By the second bowl of ice cream, Zitao finally answers his phone.

              “What took you so long?” Lu Han hisses into his phone, screaming being not an option at the moment because his roommate is asleep. Calling Zitao in the middle of night, however, is an option.

              “Um..” Zitao begins, voice sounding exhausted, and Lu Han hears some shuffling on the other line before, “It’s three in the morning? Why are you even awake?”

              Lu Han scoops a spoonful of ice cream and holds it in front of his mouth. “That’s none of your business.”

              “Are you eating ice cream? Again?” Zitao asks, and Lu Han around his spoon as he rolls his eyes in annoyance. “I told you, Lu Han, that’s really bad for you.” Lu Han is an adult, and though he may not act his age he knows that he doesn’t want Zitao to tell him what’s good and what’s bad for him.

              “Shut up,” He interjects. “Being single is bad for you.”

              “Aren’t you single?”

              “I’m gonna hook up with your new receptionist. There’s a fifty-fifty chance I’m not.” Lu Han replies, and he hears Zitao scoff at the end of the line. “Anyways, when are you free?”

              Lu Han hears a groan on the other line as he scoops more ice cream. “Thursday’s my day off.”

              “Perfect.” Lu Han smiles. “I’m setting you up with my friend. I’ll tell you the details later, okay? Bye.” That said, Lu Han hangs up and continues eating his ice cream.

~

Given the circumstances that happened in the past week, Jongdae dreaded going back to the clinic. Ever since what happened, Lu Han had concluded that Jongdae is so into Zitao and Jongdae gravely doesn’t want to believe that because Huang Zitao is just a two night stand, nothing more (he hopes), nothing less. It’s just that if he were to be in a relationship with someone, to say that they started out by being a one night stand is just ridiculous – in his opinion, that is.

              Though entering the clinic only to see Baekhyun staring at him blankly is quite ridiculous too. “What are you doing here?” Baekhyun asks, and Jongdae finds that even more ridiculous.

              “Lu Han told me to come here? Because you have something for me?” Jongdae blinks back at Baekhyun, and Baekhyun starts to shake his head.

              “I don’t have anything for you.”

              “Then what...” Jongdae trails off, meeting Baekhyun’s confused eyes before everything slowly starts to make sense, and he buries his face in his hands. “Ugh. I am going to murder Lu Han.”

              “Nobody plans their murder in a clinic, you idiot.” Baekhyun whispers, using the clipboard in his hand to smack Jongdae at the back of his head, to which the other flinches in response, holding the back of his head to rub the spot where Baekhyun had hit his head. “Why are you pissed?”

              “This is all part of Lu Han’s plan.” Jongdae explains, looking up at Baekhyun with a pout. “He wants me to see Zitao or something.”

              “Zitao?” Baekhyun repeats, the corners of his lips suddenly curling into a smile. “You mean the guy who just gave you the best one night stand ever? You into him or something?”

              “No, I’m not into him.” Jongdae shakes his head, sending a glare at Baekhyun’s way. By now Baekhyun looks like he’s on the verge of laughing.

              “You sure about that? He’s single.”

              Jongdae scoffs. “Not my prob–”

              “Baekhyun, I’ll be having my break now.” Jongdae gets cut off, and Jongdae is just about ready to get even more pissed when he realizes who the voice belonged to, shoulders stiffening with tension. He looks at Baekhyun with his eyes wide as he feels Zitao’s presence behind him.

              Baekhyun realizes the sudden change in Jongdae’s facial expression and breaks out into a small laugh before turning his attention to Zitao. “Yeah? Where are you going?”

              “I’m going to head over to the coffee shop just a few blocks down. You know, the place I usually go to.” Zitao replies.

              “Yeah, yeah,” With a mischievous smile, Baekhyun turns to look at Jongdae, who sends him a don’t you dare look which, in a way, only serves to make Baekhyun feel challenged, and being the jerk friend he is, he turns back to Zitao with an index finger pointing at Jongdae. “Bring Jongdae with you.”

