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taerae first meets ricky at a diner.
it's like any other night— the dark night sky shines through the windows of the diner, the dim low lights of the restaurant flicker as music plays softly throughout the building. it's not unusual for people to eat so late, taerae knows this. he's been working this shitty job for years to pay for his even shittier apartment that he shares with the worst roommate ever.
he's sure he could get a better job at this point but it feels like too much of a hassle to start a brand new job. he likes consistency, which is why it's so odd when he sees ricky for the first time.
the diner barely gets any new customers— all of their customers who come late at night always come. most of them being truck drivers who have developed an odd attachment to the shitty diner or families who live out and away from the city. ricky is new, though. ricky is different from everyone. most of the customers try and make conversation with taerae. they ask him about his day, his shift, or even just his life. ricky doesn't, though.
the first time taerae meets him, taerae is off put by him. taerae is no stranger to weird people in the diner but ricky isn't like that. it's just something about him that taerae can't quite put his finger on.
ricky's sharp nails tap against the table gently as taerae slides a menu onto the table, the laminated menu stained with spills from previous customers. his sharp nails has deep, crimson blood stained underneath them. taerae doesn't wish to know if it's his own or someone else's.
taerae takes no time to greet him and ricky takes even less time to order. he doesn't even glance at the menu, he gazes into taerae's eyes with his own deep eyes and simply says, "just a coke will be fine."
ricky is strange. taerae has known this to be true from the second he initially saw the man but now he knows it to be true more than ever. ricky has made it a habit to come into the diner for four days in a row, order a coke, and tip three dollars in exact change before he leaves. his tip is more than the singular coke that ricky orders.
"he's so weird." taerae mutters as he sits on the curb behind the diner. they don't need him right now, or really ever as it never gets busy. taerae sometimes wonders how the diner is still open after all these years.
"what are you even talking about?"
taerae glances behind him, looking at hanbin who leans against the building. he holds a cigarette between his two fingers and a lighter in another and he holds his gaze onto taerae's form. taerae watches as hanbin lights the cigarette, the cool wind of fall blowing the scent in taerae's direction.
taerae wrinkles his nose as the scent reaches him almost immediately. "gross."
"shut up," hanbin laughs as he exhales, "if it bothers you so much, go back inside and take some orders."
"order," taerae corrects as he watches hanbin sit down next to him on the curb, "matthew already has it covered anyway."
"right," hanbin mutters. taerae stares out into the open sky— the sky being painted with different shades of oranges and pinks, all being blended into one another. a signal that it was soon to be night. that ricky would be there soon, too. "what were you even talking about?"
taerae sighs as he glances at hanbin who stares back at him with such excitement that he can't possibly deny hanbin his words.
"it's about ricky."
hanbin eyes widen at the mention of the man's name, "oh the guy who comes in and just orders a coke?"
taerae nods, "yeah, him."
"dude, he's so hot." hanbin groans at the thought of the strange man. hanbin inhales from the cigarette once more before he speaks, "like, it's actually crazy."
"you literally have a boyfriend."
hanbin shrugs, "open relationship." hanbin pauses at his own claim, "i think."
"oh god," taerae groans, ignoring hanbins' weird relationship. he doesn't want to know more about hanbin than he needs to. "ricky is just… something is so off about him, you know?"
"i mean," hanbin speaks, his voice a little more gentle than usual, "isn't everyone like that? i don't think i've ever served a normal customer."
hanbin's right— every customer he's ever served has had some type of strange quirk, it's true. whether it's just being loud or wanting the meat on their hamburger cooked a specific way despite taerae knowing that it's not even real meat and they can't possibly do that. or maybe even just ordering a singular coke and drinking it in pure silence with nothing to entertain themselves.
