Work Text:
“Tonight is the first snow; throughout the tranquility after rain smoked white, come see me at the rooftop greenhouse."
You grumble as you read the sticky note wedged underneath the mechanical keyboard, looking around the office stalls. All are monotonically absorbed at their desk-job, answering calls and clearing schedules. You bring your eyes back to the bright yellow paper, in the shape of a heart. ‘There goes my evening’, you think, although nobody is really stopping you from leaving.
However, an ominous letter has presented the opportunity to change up your regime for once. Your mind wanders to the multitude of things: A confrontation, an intervention, an assassination attempt? Maybe even a—
“Dude, get back to work before your manager takes it out on you.” Your colleague whisper-shouts, and you sheepishly sink into your seat. “Sorry Tyunnie,” You pout, sighing into your computer again. ‘Just a few more hours’ is what you tell yourself, for today is your last before your Holiday Break. Your team was called in to proofread a few files before a presentation—a presentation that Taehyun was giving, as you recall his shift being later in the evening. Out of curiosity, you ask. “I thought you only had to clock in during the meeting?” The other nods, simultaneously mouthing the words displayed on his desktop. “Yeah, but it’s better to be prepared and all that.” He ends, eyebrows furrowing as he tries to pronounce what you presume was technical jargon.
Though he’s prone to cold feet and anxiousness before a meeting, you’ve never seen him as pressured as this. Today he’s all decked out: fancy wrist watch, his favorite brown suit and striped-pink tie, hair styled semi-wavy with his bangs framing the sides of his face, and glasses half-rimmed to compliment his eyes and nose. Not to belittle the conference, but all the agenda for this one was monthly earnings and safety issues to be addressed to the higher-ups, certainly nothing to stress about. In the end, the man always delivers with class and eloquence, so you weren’t that worried about him. Still, you do what you can to ensure him and his skills. ”You’ll do great, I swear. You look cool today.” You finish awkwardly, giving a tight smile and a thumbs up. To most, this would seem insincere; but the other knows you, knows what you mean and knows where you’re coming from. “Thanks. Send that to me once you’re done, I have to go check on the rest of my team.” He says, stretching out of his seat.
Nodding and waving frantically, you great him bye as a burst of energy seeps through you, eager to leave the office. As the computer shuts down, you look over at the note again, taking it and heading up to the rooftop.
A while passes, and you unlock your phone to go through your texts and notifications. The clock reads eight-thirty, and you realize you’ve been here for an hour and a half. Reasoning with yourself to stay out a little longer, you plop onto the frigid bench. As time goes by, your patience runs thin, and you huff out to see that it’s already ten noon. Snow starts falling again, and you shoot up with a grumpy expression, stomping across the snowy roof deck. To make you wait hours on a rooftop without prompt was one thing, but to leave you out in the freezing snow when you could be soaking in a hot bath was another. With snow out, the commute home was going to be hell. “This is what I get for switching up my routine, I guess.” You scoff, taking your anger out on the elevator’s down button. When the doors sound open, you sink onto the metal walls of the box, pressing your cheeks on the warm surface. Your vision comes into focus once the speaker dings again, opening to reveal Taehyun. His eyes are wide open once he grasps your presence, clearing his throat and stepping inside. He taps on the basement control even though the elevator says he pressed the up knob, but you’re too fatigued to ask anything right now.
“You just got off work?” He inquires, and you grunt. “Was waiting for something stupid. Then they showed me up like some asshole. Now I have to leave during rush hour while it snows.” You complained, head throbbing at the elevator’s movement. The doors open to the ground floor before the other could say anything, and as you step out, he follows. “I’ll see you out then.” You smile at him, half-asleep. The front doors swing open to reveal a mild hailstorm, and you curse loudly into the sky. The other blinks in awe at your profanities, a grin expanding on his face.
Turning your head dramatically in his direction, your face sneers at the other. “What’s so funny?” You quiz in annoyance and he raises his hands up in defense; trying to stop his laughter as he sees your nose glistening while you sniffle. “Nothing. You can wait it out with me in my apartment if you want, my car will survive” Your face quickly alters to soften at him, shaking your head. “No,” you whine,”It’s the start of your holiday, plus I’d imagine you’re super tired from the meeting.” Taehyun’s eyes roll as he grabs your arms and pushes you back inside. “You’ve crashed there thousands of times, now you have shame?” He tuts, dragging you to the elevator.
