| IV. guns and roses |

 

 

"Did you hear what I just said?" 

One of the police officers says, a hint of annoyance clear in his tone. The thug holding Luhan still hasn't let him go even after an agonizing five minutes, and Luhan was starting to getting impatient. The other thug was just standing there, clearly dumbfounded. His eyes kept shifting nervously to the man that was holding Luhan. "What do we do now?" He whispers silently. There was panic laced in his words.

"No." The thug pointedly ignores his friend's question, addressing the two officers. "We'll let him go if you give us what we want." If Luhan wasn't held at knifepoint, he would've immediately strangled the guy for being so stubborn.

"Sorry, but are you sure that you really want to do that?" The other police officer says, and Luhan thinks that he almost sounds bored. "You're still going to end up getting arrested either way. There's no escape out of this." The thug that was standing a few feet away from Luhan hesitates at his words, uncertain. There's another tense silence for a few more moments until the guy finally removes his hand away from Luhan's mouth.

"Drop your weapon." The first police officer demands.

The thug complies and tosses his knife a few feet away from him, although it's very obvious that he doesn't want to. He mutters a few incoherent words before he turns around slowly and puts his hands up in surrender. Next to him, his friend does the same. The police officers advance slowly with their guns lowered while Luhan on the other hand backs away from the scene, massaging his neck as he does so. 

He watches as the two officers put their guns away and take out two pairs of handcuffs. 

Pretty soon the thugs were being escorted into one of the officer's police cars, and Luhan picks up his empty wallet as well as the spare pair of Jongdae's apartment keys. He sighs dejectedly at the sight of his wallet, he had worked plenty of hard hours to get those bills. So long, beloved credit card. He pockets both of them and runs a hand through his hair afterwards.

"Hey."

It's the police officer with the bored voice who had addressed him. When Luhan turns around, he's able to see his features properly now. Tall and blonde, expression blank. His lips were secured in a tight line, and he really did look quite bored. Or maybe that was his resting face. Either way, he also looks pretty young—like a recent college graduate.

"Uh, hi. Thanks for... saving me." Luhan says, not really knowing what else to say. He places a hand on his neck and winces slightly at the touch. Damn, that's going to be sore for a while. The police officer looks at him with that unreadable expression of his for a few more moments, and then clears his throat.

"We got your money and stuff back, by the way." The officer reaches inside his own pants pocket and hands Luhan's neatly folded bills back, along with his credit card. Luhan almost wants to burst into happy tears when he sees it, but holds himself back so that he won't embarrass himself and ruin his manly image. He gives the officer a grateful smile as he takes his belongings and stuffs it in his own wallet. At last. 

"Hey, Sehun." 

The blonde officer—now known as Sehun—turns around at the sound of his name. "What?"

The other officer comes into view now, and Luhan's eyes widen at the sight of him—recognizing that head of brown hair, tan skin, and familiar smile. It was the guy from the flower shop, the one who had just visited yesterday. The floritst wrinkles his nose as he comes closer. What was his name again? He felt slightly bad for forgetting, Kris had told Luhan about him just last night. Was it Jeffrey? Jerry? Luhan was 96% sure that his name started with a J. 

"They're all set and ready to go. I've locked the doors already." Jeffrey(?) says. His eyes shift over to Luhan, and his eyes widen slightly at the sight of him. Then, he frowns as if he was trying to remember something. "Wait, aren't you that guy from..." The brown haired officer mutters to himself, as Sehun bends down to pick up the knife that one of the thugs let go of earlier. "From... I'm sorry. Where was it again?"

"The flower shop?" Luhan suggests.

"Yeah, that's right. I knew I recognized you from somewhere. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Uh, I dropped off a friend of mine at his apartment last night and stayed there for a couple of hours, then I woke up and decided that it was a good idea to walk around or something. So I went to the park, and then I saw the two guys following me. Pretty soon they caught me, put that knife to my throat, and mugged me. And then you guys came a few moments later." Luhan sighs. "Not really my ideal Saturday morning."

"You're very lucky that we heard your scream." Sehun then speaks up, as he stares at the small knife absentmindedly. His eyes shift from the small object to Luhan, who was staring at him back curiously. So they did hear him after all. "That was you, right?"  

"Yeah, it was."

"Pfft." Sehun looks slightly amused.

"What?"

"Nothing. Should we drive him back to his house, Jongin?"

