Woosung swears he's the only sane man here. Perhaps this is why he's still employed at Video Exchange: he very well may be the most competent, which would explain how he's kept his job despite being the most lazy teenager in the tricounty area. He probably should have realized all of his coworkers were all oddballs far earlier, during his job interview perhaps, when the only question was if he could run a cash register. 

It wasn't that Woosung was exactly "normal", he had his fair share of quirks (being overbearingly sassy and voted most likely to get punched in the face every year from fifth grade to now, his junior year, was for sure a few of them, though the two may be related), but they all paled in comparison whatever the was going on in his coworkers lives. He thinks that perhaps this should have become normal, yet he still finds himself gawking at their strange displays. 

"Woosung, I have good news," Jihoon sighed. Moon Jihoon, owner of Video Exchange, was a broad man with a tendency to wear caps and an ego larger than life.

"Oh really?" Woosung's interactions with Jihoon were always an equal mixture of horrifying and beautiful.

"We've hired a new employee, I think he's your age." Jihoon says nonchalantly. Woosung's eyebrows instantly raise sky high. There was one other employee around his age, Chulgoo, but he had deemed him to not be friendship material, on account of the other teenager being either too shy or too high to interact with (or perhaps both, Woosung realizes as Chulgoo only is able to stutter out a few words when he passes him the blunt at the "company meeting"). 

A day later, a kid Woosung swears he has never seen in his life before appears in the shop, dressed in the company t-shirt and leaning against the counter languidly. However, it seems to be that the teenager recognizes him, as his eyes light up when Woosung walks by, which is rather unusual as not once in his life was Woosung considered popular. Woosung waits for a comment from him, but nothing arises. Shrugging, he continues on with his day, deeming this case to not be worth the energy to investigate. 

Siyoung, one of the two managers, blasts through the back door at full speed, and zips straight past New Mystery Employee to check the front windows. This was not an unusual sight from the eighteen year old (Woosung was rather shocked to learn that someone only two years older than him was a manager), due to the fact that occasionally he drove his car to work. 

In most circumstances, driving your car to work would be no big deal, no reason to act suspicious or flip out. However, Siyoung had not payed the last ten payments on his car, and repo was after him (though, to be fair, everyone at the shop was sure that people were after him for more reasons than that). To make matters worse, Siyoung had the least inconspicuous car in the entire hemisphere. For starters, it was a bright tomato red VW bug. But this was no regular VW bug, instead Siyoung had altered the car by giving it larger than life wheels and dropping it to be a low rider. All of these things, combined with the copious amounts of weed Siyoung had on his person, made it so that the manager was both constantly worried and rarely ever driving his car. 

Siyoung turns to the two high schoolers. "Woosung, new guy, be sure not to o-" 

"Don't open the garage because your car is in there, I get it." Woosung sighs, rolling his eyes dismissively. This is met with a glare from Siyoung, but Woosung couldn't care less about Siyoung's notion of respect. 

The day continues on normally, Woosung manning the counter and Chulgoo putting movies back in their spots. Jihoon occasionally checks in on them but he's on the phone most of the time, for reasons unbeknownst to most everyone there. New Guy is set to follow Chulgoo around the shop, and Woosung is surprised to see the two actually chattering away as they go through the crowded store. This is by far the most he's heard Chulgoo talk, and it is possibly the most mindblowing thing he's witnessed in his sixteen years of age. 

"Woosung, have you talked to the new guy?" Chulgoo asks (perhaps the most words he's ever said to Woosung in their three months of knowing each other), pointing to the teenager next to him. Woosung shakes his head no. 

"Dude, I go to your school." New Guy says, shaking his head in disappointment. 

"Oh... sorry." Woosung knows that Chulgoo goes to his school, but swears he hasn't seen the other guy in his life. 

"I'm Kim Hanbin. I'm on the soccer team, I was in the same algebra class as you last year." Hanbin says, looking at Woosung with an expression that reads as less than happy. Still, his presence is not ringing a bell. 

"Uh, sorry, nope." Woosung says, slowly shaking his head. He walks off and hopes that perhaps this will not leave a bad first impression on his new coworker. 

Unfortunately, Hanbin is manning the other cash register far too close to him just the next day. It's hot, too hot for a mid June late afternoon, and while Woosung is enjoying finally officially being a junior, he also is not enjoying the lack of customers in the shop (or the minimal air conditioning). There is nothing to do, not even talk to Hanbin in fear of reactivating his socially awkward side that he had repressed since elementary school. 

Luckily he is out of his mind emptying boredom by Siyoung. The elder boy exits the break room, puffs of smoke leaking around the door, wearing dark sunglasses and a tight grin. This was a familiar sight. The break room was generally being used to hotbox or smoke out of, by every single employee, no exceptions. 

"Booooooooys, I've got something you might be interested in." Siyoung drawls, not looking at Woosung or Hanbin in particular, but certainly addressing their person. 

Woosung trades a look with Hanbin and both shrug at the same time. With nothing better to do, they leave the counter to go to the break room. 

Inside the break room (which was particularly hazy that day) was possibly the largest bong that both Woosung and Hanbin had ever seen in their lives. Clocking in at about four feet high, it is something that Siyoung describes as his "pride and joy, my little child, my muse, my magnum opus". 

"Isn't she a beauty?" Siyoung asks, already faded as all hell. It is rather terrifying how high he was, and Woosung finds himself happy that Siyoung kept his sunglasses on, as his eyes were probably as bloodshot as a civil war battlefield. He pats the bong that sits (or stands, at this height) for good measure. 

