☁ maybe life could be sweet
i am wishing what you're wishing for
sehun/chen
pg-13
for tsukarerudesu
Jongdae is ready for a quiet weekend. He can’t remember the last time he’s had any free time to himself and he’s ready to embrace the whole Couch Potato Experience. He has a tub of ice cream and bags of chips and cookies in front of him along with a stack of movies ready to watch. He doesn’t plan on moving from the couch for the entire weekend.
So of course Chanyeol has to ruin everything.
“What are you doing this weekend?”
“Nothing,” Jongdae says around a spoonful of ice cream. “Not a single thing.” He’s blissfully oblivious to what Chanyeol is working up to. He’s in such a good mood that he even considers asking Chanyeol if he wants to come over and watch bad movies and eat unhealthy food.
“You don’t have any clients this weekend?” Chanyeol asks.
If Jongdae wasn’t halfway through the tub of ice cream, he would have clued in right away and made an excuse, but he is halfway through the ice cream and all the way through the bag of chocolate-covered marshmallows. “Nope,” he answers. “Free as a bird.”
“Great, I have a client and I need you to work it instead.”
Jongdae pauses for a few seconds because he and Chanyeol don’t even really have the same clientele. Chanyeol’s clients want someone they can show off at charity benefits and fancy parties. Jongdae’s clients are people who want someone that will mingle and talk.
“No,” he says when he finds his tongue. “This is my weekend off. You know how much I was looking forward to this.” How had he not seen this coming? He’s been talking about this weekend to Chanyeol for the past two weeks. “I’m not going to go out with some creepy old guy just because you- wait, why do you even need me to cover?”
“I overbooked,” Chanyeol says, sounding frustrated. “Look, I’m sorry, but one of these clients is a regular and the other one is big money. If you do a good job, and he recommends us, we’ll get a lot of great business. Please? I’m giving you the better one. He just needs a date for some wedding he has to attend. It’ll be easy money. Just pretend you’re his boyfriend and you’ll get to eat some fancy food and maybe drink too. I think he mentioned something about an open bar. And he’s cute.”
“I don’t want to,” Jongdae whines. He’d much rather lounge around in his sweats than have to dress up nicely for some rich brat. It amazes him how many of these rich kids couldn’t get dates by themselves.
“Jongdae, please.” Chanyeol sounds desperate. “He’ll complain if I cancel on him and I’ll be in trouble.”
Jongdae grimaces because he doesn’t want Chanyeol to get in trouble. “But…” He just lets out a loud whine and kicks out his feet, sending a DVD case skidding across the floor. “Fine.”
“Really?” He can hear the smile on Chanyeol’s face. “Thank you. Thank you so much. Hey, look, the next time you get booked by some creep who’s looking for a twink, I’ll cover for you...or get Baekhyun to do it. For some reason, the twink-lovers don’t seem too pleased when I show up.”
“I hope your client sets your hair on fire,” Jongdae says before he hangs up.
ϟ
“Okay, so maybe this isn’t my best idea, but-”
“Worst,” Jongin says, crossing his arms across his chest. “The word I used was worst. This is your worst idea.”
“Why?” Sehun demands. “What’s so bad about hiring an escort to pretend to be my date for Tao’s wedding?”
Jongin gives him a look. “Did you hear yourself? You answered your own question.”
“I can’t show up at my ex-boyfriend’s wedding alone,” Sehun says, frowning at his reflection in the mirror. “Help me fix my bowtie.”
Jongin pulls up the collar of Sehun’s shirt and takes the bowtie that Sehun is holding out to him. “You don’t have to go to your ex-boyfriend’s wedding at all,” he says, draping the bowtie around his neck. “No one would blame you if you didn’t go.”
“He sent me an invitation, he practically dared me to go,” Sehun insists.
“I’m pretty sure he didn’t personally send out the invitations,” Jongin says. “They probably had one of their assistants do it. You must still be on his list of contacts. And even if you weren’t, your parents have known his for ages.” He takes a step back to look at his work.
“It’s crooked,” Sehun complains, pulling at the bowtie and undoing it completely.
“Sehun.” Jongin punches him on the shoulder. “Why are being such a pain in the ass? Just don’t go to this thing.”
“I’m not being a pain, I just don’t want to show up with a crooked bowtie,” Sehun says, rubbing his shoulder. “I’m going to show up with my handsome, tall date and...and an immaculate bowtie.”
“Handsome, tall date that you hired.”
“You didn’t leave me with a choice,” Sehun mumbles, frowning at his reflection. He looks incomplete without the bowtie. “You could’ve just come with me.”
“Yes, why would I go to a wedding with my fiancée instead of my surly best friend?”
“Surly? I’m not-”
“Where did you even hear about this company?” Jongin asks. He groans when Sehun pauses and hesitates to answer him. “Sehun, you didn’t just randomly look up a company on the internet, did you? Some of them are scams. They’re just looking for people like you.”
“People like me?”
“You know. Rich.”
“I didn’t look them up randomly,” Sehun says, the corners of his lips pulling down into a deeper frown. “If you must know, your fiancée recommended them.”
Jongin stares at him. “Soojung?”
“Yes. Apparently when you two are fighting and she doesn’t want to take you to a fancy party, she hires someone from this company.”
“Soojung?”
“If it helps, this was before you guys got engaged,” Sehun says.
“I have to go,” Jongin says, grabbing his jacket.
“Don’t be stupid,” Sehun complains. “I said it was before you guys got engaged.”
Jongin rolls his eyes. “I’m not going to go pick a fight. I need to go get ready for the wedding.” He pauses to study his friend. “Sehun, are you sure you want to do this? I know you really lo- I know you and Tao were serious. I don’t see this ending well.”
“I’m fine,” Sehun says. “I’ll show up for a few hours and Tao will see that I’ve moved on happily and then I’ll leave. It will be fine. You’ll see.”
ϟ
Jongdae has had a lot of rich clients who live in houses that are too big with garages that hold way too many cars. It’s his first time in an apartment building this nice though. He glances awkwardly at the man in the elevator sitting on a stool and hitting the buttons for whichever floor someone needs to get to.
Do rich people not believe in pressing elevator buttons themselves? As they approach the twelfth floor, Jongdae wonders if he’s supposed to tip this guy.
When the elevator stops and the doors open, Jongdae says, “Thank you?” and waits to see if the man holds out a hand for a tip or looks at him in expectation.
But he just nods at him. “Have a good day, sir.”
Jongdae nods and walks out. God, everything about this apartment building is ridiculous. He doesn’t doubt that the frames of the paintings are made from real gold. He really doesn’t want to judge this guy before he even meets him, but who needs to live in a place this lavish?
He rolls his eyes when he arrives at the apartment number in the information Chanyeol had sent him. Of course there’s a door knocker. He tries not to grimace but it’s a bedazzled tiger head. He’s starting to understand why this guy couldn’t find a date himself.
He hears some shuffling inside when he knocks on the door and he stands up straight and reminds himself that just because the client lives in a place like this, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be insufferable.
“Who are you?”
Or maybe he will. Oh Sehun has a really nice face, so Chanyeol hadn’t been lying. But he’s also wearing a frown and looking at Jongdae like he’s an insect. “Uh hi,” Jongdae says. “You hired an escort?”
Sehun narrows his eyes and his lips tighten into a flat line. “Yes. Are you the driver?”
It takes Jongdae awhile to process that. “The driver?”
“Yes,” Sehun says impatiently. “Is my date waiting downstairs? You know, I’m kind of impressed. I just decided to do this on a whim, but your company really goes all out. I’m-”
“I’m not the driver,” Jongdae interrupts, his fingers curling into fists. “I’m your escort for tonight.”
Sehun stops and just stares at him for a few seconds. “But you’re so...miniature,” he says.
Jongdae digs his nails into the palms of his hands. Their boss wouldn’t be happy if their clients reported back saying that Jongdae hit him in the face. Plus if Sehun was living in a place like this, his face was probably insured.
“I asked for someone tall,” Sehun says, starting to look agitated. “Do you know how tall my ex-boyfriend is? How am I supposed to make him jealous with a fun-sized person?”
Fucking Park Chanyeol. He’s covering the next five gross clients Jongdae gets.
“Well, I’m the only one available,” he says shrugging. It’s probably not true, but he didn’t need to know that. “So you decide. Short date or no date.” He doesn’t want Chanyeol to get in trouble, but he’s not going to try to sweet talk this asshole into continuing on with this evening. He has no problem with going home and switching into more comfortable clothes to finish watching ‘She’s the Man.’
Sehun pouts. “I thought you guys were supposed to be charming.”
“I’m delightful,” Jongdae deadpans. “It’s not my fault that the first thing you do is to ask if I’m a driver and then call me short.”
“You are though.”
Jongdae rolls his eyes. “Okay, bye,” he says turning away. “Enjoy being a bitter asshole by yourself as you watch your ex find happiness.” It’s rude, he knows, but so is Sehun.
“Wait, wait.” Sehun reaches out and touches him on the shoulder briefly. “Don’t go. I’ll take you.”
“Wonderful,” Jongdae says flatly.
“Come in for a second,” Sehun says, stepping aside to let Jongdae in. “Hey, did you tie your bowtie by yourself?”
ϟ
Sehun doesn’t understand what went wrong. Soojung had said that the escorts she had hired had been perfectly suitable and more than pleasant. And okay, he supposes Jongdae counts as perfectly suitable and the more he studies him, the stupider he feels that he had assumed Jongdae was the driver.
But Jongdae is rude.
Sure, Sehun shouldn’t have called him short. And he also probably shouldn’t have asked Jongdae if he could do something about his hair. But in Sehun’s defense, it looks like Jongin’s pet poodle had curled itself on top of Jongdae head.
“So what’s our story?” Jongdae asks as he drives them to the wedding hall.
“Story?” Sehun glances around because he’s impressed at what a nice car Jongdae has. He wonders if it’s okay to ask if this is Jongdae’s car or if it’s part of the package he’ll be paying for. Jongdae still doesn’t look happy with him, so he decides it’s better not to ask.
“Yeah, our story. How long have we dated? Are we in a serious relationship, or is this just a fun thing? How did we meet?”
“I don’t know,” Sehun says, shrugging. “We’ll just make it up as we go.”
Jongdae sighs loudly as the car comes to a stop in front a red light. “We can’t make it up as we go. I assume we’re not going to be joined at the hip the whole wedding.”
“Why not?” Sehun demands.
“Because I don’t want to be in your company the entire evening,” Jongdae answers. “And I don’t want to be floundering around for an answer when someone talks to us.” He turns to him and gives him a curious look. “Are you important?”
Sehun cannot believe this. “Of course I’m important.”
“No, I mean actually important,” Jongdae says, easing his foot off the brakes when the light turns green. “Not just important in your head.”
”Yes,” Sehun says, glaring at Jongdae, who isn’t even looking at him. “I’m the only son to the CEO of the Oh Corporation.”
“That sounds important,” Jongdae says, although he sounds patronizing so Sehun isn’t sure if he means it. “What does the Oh Corporation do?”
Sehun stares at him, gaping. “Things,” he says.
“Things?”
“Important things,” Sehun adds, irritation creeping up on him.
“Right.” Jongdae grins as he glances at him. “You’re sort of cute when you’re irritated.”
Sehun frowns. “I’m not cute.”
“Okay, can’t take a compliment either,” Jongdae says laughing. “You’ve got to give me something here. I was told I had to pretend to be your boyfriend. So am I your boyfriend or just your date for this wedding? I’m guessing if you’re important there will be other important people there.”
“Yes,” Sehun answers. “Will it cost less if I just want you to be a date?”
“Nope,” Jongdae says cheerfully.
Sehun has a sneaking suspicion that if he hadn’t made such a bad first impression when they first met, the answer would have been yes. “So boyfriend then.”
“Okay. For how long?”
Sehun makes a face. “I don’t know. A couple of months. Five months maybe?” He supposes he could pretend they’ve been dating much longer, but then his parents would get suspicious and ask him why they’ve never heard of him before.
“Wow, we lasted for five months, amazing.”
“You can come up with how we met.”
“I think I’m going to keep it simple,” Jongdae says. “Just tell them how we really met.” He laughs when Sehun whips his head at him, looking horrified. “Relax. I’ll change a few details. I won’t tell them I’m an escort obviously. We’re paid to be discreet.”
