Show changkyu some love~ 

Kyuhyun’s POV 

“Quit staring off into space and start cleaning. We’re opening soon,” Heechul chided as he brushed past me, moving to the double swinging doors right beside the bar. 

I grumbled something about how I wasn’t staring off into space and began jerking the damp white cloth along the sleek black counter top from my place behind the bar. 

Donghae hadn't called me all day and I hated being put off. I was almost certain that it had something to do with his stupid boss. 

I mean, seriously Hae, the first guy you fall for had to be an ugly, face-punching, rude, idiot, monkey faced jerk. 

Ever since he started working there a couple of weeks ago, every time we talked, Monkey Face always managed to wiggle his way into the conversation. The way Donghae talked about him was as if he put the sun in the sky and without him, an eternal hell would rain down on earth.

And with that whole circus thing yesterday, I could tell by the way Donghae was all blushy, blushy the entire time he was with Monkey Face that my best friend was practically head over heels for that douche. And of course, Monkey Face wasn’t any better. The whole day we were together, I had caught him sneaking glances at Donghae and making weird goo goo eyes at him like he was waiting for Hae to go running into his arms. Over my dead body. 

Tch. I don’t even get why Hae likes that guy.

The dude literally took a swing to my face, but that didn't seem to bother Donghae. All he cared about was how nice Hyukjae was to him, or how handsome Hyukjae looked, or how smart Hyukjae was.

Hyukjae, Hyukjae, Hyukjae! I swear that’s all I hear coming out of his mouth nowadays. 

I hated just the very thought of the two of them together. If they start dating, Hae’s gonna end up spending all his time with Monkey Face and he won’t have time to hang out with me anymore. In fact, it’s already begun! Exhibit A: Hae not calling me all day. 

And let’s not forget about Monkey Face’s delirious friend, Rabbit Man. The guy was like the devil in disguise. Seriously, the two of them could open up their own freak circus. 

I let out a heavy sigh as I focused my attention back to the counter top to see that I had been heatedly scrubbing away at the same tiny spot for the past ten minutes. 

I know I’m probably just being selfish, but I can’t help it. 

I ended up moping around, and absentmindedly wiped down the rest of the extremely long counter that ran across the entire left wall of the club, enclosing the bar. 

After that, I moved on to rearranging the expensive wine collection on the top shelves just to piss Heechul off. What can I say? It was one of the highlights of the job. 

Around eight, outside was starting to darken up and people slowly began spilling into the ridiculously large venue. A good deal of people were mingling around, but it was still pretty bare compared to it’s peak hour at one in the morning when the place would be jam packed with sweaty people jumping about and drunk out of their minds. 

The colorful neon lights were flashing overhead and the DJ, a funny dude named Shindong, was blasting overrated techno house music. 

There weren’t many customers at the bar yet so I had some leisure time to lazily scan the crowds and think about ways to convince Donghae that Monkey Face wasn’t worth his time. 

It was about an hour later when I was watching a guy busting some inhumane dance moves close to the entrance was when I saw who walked in, and I felt a vein ready to burst in my forehead as my eyes narrowed and my nostrils flared just looking at him. 

Shim Changmin. The that had so bluntly flirted with me, treating me like some cheap hooker when we first met. Which so happened to be the same day I got punched by Monkey Face. It was like the gods were sending signals for me to stay away from the likes of both of them.  

But that wasn't going to be possible seeing as how the devil’s lackey was walking straight over to the bar, not so subtly staring at some of the scantily clad girls he passed by on his way over here. 

Ohhhh no. There was no way I was going to deal with that jerk face a second time. 

I stomped over to the swinging doors beside the bar that lead into the back area of the club. There was a large, fancily decorated space for staff members to relax in, and an office right across from it. Even further in the back was a storage lot where Heechul kept all the extra equipment for special events, like when big shot bands came to play. 

I marched right over to the closed office door and threw it open without any second thoughts. Inside, the owner of the club sat focused over a laptop screen, glasses resting on his face. His shoulder length hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, and he was wearing a simple long sleeved grey shirt. Heechul looked more like a book worm than the owner of the city’s hottest club. 

When I barged in, he looked up, a scowl molding on his face and he gave me a sassy eye roll. “Are you ever going to learn that a locked door means no entering?”

