Chapter Text
Seonghwa was very much questioning the existence of “love at first sight.”
He had been an avid denier of the concept, as it was impossible for him to know a person by taking one look at them. It seemed superficial and childish. Seonghwa preferred taking it slow, getting to know someone before taking the next step.
But with the really, really hot sushi chef meters away from him, Seonghwa thought, Well damn, guess I’m wrong.
They were seated at the farther end of the conveyor belt sushi joint called Saiko Sushi, facing the station where the magic happened: the sushi prep station. Two chefs stood behind the counter, deft hands hidden by the glass case that showcased the fresh fish they were using.
Both chefs were good-looking, but the one on the left, with the sharp nose, sharp jawline, sharp everything, and the most beautiful set of deep, brown eyes sucked out all the air in Seonghwa's lungs. The chef's sleeves were pulled up to his elbows, and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he looked down, slicing and wrapping the fish.
“You've got one, too?”
Seonghwa jumped from his trance. He looked to his side at Wooyoung, his best friend, who was annoyingly wiggling his eyebrows.
“One what?” Seonghwa huffed.
“A squish. Crush.” Wooyoung grinned. “Love at first sight, if you will. I can see the way you were staring at that chef.”
Blood rushed to Seonghwa's face. Wooyoung must have seen it because his grin grew wider. He patted his back. “Don't worry, I have one, too. Cute waiter.”
He pointed out a handsome, built waiter with slicked back blonde hair, who made his way around the restaurant with a smile on his face and made sure everyone was doing all right. Seonghwa hummed, acknowledging that the waiter was, indeed, very cute. But his thoughts were interrupted when the waiter passed the sushi station, and his eyes were back on the chef.
“You should ask him out.”
Seonghwa jumped at Wooyoung's suggestion, realizing he'd been staring at the chef again. He felt like a creep; it was a miracle the chef was too focused on making sushi that he didn't look up. “What? No, dude, what if he's taken?”
“You'll never know until you ask.”
“Well, are you gonna ask your guy out too?”
Wooyoung smirked. “Way ahead of you.”
He called the handsome waiter over by waving his hand, sending him a charming smile and wink. Seonghwa fought the urge to throw up—he'd only had two plates of sushi so far, courtesy of the hot sushi chef being hot and making Seonghwa gawk at his beauty for the majority of the time.
The waiter walked up to them with a more-than-friendly smile on his face, eyes only on Wooyoung, though he did spare Seonghwa a courteous glance as well. “How can I help you?”
“Hey, I'm Wooyoung. What's your—”
“My name is San, And I would love to go on a date with you,” the waiter responded. He then wrote something on his notepad, ripped a piece of paper off, handed it to Wooyoung, and mouthed, “Call me” with a bright smile before leaving the table and resuming his duties.
To say Seonghwa's jaw was on the floor was an understatement. His jaw was more like six feet under.
“Dude,” was all he could get out, still recovering from the whiplash of that extremely quick conversation.
“What can I say? I'm a natural,” Wooyoung bragged with a haughty shrug, flapping San's number in Seonghwa's face.
“How?”
Wooyoung wrapped an arm around Seonghwa's shoulder. “Okay, my friend, buddy, chum—”
“Hurry up.”
“Geez, okay. First thing's first, get his attention. When you've done that, woo him. Put those good looks to use.” Wooyoung poked Seonghwa's cheek. Seonghwa tried to dodge. “Don't be awkward! Give him your million dollar smile. Take it further if he responds well. Make him know you're interested in him, and make him interested in you.”
“How do I get his attention? All he's looking at is the sushi.”
Wooyoung pursed his lips, humming in thought. He scanned the room for some means of grabbing the hot sushi chef's attention. Then, his eyes lit up. Giving Seonghwa a nudge with his elbow, he said, “You should try ordering a la carte.”
