The days that followed after their walk to the parking lot quickly turned into a routine of sorts for them. They would greet each other before their shifts, take lunch together if it lined up in their favor, and see each other off after work. Sometimes one would meet the other during a break and together they would just walk the mall, chatting away while sharing a snack or two. Yuta even joked they should steal Yukhei’s Segway and ride around the mall after hours, he always let the others, Taeyong gave it some thought but politely declined—not wanting to cost any of them their jobs. Soon it was normal to see a dark shadow amongst the glittering jewelry and pastels of Claire’s, and a colorful splash breaking apart the monochrome scope of the Hot Topic.

 

✿✿✿✿

 

“So I heard someone here has been crushing on the new Hot Topic employee…”

 

Yuta groaned at the familiar voice, teasing tilt and all. He knew eventually his moment of bliss would burst and it came in the form of one Lee Donghyuck.

 

Looking up from his lunch, he sighed in annoyance at the clear mischief dancing in Donghyuck’s eyes. “How the hell do you know about that?”

 

“How do I not?” Donghyuck raised an eyebrow at Yuta, plopping down beside Mark at their table. “It’s all anyone can talk about around here, well that and your lack of asking him out.”

 

There were a few agreeing murmurs from around their table and Yuta looked at them, betrayal clear on his face, which he quickly schooled with a frown and returned back to finishing his food haphazardly.

 

“Speaking of lover boy, where is he?” Donghyuck glanced around the food court, trying to spot a strawberry pink head amongst the crowd.

 

“He went out to eat with Doyoung and Jungwoo,” Yuta grumbly answered, remembering Jungwoo’s pleased face when he successfully got Doyoung to invite him along and hooking his arm with Taeyong’s as they walked away, making it a point to look back at Yuta and wink.

 

“Oh is that so,” murmurs Donghyuck, sounding the least bit interested now without Taeyong around to tease Yuta with. He focuses on sneaking a few fries from Mark’s tray while his boyfriend searched up a video on his phone to watch with his meal.  

 

Thinking that’s the end of Donghyuck’s pestering once Mark catches him and swats at his hand to stop the younger from taking anymore of his food as Donghyuck pleads for Mark to share, Yuta looked over from their table and watched Jaehyun and Taeil get their food from Subway and make their way over to them.

 

“Hey guys,” Jaehyun greeted with an easy-going smile, putting his tray down with a loud ‘clack’ as he took a seat next to Johnny, the action only a little passive-aggressive. “What’s up?”

 

Donghyuck turned his attention on their new arrivals, propping his elbows onto the table and resting his chin in his hands, “the streets are saying that Johnny and Ten have already hooked up,” he announces, a gloating smile directed at Yuta before offering a more sincere one to Johnny. “Congrats, hyung!”

 

Yuta shifted his gaze incredulously between a delighted Donghyuck and a bashful Johnny, who has the decency to at least look apologetic. “What? But haven’t you only gone on like two dates with him?!” he whined.

 

“It just…sort of happened,” Johnny offered as an explanation with a shrug, not wanting to get into detail here at the food court.

 

“By that he means he moves fast, unlike a certain someone we know.”

 

Yuta throws a crumbled-up napkin at Donghyuck who stealthily avoids it.

 

“What’s this about now?” Taeil asked, only now tuning into the conversation as he sets his phone down on the table.

 

Donghyuck lolled his head to the side, recounting to Taeil, “Yuta here still hasn’t asked Taeyong out meanwhile Johnny and Ten are getting freaky in the sheets.”

 

“Don’t be gross, Hyuck,” Mark says disapprovingly, nudging the side of him with his elbow and causing Donghyuck to jolt away with a small yelp. “I’m sure Yuta hyung has his reasons for not making his move yet.”

 

Yuta sunk lower in his seat, “Well, when you say it like that…”

 

Donghyuck smirked at his boyfriend’s unintentional remark but turned to look at Yuta with a sympathetic headshake. “Listen, with the amount of time you guys spend together I’d think it wouldn’t take you long but here we are…” he trails off, lips pursed.

