A normal day in the life of Kim Jongdae alias Chen began... around noon.
Or rather, good days began around noon.
Today wasn't exactly scheduled as a good day, though, and Chen got up at half past five in the goddamn morning since he was on standby for work.
Working for a temporary work agency in the field of gastronomy wasn't exactly a sought after job.
In fact it could be pretty ty and he was completely determined by now that the only good thing about it was that he could always tell his future employer 'hey, you might doubt me but look - I already worked at a temp agency, for gastronomy even! It can't get any worse than that, ay?' - which might already give you a good idea about why he hadn't found a better job yet.
Well, Chen thought as he blearily scuffled into the kitchen to take a few sips of his chilled vanilla-flavored ice coffee, at least he had a job. It could be worse.
And when he had crawled back under his warm blanket to die of boredom for two hours(and god forbid if his work actually did call), he checked his Youtube notifications. Still half-asleep he only quickly scanned the private messages and then gleefully read the comments.
Chen was glad that his latest cover of Jonghyun's "Guilty Pleasure" was being received so well since that song had been such a to sing. Also, covered versions of pop songs usually weren't that popular. Now if this was a compliment for his voice or for Jonghyun's popularity... he'd leave that up for discussion.

When Chen had uploaded his very first video on Youtube almost seven years ago -a Korean version of one of the many Naruto Anime openings- his only daily highlight would be a change in the view count. Still, even though the change was minuscule, it piled up and nowadays he even got new subscribers and comments on a daily basis.
He still sang Anime songs; be it in their original language or in a Korean version, transcribed by either him or one of his colleagues.
And he sang Pop songs or Disney songs if he really fell in love with them or a lot of people requested them.
Chen was generally a er for requests(he didn't have 'always a [rhetorical] for my subscribers' as a sub-title on his channel for 3 years for nothing).

And maybe that was the reason why Xiumin would always have a special place in his heart.

Because if it wasn't for him, his very first requester, he wouldn't have promptly recorded and uploaded a half Korean, half English version of a vocaloid song called 'Secret' about five years ago. And he definitely wouldn't have gotten the good credits he did receive since back then only few people covered vocaloid songs and even fewer cared to translate them into their mother language.
Back then Chen didn't have the slightest idea what he was even doing in the first place. For an embarrassing span of four weeks he had been assuming that 'vocaloid' was some sort of a band name with different member singing a lot of solo songs.
Only when new requests came in did he actually research the topic and found out that vocaloid songs were just songs made with a computer program and a voice database.
While those mostly shrill sounds were rather unpleasant to many people's ears, the songs itself were more often than not catchy and meaningful. Or just plain weird, depending the creator.
And up to today people were digging his fan versions, making them not only gaining the most clicks but also a rather loyal fan-base that never failed to encourage him when he felt down.
Suddenly his phone vibrated and he flinched, opening the message in the blink of an eye.

[6:02]
From: Xiu-Min-nie~
Good morning~
That is, if you didn't fall asleep again
Are you being on stand by like a good lil boy?

Smiling happily at the distraction he typed back immediately.

Yes, Chen's life wasn't exactly perfect.
Graduating from high school he followed his parent's wishes and began to study medicine, but soon found out that he couldn't even take it for his parents' sake and dropped out.
Maybe he would have gone for another random job he didn't even feel like in the first place, but at that time he had already been living together with his best friend.
And Kyungsoo really encouraged him to pursue something he actually enjoyed. So now he was taking on temporary jobs with just enough salary to make ends meet(and enjoy himself a little throughout the month) and worked on his singing career.
People may laugh at him, his family may be disappointed, but it didn't matter.
He had Kyungsoo on his side and Xiumin.
Well, and 80.633 subscribers who were actually looking forward to ChenChen's new video.

"Just what the actual is wrong with my subbies?!" he groaned loudly as soon as Kyungsoo said as much as a 'hello' when passing by his room.
It was kind of a tradition that whomever got home would first settle down in the other's room for a bit to chat.
And so Kyungsoo padded in a minute later with a bowl of re-heated food and settled down on the floor at the low table, next to him.
"I thought you love them all?"
"I dooo...!" he whined while hitting his forehead on the keyboard in an overly dramatic way.
"I love these crazy ers, every single one of them! That's the problem!"
"What happened?"
"You see THIS?" he asked while turning his laptop's screen to show him an opened text document.
Kyungsoo looked barely amused and raised an eyebrow at him.
"A page full of h's?" he blankly asked.
Chen only clucked his tongue at him and scrolled up to the stuff he had actually written with his fingers.
"It's a list of requests I've recently gotten - You know I was planning to do something big for my 75.000 subscriber special? But LOOK AT THIS."
He could clearly see his best friend's lips twitch in amusement now, even though he tried very hard not to show it.
"Rihanna - Unfaithful(2 comments, 24 likes) and Rihanna - S&M(1 comment, 48 likes)? Are you sure your fans love you?"
"Sometimes I'm re-considering this as well..." he grumbled.
Kyungsoo only patted his shoulder in mild pity.
"Stop complaining! You know how it is - your fandom merely mirrors you. Since you're the biggest troll on the planet you shouldn't be surprised at these requests. Think of it as having raised them well!"

