Work Text:
Hueningkai glances at the clock ticking on the wall for the fifth time in the last three minutes. An hour left until the coffee shop closes and his shift ends. That’s half an hour — twice. Fifteen minutes — four times. It wouldn’t be so difficult, and he wouldn’t be counting down the hour if he actually had drinks to make and things to do, the cafe unusually slow this Monday night.
He even went ahead and kindly volunteered to water all of the plants decorating the inside of the shop, something that’s not usually on his to do list. But his manager only gave him a pitiful smile and told him not to worry about it. Because apparently he “overwaters” the plants. How is that even a thing? The plants should be grateful and take whatever he gives them. Suck it up.
Hueningkai sighs out of boredom, leaning against the counter and mindlessly fiddling with the strings of his apron uniform.
He’s sort of wishing for an obnoxious customer to stop by just to make this night more interesting. Or perhaps a customer with the most complicated and annoying coffee order, just to engage and stimulate his brain a little.
The door of the coffee shop opens, his ears easily picking up the swing of the hinges - because finally, a different sound to break the monotony of the cafe playlist looping for the thousandth time. Hueningkai looks up at the sound of footsteps approaching.
...or maybe a cute customer to steal his attention away from the gross coffee stain on his green apron.
Because an extremely handsome customer enters the coffee shop and Hueningkai is momentarily stunned. He's staring like an idiot for a good couple of seconds before it hits him that his jaw had quite literally dropped. Hueningkai quickly snaps his mouth shut in embarrassment and in a panic, rushes to grab a microfiber cloth to appear busy as the handsome stranger approaches the counter. He immediately pretends to wipe the same spot on the counter that he’s been cleaning for the last half hour while his coworker, Beomgyu, takes the guy’s order.
Hueningkai keeps his eyes low, uselessly wiping down the already clean surface as he awkwardly listens in on their conversation. Beomgyu is unusually good at starting small talk with strangers at the register, a skill Hueningkai greatly admires because he's awkward as hell. It’s part of the reason why he doesn’t work at the register often. With a little bit of curiosity and internal debate, Hueningkai decides to take the chance and shuffles a little closer to their espresso machine, located right by the cash register. Holding the same cloth, he starts wiping down the already sparkling clean workspace while stealing tiny peeks at the stranger.
Hueningkai could tell the stranger was handsome from afar, but he’s still struck when he sees him for the first time up close. The stranger's face is striking with well defined eyes, nose, and lips. He’s wearing a black short-sleeve shirt, showing off his toned arms and lean body. He's probably an athlete, Hueningkai deduces. They almost make eye contact, but Hueningkai quickly turns away to hide his face, his shyness flaring up.
“Rough day, huh?” Beomgyu asks upon seeing the customer’s downtowned lips.
Hueningkai’s ears perk up at the direction of the conversation and he risks stealing another shy glance.
The handsome stranger runs a hand through his dark brown hair, a crease in his brow when he responds with a weary sigh. “Yeah, just...it’s been a long day.”
After Beomgyu finishes taking the cute guy’s order, Hueningkai clears his throat. “Um...that guy was pretty cute, huh?” He mentions over his shoulder and tries to sound casual, still attempting to clean their work area. He’s not sure why he brings it up.
He quickly realizes it was a mistake.
Because when he looks up, Beomgyu is blinking at him, then makes the most OBVIOUS head turn in history to check out the stranger, who has taken a seat at a table by the large glass window on the other side of the room. A shit eating grin appears on Beomgyu's face as he connects the dots, making Hueningkai regret having even said anything. “Someone’s into the cute customer.”
Hueningkai coughs, already starting to feel a blush creeping up his face. “Shut up. I just think he’s cute. I don’t even know him.” He tries to deflect, now nervously wiping down the spotless counter to avoid Beomgyu’s knowing eyes.
But of course, his friend won’t let him go that easily.
“Maybe you can get to know him? I wonder if he goes to our university? He looks our age.” Beomgyu wriggles his eyebrows, teleporting to his side to elbow him in a teasing manner. “I don’t blame you. I don’t think I could forget a face like that if I saw him on campus.” The older dramatically swoons and puts on a show of draping an arm over his forehead like he’s going to faint.
Beomgyu spends some time poking fun at him for finding the customer attractive before they both remember that said customer is probably waiting for his order. Beomgyu hands him the printed order slip. “His name is Taehyun. You make his drink.” He smirks. “Maybe write your number on the paper cup too.”
