The Dancing Waiters

[bollywoodrecord]

The Dancing Waiter

the dancing waiters
exo - kai/sehun, kai/luhan (featuring chanyeol) - pg13
11459w~
jongin is surprisingly comfortable to be around, despite sehun's hatred of people.


It's his third day on the job at the Korean restaurant six blocks from his place, a Wednesday afternoon he usually reserves for gaming plans at the shitty bowling alley near him and Luhan's apartment, but Sehun is instead stuck here, and he has already messed up two orders and dropped three trays of drinks while on service.

Most of the customers are regulars, and so he doesn't get too much reprimand for it, but it's still embarrassing and he wonders if it's too early in his career to quit.

It's not like their outings at Kim's Bowling Emporium were that bad. Luhan just cheated all the time and Chanyeol tagged along whenever he wasn't invited and the game consoles in the arcade were always breaking down whenever they had finally finished the one hour allotted bowling time. But it wasn't that bad.

Sehun, if he's honest with himself, has never been all that great with people. His total social life consists of his roommate, Luhan, and Luhan's best friend's ex-boyfriend's best friend, Chanyeol, neither of which he thinks really count because none of them have social lives either and it always ends up as just their sadistic trio.

So now that he's surrounded by humans, forced to look at them and interact with them and work for them, Sehun isn't quite sure what his life has come to.

"Ah, shit, what did they order again…" He glances at the bundle of orders in his hand, fishing for the one that looks like it belongs to the couple sitting at the corner of the restaurant, when a sudden hand comes up from behind Sehun and plucks one of the wrinkled papers right out of his grasp. "What the-"

"I think it's this one," and Sehun turns around to see a grin plastered on one of the waiter's faces (he doesn't quite know them all by name yet). "I walked past you when you were taking their order earlier, they didn't get much. Here ya go."

The guy hands the paper back to Sehun and skips back to his station at the front, greeting the steady flow of customers that come inside. Sehun blinks.

"Um, okay then."

The other waiter's guess ends up right and Sehun doesn't really think about it until it's closing time and he's changing out of his clothes in the locker room, slipping a t-shirt over his head when he sees the same guy head inside looking just as refreshed and lively as he did when Sehun saw him earlier that day. "Hey, you." The guy turns over and Sehun nods, shoving his clothes into his locker without tearing his gaze away from That Guy. "Yeah. You."

"What's up?"

"Thanks." The guy raises his eyebrow and Sehun coughs. "For earlier today, finding the customer's order and whatever. Thanks."

"Oh, yeah!" He breaks out into a smile and Sehun wrinkles his nose because it is too late in the day to be smiling that wide, and he just nods his head in some sort of response. "No problem, man, we're all friends here."

"…. Sure."

Sehun turns to pick up his messenger bag, his phone probably loaded with texts from Luhan wondering what's taking him so long to get home and Chanyeol wondering if the three of them still have dinner plans, when someone taps him on the shoulder and That Guy is Still There.

"I'm Jongin, by the way. Kim Jongin."

He smiles, and it isn't as wide of a smile as before, nervous and a little insecure, and Sehun thinks it looks nicer than his eager, over friendly beam. Attractive, almost. "Sehun," he replies. "Oh Sehun."

That G-Jongin breaks out into his signature, blinding grin that makes Sehun cringe and want to find a pair of sunglasses, but instead he just tries smiling right back and thinking maybe this shouldn't be that bad after all.

Neither Luhan nor Chanyeol has texted him once he finally gets around to checking his messages. Sehun wonders briefly if Jongin would make a good enough replacement for his crappy friends, and decides against it later after four hesitant thoughts and Luhan's promising dinner scent when he finally steps inside his shabby apartment. Well.

He's running late the next day. Sehun forgot to set an alarm, and Luhan is the shitty roommate that forgets to wake him up, and now he's sprinting through the back doors hoping his boss isn't there to see him because it's still only his first week and he's pretty sure he's screwed up enough already.

It isn't until he gets inside the locker room that Sehun realizes he's forgotten his dress shoes at home. He glances down and fuck, it would be the one day he wears flip flops to work. Converse might have passed with his uniform, but beach sandals definitely won't.

Sehun groans and opens his locker, thankful for the empty room because he's sweaty and disgusting and doesn't want anyone to see him in this state.

There's a coughing sound behind him as he takes off his shirt, and Sehun turns around to see Jongin leaning against the opposite row of lockers, holding a pair of dress shoes in his hands. Sehun scrambles for his t-shirt, using it to shield his front because he feels self-conscious for no apparent reason and the way Jongin is looking at him is a little unnerving.

"What?"

"Don't you need shoes?"

Sehun swallows, reaching forward to take the shoes from Jongin's hands, and his hands are shaking more than they should be. "Yeah. Thanks. How did you know?"

"I forgot my name tag in the back and heard you muttering to yourself when you came in. My uncle would have a fit if he saw you working in flip flops." Jongin grins, the muted smile that Sehun thinks he likes a little better; he turns back to his locker to grab the collared shirt for uniform, trying not to ponder when luck decided to side with him.

"Thanks," he says again. "I'm sure boss would - wait, what? Your uncle?"

He turns around once more and Jongin is scratching at the back of his neck, and Sehun wonders what he's still doing there. Waiting for him, maybe? "He's not really my uncle, just my dad's friend, but it's basically the same thing." Jongin shrugs. "I try not to go around spreading the rumor, so keep it on the down low, will you?"

"Y - yeah, sure."

Jongin smiles at him again, and Sehun finds himself smiling back, and then Jongin is at the door, hands on the metal doorknob. "Lunch hour is about to start, so you should probably hurry. Also, I don't have socks cause those are my spare, so try not to sweat too much. Also, you're buttoning your shirt up wrong."

Jongin winks at him and then he is gone, and Sehun is left wondering what, exactly, he is supposed to be wondering.

Sehun and his two (and only two) friends go out for lunch later that weekend. Luhan's treating, and Chanyeol doesn't hesitate to order the most expensive thing on the menu, along with two appetizers and three side dishes, and maybe an added round of dessert even though they all know he eats the least out of the three.

"You're such an ass, Chanyeol," Luhan mutters, picking at his rice because he is a broke college student and scraping at ends to survive.

"But you're paying, and that's all that matters," he responds with a mouthful, and Sehun snorts. "What are you laughing at?"

Sehun shrugs. "Nothing. Just thinking about how desperately I need new friends."

Luhan makes a pouty face at him, big eyes and puckered lips and the flawless features that Sehun thinks he's always been secretly envious of. "We're not good enough for you?"

"No."

Luhan's face drops, and Chanyeol looks up to him from stuffing his face. There's a string of some sort of vegetable hanging from his lip and Sehun thinks it looks kind of disgusting. "You don't need a friend," Chanyeol begins, "you need a boyfriend. That's why you're so annoying and clingy all the time."

Sehun wrinkles his nose. "You're the one that needs a boyfriend, shitface. Not that you'd ever get one, but still."

