don’t call him sugar (cause sugar’s never as sweet) ( 2/2 )
← part one
it's friday afternoon-right after he gets home from campus-when sehun walks into the coffee shop he and zitao agreed to meet up in.
the cafe is a bit smaller than where luhan works in, only cozier. brown-colored sofas are littered all over, and the yellow lightings only makes it more homey. sehun likes the place already, but the only thing that strikes him as odd is the fact that the shop doesn't have a name.
plus, it is located quite far from the main street that sehun spent some time looking for it.
his eyes widen and he gulps in realization. nameless place. secluded. i was right, zitao's a serial killer.
but then the latter's smiling face crosses his mind-that cute, sinful curl of the lips-and sehun instantly brushes off the thought. too cute to be one, he muses to himself, and shakes his head as he makes his way further into the shop.
the person manning the counter-slash-cashier, a man probably in his early twenties, greets him with a smile. "hello. may i take your order?"
sehun glances at him. his nametag reads jongdae. he's good looking, sehun admits, and he feels a tug on his heartstrings when he sees the man smile. the corners of his lips pull up in a certain way-catlike?
damn, are cat smiles really in these days?
"no," he stutters his answer, making jongdae's eyes crinkle in amusement, "i'm waiting for my, uh, date."
the word feels foreign on his tongue, but he likes it all the same.
"oh, i see," jongdae replies, his smile never faltering, only beaming brighter, "then please, make yourself comfortable! i’ll be right here if you need anything.”
sehun gives him a curt nod and proceeds to scan around the room.
his eyes are instantly drawn into the sofa by the right corner. on it are plush pillows and beside it there's a large, wood-framed window that overlooks the street. sehun claims the spot immediately.
he sits down-oooh, comfy-and takes his phone out of his pocket to type.
sehun: i'm here, where are you?
he takes his time to look around. it's a slow hour for the cafe, it seems. aside from himself, he only finds three other customers. there's a coffee machine whirring by the counter, a comforting calming sound for sehun's uneasiness. his body jitters with anticipation, for the fact that he's going to meet zitao-a man he met on an odd-named dating site, for god's sake, and has been texting with everyday since-in person. is he tall? he seems to be. what will he wear? what if-
he jumps as he hears his phone ding.
zitao: yayyy gon be there soon!! what r u wearing?? ヽ(〃･ω･)ﾉ
sehun glances down at his choice of outfit and frowns.
he had texted both jongin and luhan this morning, hoping for a “first date outfit” advice, but then the answer from the two of them contrasted each other heavily that sehun didn’t know what to choose.
“first date is all about impression,” jongin replied, “so you need to fucking dress your twinky ass up. oh, oh, use that navy blue button up you bought the other day. with the blackest, tightest jeans you have.” the message was accompanied by a wink emoji and sehun nearly threw his phone in disgust.
although, jongin has a point. tightest jeans to show off his nice piece of ass. literally.
“but isn’t it too formal…i don’t even know where we’re going except to drop by that cafe later,” sehun said to himself, typing it out to jongin also.
taking jongin’s advice into consideration, he hovered to luhan’s reply. “who cares, man, wear what you like. although, as your best (this is scientifically proven, okay, jongin thinks too highly of himself that he only deserves second place) friend, let me give you a pro-tip: less is more! i bet you won’t be needing those clothes by the end of the night anyway. remember tall, chinese-canadian, and handsome? my kris? first date he went to my apartment to pick me up and i wore nothing but my deer-print boxers. guess what? we didn’t get to go outside at all that day if you know what i mean, wink wink ;)”
“TOO MUCH INFORMATION,” sehun texted back as he quickly pushed away the mental images his brain was starting to conjure.
he finally settles on wearing a blue-striped white sweater, paired with a ripped-on-the-knee jeans and white shoes. not too formal, but not too shabby also.
sehun types them down and a little message to follow.
sehun: don't go overdressed on me okay i feel ugly already
zitao: nooo i bet u look great!! anw u dont need to feel threatened bc if theres anyone that's underdressed here that'd be me o(；△；)o
zitao: i already feel like im disappointing u ):
sehun crinkles his nose, unable to hide his chuckle. fuck zitao for being too cute.
