I came out here with empty dreams, you could say.” He snickers, but his face looks kinda sad. “But I guess it was worth it, now that I’m finally signing with an actual studio, yeah?”

It brings a chuckle out of Junhoe. “And who should you be thanking for that?”

Bobby straightens up. “You’re right. You gotta gimme Yunhyeong’s address so I can send him a thank you card.”

Junhoe smacks Bobby on the shoulder, unable to keep his laughter in his throat. Bobby laughs too, except his eyes stay glued on Junhoe’s smiling face.

Then Junhoe stands up. “Alright, I’m all better. I’ll go home now.”

Bobby shuffles to stand up as well. “I’ll- I’ll still walk you. Just in case.”

Junhoe doesn’t protest this time, to not be hostile, like they’d all call it.

They talk about small things, this and that, Junhoe tells Bobby about his dog back at home, Bobby tells Junhoe about his own two dogs. They’re both rescues, he learns, Bobby found them on the street and after taking them to the vet to check for a tag, he kept them. They make his life a bit less dull.

The walk is short and soon they’re by Junhoe’s building, awkwardly saying bye. Junhoe turns to unlock the entrance door as he looks behind his shoulder to see Bobby slowly walking away, broad shoulders a bit slouched due to the chilly midnight breeze that appeared. He’s about to enter the hallway when Bobby turns around and glances at Junhoe, looking at him as he waves one last time. “See you around.” He says, before each goes his own way, Junhoe’s heart in his throat.

~

“Sooo?” Donghyuk singongs in Junhoe’s face, chin leaning on his palm, eyelashes fluttering aggressively in order to annoy Junhoe more. “What’d happen on your little walk home?”

Junhoe flares his nostrils. It’s only been 5 minutes since his shift started. “Does Yunhyeong keep anything to himself. He’s breaking his own records in spreading information.”

“He texted me yesterday right as they left you two.” Donghyuk explains, putting his hands up in defense at Junhoe’s appalled look. “Hey, we don’t know Bobby that well just yet. We gotta look out for you.”

He sighs, dropping the rag he was holding onto the edge of the sink. “Nothing happened. We just walked and talked a bit.”

Donghyuk raises his eyebrows. “You just walked? And talked?”

“What do you want me to say? We fucked behind a bush while cherry blossoms were romantically falling over our bare asses?”

Jinhwan stomps out of the staff area with a threatening finger pointing Junhoe’s way. “You. Need to really take care of that yelling of yours. Or you’re flying outta here and I’m putting you on eternal bathroom duty.”

“Sorry.” Junhoe says bashfully. He turns around to continue washing the glasses in the sink when he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. He wipes his hands and unlocks it. It’s from Yunhyeong.

”Glad you’re feeling better. Hanbin told me they’re recording today so they might stop by again. By they I mean Bobby too. Hope you washed your hair.”

Junhoe snorts, stuffing his phone back into his pocket and stealing a glance of himself in the mirror nearby. He actually did wash his hair, but still used some gel to keep his fringe out of his face and away from his forehead.

Yunhyeong’s got a free day today, so there’s only him and Donghyuk in the evening shift, with the exception of Jinhwan who’s dealing with the paperwork in the back again. The cafe isn’t busy at all, kind of like the day prior, so they mostly just sit around and chat, making a few drinks if a customer happens to stop by.

“Aren’t you working like seven days in a row after tomorrow?” Donghyuk asks while looking at a picture of his own schedule on his phone.

Junhoe hums. He only has tomorrow free, and then a whole week of torture at work. Though, he doesn’t really mind, he needs money after all. And his friends are always here, too.

“You can clock out early if we don’t get busy by eleven, if Donghyuk doesn’t mind.” Jinhwan pipes up as he takes a bag of coffee beans to refill the caffee machine.

“It’s fine by me.” Donghyuk nods.

“You two won’t mind closing up without me?” Junhoe asks before a lightbulb lights up in his head, glancing at Jinhwan, smile playing on his lips as he realizes it’d mean leaving them two alone together.

Jinhwan tries to hold back his own smile as he jerks his head for Junhoe to continue washing the dishes. “Okay, yeah, thanks. I’ll clock out early.”

“Cool.” Donghyuk nods unsuspectingly and Junhoe has to force himself not to roll his eyes. Damn, his friends are dense.

Hours go by as Junhoe cleans up some tables, picks up a few empty glasses, decides to wipe the floor in one area of the cafe because a guy accidentally pilled his drink. That’s about as wild as it gets throughout the night as he leans his forehead on the counter and yawns. Jinhwan’s gone back to the back to finish his paperwork and Donghyuk’s probably around here somewhere, busying himself with whatever he can find.

“One beer, please.” A low voice startles him as his head jerks up, coming face to face with Bobby. He feels a thump against his ribcage.

“Oh, hey.” He booms. He’s sure he got himself whiplash from standing up too quickly.

Bobby’s hair isn’t in a ponytail this time, curls falling around the edge of his face and over his forehead prettily. His eyes are dark and warm, shining from the dimmed light in the cafe. Junhoe realizes he’s staring at Bobby too intensely so he shakes his head. “What would you like to order?”

Bobby laughs a little and Junhoe wonders what’s funny. “A beer?”

“Comin’ right up.” Turning on his feet, Junhoe slides away to grab his drink. He sticks his head too close to the fridge in order for the cold to hit his face, taking the beer bottle and bringing it back to Bobby. “Here ya go. It’s on the ho-“

“I’m paying for it.” Bobby cuts him off, already fiddling with his wallet.

