As soon as Baekhyun walked right past those sliding doors, he knew he should've booked it straight out of there. He shouldn't have even entered the establishment, but lured by the prospect of money, he sauntered right inside, signing a slip of paper that had him selling his soul away. 

If Baekhyun wasn't so desperate for some cash, he would've cursed them all out and angrily stomp out of there as soon as that spitball hit the collar of his new flannel shirt.

Unfortunately, he was desperate for money, and he couldn't curse them out and leave like he so desperately wanted to. Instead, he flicked it off his collar, gritting his teeth and waited for the four men in the lounge room to notice the presence of a new worker and their boss.

All of them were ducked behind cheap fold-up tables that were folded and put on their sides to act as shields. Plastic red straws stuck out of their mouths, spitballs littering the walls and ceiling. Battle cries could be heard from both sides as wads of paper flew back and forth. It appeared that they had no intentions of stopping nor did it seem like that they had noticed either him or their boss.

Kill me now.

To be honest, Baekhyun thought it was never going to end until a poorly executed throw of a corn chip ended up hitting Kris—the supposed "nickname" of his boss—in the face, bouncing off his nose.

When one of them realized who it hit, he gaped, letting the straw fall out of his mouth. His partner furrowed his brows, wondering what in the world had rendered him speechless. Soon, the male realized what had his friend frozen in place and he stopped, too. Eventually, it spread like wildfire until the room was completely silent and all eyes were trained on Kris.

No one dared to break the silence, and Baekhyun sort of understood why. 

Kris was definitely a scary man, judging by the murderous aura he was emitting. 

"Um, hey, boss." The one daring enough to speak was a male who had his ears sticking out, reminding Baekhyun of Dumbo. 

"Hey, Chanyeol. Having fun?" Kris asked, probably resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.

It looked like Chanyeol didn't know whether to answer truthfully or not, but Kris didn't seem to care, continuing on. "What were you guys thinking? Wait, no, don't answer that! Obviously, you weren't, because you four are having a spitball fight in the lounge room instead of working!"

"Well, actually, we're on our breaks—"

"Does it look like I care, Jongdae?" he asked, sending a pointed look towards him.

"Well, no, but I was just saying."

"I'm not paying you to sit around! The point of a break is so you can eat lunch."

"It's also state mandatory to give us one," the one called Jongdae mildly pointed out.

If Baekhyun didn't know any better, he'd assume that Jongdae wanted to die early.

"Instead of being resourceful and using your time like you're supposed to, I find you here, acting like children!"

The four didn't know what to say, instead shifting awkwardly on their feet. It looked like they were all being scolded by their mother, and it might as well be, considering they were acting like they were ten. Kris gave the room another once over, muttering something about it being a disaster. 

Kris cleared his throat, and the four scrambled to stand in a straight line. Baekhyun would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed by the amount of power Kris had over them. "This is Byun Baekhyun." A hand lazily motioned towards him, and Baekhyun assumed that was all the introduction he was going to get. "He's working with us now, so teach him the ropes and stuff."

And stuff. How lovely.

"Hey," Baekhyun said, trying to appear like he didn't already hate this place.

"Is your face okay? It's twitching."

Well.

"It's fine."

"Well? Hurry and introduce yourselves."

The one standing on the far right with big eyes and ears sticking out started first. "Hey, I'm Chanyeol. Nice to meet you!" Even with the lecture earlier, he still managed to grin, his pearly white teeth peeking out. 

The one standing next to him came after and it was hard for Baekhyun to wrap his mind around the fact that this guy had a very defined jaw line. Not that it was bad. It was good. Very good. "I'm Jongdae. I'm also known as Chen and I guess it's nice to meet you," he said, a smirk playing on his lips so Baekhyun knew that the male was joking when he said he guessed.

The next one after that practically shocked Baekhyun by how young he was. Was it even legal to let him work here? Damn. "Hi, I'm Luhan. Nice to meet you, and before you ask, I'm twenty-three." 

Oh.

Luhan laughed at the stunned silence, and Baekhyun assumed that Luhan got mistaken for an age younger than he actually was quite often. 

