Tao walked into the back room of the grocery store to grab his name tag and sign his name into the system, ready to start the day ahead. As he typed into the computer, he heard a voice behind him.

“Just clocked in, Taozi?” Tao turned around to find his co-worker, Baekhyun, putting on his own name tag.

“Yes. I’m good to go.” Tao replied.

“Great, then let’s go. The sooner we start, the faster we can get out of here.” Baekhyun said.

Tao could sort of call Baekhyun his best friend at the store. The reason he said “sort of” was because it seemed he was more often annoying him than anything else.

“Here’s that gum you asked for, Tao!” Baekhyun said as he hurled them at Tao, who stood at the register in front of him. Tao was glad he wasn’t dealing with a customer, or they’d have been pelted with the small packets of Trident.

“Can’t you get in trouble for throwing things like this?” Tao said, looking back at Baekhyun with an unamused look in his eyes.

“Maybe, but it hasn’t happened yet, has it?” Baekhyun grinned cheekily at him.

“Just wait,” Tao said, as he finished picking up all the packets of gum. “They’ll catch you one day, and then you can’t get mad at me when they fire you.”

“You can’t get mad at me when they fire you!” Baekhyun mimicked, laughing.

Tao rolled his eyes. He found Baekhyun imitating his accent one of the more annoying things he did. It always made him self-conscious to even speak to him more than he already was. Though, it wasn’t as though he didn’t have a reason behind it at times, Tao soon found out.

“Your pronunciation is good, but you’re slurring your words a bit.” Baekhyun explained. “Someone not used to your accent might get confused.”

“How should I say it, then?” Tao asked. And like any other time Baekhyun would sound it out for him until he got it right.

“Your hyung is just the best, right?!” Baekhyun said, afterwards. Tao rolled his eyes.

“Yes, hyung is the best.” He said in a monotone voice.

“You don’t sound very grateful!” Baekhyun stuck his lips out at him. “That hurts my feelings, you know? Don’t you know it’s rude to hurt other peoples’ feelings? Especially when they’re trying to help you? Why are you like this? Why don’t you like me? I’m nice to you, aren’t I? Why-”

“Uggghhh…” Tao whined, as Baekhyun was now not only rambling, but standing next to Tao and poking him in the side incessantly.

This was pretty much routine for him now. By the end of it, Baekhyun always ended up finding some way to get on his nerves.

But otherwise, Tao didn’t really have anyone else he could call a friend there. He’d been working there for a few weeks, but no one really talked to him. It actually felt like most of the others avoided him for some reason. Other coworkers always moving away from him when they saw him approach. Or turning away to whisper if they caught him glancing in their direction. It wasn’t that he was unaware he didn’t have the friendliest look to him at first glance, what with his dark circles under eyes and rather tall height, but he didn’t expect to be treated like the plague.

That’s was why he was originally quite shocked when Baekhyun started talking to him. He was shorter than Tao and had a bright and cute ambiance and disposition to him that made everyone seem to love to be around him. Tao would have thought he would have scared him away in an instant.

When he’d just started working there, he’d see Baekhyun from time to time, putting things on shelves, but usually he caught his eye whenever the two passed each other, the shorter seeming to stare at him with large eyes, before looking away to do something else, but never saying anything. Sometimes he’d even look up from his work to see the Baekhyun watching him from some distance away, seemingly trying to hide behind a shelf.

He’s just like the others, Tao initially thought.

Imagine how shocked he was when the shorter boy appeared behind him one day as he was clocking in asking him if he needed help with anything.

“If you ever need anything, come find me. I’ll help you!” he said, and flashed a grin Tao would soon get used to.

He was shocked at first, almost unsure if this was actually even happening.

“Me?” he asked, pointing to himself.

“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” Baekhyun laughed. Tao wasn’t entirely used to someone talking to him at the store in the first place. Can you blame me for not thinking you weren’t?

“Tao?” he heard Baekhyun say.

“Yes sorry! Thanks so much!” he ended up blurting out, unaware how long he’d been silent. Baekhyun grinned.

“I’m Baekhyun, by the way. Nice to meet you!” Baekhyun said with a wave, before skipping back out into the store. Baekhyun. It was the first time he’d said the name out loud, and he wanted to hear how it sounded on his own lips. He hoped he could pronounce it properly. As he walked out of the sign in room and adjusted his shirt, it took Tao a minute to register that Baekhyun known his name, despite the fact that he hadn’t put on his nametag yet when he was speaking to him. Not only that, his nametag said “Zitao”.

“I guess the supervisor must have told him.” Tao said. “That must be why he’s doing this in the first place.”

Regardless, from that day on, Tao would always leave his station and go straight to Baekhyun if he needed anything,and he'd always helped without hesitation.

“That doesn’t go over here. It goes over there.”

“Are you having a problem with your register? Lemme tell you how to fix it!”

