Kibum doesn’t know his name, but he calls him Loop, because he comes by the shop every Wednesday at nine o’clock to buy Froot Loops, and Kibum’s a little bit obsessed with him.

(1000 words)

By: Heteroshinee

To say that Kibum hated shelf stocking would be an understatement. He loathed it, in fact he couldn’t think of anything in the world as mind dumbingly dull as stocking shelves. At least when he was on till duty he could talk to actual human beings, even if it was just to tell them how much their order came to, but shelf stocking was like self imposed exile to a land of people that everyone kind of hates.

He knew it full well, because he himself despised shelf stockers even though, for half of his hours, he was one. They got in the way, just when you decided that, yes, you definitely wanted that one specific brand of chocolate hazelnut spread that you only ever treat yourself to on special occasions, they would be stocking the shelf right by it, their clumpy wagon of products taking up half the aisle and producing what could only really be referred to as a shopping trolley traffic jam. He hated it, which is why he did most of his shopping online, or when he had a midnight shift and the supermarket was empty and morbid looking.

Still, every Wednesday he not only found himself willingly taking the night shift, but actually requesting to do shelf stocking. All for a guy. Maybe he was finally losing his mind, maybe university had finally made him crack. He wouldn’t have been surprised if that were the case.

 

When he thought about it, it would really make more sense for him to ask for a shift on the checkout, at least then he might be able to talk to Mr. Froot Loops, but he kind of liked watching from the sidelines, out of the corner of his eye as he restocked the cereals nearby.

Mr. Froot Loops, or as Kibum called him, Loop, came by like clockwork on a Wednesday evening at around 9pm. He was always dressed in black, usually sweatshirts and jeans, and his hair was usually a mess, but in an artistic way that made Kibum very angry. He was so used to being interested in men that were well put together, but Loop was scruffy as hell. Vampirish and pale, he often had heavy bags under his eyes and a general aura of don’t talk to me.

He was, in essence, the exact opposite of the person you’d expect to be buying Froot Loops at 9pm on a Wednesday evening.

Kibum was intrigued.

So every week he stocked the shelves silently, only the charts music from the supermarket speakers in the background, whilst surreptitiously watching Loop from the corner of his eye. He didn’t talk to Loop, never did, and in honesty he never expected that he would.

Until the Wednesday following his birthday the night before.

Now to say that Kibum was fragile after that night would be an understatement. He was very close to violently being sick whenever he moved in the morning, but thankfully most of it had subsided by the time he had to go to work. He didn’t even consider trying to call in sick, his boss was the biggest in the world and he knew his co-workers would be just as fragile as he was, if not worse. Jinki had been completely wasted the night before, and Jonghyun and Minho had disappeared partway through the night and Kibum didn’t have the heart to disturb whatever thatwas, because lord knows them getting together had been a long time coming.

He didn’t even notice Loop turn up, he was far too busy considering whether or not his boss would notice if he pocketed a packet of paracetemol because  his head hurt like a motherer. Then suddenly, there was a voice in his ear and he jumped because this really wasn’t the time for any noise whatsoever.

“,” he whispered as he brought a hand up to his pounding head, and turned to the sheepish customer. , his eyes shot wide open. It was Mr. Mysterious Froot Loop Boy, talking to him, when he not only felt like the test pile of in the world, but probably looked it as well.

“Erm,” Loop continued, “I … do you have Froot Loops?” he asked, pointing to the empty shelf, and Kibum blushed, even though there really wasn’t much reason for him to.

though, Froot Loop Boy was even hotter up close, especially today because of course on the day that Kibum looked and felt like literal , Froot Loop Boy was dressed to the nines, suited and booted, his hair coiffed, no bags under his eyes. Kibum frowned at his attire.

“It’s the medics ball,” Froot Loop Boy offered by means of explanation, and Kibum flushed red again because he must have been staring quite intently for him to have noticed. Medic, Kibum thought to himself, Froot Loop Boy studied medicine. . Why was that so hot?

And , he hadn’t even answered his question.

“I…” he swallowed, words not coming to him, “I’ll check out back.”

“Okay,” Froot Loops Boy grinned easily, and Kibum nodded, “I’ll wait by the checkout?”

There were boxes and boxed of Froot Loops in the back, so Kibum grabbed a few, lining three of them up on the shelf before heading to the checkout, eyeing the checkout assistant suspiciously when he sent him a wink and a of the head to Froot Loops Boy. Handing over the box to the him, Kibum sent him a questioning look, but Woohyun only shrugged and smirked. Jerk.

Froot Loop Boy seemed to hesitate, kind of hanging around for a little longer than usual, sharing these weird, confusing looks with Woohyun, but then left, box of cereal in hand.

“What was that about?” Kibum asked, somewhat absentmindedly as he rearranged the gum display by the counter.

“Oh nothing,” Woohyun replied in his token teasing tone, “it’s just he’s a friend of a friend.”

“Oh cool.” Kibum tried to seem less than interested, focussing solely on the gum in his hands.

“And I know for a fact he despises Froot Loops.” With that Woohyun was gone out of the front door for one of his frequent smoking breaks.

“Wait what?”

Woohyun must have got the facts wrong, Kibum thought to himself as he watched Froot Loop boy from the corner of his eye. It’d been several weeks since the one and only time they had talked, and now they were in this awkward semi-acquaintance stage where they kind of knew each other but mostly didn’t. Kibum never knew whether to say hello when Loop popped in the shop, so he’d send the most awkward smile his way, and Loop would look rather taken aback for a moment or two before waving back, and Kibum would have to relocate to another aisle to marinade in his own embarrassment.

