Usually it’s Lu Han who does the grocery shopping. So he finds it weird that he’s the one doing it but Lu Han easily justifies it – I’m going shopping with my friend. Okay, grocery shopping isn’t hard, but Jongdae isn’t even sure what to buy, doesn’t even know what they’re low on in the fridge or anything of the sort because usually it’s Lu Han who does the goddamn grocery shopping. So, Jongdae needs to make it clear to Lu Han that he should really stop taking his friend out shopping and that he’s not someone you can easily depend on.

                Dumping the bag of groceries onto the kitchen counter, he shouts out to Lu Han and said male steps out of the room almost immediately, wearing a denim jacket over his gray shirt and dark, tight jeans. “I got the groceries.”

                Lu Han nods his head in understanding and slides his phone into his back pocket before walking over to unpack the groceries. “Thanks… Jongdae…” He frowns. “Did you just buy whatever was on sale?”

                Jongdae shoots him a guilty look but shrugs. “Can’t waste an opportunity, now, can I?” He says lamely.

                “You make it sound like we have financial problems.”

                “I’m often told that I’m a cheapskate, what did you expect?” Jongdae gives him a once over. “Going shopping again?”

                Lu Han clicks his tongue as a response and Jongdae heaves a sigh, making sure to roll his eyes without Lu Han seeing. Pulling out a plastic bag filled with apples, he gives Jongdae a look. “Yeah, this will be the last time I’m letting you go grocery shopping.”

                “Great.” Jongdae snickers. “Maybe you can stop going shopping with that friend of yours then.”

                “Oh I will go shopping.” He laughs. “Grocery shopping that is. With you.”

~

I’m not decent yet – okay, Lu Han’s heard that one far too often these days. Heard it from Zitao every time he bangs on the dressing room and asks him to come out so he can see how the outfit looks on him, heard it from Jongdae whenever he asks him if he’s ready to go clubbing yet. Even so, Lu Han’s never really listened to it, because come on, they’re all males and there’s nothing wrong with seeing each other’s body and private parts. Well, not that Zitao’s complaining (because he’s a doctor, and he’s seen worse) but Jongdae is, so that explains the reason why Jongdae screams as loud as he can when Lu Han returns to his apartment only to see him .

                It’s called having a sense of decency, and Lu Han’s own dissolves whenever he’s around people he’s comfortable with, people who he knows well enough to how they sound when they sleep, to know what they do for a living, to know what their favourite colours are. Only when he’s around strangers does this sense of decency come floating again, so when Zitao tries to enters the apartment with curiousity and yet concern, asking him “What was that?” Lu Han shoves him away before he manages to even take a step in and smiles apologetically at him.

                “Oh, it’s nothing,” He assures with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Just stay here until I get my wallet back.” It was the right thing to do considering how Jongdae and Zitao (he belatedly realizes) don’t know each other.

                He shuts the door lightly before turning to Jongdae with an unamused look. There’s a towel wrapped around his waist now. “What are you doing here?” Jongdae asks.

                “The real question would be what are you doing in the living room ?” Lu Han interjects, rolling his eyes as he trudges down to the coffee table to pick up his wallet.

                “I just got out of the shower.” Jongdae amends, wiping his upper half with another towel.

                “And I am here because I forgot my wallet.” Lu Han says casually, waving his wallet in the air as he walks back to the door. “I’ll probably be coming home late, just so you know.” He informs him, and Jongdae gives a small nod before Lu Han steps out of the apartment.

                “Is everything okay?” Zitao asks, worry evident on his face as he tries to look inside the apartment. Lu Han shuts the door quickly.

                “Yeah, everything’s fine.” Lu Han says dismissively, tucking his wallet inside his pocket. “My friend’s just watching a horror movie.”

                “Oh.” Zitao’s lips round out in understanding. “Let’s go then.”

~

Zitao almost forgets about it.