“Fine, whatever.”
“Are you affectionate?”
Sehun chokes. “What?”
“What? We’ve been dating for five months. Do you usually hold hand with your boyfriends?”
Sehun glances at him. “Is touching extra?”
Jongdae smiles and it’s probably the first time Sehun’s seen a real smile on him. “Depends,” he says.
“On?”
“On whether you stay almost pleasant like you’re being right now, or if you revert back to being a tool when we get there.”
ϟ
God, Sehun is an ass.
“His husband is short,” Sehun says in awe. He studies Jongdae before looking back to the stage where Tao and his new husband, Junmyeon, are standing on the stage taking pictures. “I think you’re taller than him. Just by a bit. He’s tiny and rich. Richer than me.”
“Sounds like Tao upgraded to me,” Jongdae says.
If Jongdae really was Sehun’s boyfriend, he would be having a terrible time and he would have been annoyed at how his boyfriend was ignoring him for the most part. But he isn’t. So he’s actually have a pretty great time. The food’s good and Jongdae has just taken a sip of the best champagne he has ever tasted before Sehun snatches the glass away from him.
“Honeybee, you’re driving tonight,” Sehun says, flashing him a smile.
Honeybee? They hadn’t discussed terms of endearment earlier. Jongdae was going to charge him extra for that just to be petty.
“You’re right,” he says, pleasantly. “Uhhh...moon...pie.” He shrugs when Sehun glares at him. What the hell was he supposed to say when someone called him a honeybee? What was wrong with just plain “honey”?
The couple Sehun had been schmoozing smiles brightly at them, and Jongdae can’t believe they were buying this.
“Your boyfriend is delightful, Sehun,” the lady says. “We are all so glad that you’ve found someone. We were worried that you wouldn’t come to the wedding at all. We thought it would be too hard for you since you and Zitao were together for ages.”
Jongdae listens as he attempts to take a bite from a crab cake, but he ends up putting the whole thing in his mouth. How come rich people liked their food portions to be so tiny?
“No, I’m happy for Zitao,” Sehun says. Jongdae has been listening to him sweet talk people for the past hour and he only ever tenses up when the subject moves to Tao.
“Have you met his husband yet?” the man asks. “Wonderful young man.”
“Of course you would have been a perfectly wonderful match as well,” the lady says quickly, sending her husband a look. “We always thought-”
Jongdae sees the way Sehun’s jaw clenches and he figures he should try to get them away from this awkward conversation. “Aren’t those your parents?” he asks, resting a hand on Sehun’s elbow. He’s never met Sehun’s parents, has no idea if they’re even there, but he points to the general direction of the crowd near the dance floor. “Let’s go say hi to them...angel...cake.”
Sehun glances at him before he casts a look at the crowd. “You’re right. I haven’t talked to them since we got here.” He smiles at the couple as he reaches down to take Jongdae’s hand. “Excuse us. We’ll talk to you later.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Jongdae calls out, smiling brightly at them.
“Angelcake?” Sehun says as soon as they’re out of hearing range. He sounds bristly but he’s smiling. Jongdae hadn’t been lying when he said Sehun was cute when he was irritated- which granted, was kind of his default mood- but he likes the smiling too.
“I don’t know, you called me honeybee,” Jongdae says, swatting him on the arm. “What was that?”
“Tao used to like the nicknames,” Sehun says, his cheeks turning pink. “I thought I saw him heading over so I just threw out the first thing that came to my mind.”
“Fine, we’ll do the nicknames.” Jongdae notices Sehun is still holding his hand so he squeezes it lightly. “Can I call you a fruit roll-up? I like how that sounds.”
“Why are all your nicknames food?”
“Why am I a bee?”
ϟ
Sehun can actually feel how annoying he’s being. He really can. He knows he’s talking about Tao a lot. A lot.
Any time he gets Jongdae alone, which is mostly when Jongdae drags him away from all the people who insist on talking about how hard it must be for Sehun, which-
Okay, first of all, the whole point of bringing Jongdae was to prove to people (and Tao, but he has yet to actually talk to him) that he’s completely over Tao and that he has moved on.
Secondly, for all intents and purpose, to these people, Jongdae is his boyfriend, so why do they keep talking about Tao in front of him? Jongdae is being perfectly fucking charming and amusing, why can’t they all just be happy for him?
The terrible part is that Sehun knows he’s being the worst one out of all of them. Because all he does is talk about Tao. We did this together, we went there to celebrate 100 days together, he gave me this on my birthday, I did that for Christmas. He knows he’s being insufferable but he can’t make himself stop.
“How long were you two going out?” Jongdae asks indulgently, sipping at his sad glass of fruit juice.
“Two years. Here, just...drink.” Sehun hands him a glass of champagne because if Jongdae has to listen to him talk about Tao- something not even Jongin is willing to do anymore- then he should at least be able to drink. “We’ll take a cab home.”
Jongdae blinks. “I can put you in a cab home,” he says, gratefully sipping his champagne.
“What? Oh. Right. We’re not actually dating.” Sehun waves a hand dismissively. “I’ll pay for your cab ride home.”
“We’ll talk about it when we actually leave,” Jongdae says, patting him on the shoulder.
“Tao used to make sure I got home safely after a night out,” Sehun blurts out.
“Of course he did,” Jongdae says.
“Even if he wasn’t going to spend the night,” Sehun continues, and he just wants to stop talking about Tao, to stop thinking about him. Just. Stop. Everything. “He took good care of me.”
Jongdae pauses and it looks like he’s going to agree again when he leans in and curls a hand at the curve of Sehun’s neck. “There will be other people, you know. Who will take you places and who you can take care of. Who will take care of you.”
“It won’t be the same,” Sehun mumbles.
Jongdae’s face drops and he pulls his hand away. “Maybe it will be better,” he says, sitting back.
“No, it won’t.”
“Hey.” Jongdae pulls his chair closer to Sehun’s and grabs his hand. “Weddings are supposed to be happy, even if it’s your ex’s wedding. They’re a great place to meet people. Cheer up, my...honeydew...cupcake.”
Sehun stares at him before he bursts out laughing. “Is that even a thing?”
“I don’t know,” Jongdae grimaces, releasing his hand to smack Sehun on the shoulder. “I got to honeydew and I realized I had no way of finishing that aside from saying bubble tea? My honeydew bubble tea?”
“I think I’d rather be your honeydew bubble tea than your honeydew cupcake,” Sehun says, making a face. “Seriously, what is it with you and food? I would ask if I need to feed you but you keep eating.”
“Everything’s just so tiny!” Jongdae complains.
“You’re a tiny person,” Sehun laughs, “how much food do you need?”
“Sehun, I’ve finally found you.”
Sehun looks up and he smiles when he sees his mother walking up to them at their table. “Mom,” he says, happily. “You and dad were always with people whenever I saw you. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Yes, people want to talk business with your father at a wedding,” his mother says, rolling her eyes. She kisses him on the cheek before she takes a seat at their table. “But I managed to escape. I abandoned your poor father but he seems to be having fun. So.” She turns to Jongdae and smiles. “Introduce me to this young man, I’ve heard so much about him.”
Sehun realizes that his hand is on Jongdae’s knee and he can’t even remember when he moved it there. “Mom, this is Jongdae,” he says, squeezing Jongdae’s knee in assurance before he moves his hand away. His mom is great but he knows she can come off as intimidating sometimes. “Jongdae, this is my mother.”
“Hi,” Jongdae says, staring at the hand Sehun’s mother is holding out to him before he reaches out to shake it. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
“Finally?” Sehun’s mother raises an eyebrow. “How long have you been keeping him from us, Sehun?”
“Five months,” Sehun answers, flashing her a smile.
“And I’m only meeting him now?”
“Didn’t want you to scare him off,” Sehun says, shrugging. “I like him. Don’t be mean.”
“Sehun.” His mother gives him a look before she turns back to Jongdae. “Sehun is under the impression that I interrogate all his boyfriends, when i just want to know more about them.” Sehun rolls his eyes because this is followed by his mother asking, “So what do you do, Jongdae?”
Sehun isn’t surprised by this question but he realizes he and Jongdae hadn’t discussed when they would say he does. His mother doesn’t really care who he dates, but he’s pretty sure ‘escort service’ isn’t on her approval list.
“I work in a pastry shop,” Jongdae says. He looks a little embarrassed and it’s kind of...cute.
Sehun’s mother’s eyes light up. “Oh? Which one?”
“I don’t think you’ve heard of it,” Jongdae says, looking away. “It’s a small place.”
“Do you own it?”
Sehun cringes. He knows his mother means well but he really wishes he could rescue Jongdae the way he had been rescuing Sehun all evening.
“No. I’m just-”
“Mom, look, Mrs. Kim is waving at you.” Sehun catches Jongin’s mother’s eye and waves at her so that she’s waving by the time his mother turns around. “You know she’s been looking for you.”
“Oh, really?” Sehun’s mother waves back as she stands up. “I should go see what she needs.” She smiles at Jongdae as she pats Sehun’s hand. “It was so nice meeting you, Jongdae. We’re having a brunch next weekend. I hope you’re coming with Sehun. He’s usually so bored at these things, but you seem good at keeping him busy.”
“I’ll try,” Jongdae answers, returning her smile. “It was nice meeting you too.” His shoulders drop as soon as they’re in the clear. “Sorry. Should I have said I did something fancy? I just blanked out when she asked me what I did.”
“It’s fine.” Sehun laughs as Jongdae downs the glass of champagne. “Pastry shop was a good idea.”
Jongdae makes a face at him as he snags another champagne glass from a waiter that’s passing by. “It’s true. I do work in a pastry shop.” He laughs when he sees Sehun’s face. “What? You think I just shmooze rich guys like you all day? I just do this to pay off my student loans and because even though I love my job, it doesn’t pay much.”
Sehun gives him a funny look. “I guess that explains all the food nicknames,” he says finally.
Jongdae smirks. “When I become a famous pastry chef, I’m going to make honeydew cupcake a thing.”
ϟ
Jongdae isn’t quite sure what happens. He had actually been having fun with Sehun. When the evening first started, he had used people coming up to talk to Sehun as an excuse to get a break from him. Now he’s reluctant to leave his side, so he doesn’t mind when Sehun rests a hand on the small of his back as a way to ask him to stay, or when he holds on to Jongdae’s hand as he’s talking to people.
Everything’s going well. Sehun even stops talking about Tao for awhile although Jongdae doesn’t try to stop him when he does. He feels bad for the joke he made when they first met because obviously it wasn’t just a petty jealousy thing with Sehun.
Then. Tao and Sehun actually came face to face.
It seemed fine. Tao had been surprised to see Sehun, but he had been nice and Sehun had been pleasant and hadn’t said anything awkward or rude.
Jongdae figures the worst had passed but then Sehun had started drinking. At first he just starts talking about Tao again, which is fine. Jongdae just nods and pats him on the shoulder. He attempts to cut him off but Sehun isn’t having any of that.
He gets progressively louder and he ignores Jongdae when he tries to get him to lower his voice. It’s all over when Tao passes by their table.
“I wrote you 365 letters,” Sehun announces loudly.
Tao freezes at that and brings Junmyeon to a halt before he turns around slowly to face him. “Are you quoting ‘The Notebook’?”
Oh god. Jongdae realizes that Sehun is. He had just watched that movie last night and now here was his date reenacting one of the scenes out. To a married man. “Sehun,” he whispers, trying to grab Sehun’s arm. “Uh…” Fuck, the only thing he can think of is cheese strings and that doesn’t seem very romantic.
“I wrote you everyday for a year,” Sehun says.
Tao frowns. “You sent me a few text messages, Sehun. The longest thing I got from you was an e-mail asking if I remembered your password for your Netflix account. That’s it.”
“It wasn’t over,” Sehun continues. “It still isn’t over!”
“Yes, it is, you’re at my wedding!” Tao yells. He shrinks back when Sehun moves forward, but Jongdae manages to grab his arm in time and he forcefully pulls him back.
“Sehun,” he says, laughing stiffly. “Come on, moon pie, you’ve had too much to drink. Let’s get you home.”
Sehun whimpers as Jongdae’s fingers dig into his arm as he hauls him away. He can feel people staring at them as they move towards the exit, but he tries to ignore them as Tao yells out at Sehun that he’s ruined his wedding.
