Archive of Our Own

Foei yawns deeply. It’s been a loooong and boring day, with not much to do. Lian has had two long meetings today, and kind of the only thing Foei has been needed for is briefing about the meetings, and then driving Lian to the meetings. He also, not to forget, got to drive Lian to a restaurant for lunch. But that’s about it. Now, Foei is sitting by his desk, looking through non-important paperwork, and it’s boring. It’s all meaningless and he just wants to-

“Foei!”

Foei quickly sits up. He has never before been this happy to hear Lian’s voice calling for him. He quickly fetches his notepad and pen, before standing up and almost jogging to Lian’s office. He opens the door and greets Lian with a huge smile.

“Yes, sir?”

Lian looks up from his tablet and raises his hand and gestures for Foei to come closer. Foei does as instructed. With Foei beside him, Lian lifts up the tablet for Foei to look at. On the screen there’s an article about a nightclub named Gemini. The article states that Gemini is the hottest thing in town right now. 

“It’s the one next door to Pentagon”, Lian says with a monotone voice. 

Foei hums. “I thought it looked familiar. Do you want me to burn it down for you?”

Lian shakes his head with a hint of a smile on his lips. “No, not yet, Foei. However…” Lian turns his chair so he is fully facing Foei. “I want you to pay Gemini a visit and find out why it’s so popular”.

“Of course, genius idea, Mr. Lian”. Foei smiles. “When do you want me to go?”

“Tonight”.

Foei’s face lights up even more. “Tonight?” Lian nods and Foei clasps his hands. Finally he’ll get to actually do something. 

“As soon as possible. I would’ve gone myself, but it’s Friday, so I can’t. So I will rely on you to do a good job”. 

“Yes, of course! I’ll do my very best!” Foei gives Lian a thumbs up, but Lian doesn’t look that amused anymore.

“Update me whenever you see something worthy of notice. I want to know their secrets”.

“Absolutely!” Foei picks up and unlocks his phone. He opens his text conversation with Lian, before turning the phone around for Lian to see. “I’m already ready. I’ll have you on speed dial”.

Lian rolls his eyes, then looks at Foei softly. “Okay then. Don’t waste any more of our time”.

Lian waves for Foei to leave, and with beaming eyes, Foei starts to leave the office, but abruptly stops by the door when Lian, once again, calls for him. He turns around to look at his boss.

“Don’t make them notice you. Keep a low profile, okay?”

Foei nods. “Don’t worry, sir, they’ll never know I was there”.

Lian looks at him for a moment, then he gives him a quick nod, letting Foei know that their conversation has ended. Foei leaves Lian’s office and hurries to his own desk. He quickly puts away some papers and tidies up everything. He then picks up his keys and heads out, not able to contain his beaming grin. Finally he gets to do something meaningful today. He is going to go and inspect the rival club - undercover. Years of watching spy movies and taking drama classes have prepared Foei for this. He even knows exactly what to wear. He realizes, in this moment, that this is what he was always truly meant to do. Gemini will never know what hit them.

*****

Jay is smiling to himself. It’s 11pm and his club is filled with people. Okay, it’s a Friday, so it’s not that surprising. However, ever since he started to let bands and artists perform here live on Saturdays, the popularity has increased and now Gemini is the go to place for loads of people. It just fills him with so much joy and satisfaction that even on a day when they have no live music, the people still want to come here. He can only imagine how many people will be here by this time tomorrow, when Kirin will be performing again. Damn, Jay has really made it, huh?

Now, however, when he is heading towards the bar, he wishes there were less people here. The air is hot and suffocating. He has to squeeze himself between countless sweaty people and it’s kind of ruining his shirt and making himself sweat. When he reaches the bar he exhales heavily and turns to the red haired bartender.

“Kitty, can you give me a glass of water?” 

The bartender, Kitty, quickly gives him a thumbs up. She swiftly picks up a glass, fills it with water, and hands it to Jay. While taking a hold of the glass, he opens the top three buttons of his shirt to let his skin breathe, finishes the glass in just a second, and sighs. 

“Thank you, I needed that”.

Kitty smiles. “Anything else I can do for you before I leave, boss?”

Jay looks up at her in confusion, before he realizes. “Oh right, Love’s dad had to leave before midnight, right?”

Kitty sighs. “Yeah, unfortunately. He’s a lazy shithead like that”. She squats down and picks up a tote bag from underneath the bar counter.

“Just tell me if you want someone to kick him in the shins. I have some contacts, you know”, says Jay.

Kitty snorts and stands up again. “So you wouldn’t kick him for me?”

Jay gasps and points to himself. “Have you seen this face?” He shakes his head. “Nope, if it has to become violent I rather have others doin’ it for me. But if you want someone to have a talk with him? Or have a strongly worded letter sent to him? Then I’m your guy”. 

Kitty rolls her eyes. “Thanks, I really appreciate it”. She puts the bag over her shoulder. “Just so you know, though, we need more of the Irish whiskey, and the lemon juice as well. We should be fine for closing today, but I have warned Win about it, so he will try his best to not drown all of his drinks with lemon tonight”. Kitty chuckles. “Now when I think about it,  maybe we should tell him that every night”.

