[A/N: HAHAHHAHA! I am so sorry for the inappropriate chapter photo, but I really couldn't find anything else that would fit while not giving away what happens xD]

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Lying next to him again, Minseok thought about what Luhan had just said. He couldn’t for the life of him imagine what Luhan had lied about, but the fact that he had told him had got to mean something, he reasoned. Why admit to a lie, even if he didn’t clear it up, and then try to give him a small warning, or explanation for the lie, if he didn’t really mean he couldn’t tell him? And he wasn’t exactly in a position to judge, it’s not like he was being entirely honest himself. He didn’t lie, but he didn’t let Luhan know about his secrets either, so he couldn’t be mad at Luhan for doing the same – at least Luhan was man enough to let him know that there was something going on. What had Minseok done? He had snapped, yelled at and thrown out his best friend. He felt ty thinking about it and his stomach twisted painfully at the memory of both his own words and Luhan’s face. He truly was an idiot. The short, satisfied sigh that escaped from the sleeping blonde next to him finally brought Minseok out of his daze, and he rolled over to his side, praising the gods for his luck to once again get the opportunity to stare at the boy as much as his heart desired. And wow, did his heart desire it! The sun was up now, so he could see every mole and crinkle in Luhan’s skin perfectly, and the burning ache to touch him appeared again. When he had rolled over he had automatically come a bit closer to the other, but he hadn’t been prepared for Luhan to roll over too, so when he did Minseok found himself choking on his heart as they were placed mere inches away from each other, the other’s gorgeous face incredibly close to himself. The soft breaths of the sleeping beauty kept hitting his face like warm gusts of wind during summer, and he was so breathtakingly beautiful Minseok felt tears well up in his eyes.
“, why did I have to fall for you?” He whispered the words so softly not even a dog could hear it. Suddenly he felt his hand move and he carefully his friend’s hair out of his face, embracing every slight touch he got of the other’s skin. Moving his hand back to his own body, tucking it under his chin, he felt the warm trickle of tears stream down his cheek and down onto the bed. Afraid Luhan would wake up and see him he turned around and let the tears fall more freely. He wasn’t usually the type to cry, but a mixture of the shame he felt over his behaviour, his heart aching for the boy behind him, the beauty he was so mesmerised by, and the pain of neither of them being able to tell the other about their lives suddenly became too much. He did his very best to muffle his sobs and calm his crying, and after a very long time he felt dizzy and tired when his eyes were sore and his bed was wet. Some small sobs still escaped him as he were falling asleep, and without warning a strong arm wrapped itself around him, and someone’s warm body pressed itself against his back. He wasn’t sure if Luhan knew he was crying, or if Luhan was even awake, but despite the surprise of the action, he was so tired and shameful and yet so happy about the touch he just accepted it and let himself drift away, feeling Luhan’s warm breath on his neck as they slept lying closely together.

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“HOW DID YOUR DATE GO???” Both Luhan and I shouted the words, overly eager to hear everything about his Saturday as Jongdae entered the café Monday morning. A little taken by surprise, the confident trickster haltered in his steps and looked at us both, but replied with a giant, secretive smirk.
“Oh no, no, no, no,” Luhan insisted.
“You’re going to tell us aaaaaaaallllllll about it,” I continued and grabbed Jongdae’s shoulders, leading him over to a table.
“I’m sorry hyung, but my lips are sealed.” We casted curious glances at each other. Jongdae would usually be the first to spill everything about both his own and other’s romantic and or ual adventures, so when he refused to reply we were both a little surprised and also quite intrigued.
“Oooooooh,” we mocked in a choir.
“Did SHE seal them,” Luhan asked jokingly, emphasising the word ‘she’ – indicating that there might have been a kiss.
“Sorry, I’m not saying another word,” Jongdae replied, raised his hands in defensive manner and walked out into the changing room with a huge smirk on his face. Luhan and I just stared at each other for a moment.
“Ooooooooooooooooooh,” we sang again and followed after the younger, ruffling his hair and giving him friendly punches while he changed into his uniform.
“What’s going on in here?” We all jumped back in surprise as none of us had heard Chanyeol enter the café.
“Chanyeol,” Luhan yelped.
“You’ve got to help us out man!”
