for subduedblue's prompt: Kris witnesses his co-worker Suho, whom he has a crush on, get kidnapped and goes on a journey to save him.

written for angelforalien (it's the same thing if you've already read it; I just fixed some typos)

Two months after graduating from university, Kris realized that a degree in Fine Arts was not paying the bills. After a few more months of unemployment and/or questionable employment, his uncle intervened and arranged a meeting between Kris and one of his friends, a certain Mr. Lee Sooman. Mr. Lee owned a popular chain of art stores/studios throughout the city; the central branch was situated only ten minutes from Kris’ apartment.

After being led on a tour of the studio, Kris was taken into Mr. Lee’s office. Kris already knew the job wasn’t for him. He was an artist. Shelving paints and papers and teaching amateurs how to properly hold a brush would only stunt his creative spirit.

He’d just opened his mouth to tell Mr. Lee thank you but no thank you, when there was a knock at the door.

“Sorry to interrupt,” came a soft voice. A face—a very cute face, Kris couldn’t help but notice—peered in through the doorway. The owner of the face was wearing an apron, on which Kris could see many tiny paint handprints. There were also specks of paint in the guy’s dark, perfectly combed hair.

“Suho!” Mr. Lee greeted warmly. “How was the class? No trouble, I hope?”

The cute guy, Suho apparently, shook his head before noticing Kris. His eyes widened, and Kris found himself sitting up straighter in his seat.

“Suho is one of our best instructors,” Mr. Lee explained to an equally curious Kris as he signed Suho’s timecard. “He teaches all the children’s classes. Suho, this is Kris, the newest member of our SM Family.”

“Uh actually, I’m not…”

“Nice to meet you, Kris!” Suho turned to smile at Kris. Instantly, the room felt ten shades brighter. “I look forward to working closely with you!”

“But I’m not...I mean…yeah, me too,” said Kris weakly.

“Excellent!” Mr. Lee clapped Kris on his bony back. “Come in at 9am sharp tomorrow.”




Working at SM Studios wasn’t too bad, actually. After Mr. Lee realized that Kris’ strength lay in attracting customers (mainly of the teenaged, female variety) like flies to honey, Kris was put on front desk duty. In a nutshell, his job was to smile at the shoppers and lure them toward the cash register. Making small talk was hard, though; Kris had never been a great conversationalist, preferring to express his thoughts through the occasional freestyle rap. He also wasn’t very coordinated with small objects and dropped coins all over the place.

Still, Mr. Lee’s decision proved to be a wise one. Three weeks after Kris began working, the studio’s in-store sales grew so much that Mr. Lee promoted him to a full-time position, one which Kris immediately accepted. His eagerness may have had something to do with a certain employee.

Within the first two weeks of working at SM, Kris came to the conclusion that Suho was perfect. Suho bought breakfast for all the employees every morning. He baked cookies for his classes and shared the leftovers with his coworkers. His students adored him and followed him everywhere he went, even during breaktime. His office was covered with colorful paintings and misshapen sculptures that his students proudly gifted him.

Unwilling to be overshadowed by six-year-olds, Kris once in a while snuck anonymous drawings onto Suho’s walls,

“from your secret admirer.”

Because that was how Kris had always operated. He had never been the type to chase after his crushes.




*

The day began just like any other.

“Good morning, Kris!”

“Good morning, good, yes,” Kris replied, patting down his hair as Suho walked by.

Over the past two months, his attraction to his coworker hadn’t subsided at all; if anything, it had snowballed into a gigantic crush. Even the simplest hello left his heart weak and unsteady. But on the outside, Kris made sure to appear calm and cool at all times.
Suho flashed him a smile before he disappeared behind the door marked CLASSROOM A, and Kris exhaled. Suho taught classes from 2-5pm on weekdays and all day on the weekends. Not that Kris kept tabs on his schedule or anything, or timed his breaks so that they coincided with Suho’s.

A pair of giggles interrupted Kris’ racing thoughts, and Kris turned back toward his awaiting customers. The two girls by the counter gave each other knowing looks, and Kris scowled.

