This chapter was also edited by me after a very long day, I apologise in advance

14

Ahh-choo!

Niel sniffled and sighed. He was definitely sick, courtesy of that silly customer that had sneezed all over him a few days ago at work. His eyes were itchy and his whole body was hot with a fever. With resignation, he fished a mask from his pocket and slung it over his ears, settling it in place. It covered his mouth and nose and with his long fringe you could hardly even see his eyes.

I probably look like one of those pop stars that don’t want to be spotted by fans, he mused, finger combing his hair out of his eyes a little.

He was on his way to meet Byunghun after his shift for a chat. Chanhee had enlisted his help and Niel planned to follow through. Starting with scolding the absolute crap out of his hyung.

He would be lying if he said he didn’t have a slight ulterior motive for getting his hyungs back together. It was true he loved them, and it was only fair that for the first time in 10 years they had the monopoly on crappy relationship situations, but Niel wanted the spotlight back. He wanted to find this guy he had kissed! He wanted his hyung’s to help, because Niel was almost out of ideas. Actually, he hadn’t had any ideas except one. An idea that he needed his hyung’s to help him with.

He needed to go back to Shinhwa and find this guy. Simple. Not so simple for Niel. He didn’t want to become a regular at a gay bar when he was only there to find one specific person. A small part of him was nervous to go alone too. Niel didn’t do big crowds and loud noises. He needed help. So, he would yell at Byunghun until he listened and fixed things with Chanhee.

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Changhyun sat at his desk, daydreaming for the first time in a long time. He was usually conscientious and busy, but today he was too amused to fight the daydream. Jonghyun had repeated the whole story when Changhyun had arrived in the café on Sunday. Byunghun’s boyfriend, Changhyun had finally made the connection to the man that had run into him in the street, had scolded Jonghyun at the café. The idea of a man Changhyun’s height intimidating Jonghyun was kind of hilarious.

Jonghyun had been furious and actually ranted for quite a while in the booth. Both Minsu and Changhyun had made sympathetic noises and agreed that it was “completely uncalled for!” because “he doesn’t even know me!”

What amused Changhyun was the idea of Byunghun having a crush on anyone. He was the most cantankerous person Changhyun had ever met. He disliked everyone except a small circle of people he worked with; Changhyun had eventually wheedled his way into that circle by being irresistibly adorable all the time. The only people Changhyun knew of Byunghun being anything more than casually civil with were his boyfriend and one other guy that came around the café a bit.

He laughed softly to himself once more. Byunghun was head over heels for his boyfriend. He barely tolerated Jonghyun, even after Youngjin had talked to him. The whole thing was just so ridiculous.

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Byunghun was stuck on a shift with Jonghyun as his buddy. The younger Korean had been strangely quiet and stiff with him. Byunghun tried to pretend it didn’t bother him. Needless to say, he didn’t enjoy the taste of his own medicine. Despite Jonghyun’s change in demeanour he was still catching on quickly and paying close attention.

The café had quietened and there was only half an hour until close anyway so Byunghun called his ‘buddy’ over.

“Ok, let’s make a coffee.” He said, trying to be bright and sunny. How Chanhee did that so effortlessly Byunghun had no idea.

“Ok.” Was all he got in reply.

Byunghun made a simple cappuccino and handed it to Jonghyun. The younger took a sip and nodded.

“Alright, make it.” Byung dropped his amicable façade and went with his regular straight tone.

Jonghyun nodded and the grinder.

“Uh, Sunbae?” Jonghyun said as he tamped the grind down.

“Mm?” Byunghun was expecting a question about coffee.

“What the hell is wrong with your boyfriend?”

Byunghun’s brain screeched to a halt before automatically firing into a rage.

“What?” He asked venomously.

“Well, he comes in here Sunday and has a go at me about you. Tells me to give up my chances of getting close to you.” Jonghyun clipped the filter into the machine and pressed the button for the shot. “So, I’m just wondering, what the hell have you been telling him?”

The rage died and Byunghun sighed, covering his face with his hands. He groaned in pain.

Because despite his best intentions he still hadn’t said anything to Chanhee.

“. Jonghyun, I’m so sorry.” Byunghun said through his fingers, “This is all my fault. I’m sorry.”