"Look who's talking." He leans closer, then, and Sehun backs away because he still has not gotten rid of that stupid thing dangling from his mouth. "Anyone cute at your new job?"

Sehun's first reaction is to think of Jongin, because he is kind of cute, albeit a little strange, but he shakes off the thought because he doesn't date coworkers nor does he have an interest in the guy. "Not really," he answers.

"No one? Not a single person?" Even Luhan looks interested now, always trying to meddle in Sehun's nonexistent love life because he can't seem to land one of his own.

"Nah, but," and Sehun isn't quite sure this is a good idea, "there's this guy there that seems really nice. I'm not interested in him or anything, but he'd be a pretty cool addition to our trio, I think."

"Yeah?" Chanyeol is grinning and eugh, he's got lettuce stuck in between his teeth too. "Invite him over to your place sometime so we can get to know him, then."

Sehun shudders and pushes his plate forward, standing up because he's got an appointment at the hair stylist in half an hour anyways. "On second thought, I'd rather not. And can you not be so fucking disgusting when you eat? Jesus christ, it kills my appetite." He shakes his head at Chanyeol, who grins even wider, and leaves, wondering to himself if the hair dye from coloring his hair too much kills off as many brain cells as his friends do.

Jongin invites him for karaoke after the restaurant closes the next week after announcing to Sehun their new friendship. According to Jongin, at least, sharing shoes is the first step to becoming buddies. Sehun rolls his eyes and tell himself Jongin's looks make up for his thoughts.

It's Friday, the end of the work week, and Jongin finds this as an excuse to head out to the only 24 hour karaoke after stealing a pack of beer from the restaurant's bar before they leave ("my uncle won't notice, he rarely does inventory at the bar" and sehun swallows and doesn't get the chance to wonder if jongin can actually be trusted before he's whisked outside into the bitter cold).

It's still winter season, and Sehun wonders how Jongin isn't freezing away in his t-shirt and jeans, pulling his own hoodie further over his head as they enter the karaoke building and head for the room Jongin's booked.

"I don't, um… Actually do this often?" Sehun shrugs sheepishly, taking a sip of the beer in his hand as Jongin shifts through the song listing. "It's been a while since I've been out, to be honest."

"You and your friends don't hang out together?"

Sehun takes the seat next to Jongin. "I don't really have many friends to begin with."

Jongin laughs, hitting him on the back a little harder than he expects and it takes everything inside of him to not cough out the ice cube circling inside of his mouth. "I'm sure you do, Oh Sehun."

No, I really don't, Sehun refrains from saying.

Jongin ruffles his hair like he's some sort of older figure, fingering through the red strands and suddenly Sehun feels really self-conscious. "I like your new hair color, by the way."

"Oh, right." Sehun lifts his hand up to his head, snorting. "I forgot I dyed it."

"You're so stupid." Jongin rolls his eyes and then he's selecting one of the songs, and it takes a while to load but suddenly some rap song is playing and Sehun wonders what in the hell they're doing.

Jongin stands up and attempts his own rendition of this song, and Sehun does nothing but stare, laughing occasionally at the way Jongin tries dancing to an unmeasurable beat. He collapses after a little over a minute, his vocals giving out, and this is probably the dumbest thing he's ever done in his entire life. "What? You think you can do better?"

"I know I can do better," and Sehun snatches the microphone out of his hand, choosing a familiar hip hop song from back in the day and then he's singing and dancing and Jongin seems to find this combination hilarious.

They go through six songs like that, switching between the two of them to see who gives up first.

A Lil Wayne song comes up in the shuffled mix when they finally drop to the floor, throats sore and legs a little numb. Sehun pushes Jongin over to make room for his arms, his face buried into the carpet floor, and his shirt is sticky with the sweat dripping down from his neck. "You really suck at singing, you know," he mumbles.

"Your voice is pretty shit too, you know."

Sehun picks his head up and grins. "Yeah. I know. But at least we can dance."

"Yeah." Jongin turns over to look at Sehun, punching him lightly in the side. "At least."

His smile isn't that big, then, and his eyes are kind of droopy and his skin is really tan and his bangs fall right into his eyes just right and Sehun thinks he looks really cute. Really, really cute. Sehun swallows.

"One more round!" Jongin suddenly screams, standing up and dragging Sehun with him, and the thought disappears just as quickly as it came. It wasn't that big of a deal anyways, he tells himself.

Luhan likes watching Chinese television with Sehun. Sehun isn't really sure why, because he only ends up complaining about not being able to understand anything and Luhan will leave pissed, yelling something in Mandarin that Sehun's come to understand as you are the most uncultured shit to ever exist, and they won't talk for the next two days until Sehun finally orders some Chinese takeout and promises he'll watch quietly next time, but Luhan really likes watching it with him anyways.

And so he does.

They are watching some dance competition this time, and Sehun can't seem to remember the names of any of the competitors. It's kind of annoying, really.

A buzzer sounds for one of the dancers and Sehun groans, squishing the pillow in his hand in frustration. "Those judges are so stupid, they call for the dumbest things - especially that, that one guy," Sehun points uselessly at the television screen, "with the big glasses and that ugly hat-"

"The middle one?"

"Yeah, yeah, him."

Luhan ah's, nodding his head in what Sehun takes as agreement, and they settle back on to the couch to watch the show quietly. It's better than most of what they end up watching, Luhan's favorite melodramatic soap operas and the boring talk shows because no matter how much he tells his best friend, Luhan doesn't get the fact that Sehun can't understand a single fucking word.

But Sehun thinks he actually kind of likes this.

"You know, Jongin's a pretty good dancer," Sehun mentions, when the show is almost over and the episode's winners are being announced.

"Who's that?"

"My coworker, he took me out to karaoke together the other day."

"And?"

"We were messing around with each other mostly, but he's still a really good dancer."

"Is that the kinda cute one?" A head pops up from behind the couch and Sehun has to refrain from screaming, a hand coming up to his chest as his heartbeat raps out of control. Chanyeol is standing behind him, a bowl of popcorn in his hand and his oversized glasses sliding down his nose.

"Jesus fucking christ, Chanyeol, what the fuck. What are you even doing here?" Sehun turns to Luhan, who looks no different than he did just ten seconds ago. "What is he doing here?"

Luhan shrugs. "I thought he left during lunch earlier but I guess not. Are you staying over tonight?" Chanyeol beams and rounds the couch to Luhan's side, plopping down on the sofa next to them, and Sehun can still feel his heart hammering in his chest, an erratic thump because Chanyeol is fucking crazy and he doesn't know why they're still friends.

Maybe Jongin will make a good replacement, Sehun thinks.

Jongin is surprisingly comfortable to be around, despite Sehun's hatred of people.

They start talking at work, brief chats in between running around the restaurant, and then Jongin is offering to help serve the larger groups, showing him how to carry multiple plates at a time and balance a tray full of drinks.