 

Yuta rolled his eyes, then leaned in closer to Donghyuck so abruptly that there was general surprise on the younger’s face. “You know how I said one day you’re gonna get beat? Well that day is getting closer and closer.” There’s no real heat behind the words, both too used to each other, along with the familiar curl of Yuta’s lips as their friends laugh.

 

Donghyuck sticks out his tongue, moving back and clinging to Mark’s arm. “Mark here wouldn’t let you harm an angel like me.”

 

“More like spawn of the devil,” Yuta snorts while Mark struggles between defending or disputing Donghyuck’s claim, settling instead on an adorable nose scrunch.

 

Relaxing into his seat again, the group goes back to mindless conversation about employee drama and how Jaehyun and Taeil’s sales competition this month were going—Taeil taking the lead so far with 27:24 purchases over Jaehyun.

 

Yuta looked down at his half-finished burger with mild disdain, debating whether to finish or toss what’s remaining when he felt a tap on his shoulder and met Donghyuck’s curious face.

 

“Yeah?”

 

Donghyuck pointed to the cherry earrings Yuta had on. “Are those from the new collection you guys got this week?”

 

Yuta narrows his eyes at Donghyuck, not trusting the other’s sudden interest. “Yes,” he answers cautiously.

 

“Good. I’ll stop by before the end of my shift to get some using the employee discount.”

 

“You mean my employee discount.”

 

Donghyuck’s smile is all teeth as he says, “exactly.”

 

✿✿✿✿

 

Yuta slumped into the stool behind the counter with an exhausted sigh. He had spent the first half of the morning training Jaemin on how to use the piercing gun after Kunhang gave his approval he was ready to start doing piercings. Kunhang must have timed it so because Yuta had a few piercing appointments scheduled that day and allowed Jaemin to hover over as he worked. Now that it was past noon, Yuta was done. Sadly, he had another three hours before his shift ended.

 

Currently, he was the only one present inside the store, letting Jaemin and Kunhang take lunch first and bored out of his mind. Glancing down at his hands, he notes the black polish on his nails were a little chipped and could use a new coating. Maybe he’d go for a design this time if it wasn’t too costly, but he also had been wanting to dye his hair lately, tired of the blonde he was currently sporting.

 

“Slow day?” A voice breaks him out of his musings, and he lifts his head up to see Taeyong standing in front of the entrance.

 

Yuta beamed a smile at him, “Something like that, Wednesdays usually are.” He straightened up from his slouch position, no longer feeling as tired. “What brings you here?”

 

Taeyong approached the counter with a soft smile, “I thought it be nice to visit you on my break. Is it just you manning the place?” He gave the empty store a quick once-over for good measure.

 

Yuta had to bite his tongue from releasing any pleased sounds and nodded, “For now, Kunhang and Jaemin should be arriving in less than an hour or so but who really knows. Were you guys slow today too?”

 

Taeyong groaned. “Ugh, yes,” he complains, lips protruding into a pout. “I spent like two hours cleaning and rearranging the display windows, and I was still bored.”

 

Yuta made a face in sympathy. “Tell me about it, today feels super slow for some reason more than it just being Wednesday.”

 

“Well at least you spent most of it piercing ears,” Taeyong offers, clarifying when Yuta shot him a questioning look, “I saw you teaching Jaemin earlier. Served as a good distraction for a while with how ecstatic he looked.”

 

Yuta lets out a surprised laugh, “Yeah, honestly I’m a little nervous to see how his first piercing will go down. I didn’t think Kunhang would grant him piercing privileges after the whole Spicy Namericano fiasco.”

 

Taeyong blinked confusedly. “The what now?”

 

Yuta grins, resting his head between his arms as he looked up at Taeyong. “So before Jaemin worked here he used to work at Starbucks and had this crazy idea one day that along with twelve shots of expresso—” Taeyong let out a horrified gasp at that. “Yeah, I know,” Yuta snorted. “To add a few drops of hot sauce into Johnny’s coffee and dubbed it the ‘Spicy Namericano.’”

