⇹cafe

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: burn it down - taeyeon

　　"I shouldn't think that a crush is such a weird thing to be teased about," Theo says with a wicked twinkle in his eye, "but we can leave it at that." For now. Until he next decides he wants to see Taehyun turn the color of cherries. The alpha's cute when he's embarrassed, at least. And while perhaps it's a bit cruel of Theo to mess with him for his own entertainment, the omega almost can't help it.

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun nods his head repeatedly. He didn't want to completely remind him. If Taehyun did then Theo might about it all over again. He didn't know if he could survive blushing that hard again. Even though Theo has about a crush that Theo thought he had. Taehyun didn't have a crush though. He hadn't met enough people to even know what he liked just yet. All he knew was he liked the time he's spent with Theo so far. Even if he did more than others did.

@Shim Youngjoonᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: dancing with your ghost - sasha alex sloan

　　Youngjoon's face flushes, and it's not the pink cheeks and shy smile that Yunho remembers so vividly from days tinged gold with sunlight, something that often felt too perfect to be real. No, this isn't the rosy complexion of someone bashful, but a redness that speaks of something closer to a more serious embarrassment, something that could edge closer to humiliation. And Yunho....

Yunho hates it.

For one moment, he lets himself think that this was a mistake. That perhaps, they would have both been better off if Yunho had never showed his face here, after that fateful encounter. It hadn't been like the movies, where two characters reached for the same thing and their hands had brushed. It had been... It had been Yunho standing in the aisle, seeing movement from the corner of his eye and meeting eyes with someone that he hadn't seen in the years since their parting.

And Yunho's a lot of things, filled with fire in a lot of ways, but he's never been good at confrontation. Maybe, if Youngjoon had wanted to pretend that he hadn't seen him, they wouldn't be here now. But maybe Youngjoon's stronger than Yunho — after all, they've both moved on, but Yunho still finds himself with a lump in his throat and a pit in his stomach like the kind of guilt that should have eaten him up inside all those years ago.

Maybe it's true that distance makes the heart grow fonder.

Maybe it's time that reveals mistakes.

And maybe it's awful that Yunho feels no semblance of relief at the next words that slip across Youngjoon's lips, an assurance that — 'it's not as big as you think it is'.

But it is, he halfway wants to scream.

It is, because it's Youngjoon, and Yunho made promises and it feels like he's kept none of them.

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit," he says instead, once he's listened to Youngjoon. Let the words, and their implications, sink in. Even if Youngjoon doesn't think it's all that impressive, it's — it's something, and it doesn't soothe the ache in his abdomen, the familiar dull throb of a guilt unspoken.

It's something Yunho can't help but feel as though he should have been there for. Maybe not as a partner, but as the friend he'd said he'd be. The friend he hasn't been. They went their separate ways and that had been that, and Yunho used to think that there had been no one to blame.

(He thinks he knows better, now.)

Following Youngjoon's eyes to the napkin, the omega takes a moment to realize that he can't read Youngjoon's smudged handwriting — especially upside down — before he registers what the alpha has asked. "You—" he starts. Stops, looking from the napkin to Youngjoon's face, studying the way he looks down at the napkin he had scribbled on before the omega's arrival.

When Youngjoon smiles, it's like being punched in the gut. It knocks the wind out of Yunho, and he flounders for a moment, lungs filling with cold sea water.

He tries not to let his smile tremble, unmoored by emotions he can't put a name to. "I'd love to," he replies, soft. "Read them, I mean."

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: gimme - banks

　　"Weird stuff?" Theo repeats. He pauses to sip at his coffee and leans back, an eyebrow raised. It takes a lot more than this to bother him --- he puts up with Yoosung, after all, and he likes to think he has the patience of a saint where Yoosung is concerned --- but saying that wouldn't be a very Theo thing at all. "You're not."

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun blinks. He thinks it over for a bit before shrugging. "You're not bothering me. You tease me about weird stuff but that's not bothering me." It was the truth. He didn't think Theo could make him upset. Beyond seeing the bracelet or his eerie similarlarities to his old friend. "I'm bothering you."

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: dangerous - ten

　　"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Theo asks, his tone light. He curls his hand around the new coffee with a soft utterance of thanks and pulls it closer to him, eyes never leaving Taehyun. "I was the one who's been bothering you."

