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Jihoon, despite being an established lyricist, composer and producer, didn’t know much about idols these days. Sure, he wrote and composed their songs, but he never actually met most of them, since he also did the producing for only a few. Outside of work, Jihoon didn’t take any special interest in watching music shows or variety programs. He preferred to listen to music or podcasts, without anything visual to go along with it, so that he could do something else at the same time.
Jihoon, again, despite being an established lyricist, composer and producer, also worked at his friend’s café from time to time. He simply manned the counter and was only asked to work if there was really no one else to fill in, but that happened often enough for Jihoon to even know some of their regulars. He didn’t necessarily need the money, but if it wasn’t for this somewhat part-time job, Jihoon wouldn’t leave his home for anything but his morning jogs and work meetings, and those didn’t happen nearly often enough, according to his friends. So Jeonghan had strong-armed Jihoon into helping out once, and never let go since. Jihoon got paid and the customers were nice, so he didn’t care.
The café itself was quite popular, so much so that their seats were sometimes filled, and people would have to take their order to-go or risk a long wait for a space to free up. Jihoon was glad not to work as a barista whenever they had a particularly busy day, and that was on days no celebrities visited them.
The first day that particular scenario happened, it was barely after noon, their lunch rush just on the tail end of slowing down.
Someone pushed the door open, flanked by two men, one taller and broader, one just broader than him with serious looks on their faces.
The guy in the middle had on a cap with his hood up, and was wearing a face mask, covering half his face, yet people still immediately began whispering and pulling out their phones. Jihoon managed to catch a frantic, Is that Hoshi?! before the man was standing in front of him.
And, well, Jihoon ironically didn’t know much about what idols looked like nowadays, but he did know their names. Especially when he’d worked for them before. Hoshi was one of the few idols who actually wrote most of his lyrics himself, so that Jihoon only had to compose the song. And Jihoon had worked with him quite a few times, at least once per album, but he’d still never met the man. If people hadn’t reacted the way they did, he would have been none the wiser about who was standing before him.
Well, either way, Jihoon didn’t care much about whether or not the person in front of him was a celebrity. He was here to do his job, not suddenly develop an obsession with idols.
“Welcome to Diamond Days, what can I get you?” he asked with his carefully trained business smile.
Hoshi hummed, his eyes squinting in a way that suggested he was smiling.
“Just a medium iced latte, please.”
Jihoon nodded, punching in the order. “Here or To-Go?”
“To-Go, please.”
At least the man had manners. For some reason, Jihoon subconsciously expected an idol to just want things to get done as fast as possible, and to not waste time by adding small pleasantries to their sentences. Then again, Hoshi, even just going by his lyrics and how he never found faults with Jihoon’s music, was the kind of person to be on the same wavelength as Jihoon.
Jihoon printed out the order and accepted Hoshi’s card after telling him his total. If the man in front of him didn’t have two bodyguards, and half of the customers pointing their phones at him, this could be just any other interaction with a customer.
“And what’s your name?” Jihoon asked, taking the cup he’d stuck Hoshi’s order to.
“Soonyoung.”
Jihoon looked up, already halfway done with writing ‘Hoshi’. He took one look at Hoshi’s eye smile, nodded and crossed out his writing in favour of putting what he assumed to be the idol’s given name on the cup. Jihoon wasn’t sure if Hoshi usually used his given name at cafés or if he hadn’t realised that most people in the room already knew who he was.
Deciding to mess with him a little and blaming it on Jeonghan’s influence, Jihoon nodded at Hoshi’s bodyguards.
“Anything for your friends?”
Hoshi’s eyes widened slightly, and his bodyguards were obviously trying not to grin, but in the end, all three of them shook their heads.
“We’re fine,” the taller one said with a smile. Jihoon nodded, then gestured to the waiting area.
“Please wait over there until your order and name is called.”
Hoshi nodded, thanking him and walking over to where Jihoon had told him to go.
After that point, Jihoon didn’t much care for the presence of an idol in their café much, simply continuing taking orders, and listening to neighbourhood gossip from the older ladies Jeonghan was in a book club with. Jeonghan didn’t even like reading that much, but even he wasn’t immune to a gaggle of sweet elderly women, who pinched their cheeks and always complimented them without fail.
Hoshi received his order, some people trying to push up to him as he walked out of the café, but his bodyguards successfully prevented them from doing so.
“What the fuck,” Seungkwan said, unprompted, at the end of their shift, as he and Jihoon cleaned up the café. “Was that really Hoshi I saw first thing on my shift, or was I hallucinating?”
“You weren’t hallucinating.” Jihoon threw balled up napkins like a basketball into the trash can Seungkwan was holding. “Though I don’t know how you people can tell it’s him just by his eyes.”
Seungkwan huffed. “Oh, come on. You know your friends by their backs, why can’t fans know their idols by their eyes?”
Jihoon shrugged. He supposed it was true that fans usually knew exactly what their idols looked like. Sometimes he listened to Jun tell stories of fans recognising their idols by their hands. And while Seungkwan was right that Jihoon was able to recognise his friends by their backs, he probably wouldn’t be able to pick their hands out of a line-up.
“Do you think he’s gonna come again?” Seungkwan asked, lifting the can over his head to catch a napkin ball that went a little off-track. Jihoon shook his head in answer.
“Nah, he was probably only passing by. Do idols usually visit the same place twice?”
”If they like them, sure.”
Jihoon hummed. He didn’t really care that much, to be honest. He worked with idols, or rather their companies, on the regular. Whether or not Hoshi or any other celebrity stopped by the café more than once wasn’t of particular interest to him, when he didn’t even know their faces. And anyway, Jihoon worked here two weeks a month during bad times and none during good times, so even if Hoshi returned, the chance of Jihoon being present then was very low.
“If he comes again,” Seungkwan said, placing the tables’ decorations on a tray to put back later, “I’m going to call, and scream at you.”
Jihoon made a face, going over to grab a cleaning rag and wiping down the tables Seungkwan had cleared.
“Why? Just scream at Vernon. God knows the boy doesn’t get enough action back there.”
“Because he cares even less about idols than you do. You work with them at least. Vernon wouldn’t even know who Hoshi is.”