At this, Chen couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah, you're right at this... My precioussssesss..."
"I'm only being nice to you because you invited Chanyeol over."
Chen only hummed.
"Yeah yeah, sure."
Then he winced as he suddenly got a slap across the back of his head.
"OW! Now what was that for?!"
"For not telling me sooner. I totally made a fool out of myself today."
With a pout he snatched a piece of fried chicken from his bowl, causing Kyungsoo to curse at him for being gross.
"You're behaving like an idiot anyway, just cause Pcy was coincidentally around to witness it doesn't make it my fault!"
Kyungsoo was about to retort that he'd spill ALL of his dirty secrets about the hidden recordings of the Attack No.1 Opening when his Skype blinked and announced an incoming call.
One look at the icon with a Hamtaro-avatar Chen had specifically set was enough for him to silence Kyungsoo.
"Look, I was really waiting for Xiu's call, so I hope it's alright with you if I take it?"
"Yeeeah, yeah, sure, just cast me aside for your online friend, no big deal-", Kyungsoo said while fake-sniffing and getting up to leave, "I'll just go away and continue stalking all of the channels Chanyeol has subscribed to on Youtube."
"As long as you stop writing comments with that fake account of yours-"
"I do NOT have a-"
"Oh please, 'Dee-rait-Oh' has one too many bad puns to NOT be you! DEE-OH. The bad imitation of a Japanese 'DELIGHT'? Really now? I sense a faaaanboy~"
"SHUT UP! I'll become your No. 1 hater!"
For a second, it was silent.
Then Kyungsoo seemed to re-think something.
"Besides - You missed the 'Raito'-pun! If I'll ever get a Death Note I'll not only write but DRAW you onto the first page!"
"Good thing your drawings are so ty then - I'll be completely safe~!" Chen only sing-songed as he plugged in his earbuds and finally accepted the call.

A faint white noise was heard and he immediately began to babble.
"Well hello there~ I'd like to order a big frosted white chocolate forest with lots of whipped cream and an extra shot of espresso, caramel and chocolate sauce. And sprinkles."
He could immediately hear the other end groan.
'Oh my god, I feel the urge to see my dentist just after hearing that.'
"Don't worry, I'll get two straws to share it with you. How are you doing, Xiu? Enjoying your semi-free day?"
Xiumin chuckled lightly.
'I guess you could say that. I might meet up with a few friends later to play soccer, but for now I thought I might check up on the virtual life for a bit.'
Chen smiled. His friend was always such a busy-body with being the young store manager of a coffee shop and all his hobbies - including sports, writing and gaming together with him.
"You're living such a healthy life, it's embarrassing me right through the speakers~" he lightheartedly said.
'Don't say such a thing, Chen. Everyone has a different life style.'
And that was another reason to like Xiumin. He could always detect the tiny insecurities he hid behind his easy words and quickly extinguished them.

Suddenly his gaze fell to the bright red beanie that was innocently lying on his night stand and he remembered his original reason for wanting to talk to his friend.
"By the way - I received the hat you sent me! You're so crazy, you didn't have to!"
'Oh? I thought you didn't want to be single forever? How could I possibly take responsibility for that?' the playful voice of Xiumin replied without missing a beat.
"Stillll... I didn't even know you still had my address - you crazy stalker-hamster, you!"
He heard the sound of his bubbly laugh and couldn't help but shaking his head at him.
"You don't even know whether red suits me!"
'Well, you can wear it when we meet each other and I'll find out!'
That made Chen freeze.
"W-what?"
Belatedly realizing what he said, Xiumin hesitated for a second before nonchalantly continuing.
'Yeah, I thought after five years it was about time that we met each other, living in the same city and all. If you don't want to that's cool, too.'
Of course Chen knew him just as well and could easily interpret the tiny signs.