Junhoe automatically pulls the beer to himself a bit “But we had a deal-“

“Free drinks aren’t the reason I keep coming here.” Bobby places the money in front of Junhoe and reaches for the beer bottle, Junhoe’s grip on it slightly loosening at the action. “If you keep handing out free drinks your business will collapse and I’ll have nowhere to drink my midnight beer.”

“Except literally any other store in the street?” Junhoe asks with a sour smile plastered on his face.

Maybe this is one of the things Junhoe should’ve kept unsaid, he thinks. Bobby’s looking at him as if he was stripping him naked with his eyes, bottom lip caught between his teeth and Junhoe’s stomach feels like he might get a digestion disruption.

Thankfully, Donghyuk appears out of nowhere with a chirpy voice. “Oh, Bobby, right?” He greets the man sitting by the bar as he glances between him and Junhoe, whose face probably looks tomato red, judging by the way Donghyuk snorts. “I’m Donghyuk. Heard a lot about you from this guy.” He motions to Junhoe as the latter decides to busy himself with putting the glasses back up to their place. “You doin’ the great business with Hanbin, right?”

Bobby nods. “Yeah, I guess so. We’re still trying stuff out, but for now it seems to be going well.”

“Hasn’t Jinhwan told you not to bother the customers?” Junhoe grunts from the side, not paying them a glance. He then turns around and tippy toes to put the ice shaker up on the top shelf, walking back to the duo staring at him.

“I’m not bothering him. We’re talking. It’s what normal people do.” Donghyuk defends, a clear hit at the lack of Junhoe’s social skills.

“Sorry, I think Donghyuk has to go to his toilet duty now.” Junhoe smiles at Bobby passive aggressively and Donghyuk scrunches his nose up. It’s true though, tonight’s Donghyuk’s turn so Junhoe just used it against him.

His friend sighs and crouches down to open a cabinet that holds their rubber gloves and cleaning products.

Bobby looks around until his eyes land on the clock on the wall to Junhoe’s left. His lips move from left to right as he thinks. “Until when do you work today?” He asks as his eyes avert to Junhoe, running his fingers through his hair nonchalantly.

“We work until 12 on normal days and until 1 am on weekends, I told you last time.” Junhoe leans his butt on the element in front of the wall, crossing his ankles in front of him.

“No, I mean, until when do you work today?” Bobby clarifies as Donghyuk stands up comically fast, green gloves in one hand and a toilet brush in the other.

“He actually gets off, like,” he quickly glances at the clock, “right about now.”

Junhoe opens his mouth to protest, but Donghyuk beats him to it “It’s past ten, Jinhwan gave you a heads up earlier.” he turns to Bobby, “He’s all yours.”

Bobby seems flustered as he blushes, letting out a shy laugh. Junhoe’s just as embarrassed, face burning and mind contemplating all the ways he could murder his best friend without going to jail.

“You can’t just kick me out of work.” Junhoe declares, mouth hanging open. “Besides, Bobby’s probably busy with Hanbin and the studio stuff.” He waves towards Bobby, who looks bashful.

“Actually, we just ended our meeting. I kinda did come here because he told me you were at work.”

Junhoe feels like he’s been punched in the nose and got words stolen right out of his mouth. “Oh.” Is all he can muster, before Donghyuk’s pushing him into the changing room, yelling “Junhoe will be right there.” over his shoulder at Bobby.

His heart is beating irrationally as he gets dressed, head rumbling all sort of questions as Donghyuk claps excitedly next to him. “You finally have a date.”

“I don’t have anything!” Junhoe snaps in a whisper-shout, tying his shoelaces.

“Oh, yes you do.” His friend nods excessively.

“You’re just forcing us both to leave because you want to be alone with Jinan hyung.”

At that Donghyuk blushes, as if the sole mention of Jinhwan’s name can make him flustered. And he’s the one trying to lecture Junhoe about dating.

Soon he’s being shoved back out of the staff room and into the cafe where Bobby is still waiting, hands fumbling in his lap in a nervous manner. He looks up when he hears the disruptive noises of mumbling and shuffling of the two friends in a push and pull battle with their own selves.

Donghyuk pushes Junhoe precisely in front of Bobby and then decides to walk off, grabbing his toilet supplies as he probably goes to find Jinhwan to let him know there’s no one watching the register.

Junhoe stands there awkwardly for a bit as Bobby turns on his stool to face him, both looking stiffly lost.

“Can we just get drunk? I really need to let loose.” Junhoe rests his hand on top of the counter. He’s sleep deprived and exhausted, mind tired from all the work he’s been doing the past few weeks. He needs a break. And even though he’s tired, he needs a good amount of alcohol to relax him.

Bobby grins wide. “Whatever you want is fine by me.”

They end up taking alcohol from the cafe, arguing about who’s going to pay for it. They compromise on splitting it in half as Junhoe stuffs some of it in his backpack, Bobby carrying the rest in a bag.

They also stop in a fast food place that happens to be open because Junhoe’s not gonna take any chances with getting hungry at this hour. They argue about paying again, this time Bobby wins because he actually grabs Junhoe’s wrist and forces him to lower his arm, shoving the money into the hands of the lady behind the register.