(he isn't that good of a teacher, because sehun still ends up knocking over three of the five glasses he carries during a busy lunch hour, but it's an improvement from last time. maybe that counts.)

Sehun, quite daringly, is the one who suggests the game.

"I've got an idea."

They're in the locker rooms, the last two people left because Jongin's taken to dragging Sehun around for the after hours clean up since everyone else refuses. Jongin turns to face him, work shirt in hand and t-shirt still in locker, and Sehun has to force himself to not look past Jongin's sharp collarbones, wonderfully tan skin covering the jutting bones in comparison to his own pasty flesh.

"What is it?"

"I bet I can get more tips than you can."

Jongin raises an eyebrow. "Oh really?" Sehun swallows and he can feel himself reddening, Jongin's tone questioning and expression even more confusing, and this was probably a stupid idea. Jongin's been working here a lot longer than he has, his uncle owns the damn place, and wow, what a stupid suggestion, this is why you always lose all your friends, Sehun- "You're on."

"Sorry, it was a dumb sugge - wait, what?"

"You're on. As in, sure, let's bet on it."

"Really?" He feels the color returning to his face and Sehun smiles, unaware of the growing smirk on Jongin's face until he finally says something.

"But there's a catch." The smile falls instantly, and Sehun feels himself paling again. "We have to dance whenever we approach a table, or when we're serving around. Otherwise you can't count the tip.

"What. That was not part of my idea."

"Yeah, now it's new and improved."

"Jongin, come on, you know I have the shittiest balance, I can't even carry a platter of food normally without dropping half of the shit on it let alone dance carrying a platter of food."

Jongin laughs, and Sehun's eyes accidentally wander further than they're supposed to. His gaze drops to Jongin's stomach, the whole of his upper body shaking, defined abs sculpting the smooth skin, and wow, he definitely should not be so turned on by this.

Sehun swallows and doesn't hear Jongin telling him it's not that hard, all he has to do is keep a firm grip on the platter and then spin on his feet once, twice, three times-

And then Jongin is right in front of Sehun's face, noses almost brushing against each other, faces in a proximity too close for Sehun's comfort zone and Sehun can feel Jongin's breathing, smell the familiar scent of cinnamon and something dark that always trails after Jongin. The next breath of air falls from his lips and then Jongin is grinning, that stupid muted smile that he thought was kind of cute all those weeks ago, and he is pulling away.

"Just like that. Easy, right?"

Sehun finds himself nodding. "Yeah, sure. Easy."

Jongin smiles and finally puts his work shirt away, grabbing the t-shirt in his locker and slipping it over his head. It takes all of Sehun's willpower to not glare at the contours of Jongin's abs as he bends over slightly to slip his arms through the sleeves - his willpower is very unwilling, Sehun realizes.

And it isn't until much, much later that night, when Luhan brings up the Chinese dance competition that Sehun remembers Jongin's addition to their bet and how this will inevitably end up so, so wrong.

Jongin starts it off. The day's been pretty slow - no one really comes out to eat at nice restaurants on Tuesday nights - and Jongin offers to grab the next pair that walk in, hand in hand and Sehun's more than willing to let him take it because couples are his least favorite to serve. The guys are always such dickwads whenever their girlfriends are around.

Sehun watches Jongin introduce himself, show them the drinks menu and take their starting orders.

His smile is wide and pretty and Sehun just thinks he looks really nice, all the sharp edges of his jawline and the tousled brown hair and he wonders then if Jongin is single.

Wow, Sehun. Wow.

He sees Jongin come back near the table, platter in hand, and when Jongin nears the table, he spins, an almost perfect pirouette, his ending position right in front of the table as he lowers the tray and serves their drinks. The guy narrows his eyes - he probably thinks it's Jongin's attempt to woo his date, judging by the look on his face - but Jongin doesn't seem to notice, holding the tray behind his back as he asks for their orders.

Jongin takes their orders without a notepad - Sehun still has to mark on the paper who ordered what, it's kind of embarrassing - and then walks back towards the kitchen.

By then, another pair has walked into the restaurant, this time accompanied by a bored teenage girl who was probably dragged along by her parents. Sehun puts on his best smile and leads them to their table, not so coincidentally near the couple Jongin is serving.

Sehun's got their drinks in his tray minutes later, and he's wondering how he should get there since Jongin's already done a spin.

He ends up shuffling there awkwardly, and the parents look a little offset, probably wondering what in the hell Sehun is doing as he tries to maneuver his way to their table without spilling the drinks.

At least he doesn't drop any of them, Sehun tells himself.

He takes their meal orders, pad clutched tightly in hand, and it isn't until he's walking to the kitchen that he sees Jongin again, two platters of food in hand, and he's literally moonwalking to the couple's table, winking when he sees Sehun watching him. Sehun feels himself flush a deep red but it doesn't really matter because Jongin's now at the table, sliding the plates on to the table effortlessly before strutting away.

The family's orders are done by this time, and Sehun is screwed, he can already tell.

Sehun sets the plates on to two separate trays, breathing heavily as he picks them up with shaky arms. Maybe he should call off this bet. Besides, he can see from the corner of his Jongin leaning against the kitchen door, arms crossed as he watches Sehun about to make his delivery. If he drops or messes this up, Jongin wouldn't let him live it down.

Screw that. He's gonna do it.

Sehun finds some sort of balance with the trays, and takes the first step forward, unsteady and the plates are already wobbling. He takes another breath and then another step, somewhat copying Jongin's earlier movements as he skips backward, an attempt at jerking holding two platters in hand, and he can feel Jongin's burning gaze on him. God, this is so embarrassing.

He reaches the family's table after what feels like years, arms sore from the tight grip he's had them in, and the mother of the trio is clapping, a small smile on her face. Her husband looks amused, and the bored girl looks like she's trying to stifle her laughter. Sehun grins and sets their plates down, heart swelling and maybe he's not so bad at this after all even if he did look stupid as fuck.

They leave a generous tip, the largest one Sehun has yet to get, and he heads into the locker room with a sort of immeasurable pride when the restaurant has finally closed only to have Jongin burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?"

Jongin is snorting too hard to immediately respond, and it takes him a couple tries before he finally gets the words out. "What the hell were you doing out there?"

Sehun shrugs. "Dancing?"

"You looked so funny, Sehun, oh my god," Jongin wills himself to stand up straight, imitating Sehun's shuffling dance before bursting out in laughter again, and Sehun feels his heart constrict.

He scrunches his nose and walks to his locker, trying his best to ignore Jongin's annoying giggles because that was kind of mean.

"Wow, that was hilarious. Thanks for the show, Sehun." Jongin quits laughing finally, and Sehun kind of hates him now. He didn't even dance that badly. Just because it wasn't all that smooth compared to Jongin's dancing, and he couldn't woo a middle-aged woman like Jongin could, and his first try was really shitty didn't mean the whole thing was bad. Besides, he was serving three people, Jongin only had to serve two and they didn't even order that much- "Sehun! Sehun, are you listening?"

"What?" Sehun spits out, and he thinks his face might be a little red.