“If you’re a bird, I’m a bird!” Sehun yells back dramatically, and Jongdae wants to stop and laugh.
“What does that have to do with anything, you dumb...biscuit.” God, Sehun was right. He could only think of nicknames with food.
Jongdae manages to get Sehun into a cab and he messages Chanyeol and asks him to pick up the car at the wedding hall. Sehun is quiet for the ride back to his place and after deciding that helping Sehun back to his apartment is probably not in the elevator attendant’s job description, he helps him back there too.
“Your knocker is the douchiest thing I have ever laid eyes on,” Jongdae says as he tries to figure out where Sehun’s keys are. “Who thinks a bedazzled tiger head knocker is a good idea?”
“It was a housewarming gift from Tao,” Sehun mumbles as Jongdae fishes the keys out of his pocket.
Ah. Shit. He probably shouldn’t have said anything. “It’s still ugly as fuck,” Jongdae says, because it’s true and because he’s hoping Sehun won’t remember it. He unlocks the door and pushes Sehun into the apartment.
Sehun immediately walks to his couch and spreads himself across it. “Sorry,” he says before he closes his eyes.
Jongdae can’t imagine that falling asleep in that suit is comfortable, but he’s only met Sehun a few hours ago and he was definitely not getting paid enough to undress him. It doesn’t look like he’s getting paid at all tonight.
He takes off Sehun’s shoes for him and undoes the bowtie before he slides it off. He grabs a pillow and the blanket from Sehun’s bedroom- there’s a ridiculously large bed for one person, but Jongdae doesn’t even know why he’s surprised.
He’s trying to slide the pillow under Sehun’s head as quietly as he can when Sehun’s eyes flutter open.
“Hi,” he says sleepily.
“Go back to sleep,” Jongdae says, finally sliding the pillow into a place.
“Do you think our love can make miracles?”
Jongdae laughs because he can’t believe Sehun is still quoting ‘The Notebook.’ “The two of us really need to start watching better movies,” he says, throwing the blanket over Sehun.
ϟ
Sehun can feel the sun rays hitting his face before he can open his eyes, so he rolls over because he feels terrible and he doesn’t want to wake up and think about why his throat feels like he swallowed a wad of cotton.
Except he’s not on his bed apparently and when he rolls over, he falls to the floor with a yelp and ends up with a faceful of carpet. Which does not help how his head feels. He isn’t sure how long he spends laying there on the floor. He’s not even sure that he doesn’t fall back asleep, but it’s still bright and sunny when he finally manages to pull himself into an upright position.
He notices a glass of water and an aspirin under a note on the coffee table. He downs the glass of water without the aspirin because it doesn’t feel like anything that’s not liquid is going to go down his throat. He reaches for the note and squints at it.
good morning/afternoon, moon pie. you owe tao an apology, preferably after his honeymoon. you were a huge asshole last night.
Moon pie? It takes Sehun a few moments to remember everything. He groans out loud and decides he definitely needs that aspirin.
Getting flashbacks to the night before was horrifying. Had he really quoted ‘The Notebook’? He cringes as he remembers watching the movie the night before the wedding, remembers nodding along with Noah and mouthing the words. But why (why! why!) did he feel the need to yell out quotes at Tao?
He freezes as he remembers yelling out that it wasn’t over. “No,” he whispers, squeezing his eyes shut. And then again, “No. Please no,” when he remembers, ”If you’re a bird, I’m a bird!”
That’s it. He was never leaving his apartment again.
He glances at the note again and then he blinks. Wait. Did he even pay Jongdae? He flips the note over but there’s nothing there. No contact information, just a note where Jongdae calls him moon pie and then an asshole.
He’s probably going to have to call the company. Or maybe the contact number he had received when they said their escort would pick him up at the time he asked for. In a few hours, he decides. When he feels more like a person.
He’s in the middle of watching ‘She’s the Man’ when he hears his phone go off. He scrambles to answer it and he’s so sure that it’s Jongdae calling to ask for his money that he doesn’t even check to see which number is calling.
“I’m sorry,” he says instead of ‘hello.’
“I’m not sure I’m the one you should be apologizing to.”
Sehun sighs and pauses the movie. “Hi, mom,” he says.
“Did you think I was Jongdae?” his mother asks on the end. “You were in spectacular form last night. I’m not surprised he isn’t speaking to you.”
“I know,” Sehun says, sighing again. “I don’t know what happened.”
His mother is quiet for a few seconds, something he knows she does when she wants to say something without hurting his feelings. “I was surprised when you said you were coming,” she finally says. “Even when you said you were bringing your boyfriend, I was doubtful. But the two of you seemed happy last night.”
“You only met him once,” Sehun mutters.
“Just because I didn’t get the time to talk to the two of you doesn’t mean I didn’t see you two around,” his mother says. “You looked like you were having a good time.”
“We were. I’m going to fix it, okay?”
“Lovely,” his mother says cheerfully. “If he’s still talking to you then bring him to brunch next weekend. Everyone at the wedding liked him.” She pauses. “Sehun, do you like him? I know your father and I sort of…pushed you and Zitao together, and we really feel terrible that-”
“It’s fine, mom,” Sehun interrupts because he really doesn’t want to talk about Tao.
“We just want you to be happy, that’s all. So...I’m not pushing you at this young man, okay? I’m just...offering my support.”
“Okay, got it,” Sehun says. “I’ll bring him to brunch next weekend.” He says it mostly to get his mother off the phone, but when he hangs up he thinks maybe it’s not such a bad idea. He has to be there anyway. And his mother was right, he did have fun- before The Notebook Incident- so maybe he can hire Jongdae again.
If he even still wanted to go out with him after Sehun didn’t even bother to pay him for last night. He sighs again and he drags himself to his feet to go look for the contact number he had gotten from the escort service.
ϟ
“Do you think you’ll be able to work an entire day here without getting some kind of frosting on your face?” Yixing swipes at the frosting on Jongdae’s cheek before licking it off his finger. “Mmm, hazelnut.”
“That’s gross,” Jongdae laughs as he continues piercing the ends of a future eclair.
“But delicious,” Yixing says, moving to wash his hands. “My break’s over so you can go on yours.”
“In a bit. Let me just finish with these eclairs.”
“I’ve got it,” Yixing says, turning the tap off. “There’s someone here to see you anyway.”
“Probably just Baekhyun looking for more freebies,” Jongdae mutters. He finishes with the eclairs because Baekhyun is a mooch, who can wait.
“It’s not Baekhyun,” Yixing says. “Some tall guy. Very frowny.”
Jongdae blinks because that sounds a lot like Sehun, except he’s pretty sure he never told Sehun where he worked. He peeks out the door and sees Sehun fidgeting at a table, looking restless. “What did he order?” he asks when he sees a cup in front of him.
“A hot chocolate,” Yixing says, untying Jongdae’s apron for him. “I heard him ask for chocolate milk actually. He wasn’t happy we didn’t have any.”
Jongdae laughs as he ducks out of his apron and leaves the kitchen to join Sehun.
“Moon pie,” he says cheerfully, dropping into the seat across from him.
Sehun’s mouth twitches slightly. “Honeybee.”
Jongdae’s smile widens when he hears that. “Here for another date? You could have called my company for that.”
“Yes actually,” Sehun says and Jongdae’s actually surprised. He had regular clients but he didn’t think he’d see Sehun again. “The brunch my mother mentioned? She called me to ask if I was still bringing you.”
Jongdae beams. “Mothers do love me.”
“You’re sounding pretty confident for someone who was pretty pale while he was actually talking to my mother.” Sehun smirks as he takes a sips of his hot chocolate. He yelps when Jongdae kicks him under the table.
“I was just worried that I should have told her I was doing something...fancier,” Jongdae says crossly.
“Okay, okay, hey, stop kicking.” Sehun pushes his chair away to get away from Jongdae’s feet. “I also have to…” He stops to see if Jongdae has stopped kicking before he moves back. “I didn’t pay you for Saturday night.”
“You were too drunk to do anything,” Jongdae says, smiling slightly.
“Yeah, sorry,” Sehun says sheepishly. “I hope I didn’t do or say anything embarrassing.”
“You just quoted more stuff from ‘The Notebook,’” Jongdae laughs. “I was a little impressed at your devotion to that movie.”
Sehun winces. “Is that going to cost me extra?”
Jongdae hesitates. “You don’t have to pay me,” he says. “I had a good time.”
“No you didn’t,” Sehun scoffs. “I was terrible.”
“Fine, just...pay me this weekend then,” Jongdae says, waving a hand dismissively. He’s a little put off because he did have a good time. Sehun hadn’t been that bad, he was enjoying himself until Sehun ran into Tao. But it was a job. Of course he should get paid.
“Okay.” Sehun is giving him a funny look but he doesn’t say anything. “Can I get your number? Or do I have to make the arrangements through your company?”
“You can have my number,” Jongdae says, holding his hand out for Sehun’s phone.
“Whose number do I have?” Sehun asks as Jongdae taps in his number. “I tried calling you earlier but some guy with a deep voice answered. He did not like me. He only told me where you worked because I mentioned that I didn’t pay you.”
“My friend, Chanyeol.” Jongdae finishes saving his name and number and hands Sehun’s phone back to him. “I’m not surprised he didn’t like you. You make terrible first impressions.”
“Why do I have his number?” Sehun asks, confused.
“Because he was supposed to be your escort.” Jongdae shrugs. “He’s tall. You would have liked him.”
Sehun stares at him for a few moments. “I’m fine with how things turned out.”
ϟ
Sehun opens the door before Jongdae gets a chance to knock the door. “Hi.”
Jongdae is looking at his door in puzzlement. “Where’s the ugly knocker?”
“Oh.” Sehun laughs as he glances at his door. It does look kind of bare without the knocker. “I got rid of it. It actually used to creep me out when I used to come home late. I felt like I had to avoid eye contact just to get into my apartment.”
Jongdae looks affronted. “You didn’t throw it out, did you?”
“Why do you care?”
“Because it was bedazzled,” Jongdae laughs. “It’s ugly but sparkly.”
“I gave it to my friend Soojung,” Sehun says. “It creeps out her fiancé, Jongin.”
“Jongin?”
“My best friend,” Sehun fills in. “He and Soojung were at the wedding, but they were busy. Soojung’s this big up and comer in the financial business, so people are always trying to talk to her. They’ll be at the brunch too.” He notices the box in Jongdae’s hands. “What’s that?”
Jongdae looks at the box he’s holding and he flushes. “I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to bring something. I mean, it’s brunch.”
Sehun’s lips quirk up in amusement. “It’s not brunch. It’s a brunch. It’s not some family thing. All these big corporate big heads are going to be there.”
“I didn’t know that,” Jongdae mumbles before shoving the box at Sehun. “Here, you have them then.”
“What are they?” Sehun lifts the lid to peek in and he frowns. He can’t really make out what they are.
“Moon pies,” Jongdae laughs. “I know you can buy them but I tried making them. It was pretty easy.”
Sehun stares at him. “Moon pies are a real thing?”
Jongdae laughs. “Oh my god, yes. Does that mean you’ve also never heard of a twinkie?”
“A what?”
Jongdae reaches out to stroke his hand. “Poor little rich boy,” he says sympathetically. “Missed out on all the unhealthy processed snacks growing up. Come on, let’s go to this brunch. Maybe I’ll buy you a twinkie afterwards.”
ϟ
“Are my ears bleeding? I can’t tell.”
“Stop.” Jongdae elbows Sehun in the ribs as the head of Choi Industries wraps up his speech, but he is relieved that the speeches are over and they can eat now. “Why aren’t you more interested in this stuff? I thought you were an important person. Aren’t you going to take over your dad’s company at some point?”
“Sure, but that doesn’t make any of this interesting right now,” Sehun says. He squeezes Jongdae’s knee lightly. “Are you bored?”
“Hey, I’m just here for the food,” Jongdae says, reaching for a bread roll. “And you.” He grins when Sehun rolls his eyes at that.
He doesn’t tell Sehun that he spent most of last night Google’ing brunch etiquette. He’s been to dinners and sometimes even lunches, but he figures brunch with the people he met at the wedding was probably not the same raucous event that it was with his friends.
