Work Text:
There was always something about the summer that was so special to Beomgyu. Getting a few months to himself after being stressed out for nine months was what he needed more than ever to recharge. He loved to see his friends now and then, usually through video calls or talking over text, but what he enjoyed the most was being by himself, and getting to sort out his thoughts.
Will everything in his friend group stay the same next year, or will someone leave? Will someone join? Will they still be friends until they graduate?
Will they even fulfill each other’s need to be with someone until they graduate?
So many questions. Maybe Beomgyu was wrong about wanting to stay by himself the entire summer.
So he ended up texting Soobin all summer.
Whether it be playing video games all summer or just late night chats that always seemed to go on for too long, Soobin always seemed to pick up his device and respond to Beomgyu more often than anyone else. Sure, Yeonjun liked to send him funny videos and memes once and a while, and Taehyun did the same. Kai said he was going to be busy this summer, but never elaborated on it. But it was Soobin that always replied. And Beomgyu liked the feeling of being in touch with someone that wasn’t his thoughts.
One night, while not knowing what to do but not wanting to sleep either, he got a message from Soobin.
Idiot
WAnna call w/ Taehyun?
After reading it, Beomgyu’s eyes widened. He hadn’t gotten a chance to verbally talk to Taehyun all summer, and it was only seconds later that he found himself on a video call with Soobin. Soobin had Taehyun over, both of them in the kitchen cooking up what Beomgyu assumed was a midnight-sleepover-snack. But the way that Soobin was taking out the eggs probably meant that this was going to be more than a snack run. They talked about their usual randomness, talking about songs they’ve discovered, and Beomgyu talking about stories he’d invented in his head. Taehyun soaked in every word while Soobin fucked up the stove, a scream soon erupting through Beomgyu’s headphones.
“What the actual FUCK SOOBIN?!?!?” Taehyun shrieked as he rushed to Soobin’s side, turning the stove off. He ran to the sink and picked up a sponge as Soobin stood frozen, looking at the screen with an innocent face. Beomgyu was stifling a laugh so as to not wake anyone up. From this angle, Beomgyu could see the stove, eggy bits crumbled over the burner and their color being an almost charcoal black. Taehyun then came back on screen and used the sponge to clean off the food chunks while Soobin just watched. The silence was loud, the only noise being the scraping of the stove and the ceiling fan in the living room.
“There,” Taehyun muttered after a few minutes, the egg completely off the stove and in the trash. “Now, where were we?”
Beomgyu himself couldn’t remember.
“Maybe we can just make instant ramen instead?” Soobin suggested in a small voice, shrugging his shoulders. Taehyun shot him a look, but just by looking at it, Beomgyu could see that Soobin didn’t know what it meant.
What an idiot.
Taehyun shook his head to snap out of it, and took a deep breath. “Yes Soobin, we can and will make instant ramen.”
He then walked off the camera, with the same smile of a lovesick fool spread across his face for sure.
~
When the situation was finally cleared, Taehyun had water boiling over the stove, carefully monitoring the area to avoid any “little accidents”. Soobin was talking to Beomgyu this time. Or more like yelling. Passionate arguing maybe? Whatever it was, it included Beomgyu whisper-shouting about how Soobin’s lazy gameplay was the same as a grandpa's. Soobin obviously wasn’t going to take that, and possessing the actual ability to raise his voice (due to being the only one apart from Taehyun in his house right now), he had the upper hand.
The shouting got to an extent where Taehyun stopped laughing at the argument and tapped Soobin on the shoulder.
“WHAT-” Soobin screamed in Taehyun’s face, only to apologize quickly after he realized what he did.
“The water for the ramen is ready,” Taehyun said in a monotone voice. “Did you open the ramen or were you too busy screaming your lungs out?”
Taehyun didn’t even acknowledge Soobin’s apologies, but shoved the unopened ramen cups into Soobin’s arms.
“You pour the water, I talk with Beomgyu. You probably woke up his whole household with your voice.”
Beomgyu giggled at the thought. “I had headphones on, Taehyun. My ears were the ones protesting.”
Taehyun looked at the camera, “Why didn’t you lower the volume then?”
“Good point,” Soobin interjected.
“I thought you were busy Soob?” Taehyun reacts.
The nickname shut him up quick.
“Anyways, what were you going to tell me?” Beomgyu blurted through the silence.
“Did you get to talk to Kai at all?”
Beomgyu froze.
