Once Upon a Time in Jade Palace

Zitao smiled weakly at Sehun once they all stopped shoving each other, hoping it would serve as an apology for the way they had run in to each other earlier. Sehun returned the smile, his heart racing. He held his breath until Zitao had retreated back into the kitchen.

"He smiled at me." He cooed.

"Maybe because you look like a faggot in that shirt." Baekhyun said, his mouth stuffed with spring roll. Joonmyun elbowed Baekhyun in the ribs.

"I bought that shirt for him." He hissed, sipping his drink as he looked at Sehun. "You don't look stupid in any way. It makes you look manly."

Chanyeol laughed at this and glanced over to the kitchen entrance. "Hey Sehun, Luhan's talking to your boy for you." Sehun glanced over and, sure enough, Luhan was mumbling to Zitao with a smile on his face.

"Kill me now." Sehun whined, getting up and walking to the bathroom while covering his red cheeks with his hands. Sure, he thought Zitao was attractive, but there was no way he was ever going to approach him. He never meant for this to turn into anything. He just thought he was cute, he never planned to see him again. Sehun groaned softly, knowing his friends were probably out there embarassing him. He stared into the bathroom mirror and turned the water on. Taking a paper towel, he held it under the cold water and blotted his face with it. He could only hope that would make the redness go away. He didn't want the beautiful Chinese waiter to remember him as "the guy who ran into me with the splotchy face."

After he had calmed himself down, he made his way back to the table and sat down. He noticed Zitao out of the corner of his eyes, staring at one of his coworkers with a dreamy smile on his face. The one he was admiring turned to him, shooting him a glare and mumbling something. This made Zitao jump up and shuffle to the kitchen obediently, emerging a few minutes later to collect dirty dishes from another table.

"Ooh, looks like he has eyes for that one guy. Ya know, the one that's hotter than you?" Jongin nudged him a few times.

"Shut up." Sehun grumbled. "It's fine if he does. It's not like I'm going to end up with him any way. I just appreciate his fine ass..."

"Is there anything else I could get you?" Sehun was cut off by the voice of Luhan, smiling down at him. Sehun politely shook his head, returning the grin and picking at the chicken in front of him. He jumped when Luhan crouched down so he was eye-level with him. "That guy over there. The tall one with the thick eyebrows. His name's Yifan, he's the manager. In a few minutes he's going to come by to ask how the food is. He always does. Even if you don't think so, pretend it's good."

"Why, exactly?" Chanyeol asked, chow mein noodles hanging from his lips.

"Someone I'm super close to is the chef." He smiled softly, glancing back at the kitchen door. "And for some reason, Yifan hates him. He's just waiting for someone to say the chicken was dry so he can fire his ass. I know it's unprofessional for me to be having this conversation with you right now, but please. Help him out?"

Sehun laughed a bit at this and nodded. "Don't worry about it. The food's awesome."

As if on cue, this Yifan person walked up to the table. "How is everything?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest. Sehun could make out a scorpion shaped tattoo on his bicep through the thin fabric of his shirt. Tattoos always intimidated Sehun. Maybe this guy was responsible for the bullet holes in the door to the restaurant.

"It's delicious." Joonmyun said, smiling up at the other. "Thank you for asking."

Luhan flashed the group a thumbs-up.

"Yifan ge!" Zitao jogged over to the table, looking up at him with a smile before saying something Sehun couldn't understand. The taller narrowed his eyes and grumbled back to him. Zitao's smile faded as he took a step back. Sehun watched as the boy's eyes welled up just a bit before he walked away to the kitchen once more.

"You made him cry..." Kyungsoo observed.

Yifan glanced at Sehun and chuckled softly. "He cries over everything. Don't worry about it. The only reason he works here is because his dad owns the place. He's completely worthless. He's always spilling drinks, getting in the way, forgetting to do things. He follows me around like some sort of puppy and when I tell him to leave me alone, he takes it personally." He shrugged. "Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying everything." With that, he took off in the same direction Zitao had.

Baekhyun sighed and leaned against Chanyeol. "Ah, I'm so full. You're gonna have to carry me out. I don't think I can make it."

"No." Chanyeol responded, reaching over to steal a piece of chicken from Baekhyun's plate. The two just sat there for a while, giggling over nothing and shoving each other occasionally.

"Could you two maybe get a room or something? That would be nice." Joonmyun rolled his eyes as he looked at the check, paying for everyone and standing up. "Now if you all would stand up, we have to celebrate the birth of our baby Sehun. We can go open presents now."

"I swear if you got me a pacifier again..." Sehun looked at Chanyeol with a pained expression. Joonmyun loved calling Sehun the baby for some unknown reason, so Chanyeol was always buying him little shoes and bibs and stuffed bunnies on occasions like this. The group pushed themselves up and made their way to the door. Sehun, however, took his time exiting the restaurant. He noticed Zitao again, wiping down the table they had just been at. This time, he wasn't smiling.

Making his way back to the table, Sehun pulled a piece of bubble gum out of his pocket. He tapped Zitao's shoulder, feeling absolutely terrible when the other looked back at him with a miserable expression. Zitao forced a smile as he swatted away a tear that threatened to fall and Sehun took his hand, placing the piece of gum in his smooth palm.

"Xie xie." Zitao murmured, his voice barely above a whisper, knowing the other probably wouldn't understand. He swallowed hard, gesturing towards himself. "Zitao."

Sehun smiled at him and pointed to himself as well. "Sehun." He replied.

For a moment, the two stood there, awkwardly smiling at each other. There was nothing more they could say but in all reality it didn't even matter much.They were fine with shy grins and simple gestures.

"Christ on a stick, Sehun! Would you hurry up?" Jongin poked his head back into the restaurant and ruining the moment, if it could be called that. Sehun groaned and looked back at Zitao, giving him one last shy smile before leaving the restaurant and squishing himself into the van again.