Every day on his commute to school, Joonmyun passes a liquor store right off the highway. And every time he passes it, bright red sign lit up with big block letters reading Good Time Liquor, he gives it a contemplative glance, his neatly manicured brows pulling together in thought. And every time he thinks, maybe today will be the day I ditch class and get off the highway three exits earlier to stop by that liquor store to pick up a bottle of…booze…(he’s not terribly familiar with types of alcohol or brands, you can see how often he does this sort of thing), and proudly walk out, gripping it tightly in its brown paper sack, and… You know, get drunk instead of taking another exhausting exam or reading another ten chapters for tomorrow’s lecture. He thinks that. He thinks that every time. But he hasn’t yet actually stopped and really, he’s sort of scared to. He wonders if he could ever do such a thing. Blow off his full day of classes. Blow off his study group, which he was head of (and in charge of bringing the snacks – they needed brain food, after all). Maybe blow off work; blow off his stiff, somewhat formal dinners with his parents they had several times a week where his attendance wasn’t expected, exactly, but he always felt rude declining the invitation. Blow off his responsibilities and obligations. He wants to, really wants to, but he just…can’t.

If Joonmyun is anything it’s responsibly, reliably, predictable. He’s the rock that somehow sticks in the earth during a landslide while all the other rocks have an exciting time rolling and skipping down the mountainside. When you look up the barren hill at this single rock sitting on the slope in the middle of the dirt, you wonder why, how this rock remains? The rock will simply reply, It’s okay, I’m supposed to be up here, not causing a fuss down there on the road…interrupting drivers’ travel plans and all… It’s okay! That rock is Joonmyun. A rock is supposed to stay with the mountain, not roll off onto the street, down the street, and to a liquor store.

“This is stressful. This is stressful. This is stressful and I don’t know why I do it.”

The microwave bell dings. It’s Swiss Miss hot chocolate break time, thank god.

Joonmyun exhales loudly and looks up from the work piled in front of him on the office desk at work, where he’s trying to multitask (or quad-task, really) several things for work and school during his break. He shoves the wheeled chair back away from the desk, kicking his way to roll across the small space to reach the microwave. Removing the steaming mug of hot chocolate carefully from the microwave, he wheels himself back over to the desk and dumps in a little packet of mini marshmallows, swirling them around in the chocolatey foam with a coffee stirrer. He decides to give his eyes a break from his reading and making of schedules, opting instead to check on Minseok outside (i.e. sitting on the floor behind the register counter and nagging him).

“Did you finish the stethoscope inventory yet?” Joonmyun asks as he heads straight to his favorite spot on the floor. He settles carefully on the carpet, crossing his legs, and blows on his hot chocolate to cool it off.

“Did you find a girlfriend yet?” Minseok replies flatly, not bothering to look up from what he’s concentrating on, head bowed and shoulders hunched down toward the counter.

Joonmyun pauses, mid-sip. “…No?”

“Well there ya go.”

As in, no. No inventory finished… Or started.

“Minseok, I know I’m your friend but I’m also your manager and you can’t just blow off the tasks I assign you with because you’re…too busy with…” Joonmyun frowns and shifts sideways to try and peer up at what Minseok is doing hunched over the counter. “Too busy with… What are you actually doing, Minseok?”

“Painting my nails,” Minseok mumbles.

“You’re… What?” Joonmyun sets his cup of hot chocolate on top of the counter before getting up and pulling Minseok back by the shoulder to find that he is indeed painting his nails. “You’re painting your nails.” Joonmyun blinks down at the glistening black polish neatly applied to Minseok’s nails. “At work. You’re painting your nails at work.”

Minseok carefully twists the lid back on the bottle and waves his hand back and forth to dry his nails. “What else am I going to do?” He squints at his shiny nails and blows on them. “There hasn’t been a customer in the last hour and a half.”

“Oh, I don’t know, the stethoscope inventory that I assigned you with that needs to be done by tonight, perhaps?”

“Tonight, you say?”

Joonmyun groans and reaches for his hot chocolate, taking a sip in hopes the heat and marshmallows will bring him some kind of comfort. “Where did you even get nail polish, Minseok? You know I don’t need to tell you that is something you are most definitely not supposed to be doing at work, right? At. Work.”

