ABO - XiaoHyuk

@☭ Nam Joohyuk Thank goodness for Hendery's sharp eye, since he found both Joohyuk /and/ Hoseok in one fell swoop. Dejun didn't waste another moment before leaving the results for his friend to see and dashing off to his prince charming. Luckily for him, Joohyuk was physically closer to him, so he reached the older first. His first thought was to question what the older's relationship to that stupid Hoseok was, bit Dejun didn't want to hear anything unsoundly before the results came out. So, instead he exclaimed, "You made it!" He tried to hold back the slight annoyance that Joohyuk possibly was here for someone else besides him as well, "What'd you think?"

@☭ Xiao Dejun Hendery was extremely satisfied with their performance, but they barely had time to celebrate after they were led off the stage. The final cut-off for the first round wouldn't be announced until around half an hour after the last contestant, but Hoseok was already running off once Hendery and Dejun exited. To Hendery's horror, Hoseok was making a beeline toward Dejun's alpha. Hendery was nervous, and he wanted his best friend by his side while they waited for the results, but he wasn't going to let Hoseok ruin this for Dejun. "Dejun! Dejun!" He yanked at Dejun's arm. "Look! Hosuck's at it again!"

@☭ Nam Joohyuk Dejun and Hendery were contestant 28 in the line up. It seemed like forever to get through the first twenty contestants, since they were all solo acts who, truthfully, had nothing to show for their abilities. Hoseok was conveniently placed at number 19, so he was part of the group that Dejun didn't think much of as actual competition. Once number 26 was on stage though, he and Hendery were queued up behind the stage. After confirming his music track and getting a final pep talk from his best friend, they took the stage.

In simple terms, their performance went even better than Dejun expected it to be. Perhaps it was from the adrenaline of the roaring audience as they started off with their high-beat performance, or maybe it was the silent thought in the back of his mind that Joohyuk was somewhere in the audience watching him, Dejun gave every ounce of energy into his dance, showing off every pop and lock perfectly. At the height of their two minutes, he even showed off the whacking that he practiced on his own for many months. At the end of their performance, Dejun and Hendery were heaving, but the approving nods on the judges' heads made it all worth it.

Once they exited the stage, they stripped off their contestant badges and were allowed to leave. Dejun grabbed his belongings from the contestant tent and looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Joohyuk before the older left.

@☭ Xiao Dejun Joohyuk took his seat with Hoseok's mother. It was an extremely boring affair, especially when he had little interest in dance and Hoseok's mother was the most repetitious, monotonous person he'd ever met. Joohyuk wanted to fall asleep. He nodded and gave noncommittal responses to her as he watched performance after performance, only waking up for Hoseok's and Dejun's. He knew nothing about dance, but Dejun was good. Really good, with an infectious smile on his face during his energetic performance. Hoseok was good, but Dejun was better, although Joohyuk didn't voice this to Hoseok's mother. He waited with her to greet Hoseok again after the show, waiting for the opportune moment to slip away and at least congratulate Dejun for a job well done.

@☭ Nam Joohyuk "Eo, that's him." Dejun confirmed with his gaze hardened. Luckily for Dejun, Hendery was there to help him set his mind right. He held back from rushing over to start a fight with Hoseok, and instead huffed as he tried to focus on the competition instead. How dare that ugly lowlife try to compete with him on talents and then in the love game too! Dejun rolled his eyes when Hoseok gave Joohyuk a sheepish smile that revealed all his big teeth before dipping away. It took every fiber of Dejun's being to hold back from reaching out to smack Hoseok up the head when his rival headed in his direction, but Joohyuk's sudden greeting caught him off guard. Dejun realized then that the handsome alpha had indeed noticed him. Call him two-faced, but his anger was easily melted in that moment, and he beamed with excitement as he raised a hand to wave at Joohyuk before making a fist back to receive the older's well wishes. Right, the most important thing now was showing Joohyuk what he was capable of, and then they'd have a talking point after the competition. Dejun followed Hendery's cue, and turned inside as the first of the contestants began their performances.

@☭ Xiao Dejun Hendery's eyes widened comically. "That's him? The coffee guy?" Now that he took a closer look, Hendery knew something was wrong when he called such a good looking man the dance judge. He could see why Dejun was so attracted, and now that he had seen this many for himself, Hendery approved one-hundred-percent. No matter what, Dejun /had/ to have this man. He reached out for Dejun's wrist, holding him in place—he could tell Dejun was raring to rush over and give Hoseok a piece of his mind. "Calm down," Hendery said. "He's here to watch the show, isn't he? Get your head in the game and show him what you can do! Then look for him after and ask him sweetly—" Hendery spoke in falsetto, "'How did I do?'"

When Hoseok finally excused himself to prepare for the show, Joohyuk felt his shoulders lighten. He wished Hoseok good luck, watching him make his way back toward the competitor's tent. Standing at the entrance of the tent was Dejun. He was easy to recognize, with his fair face and sharp features. He seemed to be looking in Joohyuk's direction. Joohyuk smiled, waved, and held his fist up as he mouthed 'Good luck'. Although he did say he didn't want to encourage Dejun's unfounded crush, it would be rude to ignore him.

@☭ Nam Joohyuk The fire that was ignited in Dejun as he thought about Hoseok even /thinking/ to compete against him for this title burned brighter every minute. He could endure the last of the stretching pains as he finished his warm up, as long as it ensured that his every move would be sharper and his every gesture would be more punctuated than Hoseok's. Hendery wasn't gone for long, but when he returned, Dejun was surprised to hear that Hoseok wasn't taking this competition seriously. "Flirting? Wow, he deserves to be kicked out," Dejun scoffed, rolling his eyes. He followed his best friend out of the tent. Indeed, just about a half court's distance away, Hoseok was smiling and laughing with...Nam Joohyuk!?

Dejun almost dropped his water bottle. His brows scrunched together as he grabbed Hendery's arm, grinding his back teeth. "That's...the handsome cop I've been telling you about!" he cried out to Hendery. "He's here to see me though! What the hell is Hoseok doing talking to him? That 's trying to steal him from me!? no." The daggers that were shooting from Dejun's eyes would pierce through the soul if anyone looked him in the eyes. The only unfortunate thing was that neither Hoseok or Joohyuk made eye contact with him in that moment.

@☭ Xiao Dejun Joohyuk had no intention of going to the dance competition. He didn't want Dejun to think this was appropriate by showing up, but it was just his rotten luck that one of the ahjummas he had grown up visiting a lot with his parents invited him to the exact same show. He could hardly believe his ears at first, but she had said something about her son attending the same school Joohyuk graduated from and wanting to catch up with him afterward. So, for the sake of saving his parents' face, Joohyuk agreed. He didn't seek Dejun out at the performance venue, though. It was best to keep his distance. His aunt's son, Jung Hoseok, was pleasant enough, but Joohyuk hadn't seen him since he was a child.

"He's going down," Hendery huffed between his warm-up session. "I'm going to get water. Be right back." He left the tent in the direction Hoseok did, but as soon as he fetched the bottles, his eyes landed on Hoseok again, chatting to an older man. Hendery scoffed before making his way back to Dejun, handing him one of the bottles. "You have to come see this. Hoseok is actually trying to flirt with someone before the show. I wonder if he's a judge or something."

@☭ Nam Joohyuk Asides from the fact that he wanted to impress Joohyuk, Dejun really did want to come out on top in this dance competition. Deep down, he knew that he had this capability, but had never truly shown it to a real audience before. The days went by quickly, and he would remind Joohyuk about the performance every morning, all the way until it was Saturday morning, when the big day finally arrived. There were a couple hundred contestants to say the least, but by the end of today, there would only be 25 qualifying people. Dejun reminded himself of the high stakes, including his passion to trample Hoseok into the ground, which gave him the drive to push himself further down as Hendery helped him stretch out, groaning as he felt his back muscles ache. From across the room, he caught Hoseok also stretching to warm up. When their eyes met, a mutual barrage of silent slurs were thrown at each other before they both turned away, and Dejun spat hatefully, "Guanheng-ah, I want him o u t."

@☭ Xiao Dejun Hoping Dejun would forget to give him the details was silly of Joohyuk. He accepted the cup with an awkward smile. "Ah... yes, of course. I'll drop by if I have time." He could not leave the cafe fast enough today. "Thank you for the coffee." Once he was back on the road, the cool air washed over him, taking the awkwardness of the interaction with it. In what word did Dejun think it was appropriate to invite Joohyuk? In his car, Joohyuk got started on his latte. The first sip slid smoothly in his throat—too smoothly. Joohyuk peeked beneath the mouthpiece of the lid. The latte was a shade darker than usual, and when Joohyuk took another sip, it was indeed stronger than usual, too—not the weak coffee-flavoured water he was usually given. "Huh." Maybe Common Grounds was finally onto something after all.

@☭ Nam Joohyuk While Dejun did not doubt that life as a cop was busy, he didn't think it would be so bad that Joohyuk couldn't set aside a few hours to come watch his performance. As he eagerly awaited Joohyuk's response, his finger accidentally tapped the button next to the usual dispense for 1 shot of espresso, and instead began to tamp two shots instead. He wouldn't take any answer but "no" for no, and so he continued to beam as he relayed to Joohyuk, "This Saturday! It's on the event center stage, and it begins at 2pm! I'm going to perform my own routine...it'll be worth your watch!" he insisted, pouring in the coffee with the warmed up milk. Once he had transferred everything into Joohyuk's cup, Dejun shamelessy pointed out the black print, "I wrote everything here for you!"

@☭ Xiao Dejun Just when Joohyuk didn't think his interactions with Dejun could get any more awkward, it did. Why did Dejun think it would be appropriate to invite Joohyuk? Their relationship was simply barista and customer, and while Joohyuk knew Dejun had a little crush on him, it would be inappropriate for Joohyuk to encourage it. He stammered, stalling for time by counting his change to hand over to Dejun. He set the coins on the counter at the last moment, not wanting to touch Dejun. "I, uh, I'm not sure if I have time," he said, even if he had no idea what time the competition was supposed to be. "If I'm free, sure." Joohyuk just had to make sure he was conveniently, well, not free.

@☭ Nam Joohyuk Joohyuk's appearance was like the first ray of sunshine that broke the night - he lit up Dejun's world! As he saw the handsome cop walk in, Dejun reached for the special cup that he set aside. "Good morning!" he chirped in greeting. He rang Joohyuk up, with a discount as usual, and then began to make the drink, taking his time again. "Sooo...I was wondering," Dejun started, not having the time to even entertain being shy when time was of the essence, "You're my alumni, right? Seoul University?" He waited for Joohyuk to confirm this information that he obviously already knew, and then Dejun smoothly continued, "The annual dance competition is coming up! I'm participating in it. I really hope you can make it to watch!" Dejun didn't even bother to ask for Joohyuk's availability, wanting to minimize all chances of rejection for the older.

@☭ Xiao Dejun Joohyuk was genuinely terrified Dejun would show up at the precinct again. It wasn’t that he was bad company—he was quite a cheerful boy—but Jisoo and the others refused to let Joohyuk off the hook for days on end after, only dropping the topic after they found someone else to pick on. Still, he couldn’t risk it again, and so to keep Dejun at bay, to keep him from coming again, Joohyuk had to start frequenting Common Grounds once more. The coffee was still weak, and Dejun was still there. It was as if nothing had ever changed. Joohyuk approached the counter with a small smile. “Good morning,” he said. “How are you? I’ll get the usual.”

@☭ Nam Joohyuk Hendery never failed! Dejun's raised an impressed brow at his best friend, then grinned victoriously, "Wah that's perfect!" he agreed, slapping the floor in excitement. He then turned around and kicked his feet in the air. "Wahhh! He can come watch us dance! You're right, I'll ask him tomorrow!" With a new audience member that he was specifically going to perform for, /of course/ Dejun had to win this competition now. "Okay get up!" he demanded of his best friend, "We have to perfect our performance!"

The next day, he was abuzz with delight as he waited for Joohyuk to walk through the door. This time, Dejun had set aside a special cup with writing for Joohyuk as usual, but instead of his phone number, it was filled with black scribbles of the audition's time, date, and location. That way, Joohyuk would be able to look back at the information if he forgot! Dejun waited expectantly, hoping Joohyuk would even come a little earlier than usual so they could have more time to converse.

@☭ Xiao Dejun Uncle Xiao was /very/ picky, so Hendery wasn't sure about that, but he didn't want to dampen Dejun's dreams yet. He was Dejun's best friend—Dejun always had his back, so Hendery should have his, too. He thought for a moment, hard, until the idea suddenly sprouted in his mind. Dejun said they only met once a day, so they simply had to manufacture opportunities to meet more often, thus allowing Joohyuk to see what a catch Dejun was. "How about you invite him to the first round of the competition?" Hendery perked up. "You have to get to know him outside of the coffee runs! I bet you don't even do anything past small talk at the shop."

@☭ Nam Joohyuk Once Dejun got off the phone with his parents, he was bombarded by the barrage of questions from Hendery. His friend was truly law(Zhan)-abiding, but of course Dejun only laughed and reassured him. "Baba would never! It's okay~Once he sees my future mate, he'll know that's tje one for me!" he reassured Hendery with confidence. Dejun sighed again dreamily. "I have to get him, but right now it's going slow because I only see him at the coffee shop once a day..." He grabbed Hendery by the arm, seriousness lacing his tone as he asked, "Guanheng-ah, you have to help me! What do I do?"

@☭ Xiao Dejun "I love you too," Zhan managed to squeeze in, before Dejun hastily hung up on him. With a sigh, he lied back down where he'd been resting, wishing he never let Dejun leave China in the first place. It was clear to anyone and everyone that he missed his younger son very, very much.

Hendery freaked out. He heard Uncle Xiao loud and clear—no dating! "Xiao Dejun!" he whisper-shouted. "Uncle is going to kill you when he finds out you're chasing after that coffee shop cop. Is he really that worth it?" Since Hendery had never see Joohyuk before, he hoped that Joohyuk was smoking hot to make it worth Dejun risking getting in trouble. He crawled over and began to pull Dejun up, jerking at him to sit and then stand. "Come on, we better practice so we win this and your parents don't think you're using this as an excuse to date!"

@☭ Nam Joohyuk After that, Yibo handed the phone back to Zhan, who clearly had so much to say to his darling baby boy. Once the vote offer had been made though, Yibo's voice filled the background, "Stop filling his head with stupid ideas, will you? He can win those votes by talent alone. Make sure you tell him to focus on his studies instead." Clearly, Dejun knew his parents were often teasing and harshing on each other, so he laughed it off and nodded. He could already picture how his Mama was rolling his eyes in the background. But, when his father brought up his dating ban in Korea, everything seemed to write itself across Dejun's face. "Oh...I know already Baba! People are behaving, don't worry! Uhm, I have to go practice now! I love you. Love you mama, bye!!" With that, Dejun quickly hung up the phone.

On the other end of the line, Yibo shared a knowing glance with Zhan. To Yibo, it was spelled out loud and clear, even though he wasn't the one directly speaking with Dejun on the phone. His son had fallen for someone. If Zhan couldn't tell though, then Yibo would let him live in his blissful ignorance for a while longer.

@☭ Xiao Dejun "Can we vote too?" Zhan asked. "If we can't, we'll pay some students to vote on your Mama and Baba's behalf." He passed on a few more words of encouragement for his younger son before a yawn hit him. "I'm going to get ready for bed too, baobei," he said, his voice thick of sleep. "Don't practice too late, your studies are more important. And remember what you promised us—no dating. Have the alphas at the school been behaving around you?" They probably hadn't been, but as a parent, Zhan could only hope and cling on to the delusion that a school of over twenty-thousand students had well-behaved people.

@☭ Nam Joohyuk "Of course Baba, loud and clear!" Dejun squeaked happily when he got his father's approval to stay out later. He flashed Hendery a thumbs up sign off screen, then beamed as Zhan brought his mother up. "Yes please!" Dejun couldn't wait to tell his mother about their shared hobby - /winning/ competitions. "Hi Mama!" he all but yelped over the phone.

Compared to Zhan, Yibo was not so quick to get into nagging. "What have you been up to?" he asked, rubbing a towel through his hair, "What's this I hear about a competiton? Make sure you do well, hm? We're cheering you on."

Dejun happily recounted the situation to his mother, though he did add for his father to hear in the background, "There's gonna be a lot of people voting...they'll vote for us once they see our talent!"

@☭ Xiao Dejun Seeing Huang Guanheng relieved Zhan immediately. If there was a responsible alpha like his son's friend around, at least that would keep the trouble-making ones at bay. Zhan knew there was no danger with Guanheng being around. He was pretty sure Guanheng only liked girls. Call it a father's intuition. "Oh... dance competition." Zhan knew all about competitions. Dejun and his mother have the same spirit when it came to competitions, and there wasn't much Zhan could do to convince them to back down. "Alright, baobei, but as soon as this competition is over, you're going straight to bed at ten o'clock, you hear me?" He pulled his reading glasses off to get a better look at the screen. "Mama is coming out of the shower now, you want to talk to Mama?"

@☭ Nam Joohyuk Dejun knew that it was nothing to be scared of when his father was nagging at him. It was simply his way of showing love. To be fair, he did recall promising to have a curfew of ten o'clock, but explaining to his Baba why tonight was an exception was not going to be an issue at all. "Aiyo baba!" he exclaimed, raising his voice to whine and pursing his lips out in a cute pout, "It's not like that! There's a huge dance competition coming up! I need to win it so that I can be the dance club representative!" He angled the camera so Zhan could catch a glimpse of Hendery (an alpha), "Besides, Guanheng is with me! I'm perfectly fine okay? Baba, guess what? There's a guy who wants to steal this position from me, but it's mine! I'm not going to lose, that's why I have to keep practicing, okay? Just a few more nights, it won't be a bad habit~" he all but singsonged to his father. His trump card had never /not/ worked.

@☭ Xiao Dejun While Dejun checked in with his parents, Hendery rolled onto his back again to think of a way Dejun could spice up his coffee. He was familiar with Dejun's parents, but he didn't have the time to get into a conversation with them at that moment.

From the other end of the phone, Zhan squinted at the screen. Bright lights, tall ceiling—Dejun was still out late. "I told you to get back to your dorm no later than ten o'clock," he said, the displeasure clear in his voice. "What are you still doing up? You're supposed to be getting ready for bed by now. You promised your mother and I you wouldn't compromise your sleep for dance. Now look at you! Ten-thirty, eleven, eleven-thirty. Soon, you'll be staying up past midnight. Is that what we let you go to Korea for?"

@☭ Nam Joohyuk Hendery truly made a good point, consistency was key. Dejun would make his presence an indispensable part of Joohyuk's day, even if that meant the alpha had to develop a coffee addiction because of him. Dejun snapped his fingers as he sat up again, realization striking him, "You know what I need to do then?" he asked, "I need to make the coffee in a way that /no one/ else could make it for him!" As he was saying this, Dejun heard his phone vibrating in the corner of the room. He went to pick it up, delighted to see that it was a call from his Papa! "Baba!" he greeted as soon as his father's video was , "Hi!" he greeted with a gushing smile on his face, "What're you doing, calling me at this time!"

