As far as one could tell you, the baker down the street had always been such a sweet and upbeat guy.

 

When he was spotted behind the counter, with a smile on his eyes, as he decorated the last muffin from his batch or added the last touches to whatever cake he was working on, he was very likely to be heard humming into his work.

 

One couldn’t tell that it had taken him a few years to get to this position again. How he had thought of selling his little shop and abandoning all life behind that reminded him of a single person. A single person that had shaped his life and brought on the loudest laughter, the biggest joy in life to simply be alive and receiving of such greatness.

 

There was once a man. A man who had brought in literal sunshine every time he had wandered into his shop.

 

+++++

 

Kyuhyun had been instantly attracted to this man from the first moment he had stepped into his shop followed quickly by another man. They were talking in a foreign language but whatever was said to the taller man, had caused him to nearly double over in laughter.

 

As his laughing bout filled the entire shop, Kyuhyun had looked up to see him as he had straightened himself up and brushed away a tear that was threatening to escape from his eye. His smile had blinded him instantly and he couldn’t help but drop a bagel he was about to give a customer and he had noticed, as he stood back up, apologized to his customer, that the tall man still had a soft smile that was aimed at him and nodded his head lightly as he and his companion had made their way towards him to place their order.

 

Kyuhyun had felt all the knowledge of speaking escape him as the customer he was just with had wandered away to her seat as the two newcomers were in front of him.

 

Prying his eyes away from the taller man, he realized that his companion had been a regular at his shop. “Hi, Henry,” he muttered lightly, “the usual?”

 

The smaller man nodded and looked up at his friend and Kyuhyun had done the same stopping briefly to admire that neck and his very attractive jaw and those lips that doused everything with such a graceful smile and his eyes that were suddenly looking back at him in such a smiling manner.

 

Catching himself as he was caught blatantly staring at the taller man, he coughed lightly before asking him what his order would be.

 

And as his voice let out a soft and pleasant tone to order a plain vanilla muffin and a hot chocolate. It had taken Kyuhyun a second too long to register his order and once he had told them the total of their order, he was snapped back down to earth by Henry’s voice.

 

“I’ll get it this time, Mi. You’ve been gracious enough to come and tutor me for this stupid test,” Henry had spouted as he handed some bills and coins to Kyuhyun.

 

Making himself busy as Henry and “Mi” had chosen a seat right next to the window, he had grabbed the muffins the two had ordered and swiftly made their drinks. He had to hide his probably audible gulp as he braced himself to deliver the orders to their owners.

 

As he reached his destination, both men made sure to give him some space to place their orders in front of them. Henry had continued to babble on about who knows what subject really and “Mi” had looked up to Kyuhyun, thanked him and gave off another stunning smile that Kyuhyun was sure had sent blush rapidly into his cheeks.

 

Fumbling with the tray, he had decided to make a quick getaway from the main area of his shop and hide in the kitchen. His best friend, the main baker quickly looked up to see Kyuhyun trying his best to keep himself standing thanks to the wall behind him but with quite the shade of red on his face.

 

“Erm, everything okay?” Eunhyuk had asked as Kyuhyun had taken far too long in his area of work.

 

Noticing his surroundings suddenly, he blinked rapidly at the other man in the room, slapped his face softly, nodded and headed back to his work area. He had been very determined to keep himself busy and to not stare too blatantly at the handsome gentleman with the smile that melted him all over.

 

*****

 

It had been a few days in which Henry and who he had come to know now as “Zhou Mi” had been regular occupants of the same table during particular hours of the afternoon.

 

Henry had kept asking for his regular order but Zhou Mi had taken extra time admiring the plethora of goodies in front of him. During one of those days, he had asked Kyuhyun if there was something he particularly recommended and Kyuhyun had mumbled something about the coffee and caramel one and Zhou Mi had looked up at him, with that smile, and almost made another muffin the shameless victim of Kyuhyun’s sudden clumsiness.

 

Once he had delivered their order, Kyuhyun had found himself once again hiding in the kitchen and Eunhyuk trying in vain to shoo him out of it.

 

*****

 

On a particular Saturday, one in which he had not expected Zhou Mi to walk through that door at all, Kyuhyun had lifted his head from his busy work behind the cash register, smiles everywhere as he had grown accustomed to greeting his customers and it had faltered slightly as he had spotted that tall creature in front of him. Alone.

