The IHOP trio was quietly minding their own business that Thursday morning since there was one customer in the diner, sitting by himself, and sleepily eating away at a tall stack of pancakes. Minseok was cleaning the breakfast bar out of boredom while Baekhyun was texting god knows who, and Luhan was sleeping, out of sight, in booth 12 since he claimed to have a calculus test that afternoon.

Minseok huffed, bored out of his mind, and looked to the clock. It was only 1 A.M. and Jongdae didn’t come until around 2, not like the boy actually cared, no. He wasn’t waiting for him at all.

Since cleaning the counters didn’t seem appealing any longer, he joined Baekhyun in the kitchen since his other friend was fast asleep, gurgling into oblivion.

“Heeey Baekhyun,” Minseok droned. “Who ya texting?”

“Heeey Minseok,” The boy mocked. “Mind your own business.”

“ a , grumpy pants.”

“I would but I have a boyfriend that does that for me,” Baekhyun explained.

“You’re in a relationship?” Minseok yelped. “With who? Don’t tell me it’s that guy you made out with for the bet.”

The look that Baekhyun gave the waiter assured him that it was, indeed, the guy he made out with for the bet. Minseok’s mouth dropped open in disbelief and he blinked.

“What?” The cook asked as if nothing was wrong. “We made out, liked it, and decided we’d keep in touch. Here we are, a few dates later, going out.”

“You say that like it’s simple.”

“It kind of is."

“There’s probably something wrong with Chanyeol,” Minseok decided.

“He’s fine,” Baekhyun said. Minseok raised a brow and the other groaned. “He’s an awkward , very easy to manipulate.”

“Ah,” Minseok nodded. “Really? A ? He’s very attractive.”

“Hey, hands off, this one is mine,” Baekhyun snapped before gushing excitedly, “But I know right though? He’s a ing hottie I can’t believe it! And he’s studying business and finance, what a turn on.” He then proceeded to make it rain with pretend money.

“Speaking of money,” Minseok said, “You never told me that you knew Jongdae personally.”

“What does Jongdae have to do with money?”

“I spend all his money.”

“Ah, I see. Good, good.”

“Anyways back to my question.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun started. “Yeah, I know him, I’ve known him since like elementary school.” He spoke, flailing his phone around to emphasize specific things.

“Really?”

“Yeah, do you think someone like Jongdae would just pop into a random diner some morning and decide to eat pancakes?”

“I guess not. So, you told him about me,” Minseok said, trying to wrap his brain around everything.

“Something like that, yeah…” Baekhyun trailed off. The orange haired waiter raised an eyebrow and the other shook his head, waving his phone dismissively.

“Is there anything else you want to say?”

“No,” Baekhyun shrugged. “Not really.”

“Okay,” Minseok said suspiciously. “Anyways, what should I get him for his birthday this weekend? You’re his friend and all. I just needed some ideas, you know?”

The other nodded and stated, “He likes money.”

“Don’t we all.”

“Exactly.”

Minseok frowned at that response and Baekhyun groaned.

“I don’t know? Make him food? He loves spaghetti for some weird reason. You can get him a new headlamp for his motorcycle, he’s been complaining that it blinks out occasionally,” Baekhyun explained. “Get him underwear.”

“We have a bad experience with underwear,” Minseok said blandly, staring off into the distance. He recalled the event at Victoria’s Secret the other day and shivered.

“Wha—Never mind I don’t want to know.”

“It’s better that you don’t know.”

That last statement sat between them for a few moments, both of them letting it sink in, before the latter began to speak again.

“Anyways,” Baekhyun continued, “It’s your birthday present to him, you should decide.”

Minseok groaned loudly and the other clucked his tongue in annoyance.

“Shoo now, I’m texting Chanyeol,” Baekhyun said, pushing the waiter out of the kitchen.

The orange haired boy sighed. He was absolutely at a loss. He hadn’t been to anyone’s birthday since the sixth grade probably, but he ended up going home early too, so that didn’t really count. Minseok never had to buy anyone gifts for anyone’s birthdays because, well to be honest, he didn’t actually have that many friends growing up. He was always the fat kid that everyone picked on since he didn’t have the heart to fight back. That was probably the reason his self esteem was below the sea line right now. He laughed over how ridiculously sad that was and quickly got over it like he usually did. Minseok had learned to deal with it and moved on.

Suddenly, there was a loud thunk that snapped Minseok from his thoughts. He looked around the diner and saw that the only customer in the IHOP had fallen asleep in his pancakes. The orange haired waiter groaned and shuffled towards the poor guy to help him up. This was going to be a long night.

---

It was Friday evening, the day right before Jongdae’s birthday, and Minseok was riding the bus to the mall. He was going to pick out a present for the stupid, raven haired boy there and aimlessly walk around until he found something suitable. He had asked everyone including Kyungsoo, Baekhyun (multiple times), and even Jongdae himself…

“Jongdae, what do you want for your birthday?” Minseok immediately asked the boy once he walked in.

“Well can I start out with some waffles and a coffee?”

“Oh, right.” The waiter replied, scribbling that down and throwing it at Baekhyun. “Okay, so what do you want?”

Jongdae thought for a moment and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Minseok slammed his hand into his face and grunted.

“Like I said, you don't need to buy me anything.”

“But it’s your birthday.”

“You can kiss me.”

“Never mind I’ll ask Kyungsoo.”

 Minseok sighed, aggrivated by the memory, and boarded off the bus once it arrived at the mall. He was just going to have to wing it and go off instinct.

Once the boy walked into the mall, he wandered around like a lost child and looked through the windows of each store.

Hot Topic? Nah, Jongdae didn’t seem the type.
Bath & Body Works? No, Jongdae already smelled kind of like kiwis. Not that he would know or anything.
Victoria’s Secret? God, no.
Baby’s R Us? Maybe.

