Silent Blue ✦ 2jae (discontinued)

. eight .

Jaebum went into the bar as a customer the next day.

"Finally serving Mr. Bossman!" Bam laughed. He was a young adult from Thailand, and had known Jaebum since they started working at the bar together. Quite a silly one, he was, but Jaeum appreciated him.

"Bossman," Jaebum snickered. "I'm not your boss until Chaeyoung decides to retire, and I doubt that will happen anytime soon. Grab me a beer?" Bam nodded and went for the beverage, a green bottle with condensation running down the sides. "How's Yugie doing, by the way?" He took a sip, icy cold goodness running down his throat. It was refreshing to him, especially around cigars— there were businessmen next to him, and they always preferred cigars.

"Great! I really like that kid," he laughed. "Ah, man, you know, he's too sweet to be working here, but he says he likes it, so..." Bam continued scrubbing a mug with the other towel he carried around, touching up the counters, occasionally the soda nozzles. "I'm so hungry, shit."

"When's your shift over?"

"Like twenty minutes," he chuckled, still scrubbing the same mug. "I haven't eaten since this morning though, and even then I only ate some yogurt. Besides, you never come around on your day off. Something happen?"

"Jesus, dude, you need to eat more." Jaebum thought maybe that was why Bam was so skinny. He always thought it was genetics, but things like that made him believe otherwise. He would never mention anything about the way he looked, though— he looked quite good. "And I don't know," he said, his voice lingering. He rested a fist under his chin and sighed quietly. "Weird dream. Mark's busy."

"Ah, was it that one with the bear you keep having? That has to mean som—" He almost laughed, but stopped once he was interrupted.

"No, no, not that one. No, it was one I haven't had in years... You remember that guy Jackson I told you about right?" Bam nodded slowly, stomach growling. He tried to ignore it and listen to Jaebum, but it proved difficult the more he spoke. "When he stopped coming around, I had this dream over and over, where he'd tell me about the same damn thing he said to me once... About the night... Except this time I was on a date."

"Oh? With who?" Jaebum shook his head in thought.

"Never saw his face." Bam was surprised to hear a his, but ignored it. It was only a dream, anyway. "It was beautiful, magical even, but it got so dark and weird..." Jaebum yawned after telling his story, and slumped down on the bar. Bam saw he was tired and worn out from whatever day he had, and decided to leave him be.

●・○・●

Youngjae walked through the bookstore, unconsciously chasing something he thought was only in his head. An odd scent of mint and coffee— he kind of liked it, but wasn't sure what it reminded him of. Or who it reminded him of, for that matter.

He wanted to find some photography books, since that was what he studied. He looked around before finding a fat one, an inch and a half full of eye candy, and opened it up right in the aisle, flipping through the first 6 pages before deciding he would buy it. He hadn't even realized that the mint-coffee fusion left him when he went to the counter.

"How much is this?" he asked, pulling out his wallet.

"28000 won. Would you like it gift-wrapped?"

"No, that's alright." The mint-coffee came back. "Thank you—"

"Choi Youngjae," he heard, and turned around to see a face he hadn't seen for what felt like a month.

"Oh! Im Jaebum!" He knew he sounded almost too eager to see him, but he'd been urging to tell him— what exactly? He'd forgotten in that moment, when he realized that the mint and coffee was Jaebum standing with a now empty cup and chewing gum. "You surprised me," he laughed and found himself walking with the older.

"What'd you get? Jaebum asked, peering at the book that Youngjae was gripping onto so tightly. "Oh— do you have to be somewhere? I was heading to the café up here." They stood at the foot of the stairs before Youngjae shook his head.

"I'm not going anywhere," Youngjae said, eyes wide. "Unless I'm bothering you, then I—"

"Yah, just come," Jaebum laughed. They walked up the stairs together and found their way to Jaebum's unofficially reserved table, where his backpack was still sitting. "Welcome to my crib," he said sarcastically, making Youngjae laugh. "Sit here," he offered, patting the spot next to him. Youngjae sat down and found himself feeling hot. He didn't know if he was nervous or if the sweater he chose to wear that day was too thick for the weather. He seemed fine before.

They sat quietly for a moment, Youngjae still wondering whether to take off his hoodie or to keep it on, deciding between being too hot and then too cold, or staying hot until he decided to be cold again. He carefully rolled his sleeves up instead, trying to think of what to do to cool himself off or break the ice a third, fourth time? He'd lost count.

"Im Jaebum~~" came from behind him, a sweet voice that Jaebum found quite amusing. A skinny boy sat down in front of Youngjae, blonde hair resting underneath what looked like a uniform cap. "You haven't introduced me to your date."

"Yah—" Jaebum said in a sad attempt to protect the younger, but Youngjae only found himself laughing. "That was funny?" Jaebum asked, clearly amused as well. Youngjae couldn't find the strength to say anything, and just doubled over laughing even more before he could contain himself.

"I'm sorry," he said, catching his breath. He was sweating now, wiping his forehead with his sleeve. "That caught me off guard," he chuckled again, coughing a little bit. Soon he calmed down, and felt slightly embarrassed, but Jaebum didn't mind one bit.

"Youngjae, this is Mark. He's... my personal waiter." Mark's mouth stretched into an "O" that soon turned to a smile and soon a laugh. "If you want some water or something, ask him, okay?"

"Nice to meet you, Mark," Youngjae bowed with his head. He would have shaken his hand, but his palms were sweaty and he was embarrassed enough. He tried to dry them off on his jeans, but they remained clammy, and he gave up. "I'm Youngjae."

"Aw," Mark said, surprising Youngjae. "Jae and— Wait, he's the one you—" He caught Jaebum staring at him intensely, a bit amused but serious all at once. "Yah, what's bad about some kid you recommend books to?" He seemed almost offended that Jaebum was embarrassed about something so common. "You seem like a lovely person," Mark told Youngjae.

"Thank you," Youngjae chuckled. Mark smiled back sweetly.

"Do you want anything?" he asked. "My shift starts in like five minutes."

"Uh... some hot tea, I guess. My throat kinda hurts."

"Ooh, I know." With that, Mark was off and left the two by themselves again.

"Youngjae, I didn't want to say this while Mark was here," Jaebum started, making the other nervous, "but are you okay? It's freezing in here, but you look hot."

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine. Probably just caught a cold."

"You really don't look too good. Maybe this isn't a good day—"

"No, no, it's okay. Really, don't worry."

●・○・●

© illjae, 2017