sehun: no you won't. come on, don't keep me waiting
sehun: and don't even think of standing me up okay
zitao: DDDDDD: i wont!!! why wud i do that to u ):
zitao: just a sec ok babyyy ( ് 3 ് ) ♥
sehun gets a sticker of a pleading panda with shining eyes and he almost wanted to slide down his seat to bury his face in one of the pillows if he didn't remember that he's in a public place.
he darts his eyes around the room and finds jongdae giggling at him.
"too obvious?" sehun asks, defeated.
the barista chortles. "very. your date's really lucky to get you, though."
jongdae practically laugh-claps as he sees sehun flailing his arms, flustered. "the only one lucky here is me, really," sehun buries his face in the palm of his hands, “he’s really hot and i’m panicking nonsense.”
jongdae gives him a hearty laugh. “you sure you don’t need anything? some cake, at least? we have the best shortcakes here.”
“no, i’m good,” sehun replies. though he faintly recalls zitao saying something along the lines of liking strawberry shortcakes.
and he kiiiinda wants zitao to feed him a spoonful strawberry shortcake, and sehun would feed him back. and zitao, being the little klutz he is (sehun doesn’t really know but zitao kinda fits the image in his head, so), would have the overly-sweet cream smeared along his upper lip and be totally oblivious about it, and sehun would go hey, you have something on your lips, and zitao would go where? with his unbelievably cute voice, and sehun would lean forward and see zitao close his eyes and-
sehun really needs to cut down on his animes.
facepalming, he waits another minute and zitao is nowhere to be found, so he opts to put his backpack down and pull a stack of papers from it-mr. minseok’s survey assignment that he’s been postponing for the last few weeks. the lecturer assessed it this morning, giving sehun a handful of instructions to organize the results and the also add a few more respondents, because he felt that sehun’s lacking in number.
“might as well do it now to kill time,” he says to himself.
“neeeeerd,” jongdae supplies from the counter.
sehun pretends not to hear him.
he hears the sound of footsteps getting closer to his table, but he’s too immersed into his work to actually lift his head and care. then he hears the sound of porcelain clinking with metal so he thinks it’s probably jongdae going to pester him for bringing homework to a date.
“go away, jongdae,” he mutters, eyes still glued on his papers.
“i’m not jongdae,” the voice answers, delight wrapped around his voice, and sehun finally looks up.
“are you fucking kidding me. ”
in front of him stands a man who he’s been texting for a whole week now, live in person. and sehun has always thought that zitao is really, really hot, but what stands before him is an entirely different matter.
the first thing running through sehun’s mind is his pictures don’t do him justice. the blonde has his hair styled down today, contrary to his findyourwood profile picture, but it still looks pleasing nonetheless.
propping on him is a black shirt, with sleeves rolled mid-length, paired with a black bowtie and a tight, tight black jeans looks like it’s molded to his thighs. and when sehun thinks that he couldn’t look any more perfect, he spots a black-rimmed glasses sitting on the bridge of zitao’s nose. holy smokes.
someone call the doctor because sehun’s on the verge of having breathing problems.
he glances angrily at jongdae, who is now chortling loudly while slapping the cash register. “you knew all along, didn’t you.”
zitao crinkles his nose in amusement. “that’s not the kind of hello i was expecting.”
on his right hand is a metal tray, and surprised is not even enough to describe sehun’s feelings when he realizes that zitao is wearing the exact same apron as jongdae, complete with the little golden nametag of his own in front of his left chest.
“you work here?” sehun asks, shock still written all over his face.
“yeah, sorta,” zitao answers, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, “i work here for some extra money. and this is still kinda my shift, so-”
“so that’s why you asked me to meet you here,” sehun finishes, and zitao gives him a shy nod.
“i’m sorry for all the trouble. i know this place is kinda hard to find,” he says, flustered, “i’m such a lousy date. first time meeting and i’m in my work uniform.”
zitao looks so much like a kicked puppy right now that sehun really feels bad.