At this point, Hueningkai is positive that his face is beet red, and snatches the slip out of the other’s hand. “Stop it. I’m not going to do that.”
He shakes his head and turns to face away, reading the order to himself while simultaneously trying to ignore Beomgyu’s loud, obnoxious cackling behind his back.
Caramel frappuccino. Hueningkai melts, finding the unexpected sweet tooth very, very cute.
Taehyun is ready to go home, fall into his bed, and call it a fucking day. But alas, he can’t even though he’s dead tired, because he’s friends with some bastard named Choi Yeonjun. So now he’s stuck in a cafe, waiting for his coffee drink to be made at one of the low coffee tables, to stall time before Yeonjun gets out of work.
He knew it was a bad idea to stay up late last night, but Yeonjun complained and whined nonstop that he had to accompany him to the club. Due to his poor judgment of listening to his best friend, he woke up late this morning and nearly missed his psychopharmacology exam. He left the lecture hall an hour later knowing he had bombed the exam.
At least he was prepared and felt confident for his group presentation in his neuroscience class next. But the heavens said not today. Because for their presentation on Huntington’s Disease, which they spent several weeks working on, a member of their group of four decided not to show up. And Taehyun was forced to pick up their part, presenting vague details and barely being able to answer the questions their professor asked pertaining to the absent member’s part in the project. It was obvious to the professor and everyone in the room that he wasn’t prepared.
Not even an hour ago, he was at volleyball practice when someone on the opposite team spiked the ball directly into his face and broke his glasses. It’s humiliating enough that he wasn’t able to react fast enough, but also everyone on the team witnessed his glasses fly off his face in the process. Because getting hit in the head with a ball is already Top 10 most embarrassing moments, but it's worse when over twenty people are watching you. Yeonjun cracking up in the bleachers and going “oof, that must’ve hurt” did not help.
And now Yeonjun is making him attend some event tonight off campus. The older instructed him to wait at Cafe Archivist, a cafe located close to his workplace, so that he could easily pick him up to go to the event together later. Taehyun is wondering why he always allows himself to be dragged into Yeonjun’s shenanigans (he’s weak for his best friend and that motherfucker knows it).
It’s been a shitstorm of a day and now his contact lenses are fucking bothering him. Taehyun blinks a couple of times, trying to get rid of the uncomfortable and itchy feeling on his eyes. It doesn't give him any relief and Taehyun wonders if they’re flipped inside out. He was in a rush earlier after showering and heading to this cafe. With a defeated sigh, Taehyun heads to the bathroom to take the contacts out and try again.
He goes through his typical routine, putting his contact lens case on the small counter and taking out a small bottle of contact solution from his bag. Washing his hands first, Taehyun leans towards the mirror and gently pinches the contacts out. He successfully takes them both out and puts them in the small contacts case, adding more contact solution to the wells.
What he did not expect was for someone to pound on the door outside desperately, as if they were going to go in their pants if he didn't open up in five seconds. The sudden and loud noise startles him, and Taehyun accidentally knocks over his contacts case into the sink bowl.
“No, no, no!” He panics helplessly, already knowing it’s too late the minute he saw his contacts case flip over. When he grabs and looks into his case, it confirmed what he feared. “Fuck.”
His contacts fell down the sink drain.
Those were his last pair of weekly contacts. And he broke his only pair of glasses earlier during volleyball. Taehyun clenches his jaw and fists, trying to hold back from cursing at the impatient stranger still banging on the door.
Could this day get any worse?
Taehyun returns to his seat, distressed. He considers canceling his plans with Yeonjun tonight. What's the point in going if he can’t see? He’s about to do just that, reaching into his pocket for his cell phone when he senses someone approaching him in his periphery. A cafe worker (or who he assumes works at the cafe because all he can see is a blur of green from their uniform) places his drink order in front of him. Taehyun stares at it for a second, surprised because he’s been here once or twice, and normally the customers retrieve their drinks themselves from the counter.
“Oh, you didn’t have to.” He automatically responds.
The barista chuckles, light and soft. Then, places another item on the table in front of him. “Heard you had a long day. It’s on the house.”
Taehyun blinks at the vague shape in front of him, leaning down to get a closer look. It’s a slice of banana bread. He looks up from his seat at the cafe worker, but cannot make out his features because he’s so damn nearsighted. The only thing Taehyun can tell is that he’s quite tall. And sounds pretty.
After a horrible day, something like this is just what he needed. It fills Teehyun with all kinds of warmth and butterflies, and damn, it's enough to bring tears to his eyes.
