I

"… and then I told her that she was right when she said that her body looks like a camp-chair whenever she wears a dress", the buffy man on the other side of the counter said and sneered just to break down in tears the next second.

A bitter smile appeared on Eunhyuk's face. He patted the other's arm and felt true sympathy, even though they barely knew each other. His opposite just went through a breakup; he had no other choice than to keep him some company.

Eunhyuk had opened his little grocery store some weeks ago and his opposite – a man that he only knew by his nickname Shindong – had basically been his first costumer. One of the things that he had learned about him pretty quickly was the fact that he had an affinity for alcohol, no matter if it was early in the morning or a few minutes before Eunhyuk wanted to close the shop. Shindong always bought some bottles of beer, sometimes soju… But usually he wasn’t drunk when they met or drank his beer right in the shop like he was doing it right in that moment. His fresh breakup however seemed to be an exception and with the five empty beer bottles on the counter and Shindong's unsteady way of standing, Eunhyuk felt more like a bartender than a cashier. Apart from that he thought that he could start charging the hours he spent with listening to his costumers' problems. This most likely would've brought him more money than the shop until then.

"Don’t worry", he said and squeezed the weeping man's shoulder. "I know this might sound hard, but there are other fish in the sea."

"But she w-was special", Shindong sniffed and rubbed his snotty nose along his sleeve, an action that immediately made Eunhyuk pull back his hand with an disgusted expression on his face. "She was like… a diamond! A diamond that I found… somewhere in the dirt…"

Eunhyuk pulled up one eyebrow. "Two days ago you said – excuse my choice of words – that she is a ."

"Only because she told me to f- off!"

"You met her like… a week ago."

"That's enough time for m-me to know that… she is the love of my l-life! She is so p… p-pretty, how can't you unders-stand?!" he exclaimed and buried his face in the crook of his arm, held on to the table with his other hand and literally cried his eyes out.

Eunhyuk sighed. He knew that Shindong would calm down after a while; there was no need to worry. His tears would dry just like the spilled beer on the floor and in two or three days he would surely tell him about the new love of his life. Said life would just go on.

With another sigh he grabbed the remnants of Shindong's attempt to forget to bring them to the other empties next door. As he came back, Shindong was still crying, but apart from the sniffs he also heard the little bell above the door ring that announced a new costumer. For a second he thought about telling Shindong to leave because a weeping and drunk man wasn’t good for his reputation, but then again: he couldn’t do that. Apart from that: what reputation? And so he just came back to the counter, turned his head towards the door to greet whoever was joining their joyful togetherness – and suddenly was at a loss for words.

A young man had entered the store, dressed in simple jeans and a sweater. He had brown hair that was long enough to be tied into a little ponytail and… His face. Eunhyuk had to admit that he was astonishingly handsome. His skin was pale and together with the neutral expression on his face he almost looked like a doll. The sleeves of his sweater were so long that they almost completely hid his hands as he reached one of them out for a basket and his fingers looked cutely short. Once he had it, he stood there like he didn’t know what to do and Eunhyuk finally became aware of the situation again.

"Good evening", he breathed, but seemingly it was loud enough to be heard. They young man turned his head.

"Hello."

Their gazes met only for a second before he disappeared behind one of the shelves, but Eunhyuk was internally screaming. That boy had beautiful eyes and he had no other choice than to look after him. It didn’t even bother him that he was staring at nicely lined up cans of pineapples for ten seconds straight.

"C-Can I have another beer, b-buddy?"

Eunhyuk looked to the side and was reminded of the man who had lost his heart for the nth time since he knew him.

"Surely not", he answered and ripped the last empty bottle with gentle force out of Shindong's hand. "I think it would be the best for you if you go home now and-"

"But… m-my car is p- p- parked so f-far away…"

"Are you nuts?! I won't let you drive a car like this! At the next corner there's a cabstand, go there and ask for a ride. And give me your car keys! You can pick them up tomorrow or so."

Shindong muttered something, but gave him the demanded keys either way. Eunhyuk helped him to the door, prayed to God that he wouldn’t puke all over the floor before leaving – and was more than glad to see him swaying into the right direction.

The other's presence had almost made him forget about his handsome costumer and so he quickly walked back to the checkout. There was nothing to hear however, not even steps. And so he slowly walked along the corridors, thinking that the other might needed help. Eunhyuk found him next to the flour and straightened his back, pulled a bit on his shirt to make sure that it didn’t have any wrinkles.

"Do you need any help?" he asked with the most professional tone he had to offer.

The other looked at him for a short while before he lowered his gaze. "Hm…"

Jesus Christ, can I keep him?!

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