'I'll pick you up at 5:30' 

Ryeowook checked the text on his phone from no other than Kyuhyun, smiling dreamily at the thought of being in that beautiful car of his. He was excited to see Kyuhyun too of course, but that car is just- 

'You're thinking about the car aren't you?' 

Ryeowook checked the new text on his phone, scoffing and beginning to type quickly. 

'No, of course not! Well, maybe a little' he replied honestly, almost hearing Kyuhyun's low chuckle through the phone somehow. 

Ryeowook put his barista skills to good use for another 2 hours or so, looking forward to the dinner more and more the busier it got in the coffee shop. He wasn't really sure why there was such a rush that day; sometimes you just get busy days like that. Luckily he could handle it of course, but he felt sorry for the new barista who was dealing with a busy day like this on his very first day. Ryeowook subconsciously looked over to him every few minutes to check he was alright, and not panicking too much. The man seemed surprisingly chipper despite the rush, somehow. 

When the coffee shop had calmed down and the final customer had been served, leaving only a few people sat at tables drinking coffee quietly, Ryeowook decided he should probably introduce himself to the new barista as he didn't get a chance to before with the coffee rush. 

"Hi, I'm Ryeowook, one of the experienced baristas here. You did really well for your first day, honestly,” he said, standing casually next to the tired out man who laughed softly. 

"Thank you, it's not always that busy is it?" he asked. Ryeowook shook his head. 

"There's usually a rush like that then it gets quiet but today was just a particularly busy one, I think it’s because of that festival down the road,” he confirmed, the new barista sighing in relief. 

"Oh that's good," he breathed softly. 

"So what's your name?" Ryeowook asked. 

"Oh, my name is Zhou Mi," he beamed. 

"Nice to meet you, Zhou Mi," Ryeowook nodded once, smiling back. 

"We'll probably be working together a lot, right?" Zhou Mi asked. 

"Yup! I'm looking forward to it. Hey, I could always teach you a thing or two about making coffee," Ryeowook offered, folding his arms and leaning back slightly into the worktop he was stood in front of, a subconscious display of pride. 

"I'd love that, thank you!" Zhou Mi thanked, glancing around at the coffee shop and sighing happily at the lack of people. 

"Don't worry I'm sure tomorrow will be normal again and you'll experience a normal, quiet day. It's easier to chat with each other while working when it's quiet," Ryeowook admitted. 

"I bet," Zhou Mi sighed. 

"Well I'd better get home and get ready, I'm going to a dinner party tonight with my best friend and his colleagues, a load of businessmen and woman, I’m a little nervous but I'm excited to meet them properly. The last time I met them they came here and all they got was me tripping over while carrying a load of their food on a tray." 

Zhou Mi put his hand over his mouth, laughing as subtlety as he could. 

"I"m sorry that's not funny, but wow, were you okay?" he asked kindly. 

"I got over it, I just hope they like me and see through the, uh, accident," Ryeowook laughed. 

"I'm sure they will love you," Zhou Mi said, nudging Ryeowook encouragingly. 

"Thank you, Zhou Mi. Well, I'd better get home then, it was good to meet you." 

"You too, Ryeowook, I'll see you tomorrow!" Zhou Mi called to Ryeowook who was already walking towards the coat hook. 

"Yeah see you tomorrow!" Ryeowook called back, turning around and smiling as he grabbed his coat and left the coffee shop. He went outside and got on the next passing bus and travelled back home, obviously to be greeted by an excited Bella.

"Hello there," he cooed, bending down and cuddling her, while she barked happily at her owner's return. 

"I'm going out again tonight I'm sorry, Bella," Ryeowook apologised as he stood up. He glanced over at the clock and widened his eyes at the time, hurrying off into his bedroom to change into his new clothes. 

He almost successfully changed, it was just the tie he was stuck on. Ryeowook decided he was going to have to ask for Kyuhyun's help with the tie and left it for now, focusing on styling his hair neatly with the help of a lot of hair products. He checked himself in the mirror more times than he was willing to admit, fixing a piece of hair each time before he was satisfied with how he looked and went back into the living room to wait for Kyuhyun. 

He sat in the window sill, with Bella perched awkwardly next to him, trying to get comfortable. The pair looked out the window, Bella getting excited at every person who walked past. 