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun got up and ordered another coffee for Theo and a hot chocolate for himself. He puts the coffee in front Theo before sitting down. He sips on the hot chocolate. "Should I leave you alone?"
He peeks at the laptop that's still working through updates.

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: i'm ok - taeyeon

　　Theo could give Taehyun this one, and he probably should, given the way he looks away and plays with his hair to avoid answering. Theo's sigh is light, looking at his almost-empty coffee and then the laptop slowly working through updates. It hasn't been a productive morning outside of bothering Taehyun.

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun looks up at Theo when he heard him say something. He looks down at his lap and wipes his eyes a bit more. Taehyun tries to fixes his hair. He tries really hard to act like he didn't hear him. He didn't think he could blush anymore anyway.

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: on ten - ten

　　Theo's lips curve, amused by the sight of the boy in front of him, rumpled and drowsy. Perhaps there's something endearing about Taehyun's disheveled appearance, stutter notwithstanding. Theo watches him and leans back in his chair, hands securely on his side of the table. "Cute," he remarks, just to see Taehyun fluster all over again.

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun sits up and rubs at his eyes. He tries to stretch as if that would keep him awake. He hangs his head. "S-sorry. I did that b-before." It was one of the few things that had remained the same since his turning. He brushed some crumbs off his lap onto the floor.

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: fallen star - kingdom

　　When Theo realizes, watching Taehyun's eyes droop but fight to stay open, that the other wolf is fighting sleep — and undoubtedly by cause of the fingers that run through his hair, reluctantly the omega gives him one last head pat and then withdraws his hand. He doesn't exactly want Taehyun asleep and drooling on the table in the cafe.

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ After a bit of time Taehyun looks up at Theo. His eyes half closed. He wasn't sure what to do now. Taehyun decided to try to watch him. His eyes trying really hard to stay open. He hadn't felt like Theo would discover the thing about playing with his hair.

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: late night calls - p1harmony

　　Admittedly, Theo doesn't need the confirmation and has already gathered as much, and he only asked to tease, but there's still a strange sense of accomplishment when he picks his coffee back up and is quiet for a few moments to enjoy the rest of his drink, petting the alpha like one might a sleepy puppy. Hmmm, a puppy... actually, if Theo thinks about it, that seems accurate. Taehyun /is/ sometimes rather like a puppy chasing after the omega.

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun nods his head but kept his head down and hidden. He was already giving Theo plenty of ammunition against him. Taehyun would have to speak up if Theo kept playing with his hair. He always fell asleep if someone played with his hair for awhile.

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: hideaway - el7z up

　　Theo giggles, seeing Taehyun burrowing his face into his arms as a way to hide away from him. "Cute," the omega smirks, his fingers resuming their track through the other boy's hair. "Do I make you shy?" If he can't resist furthering the teasing even now, it's because he's a bit of a menace through and through, and there's no one there to rein him in.

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun uses both arms to hide his face. He only responds by nodding or shaking his head now. He couldn't even form thoughts. Taehyun fidgets staying hidden like this. He couldn't bring himself to look at the omega. If he again, Taehyun felt like he might pass out.

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: hideaway - el7z up

　　For someone so obviously bashful, Taehyun makes it far too easy to needle him. Theo's smile turns mischievous, a glitter to his eye that anyone owning a cat would recognize as a sign of ensuing trouble. His fingers pause where they're threading through Taehyun's hair, fingertips resting on the alpha's scalp. "My energy's not the only thing that's big," he murmurs, entertained.

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun's eyes closed as Theo's fingers started playing with his hair. He listened carefully to Theo before he rested his chin on his hand. "So you're the opposite to me? Really cool and... what did that person on TikTok say... big energy? ...or was it big brain? ...I can't remember."
He tilts his head trying to remember which it was.

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: killin it - p1harmony

　　Theo's hand came to rest on the back of Taehyun's head, fingers carding through the alpha's hair while he drank his coffee, humming at his seeming inability to get words out. "That's okay, I struggled a lot too but since I work in such public environments, I've gotten a lot better at telling what people are. I'm an omega, by the way."

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun rests his head on the table. He shakes his head softly. He was about to protest. "I don't know... I... I'm not... I still struggle." He mostly still struggled based on how he isolated himself from the pack. Taehyun kept his head on the table. He wasn't sure what else to say.