“if you look this good in just your work uniform, i can’t imagine how great you’d look when you wear something else,” he says, surprising zitao and himself.
zitao’s obvious nervousness finally melts down into a fit of chuckles. “wow, where did that come from?”
“don’t ask,” sehun replies, trying to be nonchalant, however betrayed by his own face which is blushing rather furiously. zitao laughs harder.
he finally sits down on the sofa across from sehun’s, setting down his tray carefully on the side of the table that’s clear of sehun’s papers. “americano for you,” he hums, “with a special huang zitao touch.”
the cup of coffee zitao serves is a hot americano, a different-colored foam is set above it with a cutely crafted writing of “세훈 (♥≧▽≦)” above it.
“that emoji took me seven attempts and fifteen minutes to nail so you can at least thank me?” zitao shakes his head, “oh, things i do for love. sorry to keep you waiting for so long though, i wanted to surprise you.”
zitao is smiling so sheepishly and adorably, and sehun needs to blink.
is that the sound of heaven crying? because sehun’s pretty sure they lost an angel.
sehun is too overwhelmed by all that’s happening in the span of, like, two minutes that all sehun wants to do is either cry and marvel at how cute how cute what the fuck or pounce on zitao across the freaking table and kiss him senseless.
“glahrdgrbhasdj,” he blurts, tongue-tied. jongdae from the counter gives him an odd look. “i mean-thank you. i-i don’t bring anythi-”
“except homework,” jongdae pipes up from his spot, “on a date.”
“not helping,” sehun snarls.
zitao blinks. “acquainted already?”
he gets a simultaneous reply of yep from jongdae, and i wish i could un-acquaint from sehun.
zitao agrees with the latter, face solemn. “sometimes i wish i could, too.”
“hey,” jongdae snaps, and zitao brushes it off. instead, he scans the whole table, seemingly interested in sehun’s papers. “what’s this?”
“nothing important,” sehun says, quickly gathering the scattered papers to shove them into his bag. zitao manages to snatch a sheet, and mumbles out the printed instruction.
“conduct a survey about the following four temperaments: sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic, list down the traits of each and at least a person you know that possesses the traits.” zitao scratches his head in confusion. “why does psychology have all the intelligent-scientific-sounding-names-which-are-hard-to-pronounce anyway? thank heavens my major is quite simple in terms of speaking.”
sehun stops trying to ram his papers into his poor, beaten-up backpack. “major? what do you major at?”
zitao frowns. “i took up digital photography, remember? outside my shifts, i’m a freelance photographer.” sehun gapes at him. photographer? damn. he wishes to see zitao doing his work someday.
“well anyways”, zitao says, eyeing jongdae who is clearly eavesdropping from the bar, “you need to conduct a survey, don’t you? well then ask me anything. i’m free.” he laughs when jongdae gives him the finger. sehun swears he hears slackoff fucker but he pretends not to.
“it’s also a good way for you to get to know me better,” zitao winks. he bends down to prop his chin on his folded arms on the table. his glasses slide down the bridge of his nose and sehun resists the urge to reach over and fix it, “so ask away.”
“okay”, he finally heaves out and says. he eyes zitao for a while. this up-close, with the dimming sun shining on him, zitao almost looks like a model. the ray of sunset lights cast shadows on his face, making wonders by defining more of the sharp structure of his face, and sehun wonders what face the latter would make if he plants butterfly kisses along the side of his jaw.
heat starts to pool in his certain area, and sehun snaps back to reality. stop fantasizing, sehun, be cool. be calm. be placidity, sehun.
clearing his throat, he focuses his gaze back to his paper. “well, you’re definitely not a phlegmatic because you can’t even stay still-” he sees zitao nod with the corner of his eyes and he suddenly feels that his study all these years have finally paid off, “-and probably not a melancholic because you’re not introverted, even though the fact that you’re majoring in arts, which is one of the melancholic’s positive traits…”, he trails off. zitao raises an eyebrow at him with a mischievous smile, and sehun needs to blink. “nope. definitely not.”
sehun looks up. “do you like leading other people?”. zitao contemplates for a while. “well, i do tend to pipe up ideas and like it when people follow mine but uh…i’m not exactly a leader material, am i?”