The last one gave him a small wave to which Baekhyun promptly returned. "I'm Yixing, but for some ungodly reason, people call me Lay." Jabbing a thumb towards the others, he added, "and I'm always being roped into whatever these three have planned."

"If that's the case, why does it seem like you're enjoying it?" Jongdae muttered under his breath.

"I heard that," Yixing said, elbowing the other.

"In any case, please treat me well," Baekhyun said, bowing at the others. 

A surprised grunt came from him when someone—Chanyeol?—carelessly tossed an arm around his neck. "Oh, we will definitely treat you well." He had said it in such a way that a shiver ran down Baekhyun's back and he was sure that he wanted to walk out of this room right now and never come back. Like, ever.

"Chanyeol, get off of him. I think you've traumatized our new worker enough as it is." 

Baekhyun grunted appreciatively when Chanyeol released that death grip he had around his neck.

"Right, well, that's the four you should worry about the most." Kris looked at Yixing. "Well, except for maybe the 'innocent' bystander over there." Baekhyun stifled a laugh when Yixing huffed indignantly. "Anyway, the rest of the employees are either around the store or it's not their shift yet. If they don't realize you're new, just say so, and they'll introduce themselves. Or you can read their nametag. It depends if you want to deal with them or not."

"I see."

"And here's your nametag," Kris said, handing the plastic rectangle to him. He pinned it on the blue vest he had to wear over his flannel, adjusting it until it was perfect. "You can ask for more shifts on that clipboard over there and your shifts are listed in that packet I gave you along with mandatory staff rules. You're allowed to have your break whenever you'd like, however, if you choose not to take a break, those minutes cannot be accumulated." 

"Uh-huh."

"The rest of the policy is gone over in the packet, and if you have any questions, I'd rather you not ask me, but since Thing 1, 2, 3, and 4 have a very high probability that they're not going to know the answer, you can ask me. Don't disturb me if the door's close, by the way. Anyway, I'll be taking my leave. Kyungsoo might be better suited at training you, so you can shadow him for the time being."

Kris was about to leave the room when Baekhyun tapped his shoulder. "Wait, um, how much do I get paid?"

Kris smirked. "Minimum wage."

"Wha—?" Baekhyun gave him a dumbfounded look, but Kris merely chuckled to himself before slipping out of the room, closing the door behind him. "C-Can he do that? Is that even legal?"

"Probably," Chanyeol replied. Baekhyun recognized his voice immediately even without having to turn around since he was the only one to have that deep of a voice.

Kris opened the door and poked his head back in. "Oh, yeah, almost forgot. You four better clean up that room and by the time I get back, I want it spotless—no, I want it to be clean enough so you can eat off the floor. If that doesn't happen by the time I get back, well, I guess I'd have to deduct your already meager wage, for say... oh, a month." Kris waved. "Later."

Baekhyun didn't have time to feel sympathetic to the four—not that he wanted to, except for maybe, Yixing since he looked nice enough—following Kris out the door. Before the door shut, he hears a sound that sounded familiarly like a thump to the head and a sharp hiss.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" 

"I told you this was a bad idea!"

After begging asking Kris to tell him where Kyungsoo could possibly be—he sure as hell wasn't going to wonder around the store aimlessly, considering the store was huge—Kris had relented the seemingly priceless information and told him that Kyungsoo could be ("Maybe, but don't get your hopes up.") located in the toys aisle.

Wherever the hell that was.

Baekhyun wasn't sure where he was going, blindly following the vague directions Kris had told him when he had marched back to his office, realizing he had no idea where that was. ("Walk straight, passing three of the aisles, turn right, another right, and then walk straight. It's right there. You can't miss it.") 

After making the right like Kris had wanted him to, Baekhyun did another right. "So, now all I have to do... is walk straight." He looked up at the ceiling to see if that was true, straining to see a Toys sign. Unfortunately, Kris is a liar, and he did not see any sign even remotely resembling children's entertainment. 

Baekhyun was basically ready to bash his head on a pole.