"Why does it have to be so tall?" Woosung asks, staring at the thing in a mixture of shock and awe. 

Siyoung glares as intensely as someone who is as stoned as he is can. "Guess you're not smoking out of it then."

"Why do we even have a bong at work?" Hanbin asks rather incredulously. His lack of experience at Video Exchange is now obvious to those around him. 

Regardless of what their manager had said earlier, Woosung and Hanbin finish their shift very, very stoned. Hanbin remarks about how this a good tactic for dealing with slow days, and Woosung just smiles and explains that this happens regardless of the amount of customers. He finds it so much easier not to feel awkward around Hanbin when both of them are high, and that nervousness he had about upsetting the other high schooler seems to have completely dissipated. 

Near the very end of the shift another student that Woosung knows in the vaguest sense, Daewoong, arrives hurriedly. He quickly slides his copy of whatever lame horror movie he had rented from the shop with a great deal of anxiety and apologies. 

"Look man, there's no need to worry, I'm not gonna charge you late fees. There's no point, you're only a day late." Woosung drawls, pulling the card with the details on Daewoong's rental and ripping it up. Daewoong's relieve over the whole thing is audible. He even mumbles about doing Woosung's homework next year. 

Woosung had been doing this for a while now at his job. Jihoon was too cheap to buy computers to record everything, so the shop had been exclusively using the outdated card system for as long as it had been open. This made it very easy to destroy records of late fees, which was commonplace. Woosung had been doing it for specifically for people he pitied or for people who would be willing to give him something for it. 

The other manager of the shop, also around the same age as Siyoung, Kevin (though both Chulgoo and Woosung would agree that with blonde dreads and a slight Texan accent, he didn't seem like much of a Kevin), waltzed in just after Woosung had thrown away the scraps of the card. "How's things going you two?" He asked, ignoring the fact that both high schoolers were as faded as a seventies psychedelic rock band. 

Hanbin yawned. "'T's all good. A little slow, but good. Woosung's been showing me how to use the card system." Kevin nods and walks away. He was rather adverse to drugs, most likely due to his bouquet of drug related adventure stories from his summers in America and the fact that he might have been an ex-con. 

"Don't mention the weed to him." Woosung says in almost a whisper, leaning in close to Hanbin, who quirks a brow up. 

"Why? What's his deal?"

Woosung then goes on to explain the finer intricacies of why Kevin is the way he is to Hanbin over their shared break a week or so later. To Hanbin's amazement, he he learned that Kevin was (most likely) an ex con (though Woosung was pretty sure it wasn't for a serious crime at all), and he was pretty damn straight edge. He generally abstained from all things inebriating was more than slightly horrified when he saw high schoolers engaging in such behaviors. 

"Damn, guess he wouldn't like that I have these on me then," Hanbin chuckles, fishing a small pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket as they walked through the dingy alleyway. Woosung's eyes do not widen much, realizing that he shouldn't be surprised when most everyone in their town smoked cigarettes. 

They make their way to the closest corner store, one that Woosung has gone to far too often due to its close proximity to his work. He hated that most of the employees there at least recognized his face, if not knew his name. He repressed a sigh when near immediately upon entering the store the teen at the cashier, Bobby, smiled and waved. 

"How are you two lovebirds doing? It's nice to see you not alone Woosung." He grins and talks all too cheerfully. Woosung want to be angry, but Bobby is just too kind of a person for his emotions to last. 

Hanbin seems to be taking it better than Woosung. "Aw Bobby thanks, but you're wrong. He's my," Hanbin pauses to decide what word to use. "coworker."

Another coworker of Bobby's (he goes to school with them, Jinhwan, maybe?) tsks and sighs, chuckling slightly. "He's never wrong, you know. He's like an oracle." He says quietly to Woosung. 

The taller teen stares at him with a vaguely concerned look and tells him that that was a load of bull. 

----

Woosung stops feeling so soul crushingly awkward around Hanbin after the other teenager has been working in the shop for about a month-- early July, the calendar says. Hanbin is by far the most rational human being in the shop, far more normal than anyone else, whether it be the workers or the customers. Video Exchange had always been a beacon for the town's eccentrics, and often times Woosung felt like Hanbin was the only sane man there, the only one keeping him from going as looney as the rest. 

"Why did you even choose to work here?" Hanbin asks once, mopping the floor of the store while Woosung rearranges (for the thirtieth time this week, and yes he had been counting) the rom com section. It's far too early in the morning, or late at night perhaps (the clock read 1 AM, still one dreadful hour away from the Friday closing time), and the shop is somehow not desolate, the chatter of a few customers gently covering their conversation. 

"Nowhere else was willing to hire a sixteen year old without any prior job experience." Woosung says, determined to make it seem like he's doing his job as Jihoon casts a watchful eye on him for a split second. 

"Well this job certainly is an experience," Hanbin quips, pausing shortly to whistle faint and low. He's good with play on words, Woosung thinks to himself. "It's like they go out there and look for the most ed up guys they can find to hire."

Woosung narrows his eyebrows in faux offense and horror. "Really Hanbin? You think I'm that ed up?" He channels as much fake emotion and drama into his voice as possible. 

Hanbin laughs, almost loud enough to get Jihoon's attention. "Oh, Woosung. I don't think you're ed up. You and Chulgoo are like the only people here who don't belong in a mental institute."