Saiko Sushi had three means of delivering sushi: there were the waiters, including a robot that buzzed around the restaurant; the conveyor belt from which customers could pick small plates with the sushi of their choice; and there was the railroad, located above the conveyor belt, where a small train delivered a la carte orders straight to each table. Whenever an a la carte order for sushi came in, it would print out at the sushi station, and when they were done making it, the chef would place it on the train and send it off. Seonghwa noticed that the chefs would glance at the tables they were meant to deliver the sushi to, which he figured was what Wooyoung noticed.
Seonghwa nodded at the suggestion. “What do you want? I'm paying, by the way.”
Wooyoung's eyes lit up at the statement. “Awesome! Get me some fried chicken.”
Seonghwa tapped on the fried chicken icon on the tablet at their table, adding it to the cart. He then browsed through the sushi rolls, nigiri, and sashimi for things he would like. He settled for the spicy tuna roll and salmon sashimi, tapping on their respective icons. With a tap of the “Order” button, the order was sent, and almost immediately, the machine next to the hot chef dinged and printed out a small piece of paper.
That gave him about five to ten minutes to think about how he was going to look at the man before his order was delivered. Should he smile? Winking was too out of the question for the first time. Would he even make eye contact with him? He should time the smile perfectly. He’d be considered creepy if he was already smiling at the chef when he looks over. Seonghwa looked away from the chef, who was busy assembling the sushi. He should stop looking now, or else it would be awkward.
Seonghwa looked at his watch. It had been about five minutes, which meant that the sushi could come at any moment. He spared a few glances at the chef every so often—he quickly looked away when he made eye contact with the second chef, who was also intimidatingly good-looking. He felt his cheeks burning at the idea of making eye contact with the hot chef; he was sure his face was beet red at this point.
As Seonghwa was staring at his lap, trying to muster up the courage to meet the chef’s glance before the food was delivered, he heard the whirring sound of the railroad, and when he looked up, the bright yellow mini train was there, holding a plate of fried chicken, spicy tuna roll, and salmon sashimi.
He did a double take at the train, mechanically moving his arm to hand over Wooyoung’s chicken. “Did… Did he look at us?”
“He did,” Wooyoung snorted, “but you were too preoccupied thinking about how to look at him.”
Seonghwa buried his face in his hands. He definitely was red now. “Damn it…” After rubbing his face a little bit, he sat up, a determined look on his face. “I’ll just order another one. I think I’ll still be kinda hungry when I finish this.” He pushed the plate of sushi to Wooyoung. “Take some, too.”
And order again he did. It seemed to be a bad day for Seonghwa, as the next time he ordered, the robot passed by to give them the hot tea they had also ordered. The third time, he was deep in a conversation with Wooyoung about their upcoming college courses. The fourth time, he found himself too caught up in his plans to look approachable again that he missed the chef’s glance.
Finally, after how many orders of the same spicy tuna roll, Wooyoung noticed something.
“Hwa! Hwa!” Wooyoung nearly yelled, raining slaps on Seonghwa's arm. “He's looking at you!”
The sashimi Seonghwa was eating fell out of his mouth. “Shit, he's looking at me? Why would he be looking at me?”
“Who the fuck else would order like fifty dollars worth of a la carte spicy tuna rolls at a conveyor belt restaurant?”
“Fifty dollars?” Seonghwa’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Well, now that he thought of it, he was feeling like he was going to be rolling out of the restaurant with all the sushi he ate. “Wait—is he still looking?”
Seonghwa looked up from his conversation with Wooyoung at the sushi station, and sure enough, he captured a beautiful set of brown eyes with his. Seonghwa’s brain short-circuited, unable to register what kind of look the chef was giving him. So, he did what he usually did when unwillingly coming across an acquaintance in the mall or on the street: he pursed his lips in a tight-lipped smile and nodded to acknowledge their presence. He then asked for the bill.