Jay grins. “The guests love the sour taste though, don’t they?” He shakes his head. “But you’re probably right. As always”. 

“Thank you for noticing”.

“And thank you for saving us time. I was just about to ask you what we got in stock, but now I don’t have to. If there’s nothing else, then you’re good to go”. Jay smiles. “Great job today!” He nods, as a farwell, and starts to leave the bar.

“Uh, wait. Jay?” 

Jay stops in his steps and turns around to face Kitty again. “Yeah?” He raises his eyebrow waiting for Kitty to tell him what’s on her mind. She bites her cheek before she speaks.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s this dude here…” She nods towards the end of the bar counter. “And he’s been kinda freaking me out”.

Jay furrows his brows. He takes a few steps to the side to get a clearer view of the end of the bar. With his new view, he doesn’t even need to double check with Kitty who she is referring to. His eyes automatically fall to the young man with a blue baseball cap on top of his head. He is wearing a denim jacket and under it a gray hoodie, which is not really what Gemini visitors usually wear on a crowded and hot Friday night. He looks more like a Joe-from-Netflix’s- You wannabe. The man is wearing a pair of sunglasses as well, but during the short amount of time Jay has studied him, the man has managed to push down the glasses, look around the club with close to crazy eyes, and then push the glasses back up three times,  to then turn his attention to his phone. 

“How long has he been here?” Jay asks, shifting his gaze between Kitty and the suspicious man.

“He’s been sitting there for like an hour, and just…” Kitty quickly looks at the man, who just pushed his sunglasses up again. “He’s creepy. Each time I’ve handed out a drink to someone, I can feel him looking at me, and when I turn to him, he’s always typing something on his phone”. 

Jay slowly nods. “Has he said anything to you?”

Kitty sighs. “Not really. He only ordered a coke, and gave me a huge tip, so I can’t really complain, but…” She leans closer to Jay and lowers her voice to make sure no one hears. “I think I saw him take photos of me… Like, each time I made a new drink his phone was up”.

Jay looks at the man again, this time with a hint of disgust. “Is he fucking serious?”

“I thought I was just paranoid at first, but then he ended up taking a photo with his flash on”, Kitty says, but with a disguised snort when remembering the awkward moment. “It looked kinda funny, I must say. He started to mumble a ‘sorry’ and didn’t do anything for quite some time after that”.

Jay can’t help it but to quietly chuckle, he then turns serious. “Well, thank you for telling me, Kitty. I’m gonna go and have a talk with him. Check what his deal is”. Jay pats Kitty on the shoulder. “Say hi to Love from me”.

Kitty gives him a small smile. “Will do, boss”. 

Kitty fixes her bag and heads to the exit. Jay gives her a small wave before turning back towards the suspicious young man. His soft smile stiffens and he furrows his brows. With big confident steps he heads towards the end of the bar. The young man is busy typing something on his phone, so he doesn’t notice Jay is heading his way until Jay is standing in front of him. Jay clears his throat and the man looks up. He pushes down his sunglasses, which reveals that he’s looking up at Jay with big, much less crazy looking, but more perplexed, brown eyes and Jay doesn’t know why, but somehow there’s a hint of innocence in the man’s eyes that clashes with the image Jay had of him. The eyes are actually really pretty, even. But then again, people thought Ted Bundy was an attractive man so Jay won’t let the beauty of the creepy man’s eyes distract him or affect his judgment. 

“Hi, I’m Jay”, Jay lifts his hand, waiting for the man to shake it. 

“Jay?” The man questions, while taking Jay’s hand. 

“Yeah, Jay, and I just so happen to own this place”. The man gasps and drops Jay’s hand, and this time it’s Jay’s turn to look perplexed.

“You’re the one who founded this place?” The man quickly pushes his sunglasses up again and grabs his phone, but stops himself from unlocking it when he realizes Jay has a clear view of his phone’s screen. Jay shakes his head and has to stop himself from letting out a quiet chuckle again. What the fuck is up with this dude?

“Yeah, and who are you?” Jay crosses his arms and looks down at the man, as if he was a parent waiting for his kid to admit that they did, indeed, give the dog a new haircut.

“Uh, I’m Fooo…-” The man drags out the O in his name and interrupts himself, taking a short breath. “I’m Ford”. The man quickly nods. “Yes, my name is Ford because I love cars”. He lights up. “I even work with driving cars, that’s how much I love ‘em”.

The left side of Jay’s mouth twitches and he has to remind himself of Ted Bundy again. Ted Bundy knew how to charm his victims. Don’t let this silly creepy man fool you, Jay. 

“Okay, well, Ford, I wanted to have a little chat with you”. Jay sits down on the chair beside the Ford guy, and Ford shifts in his seat. “You see, it’s a Friday night and loads of people are here dancing, having a good time, but you've just been sitting here all night alone. What’s up? Why aren’t you out dancing?” Jay then points to the almost empty glass in front of the man. “Or at least drinking something more than that coke?”