                He thinks the kid is in the wrong place or something, or perhaps he’d made a mistake – a huge mistake – of coming into the clinic when it’s not even open, but there he is, standing tall near the reception desk wearing the same clothes the other two receptionists are wearing. When Baekhyun greets him with his usual smile, it all clicks into place, and Zitao wants to knock himself in the head for even forgetting about something as grateful as this – he’s only 24 and he’s already beginning to forget a lot of things like old people do.  “You must be Sehun.” Zitao says by way of greeting, holding his hand out to the new receptionist. “I’m Zitao.”

                The new receptionist shakes his hand firmly, a tight smile on his lips and Zitao throws a glance at Baekhyun, who’s asking the new receptionist a few questions before Zitao realizes that Sehun’s a quiet guy – either nodding or shaking his head to the questions asked and only replying with short answers. Or maybe this guy is just shy, not yet used to the working environment and Zitao chuckles at that.

                During his lunch break, Zitao rounds the reception desk. And not to brag, Zitao is pretty sure he gives off friendly vibes, unlike certain people who at first impressions (he is obviously referring to Lu Han for the matter) so he smiles warmly at the new receptionist when he looks up at him. “Hey,” Zitao says smoothly.

                “Hey.” Sehun greets back awkwardly.

                “Are you–” Zitao starts, but his mind is almost completely blank and he doesn’t even know what to say. Kids are absolutely professional when it came to things like this, because they don’t judge people, so perhaps that relates to the reason why he isn’t sure what to say – the small fear of what the other male will think of him making him swallow back whatever he was about to say. “Are you free right now?” Is what comes out, and the young male glances at Baekhyun and Yixing before he turns back to nod his head. Zitao’s smile grows wider, and he waves his hand. “Come with me.”

                Like usual, Sehun nods his head with a tight-lipped smile.

                When they step out, Zitao takes it slow, uses the same pace he’s used before while Sehun follows beside him quietly. Zitao takes a glance at him and opts to start a conversation until Sehun decides to break off the silent atmosphere. “Where are we going?”

                Zitao chuckles softly. “To a coffee shop I always go to,”

Sehun nods in understanding, and they fall into complete silence once more. He really has to ‘fix’ this kid.

                So in a way, that justifies the reason why they’re in the club that night, because Zitao just wants him to loosen up and not be so tense – the job is easy, and if there are any clashes to the appointments, they can always fix it. Right after the clinic shut down that day, Zitao and Baekhyun had asked him if he had any plans for the night and after shaking his head, Yixing had explained to him that they’ve been wanting to celebrate his first day in the clinic. They’d all changed to comfortable clothes after that, and now entering the club, Zitao gives the younger male a sidelong glance. “Happy first day,” Zitao tells him as he nudges Sehun in the ribs.

                A smile appears on the young male’s lips and he looks away shyly. “Thanks,” He replies, voice raising a bit as the club begins to get louder. “You really don’t have to bring me here. I’m not… the clubbing type.”

                “Nah, we do this to all the newbies.” Zitao shrugs, “Let them have the time of their life before it gets worse in the clinic… You know what I mean?” He jokes, and Baekhyun laughs beside him.

                “Yeah, there’s more than meets the eyes.” He adds, motioning to his whole body. “There is more evil inside me than you can imagine.”

                “Er… I don’t doubt it.” Sehun laughs nervously, and Yixing smiles at him.

                “I want martini, what will you guys be having?” He asks, clapping his hands together and looking expectantly at the other three males.

                “Just get us some beer.” Zitao replies with a dismissive wave of his hand, gesturing to both him and Sehun.

                “And I’ll be having a on the beach.” Baekhyun singsongs, walking away from the group and heading to the bar.

~

Lu Han comes back to the booth with no one at his tail and a frown settling on his lips.

                “Can’t find anyone interesting?” Jongdae quips, chin resting on the palm of his hand. Feeling lightheaded, Jongdae can see Lu Han  shooting him an apologetic look, and Jongdae downs his last bottle of beer before standing up from the booth with a sigh, hand reaching for Lu Han’s wrist so he can drag him away. “Let’s go get more drinks. And maybe dance. The booth stinks a lot, I think someone puked here or something.”

                “Haven’t you had enough beer? I didn’t even finish one bottle.” Lu Han says, letting Jongdae drag him to the bar. Before they even reach there Lu Han stops his feet from taking further steps and Jongdae turns to Lu Han only to see him wearing an excited expression.

