“Service 70 to register 2 please, service 70 to register 2 thank you!” The call rang loud and clear through the PA but Taekwoon still pretended he didn’t hear.

It wasn’t that he was lazy; on the contrary, Taekwoon was one of the best workers in night fill.

No, the reason he pretended not to hear was because he knew who was making the call.

There was no one in the store who managed to always sound so chipper, who managed to chat to even the most hostile of customers and could win anyone over with his charming ways.

Only one co-worker who had an annoying habit of making him blush.

And therefore, the only co-worker that Taekwoon avoided at all costs.

“Service 70 to register 2 please, service 70 to register 2 thank you!”

Taekwoon sighed; as much as he wanted to ignore it, obviously no one else was going to get it. He in a deep breath and walked briskly over to the counter.

“What do you need a price check for?” Taekwoon asked, trying to look at Hakyeon without actually looking at Hakyeon.

“Oh Taekwoonie! This sugar wont scan!” Hakyeon replied brightly, holding up the said sugar, not seeming to notice the way Taekwoon’s face heated up at the pet name.

Taekwoon simply nodded, taking the sugar and walking briskly to the baking aisle, willing the blush off his face.

He quickly found the item and returned to give Hakyeon the sugar back and inform him of the price. Hakyeon almost didn’t even get to say ‘thank you’ before Taekwoon quickly disappeared back into the aisles, safe from Hakyeon’s…ways.

Taekwoon sighed as he tried to focus on restocking the shelves and not Hakyeon’s voice telling an old woman that “despite his looks, he’s not a scary person at all.”

He really should be used to it; customers always found him scary because of how he looked and it really didn’t bother him. It meant he hardly ever had to serve people and he appreciated that because he really wasn’t any good at it. But whenever Hakyeon heard a customer comment about how scary looking he was, for some reason he felt he had to explain to them that it was a misconception; that Taekwoon was nowhere near as scary as he looked.

He still remembered the first time Hakyeon had done it.

Both of them started working at the supermarket around the same time. At the start, Taekwoon mostly just knew of Hakyeon rather than actually knowing him; he’d seen him at their policy reading day and passed him a few times in the store but that was all.

This was how it stayed until about his second week, when Wonsik asked him to go do the price check Hakyeon had just called for.

As Taekwoon had strode off to find the price of the sauce, he’d overheard the old lady’s disgruntled remark.

“He’s a scary looking fellow. Doesn’t seem very friendly.”

Taekwoon sighed quietly; it wasn’t the first time someone had said it and he wasn’t about to take it to heart but it did annoy him a little. He tried to shake it off, though, not willing to let it really affect him but then he heard Hakyeon reply.

“You really think so?” Hakyeon replied and Taekwoon swore he sounded surprised. He was about to dismiss the thought when Hakyeon continued; “I think he’s cute.”

Taekwoon felt his neck go hot and he ducked his head, quickly hurrying off into the aisle and hoping the blush would go away before he went back to tell Hakyeon the price.

But it didn’t of course and Taekwoon found himself avoiding making eye contact with the boy as he quickly told him the price and the sauce back into his hands.

To his dismay, rather than thinking he was rude and promptly ignoring him or even just saying a normal “thanks” and nothing else, Hakyeon beamed at him and said “thank you Taekwoonie!”

Taekwoon had known he was bright red and he knew Hakyeon saw, even as he practically bolted for the aisles so he could hide and hope that maybe a shelf would fall on him or something.

But it didn’t and even worse; Hakyeon then made it a regular thing.

“If you’re trying to hide, you’re probably better off going to the produce section, you’ll blend in well with the tomatoes.” Hyuk cheekily said to Taekwoon as he walked past, ducking away from the swipe aimed at his head.

Taekwoon managed to successfully avoid Hakyeon for the rest of his shift, bolting out the door furthest from him the moment the shift was over.

Once out of the store, he realised he didn’t really know what to do. He’d seen Wonsik texting Hongbin earlier so that meant if he went home he was going to get another interrogation about Hakyeon from him.

As much as he appreciated the fact that Hongbin had used his relationship with Wonsik to help him get a job, it was a bother that it meant Hongbin knew far more about his work life than he intended for him to. On the flip side, he’d probably never have managed to get a job without Hongbin’s help; he never interviewed very well because of how he looked and his quiet voice.

He sighed and decided just to go for a walk for a bit and maybe look into a few shops. He’d finished earlier than usual today, it was only just after 9pm, so the streets were still busy with people and shops were still open. Taekwoon didn’t really want to buy anything but at least it was something to do, at least for an hour or so.

He wandered, thinking about anything but Hakyeon. Not even thinking about thinking about Hakyeon. No Hakyeon. Nothing about Hakyeon.

