Chanyeol ran through the halls of EXO's house, yelling out at the top of his lungs. He flew past Sehun who sat on the couch, flipping through a magazine with his usual disinterested stare, not even glancing behind him to see what the heck Chanyeol was yelling about. Probably something about TVXQ or a new addition to the Rilakkuma family, basically stuff that Sehun cared little about. There were more pressing matters on his mind, such as the glossy pages of his favorite magazine.

Meanwhile, Chanyeol had ran into his room that he shared with Baekhyun, jumping on the sleeping idol's bed and jumping like an excited child on Christmas day.

    "Baekhyun, Baekhyun, wake up!" He shouted, grinning widely. Baekhyun was bounced awake, a groan escaping him as he reluctantly pulled himself out of his wonderful dream world.

    "What do you want, Chanyeol?" He asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, black smeared all over them. He pulled back his hand and saw the smudge on it, groaning again. He had forgotten to take his eyeliner off the night before, and now it was most likely all over his pillows.

Chanyeol made one last jump, moving his legs so he plopped into a criss cross position, his eyes wide and his grin still intact.

    "I'm going to die today." He announced, fear in his voice. Whatever haze Baekhyun was still in immediately faded away, the boy now on full alert.

    "Don't be ridiculous, Chanyeol, you're not going to die today." He countered, flipping his bed head back so he could get a good look at him. Chanyeol shook his head, leaning forward.

    "No, I am! Once Kyungsoo gets back, I'm dead!" He insisted.

    Baekhyun sighed, putting his head in his hands. "What did you do?"

    Chanyeol looked around the room, he didn't want any listeners to tell the ball of squishy fury what he did before he had a chance to make amends with everything. Lowering his voice to a whisper- which to be honest he couldn't do at all, anyone outside of the room could clearly hear what this giant was about to say.

    "I forgot to buy kimchi."

    Baekhyun's eyes grew to a size that could rival Kyungsoo's; Chanyeol had forgotten to buy what?

    "Kimchi." Baekhyun breathed. He took a moment to recollect his thoughts, clearly shocked and overwhelmed by what he was told. "Chanyeol, you do know kimchi is essential for kimchi spaghetti, especially Kyungsoo's spaghetti, which we are having for dinner tonight?"

    Chanyeol nodded, sinking back. He had ordered his death sentence with this slip-up, what were they going to do now?

Baekhyun got up from the bed, heading to their closet and getting his clothes out.

    "What are we going to do?" Chanyeol asked anxiously, still grinning for some odd reason.

    "We're going shopping, you dimwit. We can still save our asses if we get the kimchi in time." Baekhyun said and slipped on his shirt, hurrying to put on his pants.

    "We don't have enough time! Kyungsoo's going to be here in five minutes!"

    "Is Jongin with him?"

    "I think so, yeah."

    "Then it'll take him longer than that."    Baekhyun grabbed Chanyeol's arm, pulling him out of their room and down the hall, doing a double take at his never wavering smile.

    "Quit smiling, Chanyeol! This is life or death right now!"

    "I'm sorry, I'm nervous!"

    "Whatever, hurry and get your shoes on."

    Baekhyun slipped on his shoes, Chanyeol wrinkling his nose at the shorter ones sockless feet. Baekhyun gave him a questioning look.

    "What?"

    "Socks...You're not wearing any..."

    Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "Do you really think we have time to waste on socks?"

    "No but...Jongin does that...and you know how fast he goes through his shoes..."

    Baekhyun smacked Chanyeol's arm. "Oh, shut up. Go tell Sehun we're going out and get my keys."

    Chanyeol scampered away, laughing. Baekhyun scowled, trying not to laugh himself as he hurried out of the house, making his way over to where his car was.

    Chanyeol peeped into the living room, Sehun still in his same position on the couch as before.

    "Sehun, Baekhyun and I are going to store so I don't die, we'll be back. Text us if Kyungsoo comes home, okay? Don't tell Kyungsoo about the missing kimchi, or I swear I'll-"

    "You're running out of time, hyung," Sehun said absentmindedly, waving his phone in the air. His gaze stayed on the magazine. "Kyungsoo said he's driving home right now."

    Chanyeol disappeared with that, grabbing Baekhyun's keys from the rack in the kitchen, barely remembering to get his shoes as he stumbled out of the house, clumsily closing and locking the door behind him and sprinting to Baekhyun's car. He flung open the passenger door, jumping in and slamming the door closed, quickly tossing Baekhyun his keys and slipping on his shoes before putting his seatbelt on.