~
The math teacher was lazily sitting at her desk, distracted by something boring like “grading papers” or “checking the schedule”. Beomgyu wouldn’t be surprised if she was planning a quiz or something. The last days of school were just around the corner, and everyone was excited to be free of the prison called the education system, even if it was just for 3 months. But the teachers seemed to find their own ways to remind their students that they still had a week left, and they were going to abuse it.
“Beomie, have you ever thought about what comes next?” Kai randomly said, head propped up by his arm as he leaned on his desk. Beomgyu looked up from his work and over to Kai.
“What comes next?” Beomgyu asked. “Like, summer?”
Kai smiles at his response, shaking his head. His hair had grown long, covering his eyes, but Beomgyu could still see them crinkle as he smiled.
“No, Beomie. What comes next as in what happens after we graduate.”
It was safe to say that Beomgyu did have that thought running rampant in his head, and it wasn’t pleasant. It was basically what his anxieties were built-off of at the moment. But he knew that there was no point in trying to change the future. He could control his choice right now though, and his choice at the moment was to shrug in response.
“I mean, I’ve thought of it, but not much.” Beomgyu lied.
Kai looked down at his desk at that moment. “Well, I’ve thought about it. Like, it would be nice to find someone, like a boyfriend y’know? Have you thought of finding a partner? Or is that just me?”
Beomgyu froze.
~
“Beomgyu? You still with us dude?”
The simple mention of Kai left Beomgyu frozen, resulting in Taehyun thinking that the internet went down. It’s not his fault, really. It's just that Taehyun and Soobin aren’t exactly familiar with the reason behind Beomgyu’s behavior. Beomgyu himself knew very well why he acted this way, and it was pretty simple to understand:
Beomgyu had not-so-secretly developed a thing for their friend. The only person who knew of this was Yeonjun, but only because he was being nosy and it accidentally slipped out of his mouth. How was Yeonjun, the one who blabs to the most people, the best at keeping his secrets though?
Beomgyu slowly shook his head, his breath exiting his body along with his soul.
“I’m still here Taehyun,” he said, “Now what about Kai?”
“Have you talked to him at all?”
Beomgyu played with the cords of his headphones. “Not really, he said he was gonna “be busy” all summer and never explained why.”
“Soobin knows exactly why,” Taehyun smirked, looking over at him. Soobin finished pouring the water, and the ramen cups were now ready to be eaten. In 2-3 minutes that is. He came over to the camera and nodded at Taehyun’s statement.
“That bitch avoided us all summer just for us to find him working at the local McDoong-Doong’s.”
Beomgyu couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across his face just by imagining Kai in an employee uniform, taking an order, actually earning money .
Kai got a job.
And then it clicked.
That conversation that left Beomgyu thinking.
Of course, all that talk about the future must’ve foreshadowed this.
Soobin continued to talk about the experience. Apparently, he and Yeonjun walked into the McDonald’s together after a long convo about where to eat and saw Kai at the register.
“He just stared at us as we ordered. Didn’t say a word that wasn’t order-related. He acted differently, so professionally,” Soobin concluded, wiping away a fake tear. “Our baby has grown.”
Taehyun rolled his eyes in response. “That’s the info we got so far. One day, we should all just raid that place and see how he reacts.”
Although the thought itself was tempting, Beomgyu shook his head.
“If he didn’t even tell us he was working, do you think he wants us there annoying him?”
This statement earned him two judgemental looks.
“Since when don’t you like annoying people-” Soobin began, not getting far as Taehyun’s elbow dug into his ribs.
“What he means to say is that it’s nice to see you respecting people’s space. It’s very adult-y of you Beom.”
Beomgyu nodded a thank you toward Taehyun.
And for the rest of the call, the same image of Kai at the register stuck in his head.
~
Obviously, Beomgyu had to do something about this. The reminder that Kai had a job now wasn’t helping him one bit, and for a good amount of the summer, he ended up avoiding that McDonald’s place just out of fear. If Kai was working there, who else would be working there? People at school were bound to get a summer job, and with graduation coming up next year, of course finding a job would be at the top of a lot of people’s lists. Avoiding a lot of places had become Beomgyu’s response to the new thought, and so far, it had been working out.
That is, until he actually entered the McDonald’s.