Junhoe mumbles in disagreement the rest of the way as they walk to Han river, which they settled for as their spontaneous destination.

They settle on the grass and flower petals that have fallen from the big cherry blossom tree right behind them, the spot private enough for a nice conversation. There was barely anyone there at this hour anyway.

The sound of the river flowing in front of them mixed by the distant noise of the cars and the traffic makes Junhoe feel weirdly relaxed. Could even say zen. There’s streetlamps a few meters away from them lightening up the walking path, giving them enough light to be able to see each other but still not too bright to disrupt the atmosphere.

Junhoe pulls out bottles of beer and soju that they’d grabbed and places them on the ground, grabbing his box of two big waffles with bananas and strawberries. “Here.” He puts one into Bobby’s hands.

“No, that’s okay.” Bobby tries to give it back. “You eat it.”

Junhoe waves his hand like an old grandma who doesn’t want to listen to someone talk for any longer and it makes Bobby laugh. And that makes Junhoe’s intestines twist in a way where he thinks he’s not hungry anymore.

His eyes travel over Bobby’s arms as he watches the latter open two bottles of beer, offering one to Junhoe. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.” Junhoe takes it and they clink them together before he chugs half of it in one go. The bubbly feeling tinkles and pinches his throat as he groans, letting out a sigh. His eyes dart to Bobby who’s leaning his head back to be able to finish his own drink, neck thick and exposed, his skin looking smooth and soft. Junhoe blinks.

He doesn’t know if the pinch he feels in his chest is because he just chugged half of that beer or if it’s
something else.

He watches as Bobby places his empty bottle on the ground between them and decides to break the silence. “So… You like Hanbin?”

Bobby makes a confused face. “I mean, I like the dude? He’s cool. Got similar taste for music as me.” He talks, resting his palms on the ground behind him as he leans back and spreads his legs.

“Right.” Junhoe nods, looking in the opposite direction of Bobby so he could quietly cuss himself out. Why can’t he just have a normal conversation with Bobby? Thinking of things to say to him seems as difficult as trying to create a sentence in a whole new language for Junhoe right now.

So he decides to finish his beer and open up another one right away. He needs to let loose.

Suddenly he hears some music and notices Bobby putting his phone next to Junhoe’s backpack, a chill song playing from the small speaker. He recognizes it, hears it all the time on the radio at the cafe. Bobby doesn’t say anything about why he put it on but Junhoe’s okay with it, it’s better than them just sitting in silence at times when Junhoe’s wrecking his brain in order to start a conversation.

“Mm, this is great.” Bobby then comments as he chews on his waffle enthusiastically, some nutella dripping down his chin. Junhoe notices so he stares at it unwillingly, which probably makes Bobby realize, seeing as he cleans it up with his finger and then licks it off.

Junhoe decides to down his second beer at that.

Soon after, they were both on their fourth bottle and Junhoe likes to pride himself in having extremely high tolerance and ability to hold in his liquor, but the way he’s swinging to the music from Bobby’s phone is just too entertaining for the curly man beside him.

They’d managed to talk about their friends, Junhoe told Bobby about how blind Donghyuk and Jinhwan are and how it’s taking them ages to make a move on one another and it’s just a big pain in the ass and a waste of time because, if you like someone, just fucking do something about it, you know what I mean? Somehow that conversation lead to Bobby’s grandma and Junhoe found out she likes to plant pretty flowers and send them to Bobby, writing ‘To Jiwonnie’, which is - anothing thing Junhoe’s learned - Bobby’s real name, on the card each time.

Bobby keeps the flowers even when they don’t have their wonderful smell and bright colors in them anymore, because he likes to be reminded of the love for his family. It makes Junhoe’s stomach spin.

Then they talk about Bobby’s dogs, Milky and Pup. Milky is plain white, so white Bobby lost him in a pile of snow one winter. Had to dig around like a fool before a pair of warm, black eyes and a small nuzzle jumped right in his face and licked him all over. Pup is tiny, never grew bigger than half of Milky, and Bobby’s had such a big soft spot for him he just continued calling him Pup ever since he found him.

Junhoe laughs as Bobby talks, and if there’s silence, it’s a comfortable one where they’re both in their own head, lost. The drinks have started to do their job on Junhoe as he feels a bit dizzy, but it’s nothing too bad. Junhoe admits to himself that he enjoys Bobby’s company a lot.

“I knew there was an interesting guy hiding behind all that hostility.” Bobby teases and Junhoe acts offended.

“I wasn’t hostile.” He repeats the same thing he said last time, pursing his bottom lip out. Bobby watches him and it looks like he’s subconsciously repeating Junhoe’s action.

“Swear I thought you’d smack me with a glass bottle or something when I saw you the second time.” He lets out a light laugh.

Junhoe feels kinda bad. “I’m sorry. I’m just very bad at not directing my anger at the wrong people.” He goes to place his palms on the ground so he could lean on them as his right hand lands on Bobby’s. It’s stupid and it’s nothing but still he suddenly wants to run and jump into the river in front of them and maybe drown.

He winces but doesn’t move his hand, pretends he didn’t notice instead.

Bobby doesn’t react either. “Don’t have to apologize. I kinda figured you weren’t a malicious asscrack when I saw you pouting to your friend after I took a seat in the back.”

“I don’t pout.” Junhoe retorts immediately, jaw clenching to make a point.