Oh, oops. His name was pretty far from being either Jeffrey or Jerry, but at least Luhan was right about it starting with a J. He looks at Jongin, and then back at Sehun before shaking his head. "Thanks for that, but it's fine honestly. I live pretty far from here, and I need to head to work in a bit anyway. Kyungsoo's going to kill me if I show up really late, and I'd like to keep my head attached to my body." 

He doesn't miss Jongin's small smile at the mention of Kyungsoo.

"Haha, you're right. Maybe it's best for us to drive you, it's certainly faster than walking." He says carefully.

Luhan frowns after a while. "Hmm, I guess so."

"Then that's settled then. We'll have to take those guys to the station first, I hope that's okay with you. I have a bunch of stuff in the passenger's seat, so I guess you'll have to go with Sehun if both of you are fine with that. I'll join you guys afterwards." Jongin muses as Luhan and Sehun glance at each other. It's not like Luhan didn't want to go with Sehun, he just thought that the ride might be a little uncomfortable based on the other officer's clear lack of interest.

"That's okay." Luhan tells him.

Jongin nods. "Oh, right, what's your name by the way? I don't remember you telling me."

"It's Luhan." 

"Well, it's nice to meet you again Luhan." 

"Yeah." Luhan smiles. "You too, Jongin." 

He follows Sehun wordlessly into his car afterwards, feeling the blonde police officer's gaze piercing the back of his head.

 

 

---

 

 

Junmyeon's eyes flutter open at the sound of his alarm going off.

He groggily reaches for his phone and stops the noise, sighing when his head hits the pillow again. He feels so exhausted, mentally and physically. It seemed like he only went to sleep just an hour ago, and he probably did since he was still having difficulty trying to rest even after last night's events. Junmyeon sits up and rubs his eyes before walking to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face to wake himself up. His reflection in the mirror stares back at him, and he sighs again when he sees his messy brown hair and the bags under his eyes.

He pats his hair down before checking the time: 8:26. 

The cafe opens at 10 on Saturdays, so he still has some time to kill before he starts getting ready. 

He exits his bedroom momentarily, steps faltering when he sees the guest room's closed door. Junmyeon bites his bottom lip as he glances at it uncertainly. He thought that it was a little too sudden at the time, inviting Yixing over when he got locked out of his aparment—the two never talked until yesterday night and now here he was. But at the same time, he thought that he would've felt really bad for leaving him outside to sleep in the hallway, and if he didn't invite him in... he would've never gotten to see that smile.

It was the sort of smile that you would sometimes give to other strangers in public if you two met eyes on accident. Small, short, and sweet.

Needless to say Junmyeon's cheeks instantly warmed at the sight (he prayed that the other didn't notice), and he couldn't say anything more for if he did he would've really, really embarrassed himself. So he just nodded, and shut the door behind him. When he reached his bedroom and walked inside the bathroom to glance at his reflection, his face was completely red.

The manager turns around to get back inside his bedroom, and he rummages through pieces of clothing until he found something that would probably fit Yixing. He grabs a light blue longsleeve button-up and a black shirt before exiting the room again, and thus proceeds to tiptoe inside the guest room. He pushes the door open slowly, wincing when he hears it creak, his eyes landing on Yixing's sleeping figure—comforter up to his chin.

He looks so uncharacteristically peaceful lying there. Junmyeon's never seen his neighbor's face look so relaxed before. 

You can imagine the manager's surprise when he witnesses Yixing unexpectedly open his eyes. Realizing that he's been staring, Junmyeon lets out a mini shriek (almost dropping the clothes he's holding) nearly tripping over himself as he scurries back to the doorframe, exiting the area and panting lightly with his back facing the wall. He prays that Yixing didn't notice him standing there in the guest room.

"Junmyeon?" Yixing's sleepy and confused voice brings Junmyeon back to reality.

Oh no.

Junmyeon pokes his head in hesitantly. "Yes?"

Yixing's sitting up now, rubbing his eyes, and that was when Junmyeon realizes that his neighbor was completely shirtless. The blanket was covering up to Yixing's chest now, his collarbones visible, and the manager also was able to see his neighbor's shockingly toned arms. Junmyeon gulps, not understanding why his heart rate was suddenly speeding up at the sight of them. Wasn't it perfectly normal to see another male without a shirt on?

"What time is it?" Yixing asks as he removes his hands from his eyes. He looks exhausted, and Junmyeon starts to feel a little concerned.

"Um, 8:43. Do you have anywhere to be right now?"

