026.
Kyuhyun has the rather unglamorous job of collecting shopping trolleys from around the city in the dark hours of the night/morning and returning them home.
"Do you even know what sleep is?" Yesung asks him at breakfast/dinner as the sun dawns.
"No, what's that?" Kyuhyun asks, deadpan, and Yesung cracks up.
"Well I'm glad you know what eye bags are," he says instead, and washes up before leaving. "See you later."
"See you." Kyuhyun finishes his food and pulls over his laptop, cracking his knuckles. Time to do his job.
It isn't actually that bad a job, now that Kyuhyun thinks about it. He can proudly say he's part of the Lotte Mart chain when asked, and everyone will nod knowingly before talking taxes or shares.
"It's kind of sad you're proud of your job," Sungmin says as they're driving around on the streets, truck loud and beeping.
"Why? I can game professionally in peace and not worry about -- one over there, on the left -- worry about money or anything else."
Sungmin sighs as he pulls over and gets out, wheeling the trolley out of the ditch into the handler.
"You really need a proper job. Not retrieving trolleys in the dead of the night or gaming professionally. You know, like maybe in an office or getting a degree. Didn't you say you were good at maths in high school?"
Kyuhyun likes Sungmin, he honestly does. To live with him for five hours every Monday and Wednesday night/morning means he has to like him, by default, and Sungmin doesn't make it hard to like him. It's just sometimes he nags like his mother and, well, he moved out of home for a reason.
"Yeah, but I don't like maths. I like gaming. Go to Gang-Byeon next, someone reported three near the river."
Sungmin does that world-weary sigh that Kyuhyun has learnt to block out, and Kyuhyun slides over to the driver's seat.
"Don't you have a test or something tomorrow? Sleep, I'll do it."
Sungmin stares at him from the ground. "No. You're going to get us both killed; you don't even have a proper license. Shove over."
Kyuhyun stares back. "I'm being nice, why don't you just take it?"
"You just want an excuse to drive, and driving video games does not mean you're qualified to drive in real life. Get off."
"Hyung," Kyuhyun says, and with that, Sungmin breaks down.
"Fine, fine. Just don't get us killed."
"Of course not, what do you take me for?"
Tuesday and Saturday night/morning are the shifts he's stuck with Zhou Mi. Zhou Mi, on the other hand, makes it impossible to hate him.
"Good evening Kyuhyun!" he always greets when they meet in the dock, and Kyuhyun grunts before pulling his jacket tighter around himself.
"'Evening," he's inclined to reply, and Zhou Mi always grins brightly. Zhou Mi also has the habit of waiting 'til midnight to bounce up and down and say, "Good morning Kyuhyun!"
"Go die in a fire," Kyuhyun yawns, and Zhou Mi wilts.
"Do you really want me to?"
Kyuhyun looks at Zhou Mi's dejected face before sighing.
"Kidding. Come on, next stop is Oksu."
Thursday, Friday and Sunday are the days he spends glued to his laptop, except on the rare occasions Yesung manages to drag him out for what he calls "socialising."
"Why do I have to meet you friends when I'm only your roommate?" Kyuhyun asks when they're on the train, and Yesung just grins.
"I'm doing my job as a member of the human race to ensure that fellow human beings don't whither away in their bedrooms. Like you. Except you're not going to because I'm being a nice hyung and taking you out."
"Are you paying for food?"
"Yes."
"And drinks?"
"...We'll see if we get there."
Kyuhyun allows himself to be dragged away.
Dinner this time is a mixer of another guy and three girls. Yesung's already draped over one girl's lap, not even tipsy, and the other guy keeps looking at Kyuhyun. The girls are laughing amongst themselves, chattering between them, and Kyuhyun just checks his phone, refreshing the leaderboards.
"So you're Kyuhyun?" the guy says, and Kyuhyun searches his memory for his name, but all he gets is usernames like KingBandit02 and Gaming101.
"Yeah, and you are?"
The man, boy? smiles at him, and it's really quite pretty and docile.
"Donghae. Nice to meet you Kyuhyun!"
Donghae grasps Kyuhyun's hand, shakes it, and his phone falls to the tabletop. He looks at it before shaking Donghae's hand back.
They're all walking back to the station, two of the girls long gone, and Yesung wrapped around the other girl. Donghae's really quite cute, and when he tells Kyuhyun he's actually 22, Kyuhyun's jaw drops.
"You're kidding, you can't be older than me."
Donghae laughs. "I get that a lot. Trust me, I'm 22."
"I'm 20, and you can't be older than me, seriously."
Donghae laughs again, his eyes almost closed and his head tipped back. "Well, I am."
Kyuhyun drags Yesung off the girl and boards the train, her number scribbled on his palm.
"She was so pretty," Yesung says, clutching at Kyuhyun's arm, and he shrugs him off.
"I'm sure she was. Did you even get her name?"
Yesung freezes.