“It’s the sample that guy dropped off a while back, remember? The guy who had on more eye makeup than a girl.” When Joonmyun looks like he’s struggling to recall that day Minseok shakes his head and says, “You were sleepwalking that day, never mind.”

Joonmyun frowns in response. He picks up the miniature bottle of nail polish and reads the label. “No, I remember this day… Jerk… Satan’s Soul. I wouldn’t think Satan had a soul, right?”

“He does, Joonmyun, and it’s black. This nail polish proves it. He’s got a black soul and they’ve captured its essence perfectly in this shade of nail polish.”

“Oh, okay. Didn’t realize you were such an expert on all things cosmetic and evil,” Joonmyun says sarcastically, and obnoxiously slurps a few mini marshmallows into his mouth from his hot chocolate. “Listen, tomorrow morning I have a doctor appointment so I’ll be coming in a bit late for my shift.”

“To have your sleepwalking disorder officially diagnosed? So the cops won’t find you walking on a rural road in the middle of the night with your dog wearing nothing but a t-shirt and boxer shorts?”

“Ha ha, oh Minseok, you’re so funny with all your clever television references,” Joonmyun deadpans. “No, remember last weekend when I broke out in hives?”

“Yes. How could I forget? It’s splotched all over my memory like that gross, red rash splotched all over your skin,” Minseok says, his chin scrunched in disgust, and rakes his eyes over Joonmyun’s (now clear) exposed neck and arms.

Joonmyun stares at Minseok. “I’m going to write you up for insubordination.”

“Please, please, no. Nooo,” Minseok pretends to beg, pulling pleadingly on Joonmyun’s shirt. “So you’re going to find out why you broke out in hives or what?” he asks, checking out the surprisingly perfect job he’s done on his nails. They look pretty good black, he notes with an strange sense of pride, huh.

“Yes, they’re going to run some tests to find the cause. Wish me luck.”

“Good luck, Joonmyun.” Minseok smiles up at him. “Really, I mean it,” he says, sweet smile quickly fading. “I never want to have to witness that horrific rash covering your body ever again. I’m scarred. I really think I am.”

“Writing you up…” Joonmyun grumbles.

*

“Hey.”

Minseok looks up from where his eyes are glued to the screen of the POS computer to find Jongdae strolling in. He approaches the counter and leans casually against it, propping an elbow on the surface.

“Hey. What are you doing in here?” Minseok cranes his head around Jongdae to see Gourmet Popcorn unmanned. “Aren’t you supposed to be out there, you know, running your business or something?”

“Nah, it’ll be fine. I put up a Back in Five sign. I was bored and my desire to stamp out said boredom overruled responsibility so instead of taking more pictures I came to shoot the with my dear friend Minseok,” Jongdae grins. “And whatever, I’m the boss.”

“That’s good, I guess, because your Instagram became unbearable and I unfollowed you. Now I hate looking at popcorn more than Joonmyun’s hives.”

“I make no apologies,” Jongdae says (and makes a mental note to tag Minseok in every future Instagram post of popcorn so he’ll have to look at it), turning his nose up at Minseok, then changes his position against the counter to face out toward his kiosk. “I have to keep a steady lookout though. Have you ever seen that tanned guy with the dark red hair, shaved at the sides, piercings - he works at that Chinese skincare stand?”

“Uhh-”

Jongdae waves him off. “So this guy has made it a thing where he ing sneaks up while I’m there and tries to secretly take popcorn without paying for it. He literally brings his own bag, but it’s one from another store, a little one where it just looks like he could be walking around with a shopping bag. The last time I caught him he was filling up a mini bag from Porcelain Beauty with handfuls of popcorn and when I confronted him he acted all innocent and pretended he didn’t speak Korean, so he yelled at me in Chinese and ing ran away!”

 Minseok bursts out laughing. “Oh my god. I don’t know this guy but I think I need to meet him.”

“Hey, it’s not funny! He’s making me lose money! He’s stealing my product!” Jongdae exclaims heatedly. “The next time I catch him I’m calling mall security, I swear,” he scowls. “Or the cops… Or I’ll just hit him and then when he says ‘I wasn’t taking any popcorn!’ I’ll grab his little bag and dump the stolen popcorn all over his head. Ha ha ha, yeah, that’s what I’ll do.”

