"Mom. Mom, please. You have to let me go sometime." 

"Yeah, honey. He's a big boy now." 

"B-but! I-I...I don't want you to go!!" 

Kai had been attempting to pry his sobbing mom off of his torso for the past ten minutes. She kept reattaching herself to him whenever he briefly succeeded, and with the constant fidgeting and struggling it was starting to look as though the two were doing the tango. Kai's dad stood off to the side with crossed arms, watching the neverending debacle with slight amusement. 

"C'mon, I'm 21 years old! This is enough!" Kai yelled once he finally detached the older woman. She paused for a second, and stepped back from her son. She shook her head, feeling somewhat embarrassed by her childish impulse. 

"S-sorry." 

With a gentle pat on her shoulder, Kai tried to reassure his mom without saying anything. He couldn't blame her for being so frantic in the moment; he was about to permanently leave home to live on his own for the first time. After finishing his basic college courses and being accepted into his dream university, Kai was ready to move out and truly live as an independent adult. Sure, he'd be three hours away and moving to a town full of new people, but strangely enough, he wasn't worried. Nah, he was dying of excitement, actually.

New people meant new experiences. Kai was thinking for the longest time that once he ventured out and lived on his own, he would also meet his lifelong friends. And possibly...his lifelong partner. And not the kind of partner his parents would expect. Rather than the girls in school or around town, Kai was always into the guys instead. Although admittedly, he'd never had a serious relationship. He was hoping that his new, amazing life in the real world would change that. 

"Don't worry, everything's gonna be okay!" Kai smiled tenderly to his mom, who was wiping streams of tears from her face.

"He's in good hands, too." Kai's dad mentioned as he helped his son lift his luggage into the car's open trunk. After hauling in the heaviest piece of luggage, the tired man turned to his boy again, slightly panting. "Minho did you a huge favor, putting in a good word for you. You better nail that job every minute you're there."

"Yeah, I'm not worried about that." Kai responded.

His mom inhaled deeply, and finished wiping her tears. "Ah, well...it does make me feel better that at least you'll have a stable job." 

Kai's dad had a friend named Minho who worked for a local law firm in the new city he was moving to. Luckily for Kai, there was an open position as a receptionist, and it paid extremely well. Minho recommended Kai to the boss, and he was hired right away. 

"I'm just worried because it's a tough world out there!" Kai's mom added. "Just...call us if you need anything! I mean it!"

Kai leaned back, crossing his arms. "Seriously, you can calm down. Think about it...really, what could go wrong?"

                                                                                                   

                                                                                               

 

"Yeahhh...Kai, I don't know how to tell you this, but...you're fired." 

"Wait---WHAT?!"

Kai stood in the doorway of his boss' office, now completely stunned. He had just starting working at the law firm. It'd only been a week.  

"B-but what happened?" The shocked, now former employee questioned his boss, Mr. Choi. The older man just held a stupid, carefree smile on his face when he delivered the bad news, and flickered his pencil between his index finger and thumb, doing the childish "rubber pencil" trick.  

"Your services are no longer required." Mr. Choi said flatly. Then he took the pencil and placed it right on his top lip, scrunching his face upward to hold it still.

"But why?! It's only been a few days! And I was doing everything perfectly!" 

Mr. Choi removed the pencil, putting it down on the desk. He went from childishly comical to strangely serious in two seconds flat.

"That's right, you were doing very good." He said melancholically.

Kai paused, and scrunched his face in disdain. "Then...what's the problem?"

"I dunno, you're just..." The man started, as he continued playing with his pencil in various ways. "Missing something essential. Something that can't be taught, no matter how much training you do." 

"What the hell does that mean?!" Kai shouted, catching the attention of other employees in the firm. Mr. Choi raised his hand for Kai to settle down, and he sat down in the chair before him, desperation plaguing his expression. "Please...please, can't I fix this? I just moved into my apartment! I need work!" 

Mr. Choi stared up at the ceiling, tracing the mustache on his handsome face, pondering.  

"Hm...nope. Sorry. You can use me as a reference on your next job applications, though. I will gladly give them some good words about you!" 

Kai's mouth dropped open, and Mr. Choi got up from his desk, walking past him. He patted Kai's shoulder with a heavy hand, and smiled at him again.