 

“Oh god…” Taeyong winces, looking pained at just the thought of the concoction Jaemin had created. “Please tell me Johnny was okay?”

 

“He was once his body stopped shaking after a while, but he also did think he was a god for a few hours there and tried to strip …” Yuta grimaced at the memory as he tried to save his friend’s decency from the many onlookers. “Jaehyun tried it too but was smart enough to spit it out after one sip.” He finishes with a placid smile, “and that’s how our beloved Jaemin got fired and banned from the mall’s Starbucks, eventually making his way over to us. Sweet, right?”

 

Taeyong looks at him shocked, and then bursts into a peal of laughter at the absurdity of the situation. Giving Yuta the chance to admire the pure enjoyment on Taeyong’s face with his head thrown back, eyes squeezed shut and mouth wide open as he releases cute pitchy laughs.

 

Too lost in his admiration of the other, Yuta doesn’t realize Taeyong’s quiet down and is staring at him with wide perplexingly eyes. “Yuta?”

 

Startled and loss for words as heat rushes to his face, Yuta shifts his gaze away, missing the coy smile from Taeyong. He zeroes in on Taeyong’s ears, which are free of any piercings or holes, and an idea strikes him. “H-Hey,” he pauses to clear his throat. “Have you ever thought of piercing your ears?”

 

Taeyong instinctively raises a hand to touch his earlobe. “I…”

 

“It’s fine if you don’t,” Yuta rushes to say. “I just…I just think you’d look really good with your ears pierced.”

 

“No, it’s not that, I—Well I kind of have a fear of needles.” Taeyong explains, lowering his hand back down on the counter and fiddling with his sleeve as he says so.

 

“Oh…” Yuta deflated a bit. “That’s okay, sorry for—”

 

“I’ll do it!” Taeyong blurts outs. A little too quickly and his cheeks gain a lovely pink hue to it when Yuta sets his eyes on him again.

 

“Really?” Yuta asks, staring at Taeyong unsurely.

 

“Yeah, I mean—I have to face my fears someday. Why not today?” He assured a little more confidently, then added softly, “And if it’s with you…I know I’m in good hands.”

 

Yuta isn’t sure if he’s still breathing and works on autopilot, moving from behind the counter to Taeyong’s side with a wide smile. “Then let’s do it! I’ll let you use my employee discount too.”

 

Taeyong began shaking his head in protest. “Oh no, I can’t—”

 

“Please,” Yuta interjected. “I hardly let anyone use it—willingly,” he said the last part under his breath but Taeyong heard and huffed out a laugh.

 

“Okay,” he said with a resigned sigh, though a smile played on his lips as he looked over at Yuta.

 

“We can start off with something subtle, most prefer studs or small hoops.” Yuta smiles encouragingly at him, waving him over to the section of the store where they had less flashy and simple earrings lined up. “Just a reminder though, you’re not supposed to change them out for six weeks so choose wisely.”

 

Taeyong nodded, smiling, and heading over to the array of earrings displayed on the wall and looking over the choices. Gold, silver, and black dominated his view with a few other scattered colors, jewels embedded in some, and simple designs and shapes as well. It was like Yuta said, subtle, but still very nice.

 

Which is why Taeyong found it hard to pick and looked back to Yuta. “What do you suggest?” He asked, chewing on his lower lip.

 

Yuta stepped closer to point at a few of the larger choices, specifically pointing out some small silver hoops with a ruby gem drop. “Personally I like these types for your kind of earlobes, and,” he moved to where the ball earrings were. “These black ones would work with more clothing options. Oh, and these too,” Yuta reached for some silver rose earrings, placing them all into Taeyong’s open palm and waited anxiously for his reaction. Of course he’d rather recommend Taeyong go to a jewelry store that wasn’t catered to tweens but he would just have to tell him after his ears were pierced.

 

A pleasant smile went across Taeyong’s face as he brought them closer to inspect, admiring them. “These are great, Yuta! Thank you, I’ll take them all.”

