| XIV. press your number | 

 

 

Two weeks later, Minseok enters Moonlight with a bright smile on his face.

Seokjin's already there behind the counter, and he waves at Minseok as soon as he takes his gloves off, hangs his jacket, and pins his nametag to his apron.

"Hello, Minseok! How was your vacation? You certainly look like you're in a good mood."

"It was great, thanks for asking." Minseok replies, his smile growing wider.

It was true, the past two weeks were certaintly refreshing. He felt like he did need some time off work for a while (his stress levels had been at an all time high and he was usually running on less than four hours of sleep), so he had called Junmyeon after Christmas and asked if he could have a break. Fortunately, his boss was very understanding, so Minseok spent a majority of his break catching up on sleep.

Pretty soon, his eyebags were starting to disappear. Although today was his first day back, he couldn't feel any better than this.

"How was your Christmas and New Year, by the way?" Minseok asks the blonde barista, as he begins to sort the bills in the cash register.

"Oh, it went pretty well. I spent it with some friends." Seokjin answers, beaming at him. "What about you? I heard that you, Jongdae, and Junmyeon had your own little get together during the holidays."

Minseok flashes back to the Christmas party at Luhan's house, and he sighs. He hasn't had a chance to talk to Luhan since then, but there were people in their newly formed group chat (read: Jongdae, Tao, Chanyeol) who have been wondering when they were going to hang out all together again.

"Yeah, a mutual friend invited us. It was quite... interesting."

"In a bad or a good way?"

"Probably both," Minseok honestly says.

At that exact moment, Jongdae enters the cafe, shaking a small amount snow off of his beanie as soon as he walks in. Upon seeing him, the previous content that Minseok was feeling slowly ebbs away and becomes cautiousness.

Jongdae had texted him after the party with a 'Merry Christmas!' at around three am, a bunch of Christmas tree and Santa Claus emojis accompanying the message. Minseok was still awake at the time (he couldn't sleep), so he decided why not and sent him a simple 'merry christmas' back just for the heck of it.

He was in a good mood anyway, it being Christmas and all.

Pretty soon, they started talking to each other more via text.

At first, Minseok was really reluctant to reply to the barista's constant flow of messages. However, he was surprised to see that conversation with Jongdae flowed pretty easily; he wasn't having any difficulty figuring out what to say at all. It turns out the barista had took a week break as well before returning to Moonlight, since he was spending time with his family.

Minseok had been wondering if they were still going to be able to talk comfortably like this, without the screen in front of them. He knew that it could be possible, but he was feeling nervous about it, for some odd reason.

"Hey guys, good morning. Damn, it feels super good in here." Jongdae says cheerfully, waving at the two other baristas merrily before pinning his nametag to his apron. His smile grows wider at the sight of Minseok, who manages a tight lipped smile in response. "Have a nice break?"

The corner of Minseok's mouth twitches. He knows that Jongdae knows what he's been up to the past two weeks. Minseok doesn't have the slightest idea why the barista bothers to ask when he already knows the answer.

Jongdae looks at him expectantly, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"...Yeah."

"That's good to hear." Jongdae continues, as he hangs up his coat. "Say, Luhan's been acting pretty weird lately. He's not his usual self during work, and he hasn't come with me to see Yixing at the nightclub for a while."

"Really?" Minseok raises an eyebrow. Even he knows that sort of behavior—especially coming from Luhan—is a little strange. "Do you think something happened?"

"Of course I do." Jongdae snorts, but he frowns a little afterwards. "He's just not telling me what."

"Huh."

"On a happier note, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are officially a thing now."

"Seriously?!" Minseok exclaims, while Jongdae nods.

"About time, right? It certainly explains why he's so happy these days, even though they got together on Christmas. Chanyeol's, like, bouncing off the walls. It's amazing. Kyungsoo's getting a little tired of it, though. Since Chanyeol texts Baekhyun a lot now, it's sort of a distraction. But at least he's happy."

"That's pretty awesome. I'm happy for them."

"So am I." Jongdae looks amused by Minseok's reaction. He crosses his arms. "I'm glad that they both figured it out, even if it did take a while."

The STAFF ONLY door opens just then, and Taehyung pokes his head out through the gap, a pained expression on his face. His cheeks and nose were red, and there were flakes of snow in his hair.

"Hey, can someone help me throw out the trash? It's pretty slippery out in the back. I tried to walk across, but I fell on the ice and now my 's really numb."

"I'll help." Jongdae volunteers almost immediately, even though he literally just put his coat on the rack. He takes his thick jacket off of it before pulling his beanie snugly over his ears. Before he joins Taehyung, he sends a small smile towards Minseok's way. "Be back in a bit."

After he leaves, Minseok vaguely wonders why his face was starting to become warm. He eventually decides that it was probably because of the warmth the heater was giving off, but when he turns back to face Seokjin the blonde is staring at him with a surprised expression on his face.

Confused, Minseok's eyes widen.

"...Are you all right there, Seokjin?"

"Oh, yes." Seokjin snaps back into reality. He smiles, looking more amused than surprised this time. "I just wasn't aware that you and Jongdae were on good terms now."