"Hey, consider this your first real life lesson as an independent adult. Things don't always work out the way we want them to!" 

The older man walked off into the distance, laughing along with some other lawyer who passed by him as he went.

Now becoming frantic, Kai ran a sweaty hand through his hair. His brain was scrambling to find a way to fix this. 

 

                                                                                                         

 

That night, Kai sat in the living room of his apartment, which was still littered with unpacked boxes. He sighed, sinking a large ice cream scooper into a half-gallon of mint pistacchio and stuffing the dessert in his mouth. He wiped his eye with his free hand, repeatedly. To say that today was ty would be an understatement. 

The worst possible thing that could happen actually happened. He was permanently fired from his only source of income, and he just left home a few days ago. Now, Kai would have to get a job by the end of the month or else he'd have to move back home again. Usually, Kai wasn't even a big fan of ice cream, but that was the only thing that could possibly comfort him right now.

He pulled aside his laptop and immediately began to search job listings for receptionists. After about three hours, Kai's browser was overloaded with bookmarks for various local openings, and he sent in his application and resume to countless others. 

The exhausted boy let himself fall back against the couch, and he exhaled loudly. Somehow, he felt a little hopeful again. He then sat up, smiling confidently.

"Yeah, not a big deal! I'll find something better! Screw that stupid firm!"

He shoved more ice cream messily into his face, and spoke with his mouth full. "I don't need them--they need me!!"

 

                                                                                                           

 

Three weeks and countless bombed interviews later, that little shred of hope had basically died. Finding a job that paid well, fit into his school schedule, and was fun enough that he wouldn't want to throw himself off a cliff, was way more difficult than Kai expected. Time was flying by like crazy, and the bills would soon come pouring into his mailbox. Kai hadn't said a word about being fired to his parents yet, either, and wanted to keep it that way. 

All the pressure was making Kai start to go insane. But recently, he came up with a plan. Yeah, when he would apply for his next job, he'd do something just a little different.

After failing most of the interviews, because of lack of experience and/or not having any valuable skills, Kai decided to finally...stretch the truth. And apparently, it worked. He got a call from a certain other law office within two hours of emailing his resume to them, and hired that same day. 

But he quickly learned to never do that again, after he was immediately fired for lying about knowing Turkish. With that, Kai was back at square one. 

"Damn it...how was I supposed to know that a guy who only speaks Turkish would call the next day, and they'd need me to translate?" The exasperated student cursed under his breath, as he sat down at his kitchen table. He now gripped his last resort in his hands: a newspaper that would hopefully have some decent jobs available. He prayed that no one else would read the paper, which would help his chances of getting hired. Just about anything would do at this point. He just needed some stupid money.  

Kai flipped to the "Classifieds" section, quickly skimming it for something worthwhile. A/C repairman...no experience with that. Potato peeler at local restaurant...nah, he had more dignity than that. Cashier at a local supermarket...maybe? Kai squinted closely at this particular listing, noticing that the address was for a store pretty close by. Sure, a cashier job wasn't his first choice, but hey, among everything else he saw on the list, it was the best. 

And Kai had to laugh a little when he noticed that the ad read: "Several cashier positions available. If you have a pulse, you WILL be hired!" And it didn't hurt that the pay was apparently $15 an hour, guaranteed. Pulling his cellphone aside, Kai dialed the number right away, and was excited to hear someone pick it up. That is, until the person on the other side started talking.

"What?! What do you want?!" A man yelled at Kai aggressively.

"U-uh...hi?" Kai held the phone away from his ear, nervously. "I, uh, am calling about a cashier job?" 

Suddenly, the voice on the other end paused for a second, and then spoke cheerfully. "Oh, well why didn't you say so?" 

Kai's face contorted in annoyance. He continued listening quietly, as he heard the man calling for someone else to come to the phone. After a minute, another voice spoke into the phone, this time, it sounded like a guy who was both tired and bored.

"Hello...?"

Kai cleared his throat. "Ah, y-yeah, um. I was just mentioning to the other man that I'm interested in a cashier job for your store." He tried to speak as politely as possible, to help his chances.

