[title song: epilogue: young forever - bts]
[9554 w]

CHAPTER 1

It all starts on a supposedly beautiful summer afternoon; right after another customer kindly informs Yoo Yoojin that it’s so beautiful outside for the fifteenth time that day. Yoojin grins at the customer until the guy turns his back and then she’s glaring because it’s so wonderful hearing about the beautiful weather when all she can do is stare longingly out the windows and bask in the faint summer breeze whenever a family comes into the store and leaves the doors open for a bit too long.

Her shift had started at some ungodly hour and she still has five hours to go.

“Yoojin.” A voice calls from behind her. Yoojin glances away from the window, mouth already halfway open to snap at the person interrupting her self-pity, when she realizes that Manager Kim Junmyeon is watching her with pursed lips, a raised brow, and a crisp white shirt that always has her wondering how exactly he manages to keep his clothes stain free shift after shift. She doesn’t even see a single ketchup stain.

Yoojin grimaces before schooling her expression into indifference, turning back to her manager, “Yes?” She asks, blinking at him as innocently as she can.

“Did you just glare at that customer while he was leaving?” Junmyeon asks, frown deepening.

“Nope.” She draws out the word and his brows rise so high they nearly disappear into his hairline.

“That’s what? The fifteenth time today you’ve done that?”

“At least I didn’t do it to his face.”

Junmyeon’s eye twitches and Yoojin has to stop herself from bursting into laughter at the sight. Junmyeon sighs, loudly, heavily, like he’s losing years off his lifespan with each passing minute, before he gives her a look and says, “You’re lucky Sehun’s on the fryer right now.”

Yoojin wonders if Junmyeon’s aware of how serial killer-ish he sounds whenever he’s threatening them with the ty tasks, especially when he’s threatening them with fryer duty. Judging from the way Junmyeon’s eyes glint a bit, Yoojin’s ninety-eight percent sure he does know, which makes sense, because it’s always the nice ones you have to watch out for.

Junmyeon disappears abruptly, when the headset goes off and a customer’s shrill voice resounds in the silence between them, Hey? Is anyone there??? Can I get a soda????

Yoojin slumps against the cash register and Kim Jongdae, who’s manning the second cashier eyes her in amusement, his curly lips bending up in a way that makes it seem like he’s laughing at her. He probably is.

“I’m so ready to retire.” Yoojin groans.

Jongdae raises a brow, “This is, like, your second day working fulltime. And your shift started three hours ago.”

Yoojin just groans louder, grumbling against the top of the register, “Please, don’t remind me.”

Five hundred and nineteen days to go, she thinks, while Jongdae just laughs at her in that obnoxious way of his.

~.~.~.~.~

"Are you serious?" Junmyeon appears out of the thin air, brown bags filled with food in his hands, his voice shrill. He waves his hands all over the place and a couple of customers standing beside the counter reach out for their food with surprise and horror in their expression at the terrible treatment of their food, though Yoojin thinks that's ironic because customers never give a about the terrible treatment they inflict on the cashiers when they're hungry and therefore angry (or hangry as Byun Baekhyun likes to call them coupled with a few. choice cuss words as he gives the said hangry customer Oh Sehun’s signature burnt fries, daintily dropping the pack into the brown bag while Sehun just stares on with a blank expression, looking much too good for someone who's been standing next to a greasy fryer for a good four hours now).

Momo, a part-time cashier who had just started her shift twenty minutes ago, swiftly takes the bags from Junmyeon's waving hands, handing them off to the two customers with a disarming smile that has them dazed enough to forget the mistreatment of their precious burnt fries and Big Macs.

(Honestly speaking, Yoojin would be dazed, too. Momo has one hell of a smile.)

Junmyeon doesn't even notice Momo's interception, rounding the corner into the kitchen with a scowl on his face, the door to the kitchen swinging shut behind him. Yoojin exchanges a look with Momo and Jongdae and there's a moment of pause where she wonders what exactly is about to happen.

And then she can hear Junmyeon's scolding Sehun through the door, though it's hard to make out what he's saying since the walls in the kitchen are actually incredibly thick. Naturally, Jongdae decides it's time to skid away from the registers and towards the door and Yoojin rolls her eyes when Jongdae practically hangs off the ledge of the door’s window, peering through the tiny plastic window curiously, his hat nearly falling from his head.

"Holy ." Jongdae murmurs.

"Excuse me—"

Jongdae interrupts the customer before Yoojin can help her, glancing over his shoulder, "Look at this, guys. He's about to throw Sehun in the fryer."

The customer looks appalled by Jongdae's words. "Wait..." She frowns. "Seriously? Isn't that some kind of human rights violation?"

"Ma'am, he's just kidding." Momo reassures the woman, blonde hair swinging as she turns to shoot Jongdae an ineffective glare before she quickly rings up the woman, who keeps glancing at the door. Momo’s literally the only one, aside from Junmyeon, Irene, and Minseok, who actually tries to get positive surveys from the customers. She’s been employee of the month for four months in a row now.

"Nope. Our manager's literally about to fry him up. Into one giant chicken tender." Jongdae is still dangling off the door, his toes barely touching the ground because he's so tiny and he glances back at the customer with a very, very serious look. "Oh, sorry. Did you order chicken tenders?"

He raises a brow, his eyes twinkling, and the lady looks genuinely worried, which is ridiculous to Yoojin. Who the hell would actually stick an employee in the fryer and then serve him to a customer.

The lady blinks, card in her hand, and Yoojin wonders if there really are people out there that are this gullible, even she's not that gullible, which is saying something because she's known for being gullible. Yoojin watches in amusement, despite the fact that it’s really not that funny, as the lady turns to Momo, eyes wide, worried,  and murmurs, "You know what? I'm just going to go to the new place across the street. Thanks. But no thanks."

And then the lady scurries out the door like they’re about to chase her down and throw her in the fryer, too, and Momo turns to glare at Jongdae. It’s ineffective yet again because, one, glares only seem to egg Jongdae on and, two, Momo looks much too adorable to take seriously. “Really, Jongdae, really?” Momo mumbles, frowning as she crosses her arms.

