Archive of Our Own

Hong was waiting patiently at the cafe that he frequently visited with Nut, dressed in the black sweater and jeans Dylan had helped him settle on, after Hong had spent two hours dragging half his closet out onto the bed, unable to decide. He had gotten there an hour early, nerves running high over finally going on a date with him, the man whom he had waited for years to make a move.

The two of them had been disgustingly in love for years, making it everyone else's problem, and yet neither had done a thing about it. So, Hong was surprised when Nut asked him out that he didn't believe it at first. But it was happening now, and he was trying his best to act normal about it.

They both had felt something between them since the day they met, but as they'd grown closer, it had only made Hong more afraid to risk what they already had. He waited for Nut, and Nut waited for him till the rest of their friends got tired of the two oblivious idiots and pushed Nut to ask Hong out on a date, putting them out of their misery.

So here he was, sipping the glass of water he'd ordered to soothe his dry throat, feeling parched from swallowing back nerves every few seconds.

His legs bounced under the table as the time they'd agreed on crept closer. Then, a few minutes later, the cafe door chimed, ringing loudly in his ears, announcing a new customer, and he looked up to see the silhouette of the man he'd been waiting for so patiently and so nervously.

Unbeknownst to Hong, Jun walked in wearing Nut's signature orange plaid button-down over a white tank top, paired with dark grey cargo pants and a beanie covering his dark brown hair so that Hong wouldn’t notice the change from Nut’s light brown hair to Jun’s dark brown hair. But something felt off to Hong right away, though he couldn't pinpoint exactly what.

Meanwhile, Jun's stomach felt like it was down to his feet as he pushed the door open. He had met up with his brother outside the cafe after Nut texted him in a panic, expecting to give him a quick pep talk and send him on his way. Instead, Nut had a full breakdown right there in the car and somehow talked him into walking inside in his place, to stall until he calmed down. And as much as Jun loved teasing his brother, he couldn't just leave him like that, so he'd agreed to help, just this once.

But as he walked closer to Hong, who was looking at him nervously, Nut’s advice echoed in his head: Don’t be yourself and you’ll be fine. Well, that was easier said than done, especially with no days in advance to perfect his brother's personality. He didn't even get minutes' notice, he was thrown into this mere seconds ago.

Jun was unapologetically a confident flirt, and everyone knew that. And now, his down-bad loser twin brother was asking him to put up a shy persona…yeah, he was out of his mind. But here he was anyway, walking into the coffee shop wearing his brother's clothes that he was handed from Nut’s spare clothes bag in his car, trying his best to put on a lovesick-idiot puppy face and hoping this would work without Hong noticing anything weird.

"Hey," he said, flashing a smile he hoped looked sweet and convincing, as he pulled out the chair across from Hong and sat down, extremely nonchalantly, or so he tried.

"Hi," Hong replied shyly, wiping his sweaty palms against his trousers.

"Sorry I'm late, got stuck in traffic," Jun explained, taking a sip from the glass of water already waiting for him.

"No worries, I just got here too," Hong lied only to ease Jun's guilt for being late.

"So…" Jun started, a little awkwardly, "How's life?" It was, he realized a bit too late, possibly the driest question a person could ask someone they had known for years, were crushing on so bad, and had finally asked out on a date.

Hong just stared at him. Nut was awkward, sure, but not usually like this. He was always good at conversing with Hong, at some point even finishing his sentences if he stuttered over his sentences — Well, Nut wasn't any better, so that made Hong feel a bit relieved about not being the only one.

"It's good," Hong answered, looking at him with his eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"Great."

The conversation was so dry that Hong felt like he couldn't breathe. Jun felt it too, sweat prickling at the back of his neck, his mind blank and useless, offering him absolutely nothing to say that wouldn't out him.

"Maybe we should order something?" Hong said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I'll go place the order," Jun said, standing up so quickly that Hong felt a bit offended, "What would you like?"

