Work Text:
He looked up and immediately looked away.
Yixing grabbed the first books that his hands landed on and made his way to the counter. Making minimal eye contact and mumbling out a few greeting he quickly made his purchase and rushed out of the store. He finally stopped to look at what he'd hastily bought once he safely sat down on the subway. In his hands there was a copy of Highlights in the History of Concrete, which unfortunately wasn't the weirdest thing he'd bought. The next book was titled The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure, and ironically enough his last book was How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found. It was fate, Yixing was really going to need that last book after his latest encounter with Minseok, the cute cashier who worked at Yixing's favorite book store. Yixing sighed and resigned himself to a life without the bookstore or Minseok's captivating gummy smile; there was no way he could go back to Deliberate Literate after today.
Coincidentally, Minseok's smile was the very reason he was in this predicament. Every time MInseok flashed his smile at Yixing he would get flustered and lose his train of thought and forget his reason for being in the bookstore in the first place. That's how Yixing had managed to create a collection of the weirdest books ranging from A Passion for Donkeys to Goodnight Moon. He had gone in today looking for a how-to book to improve his Hangul, but then he made the mistake of looking over at Minseok who had shot him a friendly grin like always and caused him to become so nervous that he grabbed the 3 unfortunate books currently resting in his lap. Once Yixing made it home, he dropped the newest additions to his collection on the ever growing pile in front of his book shelf and plopped face first into the couch.
"Did you finally strike out with the cute librarian?"
The voice startled Yixing out of his depressing stupor; lifting his face from the couch, Yixing found his incredibly unhelpful best friend raiding his fridge. "Luhan, how did you get in here? I didn't leave the door unlocked did I?" Yixing questioned. Luhan snorted at his best friend’s confusion and replied, "I have a key remember?"
"I gave you that key for emergencies," Yixing grumbled as he made his way into the kitchen and stole the sandwich Luhan had been making. To his satisfaction, Luhan let out an angry yelp when he realized that his food had been commandeered. "Get your own food. And I didn't strike out with Minseok because that requires talking. I completely obliterated my chances with him that's all. Also, Minseok's not a librarian, he works at a bookstore."
Apparently Yixing's lack of a love life interested Luhan because he kept pressing, "Alright, what could have been so bad that you think you have no chance with him?"
Yixing nodded towards the books at the top of his pile, "Minseok already thought I was a freak; he's seen me buy Fifty Shades of Grey, Fashion Cats and Bombproof Your Horse, but today I managed to top all of the previous encounters with a guidebook on human manure composting." Yixing had just barley finished his sentence when Luhan started laughing. Loudly. Yixing considered pushing him off the counter before he decided he had bigger problems than in idiotic best friend. "It’s not funny! Minseok probably thinks I'm a crazy cat man with creepy kinks and disgusting gardening habits!" Luhan interrupted Yixing's worrying and said, "You've never even had a proper conversation with him! You need to channel some of the confidence you have when you’re dancing and just ask him out already"
Yixing wished it was that easy.
~
It took Yixing a few days to gather enough courage to show his face at Deliberate Literate again. He really needed the Hangul book that he forgot to buy last time and he hoped Minseok wasn’t working that day so that he wouldn’t have to face him. Of course, Yixing should have realized how useless hope was the day he met Minseok. That was the first time Minseok had left him unable to think and he had ended up buying a how to teach you dog physics book. As he walked in he didn’t see any signs of Minseok, Junmyeon was manning the register and it seemed like luck was on his side.
Turns out lady luck is a fickle bitch. Yixing was back in the H section of the store looking for his book on Hangul when he heard someone walking towards him. Yixing had let his guard down thinking that Minseok had the day off; except, when Yixing looked up he came face to face with Minseok. His face heated up and Yixing started sputtering and flailing around in surprise. Minseok couldn’t understand a thing he was saying, but found the sight of a flustered Yixing absolutely adorable. “Minseok-ssi, Wh-what are you doing here?” Yixing’s question amused Minseok and he answered jokingly, “I work here remember, Yixing?”
If it was possible Yixing’s face would have gotten even redder “I just- well, I thought you had the day off. I didn’t see you when I walked in,” Yixing supplied in explanation.
It seemed Minseok was in a teasing mood, “Oh, you were looking for me?” Minseok really enjoyed watching Yixing flounder about whenever he got nervous. He was pretty sure he hadn’t ever seen anything cuter than the tall Chinese man. At first Minseok had been polite and warm because it was a part of his job, but after his first few encounters with Yixing he’d developed a sort of crush and he had always smile wider every time Yixing visited the shop because of it. Normally he visited every other day or so, but this time Yixing had waited nearly an entire week before coming back. After the first two days, Minseok was disappointed every time the door opened and he realized that it wasn’t Yixing. His greeting to the other patrons had been rather lackluster this past week and Junmyeon was starting to notice. Which was exactly why Junmyeon had taken over the counter and sent Minseok to the back to restock the shelves. Minseok explained to Yixing he was in the middle of restocking the shelves and asked if Yixing needed help finding anything?
