Despite being a hired employee, Sehun didn’t actually do any work. His work hours consisted of sitting on the leather desk chair behind the counter, playing on his phone while Tao did his share.

It was just another day in the shop. Sehun was playing angry birds, Kyungsoo was sorting out his SpongeBob merch, and Tao was at the cash register, staring deadpan at the customer piling crap on the counter.

This time, Advil Lay bought a pack of gel pens, some eyelash extensions, and some salt.

Tao wasn’t even gonna ask, at this point, and was about to make another Yixing comment when the shop doors jingled and a pretty Japanese schoolgirl walked in. Sehun perked up.

“Luhan~,” He immediately stuffed his phone in his buttpocket and jogged over to the lady-guy-lady.

Girl-han looked incredibly uninterested, rolled his eyes and waved at Tao before heading down the shop isles to hang up more makeup advertisements.

Sehun turned to Tao. “How did you do that?”

“What?”

“She waved at you.”

Zitao tried to hold in his laugh, but said nothing as he watched Oh Sehun make another attempt to sway the beautiful and male Luhan.

He waltzed into the stationary isle, where Luhan was stapling an ad to the wall, and kind of just stood there trying to come up with a good line before blurting out, “You know I was noticed by Beyoncé.”

Luhan ‘uh-huh’-ed  and kept working, and Tao rolled his eyes and stuffed Lay’s goods into a bag, but at the mention of Queen Beyoncé, Kyungsoo abandoned his SpongeBob merch and came tripping into the stationary isle.

“What, seriously?”

Sehun nodded.

“How?”

“She blocked me on Instagram,” Sehun bragged. “Because I was spamming her with dirty comments.”

Luhan shuddered while also looking kinda impressed, and Kyungsoo lost his . “Wait, actually? Beyoncé blocked you?”

“What kinda dirty comments?” Tao pitched in.

Sehun shook his head. “This story is not for ordinary ears. It’s special.”

Everyone just nodded, because they understood the holiness of a soul noticed by Beyoncé, and God forbid someone would take that story and alter it, and disrupt the unique holiness of Sehun’s brief encounter with the spirit of Queen B.

Jongin was just about to perform the biggest stunt of his 21 years of life when Park Chanyeol marched into the auto-repair shop and disrupted the entire flow of his thoughts.

See, Kim Jongin had a secret. He was in love. Seriously in love. With the cool, sparkling beauty of pale skin and a sleek black shine under her hood, tattooed in all the right places and soaked in all the right scents. Evergreen, lavender, sometimes vanilla.

Indeed.

Kim Jongin was in love with Do Kyungsoo’s 1969 Boss 429 Mustang, aka, the car of his dreams.

But the problem was, Kyungsoo never parked in the gas station, where Jongin could legally pet his baby girl without any issue. He could tune her up and polish her and even get a chance to sit behind the wheel.

And now that Baekhyun’s grandmother’s minivan was parked in the drug store’s employee parking space, the gas station was free to use. He just needed the car.

His plan was simple. Use his auto-repair knowledge to drain the car completely of gas, so when Kyungsoo went to McDonalds for his lunch break (he always went on Wednesdays because apparently the Happy Meals were cheaper) he’d have no choice but to pull into the gas station with what little petrol he had left, and Jongin would give him just enough gas to go to McDonalds and back.

Kyungsoo would have no choice but to keep his Mustang in the gas station while he went back to work.

Jongin prepared the equipment he’d need. And while Kyungsoo was in the back of his shop with the SpongeBob merch, he’d launch his attack.

“I’ve almost caught him, ya know.” Chanyeol’s perky deep voice shook up Jongin’s professional train of thought, doing that incessant bouncing piss-off thing it did when he talked about Byun Baekhyun. “He’s only a few shots away from being behind bars.”

“Uh-huh.” Jongin tried his best to focus on his plan. But Chanyeol was inexperienced in the act of shutting up.

“But Kris doesn’t even believe me when I tell him that cheeky beagle is a shoplifter! He’s a cop, for God’s sake.” Chanyeol poked Jongin’s head, and Jongin cursed internally. “You believe me, right?”

“Uh-huh.” He checked off all the things he needed for his plan to work, and looked up at the smiling Yeol.

“Thanks, Jonginnie!” With that, Park Chanyeol was out the door and back in the direction of his shop.

Jongin sighed. Poor guy, he thought. He’s convinced that Byun Baekhyun is a thief. It must be hard to be so gay. And he went back to his masterplan.

“So how come you’re so obsessed with Chanyeol?” Minseok took the opportunity, while Chanyeol was at the gas station, to pop the question on an unsuspecting Baek.

“I’m not obsessed with Chanyeol.” Baek said.

“They why do you steal stuff from that guy?” He crossed his legs. “You don’t even wear hats.”

Baekhyun scoffed. They were in their usual corner in Happy Virus Hats, without Chanyeol, eating snacks and talking the way they always did.

“I bet,” Minseok crunched on his raspberry granola bar. “You like him.”

There was a moment of silence and the two just looked at each other, Minseok waiting for an answer and Baekhyun trying to process what he just heard.

“No.”

“…”

“I just like to piss him off!” Baek squawked.

“Yeah. Because you like him.”

“Because his twitchy-eye pissed-off face is amusing.” Baek corrected. “And because he gives me snacks.”

“You never know,” Minseok shrugged, standing up. “Maybe he likes you.”