He’s reaching for a glass of iced tea when he feels Sehun’s hand at his elbow. “Heads up, kitten, my parents are heading over.”
Jongdae feels his eyebrows rise up. “Don’t think we’re not going to talk about fucking ‘kitten’ when I get you alone,” he hisses, before he pastes a smile on his face.
“Sehun,” Mrs. Oh says, kissing Sehun on the cheek before she pats Jongdae on the shoulder and sits down across from them. “Jongdae, I’m so glad you could make it today. This is Sehun’s father. Honey, this is Jongdae.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jongdae says, shaking Sehun’s father’s hand. He tries not to shrink back into Sehun because he thought Sehun’s mother was intimidating, but Sehun’s father was even more intimidating, even though they were both smiling at him.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to meet at the wedding,” Mr. Oh says, glancing at Sehun. “But I suppose you had your hands full either way.”
Sehun groans. “I’m surprised no one’s asking me about it.”
“A lot of the people here weren’t at the wedding,” his father says. “Although the people who were there keep putting their hands on our arms and asking, ‘Is your son okay?’ with this tone. It’s quite amusing.”
“Your father’s using you, Sehunnie,” Mrs. Oh says, shaking her head. “Any time he doesn’t want to talk to someone, he just says he’s going to check up on you and then they leave him alone because they’re afraid to make things awkward.”
“Dad,” Sehun whines.
“What? No one actually thinks anything’s wrong with you. Most people at the wedding assumed you were just drunk.”
Jongdae can’t help the snicker that escapes his mouth. “He was very sorry the next day,” he says, reaching for Sehun’s hand under the table.
“Everyone was talking about how happy you seem with your new boyfriend,” Mrs. Oh says.
“Yes, but if only you could get your drinking under control,” Mr. Oh says laughing. “Stop frowning, Sehun, and bring the eyebrows down. We know you don’t have a problem.”
Sehun’s mother reaches out to put a hand on top of Jongdae’s. “Was he terrible when you took him home?”
“No, he fell asleep as soon as we got back,” Jongdae says. He can’t help adding, “He quoted a few more lines of The Notebook at me first, and then he fell asleep.”
“He was always very dramatic,” Mr. Oh says, his eyes lit up. “Does Jongdae know you were in the drama club in high school?”
Jongdae can’t explain how gleeful he feels when he hears this. “No!” He smacks Sehun’s thigh before he leans in closer. “Really? The drama club?”
“Yes,” Mr. Oh says, sounding just as gleeful to offer up this information. “He got a lot of the leading roles.”
“The lead roles, really?” Jongdae beams up at Sehun. “Moon pie, you never told me this.”
“And he was in the West Side Story,” Mr. Oh adds, grinning at Sehun. “He practiced so hard for that one.”
“A musical.” Jongdae can’t stop smiling.
“Mooooom,” Sehun complains. “Make dad stop.”
“We have tapes.” Mrs. Oh says, smiling brightly. “You should come over one day and watch it. His dad likes the West Story performance the best. But I personally like his performance as Hamlet.”
“Yes!” Jongdae says, nodding in excitement. “Let’s watch all of it.”
Sehun groans and he drops his head on Jongdae’s shoulder. “I’m dating him,” he says, “why are you trying to scare him away with my terrible acting from when I was a kid?”
“Terrible acting?” Jongdae reaches a hand out to pat Sehun’s face. “You gave such a moving performance as Noah. Not terrible at all.”
ϟ
Sehun is waiting for Jongdae at the door when his mother approaches him.
“Where’s Jongdae?” she asks.
“Bathroom.”
“He’s lovely, Sehun,” his mother tells him, smiling softly. “You look happy with him. I feel like I haven’t seen you like this since...well, you know.”
“I know.” Sehun hasn’t felt this happy since he and Tao broke up. Even Tao couldn’t make these brunches interesting, but time had flown by for this one. It was only when he realized that the other guests were leaving that he asked Jongdae if he wanted to leave.
“You should bring him over for dinner sometime,” Mrs. Oh says.
“So you can show him my embarrassing high school performances?” Sehun demands crossly. “No thanks.”
His mother laughs. “I promise I’ll only let your father show him one video and say I’ve lost the rest.”
“Say you’ve lost them all,” Sehun says, but he smiles as he leans down to let his mother kiss his cheek goodbye.
“Tell Jongdae we said goodbye,” she says, squeezing his arm before she leaves.
Jongdae joins him a few minutes later. “That was the nicest bathroom,” he says, instinctively linking his arm with Sehun’s. “There was a guy holding out a towel for me to dry my hands. Do you have your own bathroom attendant at your place?”
“Are we a little drunk, honeybee?” Sehun asks, leading him out of the hall.
“A little tipsy,” Jongdae answers, leaning in against him. “Are you driving...gummy bear? Shit. I forgot my list of names.”
“No, we took a cab here, remember?”Sehun laughs as he huddles Jongdae into a waiting cab.
“Was I good?” Jongdae asks suddenly. He’s studying Sehun with a curious look. “Was I too casual with your father?”
“No,” Sehun says, reaching down to lace their fingers together. “You were great. My dad’s usually a little awkward when he meets my friends or anyone I date. He and Jongin have the most awkward conversations, and they’ve known each other for years.”
“Okay,” Jongdae says, his shoulders relaxing.
Sehun shifts as Jongdae rests his head on his shoulder. “So I actually looked up honeydew cupcakes the other day. They’re actually a thing.”
“No.” Jongdae pouts and Sehun almost can’t believe this is the same guy he met last week. “That was going to be my thing.”
“Maybe you can make it your thing at your pastry shop.” Sehun rests his cheek against the top of Jongdae’s head. “Hey, your weird chia-pet hair is actually really soft.”
Jongdae laughs as he squeezes Sehun’s hand. “I told you my hair was great.” He shifts closer and looks up at him. “So what kind of icing do the cupcakes have?”
“What?”
“The honeydew ones. You said you looked them up.”
Sehun tries to remember because he hadn’t looked up any recipes. “Umm, white chocolate, I think. And buttercream.”
Jongdae is quiet for a few seconds. “Piece of cake,” he says finally, before he lets out a little giggle. “Get it?”
Sehun laughs. “That’s terrible.”
When the cab pulls up outside Sehun’s building, he realizes he hasn’t thought this through. He knows he can pay for Jongdae’s cab ride home, but he asks if Jongdae wants to come upstairs anyway.
“I can make you some coffee,” he says. “Clear your head a little.”
“We can have the moon pies,” Jongdae agrees, getting out of the cab after Sehun.
When they get upstairs, Jongdae wanders around the living room while Sehun tries to figure out how to work the coffee maker that Jongin had given him on his birthday. He’s never actually made his own coffee. It seemed pointless when there was a coffee shop right downstairs.
“I love this movie,” Jongdae calls out loudly and when Sehun sticks his head out from the kitchen, he sees that Jongdae has turned on the television and started watching ‘She’s the Man’ from where Sehun had paused it a week ago.
“Here, have a moon pie while I make the coffee,” Sehun says, dropping the box Jongdae had brought over earlier down on the coffee table.
“Forget the coffee.” Jongdae pats the spot on the couch next to him. “Come here. So I can have my moon pie and eat it too.”
“You’re not as funny as you think you are,” Sehun says when Jongdae dissolves into another fit of laughter.
“I’m hilarious,” Jongdae says, kicking Sehun in the ankle. “Let’s watch this movie and then I’ll go home. Come on….strawberry...poptart? Fuck, I don’t know. Just come sit next to me. Channing Tatum has never made a good movie after this.”
Sehun sits down next to him and Jongdae shifts closer immediately. He feels so warm next to Sehun that he can’t stop himself from reaching for his hand. “Do you want to start from the beginning?”
“Okay,” Jongdae agrees, intertwining their fingers.
Sehun doesn’t really pay attention to the movie. He’s too aware of Jongdae leaning against him and how his hand feels curled around Jongdae’s. It usually takes Sehun awhile to warm up to people, it had taken some pushing from his parents to keep going out with Tao. But this, with Jongdae, it was easy. He doesn’t know if that’s a good thing. Was it allowed to be this easy?
“Jongdae?”
“Hmm?”
“Is it going to cost me extra if I want to kiss you?”
Jongdae freezes for a second before he pulls away from Sehun and he stares at him, an unreadable look on his face. “We don’t...do that,” he says. “We’re not...we’re escorts. We just go places with you when you can’t find a date.”
Sehun knows all of that but none of that was an answer. “So...no?”
Jongdae’s face scrunches up. “I don’t...I don’t want you to pay me for today,” he says finally. “I had fun.”
“So was this a real date?”
Jongdae shrugs, looking away. “If you wanted it to be.”
Sehun inches forward until he’s in Jongdae’s personal space again. “So can I kiss you?”
Jongdae shoves him away. “No, you can’t kiss me. You were just crying about your ex a week ago,” he says scowling.
Sehun sits back, feeling puzzled. “But I had fun today. I mean, don’t you like me?”
“Yes,” Jongdae says frowning. “But I’m not stupid. You want to kiss me then you have to date me. You’ve known me for two days. Less than that. And you were upset about your ex-boyfriend for one of those days.”
Sehun pauses. “So are you going to keep going out with clients?”
Jongdae scowls. “Yes. I told you, we don’t do anything with them.”
“But…” Sehun scowls back. “I don’t want you holding anyone else’s hand.”
Jongdae pauses at that. “Fine,” he says. “I won’t hold anyone’s hand.”
“But we’ll date,” Sehun repeats.
“Yes.”
“And I’ll get to kiss you eventually?”
“Probably.”
“Okay,” Sehun says reluctantly. “But you like me, right? Because I like you.”
“Yes,” Jongdae says in exasperation. “I like you.”
ϟ
It takes close to a month before Sehun gets to kiss him. He’s a little annoyed because Jongdae is the one who kisses him first.
They’re in Sehun’s kitchen trying to figure out the coffee maker. Apparently, Jongin had given him a really fancy kind so at least Sehun wasn’t just being inept.
“Who even needs coffee anyway?” Sehun grumbles, shoving the percolator away. “Coffee is gross.”
Jongdae laughs as he fits the percolator back in place. “So no coffee at your place then,” he says, unplugging the coffee maker.
“We can go downstairs if you insist on feeding your gross habit,” Sehun says, opening his fridge. “But I still think you need to switch over to chocolate milk. You know I read an article about the benefits of chocolate milk? Like it has electrolytes for hydration, and it has calcium and vitamin D. It said something about being good for your liver and-”
Jongdae leans up on his toes and cuts him off by pressing their lips together.
“Hey.” Sehun frowns when he pulls away. “What was that?”
Jongdae shrugs as he closes the refrigerator door. “You were cute,” he says simply.
“That’s not fair,” Sehun complains. “I’ve been trying to kiss you for a month and you get to do it whenever you want?”
Jongdae takes a step closer, resting his hands on Sehun’s collar bone. “I’m not stopping you now,” he says.
Sehun leans in until they’re a breath away. “You know, we never got around to discussing ‘kitten,’” he says, pressing a kiss to the corner of Jongdae’s mouth.
“I figured it out anyway,” he says, rolling his eyes. He pouts when Sehun’s kisses the other corner. “Stop teasing.”
Sehun laughs as he rests a hand at the small of Jongdae’s back, pulling him in even closer before he kisses him. He slides his fingers into Jongdae’s hair, licking along his teeth and when Jongdae lets out a little sound of contentment, he moves them around until he can press Jongdae against the counter to angle into the kiss better.
He’s digging his fingers into the inlets of Jongdae’s hipbones when the oven timer goes off.
“Leave it,” he says, nosing along Jongdae’s neck.
“But they’ll burn,” Jongdae says half-heartedly, because he really doesn’t want to pull away.
“You’re a pastry chef,” Sehun whines against his neck. “Just make them again.”
Jongdae laughs and he pushes him gently. “At least let me get them out of the oven.”
Sehun huffs but he moves away and watches Jongdae slip on oven mitts before he reaches into the oven to take out the honeydew cupcakes.
“They smell good,” Jongdae says, resting them on the counter.
Sehun snatches the mitts off Jongdae’s hands as he pulls him into the living room. “Make out first, cupcakes later.”
