LUDUS

two

it had been a week ever since hyojong first stepped into his store and for some reason it felt as if the odd man had always been there; sitting on the floor talking to pop-tart boxes. hwitaek was still annoyed of course, but the phantom of his emotions slowly started to dissolve each morning when hyojong walked in with a smile on his face— so pretty. the man had also won over the elderly women outside with his weird charms and now everyone was silently asking hwitaek to not hurt the blond in any way. it sort of sucked.

today was no different; hyojong had wandered toward the pepero sticks and was eating them in plain sight, wooseok was sleeping in the break room, and jinho was spacing out.

"can i go talk to him?" the eldest asked, wiping down the counter from stray doughnut crumbs. hwitaek blinked— jinho was supposed to be the good one, the good best friend.

"why?" hwitaek frowned as he made sure all the displays were clean, the new batch of pastries still fresh and messy.

"i don't know— he seems like he'll be a good conversation." jinho's voice trailed off, he sounded distant— hwitaek was starting to get alarmed.

"um... okay? knock yourself out."

and so jinho stepped from behind the counter, small legs and hand in his pocket carrying him cutely; languid as he almost waddled to the man sat down on the floor gnawing on pepero sticks. he crouched down, hyojong looked up, and then they started to whisper— hwitaek couldn't hear but he still stared.

after some traded words hyojong is nodding eagerly at something jinho said and the elder takes something out of his pocket— a pen? it's long and thin, glinting under the store lights in a glittery black. jinho took the thing and started drawing on hyojong's eyes, the blond fluttering them shut and face calming down.

makeup

hwitaek realized, something soft swirling in his gut as he watched jinho expertly apply eyeliner to the blond's lids. jinho then talked some more to which hyojong smiled— and suddenly the elder is pulling out lipstick (hwitaek at least knows what that looked like) and applies it to the man's lips. the warmness in hwitaek's stomach twisted and turned into something sharp and— oh his side-profile is actually really nice... fuck, hwitaek thought.

jinho glanced at him as he finished, closing the lipstick with something apologetic in his eyes. hwitaek immediately looked away, focusing on his nails which were neatly trimmed as always and felt jinho heading towards him. he didn't look up for his own sanity.

"i just wanted to try something on him." jinho said under his breath, a light blush on his cheeks as he took his place behind the counter.

hwitaek opened to his mouth to say... nothing! because he didn't even know how to react after something so odd. the sight of a smiley hyojong cooing at the bakery display caught his eye. the blonde was in front of him almost, leaning down to look closer at the pastries while the display light shone on him. his simple makeup; soft black rimmed eyes and a settling shade of pink on his lips— made him look even more enchanting. like a thrill or something risky hwitaek would never dare on taking.

he was an anime boy come to life.

"can i get two chocolate doughnuts, please?" hyojong asked, his words were always something close to slurred, nonchalant about everything.

"are you actually going to pay for them?" hwitaek deadpanned, close to whining because all of this was unfair but he didn't even know why of course— he never knew why.

"give them to me and you'll find out." hyojong smiled— he was always smiling unless he looked like a kicked puppy. hwitaek hated it.

"nice try." he breathed out, not being able to get his eyes off the man. his lips looked plush and silky, his eyes were daunting, his face— his whole face, was overwhelmingly attractive. his charisma just oozing out of him; intoxicating hwitaek like a drink. and oh did hwitaek want to just reach out and hug him— his body looked petite, bones fragile under thin clothes as if he was cold and warm all at the same time. hwitaek held back from moaning out loud in pain; what was even happening?

"i can't tell if he likes it or not." hyojong turned to jinho, who nervously glanced between the men as they both stared at him now. hwitaek silently pleaded the elder to just shrug, ignore everything, walk away from the store if he really needed to— just as long as he didn't answer.

the awkward moment was interrupted by wooseok who yawned and scratched his tummy like he had just walked out of bed and not out of the employee break room. not sensing the tension due to his drowsiness he greeted the men lazily, eyes catching on hyojong's new appearance.

"i dig the look." he stated, oblivious to hwitaek's glaring— the owner was praying for him to keep his mouth shut (like he always was) while hyojong thanked him cheerfully. the younger smiled at the blond before turning to hwitaek, eyes going wide at the elder's cold expression. wooseok started to laugh, gesturing toward him with droopy lips. "but hyung here is in love with it."

and hwitaek might as well just die.

----

a/n i actually like writing for this tho its pretty boring lmao