That caught him off guard even more. Nut knew what he liked; he was always quick on his feet, placing the order for him without even asking. Still, Hong answered him anyway, thinking maybe he was just nervous like him.

"I'll just get the iced strawberry honey green tea," he ordered, his favorite drink, and Jun gave him a simple nod to acknowledge his order.

Jun walked over to the counter, and Hong watched him place their order intently, trying to figure out why Nut felt so different. While Jun tried to keep his composure to avoid being suspicious, and tried to calmly order their drinks as he felt Hong's eyes on him.

As he waited, Hong also let his shoulders relax a little, finally letting go of some of his nerves, and took a slow breath as he waited for Nut (Jun) to return.

A few minutes later, Jun returned to their table with two drinks — an iced strawberry honey green tea and an iced americano? That wasn’t Nut’s usual order, Hong noted. He never drank an americano, but Hong decided to ignore it for now.

"Here you go," Jun sang, setting Hong's drink in front of him before sitting down, "One strawberry honey green tea for the pretty one."

The words left Jun's mouth so naturally before he could even stop himself, and he mentally cursed himself once he realized.

Hong, on the other hand, nearly choked on air. He was sure now that there was definitely something wrong with Nut. He did not talk like this and definitely did not know how to throw smooth, flirty lines at Hong, at least not without fumbling his words.

"Thanks…" Hong said, eyeing him slightly over his weird behavior. At the same time, Jun sipped on his drink, silently panicking about the fact that Hong hadn't stopped looking at him suspiciously since he had entered the place.

"You got an Americano? You never really get that?" Hong questioned innocently.

"Uh, wanted to try something different today," Jun chuckled awkwardly, not fast enough to come up with a probable answer.

"Oh," Hong replied, eyes squinted in confusion, but he didn't press any further.

The two boys didn't speak for a good few minutes, and the awkwardness was painfully evident in the air between them. Jun didn't know what to ask Hong, as Nut had not given him any time to prepare and had thrown him into this situation without anything to fend for himself.

He had met Hong very few times, whenever he came over to their house with Nut, but they had never really had a full conversation. Jun had always been too buried in his own schedule of workshops and shoot days to stick around and get to know him properly. All he really knew was that Hong was the rapper of the group, which, unfortunately, wasn't exactly great conversation material for pretending to be someone who had known Hong for years and was currently on a date with him.

On the other hand, Hong was watching him intently. Usually, Hong didn't have any problem with just sitting in silence with Nut; it was also the way the two bonded, but this silence was different, like weirdly different.

And in the quiet moment between the two, Jun's phone rang with a notification, and he looked at Hong to make sure he could take a look. Hong nodded and let him, busying himself with sipping his drink.

Jun's gaze dropped to his phone, where the name of the person responsible for his current situation appeared in his notification center, who was also comfortably sitting in a nicely air-conditioned car right outside the coffee shop's parking lot.

He checked Nut's message quickly, not bothering to reply, so he wouldn't make Hong more suspicious than he already looked by being on his phone when he was supposed to be on a “date” with him.

Ok, Ew — Jun mentally gagged after reading the texts. His brother was embarrassingly down bad for the man sitting in front of him, patiently waiting for Jun to finish using his phone.

But the request dumbfounded Jun. A funny pickup line? Out of nowhere? His brother was insane. Jun knew a lot of pickup lines, but not funny ones. The only one he could think of was when Nut had asked him for his opinion on it before saying it to Hong, which he didn't end up saying because he chickened out, as usual. But Jun decided to give it a try, trusting his brother's words that Hong would love it.

"So, Hong, I have a question for you," Jun set his phone aside and leaned forward, resting his chin on the palms of his hands. Hong glanced up, nodding for him to go on, "Are you a banana? Because I find you so appealing."

This time, he almost choked on the drink that he was sipping slowly. Getting himself together, Hong stared at him, appalled by Nut's sudden bravery.

"Did you hit your head on the way here?" Hong chuckled awkwardly, half-joking, half-serious.

