Park Chanyeol smiled as he jumped up into the passenger seat of the garbage truck he shared with his partner, Kim Minseok. It was around 8:30am, and the two were at the waste collection facility, waiting for their 9 o’clock shift to begin. 

“Yo, Chanyeol,” Minseok said, a lollipop sticking out of his mouth, “want a soda or something? Goin’ in to grab a snack real fast before the shift starts.”

“Yeah, sure,” Chanyeol replied, “Grab me a Sprite please!”

“Uh-huh.”

With that, Minseok was gone. 

Chanyeol sat back in the seat, arms behind his head, eyes closed. He did garbage runs 5 other times a week, usually, but Sundays were special. Sundays were the days he looked forward to the most.

Sundays were when he was able to see Do Kyungsoo, a very cute individual who lived in an equally cute house, with a cute pet bearded dragon that he walked every so often. 

Yes. Do Kyungsoo walked his bearded dragon. Why? He has yet to find out...

However, that odd quirk was just one of the aspects of Kyungsoo that attracted Chanyeol to him. Another aspect was the fact that Kyungsoo was simply cute as a button. He always seemed to wear the same outfit - khaki pants and some kind of sweater vest, even in the hottest of weather.

Like today, whose temperatures were forecasted to easily surpass 30 degrees. The humidity was already quite high, and would definitely only get worse as the day went on.

Today would definitely be a long, long day...

It was 8:55 when Minseok finally returned to Chanyeol, who had nearly fallen asleep in the front seat of Sehun, the team’s self-named semi-automated side loading garbage truck. It was kinda old, smelled like , and let out some pretty bad emissions. However, Sehun went on many fun adventures with Chanyeol and Minseok, and the two still refused to get a new truck. 

“Wake up, Yeol,” Minseok said obnoxiously loud as he climbed into the other side of Sehun, “here’s your Sprite.” 

Chanyeol opened his eyes slowly and, once he was conscious, accepted the Sprite from his friend.

“Thanks Minseok.”

“Yup.”

The two went through their last minute checklist.

“Garbage gloves?” 

“Check.” 

“Hard hats?”

“Right here.”

“Ratched reflection vests?”

“Bright and shiny, for now.”

“Perfect, you ready then?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Minseok nodded and then, after another few seconds, turned the truck on. The two took turns on driving - they switched off every 1 or 2 days. However, Chanyeol was always the loader on Sundays. For reasons previously mentioned.

Their Sunday rout was honestly not too bad. They hit only around 150 stops, as opposed to their typical 300 or so. Their Sunday rout was also a little different, because their team was assigned to the private neighborhoods in the area, rather than the public.

Kyungsoo lived in a housing development called Willow Creek - the houses were large, very expensive, but also quite tasteful in their architecture. Willow Creek was Chanyeol’s favorite area. He didn’t care that he was a garbage man amongst doctors, lawyers, and plastic surgeons. He knew that he was helping the people living there, and that was all that mattered.

“Chanyeol, are you okay?”

Minseok’s voice was full of concern as he peeked his head out of Sehun’s open door. Chanyeol had let out a cry of pain when he grabbed the garbage can to align it with the hopper. Unfortunately, some jerk had decided not only to overflow the can, but also to have thrown loose glass in those overflowing bags. One piece had ripped through the bag and cut Chanyeol’s hand pretty badly. Chanyeol had taken off his gloves just to get a better grip on the can.

“ dude, that looks bad. Get in here, let’s get that cleaned out ASAP.”

Chanyeol, after the can had been emptied, placed it back in the owner’s driveway and walked back to the open side door. Minseok was already rummaging for the team’s first aid kit, which were required by their waste management company.

“How bad is it?” Minseok asked as he reached behind his seat. Chanyeol winced as he lifted his hand from the cut, which was bleeding profusely.

“It’s glass,” Chanyeol mumbled, biting his lip, “so pretty bad.”

“Here are some moist towelettes to at least clean up the blood,” Minseok said, handing him the little package. Chanyeol grunted his thanks and clumsily opened the package. He took a deep breath before wiping his hand, which automatically began to sting from pain.

“Damnit,” he mumbled under his breath, “s leaving glass like that, what the hell?”

“I know, dude, it , I’m sorry,” Minseok replied, fishing out something else to hand to his partner, “here’s some antibiotic cream. It’ll sting again, but you need to put it on generously. I don’t want it getting infected. Now where are the gauze pads…?”

Chanyeol accepted the cream, and as best as he could, began applying it to his fresh wound.

“Um, found that gauze yet?”  Chanyeol asked in a quiet voice, using a couple tissues to keep the cut from bleeding any more, “because these tissues aren’t gonna hack it.”

“I’m trying,” Minseok replied, worry i