Archive of Our Own

Woonhak has this fantasy.

It's a fantasy where he moves to this brand-new town by the bay, falls in love with some really kind, awfully demure, angel-of-a-person, and lives out the rest of his life in undisturbed peace and happiness. By all means, it's a bit unrealistic. His younger sister, Wonhee, always tells him that he needs to stop watching reels about overly-romanticized stories that 'don't even make sense, like love at first sight doesn't even exist', but she's also directly fed into this fantasy by offering a new home at—you guessed it—a brand-new town by the bay.

Apparently, one of her friends has recently decided to leave said town to move in with her girlfriends down south. In her wake, she left behind both an open job and an unoccupied apartment. The rest is self-explanatory: news reached Wonhee, who took one look at the town with its glorious docks and flashy stores and texted Woonhak with a mysterious, What do you think of Fisherman's Wharf?

So here Woonhak is, with three giant suitcases (one was entirely reserved for his book collection, though he's pretty sure he's only read six out of the uncountable novels) and many, many boxes (he's prone to keeping useless junk, okay?) in his lonely new home. It's not the vision he had in mind when dreaming of his fantasy, but it's step one complete. Kind of.

"Not too shabby, huh?" says Jaehyun from his right. Woonhak nods dazedly.

Myung Jaehyun is, as Moka put it, a friendly staple of their town. As soon as he heard that someone else would be taking her spot in the community, he immediately offered to help with the adjusting process. Thank God for that; Woonhak's not sure he could've lugged all those boxes in on his own, much less have navigated the streets of San Francisco all by himself. More of a nightmare than a fantasy, really.

As if sensing his internal dilemma, Jaehyun gives Woonhak a pat on the shoulder. "You'll adjust quickly, don't worry. Aside from all the rain, it's a beautiful place. Beautiful people, beautiful buildings, beautiful landscape—speaking of which, you should come by my gardens sometime!"

"Maybe," Woonhak replies. He snaps out of his daze then, turning to face Jaehyun. "You're not only here to help me move, are you?"

Jaehyun blinks at him. "Of course not. I just thought you'd like to have your whole taking-in-the-new-home moment. You seemed very up in your main-character feels. But if you'd like to take off now, that's cool too."

Woonhak has no clue what that means, but he thinks he should be offended.

Visits to the Bay Area have occurred before; in fact, throughout elementary and middle school, Woonhak's family had driven up every winter break to eat seafood delicacies. But those are distant memories if anything. Most of Woonhak's knowledge of the Bay Area now consists of research poorly-conducted three days before he decided to move, most of which is irrelevant with the way he scrolled on the top google search for three minutes before giving up and proclaiming, I can survive any weather! The other, smaller portion of Woonhak's knowledge consists of Jaehyun's anecdotes, though those are more rambles than anything: Once I was backing out of a parking space and I rammed my entire side rear view mirror into a tree, San Francisco streets are so strange, and scary too, and, The pigeons are really chic, but you only really see them around Chinatown, isn't that stupid? I feel like the tourists at the wharf are more likely to feed them…, and also, You know what'll really get you going? Swimming shirtless in the bay when it's freezing cold. There's a whole club dedicated to doing so—they're hardcore. Actually, one of my good friends…. So on, so forth.

Thankfully, Jaehyun had dropped one or two actually useful pieces of information on the drive to Fisherman's Wharf. Much to Woonhak's dismay, it's raining in San Francisco most of the time, extremely windy when not, and the weather typically doesn't surpass 75 degrees in temperature. He's sure he'd looked a little horrified to learn that (he's a sunny boy at heart) because Jaehyun had laughed at his expression and claimed, It's nice though! …Sometimes.

Woonhak's just glad now would be considered sometimes. It's a good thing the opportunity came in the summer—a sweet breeze greets him when he steps outside, not iceberg winds. The coolness is a stark contrast to the burning heat he'd felt just a day before. Perks of moving north, he supposes.

As if tracking his internal monologue, the clouds part to reveal bright sunlight from above. Woonhak shades his eyes to look upwards at the sky; he finds a vast expanse of blue with few clouds here and there. It's not the sort of pale blue he'd seen back in his hometown, but something vibrant and half-intense as if reflecting the turbulent waves just a few miles out. It hits Woonhak for the first time then, staring up at the new stretch of sky, that he's well and truly away from the place where he'd spent his whole life living. There'll be no more of the same neighborhood houses with peeling paint and bush-lined highway streets. He won't be walking up the same driveway to the same house, nor will he be stopping by the same mail building to drop off packages. It's new. Surreal. For a moment, he's not sure how he'll adjust to the novelty.

A distant bird's call snaps him back to reality. Woonhak blinks, tearing his eyes away from the sky and down to in front of him, where Jaehyun has somehow ended up. The latter is smiling warmly, holding the handles of two bikes beside him.

"See?" he says. "Main-character feels. Moving somewhere new is a weird feeling, isn't it?"

Woonhak smiles back, some unknown weight lifting off his chest. "Yeah. It really is."

"You'll like it though," Jaehyun reassures, gesturing for Woonhak to join him.

"I'm sure I will. This is practically all of my dreams coming true at once." Woonhak clambers the rest of the steps down to the pavement and mounts the bike Jaehyun graciously offers. "I've always wanted to live by the bay. It's just so beautiful—the sea and the sand and the, um, other stuff."

Jaehyun bites his lip like he's trying not to make fun of Woonhak for the stumble. "Right. The other stuff. You know, you sound just like a good friend of mine! He's got a thing for the sea too, and all the 'um, other stuff'. I think you'd get along with him." He turns to Woonhak then, enthusiastically. "I'm going to have so much fun introducing you to everyone. They're all friendly, I promise! If you mention that you've always wanted to live here, you're bound to get along with them. Everyone who moves here moves because they want that dreamy kind of life, though San Francisco is always a bit too rainy for that. Just think about it. Is there any other city where you can get to a strip on bike?" Jaehyun pauses then, seemingly realizing his fault, then continues, "Don't answer that."

"No, but I mean, you're right- kinda," Woonhak hurries to reassure. "Or, well, even if there are cities like that, I think it's the most romantic to ride a bike here of all places. Bright blue sky, morning chatter, the seagulls-"

"You sound like an awkward vlogger." Jaehyun begins pedaling. "Also, you remind me of a seagull."

"I- what?"

"A clueless seagull." He peels his gaze away from the bike lane and to Woonhak's face. "I think it's the eyes."

"Excuse me?"

"You're silly," answers Jaehyun. He laughs then, for no known reason, and speeds up. Woonhak follows, albeit dumbfounded.

"That bike you're on," Jaehyun starts again once they've crossed the next stoplight, "that belongs to a good friend of mine. And I know what you're thinking- Hyung, how many good friends could you possibly have?" Woonhak was thinking that, but something tells him Jaehyun should not have access to that information. "The answer is many, Woonhak-ah. Many. Living in such a tourist-attracting place like this, it's hard not to get to know everyone. Hell, I think I've befriended at least seven different tourists who are off somewhere in Europe now. Now, I for one love Fisherman's Wharf, but really, living in Europe, your first thought is to come here for a vacation? I should've sent them off to Chicago instead.

"That's why I offered to come pick you up. What better way to start off a new home than to build connections? But it's a good thing we're on the same page when it comes to that—there was this new neighbor in the town once, and he had absolutely no interest in getting to know anybody…" Jaehyun purses his lips. "Then again, he's now a very good friend of mine. The same good friend that owns the bike you're on. Honestly, he wouldn't like it very much, hearing me call him a good friend… I think there's a clear distinction between a good-good friend and a good friend. He's a good-good friend of mine. A very good friend. If you believe in fate, you could even say we're meant to be."

"Haha," Woonhak says humorlessly. He's trying not to die speeding down the sloped street; something he hadn't realized on the way to San Francisco was that the city was filled with ups-and-downs, quite literally. The full force of the wind and his very ineloquent realization slaps him in the face now, and he can't help but feel with a little irritation that Jaehyun is thinking too much about his good friend and not enough about the fact that Woonhak might go catapulting into the blacktop.

"Anyway, that's for another time. I was thinking I'd take you down to see the shop you're supposed to take over, and while we walk along that strip I'll drag you to meet any good friend I find. You're fine with that, right?" When Woonhak doesn't respond, too busy jerking his handlebars back and forth (he hasn't ridden a bike since he was six years old and he broke his arm riding one, and the inexperience is catching up to him now) (he's not too keen on breaking his arm again, but he's not about to admit to Jaehyun that he's scared of riding a bike), Jaehyun continues, "But you have to humor me before I go around picking how I introduce you to everyone. You mentioned something about this whole setup being your dream earlier, didn't you? So tell me about it."

"My dream?" prompts Woonhak. Though they've taken a right turn onto flatter ground now, his arms are still shaking—in a very strong, manly manner, that is.

"Why you moved here," Jaehyun clarifies.

"Oh, um." They're reaching the end of the street now, having just passed what seems to have been a lively square plaza. To Woonhak's growing despair, Jaehyun presses the button crossing left, which can only mean that Woonhak has another slope to conquer. "I don't know. I guess it's just been a want of mine for a while?" The crosswalk signal goes off, interrupting his train of thought. Woonhak tries not to cry when he walks his bike across the street; he really, really has no interest in going on a downhill ride to his death, which, judging by the steepness, is likely.

"You've got to be more specific than that." Jaehyun remounts his bike, then pauses, staring at Woonhak as if waiting for him to go first.

Woonhak stares back. Reluctantly, he mounts too, and slowly begins to creep down the bike lane. "I mean, well-" The momentum takes effect way too quickly—it takes all Woonhak's got to swallow down a panicked scream and instead blurt out, entirely too honest, "I mean, I was sort-of-kind-of hoping that I'd be able to meet the love of my life here!"

Woonhak experiences approximately three seconds of just the sound of whistling wind. Then, with no warning whatsoever, it's Jaehyun's unabashed laughter echoing through the streets.

"What?" Woonhak flails. "What? What's so funny?"

"I'm not introducing you to people so you can woo them, Woonhak-ah! Who do you think I am? Cupid?" exclaims Jaehyun. He's still laughing; cackling now, even, struggling to breathe.

Woonhak flushes red. "That wasn't- I wasn't asking you to!"

"Then what were you asking for? God, I'm- ugh- I can't breathe-"

"I wasn't asking for anything!" he protests. He sneaks one glance at Jaehyun and finds that the latter's whole face is red from the lack of oxygen, which would be more notable if Woonhak weren't so busy trying to focus on the road. "You were the one who asked- I was just- oh come on, it's not that funny!"

Jaehyun just laughs harder. "It really is!"

"I'm not planning to woo anybody, that was never part of the plan-"

"So what, you're looking for someone to woo you?" Jaehyun lifts his hand off of the handlebar, wiping away a stray tear. "Ugh, it's just too funny. It's just too funny! I don't even know what to say. You're telling me you moved here to fall in love-"

"I did not tell you that-"

"-and write your own perfect little love story? Oh man, this is gold." Jaehyun huffs out another chuckle. "I know practically everyone in the town, so I guess you came to the right person. But as much as I love you, I'm not all that interested in knowing who your type is. Shame on me, shame on me, I know-"

"I never offered to tell you who my type is!"

"-and to be honest, I'm all empty hands." Jaehyun shrugs. "You can only hope and pray. Anyway, it shouldn't be that bad. You seem like a pretty lucky guy. Who knows? Maybe your mysterious fantasy will come true in some unexpected way, like you just happen to crash into someone and fall into their arms and have a funky little love-at-first-sight—oh shit, watch out!"

Woonhak's about to say, What the hell does that mean, when he feels the bump of the curb against his bike wheel, jerking it to the side as the momentum propels him forward, and the bike goes crashing to his left as he goes crashing to his right into what he expects to be the concrete sidewalk. There's little thought except for a vague, I knew I should've never biked again after I broke my arm biking at six years old, and then Woonhak squeezes his eyes shut with a last-ditch cry of despair.

…Except he isn't met with hard impact. He's met with something very soft, actually, and a… groan of protest?

Woonhak blinks his eyes open, propping himself up as fast as he can. He's on the ground, that's for sure, but as his gaze swivels from the side to below him, he finds not the sight of concrete but instead a gorgeous man who seems like he's suffered a nasty case of bashing his head against the floor. Gorgeous Man groans again, head lolling to the side, and suddenly Woonhak becomes startlingly aware that he is caging said man in his arms, and that said man unfortunately took the fall for him.

On the flip side, he also becomes startlingly aware that Gorgeous Man is really gorgeous. His face is thin, skin pale, a singular mole dotted on his cheek and another on his neck. In contrast, his hair is almost pitch-black, pinned back by a pair of sunglasses while half of his bangs fall into his eyes. His bottom lip is plump while his top not so much, down-turned as if fixed into a perpetual pout. And his eyes, although squeezed shut, are lined with the longest lashes Woonhak has ever seen in his entire life.

Damn. Talk about wooing. This guy must have the easiest time attracting girls. For a moment, Woonhak weeps for himself and his genes—jealousy is real, unfortunately.

"Woonhak!" Jaehyun's voice snaps him back to reality. The older has abandoned his bike, now rushing to Woonhak's side with worry. "Are you okay?"

"Uh," Woonhak says smartly. He feels a bit dazed from both the collision and Gorgeous Man's gorgeous-ness, but he manages to say, "Kinda?" and sit up from his spot on top of Gorgeous Man. Gorgeous Man groans again and Woonhak belatedly realizes he'd just crushed his entire solar plexus by sitting up. He rolls away with a scrambled, "Sorry, sorry! I'm so sorry! Are you-"

"Not really," grumbles Gorgeous Man, eyes still squeezed shut. "Is that you, Jaehyun?"

Jaehyun turns his attention away from Woonhak and to Gorgeous Man. Immediately after, he drops to his knees with two hands on Gorgeous Man's chest as if preparing to perform CPR. "Oh my God, Han Taesan! Fancy seeing you here!"