"What? No, I'm just trying to impress you, sorry," Jun stuttered out, looking suddenly nervous because he was, genuinely, extremely nervous, watching in real time as the entire plan (was there even a plan?) crumbled in front of him. Damn you, Nut. This is hurting my image.

"You don't have to impress me. Just be yourself," Hong assured him with a sweet smile, though he was still a bit confused about Nut's change in behavior. And Jun held back a chuckle, finding it funny how Nut said the exact opposite to him. He was definitely failing at this miserably.

"Okay," Jun rubbed his neck awkwardly.

Hong, though suspicious, let it go again. It was a big step for both of them, not simply hanging out, but being on an official date, so he took another sip of his drink, trying to ignore his gut feeling that something was off.

"How was your day? What did you do today before this?" Hong decided to take the lead as he put his drink down on the table because the man in front of him hadn't said a word again.

Jun's mind went completely blank at the question while Hong was looking at him attentively, waiting for his answer.

"Uh, nothing. You know, the usual routine," he fumbled his words badly.

"The usual?"

"Yeah, worked out at the gym with Tui in the morning, short practice after, and now we're here," Jun answered so confidently, knowing his brother loved waking up early to go to the gym or run with Tui, and regularly had practice with his group.

"Our practice got canceled today, Nut."

At that, Jun felt the cold shiver run down his spine. Shit, he knows, he thought. This is it. I tried my best. Sorry, brother.

Hong was fully convinced now that the man in front of him was hiding something.

"You're being really weird today," Hong pressed him now, hoping what he was thinking was not actually true.

"I'm not," Jun squeaked out.

"You are," Hong pressed further. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm totally fine."

"Sure…"

Hong, a bit clumsy, with his eyes focused on Jun's panicked face as he observed him closely to figure out what felt off about the man, tried to grab his drink to take a sip, but he accidentally knocked it over. The contents of the drink fell all over the table, some of it splashing directly onto Jun's white tank top.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry," Hong shot up from his chair quickly, grabbing the napkins from the container on their table, walking towards Jun to help clean up his shirt. Jun grabbed his wrist to stop the movement, mentally visualizing his brother’s sulking face at him for letting Hong touch him like this.

"It's fine, I can clean it myself," Jun laughed it off, while Hong looked down at his hand holding his wrist. That's when he saw it.

As Jun had reached out to hold Hong's wrist, the long sleeves of his plaid shirt were pulled up a bit, revealing a small black line peeking out. His suspicions running strong, Hong took the chance to remove his wrist from Jun's grip and grabbed his wrist instead, pulling the sleeve all the way up to expose the sun tattoo inked on the inside of Jun's wrist. Hong had only ever seen a tattoo like that on one person, someone he'd met occasionally, and it definitely wasn't Nut, whom he sees almost every day, more than his own parents and brother.

Jun felt Hong's gaze linger on his wrist and looked up just as Hong's eyes lifted to meet his, taking him in properly now, up close. The same face, the same smile, the same brown eyes, but the look behind those eyes was different. It didn’t hold the heart-eyed warmth that Nut looked at him with.

"Jun?" Hong whispered finally.

The man in front of him got tense hearing his name, and Hong felt it from the way his hand stiffened around his grip. Jun pulled his wrist away and let out a nervous laugh, hand rubbing the back of his neck yet again.

"Hi," Jun said, defeated, "Surprise?"

Hong took a step back and slowly sat back into his chair, the spilled drink completely forgotten. Instead, a staff member had noticed the spill and came over to clean it up for them. Meanwhile, the two sat in silence, waiting for the staff, who probably felt the awkward tension, to be done before saying anything.

"You're really Jun?" Hong questioned once the staff left, his face unreadable and scaring Jun.

"I'm Jun," he confirmed, chuckling awkwardly.

It was silent again, and Jun gulped loudly, and he was sure the whole room probably heard it. But Hong didn't say anything after that. He closed his eyes, trying to take in the revelation before he finally spoke.

"Where is Nut?"

"Sitting in the parking lot."

"Why didn't he come inside? Why did he send you?"