Woosung continues the offended teasing bit. "Nooo, clearly you think something badly of me. Just spit it out!"

Hanbin releases a sigh that only is slightly exasperated and mostly fake. "Well if you really want me to be honest, I thought you were a complete for the first week I worked here."

Woosung winces over exaggeratedly, but it still stings a little. "Ouch, Hanbin. I'm not that bad, am I now?"

Hanbin gives his workmate a sympathetic glance and smile. "You're a god damn angel compared to everyone else here and you know it."

Woosung walks home that night with a particularly new found pep in his step, though he is unsure of the exact reason for this cheer. It certainly isn't something he would fight against though, he thinks, as he falls asleep that night with a smile still plastered on his face. 

----

Woosung wakes up quite early that morning, strange, as he usually was a late riser, especially when his shifts went to two AM. He didn't have much of a morning ritual, regardless of whether he had work or not that day, he generally just made breakfast and thought about what he might do that day. 

Woosung is midway through a bowl of cereal (froot loops was a favorite of his, even when he learned all of them were the same flavor) when his house phone begins ringing. He thinks about it for a good second or two, having random phone calls at eight AM were a little strange, but he decides it worth it to answer. 

"Hello, Jung household. Woosung here." He says, waiting for a response. 

"Oh thank The Lord, it's you Woosung." Woosung near instantly recognizes the voice. Jihoon had an unmistakeable tone and presence, even over the phone. 

"Jihoon? Why are you calling me, on the house phone?" Woosung asks. Come to think of it, he doesn't know how Jihoon even got his house phone's number, it was something he never gave out. 

Jihoon sounds quite relieved. "I need you to do something for me, Woosung."

"I don't even have work today." Woosung says, vaguely worried as to what this was going to be. There was no point in saying this though, Jihoon didn't care about what was going on in his employee's lives. 

"Do your parents have any prescription medication?" Jihoon asks, regardless of Woosung's tone. The teenager can feel his jaw drop through the floor. 

Woosung does not know how long he stays silent, contemplating how he should respond to this. He looks around the kitchen. Indeed his parents do have medication, but this seemed so wrong on so many different levels. He may not have much job experience, but he does have a feeling that this was not a normal question from a boss. 

Jihoon decides to add more. "I'll give you whatever days off and breaks you want."

Woosung's eyes light up. "I can bring you some Valium." He near instantly responds. 

Jihoon's smile is near audible. "Bring me like four, ASAP." 

Woosung finishes recounting this tale to both Hanbin and Chulgoo, the three of them splitting "company" juice boxes in the break room. Chulgoo chooses to give him a small round of applause for this tale, while Hanbin decides that a long low whistle is more appropriate. 

"So what breaks did you choose for July?" Hanbin asks. 

"Friday, Saturday, I get completely off. Wednesday and Monday I work half days. The rest is up to Jihoon, really." Woosung drawls slowly, smiling and taking an overly long sip of his juice box. 

Moments like these he loves. Usually it's him and Hanbin in the break room lounging around, chatting about whatever comes to mind, whether it be about if Cristiano Ronaldo really is gay or how much Hanbin hates country music. Sometimes Chulgoo joins in too, and they talk philosophy or smoke cigarettes in the alleyway. It's all so lovely, a little bubble of sanity in the workplace that is needed in between the times where Kevin accidentally sets himself on fire or Siyoung will get too high and walk straight into walls. 

Woosung wants to finish that shift up as soon as possible, but it drags on forever. His family vacation is so close, yet so far. He checks his phone about five times and yet he still has fifteen minutes left (and these fifteen minutes are painfully long), with Hanbin being too far away to talk to and Chulgoo away on an offday. 

Fortunately for him (or unfortunately, perhaps if you thought about it in the long run) one of his favorite customers bustles in, holding a copy of Halloween 3: Season Of The Witch in his hands and a rather unperturbed look on his face. Chanyeol was late by at least three days (like usual) but it never really bothered him. 

"You're three days late." Woosung remarks. Chanyeol looks at him blankly. 

"You're going on vacation tonight, right?" Chanyeol asks. 

Woosung nods. Chanyeol nods just right back and pulls out a brown paper bag, sliding it across the counter to the other high schooler. After examining the contents, Woosung looked up with a rather large smile. 

"You're not late at all." Chanyeol matches Woosung's smile, and gives him finger guns, moonwalking out of the store. Woosung loved that bastard. 

"What was that all about?" Hanbin asks, walking over to Woosung at the counter, his tray of movies to put back now left unattended. 

Woosung simply shows him what is inside of the bag. The contents included a generous amount of weed, two tabs of LSD and a very small amount of coke. Hanbin looks up, eyes wide. 

"And you're gonna do all of that during vacation?"

Woosung tilts his head to the side. "I'm definitely gonna smoke the weed, but I don't do coke or acid, that 's scary. I dunno what imma do with them, actually."

"You should give me the acid." Hanbin says, taking the tabs out of the bag before Woosung can say anything. "Actually give me the coke too, I know someone who's birthday is coming up." 

"Cheeky bastard."

----

Woosung's vacation blasts by, a week by the ocean gone in no time. When he returns, his welcome is warm and friendly from everyone at the shop. Near instantly Chanyeol and his step sister roll in (both were favorites of Woosung's, Chanyeol for his demeanor and the sister for the wicked snake-Jesus neck tattoo), and he knows that some is about to go down. 

