` (    FightMe  HongJisoo♥    )

Chapter eight :
"Let's work together- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ON MY KITCHEN'S WALL?!"

‘I’m Jisoo. Jisoo Hong.’

‘J-Junghan?’

Jisoo doesn’t know what to feel anymore; in front of him stands a frozen Junghan, face stiff with no changes in the other’s expression. Jisoo feels like he should be happy; he should be happy the other hasn’t kicked him out of the cafe, he should be happy the other hasn’t strangled him right there and then yet. Though part of Jisoo feels so, so sorry for the other; Jisoo can see the look in Junghan’s eyes, he can see how the usual sparks are now gone, the usual cheerfulness replaced with shock and disappointment.

‘J-’

‘Don’t.’ Junghan manages to say, eyes sticking to the floor; the male has his fists clenched tight, overwhelmed by all the feelings in his heart.

Junghan feels angry, he’s angry at himself for trusting Joshu- Jisoo. He feels sad, he’s sad he actually felt something more than just mere friendship for the other. But most imporantly of all, Junghan feels betrayed; he had vented out all his feelings, all his frustration and anger and Jisoo knows. Jisoo in’ knew all along.

‘Junghan, let me expl-‘

‘Just…’ Junghan swallows before lifting his head up to look at Jisoo. ‘Just leave.’

‘B-‘

‘Please.’ Junghan grits his teeth, ready to walk off and leave the other behind; as he takes his first step, Junghan stops besides Jisoo, shoulder to shoulder. ‘Don’t make me do things I’ll regret.’

After those words, Junghan pushes pass the other male, his feet taking him out of the cafe and he doesn’t even know where he’s going but he just needs to get the away from here.

‘.’ Jisoo mumbles to himself; there isn’t even time to criticize himself for swearing anymore, all he’s thinking about right now is Junghan and the broken stare Junghan had given the other.

Will he ever forgive me?

‘Junghan h- Hyung?’

‘Shush, Chan.’ Wonwoo turns to the younger, a finger on his lips to hush the other, ‘Just let him sleep, he’ll be up in a few minutes.’

‘Had he not been sleepin-‘

‘I don’t think he’d had any sleep ever since Jisoo hyung told him the truth…’ Wonwoo sighs, shrugging his shoulder as he continues sweeping the floor.

Furrowing his brows, Chan makes big steps towards his sleeping hyung, body crooked on the sofa; Chan’s frown only becomes worse when he notices the dark circles Junghan had - Junghan never had dark circles before. Sitting down next to the older male, Chan places a hand on the other’s shoulder, feeling the other stir under his touch.

‘Hyunggggggggg.’

‘Chan?…’ Junghan breathes out, rubbing his eyes as he straightens his back, stretching out his arms and legs. ‘What are you doing here? Don’t you have… Don’t you have work?’

It’d been months since that day and yet it’s still hard for Junghan to even say things that’s slightly related to Jisoo, whether it be about Chan’s workplace or even cheesecakes (‘Hyung, have some of this. It’s your favourite cheesecak-‘ ‘Don’t, Minghao. I had it when I was at Ji- When I was at his cafe…’)

‘I took the day off just for my favourite hyung~’ Chan cracks an innocent smile, enveloping the other in a big hug; his smile only widens when he feels the other’s arms around him, returning his hug.

‘So, what are you here for?’ Junghan asks, leaning back in his seat. ‘I don’t want to know if it’s about J-‘

‘Hyung, just hear me out-‘

‘I don’t care how you know him, Chan!’ Junghan exclaims, groaning as he rubs his temples. ‘I’ve told you last week, I don’t give a single about him now. Just leave me be-’

‘What do you mean, leave you be?!’ Chan’s worries turn into anger, bubbling under his skin. ‘Have you even look at yourself?! You’ve probably lost like, 10 pounds and your dark circles are reaching your chin! How can you say that?!’

For a second, Junghan is confused as to who’s older than who; Chan looks so, so much older, so much more responsible and Junghan feels so thankful to have someone like that to care for him. Junghan doesn’t know when or how it happened but before he knew it, Chan is already a grown up, capable of caring for himself and other people; Junghan remembers it’d just been a short while ago when Chan was still the kid who’d prefer sleeping at McDonalds than getting a proper job.