Seonghwa sighed his nth sigh of the day. It had been two weeks since what he called “The Sushi Incident,” and, shamefully, he admitted that he still has not gotten over it. It was partially because he was a huge overthinker and was constantly reminded of all the cringey, cheesy things he did in the past. It was also partially because Wooyoung and San hit it off, and they were practically connected at the hip within their first week of dating.
“I can connect you with Hongjoong, if you want,” San suggested, sitting up from the couch across Seonghwa in Horizon, the on-campus coffee shop that Seonghwa and Wooyoung—and now San, as they found that San went to the same university—frequented. “We hang out a lot, and we’re in the same major. He also goes here. And he's single.”
Seonghwa nearly spit out his coffee. “He what?”
San sipped his coffee. “Yeah, his dad owns Saiko, so he works part time there. I don’t think there’s any other way you could see college students working as sushi chefs. But Hongjoong’s basically been wrapping sushi since he came out of the womb. He’s a natural! Yeosang, too. He’s Mr. Kim’s personal apprentice.”
Seonghwa didn’t respond just yet; he took the time to appreciate that Hongjoong was handsome and talented and single (for some reason), and he found that incredibly cool. And attractive. And way out of his league.
And plus, Seonghwa wasn’t really ready to meet the man he bothered at least five times for spicy tuna rolls over and over, then regarded as virtually a stranger when he finally looked at him.
“You don’t need to do that for me.” Seonghwa smiled at San, hoping that he would understand the telepathic message of I still can’t handle the embarrassment after what happened. His smile faded as a realization dawned upon him. “Wait, did he say anything about me?”
“I'd be surprised if he didn’t,” Wooyoung quipped, scooting closer to San.
San rested his head on Wooyoung’s shoulder, pouting as he thought. “Well, he did talk about you. But all he told me was that there was this random guy who ordered five spicy tuna rolls in a row. Small world, huh?” His eyes widened as he saw Seonghwa cringe at the statement. “But he didn’t say anything bad about you! He just thought it was interesting. And that you must really love spicy tuna rolls. Do you, by the way?”
“I don’t,” was the only thing Seonghwa said. It was true; he just ordered them since he figured it would be easier for Hongjoong to make, thus letting Hongjoong look at him more quickly.
“Besides, Hongjoong is really chill! And I saw no problems with you when Wooyoung told me about it. I’m sure he’d love to talk to you.” San paused to think. “And I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t curious about the whole ‘incident.’”
“San, that is the last thing I want to talk about with him,” Seonghwa sighed. “But it’s bound to come up anyway.”
“Yes! Correct! So why wait? Let me contact him for you!” San cheered. He whipped out his phone and tapped away before Seonghwa could process what was happening.
“Wait—huh?” was all he could muster as San cheerfully put his phone away.
“Now we wait.” San grinned.
“I’m so proud of you, Hwa,” Wooyoung said, catching up with what happened and grinning wider.
Seonghwa wondered if it was the caffeine or the situation at hand that was making him shake. Maybe both. He had unconsciously chugged his latte during the whole conversation out of nervousness. “Now we wait” rang in his head. San texted Hongjoong. Oh, God, repeated over and over in his mind. Then, Wait, what if he says yes? His head perked up at the thought. But how will I talk with him if he says yes? He buried his face in his hands, trying to stifle a groan as The Sushi Incident crossed his mind again. He then sat up straight. Can’t have anyone think he was going crazy. Even though he was.
For the duration of the wait, Seonghwa jumped at every ping from San’s phone with (slightly) crazed eyes. Wooyoung laughed at him every time, even admitting to deliberately texting San a few times just so it would ping. Which wasn’t good for Seonghwa’s trust issues. How social was San that he would keep getting so many notifications? Or maybe Seonghwa was just focusing a bit too hard on them. But he tried to keep calm; he practiced his breathing exercises to slow his pounding heart. It wouldn’t come any time soon.
Until it did.
San looked at his phone for what Seonghwa thought was the nth time, and his eyes lit up. “It’s Hongjoong!” He paused to read the text, and his grin got wider. “He said yes! Can I give him your phone number?”