Yixing shakes his head. "Nope, I got back from work a few hours ago. Usually, I wake up around three in the afternoon so being up this early is kind of weird." 

A small (but fortunately not awkward) silence then ensues, and then the manager looks at the clothes in his hands. "Er." He says nervously, and Yixing looks at him with those tired eyes again. Junmyeon feels a little embarrassed now, not knowing what to say. "I, uh, I brought these for you." He mumbles, stepping back inside the room and handing Yixing the items nervously. "Because you're still locked out of your apartment, I thought that you might have not had anything to wear..."

Yixing's expression is unreadable as he takes the clothes from him, and Junmyeon feels his cheeks growing warm.

It's silent before Yixing's lips form into a soft smile.

"Thank you." He says gratefully. "I really appreciate it."

Junmyeon exhales, not realizing that he was holding his breath. He nods slowly and smiles slightly. "O-Of course." 

"Do you have anywhere to be right now?"

"Not for another two hours, no."

Yixing hesitates, and then sighs before running a hand through his messy black hair. "Want to grab something for breakfast then? I can't go back to sleep anyways." He looks at Junmyeon, his expression unreadable again. "I think it'd be nice to get to know each other better." Junmyeon's a little taken aback at the sudden invitation—it's going to take a while before he gets used to Yixing's friendly side—but he thinks that getting to know each other is a pretty good idea too.

"Sure." Junmyeon says. "I know a place a few blocks away from here."

"Cool." 

"I'll have to go to work afterwards, but you can take my spare keys and come back here if you want." 

"Thanks." Yixing nods. "I'll try to get into my apartment again while I'm at it." 

"Okay." Junmyeon gives him a thumbs up before exiting the guest room. He enters his own bedroom and rummages through his closet, changing into a white dress shirt with the two top buttons undone, a black blazer on topping it off. He picks out a pair of black slim dress pants (not sure why he feels the need to look sharp today) and puts them on too before walking over to the bathroom.

He pushes his hair up (forehead now exposed), putting it in a side part before grabbing his eyeglasses and pulling his socks on. He studies his reflection in the bathroom's mirror, frowning and smoothing out wrinkles in his outfit before exiting his bedroom at last. He's a little surprised when he sees Yixing already standing in the living room. 

Yixing's staring at the small pot of white lilies on Junmyeon's coffee table, touching the petals gently—Kyungsoo had given them to him as a gift a few months ago—and looks up when said person walks in. Yixing's wearing the clothes that the manager gave him, wearing the light blue button up as a jacket over the plain black t-shirt along with the dark jeans he wore yesterday night.

He looks good, Junmyeon thinks to himself, but he forcefully shoves that thought to the back of his mind.

"Ready?" Yixing smiles again, his dimple appearing on the side of his cheek.

"Yep." Junmyeon can't help but smile while gesturing to the door. "After you."

 

 

---

 

 

"Order for Table 16!"

A waitress bustles by and picks up the order, but not before sending Chanyeol a grin. "You got it." She says over her shoulder, as she walks over to said table. Chanyeol smiles to himself as he continues to flip pancakes, humming a tune as he watched them cook. Man, he sure did love his job. Cooking was his passion, and he was very glad that he got the chance to be the person that he actually dreamed of ever since he was a kid.

Using a spatula, he flips the cakes with one swift motion. It won't be long before they'll be ready.

"Chanyeol, can you get that thing for me over there?"

The sous chef turns and stares at his fellow employee, who's eyebrows are furrowed in concentration. 

"Um, what thing?"

"The... white object next to you."

"You mean the plate?"

"Yes, that's right. Sorry, I blanked out on the name."

"Weird." Chanyeol mutters under his breath, but laughs when the guy hits him lightly with a spoon. The sous chef hands one to him before turning back to the pancakes and putting them all on medium-sized plates at once. Beautiful. Chanyeol admires his work before he takes some of their homemade chocolate syrup, drizzling it on each of the cakes before topping it off with whipped cream, finishing with a small scoop of butter off to the side. 

He squints at the order sheets hanging above him. "We have orders for Table 24, Table 12, Table 8, and Table 19."

A waiter passes by immediately, and takes the plates off the counter as quickly as he came. Chanyeol watches as he places the pancakes on each of the four tables, and beams brightly at the awed expressions the customers give the food. He warms up at the sight, and moves over to read the rest of the orders happily. He opens the fridge and takes the batter for the crêpe out once he sees the next receipt.

