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29 October
It was a normal day in October. The cafe was in business, spiced pumpkin latte was the most popular drink of the month and Matthew was humming to himself at the counter waiting for the next customer to enter.
And just like it had been happening normally for the past few days, Nicholas stormed into the cafe. He sat at his usual spot. Matthew looked at him and quickly got to make a pumpkin latte just the way he knew Nicholas liked. He himself preferred a simple americano but who was he to judge? Then he picked up a cheesecake for his friend.
“Hanbin, I’m taking a break” Matthew called out to his other friend, who also happened to be his boss. Hanbin waved him off from where he was talking on the phone with someone. Matthew assumed it to be Hao, Hanbin’s boyfriend.
Matthew slipped into the seat in front of Nicholas. “What bring you in here today, good sir?”
Nicholas took the latte cheesecake and muttered a small Thank you.
”Euijoo again?"
”Yeah. He kept rambling about his and Fuma’s couple costume” Nicholas said, taking a bite of the cheesecake. He offered some to Matthew. Matthew raised his eyebrow.
”I thought you were over him?”
”I am” Nicholas quickly said. “We are just besties now. Euijoo is just showing off that he has a partner and I don’t”
Matthew took a bite from the cheesecake. Nicholas hummed as he took a sip of his latte.
”Y’know, the Euijoo you talk of and the Euijoo I’ve met sound like two different people. He seems like an Angel who can do no wrong” Matthew said
”He is evil. Don’t let his pretty face fool you”
”Yeah sure. And you are an angel”
”I am!”
Matthew laughed at Nicholas. He looked so cute. Matthew knew Nicholas would never like being called cute, he preferred being ‘cool’ but Matthew found him cute anyway. He thinks he might have ranted to Keeho about how good Nicholas’s earnings looked once.
“Begone demon” Nicholas waved at Matthew to move away.
”I brought you the weird pumpkin latte and Cheesecake” Matthew said Nicholas pretended to think
”You can stay then. Just don’t insult the pumpkin latte again” He took another sip of his latte.
After a few moments of silence, Matthew spoke up again.
”Hey, I don’t think Euijoo is doing it on purpose. Sometimes it just feels too much but They don’t intend to make you feel left out” Matthew said. Nicholas nodded.
“How would you know that?”
Matthew looked at Hanbin who was still on the call, smiling.
”In da clerb we all fam” He had gone through being in love with his best friend too. He knew how Nicholas felt.
Nicholas burst out laughing.
“Is that even the correct context.”
Matthew shrugged.
“I don’t need judgements from someone who didn’t even know what Rizz meant”
A lightbulb went on in his head. ”Rizz people up!”
”Huh?” Nicholas stopped laughing.
Matthew excitedly started talking. “Let’s go find someone for you to rizz up, You’ll have someone to go to Halloween party with and I can finally stop you from coming here every other business day”
”Oh you like it when I come here” Nicholas argued.
”What part of this do I look like I’m Having fun. You always get that weird latte. I tell you, the Americano is better”
“Matthew! Get back here” Matthew heard Hanbin call for him. He spared Nicholas a glance and got up. He knew his friend wanted someone to do a couple costumes with. Otherwise, Nicholas wouldn’t have come to him. Instead of offering to do a couple costumes himself, his last braincell came up with an amazing idea.
“Nico, Let’s go searching for someone to do Halloween couple costume with you tomorrow”
He turned at went straight to the counter to start working.
“Hey! At least tell me where and when” Nicholas shouted.
Matthew turned around again. ”Damn I forgot that part. Uh... In the cafe? at 10?”
Nicholas laughed at him again.
30 October
“So, Where do we go now?” Nicholas asked while sipping on his latte.
Matthew who had just walked in sat down and waved to Hanbin, who was behind the counter
“See how I wave to my friends first? “ He sat down in the chair in front of Nicholas. ”Very demure, very cutesy. I don’t go ‘Where do we go now’ unlike some people” ”Okay my dear friend, good morning where do we go now?” Nicholas rolled his eyes. Then he handed Matthew an americano. Matthew grinned and took it. ”I actually called someone here, He should be here soon."
As if on Cue the cafe bell dinged. Keeho, in all his glory, walked in.
“Bro!! Where you at? I haven’t seen you in so long!” He walked over to the table where Nicholas and Matthew were sitting. Matthew got up so he could ‘bro hug’ ™ Keeho.
“Hi,” Nicholas awkwardly waved.
”Hi! I’m keeho.” Keeho introduced himself. “Nice to meet you, dude! I love your earrings”
Nicholas touched his earrings. “Thanks,” He said. Keeho sat down. “Why’d you call me here today. I need to leave in 5 minutes”
Matthew kept his one hand on Nicholas’s and one on Keeho’s shoulder. ”Nico here needs someone to wear a couple costumes with him on Halloween,” He said, grinning.
“For Jackson wang’s party?” Keeho asked Nicholas nodded.
”Bro, are you asking me to come with you?” Keeho asked. Nicholas nodded again, this time a little embarrassed.
“Dude, sorry but I can’t. I already promised Shota I’ll go with him. We’re dressing up as Mike and Sully.”
“Oh,” Matthew said. He took a step back. ”we better start looking for someone else then” ”It’s gonna be hard to find someone last minute. But all the best!” Keeho got up and patted Nicholas’s shoulder.
After all of them were done sipping their drinks, Matthew dragged Nicholas outside. ”We’re going to the bookstore. My good friend works there” He told Nicholas on the way.
”Matthew, I don’t want a random person to do couple costume with me, I want someone who I actually have potential with,” Nicholas told him.
”There goes half my list.” Matthew said. But still dragged Nicholas to the bookstore.