Apparently, Yixing had reached his Minseok interaction limit because he reverted back to his usual method of grabbing the first book he could, “No, I’m fine thank you. I’ve found what I needed,” Yixing held up his book as proof. When the other man’s eyebrows rose questioningly Yixing realized that he had no idea what book he was holding up; he really wished he hadn’t looked, in his hands he was proudly showing off How to Poo on a Date: The Lovers' Guide to Toilet Etiquette. Without another word he shuffled over to where Junmyeon was waiting at the counter.
“Found everything you needed, Yixing?’’ Junmyeon smiled at him as he rang up his purchase. Junmyeon’s definitely did not have the same effect as Minseok’s smile because Yixing could see the teasing in Junmyeon’s eyes. He wanted to wipe that smile off of Junmyeon’s face. Honestly, what was with Yixing’s friends? They were supposed to be supportive and helpful, but so far his two closest friends, Luhan and Junmyeon, had done nothing but make fun of him for his crush. As if Junmyeon had any right; he was the reason Yixing was in this mess in the first place. He was the one who had hired Minseok knowing fully well that Yixing was the shop’s most frequent customer and that he was a sucker for gummy smiles. Junmyeon knew this would happen and had done nothing to help him out.
“I’m proud of you, Xing, you managed an actual conversation with him,” Junmyeon’s comment brought him back to reality. And with the slap back to reality Yixing remembered just which book he had bought. “Shut up! I just fucked things up even worse than before.” Yixing groaned at he left Junmyeon without an explanation.
There was no way to fix this Yixing decided as he left the bookstore. He’d just have to spend his life with Minseok thinking that he had some sort of a poop fetish.
~
Yixing had one job.
He just needs to get into that store, look at no one, grab his Hangul book, pay and leave. Unfortunately, things were never as simple as you planned them. Just as Yixing found his book a voice caught his attention. A voice that belonged to a cute Korean with a penchant for mischief and a love for books. The very Korean who had managed to always cause Yixing’s stomach to tighten and his heart to race.
“Yixing, I was hoping to catch you. I noticed that you seem to always be reading how-to books and I found one that I thought you’d like,” Minseok said as he held out the book for Yixing to take. He wasn’t sure what Minseok could have found that he’d be interested in considering every how-to book he’d bought had been randomly grabbed and bought by mistake. The book that Minseok had offered him was How to Get What You Want Without Having to Ask. Yixing was really confused.
“I don’t understand”
“Well,” Minseok replied “I was hoping to take you out on a date.”
Oh. OH.
“Are you sure?” Yixing sputtered out to Minseok. “Like an actual date? The romantic kind?”
Minseok being Minseok couldn’t help himself as he teased Yixing, “Yes an actual date. Based on your last book I’d wager you have much better manners than my past dates.”
Yixing’s face started burning up. Again. He even started making noises that concerned Minseok as he started choking on air.
Yixing quickly got a handle on his body; Minseok deserved an answer.
“Yes, please. I’d love to go out with you”
If Minseok and Yixing hadn’t been in their own bubble, they probably would have noticed Luhan and Junmyeon leaning on the counter with a bowl of popcorn watching their best friends as if they were putting on a show.
~
“Hey, Minseok?” Yixing asked as he ran his fingers through Minseok’s hair. They’d been on a few dates and were officially boyfriends and were now lounging on Yixing’s couch watching a drama.
“Hmmmm?”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why I bought children’s books or weird animal books or even books about manure?” Yixing inquired as he stared at the stack of outrageous and useless books that he’d managed to collect over the past few months. The book Minseok gave him was resting proudly at the top of the stack. Yixing was going to keep that one forever.
“Mmmmhhh not really. At first I thought you really enjoyed reading and I admired that you had such a broad range. It was refreshing considering I’m use to girls coming in and always buying trashy romance novels. Eventually, I realized that you would just grab a book whenever you got nervous and then it became really fun to comment on your latest one, so I never questioned it,” Minseok replied with a wicked grin. Honestly, sometimes Minseok was even more mischievous than Luhan. When Yixing introduced the two he knew it was a bad idea. Neither one of them had any qualms with playing pranks on Yixing.
Oh well, it was one of the things he loved about Minseok, so he couldn’t complain too much.