He was considering going into a plastic surgery and asking them to exchange his brain (he was aware that that was not what they did but really, he was up for trying anyway at this point) when something caught his eye.

It was a big poster in the window of a hairdressers of a model with golden blonde hair.

Maybe peroxide would fix his brain.

Taekwoon tugged at his hair as stood there, looking at the poster.

Blonde would look awful on him; he was sure of it. It was too bright, it suited more outgoing and loud people. Black hair was much more suited to a person like him.

‘He’s not scary at all’ Taekwoon suddenly heard Hakyeon saying and suddenly he changed his mind, going into the hairdressers.

Maybe he’ll think I’m scary with blonde hair.

 

As much as Taekwoon had been hoping to scare off Hakyeon with his blonde hair, he still hadn’t really expected this.

He’d come over (reluctantly) to do a Service 70 that Hakyeon had called and now found himself standing at the register whilst Hakyeon simply gaped at him. Taekwoon felt as confused as the customer Hakyeon was meant to be serving looked.

“What did you need a price check for?” Taekwoon finally asked, hoping to snap Hakyeon out of his apparent daze. At this, Hakyeon recovered himself enough to hand Taekwoon a jar of jam but still seemed unable to speak. At the register across from him, Jaehwan was in hysterics.

Taekwoon chose to ignore them both and hurried off to do his job.

When he returned with the item and told Hakyeon the price, the boy still didn’t say anything, only nodding and taking the jar.

Taekwoon couldn’t help feeling unsettled. Sure, he’d been hoping to get Hakyeon to leave him alone by dying his hair but having Hakyeon not speak to him was… strange. He wasn’t really sure what to make of what had just happened.

“I’m actually impressed by that, you really out did yourself there,” Hyuk clapped him on the back as he walked past to stack the shelves only a few feet away.

“What did I do?”

Hyuk rolled his eyes, “you’re too dense for words honestly.”

Taekwoon chose to ignore that comment.

 

Hongbin was always telling Taekwoon that Hakyeon acted how he did because he liked him but Taekwoon knew he was wrong. Hakyeon was friendly to everyone. He saw him and Jaehwan chatting in-between customers all the time and the two looked much happier chatting than he ever would chatting with Taekwoon.

Not that they’d ever chatted.

Taekwoon didn’t chat though. Hakyeon chatted so much. He was loud, he was energetic and bright. Taekwoon was none of those things; why would Hakyeon like him at all?

No it wasn’t that, it was just that Hakyeon was friendly.

 

What Taekwoon didn’t know was that at that very moment, whilst there was a break in customers, Hakyeon was groaning and dropping his head onto the top of the register counter.

Jaehwan laughed, “is poor Hakyeon having some issues because of someone’s new blonde hair?”

Hakyeon made an incoherent grumbling noise and banged his head on the register a few times.

“Why would he do that?!” Hakyeon finally exclaimed, stopping just before Jaehwan started to get worried he was going to incur brain damage.

“I don’t know, maybe he read your diary and decided to make all of your fantasies come true.”

Hakyeon merely groaned in response.

 

For the next week, Taekwoon barely saw Hakyeon.

And that bothered him.

Which was stupid, why would it bother him? This was what he’d been hoping for wasn’t it? It was better that Hakyeon stopped wasting so much effort on being friendly to him. There wasn’t much reason for them to interact anyway. This was for the best.

So why did he feel so… disappointed?

 

Taekwoon sat in the break room, having something to eat and checking up on his cats on ‘Neko Atsume’. He was lost in thought, trying to decide which item was best to buy to attract the most cats and didn’t notice someone else enter the room.

Which is why, when Hakyeon asked “do you like cats Taekwoonie?”, Taekwoon nearly fell out of his chair.

Hakyeon looked startled by Taekwoon’s reaction, “sorry, I thought you heard me come in.”

Taekwoon simply shook his head, still trying to recover himself. It wasn’t helping that Hakyeon was so…Hakyeon.

In his head he’d thought he’d been over exaggerating the boy, making him more beautiful than he was but now… somehow nothing was like looking at the real Hakyeon.

Something inside Taekwoon ached.

“So, do you like cats?” Hakyeon asked again when he saw that Taekwoon wasn’t going to answer.

“Yes, I wish I owned one.” Taekwoon found himself saying as Hakyeon sat across from him, a packet of biscuits in his hand. He offered Taekwoon one, “no thanks.”

“Why don’t you own one?” Hakyeon asked as he popped a biscuit into his mouth.

“We’re not allowed to have pets.”

“We?”

“Hongbin, my housemate, and I.”

“As in Wonsik’s Hongbin?”

“Yeah.”

Taekwoon always found it odd how people referred to couples that way; as so and so’s. Maybe it was just because he’d never been referred to that way.

As in Hakyeon’s Taekwoon?