---------
[x] happy (belated) birthday, ri! i think it's still your bday for you, but just in case. ily and ty for being such an a++++ friend.
sehun/chen
pg-13
for tsukarerudesu
Jongdae is ready for a quiet weekend. He can’t remember the last time he’s had any free time to himself and he’s ready to embrace the whole Couch Potato Experience. He has a tub of ice cream and bags of chips and cookies in front of him along with a stack of movies ready to watch. He doesn’t plan on moving from the couch for the entire weekend.
So of course Chanyeol has to ruin everything.
“What are you doing this weekend?”
“Nothing,” Jongdae says around a spoonful of ice cream. “Not a single thing.” He’s blissfully oblivious to what Chanyeol is working up to. He’s in such a good mood that he even considers asking Chanyeol if he wants to come over and watch bad movies and eat unhealthy food.
“You don’t have any clients this weekend?” Chanyeol asks.
If Jongdae wasn’t halfway through the tub of ice cream, he would have clued in right away and made an excuse, but he is halfway through the ice cream and all the way through the bag of chocolate-covered marshmallows. “Nope,” he answers. “Free as a bird.”
“Great, I have a client and I need you to work it instead.”
Jongdae pauses for a few seconds because he and Chanyeol don’t even really have the same clientele. Chanyeol’s clients want someone they can show off at charity benefits and fancy parties. Jongdae’s clients are people who want someone that will mingle and talk.
“No,” he says when he finds his tongue. “This is my weekend off. You know how much I was looking forward to this.” How had he not seen this coming? He’s been talking about this weekend to Chanyeol for the past two weeks. “I’m not going to go out with some creepy old guy just because you- wait, why do you even need me to cover?”
“I overbooked,” Chanyeol says, sounding frustrated. “Look, I’m sorry, but one of these clients is a regular and the other one is big money. If you do a good job, and he recommends us, we’ll get a lot of great business. Please? I’m giving you the better one. He just needs a date for some wedding he has to attend. It’ll be easy money. Just pretend you’re his boyfriend and you’ll get to eat some fancy food and maybe drink too. I think he mentioned something about an open bar. And he’s cute.”
“I don’t want to,” Jongdae whines. He’d much rather lounge around in his sweats than have to dress up nicely for some rich brat. It amazes him how many of these rich kids couldn’t get dates by themselves.
“Jongdae, please.” Chanyeol sounds desperate. “He’ll complain if I cancel on him and I’ll be in trouble.”
Jongdae grimaces because he doesn’t want Chanyeol to get in trouble. “But…” He just lets out a loud whine and kicks out his feet, sending a DVD case skidding across the floor. “Fine.”
“Really?” He can hear the smile on Chanyeol’s face. “Thank you. Thank you so much. Hey, look, the next time you get booked by some creep who’s looking for a twink, I’ll cover for you...or get Baekhyun to do it. For some reason, the twink-lovers don’t seem too pleased when I show up.”
“I hope your client sets your hair on fire,” Jongdae says before he hangs up.
ϟ
“Okay, so maybe this isn’t my best idea, but-”
“Worst,” Jongin says, crossing his arms across his chest. “The word I used was worst. This is your worst idea.”
“Why?” Sehun demands. “What’s so bad about hiring an escort to pretend to be my date for Tao’s wedding?”
Jongin gives him a look. “Did you hear yourself? You answered your own question.”
“I can’t show up at my ex-boyfriend’s wedding alone,” Sehun says, frowning at his reflection in the mirror. “Help me fix my bowtie.”
Jongin pulls up the collar of Sehun’s shirt and takes the bowtie that Sehun is holding out to him. “You don’t have to go to your ex-boyfriend’s wedding at all,” he says, draping the bowtie around his neck. “No one would blame you if you didn’t go.”
“He sent me an invitation, he practically dared me to go,” Sehun insists.
“I’m pretty sure he didn’t personally send out the invitations,” Jongin says. “They probably had one of their assistants do it. You must still be on his list of contacts. And even if you weren’t, your parents have known his for ages.” He takes a step back to look at his work.
“It’s crooked,” Sehun complains, pulling at the bowtie and undoing it completely.
“Sehun.” Jongin punches him on the shoulder. “Why are being such a pain in the ass? Just don’t go to this thing.”
“I’m not being a pain, I just don’t want to show up with a crooked bowtie,” Sehun says, rubbing his shoulder. “I’m going to show up with my handsome, tall date and...and an immaculate bowtie.”
“Handsome, tall date that you hired.”
“You didn’t leave me with a choice,” Sehun mumbles, frowning at his reflection. He looks incomplete without the bowtie. “You could’ve just come with me.”
“Yes, why would I go to a wedding with my fiancée instead of my surly best friend?”
“Surly? I’m not-”
“Where did you even hear about this company?” Jongin asks. He groans when Sehun pauses and hesitates to answer him. “Sehun, you didn’t just randomly look up a company on the internet, did you? Some of them are scams. They’re just looking for people like you.”
“People like me?”
“You know. Rich.”
“I didn’t look them up randomly,” Sehun says, the corners of his lips pulling down into a deeper frown. “If you must know, your fiancée recommended them.”
Jongin stares at him. “Soojung?”
“Yes. Apparently when you two are fighting and she doesn’t want to take you to a fancy party, she hires someone from this company.”
“Soojung?”
“If it helps, this was before you guys got engaged,” Sehun says.
“I have to go,” Jongin says, grabbing his jacket.
“Don’t be stupid,” Sehun complains. “I said it was before you guys got engaged.”
Jongin rolls his eyes. “I’m not going to go pick a fight. I need to go get ready for the wedding.” He pauses to study his friend. “Sehun, are you sure you want to do this? I know you really lo- I know you and Tao were serious. I don’t see this ending well.”
“I’m fine,” Sehun says. “I’ll show up for a few hours and Tao will see that I’ve moved on happily and then I’ll leave. It will be fine. You’ll see.”
ϟ
Jongdae has had a lot of rich clients who live in houses that are too big with garages that hold way too many cars. It’s his first time in an apartment building this nice though. He glances awkwardly at the man in the elevator sitting on a stool and hitting the buttons for whichever floor someone needs to get to.
Do rich people not believe in pressing elevator buttons themselves? As they approach the twelfth floor, Jongdae wonders if he’s supposed to tip this guy.
When the elevator stops and the doors open, Jongdae says, “Thank you?” and waits to see if the man holds out a hand for a tip or looks at him in expectation.
But he just nods at him. “Have a good day, sir.”
Jongdae nods and walks out. God, everything about this apartment building is ridiculous. He doesn’t doubt that the frames of the paintings are made from real gold. He really doesn’t want to judge this guy before he even meets him, but who needs to live in a place this lavish?
He rolls his eyes when he arrives at the apartment number in the information Chanyeol had sent him. Of course there’s a door knocker. He tries not to grimace but it’s a bedazzled tiger head. He’s starting to understand why this guy couldn’t find a date himself.
He hears some shuffling inside when he knocks on the door and he stands up straight and reminds himself that just because the client lives in a place like this, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be insufferable.
“Who are you?”
Or maybe he will. Oh Sehun has a really nice face, so Chanyeol hadn’t been lying. But he’s also wearing a frown and looking at Jongdae like he’s an insect. “Uh hi,” Jongdae says. “You hired an escort?”
Sehun narrows his eyes and his lips tighten into a flat line. “Yes. Are you the driver?”
It takes Jongdae awhile to process that. “The driver?”
“Yes,” Sehun says impatiently. “Is my date waiting downstairs? You know, I’m kind of impressed. I just decided to do this on a whim, but your company really goes all out. I’m-”
“I’m not the driver,” Jongdae interrupts, his fingers curling into fists. “I’m your escort for tonight.”
Sehun stops and just stares at him for a few seconds. “But you’re so...miniature,” he says.
Jongdae digs his nails into the palms of his hands. Their boss wouldn’t be happy if their clients reported back saying that Jongdae hit him in the face. Plus if Sehun was living in a place like this, his face was probably insured.
“I asked for someone tall,” Sehun says, starting to look agitated. “Do you know how tall my ex-boyfriend is? How am I supposed to make him jealous with a fun-sized person?”
Fucking Park Chanyeol. He’s covering the next five gross clients Jongdae gets.
“Well, I’m the only one available,” he says shrugging. It’s probably not true, but he didn’t need to know that. “So you decide. Short date or no date.” He doesn’t want Chanyeol to get in trouble, but he’s not going to try to sweet talk this asshole into continuing on with this evening. He has no problem with going home and switching into more comfortable clothes to finish watching ‘She’s the Man.’
Sehun pouts. “I thought you guys were supposed to be charming.”
“I’m delightful,” Jongdae deadpans. “It’s not my fault that the first thing you do is to ask if I’m a driver and then call me short.”
“You are though.”
Jongdae rolls his eyes. “Okay, bye,” he says turning away. “Enjoy being a bitter asshole by yourself as you watch your ex find happiness.” It’s rude, he knows, but so is Sehun.
“Wait, wait.” Sehun reaches out and touches him on the shoulder briefly. “Don’t go. I’ll take you.”
“Wonderful,” Jongdae says flatly.
“Come in for a second,” Sehun says, stepping aside to let Jongdae in. “Hey, did you tie your bowtie by yourself?”
ϟ
Sehun doesn’t understand what went wrong. Soojung had said that the escorts she had hired had been perfectly suitable and more than pleasant. And okay, he supposes Jongdae counts as perfectly suitable and the more he studies him, the stupider he feels that he had assumed Jongdae was the driver.
But Jongdae is rude.
Sure, Sehun shouldn’t have called him short. And he also probably shouldn’t have asked Jongdae if he could do something about his hair. But in Sehun’s defense, it looks like Jongin’s pet poodle had curled itself on top of Jongdae head.
“So what’s our story?” Jongdae asks as he drives them to the wedding hall.
“Story?” Sehun glances around because he’s impressed at what a nice car Jongdae has. He wonders if it’s okay to ask if this is Jongdae’s car or if it’s part of the package he’ll be paying for. Jongdae still doesn’t look happy with him, so he decides it’s better not to ask.
“Yeah, our story. How long have we dated? Are we in a serious relationship, or is this just a fun thing? How did we meet?”
“I don’t know,” Sehun says, shrugging. “We’ll just make it up as we go.”
Jongdae sighs loudly as the car comes to a stop in front a red light. “We can’t make it up as we go. I assume we’re not going to be joined at the hip the whole wedding.”
“Why not?” Sehun demands.
“Because I don’t want to be in your company the entire evening,” Jongdae answers. “And I don’t want to be floundering around for an answer when someone talks to us.” He turns to him and gives him a curious look. “Are you important?”
Sehun cannot believe this. “Of course I’m important.”
“No, I mean actually important,” Jongdae says, easing his foot off the brakes when the light turns green. “Not just important in your head.”
”Yes,” Sehun says, glaring at Jongdae, who isn’t even looking at him. “I’m the only son to the CEO of the Oh Corporation.”
“That sounds important,” Jongdae says, although he sounds patronizing so Sehun isn’t sure if he means it. “What does the Oh Corporation do?”
Sehun stares at him, gaping. “Things,” he says.
“Things?”
“Important things,” Sehun adds, irritation creeping up on him.
“Right.” Jongdae grins as he glances at him. “You’re sort of cute when you’re irritated.”
Sehun frowns. “I’m not cute.”
“Okay, can’t take a compliment either,” Jongdae says laughing. “You’ve got to give me something here. I was told I had to pretend to be your boyfriend. So am I your boyfriend or just your date for this wedding? I’m guessing if you’re important there will be other important people there.”
“Yes,” Sehun answers. “Will it cost less if I just want you to be a date?”
“Nope,” Jongdae says cheerfully.
Sehun has a sneaking suspicion that if he hadn’t made such a bad first impression when they first met, the answer would have been yes. “So boyfriend then.”
“Okay. For how long?”
Sehun makes a face. “I don’t know. A couple of months. Five months maybe?” He supposes he could pretend they’ve been dating much longer, but then his parents would get suspicious and ask him why they’ve never heard of him before.
“Wow, we lasted for five months, amazing.”
“You can come up with how we met.”
“I think I’m going to keep it simple,” Jongdae says. “Just tell them how we really met.” He laughs when Sehun whips his head at him, looking horrified. “Relax. I’ll change a few details. I won’t tell them I’m an escort obviously. We’re paid to be discreet.”
