The day had been hectic, as his boss had told him. Luhan, insisted on it being much more than just that.

The day broke before dawn for Luhan. He was at the restaurant at seven o’clock, having the early shift the following couple of weeks. He wasn’t fond of it, but he also had no privilege of choosing his shifts for the sole reason of him being nothing but a waiter. Thus, a pair of black pants and sneakers, and a white shirt that read the restaurant’s name over his heart later, Luhan was holding a pen and a notepad or the tray.

He wasn’t a fan of Sundays mostly because people who had spent their whole nights out at the nearby neighborhood would wander on their unsteady feet to the small shop in search of food to clench the burning in their stomachs. Luhan wasn’t a fan of drunk people either. In less than an hour, the whole restaurant smelled of alcohol and what-else, and Luhan was close to pinching his nose from the stink. Neither did the smells of food do any good to him, since he never liked meat that much and, ironically enough, the restaurant served mostly that.

Slipping through the crowds of people, Luhan managed to get from A to B without losing his equipment—or his clothes; he’s seen how that lady was staring at him. Needless to say that in two hours’ time he couldn’t feel his feet and as the sun rose more in the sky, the more the number of people went down. He’d calculated less than an hour for the restaurant to return to a standard calm. He barely missed it.

And it all ended with the highlight of a group of young men passing through the door almost as noisily as they could. Their appearance disturbed everyone who was eating and if it was in Luhan’s hand, he’d have escorted them back out for bringing a ruckus to the small and calm diner. His boss, however, was seeing money instead of people so Luhan made no move. Instead, he grabbed his pen and notepad, and he walked to the four young men who sat at a booth by the windows.

“Good morning and welcome to ‘Grabs and Meats’,” Luhan started with his fake friendly smile. He always thought the name of the diner was a failure alone but he never had the heart to ruin his boss’ illusion of knowing English. “What would you like to order?”

The boys ordered meat, not to Luhan’s surprise, really. Especially when one looked like he owned the entire world’s bank accounts. He’d stopped to envy such people, or at least he had convinced himself that happiness came in small packages each day, rather than through a black unlimited credit card. He wrote down the orders, not fond of the way they stared at him with snickers evident on their faces—he mentioned their disrespectful behavior to his boss later, but he didn’t get a satisfying enough response.

Luhan wasn’t even sure what to expect anymore from his job.

He tended after his customers and when one young man sitting at that particular booth, still as noisy as ever, raised his hand and signaled him, he shuffled his feet up to them.

“How much is it?”

Even if he didn’t know the cost of their brunch, the black haired male slipped bills across the table and offered them to the waiter. Luhan stared at him un-amused but grabbed them anyways. He’d charge them slightly over just to reason some of his growing headache. It wasn’t until he reached the counter and the cashier that he noticed there was a piece of paper in-between the bills that read: “Call me to hang out”. There was a number scribbled down with the same messy handwriting, and Luhan looked up at the young male sitting at the booth. He was sure he’d been staring at him, waiting for him to find it, by the way he was already staring.

Luhan showed no emotion rather than tiredness and just grabbed the change from the cash register and made his way back to the booth. He didn’t bother to hand anything to the male, seeing how he was still smirking smugly. He was gone by the time the man picked up the change, missing the surprised look on his face when he found the same piece of paper with his letters on it crumbled in-between.

***

At night, Luhan would plop himself on his bed, turning and kicking the air when no sleep took him in. He would stare at the ceiling, eyes adjusted to the pitch black of his home; he wouldn’t want it otherwise. The dreamless sleep would not be kind enough to grand him rest—no. It was sadistic to watch him try to close his eyes only to see him open them shortly after. Luhan had tried so many things for his insomnia; warm cups of teas or milks, long walks at midnight around the city. But nothing worked and nothing helped him fall asleep, and he would only lie in bed, staring up and praying to no one in particular to get his rest for the night. Only to resort to the bottle of sleeping pills in the drawer of his bedside table.

His mind would work at high speeds, bringing so many different things to his head. His brain waited until he came home from work to mingle in the back of his consciousness and pull lots of memories out and slowly go through each of them. As vivid as they were, they ceased to be the past and Luhan would suffer silently as tears would creep from his eyes and terrified gasps would echo from his throat.

His hair on his arms would stand, his senses creating an illusion of touch and Luhan would turn swiftly on his other side. His skin was becoming hot, his breaths ragged and, then, his tears slid from his eyes, down his face and into the pillow. Suddenly, the dark was too suffocating and Luhan had no oxygen to breathe. Everything was closing on him and he sat up and pulled his legs to his chest, hugging them and protecting himself from nothing. Protecting himself from something that was entirely in his head.