Minseok sighed and turned back around. He didn’t know why he was so set on getting Jongdae a gift for his birthday. The boy had said that he didn’t even expect anything from him, but showing up to a birthday party with no gift felt wrong. Besides, Jongdae had done a lot for him. More than Minseok would like to give him credit for. So, getting the raven haired boy a present felt pretty mandatory.

The orange haired boy walked a bit further and suddenly saw a familiar figure standing outside of the plushie store that Jongdae had accidentally pulled him into a few days back. As he walked closer he was certain. It was his boss.

“Kris?” Minseok asked cautiously.

The tall modelesque man whipped around and paled distinctly. “O-Oh, hello, Minseok.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I—I was just—” He then pointed at the store and laughed awkwardly. “I-I have a girlfriend.”

Minseok raised an eyebrow. His usually stern boss was acting very strangely. “Really?”

Kris gulped and scratched the back of his head. He bit his lip and sighed after much thought. “No I don’t.” He said, defeated.

“Then…” Minseok gestured towards the stuffed animals in the window.

“I’m a very lonely man,” Kris stated. “You know that?”

“I—”

“And I have a big obsession with plushies,” He continued, turning away from Minseok to press his face against the glass shielding the various stuffed animals in. He traced the figure of an alpaca plush with his finger and sighed longinly, leaving breath mist all over the window.

“What—?”

“Don’t tell anyone at work or I’ll fire you,” Kris said with a hard expression. With that, he walked away, leaving Minseok very confused. The boy eventually shrugged that whole scenario off and walked into the store since he was already there. He wandered around some more and found the kitten and mochi dolls from the other day.

“Maybe he’ll like the cat,” Minseok whispered to himself. He squished its face and bit his lip. “But what’s Jongdae going to do with a big cat plush?” He then set it down and groaned to himself. This was hopeless.

“Minseok, right?” A bland voice asked from behind him.

The said boy whipped around and saw the cashier from the ice cream shop from a few weeks ago. “Sehun?”

The tall boy nodded and Minseok noticed he was wearing a Sailor Moon t-shirt and awfully patterned shorts. Minseok cringed.

“What are you doing here?” Sehun asked.

“I could ask you the same thing, but I might regret it,” Minseok replied.

The boy blinked for a few moments and said, “Oh, I’m getting something for my boyfriend.” He then held up a cute bambi doll for Minseok to see. “It reminds me of him so… I’m just going to get it.” Sehun then snuggled the plush up to his expressionless face and pet it like it were a puppy. “I won’t have any allowance after this though, my mommy only gives me 10,000 won a week because she thinks I’ll try to book a flight to Japan or something. So that’s why I have a part time job too.”

“Right,” Minseok replied very uninterested. “Well, I’m here to get Jongdae something and I, uh…”

“Are you guys going out yet?”

“NO.”

“Oh… he really likes you though,” Sehun stated.

“No he doesn’t,” Minseok said defensively, cheeks flushing red. The other shrugged.

“That’s what he told me,” Sehun explained in his usual bored tone. “You should give him a shot.” He then began to play with the deer’s antlers, letting that last statement ring through the shorter boy's ears. The boy quickly dismissed it though.

“Look, Minseok, it’s using quick attack like a Pokemon,” Sehun whispered, clearly distracted. He then softly bashed the deer into the shorter boy’s shoulder making sound effects and everything. “It was super effective,” The weeaboo’s eyes sparkled in excitement while his face stayed remotely blank. He pressed the doll up to his face.

“…Right.”

“Anyways, so have you found anything yet?” Sehun asked.

Minseok sighed. “No, actually, I was having a lot of trouble.”

Sehun waited patiently for the other to continue until he finally did. “It’s going to be Jongdae’s birthday soon and I don’t know what to get him. He hasn’t told me anything he wants and none of his friends were helpful either. I wanted to get him something he could use and not just throw away, you see.”

The weeaboo nodded and thought for a bit. “Do you know what brands he likes?”

Minseok thought for a bit, recalling all their strange hangout sessions when he began to snicker to himself. “I remember he got me these Rilakkuma band aids once when I cut my cheek. Other than that, I don’t know what brands he wears.”

Sehun shrugged. “Then there you go.”

“You want me to get him Rilakkuma?”

The taller boy silently led Minseok over to the front of the store and picked up a Rilakkuma cellphone charm. It came with two separate charms, one being a brown Rilakkuma bear and the other being white. “He can use this can’t he? And it’s pretty cute.”

Minseok pursed his lips together and took the item from Sehun’s hands. It was actually pretty cute and very cheap, which made the boy extremely excited. “Yeah, you’re right. These will work fine.” He smiled, “Thanks a lot Sehun!”

The younger boy smiled back and that was when Minseok found out the boy wore braces. He was taken aback by the fact that the usual unexpressive boy was smiling back at him too, but shrugged it off. He was a pretty good kid. “It’s no problem,” Sehun replied.

The two then paid for their gifts and parted ways.

As Minseok was riding the bus home, he took out the Rilakkuma cellphone charms and looked them over. He then flushed red when the thought hit him that he would have matching cellphone charms with Jongdae like couples usually did. He suddenly felt very embarrassed and began to regret buying these but it was too late to turn back now. Minseok grit his teeth and bit his lip. Maybe money wasn’t that bad of an idea for a gift…

A/N: so sehun came back :’D haha he is my favorite weeaboo and love expert pfftt i love making sehun a NERD i hope someone bEATS HIM UP <3

anyways that was short and simple… yeah Minseok is a mess sometimes and kris… /SIGHS this loser... everyone in this fic is a loser

and heres a pic of the thing minseok got jongdae lmao (good eye, sehun)

yea so... until next time folks... *u*