"It was fine."

"Always pulling teeth with you," he sighs.

"Here you go, a double espresso mocha for you," to Tae-gun, "and boba for you," to Woo-young. "I'll get the cake in a bit."

"Thank you, noona."

Tae-gun brings his coffee up to his lips and blows on it softly, watching Woo-young behind half-lidded eyes.

"How about those games Kim Hye-jin recced you? Any good?"

He freezes at the question for a second then forces himself to relax. "They're fine. Good, even. I'm... not sure I'm getting much of what Kim Hye-jin thought I would out of them. They're twisty, I suppose, and help me think in twisty ways."

You know what, Woo-young is going to be the bigger man here and not feel at all petty about how that got two whole sentences of an answer when his book rec barely got an acknowledgement.

"You've still been playing them, though?"

"...yeah. Sometimes."

"And have you been having fun?"

...fun?

"I suppose I have."

"I think you may in fact be getting what Kim Hye-jin thought you could get out of them, then."

"...why would she care if I have fun?"

"People tend to care about the people they care about," he explains slowly.

"That's all there is to it."

Well he did not ask her to care about him. In fact, he specifically requested the opposite of that.

...he wants to change the subject.

"How are you and Tae-hwan?"

"...hang on what did you just say?"

"...I asked how you and Tae-hwan are doing."

Why must he be like this.

"Holy shit, sunbae.

"Uh, fine? I—we're not dating. If that's what you're asking about?"

"You're not?"