Jongdae just puts his arms up, “I can’t believe she fell for it. Chanyeol owes me ten thousand won for this.” Jongdae cackles, adjusting his McDonald’s snapback before he slips out his phone and starts texting rapidly. He just keeps cackling until a wave of customers show up, three of whom are attractive enough to get him to get off his phone and lean over the counter, grin lopsided and curly. Yoojin rolls her eyes at him.

Five minutes pass and Junmyeon still doesn’t come out of the kitchen. Momo nudges Yoojin’s arm, “I don’t think Jongdae was kidding.” Her eyes are wide, worried.

Yoojin stares at the kitchen door and both she and Momo watch in horror as Junmyeon finally appears five minutes later, a tray piled high with boxes and boxes of chicken tenders as he speaks into the drive thru headset.

“Oh, God.” Momo whispers, horrified. And Yoojin gets it because, honestly, she can absolutely imagine Junmyeon serving Sehun up as a pile of chicken tenders and it makes her grimace.

~.~.~.~.~

Yoojin watches Sehun stretch out like a cat across a makeshift bed he’s created using five chairs and she’s a bit relieved because Sehun’s finally came out of the kitchen, proving to Momo (and her, though she won’t admit it) that he was not, in fact, shoved in the fryer by Junmyeon. For some reason, he’s ripped off the sleeves of his work shirt, his tattoos on full display and he hadn’t bothered taking his lip piercing off. He’s been manning the fryers all day but his skin looks as fresh as a baby’s bottom and Yoojin’s pretty damn jealous.

She’d be lying if she says she doesn’t ogle him once in a while, because Sehun is one hot piece of emo meat and Yoojin has eyes. Part of the reason why their McDonald’s gets so much business is because basically every employee in the store is ridiculously attractive, including the manager. Yoojin only got hired because the day she came in for her interview, Junmyeon was running late so Chanyeol pretended to be a hiring manager and got her to do his job for an hour before Junmyeon finally showed up (earning her the perpetual title of naïve, gullible little freshman, despite the fact that she’s going into her second year now). Junmyeon had felt so bad; he ended up hiring her as a way to make it up to her. Also she had worked for free for an hour and Junmyeon has a morbid fear of corporate paying him a surprise visit.

Before she can tell Sehun to get his feet off the table, Junmyeon strolls out of the kitchen and glances around, frowning. There’s a moment of silence (where Jongdae’s loud Hello!!!!! echoes out from where the drive thru windows are) before Junmyeon crosses his arms, “Where’s Jongin?”

Yoojin points at the children’s play area, where there’s a sockless foot sticking out of the mouth of the plastic slide. Junmyeon’s gaze follows her finger before he sighs long and hard. “Sehun, go wake him up.”

“I’m on break.” Sehun says without ever opening his eyes.

It’s quiet again; Jongdae’s loud here’s your number two meal with a side of my number followed by a chorus of giggles echoing throughout the restaurant. Yoojin groans loudly and Jongdae sticks his head around the corner for the sole purpose of shooting finger guns and winking cutely at Yoojin from behind a wall.

Yoojin glances at the cash register, eyeing the time because she really wants to go home.

But it’s only one o’clock.

Jongdae saunters out of the drive thru window five minutes later with a curly grin, his earring glinting in the fluorescent lighting, and Yoojin wonders why time is passing by so slowly.

Jongdae raises a brow at her, glancing pointedly over her shoulder, and she glances over shoulder.

She glances over her shoulder only to see Junmyeon walking around the store with slow careful steps, frowning, eyebrows knitting together. She was wondering why Junmyeon hasn’t pulled Jongin out of the play area by the ear yet, lecturing Sehun about manners as he does so.

“What’s he doing?” Jongdae asks, eyes following Junmyeon’s movements.

“I’m not…sure…” Yoojin hesitates, frowning. Junmyeon continues pacing the store, glancing around as if he’s looking for something in particular.

That’s when Momo comes out of the bathroom hall, shaking excess water off her hands, “We ran out of paper tow—what’s going on…?”

She joins Jongdae and Yoojin’s in watching Junmyeon prowl through the restaurant with furrowed brows, as if he’s thinking really, really hard, Momo’s words trailing off.

 “Um, Junmyeon?” Yoojin pipes up, her amusement turning into worry because Junmyeon’s expression is seriously starting to look more painful than anything else. She watches him climb onto one of the chairs before he hops off, grimacing in a particularly ugly way.

“Yes?” He whispers the word without looking at her, still staring at his surroundings with a scrutinizing frown, his voice echoing in the room.

“…You okay there?” She asks tentatively, matching his whisper.

He doesn’t answer, rounding the perimeter of the restaurant once again.

Yoojin glances at Jongdae because honestly Junmyeon’s starting to touch the walls and the windows as if he’s searching for answers in the walls, as if the store itself will solve his dilemma, and it’s starting to make Yoojin a bit more concerned. She shoves at Jongdae’s arm, mouthing for him to do something.

So Jongdae digs out his phone and pulls up snapchat, zooming in to Junmyeon pressing his face against a window, “I think he’s finally cracked.” Jongdae stage-whispers as he takes a video.

Yoojin doesn’t know what to say so she just stares.

“You remember that bath salt epidemic in America?” Momo asks, her wary eyes pinned on Junmyeon. “With the zombie scare and everything?”

Yoojin nods, “Yeah.”

“You think Junmyeon’s been smoking some bath salts?” Momo asks, eyes filling with genuine concern.

Before Yoojin can say anything, Jongdae cuts in with a, “Wait a minute. You can smoke bath salts?” Yoojin frowns at Jongdae and Jongdae just gives them both a blinding smile, “Just asking for a friend.”

“Sure you are.” Yoojin mumbles.

Jongdae just blows her a kiss, making her grimace. She opens to retort when—

Thud.

Yoojin nearly jumps out of her skin. Junmyeon slams her hands on the counter right next to the cash register and she has no idea when he managed to get from the windows to the counter so fast.

Junmyeon looks Jongdae, Momo, and Yoojin in the eyes, one at a time, before he whispers, “There’s something wrong.”

Yoojin frowns, “What?”

