It isn’t hard for Baekhyun to understand that the stranger, much like himself, is on a schedule. The times they had clashed Baekhyun had been late, so the stranger must normally be walking behind him. This leads to Baekhyuns conclusion; leave the apartment late, walk fast until he sees the stranger and then stay behind him. He could leave earlier, but this way the guy can tell where he is. The creep could try to catch up to him, or stare at him from behind for a few days and follow him to work and then stay around until he leaves his work and then follow him home and do that for a couple of weeks until he had learned Baekhyuns schedule and then kidnap him and do experiments on him before killing him, and to be very honest Baekhyun wasn’t too keen on that.

Baekhyun had spent the extra minutes to sleep a little longer. He ended up sleeping a bit too long and had to skip his morning shower. Instead of his beanie he had left with a cap to cover his dirty hair for work. He was hoping that pulling his fringe back in the cap and putting on a new sweatshirt would make him somewhat unrecognizable just in case. If that didn’t work maybe his gross body odor would keep the creep away. Baekhyun wasn’t feeling too good today.

Despite speed walking Baekhyun tries to not get too close to people while passing.  His mind is too far into finding the best way through that he by pure luck spots the grey hair and big ears before getting too close. There are no people for Baekhyun to hide behind if necessary around him. If the stranger were to turn he would easily spot him, and it made Baekhyun feel . He takes out his phone and holds it close to his face while simultaneously keeping his eyes on the guy and moving with the crowd. If the guy did turn Baekhyun could hide behind his phone and hope that his exposed forehead wouldn’t make him recognizable.

The rest of the walk is uneventful, but Baekhyun is still cautious. He is about to take his right turn of the main street for work when the guy stops and turns around.

In a split second Baekhyun is plastered against the closest building.

The impact makes a big sound.

Being the idiot that he is, Baekhyun had smashed himself against a shop window.

Baekhyun feels the color on his face disappearing before coming back at full force in a deep red.

He closes his eyes for a second and tells himself that the sound wouldn’t travel far in all the buzzing from the street. He opens his eyes again, but doesn’t dare to look at anyone.

He tries to play it of by turning and walking back a few short steps, using the red face to look angry, before kicking at a little bump on the ground. Hopefully the people on the other side of the window will think that he just tripped. The people who were walking close to him already thinks he’s crazy.

He needs to turn around again to keep up the casual act, but he is too nervous.

What if the guy spotted him?

What if the guy recognized him?

What if the guy thinks he’s an idiot too?

No wait. That might actually be a good thing, Baekhyun tries to reason. Maybe he would stay away if he thinks I’m crazy.

…Or it could make me an easier prey for his scientific experiments.

No shut up Baekhyun. I’m not that naïve to let him do something like that!

Eventually Baekhyun turns around, but he doesn’t dare to look up just yet. He continues to walk towards his workplace, but just before the view of the main street would be blocked he dares to take a peek.

It scares him a bit how fast he spotted him.

He isn’t standing where he turned around earlier. He is walking. But he hasn’t moved that far yet.

Baekhyun fights the embarrassment that is creeping up.

Just get your to work.

He checks his phone.

Fast.

“You’re late!” a voice screams through the store the second the bell over the door rings signaling Baekhyuns arrival.

“Buuut!” he whines back, dragging his feet over the floor. He makes it a couple steps before his face is full of clothes.

“Whatever, just hurry. We have to go through the container and packages today”.

Baekhyun fishes out his uniform, a nametag with his name and a thank you underneath. Besides that he only needs a smile and a friendly attitude, which is no problem for him. Jongin struggles sometimes. He loves dogs, but not kids.

He and Jongin are the only ones working at this shift. Baekhyun likes it a lot. There’re not that many people visiting at these hours, mostly just sweet old people or parents with small kids. He also gets to go home after work and feel like he still has a lot of the day left. He had specifically asked for this shift for that very reason. Baekhyun likes sleeping in, but he likes being productive and doing what he enjoys more.  

They walk out the back door and into the staff parking lot. Baekhyun with a trolley, and Jongin with the keys. The container is at the other end, and the wheels on the trolley screeches with every turn. It’s hella annoying, but he only has to do this twice a week.

He likes his job a lot.

Except maybe this part.

They make it with their hearing still intact, and Jongin opens the container. They step back a few steps and waits for a couple of seconds. Then they dig in.

“You know, these people clearly got their minds in the right track,” Baekhyun says and stuffs another armful of clothes in the box on the trolley, “but can’t they at least wash the clothes before handing them in to charity?”

“Oh but this one smells kinda nice” Jongin says before sniffing the garment again. “Lavender? Here, try.”

Baekhyun hesitates. He will not fall for that one again. But he can’t smell anything from where he is standing so he takes it and sniffs.

“Thank you you lovely, sweet, kind and clean person! You deserve only the best!” Baekhyun yells as loud as he dares. “May there be more people like you in this world!”

Jongin picks up a knitted scarf in the pile.

“Hey this one smells like that lady that was here on Tuesday.”

“Dude that’s gross.”

“What can I say, her perfume was pretty strong”. Jongin shrugs, before a light bulb turns on in Bakehyuns head.

“Wait, you mean Soonkyu? She’s really sweet! She has like four cats, worked in a museum and her two grandchildren are twins! And have you tasted her dumplings? They’re sooo good!”

“Are those hearts in your eyes?”

“Shut up!”

1164 words

Jongin! And granny Sunny! Also they work in a thrift shop!
And I wrote more than last time!

Hope you like this chapter! 

When I was away for the autumn break I came up with an idea for a oneshot. We were in a cabin in the woods/mountains (with no wifi, so sorry for late update) and I got inspired to write a Wolf!au. I've written a bit on it already, so look forward to it! ^^