Finally at 5:32 Kyuhyun pulled up in his car and got out, approaching the door; which Ryeowook swung open before he got there. 

"Nice car," he commented coolly. 

"I know you're more excited than that, stop trying to be nonchalant about it," Kyuhyun teased. 

"I couldn't figure out the tie," Ryeowook admitted, holding the tie up in front of Kyuhyun's face, who laughed at it. 

"Why didn't you just google how to do it?" he asked. Ryeowook cowered backwards a little, wondering why he didn't think of that. 

"Well you're here now so you might as well help me," he protested. 

Kyuhyun took the tie off Ryeowook and turned him around so he was standing behind Ryeowook, he leaned over his shoulders and tied the tie in the same knot that his tie was in. Ryeowook shivered slightly at Kyuhyun's breath on his neck but tried to ignore it. 

"Thank you," he whispered, turning back around to face Kyuhyun, who was smiling at him. 

"Shall we go?" Kyuhyun asked. 

"Yes!" Ryeowook exclaimed, locking the door behind him and hopping excitedly into the car. 

"It's so clean in here," he commented. Kyuhyun got in and pulled the door shut. 

"Of course, why wouldn't I keep it clean?" he retorted, putting the keys in a crevice on the dashboard and pressing a large button that started the engine. 

“Whoa wait, you don't even have to put your keys in? You just press a button?" Ryeowook asked in awe, taking in all the fancy features of the car. 

"Yeah, you just have to have the keys somewhere in the car, if the keys are out of range then the car won’t start,” Kyuhyun explained, driving off. 

"Geez," Ryeowook breathed, now observing the smooth feel of the car on the road, imagining how nice it must feel to drive it, if it feels this good to simply be in it. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

"We're here," Kyuhyun informed, backing the car smoothly into a parking spot. 

"I'm a bit nervous," Ryeowook admitted, fiddling with his hands nervously. Kyuhyun put a hand on Ryeowook's knee. 

"You'll be fine, they've probably forgotten all about the incident that time, they may not even recognise you!" he encouraged, nodding as if to say 'let's go'. Ryeowook complied and got out of the car, followed by Kyuhyun. The pair of best friends walked into the restaurant together, to be greeted by the rest of the party who had already arrived. 

"It's the waiter who fell over!" one of them pointed out. Ryeowook went bright red and sat down. 

"You guys became best friends?" another asked. 

"Yes, we did, this is Ryeowook," Kyuhyun said matter-of-factly, smiling proudly. Ryeowook continued to look down, fearing that his worries had come true. 

"Aw that's nice, sit down Ryeowook, it's nice to meet you," a businesswoman greeted. 

Ryeowook looked up in surprise, they weren't making fun of him? Kyuhyun smiled at Ryeowook in an 'I told you so' way. 

The two of them sat down at the table with Kyuhyun's co-workers, who instantly began discussing business. Kyuhyun sighed in boredom, knowing that this would be the topic of the night now. 

"So Ryeowook," a businessman next to them began. Ryeowook turned and smiled at him, catching the attention of Kyuhyun too who decided to eavesdrop. 

"What's it like being a barista?" he asked. Ryeowook thought for a moment. 

"Oh, I like it, lots of fun. It's a fast job when it's busy but we have fun together, me and the other baristas I mean," he explained, leaning on his elbows on the table. Kyuhyun's colleague nodded in approval, surprising Ryeowook. 

"That sounds nice, I can't imagine having fun at work!" he said jokingly but being completely serious. 

"Well, why don't you all get to know each other? You know, drop the business talk and just get to know each other," Ryeowook suggested, starting to stammer towards the end. His words caught the attention of the rest of the table who surprisingly nodded in agreement. 

"I guess we could try that," one of them nodded, his usual uptightness relaxing a little at the suggestion. 

______________________________________________________________________________

Later on

"And then," one of the business woman slurred, "my shirt button actually popped off! It hit him in the face! Really!” 

The whole table erupted into drunken laughter, including Kyuhyun; who was actually enjoying this dinner party for the first time ever. He wasn't drunk, he had been drinking wine but he wasn't the type to get drunk, but he was still having fun. 

"I'm glad I suggested that you all loosen up and get to know each other now, I was worried at first!" Ryeowook said loudly. 