“Fine, whatever.”
“Are you affectionate?”
Sehun chokes. “What?”
“What? We’ve been dating for five months. Do you usually hold hand with your boyfriends?”
Sehun glances at him. “Is touching extra?”
Jongdae smiles and it’s probably the first time Sehun’s seen a real smile on him. “Depends,” he says.
“On?”
“On whether you stay almost pleasant like you’re being right now, or if you revert back to being a tool when we get there.”
ϟ
God, Sehun is an ass.
“His husband is short,” Sehun says in awe. He studies Jongdae before looking back to the stage where Tao and his new husband, Junmyeon, are standing on the stage taking pictures. “I think you’re taller than him. Just by a bit. He’s tiny and rich. Richer than me.”
“Sounds like Tao upgraded to me,” Jongdae says.
If Jongdae really was Sehun’s boyfriend, he would be having a terrible time and he would have been annoyed at how his boyfriend was ignoring him for the most part. But he isn’t. So he’s actually have a pretty great time. The food’s good and Jongdae has just taken a sip of the best champagne he has ever tasted before Sehun snatches the glass away from him.
“Honeybee, you’re driving tonight,” Sehun says, flashing him a smile.
Honeybee? They hadn’t discussed terms of endearment earlier. Jongdae was going to charge him extra for that just to be petty.
“You’re right,” he says, pleasantly. “Uhhh...moon...pie.” He shrugs when Sehun glares at him. What the hell was he supposed to say when someone called him a honeybee? What was wrong with just plain “honey”?
The couple Sehun had been schmoozing smiles brightly at them, and Jongdae can’t believe they were buying this.
“Your boyfriend is delightful, Sehun,” the lady says. “We are all so glad that you’ve found someone. We were worried that you wouldn’t come to the wedding at all. We thought it would be too hard for you since you and Zitao were together for ages.”
Jongdae listens as he attempts to take a bite from a crab cake, but he ends up putting the whole thing in his mouth. How come rich people liked their food portions to be so tiny?
“No, I’m happy for Zitao,” Sehun says. Jongdae has been listening to him sweet talk people for the past hour and he only ever tenses up when the subject moves to Tao.
“Have you met his husband yet?” the man asks. “Wonderful young man.”
“Of course you would have been a perfectly wonderful match as well,” the lady says quickly, sending her husband a look. “We always thought-”
Jongdae sees the way Sehun’s jaw clenches and he figures he should try to get them away from this awkward conversation. “Aren’t those your parents?” he asks, resting a hand on Sehun’s elbow. He’s never met Sehun’s parents, has no idea if they’re even there, but he points to the general direction of the crowd near the dance floor. “Let’s go say hi to them...angel...cake.”
Sehun glances at him before he casts a look at the crowd. “You’re right. I haven’t talked to them since we got here.” He smiles at the couple as he reaches down to take Jongdae’s hand. “Excuse us. We’ll talk to you later.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Jongdae calls out, smiling brightly at them.
“Angelcake?” Sehun says as soon as they’re out of hearing range. He sounds bristly but he’s smiling. Jongdae hadn’t been lying when he said Sehun was cute when he was irritated- which granted, was kind of his default mood- but he likes the smiling too.
“I don’t know, you called me honeybee,” Jongdae says, swatting him on the arm. “What was that?”
“Tao used to like the nicknames,” Sehun says, his cheeks turning pink. “I thought I saw him heading over so I just threw out the first thing that came to my mind.”
“Fine, we’ll do the nicknames.” Jongdae notices Sehun is still holding his hand so he squeezes it lightly. “Can I call you a fruit roll-up? I like how that sounds.”
“Why are all your nicknames food?”
“Why am I a bee?”
ϟ
Sehun can actually feel how annoying he’s being. He really can. He knows he’s talking about Tao a lot. A lot.
Any time he gets Jongdae alone, which is mostly when Jongdae drags him away from all the people who insist on talking about how hard it must be for Sehun, which-
Okay, first of all, the whole point of bringing Jongdae was to prove to people (and Tao, but he has yet to actually talk to him) that he’s completely over Tao and that he has moved on.
Secondly, for all intents and purpose, to these people, Jongdae is his boyfriend, so why do they keep talking about Tao in front of him? Jongdae is being perfectly fucking charming and amusing, why can’t they all just be happy for him?
The terrible part is that Sehun knows he’s being the worst one out of all of them. Because all he does is talk about Tao. We did this together, we went there to celebrate 100 days together, he gave me this on my birthday, I did that for Christmas. He knows he’s being insufferable but he can’t make himself stop.
“How long were you two going out?” Jongdae asks indulgently, sipping at his sad glass of fruit juice.
“Two years. Here, just...drink.” Sehun hands him a glass of champagne because if Jongdae has to listen to him talk about Tao- something not even Jongin is willing to do anymore- then he should at least be able to drink. “We’ll take a cab home.”
Jongdae blinks. “I can put you in a cab home,” he says, gratefully sipping his champagne.
“What? Oh. Right. We’re not actually dating.” Sehun waves a hand dismissively. “I’ll pay for your cab ride home.”
“We’ll talk about it when we actually leave,” Jongdae says, patting him on the shoulder.
“Tao used to make sure I got home safely after a night out,” Sehun blurts out.
“Of course he did,” Jongdae says.
“Even if he wasn’t going to spend the night,” Sehun continues, and he just wants to stop talking about Tao, to stop thinking about him. Just. Stop. Everything. “He took good care of me.”
Jongdae pauses and it looks like he’s going to agree again when he leans in and curls a hand at the curve of Sehun’s neck. “There will be other people, you know. Who will take you places and who you can take care of. Who will take care of you.”
“It won’t be the same,” Sehun mumbles.
Jongdae’s face drops and he pulls his hand away. “Maybe it will be better,” he says, sitting back.
“No, it won’t.”
“Hey.” Jongdae pulls his chair closer to Sehun’s and grabs his hand. “Weddings are supposed to be happy, even if it’s your ex’s wedding. They’re a great place to meet people. Cheer up, my...honeydew...cupcake.”
Sehun stares at him before he bursts out laughing. “Is that even a thing?”
“I don’t know,” Jongdae grimaces, releasing his hand to smack Sehun on the shoulder. “I got to honeydew and I realized I had no way of finishing that aside from saying bubble tea? My honeydew bubble tea?”
“I think I’d rather be your honeydew bubble tea than your honeydew cupcake,” Sehun says, making a face. “Seriously, what is it with you and food? I would ask if I need to feed you but you keep eating.”
“Everything’s just so tiny!” Jongdae complains.
“You’re a tiny person,” Sehun laughs, “how much food do you need?”
“Sehun, I’ve finally found you.”
Sehun looks up and he smiles when he sees his mother walking up to them at their table. “Mom,” he says, happily. “You and dad were always with people whenever I saw you. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Yes, people want to talk business with your father at a wedding,” his mother says, rolling her eyes. She kisses him on the cheek before she takes a seat at their table. “But I managed to escape. I abandoned your poor father but he seems to be having fun. So.” She turns to Jongdae and smiles. “Introduce me to this young man, I’ve heard so much about him.”
Sehun realizes that his hand is on Jongdae’s knee and he can’t even remember when he moved it there. “Mom, this is Jongdae,” he says, squeezing Jongdae’s knee in assurance before he moves his hand away. His mom is great but he knows she can come off as intimidating sometimes. “Jongdae, this is my mother.”
“Hi,” Jongdae says, staring at the hand Sehun’s mother is holding out to him before he reaches out to shake it. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
“Finally?” Sehun’s mother raises an eyebrow. “How long have you been keeping him from us, Sehun?”
“Five months,” Sehun answers, flashing her a smile.
“And I’m only meeting him now?”
“Didn’t want you to scare him off,” Sehun says, shrugging. “I like him. Don’t be mean.”
“Sehun.” His mother gives him a look before she turns back to Jongdae. “Sehun is under the impression that I interrogate all his boyfriends, when i just want to know more about them.” Sehun rolls his eyes because this is followed by his mother asking, “So what do you do, Jongdae?”
Sehun isn’t surprised by this question but he realizes he and Jongdae hadn’t discussed when they would say he does. His mother doesn’t really care who he dates, but he’s pretty sure ‘escort service’ isn’t on her approval list.
“I work in a pastry shop,” Jongdae says. He looks a little embarrassed and it’s kind of...cute.
Sehun’s mother’s eyes light up. “Oh? Which one?”
“I don’t think you’ve heard of it,” Jongdae says, looking away. “It’s a small place.”
“Do you own it?”
Sehun cringes. He knows his mother means well but he really wishes he could rescue Jongdae the way he had been rescuing Sehun all evening.
“No. I’m just-”
“Mom, look, Mrs. Kim is waving at you.” Sehun catches Jongin’s mother’s eye and waves at her so that she’s waving by the time his mother turns around. “You know she’s been looking for you.”
“Oh, really?” Sehun’s mother waves back as she stands up. “I should go see what she needs.” She smiles at Jongdae as she pats Sehun’s hand. “It was so nice meeting you, Jongdae. We’re having a brunch next weekend. I hope you’re coming with Sehun. He’s usually so bored at these things, but you seem good at keeping him busy.”
“I’ll try,” Jongdae answers, returning her smile. “It was nice meeting you too.” His shoulders drop as soon as they’re in the clear. “Sorry. Should I have said I did something fancy? I just blanked out when she asked me what I did.”
“It’s fine.” Sehun laughs as Jongdae downs the glass of champagne. “Pastry shop was a good idea.”
Jongdae makes a face at him as he snags another champagne glass from a waiter that’s passing by. “It’s true. I do work in a pastry shop.” He laughs when he sees Sehun’s face. “What? You think I just shmooze rich guys like you all day? I just do this to pay off my student loans and because even though I love my job, it doesn’t pay much.”
Sehun gives him a funny look. “I guess that explains all the food nicknames,” he says finally.
Jongdae smirks. “When I become a famous pastry chef, I’m going to make honeydew cupcake a thing.”
ϟ
Jongdae isn’t quite sure what happens. He had actually been having fun with Sehun. When the evening first started, he had used people coming up to talk to Sehun as an excuse to get a break from him. Now he’s reluctant to leave his side, so he doesn’t mind when Sehun rests a hand on the small of his back as a way to ask him to stay, or when he holds on to Jongdae’s hand as he’s talking to people.
Everything’s going well. Sehun even stops talking about Tao for awhile although Jongdae doesn’t try to stop him when he does. He feels bad for the joke he made when they first met because obviously it wasn’t just a petty jealousy thing with Sehun.
Then. Tao and Sehun actually came face to face.
It seemed fine. Tao had been surprised to see Sehun, but he had been nice and Sehun had been pleasant and hadn’t said anything awkward or rude.
Jongdae figures the worst had passed but then Sehun had started drinking. At first he just starts talking about Tao again, which is fine. Jongdae just nods and pats him on the shoulder. He attempts to cut him off but Sehun isn’t having any of that.
He gets progressively louder and he ignores Jongdae when he tries to get him to lower his voice. It’s all over when Tao passes by their table.
“I wrote you 365 letters,” Sehun announces loudly.
Tao freezes at that and brings Junmyeon to a halt before he turns around slowly to face him. “Are you quoting ‘The Notebook’?”
Oh god. Jongdae realizes that Sehun is. He had just watched that movie last night and now here was his date reenacting one of the scenes out. To a married man. “Sehun,” he whispers, trying to grab Sehun’s arm. “Uh…” Fuck, the only thing he can think of is cheese strings and that doesn’t seem very romantic.
“I wrote you everyday for a year,” Sehun says.
Tao frowns. “You sent me a few text messages, Sehun. The longest thing I got from you was an e-mail asking if I remembered your password for your Netflix account. That’s it.”
“It wasn’t over,” Sehun continues. “It still isn’t over!”
“Yes, it is, you’re at my wedding!” Tao yells. He shrinks back when Sehun moves forward, but Jongdae manages to grab his arm in time and he forcefully pulls him back.
“Sehun,” he says, laughing stiffly. “Come on, moon pie, you’ve had too much to drink. Let’s get you home.”
Sehun whimpers as Jongdae’s fingers dig into his arm as he hauls him away. He can feel people staring at them as they move towards the exit, but he tries to ignore them as Tao yells out at Sehun that he’s ruined his wedding.