"Look y'all, I know this is gonna be bad, but my sister rented like ten movies and they're all three days late." Chanyeol says, his voice a little more nervous than his normal laid back drawl. He puts his hands up in some version of mock surrender. 

"We are all well aware." Hanbin says, staring straight ahead at Chanyeol soullessly. Practically the entire shop that is currently on shift is behind the counter, Chulgoo, Kevin, Jihoon and Siyoung, and Woosung knows it's not because this is a big deal, but because there is literally nothing to do. 

"And I don't have the funds to cover the late fee."

Hanbin's voice is still painfully deadpan. "Unsurprising."

Chanyeol does not respond to this verbally. He walks to the employee's side of the counter, pulls a rather large ziplock bag out of his backpack, and begins to spoon out inordinate amounts of onto the record player in the store. Siyoung and Chulgoo look on in amazement, while Kevin gapes in horror at the situation. Hanbin looks rather impressed, and Woosung is sure the same expression is on his own face. 

Jihoon is grinning from ear to ear. "That'll do Chanyeol."

Chanyeol walks back to his sister and gives them his usual goodbye. He pounds his chest, salutes and then slides out of the store, sister trailing behind. Hanbin is currently shaking his head in amazement. 

"What a legend." Woosung finds himself saying. 

"Why does a sixteen year old have that much coke on him?" Siyoung and Kevin ask in unison, though one is in a tone of awe while the other is in horror. 

Jihoon busies himself scraping all of the into another bag. "I love that kid."

----

It has been raining for what seems like forever. The weather certainly feels like a monsoon, as the rain comes down in inches and then buckets. It pours and pours, and Woosung still has to walk to work, and today is unfortunately the day where his umbrella decides to malfunction ever so slightly, completely drenching his upper half. 

"It's ing pissing buckets!" Woosung exclaims in rage, water dripping from his shirt, which now is so completely soaked through that it feels a solid pound or two heavier. 

Hanbin looks up from the speakers he has been fiddling with (he's playing some Zion.t song that says "shinsa" quite a lot) to give Woosung a look that is a mixture of pity and humor. "I have a hoodie if you wanna wear that instead. 

Woosung comes out of the company restroom in Hanbin's hoodie (far more comfortable than a dripping wet t shirt, as Hanbin only seemed to wear the softest oversized hoodies), to see that the shop is still completely devoid of customers. The store is low staffed today too, only Hanbin and Kevin there.

"You're really drinking lemonade in weather like this?" Woosung asks Hanbin, who is currently drinking what looks quite like lemonade from a clear thermos. 

"Gotta bring the summer indoors." Hanbin smiles, eyes crinkling. He looks wildly different outside of his baggy hoodies, smaller, but no less of a presence. He's wearing a mottled black shirt with the sleeves cut off that had the logo of some punk rock band on it that Woosung is sure is far too angry for his tastes, but he likes it. He has come to the conclusion that Hanbin looks nice. 

"I can see your clothing choice is very summery." Woosung says, Hanbin's outfit still staying very monochromatic (Hanbin was not a man of a colorful wardrobe). However, Hanbin was pretty damn tan, which in Woosung's books was summery (Hanbin was a councillor at camp half blood sometimes, and Woosung was unsure of how he did it. Personally, Woosung was rather adverse to children. They frightened him.), but he tried to keep his gaze from wandering or lingering. 

Work goes on for a while in peace, Woosung and Hanbin jamming to music and serving the only two customers insane enough to go to the store in this weather (one was a sweet old lady who was very insistent on how she just had to return every movie on time, even though they were all for her grand kids and no one had the heart to make her pay a late fee). Kevin, about five years their senior, busied himself around the shop, and occasionally recommending them obscure artists. 

By the time lunch rolls around Woosung is not only starving, but thirsty. He has been eyeing Hanbin's rather large drink, which the shorter hadn't been drinking too much of. "Hanbin, can I have some of your lemonade?"

Before Hanbin can say anything, he takes a particularly huge gulp, ready for the refreshing taste of lemons and sugar. However, this is not what he gets. Instead, it tastes like ty energy drinks and vodka. Woosung barely swallows his drink and near slams it down in surprise. 

"It's not lemonade." Hanbin chuckles.

"Damn straight it isn't." Woosung looks at the thermos of 'lemonade' as if it is a threat to him. "Getting ed up on the job, you really are one of us."

Hanbin laughs and tells him what is actually in the drink when Woosung asks. "It's vodka, red bull and redline extreme. Because I enjoy large amounts of caffeine while I get hammered."

Woosung stares at Hanbin, some form of realization setting in. "I've heard of that before. I think, Jongdae and Kyung?"

Hanbin nods, still smiling. "Oh totally man, those guys are my main bros!"

Woosung looks at Hanbin, and he finds that he has actually heard of the guy before. "Oh my lord, are you one of those kids that brought like an entire thing of jack daniels to school? You're a legend!" 

Hanbin nods intensely. Woosung is indeed very happy that Kevin is not here to hear this. Unfortunately, the second he thinks this, the blonde dreadlocked man walked out of the back room of the store. 

"Bad news guys, but I don't think we're gonna get out of here anytime soon. The streets are flooded completely, there's like water on the sidewalks and storm warnings and ." Kevin rambles, leaning over the counter ever so slightly to take a sip of lemonade, his throat raspy and scratchy. 