"Good terms?" Minseok echoes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you two aren't arguing at all anymore. You guys are like... friends."

"Oh." Minseok says, not sure of what else to say.

Now that he was thinking about it, Seokjin was right.

The previous annoyance that he used to feel at just the mere thought of Jongdae was... gone. Sure, he'd rolled his eyes at a few stupid messages the other sent him the past few weeks, but it was all without ill intentions. The transition from not liking Jongdae to gradually being able to hold a conversation with him was a little weird, but it felt strangely nice at the same time.

Minseok did feel a little better now because he was didn't need to spend extra energy just being frustrated at one person. Blinking, he suddenly realizes that the two were probably inching closer to becoming friends at this rate.

Friends, huh?

Maybe they weren't just acquaintances anymore.

"Minseok?" Seokjin asks, worry laced in his tone. "Are you with me?"

"I'm fine," Minseok assures him, turning to the cashier when he sees a couple approach the counter. After he takes the couple's order, he puts the money in the register and hands their copy of the receipt to Seokjin, who takes it from him.

After Seokjin finishes the drinks and hands them to the couple (while Minseok muses over his thoughts as he restacks the napkins in the dispenser), Jongdae comes back through the STAFF ONLY door, his nose and cheeks red from the cold outside—similar to Taehyung's appearance earlier.

"It is so ing cold outside," Jongdae shivers, moving closer to the heater. He puts his beanie in his jacket pockets and hangs it back on the rack. "It took us a long time getting the trash can across, not to mention the fact that I'm stupid and I left my pair of gloves at home today. I can't feel my hands; I really hope I don't get frostbite. I don't want another hospital visit."

"That would ," Minseok replies lamely and glances at the other barista's hands; sure enough, his hands were bright red from the cold.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Minseok walks over to the rack and fishes out his own pair of gloves from his coat's pocket. He heads toward Jongdae slowly, who was breathing into his hands in a feeble attempt to warm them up.

"Here." Minseok says quietly, handing his gloves to Jongdae.

When he looks up, Jongdae's staring at him with a bemused expression on his face.

"...What are you doing?"

"A-Aren't your hands cold?" Minseok then stutters, his cheeks gradually starting to warming up again. He firmly avoids eye contact with the other barista, huffing slightly before continuing. "Do you want these or not?"

Unbeknowst to Minseok, Jongdae continues on gaping at him for a while before he eventually takes them. When Minseok turns to look back at him, there's some sort of funny smile on the other's face.

"Thank you."

It's completely genuine, and Minseok bites the inside of his cheek nervously.

"You're welcome." Minseok then mutters. He hesitates before adding, "After all... we're friends now, right?"

Jongdae's mouth falls open in shock, and Seokjin observes the two with a hand over his mouth.

"Holy ." Jongdae responds, eyes wide. Minseok begins to feel a wave of embarrassment hit him instantly, and he wonders if he shouldn't have said anything at all; he's never seen the other barista so lost for words before. "Holy sh—do you even need to ask? Of course we are! I mean... you're okay with this, right?"

"W-What do you think?" Minseok raises an eyebrow at him in confusion, trying to ignore the fact that his face was starting to grow warm again. He furiously shakes his head and tries for a more serious expression. "Don't make me regret it."

Jongdae looks at him in surprise, completely taken aback.

"Oh my—!" Seokjin gasps, his hand now over his heart.

"Are you sick or something? Who are you and what have you done to Minseok?" Jongdae jokingly asks, placing a hand on the other's forehead just to make sure. Minseok swats his hand away almost immediately, flushing furiously.

"I am not sick!"

"Just messing with you, friend." Jongdae grins, and Minseok's never seen him smile so widely throughout the months he's known him. "You won't be getting rid of me anytime soon."

 

 

---

 

 

"Hello, this is We Are One. How can I help you?" Luhan asks, listening carefully as the customer rattles off their order. "A flower arrangment for your girlfriend...? Okay, yes, I understand. If you don't want roses, then I suggest red tulips... You want those and a small, stuffed teddy bear? Okay. The total's going to be around 45,000 won, is that fine...? If I can have your name and phone number please... Will you be picking them up or would you like them to be delivered to you...? You're going to come here? Awesome. They'll be ready by tomorrow. Thank you, sir. Goodbye."

He scribbles down a few more things on the order sheet before resting his face against the counter. This was probably the tenth order they've had that had to do something about someone expressing their love for another.

Honestly, Luhan was getting sick and tired with all that stuff. It was the last thing that he wanted to be on his mind right now, ever since that whole thing with Sehun happened. It's been two weeks, and they haven't really talked since then. They did text a little after that, but their conversations weren't as long as they were before.

Eventually, the messages stopped coming altogether.

To make matters worse, Sehun hasn't been stopping by We Are One lately. Jongin wasn't either (Luhan did feel a little better about that, because it meant that Sehun was probably just busy), but he was able to come in earlier to see Kyungsoo. Luhan tried to appear like he didn't really care when he saw that Sehun wasn't with him.

"Luhan." Kyungsoo says quietly, bringing him back to reality. Said person turns to look at his friend, who was glancing at him worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Luhan answers. Lies. He's felt like the past few weeks. He hasn't even gone to see Yixing at the nightclub lately, and he knows that the bartender's probably wondering about what's up. However, Luhan couldn't stop thinking about the expression on Sehun's face when he rejected him.

