• ONE •

September 8th

The nights were getting cold in England now, summer had loosened her hold on the earth leaving it a rich range of reds and oranges in her honour. But all Xiumin could think about was how it was making him give off some serious dodgy Cullen-vibes with how pale he was, the starkness between dark hair and fair skin was jarring in the reflections of windows as he walked home. The heat of an early September was instead embodied within the fallen leaves and flushed cheeks of strangers sharing secret glances. It was quiet too, the vibrations of nature had quelled save for a few birds and rustling trees, the only exception being the nipping barks the dogs were making as they tangled the leads yet again.

This sweet town was tucked away from the main city quite neatly, with only one 'real' main road passing through the town centre before continuing onward and merging with a dual carriageway. The validity of calling it a main road was loosely defined by the fact that it was the only one with working street lamps, a bus stop, and a just barely warranted need for traffic lights.

Xiumin's neighbourhood came after three long lefts from the town centre and a sharp, hidden right from said main road, lined with towering trees and a road coated with their rusted leaves. Tamed vines crawled over the walls of a majority of these houses in a deliberate way and every front yard was filled with the last hurrahs of a summer's bloom as a gentle breeze cradled the lost petals.

You'd only really know the cluster of homes were there if you were a local, or walking past on foot and that was the beauty of it. The entrance to this street would blur beyond recognition if any busybody tourist sped along past, it completely disappeared amidst the green hedges lining the main road until it seemingly vanished from existence. Xiumin had only been gone nine maybe ten months of the year while living on campus for his first year at Deoren University and he'd already had to abuse his brakes more than one time just to make that invisible turn.

*

Dry and aching eyes scanned over the room, drinking in every detail as if it were brand new when in reality they'd done the same lazy sweep a thousand times over. The soft glow of car headlights danced across his room while tires slowly crept across the gravel on the road outside; most likely lost along these lonely back roads. Clearly in no hurry the faint hum of luster floated from corner to corner, tracing every dip and curve of the furniture or walls with idle, curious fingertips. It made Xiumin almost ache to do the same, the chase the pale gleam with his own ghostly hands. To feel the cold floorboards creek beneath bare feet, careful as not to wake anyone, and with arms stretched high chasing the light.

Yet he remained in bed with thick covers encasing his form, unmoving. Breathing in, breathing out with the flutter of curtains ebbing like waves as he drifted in and out of brief sleep. The window was open, he remembered doing it, latching it to be precise but still enough to let the trickling of the water pump for the pond act as Xiumin's lullaby for the hundredth time. It all seemed artificial now, so perfectly crafted, like a snippet of a movie he'd just want to play on repeat over and over and settle down inside that moment. And in reality he had. As far back as he could remember these four walls and the four beyond had protected him, his roots ran impossibly deep down into this little town.

The time before that wasn't important, Xiumin tried to ignore the strange pull in his gut every time he thought about the brief years he must have spent with his 'real' parents before arriving at the Kim's. Not that that made the Kim's any less his actual parents though, he still knew a mother's love and a father's care; if anything they were his true parents, after all they were the ones that raised him. The whereabouts or condition of his biological family were completely unknown, even to the Kim's as far as Xiumin was aware, and the feeling still writhing in his gut indicated that maybe it was best to stay that way.

After all why look a gift horse in the mouth? Not that his mother was a horse, or his father, he was an sometimes which was probably close enough. But still, there were beautiful memories here and a wonderful childhood of love and laughter, anybody can have a child but it's raising that child to be happy and healthy which is what turns someone into a mother or father.

Time seemed to stand still at number three. But not time in its entirety, just snippets, mere fractions. Almost as if when Xiumin looked to his left he'd see a flicker of Kasey back when she was a puppy tucked happily into his side after defeating two doors and a puppy gate with apparent ease just to be next to him. Opening the patio doors would signal a chorus of tapping claws and peals of laughter as wet feet smacked the concrete pavement while the sun trickled on down beyond the horizon. Or that downstairs at the kitchen table he'd see himself, years younger, his first alcohol trickling down his throat with a pleasant burn that definitely did not feel pleasant at that time, how strange would it be to watch the grimace form on his own face? The house had not changed a single bit in all these years, but nothing can last forever. 

And forever expired now apparently. Tomorrow everything would change, well, with a weary glance to his left and a rustle of crisp sheets Xiumin realised it was actually today that it would all start. These last seven hours before that harsh blaring sounded would be the last he would ever spend sleeping in his childhood room. In ten hours all the boxes would be packed, in eleven the movers would arrive and then that would be that. Not that Xiumin truly hoped that this would be the last time he ever saw this home, he planned on visiting, maybe come home for Christmas. Or maybe for the summer too, Halloween was crucial too, maybe he should just never leave, stay here forever?

On a rational level of course Xiumin knew full well that he was being scarily over dramatic. He was being ridiculous, and sentimental, and irrational, and really just plain childish about all of this. This whole leaving home drama had already happened one year previous when he'd made the first transition from college to university but it just hadn't felt as serious and final.

He'd chosen to live on campus like almost every other first year as the Deoren Campus was close enough to home to be within visiting range, but way too far and therefore expensive to consider returning home after every single day. Leaving him with no other option other that to choose the provided accommodation and pray he didn't end up with the 'towers'- sixteen people and only three bathrooms did not sound fun. He'd said goodbye to this house once already and it wasn't even that bad, but now it felt so much more final. It seemed set in stone that this would no longer be his home, he was only twenty and would be in charge of his own property.

