| XVIII. wait for it |

 

 

The following month, Minseok is sitting in the passenger's seat of Luhan's car, a frown etched onto his face.

"You okay?" Luhan asks. He turns to look briefly at him before resting his gaze back on the road in front of him.

"Yeah," The barista mumbles as he adjusts his seatbelt.

Originally, Minseok was planning to spend his birthday at home since it was going to be on a Saturday. It had been forever since he had some time to himself since his weekends were usually booked due to spending time with his friends (or taking on extra shifts at work); as a result, he was looking forward to lazing around at home and not really doing anything except maybe buy himself a cake or videocall his relatives.

However, his plans all evaporated when Luhan texted him a week prior, asking—well, practically begging—for him to take Minseok out for his birthday. Out of all the people in their friend group, Minseok didn't think that he would be able to get so close to Luhan. They had completely opposite personalities, but conversation between them was easy for some reason.

Needless to say, when the barista received that text message, he had sighed and felt his shoulders already slump in defeat. Although he didn't really want to do anything big for his birthday, he was learning that saying no to Luhan was one of the things that he found to be downright impossible.

How Luhan found out about his upcoming birthday, he had no idea, but Minseok had a feeling that it was because of either Jongdae or Junmyeon. After all, the café had all the employees' birthdays on a calendar next to where they pinned their nametags; whoever was on shift sang for you. Needless to say, Minseok felt incredibly awkward when Jongdae, Junmyeon, Seokjin, and Taehyung sang him happy birthday as soon as he walked into work yesterday (honestly, what are you even supposed to do when people sing 'happy birthday to you'?).

Admittedly, it was nice, since he was able to hear Jongdae sing again—but, well, that was besides the point.

Anyways, Luhan eventually told him that he was planning on going clubbing. Minseok was a bit wary of his decision, but he decided to just go with it considering that the florist took time to do something for him on his birthday. The last time he went clubbing when he was still in university; Minseok never really liked it, but he figures that going out might be better than spending the night alone at home.

After taking a shower, messing with his hair a bit, and finally putting on a pair of jeans and a short sleeved, collared black shirt, he showed up at Luhan's place at their agreed meetup time. 

The florist, who was wearing a plain, navy blue dress shirt with white polka dots on it along with black skinny jeans, gave the barista a brief onceover and nodded in approval before they jumped in Luhan's car and took off.

They've been on the road for about 30 minutes now.

Minseok hums as he leans against the window, chin resting in the palm of his hand. 

"I still don't know why you picked clubbing out of all things."

"Why? It's fun," Luhan answers with a shrug, as if it were obvious. "Also, you seem a little tense lately, so I thought that it would help loosen you up a bit. Besides, I have connections there."

"Connections as in Yixing?"

"Not just Yixing," Luhan snickers, but he doesn't elaborate.

Five minutes or so later, a smile spreads across the florist's face.

As Minseok looks at him with an eyebrow raised, Luhan makes a right turn into a parking lot before declaring, "We're here!"

Minseok climbs out of the passenger's seat as soon as Luhan parks the car, the cool breeze making him shiver a little bit; even though it was now nearing the end of March, the nights were still relatively chilly. The barista glances at the shady looking building on his left, where there was a neon sign extending from it. He walks forward a little bit so that he could see the text. As soon as he does so, he's able to read the word 'Exodus.'

Luhan grins and swings an arm around his shoulders as soon as he locks the car. "In we go!"

The two adults walk closer to the entrance afterwards. Minseok stares at the long line of people waiting outside the building and is about to stand at the end when Luhan tugs harshly on his arm and pulls, leading him away from the back and towards the front instead. 

"What are you—?"

Luhan gives him a look, and this shuts Minseok up.

Feeling even more nervous at Luhan's lack of words, Minseok blindly trails behind the florist as they head towards the front of the line. Before Minseok could ask what the hell was he doing (because everyone else in line were now eyeing them strangely), Luhan exchanges a couple words with the bouncer. The bouncer looks down at the clipboard in his hands before nodding and stepping to the side to let the two of them in.

"Like I said, connections." Luhan shoots finger guns at Minseok as the two of them walk in, and the barista rolls his eyes.

Upon entering the building, Minseok can't help but wrinkle his nose at feeling the suffocating atmosphere as well as the hearing the pounding music pouring through the speakers. Yup, it was definitely the same as he could remember.

This was his first time at Exodus despite the fact that he knew Yixing was working here for a while. If someone showed Minseok a picture of the inside of the club compared to the outside, he would have never guessed that the pictures were of the same building. While the outside looked shady and uninviting, the inside was much more sleek and fancier. It made the barista wonder why whoever was in charge didn't bother changing the outside if they had enough money to make the interior look this nice, but he figures that it was part of the place's charm.

Luhan continues to lead them to a more secluded section of the club until he stops in front of what seems to be the VIP area. When Minseok stares at him in curiosity, the florist's lips stretch into another sly grin.

"The VIP section? Why are we even here?" Minseok asks, but then he sighs and holds up a hand when Luhan opens his mouth to answer. "Let me guess: connections?"

"You're learning fast." The florist steps aside, gesturing him to follow, and the barista walks in warily.

"You are acting so shady, right now, you know—?"