“Is the item not scanning? Here, give it to me.”

He’d been appreciative at first. He thought Baekhyun was just begin nice to him because he was still fairly new there. He figured once he got settled in, he’d surely stop talking to him or coming around him.

But just the opposite happened; he seemed to talk to him more. It seemed like he’d always drop by him even for just a second just to say something, anything to him.

“Bet you didn’t know, I’m older than you! That means you have to call me, ‘hyung!’”

“It’s so busy in here today, isn’t it? The holidays are coming up, you know?”

“Did you see that girl in here earlier? What the heck was she wearing?!

Tao enjoyed the short visits from Baekhyun as they happened more and more frequently. Even if it was just for a second, it sure brought his mood up from the monotonous work of ringing up customers.

Tao honestly didn’t even know where in the store Baekhyun worked. He assumed he stacked merchandise, as that was always were he’d see him whenever his boss would make him do the same on some days, or whenever he had to leave the register in general. But that was all the way on the other side of the store. He felt a little guilty sometimes that he was coming all the way over to him  just to give him someone to talk to. But he was even more shocked Baekhyun was willing to do it every day.

He was even more shocked when one day, he turned around to see him waving at him.

“They moved me over here now, so I’m right behind you!” Baekhyun said. “Isn’t that great?!”

“Yeah, that’s great, hyung!” Tao said, grinning. “How come you’re on the register now?”

“I dunno, but it’s so much easier to talk now, right? Baekhyun laughed. “Now get to work! Just because I’m here now doesn’t mean I’ll let you slack off and get us fired.”

From that day on, Baekhyun talked to Tao almost incessantly. While Tao did like having someone to actually talk to during his shift rather than the monotony of constant wordless working he was used to, Baekhyun’s constant rambling was almost always distracting him from his work.

“Tao, don’t forget to give them their bags!” Baekhyun laughed from behind him.

“Oh, right, sorry.” He apologized, before turning around. “Stop talking so much, I can’t focus!”

“Without me here, you’d have kept their groceries!” Baekhyun said, pointing.

“Without you here I wouldn’t have had to worry about forgetting in the first place!” Tao argued. The two continued their bickering until they saw one of the managers come in between the two registers.

“How about both of you just go on your breaks now? You’re giving the rest of us a headache!”

~~~

“Where do you want to go for break today?” Baekhyun folded his arms behind his head.

“I don’t know. What are you hungry for today, hyung?” Tao asked.

Shortly after Baekhyun’s position had been moved, he and Tao made it a habit to take their breaks together whenever possible. This was something else Tao enjoyed much more with Baekhyun. He could handle doing boring work without talking, since he was at least busy enough to not be too bothered by it, but breaking by himself everyday always made him so bored that he actually spent most of his time watching the clock to see when he was supposed to clock back on.

“Hmmm…I want sandwiches!” Baekhyun said after a moment.

“Okay, let’s go over there, then.” Tao pointed to a Subway not too far from the store. He hadn’t even taken more than five steps before Baekhyun was leaning on his back, grabbing his shoulders.

“I’ve been walking around all day. Carry me~” Baekhyun whined.

“What? Like I haven’t been standing all day either!” Tao said, trying to push him off.

“Your legs are stronger and better than mine. You’re fine.” Baekhyun held tighter on to Tao. Tao sighed, wanting to spare his work shirt and shoulders the anguish.

“I’ll only carry you if you pay.” Tao said. Baekhyun started jumping up, trying to climb Tao’s back.

“I’ll pay then!” he said, gleefully. Tao sighed. He was way too eager to pay for once. And his legs suddenly seemed quite strong. Tao lowered himself with his arms behind him and allowed Baekhyun to climb on his back. The older’s child-like attitude started coming into play as he laughed, putting his head against Tao’s.

“What are you so giggly about?” Tao said. “You never wanted to pay before.”

“Tao is the best dongsaeng!” he said.

“Just because I let you talk me into things like this?” Tao deadpanned. “Is that your only reason?”

“Hmmm….” Baekhyun said, tapping his chin, before becoming silent.

“It shouldn’t take that long to think of something else!” Tao exclaimed, to which Baekhyun couldn’t stop laughing as he ruffled Tao’s hair.

The two decided to sit at a table outside the Subway to get away from the crowds of people surrounding their usual spot outside the store.

“I hate working during the holidays! They are way too many people!” Baekhyun said, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

“Seriously.” Tao agreed, taking a sip from his drink. “Though, I thought you’d be fine with a bunch of loud annoying people around.” Baekhyun shot a glare at Tao.

“Once they’re all gone, you’ll see how pleasant I am in comparison.” He said, crossing his legs, as Tao gave him a judgmental look, shaking his head.

“So, do you have any plans for Christmas, hyung?” he asked.

“Shopping! I’ve got to do some serious shopping this weekend.” Baekhyun said. “There’s so much stuff I need to get for decorations, food, presents…”

“Christmas at your house must be really cool, huh?” Tao said, as Baekhyun nodded.

“Yep! What do you do for Christmas?” he asked.

“Hmm…well, this is my first Christmas in Korea.” Tao explained. “I don’t really know what I’ll do yet.”

“Oh? Well what do you want?” Baekhyun asked. “Surely there’s something you’re looking forward to.”

“Uhh…I don’t know. Lately there hasn’t been much I’ve been looking at seeing as I only just got this job. I don’t think I’ll be able to get myself anything fancy.”

“This is such a depressing attitude.” Baekhyun sighed, staring at his half-eaten sandwich. “You’re ruining my appetite!”

“Sorry, hyung.” Tao grumbled. After a few seconds of silence, he looked back to find Baekhyun giving him a look as if he was in thought.

“Tell you what.” Baekhyun said, poking a finger on Tao’s arm. “If you do well on the job until we get off for the holidays, I’ll buy you a special Christmas present." Tao perked up immediately.

“Really? What will it be?” he asked. Baekhyun smiled a bit, but turned his head.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t work hard to find out what it is." he said, continuing to eat his lunch. Tao gave him a displeased look, but smiled upon thinking over his hyung's offer.

“Okay. Thank you hyung. I promise I’ll try to do my best.” Tao said.

“But the deal starts now, so I want to see some serious effort when we go back in.” Baekhyun said.

“Yes sir.”

