Bored, so bored. Sehun’s been in his tutorial for the last 40 minutes and it’s now his 4^th time hearing the man boast about his credentials. Now in his final year of his degree, he finds amazement in the fact that he’s survived almost 4 years of university despite having absolutely no idea what he’s been doing. He’s close to just walking out of the class when he gets a text message from his boss.

From Suho
Are you free tonight? I need someone to take over an emergency shift.

                From Sehun
                I might be :--)

From Suho
Yes, I will be paying you extra, you cheeky little . Are you free to work tonight or not?

Sehun grins and quickly replies, saying that he will definitely turn up. He also sends another message asking for all the details to be sent to him through his work email. It’s a Friday, and he originally had plans to go out drinking, but he doesn’t mind ditching that and earning a bit more cash instead. Plus, he’s been feeling a little lonely recently.

Being away from home, Sehun had picked up a few jobs here and there. It was about halfway into his second year, on a really late Saturday night when he was approached by a shorter, friendly looking man. He’d introduced himself as Suho and handed him a business card.

“You’re a student, right?” he’d asked Sehun. Sehun looked at the man dubiously before nodding slowly. The man chuckled and told him not to be so anxious.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he'd assured Sehun.

“That’s what most people who are going to hurt you tend to say,” Sehun frowned. Suho grinned.

“Well, I guess so. But I have no interest of hurting you. I’m more interested in doing business with you,” said Suho. Sehun looked down at the card carefully and had to stop himself from letting out an inhumane sound from coming out of his mouth. The card that was handed to him had the words ‘host club’ in bold, capital letters on the very top.

“Isn’t this some sort of illegal business? Basically a form of ion?” Sehun squeaked. Suho shrugged.

“EXO Host Club is not illegal, there’s plenty of other public competitors in the market as well. But I admit it is more on the hush side. It’s a dirty world, kid. You hear on the news about people getting arrested for that stuff, but the people arresting them probably visited the place just the night before. Everyone is human, and everyone has sins,” Suho told him. Sehun stared for a moment, blown away by the reality of the words.

"So what do you want from me?" Sehun questioned, narrowing his eyes.

“I want to hire you,” Suho stated.

“As a e?”

“No, as a host,” Suho exasperated. Sehun could tell that Suho was holding back from rolling his eyes.

“What will I have to do?” Sehun asked, a little more interested. He’d heard many things about the host club industry. But with someone actually a part of it, right in front of him, he can’t help but want to know a little more about the specifics.

“Firstly, are you interested in being hired or not?” Suho demanded. “I have no plans of wasting time on someone who is just going to go back and forth between yes and no. I was definitive answers.”

Sehun thought about it for a moment. He’d just quit his previous job because the hours were too demanding with too little pay, it almost affected his grades.

“What’s the pay like?”

“You work your way up.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The start pay is minimal, but we provide you with housing and clothes, everything that you may potentially need whilst working for me. But your extra earned cash depends on how much your customers will give you, so it’s all based on your popularity,” Suho explained. Sehun noddes slowly. He knew he needed to decide quickly, so he asked the thing that concerned him the most.

“How badly will this tie me down in the future?”

“If you don't around too much and play well, you should be fine,” Suho smirked. Sehun raised an eyebrow.

“So I’m literally going to be a legal e.”

“No, you won’t. You are under no obligation to do so if you do not want to.”

Hearing that, Sehun finally came down to his decision. He nodded. Suho smiled and stuck his hand out. Sehun shook his hand, feeling as if he might be able to finally add a little spark in his dull lifestyle.

They had gone into Suho’s office to discuss the essential information that Sehun needed. He’d told Sehun that he would have to go through training first before he could even think to have his own corner on the main floor. He’d also gone through the costs that would be applied for living expenses and all, which Sehun would have to pay back. Suho had been vague, but Sehun was smart enough to know that if he screwed up, he’d be working here forever.

Once Sehun had the basics of everything, Suho showed Sehun the working environment that Sehun would eventually start working in. Training had been brutal, with Suho assigning a couple of senior hosts to train Sehun. They had 2 months to mould him into the perfect human being that every woman wished to get their hands on, and what every man wanted to be.