I moved over to his desk and slammed my hands against the thick wood angrily, but as the words fell out of my mouth, they came out sounding desperate. “Please, please, please take over the bar! Just until this one dude leaves. I swear, he’s the devil’s spawn and I don’t want to deal with him right now because if I do, I’ll probably end up smashing his face against the counter and I really don’t want to hit anyone or go to jail and—”

“Slow down, squirt. You’re giving me a bigger headache than when the city comes to inspect the place,” Heechul said, holding his hand up for me to shut up. “Are you making excuses again so that you can hang around in the back and play video games? Because if so, you might want to turn around and go back the way you came,” he answered calmly, going back to typing something on his computer. 

“I swear I’m not making this up. Please, Heechul hyung. What have I ever done wrong?” I begged again. 

He stopped typing and looked at me weirdly. “Ok, first of all, don’t call me hyung. It’s creepy. Secondly, just this week alone, you forgot to wash the dishes on Tuesday, Wednesday you broke that super expensive bottle of bourbon that I really liked, Friday you almost tore one of the leather couches up on the second floor smoking lounge, and yesterday you skipped out on work without calling me first,” he said, ticking off his fingers as he listed all the wrong I had done. “Yes, yes. I can totally see why I should listen to you,” he said, giving me a stern look. 

He got up from his seat and moved around his desk to grab me by the arm and began tugging me out of his office. “Now come on, you can’t just leave the bar unattended. I’ve got customers to please.” 

“No, no, wait!” I pulled my hand out of his and he turned to look at me. 

He sighed and folded his arms over his chest. “At least give me a reason why you don’t want to just serve one single customer.”

“Remember how I told you Donghae started working at some company? Well, I went over there a couple of days ago and that old prick out there openly talked to me like if I was going to be his lucky one night stand,” I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling embarrassed. Ranting about it in my head was different than actually telling someone. 

Heechul’s eyebrows raised a bit and he looked concerned as he observed my face, trying to catch if I was lying. But then he just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. “Fine. You can stay back here until he leaves. I would tell you to help me set up the new ice maker machine we got, but god knows you’ll probably break it before it even sees the light of day,” he said, shooing me off into the staff lounge before sauntering over to the double doors that lead back out into the club. 

I let out a relieved sigh as I plopped down on one of the bright orange sofas, whipping out my phone to play some pac man. 

Although we were constantly bickering about work, Heechul was always looking out for me, being a little protective of me (if you want to call it that) when I came running to him with complaints about customers trying to get in my pants. He didn't tolerate that sort of thing, especially since he knew that most of the people were well beyond my age and could be complete s that might try to jump me if they got the chance. 

Funny story how I met Heechul, actually. 

When I was back just starting high school, my mom got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was bed ridden for the next two years. During that time, I was passed around a lot to all different kinds of relatives that couldn’t be bothered with me. People kept coming and going in my life during that time. No one stayed. 

After she died halfway into my second year of high school, I moved to the city. When I got there, I lived in a motel for about a week, scouting out a decent job and an apartment that wasn't too far from my new school. It wasn't hard finding a suitable apartment, but the job was much more difficult because most people didn't want to hire a high schooler who didn't have any ID or previous work record. 

When the second week of job hunting rolled around, I found a place with a ‘We’re Hiring Now!’ sign. It had been Heechul’s club. It had just opened at the time and was in it’s baby steps, not very well known and still a work in progress. 

I had gone in to find a man with wavy shoulder length hair standing on top of a long counter, whacking at something on the high ceiling with a broom. When he spotted me hesitating by the doorway, he looked at my curiously. “What can I do yah for, kid?”

I told him that I was looking for a job and he immediately hopped off the counter and came over to stand extremely close to me. 

“How old are you?” he asked. “You look a little to young to be applying for a job at a club, don’t you think?”

Obviously I lied about my age, and thank god that Heechul didn't seem to know the proper way of hiring people because he didn't ask for much more information before he hired me on the spot. Sure, when Heechul found out I was really a high schooler, he went off on an angry rant and tried to fire me, but he decided against it when I threw him a sappy story about this job being extremely important to me. He let me keep the job, but adjusted my shifts so that I was still able to sleep and do school work at a reasonable time. 