“Junmyeon…Mr. Kim…sir.” Momo stumbles over her words, ever the diligent employee of the month, “Are you feeling well? Do you have a fever? Would you like one of us to give you a ride to the hospital?”

“There’s something wrong.” Junmyeon repeats, slamming his hands against the counter once again, his eyes wide, filled with worry. He looks around, flailing a bit, “Don’t any of you feel it?”

No one answers him and Junmyeon loudly whispers, “Don’t you?”

“I have a feeling you’re going to tell us.” Yoojin replies, earning a snort from Jongdae.

“Listen.” Junmyeon puts a hand against his ear, ignoring Yoojin’s judgmental expression as he stares off in the distance, “What do you hear?” He pauses, straining his neck, before he points at Momo, “Momo, what do you hear?”

“Uh,” Momo glances at Jongdae and Yoojin, her eyes screaming for help. Yoojin just shrugs and Jongdae is silently cackling into his hands, his face reddening at the lack of air. Momo’s eyes slide around the store as if she’s searching for a way out before she looks at Junmyeon, completely confused, “…Nothing?”

“Exactly!” Junmyeon throws his hands up in the air.

Yoojin crinkles her nose at Junmyeon, “So?”

“It’s quiet, Yoojin.” Junmyeon’s voice dips down an octave, taking on an ominous tone, “Too quiet.”

“Okay…” This time Yoojin raises a brow, crossing her arms, “So…?”

“Do I really have to spell it out for you guys?” Junmyeon asks, sighing as he slumps against the counter, removing his hat so he can drag his fingers through his hair. “Does it really not make any sense to you all?”

“I mean, the only thing that makes sense right now is why you’re single, but that’s about it.” Jongdae deadpans, raising a brow.

Junmyeon glares at Jongdae for a moment, swatting at him with his hat, before speaking again, not bothering to even dignify Jongdae with a response, “It’s peak lunch hour and our store is empty. We haven’t had a customer in here since ten thirty. It’s too quiet.”

“Maybe it’s just a slow day?” Yoojin shrugs.

Junmyeon eyes Yoojin like she’s just admitted that Beyoncé is ugly or something. He looks personally offended by her words, “There’s never a slow day in fast food, Yoo Yoojin.” He glances around the store, “There is something wrong and I’ll get to the bottom of it, if it’s the last thing I do.”

Yoojin doesn’t doubt Junmyeon’s words because he truly does look like he’d jump through hoops of fire to figure out why they’re having a slow day.

~.~.~.~.~

Sehun scrolls through his phone and Yoojin watches him do so, glancing between him and the customer he’s just taken an order from (the first one in two hours, which is why Junmyeon’s peering through the little plastic kitchen window and overseeing the transaction with hawk eyes).

The customer grimaces, rolling her eyes before looking away, and Yoojin kicks Sehun’s shins, “Pay attention.” She hisses at him before she hands the customer a cup to grab a drink. Sehun glares daggers at Yoojin, kicking her shin back, while the customer stares at the cup for a long, long moment with a strangely quizzical expression.

“Aren’t you supposed to flip it before you pour soda in there?” The customer asks, before Yoojin can kick Sehun back, her dyed red hair glinting in the fluorescent lighting.

Sehun actually looks up from his phone at that, face twisting.

Yoojin blinks. “What?”

“My friend said you can flip four of them at once before filling them with soda.” She says in a matter-of-fact voice, still staring apprehensively at the cup in Yoojin’s hand.

There’s a pause that quickly morphs into an awkward silence since Yoojin is staring at the lady like she’s just grown two heads and Sehun is staring at her in that expressionless way of his.

The customer twirls her fingers in circles and mumbles a soft, “Whoosh.”

“Ma’am.” Sehun finally says. “This is a McDonald’s. Not a circus.”

“Wait.” She drawls out the word for a good two seconds, “This is McDonald’s.”

“Yes.” Yoojin replies, drawing out the word.

“Oh.” The customer grimaces like she’s just stepped on a piece of gum barefoot, “Oh.” She shakes her head, “I thought this was the new Burger King. Never mind, then.”

At the mention of Burger King, there’s a crash from inside the kitchen that makes Yoojin and the customer jump in surprise (while Sehun just chews his gum, expression never changing). Jongdae shrieks from inside the kitchen and Momo yells Oh, my God!

(Yoojin can still see Jongin’s bare foot peeking out from the mouth of the slide across the store, his toes twitching because of the sudden noise.)

“They flip their cups.” The customer says in an accusing tone before she throws her red hair over her shoulder and turns on her heels, leaving the store with her heels clicking loudly in her wake.

“Did she just say new Burger King?” Junmyeon’s voice is shrill as he tumbles out the kitchen and Sehun sighs loudly.

~.~.~.~.~

That’s how they end up pressed up against the McDonald’s window, Junmyeon seething as they stare at the Burger King just across the street, on South Main Street. North Main Street, their side of the street, is deserted and Yoojin has never seen a fast food store overflowing with so many people all at once, a giant purple Grand Opening sign flapping in the summer breeze, the Burger King guy’s grinning mockingly back at them.

Jongdae watches on in awe, nose pressed to the glass, because not even McDonald’s has had that many customers show up at once. Sehun stares on with disinterest, pressed up against the glass only because Junmyeon is clinging to his arm and so livid, smoke might as well be coming out of his ears.

Momo murmurs a soft, “Woah.” and Junmyeon glares at her until she coughs and murmurs, “Ew?” instead.

Yoojin’s just glad she doesn’t have to deal with customers anymore.

Junmyeon turns on Jongdae, “Text Chanyeol or Baekhyun. We’ve got an emergency on our hands.”

~.~.~.~.~

Park Chanyeol shows up at the store an hour later with a half-eaten burger and a shake. The minute he walks through the doors, he says, “They really do flip cups. They also do backflips. It’s really cool.”

He chews on a fry and Junmyeon stares at Chanyeol for a long, long time.

“What?” Chanyeol asks.

Junmyeon stares harder, as if he’s trying to cause Chanyeol pain with his gaze alone.

He glances at Yoojin, who’s closest to him, in confusion. “Did I do something wrong?” He whispers, though his whisper is just as loud as his normal voice, his deep voice rumbling.

