Work Text:
If Jisung could go back in time almost a year exactly, he wouldn’t even step foot in this restaurant.
Working with his best friend seemed like a good idea at the time, but every day he’s there, suffering, it proves to be one thousand percent not worth it.
A year ago, after a blow up fight with his parents, Mark had decided he was getting a job and becoming financially independent from his parents so he would never have to talk to them again. Jisung had resolved to let him march to the gallows alone, knowing that it would take less than a week for them to make up.
To his surprise, the week passed and there was no reconciliation. Usually Mark’s stubbornness took hold when he was ignoring his assignments until the last minute, but whatever happened with his parents pissed him off enough that he wouldn’t answer their calls. Mark and his parents eventually did figure it out, but by that point he’d made friends. Friends he didn’t want to leave when he quit. Friends he was spending all of his time with instead of coming to Jisung’s apartment every night.
Eventually Jisung can’t handle it and confronts Mark, which turns into Mark having the bright idea that Jisung also get a job, and wouldn’t it be so fun if they worked together?
Because he’s a sucker, Jisung agrees, turns in an application later that week, and is officially hired in forty-eight hours. After talking with the manager, Jisung decides to start out as a host with the potential to move to being a server like Mark once he feels ready, and he officially has a job.
Which leads him to where he is now.
“Do you realize what your job is?” The man standing in front of his podium spits. Jisung tries to meet his eyes instead of focusing on his embarrassed wife tugging uselessly at his arm to get him away. “Your job is to figure out how to seat everyone who comes through those doors in this piece of shit restaurant. Your job is not to tell them to wait because you can’t do your job.”
Jisung nods, motioning to the other patrons lining the walls and waiting for their tables patiently. “I understand sir, but as I said before I cannot seat you before the people who have already been waiting. You can either wait the fifteen minutes, or unfortunately you can go to another restaurant and see if their standards meet yours a little better.”
“You should be ashamed.” The man grits out before slamming his hand on the podium and storming out.
“You should be ashamed,” Jisung mutters to himself and to Rei, who’s been hiding behind Jisung and reorganizing the menus yet again just to have something to do to avoid the stares of people watching the spectacle.
“What should I be ashamed about?” Comes a voice from behind him. Jisung shuts his eyes briefly, gaining his bearings before he has to turn around and face him head on. “How I can’t keep my eyes away from our beautiful hosts tonight?”
Rei giggles, hiding her smile behind her hand, but Jisung rolls his eyes, refusing to let Donghyuck get to him. Donghyuck scrunches his nose at him, an acknowledgment to Jisung’s ire, and Jisung feels his shoulders lose some of their rigidness. “How can we help you tonight, Donghyuck?”
“Just wanted to come talk to my two favorite people,” Donghyuck winks at Rei, then shoves more into Jisung’s space to look at the waitlist displayed on the iPad. “I just finished cleaning 102 and 104, so whenever y’all are ready you can seat me.” Jisung nods, marking the two tables as available, only to immediately assign a two-top to one of them. “Go ahead and double seat me,” Donghyuck shrugs, faux-carelessly, “I can handle it. Besides, it seems like it’s getting a little tense up here.”
Jisung thinks it over for a second, then tells Rei to go ahead and take the couple to their table and after a few minutes they’ll seat the next party. With a perfunctory nod, Rei takes off with the menus, smiling brightly at the party as she leads them down the hall. Jisung glances around the room, taking stock of any empty tables and how ready they are for new guests. It’s not until he speaks again that Jisung realizes Donghyuck hasn’t followed Rei back to his section. “You okay?”
Jolting in surprise, Jisung turns a raised eyebrow on Donghyuck. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“That guy was getting a little aggressive at the end there,” Donghyuck says, furrowing his eyebrows at the door.
“What else is new,” Jisung grumbles, squinting at his iPad, “nothing we haven’t dealt with before. If I let every dickhead get to me, I would have quit a long time ago.”
“We can’t have that,” Donghyuck says a little too quickly. Jisung swivels his squinting over to Donghyuck. “I mean, then who would I have to hang out with every day?”
Holding back another eye roll, Jisung shoos Donghyuck out of his space. “Don’t you have tables to go serve? Get the couple their drinks so I can seat you again in good conscience, please.”
“Anything for you, darling,” Donghyuck calls over his shoulder, then turning to face Jisung as he walks backwards. “if you happen to end up in the back tonight come say hi. I need to see your face once an hour at least if I’m to survive the night.”
Jisung refuses to respond, instead watching in mild disapproval as Donghyuck walks into a family trying to leave, laughing to himself as Donghyuck starts apologizing profusely for not paying attention.
On the other side of the hallway is Rei making her way back to the podium, watching Jisung watch Donghyuck with raised eyebrows.
Clearing his throat, Jisung turns back to face the doors, smiling at Rei lightly when she joins him at his side. “Go okay?”
“The busser’s put their trash on the table, had to clean it off,” she shrugs, “nothing new. What about you? Seemed like you and Hyuck were flirting pretty heavily again.”
“We weren’t flirting.” Jisung graciously ignores her snort, “and if we were, you know he doesn’t mean anything by it. He flirts with everyone here.”
“He doesn’t flirt with me.” She cocks her head to the side.
“He called you beautiful five seconds ago.”
Rei rolls her eyes, giving Jisung a look that lets him know she thinks he’s the dumbest person she’s ever met. “Yeah, because you were here. He never does that shit if you’re not working.”
There’s nothing to say to that, so Jisung doesn’t say anything. Rei harrumphs, as if she thinks she’s won, but Jisung keeps his mouth carefully sealed shut. “You know, if you gave in a little I’m pretty sure his real intentions would reveal themselves.”
“And if there are no ‘real intentions’?”
“Then he’ll stop,” Rei shrugs, “Hyuck’s a jackass, but he’s not mean. If he wasn’t interested, and thought you were, he wouldn’t constantly be trying to get into your pants.”
Yeah, Jisung thinks, exactly.
The truth is, as humiliating as it is to admit, Jisung’s harbored the world's most pathetic crush on Donghyuck since his first week at this godforsaken restaurant.
When he was first hired, Jisung was determined to hate everyone who had stolen his best friend from him. That determination was brutally murdered when on his first day Mark excitedly dragged him around and introduced him to all of his restaurant friends, referring to Jisung as his best friend and telling each of them for at least three minutes how amazing Jisung is and how much better the restaurant would be now that he worked there. The sheer force of Mark’s excitement had softened Jisung up enough that he found himself feeling happy that Mark had made all these new friends he was excited to show off, and that Jisung was what he was most excited to show off.
Of course, one of those restaurant friends happened to be Donghyuck. The first thing he said when Mark introduced him was “this is the cute friend you’re always talking about?”
After being briefly and secretly very pleased Mark was talking about him even before he was hired, he had glared at Mark, declaring that he was too old to be cute at a very adult twenty-one. Mark had sheepishly admitted that he only called him cute twice, and he was explaining cute things Jisung had done both times, so he felt as though it was allowed.
Donghyuck had laughed at both of them, then nudged against Jisung’s shoulder, saying, “what’s wrong with being cute? You’re the cutest person I’ve seen all day, which means Mark was right.”
Jisung had blushed bright red, the way he always did when he was complimented, and then resolutely stared at his shoes as Mark went on his Jisung-is-the-best-thing-that-happened-to-this-restaurant spiel. When they walked away, on their way to the next friend, Mark had told Jisung not to take Donghyuck too seriously, that he was always like that and Jisung shouldn’t let him get to him.
Unfortunately, knowing that Donghyuck’s just Like That doesn’t help the butterflies that torment his stomach, or the excited thrill he gets when he sees that him and Donghyuck are working together. The days pass, Donghyuck always stops at the hosts’ podium to say at minimum one flirtatious comment a day, and by the end of the week Jisung’s crush blossoms.
It’s so embarrassing he’s determined to take it to the grave, never telling anyone, not even Mark.
Not that Mark doesn’t know. Jisung is pretty sure he does, but he knows that Jisung doesn’t want to talk about it, so they don’t.
Almost a year later, the crush still hasn’t died down. Knowing how his crushes go, Jisung is pretty sure it won’t until Donghyuck gets bored of their routine and moves on, or Jisung quits and never has to see him again. So far the second option seems more likely.
Which is why Rei’s option of making Donghyuck leave him alone completely isn’t actually all that appealing. Even if it’s only the brief interactions they have every day, Jisung doesn’t want to lose them, and it makes work that much more exciting. Why mess with it?
The rest of the night goes on without anybody else screaming in Jisung’s face, which means it’s a great night. Towards the end of their shift, Rei gets sent to the back to start rolling silverware for the next day. Jisung sends her off, then gets to cleaning up the podium. That way they can leave once the clock hits ten. Well, Rei will be able to leave, at least. Jisung always stays to help Mark clean his section and then bum a ride off him, but he still likes to be able to send whoever he’s hosting with home when they’re ready to.