Gorgeous Man—Han Taesan?—groans for the fourth time. "My head is spinning. Your voice sounds like something straight out of a UFO."

Woonhak looks between the two of them stupidly. Catching onto his confusion, Jaehyun gestures to the limp body. "Woonhak, this is Taesan, Moka's brother." When Woonhak just continues to stare stupidly, Jaehyun scratches the back of his neck. "No, you know Moka, don't you?"

"I do!" Woonhak yelps hurriedly. "I just-" he looks down at Taesan, attempting to register the situation. "I didn't… know she had a brother?"

"Well, you do now!" Jaehyun gives Woonhak a harsh pat on the back. "Okay Taesan, it's your turn to introduce yourself."

"I'll do that when my head stops spinning."

"You'll do that now!" Turning away from Woonhak, Jaehyun grabs ahold of Taesan's shoulders and forcefully wrenches him up, paying no mind to the resulting strangled complaint. Somehow, the sunglasses remain virtually untouched in their fixed position—it's almost as if the gorgeous-ness makes it impossible for him to look bad at any given time. Woonhak deflates at that thought. Handsome people really do have it better.

It's especially spiteful when Taesan blearily blinks his eyes open. Just like the rest of him, they're positively beautiful; never mind the lashes Woonhak had noticed earlier, the boba-like pupils are really doing it for him. And the clueless cat look (which, Woonhak realizes with devastation, makes it easier to understand why Jaehyun had said he looked like a seagull before) is the sort of thing that could make a heart start racing in seconds. In fact, Woonhak's heart is racing.

Taesan blinks once, twice, as if he too is preoccupied with registering what's going on in front of him. Then—and Woonhak's not sure how to describe this, but it happens—he seems to melt in some way, the seemingly cold demeanor warming in mere seconds. For a moment, Woonhak's almost sure he was hallucinating the chilly exterior to begin with (which wouldn't be new given that he seemed to always think pretty people were intimidating).

"So you're Kim Woonhak," says Taesan. He looks like he's fighting down a smile, though for what reason Woonhak doesn't know.

"That's me," Woonhak answers, dazed. Then, realizing just how stupid that sounds, he quickly follows up with, "You know me?"

Taesan tilts his head. "Moka mentioned you. Didn't think I'd be running into you like this." He doesn't really smile then, but his eyes somehow do, and Woonhak really has to stop himself from rubbing at his beating heart.

"I," he says, and then, trying again, "I-" I really have to stop losing all sense of myself whenever I see a good-looking person. "I… am surprised I haven't heard of you before?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Woonhak can see Jaehyun's expression morph into one of questionable judgment. Even Taesan winces a little. Maybe Woonhak needs to learn how to use words.

"I'm showing Woonhak around town," Jaehyun starts again after glancing back and forth between the two of them. "I was going to bring him down to the Ben & Jerry's just now, but if you want to take over-"

"I'll leave you guys to it," Taesan interrupts. He's still looking at Woonhak, much to Woonhak's mortification. "I'll see you around."

"Me?" Woonhak blinks. He almost turns around to check if there's somebody behind him that Taesan's talking to, but Taesan nods. Woonhak splutters then, discomposed, "Uh, I'll- I'll see you, yeah, huh?"

Upon hearing the confirmation, Taesan offers a satisfied hum, then very eloquently rises from his place on the floor, dusts off his behind, checks his reflection in his phone's front camera, and walks away.

Huh. Forget intimidating—Woonhak's starting to think pretty people have a knack for being indecipherable. He leans over to Jaehyun and asks, "Is he always like this?"

Jaehyun doesn't respond for a moment. Squinting at Taesan's retreating silhouette, he replies, "You know, he's got a thing for confusing people he likes."

Woonhak has absolutely no clue what that means. Seems like his move-in summer will be a lot less dreamy than he thought it'd be.

Unfortunately for Woonhak, the air of confusion seems to plague him for the rest of the day. Jaehyun isn't exaggerating when he says that he knows most of the town. Throughout the course of their walk to Woonhak's new workplace,Woonhak is dragged to meet twelve new people, all of which are shockingly extroverted and bubbly. You can predict just how well that goes. Woonhak's got no problem matching other people's energy, but there's only so much talking to be done about Jaehyun's total-ed car and the ongoing pollution crisis in the bay area and, We should get lunch together sometime, get to know each other better, which Woonhak has to nod along to because he doesn't believe in being rude to strangers. Needless to say, he's exhausted when he gets back home, and all he wants to do is doom-scroll for a while, but that proves to be impossible when an incoming FaceTime call comes in from his younger sisters. If it were any other day, he'd decline it. In an attempt to save his perfect vision of a move-in day, he answers. That only leads to him becoming a laughing-stock when both Wonhee and Tansansu dog on him for being overly hopeful.

So really, when he wakes up with his joints aching because he'd failed to consider that he's only ever slept on one mattress his whole life and will therefore not adjust well, he's only thinking about doom-scrolling. One look at the several untouched boxes laying haphazardly on the living room floor makes him want to throw up. And the worst part about it all? Woonhak doesn't have breakfast. Not real breakfast anyway, because a singular hard-boiled egg doesn't count.

He's sitting on the floor looking at Google Maps reviews of nearby breakfast spots (and salivating at the provided photos) when he hears a knock at the door. The spirit of the sloth compels him to sit and scroll for a little while longer before a second knock sounds. That's when he begrudgingly trots to the door and hopes it's some savior-neighbor who happened to sense his excruciating hunger through the walls and bring him the best pancakes he's ever had in his entire life, though Woonhak's quite picky about the way his pancakes are done so they'd really have to receive those brainwaves through the walls and-

"Hey," says Taesan, leaning on the doorframe, keys swinging loosely in one hand. "About crashing into you yesterday, I'm sorry. I thought I'd offer to take you out on a boat ride free of charge to make up for it."

Woonhak blinks at him. "Thanks, but wasn't I the one who crashed into you? You don't owe me anything."

Taesan slowly stops swinging the keys. He stares at Woonhak blankly, almost as if Woonhak has said something stupid, then sighs and commands, "Go on a boat ride with me."

"Okay," says Woonhak. "Wait, what?"

"I'll wait for you outside. I don't think you want to be going out in," Taesan gestures to Woonhak's lower half, "those. But I guess PJ pants are trendy. Is that the look you're going for?"

Woonhak flushes red. "No- I- hey, wait, do I look like the type of guy who waltzes around in PJs?"

Taesan looks him up and down, then smiles, crooked. For some reason, Woonhak doesn't think it's a smile with good intent. "Don't keep me waiting too long," he says, and then he turns around and shuts the door behind him.

Woonhak realizes a bit too late that Taesan had never directly answered his question.

He fires again once he's successfully shed his pajama pants (that he would not wear out, mind you) and joined Taesan outside. He's not even quite sure why he agreed so obediently, given that he had just been all laziness and no energy; recalling his mindless 'Okay' just makes him feel like some well-trained dog wrapped around Taesan's finger. Either way, Taesan looks at him expectantly from the bottom of the porch stairs, so Woonhak supposes he has no choice but to go along with it. As he makes his way down: "I don't really give off the vibes of someone who walks around in PJs, do I?"

Taesan hums. Without waiting for Woonhak to reach the foot of the stairs, he begins walking down the street. "I don't know, do you?"

"You're supposed to answer the question-"

"Then yeah, I guess you do. You seem like the type of college student who wears a black Essentials hoodie and plaid pajama pants and a beanie and walks around with your phone in one hand and a matcha in the other."

Woonhak's jaw drops. "I do not-"

"But I heard from Jaehyun you're a So-Cal kid," Taesan grins at him then, all teeth and half-malice. "So maybe a tank top is more your thing?"

"You- hey!" Woonhak protests. "That's- I do not drink matcha, and I do not walk around in my pajamas-"

"Let me guess, you don't drink matcha because you think it's too bitter and green-y."

Woonhak does not drink matcha because it's too bitter and green-y. But- "Oh come on, you don't even know me!"

"I don't, but I could," suggests Taesan. He tilts his head at Woonhak then, still smiling, though this time it seems almost like his smile is less mischievous and more sincere. "You're talking with me just fine. I think we have good synergy."

"You're about to make me pop a blood vessel defending myself," Woonhak points out.

Taesan shrugs. "That's the fun of it."

"Fun for you, maybe."

"You're cute." Then, before Woonhak can process that statement, Taesan quickly follows up with, "I heard your stomach growl."

"You what?"

"I'll treat you to breakfast." Taesan slips a hand inside of his pocket and pulls out a set of keys. "Not many stores are open right now, but I got a friend who works a restaurant down by the docks." He jangles them in front of Woonhak as if goading him. "His sister makes killer scrambled eggs. I know you'd like it."

"Again with pretending like you know me," grumbles Woonhak, though he has to admit killer scrambled eggs do sound like heaven after the hard-boiled egg torture.

Turns out Taesan is no better of a town-guide than Jaehyun. Although he's not quite as talkative as Jaehyun and doesn't nearly have as many anecdotes about 'good friends of his', he's got a knack for teasing Woonhak more than he does for explaining their surroundings. It seems as if Woonhak can never have a peaceful commute from his new home to the strip; it's either that damn bicycle or Taesan saying things that don't register as poking fun at Woonhak until the latter has already responded in a stupid way. And when Woonhak gets indignant on him, Taesan withdraws sneakily with one or two smart quips and then a change of conversation.

The only good thing is that these changes of conversation always seem to lead to new information about Taesan. It seems like his go-to for diverging attention is spitting out just about anything he can think of. Case one: after pointing out Woonhak's 'very obvious flyaway', Taesan gives himself away as a self-employed fisherman just two years older than Woonhak. Case two: after jabbing at Woonhak for being 'too apparently South-Californian', he explains that he's lived by the wharf for his whole life alongside his family, and that he's half-spiteful that his (as Woonhak learns, adopted) sister abandoned them to live elsewhere. Case three: after listening to Woonhak's dream-spiel and then snickering, Taesan says, "I'm a dreamer too. I just think life's one big boring dream."

"It could be a fun dream if you wanted it to be," Woonhak suggests.

Taesan hums, not agreeing nor disagreeing. "Someone should show me what a fun dream life really is then," he declares, and Woonhak doesn't know what to say to that, but he thinks he might have a thing or two added to his bucket list after hearing such.

It's watching Taesan turn away and towards him, wearing a small smirk, that Woonhak thinks: strangers excessively teasing him is almost always a no-go. He's got no problem with close friends fooling around (he knows he's bully-able, and if it entertains others, so be it), but people he barely knows making snipes at him? Forget it. Besides, the one thing he prides himself on is the fact that he maintains a clear boundary between strangers and the close friends in question. So to be going along with Taesan's whims like this, well… it's… less that Woonhak's an obedient dog wrapped around his finger, and more that Taesan just seems to be crossing that boundary with no issue at all.

…Though, Woonhak can't be mad. Taesan's really damn cool. And believe it or not, the constant teasing makes him fun to talk to, which is why Woonhak doesn't even notice that they've made it to the restaurant until Taesan suddenly stops walking and pulls out his phone.

"I texted him in advance, but knowing him, he hasn't gotten up yet," explains Taesan, tapping on his keyboard. "You'll get your food though, don't worry. He might not be up, but his sister's probably got it all ready."

"You texted him in advance?" Woonhak blurts. "But you weren't on your phone at all while we were walking. Did you- was this planned?"

Taesan pauses mid-text. He doesn't look at Woonhak, instead raising a hand to fiddle with his own earrings. "…I texted him while you were getting changed."

Woonhak's pretty sure his changing time was fast enough to make sending a premature notice impossible, but then again, what would he know about texting speed? In Tansansu's words, he types slow enough to cosplay an old grandpa. "Oh."

Without clarifying further permission, Taesan unlocks the door and waltzes inside. When the automatic lights flicker on, Woonhak scans over the restaurant, all empty tables and desks. The walls are painted blue to match what seems to be a very obvious fish theme, which Woonhak would find strange if he didn't find out shortly afterwards that the owner is a fish-fanatic.

It's almost a Greek god that emerges from the employee-only staircase. His hair is out of order, his face still puffy with the morning, and he looks like he's three seconds away from falling asleep, but Woonhak swears he can feel the force of his beauty radiating out of his face like shock waves. Albeit sluggishly, he exchanges a word with Taesan before turning to Woonhak, momentarily blinding him with his face card, and introducing himself as Kim Leehan.

"I own the place," he explains. He reaches out to shake Woonhak's hand, but he's sort of limp so it ends up being more like holding hands. Woonhak sighs inside his head. This might be the only time he'll ever get to hold the hand of an ethereal other person.

"He's shit at cooking, so it's more like family-owned," Taesan snorts. "Speaking of which, has Bae cooked anything for him?"

"Uh." Leehan yawns. "I dunno. Look for it yourself."

And so Taesan goes wandering off into the kitchen, muttering something about undeserving owners all the while. Leehan turns his full attention to Woonhak instead, and through the use of too-pretty-smiles and gentle-melodious-voices, somehow pries out all of the information from Woonhak that he needs. By the time Taesan's come back with a dish in hand, Woonhak's sure Leehan knows way too much about him for his own comfort. Fortunately, the scrambled eggs are that good—even if both Taesan and Leehan stare at him the entire time he's eating, only ever pausing to exchange silent gaze-messages with each other. Taesan looks slightly pissed when they leave, though in good manner; Woonhak guesses they're pretty close friends.

The next destination is the boat itself. Unlike everything else he'd thought up for his fantasy, this one checks out well. It's not a large boat at all, just a small, simple one, with motor at the end and a practically-useless sail. Below Woonhak's feet when he steps in are fisher nets and fishing lines, shoved haphazardly to the side.

"This is Tatpung." Taesan taps the side of his boat. "Got her with my own money, since my family's never had a habit of financing a kid like me. I was unruly when I was younger."

You're unruly now, Woonhak wants to say, what ends up coming out is: "She's one cute boat."