One thing about Xiumin was that he did not meet people in real life.
Under no circumstances, nope, it's nothing personal, thank you very much.
It was a bit of a mystery since he did neither seem to be self-conscious about his looks nor was he some celebrity, but Chen had learnt to accept it.
Second thing to know about Xiumin was that he did not hesitate.
Therefore, this one second of doubt probably meant a lot.

So Chen hurried to reply a "No, of course I wanna meet you, don't be silly! I'd never miss my chance to confirm your hamster-cheeks for myself!"
The laugh was back and Chen relaxed.
'Ah, but I worked out quite a lot lately, so don't be disappointed if they're gone!'
"I would never. So... When are you free?"
'Hm... Tomorrow, maybe? I got a day off.'
"T-tomorrow?"
While talking Xiumin sent him an ':P' emoticon.
'What, you need a bit more time to mentally prepare yourself?'
"Says the one who obviously needed five damn years!"
'Meanie.'
"Tomorrow it is! My place or your place?"
'You're pushing iiit...' Xiumin hummed and he could practically hear him smiling.
"Haha~ Let's just meet at the southern plaza, at the well. How does 2 PM sound?"
'Like a LOT of sweaty exposed chocolate abs?'
"Xiumin. Please. I hope you at least feel bad about this."

A few hours later he was already immersed in recording for his subscriber's special when Kyungsoo carefully opened the door. With a hand gesture Chen asked him to just wait a bit and the shorter one was about to stay in the doorway when he heard the song and stilled with a confused face before advancing and looking over his shoulder.
Totally undeterred, Chen was tapping his fingers to the beat and held his headphones in deep concentration before picking up at some point Kyungsoo couldn't further define.

What's your size?
What color are your ?
Are you even wearing ?
I've always liked you!

Kyungsoo didn't back away, but oh, he was the master of judging stares.
Probably his best asset, only second to his death glares.
"What... Kim Jongdae." he said in his slow and monotone voice that was dripping with judgment, "...What. Do I even want to ask?"
Chen only dismissed him.
"It's nothing to worry about! It's just thi-"
"Yeah, yeah, nothing to worry about. You also said that yesterday when I caught you singing that 'I'm slightly getting faster, it's becoming more fun' stuff that was so freaking suggestive it wasn't even suggestive anymore-"
"That's because you got your mind in the gutter together with Bacon! You both have the mentality of pre-teens, giggling as soon as someone sings 'I come'!"
Kyungsoo only crossed his arms at this and shook his head.

"First off, I do not giggle. Second, EVERY male being has the humor of a pre-teen. There's basically no other way of humor besides the embarrassing-old-uncle humor. You can play suave, but deep down you also thought it!"
Chen threw his hands up in defeat.
"Fiiine, you're right! I'm still not dubbing a movie though, if that's what you're thinking!"
"I'd be disappointed if the first you'd voice was straight ."
"I wanted to make a vocaloid-medley for my subbies. So I searched up a few random and fun songs that reminds me and them about our time together."
"Careful, careful!", Kyungsoo suddenly said in distress, holding his hand out in an exaggerated gesture,
"You're gonna slip on the grease!"
Slapping his hand away he stuck out his tongue.
"Says the one giving emotional speeches on how unfortunate and unfair the house system of Hogwarts is."
"Oh, you. Harry Potter is life."
"They don't understand, Gryffindors are favoring their own people as well! They just coincidentally have 'hero' written all over their forehead!"
"That's IT!" Kyungsoo snapped highly offended and got out his phone.
"Suho asked me whether we should meet at the weekend and I was GOING to ask you first, but now..."
Chen's eyes grew wide in instant regret and he would have immediately jumped to his feet if it wouldn't have been for the way all the cables around him would probably strangle him at the tiniest movement.

"You wouldn't!"
"Hey Suho. Sure we're free, let's meet for brunch at Sunday. Around noon is alright with you? P.S.: Jongdae really looks forward to it already!"
Chen looked at him as if Kyungsoo had just kicked a puppy, namely him.
(After all, he was the first Beagle in their 'Beagle Beagle ▽・ω・▽'-group with Kyungsoo being the second and Baekhyun the emoticon.)
"Why would you DO that? Around noon? Isn't it still dark then?!"
"Serves you right~" Kyungsoo hummed while leaving the room.