"Really?!" The guy screeched into the device, making Kai jump back. "Yes, yes!! Please, come in tomorrow morning!!"

"Wh-what? I'm hired? Just like that?" Kai was stunned.

"We'll train you immediately once you come in! Thank you so much!!"

Scratching his cheek with his finger, Kai wasn't quite sure how to respond to such weird excitement, or the fact that he was hired without an interview. "S-sure. Is 10am okay?" 

Kai rose an eyebrow when it sounded like the guy he was talking to started crying on the other end. The aggressive-sounding man took over instead, and told him that that time slot was fine.

 

                                                                                                     

The supermarket looked okay enough. Nothing really fancy, but nothing awful either. And Kai didn't care all that much, because he couldn't afford to be picky at this point. As long as he was hired, and that paycheck covered the monthly bills, than this job was more than golden in his eyes. 

Clutching his bag, Kai stood before the automatic entrance, readying himself for his new job. He wondered what kind of people the managers were, since the people he spoke to on the phone seemed extremely weird, in different ways. There was also the matter of being the new guy in a place full of people he's never even seen before. He shook his head, reminding himself to not think too much and psych himself out. With that, Kai began his stride through the doors. 

He looked left and right, quickly observing the place. Everything looked pretty neat and clean, and the store itself was huge inside. There were a ton of registers, but only about six cashiers working on them, interacting nicely with various customers. Kai had to wonder though, why were there so few workers in such a huge place? The lack of people would explain why he got hired so easily, for sure. Regardless, the cashier's wide smiles and laughs that Kai heard as he walked by helped to calm his nerves a ton. Yeah, looked like his coworkers were at least friendly. So far, so good---

"WHAT?! What'd you just say?! You big-eared moron!!"

Kai whipped his head around to a sudden commotion taking place a few feet behind him. He turned to see a skinny, black-haired guy, around his height, yelling at a taller, dopey-faced guy who did in fact, have big ears. The shorter guy was the one yelling, and he kept going too, despite the shocked and afraid stares of customers. The giant was just staring at the ceiling, which was about 50 feet up, his mouth hanging open as he spoke.

"Wow, Sehun, the ceiling's really high in this place!" He commented, pointing up. "I bet birds live up there." 

"Hey, Paul Bunyan!!" The angry guy, named Sehun, snapped his fingers in the other's face to redirect his attention. "Eyes down here!!" 

"Hm?" The taller one smiled innocently.

"Listen, if you don't take your stupid and collect the trash from the registers by the time I come back from break, you're gonna find yourself up there with the birds, because I'm gonna throw you through the roof!! Understand?!" 

Kai started giggling at Sehun's anger. The way he yelled was so funny, for some reason. But Kai immediately stopped when he shot an intense glare at him, noticing his laughter. Kai covered his mouth, and backed away slowly.

Man, if looks could kill---wait, what am I doing standing here anyway? I gotta go get ready for training!

With that thought Kai ran towards the break room, where the managers told him to wait until someone came to get him. He was more nervous about waiting there than the actual training, because he knew that some current employees would probably be in there eating their lunch and chatting away. Kai was never that good at making small talk with strangers. He would probably start talking about something stupid like blue dolphins and make a fool of himself.    

Inhaling deeply, Kai decided to just go right in. To his surprise, there was actually only one person sitting in the break room. A guy around his age, with a very...expansive lunch. Seriously, the man had a full, family-sized rotiserrie chicken dinner, complete with a tub of mashed potatoes, a loaf of bread, and a two-liter soda. Kai furrowed his eyebrows at the strange sight, especially after he realized that the other was staring intently at him as he engulfed a chicken thigh. 

As the minutes passed, the chicken enthusiast's staring intensified, making Kai increasingly freaked out. He thought that maybe he should break the ice by saying something. Something witty, to make the weird guy laugh. But only one thing came to mind.

"So...what's your opinion on blue dolphins?" 

The other guy, who was still stuffing his face with chicken thigh, gave Kai a puzzled look. "What?" He said with a full mouth.

Gah!!

Kai mentally slapped himself for saying the one thing he didn't want to say. Way to make a first impression with the very first person he spoke to. He shook his head, trying to think of something funny to say to recover from that. 