"Did you wanna go chill out after work? We start late tomorrow so we can go-"

"No. I wanna go home."

The rest of Jongin's words fall to his feet and Sehun can feel the tension in the air, muted breaths and Sehun's blood boiling. "Sehun?" Jongin says again. Sehun kind of hates the way Jongin says his name.

"What?"

"Are you mad?"

Sehun doesn't say anything, opting to shove his dress pants roughly into the locker and begin undoing his work shirt, fingers trembling uncontrollably at the buttons.

"Sehun? Aw, come on, man, don't be mad."

The trembling gets worse, and it takes a Sehun a total of two minutes to finally undo the first three buttons, just ripping the shirt off over his head when it becomes too much.

"I was just kidding, Sehun, you know I think you're a good dancer." Sehun still doesn't respond, and he wonders if maybe Jongin will just get agitated and leave. "Don't be mad, man. Come on."

"If you thought I was such a good dancer, you wouldn't have laughed."

"I only laughed because I thought it was cute," and the constriction in Sehun's heart only tightens, this time for very different reasons, "I wasn't trying to make fun of you. I'm sorry."

Sehun turns around to look at Jongin, who looks kind of pitiful with his sad eyes and faded Poporo t-shirt, a hole in the right sleeve and frayed ends as he toys with the bottom of his t-shirt. "You're a dick, Kim Jongin," and then Sehun smiles, pulling out the tips he'd made from the day's work, crumpled bills in all different colors, "and I'm pretty sure I made more money than you. Let's go bowling."

Jongin breaks out into a grin and it's the huge grin that hurts Sehun's eyes and kind of temporarily blinds him, but right then Sehun kind of loves it and he thinks he almost might kind of love Kim Jongin too.

Jongin, with the unfortunate luck of being related to the owner of the restaurant, doesn't get as many privileges as one would think - one of which includes never getting off early. Ever.

It's a rainy Sunday morning and Sehun has the clean up-shift before opening hours and half of the lunch shift before he's allowed to leave, and he pulls Jongin into the locker room with him when the business is slow and he hopes no one is looking.

He lets go of Jongin's arm when the coast is clear, throwing open his locker as he begins to unbutton his shirt. "Hey, you think your uncle will let you off early today?"

Jongin shrugs. "I doubt it. Why?"

"My friends are coming to pick me up, we're going out for lunch if you wanted to join us."

Sehun glances at Jongin expectantly through changing his shirt, throwing the white dress shirt into his locker in favor for the t-shirt he'd walked into work with. Jongin leans back against his locker with his arms crossed and his smug face is kind of annoying and really attractive. "If I wanted something to eat, I'd eat here, where I'd get it for free."

Sehun makes a face. "Dick." He slams his locker shut, then, running a hand through his hair without looking up at Jongin. "Come if you want, don't if you don't. It was just an offer."

He leaves the locker room with that, because sometimes Jongin is moody and today's not gonna be the day to put up with it - rainy days are supposed to be good days, Sehun reasons - stopping for a second to talk with the new worker at the front, some Chinese guy named Zitao who looks freaky as shit but apparently they went to the same high school or something like that.

Zitao says something in his broken Korean about how Sehun's shirt doesn't match the color of his jeans and Sehun punches him in the shoulder. "Fuck off, not everyone needs to wear three hundred dollar sweaters to look nice," and Zitao laughs, when there's pull on his shoulder and they both turn around to see Jongin with his hair in ten different directions, shirt buttoned up all wrong and a flush in his cheeks. "What are you doing?"

"I took off early."

"What? Really?" Jongin smiles and Sehun finds himself smiling with him, hitting Jongin lightly in the arm and then pulling him closer. "So you're gonna come for lunch?"

"You're treating," he answers, ruffling Sehun's hair, a single nod at Zitao before he's bouncing out the door. Sehun stares in his direction and it isn't until Zitao smacks his butt really hard, a knowing smile on his face that Sehun decides maybe he's let off enough. He flicks Zitao in the forehead and then trails out the door after Jongin.

Luhan and Chanyeol are waiting outside the restaurant, the former fiddling with his phone and the latter off in a tangent that Luhan is most likely not listening to.

He finds Jongin hanging at the railing and links Jongin's arm with his own, pulling him towards where Luhan and Chanyeol are leaning against Luhan's beat up Land Rover. "Guys," he coughs, and they both look up, Luhan bored and Chanyeol's eyes slowly widening, "this is Jongin. From work. He's coming to lunch with us. Jongin, this is Luhan," motioning at Luhan, who nods his head, "and Chanyeol." Chanyeol leans over to slap Jongin in the back - quite loudly, at that, and Sehun winces. Maybe he should have told Luhan to come alone.

Jongin rubs at his back when Chanyeol finally pulls away and it's kind of an awkward silence until Sehun pushes himself towards the back seat door. "Okay, me and Jongin will sit in the-"

Chanyeol lunges at Sehun, tearing him off of the back door with a strange smile on his face. "I'll sit in the back," he says, and Jongin exchanges a glance with Sehun, who just shrugs. He forgot how creepy Chanyeol could be when around other humans.

"I guess I'll sit in the front, then." Sehun pushes Jongin towards the back, and when they're finally situated inside the car, he wonders if maybe this was a bad decision.

"Chanyeol, stop creeping the fuck out of the new guy," Luhan orders, not even glancing behind him.

"The new guy?"

"We don't normally hang out with people outside of our trio."

Jongin shoots Sehun a look through the rearview mirror, and Sehun shrugs. "I told you I didn't have that many friends."

"I didn't think you were serious."

Sehun shrugs again. "Well."

The rest of the car ride is fought through in silence, and it feels like hours until they finally pull into the parking lot of Luhan's favorite Korean cafe, and not just because he thinks the guy at the front counter is hot (sehun laughs at the way luhan starts messing with his hair and earns a punch in the shoulder for it).

He hops out of the passenger seat and Jongin almost immediately latches on to Sehun's arm, holding on a little tighter than necessary when he sees Chanyeol exiting the same way. Sehun laughs and lets himself squeeze Jongin's fingers, warm and a little sweaty and really, really nice. "He's weird as fuck, but he's cool. You get used to it after hanging out with him so long."

"Yeah, maybe I'll get accustomed eventually," and Sehun doesn't fail to notice how Jongin just implied that maybe, maybe he wouldn't mind joining Sehun's trio, even though he probably has so many of his own friends, all of which are also probably a lot cooler than Sehun and his lot.

(and sehun also doesn't fail to notice how jongin squeezes his fingers back, but that's just a side thought. a much, much distanced side thought.)

And it isn't until later, when they're eating lunch and Luhan is ogling over the guy at the front desk and Chanyeol is shoveling food down his throat that Sehun finally asks Jongin what he's been wondering for the past couple of hours. "How'd you get your uncle to let you off early, anyways?"

"I didn't. I just ditched."

