chas·er
[chey-ser] noun
1. A beverage that is consumed immediately after a straight shot of liquor to create a different taste.
2. A person or thing that chases or pursues. 


 

Ravi's janitor senses tingled.

He was outside wiping the glass windows when his instincts told him that a cup broke. So he went back inside the pub and observed the floor.

Hyuk was standing by a table stiff and frozen. By his feet were the smashed remains of a wine glass. He didn't move for a moment before coming to and picking the shards up.

Ravi ran up to him and landed a chop on his head.

"OW!" Hyuk howled, dropping the glass in his grasp. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

"DON'T PICK THEM UP WITH YOUR BARE HANDS!" The janitor shouted back and pushed him aside. "Just get back to work. I'll clean this up."

"A-Alright." The kid waddled to the bar, where Hongbin looked at him worriedly.

"Are you okay? You don't usually drop things."

Hyuk sat down and groaned in his hands. "... I was d." He shivered a little at the memory.

"So?" 

He glanced suspiciously at the blank bartender. "Why are you saying it like it's a normal thing?"

"Well, I've been d a number of times," Hongbin shrugged. "Wonderful perks of being a bartender."

"You mean you're okay with people groping you?"

"Of course not. I'm saying it's common in a place where you're surrounded by drunken people. You might as well get used to it." Hyuk shivered again at the thought.

Leo came by and sat down next to the groaning busboy. "Lemon."

"Sure thing." Hongbin looked around before beginning to prepare the tea.

The singer caught his glancing and asked. "What."

"Oh, no, I was just thinking that N should be—" 

"TAEKWOONAH!" The aforementioned boss appeared out of nowhere and attached himself to Leo's backside. "Hi, lovely!"

"—glued to you."

Hyuk stared at them oddly. "You guys made up already?"

"Of course!" N nuzzled his nose against the back, which the redhead pointedly ignored. "I can never stay mad at this cutesy-poo." 

Hyuk fought the urge to hurl; Leo probably had the highest tolerance for idiot ever.

"I heard you guys were talking about groping?" N asked, blinking curiously. 

"Of course," chimed Hongbin. "Can't have a conversation about groping without the master."

"Oh yeah," Hyuk groaned again. "He d my before."

"And what a fine you have! Almost as nice as Taekwoon's!" N dodged a slap from the singer. "Let's see here. Where were you d?"

The busboy sighed, already tired of this BS. "Same place. My ."

"And there proves my point!" The boss placed his hands on his shoulders. "Hyuk my dear, everyone, including myself, think you have a nice , to the point that they want to touch it. You should be flattered that you were born with such lushness to your cheeks! Thank your mother."

"Thank you mom, for making me -material. It's nice to know that old men think my is lush."

"That's the spirit!"

Ravi arrived at the bar too. "What's all this talk about butts?"

"We're talking about groping!" N replied happily, as if it were a normal thing. "Hyuk here had his very first . I'm so proud!"

"Uh, congratulations?" The janitor awkwardly scratched his head.

Hongbin noticed something on his hand and gasped. "Wonshik! You're bleeding!"

Ravi blankly looked on the side of his hand and saw the blood dripping out of a small cut. "... Huh. I guess I am. Must be from the glass I cleaned up earlier."

"Wait a minute," Hyuk stopped him. "You specifically told me not to pick up glass shards with my bare hands, and then you go pick up glass shards with your bare hands?"

"Because I can," Ravi answered snootily.

Hongbin came up to him in worry.  "Wonshik, are you okay?"

"I'm fine; I'll just on it." 

"No you won't," the brunet grabbed his hand and pulled him behind the bar. "You should be more careful."

"O-Okay," murmured Ravi, slightly flustered at the touch. 

As Hongbin disinfected his wound with rubbing alcohol and bandaged it, N continued their stupid conversation; Hyuk fled before it could start up again.

"I remember my first ," he sighed dreamily. Leo choked on his own spit when it was said.

"Who." The singer demanded, anger slowly starting to build up in him. 

"I don't remember," N replied indifferently. "It's quite a fond memory though." 

While Leo silently gritted his teeth, they turned the conversation onto Hongbin. 

"Hongbinnie's been d quite a bit too." This time Ravi choked on his spit.

"You were d?!" The janitor asked of the man putting a Hello Kitty band-aid on him. "By who?! When?!"

"Huh? Oh, you know... I'm the eye candy of the pub, so it's not weird if people want to touch me," Hongbin answered calmly. "It's not a big deal."

"It is a huge deal!" Ravi was red with anger. "People just can't touch you like that, especially if you don't like it!"

N coughed the word 'desperate' into his sleeve.