"...sorry, I'm just nervous. It's my first day." Kai scratched his ear bashfully. "Uh, I'm Jongin. But my friends call me Kai." 

"My name's Yixing, but my friends call me Lay. If I had any friends." Lay strangely said with a big smile. Kai wasn't sure how to react. Was he trying to be funny?

"Ha ha...right." Kai coughed. 

Lay scooted over in his seat, right next to Kai, who eyed him in confusion. He pulled his half-eaten chicken dinner towards them from across the table, and smiled at Kai again. "Want some chicken?" 

Kai looked at the sloppy dinner, then back to this weirdo, then back to the dinner. "Uh. No thanks. I'm good. Just waiting for the managers. Or the guy who's supposed to train me. I'm not sure what's going on, really."  

"Oh." Lay took another big bite out of the chicken leg. "...last chance. Want some?" He waved the piece in Kai's face. He shook his head again, once more becoming freaked out. Maybe talking to Lay was a bad idea. 

Kai let out a sigh of relief when a taller, handsome man walked in the room. From the way he was dressed, in a way that was different from all the other employees, it was clear that he was a manager of some sort. 

"Are you Kim Jongin?" The man spoke. Kai recognized his voice as the one that was yelling at him for no reason on the phone yesterday. As the manager approached, Kai could see that his name tag read 'Kris'. 

Kai cleared his throat, trying to be careful not to look like an idiot in front of Kris. "Y-yes. But I prefer to go by Kai." 

"Pft, okay." Kris sneered for a second. Kai squinted in disbelief.

What the heck was that for?

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kris." He extended his hand and shook Kai's own. "So, bit of bad news. The guy who's training you is Kyungsoo. He's running late though, so you'll have to wait about twenty minutes. That okay with you?"

"Of course. It's fine." Kai smiled. He would be spending the next five hours or so with someone named Kyungsoo, huh? 

"Good. Now, I have some things to take care of, so if you'll excuse me..." Kris half-smiled, and turned to walk out the door. "Where is Baekhyun and Chen?! They've been gone for two hours!! I swear, once I get my hands on..."

Kris' yelling faded in the distance, and Kai couldn't help but gulp. He sure didn't want to get on that guy's bad side. The already tired student exhaled, and sunk down into his seat. 

"Man, you're in for it now!!" 

Kai rose an eyebrow at Lay, who suddenly burst out in a loud voice. "Why?" He responded, now a bit worried. He hadn't done anything wrong yet, had he? 

"You're training with that demon-spawn Kyungsoo! What awful luck!" 

Sitting up in his chair, Kai leaned closer to Lay with concern. "Wh-what's wrong with Kyungsoo?"

Lay put a hand on Kai's shoulder. "Let me put it this way: if nightmares and evil had a baby, Kyungsoo would be the bully beating it down on the playground!" 

"No way!" Kai gasped. "He's that bad?"

"The worst." 

Kai dropped his head onto his hands, ruffling his hair in aggravation. "Man, I just started here, and it's already gonna ? Oh God..."

"God can't save you now, Kai!" 

"Ugh..." Kai moved his hands, and let his head slam onto the table. "Thanks for telling me all this, Lay. At least I'll know to be careful around this guy."

"Yeah!" Lay threw his arm around Kai's shoulder, making his eyes widen in surprise. "Just stick with me buddy, I know we'll be best friends!" 

Slowly removing his hand, Kai gave the overly excited boy an unsure smile. "Right...thanks."

Didn't I just meet this guy like two minutes ago?

 

                                                                                     

Kai lowered his head into the bathroom sink, and began splashing his face with water. He was a lot sweatier after all the crap that Lay told him about this Kyungsoo person. He was already nervous enough about the whole 'new place' ordeal, but now he had to train with some jerk the rest of the day...awesome.

"I just hope I can get through today...then I probably won't have to talk with him again." 

He jolted when he heard his name being called over the loud speaker, telling him to come to the front of the store. Kai inhaled deeply, clenching his fists at the same time. He fixed himself up in the mirror a bit, and exited the bathroom.

Here goes nothing. 