“no”, sehun states, the corners of his lips twitching up into a small smile. “i can clearly picture what this place will be like in the hands of you.”
this small shop would probably turn out to be a ol’ west saloon with lassos and horses and root beers and sehun would rather die than see jongdae galloping around and go ‘howdy!’ with a redneck accent in a cowboy costume. just no.
zitao breaks into a fit of chuckles. his voice is soft-the type of voice which lingers in your ears even after they finish speaking. and his chuckles sound even softer, staying long enough in sehun’s eardrums. sehun wants to wish for it to last even longer. “one of the best witty remarks from you so far. congratulations.”
sehun needs to bite the inside of his cheeks to hide his smile.
he ducks his head back to concentrate on his paper. “well, that sums it up. you’re a sanguine.”
a head cocks to the side. he doesn’t understand. sehun sighs.
“a sanguine is impulsive, and always pleasure-seeking. you tend to get bored easily. you’re a people person, all talkative and lively and all.” sehun feels a bit smug when he sees zitao nodding. “you know what sanguine trait fits you the most? no sense of shame.”
sehun stifles back a laugh seeing zitao looking like a kicked puppy. “a sanguine is good with colors, too.” here, zitao beams.
“oh, i’m good with colors, alright. why does one take digital photography when they’re not good at the fundamental part?” zitao shakes his head. if sehun were to take note on how many gestures zitao has made this far, he’d beat a dictionary long. “heck, i can even associate people with colors. here, watch this.”
zitao scrunches his eyebrows, knitting them together. he puts his thumb under his chin and squints his eyes as though examining sehun thoroughly. except, he looks like he’s having constipation. sehun wants to laugh but he’s too focused on the way the latter’s rosy lips form a pout, so he ends up staring at it stupidly. and finally, after an intense staring battle, zitao says, with a deep, solemn voice. “i see pitch black in you.”
sehun blinks.
and he barks out into a giggle.
or laughters.
or cackles.
he laughs so loud that both zitao and jongdae who is cleaning the table beside theirs jump and his stomach churns but it doesn’t stop him until he finally deflates like a popped balloon, wiping the streaks of tears on his face. he’s never laughed this loud and lively for as long as he can remember.
he looks up and finds both zitao and jongdae staring at him, except jongdae with a wet washcloth his hands. he scrambles away after muttering something about mad-cow disease or alien invasion back to his place behind the bar.
“what?” sehun squeaks after a moment. zitao is still staring him down like he’s some sort of ancient artifact.
“n-no, i just-”, zitao chuckles, his hazelnut eyes finding their way back to sehun’s own, “-you look good when you laugh when i thought you couldn’t look any better.”
if sehun and zitao were in an anime by then, sehun swears he would see rainbows and unicorns and harp-playing cupids dressed in white togas. and he’s thankful that he’s not.
thing is, he doesn’t know how to react.
things were just going to get more awkward when a voice suddenly comes. “slacking off, taozi?”. zitao and sehun’s heads whip around in unison to find a man, looking like he’s in his late twenties and around the same height as jongdae, flashing a smile.
zitao stiffens. “ah, sorry joonmyun-hyung.”
“zitao’s on a date, hyung,” jongdae shouts, far back from the cashier. sehun watches as zitao waves his hands frantically with a fear-stricken face, signaling jongdae to shut the fuck up and also watches him stop in an instant when joonmyun’s smile falters.
but surprisingly, joonmyun only pats zitao on the head, when he expects at least a slap. instead, he gets a smile as blinding as the midday sun. “really?” he glances at sehun. “what’s your name, son?”
“sehun, sir,” he replies curtly, eyeing zitao across the table who’s giving him a small encouraging smile.
joonmyun chuckles. “you don’t need to sir me, call me hyung, like everyone else.”
