“Okay everyone, I’m going to order and go shopping for food. What are the things we need and be specific?” Suho explained while taking out a notepad.

            “I need flour, garlic, and eggs for the bread. I’m running low on all of those. I think I only have enough for tomorrow.” Kyungsoo explained.

            “I basically need everything in order to make the sandwiches. But I think we mostly need tomatoes and ranch.” Sehun explained.

            “I need potatoes, clams, mussels, celery, carrots, and my usual spices. Oh, and don’t forget my secret ingredient.” Baekhyun said and then winked at Suho.

            Suho got it and wrote down Baekhyun’s secret ingredient onto the notepad. Kai was shocked at how much food was on that list. Most of it was Baekhyun’s things. “Baekhyun, you are totally going to run us dry with all those ingredients. I swear you always have the most ingredients that you need every time Suho asks and goes to the store.” Kai explained.

            “Hey, if people like my chowders and soups then I need the ingredients to make them. Especially when it comes to my secret ingredient. That is the most important thing that I need to make my soup perfect.” Baekhyun explained.

            Suho could just laugh and roll his eyes. “It’s really fine Kai, his soup actually fills up the whole in our budget. Anyway, alright everyone I’m off. I’m going to start ordering food right now and then I’ll go straight to the store afterwards so I can buy the more urgent ingredients to hold us off until we get our main shipment gets in. As usual, while I’m gone Kyungsoo is in charge.” He explained.

            Chanyeol sighed. “Why is Kyungsoo always in charge?” He whined.

            “I’m always in charge because if you were to be in charge this whole deli would burn down and then I would actually have a reason to kick your . But since you are not and as you can see the deli is in one piece I actually have no reason to kick your . Be glad.” Kyungsoo explained.

            Everyone laughed at that comment except for Chanyeol. He was actually worried now. “That’s really mean Kyungsoo. Why would you want to kick my ?” He asked.

            “No reason, sometimes I just need to kick someone’s and that unfortunate person would be you.” Kyungsoo replied.

            Chanyeol swallowed and then walked behind Baekhyun trying to use him as protection. But since he was taller than the other boy it wasn’t working out so well. “Please protect me.” He said nervously.

            Everyone laughed again. Suho looked at his list again. “Okay everyone I’m off. You all play nice while I’m gone.” He said.

            “We’ll try. But from the way Kyungsoo sounded just now, we can’t make any promises.” Baekhyun joked.

            Suho rolled his eyes and then went to go shopping. Everyone in the deli waved goodbye to him and then they went back to work. It was an interesting day at the deli after that.

~.~.~.~.~.~

            “All right everyone, it’s that time of the month again. It’s time to pick who gets to go out and go shopping for all our food supplies.” Kris said happily but evilly at the same time. This was his favorite time of the month.

            There was no person in EXO-M’s deli that cheered. In fact they all groaned when they heard the news. No one enjoyed going out and getting the groceries. They found it boring and unentertaining. They thought of it more as punishment than a chore.

            “I really hate this time of the month. Okay, what are we going to have to play this time manager Kris?” Tao asked.

            “Ah, I’m glad you asked Tao. Today, I thought that we could all play a friendly game of Kai Bai Bo.” Kris explained with a now innocent voice. Everyone knew that was crap. Kris was known to only play games that he knew he couldn’t lose at and if it was a simple game then there was always a catch.

            “Manager Kris, there is no such thing as a friendly game when you are in charge of it. What is the catch?” Chen asked.

            Kris put on another one of his famous smirks. After that everyone knew he was up for no good. He walked over to a table and sat down. “Okay, there is a catch but I am not going to tell you guys what it is. Not until the end of the game anyway.” He explained.

            “Then I am not playing. If you aren’t going to tell me then I am not playing.” Luhan complained.

            “You know the rules Luhan. If you do not play the game then it is an automatic loss. But if you want to save all of us the pain of having to fight to not go to the store then be my guest. I don’t mind if you don’t play.” Xiumin explained.

            Thought about it and realized that what Xiumin was saying was true. He sighed and looked at Lay. Lay could only smile back while putting a hand on Luhan’s shoulder. “Come on Luhan. You and I both know that the games are not that bad. Besides, you and I have both gone shopping before. So it’s okay.” He explained.