"Isn't she?" Taesan smiles, smug. "Anyway, get comfortable. We're going for a ride." Before Woonhak is even halfway to sitting down, Taesan starts the engine—Woonhak nearly goes tumbling into the water with a high-pitched scream, but it's no better news that he doesn't. Once he steadies himself, all Taesan does is laugh at him.

Taesan doesn't say anything about the surrounding water, doesn't comment on its beauty or what it means to him. He seems content to just operate the boat and watch Woonhak marvel, occasionally laughing at whatever water-related anecdote Woonhak offers him. Taesan seems much calmer out on the waters, a lot less witty teasing and a lot more soft smiles. (Something not-good is happening to Woonhak's heart. Must have something to do with seasickness.)

The silence is half the respite Woonhak has been praying for, though when Taesan periodically looks away to observe the waves, Woonhak's got plenty to occupy himself with. That is, staring at Taesan and admiring his freakishly-long eyelashes. That turns out to be a bad idea when Taesan suddenly turns his head and makes direct eye contact with him, leaving Woonhak to blurt out, flustered, "Leehan gives me this really warm feeling, like, I don't know, he just seems… really… nice?"

Taesan's expression morphs into one of judgment. "I wouldn't say that."

"What, you don't think so?"

Taesan doesn't answer that. Woonhak finds that he doesn't answer most of his questions, as if he wants Woonhak to know only as much as he should. Instead, Taesan props his head up on his hand and says, "You like nice people?"

Woonhak blinks. "I mean, who doesn't?"

Taesan blinks back at him. After a while, his eyes droop slightly, and he breaks their eye contact to instead look out towards the vast blue of the ocean. It seems like he wants to ask something in return, so Woonhak stays silent, waiting for the dialogue to come; when it doesn't, they just lapse into half-awkward silence that, for some reason, feels awfully tense.

Woonhak scratches the back of his head. "It's just a vibe in any case. Since you're closer to him, you know him better than me." It's an attempt to make up for whatever he'd said wrong, but Taesan only hums half-heartedly. Seeing as the latter doesn't stop pouting, Woonhak leans closer with a crooked smile. "I just think everyone 'round here is too nice. Too easy to get along with, anyway."

Taesan shifts his head then, meeting Woonhak's gaze once again. "That includes me."

He says it like a statement, but it feels like a question. "Duh," Woonhak replies brightly. "Wouldn't be here if you weren't easy to get along with."

Taesan holds eye contact for a moment longer, just long enough for Woonhak to notice his terribly beautiful boba-eyes again and start sweating (not out of anxiousness, but out of the fact that his heart rate is picking up). Then he snorts, reaching out and pinching the bottom of Woonhak's chin. "Only a So-Cal kid like you would say duh."

"Ah- hey, what! I've never heard anyone from So-Cal use duh!" Woonhak attempts to swat away Taesan's hand, but the older pulls away quicker than him and only offers a Cheshire's grin in return.

"Must be a Woonhak thing then," he quips. "You know Alcatraz?"

There goes the obligatory topic change. "I've only heard of it, but if you-"

"I'll save that story for another time." Taesan looks back to the sea. "You'll get so invested."

Woonhak opens his mouth to protest again (what's up with him seeming so predictable in Taesan's eyes?), then closes it as he processes Taesan's words. "Another time?"

"Another time," Taesan confirms. "You didn't hear me the first time?"

"No, just-" didn't know we were scheduled for 'another time'. But Woonhak likes this more than he thought he would, so he just leans on the boat railing and finishes, "Thinking 'bout what we'll do next time."

"Go fishing, maybe." Taesan's eyes are sparkling when he turns back to Woonhak. "Oh, I'd love to see you try fishing."

Woonhak doesn't like the sound of that; but if it's Taesan asking, No is never an option.

There's only so much one can ignore before they have to acknowledge that they have to unpack boxes of useless junk and collections of (unread) books that have virtually nowhere to go. But Woonhak's an expert at procrastination, so he very wisely sets said boxes off to the side while he unpacks the stuff he actually does like. He'd like to specify that procrastination means self-driven procrastination, not the kind that comes out of distractions. Specifically distractions in the form of Han Taesan standing outside his door.

"You," says Woonhak, very eloquently.

"Me," answers Taesan. He peeks over Woonhak's shoulder then, scanning the scattered items. "Unpacking day, huh?"

"Yeah," Woonhak replies without thinking. Then, "Woah, okay, this is private business, household things, and my move-in experience, so if you're looking to go fishing now, it's a no-go."

"I never said anything about fishing." Without asking for permission, Taesan squeezes past the doorway and into Woonhak's living space. On his way to the box Woonhak had been sorting through before he'd opened the door, he kicks aside a romance novel that Woonhak had attempted to read in order to procrastinate.

Woonhak lets out a strangled gasp. "Hey!"

Taesan sits down on the floor next to the box, criss-cross, then lifts his chin towards Woonhak. "Close the door, it's windy today."

Woonhak shuts up and does exactly that. Not to be put down entirely, he whines: "Can you at least give me your phone number so I can know when you're coming in advance?"

Taesan pretends to mull it over for a few seconds. "Nah. I like barging in like this."

"You're not even 'barging in', I'm opening the door for you!"

Taesan ignores him. "Do you have a spare key?"

"Why would I not have a spare key-"

"Can I have it?"

Woonhak pauses mid-sentence, staring at Taesan with his jaw wide open. "You? After you told me you like barging in without notice? I'm already having heart attacks opening the door and seeing you-"

"Wouldn't happen if you checked the peephole."

"-And you're telling me you want the spare key?" Woonhak huffs. "Yeah, right. You're the last person I'd give it to. If anything, I'm planning it to give it to family, or maybe Jaehyun since he seems like he'd come by often and actually be of help-"

"Give the key to me."

Woonhak gives the key to him.

They end up sitting together, knee-to-knee, as Woonhak digs through the box for something worth showing. "I didn't really bring anything interesting, if that's what you're looking for," he tells Taesan. "Unless you want to pick up one of those novels, but even then I wouldn't be able to tell you about any of them."

Taesan hums. "'Cus you haven't read any of them, right?"

Woonhak's eyebrow twitches. "…I've read a few."

Taesan doesn't look like he believes him, though Woonhak can't tell if that expression is genuine or if he just means to tease Woonhak again. Taesan clarifies, "I wasn't planning to be impressed. I'm just checking out the move-in experience. I've never moved anywhere in my entire life."

"Me neither." Woonhak takes out a framed photo of his family. "Or, well, not until now." He means to just set it aside and look at it when he can stomach the fact that his baby face is terribly embarrassing, but Taesan grabs it out of his hands before he can. Woonhak makes a strangled sound of protest (middle school him is a secret that should be kept under wraps), but to his surprise, Taesan doesn't tease him. Instead-

"So this is your family." Taesan taps a fingernail on the glass. "Cute. You miss them?"

"I'm not heartless- 'course I do. Besides, like I said, it's my first time moving." Woonhak sighs, recalling familiar streets and familiar faces that he won't see again in at least a couple of months. All the while, he sneakily tugs back the framed photo and sets it down out of Taesan's reach. "I miss everything."

He means it with all his heart, though not necessarily in a bad way. If anything, he thinks of homesickness as part of the romanticism of moving. Taesan, however, seems to take it with a negative connotation. He bumps Woonhak with his shoulder and leans closer. "I guess I need to make you realize it's much better here," he quips, and then he splits into a toothy grin, playful and sweet.

Woonhak's heart skips a beat. "Uh," he says, brain buffering. "Uh, yeah. Yeah? That's nice, I mean, I think I already like it here, but you probably- uh. Cool."

Taesan stares at him for a few moments longer. Then, to Woonhak's relief (…and disappointment?), he turns his gaze away and down to what was hidden underneath the framed photo: Woonhak's singular, dusty, practically-untouched ABBA vinyl. "Holy shit," he whispers.

Woonhak unfreezes, scrambling to peer inside of the box too. "What? Oh- oh, that."

"'That'? Are you kidding?" Taesan picks the vinyl up and blows off the dust. His eyes seem to be sparkling as he admires the cover in all its glory. "You're an ABBA fan?"

"Sort of?"

"'Sort of' fans don't exist. Let me guess, you buy vinyls performatively."

"No- hey! What's with all this talk about me being performative!"

Taesan turns to him, still clutching the vinyl. "I honestly couldn't care less about whether you're an ABBA fan or not. You buy vinyls?"

"That's- my only one," Woonhak admits weakly. Before Taesan can double down on his performative accusations, he protests, "But- but I like music! I've loved music since I was born, okay? I'm just not a big vinyl person, and not really a big ABBA person either-"

"What kind of music?" Taesan demands.

"I- I don't know- I mean-" Woonhak scratches the back of his head. It's the truth—he does love music, just in a different way than listening to it. "I compose, is what I mean. I listen to whatever it takes to get the creative fire going."

"You compose?" Taesan demands again, and Woonhak's about to raise his hands in surrender when he nervously looks back at Taesan and finds that the latter is… elated?

Elated is a strong word to use, but for someone who's 1) awfully bad at reading body language and 2) been subject mostly to Taesan's teasing expressions and nothing else, Woonhak can tell that it's new. Incredibly new. His heart starts beating fast again, half with leftover nervousness and half with something untraceable.

"…Yeah," says Woonhak, partly dumbstruck. "Electronically. I brought my equipment if you want to see, but it's honestly a lot to deal with, so I don't really have the time to-"

"That's fine," Taesan amends quickly. "Make a song with me."

"What?"

"Make a song with me," the older repeats. He sets down the ABBA vinyl, returning to his place further away from Woonhak. "I write. I compose too, sort of. I don't have all of that fancy equipment—just Sungho's shabby acoustic guitar. But since you do, make a song with me."

"I-" Woonhak opens his mouth, then closes it. He suddenly finds that he really, really can't say no to Taesan, and that feels like a problem he should probably fix. "Okay."

"I've been trying to write a good love song." Taesan braces his elbow against his knee, leaning his head on the palm of his hand to better stare at Woonhak. "I usually write about love because it's easy. The only issue is that it feels superficial lately. You can help, can't you?"

"Uh."

"You can," says Taesan, like a statement.

"I can," answers Woonhak obediently.

Taesan nods, satisfied. "Cool."

"Cool," Woonhak repeats. "Wait, what?"

"In exchange, I'll help you unpack." Taesan stands up then, dusting off his behind and giving Woonhak a strange sense of deja vu. All he's missing is a look in the front camera of his phone. "Since I don't think you'll be doing much of that if you're busy reading People We Meet on Vacation. You an Ali Hazelwood fan too?"

"That- that was my sister's gift to me! I don't actually read that crap!"

"Mm-hm. How many gifts do you get from your sister? I see four more cliche rom-com books over there."

"I said I've only read a few of them-"

"Those are the few, then." Taesan places a hand on Woonhak's head. "You're so cute."

"I'm what?"

"Are you going to get up or not?"

You can't just change the conversation every single time you don't want to answer me, Woonhak wants to say, with an add-on of, You're not slick either, so I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve. Somehow, those words come out as: "I'm getting up, I'm getting up! Don't rush me."

(Does Taesan actually help with the unpacking process? Yes, much to Woonhak's relief. Is it worth the several photos he snaps of Woonhak's elementary-school bowl-cut? That's a harder question to answer.)

With both Taesan and Jaehyun on his side, Woonhak has no trouble making connections in the town. Not to mention that he's started working now, and while it turns out serving ice cream is slightly harder than he'd expected, there's plenty of opportunities to get to know people. For example, he's gotten acquainted with Sakuya and Ryo, two best friends just a year younger than him who go for an ice cream run everyday (isn't that too much sugar?) (and it's the same flavors every time, doesn't that get old?) (well, whatever… it makes Woonhak's job easier). A tourist by the name of Jihoon who's apparently following his hyungs around on their 'honeymoon' (Woonhak's not sure why he would volunteer to do that, but…) chats it up with Woonhak over the counter (he's so sun-like that he almost blinds Woonhak with a single grin). And there's this really cool hyung who works at a dance studio not too far away, Yeonjun, who promises to teach Woonhak one or two dance moves in exchange for a free waffle cone (Woonhak was probably going to give him it for free anyway, because Yeonjun's just too cool, so the offer is more of a bonus than a deal).

There's people he already knows, too. Leehan pays a visit with his sister who turns out to be his twin, a fact that becomes glaringly obvious once Woonhak looks back and forth between the two of them (they're practically gender-bent versions of each other, personality included, what's up with that?). He's even more handsome when put-together, which Woonhak both gushes over and resents. The owner of the guitar Taesan had mentioned, Sungho, stops by, but he doesn't order; he instead hisses, "Was Leehan here just now?", and Woonhak has absolutely no clue whether he's supposed to rat Leehan out or not, so he answers, "I don't know?" It's not a very amicable first-meeting, especially given that Sungho is apparently a good friend of Taesan's and Jaehyun's, but it proves to be alright after Jaehyun drags Sungho in the next day and forces him to properly introduce himself. And of course, Taesan makes it his whole big thing to terrorize Woonhak whenever possible. It's almost as if he can't go a day without being separated from him. (In a weird way, it's sort of… cute. It gives Woonhak the same feeling as being a clingy cat's favorite cat-tower.) (Is that a compliment or an insult to himself? He's not sure….)

Woonhak's in the process of being harassed by Taesan when he meets Lee Riwoo for the first time. The latter comes in with Jaehyun attached to his arm—it's slightly disturbing that they seem to parallel one another, what with Taesan attached to Woonhak's arm. The only thing lacking parallel is the height.

Jaehyun introduces Riwoo with a great deal of enthusiasm and excessive amounts of what Woonhak would call 'glazing' (though he wisely doesn't mention that). Then, glancing at Taesan, he suggests, "You know, Taesan could even take you up to Riwoo's workplace sometime. You two could try their new lover's- I mean." Jaehyun whistles lowly, scratching the back of his head like someone had just glared at him to shut him up. "Their new definitely-not-romantic sundae flavor. Haha."

Taesan sighs noisily. Woonhak looks at him then, startled by the sudden display of displeasure. "You don't want to go?" he asks.