Kai pressed his lips into a firm line, and walked with confidence to the front of the store. He figured he'd try to fake being strong and intelligent for the duration of his training. But he couldn't help that his forehead was getting sweaty all over again as he got closer to his destination.

It was time to meet 'Kyungsoo'. Evil incarnate. The apparent devil himself.

The devil---

The sound of Kai's heels scuffing the floor could be compared to that of a car screeching to a complete stop.

Right there, standing at the front doors, was the cutest boy he'd ever seen in his life. A little on the short side, with short black hair that fell adorably around his round face, big, innocent-looking eyes, plump pink lips, and beautiful pale skin. He stood with his fingers interlaced and was rocking back and forth on his feet, humming a tune to himself. 

Holy...

Kai swallowed, hard. Was this personification of everything sweet and wonderful and magical in the world... the "demon" Kyungsoo? 

"He can't be this cute. He can't. Oh God...help me." Kai whispered under his breath, like a love-struck doofus. Sadly, his vision of cherry petals and sparkling light surrounding Kyungsoo was broken by a rough yank of his arm and a shrill voice screaming in his ear.

"Finally! What took you so long in the bathroom?!" Sehun yelled, embarrassing Kai. He hurled the blushing student towards Kyungsoo, who's eyes widened at how close he suddenly was to him. Kai jumped backwards immediately, and shot his eyes down to the floor.

"So, you're Kai, right?" Sehun started. "I guess I haven't introduced myself...or whatever. I'm Sehun, your supervisor. I'll be the one watching what everyone's doing up here. If you need help on the register, I'm the guy you ask. But I don't want you to bother me too much...so try to screw up as little as possible."

Kai's face scrunched up a bit at the guy's rudeness. Sehun then poked Kai's chest with his index finger, repeatedly.

"I practically run this store. Not the managers. Me. Got it?" 

"G-got it." Kai responded quietly. He couldn't help that as Sehun continued rambling, his eyes were on Kyungsoo the whole time. The shorter man fidgeted a little, unsure of what to do but keep smiling awkwardly. 

"Oh, and this is Kyungsoo. He's the one who'll be training you today." The snobby supervisor pointed down at Kyungsoo. He then stepped up, flashing Kai a sweet, heart-shaped smile along with a little wave of the hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you! I'm Kyungsoo." 

Kai almost threw his hands up in front of his eyes because he felt like he was being blinded by Kyungsoo's cuteness. 

"Y-yeah. And I-I'm..." Kai stuttered. "I-I'm, uh..."

"What? Don't you know your own name?" Sehun interjected with his signature sass. "Great, we have another genius working for us."

"Hey! I know my name!" The flustered student fired back right away. "I-I'm uh--"

"Here we go..." Sehun rolled his eyes.

"Kai!" He finally shouted out. "Yeah. Kai. T-that's my name. Er, well, I mean, my real name's Jongin, but...I usually go by Kai."

Kyungsoo cocked his head to the side. "Do you mind if I call you Jongin? Kai sounds cool, but I like your real name more."

At that, Kai turned away from the two, dramatically. He wasn't sure how to handle this situation. He knew for sure that his ears and face were reaching a dangerous level of heat, though. Kyungsoo walked around in front of him, staring Kai in the face with his wide, innocent eyes.

"I'm sorry, do you not want me to call you that?"

"N-no!!" Kai then coughed when he noticed how loudly he said that. "It's fine. It's fine, ha ha..." 

"Just get started already. You're wasting time." Sehun commented. Kai squinted at him a little, in disdain. It was only the first day, but he decided that he didn't like this supervisor one bit.

"All right, let's go, Jongin." Kyungsoo smiled adorably again, and motioned for Kai to follow him. As soon as the black-haired cashier turned around and walked ahead of him, Kai clutched his shirt, feeling like he was dying of happiness.

                                                                                     

                                                                                     

"J...Jongin, I don't know how to say this." Kyungsoo started, in a shy, almost whispering voice. He then turned his head swiftly, his soft black hair following the motion. He avoided Kai's intense gaze, as it was consuming his body from head-to-toe. "Oh--I'm too embarrassed to say it..." 

Kai caressed Kyungsoo's reddened cheek softly, and tenderly. The smaller boy blushed even more deeply at the gesture, and peeked up at the other, innocently. He held onto Kai's moving hand with his own. 