@Jang Yunhoᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ 　　» ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ᴛʜʀɪᴠɪɴɢ ɪᴠᴏʀʏ - ᴀɴɢᴇʟs ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴏɴ

Youngjoon wonders, somewhat belatedly, distanced and distracted, if perhaps this was a bad idea.

The meeting, that is. Meeting Yunho here in this cafe; surrounded by people and the warm scents of coffees, teas, and breads; motes of dust drifting through the air and catching his focus as they shift in the corners of his vision; the quiet, indistinct conversation of half a dozen other voices around them and the aching sonder of knowing that their lives would not be made or broken by the outcome of this meeting.

Youngjoon has never been a coward—he knows fear like an old friend, the taste of regret bitter and disappointing like a cold, over-brewed, black coffee. But this pain of potential loss is a different ache that he doesn’t know how to contend with.

Meeting Yunho that day in the grocery store had been chance, luck at its finest.

Youngjoon was out of food in his apartment. He was out of a lot of things, but the twist of hunger beneath his ribs after nearly twelve hours of nonstop editing and revision had left him craving ramen. And not even just ramen, but the spicy variety he used to make at midnight when he knew he needed to eat but was busy studying and needed to study for another hour yet. He’d picked up the meal from Yunho, and—

And there Yunho had been, an explosion of color and energy and light in a store that paled in comparison to his vibrance.

Youngjoon had realized then and there that despite years apart, he’d never gotten over the heartbreak. Years after an ‘amicable’ breakup as Yunho moved on to bigger and better things and Youngjoon floundered in aftermath, wordless and lost and aching in a way that felt like every broken bone condensensed into one fierce flash of pain.... Years after telling Yunho that it was okay, Youngjoon realized he was very much not okay. At all.

If Yunho chooses to leave this meeting without looking back, with Youngjoon still firmly on the outside of the boundary of their friendship, how can Youngjoon ever move on from that?

Youngjoon grits his teeth against all the words he can’t let himself say. Then, hand shaking, he reaches for his tea and swallows them down, too. It’s easy to pretend his throat is dry, that that’s all that’s wrong.

Youngjoon watches people almost for a living, and he’s good at pretending.

“Yeah, I—” Youngjoon flushes, and he’s actually flustered, isn’t he? Yunho’s got the wrong idea. He’s got a look on his face, as if the world has dropped away beneath his feet and gravity is no longer keeping him tethered within the atmosphere. Youngjoon’s ed up somehow, led Yunho to believe he’s actually successful, that he’s actually something,

“It’s not as big as you think it is,” he says instead, correcting himself. “Magazines are always looking for submissions. I started there. But after getting my name out ther with the anthology, I tried self publishing, and it— it wasn’t terrible.” It wasn’t terrible by any means. The limited release he’d done had all sold so quickly, so well, that he’d paid for another run. He was in talks with a small publishing company now, one that had loved the concept and wanted to support his decision to expand the universe.

But before that, he had another passion project to complete, one he’d started in a ferver the same night he’d met Yunho again after years apart, one Youngjoon was determined to see through before any other project.

His eyes drop to the napkin, to the smudges of ink and the tentatively titled ‘life #5’ where it’s underlined and impulsively, he asks, “Would you want to read them sometime?”

Youngjoon glances up, meeting Yunho’s eyes, and smiles. And it doesn’t hurt. “I have copies. If you’d like them.”

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: late night calls - p1harmony

　　The alpha across from him is now pouting, flushed redder than Theo's former hairstyle once again. The omega swallows a coo while he tries to pet Taehyun's hair from the other side of the table, his grin not fading even when the alpha turns his head away. "Maybe it's because you're so shy." And sweet, but Theo's not in the habit of dropping compliments that easily. "Nothing wrong with being a unique alpha though. Most couldn't peg what I am, either."

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun pushes out his bottom lip. His face turned different shades of red once again. He might have survived the words but there was no way that he would survive the head pat. Taehyun looks away, his voice a soft murmur when he does speak again. "E-everyone does. I don't know why."
He still felt weird remembering that was suppose to be important now. It was still annoying to remember.

@Shim Youngjoonᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: mirage - elina

　　"You're better than you give yourself credit for, you know."