"I do," Taesan amends quickly. "Let's go tomorrow after you get off of work. I was just-" he squints his eyes at Jaehyun, "developing a migraine from hearing Jaehyun talk."

Surviving Jaehyun's whines of, Riwoo-yah, did you hear that? He's always mean to me, I don't think he's ever even hugged me, (which is strange to hear because Taesan hugs Woonhak all the time) and, Give me a hug to make up for it, Riwoo-yah, they head to Ghirardelli Square the next day. When they arrive, Woonhak realizes that, despite having lived in Fisherman's Wharf for almost two weeks now, he really hasn't seen nothing yet.

The square itself is rowdy enough. Past the welcoming archway is an open plaza plated with terracotta bricks and spotted footsteps. A group of people flits by the entranceway as a large tourist crowd flocks by the restaurant tables. Handfuls more are spread across the entire area, some heading in further where Woonhak can't see and others hiding from the sun under the building overhang. Just in front of him, too, is clamor—Ghirardelli: THE ORIGINAL CHOCOLATE SHOP, the sign reads, and Woonhak can spot bags and buckets of familiar packaged chocolate inside. He doesn't even notice he's drifted off in that direction until Taesan blatantly laughs at him for it.

"Is it mesmerizing, or are you just hungry?" he teases.

They push through the half-line-half-crowd formed in front of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Experience with 'Excuse me's, and one of Taesan's casual, 'Oh, Hanbin-hyung, I haven't seen you in a while's. The bustle of waiting visitors does nothing to prepare Woonhak for the crowd actually occupying the building—he's lucky he's got the height advantage, because he can just barely manage to take in the spectacle over everyone's heads. Posters line the brick walls where there aren't already chocolates put up for sale, old font and bright red lettering marking vintage Ghirardelli advertisements. Several people have gathered around a particular corner where Woonhak can make out what seems to be a factory machine part. And separated from stands of chocolate ranging from gold packaging to navy blue, there's a partitioned section with a menu hanging overhead, several of what seem to be white-dressed servers hurrying around with scoops in their hands.

"Riwoo's over there," Taesan tells him, practically shouting over the crowd's buzz. "He should know we're here, so we don't have to wait in line to order."

"You planned this, didn't you?" Woonhak shouts back, and he delights in the way Taesan goes mute. Maybe Woonhak hasn't gotten a real taste of the attractions in his two weeks living in Fisherman's Wharf, but he's certainly gotten proficient in the case of Fisherman's Wharf's Han Taesan. For all his seemingly-cold beauty and perpetual state of unserious-ness, Taesan's not hard to read. Yeah, Woonhak's clueless, and yeah, he still can't say no to Taesan, and yeah, he can't stop his heart from speeding up whenever Taesan smiles at him, but those aren't really relevant when it comes to being able to embarrass Taesan. The older's expressions are terribly revealing—right now he looks like he might catch on fire.

"Says who?" Taesan snipes, defensive in that way he gets whenever he knows he's been read like a book. "Just be grateful your hyung's treating you, alright."

(…Turns out Taesan isn't treating him, not really. When Riwoo slides a perfectly-crafted sundae over the glass display, he says, "I hope you know I'm not serving you this for free."

In response, Taesan just shrugs. "Jaehyun owes me at least fifteen dollars. That should cover it, right?"

"Jaehyun's money isn't my money," Riwoo deadpans. He still lets them take it.)

Taesan somehow manages to find an unoccupied two-person table off by the corner. Moving towards it, he nearly loses Woonhak in the crowd (Woonhak might be tall, but constantly pausing to ooh and ah at the decorations is a nerf to say the least), and ends up having to backtrack a handful of times just to recollect Woonhak. After the fourth time, he wraps his arm around Woonhak's waist tightly and says, "At this rate, we'll have to put a leash on you." Woonhak's not sure why the statement combined with their stuck-together positioning makes him feel funny.

While it's too busy to find any sense of peace in his seat, the large window by the table's side shows a sight to behold. From his seat, Woonhak can take in all the sea and the sand and the, um, other stuff. He's so preoccupied with admiring the scenery that he nearly jumps when Taesan snaps his fingers in front of his face.

"Hey, Cutie," he calls. Taesan's grown particularly fond of calling Woonhak 'Cutie' these days. Woonhak's not sure whether it's an insult or an endearment, so he always just settles on feeling somewhat neutral about it. In any case, he doesn't think he's going to figure out what it means anytime soon. "You're always thinking about food, and yet you haven't looked at the sundae even once since we sat down."

He sounds like he's pouting. Woonhak immediately locks in and turns his gaze to the sundae, which looks awfully romantic for a treat Jaehyun had called definitely-not-romantic. For one, its color consists purely of various pink shades. For another, its toppings are all heart-shaped save for the whipped cream, a singular cherry, and a square chocolate that has an engraving of, You're my other half. And the cherry on top (no pun intended) is a heart-shaped spoon speared directly into the side of the ice cream. Woonhak's eye twitches.

"There's only one spoon," he points out.

Taesan stares at him like he's stupid. "You're really observant, has anyone ever told you that?"

"No, I just meant- don't you think it's a mistake or something? Like maybe we should go ask Riwoo for another spoon so we don't have to-"

"Are you going to eat or not?"

Woonhak picks up the spoon.

Well, all things considered, he has no reserves swapping spit with other people—for good food, he'd do just about anything. He attempts to clarify while scooping out a large portion: "Just so you know, I'm not grossed out by the idea of swapping spit. But enough about swapping spit—I'm glad Jaehyun suggested we come here. I've always wanted to try dessert by the sea, because honestly, what food can't be good by the sea? There's no way dessert here can't be to my taste." Then he lifts the spoon to his mouth and swallows around it.

Hmm. Um. After smacking his lips for a while, he says, "Um."

"Is it good?" asks Taesan. He takes the spoon out of Woonhak's hands, cleans it off by licking over the surface, and digs in from his side of the sundae. His expression crumples once he tastes it. "Oh."

"It's good!" Woonhak yelps quickly, which is nowhere close to the truth. The truth is that he's starting to think the universe has a thing for proving him wrong just to embarrass him; really, he should learn to shut his mouth. It's just that he's not about to go telling Taesan that he takes back what he said after trying the sundae. "I mean, it wasn't… bad? Honestly, I… don't have a huge sweet tooth, that's all."

Taesan sets the spoon down. Thankfully he's not pouting, but he does look slightly disturbed by the aftertaste of the ice cream. "Me neither. I almost always hate sweet things."

Woonhak's about to say Yeah, you seem like the type, when Taesan's words register in his head. "Wait," he mutters. "If you hate sweet things, why didn't you just say so? We didn't have to come."

Taesan looks up at him, startled. Despite the strange look, he doesn't answer, and for those several moments of silence Woonhak wonders if he'd somehow said something wrong. He furrows his eyebrows and opens his mouth, meaning to apologize, but Taesan beats him to it: "I didn't know you didn't like sweets."

"I- what? What's that got to do with anything?"

Taesan startles again. His expression slowly contorts into I'm-about-to-burst-into-flames, which can only really mean one thing: Woonhak said something he wasn't supposed to. In a good way. Or, at least, in a way that puts him at a distinct advantage, and Woonhak's not going to let any advantage over Taesan just pass. A light-bulb goes off in his brain.

"Oh," Woonhak says. "You really did want to treat me."

"Well," starts Taesan, and then he stops abruptly. "I already said that."

"You didn't say you wanted to treat me, you said I should be grateful that you were. And you weren't even really treating me! This sundae was free-"

"What difference does it make?"

"A big difference!" Then Woonhak thinks it over once more. "Wait, are you talking about the sundae being free or you wanting to treat me?"

"…I don't think I've told you about Alcatraz yet-"

"Hey!" Woonhak protests. "You can't just change the conversation!"

Taesan sighs, long and hard. He manages to look back up at Woonhak then, which is apparently all it takes for him to break. "Do you want me to say it again?"

"You think I'm going to let this opportunity pass?" Woonhak scoffs. "This is nothing compared to that time you smeared your chocolate ice cream into my hair while I was working. Or that time you stuck a sticky-note with 'kick me' written on it on me—which, by the way, makes you an absolute toddler! Who even does things like that anymore? Oh, or the time you practically crawled halfway over the counter to order ice cream that you didn't even eat and scared me so bad that I slipped backward and landed on my ass in front of every single customer-"

"Fine," concedes Taesan, though he looks way too happy now, as if hearing Woonhak recount the torture he's inflicted is a source of joy more than guilt. "I wanted to treat you. Foodies usually never pass on dessert, and you're a romantic. You know what those two mean when you connect the dots, right?"

He got him there. Woonhak scratches the back of his head. "Okay, I admit sharing dessert is really romantic in my head. But there's no point in getting dessert together if you don't enjoy the dessert. I'm not looking to psychologically torture you, Hyung, even if the sundae is free. You want me to be overjoyed, you've got to be overjoyed first."

Taesan's smirk fades off of his face then, something uncertain invading his features. "I-"

"If you want to treat me," interrupts Woonhak, "just treat me to barbecue. That's something we both like, right? Even if barbecue isn't all that romantic, I think it's more than enough as long as we're both happy."

"…I," Taesan starts again, and then he seems to cut himself off right when he's about to continue. They stare at each other in silence for a moment (a moment too long, though Woonhak's not really sure what they have to be awkward about) before Taesan sets down the spoon, dips his thumb into the sundae's pink ice cream, and smears it over Woonhak's cheek.

Woonhak yelps. "Hey- what the fuck!"

Taesan provides no explanation. He just licks his thumb clean of what excess ice cream there is, ignoring Woonhak's squawks of protest.

"I- you- ugh, it's all sticky! Taesan!"

"That's Hyung to you." Taesan looks mildly amused, half-unreadable and somehow, as always, unserious. "If Riwoo gets mad at us for not finishing the dessert, the blame is on you."

"I'm not the one who just wasted dessert! It's bad, but it's not that bad!"

"When we get barbecue next time," Taesan says, and past his panic Woonhak catches onto the lack of 'if', "it'll be pork smeared on your shirt."

"Is that a threat?"

Taesan pretends to mull it over. "A threat of a good time, maybe."

Post-sundae-fiasco (they did end up finishing the dessert—or, well, Woonhak did, because there's just about nothing he'd leave uneaten) (except vegetables), there's only really two things that change in Woonhak's life: a significant increase in barbecue runs, courtesy of Taesan, and a newly-coined title of 'lovebirds' for the two of them, courtesy of Jaehyun and Riwoo's assumed snitching.

Woonhak does eventually manage to acquire Taesan's phone number—but the issue now? Taesan doesn't use that fact to warn Woonhak when he's going to barge into his home. He uses that fact to call Woonhak in the middle of the night claiming that he can't sleep and that Woonhak best accompany him until he can. And since Woonhak can never say no to Taesan, he always does, albeit with his fair share of protests and a handful of funny filters to take screenshots of.

It's after the seventh call in a row that he decides he's really going to tear his hair out if his sleep is interrupted by the obnoxious ringtone Taesan had set for himself one more time. Answering said seventh call with bleary, half-open eyes, he says, "Can you just come and sleep over here?"

That's how they end up tangled together in the same bed, Taesan with an arm draped around Woonhak, face pressed into the crook of Woonhak's neck, and Woonhak with what seems to be a koala clinging to him. The habit of sleeping together replaces all the midnight calls, and though it doesn't seem much better, Woonhak would much rather prefer a blanket-fighter over being woken up by calls in the middle of the night. In fact, with Taesan next to him almost every other night, Woonhak's sleep quality improves. (And he has to admit, Taesan looks very cute in the morning.) (Or, well, Woonhak means to say that Taesan looks very annoying in the morning given that his face somehow doesn't swell and his eyes are, unfortunately, still as bright and beautiful as they are during the day.)

"So you finally decided to keep your promise," says Jaehyun, visibly unimpressed. He'd seem more intimidating if he wasn't dressed head-to-toe in gardening gear.

"I never promised I'd come…" Woonhak protests half-heartedly. "I said I'd maybe come by your gardens."

Taesan snorts, elbowing Woonhak. "It wasn't even his idea, Hyung. I was the one who suggested we come here."

"My loyal dongsaeng Taesannie," sings Jaehyun like he hasn't complained to Woonhak about how unaffectionate Taesan is (which, again, is strange—Taesan seems plenty affectionate with Woonhak). "I'd offer to show you two around, but-" he spans his arms out and gestures to the dirt stains dotted all over his clothes. "I'm booked. It's a busy time, you know! The start of July is the peak of summer, and everyone's rushing to stop by before the rain hits-"

"There's rain in July?!"

"-So I'm saddled with maintaining all the gardens." Jaehyun slaps his thigh in good humor. "Of course, it's a community garden, so it's technically not my work. But a little humanity never hurt anyone." He crosses his arms. "If I were you two, I'd just head back to the docks and come back another day. Like I said, it's a really busy time. Every single inch of lawn is taken up by some couple on a date. There's no use exploring now, unless you're looking to explore the romanticism of making out with your boyfriend while three other couples around you also make out. I wouldn't judge you for that, but…"

"Actually," Taesan interrupts, "that's why we came here."

"…To explore the romanticism of people making out with their boyfriends?"

"No!" Woonhak yelps. "He meant-"

"…You two want to make out while three other-"

"No!" Woonhak yelps again, this time with a significantly redder face. "No, oh my God, what are you saying?"

To his credit, Taesan seems unfazed. "We were going to have a picnic, but the lawn's full. Can we have ours here?"

Jaehyun blinks at him. "Here? You mean where I'm working here?"

"I can bribe you with food?" Woonhak offers. "Sungho made us these honey-sriracha sandwiches and we have an extra, so-"

"I'm sold," declares Jaehyun. "There's two lawn chairs over there. Have fun, lovebirds."

If Jaehyun hadn't told him, Woonhak would have no sense of impending rain. The July sky seems perfectly clear and bright—in fact, the sun seems a little too bright, what with it beating down on Woonhak. He's dressed simply, but not quite fit for the weather. He would've worn a tank top instead of a thicker tee if he weren't going out with Taesan, who somehow pulls off his black tank with ease. Woonhak eyes the older's biceps now, half with envy and half with genuine enchantment.