Sehun's eyes widen and he would choke on his food if he was eating any, but luck is on his side and Sehun manages to cough just once. "Aren't you going to get in trouble?"

"Yeah, he'll probably assign me to like a month's worth of cleaning the restaurant or something stupid like that, but whatever. It was worth it."

He nudges Sehun, who doesn't realize his mouth is hanging open until Jongin shoves a soggy dumpling inside, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he laughs. "Don't trip, it's not that big of a deal," he says again, hand on Sehun's thigh, and Sehun only manages a smile in return when he finally finishes chewing the dumpling. That's all he'd ever manage, anyways.

"Horror movie."

"No, I don't own any horror movies."

"Yeah, okay, and I don't see the fucking Grudge series on top of your DVD player."

"There's nothing in those cases," and Sehun lunges for the plastic boxes the same time Jongin dives towards the television set, and maybe it's his awkwardly long limbs or the fact that he's used to fighting for the first controller with Chanyeol that Sehun gets to the boxes first, popping one open to see a sparkling clean DVD.

Jongin groans, head falling on the floor and he winces because shit, that kind of hurt. "I hate horror movies, Sehun, can we please watch something else."

"No. I refuse."

He clicks open the DVD player, sliding the disc in and ignoring the way Jongin tugs at the hem of his shirt pathetically. "Come on, man, I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight."

"Sucks ass." Sehun grabs Jongin's hand, hauling his dead weight to the couch, attempting for all of ten seconds to try and pull him up on the seat next to him before giving up. He settles for just stealing the blanket from the floor and curling up near the armrest, and it isn't until the previews have finished that Jongin drags himself up off the carpet with a pitiful expression. Sehun glances at him through narrowed eyes. "Can you shut the lights, please."

Jongin shoots him a look of death but he switches them off anyways, and then falls a little too close to Sehun on the couch when he finally manages to sit down, snatching some of the blanket to cover his own legs. "You fucking suck, I don't even know why I invited you over."

"Because you realized none of your friends are as awesome as I am. Now shut up, it's starting." Jongin whines and Sehun punches him. "Shut up, Jongin."

"I'm scared!"

"It hasn't even started, what the hell."

Jongin whines again anyways, and there's a shuffling under the blanket when Sehun feels a rough hand circling his wrist, Jongin's fingers adjusting themselves so they are interlocked with Sehun's, and Sehun feels himself freezing up. "What the fuck, Jongin."

"You brought it on yourself," he murmurs in response, but Jongin doesn't even sound that scared and Sehun is pretty sure this isn't how this was supposed to be going.

The movie passes by in silence and about an hour in, Jongin points out the little boy with the round nose and the big eyes. "That guy kind of looks like your roommate, whatever his name was."

"Luhan?"

"Yeah. Luhan. The pretty one." Sehun tenses and then Jongin squeezes his fingers, even though it's completely unnecessary because out of the both of them, it's Jongin that should be freaking out, not Sehun. "I think I would have died of fright if it was your ugly ass."

"Shut the fuck up. I don't like you."

"I don't like you too."

Sehun is pretty sure he's winning this game. It's only been three weeks, but he's managed to fill up half of his glass jar with crumpled bills and rusted coins, and Jongin is still lagging behind at only a third of the way.

"What the fuck, I'm a much better dancer than you-"

Jongin grumbles at the bench where Sehun has their jars sitting, kicking at the end lightly and Sehun rushes forward to grab them before they fall over. "Hey, man, careful! Just because you're a sore loser doesn't mean you need to take it out on the money." Jongin looks up with a glare and Sehun grins at him, turning back to his locker to change out of their work clothes. "So are you coming over today?"

"I guess? No horror movies this time, though, shit."

Sehun turns back, raising his eyebrow, and maybe it's the money in his hand or the fact that Jongin is about to come over that gives him the sudden burst of courage, but he smirks and says, "But you seemed to have fun last time."

"What are you talking abou-oh. Fuck you. No." Jongin leans over to smack Sehun in the head with his t-shirt, face coloring slightly when Sehun starts laughing. "Shut up, man," but he looks kind of cute flustered and it just makes Sehun want to laugh more.

"Hey, I didn't even say anything, I was just stating an observation."

"Well shut the hell up, no one needs to know about your observations." Jongin grumbles and turns to his locker, slipping out of his shirt with a pout still on his face, and it only makes Sehun laugh more, kicking at Jongin lightly before shutting his own locker. "Yeah, okay, you're just lucky I didn't pull away."

"Fuck you," Jongin responds. Sehun still thinks he looks a little red.

"I'll be outside, little girl." He hits Jongin's shoulder gently and then steps out, waiting until Jongin is finished so they can head over to his place together. This could be kind of exciting, maybe.

It's Luhan that opens the door, and the apartment is unnaturally silent. Jongin hesitates before stepping inside, and it isn't until Sehun grabs him by the arm and pulls him inside, don't worry it's only me and luhan that live here that he finally relaxes. "Cute place."

"Yeah, okay. You hungry?"

Jongin gives him a deadpan look and Sehun scoffs. "You make it seem like we can only eat food from the restaurant we work at. Don't be so anal." Luhan has shuffled off into the living room, curled up in his pajamas and a bucket of popcorn to watch reruns of Chinese soap operas, a position Sehun is sadly much too used to coming home to. "So, you hungry or not?"

"Depends. What do you have?"

Sehun throws open the pantry, revealing a scarce selection of instant ramen and some snacks. He can't remember the last time him and Luhan have been shopping, now that he thinks about it. Jongin has one eyebrow raised and Sehun shrugs sheepishly, turning to look at Luhan through the small window space in the kitchen. "Did you make anything?"

"No, I was hoping you two would bring something home," he responds, lips curled around a kernel. "But there's leftovers from last night."

Sehun turns to the small refrigerator, throwing it open while Jongin watches off handedly. "Your roommate cooks?"

"Uh, yeah? Does it look like I have time for it?"

"You're the one that said you only had two friends."

"I didn't say I had two friends, I said I had a couple. And fuck off, I make the rent payments, alright?"

Jongin laughs, and Sehun reaches out to hit him, just barely missing as Jongin slides back and rams back first into Luhan, the remaining popcorn in his bowl flying everywhere. Sehun snorts and Jongin turns around, his eyes wide as he starts throwing apologies, and Luhan still has the dead look he usually has around this time of day - around every time of the day, who is Sehun kidding - shrugging Jongin off as he bends down to start picking up the fallen pieces.

"You are so stupid," Sehun mutters, watching as Jongin bends down to help Luhan, their hands brushing once or twice and Sehun notices the way Jongin's fingers linger, long and delicate and smooth just like Luhan.

The pretty one. He feels something bubbling in his stomach, a growing trepidation that lodges itself in his gut, and Sehun wonders if maybe this has developed past the physical infatuation he's been convincing himself of.

Maybe he'll go get his hair dyed, Sehun thinks. It'll kill off the overused brain cells, anyways.