The campus at university had just been a home away from home, he hadn't had to worry about finding the best company to sort the gas or electric bill, or pay for a TV license, he hadn't actually had to go out and actively search for a place to live either. His student loan covered the installments of rent in full with a small amount to spare so that was never an issue, Milos would always let him borrow things from his cupboards or his section of the fridge-freezer as long as Xiumin cooked him dinner in the process.

Plus, more importantly he hadn't actually been alone, he'd had five roommates. But that in itself was a paradox because he'd never really been a 'people person' as such, but then Xiumin could never really put his finger on what made his hackles raise with a majority either. Living at university meant that whether he liked it or not he still had those roommates to fall back on no matter what, and by the end of the year they all seemed more than happy to allocate for Xiumin on his bad days as he was on theirs.

From today onward he'd actually be somewhat alone, there'd be no one besides himself. No one to lend him flour like Milos, no one on hand to fix any tech problems like Peter either and being a gym buddy with Casper would be far too difficult now too. In everything he did Xiumin would be alone from now on. So very, very alone. He'd get a cat, or a dog, or more realistically some kind of low maintenance plant that would fool him into feeling like a successful adult, he wouldn't really be alone. So today was a happy day. Plus what twenty year old could say they lived fully independently in a flat that wasn't the size of a shoebox.

As much as Xiumin desperately wanted to be refreshed and prepared for the day ahead sleep just continued to evade him, a slippery eel in numb fingers was all it felt like. So once more tired eyes scanned the room around him and everything he'd be leaving behind.

Shifting from where they'd been burning a hole in the ceiling Xiumin noticed how the once pure white paint had begun to fade, it was duller now, an almost yellowish tint taking a firm hold in some corners. Some was even missing, a couple of cracks in the ceiling and even the wooden body of the house was revealed through peeling skirting boards. The cool, pale blue of the walls still looked the same bar a few missing flakes from blu-tack used for sticking photos or posters up. Well, maybe not the only damage. Next to the heavy wooden door was a faintly shadowed dent in the wall from where he'd driven pale white knuckles into it during a fit of rage. But he had a scar to match with the house's one anyways, two peas in a pod or something.

Below that repulsive reminder faint claw marks lingered from when the dogs had been left in his room when he slept, though there were no dogs in here tonight, instead they were sulking downstairs. Almost as if they knew exactly what was going on and were decidedly unimpressed with the whole ordeal, turning their black noses up at Xiumin even when he resorted to dirty bribing tactics in the form of chicken. Only the sound of breathing echoed about in the empty room, the house seemingly accompanying his calm inhales and exhales with a grand symphony of creaks paired with the clanking of old pipes that could probably do with replacing sometime soon.

Although right now the thought of anything else changing would probably send him over the edge, there had already been plenty of that in the last twenty years within himself while under this roof. There had been his first real but very confusing kisses with a girl up here, and an equally confusing kiss with a guy shortly after, although Xiumin and relationships never really got any easier or less confusing regardless of whichever path he went down. His first heartbreak had been spent moping around here too, Seoyeon his mother and a few childhood friends nursing him through it with half-assed sympathy.

They got easier to deal with after that, not that there were particularly that many contenders until he really hit the gym more often in his last year at college. Lord why was it always at night that you were forced to remember all those unpleasant little details about horrors of memories gone past, the shudders of second hand embarrassment haunting him until sleep finally claimed him.

*

Bright light beamed through the glass pane, a dramatic shift from the calm and gentle glow that cascaded across the room last night. This light was harsh, blinding, rude on the eyes but oh so pleasant on bare skin. Xiumin felt like rolling over to simply sun himself for a few moments, basking in the heat in all its glory. However the dogs seemed to have a different idea, already beginning to whine downstairs as trimmed claws clicked on kitchen tiles. Leaves danced along ground to the every single whim of the breeze above, the sky instead was filled with defiance as birds twirled around each other. Dipping and diving however they pleased, chiming in with every other aspect of nature that had awoken.

It was the perfect day for a walk, why bother fighting against tradition? This was probably the last chance he'd get to walk the dogs before leaving, as if Xiumin would pass that chance up, too many times had the last time slipped by without him realising. That's the way it went in life though, you never really knew when things would start to slip and fade, that something you did everyday turned into every week, then every once in a while, and then the last time would happen without you even realising it.

Training with his father had been a constant for Xiumin from a young age, both as a bonding act and a work out for the two generations, him a child with endless energy and his father a bitter middle-aged man growing frustrated with the world. It had essentially been compulsory in an odd way, but it was doubtful that any overly energetic child would deny the chance to learn some 'super cool ninja moves'. Though as the years passed he liked to believe it became more of a choice as peace was found in the controlled strength of every movement. Obviously with the bonus side effect of being surprisingly strong for his height, a feature which baffled many, although the same could be said for his father who was again surprisingly strong for his age.

However it was in the recent few years that Xiumin had undoubtedly overtaken his father in skill and strength, as well as bulking himself out quite a bit. The student had become the master and all that, not that Xiumin minded in the slightest, apparently having control over his mind and body is what made his father entrust him enough to undergo another supposed Kim tradition. On his eighteenth birthday the two of them had begun marksman training.

Arguably a little strange to do it in this modern age where everything was a little more shall we say tense regarding guns yet it was seen as tradition and Xiumin was so incredibly grateful to be included despite not being a biological relation. By nineteen Xiumin was comfortable holding and shooting almost any caliber weapon, and by twenty he was licensed to carry if he so wished. Obviously living in such a sleepy town he had no desire to, but god did his parents worry about him in the big city where break ins were very common, and especially with him living on his own. Not that any of that phased him, there wasn't any worrying plaguing his mind, he wasn't nervous.

