"There you are!" Zhang Hao almost instantly grasped one of Hanbin's arms who had just showed up after suddenly being called for a meet up. Like Hao called him in the morning, asked if he had free time, like lots of free time and then asked to show up and accompany in his work. Of course, Hanbin could never say no to the Chinese guy. So he picked up a white tee, a denim jacket, some baggy jeans and a tote bag; then set out in his car. He met Hao in front of a 24/7 convenience store as proposed earlier by the other one.
"Hi." He shortly asked, "Did you wait long?"
"How are you gonna make up if I did?" The other went a little sassy.
Hanbin thought, "Ice cream, maybe?"
Zhang Hao chuckled in reply, "Let's just go and buy stuff with me." He pushed Hanbin towards the store. The latter initially thought Hao would buy snacks or something, he didn't know but it was a pretty strong guess. So when Hao actually went to buy canned meat adm veg, he was kinda baffled. More when the elder asked him, "What do you want for lunch?"
"Uh- fried rice?"
"Eh? That's boring though." Hao said, "But okay."
Honestly, Hanbin just said whatever came to his head. Hao was still tightly holding his arm, dragging him every time they changed places, making him push the cart. He was confused, since they still had some things uncleared. He couldn't predict Hao's actions. It might seem like an ordinary shopping date, but knowing the Chinese, Hanbin knew there was a catch. And it kept bugging him.
"How about you?"
"Hm?" Hao was kinda surprised by the younger's question.
"What would you wanna eat?"
"Oh.. the same as you." Smiled the Chinese male. Hanbin shrugged, not feeling quite right, however, following whatever the other guys was doing. They took the bags, at first loaded them in the backseat of the car, but once they got in, Hao changed his mind.
"Bin, go and store those bags in the trunk."
"But those are fine on the backseat."
"Yeah, I still want them in the trunk though, so go and put them there."
"Okay..." Not sure why but Hanbin did. Then after he got back, they headed towards Zhang Hao's place. Once there, Hao took off all the bags, unpacked everything and sorted out the ingredients needed to make fried rice. He instructed the younger to cut the vegs, going to do the rest himself. However, Hanbin wasn't that good a cook, since Matthew often cooked for them both back in their shared apartment.
"Ahh, not like this!" Hao complained seeing the larger than usual pieces. "You need to cut them into smaller pieces- like this. See?" He demonstrated a few times. Hanbin made an 'o' when he understood. "Okay, okay, I got it now."
"Good. Now do it properly." The older guy said. Throughout the whole cooking process Hao scolded him a lot more times. Those weren't serious, but if you stretch it, you might get annoyed. Hanbin who had put a 'favoritism filter' on, didn't mind. Even when Hao added too much soy sauce in it, he didn't complain. It might just taste sour, why bother?
Soon the dishes were served, thay ate happily. Zhang Hao did some nitpicking, but Hanbin didn't agree. To him, food prepared by Hao had already won.
"Bin, put these in the dishwasher. We're gonna binge my favorite movies now." The Chinese man demanded. Like a good boy, Hanbin did as told. He returned to an impatient Hao waiting for him on the couch, before him on the TV, 'Crazy Rich Asians' was paused.
"Come here! Hurry!" He waved at the younger. Hanbin sighed. He watched the movie at least five times since it released. He stayed quiet though, since Hao said he'd binge watch his favorite movies. Wait. Movies. Plural.
And it actually stretched upto three whole movies back to back. The entire time, Hanbin felt distracted. Either by the way Hao snuggled in his arms, or by the fragrance coming from his hair, or by the sudden urge to sleep after a full stomach meal. Yet, Hanbin resisted every single wish, to focus on the movie, or simply not to piss the elder off. When the third movie ended, even Zhang Hao was bored.
"Damn, I wanna go out now." He mumbled.
"Where to?" Hanbin asked eagerly, "I know a few good dinner places."
"Dinner? It's only... Oh shit! It's 8 already?"
Hanbin chuckled, "The movies weren't short."
Hao frowned at him. He got up though, dusted off his clothes. Since they hadn't changed clothes since morning, neither had to dress up again. They headed out, again in Hanbin's car, going to have dinner. Hanbin had dinner with Hao before, but never was he asked to take so many photos of the elder, getting disapponted whines after each of them. In the end, however, they sat down to eat. Hanbin wanted to take a selfie of the two of them, but he was still worried about whatever Hao was doing. He knew there was something wrong with the older male, he just couldn't pinpoint what. Shaking the thoughts away, thus, they finished having dinner. Hanbin proposed to take a small walk around since the sidewalks were pretty, but Hao dismissed it, saying that he felt sleepy. Having nothing to do about it, the younger drove him home again, Hao invited him inside.
There's only one conclusion Hanbin drew from that- Zhang Hao wanted him to stay for the night. So he asked, "Okay, then.. give me something comfortable to change into."
"Why?" Hao asked. Hanbin stared at him foolishly.
"What why? You don't expect me to sleep in these, right?" He pointed at the worn out clothes that he had on for the whole day.
"Sleep in anything you want back home, cause you're not sleeping here."
Hanbin raised an eyebrow. "You don't- then why did you call me inside?"
"I was bored, that's why." Hao shrugged, "Why? Are you annoyed that I ruined your entire day?"
Not wanting to fight, Hanbin sighed, "Alright, I'll leave. Um.. Good night then. See you tomorrow."