“joonmyun’s old but he wants all of us to call him hyung so that he can fit in somehow,” jongdae chirps. jongdae really reminds sehun of luhan-who never knows when or how to put a brake in his mouth.
he expects joonmyun to at least yell at jongdae, but all joonmyun lets out is a little laugh and a shake of the head. “these boys can be an extra handful sometimes.” he then turns to look back at sehun. “has zitao been a good company, sehun-ah?”
“well…”, he trails off, amused by the way zitao’s eyes glimmer in anticipation. “i can’t believe he made me wait thirty minutes for him to show up,” he continues, purposefully ignoring zitao’s protests of hey, i was trying to surprise you, and it was only fifteen minutes, fifteen!, “but he’s been great. really great.” he smiles when he sees zitao blush.
at that, joonmyun beams. “i’m glad.” he then glances at zitao, putting on a seemingly stern expression. “but still, young man, slacking off on your shift is a bad thing to do. a big no-no!” joonmyun reprimands as zitao stands up from his seat. the man pushes zitao and pats him on the back. “now, off you go, i’m giving you shop-closing duty. jongdae, you can go.”
both sehun and joonmyun laugh at jongdae’s hollers and zitao’s despair. “ugh, okay, but let me hit the loo, i’ll be quick!” zitao dashes to the bathroom, leaving sehun behind with joonmyun. the latter sits down where zitao was previously seated. “don’t worry, the shop’s closing in less than half an hour.” sehun nods, swirling the little spoon around the foam of his americano.
“a good guy, right, zitao?” joonmyun muses, and sehun only realizes a few seconds later that he’s asking him a question so he quickly agrees, “he’s great.”
joonmyun smiles again and sehun wonders if he has ever had face cramps due to smiling before. “ah, that kid,” joonmyun shakes his head, chuckling, “i’ve always treated him as if he’s my own son.” sehun can’t help but smile back. joonmyun has this aura that makes people around him feel comfortable. no wonder zitao and jongdae can joke freely like before. “i can see that,” sehun replies.
“the kid’s been through a lot,” joonmyun says. he glances around, trying to check whether or not zitao has come out of the restroom. he hasn’t, so joonmyun continues in a more hushed tone.
“his parents are overseas. i’m not sure what happened, but they sent zitao to study abroad during highschool, with money more than anyone could ever ask for, but zitao hasn’t heard from them since. long story short-they abandoned him.” sehun frowns. what kind of parent has the heart to do something like that?
joonmyun smiles sadly. “i remember how he looked so forlorn the first time he stepped foot inside this cafe. jongdae wasn’t here-i manned the whole coffee shop by myself. it’s not much of a burden, you see, the place is quite small.” both him and sehun chuckle. “zitao looked like he was having a really rough day-he just walked in aimlessly and sat on this very corner. he stayed there for quite a while, doing nothing but stare out the window so i approached him and brought him a cup of chamomile tea. and then he burst out crying on my shoulder, blabbering about the story i just told you. he was a stranger to me then, so you could imagine how shocked i was when he confided in me. i guess i do have that kind of comforting aura, don’t i?”
sehun smiles. “you really do.”
he gets a smile back. “in the end, i was extremely devastated by his story so i offered him a job here, probably out of impulse, even though i didn’t really need anyone.” joonmyun stares longingly to the distance. “but then again, seeing his eyes sparkle despite the tears made me realize that i had made the right decision.”
sehun beams at joonmyun. he might be small in stature, but he has a great big heart that everyone else adores. “you’re a good man, hyung.”
joonmyun chuckled. “so i’ve been told.”
sehun sips on his now cold americano when joonmyun continues to talk. “zitao deserves all the love in the world. by not getting love from his parents, all he could rely on is the love from all around him. me. jongdae. you,” he winks and sehun blushes.
joonmyun places a hand on top of sehun’s, his face serious. “sehun, listen. things didn’t go well with his last boyfriend. when he left, zitao was devastated beyond no end. i’m glad that he’s back to his old self now-and i can see how he looks genuinely happy when he’s with you.”