    The giant had just buckled himself in when Baekhyun was already out of the driveway and speeding down the road to their usual market place that they went to.   Chanyeol bounced his legs, reaching over to the radio and turning it up so he could hear the music. Some old folk song played through the speakers, something he wouldn't usually listen to but right now he didn't care. He quickly caught onto the beat and tapped it out on his knees, planning his 'epic' plan to get the kimchi, purchase it, and get back home- preferably before the small man they feared returned.

    The car's tires screeched as Baekhyun parked in front of the shop, both of them bursting out of the car and running into the store, making a beeline for the aisle that usually had the kimchi. They stumbled to a stop, finding a completely empty shelf.

    "What?!" Baekhyun said in disbelief. How in the world could they be out of kimchi? Chanyeol let out a cry, falling to his hands and knees in despair.

    "We're definitely going to die now!"

    "Wait, wait," Baekhyun tugged him up. "One, it's your fault we don't have kimchi so you'd be the only one dying, and two, there's still that store down the street, and the corner store I usually go to!"

    Chanyeol perked up, grabbing Baekhyun's hand and leading him out of the store as fast as he could, making Baekhyun's shorter legs struggle to keep up with him.

    He let go of him when they were out of the store, going back to the passenger's seat of the car in a flash. Baekhyun hurried into his side, fumbling with his keys and starting up the car. Chanyeol deemed this too slow, jumping out of the vehicle and racing down the street. Baekhyun called out for him, then stopped the car, getting out himself and chasing after the panicking giant.

    Chanyeol only stopped when he had gotten to the second store, busting in like nobody's business and practically tackling the closest worker down.

    Chanyeol scanned the shorter male's name-tag, hoping that if he used his name he'd be able to get some sort of forgiveness from the currently frightened teen.

    "Shawn, where's the kimchi!?"

    Shawn blinked, stuttering out a quiet, "Pardon me?"

    "The kimchi! Where is it!?"

    Shawn stared. "I-I can show you..." He suggested, his voice going up octaves as Chanyeol nodded vigorously. Shawn awkwardly shuffled off, searching for the kimchi, all the while Chanyeol was breathing down his neck. They arrived at mostly empty aisle, Shawn frowning.

    "Weird. We had a full stock of kimchi an hour ago..." He mumbled to himself, trailing off when he turned around and saw Chanyeol's anguished expression. He hesitantly patted the giant's arm for comfort. "Uh, sorry sir."

    Baekhyun had finally caught up to his lanky and derpy friend, only to see said person spread out on the floor, and what he thought was a dinosaur screeching beforehand turned out to be Chanyeol making not so happy noises, Shawn dragged to a kneeling position since Chanyeol had decided to hang onto his arm in his sadness.

    "...Chanyeol?"

    "The world is trying to kill me Baekhyun."

    Shawn feebly tried to pry Chanyeol's hands off without being rude, looking up at Baekhyun for help.

    "Um, sir? C-can you please get your friend off me? I-I can check our stockroom for some kimchi if you really need some..."

    Chanyeol tightened his already vice like grip, sitting up and staring at him with hope in his eyes. "Will you do that for us?"

    Shawn nodded slowly. "Uh, yeah, it's not really that much trouble to be honest, in fact you're not the only person who's been looking for kimchi."

    Chanyeol hopped up, grinning widely. "To the stockroom!" he cheered, marching off. Baekhyun noticed Shawn's questioning look.

    "Yes, he's like this all the time."

    Shawn cracked a smile, following after Chanyeol himself, Baekhyun close behind. They arrived at the front counter, Shawn slipping behind the register and into a door leading to a small room, supposedly the stockroom. Chanyeol tapped the counter as he and Baekhyun waited.

    "He's taking a long time." Chanyeol stated.

    "He just went in there." Baekhyun retorted. Chanyeol's unusual nervous vibe was starting to rub off on him.

    Baekhyun's phone went off and startled him, and he quickly took it out, checking his messages.

 

    'From: Sebrat

kyungsoo and jongin are at a food cart rn hurry up'

 

    Baekhyun cursed. "Kyungsoo's almost back."

    Chanyeol wasted no time in jumping over the counter and almost kicking the door to the stockroom down, shrill screaming sounding from inside. Chanyeol ran into the room, frantically looking around.