“You just did a few seconds ago.” Bobby smiles and scrunches his nose, eyes disappearing in little crescents. Junhoe feels his cheeks flush a bright pink.

A song comes on that Junhoe recognizes again, a catchy chorus just calling for him to join in and so he does, humming along as he swings from left to right like a proper drunk. He giggles to himself.

There’s a rumbly, off key noise coming from his right as he realizes Bobby’s yelling the lyrics in a vile falsetto, too loud for it to fit in with the mood. Junhoe can’t help but start cackling, doubling over as he has to put his hand on the ground in order to not fall to the side. His head is spinning a bit more now.

“You’ll wake up the dead.” Junhoe’s still laughing as Bobby keeps screaming over him, a wide smile plastered over his face. Junhoe turns his head to look at him to see the other enjoying himself, eyes closed as he sings and as off key as it is, it still makes Junhoe smile.

He tries to switch up his sitting position by putting his knees on the ground and wanting to sit on his heels, but when he goes to lift himself up, he realizes just how drunk he’s gotten as his head spins and his balance gives up on him, making him tip forwards. He’s caught off guard so he doesn’t have time to think about how to catch himself, head ending up hitting Bobby’s shoulder.

He quickly grabs Bobby’s arm as he pushes himself away, flustered. “God, sorry. Didn’t realize how dizzy I am.” He’s gripping around Bobby’s bicep tightly as if his life depended on it.

Bobby’s hands find Junhoe’s forearms to stop him from falling over, grip tight. His mouth is open, eyebrows raised in worry. “You feelin’ okay?” He asks, letting go with one hand as he grabs Junhoe’s drink and places it away from him.

“Yea, think I should lay down for a second, though.” Junhoe laughs in abashment as he plops his butt on the ground, trying not to think too much about Bobby’s grip on his arms.

He goes to lay down and Bobby reaches for Junhoe’s backpack. “Lay your head here.” He says and Junhoe does what he’s told, laying on his back with his knees bent upwards, heels on the ground. Bobby’s hand slowly slips down from Junhoe’s arm and falls down to his fingertips. Junhoe’s drunk brain is hyper aware of it, tips of his fingertips tingling at the warmth Bobby’s hand is radiating next to his. There’s a need in his stomach for him to grab it, hold it - just to see how it is. The curiosity is driving him crazy.

He half expects Bobby to move his hand away, but Bobby turns it over and holds Junhoe’s pinky, fumbling and playing with it absently as he keeps his eyes on the sea of flower petals they’re sitting on.

The nerves in Junhoe’s stomach have settled and he feels relaxed, slowly closing his eyes so his head would stop spinning. But instead he just feels like he’s floating.

Bobby’s hand absently travels further into Junhoe’s, making him spread his fist as Bobby’s index finger traces lines over his palm. There’s an approving hum escaping Junhoe’s throat as he moves his hand closer to the source of warmth, which happens to be the top of Bobby’s thigh.

He feels another hand on his forearm now, fingers gently floating over his thin sensitive skin, tickling lines over it, across his veins, up towards his bicep and then down again. It sends shivers down Junhoe’s spine.

Bobby continues repeating the process for a few minutes and Junhoe would’ve fallen asleep if he didn’t hear the latter ask. “Feel better?”

“Mhm, just keep doing that.” He whispers, turning on his side, facing Bobby. There’s a light touch on his forehead, probably Bobby moving away the hair that’s fallen over his face.

He opens his eyes to the sight of the curly haired boy smiling at him, face closer than they’ve ever been thus far and he’s beautiful. Eyes dark and warm but still somehow they manage to sparkle, lips plump and pink, spread into a smile so inviting Junhoe wonders if he’s maybe dizzy from the sight of that itself. Bobby’s broad shoulders look like a shield in front of Junhoe and for some stupid, drunken reason he feels safe. He wants to laugh, deeming himself too drunk to think anything normal, but he doesn’t, too captivated by what’s in front of him.

Bobby moves his hand away from Junhoe’s face and the warmth is gone, a dropping feeling in Junhoe’s stomach, like he’s disappointed. He decides to sit back up, coming up closer to Bobby than he was earlier.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he notes the music has stopped, wonders when but concludes it was probably during him drifting off to sleep.

They’re looking at each other now, eyes clear but mind in a haze, bodies not moving an inch. Bobby’s hand still rests in Junhoe’s palm, which has now become sweaty from the force of his heart beating against his ribcage. He wants to stay still but he feels himself floating from the alcohol in his system, annoyed that he can’t fully control his movements.

Bobby looks frozen, his face serious and lips parted ever so slightly, eyes traveling over Junhoe’s entire face as if he’s scanning for a hidden treasure. His hand falls from Junhoe’s arm to his hip, hovering over it before he sneaks it behind Junhoe, hesitantly playing with the bottom of his shirt, fingers gracing the skin on Junhoe’s back ever so slightly, but enough for goosebumps to overflow Junhoe’s body. His pointer finger tickles Junhoe’s hip and Junhoe feels like he’ll black out.

Junhoe lets his vision fall on Bobby’s lips and he feels his cheeks heat up, stomach twisting. Bobby’s tongue subtly licking his bottom lip is all he can think about as he slightly rocks forwards, as if being pulled in. He’s about to close his eyes when Bobby suddenly shakes his head quickly, as if throwing himself out of a stupor.

“Maybe we should get going?” His voice is deep as he looks around for his phone before stuffing it into his pocket.