“Cash or credit?” He growled.




Suho’s watercolors class lasted until 10am, after which he had a fifteen minute break. Coincidentally, that was also when Kris decided he needed to stretch his legs a bit. He walked around the studio, glancing around for any sign of Suho.

“Kris,” Suho greeted as Kris approached the kiln at the back of the room. He was sipping on a smoothie as he arranged a tray of lumpy containers.

“Hey Suho.” Kris nodded toward the containers. “What are those?”

“Oh, these?” Suho moved over so that Kris could take a closer look. “My kids made some lovely flower pots in our last session. I’m getting them ready for the oven. Aren’t they beautiful?”

Not really. But Suho’s enthusiasm was infectious; Kris couldn’t help but smile along.

“Cute,” Kris said, not really referring to the hideous flower pots.

Maybe he could make a paper bouquet for Suho next…

“So, uh.” Suho cleared his throat as he slid the tray in the oven. “It’s my birthday this Friday, and—”

“Your birthday?” Kris echoed in horror. How could he not have known this crucial piece of information? He would need one month, at least, to make a worthy masterpiece.

“Shh!” Suho whispered, glancing around. “I don’t want Mr. Lee to hear, or he’ll insist on buying me something ridiculously expensive. It’s not a big deal, really.”

Kris still didn’t feel any better. How could it not be a big deal?

“Anyway,” Suho continued. “I received a birthday special from the café across the street. A buy one get one free meal.”

“Oh, really?” Kris didn’t really tend to eat out; he preferred to spend his free time poring over his sketch book, planning the next piece of anonymous artwork he would place on Suho’s desk.

“Yeah.” Suho fiddled with the oven’s knobs. He bit his lip and glanced sideways at Kris, who was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice. “I was actually thinking using it today…”

“Sounds nice.” Kris wondered what sort of food Suho liked. He seemed to have a sweet tooth, if the smoothie and endless cookies were anything to go by.

“But I need someone to go with…”

“Hm.” Maybe he could bake a cake for Suho. How hard could it be?

A huff. “Kris. Would you like to join me?”

Wait, what did Suho just say?

“If you’re not too busy, of course. Or some other day, that’s fine—”

“Yes,” Kris interrupted, perhaps a little too quickly.

Suho gave a little sigh of relief. “Yes, some other time, or yes…?”

“Yes, today.” Or any day. Every day

Suho’s smile resurfaced, and with it Kris’ unsteady heartbeat. “Great! It’s a date then.”

Kris quickly excused himself, before he alarmed Suho with the strange noises that were threatening to burst out of his chest.




*

“Uh, sorry, but we don’t offer drawing lessons to animals…” Kris explained to what was probably his strangest customer yet.

“How about pottery lessons?” The customer asked in a muffled voice. He was wearing a mask over his mouth and a sweatshirt with the hood up, so that only his eyes were visible. It was rather odd, given the warm May weather today, but maybe he had a cold.

“I don’t think your dog’s arms would be able to reach the wheel,” Kris replied, glancing at the clock. It was five minutes past noon; Suho was probably waiting for him.

“What about sculpture? Finger painting?” the customer tried. “Or paw painting, I guess.”

Kris sighed, wondering whether the customer was serious or playing a prank.

After the fifth time Kris explained that unfortunately, SM Studios restricted its instruction to only one animal species, the customer seemed to accept that his beloved puppy would not be getting a fine arts education anytime soon. The guy shrugged, texted rapidly into his phone, and left without another word.

It was quarter past twelve now. Kris quickly pulled off his uniform apron and stuffed it under the counter. He applied some lip balm, ruffled his hair, and gave the window another look to check his reflection, only to witness Suho being manhandled by a pair of hooded figures.

Wait, what?

“HEY!” Instantly, Kris shot to his feet. “What the—!”

The pair dragged a struggling Suho to a white van. One opened the back door and the other pushed Suho in. Seconds later, they were joined by a third hooded figure, whom Kris instantly recognized as the weird customer from a minute ago.