He stops midsentence when he catches sight of Junmyeon and Baekhyun, who were smiling and waving at him from one of the couches. On Junmyeon's other side, Kris let out a loud hoot before clapping his hands. Tao was lingering behind the couch they were sitting on; he raises the glass in his hands as if to toast Minseok before throwing his head back and downing the drink. Sitting on another couch in the other side of the room, Jongin and Kyungsoo were both beaming at him. Sehun, who's sitting on Jongin's other side, flashes him a peace sign.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINSEOK!" They all shout as soon as he walks into the VIP area, their shrieks almost as loud—maybe even louder—than the music booming over the speakers. 

"Surprise!" Chanyeol adds for good measure. He comes into view just then, emerging from an entraceway in the back of the room, and he grins at the barista before slinging an arm around Baekhyun.

Minseok's mouth falls open at the sight of them, completely shocked at their appearance—this was definitely not what he was expecting. In the group chat, they were all saying that they were going to be busy this weekend... Luhan didn't mention anything in their group chat about Minseok's birthday, either, so the barista figured that the florist just wanted to hang out with him on that day.

"Um, Earth to Minseok?" Someone chuckles, and this sends chills down Minseok's spine.

He looks up to see Jongdae slowly approaching him; at the sight of the other barista, his heart immediately starts beating so hard that he feels like it could leap out of his chest.

The younger male's hair was up, exposing his forehead. He's dressed in a white button-up with the sleeves folded up to his elbows accompanied with a pair of dark jeans. Furthermore, Jongdae was holding a glass half-filled with liquid in his hands, and he looked all too amused to see the shell-shocked expression on Minseok's face.

Finally, Minseok snaps out of it. 

"Holy ," The barista says, tearing his eyes away from Jongdae—albeit with a little difficulty—and he finally stares at the congregation in front of him. "I really... I don't know what to say."

"A 'thank you' would be nice," Jongdae teases.

Minseok shoots him a glare, but he's smiling as he turns to face the rest of his friends. "Thank you guys, seriously."

"Did you really think that we wouldn't be here to celebrate with you?" Tao snorts.

"You guys said you would be busy..." Minseok starts, but he trails off and laughs as he shakes his head. "Damn, I should've known."

"You can thank those two over there for mentioning it." Tao points at Jongdae and Junmyeon before he smiles at Minseok once more. "And Luhan, of course, for planning the whole thing. He's got hella connections."

Minseok can't help but smile wider at that before he looks over at the florist, who was standing next to him with a huge grin plastered across his face. "Yeah, I heard."

"Now that Minseok's finally here," Kris then says as he grabs a bottle of liquor in the ice bath on the low table in front of him, pouring himself a glass. He finishes the rest of his drink before continuing: "Let's get this party ing started, shall we?!"

Cheers erupt from the rest of their friends, and Minseok really can't stop smiling at that point. The room bursts into chatter at once as everyone starts doing their own thing. Kris and Tao practically bolt towards the dance floor (Kris gives Minseok a hard slap on the back before leaving the room). Jongdae leaves to go chat with Kyungsoo and Jongin about something while Junmyeon, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun were having their own conversation. Luhan sends him another grin before he goes to grab a drink. A few moments later, Luhan manages to convince Sehun to join him on the dance floor, and the two leave.

"Minseok!" A voice says enthusiastically, which then catches his attention. The barista looks up and blinks when he sees Yixing standing in front of him—maybe it was just his imagination, but the other male looked more tired than usual. The bartender pats his shoulder and smiles at him before continuing. "Happy birthday, man."

"Thanks, Yixing." Minseok says gratefully, but then he notices that the other male was wearing his nametag as well as a black apron wrapped around his waist. Yixing's also holding a small, circular tray filled with more drinks in his hands. "Wait, don't tell me that you're working right now?"

"I sure am," The bartender sighs as he sets the drinks down on the table in front of Kyungsoo, Jongin, and Jongdae. "I couldn't get tonight off since someone asked me to cover for them, so I'm taking over two jobs right now. It's fine, though. I'm honestly just glad that I'm still able to see you guys even if I can't really properly hang out with everyone."

"Are you sure it's okay?" Minseok purses his lips.

"It's really okay! I'm used to it, honestly." Yixing says as he picks up the now empty tray. He tucks it under his arm and asks, "Do you want anything to drink, by the way?"

The barista shakes his head. "I think I'm good right now."

"You sure about that? I wouldn't want to miss out on the special birthday drink if I were you." The bartender wiggles his eyebrows at him, and Minseok cracks a smile at that.

"I'll take you up on that offer, then."

"Cool! Be back in a bit."

Minseok watches him leave, frowning a little as soon as the bartender turns around. The past couple of weeks, he was also able to grow closer to Yixing since they were the more normal ones during group hangouts; as a result, during their conversations he knew that the bartender was overworking himself. In all honesty, he's starting to worry about the guy. His gaze shifts to Junmyeon at the thought, and he sees that his manager's eyebrows were creased as he watches Yixing leave as well.

It's clear that Minseok isn't the only one who's concerned. 

"You picked up on it too, didn't you?" 

Minseok blinks and turns to face Jongdae, but the other barista wasn't looking at him. His eyes are trained on the same passageway that Yixing just left through. After a few moments, Minseok understands what he means by his question. He becomes momentarily distracted with staring at Jongdae's side profile before he clears his throat awkwardly.

"I did. I'm just worried... he definitely looks way more tired than usual."

"Yeah, he does." Jongdae sighs quietly before he finally meets Minseok's gaze.

The two look at each other before Minseok purses his lips and chooses to stare at the floor instead, feeling like his cheeks would start to turn an embarrassing shade of red if they continued to maintain eye contact.

