saturday night rolled around faster than expected. seonghwa was settling into his new job, getting re-accustomed to the city commute he was so familiar with as a child.

"you guys ready to head to yunho's?" seonghwa asked his two friends sitting in the living room, typing away on their phones.

"yup let's head over," jongho said as he stood up, grabbing a box of cookies he picked up at the bakery next door earlier that evening.

seonghwa's gaze dropped to the box in jongho's hand, the familiar logo on the packaging immediately catching his attention. his mind drifted, unprompted, to the boy from the bakery. it had been nearly a week since he had last seen him, and in the chaos of his first week of work, he had almost completely forgotten about him.

almost.

the memory returned now with surprising clarity; the boy's straight blonde hair, his tired eyes and stylish, yet comfortable outfit was all seonghwa could think of.

he made a quiet promise to himself to go back soon. maybe monday morning, or maybe even earlier if he could manage it. because suddenly, the idea of seeing that boy again felt more important than anything else on his to-do list.

before seonghwa could think of the blonde any further, the boys walked over to their next door neighbor's apartment, knocking on the door and waiting patiently.

"oh shit, what's his fiancé's name again?" san asked quickly, but before anyone could answer his question, someone answered the door.

"seonghwa! it's so great to see you. you two must be san and jongho," yunho exclaimed with a beaming smile on his face.

"yes, i'm san, and this is my brother jongho," san responded, shaking yunho's hand as he introduced himself.

"it's lovely to meet you. come on in," yunho gestured the boys to go inside. jongho handed yunho the box of cookies, receiving a quick 'thank you' from the taller.

"wow, this place looks great!" san looked around his old apartment with wide eyes, loving how yunho and his fiancé changed the place to make it their own.

"thanks, and that means a lot coming from the guy who used to live here," yunho laughed as his fiancé walked in the room, "and here's my fiancé, mingi."

"mingi, it's a pleasure to meet you," seonghwa said with a smile, the boys shaking mingi's hand.

"it's great to meet you too! i'm glad we have a group of guys our age living next door. it's intimidating moving to a city from the suburbs without knowing anyone, but you're making us feel welcomed already," mingi smiled at the group.

"it's the least we can do as native city boys. so tell us, what was it like growing up in the suburbs?" san asked as yunho welcomed everyone to sit on the couch, opening the box of cookies jongho brought over. he poured a glass of wine for everyone as well, handing one out to each of the boys.

"the suburbs are nice. kind of quiet, but still full of life. the town we grew up in was only about a half an hour by lirr, so it wasn't that far from here. but once we got engaged, we wanted to really start our lives together. the city just made sense as we both work here anyway and had to commute almost everyday," mingi replied to the question.

"oh that's nice to hear. we all grew up in the upper east side. jongho and i are brothers, seonghwa was our neighbor. we've pretty much been inseparable ever since we were kids," san replied as he picked up a cookie, taking a bite of the sugary treat.

"oh wow, growing up in the upper east side must've been really cool," yunho replied in awe, the section of the city known for being one of the most wealthy.

"yeah it was really cool. our parents worked really hard, all doctors. it was hard not seeing them very often since they were always working, but it was a blessing in disguise as it allowed the three of us to hangout all the time," seonghwa replied with a smile as he reminisced on their childhood.

"that sounds like a dream come true. mingi and i lived on the same block our whole lives. went to elementary, high school and college together. we were friends forever until we eventually admitted our feelings for one another. to think, we were only fifteen at the time! eleven years later, we're finally almost mr. and mr. song," yunho explained a bit of the couple's backstory, the three boys on the couch finding their story adorable.

the five new friends talked for hours and hours getting to know each other; their backstory's, their life goals and their current day-to-day lives. seonghwa knew they would grow to become best of friends.

——

seonghwa returned to his apartment with san and jongho, saying a quick 'goodnight' before shutting his bedroom door softly behind him.

he plopped on his bed and opened his phone, the bright light illuminating the dim room. he opened google and looked up the bakery next door as he had been thinking of the cute employee since earlier that evening.

he found out the shop was opened daily from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. seonghwa could not help but wonder how often the boy worked there; if he worked mornings, if he stayed all day, or what his off days were. he did not even know his name, yet something about him had stuck.

he sighed and let the phone fall onto his chest. he knew nothing about the boy, and still, he found himself hoping they would meet again.

i swear this book isn't gonna be totally boring like yes we eventually will get interactions LMAO.

-vic