To be honest it was probably best for this morning in particular to just take a relaxing walk with the dogs and skip the training session to give him more time to pack and soak up the last hours in his childhood home.

*

"Mum?! Mum, these are the last boxes!" The loud shout probably fell on deaf ears but he liked to think she was close by and half paying attention as he loaded said boxes into the trunk of his car. The hired movers however were content to just chat between themselves and mostly leave Xiumin to his business. They had already finished putting all his bedroom furniture into the van but were still loading the new furniture they'd recently had delivered and pieced together ready for his new apartment. It was far easier to build the new furniture at his family home with the help of his considerably more experienced father and then have the moving men lug it up into the building. Rather them than him really.

"Ah, I'm really sorry for making you wait. I've finished packing now I'm just going to say goodbye to my family." After speaking the drivers nodded in response as they got into the truck, if they said anything Xiumin could no longer hear as he'd disappeared into the house already.

"Mum, where are you? I'm now about to leave," his voice echoed around the house as he called for the woman.

The voice of his mother rang in his ears, "I'm upstairs Minnie, in your room- your old room, sorry." But the sadness laced in her words was an unpleasant melody. The man walked slowly up the stairs, heavily even. Xiumin knew how sad his departure was making his mother and quite frankly he really didn't want to see her crying. He dragged his hand along the wall as he walked down the corridor, fingertips gently brushing the burgundy painted wallpaper. But Xiumin's hands dropped to his sides when he got to the doorway of his old room. A woman stood in the center with her back to him with the breeze from the open window ruffling her short brown hair. His mother tugged the thick cardigan around her form just a little bit tighter as a particularly strong gust filled the room.

"Oh Mum," it was more like a plea than anything, barely above a whisper but his mother still spun around instantly. Tears dripped from her lashes as the woman desperately tried to blink and wipe them away, she didn't want her son to see her cry but she just couldn't help it.

"Oh screw it, I knew I was going to end up crying. Come here Xiumin!" She cried as she held her arms open towards him. No words were spoken, he just flung himself into his mother's arms.

"I'm gonna miss you Mum, promise I'll call and visit," Xiumin whispered into his mother's neck.

The woman pulled back smiling at her son softly. "I know you will, now go before I start crying again. It's just a pity your father isn't here, though he would have been grumbling about the fuss I'm making anyway," the woman choked, voice breaking from the tears she was holding back yet soft laughter trickled out of despite it all.

"Yeah I know he would be," replying quickly before he further continued on with, "He'd be telling you to quit your whimpering and to let the damn boy leave but we all know he'd be crying as well. So, before that happens I'll be off, I'll see you soon, tomorrow even when you come visit me yeah?" Xiumin gently spoke with sadness lacing his own quiet voice this time before turning and walking away, a small smile gracing his features. He was going to miss everything about the little cottage, but he couldn't think about that now. He had to focus on getting settled into his new apartment and town.

*

Finding the apartment was easy enough, the fledgling male had half memorised the route out of panic already, that and the fastest route back home in case of literally any tiny emergency possible. Fifth floor, east facing too, the landlord had pinched his cheek for being such a nice boy before saying she'd make use of his muscles and that was pretty much it strangely enough. But Xiumin was still thanking every deity he could think of for landing such a great place, or more specifically his father.

Apparently his old man had known the previous owners and that shoehorned him into the top shot of who they'd recommend to their landlord as the new tenant. It was far enough away from the city center for the roads to be relatively quiet yet was still close to the bustling town that he would have easy access to an abundance of shops and places to go. It was about a twenty minute drive from the university so it wasn't perfect but still manageable, the actual building definitely wasn't the newest by any means and within the area itself there were a few questionable alleyways but he still liked the neighborhood regardless. For the most part it did look like it came from some old timely photo.

The road was lined with flowering trees that was paired neatly with a couple of charity shops and a quaint little coffee house, all tucked away amidst the few towering apartment complexes and nearby houses. Black metal chairs and tables sat outside the cafe, right in front of a large open window that spanned almost the entire street ward facing portion of the shop. A quick peak through the window revealed couples or families seated inside, often chatting but always smiling, and bent over steaming cups whilst admiring the various knickknacks dotted around the place.

It was quiet here in a different way to how it was back in the village, back there it was almost sleepy and docile, whereas here seemed vacant. Not in an unpleasant way as if it had been abandoned, more that it was too much of a plain Jane street to attract much attention from outside life. Although once he had arrived it was very quickly realised that while the petals were beautiful to walk under it was not so pleasant to drive through with them sticking to his windshield constantly. Yet eventually he pulled into the apartment complex's allocated parking;  a concrete wall would have to become something he'd have to get used to welcoming him home instead of vine covered trellis, that and a similarly crooked 5B sign on his door.

With the knowledge of the movers most likely following closely behind Xiumin quickly hopped out to run to the foyer and flashed just as quick of a smile before claiming his new apartment keys. Just as predicted by the time he returned to the car park the movers were already parked and opening up the truck so after a brief chat to form somewhat of an orderly plan to carry everything up in the hired men began following him up and down the stairs. Well more or less just bringing up anything Xiumin was too lazy to carry, and he was oh so thankful that he decided to hire some help as it was more than two hours before all three of them were finished with the whole lot. And that didn't even include the time it took Xiumin to then actually place everything.