So this is what parents feel.

‘Hyung, I’m serious.’ Chan sighs when he realizes Junghan is zoning out; the younger places his hands on the other’s shoulders, keeping Junghan in place. ‘Just listen to me, just this once, okay?’

‘Chan-‘

‘Once, hyung.’ Chan pleads, ‘Just once.’

Sighing, Junghan can’t help but gives in to the younger, nodding lightly; he can’t help but smile when he sees Chan smiles in victory, eyes disappearing.

‘You remember when I told you I left to America before I met you guys here?’ Junghan nods, waiting for Chan to continue. ‘Well my dad was going there to look for new businesses to invest in; Jisoo hyung (‘Can you not… Can you not say his name.’ ‘Do you want me to call him… Juice?’ ‘Okay, nevermind, just continue.’) was one of the businessman’s son, just like me. So that’s how we kinda became friends and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this earlier but you were just so angry at a Jisoo you didn’t even know the face of and-’

‘It’s alright, Chan.’ Junghan smiles, giving the other an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder as he urges the other to continue.

‘Okay…’ Chan takes in a deep breath before continuing, ‘When I left America, I didn’t see him at all but we did managed to contact each other through emails (‘Why didn’t you just use facebook-‘ ‘Old fashion is cool fashion, hyung.’) and all. He came back to Korea last year and my dad found him; my dad was really excited when he heard that Jisoo hyung is interested in opening a cafe and all and I tried telling them to open the cafe somewhere in the city, not here. But you know how my dad is… So yeah, he also told me I need to show support by working there and so, that is how we’ve ended here.’

…

..

.

‘Hyun-‘

‘One moment.’ Junghan shushes the other with his finger, staring at blank space as he lets the information registers inside his brain. ‘F-‘

‘No swearing!’

‘Right.’ Junghan chuckles, ruffling Chan’s hair before leaning back. ‘Well good to hear, kiddo.’

‘W-What?’ Chan frowns, surprised at the other’s reaction.

‘Yeah, it’s good to hear. Now you could either get back to work, or just quit and come work with me.’

‘I can’t believe you’re saying that with a straight face.’ Chan shakes his head, sighing before he tugs at the other’s sleeve. ‘Hyung, that wasn’t the point of my story!’

‘And the point is…?’

‘The point here is that Jisoo hyung is a nice person.’ Chan says, voice stern and full of determination. ‘He’s a nice person and you really need to give him a chance. You’re not the only person suffering hyung. He hasn’t been eating lately either and I don’t think he’d slept-‘

‘I’m not the one who lied here-‘

‘Stop with that already.’ Chan sure is getting fed up with how stubborn Junghan is right now. ‘Just… Think it through, okay? It’s thanks to Jisoo hyung that I opened up to people more. If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have even followed Seungkwan hyung to meet you guys.’

And this, this really leaves Junghan thinking.

What would it have been like without Chan?

Junghan doesn’t want to know.

Junghan refuses to believe that Chan is here thanks to that person.

‘I’m going to go back to work now.’ Chan sighs, tired of his hyung’s stubborness, ‘Oh, and my dad’s offering a ‘peace offering’. He wants you guys to work together, as one cafe.’

‘What?!’ Junghan shoots up, only to be surprised as the other 5 staffs had also stopped in the middle of their cleaning and yelled out the same thing.

God dammit.

‘So… What you’re saying here is that we’ll get to work together with them? I’ll get to work together with Wonwoo?!’ Mingyu asks loudly, staring at Chan with big eyes.

The other boys shake their heads in unison, way too used to Mingyu acting like a teenage girl now.

‘Yes, yes that’s what I mean.’ Chan chuckles at his hyung. ‘I’ve told them already, the others are fine but the problem is you know… (Chan sneaks a glance at Jisoo, the male who’d been oddly quiet about the whole situation.) Junghan hyung doesn’t really want it.’

The 6 boys look at Jisoo with sorry eyes, sighing as they pat the oldest’s shoulders.