“!” Pulling his keys from his pocket, Kris rushed to the front door, primping forgotten. He paused to turn the sign on the door from OPEN to CLOSED.




*

A few minutes later, as Kris tailed the van, he realized he should probably call the police. They were probably better equipped to handle these kinds of situations. He still couldn’t quite believe this was actually happening. Keeping his eyes trained on the van, Kris patted his pockets for a familiar rectangular lump.

It wasn’t there. In his haste to rescue Suho, Kris had left his mobile back at the store.

Ten minutes later, the van parked by YG Papers, and one of the kidnappers got out. Kris parked his car by the store, scanning his surroundings. Keeping the van in the corner of his vision, he raced toward the payphone.

Kris hadn’t used a payphone in years. By the time the operator answered, the kidnapper had already exited the store, hood still drawn up.

“Hello, this is the emergency number—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kris panted. “Hey, look, there’s this, uh, my friend, uh—”

“Sir, take a deep breath—”

Kris in a huge breath, only to choke on it when he spotted the van pulling out of the store. Abandoning the phone and the operator, he dashed back to his car.

“Sir? Hello?”




At half past one, the van stopped outside Byun’s Baekery. Kris’ stomach growled, sadly reminding him that he’d never gotten to go on that lunch “date” with Suho. Two of the kidnappers got out of the car and made their way inside the bakery. Through the glass wall, Kris watched them study the menu on the wall.

The third kidnapper was still in the van with Suho, which meant that the first two probably weren’t planning to dine in. The street was relatively empty, and Kris sighed in frustration as he waited for someone, anyone, to walk by.

His opportunity came in the form of a pair of chattering uniformed boys. Exiting the store, they sipped on matching cups of milk tea and passed a roll of bread back and forth. They couldn’t be more than ten years old. Still, it was better than nothing. Kris rolled down his window as they passed by.

“Hey kids—” he called.

“Luhan and I’m not a kid,” one of the kids corrected automatically with a frown. Then, his eyes widened in horror as he realized his mistake.

“Okay, Luhan, do you or your friend have…”

“STRANGER DANGER!” Luhan screamed, before bursting into tears and racing away. The second kid, who looked to be Luhan’s older brother, shot Kris a glare before chasing after.

“...a cell phone?”




The two kidnappers returned with bubble tea and a large white Byun Baekery box. Kris’ stomach protested at the sight. What wouldn’t he give for a pastry right now…

Afterward, the van didn’t stop for another hour. Kris made sure to keep a safe distance between himself and the van, hoping that his pursuit wouldn’t be noticed. It grew increasingly difficult; as they made their way out of the city, the streets became less cluttered with vehicles.

When the van stopped in the parking lot by Supermarket Junior, Kris knew he would have to take matters into his own hands. His car was running out of gas, and Suho was running out of time.

This time, all three figures exited the van. It was now or never.

As soon as the kidnappers disappeared from view, Kris dashed out his car and toward the van. The windows were tinted, so Kris rapped lightly at the back door. He heard muffled yells.

“Don’t worry Suho!” he called. “I’m here to save you!”

Kris gave the door handle an experimental pull.

The alarm went off.

“Oh .”

There was nothing to lose now. Kris scanned the lot for any heavy object. The closest thing he could find was an empty soup can. He banged it against the window.

“Hey! What the hell!”

Ignoring the approaching yells, Kris continued banging, trying to shatter the window. It proved ineffectual. All Kris got for his troubles was a cut on his palm from the lid.

Seconds later, his arms were yanked back by two of the kidnappers.

“Let go!” Kris struggled. They couldn’t be much bigger than Suho, but they were surprisingly strong, and it was two against one. Suddenly, Kris wished he’d taken up his cousin’s constant offers to teach him some wushu moves.

“Look,” said one of kidnappers. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but there’s nothing valuable in the van. Why don’t you leave before we call the police?”

Kris snorted. “Go ahead. Then try explaining to them the guy in your backseat.”

The two kidnappers’ fell silent.

“Let Suho go,” Kris growled. “Or I’ll make you pay.” He was quite proud of the way his voice came out. Unfortunately, he probably didn’t look very intimidating, still pinned against the car and holding an empty Cream of Mushroom soup can in his hand.