“i am, too,” sehun replies.
the older stares him down. “promise me you won’t make him sad?”
sehun blinks at joonmyun’s request. to promise something that big only on the first date-he might need to think. but then he reminisces joonmyun’s story of what zitao has been through in his head, along with zitao’s texts, zitao’s face, zitao’s smile.
sehun would do anything to keep that smile on his face, and sehun doesn’t understand why he hesitated.
“i promise, hyung,” sehun says, solemn, “i promise.”
a clack of a door being opened resonates throughout the room, and zitao walks out from it. walking towards sehun’s table, he smiles mischievously. “did i miss anything?”
“no,” joonmyun answers, “but you missed closing time. slack off again and i’m adding you another hour tomorrow!” he scolds playfully, and laughs when zitao scrambles to the direction of the pantry.
“wait for me, okay, sehunnie?” he shouts right before his blonde head disappears behind the pantry door.
“okay,” sehun shouts back, smiling.
+++
“thanks for sticking around, sehun-ah,” zitao says after a while. they were walking aimlessly in the busy, bustling street of seoul when zitao finally suggested to go to han river. “and sorry about joonmyun-hyung interrupting our date.”
“it’s fine,” sehun answers, “he really is a nice man.”
zitao hums in agreement. “a nice man with a nice cafe he owns. i’m lucky to be able to work there.”
sehun remembers what joonmyun said about how zitao got recruited and he smiles at him, sadly and fondly. “you are.”
he feels uncomfortable with the talk for some reason, so he changes the topic. “although i’m still curious about why he didn’t name the place.”
zitao whips his head so fast as if he were waiting for sehun to finally ask. “let me tell you!” he beams.
turns out, the vintage-designed coffee shop is left unnamed by joonmyun for a reason. “you see, kid”, joonmyun had told zitao one day, “when i built this coffee shop in the first place, i thought, ‘ah, how nice it would be to build a place like home’, because, you, see, i’m not from around here.” the older man had chuckled. “well, you can say that i built this place out of homesickness, but that’s not what i’m saying. thing is, i wanted to make people feel comfortable when they stop by, even though only for takeaway, or maybe staying a while! i want them to feel like they’re home. and”, joonmyun had smiled, “no one calls their home by names, right?”
from the way zitao tells the story as if he’s recited this a million times before, it’s clear that he really adores and looks up to joonmyun, and sehun knows that he himself does, too.
they walk side by side, shoulders bumping occasionally and sometimes zitao playfully nudges him when they bump again. they bond over small talks, and walk along the streets aimlessly until they stumble upon a night fair.
“whoa!” zitao exclaims, his smoky eyes widening in glee, they look almost childlike. sehun resists the urge to pinch the former’s cheeks. “how the hell do i not know this? c’mon, sehun, don’t just stand there-let’s go!”
he yanks sehun by the wrist, and practically drags him to the entrance of the fair. the grip of zitao’s fingers is oddly comforting, so sehun lets him be.
inside the open-aired fair they find all sorts of rides and attraction that sehun feels like an entire amusement park is brought here smack dab in the middle of seoul. stalls of snacks of every kind is scattered around the area, each of them oozing a delicious scent that they feel their mouths watering. before sehun knows it, he feels himself being dragged to a cotton candy stand. “nope,” he simply deadpans, tugging a whining zitao to a takoyaki stand. in less than a minute, two servings of takoyaki are in their hands. they eat while walking, and zitao laughs when he sees sehun gobble them quickly.
“you look like you haven’t eaten in ages,” zitao teases, and sehun punches him playfully on the arm.
“shut up,” sehun says, trying to sound angry but once again, his face betrays him, “there’s nothing better than fresh, hot, octopus balls.”
zitao mumbles. “my balls might be.”
sehun wishes he didn’t hear zitao say that because he promptly chokes on his half-bitten takoyaki ball and zitao chortles so loud he ends up choking as well.
“what the fuck,” sehun coughs out between his laughter.