“You’re eating their food.” Yoojin replies, nodding at the Burger King bag in his hand.

Junmyeon’s stare hardens into a stoic expression and Chanyeol nearly trips over himself in an attempt to hide the food behind his back, grinning sheepishly at Junmyeon.

Junmyeon’s eyes are dark, steely, narrowing significantly.

They all slowly back away from Junmyeon with varying degrees of caution.

~.~.~.~.~

There are three things Yoojin had quickly learned about Manager Kim Junmyeon since the first day she started working at McDonald’s.

One, he doesn’t have the heart to fire anyone, no matter how many times they sleep in the play area or make out with customers in the restrooms or violate the dress code. He’s just too nice for that.

Two, he takes his management job very, very seriously and has this strange paranoia revolving around getting a call from corporate. He goes to great lengths to please customers and employees alike so his store doesn’t get written up. Baekhyun thinks Junmyeon’s got an ex working in corporate who’s got it in for him. Yixing thinks Junmyeon’s in the witness protection program, but Yoojin’s not sure how Yixing came to that conclusion, since he doesn’t want to share his reasoning and, frankly, it really doesn’t make any sense. Joy believes this particular McDonald’s is a cover-up for some sketchy gang business. Nobody knows the truth and they’re too afraid to ask Junmyeon why.

Three, Junmyeon is a very, very competitive person who takes his job as a store manager of McDonald’s very, very seriously.

This particular location hasn’t had competition in the form of another fast food restaurant in nearly twenty years, according to the Wikipedia article Chanyeol showed Yoojin, so a Burger King moving in across the street and stealing all the business is apparently a huge deal to Junmyeon (and to the “integrity of McDonald’s Incorporated as a whole” Junmyeon adds, rubbing his temple).

Yoojin pretty sure Junmyeon’s freaking out because two out of the three main principles that make up Manager Kim Junmyeon’s entire essence is being threatened at the exact same time.

Otherwise he wouldn’t be standing on a table with two ketchup bottles in his hands, anger rolling off him in waves.

"I want them gone." Junmyeon cries out, waving the ketchup s in the air with a menacing, I-dare-one-of-you-to-interrupt look. "Summer is coming and the north remembers." He whispers solemnly, his eyes glinting as if he didn't just lift a line out of that new show he's obsessed with.

The whole room is quiet as Junmyeon waves his ketchup bottles menacingly. Yoojin shares a look with Momo, Jongdae, Chanyeol, Sehun, and Jongin, from where he’s peering at the scene, through the mouth of the plastic slide across the room, with sleepy eyes and messy hair and a confused expression, and she realizes right then and there that they’re in for one hell of a summer.

"We'll destroy them, even if we have to dismantle them from the inside out." Junmyeon cries out, glaring out the window at the Burger King across the street, his eyes filled with fury that could burn down the place all on its own.

His voice bounces off the walls of the store, echoing in the silence, until Chanyeol begins to slow clap, his grin wide as he bobs his head.

He glances around, beckoning for everyone else to join him and build up the slow clapping, but they all just look at him with similar expressions of refusal. No one joins Chanyeol, so he just does it on his own, which only seems to encourage Junmyeon, his expression growing more dramatic.

Junmyeon opens his mouth, to no doubt spout out another speech, when the door opens, the bell jingling. They all swivel on their heels to stare at the person who had just walked in and Do Kyungsoo stares back, work hat dangling from his fingers and his soft humming coming to an abrupt stop as he takes in the scene before him. Kyungsoo takes one look at Junmyeon standing on a table with a ketchup bottle in his hands, breathing heavily, his eyes crazed, and swivels on his heels, walking right back out of the store without another word.

~.~.~.~.~

For the first couple days, Yoojin and the other employees don’t exactly have a problem with Burger King, especially since they still get some customers, but Junmyeon seems to have some kind of personal vendetta against Burger King.

For a couple days, Junmyeon declares war on Burger King and no one takes it seriously, instead snapchatting his impromptu speeches secretly while Junmyeon rattles on and on about war and enemies.

But then a week passes and Junmyeon solemnly states that their sales have been much, much lower than average and if they don’t bring it up soon somehow he’s going to have to start cutting hours or laying people off.

Nobody is down with that at all.

So that’s why she finds herself standing in front of the women’s bathroom one afternoon, Junmyeon holding a burger costume in his arms.

“No way.” Yoojin says, shaking her head.

Junmyeon sighs, “You all played rock, paper, scissors and you lost, Yoojin.”

“I am not putting that on.” Yoojin shakes her head, pushing the costume away from her.

“At least I’m not making you dress up as Ronald McDonald.”

“A burger isn’t any better.”

“Do it before I cut your hours.”

“Isn’t blackmail illegal?”

“Eating fries on the job is illegal, too.”

“I’m pretty sure this is, like, super illegal, though.”

“I’ll give you time and a half for this.”

“…Fine.”

~.~.~.~.~

Yoojin bows to a passing pedestrian, her ears ringing from the portable speakers Junmyeon taped onto her burger suit, the entire Girl’s Day discography blaring up and down the street. The burger suit is big and it comes with a matching burger hat, which, unfortunately, does not cover her face and Yoojin tries her best to pretend like this isn’t the most embarrassing thing she’s ever done.

Especially since Junmyeon had explicitly said that she gets extra money for every Girl’s Day dance she does that corresponds with the song, eyes gleaming because he knows she's a dance major, too, so she can't make excuses about not being able to dance.

(“Bribing is illegal, too, just so you know.”

“It’s called incentives. I’ll be watching you, too, so don’t half this.”

“I can’t wait to call human resources on you.”

“You’re also getting time and a half on top of that, remember.”

“…I hate you and I hate capitalism.”

“Okay, that’s nice. Put on the suit, please.”)

Yoojin glances back at the window and blushes bright red when she realizes that Baekhyun, Jongin, and Wendy are watching her through the window, pressed up against each other and the window as they point and laugh at her like they’re having the time of their lives while Yoojin suffers.

Baekhyun waves two phones around and she knows they’re never going to let her live this down. They’re videotaping her demise and she’s pretty sure she’ll never see the end of this.