Jonghyun sighed and shrugged.

“It’s whatever Sunbae. Just…” He sighed again, “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Byunghun saw an opening. One half of him begged not to take it, he wanted to stay sad and safe behind the walls he had built up. The other half was tired of being this way and forged on ahead without waiting.

“You wouldn’t mind listening?” He asked in a small voice.

Jonghyun shook his head, focused on his milk frothing.

“Chanhee and I have been together forever… and lately things have gotten difficult.”

“So, do you actually like me?” Jonghyun interrupted.

“Uh. No.” Byunghun was tactless, he noticed Jonghyun’s lips quirk in amusement. “Sorry. I mean… Uh."

“Keep going, I know what you meant.”

Byunghun took a deep breath.

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Jonghyun focused on getting his cappuccino to the correct consistency without burning the milk as Byunghun spoke. He went on and on about his friend’s breakup and how it had scared him because he didn’t want to lose Chanhee. He was too scared to talk to him about it so he had just avoided the whole thing. For a month or almost two. At that piece of information Jonghyun plonked his milk jug down heavily. Byunghun frowned at it.

“Wait.” Jonghyun stopped him, slowly turning to face Byunghun, “You’ve been ignoring your own boyfriend for 2 months now? And what? Waiting for him to fix a problem he doesn’t even know exists?”

“Wh- I mean- N-” Byunghun spluttered helplessly.

“Sunbae, that’s just crazy. This poor guy thinks you’re in love with someone else! You’re driving him straight towards the situation you’re so scared of!”

“Uh…”

“Just talk to him!” Jonghyun cried, making Byunghun jump slightly. “Talk to him right now or you’re gonna lose him and then you really will have a problem.”

This was just insane. How could Byunghun not see how simple this was?

“What if I talk to him and he leaves me!” Byunghun fired back.

“Which would you prefer? Knowing you did everything to keep him or knowing you pushed him out of your life?” Jonghyun offered, trying to be patient.

Byunghun’s face went blank, his eyes glazed as he stared at nothing. Suddenly, he snapped back into animation.

“I have to go!” He cried. Not bothering to untie his apron or grab his coat. “Lock up for me?”

“Duh.” Jonghyun sighed and waved his sunbae towards the door.

As the café door closed again, he tasted his own cappuccino. It wasn’t bad.

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Chanhee sat on the couch, rolling a small object around in his fingers. He had taken the day off, swapping a shift out with Steven in order to finish what he had started on Sunday. Now he was simply waiting for Byunghun to get home. Then they would talk. And this whole ordeal would be put behind them, one way or another.

He took a deep, shuddering breath and checked the time on his phone. The shift would finish in an hour. After they had closed and cleaned and locked up Byunghun would wave to the others, maybe call out goodbye and shuffle home to Chanhee. Well, hopefully, if he didn’t decide to sneak away to play basketball instead.

Chanhee checked his phone again. 57 minutes until Byunghun’s shift finished.

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Minsu stepped down from the bus and joined the crowds flowing along the sidewalk. He was perfectly on time, heading to the café to meet Jonghyun after his shift. From there they would head to the gym together, after that they had talked about sitting down and searching for apartments on the internet.

The light of the afternoon was nice, everything still touched by it was gilded a lovely yellow. Minsu felt more peaceful than normal; as though the usual pressure on his soul had eased off for a while. It was surprising because Minsu hadn’t made any further progress to finding the man he was looking for. In fact, he felt as though he had made less progress these days. His life instead occupied by Jonghyun, work and DJing. Even Raz was being more involved in his life lately.

It wasn’t a bad thing. Minsu had to admit he was far happier than he had been before Jonghyun had arrived. Now he had things to do with his time, a balance of friends and hobbies. A purpose he hadn’t known he was lacking.

Despite his new distractions, the constant pull in his chest was still there. Minsu would keep searching until it stopped. The difference was now it wasn’t the only thing he wanted to do with his life.

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Niel was about to cross the street opposite the café, as he approached the gutter he was wracked with several violent sneezes. He stopped in his tracks and covered his, already masked, face with his hands.

When the sneezing subsided, he sniffed and opened his eyes again. Shaking his head to clear the hair from his eyes Niel appraised the traffic. He had missed his opening