‘But don’t worry, Wonwoo hyung can convince him to at least try it out!’ Chan says with so much positivity, it radiates across the room and Jisoo swears anyone in the radius of 10 meters will feel positive by this. ’So there’s still a chance, hyung! Don’t give up, we’re all here for you!’

Jisoo smiles when he sees 6 arms going up, the loud chants of ‘Fighting, Hong Jisoo! Fighting!’ fill the room as the boys hurdle together, going into a group hug.

Junghan, I promise I’ll make this up for you!

‘Though Seungkwan hyung also didn’t seem to like it-‘

‘Don’t ruin the moment, Chan.’

‘But Vernon hyun-‘

‘Shush.’
 

Days pass from Chan’s little offer to his hyungs, endless days of waiting and waiting and waiting for Junghan’s approval to continue. The kid is seriously so frustrated, he’s ready to tackle Junghan and shake the guy into agreeing with him; though Chan knows better not to do so unless he wants a bag of flour on his head.

Chan is thankful Wonwoo had managed to convince Seungkwan that even if they work under one roof, Vernon isn’t going to go near him but Junghan, Junghan’s the stubborn one.

‘Hyung, seriously! What’s so bad about working together?! Think about the money too, not just your pety hate towards J-‘

‘Oh shut up, Wonwoo.’ Junghan rolls his eyes, waving the younger male off, ‘It’s not pety and we still have enough money working like this. Seriously though, why are you so worked up over this?!’

‘Obviously because I’m friends with them-‘

Junghan squints his eyes at the other, looking suspiciously as he taps his foot, the corner of his lips twitching into a smile.

‘You like him, don’t you?’

‘I what?!’

‘You like that tall guy, don’t you?!’

‘Wait- What- I mean- No?!’

‘Oh my god! Jeon Wonwoo, why didn’t you tell me earlier?!’ Junghan laughs loudly, ruffling the other’s hair as he headlocks the other. ‘You know, if you had just told me this, I might’ve said yes- I mean, I might’ve changed my mind already!’

‘Hyuuuunnnnnggggg!’ Wonwoo whines. ‘I don’t like him! W-We’re just friends!’

‘Jeon Wonwoo, you can’t get anymore obvious! Look at your cheeks!’ Junghan squishes the other’s flushed cheeks, smiling brightly.

Suddenly, Wonwoo stops struggling, raising a hand as he pushes Junghan away from him.

‘Wait.’ Wonwoo gasps. ‘Does this mean you agree?!’

‘What-‘

‘You said it hyung! You said it yourself-‘

‘If you admit that you like that tall guy, then maybe.’ Junghan says slyly, waiting for the other.

Wonwoo gulps, biting his bottom lip as he soon lets out a small sigh in defeat.

‘Okay, fine.’ Wonwoo raises his hands up like a guilty person, ‘Fine. I… I like him.’

‘Awwwwwwwwwww!’ Wonwoo groans when he hears the other staffs coo alongside Junghan.

‘See, that’s better~’ Junghan chuckles, ruffling the other’s hair one last time before flicking his forehead. ‘Alright, now go tell Chan we’re all ready for business.’

Hong Jisoo, don’t make me regret this.

It takes a few more weeks for Junghan and Jisoo’s Cafe to get set up, all thirteen boys squishing under one roof; they decided to use Junghan’s Cafe as it had always been bigger, giving more space to the boys.

Today is their first day working as one; this means they’ll have to work together, serve customers together, bake together and most importantly, bond together. They’re supposed to all become friends now (‘It’s teamwork, hyungs!’); it was easy though, the boys are  almost all the same age and plus, they all know who they want to be with.

Well, except two.

‘Choi Vernon, get the hell out of my space!’

‘Shut up, Seungkwan. Stop being so childish!’ Vernon shoots back, pushing his bowl even nearer to Seungkwan to get on the other’s nerves.

‘Are you asking to die right now?!’ Seungkwan shoves his own bowl towards the other, almost knocking Vernon’s bowl over.

‘Dude!’ Veron eyes widen as he catches his bowl from toppling over and onto the floor. ‘Man. Remember that you started this!’ The latter mumbles under his breathe before grabbing a handful of flour, chucking it at Seungkwan.