It's currently nearing nine, and although Chanyeol has been here since six am he's not complaining. Why would you complain doing something you love? The restaurant he works in serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner so he's constantly on his toes. If he's not cooking, he's cleaning his area up to get in a habit to make it more organized. He flips the half-baked crêpe on its other side before glancing at his right hand, where the three small bandages were still located around his palms.

The doctor's words were still as clear as day in his mind. 

You might get that infected if you don't take it out sooner. 

At the memory, a small smile tugs at Chanyeol's lips as he places the finished crêpe on a plate, stuffing bananas and strawberries inside of it before folding it neatly. He then proceeds to put the chocolate syrup on it afterwards, putting whipped cream on top and adding powdered sugar for the finishing touch. "Order for Table 13." Chanyeol says cheerily, as he puts the plate on the counter. 

He wonders if Byun Baekhyun likes crêpes. 

Maybe he could make one for him someday...

Chanyeol hums to himself as he takes a look at the next order: a sandwich with eggs and bacon, sausages on the side. He gets distracted when he hears the bells ringing, signifying that a customer had just entered the restaurant. "Hello and welcome!" Chanyeol proclaims loudly from the kitchen, looking up to glimpse at the two who had just walked in. His eyes widen when he recognizes one of them: Kim Junmyeon, who looked a little nervous for some reason.

They've met a few times (Chanyeol's delivered flowers to him before) and are on friendly terms, since Junmyeon's pretty tight with Kyungsoo. The manager also visits the restaurant Chanyeol works at pretty often, so he's used to seeing him here sometimes.

However he doesn't recognize the other guy standing next to Junmyeon though, he's the taller of the two, with a head of black hair and a tired expression on his face. His eyes look a little glazed over, slightly unfocused. Chanyeol saw Junmyeon's eyes shifting to the guy and then back at the ground, and thinks that he was probably the source of Junmyeon's nervousness.

After a few moments the sous chef makes eye contact with the manager, who smiles and raises his hand in a short greeting, but before Chanyeol grins back the other guy tugs Junmyeon's sleeve lightly and motions for them to follow the waitress currently leading them to their table. Chanyeol watches the scene with even wider eyes—seriously, who was he?—before Junmyeon looks back at Chanyeol, grinning sheepishly at him again before finally walking away.

"Oi, Chanyeol." 

The chef spins around, his employee is now looking at him with a half-amused and half-exasperated expression on his face. "Yeah?"

"Don't you have a sandwich to make?"

Chanyeol looks down at the lonesome pieces of bread on the plate and sighs. He grins when he turns back to him, laughing lightly. "Sorry about that." He apologizes, before going back to what he was doing before. He finds himself smiling as he finishes the sandwich. Well, that was certainly quite interesting; he makes a mental note to ask Junmyeon who that other guy was whenever he sees him again.

He ends up staring at the three small bandages on his hand once more, momentarily forgetting about Junmyeon and the guy who he's never seen in his life before—his thoughts instead wandering over to Baekhyun again, this time thinking about what the doctor's possibly doing right now.

 

 

---

 

 

Junmyeon gives the waitress a grateful smile after she hands them their menus.

"Have you been here before?" Yixing asks him after she asks what drinks they want and then leaves, flipping through the pages of his menu. When Junmyeon raises his head at the sound of his voice, he's met with the sight of Yixing's slightly unfocused but also questioning gaze. The manager nods, pushing his glasses back before responding. 

"I have a few times. I know the chef here." 

"Was he the guy who greeted us a few minutes ago?"

"Yes," Junmyeon confirms, and squints down at his own menu before saying anything else. "his name's Park Chanyeol." 

It's silent before Yixing speaks up again. "I haven't had breakfast in a long time."

"Is it because you wake up late?"

He nods thoughtfully, mind seemingly somewhere else. Junmyeon had always thought that his neighbor wasn't capable of talking casually like this and certainly didn't expect for him to have a somewhat innocent image. It felt really weird in his opinion, because the manager was used to Yixing's expressionless faces and one-word conversations. "What do you do for a living?" Junmyeon finds himself blurting out, causing Yixing to snap out of his temporary daydream.

"I'm a bartender." He places his hands on the table and folds them.

A bartender. Suddenly everything made sense now, from Yixing working late hours in the evening and his tendency to sleep through most of the day. It explained Yixing's always tired/sleepy look, him wearing nice outfits all the time, and also explained why they've only seen each other throughout certain parts of the night. "Oh." Junmyeon mutters, not sure what else to say. "Do you like your job?"

Yixing shrugs. "It's okay." 