That was true. Their friend group was a weird mishmash of people like Seungkwan, who knew everything about everyone, idols included, Jeonghan, who also knew everything about everyone but mostly used it for evil, and people like Vernon, who always needed at least half a minute to kind of know his own sister’s age when asked. There was a wide range of people in between, and sometimes Jihoon still wondered how he even had that many friends. Then again, just the other day, Wonwoo had sent him a meme about extroverts adopting introverts, so maybe that answered his question. He didn’t have friends. They had him.
Jihoon shook his head. “Don’t call me if he comes again. I don’t care.”
Seungkwan grinned at him, and vowed, “I’m going to call you.”
“Jihoon hyung!!!”
Jihoon winced, holding the phone further away from his ear. He could hear the multiple exclamation points in Seungkwan’s voice. That in and of itself wasn’t unusual, but the boy usually didn’t start phone calls with Jihoon off with it, for fear of being hung up on.
“Seungkwan,” Jihoon said. “What.”
“Jihoon hyung.” Seungkwan tried matching Jihoon’s deadpan tone but the squeak was still there. “Hoshi came here again. Like ten minutes before closing. There were no customers. And you know what?”
“What.”
“He fucking asked for you!!!”
Again, with the exclamation points. Jihoon was just about to tell Seungkwan to cool it when the words registered.
“Huh? Are you sure?”
There were several bangs sounding from Seungkwan’s side of the line, instead of an answer, concerningly. Thankfully, Seungkwan answered before Jihoon could even ask if everything was okay.
“Yes, I’m sure!” the boy almost screamed. “He said, and I quote, ‘Is the cute one with the red hair not working today’!!”
Seungkwan’s voice got higher and more hysterical with every word towards the end. Jihoon frowned.
“Wait, you’re not even on counter duty. How would you know?”
Seungkwan sighed. Jihoon could picture the boy shaking his head in more or less fake disappointment.
“Jihoon hyung. Jeonghan hyung filled in for Chan today because you said you had a meeting. And you know how things get when Jeonghan hyung mans the counter and the café’s about to close.”
Jeonghan, because he was the owner and their friend, was very lax while working in the café himself. If he was manning the counter while customer traffic was slow or non-existent, he would send one of the baristas out instead and make some weird, often-times extremely unhealthy abomination of a drink, one for each of the staff. Jeonghan meant well, but Chan had genuinely gotten sugar high from one of those drinks once and been a little too energetic for about ten minutes before crashing completely and having to sit down to rest for half of his shift.
Of course, it didn’t help that most of the employees were college students, who couldn’t care less about their health. And that they were friends with Jeonghan.
Anyway, yes, Jihoon did know how it got with Jeonghan ‘manning the counter’ ten minutes before closing time. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“So you were on counter duty.”
“Yes!” Seungkwan sounded genuinely excited. “Can you believe an idol asked for you? You need to work here permanently now.”
Jihoon lowered his eyes at his phone.
“Seungkwan,” he started in a warning tone, “what did you tell him?”
“I told him that you weren’t working today but he might have more luck next week.”
“I’m not supposed to work next week.” Jihoon was sure of this. His table calendar aided him in that belief.
“Well.” Oh no. Jihoon could hear the scheming grin. “It’s finals week next week. And you know how hard that is on us. It just so happens that none of us have finals on the same days, and Jun hyung and Seokmin hyung obviously can’t cover everyone’s shifts.”
“I fucking hate you.”
“Love you too!”
Then, it beeped, and Jihoon stared at his phone, at the home screen wallpaper Jeonghan had changed every time they’d hung out, and Jihoon had given up changing it back after the tenth time. It was a picture from Jihoon’s birthday, taken in a photo booth. They’d all crammed into it and then attacked Jihoon with kisses. Jihoon had his face scrunched up in the picture, kisses being pressed to his face by every one of his friends, excluding Vernon, who was staring into the camera and throwing up a peace sign with a deadpan expression.
Sometimes he wondered if having friends was really worth all of the stress they caused.
A notification popped up on his screen.
Seungkwan: if you’re really uncomfortable, don’t come
But really, Jihoon knew they meant well.
Jihoon hyung: i’ll come
And so, Jihoon found himself back in the café the next week. Seokmin and Jun doing their barista duties in the back as Jihoon lamented his lack of sleep, courtesy of inspiration striking at two in the morning and Jihoon’s shift starting at ten.
The café was even busier than usual, with people lining up to take selfies with Hoshi’s sign that Jeonghan had weaselled out of the idol during his last visit. Jeonghan himself was standing in front of it, making sure anyone wanting to boast about having visited where Hoshi had visited twice, had purchased at least one item from their menu.
Still, things started to slow in the evening, Jeonghan going upstairs to do what he actually had to do as owner and manager of this place. Jun and Seokmin were preparing celebratory drinks for a day survived, and Jihoon was already wiping down the counter by the time the bell above the door jingled.
“Welcome to Diamond Days,” Jihoon said automatically before he even looked up. “What can I get for you today?”
His voice might or might not have wavered towards the end there, as Jihoon laid eyes on Hoshi and his bodyguards. He’d actually shown up. Why? What was so interesting about Jihoon, that Hoshi had come back just for him? Was it the hair? Did Hoshi want tips on how to get that exact colour?
That was unlikely. Hoshi probably got his hair done in salons by professional hair stylists, not his friends in his bathroom at four in the morning, while not entirely sober. Well. Jihoon had been sober. His friends hadn’t.
“Hi.” Hoshi’s mask was pulled down today, allowing Jihoon to actually see his smile. He still wore the cap under the hood, and Jihoon wondered if he was having a comeback soon, without Jihoon having worked on one of his songs. He at least knew that idols tended to hide their hair before a comeback. For what reason, he wasn’t sure, but the thought of Hoshi, who Woozi had been working with since before the other man had debuted, releasing an album without any of the songs having been composed by Woozi, stung more than it probably should.
“Hi. What can I get you today?” Jihoon asked, trying to sound as natural as possible. If Hoshi wanted something from him, he would have to bring it up himself.
Hoshi looked down on their almost empty display of baked goods, then glanced over to the broader of his two bodyguards. “What do you want, hyung?”
The bodyguard leaned forward. “A cheesecake sounds nice.”