“What’s up?” He eyed us all confused.
“Jongdae had a date and he is refusing to tell us anything about it,” I explained.
“YOU MEAN SHE SHOWED UP? REALLY? SHE CAME?” Chanyeol threw himself over Jongdae, rubbing his head with his knuckles.
“HOW WAS IT? DUDE, DID YOU LIKE HER? DID SHE LIKE YOU? ARE YOU GOING TO MEET HER AGAIN?” Jongdae just laughed and pushed the giant off.
“Sweet baby Jesus, can’t I keep anything to myself anymore,” he mocked and ruffled his friend’s hair back.
“Dude, you’ve got to tell me! She’s my cousin! I need to know something!”
“YOUR COUSIN??” Both Luhan and I shouted in surprise. The fact that Chanyeol had been the one to set Jongdae up on a date hadn’t been very surprising, but this information caught us off guard. Chanyeol however just grinned and rubbed his neck.
“Well, yeah. She’s a good girl and all and she’s been nagging me to help her find someone for ages now. I wasn’t really going to, but she seemed more and more like Jongdae’s type the more I thought about it, so in the end I couldn’t help myself. If they are as perfect for each other as they seem then who am I to stand in the way of love? She is cute though, right?” He turned to Jongdae hopefully.
“…Yeah, she’s cute alright.” His grin was genuine and his eyesmile so precious.
“YES!” Chanyeol’s happiness was obvious as he struck the air with his fist, and Luhan and I couldn’t help but continue our teasing choir and we ran over to poke the little devil as we continued to sing “Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!” at him.
It wasn’t until around 6PM when I finally got the time to sit back and relax a bit. Sehun had arrived around 4PM as usual and the day had gone by quietly with secretly exchanged glances between the two young lovers, and friendly teasing of the secretive boy about his date. All of a sudden I felt a warmth spread inside me as I looked on to my co-workers as they were cleaning and chatting and laughing, making orders and serving customers. Somehow the dynamics of this workplace had become warmer and more like a family home than a simple café where we worked, and this incredible happiness spread inside me as I realised how content I was with my situation and the development of our friendships. I suddenly felt so grateful for having them in my life and so appreciative of their presence in my world. This was it, I realised. I had been working so hard for so long, I had been longing for the better and here is was. No matter what happened next I would never give this up, I thought to myself. I have worked so hard for this and no one had done this for me – the struggle had been tough, but without anyone to help me I had no choice but to become my own damn hero. It wasn’t until I finished my thoughts that I realised Luhan was looking at me looking at them, smiling warmly at me. I returned his smile and ignored the slightly aching feeling I got inside whenever I looked at him.
“So, I actually have some extra time today,” Sehun slowly began, leaning against the counter and stared at his crush.
“So I was thinking that maybe we could, possibly, try making some more coffee?” I looked over at Luhan who in return just smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if to accept the situation. Chanyeol spent a good few minutes pretending he wasn’t sure if he wanted to, joking that his trainee was unfocused and didn’t try very hard, before giving in and admitting that he both had time and thought it was a good idea.
“Luhan, will you wait for me here at the café, or do you want to go straight to my place while I’m working,” I asked loudly, making an excuse for Luhan’s continued presence after closing hours when the others were supposed to go home.
“Could I wait for you here?” He played along nicely.
“Sure! Will you keep me company in the office while Chanyeol and Sehun are working?”
“Yeah,” he smiled relieved and joined me inside the small room. The door closed and we looked at each other, smiling smugly at our little, clever play, while also remembering the last time we were locked in there as the two boys were… making coffee. Luhan quietly packed a bag with some of his stuff and tidied up while I sat down and did my job. There were a lot of letters today and things took longer than they used to, but Luhan sat quietly and waited for me. Right before we were about to leave, the phone rang.
“Hyung?!?” He sounded out of breath, and worry struck me right away.
“Joonmyun-ah? What’s going on?” It was obvious he was running.
“…I found her.” My heart sank through the bottom of my shoes.
“You… Found her?” I didn’t realise until now that he was crying too.
“Yes. No. Almost. She is here. I didn’t see her. I couldn’t. I don’t know what to do. What do I do, hyung??” He was sobbing now, desperate for help.