“This business is all about loyal customers. Once you impress them enough they’ll keep coming back, and should gradually increase how much they spend on you,” his mentor, Baekhyun, had taught him. “It’s a competitive industry, but as long as you don’t go ahead and purposely steal other people’s customers, you should be able to survive,” he’d added casually.

Sehun had started off small, with some regular customers being manoeuvred over to him by his seniors so he could be introduced, to allow his reputation be spread by word of mouth. Eventually, he began to climb up the ladder and is now one of the top 10 hosts in the business.

He’s happy with where he is now. Though a lot of his earnings go back to the club, Sehun’s share of the earnings is enough money to be able to afford better things for himself. He’s also been able to balance his work and studies, which was his main priority. With the issue of financial difficulties out of the way, Sehun was able to fully focus on graduating, rather than wondering if he’d have enough to afford the month’s upcoming rent for his apartment.

Deciding that he’s had enough of his tutorial class, Sehun stands up and walks out. No one really cares though, because it’s not like anyone is paying attention to the tutor anyway. He’s on his way to the bus stop, scrolling through his email to read the details that Suho had sent him, when he accidently walks right into the side of a stranger who was stepping out of his car.

“Oh crap, I’m sorry. Are you alright?” Sehun asks. The man turns around and shakes his head.

“It’s alright. No harm done. You should be more careful though, you could hurt yourself from looking at your phone whilst walking,” the man says gently. When Sehun finally looks up at the man’s face, he’s completely struck by how gorgeous the man is. His hair is slicked back, shoulders broad, very well dressed, and a jaw that could seemingly cut him if he grazed his finger along it.

The man frowns a little when he sees Sehun’s stunned expression. “Are you alright?” he asks. Sehun shakes out of his thoughts, silently scolding himself for so obviously admiring a strange he’d just bumped into.

“No, I’m fine. Sorry for bumping into you. I should really get going,” Sehun says before heading off to catch his bus. Unbeknownst to him, the man watches him leave with a dazed expression on his face.

♈ ● ♑

Sehun arrives to the club a little earlier than required because he had left his place early, just in case. He rarely takes Friday night shifts, since his assigned days are on the weekends, when he’s definitely free from school. When he enters the locker room, he’s greet by Baekhyun. Baekhyun was not just someone he got close with since the duration of his time working at the host club, but also his mentor in the business. Because despite his free-spirited character, Baekhyun was the most knowledgeable and most approachable when Sehun needed advice.

“Hey, kid. I heard you were taking over a shift today. How’s school going?” Baekhyun greets him.

“It’s alright. Not too much work. How is it usually on Fridays?”

“It’s just as busy. What do you expect? Especially with me working here,” Baekhyun grins as he hands Sehun a white button up dress shirt, which Sehun immediately grabs once he strips out of his plain black shirt. Sehun then pulls on a pair of black dress pants which fit him snug around the right places, especially around his and thighs.

“Tuck in or leave it?” Sehun asks as he starts to button up his shirt. Baekhyun steps forward and moves Sehun’s hands out of the way and buttons the shirt up for him. He then steps back for a moment before telling Sehun to tuck in his shirt. He then steps forward again as Sehun begins to tuck his shirt into his pants.

“Yeah, we’ll have you tuck in your shirt but keep the first two buttons undone,” Baekhyun murmurs more to himself than to Sehun, as he undoes the first 2 buttons of Sehun’s shirt.

“I’m still deciding on the 3^rd one, I’ll let you know later,” Baekhyun informs before he disappears out of the room. Sehun grins and shakes his head at the amount of attention Baekhyun pays towards each host’s appearance. It’s an unofficial thing amongst all hosts to line up and have Baekhyun examine them, and help them fix what is needed before they go out to serve their guests.

Suho soon pops his head into the room and announces, “Hurry up, it’s almost opening time. You’re at number 2 for tonight.”

Sehun checks himself in the mirror one last time and locks his stuff in his locker before making his way out. He waits around the back where the drinks are and waits for his turn to head out.

Baekhyun is doing his quick scan of every host and when he comes to Sehun, he observes for a moment before nodding. Patting Sehun by the behind, he ushers Sehun out towards his spot which Sehun immediately does. He switches into work mode to prepare himself for a long night ahead.