After finally coming to terms with his feelings and realizing that he likes Jongdae, he hasn't really done anything to act on it. Honestly, he normally wasn't one to make the first move when it came to things like these. During their shifts at the café, Minseok tried to act as casual as he could, but he knows he's slipped up a couple of times; he has been caught trying to subtly look at Jongdae when he thought the other barista wasn't going to notice.

Minseok didn't think he was great with expressing his emotions in the first place, which is why he decided to act only if he's confident that Jongdae felt the same way. There were certainly many instances that happened between them throughout the past couple of months which made Minseok feel suspicious, but he thinks that he might've been looking into it too much. 

He knew that waiting wasn't really the best course of action, but he did not know what else he could do at this point. 

When Minseok dares to glance back at Jongdae, he's taken aback when he sees a funny look on the other's face.

"W-What?" The barista stammers.

"Nothing," Jongdae replies with a small smile. "You look good tonight."

Unable to form a coherent sentence, Minseok opts for staring at him instead, eyes wide in shock. Fortunately, he's saved from having to come up with a response when Yixing comes back into the VIP room with the drink he made.

"Here you go." The bartender cheerfully says as he quickly hands Minseok a cocktail. His smile grows a little wider when he sees Jongdae standing there with him, but Minseok doesn't think too much of it. "Enjoy the rest of your birthday, Minseok."

Minseok thanks Yixing, and the other male waves and leaves the room to return back to his spot behind the bar (he bends down to plant a brief kiss in Junmyeon's hair before doing so). As soon as he leaves, he and Jongdae clink their glasses together. Then, Minseok sighs and takes a sip of the drink Yixing handed him; it's sweet and refreshing.

"How long did everyone know about this thing, exactly?" Minseok then asks, trying to get rid of the weird tension that was starting to settle between him and Jongdae.

The other male looks up at the ceiling, thinking for a bit before responding.

"About three weeks now?"

"YOU'RE SERIOUS?" Minseok chokes as he nearly spits out his drink. "So, what this basically means to me is that I was the only one who didn't know that I was going to have something for my birthday."

"Basically," Jongdae snickers behind his glass. "Technically, you did know that you were going to go out when Luhan texted you... which was all part of the plan of course."

"And what exactly was the plan?"

"I mentioned to Luhan about a month ago that I noticed your birthday was coming up, so that got him thinking." Jongdae shrugs; he takes a sip of his drink before continuing. "Junmyeon became involved because Luhan wanted to check that I wasn't messing with him. Originally, Luhan was planning for something more lowkey. He was thinking of surprising you at your place first, but none of us had your address so that wasn't really going to work out."

Minseok's eyes widen at that.

"Eventually, he came up with the wonderful solution to go clubbing. It's been a while since he's last been to Exodus, after all, so he thought it'd be fun to bring you here. Pretty soon he told Yixing about his idea, and he basically helped him out with everything else. Hence—" Jongdae gestures to the VIP room around them. "When Luhan was talking about connections, I really thought he just meant Yixing, but he apparently knows a lot of the other people working around here too. After everything was prepared, he texted you two weeks later to make sure you were free... thank goodness you were, or else all of it would've been for nothing."

"," Minseok blinks, "there was definitely way more to this than I thought."

Jongdae laughs lightly, a sound which doesn't fail to make Minseok's stomach flip. "Well, it's not like we got the VIP room for free, but Luhan managed to secure a pretty good discount. The rest of us chipped in, and... boom."

For a while, Minseok doesn't even know what to say. He starts to feel a surge of appreciation towards Luhan for taking the time to prepare something like this for him even though he only got to know him more recently. Not to mention the fact that his friends were all also willing to chip in for him to be able to have fun, too...

Minseok smiles gratefully at Jongdae.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." He says quietly, and Jongdae pauses just before he's about to take another sip of his drink.

"I honestly didn't do much, but you're welcome." The other barista snorts; it was hard to tell in the dim lighting, but Minseok thinks he could see Jongdae blushing. Though, his flushed cheeks could also be from the alcohol that he was drinking. "Still, it's sort of weird seeing you so happy around me. Even now, I'm still not used to us being friends."

"Well... er." Minseok shifts awkwardly on his feet. "You're really, um, not that bad."

Nice one, Minseok inwardly thinks to himself and cringes. He shakes his thoughts off before downing the rest of the cocktail in his hands.

"Not that bad, huh." Jongdae hums as he rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. He looks like he wants to say something else, but he doesn't and finishes the rest of his drink instead. He stares at the glass in his hands for a bit before straightening up and grinning at Minseok. "Up for some dancing?"

"Hell no," Minseok pales at once, "I cannot dance to save my life—"

"Do you think I can dance?"

"Um..."

"You don't need to answer that," Jongdae quickly interjects. "The answer is no, but still, that doesn't matter!"

Minseok shakes his head vigorously.

"Whyyyy?" The barista whines as he drags out the word, pouting, and Minseok's cheeks flush against his will.

"I'm not about to embarrass myself out there—"

"No one's gonna pay attention, I promise." Jongdae reassures him, and he brings his free hand up to grip the shorter male's shoulder. Minseok almost dies at the contact. "It'll just be us. And Luhan, Kris, Tao, and Sehun, I guess, if we're even able to find them in the first place..."

But that was the main problem here; Minseok didn't know what in the hell he would do if it was just going to be him and Jongdae dancing together. He'd faint, that's for sure. 