Then he left the store, leaving a horrified Baekhyun to ponder that thought, and giggling evilly as he skipped away, satisfied with the mess he had made.

Kyungsoo came back from McDonalds with a happy meal and a pissed expression. He didn’t get to stop at Toys R Us, like he’d planned, and had to come straight back to work, only to be greeted by a smiling Jongin, who, as weird as it was, had a crush on Kyungsoo’s car.

“Don’t worry, man,” Jongin put a hand on his heart. “I’ll have her tuned up and ready to go by the end of the day.”

Kyungsoo just nodded, because he thought the auto-repair guy was weird, and also, he didn’t give a .

-

There was no surprise in the fact that Kim Minseok had created a problem, because, well, he’d done it a million times.

But neither Park Chanyeol nor Byun Baekhyun were aware of the central damage when they sat silently in the hat store, avoiding eye contact but at the same time, staring each other down.

“So…’ Baek was the first to speak. “Do you…”

Chanyeol shifted in his seat. “I heard you…uh…”

Then there was this incredibly awkward moment where they both snapped and blurted, “…like me?”

“No!” Baekhyun clucked.

“Same.” Chanyeol nodded vigorously.

The awkwardness continued, followed by an uneasy cough from Baekhyun (who was blushing because he is such an uke) and a whistling Yeol (who kinda wanted to be the uke himself, but was too abnormally large).

“So, like, you don’t like me?” Chanyeol scratched his ear, because he was a dumb who couldn’t read the mood. “Not even a little?”

“No, you insensitive grossard!” Baek flared up. “Don’t be such a e! Aren’t you like thirty?!”

There was another moment of awkward silence.

“I’m half a year younger than you…” Chanyeol pointed out. “We went to the same high school.”

“…”

“If you don’t remember, I have my yearbook-”

“NO.”

It was one of those rare days when both Tao and Sehun were behind the cash register. Of course, only one of them was actually working.

“So…Luhan…” Sehun started, resting his elbow on the counter. “Are you, uh…single?”

“Uh…” Luhan froze. What should he say? “…No?” Oh, , what did he say?

Sehun raised his eyebrows, judging-not-judging the situation. “Ah, really? What’s his name?”

“Ahem…Xiu…” Think, fool. “…min?”

It was by pure coincidence that Minseok was watching from the cosmetic isle, piling hair products in his plastic trolley. He poked his head out from behind the shelf and made eye contact with Girl-han. Smooth, he mouthed.

you, Minseok!

Meanwhile, Yifan leaned his own elbow on the counter, same as Noodle-hun, wiggling his eyebrows flirtatiously at Zitao, who honestly just wanted to work and get paid and go home and watch Next Top Model (because the new episode came out today and he had to make sure that his bias won).

“Know what my shirt is made of?”

“Oh, no.”

“Boyfriend material.” Yifan slapped a hand on the counter, satisfied with the pickup line he got from Jongdae’s blog.

Zitao peered at him. “You’re wearing a police uniform.”

“All the better to catch you with, my dear.”

Tao sighed. “Please die, Kris.”

“Call me that one more time, and I will.”

It had become Kyungsoo’s habit to watch these horrendous encounters from his foldable lawn chair in the back of the shop. He had finally started to wonder why no one ever came here to flirt with him.

At that moment, Jongin strolled in, holding what seemed to be a pink handbag.

Kyungsoo perked up. “Jongin, hit on me!”

Jongin clutched his purse, turned around and speed-walked away with wide eyes.

Yifan came out of Kyungsoo’s General Store with two donuts that day, jogging over to Happy Virus Hats and perching himself on the sidewalk beside Junmyeon, who grinned at him.

“Ah, this strip mall,” Junmyeon took a bite out of his Boston Cream donut, and sighed. “It’s over flowing with young love.”

“You can say that again,” Yifan said. “These kids are in the springtime of their youth.”

“I miss my youth.”

“Me too…” Yifan munched on his Powdered Jelly donut. “But aren’t we still kinda young? I mean, I’m twenty-four.”

“You’re still young,” Junmyeon pointed out. “But this old man’s lost all his fiesta.”

“But you’re like, five months younger than me.”

“Nonsense!”

“Extra cheap, extra rare, and just for you!” Minseok held up the product. “It would be a shame not to buy it while you have the chance."

Lay stared at the item in Minseok’s hands. It was magical, oozing with the hopes and dreams of children, only about the size of a fist.

He had to buy it. It was a real life fragment of the planet Mars.

“How much?”

“Fifty.”

Lay pondered that. It was fairly cheap for a chunk of outer space. “Deal.”

“Okay, then, I’ll just need you to sign here…” Lay signed. “And the money?” Lay paid. “Excellent! Nice doing business with you.”

Lay nodded and was just about to walk away, when, “Woah, woah, woah, hold up…” Minseok looked genuinely concerned. “Your name’s Yixing?”

He sighed and walked away, and the day ended there, because after that, all that really happened in that strip mall in the middle of nowhere was Jongin a Mustang, and Suho pondering youth while everybody else was either getting hit on trying not to get hit on. 

-

Chapter Five! I'm sorry, this came out later than expected,  but I promise the next chapter will come out sooner. Definitely this week!

How was it? 

I think my favorite part is the voices in Luhan's head. And then Kris. I love Kris. If you want, tell me in the comments, who's your favorite character and what's your favorite part?