baekhyun is working at the convenience store, covering a shift for his best friend, when he first meets him. the whoosh of the automatic sliding door signals a new customer which draws his attention to the entrance. he observes a young man who appears to be in his early twenties—similar to baekhyun’s own age—perusing the aisle with a curious look on his face.

the customer lifts an instant ramen pack from the shelf and eyes the package with a tilt of his head. he picks up another brand, comparing the two meticulously. “p-pizza flavoured? sweet and sour chicken?” the man asks himself, a deep frown forming on his face. he carefully places the noodle packet back to exactly where he found it and steps away slowly, as if they could jump off the shelf and pounce on him if he made any sudden movements.

baekhyun tries to bite back a smile as he labels the old christmas stock with further reduced prices. it’s his second most favourite part of the job, attacking inventory with a price gun, the first being watching the stream of customers that enter the store. baekhyun enjoys creating elaborate backstories behind each customer, reasons for their visit and predictions regarding intended use of purchased item(s).

well, he’s gotta do something to keep him sane. baekhyun’s already been reprimanded for being too enthusiastic with the price gun and was temporarily banned from using it. “one price tag per item, not ten.” he’s currently on two strikes, one more time and his privileges will be revoked permanently.

sneaking a glance at the young man, baekhyun tries to imagine his background. he’s from out of town—probably from somewhere smaller, less populated—not used to the big metropolitan city. looking for work, perhaps? or visiting family, an older brother?

“e-excuse me?” the man waves his arm in the air to attract baekhyun’s attention, snapping him out of his reverie. “what’s this?” he asks, pointing to the selection of comically shaped cheese.

“oh, that. it’s cheese,” baekhyun informs him.

“c-cheese?!” the man splutters, staring at the dairy product with a slacked jaw. “but i’ve never seen one shaped like a mouse before! that’s incredible! and this?”

“also cheese.”

“this one?”

“cheese.”

“surely this can’t be cheese as well?”

“let me just stop you right there and tell you that everything in the corner is cheese.”

“wow,” the man says in awe. he retrieves a phone from his pocket, ready to snap a photo before hesitating. “can i?” he asks sheepishly.

“of course! do you want me to take one of you in the frame?”

the man beams a bright smile and baekhyun notices the deep dimple in the man’s right cheek for the first time. it’s a known fact that baekhyun has a thing for dimples, especially deep set ones. it’s why baekhyun first approached chanyeol, though any prospects of a future romantic relationship was tossed out the window as soon as his now best friend spoke, but that doesn’t stop baekhyun from poking his dimples from time to time.

“thank you,” the man says as he hands over the phone.

“so, is there anything else that i can help you with?” baekhyun asks after he’s snapped a few photos. he’s pretty sure if his manager were on shift, he’d have collapsed in shock. byun baekhyun, actually offering assistance. chanyeol on the other hand, would be making smooching sounds and would earn himself a jar of pickled fish eyes hurled at him. “are you looking for something in particular?”

the man’s stomach growls as if on cue. the man folds his arms over his belly and a slight pink flush colour his cheeks.

“looking for dinner?”

the man nods his head.

“well, erm, this isn’t your average run of the mill convenience store. we sell a lot of imported products and well, a lot of useless novelty items. no one really comes here to buy actual food, more like gag gifts for their friends,” baekhyun tries to explain.

“so no food?”

“not unless you want to pay five bucks for something completely overpriced, and in the weirdest flavours, most of which aren’t tasty at all. like the cricket flavoured crisps, nasty stuff!”

the man scrunches his face in disgust. “no, thanks.”

“c’mere. we have a special range of goodies behind that curtain.” baekhyun gestures toward the back of the store. “but first, i’m going to need some id before i can allow you back there.”

baekhyun’s lying through his teeth—he just wants to find out the cute customer’s name—but he’s impressed with how smooth he sounds, no cracks in his voice at all. the man—baekhyun discovers—is named ‘zhang yixing’, three years older than he is, and resides in a small town a couple of hours away.

“okay, we’re good to go. i’m baekhyun, by the way” baekhyun introduces himself as he hands the card back to yixing.

“baekhyun. baekhyun. oh, it’s just like your name tag!” yixing states the obvious and baekhyun snorts quietly. “so, baekhyun, what’s back here?” yixing asks, not having noticed baekhyun’s reaction.

baekhyun leans closer to whisper in yixing’s ear, catching a whiff of laundry detergent that lingers on the other’s shirt. “this is where we keep the good stuff,” he says before pulling away. he can’t help but giggle at yixing’s wide eyed expression of surprise.

“is that made out of cheese?!” yixing asks, pointing at the display of phallic shaped treats.

“no, it’s white chocolate. ten thick inches of solid chocolate.”

“ten is too much,” yixing mutters quietly, causing baekhyun to choke on his saliva.

“so is there anything that tickles your fancy? i’ll even let you use my employee discount. thirty percent off everything, even reduced items.” baekhyun knows there’s something that’s tickling his pickle right about now.

yixing shakes his head. “maybe i should just get some fried chicken. i think i saw like five chicken shops on the way here but i didn’t want to be unhealthy. though, i think fried chicken is probably more healthy than the stuff here.”

“there’s nothing unhealthy about getting a good ten inches inside of you.”

“too much chocolate isn’t good for you.”

“but i wasn’t talking about chocolate.” baekhyun wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, only to be met with a blank stare. they stand in an awkward silence, just staring at each other before yixing announces he should get going.

“wait, before you leave. i noticed you weren’t from around here. so if you want, you can give me your phone number and i can show you around? i’m not working for the next couple of days so i’ll be free, so you can send me a message or something?” baekhyun offers with a warm toothy smile.

“i can’t.”

the grin is wiped off baekhyun’s face in an instant. baekhyun shouldn’t be too surprised—someone as cute as yixing was sure to be taken already. “ah, no worries. it’s all good.” baekhyun attempts to force a laugh but it dies in his throat.

“i mean, i actually can’t. i don’t know my number, i just got it yesterday and i haven’t memorised it yet. but you could give me yours?” yixing clarifies before offering baekhyun his phone again, who accepts it with jubilation.

“so, meet me here tomorrow, at say, three?” baekhyun asks, handing him back the device.

“it’s a date,” yixing confirms with his cute dimpled smile.

“one more thing before you leave, what brings you here to the big city?” baekhyun asks.

“oh, i’m visiting my older brother. he wants me to apply for job positions and move out here, why do you ask?”

nailed it, baekhyun muses. and if he plays his cards right, it won’t be all he’ll have nailed. “just curious, is all. see you tomorrow, yixing!”

“yup, bye!” yixing waves at baekhyun before exiting the store, taking his dimple—that baekhyun has yet to poke—with him.

but baekhyun knows that tomorrow will grace him with another opportunity. and perhaps he’d be able to convince yixing that ten inches isn’t too much.

(okay, eight.

six.

five.

and a half.

alright, just five.)








a/n:
my first baekxing fic.