The front door opened up into a small almost porch way only about three feet long before opening up into the largely open plan kitchen-diner-living room type situation. The best and simplest way to describe his apartment was that it was a mostly standard rectangle with another stuck on top save a few wobbly edges. Almost like a chubby sideways L shape with the lengthiest part being horizontal instead. His kitchen and general living space made up the lengthy part with the sofa, coffee table, and TV to the left of the door with the kitchen area and small dining table to the right. More towards the kitchen side of the flat on the opposite wall to the entrance was the start of the corridor to his modest bedroom with washroom and separate toilet, hence completely the shorter portion of the L shape.

Overall it wasn't of amazing size but it was more than enough for a student and as a first apartment, plus unlike so many of his other friends he wasn't stuck with a lease starting months before his classes started in early October.

*

The first week in his new building was fairly uneventful to say the least. It was filled with largely mundane things contrary to what his mother feared which, of course, consisted of him going out, doing drugs, and dying in some random alley behind a cheap nightclub. Obviously that was not going to happen, at least not until the third week. After the first admittedly very late and therefore sleepless night mainly as Xiumin really didn't want the first thing he did to be more unpacking he went around with a very forced element of cheeriness and introduced himself to all of his neighbors. Most of them varied from vague disinterest to pure annoyance that he had the audacity to even exist and breathe on their doorstep let alone entertain the idea of exchanging pleasantries.

Next came a short walk, just to get used to the place and area beyond google maps, naturally he'd done his research on the area but it was much better getting the feel of it in person. The remainder of the evening was spent with his parents coming over for dinner and a short visit before he was left to try and fill the emptiness of an unfamiliar space.

The remainder of the week was used to get the last little furnishings for the new apartment like cushions for the sofa and a few extra cozy blankets because after taking one look at that shoddy boiler it was obvious he'd need them. But other than that there really wasn't that much he had done apart from settle in, it only took about three days to realise that crashing on the sofa all day was not nearly as fun when it was you that had to pay the electricity bill. Yet Xiumin still considered it a fairly successful week, he'd stocked the both fridge and the cupboards decently, and found a handyman based nearby considering what had been said about the superintendent in the building. And most importantly he'd found a gym, set up the oh so crucial WiFi, and scheduled payments for the TV licence too.

On paper he was totally an independent adult now, if you ignored the fact that he called his mother every few days but it was only because she nagged him to. Totally the only reason. Though the second week was much more exciting, but yet again much to disappoint his mother he was not yet dead on the side of the road. She still had another week to wait. However on the Saturday of that first week something that he would never live down occurred.

Xiumin, the fully fledged independent adult that he was, though it was totally not his fault, burned toast so badly that it set the smoke alarms off, which resulted in the entire building being evacuated at three in the morning. Essentially it was the toasters fault, the damn lever had gotten stuck again and Xiumin had unfortunately forgotten about the toast altogether meaning that it had been in there long enough to actually somewhat catch on fire. To say that the entire building hated him now was an understatement. On top of that even after two full weeks he still couldn't figure out how to work the damn shower and ended up taking ice cold ones every morning and night, though again he was throwing most of the blame at that boiler. Though it wasn't too bad now, when the seasons changed and it shifted into the deep of winter in a few months or so he would definitely change his opinion.

By the end of the month a job had been secured, oddly enough it was at the adorable coffee shop just down the road, the owner had done a very similar thing to that of his landlady and had promised to make good use of those muscles and dimpled smile. It had flexible enough hours and shifts so that it was manageable to work around the classes at university, admittedly on two occasions he did have a shift that started exactly twenty minutes after his class ended. The questionable driving and mad sprint to the shop was just as fun each time he did it on a slow Tuesday afternoon.

The staff were incredibly friendly too and enjoyed the so called youth powers he possessed. These powers consisted of the fact that he could carry all the heavy things from the delivery truck without breaking his back or a hip, and his natural skill for getting a smile out of any customer. It paid decently as well, plus it just gave him something to do.

Those first few weeks of doing literally nothing apart from bumming around the house had driven him insane. He either snacked out of boredom, or spent all day watching movies or playing on the console and both of which started racking up bills that Xiumin could only blame himself for. Although truth be told the one thing Xiumin had tying him to his biological parents was a bank account, and honestly with the amount in there he swore he must be the illegitimate child of some king or celebrity or something. But the last thing he wanted to do was rely on that questionable money, or use any of it really, it felt like a payoff for being given up and abandoned. So he'd much rather get a job anywhere he could and earn his own way through life, despite how that account was the one paying for his rent, but only for now.

Slowly though, over the next few weeks the little shop took over his heart and he fell in love. It truly was an adorable place, as soon as you walked through the old wooden door you just felt so at home. Faint music filled the room on quieter days accompanied by the clinking of spoons on the mugs as customers stirred their drinks. On the busier days loud chatter would fill the room, but all the different happy conversations were comforting in a way. In the month he had been here Xiumin had already seen two engagements, one pregnancy announcement, as well as about a dozen confessions, so all in all he absolutely loved working there.

The young male had formed a passion for making and drinking coffee as well. The bitter drink was his new addiction. There were obviously some downsides to working in this shop though. Xiumin had lost count of how many times he had been burned from the hot liquid, or the times he cut his palms on broken mugs. Plus the sheer amount of obnoxious customers ordering the most ridiculous drinks was small but still had the power to ruin his day. Though none of this could change his growing love for the place.

*

October 15th

On this particular present day it had been somewhat peaceful, the walk home after his lecture there was a sort of late post-summer haze in the air that made time itself look like it was being streamed through a slow motion camera; it was a sticky and seemingly never ending day. The unusual muggy heat rendered most people half melted blobs blubbering in front of depressingly weak fans, but not Xiumin. He was sweating his perky little off at work as the clock hands lazily meandered past four o'clock in the afternoon.

