“Hannie dearie!!!”

Hangeng pushed his reading glasses down his nose and looked up from his newspaper with a cocked eyebrow. There weren’t any customers in the shop so he’d been reading for quite a while.

Heechul was standing in the middle of the salon door, striking a dramatic pose with an arm in the air and a pink feather boa around his neck.

Hangeng blinked his eyes again.

“Chul, uhm, may I help you?”

Heechul snorted. “Yah, is that the best you can say about my feathers?”

“Your, uh, what?”

“Never mind about that,” the feminine man huffed, taking long strides towards the surprised and confused barber. He sat himself right next to Hangeng on the small sofa, pressing himself onto the man and making the feathers tickle poor Hangeng to no end. Heechul playfully waved the boa in Hangeng’s face and laughed when the man sneezed twice.

Hangeng felt a little uncomfortable with all the close proximity but he still didn’t protest even when his neighbour wrapped the long feather boa around his neck as well. When Heechul was done wrapping the feathers around him, Hangeng looked most peculiar and Heechul couldn’t help but giggle.

“You know, this looks really flattering on you,” Heechul giggled, Hangeng’s face and letting his fingers rest on the man’s chin for a while. Hangeng grunted and looked at the pink feathers tickling his neck in slight displease.

“May I help you, Chul?” the younger asked, raising a hand to try and pull away the itchy feathers.

“Play with me, Hannie, I’m bored,” the elder replied, quickly putting on a pouty face when the boa came undone. Hangeng handed the pink offending object back to Heechul with a small, polite smile.

“Don’t you have anything to do at home?”

“You don’t want me around?” Heechul asked, a little dejected.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Of course you didn’t; you love me too much now don’t you?”

Hangeng forced a grin.

Heechul’s face pulled into a huge smile. “I knew it!!! I knew all it all the while!!”

“Knew what?” Hangeng was confused.

“You like me,” Heechul said, worming his arms around the barber and hugging his head. Hangeng laughed and shook his head while trying to get out of the elder’s headlock.

“I like you, yes, because you are so eccentric and fun to be around with. And you’re also the best companion around, Chul. Of course I like you. But I believe you aren’t really talking about that kind of like…”

Heechul pouted. “But you like me, don’t you?” The feminine man held Hangeng’s hand in his, looking eagerly at him.

Hangeng pushed a finger against the elder’s forehead, making the latter giggle. “I thought we’d already have this conversation before, Chul.”

“So your answer is still no?”

“Yup.”

“Not even these feathers could convince you?”

“What were they supposed to convince me of?”

“I dunno,” Heechul shrugged, cuddling closer to Hangeng.

Hangeng rolled his eyes and patted him on the head. “Chullie, don’t feel bad. Isn’t it fine that we remain just as friends like this? I think it’s better than us getting into a serious relationship.”

“I don’t understand,” the elder wailed. “They said we were compatible!!”

Hangeng blinked, thrice. “Who said we were what?”

“The stars,” Heechul replied, burying his face into Hangeng’s palms. “I read them, the horoscopes, you see. They said we were perfectly compatible with each other!! And… and…”

“Chul, you don’t seriously believe in horoscopes, do you?” Hangeng asked with a straight face but his lips were twitching.

“Of course I do!! They’re very accurate!! Why, the last time it said that I needed to be careful while driving that day, and true enough I nearly got into an accident!! And luckily I didn’t wear red the day before, because it was an unlucky colour; a mini potted plant missed me by inches when it fell from some random guy’s balcony!! I believe if I wore red it would have just fallen straight on my head and I wouldn’t be here anymore!!”

“Uh-huh,” Hangeng said, smiling in amusement. “And which Daily Horoscope App did you download onto your phone? I need to delete it. It’s turning you into an awfully superstitious person already.”

Heechul’s eyes suddenly widened when Hangeng made a grab for his phone. He quickly snatched it away before the younger could lay a finger on it. “No!! Don’t touch it!!”

Hangeng raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. So tell me. What did your daily horoscope tell you about today? ‘Pink feather boas bring you good luck?’”

“M-Maybe.”

“Let me see.”

“NO!!”

“Why not?”

“B-Because… Because…”

“Chul?”

Heechul edged off the tiny sofa without knowing and he was soon falling off the seat. Hangeng saw that he was falling and quickly tried to grab onto his neighbour to prevent him from falling but in the end both fell onto the floor in a heap, and Hangeng’s lips fell perfectly onto the elder’s own.

‘Plop!!’

Heechul couldn’t believe it. Neither could Hangeng. Blushing immensely, the barber quickly disconnected their mouths and rolled off the man beneath him. Heechul was slightly breathless having the wind knocked out of him, plus he was still a little stunned that Hangeng finally kissed him. Well, technically it wasn’t an intentional kiss, but their mouths met and that was enough for Heechul, who’d been pining for Hangeng’s reciprocation for so long already, to float into seventh heaven.

“Chul?” Hangeng called for the fifth time.

“H-Huh?”

Heechul stared at the hand offered to him.

“You okay?”

The rush of events was back when he took Hangeng’s offered hand and Heechul blushed madly like a schoolgirl again.

“Here, sit on the couch for a bit. I’ll get you a cup of something,” Hangeng said, before walking to the kitchen and soon a banging sound of Hangeng rummaging through the cupboards could be heard.

Heechul sat on the sofa and lightly touched his lips where Hangeng’s lips had been earlier. He had to hold in shrieks of joy every time he recalled those perfect lips melding against his own. The kiss was too short for his liking, but still, at least it was something. He would definitely make it happen again if he could. The taste of the younger’s lips was rather addicting and he wanted more already.

He clutched tightly onto his precious phone with his precious horoscope app installed in it. It had just proven itself accurate again and he was, by all means, keeping it.

‘Today, you will kiss the person you love the most.’

Heechul huffed. And to think that Hangeng almost wanted to delete it.

* * *

Donghae had been working at the salon for nearly a month already. Eunhyuk left him alone after the water maze and old folks’ home incidents, wanting to sort out his confusing thoughts about the trainee. It was just well and dandy for Donghae, who saw less of the otherwise grumpy director, and got to spend more time together with Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun wasn’t blind. He knew that Eunhyuk actually liked Donghae a lot although the latter was probably unaware of it.