The door unlocks and you fall not-so-gracefully onto the flooring, Taehyun flicking a switch to turn on it’s heating. You cheer and roll around on the hardwood like a crazy person, the owner of the apartment shaking his head at you. He disappears into the hallway as your eyelids grow heavier, jolting once you feel the vibrations of the other talk through the floor. “I drew a bath for you, if you wanna be gross and wear the same clothes when you get out then fine, but I left clothes and towels for you.” You nod as you childishly slump through the room, relaxing when you feel the steam waft once you open the bathroom door. Your eyes falling onto the sink to see he’d kept your toothbrush from when you last visited, cap on and all. After a long shower and bath, you sink into the space in front of his loveseat, with towels and robes around your entire body. Taehyun gets up to wash, telling you off for treating his home like a free hotel. You know he doesn’t mean it though, for the multiple times you’ve lounged here, he’d always make sure you were comfortable, cooking and giving up his bed for you. Such times have lead him to invest in a futon, not for you, but for himself.
He comes out of the shower with a brush and a hairdryer, sitting behind you as he unwraps your hair from the cloth. He tells you off again for nearly dozing off with your hair wet, nagging about how he always has to take care of you when you come over, and you can’t help but tune it out to think of something else.
Everything here is too domestic. From the spare robes to cooking and the blowdrying, it gives you a weird feeling. The thoughts are amplified now, raised when you think back to his washroom—everything smelled like him. You’d think it was obvious, but the lemon shampoo, mint body wash, and chamomile oils he’d set the tub with were everything that made him Taehyun. You never thought you could be cozy and discomfited at the same time, but whenever you think about this apartment, Taehyun, and everything concerning him, your stomach does cartwheels. He doesn’t help it by humming and singing into your ear as he rids your hair of knots, asking you about your day. You tell him about the note, about the waiting, and about how it got you in such a bad mood. He apologizes to you as the heater clicks off, stepping off the couch to pour you a drink. Watching him blow steam off his cup, your eyes slowly scale up his face as they meet his. You jump and avert your eyes out the window, as do his. “The hail’s gone now, and I doubt lots would be on the bus.” He comments, setting his mug down and drifting against the armrest.
“Yeah, I’m too tired to move though.” Your nose crinkles as he chuckles, “I’ll set up the mattress later.” You know how this goes; you’d bicker for ten minutes and eventually give up and settle on the bed, though at rare occasions you’d pin yourself down to the futon in protest.
The night settles deeper as Taehyun’s playlist switches into Indie-Dream Pop beats, the two of you reclining on opposite ends of the sofa. You gaze absentmindedly into the night sky, mouth slightly agape and mind static. “I was going up to see you, you know?” He starts, and you mumble a barely coherent ‘what’ before he smiles at you. “I left the sticky note.”
“Oh.” You trail, confusion growing as you try to think. He gulps down what’s left of his drink before continuing, “I thought we’d get off work at the same time. Didn’t really think things through for once. I thought if I overthink it, it would just end up disastrous. I ended up doing it anyway.” Nodding, you mirror him and take a sip out of your mug; it’s ceramic and shaped like a cat, a purchase made by the other with your persuasion, the both of you ending up with a matching set. “Do you remember what it said?” Shrugging, you flimsily recall the content aloud, and he laughs. “You got like half of it wrong.” Trying to defend yourself, you boo at him and reason it out. “It was so vague and cryptic yet short. I blanked out like halfway into reading it.”
Taehyun laughs and sets his mug down, resting his face on his palm as his eyes blink heavily. “I was gonna confess my feelings towards you.” He breathes out, drowsy smirk still etched onto his face. “I like you so much.” Your head snaps to face him, expression unbelieving and doubtful. You want to ask him a billion questions, but when your lips part, all that comes out is “Oh?”
“Oh.” He repeats mockingly, shifting off his back to lean into you. His stare flicks at you up and down before giving another smile, as he continues. “You must be blind not to have noticed.” Scoffing, you settle deeper into the couch. “Are you making fun of me or yourself if you were being so obvious?” He tuts at you, pulling away. “Since when?” “Since the company retreat.”
His answer makes you wince, as the memories of the event flood into your consciousness. “When I got drunk and barfed out by the lamp post next to the trash can?” The other nods and grins at the memory, locking his arm into yours. “The night you called me cute and did a number of Gangnam style for the closing song.”
“I don’t even remember that.” You reply in horror, burying our face in your hands. “You’re embarrassed?” He counters, nudging his shoulder against yours. “I just confessed my feelings and have received no reaction at all.”
“Did you want me to rate it? ‘Cause that confession is something a third grader could have wrote.”
“I’m not hearing any protests, and I had the rooftop thing planned okay?”
“Whatever you say.”
“I swear. I had a whole thing prepared.” The other burrows his head where your neck and shoulder meet, rubbing his cheek sideways against it. “I was gonna tell you how much you mean to me, now I don’t even know where to begin.” Teething your bottom lip, you smile at him. “If it helps, I think I like you back.”
You feel his cheeks contract against your collar, as he faces up to look at you. His eyes are round and glistening, lips parted and in reverence. He always looks like a deer in headlights when awestruck, but this time you force yourself to look away from his penchant eyes, lest you melt in your place. “For real?” He exhales and you roll your eyes with a giggle, scrunching your nose and resting your forehead on his. “For real.”