The humidity had been building throughout the day and was now reaching its nastiest period as the lingering heat from midday was still clinging to the pavement, and there was little sign of the evening breeze picking up soon. Hence the obvious lack in customers, those that were in the shop had been there for at least an hour and were likely just hiding from the heat, but Xiumin still took it as ample opportunity to literally collapse on the floor in a pile of limbs.

The tiled flooring and wooden cupboards had never felt so good and cool through his sweat soaked uniform before in his entire history at this establishment, it was the sweetest relief available to him. So despite the numb bum and pins and needles Xiumin was happily slumped down against the cupboard behind the counter with his head lolled back and legs stretched out in front of him, too busy panting to hear to steps of an approaching customer of the soft ding of the small bell by the counter. However the loud and purposeful cough directed at him was heard crystal clear, and panicked warmth flooded his face instantaneously as eyes flew wide open to find a man around the same age peering down curiously at him with an annoyingly perfect raised brow.

And , that was an attractive face too.

"If you're quite finished with your panting I'd actually like to order," the man asked cautiously, his deep voice snapping Xiumin out of his daze. Huh, cute, colour me interested.

Oh I'm nowhere near done, I'll just switch to panting internally oh sweet Jesus those cheekbones- "Yes! Yes of course! I'm so sorry hang on!" Xiumin blurted out as he rushed to stand, "what would you lik-ah fuh-fudge! Fudge? Okay we're going with fudge." Unfortunately rushing so quickly that the wonderful knowledge of that nasty lip of the counter above him had seemingly been deemed unimportant by his brain thus he ended up hitting his head on the edge of the worktop. With a very audible thud and forcefully enough to rattle the little ornaments placed around the cash register. Abrupt laughter could be heard booming from the other and Xiumin retreated back to a crouched position to gently rub the tender spot of the back of his head before slowly, and warily standing once more.

"Just a black coffee please, to go, large too," the other wheezed out between fits of laughter, though it died down once he saw the scowling face of the barista, "are you alright though?"

It seemed genuine but Xiumin was far too embarrassed to give anything other than a short and sharp "I'm fine, thank you," before setting himself the task of making this coffee as quickly as he could. This customer needed to be gone as soon as possible and after glancing over his shoulder he reluctantly flushed out of what he would later convince himself was anger as he saw exactly how irritatingly attractive the other still was. The guy was taller than him, by a few inches or so, messy brown hair paired with cheekbones and jawline both equally defined and equally deadly.

Not that Xiumin particularly enjoying waxing poetic lines about strangers but sometimes you had to give credit where it was god damn due. There was the matter of this grin on his face too, it was one where lips just seemed to curl mischievously at the corners reminding Xiumin of a Cheshire Cat. He was noticeably built too, not quite on Xiumin's level but it was definitely still worth appreciating with the plain t-shirt he was wearing hugging every inch and the black jeans doing the same.

The task at hand was then completely forgotten about as the fleeting glances turned into an outright stare when the stranger stretched both arms out straight above his head, hiking the pale grey material up in the process to reveal a sliver of skin. Defined muscles stretched and twitched beneath the smooth expanse before the arms returned back to the counter, but unfortunately the shirt remained where it was about two inches further up that in should have been.

At this point, the knowledge of how to breathe was also deemed unimportant by his brain, so much for being smooth and confident with guys, Jesus Christ, or how to at least pretend to function like a normal human being. And it seemed the other had coined onto this little compromising fact with a short burst of breathy laughter and a smirk proudly evident across his face after pushing the shirt back down.

Then, because of course the universe had collaborated to make this the worst ten minutes possible, the once forgotten task became impossible to ignore as burning water trickled down from the counter-top to his thigh from the now overflowing takeaway cup. In a flurry of movement somewhere between leaping away and clamping a hand on the stinging skin Xiumin managed to switch off the coffee machine. But the rather inconveniently placed wet patch remained.

"Are you going to actually make my coffee or are you just going to check me out?" the man teased sarcastically, naturally biting his lip after he spoke and looking up at the barista through dark lashes bashfully.

Well damn, not just a pretty face. "Don't flatter yourself pretty boy, I'm- I'm looking at the line of customers behind you, we're getting a huge line and I'm the only one on till today, for now, so naturally I'm a bit stressed about it," Xiumin replied, words spilling from his mouth before realisation could set in. Luckily the excuse he had made up on the spot wasn't entirely false, there was an actual line of maybe three or four people behind the other. So with his own smirk at the other's silence he turned around and began making another coffee, although from the corner of his eye he had already seen that Mina was getting up from the break room to start her shift albeit with a knowing smirk and open up the other register to start serving.

A hand clamped down harshly on his bicep as Mina slid past him, "You, mister, focus on serving and chatting him up, I'll deal with the others- Ah ah ah! No buts! He is cute and flirting with you, give it a shot before boss man wakes up," she said from behind him with her chin perched on his shoulder, squeezing his arm when he began protesting until he batted her hand away with grumbled agreement.

Xiumin purposefully kept his back to the sarcastic guy as he and Mina danced around each other in an attempt to hide the still burning cheeks for a long as he could but it was likely to be of no use, he knew that the other was painfully aware of his not so professional interest. Plus his coworker was thoroughly enjoying making her little comments that he was also very sure the customer could hear. It was probably the longest he had ever spent on making a simple cup of coffee, as before the drink could even be made Xiumin had to clear up the mess produced from the last one. Then attempting to redo arguably the simplest drink they made on fraying nerves took extra time as well.