    "Sir, you're not allowed in here-"

    "Chanyeol, don't-"

    "Aw sHI-"

    In his rush to find anything that resembled kimchi he had tripped over a box, sending him flying into a shelf, successfully snapping it off its support and dropping containers of food everywhere, something that smelled like vinegar splattered all over his clothes.

    Baekhyun and Shawn stared, gaping, Chanyeol struggling to stand and wipe the substance off his clothes at the same time, resulting in him slipping twice.

 

    "What the hell is going on here?!"

 

    The three turned to see a short, stout man glaring daggers at them all, Shawn visibly paling. It was the manager.

    "I-I'm very sorry sir, these customers wanted some kimchi, and since we were all out on the shelves, I wanted to check in here to see if there was any left, then-"

    "You," The manager cut in. "Shut up. And you two," He turned to Baekhyun and Chanyeol. "Get out of my store!"

    Baekhyun helped Chanyeol stand up since he started to slip again. "Sir, it's our fault this happened, my friend barged in and tripped over something-"

    "GET OUT!" The manager bellowed, Chanyeol and Baekhyun scurrying out of the stockroom, heading to the exit. Chanyeol stopped, turning to the still glaring manager.

    "If you happen to find any kimchi could you-"

    Baekhyun grabbed the back of Chanyeol's collar, dragging him out before the manager called the police or tried murdering them on the spot, calling out an apology to Shawn and hurrying away.

    "Great, now we're probably banned from that place for the rest of our sad little lives!"

    Chanyeol snorted. "At least we won't be able to miss it for that long."

    "Now is not the time to make jokes about our early death, Park Chanyeol." Baekhyun snarked, huffing and crossing his arms. He took a deep breath to try and calm down, but was hit with the putrid smell of pickles mixed with white vinegar. He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

    "You definitely need to shower when we get home, you smell like my grandmother's cleaning supplies."

    Chanyeol slumped forward, defeat on his face. "What's the point? We couldn't find the kimchi!"

    "We have one last place to check, remember?"

    "Oh. Right."

    

 

    Baekhyun and Chanyeol stared at the last store they were supposed to check, foreheads pressed against the dark window.

    "I can't believe it's closed." Chanyeol muttered. Baekhyun put his palms flat against the cool glass, frowning deeply.

    "Why must the world hate us?" He said quietly. Just as he and Chanyeol were about to turn and trudge back to his car without what they needed, a young woman exited the store, locking the doors behind her, carrying a few bags.

    Chanyeol rushed over and grasped her arm, surprising her. "Miss, do you have any kimchi in your store?"

    The lady smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, but we sold all we have to the event in the park, but we're getting a fresh new shipment tomorrow morning, so you can come then to get some."

    Baekhyun came in. "Wait, what event in the park?"

    "Oh, you haven't heard?" She asked. The duo shook their heads in unison. "There's a kimchi eating contest that's raising money for charity, it's all happening at the park down the road."

    Chanyeol and Baekhyun shared looks. They thanked the lady and ran back to Baekhyun's car, clambering in and speeding away as quickly as they could. The lady watched with both amusement and confusion, shaking her head and continuing her trek to her own car.

    "I guess having EXO members ask me for kimchi wasn't the weirdest thing of my day."

 

 

    Chanyeol and Baekhyun hid behind a bush in the park they were told about, eyes locked on the copious amounts of kimchi jars stacked up on a small stage. There was an announcer introducing his organization and the challenge to a large crowd of children, teenagers, and young adults, some older people there as well.

    Chanyeol leaned over to Baekhyun to whisper. "We're going to steal from a charity?"

    "We're not stealing from a charity," Baekhyun replied. "They didn't buy this all themselves, and plus it isn't money."

    "Yeah, but-"

    "We need the kimchi for our own good cause. We're only going to take two jars anyway, they won't miss them."

    Chanyeol gnawed on his bottom lip nervously, not too keen on what they were about to do.

    "Okay, go!"

    They both started sneaking out of the bush, still crouching down as they went around the crowd, hiding behind a tree when a little kid looked over. Chanyeol peeked out, seeing the kid had turned his attention back to the announcer, and the two continued.

    It took them at least ten minutes to make it to the back of the kimchi stack, both of them congratulating their victory quietly.

    "Alright, take what we need and we can leave." Baekhyun said. Chanyeol nodded, reaching out and taking a jar from the stack, freezing up when the rest of them wobbled. Baekhyun held onto Chanyeol's arm in fear, watching closely to see if it would fall. 