"We're glad too, we're all just so wired to discuss business that we never considered actually being friends!" a businessman admitted. 

"Gosh, when did it get so late?" Kyuhyun muttered, looking at his watch. 

"Yes we should probably part ways here, but this was a good night," a woman smiled overly happy, just as drunk as the rest of them bar Kyuhyun. 

"Come on, Wookie, I'll take you back to mine," Kyuhyun offered. Ryeowook nodded, leaning into Kyuhyun drunkenly, who put his arm around his smaller friend and pulled him up. 

"Well thank you for tonight everyone!" Ryeowook beamed, shaking hands with the men of the table and politely hugging the women of the table. After saying his goodbyes, he and Kyuhyun left the restaurant and got back in the beautiful car once again. 

"Thank you for coming along tonight," Kyuhyun said as they began to drive off, "I had a lot of fun tonight for once." 

"Yeah, it was good," Ryeowook slurred, slumping into his seat tiredly. 

"If you want, we can drive by your house and you could get Bella, I'm sure she'd want to stay over at mine too, she'd miss you if you were gone all night without her," Kyuhyun suggested, making Ryeowook's eyes light up. 

"Really? You've warmed up to her a lot," he smiled. 

"Give me your keys, I'll go in and get her, you'll probably be asleep by the time we get there," Kyuhyun requested, taking one hand off the wheel and holding it out in front of Ryeowook, who pulled his keys out of his pocket and placed them in Kyuhyun's hand. 

While Kyuhyun drove home, Ryeowook obviously fell asleep, slumped in an extremely awkward position in his seat. He pulled up at Ryeowook's house and quietly got out of the car and went inside to get Bella who ran over excitedly at the familiar face. Kyuhyun ushered her into the back of the car and drove off again back to his house. 

Upon arrival, he considered how he was going to get Ryeowook upstairs again. He went with the usual method of pulling him up with a hand round his waist. 

"Mm," Ryeowook mumbled, stirring awake. 

"You're awake," Kyuhyun commented. 

"Bella!" Ryeowook exclaimed, retrieving her from the back of the car and requesting she follows him. 

"I can walk," he said, following Kyuhyun to his apartment. He couldn't walk in a straight line for his life, but he got to the lift and stood there slumped against the wall until arriving on Kyuhyun's floor and stumbling into his apartment and noticing something different. 

“Wait, is-" he began, pointing at the new item. 

"That?" Kyuhyun pointed at the same thing. 

"A dog bed," Ryeowook finished, walking over to it and smiling. 

"Yeah," Kyuhyun confirmed, guiding Bella to it. 

"You got Bella a dog bed to have here?" Ryeowook asked, almost feeling teary from happiness at the gesture. 

Bella lay in the oversized, magnificent bed and adjusted quickly to it, closing her eyes fondly and drifting off to sleep. 

"Also," Kyuhyun began, walking into his kitchen and grabbing some dog food and a silver dog bowl, showing Ryeowook. 

"How did you know the dog food brand she likes?" Ryeowook asked. 

"At your house, when you were in the bathroom I went and checked and bought the same one." 

“Aw! Thank you so much, Kyuhyun, it means a lot to me,” Ryeowook gawked, in awe at the kindness towards his dog. He gave Kyuhyun a quick hug before crashing onto the sofa and breathing deeply.

Kyuhyun went back into the kitchen and put away the dog food, and put the bowl on the floor ready for Bella in the morning. He fetched a glass from the cupboard and filled it with filtered water from a tap in the fridge before coming back into the lounge and offering it to Ryeowook, who propped himself up a little and drank the water, handing it back to Kyuhyun when he'd had enough. 

Kyuhyun put the half-full glass on the coffee table behind him and continued to crouch down next to Ryeowook, making sure he was alright before he went to sleep. He reached over Ryeowook and grabbed the throw that was draped over the sofa and placed it over his friend, tucking him in. 

"Thank you...so much…Kyuhyunnie,” Ryeowook said, sounding both drunk and tired. In a split second, a thought came to his head, one that he couldn't ignore. Whether it was the alcohol or just his true feelings, he went out on a whim and propped himself up again, his face close to Kyuhyun's. 

"What are you-" Kyuhyun began before being kissed firmly on the lips by Ryeowook, who then slumped back into the sofa and closed his eyes.