Before Minseok's able to open his mouth to reject the offer once more, Baekhyun chimes in.

"Let's all go!" The doctor sends him a bright, box-shaped smile, eyes folded into twin crescents as he cheerfully reaches over to pinch Minseok's cheek. Upon seeing Baekhyun, Minseok has a feeling that the other male is drunk already; he's never seen the doctor look so enthusiastic before. "Chanyeol and I were planning on dragging Jongin, Kyungsoo, and Junmyeon out there anyways."

Minseok looks over Jongdae's shoulder to glance briefly at Kyungsoo, who was sporting an expression of pure unamusement. Jongin and Junmyeon were both standing and currently trying to coax the black haired florist out of his seat.

"Fine," Minseok finally manages to say after he turns back to Jongdae, and the other male squeezes his shoulder tighter in excitement. "Ow, Jongdae!"

"Sorry!" The barista says, not looking apologetic in the slightest. He takes his and Minseok's empty glasses and quickly sets them on the table behind them.

"Come on, birthday boy." Chanyeol then pushes Minseok in front of him, making the elder male yelp in surprise.

Minseok stumbles out of the VIP room at the sudden push, but Jongdae's able to grip his arm and steady him before he faceplants onto the floor. As Minseok looks back up at Jongdae, about to thank him, he freezes; the expression on Jongdae's face was something that he wasn't entirely familiar with—it looked soft, for lack of a better word—a small smile was gracing his lips, and his eyes were twinkling with mirth.

"Oh, there's Luhan." Jongin then says as soon as he exits the room with a disgruntled Kyungsoo's arm hooked onto his, and Minseok snaps out of his reverie and follows the police officer's line of sight.

Sure enough, the brown haired florist was waving at them excitedly from across the room. Sehun was currently dancing next to him; it seemed like he didn't notice them come out yet.

Luhan abruptly tugs on Sehun's collar just then and brings him down so that he could whisper something in his ear. With that, Sehun stops moving, and his eyes land on their small group. He nods in understanding, mouth formed in a small 'O', and Luhan presses a quick kiss on his cheek before disappearing. As soon as Luhan takes off, Sehun beckons them to come to where he was.

Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Junmyeon, Jongin, Kyungsoo, and Minseok push through the crowd before finally joining Sehun, who was now grinning at them.

"Where'd Luhan go?" Junmyeon asks Sehun as he searches for the florist. He makes a face of discomfort when someone dancing wildly accidentally bumps into him. 

"He'll be back soon," Sehun answers with a mysterious smile.

As if on cue, the music immediately stops playing and the club falls silent. Confused, everyone around them stops dancing as well. Mumurs shoot through the crowd and people look around the room expectantly as they all wonder what was going on. When Minseok glances up at the DJ on the stage, he sees that he's looking down at something in his hands.

Baekhyun, who was starting to get into the groove of the song, frowns. "Damn it, this is what happens if we wait."

"Glad to see that you guys finally decided to join us," Luhan then says, materializing out of nowhere next to Jongin. He's panting a little bit, but he's still smiling as wide as ever. 

The police officer yelps in surprise. "Where did you come from?!"

"What did you do?" Jongdae demands, but Luhan ignores both of them—his grin grows wider instead.

Kyungsoo purses his lips. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Sorry for the interruption, everyone." The DJ then says, voice booming into a microphone. Everyone's attention turns on him. "We just wanted to make a special shout out this evening; we have just been informed that today is Kim Minseok's birthday! Minseok, where are you, man?"

"WOOOO MINSEOK!" Minseok hears Tao shriek from somewhere on the other side of the room. The crowd erupts into cheers and applause a few moments later.

Absolutely stunned, Minseok's mouth falls open for what has to be the hundredth time that night. His cheeks burn hot with embarrassment and he doesn't protest as Jongdae grabs his arm and lifts it up; warmth spreads throughout his body at the contact.

"Let's sing the birthday song for Minseok, everyone!" The DJ smiles when he sees him in the crowd. "One... two... three!"

Everyone around him starts singing happily, and Minseok's not even sure what in the hell is happening anymore.

The only thing he could really focus on was the fact that he couldn't feel the warmth from Jongdae's hand propping his arm up anymore. As soon as the thought crosses his mind, he feels someone's hand in his; when Minseok turns to look at whose it was, he's greeted with the sight of Jongdae smiling softly at him before giving his hand a comforting squeeze.

Jongdae gently lets go moments later, and Minseok has to do everything in his willpower to keep himself from holding it again.

"HAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY, MINSEOK!" Luhan screams at the top of his lungs, hands cupped over his mouth, as soon as the song ends. His friends follow suit after him; all of them were also wearing huge, matching grins on their faces. The strangers who were standing close enough to their group greeted him again as well. Still feeling numb, Minseok nods his head and sends awkward smiles to those who gave him a friendly pat on the back. 

As soon as that's over with, the DJ puts the music back on and the club jumps to life once more.

Minseok whirls on Luhan immediately; the florist freezes at the sight of the barista's unreadable expression.

"RUN," Chanyeol yells at Luhan, but before the florist's able to bolt, Minseok bursts out laughing.

His friends stare at him in complete awe as Minseok hunches over, clutching his sides from how hard he was laughing. He didn't know where it came from, really—he was just about ready to throttle Luhan because he normally hated attention, but something inside him made him change his mind. When was the last time he's laughed this hard? It's definitely been too long... his stomach's really starting to hurt now. Tears were beginning to form at the corners of his eyes, and he wipes them with the back of his hand before finally straightening up again.