Junhoe removes his hand from Bobby’s hold like he was burned, a wave of shame washing over him for being stupid enough to think they would actually kiss. “Uh, yeah.” His eyes widen in order to clear his vision a bit, turning away from Bobby as he goes to stand up.

They pick up their belongings in silence, putting the empty bottles back into the plastic bag and discarding them in the nearby recycle bin.

“You got everything?” Bobby asks after they’re done with that, patting his own pockets to check if his wallet is there.

“Yeah, we can leave.” Junhoe nods quietly.

The walk to Junhoe’s apartment is silent, but it only takes them about ten minutes to get there so Junhoe doesn’t perish in his own gloominess for too long. His mind clears out due to the fresh midnight air and as inebriety leaves, humiliation sets in in its’ stead. They don’t talk much more, the silence deafening in Junhoe’s ears as he can’t stop fumbling with his hands.

Once they get to his building he hurries to unlock the door, refusing to look at Bobby.

He finally opens it and turns around. Bobby’s waiting with his hands in his pockets, a street lamp next to him casting shadows over his sculpted face, making his skin glow unfairly bright. He looks too beautiful and Junhoe wants to cry.

“Uh- Thanks… for” he starts, digging around his brain for correct words to use, “keeping me company.” He’s leaning on the door, voice small.

Bobby swats his hand in the air. “Don’t thank me.” He’s nonchalant. It looks like he wants to say more but his mouth just shuts closed, like there’s a debate going on inside his brain.

Junhoe presses his lips into a thin line, nodding. “Well,” his voice comes out cracky, so he clears his throat. “Guess I’ll see you around.”

Then he waves and closes the door behind himself, walking up the staircase with a stuffed mind and empty chest.

~

“Drink this.” Jinhwan places a tall glass of cold cocoa in front of where Junhoe’s leaning his head on the counter.

He got there right after he woke up, at about 5 in the afternoon, puffy from fatigue and his distressed mood. The look on his face was enough for Jinhwan and Donghyuk to know things didn’t go as well as they planned them to when they sent him off. He slowly dragged a stool for himself to sit on as he immediately dropped his forehead onto the cold counter, and here he is now, moping as his friends try to rip out any information out of him.

“I’m not hungover.” He protests, glaring at the cocoa.

“Don’t care. Drink it.” Jinhwan orders, crossing his arms over his chest. “Okay, speak.”

Junhoe groans loudly at being interrogated when the last thing he wants is to recall his embarrassment right now. “What?!”

“What happened with Bobby?” Donghyuk asks, a bit more gently than their older friend.

“I really don’t wanna talk about it.” Junhoe mumbles quietly, massaging his temples as his eyes roll backwards.

“That’s too bad, because you’re gonna.” Donghyuk pinches his forearm. “Did you kiss?”

There’s another loud groan from Junhoe. “Please, don’t make me talk about it. I’m too embarrassed.”

That makes both of his friends quirk their eyebrows. “What’re ya embarrassed for?”

Seeing as he can’t win against them, he sighs and leans his chin on his palm. “I got a bit drunk and kinda tried to kiss him, but he rejected me.” That makes blush reappear on his face, hiding himself behind his hands.

His friends are quiet for a few seconds before Jinhwan speaks up. “You were drunk?”

“Well, I wasn’t completely plastered, but I was tipsy for sure.”

“And now you’re being all mopey because a nice guy didn’t wanna make out with you while you were in an intoxicated state?” Jinhwan’s voice sounds patronizing.

Junhoe clenches his jaw. “Well- No, I” he mumbles. “You don’t know how awkward it got after I did that.”

Donghyuk leans on the counter in front of Junhoe. “Of course it got awkward, you invented awkwardness. The guy was probably lost in not knowing what to do with your panicked self.”

“That’s not-“ Junhoe snaps “-true…” he trails off, remembering how Bobby still walked him home and asked multiple times if Junhoe felt sick. Of course, he could be mistaking all of that for Bobby just being a kind person.

“You should meet up with him.” Jinhwan suggests and Junhoe’s over this conversation.

“I dont’t wanna. And even if I did, I don’t have his number. So it’s over, can we not talk about this anymore and rather switch on to you two?” He half yells, triggering Jinhwan into his threatening mode.

Suddenly both of his friends find something to do as they scatter around, leaving Junhoe by the bar with his cold cocoa and mopey head.

He stays there for about an hour before the place gets crowded, deciding to leave when people start flooding in so he doesn’t make it harder for his friends on the job.

It’s bright outside, sun shining right at his face, warming up his bare skin. Birds are chirping and there’s a pleasant breeze ruffling through his hair. He walks home on his usual way, passing groups of children on what looked like a field trip with their teacher. There’s laughter in the air and dogs barking in the park nearby, their owners probably taking advantage of a nice spring day to spend it outside.

He’s looking at his feet stepping on the ground covered with flower petals as his phone rings. He looks at the unknown number before picking up.

“Hello?”

”Hey, Junhoe?” It’s Bobby.

Junhoe feels his heart thump. He’s quiet for a second as he collects himself, schooling his brain to relax. “Is your house on fire?”

There’s a rumbly laugh from the other side making Junhoe smile involuntarily. ”No. But it is kinda important.” Bobby then says. ”Can you come outside?”

Junhoe frowns. “Outside where?”