“So,” Jonghyun chuckled the following week, as he followed Kibum about. Jonghyun didn’t actually work in the shop, but he often came along to do what he referred to as ‘babysitting Kibum’, and what Kibum referred to as being a complete and utter pain in the arse. “I heard you have a crush,” he teased and Kibum rolled his eyes, lining up a row of tins as he scoffed.

“Of course you’d be in cahoots with Woohyun,” he let out a long suffering sigh, “it’s nothing okay, we’ve barely even talked.”

“But Woohyun said-”

“Woohyun’s a jerk,” Kibum interjected, then paused at Jonghyun’s look. Why did a man his age have ing puppy dog eyes?! “Don’t do this to me Jonghyun, that’s not fair.” Jonghyun’s pitiful expression only intensified until Kibum gave up, sighing once again. “Okay, fine!” Jonghyun grinned in triumph.

“So,” he nudged Kibum, “who is he?”

“He’s just this guy,” Kibum shrugged, “who comes in every week. It’s kinda lame.”

“And?” Jonghyun asked, before Kibum shrugged. “Wait, is that it?”

“Yeah,” Kibum nodded, realigning a few more shelves as he spoke, “I mean, nothing’s happened and nothing will happen, he’s just easy on the eyes. And he has a nice voice.” He paused and frowned, “and a weird obsession with Froot Loops.”

“Froot Loops?”

“Yeah, he comes in and buys a pack every week, which, you know, is a sign of possible obsession and/or psychopathy so it’s probably a good thing we-”

“Every Wednesday, you say?” Jonghyun’s tone was teasing as he pulled out his phone. “Hang on a minute.” He scrolled through to his contacts, and pressed call on one of them, and when he held his phone between the two of them, hitting loudspeaker, Kibum read the name. Lee Taemin, it sounded familiar, didn’t Jonghyun have a housemate by that name?

“Yo, Taemin,” Jonghyun spoke as soon as the other picked up, and they was just a shuffling on the other end as it sounded like someone was waking up. Who on Earth slept at 4pm? ? Had Jonghyun called the Mr Froot Loops, was this Taemin guy the scruffy looking vampy dude Kibum so fixated on? “So I was thinking about getting some cereal,” Jonghyun started, grinning to himself, and Kibum frowned.

What? he mouthed to Jonghyun, but Jonghyun only held up a hand as if to say wait.

“Jonghyun, why the  are you calling me about your cereal?”

“Well,” Jonghyun continued unphased, “I was thinking of getting Froot Loops, actually.”

“Good for you, man,” Taemin answered, “can I go back to sleep now?”

“But then,” Jonghyun continued still, “I remembered that you have a wardrobe full of it, so-”

“Wait, what? What the , Jonghyun, why have you been in my room?”

“You stole my Playstation you little , I went in to reclaim it.”

Taemin scoffed. “Dude I won that Playstation fair and square.”

“Lies,” Jonghyun rebutted. “But more importantly, why do you have a wardrobe full of Froot Loops boxes, Taemin?” , Kibum thought to himself, it was him it was him. Don’t freak out, don’t breathe too heavily, what if he can hear me breathing I bet he’s so cute and scruffy and-

“I … collect them? I like the packaging,” he sounded more like he was trying to persuade himself than Jonghyun, “yeah, I …”

“Bull,” Jonghyun teased, “what’s the real reason?”

“Jonghyun, I’ll give you all the Froot Loops you could want, I don’t even like them-”

“What?! But he made me get some from out back!” Kibum couldn’t stop himself, and Taemin’s end of the line went quiet.

“Jonghyun,” came a warning voice after a moment or two, “Jonghyun, who was that.” Jonghyun let him sweat, “Jonghyun you arsehole oh my God, I’m going to kill you.”

“Why would you do that Taemin?”

“Oh my God, you.”

“Nah, I think it’s cute grocery store boy you want to .”

“Jonghyun, please-”

“Man, I knew it was this store,” Jonghyun continued, “I just figured you were into Woohyun for some reason, not-”

“Jonghyun-”

“But each to their own I guess.”

“, he heard this whole thing?” Taemin spoke, horrified, and Jonghyun looked from his phone to Kibum who was sat on the floor, blushing so intensely he almost looked ill.

“Yep,” Jonghyun replied chipperly, “got anything to say to him?”

“Er … hi ….”

“Kibum,” Jonghyun offered.

“Yeah, I know,” Taemin responded, “I … er … Facebook?”

“Wow creepy,” Jonghyun commented and Taemin scoffed. “Is that all you wanted to say, because if not I’ll hang up-”

“No!” there was another shuffle and Taemin spoke again, “Kibum, when does your shift end?”

“Er … in half an hour,” he swallowed loudly, nervously, and Jonghyun rolled his eyes.

“Will you let me take you out?”

“What?”

“Take you out? On a date?”

“A date?”

“Yeah, I mean, unless you don’t want to, we can just-” Taemin tried to backpedal.

“Okay, Mr Awkward I’m going to stop you there, Kibum will wait here after his shift ends and you will pick him up and that’s the end of that, bye.” Jonghyun hung up the phone and smiled, turning to Kibum.

“You’re welcome,” was the only thing he said, before leaving.