 

“Seriously?” At the sincerity shining in Taeyong’s eyes as he nodded, Yuta breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, so which are choosing to wear for now?”

 

Taeyong looked back down at the earrings then at Yuta. “Maybe the rose and black ones? I was thinking the black for both lobes and a rose right here,” he pointed to where his left helix was. 

 

Yuta didn’t expect Taeyong would go for a helix piercing along with the standard piercings for his first time but smiled eagerly. “Great, how is your pain tolerance?”

 

Taeyong looked up in thought then shrugged. “I’d say pretty high.”

 

Yuta nodded and led Taeyong to the little ear-piercing station, sitting on the stool when Yuta gestured in its direction. There was a bunch of paperwork he had to fill out, all on a sparkly pink clipboard. Afterwards Yuta reached over and used cherry barrettes to clip Taeyong’s hair back, commenting how it complimented his hair and earning a shy smile from Taeyong as he thanked him.

 

“Were you scared the first time you pierced someone?” Taeyong asked while Yuta reached for his kit, putting his latex gloves on with a snap.

 

“You have no idea,” Yuta chuckled, grabbing the piercing gun and beginning to disinfect it. “I managed to rope Johnny into coming in and letting me do it on him, so I wouldn’t be as scared to mess up on a stranger.”

 

“Really?” Taeyong attempts to stifle a laugh at the image of the taller male inside the store.

 

“He was too big for the chair actually,” Yuta tells him, gaining some light and airy giggles from Taeyong while he disinfected his earlobes. “Despite that, it turned out fine and he came in again for an anti-tragus on his left ear.” He then placed two references dots on Taeyong’s ears to guide the piercing.

 

“Alright, here we go,” Yuta took a deep breath to release some of the nervous energy and steady his hand that held the piercing gun. He checked the dots he placed on Taeyong’s ears, reassuring himself that both sides of his lobes were even, and positioned the gun up to Taeyong’s right ear.

 

“You’re going to feel a tiny pinch, but it shouldn’t hurt much,” Yuta repeated the line he’s supposed to say while doing this to customers and rested his other hand on Taeyong’s cheek. It felt warm and soft, even though his hand was covered in a plastic glove. His touch was impossibly gentle and Taeyong thought his voice sounded soothing, probably so used to doing it for kids. It was so calming, the way he spoke, Taeyong let his eyes slip shut, focusing on Yuta’s thumb brushing over his jaw softly.

 

Taeyong hummed in his throat as Yuta pushed the trigger down on the count of three, a click was heard and a moment later Yuta pulled his hand and the gun back, looking at Taeyong’s ear.

 

Staring at it, Yuta grinned as he saw the black ball, perfectly on the dot he had set out then looked at Taeyong. “You good?” He asked.

 

Taeyong opened his eyes and met Yuta’s concerned ones. “Yeah, hurts a bit but I’m fine.”

 

Yuta traced the bottom of Taeyong’s reddening earlobe gently, noting the warmth of the skin. When he pulled back he seemed to notice a subtle pink flush to Taeyong’s face but chose to ignore this. Probably just sensitive. “Look’s great, now let’s do the other ear.”

 

Yuta lined the gun back up to Taeyong’s left ear and Taeyong smiled at him. Smiling back, Yuta pushed the trigger down and sent the piercing into the ear. Satisfied with the placement, Yuta placed the gun down beside him and reached out for the disinfected wipes to clean the upper left side of Taeyong’s ear and then place another reference dot.

 

Once that was done, Yuta left the silver rose earring to soak in a small cup of disinfect and reached into the kit to pull out a pack of sterilized 14-gauge piercing needles, taking one out. Taeyong inhaled sharply at the sight and began to shift uneasily in the seat, he had been fine with the gun but seeing the needle on its own was an entirely different thing.

 

“Taeyong,” Yuta called out gently, bringing Taeyong’s focus back on him. At this close distance he noticed the cologne on Yuta, a faint musk with a floral mixture. It was pleasant and not overbearing, which he found refreshing. “Usually there’s a mom or a friend here to hold the person’s hand, but since it’s just us, and I don’t have a free hand, you can hold onto my arm if it helps.”