After the podium is set up for maximum success for the next day, Jisung wanders to the back to pick up all the stray menus from their designated boxes. On his way back there, he finds Rei rolling her silverware like the good egg she is, talking with Donghyuck who’s sitting at the table with her. Donghyuck sees him first, since Rei is faced away, and waves at him with a bright smile. Jisung waves back, unable to tamp down the swell of happiness at seeing Donghyuck again, then heads down the hallway to finish what he needs to.
The pile of menus is honestly bizarre considering how many he’s already cleaned tonight, but Jisung only complains in his head as he takes them back upfront to wipe down. Rolling silverware is the worse task, and Rei’s always willing to do it for him, which means Jisung is willing to do this for her.
When he gets back to the podium he’s met with Donghyuck messing with the stuff on the podium, shuffling through the papers Jisung just put together neatly. He comes to a stop about a foot away, using the menus to prod Donghyuck in the back. “What are you doing?”
Donghyuck jumps a foot in the air, whirling around. “Why are you sneaking up on me?”
“I wasn’t sneaking up on you, you just weren’t paying attention to your surroundings.” Jisung shoots back, “and you’re ruining my organizing, what are you even looking for?”
“I was just waiting for you, is that a crime?”
Setting the menus down, Jisung turns to face Donghyuck, leaning his hip against the podium and crossing his arms. “What did you need?”
Donghyuck’s hands twitch before he also crosses his arms, mirroring Jisung’s stance. “I told you to come say hi to me.”
“You had Rei, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t ask for Rei, did I?” Donghyuck presses, taking another step forward. “Come on. We both know I wasn’t waiting for Rei all night.” Jisung squeezes his thumbs between his palms, squirming from Donghyuck’s proximity and the heat flaring up in his belly. Donghyuck drops his arms, placing one of his hands on the podium right next to Jisung’s hip and leaning into it, only an inch left separating them. “Don’t we?”
“Jisung!” Mark shouts, coming over and leaning his full body over the podium, “dude, tonights been so crazy. We didn’t get our gossip sesh!”
Donghyuck lets out an exhale, taking two steps back. Once he does, Jisung forces the tension out of his shoulders. “Yeah, it’s been crazy up here too, man.”
“I’m gonna start fixing my section,” Donghyuck announces, “come say bye before you go.” He says it staring in Jisung’s eyes, then glances over at Mark briefly before flicking his eyes back to Jisung. “Okay?”
Mark nods dutifully, reaching over to slap Donghyuck on the shoulder, but Donghyuck doesn’t move to leave until Jisung nods his agreement as well. He nods back, then takes off.
“Weird dude,” Mark commiserates, frowning briefly before turning back to Jisung. “You want a ride home?”
Jisung counts his breath, trying not to look suspicious, “uh, yeah, of course.”
“Then you have to vacuum my section,” Mark grins. Jisung chuckles, nodding his agreement.
“And roll my silverware?”
“I’ll do half,” Jisung bargains. Mark sighs loudly but agrees, moving to the side of the podium to shove Jisung’s head to the side and running off before Jisung can retaliate.
There are a slew of swear words at the tip of Jisung’s tongue that he would let loose if he weren’t at work. As it is he bites them all back, resolving to kick Mark’s ass once they’re in the car and finally starting on finishing the menus.
He’s on the last five when Rei shows back up. “Did they make you do two buckets?” Jisung asks, wondering why she was back there for so long.
“Nope. I saw you and Donghyuck making out so I went to go find something to do to give you some time.”
Jisung drops the menu in his hands, sputtering. “We were not!”
“Were too,” Rei replies snootily, “it was honestly disgusting. And you’re right in front of the doors, too, which was a bizarre place to do it.”
“Rei, we were not.”
Rei rolls her eyes, “Okay, maybe not all the way, but you were definitely having a moment.”
“How about we just drop this and never bring it up again.” Jisung offers.
“Not a chance,” Rei grins up at him. “I deserve the deets for being a good sport and not interrupting, now spill.”
“There’s nothing to spill, and even if there were I’m not going to discuss with a child.”
“I’m twenty,” Rei scowls, outraged.
“You’re nineteen,” Jisung corrects her, “once you get to be my age you’ll understand just how young teenagers are.”
“You’re two years older than me.” Rei deadpans, pinching Jisung’s side between her knuckles.
Jisung wiggles away from her, “Three, right now.”
“Fine, then I’m not telling you what Donghyuck said about you when I was rolling silverware.”
“I’m not an idiot, I know he didn’t actually say anything,” Jisung pats her head, “but nice try.”
Rei shrugs carelessly, grabbing her bag to start putting her stuff away. “Okay then. If you don’t care, that’s even more reason not to tell you.”
Jisung laughs to himself, thinking how cute it is that she thinks she can trick him. Then she pulls out her phone and starts texting, and look.
Jisung has never met anyone who’s as nosy as he is. It’s a chronic condition his mother instilled in him, and he’s not proud of it, but being taller than at least half the population means it’s incredibly easy for him to read off peoples phones over their shoulders. Which means ninety-nine percent of the time, he does it.
When Rei pulls her phone out and starts tapping along, Jisung actually can’t stop himself from leering over her shoulder and watching what she types.
At first it’s just her describing her day to one of her friends, talking about the raging from that one guy and the woman who wouldn’t stop asking how much longer every five minutes even though she had been quoted an exact time. It’s all very normal, until she types out, then i was in the back n hyuck was telling me about how jisung was, and when she gets there, she turns so the screen is angled away from Jisung’s line of sight, and look.
Logically Jisung knows that she’s riling him up. But also, what if she’s not? She couldn’t have seen him looking over her shoulder, which means she couldn’t have known that he saw what she was saying, which means she was just saying it. Which means…
“I know what you’re doing,” Jisung spits out as Rei starts putting on her jacket.
Rei startles. “What did I do?”
The fight drains out of Jisung at the look of confusion on her face. “Sorry, nevermind. I’m in a weird mood tonight I guess.”
“Whatever you say,” Rei shrugs, “Watch my bag for me real quick, okay? I have to run to the back before I go.”
Jisung nods his agreement, unintentionally watching as she goes down the hall. He’s about to look away, not really having a reason to stare until she stops by the bathrooms. With Donghyuck.
It’s sneaky. It’s sick. At this point, Jisung is a thousand percent sure Rei is fucking with his head.
She says something to Donghyuck, tilting her head to the side like she always does when she’s teasing someone. Donghyuck looks embarrassed, then reaches up to scratch the back of his neck as he looks up to the podium. When he catches Jisung’s eye, he immediately snaps his eyes back to Rei.
And Jisung is dying. Regardless of if Rei’s doing all of this to mess with him or not, she’s perfected the art of manipulation to a scary degree. Jisung would have been terrified of her in high school.
Here and now, he’s a little bit in awe.
The two of them talk for less than a minute before Rei turns on her heel and bounds back up to the podium, smiling beautifically at Jisung when she catches him staring. “What was that?” He demands.
“What was what?” Rei asks innocently.
“You know if Donghyuck actually said something about me you’re basically under oath to tell me.”
“I thought you didn’t care?” She blinks at him guilessly.
“Rei.”
“I have to go,” Rei pouts up at him, rounding the podium and heading to the door, “since I’m such a dumb little kid, I have a curfew.”
“I never called you dumb,” Jisung defends, “and you don’t even live with your parents, what curfew are you talking about?”
“See you tomorrow, Jisung! If you want to know so bad, why don’t you ask Donghyuck?” Jisung tries to demand Rei tell him the truth, but before he can get a singular word out the door slams shut behind her.
If Jisung respected himself less, he really would bug Donghyuck about it, but even considering it makes him cringe. Knowing that Jisung cared about what Donghyuck said about him would make Donghyuck’s head grow exponentially, and then the flirting would get more intense, and then Jisung wouldn’t be able to hide his reactions any more like he’s learned to do carefully and then Donghyuck would know about his feelings and then Jisung would either spontaneously combust or quit on the spot out of sheer humiliation and then he’d be out a job and never able to see any of the friends he’s made again because they would surely hear about what happened and he wouldn’t be able to face them after they found out he fell for the same moves Donghyuck uses on everyone because he’s a hopeless loser. Maybe he’d even be forced to no longer speak to Mark.
Asking Donghyuck about it is not an option. Which means he’s going to burn with the need to know for days, and Rei is definitely going to know she got under his skin and tease him about it for the next week.
There’s five more minutes until they officially close, all of which Jisung spends glaring at the door and silently begging the universe to not allow anyone to walk in. At ten exactly, Jisung goes and locks the outside door, then heads to the employees only hall to check how many tables are still lingering in Mark’s section.