Minseok gapes slightly at Jongdae. Maybe the boredom has finally driven him mad? “I’m not sure that would be the best solution…?”

Jongdae sighs and leans over the counter to see what Minseok was up to on the computer. “What are you wasting valuable work time doing? Do you like giving Joonmyun heart palpitations what with all this ignoring of instructions?”

Minseok makes side eyes. No, not giving Joonmyun heart palpitations on purpose… He turns the thin screen monitor slightly so Jongdae can see. “The missed connections posts on Craigslist.”

“Ahh, Craigslist,” Jongdae chuckles and looks away dreamily. “Craigslist…” He closes his eyes and nods with an ear to ear smile that makes Minseok uncomfortable.

“What…” Minseok squints at him. “What does that mean? You’ve had a missed connection?”

Jongdae seems to come back to himself and replies, “No, not a missed connection. It was a…casual encounter.” He grins and quirks an eyebrow. The perfect image of ersion personified.

“Ew, what? Eww. That’s where people go to look for ‘happy ending Thai massages.’ Dare I ask what happened?” Minseok asks, index fingers poised by his ears in case he needs to quickly plug them at the mention of something extra graphic.

“I met Soomin,” Jongdae answers happily.

Minseok chokes. “Your girlfriend?”

“Yep,” Jongdae chirps.

“Does she know the fine art of Thai massage?” Minseok ventures, but as Jongdae opens his mouth to speak, Joonmyun arrives for his shift (probably for the better – Jongdae’s expression says YOU BET YOUR and it’s answer enough for Minseok). “Hey Joonmyun, how was your appointment? Did you find out why you broke out in hives? More importantly, is there a treatment so I’ll never have to witness the horror…” Minseok trails off when he sees Joonmyun slowly shuffle closer to the counter looking more downhearted than usual. Alright, maybe a bad time for jokes, he decides, when Jongdae shoots him a dirty look.

“Yeah,” Joonmyun says, sounding slightly dazed, frowning down at the dark blue carpeted floor and unceremoniously drops his backpack to the ground. In the middle of the floor. Minseok and Jongdae exchange fleeting, worried glances before both train their eyes back on Joonmyun, watching him carefully. Joonmyun, whose heart rate increases at the mere sight of a stray pen that’s fallen on the floor and not in its rightful place in the pen cup behind the counter. Joonmyun, who throws a borderline conniption fit when a hanger falls off a rack and no one picks it up fast enough because someone might see and think the store is a complete wreck and it’s all his fault. The very same Joonmyun has now dumped his bag on the floor and is making no move to pick it up. That’s concerning to his two friends, to say the least. “Yeah… The doctor said it was most likely stress induced, but they ran a series of allergy tests just to be sure.”

“Oh, well that’s good then, right?” Jongdae tries to sound uplifting. “It wasn’t an allergic reaction.”

“No, the hives weren’t a reaction but the allergy test showed I have a severe tree nut allergy…somehow,” Joonmyun says weakly. Another thing to add to his list of worries, great, he thinks dimly to himself.

“What? How are you finding that out just now at your age? You don’t eat nuts?”

“No, I don’t know! Why would I randomly sit down one day and decide to eat a freaking tree nut?!” Joonmyun snaps at Jongdae all of a sudden, panic setting in his wide eyes. “I mean, I’ve had peanuts, but I’ve never… I had to Google what the hell tree nuts were as soon as I got to my car,” he tells them, and Minseok notices with increasing concern Joonmyun’s hands trembling at his sides. “They gave me a prescription for an EpiPen. An EpiPen. It’s severe enough an allergy that if I ingest a stupid freaking tree nut I have to inject myself with this thing or else I could go into anaphylactic shock. I could die!” he shouts. “I could die, Minseok!”

“Oookay, Joonmyun, you’re working yourself up into the panic attack of the century,” Jongdae says and carefully wraps his arms around Joonmyun’s narrow shoulders. He can feel small tremors run through his body and it scares him; it scares him that Joonmyun has such a hard time controlling his emotions and stress. The panic takes over and Joonmyun just kind of…lets it.