Him and Luhan are catching up on the Chinese dance show. It's the only one Luhan forces him to sit the whole thing through now, probably because it's the only thing Sehun will stay long enough to sit through. There's pretzels in between the two of them, the gross kind that are too salty for Sehun's liking but are Luhan's favorite.

His phone goes off, then, a vibration followed by the intro to the rap music him and Jongin had been dancing to way back when during karaoke, and Luhan eyes him weirdly from the side as he picks up the call.

"Hello?"

"Sehun? Hey, it's Jongin. Are you busy?"

"Uh... No, just watching TV with Luhan. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the mall this weekend?" Sehun feels his heart speed up, partly because hanging out with Jongin always makes him somewhat jittery but mostly because Jongin's voice is really nice over the phone, all crackly and rough and deep. "I had to grab a few things and I didn't really wanna go alone."

Sehun absentmindedly takes a bite of the pretzel in his hand, about to answer when he begins choking because holy fuck these are so salty, how does Luhan eat this.

"Yo, Sehun, are you okay?" but Sehun can't really answer, trying to find some water and instead grabbing Luhan's even grosser fruit juice sitting on the coffee table, taking a sip and willing himself to not spit out the bitter health drink. "Sehun?"

"Uh, sorry, I just - I'm fine. And yeah, I'll go with you. Sure. Yeah, of course." He hears Jongin chuckle on the other line and he'd punch himself for being so awkward if Luhan wasn't sitting right next to him, but he's so immersed in the next contestant that he probably wouldn't have noticed anyways, Sehun's choking having gone completely past him.

"You should bring your roommate, Luhan or whatever. He's cool."

Sehun feels himself stiffen and he swallows. "Luhan? Yeah, sure thing, I'll tell him. Just text me when."

"Cool. See you tomorrow Sehun. And thanks."

"Yeah, tomorrow. No problem." The line goes dead and Sehun feels sickly, like someone's churning his stomach and he's forcing himself to hold it down, and he doesn't know whether it's the pretzels or the juice or Jongin or even all three but it's something and it's making Sehun's head spin, stomach flip-flop in random motions, and suddenly he kind of wants to throw up.

"Who was that?" Luhan asks, eyes still trained on the television.

"Jongin. He wanted us to go to the mall with him this weekend."

"Us?"

Sehun swallows. "Yeah, me and you."

Luhan glances over at him, and maybe it's the fact that they've known each other for ten years that he knows what's wrong, muting the television and putting the pretzel bucket to the side so he can shuffle over next to Sehun. "Hey."

Sehun looks up, stomach still churning. "Yeah?"

"Don't sweat it. I've known him for like, ten minutes, and it's been months since you guys have been working together. Once he knows I'm too good for his ass, he'll come running back to you, and then he won't leave."

Sehun frowns, hitting Luhan in the shoulder. "You're a dick."

"I know." Luhan laughs, throwing his arm around Sehun's shoulders even though Sehun is a lot taller than him, ruffling his hair messily. "But you love me."

Sehun doesn't, not really, but he curls up next to Luhan anyways, letting the older tighten his grip around Sehun, and as they settle back into watching the finale of the contest, Sehun just tells himself that it'll all be alright.

But even he doesn't know if he believes it.

Jongin's got that stupid smile on his face when they finally find him, standing in front of some department store with model faces plastered all over the walls.

He bounds over to the two of them, fist pumping Luhan and Luhan looks kind of confused because he's pretty sure this is only the second time they've met (neither of them really count the awkward popcorn incident), but those two are apparently already buddy-buddy and it took an awkward stage of working together before even Sehun got that far with Jongin.

Sehun pushes the snapback on his head further down, smoothing the sides of his visible hair against his face, wondering if the new color is noticeable at all. He went to the hair salon and got it bleached blonde, styled all nicely until Jongin happened and sometimes Sehun thinks he's too self-conscious, but it doesn't really matter because Luhan and Jongin are chatting away and he doesn't think this was how it was supposed to go at all.

He lingers near the back and watched as Jongin throws his arm around Luhan's shoulder, who seems to be enjoying himself too, eyes crinkled in little half moons and the prettiness emitting almost blinding. Everyone knows Luhan is pretty, and normally Sehun doesn't quite care much for the fact, but the way Jongin is looking at him, with that smile and those eyes and the little hint of something more, Sehun's stomach is churning again and it's that sickly feeling starting up once more.

It was supposed to be him in the middle, his best friend on one side and his kind of crush on the other side, talking and laughing and maybe him and Jongin could hold hands and do stupid things that flirty people did. If that's where they were at, anyways. And instead, he's stuck in the back, tugging at the strings of his sweatshirt and hating himself a little more with each laugh Luhan gets out of Jongin.

Luhan joins up with Sehun after they leave the hat store Jongin's friend works at, linking their arms together in some attempt at sparking a reaction. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, just feeling kind of sick."

"Really? Do you wanna leave?"

Sehun shrugs. "I can wait, I'm just…" He unlinks his arm with Luhan's, ignoring the way his best friend reaches back for it, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom, okay? I'll be right back." Luhan smiles at him and Sehun turns away, swallowing the nauseating feeling down and he doesn't really know why he cares this much.

"Yo, where'd you guys go? I'm at the hat store."

"Sehun! You're done! We're at… um… What is the name of this store?" He hears whispering and muffled voices and Sehun swallows. There's a staticky sound and then Jongin mutters something that kind of sounds like Sehun's favorite store.... "And we're going to the food court right now."

"Wait, what?" The churning in his stomach is getting worse. "Can I talk to Luhan?"

"Yeah, one sec." There's a shuffling sound and Sehun can feel himself heating up - he can't believe Luhan and he can't believe Jongin and he can't believe his two best friends moving up to three is dwindling down to one and he isn't even that close to Chanyeol, this wasn't supposed to happen just because of some stupid boy- "Sehun? What's up?"

"Luhan, what the fuck? You know that's my favorite store, why would you go there without me?"

"Wait, Sehun, listen-"

"No, Luhan, that's - what the fuck, man? That's the one place I wanted to go with the guy I…" like, he wants to say, but Jongin is right there and there's a time and place for everything and this isn't the right one for this conversation. "Never mind. Forget it. I'll meet you guys at the food court."

"Sehun-" He shuts his phone and takes the hat off his head, running his fingers through colored hair and he thinks this should be easier.

He spots Jongin at the food court first, bouncing up and down near the Chinese cafe at one end with a bag in his hand. Luhan is standing next to him looking somewhat sullen, and Sehun feels a little bit happier that at least his best friend has the decency to feel bad about ditching him.

"Sehun!"

Jongin, too, manages to see him before Luhan, waving and rushing over to him, Luhan following after him with a scowl on his face.

Sehun manages a smile at Jongin, picking his cap up to smooth out the front of his hair before placing it back on his head. "You done? I'm pretty tired, I'm kinda ready to go home."

"Yeah, me too." Luhan strolls up to him and he catches Sehun's eye, looking irritated more than he does guilty. Sehun frowns.

