~ Spice Up My Heart ~

“Hey, Jongin.”

“Hm?” Jongin swivels his chair around to give his coworker his undivided attention.

“It’s about time for lunch break right?” Chanyeol mulls contemplatively, his hand under his chin.

Jongin blinks, “Yeah.”

“I’m hungry.”

“Um, yeah?” Is Chanyeol really interrupting his work just to ask him this?  

“Yeah. I’m really hungry.”

“Then go get some food.”

“What should I get?”

“Uh?” Jongin shrugs his shoulders, “I don’t know.”

“Well, I had pork chops yesterday. Some chicken the day before. And I’ve been eating way too much Taco Bell lately, so I need something else.”

Jongin clears his throat, “Chanyeol.”

“Hey, you know what? You should come with me.”

 “Huh, what—No.”

“Perfect! We can go to that new Ramen Shop that’s just opened. Bring Baekhyun along, too. Okay? Okay. Thanks.”

“Wait. What?”

Chanyeol grabs for his keys, “C’mon, hurry! My tummy’s rumbling.”

“But—”

“Let’s go!”

Chanyeol doesn’t even wait for Jongin and makes way through the office with heavy footsteps and an excited bang from the office’s front door when he leaves.

“…”

Jongin sighs exasperatedly and looks over to Baekhyun, who had been standing awkwardly to the side for quite some time now and had listened to the pair’s entire conversation from the beginning, “You’re coming with us.”

“Okay.”

---

So, this is how Jongin ends up at this small, shut-in, looking restaurant called Curry Ramen Palace. He scrunches his nose in distaste and eyes the run-down, dinky, old building questionably. He wonders what in God’s name made Chanyeol chose this place out of all the places they could have gone to without the possibility of getting mugged in the back alleyways. It looks nothing remotely like a palace at all when compared to its name. Jongin rubs his arms, trying to comfort himself, and turns to look at his colleague with worry.

“You sure about this?”

Chanyeol only smiles widely, “Of course! My childhood friend, Soo, is the chef here. He just started this business and I promised him a long time ago that I would stop by when I had the chance. Well, this is a good time as any, right? Let’s go in!”

Jongin stares at the tall man’s back as he saunters in there all happily without a care in the world. Baekhyun, the quietest of the trio finally lets out a small smile and a chuckle.

“Enthusiastic isn’t he?” He says to Jongin.

“Yeah, too much enthusiasm if you ask me.”

The two men then walk inside, the spicy air pungent making Jongin’s eyes water and nose already run with unwanted mucus. He isn’t particularly fond of spicy dishes, but when it comes to Chanyeol, Jongin just can’t say no because even if he were to say his opinion, the giant will always force him to do all these weird things with him in the end anyway.

The building inside is actually more well off than its outside appearance. Jongin scours for cobwebs or anything of the sort, but it’s pretty meticulously clean to his surprise. Baekhyun stands in front of a large menu that is hanged on the wall nearby the cash register and reads it out loud.

“Each level of spicy hot ramen will determine how much you will pay for it, but only if you don’t finish your bowl.”

Chanyeol nods his head, “So as long as you finish your bowl you don’t have to pay. Sweet! This should be a piece of cake!”

“How many levels are there?” Jongin asks, mostly so he can just pick the mildest one and pay cheap since the level one spicy hot ramen is only five bucks. He should be able to bear through the spice, and put up with the shame of being called a wimp by Chanyeol.

Baekhyun counts to a total of ten levels, but gawks at the fine print that is written below the final one, “Hey, level ten says if you finish this bowl you’ll get paid fifty dollars instead of paying for it!”

Chanyeol begins to sweat a little at that, “Hah, I like spicy food, but I know, Soo. He likes to makes things extra, extra, spicy. If we eat that we’ll all probably be dead by the first bite.”

“Of course, Chanyeol, curry ramen wouldn’t be delicious if it wasn’t at the cost of your life.”

Chanyeol turns around and grins, “Kyungsoo!”