Taekwoon shook his head, earning a weird look from Hakyeon but he just looked down at his food.

“I’m actually taking care of my Aunt’s cat at the moment,” Hakyeon said after a minute. He seemed to be being so quiet and careful, as if he was scared Taekwoon would run away.

Well considering that that was pretty much what he’d done every other time they’d interacted, that was probably a fair concern.

 Taekwoon nodded, not sure what he was meant to say.

“I’m not great with animals, like I love them but I’m never sure that I’m taking proper care of them.” Hakyeon’s words were coming out more rushed now and Taekwoon thought he seemed almost… flustered?

He just nodded again.

“So, I mean, like you don’t have to, but you could visit if you wanted? And like check I’m taking proper care of it? You don’t have to but like if you like cats I just thought maybe…”

Definitely flustered.

“When?” For a moment Taekwoon thought someone else had responded.

Then he remembered it was only the two of them in the room.

He wasn’t really sure why he was about to agree to this but all he knew was that Hakyeon seemed so flustered and vulnerable and it made Taekwoon feel he couldn’t refuse. Not that he was being coerced but rather that he didn’t have it in his heart to refuse.

Or maybe it was just that he actually did want to go, but he would ignore that.

Hakyeon looked startled momentarily before he seemed to recover himself. “um, I have Tuesday off, does that work for you?”

Taekwoon nodded.

“You can come over any time after 11, I’m not too fussed. If you just text me when you’re on your way?”

“I don’t have your number.”

Hakyeon smiled and held out his hand and for a moment Taekwoon just stared at it in confusion. Then he realised that he was meant to hand over his phone and did so, after closing his game.

Hakyeon typed in his number and handed it back to Taekwoon, smiling and standing.

“Well I’d better get back to work but I look forward to Tuesday Taekwoonie!”

And with that he left, leaving Taekwoon to stare down at the phone in his hands and the new contact that read: °♡°~Cutest Hakyeon~°♡°

He felt the blush rise on his cheeks and sighed, putting his head in his hands.

This was a terrible idea.

 

It wasn’t until the next morning that Taekwoon realised the important detail that they’d both forgotten.

Hi, it’s Taekwoon. I just realised I never got your address.

He instantly regretted it once he’d sent it; it was only Saturday. They’d only discussed this yesterday. He should’ve waited until Monday to ask, asking now made it seem like that was all he was thinking about. Which it wasn’t. It definitely wasn’t.

He felt his phone buzz and he scrambled to grab it.

Morning Taekwoonie~ ヾ(@^▽^@)ノ Oh I can’t believe I forgot! How stupid of me! ＼(;´□｀)/ Here you go:

Underneath was an address not that far from where Taekwoon lived.

Taekwoon stared at the message for a while, unsure of how to respond. Hakyeon texted the way he talked, his enthusiastic nature conveyed with his copious use of complicated emojis. It made Taekwoon kind of flustered.

Thank you.

Taekwoon sighed; it would have to do. It’s not like Hakyeon thought he talked a lot. If Hakyeon texted the way he talked, then so did Taekwoon.

Only a minute later his phone buzzed again.

That’s okay! ～(^з^)-♡

Taekwoon was contemplating whether to chuck his phone in the toilet or alternatively just drown himself when Hongbin burst into the room.

“Taekwoon can you make me panca- why are you glaring at your phone like it insulted your mother?”

Taekwoon quickly locked his phone and slid it into his back pocket, hoping to avoid any more questions.

Hongbin opened his mouth to question him further but Taekwoon cut him off with a glare as he headed for the kitchen.

Hongbin seemed to realise that pancakes were an exchange for his silence and happily obliged.

He’d find out at some point anyway.

 

Taekwoon had the weekend off and so he didn’t see Hakyeon again until Monday night. All Monday Taekwoon found himself unnecessarily nervous about going to work. Which was stupid. Why would he be nervous.

What was even stupider was that, when he got to the end of his shift without any interactions with Hakyeon at all, he felt disappointed.

So very stupid.

He groaned and rolled over onto his other side on the couch.

“What’s up with you? I’m trying to ignore you but you’re making it very difficult.” Hongbin glared at him from his spot on the other couch.

He’d forgotten Hongbin was here.

Taekwoon just shrugged his shoulders, making to leave to his room to avoid further questioning.

 

The next morning, Taekwoon found himself lying in bed awake at 9am trying to decide whether to text Hakyeon and tell him he couldn’t come anymore or to just it up and go.

Somehow, at 12:15 he found himself washed and dressed and ready to leave the house, phone in hand, just staring at the contact reading °♡°~Cutest Hakyeon~°♡°

“Wait, you guys aren’t dating in secret are you? You can’t not tell me these things!”