“I-” Taehyun starts, but is cut off by a call, probably from Yeonjun. The ringing is too loud to ignore, Taehyun fumbling to get his phone out of his pocket in a haste. “Oh, I’m sorry-” He gets interrupted by another loud ring, and gives an apologetic and awkward glance at the worker, who smiles in understanding and gives a slight bow. Taehyun hesitates to say something to the worker but the dirty looks from the other patrons in the quiet cafe tells him he should deal with the call first.
“Where are you? I’m outside. Come out now!” Yeonjun roars in annoyance through the line. “I told you to be ready at 6:30PM pronto!” The older starts to nag.
With the phone still pressed to his ear, Taehyun looks out the window and spots Yeonjun's car waiting for him. He has to leave immediately because Yeonjun would not hesitate to repeatedly honk the horn to publicly embarrass him. He turns back and sees the cafe worker (a green blurry figure) already returning back to the counter. Taehyun freezes, unable to decide between approaching the cafe worker first or immediately leaving. But a long drawn out honk from outside makes the decision for him. He scrambles up from his seat, picks up his coffee cup and banana bread in a napkin, and heads to the door.
Taehyun pauses at the entrance and turns back to seek the kind barista one more time. He feels a little stupid for even trying. It’s not like it’d be much help. He can’t see.
Hueningkai watches Taehyun leave the coffee shop in a rush.
A lingering smile on his face, happy that he gave Taehyun a sweet treat and left a favorable impression for what it's worth. Not much because, “This is probably the last time I'm going to see him.”
Beomgyu's eyes nearly pop out of their sockets, “Wait. You didn’t even try to get to know him when you went over earlier? What was the whole point of that then?”
“He got a phone call! What was I supposed to do?” Hueningkai defends himself. But he knows he wouldn’t have the guts and courage to have done something anyway.
Despite what Beomgyu thinks, it’s not like he was expecting anything and did what he did with ulterior motives. Maybe he topped Taehyun’s drink with a little extra whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel syrup...but it’s no big deal. “Look, I wasn’t trying to hit on him or anything. He looked like he was having a bad day and I just wanted to do something nice to make his day a little better.” Hueningkai shrugs, grateful that the cute customer made his shift go by faster.
And if he sees Taehyun again, maybe he’ll take it as a sign to try.
***
Taehyun returns to the cafe the next day. He hasn’t been able to stop thinking about the kind barista who completely made his day last night. He didn’t even get a chance to express his thanks. With a goal in mind, Taehyun invites Yeonjun as an excuse to sit down and stay in the cafe longer.
His vision is still blurry. It’s going to take 5-7 business days, standard shipping, for his prescription contact lenses to come in. So until then, Taehyun has to deal with not being able to see clearly past eight centimeters in front of his face. It sucks because he can’t see the board at all in lecture, even when sitting in the front row. Luckily, his professors post the powerpoint slides online and he can follow along by listening.
When Yeonjun notices that their drinks are done, Taehyun offers to go up to the counter to get their orders. He’s glad he and Yeonjun have basic as fuck taste, ordering something that every coffee shop would have - because he couldn’t read a single word on the cafe’s menu above the counter earlier. Even if Taehyun squints and concentrates, he can't make out a single letter to save his life. He can’t believe some people (like Yeonjun, unfair) actually navigate the world with naturally good vision into adulthood.
When he’s at the counter, Taehyun recognizes the cafe worker who took his order earlier and an unfamiliar worker making the drinks. He squints to get a better look at the second person, but to no avail. He can barely see their figure, just a blurry movement of green. He’s about to say something, but second guesses due to the timing and appropriateness. The worker is clearly busy making the orders for the two customers who came after them. Taehyun shouldn’t bother him when he’s working.
He’ll come up again and ask when it’s slow.
Taehyun returns to their seats and gives Yeonjun his coffee. He tries again to get a good look at the barista, squinting and furrowing his brows in concentration at the counter. It’s pretty useless. He can’t see shit.
“So what’s up?”
Taehyun pulls his eyes away from the counter and snaps his attention back to the person sitting in front of him. “What?”
“Randomly asking me to go to a coffee shop? What’s the occasion? You're never the one initiating these things with me.” Yeonjun asks, drumming his finger on the tabletop. “That’s kinda my thing.”
“Just- you know.” Taehyun struggles to answer. He doesn't know why he’s feeling a little shy about telling his close friend that he’s only here to look for someone.