Seonghwa was too stunned to speak. But he shook off the shock after a second or two and nodded, reciting his phone number while San earnestly typed it into his phone.
“It’s sent!” Wooyoung cheered. “My best friend is going on a date with the hot sushi chef!”
“He said he’ll text you later,” San said. “Good luck!”
Seonghwa nodded. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t happy that Hongjoong said yes. A small smile spread on his face as he felt a warm sense of excitement pool in his chest and stomach.
Unknown Number
is this park seonghwa?
Me
yes, who is it?
Unknown Number
hi! it’s kim hongjoong. san gave me your number?
Me
oh yes, nice to meet you
Kim Hongjoong
nice to meet you too!
Kim Hongjoong
sorry for reaching out late, didn’t have time yesterday and making sushi for hours does a number on you lol
Me
haha i understand
Kim Hongjoong
so uh
Kim Hongjoong
what major are you? i’m a music major
Me
i’m a business major haha
Me
but i’m honestly still a bit undecided, business is just so i have a path to go down if all goes to hell
Kim Hongjoong
oh cool! the arts building is right next to the business school, why haven’t i seen you before? lol
Me
oh ur right
Me
i usually leave from the exit that faces away from the arts building
Me
maybe i should try going another way? we might run into each other then :))
Kim Hongjoong
haha that sounds great, when are you usually there?
Me
i have class mwf 330-445 and tth 11-1150
Kim Hongjoong
oh sweet, i have class in the art building tth 10-1050
Kim Hongjoong
we might run into each other? 👀
Me
oooh yeah! that would be cool
Kim Hongjoong
would you also be down to study together at some point?
Kim Hongjoong
i hang out with san a lot but it’d be nice to get a new study buddy hehe
Me
yeah! we can like text each other wherever we are and stuff
Kim Hongjoong is typing…
Kim Hongjoong
u wanna study w me now? i’m in the library at the desk by that really big circular window
Me
omg
Me
that’s my favorite study spot?? but it’s always taken
Me
so yes
Me
i also happen to be in the library right now too so i’ll meet you there in a bit
Kim Hongjoong
come comeeee
Seonghwa couldn’t believe his eyes. He had just agreed to meet the really hot sushi chef in his favorite study spot. His heart was pounding. Thankfully, he had managed to come across as calm and collected over text, but there were no promises about how he was gonna act in person. He just prayed he wouldn’t be as awkward as he was at Saiko Sushi.
He let his legs take him up the stairs to the second floor of the library, where bookshelves occupied the middle space and desks faced towards the windows, some of different shapes. He scanned the area for the circular window. His eyes latched onto it: it was large, with false vines hanging around it. Seonghwa would’ve appreciated real vines a lot more, but the vines looked real enough, so he was fine with it. Right in front of the window was a large wooden desk with an old-fashioned lamp on either side. There were two wooden seats at the table, and one was occupied by a man with neatly trimmed dark hair and a lean build. Seonghwa’s breath hitched. He was really going to do this.
Mustering all the courage in his body, Seonghwa walked forward, put on his best smile, and tapped the man on the shoulder. “Hongjoong?”
The man turned around, revealing the stunning face he had seen at Saiko Sushi. He was even more beautiful up close, and Seonghwa had to control himself from screaming at this beauty.
Hongjoong smiled. The urge to scream grew stronger. “Seonghwa! Nice to see you for the first time.”
“Yeah!” Seonghwa hoped his voice wasn’t shaking. He sat down next to Hongjoong. He signed and turned towards him. “I’m sorry, this is so sudden, but I think you’re absolutely stunning up close.”
“Thank you,” Hongjoong laughed, light and flowery. “And don’t worry, we started talking to each other because we’re interested in each other, right? I think you’re pretty good looking yourself.”
Seonghwa couldn’t stop his smile from growing. “Thank you.” He took out his laptop from his bag and opened it. “So, what are you working on?”
