Hyuk-jae was focusing on Soon Hee, doing his best to flirt with her. Nagisa, for once, seemed to be having trouble — he kept staring at him! Hyuk-jae laughed a little as Nima pouted. Truly he found the woman taxing, and was beyond thankful that he wasn't her favourite. He caught her glaring at him once, and raised a brow. What was her problem?

Put off by her demeanor, Hyuk-jae was determined to focus on Soon Hee. He complimented her hair and asked about work and was that a new brooch? He was so glad she'd come and —
So is that what you were doing last night?

Apparently she'd seen them out. Was it a problem? Hyuk-jae wasn't sure if customers were supposed to know. Could they get in trouble for this? It wasn't any of her business! Grinning wolfishly at her, he flashed his eyes at Nagisa for a moment. "How funny!" he said, "he's exactly what I was doing last night." Soon Hee gasped a little, scandalized by the very forward and somewhat inappropriate statement.
"Eunhyuk!"
Placing his arm around her shoulder easily, Hyuk-jae smiled at Soon Hee. "My apologies," he said, "I forgot you were so delicate — please forgive me."
She was blushing.

Nima didn't seem pleased by his 'joke'. She was quick to point out any lapse in his attention, too. He missed something Soon Hee said, staring at her blankly for a moment as his mind fell into a few-seconds-long absence seizure.
"Can't you pay attention?" said Nima peevishly, frowning as she caught Nagisa looking at him again.

"I —" Hyuk-jae glanced at Soon Hee. Should he apologize? Normally they just... didn't acknowledge the fits. Had it really been so noticeable? Soon Hee apologized for boring him and he immediately protested. "No! Sorry! I-- I have a bad daydreaming habit!"

She took a shumai, agreeing that it was a romantic food. As usual, Hyuk-jae ate nothing. Nima commented on that, too, seeming out of sorts. Soon Hee, in her quiet way, took up the rest of his attention while they were there. It felt like the beginning of a very long and very off-kilter night.

Hyuk-jae was never so glad to see Nima leave. Soon Hee almost apologized for her friend and said something to the effect of not minding that he was so absent-minded. The dark-haired young man found himself apologizing again, and the rest of the night seemed to follow suit. Was it just him, or was he having more 'moments' than usual?

Frowning, Hyuk-jae tried harder to focus. It didn't seem to help. He noticed that Nagisa required something for a headache as well and wondered if they just both didn't need more sleep. When Jainukul pulled the shorter man aside, he thought nothing of it. Perhaps someone wanted to book Nagisa solo — not that he blamed them. Especially with their lady clients, he often felt that he was a step behind his partner.

By the time they were done and back in the locker area, both of them were drained.
"You okay?" Hyuk-jae looked down at Nagisa, leaning his brown head against the locker and rubbing at his eyes. The younger man seemed pained. Hyuk-jae touched his wrist to his friend's neck for a moment. He didn't feel hotter than usual. It was a puzzle! Hyuk-jae spent the rest of the night keeping Nagisa under a watchful eye, trying to prevent him from straining himself.

The next week passed in a blur. Hyuk-jae went privately to find linens and things for his apartment, not wanting to take Nagisa to some of the second-hand shops. The younger man had continuing headaches, having to put his comics down after much shorter times than usual. They went shopping but had to cut the trip short. Nagisa wasn't even excited about the candy floss! He rubbed his temples frequently and complained of feeling dizzy a few times. By the fourth day, Hyuk-jae began to get worried.

"Did you have headaches like this before?" he asked one morning as they washed the dishes.
The smaller man shrugged. "Sometimes. Not really like this though — I feel like it's been going on for days!"
Well, it had been going on for days. Frowning, Hyuk-jae turned off the water. "Shouldn't we go see someone?" he asked, after a long moment of silence. While he personally hated healers and everything to do with them, they surely wouldn't treat Nagisa like they treated him. After all, Nagisa was normal. And he couldn't keep having his head hurt like this!

"We can just go visit someone very quickly and they can tell us if there's something you can do to make it better." They'd already tried the headache teas he had on hand and it didn't work. Neither had cool cloths to the head or lying in darkness. Even if the headache went away, it always came back after Nagisa was up for a little bit.

"What about the Apothecary? That boy in there is nice enough for a healer. I'm sure he could tell us." They couldn't both be off their game. It absolutely would not work, not even a little.