The Ford guy bites his bottom lip. He puts down his phone on the table and sighs heavily. ”I’m sorry”, he takes off his sunglasses and looks at Jay with those pretty big eyes. “I was supposed to have a blind date, but…” He puts his hand on Jay’s shoulder, which stops Jay’s thoughts about how someone deliberately would dress like a creepy stalker for a blind date. “I have been stood up. Ghosted, left on read, deemed unlovable, yeah, you get it”. The man puts his other hand on his forehead and sighs loudly and deeply. “I’ve waited here for ages ‘cause… I’ve been in denial, but you’ve helped me see the light”, he looks up at Jay again. “Thank you for that, Jay. I will leave and not bother your beautiful, beautiful club again”. 

The Ford guy moves his hand from Jay’s shoulder, leaving the shoulder much colder. He puts on his sunglasses, picks up his phone and stands up. He turns around, but before being able to make a dramatic exit, Jay takes a hold of his wrist, stopping him. 

“Hold up, I’m not done with you”. Ford looks at Jay shocked. Jay nods towards the seat Ford just left. “Sit down”. Ford reluctantly sits down, takes off his glasses and faces Jay. His eyes drop to Jay’s exposed chest, which leads to him quickly putting on the glasses again and Jay has to suffocate a snort before continuing. “I was made aware of some concerns that you were taking photos of one of the bartenders. It’s important to me that everyone feels comfortable when they’re at Gemini, and that includes my employees. I won’t accept a dude sitting in a corner, staring at and taking photos of the women working here. Do you understand?”

Ford gasps and, once again, quickly removes his glasses. “Oh no! No, no, no, you’re mistaken!” 

Jay gives Ford a judgmental look. “Your flash was on”. 

Ford shakes his head and quickly, almost in a panic, opens his phone and then his photo gallery. “I’m so sorry, but I’m not- I didn’t- Look!”

He turns his phone to Jay and shows him a photo of a hand holding a Martini. Jay recognises the hand, it’s Kitty’s. Ford swipes to the next photo, and it’s a photo of Kitty’s hand pouring whisky into a glass. Next photo is another close up of another drink. “I took photos of the drinks, not her”.

Jay furrows his brows, but feels a bit relieved. This creepy Ford guy might just be a really weird and awkward guy, after all, who doesn’t know how to dress for a date, but damn sure really loves cars and drinks. Not Ted Bundy reincarnated. This still needs some more investigation. “Why on earth did you take photos of our drinks?”

“Uh…” Ford turns his phone to himself, and covers the screen. He presses on something, types something short, scrolls a bit, then he turns his phone back to Jay. There’s a conversation with someone named Blind date Sir Lian shown on the screen. In the conversation photos of the drinks have been sent. “I sent it to my… My date. I, uh, I just thought he was late so I wanted to send photos of what you had to offer”. Ford scratches his neck and shifts in his seat. “I, uh, asked if I should order for him. You know, because I am a gentleman like that”. A smile starts to appear on Ford’s face and it twitches in the left side of Jay’s mouth again. “Yeah, I’m a gentleman! Exactly. And look! Lian is the name of… My date”, Ford shakes his head before continuing. “And, like, Lian is a male name. So like, I’m definitely not interested in taking photos of that girl bartender. I promise!”

Ford looks up at Jay with pleading eyes. This is definitely an odd situation and Jay would lie if he said he fully believed Ford’s story. He’s pretty sure Ford isn’t even his name. But something in Ford’s eyes told Jay that he was telling the truth about this. That he did not mean to make Kitty uncomfortable and the photos he took definitely were only of the drinks. Maybe he was a recovering alcoholic who still enjoyed looking at drinks he couldn’t consume anymore? Or maybe he belonged to a rival club wanting to steal Gemini’s menu? Who knows, but at least he’s not a stalker to Kitty. And that’s a big relief, and now Jay can’t help but to feel intrigued about finding out who and what this man really is. 

“Okay, alright”, Jay puts his hand on Ford’s shoulder. “I’m gonna let you go now, Ford. If that’s even your real name”. Jay smirks and Ford’s eyes turn big again. 

“Wha-? I- I- Cars are my life”, he stutters and Jay snorts. Yeah, he’s definitely not named Ford.

“I believe you. I’m so sorry your date didn’t show up. I hope you’ll have better luck next time”. He softly presses the man’s shoulder. “I’m sure someday you’ll be able to find your true Lightning McQueen”.

The man looks down on Jay’s hand on his shoulder and his cheeks suddenly have a very vague shade of pink to them. “Uh, I hope so too. Thanks”. The man awkwardly moves Jay’s hand off his shoulder and stands up. “I’m so sorry again. I better leave and, uh… Cry myself to sleep?” 

Jay chuckles. He thinks that that Lian dude missed out on something when ghosting the Ford guy. He’s one of a kind, to say the least. The man starts to walk away. “You can stay and actually order one of the drinks, if you want?” Jay says. “I owe you an apology after disturbing you with this little interrogation. I’ll personally make it for you”. The man stops in his tracks and almost stumbles. He turns around to look at Jay, a bit flustered, and his mouth is slightly open in shock, which makes Jay smile. 