              From the corner of his eyes, Baekhyun can see Jongdae shutting his eyes, mouthing please kill me as he clasps his fingers together, as if he’s begging for Baekhyun to stop making matters worse. Zitao raises his brows in confusion. “Why?”

              “Oh, nothing.” Baekhyun waves a dismissive hand. “Jongdae here just asked if I knew any coffee shops around here because he missed his morning coffee.”

              “Ah... Okay...” Zitao nods in understanding. “Come on then.”

              “No, no, that’s okay.” Jongdae speaks up, waving his hand dismissively but not turning around, eyes fixed angrily at Baekhyun.

              “I don’t mind.” Zitao protests. Baekhyun is smiling smugly.

              “I’m fine, it’s okay.” Jongdae tells him, and fortunately Zitao doesn’t insist on it.

              “Alright, then.” By the times Zitao leaves, Jongdae takes the clipboard from Baekhyun’s hand and smacks his head.

~

Zitao thinks the kid is just joking.

              Thinks he’s just saying things that are most likely untrue, but the kid’s not playing around. He is dead serious. And probably desperate, because as he said, he can’t miss such a great opportunity. “ it up, Zitao, it’s just a double date, you won’t be alone. You’ll be with me and Lu Han. And someone else.” Sehun justifies it easily, and Zitao can hear Baekhyun laughing hysterically beside him.

              “What are we, in high school?” Zitao snaps. “Why did Lu Han ask me? Specifically?”

              “I don’t know.” Sehun shrugs. “He mentioned something about you being free on Thursday too. And that he’s going to set you up with his friend. I forgot his friend’s name, but I definitely remember that his friend’s Korean.”

              There’s a low whistle from the other receptionist. “Tao, you should go.” And it’s not like Baekhyun to suddenly become interested in things like this, but this time he’s looking at Zitao with hope in his eyes, or probably just a look that says now’s your chance to not be single, go for it. This makes Zitao sort of suspicious of Baekhyun but he shakes it off when Sehun grabs both of his shoulders.

              “Tao, just come. It’ll save your life. Your love life.”

              Oh wow, even the new receptionist is making fun of his lonely life. “Look, I’m not worried about that, I’m more worried about Lu Han.”

              “What’s wrong?” Sehun blinks innocently. “Aren’t you guys like childhood friends?”

              “Yeah, we are. And that’s exactly the problem.” Zitao explains. “In my years of living I’ve learned that having Lu Han deal with my love life is always a bad idea. I can feel my insides churning at this double date thing. I don’t want to go.”

              There’s a smack to the back of his head and Zitao’s groaning in pain. “Baekhyun, what the hell?” Baekhyun drops the clipboard onto the reception desk. “Just go. Believe it or not, I have a good feeling about this double date thing, even if I’m not related to it whatsoever. Just trust me. You should go.”

              Zitao rubs the back of his head and then turns back to Sehun. “Okay, fine. I’ll go. Just text me the details or whatever.”

              Sehun smiles warmly at the doctor. “Thanks, hyung.”

              With that, Zitao returns back to his office, leaving the two receptionists to do their work. Baekhyun glances around the reception desk and takes his phone out before dialing Lu Han’s number.

~

“Baekhyun told me everything.”

              “Don’t talk to me.” Jongdae deadpans, brushing past Lu Han as the taller male looks at him with a smug smile on his face, phone in hand.

              “I can’t believe you rejected his offer! You guys could have had coffee together!” Lu Han tells him, and Jongdae rolls his eyes in dismay as he pulls out a bag of chips from the refrigerator. “Man, you wasted such a great opportunity.”

              “It’s not like I wanted to be with him,” Jongdae says, “I wanted to avoid him at all cost. If I ever see him one last time, my insides are gonna churn.”

              “Oh, Jongdae, those are just the butterflies in your stomach,” Lu Han waves a dismissive hand at him. “Accept the fact that you’re in love with him.”

              “No.” Jongdae stuffs some chips into his mouth. “I am not in love with him. He’s just a two night stand. Nothing–”

              “Nothing more, nothing less, yes, yes, you’ve said that a billion times already.” Lu Han sighs exasperatedly. “Anyways, you’re coming, right?”