Hanbin and Woosung watch it in slow motion. They know they've ed up. Kevin stares at them after drinking, a look of pure horror on his face that the two have only seen a few times. "You guys are horrible."

Hanbin raises an eyebrow. "How so?" he quips. 

"Underage drinking is bad for you."

Woosung decides to bother the manager a little more than necessary. "We're like the Harlem globetrotters of underage drinking."

The rest of the day goes by slowly, the only point of interest being the fact that Hanbin and Woosung are slowly getting drunk and Kevin has decided to turn a blind eye. The shorter man was young, but they were younger, and not in the mood to hear a 19 year old tell them about how "cirrhosis is a very real thing". 

"I am bored as all ." Woosung says in the break room, sitting on the old wooden table in the very back.. He knows his breath smells quite a lot like vodka, there's nothing he has done or will do to hide it. Kevin is somewhere in the front, dealing with the rather harsh man from the store above them, and occasionally they hear the man raise his voice, causing the two to wince. The two high schoolers are very glad they are not Kevin. 

Hanbin nods slowly, just as drunk as Woosung. He is perched on the end of the table, head and back leaning up against the wall. "We could play a game."

"Got any ideas?"

Hanbin's face scrunches up like it does when he is trying his hardest to scan his entire brain. It takes him a long while, but eventually his eyes light up and he turns to Woosung again. "Gay chicken."

Woosung looks at him concernedly. "What in the hell is that."

"You try to out gay the other person."

Woosung is still holding the same expression. "Sounds pretty homo." he pauses in thought. "I'm up for it."

No one exactly says start, but Hanbin shuffles far closer to Woosung on the table. Before he knows it, Hanbin's hands are on his thighs and he is trying his hardest to smirk seductively (and failing horribly, as he can't get rid of his grin). Woosung figures he must too this, so one of his hands goes to Hanbin's cheek while the other lays slightly curved on his neck. 

Woosung is pretty sure that he hears Hanbin mumble something along the lines of "'s about to get hella gay", but he says nothing in response. Before he can really react, he feels Hanbin's face ghosting near his. Not one to be beaten in a game, he decides that he should full on kiss the other teenager. Woosung is sure that this will make him win, but he realizes at this point he is really just kissing his friend had that neither was going to out-gay the other. 

"That was really ing homo." Hanbin says quietly, his face still close to Woosung's (Woosung would like the world to know that his heart was racing only because he is drunk, not because Hanbin was good at this), who was suddenly very pink. 

"How about we never talk about this ever again?" Woosung asks, voice hushed. Hanbin nods, and his breath still smells like cinnamon altoids and vodka. Their agreement was peaceful and quiet, the two shaking hands on it as thunder rumbled and Kevin was yelled at unfairly by some shop owner. 

----

Woosung really isn't sure when Hanbin got his phone number (it's probably for the "company groupchat", which really just was Kevin, Siyoung, Chulgoo, Hanbin and him sending each other memes) but his phone is suddenly ringing at 1 AM on a Tuesday night. 

"Hello?"

Hanbin's voice is slightly obscured by the sound of wind. It is still raining. "Hey, are you free?"

Woosung looks around his bedroom, currently without shirt (and hat, how dare he) and shrugs, even though he knows Hanbin can't see it. "Sorta. Why do you ask?"

"Can I come over?"

Woosung thinks about this for a few seconds. "Uh, yeah, sure. Just don't go to the front door, go to the first window on the left side of the house."

Hanbin does not sound pleased. "I don't know your address."

Woosung swiftly gives it to the other teenager, and Hanbin thanks him graciously before hanging up. Woosung then quickly pulls a shirt over his body and runs a hand through his hair, lamenting that he had left all his hats in the living room (a stupid mistake made when trying to reorganize his collection). 

Hanbin arrives far more quickly than expected, and Woosung can see him, walking through the yard with an umbrella, poorly lit by only the streetlights because it was still raining. He wades through the rose bushes in the side garden, pulling himself up in and through the window when Woosung opens it from him, umbrella neatly folded and left outside. Hanbin sits down on the carpet on Woosung's bedroom, which suddenly seems spacious because it was clean for once and the night had a certain transformative power. He smells like rain and plants and pavement, and his skin gleams in the cool low light drifting into Woosung's room, his warm tan dulled while Woosung's pale skin gleaned like pearls. 

"What's up?" Woosung asks, seated criss cross apart from Hanbin. 

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk." Hanbin says nonchalantly, leaning back on his hands like the damn bastard he was. 

"You called me in the middle of the night, made me give you my address then walked to my house, all to talk?" Woosung asks, face the picture perfect definition of incredulous. 

Hanbin smiles, teeth bright in the lighting. "Gotta do it for the banter. Stay spontaneous, y'know?" 

Woosung kind of really wants to slap Hanbin right now. "Seriously, what the ?"

"We should do something."

Woosung's eyes narrow. "Like what?"

"Dunno. Walk somewhere? I think the rain's stopping, it could be nice." Hanbin smiles, looking every bit impish as he sits there before Woosung. 

Woosung realizes he's a er for Hanbin's words as only fifteen minutes later he finds himself walking through his yard, past the enormous tree he and his neighbor shared, and out into the world. He would hate to admit it, but it is, in fact a gorgeous night, clouds parting in spaces to reveal glistening stars that resembled the dew drops forming on the grass they walked through. They wander through a maze of residential streets, heading in some general direction that Woosung might have thought about if he wasn't preoccupied talking with Hanbin about the finer points of hiphop. 