“Hey, where’d you guys go?” a third voice complained. Kris’ eyes narrowed in recognition. It was the 3rd kidnapper, the customer from earlier. He stopped dead when he saw Kris.

“You!” he said, staring at Kris in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

Kris glared at him.

“You know him?” Kidnapper #1 asked, surprised.

“Yeah, that’s the guy I was distracting earlier, at the art store.”

Instantly, the kidnappers’ eyes snapped toward the nametag on Kris’ shirt.

“…Kris from SM, huh?” Kidnapper #2 gave Kris a speculative look—well, as speculative a look as a masked person could give.




“Kris?” Suho stared, bewildered, as Kris was dumped unceremoniously into the back of the van. “What are you doing here?”

Glumly, Kris repeated his day’s events. By the end of his tale, Suho’s mouth had dropped open and his eyes had widened with guilt.

“I’m so sorry, Kris! It’s all my fault…”

“Of course it’s not!” Kris replied, reaching out to put a hand on Suho’s back. Suho sniffed and threw himself into Kris’ arms. Despite their situation, Kris couldn’t help but silently cheer. At least if they were going to die, he’d die having hugged Suho…

“You shouldn’t have come after me,” Suho said, as the van began to move. The windows were covered in tarp. There was a thick mesh screen dividing them from the front of the car. In other words, they had no way of knowing where they were headed. Kris pressed his ear against the screen; he couldn’t hear anything from the front of the van. There was also an oddly sweet smell in the air, and Kris wondered if the back of the van had been filled with some vaporous drug.

“Hey, have you been feeling ok so far?” he asked, looking down at Suho.

“Aside from being terrified out of my mind?” Suho smiled shakily. “I guess so.”

With every passing second, the smell grew, and so did Kris’ nerves. Multiple scenarios flashed through his mind, each worse than the one before. Kris tried to imagine Suho with enemies and failed.

“Any idea who they are?”

Suho shook his head. “I didn’t get a chance to see their faces.”

“They’re all wearing masks, anyway.” Kris thought of the kdrama he had been following recently, the one with the rival CEOs and the star-crossed love between their children. “Maybe it has to do with Mr. Lee. He’s pretty rich, right?”

Suho looked alarmed. “You think we’re hostages?”

But who would do that?”

“I saw the van stop by YG Papers earlier!” Kris suddenly remembered.

“Y-YG?” Suho stuttered. YG Papers specialized more in stationery than art supplies, but they had been expanding their market lately. Right now, SM was their biggest competitor. While YG weren’t as established and extensive as SM, rumor had it that the boss had ties with the mafia.

Kris glanced down at Suho’s rapidly paling face. “…Actually, you know what, maybe this is all just a huge misunderstanding. Let’s talk about something else.”

Suho didn’t look convinced. “O-okay.”

“So…what’s your favorite color?”




Suho’s favorite color was gold. He loved pirate movies, was the second of four sons, and had always dreamed of being a teacher. Kris told Suho about growing up as an only child, living in Canada during high school, and his dreams of becoming a professional artist or illustrator. Suho listened with wide eyes, nodding enthusiastically when Kris said he wanted to adopt ten kids or pets once he was financially stable.

Over the next hour, Kris learned more about his coworker than he had over two months of nervous conversation. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but the words didn’t get stuck in his throat like they usually did whenever he was around Suho. In fact, this was kind of like a date…if you ignored the whole kidnapping and possible death thing, that is. Kris really hoped the kidnappers weren’t planning to kill them, because he was pretty sure he had found his soulmate.

Then the van stopped, and with it Kris and Suho’s conversation. Instantly, the illusion of safety shattered, and Suho’s face paled. Kris grabbed Suho’s hand

There was the sound of the front door slamming shut. Suho squeezed Kris’ hand. They heard voices, then receding footsteps, then silence.

“I think they’ve all left,” said Suho. He looked about ready to faint; Kris could see beads of sweat making its way down his face.