Although hopefully the extra time would allow him to regain some semblance of control over his body. Yet it seemed it was all for nothing when Xiumin eventually made himself to turn around with the forced customer service smile as he was met with the smuggest looking person he had ever had the misfortune of coming across.

"After all that, one black coffee to go, anything else I can do for you?" he asked mostly towards the counter-top in front of him instead of the ever watchful eyes but after a deep shuddering breath Xiumin finally raised his head with a smile toward the other. The urge to worry his bottom lip between his teeth was one too strong to ignore when the other didn't respond immediately.

There was a serious debate going on in Jongdae's head with both what those words meant, and the ones he was deliberating on replying with, it was a war in his mind that didn't have a clear outcome. But nothing had to come of it, seeing 'Xiumin' again -the name so happily provided by the little tag- didn't have to mean anything, so no one really had to find out back home about his little fraternisations. He was barely supposed to be walking among them let alone promising to come back to one, but there was always a curiosity towards humans that he couldn't fend off, especially this one it seemed. "I mean, nothing for now, but I'd suggest you practice making a black coffee more often, I feel like I might be coming back here a lot, but we'll see."

Okay- Right, hot guy is coming back, for me, probably, for me, oh boy, play it cool. "Oh Jesus- are you- are you for real, you cheeky little- fine, I'll practice alright!" Xiumin broke off into breathy laughter at the look on the other's face, one of elated self satisfaction, and he continued with, "If you're gonna become a regular then knowing your name might be nice- and helpful too, yknow."

"Uh, Chen, you can call me Chen."

"Well then, Chen, sir, once again here's your coffee, that's two-twenty five, are we doing cash or card?" One hand holding out the coffee towards the guy by the lid with the bottom hovering above the counter-top, the other palm open waiting for the money. For a brief second all he received was that smirk and a raised brow. Then it all happened so fast Xiumin didn't even know what was going on anymore.

As soon as fingertips brushed his palm to place the change there electricity ran up his entire arm, jolting his body in time with the blossoming of pulsing vibrations underneath his feet. Eyes widening in disbelief as it rolled through the room like an wave of power save the baseline like thrumming of each pulse seeming to originate from right where he was standing, more than a little concerned as to why no one else was feeling it and cowering under the tables yet. England wasn't a place where earthquakes happened often but still, why was no one noticing it but him?

His attention was momentarily diverted as the metal coins seemed to ignite themselves and sizzle with barely contained energy as they burned into his skin, hairs standing on end as panic swept through him. It consumed the flesh then coursed throughout his entire body and finally invaded his inner most thoughts. But this wasn't like the movies. This wasn't pleasant tingles and the rest of the world falling away as he gazed lovingly star struck at this stranger. This was just pain.

Logically he knew the encounter lasted mere seconds, the exact same motion had been performed hundreds of times with hundreds of customers. State the amount of money required, smile, cash or card, smile again, take the money, open the register, trickle the change into the corresponding sections like running water. Then pause. Wait. And smile goodbye.

But this time the little chinks of coins piling together in his hand wasn't all that pleasant. No longer did it sound like a metallic tinkling bell, it seemed to loop over and over, morphing and swooping between extremes of pitches as his head spun. Reminding him of the ringing in your ears when silence falls, or when the pounding in your head gets too much and everything blurs. And then everything did blur. Swooping from a low pitched thrumming to an intense high pitch wailing as time stretched and the burning continued, to such intensity that Xiumin felt like a hole had actually been melted through his palm. That with one glance down he'd see his hand melting like a wax figurine, only with real bones peeking through the liquid flesh and not metal wiring.

Panic was swelling wildly within him now, body bursting with it as it felt as if his internal being was too big for the skin encasing it, the expanses of his mind wanting to spill out of his eyes, or like his body was trying to be in two separate places at once. The room seemed to spin and the colours were too bright, the floor suddenly felt like sponge beneath his feet and when did it get so cold in here? The chill engulfed his body just as quickly as the heat had, seizing his muscles and that final spasm separated the two of them as he shrank backwards in fear. But then immediately it had all stopped, the ringing and spinning, the vibrations and swaying of the room too, and as he turned over the change in his palm there wasn't a single blemish on his skin. There was solid and stationary floor once more beneath his feet, the clocks hands returning to their old position and with a single blink everything was in its rightful place again.

In the process of separation, the other had jostled the coffee and resulted with the scalding hot liquid spilling all over Xiumin's hand and forearm. But he barely even registered the pain, the burn ironically not even holding a candle to the flame that had previously consumed his being. Far too busy sharing a look of utter disbelief with the other who was staring straight back, seemingly unafraid and totally oblivious of what ethereal event just occurred. Every instinct inside his body was telling him to run, to run and hide.

What in the sweet ing hell just happened- am I dead?

Did I just die? Did I fall asleep on the job, am I asleep right now?

Holy ing no, no no, no ing way, that was- it was- it felt so real- the pain- was it?

Was it real?- wait-

Deorcness neoðan, that ing smarted- keep calm, don't let him know you're afftected, but how, he's just human, right?

There was no way that was natural, someone must be here for me.

with all these humans here I can't do anything- wait-

-Did he feel it too? Two minds thought in unison.

It had been an awfully long time since Chen had heard it, the stuttered but rhythmic beating of his own heart in his ears, clenching pitifully at how void it was of the crimson liquid that sustained all life. Desperately it tried to pump non-existent blood into veins turned stone with ice an age ago. It ing hurt, a lot, like a concerning amount even for something so durable as himself. It took him a moment to even remember what it was, hundreds of years had passed since it stopped and even before then no one had made it pound like it was attempting to do now. And all for this small little thing- human? his brain supplied, but after whatever that was a little question mark was buzzing in his mind over that fact. But it was still a nice human, even with the question mark.