 

Taeyong stared back at him with wide eyes, blinking slowly a few times as the pace of his heart quickened in his chest. Immediately Yuta misinterpreted the silence and began to panic, thinking he overstepped and was ready to spew an onslaught of excuses but halted as Taeyong reached out and grabbed Yuta’s forearm with both hands.

 

“Okay, I’m ready,” Taeyong breathed out steadily, ignoring the throbbing of his heart. His grip on Yuta’s forearm was loose and comfortable, but all the built-up tension was focused on his jaw as he clenched. It took Yuta a moment to comprehend that Taeyong was now holding him by the arm. Once he came to, he nodded and moved in closer again, his face a few inches away from Taeyong’s as he brought the needle into position of the mark.

 

Yuta’s lips were right by Taeyong’s ear as he whispered softly, “Breathe in, and breathe out after I say three, okay? …1, 2, 3.” He angled the needle straight to the back of the ear and it went through without much trouble. Taeyong had flexed in pain, squeezing tightly on Yuta’s forearm. He didn’t mind; in fact, Yuta relished the feeling.

 

Leaving the needle in Taeyong’s ear, Yuta took the now sanitized rose earring and inserted it into the needle and slowly pushed the needle all the way out from the back, leaving only the earring in its place. He quickly leaned over to check behind the ear to see if it was bleeding, luckily it wasn’t, and silently thanked himself as he closed the back of the earring. After dabbing some NeilMed around the piercing and ear to soothe the irritation a bit, Taeyong let go of his hold on Yuta.

 

“And you’re done,” he said, standing up and pulling off the gloves. Yuta handed a mirror for Taeyong to examine his new piercings.

 

Looking at his ears in the mirror, Taeyong admired the shiny new addition to his ears. It hurt, and his ears were redder than he’d ever seen, but he was too attuned to the other emotions he was feeling to notice. Yuta was right, he did look good with them on. Taeyong turned back to face Yuta and smiled his approval. “I love it!”

 

“I’m glad, they look really pretty.” Yuta said, cleaning up all the supplies and moving the aftercare bag over to the register as Taeyong followed behind. “Is there anything else I can interest you in?” Yuta asks and can’t help but chuckle to himself at using his customer voice with Taeyong. Taeyong as well lets out a soft laugh and peers around the place again, the clips still in his hair catching Yuta’s attention and he points them out. “How about some hairclips? We also have headbands if that’s your thing.”

 

“Oh, I look like my sister with these on!” Taeyong laughed and made cute little noises as he posed in front of mirror on the counter, causing Yuta to laugh as well.

 

“You do?”

 

“Mhm,” Taeyong faced back to him with a bright smile. “If my hair was just a bit longer I bet I could pass as her!”

 

“You’re prettier,” Yuta hears himself say before he can fully register it and has to refrain from screaming at his slip up.

 

Taeyong doesn’t seem fazed and raises a challenging brow at Yuta playfully. “Oh yeah? You haven’t even met my sister.”

 

Yuta doesn’t know what confidence took over him in that moment, but he continued, “Doesn’t matter, you’d out beat anyone, especially with your new piercings.”

 

“Is that so?” Taeyong tilted his head with a smirk, angling it in a way that reminded Yuta of a cat and he felt his breath catch.

 

Now. Now would be the perfect time to ask Taeyong out. He just needed to get the words out.

 

“I…”

 

“Yeah?” Taeyong pressed, leaning closer into Yuta’s space.

 

Yuta didn’t get to continue as he heard the familiar jingle of the store bell followed by Kunhang walking in with a cheery “hey guys! Sorry I’m a bit late.”

 

Yuta shook his head while smiling, half because of relief, and half because he’s used to Kunhang always being late. “It’s fine.” When he faced back to Taeyong he no longer was as close and had removed the clips. Yuta knew whatever moment they were having was gone.

