Work Text:
Shin was nervous. So damn nervous that he felt like he was going to pass out. What just happened? He couldn’t process it. This has never happened before. Never in his life has he ever been asked out on a date. Sure, he’s had boyfriends before, but they never lasted long, and they never even went on proper dates. He knew this was different. He knew because of how much he couldn’t stop going over every single detailed moment he’s ever had with that blonde haired, golden eyed man who kept approaching him at work for the past two weeks – especially their first encounter.
Two weeks earlier…
“Christmas is soon, what will you be doing?”, asked Haiyan, hands full of books.
Shin looked up at his friend as he bent down and stocked the bookshelves, “I’m not sure. Sys is probably going to come over to my place. He’s been having a hard time after being dumped by that guy, so I wanted to cheer him up.” Haiyan simply nodded and continued stocking. Shin stood up, no more books in hand, and walked across the store to a full cart for more. He grabbed as much as he could into his arms and as he turned around, he felt as if he ran straight into a wall. He lost his balance, falling to the floor and books spilling from his arms.
“Shin!” Haiyan yelled, “Are you okay?!”
Shin looked in the direction of Haiyan and it was blurry, “I’m fine! I just dropped a couple books.” Shin searched the ground for his glasses, but it was no use, he was severely farsighted and couldn’t make out anything. Suddenly, a figure bent down in front of him.
“I’m sorry for bumping into you, I should pay more attention to my surroundings.” The stranger in front of him chuckled light heartedly. The man suddenly placed his finger under Shin’s chin, gently guiding him to look up. He effortlessly slid Shin’s glasses onto his face and the stranger in front of him came into focus. The first thing of many Shin noticed were his eyes. Their faces only inches apart, Shin felt as if he had been put under a spell as he looked into those swirling golden eyes. They were beautiful. For some reason, he wanted to stay there. Pretty…
Shin’s heart sunk as he had realized he had complimented the stranger out loud and the man definitely heard, “Pretty?” The man tilted his head to the side and studied Shin’s face. Shin felt a warmth creep over him, and a blush formed across his face. He broke his gaze and stood up. He took a step back as he watched the man gather the fallen books scattered around them.
“Oh, let me help you.” Shin said as he bent down to help, but the man was quick and wouldn’t let him pick up a single one.
“So where do these go?” The stranger asked, arms full. Shin held out his hands, “Here. I can take them.” The stranger stacked the books onto Shin’s hands one by one and Shin took the opportunity to take in the details of the kind man. He was tall and muscular, his beige sweater hugging his arms and chest in all the right places. He scanned down his body, noticing his pants were also snug around his thighs and Shin started to feel embarrassed, but he couldn’t help but notice the jeans showing off a noticeable, er… package. The man placed the final book onto the stack in Shin’s hand and with that, he brought his gaze back towards the man’s face. Complimenting his eyes were beautiful features and he was in absolute awe. He has never found a man this captivating before in his life. He was handsome. He watched as a smile formed across the man’s face as he rubbed the back of his head. Shin couldn’t speak. He truly didn’t know what to say, but the blonde in front of him was bold as he said his next words.
“Truthfully, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone as pretty as you before.” The stranger admitted. Shin’s eyes widened at the blunt confession and he immediately felt his body react to the compliment. “You work here, right? I don’t normally see you here.” Shin gathered himself and tried not to show how flustered he became from the recent compliment.
“Yes, I do. I actually only started working here recently, so that’s probably why.”
The man smiled, “I see. Well, I apologize again for walking into you.”
Shin couldn’t help but form his own smile, “It’s okay, I also wasn’t paying attention.”
The man kept his smile and neither of them moved. They both were quiet as they each took in more features of the other, only to be interrupted by Haiyan’s voice over the intercom.
“Good evening customers. The store will be closing in 15 minutes, please finish up your shopping and head over to check out, thank you.”
Both men averted their eyes and spoke into the silence between them.
“So –“
“Well –“
Shin cleared his throat and the stranger laughed as he took the lead of their conversation, “I guess I should get going and let you get back to work. I’m sorry again. I hope to see you around?”
Shin nodded, “Yeah…Wait! You didn’t even buy anything.”
The stranger laughed, “Yeah, I know. I don’t actually read? Umm….can I make a confession?”
Shin was confused but he nodded anyways.