"Er, no. But I have her number!" He waves his hand in Kyuhyun's face and Kyuhyun pushes it away. He dropped five ranks; he has to get back up there.
It's Kyuhyun's turn to fall asleep in the passenger seat as Sungmin drives around, the night air rushing in through the windows. Sungmin looks at him sympathetically before pulling over and spending the rest of their shift near the national library where the lights are still on, low and peaceful.
Tuesday night and Zhou Mi greets him happily before Kyuhyun trips him.
"Stop being so happy," he grumbles, and Zhou Mi just smiles.
"No!"
Wednesday means another shift with Sungmin, and Kyuhyun hates apologies. Bane of his existence, because they always sound half hearted and only obligatory, but Sungmin gives him a quick hug anyway.
"It's okay, I understand. Are you going to apply for uni now?"
Kyuhyun manages to drive a hundred metres before Sungmin climbs on the truck and punches his shoulder. It throbs.
"Morning!" Yesung says brightly on Thursday at six am, and Kyuhyun yawns.
"Morning," he grunts.
"You know Donghae? The guy at the mixer on Sunday?"
Kyuhyun pokes his head out of the bathroom, toothbrush in his mouth.
"Mmph? Whai?"
"He asked me to give you his number. I'm just going to leave it on the counter, okay? See you later."
The front door opens and closes, and Kyuhyun approaches the small post-it cautiously, Donghae's name printed carefully with his number, email and a big smiley face. Kyuhyun doesn't know whether to feel slightly sickened, or happy.
Kyuhyun manages to avoid going out with Yesung for the rest of the week, and he actually looks forward to Saturday night when he has a reasonable excuse to avoid him.
"Hello Kyuhyun!" Zhou Mi says, and Kyuhyun grunts.
They drive to the playground across from the museum, slide and all. It's htere that they find a trolley atop the monkey bars, and they both eye it before Zhou Mi starts climbing.
"As if you'll be able to get that down," Kyuhyun says, and Zhou Mi just flashes him a smile.
"It's a safety hazard for the children; we have to move it!"
They climb the structure before trying to lower the trolley to the ground. They try for what feels like the whole night, and Kyuhyun says, "Start working out. If it was Sungmin here, we'd have had it down in ten minutes," and Zhou Mi just grins back. "Maybe you should start working out too."
Kyuhyun eventually just pushes it, frustrated, and it falls to the wood chipped ground, impact absorbed.
"I think you broke it," Zhou Mi says, wide eyed as he stares at it, and Kyuhyun starts climbing down.
"Don't care. As long as we get paid to do this, let's get it on the handler."
At the end of the shift, when they're back at the dock with all their trolleys, Kyuhyun pulls his phone out, the screen flashing.
have you finished work? ^^ want to eat breakfast together? -donghae
Kyuhyun stares at his phone like it's an alien thing, and Zhou Mi looks over his shoulder.
"Donghae? Lee Donghae?" he asks, and Kyuhyun realises he has no idea what Donghae's last name is. "Short, kind of cute with wide eyes?" That sounds right, so Kyuhyun nods.
"Ah, Donghae," Zhou Mi says, grinning.
"Wait, you know him?"
Zhou Mi shrugs. "Friend of a friend. Kind of a whore," he says apologetically, then he freezes. "I mean, not in that way! Just, he knows a lot of people, and. Yeah."
Kyuhyun stares at him, then types in, ok. where do you want to meet? and how'd you get my number? --kyuhyun. He presses send before he realises what he's doing, and furiously jabs at his phone, hoping for some miracle that it'll stop sending.
Instead, he gets Message Sent! and groans. Zhou Mi tries not to laugh at him.
"I got it off Yesung, sorry," Donghae greets him at the cafe, waffles in front of him drowning in syrup. He doesn't look sorry, just happy.
Kyuhyun grunts and stifles a yawn.
"So why'd you want to eat breakfast with me? It's like, six am. No one else is awake at this time."
Donghae grins in his seat, poking a waffle and offering it. Kyuhyun eyes it before ordering his own oatmeal.
"I just finished a paper and don't think I can sleep until like, two. And really, oatmeal? Not pancakes with ice cream, or fruit salad and yoghurt, or waffles with chocolate, or--"
"No sugar, thanks," Kyuhyun says as the waitress brings back the oatmeal.
"Morning Donghae," she says as she leaves, and Donghae gives her a smile.
Kyuhyun stares at him, spoon in his hand. "Oh god you really are a whore."
Donghae looks back at him, fork in his hand. "Sorry, what?"
Kyuhyun digs into his oatmeal. "Nothing."
"Do you even know what sleep is?" Yesung asks him at breakfast/dinner as the sun dawns.
"No, what's that?" Kyuhyun asks, deadpan, and Yesung cracks up.
"Well I'm glad you know what eye bags are," he says instead, and washes up before leaving. "See you later."