The two wind up in a grocery store (when Woosung asks the cashier when the store closes the tired man only says "no"), and wandering aimlessly through isles. Someone is playing Enya's sail away as Hanbin asks Woosung if he should buy a New York strip steak, but he can't even finish asking his question as both start to hum along to the song ("magnificently horrible" Woosung would later be quoted as saying). They end up rummaging through the international isle to grab some Israeli peanut Cheetos and as they leave the store with bags of the (questionable) snack food and knock off dr pepper, Woosung is still stuck to the song. He ends up racing away from the store in a shopping cart, Hanbin and him bellowing the chorus to Sail Away deep into the night. 

"This is kinda like a date." Woosung remarks, sitting on one end of the branch of the tree that shadows a decent portion of his yard while Hanbin clambers up dangerously high in the tree, having long ago kicked off his converse for better traction. 

Hanbin looks down at him and squints. "Sounds pretty gay, bro."

"I mean I'm not gay, but... never mind."

Those happen to be the last words he says that night, falling asleep in the boughs of the tree, lulled away by the whipping wind and water trickling down storm drains. When he wakes up it is still dark and he has an exceptionally bad crick in the back of his neck. Hanbin, on the other hand, is still asleep in the lush grass (st Augustine, Woosung's parents don't play when it comes to grass), small dewdrops making their home on his skin. 

Needless to say, both are horribly, fantastically tired at work that day. Woosung still has a bad crick in his lower back from the damned tree, and he is walking slightly funny, earning a wildly inappropriate comment from Siyoung and Chulgoo's condolences. Besides that, everything at work is painfully normal, except for the fact that Jihoon is strangely cheerful. 

The reason for this pep and spirit makes itself known late that day. Chulgoo, Hanbin and Woosung are embroiled in a high stakes uno game in the back room (and Chulgoo was winning, the sly bastard) when Jihoon walks in. Immediately they start to put away their game and get ready for more work when Jihoon starts to talk. 

"Underlings, today, I must tell you, I'm officially ing loaded." Jihoon crows, arms spread out. 

"Huh?" Chulgoo goes, and it really does seem to be the most appropriate response to the whole thing. 

"As in I am now in possession of far stacks of cold hard cash. I'm deep pocketed, swimming in the dough." Jihoon grinned, staring at the three with odd levels of intimidation. 

"And how did this happen?" Woosung asks curtly. He knows that this is what Jihoon wanted someone to ask, the only reason why he came in here. 

"Ah, yes, I'm glad you asked." Jihoon pauses to look into space dramatically. "Remember when I went to that amusement pair with my wife three months ago. 

Hanbin says yes only because he wants the story to continue. 

"You see, that was my vacation. I even took my wife.  We rode the best, the strongest, the fastest rollercoasters. It was truly a blast. But unfortunately, during our ride on the Turbo Danger Rocket, we had a slight malfunction. We were upside down, and the rollercoaster decided to let us go."

"What?!" All three high schoolers exclaim in unison. They were all a little more interested in the story than they'd like for anyone to know. 

"Yes, we fell out of the rollercoaster. Fortunately, I came out unscathed." 

"How'd that happen?" Chulgoo asks. 

"See, I fell out, but my wife fell a split second sooner than me. So as we both plummeted down towards the concrete, she hit first and I fell on top of her, leaving me free of injury!" Jihoon crows. Hanbin and Chulgoo look particularly horrified. 

"How did this lead to you getting a lot of money?" Woosung asks. 

"Oh yeah, after this, I sued the amusement park, we totally won. Got a load of money."

Chulgoo still looks horrified. He cares greatly about justice. "What about your wife?"

Jihoon's grin is as zany as ever. "Oh, she's alright now. I divorced her. The mrs is no longer the mrs." And with that, he bid them adieu and left. 

----

The whole rollercoaster thing got to Chulgoo for a while. He was already a bit of an intense guy, caring strongly about equality and social justice and other things Woosung heard a lot about from his local feminist (who happened to be a very pretty goth girl who made everyone call her "Sam"). He doesn't speak much, but that isn't too unusual for him.

He is currently the cashier when he finally says something to Woosung and Hanbin. A customer who doesn't usually go to Video Exchange leaves with a copy of El Topo (Woosung swiftly identifies him as Minsik, the bassist for some band at school). 

"Damn, he's really cute." Chulgoo says, turning to the two other teens. 

"That's pretty gay." Hanbin remarks absentmindedly. Chulgoo shrugs and the conversation stops there. 

The topic of being gay doesn't come up between Hanbin and Woosung again until the end of the week. Chanyeol had repaid them yet again for a late fee with weed, and Hanbin had driven his brother's car to work that day (how Hanbin had a license was a mystery to the whole universe). Against Kevin's better wishes, they had decided to go hotbox the car. 

It took them forever to find a place to go smoke, but they settled on the remote corner of some fast food parking lot, shaded by trees and now very much in the dark as the sun set. It may have been sketchy, but the weed is good and they lack places to go, so both Hanbin and Woosung settle for smoking in the car in a rather conspicuous place. 

Hanbin is the one who hears the cop car go too close for comfort first. They shove the weed in the glovebox container and start to air out the car, and Woosung just knows, he can feel it in his bones that a cop is going to walk towards the car very soon. 

"Hanbin, they're still gonna smell the smoke!" He hisses, eyes wide with worry. Hanbin sits there for a split second when an idea comes to him. 