'Xiumin' was not that small at all despite his height, his body size gave him more than enough presence and in all the right places too for his smaller frame, the stranger was handsome as well with that coy smile and dark hair. And it had been fun to watch those plump cheeks colour in response to teasing- no, it was fun to watch the other respond to his teasing and words alone. But now all he could focus on was how the skin underneath his own cold fingertips was so incredibly warm and practically buzzing with wild and untamed life, Chen couldn't help but marvel at its vulnerability. It was just right there, so open and willing, so ready for the taking. Until it was harshly yanked back from him as a strange look passed over the human's face.

"- - ow, Christ that hurts so bad- here, uh here let me, before it goes everywhere," Xiumin was grabbing for the roll blue paper with trembling hands before he'd even finished talking, "I'm so sorry-"

-"Woah hey, wait a minute! Would you- stop! Please, leave it, leave the coffee, its my fault anyway and like barely any has spilled, please take care of yourself first, you don't look so good," the stranger, no Chen, insisted, a hint of genuine concern rather than politeness in his voice but no panic, no hint that he felt whatever it was that occurred only moments ago.

Xiumin really just needed to calm down and focus, the quicker he got this job done the sooner he could go home and pretend none of this even happened. Once that guy was out of the door he never had to even think about today again. "I don't feel so good either, my- my head, and my stomach, I feel a bit sick-"

-"All that from just a coffee burn?"

The question felt loaded despite the friendly smile and joking tone, it was heavy in the way it settled in Xiumin's stomach and clung to the back of his throat. Heavy with implications he didn't really want to understand or know the meaning of, because the way the customer asked, the look on his face and those eyes desperately scanning Xiumin's own face set off some primal panic in him. It made it seem as if whatever happened those few minutes ago was real, real enough that they both felt it. "No, no it wasn't, did you-"

A different voice called out now from somewhere at the back of the place. -"What's the matter Xiumin? If it's another burn I'll manage the counter while you go and take care of it, I think it's time for your break now anyway." It was Xiumin's boss and he sighed in relief at the idea of being able to sit down for a minute. After calling out a brief explanation and thanks he turned back to the matter in front of him.

"Will you come sit with me? Once you've taken care of the burn I mean," the stranger asked.

"Um sure, y-yeah, that'd be, um- nice, yeah nice, I'll just go and uh..." Xiumin trailed off, already beginning to take a few steps back to disappear into the back of the cafe away from a certain unnerving stranger. It was probably the only opportunity to see if what happened even happened, and wasn't some sleep deprived coffee induced hallucination. Or that he'd just hit his head that hard earlier.

Scanning the shop the other male was found sitting at a table in the corner, eyes downcast and focused on his phone. His face looked softer than before, looking far less less cocky now that it was half illuminated in the warm evening light. It made facing the other a little less daunting, but even so he was beginning to debate that. Xiumin had no idea how to bring it up without sounding insane, in the blink of an eye when the two of them sprang apart the entire cafe had returned to normal and all the pain had dissipated without a single trace. Plus the stranger showed literally no signs of being affected by those events, Xiumin at least was visibly shaken by it all. So he really wasn't sure he even wanted to mention it anymore, maybe save it for a rather intense googling the second he got home.

For now his own morbid curiosity was persuading him to just sit down, and absorb all he could from the other in hopes of figuring out what the was going on. People didn't just imagine those things, things like that weren't real, they didn't happen in real life to normal people. Xiumin was normal, plain Jane and perfectly uninteresting; he was safe in personality and lifestyle. But as they say, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back, and all Xiumin wanted was to be proved that none of it had happened, and that he had the wildest imagination possible. Forcing his limbs to move towards the potential danger rather than away from it he made his way over with his heart in his throat and then sat in the opposite chair, placing a peace offering, and then the stinging arm gingerly on the table. "Hey, uh, you still want me to sit with you?"

"Yeah, please, it's my fault you got burnt, so the least I can do is keep you company on your break," Chen insisted, though the poor excuse of a line felt flimsy on his tongue but it seemed like the server didn't mind.

"It's not your fault- it's no ones fault but I'm not here to point fingers, but here, my boss told me to give you something to 'apologise' for my negligence earlier and seeing as you take your coffee completely black you must be the kind of monster that would enjoy coffee cake as well- but do not tell my chefs that," Xiumin rambled as the plate chinked down on the surface of the table, grinning as he spoke at the matched look of mischief in the other's eyes. "I'm Xiumin by the way, oh wait duh, name tag, and it wasn't just your fault, so I'm sorry as well, I messed up your order a lot, I don't even know what happened to me."

Accepting the plate he laughed briefly before speaking, "I can hardly blame you for any of it, it's perfectly human to get a little distracted sometimes."

"So, uhh, do you reckon I'll be able to get back into my boss' good books by promising that you've like completely forgiven me for earlier?"

"I'll get back to you on that, you've still got what like fifteen minutes left of your break, I'm sure you'll convince me."

*

Chen wanted to scream at the the tension coiling between them both like a pit of snakes, one slithering up his back making his posture rigid, another in his throat making it impossible to swallow, and a few coiling around his arms making biceps strain against his shirt. But the majority had settled in his stomach. The two of them had happily been chatting away, going over the usual checklist of where they both grew up, any siblings, where they went to university, what course they did yadda yadda yadda. All the real juicy stuff; of course all of Chen's were mostly lies but still, it had to be done. However from the anxious way Xiumin was watching the clock he knew there wasn't long left to secure another meeting with the curious little enigma, and there was no way he could let something that had finally captured his interest wander away. 