Junmyeon feels like he's not answering honestly, but doesn't say anything about it. Their waitress comes back with a glass of iced tea (for Junmyeon) and water (for Yixing) and then takes their orders, pancakes (for Yixing) and waffles (for Junmyeon). Junmyeon watches as she takes the menus off the table swiftly and proceeds to give a slip of paper to Chanyeol, who takes it eagerly.

"What about you?" 

"Oh, me? I'm the manager of a cafe." Junmyeon answers with a smile, although momentarily startled. Dang, he really does need to get used to this. Yixing nods as if he was expecting the answer, and stares at him thoughtfully before drumming his fingertips lightly against the table.

"Do you know three people named Kim Jongdae, Kris Wu, and Luhan by any chance?"

Junmyeon's eyes widen at the question. "Yeah, I do." 

"Oh, okay."

"Why?"

"No reason," Yixing smiles mysteriously at him. He tears the wrapper off of his straw (putting it aside) and places the straw inside his glass of water, swirling it around absentmindedly. It seemed as if he was lost in his own thoughts again. Junmyeon on the other hand, frowns at the mention of his friends. How was it possible that Yixing knows them? It was certainly strange... or maybe it was just a mere coincidence.

He's too busy thinking of the possibilites when he accidentally knocks his finger against the table. 

Yixing looks up abruptly, eyebrows raised when he sees Junmyeon wincing and shaking his hand. His expression of surprise morphs into one of concern. "Are you okay? What happened?" He asks gently, and the manager's heart thuds violently in his chest. He really needs to get used to this. He's really not used to his neighbor being so nice and compassionate towards him.

"I-I think I'm okay."

"Can I see it?" Yixing then asks, and Junmyeon feels his cheeks heat up at the question.

The manager raises his hand hesitantly, flushing at once when Yixing takes it into his own. There's a little red mark on the spot where he hit it, but other than that there's no sign of any other injury. Yixing studies it for a bit, and as he does so Junmyeon ends up staring at their entwined fingers. His mind is spinning, and it's somehow getting considerably harder for him to breathe. Pretty soon Yixing lets go of his hand, a small smile on his lips.

"Yeah, I think it's good."

Junmyeon's absolutely positive that his face was completely red now. He opens his mouth and closes it again, unable to find the words that he was orignially planning to say. He curses his stupidity and tries for a smile, but it probably looked more like a painful grimace. "I guess so." He finally manages to breathe out, and Yixing's smile grows a little wider as he sips his drink quietly.

He's saved when the waitress comes back with their orders, the two adults gratefully accepting them.

It's absolutely delicious. Junmyeon marvels silently about how amazing Chanyeol's cooking is, and in front of him Yixing voices his own thoughts. "Wow, this is really good," the bartender was saying as he stabbed his fork into the hot cake for a second piece. Junmyeon agrees, taking a bite out of his own waffle. It's been a while since he visited the restaurant Chanyeol worked in, but the food was still as good as ever.

They eat mostly in a comfortable silence, sharing small talk as they finished up their meals.

Junmyeon pulls his phone out after their plates are cleared and checks the time, where the digital clock reads 9:36. When he looks up again, he sees Yixing handing the waitress his credit card. The manager opens his mouth to call the waiter back but Yixing's smile silences him. "Hey, it's okay." He says in that gentle tone of his, and Junmyeon bites his lip uncertainly.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." Yixing says, expression now unreadable. "I owed you one anyways." 

Junmyeon sighs. "Okay, fine." 

The waitress returns with Yixing's credit card, and Junmyeon catches Chanyeol's eye as the two stand up to leave. He doesn't miss the inquiring look in the chef's glance, but Junmyeon couldn't really find a way how to summarize the events with only one glimpse at him. There was just too much to explain, and so little time. He gives Chanyeol an apologetic grin as he leaves the restaurant, sending him a wave for good measure too.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go now." Junmyeon says once they step outside. He's starting to feel bad about leaving Yixing alone. "Work starts in about twenty minutes for me." He says ruefully as Yixing blinks down at him, tilting his head to the side. 

"That's okay." 

"Here's my spare," Junmyeon then mumbles, pushing the keys into Yixing's palm. "I'm really sorry." 

"There's no need to apologize."

"Thanks for..." The manager trails off, feeling his face turn red again. "... everything." 

"I'm afraid that I should be thanking you." Yixing then says. "You really are too kind, Junmyeon."