“Uh, thanks, but, uh…”

“Come back tomorrow then”, Jay says and shrugs his shoulders. “I’ll give you a drink and you can see Kirin perform. He’s an up and coming artist, I'm sure you would love him. And do you know what?”

The man nervously looks around, before letting his gaze stay on Jay again. “Uh, no, what?”

Jay smirks. “All of the city’s singles will be here, just to see him. I would love for you to come, as well. Who knows, maybe you’ll have better luck finding the one?”

“Uh…” The man studies Jay’s face, before the vague shade of pink reappears on his cheeks, and he looks away.  “I gotta go now. See ya”.

He awkwardly finger guns before hurrying away and Jay is left with the smirk still on his lips.

***** 

It’s the day after and Foei is back in Lian’s office, as well as back in his suit. Thank god. He can finally see clearly again, now when he doesn’t have to wear those dirty sunglasses with no prescription. It was much more difficult being undercover than Foei first thought. When he got home last night, he was exhaUSTED. Like damn, he was close to getting busted, but thankfully his lifetime of preparations, with improv in drama classes, for example, saved his skin.

As soon as he woke up this morning, he opened his phone and changed back Lian’s name because he almost had a heart attack when it said that he had a missed call from Blind date Sir Lian . After changing Lian’s contact name, Foei called him back and was informed Lian had to come in earlier to the office today, so Foei had to pick him up ASAP. During the whole drive to Lian’s, Foei could only think of the night before and what he found out about Gemini. 

The staff were welcoming and seemed to enjoy their job. They have an endless menu of drinks and a secret ingredient in loads of them seem to be - according to Foei’s great sense of smell -  lemon. The music they’re playing there is a mix of genres and songs from around the world and they also have a stage for live music, which seems to be the talk of the club. But the one thing that shocked Foei, and stood out to him the most, was the owner of the club. The owner was younger than he expected him to be. The owner seemed to care for his employees in a way Foei hasn’t seen much of before. The owner seemed to be a very capable young man and it was admirable that he has managed to build up something as successful as Gemini on his own. That’s why the short encounter with him clashes with the, otherwise, admirable image Foei got of him. 

For starters, this seemingly capable young owner, apparently named Jay, didn’t seem to be able to fully dress himself. If there’s anything Foei has learnt during his time working for Lian, it is that when you’re doing business, and when you own a club, you should dress properly and respectfully. However, the moment Foei first laid his eyes on Jay, he noticed that Jay was not wearing a proper and respectful suit. He was wearing a nearly fully unbuttoned shirt, exposing his chest, and that’s not professional at all. Like sure, personally Foei didn’t mind the way Jay chose to dress himself. Foei thinks everyone should dress however they want, and if Jay wants to wear an unbuttoned black shirt with a laced flower pattern on it, with the sleeves rolled up, and a golden cross necklace resting on his naked chest - then so be it. But professionally , it’s not suitable. 

That’s at least what he was telling himself was the reason for his issue with it. 

Then, secondly, the way Jay chose to talk to his customer was, also, quite inappropriate. When he first walked up to Foei, he started a stern conversation, but when Foei gracefully managed to give Jay the blind date excuse, Jay’s way of talking to him changed. He started to question Foei’s name and talk to him almost as if they were… Friends? Foei can’t really pinpoint what Jay said that was off, but Foei felt very weird about it, so he has come to the conclusion, once again, it was just simply unprofessional and impolite. And that’s what doesn't make sense. How can this unprofessional man yet be professional enough to run a successful business everyone there seems to love? And why couldn’t Foei think of anything else but his time at Gemini? Did he love the place too? Isn’t it too soon for him to feel that way?

All of these thoughts continued to roam in his head when Lian joined him in the car. Lian usually prefers it to be quiet in the car during the mornings, but when they finally arrived at the office Lian probably noticed how Foei kept on being unusually quiet and that led to him clearing his throat.

“You stopped updating me yesterday”. Lian gives Foei a curious look. “What happened?” 

Foei blinks a few times, slowly coming back to reality before replying. “The owner showed up. He wanted to talk with me, so I couldn’t have my phone up”.

Lian furrows his brows. “The owner talked with you?”

“Don’t worry, sir!” Foei smiles softly. “He didn’t suspect a thing”.

“Hm…” Lian falls silent and quickly studies Foei’s face before continuing. “Alright, if you say so. What more did you find? Besides…” Lian picks up his phone and unlocks it. “That lemon is their secret ingredient and their ceiling is really pretty?”

“I texted you more than that, Mr Lian”, Foei corrects.

Lian rolls his eyes, but gives Foei a small smile. “Yeah, I noticed”. He leans back in his seat. “But what more can you tell me? What does Gemini have that Pentagon is missing?”