Over the next year, the club went up in popularity until it hit it’s all time high of being the most well known place in the city. It was known for it’s humungous venue, the good music, and the party atmosphere. Big time celebrity singers started booking shows here and since then, Heechul became the envy of every club owner in town. 

As I wasted time in the lounge area playing all sorts of free games on my phone, I tried to keep my mind off of the person sitting outside. It was working for the most part. 

But after about thirty minutes, I started losing feeling in my right leg so I got up to take a walk to the bathroom outside in the club area. I sneaked past the double doors and noticed Heechul making conversation with Changmin before I hurried over to the bathroom so that I wouldn't be noticed. 

Standing in front of a mirror above one of the sinks, I stuck my face insanely close to the glass, examining the faint pink bruise around my nose. It had healed for the most part, but just looking at it ticked me off because it reminded me that Monkey Face had been the one to do it. 

I had just started rubbing my nose to test if it still hurt when I heard the bathroom door push open. I didn't bother looking at who had just walked in, but when the shuffling of their shoes stopped abruptly and I saw a figure hovering in the corner of my mirror, I felt a rush of annoyance go through me and I turned around to tell them to shove off. 

But when I spun around and saw who it was, all that anger from before came slamming down on me again. 

“Hey, cutie. I didn't expect to see you here.”

And I wanted to strangle him right here in the bathroom. 

There stood the devil I had been trying to avoid, decked out in a dark grey suit, lacking a tie, with the first two buttons undone. He was grinning and I balled my hands up at my side, ready to swing if he tried to make a move. God knows it’s already happened before.  

The best thing was for me to probably just leave. I threw him a glare and tried to make a dash for the door but he caught my elbow and gave me a little tug to stop me from leaving. And I reacted on instinct, jerking out of his grip and bringing my hand back to send him a punch in the gut. I honestly didn't think it hit him that hard but he double over and stumbled back a step. 

“Wait, hold up!” He panted as I once again tried to leave. “I just wanted to apologize for what I said to you the other day. You looked pretty pissed and I didn’t mean to offend you or anything.”

Hmph. Trying to play nice guy. Not gonna work, pal. 

I ignored him and finally stepped out of the bathroom but I heard him rushing to follow out behind me. 

My eye twitched in irritation as I stomped over to the bar where Heechul was examining his outstretched hand. 

“Heechul! Can you just kick him out?! He won’t quit pestering me,” I demanded. 

“Me? What? What did I do?“ Changmin sputtered from beside me, bringing his hands up to point wildly at himself. 

Heechul just tapped his chin and jutted out his lip as if he was thinking. “I don’t know. I’ve been talking to him and he seems ok. He might be a little bit of a dope, but he’s alright. He doesn't seem like too much of a creepy .”

And again, Changmin stood beside me, waving his hands about, clearly confused as to why he was being referred to as a creepy .

I whined and tried to say something to Heechul that would change his mind, but he just shook his finger and then wagged it at the bar stool behind me, indicating that I better take a seat before he booted us both out. 

Grumbling miserably, I sat down, and much to my dismay, Changmin plopped down happily on the seat right next to me on my left. I shot him a disgusted look and shifted my seat over to the right so I wasn't sitting so close to him. Heechul reached down to a shelf tucked away under the counter and pulled back up a can of coke that he popped open, pouring it into a glass filled with ice, setting it down in front of me. 

“Why are you drinking soda?” Changmin asked from beside me, and I turned my head in the opposite direction hoping he would get the hint to leave me alone. But sadly, he kept on talking. “Hey, what about I buy you a drink as an apology? Hm?” 

I gritted my teeth together when he turned to an amused Heechul and began ordering a bottle of beer. 

Heechul just leaned a hand on the bar and shook his head. “Can’t do, bud. This little fella over here is underaged, so coke it’ll have to be.”

I’m not sure what pissed me off more, the fact that Heechul looked pleased with this situation, or that Changmin was looking at me completely horrified. 

He let out a noise in the back of his throat and buried his head in his hands. “Oh god, now I feel even worse about what I said to you last time.”

Heechul let out a snicker before escaping to the other end of the bar when I shot him a glare. 