God must really hate her, though, because then Girl’s Day’s Something comes on and Baekhyun, Jongin, and Wendy are fist pumping at her while Junmyeon just points at her from behind the three of them. Right then and there, Yoojin’s entire life flashes before her eyes, like a boring montage revolving around work, classes, and some particularly embarrassing drunken moments.

“Oh, my God.” She whispers, closing her eyes as she does the y choreography while imagining thirty different ways to burn McDonald’s to the ground. Especially when a crowd starts to form, part of the crowd that’s been hanging around Burger King crossing the street to cheer her on, especially when she hits the floor (or at least tries to since she’s wearing a round burger suit that she has half a mind to roll off a cliff in. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my go—”

Someone’s flash goes off and she wishes the ground would just swallow her up whole right there.

The only positive thing to come out of this is the fact that more people are starting to stream into McDonald’s, though Yoojin’s beginning to think that this is totally not worth it. At least Baekhyun’s too busy to film her anymore. Better strangers film her doing embarrassing things rather than Baekhyun, but then what happens if she ends up on the internet?

It goes on like that for a while, until she’s uncomfortably sweaty under the burger suit and Junmyeon’s moved on to his 4Minute and Girls’ Generation playlist.

She’s halfway through 4Minute’s Crazy, burning up in the suit while some kid, who introduced himself as Taehyung half an hour ago, joins her enthusiastically, when the atmosphere seems to grow tenser somehow. The murmurs grow quiet and the hairs at the back of Yoojin’s neck stand on end. Crazy fades away in to Lion Heart and she’s never felt so much tension in the air to such an adorable song, a shiver running up and down her spine.

Yoojin blinks, looking around, but all she sees is the Taehyung kid giving out flyers for her, his friends looking on in amusement in the corner. As if sensing her eyes on him, he looks over at her and gives her a sweet smile.

And then he freezes, the sweet smile seemingly stuck on his face, eyes slowly widening when he glances over her shoulder, across the circle surrounding the two of them. His limbs freeze in place and his mouth falls open into a little ‘o’ before he shoves the rest of the flyers into her limp hands and sprints away, without ever uttering a single word to her, tugging his similarly stricken friends away by the back of their collars.

Yoojin slowly turns on her heels, glancing over her shoulder, and frowns because the crowd is beginning to separate and disperse and it’s making her strangely anxious.

The bystanders start to trickle out and she watches as a group of guys step into the broken circle, a strange aura clinging to them. The tension only seems to grow thicker as she watches them step through, people stepping back to make more room for them. The first thing she notices is that they’re all taller than her, which isn’t much of a feat but their height only seems to make them seem more intimidating. Then she notices that they’re all wearing snapbacks. The last thing she notices is that they’re all glaring at her. She even glances over her shoulder just to make sure they’re actually glaring at her and not someone behind her. Nobody is behind her, though, the entire crowd has completely backed away, some peering through the McDonald’s window, munching on chicken nuggets, while others watch the events unfold from two doors down, as if they need to keep a safe distance in case things get ugly.

“Hey, you.” The one standing front and center shouts out, his low voice booming through the quiet tension as he jabs a finger in her direction. There are four of them and the one in the middle looks like he could deadlift four of her all at once before tossing her into the Han River without ever breaking a sweat.

The three boys behind him are all very distinct looking and also glaring at her like she’s just announced that their burgers are made of puppies. The blonde one standing to the middle one’s left has a deadly poker face going that makes her shiver, his wide eyes scrutinizing her in a way that makes her very self-conscious of the burger suit she’s wearing. To the middle one’s right, there’s an incredibly cute black haired boy who looks like a very, very tall twelve year old, his nose scrunching up cutely. Yoojin takes a look at the one standing behind the three of them, black hair spiky and expressionless despite the fact that he’s clutching an old-fashioned boom box, and she decides that if she absolutely has to fight one of them, she’s going for the very, very tall twelve year old.

The middle on taps his foot impatiently, crossing his arms. His muscles stand out at the movement, especially since he’s wearing a sleeveless shirt the same way Sehun does, and she frowns at the sight. They seem to be waiting for an answer so she slowly gestures at herself.

“Me?” She glances behind her, hoping to God he’s angrily jabbing a finger at someone else and she hadn’t noticed the other person the first time.

“Yeah, you. Burger Girl.” He nods vigorously, his snapback moving off center a bit, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Yoojin glares at the way he says Burger Girl. She may be dressed ridiculously but she’s not going to stand insults from the likes of them. They look like they’re dressed for a basketball game, decked in form-fitting sweatpants and long t-shirts, their snapbacks all matching.

“Dancing?” She replies, glancing around before she smooths out a flyer and shows him, “And handing out flyers?”

“On our turf!” The very, very tall twelve year old exclaims, crossing his arms. The brawny one in the middle nods in agreement, eyeing her with distaste.

Yoojin’s eyes widen at that, her eyes flickering over to the Burger King across the street, and she quickly puts two and two together. They work there, at the Burger King. She can see a few employees peering out the Burger King windows and she notices that their caps are the same as the four boys in front of her, a deep purple color. Much to her surprise, she feels a strange surge of protectiveness over the McDonald’s she’s been fantasizing about burning down for the last three hours. “Your turf?” She repeats his words, scowling slightly at the fact that these rookies are trying to intimidate her when she’s been in the fast food game much longer than they have, especially the fast food game in this college town in particular. Their eyes all narrow at the same time and her irritation grows because they’re trying really hard to intimidate her.

(It may be working more than she’d like to admit, but they don’t need to know that.)

“Excuse me, but you all have only been open for a week. This isn’t your turf.” Yoojin snaps at them, a voice in her head that sounds awfully like Junmyeon cheering her on.

“Yeah, it is. Before you came out here in…that…” The middle one gives her a slow onceover, raising his brow, and she crosses her arms (or at least tries to since she can’t even press her hands together in this damn burger suit) at his judgmental expression. He continues speaking, cutting her off before she can snap back at him. “All the people eating in your rundown store right now were flocking to us.” Then he raises a brow and his lips quirk up into a cocky little smirk that has her fuming, for some reason.