"Luhan, you're ing insane." Minseok finally manages to get out as soon as he catches his breath.

He then walks over to the florist, who is still frozen in place, and pulls him into a quick hug. 

"Thank you for everything." He mutters in Luhan's ear as he rubs the taller male's back gratefully. As soon as he steps back, Minseok thinks that the florist looks teary-eyed.

"You are so welcome." Luhan sniffs, and Sehun guffaws at the sight of his boyfriend's reaction. The florist rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands quickly and breathes a sigh of relief, "Holy , you don't know how much I feared for my life right there... I really thought you were going to kill me."

"Everyone thought he was going to kill you," Jongdae corrects. He turns to Minseok and gives him a playful shove. "Sheesh. You really are something, aren't you?"

Minseok's heart jumps in his chest when Jongdae looks at him; he remembers how they briefly held hands moments ago, even though it only probably lasted no longer than a couple of seconds. Jongdae's cheeks flush a pretty pink as soon as they make eye contact, and Minseok knows that he was thinking about it too.

This time, Minseok doesn't look away.

"I guess so," He smiles.

 

Time flies by after that, and Minseok doesn't think he's had this much fun in ages.

Although he was totally against the idea of dancing in a crowd full of strangers at first, he finds himself loosening up with each song that played; he started to no longer care if anyone else was watching him and just focused on having fun with his friends.

Kris and Tao were eventually able to find their group and joined them, successfully making everyone crack up with their moves. On the other hand, Chanyeol, Sehun, Jongdae, Luhan, and Baekhyun were headbanging to each song that played. Next to them, Jongin was holding onto Kyungsoo's hands and was swinging his boyfriend's arms gently; although Kyungsoo was just bobbing his head to the music, he looked much more comfortable compared to how he was before getting onto the dance floor. Even Junmyeon looked relaxed for once, and he was mouthing the lyrics to the songs he was familiar with.

When it gets close to midnight, the DJ turns down the music again. This time, he starts telling people to start getting in a line if they were planning on singing for tonight's karaoke event. Sure enough, a few brave souls start walking over to the main stage. Minseok watches in complete fascination as the DJ comes over to speak to them.

"Karaoke event?" Minseok turns to ask Jongdae.

"Yeah, it's a thing they have here every Saturday."

"Oh, that's unique."

Jongdae nods, and the two of them lapse into a comfortable silence. The barista bites his lip as he tries to think of what to say next. 

"You should get up there," He then says quietly, and this makes Jongdae's eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"Me?" Jongdae points at himself.

"Who else?" Minseok scoffs, "Yes, you."

"I... don't know if I should."

"Why?"

"Um. Er—" Jongdae cuts himself off, sounding hesitant. "I don't know... I just don't think my voice is good right now. There's a big crowd, too. Feeling kinda nervous because of that."

Minseok's about to say something in response when Luhan reaches over to lightly push Jongdae's shoulder.

"Since when has a crowd ever stopped you, man?" Luhan frowns, eyes glazed over slightly and looking a little red in the face; he had gone back to the VIP room to drink some more when the DJ made the announcement that karaoke night was going to begin. "You weren't afraid of singing in front of a crowd when you were piss drunk before."

"Shut up, idiot, that was different." Jongdae hisses as he presses a palm into Luhan's face.

"How is that different from now?"

"Well, I'm not piss drunk right now, am I?"

"That can change," Luhan slurs as he jabs a finger into the barista's chest, and Jongdae sighs deeply.

"Sehun, will you please get your drunk boyfriend off of me."

Sehun obliges and wraps his arm around Luhan's shoulders. "Come on, Luhan. Let's sit down for a bit, okay? You look like you're about to fall any second now."

"...Don't want to."

"Lord, help me please," Sehun closes his eyes before sending an apologetic look at Jongdae, who snickers.

After the two of them leave, Minseok glances at Jongdae once more; however, the other barista's now eyeing the short line leading up to the stage and was being uncharacteristically silent. The first person standing behind the microphone begins to sing a ballad, and Minseok nods his head slightly to the beat.

"You've participated before?" Minseok asks after a while, and Jongdae stiffens a little.

"I have, yes."

"I don't want to force you to get up there, but I've never actually had the chance to hear you sing a full song before." Minseok continues as he drums the tips of his fingertips against his jeans.

"You heard me sing 'happy birthday' to you."

"That doesn't count." Minseok rolls his eyes, but he's smiling as he does so. "I never actually had the chance to tell you, but I think that your voice is pretty amazing."

Jongdae finally turns to look at him at that, surprised. "You think so?"

"I know so."

The barista's cheeks turn slightly pink at the compliment, and Minseok has to bite down on his bottom lip to prevent his smile from growing wider. Jongdae doesn't say anything for a while. The two of them watch as the first person finishes up and is greeted with applause. After the second person steps up on the stage, Jongdae's lips stretch into a slow smile.

"Alright, I'm convinced." Jongdae eventually says with finality laced in his tone. He leaves before the other male could say anything in response.

Minseok finally understands what Jongdae means when he spots the barista fall in the back of the line for karaoke; he shakes his head in mock disapproval when he sees Jongdae send him a two- salute. As the second person finishes up and the third person in line comes forward, Minseok leaves the dance floor and chooses to sit at one of the stools in front of the bar to get a better view of the stage. 