He didn't want to go back to Kris and make it look like he was a complete dunce for not being able to follow "simple" instructions, since he was sure Kris would be the type of boss to scold his employees about every little thing that they couldn't do. But Baekhyun also didn't want to walk around the store for three hours, looking for someone named, Kyungsoo. 

He doesn't even know what this "Kyungsoo" even looked like, and for all he knew, Kris could've been playing a practical joke on him. Yeah... Baekhyun could see that happening. His boss having a smug smile on his face as he leaned back in his chair, laughing to himself about how clever he is for tricking Baekhyun. He'd probably say to himself how as soon as Baekhyun would come to him to whine about not being able to find Kyungsoo, he'd deduct his pay and then let the cat out of the bag.

And Baekhyun wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it.

The male was about to march straight to Kris's office to give him a piece of his mind when someone shouted at him to get his attention.

"Hi, you must be a new employee, right? I'm Kyungsoo."

Bless the gods.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I've never seen you before, plus you look pretty lost which is usually a big indicator of someone who's never worked here before. Or shopped here. Also, you're wearing a blue vest. Big indicator."

"Oh, well, yeah, I guess. I just moved in the area and needed a job as soon as possible."

"You probably should've looked harder then, but I'm not complaining. It's always nice to have a fresh new face."

Baekhyun wanted to say he did look at all the places available but this was the only job offer that would even consider him. The other jobs either said he didn't have enough experience to hire him (which is complete bull because he did not graduate from college for nothing) or the slot wasn't open anymore.

Instead, he shrugged. "I didn't think this place would be too bad."

Which was a lie. 

This place was horrible.

Kyungsoo laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Sure, newbie. Sure." 

Baekhyun was about to ask him what he meant about that when Kyungsoo pivoted on his heel so that his back would face the other. "So, I'm guessing Kris wants me to show you around?" he asked, and Baekhyun hummed an agreement. "How dare that boss leave all the dirty work to me? Lazy bum," he hears the brunet mutter. Kyungsoo turned around again, a bright smile on his face. 

Baekhyun took note of the other's features. His stature matched those of a high schooler, perhaps even someone who belonged in middle school. Whatever the case, he was pretty short. He also had large, doe-like eyes, and they only seemed to get bigger depending on Kyungsoo's facial expressions. 

"Alright, I guess I'll show you around the store first, since it'd be pretty dumb to teach you anything if you're just going to get lost in the end."

"I have a feeling that somewhere in there is in insult to my intelligence."

"Oh no, you caught me. Kidding." Humming, Kyungsoo leaned in forward to get a better look at Baekhyun's nametag, before letting out a chuckle. "I sure hope that's a typo on your nametag. But I guess it'd be sort of funny yet immoral to laugh at if your name was actually that."

Confused, Baekhyun furrowed his brows, glancing at the male who had his heel again and started to walk away. "I don't get what you mean. I thought my name was normal to have. What's so weird about it?" 

"There's... nothing wrong with it. Just unexpected, is all." Kyungsoo slowed his step and gestured to several aisles on his left. "That's where children's toys are located. You can usually find me there or around here since I was assigned to this area. Where are you assigned?"

"Um, I float. And what's so unexpected about my name?" Baekhyun adjusted his legs to match the pace Kyungsoo had set and walked in step beside him. For a short little man, he sure could move.

"Floater, huh? That means you float from place to place, stocking and picking up items that people leave everywhere because they're too lazy to go put it back themselves. You also keep an eye out for customers who are struggling to find something. And it's nothing, I mean, if your parents like that, then it's cool."

"Cool, my ," Baekhyun snorted. "You sure looked surprised to see it."

"Don't worry about it."

Kris glared at the four employees threateningly who blinked innocently at him, his hand resting on the doorknob. "This room had better be spotless," he said. "You had better hope for your sake that there are no spitballs or corn chips anywhere."

"Of course, Kris," Yixing replied, pulling at his blue apron with a smile on his face. Kris narrowed his eyes at his employees' calmness, which was the exact opposite of what Kris thought they were actually going to be like. "We're not incapable of cleaning."

Kris snorted. "Yeah."