"What is it?" says Taesan, moving an arm up to block out the sun as he turns to Woonhak.

"Huh?"

"You keep staring at me," Taesan explains. His muscles are flexing with the action, and a few moles on the underside of his arm can be spotted with his current pose. Woonhak is struck with the sudden urge to trace his fingers up the expanse of skin. Jaehyun's clinginess must be getting to him.

"Just distracted," Woonhak replies, throat a little dry. He clears it, then lifts his gaze to where Taesan's raising an eyebrow at him. "I mean- I mean, uh. Can't wait to eat!"

Unlike Woonhak, Taesan seems much more interested in the flora around them than the food. Woonhak supposes that's a given—the older's spent much more time around Sungho and Sungho's sandwiches from big-business-Boudin's than Woonhak. Still, it's sort of strange to see someone as sharp as Taesan studying flower petals, even if Woonhak's no stranger to the delicate sides of Taesan the same way he's no stranger to the flustered, unorganized ones. He finds that the more time he spends around Taesan, the more he realizes how odd the latter really is. In a positive way, he means.

Odd or not, it's not like Woonhak's going to question it. More time spent together might mean understanding Taesan better, but it most definitely doesn't mean learning how to say no to him. They're an odd… duo in that way: Taesan goes around with his weird schemes that aren't really schemes because Woonhak catches onto them, and Woonhak follows his schemes even though he's caught onto the schemes in question. Just like an obedient dog on a leash. Still an obedient dog on a leash.

Woonhak sighs at that thought. Upper hands are upper hands, but he's still going along with Taesan's whims everyday, so in the scheme of things his ability to fluster Taesan (momentarily) doesn't mean much.

"I'm going to go talk to Jaehyun about something," Taesan says, interrupting Woonhak's train of thought. When Woonhak looks up at him, he's staring right back with some (evil? malicious?) expression tinged with some (fond? smug?) feeling. It might be because Woonhak's practically stuffing his face; he's learned that Taesan thinks just about anything embarrassing Woonhak does is cute.

"Okay," mumbles Woonhak past the food. Then he actually processes the words, and by then Taesan is already halfway hidden by the brush. "Wait, what? This is supposed to be a picnic between you and me! You stole two bites of my sandwich and then got up! That's not a picnic! And now you're leaving?"

Taesan doesn't even turn back to look at him. "I'll be back," he offers flippantly.

"That's not what I- hey- hey! I mean you have to stay here, with me, eat with me, and- Hyung!"

Taesan disappears somewhere off to the far corner of the garden, where Jaehyun is presumably garden-tending. Woonhak could run after him or continue screaming at him, but two hands are on his sandwich and no part of him doubts that Taesan will be back.

He slumps back in his seat and considers it a failure. He's not even sure what Taesan could possibly have to talk to Jaehyun about—every single time Jaehyun encounters the two of them, Taesan seems adamant on keeping Jaehyun's mouth shut. And besides, in what world does Taesan choose Jaehyun over Woonhak? In what world does Taesan choose anyone over Woonhak? Never mind Picnic-Date-Woonhak, who's maybe not the best at eating elegantly but is still obediently sitting. That's practically all Taesan ever wants from him! And Picnic-Date-Woonhak is romantic! He's wonderful! He practically blends in with all the green and beautiful flowers and soft scenery!

By the time Taesan can be spotted making his way back, Woonhak's already finished half of the watermelon platter. "You can't just go running off like that," he whines as soon as Taesan comes into sight. "Who else am I supposed to feed watermelon to?"

Taesan doesn't look apologetic in the slightest. In fact, he seems to look a little discomposed as he shuffles along the path leading back to Woonhak's clearing. "Close your eyes," he calls.

"…Like, the band?"

Taesan's expression falls flat. "Like, you close your eyes."

Woonhak perks up. "Oh! You've got a surprise for me? I thought it was weird that you left just like that, but if there's something in it for me, I'll consider forgiving-"

"Are you going to close your eyes or not?"

Woonhak obediently closes his eyes. There goes another count of times he's followed Taesan's orders.

He hears the footsteps before he feels Taesan's shadow over him. There's some crinkling noise too, probably Taesan fumbling with whatever the surprise is as he takes his signature big breath, a sign that he's about to start speaking. Predictably: "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Woonhak was expecting a janky trinket, maybe a not-so-janky one if Taesan was feeling generous, or maybe, if Taesan was feeling especially generous, a cute gnome he found in the garden. What he wasn't expecting? A bouquet of flowers.

There's little that could've prepared Woonhak for the sight of Taesan clutching flowers in his hands. The older seems unprepared himself, the tips of his ears lit up a bright shade of pink. It's a compliment to the assortment of flowers, which range from pink petals to white to the bright yellow signature of sunflowers. Even the wrapping paper, maroon in color and crinkled where Taesan digs his fingernails in, is harmonious with the scene. The only inharmonious thing about it all is the fact that it's Taesan.

"Is this," Woonhak starts, unsure and awed, "for… for me?"

Taesan's expression pinches a little. "You were just so sure I had a surprise for you. Now you're asking me if it really is for you?"

"No, it's- it's not like that!" Woonhak hurries to clarify. "I mean-" he reaches out carefully, just until his fingertips brush one of the flower petals, "I- I'm not ungrateful. I love it."

Taesan raises an eyebrow at him.

"I really, really love it," assures Woonhak. There are flowers in front of him, but there must be some flowers inside of his chest too; he feels something blooming close to his heart, leaves and greenery clogging the inside of his throat. Woonhak continues, "I'm just-"

"Surprised? Yeah, that's the point." Taesan cuts in before he can finish. "Unless you have a pollen allergy, I think my time's well spent."

"I don't have a pollen allergy," Woonhak replies without thinking. When Taesan stares at him like he's expecting more, Woonhak asks, "…You, you spent time on this?"

Taesan reaches out for Woonhak's hovering hand, dragging it to the base of the bouquet. There, he overlaps their hands, as if urging Woonhak to take it. "I've been to the gardens a lot," he explains, "so it's nothing special to me. But since it's your first time, I- well. I wanted it to be a first for me too." He pauses after finishing that sentence. When he continues, his voice holds a little less gentility. "So I asked Jaehyun about it back there. It's your first time visiting the gardens, and it's my first time making a bouquet."

Still with his fingers partially interlocked with Woonhak's, Taesan shakes the bouquet loosely. "There's sunflowers, obviously. And poppies too, because we're in California. Those pink ones are zinnias, and the white ones are carnations. Also, the- um. The roses." Taesan tilts his head to the side. "I would've just picked some random pretty flowers if it weren't for Jaehyun. I chose based on what he told me, because he knows everything about flower meanings. He's also got a habit for going crazy when he's getting into all that floral junk, so. It took a while. But you love it."

Woonhak wishes he was listening, or at least following Taesan's pointed guidance at the bouquet, but Taesan's face just seems so much more beautiful than the flora. Taesan being gorgeous is nothing new, and it's something Woonhak has no inhibitions telling him all the time ("I'm really jealous, Hyung, how do you just look like that?") (Taesan seems vaguely unsatisfied every time Woonhak says that, as if the words aren't quite the compliment he wants to hear), but there's one thing about Taesan's face that Woonhak won't ever tell the older: it lights up when Taesan's excited. It's just about as obvious as it is when he's sulking, which should make it less enchanting, but really—Woonhak doesn't think there'll ever come a time when it doesn't knock the wind straight out of him.

There's just something about the bright curve of Taesan's eyes, the slope of his grin, the slightly-crooked teeth peeking through; it would be that it's unguarded, vulnerable, but that too is nothing new to Woonhak. Sometimes—or, no, all the time—it seems like Taesan is wholly unguarded around Woonhak, stilted attempts to hide his fluster and all.

He knows they're talking about flowers, but seriously. Flowers have some serious competition for beauty if Han Taesan is in the running.

Woonhak sighs. It comes out dreamy, which somehow snaps him back to the reality that is Taesan staring straight at him.

"You love it," repeats Taesan flatly.

"I love it," Woonhak echoes, though he's not entirely sure which object he's talking about.

Taesan nods, satisfied. "It's yours, then." He detaches his hand from Woonhak's (it's weird that Woonhak can feel the absence of warmth even in a hot summer day), then nudges the bouquet towards Woonhak.

"Oh," blubbers Woonhak. Attempts to slow his beating heart are futile, but he hugs the bouquet closer to his chest anyway. "Thank you, Hyung. Seriously. I mean it with all my heart, and my heart's big."

"I know," Taesan says in return. Whether he's addressing the first part of the last statement or the second part is up in Woonhak's head for debate. "So what was that about feeding me watermelon? Am I going to have a personal butler?"

Woonhak's daze fades away. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that…."

"You can't go back on your promises, Cutie. That's called dishonesty."

"I never-! I never promised I'd feed you anything!"

"Look. My mouth's open. Are you going to feed me or not?"

"You- ugh! You're so annoying!"

"I know," Taesan repeats. Then he smiles, and it's more smug than bright but still somehow the same kind of beautiful.

(Woonhak thinks he's onto something. Lyric-wise, he means. Turns out picnic dates are more than opportunities to ogle Taesan—they're pretty inspirational, too. Love songs really are easier to write when Woonhak has Taesan around.)

"Let me get your Instagram handle so I can post this," says Sungho, tapping away at his phone. "I already have a really aesthetic caption idea in mind."

The two of them are sat outside of a quiet cafe, some streets inward from the usual strip. It's a place Woonhak wouldn't have found without Sungho, though he can't say he's grateful because the invite had been perfunctory if anything. It'd started with Sungho dialing Woonhak and demanding, "Do you know where Leehan went?", and when Woonhak once again had no answer for him, Sungho had awkwardly continued, "Oh… well. Do you want to get brunch with me?"

On his way out, Woonhak had been stopped by Taesan. "Where you headed?" the older had demanded, and Woonhak, out of instinct more than anything, had blurted, "Getting brunch with Sungho."

Taesan seemed settled after hearing his answer. "Don't go out with Jihoon anymore," he'd said out of nowhere, which was strange because he'd met Jihoon a total of one time and heard about Jihoon a total of three times, all of which had been Woonhak's innocent reports of lunch together.

"But Hyung," Woonhak had protested, "I don't even go out to eat with Jihoon that much! And it's his last week here-"

Taesan blew hot air into his eye, ignored Woonhak's strangled yelps of protest, and then walked off.

Woonhak scratches the back of his head now and replies to Sungho, "Sure, but I don't really use my main Instagram account often. I just watch reels when I can."

Sungho gives him a weird look at that, as if the only reason why anyone would ever be on Instagram is to post aesthetic photos of aesthetic hangouts with aesthetic captions. He still ends up entering Woonhak's recited handle into the search bar, though he doesn't reply when Woonhak asks, "Do you see my account?" Answerless, Woonhak tears off a piece of his pastry to toss it to a passerby pigeon, only for it to be scared into flight by Sungho's very loud screech of, "What the hell, why has Taesan tagged you in literally everything?!"

"What?" Woonhak's attention snaps away from the pigeon. "What?" He crawls halfway across the table to peek when all Sungho does in response is gawk open-mouthed at his phone.

To Woonhak's horror, Sungho isn't exaggerating in the slightest. Woonhak's mentions consist of a few sparse past-life (pre-move) posts at the bottom, and then what seems to be rows upon rows of posts from user @giantmountain_ts. They range from close-up pictures of Woonhak's face to scenery Woonhak distinctly remembers seeing with Taesan to model-like photos of Taesan himself that Woonhak knows he took because Taesan had once coached him on how to become a pro-Instagram-photographer. Every single one is captioned with a one-line, no-context 'with @kim_cool_wh'.

"What the fuck," says Woonhak, half-awed.

"You didn't know?" Sungho screeches again, and Woonhak has to scramble to shush him before the cafe workers kick them out for public disturbance. "How inactive are you? He's been doing this since-" Sungho scrolls down, "-since the beginning of June!"

"Three days after I moved." Woonhak can tell even without checking the date—the first post tagging him is a photo of Woonhak's ABBA vinyl, four of Taesan's painted-black fingernails in view. He reaches out and swipes to the second photo slide, which turns out to be a candid of Woonhak sitting on the floor and flipping through Book Lovers.

Sungho makes a fake gagging sound. Woonhak spins on him, suddenly flustered. "What? I- I was just curious what it was about! I don't actually read those-"

"Who cares about the book you're reading?" Sungho interrupts incredulously. "I care about the fact that you two are doing I-D-A!"

"…What's that?"

"Instagram Displays of Affection," explains Sungho like it should be obvious. "This is the most despicable thing you could ever do, Woonhak. Like, are you serious? Candid photo and ominous tag? No, let's talk about this post on July 6th—picnic date? Gross! Oh, and don't get me started on this one—a zoomed-in photo of you sleeping? Ew! What are you two, exhibitionists?" Sungho clicks on the comments of that post; there's only one thread, started by @tonystark_myung.

@tonystark_myung:

was this photo taken with consent

@giantmountain_ts:

replying to @tonystark_myung: he consented by letting me into his bed

@tonystark_myung:

replying to @giantmountain_ts: ??»?!@>??>@!#???? AWHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HIS BED(<</

Woonhak's jaw drops. Since when did offering to keep Taesan company in the night become letting him into his bed? (…Well, technically….)

"Scandalous!" cries Sungho. He slams the phone onto his table. "Forget it. I'm not tagging you. I can't be associated with an IDA offender like you."

"What- I- it's not like I asked him to tag me in all of those photos!" Woonhak protests. There's a funny feeling in his chest. "And we're not- we're not- exhibitionists!"

Sungho scoffs. "I won't believe you until I see all of those posts deleted off of Taesan's account."

Woonhak returns home dejected. He finds the culprit of the Instagram-tagging lounging on the couch without a care in the world, and for a moment he regrets giving Taesan the spare key too.