(She scowls because this guy looks like he thinks he’s the best of the best and she decides she doesn’t care if he could bench her and her entire family without breaking a sweat, she’s going to fight him first.)

She huffs, opening to snap at him, when he cuts her off, his expression twisting into amusement, “It took us a week to get more customers than your store has ever had. Personally, I think that makes this our turf and you all a bunch of has-beens.” He pauses, tilting his head to the side, “Besides, you can’t even dance. You’re just embarrassing yourself.”

Yoojin’s eyes widen at that and she steps forward (wobbles, really) placing her hands on her hips (on the felt lettuce sticking out from her sides). If there’s one thing Yoojin’s good at, it’s dancing. That’s part of the reason why Junmyeon had wanted her to dance as she handed out flyers in the first place, because she was young and naïve and had told Junmyeon that she’s majoring in dance in college and now Junmyeon is using her career path against her.

Her blood boils at the way the middle one crosses his arms and gives her a condescending look, clearly judging her, and she wishes she could somehow shove all her first place dance competition trophies in his face.

(Yoojin isn’t a bragger, by any means, but she’s had too many people tell her that she’s not going to make it anywhere, no matter how great she is at dance, because her major just wasn’t practical. The way the boy in the middle is looking at her reminds her of the way her father had looked at her before making her choose between her dreams or becoming a doctor. It shouldn’t be that deep, she knows this, and the boy in front of her probably doesn’t even realize that he’s struck a very, very deep chord within her, but it still pisses her off anyways.

Because she had adamantly chosen her dreams and her father had told her that he’d be waiting for the day when she crawls back to him begging for forgiveness just so he can tell her I told you so and shut the door in her face, before he had promptly left her to her own devices, without leaving her a single won to survive on. He refused to pay for her classes, her living expenses, he refused to invite her back home for the holidays, and she may be naïve and just a little bit gullible, but she had gotten her perseverance, her stubbornness, from her father. Blood runs thicker than water, they say. So, in turn, she had followed her father’s examples and she had refused her mother’s invitations to visit home, specifically when her father was out (though she still made sure to call her mother because at least her mother was trying). Her resentment for her father had festered into something horrible in the past year and the way this guy is looking at her, commenting about her dancing skills, leaves her with a bitter taste in .

If there’s one thing that really, truly angers Yoo Yoojin, it’s when someone insults her dancing because she has put her entire life on the line for the art.)

“Oh, please. You think you can?” She asks, an undercurrent of irritation running through her voice, “It looks like all you boys know how to do are circus tricks that a dog could learn.”

That seems to offend all four of the boys in front of her, their expressions growing sour. The one in the middle’s eyes glint and he uncrosses his arms, pulling his snapback off his head just so he can run his hand through his hair, shaking his head as if she’s just made a grave mistake. Even the boy holding the boom box, the one with the incredibly blank expression, appears to be vaguely pissed.

(That makes five of them, then.)

“You’d better take that back, Burger Girl.” The middle one tilts his head, his dark eyes boring into hers and she wonders if she hit a chord in him, too. Good, she thinks.

The deserves it.

“What are you going to do if I don’t?” She asks, copying his movements. “Flip cups at me?”

The middle one shakes his head, his lips, jaw tensing at her words. She just grins.

The very, very tall twelve year old gives her an amused grin, teeth showing before he exchanges a look with the one with the deadly poker face, who only narrows his eyes at her, raising a brow, unamused.

“I think she’s challenging us, Mark.” The middle one murmurs, his eyes pinned on her as he takes off his cap, smooths back his dark hair, before putting his cap on backwards. “Does that sound like a challenge to you?”

The one with the unamused expression and poker face glances from the middle one to Yoojin before he nods, breaking into a sideways smirk that's honestly breathtaking (though she won't dare admit it), “Yeah, it does.” He—Mark—answers, nodding solemnly.

The very, very tall twelve year old claps his hand, bouncing up and down on his long legs before he pokes the blank one holding the boom box, gesturing at the boom box.

Then the one holding the boom box places it on his shoulders, his blank face breaking into a wide, almost crazed looking grin. Then he presses a button and a booming hip-hop beat blasts out of the speakers, engulfing the otherwise quiet with a deep, strong bass that feels like it’s rattling her very core.

Yoojin knows a dance-off challenge when she sees one and she glares heatedly at the one the middle when he falls into a front flip, landing on one knee without appearing rattled at all.

Then he grins, teeth bared and eyes crinkled into little half-moons, before he speaks over the music, voice loud, “I’m gonna make you eat your own damn words, Burger Girl.”

~.~.~.~.~

Yoojin thinks that, perhaps, if the McDonald’s employees and the Burger King employees hadn’t met each other, for the first time, the way they had, then maybe they could have gotten along, playfully partaking in some type of healthy competition. Maybe Yoojin’s coworkers wouldn’t have become so hell-bent on destroying the Burger King across the street as thoroughly and completely as possible. Maybe Yoojin wouldn’t have acquired her first arch-nemesis in a certain Burger King employee.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

The dance-off had been going well at first. Yoojin had slid out of the burger suit, scowling all the while, and the one that had challenged her just stood there, brows raised. Acrobatics was never Yoojin’s forte, so she just sticks to hip-hop and ballet, occasionally delving into jazz. When she pirouettes enough times to make the one on the middle appear vaguely nervous, she falls into a handstand before flipping forward, until she stops right in front of him and shoves his chest, grinning at his wary expression. The boy stumbled back a little and the very, very tall twelve year shouted oh earning him a shove from the one holding the boom box and a “Shut up, Bambam” from the boy who was currently scowling at her, adjusting his snapback. The very, very tall twelve year old—Bambam—had just cackled in amusement.

It had been going so well, in fact, that Yoojin believed she may actually win this one, the boy pulling out his best moves in order to intimidate her, his brows furrowing a bit. He flips and turns and honestly, Yoojin gets nervous at the power in his moves, the way he flips without a care in the world.

And that, right there, is what makes her lose her footing, when the boy backflips particularly close, hovering centimeters from her face and gives her a smirk, throwing his snapback on the ground. Nervousness has always been her downfall, because the minute she gets nervous and she isn’t able to suppress it, she starts to psych herself out. As the anger begins to fade, the panic begins to build, and the way he looks at her, with dark, judgmental eyes, only makes it worse, especially because, lately, Yoojin hasn’t been in a particularly good place regarding herself and her skills (which she has been working on, but progress is slow).