"Woosung, your shirt!" He hisses back, starting to ruffle his own clothes up. Woosung looks at him with a look of horror. "Do as I say, Woosung, I have a plan!"

Woosung has always been rather self conscious, but against his better judgement, he decides to go with Hanbin's plan (even if it involves him not wearing a shirt when out of the two he was the one who looked horribly out of shape), quickly undoing all of the buttons on his shirt to reveal a body he wasn't exactly proud of. Hanbin then quickly hops on top of his lap, s Woosung's jeans and presses their mouths together all in one motion, Woosung's face instantly going beer red. 

When the police officer shines a light into the car window he stares in horror at the two teenagers who he believes to have caught in an intimate moment. Woosung and Hanbin separate slightly and stare right back at him, Woosung the perfect picture of embarrassment, Hanbin straddling his lap with a hand in his jeans. Hanbin tries his hardest to look ashamed as well, and hopes that this pays off. 

"Y-you two be good now, 'kay?" Is all the cop stammers, red faced, before leaving in a huff. Hanbin, still sprawled out on Woosung, turns back to his friend. 

"Told you it would work, he didn't even notice the smell of pot."

Woosung's face remains bright red the entire drive home. Later that night, as he tried to fall asleep, the events of that day played in a loop through his head. When he finally does, he finds that Hanbin is in all of his dreams. 

----

Woosung and Hanbin are back in the park by Hanbin's house, lying in the grass, barefoot. At an hour past dusk, there are never any people there, not even at the tennis courts. Both have decided the park at this time is a good place to lay around and chat, generally with some fruit or a cola nabbed from Hanbin or Woosung's house. 

Woosung likes to think that he is the thinking type, but he generally doesn't think about himself or things pertaining to his personality that often. Which might be why his recent bout of introspection has got him so stressed out. Hanbin is no therapist or psychologist, but he can listen more than decently. 

They fall into a small comfortable silence after a while, both just lying around and looking up, sinking slightly in the soft lush grass. Both of them have their eyes cast skywards to a chandelier of stars surrounding by the small silver sliver of a waxing moon, the sight accompanied by an orchestra of insects and the whistling of the wind whipping through boughs of trees. Both Hanbin and Woosung's hair still slightly damp from the pool, but it keeps the warm summer night's air from getting too heavy. This might actually be paradise, Woosung thinks. 

But paradise gives way to worry again when he thinks about what he wants to say to Hanbin. But he wants the anvil of stress of his chest, so he turns his body slightly towards Hanbin's, eyes still gazing skywards and decides to speak. 

"Hey Hanbin?"

"Yeah?"

Woosung takes a breath. "I think I'm kinda gay."

There is silence. "Alright."

"Like kinda really gay. Like, not into girls at all." Woosung says and suddenly he is very happy that Hanbin does not have his eyes trained on him because his face is uncomfortable red. 

"Like subtly gay, like Chulgoo or fantastically flaming homo like that one disco guy from two days ago?" Hanbin asks, teasing slightly and Woosung breaths a sigh of relief. He isn't good with the serious stuff. 

Woosung runs a hand through his hair and now can feel Hanbin's eyes on him. ", I dunno. I'm not like ultra gay or anything but..." He trails off but the other seems to understand his silence. 

"I get ya." Hanbin is smiling ever so slightly and Woosung is suddenly fantastically grateful for his friend. 

"Are you?"

It is now Hanbin's turn to pause. He looks away from Woosung and back up at the starry night sky. "I had a girlfriend."

"Then what?"

"Well, now I don't. But girls are nice, but like... guys are cool too, y'know?" Hanbin says, shaking his head. The grass rustles softly. 

Woosung squints his eyes a little, trying to make out a constellation he had only read about once. "So, you're bi?"

"Nah, I don't need labels. Gotta fight the system, y'know." Hanbin chuckles and Woosung finds himself laughing too. 

----

It turns out that disco man that Hanbin had taken a liking to referencing is a bit of a regular at their work now. No one really knows how to handle him. Kevin is weirded out by his demands, Siyoung doesn't try at all to be courteous with him (to be fair, Siyoung doesn't try at all in general), and Chulgoo is completely silent around him. Woosung and Hanbin have varying levels of success with him, and watching Hanbin try to deal with the insane ramblings of a gay man stuck in the eighties make Woosung truly appreciate what a tolerant guy Hanbin is. 

"So, when you're his age, are you gonna be like him?" Hanbin asks Woosung at one point, the two sitting in the alleyway smoking cigarettes that Hanbin pilfered from his aunt who was "definitely affiliated with the mafia". 

Woosung grimaces. "God no. I'm never gonna be that type of gay."

Hanbin chuckles (his laugh is painfully infectious for Woosung), tilting his head slightly and looking like he's trying to inspect the other high schooler. "Hmm, you mean he's not your type?"

Woosung's eyes widen as far as they'll allow and he exhales a bellow of smoke. "Lord Jesus no! I don't go for a man comprised of glitter and elastic."

Hanbin looks at him again, head no longer tilted. "What's your type then?"

Woosung pauses to think. "Casual? Like hoodies and t shirts and snapbacks, y'know?"

As the two finally do leave the store, on their way to a swimming pool, Hanbin thinks about it, and realizes that his outfits are composed of hoodies and t shirts and snapbacks. He doesn't give it too much thought though, no reason to waste energy on it, as he has quickly changed into his swimming trunks and hopped into the pool. Woosung follows swiftly after, immediately going into water that goes up to his shoulders, as he would rather not have the entire world staring at his body. 