Taekwoon started upon Hongbin’s voice, unaware that the man had come up behind him and read his phone over his shoulder. He flushed at the comment, locking his phone and putting it in his pocket before setting to work putting his shoes on.

“Hey! Answer me! I’m your flatmate, you gotta tell me things! And where are you going?!” He could hear Hongbin yelling after him as he escaped out of the house.

Wonsik really needed to spend more time with him, he was getting too noisey these days. They got along better when Hongbin had more interesting things going on than whether or not Taekwoon was dating Hakyeon.

Hakyeon. Right.

Taekwoon sighed, he was outside now. He may as well go.

I’m leaving now, I’ll probably only be about 20 minutes.

Okay! o((*^▽^*))o See you soon~

Cats Taekwoon, he has a cat. You don’t even have to talk to him, he invited you over to check he was taking proper care of the cat. That is all.

 

“Say hello to Taekwoonie, Tae” Hakyeon said to the cat he was currently holding, as he opened the door, trying to get the cat to wave. The cat, Tae, Taekwoon assumed, simply glared at him.

Hakyeon sighed, putting the cat down once the door had been closed, “apparently he prefers women the little sleaze.”

Taekwoon wasn’t sure what to say to that; Tae had placed himself about a meter away and was watching Taekwoon with a measured look as he took off his shoes and coat.

“I thought maybe he’d like you better though,” he continued, leading Taekwoon into the flat, beckoning him when he saw that he wasn’t automatically following, “considering you’re both Tae’s and all.”

Taekwoon let out a small laugh; what kind of logic was that?

Hakyeon gave him a surprised look before seeming to recover himself, a smile still playing on his lips and Taekwoon felt himself flush despite himself.

“Anyway, this is my flat. Nothing fancy but I live on my own so I can only be so fancy.”

Taekwoon looked around; sure it wasn’t large but it wasn’t incredibly smaller than the flat he shared with Hongbin and it looked better kept than their flat.

“I think it’s nice.”

Hakyeon beamed at this and Taekwoon was dismayed to feel a blush creep across his face again. Why was his face always doing that? Maybe he needed to see a doctor.

“Do you want a drink? Or something to eat?” Hakyeon asked, heading towards the kitchen, leaving Taekwoon standing awkwardly in the lounge area. He was about to say he was fine when his stomach rumbled.

So apparently all of his body parts were plotting against him. How nice.

Hakyeon chuckled, “you can sit down on the couch, I’ll get some snacks. You’re not a fussy eater are you?”

Taekwoon shook his head, taking a seat as instructed. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Tae waltz into the area, still giving him suspicious looks. He leant over, stretching out his hand to try and show he meant no harm. Tae eyed his hand warily but when Taekwoon didn’t move, he slowly walked over, sniffing it. Slowly, once Tae seemed satisfied that his hand was non-threatening, Taekwoon moved it, giving him a scratch under the chin. Tae made a contented noise, rubbing his face further into his hand. Then, much to Taekwoon’s surprise, he jumped onto his lap, quickly settling with a contented purr. Taekwoon smiled at the cat, petting it softly and enjoying the way it purred as it drifted off to sleep.

“See, I knew two Tae’s would get along,” Hakyeon reappeared, holding snacks and 2 drinks, taking a seat beside him and placing everything on the small table that sat between the couch and the TV.

“I think he’s just a wary cat, you’ve just got to be patient with him,” Taekwoon said, eyes on Tae as he spoke. Somehow, he could still tell that Hakyeon was smiling.

“Maybe, or maybe you’re just very lovable.”

Taekwoon reached for his cup, taking a drink to try and hide the blush creeping up his face as always. He was pretending to look around the room in an attempt to avoid eye contact with the other man when his eye caught something.

“Do you have FIFA?” He asked, almost standing before remembering the cat on his lap.

Hakyeon looked confused momentarily, following his eyes to the pile of games and finally realising what the other man meant.

“Oh, yeah. Well, it’s not mine but Jaehwan left it here last time he was over.”

Taekwoon ignored his simultaneous disappointment in that a. FIFA wasn’t necessarily Hakyeon’s favourite game and b. he wasn’t the first work colleague to be invited to his house.

He especially ignored b. Because b was a super stupid reason to be disappointed.

“Do you like FIFA?”

“I love soccer.” Taekwoon replied, eyes still on the game.

He turned to look at Hakyeon when he saw him move. He got up and went over to the game, holding it up as if to confirm it really was the game Taekwoon thought it was.

“Did you want to play? I’m not really very good but I’ll give it a go.”

Suddenly Taekwoon thought of the first (and last) time he’d played FIFA with Hongbin.

Hongbin gave him a stern look as he unplugged the TV from the wall.

“Don’t ever play this with anyone again. You’re terrifying. I never knew you had such an intense competitive streak. I actually feared for my life.”

