Kyungsoo watches as Joonmyun enters the café for the fifth consecutive day in a row. For the first two days he thought nothing of it, but then it got to the third day and soon certain things began to click. This had also been the third day in a row that Yixing had called in sick- Yixing never called in sick. Even if he was close to death, Yixing always made it to work. There was even one time that Kyungsoo had to send Yixing home after he came to work with his voice completely gone!

There was a definite correlation between Yixing not coming to work and Joonmyun consistently coming to the café. Kyungsoo wasn’t about let Joonmyun out of his sight that easily. He already had Sehun snap at him this week, he didn’t need to add Joonmyun looking like a kicked puppy to his list of why he was pissed. Before Joonmyun could leave, Kyungsoo had marched forward and grabbed his arm, dragging him to the nearest available table.

“Sit” and Joonmyun does so, looking at Kyungsoo with wide eyes as the latter takes the seat across from him. “Usually I would stay out of other people’s business, but not this time. You’ve been coming in everyday for almost a week now. I’ve already had Sehun snap at me and now Yixing is missing work, so you’re going to sit here and tell me everything that’s happened” he says.

Joonmyun begins to deny that anything was happening, but Kyungsoo quickly cuts him off. “Cut the crap Joonmyun and start talking. Now. I’m using up my break for this.”

Yixing stares blankly at the television as the current show cuts to the advert break. Not that he was paying attention anyway. He checks his phone, but there are no more missed calls from Joonmyun- he hadn’t rung him again since early this morning. Yixing wouldn’t have answered anyway. He also knew that Joonmyun would keep coming to the café to try and talk to him, which is why he kept calling in sick.

Maybe he should have taken Minseok up on his offer for a drink or two. Maybe then he wouldn’t have gotten himself into this mess.

There are loud rapid knocks on his door, but Yixing just ignores them, bringing his legs up onto the sofa and cuddling close to his body. The knocks continue and they get louder and faster.

“Zhang Yixing! Open this goddam door now!” Kyungsoo shouts from the other side

“Go away!” Yixing shouts back, reaching for the remote and turning his television up, hoping to drown Kyungsoo out.

“If you don’t open this door in five seconds, I’m kicking it down Yixing, I swear I will” Kyungsoo warns, but Yixing doesn’t listen to him. Instead he turns the television up even more and when five seconds pass, smiles a little smugly when Kyungsoo doesn’t keep his promise of kicking the door down. Yixing knew he didn’t have it in him.

Thud

Yixing pauses, telling himself he was just hearing things. Yeah, he was definitely hearing things.

Thud

“He wouldn’t dare” Yixing mutters to himself, turning to the door.

Thud

“Alright! I’m coming!” he screams, jumping up from his sofa and running over to the door. When Yixing finally opens the door, Kyungsoo almost hits him, restraining himself at the final second.

“You’re such an idiot!” he exclaims as he pushes Yixing back into his apartment and slams the door behind him.

“Look I’m sorry for skipping work” Yixing sighs, moving back towards the living room

“Joonmyun told me what happened” Kyungsoo says, making Yixing freeze and turn to him with a panicked expression on his face. “Only because I sat him down and made him tell me” he adds, but it does nothing to stop Yixing’s panic.

Shaking his head, Kyungsoo grabs Yixing’s arm and drags him over to the sofa, making him sit down next to him. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do mister” he says as Yixing laughs hollowly and shakes his head.

“I thought you already knew everything from Joonmyun. Besides, what good does it do now? He’ll probably never want to talk to me again after this blows over.”

“Yixing, the guy ran after you and stayed outside your apartment for fifteen minutes trying to get you to come out!” Kyungsoo yells in exasperation, “He’s been coming to the café every day! Please, just go talk to him”

“Why? Just so he can sit there and tell me that he doesn’t see me like that and we should just remain friends?” Yixing asks in frustration, “I don’t need him to tell me that. I saw it in his expression after I kissed him.”

It’s very subtle, but Yixing notices the slight change in Kyungsoo’s expression. It’s almost like he wants to tell him something, but hesitates and decides not to at the last second. Even if Yixing asked what was wrong and Kyungsoo told him, it probably wouldn’t make any difference.

“I just find it pretty ironic that you berated me for ignoring Jongin, and yet you’re doing the exact same thing right now” Kyungsoo says and Yixing just sits there in silence. “Whatever” Kyungsoo sighs, “I’m not gonna get further involved in this. Just, please, come back to work. Sehun’s getting stressed the nearer his exams it gets and I’ve had to ask Baekhyun to come and help as well.”

Hoping that the matter would be dropped, Yixing agrees to go back to work tomorrow morning. Kyungsoo leaves him with a warning that if Joonmyun came and he didn’t speak to him, he was gonna get slapped so hard. Yixing could promise to come back to work, but he couldn’t promise that he would talk to Joonmyun again.

Yixing locks the café and shoots a tired wave over to Sehun as he leaves for his tutoring session. As he makes his final checks, Chanyeol pulls up in his car to pick up Baekhyun who runs over, pausing as he opens the door on the passenger’s side.

“We can give you a ride home if you want” he offers, Yixing shaking his head

“It’s fine, I could do with the fresh air anyway.”

Baekhyun studies him for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and getting into the car. He and Chanyeol wave at Yixing as they drive away and now alone, Yixing sighs and leans against the door. Now that the holiday season was well and truly underway, the café was much busier than it had been since its opening. Yixing wasn’t sure what had happened, but there was definitely a surplus of customers than there had been previously. What made it worse was that today was Kyungsoo’s day off, and Yixing didn’t want to pester him for help. At the rate they kept calling Baekhyun in to help, they probably should just hire him as extra staff!

Now though, all Yixing wanted to do was get home and just climb into bed. Pushing himself off the door, Yixing turns to walk towards the bus stop but freezes when he sees Joonmyun waiting for him.

There was no title for this chapter, I had saved it under 'Kyungsoo goes into mother hen mode' which he really does in this chapter. 

Poor Yixing... but I'm not gonna drag them out any longer (I think 25+ chapters is enough) so what will happen next? We'll have to find out soon... 

Speaking of Yixing 

Damn son, you be looking fine!! 

Until the next chapter!