“Getting coffee in the evening? Do you have an exam or a paper to write?” Yeonjun gives him a look, one that means he’s not backing down until he’s satisfied. "Tell me the truth, Tyun."
Taehyun holds out for a couple more seconds before letting out a heavy sigh, deciding to give in easily before Yeonjun starts being annoying. “Well...last night one of the workers gave me free banana bread. And I just want to thank him and express my appreciation. I didn’t get a chance yesterday.” He shrugs a little, not wanting to come off as eager as he feels.
“I see.” Yeonjun gives an interested nod and leans forward in his chair, now invested. A mischievous smirk and twinkle in his eye: “Was he cute?”
Taehyun rolls his eyes at the older’s most pressing concern. “I don’t know.” He gestures generally towards his face to remind Yeonjun of his lack of glasses and contact lenses. And consequently, his lack of corrected vision. “He sounds cute though.” Taehyun supplies instead, recalling their short interaction last night.
Yeonjun hums and smiles devilishly. “It better not be the cutie at the register. I call dibs on him.” Yeonjun sips at his iced americano, shooting not so subtle flirty glances at the tall barista working at the register counter.
“I don’t think it’s him. His voice is different.” Taehyun laughs slightly, recalling the worker’s voice earlier when he was taking his order. He looks over at the counter again, frustrated that everything is a blur. The one Yeonjun has eyes on simply looks like a moving blurry blob to him (he has the "cutest dimples ever" according to Yeonjun).
Yeonjun grins, already pushing back his chair and standing up. “Perfect. Let me go shoot my shot then.”
Hueningkai didn't think he’d see the cute stranger again so soon. And didn't think that the next time would involve said stranger practically glaring daggers at him with a disgruntled facial expression. His hands were slightly trembling from his nerves when Taehyun approached the counter earlier with narrowed eyes staring directly at him. Even without looking at the other, Hueningkai could feel Taehyun’s piercing gaze on him.
Is Taehyun angry at him? Did he do something wrong? Hueningkai is sure he made his and his friend’s orders correctly: an iced caramel macchiato and an iced americano. He knows some customers can become nasty if their drinks are not made correctly.
“Do you know that dude?” Soobin leans over and whispers.
“Not really.” Hueningkai answers truthfully, looking everywhere but at Soobin and the person he is asking about.
“Then why is he glaring at you?”
“I...” Hueningkai trails off and pauses, not exactly sure what to say. Because he doesn’t know why. Why is someone he only just met briefly glaring at him like he offended his entire family and honor?
He sneaks a peek over at where Taehyun and his friend are sitting, and accidentally makes eye contact. “He’s looking over here again.” Hueningkai squeaks and quickly averts his eyes, ducking behind one of the huge espresso machines to conceal himself from Taehyun’s line of sight. Maybe Taehyun didn’t like what he did last night. What if Taehyun is allergic to nuts? There were walnuts in the banana bread. What if Taehyun is gluten intolerant? Or has lactose intolerance? Maybe Hueningkai overstepped yesterday and did something unnecessary.
Taehyun and his friend look over, but only Taehyun is glaring and squinting at him, making a displeased face. Hueningkai shrinks and hides behind his coworker.
“Oh damn, his friend is coming over.” Soobin mutters under his breath.
***
Taehyun must really hate him. Because he makes a point to come in every day after that during his closing shift to glare at him with a huge frown on his face. Hueningkai must’ve done something terribly wrong for Taehyun to be constantly sending these deathly looks his way. Whenever he sees Taehyun, he tries hard not to make eye contact and occupies himself with making drinks for the customers. When there is any downtime, he hides behind the counter or escapes to the back.
“What is wrong with that guy?” Soobin asks impatiently, glaring in the direction of where Taehyun and Yeonjun are sitting. “If he has something to say, he should just say it.”
“Stop, just leave it alone.” Hueningkai begs, not one for confrontation. He knows Soobin tends to act like a protective hen sometimes over him. Over Beomgyu too, although Soobin swears he would leave Beomgyu stranded on the road if he called him in the middle of the night for help. But Hueningkai knows Soobin is a softie at heart, always coming to their defense whenever a rude customer blows up at them
“Does he want to fight? I’ll take him on. Meet me outside in the back!”
Hueningkai blinks at his friend. “I’m touched that you would go that far for me. But I’m sorry Soobin, it wouldn’t be much of a fight.”