Thankfully Mark tells him there’s no one and to go ahead and start vacuuming, and between the two of them they get Mark’s five tables sparkling clean in a whopping ten minutes. After a brief pit stop to discard of the vacuum, Mark grabs a bussing bin and leads Jisung to one of the tables in the far back corner for them to start rolling.
Thirty minutes later when they’re finally done with their tasks for the night, the restaurant is nearly empty. Jisung can hear voices from the front room that promise whoever’s section they’re in is going to beg off being sat after eight the next day, but other than that it’s eerily silent.
“What time do you work tomorrow?” Mark asks through a yawn. Jisung swallows down his own yawn, rubbing at his eyes to clear the blurriness that’s starting to set in.
“I have to be in by three,” He sighs, knowing already that Mark’s scheduled at two and won’t be able to give him a ride.
“Damn,” Mark whistles, “wanna come in early with me? Or you can drop me off and take my car.”
Jisung is shaking his head before Mark finishes his sentence. “I’d rather walk than come in early, and I’d just have to turn right back around if I took your car anyways. And you always make me pay for your gas when I drive.”
Mark shrugs, smiling cheekily, “gas is expensive, Jisungie. If two people are using the car, two people should be paying for the gas.”
“I don’t even use that much.”
“Consider it insurance.” Jisung glares. “Too soon?”
When he was sixteen, Jisung went out and got his license and three months later his parents bought him a car. It was a piece of shit and Jisung had to slam his fist on the hood every morning to get it to start, but it was his and his parents worked hard for it and he was absolutely obsessed with the new found freedom of being able to drive himself around. Even though the huge ugly green van was less than perfect, it was perfect to him and he treasured it.
Until the damn thing broke down on the side of the highway three years later and had to be towed to a mechanic. After they looked at it, it was declared that the price to fix his car would be more than it had cost in the first place and his parents made a joint decision to sell it for parts and use the money for a new car.
Two months later, when Jisung was visiting home for a weekend, he rear ended a truck on his way home after a night out with some friends. Even though he hadn’t been drinking, his parents refused to buy him a new car, citing his need to mature before they were willing to shell out another couple grand.
Six months after that, during the summer, Jisung was driving his mom’s sedan to the grocery store and got t-boned by some guy texting and driving. Post insurance claim, it was decided if he wanted another car he would have to pay for it himself.
Really, Jisung would love to buy himself a car. The only problem is that he has no money to do so, and after his experience with his first car he’s too scared to get a crappy little car to get around. Thus, his only options are limited to Mark, and the bus which stops a mile away from the restaurant. It’s usually fine, but Jisung knows he’s going to be sweaty when he has to opt for the bus which flusters him and makes his first hour of work more stressful than it needs to be.
Technically he could request for his schedule to match Mark’s, but Jisung actually likes working without him sometimes. At first it seemed like he was being punished when Mark wasn’t around to joke with him and make time fly faster, but as time went on and Jisung got to know the other servers better he started to appreciate when Mark had the day off without him. Not that Jisung doesn’t want to see him, the whole reason he started working at the restaurant was to spend more time with Mark, but sometimes when they worked together it seemed like no one else approached Jisung for the night. Like they thought Mark had a monopoly on him and didn’t want them around.
Obviously it wasn’t true, but Jisung understood that they could be hard to hang around with at the same time. They were too close sometimes, and often forgot that not everyone understood what they were talking about when they started a conversation in the middle instead of at the beginning, or that they could sometimes be isolating if they weren’t paying enough attention. Hence, why he enjoyed the occasional shift alone.
“Let’s just go,” Jisung sighs, “I’m going to pass out and make you drag me to the car if we don’t leave now.”
“I’ll just leave you here. Easy.”
“You are so evil,” Jisung scoffs, standing up after Mark and following him down the hall.
“I’m so funny,” Mark fakely corrects him. “Oh shit, wait. We have to say goodbye to Hyuck.”
Jisung can feel his cheeks turning red even though there’s nothing to blush over. “Is he still here?”
“If he left he would have said goodbye, like he asked us to.” Jisung cringed at the word ‘us’. “You go find him, I need to run to the bathroom.” Before Jisung has a chance to offer to wait for Mark to be done, he’s gone.
Steeling himself, Jisung makes his way to the employee only hall to find Donghyuck. When he rounds the corner, Donghyuck looks up from where he's looming over one of the computers, face lighting up.
“Jisungie! Are you here for me?” He grins widely, turning to face Jisung head on.
“Mark and I are leaving so I came to say goodbye.”
Donghyuck sighs dreamily, leaning into his elbow on the counter. “My man remembered me.”
Jisung looks away, hoping the red in his cheeks isn’t growing too noticeably. “I mean, Mark was the one who reminded me. He’s just going to the restroom before he comes to say bye.”
Donghyuck throws himself forward, forcing Jisung to catch him as he wraps his arms around Jisung’s neck. “Don’t ruin this for me. I know you secretly care about me.”
“Of course I do,” Jisung humphs before he can stop himself. Donghyuck tenses, raising himself off of Jisung’s chest but not removing his arms from Jisung’s shoulders. There is no hope left in Jisung’s body that his face isn’t firetruck red.
“Right. I know that.”
Jisung knows there’s no taking back what he’s already said. “I would have just left if I didn’t,” he points out, deciding to go all in. If he’s already made himself look like a hopeless idiot he might as well make sure he’s understood.
“But you didn’t come see me in the back room earlier.” Donghyuck pouts, pressing the tips of his thumbs into the base of Jisung’s neck.
A thrill goes through Jisung’s body at the pressure, causing him to try to suppress a shiver. Going by the look of surprise on Donghyuck’s face, he’s not quite successful. “I waved.” He defends himself weakly.
“Not good enough.” Donghyuck stares at him seriously. “Next time come talk to me. Or at least say hi audibly. I want more than just polite coworkers with you.”
“Mn.” For the first time in his life, Jisung has nothing else to say.
“Mn?” Donghyuck repeats playfully, dragging his thumbs from Jisung’s nape to his shoulders, digging his thumbs into the muscle there and getting to work on rubbing out the tension. “That’s all I get?”
“That’s all you deserve,” Jisung grits out, head falling forward in simple bliss as he feels his shoulders loosening up.
“I think I deserve more than that,” Donghyuck murmurs, prodding a knot in Jisung’s shoulder quite viciously, “don’t you?”
Jisung hisses in pain, shimmying his way out of Donghyuck’s hold and taking a step away lest Donghyuck reach out for him again. “Mn.”
“You’re a shit,” Donghyuck says with a smarmy grin, trying to grab onto Jisung again and pouting when Jisung easily side steps him, “when do you come in tomorrow? Two?”
Jisung shakes his head, “not until three.”
“I thought Mark came in at two?”
“He’s not driving me tomorrow.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not surgically attached to him, you know.”
Donghyuck makes a face. “Since when?”
Jisung scoffs, lightly shoving Donghyuck away from him. “Do you see him now?”
“He’s right there,” Donghyuck points over Jisung’s shoulder. Jisung shuts his eyes, cursing Mark’s timing.
“Are we ready?” Mark asks Jisung when he reaches the two of them.
“Why aren’t you driving our Jisungie to work tomorrow? Do you have no heart?” Donghyuck interrogates immediately.
The completely betrayed look Mark shoots him actually makes Jisung feel a little bad. “I’m scheduled an hour before him and he doesn’t want to take the car, why am I being persecuted?”
Donghyuck only rolls his eyes in response, leaning into Jisung’s space. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”
Jisung startles, looking from Donghyuck to Mark. Mark sighs, then squints at Donghyuck. “You work at four.”
“I was planning on coming in early anyways,” Donghyuck shrugs, “Bomin asked me to cover for him since he needs to dip out early.
Mark hums, looking Donghyuck up and down. “Jisung thinks you smell so he says no.”
“Mark!” Jisung gasps, elbowing him in the side. Mark bursts into laughter, leaning against Jisung to keep himself up.
Donghyuck kicks Mark’s shoes, cursing at him for being so mean all the time. “I’ll be at yours at like two forty five?”
Jisung hesitates to answer. He really doesn’t want to take the bus the next day and Donghyuck would be doing him a major favor by picking him up, but so far Jisung has been able to keep Donghyuck in work territory. Donghyuck picking him up and driving him to work an hour before Donghyuck’s even supposed to be there veers dangerously into boyfriend territory. Fantasy territory. Jisung lying awake at night and dreaming about what it means, territory.
The idea of getting those hairs crossed makes Jisung want to say yes and no, but ultimately he knows what he has to do. “Sounds good,” he tries to say nonchalantly, “I’ll text you the address.”
Donghyuck grins. “Okay then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Jisung allows himself a second to just take in the sight of Donghyuck. When he’s all self pleased and smiling he’s just so handsome, and Jisung can’t help but appreciate it.
