(( A/N Sorry this is half a day late! Updates will still be happening on Fridays, but just later in the day on Fridays because of how long of a day of classes I have on Thursdays and how early I have to get up Fridays. Yay school.

Upside is I think the stress has died down enough for my writer's block to start to go away, I just have a ton of homework to get out of the way first but I'm gonna try to work a head a bunch so I have time to write and hopefully finish up this story. That doesn't really mean much to you all probably, but ))

Chapter Fifteen:
Throw a Stranger an Unexpected Smile

“So I have a favor to ask.”
 

“Jongdae last time you said that you me, the next line out of your mouth was that we should sleep together.”
 

“That was two years ago, are you ever going to let it go?
 

“You were completely aware that I was taken!” Jongdae rolled his eyes, resting his chin in the palm on his hand, elbow on the counter of the coffee shop he was bothering Wonshik at.
 

“I said Hongbin could join us.”
 

“That’s missing the point entirely.”
 

“I promise this doesn’t involve me, or you having with anyone,” He stated. “It’s about that club your friend runs. I want you to get Chanyeol a gig there.”
 

“What makes you think I would do that?”
 

“Because you know me, and you know that when I want something to happen, I make it happen,” The brunet replied simply. “Plus you still owe me for not murdering Zhang when you ended up in the hospital after ended up there from those pills he sold you.” He added and Wonshik huffed a sigh.
 

“That wasn’t Zhang’s fault, I’m the one who took too many. And I’ll get my chewed if he , I hope you know that.”
 

“Hey, if needed I can send you a list of gig’s he’s played around here for reference. He moved near your friend’s club, that’s why I asked for your help,” Jongdae replied.
 

“Alright, alright,” Wonshik said, pulling out his mobile. He scrolled through his contacts, selecting one and holding the device to his ear. Jongdae played on his own mobile while Wonshik was talking, smiling when Wonshik turned back to him. “Friday night, eight o’clock sharp. He better not be late.” He said and Jongdae looked back to his mobile, opening his message line with Chanyeol.
 

“Don’t worry, he won’t be,” He assured the blue haired male, sending Chanyeol the details.

Chanyeol had lost track of how many different outfits he had gone through before going back to what he had first tried on; a simple white button up shirt and a pair of black slacks. He took a slow breath, trying to calm himself as he padded into his bathroom, opening the medicine cabinet for his comb, his hand stopping half way as his eyes traveled to the orange bottle beside it. His fingers started to veer towards the bottle and he went as far as to pick it up, turning it in his hand.

The move had been more stressful than he had expected and when he had told Jongdae that, the brunet had suggested cutting all of his pills in half and taking one during the say if he needed it and the other half before bed. He started to open the bottle before he froze, holding his breath until his throat began to burn and he shook his head, closing the bottle and putting it back in the cabinet and grabbing the comb before closing the cabinet door.
 

You can do this without them. He thought, running the comb through his hair. He knew he was more worried that he would be tempted to drink at the bar, and he didn’t dare mixing the two, but he liked the thought that he was confident he could get through the nerves without the help of the medication better. He looked himself over in the full length mirror on the door of his closet, eyes flickering to the clock on his nightstand before he grabbed his guitar case, keys and mobile, exiting his room. He paused as he was walking past the kitchen, and then decided against grabbing something to eat with how much the thought of food caused his stomach to churn.

He ended up at the bar an hour before his performing slot, making his way out onto the floor to look around. He had never been in a club or bar before they opened and it looked so strange being as empty as it was. Turning around as he looked he jumped when he realized there was someone watching him from the bar. He stared at the blond before trying to smile at him.

“Hi,” Chanyeol said, mentally groaning about how awkward he sounded. “I’m one of the… musicians for tonight, I was told to wait in here until the owner came to get me,” He explained, tightening his grip on his guitar case. He felt a little better when the other gave him a small smile.