“I’m just doing a reading for one of my classes,” Hongjoong sighed. “I’m halfway there. How long are you planning on staying?”
“I have to finish a writing assignment. Might be about two hours? If you have to go somewhere else during that time, I don’t mind.”
“No problem, I’m free for the rest of the day. I can just do some other stuff I need to do. Maybe we can get dinner together.”
“That sounds great.” Seonghwa smiled again. When Hongjoong smiled back, he looked down bashfully at his laptop as he began to do work, hoping Hongjoong couldn’t see his quickly reddening cheeks and ears.
Studying with Hongjoong was great, to say the least. Seonghwa admitted that he had a hard time studying alone, opting to avoid doing work and end up scrolling aimlessly on his phone. But when he did have friends around to study, like Wooyoung, he would end up talking about random shit with them, avoiding doing work once again. He had just met Hongjoong, so they weren’t close, and Seonghwa was far from alone. Hongjoong concentrated solely on his reading; Seonghwa could see his lips mouthing the words on the screen while his eyebrows knitted together. Those facts alone, in addition to wanting to impress Hongjoong, motivated Seonghwa enough to stay focused. And when he took study breaks and decided to speak a bit to Hongjoong, the man happily accepted his offer to converse, resulting in short yet pleasant conversations before they got back to work.
Seonghwa had almost forgot about The Sushi Incident completely, until he realized that Hongjoong had never brought it up since he began texting him. A breath of relief left his lips, though he was still trying to wrap that fact around his head. But the confusion soon turned to gratitude, and he let another small smile creep up on his face.
Just as Seonghwa was nearing the last sentence of his first draft, he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. His eyes met Hongjoong's, a pleasant smile on both their faces.
“Where do you wanna get dinner?” Hongjoong asked. As Seonghwa opened his mouth to speak, Hongjoong added with a laugh, “Anything but sushi. Tonight's my night off.”
“Fair,” Seonghwa laughed back. “Do you wanna just eat at a dining hall or something?”
Hongjoong grinned. “Sounds great.”
“So you’re telling me that you guys already went on a date together? On the first day of talking?”
“It wasn’t a date,” Seonghwa sighed, watching as Wooyoung rolled his eyes at the statement. “We just studied and had dinner together in the dining hall. Nothing fancy.”
“My guy, it doesn’t need to be fancy to be called a date. You’re interested in him, he said he was interested in you, and you two spent time together somewhere to bond. It’s a date.” Wooyoung flopped on his belly on Seonghwa’s bed, grabbing a bread plushie and hugging it. “Now, tell me what happened.”
“I swear, nothing much happened. We just asked questions about each other and decided to meet up again on another study date.” Seonghwa paused to think. “He looks a lot prettier up close.”
Wooyoung laughed as Seonghwa buried his head in his hands. “You, my friend, are so absolutely whipped right now. I think it’s really cute.”
“Thanks,” Seonghwa sighed, rubbing his face a little more before looking at Wooyoung. “How are things going with San?”
“San’s been getting a little bolder every time we go out! I find it adorable,” Wooyoung replied, a fond smile growing. The expression was tooth-rottingly sweet; Seonghwa wondered if he and Hongjoong would get to that level some day. “At first, he was kinda uncomfortable holding hands when we’re walking outside, but today’s the first time he grabbed my hand and we were swinging them back and forth and everything in front of everyone. It was great!”
Wooyoung paused, then he opened his mouth again. “Actually, I’m gonna visit him for work tomorrow night. Wanna go for round two at Saiko? Your boy will be there too.”
“Sure,” Seonghwa hummed. “I wouldn’t mind seeing him again.”
In actuality, Seonghwa wanted to see him again. The dinner had left him wanting more of the wonderful sushi chef, and going to the sushi restaurant would be the perfect place to see him again. Who knows, maybe this time he’ll talk to him instead of splurging on spicy tuna rolls.