Mark coughing loudly takes him out of his trance. “Can we leave now?”
“Yeah,” Jisung answers a little too quickly, embarrassed about being caught, “see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be dreaming of it.” Donghyuck promises him. Mark clicks his tongue, wrapping an arm around Jisung’s shoulders and forcibly turning him and walking them down the hall.
“We’ll see you.” He calls over his shoulder. Once they’ve rounded the corner he glances at Jisung out of the corner of his eye. “You still alive?”
Jisung shakes himself out of his stupor, pressing a palm to his hot cheek. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
Mark laughs but doesn’t respond, and then chatters by himself the whole ride home when Jisung can’t manage to form a sentence to respond to anything he says.
—
“Don’t you have a uniform you have to wear anyways?”
Jisung ignores the question, continuing to pull clothes from his closet. “Is it too warm to wear a sweater?”
“It’s summer.”
“What about a cardigan?”
“Jisung.”
“No, you’re right. Long sleeves in the summer is way too much.”
“Jisung.”
“But I don’t want to just wear a t-shirt and I think a tank top would be too far, so what’s left? Nothing. I have nothing to wear.”
“Jisung!” Jisung jumps out of his skin, whirling around to face his bed. “What are you doing, dude?”
Jisung glares at his roommate. “Why are you yelling at me?”
“Because you’re being crazy!” Renjun scoffs, “Why are you picking out an outfit to go to work in when you have to wear a uniform anyways? Who are you trying to impress?”
Jisung sighs, walking over to his bed to take a seat next to Renjun’s head. “You remember that guy I work with that I was telling you about?”
Renjun hums, thinking for a minute. “The server guy that’s always flirting with you?”
“Yeah, him.” Ignoring how squirmy he feels, Jisung continues, “he’s giving me a ride to work today.”
“And that’s why you’re acting like a maniac?”
Shrugging, Jisung works the fabric of the shirt he’s holding between his fingers. “I guess. I just thought, I don’t know, that if he saw me out of my work clothes for once he might see me in a different light.” The redness of his cheeks isn’t a surprise this time. “I know it’s kinda dumb.”
Renjun sighs loudly, pushing himself up onto his elbows. “It’s not dumb, but if he’s flirting with you all the time doesn’t that mean he’s already interested in you?”
“He’s like that with everyone,” Jisung shakes his head, “he’s not into me, he just likes to mess with me.” An embarrassing truth to admit, but Jisung feels better with Renjun knowing everything.
Renjun makes a face that makes it clear he’s silently judging Jisung. “And you’re into that?”
Maybe not that much better. “I guess.”
“You guess?”
Jisung groans, flopping on his back and covering his eyes with his shirt. “Yes, okay? I am embarrassingly and pathetically into that. Can we stop talking about this?”
Rolling his eyes, Renjun smacks a hand on Jisung’s butt before hauling himself off the bed and entering the closet. “If you’re going to be embarrassingly and pathetically into someone, you’re going to get your man. Or it’s even more embarrassing and pathetic, and there’s a threshold. You’ve reached it already.” Jisung huffs loudly, staring at his ceiling and wondering what he’s done to deserve the curse of falling in love so easily and wholly. He doesn’t get a warning, or if he does he doesn’t hear it, before a pile of clothes are being dumped harshly on his stomach. “Here. Wear this.”
“I feel dumb.”
“If you’re really about it when you get out of his car pull your pants up and jump.” Renjun completely ignores him.
“That’ll just draw attention to my non-existent ass,” Jisung protests.
“We want him to look at your ass, that’s why I gave you those jeans. They’re so tight it’s like wearing butt pads.”
Butt pads. He’s going so far that he’s essentially wearing butt pads for some guy. What is wrong with him.
“Don’t you think he’s going to realize all of this is a desperate bid for his attention? You were right earlier, I’m just going to wear my uniform like a normal person.”
Renjun swears, and then he’s crawling on top of Jisung to put their faces together. “You are not desperate. If you were desperate I would tell you, you know I would never let you go out in public and make a fool of yourself. And fuck the uniform. If he asks, we were out shopping and you didn’t have time to change when you got home.” Jisung nods, looking over Renjun’s shoulder instead of at his face. “Hey, what’s wrong with you? Why are you going all doom and gloom?”
Doom and gloom isn’t quite what Jisung would call it, but it’s in the same realm.
“I don’t know,” Jisung whines, “I feel like a dumb loser. Who likes someone for doing what they do to literally every person they come in contact with?”
“If he doesn’t like you, he’s the loser,” Renjun tells him seriously, “now get over yourself and get dressed. I’m doing your hair before you go.”
Jisung shoves at Renjun’s shoulders, lightly pushing him off of him, “Ugh, no. I already know you're going to do the helmet hair and I can’t work with hair in my eyes all night.”
“I didn’t ask and also the anime hair has never failed in getting you laid. I’ll be waiting in the bathroom.” And then Renjun’s gone.
Jisung would argue more, but he already knows Renjun’s not changing his mind. Instead he forces himself to stop moping and gets dressed. The outfit Renjun picked out is simple enough, meaning the focus is really on the jeans. They’re the tightest thing Jisung owns, to the point that the meat of his thighs bulge out of the rips the slightest bit when he sits, which means he almost never wears them. Jisung supposes he won’t die from asphyxiation from wearing them during a fifteen minute drive, so he puts them on.
When he enters the bathroom Renjun claps once before sitting him on the lid of the toilet and getting to work. “If you’ve ever cared about me you won’t change your hair when you leave.”
Jisung closes his eyes, silently cursing Mark for letting it slip that the last time Renjun insisted on doing Jisung’s hair he put on a headband when he got in the car. “I won’t.”
“Because if you do,” Renjun pauses, holding a comb to the side of Jisung’s neck threateningly.
“I get it,” Jisung grunts, moving away from the comb, “I promise.”
Renjun hums in satisfaction, going back to doing Jisung’s hair silently.
No matter what Renjun says, Jisung’s still the slightest bit embarrassed about all of this. Maybe more than the slightest bit, but he’s trying hard to push most of it down.
He knows that Donghyuck’s a flirt, and he knows that Donghyuck’s not into him like Jisung is in to Donghyuck, but knowing all of this doesn’t stop Jisung from from hoping that something could happen. That Donghyuck offering to pick him up really does mean that there’s something more there than just the fantasies in Jisung’s head. It’s a shitty situation to be in, but Jisung can’t even hope to be rid of it. The excitement he feels when he sees they’re scheduled together and the playfulness of their interactions is too great to truly want it to end.
Even if it makes him anxious at the same time. Even if he’s being kind of a loser about it. He’s only twenty two, in his opinion he gets to be a loser about love for a little longer.
Love. Jisung can already feel the heat in his cheeks.
By the time Renjun’s done with his hair, Jisung has five minutes to run around his room frantically packing his things in a bag to bring to work. The whole time he’s doing it Renjun is giving him orders about how to play it cool with Donghyuck, promising that even though he knows Jisung is going to wazz out he should still be able to accomplish the simple instructions he’s giving. Jisung only half listens to the list, noting a few of them down mentally and blocking out the dumbest ones. Like ‘don’t let him get to you’. As if Jisung could ever in his life do that.
When Donghyuck texts him that he’s there Jisung feels almost halfway ready, but he doesn’t want to make him wait, so he forces himself to say goodbye to his roommate, valiantly ignores the teasing jeers that follow him out of the room, and makes his way downstairs.
Donghyuck’s car is parked in front of the door to Jisung’s building, which means there’s barely two seconds for Donghyuck to notice how hot Jisung looks before he’s already in the car sitting down. It’s annoying, but Jisung comforts himself knowing that when they make it to the restaurant they’ll walk in together and Donghyuck won’t have a choice but to notice.
After throwing his bag in the back, Jisung climbs into the passenger seat and looks over at Donghyuck who’s sitting in his seat with his hands on his knees, already staring over at him.
Jisung smiles hesitantly over at him. “Thanks for picking me up.”
“Where’s your uniform?” Donghyuck breathes out.
Trying not to blush or squirm too noticeably, Jisung blurts out the excuse Renjun layed out for him. “Uh, I was out shopping with my roommate. We just got back not even five minutes ago, so I’m just going to change when we get to work.”
“Oh.” Donghyuck nods, still not looking up from where his gaze seems to be locked on Jisung wringing his fingers in his lap.
They sit in silence for at least a minute before Jisung can’t take it anymore. “Um, Donghyuck?” Donghyuck startles, finally looking at Jisung’s face with wide eyes. “Are we gonna go?”