Foei tries to assemble his thoughts. What’s the most essential piece of information he gained yesterday? It’s not the deduction that Jay’s perfume had a hint of lavender, or the sight of his nails wearing black peeled off nail polish. What was important to take notice of was what Jay said. He mentioned that all of the city’s singles would be there tonight, watching someone called Kirin perform. That might be Gemini’s secret weapon. 

“Each Saturday they have live music and tonight an artist called Kirin will be performing. Apparently he’s a popular name, ‘cause-”

“Kirin?” Lian looks at Foei with big eyes, and Foei feels a bit confused. 

“Uh, yeah. Kirin. Do you know who that is, sir?”

Lian bites his lip, and takes a moment before he replies. “I believe I’ve heard the name before”. 

“Well…” Foei shrugs. “According to the owner, Kirin is a popular name and loads of people will be coming there today simply to see him perform”. Foei smirks. “Are you secretly a fan, Mr Lian?” 

Lian clicks his tongue. “Maybe I am”. He stands up from his seat, walks up to Foei and puts his hand on Foei’s shoulder. “Foei, I want you to book me a table at Gemini for tonight. If possible, ask them for a table hidden but with a clear view of the stage”. 

“Oh, alright, for how many?”

“For me and you, Foei”. Lian presses Foei’s shoulder. “Well done. Maybe you were meant to be doing undercover work all along”.

Lian leaves the room and Foei is left, feeling confused again. He’s not confused over the fact he was destined to be doing undercover work, he could have told Lian that ages ago. But somehow he can’t really grasp how Lian did the same thing as Jay did yesterday, touched Foei’s shoulder, but ever since Jay did that, the shoulder has been feeling odd. Now when Lian did the same thing, the shoulder is feeling fine. It doesn’t feel colder, or warmer. It just feels like nothing happened.

Foei shakes his head. Yesterday he must have been on edge, worried he would get busted, and that’s why it felt like electricity shot through his shoulder when Jay touched it. His shoulder probably felt fine now because he has no reason to fear Lian. 

Well, if you don’t count the fact that Lian could, in theory, fire him. 

Now when thinking about that fact, Foei better get going and book that table so Lian won’t actually find a reason to fire him. He can’t waste any more time thinking about Jay. He’s done with that mission, after all. He will visit Gemini again tonight, but he and Lian will be in a secluded area and only be there to watch Kirin perform. That means, Foei won’t have to ever meet Jay again, and that’s a relief. 

*****

“So how’s it going with Love? Is her dad with her tonight?” Jay is standing by the bar and Kitty is wiping the counter. Right now Kirin is performing on stage, so all of the guests are focusing on that, so it’s the first time of the evening Kitty is really able to do any cleaning up.

“Nah, my sister is staying the night and looking after her. Why?” 

“Just wanted to check. You do know you can talk to me, right? If you’re having issues at home”. Jay smiles softly and Kitty returns it.

“Thanks, boss, but it’s okay”. 

Jay leans in closer, so he doesn’t have to shout as much. “Don’t tell Win or Book, but honestly? You’re the best bartender we have. I don’t want to risk losing you ‘cause you have too much on your plate. So just talk to me, yeah?” 

Kitty rolls her eyes. “And here I thought you wanted to talk shit about Win’s new hair cut”.

Jay snorts. “Well, that too”, he starts grinning. “He’s a good looking man, I don’t get why he would do that to himself”.

“You know what?” Kitty puts away the cloth. “He’s been buzzing about Kirin for weeks and it wouldn’t surprise me if this was an effort to get Kirin’s attention”.

“Oh no”, Jay says. “Do you think I should tell him about Kirin’s engagement ring?” 

Kitty chuckles. “No, please don’t. I want to-”, she stops mid sentence. Her eyes have landed on something further away and she furrows her brows.

Jay tries to follow her gaze. “What’s up?”

“Is that…? It can’t be?” She narrows her eyes. “Is that the creepy dude from yesterday?”

Jay quickly turns around to look at Kitty. “Where?” He surprises himself by how much like an order his question sounds like. The encounter with the creepy dude - or Ford, or whatever to call him - has not been able to leave his head. It was so odd, yet so entertaining. It included all aspects needed for a great story to tell people at a party. The only thing needed is a conclusion, or punchline, if you will. The punchline could be something like;

“Oh yeah, the weird dude did turn out to be the prince of Belgium”. 

Or , “Oh yeah, the weird dude was, actually, a serial killer”. 

Or, “Oh yeah, the weird dude did show up the next day together with his blind date Lian who actually did exist”. 

Just something. Jay has held out a hope the whole evening that the man would appear again, because he really, really wanted a punchline. 

That’s at least what he told himself when he found it difficult to contain his curiosity. 

Kitty lifts up her arm and points towards the lounge area. “He’s coming towards us”.

It doesn't take long for Jay to see who she’s pointing to, and when his eyes finally land on the man, Jay feels like he is too stunned to speak.