“Your house. I’m here.” Bobby says just as Junhoe walks around the corner into his street. He falters, not sure about what to do when he walks into him.

“I’m-“ he stutters. “I’m on my way home right now. I’ll be there in like 2 minutes.”

”Oh, oh that’s fine. I’ll wait for you here then.” Bobby sounds a bit hyper as he hangs up.

Junhoe stuffs his phone back into his pocket as he gets closer to his apartment, a shiny mop of curly hair coming into view as Bobby stands there with his ankles crossed leaning on the building, typing something on his phone.

He knows he’s stupid for feeling so giddy in this situation and he knows he’s cringy for blushing at the sight of Bobby waiting for him. He kinda wants to turn around and walk away, pretending they never talked on the phone but he knows that would completely shove everything to shit if he did it. So he tells himself to just get this over with.

“Hey.” He says, making Bobby pick his head up quickly and fumble with his phone in order to put it away.

“Hey.” Bobby surprisingly doesn’t smile. He looks straight into Junhoe’s soul as he pushes himself off the wall and walks closer. “You look nice.”

Damn, this guy.

“So I’ve been told.” Junhoe replies, swallowing the you look nicer part that almost tipped off his tongue. “What did you call me for?”

“How’re ya feeling?” Junhoe doesn’t expect Bobby to ask that first so he blinks a couple of times.

“I’m fine.” Which is, in health terms, true. But mentally? He’s kinda going crazy.

They’re in front of each other now, Bobby’s hands stuffed in his pockets as usual. Junhoe wants to seem unfazed and keep eye contact with the latter but he’s aware of the fact that the bright daylight is exposing his deep blush right now, so he fails and keeps his eyes anywhere but on the guy in front of him.

Bobby pulls one hand out of his pocket to scratch the back of his neck. “About yesterday…”

Oh, god, here goes.

“I didn’t want to make things bad between us. When we separated and went home, it left such a sour taste in my mouth I couldn’t sleep.” Bobby’s eyebrows furrow and Junhoe forgets how the thinking process works.

“You don’t have to talk about it. I understand where you’re coming from, ‘s all good. I shouldn’t have acted on impulse.” Junhoe thinks the ground will swallow him as he speaks, stopping himself from making a terrifyingly devastated expression caused by whatever feeling was shooting through his body right now.

“You just looked drunk and I didn’t want you to regret anything after you’re all sobered up.” Bobby’s hand seems to reach forward but then he just lets it flop down.

Junhoe wonders if the wheels in his brain really stopped turning or he’s just stupid to understand what Bobby’s saying. “Huh?” Is all that leaves his mouth before he adds, “Regret what? Drunk? I wasn’t that drunk.” He squints to make sure he’s not imagining it, but then realizes Bobby is in fact blushing too.

“You know, regret kissing me. You were tipping over and losing your balance, I dunno. I didn’t think it’d mess up the night as bad as it did.” Bobby speaks fast, half stumbling over his words.

True, Junhoe was kind of drunk yesterday, and he did blame his carefree intoxicated mind for having acted on impulse, but that just helped him do what the sober him wouldn’t normally have the courage for. “Th- Thanks… for… uh, acting accordingly to the situation.” He bites out. “I uh… Appreciate it. But, I’m the one who should be apologizing. I put you in an uncomfortable situation.”

Bobby shakes his head. “‘s all good. We all do things we wouldn’t normally do when we’re drunk.”

Junhoe squints his eyes, not quite understanding if Bobby was seeing through him or if he genuinely thought Junhoe currently had no interest in him. “Exactly.”

At that Bobby nods, taking a step backwards. “Okay, well. Glad we worked that out. Kinda.” His eyes are on the ground. Junhoe wonders why he looks defeated when he came here to clear out this misunderstanding in the first place. “Hopefully we can still hang out without yesterday’s events ruining it.”

Junhoe’s heart sinks a bit from the unexpected disappointment. “Oh, of course. Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“Okay… Well, in that case… guess I’ll see you around?” The curly haired guy attempts to smile wide but it comes out like a grimace.

Junhoe nods. “See you around.”

They walk away from each other, Junhoe unlocking the front door of his building with a blurry mind to what just happened. He’s never been good with expressing his feelings with words but he’s absolutely sure this time he completely and utterly wrecked it.

He’s kind of confused about it all when he enters his apartment and plops himself onto the couch after shaking his shoes off. He rewinds the conversation in his head a few times, looking for loopholes where he could’ve possibly misunderstood what was said. He should’ve let Bobby know he wanted to kiss him. That wasn’t the outcome of his intoxication. Him taking action was the outcome, not the want to kiss him.

He rubs his palms over his face, groaning out loud. He thinks of the sight of Bobby leaning against his building cooly, curls falling around his face as he’s typing away on his phone. He looked stunning, it makes Junhoe want to scream into his pillow.

He realizes he has this stupid crush on Bobby, and it came so fast and hit him like a truck. First he could feel his nerves giving out on him as soon as his eyes landed on Bobby, pure sight of him indicating annoyance in Junhoe. But all of a sudden he became charmed by his stupid smile and dumb remarks and shameless compliments and flirtatious charisma and beautiful body and those stupid, warm eyes. He groans again.

His phone pokes his leg in his pocket and he shuffles it out, opening the window with recent calls. There’s an unknown number staring at him at the very top and he holds it, clicking to create a new contact. The keyboard pops up and Junhoe thinks about what to type in. He decides for just ‘Bobby’.

