Song: Stay the Night by

Pairing: Xiuhan

Word Count: ~3000

Suggested By: Dayaxiuhan

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“He’s here again.”  Chen observed from behind the counter of the café, turning to Minseok who was back at the coffee machines.

“He is?”  Minseok asked, stepping away from the machines up to beside Chen behind the counter.

Chen nodded.  “You want to take him his order?”  He asked, turning to where Minseok had been standing only to find empty space.  He shook his head at the sight.  Minseok might say that he had no special feelings for the guy that showed up and sat in the corner of their 24 hour café every Friday night, but it was clear to anyone with eyes he did.

It had all started when the guy had fallen asleep in the corner and started shivering.  The shop always got a little cooler at night, and Minseok, feeling sorry for him, had scrounged around in the back until he found a blanket to throw across the guy’s shoulders as he lay asleep on the table.  As he carefully placed the blanket across his shoulders, Minseok’s eyes fell to the open page of the composition book in front of the guy, and, curiosity getting the better of him, he picked it up.

A quick glance at the front cover later, Minseok had a name, Luhan, and to Minseok’s surprise, a new obsession, because, the pages of the composition book were filled with the words of a story Minseok had never read before, and it only took two minutes for Minseok to be completely hooked on it.

Minseok had, perhaps not intelligently given the current market for literature majors, majored in literature in college, and after failing to find a job in editing, he had settled on working in the café with Chen, his long-time friend whose dad owned the place.  The pay was decent enough to make a living, and he liked the work, but as he read the pages before him, he instantly fell back into the mindset he’d had in college as he read and critiqued other people’s pieces. 

Suddenly, he was back behind the counter scrounging around for post-it notes so that he could leave a few comments, correct a couple grammatical mistakes, point out a few inconsistencies and tie everything off with a 'really interesting, what happens next?'  on the last of the written on pages in the book before slipping it back onto the table in front of Luhan, who was still asleep, and slipping away, his overnight shift ending at six in the morning after starting at ten the night before.

Kyungsoo, who worked mornings on Saturday, reported that Luhan had woken up that day around 6:30 as the morning business had picked up, and had embarrassedly returned the blanket and left the café without opening his notebook.  Minseok had kind of figured then that he might not be back based upon that report, but the very next Friday he was there.  He scribbled is his notebook for a couple hours while sipping on another large cup of coffee before finally falling asleep again.  This time, Minseok didn’t have to look for the blanket.

He was however, in for a surprise when, curiosity again getting the better of him, he picked up the notebook again.  Luhan had responded to most of his comments, asked for clarification on a few others, and corrected some of the grammatical errors Minseok had pointed out.  (Other’s he stubbornly argued were necessary to convey the correct effect and therefore didn’t want to change.)

The responses made Minseok smile, and he quickly set about answering Luhan’s questions before reading what was new and providing feedback on that as well before slipping the book back in front of Luhan’s sleeping form, leaving one single question Luhan had placed on the final written on page blank.

Who are you?

Minseok didn’t want to answer that.  He figured it’d be best to not tell Luhan that his story was being critiqued by a literature major who had only managed to find a job making coffee so instead he left it blank, and continued to leave it blank even as Luhan continued to put it on the last page of writing week after week.

It had been going on so long that Minseok had even started stocking color-coded sticky notes for different types of comments, purple for grammar, green for plot related, blue for characterization, and yellow for just general thoughts and comments.  He kept the different post-its, several pens and the blanket in his locker, always ready for Luhan’s arrival.

Chen had noticed, of course, but Minseok didn’t really care.  He just wanted to keep reading Luhan’s story and find out what happened next.  They were getting close to the end now, and reading the final developments was the highlight of Minseok’s week.

Therefore, when Chen announced Luhan’s arrival, Minseok pulled out the coffee he had already had at the ready, prepared just moments before Luhan’s always consistent 10:30 arrival, and walked over to his table to drop it off smile on his face.