Letting go of Suho’s hand, Kris banged on the divider, punching through the mesh. The sweet scent grew stronger. Through the hole, he peered at the front of the car. It was empty. Through the windows, he could see what looked to be a park with plenty of people milling around. He breathed a sigh of relief. If they ran for it, they could probably find people willing to help them.

Kris ripped at the mesh, widening the hole. “You’re pretty small. Maybe you can climb through and unlock the doors?”

Suho nodded and moved to help Kris. His hands were shaking—not that Kris’ was doing much better.

“Uh, look, Suho, I…I need to tell you something, in case we die or something…”

“Kris, we are NOT going to die!” Suho interrupted in a near hysterical voice.

“…I think you’re perfect and I really like you!”

Suho’s eyes widened, and he paused in his ripping.

“Umthat’sall,” said Kris quickly, eyes focused on his work as he put all his energy into ripping the mesh. Rip. Rip. Rip. Rip, Rip. “Yeah, um, ok, I think this is big enough, do you wanna try—”

His suggestion was cut off as Suho leaned over to kiss him. Blanking out, Kris placed his arms around Suho as Suho pushed him down onto the trunk floor.






“SURPRISE! –Whoa!”

Kris jerked his head back at the sound of the trunk door opening and the unexpected yell. Light flooded the back of the van and cheers filled the air. Hastily, he removed his hand from under Suho’s shirt.

Suho made a noise of protest, before catching on. With a squeak, he pulled down his shirt and glanced around him in alarm.

There was a small crowd gathered around the car, in the middle of the park. From a large tree hung balloons and streamers. A picnic table was set up on the grass. At the front of the crowd were the three kidnappers—now unmasked, unhooded and sporting wide grins. One of them held out an open bakery box with a large cake inside that said,  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUHO.

Kris suddenly realized what the sweet smell from inside the van had been.

As the crowd broke into cheers and snickers, comprehension slowly seeped into Kris’ shocked brain.

Suho groaned and buried his face into Kris’ chest. “I should have known.” He then lifted his head to glare at the three cake-holders.

“I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!” he screamed.

Having never heard Suho’s raised voice, Kris started in alarm. The not-really-kidnappers did as well.

“I-I’m sorry!” Not-really-Kidnapper #3 backed away. “We just wanted to surprise you…it was all Chen’s idea!”

“My lovely brothers,” Suho explained to a confused Kris through gritted teeth. “Xiumin, Chen, and Kai.”

“Uh…hi,” said Kris awkwardly, trying to ignore the fact that they, along with all of Suho’s friends and family, had seen him making out with Suho not a minute ago.

“Hey.” Xiumin, the one holding the cake, nodded at him. “Suho talks about you a lot. You’re his hot coworker, right? Kris Wu with the eyebrows?”

Suho made a strangled noise.

“Hi Kris. Sorry for bothering you at the store earlier,” said Kai sheepishly.

“You guys planned to get Kris too?” Suho asked, outraged.

“No, no!” Xiumin held up the cake as though it were a shield. “Kai was just trying to distract him. We didn’t know he’d follow us all the way. Then we found him by the supermarket and…” he trailed off nervously as Suho continued glaring. “It…it was all Chen’s idea!”

“A birthday present, if you will.” Unlike Kai and Xiumin, Chen looked unrepentant. He grinned down at them. “Looks like you enjoyed it, huh?”

Kris blushed, realizing that Suho was still sitting in his lap.

Suho continued to stare at his brothers with narrowed eyes, fists clenched and seething heavily. After a prolonged silence, Kai and Xiumin exchanged nervous glances.

“Well, I’d better go check on the drinks…” said Xiumin, inching away. He shoved the cake into Kai’s arms.

“I…think I saw Monggu poop on a squirrel,” said Kai, transferring the cake to Chen.

“Hey, everyone!” Chen called, turning toward the crowd. “Guess what, Suho’s got a boyfriend now! Thanks to me!”

As the whistles and cheers started again, Suho muttered under his breath, “I am going to kill them later.”

Kris made a mental note to thank the Kim brothers later.