Tuesdays are always horrible for Kyungsoo, when deadlines for illustrators need to be chased down literally and he has to check every page, every detail of the the scripts himself before passing them over to the editors and animators back at the office after they're all good. It's usually not that awful as Kyungsoo is granted a car by the company for this purpose (hunting down illustrators is not easy as it sounds when one lives 10 kilometres away from the other and he has to battle the traffic in the process), but this Tuesday has been a bit more busy as they're designing a new project; their first animation series has been a big hit and demands for a new season have been flowing in like tsunami. So as the secretary director, he has to follow endless hours of meeting before going home to create a report and hand it in the next day when they continue their unfinished discussion.

He has spent almost 15 hours in the office today and been longing to be drowned by the comfort of his bed. But when he steps onto the bus, gasping for breath because he almost missed it, and falls onto a vacant seat next to... someone—he can't really pay attention when his eyelids are half-closed, but he had a glimpse of the navy blue university hoodie they're wearing—by the aisle near the front door, he can no longer fight the sleepiness and just drifts off to slumber, his head leaning against a pole. Good thing his stop is at the end of the route, so he doesn't need to worry about missing it.

When he arrives at his stop, though, as his eyes flutters open the exact minute the bus gets motionless, what he thought was a pole turns out to be a broad, slightly bony, shoulder of someone's. The same someone he didn't spare any attention to but cared enough to remember what he—yes, that someone is a guy, a very attractive one with thick framed glasses perching neatly on the perfectly symmetrical bridge of his nose but that doesn't make Kyungsoo feel any less embarrassed nonetheless—is wearing. The hoodie smells like baby powder but it certainly doesn't make Kyungsoo wonder if the stranger smells like it too.

"Good evening."

Kyungsoo can't tell if that was his own groggy bed voice (if there's a term called bedhead, shouldn't there also be a term for the thick voices people have that tend to get lower an octave when they just wake up?) he just heard or if the guy's voice is just that deep. He figures it must be the latter because Kyungsoo is too much of an awkward penguin to greet strangers that casually.

Clearing his throat, Kyungsoo leans away from the guy and rubs the sleep away from his eyes. The stranger's arm doesn't fidget and Kyungsoo figures he made it numb with his huge head.

"Sorry," he manages to say and the guy grins at him, brilliant white teeth showing Kyungsoo can almost count all of them.

"It's fine, really. Did you sleep well? I just hope my shoulder was comfortable enough. You look tired."

Kyungsoo furrows his brows. Well that's not wrong, he is exhausted.

"Cute tired, that is," the stranger jokes, offering him a smile, gentler this time with a little dimple visible on his left cheek and despite the booming beat of his heart in his chest because gosh look who is talking, Kyungsoo's frown deepens at the gesture. 

"Thanks. And you look too young for my age," he says, standing up and patting the invisible dust off of his pants.

The guy's face turns into that of surprised as he follows Kyungsoo to stand up and Kyungsoo almost gasps at how tall he is. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to come across that way."

Kyungsoo just gives him a forgiving nod before bidding his farewell, "Have a great night."

. . .

Chanyeol's eyes never leave the stranger that borrowed his shoulder to nap on the whole way from the first stop to the last, as the small guy gets off of the bus and out of his sight. His left arm is still asleep but the peaceful expression on the stranger's face makes it worth the numbness.

Have a great night, the guy said and Chanyeol has to bite his tongue to keep himself from blurting out 'It has already been great thanks to you'. Letting out a content sigh, he falls back onto the seat and bouncing his legs in excitement.

He's been watching the guy for months. They share the same bus almost every morning when Chanyeol has classes at 9 am—he's always been on the bus first before Chanyeol does and it makes Chanyeol question himself which stop does the guy get on at—and while he manages to brush against him every time he walks up to get his favorite seat at the back of the bus, they never made any interaction, until tonight.

Okay yes, Chanyeol may or may not have developed a tiny puppy crush on the stranger and whenever he notices the guy giving his seat to not just pregnant ladies, elders and disabled, but children as well as women in general, Chanyeol feels his little crush grow. And that one time when the guy abandoned his seat to help an elder on wheelchair get on, or that one time when it was a mother with a stroller, or that other time when there was a limp man carrying a huge box of television, Chanyeol's infatuation for the stranger sparks brighter that he longs for the day he get to interact with him. Because despite the resting face the guy has for his default expression, Chanyeol knows that he is actually a very kind person.

He likes to think that this is fate; the group project he's been working on is getting a bit too unaccommodating. Half of the group has work to attend to so they haven't found the perfect time for all of the members to show up. When they finally do, though, he has to stay at campus until 11.30 pm. 

The seats were full when he gets on the bus, but he finds two vacant seats and immediately claims them his, his backpack taking refuge next to him. It's been a long day for Chanyeol and his shoulders are tense from carrying a 4 kg laptop in his bag, he just wants to rest.

Then, just in time the bus doors are closing, his crush, breathless and panicked, runs up to and knocks on the bus' glass door. Good thing the driver is kind enough to let him in before stepping on the gas.

Chanyeol hurriedly puts his bag down by his feet and scoots closer to the window to give space, which the guy gladly takes. He is about to start a conversation when the guy's eyes slowly close and Chanyeol has to slap his mouth shut to keep himself from squealing as the stranger's head involuntarily falls on his shoulder.

His hair smells like mint and everything refreshing when Chanyeol turns his head to look at the guy's blissful expression. He secretly imprints the image in his head and hopes his mind will replay it again in his dream tonight.

The guy doesn't even move when Chanyeol reaches out to the stop button when his stop is approaching, and Chanyeol contemplates whether or not he should press it because he doesn't want to get up and wake up his crush. The latter idea wins however, so Chanyeol draws his arm back to his side and enjoys the moment.

Chanyeol has never taken the bus until the last stop and when he finally does, he is brought to some place far in the suburb where the street lights are dim and quiet atmosphere settles in. Somehow the place suits the guy and Chanyeol makes a mental note to explore this suburb some time in the future. Who knows he might find a new inspiration for his music along the way.

"Not getting off?" The bus driver pulls Chanyeol out of his trance and Chanyeol stares at the rearview mirror the driver uses to look at him. Chanyeol reads the name tag on the driver's uniform that says 'Joonmyun' on the reflection.

"Nah. I missed my stop back near the college. When are we departing?"

Joonmyun checks his watch. "In about 15 minutes. You missed your stop, really?" he asks, shooting Chanyeol a knowing look.

Chanyeol laughs at this, his cover has been blown. "Sort of."

The bus driver shakes his head and chuckles. "And did you also 'sort of' mean it when you told that guy he looked cute tired?"

Chanyeol stifles his laugh this time, sinking back to his seat. "No."

Because he actually do mean it. Cute, that is.