The thought of it made the florist feel even more miserable, and he sighs dejectedly.

"You can still talk to me about it, you know."

Kyungsoo had arrived back in Seoul a few days before the new year, and the first thing he did was to head to Luhan's house. When Luhan answered the door, the first thing that Kyungsoo said as soon as he saw him was: "You look like ," which was true. There were bags under Luhan's eyes and his hair was unkept. After the sight of him, Kyungsoo spent the rest of the day looking after the other florist, listening to the elder talk to him about it.

Luhan won't probably ever say it out loud, but he was forever grateful for Kyungsoo being there to comfort him. Sometimes, he wonders what he did  to deserve a good friend like him.

"It's okay, there isn't much to talk about anyway."

Kyungsoo frowns at his reply, and that's when Jongdae enters the flower shop.

"Hey guys!" Jongdae says, a huge smile on his face. He certainly looks happy. Luhan lets out another sigh. If only he could feel the same way; he failed to understand why he was so hung up over this. "What did I miss? Is Chanyeol not here yet?"

"Nothing too significant, and Chanyeol's in the back. He's giving Baekhyun a call, even though we have a bunch of stuff that needs to be delivered." Kyungsoo sighs, sounding disappointed. "We have more arrangements that need to be done, by the way."

"Awesome! I can't wait."

"Why are you so excited?" Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow.

"I'm glad you asked!" Jongdae flashes two finger guns at him. "If you must know, Minseok and I are friends now."

Kyungsoo stares at him in confusion.

"Um, weren't you two always friends?"

"Nope! He never considered me as one, but today he finally did!"

"...I see."

"That sounds great, Jongdae," Luhan tries for a convincing smile, giving his friend a weak thumbs up.

"Thank you, Luhan." The barista replies, before taking a seat next to him. He places a comforting hand on Luhan's back afterwards, rubbing it comfortingly. "How are you doing, by the way?"

Luhan raises his eyebrows at the question. He hasn't told Jongdae about his predicament, mostly because he didn't want to burden the barista with his problems. He should've saw this coming, though; Jongdae knew him well, extremely well, in fact—like Kyungsoo, the barista could read him like a book without even trying.

Nevertheless, Luhan half shrugs.

"Meh."

"Listen, you can talk to me. I won't judge you for whatever it is, unless you committed a crime or something. Now that would be worrying."

Luhan muses over that for a few moments. The only people who really knew about this whole mess were Kyungsoo and Chanyeol (he told the chef because he was getting annoyed when he kept asking why he was so upset), and Jongin only sort knew because, well, he wasn't best friends with Sehun for nothing. Luhan was just happy that Jongin didn't seem to hate him for rejecting Sehun, though.

"Some went down between Sehun and I." Luhan finally says, playing with the telephone chord.

"You're kidding," Jongdae's eyes widen, and Kyungsoo nods.

"It's nothing too horrible." Kyungsoo explains, because he knows that Luhan's really not willing to talk about it again. "From what I know, Sehun told Luhan something on Christmas Eve but Luhan didn't quite understand what it was because he was drunk. Sehun came to Luhan's house on Christmas to pick up his present, and that's when Luhan found out that he actually told him that he likes him. However, Luhan ended up rejecting him—"

"Noooo, stop," Luhan groans, covering his ears. "Please, stop talking."

"—And that's basically what happened," Kyungsoo continues as if Luhan didn't say anything, folding his arms. "Now Luhan feels really guilty about it."

Jongdae hums thoughtfully.

"Well... for starters, it's not your fault if you don't like someone back."

Kyungsoo stares at Luhan accusingly, "That's exactly what I told him."

"Still." Luhan murmurs. He starts drawing scribbles on a post it note. "I feel so bad... this is Sehun we're talking about. He never shows much emotion in the first place, so it really surprised me to see his reaction when I—."

He places his head back on the counter.

"You've never been like this before," Jongdae observes. "Have you talked to him since?"

"I... uh, no, not really."

Jongdae stares at him increduously.

"Well, there you go. I think your guys' friendship will be in potential danger if you continue avoiding the topic." The barista stands up and rubs Luhan's back comfortingly once more before turning to Kyungsoo. "Where are the order sheets, by the way? I'll start on the arrangements right now."

Kyungsoo wordlessly hands the papers to Jongdae, who takes them with a smile on his face.

When he disappears into the back, Kyungsoo swivels around to face Luhan.

"I agree with Jongdae. I'm sure you guys might go back to normal if you talk about it."

"But it's going to be really awkward," Luhan grumbles, "I hate being in awkward situations."

"If you hate being in awkward situations, I must loathe them then." Kyungsoo argues, twirling the pen in his hands. "I think the least you could do is to plan another thing for all of us. Have you even looked at the group chat lately? They've been suggesting several places to go to next."

Luhan turns his head to look at him, cheek still resting against the counter. He hasn't checked the group chat in ages because he had turned the notifications off after the whole fiasco.

"What good will inviting the whole group do?"

"It'll cheer you up for sure. Once you're with a group of friends, your mood drastically improves."