“Hey, you. Finally decided to show up at my restaurant, huh? Took you long enough.”

“Heh heh, sorry, but I brought along some coworkers. This is Baekhyun and that one over there is, um—Jongin?”

Jongin, the man in question, is just standing there. Frozen. Looking at Kyungsoo like a deer in headlights. Kyungsoo is the most adorable thing he has ever seen on this planet. Him and his cute chubby cheeks, and large eyes, and kissable lips, and fluffy black hair wrapped with a bandana, and small frame covered in an oversized chef attire and kimono. He’s the perfect size for some cute cuddling sessions, and taking care of, and—oh, , yes, manhandling in the sheets.

Oh my gawd, did he just say that?

Jongin wants to evaporate into steam and float away because he’s sure he’s just said all of his thoughts about Kyungsoo out loud.

Everyone in the room stares at him for a good few seconds. No one really sure what to say after Jongin’s outburst. Finally Kyungsoo laughs. Laughs and laughs and laughs. He laughs so hard tears are coming out of his eyes and he’s choking on air and mildly sounding like a donkey. Chanyeol finds the scene of his friend disturbing and that’s rare coming from one who’s usually the disturbing one, but Jongin thinks he’s an angel gifted from the heavens.

“Ah, hah, hah—Alright, I—I’m sorry. Jongin, right?”

Jongin nods his head stupidly.

“Well, Jongin, you want to manhandle me in the sheets?” Kyungsoo says, suddenly very serious as he leans his elbow on the countertop that is in front of him, and eyes raking over Jongin’s body sultrily before locking onto the man’s eyes, “Eat my level ten curry ramen bowl and I’ll pay you your 50 dollars—and maybe, just maybe, I’ll let you manhandle me in the sheets.”

He gives the stiff man a charming wink for good measure and Jongin’s hooked. He slams his hand down on the countertop, accepting Kyungsoo’s challenge with fervor, and yelling with burning conviction at the top of his lungs.

“Bring it! Give me all you got! You’re going to be mine, Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo bites his bottom lip, “Don’t regret it.”

---

Chanyeol and Baekhyun give nervous glances to one another as they stare down at their bowls. Baekhyun decided to get a level three, while Chanyeol got a level five. They were confident when they had first ordered, but now as they stare down at their ramen they were sweating bullets. They both glance over to Jongin, who was sitting in his chair half-determined and half-scared out of his wits. The poor boy was going to die for God’s sake.

“Well, here we go.” Chanyeol tries to encourage, grabbing for his pair of chopsticks and digging in to his food. He gulps and, okay, the burn of the spice isn’t so bad—yet. He tells himself to keep going and looks up to see Kyungsoo pushing a full glass of water towards him.

“Water’s on the house. I know you’re gonna need it.” He even has the audacity to add in a -eating grin.

Ugh, that damn-so-sure-of-himself-prick Chanyeol thinks, but grabs for the cup anyway and gulps it down after a couple more bites of his ramen. For once, he sincerely hopes Jongin will survive.      

After ten minutes Baekhyun taps out. He stands up and fans his open mouth with his hand, “Ahhhh, I can’t do it! It’s too hot. Too hot!”

Kyungsoo pouts disappointingly, “But it’s only a level three.”

Baekhyun shakes his head, “No, no, no, I can’t. I just can’t eat it anymore.”

The young chef opens his hands and grins widely at the other’s defeat. Baekhyun begrudgingly takes his wallet and hands him fifteen dollars.

“Here’s another complimentary water.” Kyungsoo gives him after taking his money, shooting him an innocent, yet not so innocent look afterwards.

“Chanyeol, your friend is an .”

“I know.” Chanyeol grumbles as he, too, fishes out his wallet and gives his friend twenty five dollars. His ear tips burning red from the heat and nose stinging from blowing his nose too much.

“How’s Jongin?” Baekhyun asks and simultaneously everyone looks over curiously.

