The automatic sliding doors invite in a gust of warm wind as Minseok enters the only grocers within fifty miles of his house. The big city vibe of the larger supermarket isn’t anything he would ever pass up, but he much prefers the five minute walk down to Kart’s. Besides, his best friend works there and sometimes Minseok can weasel a few samples of fresh fruit out of him.

As it happens, Kyungsoo is in a surprisingly giving mood today, greeting Minseok with a heart shaped smile and a small plastic cup filled to the brim with diced fruit. It’s accepted graciously, Minseok using the plastic, sword-shaped toothpick to spear three pieces of fruit at once.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” He mumbles around a mouthful of honeydew and cantaloupe.

“Promotion,” Kyungsoo replies proudly, standing a little straighter. “I’m assistant shift manager now.”

Minseok makes a congratulatory noise from behind several squares of juicy watermelon, tossing his arm around Kyungsoo and pulling him in for a hug. Always a man of surprises, Kyungsoo hugs back, and Minseok grins, dripping juice onto his friend’s neatly pressed uniform.

“Ew, Minseok,” Kyungsoo pulls away. “You got watermelon seeds on my apron.”

He flicks the seeds off his shoulder and watches them scatter across the floor, smiling apologetically through some pineapple.

“There, all gone.”

“Do you know who’s gonna have to clean that up?”

“Not you, because you’re assistant shift manager now?”

“…You’re right. Forgiven.”

They laugh and Minseok knocks back the fruit juice at the bottom of the cup with one swig before tossing it.

“See you later?”

“Later,” Kyungsoo affirms with a nod.

The automatic sliding doors invite in another gust of warm wind as Minseok skips out of Kart’s, a Thanks for the fruit, Soo! thrown behind him casually. Kyungsoo waves, but Minseok is already long gone.

***

By the time Kyungsoo hangs his apron up, the sun is already inching towards the horizon. His sneakers slap against the backroads as he races his way through the foliage spanning across more than half of Morae-dong, heart pumping a frenzied beat in his chest. The heat in his face is palpable as he finally reaches the wheat fields, and he takes a moment to close his eyes and let the breeze wash over him. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yells Minseok’s name as he ventures further into the tall fields, scanning the area around him.

Just a few feet away, a hand pops up out of the wheat, followed by a head. Minseok waves back and forth, Kyungsoo picking up the pace. He plops down next to him with a sigh, rubbing at his neck.

“Am I too late?”

Minseok grins, looking positively endearing even with pieces of grass sticking out of his dark hair, and shakes his head.

“Nope,” he says, popping the ‘p’. “You’re just in time, as usual.”

He lies back down and Kyungsoo follows, but not before taking off his jacket and placing it under their heads. The field rustles and sways around them, and their hands inch closer and closer until Minseok raises his to point at the sky.

“Look! The best part is starting.”

They watch as the sky changes from blue to pink to orange to red, filling the gaps with quiet conversations that bring smiles to Kyungsoo’s face until it aches, and even after the sun sets and they’re chased out of the field by the darkness he can still feel it in his cheeks.

His feet drag as they near his house, a simple two story building painted eggshell blue and accented with an off-white tone. Minseok taps a tune on the sidewalk as he watches Kyungsoo open his mailbox, peering over his shoulder at the stack of pamphlets.

“College?” He inquires, and Kyungsoo shrugs.

“Yeah…”

“Have you decided?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “I don’t want to think about it right now.”

“The closest ones are so…far away,” Minseok sighs. “It’s at least an hour by bus. I guess Morae-dong is too small for something like that.”

“We have community college classes…”

“I know, but it’s not the same. If I’m going, I want the full experience. Somewhere in Seoul, maybe.”

Kyungsoo tastes the wistful tone and clutches the pamphlets tighter in his hands.

“That’s ages away,” he murmurs.

“Not that I’ll get to go anytime soon,” Minseok admits. “The farm still needs me.”

Kyungsoo nods in understanding, relief tingling his fingers as he unclenches his fist.

“Yeah. Of course.”

Minseok claps him on the shoulder and Kyungsoo jumps a bit. He’s rewarded with a grin as Minseok bids him goodnight, getting ready to jog back to his own house down the stretch of country road. He’s Kyungsoo’s closest neighbor, clocking in at just two miles away.

“Goodnight, assistant shift manager!”

A sharp salute is delivered and Minseok takes off, Kyungsoo waving from his driveway. He notices Minseok’s shoelace dragging behind him, but he’s already a speck on the horizon in the next second, too far for Kyungsoo’s words to reach.

***

It’s hardly 6:30 when Minseok stumbles out of bed, hair sticking up every which way and mouth tasting like hay. Smacking his lips, he shuffles down the hallway towards the bathroom, his mother popping her head out of one of the rooms, laundry basket cradled in her arms.

“Morning, sweetheart!”

Minseok mumbles something unintelligible.

“Kyungsoo brought over some pie for you this morning, bless his heart. You were still asleep, so I sent him off to work with some eggs Jjangu laid this morning.”