It wasn't that they both disliked Kyungsoo's elder step brother.
Disliking Suho would be... Wrong.
Chen couldn't find another way to say it, but it would be wrong.
Like hating on a pretty mirror. It was pretty, it was perfect in all it tried to be and it would still be absolutely perfect tomorrow. And the day after.
And the only thing different about it would be the image of yourself reflected on it, a snarky voice in his head added.
Because in all respects - just because he didn't dislike him didn't mean that he wouldn't admit how much Suho could annoy the hell out of them at any time.
All the while meaning only well, which was all the more frustrating.
Dealing with this on a holy Sunday at noon was hardly what he'd mark in his schedule as a 'good day'.
So he threw the first random object he could find, which was unfortunately nothing but the cap of his water bottle(which he would regret later because nooo, all the sparkles are gonna die) and threw it after him. His aim was reliably ty as always and Kyungsoo only laughed at him.

He still laughed when Chen began hours later to record yet another song.
Oh well. The things you do for your fans, Chen thought with a shrug and took his microphone to loudly and desperately bellow into it, not holding back at all.

"I JUST WANNA DATE SOMEONE, ANYONE IS FINE!! SOMEONE PLEASE DATE ME!"

The next day Chen was not delusional enough to deny that he was nervous.
Because he was. And who could blame him? He had indeed known Xiumin for so many years already, that much was true. But it didn't change the fact that he had never met him before. And even though Xiumin had described himself as a rather short and roundish type of person with hamster cheeks and he had heard his voice plenty of times, he still had no actual idea what he might look like. Furthermore it was always different to actually meet people in real life. They might be perfectly comfortable around each other via Skype, but what if it didn't work out in real life?
Xiumin was naturally a rather quiet person. Sure, he had his moments, but what if they'd fall into an awkward silence?
With all these thoughts in mind Jongdae strolled down the plaza a little later. He had actually entertained the idea of wearing the beanie(maybe it would make Xiumin laugh), but it was ridiculously hot and he'd look like a moron.
It was Thursday and therefore there weren't many people lingering around the boisterous marble well.
He instantly spotted the indeed short figure of a boy around his age.
And the closer he came, squinting his eyes against the soaring sunlight from above, the more he had to resist the urge of facepalming.
When he spotted him, the boy smiled widely and tilted his head a little as he patiently waited for Chen to reach him.
It wasn't exactly fair, but due to one of the rare photos on his Youtube account Xiumin basically knew what he looked like.
And Chen still re-evaluated his life choices with every step he took.

Of course he would be gorgeous.
Of-in-course.

He couldn't just be an average person, nooo, why would he. If he could instead look like a model from a street fashion magazine with his almost skimpy-looking loose tank top and the big pair of headphones casually resting around his neck. His light brown hair was just the right mix between messy and styled into spikes to add a boyish vibe to his appearance, starkly contrasting his manly body.
Chen internally sighed. God, he really does work out. Look at his arms! Who allowed him to look that good?
If he would wear that top he'd look like an idiot.
You're already looking like an idiot next to him though.
Ah, I'm turning into Kyungsoo. Talking to yourself is a bad sign.
Shaking his head a little he put up an unsure face when he finally stopped in front of the other who opened his mouth before Chen even had the chance.
"Hey! You're Chen, right?"
"Yeah..." he mumbled in response, feeling a little awkward and self-conscious already.
Maybe this was a bad idea.

Big, single-lidded eyes shone in mild concern as Xiumin tilted his head a little to the other side, searching his eyes.
"Are you alright?"
Chen hesitated. And then something occurred to him. He scrutinized the others' face intensely, slowly leaned closer to the confused brunette and finally...
...pinched his cheeks. With both hands.
"Oh my god you were right, you DON'T look like a hamster!" he called out in astonishment, as if he had just discovered a brandnew species.
Xiumin only stared at him with a startled expression.

"You're a SQUIRREL! Oh my God, how can you look so squishy! I'll re-name you on Skype to Squirrel-Xiu!"
"Minhschock."
"Hmm?"
Xiumin pried his hands away with a silent laugh before rubbing his cheeks.
"My name's Minseok."
Chen smiled and ignored the outstretched hand to draw the other in a friendly hug.
Maybe this had been a good idea after all.

After that, the ice was broken and the awkward feeling lifted. This really was his friend of many years, after all.
 