Mouth wide open from the shock, Seungkwan manages to get all the flour into his mouth, coughing it up right after. His face and hair are covered in flour, specks of white everywhere; Seungkwan raises his hand to rub his eyes and Vernon hates himself for finding the other cute.

In the midst of laughing with hands holding onto his stomach, Vernon lets out a high pitched scream when he feels something hard cracking on his head. Hands shooting up to his head, Vernon can feel the sticky, wet substance running down the side of his face and his jaws drop, fist tightening as he glares at Seungkwan.

‘Boo Seungkwan, you’re so dead!’ Vernon declares, running after a laughing Seungkwan with his bowl full of batter.

‘Catch me if you ca-‘

‘Shiiiittttttt-‘

Crash!

Before they know, Vernon had already slip and slide towards Seungkwan, knocking the shocked male over along himself, batter splashing everywhere.

‘Oh… My-‘

‘Don’t say it!’

‘We’re going to get into so much trouble.’ Seungkwan breathes out, dropping his hands dramatically as he tries wiping off the batter on his cheek (even though 3/4 of his face is covered with it.)

‘We better start cleaning then~’ Vernon cracks a smile, leaning over to brush off the streak of batter on Seungkwan’s cheek.

Seungkwan stops, all movement frozen as he sits still; the kid doesn’t know what he’s more surprised about, the fact that Vernon had just touched him, or the fact that Vernon had just smiled at him.

‘C’mon, let’s go!’ Vernon rushes, pulling the other up with him as he hands the other a towel.

‘O-Okay?’ Seungkwan kicks himself mentally for stuttering, turning away to hide his reddening face.

Vernon freezes in his spot before turning around to face Seungkwan’s back, lips curling into a small smile. Taking steady steps towards the unaware male, Vernon lets a small chuckle slips pass his lips as he stands next to Seungkwan, wiping the batter that had managed to stick to the wall. Jumping a little when he realized Vernon is literally centimetres away from him, Seungkwan doesn’t even have the time to yell at the other because ‘personal space!’ when Vernon turns to face him, eyes burning holes to the side of Seungkwan’s face.

‘I like you better this way.’ Seungkwan can see Vernon’s little smile (the smile that Seungkwan hates so, so much) from the corner of his eyes. ‘Quiet.’

Seungkwan is about to spit out childish comebacks about how Vernon’s just jealous because Seungkwan’s more fun when he feels Vernon’s hand on his head.

‘And blushing.’ Vernon whispers before retreating his hand, wiping the wall as if nothing had happened.

What the hell was that?!

‘Soonyoung!’ Wonwoo yells from behind the counter, ‘This is for table 2… And this is for table 5.’

‘More?!’ Soonyoung whines at the sight of two trays full of cakes and drinks.

‘Only a few left to go~’ Wonwoo chuckles at his friend, reaching over to give the other a light pat on the shoulder before returning to work.

‘You tired?’ Soonyoung jumps from his spot, clutching onto his shirt as he stares at a laughing Seokmin. ‘Hey, just go help out in the kitchen if you want, I can take these last orders.’

’N-Nah, it’s fine.’ Soonyoung tells himself he’d only stuttered ‘cause he was surprised.

‘Hey, I gotta pay you back for helping out last time!’

Soonyoung smiles, thinking back to their first meeting. ‘Well then, take this.’ He hands the other one of the tray, ‘The faster we get this over with, the more time we’ll get to mess with Seungkwan and Vernon~’
 

After a long 30 minutes (‘Where the hell are all these customers coming from-‘ ‘Shut up and do you job, Soonyoung-‘ ‘Junghan hyung!-‘ ‘Shush.’), the two waiters have finally finished their job, the cafe closing up as everyone gets to cleaning.

(Seungkwan and Vernon had got a long lecture from Junghan about wasting money and two more lectures on wasting food and ruining their kitchen from Jun and Minghao.)

‘You know, this is really fun.’ Seokmin exclaims, wiping the glass windows alongside Soonyoung.

‘What is?’ Soonyoung turns to the other with big eyes, stopping in his tracks.

