Zhang Yixing is not the type to dislike people. He considers himself to be someone that gets along fairly well with others. He doesn’t have problems with others and in return, they don’t have problems with him. He works hard to prevent trouble and in return, he earns a peaceful life.

And then his boss hires a new employee and disrupts that peace.

-

Wu Yifan is a .

Sometimes Yixing admits that he loves Wufan and will be his bro no matter what, but at other times, he just wants to strangle the life out of the same boy he came to be best friends with.

Wufan conflicts him.

 Friends are, he assumes, supposed to bring good things to their friends. They should be making their friends happy, not ruin their life by hiring an annoying employee that s up the flow of their life.

Yixing concludes that Wufan is not that great of a friend.

-

“Fire him.”

Wufan looks up lazily from his magazine and gives Yixing his infamous face. It’s not really his fault for always looking like no one loves him (which isn’t too far from the truth); it’s just how his normal face looks.

“No.”

Yixing frowns. He crosses his arms and shifts his weight onto his other leg. “And why not?”

“Because I don’t see a reason to.”

Wufan finds it amusing how quick Yixing jaw drops even after the countless times that they’ve had this conversation. It has gotten pretty old, but he likes seeing Yixing get all bothered, so it’s okay.

“There’s every reason to!” Yixing clicks his tongue and starts to pace the small, ridiculously small, area around the cash register. “He’s snarky.”

“You’re snarky.” Wufan retorts, going back to his magazine on BB Cream.

“He’s a smart .”

“You’re a smart .”

“He’s too young.”

“You’re both twenty one.”

“He’s a prick.”

“You’re a prick.”

“You piss me off.”

“I love you, too.”

Yixing groans out loud and Wufan chuckles a bit at his friend.

“You seem to have all the answers.”

“And you seem to have all the questions.”

Yixing glares at Wufan and hopes that it’s strong enough to poke a hole into his head and possibly knock some sense into the stupid Canadian boy.

“Why did you hire him in the first place?” Yixing is exhausted and finds refuge on the granite counter. The rock is cool and Yixing finds it comforting.

“For the-” Wufan pauses to count on his fingers. “-eighth time, I needed a replacement for Zitao.”

“Why didn’t you confide in me before hiring him?”

“Because I am the boss and you are the waiter.”

“And I’m also the best friend that you’re going to lose if you don’t fire him!”

Wufan stares at Yixing blankly. “I can afford to lose one friend.”

“Yah!” Yixing smacks the latter upside the head and earns the attention of everyone in the café.

They all ignore the two however, because this has happened eight times and they all have gotten quite used to it.

“I don’t see why you’re so bothered by him.” Wufan rubs the part on his head that took on the impact and does not appreciate Yixing as his best friend at the moment.

“I don’t like him!”

“Well, that’s not obvious in any way.”

“I don’t appreciate the sarcasm.”

Wufan rolls his eyes and stands to stretch. “Well, deal with it. He’ll be here until Zitao comes back from vacation.”

“A month of vacation is a ridiculously long amount of time. You’re playing favorites.”

“So what if I am?” Wufan is smirking. “Zitao is my favorite.”

The shorter boy mocks vomit at his best friend and receives a shove in return.

“Of all people, why him?”

“Because he’s the only one with enough experience to take over Zitao’s job.”

“All Zitao does is bake cakes. Even I can do that.”

“Bull . Junior year. Third period. Foods class.”

Yixing recalls his high school years and vaguely remembers something about baking cupcakes that went aflame big enough that required the assistance of the fire department. He shivers at the memory and cowers over in defeat.

 “How about this, if you can find a legit reason for me to fire Junmyeon, with proof, then I’ll fire him.”

Yixing springs back to life, a gleam of determination glistens in Yixing’s eyes and Wufan thinks that he knows why Junmyeon bothers Yixing so much. He’ll leave it to his best friend to find out for himself though.

After about a few seconds of them both just standing there, Yixing jumps up and points up into the air.

“Aha! I’ve got it!”

Wufan quirks a questioning brow at his friend.

“He’s a thief!”