And with that he gave the manager a wide and bright grin, before turning on his heels and walking away slowly with his hands secured in his pockets. Junmyeon on the other hand watches the bartender's back retreat, feeling a strange and unfamiliar feeling rising slowly in his chest. He smiles to himself before he walks away in the opposite direction.

 

 

---

 

 

It's painfully awkward.

Luhan doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what to say. It's the first time that something like this has ever happened to him. Usually, Luhan is able to effortlessly start conversations and continue chattering with whoever he was talking to without any awkward pauses or silences in between. But at the same time, maybe there really was a first time for everything.

They've arrived at the station a few minutes earlier, and were now waiting on Jongin by the curb. The drive on the way there was silent, not to mention tense as well. It seemed as if Sehun forgot that Luhan was in the car with him, for he kept his eyes on the road and made no effort to start a conversation. After getting to their destination, the blonde officer had crossed his arms and looked outside his window while Luhan chose to stare at the station in front of them, hoping that Jongin will come out soon and get rid of the awkward silence between them.

"Was that really your scream?"

The sound of Sehun's monotone voice makes Luhan jump in the carseat, and he looks left to see the blonde officer looking at him with that unreadable expression of his. Sehun's emotionless expressions made Luhan feel a little more than uneasy, it felt like the officer was observing him pretty intently and he really didn't like that at all.

"Why do you keep asking me that?" 

"No reason." Sehun says casually, and then his lips form into a small smile, which surprises Luhan even further. He stares at Sehun blankly before the officer continues to speak. "It's just... you sounded like a six-year-old throwing a tantrum." He bites his bottom lip as if he was holding in a laugh, but at that statement Luhan felt a little offended as well as a little more than annoyed. 

"Excuse me?"

This time, Sehun really does laugh; Luhan finds himself smiling subconsciously at the sound of it. To his own surprise he ends up chuckling a little too, but he's mostly relieved that the officer is really not as serious as he looks. Talking to Sehun is suddenly somehow becoming easier by the second, and Luhan starts to relax before saying, "Dude, that's messed up." 

"And to think, it came from you—"

"—What is that supposed to mean?"

"That you're not a real man."

Luhan's eye twitches. "What did you just say?"

"That you're not—" Sehun cuts himself off when he sees Luhan fuming. He breaks into a grin. "—haha, you should see the look on your face. I was just joking."

The florist is about to retort when he sees Jongin come back outside, tapping on the car window. When Sehun rolls it down, Jongin smiles. "So now that's taken care of, we're going to drop you off at the flower shop." Luhan gives him a slightly uneasy smile back in response, silently praying for Kyungsoo not to kill him once he arrives. Jongin then slides into the backseat and after buckling his seatbelt, Sehun drives away.

Luhan manages to befriend the two officers throughout the drive. It turns out that they all are around the same age (Luhan's older than both of them, Sehun's the youngest) and share a similar sense of humor. He and Sehun have also already arranged to go to lunch later at this bubble tea place Sehun was telling him about—Jongin excused himself, said he had something else "more impotant" to do, whatever that was—Luhan was very surprised when he learned that Sehun was extremely passionate about the drink, but after that he did make a mental note to not assume someone's personality by their appearance anymore.

When Sehun finally pulls up against the curb of Kyungsoo's flower shop about ten to fifteen minutes later, Luhan is still laughing loudly from a joke that Jongin had told him before the three of them then proceed to leave the vehicle. At the sight of a small figure moving closer and faster towards the glass doors the florist, wide smile immediately dropping.

Kyungsoo practically kicks the doors open when he sees Luhan standing outside. 

The brunet is genuinely scared when he sees Kyungsoo's outrageous expression, and holds up his hands in surrender when the shorter adult immediately starts bombarding him with questions and thwacking the taller's chest (quite painfully) with an order sheet that was half-filled: "Where the hell were you? Why didn't you call me? What happened? You didn't even tell Jongdae where you went!" Luhan opens his mouth to speak, but falters when he sees said Jongdae run out of the store with a relieved expression on his face.

"You're Kyungsoo?" He hears Sehun ask in the background, as Luhan sends Jongdae a cheeky grin. Jongdae looks a little more than annoyed at his gesture, his usual friendly smile replaced with a deep frown, shaking his head as he approaches the small group standing in front of the flower shop.

Kyungsoo stares at the blonde officer. "Yes, that's me. You are—?"

"—Luhan, I swear you almost gave me a ing heart attack." Jongdae grumbles as he cuts Kyungsoo off, sighing dejectedly. "You weren't answering your phone, and didn't leave a note or anything. Man, I thought you were dead for sure."  