"Why have you tagged me in literally everything?" asks Woonhak as he's peeling off his shoes.

"On Instagram?" Taesan doesn't even glance up. "I thought you knew."

"What- oh, come on, you of all people know I don't use my main account!"

"Yeah," admits Taesan, who has had access to Woonhak's alternate-reel-watching account since forever ago. "What, do you want me to take the posts down?"

"Yeah, Sungho's calling me an IDA-offender, whatever that means-"

"I'm not going to take the posts down." Taesan looks over then, still absentmindedly scrolling on his phone. "I think they're cute."

"What about my blurry sleeping face is cute to you?"

Taesan just gives him a flat look. "Are you really asking me that question?"

…Woonhak concedes. "Fine, keep them up. Just- let me know next time…?"

Predictably, Woonhak grows tired of hearing Taesan ask, Hey, kim-underscore-cool-underscore-w-h, you fine with me tagging you in this post? He ends up letting Taesan do whatever he wants after just five days. Whoever finds Woonhak on Instagram is just going to have to deal with his Han Taesan watermark.

The water is shockingly cool to the touch.

If Jaehyun had forecasted rain, he'd clearly forecasted wrong. The past few days have been burning hot, reminiscent of the summers Woonhak spent in his hometown down south. It's not as sticky and gross, maybe, but it's got the same sort of adventurous vibe, and so Woonhak decided to drag their rag-tag group of six (read: the people who he managed to really get close to in the past month and a half) down to the Aquatic Park Beach. Leehan, the most familiar with swimming at the beach, had told him that it wasn't really meant to be a swimming destination, but low and behold—there's people covering almost every inch of the sand, and some more scattered across the waves.

It's not like Woonhak can blame them. What else is the coast good for if not a summer's swim?

Sungho and Riwoo don't get in, seemingly perfectly content tanning in the sun. (Well, Sungho's tanning. Riwoo's squinting with a look of discontent as if he'd rather be anywhere else but surrounded by shirtless bodies and bikinis.) Jaehyun, slightly discouraged that nobody had wanted to go kayaking with him, joins Leehan, Woonhak, and Taesan in the water, though he disappears shortly afterward, whisked away by one of his many, many town connections. Leehan had wanted to show Woonhak how long he could hold his breath underwater; his head had disappeared under the waves and then never popped up again, so Woonhak figures he's off doing his own thing too. For the past stretch of time, it's just been Woonhak and Taesan trying to one-up each other at swimming.

At some point, Taesan dives down into the waves with virtually no warning, leaving Woonhak with a giant splash in his face. Woonhak splutters against the salty water, something like a strangled cry of protest leaving his lips, but there's no chance for revenge when he blinks his eyes open and can't find Taesan anywhere. There's people scattered across the whole expanse of the aquatic park—as good as Woonhak's gotten at finding Taesan amongst a crowd, nothing is distinguishable amongst the ocean.

Woonhak groans. He's way too preoccupied with staying afloat to go hunt for Taesan. He figures they'll find each other again eventually, like they always do, and he's almost proven right when a head pops up in front of him. The only catch is that the head is full of auburn hair instead of black hair, and the owner once again almost blinds Woonhak with his beauty.

"Leehan!" he exclaims, nearly raising a hand to shield from the looks-radiation. "Have you seen-"

"Taesan?" Leehan finishes for him. He kicks up his feet and spreads his arms to float on his back. The sight isn't unlike one of a graceful merman, which, now that Woonhak thinks about it, would suit Leehan perfectly. "No, but I think this is my first time seeing the two of you apart."

Woonhak frowns. "…Is that a good thing, or?"

"IDK," Leehan says, letter-for-letter, out-loud. The acronym use makes Woonhak frown harder. "Depends on how you see it. Personally, having a Han Taesan attached to me for the rest of my life sounds like hell."

"Well-" Woonhak stutters, "well, who said Taesan's going to be attached to me for the rest of my life?"

Leehan looks at him from his place floating on the waves. His look reads: Isn't it obvious? "You know, he doesn't do this to anyone else," he starts again after a brief moment.

"Who?"

"Taesan, who else?"

"Oh. But what does 'this' mean?"

"This," answers Leehan, and then he gestures vaguely to Woonhak.

Woonhak blinks at him. "What?"

"'This' means literally everything he does to you," Leehan explains slowly.

"What?" Woonhak repeats. "I don't get it."

Leehan sighs. He kicks his feet down, returning to Woonhak's eye level with working arms to keep himself afloat. Then, without any context, he lists: "Calling you 'Cutie', seeking you out everyday, clinging onto you, constantly teasing you, mentioning you in every conversation, mentioning himself in every conversation you're in-"

"What are you doing here?" spits an awfully familiar voice. Woonhak immediately startles, flailing away from Leehan and off to the side. He'd end up halfway underwater if it weren't for a pair of strong arms that hoists him up—it doesn't take a glance backward to know who the arms belong to.

"Speak of the devil," chirps Leehan in a weirdly cheerful tone. Without another word, he salutes Woonhak and begins to swim off in the direction of the shore, presumably to where Sungho's tanning on a striped towel.

"Hey!" exclaims Woonhak as the arms unwrap from around him. "You're back!"

Taesan seems intent on scowling at Leehan's retreating silhouette, not bothering to look back at Woonhak. "Yeah," he answers mindlessly. "What was he doing here?"

"Beats me. He was saying some stuff about me, and then some stuff about you-"

"What was he saying about me?"

Woonhak blinks at him. "Oh, I don't know. Something about the 'this' you do. Whatever that means."

"Whatever that means," Taesan echoes, still scowling. "Just ignore whatever he tells you. He never makes any sense. The only one who can make sense of him is Sungho, and that's because Sungho makes just as little sense."

"…What's going on with them?"

"Small business versus big business. It's one-sided beef for the most part, but Leehan thinks it's funny to mess with Sungho." Taesan looks uninterested; he's probably well-versed in the subject.

Woonhak frowns. "Sungho's reactions are funny, but if Sungho's the only one who makes sense of him, why doesn't Leehan just clear things up? They don't have to be fake-rivals."

Taesan pauses then, staring at Woonhak almost as if he's said something stupid. After a long while of silence spotted with seagull-caws and distressed cries of surrounding people, Taesan says, "Well, sometimes messing with someone is a way of showing affection."

"Oh." Yeah, that sounds right. It sounds familiar, too. Sort of. "Huh."

Taesan doesn't say anything else for a moment. They stare at each other for what seems to be several minutes before Taesan lifts his hand and splashes a handful of water into Woonhak's face, on which the latter chokes and yells out. With watery eyes, Woonhak attempts to reach for Taesan and pull as a form of revenge only to be met with Taesan's laughs. He's halfway to escaping further back into the ocean, something taunting shouted at Woonhak along the lines of, Catch me if you can!, and the rest of their bay-play-trip is nothing but a blur.

"I'm beat," announces Taesan. "Keep working if you want. I'm going to go take a walk."

It's thrown bait; of course Woonhak follows.

The sun dips just below the horizon as soon as they step out. As if to mock Woonhak's misconceptions about the forecasts, the weather's grown despicably cold in the past few days, murmurs of incoming rain scattered throughout the town. How it manages to rain in summer, Woonhak doesn't know. A part of him is upset by it, but the other part thinks it's fun—it seems like San Francisco has its fair share of surprises.

He shivers in his puffer jacket, purchase courtesy of Taesan, who had accompanied him to Costco and insisted that he buy at least three puffer jackets if he wanted to survive Fisherman's Wharf winters. He understands the warning now more than ever; the breeze blown over the ocean is nothing if not frigid, albeit refreshing after he'd spent nearly three hours locked in his apartment chipping away at a song draft with Taesan.

Taesan glances at Woonhak now, bemused. "Don't tell me you're already freezing."

Woonhak looks back at him. He finds that Taesan looks unaffected more than anything, and he's not nearly as covered as Woonhak. "I am freezing," Woonhak huffs. "You should be freezing too. I don't know what kind of immunity you've got, but it's unfair, okay?"

Taesan shrugs absentmindedly. "Lived here my whole life, Cutie. The immunity comes with the status."

The words set off a train of thought in Woonhak's head. He huddles closer to Taesan, attempting to steal some of his body heat, and then says, "You know, sometimes I do think about how you've lived here your whole life."

Taesan hums in acknowledgement, as if to say, Continue? He doesn't acknowledge Woonhak's cuddle-up, but he does bump him back, gently.

"Like." Woonhak thinks about it for a moment. "You just seem to belong here. I can't imagine you anywhere else. And it's not just that—it's everything you know about here. The Alcatraz stories, the landmarks, the tourist traps, the beef between store owners and the fake beef between our friends. The cold immunity, the ability to tell the tide, the way you know which constellations are visible from the docks. It's just that I love this place so much, but you're- you're a part of it. You don't have to love here, because it's yours."

Taesan doesn't respond for a moment. They walk in silence, side by side, until he finally answers, "I loved this place too, when I was younger and more of a dreamer. But the longer you stay in one place, the older it gets. The more you realize that it's not perfect, and the more you want to leave." He lets the words linger in the air where the sky has begun to descend into a darker hue before he continues, "I still love it here, though. It was a back-of-the-mind kind of love for a while, and I didn't think anything—anybody—would revive that part of me that saw it as a dream." He looks at Woonhak then, soft, unguarded. "I think I've remembered that it's a dream now."

Woonhak swallows thickly.

"I guess," Taesan murmurs, "all I needed to do is see it from someone else's eyes. Or maybe all I needed to do is see it with someone else."

"Huh," says Woonhak. His heart is ticklish. Suddenly, he feels as if every part of him that had been wishing for a fantasy move-in has been reawakened.

They stare at each other momentarily, wordless. "Do you miss it?" Taesan starts again abruptly.

"Huh?"

"That feeling," Taesan clarifies. "Belonging somewhere, knowing someplace intimately. You must've felt that way back in your hometown."

"Sometimes," Woonhak admits. It's impossible not to miss the kind of feeling Taesan is describing. There's times when he walks into his apartment and wonders why the shoe-rack isn't where he remembers it being. There's times when he crosses the street and hears echoes of the alarm-tune that would play on the crosswalk connecting his neighborhood to his high school. There's times when he can't find the spice he wants in the supermarket when he knows he could've named its exact aisle if he were in the market by his house.

"Do you regret moving here?" asks Taesan.

Woonhak blinks. "Of course not. How could I ever regret being able to meet you?"

There's a part of him that'll always belong in his hometown. He can't not leave a fraction of himself behind when he's spent nearly his whole life in its embrace. But the novelty of moving doesn't wear off to regret—it wears off to new memories, new habits, like how he walks into his apartment and knows exactly where Taesan will be lounging on the couch, or how he crosses the street and can predict just when the next crossing signal will sound, or how he's grown to like the alternative spices he's found and their funky kicks. If a part of him belongs in his hometown, the rest of him belongs here, next to Taesan, storm clouds above them and their hands brushing together.

Taesan stares at him blankly. He touches the back of his neck lightly, says in a low voice, "Then I guess we were always meant to cross paths."

"Well, duh." Woonhak toes at Taesan's right-foot shoe. "If I hadn't moved, we really would have never met. You'd still be So-Cal-phobic, and I'd still be stuck in my little town."

"I am still So-Cal-phobic. Don't get it twisted."

"Okay, well, I guess I'm technically not a So-Cal kid anymore, so you're allowed to be So-Cal-phobic now."

Taesan snorts. "That's a stretch. Can you really say you fit in here?"

"I- hey! It's not about fitting in, and it's also not my fault cold-resistance is an exposure-therapy-trait! I mean it like- you belong here, so don't I belong second-handedly?"

"That's not how it works."

"Then- then you'll convert me into someone who fits in here, one way or another, won't you?"

"Maybe." Taesan smiles at him lopsidedly. "If you never leave, I will."

"Of course I'm never leaving," Woonhak replies. "I'm not leaving you."

Something wet lands on the tip of his nose as soon as the words leave his mouth. He blinks, raising a hand to touch it, but Taesan beats him to it—he swipes away the droplet carelessly. When Woonhak brings his gaze back up to Taesan's face, the latter's ears are red. A byproduct of the cold, maybe.

"Your first rain in Fisherman's Wharf," Taesan says. His voice is so careful that it feels like a whisper.

Woonhak swallows again. He thinks about it briefly: catching Taesan's wet fingertip with a hand, intertwining their fingers, or maybe leaning in closer for a better source of heat. He could cross that distance easily. It's a negotiable space.

The thought fades away after a beat, some indescribable vision still etched in the back of Woonhak's mind. He ends up saying, "I've always thought first snow was romantic, but I feel like I should give first rain some credit."

Taesan looks vaguely unimpressed. "First rain isn't a thing."

"But it could be," suggests Woonhak. "You're falling for the propaganda, Hyung. You're letting societal norms define you."

"Now you're just saying things."

"No, I'm dead serious," Woonhak says, nodding his head as if it'll reinforce his point. "Let's make first rain a thing. Ten romance novels on first rain now. Ten love songs on first rain now. First Snow by EXO? No. It's First Rain by EXO now."

Taesan huffs out of a laugh. "That sounds stupid."

"You're stupid. Just think about it. Walking side by side, sharing an umbrella, and the other person- oh, you hold the umbrella over to the other person's side as an act of selflessness! So romantic."

"Nothing romantic about wet shoulders."

"Well then you've got no real romance in you," sing-songs Woonhak. "Don't you feel the love in the air?"

"I feel the rain in the air," Taesan snaps with no real heat. "Let's head back before it starts to pour."

"Oh, come on." Woonhak tugs Taesan's arm back before the latter can move to leave. "Let's stay out a bit longer. I like it here, with you."

Taesan stares back at him. His ears are still tinged a deep shade of red, and his face too is now adopting a similar warmness. He looks almost like he's at a loss of words until his tongue darts out to wet his bottom lip and he murmurs back, "Okay."