Basically, he'd had to drag Nagisa to the Apothecary in the end. Enduring no little amount of fussing and insisting that Nagisa was fine, Hyuk-jae took the younger man to the clinic, refusing to take no for an answer. Nagisa hid behind him as he spoke to the petite healer, gripping his shirt in what the Firebender could only assume was apprehension.

Not that he blamed him. Not even a little.

Lucky for both of them, Shtiya was as sweet as they came. He was a tiny, non-threatening figure, gently asking pertinent questions and using a little electric light to look at Nagisa's eyes and ears. After glancing at Hyuk-jae, he asked if either of them would mind his using Waterbending to get a better idea.

Uncomfortable, Hyuk-jae let Nagisa answer. The younger man had no way of knowing how much he hated Waterbending, since they hadn't talked about it before. In the end, Shtiya was very quick and chipper, eventually asking them to step into the back. Could Nagisa hold this patch over his left eye and read the letters on the top line of the chart, please?

Hyuk-jae looked at the chart. The top letters were the biggest, with it all getting smaller as it went down. Nagisa stumbled over reading them and he frowned watching him. The smaller the letters got, the worse Nagisa performed. But... He knew that the young man could read. A few times he opened his mouth to say something but a glance from the healer made him stop. Shtiya was very encouraging and didn't tell Nagisa if he was right or wrong, just let him read different lines. He asked him to switch eyes and made a few notes, but again didn't say anything about whether or not Nagisa was getting the letters right. In the end he told them to wait just a moment and went back to the front, leaving them alone.

Placing gentle hands on his friend's shoulders as they waited, Hyuk-jae pressed a sweet kiss to Nagisa's hair. "It'll be fine," he said. Did Nagisa know how poorly he'd done?

Shtiya returned about five minutes later with a referral to an eye specialist down the street. In his opinion, Nagisa was fine — he just needed glasses. He'd spoken on the telephone with the man just moments before and he'd agreed to see them immediately. The young man charged them the barest minimum price for his time and saw them to the door, assuring Nagisa that there really wasn't likely to be anything else the matter with him.

Glasses? Well, that was a relief! Hyuk-jae was incredibly pleased, but —
"Glasses?" Nagisa repeated in disbelief. "I need glasses?"

Frowning, Hyuk-jae glanced between Shtiya and Nagisa. Wasn't the younger man happy he didn't need anything more serious? Glasses, well. That was fine! Wasn't it fine? Hyuk-jae thought it was a relatively simple solution to what could have been a much bigger problem. As they went to the specialist he kept glancing over, unsure of what to say.
"Ah — kind of… a relief, isn't it?"

Nope. It wasn't.

They had to sit through a bunch of stuff at the specialist's, and then they had to wait. Nagisa moped about the apartment, moaning about his head and how ugly he'd look with glasses. Wouldn't people make fun of him he said and why couldn't it be something else he said and glasses would make him look boring he said. Hyuk-jae had almost had enough of it and was of half a mind to tell the fluffy-haired host right off for his severe vanity problem when the notice about the glasses being ready came.

They went to the office with no little trepidation on both their parts. Hyuk-jae wasn't sure he could take more whining about the glasses, and watched with apprehension as Nagisa put the wire frames to his face. Dear God, what would it be like living with him if he hated them?

But as it turned out, he needn't have worried. The younger man's entire face lit up as soon as he put the glasses on, and he moved them up and down, taking in the difference. It was charming, and Hyuk-jae wondered if the specialist got to see that kind of wonder on faces often. Surely he must.

"What do you think? How does it look?"

Laughing, Hyuk-jae shook his head. "You're adorable," he said, after a minute. He was just glad that the reaction was mostly positive. Nagisa could definitely pull off the schoolboy look even better now, and the Firebender made sure to say so. He felt certain their clients would find the change in Nagisa's look as adorable as he did. It would probably go to the young man's head, in fact. They thanked the specialist and Nagisa paid for the glasses before they left.

The younger man stared at everything on the way to what wouldn't be Hyuk-jae's home much longer. He hadn't wanted to say anything while Nagisa was sick, and then he'd put it off because of the glasses… but Hyuk-jae was almost ready to move out. All he had left to do now was paint the living room, and he wanted to do that with Nagisa.