“Your usual, correct?”  He asked as he stopped in front of Luhan’s corner table.

Luhan nodded.  “Yeah, thanks, and Minseok,” Minseok jumped slightly as his name passed Luhan’s lips.  He had asked for it a couple weeks back, so Minseok wasn’t sure why the sound still surprised him.  The words that were coming next sure didn’t, they were always the same, “Could you please try to see who reads my book while I’m asleep?  I know you were busy last week, but I’d really like to talk to them.”

Minseok nodded with a smile.  “Of course.  I’ll try to keep an eye out.”

He had struggled with that lie the first time he had said it, but now it flowed smoothly past his lips. 

Luhan just smiled and gave a small nod.  “Thanks.”

Then he turned his attention over to his notebook, taking a sip of his coffee before grabbing a pen and getting to work as Minseok returned to the counter.

“How long are you not going to tell him?”  Chen asked as Minseok swung back behind the counter.

Minseok shrugged.  “It’s not important.”

“But he wants to meet you.”  Chen insisted.

Minseok shook his head.  “No, he wants to meet an editor, not a coffee maker.”

“But you are an editor.”  Chen argued.

“No, I’m a coffee maker who edits,” Minseok responded as he pulled out another glass to prepare a different regular’s evening drink of choice. 

“Like that makes a difference,” Chen hissed as he took the cup from Minseok and handed it to the girl across the counter.

“It does,” Minseok insisted.  “I edit his stuff like I know everything, but it’s clear from his responses that he knows just as much, if not more.  It’d be embarrassing for both of us for me to admit that I’m the one who’s been offering him advice.”

Chen sighed and shook his head.  “I still say you’re dumb.”

Minseok shrugged.  “I don’t care.”

Chen sighed.  “I know.”

That evening, when Minseok picked up the book from the table once Luhan was asleep again, he was surprised to find that the question on the final page had changed.

What happens when this story ends?

Minseok had never really thought about that, but after a couple seconds he quickly scrawled down an answer.

You write another one.

It was that simple, or so he thought.  Then next week, Luhan’s response was.

But what if I don’t want to?

You have to.  You’re too good not to. 

Then the next week.

But what if I can’t because of my job?

Quit your job.  You could sell this.  I’d read it.

And the next week.

I can’t just quit my job.  I’m an editor.  My author’s rely on me.

Well, at least Minseok now had confimation that Luhan was smarter than him, but still.

They’ll just have to learn to rely on someone else.

And then, finally, as single word the week after.

Who?

Minseok stared at the single word question for several minutes.  It was a challenge, he was sure of it, and as he thought about Luhan deciding to not keep writing just because he didn’t feel he could trust anyone else with his work, Minseok whipped out a yellow sticky note and wrote down a single word.

Me.

He wasn’t brave enough to stick around to see Luhan’s reaction to reading that though.  He just decided to wait until next week, but, much to his surprise, he didn’t end up having to wait that long.  Monday afternoon, just as Minseok was getting off his shift, Luhan appeared, dressed in a suit with another, unknown person similarly dressed at his side.

Luhan directed the other person to his usual corner booth before walking over to the counter and saying, “We’d like two regular coffees, and Minseok,” Minseok looked up in surprise at his name, as usual, “when you’re done, come sit with us.”

Minseok swallowed thickly as Luhan turned away from the counter to prepare the order because Luhan knew.  Minseok didn’t know how, but he knew.

Kyungsoo, who was working with him that day, handed Minseok back the tray when he tried to pass it off to him to deliver.  “You just go ahead over there.  I can hold things down until the next shift arrives.”  Kyungsoo said with a smile.  Minseok sighed before turning with the tray and walking towards the table, understanding that Kyungsoo has already made up his mind and arguing would get him nowhere.

Minseok slid the two cups onto the table before sliding the tray onto the bench and then sitting down next to it. 