“I’m not su-“ But Hakyeon had already inserted the game, handing Taekwoon a controller.

“You obviously want to play, and Tae is asleep so he doesn’t need any attention, let’s just play for a bit.” Hakyeon said, giving him an encouraging smile that Taekwoon found he couldn’t deny.

 

He tried not to get competitive or impatient. He really did.

But Hakyeon at the game. Like, he’d never even been able to imagine someone could be so bad at it.

Taekwoon let out another exasperated noise as Hakyeon… just didn’t do anything of use. He wasn’t even sure what he was trying to do.

“What have I done wrong now!” Hakyeon demanded, giving Taekwoon a look that would almost be cute if he wasn’t so bad at this game.

“Everything!” Taekwoon shot back and Hakyeon pouted; okay, it was still a little cute.

“I see why you and Tae get along now; you’re both mean to me!”

“It’s not mean! I’m just stating facts!”

“Well why don’t you help me get better at it rather than berating me!”

“I’m trying but you’re not listening to me!”

“I am listening but you’re using all these soccer terms! I don’t get all your soccer lingo!”

“It’s a soccer game! What else am I going to use?! Tennis lingo?!”

Hakyeon huffed, “fine, you play for a while, I’ll just watch. Maybe I’ll learn better that way.”

Taekwoon scoffed at that, making Hakyeon throw a cushion at him. The cushion hit Tae who, having still (somehow) been asleep, yowled and sprang off Taekwoon’s lap, making Taekwoon start and glare at Hakyeon.

Much to his surprise, Hakyeon laughed.

“You two have the same expression!” He exclaimed between laughs, pointing between Taekwoon and Tae.

Taekwoon felt another one of those damn blushes begin to spread across his face and so he threw the cushion back at Hakyeon and picked up the controller, trying to ignore the still laughing man next to him.

 

“Hold on, you played FIFA with him and he still invited you back to his place?!” Hongbin exclaimed in horror.

Taekwoon had arrived back to their shared flat an hour ago and had been doing so well at avoiding all of Hongbin’s interrogating questions until he’d make the mistake of putting his phone on the table and going to cook some dinner.

He’d only just started cooking when Hongbin had waltzed into the kitchen looking triumphant and holding his phone in the air.

“So, you just got a text from ‘cutie Hakyeon’” he said, doing quotation marks in the air with his fingers, “that reads, ‘it was nice to spend time with you today, I think Tae appreciated your company too.’ Firstly, who is Tae and secondly, what did and Hakyeon do together today, huh?”

Despite managing (fairly easily) to get his phone off Hongbin, the other man had not given up his pestering and Taekwoon had eventually caved, answering the damn man’s questions until he was satisfied he had every detail he needed.

In amongst that, Taekwoon had quickly replied with a “me too, Tae is cute.” To which he’d received “Not as cute as me! ＼(;´□｀) You can come visit him again sometime though, I think he already misses you (*￣(ｴ)￣*) ”

“The man must be in love with you or something to want to see you again after that.”

“It’s just because of the cat,” Taekwoon muttered, glaring at his phone, hoping a reply would form itself.

When Hongbin didn’t respond he looked up. The other man gave him an indignant look, “are you actually trying to tell me you spent 6 hours at his place because of a cat?”

“I like cats.”

“I’m aware of that but there are plenty of other ways to see cats. There aren’t, however, a whole lot of other ways to see Hakyeon without admitting you like him.”

Taekwoon chose to ignore that comment.

 

 

Over the next month, Taekwoon found himself at Hakyeon’s house more and more regularly. For a while it was to check up on Tae but eventually Hakyeon had announced that his Aunt was now back from her holiday and so Tae would be heading back home.

Hakyeon had pouted when he’d said this and Taekwoon had found himself offering to come over and try and teach him to play FIFA.

That had soon been ditched with Hakyeon finding out that Taekwoon was good at cooking and demanding he taught him that instead because “you’re less likely to kill me doing that.”

As always, Hakyeon’s logic was flawed, considering that Taekwoon had easy access to knives whilst cooking but he did have more patience and Hakyeon was much less awful at cooking so it turned out to actually be a much better idea.

They also, of course, saw each other at work but their interactions didn’t change much there, with no real occasion for any extended interaction presenting itself.

And so, just like that, November became December and suddenly Christmas was only a couple of weeks away.

 

“How was your date with Hakyeon?” Hongbin asked from where he lay on the couch watching TV, not even looking up.

“It wasn’t a date because we’re not dating.” Taekwoon replied, like he did every time Hongbin called his time with Hakyeon a date. It unsettled Taekwoon slightly that these days he felt like he was reminding himself as much as Hongbin that they weren’t dating.

“Whatever, are you going to the Christmas party?”