With his dark roots showing through his bleached hair, Kris ran his hands through them before turning the doorknob, pushing the door open. Kris was satisfied when he saw the tables turned back to their original positions along with the chairs that were no longer stacked on top of each other in the corner but instead placed alongside the tables. 

The employees stood there with bated breath as their boss walked beside the table, a gloved finger running over the surface. "I see you wiped down the surfaces of the tables," Kris remarked, walking over to the corners to make sure no stray spitballs were there.

"Only the best for you, Kris," Jongdae piped up, kissing like there was no tomorrow.

"Shut up," Luhan responded, jabbing him in the side with his bony elbow.

"You wanna tussle, punk?" he asked, pivoting on his foot, holding up his fists.

"Hell yeah!"

"Put 'em up, then!"

"Fine, bring it!"

"You bring it, first!"

"What? You challenged me!"

Jongdae opened his mouth to retort when Yixing slapped him upside the head. "You guys are always fighting," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose that always inevitably left a red spot.

"If you ladies are done," Kris interrupted, his arms crossed.

Well, that was never a good sign.

When nobody spoke, Kris took that as a signal to continue. "Alright, then. You seemed to pass that portion of the test. I didn't find any spitballs or corn chips anywhere. So I guess you can relax. For now, anyway."

"Great, so if that's it," Jongdae said, moving towards the door, "I'll be leaving."

The rest followed suit until Kris cleared his throat.

So close.

"I didn't say you could leave. I said you could relax, not leave." The others tensed up, waiting for the worst. "I hoped you guys cleaned it so well that you can eat off of the floor. I'm a man of my word, so I guess that's what you'll do."

Luhan's mouth opened when he realized what the giant was actually going to make them do. 

"You never said anything about that!" Chanyeol said, his deep voice resonating in the room.

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, my dear Chanyeol." Kris let out a y laugh, and the four looked at each other with apprehension. Kris wasn't actually going to make them do this, right? Surely Kris had a heart and wouldn't make his no-questions-asked most troublesome employees (seriously, why hasn't he fired them yet?) eat off the dirty floor?

When they hear a splat on the floor, they realized: yes. Yes, Kris was going to be a complete  and make them eat off the floor.

"I'm a man of my word," Jongdae mocked under his breath, scoffing. That was the biggest lie he had ever heard in his life (because seriously, where was that when Kris promised him a raise?), and he wanted to shove that macaroni and cheese that was currently making its residence on the floor into Kris's mouth. See if he liked that. 

"Alright, so obviously, there's macaroni and cheese on the ground," Kris said, handing out plastic spoons to the four of them.

"And, uh, we're supposed to eat that?" Chanyeol asked, biting his lip. That was sick.

"You're catching on."

A loud groan wrecked everyone's bodies, and Kris smirked. Everyone had a few choice words for their boss right about now.

"Well? Don't be weenies; hurry up and do it. I'm not getting younger."

"Or prettier," Luhan added under his breath and Jongdae laughed silently. 

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that and just deduct a couple of dollars from your paycheck."

"...c'mon guys," Chanyeol urged, getting on his knees already, eyeing the macaroni. For some reason, this lunch looked very familiar and not because it was an regular American meal. Chanyeol's fingers ran up and down the spoon's length, pursing his lips.

"Bottoms up, guys," Kris said gleefully. That prick.

Jongdae apprehensively watched the blob of macaroni and cheese, a sick feeling in his stomach. Goddammit, he better not get sick from this, or someone's gonna get hurt, preferably with a rubber chicken. At least the top isn't tainted, he thinks, watching a macaroni elbow fall to the ground. Others seemed to catch on, Yixing being the first one to scoop a spoonful from the top.

Luhan followed suit, scooping enough of the meal that there was hardly enough left that didn't touch the floor.

This .

Jongdae hurried to spoon the remainder of the untainted macaroni and cheese, but Chanyeol was quicker, and soon there was nothing left but the noodles that touched the floor. "I hate you guys," the male deadpanned, glaring at his so-called "friends." 

"Every man for themselves," Luhan replied, his eyes twinkling.