~~~

“It’s almost time for Baekhyun’s Christmas party!”

“I know, right? It’s always super fun!”

The two coworkers walked by Tao’s register, excitedly chatting about the apparent upcoming event. Tao’d heard through the grapevines that Baekhyun would be throwing a Christmas party. He’d also heard that he was pretty well known for having amazing Christmas parties every year. He couldn’t help by feel a bit hurt by the fact that he hadn’t been invited. In fact, Baekhyun had never even brought it up to him, making him feel even worse. He’d thought Baekhyun was a close friend of his at this point.

At the same time, he couldn’t be mad. All of these people knew Baekhyun for much longer than he did and were much closer to him. It made more sense that he’d chose to invite them instead of him. Admittedly, they didn’t hang out often outside of work. Perhaps it had been foolish for even wanting to be invited.

By this time, Tao had made a few more friends since working at the store. Baekhyun introduced him to a number of people he’d always hung out with. His closest friends included three others from China: Yixing, Luhan, and Yifan (who liked to be called Kris), that Tao was quick to befriend. He also had met Sehun, who he enjoyed talking with from time to time, since they were close in age.

Luhan introduced Tao to his best friend, Minseok, who introduced Tao to his friend Jongdae, who called him Chen (and Chinese for, that matter). Though it didn’t take long after an attempt to converse with him in Chinese that he (and seemingly Luhan and Minseok) realized that Jongdae wasn’t, in fact, Chinese.

Baekhyun also had a best friend named Chanyeol who acquainted Tao with three others, Kyungsoo, Junmyeon and Jongin. Chanyeol was just as funny as Baekhyun was, though seemed to swap out the annoyingness for additional loudness. Kyungsoo was small and cute like Baekhyun was with large eyes, but he was much scarier to the point that Tao tried to be on his best behavior around him, hearing scary stories front the other coworkers (even the older ones) of how he could be when angered. Junmyeon had motherly tendencies with all of them, and was no different to Tao whenever he happened to see him, always giving him and encouraging “Fighting!” when he saw him.

Jongin took to Tao after seeing he, like himself, had slightly darker skin than the others and felt he could relate, although Tao didn’t really see the big deal. The others would jokingly point it out, but would always end up saying Jongin was quite the looker out of all of them because of it, which Tao couldn’t deny.

“So I’m handsome, too then, right?” Tao asked one day.

“Hmm…I guess so.” Baekhyun said, purposely not looking at him.

“You guess?!” Tao said, pushing him lightly. “I don’t like you.”

“Tao-ah, haven’t you been studying your Korean? You said it wrong.” Baekhyun said, putting his hands on his hips before facing the others. “He meant to say he likes me."

“I know what I said!” Tao smacked Baekhyun's arm. The others laughed

“Face it, Baek, you’re not as popular as you think you are.” Jongdae teased.

“Hmph! But you’re still coming to my party, though.” Baekhyun said, tossing his hair. The others “Oooooohed” at Baekhyun’s “diss”, hitting Jongdae on the shoulders, while Tao laughed quietly to himself. He looked over at Baekhyun laughing at his own joke, surrounded by all of his friends, feeling slightly excluded.

