Hongbin yawned.

            “Hongbin, that’s the fourth time you’ve yawned just while I’ve been here counting.”

            “I’m just tired, sorry.”

            Hyuna laughed at him.

            “What, did you stay up too late contemplating your life or something? You look like you had a late night.”

            “I did have a late night, I went to have dinner at a friend’s house and ended up staying later than I thought I was going to.”

            Hyuna stopped what she was doing and turned to him.

            “You actually went out and did things? With friends? Like… real life friends?”

            Hongbin laughed.

            “What other kind of friends am I going to have? And yeah, with friends.”

            “Who???”

            “Well it was at Hakyeon’s house-“

            “So you DID make friends with the elf! I knew he didn’t bother you as much as you complain about him. He’s pretty cute. Maybe sometime you shou-“

            Hongbin talked over her.

            “AND Hakyeon’s friends. It wasn’t just the two of us.”

            Hyuna was obviously not listening, still talking about how he should hang out with Hakyeon again, and tell her all about it. Hongbin sighed and turned back to his work that he was doing. Well, that he was pretending to be doing. His mind was thinking about the past night, and how it really was good to be around other people that aren’t Hyuna, as much as he liked her it was still nice to see some new faces.

            Before he had realized it, it was time for his break. He had forgotten to bring food with him (again) so he faced his options. He could just wait it out and be hungry at the end of the day, or he could go out and get something before his break ended. He thought about it for a while, knowing that he should probably go eat something. There weren’t a lot of places nearby that he could grab a quick meal, except… the bakery was right next door. He debated it momentarily, and decided that he might as well. He had only been in a couple times, and when he had it had been delicious.

            Hongbin told Hyuna where he was going, who just shrugged and told him not to take too long. It was a pretty quiet day, and there weren’t any customers. It was sunny outside, and Hongbin had to blink a couple of times to adjust to the light. The flowerpot outside was still broken, and Hongbin wondered how it must have felt to fall on that from the window above. He looked up at the apartment above, that he hadn’t really realized was even there. But it was, and now had a new occupant. He turned away, heading over to the bakery. There weren’t any signs outside, and it wasn’t very noticeable. But those who had been were regulars, and praised the pastries.

            The door was open and inviting, and as soon as Hongbin entered, he was greeted by the girl at the counter. There was a whole counter filled with various pastries, most of which Hongbin had never heard of before or couldn’t pronounce. One of them looked kind of like a jelly-filled donut, and he knew he liked those, so he pointed out that one, and ordered a cup of coffee to go with it. The girl asked for his name, and then told him the total, which he fished out of his pocket and went to find a seat. A couple minutes later he heard his name called, and got up to go get his drink.

            “Hongbin is here??? Where?”

            Yep, he was there, just like Hongbin had figured. A bright red head popped out of the door to the back, accompanied by a wide smile.

            “Hey, Hakyeon.”

            “Binnie! I’m so glad you came over, but you should have told me you were coming! I would have gotten Taekwoon to get you a fresh batch of donuts. They’re one of his favorites, good choice.”

            “Ehh, it’s okay, I wouldn’t want to bother him-“ Hakyeon was already going back into the kitchen, saying something about just waiting where he was. Hongbin shook his head, and finished stirring the sugar into his coffee. The donut was really good, and he was hungry.

            After some time, Hakyeon came back out of the kitchen, holding a plate with another donut on it and with a cat balanced on his shoulder.

            “Here, this one just came out of the oven. And it’s not a problem, Taekwoonnie needed to get some fresh air anyways.” He set the cat down on the floor next to Hongbin, who reached down to scratch his head. The cat leaned into his hand and he laughed.

            “So you really do like having your head scratched, huh.”

            If cats could glare then the look Taekwoon was giving him would probably kill. He jumped up on the table, settling down in the middle.

            “He doesn’t really like to come out very often, so it takes a lot of convincing to get him to leave that stuffy room, even if I have to settle for it being as a cat. I’ve been trying to get him to be more social but he’s so difficult about it.”

