“You’re around here a lot. Are you sure you don’t work anywhere up here?” Minseok asks in a jocular tone.

“No, I just come here for fun with Jongin,” Sehun chuckles.

“You should think about getting hired here, then,” Minseok suggests. “We have an opening here, you know. You could schedule your hours to fit with Jongin’s for convenience, too.”

Sehun raises his eyebrow in interest, nodding his head in thought of the proposal. “That wouldn’t sound too bad,” he comments slowly.

“Well if it’s a deal-maker, then you also get to work with the amazing Minseok,” the other boy laughs. “I heard he’s a kind, hard-working guy that treats all of his customers and co-workers with respect.”

“Minseok, I think you saying that is a reason of why I should not work here,” Sehun playfully speaks back. Minseok smacks his arm in response, reminding him to “respect his elders” and “not act like such a brat.” Sehun just grins while listening, picturing the possibility of working in this building to not be such a bad idea.

The reason he’s stopped by the café this time is to pick up their usual drinks from Minseok, and he’s alone because he had forced Jongin to stay within the confines of the gift shop. “Why can’t I even go up the elevator?” Jongin had whined earlier, to which Sehun responded with a piercing glare and a shake of the head. In no way was Sehun going to watch Jongin overwork his body again, so he made sure that his movement was minimized.

In fact, Sehun has been dutifully by Jongin’s side the entire week, not missing a day to follow him to work. He initially advised Jongin to just take the week off of work, but Jongin stubbornly denied doing anything like that. He argued that he sincerely needed the money for himself and refused to budge, forcing Sehun to simply heed to the other’s wishes.

They were able to work around Jongin’s slight injury, however, by actually putting Jongin’s employee cable pass into use. In this way, they were able to substitute the daily hike for a tranquil ride up the side of the mountain. If Sehun were in a better mood, he might have even called the rides ‘romantic,’ as they ran in such a way that all of the scenic points could be seen in one package. He doesn’t dare to think this way, though. Not when there’s only him and Jongin sharing the same cable car.

“Your usual order is here,” Minseok then announces, pulling out the familiar green drinks in a to-go tray for Sehun to bring up.

“Thanks, Minseok,” Sehun replies kindly.

“No problem,” the barista smiles. “Tell Jongin that I hope his foot gets better, though. Nothing’s broken right?”

“No, the doctor saw no broken bones or fractures thankfully. He thinks it’s just soreness from overuse, so as long as Jongin doesn’t use that foot too much, he should be fine,” Sehun responds. “Anyways, I should get going before he starts complaining. Bye Minseok,” he waves.

“See you later. And think about what I said about you working here,” Minseok calls out, returning the wave with his own.

Sehun heads back down the elevator and arrives promptly at the gift shop with the drinks in hand. Jongin is cutely perched over the counter with his hand in his palms, eyes pointed downwards with such sadness contained inside. “I’m back!” Sehun announces loudly, pulling Jongin out of his stupor.

“What took you so long?” Jongin says in a half-whine. “It felt like you were gone forever.”

“I was just talking with Minseok,” he says as his excuse, and Jongin’s eyes narrow at him.

“Were you guys talking about me?” the boy asks with curiosity.

“God, not everything is about you, Jongin,” Sehun teases. “But yes, we did talk about you. We talked about your crippled body, and Minseok wishes that you feel better.”

“That’s sweet of him, but if he really wanted to make me feel better, he wouldn’t have made you pay,” Jongin refutes.

“He can’t just hand out freebies every day, you know.”

“I know, but he should be a man and pay for his friends. We are his loyal customers, and we deserve to be treated well.”

“You’re too demanding, Jongin,” Sehun says, leaning over to sip some Frappuccino from his straw.

“But you have to put up with this for about two more hours,” Jongin smiled, making Sehun groan in return. Junmyeon had called in sick today, and despite Jongin’s persistent complaining that he should find someone else to fill in for him, Jongin had given in. So here they were on a Thursday evening, staying later than they needed to be.

At least Sehun found the time to be passable, though. Whenever he was around Jongin, it seemed that a half-hour could pass in a conversation that seemed like five minutes, so being in Namsan Tower for just a few more hours didn’t hurt him. Besides, it’s not like Sehun could leave, seeing that he was Jongin’s personal nurse for the time being.

As he expects, the hours pass by quickly as a combination of their lively conversation and knack for playing around. Sehun, out of his boredom, even strolls through the aisles of the shop and picks up souvenirs, advertising each of them to Jongin in the most embarrassing way that he can. The occasional customer would come in to break up their playing time, but as soon as the customer left, the two would be back to playing childish games to occupy the extended stay.

Soon enough, Junmyeon’s shift is over, and Jongin announces that it’s time to leave with an obnoxious yawn. They throw on their coats an