Jongdae looks up as he hears the sliding doors whoosh open. It's him again. Regular as clockwork. He comes to the store every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon, at precisely 1.45 pm. Jongdae tries to keep his eyes on the manhwa he's got spread open on the counter but it's a struggle. Noblesse is one of his favorites, but Jongdae's eyes are always drawn to the attractive golden-skinned stranger. 

He always heads straight to the candy section of the convenience store, removes two boxes of strawberry flavored Pocky from the rack and walks straight to the cashier counter, where he pays for the Pocky, and then leaves. He never buys anything else, just the Pocky. He always smiles at Jongdae when he gives him the money and nods shyly when Jongdae returns his change. He always wears hoodies that hang real nice on his slim broad-shouldered body, and fitted workout pants that cling just right to his long, lean legs. White hoodie on Mondays. Gray on Wednesdays. Black on Fridays. He's wearing a light gray one today. Not that Jongdae notices or anything. 

The man's shy smiles are the highlight of Jongdae's Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Not that Jongdae would ever admit to that.

Pocky Guy is standing across from him and slides the usual two boxes of strawberry Pocky onto the counter. Jongdae scans the barcode on thew items, one box, two boxes, three boxes, four ... Wait, four boxes?

"There are four boxes." Jongdae frowns.

"Yes, I wanted four boxes." Pocky Guy says carefully. He looks a little weirded out.

"But you always get two boxes." Jongdae explains and groans inwardly because he did not just make himself sound like a stalker for God's sake.

"You remember? I'm ... I wasn't expecting that." He gives an awkward smile. Jongdae likes how he's so incredibly good looking and yet so shy. It does such things to him.

"It's just you do it so regularly and it's always two boxes so it kinda stuck." Nice save, Jongdae, he congratulates himself. 

"Today's extra special so I got an extra two boxes," he smiles mysteriously and the smile reaches his brown eyes.

"I don't mean to be rude but ... Do you eat all that Pocky yourself? I mean, it's a hella lot of Pocky to eat in one week? Like don't you get hyper? Or get cavities or something?" Jongdae asks in as casual a tone as he can manage considering he's actually been dying of curiosity for weeks. He's rewarded with a series of warm chuckles that make Jongdae think of sticky butterscotch.

"Heck no! I'd have diabetes if I ate that much candy," Pocky Guy is still laughing and it's making Jongdae feel like there are bugs zipping around his insides.

"So who eats those monster amounts of strawberry Pocky?"

"I teach jazz ballet at the studio upstairs from you. And on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I teach a class of ten year olds. They're really um ... restless? So I give them the Pocky as a treat when they concentrate and execute their moves well." He has such a posh way of saying 'execute', Jongdae thinks dreamily. Also he's a dance instructor and that's just made him 10,000 times more attractive. 

"Why four boxes today?"

"There was a recital last night and my kids did really well so I'm giving them an extra  treat today."

"That's nice. Their moms will probably wanna kill you though because all that sugar y'know? But I'm sure the kids will love you." Sometimes Jongdae wishes he had a delete button so he could erase dumb he says.

"I'm sure I'm on their list already anyway from the usual weekly dose of Pocky I give the kids. What's a few more Pocky?" He grins mischievously and it's Jongdae's turn to laugh.

"That's bulletproof logic, I can't argue with that. I'm Jongdae, by the way. Do you have a name because Pocky Guy is a real mouthful?" Wow, smooth, Jongdae, real smooth. Jongdae kicks himself mentally for being so totally obvious.

"I'm Jongin. It's nice to meet you, Jongdae." His smile is just a touch shy and the bugs in Jongdae's tummy start flying around again.

"I was thinking, Jongin ... i finish my shift at 5 and I usually grab a snack and some coffee at the cafe across the road. If you're still around the area and you wanna join me ...?"

"Are you asking me out?" Jongin raises his eyebrows.

"Oh my God, is it that obvious?"

"It was obvious from the moment you mentioned that I usually get two boxes of Pocky." Jongin looks and sounds amused.

"I have no skills. Ugh." Jongdae covers his face with his hands theatrically.

"I never said that. I'll see you at 5 then. I've gotta go. My kids ... Later, Jongdae." 

And Jongdae watches, mouth agape as Jongin walks elegantly to the door with his four boxes of strawberry Pocky.

A/N: 821 words! I did it! I wrote something under 1k /does cartwheels