“What Christmas party?” Taekwoon asked, taking off his coat before wandering over to sit on the other couch.

“The one for your work. I’m going, I can take you.”

“Did Wonsik invite you?”

Hongbin gave him a look that said ‘why are you even asking this’. “Are you going?”

“You know I don’t like parties.”

“Yeah, you also don’t like loud, overly energetic people yet you’re over at Hakyeon’s house every day,” Hongbin retorted, making Taekwoon scowl at him.

“I still don’t want to go.”

“Yeah alright. I already know that Hakyeon asked you at work today and you agreed to go though.”

Taekwoon cursed under his breath; he needed a new roommate. Or a less gossipy boss.

 

That was how Taekwoon found himself in a large room full of every staff member and their “plus one” and wishing he was anywhere else in the world.

“Taekwoon! I never thought I’d see you at a party!” Jaehwan exclaimed, his slightly stumbling walk making it obvious that he’d already made good work of the punch bowl.

“He’s just here because he’s whipped,” Hyuk retorted, appearing from behind Jaehwan, who was trying to hug Taekwoon whilst Taekwoon was making very sure that he did not manage it.

“Jaehwan! Leave poor Taekwoonie alone!” Hakyeon appeared, laughing but pulling Jaehwan away from him, much to his relief.

His relief quickly turned to dismay though, as Jaehwan simply turned his attempted affections onto Hakyeon, hugging the man tight.

“Hakyeon! You’re such a lovely friend, I love you so much!”

Hakyeon laughed, hugging Jaehwan back before gently prying the man off him to readjust him so that Jaehwan had his arm around his shoulders.

“Well I am wonderful but I think we need to go get you some water,” he said, leading them to the kitchen, Taekwoon watching them leave and trying to ignore the twisting feeling in his gut. The feeling that most definitely wasn’t jealousy.

Things only got worse from there though.

When Taekwoon next saw Hakyeon, it was about half an hour later. He no longer had Jaehwan hanging off him but was instead chatting avidly with a pretty girl that Taekwoon vaguely remembered having seen working on registers once or twice. That feeling twisted in his stomach again but this time Taekwoon shut it up by downing a rather large glass of punch.

Hakyeon is popular, Taekwoon realises very quickly. It hadn’t occurred to him before; he mostly only saw him working with Jaehwan and so he hadn’t really considered that he might be friends with other staff. Which was stupid, he now realised, because of course Hakyeon was friends with other staff; he was bubbly and talkative and bright and charming. He was the kind of person who everyone would like and get along with.

Taekwoon wasn’t special. When had he started thinking he was special? Why? That was stupid.

Taekwoon was about to down his umpteenth glass of punch when someone put their arm around his shoulders.

Much to his disappointment, it was Hongbin.

“Hey, you’re making me depressed. I don’t know what’s wrong but Hyuk has been beating everyone at table tennis and trying to claim the title of the supermarket’s ‘Table Tennis Champion.’ I feel like it would be good for you and everyone to attempt to beat him.”

“I thought you said I shouldn’t play games because you worry I might kill someone?” Taekwoon argued, words only slurring very slightly. He wasn’t quite drunk yet.

“I’m worried you’re going to drown yourself in the punch at the moment so I say we take our chances with Table Tennis.”

 

After 3 matches, Taekwoon was banned from Table Tennis, dragged away by Wonsik when he wouldn’t stop demanding yet another rematch.

“I can’t be beaten Taekwoon! I am the champion!” Hyuk jeered at him, ignoring the look Wonsik was giving him as he struggled to pull Taekwoon away.

“I can beat you! Let go of me Wonsik! I will beat him!”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Wonsik muttered, glaring at Hongbin on his way past.

“Hey! At least he isn’t moping!” Hongbin defended himself.

Wonsik forced Taekwoon into a seat far from the table tennis table. “Stay here or I fire you,” he threatened.

“You can’t do that,” Taekwoon muttered but stayed in his seat all the same.

“it’s okay Wonsik, I’ll keep an eye on him,” Taekwoon stiffened, looking up to have his worst fears confirmed as Hakyeon gave Wonsik a reassuring smile and Wonsik nodded, leaving the two of them alone.

Taekwoon really just wanted the ground to swallow him up. Why had he agreed to come to this stupid party? He hated parties.

Oh right, because the stupid man now sitting beside him had asked him to and Taekwoon was stupid enough to think that he was as important to Hakyeon as Hakyeon was to him.

God, he wanted to go home.

Taekwoon stood up, intending to go find Hongbin and ask to go home but a hand on his arm stopped him.

“Woah, Taekwoonie you’re swaying a lot, where do you think you’re going?” Hakyeon’s voice was thick with concern and Taekwoon hated how it made him want to let the other man ease him back into his seat.