              “Coming where?” Jongdae asks, throwing himself on the sofa.

              “To the double date.”

              “Yes. Do I know who my date is?” Jongdae calls out just as Lu Han’s phone rings one more time, indicating another phone call from Baekhyun. Lu Han throws a glance at Jongdae, who just started to watch the television before slowly walking away.

              “No, of course not.” Lu Han replies, and he walks off to his room to answer the call. “Hello?”

              “You’re setting them up together, aren’t you?” Baekhyun probes. Immediately Lu Han knows what he’s talking about and he smiles smugly, though Baekhyun can’t see it.

              “It’s part of my master plan.” Lu Han laughs. “They look pretty cute together, when you think about it.”

              “I know.” Baekhyun says on the other line. “Though I’m surprised that Zitao doesn’t remember anything about their two night stand. Guess you can never trust Zitao whenever he’s drunk.”

              “Yeah, and I’m dying to know when he’ll find out. I just hope I get to be there when he remembers.”

              “Does Jongdae know you’re setting him up with Zitao?”

              “I don’t think so.” Lu Han replies. “I really hope this goes well.”

              “You have my support Lu Han.” Baekhyun chuckles. “Bye.”

~

“This double date thing better be worth it.” Jongdae says as he and Lu Han walk inside the mall complex. They had arrived at the mall a few minutes earlier and both Lu Han and Jongdae’s dates had agreed to meet up in front of the coffee shop inside the mall complex, where they are headed to now.

              “It will.” Lu Han rolls his eyes in annoyance before turning his attention back to his phone. “Don’t you trust me on this?”

              “That’s the problem. I don’t know if I should trust you or not.”

              “I’ve set you up with one night stands multiple times before. How can this be any different?” Lu Han asks with his brows knitted together, still annoyed by the fact that Jongdae’s still considering on ditching the whole double date thing.

              “Uh, well, first of all,” Jongdae begins as he holds up his index finger dramatically. “I’m sober.” Lu Han scoffs at his answer and continues typing something furiously into his phone, careful not to bump into anyone in the midst of his typing. “Second of all, the first time you set me up with someone, it turned out really bad.”

              “Oh come on, Chanyeol wasn’t that bad.” Lu Han interjects, “He’s just... A bit wary.”

              “I don’t think ‘wary’ is the right word here.” Jongdae tells him. “The right word would be ‘paranoid’.”

              “Yeah, okay, I get it,” Lu Han gives in before putting his phone back in his pocket once he realizes that they are almost near to the coffee shop. “But trust me on this. Your date will turn out great.”

              “Speaking of which, where are our dates?”

              “They should be around here somewhere...” Lu Han replies, eyes scanning the area before they fall onto a certain someone. “Oh – there – Sehun!” Lu Han calls out, raising his hand up and waving his arm exaggeratedly. Said man beams when he looks up and Lu Han runs to him almost immediately, excited and eager while Jongdae just follows by behind him, unfazed.

              “So,” Lu Han begins as he realizes that Sehun’s alone. He needs to make sure that things go as he planned it to be. “Where’s Jongdae’s date?”

              “He had to answer some phone call, he’ll be back in a bit.”

              “Great.” Jongdae mutters under his breath. Lu Han sends him a ‘don’t worry’ look and Jongdae tries not to scoff at it. Sliding his hands into his pocket, Jongdae sighs in displease and lets his eyes wander around the area as Lu Han and Sehun chat.

              Eventually his eyes land on someone.

              Is that... Zitao?

              Wait. Zitao?

              Huang Zitao?

              His two night stand?

              God – No – Why. Why did he have to meet his two night stand here? Of all places? No – He’s got to hide. But – but where? Is he – is he coming this way? Whoa, what? What? Jongdae’s eyes widen slightly in surprise and he turns to Lu Han for some sort of help but both him and Sehun are not paying attention to him, and before he knows it Zitao is standing beside him, creating a ball of alarm and panic at the pit of his stomach that he stays still and freezes.

              “Sorry about that,” Is the first thing Zitao says.