“we’re so dumb,” zitao deadpans, while hitting his chest to ease his coughing like a crazed tarzan which makes sehun burst out laughing all over again.
he hasn’t had this much fun ever since baekhyun left, and to be honest, his sixteen month’s worth of happiness with baekhyun can’t even compare to the joy he’s feeling with zitao. heck, he had only known him in person less than twenty four hours!
sehun suddenly snaps. you’re on a date, sehun, why would you think about your ex?
feeling bad for suddenly zoning out, he turns to his right only to find that zitao’s no longer there. panic starts to bubble in him, suffocating his throat as he frantically darts his eyes left and right to find the blonde man, only he’s nowhere to be seen.
scared, he stops on his tracks. people flooding the fair bumps him left and right, but he can’t be bothered. looking down at his takoyaki stick, he feels stupid. i lost my fucking date in a fucking night fair.
just as he thinks about giving up, he feels his wrist getting pulled and he almost lets out a sob when he realizes that it’s zitao’s, who has his back facing him as he leads the way.
what he doesn’t expect is for zitao to lace their fingers together-his large, calloused fingers fit perfectly with sehun’s soft and slender ones. sehun feels a blush creeping up his face, once again tinting his cheeks a shade of pink, and he wonders if the feeling he has is what people call butterflies in one’s stomach because his insides are basically fluttering.
“what the heck,” zitao huffs when they’re no longer between the mass of crowd, “i was yapping so long about how we’re meant to be because we’re both dumb and you didn’t answer because you were no longer beside me.”
zitao sounds pissed, but sehun knows that he’s just worried. “i kinda zoned out a little bit,” he admits, “and i nearly freaked out when i didn’t find you anywhere.”
“that’s dumb.”
“you’re dumb.”
“i told you we’re meant to be.”
sehun slaps him with his free hand.
slowing his pace so they can walk side by side, zitao looks at their intertwined fingers. “back then when i pulled you out of the crowd-it was so cliché.”
sehun sways their arms back and forth. childish, he knows, but he doesn’t care. “it’s okay, i love clichés.”
“and i love you,” zitao pipes up, beaming.
zitao smiles from ear to ear, and sehun swears that it’s contagious because he unconsciously starts smiling too.
“i love you too.”
“i know,” zitao snorts, “you left me 37 winks, didn’t you?”
sehun facepalms, blushing hard. “you’re never going to live that down, are you?”
“mmm,” zitao hums, thinking, “not in a short while. not until i know another embarrassing thing from you that i can mock you with every time i see you.”
“huh,” sehun sighs, “so i’m never introducing you to my friend jongin or luhan.”
zitao laughs again, and sehun would lie if he were to say that it’s not one of his most favorite sounds.
they stop in front of a ferris wheel, towering over them and lighting up brightly. they look at each other at the same time, and giggle. “you haven’t been to a night fair if you don’t ride their ferris wheel,” zitao states, tugging sehun along to one of the carts. sehun nods in agreement.
the machine rumbles and creaks before their cart starts moving up, and sehun is amused by the little oohs and aahs zitao lets out as he looks out the window.
the city beneath them is bright and beautiful-illuminated by streetlights and bathed by starlight. but to sehun, zitao’s the one who shines the brightest.
their cart reaches the highest point of the wheel in no time, and zitao doesn’t waste a second to snap pictures of the glimmering seoul below them. sehun follows suit. “could this be any more beautiful?” zitao asks rhetorically.
then, as if on cue, fireworks start to soar outside their window, and both of them are astonished to watch tens-no, hundreds-of them ignite and crackle and burst and bloom as if they’re flowers made of fire.
sehun hears the sound of his own laughter bounce off the tin walls of the cart. “oh my god, this is so cliché.”
zitao grins. the cart is so tiny to begin with-a misfortune for tall people like them, so they need to cramp up with knees bumping at each other’s in order to fit inside. he laughs too, placing his hand on sehun’s thigh to prop himself as he leans forward. “want to make this more cliché?”