“And you?” Hoshi asked the taller one.
“A blueberry muffin.”
Jihoon was already punching in the orders before Hoshi even told him. He had functioning ears, thank you very much.
“Anything else?” Jihoon kept the customer smile on, despite Hoshi’s gaze being a little too intense for his liking.
“I’d like a large iced americano, please. Everything to-go. No sweets for me, thanks.”
Again, with those pleasantries. Jihoon briefly entertained the idea of telling Hoshi that they actually knew each other, and that it was weird to hear him be so polite, when Jihoon had brainstormed lyrics with him for his song ‘Touch’, that was infamous for the almost explicit invitation to sleep with someone.
But then, a voice that sounded too much like Jeonghan for comfort piped up in his head, about how it would be more interesting to see why Hoshi was so interested in him, without revealing exactly who Jihoon was. So he kept his mouth shut after all, not asking for Hoshi’s name this time, as there was no one else in the café anymore.
”Jihoon hyung!” Seokmin wandered out of the kitchen just as Jihoon handed Hoshi his card back, froze, did a 180 and ran back into the kitchen. Jihoon frowned. He hadn’t even taken Hoshi’s cup with him.
Turning to Hoshi with an apologetic smile, Jihoon said, “Sorry, I’ll have to bring this one to the back myself.”
Hoshi returned the smile easily. “It’s no problem.”
Jihoon took the cup, dipped his head in Hoshi’s direction and disappeared into the kitchen. Seokmin was squealing at Jun, who was staring at the XXL marshmallows in his drink with a forlorn look.
“The fuck was that?” Jihoon asked Seokmin, setting the cup down.
Seokmin, being the musical theatre actor that he was, put a hand over his heart, slumping against the kitchen counter.
“I was trying to give you some privacy with your lover boy and this is the thanks I get? Wow, chivalry really is dead.”
“This has nothing to do with chivalry. Shut up and do your job, we have five minutes until we close.”
Seokmin muttered something under his breath, but Jihoon was sure his blood pressure would only spike if he asked about it, so he kept his mouth shut as he pushed through the door back to the front room. Hoshi was frantically whispering with his bodyguards, and if he was close enough to call them hyung and speak to them casually, they were probably friends. Jihoon wasn’t sure if idols were usually friends with their bodyguards, but Hoshi seemed like someone who could be friends with anyone he wanted to.
Hoshi shut up as the door swung close behind Jihoon, glaring at the taller bodyguard, when he nudged him with his elbow. Jihoon only barely held back from raising an eyebrow at them, instead reaching into the display case to pack up the small cheesecake and the blueberry muffin in their own bags.
He handed both over the counter, just as Jun pushed through the door with Hoshi’s coffee in hand. Instead of handing it to the idol himself, the cup got shoved at Jihoon, Jun disappearing back into the kitchen as soon as his hands were firmly holding it. Jihoon squinted at the door. What was wrong with his friends today?
Hoshi cleared his throat, and Jihoon remembered that he still had his drink in hand.
“Ah, sorry,” Jihoon said, handing Hoshi his cup. “I was just a bit confused by my co-worker just now.”
“It’s alright,” Hoshi assured him, kicking the taller bodyguard’s shin when he nudged Hoshi again. “Um, I was wondering if you work here often? I didn’t catch you a second time last week.”
Confused, Jihoon blinked but answered the question. “No, my shifts here are quite irregular, as it’s not my main job. Was there something in particular you wanted to talk to me about or…”
Jihoon trailed off at the end, fascinated by the pink rising on Hoshi’s cheeks.
“Uh.” The pink reached from Hoshi’s cheeks over to his ears. Jihoon wasn’t usually one to think of people as cute, but the man was cute. “Did, um, did your friends tell you anything about me?”
Jihoon furrowed his brows. That was definitely an interesting question. He didn’t think the idol was asking about Seungkwan screaming about how Hoshi asked for him. He shook his head.
“Were they supposed to?” Had Hoshi said something and Seungkwan had instead chosen to focus on an entirely different aspect?
Hoshi glanced at his sign on the wall, then shook his head vehemently, a big smile on his face. “No, no. I’m sorry to come by so late, but my schedule is quite busy.”
Jihoon shrugged. “It’s alright. As long as we’re open, there’s no reason to refuse you.”
Hoshi’s cheeks looked extremely squishy as his smile got impossibly wider. The man was taller than Jihoon, but damn, he was adorable. If he didn’t know any better, Jihoon would never have believed anyone who told him this man had written and performed ‘Touch’ and other very suggestive songs. But Jihoon did know better, and so, the difference between that Hoshi and this Hoshi was astonishing.
The shorter one of the bodyguards glanced at his watch, then whispered something into Hoshi’s ear. Hoshi’s smile fell a little, but he nodded with a sigh.
“It seems I have to go,” he said, eyes glancing down at Jihoon’s chest, where his nameplate was stuck to his apron. “I’ll see you around, Jihoon. And don’t forget that I’m called Soonyoung just because you have no reason to write it down!”
The last bit was spoken very loudly as Hoshi was forcefully led to the door by his bodyguards, only able to speak over his shoulder. Jihoon looked after them for a while, watching them make their way down the street, Hoshi with his drink, and his bodyguards with their sweets.
Well, he thought, Hoshi could be Hoshi in the studio and Soonyoung in the café.
In the next few weeks, Jihoon worked at the café more often than he had in the last three months. Sure, he had meetings to attend, deadlines to meet and emails to respond to, but Jeonghan called him in whenever he didn’t have anything urgent to do. First, it was because the trio who was still in college had taken the week off, and they desperately needed someone to fill in for them. Then, Jun suddenly fell ill and Seokmin was at auditions for an entire week. Seungkwan went home for break, Vernon went on vacation right after Seungkwan got back, and Chan still had a broken foot through all of this.
And Soonyoung never failed to show up whenever Jihoon worked. Mingyu and Seungcheol, whose names Jihoon had learnt after the fifth time of meeting them, were always with him and always got treated to a pastry of their liking by Soonyoung.
Jihoon wasn’t a very social person, but even he couldn’t escape smalltalk when he was at work and conversation seemed to flow as naturally as it did with Soonyoung. He got to know Soonyoung’s favourite colour, his favourite food, and that he’d almost been scammed several times.