I saw Changmin shift uncomfortably in his seat. “Yeah, sorry about the other day. If I had known you were that young, I wouldn't have done that.”

Oh, so now I’m not good enough because I’m too young? Geez, every time this guy opens his mouth, I just want to throttle him. 

“So do you work here?” he asked glancing down at my clothes. 

I tried tuning him out and took big gulps of my coke. But after about a minute, Changmin tried again. 

“This is my first time here. This place is really something,” he said, craning his neck around to look over his shoulder at the dance floor before turning back to flash a smile at me.

Again I tried ignoring him, and turned my head away, but I heard his bar stool scrape against the tiled floors as he inched closer to me. “Look, I’m really sorry about the other day. I just want to talk. I promise I won’t do anything,” he said, holding his hands up in defense. 

I let out an annoyed sigh and stopped twisting my head in the other direction and glared at him. He gave me a goofy grin and I tried to intensify my glare before looking down at my almost empty glass. 

After that, Changmin pretty much took that as a ‘go ahead’ and began animately talking, trying to get me to talk to him, but I kept my mouth shut. 

He talked about a lot of different things, asking why I was working here, if I knew any good restaurants nearby, talking about how’s he’s always wanted to go camping, listing off how his day went, and telling me how much work he had to do tomorrow. 

After he finished up complaining about the way the sun woke him up in the morning due to the fact the he didn't have blinds on his window, he quieted down. 

“I’ve run out of things to talk about,” he admitted awkwardly. 

“Oh good, you can finally shut up now,” I snapped.

When I did, though, his eyes lost their lively spark and he looked a little hurt. 

And I felt a twinge of guilt. 

Aw come on. Why does he have to make me go and feel sorry for him. 

Hmph. Actually, I don’t care. You can make that sad, kicked puppy look all you want buddy, but there’s no way you’re getting my sympathy. 

We sat in silence for another five minutes until Heechul came over. “Well, come one now. I’m not gonna let you just sit there for the rest of your shift. The deal was that I’d manage the bar until this supposed creep left. But we’ve already established the fact that he’s anything but that, so the deal’s done,” he said, snapping his fingers in my face. 

I wasn't in a good mood anymore, but I sulkily got up and moved around to take up my position behind the bar. Heechul seemed satisfied and then left towards his office again. 

Great, now I’m stuck with a depressed lump moping on my counter. I let out a sigh and moved to the other end of the bar to fiddle with the shot glasses. 

Maybe if I just ignore him, he’ll go away. 

And so I spent the next forty minutes stuck on this end of the bar, periodically sneaking glances up to see if Changmin had left. But no, he was still there, staring down into his drink and looking pitiful. 

Just when I was contemplating going over there and giving him an apology, I heard a gruff voice call me to attention. He was your stereotypical middle aged man that looked like he was part of a motorcycle gang. Do those kinds of gangs even exist anymore?

“Hey there, y,” he began as soon as I went over to him. Oh gross! Ew, why me? 

Before he could continue, I tried to shut him down as politely as I could. “I’m sorry sir. We have a ‘no flirting with the customers’ policy. Is there something I can get you to drink?” 

I tried to keep my cool as he smirked and leaned over the bar. “I know something you can get me,” he said, trying to sound seductive, but I didn't have to worry about making up any snarky comebacks because a hand came clamping down hard on his shoulder, pulling him back harshly. 

“You might want to watch what you’re saying,” Changmin seethed, his voice dangerously low and eyes narrowed threateningly. 

When oldie tried to make a threat of his own, Changmin just grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and jerked him so that they were practically in each others face. “Leave,” was all he hissed before shoving the guy away. Much to my surprise, he stumbled back and actually left. Wow, usually Heechul had to threaten to call the cops before they decided to go. 

Changmin kept his eyes trained on mister creep until he left, and then turned back to me. This time, he didn't look like a psychopathic murderer. 

I huffed when he looked back at me. “Just what I needed. A prince charming to fight all my battles and save me when I’m in distress. Lucky me,” I drawled sarcastically. 

He ignored that and just looked at me with surprise and concern written on his face. 

“Does that sort of thing happen often?” he asked and I felt my face heat up with embarrassment. Why does he wanna know? Why does he even care?