“If you’re a bird, I’m a bird!” Sehun yells back dramatically, and Jongdae wants to stop and laugh.
“What does that have to do with anything, you dumb...biscuit.” God, Sehun was right. He could only think of nicknames with food.
Jongdae manages to get Sehun into a cab and he messages Chanyeol and asks him to pick up the car at the wedding hall. Sehun is quiet for the ride back to his place and after deciding that helping Sehun back to his apartment is probably not in the elevator attendant’s job description, he helps him back there too.
“Your knocker is the douchiest thing I have ever laid eyes on,” Jongdae says as he tries to figure out where Sehun’s keys are. “Who thinks a bedazzled tiger head knocker is a good idea?”
“It was a housewarming gift from Tao,” Sehun mumbles as Jongdae fishes the keys out of his pocket.
Ah. Shit. He probably shouldn’t have said anything. “It’s still ugly as fuck,” Jongdae says, because it’s true and because he’s hoping Sehun won’t remember it. He unlocks the door and pushes Sehun into the apartment.
Sehun immediately walks to his couch and spreads himself across it. “Sorry,” he says before he closes his eyes.
Jongdae can’t imagine that falling asleep in that suit is comfortable, but he’s only met Sehun a few hours ago and he was definitely not getting paid enough to undress him. It doesn’t look like he’s getting paid at all tonight.
He takes off Sehun’s shoes for him and undoes the bowtie before he slides it off. He grabs a pillow and the blanket from Sehun’s bedroom- there’s a ridiculously large bed for one person, but Jongdae doesn’t even know why he’s surprised.
He’s trying to slide the pillow under Sehun’s head as quietly as he can when Sehun’s eyes flutter open.
“Hi,” he says sleepily.
“Go back to sleep,” Jongdae says, finally sliding the pillow into a place.
“Do you think our love can make miracles?”
Jongdae laughs because he can’t believe Sehun is still quoting ‘The Notebook.’ “The two of us really need to start watching better movies,” he says, throwing the blanket over Sehun.
ϟ
Sehun can feel the sun rays hitting his face before he can open his eyes, so he rolls over because he feels terrible and he doesn’t want to wake up and think about why his throat feels like he swallowed a wad of cotton.
Except he’s not on his bed apparently and when he rolls over, he falls to the floor with a yelp and ends up with a faceful of carpet. Which does not help how his head feels. He isn’t sure how long he spends laying there on the floor. He’s not even sure that he doesn’t fall back asleep, but it’s still bright and sunny when he finally manages to pull himself into an upright position.
He notices a glass of water and an aspirin under a note on the coffee table. He downs the glass of water without the aspirin because it doesn’t feel like anything that’s not liquid is going to go down his throat. He reaches for the note and squints at it.
good morning/afternoon, moon pie. you owe tao an apology, preferably after his honeymoon. you were a huge asshole last night.
Moon pie? It takes Sehun a few moments to remember everything. He groans out loud and decides he definitely needs that aspirin.
Getting flashbacks to the night before was horrifying. Had he really quoted ‘The Notebook’? He cringes as he remembers watching the movie the night before the wedding, remembers nodding along with Noah and mouthing the words. But why (why! why!) did he feel the need to yell out quotes at Tao?
He freezes as he remembers yelling out that it wasn’t over. “No,” he whispers, squeezing his eyes shut. And then again, “No. Please no,” when he remembers, ”If you’re a bird, I’m a bird!”
That’s it. He was never leaving his apartment again.
He glances at the note again and then he blinks. Wait. Did he even pay Jongdae? He flips the note over but there’s nothing there. No contact information, just a note where Jongdae calls him moon pie and then an asshole.
He’s probably going to have to call the company. Or maybe the contact number he had received when they said their escort would pick him up at the time he asked for. In a few hours, he decides. When he feels more like a person.
He’s in the middle of watching ‘She’s the Man’ when he hears his phone go off. He scrambles to answer it and he’s so sure that it’s Jongdae calling to ask for his money that he doesn’t even check to see which number is calling.
“I’m sorry,” he says instead of ‘hello.’
“I’m not sure I’m the one you should be apologizing to.”
Sehun sighs and pauses the movie. “Hi, mom,” he says.
“Did you think I was Jongdae?” his mother asks on the end. “You were in spectacular form last night. I’m not surprised he isn’t speaking to you.”
“I know,” Sehun says, sighing again. “I don’t know what happened.”
His mother is quiet for a few seconds, something he knows she does when she wants to say something without hurting his feelings. “I was surprised when you said you were coming,” she finally says. “Even when you said you were bringing your boyfriend, I was doubtful. But the two of you seemed happy last night.”
“You only met him once,” Sehun mutters.
“Just because I didn’t get the time to talk to the two of you doesn’t mean I didn’t see you two around,” his mother says. “You looked like you were having a good time.”
“We were. I’m going to fix it, okay?”
“Lovely,” his mother says cheerfully. “If he’s still talking to you then bring him to brunch next weekend. Everyone at the wedding liked him.” She pauses. “Sehun, do you like him? I know your father and I sort of…pushed you and Zitao together, and we really feel terrible that-”
“It’s fine, mom,” Sehun interrupts because he really doesn’t want to talk about Tao.
“We just want you to be happy, that’s all. So...I’m not pushing you at this young man, okay? I’m just...offering my support.”
“Okay, got it,” Sehun says. “I’ll bring him to brunch next weekend.” He says it mostly to get his mother off the phone, but when he hangs up he thinks maybe it’s not such a bad idea. He has to be there anyway. And his mother was right, he did have fun- before The Notebook Incident- so maybe he can hire Jongdae again.
If he even still wanted to go out with him after Sehun didn’t even bother to pay him for last night. He sighs again and he drags himself to his feet to go look for the contact number he had gotten from the escort service.
ϟ
“Do you think you’ll be able to work an entire day here without getting some kind of frosting on your face?” Yixing swipes at the frosting on Jongdae’s cheek before licking it off his finger. “Mmm, hazelnut.”
“That’s gross,” Jongdae laughs as he continues piercing the ends of a future eclair.
“But delicious,” Yixing says, moving to wash his hands. “My break’s over so you can go on yours.”
“In a bit. Let me just finish with these eclairs.”
“I’ve got it,” Yixing says, turning the tap off. “There’s someone here to see you anyway.”
“Probably just Baekhyun looking for more freebies,” Jongdae mutters. He finishes with the eclairs because Baekhyun is a mooch, who can wait.
“It’s not Baekhyun,” Yixing says. “Some tall guy. Very frowny.”
Jongdae blinks because that sounds a lot like Sehun, except he’s pretty sure he never told Sehun where he worked. He peeks out the door and sees Sehun fidgeting at a table, looking restless. “What did he order?” he asks when he sees a cup in front of him.
“A hot chocolate,” Yixing says, untying Jongdae’s apron for him. “I heard him ask for chocolate milk actually. He wasn’t happy we didn’t have any.”
Jongdae laughs as he ducks out of his apron and leaves the kitchen to join Sehun.
“Moon pie,” he says cheerfully, dropping into the seat across from him.
Sehun’s mouth twitches slightly. “Honeybee.”
Jongdae’s smile widens when he hears that. “Here for another date? You could have called my company for that.”
“Yes actually,” Sehun says and Jongdae’s actually surprised. He had regular clients but he didn’t think he’d see Sehun again. “The brunch my mother mentioned? She called me to ask if I was still bringing you.”
Jongdae beams. “Mothers do love me.”
“You’re sounding pretty confident for someone who was pretty pale while he was actually talking to my mother.” Sehun smirks as he takes a sips of his hot chocolate. He yelps when Jongdae kicks him under the table.
“I was just worried that I should have told her I was doing something...fancier,” Jongdae says crossly.
“Okay, okay, hey, stop kicking.” Sehun pushes his chair away to get away from Jongdae’s feet. “I also have to…” He stops to see if Jongdae has stopped kicking before he moves back. “I didn’t pay you for Saturday night.”
“You were too drunk to do anything,” Jongdae says, smiling slightly.
“Yeah, sorry,” Sehun says sheepishly. “I hope I didn’t do or say anything embarrassing.”
“You just quoted more stuff from ‘The Notebook,’” Jongdae laughs. “I was a little impressed at your devotion to that movie.”
Sehun winces. “Is that going to cost me extra?”
Jongdae hesitates. “You don’t have to pay me,” he says. “I had a good time.”
“No you didn’t,” Sehun scoffs. “I was terrible.”
“Fine, just...pay me this weekend then,” Jongdae says, waving a hand dismissively. He’s a little put off because he did have a good time. Sehun hadn’t been that bad, he was enjoying himself until Sehun ran into Tao. But it was a job. Of course he should get paid.
“Okay.” Sehun is giving him a funny look but he doesn’t say anything. “Can I get your number? Or do I have to make the arrangements through your company?”
“You can have my number,” Jongdae says, holding his hand out for Sehun’s phone.
“Whose number do I have?” Sehun asks as Jongdae taps in his number. “I tried calling you earlier but some guy with a deep voice answered. He did not like me. He only told me where you worked because I mentioned that I didn’t pay you.”
“My friend, Chanyeol.” Jongdae finishes saving his name and number and hands Sehun’s phone back to him. “I’m not surprised he didn’t like you. You make terrible first impressions.”
“Why do I have his number?” Sehun asks, confused.
“Because he was supposed to be your escort.” Jongdae shrugs. “He’s tall. You would have liked him.”
Sehun stares at him for a few moments. “I’m fine with how things turned out.”
ϟ
Sehun opens the door before Jongdae gets a chance to knock the door. “Hi.”
Jongdae is looking at his door in puzzlement. “Where’s the ugly knocker?”
“Oh.” Sehun laughs as he glances at his door. It does look kind of bare without the knocker. “I got rid of it. It actually used to creep me out when I used to come home late. I felt like I had to avoid eye contact just to get into my apartment.”
Jongdae looks affronted. “You didn’t throw it out, did you?”
“Why do you care?”
“Because it was bedazzled,” Jongdae laughs. “It’s ugly but sparkly.”
“I gave it to my friend Soojung,” Sehun says. “It creeps out her fiancé, Jongin.”
“Jongin?”
“My best friend,” Sehun fills in. “He and Soojung were at the wedding, but they were busy. Soojung’s this big up and comer in the financial business, so people are always trying to talk to her. They’ll be at the brunch too.” He notices the box in Jongdae’s hands. “What’s that?”
Jongdae looks at the box he’s holding and he flushes. “I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to bring something. I mean, it’s brunch.”
Sehun’s lips quirk up in amusement. “It’s not brunch. It’s a brunch. It’s not some family thing. All these big corporate big heads are going to be there.”
“I didn’t know that,” Jongdae mumbles before shoving the box at Sehun. “Here, you have them then.”
“What are they?” Sehun lifts the lid to peek in and he frowns. He can’t really make out what they are.
“Moon pies,” Jongdae laughs. “I know you can buy them but I tried making them. It was pretty easy.”
Sehun stares at him. “Moon pies are a real thing?”
Jongdae laughs. “Oh my god, yes. Does that mean you’ve also never heard of a twinkie?”
“A what?”
Jongdae reaches out to stroke his hand. “Poor little rich boy,” he says sympathetically. “Missed out on all the unhealthy processed snacks growing up. Come on, let’s go to this brunch. Maybe I’ll buy you a twinkie afterwards.”
ϟ
“Are my ears bleeding? I can’t tell.”
“Stop.” Jongdae elbows Sehun in the ribs as the head of Choi Industries wraps up his speech, but he is relieved that the speeches are over and they can eat now. “Why aren’t you more interested in this stuff? I thought you were an important person. Aren’t you going to take over your dad’s company at some point?”
“Sure, but that doesn’t make any of this interesting right now,” Sehun says. He squeezes Jongdae’s knee lightly. “Are you bored?”
“Hey, I’m just here for the food,” Jongdae says, reaching for a bread roll. “And you.” He grins when Sehun rolls his eyes at that.
He doesn’t tell Sehun that he spent most of last night Google’ing brunch etiquette. He’s been to dinners and sometimes even lunches, but he figures brunch with the people he met at the wedding was probably not the same raucous event that it was with his friends.
