The Bell above the entrance to the shop gave that monotonous drone of flat notes to declare the arrival of the next potential customers. It was the same thing every time someone came in so the noise didn’t particularly interest Key who was standing behind the counter, reading a magazine lazily.

                The boy’s feline eyes cast a half hearted glare in the direction of the mob of girls hoarding in. Their obnoxious laughs filled the small store as they gushed over the cute accessories. Honestly, Key didn’t know why he still worked here. The hours , the customers were annoying; his pay wasn’t all that great neither and he could only stand being around such cutesy merchandise for so long.

                A hefty sigh left Key as he flipped the page in his magazine. Words stared up at him, explaining something pointless more or less about the smiling girl in the picture. He tried to ignore the little whispers by focusing on the article but it was really much too boring.

                That familiar tune played again as someone else came in. Key felt a long sigh brush by his pink lips and flipped yet another page. He was hoping that the people would leave soon. He’d probably have to go reorganize everything on the shelves now since they were shoving things in their hunt for whatever it was they wanted.

                Thankfully, the group of girls came to the counter, hands laden with key chains and other stuff. They placed their items on the counter, giggling as Key rung them up.

                “That’ll be ten won,” he announced, his voice completely not meeting the customer friendly status quo.

                Nonetheless, the girls seemed cheery as they passed him the due amount.

                “Come again,” Key chirped in the same monotonous manner that the door song had.

                As soon as they left, the employee went to investigate everything they’d touched. As expected, everything was askew from the perfect arrangement that Key worked hard on (it was basically all he could do during his long and boring work hours). Key was busily arranging his Hello Kitty display when a voice startled him into knocking it all down.

                Angry as hell, he whipped around to tell the person off.

                “Yah! What’d wrong with you?! Can’t you see that I’m working?! Don’t sneak up on working people!” he shrieked at the unsuspecting victim.

                The person turned out to be a rather short guy with hair as dark a brown as his puppy like eyes. He had smooth, stubble free cheeks that were further defined by the high cheek bones he had, and despite his short stature, the shirt he was wearing defined his muscles all over.

                Key, being the strong willed diva that he was, wasn’t swayed the least bit by this guy’s surprisingly good looks. Even when he flashed him a charming guilty smile he didn’t budge in his feelings for the stranger.

                “Sorry, I just wanted to know if you had any Hello Kitty stickers,” the guy said sheepishly.

                Key’s eyes narrowed as he viciously grabbed a pack of stickers from what was left of his display and shoved it into the other’s hands. Without another look to him he squatted down to pick up the mess he’d made earlier. Obscenities were being mumbled under his breath as he picked up a couple pink pens that had broken upon impact with the floor.

                He straightened up, dumping the disorganized merchandise onto the shelf since he was too peeved to put it in its proper place at the moment. It didn’t help Key’s mood any more to find the guy who’d asked him for the stickers blocking his way.

                Key huffed, saying, “Uhm, excuse me?” His voice held a rude tone that was further defined by the hand placed haughtily on his hip. If this guy had half a brain to him he’d move before Key completely lost his patience.

                “Sorry~” the stranger said, moving over. There wasn’t much space to move around in the small boutique so Key had to squeeze through. It was a well aimed shot to his ego since he’d hoped to make a large, dramatic leave back to his cash register.

                He let out a large huff as he returned to his magazine. Any second now the annoying guy would be coming here to pay for his stupid cartoon cat stickers. Honestly, why did people buy this crap? Key wondered. He realized how hypocritical this sounded when he glanced down at his cell phone which was decorated with stickers and key chains that he’d purchased at the very store he worked at.

                When time passed and there was no sign of the guy, Key began to get suspicious. There was no way anyone would be stealing from his store, no matter if it was an inexpensive knick knack or a pack of sparkly stickers – no one stole when Kim Kibum was around.

                Ditching the magazine (not that he’d really been reading it in the first place). Key stalked out of the entrance room he was in to the slightly larger room attached to it. He went straight back to the place he’d first encountered the puppy like boy. His mouth opened, ready to call the guy out on stealing but stopped himself short when he saw exactly what the guy was doing.

                The display was arranged back to a near normal state. All the pens, notebooks and key chains that had fallen were back in almost the exact same spot they’d been in before they got knocked down. The boy stood in front of the shelves, a pack of pens in his hands as he stared up at his newly arranged shelves.