His hand tingles as he recalls Bobby holding it, tracing lines over his palm, tickling all the way up to his bicep. The moment was so intimate it made Junhoe want to projectile propel himself into outer space. He feels his stomach twist again.

Thumb hovering over Bobby’s contact, Junhoe squeezes his eyes shut and presses almost instinctively, bringing the phone close to his ear as he feels his heart thumping in his throat.

It rings once, twice, three times and then, “Yeah?”

Shit. He hasn’t thought about what he’ll say. “Uh,” he stutters. “Bobby.”

”This is him.” Bobby half laughs and Junhoe blushes, thankful yet annoyed that Bobby can’t see him.

“It’s Junhoe.” He lets the latter know lamely, slapping his forehead quietly at his inability to communicate.

”I know.” This time Bobby chuckles fully. ”Did you forget something?”

And Junhoe’s heart is thrumming rapidly. He fumbles with his fingers in his lap. “I jus- uh… This is gonna sound real dumb especially because we just agreed to keep things friendly and not ruin stuff or whatever but it’s bothering me and I have to let you know or it’ll eat me alive so I’m just calling to tell you that I did want to kiss you yesterday and it hasn’t changed after I sobered up.” He vomits the words in the speed of light.

There’s silence on the other side of the line as Junhoe’s anxiety grows, already thinking of the ways to go back into time and just erase all of his mistakes. Then he hears a knock on the door, wincing.

”Can you open up for me?” Bobby’s voice finally speaks up from the phone as Junhoe jumps to his feet, taken aback. Of all things, Bobby being here right after Junhoe’s embarrassing confession was the last thing he expected.

He hangs up the phone as he hurries to unlock the door, taking one deep breath before opening it. “How’d you know where to come?” Junhoe asks, stepping aside to let Bobby enter.

“I looked at the buzzer list outside.” Bobby walks past Junhoe and makes his stress levels worsen. “I was about to go home, but honest to god I’m tired of ending our see you around’s without saying what I actually want to say.” He has his palms towards Junhoe, as if laying out his feelings bare. “So I turned around and decided to
come back and you called me at the perfect time.”

Junhoe’s face is bright red but for once he doesn’t really care. He’s too busy containing his heart from erupting. His palms are sweating so he wipes them on his jeans. “What is it that you actually want to say?”

Bobby takes a step forward, touching Junhoe’s fingers with his own gently and slowly, almost apprehensively, like he’s scared. Junhoe’s hand moves on its own as he threads their fingers together, eyes never leaving Bobby’s unexpectedly shy face.

Finally Bobby looks up. “Truth is, you’re so fucking beautiful it’s driving me insane.”

Junhoe’s lips part in shock. Maybe he could’ve predicted where Bobby was going with all this, but once he heard it out loud it made his mind erupt into chaos. He tugs at Bobby’s arm bravely, pulling it behind his own hip.

Bobby sighs, whispering. “It’s annoying because I wanna kiss you so bad.”

Junhoe’s mouth twitches into a small smile, licking his lips as he looks at Bobby fondly, even though he feels embarrassed. “Why don’tcha get on with it, then?”

Bobby’s hand lets go of Junhoe’s so he could place it on the small of his back and lightly pull him closer. Their bodies are almost touching now, and the air is stuck in Junhoe’s throat. He wonders if he’s supposed to say something, what he should do, but his mind is blank, only relying on the automatism in his body, following his instincts.

Bobby’s other hand comes up to touch between Junhoe’s jawline and neck, resting there as he gently caresses Junhoe’s cheek with his thumb. It sends shivers down Junhoe’s spine again and Junhoe’s placing his palms on the sides of Bobby’s neck gently. He thinks his knees are seriously about to give out from the amount of jitteriness in his body, his hearing blocked, only the sound of his heart beating out of his chest.

And then Bobby seems to say fuck it as he pulls Junhoe forward and crushes his lips against the other’s, kissing him softly, breathing hitched. Junhoe kisses back immediately, one pair of soft lips on another, the hotness and wetness of
the kiss spreading through his entire body. His hand travels from Bobby’s neck into his soft hair, threading his fingers through it as he connects their bodies together. Junhoe’s bottom lip is caught between Bobby’s as the latter bites it lightly, pulling a bit before they connect them again, pushing against each other with rising impulse.

Out of breath, they tardily disconnect as Bobby pecks the edge of Junhoe’s mouth, then placing another kiss on his cheek, and then one more on Junhoe’s earlobe. Junhoe fears his heart is seriously about to stop so he rests his forehead on Bobby’s shoulder, closing his eyes for a few seconds.

He feels Bobby’s arms slowly wrap around his waist and Bobby’s hugging him, making him feel like he could melt right then and Bobby would be there to keep him safe.

Junhoe’s not gonna lie to himself; he’s a bit overwhelmed. His brain is like mashed potatoes, his pulse is so rapid he’s probably not being himself right now. Wondering if Bobby can feel his heartbeat, he turns his head on Bobby’s shoulder so he’s facing the curly boy, placing a few butterfly kisses on the side of his neck.

“Damn.” Bobby finally whispers, resting his chin on top of Junhoe’s head. “Definitely should’ve done that when I first realized I wanted to.”

“And when’s that?” Junhoe whispers back, eyes shut.

“That time when you got flustered because I caught you staring into my notebook.”