It's strange having Taesan acquiesce to Woonhak's request. Usually, it's the other way around. But seeing Taesan's cast-away gaze now, Woonhak can't help but wonder if it's like this more often than he thought, and that the strangeness isn't attributed to a lack of occurrences but rather a lack of recognition. That possibility is uncomfortable to think about, because it means that Woonhak doesn't know Taesan nearly as well as he should, or at the least doesn't realize just to what lengths the older goes for him. And, well. Woonhak is undeserving if he isn't even capable of that much.

The negotiable space remains; the thought of crossing it returns. Woonhak knows he shouldn't—or at least, that he should do more to be able to—but he reaches out anyway, for the safer distance. He curls their fingers together, feeling wet sleeves from the drizzle that's started and warm, pliant skin.

Taesan's expression seems to contain a multitude of emotions. The most obvious among them is one that Woonhak categorized a long time ago: fondness. Taesan's thumb curls against the back of Woonhak's hand when he whispers, "It's my birthday next Thursday."

"Hm?"

"It's my birthday next Thursday," Taesan repeats. "I'll be looking forward to whatever celebration you prepare. And you have to get a good gift. If you get me flowers, I'll snore. You can ask Riwoo for suggestions. He's the best at gift-giving."

"Okay," says Woonhak easily. It's always easy to give into Taesan. He swings their interlocked hands to the side, then back to the front, studying Taesan's expression as if it'll give way to something decipherable.

They continue holding hands on the walk back when Taesan claims he's done playing the wet cat role. He makes Woonhak a warm cup of hot chocolate post-walk, forces Woonhak to towel-dry his hair for him, curls up next to him later in the night, then proceeds wakes up with a cold. Needless to say, Woonhak's the one nursing him back to health.

"Say," whispers Woonhak conspiratorially. He's clutching the phone close to his ear, vaguely concerned that Taesan, sitting on the couch just outside Woonhak's bedroom, will overhear. "If your hyung starts calling you Cutie, what's that mean?"

"Er, that he's gay," says Henchman #1, also known as Woonhak's past-life (pre-move) best friend, also known as Ohyul.

"Oh my god…" gasps Henchman #2, also known as Woonhak's past-life (pre-move) other best friend, also known as Minje.

Woonhak frowns. "Okay, those weren't the answers I was looking for."

"Hello? When you ask a question, you're not supposed to be looking for an answer. I give you the answer, and the answer is that he's gay. You're gay."

"You know what," Woonhak declares, "I'm not going to think that hard. The two of you are doing mental gymnastics."

"I just said Oh my God?"

Woonhak hangs up. Some questions are better unanswered. Actually, some questions are just better unasked!

Riwoo audibly snorts when Woonhak brings it up. He folds one leg over the other, then says, ever cryptic: "He doesn't actually want a nice gift. He just wants your attention."

Clueless, Woonhak turns to Jaehyun, who's got both arms around Riwoo and his face tucked into the crook of Riwoo's neck like they're surgically attached. "He's right," says Jaehyun.

Still clueless, Woonhak turns to Leehan, who's rummaging through a bucket of mixed chocolates for the darkest flavor possible because he knows Riwoo will give it to him for free. "He's right," says Leehan.

In a last ditch effort, Woonhak turns to Sungho, who's scrolling on his phone while chewing on his fingernail, seemingly transfixed by whatever travel-blog YouTube short has showed up on his for-you page this time around. When he looks up and meets Woonhak's gaze, he says, "I don't know what we're talking about, but if we're talking about Taesan, I don't care."

After experiencing the mortifying ideal of being spam-texted KIM WOONHAK GAY KIM WOONHAK GAY KIM WOONHAK IS A QUEER and Wow, this is crazy Lol also are you guys sleeping together why is your Insta bio just his account @ with a heart emoji Wait are you two dating or not I don't get it, Woonhak's not really looking forward to consulting any past-life acquaintances again. Besides, the only past-life acquaintances he could consult are his sisters, both of which met Taesan through a singular FaceTime call and have since been obsessed. Woonhak gets it—Taesan just has this cool energy, this unbelievable pull to him, the sort that kind of, you know, would be an incentive to, like, kiss along his collarbone, theoretically, but seriously, charming his sisters? That's a bit too far. (Woonhak had felt a bit hurt after that call, if only because his sisters seemed to like Taesan more than should've given Woonhak's accounts of Taesan-torture. Upon hearing of this upset, Taesan had fondly dogged on him, and then fondly cuddled him to sleep.) (Er, not cuddled. They slept side by side, a normal distance apart.) (…Just to make it clear.)

Lacking suggestions from mutual friends and those not-in-the-know, Woonhak does what he does best for Taesan's gift: he creates.

He and Taesan have worked on enough projects together to make a whole album at this point. There's even drafts in Taesan's video-editing software, snippets from Woonhak's camera mocking a filmed music video. The songs they make are nothing crazy—at least, Woonhak doesn't think so—but Taesan seems awfully pleased each time they finish a collaboration, never forgetting to praise Woonhak with the same phrase: "Your mind is beautiful."

The words don't mean much to Woonhak on their own. But because it's Taesan, who's shown Woonhak time and time again that he is just a dreamer burning on creative fuel, it means everything. Woonhak knows, deep down, that it's the biggest compliment Taesan could ever give him. A part of him wants to continue to splash all sorts of colors onto the canvas of Taesan's life.

It's that spark that drives his idea home. If the lyrics turn out to be a little more love-song than he thought they would be? …Well.

The funniest part is that he researches more to figure out Taesan's birthday celebration than he had ever researched in the whole crucial moving-to-a-new-city process. He plans more than he had possibly ever planned for something in his entire life. His whole heart's in the process, and by the time Taesan's birthday actually rolls around, he's more than ready to show it.

"I've been here dozens of times, Cutie," says Taesan, unimpressed when Woonhak drags him to Pier 39. "I'm going to fall asleep if this is the only item on your agenda."

Woonhak makes a strangled noise of protest. "Hey, have a little faith in me! This is just the prelude to the big spiel. You can only enjoy a meal if you have an appetizer first."

"What's up with you and having to relate everything to food?"

"…I'm just hungry."

They get lunch at a nearby cafe, chatting over the table about the various gifts Taesan received earlier. The morning had been reserved for, as Sungho put it, general party, whatever that means—Woonhak had had to negotiate (argue) with Jaehyun in order to cut that time down. ("You already have him all the time!" Jaehyun had whined. "You can't steal him on his birthday too!") For all that he had insisted Woonhak make good plans for a birthday get-away, Taesan hadn't seemed too keen on that general party at all. In fact, as Leehan and Jaehyun belted out their rendition of Happy Birthday Dear Taesan, Taesan had winced, leaned over to Woonhak, and whispered, "I think we as a society should get rid birthday celebrations."

Just as quickly as it came, the rain's now subsided to make way for a more oppressive heat, scattering tourists throughout the shaded areas while the sun blazes a path across the sky. As Taesan describes, it's nearing that time when summer break's about to end—little kids can no longer be found escaping the clutches of their parents, and teens can no longer be spotted loitering by shop entrances. For what it's worth, the pier is comparatively empty, and the lack of sweaty bodies and large crowds makes room for Woonhak's blooming excitement. Against Taesan's complaints that it's 'too hot for this', Woonhak links their hands together.

"I was thinking," he tells Taesan as they near the end of the pier, "we ride that."

Taesan follows his line of sight. "The children's carousel. You want to ride the children's carousel."

"Who said it's only for children?" When Taesan's lip twitches downward, Woonhak presses, "Oh come on, Hyung. Amuse me, it's not like we've got a cool theme park 'round here!"

They get weird looks from the carousel manager, though it's worth the fun. After goofing off on the play structure for way too long, it's all the shops Woonhak never had an opportunity to explore back when every tourist was pushing and shoving their way around. He knows it's summer, but really, who can't resist an overpriced Santa figure? "My birthday gift to you," he jokes with Taesan, and Taesan, taking a bite out of the pretzel that Woonhak had so graciously treated him to, only rolls his eyes.

"Save it for when we decorate that tree together," he quips. Then, as if imagining it, "Hm. Kim Woonhak in northern winter. We might have to get a human defroster."

Despite Taesan's claims that he could see a sea lion just by closing his eyes, Woonhak designates their next destination as the outside railing of the pier. There, it's the calls of sea lions that greet them. The animals are huddled in groups, some sunbathing on top of the floating wooden panels and others resurfacing in the waves, and they're ugly-sounding, not much cuter than any other sea animal. The last part is what Taesan says, and the last part is also what Woonhak chooses to ignore, even if he agrees. Romanticism survives in the spirit of ignorance.

There's not much else to see on outer edge of the pier. Other tourists leave within a few minutes of observing the sea lions, and for good reason. In their position, the sun's beating down especially harshly, the railing just out of reach from the shade. It might be his raised-in-So-Cal genes, but Woonhak doesn't feel it, not really. He even leans further into Taesan as he would if he were lacking in body heat. Their heads knock together as they look out at the bay, between them some mundane strings of dialogue that end as abruptly as they begin.

"My family pug," mumbles Taesan, incoherent like he's suffering from heatstroke, "I miss her. Moka stole her away. Let's raise a dog together."

"I like dogs," Woonhak comments, equally delirious. "Oh my God. A border collie. I want a border collie. We should get a border collie."

Taesan snorts. "Please. She'd outsmart you."

"Ah- hey!"

Arcades in the afternoon aren't exact Woonhak's type of vibe (neon lights in the middle of the night, that's real romance), but he ends up having to settle for it so the two of them can cool down. By all means, it's a very lame arcade, and for the first half Taesan looks more interested in the sports bar than the arcade section. Woonhak's saving grace is a shooting game, in which both of them get way too competitive and end up losing track of time. Woonhak lets Taesan win. Lets being the key word, because it's Taesan's birthday and Woonhak was definitely not humiliated in-game. (It's so unfair that Taesan's good at everything. So unfair! If Woonhak could send a letter up to the sculptors of the universe, he'd protest that if they were going to make someone so skilled at shooting video-game zombies, the least they could do is not make that someone extremely handsome while shooting video-game zombies. How is Woonhak supposed to beat Taesan in both looks and skill? Hell, how's he supposed to focus on the game when Taesan looks like that?) (He supposes losing is okay in the end, because Taesan uses his game credits to buy him a giant cat plushie. "Since you can't fall asleep without hugging something," Taesan teases, even though out of the two of them he's clearly the clingier one, especially in sleep.)

They have dinner at the sports bar in question, courtesy of Woonhak's laziness. It takes some forceful persuading and some literal force to stop Taesan from ordering a drink. In response to Taesan's pout and complaint that it's already evening, aka 'the perfect time to get tipsy', Woonhak explains, "You probably shouldn't be drunk for this next part, Hyung."

Taesan frowns at him. "What, don't tell me we're going on another ride."

Ten minutes later, they arrive at the foot of the Ferris wheel.

"Okay, so, no," says Taesan, and then he starts walking away. Woonhak drags him back.

Woonhak might be a bit evil for his Ferris wheel plans, given that he's heard tales upon tales of Taesan screeching at any entertainment ride. In his defense though, Ferris wheels are 1) not nearly as scary as roller-coasters, and 2) the epitome of romance. There's no better place to be proposing- er, presenting his song.

By the time their passenger car lifts off the ground, the sun's already set in the sky. Lights have begun turning on all over the pier and the streets inland, mimicking speckles of stars against the bustle of humans. Lingering traces of sunlight wash their surroundings with an orange hue; the waves are still reflecting remnants of the day even as it comes to an end. And with the overhead view, nothing is out of sight—against the horizon is distant cities and forests alike, and underneath their feet is a picture-perfect Fisherman's Wharf. It's beautiful.

"Wow," breathes Woonhak. He places one hand on the glass wall of the passenger car, briefly wishing to press his face against it in an attempt to imprint the view in his mind. Then he blinks, remembering why exactly he's here, and turns back to look at Taesan only to find the latter with his fists tightly clenched. "Oh- Hyung…"

"I'm not afraid of heights." Taesan is quick to clarify. "I'm not. I swear."

Woonhak just giggles. "Sure, but if you are scared, we can hold hands."

Taesan unclenches one fist. He holds out his palm. Woonhak takes it.

"Happy birthday," Woonhak starts after a brief moment. Taesan's gaze draws away from his lap and up to Woonhak's face. "I know you don't think your birthday means much, which, by the way, is hypocritical, since you asked me to do something crazy for you anyway. But because you get birthday-boy privileges, I'll stop pointing that out. Still hypocritical though." Taesan cracks a smile at that, albeit too smug for Woonhak's liking.

"Like you suggested, I asked Riwoo for some gift ideas. He wasn't much help, and neither was Jaehyun, or Leehan, or Sungho, who seems to really hate it whenever I talk about you. They just-" Woonhak wrinkles his nose at the memory, "said something about you wanting my attention instead of a gift."

Taesan's expression morphs into one of surprise, then vague discomfort. "…You know, if the aliens came for us, they'd probably go for those four first-"

"Well," Woonhak cuts in, "whether it's that you want a gift or you want my attention, it doesn't matter. You have both, Hyung. My attention is with you right now—it always is, really—and my gift is, um, right here." He fumbles with his phone, flipping open the files app and navigating to the most recent addition titled serenade.mp3. "Don't- don't make fun of me, okay? I poured my whole heart into this, seriously."

"What is this, America's Got Talent?" Taesan lets out a short laugh, though it hiccups at the end like the lack of sincerity is a vulnerability on its own.

"Yes," answers Woonhak humorlessly, and then he grips Taesan's hand tighter and presses play.

The last note dies out at the same time the passenger car door slides open. When Woonhak stands up to exit, a breath he didn't know he was holding slips out. He tries to tug Taesan up too, but the older's sitting frozen, tips of his ears painted red.

The conductor taps her foot impatiently. Woonhak tugs again, this time with a small, "Hyung."