                Key was left a bit gob smacked. Maybe he had judged him a bit too quickly… Still, though, his pride bubbled up and the look of surprise on Key’s face turned into one of annoyance.

                “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

                With a start, puppy boy snapped his head into the direction of the employee.

                “Uh, well, I just thought I’d help you out since it was kind of my fault that you knocked everything over,” he said shrugging.

                Key’s feline eyes narrowed to slits at the words. He snatched the pens back from the guy with a distasteful sneer.

                The air around him seemed to freeze. As a customer he didn’t feel the happy go lucky service that he was used to getting; especially since people were usually polite in Korea.

                “First of all, I didn’t knock all of this down.” Key turned a shoulder to this strange boy who looked like he was completely fascinated by the way he was being treated. “And you put the pens in the wrong place, now everything is out of order! I’m going to have to redo this! Thanks a lot; this is going to take me twice as long as it was supposed to!” he continued to complain.

                Now the boy was beginning to feel bothered by this guy’s disrespectful tone. Here he’d been trying to do something nice for this guy and all he got as a reward was his constant complaining? That wasn’t going to go by smoothly with him.

                “Well sorry for trying to help,” he ended up saying in an overly sarcastic tone.

                Key rolled his eyes, not the least bit impressed.

                Sparks of anger and frustration began to fill up the cold chill wafting off the flustered Key. Both boys were slitting their eyes in each other’s direction every chance they could. The normally bright and cheery store was darkening now as a challenge built up fuel.

                Key being flustered only angered him more than usual. He finished reorganizing the mess the guy had made before rounding on the stranger. This time he didn’t bother asking him to move, he simply just nudged his way past the short to go back to his magazine.

                The stomping steps behind Key told him that his time with this guy was not over.

                The counter was the only thing separating Key and the stranger now. He kept a firm stand, face portraying nothing but annoyance at the pest he was being forced to deal with – the pest that was still holding on to his stickers.

                The sparkly cats smiled up through the clear plastic package; the only cheery thing in this otherwise fiery moment.

                Key rung the item up, tapping some buttons on the machine. It beeped and buzzed until finally it processed the information and started printing the receipt.

                Key said, “That’ll be ten won.”

                The customer’s jaw dropped at hearing the price. It was such a blatant lie that he could barely believe it.

                “What?! The price tag says one won!” he exclaimed while pointing to the neon yellow sticker on the item.

                An impatient, superior look adorned Key’s sharp features. He barely glanced down to where he was pointing, knowing full well what the price was. One of his perfectly shaped eyebrows rose as he explained the reasons behind the price jump.

                “The extra charge it for ruining my display case and breaking some of the merchandise,” he explained monotonously.

                The other boy seemed to bristle in anger. A whole load of ugly things were coursing through his head. Temptation was strong but he pushed it down. If this guy was going to be so childish than he’d just have to rise about his immaturity and be the bigger man – figuratively speaking…

                “You can’t do that!”

                Or not.

                Key’s haughty disposition didn’t change. His posture stayed strong and his voice stayed calm, letting his face do all the speaking;

                “Twelve won,” he said.

                Fury built up in the customer’s stomach. His hands clenched the edge of the counter with such a force that his knuckles turned white. You could clearly see the muscles clenching in his jaw as he faced off with the diva.

                Taking a couple deep breaths, he asked in a scarily fat voice, “What is the extra two won for?”

                Key flipped a page in his magazine, having been fed up of staring at the cute stranger. He pretended to read a quick line or two, managing to look completely bored yet intrigued enough to cause irritation in the shorter male.

                “For harassing the employees,” he stated.

                Victory was his. The guy’s face reddened to a furious shade of pink. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket, fishing around for some bills before slamming them down beside his stickers with a noticeable sneer.

                Key made to reach for a bag but the puppy like boy just grabbed the stickers off the counter.

                “Don’t bother,” he hissed.

                Pearly white teeth slowly revealed themselves as a cocky smile raise the corners of Key’s pink lips. He leaned n elbow on the counter, staring hard with his feline eyes.

                “Come again,” he urged in a sickeningly fake voice.

                “Like hell I will,” the boy growled as he stalked out of the store.

                Key finally let his guard down, heaving a massive sigh. Today had enough and now on top of the double shift he’d been forced to take, he had ruined display and a prissy customer…

                He rubbed his temples, feeling a head ache coming on before grabbing the bills he’d been tossed and sorting them in the register.