“Yeah,” Donghyuck replies loudly, immediately putting the car in drive and taking off. Then Jisung has to frantically grab onto the ‘oh shit bar’ when the car jerks so hard he wonders if seat belts even work when his doesn’t lock. “Sorry,” Donghyuck trills nervously, “I forgot the gas pedal was super sensitive, my bad.”
Jisung’s fairly certain Donghyuck has had this car since he was sixteen and got his driver's license, but he doesn’t question him, instead just nodding and relaxing back into his seat.
“So,” Donghyuck clears his throat, “how’s your day been?”
“It’s been fine,” Jisung answers, playing with the frayed edges of the holes in his jeans, “um, I spent most of it with my roommate, so that was fun?”
“You don’t live with Mark?” Donghyuck glances at him out of the corner of his eye.
“We thought about it but when I started college we knew if we were roommates we’d never make any other friends, so we stayed separate.” At the time, Jisung and Mark weren’t so much the ones to decide it as much as their parents decided it for them. Years later, Jisung can admit they were right to worry about how close he and Mark were, but at the time Jisung remembers storming to his room and not talking to his parents until the next morning. He was an anxious kid, and being forced out of his box was, in his opinion, one of the meanest things his parents could do. It ended up alright, with Jisung getting Renjun out of it and actually being forced to find other people to hang out with when Mark was busy instead of just waiting until he got home every night like Jisung was planning. Still, in those early days Jisung made sure to play up his misery when he called his parents.
“Did it work?” Donghyuck asks.
“Yeah,” Jisung admits, “my roommate now, Renjun, was actually my freshman year roommate’s friend. When he came to our room we hit it off, and now we’ve been living together for two years.”
Donghyuck hums. “You two are close then?”
“Not like Mark and I, but yeah. In a different way, I guess.”
“In what way?”
Jisung looks over at him curiously. “Hm?”
Donghyuck meets his eye for a brief second before turning back to the road. “If you’re close in a different way than you and Mark, then in what way? Like, a single bedroom apartment way?”
“Why would we live in a single bedroom apartment?” Jisung wrinkles his nose. Donghyuck gives him an unimpressed look and then it clicks. “Woah, wait. Not in that way. Not in that way at all!”
“So you’ve never thought about it?” Donghyuck presses. Jisung knows he’s bright red. He’s possibly more bright red than he’s ever been. He’s pretty sure he’s sweating from the heat of his cheeks, that's how bright red he is. Instead of answering, which he’s not even capable of at the moment, he shifts to look out the window. “Oh my god.”
“Don’t.” Jisung seals his lips shut, covering his face with his hands.
“Oh my god, you’re totally into your roommate.”
“I am not!” Jisung drops his hands to defend himself, “I was a very long time ago, before we were ever roommates. And very briefly. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Define briefly,” Donghyuck teases, looking over at Jisung when he doesn’t answer. “Hm?”
“It was like six months,” Jisung concedes, “but again, that was over two years ago. And it can’t be held against me, I fall in love with people easily.”
It’s only when both of Donghyuck’s eyebrows raise to his hairline that Jisung realizes the mistake he’s made. “You fall in love easily?”
“Ignore that.”
Donghyuck barks out a laugh. “How could I? Does that mean you’ve been in love with Mark, too?”
“No!” Jisung answers quickly.
Donghyuck looks at him disbelievingly. “You expect me to believe that?”
“I had a small and humiliating crush on him when I was, like, eight. But that was more hero worship, I think.”
Slowing down to stop at a red light, Donghyuck rests his elbow on the steering wheel to turn his body towards Jisung completely. “If you fall in love easily, does that mean you fall out of love easily?”
Jisung cringes, thinking about the boy he was obsessed with in middle school that he only gave up on after the full three years and after said boy got a girlfriend. Then there was his seatmate in highschool, and how he started studying in the cafe the kid worked at after school to see him more. Jisung only got over that one when he started crushing on Renjun, and he finally unfollowed him on Instagram a few months ago. Jisung was fast to fall in love, but falling out of it was like pulling a star from the sky with your bare hands. Impossible and painful. “Not exactly.”
“No? Then what did our poor Markie do to lose your affection?” Donghyuck asks, having to shift back to face the front when the light turns green.
“It wasn’t really him,” Jisung answers vaguely. When Donghyuck gives him a look, he rolls his eyes before expanding. “Mark was coming over one day and my mom said something to the effect of us being like brothers and it shattered the illusion for me.” The sheer volume of Donghyuck’s laughter startles Jisung enough that he jumps in his seat. “It’s not that funny.” Jisung tries to frown at him, but he can feel the corners of his lips turning up despite his efforts.
“I’m so sorry,” Donghyuck gasps. Jisung’s pretty sure that Donghyuck driving in this state is incredibly unsafe. “But it really, really is. Was poor baby Jisungie broken hearted?”
“Not really,” Jisung replies, allowing the smile to overtake his face, “I was pretty young, and I really do think it was mostly hero worship. Mark was a few years older, which already made him an eight out of ten on the cool scale. And he actually liked hanging out with me, which meant that he was the only person who liked hanging out with me,” Jisung snorts, thinking back on Mark holding his chubby little hands and promising that they were best friends, even if they didn’t go to the same school anymore.
Donghyuck frowns at the road. “I’ve seen baby pictures of you, and you were the cutest freaking kid to exist. How did you not have more people begging to be friends?”
“I was kind of weird, and extremely shy. It just didn’t work out.” Jisung shrugs. He’s long since moved past being the friendless kid for most of his school days, but it’s still awkward to talk about it. People tend to think it bothered him more than it did, and explaining that he liked being left alone to hang out with Mark when he was free always led to incorrect assumptions about the two of them. “Wait, why have you seen my baby pictures?”
“Mark has them saved on his phone. You didn’t know?”
Jisung scoffs, whipping out his phone to shoot a strongly worded text message about respecting people's privacy. Having the pictures is one thing, showing them around is another, much more embarrassing thing. “I do now.”
Donghyuck leaves him be while he’s typing, only prodding at him again once Jisung’s put his phone back between his leg and the seat underneath him. “And what about the roommate?”
“Hm?”
“How did you fall out of love with the roommate?” Donghyuck repeats. “Did your mom akin him to being a relative as well?”
Jisung shoves Donghyuck’s arm, ignoring his protests about not bothering the driver, before answering. “Mark found out he was seeing their mutual friend and told me about it.” It was the first week of the second month of summer when he found out. Mark had to go to Jisung’s house the whole rest of the summer, because Jisung refused to leave his bedroom after his heart was broken. “We had already planned to live together and I knew it was going to be god awful if I was still crushing on him, so I forced myself to get over it. It was a long process, but by move-in day I was back to normal.”
Donghyuck whistles slowly. “Damn. Are they still together?”
Jisung laughs to himself. “No, they were never dating. I guess they hooked up at a party or something and Mark just assumed.”
“Oh, Mark,” Donghyuck sighs, “that didn’t revive the crush?”
“I was already over it, and crushing on someone you live with is super inconvenient, so no. Thankfully it did not.”
The conversation dies off after that, with the car becoming silent minus the low hum of the radio. They’re turning into the restaurant parking lot when Donghyuck asks his next question. “So, like, what about work?”
“What about work?”
“If you’re always falling in love, is your new bae at work? You know, the people you see everyday.”
Jisung can already feel sweat collecting at the base of his neck, so he deflects. “Bae? Really?”
Donghyuck cringes, “I don’t know why I said that, sorry. But seriously. Is there someone at work?”
“Does it matter?” Jisung asks nervously.
Donghyuck swings the car into a parking spot before looking over at Jisung quizzically. Who knows what he sees that makes realization dawn on his face seconds later. “Oh, wow. There totally is.”
“There totally is not,” Jisung denies, reaching into the back seat to grab his bag.
“Yes, there is. Is it Rei?”
“Rei?” Jisung asks incredulously. “Why would it be Rei?”
“So there is someone.” Donghyuck reaches over to poke Jisung’s cheek. Jisung pushes him away. “Come on, you two spend, like, every day together.”
“No there isn’t. And if there was, it definitely isn’t Rei.”
“Is it Mark again?” Donghyuck wriggles his eyebrows. Jisung reaches over to shove him again, but Donghyuck catches his wrist before he can. “Come on, aren’t we friends?”
Jisung looks at him, seriously considering his next move before shaking his head. “Don’t tease me.”
“I’m not.” Jisung gives him a look. “Okay, I am a little bit, but I need to know who my competition is. Then I can know how to defeat them.”
There’s no way in heaven or hell that Jisung can hide the full body flush that overtakes him at that comment. “Go away.”
“How could I go away when you’re right here?” Donghyuck squeezes Jisung’s wrist. Jisung wiggles his arm free, trying to cool down his cheeks by pressing the backs of his hands to them.
“You’re trying to embarrass me,” Jisung accuses.