 

“I should probably go…” Taeyong says, smiling at Kunhang in greeting then back to Yuta. “How much was it?”

 

Yuta did a quick calculation in his head. “$15.00 with the discount.”

 

“Wow, that’s not bad,” Taeyong mused, pulling out his wallet and handing over his card.

 

Yuta hands it back after the transaction goes through and slides the aftercare bag to him. “In here is your piercing cleaner. Make sure to soak a cotton ball in it and lightly dab around the piercing three times a day. Don’t forget this, okay?” Yuta then retrieved a small spray bottle from below the counter. “And this is an antiseptic spray. Use this to prevent the piercing from being infected.” Taeyong nodded attentively and Yuta slipped it inside the bag, satisfied. “Okay…well, um see you later?”

 

Taeyong took the bag and grins reassuringly at him, easing Yuta a bit but not entirely squashing down the disappointment he was feeling. “Mhm, see ya!”

 

When Yuta was sure Taeyong was out of sight he dropped his head down on the counter with a soft groan. His face blooming red as what happened finally caught up to him fully. Holy !

 

Kunhang, for his part, stared at Yuta’s crumpled figure and the space Taeyong had occupied moments ago. “Did I interrupt something?” he asked, having never seen Yuta looking so dazed and flustered before.

 

“Hm?”

 

“It’s just,” Kunhang waves his hand around. “The atmosphere between you guys was kind of weird—like sparks were getting ready to fly.”

 

Yuta chuckled and shook his head. “It’s cool. It’s progress, I think. I’m sure the guys will be happy to hear about this.” 

 

✿✿✿✿

 

Jungwoo, however, was not impressed. “Sooooo you’re telling me you guys had a moment, you even pierced his ears,” he paused to slurp his drink noisily. “And you still didn’t ask him out? I hate to say it but you really are becoming hopeless, Yuta.”

 

Yuta sighed and looked over at Johnny for help but only received a disappointed headshake. “Look, you try to—”

 

“And another thing!” Jungwoo interrupted, a sly smile on his face. Yuta sat back in his chair throwing his head back while closing his eyes in annoyance. “Actually, I don’t have another thing to say. I just wanted to interrupt you.”

 

Johnny snorted into his drink and Yuta tilted his head forward again while opening one eye to glare at his friends across from him. It had been a long shift before Yuta’s break, and he knew when he got back there was going to be a cluster of girls lined for the dreaded ‘3 for 3’ deal.

 

“Can we talk about something other than my apparently amusing love life guys.” Jungwoo smiled sharply and opened his mouth. “Or lack of,” Yuta corrects and Jungwoo closed his mouth as a soft pout came across his face.

 

Johnny sighed and placed a hand on Yuta’s shoulder. “You’ll get another chance, man. One without any interruptions.”

 

Yuta groaned, the sound of his head thumping against the table. “Maybe…” It’s not that Yuta was shy or afraid to ask Taeyong out, far from it, he just didn’t know how to go about it. With Taeyong, Yuta for once found himself in uncharted territory. He was so much more than Yuta imagined him to be and he couldn’t mess this up. “What should I do?”

 

“You can start by picking your head back up. It’s not healthy no matter how hard-headed you are.” Johnny tells him.

 

“Not to mention who knows how clean these tables even are,” Jungwoo adds in, making a disgusted face and quickly apologizing at the frown Johnny shoots him.

 

Yuta remained with his head down as their table fell silent for a moment, all three lost in their own thoughts on how to help him out.

 

“I got it!” Johnny snapped his fingers and looked at his friends. “You should invite Taeyong to go bowling with us tonight.”

 

Yuta lifted his head back up. “That’s today?”

 

Johnny nodded with a grin, “it is Thursday.”

 

Yuta thought it over. He hadn’t ever asked Taeyong to hang outside of work and while his friends would still be around and serve as a bumper if anything went wrong, Yuta was excited at the opportunity this provided for them to get closer. “I’ll do it, I’ll ask him.”