Junhoe chuckles. “I remember that. Wanted to scream at you from how annoyed I got.” He hums as Bobby pats his hair.

“You were blushing. It was cute.” He smiles down at Junhoe.

“So fuckin’ annoying.” Junhoe grumbles and gets out of the hug, separating the two boys, but the red cheeks and small smile on his face indicate nothing but fondness.

They stand in front of each other for a few seconds, Bobby’s hand still on Junhoe’s waist as they look at each other, both bursting out laughing from how silly they found the situation they’re in.

“So, what is this now?” Junhoe then asks, motioning between them.

Bobby grins. “Doesn’t have to have a label if you’re uncomfortable. We can just take it from here and see where it takes us.”

Junhoe smiles, taking hold of Bobby’s hand. He’s proud of himself for not blushing this time, although he feels like there’s no way Bobby’s ever going to make him not nervous.

~

It’s around five in the afternoon when they walk towards Jinhwan’s cafe hand in hand for Junhoe’s shift, laughing about something Bobby was saying. Bobby picked Junhoe up at around noon after they talked on the phone almost all night prior to that. Junhoe didn’t think he could hold up a conversation that long without getting bored, but once he’d finally swallowed up his pride and completely discarded the prejudices he had for Bobby, the curly man just kept on surprising him more and more. At one point Junhoe’s sleep deprivation got the best of him and he passed out, Bobby still on the line.

After Bobby picked him up they went to eat lunch, Bobby insisting on treating Junhoe to a wonderful hot cooked meal and Junhoe couldn’t refuse, too nostalgic for food like that. It felt a bit weird to Junhoe to eat lunch out with… his boyfriend, stomach twisting every time the thought settled in his head.

Now they’re at the entrance of Jinhwan’s cafe and Junhoe falters, causing Bobby to look at him.

He probably looks nervous because Bobby lets go of his hand. “You don’t have to tell them immediately.”

But all that does is cause Junhoe to panic more as he grabs Bobby’s hand again, looking for some kind of support. “No, I just gotta get it over with. They’re gonna be annoying and tease us both to the gods, though.”

“It’s fine by me. They don’t get to kiss you so in the end I win.” Bobby squeezes Junhoe’s hand and Junhoe’s heart flips upside down and flies right out of his ass.

They enter through the door and right off the bat Junhoe can see Donghyuk’s mouth fall open in shock. ”Oh my god, finally!” he screams dramatically, causing the few customers to turn around.

Bobby goes to sit by the counter first, Junhoe following right behind him as Yunhyeong and Jinhwan burst through the ‘staff only’ door. “Why are you screaming?!” Yunhyeong asks, eyes wide open when he turns to look towards Bobby, whose arm is resting behind Junhoe on a stool, leaning into him a bit.

“Oh my god, finally, the sexual tension was too much for me to handle. Pay up, Donghyuk.” Yunhyeong yells as well, earning an elbow in the ribs from Jinhwan.

“Did you really bet on us?” Junhoe asks, nostrils flaring.

“Hell yeah. You costed me ten thousand won. Like you couldn’t put it off for just like one more day or something.” Donghyuk frowns.

“Shut up.” Junhoe yells back defensively as he feels Bobby squeeze his thigh in support. Except it does the opposite, as he didn’t expect Bobby’s hand to be anywhere near that area, causing Junhoe’s entire face to burn all the way up to the tips of his ears.

“Donghyuk, I hear you need help with asking a guy named Jinhwan out? I don’t know who he is, but maybe we can help you out a bit, yeah?” Bobby speaks, watching as both Donghyuk and Jinhwan get flustered beyond belief, freezing.

Yunhyeong chokes. “Damn, life really said we ain’t tolerating single people starting today.”

“You little rascal, why are you going around saying this to people?” Donghyuk frowns at Junhoe with a comical anger on his face when Jinhwan grabs his arm.

“Everyone needs to stop yelling right now.” He scolds his friends. “And you, come with me.” He then looks at Donghyuk and walks through the staff door, presumably into his office. Donghyuk follows as Yunhyeong jokingly whistles behind them.

Junhoe stands up from his seat. “I’ll go change now. You can go meet up with Hanbin.”

Bobby leaves his seat as well, nodding. “I’ll come pick you up right before you close? And hopefully this time you won’t get mad at me for it.”

Junhoe feels another set of butterflies in his stomach as he laughs. “Sounds great.”

They stand there for a second before Junhoe’s head slowly turns to the side to look at a fawning Yunhyeong who’s staring at them like he’s watching the ending of a romantic comedy. The look in Junhoe’s eyes is enough to get his friend moving. “Right, yeah, I- should, uh… I’ll go clean the toilets.” He quickly thinks of an excuse as he scurries out of the cafe.

“Okay, well, I gotta get to work.” Junhoe bites his bottom lip, switching his balance from one leg to the other.

“Right. Cool.” Bobby claps his palms together and immediately starts walking. “See you around?” He asks and Junhoe has to resist the pout forming on his lips.

“See you.” He agrees and Bobby smiles, leaving a kiss on Junhoe’s cheek and then he’s walking out of the cafe, leaving a childishly giddy Junhoe who will now probably have to go through the entire night shift listening to his friends tease him over hating a guy just to start dating him later. His stomach twists at the word dating.

But it’ll be worth it, because Bobby’s picking him up at the end of his shift and he can run away from all the teasing and working and just kiss his crush to infinity.