            Luhan bit his lip and gave out a long depressed sigh. He just nodded and scratched his head. He decided to just give into playing since he really didn’t want to shop for the food. After hearing that Luhan was playing everyone was now getting very competitive. They didn’t want to lose so they were all practicing.

            They all started playing Kai Bai Bo soon after. It had to be one of the most intense games that each of them had ever played. Everyone was around the same level so it made for very long games. It was best two out of three so everyone took quite a while.

            In the end though it was Tao who ended up being the ultimate winner. After he had won everything everyone started to fight harder. Since Tao was out there were only five of them left. That really made them nervous.

            The last game was between Xiumin and Lay. Whoever lost this game was going to have to go shopping for all the groceries. Lay and Xiumin were both very tense. They looked into each other’s eyes and made their move. While Lay pulled a rock Xiumin pulled paper. Lay was in denial while Xiumin was in shock.

            “WOOHOO!!! I survived!” Xiumin cheered. He jumped up and down while

            Lay was in such denial. He put his hand over his face and shook his head. “I cannot believe that I just lost.” He mumbled to himself.

            Kris was cheering with everyone when he finally pulled away from the group. He walked over to Lay and pulled a paper out of this pocket. He just stuck out his hand to give Lay the paper. Lay hesitantly took the paper and opened it. It was a list of all the ingredients but there was a problem. They were all ingredients that he had never heard about before. He never knew that any of them even existed. He was so shocked at all the ingredients that he just looked at Kris with shock.

            Kris caught onto the shock on Lay’s face. He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “What is it Lay? They can all be found in the store if that is what you are worrying about. Don’t sweat it. You’ll be fine.” He said.

            “Yeah right! Does this store lead to Narnia cause that is where I’m going to have to go to get all of these ingredients.” Lay complained.

            “Just shut up and do it. The only hard part will be actually finding the ingredients. They are all light items anyway and I’m sure that you’ll find them alright. You’ll be back here in no time.” Kris explained.

            Lay sighed and stood up from the table. He went towards the door to grab his coat. He sighed since he really didn’t want to go. He was about to walk out of the deli but Xiumin stopped him before he was completely gone.

            “Wait Lay! If you leave now then you are not going to get to hear the catch of the game. Don’t you want to know what it is?” Xiumin remembered.

            Kris smiled and gave a small laugh. “Oh right. I almost forgot about that. Okay the catch of the game. The catch of the game is that the winner has to clean up the deli tonight.” Kris explained.

            Everyone started to cheer. They were all happy that they didn’t have to clean up the deli. If there was anything worse than going shopping it had to be cleaning up. As everyone cheered Tao stood there in shock.

            Tao’s jaw had dropped from the sudden catch of the game. “That is so not fair!” He said.

            “Since when have any of our games been fair? Or fun for that matter.” Luhan said.

            “You had fun just now Luhan. Don’t even try to deny it.” Chen explained.

            Kris looked away from the two and then looked over at Lay. “Lay you are free to go now. I’ll see you before the deli closes. Have fun.” He said in a teasing way.

            Lay just rolled his eyes and opened the door. He was about to step out but before he did Chen just had to add one of his unnecessary comments. He was quite known for saying things that were very unnecessary.

            “Bye Lay. Have fun in Narnia! Bring me back a souvenir.” Chen said.

            Lay rolled his eyes again and grew irritated. “Shut up Chen!” He said and then stormed out of the deli.

~.~.~.~.~.~

            In between the two deli’s there was a store that basically supplied all the ingredients that anyone would ever need. This was a huge grocery store that made trades with places from all around the world. So it was a store perfect for restaurants.

            Both Suho and Lay had decided to go to that exact same store. They knew the stores reputation and so they knew that it would fulfill all their needs. They went there knowing everything that they needed. Well, almost everything.

            Lay had arrived at the store first. He looked at the list and sighed. He went to go grab a shopping and then he went off into the store to try and find all the ridiculous ingredients. He went up and down the aisles looking for the ingredients but he just couldn’t find any of them.

