Prelude
 

Running a business with just two people is hard. Chanyeol and Baekhyun found this out first hand after a month of opening their sweet shop “Candy Hearts: An Emporium of Sweets”. With Baekhyun constantly running around to help customers and Chanyeol working hard behind the scenes, things were starting to get a little out of hand.  So, when Chanyeol told Baekhyun he hired a new full-time employee after one long and busy work day, Baekhyun nearly cried from the relief.

“You’ll like him, I just know it!” Chanyeol cracked his usual giant grin after Baekhyun hugged him and thanked him about a thousand times over.  However, when meeting the new employee for the first time, Baekhyun tried hard to remember the meaning behind "not to judge a book by its cover". He tried to remember this really hard.

One early morning, Baekhyun entered the shop and headed to the break room in order to change into his uniform apron. When he finished tying the apron’s strings behind his back, he turned around and was given one of the greatest scares of his life.

In the supposed to be empty break room, stood a man Baekhyun had never seen before. And to be frank, with the dark piercing glare he was given, Baekhyun didn’t really want to get acquainted with the stranger either. Baekhyun found his hand closing his locker and his body pressing itself flat against it shortly afterward. He wasn’t sure who the guy was or how he even got into the store.

After what felt like an hour of staring, the intimidating man bent down into a perfect ninety degree bow. “Hello, my name is Huang Zitao. Thank you for hiring me, sir. I will work hard to exceed your expectations and be a perfect employee.” Zitao bellowed out with careful precision and traces of an accent.

“Y-You’re the new employee?” Baekhyun squeaked out involuntarily. Zitao straightened his posture back into a perfect line  and gave Baekhyun a firm nod. Baekhyun slowly allowed his shoulders to relax. “Oh…kay. Um, I’m Baekhyun. Co-owner of well, here. I wasn’t told that you were coming today.” Baekhyun let an awkward laugh escape him. “But, it’s still nice to meet you…um, Zitao? I guess I’ll open the shop and show you how things go around here.” Zitao nodded and his stare ignited with such determination that it took Baekhyun by surprise. Baekhyun could only smile as he walked out of the break room with Zitao trailing after him.

The rest of the day went by better than Baekhyun expected. Zitao wasn’t kidding when he told Baekhyun he was going to work hard. Baekhyun had assigned him to clean the floors of the shop at one point and after 20 minutes of being told, he swore no other floors could compare in terms of shine and cleanliness.  Although Zitao excelled in cleaning and stocking shelves, he unfortunately lacked in customer service. A lot of the customers were petrified of Zitao’s permanent piercing gaze and were quick to brush him off when he offered his help. Baekhyun gave Zitao some credit though. He never did show any signs of defeat or fatigue the many times he was rejected.

“Baekie! Tao!” Chanyeol came bouncing into the shop with a box in hand, “I’ve come to celebrate our new employee’s first day!”  Chanyeol sung while smiling Zitao’s way. “And I’ve got something special!”

Zitao’s eyes widened immediately, “Mr. Park, no! You can't! I couldn’t accept any gifts after all you’ve done for —“

“It’s cake,” Chanyeol cut him off and flipped the box`s lid open with a mischievous smile. Zitao’s eyes quickly zoomed in and locked on the wonderful baked goodness within the box.

“Is that…strawberry shortcake?” Zitao asked with a quiet voice that took Baekhyun by surprise again. Of all things to be Zitao’s weakness, it had to be cake.

“Only the finest.” Chanyeol replied and closed the box. When Baekhyun saw how Zitao’s eyes lite up and sparkled, he concluded that Chanyeol had successfully tamed the beast that was Zitao with only the mere promise of cake.

They closed the shop at the end of the day and started their little celebratory party in the break room (party hats and blow out noisemakers were not left out thanks to Chanyeol). The cake was cut into pieces and shared amongst the three of them. After a few moments of the cake being served, Baekhyun witnessed one of the most innocent of smiles appearing on Zitao’s face. Baekhyun was again shocked. He could dare say that the smile made Zitao look cute, fluffy even.

“So…Zitao, the cake is to your liking then?” Baekhyun asked. Zitao immediately put his attention from his cake slice to Baekhyun and nodded eagerly.

“Yes, it’s delicious, thank you very much!” Zitao told Baekhyun and Chanyeol with bright and almost child-like eyes.

“Aw, you’re welcome Tao.” Chnayeol replied and ruffled his hair from across the break room table.

“Tao? Is that a nickname?” Baekhyun asked while looking between the two.

“Yeah! Tao's a lot easier than Zitao, isn't it? And Tao doesn’t mind, do you?”

Tao’s pale face became dusted with a handsome flush of red before he nodded slowly. Baekhyun couldn't help but smile, “Okay. So, I’ll call you Tao then. That is, if you want me to.” 

When Tao nodded vigorously and was obviously trying to fight back a smile, Baekhyun realized something.  No wonder Chanyeol said he would like Tao. Tao was exactly like Chanyeol when he first met him except Tao was much darker, cuter and more coordinated.

“But Tao... that name is foreign, isn’t it?” Baekhyun looked between Chanyeol and Tao once more. Tao’s cheerful expression dampened a little and he returned to picking at his slice of cake.

“Yup, Tao here is from China! I found him standing around with a sign asking for employment. So, I hired him.”

“…You did what?” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow to his boyfriend. When he saw Tao's frown deepened, Baekhyun cursed himself and his tone.

Tao started to get up from his chair, “Sorry, I can leave if you would like me-“

“No!” Baekhyun cried, “No, you’re definitely welcomed here.”

“Yeah, don’t leave. You’re part of the family now.” Chanyeol popped in and cracked one of his maniac smiles. Instead of shying away like others, Tao flashed his own toothy grin in return. A grin that made him look so gosh darn cute and squeezable.

Baekhyun concluded that Tao was another one of those people who were unfortunately misunderstood. There was just something about Tao that made Baekhyun want to pick him up and protect him from all things evil (despite Tao’s height towering over his own). And it also didn’t help Baekhyun’s case when he had the shocking revelation that Tao resembled one of his favourite animals which were cute and adorable pandas. In conclusion, all Baekhyun could hope for was that someone else could see past Tao’s appearance and get a glimpse of Tao's authentically endearing self.

However, Kris was definitely not that someone Baekhyun had in mind.  

Okay, here is the prelude of the spinoff. I won't actually have the time to write the thing until next week (I'll be out of town this Friday (Aug3rd) to Monday(Aug6th)) because of other things I've promised to write ><". BUT, here! It's coming guys! I thought a teaser would hold you guys off for a few more days.  Annd the oneshot is going to be in Kris' POV. Headsup yo

And like the rest of the Candy Hearts series: THIS IS GOING TO BE FLUFFY. Yeah. Warning. Kay, cool. And since AFF is sick and some of their data is in hiding for a bit, I'm not going to update Paper Mâché until the last chapter is back up. So, yeah. Err, I don't have much else to say. Buh bye. PurplePluto out~~

 

Translations:

Russian:
Sprinkled Hearts, translated by Silver-fey

If you wish to translate this fic, please private message me and receive my permission before doing so. Thank you.