THE FASTEST UPDATE IN THE HISTORY OF MY FANFICS TBH

lmao it's not long really but enjoy anyways guys <33

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Hakyeon pushed open the glass door, the little bell's chime ringing in his ears, and he took a deep breath.

With all the hours of sleep, he was very well rested, and yet he still felt groggy and lethargic. Plus, the cool breezy weather, despite feeling lovely, was not helping him stay awake by any means.

His jaws stretched open in a wide yawn as he walked in, looking up to see Sanghyuk standing there, eating a blueberry muffin like it was what he was being paid to do.

"Finally not eating the sprinkles, I see," Hakyeon pointed out as he joined him behind the counter, and Sanghyuk nodded, eating the last of the muffin and throwing the wrapper in the little black trash can next to the counter.

"I didn't go out and do anything dumb last night either," he replied in between him his fingers. "You proud of me?"

Hakyeon snorted, leaning up against the counter just like always. "As proud as someone's ever been of you, probably."

"Why are you so rude to me? I'm truly hurt," Sanghyuk remarked back, jumping up and using his arms to lift himself to sit on top of the counter - something that was starting to turn into a habit of his.

Hakyeon rested his chin in his hands, closing his eyes. He did have to admit to himself that he felt a bit comforted. Sanghyuk looked much more collected today, and seemed to have lost the dark circles underneath his eyes a little. Maybe he was trying to get out of his bad habits and live in a way that was more healthy.

"Hey, Sanghyuk," he said, not turning around to look at him.

"What?" the younger boy responded.

"Good job."

There was a moment of silence following his words, and Hakyeon almost wanted to see his reaction, but at the same time didn't want to turn around now. He also briefly wondered whether or not he should have said that in the first place, but it wasn't like he could go back on it now.

However, Sanghyuk apparently was just not understanding.

"Huh?"

Hakyeon sighed, still not turning around. "You didn't go out and do anything stupid. That's good. Good job."

Another silence.

He was now very tempted to turn around, but this time, he didn't even have the chance to, because suddenly he felt arms wrapping firmly around his back.

What in the world?

"Aw, Hakyeonnie, that's so sweet! You really are just the cutest, aren't you?" he heard squeaked from behind him, and that was when he realized that Sanghyuk was back-hugging him tightly, and he was now completely sure; he should not have said that. A scowl crossed his face.

"Don't make me take it back."

"You're like a tiny little marshmallow teddy bear!"

"I'm older than you."

"Hush, small teddy bear."

"I feel violated."

He supposed that's what he got for opening his damn mouth.

It was far too long before Sanghyuk finally let him go, but when he did, and he finally was able to breathe again, Hakyeon's mind began to wander, the way it usually did standing behind the counter.

He thought about a lot of things. But mostly, he thought about Wonshik.

Today, his younger friend had called in sick. It was some sort of stomach thing, apparently, and he had looked worryingly pale. He couldn't eat anything, having thrown up several times that morning, but nevertheless, he had brushed off Hakyeon's multiple offers to help him in any way.

At times when Wonshik was like himself, he wouldn't have pushed him away like that. Usually, he allowed Hakyeon to fuss over him, because even though he didn't want his older friend wasting time away on him, he knew that it made both of them feel better.

This was yet another occurrence to add to this seemingly endless list of weird things about Wonshik in the past month or so, and Hakyeon did not like it. Not at all.

He missed the way things used to be. He missed how close they'd always felt, like they could tell each other anything and not filter things out all of the time. It left an empty space in his life, a lonely gap where that friendship was supposed to be.

He wished that gap would just go away.

At one point, he pulled out his phone, wondering if he could get his friend to warm up to him a bit more if he made a gesture through text instead.

hakyeon: hey, how are you feeling?

Almost a half an hour passed before he got a reply.

wonshik: I'm fine
wonshik: a lot better than this morning

No luck. An unpleasant expression sunk into his face as he stared at the messages.

For some odd reason, he didn't really believe that answer.

Time from that point on passed pretty much as usual. The main difference today was the sheer amount of people that came in.

It wasn't just more than usual. It was a little weird, actually.

There were couples, families, people by themselves, groups of friends, and a lot of each. Hakyeon honestly couldn't believe the speed of business today, and it truly made him wonder why.

Not that he was complaining; all of the people made his job far more interesting, and it also meant he didn't have to deal with Sanghyuk's antics quite so much.

Oddly enough though, Taekwoon wasn't among the many people that came in that day. Four o'clock passed by very suddenly, and Hakyeon was waiting for him to come in and cheer him up like he did just about every day now, but he never walked through the door.

"Where's Jesus Taek the Woon today?" Sanghyuk asked idly around fifteen minutes past as he topped two scoops of peach ice cream with chocolate sprinkles for a customer, a look of disapproval on his face at the combination.

Hakyeon just ignored the ridiculous designation at this point, being far too used to all the nicknames.

"Dunno," he responded gloomily, face starting to look droopy and disappointed. He tried to snap himself out of it as he told the mother next in line that her and her son could step up and order.

Today just wasn't really his day, he supposed.

After a little while though, to his surprise, his phone buzzed again, and when he took it out of his pocket to check who had sent it, (expecting and maybe sort of hoping that maybe it was Wonshik) Taekwoon's name lit up on his screen.

taekwoon ♡: hi - sorry I couldn't make it today

The corners of his lips curled upwards at the sight of it, and somehow Sanghyuk, who saw it happen, was able to guess exactly who had sent that text.

hakyeon: oh no, that's okay :)
hakyeon: I miss you tho
hakyeon: there's actually been a ton of people today compared to usual

He put on that bright customer service smile as a couple walked up to the counter - a tall, young guy in a sweatshirt and a girl with her hair tied up in a messy bun. They were extremely friendly; he served them happily, and watched them walk out together before he checked his phone again.

taekwoon ♡: oh really?
taekwoon ♡: also I'll be there tomorrow

Hakyeon smiled at his screen. He sure hoped so.

*****

Once home, Hakyeon slipped his shoes off and headed dutifully into the kitchen.

Just because Wonshik didn't want him to fuss over him today didn't mean that he wouldn't. He was determined to treat him the way any loving (mom) friend would.

Plus, on the way home - partly as a way to pay him back for the blue lollipop, but partly as a way to spoil him - he'd rented some movies for them to watch: something that Wonshik always enjoyed doing when he was sick.

He set them down on the counter before pulling open a cabinet so he could grab a tall glass. As he set that down too, a shiver ran through him, and with a glance down, he realized his arms were covered in goosebumps. Come to think of it, it was freezing.

Had Wonshik done that? It definitely wasn't something he did normally - in fact, when Wonshik got sick, he had a habit of turning the temperature up a bit to help keep him warm.

Shaking his head, he leaned out towards the wall where the thermostat was, balancing on one foot as he reached out and turned it up a little bit. There, that was better.

He then leaned back into his spot and went to fill the glass with some water from the fridge and picked up all of his things to take to Wonshik's room. Maybe he really was feeling a little better now. Maybe he'd be up for just a small snack, which of course Hakyeon would be happy to make for him. Or maybe not. Either way, Hakyeon was going to do the best he could.

He reached the bedroom door, and because both of his hands were occupied, he used his elbow to push down the door handle.

"Hey, Wonshik, did you turn the temp-"

He stopped dead in the middle of his sentence.

He stared. His body froze up.

Wonshik was laying on the other side of the bed than normal, and there was someone snuggled up next to him on the side closest to the door.

And that someone was Taekwoon.

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ohhhhhhhh boi

Hope you guys enjoyed that meSs lol. Thanks for reading <33 See you soon! c: