✓ | the elevator ride. (heejake)

eleven.

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

classes were a breeze for jake. the one thing that had truly been on his mind all day was his job. finally, the time had come where he was to have his first training. with a skip in his step, jake sim approached the cafe he would now be working at.

like before, park sunghoon (the waiter that offered him the job) greeted him with a kind smile. "hello, jake! i'll help train you today," sunghoon explained.

jake nodded, eager and ready to get started. he was so excited at the thought of having his own job. finally he could have something to himself that was out of his parents control.

about a thirty minutes into the training, jake was already exhausted. not physically, necessarily, but his mind was full of a lot of new information that he was yet to completely process. being a waiter seems like a lot of work, but jake was excited nevertheless.

the little bell at the front door dinged, sunghoon instantly looking up. the male lightly gasped under his breath and jake noticed his eyes light up. "jay!"

jay? jake watched as sunghoon scurried over to the doorway in which none other than jay park stood. and next to him?

lee heeseung.

sunghoon approached jay smiling, now standing in front of the latter with rosy cheeks, the shyest jake had seen him all day. "hi, jay," sunghoon sheepishly said.

jay chuckled, ruffling the other's hair. "so cute," he cooed.

lee heeseung's eyes had wandered and that's when he spotted jake sim in an apron staring right back at him. heeseung's eyes widened. "jake??"

without hesitation, heeseung walked over to the blonde, who stood with pursed lips, unsure of the reaction he was about to get from the older. "uhm, hi heeseungie."

"what are you doing here? do you work here? i didn't know you had a job. why didn't you tell me?"

well, jake was certainly not expecting that. he noticed the older's face to start redden, embarrassed by the sudden outburst of questions he had. jake smirked, finding it endearing. "today is my first day of training."

heeseung nodded, awkwardly. "ah, gotchya."

"i'm sorry, i didn't know you would want me to tell you..."

something in jake's voice sounded a bit disheartened, as if he himself had wanted to tell heeseung but wasn't sure if he could. i mean, what were they really? can they call themselves friends? or are they just neighbors who got stuck in an elevator together for three hours and then cuddled in bed a few days later?

without thinking, heeseung blurted out next, "you can tell me anything."

at this, jake bit his lip, suppressing a smile. did he hear the beautiful neighbor of his correctly? heeseung got even redder, crossing his arms over his chest as he tried to divert eye contact. god, heeseung, bite your tongue.

"well, in that case, i'll be sure to keep you posted, heeseungie," jake exclaimed, brightly smiling.

heeseung was really becoming a sucker for that big smile of his.

"okay, jake! let's get back to work!" sunghoon called, him and jay suddenly approaching them.

"i'll call you later?" jay quickly asked, hand resting on sunghoon's shoulder as he waited for an answer.

blushing, sunghoon nodded. "please do."

jake smiled at the two before turning back to heeseung. "see you at home!" he said, quickly taking off with sunghoon to resume his training.

the two waved goodbye as well, jay and heeseung exiting the door. the moment they stepped outside, heeseung paused, having to do a double take.

see you at home.

why did those words make his heart soar?

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

"so, how's it going in the love department?"

jay and heeseung made it back to their shared flat, heeseung collapsing dramatically onto the couch as jay popped that question.

furrowing his eyebrows, heeseung sat up. "that's a random question."

jay scoffed. "is it really? you? jake? ringing any bells?"

heeseung rolled his eyes, ignoring the way his heart fluttered just by hearing his name. god, he was really crushing hard. "no love department here, idiot."

obviously, jay wasn't buying it. as a man with a crush himself, he could practically see through heeseung and how lovestruck he was. is it so bad for wanting his friend to find a special someone? jay began to whip something up in the kitchen, but he kept talking. "so you really didn't know he'd be working in sunghoon's cafe?"

"no, i didn't. did you?"

jay shook his head. "hoonie didn't tell me. but he probably didn't know i knew jake, anyways."

heeseung chuckled at the nickname jay had given sunghoon. they'd only been out a couple times now, but jay seemed really happy. to heeseung, those two were practically together already. part of him felt a bit jealous...but he'd never admit to that.

"well, jake has no reason to tell me, so it doesn't matter," heeseung said, his tone full of unintentional disappointment.

"if you want to know so badly, just get closer with him. he lives right next door."

heeseung perked up, suddenly getting an idea. "jay what time is it?"

"uh," the latter looked down at his watch, "almost six. why?"

"i'll be back," heeseung answered, hurriedly slipping on his shoes and grabbing his things before heading out the door.

jay stood in confusion. "more dinner for me i guess."

͙⁺˚*･༓☾

it was only a training day, but damn, jake was worn out. to be fair, he did have classes that day before the two hour training. he was pretty hungry, too, and was ready to eat on the comfort of his own sofa.

it honestly baffled him how it was already growing dark outside. he gathered his belongings and made sure to find sunghoon, bidding him goodbye.

"see you tomorrow, jake!" sunghoon replied.

jake liked him. he was excited to have a cool new coworker friend. with a sigh of content, jake exited the cafe door, but he accidentally bumped into someone. "oh! i'm sor— h-heeseungie? what are you doing here?"

out of breath as if he'd been running a marathon, heeseung fixed a messy strand of hair out of his face. "i, um, i came to walk you home."

heeseung's heart was pounding. was this stupid? would jake find it weird? he was starting to regret his actions, but that instantly washed away the second he saw jake blush.

"you did? really??" he asked incredulously, his eyes wide with hope.

heeseung bit his lip, nodding.

the blonde quickly linked his arm with the taller, looking up at him with the fondest gaze of adoration in his eyes. "let's go home, then!"