"I'll remember that the next time I have to save your sorry from the people you provoke."

"Well, that's all I have to teach you, I guess," Kyungsoo said. He pretended to wipe a tear from his eyes, holding a hand where his heart was. "They grow up so fast. Now go! Be free, my child. Spread the knowledge of what I have taught you!"

"What?"

"I saw it in a movie once, don't judge me."

Judging is ensuing.

"Anyway, go back and report to Kris that I did his dirty work, although, I'd had to say I did not mind training you. You weren't annoying like Jongdae or Luhan was. I almost lost my sanity training them."

"Yeah, they seem like the type of people to do that." Baekhyun rolled his eyes, remembering his first encounter with the pair. "Well, I'll be off, Kyungsoo," the brunet replied, waving. "See you."

"Yeah, give my regards to Kris."

"I will!" Baekhyun walked off, hoping that Kris would either be in his office (with his door open) or in the staff lounge room. He really didn't feel like wondering around Wal-Mart looking for his boss. Along the way, Baekhyun kept his eyes peeled for any suffering customers that looked like they were in need of help.

The male felt like he could handle any question or situation that was thrown at him, being well knowledgeable about the store and its products. 

Except crying children. He didn't know what to do with them. Or whiny children. Or angry children. Children in general, he supposed. He wasn't very good at handling them. Children were a complete pain in the , and you'd think the parents would know how to keep track of their children so they wouldn't wonder off.

It wasn't long until a girl who didn't look more than sixteen grabbed his attention. She glanced up at him with shy eyes, her teeth biting her bottom lip. This isn't going to turn into a flirting tactic, is it? Byun Baekhyun knew he looked good, good enough to attract the glances of strangers, but this was going to be very awkward if she thought she could score with him.

"Yes?" he asked, tapping his foot.

"Do you know where the cardigans are? You know, the boyfriend sweaters?"

Okay, what the hell is she trying to imply?

"Yes, in the Juniors department."

Take that.

"Could you show me where it is?" she asked, blinking her eyes in a rapid fashion that made Baekhyun think she had an eyelash in there or something.

Ew, no.

"Sure. Follow me." Baekhyun motioned to her with his pointer finger, brushing past her, not even sparing the girl a second glance. Turning right sharply, Baekhyun glanced back to make sure she was still following him. It would be quite troublesome if she lost track of him. Not to mention, Kris would probably castrate him or something if he heard.

His feet eventually made it to the carpeted area that was filled with female clothing, and he turned around with a flourish of his hands. "Well, here we are. I'm sure you'll be able to find the cardigans by yourself. Feel free to call someone else if you can't.

"Ah, wait," she said when Baekhyun started to walk away.

Damn. So close.

"Yes?" he asked, turning around.

"Can you help me pick one out?"

Ew.

"Ah, sorry, I've got business to attend to." Plus, you've got eyes. Pick them out yourself.

"Oh," the girl replied dejectedly. "Thanks—" She leaned in to look at his nametag, which was a little too close to comfort for his liking. "—Bacon?"

What.

She suddenly stepped back, confusion painting her face. "Well, I've gotta go find the cardigans now, you know, duty calls."

What.

Baekhyun gripped his nametag between his forefinger and thumb, glancing at the white printed letters that so clearly said Bacon. The male squinted at the name, groaning internally. Not even done with his first day of work, and Kris already screwed him over. 

He knew he should've left when he had the chance.

Damn you, Kris. Damn you.

Baekhyun was peeved by the time he reached the door that belonged to the lounge room. No, he was beyond peeved, he was livid. How dare Kris spell his name wrong? Baekhyun even printed it on his application so there was no reason that his nametag said Bacon! 

"Kris, we need to talk!" he said, slamming the door open. The brunet froze in place though when four figures were crouched on the floor, spoons filled with macaroni in their hands, their boss sitting in the chair, watching them with rapt attention.

They all froze when the heard the door open, Luhan slowly turning his head to face Baekhyun, the rest following suit.

"Uh, hi," Luhan stammered, dropping his spoon. "This isn't what it looks like."