“how?” sehun asks.
he doesn’t get an answer. instead, he’s greeted by a warm pair of lips, soft, pliant, and so, so right.
the sound of fireworks dimmed and forgotten, sehun indulges himself in the kiss. he finds zitao’s palm cupping his cheek, his rough thumb caressing the round of his cheekbones. the kiss is slow and sweet-just like how he had envisioned it would be, and they only part when they’re out of breath, gasping and panting and smiling. the moment sehun opens his eyes-he didn’t even realize it was closed-and lands his gaze on how zitao looks so flustered, face flushed a pretty pink and lips swollen from the kiss, he can’t help but lean back in.
zitao pulls away when the cart almost reaches the ground, and sehun almost whines at the absence of his lips. stepping out of the cramped space, zitao has his eyes wide, chuckling while shaking his head. “wow.”
“wow,” sehun agrees.
zitao runs his fingers through his now mussed hair, lips still swollen and sighs still breathless, and sehun is proud to be the reason why.
“the kiss tasted like takoyaki,” zitao muses, “i told you we should’ve opted for cotton candies.”
sehun gapes and punches him on the shoulder.
zitao makes kissy faces at him in return. his hand makes its way to the spaces between sehun’s fingers. “c’mon, let me walk you home.”
+++
it’s a little bit past midnight when they finally reach sehun’s apartment complex, since they walk purposefully slow with their fingers entwined.
“well, this is me,” sehun says, stopping in front of a building. he stares at their interlocked hands and feels reluctant to let go. it may be really evident on his face as he finds zitao crinkling his nose in amusement. “we’ll part ways on your front door.”
sehun beams like a madly in love puppy. “okay.”
they kiss some more in front of sehun’s apartment door-the taste of zitao’s lips is a combination of both sweet and toxic, and sehun doesn’t even know how it’s possible.
“i’m glad we both ultimately decided to meet,” zitao says, breath hitching at his last word as sehun peppers little kisses to his collarbone. sehun hums something that sounds like a me too.
“i mean,” he pushes sehun by the shoulder, chuckling when the latter forms a pout, “i thought you were a freak for leaving me that much ‘winks’ in a day,”
“and i thought you were an asshat for rejecting me and not giving me one back,” sehun grumbles, “hence the hateful emails which i thoroughly and sincerely apologize for. and you’re still kind of an asshat, though.”
“if it weren’t for those emails, we wouldn’t be here right now, so don’t be sorry. plus, it’s amusing, kind of.”
laughing at the absurdity of their first encounter, zitao catches sehun by the waist. “all insanities aside, i’m glad we met, even through the most unconventional of ways.” a smile. “i love spending time with you.”
sehun’s eyes crinkle. “and i love you.”
“this whole night has been so cliché and cheesy i really need to excuse myself,” zitao snorts.
he then leans in for a quick peck on sehun’s lips but sehun whines and presses his lips much, much longer than a peck should be, and zitao lets a giggle escape from his lips. he pulls away, and grins when he sees sehun’s face flushed and bewildered.
“save it all up for our second date, baby,” he teases, and backs away playfully when sehun tries to catch him for another kiss as if in daze.
“ugh, fine,” sehun whines, his pout is even audible.
zitao shakes his head as he inches closer, sehun closing his eyes on autopilot, but plants a peck on sehun’s left cheek instead. “asshat,” sehun grumbles as zitao starts to walk away cackling.
“see you later, sehunnie~” zitao sing-songs, waving and blowing kisses as he makes his way towards the elevator, leaving sehun alone on his doorstep.
shaking his head, he unlocks his apartment, and as the heavy door closes behind him, he sprints and practically throws himself on his couch, screaming into his pillow, his long legs slamming up and down alternately like a giddy, lovesick schoolgirl.
his phone dings.
zitao: thx for today babyyyy!!! i love kissing u (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ see u on valentines day!!! ♡＾▽＾♡
sehun feels like he’s smiled the whole day today that his face is starting to cramp.
he makes a mental note to go to the grocery store tomorrow for eggs and flour, and call the repairman to fix his long-broken oven first thing tomorrow morning, because he might need to start baking again for this year’s valentine’s day.