Work Text:
The restaurant bustled with activity, every table full of used plates and glasses, soju bottles and silverware. The dark wood paneling made the place feel cozy, while the light wallpaper above it kept the atmosphere from becoming cramped. If it were Lee Wan's restaurant, the art on the walls would be more cohesive, rather than a conglomerate of random prints and famous actors that had no connecting features. But until his aunt passed the restaurant on to him, he had to deal with seeing a traditional style landscape of a mountain next to pop art of an anthropomorphic broccoli next to an old photo of an actor from the sixties.
And until Shin Ki Tae got tired of the noise, Lee Wan had to look at him every day, too.
"Lee Wan!" Ki Tae greeted with a cat smile and a raised hand as he stepped into the restaurant.
Lee Wan paused just long enough to let Ki Tae know he was aware of him, then kept moving. The man didn't deserve more than that. No matter how hard the mere sight of him made Lee Wan's heart beat.
As usual, the dismissal didn't seem to phase Ki Tae. The tall man simple found a seat somewhere in the busy restaurant and plopped himself down. Instead of asking for a menu, he cast his gaze about the room with interest. As if a small mom-and-pop restaurant could hold a candle of interest for a digital genius.
"Yah," Lee Yeon said, lightly smacking Lee Wan on the shoulder when he returned to the kitchen. Even as he jumped, she motioned toward the guests. "Are you going to do something about that?"
'That' being Ki Tae. He had come to the restaurant for the first time three weeks ago and had returned every single day since. Even though Lee Wan refused to talk to him. Even though he made enough money to eat at far fancier restaurants. Even though it was loud and boisterous and crowded. Even though Lee Wan wouldn't even serve him—Lee Yeon had to do it, or his aunt.
"He'll stop coming soon," Lee Wan said, but his voice sounded weak even to his own ears.
It was stupid to hope that Ki Tae wouldn't stop coming. It was stupid to hope that he was back for good. And he wouldn't give his sister the ammo to tease him or nag him by admitting that…he hoped.
Lee Yeon leaned against the side of the fridge and crossed her arms, giving her younger brother a dubious stare. "If you really don't want him here, then go have a damn conversation with him."
"Lee Yeon," Lee Wan chastised her for the language but she just rolled her eyes.
Waving a hand toward the guests, she said, "Let him say his piece, then tell him to get lost. Or don't. He buys every time he comes in, so it's no sweat off my back if you keep him coming around. But you get so mopey every time he leaves that even the non-regulars comment on it, and that's not okay."
Lee Wan pressed his lips together. For a few seconds, the siblings shared a staring contest. Then the chef held out a plate and said, "Order up."
Taking the plate, Lee Wan muttered, "I'm not mopey," before heading to take the food to its table.
For the next hour, he pretended he didn't notice how Ki Tae's eyes followed him around, or how besotted he looked. The man had ditched Lee Wan on graduation day and disappeared for five years without a word. Lee Wan had done his waiting. Shin Ki Tae could do his.
After yet another look from Lee Yeon pestering him to get on with it, Lee Wan heaved a heavy sigh, and set his tray of glasses down by the sink.
"Clean these for me," he told his sister, then left while she complained about him being a brat.
For once, Ki Tae did not watch Lee Wan move about the restaurant. His eyes were on his plate as he finished off the last few tiny morsels. When Lee Wan slid into the seat across from him, Ki Tae glanced up, down, then up again with widening eyes. He shot upright in his seat and, without a word from Lee Wan, his lips began to curl up into his cat smile again.
"Fine," Lee Wan muttered, lowering his eyes to the tabletop. "Say whatever you want to say."
There was silence for a moment, but Lee Wan didn't look up. If Ki Tae chickened out, that was on him. But, finally, Ki Tae said, "I'm sorry.'
That got Lee Wan to lift his eyes in surprise. Across from him, Ki Tae's smile had fallen to something far more melancholy. He folded his hands together on the table.
"My family suddenly moved away, and after…well, after that, I thought you probably didn't want to talk to me anyway."
'That.' People really liked saying things without saying them today. This 'that' referred to the way Ki Tae had kissed him on graduation day. Lee Wan had frozen like a statue, shocked. He had thought his feelings were one-sided. Then, before he could get his wits about him, Ki Tae had left—and then disappeared entirely from Lee Wan's life.
"If anything," Lee Wan said, "that was more reason to contact me, not less."
Ki Tae tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy. Lee Wan refused to find it adorable. "You weren't mad?"
Again, Lee Wan lowered his eyes. Even though Ki Tae had kissed him, that didn't mean the feelings were mutual. Mutual feelings didn't disappear without a word. Last minute pranks did.
His silence said something to Ki Tae, because the taller man reached forward to take one of Lee Wan's hands in his own. Surprise is all that kept Lee Wan from snatching it back. That, and the fact that his high school crush was holding his hand.
"I should have called, but I was scared to hear you yell at me," Ki Tae admitted, his cheeks darkening with shame. "I got that scholarship, and then my family was moving, and I didn't want to leave without admitting how I felt."
"And…how do you feel?" Lee Wan asked. His heart raced in his chest, like it had the day he ran after Ki Tae but couldn't find him.
For a moment, it was Ki Tae's turn to lower his eyes to the table. Then he took a steadying breath and met Lee Wan's gaze. "I love you."
Lee Wan gasped.
"I loved you in high school, when you kept talking about how proud you were of your family's restaurant, when you took all those cooking classes and joined the home ec club, even though people teased you for it."
Lee Wan tried to pull his hands away, flushing with embarrassment, with a, "Hey, now," but Ki Tae held firm and wouldn't let him go.
Eyes intense, Ki Tae continued, "I loved you for five years, even as I studied and got a job and everyone around me started getting married. And I love you now, sitting in your family's restaurant, asking you to forgive me for being stupid."
A laugh. Lee Wan used his free hand to cover his mouth, even as Ki Tae smiled. He hadn't meant to laugh. But hearing Ki Tae say he loved him, had loved him for so long, and then to call himself stupid in that tone of voice? It was just so Shin Ki Tae.
Five years had passed. Did they really even know each other anymore? And it had taken Ki Tae five years to come find Lee Wan in the obvious place he would be. Sure, he had come every day for weeks now, but what would stop him from leaving again?
Frowning, Lee Wan asked the hard question. "How long until you leave?" Again, Ki Tae looked like a confused puppy. "You have to go back to Seoul at some point, right?"
A pleased grin grew on Ki Tae's face. "I'm not leaving," he said. Before Lee Wan could even properly lift an eyebrow, Ki Tae revealed, "I bought a place here. So I can stay near you."
He was practically bouncing in his seat. If Ki Tae were a dog, his tail would no doubt be wagging wildly.
Suddenly, he wilted in his seat. "That is…if you want me to?"
It shouldn't be that easy to erase five years of pain and longing. Probably it wasn't. Maybe Lee Wan would have a breakdown the first time Ki Tae didn't answer his phone. Maybe they would argue about communication. But Lee Wan had been in love with Ki Tae in high school too, had missed him every day. If there was a chance that—this time—he could keep Ki Tae and call him his?
Maybe it was stupid to give in so easily, but no one ever said Lee Wan was smart. That was Ki Tae's area.
"Mm," Lee Wan hummed, glancing away, then back at Ki Tae from the corner of his eye. "Do what you want," he said in a faux-nonchalant voice.
In an instant, Ki Tae was back to the dog with the rapidly wagging tail. He squeezed Lee Wan's hand and nodded. He clearly recognized the tone Lee Wan always used during their teasing in high school. And maybe neither of them was all that different after five years anyway.
"I want to."
…
…
fin