“You seem nervous. Want a shot on the house?” He asked and Chanyeol made his way up to the bar. He took a seat, watching as the blond scanned over the bottles. “What’s your poison?” he asked, looking back over his shoulder and Chanyeol’s mind went blank for a moment before he stammered out ‘anything’ and the bartender laughed. It was higher pitched than Chanyeol would have expected from the way the other looked as he watched him turn back to the shelves of bottles. Picking on up he grabbed a pair of shot glasses, flipping them both up right with one hand and set them on the bar in one smooth motion.

“Peach vodka it is,” The blond said, smiling at Chanyeol as he started spinning the bottle in his other hand- proceeding to drop it, a loud crash filling the room. The bartender cringed, looking down at the shattered bottle and then up at the light brown haired male who was coming down the stairs across the room.

“That’s coming out of your paycheck,” he sighed, ing the cuffs of his shirt and rolling them up as he made his way over to the pair. The bartender nodded, looking back to Chanyeol with a more sheepish smile this time.

“I’m ZiTao, I’m new here myself,” The bartender introduced.

“Chanyeol,” He replied as the light brown haired male handed a broom to ZiTao.
 

“What did I tell you about doing tricks?” he asked and ZiTao cringed a little, reaching up to toy with one of the studs in his right ear, drawing Chanyeol’s attention to all the piercings he had in it. Chanyeol was trying to count them, but ZiTao turned after he got to five, going to retrieve a dust pan and the light brown haired male stood beside him.
 

“My name is Junmyeon, I’m the owner. You’re the new musician I was told about, right?” He asked and Chanyeol nodded. “We mixed the program a little, so you’ll be performing closer to ten thirty instead of nine. Gives you a bigger crowd to impress,” He added, smiling and Chanyeol felt the color drain from his face.
 

“Y-yes sir,” he said, Junmyeon placing a hand on his shoulder.

“You’ll do fine. I’ve heard good things about you from the references your friend gave,” He assured before giving Chanyeol’s shoulder a light squeeze, then turned and made his way from the bar. Chanyeol took a deep breath, leaning forward to rest his face in his hands. After a few minutes he felt a tap on his shoulder and he jumped, turning to look at ZiTao who had been leaning across the bar to get his attention. The blond straightened and pushed a shot glass to him.
 

“Junmyeon’s right, you’ll do great,” He said, holding up a shot he had poured for himself. “But have a lucky shot anyway,” He added. Chanyeol stared at him for a moment before he picked up the shot glass, tapping it against ZiTao’s before wincing a little as he swallowed it. Shots had never been much of his style, mostly because of the burn they left, and he was surprised that ZiTao showed no discomfort when he downed his own. He offered Chanyeol another smile before taking the empty glasses, and setting them in the bus-bin by the sink.

Time seemed to crawl by and Junmyeon came to get him just before the bar opened to take him to the back room of the stage. At that point it didn’t seem like he could have enough time before he was signaled to set up on stage a couple hours later. He almost tripped over one of the cords on his way across the stage, and he was about to turn tail and give up at the laughter that he heard when he saw Jongdae at the table closest to the stage. The brunet gave him a smile and he took a slow breath, returning the smile and taking a seat. He closed his eyes, looping the guitar strap around himself, taking one more deep breath before he began to play.

There was a loud clink of glasses and a cheer before Jongdae was trying to get Chanyeol to drown in his pint of beer by lifting the bottom of the glass, spilling most of it down Chanyeol’s chin instead. He was thankful for the napkins that Yifan handed him.
 

“Come on! It’s time to celebrate!” Jongdae exclaimed, Yifan trying to force him back into his seat when the waitress came to the table with the round of shots that Chanyeol didn’t have a clue whom had bought.

“He’s right Chanyeol, you heard the owner at the end of your performance. He said that you’re their new regular.” Chanyeol looked to the dark haired male across the table.
 

“You mean that wasn’t an anxiety induced hallucination?” Chanyeol asked, the oldest at the table sliding him two shots. He was one of the owners of the last club he had performed at regularly.

“That’s exactly what I mean,” He replied, laughing when Yifan pulled Jongdae’s hand away from trying to steal one of the shots Chanyeol have been given. “Better drink those before your friend does,” He added, Yifan distracting the already tipsy brunet by giving him his own beer.
 