"Wonshik," the brunet gently patted his wound. "I'm fine. If you're that upset, just protect me next time, okay?"

Ravi hesitantly nodded. "... O-Okay."

"Promise?" He held up his pinky.

"Promise." 

The latter two awkwardly watched as the janitor blushed and locked their pinkies. 

"So where did our Ken-Ken go?" N asked, massaging Leo's shoulders and successfully interrupting their moment. The kitchen was dark, and the chef was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, he drove Banshee home again," answered Hongbin. "He'll come back in an hour or so."

"Banshee was here? Aw, I wanted to say hi."

"You were too busy gushing over Taek."

"You're right. Speaking of which," the boss poked Leo's unsuspecting cheeks. "Isn't it time for your next song?"

Leo set down his usual teacup and began to saunter to the stage. N followed him happily, phone camera at the ready. Ravi too, with pink cheeks excused himself to go clean something.

So Hongbin was left to his bartending duties and watched over the store. He chuckled at how every time a nearby customer moved their hand, Hyuk would flinch and move his away. The kid really needed to be taught -resistance.

Ravi was aimlessly dabbing at a chair with a wet cloth, Ken returned to the kitchen, Leo was singing passionately and N was watching him, just as passionate. Everything was going fine in the pub for a while.

An hour or so later, Hongbin was finishing a cocktail when a woman's muffled cries entered his ears. He looked up and scanned the tables, catching the one where the noise came from. 

There was the woman he heard, standing beside the table. Her wrist was held by a man next to her, evidently drunk. Anger was on both of their faces.

"Let go of me!" She shouted, tugging at her restraint. 

"Y-You aren't leaving me," the drunken man hiccupped, violently pulling the lady back. 

Hongbin's inner alarms went off and he jumped over the counter, running over to them. He knew it wasn't his place to intervene in a couple's fight, but at the same time he could never ignore a damsel in distress. 

"Excuse me sir," the brunet said as politely as possible. "But would you please get the out of our store?"

The man sneered, and Hongbin could smell how much alcohol he drank, literally. He had 4.8 glasses of wine and a cigarette, the brunet mused. "Piss off, pretty boy!"

He tugged at the woman again and she looked at Hongbin, screaming for help with her eyes. 

Something snapped inside of the bartender. Before he could control himself, he grabbed the drunken man and threw him against the table.  The man then collapsed onto the floor along with the furniture, but Hongbin was more concerned about the wine glasses he just broke.

Ignoring the silence that enveloped the pub, the eerily calm brunet turned to the lady. She didn't look afraid anymore; she was amazed that a pretty boy could do such damage. 

"Are you alright?" He asked, holding out a hand. 

After a stunned moment, she nodded. "Th-thank you." The lady was about to grab his hand when she caught movement behind him. "... WATCH OUT!"

When he turned around, he found the man raising a dangerous fist at him. There was no time to dodge. So he flinched, waiting for the punch to hit his face.

But it never came; when Hongbin opened his eyes, all he saw was a flash of white pass in front of him and go down with the punch.

He blinked again and saw Ravi on the floor, a red mark growing on his cheek.

Ravi took the punch for him.

This time everything snapped. 

In a fiery rage, Hongbin blindly grabbed a nearby chair and aimed for the drunken bastard's head. 

The other employees immediately jumped into action. "LEE HONGBIN, STOP!" N wrapped his arms around the furious bartender and shouted commands like the boss he was. "Hyuk, call the police! Taek, remove that chair! Ken, get the miss home! Everyone else, DON'T PANIC!"

They obeyed and went through with their tasks. As Ken escorted the shocked lady to a taxi, Leo removed any sort of furniture Hongbin could possibly use as a weapon, and Hyuk sat on the drunken man's back after he dialled 119.

"... Hongbin," N called, his arms still wrapped around the other's body. "I'm going to let go, and you're going to calm down, okay?"

"Calm down?" The brunet struggled violently against his grip. "Over my dead body should I calm down— this needs to die!"

The boss tried again. "Hongbin, listen—"

"Hongbin." Ravi slowly sat up from the floor, staring up at him. "Calm down, for the love of Rodin."

N let go of their bartender as he felt him relax. He flinched when Hongbin moved immediately, thinking he was going to try to hit the man again. Instead, Hongbin knelt next to Ravi and grabbed his face.

"Oh my god," the brunet muttered, brushing fingers over Ravi's bruise. "You didn't have to, Wonshik. You really didn't have to."

"The eye candy can’t damage his face. And I promised," the janitor answered pleasantly. "That I'd protect you."

As Hongbin pulled him into a tight hug, N coughed the word 'desperate' into his sleeve.

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL WORLD WITH RABEAN AROUND (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧
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