It was interesting to see the difference between a professional, who seriously discussed lyrics and feelings, and just a man, who came in a few minutes before closing and asked for tiger latte art every time ever since he found out they could do that.
Jihoon began writing lyrics that were different from usual. It wasn’t that they were any more or less genuine than any of his others, but there was something else in them, something that even Jihoon couldn’t – rather, didn’t want to – place. The one thing he knew for sure, was that he wouldn’t sell these lyrics for anyone else to sing, much like the songs he’d written for his friends, expressing his love and affection through songs because he couldn’t talk about it like a normal person.
Soonyoung sometimes stumbled through the door after the café was already closed. As long as Jihoon was still in the front, cleaning up, Soonyoung didn’t care. He just made himself comfortable and watched Jihoon clean, not offering to help because he’d done that once and Jihoon had threatened to bite all his fingers off that touched what they shouldn’t.
“Where are your leeches?” Jihoon asked Soonyoung one day, when he showed up without his bodyguards. The sun had almost set outside, the days shortening slowly but surely.
Soonyoung, again with nothing but his eyes showing – cap and hood switched for a beanie in the cold weather –, tried to wink and gave Jihoon a two fingered salute. “I used the cover of darkness to run away.”
Pointedly looking outside, at the well-lit street, Jihoon raised an eyebrow. Soonyoung pulled his face mask down.
“Okay, so maybe I used a moment of distraction to slip away.”
Jihoon was quite sure that it wasn’t safe for an idol to just ditch their bodyguards. Perhaps Soonyoung had hoped for the waning light to make him unrecognisable, and evidently nothing had happened, but it was still extremely risky. Seungcheol and Mingyu were probably turning the world upside down just about now.
Jihoon sighed, shaking his head. “What if they think you’ve been kidnapped?”
Soonyoung barked a laugh. “Me? Kidnapped? I know I wear a lot of baggy clothes, but I’m ripped under there, I tell you.”
“Sure, you massive marshmallow. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
There was a dangerous glint in Soonyoung’s eyes, and Jihoon berated himself for speaking too soon. Most idols were lean at least, so it was plausible for Soonyoung to be as muscular as he was saying he was. Jihoon was not going to give Soonyoung the opportunity to show him whether or not he was ‘ripped’.
Soonyoung reached for his hoodie under his open jacket, and Jihoon launched at him. Barking a laugh, Soonyoung stumbled backward, desperately trying to get Jihoon’s hands off of his arms. Jihoon opened his mouth to make good on his threat of biting.
Soonyoung’s laugh turned to an, honest to god, screech.
“Get off me, you heathen, what did I do?!”
“Touched something you shouldn’t have.”
“It’s my body– stop trying to bite me!”
In answer, Jihoon just snapped his teeth like a rabid dog. Maybe he shouldn’t be acting like this in front of someone who made him write lyrics like ‘You are the brightest light’ and ‘I want to gather all the pretty words to give to you’, but if Soonyoung was going to stick around, he might as well see why Jihoon got along with the likes of dramatic Seungkwan and Seokmin despite not seeming like he would. Jihoon had chased another trainee during his short-lived idol trainee days with a guitar once and never looked back since.
Soonyoung just got Jihoon in a headlock, when someone slammed the door open and trilled, “Jihoonie!”
Why did people keep walking in on them while saying Jihoon’s name? Was he cursed?
Soonyoung immediately released him, clearing his throat and smoothing down his rumpled clothes. Jihoon just glared at Jeonghan.
“What?”
Jeonghan smirked. “I was going to ask if you wanted to go and eat something with me, but I see you’re already otherwise occupied.” The blond winked at Soonyoung. “And you, tell your cute friend with the shaggy hair that he should take Shua up on that dinner invitation. Bye then!”
Wiggling his fingers in a proxy of a wave, Jeonghan vanished as fast as he’d appeared. Jihoon buried his hands in his hair.
“Why are all of my friends so weird?”
Soonyoung snorted. “You’re not exactly normal either.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong. They had just tussled over Soonyoung’s attempt to show his stomach to Jihoon. Still, Jihoon liked to pretend sometimes, sue him.
Jihoon tapped his finger on his thigh. Jeonghan’s appearance had planted an idea in his mind. He’d never gotten Soonyoung alone before, and they’d also never stepped foot outside of the café together. They just talked and played around every time, confined to the café’s front room with Seungcheol and Mingyu joining in from time to time.
Speaking of the bodyguards, they were probably still searching for Soonyoung, and Soonyoung couldn’t just go out with only Jihoon next to him. Not only was Jihoon afraid of something happening, he didn’t necessarily want people to see them together and speculate on who he was and what kind of relationship they had. He’d want to clarify their relationship before being seen anywhere with Hoshi.
They could order delivery, though.
“Have you eaten yet?” Jihoon asked before his courage could leave him. Soonyoung lifted his chin as if to nod, then froze and shook his head instead.
“Nope. Haven’t had anything since lunch, and lunch was a salad.”
“Do you want to–”
Jihoon was cut off by a disembodied voice sternly saying, “Kwon Soonyoung, you better answer your phone because if you don’t, and I find you alive, I’m going to kill you myself.”
The threat was followed by what sounded like very passionate Mandarin. Mostly swear words, if Jun’s impromptu lessons were anything to go by.
Soonyoung winced, reaching into his pocket. “Sorry, I have to take this. The last time I ignored it, I got the most devastating look of disappointment.”
Jihoon nodded, watching as Soonyoung lifted his phone to his ear, already looking apprehensive. A short conversation ensued, that, on Soonyoung’s side, mostly consisted of affirmatives and then, a lot of wincing. Soonyoung bid the person on the other side goodbye and that they would see each other soon.
“I shouldn’t have tried to become independent,” Soonyoung said with a little grin. “Now I’m going to face divine retribution.”
Jihoon had met Minghao, Hoshi’s manager, a few times, so he knew that despite his tone, Soonyoung wasn’t entirely kidding. Based on the ringtone, Jihoon assumed it was him, anyway.
With a crooked grin, Jihoon said, “I guess that means we can’t have dinner together.”
