Heung Soo was buying lollipops from the convenience store when he realized that he was out of money. He emptied his wallet on the counter; a piece of lint fluttered out. He smiled at the shop attendant sheepishly and put the lollipops back on the shelf; frowning.

“I need a job.” He sighed on the way home (well, to Nam Soon’s house). 

Nam Soon stopped as if he’d been struck. “Why?”

“Because I’m broke, duh.”

“But I’m not.” Nam Soon pointed out matter-of-factly.

Heung Soon frowned.

 ‘Heung Soo is gone. Find him u guyz, he’s dumb & I broke his leg. D:’

Was the message Heung Soo got on his own phone after a long day of job-hunting. He resisted the urge to facepalm.

He called back.

“Yah! Stop telling people I’m dumb!”

“HEUNG SOO! Where were you?! Why weren’t you attending the phone?! Is your leg okay?” Heung Soo held the phone away from his ear and winced. He could feel the ‘D: D:’ vibes out of the phone.

“I was out of credit, dude. Sheesh. I went job hunting.”

The line went oddly quiet.

 “Nam Soon-ah! Go home!” He hissed, peering over his fake glasses.

“You wear glasses?” Nam Soon asked; wide-eyed.

They were in the library Heung Soo had gotten a job at. He had decided he needed to look a bit more like a librarian (even if he was only the receptionist) and had let his sister dress him up. He looked ridiculous.

“Why are you wearing a suit?” Nam Soon tried again, only to be swat on the head by one of the books Heung Soo was checking out.

“Because it makes me look smart. Now !”

Nam Soon looked at him for a second. He got the vague feeling Nam Soon was a robot right then, because he was just looking at him blankly like he’d never seen Heung Soo look so respectable or so dumb.

Then he went away. Heung Soo was about to make a blood sacrifice in relief before Nam Soon returned with a mountain of manhwa and plopped on the floor at the foot of the receptionists’ table.

And he read them.

All of them.

Multiple times.

Sometime during the day a bowl of ramyeon appeared by his side and he slurped them while he read more manhwa.

The empty bowl of ramyeon was still there, along with the kid who had eaten out of it, when Heung Soo closed up the library.

His shoulders were slumped.

He considered smacking Nam Soon.

He poked him with his foot instead. “Yah, let’s go.”
Nam Soon looked up from where he was lying face-down on the floor, eyes shining. “Is your shift over? You work hard!”

“They told me to take my hobo home.” Heung Soo deadpanned, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Job Number 2:

“Are you ever going to get off?” Heung Soo clenched his teeth. There was a passenger in the back seat who had gotten on with him in the morning and no points for guessing who.

He cursed the bus system which allowed people to pay the fare once and stay on for as long as they wanted. All day as Heung Soo had driven the bus in his cute little uniform with the hat and all, Nam Soon had lay in the back seat and alternately read manga and snored. His snores were enough to wake the dead.

He hit the brakes sharply at a busy intersection; the bus screeched to a halt to save a kid with his puppy. The passengers gasped as the bus’ wheels screeched and jerked, and suddenly there was a body lying face down in the aisle. Someone screamed. Heung Soon panicked and the bus veered over someone’s prize petunias.

He ran towards the back as soon as he could get the seat belt off and began to check for pulse on the face-down kid… before the kid let out a snore.

He smacked his best friend on the head. Once, twice, and thrice for good measure.  “Yah, can’t you at least sleep on a seat without falling off?!”

Nam Soon raised his head groggily. “Wha?”

But by the time Heung Soo had assured the passengers that Nam Soon wasn’t dead, just very stupid, the owner of the petunias they’d parked in had emerged from the shower.

Job Number 3:

 “You seem happy.” Nam Soon commented, as he slid under the sheets.

“I just don’t feel like scowling at you anymore.”

“I said I was sorry!” Nam Soon whined, and Heung Soo rolled his eyes. “How was I supposed to know that you’d get distracted by my face-down presence in the aisle enough for you drive over some crazy dude’s petunias who were like his children and that he’d want you for manslaughter?”

Heung Soon clicked his tongue. He didn’t want to discuss what else the man had threatened as he mourned his petunias. “Let’s get some sleep.” He put an arm around his best friend’s waist and closed his eyes when Nam Soon kissed him good night. He waited until the snoring started and then snuck out of the futon. Tiring Nam Soon earlier with all manners of hide-the-ramyeon-and-manhwa-and-make-Nam-Soon-run-around-trying-to-get-them-back to make him sleep early was a of genius.

He grabbed his fedora and set out to work.

The club was humid and noisy but everyone seemed to know when he entered.

Maybe because he was wearing suspenders over his bare chest and a fedora and no one but dancers at shady bars like this did that anymore.

Ugh, his image was so outdated.

 “HEY NEW KID, SHOW ‘EM WHAT YOU’VE GOT!”

And that was how Nam Soon found his best friend; sweating and shirtless and grinding against some pole that definitely didn’t deserve it. His eyes went round.

“Are you ing serious?!” Nam Soon hissed at his best friend once he’d gotten off stage.

Heung Soon shrugged. “Yeah, well, someone didn’t let me keep a decent job. Thus.” He gestured to his bare chest.

A part of Nam Soon found this completely ridiculous. Another part thought it was y.

He opened his mouth to say something along the lines of ‘let me feed/clothe/sustain you as your best friend/ buddy/boyfriend/lover/okay fine, soulmate (and that escalated quickly) who ruined your life’ but Heung Soo jabbed him in the chest. Hard. “Stop.”

Nam Soon closed his mouth, then opened it again.

“No.”

Nam Soon pouted and closed his mouth, only to try again.

“Don’t even.”

Nam Soon breathed a sigh. “Okay.”

“Really?” Heung Soo brightened.

“Yup. Okay. You can work at a strip club.” Nam Soon grinned a bit. “But you have to give me private shows when I ask for them.”

Heung Soo stuck his tongue out. “Only if you pay me, giseki-ah.”

And so Nam Soon started working extra shifts.

FIN.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. D: I just wanted Heung Soo pole dancing-can you blame me? *shot* :D