time is too slow for those who wait

too swift for those who fear

too long for those who grieve

too short for those who rejoice

 

but for those who love

 

time is eternal

 

- -

 

Taekwoon took his time. Hakyeon was always in a rush.

 

Taekwoon, who casually waited in line at the coffee shop, head bobbing up and down to the beat of the slow jazz music playing from the shop’s speakers.

 

Hakyeon, who anxiously waited in line at the coffee shop, heels bouncing up and down with restless energy mimicking a body that never stopped vibrating with motion.

 

They each placed their order, one right after the other.

 

Taekwoon waited patiently, closing his eyes and leaning against the wall.

 

Hakyeon waited eagerly, his eyes darting back and forth amidst the people and objects that would claim his attention for a split second before immediately switching to something else.

 

When his order was called out by the barista, Taekwoon slowly opened his eyes and moved from the wall at a leisurely pace. But before he even took a step, Hakyeon shot up and grabbed the coffee, halfway to the door before Taekwoon noticed.

 

“H-hey...” Taekwoon called out timidly.

 

Hakyeon whipped around and faced the other. One foot was angled toward Taekwoon while the other was still pointed at the door, like Hakyeon was only half in the coffee shop, his other half already out the door and on his way. Although he was stopped, his body still seemed to shiver with irrepressible movement. It was as if he could never be still.

 

Taekwoon was shocked still, brain not entirely processing the situation fast enough to make sense of it. He tried as hard as he could to form words quickly because he could sense the other was antsy to get away. However, ‘quickly’ was never something that Taekwoon could do, just as ‘slowly’ was similarly foreign to Hakyeon.

 

“That is...my coffee, sir.”

 

Hakyeon’s eyes flashed down to the coffee in his hand and then back up to Taekwoon.

 

“Well, I ordered the same thing as you so it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

 

Hakyeon shrugged and turned around at the same time, free hand pushing open the door and feet already hitting the pavement. Taekwoon became frantic in his desperation as the man he was trying to talk to kept leaving before he could even get a word out.

 

“It does m-matter!”

 

As Hakyeon paused in the doorway, the barista announced that the other order of coffee was ready.

 

“See? No harm, no foul. I’m out.”

 

“Wait!”

 

“Okay, okay,” Hakyeon sighed, taking quick steps back into the shop. He swiped his coffee from the counter and put the one he had straight into Taekwoon’s hands.

 

“I’m sorry here’s my number to make up for it call me why don’t you I’m Hakyeon by the way what’s your name?”

 

Taekwoon just stared at Hakyeon with wide eyes and a gaping mouth as his mind tried to process the other’s fast speech. Hakyeon quickly became impatient so he started to guess.

 

“Hongbin? Jaehwan? Sanghyuk? Won–”

 

“Jung Taekwoon.”

 

Hakyeon stared at him, matching the beautiful name to the beautiful face. It was then that his body really seemed to pause as he focused intently on the boy in front of him. Taekwoon’s hair was a dark black mop parted a little off center, the cut resting just above his cheekbones. The sides of his hair fell in front of his face as he looked down shyly to avoid Hakyeon’s penetrating gaze. His fingers fiddled nervously with the edge of his jacket, though even the fingers were slow in their movements. Taekwoon swayed left and right at an almost imperceptibly slow pace. This boy acted like he had all the time in the world. He never felt the need to rush, or had the feeling that he just needed to be doing something. This boy could waste the day away if he wanted to. His mind and his body let him take his time. Or maybe they forced him.

 

“Taekwoon,” – he tasted the name on his tongue – “I hope to hear from you soon, then.” Wink.

 

And with that, he was out the door and around the corner before Taekwoon had even taken a breath. Or perhaps Hakyeon had taken his breath away.

 

Taekwoon slowly lowered his head to look down at his coffee cup. Indeed, there was a messy scribble of digits that could only be the man’s phone number. As to when he had written them on the cup in the short amount of time they had talked, Taekwoon could not fathom.

 

Though he had been startled, flustered, and slightly intimidated, Hakyeon intrigued him. He had never met someone who moved so fast. Who almost never stood still. Who was here and then gone in a split second. Taekwoon could not wrap his mind around it.

 

- -

 

Taekwoon waited. Hakyeon anticipated.

 

Taekwoon agonized over the numbers he had stored in his phone. He waited a few days to call Hakyeon, and even then it felt too fast.

 

Hakyeon picked up after the first ring. He had checked his phone every hour, not able to comprehend why the boy was not calling him. Hakyeon cursed Taekwoon’s languor and idleness. So when the other finally called, Hakyeon was ready.

 

“Yah Jung Taekwoon took you long enough to call me back I was thinking we could meet up at that coffee shop one day and hang out for a bit what do you say?”

 

“...”

 

“Taekwoon-ssi?”

 

“Um...I...that sounds fine. Wh–”

 

“Great I’ll meet you there at 9am tomorrow morning okay bye.” Click.

 

It took a few seconds for Taekwoon to bring the phone down from his ear, not realizing that a phone conversation could end that fast.

 

- -

 

Taekwoon thought before he spoke. Hakyeon said whatever was on his mind.

 

“We get the same coffee anyway so I’ll treat since I asked you here okay I grabbed that table over there in the corner for us if you want to go and sit down Taekwoon-ssi and I’ll get us our drinks.”

 

Taekwoon had only just opened the door to the coffee shop when Hakyeon starting moving and talking at the speed of light. So the boy did what he was asked and meandered his way to the small table in the corner that Hakyeon had pointed out. He watched Hakyeon flit from person to person, chatting with the people behind him in line, making the barista laugh with some lame joke about coffee, and occasionally glancing back at Taekwoon as if to make sure the boy was still waiting for him.

 

Soon, Hakyeon was sitting directly across from Taekwoon, drinking his coffee piping hot while Taekwoon let his cool down.

 

“So how have you been since the last time I saw you it feels like it’s been forever I mean three days phew that’s a really long time so did you do anything exciting go on any