              “It’s okay, at least we’re all finally here.” Sehun smiles, then gestures to Jongdae. “Jongdae, this is Zitao. Zitao, this is Jongdae.”

              For a moment Jongdae feels as if the world was shaking and the ground behind him had just cracked open and swallowed him whole as Zitao makes eye contact with him, looking like a model in his outfit. Zitao, however, is not baffled, expression cool as he gives Jongdae a simple nod. “Hey.”

              And that was enough to make Jongdae question how Zitao still doesn’t remember him, as if everything that happened between them both was just a dream Jongdae had. Jongdae just nods his head, managing to flash a small smile at the taller male as he tries not to swoon over his looks (Jongdae is so screwed). Instead, Jongdae just turns to Lu Han for an explanation but the other male is purposely avoiding eye contact with him and Jongdae makes a mental note that by the end of the night, Lu Han is not getting away from him alive.

              Zitao and Jongdae stand (awkwardly, in Jongdae’s opinion) beside each other as Lu Han laughs at something Sehun said before hugging Sehun’s arm and snuggling close. Sehun turns to Zitao and mouths something to him, to which Jongdae wonders what it is that he’s saying but he shrugs it off when Sehun and Lu Han begin to walk inside the coffee shop together.

              Zitao looks down at Jongdae, and after a beat Jongdae finally returns the look, eyes glancing up at the taller male (which is a bad idea, again, Jongdae is so screwed). “We should get going.” Zitao says, voice soft as he extends his arm forward.

              Jongdae smiles shyly at him but he grips Zitao’s arm anyway, head ducking when he feels himself blush at how much attention Zitao’s giving him. Not that this is his first time or anything, but this is, by far, the first time he’s ever been this close to Zitao apart from the two night stand and Jongdae honestly feels dazed because of how things are going between the two of them.

              Jongdae is so screwed.

~

Zitao believes that he’s doing a good job.

              Things are going great so far, and he can confirm this by the look Lu Han gave him when he finished his phone call. Lu Han had given him a nod and a thumbs up before winking at him, mouthing “nice” and from this, Zitao knows he chose the right outfit for the date.

              When they began to enter the coffee shop, Sehun had mouthed, “have fun” and Zitao had rolled his eyes at him before turning to his date, extending his arm forward as he pulls on his signature smile. His date didn’t hesitate to hold his arm, instead just letting Zitao him into the coffee shop. And in that moment, Zitao thought that maybe, just maybe, this date won’t be as bad as he thought.

              Inside the coffee shop, Zitao and Sehun sit across their dates, and in his opinion this may be a bad idea because he can’t stop looking at Jongdae. Jongdae looks stunning, and as much as he tries to redirect his attention somewhere else, he always ends up staring right into Jongdae’s eyes.

              Fortunately a barista approaches their table, tearing his attention away from Jongdae. “Hello,” The barista says boringly. “Can I get your order?” The barista sounds as if his day isn’t going well.

              “I’ll have chai latte, please,” Lu Han replies, then reaches his hand out to hold Sehun’s across the table. “What about you?”

              “Espresso, please.” The young male responds. Lu Han and Sehun turn their heads to both Jongdae and Zitao.

              “And you guys will have?”

              “Vanilla bean frapuccino.” They both say in unison. Jongdae and Zitao stare at each other in surprise and from the corner of his eye Zitao can see Lu Han’s shoulders shaking as he tries to hold in his laughter. The barista walks off with a loud sigh. Well, unlike the barista, Zitao’s day will surely go well.

~

Sehun leaves the coffee shop with Lu Han wrapped around his arm and Jongdae and Zitao just following after them. Zitao’s relieved that they’ve started talking already, and this makes things less awkward between the two. However, unlike Sehun and Lu Han, they haven’t started getting cozy with each other, so Zitao guesses he can begin this as they make their way to the cinema.

              “Haven’t we met before?” Zitao asks to begin, putting a hand down Jongdae’s lower back. And judging by the way he feels Jongdae’s body stiffen underneath his palm, perhaps that’s already too much, but he shrugs it off as Jongdae replies to his question.