"Really?"

Kyungsoo glares at him as if to say 'you know exactly what I'm talking about', and Luhan can't help but smile.

"Gee, Kyungsoo, thanks. You must really love me, huh?"

The black haired florist snorts.

"Sometimes I feel more like your babysitter. Is that the answer you're looking for?"

"Pfft." Luhan sticks his tongue at him, but he's already starting to feel a little better.

He pulls his phone out of his pockets and opens the messaging app, pressing on their group chat, which was currently named 'Bacon and Chanyolk'. For what reason, he really had no idea (it was probably due to the fact that Chanyeol and Baekhyun were now together).

He's surprised to see that some people were having a conversation in the group chat already.

--

JONGDAE changed the chat name to "Bacon and Chanyolk" (a week ago)

—sent 6:53 PM
JONGDAE: how about the beach?

Tao: ...

Tao: it's the middle of winter. why the hell would u want to go to the beach

JONGDAE: why not? if we do go during the winter there'll be less people anyway

Kris Wu: isn't the water super cold too

Kris Wu: i mean i'm not rly down to get hypothermia

Jun(mom)yeon: Me neither. Sorry, Jongdae.

JONGDAE: ㅠㅡㅠ

JONGDAE: well what do we do then

Luhan: let's shop at hongdae

--

"Wait, of all the things you want to do, you want to go shopping?" Jongdae shouts from the back. He walks back to the main part of the shop, frowning. "Dude, I have no money."

Luhan shrugs, "Take it or leave it. And that's a lie, you got your paycheck last week."

"Get back to work, Jongdae." Kyungsoo chides him. He had stood up when Luhan was reading through messages and was currently rearranging the succulents in one corner of the flower shop.

"Luhan's texting in the group chat too!"

--

—sent 6:55 PM
Tao: hmmm, I actually like that idea. I need to buy some stuff anyway.

Luhan: YAY. let's go this friday. is 4 pm ok

Dr. Baekhyun: can u move it to 5:30 

Dr. Baekhyun: i have work until 5

Luhan: ok, 5:30 pm it is then. let me know if you're all going

Chanyeol: Going!

Minseok: I'm going too

Kris Wu: going three

Tao: going 4

Jongin: Sehun and I are coming

Luhan: what about junmyeon and yixing?

Jun(mom)yeon: I can go. I think Yixing can too, he told me that he's off this Friday.

Luhan:  yeahhh

Luhan: alright guys see u friday!!!!!!

Luhan changed the chat name to "FriYAY"

---

 

 

When Friday comes, Sehun is a nervous wreck.

"," Sehun whispers to himself. " ."

Next to him, Jongin sends the other blonde an odd look. The two officers were already at the meeting place that Luhan told them to go to, and now they were just waiting for everyone else to get here. It's been ten minutes and Sehun's been staring at the clock on his phone every few seconds, watching the minutes pass by as he taps his hands against his side and shifts on his feet.

"...Sehun, you need to calm down."

Sehun exhales; of course Jongin manages to see through him. Even so, Sehun attempts to sound confident (but fails). "Okay."

A few moments pass by, and Jongin sighs.

"You're not calming down."

Sehun closes his eyes, "I am trying my best."

"Just try not to think about it, you're just going to make everyone ask you what's wrong."

"I'll try not to."

Jongin raises his eyebrows disbelievingly, and Sehun pointedly looks away.

He had spent the majority of the day worrying about what was going to happen, mostly because he wasn't even sure about what to expect. Earlier, Jongin had told him that this was a "perfect opportunity" to talk to Luhan and clear the tension between them, but Sehun was still quite terrified about that.

After that episode on Christmas, Sehun didn't know what to do anymore. He felt so stupid for blurting his confession out so quickly at the party; it really wasn't supposed to happen.

What was he supposed to even say to him after that? Everything that Sehun had dreaded would happen actually happened. They haven't really talked ever since Sehun confessed to him, and after a period of being extremely inactive Luhan asks everyone if they could hang out today.

That caused a bunch of new questions to pop up in the officer's head. Why was Luhan suddenly willing to go somewhere after not talking at all in the group chat? Was Luhan going to pretend like this didn't happen? Were they still going to be close? Will it continue to be awkward between them? WHAT.

Sehun massages his temples.

All of this was giving him a headache, and now he was going to see him today for the first time in two weeks.

"Hey there, you two." A familiar voice brings him out of his thoughts, and when Sehun looks up he sees Jongdae heading towards their direction. There's a comfortable smile etched on the barista's face, and he slings an arm around the two officers as soon as he walks up to them. "Ready to party tonight?"

"Uh?" Jongin blinks in confusion.

"Don't scare the kids, Jongdae." Junmyeon comes into view just then, frowning at the barista. A dazed-looking Yixing follows the manager, looking around the area with his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets before sending a friendly smile and wave towards Jongin and Sehun.

Everyone else arrives a few minutes later, and they all start talking amidst each other. Sehun was beginning to feel less nervous now, but he still couldn't help but keep an eye out and see if a certain florist had arrived yet.

Pretty soon, Luhan turns out to be the only one that's missing from their group. Go figure.