As the first customer walks through the door, more begin to pour in. There are people Sehun recognises as regulars of his seniors. He takes his time to observe them, always prepared to learn any new tricks to keep up his sleeves. He watches as the female places her hand on his senior’s bicep, and the way he responds by taking her hand and pulling her closer to him.

Something that Sehun had picked up on his first night at the host club, was that they strove for an image of whatever their customer would want, within the duration of their time, of course. Most customers come in to experience a night with the Perfect Man, as if they were out on a date with their boyfriend. The most difficult thing Sehun had to grasp was finding a way to fulfil that, knowing he had another 3 or 4 customers on the same table with him, conversing with him at the same time, and being able to make them believe that he was caring about them, and only them.

The door opens and a customer walks in. The moment he captures her gaze, she looks away, a tint of pink appearing on her cheeks, and Sehun knows he’s got his first customer for the night. Just as he predicted, she is escorted over to his side of the room. Baekhyun passes her hand over to Sehun. Before Baekhyun walks away, he gives Sehun a wink, indicating that he saw what Sehun did to get her. Sehun smirks and guides his guest to take a seat.

As the night goes on, Sehun garners a couple more guests. He has about 5 guests around his table when Baekhyun approaches him to call him aside.

“Apologies, ladies. If you could excuse us for a quick moment,” Baekhyun says politely, revealing his charming eye smile. The women immediately agree and let Sehun go without a complaint, all admiring their perfection from afar as Baekhyun speaks to Sehun.

“We have a male guest,” Baekhyun states.

“So?” Sehun frowns. Though the predominate numbers of their customers are female, but they do get a couple of males every now and then. It’s nothing new, and they have nothing against it, so long as they have money to pay.

Baekhyun leans in closer and lowers his voice, “He wants you for the rest of the night. Only you two. No one else. Private room. He promises to pay generously in return.”

“What service is he looking for?” Sehun asks, perplexed. It would be his first male customer since working at the host club. He’d observed the other workers before, and it doesn’t seem any different, but they have only ever been in a group, not lead to the private rooms.

“He just wants a companion,” Baekhyun shrugs, “He seems like the typical business man that’s lacking affection due to long working hours.”

“So how much is this guy willing to pay?” Sehun questions.

“Much more than what those girls are going to make you combined,” Baekhyun answers simply, tilting his head towards the group of girls slightly. When Sehun hears that, he’s sold. After reaffirming that the man wasn’t asking for any ual favours, Sehun walks back to his previous guests with a distraught expression on his face. He explains to them that something came up and he is no longer able to be with them. He looks at every one of them in the eyes as he speaks, making sure that they feel special.

“However, your night doesn’t need to end just yet. Why don’t I introduce you to my friends who will be more than happy to have you accompany them for the rest of the night?” Sehun suggests. The women agree immediately and Sehun inwardly scoffs. The guy that’s asking for his services better be worth his time, or else he probably just lost 5 potential regular customers.

After he leads the women to their new entertainers for the night, Sehun makes his way over to Baekhyun who leads him into one of the private rooms. Before he opens the door, Baekhyun turns to him.

“He’s already inside. He didn’t want to mention anything too specific about his preferences, so go with the flow,” he instructs Sehun. Nodding, he sees Baekhyun off before he opens the door and enters the room. As soon as he sees who is seated in the room, Sehun stops mid-step. The man is gorgeous. Sehun can’t help but feel as if he looks somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t remember from where. Waving the thought away, Sehun walks over to the man and greets him.

“Oh…” the man lets out. Sehun takes a seat next to him and turns his upper body slightly so it was facing him. “You’re beautiful,” the man whispers. Sehun feels himself starting to blush and wills himself to calm down.

“Thank you… I’m Sehun. What’s your name?” he asks. The man hesitates for a moment. Sehun smiles reassuringly, “It’s alright, I’ll be with you for the night. Let’s enjoy ourselves.”

“I’m Kai,” the man answers. Sehun glances over at him as he expertly pours the drink.