 

Zhou Mi, noticing the sudden change in Kyuhyun’s face, promptly made his way in front of the cash register and looked into Kyuhyun’s eyes with such a concerned look on his face that it had startled Kyuhyun as well.

 

He was wearing glasses again today, Kyuhyun noted. He had liked the way they had shaped that beautiful face and how they had accentuated that quirky nose just right.

 

“Is everything okay?” He had heard Zhou Mi’s gentle voice somewhere off in the distance and he had all but shaken his head to find himself right in front of the man speaking once again.

 

“Oh? Yes?” Kyuhyun uttered with mild confusion as well.

 

“Oh. Well, I thought that maybe I had elicited and unwanted welcome or something,” Zhou Mi admitted. “Your smile kinda dropped the moment I walked in. Am I not welcome here?”

 

Kyuhyun had noted how Zhou Mi’s eyebrows had wrinkled his forehead and the sudden worry on the man’s face.

 

Shaking his head lightly, Kyuhyun had found his words out of the look on Zhou Mi’s face, “not welcome here? Don’t be ridiculous. I just… didn’t expect to see you here. On the weekend.”

 

“Am I that intimidating or something?” Zhou Mi said with relief clearly seeping into his tone.

 

“Or something…” Kyuhyun muttered and hoped that Zhou Mi had not heard what he said. And he thought that Zhou Mi didn’t as the other man had, out of relief, started to run a hand through his hair and his smile had started to creep back up onto his face and he had asked for something different, as per usual. To go this time.

 

With a smile, Zhou Mi had left the shop and Kyuhyun had found himself wiggling his fingers at the door stupidly.

 

“You should ask him out already,” he heard Eunhyuk behind from somewhere in the kitchen.

 

*****

 

Monday came and it had brought Zhou Mi back into the shop alone, once again. Zhou Mi had chatted Kyuhyun up about how hot the weather was beginning to turn and how he wasn’t ready to turn his closet into summer mode yet.

 

Requesting something new, he had taken a new spot today that was closer to the cash register and he had pulled out a book and read it quietly. Giving Kyuhyun a thankful smile as his order had been placed in front of him, Kyuhyun had cursed lightly under his breath at the proximity of this man and feared that he would be far too distracted by him at such a close distance.

 

And he was. He was distracted so much that a few pieces of muffin, bagel and cake had made their way unceremoniously onto the ground and he had lost count of how many times he had apologized to his customers by the end of the day.

 

It wasn’t until he had turned the “CLOSED” sign on the door to his shop that he had turned around to spot that Zhou Mi’s eyes were practically glued to him.

 

He had to clutch at his chest lightly and tried his best to give the man with the warm smile  a returning soft smile as  the one he was given.

 

“Did you enjoy your book?” Kyuhyun tentatively asked, making his way towards his last customer.

 

“Oh, this?” Zhou Mi asked as he placed his book on the table lightly. “Not really sure given as I didn’t particularly read much of it.”

 

Kyuhyun’s steps had suddenly halted as his eyebrows furrowed and he had asked Zhou Mi what he had meant.

 

Zhou Mi let out a long, dragged out sigh. “I wasn’t here particularly to read,” he admitted. He was suddenly standing up and had closed the gap between himself and Kyuhyun in a matter of seconds.

 

Kyuhyun had felt his breath catch as he suddenly felt Zhou Mi’s hand gingerly brush against his cheek.

 

“I’ve been far more interested in something else for these last few days,” Zhou Mi exclaimed as Kyuhyun’s breathing had stopped and he had felt his heartbeat quicken as soon as he had felt Zhou Mi’s breath on his lips and that warm, inviting feel he had been so curious about had suddenly taken him into his mouth.

 

Zhou Mi’s lips had been just as soft as as Kyuhyun had expected them to be and he had sighed so lightly into the kiss that the taller man had suddenly gifted him with.

 

Kyuhyun had to grasp onto the front of Zhou Mi’s shirt as to not fall from the way Zhou Mi’s lips had melted every corner of his being with such a kiss. Light pecks which had slowly turned into drawn out lingering moments of lips on top of one another and subconscious of each other and that breathless way Zhou Mi had left him as they both breathed heavily at each other as their gazes stared dreamily at the other once the kiss was broken.

 

“Oh…” Kyuhyun could barely mutter as he had finally gathered himself.

 

“Yeah,” Zhou Mi breathed out and that stupid smile was back on his face and Kyuhyun was suddenly only too aware of what had just transpired and he felt all the heat rush into his face at that instant.