@☭ Xiao Dejun "He's going to be disqualified in the first round," Hendery predicted, or willed. "We only have to stand him for a little longer." He was almost still as a corpse lying there talking about Hoseok, but when he heard about Dejun's latest obsession, he perked up immediately, rolling onto his side and propping his head up with his hand. "Wow!" he exclaimed once Dejun caught him up on the drama. "He actually helped you get your shoe? If I were him, I would've told you 'tough luck'. This is great news," he analyzed. "He's definitely interested. You can't back down now, because maybe he wants to test you to see how serious you are. You're gonna have to double down on your game. If he misses a single day of coffee again, bring it to the station!"

@☭ Nam Joohyuk There were truly moments when Dejun believed his best friend was a secret genius of sorts. This was the reason why he needed to bring Hendery over to South Korea with him! "That's actually such a good idea," he agreed, "He doesn't even deserve to be in the competition! You saw the way he stumbled across the room just /walking/ right? How the hell does that lunatic think he's a dancer?" Of course, Dejun spoke in complete confidence and without any regard for his surroundings. They were speaking in Mandarin - who would understand them! He grinned as he sat up, inching himself closer to Hendery's side. "You and your beautiful brain...which reminds me! I need to update you about that handsome policeman! What's my next step, Guanheng-ah?" For the most part, Hendery knew about Joohyuk and how Dejun had been chasing after him. Dejun had not, however, told him about the actual visit to the police station yet, which was what he took the time to do as they took a short break from practice.

@☭ Xiao Dejun Hendery had always been confident with his and Dejun's skill. It wasn't that he was threatened by Jung Hoseok, but the both of them were /extremely/ annoyed at his presence, and a particularly infuriating encounter with Hoseok left them unable to get their head in the game to practice. Hendery lied on the floor on his back, eagle-spread. "Do you know what we should do?" he asked, stretching out his leg out to kick the bottom of Dejun's foot. His friend wasn't lying too far from him. "If we stage an accident! I'll pretend to want to talk to him near the bus stop, and you push him just as the bus comes. We compete without having to see his ugly face."

@☭ Nam Joohyuk Had Joohyuk actually not shown up to Common Grounds the next day, Dejun had already steeled his nerves to make another trip down to the police station. Luckily for him, Joohyuk did show up, and his days were back to being the bright and cheery ones that he was used to. Perhaps it was just him, but Joohyuk did look a little red in the ears as they made their small talk in the morning. Perhaps it was a sign that there was a spark between them now! Dejun reminded the older once again that he should text or call if he ever needed a drink, and he made sure to openly point out the number on Joohyuk's cup this time. There would be no excuse for Joohyuk to /not/ be able to contact him.

The following few days were a special type of busy for Dejun though, since a special event at school had been announced. There was a dance competition that Hendery had told him about, and the two of them had eagerly signed up to do it together. The winners would become automatic representatives and judges of future dance club-related events. They had a routine in the works, but it wasn't anywhere near stage-ready yet, so Dejun had to set aside time before and after his classes to practice with his best friend and dance partner. After all, they had realized that there was another freshman in the club trying to steal the position right under their noses, and there was no way in hell Dejun was going to let some squinty-eyed, "poyoyoyo" sounding bastard take away his spotlight.

@☭ Xiao Dejun Dumbfounded, Joohyuk watched Dejun walk away, until he was all the way down the street and not more than a speck to Joohyuk's eyes. The skin where the marker traced it tingled, but by the time Joohyuk lifted his arm, the ink had completely dried down. Stark black numbers stood out clearly from his arm. He pulled is sleeve back down and hauled the ladder back to the station, quite confused the entire walk back what he was supposed to make of the young omega. Dejun was extremely determined, and honestly, Joohyuk was afraid if he didn't go back to Common Grounds at least a couple days a week, this wasn't going to be the last time Dejun showed up here.

When he entered the station again, Jisoo was waiting expectantly to hear what Dejun needed help with, but it only took Joohyuk rolling up his sleeves to show Jisoo the number to send his colleague into a fit of laughter; laughter that followed Joohyuk for the rest of the day, rendering him unable to take his mind off Dejun at all.