During a quick car trip back from the store in which his mom forced him into the car just to “have an extra hand around to carry the bags,” they stopped at said-McDonald’s. Beomgyu’s heart rate skyrocketed, and he didn’t exactly know whether it was because he was going to see Kai or if it was because he was scared to see literally anyone there. At some point, he remembers gaslighting himself into thinking that Kai probably had an off-day or something, and that he wasn’t going to be right in his face if he was to be working today. He was probably behind the counter or tending to other things.
Wrong. He was so, so wrong.
For the first half of the trip where he had to open the door and walk inside, he scanned the place. It was mid-day, which meant there would be a long line at the drive thru and a longer line at the register. He could see the staff bustling about in the back, and Beomgyu let out a sigh of relief as he found no trace of Kai. He made his trembling legs take him to an open register, and with a shaky voice placed his order for both him and his mom. The employee tending to them probably thought something was wrong with Beomgyu, and they weren’t exactly wrong, but the thought that they could be possibly judging him made Beomgyu even more nervous. He felt like he was ordering something for the first time again, and that was not a pleasant experience to say the least.
So he was glad when it was over and he was given a cup of the drink he ordered.
What did he even order in the first place?
Beomgyu took his shaking body toward a small corner of the fast food establishment. Somewhere where he could look at the register while not exactly interacting with it. Just somewhere where he could keep an eye on his order and feel not-jittery. He made sure to keep his head low but not low enough that his hair covered his eyes to blind him.
And for a second, it worked out. Beomgyu felt safe, just a twinge. And it worked for him.
There was no sight of Kai yet, and Beomgyu let out the breath he’d been holding since he entered the place.
But he knew the calm would only last for so long.
Beomgyu’s chest exploded as a familiar figure made themselves known.
Kai was staring at him.
Beomgyu swore he wasn’t there a second ago, but it was hard to look away as he inspected Kai further. It was him, it really was. Kai stared at him with a suppressed smile, trying his best to make it look like a frown. But it’s not like he’s had much experience frowning himself, since the majority of the time he was in a good mood, leading to lack of practice. Kai just looked really happy to see Beomgyu there.
Which then reminded Beomgyu of what Soobin said.
“He just stared at us as we ordered. Didn’t say a word that wasn’t order-related. He acted differently, so professionally. Our baby has grown." And as Beomgyu stared back, he did realize that he had grown a bit. His bangs that used to hang over his eyes had been pushed to the side by his little employee hat with the yellow ‘M’ imprinted on it. And he seemed to stand a few inches taller than he did, like, two months ago. He looked broader too. He was just… bigger in general. What a development. But all that was left was to test the one thing Soobin mentioned at first.
”Didn’t say a word that wasn’t order-related. He acted differently, so professionally.”
So Beomgyu’s legs betrayed him as he pointed out to Kai, traveling closer until he was up at the counter again.
“You,” Beomgyu managed to spit out without stuttering. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth, impairing his ability to speak properly. Had he gone so long without talking to Kai that he couldn’t string a sentence together?
If it was like that then he was screwed for the next year.
“You,” Kai repeated, pointing back at Beomgyu. “Hi!”
“You-you got job?” Beomgyu continued, grabbing random words in his head and throwing them at Kai. He could feel his ears burn with embarrassment from his word vomit.
“Yes, I "got job",” Kai calmly replied, his attempt at a frown lifting completely as he shot Beomgyu the biggest smile he had the honor of being in the presence of all summer. It felt like a blessing from an angel, if Beomgyu was being honest. He suddenly felt smaller than he usually was, like a tiny bug under the Kai-looking microscope as his eyes scanned over him. All he was wearing was a simple pajama set: shorts and a random shirt from his closet that he deemed comfortable enough to sleep in, with an unzipped sweater hanging from his shoulders and his hair still tousled in a bed head form. Kai looked cleaner in his blindingly red shirt. Even if it wasn’t much, he still looked more mature than Beomgyu, and probably felt more mature as well.
Beomgyu, on the other hand, felt like a child.
He stepped away, the air suddenly becoming more awkward by the second. Kai didn’t deserve to be swarmed by a man child, even if it was one of his friends. He found himself back at the same corner of the restaurant, and sank down to the floor as he waited.
He was lucky he didn’t have to wait long.
Once his order was called, Beomgyu scooped up the bag and dashed out the McDonald’s, and back to the car. He ignored how his mom nagged at him for taking so long, how the groceries probably melted by now, and how unprofessional he looked in his sleepwear.
All he knew was that Soobin was right.
Their baby had grown up.