Chanyeol nodded, looking at the shots and internally cringing. He wasn’t looking forward to them, but he knew it was rude to refuse drinks from elders so he took one shot, chasing it with his beer before doing the same with the other. An hour later he wasn’t sure how many drinks they had gotten into him, both of the club owners he had worked for getting far too much enjoyment out of getting him drunk, but it was long enough for Jongdae to be slumped against Yifan’s chest. Chanyeol was pretty sure Jongdae had fallen asleep at one point, waking up long enough to protest when Yifan nudged him saying it was time to head home. He eventually got the younger on his feet, an arm hooked around his waist to keep him up.

“Let me know when you two get home safely,” Chanyeol asked and Yifan nodded.

“You too,” he said and Jongdae staggered as he was nudged to start walking towards the exit. Yifan rolled his eyes, smiling as he shifted a little to swipe his other arm under Jongdae’s knees and was pleased when the brunet snuggled into his chest rather than argue about Yifan carrying him. They made their way from the table and out of the bar, Chanyeol watching them until they disappeared before his gaze moved to the two club owners who were getting up from the table.

“We should be heading out too.” The black haired one stated and Chanyeol stood, thanking them for coming out to support him and waving as they left, surprised by how he was able to stand. He knew that he needed to head home too, making his way over to the bar to get a glass of water before he left. There were only two bartenders, which surprised Chanyeol a bit with how busy they were. He didn’t mind waiting, and he rested one arm on the bar, giving a small wave and smile when he saw ZiTao look over. He then slumped over to lay his head on his arm. He blinked slowly, noticing how the bar lights made ZiTao’s hair look almost white before he closed his eyes.

ZiTao looked over when someone else came up to the bar, fully prepared to mentally curse them out when he saw Chanyeol, feeling his heart jump up into his throat at the smile on the black haired male’s face. His attention was called on by the customer he was filling shots for, who not-so-politely pointed out that he had missed the shot glasses entirely. ZiTao apologized, grabbing a pair of clean shot glasses, filling them and sliding them to the customer.

After Chanyeol had performed the entire bar acted like him being named a new regular section of the bar’s live entertainment was reason for everyone in the house to refill their drinks- not to mention the group that Chanyeol had been sitting with helped when three of them split the cost of buying the entire bar a round of whatever Chanyeol wanted. ZiTao’s cheeks had tinted a little when the musician looked back at him in the bar and stammered something, and ZiTao heard the brunet sitting beside him ask ‘since when do you like peach?’ before the bar was swarmed.

He was pretty sure if he wasn’t good friends with Junmyeon he would have been fired for how slow he had been. It wasn’t his fault that Chanyeol was cute and a complete distraction, and if Junmyeon had just agreed when he said he wanted to take over the floor waitress’ role for the night he wouldn’t have been trying to steal glances at Chanyeol from all the way across the room.

He took a deep breath, letting it out as a relieved sigh when the line finally died down a stressful fifteen minutes of trying to remember how much of what went into each drink later, and he ran a hand through his hair. He frowned a little at the way his eyeliner was smudged in his reflection, washing his hands and trying to fix himself up a little. When he was finally as happy as he was sure he was going to get about the mess of a state his liner was in he made his way to Chanyeol.

“Still going strong?” he asked, and when the other didn’t respond he placed a hand on his shoulder, giving a gently shake. “Did you fall asleep?” he asked, shaking the other a little harder. Chanyeol’s head slipped off of his arm and onto the bar with a thunk, his eyes remaining closed.

“Damnit!” ZiTao groaned.

((A/N Yay ZiTao is finally here~ Funny enough ZiTao first appears in chapter 15 of both of my current Exo fics xD

Also, I added in the part from Jongdae where he talked about Wonshik ending up in the hospital because Angel told me that I unintentionally make it seem like Baekhyun had died of an overdose and that wasn't my intent at all. It was a cool idea and the most popular theory, but not true. I almost changed things when Angel first brought it up but then I decided I wanted to continue with my original idea instead :3 ))