Jun didn’t hold back, seeing as there was no reason to continue the act and just let Nut deal with the consequences now, since he had tried his best.

"Your down-bad puppy got cold feet. He texted me, panicking, to come see him, but then pushed me to go inside in his place because he had a full meltdown, thinking he was gonna ruin his first date with you and you wouldn't be impressed at all, and then it would ruin your whole relationship and —"

Hong interrupted him as he pinched the bridge of his nose, finding the situation so absurd but, deep down, also endearing, "I can't believe this."

Jun was scared to move. He just watched Hong make sense of the situation in front of him without saying anything. He couldn't tell if he was pissed or not, but Jun was hoping Hong wouldn't knock his head off for "flirting" with him.

Suddenly, Hong stood up abruptly, didn't even bother to grab his things, ready to leave quickly.

"Where are you going?"

"To go get that idiot sitting outside."

Though just as he had stood up, the cafe door opened before him first, the doorbell chiming again, and his gaze went towards the door, hoping it was the man he actually came here for.

A man walked in, wearing a black hoodie and black pants, hands tucked into his pockets, his ears covered by big black headphones, a tired expression on his face. Jun looked towards the entrance as well, seeing Hong's reaction and also assuming it was his own brother. But he was met with a face identical to the one in front of him, same features, same everything, aside from a head of grey hair. And the man who had entered had a different, captivating aura around him that left Jun's brain short-circuiting, feeling lovestruck at his mere presence.

The man booked it straight towards the counter, uninterested in his surroundings, not bothering to scan the area around him until his eyes landed on a familiar and identical face out of the corner of his eye, and he stopped mid-step, looking directly over to Hong and Jun's table.

Jun didn't even realize it, but with the man's gaze on him, he straightened his back immediately, his heart thumping against his chest so hard that he was sure it was close to ripping out and putting itself on a silver platter for the man who was now walking towards them.

"Hong?" The man said as he approached their table.

"Dylan," Hong blinked at him, and Jun took note of the name, repeating it in his head like a mantra. He didn’t know Hong had a twin brother, too. "What are you doing here?"

"Coffee," Dylan replied simply.

"Oh, right…"

"You're on your date…" Dylan questioned, eyes moving to look closely at the man who was sitting across from his brother, nodding towards him, "…with Nut."

The eye contact with Dylan had Jun's stomach doing somersaults, scrambling every functioning part of his brain. All he could focus on was Dylan's sharp, feline-like eyes looking him up and down, simply observing him… and Jun, embarrassingly, found himself burning hot under his gaze.

"No," Hong sighed, defeated, "That's not Nut."

"Huh?" Dylan stared at Hong, confused, as the man looked exactly like Nut, the man whose photos he had seen his brother admire countless and concerning times.

"I'm Jun," Jun said so fast, seeing Dylan's confusion and taking his chance. He stood up so quickly that he almost knocked over his chair backward. "I'm Nut's brother. Twin, actually. We're twins too. Look, we have that in common."

"Good for you…" Dylan blinked at him, unamused. He knew of Jun as Nut's twin brother, which Jun had just explained, and as an actor. He had never actually met Jun in person, though, and only met Nut a few times, so there was no way he would have been able to tell the two of them apart even if he'd tried.

Hong looked at both of them. Jun's demeanor was completely different from how he was with him a few minutes ago. Yeah, he was nervous and awkward earlier, but this was a different yet familiar behavior. Guess he was like his brother in some ways, thought Hong, who was already guessing what was happening in front of him, thanks to his extremely observant eyes.

"Are you okay?" Hong questioned Jun, even though he could tell he wasn't, clearly.

"Yeah, I'm great," Jun said, eyes still locked on Dylan, "So great. Never been better." He nodded several times, trying to speak a coherent sentence, but failing miserably.

Dylan glanced at Hong, confused by Jun's behavior, and Hong just shrugged. Dylan ignored Jun's weird behavior and focused on his brother, "So, what is he doing here then?”