“Come home, Joonmyun-ah. Leave her.”
“…But I can’t. You know I can’t!” His crying was breaking my heart and I felt so helpless. Luhan stared at me concerned and I suddenly felt the urge to be close to him.
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” The words were hardly whispers.
“I was stupid for going after her,” he sobbed.
“Yes you were,” I agreed.
“I want to come home,” he cried.
“But you can’t,” I said.
“I can’t.”
“…Will you go see her?”
“…No.”
“Are you sure she is there?”
“I think she left when she heard I was around.”
“I see.” There was a long silence.
“I miss you hyung.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“Okay.”
“I hate her.”
“I know.”
“I’ll wait for you to come home.”
“I’ll hurry, hyung.”
“Okay.” And then he hung up. I sat there and listened to the tone for a while, feeling the nausea at the thought of her settle a bit before I put the phone back and got up from my chair. Luhan was standing by the door, looking at me with worry as I approached him, stumbling a little as my head felt like it was filled with cotton. Instinctively I wrapped my arms around his neck, ignoring his surprise and pulled him close to me. A little hesitant Luhan placed his arms around me and succumbed to satisfying my need to feeling him hugging me tightly. Slowly my head cleared up and all the bad feelings went away, as if his hug was squeezing it all out of me. Without warning he suddenly adjusted himself and pulled me even closer, pressing us tightly together in a possessive hug, and I nuzzled my face against his neck feeling myself calm down in his presence, while somewhere back in my head wondering how he felt about all of this – what he heard of the phone conversation and my sudden crave for physical affection.
“Oh!” He suddenly exclaimed and I pulled a bit away from him, careful not to leave his arms, to see what he was reacting to. His eyes were huge, staring out through the window in the door, and curiously I followed his gaze outside.
“OH,” I replied as my eyes fell on Chanyeol being pinned to a chair by Sehun sitting on his lap, pressing his tongue against the giant’s throat, his hands exploring the taller’s dark hair and over his chest, while Chanyeol’s hands were firmly grabbing onto the younger’s . We both found ourselves staring at them for a while, but as Sehun’s hand approached Chanyeol’s crotch we quickly moved further into the office and away from the window, worried we would see something we shouldn’t. It took a while before I realised none of us had let go of our hold on the other, despite moving around like that, and I felt happy in his arms and confident enough to let my head sink to rest on his chest.
“They must have forgotten we were still here,” I whispered, suddenly worried the two outside would hear us.
“I’m envious,” Luhan replied.
“Of their bad memory,” I question puzzled, obviously joking, but Luhan wasn’t amused. Instead he looked down at me with a stern look, his eyes burning their way into my soul as I looked up and returned his gaze.
“Are you envious of them,” he asked in a low voice, before turning us around so my back met the wall and he pressed himself against me. His gaze was still locked with mine as he came closer, pinning me against the wall. I was so surprised at this sudden action that my mouth fell open and our breaths mingled in what little air was between us. With his body pressed against mine, my heart raced like crazy and just as I croaked a hoarse “Yes,” I felt sure he was going to kiss me. A loud clank and a thud suddenly pulled our attention to the café, and the faint cried of pain had us instinctively run outside only to find Chanyeol lying on the ground next to a fallen chair, and Sehun clinging to a table, holding on to his shin in pain.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Are you okay?” Luhan asked at the same time.
“Yeah, don’t worry,” Chanyeol croaked in between huffs of pain.
“I just fell over in my chair and hit Sehun’s leg in the fall,” he piped before he got up and rubbed a painful spot at the back of his head.
“You okay bro,” he asked the younger boy, who in return just nodded and tried standing on his leg. After assuring ourselves that they were both alright, we quickly went back to the office, grabbed our things, said good night and left for my place. While walking like that, side by side, my mind was desperately working to figure out what had happened in the office before the interruption – or rather, what could have happened. I felt confused, but suddenly a bit more positive. Had we really been about to kiss? I felt like smiling and crying at the same time, but my heart felt a little lighter at the thought of the possibility. And what exactly had I just said? I felt my heart anxiously awaiting what lied ahead – ready and on edge, my mind buzzing with fear and delight at getting to spend the evening with Luhan at my apartment again. Had I just then somehow confessed?