Soonyoung shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Minghao said they’re already on the way, and if Mingyu’s driving with him breathing down his neck, they’re probably breaking speed limits as we’re speaking. Ah, Minghao is the one who called me just now.”
Jihoon nodded, as if he hadn’t suspected it already. “Your adventure didn’t last very long, did it?”
“What can you do?” Soonyoung asked with a grin and a shrug, but it was obvious that he wasn’t as okay with it as he was pretending to be. Jihoon sighed. He wanted to spend more alone time with Soonyoung, but him sneaking away from work or practice – with how Minghao had apparently reacted, probably work in this case – just to be with Jihoon, while flattering, made Jihoon feel bad. He would rather they spend time together without having to sacrifice anything else. He didn’t know how much free time idols had these days, but someone like Jihoon with no set working hours, had a lot of it. If it wouldn’t reveal that they technically already knew each other, Jihoon would offer to exchange numbers.
Over time, Jihoon had come to the conclusion that, if Soonyoung didn’t want to be Hoshi with him, he wouldn’t force him to be. It didn’t matter to Jihoon either way, especially since he already knew, but being Hoshi and Woozi was a lot different from being Soonyoung and Jihoon.
“Um.” Soonyoung rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t think you want to be witness to the wrath that’s gonna be unleashed on me soon. I think it would be best for me to wait for them outside.”
Jihoon was about to object, talk about how cold it was outside, when something occurred to him. Minghao knew his face. Minghao knew he was Woozi, and he probably didn’t know about Jihoon taking care not to let Soonyoung know. Who was to say the man wouldn’t call him Woozi right in front of Soonyoung? Or Soonyoung Hoshi in front of Jihoon, which neither of them would want, so that Soonyoung could continue to believe Jihoon didn’t know, and Jihoon could continue to let Soonyoung be himself.
“Okay,” Jihoon said in the end. “Don’t freeze out there, though.”
Soonyoung thumped his chest with a proud grin. “I would never. I’m too hot-blooded.”
Instead of an answer, Jihoon just hummed and put on an unbelieving face. In all honesty, Soonyoung emitted extreme body heat, but Jihoon wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging that.
A car roared outside, and Soonyoung’s gaze snapped to the door.
“I guess I’ll get going then,” he said with a sigh, pulling his mask over his face again.
“Good luck.”
Soonyoung nodded, steeled himself, then went outside. Almost as if planned, a car pulled up to the curb. Seungcheol got out on the passenger side, Minghao from the backseat. But while Seungcheol looked somewhat pitying, Minghao immediately zeroed in on Soonyoung with a glare.
While Soonyoung was pulled to the car by the lapel of his jacket, Seungcheol popped his head in. “Hi Jihoon, sorry to steal him from you, but he just up and disappeared on us. I think he saw Shua’s message–” The man stopped talking with wide eyes. “Uhh, I don’t think I should say anymore than that. Please forget I said anything. Anyway, bye!”
Shua? The same Shua who was Jihoon’s friend and Jeonghan’s boyfriend, Joshua? The same one Jeonghan had just mentioned in the same sentence as Seungcheol, talking about a dinner invitation?
So that was how Soonyoung always knew when to show up. Joshua, who was somehow the link between their groups, had been telling Seungcheol when Jihoon would be there, probably fed information by Jeonghan.
Jihoon shook his head. Leave it to his friends to ensure that Jihoon would continue to meet Soonyoung, without him asking. He wasn’t complaining, not anymore, but it would still have repercussions. What kind exactly, Jihoon would still have to figure out.
At least Soonyoung and Jihoon had been spared being called by their aliases in front of each other today. All was well with the world.
Up until it was all revealed by a whirlwind-like Joshua about two weeks later.
Jeonghan’s excuses for having Jihoon work at the café had been running out, so that Jihoon had only seen Soonyoung once since that whole fiasco, and even then, their encounter had been limited to the time between Soonyoung ordering and getting his drink, as Seungcheol and Mingyu ushered him outside with apologetic looks directed at Jihoon.
Now, Soonyoung and Jihoon were both standing in front of the counter, Jihoon just having turned the sign to ‘Closed’ and closed all the blinds. Seungcheol, who’d been alone today because Mingyu had apparently not been feeling well, had said he’d get Soonyoung dinner, and for them to enjoy each other’s company while it lasted. Jun and Vernon had already left, both having tickets to a concert. Jihoon had permitted them to leave, offering to clean the kitchen for them after he was done with the front room.
So Soonyoung and Jihoon were well and truly alone in the café for now.
They’d barely gotten a few words out before they were interrupted. At this point, there was no way Jihoon wasn’t cursed.
Joshua, in search of Jeonghan, stuck his head out of the kitchen, just to say, “Jihoon, have you seen– oh, sorry.”
He shortly waved at Soonyoung. “Hoshi, right? Are you guys talking about an upcoming project? I know you said Woozi was your favourite to work with, but Jihoon never said anything about you two actually knowing each other more than fleetingly.”
Soonyoung choked on something and started coughing, Jihoon sent horrified looks Joshua’s way. The model, almost definitely entirely aware of what he had just done, instead of letting either of them answer, shook his head.
“Wait, no. I’m not here to chat, I’m looking for Jeonghan. Is he in his office?”
Jihoon nodded numbly, and watched as Joshua grinned, then disappeared back into the kitchen.
This had been planned. There was no way it wasn’t. Joshua was the one who’d told Seungcheol – and thus Soonyoung – when Jihoon was working. He probably knew all about what had been happening from both sides, and now he had the audacity to pretend to accidentally and casually reveal both of their secrets at the same time? Jihoon was going to strangle him.
Soonyoung tapped Jihoon’s shoulder, his gaze unreadable when he asked, “You’re Woozi?”
“Yeah.”
Jihoon didn’t know what he’d expected, but Soonyoung going as red as a tomato hadn’t been it. The idol covered his face in his hands and mumbled, “That’s so embarrassing.”
Jihoon furrowed his brows. “How is that embarrassing?”
He briefly entertained the thought of Soonyoung thinking along the lines he had, how they’d written ‘Touch’ together, knew more about each other in that way than people who’d seen each other for the first time a few months ago. But then Soonyoung continued with his mumbling, even more muffled by his hands hiding his face.