Minseok trots from behind the counter to join them in a supportive, comforting hug. “Joonmyun, you need to calm down,” says Minseok gently. “A lot of people have the same allergy and have to carry an EpiPen just in case, like you. You won’t die,” he assures him, rubbing his back. “It’s really not that big of a deal, just don’t eat nuts! You’ve refrained this long, keep it up! It’ll be fine! Don’t worry. You’re going to make yourself throw up if you don’t calm down.”

“Yeah, yeah it’ll be… But what if-” Joonmyun blinks rapidly, fear battling reason in his brain, trying to process Minseok’s words and logic.

“Shush.” Jongdae places a hand on the back of Joonmyun’s head and lightly grasps his hair. “We’ll all go grocery shopping together and read the ingredient labels on everything we buy to make sure those god damn evil tree nuts don’t sneak in and hurt you, Joonmyun. You’ll be all right. We’ll make sure you’re all right.”

Joonmyun looks up at Jongdae and sniffles. “Really?”

“Yes,” Minseok interjects and Joonmyun’s face darts to look at him. “And we’ll learn how to use the EpiPen too. Not that we’ll ever have to use it - because you’ll be completely fine - but as added precaution. But you’ll be fine. You will be perfectly fine.” Minseok hugs him tightly and Joonmyun rests his head on his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Joonmyun sighs. “Yeah, it’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.”

The trio of friends huddle together until they’re sure Joonmyun is steady enough to stand on his own without falling over. Minseok picks up his backpack and works the strap up Joonmyun’s arm and hangs it on his shoulder.

“Here, put your stuff up and go sit down for a minute,” Minseok instructs, pushing him back to the office. “I’ll make you a mug of Swiss Miss.”

“Okay…okay,” Joonmyun breathes out heavily. “Thank you… Both of you.” He turns around to thank his friends with a small, sincere smile, but suddenly his head to the side as he looks out past Minseok and Jongdae, out to Gourmet Popcorn. “Jongdae, there’s somebody lurking around your kiosk. He looks kind of suspicious.”

“What?” Jongdae snaps his head to look. “Oh my god, that er.” He bolts from Medical City. “TAO!” They hear him yell once he’s run out, chasing the guy (who flails in surprise and nearly drops his bag of stolen popcorn) from Gourmet Popcorn down the wide corridor of the mall. “I’m calling mall security, you son of a !” His shouts fade into the distance as he runs further away.

“Gonna go out on a limb here and say he probably shouldn’t be cussing like that in public…” Minseok comments. Joonmyun nods in agreement, resembling too much a disappointed mother. “Marshmallows in that cup o’ ho-cho?”

As they’re heading out for the night, pulling down the chain link gate together and locking it securely, Joonmyun informs Minseok there will be a young lady coming in tomorrow afternoon to interview for a new manager position. He will be interviewing her promptly at two o’clock, so please be on your best behavior and do not Google anything about possessions, hauntings, or evil Raggedy Ann dolls, he tells him sternly.

“That’s great! It’ll definitely help to lessen your load. Maybe you’ll lose some of that stress that may or may not cause a heart attack one of these days.”

“What? Are you saying I can’t handle this job, Minseok?” Joonmyun glares, mildly offended. He’s been the proud manager of Medical City for… He doesn’t want to count the months, but he always felt he did a perfectly fine job. Handles employee and customer conflicts well. Scores outstanding on secret shopper reports. Picks up pens and hangers before they touch the ground. He’s the freakin’ Golden Child Wunderkind of Medical City!

“Yes,” he responds flatly and Joonmyun gapes.

“I can handle it!”

Minseok shoots him a skeptical look. “Can you, Joonmyun? Can you?”

Joonmyun huffs. “Listen, you better remove that nail polish by tomorrow. It’s against the uniform dress code and I don’t want a managerial candidate seeing any of my employees breaking the rules. I’m serious.”

“But it makes me look dark and edgy. I wanted to be the Boy Toy of Hell with my black nail polish.”

“You can be the boy toy of Hell without the nail polish. Don’t make me write you up,” Joonmyun threatens him and wags a finger in his face like any good best friend manager would.

A's N: special Hannibal ref for u, Izzie. (& for all the human flesh/organ lovers out there. Own it, girl!)