“Lily!!” Matthew shouted as soon as they stepped into the quiet place. Nicholas slapped him on the shoulder to get him to quiet down.
”Shh! and don’t break anything.” A pretty girl, who Nicholas assumed to be Lily stepped out from behind a bookshelf.
“Do you have anyone to do couple costumes with at Jackson wang’s party?” Matthew went straight to the point.
”No” Lily looked confused. “Why?”
“Nicholas here,” Matthew pointed at Nicholas. Nicholas waved at Lily, who waved back. “He needs someone to wear a couple costume with him” Nicholas tried to stop Matthew from continuing but was interrupted by Lily.
“You’re Euijoo’s friend, right? I think I’ve seen you around before. Euijoo comes by here often. Yeah, sure. I’ll go with you. What you wanna go as?” She said.
“I’m so sorry,” Nichols said. He turned to Matthew. ”I told you One thing while coming here. “
Matthew grinned. ”Yeah I think you and Lily have potential together,” He said.
Nicholas looked him dead in the eyes.
”I like men”
”I know. That’s why most of my list is guys but”
”No Matt. I only like men. I’m gay” Nicholas said.
“Oh. I thought you were bi” Matthew sheepishly said and scratched the back of his neck.
Lily, who was listening in on their conversation spoke up. ”Also, I’m lesbian. I thought this couple costume thing was as friends”
“Oh,” Matthew said again.
”You tried to set me, a lesbian girl with a gay boy,” Lily said
”You should revoke your gay radar” Nicholas added and high-fived Lily.
Matthew gasped and Both the others laughed at him.
“You should come by again. I’ll give you a discount.” Lily said as they were leaving.
”You never gave me any discounts” Matthew pretended to sulk.
”Bro, I’ve never seen you hold a book.” Lily said. Matthew shrugged.
”See you at the party! Hopefully, you find someone by then to go with you” Nicholas thanked her for the discount offer and let Matthew drag him to their next stop.
“Dance room?” Nicholas asked. “Who are you trying to set me with?”
”Someone with similar interests. What better place to find them than in your dance room?”
Nicholas looked around at his peers. He knew most of them. He shrugged. ”Which one do you have in mind?” He asked.
“That one,” Matthew said and pointed at someone. Nicholas looked in the direction Matthew pointed at. Park sunghoon. ”He’s a friend of a friend. You know Jake? He’s the one who introduced us. He’s quiet but-” ”I can’t go with him” Nicholas stopped Matthew from continuing.
”why?” Matthew asked. “He’s perfect”
”You know Jay?” Nicholas said.
Matthew nodded. “The one you performed with last year. Jake knows him too”
”Yeah him. He’s been pining after Sunghoon for the past year.”
”An Year? Damn, he’s worst than both of us” Matthew scrunched his nose.
“I know right! I told him many times just to let Sunghoon know but he won’t do that!” Nicholas agreed.
“What about Jisung?” Matthew asked.
”Which Jisung?”
”Park Jisung. He’s the dancing legend here, right?” Matthew pointed at Jisung.
”Yeah. I know he’s single” Nicholas considered the option
Both of them hadn’t even moved when someone crashed into Jisung. Jisung looked startled and a loud “Chenle” echoed around the room. But Jisung had heart eyes the next second when that person started talking. Matthew could feel the heart eyes from across the room.
Matthew leaned over to Nicholas and whispered. ”Are all of us dancers cursed with falling for our best friend?”
Nicholas shrugged. “I don’t know if they are best friends but I wish him luck” He whispered back.
Someone new walked into the dance room. ”What about him,” Matthew asked and then turned around to see who had walked in. Nicholas had already turned around. It was the most beautiful person Matthew had ever seen. He quickly glanced at Nicholas and saw that he was staring at the new person too.
Someone put his hand and Matthew’s shoulder which snapped him out of the trance. Huening Kai smiled at him. ”That’s Hyujin” He said. “Beomgyu claims Hyunjin has siren blood in him” He provided without anyone asking. ” Nicholas wants someone to do couple costume with him for Halloween” Matthew told Huening Kai. ”I think Hyunjin is going with friends. Try asking him. He might agree” He said. “Also, get out of here if you are not dancing.” Huening Kai walked away.
Nicholas and Matthew stared at Hyunjin again.
”He’s gorgeous.” Matthew said
”I know” Nicholas agreed
”Are you going to ask him to come to the party?”
”You should talk to him. It’s you were looking for a Halloween date”
”I’m too intimidated.”
Hyujin seemed to have started his music. He started dancing. ”He’s beautiful,” Nicholas said as a closing statement. They both left the dance studio with a newfound appreciation of Hwang Hyunjin.
They went back to the cafe.
Euijoo was there with someone else. ”Hey Nico!” I thought you’ll be here. Maki told me you are looking for a Halloween date so I brought Sion." He gestured at the guy who was sipping the pumpkin latte. Sion Quickly introduced himself.
Euijoo started rambling about why he thought Nicholas and Sion should go out
“You two have many things in common. You both like dancing, watching the same shows, The same type of coffee and everything. “
“I don’t think these things matter,” Sion said. “If we’re gonna date, I don’t care how much we have in common. Like, I don’t care if we don’t like the same type of coffee but I do care if you know the coffee I want and get it for me even when you don’t like it”
“Am I making sense? “ He sheepishly asked when he realised Nicholas was staring at him. Matthew could see the gears spinning in his friend's head.
“Nico?” Eijoo snapped his fingers.
”You made perfect sense. Thank you.” Nicholas said to Sion. Then he turned to Matthew. “I think I know who I wanna go with”
Matthew clapped excitedly. “Who is it? Is it someone we met today? Or someone else? Do I know him?”
He looked at Nicholas. Nicholas was staring right back at him.
oh
OH