“I was going to ask Woozi to compose a song with my lyrics. They’re about you.”
“Oh.” Jihoon’s face mirrored Soonyoung’s in the way that it suddenly felt hot and it was probably flaming red. Soonyoung had written lyrics about him. He wanted to make a proper song out of them, and until now, Hoshi had never not released a song he’d worked on with Woozi. Jihoon’s face, impossibly, got even hotter at the thought. He would never publish any of the songs he’d written just to get his overwhelming love for his friends out of his system, and the ones he’d written with Soonyoung in mind had an even lower chance of going public. Soonyoung on the other hand…
Jihoon’s face was probably matching his hair at this point. He pulled up his apron to cover it, hunching in on himself.
“That’s so embarrassing,” he agreed, though for very different reasons than Soonyoung had said it.
Despite Jihoon expressing his affection through songs, he wasn’t used to the same being done for him. Most of his friends liked singing but they didn’t write their own songs, so there had never been a song written about Jihoon in particular. And now, his crush was telling him he’d written a song for him? Jihoon let out an undignified squeak at the thought.
Soonyoung cleared his throat. “Then… did you know I was Hoshi all this time?”
Jihoon emerged from his apron just enough to look over it. Soonyoung had removed his hands from his face and, though his ears were still red, his expression was both serious and curious.
Sensing the mood shifting, Jihoon rightened himself even more. He nodded.
“I knew. It’s kind of hard not to when everyone was saying your name, and my idol-expert coworker recognised you. I didn’t want to lie to you, it’s just–” Jihoon ducked his head. “You seemed to need someone not to know you. And I could give you that, because I don’t care. Yeah, you’re an idol, but I work with idols on a daily basis, and you and I technically already knew each other.”
“What would you have done if you’d been asked to work with me for my comeback? Would you have told me who you are?”
“I– I don’t know. I never thought about that.”
Because Jihoon had begun to separate Soonyoung from Hoshi in a way. He never forgot about it, of course, and despite taking care not to out himself as Woozi, Jihoon hadn’t spared the fact that Hoshi had never released an album without at least one of Woozi’s songs a second thought. What would he have done?
Jihoon shook his head to get rid of that train of thought. “It doesn’t do good to dwell on maybes. And I’m telling you right now, despite us being Woozi and Hoshi, I like being Jihoon and Soonyoung, too.”
Soonyoung smiled, shuffling a little closer to him.
“Woozi’s always been my favourite to work with, so you and him being the same person isn’t exactly something that changes what I think of you. You’re right. When you didn’t have any kind of reaction to me showing up here, I thought you didn’t know who I was. And honestly, I love my friends but most of them, I made through work, and I just wanted to be normal again, for once. So I clung to you, in that way.”
Jihoon nodded. He himself had known his friends before he’d really become a big name in the music industry, so he couldn’t entirely understand the feeling, but it had been obvious to him anyway.
So, now they got their identities out in the open, but they still hadn’t talked about – Jihoon shuddered – their feelings and stuff. And the thing was, Jihoon wasn’t good at outright talking about his feelings. He preferred the little things like having Vernon’s meme face as his phone case, his friends’ picture as his phone’s wallpaper, buying his favourite people their favourite food, or writing songs for and about them. Yet, he felt like it would be a wasted opportunity to not say anything now.
He took a deep breath, steeled himself and said, “I’ve written songs about you too.”
Soonyoung choked once more. “ Songs ? As in, multiple?”
Jihoon’s face was flaming again. Fuck, he’d told more on himself than he’d planned to. Still, since he’d started it, he was going to go through with it too.
“Yeah… I kinda– I– Ah, fuck.”
So. Jihoon still couldn’t talk about feelings.
“Do you have a schedule after this?”
Soonyoung blinked at the sudden change of subject. Jihoon being a blushing, stuttering mess was probably also a factor in his surprised look. Still, the idol shook his head.
“No, I’m all done for today. Since we’ll be planning for my comeback soon, the company is trying to be nice by making me less busy. Usually, I practise anyway, but since you asked…”
“Call Seungcheol and tell him to keep your dinner for himself,” Jihoon almost commanded, taking out his own phone. “You’re coming with me.”
Soonyoung, despite obviously asking himself what was going on, pulled out his phone. As he made his call, Jihoon made his own.
“Yoon Jeonghan,” he said as soon as the other picked up. “You and your dreadful boyfriend are responsible for this, so bear the consequences. Soonyoung and I are gonna ditch. I haven’t cleaned an inch of the front room. The kitchen hasn’t been looked at since Joshua pretended to unknowingly out us as Hoshi and Woozi. Clean it, café owner. I’m out. Don’t call me for work for at least two months.”
He didn’t even wait for Jeonghan to respond, hanging up before the other could even make a sound. Jihoon nodded to himself. This seemed like an appropriate repercussion. And even if Jeonghan begged him to work at the café, Jihoon would hold steadfast. Despite Jeonghan being the most mischievous out of all of them, even he hadn’t found a way around Jihoon’s stubbornness.
Soonyoung was still talking with Seungcheol, so Jihoon used the time to get his jacket and helmet from the backroom. He waited for Soonyoung to hang up, then look at Jihoon with a smile.
“I’m all cleared for today. Where are we going?”
Jihoon gestured for Soonyoung to follow him, making his way outside to where his motorbike was waiting for him.
“My studio,” he answered, pulling out the spare helmet from the space under the passenger seat and shoving it at Soonyoung. While Soonyoung simply stared at Jihoon, then the bike, then the helmet, Jihoon put on his own helmet, then proceeded to do the same to Soonyoung when he still hadn’t moved an inch.
“Don’t worry about shutting your mouth for more than a minute,” he said, tapping his helmet. “We have an intercom.”
Jihoon could hear Soonyoung’s grin when he said, “That’s so cool.”
Jihoon jerked his head towards his bike. “Come on, let’s get going.”
Soonyoung got on the bike after Jihoon, wrapping his arms around him, his front pressing to Jihoon’s back. Despite both of them wearing jackets, Jihoon could still feel the other’s warmth seep through and settle on Jihoon’s skin as if it was meant to be there.