"Already?" Jongin pouts and Sehun thinks it would look pretty cute if he wasn't pissed, but he is and so he just fakes a smile and punches Jongin in the shoulder lightly. "If you guys want, I guess. I got what I needed anyways." Sehun notes the bag dangling in his hand and sees the logo of his favorite shoe store on it, and it takes all his willpower to not smack Luhan in the face for being a horrible best friend.

They stroll outside with Jongin in the middle, rambling on about something that Sehun can't really understand, when they pull up at the substation and Jongin bumps Sehun with his hip, a dumb smile splayed across his face.

"Okay, well I've got to head home, family dinner tonight and all." Jongin smiles at Luhan and then turns to Sehun, still grinning that stupid grin and Sehun wants to punch it off of his pretty face. "I'll see you at work tomorrow, okay? And this is for you." He thrusts the gift bag in his hand towards Sehun, and Sehun is about to say something when Jongin leans forward, his lips right next to Sehun's ear, and his words come out in a breathy whisper, "I like your new hair, too. It's really cute." A shiver runs down his back despite Jongin having said really nothing at all, and Sehun almost kind of wants to scream, when Jongin leans back, winking, disappearing into the bus that has suddenly made its stop.

They stare at the bus and Jongin waving at the two of them like a little kid until it finally, finally leaves. "What the fuck."

"I tried telling you, but you were being a little dick-"

"WHAT THE FUCK."

"He said, 'What's Sehun's favorite store? I wanna get him something.' And I said, 'No, you don't, he's gonna be a little baby about it.' But he insisted, so I had to tell him-"

Sehun cuts him off, throwing his hands into his face and screaming as loudly as he can through the sweaty flesh of his hands and his racing heartbeat. Luhan waits until he's finished before patting him slightly on the back, and they walk home with Sehun falling over on to Luhan with every couple of steps because he still kind of can't believe this is happening. If anything is happening, that is. Sehun doesn't really know anymore.

Sehun wears the dress shoes Jongin got him for work later in the week, rolling the Poporo socks all the way up as far as he can because Jongin's got a weird obsession and lest he admits that he finds it cute, because that would be weird.

Their whole relationship is weird. Jongin is weird.

The day goes by smoothly and Jongin compliments him on his shoes every time they pass by each other, which makes Sehun want to hit him with whatever happens to be in his hands, a tray or the torn notepad and during one hour the huge coat rack that Zitao made him move because it was crowding up the entrance.

It's a Wednesday night, which means Luhan's supposed to pick him up today because he gets out of class early, and it's around an hour before closing time when he strolls in wearing a t-shirt and jeans and a smile that looks entirely too smug for Sehun to be comfortable. He's about to head over, pen in hand, to ask what the fuck he decided to come inside for, but Jongin cuts him off, running ahead before Sehun can even take two steps.

He sees Luhan brighten and the ends of Jongin's smile almost reach his eyes and it's disheartening, really, how the smile he hates so much looks even worse when it's given to someone else.

To think he'd basically gotten over what had happened at the mall.

Sehun is about to say something when Zitao kicks him from the back, swearing under his breath about how horrible of a waiter Sehun is because there are people here, and Sehun would return the remark if he weren't feeling so shitty. It takes all his efforts to muster up a somewhat decent smile at the couple waiting expectantly at the door, and he manages to seat them as far away from Luhan as he possibly can, ignoring Jongin's stupid comments every time they happen to walk past each other.

He hates how Jongin always plays him along like this. It had been fine until Luhan came into the picture and even without Luhan returning the motions, Jongin is all hung up over this guy that he wouldn't have even known existed if it weren't for Sehun, the one he should be paying attention to. It's entirely unfair and Sehun wonders what kind of horrible fate it is that he goes through the same thing with every person, that he can only manage two friends and it's against all beings for him to get anything else, that three is much too much.

Chanyeol texts him around closing time, when there's only a couple of people left, and Jongin is sitting at Luhan's table, smiling and laughing and completely unaware of Sehun's pitiful presence wallowing near the entrance, Zitao kicking at him because he doesn't like sad Sehun, it causes him stress.

>>> chanyeol yo wher da fuck is luhan we were gonna chill tday

>>> sehun flirting with jongin

>>> chanyeol ))))))))))):

Sehun doesn't respond and leaves early without waiting to help Jongin clean up. Luhan talks his ear off the whole time on their way back home and Sehun tunes him out in favor of thinking about Jongin's dumb face and how he wishes he had never paid attention in the first place.

He falls asleep with his head throbbing and a certain dumb face to follow every pounding beat.

Sehun wakes up in the morning and manages a spoonful of cereal before hurling into the kitchen sink, and if Luhan wasn't so concerned he's pretty sure he would have gotten yelled at for getting vomit all over the dishes.

Luhan forces him back into bed, and diagnoses him with a fever and a serious case of infatuation when Sehun protests. "You could do without seeing Jongin," he adds, an annoying smirk playing at the ends of his lips as he leaves the room. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Sehun chunks the throw pillow laying next to him at Luhan, missing his target by what seems like miles as Luhan walks away cackling.

Luhan doesn't let him go the next day either, and he ends up rolled inside four hundred blankets with sweat pouring down the sides of his face because his roommate claims that this is the proper way to cure a fever when Jongin calls him around the middle of what's around their lunch break.

"Hey, where have you been? My uncle's making me work double shifts and Zitao's been acting like a total dick while you've been gone." His tone is playful but there's something lining the edges, concern and something else that Sehun can't quite lay his finger on and it makes Sehun's heart ache just a little bit.

"Zitao's always a dick," Sehun responds, laughing a little before breaking out into a coughing fit. "And I'm sick. Luhan has me wrapped up like a little burrito and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna melt away if this fever doesn't kill me first."

"Aw, man, that sucks. I would've come and visited if I had known."

Sehun smiles despite himself, shuffling in the midst of the blankets - definitely a bad idea, because he had just found a somewhat comfortable position, what the fuck Sehun. "Nah, it's okay man. I'll probably be back by next week, and ready to kick your ass in our dance competition."

"Oh, shit, I almost forgot about that." Jongin laughs, and it makes Sehun's insides tingle in a good way, a nice kind of warm feeling that he wouldn't mind sitting at the bottom of his gut forever if only it came from Jongin. "I'm winning that shit, by the way. Your absence has been my pleasure."

"Hey!"

"Kidding, kidding. But hey, speaking of Luhan," and here it comes, and Sehun wonders if he's been waiting for this because his grip on the phone tightens and the smile on his face seems to falter somewhat, and the tingling feeling in his stomach turns for the worse, "do you mind if I chill with him tonight?"

He feels like throwing up again. "Why are you asking me?" It comes out a little bitter, and Sehun hates himself for being jealous for no reason. "I mean, my friends are your friends, man. I don't think he's busy, but you'll have to double-check with him."

"Awesome!" Sehun can practically see Jongin's splitting grin right in front of him, the glittering eyes he gets whenever he gets something he wants, and it almost makes him feel a little better. "Okay, then I'll probably be there later tonight. Bye Sehun! Hope you feel better!"