/You always were./

It lays on the tip of his tongue, but Yunho feels he's far too much of a coward to voice it. Like calling attention to the delicate memories will make them disappear, and he doesn't want it to slip through his fingers. If he's guarded them until now, keeping the memory of the warmth of Youngjoon's hands and the minutes that would slip away, lost in the alpha's eyes and the counts that came to Yunho as easily as breathing. Dissolving into laughter whenever Youngjoon made it too difficult to be serious, no matter how unintentional; Yunho blinks and looks away, down at the surface of the table, polished wood with cute patterned coasters meant to keep condensation rings at bay.

Belatedly, Yunho sets his drink on one, an excuse to keep his eyes away.

All he'd wanted back then was to bring Youngjoon into his world, and his world was wooden floors and mirrored walls, the sound of music echoing around him. And maybe Youngjoon hadn't been a dancer, not like Yunho was, not with the skill of someone who'd been dancing practically since they were old enough to walk, but he'd... he'd been better than he'd ever admit to anyone. Good enough. But what had mattered more than that was the fun they'd had. Nothing had been better than dancing with Youngjoon, because Youngjoon was his person. He couldn't perform the pas de deux from Swan Lake like Yunho's class partners could, but he didn't have to.

He didn't have to. He'd just had to be Youngjoon, and that... that was enough for Yunho.

(And when both of their worlds had collided, the notes of a piano ringing out with the sound of his footfalls, it had been the most beautiful of his memories.)

His expression flickers, digging his thumb into the meat of his palm. He knows he's not the easiest teacher to have, and he's far from a favorite. Yunho's always been so focused, so detail-oriented that he knows more of the kids probably hate him than he should even think about. He's made a girl cry before, and that sits with him.

"I'm not... I wouldn't go that far." Yunho exhales, plasters his smile back on. The last thing he wants is to Youngjoon into the hurricane of his moodswings. "I'm... I'm glad you're still writing. It seems right."

, Yunho, that was weird to say.

"You've had things published?"

Yunho feels like the world drops out from under him, a swoop in his stomach from something a lot like guilt. It feels like something he should know, even if their paths had diverted. There's a twist in his gut, a memory of all the promises he's left broken, to be the first person to support Youngjoon and here he is, not even knowing that he's made such strides.

"I didn't... I never heard," he murmurs, a little numb. "Congratulations, Youngjoon. That's great."

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: angel girl - dounia

　　"Just curious," Theo answers. He certainly wouldn't have pegged Taehyun for an alpha, but it's never nice to judge a book by its cover. (Not that Theo Choi is particularly nice.) "I haven't met a lot of alphas like you. Most I've encountered are either 'grrr, I'm so macho' or otherwise overbearing in demeanor." He reaches across the table to pat Taehyun's head. "I honestly thought you might have been a beta. Or an omega."

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun peeks up under his bangs at Theo. "I'm an alpha. Why?" He wasn't sure why Theo wanted to know. Was it something that mattered to liking people? If he told him then would that make a difference. Taehyun wasn't sure just what to say about that. After he'd never really had a crush or liked someone... at least as far as he could tell. Although everything felt really different than before so it was hard to tell what was what.

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: angel girl - dounia

　　Theo's not the type of omega that pouts when he doesn't get his way, but if he was, he would have been pouting at the way Taehyun doesn't answer. He leans back in his chair and sips at his coffee, eyes never leaving the other wolf as he continues to grow red. Eventually, he puts his coffee down and says, "What are you, anyway? Omega? Beta?"

@Theo Choiᵒᵐᵉᵍᵃ Taehyun hung his head as the more Theo pushed him other subject the more flustered he got. His face turning darker and darker shades of red. He felt bad since there wasn't a person to gossip about. Taehyun however was too flustered at this point to explain that. He could only blush and try to hide as Theo tries to draw some person who doesn't exist out of him.

@Kang Taehyunᵃˡᵖʰᵃ 　　⤿ ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: midnight oil - elley duhe

　　Like a dog with a bone, Theo isn't going to let it go easily. "The way your face is redder than my hair was begs to differ. Come on, you don't have to tell me who it is." He nudges his foot against Taehyun's leg under the table, still grinning. Pushes his laptop out of the way, turned so the screen is facing to Theo's left, toward the rest of the cafe. Theo doesn't really care, since it's still just cycling through updates. There's something more important in front of him. "Are they a wolf or a human?"