"Tell me." Kai said in a calm, nearly seductive voice.

Kyungsoo brushed back some loose strands of hair behind his ear, bashfully. He bit down on his thick bottom lip, as his eyes wandered from the floor and back to Kai multiple times. "I-I...well, I know I just met you, but...I think..."

The red-faced cashier gasped aloud when Kai wrapped his arm around his small waist and pulled him closer in one quick movement. 

"Oh, Jongin!" 

"Don't be afraid, Kyungsoo. Just tell me." 

Kyungsoo placed his hand on Kai's chest, lightly gripping at the fabric of his shirt. He then looked Kai straight in the eyes. "I...I think I love you!" 

At that confession, Kai dipped Kyungsoo, still holding one arm around his waist, and the other supporting his head. 

"I feel the same way. Ever since I saw you, Kyungsoo." 

Kyungsoo pulled Kai closer, suddenly becoming aggressive. "Kiss me, you fool!"

"Yes. I'll gladly---"

 

"...in...Jongin...Jongin!!" 

"H-huh?"

Kai snapped out of his daze when he felt Kyungsoo furiously shaking him. Turns out he was just daydreaming. Or rather, he was having a detailed, intimate vision of himself with a guy he just met twenty minutes ago. He mentally slapped himself.

Christ, what am I thinking? I barely know him, and he barely knows me! There's no way he'd "love" me! Or even "like" me! 

"Why were you dozed off for the past few minutes?" Kyungsoo looked up at Kai with those big doe eyes again. "Were you listening?"

Kai jumped a bit in his skin, and cleared his throat. Way to make himself look bad in front of this adorable person already. "Y-yeah!! Of course! Ha ha!" 

"Then do you want to help the next customer based on what I just taught you?" Kyungsoo smiled, almost half-heartedly.

"Yeah. Sure." Kai gulped. He wasn't paying attention at all, but he was going to try anyway. It was just scanning items, how hard could it be? With that thought, the taller employee stood behind Kyungsoo, as he began to move aside and allow him to access the cash register. A customer with a bunch of tomato sauce and other strange stuff was coming through. Kai started to slowly scan the items as they reached him, delighted that it actually was simple as that.

Off to the side, Sehun was watching like a hawk, though. That obviously added a bit to the intimidation of learning everything and doing well on just the first day. Kai turned his head to look at him, and when Sehun noticed that, gave him a small, polite nod. Sehun just scowled bitterly in response, making Kai jump a bit in his skin. He swore he even heard the pissy supervisor growl slightly. 

Geez...what's his problem?

Kai then glanced at Kyungsoo again briefly, and gave him another bashful smile after being taken aback by how much cuter he was up close. He inhaled deeply, trying to straighten his thoughts out, and looked back down at endless incoming tomato sauces. But within seconds, his eyes wandered back to Kyungsoo, who looked up at him innocently. 

Crud. It's too hard to focus with him!!

As Kai panicked within his head, Kyungsoo just smiled back at him, and pushed some loose hairs behind his ear. He quickly looked back down, and lightly caressed his own arm, almost shyly. Kai's breath hitched. Maybe it was just his crazy imagination, but it was almost like---

"Jongin...I know I just met you, but...I think..." 

Kai nearly gasped outright. It was just like his fantasy. 

"Y-yes?!" 

"I, um...h-hey, watch out!!" 

Kyungsoo was interrupted by Kai scanning a jar of tomato sauce too fast and dropping it on the floor. The taller man let out an embarrassing shriek at his careless mistake. He turned his head to see the customer fuming with rage. Kai bowed to her, and turned his attention back to the floor. 

"Crap!"

As Kai bent down to start picking up the shards of broken glass, he got a glimpse of Sehun shaking his head and furiously writing down notes on his clipboard. Kai felt himself getting sweatier under all the pressure to perform well. 

"Ugh, this . I'm screwing up too much already..." He said under his breath. Kyungsoo bent down along side him, carefully assisting in picking up the glass. 

"Don't worry about him, you're new here. Let me help you." 