Sehun doesn't get the chance to respond, because Jongin has ended the phone call, probably having heard everything he wanted to hear, and he wants to wonder why Jongin would care if he hung out with Luhan, why it should concern him in the first place who Sehun would want him to hang out with or not. And if he were being honest, his friends are not Jongin's friend, he wants Jongin to himself and only to himself, as possessive as it might sound, and Sehun can't help but think he's spun himself into this web without thinking about it beforehand.

Luhan knocks on the door an hour later to Sehun crouching over the toilet bowl, tears streaming down his face because the burn in his throat is becoming too much. The splitting headache isn't the only thing that's pushing his insides out.

(he hears the doorbell ring late that night, and how jongin's familiar laughter fills the living room, him and luhan chatting away about something that sehun feels excluded from, the third wheel to every relationship he's ever managed to form.

he turns to face the wall, still buried underneath the piles of unnecessary blankets that luhan won't let him take off, and listens to the silence that ensues, uncomfortable and awkward, leaving sehun alone with his nasty thoughts about friends and romance and the all the ugly things.

the door cracks open, slightly, and sehun closes his eyes, against the fluttering of his lashes and the quivering of his lips, willing himself to be silent and asleep. he hears murmuring and then a warm presence leaning over his body, pressing a hand down on his forehead, and sehun ignores the cold sweat that breaks out in favor of relishing in jongin's cool touch against his forehead, his body radiating heat and yet his hand is ice cold and refreshing against sehun's burning skin.

luhan whispers something and jongin laughs quietly, and then the feeling goes away, and sehun tries to shove jongin's hand off while still pretending to be asleep. he hates this.

he hates it.

jongin leaves around twenty minutes later and luhan comes in as soon as the front door closes and the house is just for the two of them, once again. "you're shit at fake-sleeping, by the way. jongin was actually concerned."

sehun swallows and waits for luhan to leave, and it comes to no one's surprise when he doesn't get any sleep that night.)

Sehun doesn't come back to work until the Friday of the next week, and it isn't much of an event. Zitao is still a dick, but he makes sure to be extra shitty to Sehun for missing so long, and Jongin doesn't really talk to him much each other, avoiding Sehun's gaze every time Sehun tries to look at him in the eye.

It gets to the end of the day and he's practically reliving his first week at work, with no friends and horrible waiter skills, and he's pretty sure all the tips he's receiving are just pity points because he probably looks just as shitty as he feels - which is a lot.

The restaurant is closed and Sehun's just about to pass out, his head is still killing him, and he lags into the changing room when only him and Jongin are left, tugging at the bow tie around his neck and throwing it into his locker. He begins fingering the top buttons of his blouse when he feels someone behind him, and Sehun turns around only to find Jongin backing him up against the locker until he hits the metal, cold seeping into his skin through the thin material of his t-shirt.

And Sehun is pretty sure he's dreamed about being cornered against the wall with Jongin right in front, but he doesn't think this is quite the most appropriate time for him to be doing something. One of Jongin's hands is next to Sehun's hand, trapping him from moving, and the other trailing up his neck until it is ghosting his cheek, and then he's leaning closer, closer, closer, his eyes are closed and his lips and pursed together and-

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING."

Jongin's eyes flash opens and he jumps back a little, hair flying everywhere before he is able to settle down. Sehun is breathing heavily and his heart is racing and wow, what the fuck just happened. "What. The. Fuck. Jongin."

"Um…." Jongin scratches the back of his head, looking somewhat embarrassed and really cute, but Sehun thinks he's too confused and too sweaty for him to be making any actual sense out of his thoughts. "I don't know, trying to be seductive?"

"Inside of our workplace?"

It seems to have just now dawned on Jongin that what he's doing is the same exact place where he gets paid, and is forced to come in every single to day to earn a living, and he blinks, looking what somewhat lost. Sehun thinks he might finally be catching his breath again. "Right. I forgot about that."

Sehun gives him this look and is about to turn back to his locker when Jongin grabs at his shoulder, eyes still looking a little insecure and a little desperate. "What?"

"Then can we continue this later?"

"Continue what later?"

Jongin looks mortified, as if he can't actually believe that Sehun is making him spell this out, but Sehun doesn't really know if he's understanding this properly until Jongin is leaning forward again, and it takes all of Sehun's efforts to stand completely still when Jongin's lips meet the corner of his, just a soft peck before he is pulling back and flushing a bright red color. "That. That's what we should continue later."

"But… I thought you liked Luhan?" Jongin raises an eyebrow and Sehun is really, really confused now. "When you said he was pretty, and you were always hanging out with him and talking with him and whatever-"

"What the f - no, I don't like Luhan? I was only trying to be friends with him so I could get to know what you liked."

"…. Oh."

"Yeah, oh, fucking stupid. You're so dumb, Oh Sehun," but he's got this smile tugging at the corner of his lips and Sehun glances at the door once before he leans in and kisses Jongin straight on the lips, admiring the way they fit under his thin ones before he pulls back, and yeah, he probably is kind of stupid for not having seen this earlier, with what Jongin's eyes almost popping out of his head and the grin on his face permanently upheld. "You're stupid," Jongin says again.

"Yeah. I know." Sehun is smiling too, now, and they both probably look extremely stupid, looking at each other with smiles on their faces, Sehun partially undressed and Jongin wearing a faded Pikachu t-shirt and torn jeans, but he doesn't think he quite minds so much now.

Jongin holds his hand on the way out the door and Zitao mutters something about that having taken way too fucking long and for once, Sehun doesn't quite mind that Luhan's Chinese lessons have paid off, because regardless he doesn't think he would have cared.

"WHAT THE FUCK. HOW DID YOU WIN."

They are sitting on top of Sehun's bed, counting out the last of their tips, and Sehun is holding an extra coin in his hand, smiling at Jongin who looks like he is ready to tear his hair out. "I guess I'm a better dancer than you," he responds, crossing his legs and pulling in the cash that he's saved up through the bet.

"No, what the fuck, recount-"

Jongin reaches for the jar again but Sehun smacks his hand away, still smiling. "We've recounted four times already, Jongin. Just admit your defeat."

Jongin groans and falls forward, head hitting the glass jar and Sehun laughs as Jongin curses, rubbing at his head. "Fine, fine, I lost. What do you want?"

Sehun grins and tosses the coins and paper bills back into the large jar, pushing it off to one side, and he's really glad that Chanyeol finally managed to drag Luhan away for the day, because he can't think of anything he wants more.

Sehun leans forward and grabs Jongin by the collar and he's pretty sure Jongin doesn't mind losing once their lips meet, and as shitty of a job being a waiter is, Sehun isn't quite sure he cares with what comes next.

_______________________________

wow idek
um
first time writing otp wtf did i just do
my sincerest apologies for anyone that just suffered through this
so so sorry
enjoy a sekai gif