"Oops." Luhan says, grinning apologetically. "I'm really sorry. I didn't notice."

Jongdae rolls his eyes and then notices the two officers standing a few feet behind Luhan, a wide smile now forming on his lips. "Oh hey, I'm Kim Jongdae by the way. I don't think we've met before?" He says cheerfully, hand outstretched. Jongin looks a little taken aback by Jongdae's sudden friendliness but takes his hand and shakes it firmly. Kyungsoo looks on, his expression unreadable.

Jongin smiles back at him. "No, we haven't. I'm Kim Jongin." 

"Hey, that's cool. I feel like we're going to get along, we have the same surname."

Jongdae then proceeds to give his hand to Sehun, who shakes it after staring at it for a few moments. "Oh Sehun," The blonde officer replies, with that same monotonous tone that Luhan found himself getting familiar with. Jongdae on the other hand doesn't look unfazed by it in the slightest, instead it looked as if his smile was growing wider by the second.

"Nice to meet you."

"To think that you would have the sense to at least call..." Kyungsoo then mutters after their introductions, his eyes shooting daggers at Luhan. His glare instantly fades away when Jongin steps forward and waves at him in a small greeting, a small smile playing on his lips. Kyungsoo opens his mouth to speak, but ends up not saying anything. He bites his bottom lip instead. 

"Hey, Kyungsoo." Jongin says, and he gestures to Luhan. "We're just dropping him off."

"What happened?"

"I'm sure he'll tell you."

Kyungsoo stares at Jongin for a while before glancing at Luhan once more. The florist was beyond grateful that Kyungsoo's previous anger seemed to ebb away (not wanting to suffer the Wrath of Do Kyungsoo), and now he looked more concerned than pissed. Bless Kim Jongin for having the rare and special ability to calm the black haired florist down with only a few words. He smirks when he sees Kyungsoo and Jongin's eyes meet for a few moments, the taller of the two looking away first in evident embarrassment.

"And you two," Luhan turns to the police officers. "thanks for everything."

"We're just doing our job," Jongin mumbles. "but yeah, no problem. Stay out of trouble next time."

"No promises."

Sehun snorts at his response. "Bye, Luhan."

"Later." Luhan grins. "You still down for lunch at twelve?"

"Yeah, I'll pick you up." 

"You better not be late." 

Jongdae grins slightly as Sehun rolls his eyes. "Well, it was nice meeting you all but I've got to be productive now. See you guys around." He gives the small group a short two- salute before pushing the doors open, making his way to his usual spot behind the desk. Luhan frowns at Jongdae's words, a little more than suspicious. Normally the other adult would've tried to avoid work, staying behind to chat.

He turns to Kyungsoo to mention this, and that was when he saw the shorter male's eyes completely fixated on Jongin. The police officer was staring back too. Luhan bites back a loud laugh, suddenly realizing why Jongdae was in a hurry to leave.

"Well, won't you look at that." Luhan says gleefully. "I've got to water those sunflowers."

Kyungsoo looks confused. "What? But I already watered them before you came here?" Kyungsoo asks, waving the order sheet he's still holding. Luhan gives him a not-so-apologetic grin in response as he walks inside the shop at last. As Luhan looks back through the glass windows, he's able to see Kyungsoo's still-confused face and Jongin's newly flushed one.

Ah, young love. 

 

 

---

 

 

"So, what really did happen this morning?"

It was like Kyungsoo was completely unbothered about the situation at all. He was staring at Jongin with a curious expression on his face, and Jongin finds it hard to believe that he was glaring at Luhan moments before. Jongin hums thoughtfully before continuing. "From what we know, Luhan got mugged by two guys. Sehun and I were in the area, and just so happened to hear him scream. So we arrested the guys, and gave Luhan his money back."

"Oh, wow." Kyungsoo's eyes were wide.

"Yeah."

"That's pretty something."

"You think?" Sehun then says, straightening his posture and stuffing his hands inside his pockets. There's a small, suggestive grin on his face and Jongin has a really bad feeling about what he's going to say next. "Jongin was really something. He ordered those guys to get their hands off of Luhan. It was pretty impressive." He says, raising his eyebrows.

At this Jongin turns towards his friend and gives Sehun an expression that clearly reads don't you ing dare but it's either that Sehun doesn't get the memo or that Sehun was ignoring him. Judging by the smug look on his face, Jongin thinks that it's the latter.