He’s reaching for a glass of iced tea when he feels Sehun’s hand at his elbow. “Heads up, kitten, my parents are heading over.”
Jongdae feels his eyebrows rise up. “Don’t think we’re not going to talk about fucking ‘kitten’ when I get you alone,” he hisses, before he pastes a smile on his face.
“Sehun,” Mrs. Oh says, kissing Sehun on the cheek before she pats Jongdae on the shoulder and sits down across from them. “Jongdae, I’m so glad you could make it today. This is Sehun’s father. Honey, this is Jongdae.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jongdae says, shaking Sehun’s father’s hand. He tries not to shrink back into Sehun because he thought Sehun’s mother was intimidating, but Sehun’s father was even more intimidating, even though they were both smiling at him.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to meet at the wedding,” Mr. Oh says, glancing at Sehun. “But I suppose you had your hands full either way.”
Sehun groans. “I’m surprised no one’s asking me about it.”
“A lot of the people here weren’t at the wedding,” his father says. “Although the people who were there keep putting their hands on our arms and asking, ‘Is your son okay?’ with this tone. It’s quite amusing.”
“Your father’s using you, Sehunnie,” Mrs. Oh says, shaking her head. “Any time he doesn’t want to talk to someone, he just says he’s going to check up on you and then they leave him alone because they’re afraid to make things awkward.”
“Dad,” Sehun whines.
“What? No one actually thinks anything’s wrong with you. Most people at the wedding assumed you were just drunk.”
Jongdae can’t help the snicker that escapes his mouth. “He was very sorry the next day,” he says, reaching for Sehun’s hand under the table.
“Everyone was talking about how happy you seem with your new boyfriend,” Mrs. Oh says.
“Yes, but if only you could get your drinking under control,” Mr. Oh says laughing. “Stop frowning, Sehun, and bring the eyebrows down. We know you don’t have a problem.”
Sehun’s mother reaches out to put a hand on top of Jongdae’s. “Was he terrible when you took him home?”
“No, he fell asleep as soon as we got back,” Jongdae says. He can’t help adding, “He quoted a few more lines of The Notebook at me first, and then he fell asleep.”
“He was always very dramatic,” Mr. Oh says, his eyes lit up. “Does Jongdae know you were in the drama club in high school?”
Jongdae can’t explain how gleeful he feels when he hears this. “No!” He smacks Sehun’s thigh before he leans in closer. “Really? The drama club?”
“Yes,” Mr. Oh says, sounding just as gleeful to offer up this information. “He got a lot of the leading roles.”
“The lead roles, really?” Jongdae beams up at Sehun. “Moon pie, you never told me this.”
“And he was in the West Side Story,” Mr. Oh adds, grinning at Sehun. “He practiced so hard for that one.”
“A musical.” Jongdae can’t stop smiling.
“Mooooom,” Sehun complains. “Make dad stop.”
“We have tapes.” Mrs. Oh says, smiling brightly. “You should come over one day and watch it. His dad likes the West Story performance the best. But I personally like his performance as Hamlet.”
“Yes!” Jongdae says, nodding in excitement. “Let’s watch all of it.”
Sehun groans and he drops his head on Jongdae’s shoulder. “I’m dating him,” he says, “why are you trying to scare him away with my terrible acting from when I was a kid?”
“Terrible acting?” Jongdae reaches a hand out to pat Sehun’s face. “You gave such a moving performance as Noah. Not terrible at all.”
ϟ
Sehun is waiting for Jongdae at the door when his mother approaches him.
“Where’s Jongdae?” she asks.
“Bathroom.”
“He’s lovely, Sehun,” his mother tells him, smiling softly. “You look happy with him. I feel like I haven’t seen you like this since...well, you know.”
“I know.” Sehun hasn’t felt this happy since he and Tao broke up. Even Tao couldn’t make these brunches interesting, but time had flown by for this one. It was only when he realized that the other guests were leaving that he asked Jongdae if he wanted to leave.
“You should bring him over for dinner sometime,” Mrs. Oh says.
“So you can show him my embarrassing high school performances?” Sehun demands crossly. “No thanks.”
His mother laughs. “I promise I’ll only let your father show him one video and say I’ve lost the rest.”
“Say you’ve lost them all,” Sehun says, but he smiles as he leans down to let his mother kiss his cheek goodbye.
“Tell Jongdae we said goodbye,” she says, squeezing his arm before she leaves.
Jongdae joins him a few minutes later. “That was the nicest bathroom,” he says, instinctively linking his arm with Sehun’s. “There was a guy holding out a towel for me to dry my hands. Do you have your own bathroom attendant at your place?”
“Are we a little drunk, honeybee?” Sehun asks, leading him out of the hall.
“A little tipsy,” Jongdae answers, leaning in against him. “Are you driving...gummy bear? Shit. I forgot my list of names.”
“No, we took a cab here, remember?”Sehun laughs as he huddles Jongdae into a waiting cab.
“Was I good?” Jongdae asks suddenly. He’s studying Sehun with a curious look. “Was I too casual with your father?”
“No,” Sehun says, reaching down to lace their fingers together. “You were great. My dad’s usually a little awkward when he meets my friends or anyone I date. He and Jongin have the most awkward conversations, and they’ve known each other for years.”
“Okay,” Jongdae says, his shoulders relaxing.
Sehun shifts as Jongdae rests his head on his shoulder. “So I actually looked up honeydew cupcakes the other day. They’re actually a thing.”
“No.” Jongdae pouts and Sehun almost can’t believe this is the same guy he met last week. “That was going to be my thing.”
“Maybe you can make it your thing at your pastry shop.” Sehun rests his cheek against the top of Jongdae’s head. “Hey, your weird chia-pet hair is actually really soft.”
Jongdae laughs as he squeezes Sehun’s hand. “I told you my hair was great.” He shifts closer and looks up at him. “So what kind of icing do the cupcakes have?”
“What?”
“The honeydew ones. You said you looked them up.”
Sehun tries to remember because he hadn’t looked up any recipes. “Umm, white chocolate, I think. And buttercream.”
Jongdae is quiet for a few seconds. “Piece of cake,” he says finally, before he lets out a little giggle. “Get it?”
Sehun laughs. “That’s terrible.”
When the cab pulls up outside Sehun’s building, he realizes he hasn’t thought this through. He knows he can pay for Jongdae’s cab ride home, but he asks if Jongdae wants to come upstairs anyway.
“I can make you some coffee,” he says. “Clear your head a little.”
“We can have the moon pies,” Jongdae agrees, getting out of the cab after Sehun.
When they get upstairs, Jongdae wanders around the living room while Sehun tries to figure out how to work the coffee maker that Jongin had given him on his birthday. He’s never actually made his own coffee. It seemed pointless when there was a coffee shop right downstairs.
“I love this movie,” Jongdae calls out loudly and when Sehun sticks his head out from the kitchen, he sees that Jongdae has turned on the television and started watching ‘She’s the Man’ from where Sehun had paused it a week ago.
“Here, have a moon pie while I make the coffee,” Sehun says, dropping the box Jongdae had brought over earlier down on the coffee table.
“Forget the coffee.” Jongdae pats the spot on the couch next to him. “Come here. So I can have my moon pie and eat it too.”
“You’re not as funny as you think you are,” Sehun says when Jongdae dissolves into another fit of laughter.
“I’m hilarious,” Jongdae says, kicking Sehun in the ankle. “Let’s watch this movie and then I’ll go home. Come on….strawberry...poptart? Fuck, I don’t know. Just come sit next to me. Channing Tatum has never made a good movie after this.”
Sehun sits down next to him and Jongdae shifts closer immediately. He feels so warm next to Sehun that he can’t stop himself from reaching for his hand. “Do you want to start from the beginning?”
“Okay,” Jongdae agrees, intertwining their fingers.
Sehun doesn’t really pay attention to the movie. He’s too aware of Jongdae leaning against him and how his hand feels curled around Jongdae’s. It usually takes Sehun awhile to warm up to people, it had taken some pushing from his parents to keep going out with Tao. But this, with Jongdae, it was easy. He doesn’t know if that’s a good thing. Was it allowed to be this easy?
“Jongdae?”
“Hmm?”
“Is it going to cost me extra if I want to kiss you?”
Jongdae freezes for a second before he pulls away from Sehun and he stares at him, an unreadable look on his face. “We don’t...do that,” he says. “We’re not...we’re escorts. We just go places with you when you can’t find a date.”
Sehun knows all of that but none of that was an answer. “So...no?”
Jongdae’s face scrunches up. “I don’t...I don’t want you to pay me for today,” he says finally. “I had fun.”
“So was this a real date?”
Jongdae shrugs, looking away. “If you wanted it to be.”
Sehun inches forward until he’s in Jongdae’s personal space again. “So can I kiss you?”
Jongdae shoves him away. “No, you can’t kiss me. You were just crying about your ex a week ago,” he says scowling.
Sehun sits back, feeling puzzled. “But I had fun today. I mean, don’t you like me?”
“Yes,” Jongdae says frowning. “But I’m not stupid. You want to kiss me then you have to date me. You’ve known me for two days. Less than that. And you were upset about your ex-boyfriend for one of those days.”
Sehun pauses. “So are you going to keep going out with clients?”
Jongdae scowls. “Yes. I told you, we don’t do anything with them.”
“But…” Sehun scowls back. “I don’t want you holding anyone else’s hand.”
Jongdae pauses at that. “Fine,” he says. “I won’t hold anyone’s hand.”
“But we’ll date,” Sehun repeats.
“Yes.”
“And I’ll get to kiss you eventually?”
“Probably.”
“Okay,” Sehun says reluctantly. “But you like me, right? Because I like you.”
“Yes,” Jongdae says in exasperation. “I like you.”
ϟ
It takes close to a month before Sehun gets to kiss him. He’s a little annoyed because Jongdae is the one who kisses him first.
They’re in Sehun’s kitchen trying to figure out the coffee maker. Apparently, Jongin had given him a really fancy kind so at least Sehun wasn’t just being inept.
“Who even needs coffee anyway?” Sehun grumbles, shoving the percolator away. “Coffee is gross.”
Jongdae laughs as he fits the percolator back in place. “So no coffee at your place then,” he says, unplugging the coffee maker.
“We can go downstairs if you insist on feeding your gross habit,” Sehun says, opening his fridge. “But I still think you need to switch over to chocolate milk. You know I read an article about the benefits of chocolate milk? Like it has electrolytes for hydration, and it has calcium and vitamin D. It said something about being good for your liver and-”
Jongdae leans up on his toes and cuts him off by pressing their lips together.
“Hey.” Sehun frowns when he pulls away. “What was that?”
Jongdae shrugs as he closes the refrigerator door. “You were cute,” he says simply.
“That’s not fair,” Sehun complains. “I’ve been trying to kiss you for a month and you get to do it whenever you want?”
Jongdae takes a step closer, resting his hands on Sehun’s collar bone. “I’m not stopping you now,” he says.
Sehun leans in until they’re a breath away. “You know, we never got around to discussing ‘kitten,’” he says, pressing a kiss to the corner of Jongdae’s mouth.
“I figured it out anyway,” he says, rolling his eyes. He pouts when Sehun’s kisses the other corner. “Stop teasing.”
Sehun laughs as he rests a hand at the small of Jongdae’s back, pulling him in even closer before he kisses him. He slides his fingers into Jongdae’s hair, licking along his teeth and when Jongdae lets out a little sound of contentment, he moves them around until he can press Jongdae against the counter to angle into the kiss better.
He’s digging his fingers into the inlets of Jongdae’s hipbones when the oven timer goes off.
“Leave it,” he says, nosing along Jongdae’s neck.
“But they’ll burn,” Jongdae says half-heartedly, because he really doesn’t want to pull away.
“You’re a pastry chef,” Sehun whines against his neck. “Just make them again.”
Jongdae laughs and he pushes him gently. “At least let me get them out of the oven.”
Sehun huffs but he moves away and watches Jongdae slip on oven mitts before he reaches into the oven to take out the honeydew cupcakes.
“They smell good,” Jongdae says, resting them on the counter.
Sehun snatches the mitts off Jongdae’s hands as he pulls him into the living room. “Make out first, cupcakes later.”
---------
[x] happy (belated) birthday, ri! i think it's still your bday for you, but just in case. ily and ty for being such an a++++ friend.