“Home.” Taekwoon replied, attempting to shake his hand off his arm.

Instead, Hakyeon stood and wrapped his arm around his waist, pulling him close. “Let me take you home, okay?”

As always, Taekwoon found himself unable to say and just let himself be walked out to Hakyeon’s car. Hakyeon opened the passenger seat door and Taekwoon snorted, “I’m not a girl, I can open my own door,” he said, finally pulling himself from Hakyeon’s arm to get into the car.

Taekwoon thought he saw a small frown pass over Hakyeon’s face but when he sat down in the driver’s seat, he had his usual pleasant expression on. He must have imagined it.

After asking where Taekwoon lived, they settled into silence for a few minutes, Taekwoon trying not to think about how the whole car smelt of Hakyeon and the fact that that meant he knew how Hakyeon smelt. Why did he know that?

“Everyone was so surprised to see you so loud and competitive, they’d all assumed you were always quiet and reserved.” Hakyeon smiled at him but Taekwoon pretended he didn’t see, turning to stare out the window.

“I guess I can’t blame them; I was pretty surprised too, the first time we played FIFA together.”

Taekwoon tried not to think about how that felt so long ago. How, somehow, going to Hakyeon’s had become a normal part of his life. How he’d begun at some point to think he was something more than he was.

“Either way, you’re still cute.”

“You can stop now.” Taekwoon said, words slipping out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“What? I’m only five minutes away Taekwoonie-“

“No, stop that.” Taekwoon interrupted, “stop doing that.”

Hakyeon glanced across at him, perplexed, “stop what Taekwoo-?”

“That!” Taekwoon exclaimed, “calling me Taekwoonie! Being friendly with me! Saying I’m cute and giving me the wrong idea!”

Hakyeon looked taken aback and he spoke carefully, eyes wary.

“I’m sorry Taekwooni- Taekwoon, I didn’t know it bothered you so much.”

“Of course it bothers me! You’re just friendly with everyone, that’s just how you are but I’m not like that! And when you act like that, I get stupid ideas in my head and start hoping for stupid things and now I’m stuck with these stupid feelings for you and you’re just being your usual friendly self and I’m so dumb to think you’d like me too.” Whilst Taekwoon had been ranting, Hakyeon had reached his apartment building and pulled into a parking space and now Taekwoon unbuckled his seatbelt and nearly threw himself out of the car, needing to escape from the smell of Hakyeon and his shocked face and all the words Taekwoon had just said.

He flung himself into his building and the elevator, ignoring Hakyeon calling his name and the way his head hurt and his heart hurt and his stomach hurt and not bothering to wonder how much of it was alcohol and how much of it was heart break.

He ignored his phone buzzing as he reached his apartment and he threw his phone to the other side of the room before stripping and throwing himself into bed.

everything.

 

 

Taekwoon woke the next day to persistent knocking at the door. Originally, he thought it was in his head, a bi productive of how much everything in his body hurt, but after a few minutes it became clear to him that someone was indeed knocking on the door.

He groaned, rolling himself over to the edge of the bed and taking a minute there before finally kicking his legs over the edge of the bed and pulling himself into a sitting position.

The knocking continued and Taekwoon groaned again, forcing himself to stand and looking for some sweat pants and a singlet to pull on. He found his phone on the floor and glared at it in confusion before stepping past it and heading for the door, still groggy, his head clouded with sleep and a mild hang over.

It wasn’t until he opened the door to find Hakyeon standing there, hand still raised, ready to keep knocking, that Taekwoon remembered what had happened last night.

He quickly grabbed the door, attempting to push it close, but Hakyeon had obviously had a lot less to drink last night than he had and his lack of hang over and not having just been awoken from his sleep made him a lot faster than Taekwoon.

Hakyeon closed the door behind him and took off his shoes, whilst Taekwoon just stood there, trying to make sense of what was going on with his still very cloudy brain.

“I brought coffee,” Hakyeon said, breaking Taekwoon out of his daze as he pushed a coffee cup into his hands.

“Oh, uh, thanks.” Taekwoon mumbled, finally moving out of the door way and towards the lounge room, letting Hakyeon follow him to the couch. He didn’t know why Hakyeon was here but he felt he needed to be sitting right now.

For a moment they sat in silence, Taekwoon sipping his coffee and feeling his brain slowly start to uncloud but his confusion about why Hakyeon was here would not fade.

Hakyeon didn’t seem like he was going to explain though so Taekwoon finally forced himself to ask, “why are you here Hakyeon?”

Hakyeon seemed to be snapped out of some far away thought by Taekwoon’s voice.

“Oh, right. I, well.” Seeing Hakyeon flustered always caught Taekwoon off guard and this time was no exception. If anything, this time was even scarier than any other time.