And now Wufan wants to walk away.

He ends up standing there anyways.

“So tell me, what did he steal?”

There is a long silence between them and Yixing realizes that he doesn’t really know.

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll find out and show you!”

With that, Yixing runs off to spy on the new pastry chef.

-

Junmyeon isn’t the type to work well under pressure. He doesn’t work well under an audience either, especially when that audience is squatting down behind the table he is currently working on with only their eyes and top of the head poking out. He drops his frosting spatula and looks straight at the pair of eyes that are glowering at him.

“Yixing. May I ask what you’re doing?” He’s not bothered in any sense, but more amused. He finds it very entertaining and he likes entertainment.

“I’m watching you.”

“I see that, but may I ask why?”

“I’m trying to find dirt on you.”

“…okay?” Junmyeon finds the boy in front of him very confusing. “But why?”

“I need to find evidence that you’re a thief so I can get you fired.”

To say he isn’t surprised by the straightforward reply would be understatement. It would also be a lie if he said that it didn’t hurt him a little. Or a lot.

“But I’m not a thief.” He decides that he should try to at least defend himself.

“Yes you are.” Yixing stands up fully now and brushes at his clothes. “You took something from me.”

Taken aback, Junmyeon tries hard to figure out what it is that he took from Yixing. He has just started working at the café for about a week and would have known if he had taken something from Yixing.

He ends up with nothing.

“I can’t recall what it is I took from you. Are you sure it wasn’t taken by someone else?”

“No. I know you took it.”

“How do you know?” It’s just not possible for him to not remember something this important.

“Because, every time I look at your face, I get all bothered. Your voice pisses me off because they sound like in’ angels. Your face is too perfect and that smile, that stupid smile. Whenever I see it, it gets harder to breathe. So you really must’ve stolen from me because I really hate your guts right now.”

Junmyeon takes a moment to piece everything together and is grinning so hard it almost hurts. He finally sees what Yixing obviously doesn’t and he can’t help but find the café’s only waiter super adorable.

“I see. Well, I hope you figure out what it is that I stole from you soon. In the meantime-” The pastry chef pulls a stool over to Yixing and places it beside the boy who is watching him like a hawk. “-please sit here instead of crouching over there. I don’t usually allow people to watch me bake, but I’ll make an exception for you.” He winks at Yixing and goes back to working.

Yixing, in his special seat, finds another reason for him to hate the new hire.

-

It’s Junmyeon’s last week of work and still, Yixing is at point zero. Every morning, he’ll sit on his stool and watch Junmyeon bake the day’s batch of cakes and other sweet pastries. He takes notice of the way Junmyeon’s hands move as he kneads the dough; gentle but firm. He also notes the way Junmyeon sticks out his tongue as he concentrates icing the cake and then decorating it with fruits. Those mornings have become a fun time for Yixing as the two would engage in light conversation and he learns that Junmyeon likes to sing on his free time and even gets the chance to hear the boy sing. Yixing still tells Junmyeon that he doesn’t like the latter, but he will admit that Junmyeon has the voice of an angel. He comes to look forward to each morning and even shows up to work early instead of an hour late. He finds his time in the kitchen relaxing and he soon forgets his initial motive.

That is, until Wufan reminds him one fine afternoon.

“Figured out what he stole yet?”

“Hm?” Yixing looks at Wufan confused for a moment before it all comes rushing back to him. “! I totally forgot!”

Wufan laughs at his friend, but he can’t really put blame on the other. Yixing has always been one to be forgetful in everything he does. That is probably why Wufan, in a way, became his personal reminder.

“It doesn’t matter any way.” Wufan yawns and scratches at his side. “I’m firing him today.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, today is his last day since Zitao will be coming back tomorrow. So you won’t have to deal with his annoying self anymore. Isn’t that great?”

Wufan knows that he shouldn’t, but he feels that he should tease his friend a little bit. Besides, Yixing is a little airheaded and sometimes, he just needs that little push to help him move things along.

“You can’t!” Yixing nearly drops the tray in his hands, but manages to catch it in time.