"Yeah," Taesan mumbles. He rises unceremoniously, stumbles out alongside Woonhak, then immediately drags Woonhak in by the collar of his very unsexy puffer jacket and hugs him, hard. Woonhak and the conductor squeak in unison. Taesan pays neither of them any mind; he buries his face further into the nest of Woonhak's hair and his hood, fingers somewhat desperate in their grasp of his shoulder, and against Woonhak's nape there's a gentle, barely-felt press of lips to skin.

Woonhak's arms come up to hug Taesan back, finding their way instinctively. For a moment, he admits that he hasn't been entirely honest, and that the two of them have been tangled like this one too many times in the nights when Taesan can't sleep well. It's an affectionate thing, knowing at which dips in his body Taesan fits himself into, knowing where his pinkies will overlap when he's got both arms around Taesan's torso. It could almost be that feeling they'd discussed under storm clouds and impending rain, the feeling of knowing someplace intimately, of belonging. Of finding a new home.

"I'm pressing the golden buzzer," Taesan whispers into Woonhak's nape. It's his unconventional way of saying: I loved it. A faulty read of: Thank you.

Woonhak doesn't think he needs to answer. He's always worn his heart on his sleeve, after all; he's sure Taesan already knows just how much his love reflects back.

"Okay Sungho, now we're going to go on a Ferris wheel date and make out with each other. Pucker up!"

"Oh Jaehyun, the love of my life, the glaze to my donut, the Ben & Jerry's to my fisher boat, let me play this love song I wrote for you to set the mood! Don't forget to passionately embrace me on your way out!"

"Can you two stop it," Woonhak groans. "And I do not sound like that."

"You mean, stop our accurate reenactment of you and Taesan's birthday date?" asks Jaehyun. The question feels like a trap.

"I thought my impression was pretty good…" mutters Sungho.

How the two of them have managed to find out about the events of Taesan's birthday, Woonhak has no clue. He's not sure if it's the type of thing that Taesan would want to report to Jaehyun or, frankly, anybody else, but Woonhak hasn't opened his mouth about it, so clearly there's some inner workings at hand. It's mortifying all the same, like a repeat of being spam-texted KIM WOONHAK GAY KIM WOONHAK GAY KIM WOONHAK IS A QUEER and Wow, this is crazy Lol also are you guys sleeping together why is your Insta bio just his account @ with a heart emoji Wait are you two dating or not I don't get it, except this time it's arguably worse because Jaehyun and Sungho keep insisting that, well, they keep insisting that-

"We're not-" Woonhak sighs harshly, then continues, "we're not like that. There's nothing romantic between us."

"Oh, sorry. Forgot passionately embracing each other was a completely platonic thing."

"Hyung- be serious!" Woonhak complains. "I mean it. There's nothing going on between us, okay? Sure, he's really handsome, but that's a jealousy thing. I wish I looked as handsome as him! And the sleeping together stuff isn't actually sleeping together, you both know that. And the thing about him clinging onto me, that's a touch-starved-ness issue. And the dates aren't dates, they're friendly get-aways. And yeah, there's some romance to it, but that's the romance I just happen to find. I'm still waiting for the real romance, which is falling in love with some really kind, awfully demure, angel-of-a-person, and living out the rest of my life in undisturbed peace and happiness."

Jaehyun and Sungho stare at him blankly. They stare for so long that Woonhak starts to wonder if he'd suddenly started speaking in alien-language. Then: "You can't be serious," Sungho says at the same time Jaehyun cries, "Tell me you're joking."

Woonhak splutters. "What?"

"Tell me you're joking!"

"Do you even hear yourself right now? …Nevermind. Self-awareness was never your strong suit."

Jaehyun ignores the protests against Sungho's statement. He grabs Woonhak by the shoulders, then demands, "Hey, Kim Woonhak, fantasy and all that aside, what's on your 'real romance' checklist?"

Sungho snaps his fingers and nods at Jaehyun. "Oh, nice one."

Woonhak looks back and forth between the two of them, trying to decipher their plot. "Um," he says meekly. "Why are we talking about my real romance checklist?"

Jaehyun shakes him once. "Answer the question!"

"Okay, okay!" It takes a moment to recall. The checklist was developed way before Woonhak had even moved, a synthesis of all the love stories he'd ever consumed. It's a standard he lives by, sort of, so naturally the others know about it, as do his sisters, as do his acquaintances and past-life friends. Woonhak knows it's silly, but clearly love has principles. "Um, okay. Number one, go on a cruise together."

"You went on a boat ride with Taesan. Done."

"That-" Woonhak cuts himself off. "That doesn't- count…?"

"It does," claims Jaehyun. "Continue."

Reluctantly, Woonhak continues, "Two, write a song together."

"You compose with Taesan every other day," Sungho points out. "You wrote a song for him. Done."

"But that's- that doesn't-" Woonhak yelps when Jaehyun shakes him again. "Okay, jeez! Three, share a dessert with each other."

"The Ghirardelli Chocolate Experience sundae incident. Done."

"What- I… four, go on a picnic date."

"You two invaded my garden like another couple looking to make out. Done."

"…Five, make a couple Instagram page."

"What the fuck?" says Sungho, vaguely disturbed.

Jaehyun offers, "Well, Taesan's already tagged you in everything. Done."

"Six, see first snow together."

"Didn't you experience your first Francisco rain when you were with Taesan? Done."

"How do you know about that? Seven, go on an arcade date."

"Taesan's birthday celebration. Done."

"Eight, ride a Ferris wheel together."

"Also Taesan's birthday celebration. Done."

"Nine, wake up to their angelic face in the morning and giggle to yourself because they're so enchanting and beautiful, and also spend that morning lounging in bed together."

"What the fuck?" Sungho repeats.

Even Jaehyun gives him a weird look at that one. "You didn't have to be so specific."

"You- you're the one who told me to start listing out my checklist!"

Jaehyun waves his hand dismissively. "Fine, okay. You sleep next to Taesan like thrice every week. Surely there's some morning where you've experienced… all that. Done."

"…Ten," Woonhak pauses here, if only because it's the last item on his list, and also arguably the stupidest, most self-explanatory one, "fall in love."

There's a beat of silence in which Woonhak can't tell if the older two are deliberating his idiocy or the answer to that checklist item. "You have, haven't you?" ventures Jaehyun after a moment.

"What?"

"Fallen in love," Sungho clarifies for Jaehyun. "If you have, you've done everything on your real romance checklist with him. You've done everything and more."

…Woonhak doesn't know if he's fallen in love, but he does know this: he folds whenever Taesan asks him out on outings. He forgets everything he wants to say when he makes eye contact or catches a glimpse of the latter's bare skin. He's got one-hundred-and-one reactions up his sleeve, but when they're together he only ever settles on the one Taesan wants out of him. He can't stand waking up in the morning without Taesan's body beside him. He loves the feeling of their palms pressed together, even if they're sticky with sweat or wet with rain. He would do just about anything to make Taesan happy, whether that involves sabotaging himself or not. He thinks Taesan's already carving out a piece of his heart, simultaneously fitting inside that new space and swallowing Woonhak's heart whole.

He thinks that's enough to call what they have real romance.

"Oh," whispers Woonhak. "Oh. I… I get it now."

Jaehyun lets out a whoop of victory. He lets go of Woonhak's shoulders, then turns to Sungho to conduct an overly-enthusiastic high-five. At the shock of their palms meeting, Sungho cries out.

"Cupid strikes again!" Jaehyun sing-songs. "Love perseveres, love finds a way, love la-la-la-la-la-"

"Wait, but," Woonhak cuts in, "what do I do now?"

"Jump into his arms and confess your undying love for him," answers Sungho, deadpan over Jaehyun's singing.

"Good idea," says Woonhak. He rises from his seat, ignoring that he's startled the waiter carrying their breakfast to them, and then bows to Sungho and Jaehyun who are now staring at him like he's crazy. "Thanks, you two! Wish me luck!"

"Wait!" Sungho screams. Woonhak's already rounded the corner by the time he hears the older's yell, far enough to pretend like he can't hear him. The docks are his destination, his fuel being solely the high of his love. Sungho's following words echo across the block: "You aren't supposed to actually do it!"

Woonhak laughs to himself, still bounding away with a skip in his gait. There's butterflies erupting somewhere in the pit of his gut; the world seems to make sense all of a sudden, like there's no better feeling than the sun on his back and the bay winds against his face and the realization that he might just be a little in love. Seagulls flock above him, a jolly tune plays from a restaurant to his right, remnants of Sungho's protests bouncing between street walls. He closes his eyes, trying to perpetuate the moment. Life might really be all sunshine and rainbows if you love like this. Or, well, scratch that—life might really be all sunshine and rainbows if you love Han Taesan, period.

Under the refreshing breeze and the sense that everything is really as good as it seems, Woonhak doesn't notice the hitch in the sidewalk up ahead. His toe rams directly into the misplaced tile, the force of collision launching his whole body forward and towards the ground. There's no time to cry out in despair, but there's most definitely enough time for Woonhak to acknowledge that romanticism might just be his fatal flaw. Oh well—no qualms about his face getting bashed up, and the concrete is probably warm and welcoming in the light of the morning sun, so there's little to be mad about when becoming a concrete pancake.

…Except he isn't met with hard impact. He's met with something very soft, actually, and a… groan of protest?

Woonhak blinks his eyes open, finding himself in an embrace rather than on the floor. It's a very familiar embrace, one that he's experienced in both soft beds at night and in front of Ferris wheel passenger cars. It's a very familiar silhouette doing the embracing, too, one that he's spent months studying now out of habit more than anything. Laughter bubbles out of him before he can help it—it seems like fate really does play its part when it comes to him, like tectonic plates shift and suddenly he knows he and Taesan are meant to be. They've always been meant to be, from that very first stumble.

"Hey," Woonhak says, breathless, still half-laughing. He reaches out and wraps two arms around Taesan's neck, then leans in until their noses are almost touching. "I love you."

Taesan stares at him. A flush rises from his chest to his neck to his cheeks to his ears, lighting him up in the sun's glow and Woonhak's cast shadow. It's in this moment that Woonhak realizes everything beautiful about their seaside town can be found in Taesan: the sea, the sand, the, um, other stuff, and of course, of course, the romance.

"Don't you too?" prompts Woonhak.

"I do," Taesan whispers. "I do, I do, I do, I do."

Kisses are, thankfully, just as romantic as Woonhak had imagined them to be. They're awkward and clumsy, yes, and Woonhak laughs when their foreheads bump and their teeth clack, but that's the charm. It doesn't matter that Taesan can't spin Woonhak around in his arms like they do in the movies. Hell, it doesn't matter that, when he pulls back, Woonhak says something stupid like: "Don't your arms hurt?", because Taesan just responds: "Honestly, yeah." With both pairs of feet on the ground, they kiss again, just as imperfectly.

"That was so unromantic," Taesan murmurs against Woonhak's lips, swallowing a few stray giggles.

"No it wasn't," Woonhak retorts, "and you think so too."

He doesn't receive verbal confirmation, but he receives another arm around his waist and another kiss to the corner of his mouth, so. You know. Life really is all sunshine and rainbows.

Woonhak has this fantasy, and it's currently going down the drain.

To Woonhak's despair, dating does not mean Han Taesan stops his tormenting. In anything, he starts doubling-down. When he's jealous (which, as Woonhak learns, is very often, so often that Woonhak would complain if he didn't find it cute), he either gets extremely pouty or wraps Woonhak's arms around him, presses his back into Woonhak's chest, and sticks their faces together in an improper manner right in front of the person he's jealous of. Overkill, seriously overkill. When he wants Woonhak's attention (Woonhak is starting to understand why Riwoo had so cryptically pointed out his attention-seeking), he either bombards Woonhak with pokes and 'Hey, Kim Woonhak's or entices Woonhak with his annoyingly gorgeous face card, a skill that Woonhak wishes Taesan never learned. When he misses Woonhak (he doesn't even have the right to miss Woonhak; they practically spend twenty-four hours a day with each other!), he finds him inside of the Ben & Jerry's and stares at him from a random seat, sometimes with a flippant Leehan tagging along. The only reason why he isn't crawling over the counter to bother Woonhak is because Woonhak banned him from disrupting his work. Though, the ban is practically useless—focusing is impossible when Taesan is a few feet away from him.

He's so clingy that it's unbearable. Unbearably lovable, but still unbearable.

The only good part about it all is that Woonhak gains his own upper hand. Dating has exposed cracks in Taesan's previous persona. He'd never been inauthentic, but he'd been hiding things, that's for sure (is it nonchalant or emotional suppression?) (questions, questions). While Woonhak doesn't want to be the kind of person that ends up on Sungho's block list for being 'disgustingly good at dating and making it everyone else's problem', he has to admit that Taesan is seriously cute. The cat-like behavior is driving him insane. Woonhak's never felt more happy to be a favorite cat-tower, seriously. (And no, Sungho, he doesn't make it everyone else's problem! The most he does is rant to Jaehyun, who agreed with him for the first half of his rants about how cute Taesan was and then stopped agreeing with him when Woonhak got a little too detailed. …Woonhak probably shouldn't have brought up the bedroom behavior. Oh well.)

If he's completely honest, though? Tortured or not, Woonhak wouldn't take anything over dating Taesan. There's no better feeling than being able to roll over, tuck Taesan's hair behind his ear, and press a kiss to his lips.

Taesan indulges him with lidded eyes, then scratches Woonhak's stomach like he's a puppy. "Cute," he mutters.

The season's changing to fall now, the novelty of a new home wearing off with it. Even though there's a subtle ache that accompanies the disappearing feeling, Woonhak's doing fine—he moved for the fantasy, not for the novelty. Maybe that really kind, awfully demure, angel-of-a-person doesn't exist, and maybe there won't ever be a moment where he's truly undisturbed and at peace with Taesan around, but there's better reasons to stay now. After all, his home isn't really in Fisherman's Wharf alone—it's by Taesan's side, wherever that is.

And really, Woonhak's got to say, his move-in summer was most definitely dreamier than he ever thought it'd be.

"Hey Cutie, what's got your tongue now?"

…Well, dreamy in an unexpected way. But who's he to complain? After all, romance comes in the unexpected.