Oh Sehun is nineteen, a broke college student, and seriously craving double chocolate chip cookies right now.

“Luhan.”

Smack.

“Luhan.”

Smack.

“Luuhaaaaaaaaannn.”

Smack smack smack.

Said Chinese boy whirls around, ripping his headphones away from his ears. “What,” he growls.

“Buy me cookies.”

Luhan’s eyes burn with black flames and his lips twitch in annoyance. “Oh Sehun, just because I’m your roommate, it doesn’t mean I’m going to answer you with a smile on my face every time you want cookies and willingly skip out the door to a bakery and waste my precious money to buy you sweetened discs of dough. Now shut up and go away, you’re interrupting my Skype time with Baozi.”

Sehun groans and continues smacking the side of his roommate’s "angelic" baby face. “But I want double chocolate chip cookies and I’m broke and I don’t wanna go outside!”

Luhan rests his forehead on the heels of his hands and Sehun catches him muttering a few words in Mandarin that would probably require his tongue to be scrubbed with soap.

He raises his head after hissing under his breath for a good five minutes and says, “There’s a bakery called The Black Pearl ten minutes away from here over by Pink Park. You can get there by walking, and if you don’t leave this apartment in thirty seconds I will mutilate your face and throw the pieces into the Han River.” Luhan slaps a handful of bills in Sehun’s hand, shoves him outside into the hall, and slams it violently.

Sehun sticks out his tongue at the door (of course he is mature what are you talking about) and rides the elevator down to the main floor, walking outside and down the sidewalk to Pink Park, the streetlamps switching on as the sun sinks beneath the horizon.

Pink Park wasn’t always pink- it used to be a rich and deep red, from the slides to the swings, until a couple years back when there was a freak storm that swept through Sehun’s part of the area- washing away the red and leaving behind a pretty pink. Sehun still feels like his manliness is being challenged whenever he hangs out at Pink Park with his friends.

He smells The Black Pearl before he actually sees it- a warming aroma of cinnamon and honey and true love and Sehun really needs his goddamn double chocolate chip cookies.

He all but runs through the door and up to the counter, gripping the wood for dear life as he scans the menu above the tall cashier’s head.

“Uh, hello. Welcome to the Black Pearl. Can I get you anything?”

Sehun glances at the cashier then back at the menu then back to the ing cashier because damn he is attractive.

The other man looks around the same age as Sehun and even with a drab black apron tied around his waist, he’s like a magnet of ual attraction and unf. His gold nametag reads TAO in big, engraved letters and Sehun guesses that he’s Chinese. Tao has dyed dusty-blonde hair that is shaved at the sides but in the front, it’s long and falls slightly into his left eye. Talking about his eyes, they are piercing, observant, and friendly with big, dark eyebags underneath them that make Tao resemble a cute panda. With a lot of appeal.

But the best part about Tao isn’t his shy, low voice; not his styled hair; not his eyes/eyebags; but his arms. The cashier obviously works out judging by the toned biceps and his tan skin looks really smooth and Sehun kinda wants to run his hands over Tao’s arms just to feel the hard muscle underneath-

“Uh. Are you okay?”

Sehun blinks rapidly, realizing that he was zoning out on Tao’s arms and his cheeks redden with embarrassment. “Yeah, sorry.” He scans the menu one more time and is delighted to find double chocolate chip cookies and bubble tea. A brilliant smile breaks out over his usual poker face and he doesn’t notice how Tao stares at him dazedly.

“Can I have three double chocolate chip cookies and a medium mango pineapple bubble tea?” he says, pushing the crumpled bills across the counter. Tao grins (he has perfect teeth too ugh Sehun can’t get a break) and pops open the cash register, muscles in his arms flexing.

“You can keep the change,” Sehun pipes up, mentally cackling because while he’s seeing Tao’s beautiful biceps, Luhan will never see his “precious money” ever again muahahahaha.

Tao places the money into the register and asks, “Can I have your name?”

Sehun’s eyes widen. “M-my name?”

“To call out when your order is ready,” the cashier boy replies.

“Um, Oh Sehun.”