“Completely untrue.” Donghyuck dismisses, reaching over and taking hold of Jisung’s wrist yet again to pull his hand from his face. “You have got to stop blushing this easily. I’ll never be able to look away if you don’t.”
I’m going to die, Jisung thinks hysterically, all of the blood in my body is going to go to my head and I’m going to die. “Let’s go in,” he says out loud, “we’re going to be late.”
“Fine,” Donghyuck pouts, “you know, if you don’t tell me who it is I’m going to assume it’s me.”
Jisung squints at him, then, refusing to be deterred yet again, unlocks his door and gets out, ducking his head back into the car when Donghyuck doesn’t immediately follow. He knows that Donghyuck teases him like this because Jisung’s an easy target and he likes his reactions. He also knows that if he lets Donghyuck get away with too much it’ll never stop and Donghyuck will grow bolder and bolder. So, when Donghyuck just looks at him with a shit eating grin, Jisung grins back. “Who said it wasn’t?” Then he closes the door with a satisfying slam and starts walking to the entrance.
Behind him, he can hear Donghyuck scrambling to exit the car. “Jisung!” He calls after him, “when did you get this bold? I’m the one blushing now!” Jisung ignores what he’s saying, then ignores when Donghyuck catches up to him and wraps their arms around each other, then ignores the matching looks Rei and Hyeongjun give him and marches to the back to clock in.
God must finally start giving a shit about him, because when Jisung and Donghyuck get to the computers Mark’s there putting in an order. “Mark.” He calls.
Mark looks up, smile already sliding into place before he gets a good look at them. “Why is your face that red?” Mark asks. Jisung ignores him, sliding his arm out of Donghyuck’s now slackened grip and typing his employee number into a computer to clock in. “What did you do to him?” When Jisung looks over, Mark has his arms crossed and is looking at Donghyuck expectantly.
“Why do you always think the worst of me?” Donghyuck demands, putting his hands on his hips.
“Because I know you,” Mark retorts, pretending he can’t hear Donghyuck’s whining as he walks up to Jisung. “What’s with the outfit? Where’s your uniform?”
“I was out with Renjun.” Jisung looks away guiltily, knowing the excuse isn’t going to work on Mark.
“Right,” Mark clips out, lips quivering with the need to laugh. Jisung appreciates the effort. “You better go change, then.” Jisung nods, turning to leave when Mark sticks a finger in one of his belt loops and tugs him back. “I like these jeans. Are they mine?”
“I don’t know,” Jisung looks back to glare at him. Mark just smiles back. “Renjun found them in my closet and the rest of my pants were dirty.”
“Oh, I’m sure they were,” Mark winks at him. Jisung tries to convey how painfully he’s going to murder Mark if he doesn’t stop with his eyes, but it doesn’t work out. Or Mark just chooses to ignore him. It’s probably the second option, honestly. “They make your ass look great.”
“I’m going to go change,” Jisung replies loudly, pulling away from Mark’s grasp. Mark makes a shooing motion, which just annoys Jisung more. Don’t expect to get sat tonight, Jisung mouths to him.
He walks away with Mark’s loud, annoying laughter trailing after him, and the smallest amount of his dignity still intact.
—
Rei and Hyeongjun are both staring at Jisung by the time he makes it to the podium, not attempting in the slightest to be subtle. He almost ignores them both successfully, but when their stares start to make him itch, Jisung decides whatever annoying observations they’re about to make are much preferred. Deciding to get it over with early in the night, Jisung gives them permission to say what they’re trying to hold back.
“Did you go home with him last night?” Rei demands.
“What? Of course not.”
“Are you fucking?” Hyeongjun asks plainly.
“That’s the same question twice.”
“Just because you didn’t last night doesn’t mean you aren’t at all,” Hyeongjun gives him a look, “and he was hardcore staring at your ass when you came in.”
“He was standing right next to me.”
“He’s always staring at your ass,” Hyeongjun amends, “is that why you wore those pants? Were you trying to get laid in the walk-in?”
“If I’m ever desperate enough to have sex in the walk-in, something is wrong with me and you need to get me immediate help.”
“Whatever,” Rei rolls her eyes, “you’re totally gagging for it.”
“I most certainly am not,” Jisung gasps, “what the fuck.”
“You most certainly are,” Rei mocks him, “come on, Jisung. Do us all a favor and go get laid in the walk-in and save us all from having to watch your mating rituals.”
“Who’s getting laid in the walk-in?” Mark worms his way into the little group they’ve formed.
“No one,” Jisung’s the first to answer, “what do you need?”
“We’re down a busser. Boss man said you’re gonna need to be the replacement.” Mark widens his eyes.
Jisung turns around to see if there’s someone behind him. “Who is?”
“You.” Mark pokes a finger into Jisung’s chest.
Jisung laughs, then abruptly stops when Mark doesn’t laugh along with him. “Are you being serious?”
“Yeah,” Mark sucks his lips in, releasing them with a loud pop, “but if it makes you feel better, you’ll be bussing my section!”
“Wow!” Jisung says sarcastically, “I get to clean up for you! That’s amazing!”
“Well,” Mark smirks, “it would be my section and Donghyuck’s section. If that entices you a bit more.”
“I knew they were fucking,” Hyeongjun murmurs behind them. Jisung squeezes his eyes shut, counting to four and taking a breath before opening them back up again.
“There’s no way I’m getting out of this?”
“You could get fired?” Mark offers.
Jisung can’t find it in him to deign that with a response. Anything he said in return really would get him fired. “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.”
“You just pick things up from the table and put them in a bin,” Mark claps his hands onto Jisung’s shoulders, steering him down the hall, “it’s easy. You’ll do great.”
Halfway through the night, Jisung is not doing great.
To be fair, the only real problems that have cropped up so far are him dropping his bin exactly once and breaking the three plates and two cups already in there, and cleaning a plate off the table too early and having to go find Mark to ask what to do. All the other stuff is in his head.
Being away from his protected, hidden from the patrons, hosting stand makes Jisung feel like he’s standing in the middle of the restaurant screaming and butt naked. There’s something about lining the walls with the servers and other bussers that feels incredibly exposed. Like every guest in the restaurant is staring at you waiting for you to mess up. Even if he’s along the back wall where most people don’t pay attention to you, he can feel someone staring at him. He swears it.
To make matters worse, the servers he’s lining the walls with are Mark and Donghyuck. Mark’s not bad at all, mostly just chatting idly with Jisung in the few minutes he has between checking on his tables. A few times he even goes to help Jisung clear tables so they can finish the conversation they’re in the middle of. Mark is great.
It’s Donghyuck that’s making the matters worse. Whenever Mark is gone he’s teasing Jisung about his crush from a decade ago, bugging him about his current crush, or hanging all over him and whining about Jisung not paying enough attention to him.
There’s a lot of touching. Jisung’s not totally sure Donghyuck’s aware he’s doing it. Knowing Donghyuck for a year now has proven to Jisung that he’s quite a touchy person, but being on the receiving end of it is agony. Jisung’s skin sings when Donghyuck touches him, and his heart has been pounding faster than usual for so long he’s concerned about the lasting effects on his heart. It makes him itch, makes him think about what Rei and Hyeongjun were saying earlier. Makes him think about how curious Donghyuck was about if he was dating Renjun or not, or if he was still infatuated with him.
Needless to say, it’s seriously messing with his head.
By the end of his shift, he’s exhausted. Mark’s already in the back rolling silverware while Jisung’s cleaning off the last table of the night. Admittedly he’s not paying attention to his surroundings as he tiredly wipes the crumbs off the table, not even caring that he’s going to have to vacuum the carpet again, which is why he nearly jumps out of his skin when Donghyuck and Mark show up on either side of him. “What do you want?” Jisung breathes, clutching a hand over his heart.
“We’re going out for drinks after this.” Mark grins at him.
“Oh, you are?” Jisung feigns obliviousness, “Okay, I’ll look up the bus schedule.”
“We are, Jisungie. You’re coming too.”
Jisung groans. “If you make me I’m going to be a miserable sport about it and I’m honestly going to fall asleep somewhere after my first drink. I’m no fun tonight.”
“That sounds fun to me,” Donghyuck butts in. Jisung glares at him.
“I’m sweaty from all the manual labor I had to do tonight. I can’t go like this.”
Mark’s grin shifts until he looks like a shark eyeing its prey. “You know what’s great about that? I know for a fact you have a change of clothes. Since you were out with Renjun, and all.”
“I hate you both.” Jisung tells them honestly.
“I love you even when you hate me,” Mark responds. Jisung makes a face, just barely refraining from rolling his eyes. “Now go get changed and meet us out front.”
Jisung stomps off, retrieving his bag from the back and slipping into a bathroom stall to change. When he makes it up front, Hyeongjun’s waiting with the group going out. Jisung sidles up to him, asking if he’s going with them.