I want to go to your party, too, y’know?

~~~

Baekhyun had told Tao that he was a bit busy when he approached him asking if he was taking a break soon and wouldn’t be able to join him. Tao was disappointed, but Baekhyun told him that he’d make sure someone would spend his break with him so he wouldn’t have to worry about being by himself.

Tao went outside, grabbed a snack and sat on a bench outside. A few minutes passed before he was almost disappointed that he wasn’t been annoyed by Baekhyun for once.

“Hey,” a voice said as a figure approached Tao. He looked up and was a bit surprised that this was who Baekhyun decided to send.

“Oh…Minseok hyung…” Tao said, moving over to give him some room to sit.

“Hehe, not ‘oppa’?” Minseok said teasingly as he sat down, recalling a time earlier that week Tao had flusteredly accidentally called him “oppa” during a particularly busy day.

Tao chuckled a bit to himself, but was still inwardly kicking himself since that day for making such an obvious mistake considering his level in Korean proficiency as of lately (not to mention the fact that he used “hyung” all the time with Baekhyun). He had actually been helped a lot by Minseok himself on occasions, as well as Junmyeon, but would still slip up sometimes. It didn’t help that Baekhyun, the only one whose opinion truly mattered to him, still about it when it happened, even if he did always understand his accent when others couldn’t.

He sighed, wishing his Korean was as good as Luhan’s or Kris’ or even Yixing’s. Maybe that was the reason Baekhyun didn’t want to invite him to his party. Perhaps he didn’t want Tao embarrassing either of them.

“Hey, you alright?” Minseok asked, patting his arm. “I was just joking, you know?”

Tao made a humming noise and nodded, trying to sound convincing, but he knew he really didn’t.

“Are you okay?” Minseok asked, putting a hand on his back. “What’s wrong? Something on your mind?”

“Nothing...er…” Tao mumbled, stopping himself. He couldn’t lie; something had been on his mind lately. Minseok sighed.

“Come here.” Minseok said, pulling Tao towards him. “Baekhyun will probably kill me if I just let you go around being sad about something all day.” It didn’t take long after meeting Minseok to find out he liked hugs just as much as Tao did, making Tao fairly comfortable around him, as he wrapped his arms around the older boy.

“Now tell me what’s wrong.” Minseok asked again. “Something happen with a customer or something?” Tao sighed slightly.

“Minseok hyung, can you understand me?” Unintentionally, Minseok let out a small chuckle that was louder than he intended for it to be.

“Of course.” He said.

“Really?” Tao asked.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I understand you?” Minseok turned his head so that he was, sort of looking Tao in the eyes. Tao turned his head away. He felt the slight wetness forming in his eyes, no really glad Baekhyun was busy that day.

“You know my Korean isn’t good.” He said, quietly.

“You sound fine. All of our friends understand you perfectly. Some strangers may be thrown off a bit by your accent, but your speech is perfectly comprehendible.” Minseok explained. “Why would you think people can’t understand you?”

“It’s just…Baekhyun still makes fun of me.” Minseok laughed quietly, but stopped when Tao added:  “I think he’s ashamed of me.” Tao wiped his eye, trying not to think too much about the last part at the moment.

“Honestly, Tao, of all people?” Minseok said. “You should know Baekhyun understands you even when the rest of us can’t. Why would you think he’s ashamed of you?”

“I don’t know.” Tao said, not wanting to admit he thought it was why Baekhyun didn’t want him at his party. He hadn't really brought it up to the others that he hadn't been invited. “Just…being silly I guess.”

“If he was ashamed, he’d just laugh at you and not even bother to help you improve, which he does, doesn’t he?” Minseok pointed out. “I just think he does that to lighten the atmosphere so you won’t feel so bad. And…you didn’t hear it from me but, I really think he finds your accent cute.” Minseok whispered the last part. Tao turned to look at Minseok.

“You really think so, hyung?” Tao asked, his lips curling into a small smile.

“Yes, now cheer up.” Minseok said, shaking Tao a bit, who nodded.

“I have one more question, hyung.” Tao said. Minseok nodded, urging him to continue, as Tao lowered his eyes to the ground.

“Do you think he sees me as a friend?” Tao asked. Minseok’s eyes widened for a second before he smiled and put a hand on Tao’s leg.

“I think so.” Minseok said. Tao sighed in relief. For some reason, even though it wasn’t a blatant “yes” or “of course”, he felt happy to know Minseok gave him his honest answer, which still made him feel much better.

“Thanks hyung.” Tao smiled. Minseok patted him on the back.

“No problem.” Minseok said. “Now let’s get back inside.”

~~~

End of Chapter 1. This chapter wasn't really exciting; just serves to set up the setting~ Hope it was decent~ Things get more interesting from here on~ :3

Do you think Baekhyun will invite Tao to his Christmas party? WIll Tao confront him about it, or just say nothing? Leave a comment letting me know what you thought of the Chapter~ Next part will be up soon~ :3

Merry Christmas!~ Happy Holidays!~