"Wow, really?" Kyungsoo sounds slightly impressed.

"Really." Sehun's grin grows wider. "In fact, he'll tell you all about it. Right Jongin?"

Jongin doesn't respond and instead glares at him. Upon seeing this, Sehun giggles as he walks over to the driver's side and sinks back into the seat behind the wheel. He lets out a long sigh as he runs a hand through his hair to try and hide his embarrassment. "Don't listen to whatever Sehun said." He tells Kyungsoo. "He tends to make up a lot of bull."

"Sehun... I've never seen him before. Did you two meet in high school or college?"

"High school, unfortunately. We went to the same college too."

Kyungsoo laughs lightly at this, heart shaped lips forming into a beautiful smile. It's the same one that Jongin remembers from all those years ago, the same one that never fails to make his heart jump in his chest. This manages to make get rid of Jongin's embarrassment entirely—replaced by a newfound happiness. He opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted when Sehun honks the car horn.

It scares the out of Jongin. "What the hell—?" 

"I think that's a sign for you to get back to work." Kyungsoo smiles, and walks behind Jongin to push him towards the police car gently. Jongin's cheeks flare up instantly at the feeling of Kyungsoo's hands on his back, and he's grateful that the florist isn't able to see his face right now. "I hope the situation isn't bad the next time we see each other again."

Jongin looks back with a smile. "Same." 

"Bye now." Kyungsoo pauses. "Go back to saving the world or whatever." 

Jongin can't help but snort at the statement, sitting back down in the passenger's seat (and closing the car door) after sending another smile towards Kyungsoo's direction. As Sehun begins to drive away though, the brown haired police officer rounds on his friend. "You ing piece of ." He groans heavily, hiding his face in his hands as the blonde feigns an expression of hurt on his face. 

"What did I do?"

"You know exactly what you did, you little—" 

"So when are you asking him out?"

Jongin turns red at this and doesn't respond as Sehun snickers at him from behind the wheel.

 

 

---

 

 

That same morning, a man named Kim Minseok wanders the streets with his hands secured in his jacket's pockets.

Just a few days beforehand, he was informed that he was allowed to come back home from the military permanently. He was more than relieved when he heard this, perfectly sure that he wasn't going to miss the exhausting training and the constant battling. Now he would have the chance to actually get hired for another job, one that he would much rather prefer. He's been looking at the shops around him every day, exploring his options.

He stops in his tracks when his eyes land on a café.

At that moment someone a little taller than he is brushes past him lightly, and surprised, Minseok steps back at the sudden action. The guy whirls around, brown eyes widened—he's wearing glasses and a black blazer over a white button up. "Sorry about that," he says kindly, sounding a little rushed as he holds out the door for him. Minseok gives him a small smile as he steps inside with a small thank you.

He gratefully welcomes the warm air hitting his face, as he watches the guy speedwalk towards the 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' door. He observes his surroundings curiously. There was a family eating sandwiches and each of them had their own desirable drinks. A distance away there was a lady sipping her coffee as she stares at her computer screen, and in the booth next to her two teenagers were lovingly staring at each other over a cup of caramel macchiato. It was wonderfully cozy, a perfect contrast to the cold weather outside. 

There's a bulletin board perched above the condiments, and Minseok raises his eyebrows at the sight of it.

NOW HIRING, a paper reads. The font's in comic sans. 

Okay then.

He looks around again, this time a smile slowly forming on his lips. 

Maybe he could try this place out...

 

 

---

 

 

A/N: wow LOok at that an update... this is such a long chapter wtf (7k+ words oh my) & mostly sulay centered with a dash of kaisoo and hunhan (and baekyeol, if you squint) wooooooo omg i really should be asleep right now actually but i rly wanted to finish this up before school tomorrow haha.. now we have 1 more chara to properly introduce and we will have our ot12 :-) !! party

there will be chanbaek in the next chapter, get ready for that :-)

i apologize for like ,.. all the typos in this chapter ... i'm too lazy to fix them rn ... will i ever though HAHhaha

**no distractions updating schedule: almost every saturday, and/or the occassional sunday!! 

thank you so so SO so So much for the upvotes, subcribes, and comments!! oh my gosh you don't know how happy you make me... :;; you guys truly motivate me :,) honestly I'm so grateful thank you thank you i love you guys,,, pls feel free to tell me what you think about the story so far bc idk if i'm doing okay with the characters and the plot and basically everything so far hahaha 

-seokminz