Times like these, he thinks, with Hanbin are plenty, but they never grow monotonous. They always think up of something to do together, and the transition from coworker to friend to best friend is quick and seamless. They go places and do things, occasionally photos captured of them on Woosung's phone or Hanbin's Polaroid, and the more Woosung thinks about it, this may be the best summer he's had in a very long time. 

This becomes a ritual, Hanbin and him going to the pool after work, but then doing things on days they don't have work seems to become equally common. People start referring to them together instead of separately (though Woosung thinks 'Hanbin and Woosung' has a particular ring to it), but neither of them really seem to mind. 

"We really are together all the time, aren't we?" Hanbin asks, running a towel over his hair again. Woosung is already fully clothed, sitting on a swing, but Hanbin hasn't bothered with a shirt (not that Woosung minds). 

"Probably why we're both still single." Woosung quips. 

"Yeah, you have a point." There is a long pause, and Hanbin looks back over to Woosung. "You ever date anyone before?"

"Yeah, like this girl my freshman year, for like three months. It didn't work out though." Woosung says, remembering the girl (he thinks he might have seen her at the park yesterday). 

"On account of the fact that you're into ?" Hanbin jabs, having picked up on Woosung's snarky remarks a long time ago. 

"Yeah, on account of the fact I'm into di-- well I didn't know then!" Woosung says, looking at Hanbin exasperatedly. 

"Ok, well now that you've tasted the rainbow, are you gonna get back in the dating game?" Woosung wishes he never taught Hanbin the art of the comic innuendo. 

"Yeah, it'd be nice but like I don't want formal date, y'know? I just kinda want someone to hang out with, smoke, go to the park, make out, yeah?" Woosung says, swinging softly. 

Hanbin gives it some thought. "We do like all of that already."

"Last time I checked we don't make out."

Hanbin tries very hard to be smooth, he does. He leans his swing as close as possible (while retaining comfort) to Woosung's, and kisses him. Woosung would like to say that he took this as a surprise but he's seen a few too many romantic dramas to not know how this could go down (not that he minds though). Hanbin smells like chlorine and old spice and Woosung is just thankful that he doesn't smell like axe or this might not have gone down the same way. 

But, as they learn, kissing on a swingset is not very comfortable, and Hanbin slips, swing pulling him far away and throwing him onto gravel with a thump and a groan. 

"You're a boyfriend."

----

Woosung has never been one for formality, so he never bothers to confirm the whole Hanbin thing as a legitimate relationship, but Hanbin doesn't seem to mind. After all, he remarks one night, sitting on Woosung's windowsill, that he was sure that their bosses wouldn't enjoy their employees dating each other. But the fact that he and Hanbin have something, makes him a little happier and work a little brighter, a little easier to tolerate the lunacy cultivated in the shop. 

And things go smoothly, the world fantastically unaware of them. Hanbin and Woosung don't hold hands (but Woosung has told Hanbin that that was "excessively homo" anyways) or tell anyone that they're dating, but that's part of the charm of it all. Secrets are fun to keep, Woosung decides, especially when they're about attractive people like Hanbin who is (still surprisingly, in Woosung's eyes) very much into him. 

Secrets are harder to keep, he decides, when both Chulgoo and Kevin walk in on them making out in the back room on break. Both Woosung and Chulgoo instantly turn a particular shade of beet red (damn Hanbin never blushed, Woosung learned) and Kevin just shakes his head, dreds flopping around. 

"Can't you guys find a room?" Kevin asks. Chulgoo squeaks. 

"This is a room." Hanbin says pointedly. 

"You two are both still at work, can't you wait?" He doesn't wait for a response though, leaving the room, door open. Chulgoo trails behind him, mumbling something about how it wasn't "proper etiquette". 

Hanbin and Woosung can hear Siyoung ask Kevin something. "What was all that ruckus about? I thought you were just putting away your backpack."

"Eh, nothing, just saw a rat and it surprised Chulgoo, that's all." Kevin says dismissively and the two teenagers in the break room sigh in relief. Woosung mouths the words "god bless his soul". Hanbin nods in agreement. 

----

"Our lives are like something from one those slightly pretentious indie romance films." Hanbin remarks idly. Woosung nods affirmatively. 

"But like the aesthetically pleasing ones, right?" He asks, looking up at Hanbin. 

Hanbin does not bother with a verbal response to this. One of them currently was playing, the scene being two lesbians in flannel and shaggy haircuts proclaiming their love as they cycled through the street. However, Woosung didn't have much attention focused on this as Hanbin was on top of him, shirtless. He could get used to life like this. 

"I think our lives are better than those anyways." Woosung breaths, and Hanbin's mouth, ghosting against his, curves into a grin. Outside his window there are the sounds of crickets and toads and misty rain but currently he prefers it inside, where Hanbin is. 

----

A/N

Wow I got sick and wrote all of this in approximately three days so my logic in storytelling might not be fully present. But all of the weird stories from working at a video store were based off of some weird experiences in real life. This story ties in with a few of my others (I'm a er for continuity), particularly Venus in furs (Woosung and Hanbin appear and Chulgoo actually plays a role in the story), which takes place in the same town. You should check it out if you like ty teenagers being asshats. Also, the Siyoung in this story is Siyoung a year or two prior to himself in the rest of the series.