                “What,”

                “See that guy at the bar?” Lu Han points a slender finger at someone sitting at the bar. “The one wearing red? What about him? Wanna sleep with him?”

                Jongdae squints his eyes at the man Lu Han was gesturing to and then turns to Lu Han with an unamused look. “Is that not Baekhyun?”

                Lu Han’s eyebrows raise in realization. “Baekhyun? What’s Baekhyun doing here?” And then he’s off walking to the bar, leaving Jongdae alone once more.

                Jongdae hiccups, and then turns around to join everyone at the dance floor.

~

“I want one martini, one on the beach and two beers!” Baekhyun tells the bartender excitedly. He’s so excited. And happy. They have a new receptionist. That’s going to change everything. He and Yixing finally get to enjoy–

                “Can you add another beer to that?” Someone speaks up behind him and Baekhyun was just about ready to unleash the hell inside him when suddenly he turns around to see Lu Han.

                “Hi, Lu Han!”

                “Hey!” Lu Han opens his arms wide and Baekhyun hugs him. “What are you doing here?”

                “Nothing,” Baekhyun shrugs. “Just celebrating our–”

                “Um, hyung...” Someone taps at his shoulder and Baekhyun turns around to see Sehun standing on his left, where Lu Han is on his right, hesitant obvious on his eyes. “Tao told me to tell you that he’s–”

                “Who’s this?” Lu Han interrupts, bright and sparkling eyes looking straight at Sehun and Baekhyun feels the slightest urge to just vomit right there, right at Lu Han’s shoes.

                “This is Sehun,” He replies. “He’s the new receptionist at the clinic. We’re celebrating his first day.”

                “I see.” Lu Han smiles his signature smile and Baekhyun a brow at the sudden attitude. He really wants to vomit. Lu Han holds his hand out to Sehun. “I’m Lu Han.”

                Baekhyun takes a look at Sehun, and God the smile he returns to Lu Han is so wide. “By the way,” Baekhyun speaks up when they both pull their hands away. “Lu Han, are you alone?”

                “No, I’m with Jongdae.” He looks around him. “He’s dancing right now, and he’s kinda drunk. Which reminds me – where’s Tao?”

                “He’s with some girl.” Sehun replies when Baekhyun lets out a laugh. “That’s why I came here, hyung. Tao told me to tell you that he’s ‘in trouble’.” Sehun makes some quotation marks with his fingers.

                “Oh,” Baekhyun laughs. “Just leave him be.”

~

The girl’s name, Zitao picked up in between the loud and high pitched laughs most girls have, was Rae. It didn’t sound like a real name, so Zitao thought that it was her nickname, given to her by the other three girls and a boy she’s with. They looked young, and Zitao feels out of place, really, but the girl keeps him at her side with an arm wrapped around his and constant questions. Zitao looks around the bar and waits for Baekhyun, catches sight of Yixing smiling warmly at him as a sign of hold on there.

                God, Zitao wanted to leave.

                “Do you have a job?” She asks, running her fingers up his shoulder. Zitao tries not to shiver in disgust.

                “Yes, I’m a doctor.”

                “Oh, wow.” She smiles widely, glancing at her group of friends. “That’s really nice.”

                After Baekhyun left to get their drinks just now, Rae had walked up to him and told him straight up that she was interested in him, and that she would be very happy if he could join her and her friends for the night. She looked very beautiful and really nice, and Zitao, being the romantic he is, did not have the courage to say no. When she led him to a booth, he was introduced by loud wolf whistles and cheers that her friends let out. Only now did he realize that she was just putting up a front, and he has landed himself on a huge mistake.

                He distracted himself from her and her friends’ chats by thinking of possible scenarios that could help him escape them, what with him being at the booth exit, though he turns his attention back to her at the right times, with the right reactions, and Zitao simply wonders when Baekhyun will save him (‘save’, Zitao notes, being the correct term to the situation he’s in right now because he’s in so much torture right now).