Suho had entered the store around fifteen minutes after Lay had entered the building. He had just grabbed a basket at the front since he didn’t have many ingredients to buy. After he got his basket he started to walk around. He knew exactly where everything was since he had learned to memorize the store like the back of his hand.

            As Suho was walking around looking for one of the few ingredients he had come across a little problem. One of the ingredients he needed was on the very top shelf. It was someplace where it reminded him about how short he was.

            It wasn’t like he was really short. It’s just that he wasn’t as tall as he would like to have been. He always had a hard time with getting things from the top shelf. If he had just been a few centimeters taller then he would be able to get it almost with no problem. “Of course they would put it all the way up there. Thanks Baekhyun.” Suho thought to himself out loud.

            Suho just sighed and put down his basket. He tried to reach for the spice on the top shelf. He tried as hard as he could but he just couldn’t reach it. After letting out another sigh he tried once more but he had no luck. He thought for a second and decided to try at least one more time. As he was reaching for it this time there was another hand that reached up to grab the spice. They grabbed it and then Suho put his arm down to look at the person.

            Lay smiled and giggled when he noticed the spice. “Who puts Oregano on the tops shelf? Here you go.” He said as he handed the spice to Suho.

            “Oh, thanks. Sometimes my height can be a little lacking.” Suho said with a little joke in his voice.

            Lay smiled and let out a little laugh. “Well I think that you are a nice height. Sure you are a little short but it is still a convenient height. It’s almost cute.” He said.

            Suho blushed just a little when he heard Lay say that. He looked away from Lay’s face and his eyes wondered down to Lay’s nametag. He read it and was decently surprised.

            “You work at EXO-M?” Suho asked.

            Lay put on a confused look but then looked down at his nametag forgetting that he had it on. He looked back at Suho and smiled. “Yeah I do. Unfortunately I lost a game so I’m stuck shopping for a bunch of ingredients.” He explained.

            Suho smiled and laughed. “That definitely sounds like something Kris would do in order for him not to go shopping.” He thought out loud.

            Lay caught onto what Suho said and was surprised. “Wait, you know Manager Kris?” He asked.

            “Yes I do. I’m actually the Manager of EXO-K deli. I’m Suho by the way.” Suho replied.

            “I’m Lay but I guess you already figured that out from my nametag.” Lay said.

            “I did kind of find that out already. So, what is it exactly you are looking for here Lay?” Suho asked curiously.

            Lay pulled the list out of his pocket and looked at it again. “I’m actually not sure what any of this is at all. Manager Kris just handed this to me and expected me to just find them on my own.” He explained.

            “Well maybe I can be of some help to you. Here let me see.” Suho said while sticking his hand for the paper. Lay handed him the list and then he looked over it. “Wow, these would be something that Kris would want. He must have some really interesting plans. Okay I know exactly where all of these are.”

            “You do? Could you please show me and help me? I am so lost in this store. I think I would finish ten times faster if you were to help me.” Lay explained.

            Suho just had to let out a little chuckle. “I don’t mind helping you. I should have plenty of time since I left my assistant in charge. I think the deli will be fine until I get back. Shall we get going then?” He said and then picked up his basket while putting the Oregano inside. He started to walk off to find the first ingredient.

            Lay smiled and then grabbed his shopping cart to follow Suho. He caught up to Suho and started walking beside him. Suho managed to lead him to every single one of the ingredients accurately. It took them only around twenty minutes to locate all the ingredients. Lay knew that without Suho’s help he would have been there for over an hour looking for everything.

            After paying for everything the two men exited the store and stopped right outside to talk a little more.

            “Well it looks like you got everything that you needed. I think that you are all set now.” Suho said.

            “Thank you so much Suho. I really couldn’t have done it without.” Lay thanked him.

            “It was really no problem. You probably could have found everything you needed in no time.” Suho said.

            “No way. I was completely lost in there.” Lay replied.

            Suho laughed just a little bit. “Well I was happy to help. I really shouldn’t be helping the competing deli but since you helped me I guess I could let this one slide.” He said.

            Lay let out a giggle. “Thanks I really appreciate that. I know that I kept you from your deli.” He said.

            “No it’s okay. I was happy to help you out. I probably should be getting back though. It was really nice meeting you Lay. Maybe we’ll meet again sometime soon.”