"Can we just go already?" Tao sighs impatiently. "We've been here for thirty minutes and my legs are aching."

"No, wait, he's here." Kyungsoo says, squinting towards the other direction. Sehun follows his gaze and can't help but smirk amusedly when he sees Luhan sprinting towards their group.

Realizing this, Sehun forces a neutral expression and places a hand over his mouth to keep his amusement from showing, focusing on a billboard in the distance when he hears the florist's footsteps come to a stop at their group.

"Sorry for being late," Luhan pants, a few feet away from him. "Some salesman approached me and wouldn't let me get away. I had to pretend that I was receiving a phone call in order to leave. God, I thought I was going to be stuck there forever."

As he was talking, Luhan and Sehun accidentally make eye contact, and the officer feels his face instantly heating up. It doesn't end up lasting long because Sehun turns his head so fast that he feels his neck crack, and besides him Jongin sighs for the umpteenth time.

"Thirty minutes late to your own event," Jongdae nudges him playfully. "What a great role model you are."

"Shut up."

The group finally leaves after that, heading towards the direction of the shops. Sehun, not really looking to buy anything, watches silently as Chanyeol and Baekhyun observe the cheap, brightly colored bucket hats on the shelf with matching evil grins on their faces. The police officer can't help but roll his eyes at their expressions; birds of a feather flock together, after all.

He walks around the store aimlessly, browsing the shelves and the racks. He's looking at the keychains with cliché words of encouragement ("Follow your dreams!") when a way too familiar voice startles him.

"Are you going to get that?"

Sehun spins around too quickly and nearly falls backwards as he faces Luhan, the florist's eyes widened slightly in surprise by his reaction. Sehun's heart starts to beat a little faster at the sight of him (he remembers how fast he looked away earlier and cringes), but he clears his throat awkwardly before replying.

"Um, no, I... I was just looking."

"Ah," Luhan says, smiling nervously, "well, it is a nice keychain."

Sehun almost lets out a scoff. He knows that Luhan's lying through his teeth (Luhan hates these kinds of things), but he shrugs and stuffs his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to say.

"I guess so."

They stand in a sort of tense silence for a while, and Sehun mentally slaps himself. 

God, this is so awkward.

"Luhan, look, we should totally put this in the flower shop—" Jongdae pops out of nowhere just then, holding a sign that read 'FLOWER POWER' with a cartoon drawing of a flower, a smiley face on it. Upon seeing Luhan and Sehun standing there, the barista's gleeful expression falls and his face immediately pales. "—on second thought, I will be right back."

Jongdae turns on his heels and disappears again before both of them could say anything, and Luhan rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Look, erm, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."

"I told you that you didn't need to apologize." Sehun says quietly, pursing his lips.

"I know that," Luhan rolls his eyes in mild exasperation. Sehun nearly smiles. "But these past two weeks have been really weird ever since then. I don't know about you, but I feel like we've grown pretty... distant. I'm sorry if it was partially my fault. I didn't really, um, know how to start talking to you again. I thought it would get weird between us, but I think it already did."

"Yeah."

"And now it feels like we haven't talked in months."

"Yeah."

"So, are we good now...?" Luhan asks, hesitant.

"Yeah."

"Damn it, Sehun, stop giving me one word answers."

"I'm sorry, I don't really know what to say," Sehun laughs a little, feeling the tension between them ease a bit. Luhan manages a small smile at that, and the two continue to stand there, observing the keychains silently.

Eventually, Sehun's gaze shifts to Luhan. He watches as the florist frowns slightly when he reaches forward and takes a closer look at the keychain, muttering under his breath, but after he lets the object go he ends up making eye contact with the officer. 

This time, he doesn't look away.

"Uh," Luhan's eyes widen a little, and he begins to look slightly flustered.

"Just as a small disclaimer... I'm not going to pretend that it didn't happen." Sehun then tells him, his voice surprisingly firm despite feeling queasy on the inside. "I'm still going to like you, you know."

Luhan bites the inside of his cheek and doesn't reply.

Minseok comes into view a few minutes later, smiling a little when he sees the two of them. "Oh, there you guys are. Mostly everyone's in the next store already, I just wanted to let you know so that you guys wouldn't get left behind."

Luhan grins at the sight of the barista, sounding a little relieved. "Thanks, Minseok."

"Not a problem," The barista replies before he walks away. 

"We should go now." Sehun says, raising his eyebrows.

Luhan glances at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Yeah... we probably should."

As they proceed to head out of the store, Luhan accidentally trips on something on the uneven floor and ends up gripping Sehun's arm with his hand tightly to stabilize himself, causing the officer's heart rate to immediately escalate by the action.

"Oh, , I'm so sorry. . Crap, I should be looking where I'm going..." Luhan mumbles, and when the officer looks back he sees the florist's cheeks starting to turn a light shade of pink in embarrassment.

Sehun replies with a quiet it's fine, but his heart is still pounding dangerously in his chest; the image of Luhan's expression stuck in his mind.

It's the first time he's ever seen Luhan this flustered before, and he wasn't sure how to react; apparently, the florist tended to swear much more when he was embarrassed. It was actually sort of endearing...