So she gets nervous, steps back when he gets too close, loses her footing, and lands on her in front of the dwindling crowd, and more importantly, in front of the four Burger King boys.

It’s embarrassing and she reddens, especially when the boys laughs at her, his laughter loud, engulfing, but when she tries to get to her feet, pain shoots up her ankle and she gasps, blinking away sudden tears as she plops back down on her .

“I can’t believe you choked up that badly.” Bambam cackles and they all nod, clapping their hands together as they snicker and Yoojin’s embarrassment narrows into irritation and anger that she pins onto the stupid laughing boy with the snapback and the thick body, glaring at him through the pain in her ankle.

The four of them laugh at her until her manager, Baekhyun, Wendy, and Jongin show up, and only then do they stop laughing, when Wendy asks her if she’s alright and she shakes her head, grimacing at her ankle.

~.~.~.~.~

“What the hell?” Baekhyun’s voice echoes over the music and she flinches at the loudness in his voice. He jabs a finger in her direction, nearly shoving a pretty finger in her eye, “She hurt her ankle and you all are just laughing at her?”

He sounds positively pissed, his jaw clenching, and her heart warms a bit at the way he turns on the four boys, at the way Byun Baekhyun looks like he’s ready to claw someone’s eyes out because aw Byun Baekhyun actually cares about her.

Junmyeon puts a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder, squeezing it gently, and this seems to subdue Baekhyun a bit, his fingers falling away from his fists.

(Which Yoojin is relieved about because Baekhyun may look like he wouldn’t ever hurt a fly intentionally, he’s a hapkido master and Jongdae’s told her stories of how Baekhyun’s perfectly capable of stabbing someone in the throat with his toes.)

Junmyeon steps forward, then, crossing his arms as he eyes the four boys in front of him sternly, Yoojin looking up at him from where she’s still sprawled out on the ground. The flipping boy—the one she’s decided she really hates— glances at her, mid-laugh, and his eyes widen, something flashing through his eyes before his smile drops from his face. The other boys glance at her, frowning slightly.

“It’s fine.” Yoojin tells Baekhyun, shaking her head at him. Baekhyun just ignores her, tucking an arm around her waist before hauling her up onto her feet, Wendy helping him lift her on her other side, “I think I just twisted it.”

Baekhyun’s scowl only deepens, his grip on Yoojin’s side tightening the slightest bit.

Yoojin doesn’t get to hear what Junmyeon says to the boys, not when she’s being hauled back to the McDonald’s by Baekhyun and Wendy while Jongin stays behind to provide Junmyeon moral support.

There are a few customers in the store, but they don’t seem to be paying attention to her, preoccupied with their meals. She’s greeted by Kim Minseok, the shift lead that tends to close most days, the minute they haul her through the doors. Minseok blink owlishly at the way she’s half-limping, half-dragged into the store before he pulls out a chair and pats it, Baekhyun and Wendy pushing her down into the chair immediately.

Minseok fusses over her, handing her a cup of water in a kiddie cup and an ice pack, while Baekhyun turns to the window, scowling at the scene they had left behind. Wendy sighs, plopping down beside Yoojin.

Minseok handles her bare, swollen ankle with gentle fingers, prodding at it lightly. His fingers are cool against her warm ankle and she winces a little, when he presses a little too hard. He immediately lets go when he looks up and notices her twisted expression, patting her knee in consolation as he presses the ice pack to her ankle. “I’m pretty sure you have a minor sprain. My friend used to get those a lot during pick up football games. It’ll be healed in, like, a week.”

Yoojin sighs out a thanks frowning down at her ankle and Wendy nudges her arm, seemingly trying to distract her from her hurt ankle, “Honestly, you were so cool out there.” Wendy says, smiling brightly as she pats Yoojin’s thigh.

“Thanks.” Yoojin grins, before sighing, “I can’t believe I embarrassed myself like that, though.” She shudders at the memory, glaring at nothing in particular, “I was about to beat his cocky .”

Baekhyun glances over his shoulder at her, “You definitely were, to be honest, but then he got all up in your face and ended up winning, technically speaking.” Baekhyun’s eyes narrow in suspicion as he crosses his arms, pursing his pink lips.

“Are you implying that he made her trip up on purpose?” Wendy asks, slowly, her eyes widening as she thinks it over.

Baekhyun nods. “I mean, what was the point of a dance-off in the first place, unless they wanted her to get hurt. Unless they’re trying to pick each of us off one by one, so Burger King can truly take over.”

Yoojin makes a face at that, “You make them sound like assassins or something.” She wrinkles her nose, “I doubt he meant to get me hurt. I tripped over my own two feet.”

“But then why did they laugh like a bunch of uncultured s instead of making sure you were okay first?” Baekhyun grumbles, throwing his hands in the air.

 Minseok, who’s perched on top of the table next to Yoojin and Wendy, raises a brow, “You’re an uncultured , Baek, so why don’t you answer that question yourself.”

Wendy bursts into giggles and fist bumps Minseok, who returns the fist bump enthusiastically, grinning with his teeth while Baekhyun promptly flicks Minseok off. Baekhyun huffs, not bothering to verbally acknowledge what Minseok had just said, “They’re a bunch of , man. At least help a girl up off her and make sure she’s okay while you’re laughing at her, you know? And I mean... there really was no point for them to show up and try to stop her from handing out flyers, especially since she was on McDonald’s property. I’m, like, ninety-nine percent positive they were just trying to start because they were feeling threatened.”

Yoojin shrugs, nodding slowly, “They were really mean…”

“See! They’re trying to get rid of us. I swear they ar—”

Minseok frowns, glancing at Yoojin before he cuts Baekhyun off mid-sentence, “Please, stop trying to convince our naïve little freshman that the Burger King employees are out to get us. I’m pretty sure it was just an accident.”

Wendy nods in agreement, smoothing out Yoojin’s hair as she caresses Yoojin’s face like she’s a baby. Yoojin scowls at the nickname, grumbling under her breath.