"Really?" he asked, crossing his arms. Bull. "So if you guys aren't eating macaroni and cheese off the floor—because that's what it looked like—what were you guys doing?"

"We were testing the cleanliness of the floor," Jongdae piped in, throwing his spoon on the ground. Yixing and Chanyeol throws their spoons to the floor, too, all of them standing up and brushing the dirt off their knees. "And, I have to say, you guys, we did a job well done."

Everyone hummed their agreement, Kris still sitting on his chair, snorting to himself.

"So, let me get this straight. You guys were testing the cleanliness of the floor by eating off of the floor." Silence. "I'm not sure that's very santitary."

"But, uh, we weren't eating off the floor," Chanyeol insisted, trying to salvage their dignity.

"I totally saw you guys though!"

"Nope," Jongdae chimed.

"Don't lie to me."

"We're not."

"How do I know you're not lying to me right now?"

"I'm not. Scout's honour."

"You weren't a boyscout though," Yixing added, squinting at Jongdae.

"How do you know? You're not my mom."

"What does being your mom have anything to do with this?"

"Your mom's gonna yell at you because you ate off the floor," Baekhyun said.

"Leave my mom out of it!"

"You brought her in!"

Luhan pinched his nose, a loud sigh leaving his lips. These idiots. Really, he wanted to slap all of them. "Will you just shut up? You guys are so annoying!"

"Excuse me?" Baekhyun gaped. "I don't think I was the one eating off the floor!"

"What?! At least my name tag is spelled correctly, Bacon!"

Baekhyun let his jaw drop as a hand went over his nametag, covering it.

"At least I wasn't the one being an immature  who was having a spitball fight in the lounge room!"

"Guys, guys, I think we should all be friends!" Yixing said, trying to shove himself in the middle of the two who looked ready to tear each other's throats out.

"Yeah, Yixing is right, fighting isn't good, you guys. But if you guys do end up fighting, I put my money on Baekhyun," Chanyeol added.

"Of course you would," Jongdae snorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Everyone shut up before I deduct all of your pay," Kris threatened, ing himself in the middle. "God, you guys are such children." Eventually the five quieted themselves down, not fancying the thought of losing their money. "Good. Now apologize," he said, looking at Baekhyun and Luhan.

"He started it," Luhan mumbled. Kris shot him a pointed look. "...fine. I'm sorry for calling you annoying and making fun of your nametag. Even if it is funny."

"Baekhyun?" Kris urged.

"I'm sorry for calling you an immature , even if it is true."

Satisfied with the poorly made apologies, Kris patted both of them on the head, letting both of them know they were free to go and sat down on the chair. "So, you needed to talk to me, Baekhyun?" His fingers drummed along the table. 

"Yeah, I did. Care to explain why my nametag says Bacon?"

Kris squinted at it before replying, "Sorry, autocorrect."

What. 

"How the hell did you get autocorrected when you did it on paper?!"

"Don't question your boss."

"Whatever," Baekhyun huffed. "Can I at least get one that says my right name?"

"Yeah, of course." 

When Kris didn't say any more, Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "When?"

"When I feel like it."

Oh, hell no.

Baekhyun was about to retort, arguing that that wasn't a reason and that Kris should get off his lazy and fill out that new form now, when the door opened, revealing Kyungsoo who seemed to be oblivious of what just happened few moments prior.

"Hey, guys," Kyungsoo said, waving. "You guys all on your lunch break or something? Looks pretty tense in here. So, you know how I've been wanting to try and cook some western dishes? Well, I looked up the recipe and made so—is that my macaroni and cheese on the ground!?"

"...no, not at all."

 characters: 26804
words: 4826

ahhh, i didn't mean for this to get so long, omfg. the original was only 2700+ words, and now this is double in size orz. it also felt wrong to split it, so i hope you guys didn't mind reading this long chapter. also, the reason for this rewrite was because when i reread the first chapter, it was so poorly written that i couldn't stand it, so i wrote a new one. chapter two will be rewritten shortly o u o

feel free to shoot some ideas in the comment section or w/e e u e
also check out this story?? need feedback mon.
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