‘Working together.’ Seokmin faces the other, a slight flush on his cheek as he flashes a smile in hope it distracts the other from seeing his blush; it didn’t work though.

Soonyoung chuckles, rubbing his neck as he nods.

Silence soon envelopes the two, the occasional ‘he did it!’ and ‘he started it!’ echoing from inside the kitchen. As the two focuses on wiping the glass, Soonyoung manages to stumble slightly as he stands on his toes, trying to reach the top. Surprised, Seokmin holds onto the other’s arm to support him from behind.

Well, this is awkward.

Seokmin has got to admit it’s an awkward position; Soonyoung is now staring back at him, face red but feet stuck onto the ground, unable to move.

‘Um…’ Seokmin coughs awkwardly, removing his hands from the other as he plays with the towel in his hand. ‘Y-You okay?’

‘Y-Yeah…’ Soonyoung hangs his head low, staring at his fiddling feet as a smile creeps onto his face. ‘Thanks.’

Heart, stop beating so fast!

Lee Seokmin, you are not in love with him. No nope nopeeee.

I am not in love with him.

Noooo-

‘Oi!’ Seokmin snaps out of his trance when he feels himself being shook by a worried Soonyoung. ‘You back to earth?’ Soonyoung jokes, a big smile plastered on his face.

‘Yeah,’ Seokmin can’t help but feel butterflies in his stomach when he sees Soonyoung eyes disappear, the other’s smile brightening, ‘Yeah, I’m back now.’

‘Good, ‘cause we better hurry if we want to get out of here soon!’ Soonyoung waves his towel around, excited, ’Snacks and milk right after?’

The two have became great friends ever since their first meeting and every now and then, the two would meet up after their work at a nearby convenience store, hogging the place with several different snacks and flavored milk as they talk about their day.

It’s sort of like their little thing now.

‘Yes, snacks and milk right after!’

God help me, I really am in love with him.

‘Isn’t this nice?’

‘Shut up.’

‘C’mon, Junghan! You can’t stay mad at me forever!’ Jisoo whines, looking up from the cup he’s wiping in hope that Junghan’s looking back. ‘You can’t, right?…’ Jisoo is starting to doubt himself now that the other is still refusing to look at him in the eyes.

‘Watch me.’ Junghan mumbles as he focuses his eyes on the cups he’s wiping because no way in hell am I letting this bastard break my heart again.

‘Okay fine.’ Jisoo sighs. ‘Fine, stay mad at me. (Junghan doesn’t know why he’s hurt hearing that.) But look at the boys.’

Jisoo gestures to other 11 staffs, all messing around as they clean the cafe. Mingyu and Wonwoo sweeps the floor together, playing with the broom like little kids. Behind the cashier counter stands Jihoon and Seungcheol, counting the money they’d earn that day; ever since they started working together, Seungcheol hasn’t left Jihoon’s side one bit, glues to the pink haired boy. Minghao and Jun are wiping the tables, complaining in chinese about the two trouble makers who’d ruin their work place; the two trouble makers, Seungkwan and Vernon are left cleaning the dishes at the back and Jisoo can hear them bickering even from out here. As always, Soonyoung and Seokmin wiping the windows together, the two making dumb jokes here and then that resuls into loud fits of laugh and the sound of their laughs resonates inside the cafe. Last but definitely not last, Chan skips around the cafe, done with taking the trash out as he finds people he can annoy for the time being.

‘You’ve got to admit that this is nice.’ Jisoo smiles at the sight. ‘Doesn’t it make you happy looking at them?’

…

..

.

‘Junghan?-‘

Jisoo turns to Junghan to see the other looking back at him; Jisoo feels overwhelmed from the happiness flooding his heart when he sees Junghan looking down, trying to hide the blush on his cheek.

’T-True.’ (Junghan definitely wasn’t staring at Jisoo. He definitely wasn’t admiring the other.)

Jisoo smiles at the sight, glad that maybe, just maybe this will work; maybe Junghan will forgive him, and maybe then they’ll go back to being friends, they’ll go on cheesy cafe dates and have dumb conversations and-

‘I’m still mad at you though.’

God dammit, Yoon Junghan.

Can you get any more adorable?!