“Fine.” Baekhyun huffs, grimacing at the three of them, his eyes sliding between the three of them slowly. “But when they try to kill someone else and you all realize, just know that I’m not teaching any of you hapkido. Go learn to fend for yourself somewhere else.”

Then Baekhyun turns up his nose and stomps into the kitchen, trying to slam the door behind him (which only ends with the door swinging silently on its hinges, making his dramatic exit lose most of its dramatic flair).

~.~.~.~.~

Yoojin gets a week off, to allow her ankle to heal, and during that time, three strange things happen.

First: Chanyeol texts her five pictures of the Burger King employees, namely Mark and the Stupid Flipping Boy, showing up at McDonald’s.

From: Chanyeol

thicc dude kept asking 4 u

more like he kept callin u burger girl

& i just assumed dat wuz u bc of the dancing burger vidz lolz

Yoojin grimaces at the text messages, because, first of all, she really doesn’t want to be known as Burger Girl for the rest of her life and it looks like that’s the way it’s going to be since she’s been getting texts from coworkers and friends who are back home for the summer alike reminding her of the most embarrassing moment of her life. She’s going to find whoever put that video on the internet and she’s going to shove them into the fryer and blame it all on Junmyeon.

To: Chanyeol

Why would you triple text me about them…………….dude……………

From: Chanyeol

sorry i 4got that they tried 2 kill u woops

should i beat them up 4 u?

or flush their sandwiches down the toilet like tht 1 ep of spongebob?

To: Chanyeol

They didn’t try to kill me what is Baekhyun telling all of you???????????

Wait

Omg would you really do that for me??

From: Chanyeol

No.

Yoojin wrinkles her nose at her phone, before replying with a thanks coupled with an annoyed face emoji. Chanyeol doesn’t answer back though and Yoojin figures he’s just busy.

The second strange thing is when she starts getting a bunch of snapchats from Joy and Yeri, two hours after Chanyeol stops texting her, of the two of them pouting from various angles while clutching on to sopping wet mops. When Yoojin looks closely, she notices that there’s ketchup, scraps of lettuce, soggy buns, and other various food items all over the tiles, tables, and chairs, a particularly gross looking sandwich sliding the back window in a video Yeri sends her. Yoojin wonders how the hell this could have happened.

The next snapchat Joy sends Yoojin is captioned the guys who tried to kill u started a food fight >:( and Yoojin nearly drops her phone in her bathtub

Baekhyun’s voice echoes in her head right then, they’re trying to ruin us, and she wonders if Baekhyun had actually been correct in his observations.

She spends her time recovering wondering what the hell is happening at work, which is ridiculous because she’s on vacation. Technically, she’s getting paid leave because she was injured on the job. But she can’t stop thinking about work.

And then the very last day of the week comes. Her swollen ankle is finally down to its normal size and it doesn’t hurt to walk, though there’s still a twinge of pain when she bends her ankle at too far of an angle. It’s her last day off of work when the third strange thing happens, Junmyeon calls her phone.

Junmyeon never calls any of them, choosing instead to text.

“Hello?” Yoojin asks, phone nestled between her cheek and her shoulder as she cuts up vegetables for dinner, her roommate, Choi Yuna, sitting across from her and just watching Yoojin cook. She doesn’t even bother offering help, as usual.

“So I texted you a copy of your schedule for the next two weeks, did you get it?” Junmyeon asks, skipping straight to the point.

“Uh, um, yeah, I did.” Yoojin stumbles over her words.

“Good.” Junmyeon grunts and Yoojin can hear the clanging of kitchen utensils in the background, the familiar sounds of the drive thru carrying through the phone. “Okay, so I’m sure you’ve been informed about certain…events that have occurred while you were gone.”

Yoojin blinks, “Events? Plural?”

“Oh, well I guess not.” Junmyeon sighs, long and hard. There’s a pause where Junmyeon takes someone’s order, voice suddenly incredibly happy. Then when he returns to their call, he drops the cheery tone and Yoojin nearly giggles at the sudden change in tone. “I’m sure someone will fill you in when you come in tomorrow.” Junmyeon sounds so utterly exhausted, bone deep and ancient in his exhaustion, that Yoojin starts to feel bad for him. She couldn’t even imagine the stress he’s always being subjected to, especially since he takes his managerial job so seriously. “Anyway, the boys who tried to kill you last week ended up wreaking havoc in the store three times. So apparently Chanyeol and Jongdae decided to return the favor at the Burger King, which, in case anyone asks, I absolutely did not condone.”

“They didn’t try to kill me last week. Why does everyone keep saying that?” Yoojin mumbles.

“Maybe because it’s true. You should have seen them this week. One of them pretended to trip and sent his iced mocha flying into another customer’s hair and that’s when all hell broke loose. I’ve never been so afraid of burgers in my whole life.” Junmyeon shivers, his voice growing distant, as if he’s remembering something traumatic. “I wouldn’t put attempted murder past them, Yoojin.” She can imagine Junmyeon shaking his head, especially when he groans, “Baekhyun was totally right.”

“Wow.” Yoojin says, “That’s a miracle in itself.”

“I know. I honestly thought I’d never live to see the day when those words came out of my mouth. Yet here we are. Living in a world where Baekhyun is right.” Junmyeon snickers softly, especially when Baekhyun shrieks out a hey are you talking about me in the background, before Junmyeon continues speaking, “Anyway, I was calling to let you know that tomorrow we’re having our monthly team meeting and the topic was supposed to be about teambuilding, but I’ve decided to change it last minute to “Operation: Destroy Burger King”. Please make a list of ideas that you can share with the group.”

a/n: unfortunately there's not too much got7 in here yet but they'll be here next chapter. also this is concept is so dumb oh my god. ..sorry...

I've decided this is going to be a sequential storyline, also I'm going to try and give myself a schedule for this. So every two weeks I'm going to update this. We'll see how this goes lol. Next chapter should come out the week of may 1st, pls yell at me if I don't release it tbh

remember to leave comments and tell me what you thought below!! love you all!!!

xoxo

Up Next, Chapter 2: Operation: Destroy Burger King – Phase 1