            This time the cat’s glare was directed at Hakyeon, who just rubbed behind his ears, which was apparently enough of an apology for Taekwoon to settle back and relax.

            “Anyways! You’re at work right now, right? Well not at work, but working.”

            Hongbin nodded.

            “Yeah, it’s pretty slow, so my co-worker told me I could go get lunch. I forgot to bring any with me today, so I decided I could just come get something.”

            “You can come anytime, come and visit me. I guarantee Taekwoon will appreciate it, seeing as how the rest of the day I just spend sitting in his work space. He should value my help more though, everyone needs a taste tester. And someone to eat the rejects. And that falls under my job description.”

            “Does the owner of the café mind you staying? I mean, if you aren’t an official employee.”

            “Oh! Did Taekwoon forget to mention it? He is technically the boss now, the old owner had to move and told him that since he was the one who did most of the work he could just do what he wanted with it, so he decided to keep it operating. With my help, of course.” Hakyeon explained.

            Hongbin looked around him. There were only a few other people in the café, an old couple in one corner, a young fairy sitting alone with a book, and a pair of sprites who kept glancing over at Hongbin and giggling. He turned back to Hakyeon, ignoring the whispers that he could hear. Hakyeon glanced over his shoulder at the pair.

            “Are they talking about you?”

            “Probably. It happens a lot.”

            Hakyeon looked back at him.

            “Why?”

            “I dunno, I figure it has something to do with how I look. It happens in my store too, when we get guests like them. It’s not a big deal though.”

            Hakyeon’s face scrunched up.

            “That’s kinda rude.”

            Hongbin just shrugged, and reached for the donut that Hakyeon had brought out for him.

            “Ooh, wow, this is really good. Nice job, Taekwoon.” Hongbin directed at the cat, who huffed. Hakyeon grinned. Hongbin finished eating and brushed his hands off. He looked up at Hakyeon, who laughed at him and leaned across the table, grabbing a napkin.

            “You have jelly on your face.” He reached to over to Hongbin, and wiped the corner of his mouth carefully. Hongbin paused, but didn’t move away.

            “Ah, got it!” He hovered for just a second before settling back in his chair and balling up the napkin. He rolled the crumpled napkin over to Taekwoon, who batted at it.

            “Umm, excuse me, Mr. Human, but my friend over there asked me to tell you that she thinks you are really cute! And to invite you to come sit with us, if you want some company that’s not as stuffy as an elf.” One of the sprites had approached them, and stuck her tongue out at Hakyeon, who just rolled his eyes at her.

            “I’m not stuffy, and can’t you see he’s already sitting here?”

            She crossed her arms.

            “I can see that, but my friend is much cuter than you are, and I’m sure that he doesn’t like being stuck sitting here with you and your silly cat.”

            “I’m probably much more interesting than girls who just want to fawn over anyone who looks cute enough to talk to.” Hakyeon spat back. The sprite looked like she was going to say something else, before Hongbin stopped her.

            “I appreciate you asking, but I was actually just leaving, I have to go back to work.”

            Her eyes flicked back up to him, and a smile returned to her face.

            “Aww, that’s a shame. Well, maybe we’ll see you again sometime, eh?” She laughed, and turned to go back to her friend. “Bye, cutie!”

            Hongbin sighed, and looked back at Hakyeon.

            “Sorry about that.”

            “Why are you sorry? It was rude from the beginning.”

            Hongbin shrugged again.

            “But I do have to go get back to work,” he said, looking at the clock.

            “Then I’ll see you later, ten minutes to closing!” Hakyeon’s face lit up again. Hongbin laughed and waved his hand at him, walking across the room to the door, before Hakyeon yelled after him.

            “I’ll make sure to bring you another donut!”

/hides face

how does romance work??????????????????????????????

i dunno let's find out together i guess

poor bean

this will be three chapters in one day wow amazing

thanks for reading and subscribing ^u^

~Win

you know i have absolutely no idea why i decided to name this Antiques idk what it actually has to do with antiques or the concept thereof except for the store but at this point i have just accepted it