For most of the ride, Soonyoung gushed about riding on a motorbike for the first time, and how cool it was, and how awesome Jihoon was for being able to ride a motorbike. Shortly before they arrived, Soonyoung quieted down a little, and Jihoon asked the question that had been in the back of his mind since Joshua had brought it up.
“Why is Woozi your favourite to work with?”
Soonyoung’s hold on him tightened almost imperceptibly at that, their helmets clinking against each other. “You always felt the most genuine. I could always connect with your lyrics and compositions the most, even if some of the people producing made me think that it isn’t what you would have wanted it to be. Why do you not produce all of your songs as well?”
“I’m not confident in properly leading people I don’t know. The only ones I produced for were people I knew from my trainee days.”
“You were a trainee?”
“For a few months. Then I discovered composing and the rest is history.”
“Wait a second,” Soonyoung said, and Jihoon could already hear the whiny tone in his voice. “You’ve known me for years and yet you never produced for me? Is that all our relationship is worth for you?”
Jihoon tried not to react to the word relationship, knowing Soonyoung was referring to work, not their personal feelings. Yet he couldn’t help but think that he would like to change the relationship they had, even if right now, they had a friendship going on. Jihoon really was too far gone.
“I never even saw your face, Soonyoung,” Jihoon replied, taking the last turn towards his studio and flat. “The people I produce for, I showered with.”
Soonyoung gave a short, nervous laugh. “You produced for I.O.I.”
“Time was precious, and I’m gay.” At least, saying he was gay was easier than explaining to Soonyoung that he’d never looked at anyone and felt the desire to sleep with them, but that he wouldn’t mind holding Soonyoung’s hand or cuddling or generally exist near each other in a way different than he did with his friends. If Jihoon was feeling particularly risky, he wouldn’t even be opposed to a kiss.
They came for a stop before Soonyoung had found a response to Jihoon’s sudden coming out. Jihoon parked his bike in the spot by his flat, reserved only for him. His studio was on the same floor, and had been supposed to be a living space but when Jihoon had gotten enough money, he’d expanded his studio from his small guest room to a rented professional studio, to a studio of his own just across the hallway.
“What,” he asked with a grin when they’d gotten off and put their helmets in the storage, “have I finally managed to shock you into silence?”
Soonyoung’s own answering grin was a little wonky. “It’s not every day that you learn that Woozi showered with female idols and that he’s gay.”
Jihoon nudged Soonyoung. He was taking way too much pleasure in Soonyoung’s obvious crisis, but he’d already told him that he’d written songs for him, so he’d assumed Soonyoung had put the pieces together.
He told Soonyoung as much and watched as a blush spread over the man’s face.
“Didn’t you want to show me something?” Soonyoung asked, obviously shy and trying to change the topic. Jihoon decided to let him breathe for now. He gestured for the other to follow him before pulling out his keys.
They trudged up the stairs in silence, Soonyoung looking around the desolate building. Jihoon hadn’t met his neighbours once despite living here for years. He’d always wondered if they were just as introverted as him or if he just didn’t have any neighbours at all. Until now, he still wasn’t sure of the answer.
Either way, by the time Jihoon finally opened the door to his studio, Soonyoung and he were still the only ones out and about. He let Soonyoung go in first, flicking on the lights, the overhead ones, not the mood light he usually preferred to dwell in.
“Woah.” Soonyoung gaped at where Jihoon had put his instruments all in one place. “When you said you played a few instruments, I was thinking piano and guitar, maybe some bass, not all of this.”
Jihoon was surprised Soonyoung even remembered what Woozi had told him, undoubtedly offhandedly. He himself didn’t even remember ever telling Hoshi about playing multiple instruments, so it had to have been a while ago or in the middle of a conversation that hadn’t been centred around the topic.
As Soonyoung busied himself with looking around, Jihoon went and started up his computer. He briefly entertained the idea of not going through with what he’d impulsively decided, but since Soonyoung was already here, there was no use in redirecting things now. And anyway, he would never hear the end of it from Jeonghan if he’d forced the man to clean for nothing.
Soonyoung was staring at a picture on Jihoon’s wall, framed by fairy lights, when Jihoon beckoned him over. The idol pulled the second chair over to sit next to Jihoon, now transfixed on the screen of Jihoon’s computer. Inside the file of Hoshi, was a file of Soonyoung, and inside that file, Jihoon kept the songs he’d composed after meeting the man face to face. He’d written songs for Hoshi before, but that had been at a much less personal level. Jihoon had only had enough understanding of the idol to play with the composition, not writing lyrics exactly for him, especially since Hoshi tended to do so himself.
“Four,” Soonyoung breathed, eyes flicking over the screen. “You wrote four songs for me.”
Jihoon nodded and, without commenting on it, played the most harmless of the songs, the first one he’d written when he’d still tried not to realise that he was crushing on Soonyoung.
It was a smooth melody, light lyrics with a fresher feeling than Jihoon had written in a while.
Soonyoung was still staring at the screen, watching the song play out. His mouth was slightly open, his eyes big and his cheeks painted that pretty pink in the first stage of a blush. Jihoon kept his eyes on the man, rather than on his own creation, savouring Soonyoung’s reaction with every cell of his body. He could always trust his songs to do his talking for him. Especially as an idol and someone he’d worked with before, there was no way Soonyoung wouldn’t grasp the meaning of it.
When the song was finished, and the only thing to hear was the whirring of the computer, Soonyoung looked at Jihoon for the first time in several minutes.
“You wrote that for me?” he asked, voice a little unsteady.
Jihoon shrugged, willing himself not to blush. “I wrote it with you in mind. Didn’t really think about whether I would ever show it to you.”
“And there’s three more of these.”
Jihoon nodded. He wasn’t sure how he would survive playing all of those songs to Soonyoung in one day, but if the man asked, Jihoon wouldn’t be able to say no.
Soonyoung was focused solely on Jihoon, and even though this wasn’t the first time, they were well and truly alone for once. They weren’t standing in the café with Jihoon absentmindedly working, they were sitting down in Jihoon’s studio with a song written for Soonyoung still lingering in the air. There was nobody to walk in on them, starting out with Jihoon’s name, and there was nowhere for Soonyoung to be after.
“Jihoon-ah,” Soonyoung started, “I like you.”