 

Feeling the rush on his face, he had suddenly tried to cover it with his hands only to have Zhou Mi pick away at them as he had leaned his head against his, “please don’t hide yourself. You’re too wonderful to hide yourself from the view of this world.”

 

Kyuhyun had stared at him so, he didn’t know how, baffled? Scared? Shocked? Confused? And Zhou Mi could only chuckle at the confusion in Kyuhyun’s face.

 

Taking one of Kyuhyun’s hands in his, he had guided Kyuhyun towards a chair so that he wouldn’t keel over right there and then. He had made sure to grab a chair and drag it closer to Kyuhyun’s not once letting go of the hand in his grasp.

 

“So, this ‘or something’, can I expect it to mean that you’re also interested in me?” Zhou Mi asked blatantly and Kyuhyun gasped at the realization that he was indeed heard that day.

 

Trying to think of a quick getaway and being stopped as he had felt Zhou Mi’s grip tighten on his, he sighed and looked up at the inquisitive eyes of the man in front of him.

 

“Well, I think you got your answer with that kiss, didn’t you?” He had prodded at the arm in front of him and shied away as Zhou Mi’s face lit up too much. His smile really was too much to handle at times, Kyuhyun thought and sighed at everything.

 

“Can I buy you a drink some time?” He had suddenly found himself being asked and his shock as evident probably as much as Zhou Mi had felt from their kiss.

 

“I… Well…” Kyuhyun stuttered and felt his will taken away as he had found himself agreeing to the invitation.

 

*****

 

They had dated for a few very happy and fulfilling months. Months that Kyuhyun questioned how his life had ever been without Zhou Mi and the constant happiness that came along. Months in which he had never expected to fall so catastrophically in love with one single man in this life. And he was ever so ready for the next step as he twirled the key to his apartment on his fingers. He was ready to have Zhou Mi be more of a part of his life and live with him, finally.

 

But that happiness had ended as soon as it had started. As swiftly as Zhou Mi had entered his life, he had also exited it without much of a warning. The only warning that Kyuhyun had was in the form of a call from a police officer who called in to inform one of the many relatives or emergency numbers of the accident that had just happened. That had taken several lives as well.

 

Kyuhyun was numb as he fell to the floor of his shop. His phone clattering away from his hand and into the kitchen and driving Eunhyuk quickly to his side as silent tears leaked out of him.

 

He had heard Eunhyuk talking at him. Somewhere. But he had felt as dead to the world as his lover had suddenly been.

 

Zhou Mi’s burial came and went.

 

Kyuhyun hadn’t found himself openly mourning for his loss but the fact that he had suddenly found himself on a plane out of the country one day said enough about his grief.

 

+++++

 

Kyuhyun whistled as he worked as a familiar song had begun to play on the speakers that now rang through the shop. He could hear Eunhyuk singing terribly off-key as he slaved away at the pastries and his smile had brightened because of it.

 

There had been a time when his shop had laid closed and barren after his return from overseas. He had even made sure to sell his apartment and get many new pieces of furniture as he had  found himself bent over in pain one day at the memory of it all.

 

It had taken Eunhyuk to literally pull him off of the floor to get him going once again.

 

Grief therapy had come into play and it had taken so much out of him but he had overcome it. Somehow.

 

He had learned that the love of his life had gone on to a better place and that it would be best to pick up his pieces and either put them together once again or start fresh somewhere else.

 

His customers had been the reason why he had decided to remain. It was the countless notes that he had found one day taped to the door of his business that brought bitter tears to his face and the push he had needed to move on.

 

Yet one day, as he beamed at the door and the customer as he often did, the plate that was on his hand fell onto the ground and shattered so loudly that Kyuhyun had jumped because of the sudden noise.

 

He was the one he had never expected to see in his life once again. He was the one whom he had lost one day. He was, for all intents and purposes, dead.

 

But there he was. A gentle smile on his face and Kyuhyun was so sure he was seeing a halo on top of his head and white wings behind him.

 

Kyuhyun had heard the loud gasp from behind him as he had heard Eunhyuk utter “Zhou Mi…” in the same tone of shock that Kyuhyun had himself.

 

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A/N: It would be super nice if this one, instead of suddenly coming up with new ideas for fics, would actually settle down and continue a certain Qmi fic that is impatiently waiting for her to continue... *sobs lightly* Thank you for reading and thanks to dearest Z for suddenly inspiring this fic after watching that one movie with Mimi that was... well, not the greatest choice because of what happened to Mimi;;; -S