“Rei wants me to be look out for whatever transpires between you and Donghyuck since she’s not old enough to get into a bar,” Hyeongjun shrugs, “and honestly, I’m pretty curious too.”
Jisung stares at him silently. “There’s something wrong with you two.”
“Rude,” Hyeongjun nudges him, looking off to the side briefly, “okay, now laugh and I’m gonna touch you.”
“Huh?”
“Laugh,” Hyeongjun hisses. Jisung obeys at the tone of his voice, forcing himself not to tense when Hyeongjun runs his hand from Jisung’s shoulder to his wrist.
“What are you doing?”
“Donghyuck’s looking over here,” Hyeongjun murmurs, quiet enough that Jisung has to bend his head down to hear him.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Jisung asks just as quietly.
“Earlier tonight he asked Rei if she knew which staff member you were crushing on, then asked her if it was me when I laughed. We’re gonna make him jealous tonight?”
Jisung takes a step back, “We’re gonna what? No we’re not.”
“Jisung, look at him,” Hyeongjun insists, “he’s seething right now, I guarantee it!”
Jisung looks over at Donghyuck talking to Soobin, laughing along with something he says before darting a look their way. “He doesn’t look seething to me.”
“Because you’re an idiot.”
“Okay, thanks for that. I’m not playing mind games with Donghyuck to see if he gets jealous from you feeling me up all night. Aren’t you dating someone?”
“What does it matter? It’s not like I’m actually trying to jump into bed with you.”
“Well, I’m going to find Mark. Please don’t pretend that you’re into me again, I might take you seriously and then what would we do?” Hyeongjun pretends to throw up, and Jisung gracefully walks away instead of hitting him upside the head like he deserves. Mark’s joined Donghyuck and Soobin, so Jisung makes his way to their group, sticking himself to Mark’s side when he gets there.
“Finally,” Mark complains, “you always take forever to change.” Jisung doesn’t get the chance to defend himself before Mark changes topics. “You’re going to drive with Hyuck, my car's full.”
Jisung freezes, looking at Mark in shock, “you’re kicking me out of your car?”
“It’s not personal, Sungie. I just forgot I already promised to drive Soobin, Hyeongjun, and Eric and there’s no room after that.” Mark shrugs, “Donghyuck already offered to take you in, you should be thanking him.”
Donghyuck grins, “I got you here in one piece, didn’t I?”
Jisung chokes out a laugh, “totally.”
Mark claps his hands together loudly, gaining the attention of their group, “alright, let’s head out!”
Somehow, although every person apparently also needs a ride, Jisung’s the only one who gets into Donghyuck’s car. It’s weird, weirder when Donghyuck lets Jisung connect his phone to the radio and play his music.
“I’m glad you’re coming even though you’re tired,” Donghyuck hums, “you never come out with us.”
“I’m not a big drinker,” Jisung admits, playing with the aux cord, “I don’t like how it feels.”
“How does it feel?”
“Tingly,” Jisung says after thinking about it, “like my limbs are attached to my body by string, not bone and muscle and skin. It freaks me out.”
“Tingly,” Donghyuck repeats, then leans over to drag his fingertips lightly against the skin exposed by Jisung’s ripped jeans, “tingly like that?”
Jisung squeaks, covering his leg with his hand. “Donghyuck!”
“What?” Donghyuck laughs, “you’re cute.”
“Can you be for real for once?” Jisung begs.
“Why do you keep saying I’m teasing, or I’m not for real?” Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows, tappings his fingers against the steering wheel agitatedly. “When have I ever not been real with you?”
Jisung fidgets in his seat, “you are usually teasing me. You admit that.”
“But that doesn’t mean I’m just doing it to be a dick. Yeah, I admit that I like the way you blush and the way you get annoyed and the way you pout at me for annoying you. But I’m telling you right now that’s not it.”
There is not a word in Jisung’s brain that seems like an appropriate response to that. “What do you mean?”
Donghyuck huffs, putting his blinker on and pulling into the neighborhood on their right, parking his car in front of a random house. “Jisung,” he sighs, unbuckling and shifting so that he’s sitting sideways in his seat, facing Jisung, “what do you think it means? Do I need to say it plainly? Because I will. Or do you not want me to? Should we forget what I’ve said so far?”
There couldn’t be a more inconvenient time for Jisung’s brain to go offline.
For all of his life changing crushes Jisung’s dealt with in his life, one has never been returned.
Boys and girls have liked him, he’s sure. There have been a few times Jisung’s felt lingering stares on his back every week in the same class, and he’s been asked by girls before if he was single or not, then watched them dutifully report his answer back to whatever friend they were asking for. But those were always distant classmates, or a friend of a friend he met briefly at a party and somehow made an impression. It was never his crush. Never anyone he’d dreamt about liking him back before. He has no idea what to do now that it is.
Is that even what Donghyuck’s saying? Is Jisung misreading this whole thing to feed his own delusions?
No. As oblivious as Jisung can admit he is occasionally, he knows exactly what Donghyuck is trying to tell him.
Gathering all of his courage, Jisung unbuckles his seatbelt as well, turning until he’s copying Donghyuck’s position. “No. We shouldn’t forget.”
Releasing the breath he’s been holding, Donghyuck reaches over the center console to poke Jisung’s thigh, letting his finger catch on the edge of the rip. “So cute.” He breathes.
Jisung breathes deeply himself, trying to calm his racing heart before grabbing Donghyuck’s hand back and placing it on his bare skin. “We’re going to be late.”
Donghyuck laughs disbelievingly, fingers roving the skin Jisung’s given him access to. “How can you say that like you expect me to pull away now? Hm? Are you teasing me?”
“I could never,” Jisung giggles breathlessly, “I wouldn’t know how.”
They’re interrupted by Donghyuck’s phone ringing sharply, almost pointedly, causing Jisung to jerk away from Donghyuck’s touch like they’ve been caught doing something they shouldn’t, and Donghyuck to grab onto Jisung frantically like they’re doing more than they are.
After a beat they both relax and Donghyuck grabs his phone, checking the caller id. “It’s Mark.” He reports.
Jisung blows out a breath, moving to sit in his seat correctly. Donghyuck whines when his hand is dislodged. “We should go.”
Donghyuck sighs loudly, moving to sit properly and put his seatbelt on. “Yeah, okay.” Despite the agreement, Donghyuck doesn’t pull away from the curb as soon as his seatbelt is back on. Rather, he turns his head to stare at the side of Jisung’s face until Jisung is forced to look back, silently asking what they’re waiting for. Then, keeping eye contact, Donghyuck grabs Jisung’s hand in his own, keeping their entwined fingers resting in Jisung’s lap. Once Jisung’s flushed a pretty pink, Donghyuck smiles at him admiringly, finally driving back to the main road.
“Love that blush.” He says quietly.
Jisung groans loudly, pulling his hand out of Donghyuck’s grasp. “No teasing.” He complains.
“That’s not teasing,” Donghyuck argues, hooking a finger into the rip in Jisung’s jeans and tugging, “I’m being one thousand percent serious.”
“It’s embarrassing,” Jisung grumbles, pressing his leg closer to Donghyuck’s hand. In the name of safety, of course. If Donghyuck’s going to insist on touching him in some way, Jisung should make sure he’s not half leaning over to reach him.
“You think I’m embarrassing?” Donghyuck wilts. “How mean.”
“That’s teasing,” Jisung frowns at Donghyuck, “you can’t even deny that one.”
“I can’t help it,” Donghyuck coos, “you’re just so cute. I can’t stop.”
Jisung can’t be mad at that, unfortunately.
They weren’t that far from the bar when they veered off path, which means in just a short five minutes Donghyuck is putting the car into park. Neither of them get out, choosing instead to stare at each other as though they’re star crossed, lovelorn teenagers instead of adults out for drinks with their other adult friends. “Ready?” Donghyuck asks, taking his hand back from where it was tucked between Jisung’s pants and his leg.
Jisung considers, then nods his agreement, pushing his door open and standing. As soon as he’s up, Jisung grabs the belt loops on either side of his hips and jumps, pulling his pants up.
When Donghyuck meets him on the passenger side of the car, he slides his finger into one of the belt loops Jisung just grabbed onto and hauls Jisung into his side. “Love these pants, too.”
Jisung hides his laugh in his palm. “You’re just full of love tonight, aren’t you?”
“My heart’s expanding, baby.” Donghyuck winks. “What can I say?”
The two splotchy red spots on Jisung’s cheekbones don’t come as a surprise.
Mark’s the first one to see them, waving them over to the bar where he’s ordering the first round. “Jisung, what do you want that’s not tequila? I couldn’t remember if you liked vodka or not.”
Jisung winces. “I don’t want to do shots tonight.”
“You can do one and then no more. Just to get the night started!”