            Lay smiled. “Yeah, maybe you could stop by our deli sometime. Or vice versa.” He said.

            Suho nodded. “Yeah maybe sometime. Maybe when Kris and I meet each other to go hang out.” He said.

            “Well until then.” Lay said and stuck out his hand.

            Suho looked at Lay’s hand and then shook it. From the contact both Suho’s and Lay’s heart skipped a beat. Lay felt something strange inside him while Suho just stood there blushing. Lay pulled away first and then bowed to Suho. Suho bowed back to Lay and then he started to quickly walk back towards the deli.

~.~.~.~.~.~

            As Suho walked into the deli, he went and placed all the ingredients inside the break room. After he did that he ran into his office. He still had a little blush in his cheeks from his earlier encounter with Lay. He had no idea why he was blushing. For some reason Lay just made him feel so different.

            As Suho put down the rest of his things and sat down at his desk there was a knock on his door. The door slowly opened and then there was a head that peeked in. It was Kyungsoo. He walked in and then closed the door behind him. He walked further into the office and then sat himself in the chair that was placed right in front of Suho’s desk.

            “Hey Suho are you feeling okay? You have a little blush in your cheeks. Did something happen at the store?” Kyungsoo asked.

            Suho sighed. “Well, the thing is, I don’t know Kyungsoo. I think I met someone at the store today when I was shopping.” He replied.

            Kyungsoo’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, you think you met someone at the store? What do you even mean by that?”

            Suho rolled his eyes but he could feel his heart starting to race again. “I mean, I think I might have found someone for myself at the store. You know, as in someone special.” He explained.

            Kyungsoo finally got it and put on a huge smile. “Seriously? Who is she? Is she pretty? Tell me all the details.” He said.

            Suho shook his head. “That’s the weird part Kyungsoo. It’s not a girl that I like.” He said.

            “Oh.” Kyungsoo said and then leaned back in his chair. “Well even then I am still curious. What is his name?”

            “His name is Lay. But there is another problem. He works with EXO-M deli.” Suho explained.

            Kyungsoo bit his lip and then leaned forward in the chair again. “That’s going to be an issue then. If he works with the competing deli then your relationship may be a little awkward. Especially after the winner is decided.”

            “Relationship? What relationship Kyungsoo? I don’t even know if he plays for the other team. I didn’t even know I did until today.” Suho explained dramatically.

            “Really? Cause I thought it was quite obvious.” Kyungsoo said jokingly to lighten the mood.

            “Shut up.” Suho replied.

            Kyungsoo laughed a little. “Look, honestly there are a few obstacles that come with this. But maybe you two can slowly get to know each other and hang out. Then as time goes by you can overcome these obstacles.” He explained.

            Suho just sat in his chair thinking. “Yeah I guess you’re right. I could call Kris and tell him that I want to hang out. Then maybe I could meet him at his deli and then talk to Lay for a while.” He said.

            Kyungsoo thought for a second as well and then snapped his fingers. “I can also add onto that plan. How about you and Kris think about throwing an EXO party? One day we are going to all be one deli anyway so let’s have a staff party. That way we can all get to know each other. And you can hand out with Lay.” He explained while whispering the last sentence.

            Suho bit his lip and nodded. “”That could actually work. That’s a very good idea Kyungsoo. I’m pretty sure Kris would agree to that too. I’ll meet with him tonight and talk to him about it.” He explained.

            “All right. I guess I should be getting back to the kitchen. You and I both know that they cannot run anything without us.” Kyungsoo joked.

            Suho laughed and then remembered something. “I almost forgot Kyungsoo. Sorry I was gone for the high school rush and early dinner rush. Was everything okay while I was gone?” He asked.

            Kyungsoo froze for a second. He didn’t know what to say. “Everything was fine. There

            “What was so interesting?” Suho asked.

            Kyungsoo shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. It was nothing that I couldn’t handle.” He said.

            “If you say so. Thanks Kyungsoo.” Suho thanked.

            “Yeah no problem. I’ll talk to you after work.” Kyungsoo said nervously and then walked out of Suho’s office and back into the kitchen.