Their hands end up brushing a little as they walk back to the group, and Sehun could feel his face growing warmer by the second.

This was going to be difficult.

 

 

---

 

 

Jongdae and Kris had started to complain that they were hungry, so the group stopped to go buy some crepes. While waiting for his order to arrive, Junmyeon checks the cafe's reviews for the umpteenth time on his phone, making sure that things were going well and that there were as little problems as possible.

"You check those pretty often."

Surprised, Junmyeon turns to face Yixing, who's glancing over his shoulder and down at the phone screen. Yixing smiles serenely at him as soon as they make eye contact, and that still never fails to make the manager feel flustered.

Even though they were in a 'starting to be serious relationship', it was sort of hard for them to go on dates and such because of their conflicting schedules. When Junmyeon came back from work, Yixing was already outside locking his apartment door before he headed to the nightclub. They usually only had time to peck each other lightly on the cheek (or lips, when Yixing's not in a hurry) before the bartender left. And Yixing often slept through the whole morning, so by the time he woke up the following day, Junmyeon was already at work.

It was complicated, but they tried their best. There were those rare occasions when Yixing was given days off and he chose to spend them with Junmyeon, cuddling together on the sofa while watching TV. It was those moments that Junmyeon enjoyed the most; he felt truly stress free when he was in Yixing's arms.

During the holidays, unfortunately, they didn't really get to see each other much (aside from the Christmas party). Junmyeon had gone home to see family on Christmas, and Yixing flew back to China for a couple of days to do the same.

"Er, yeah." Junmyeon snaps himself back to reality, straightening up a little. "I'm curious about what people have to say. There's still quite a lot of things that I can improve on..."

"Even though Moonlight's one of the best cafes in the whole world?"

Junmyeon elbows Yixing gently, "I wouldn't say the whole world."

"In my opinion, it is." The bartender replies, and that makes Junmyeon smile. "It's good that you check on the cafe all the time, but don't forget to give yourself a break too. You deserve one, Junmyeonnie."

"You sound just like Jongdae. And I did have a break, over Christmas."

"And what exactly did you do over the holidays?"

"I spent it with family," Junmyeon frowns, "I thought I told you this."

"Yes, but did you do anything work related over the holidays?" Yixing says softly, and Junmyeon guiltily looks away and at the ground. "Ah, see? That means that you didn't really have a vacation. Maybe Jongdae is right, then."

Junmyeon wrinkles his nose. It's always been really hard for the manager to take his mind off of Moonlight, especially because the cafe is so important to him. That's why he always tries everything he can to make Moonlight continue to shine as bright as ever; he never wanted to disappoint his parents. Even though it was exhausting, it was worth it in the end.

"Same goes to you, though." Junmyeon frowns a little at Yixing. "You're always working really late hours."

"Yeah, I know," Yixing smiles sadly at him, "but it's not like I have a choice. Bartender shifts are usually like that. And besides, I sort of like my job. I have nice customers, like Kris, Luhan, and Jongdae."

"Just make sure you don't overwork yourself."

"I know my limits." Yixing reassures him. He links their arms together and pats Junmyeon's hand comfortingly. "Don't you worry about me. Meanwhile, you do me a favor and not check the cafe reviews for the rest of the night."

Junmyeon blinks, wary.

"For the rest of the night?"

"Yes."

Junmyeon uncertainly purses his lips. "Okay."

"Good." Yixing sends him a soft smile. "Relax with me, then."

Junmyeon smiles a little in response, even though he was already getting the urge to check his phone. 

This is nice, he ends up thinking after a few moments, as he looks around him. The kids were actually pretty fun to be around, even though they could be seriously unpredictable at times. It did feel nice to be in a friend group again, and to be honest Junmyeon felt like this one could last for a pretty long time.

"Hey, grandparents." Jongdae walks up to them just then, with Minseok in tow. He's holding a crepe in his hands, which already has a few bites out of it. "Enjoying the evening?"

"I guess you can say that," Junmyeon sighs, as he watches Tao scream when Kris takes a bite out of his food. "...And don't call us your grandparents, that's just weird. I'm not even that much older than you."

Jongdae cracks a smile, "Nah. I think it's amusing."

"You think everything is amusing," Minseok looks at him accusingly before taking a bite out of his crepe.

"He's right," Junmyeon agrees, while Jongdae feigns hurt.

Throughout the past week, Junmyeon has noticed that Jongdae and Minseok's relationship had significantly improved. Junmyeon smiles to himself at the thought; he remembered the times that Minseok visited his office to complain about Jongdae. Now, the two were friends; but it doesn't seem as if anything changed between the way the two acted around each other. Minseok was still rolling his eyes at Jongdae's lame jokes, and Jongdae still poked fun at the elder from time to time.

It made Junmyeon think that it was possible that they were friends from the start, but they didn't really realize it then.

Junmyeon turns to look at Yixing, who was already glancing back at him. The bartender smiles gently at him, and Junmyeon immediately finds himself grinning back.

He soon forgot all about the reviews after that.

 

 

---

 

 

"Damn it, Kris, did you really have to eat some of my crepe?!"

"I did say that I was really hungry." Kris shrugs. "That should've been a warning at least."