Luhan wasted no time in starting introductions.  “Minseok, this is Kris, and Kris, this is Minseok, my replacement.”

The guy named Kris eyed Minseok up and down for a second before turning to Luhan to ask.  “Are you sure he can do it?”

Luhan nodded.  “You read his edits.  He can do it.  I’d bet he could even win an argument with Tao, and you know, not many editors can do that.”

Kris nodded once.  “True.  So, what do you think?  Do you want to be an editor?”

“What?”  Minseok asked, completely lost.

“You were the one who wrote all these, right?”  Luhan asked as he pulled out a stack, a huge stack, of multicolored post-it notes.

Minseok nodded wordlessly, looking at the pile.  Luhan must have kept every single one.

“Then you said last Friday you’d do my job so I could write, and so here we are, I’m giving you my job so I can write.  Simple as that.”

“What?”  Minseok asked, still in shock.

Kris sighed.  “Look, I’ll let Luhan and you hammer out the details, just call me if you decide to take the offer.”

Luhan laughed as Kris got up from the table.  “I take it someone’s causing problems again?”

“I just got word before coming here that Sehun is trying to kill off one of his main characters half way through the trilogy, and I’m telling you Luhan, this guy better be able to handle him and Tao, because dealing with them during your sabbatical has just about driven me insane.”

Luhan laughed with a nod.  “He’ll be able to handle it, I promise.  Now get going, if you can stop Sehun from getting it from his story board to an actual rough draft, you might be able to change it.”

Kris gave a nod and disappeared

Minseok stared in shock for a few more seconds before breathing out, “You edit for Sehun and Tao?”  They had both had a few top sellers in the last couple years, and they were good.  Minseok had read all of them.

“Edited, and yes, unfortunately.  They’re both major pains in the , always wanting to kill off characters prematurely and do other inexplicable things, but they’re good, with direction, which will be your job now.”

Minseok shook his head.  “I don’t think—“

Luhan raised a hand to cut him off.  “Look, you wrote all these didn’t you?”  Luhan asked again as he pointed to the pile of post-its between them.

“Yeah, but—“

Luhan shook his head, “But nothing.  The guy who managed to convince me to change a major plot element, caught all my grammatical errors, and even helped me to come up with an ending better than what I had come up with on my own can handle this job.  I know it.”

“This is insane.”  Minseok breathed out, finally giving up on arguing.

Luhan laughed.  “But in a good way, right?”

Minseok struggled to nod.  “Yeah but, how did you even know it was me?”

Luhan laughed again.  “There are only two people who work every Friday I come in here, and only one of them has a degree in Literature, at least assuming you didn’t fabricate half the data on your somewhat outdated LinkedIn profile.  You should update that by the way.  It’ll help you a lot while you work.”

Minseok nodded dumbly at Luhan’s words.  He had completely forgotten about making that profile a few years back at the urging of his college’s career center.  They’d claimed it’d help with his job hunt, and well, apparently after years of accomplishing nothing for Minseok, it had indeed landed him a job, in the most ridiculous way Minseok could possibly think of.

“I can’t believe this is happening.  I make coffee.  I’m not an editor.”

“You are an editor now, and your first job is going to be reading the end of this and telling me what you think.  I promised Kris that at the end of my sabbatical I’d have a book to hand him, and I’m almost out of time.”

Minseok nodded hesitantly as he took the outstretched notebook form Luhan’s hands.  This was crazy.  He kind of figured he’d be waking up any minute, but he might as well enjoy it while it lasted.

Minseok proceeded to read over what Luhan had written, and as they went over the words on the page, Minseok found himself laughing as Luhan whined about not wanting to change a couple successive incomplete sentences into full ones for the sake of effect because he now finally had a voice to put to all the whiney post-it notes he had read over the weeks, and he had to admit, he found it really cute.

---

He wouldn’t always feel that way.  Luhan had said Sehun and Tao were bad, and they were, but Luhan could drive him crazy too, especially with how stubborn he could be about certain plot elements and character development decisions. 