~.~.~.~.~.~

            Lay was slowly walking back to the deli. He was just thinking about what just happened at the store with Suho. His heart was still fluttering from when he and Suho shook hands. He had always known that he had a strange interest in men but he never knew that there would be someone who proved to him that it was real interest. Someone who made his heart flutter so much.

            When he finally got into the deli he was bombarded by Luhan. He ran up to him and gave him a hug. “LAY! You came back faster than we expected.” He said excitedly.

            “Wow thanks for having a lot of faith in me.” Lay said jokingly.

            “Hey, at least you had to just go shopping. Tao is having a really hard time right now. He has to clean the whole deli.” Luhan explained.

            “Then I am really glad that I lost. But, is it me or do you also think that Manager Kris is really hard on Tao? I feel like he works him way too hard.” Lay said.

            Luhan looked at Tao who had just walked into the room and sat down at a table. He looked so worn out already from the constant cleaning. “You know, now that you mention it, I kind of noticed that. But I don’t want to ask or say anything. Kris scares me and I don’t want to face his wrath.” He explained.

            “Oh well. I won’t ask if you won’t. I should probably get back to work.” Lay said and then put on a smile.

            Luhan noticed that his smile seemed brighter than usual. “Hold on Lay!” He said and then grabbed his arm. He then put on a big smile. “Did something happen while you were out?”

            Lay pulled his arm out of Luhan’s grip. “Something did happen but I don’t know if I should tell you.” He explained.

            “Lay we have been friends for years. You can tell me anything.” Luhan said.

            Lay sighed and looked around. He saw that no one was really paying attention to them so he thought he was clear to speak. “Okay, so when I was at the store I ran into the manager of EXO-K.” He started.

            “Really? What happened from there?” Luhan asked.

            “Well I helped him out and in return he helped me find all of these ridiculous ingredients Bu anyway when we were about to leave we shook hands. The thing though is that when we touched, my heart skipped a beat and started to flutter.” Lay explained.

            Luhan had on a big smile. “Oh my God Lay! You are totally crushing on him. Are you going to ask him out?” He asked excitedly. He always knew that Lay had an interest in men.

            “Luhan, I don’t even know if he’s like that. I barely know anything about him.” Lay said.

            “That doesn’t mean that you two can’t get to know each other. The next time you see him why don’t you ask him to hang out? That way you can find out of he is like that. Yhe worst thing he can say is no.” Luhan explained.

            Lay nodded. “Yeah you are right. The next time I see him I should ask him if he wants to just hang out.”

            “Exactly. Plus if you can’t wait until you run into him again then you know where he works.” Luhan added.

            Lay was about to say something but he was interrupted. “Lay, you are back.” Kris said loudly. “I never imagined that you would be back by now.”

            “Well I got some help no thanks to you.” Lay replied.

            “Oh well lucky you. Well it’s good that you are back before the deli closes. If you didn’t I would have to lock you out.” Kris replied.

            “Why is that sir?” Luhan asked.

            “I’m going out with EXO-K’s manager tonight. We always go out on Friday nights.” Kris said.

            Lay felt a bit of jealously inside him. He managed to hide it well though. “I’ll just get back to work sir.” He said.

            Kris nodded and watched Lay walk into the kitchen. He could tell that something was different about him but he couldn’t put his finger exactly on it. But he really wasn’t going to ask. He then turned to look at Luhan. “Why are you just standing there? Get back to work!” He yelled. Luhan jumped a little and then ran into the kitchen.

            Lay entered the kitchen and Chen was the first one to notice him. “Hey Lay, how was Narnia?” He asked sarcastically.

            Lay rolled his eyes. “It was fine without you.” He replied.

            “Ouch burn. Do you need an ice pack for that burn Chen?” Xiumin joked.

            “Shut up Xiumin.” Chen said.

            Lay laughed a bit and then immediately got back to work. His mind started to race with all kinds of thoughts. But the biggest one was that he wanted to see Suho again. But he knew that he was going to have to wait.

A/n: Hello Everyone! I hope you like my story so far. I also hope the background isn't too distracting for you guys. If it is then just let me know and I can take it down. Anyway I hope you like it and continue to read. Can you guess what couple is next?