“I’m sorry for what I said,” Taekwoon said when Hakyeon seemed not to know how to go on. “I was very rude and I shouldn’t have been that way or said those things. I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.”

Hakyeon stared at him, as if unable to comprehend what he’d said. Then, very slowly, he spoke.

“Hongbin said that you were jealous and mopey last night because I was paying so much attention to everyone else. Is that true?”

Taekwoon was going to kill Hongbin. Damn Hongbin and his perceptiveness, was he ever on his side?!

Taekwoon considered denying it but the traitorous blush was already spreading up his neck so he knew it was futile and instead just nodded, refusing to make eye contact with him.

“So is that why you snapped at me in the car?”

He nodded again.

“And when you said you had feelings for me, did you mean that you like me? Like, romantically?”

Taekwoon was pretty sure he was actually the colour of a fire truck now and he really wished he could drown in his cup of coffee.

He nodded again, eyes still fixed down, refusing to look at Hakyeon.

A pair of tanned hands reached over, prying his coffee cup from his fingers to put it on the table. Taekwoon looked up in confusion and found that sometime in their conversation, Hakyeon had moved really close to him. Taekwoon wasn’t sure if he wanted more to lean away or lean in and so he just sat there, frozen in uncertainty.

“I may be friendly Taekwoonie but I wasn’t giving you the wrong idea with how friendly I was being to you. You’re not just like everyone else to me and I don’t just call you cute to be nice. I call you cute because I think you’re adorable and I’m friendly to you because I like you more than anyone else.”

Hakyeon smiled at him, leaning even slightly closer again and Taekwoon felt his breath hitch.

“I really like you too Taekwoonie and if you’re okay with it, I’d really like to kiss you now.”

At that, his brain finally switched on enough to process what Hakyeon had said but rather than respond, Taekwoon just leant forward and closed the small gap left between their lips. He could feel Hakyeon smiling against his lips and he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his own lips. It was a chaste kiss, just lips against lips but it was enough for now.

When they separated, Hakyeon was beaming, his smile brighter than the sun and Taekwoon felt he’d never get sick of that smile.

 

 

“Service 70 to register 2 please, service 70 to register 2 thank you!” Hyuk gave Taekwoon a smirk that he chose to ignore as he passed him on his way to the register to do the price check.

It had been 2 days since Hakyeon had come to his house and they’d both confessed and kissed. When Hongbin had come home that afternoon (he’d spent the night at Wonsik’s it turned out. Taekwoon felt kind of bad that he hadn’t even noticed but he blamed his hang over and… other distractions) to find them cuddled up on the couch together watching TV he’d let out a relieved “finally” before promptly going to call Wonsik to let him know. Because of that, (plus the fact that Hakyeon was quick to confirm it if anyone asked) pretty much every staff member knew they were dating now.

But dating or not, they were at work so it was just a price check. It didn’t matter that it was Hakyeon asking for the price check. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t actually seen Hakyeon since two days ago. That was an out of work thing. Right now he was just going to do a price ch-

Taekwoon froze as he reached the register.

Hakyeon was blonde.

Hakyeon beamed when he saw him, “Taekwoonie!”

Taekwoon blushed, still unable to take his eyes off the other man’s hair.

“You’re blonde.” Wow. Well done Taekwoon. Stellar effort there.

“Yep! Do you like it?” Hakyeon asked, resting his chin on his hands. Taekwoon just blinked at him for a moment before remembering they were at work and he wasn’t doing his job right now he was staring at Hakyeon, who was blonde but that wasn’t the point right now.

“Uh yeah but what did you need a price check for?” It suddenly occurred to Taekwoon that neither Hakyeon, nor Jaehwan actually were serving a customer right now. Why did he even need a price ch-

“I just wanted a price check on me,” Hakyeon replied, batting his eye lids up at Taekwoon. On the register opposite, Jaehwan explode, laughing so loudly Taekwoon was sure that people in the next block heard it.

Taekwoon, however, fixed them both with the scariest glare he could muster, even as his face went its usual red, as it always did around Hakyeon. Hakyeon stood back up straight at this, reaching out to take Taekwoon’s hand in both of his and looking apologetic.

“Sorry Taekwoonie! I was only kidding! But we have couple hair now, isn’t that cute?!”

Taekwoon sighed, unable to even pretend to still be mad, “is that why you dyed it? So we’d match?”

“Well that and I thought I’d look even ier than usual!”

Taekwoon had walked off after that comment but Hakyeon wasn’t upset for long because only a minute later his phone buzzed and when Hakyeon read it he couldn’t stop smiling.

You’re priceless to me and always very y.

 

I hope this wasn't too awful~

I've got so many one shot ideas atm... one day I'll update Woohyun's mistake...

Anyway, thank you for reading!

Love you! <3