"Nut got nervous before the date and sent Jun in to stall for him while he calmed down outside," Hong explained, “I just figured it out a few minutes ago,”

Dylan stared at Jun for a long second, who gave him a sheepish smile, then he looked back at Hong with disbelief and confusion on his face, "He sent his twin to your date… while he is outside?"

"Yeah, I was going out to go see Nut now and bring him inside," Hong said, thinking about his stupid, endearing puppy sitting outside in the car, probably still panicking. Dylan opened his mouth, clearly about to say something, and Hong shot him a look before he could get a single word out.

"Don't," he commanded.

"I didn't say anything," Dylan defended himself, arms crossing as he stared at his brother, wondering how he was so calm about this right now.

"You were about to," Hong accused, and Dylan just shrugged it off, not particularly interested in arguing further since Hong did not seem mad about whatever was going on anyway.

"Okay, well, good luck with your cowardly puppy. I need to go now," Dylan announced, mostly to Hong, who shook his head at him as Dylan turned to head back toward the counter.

"You can't go!" Jun blurted out, embarrassingly loud, gaining a few looks from the other customers in the area.

That also caused both Dylan and Hong to look at him at the same time — Dylan with his eyebrows furrowed in irritation, and Hong with his narrowed eyes at Jun, silently judging him for that embarrassing attempt at stopping his brother. And under both of their stares, Jun's ears went red, "Um, I mean, you just got here, so it would be rude just to let you leave."

"I don't know you?" Dylan replied, a bit annoyed now that his precious coffee run was interrupted.

"We could fix that," Jun said with a cheeky smile, and Dylan stared at him. Like, fully stared, unamused, arms folded, and a scowl on his face.

"Oh god…" Hong sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, getting second-hand embarrassment from seeing Jun acting this way.

"Okay, I don't have time for this," He continued, "I have to go get Nut, so Dylan, just sit for a second and take a break here. And Jun —"

Jun didn't look at him, just nodded towards Hong, giving a signal he was listening, too busy still staring at Dylan.

"Do not bother my brother," Hong said, pointing at him, strictly.

"I would never," Jun exclaimed, sounding personally wounded by Hong's comment.

Dylan hesitated, but also seeing how distressed his brother looked, he quietly sat down, not wanting to add to his stress. Jun followed, sitting down, eyes not leaving Dylan, and smiled at him.

"So, Dylan, how's life?" Jun started, saying it in a deeper voice than he did earlier to Hong.

Hong mentally face-palmed himself. First, he couldn't believe Jun asked the same question he asked him, and second, Dylan was so gonna kill him if he kept up with his flirting. Or would he?

"It was great before I unfortunately got stuck with you," Dylan spat back.

Hong didn't want to hear the rest, already having waited too long to get to the man sitting outside. He gave the two men a look to "be nice" before walking out the door and into the parking lot.

In the parking lot, he spotted Nut's car right away, having ridden in it so much, parked on the right side, all the way towards the end. As he walked closer, he noticed Nut sitting in the driver's seat, head down against the steering wheel. And Hong's heart twisted at the sight of him looking so anxious and small.

He lightly knocked on the window, not wanting to scare him, but still, Nut jumped so hard he almost hit the roof of his car. Seeing Hong standing outside, his eyes widened, guilty of being caught.

Hong pointed at the car door, signaling Nut to unlock it so he could get in. Nut quickly scrambled to unlock it, not wanting to make Hong even angrier than he already was, he assumed.

Once the door was unlocked, Hong opened it and slid inside the car swiftly, closing the door behind him softly once he settled in.

"Hey," he greeted Nut, resting his palms against his thighs, looking at the man sitting next to him, who was avoiding his gaze.

"How did you find out?" Nut blurted out quickly.

Hong chuckled, "I sensed something was weird the moment Jun walked in, but I confirmed it when I saw his tattoo."

Nut groaned in embarrassment, plopping his head down back at the steering wheel. Thankfully, he had turned the car off, otherwise, the horn would've rung out loudly in the area, adding to his embarrassment.