He recognizes Junmyeon's back as he approaches, so he slides in the seat next to his. Junmyeon turns around and sends Minseok a friendly smile as soon as he joins him. 

"Hey, Minseok. Jongdae's not with you?"

"He's going to sing," Minseok explains, and Junmyeon brightens up at that.

"Really?!"

"Yeah." He chuckles at his manager's reaction. "At first he didn't want to, but I think I managed to get through to him."

"I'm honestly surprised." Junmyeon says before taking a sip of the drink in front of him. He taps his fingers on the glass before continuing. "I didn't know that you would both manage to get so close, especially considering how much you didn't like him before."

Minseok has a feeling that Junmyeon means more to the statement, but the manager doesn't elaborate.

"Ah... well. You were right, after all," Minseok admits, "after getting to know him, he's really not that bad of a person."

Junmyeon hums thoughtfully as he takes another sip of his glass; he tilts his head up and finishes the drink in a couple of gulps. Afterwards, the two adults fall into comfortable silence for a while and listen as more people go up to sing before someone enters and approaches them from behind the bar.

"Hey, birthday boy." Yixing nods at him as soon as Minseok looks up. "How's everything going so far?"

"It's been a crazy night, to be honest." Minseok chuckles. "Can I have a whiskey, please?"

"Of course. Anything for you, Junmyeon?"

"No, I'm okay." Junmyeon smiles at him, and Yixing returns it. Minseok watches the both of them, amused; it was refreshing to see that they are still able to make things work between them even though their schedules differed most of the time. Yixing grabs a clean glass and drops a couple of ice cubes into it before grabbing a bottle of whiskey.

Minseok watches Yixing prepare his drink before saying, "By the way, Yixing, I was meaning to tell you... I wanted to thank you for all the planning that you've done with Luhan behind the scenes. I heard about it from Jongdae."

"You don't have to thank me, really." Yixing sends him a dimpled smile as he hands him his glass. "I'm just glad that you're having fun."

The barista's about to say something in response, but their conversation is interrupted when a familiar voice comes through the microphone. 

"Testing... testing..." Jongdae was saying, tapping on the device in front of him. This immediately catches Minseok's attention, and the barista swivels around in his seat to see the other male now standing on the stage.

The stage lights were illuminating Jongdae's features; he looked absolutely stunning.

"Okay. Um, hello everyone. I'm Kim Jongdae," Jongdae introduces himself, like the others did before him. He swallows. Minseok can't help but laugh a little at the sight; he's never seen Jongdae look so nervous before. "Before I begin, I'd just like to dedicate the song I'm about to sing to a friend of mine, who wanted to see me up here. He told me that my voice was 'pretty amazing', so... yeah. Haha."

Yixing guffaws, "Why is he so awkward?"

"Is he normally not like this?" Minseok asks, raising an eyebrow. The bartender shakes his head.

"He's usually pretty comfortable up there."

Minseok's about to reply, but he falters when his gaze meets Jongdae's.

As soon as that happens, Jongdae smiles a little. Minseok raises his glass at him a bit tentatively. Then, the barista turns around and punches a set of numbers on some kind of board. Once he finishes, the mellow beat of the tune flows through the speakers—it's a ballad. 

"You're in for a treat," Yixing informs Minseok. 

Jongdae opens his mouth to sing, and Minseok's ears are immediately blessed as soon as the first couple of words leave his mouth. The barista's voice was warm and comforting as he sang with raw emotion laced in his tone; just listening to him made you feel incredibly content. It had that sort of relaxing effect on you.

As the song continues, one thing that Minseok does end up noticing were the lyrics. What Jongdae's currently singing is about falling in love; the message was incredibly obvious. And if Jongdae was dedicating this song to him... then... well.

Minseok gulps nervously and downs the rest of his drink, feeling it burn down his throat.

What if he was just overanalyzing the situation too much?

Eventually, the song finishes. The crowd erupts into loud cheers and applause—the loudest it's been all evening—and when Minseok finally manages to look up at the stage, Jongdae's smiling and bowing in appreciation. When Jongdae straightens up again, their eyes find each other once more. Minseok's able to see the soft look in his expression from where he was sitting.

Minseok barely notices when Junmyeon gets up from his seat and leaves discreetly, a small, knowing smile gracing his features. He doesn't pay attention when Yixing also backs away from where he was standing before he eventually turns to walk to the other side of the bar.

Heart pounding, Minseok watches silently as Jongdae exits the stage and slowly starts making his way over to him. After what seems to be forever, Jongdae stands in front of him.

"So... um. Yeah. That's my birthday present to you, I guess." Jongdae says, his voice quiet and timid for once. He looks anxious as he starts to mess with the sleeves of his shirt. "How did I do?"

In that moment, Minseok decides that he really doesn't want to think right now and lets his heart decide his actions for him.

He reaches forward and grabs onto Jongdae's collar before pulling him in slowly, instinctively closing his eyes. Minseok hears Jongdae make a surprised sound as soon as their lips meet.

Jongdae's lips are soft; they taste like vanilla and a hint of alcohol. Jongdae's palms cup Minseok's cheeks gently as the kiss continues, and his heart was pounding so loudly he was completely sure that the other male could hear it. They pull back for air after a couple of seconds pass.

Jongdae, cheeks flushed, stares at him in complete awe.

"You were amazing," Minseok finally manages to say.