"How the was I supposed to know that you were going to steal my food when I wasn't looking!"

"Well, now you know, right?"

Once everyone got their food, they started to head down the street again. Tao was still extremely distraught about the fact that Kris took a few bites of his food without his permission, and he was now continuously bugging him about it.

"At least say sorry."

"Oh my God." Kris rolls his eyes, wondering why the younger was such a diva. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't mean it."

"Okay... I APOLOGIZE FOR MY BEHAVIOR. There, are you happy?"

"No." Tao sniffs, "You owe me."

"Fine."

Tao sends him a death glare (Kris still flinches a little at it, because Tao was capable of kicking his ) before he slightly moves ahead and continues to look at several of the shops along the streets, silent. Kris glances at the back of his head for a while before he feels someone's presence on his other side, and he turns to look at Junmyeon, who was already grinning at him.

The police chief jumps and rests a hand over his heart.

"Holy , you scared me."

"Hello to you too," Junmyeon replies, throwing his crepe wrapper in the trash can. He nearly misses, and Kris scoffs. "I see that you and Tao are getting along pretty well."

"Funny you point that out," the police chief replies.

He could now say that he and Tao were friends at this point, but there were times when the younger would pester him and just be a drama queen in general, which was kind of annoying. It was a complete contrast from Tao's intimidating and more scarier demeanor, and it did take a while for Kris to get used to.

"Do you think something happened to Sehun and Luhan?" Junmyeon then asks, bringing Kris out of his thoughts. The police chief gives him an odd look and glances up to observe the two.

He doesn't see anything different at first, but after a while he notices that Sehun was glancing at Luhan for a bit longer than he probably should. Soon, the florist notices, and the two maintain eye contact for about a second before Jongdae wraps an arm around the elder's shoulders. Luhan looks away after that, smiling, but Kris doesn't fail to detect the slightly troubled look on the florist's expression.

"Um... not that I know of. Why?"

"I have a gut feeling."

"...Really."

"Yeah." Junmyeon says, distracted. Kris ponders it over for a bit, before deciding that this wasn't really his business. Junmyeon's gut feelings were usually right anyway, so he doesn't say anything. After a while, the manager changes the subject. "Come to think of it, I don't think Tao's ever mentioned what he does for a living."

"Okay, where did that come from?" Kris raises his eyebrows. "It's not like you to be nosy about these sort of things."

"I was just wondering. Have you even told him that you're a police chief yet?"

"He would not believe me even if I did, and I don't see how that's relevant." Kris rolls his eyes. He could already picture the younger's reaction in his head. "Jongin and Sehun already doubt me, and they've been doing this for a couple of years now. Now that you mention it, I don't think he's ever told me what he does either. He always seems like he has a bunch of free time, too. Must be nice..."

Junmyeon hums thoughtfully. "You should ask him."

Kris stares at him.

"And why can't you be the one to ask?"

"I don't think he'd tell me if I did. You guys are way closer."

"You're being ridiculous."

"No, I'm being serious." The manager says, frowning. "Tao's a very private person. He doesn't usually go around spouting random stuff out of his mouth, unlike some people."

Junmyeon's focus shifts to where Luhan and Jongdae were, and the two idiots still had their arms around each other's shoulders, laughing as they sang old hits while Sehun, Yixing, and Jongin stare at them in awe. In the distance, Kyungsoo and Minseok had similar expressions of exasperation etched on their faces.

Kris follows his gaze and snorts.

"That's true, but you should see him when he talks about Gucci; he'll talk for hours."

"See? You two are close."

"Nah." Kris shakes his head. They had just become friends and only started properly hanging out after Christmas because they both didn't go home for the holidays. "There's still quite a lot of things that I don't know about him."

"What if he's a spy or something? Didn't you tell me that he knows wushu? That's pretty impressive. Or maybe he's a ninja, because you told me that he has nunchucks in his apartment... or maybe..." Junmyeon lowers his voice to a whisper. "Or maybe he's a hitman. What do you think?"

The police chief stares at Junmyeon with an incredulous look on his face.

"...I think that you've been spending too much time with Luhan and Jongdae. The stupidity is contagious, you might have to see Baekhyun for some treatment."

"I was just kidding about the hitman part, you know." Junmyeon pouts, feigning hurt. Kris sighs. "I saw Tao at the Christmas party scream bloody murder when a fruit fly touched his watermelon."

"In my defense, I can never tell when you're joking or not."

"And how long have we known each other?" The manager clicks his tongue in disappointment. "Anyway, it isn't really a big deal. Regardless of the situation he's in, I hope he's doing all right."

"Hmm," Kris says, mainly because he didn't really have anything else to say. He notices that Junmyeon's looking at Yixing, though, and he smirks a little when he witnesses it. "How are you and Yixing, by the way?"

Junmyeon glances back at him, eyebrows raised. He and Yixing were slowly starting to get more open about their relationship now, and when Kris found out that they've been dating for a while now he wasn't even surprised. The police chief was more surprised about the fact that they've been living next to each other for a long time, and not once did they even bother to say something to acknowledge each other's presence until recently.

"We're fine. Why?"

"Just asking. I haven't seen you this happy in a while."