Kai's heart fluttered, and his cheeks heated up. "O-okay. Thanks." He tried to contain his goofy smile to prevent himself from looking any dorkier. The two cashiers were trying to retrieve all the pieces as quickly as possible, and in their rush, they brushed hands.  

Just as Kai was about to shout 'I'm sorry', he paused. Kyungsoo simply stared at their touching hands. Kai blushed deeply, seeing an opportunity.

Would it hurt if I tried a little...?

He gently slid his fingers across Kyungsoo's knuckles, almost caressing them. When the other still didn't respond, Kai then lifted his hand, observing it with concerned eyes.

"Did you...hurt yourself?" Kai said in a low voice. He was trying to look heroic.  

Kyungsoo cleared his throat. "U-uh, no, I'm fine." 

Kai lightly gripped Kyungsoo's hand, and smiled lovingly. "You have such cute hands..." 

At that comment, Kyungsoo's eyes widened. They both looked up when the pissed off customer leaned over the counter to glance down at them. She shook a can of tomato sauce in their faces, frowning.

"Helloooo? Am I gonna get a new bottle or what? I don't have all year!" 

Kai shot up onto his feet immediately, now that all the glass was picked up. "Oh--y-yeah, sorry! I'll get that right away!" 

"Yeah, take your time. Or hurry back, since we're still training, ha ha." Kyungsoo chuckled awkwardly. His cheeks and ears were still burning red. Kai grinned widely once he noticed that, and nodded. He dashed away, hurrying to the sauce aisle. Kyungsoo stood up, and frowned deeply at the long line of angry customers before him.

"Man..."

 

 

When his break finally rolled around, Kai was all rainbows and glitter. His face hurt from how much he'd been smiling for the past few hours. To think, after all the crap that happened with him losing his job after just moving out of his parent's house, things were suddenly looking up, in the best way possible. In this little supermarket, Kim Jongin was sure he had found his soulmate, even if it was just the first day. 

As he strolled along with his lunch in hand, Kai hummed a tune to himself happily. He did a little skip-jump as he hummed, and pushed the door for the employee break room open. But he stopped smiling once he was slapped in the face with a thick slice of ham. 

What...the...Kai shuddered. Is there...a piece of lunch meat on my face right now?!

"Aww, yeah!! Got him!!" A loud, deep voice shouted from a few feet away. "Ten points for Chanyeol!! Chen, write that down!" 

"Sure thing." Another male voice assured. "Good thing it wasn't Sehun." 

"Ugh...I was hoping you'd miss!" Yet another male voice grumbled. 

Kai stood in shock, with the ham still attached to his skin. It then peeled off by itself, rolling backwards and onto the ground. He squinted in disdain, taking in the faces of the perpetrators. He recognized the one who hit him as the giant named Chanyeol, and beside him sat two other men around his age. Kai was surprised to find that one of them was wearing eyeliner around his droopy-eyes. "Why...just why..."

"I won, didn't I?" Chanyeol leaned over to the guy named Chen, who was jotting numbers down on a piece of paper, which had a score table on it. 

"Yeah, now Baekhyun owes you a favor!" Chen grinned. 

Baekhyun, the one wearing eyeliner, pouted and crossed his arms. "Psh, whatever. It's just a stupid game. Not like I wanted to win, anyway. What kind of favor would you even want from me, Chanyeol?" 

To Kai's surprise, Chanyeol smirked and held Baekhyun's chin with one hand. "I think you already know."

"W-what? No, not again!" Baekhyun turned his head, pretending to be embarrassed.

"I'm not letting you sleep tonight." Chanyeol whispered in his deep voice. 

The two stared at each other for a second with utmost seriousness, then burst out laughing. Kai gave them a strange look as a reaction to their weird behavior, and started towards the nearest empty chair.

What kind of relationship is this?

"Don't mind them. They like to joke around like that. And play games where they shoot food at whoever walks through the door first."

Kai felt a rush of adrenaline go through his body when he heard that familiar voice. Kyungsoo was sitting right beside Baekhyun, but Kai didn't notice him there before. He was eating a egg salad sandwich, with his usual doe-eyed facial expression. Kai perked up, immediately forgetting that he was assaulted by ham just a second ago.