"Holy ," Jongdae gapes at him for a while as he touches his lips with his fingertips. "I... wow. Um. I'm assuming this means that you were able to understand the message I was trying to convey, then."

Minseok nods, feeling his cheeks heat up in embarrassment; doing that was probably the boldest thing he's done in the years he's lived (not counting the time he was in the military).

"I just had a feeling. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but in the end, I wanted to try my luck."

"I was trying my luck, too, just now." Jongdae admits as he bites his bottom lip nervously. "I was hesitant to go up there because I didn't want to sound bad in front of you."

Minseok's eyes widen, "Really?"

"Well... er... you see," Jongdae scratches his head, embarrassed, "I've liked you for a while, even when you considered us acquaintances. I thought it was absolutely hopeless at first, but I had a small inkling of hope that my feelings weren't exactly one-sided. Things seemed to take a turn after we became actual friends and got closer. Not to mention the fact that I noticed you the way you started to act around me, so... I guess you can say that I was trying to drop more obvious hints at how I felt."

Stunned, Minseok repeats the words in his head: I've liked you for a while.

This means that he wasn't overanalyzing things too much this whole time. At this, Minseok wants to violently slap himself in the face for being so stupid. If he only trusted his gut and acted on his feelings much sooner, then they could've already been together at this point. This whole time, Minseok thought that he was the one doing the waiting, when in reality it was Jongdae who was waiting on him. 

"You're not drunk, are you?" Jongdae then asks, changing the subject. Minseok blinks at him in confusion, but he realizes that Jongdae must've noticed his silence after his confession.

"Nope... I can hold my liquor pretty well."

"Thank goodness," The other male breathes a sigh of relief. "I was afraid that you would forget this tomorrow if you were."

"Even if I was drunk, I'm sure I wouldn't forget something as big as this." Minseok reassures him, but he frowns and tilts his head to the side. "You aren't either... right?"

"Nah, not really. Just a little buzzed."

"Okay," Minseok laughs nervously. "I just didn't want it to seem like I was taking advantage of you or anything..."

The corners of Jongdae's eyes crinkle as he laughs.

"You're fine. Honestly, I wasn't planning to drink much in the first place because I wanted to confess to you tonight. I wanted to be as sober as I could be when it happened. Though, when I arrived earlier, I got so nervous, so I did end up drinking a little to calm myself down."

"I guess you didn't really have to do anything in the end." Minseok mumbles. "I was the one who, erm, kissed you first, after all."

"I still did confess through that song. I didn't realize how perfect the opportunity was until you suggested it." The amused glint returns to Jongdae's eyes. "But, still, who would've thought that this could've happened? We didn't exactly start off on the right foot, you know." 

At that, Minseok can't help but feel a wave of guilt wash over him. 

"I'm... I'm sorry." He finally manages to say. "I don't know why it took me so long to realize it, or why I was being so difficult to begin with. All I know is that I'm sure that I've liked you for a while, too. I've been thinking about it a lot recently. At the time, I'm pretty sure I was just being too stubborn to admit it." Minseok pauses before continuing. "I-I... I'll make it up to you. I promise."

When Minseok looks back up to meet Jongdae's gaze, the other male reaches for his hand so that they could gently lace their fingers together. Minseok immediately feels a familiar warmth seep into his skin as soon as their palms press against each other, and he can't help but release a sigh of content—it's been too long since he last felt like this, and he forgot how good this feeling was.

"It's okay," Jongdae smiles softly at him. "I'm just glad that the wait was worth it in the end."

 

 

---

 

 

The following Monday, Kris drags his hands down his face as he stares at the towering stack of paperwork sitting on his desk.

He was thankful for the past weekend because he seriously needed a break from all the workload that has been piling up. Saturday was pretty eventful, too, because Minseok and Jongdae got together—they all found out when the two of them walked back into the VIP room, hand-in-hand. Junmyeon was pretty overjoyed at the sight; he nearly cried.

Kris focuses his attention back to the desk and sighs.

The stack consisted of reports, pictures of evidence, and documented interviews from previous cases that desperately needed to be organized to make room for new ones. Organization was one of the things that was incredibly crucial in this work setting, and it was something that Kris himself had to stress to the officers in the station... if Kris did so much as misplace a paper or two, he knew he would be in deep, deep .

Fortunately, he has always made sure to be super meticulous when it came to these things, even though it usually took him a couple of days in order to get everything in their proper cabinet. Unfortunately, doing this always the energy out of him. Kris often relied on instant coffee to work its magic and keep him awake; there were times in the past where he had to pull a couple of all nighters since there was so much that needed to be done. If he got lucky, he was able to get what minimal sleep he could. 

In fact, he went to bed this morning at around three... still bad, but better than usual. 

Man, he was seriously sleep deprived.

Kris picks up the first file, about to get to work, but he becomes startled by a sudden knock on the door to his office. 

"Jesus!" Kris yells and drops the file at once.

"Whoops," Sehun pokes his head through the door at hearing the police chief's outburst. The younger officer coughs and tries to cover his mouth with his hand in an attempt to hide his growing smile. "Sorry, um, I didn't know you were so jumpy."

"I'm normally not, but I'm running on four hours of sleep right now." Kris grumbles. He bends down to pick up the fallen file, thanking God that it wasn't the whole stack that fell over... now that would be something straight out of a nightmare. Once he stands back up, he looks at Sehun expectantly. "Did you need something?"

The blonde officer nods, "Yeah. Tao wants to talk to you."