Jay wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but if he’s being honest… He has a thing for people dressed in suits. Like, have you ever seen a woman in a suit? That’s hot. Men in suits is more common, and that’s definitely not anything Jay minds, but it has caused him to feel more neutral about it. Especially when he is in business meetings and almost everyone around him is wearing suits. However, if he knows a man who he’s never seen wear a suit before, and suddenly that man shows up in a suit? Jay can’t help it but to make a double take and sometimes that leads to him seeing something in the man he’s never seen before. And sometimes that something disappears as soon as the man is back in his normal clothes. Jay’s interest in people does have a tendency to shift quite fast. And oh boy did his interest in the man make a U turn just now.

The man is not dressed in a gray hoodie, denim jacket, and a blue baseball cap anymore. Today he’s wearing a black suit, with a patterned tie. He’s not hiding those pretty eyes underneath a pair of sunglasses, instead he has a pair of round, normal glasses that just work so well with his head shape. The man does not look creepy at all, and is actually really handsome. Kitty seems to have the same thoughts.

“Why is he almost kinda hot?” 

Jay turns around. “Kitty! You can’t just say that about a customer that stalked you”.

“Jay, wasn’t you the one who told me that he actually wasn’t a stalker?” 

“Yeah, but you’re supposed to have better judgment than me”, he hisses.

She sighs. “Oh my god, why should I-”

“Good evening!” Both Kitty and Jay quickly turn around and see that the man is now standing in front of them. He smiles brightly and Jay can’t help but feel captured by the smile, so he returns it with a softer version.

“Hi, what can I-”

Kitty interrupts him. “Do you want a drink?” 

Jay realizes that it makes more sense for her to talk with the man. She’s the bartender after all, and that’s probably why the man went up to them. People are starting to head towards the bar again, so Jay should probably leave. He can’t occupy the best bartender for too long, that’s bad for business. He starts to step away from the bar.

“No, thank you. I’m here because I was wondering if I could borrow some of your time, Mr Jay?” The man smiles again and Jay stops in his steps.

“Oh yeah, of course”, Jay says. Kitty gives Jay a quick nod and then proceeds to go to another part of the bar and starts to wipe the counter. However, it doesn’t take long until people start ordering drinks from her and the cloth gets left behind.

“My name is Foei, nice to meet you”, the man says and lifts his hand.

Jay shakes his hand and chuckles. “Really? Is it now, Ford? ”

The man’s (apparently, actually, named Foei) grasp of Jay’s hand stiffens and he bites his lip. “Oh”. He drops the hand and Jay starts to grin.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a bit of deja vu”, Jay says. 

Foei sighs heavily and puts his hand on his forehead. “I was hoping you wouldn’t recognize me”. 

Jay raises his eyebrow in amusement. “How could I ever forget a face like yours?” 

Foei’s eyes turn big and bewildered, just like yesterday, and even that vague shade of pink appears on his cheeks and Jay feels warm. Foei is hilarious.

“How can you- I-”

“Though I admit, the change of clothes threw me off.” 

Foei falls quiet and closes his mouth. A few beats pass and Foei looks up at Jay with a newfound determination in his eyes. “And it threw me off that you finally learned how to button a shirt”.

Jay’s snort gets stuck in his throat. Of all the things Foei could’ve said, he wasn’t expecting this. Does this mean Foei had been thinking of Jay as well? And been thinking about the fact Jay had his shirt open yesterday? Jay himself had forgotten that he did, but upon hearing this he felt the urge to start having it open more often. “Oh”, he takes one step closer. “So that’s where your focus was yesterday?”

Foei’s eyes flicker between Jay’s gaze and covered chest, while the familiar shade of pink deepens. “No, I didn- That’s no-”. Foei stops and shakes his head. He sighs before putting on a smile. “I wanted to ask you if you have some time to spare? Becaus-”

“You want me to have that drink with you now? Is that it?”

Foei was in the middle of talking, but now his mouth is open in shock instead. Jay finds it near impossible to hide his continuous amusement over Foei’s reactions.

“I’m… I’m sorry?” Foei shakes his head. “No, I don’t want to have a drink with you. You said you owe me a drink and would make it for me. Not that I had to drink it with you”.

Jay starts to smile brightly. “You’re right, I apologize”. He bites his lip. “What do you want my time for, then? If not drinking?” 

Foei shakes his head again, swallows, and clears his throat. “My boss is here. He is the owner of Pentagon, the club next door. He would love it if he could have a word with you. He has some ideas he would like to discuss”. 

Jay furrows his brows. “Pentagon? Are you working for my rival?”

Foei puts his finger up to his mouth and hushes Jay. “Not too loud!”

Jay snorts, but then lowers his voice. “Why were you here on a blind date yesterday?”

Foei starts to look around, with big eyes and big movements. Quite dramatic, actually. He then takes a step closer to Jay, leans in, and Jay surprises himself by suddenly holding his own breath. “Don’t tell anyone, but…” Foei whispers. “I’m a spy, secret agent, you name it. I was here doing some top secret undercover work”. 

Jay exhales and tries his best not to smile more than he already does. It almost hurts to hold it in. Instead he starts to giggle and Foei greets him with a bright smile once again and Jay is gone. 

What the actual fuck? 