Junmyeon doesn't look too pleased by the answer. He scrunches his nose.

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?"

"Because it's true." Kris rolls his eyes again. After all these years, Junmyeon is still damn oblivious as ever. "You're literally ing glowing whenever you two are together."

"...I am?"

"It's a nice change, I guess. At least you're not as stressed anymore."

They lapse into a comfortable silence after that, and pretty soon loud laughter causes them to look up.

They're met with the sight of Jongdae and Luhan trying to tickle a distressed looking Jongin, while Sehun was laughing his  off. On the other hand, Kyungsoo was slowly walking towards Jongdae and Luhan, a murderous aura surrounding him while Minseok was covering his eyes with his hands. On the other hand, Yixing was looking at them with a good natured smile on his face.

"Oh, God." Junmyeon pales, and he dashes towards their direction without saying anything else.

He does get scared less (for the second time) when a quiet voice mutters in his ear, "I heard what you and Junmyeon were talking about."

"WHAT THE F—" The police chief exclaims, nearly having a heart attack because of the sudden intrusion, but he stops himself in time and clears his throat awkwardly when he meets Tao's unimpressed gaze. He begins to get the feeling that Junmyeon was probably right about the younger being a ninja... "I mean, uh, haha. You scared me."

Tao crosses his arms, eyebrow raised. 

"And you say you're a police chief?"

"I am a police chief!" Kris stares at him, slightly offended. He doesn't even care that Tao was eavesdropping on his and Junmyeon's conversation.

"You're not joking?"

"No, I'm no—" Kris immediately falters when he sees the disbelieving expression on Tao's face. "Oh. You seriously don't believe me. Why am I not surprised."

"Well, for starters, you're—"

"Here." Kris interrupts him and discreetly shows the younger his police badge to shut him up, and he becomes satisfied when he sees Tao's eyes widen a little at the sight of it. "Do you believe me now?"

Tao examines it for a while, probably to check if it was real or not. After that, he looks at Kris accusingly.

"How the hell did you even get your job? You're... no offense, but you're Kris."

"Excuse you, I am totally, 100% reliable. I get the job done, no questions asked." Kris says, but Tao still looks unconvinced. "I'm honestly not messing with you. God, you're as bad as Jongin and Sehun... they're always asking me how I'm qualified for this ."

"Yeah... okay. And I suppose you want to know what I want to do for a living, now."

"I wasn't going to—" Kris protests, but then he realizes that Tao did tell him that he heard everything that he and Junmyeon were talking about earlier. "Er, I mean... I guess."

To Kris's surprise, Tao hesitates for a while before replying. Kris starts to get a feeling that he said something wrong (it wouldn't be the first or the last time), until the younger finally heaves a sigh.

"I'm unemployed. I've been without a job for a few months now."

Kris's eyes widen, "You're joking."

"I wish I was." Tao says firmly, his eyes narrowed.

"How are you able to go on shopping sprees, then?" Kris asks, bewildered, but he soon finds himself answering his own question. There's a possibility that Tao's family is well off, which could explain why the younger owns a bunch of designer material and clothing. "Oh... nevermind. Your family's rich, huh?"

Tao half shrugs. "I guess you can say that."

It was clearly a sore topic for him, and Kris felt a little bad for asking. The two continued walking side by side for a while before the police chief rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Well... er... if you need a job, you can always get one at the station. Though, it'll take a while because of all the applications you need to fill out. And all the background checks. And the training, which can be a pain in the sometimes. But you get the idea."

His offer ends up surprising himself, and even Tao looks a little taken aback by it. The younger looks up at the police chief, eyes widened slightly. When he realizes that Kris was being serious about the offer, he scoffs and a small smirk forms on his lips.

"Me, a police officer."

"...I mean, you could totally beat people up with those wushu skills of yours."

"I'm flattered."

"Is that a yes?"

"I'll consider it." Tao eventually smiles, and Kris does a double take at the action; it wasn't every day where you see Huang Zitao display a genuine grin. "I still have enough to fend for myself anyway."

Kris smiles back. "All right."

A loud yell causes the two of them to stop walking and look behind them, where Kyungsoo was currently putting Luhan in a chokehold. A panicked Junmyeon was attempting to calm the black haired florist down, while Jongin was hiding behind one of the lamp posts. Jongdae was now laughing along with Sehun, and Minseok was pretending to not know any of them. Yixing had ditched them and was now walking with Chanyeol and Baekhyun; the three were talking earnestly about something.

"...But seriously, did Junmyeon think I was a ninja?" Tao snorts, as they wait for the rest of the group to catch up. "Or a spy? That's hilarious, honestly."

"Well... I kind of told him about the nunchucks you have in your apartment."

Tao pushes him lightly, rolling his eyes, and Kris manages a grin.

 

 

---

 

 

A/N: ...and chapter 14's done! sorry, this one's sort of long T___T but hunhan's okay... ish. sulay's getting more confident now, and taoris is taking baby steps... good news though: xiuchen are friends now! finally, right? haha

hope you enjoyed~ updates might come extremely slow in the future bc school's starting again :-(

thanks for all the comments, subscribes, and upvotes though :,) they really do mean a lot to me!

-seokminz x