“But I thought you said you didn’t like him and wanted me to get fired.”

“I did, but-” Yixing doesn’t quite understand why he’s feeling so troubled at the thought of not being able to spend his mornings in the kitchen with the pastry chef. “I don’t know. You just can’t!”

“That’s not enough for me not to fire him.” Wufan likes to be mean. “Besides, shouldn’t you want this? You’ve been trying to get him fired for weeks.”

“I know, but I haven’t figured out what he stole yet!”

“Well, now you don’t need to anymore.” Wufan pats Yixing’s shoulders, walking past the smaller boy, hiding away his smirk.

“But-” Yixing really feels like crying because his heart is constricting so much it’s suffocating him.

And then it hits him like a baseball to the face. He likes Junmyeon. He feels pretty stupid for mistaking his feelings of like for feelings of hate, but he can’t be blamed because he has never experienced something like this.

“If you fire him, we’re no longer friends.”

Wufan whips his head back and looks at Yixing like he is out of his ing mind (which he kind of is) and needs to reassure himself that he heard Yixing correctly. And then he sees the faint blush on Yixing’s cheeks along with the gloss of tears in his eyes and realizes that Yixing has finally come to terms with his feelings.

“So we’re keeping Junmyeon?”

“You bet your we are.”

-

“Give it back.”

Junmyeon puts the last piece to the cake he is currently finishing up in place and gives Yixing his undivided attention. Yixing is looking at him with a scowl and what looks like a pout, but he is unsure because it also looks like a frown.

“Give it back.” Yixing repeats holding his hand out; expecting Junmyeon to understand exactly what he is talking about.

Junmyeon his head to one side adorably and Yixing feels like shoving the boy into a wall.

“Give me back what you stole from me.”

Junmyeon chuckles at the cuteness that is Yixing and decides to play along.

“You’re forgetting that I don’t know what it is that I stole from you. Why don’t you remind me?’

Yixing is back to hating Junmyeon’s guts, but he still wants Junmyeon to give him back his stolen item. Because , he needs it to live.

“You stole my heart, I want it back.”

Unable to help the grin creeping its way on his face, Junmyeon just pulls Yixing into a hug and holds him there, wishing that he could do so forever.

“You finally figured it out, huh?”

Yixing, though repulsed by the sudden contact, doesn’t push Junmyeon away because, strangely enough, he doesn’t find Junmyeon as annoying as he did a month ago.

“I had to; Wufan was planning on firing you today.”

“No he wasn’t.”

Yixing finally pulls away and is demanding some answers.

“Well, he told me that you like me and instructed me to keep it a secret until you figured it out for yourself.”

At the mention of the word “like”, Yixing’s emotional defenses are immediately activated, putting him on the defensive.

“I don’t like you.”

Junmyeon smiles at Yixing and pats Yixing’s curly brown locks.

“But I like you.”

It is almost insane how red Yixing’s cheeks can turn in a matter of seconds, but Junmyeon finds it endearing. Yixing deems that their current situation is getting a little awkward and he is in drastic danger of saying more unnecessary things, so he does the first thing that comes to mind.

He tries to escape.

“I’m leaving now and I expect you to return my heart to me the next time I see you.” He turns to leave, but of course, is quickly stopped.

“Sorry, but I can’t return it to you.”

Yixing is about to snap at Junmyeon for being stupid and that you should return things that you took from others without their permission, but he isn’t allowed to because Junmyeon continues.

“But I can give you something else.”

Junmyeon pushes something towards Yixing and Yixing takes a look at it and feels his face grow a thousand shades redder. There, sitting in front of him is the cake that Junmyeon had worked on before. Cakes generally didn’t make Yixing blush, that would be weird. But when a cake is made in the shape of a heart, decorated with heart shape strawberries, with the words “Kim Junmyeon’s Heart” scripted at the center; it gives a person a very good reason to blush.

“I can’t give you back your heart, but you can have mine.”

Yixing smiles a little at the most beautiful cake he has ever seen (and later the most delicious) and decides that it is an acceptable exchange.

He takes it.