    Soon it returned to normal, bringing relief to the their chests and allowing Chanyeol to grab another jar without anything moving.

    "Alright, let's go!"

 

    "And now we pass out the kimchi!"

 

    Chanyeol and Baekhyun stopped as more jars were taken from the front. Since they weakened the back support, the front losing everything would only mean one thing.

    Almost as if an earthquake was happening, the top of the pile tumbled down, screams and crashing heard as it kept going until everything was toppled over. Baekhyun and Chanyeol didn't react fast enough, and they were soon revealed to the audience with two jars of kimchi in their hand.

    Whoops.

    After the initial shock wore off, they took off, a screaming and shouting crowd hot on their trail. Chanyeol tried apologizing as they ran, Baekhyun letting out a high pitch screech and barrelling to his car, leaving the giant in the dust. Chanyeol sped up so he wouldn't be left behind to a ravenous crowd, barely able to open the passenger door and get one foot in when Baekhyun raced out of the parking lot and back to their house, leaving the raging people behind.

    The two were breathing heavily, trying to figure out what the heck just happened. Chanyeol was hugging the jars of kimchi to his chest protectively, Baekhyun glancing over and letting out a soft laugh. Chanyeol turned to him, furrowing his brows.

    "What?"

    "You! You look like a little kid holding his favorite toy or something!"

    Baekhyun continued snickering, making a turn as they neared their dorms, Chanyeol giving in and joining in with a short chuckle.

    "That was so much work for some kimchi, huh?" He said, and they busted out in loud laughter, Baekhyun barely able to park the car straight as they arrived at their house, turning his car off and leaning back in his seat.

    "Oh, wait," He said, taking out his phone. "I got a message while we were asking that lady about the park, it's probably from Sehun."

    He opened his messages, and it was indeed from Sehun.

 

    'From: Sebrat

dude hurry up they're here already and kyungsoo doesn't look very happy'

 

    "We should go in, Kyungsoo and Jongin are back," Baekhyun said. They got out, Chanyeol playing around a bit with the jars as they made their way back to the house. When they were at the door and Baekhyun was unlocking it, one of the jars slipped from his hands, causing panic in the two.

    "CHANYEOL!"

    "AW NO!"

    Chanyeol caught the jar just in time before it hit the cement, looking up at Baekhyun who had a hand over his heart. He grinned cheekily, standing straight again. Baekhyun let out a breathless laugh, rolling his eyes and entering the house, Chanyeol right behind.

    "We're home~!" The shorter called out. Immediately Kyungsoo was at Chanyeol's side.

    "Look, I got the kimchi, hyung!" He chirped, adding the hyung for more effect. Kyungsoo eyed him, taking the jars carefully.

    "Thanks," He muttered. "But I already got some."

    Chanyeol's smile faded away, Baekhyun stopping from taking his shoes off.

    "Y-you mean..."

    Kyungsoo nodded. "I bought it when I was with Jongin, I knew you were going to forget so I decided to get it myself. Sehun told me about yours and Baekhyun's plan; I was going to text you but Jongin saw a pet store and I had to spend the next twenty minutes staring at dogs before dragging him away, he's still pouting."

    Kyungsoo strode past them and into the kitchen, leaving the two friends in his wake as he went off to make dinner.

    Baekhyun huffed. "I'm going back to bed." He grumbled, trudging off to his bedroom. He slammed the door behind him.

    Sehun came in, scrolling through Miranda Kerr's instagram per usual, glancing up at Chanyeol.

    "I would've texted you too," He said. "But I didn't want to."

    Chanyeol snapped back to life, immediately taking Sehun into a headlock, letting out a cry of fury.

    "YOU LITTLE , YOU KNEW?!"

    "Of course I knew, now let me go, I have to take a shirtless selfie and hope the love of my life will see it."

    Chanyeol growled, letting him go. "Miranda Kerr will never love you." He hissed. Sehun scoffed.

    "I'm not Tao, alright, that's not going to affect me." He walked off, running a hand through his mussed up hair. "Besides, we're going to appear in a movie together."

    Chanyeol stood alone at the front door for who knows how long. Dinner was ready by the time he lost feeling to his legs.

    "All of that work..." He whispered. "For nothing."

    He slowly sank to the floor, curling up into a ball.

    He deemed it time to reevaluate his life choices.