Hao watched the younger put on his shoes again with creases in between his brows. He crossed his arms, didn't even wish a goodnight back. The younger felt upset. Like he didn't get an answer to anything, and he couldn't even ask because of his past deeds. He felt helpless, stupid. Yet, like a lovesick man, he couldn't hate a single moment shared with Hao. Somehow, just being near the said male made him happy.
He took out his car. It was almost 10. Not too late, but driving alone in the dark night seemed pretty lonely, for, all day long, he had his passenger's seat occupied by the most exotic man he ever came across. This should be karma, right?
10 minutes later, he got a call from Zhang Hao. Curious, he picked up.
"Hello, hyung?"
"Are you driving?" Hao's voice was heard.
"Yeah, why?"
"Open your glove compartment." Instructed the Chinese guy, "Did you do it? Now see a white folded paper?"
"Yeah." Hanbin answered, taking the paper in hand.
"Good, now park your car and read it." Zhang Hao cut the call. Even more curious, Hanbin opened the small letter, which read-
What you've seen of me today may be exaggerated, but I'm not very different from this. I tend to get annoying, wishful, always complain or make demands. If you think you won't be able to handle this side of me, keep driving to your place, we can stay good friends, make good memories, accompany each other or even become strangers if that's what you want.
But if you think you can accept all my nagging and whining, then make a U turn, and return to your boyfriend who's waiting for you.
Hanbin didn't even slow down. Since there was barely any other vehicle around him, he rushed his car as fast as possible, covering that 10 minutes long ride in 7, then ran up to knock on Hao's door. It took a mere second for the latter to open up. For the first time, in Hao's eyes were worry and fear- like he was afraid of losing Hanbin. Like he thought, due to his personality, Hanbin would actually leave him. His eyes were shaking, looking at Hanbin's ones which were barely seen under that whisker-out flashy grin.
No words exchanged, Hanbin hugged him over the shoulder, almost exerting all his weight over the worried male. In shaky voice, Hao asked, "Did you think it through?"
"This is what I've been waiting for, Zhang Hao." The younger replied, "I don't need to think about it. You were always my answer."
Hao buried his face in the crook of his neck, saying, "I'm sorry I acted like this all day. I wanted to walk with you too."
"I know. You were trying to see if I'm gonna snap at you or not, right?"
Hao nodded only, "You were always good to me, so I thought.. Sorry for being so annoying and whiny."
"What annoying? You were literally cute at times." Hanbin let go of the hug, then held Hao's neck in both palms, "I was just confused. You usually don't act this way."
"And you're being nice again."
"Or maybe.." Hanbin's hands moved to Hao's waist, to pull him closer, "I just love everything you do."
"Geez-" Hao moved away. They were still at the door. Anyone going through the hallway would see them hug, so he tugged at Hanbin's hand, saying, "Come in."
"So now I'm allowed to sleep over?"
Hao rolled his eyes, "That was part of the plan, Bin."
"I know, just joking." Grinned Hanbin.
"Yeah, I wanted you to stay from the get go. I even bought us matching pajamas." Hao explained.
"Really?" The younger looked excited, "So you knew I'd come back?"
"No, I didn't... I was... Honestly, I was scared. I kept thinking if I did too much, or if I took you for granted, cause if you drove away tonight, I literally wouldn't be having anything to say. So.. thanks for coming back to me."
Hanbin once again pulled him closer. "Dear Hao, Listen to what I say carefully, okay?" He took a pause, implying that he'd say something important, "I love you. So do anything you want, be as annoying as you want. I'll let you know if I don't like it, okay? Don't feel bad about anything you did today cause honestly, it was nothing compared to the happiness I got just to be next to you."
"Hanbin ah... You know you're just- why are you so kind to me?" Hao had his eyes sparkling from the accumulated tears.
"Like I said, I love you." Smiled the kind man, as warmly as possible.
Hao smiled too, closed his eyes and said, "I love you too." He opened them, saying, "Thanks for agreeing to be my boyfriend."
Hanbin's smile changed into a grin. This time, he didn't wait. He pulled the elder by the neck, gently pressing his lips on top of the other. He kissed those lips numerous times before, but none of those hit as hard as that simple, non penetrating one. Hao slowly gripped on his shirt, trying to get even closer, heart to heart. There was no lust, no rush, just them with closed eyes, hearts full of love and trust. In the end, they chose each other. That's what actually matters.
Hanbin let go, Hao looked at him with shy, smiling eyes. Suddenly, the younger lifted him, earning a scream of shock. "Sung Hanbin!"
However, he showed no sign to stop, as he ran towards the bedroom and kind of dropped the man on the bed. He then laid down next to Hao, giggling breathlessly.
"What was that!?" Hao asked, giggling as well.
"Nothing! I'm just so happy tonight."
Zhang Hao turned to face him. Their faces were close, eye to eye. And both of those pairs sparkled in the same unified glow. Hanbin leaned up to kiss Hao's forehead.
"You really pulled a clever confession." He said, making Hao puff out some air through his lips, "Now you know why I asked you to put those bags in the trunk."
"You put the letter there back then? Back in the noon? When did you even plan the whole thing??"
"This morning." Hao said, "I woke up and realized that I wanna walk next to for a long time. But I was kinda shy, plus I wanted to test your patience... And... Okay, I'm really sorry."
Hanbin only had his whiskered smile to show. Therefore, he pulled Hao by the cheek and kissed him again. In no time, the other kissed back. The beginning of kissing as partners. Something both of them waited for.
-
Tada! They're finally together!
Also thanks for 20k+ reads and 1k+ votes <33