"You say that as if he's here right now," The police chief snorts as he places the file back on the stack, wondering why his heart skipped a beat at the mention of Tao's name. 

"That's because he is."

"What?"

"I said, that's because—"

"No, I heard you," Kris blinks. "But... why?"

"I don't know, he didn't tell me anything." Sehun shrugs, stepping to the side as Kris walks over to join him under the doorway. The two of them enter the hallway and start to head towards the front of the station together. "Maybe it's something important? I mean, you guys are pretty close, right?"

Kris frowns and doesn't reply.

That was true, they had certainly become closer over the past couple of months to the point that he often spent his free time with Tao if there were no group activities planned. It was funny that they were so close now especially since their relationship didn't start off very well to begin with, but Kris couldn't help but admit that he found comfort in the other male's company even though bickering was something that often happened when they were together. Tao was an interesting person in general, and Kris liked interesting people.

Despite all of that, Kris didn't have the slightest idea on why Tao was currently in the police station.

Sure enough, once they arrive at the station's lobby, Tao is sitting in one of the chairs. He immediately turns his head as soon as he hears Sehun and Kris approach him. 

"Thanks, Sehun," Tao smiles at the younger officer, who looks at him curiously.

"No prob." Sehun returns the smile. His eyes dart from Tao to Kris, and he clears his throat awkwardly before slowly backing away from the two of them. "Well... um. I'm just gonna go now." 

He leaves in somewhat of a hurry after that.

"Sorry for coming all of a sudden, are you busy right now?" Tao asks as Kris takes a seat next to him; Kris isn't sure if he's imagining things or if he's just sleep deprived, but the other male's tone sounds softer than usual.

"No," Kris says almost immediately, but he laughs nervously at Tao's disbelieving expression. Damn, he really felt like Tao could see right through him, sometimes. "Well... kind of, but it's whatever. What's up?"

"I was just thinking about the time we went to Hongdae."

"Why? That was a long time ago."

"It was only a little more than two months ago," Tao wrinkles his nose. "Do you remember when we were talking about jobs, and you suggested for me to become a police officer?"

Kris nods slowly.

"I brushed off the idea at first, but recently, I've been thinking about it a lot more. It's been sounding a lot more appealing lately, especially since I'm in need of a job at the moment—I can't keep living how I currently am forever. I did some research on the overall position too, and it actually sounds like something that I might like."

"Really?" The police chief's mouth falls open at that.

"Why are you so surprised? You were the one who recommended me in the first place." Tao snorts. "That's basically it, though. I'm still considering all the factors in making my decision, but I just wanted to let you know."

"You came all the way here just to tell me that?"

"What do you mean, all the way here, I only live twenty minutes away from the station."

"Yeah, but," Kris tilts his head slightly, "you could've just texted me."

Silence. Kris looks at Tao with an eyebrow raised, but the other male isn't meeting his eyes anymore.

"W-Well, I was also going to ask if you're free to grab lunch," Tao then says a little too quickly, so fast that Kris could barely understand what he was saying. "But it's okay! Um, I know that you're busy. So, uh, we can just hang out another time."

While he was speaking, his cheeks were slowly starting to turn red—the sight makes Kris do a double take; furthermore, he starts to feel his own heart beating a little faster, and he just knew that it wasn't from the coffee that he was drinking earlier. He's never seen the younger male look so flustered before... and it's a ing adorable sight, really. 

Kris blinks, taken aback by his own thoughts.

"I would say that 'it's fine', but I actually do have a lot to do so..." The police chief pushes it to the back of his mind and lets out a despondent sigh as he thinks of the stack of papers still waiting to be sorted on his desk. "I don't think I'll be free until the end of the week, actually."

"It's fine," Tao reassures him, and he's back to maintaining that cool exterior again. "The guys were planning on hanging out again this Saturday, anyways. I guess I'll just see you then?"

"Oh , I haven't been checking my texts... yeah, I'll be there."

"Cool," The expression on the other male's face makes it look like he wants to say something more, but he doesn't. Instead, he stands up from his chair afterwards and turns to leave.

He's about to step through the doors when Kris blurts out:

"Wait, Tao!"

The other male looks back at him expectantly.

"Um... we can plan for next week?" Kris says, and God, why the hell does he feel so nervous all of a sudden? This wouldn't be the first time it was just the two of them going out; however... this time felt slightly different, for some reason. "For lunch, I mean. I owe you one."

Tao smiles after a couple moments of silence.

"Sounds good."

He leaves after that, and Kris places a hand over his rapidly beating heart in a feeble attempt to keep it still.

 

 

---

 

 

A/N: hey guys, long time no see :,) i've been quite busy with school, and honestly i've lost motivation to write for a bit... but i'm going to try and upload faster in the future at least before school starts up again (emphasis on try LOL). i apologize for any typos, it's actually almost 4 AM as i'm writing this... lmao. this chapter was super long too, almost 9k omg

xiuchen are finally together in this chap! all that's left now is for taoris, but i assure you there'll be more of them soon. thank you for everyone who's still sticking with this story, apparently it's been 4 years since i first started it... dang. i'm thinking of aiming to end the story at around 25 chapters? we'll see!!

thank you for all the subscribes, comments, upvotes, they really make my day <3 i will see you in the next update! i hope you are all doing okay during these tough times :-(

(and for those who are wondering, yes, this chapter's title was inspired by hamilton HAHA... go watch it if you haven't!)

-seokminz