Not really having a plan they just strolled around town, spontaneously bought Xiumin a new pair of soccer stockings, went window-shopping in an electronic store and spent an almost inappropriate time at the book store where they read each other the short description of trashy books in silly voices. This was especially fun for Xiumin since he loved to write in his free time and he almost choked on laughing so hard over Chen trying very hard to read ridiculous teenie books and gay mangas in a convincing and dramatic way.
They were finally shooed outside by an annoyed employee and ended up buying themselves a huge portion of french fries. Deeply into a discussion about which amount of mayonnaise was tolerable, they both didn't notice the young girl approaching them until she cleared and shyly spoke up.
"U-uhm... Excuse me?"
They both looked up and the double attention seemed to fluster her even more.
"A-are you per chance... Maybe... A singer on Youtube, called Ch-chen?"
His eyes must have reached the size of Xiumin's as he stared at the girl in pure surprise.
Every passing second made her even more uncomfortable and she was about to apologize when Chen finally snapped out of his stupor.
"Y-yes! Yes, that's me-" he began and hastily rubbed the mayonnaise from his face with his sleeve under the very amused eyes of Xiumin.
The girl seemed to deflate in relief.
"Oh, thank god. I thought I was embarrassing myself, but you seemed so familiar, so... I'm sorry if I'm bothering you-"
"NO! I mean, no. No, you're not bothering me, uh, us, nooo." he replied while dismissing her with hand movements that were more of the flailing sort.
The girl smiled at him, shy but clearly also eager.
"I just wanted to tell you that you have a really, really amazing voice! And you always choose very interesting songs, making me think or laugh. You're just very inspirational. I've been a fan ever since you covered 'Secret'!"
Chen fought the urge to blush. He had literally never ever been recognized by anyone, let alone been praised like that.
He tried to compose himself and bowed deeply.
"Really? Thank you very much for your support."
"No, I think I should thank you for working so hard!"
They both looked at each other in a somewhat awkward silence with everything being said.
"Uh, so..." Chen cluelessly began when Xiumin interrupted them.
"Should I take a picture of the two of you?" he asked in a friendly voice.
She practically glowed.
"R-really? Is that really alright?"
"Sure."

Two mobile phone snapshots with expressions rivaling each other in happiness later, the girl bowed one last time and bid them farewell.
Waving after her for a while, Chen looked still a little dazed when he slowly spoke up.
"That was... Awkward. But also ing awesome."
Xiumin chuckled at his stunned friend and used the opportunity to snatch away the last mayonnaise-free and therefore uncontaminated fries.
When Chen spoke up the next time, he sounded more curios than anything.
"Say, Xiu... Can I ask you something?"
"Mh. Shoot." he mumbled in between a mouthful of salty potato-goodness.
"Back then... Why did you request that song?"
At this, Xiumin looked up and took his time to properly chew and swallow all the fries he had been able to fit into his squirrel cheeks.
"Well. It was on a whim." he lightheartedly replied.
"Huh?"
"What can I say? I guess I was in a slump and felt kinda down. Didn't think you'd actually go through with this. Also you seemed so desperate to please, I just pitied you a little~"
"Whaaat? Don't say that!" Chen called out in a whiny voice as he flailed around like a pouty kid.
"I wasn't desperate! And here I thought that maybe that song had some deep meaning for you and you let me down like this - I'm disappointed in you! No more hazel-nuts for you, squirrel!" he said while snatching away the fries and Xiumin wailed in protest.

Chen had to leave in the early evening since Chanyeol was supposed to come over.
But while he leisurely walked down the streets with his headphones in, he caught himself once again humming along to that song he had covered ages ago and which lyrics' he would maybe one day come to understand.
 

I don't know, who's my mother?
I don't know how I got alone
I don't know how I got mad
I don't think I should get back~

Okay, maybe I should come to terms with myself that a weekly update schedule is tough.
Or rather that I should put more effort into shortening my chapters.
Anyway, someone requested for Chen, and there he is! ♥
Because of his YT career there were so many songs mentioned here, where to start...
First off, I'm exactly one of those people who have a hard time dealing with original vocaloid voices. God bless fan covers.

Chen's medley ultimately consisted of:
1) Getting Faster and Faster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1YobNhMmrU
2) Ggrks(Go, Google it!) [feat. female Youtuber Rei-Nya07]
(Haven't found an awesome version of this one so far. Such a to cover.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjbTHFJf6FE
3) SOMEONE DATE ME PLZ
(Favouring one version over the other equals a crime)
Male: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKX-em0ygx4
Female: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LALk7JAzG8A

Feel free to check these out if you're curios~
(If you're slowly getting the idea that my music library consists of nothing but weird sh*t... You're on a good track)

If the names are confusing you, I'm sorry. Xiu and Chen still refer to each other with their nicknames, cause old habits die hard. Besides, NO one calls Chen by his real name. Except for maybe Suho.

Love,
Sugar-and-Salt c:

 

P.S.: I love Suho. Everyone should.
P.P.S.: You thought the original Attack No.1 opening would have been awkward enough? Try listening to the freaking German version.