He blinked his eyes and there was a breath on his neck; hot and filled with lust, whispering something that was supposed to be filled with passion. But it was not. Goosebumps ran down his spine and his skin throbbed with each heartbeat. Where kisses were planted once, the skin released chills and as it became too overwhelming, Luhan turned to his side, pulled the drawer open and snatched the small bottle. He put two pills in his mouth and swallowed them without a second try.

He fell asleep shortly after, when his tears had dried on his face.

***

He was there.

It’d been over a week since the start of his morning shifts and Luhan, having gotten used to the change, noticed a familiar face. If it wasn’t for the sleep his pills had given him, he’d never notice the guy. Now that he thought it over, he wasn’t sure if the other had come since then and he hadn’t seen him, or he’d just popped up out of nowhere today.

The black hair, as dark as the night that had passed, was messy. Luhan wasn’t sure if the boy had just woken up or he had actually wasted time to style them like that. His uniform spoke of school but his backpack was nowhere to be seen. His eyes stared through the dark glass of his sunglasses and, then, he plainly took them off, in a manner that should have been cool for him and the smirk of last time appeared. Luhan guessed he had high self-esteem and confidence. Or lived a life of a manga character where everything was shiny and perfect and his mere smile made everyone waver. Prince syndrome, as many called it.

He was still there.

Luhan swallowed the annoyance and grabbed his pen and notepad once more, heading towards the booth he’d chosen this time; one at the way back end, away from most of the rest customers. He was alone this time and Luhan appreciated it even if he didn’t admit it even to himself. He wore his fake smile, his mood forced high, and the same mantra all over again; “Welcome to…”

The young man took a while to answer. Luhan noticed how his eyes scanned him over, checking every detail of him from his waiter uniform to his skin. When he was done, he replied; “What’s today’s specials?”

Luhan tried to hide his irritation but he was sure his expression slipped for a second there. He proceeded with the list of dishes he had already told more than thirty times since morning. When he was done, he swallowed curses when the young man ordered the same as last time, giving no attention at what Luhan had just said to him.

Luhan thought that would be the end of it until he’d serve him. But with each movement, he felt as if being watched and when he looked up, his eyes scanning around the restaurant, he only found that particular person sitting at the back with his stare so strong on him Luhan felt nervous. He didn’t even know why he was that shaky under the young man’s eyes, but something at the back of his mind told him he was being mentally un-dressed. Something in the way the eyes were pinned at each patch of his skin made him anxious and trembling. The incident was when he dropped his notepad. He was lucky it hadn’t been a plate or he’d be swiping the floors now. And when he bent down, he just felt too exposed.

Frankly, Luhan just wanted to hide at the back, maybe somewhere in the kitchen, until the young man left. He wanted to be gone before he dropped anything else, and before he lost his mind under that strong stare. Luhan didn’t even know what was interesting—or amusing—for the other to watch like that. But something told him he didn’t need the answer because, by his multiple assumptions, he already knew why.

He felt a taste of freedom when the young man mentioned for him to pay after he’d eaten his food—which Luhan had trouble serving but didn’t admit it even to himself. To his slight surprise—even if he felt like he shouldn’t be surprised at all— he found a piece of paper in-between the bills. This time, when he glanced from the cash register, he didn’t meet the pair of eyes. The young man was staring at his phone just then so Luhan thought he might as well read what he’d written. “Date after your shift?” it read and Luhan cringed. Compare to the first one that was almost like an order, this one was an actual question, and Luhan felt nice enough to answer. He tore a piece of paper from his notepad, wrote the answer and placed it between the change. When he placed it in front of the young man and thanked him for eating there, he turned his back at him before disappearing into the back of the restaurant, leaving a confused-looking young man behind.

***

“You should. It’ll be awesome, I promise!” Sehun yelled through the wood of the door while knocking hard on it. “You’ll have fun! It’s better than being stacked up in the dorm for ages.”

Sehun was only a year younger than Luhan, still in his first year of the same University they shared. He was a tall young man, handsome too, if Luhan had to add. He was a very good roommate even if Luhan had never said such thing out loud, knowing that Sehun didn’t need much reason to boast. He was stubborn, though, and that balanced his kind-hearted attitude to something normal. They’d bonded quite fast, despite having slightly different likes.

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