The stranger inched closer to Shin and bent down, his mouth next to his ear. Shin could feel the man’s breath against his skin, and it sent a shiver down his spine, “I actually came here to see you.” Shin’s back straightened at the words, “What?”
The tall man took his place back in front of him, an almost unnoticeable shade of pink forming on top of his tanned skin, “My mother owns this store. I came here last week to pick something up from her office and when I saw one of the managers interviewing you, I was starstruck.”
Shin’s heart started to beat rapidly, and he knew his face had given his emotions away as the man started to smirk.
“My name’s Wolfgang. Wolfgang Goldenleonard.” He held out his hand with a smile. Shin hesitantly grabbed the hand in front of him and Wolfgang squeezed his hand gently, “And what’s your name?”
“…Shin.”
“Well, Shin, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Wolfgang released his hand. Tomorrow? The man named Wolfgang turned around and walked out of the store with no further explanation. And for the next two weeks, Wolfgang showed up every single day that Shin worked.
Present day…
“Shin, calm down! It’s just a date. Everything’s going to be fine.”
Shin was sitting on the floor of his bedroom, clothes sorounding him and covering every inch of the carpet, “I have nothing to wear, Sys. And he’s going to be here in 15 minutes to pick me up.” He ran his fingers through his hair and grabbed a fistful in both hands.
“You’re going to go bald if you keep pulling your hair like that! He’ll run for his life if you open the door with patches of your hair missing.” Shin pulled his hair more as he imagined Wolfgang’s face full of disgust at the sight of him. Sys walked up to him and grabbed his hands from his hair, “Just sit down on your bed and I’ll pick something out for you, okay?” Shin nodded and sat at the edge of the bed. He watched his best friend pick up items of clothing, analyze them, and sit them back on the floor. This is bad. Even the fashion enthusiast can’t find anything appealing for me to wear.
“Ah! Here, change into this.” Sys handed him the clothes and Shin immediately changed into them right there, not wasting any time. Sys’s face seemed to shine as he watched Shin dress into what he picked out, “This is perfect! Simple, but it really brings out your features. You look great!” Shin blushed at the compliment and walked over to his mirror to assess himself. He was dressed in one of his favorite winter sweaters and his tightest pair of black pants.
“Sys thank y –“
The doorbell rang before he could finish his sentence and he felt his heart drop into his stomach.
“Well, he’s here a little early. He must be excited!” Sys smiled wide and started to clap his hands with excitement. Shin scrambled into his bathroom and sprayed a bit of his cologne on and ran into his living room. The doorbell rang again.
“Just a moment!” Yelled Shin. He grabbed a shoe from in front of his door and slipped it on quickly. He went to grab for the other shoe, but it wasn’t there. “Shit!” He looked around frantically.
Sys appeared in front of him, shoe in hand. “I have never seen you this nervous for a guy. It’s making me excited for where this date is going to take you.”
Shin took the shoe and slipped it over his heel, “It’s just one date.” He grabbed his coat from the rack and put it on, “I’m not that nervous.”
Sys grinned, “Suuure, you definitely didn’t just curse out of frustration over a shoe so you can go on a date with a man you only met two weeks ago.”
Shin rolled his eyes, “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Sys placed his hands onto his cheeks, “Ahh! This is so fun. I’ll be waiting here for all the juicy details!”
Shin laughed and gave his friend a hug, “Thanks for helping me.”
Sys shoved him away and turned him towards the door, “Don’t keep him waiting!”
Shin opened the door and saw the man’s back facing him. He quickly stepped outside and closed the door behind him, making Wolfgang turned around.
“Shin! Wow, you look cute in that sweater.” Shin watched as the blonde assessed his outfit and he shivered as he saw how handsome Wolfgang looked in front of him, his neck wrapped up in a scarf. Cute…
“Are you cold?” Wolfgang asked. Without hesitation, Wolfgang zipped up Shin’s coat all the way, “You should always zip up or else you’ll catch a cold.” Shin’s face grew hot as Wolfgang ruffled his hair with a smile. “Are you still cold?” Shin wasn’t sure why, but he nodded, full aware he was burning up. Wolfgang took off his scarf and stretched it out in front of them. He started to wrap it around Shin and then he wrapped the end of it around his own neck.
“There! Now we can both stay warm.”
Shin lowered his face into the scarf and smiled, hiding his blush from the blonde. It’s just one date…right?