Jihoon released a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.
“Me too. I like you, too.”
Soonyoung’s smile was brilliant, outshining even the overhead lights as his cheekbones rose and his eyes disappeared at the force of it. He opened his arms, scooting closer to Jihoon and enveloping him in a tight hug before Jihoon even really had the time to process what was going on. Soonyoung smooshed their cheeks together, and Jihoon could feel his racing heartbeat against his own chest. He huffed. They were men in their mid-twenties acting like elementary school children.
Still, he lifted his arms to reciprocate. And if he pulled Soonyoung even closer, that was no one’s business but their own.
In the end, Jihoon managed to convince Soonyoung not to listen to the other three songs, but not without promising to show him at a later date anyway.
They brushed over their confessions as if they’d been just another part of the conversation, but Soonyoung was always closer to Jihoon than he’d ever been before, and his eyes were more obviously fond when he watched Jihoon showcase his talents with his various instruments at Soonyoung’s request.
They slipped into work-talk naturally, about how Soonyoung had been telling the company to hire Woozi as his composer and producer for every song of his for a while. They’d assured to get it sorted by his next comeback, considering Woozi’s songs had always been Hoshi and his fans’ favourites.
Jihoon hadn’t even been aware of that, not being active on social media unless his friends sent him a meme, and generally not paying attention to much of anything outside of his personal bubble. Perhaps he should be paying more attention to what people thought of his songs, but Jihoon didn’t care as long as he was satisfied and he got money for a job well done.
At one point they migrated over to the couch that usually hosted most of Jihoon’s friends. Soonyoung was pressed close to him, arm thrown over the back of the couch, resting just behind Jihoon. Their thighs were touching entirely, their torsos just barely not, if only so that they could actually see each other more or less properly as they talked.
Jihoon could see the other glance at his lips not-so-subtly every few minutes, but Soonyoung made no move to kiss him. His fingers danced over Jihoon’s shoulder and their thighs stayed pressed together, yet Soonyoung continued to hold up their conversation, not once indicating that he would rather be doing anything else.
A few minutes before midnight, Seungcheol called to let Soonyoung know that it was time to go home now, to catch enough sleep for his schedule tomorrow. Jihoon offered Soonyoung a ride back, but Seungcheol declined for him, saying to just text him the address, and that he would pick him up soon.
Soonyoung hung up with a promise of seeing each other soon, then sent his bodyguard the address. Seungcheol texted back that he would be there in half an hour.
Jihoon didn’t want to get up, comfortable against Soonyoung, but he knew he couldn’t give in to his desire to simply slump against the other man and fall asleep with his heat by his side. So he got up with a groan after five minutes of indulging in their proximity some more. Soonyoung followed after him as if he was tied to Jihoon and couldn’t be too far apart from him at all times.
Since neither Jihoon nor Soonyoung had eaten dinner, Jihoon took the other man over to his flat to indulge in some instant ramen. He knew it wasn’t healthy, but having such a midnight snack once in a blue moon couldn’t hurt too much. Soonyoung also assured him that the stylists would be able to cover any blemishes on his skin he could sustain from eating such fatty unhealthy food so late at night.
Unlike with the studio, Soonyoung barely looked around Jihoon’s flat, instead keeping his eyes on Jihoon himself most of the time. It should have been uncomfortable, but instead, Jihoon just felt a comfortable warmth spread in his chest.
They finished eating just as Seungcheol texted to let Soonyoung know that he’d arrived. Jihoon accompanied Soonyoung up to the front door, intending to take him downstairs as well, but Soonyoung stopped him from putting on his shoes with a smile and the assurance that he was fine going down by himself.
“Goodnight, Jihoon,” he said in a soft voice. Soonyoung’s hand gently carded through Jihoon’s hair as he placed a kiss on his forehead. That stunned Jihoon for long enough that the door quietly clicked shut and Soonyoung was gone before Jihoon could move again.
Later that night, Jihoon was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling in the dark, replaying the events of the day in his head, and getting caught up on that forehead kiss too many times.
His phone chimed with a notification. At this time on a weekend, it was probably one of his friends needing someone to pick him up. Since Jihoon was usually awake this late anyway, they tended to ask him first.
Jihoon rolled over, getting his phone from the nightstand. The message wasn’t from one of his friends.
Pledis, Solo, Hoshi: Got home safe and sound
I'm sorry for kissing you without asking first, I wasn't thinking ㅠㅠ
Jihoon snorted.
Woozi PD: Forehead kisses are fine. I quite enjoy them
Soonyoung: (⁄ ⁄•⁄-⁄•⁄ ⁄)
!!!!!!!!!
You changed my name!!
Jihoonie: It seemed a little distant considering we confessed to each other not too long ago
Shouldn't you be asleep
Soonyoung: Couldn't without talking to you first
I have a question to ask you but I'll wait til we see each other next
Jihoon could imagine what Soonyoung wanted to ask him. It was either about a date or being his boyfriend. Either way, the answer was the same.
Jihoonie: Yes
Watching Soonyoung’s typing bubble appear and disappear several times, Jihoon smiled at his phone. His eyes were hung up on the name Soonyoung had given him. Soonyoung had only called him ‘Jihoon’ or ‘Jihoon-ah’ since learning of their being born in the same year, never anything so blatantly endearing. Even Jeonghan, who was the only one allowed to call Jihoon ‘Jihoonie’ only did so when he wanted to annoy him or when he was seriously comforting Jihoon. Soonyoung, on the other hand, Jihoon was sure, would call him by that name casually, now that Jihoon hadn’t said anything against it.
It made Jihoon want to call Soonyoung something equally as fond. But his eyes were starting to feel heavy, and all of his energy was focusing on staying awake rather than thinking of a new nickname.
Soonyoung: You’ll have brunch with me on Monday?
Jihoonie: Yes
Soonyoung: Alright!!!!
You must be exhausted. Go to sleep, Jihoonie
Goodnight <3
Jihoonie: Goodnight, Young-ah
Jihoon closed out of the app with a smile on his face. He found himself wishing for someone lying next to him in bed, someone with an eye-smile, who texted with too many exclamation points and called him Jihoonie entirely unironically.
His dreams were filled with someone who fulfilled all of those requirements and even more.