“That’s a rare name. I like it,” Sehun comments. Kai runs his hand through his hair and accepts the drink Sehun offers him. Sehun takes a good look at the man in front of him, admiring how handsome he is.

“Is it your first time to a place like this?” Sehun asks curiously. He usually wouldn’t ask, but he’s genuinely curious. Kai shakes his head.

“I’ve driven past this area for a while, and I thought about trying it out,” Kai admits. Sehun nods. The entre district was filled with businesses revolving around this form of ‘entertainment’, and it’s really competitive.

“Well, I’m glad you came in here,” Sehun smiles slightly. Kai stares at Sehun for a moment before answering, “Me too.”

Sehun spends the rest of his night with Kai, as assigned. If he were to be entirely honest, he genuinely enjoyed his time with Kai. The man was charismatic, and handsome. He definitely knew how to make a person blush, showering Sehun with a plentiful amount of compliments throughout the night. Unlike when he would serve his other customers, who were often female, he didn’t have to exhaust himself with ensuring a perfect demeanour. He was able to relax a little, enjoy the time a little more.

When Sehun finally looks at the time, he’s surprised that the time had flown by so fast. Standing up, Kai holds his hand out for a handshake. “Thank you for being such a lovely companion tonight,” he says. Sehun takes hold of his outstretched hand and shakes it. Hands still clasped together, Sehun replies, “No problem at all. You’re welcome back anytime you wish.”

Sehun feels Kai’s thumb the back of his hand before pulling away. “I better get going. I’ve got work in a couple of hours,” Kai chuckles, glancing down at his watch. Sehun’s eyes follow and his eyes bulge. He’d been given his fair share of knowledge on watches thanks to Suho, and the one on Kai’s wrist is definitely towards the expensive collection. He remains composed, however, as he looks away and slides his hands into his pockets.

Kai looks up at Sehun again and promises, “I’ll definitely be coming back.”

Sehun smiles and nods as he heads towards the door to open it. Instead, Kai beats him to it and opens the door for him instead.

“You’re going to end up stealing my job from me at this rate,” Sehun jokes after thanking Kai and exiting the room first. They head out towards the front, where Baekhyun is there to greet them.

“How did you enjoy your experience?” he asks Kai.

“Very pleasant. I enjoyed it. Extremely so,” he answers. Baekhyun’s eyes glance over at Sehun for a moment and Sehun gets the message and takes his leave. Before he’s able to leave too far, he hears Kai asking Baekhyun for Sehun’s details. Smirking to himself, Sehun can definitely see his earnings increase in the future. He’d just scored himself his golden customer.

True to what Kai had told him, he had found him the following week during his usual shifts on the weekend. Kai would often call for Sehun towards the end of the night, when his customers would be leaving so that it would only be the two of them together. Tonight would be no different, or so Sehun thought.

It’s a Sunday night when Sehun spots Kai walk through the entrance. He furrows his brows slightly when he glances over at large clock on the wall. It was a lot earlier than usual. It was only 9pm and Kai wouldn’t usually arrive till closer to midnight. Sehun snaps out of it and turns his attention back to his customer, who has her spoon raised to feed him some of her dessert.

“No, let me…” Sehun murmurs as he takes the dessert from her and feeds her instead, not forgetting to run thumb on the corner of her lips. Her reaction is as he predicted. When she squeals, the other females surrounding him want him to do the same to them as well, which Sehun obliges. Sehun tries his best to not look over at the front desk, where he knows Kai is probably standing and watching.

Unable to stop himself, he glances towards the direction to see Kai staring directly at him, his expression completely unreadable. Quickly looking away, Sehun focuses on his work, trying his best to ignore the feeling of Kai’s gaze on him. it doesn’t surprise him when Baekhyun eventually walks over to Sehun. Only this time, there’s a stern expression on his face as he approaches. Sehun excuses the ladies and walks over to meet Baekhyun halfway. He doesn’t even get the chance to ask Baekhyun what was wrong because Baekhyun speaks first.

“He wants you again,” Sehun is told. Nodding slowly, he’s not sure why Baekhyun seemed a little on edge today. There’s a lot of regular customers that come to the club. Kai is just another one.