Over the next couple of days, Taehyun stops by Cafe Archivist for his caffeine fix. Some things are the same: the unreadable menu, Soobin giving him questioning looks, and a blurry figure ducking behind the counter. Whenever he comes up to order or get his coffee, the figure hides in the back. It’s not hard to put two and two together that whoever this person is, they are avoiding him like the plague. But the question is: why? Taehyun has a sneaking suspicion that this is the barista he’s looking for. He hasn’t interacted with any of the other cafe workers for them to react like this. What did he do wrong? Taehyun wants to approach the mystery barista to finally thank him and maybe ask why he's hiding from him, but it's hard when the barista never gives him the opportunity.
He looks over at the counter again, trying to tune out Yeonjun dreamily talking about his date with Soobin last night. There’s someone approaching their table, and he can tell it’s Soobin by the way Yeonjun starts to wave ethuisiatically.
“Can I talk to you for a second?” the tall barista asks, directly looking down at him.
Taehyun can admit the height advantage is a little intimidating.
His gaze shifts to Yeonjun, who appears perplexed. Then, points to himself: “Me?”
Soobin nods, and leads them to a private corner in the back of the cafe.
“Look, I don’t know what your problem is with my friend, but cut it out.” Soobin says the minute they’re by themselves with no prying ears.
Taehyun is caught off guard by the confrontation out of the blue. What the hell is Soobin talking about? “What? Who?” He lifts an eyebrow, not entertained by how Soobin is accusing him of something he didn't do. He's not the type to have beef with other people and waste energy.
The barista crosses his arms, looking mildly annoyed that he doesn’t know who he's talking about. “Hueningkai. Don’t play dumb with me.”
Hueningkai? Who the fuck is- It all clicks into place in his head. That must be the sweet barista he’s been trying to find. And the person who is actively avoiding him for some unknown reason. “I don’t have a problem with him. I just want to talk to him.” Taehyun calmly responds, grateful that he now has a name. But why did Soobin think that?
“About what?” Soobin asks, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
Taehyun gets the sense that he needs to get on Soobin’s good side if he wants anything to do with Hueningkai.
Yeonjun pouts when Taehyun returns, eyes following his every movement with burning curiosity as he sits down. “What did my honey want with you?”
Taehyun shrugs, leaning back into his seat. “He said he wanted to fight me.”
“Oh.” Yeonjun blinks. He’s silent for a second. “He would lose. Badly. Take it easy on my Soobin, will you?”
My Soobin. Taehyun rolls his eyes, “You’ve been on one date.”
“Yeah, and he’s soooo cute when he pretends he’s not into me.”
***
It’s twenty minutes until closing time, and today’s the only day where Hueningkai wishes for time to move slower. Because he's a consistent king, he avoided Taehyun when he came in today for his regular caramel-flavored drink. Except today, Soobin informed him that Taehyun has a message for him. Which ruined Hueningkai’s shift, spending the entire time wondering and anxious about the confrontation.
“He’s waiting for me!! What should I do?!” Hueningkai panics upon seeing Taehyun sitting at one of their tables in their outdoor seating area. He latches onto Soobin’s arm for support. “Can you ask your boyfriend why Taehyun seems to hate my guts?” For the past few days, Taehyun has been visiting the coffee shop and silently glaring at him. Hueningkai is 100% convinced that he’s on Taehyun’s bad side.
Soobin scoffs and rolls his eyes. “We went on one date. He’s not my boyfriend.”
Beomgyu slides over, after hearing something juicy. Very typical Beomgyu behavior. “Oooooh. Yeonjun, right? Taehyun’s friend? He’s hot.”
Which immediately captures Soobin’s attention, the older instantly narrowing his eyes. “What the fuck are you trying to do-”
“Guys!!!” Hueningkai interrupts. He knows Beomgyu is teasing Soobin and riling him up on purpose to prove a point. Soobin has a habit of pretending he doesn’t like the guys he’s talking to when he’s clearly interested. He’s bold but also unexpectedly shy, putting up a cold front to mask his embarrassment.
“Just go meet with him.” Soobin says. “He’s friends with Yeonjun, so he can’t be a bad guy.”
Hueningkai doesn’t miss the way Soobin’s cheeks are slightly pink at the mention of his crush.
“Yeah, hang up your apron now.” Beomgyu winks and gives him a thumbs up. "We’ll close."
Hueningkai doesn't know whether to feel grateful or not.
With his heart beating rapidly in his chest and a couple of deep breaths, Hueningkai works up the courage to approach Taehyun, sitting outside. Taehyun notices him approaching and gestures for him to take a seat. Once seated, Hueningkai gulps and lowers his eyes from nervousness.