"I'm the worst. I'm so sorry, Hong. You don’t deserve this," he mumbled under his breath, but Hong heard him clearly.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm not mad at you," Hong comforted him. "Look at me, Nut."

He moved to touch Nut's shoulder softly, prompting him to look at him. Their eyes finally met, and the warmth he had noticed missing when he looked into Jun's eyes was here in the starry, round, dark brown eyes that were looking at him currently with so much affection and love. Yes, this was his Nut.

"You just could've texted me. I would've understood, you know?"

"I know," Nut said, voice cracking slightly, "But I just panicked. At first, I thought I just needed five more minutes, but then the voices in my head got too strong, saying all sorts of things. I got scared. I've liked you for years, Hong. Even asking you out was scary because I didn't want to lose you as a friend, but I also couldn't hide my feelings anymore. I promise I was going to come inside, but once I got here, I just froze. I panicked, so I called Jun and asked him to go inside and stall so I could get it together, and I know that sounds insane, but I —"

"Nut," Hong tried to interject.

"I don't even know why I thought it would work or why I even asked Jun to do it. It's the worst thing someone could do on a date and —"

"Nut," Hong said a bit louder this time, wanting to stop Nut's overthinking, and he finally did stop and looked to his side towards Hong.

Hong reached out towards him, carefully, cupping his cheeks in both of his hands, and Nut's breath hitched, feeling Hong's cold but soft hands against his face.

"I get it. I get all of it. I've been feeling the same way. Too scared to cross the line, but also wanting to cross it at the same time," He caressed his cheeks, calming him down, and Nut leaned into the touch, feeling his emotions steady and his thoughts clear.

"But next time, just tell me you're nervous, or you need a few minutes if you ever feel this way again at any moment," He reassured Nut sweetly and smiled, "You don't have to send your stunt double, you know?"

Nut let out a laugh at that, embarrassed, "I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven, idiot."

They both looked at each other, smiling. Nut felt relieved not to have ruined his relationship with Hong over his nervous meltdown, while Hong was happy to have the man he loved and cared deeply about finally in front of him. They both leaned in, foreheads against each other, eyes closed, and enjoyed their quiet and comforting moment in the car.

"Also," Hong spoke, breaking the silence, "Your brother is inside, falling in love with my brother right now, so we should probably go save him before Dylan strangles him."

Nut pulled away in shock, or more so in horror, "He's what?!"

"Come on," Hong chuckled, seeing his reaction, and grabbed his hand, "You can see it for yourself inside."

Without wasting any more time, they both got out of the car. Nut locked it quickly and went to Hong's side, and Hong smoothly took Nut's hand in his, taking the first step. Nut smiled, holding his hand tighter, as they walked towards the coffee shop.

"Wait." Nut stopped right outside the door, and Hong looked at him, confused, "Jun didn't flirt with you too much, right?"

"Maybe," Hong teased him, and Nut pouted. "Was the banana pick-up line your idea?"

"How did you —?"

"Only you could say something cute and cheesy like that," Hong giggled, while Nut's ears went instantly red, and he lowered his head, suddenly finding the pavement beneath his shoes very interesting.

"I would have loved it if you said it, by the way," He continued, and Nut looked up at him, feeling his heart lighter, seeing Hong smile at him so sweetly and comforting.

Nut laced their fingers together instead of answering, and finally they walked back in together, holding hands.

Right away, Hong looked at both Jun and Dylan, sitting where he had left them. However, Dylan was now sipping his coffee, which he probably ordered after Hong left, and looking extremely uninterested in Jun, who was leaning halfway across the table that he might as well sit in Dylan’s lap — If he lets him, of course. As they got closer, they heard a bit of what Jun was saying.

"You know, coming here in my brother's place wasn't a coincidence. Fate really brought us together."

"Do you talk like this to everyone you meet?"

"Maybe, but I can make an exception for you now."

Nut sighed in embarrassment upon hearing his brother’s attempt at flirting with Dylan, "Oh my god, Jun."