Realistically of course he could just ask the other outright keeping it plain and simple, there were many ways he could mince around it but as long as it contained a few simple words like are, and you, and gay. Or he could just do what he really wanted and push all the items covering the ebony stained oak table, grab the other by the collar and just go to town. Either way one of them would have to do something and do it soon, there was no way Chen was missing his chance with the other if there was one. And there was only one way to find out.

"You know uh, I think I will let you off the hook this time, you know, you made me laugh and I hadn't had the best of days, so with you just like completely freaked out and- and-" pathetic wisps of laughter escaped him, was it getting hot in there, it seemed hot in there, -"your eyes just went all big and cute, and you looked like you'd seen a ghost. So yeah," definitely rambling, real slick move Chen, "forgiven, for this time of course."

"Oh this time? So there's gonna be another time that you waltz in here all cocky and scare me less?"

Alright, no swift exits just yet, "I mean, I might be inclined to come visit you here again, or go somewhere else together, if you'd be so inclined of course."

Um, what? If Xiumin thought there were any little awkward silences before then they had nothing on the one enveloping them now, it felt like there was so much blood in his face that the pressure had rendered him unable to speak. His cheeks were on fire. He knew they'd be skirting around each other for a while and had been deliberating how to make the first move himself because well  it at least he's a cute murderer but he was decidedly unready for the other to do so. You know, only because there was a slight chance the other had slipped him some kind of hallucinogenic and not because he was wildly intimidated by the other.

But still Xiumin had surprisingly learned quite a lot in those twenty minutes about his potential bringer of death that made him seem all together normal enough to be given a chance. Chen was around twenty just like himself, no siblings but grew up in a tight knit family back in Japan- especially close with his many cousins, and he even went to the same university. Studying some subcatergory of a music or singing degree unlike Xiumin's sports science one, and he lived pretty local too in a flat with some friends too. Far too many details for a serial killer Xiumin would like to convince himself with but no matter what he told himself something just didn't sit right within him. Maybe he truly had just imagined it, maybe he'd exaggerated it and he'd just worked himself too hard at the gym that week and now his body was crashing after all when he attempted to look back on it the whole ordeal seemed vaguely fuzzy, the details slipping through his fingers. But should he say something, anything?

Perhaps seconds, perhaps moments had gone by as he sat there in shocked silence while lost in his own confused thoughts before everything just become too much. Standing abruptly the metal chair scraped across the hard wood flooring, the ice pack falling to the floor with a sickly wet smacking sound. "My shift uh, it's uh- my break, its over, I have to go- to get back to work- aah right, hah, I'm already at work stupid Xiumin I mean my shift I have to get back to start my next shift so um- sorry- it was nice meeting you, Chen," he all but wheezed as he shuffled backwards across the store, bumping into countless tables and customers in his haste until he was back behind the counter once more. His coworker Mina just looked at him with a knowing face and quietly told him he could go a sort the storage room instead of working the till and honestly Xiumin swore he could kiss the woman after she said that.

The next hour was spent slowly stacking shelves, often with the wrong products as his mind was currently elsewhere. But what else could he do? The scene from earlier just kept replaying in his head but the tone of Chen's voice kept morphing between genuine and mocking. Besides he wasn't even sure he wanted it to have been genuine flirting, Xiumin didn't even know if he wanted anything to do with Chen, at least not until he'd cleared his head about earlier and had a sufficient panicked google.

Seeing that there was nothing left to sort on the shelves he grudgingly left the store room and peeked around the door to see if the guy making his head a total mess had stuck around but Chen seemed long gone. Some kind of feeling writhed in his belly and up his throat, disappointment perhaps, or anxiety at the thought of seeing the other? Rolling his shoulders as he rounded the counter Xiumin hoped to shake off whatever it was, instead allowing the relief to fill him instead as he laid eyes on the clock. Only fifteen minutes left and all he really had to do was to start wiping down and clearing the tables, ferrying the mugs and plates back to the kitchen to place them in the huge dish washer.

Normally it was the easiest task ever, but he was really struggling to will himself to head over to that innocuous looking table in the far corner. The half eaten coffee cake still sat on the plate, an unpleasant reminder of unfinished business or that Chen too had left in a hurry and scrambled off to get away from him. It seemed to haunt him as he scraped the remainder of it into the bin and loaded it into the slot. With the machine completely full and all the tables clear of any cutlery or other tableware the button was pressed and he wearily pulled on the lever to start the machine working. Leaving him to finish clearing and wiping the surfaces down and then to start sweeping everything up, which didn't take him long at all. Bringing him back to that table once more, he'd been flitting over to it in stages for mere seconds to do what he needed but now he had to stand over it and work for a few moments.

The ice pack had been picked up from the floor and placed back on the table, a slight puddle forming around the object. Adjacent to the little puddle were a few napkins that had begun soaking up some of the water, one of them stained a watery black. A stain that he couldn't place but he scooped up the soggy mess to one side before hurriedly carrying it into the nearby bin. Hopefully banishing all the vivid replays going through his mind to the rubbish with it, useless thoughts they were. Wiping it down and sweeping the floor came next after flipping and stacking the chairs onto the table, but the thoughts could not be put to rest by the monotonous routine of setting down the cafe. It still bothered him, the stain looks like it had once been writing, maybe numbers, he hoped someone hadn't written something important down and then forgotten it. But it was long gone now, and they could hardly be that important, besides he had to focus on getting home in one piece and getting to bed. Clearly his body needed the rest, his mind too.