Tao’s grin widens (why must I be put through this torture) and he disappears into what is probably the kitchen. Meanwhile, Sehun goes to sit down at a table in the corner.

The Black Pearl is a small, warm café and makes Sehun wonder how he didn’t find it before and why he’s the only customer. The atmosphere is comfortable and there are a few plushy armchairs scattered throughout the café. Bookshelves filled with classics line the wall Sehun is leaning against and he pulls out a Korean version of The Great Gatsby.

He is a grand total of ten pages into the story when Tao’s soft voice announces, “Oh Sehun!”

And maybe it’s cliché, but Sehun likes his name a teeny bit more after hearing it come out of Tao’s mouth.

He puts down the book and weaves his lanky body around numerous tables to receive his order- a tall glass of mango pineapple bubble tea with tapioca pearls settling at the bottom, and a plate of the cookies that caused Oh Sehun to come across this gem of a café and the gem that is Tao.

God bless double chocolate chip cookies, Sehun thinks as he smiles at Tao in gratitude and settles in his original seat. He sinks his teeth into the dessert and closes his eyes as he lets out a moan of pure bliss because God certainly blessed THESE double chocolate chip cookies.

Sehun’s eyes snap open when Tao slides into the chair across from him. “Mind if I join you?” the cashier asks, biting into his own cookie.

Of course I don’t mind. If it’s you, I will never mind. In fact, I won’t mind if you join me in my room on my bed under the covers doing questionable things some time wait what who said that certainly not me ahem moving on.

“No, it’s fine,” Sehun replies, telling his thoughts to off and drink a liter of cyanide.

Tao his head at Sehun. “I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before… Do you attend Haengdong University?”

The other boy’s eyes light up. “Yeah! I do, actually.”

Tao smiles and asks, “Are you in Professor Kang’s class? The one where we have to turn in an essay on Monday?”

“Holy , I forgot about the essay. But yeah, I’m in Kang’s. I’m sorry that I didn’t recognize you,” Sehun chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

The cashier laughs (causing Sehun’s heart to strangle itself and fall limp in his chest cavity). “It’s okay, I don’t talk a lot. I’m still working on my Korean because I’m a transfer student from China.” Aha! So he is Chinese! “To make up for not realizing I’m your classmate,” Tao continues, eyes glimmering mischievously, “why don’t we take some time to know each other? The café isn’t busy and Kyungsoo hyung is able to take care of the dishes by himself.”

Surprisingly, it’s not awkward for Sehun at all to talk to Tao. They get through the basic ice-breakers smoothly, like favorite colors and favorite movies and favorite foods and when their birthdays are (Tao is twenty, one year older than him). Somehow they transition to their friends and then Sehun finds himself pouring out all his frustrations about school and Luhan and being broke. For some reason, Sehun doesn’t think it’s weird to talk about his personal feelings and random to a really attractive person whom he saw for the first time like thirty minutes ago.

Tao- or rather, Zitao is his real name but he explains to Sehun that he shortened it to “Tao” so Korean people could actually pronounce it- is also willing to talk about anything and by the end of an hour and a half, they  exchange phone numbers.

Sehun saves Zitao as Attractive Motherer in his contacts.

They talk about everything and nothing and somehow become new best friends in the span of two hours. It’s 9:45 when a short, wide-eyed guy who looks like a high school kid pokes his head out of the kitchen and yells for Zitao to help Chanyeol wipe the tables. The short guy is actually Kyungsoo HYUNG and Sehun is dumbfounded because “he’s so tiny and cute! How is he a senior?!”

On the other hand, Chanyeol is pretty much a walking Namsan Tower and Sehun is dumbfounded yet again because he and Kyungsoo are the same age even though Chanyeol’s height makes him look so much older, and somehow the two are dating.

“How do they even kiss?" Sehun wonders. Zitao chuckles.

Sehun stays long after closing time to help clean and get to know all of Zitao’s coworkers, and when he finally enters his shared apartment with the image of the Chinese boy’s muscular arms floating in his brain, he collapses in a heap in front of a horrified Luhan.