Hearing the familiar voice, Jun finally looked back to see his brother and Hong walk over to the table and take seats, with Nut sitting next to his twin brother and Hong next to his.

"Hey bro," Jun greeted Nut. "Welcome to your date finally, after 84 years."

Nut rolled his eyes at his annoying brother. He knew Jun would never let this go and had added this to the list of embarrassing things he would constantly remind Nut of. But he had no one else to blame for this except himself, so he couldn't really complain.

"Okay, stop bothering Dylan now," Nut instructed.

"Excuse me? I was keeping him company like a nice person would," Jun countered, looking offended towards Nut.

"Company that I didn't ask for," Dylan retorted.

"You enjoyed it, princess," Jun smirked, glancing back at Dylan, "Or else, you could've left anytime you wanted to if you didn't."

Ok, that got him. Dylan panicked, feeling like he'd been caught, because Jun was right. He’d had every chance to leave and hadn't taken a single one of them. He coughed to hide his flustered expression and stood up abruptly, taking the chance now.

"I'm gonna go now." He grabbed his almost-empty coffee cup and his things, waved only to his brother, and rushed out before anyone said anything more to keep him there. Jun watched him go, a smug little smile plastered on his face. He turned back to look at Nut and Hong, who were plainly judging him.

"Have you finally stopped being dramatic, little bro?" Jun ignored their look and teased his brother, arms folded as he leaned back against his chair, relaxed and smug.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be now?" Nut shot him an annoyed look, reaching for Hong's hand across the table again, like it might help shoo off his brother faster.

"You push me into this and then are so quick to get rid of me," Jun started dramatically. "If you want me to leave, you have to pay me for my special services first."

"Look who's being dramatic now," Nut scoffed, and Jun sheepishly smiled at him. But Nut knew better than anyone that his brother would not leave till he got what he wanted, "What do you want?"

"Dylan's number," Jun replied so quickly, without missing a beat as he leaned forward, ignoring his brother, and looking directly at Hong this time with the hopeful expression of a puppy asking for a treat.

"Absolutely not," Hong stated, not even looking up from where he was tracing soft circles on the back of Nut's hand.

"It's the least you can do after what your boyfriend put me through here, making me pretend to be him," Jun pouted, feeling offended by how quickly Hong shut down his request.

But at the word boyfriend, both Nut and Hong froze and looked at each other, their cheeks warming instantly. They hadn't put any label on it yet. Well, they hadn't even technically finished their first date, so hearing Jun toss the word out so casually sent a swarm of butterflies loose in both their stomachs at once.

Nut cleared his throat and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Jun, you've known him barely ten minutes, and he practically ran out of here… I don't think he wants you, bro."

"That was the best ten minutes of my life by the way," Jun said, pressing a hand over his heart, reminiscing about his short time spent with Dylan, "And he's just playing hard to get. I can tell."

"Fine," Hong interjected before the brothers could argue further, waving a hand in surrender, wanting the man to leave them alone already, "I'll give it to you." And whatever Jun would do with Dylan was not his concern. He knew Dylan could handle himself well, so there was no wrong in giving Jun his number, right?

Jun's whole face lit up, and he practically flew out of his chair. He took out his phone right away and put it in front of Hong so he could type in Dylan's number. Once he had done so, Jun was ready to leave and let the two enjoy their date.

"Bye, you two lovebirds," Jun sang, "Hong, you might wanna order a leash if you don't want him bailing on you again."

"Jun, GO!" Nut exclaimed, embarrassed, shaking his head at his annoying brother.

Jun chuckled and waved them goodbye, the door chiming shut behind him and leaving the two boys finally alone. They sat in comfortable silence for a few seconds, just taking in the moment after the crazy day they’d had.

"So," Hong said, "Should we try this again? For real this time?"

Nut smiled back, soft and a little shy. And Hong finally felt content, seeing the man he came here for, sitting across the table where he belonged.

"Yeah…I'd like that."