"i suppose."
ricky arrives to the diner six hours later at two in the morning. the lights in the diner flicker for a moment as he enters, the bells jingling quietly against the door as he shuts it. his footsteps are quiet, gentle as he steps into the small diner, sliding into a booth ever so easily.
taerae doesn't even bother to get ricky a menu as he stands near the edge of the table. taerae instead stares at him blankly and says ever so flatly, "a coke, i assume?"
ricky nods, his round eyes widening at the fact that taerae had remembered. as if the order of a single coke wasn't unique enough for taerae to remember it.
"alright," taerae mutters as he walks away and into the near empty and gross kitchen.
taerae can't help the sigh that escapes his lips as he fills a glass full of ricky's ever so beloved drink. he's not exhausted by ricky, he's really not. he can't see how he could possibly be tired by someone he doesn't know. he just wants to know ricky, as odd as it may seem.
taerae returns with the drink in hand only a mere minute later. sliding the drink against the table gently and laying a wrapped up straw right beside it taerae flatly asks, "anything else?" knowing full well that no, there's nothing else.
ricky shakes his head, "no. no, thank you."
taerae nods, beginning to walk away from the booth when he pauses in his step. sighing as he turns back around and towards ricky, "actually i had a question."
ricky lifts a brow as he removes his lips from the straw, "a question?"
"yes," taerae nods as he crosses his arms over his chest, "why don't you ever eat anything?"
ricky pinches the straw in between his fingers as he processes taerae's extremely simple question. even though it seemed extremely simple, taerae swore he could see every grind and gear working in ricky's brain as he began working up an answer.
"um," ricky's voice shakes as he speaks, "i'm vegan...?"
even ricky doesn't believe that.
"really."
ricky nods almost too enthusiastically at the fact, "yes. uh-huh. i'm vegan."
"we sell salads, you know." taerae reminds him, "if you even bothered to read the menu."
taerae watches as ricky's pale skin slowly flushes over, a pink hue decorating his skin.
"well um," ricky attempts to come up with something quickly as taerae stares at him in complete and utter disbelief, "it's a little too late for a salad, no?"
"i would also say that about the coke you're having." taerae lifts a brow as he stares down at the glass of soda on the table. ricky flushes even more, hanging his head down to stare at the bubbly drink but even that could not erase the tinge of bright red on the tips of his ears. how cute.
ricky keeps coming nightly. he's always the same— alone and dressed up like he has some sort of special place to be after drinking his routinely coke at the early hours of the morning. he barely changes how he dresses and never changes his typical order. it almost feels like nothing will change with him. until it eventually does.
it's different on the eighth night. the lights flicker as the door opens, bells ringing against the surface of the door. it's different because this time ricky isn't alone. ricky is accompanied by two other men— they're both around the same height as ricky. ricky and the other two men slide into the usual empty booth, their voices slowly filling the restaurant with gentle laughter and hushed words.
taerae watches as they fill the booth in, his watchful eyes watching ricky and his two friends that sit across from him. it's almost odd now. watching ricky laugh so softly along with his friends as all taerae had seen previously was how soft spoken and to be quite honest, awkward ricky was.
hanbin stares at the table from where he and taerae stood behind the counter, "do you want me to take the table?"
"no, no," taerae shakes his head as he begins to gather two menus, ricky doesn't need one, he's seen it a million times by now.
taerae sets the two menus down on the table, watching as the two men that accompany ricky lift a brow at the incomplete set of menus.
"ricky," taerae begins, "same thing as always?"
"oh my god." taerae watches the brunette man that sits across from ricky gasp at taerae's simple words, "he knows your name?"
taerae shrugs, "it's hard not to when he's here every night."
he listens to the other men gasp at taerae's simple words as if they were an admission of guilt. the other two men can't help as they stare at ricky in pure and utter disbelief.
the brunette, with his mouth still agape gasps out, "you told us you were going to the gym."
ricky purses his lips as he nods, admitting that he did infact, say that. despite saying those words, taerae still saw ricky every night for eight days in a row.
the flush on his skin slowly rises to his cheeks as he nods, "i did say that." he grits out, his teeth clenched.