                Zitao glances at his watch, and it tells him that it’s only half past eight. his lips, he turns his attention back to the group as the boy talks about an incident that happened between him and his cousin. He’s not really interested, not in the least. He takes another look at his watch and frowns, eyes staring hard at it as if that would change the time.

                Before he knows it, he’s sighing out loud, catching Rae’s attention. She leans in and presses her chest against Zitao’s arm. “What’s wrong?”

                “Nothing.” Zitao shakes his head, keeping his gaze at his watch just so he does’t have to meet her eyes.

                “Why do you keep looking at your watch?” She asks. “Do you plan on going home soon?”

                That sounds like an escape. “Actually, yes.” Zitao replies, straightening his back and turning his head to look at her properly.

                Rae shoots him a surprised look, and her hands pull away from Zitao’s arm. And at that exact moment his mind is screaming ‘escape!escape!’ and Zitao eyes the booth exit. “What? But it’s still early.”

                Zitao shrugs, standing up from his seat. “Someone’s waiting for me at home. I have to go now.” He flashes her a sarcastic smile and leaves Rae and her friends behind.

                He finds Yixing a few minutes later sitting at a different booth with Baekhyun and Sehun and he immediately runs to sit next to Sehun, sending a disapproving glare at Baekhyun. “What took you so long?”

                Baekhyun snickers at the question. “I didn’t want to get you. I mean, really, why do you think you’re single? You don’t give people a lot of chance.”

                “That’s because–” He barely gets to finish his sentence when suddenly there’s a hand on his shoulder and Zitao turns around to see Lu Han looking down at him with an judgmental look on his face. Zitao scowls. “What are you doing here?”

                “Hello to you too, Zitao.” Lu Han sighs with a roll of his eyes. “That’s my seat.”

                Zitao furrows his brows in confusion before turning his head to look at Sehun. It was then that he realizes that Lu Han’s interested in Sehun and he turns back at Lu Han with a jaw dropped. Lu Han nods his head and tells him to move away again.

                Zitao does so and moves to the other side of the booth. “I was in so much torture.” Zitao tells Baekhyun, and beside him, Yixing laughs.

                “Stop being so dramatic,” Yixing says. “You had a lot of chances of getting a lover. You just blew it away.”

                “But – Rae’s not my type.”

                “You said that last time.” Baekhyun snorts, sliding a bottle of beer into Zitao’s hand. “Forget it.”

                “Yeah,” Lu Han pipes up beside Sehun and Zitao can see him leaning in to Sehun. “Drink it. Get drunk. Get laid. Go find someone! Get a one night stand!”

                Zitao slumps his shoulders. “Not again–”

                Lu Han shuts him up dramatically by standing up and leaning over the table to press an index finger against Zitao’s lips. “Get. Drunk.”

                And Zitao doesn’t even know he reason why he obliges but the next thing he knows, he’s downing the bottle of beer in one go. When he’s done, he asks for another, and Sehun gladly gives him his drink so Zitao finishes it as quickly as he can before he realizes that Lu Han’s pushing him to the dance floor. He barely catches the “Have fun!” thrown to his back.

~

Oh. Someone’s behind him.

                Unbelievably close to him, but not touching.

                Through the haziness of his mind Jongdae takes a step back and lets his body press up against the man behind him. Immediately he feels the man’s hands on his waist, and he leans his head far back until he feels the man’s shoulder. Suddenly Jongdae’s displeasure for Lu Han not finding anyone to sleep with disappears, and he can’t help but feel how the man’s is pressing up against his back, how hard it feels that he just grinds back to the man.

                So Jongdae just settles with teasing the male behind him, keeps the man’s hands on his waist, sometimes pulling away just to feel the man pulling him back to his chest. The club gets darker by the minute, and the man keeps his face buried in the crook of Jongdae’s neck.

                Before he knows it, the man is slipping a leg between his thighs and his fingers rake through Jongdae’s locks, tugging lightly and positioning his head so his ear is right beside the man’s mouth. “My place or yours?”

                He feels a shiver down his spine and smiles lazily. This is going to be perfect. He would definitely want to take this home.

a/n: i bet you all know who that is i hope you enjoy!!