Not to mention, Minseok thought as he carried Luhan on his back down the street, neither Tao nor Sehun had the nasty habit of falling asleep in public places, something Luhan still did every Friday night, and now that Minseok both knew where Luhan lived, and didn’t have to stay at the café to work, he always ended up carrying Luhan back to his apartment, because Luhan never woke up, never.  (Which Minseok thought was ridiculous.  He had even checked the coffee Luhan was drinking for alcohol or drugs or something, but it had tasted completely normal so all he could figure was that Luhan was the deepest sleeper on the planet, like ever.)

“You’re lucky I like you,” Minseok complained along the way a couple months in.  It was something Minseok had only realized recently,and despite the fact that Chen claimed that Minseok had been in love with Luhan since the beginning, Minseok wasn’t really as sure as to when it has started.  Maybe it was from the first night, when he had felt bad while seeing Luhan looking cold, but Minseok didn't think so.  No Minseok was pretty sure it was when Luhan had found him a job and then become an irreplaceable component of Minseok’s life, if also an annoyingly heavy one, Minseok added as he dumped Luhan onto his bed and made to exit the room for what felt like the hundredth time.

However, this time, something was about to change because suddenly, Minseok felt a hand on his wrist as Luhan darted out an arm to stop him.

“It’s late.  You should stay.”  Luhan said, and Minseok wasn’t sure what startled him more, the words themselves, or the fact that Luhan was clearly wide awake.

“You’re awake?”  He asked.

“Like I could sleep through you carrying me down the street.”  Luhan responded with a roll of his eyes

“Then why didn’t you tell me you were up?  You’re not exactly light you know.”  Minseok complained as he let Luhan pull him towards the bed, hoping Luhan had at least been asleep through his earlier, voiced complaint.

“Excuse me, I am a perfectly healthy weight, and as to why I didn’t tell you I was up, well, I was trying to see if you’d ever try something, but now, I’ve given up.”

There were several seconds of stunned silence before Minseok had a response to that which was accompanied by a disbelieving laugh.“Well, excuse me, most people would think taking advantage of their boss while he was asleep is a bad thing.” 

“One, I’m not your boss, I’m your client,” Luhan said as he leaned back on the bed, beckoning Minseok to follow, “and two, you should always keep your clients happy.”

Minseok shook his head, still not willing to believe this was happening.  “I don’t think when people say that, they mean it quite like this.”

“No, but they should, don’t you think?”  Luhan asked with a mischievous smile.

Minseok laughed and shook his head.  “You’re about to talk me into something else, aren’t you?” (Much like last time however, Minseok was finding he didn't really mind.)

Luhan laughed up at him.  “Not talk, drag.”  Then he leaned up and pulled Minseok’s head down, crushing his lips against his own.

---

Minseok woke up the next morning besides a still sleeping Luhan, and tried to make sense of the previous night’s events.

What had he even been thinking, letting Luhan drag him into that?  Sure, he liked Luhan, but kind of like how he never planned on admitting to being the one who was editing Luhan’s notebook, he’d never seriously considered acting on those thoughts, and yet somehow here he was, clearly having acted upon them.

“Great,” he breathed out, “Now what?”

“Now, you confess your undying love for me like you did last night, and we agree to do this again sometime, maybe with a nice dinner beforehand.”  Luhan offered up, surprising Minseok, and making him jump.

“You’re awake again?”  Minseok asked as Luhan sat up next to Minseok along the headboard.

Luhan nodded.  “Of course.  So, what do you think of my latest storybook ending?”  He continued, turning to Minseok with a smile.

Minseok shook his head with a smile.  “It’s horribly clichéd.  Needs a lot of work.”

Luhan nodded with a smile, “And you’re going to help me with that, right?”

“Of course.”

---

Dear inspiration faeries, please return to me *sigh*