He slid down in the empty chair next to Kyungsoo, to which the smaller boy responded with a hesitant smile. Kai placed his chin on his palm, as he watched Kyungsoo continue to eat his sandwich. He didn't notice that he was staring really, but somehow, he found himself mesmerized and couldn't help it.

About fifteen seconds passed, and Kyungsoo swallowed his mouthful, and put down his half-eaten sandwich. "Um, is that all you're eating?"

Kai looked down at his "lunch", which consisted of a cheap bag of chips and a bottle of water he brought from home. It was embarrassing; with the loss of his other job, Kai had to save any money he could, which meant he couldn't eat an actual meal for now. "Well, I--"

"You can't just eat that. Here, have some of my sandwich." Kyungsoo took a plastic knife and cut the rest in half. Kai's eyes sparkled, and he took it.

Holy crap,we're already sharing food!

"Thank you, Kyungsoo." Kai made sure to add a hint of seduction on his name. Kyungsoo seemed to be turning red again, as the other employees in the room looked over for a brief second.

"No problem...Jongin."

Kai subtly scooted his chair a little closer to Kyungsoo.    

I'm not crazy...am I?

The smaller boy picked up his cup of soda and started drinking it quickly as Kai inched closer to his face. 

"Y-you're getting a little close there..." Kyungsoo whispered, but it was still loud enough for Kai to hear, given the short distance between them. 

Maybe he's really into me...? 

"Do you like it?" Kai smiled tenderly at the other. He then took the cup of soda from Kyungsoo's hand, to his surprise, and took a long sip right out of the same straw. After a second of silence, Kyungsoo sighed, placed his sandwich on the table, and began to speak.

"Okay. Jongin, I know I just met you, but..."

"Oh...yeah?" Kai continued to drink the soda, confidently. Kyungsoo was picking up where he left off earlier, and Kai was sure that he'd say what he expected.

"Alright, first off..." Kyungsoo started. "Can you back up?"

Kai paused, letting the straw fall from his lips. "Eh?"

"You're WAY too close." His tone switched from the sweet, polite one Kai had gotten used to throughout the day, to a harsh one. The taller cashier didn't budge, and Kyungsoo instead scooted his chair backward. "And second, you've been staring at me all day...it's kind of creeping me out."

On the other side of the break room, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Chen whipped their heads around to check out the action. They hadn't been paying attention before, since they were busy with their ham-flinging game scoreboard. But now that Kyungsoo was speaking loudly, they sensed juicy, potential drama. 

"Do I have something on my face? Or do you have a crush on me?" Kyungsoo's voice held more attitude than before. 

Kai was still just sitting there, stunned. And with a few droplets of Sprite falling from his mouth.

"C'mon Kyungsoo, stop being such a homophobe! Not every guy's after your !" Chanyeol shouted even though he was only three feet away.

Kyungsoo huffed wordlessly, rising from his chair. He grabbed the rest of his sandwich in one hand, and started to make his way to the door. Kai snapped out of his dazed state when he noticed that he was still holding Kyungsoo's drink. He extended his arm towards Kyungsoo.

"Uh..."

Kyungsoo squinted at the straw's tip, which was now covered with Kai's spit. "You can keep that." 

Kai couldn't process much within the next few seconds, except maybe a slamming door and the sound of the three idiots in the room going 'ooooooohhh' in unison. When he came to his senses, he stared down at the floor for a moment, then up at Chanyeol, who was the only one to speak up to Kyungsoo. 

"Is he...really a homophobe?" Kai mumbled under his breath. 

Chanyeol scratched his chin, seemingly in deep thought. "Hmm, seems like it! He is probably the straightest dude I've ever met."

The taller employee laughed, while Kai just felt himself sinking further into the dark abyss.

Straight...straight...straight...The word echoed over and over in his mind. 

The back of his head then met the ground, as he fell backwards in his chair. 

 

 

Sooo that was chapter 1!

I was pretty excited but nervous about making a new story, so I reallllllly hope you guys like it so far!

I have a lot of funny ideas (at least I think they're funny lololol) for the chapters coming so stay tuned for that :DDD

Things are gonna get a little crazy in the next chapter aheheheheh so I will try to update soon!!

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Love you guys!! <3333