 

“Ask who what?” A voice behind Yuta makes him jump a few inches in his chair, holding a hand to his chest.

 

Turning around in his seat, he finds Taeyong and Doyoung standing behind their table holding their own drinks. Having been the one who spoke, Taeyong smiled warmly at them while Doyoung gave a nod of acknowledgement. “Is it okay if we sit with you guys?”

 

“Sure—”

 

“Except for Doyoung!” Jungwoo said, ignoring the puzzled looks from everyone else and stood up abruptly from his seat. “I totally forgot,” he spoke as he pulled his jacket up over his shoulders, “I need to grab something from your car hyung.”

 

Doyoung frowned and looked at Jungwoo confusedly. “And you couldn’t tell me this earlier?”

 

Jungwoo sent a subtle glare at Doyoung while speaking again, “Don’t worry, we’ll be back before break’s over.” He looked back at Johnny and the two shared a look that Yuta was sure he wasn’t supposed to catch, as Jungwoo dragged a complaining Doyoung away.

 

Taeyong stared after the two till they were out of the store and then faced back to Johnny and Yuta. “That was…weird.”

 

“That’s just Jungwoo for you,” Yuta shrugged, Taeyong hummed in agreement and sat down on one of the empty seats.

 

Johnny’s phone vibrated on the table and he had only managed to read the first few lines of the message before the doors swung open with Donghyuck who raised his cup, empty and full of melting ice, and shook it rapidly as he approached the counter. “Johnny, refill please!”

 

Yuta and Taeyong held their breathes and watched Johnny’s reaction, half curious and half fearful. “Right,” Johnny straightened up begrudgingly while putting on a tight smile and slipping his phone into his back pocket. “Better get back to work.” He walked to the counter where Donghyuck stood waiting expectedly, the two talking in hushed whispers.

 

Now alone, the two sat awkwardly with their drinks. It didn’t take a genius to catch on to what his friends had done, giving him and Taeyong a moment alone, so swallowing down his nerve, Yuta cleared his throat to catch Taeyong’s attention.

 

“Your piercings look good,” he decided to acknowledge first.

 

Taeyong smiled and touched his still sensitive ears, they were a little red but didn’t appear to look infected. “Thanks, I got them done yesterday by this cool-looking guy. Gave me a discount and everything.”

 

Yuta grinned. “Oh really? How generous of him.” The two chuckled at his comment, gazes meeting contently and giving Yuta the push to ask, “Hey…do you have any plans tonight?”

 

Taeyong, surprised by the sudden question, took a second to reply. “I mean, it is Thursday so not really. Why?”

 

“Uh, a bunch of us are going bowling later, it’s kind of a thing that Jaehyun and Johnny started every Thursday night that we all got roped into. Would you like to come with m-me?” Yuta stuttered a little at the end but can’t hear over the pounding of his heart.

 

Taeyong on the other hand looked absolutely delighted, his eyes practically sparkled as he nodded eagerly. “I would love to!”

 

“You would?” Yuta exhaled the breath he wasn’t aware he was holding and smiled. “Great! We usually start around 9, do you want to meet up there or I pick you up?”

 

“Like on your bike?”

 

“Oh right,” Yuta backtracked. “I know not everyone is comfortable on those, uh—”

 

Taeyong interrupted, head shaking frantically. “No, no, I’m up for it!”

 

“You are?” Yuta asked coolly, trying not to sound too excited at the thought of having Taeyong cling to him on his bike.

 

“Yeah, I never been on one but I’m all yours.”

 

Yours… Yuta felt like he was floating on clouds at hearing that. “Great!” he repeated. “It’s a date!” Yuta’s badly concealed happiness made Taeyong chuckle.

 

“It’s a date,” Taeyong confirms.

 

They arranged for Yuta to come over to Taeyong’s place around 8 so they could eat dinner there, Taeyong insisting he’d cook even as Yuta protested he didn’t have to, then after drive over to the bowling alley. By the time they were done discussing their plans, Yuta’s break was over but he didn’t even care what awaited him back at work, too filled with excitement for tonight.