Each bite Jongin takes makes his whole body quiver. His left hand held tightly in a fist in his lap while his other grips his utensils with vice. He munches and chews and swallows all the while groaning and and whining in pain. He’s then chugging down water, some of the clear, cool, liquid passing his lips and trailing down his throat. His Adam’s apple generously moving up and down as he gulps. A few tears escaping his eyes from the hot spice that stay lingering on his tongue. The three other men in the room can’t tell whether or not they’re by Jongin and his unintentional, yet unbelievably hot sounds.

He then sniffles and proceeds to eat his meal. His determination to “manhandle Kyungsoo in the sheets” a forefront in his mind. He wants to impress this man and he’s going to. So, he continues to devour everything, crying at the pain, but baring through it like a champ. It’s so damn hot. He feels it everywhere. On his tongue, the back of his neck, and his ears. Sweat building up like diamonds on his forehead that he could make a fortune off of.

All three men gape and gasp as Jongin eats faster.

“Whoa, he’s gonna—”

“!”

“He’s—”

Jongin grabs the bowl and chugs all the leftover juice. He then slams the empty bowl onto the countertop releasing a relieving sigh.

“He did it.” Chanyeol whispers in awe.

Kyungsoo’s eyes bulge out. No one has ever finished his level ten spicy hot curry ramen before. This must be a sign. This has to be the man of his dreams!

Jongin smirks proudly and raises his hand out expectantly. Kyungsoo is still in shock as he lays down a fifty dollar bill onto his open palm. Jongin then stands up, a little wobbly, but manages to right himself. He heads over to the door turning his head coolly just to see Kyungsoo.

“I’ll pick you up here after you close shop. Can’t wait to manhandle you in the sheets tonight, Soo.”

He gives him the same wink and lip bite Kyungsoo gave him earlier before sashaying his way out the door with pride. Chanyeol and Baekhyun can’t stop staring at the door even after Jongin had left. Both of their mouths still completely wide open.

“Oh—”

“You’re—”

“ed.”

Kyungsoo starts laughing again after regaining his senses of what the hell had just happened inside his shop. He brushes his new set of tears away and looks towards his friend.

“I guess I have to close shop early.”

Chanyeol frowns and makes an ugly face, “Ew, Soo. This is my coworker, Jongin. Like, awkward, shy, Jongin that goes around and follows his hyungs who he has crushes on like a puppy.”

“Yea, so what. He’s hot. Besides did I ever say I dislike guys who follow their hyungs around like puppies? It’s kind of cute.”

“Ugh, whatever floats your boat, Soo.”

The curry ramen chef waves his hand towards Baekhyun, “I mean look at him. You gush about him all the time. How he’s so amazing, and cute, and smart, and oh, so perfect, but he’s just a scrawny boy who can’t even handle my level three spicy ramen.”

“Kyungsoo!” Chanyeol shouts his face beet red at his friend revealing his all-time secret that everyone already knows about except Baekhyun himself.

“Oops. Did I say that out loud?” Kyungsoo says childishly not even feeling guilty about saying that at all.

“You gush about me?” Baekhyun asks, facing Chanyeol with his own beet red cheeks and eyes blinking disbelievingly.

“I—”

“You can thank me later.” Kyungsoo says as he walks off to the back of the kitchen, awaiting some new customers to serve.

---

Meanwhile, Jongin’s panting and nearly passed out on the sidewalk. He’s wishing he had drank some water beforehand, therefore he wouldn’t be suffering like this. Yet, at the same time, he feels like flying off to the sky and dancing amongst the clouds.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

He scored a cute little ramen chef for tonight and maybe, hopefully, they can continue to get along and become something more in the future. Like get married, live together in a white picket fence home, and have beautiful adopted children—whoa there, Jongin. Thinking way too ahead of yourself here, but he’s just so damn perfect. Jongin thinks to himself, and laughs giddily before suddenly groaning and rubbing his chest right over where his heart is. He needs to go run by the drug store to get some medicine for this heart burn first. A little spice to the heart from a cute ramen chef named Kyungsoo is all worth it, though.

---

A/N:

And done…

<3 dububrit-on