"you're such a liar," the other man besides the brunette shakes his head disapprovingly. he turns his gaze up at taerae, "do you want a man who's a liar like ricky?"
ricky skin flushes even more if it were possible, his skin burning warmly underneath his pale skin. taerae sputters out a jumbled variation of syllables, unfinished words attempting to create a sentence in spite of his shock.
"oh my god," the brunette hisses out, "nicholas, don't say that!"
"what?" the man who taerae now knows as nicholas whines, "that's what we're here for anyway."
ricky groans as he covers his face with his hands, despite that taerae can still see his skin burning so brightly underneath them, his skin turning red, a nearly crimson color. taerae furrows his brows from nicholas' simple words— they were so simple and yet ricky seemed so affected by them. unfortunately for ricky, taerae is very nosy and needs to know everything all the time.
"ricky…" taerae smiles sweetly at ricky despite the flushed man not even sparing a glance at him, his eyes scrunched underneath his hands.
"yes?" ricky's muffled voice sounds from underneath his hands. taerae almost wants to laugh at how ridiculous this entire situation is— ricky hiding from him while his two friends stare at him, laughing away.
"why are you here?"
ricky gulps audibly, it's so loud that taerae feels as if hanbin, who's only a few tables away can hear it echo off of the walls. he removes his hands from his face, crossing them in front of himself calmly as if he hadn't hid from taerae just a few seconds ago. ricky breathes out, "i'm here to eat. is that okay with you, taerae?"
"oh my god," he hears both of ricky's friends groan. he hears nicholas laugh as the brunette man speaks, "ricky, you cannot be serious."
"gyuvin," ricky hisses out, his eyes wide like a kitten who had just gotten their tail stepped on, "please."
gyuvin, despite ricky's (extremely empty) threat, he shrugs anyway.
taerae sighs. he doesn't know what to do with ricky. sweet, sweet, yet incredibly frustrating ricky. taerae cannot believe him, really. it was ridiculous at the start with him just ordering a coke at three in the morning when he really could've just gotten it from a gas station and gone home. but now taerae is here, standing and watching ricky embarrassingly lie about why he had brought his friends to the same diner that he'd only had a coke at. it's not like they had great, or even good food.
"ricky," taerae sighs sweetly, as if it would possibly coax ricky out of his severe embarrassment, "what is it?"
taerae watches as ricky and his friends speak with their eyes only, blinking harshly at each other and jerking their heads in taerae's direction. it doesn't take a genius to guess who they were possibly speaking about.
ricky groans, "okay, okay. fine."
nicholas and gyuvin sigh happily as they slump in the booth, free of their anxiety and stress from ricky's whole… situation.
"i may or may not have been coming to the diner because i thought you were, erm, cute?"
a beat passes.
then another.
taerae isn't quite sure how to respond to ricky's confession. taerae nods, "i see," he responds as if ricky had just given him a business proposal and not a confession of admiration and/or love. taerae isn't quite sure yet. "is that all?"
ricky seems shocked by taerae's calm demeanor despite the fact that taerae can practically hear his heart beating against him ribcage. it thumping so loud he's a little bit anxious of the fact that ricky can probably hear his blood rushing to warm his face.
"it's not all. um, would you like to maybe go out?" ricky's voice shakes slightly through his sweet words but even taerae can't notice as he can practically hear the blood rushing to warm his now flushed face and reddening ears.
"not here, right?" taerae laughs softly as he watches ricky grin at taerae's incomplete confirmation of the date.
"no, no." ricky laughs gently at the idea of taking taerae on a date to his own workplace. how embarrassing.
"then yes," taerae nods, "i will go out with you."
it's quiet for a moment as they're both gazing into each other's eyes, quietly recapping what the hell had just happened until gyuvin coughs awkwardly, interrupting the silence.
"can i still order or no?"
taerae has to stifle his laughter as he watches nicholas nudge gyuvin the same way a mother would with her embarrassing child. taerae nods despite his laughter, "yeah, of course you can."