“Hi, you were the one that brought my drink to me and gave me the banana bread, right? Hueningkai?” Taehyun starts.
Hueningkai's hands sweat and his heart is now beating a mile per minute. It was the banana bread after all. “Hi, yes. That’s me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” He panics and begins to ramble, spilling out all the thoughts he’s been having this entire week. “I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t even know if you like banana bread. You must’ve thought I was creepy, right? I’m sorry.”
When he looks up, there is clear confusion written over Taehyun's features. “What? Why are you apologizing? It made me really happy.”
Well, you didn’t seem very happy. “Then why were you glaring at me this entire week?” Hueningkai asks, fidgeting with his hands underneath the table. The mystery has been bothering him this entire week.
It looks like news to the other.
“I was...what?”
“Yeah. You looked like you were angry.” Hueningkai furrows his brows at Taehyun's response, confused at how the other didn’t even seem to realize how he was looking at him. “Shooting daggers at me like I kicked a puppy or committed some horrible crime.”
He watches Taehyun carefully and can visibly see it all beginning to register with him. “I wasn’t-I wasn’t glaring at you.” Taehyun sputters and points to his eyes. “I couldn’t even see. My contact lenses just came in today.”
Hueningkai stills. “Wait.” He slowly lets it all sink in, “You’re telling me, the whole time you were just squinting because you couldn’t see?” Taehyun didn’t actually mean to glare at him the entire time?
Taehyun nods.
“B-but you were frowning.”
“I was really struggling to see. Or maybe that’s my face when I try to concentrate?” Taehyun pauses to think, then shakes his head. "But I wasn't trying to glare."
“Then, is this your first time seeing me?” Hueningkai tries to clarify, still stunned that everything has been a misunderstanding.
Taehyun nods again, but looks a little embarrassed this time. “Yeah. I mean, I saw you but everything was fuzzy. I’m sorry for making you feel uncomfortable. I just couldn’t see and was trying really hard to.” He clears his throat, "I was actually trying to look for you the entire time."
“Oh.” Hueningkai blinks. Taehyun doesn’t hate him after all. He has never felt so relieved, an unexpected weight off his shoulders.
“But now that I can see you clearly, you’re really cute.” Taehyun continues, rubbing the back of his neck. His ears are slightly red. “As thanks for the banana bread, can I take you out for some coffee some time?”
Hueningkai is sure he and Taehyun are sporting matching blushes. “I already had enough coffee. How about dinner?” He suggests, blinking at the other with hopeful anticipation.
“I’m free now.” Taehyun looks up, a small smile on his face.
Hueningkai smiles back. “Me too.”
Dinner went better than Taehyun could ever imagine. He took Hueningkai to a Korean fried chicken spot, a restaurant he often frequents with his volleyball team. The entire time, there was never a lull in their conversation. Hueningkai feels like someone he’s known all his life. It’s comfortable yet exciting.
It was almost unspoken that they didn’t want the night to end yet, easily deciding to take a walk in the park next to their university.
He notices things about Hueningkai he wasn’t able to before. For the past few days, Hueningkai has been a vague mixture of colors with no defining features. But when Taehyun came in today, he was in awe at how utterly handsome the barista was. Now he wants to take the time and indulge in the other’s features, as if making up for lost time. The mole on the side of his neck. The mole slightly off center on his nose. The ones on his cheek and along his jawline. The moles by his defined brow bones, and on his temples. He had a sense that Hueningkai was cute through his gentle and sweet atmosphere. But Taehyun would much rather see his cuteness in clear view. The way his eyes crinkle, how he throws back his head in laughter and claps with his hand in excitement-
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Hueningkai peeks over at him.
Because I’m admiring you. Because I want to remember how your eyes light up when you talk about your favorite shows and commit that smile to memory forever- Taehyun blushes furiously at being caught and struggles to answer. Because there’s no honest answer that wouldn’t result in him embarrassing himself.
“It’s not like it’ll be the last time you see me.” Hueningkai continues instead, sensing his internal panic and saving him with grace. The younger gives him a bashful smile, the implication loud and clear.
Taehyun’s heart stops, then explodes with the feeling of a thousand flutters. He reaches over to intertwine their fingers, a little shy and hesistant, hoping his unspoken response is just as clear. Hueningkai's cheeks turn a deep pink looking at their joined hands, then gives him a reassuring squeeze. Great, now they're both a blushing mess.
It’s funny. To think he would be gushing over a boy he met only last week. Someone that he didn’t even see clearly until today. Taehyun can say he definitely did not see this coming.