In the end, Hyuk-jae casually invited Nagisa to come paint his apartment with him while they ate dinner and the younger man exclaimed over the colours of the food now that he could see. When their next day off rolled around, Hyuk-jae left directions to the place on the table for Nagisa and headed to the apartment.

The cans of sky blue paint were sitting in the middle of the empty room, on top of a tarp. Hyuk-jae had prepared the place well enough for painting, getting enough materials for the both of them. A little second-hand kettle, cheery with its sunny yellow enamel, sat on the stove. Walking in front door, turning left would take the visitor into the living room, with the paint cans, while turning right would lead straight into the kitchen. The bathroom was directly across from the entrance.

It was a tiny, but efficient, space. Hyuk-jae was over the moon with it. The Murphy bed was folded up along the back wall of the living room, out of sight. "What do you think?" he asked, excited. The kitchen had a tiled white and black floor and a window above the sink. "It's perfect, isn't it? I know it's not as big as your place, but I don't need nearly so much space."

He'd already primed the walls, figuring that Nagisa would appreciate painting actual color on instead of more white. So far he had yet to move any of his clothing from the shorter man's place, but there was no rush. He wanted it to feel like a home when he moved in, wanted to make sure that it was a comfortable place. Hyuk-jae wanted it to be the place he'd always dreamed of.

The studio apartment was much smaller than Nagisa's two-story, but it felt like a palace to Hyuk-jae.

Surprised by how tightly Nagisa hugged him, Hyuk-jae stood very still for a moment. He smelled like gochujang and green tea and the herby, near-mint scent of his soap. It was the normal Hyuk-jae smell of having made lunch for them already, of taking a shower when he got up, of making tea for Nagisa's arrival.

"I made tea for you," he said, once Nagisa let go of him and took a step back. What was that for? Taking in his friend's outfit, Hyuk-jae's mouth curved in a slow smile, his eyes warm. These must be some of the absolute oldest clothes he had! Despite their plain-ness and worn nature, to Hyuk-jae it was likely the most provocative outfit Nagisa had ever worn. "And dinner. For later." Usually he felt slightly out of place next to the shorter man. Right now, though — right now they looked like they went together. Truly.

It made him want very much to just unfold the Murphy bed and skip painting altogether, but that wouldn't do at all. Settling for pouring Nagisa a cup of tea to get away from the physical proximity of him, Hyuk-jae showed his friend the few dishes and talked for a moment about how happy he was with the storage in the place, despite it being so small.

While Nagisa looked around at his apartment, Hyuk-jae waited for a verdict. The kitchen cabinets were stocked with enough second-hand dishes for two people, and the mug he was currently using for his tea was chipped on one edge of its rose-patterned surface. He still had yet to get a window box or any seating for the living area, but it needed painting first. Which, naturally, was why they were there. As Nagisa exclaimed that it was perfect for him, the taller man smiled softly. "It will be," he said. "You'll see."

"So... how do you do this?"

"Oh —" Hyuk-jae picked up a roller. "Just put this in the paint and put in on the wall. Smooth as you can. It's really easy and I already put down things to protect against a mess." He grinned, demonstrating with his paint roller. The paint was a cheerful sky blue, bright and clean. "It's a pretty color, right?"

It took them a few hours to paint everything, even with the size. Hyuk-jae had to reach above Nagisa to finish near the ceilings. By evening, they were both hungry and very done painting. Hyuk-jae left the windows open for ventilation and served them both beef and spicy vegetables, with a rice ball for Nagisa on the side. They had to sit on the floor. "I figured you and I can look for a sofa, maybe?" Hyuk-jae said between bites. Nagisa was good with color matching. He would be able to help him find something to match the walls, right?

Other things, like a bedside table that doubled as a living room table, Hyuk-jae could pick up himself. He'd just get plain wooden ones, no fuss. Easy to find second-hand! Glancing around, he realized that after this, he had no excuse to stay in Nagisa's apartment any longer. The paint would be dry by the next night. Wound Nagisa miss him, once he was gone? He knew they'd see each at work constantly, but what if the beginnings of their romance — if he even had the right to call it that — were just based on proximity? Would it fade away after now? An ache in his chest surprised him, and he covered it by getting up to refill his tea so that the fluffy-haired man wouldn't see.

One more night.