Who on earth does Foei think he is? Who gave him the audacity to come in here, while working for Jay’s rival? Then proceeding to get Jay’s attention by being creepy, but then turning out to instead just be a dramatic, funny little man with the prettiest smile and eyes Jay has ever seen? And he’s wearing a suit? 

Jay swallows. “Well, I guess I can’t say no to a spy. I’ll have a chat with your boss. If you insist”.

Foei nods. “I very much do insist”. He takes a step back. “Follow me then, Mr Jay!” 

Foei turns around and starts walking towards the direction he came from. Jay follows but during the walk he opens his shirt a bit. Jay was feeling that it had started to get a lot hotter in here, and he needed to calm his breathing in case he was going to have a business meeting with the owner of Pentagon. But if he’s being honest, he wants to see if Foei will notice again.

Was Foei actually a real spy, sent by Pentagon to lower Jay’s defenses? Who knows, it definitely felt more likely than a blind date ever ghosting Foei.

*****

What happened between the walk from the bar back to Lian’s table? Because Foei was happy to see that Jay was fully dressed when he met him today, but now Jay is sitting opposite Lian, and Jay’s shirt is partially unbuttoned again. How? Why? 

Jay knew this was supposed to be some form of business meeting. Why would he choose to unbutton his shirt for it? What does Lian think of this? Foei hasn’t been able to peel his eyes off this showcase of unprofessionalism since the meeting started. Who does Jay think he is? 

When Foei and Lian had arrived at the club, they were shown to their table and got there just in time for this Kirin artist to perform. However, this Kirin turned out to be Kuea. Lian had started to smile in a way Foei had never seen before, and told Foei that he wanted to discuss some things with the owner. So, since Foei had already met the owner the day before, he was sent out to find the owner again. 

Foei did not like that. 

He had hoped that he wouldn’t have to face Jay again. Their previous encounter was so intense and Foei would have preferred to never have to experience that again. Lian was his boss though, so he had to do what he was told to do. Even if that includes talking to Jay. 

Foei managed to calm himself with the fact that he did, after all, wear a disguise and looked nothing like himself yesterday. That probably means he would be able to find Jay and he could pretend this was their first meeting. Unfortunately, that backfired. Extremely. 

Jay recognized him immediately, and it became a bigger struggle to convince Jay to meet with Lian, than it would have been otherwise. Because of their previous meeting, Jay wanted to constantly annoy Foei with weird improper comments about it and it just messed with Foei’s head. Why couldn’t he just listen to what Foei had to say, like a normal person? Finally he managed to get Jay to the table, but his improper comments didn’t stop there. When Foei introduced Jay to Lian, Jay snorted and said, “So this is ‘Sir Lian?’” , and Foei wanted to drive him over with the car. Jay did end up calming down and could have a real conversation with Lian, but apparently he still felt like he had to dress down for the occasion. Was this just another way for him to annoy Foei? Probably, considering the weird smirk Jay made each time he and Foei made eye contact, and one time he even winked and Foei wanted to drive him over even more.

Suddenly Lian and Jay stand up and Foei stops his planning of murder. “I’ll walk you two out”, Jay says. 

“Thank you”, Lian says and Jay gestures for Lian to go before him. 

Foei stands still, waiting for Jay to follow Lian, but instead he stays put. “You go first, Mr Foei”. 

Foei blinks a few times. “No, I can-”

“I insist”, smiles Jay.

Foei blinks again and before he can say anything Lian grunts. “Foei, do as he says”.

Foei nods and walks out of the secluded area, and Jay quickly follows. Instead of walking up next to Lian, Jay chooses to walk beside Foei. He really doesn't understand what Jay’s deal is.

“Let me give you two a drink before you go”, Jay says when they’re almost by the bar. “It’s on the house”. 

“Oh thank you. I’ve heard good things about your drinks”, Lian says and gives Foei a knowing look. 

They reach the bar and Jay swiftly goes behind the counter, while Lian and Foei sit down on the barstools. There are not as many people in the club anymore, so Lian, Jay and Foei have this corner of the bar counter for themselves. 

Jay picks up a shaker and starts pouring different liquids in it. Foei doesn’t really keep track of what. “I’ll give you the house’s speciality”, Jay says to Lian, who replies with a small smile. 

“There’s lemon in it, right?” Foei asks, but regrets it when Jay suddenly does that smirk again, as he did during the meeting.

“Yes, you’re right. How did you know?” Jay slices a lemon with ease, squeezes it into the shaker, and then proceeds to shake. 

“I just… Had a feeling”, Foei says and laughs nervously. Lian glances at him, then turns towards Jay.

“Have you worked with bartending before?”

Jay nods. “Yeah, that’s how I started. Let’s hope I haven’t gotten too rusty”. He picks up a glass and pours up the drink. “There you go, Mr Lian. Angel’s tear ”. 

Lian raises his eyebrow before taking a sip of the drink. He makes a face, caused by the sour taste, but then he lets out a satisfied hum.

“It’s good”. Lian takes another sip. “Not like anything I’ve tasted before”.