“It’s none of your business,” I snapped in annoyance. 

“I guess that’s a yes,” he concluded and settled into the bar stool in front of me. 

“But you know,” he said after a moment, brightening instantly like a dog ready to play fetch, “You didn't thank me.”

I scoffed. “Thank you for what?”

Changmin waved his hand at the door. “For what just happened. I saved you, and since you gave me the honorary title of being your prince charming, I say it’s only fitting you give me something as a reward. Hm… I think a kiss would be most fitting, don’t you?” He asked playfully, wiggling his eyebrows. 

I knew I was blushing and I just wanted to reach over and hit him. Why’d he have to say something so embarrassing? 

“Tch. I didn't ask for your help. I had it under control. You just wanted to play hero,” I scowled. 

Changmin mocked a hurt expression and then pushed out his lip, trying to pout. He was failing miserably at it, and if I weren't so flustered and angry right now, I probably would’ve been laughing. 

“Ugh. Don’t ever make that face again. It’s terrifying,” I said, and Changmin made a checkmark in the air. 

“Alright. I’ll remember that next time.”

He gave me an innocent look and I glared at him. “There’ll be no next time.”

“Oh sure there is. You just said so yourself, babe. And let’s see, if you won’t give me a kiss, how about a date?” He asked, looking like he’d just won the lottery. 

I blushed again at what he called me. “Call me that again and you won’t have a mouth to talk with,” I snarled, but he didn't seem to take my threat seriously. 

“Oh,” he said smugly. “Is that because you’re going to kiss me on the mouth?”

I was ready to jump over the counter and tackle him at that point. 

“You’re pretty interesting,” he said, studying my face with a grin. “You’re not like all the other people around me who are always worshipping the ground I walk on. I like that about you.”

I glared at him. “Well screw you. I’m not about to be a part of your stupid little game.”

Changmin looked thoughtful. “Is that supposed to be a pun?”

I scrunched up my eyebrows. “Why would that be a pun?”

“Because I own the country’s number one gaming company. The game’s called ‘Night Fury’. Ever heard of it?” he asked casually and I felt my mouth drop open before I quickly pulled it back up. Wait a minute. Are you telling me this man sitting in front of me hand access to the unreleased, new version of my favorite game? Was this destiny? 

I was about to beg him to give me a sneak peak on the upcoming game set to release next month but I caught myself before I could say anything. No use giving him something he could use for leverage to get me to follow along with whatever he wanted. Even if I was itching to ask him. 

When I didn't answer, he just moved on to ask something else. “So when does your shift end?”

I folded my hands over my chest and narrowed my eyes at him. “Why does it matter to you?”

He held his hands up defensively. “I’m just curious. I was thinking that maybe I could give you a ride home.”

I felt myself snicker. “Well, unfortunately, I’m stuck here all night until the place closes. Which is sometime around five in the morning. Thanks for the offer, but it looks like that won’t be happening,” I said smugly, finally thinking that I had the upper hand. 

But then I frowned when Changmin’s eyebrows shot up. “Is it safe for you to be walking home alone then? You know, there are some really crazy people up and about at the time. Plus it’s still dark then. I’m definitely staying and giving you a ride home. It’s not safe for you to be out there by yourself,” he said looking determined and I felt a flutter in my stomach. 

Why is he making such a big deal out of this? And what’s with all that talk about waiting till my shift is over just so that he could drive me home. It was only eleven now which meant I still had another five hours to go. 

I opened my mouth to tell him to just go home and don’t bother, but he folded his arms stubbornly against the counter top and glared lightly at me, as if daring me to say something. 

I just shook my head and moved on to someone calling me over for a refill. 

Usually, whenever I worked that late, Heechul would give me a ride home, but no use telling Changmin that. 

Whatever. If he wanted it that way, then so be it. It wasn't like he was going to actually stay the entire time.

He would probably get bored and tired and just leave. So with that in mind, I went about my business.

Huh. Would you look at that. 

He actually stayed. 

the next chapter is going to be part two of this, but i think it might be kind of short since there really isn't much left to this chapter. I just cut it off here because it seemed like a nice place to end (plus it was getting too long) 

How was it?