              “I don’t think so.” Jongdae says calmly, completely unperturbed with the hand on his lower back, and Zitao nods his head in understanding.

              “I see.” He smiles at the smaller male as their eyes meet but he had to take a double look when he suddenly notices how red the other’s face is. “Um, are you okay?” He asks again, and this time Jongdae looks surprised at the question.

              “W-what?” He stammers. “You look... Red – um... Are you sick or something?”

              “What?” Jongdae’s hand goes up to his cheeks, unaware of the sudden change of colour in his face. “Do you feel sick?” Zitao asks, worry evident on his face and he lays the palm of his hand on Jongdae’s forehead. Jongdae had been surprised at the action but Zitao pays no heed to it. “Do you want to go home?”

~

Vaguely at the back of his mind, Jongdae can’t think of situations that could be worse than this. But he can, and that’s this:

              1. Being in a room full of dead bodies. That’s already bad.

              2. Having those dead bodies come back to life, resulting in a zombie apocalypse and Jongdae is most likely to be their first meal. That’s definitely worse.

              3. Being in public.

              Although, the situation he’s in is nothing like the ones listed, because Zitao thinks they’ve already met before and that’s the last thing Jongdae wants him to find out. And, he’s touching him in several places, as well as reminding him of the times they’ve actually touched each other else where.

              “No, I’m fine.” Jongdae says, “Don’t worry,” Zitao gives him a look.

              “I’m a doctor, Kim Jongdae.” Zitao states, voice stern as he looks Jongdae straight in the eye, and Jongdae is a bit distracted by the tone he used when he mentions his full name. “It’s my duty to worry about things like this.”

              Okay, wow. Jongdae can already feel himself blush to his ears that Zitao’s look of worry continues to deepen even more. He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath before opening his eyes again. “It’s okay, Zitao. I’m fine.”

              Zitao has a look of hesitance in his eyes but he nods his head anyways, continues walking with a hand down Jongdae’s back. Jongdae sighs quietly in relief when Zitao decides not to push on the matter, however, being the idiot he is, he trips over nothing and falls not so elegantly to the floor.

              4. Embarrassing yourself in front of your crush.

              That is, until Zitao catches him.

              Soon enough Jongdae is face to face with Zitao’s sturdy chest as the taller male’s arms are wrapped firmly around his waist and the position they’re in makes Jongdae see everything in a whole new level, because he had touched that chest, he had kissed that and he already slept in those arms. Jongdae feels a sense of nostalgia and familiarity in that moment that he almost cries because Zitao has no memory of this whatsoever –Jongdae holds back the tears.

              Although at the same time he isn’t quite sure as to why he’s disappointed that Zitao doesn’t remember.

              “Are you alright?” Zitao asks, worry evident on his face once more and the amount of affection Jongdae is feeling from Zitao right now makes him wants stay in his arms forever.

              “Yes, I’m–”

              “My God.” Lu Han gasps at the two of them and Jongdae pulls away from Zitao as fast as he can. Jongdae and Zitao turn their heads to Lu Han, who has his arms folded over his chest and Sehun, who’s standing behind him with a big smile. “Already getting cosy?”

              “Shut up,” Jongdae grumbles, and Lu Han winks at him. Zitao says something to him in Mandarin, and Jongdae briefly wonders what he’s saying to him before Lu Han responds to the taller male with a laugh. Lu Han returns to Sehun’s side and they both continue walking.

              Glancing up at Zitao, Jongdae returns the small smile he gives him and Zitao extends his arm forward. Jongdae grips it gingerly and they both start walking.

              “So how did you know Lu Han?” Jongdae begins, trying to make things less awkward between them.

              “We were friends since we were kids.” Zitao replies, “Pain in the dealing with him for the past years but he’s not always up to bad things.”

              Zitao sends him a smirk at the last part and Jongdae suddenly realizes that he’s talking about the double date.

              “What about you?” Zitao asks. “Are you and Lu Han’s colleague or something?”

              “Yeah, that.” Jongdae smiles shyly. “We’re roommates too.”

              “Oh?”

a/n: ehhehehEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHHEHHEHEHEEHH