HunHan BONUS: Kumquat Thai Iced Tea Topped w/Lime Zest
Just Sweet If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that the reason he didn’t want to go into Just Sweet for work today is because Yifan is intimidating on a good day and Tao had been making all of Yifan’s days bad recently. Not because he had now been dating his cute, deer-like coworker for less than a week and had already made Luhan mad at him—somehow.
And not at all because he was afraid that Kyungsoo and Tao, his other coworkers, would take Luhan’s side in this whole situation and make Sehun the bad guy.
This afternoon, Sehun was wiping down a recently-vacated table when Luhan came in for his shift. In itself this occurrence was not unusual, for Sehun’s class schedule left him free earlier than his boyfriend. Since Sehun also had a club meeting twice a week in the evening but still wanted to see Luhan whenever he could, Sehun decided to work double on the days he had to come and leave early. What was unusual, however, was that Luhan refused to even look at Sehun when he entered the bubble tea shop, and Sehun didn’t know why.
The BTG had texted him that morning, but instead of the usual “Good Morning BTGB! <3,” the message was cursory and merely said, “Don’t talk to me today!” Sehun was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything to make his boyfriend angry, but Jongin often said that Sehun had a special ability to be an idiot without realizing it.
That’s why Sehun hadn’t wanted to come in at all today. He’d even texted and asked Kyungsoo to take his shift, but the Do boy was going to see Singin’ in the Rain that night and decided he needed to nap beforehand. When Sehun had threatened to quit, Kyungsoo had rolled his eyes at his phone and replied, “No one’s stopping you.”
(It had taken less than 30 seconds for Kyungsoo to feel bad about Sehun’s cluelessness, and he’d called Jongin, asking that he knock some sense into his best friend. Jongin had promptly appeared at the door of Sehun’s dorm, dragged his friend out by the ear, and followed him all the way to Just Sweet to make sure he actually went to work. Thanks to Jongin, Sehun was even early. Yifan had been pleased, though also incredibly confused, by Sehun’s uncharacteristic show of responsibility, but when the manager had complimented him for it, Tao had actually growled at Sehun. “Kris-ge's compliments are mine,” he’d said.)
So Sehun was at work; but now Luhan was there too. Sehun’s ear still hurt from Jongin’s overeager grip earlier, and Tao, who Luhan was replacing, had been glaring daggers at Sehun all afternoon, despite Yifan’s attempt to appease the panda by agreeing to go shopping after both finished their shift. Truthfully, Sehun was just having a terrible day.
“Talk to me, Lu,” he begged as Luhan joined him behind the counter after waving goodbye to his cousin and his manager.
Luhan bit his lip and Sehun hoped that was a sign of better things to come.
Unfortunately, Luhan’s resolve, which seemed to slip the longer he looked at his boyfriend’s adorable pout, was strengthened by the appearance of a customer at the order counter and the sudden clearing of said customer’s throat.
“Hi Jongin,” Luhan greeted cheerfully. Sehun couldn't help scoffing at the BTG’s quick change and wondered briefly if he was for sure dating a guy because it seemed to him like Luhan was PMSing. (Sehun had it on good authority that PMSing women were often moody for no reason, but usually were not pleased on being called out for it. He’d grown up the youngest—and only—brother of four older sisters, so he was basically a walking encyclopedia on females. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why he’d ended up with a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend when he’d finally decided to start dating. Huh.)
In response to his boyfriend’s outburst, Luhan briefly glanced over at Sehun, biting his lip again. I swear, Sehun thought with an internal groan, this needs to stop.
(Sehun wasn’t referring to the silent treatment.)
“Luhannie,” said Jongin, matching Luhan’s cheer with his own and giving the BTG a personalized nickname that got Sehun’s blood boiling. Unable to take the fact that Luhan was speaking to Sehun’s idiot of a best friend, but not to Sehun himself, the BTG’s boyfriend stepped away from the counter and disappeared into the back room, muttering some excuse about “We need more coffee” under his breath as he left.
Luhan sighed loudly and Jongin tried telling himself he didn’t care, but his curiosity quickly got the better of him. “What’s wrong, hyung?” he asked as gently as he could.
“We’ve been dating for four days, Jongin,” Luhan replied.
Sehun’s best friend was confused by Luhan's repeated use of his full name today—the BTG usually called him Jonginnie as payback for Luhannie—but was even less understanding as to why Luhan would say four days like it was a bad thing. “Isn’t that good?” Jongin asked. He continued, “I mean, it’s almost five, which is basically seven, which is a whole week, right?”
Luhan giggled at Jongin’s math, but quickly lost his smile when Sehun reemerged from the back, lugging a bag of coffee beans behind him. “Four sounds like death,” he whispered to Jongin, who nodded like he understood, despite being even more confused than when he started.
I don’t know what that means! Jongin thought, but said nothing more to Sehun’s boyfriend other than a quick “Thanks” when Luhan finished placing the lime zest on Jongin’s kumquat Thai iced tea and handed him the drink.
Jongin moved to a table near the center of Just Sweet, and watched for nearly half an hour as Luhan and Sehun worked together to serve customers, make drinks and keep the shop running, all without uttering a single word to one another. Well, that’s not strictly accurate because Sehun had tried to talk to his boyfriend as soon as Jongin walked away. Luhan, though, was having none of it, and Sehun had given up after a while, resigned to spending his entire shift with Luhan in silence.
Tao and Yifan returned sometime during those thirty or so minutes, joining Jongin at his table after dropping some shopping bags in the back. Thankfully, Tao was smiling again; he was richer—in Gucci, at least--while Yifan was also smiling, but also decidedly less rich.
“Where’s your better half?” Yifan asked, wondering about Kyungsoo’s whereabouts since he and Jongin were usually attached at the hip.
Jongin blushed brightly, and Tao said earnestly, “Omo, Jongin! Your blush is so y with your dark skin; I see why Kyungsoo-ge likes you!” The panda discreetly glanced at Yifan as he said this, and was pleased to see the student manager’s expression noticeably darken.
Afraid for his life, Jongin ignored Tao’s words. He was about to respond to Yifan’s earlier query, but was temporarily distracted by Luhan brushing off Sehun yet again. Ouch, Jongin thought, that’s a pretty harsh way to treat your boyfriend, especially after pursuing him so actively and being so interested less than a day ago.
Both of Jongin’s table mates noticed his lack of attention and followed his gaze to a depressed Sehun and a harassed-looked Luhan.
“What’s up with Hunhan?” Yifan wanted to know, looking to Jongin as if Sehun’s best friend could give him the answer he was looking for.
All three were startled by an abrupt giggle from the two guys seated at the table next to theirs, and Tao turned around in his chair to glare at the cause of the interruption.
“Sorry, sorry,” the one Jongin assumed was the giggler said.
“What he said!” the other one quickly apologized. “Baek was just overly excited about Galaxy-hyung calling our favorite bubble tea couple Hunhan becau—”
Baek interrupted him but the other guy didn’t seem to mind too much. “Because that’s what Yeollie and I call them!” He looked at his friend and the two seemed to come to an unspoken agreement because both grabbed their drink, got up suddenly from their table and filled in the remaining seats at Jongin’s.
“Yah!” Tao said, glaring at the two intruders and moving closer to Yifan, who had been more than pleased at being called Galaxy-hyung—it meant his reputation preceded him. Jongin didn’t really mind though, and giggled at the thought of Sehun and the BTG having actual fans.
“I’m Jongin,” he said, “Sehun’s my best friend. And this is Tao and Yifan,” Jongin introduced his companions.
The one that Baek had called Yeollie bounced once in his seat from excitement and said creepily, “We know who you are.”
Baek nodded in agreement. “You two especially,” he said, pointing at Tao and Yifan. “We’re just waiting for you to get together too because Yeollie has the best couple name picked out for you. Don’t you, baby?” Baek asked.
“Yep!” Yeollie replied. “By the way,” he said, as if suddenly remembering something important, "My name is Chanyeol. This is Baekhyun. But you can call us Baekyeol if you want."
Chanyeol gestured between the two of them. "Since we're boyfriends," he said with a grin.
(Yifan was too overwhelmed by Chanyeol's everything to realize that he and Baekhyun had basically just said that Tao and Yifan should date. The Just Sweet manager hadn't really thought much about his feelings for the panda until Tao had started working at the bubble tea shop. Now, Yifan felt constantly overwhelmed by his crush on Tao, and had to keep reminding himself that Tao only thought of him as an older brother with a bottomless wallet. Unfortunately.)
"Back to the matter at hand though," Baekhyun said, seemingly tired of the time it was taking Chanyeol and Jongin to introduce everyone.
"Yeah?" Jongin said questioningly. He looked back to where Luhan and Sehun were working, but only saw the original BTG. (Sehun had gone back to the storage room for more coffee.)
"Well?" Baekhyun prompted, tapping his foot against the table leg in impatience. Tao and Yifan sent him matching glares, and Chanyeol reacted by placing an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders protectively. "Tell us what you know!" Baekhyun continued, foot still tapping.
Jongin sighed. "It's not as much as I'd like," he said apologetically. "All I know is that Luhan-hyung texted this morning and told Sehun not to talk to him today. But when I asked Luhannie what was wrong, he just said something weird about four days and death." Jongin scratched the back of his neck, clearly puzzled. "I don't even know."
"Four and death, you said?" Tao asked curiously, exchanging a glance with Yifan. Jongin hummed in affirmation.
"Ah!" Baekhyun and Chanyeol said at the same. They seemed to come to another agreement and Chanyeol turned to Tao.
"You're his cousin," he said.
"Uh, yeah?" Tao answered.
Chanyeol nodded sagely, asking "Is Luhan very superstitious?"
"He is!" Tao shouted in response just as Sehun started making his way over to clean Baekyeol's now empty table. "I knew it!"
Sehun looked at the group curiously, his eyes falling particularly on the two people he didn't know.
"Baekyeol at your service!" Chanyeol said, making his introductions for the second time.
Baekhyun, on the other hand, looked a bit star-struck, and he squeaked out, "Oh Sehun! Yeollie and I are huge fans of your work!"
Jongin snorted loudly at Sehun's response of "Huh?" but soon mellowed enough to share with his friend the good news.
"These guys are basically love doctors," Jongin said convincingly, "and they think they know what's wrong with Luhannie-hyung."
Sehun didn't know these two customers from Adam, but he did know and wholeheartedly trust Jongin. "Fine," he sighed out. "At this point I could use all the help I can get."
Tao was annoyed. "Yah!" He said angrily. "You could have just asked me. I'm his cousin and I know everything there is to know about the guy."
"Okay then," Jongin responded. "I amend my earlier statement. All three are love doctors and Tao especially knows how to help you out. Better?" He asked, looking over at Tao, who nodded happily.
Sehun looked at Jongin and the three so-called love doctors expectantly. "So," he asked, "what do I do?"
"Absolutely nothing," was Chanyeol's response.
"Literally," Baekhyun added.
Sehun seemed confused to Tao decided to step in. "Look," he said in explanation, "my cousin is highly superstitious. Back home, four is bad luck because the word for it in Mandarin sounds too much like the word for death."
Oh, Jongin thought sympathetically, I get it now. My poor Sehun!
"Wait," Sehun stopped Tao from finishing his explanation, and Yifan glared subtly at him for it. "You're telling me that Luhan isn't mad at all, he's just superstitious enough to think that the number 4 is bad luck?"
Tao nodded and Sehun rolled his eyes.
"So what," Sehun continued, half-jokingly, "Luhan doesn't want us to interact on our fourth day of dating because he thinks it'll curse us our something?" He laughed, but Tao nodded again, more gravely this time.
"That's absurd!" Jongin practically shouted. "It too," he said, turning to Sehun, "because it's not like you can apologize or something since he isn't actually mad."
"Way to point out the obvious," Baekhyun responded sarcastically.
"Shut up," Jongin muttered, offended that the newcomer had no problem poking fun at Jongin and his friends. Rude, he thought, vaguely aggravated.
Sehun, who had long drowned everyone out and was simply staring at his boufriend as Luhan worked the counter, keyed back into the conversation, suddenly desperate. "But what do I do, though?" he asked in exasperation.
"We told you!" Baekyeol and Tao said at the same time.
Even Yifan knew the answer to this one. "Nothing," he said evenly, secretly proud to finally contribute to the conversation, kind of impress Tao, and hopefully live up to his Galaxy-hyung reputation.
"But I miss him," Sehun pouted cutely.
"Aw, you poor baby," Baekhyun said with genuine sympathy, taking pity on the maknae of the group. "You'll just have to wait until tomorrow. That's only," he grabbed his boyfriend's wrist to check Chanyeol's watch before finishing, "Nine hours away!"
Sehun spirits lifted a little, but he continued to pour because it makes him feel better, okay?
"Look on the bright side, Sehun" Tao suggested to his coworker. "Today might because it's your fourth day and bad luck and all, but pretty soon it will be Day 8. So look forward to that!"
"Why? What happens then?" Sehun asked, confused. Tao said nothing, so Sehun looked at Chanyeol and Baekhyun. The couple waggled their eyebrows suggestively, but remained mute.
Nine hours later, at exactly 12:01 AM on the start of their fifth day, Sehun texted Luhan.
"I missed you today," the message read.
"I know," Luhan responded, instantly. "I know because I missed you too. And I'm sorry," the BTG apologized to his boyfriend.
Sehun told himself he'd forgive Luhan if his boyfriend would tell him the secret of Day 8. When he texted and asked Luhan, however, all his boyfriend said was "Luck. The good kind."
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