“But this time, not here. He wants to take you out,” Baekhyun adds.

“Out?” Sehun’s eyebrows shoot up. He glances over towards where Kai is. He’s still at the front desk, this time on his phone.

“He wants to take you out,” Baekhyun expands, his expression grim.

“…Do we do that…?” Sehun asks slowly. Baekhyun shakes his head.

“Once you step out of these doors, whatever you do with your clients is up to you, unless there’s some special exception to it. Other than that, Suho refuses to take responsibility for anything outside of this building. He doesn’t have the time for ups,” Baekhyun tells him. “He said he’s still offering to pay for your services though,” he adds, shrugging.

Sehun presses his lips together. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that he’s faced with a problem. He’d been told since he first started working about stories with clients being unable to cope with the fantasy they experience with the hosts and the reality they have to face afterwards. They sometimes grow a sense of ownership over the one they’ve spent the most time with. But Sehun has yet to hear of someone actually going up to ask permission to spend a night out rather than just stalking.

“Has this happened before?” he asks. Baekhyun sighs and slides his hands into his pockets.

“No. But listen, kid” Baekhyun steps a little closer and lowers his voice, “No one is going to stop you from doing whatever the hell you want but keep in mind that whatever you do outside this club is completely out of our hands. Though we do demand a fee for the request of our staff, what you get paid outside of this club otherwise is yours and what you do is up to you. However, if anything goes wrong, we deny anything and everything.”

“You’re talking as if you already know my answer” Sehun frowns.

“That’s because I do, kid,” Baekhyun smiles wryly. “Bid your ladies goodnight and send them to someone else or send them home. You’re done for the night.”

Sehun presses him lips together and nods. Baekhyun knows him well. With a final glance over at Kai, he finds himself locking eyes with the man causing him to quickly look away. He makes his way over to his table and sits down to explain to them that something came up and how regretful he is. He makes sure to sound as sincere as possible. After all, they’re his regulars. Luckily they understand and are willing to call it a night. After a final drink with them, Sehun guides them to the door and bids them all good night.

Before he makes his way over to Kai, Sehun goes into the back room for employees to pack his things. Baekhyun appears soon after him and stands by the doorway with his arms crossed as he watches.

“Are you sure about this?” Baekhyun asks him. Sehun stills his movements for a moment before nodding. Baekhyun sighs and enters the room. Moving Sehun’s bag aside, Baekhyun takes a seat down on the bench and takes off his suit jacket.

“A lot of the details are very vague, aren’t they?” Sehun murmurs as he closes his locker. Baekhyun hums.

“Why do you seem to know a lot more than you're letting on?” Sehun glances at Baekhyun, who seems really interested in inspecting his fingertips. Baekhyun looks up at Sehun and shrugs. “Probably because I do.”

Sehun purses his lips together. With one last glance of his appearance, Sehun starts his way out the door when he stops and turns back to face Baekhyun. “There’s just one thing I want to know,” he starts. Baekhyun waits. “Are you speaking from personal experience?”

There’s no response as Baekhyun sighs and stands up. He walks past Sehun, pausing for a moment to pat him on the shoulder before going back out to the front desk. Sehun bits his lip and follows behind him, knowing Kai would be there waiting for him.

“I’m sorry for the wait,” he speaks softly when he approaches the man. Kai startles for a moment, having not notices him approach. His surprise is quickly removed and replaced with delight. “It’s alright,” he assures, “It should be I who should apologise for wanting to take up your time.”

Sehun shakes his head and turns to face Baekhyun, who is busying himself with something behind the computer. Though seemingly distracted, Sehun knew that Baekhyun was probably paying attention to everything that he and Kai were doing in front of him.

 “Thank you for joining us tonight. Enjoy the rest of your evening,” Baekhyun finally speaks, assisted with his usual charming smile. Kai thanks him and turns back to Sehun. “Shall we?” he asks, gesturing towards the door. Sehun nods and walks over to the door, opening it for the old man first. Kai smiles and steps out first.

Before stepping out, Sehun takes one final glance at Baekhyun, who is staring right back at him. With a final nod, Sehun exits the building and closes the door behind him, ready for his night with his client.

♈ ● ♑