“Thanks,” he says mid-yawn. “Is the pie in the kitchen?”

“Yes, but not before you’ve had your toast and eggs, alright?” 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he drawls, dodging the sock tossed at him.

He feeds the chickens and lets them out once he’s stuffed full of Kyungsoo’s special apple pie, stooping down to crawl into the pen and collect eggs he gingerly places into a basket. The cows are next, and he gives them affectionate belly rubs, quickly filling two cases of milk. Once he delivers the slop to the pigs, he loads the milk and eggs into the back of the delivery car and drives back down the country lanes, heading downtown.

Being assistant shift manager is tougher than Kyungsoo originally anticipated. Now he’s actually responsible for the antics his cashiers pull, and Junmyeon, the manager, is far from lenient. It was easy to throw aimless threats from behind the safety of his counter at Jongin and Sehun whenever they made fart noises into the intercom. They ignored him, and it was fine because although he was technically head cashier, it made no real difference. Now he was assistant manager and they still ignored him, making it increasingly difficult to keep his temper in check.

“You just have to assert yourself,” he remembers Junmyeon saying once.

He snorts as he makes note of their stock this month. Junmyeon is the easiest guy to pushover and Kyungsoo is friends with Yixing, for god’s sake. The only backbone Junmyeon possessed was the stick up his .

“Attention all shoppers. Morae-dong’s very own darling, Kim Minseok, has just entered the premises. Please cease your grocery shopping and put your hands together for a round of applause.”

Kyungsoo’s chair rolls into the wall with how fast he gets out of it. There’s an alarm blaring in his head and it screams one thing: He has to stop Sehun and Jongin before Minseok comes in and they make fools of themselves—or worse, of Kyungsoo.

“His milk is fresh and his is tight—Jongin, let go of the intercom, let me finish—Oh hey, Soo. Please resume shopping, shoppers. There’s always a helpful smile in every aisle at Kart’s!”

The mic is wrenched out of Sehun’s terrible hands by a flustered Kyungsoo, thick eyebrows drawn dangerously close. Jongin muffles his laugh with a cough and mumbles an “I told you so!” before ducking back into his lane.

The automatic doors open as Kyungsoo is about to give Sehun the smackdown of his life and Minseok walks in, toting a crate of milk on one shoulder and a crate of eggs on the other.

“Thank god you guys installed automatic doors,” he comments, setting the produce on Jongin’s counter. “Anyone mind giving me a hand with the rest of this stuff?”

Sehun scrambles past Kyungsoo with an enthusiastic “I will!” and Minseok grins, much to Kyungsoo’s distaste. He’s left alone with Jongin as he watches them walk to Minseok’s car.

“At least there was no one in the store,” Jongin ventures.

Kyungsoo returns the intercom mic to its stand with more force than necessary.

“Tell Sehun he’s in charge of stocking today,” he huffs. “I’m going back.”

Minseok leans against the counter as Sehun breaks his back stacking the milk and eggs. His white shirt fits snugly against his chest, he smells minty fresh, and Jongin is definitely not staring or considering accidentally spilling his water bottle all over him.

“Should we help him?”

“Nah, Kyungsoo is punishing him.”

Minseok arches an eyebrow and Jongin’s knees go a little wobbly.

“For what?”

“Dunno.”

“Did you guys have a fart-off with the intercoms again?”

“No!” Jongin blushes and Minseok laughs.

“Is he in the back?”

“Uh huh. Go tame the beast, hyung!”

Kyungsoo almost flings his pencil across the room when Minseok drapes himself over his shoulder, hair tickling his face.

“How’s my favorite assistant manager?”

“Working,” he answers. “Did you get the pie?” He spins around in his chair, setting his pencil aside.

“It was delicious,” Minseok praises. “I can never get mine to hold. You’ve gotta teach me sometime!”

“Hm…I don’t know…are you asking me to just leak all my secrets? Next thing I know, you’ll be asking me for my banana bread recipe too…”

“Don’t be stingy, Soo,” Minseok pleads. “You can afford to leak some secrets to your best friend, right?” He bats his eyelashes dramatically, clasping his hands together.

Kyungsoo purses his lips, obviously amused.

“I’m not sure Junmyeon could recreate my culinary masterpieces, Minseok,” he muses.

“Not Junmyeon!” Minseok throws a punch at Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “I meant me! You don’t even hang out with Junmyeon outside of work.”

“Ow! Ugh, you’re right. You punch so hard. Damn.”

Minseok only laughs.

“It’s official, then. Bring your apple pie recipe to my house the next time you come over, or face the wrath of my hunger! I’ll be waiting, Assistant Manager Slash Best Friend Do Kyungsoo!”

Making an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture, he backs out of the room and into the hallway, disappearing around the corner leading to the main section of the store. Kyungsoo returns to his work in much higher spirits than before, already mentally jotting down step by step instructions for the perfect apple pie.

notes:

im really out here writing xiusoo...damn

re: "morae-dong"...its just a random town name idk..i got it out of a generator bc im Unoriginal
re: "kart's" ...its from ksoo's kmovie "cart" lol