Sighing heavily, Jisung nods his agreement, asking for whatever bottom shelf vodka they have.
“Bottom shelf?” Donghyuck crinkles his nose.
“I’m poor,” Jisung reminds him, “you know this, we work together.”
They might be standing too close together, but Jisung doesn’t care. He’s out against his will, about to take a shot that's going to make him want to throw up, and in his opinion he deserves to stand pressed chest to back with the boy he likes. That likes him back. Thinking about it makes him want to throw up even without the shot, the butterflies in his stomach too ferocious for comfort.
When all of the shots are ready, and Donghyuck has ordered his own special shot while refusing to tell Jisung what it is, though the glass is clear and Jisung is fairly certain it’s top shelf vodka solely to prove a point, they make their way to the table their friends are at.
“Jisung!” Hyeongjun brightens when he sees him, “come sit next to me!”
Three people have to slide out of the booth to let Jisung get to his spot, who then drags Donghyuck in behind him, but Jisung still listens.
“Missed you,” Hyeongjun frowns, pressing their shoulders together.
Jisung stares at him unimpressed, leaning in to whisper to him. “I told you to stop that.”
“If you would give it a chance, I could help.” Hyeongjun whispers back sharply.
“I don’t need your help.” Jisung tells him simply.
Hyeongjun stops. “What does that mean?”
Jisung doesn’t respond, leaning back to his spot until he’s pressed shoulder to hip with Donghyuck.
“Here,” Donghyuck hands him the special shot he’d ordered, “take this instead.”
Jisung rolls his eyes, grabbing the glass and handing Donghyuck his own when it makes its way to him. “What is it?”
Donghyuck won’t tell him, only wiggling his eyebrows in response. Still, when Mark counts them all down Jisung downs the drink, slowly lowering it and eyeing the glass suspiciously when his throat doesn’t start burning. “It’s water,” Donghyuck whispers to him, the smell of cheap alcohol wafting over Jisung as proof that Donghyuck really had taken his shot for him, “smart, huh?”
Jisung very nearly grabs Donghyuck and starts furiously making out with him then and there. The only thing that stops him is that they’re in the middle of a group of people, and it would be incredibly tacky to do so. To appease himself, Jisung presses further into Donghyuck’s side, reveling in the warmth he gives off. Donghyuck responds by wrapping his arm around Jisung’s shoulders, tugging Jisung in until he’s nearly half way in Donghyuck’s lap. “Super.” Jisung chokes out.
Luckily for them, the vast majority of their friends are more interested in getting drunk and yelling about how awful their shifts were than watching the two of them lose all propriety. Which they do.
Throughout the night Jisung can feel himself getting closer and closer to Donghyuck. It starts with the arm around his shoulder, then Donghyuck takes Jisung’s hand in his own, dragging Jisung’s arm across his lap so he can play with his fingers. Shortly after that Donghyuck releases Jisung’s hand, instead tucking his hand on the inside of Jisung’s thigh. In retaliation Jisung does the same, but instead of letting it fluster him, Donghyuck jiggles his leg to bring Jisung’s hand higher. Eventually, as people leave and they gain more space, they end up with Jisung’s legs across Donghyuck’s. Jisung stays pressed against Donghyuck’s side, laying his ear on Donghyuck’s shoulder.
Mark’s been giving them looks for at least an hour now, but Jisung’s been ignoring him perfectly fine thus far, and he will continue for at least another twelve hours.
“I’m really glad you came.” Donghyuck mumbles into Jisung’s hair.
Jisung hums, resting his chin on Donghyuck’s shoulder so he can look up at him. “Me too.” It’s not even a lie.
At the restaurant, all Jisung wanted was to go home and never move again. Then, after Donghyuck’s confession, he was so wounded up that all he wanted to do was go on a mile run to get some of his energy out. Now, after a few beers and chatting with his friends, while simultaneously fending Donghyuck off when he got too handsy and also trying to get as close to him as physically possible, the frantic energy has worn off and he’s left feeling warm and happy.
“Let me take you on a date,” Donghyuck smiles over at him, jiggling Jisung’s leg lightly, “when’s your next day off?”
Jisung huffs, pressing his smile into Donghyuck’s shirt. “Are you seriously asking me out in front of Mark and Hyeongjun of all people?”
“We’re not even here,” Hyeongjun says, stretching his leg under the table to nudge Jisung’s hip.
“Alright,” Donghyuck laughs, “we’re gonna get some fresh air.”
“If you don’t come back or text me that you're leaving, I’m calling your mom.” Mark promises. Jisung waves him off, letting Donghyuck pull him out of the booth and through the door.
Once they’re outside Donghyuck leans them against a wall, wrapping both arms around Jisung’s hips and using his hold to keep him close. “Let’s date. When are you free?”
“After everything you put me through, that’s the most romantic way you can ask me?” Jisung tsks, “I think the answer is no, in that case.”
Donghyuck scoffs. “All I put you through? Says the guy who ignored my advances for months and months. I was starting to get insecure, Jisungie. Seriously. That’s how bad you hurt my achy breaky heart.”
Jisung can’t help but to roll his eyes. “Says the guy who flirted with every host there was. How was I to know you were being serious?”
“I did not!” Donghyuck protests, pulling back from Jisung enough that he can frown at him. “You were the only host I ever flirted with.”
“You literally said you couldn’t keep your eyes off Rei because of her beauty last night. Are you joking?”
“I was talking about you, Jisung. Rei herself knew that, how come you didn’t? Hm?” Jisung huffs, looking away. “Hm? Hm?” Donghyuck repeats, shaking Jisung between his arms. “Aren’t you supposed to be older and wiser than little baby Rei?”
“I can’t guess when you’re telling all the hosts that you love them that you only mean me. You have to tell me those things, I’m not good at picking them up.”
Donghyuck stops jostling him, hauling Jisung back into his chest. “Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry, I’ll be more honest from now on,” he promises. Jisung nods, appeased. “Like right now. I’m being totally honest when I say I want to date you. When are you free? Actually, are you free right now?”
“Inviting me back to your house isn’t a date,” Jisung chides, laughing when Donghyuck pinches his hip. “I’m off tomorrow. I have to finish some work in the morning, but if you’re not busy tomorrow night?”
Donghyuck nods, a satisfied grin spread across his face. “Tomorrow night’s perfect. I’ll pick you up, so let me know when you’re done with your work.”
Jisung agrees, looking around to see how many people are lingering on the streets around them before deciding he doesn’t care and pressing a kiss to Donghyuck’s lips.
Donghyuck huffs when Jisung pulls away, tugging him back in and kissing him deeper, and for longer. “You sure you don’t want to come over tonight?”
“Maybe tomorrow,” Jisung laughs, “we should go on one date, at least.”
“Just come and hang out,” Donghyuck offers, “we don’t have to do anything. I just don’t want the night to end already.”
Jisung thinks it over. “Okay. But I’m sleeping on the couch.”
Donghyuck shakes his head. “I’m not an animal. You can sleep in my bed with me and I’m not going to jump you. And if it really makes you uncomfortable I’ll sleep on the couch. You’ll take the bed.”
Jisung sighs before agreeing. There’s not a chance in hell he’s going to make Donghyuck sleep on the couch in his own apartment, but he can argue with him once they get there. “Let me say bye to Mark first.” Donghyuck releases him, letting him know he’s gonna get the car started while they talk.
Mark looks impressed that Jisung actually came back in to let him know they were leaving. “Be safe,” he says, waiting for Jisung to nod his agreement before continuing, “and tell Renjun you’re not going home. You happy?”
Jisung flushes, shrugging, “Yeah. I am.”
“That’s convincing,” Mark snorts, ignoring Jisung whining about him making fun of him when his feelings are delicate. “Call me tomorrow, we can gossip about Donghyuck before I go to work.” Jisung smiles widely, agreeing readily.
Jisung’s not totally sure where Mark stands on the whole two of his friends dating thing, but he doesn’t seem too bothered by it. He thinks if asked, Mark would probably say that he’s glad Jisung’s done being squirmy about it and then not actually answer the question, but that’s good enough for Jisung.
If Jisung’s being fully honest, he’s really excited about dating Donghyuck. Even if they don’t become boyfriends, or if they do and in ten years get married, or maybe they break up after a year, he’s eager to find out. He’s eager to find out with Donghyuck by his side.
It’s embarrassing to admit so early on, but Jisung personally thinks they’ll be good together.
Really good.
When he gets to the car, he opens the door and is met with Donghyuck’s smiley face. “Hey. Ready?”
Jisung nods, forgoing the seat belt for now in favor of kissing Donghyuck over the center console. “Ready.”
Donghyuck waits for Jisung to safely buckle before exiting the parking lot, taking Jisung’s hand in his own when he’s done backing out. “Then let’s go.”