Jay smiles. “That’s what I’d like to hear”. He starts to make a new drink and Foei tries to follow his movements this time. He sees him picking up vodka, but then it all goes by so quickly. He can’t really follow. He ends up focusing on Jay’s face instead. 

Jay looks so concentrated, yet so calm. It all looks so effortless to him. He’s replying to Lian’s comments and questions with no bother, while he’s just standing there. With his wine red shirt open and chest partially exposed. Just like before, the sight fills Foei’s stomach with a tingling feeling that must be anger.

Jay is pouring heavy liquor into a shaker as if it was nothing, to then proceed to shake said shaker, as if it was nothing. Flexing his arms while doing so. He even knows how to cut food as if it was nothing. Foei often ends up cutting his finger and proceeds to make a big deal out of it. 

Jay puts the shaker down, and picks up a cocktail glass from underneath the counter. He puts an olive in it and pours up the new drink. He puts his hand at the glass’ foot and gently pushes it towards Foei. “A vodka martini for our 007”, he smiles and Foei raises his brows, feeling a bit flustered. “Shaken, not stirred, of course”. Jay winks and Foei gasps. He puts his hand on his mouth and feels how his cheeks start to heat up and his brain clocks out. Jay leans in a bit closer to Foei, and pushes the glass a few inches closer as well. Foei manages to take the hint, he moves his hand from his mouth and instead picks up the glass with it.

Jay’s gaze is focused on Foei, and Foei starts to nervously laugh. He raises the glass and clears his throat. “Well, uh, thank you”. He takes a sip of the drink. 

He doesn’t actually like martini. When he’s out he usually just sticks to beer. But now, here he was. Drinking a dry martini inspired by James Bond, all because he made a joke to a hot club owner who can’t dress himself. And said club owner is now looking at Foei so intensely, so he doesn’t really know how to say no to anything anymore.

Foei tries his best not to make a face when feeling the salty, partially bitter, taste. It doesn’t go well. Jay clicks his tongue and shakes his head. “Dang, I failed, huh?”

“No! It’s…” Foei takes another sip and bites the inside of his cheeks to hide his pain. “It’s the best martini I’ve had”. That was not a lie. He has never felt so warm and giddy inside before while drinking a martini. 

“Aww, you”, Jay puts his finger on Foei’s forehead, and gently pushes him. Foei starts to smile wide, while the left side of Jay’s mouth seems to be turned into some kind of smile as well. Their eyes meet and Foei starts to forget why he ever was so annoyed and frustrated with this man. 

Suddenly, he hears someone clear their throat. 

It’s Lian.

“I believe we better be going now”, Lian looks at Jay, before letting his eyes land on Foei. His eyes are filled with confusion and curiosity, as well as the same look he always gives Foei when he needs Foei to stop with what he’s doing, right at this instance. “Don’t you think so, Foei?” 

Foei quickly stands up from his seat. “Yes, of course, sir”. 

Lian stands up as well, and Jay straightens his stance. “Thank you so much for your time. We’ll be in contact”, Lian says to Jay.

“Yes, of course. Thank you for your visit”.

Lian gives Jay a quick nod before turning around to walk away. Foei stands still for a short moment, shifting his gaze between Lian’s back and Jay’s beautiful ches- face! Face. 

Oh gosh, no. 

Did he just call Jay’s face beautiful after almost objectifying him? Now Foei is the unprofessional one. He better leave. 

He looks up at Jay one more time, gives him a quick nod as a goodbye, turns around and starts to follow Lian. 

“Wait!” Foei hears Jay say and he stops in his steps, but he doesn’t dare to turn around. “I’ve given you the drink I owe you now. Can you have a drink with me next time?” 

Foei blinks a few times, to try and register what Jay just said. Yeah, what did he just say? Did he kind of… Ask him out? No, that’s impossible. It’s probably just one of his inappropriate jokes. It’s his way of inviting Foei to another business discussion. Foei loves to discuss business, though. 

He takes a deep breath before turning around to face Jay. “What about a beer?”

Jay grins. “You know what? Whatever you want, I don’t mind”.

Foei feels how something just made a somersault inside his tummy. “Next time I’m at Pentagon I’ll drop by, then?” 

Jay leans forward, puts his elbow on the counter and rests his head in his palm. “I can’t wait”.

Foei doesn’t know how to end this conversation. His head is dizzy, but he needs to leave now, because Lian just cleared his throat again. He better make a smooth exit, so he decides to smile wide, give a thumbs up, peace sign, and finger guns, before turning around and leaving with Lian. 

Nailed it.

When he finally got home that night, his time at Gemini is what was, yet again, stuck in his head. And once again, the owner of the club was very much reoccurring in his thoughts. He still can’t pinpoint what it is with the way Jay talks to him that feels inappropriate and makes him feel weird, but he decides that finding it out will be his next undercover mission. This time he just has to dress up as himself, and drink many beers together with Jay to figure it out. But that’s a sacrifice he’s willing to make. For the mission, of course. Because Foei is, indeed, professional.