"See you." Kyuhyun finishes his food and pulls over his laptop, cracking his knuckles. Time to do his job.
It isn't actually that bad a job, now that Kyuhyun thinks about it. He can proudly say he's part of the Lotte Mart chain when asked, and everyone will nod knowingly before talking taxes or shares.
"It's kind of sad you're proud of your job," Sungmin says as they're driving around on the streets, truck loud and beeping.
"Why? I can game professionally in peace and not worry about -- one over there, on the left -- worry about money or anything else."
Sungmin sighs as he pulls over and gets out, wheeling the trolley out of the ditch into the handler.
"You really need a proper job. Not retrieving trolleys in the dead of the night or gaming professionally. You know, like maybe in an office or getting a degree. Didn't you say you were good at maths in high school?"
Kyuhyun likes Sungmin, he honestly does. To live with him for five hours every Monday and Wednesday night/morning means he has to like him, by default, and Sungmin doesn't make it hard to like him. It's just sometimes he nags like his mother and, well, he moved out of home for a reason.
"Yeah, but I don't like maths. I like gaming. Go to Gang-Byeon next, someone reported three near the river."
Sungmin does that world-weary sigh that Kyuhyun has learnt to block out, and Kyuhyun slides over to the driver's seat.
"Don't you have a test or something tomorrow? Sleep, I'll do it."
Sungmin stares at him from the ground. "No. You're going to get us both killed; you don't even have a proper license. Shove over."
Kyuhyun stares back. "I'm being nice, why don't you just take it?"
"You just want an excuse to drive, and driving video games does not mean you're qualified to drive in real life. Get off."
"Hyung," Kyuhyun says, and with that, Sungmin breaks down.
"Fine, fine. Just don't get us killed."
"Of course not, what do you take me for?"
Tuesday and Saturday night/morning are the shifts he's stuck with Zhou Mi. Zhou Mi, on the other hand, makes it impossible to hate him.
"Good evening Kyuhyun!" he always greets when they meet in the dock, and Kyuhyun grunts before pulling his jacket tighter around himself.
"'Evening," he's inclined to reply, and Zhou Mi always grins brightly. Zhou Mi also has the habit of waiting 'til midnight to bounce up and down and say, "Good morning Kyuhyun!"
"Go die in a fire," Kyuhyun yawns, and Zhou Mi wilts.
"Do you really want me to?"
Kyuhyun looks at Zhou Mi's dejected face before sighing.
"Kidding. Come on, next stop is Oksu."
Thursday, Friday and Sunday are the days he spends glued to his laptop, except on the rare occasions Yesung manages to drag him out for what he calls "socialising."
"Why do I have to meet you friends when I'm only your roommate?" Kyuhyun asks when they're on the train, and Yesung just grins.
"I'm doing my job as a member of the human race to ensure that fellow human beings don't whither away in their bedrooms. Like you. Except you're not going to because I'm being a nice hyung and taking you out."
"Are you paying for food?"
"Yes."
"And drinks?"
"...We'll see if we get there."
Kyuhyun allows himself to be dragged away.
Dinner this time is a mixer of another guy and three girls. Yesung's already draped over one girl's lap, not even tipsy, and the other guy keeps looking at Kyuhyun. The girls are laughing amongst themselves, chattering between them, and Kyuhyun just checks his phone, refreshing the leaderboards.
"So you're Kyuhyun?" the guy says, and Kyuhyun searches his memory for his name, but all he gets is usernames like KingBandit02 and Gaming101.
"Yeah, and you are?"
The man, boy? smiles at him, and it's really quite pretty and docile.
"Donghae. Nice to meet you Kyuhyun!"
Donghae grasps Kyuhyun's hand, shakes it, and his phone falls to the tabletop. He looks at it before shaking Donghae's hand back.
They're all walking back to the station, two of the girls long gone, and Yesung wrapped around the other girl. Donghae's really quite cute, and when he tells Kyuhyun he's actually 22, Kyuhyun's jaw drops.
"You're kidding, you can't be older than me."
Donghae laughs. "I get that a lot. Trust me, I'm 22."
"I'm 20, and you can't be older than me, seriously."
Donghae laughs again, his eyes almost closed and his head tipped back. "Well, I am."
Kyuhyun drags Yesung off the girl and boards the train, her number scribbled on his palm.
"She was so pretty," Yesung says, clutching at Kyuhyun's arm, and he shrugs him off.
"I'm sure she was. Did you even get her name?"
Yesung freezes.
"Er, no. But I have her number!" He waves his hand in Kyuhyun's face and Kyuhyun pushes it away. He dropped five ranks; he has to get back up there.
It's Kyuhyun's turn to fall asleep in the passenger seat as Sungmin drives around, the night air rushing in through the windows. Sungmin looks at him sympathetically before pulling over and spending the rest of their shift near the national library where the lights are still on, low and peaceful.
Tuesday night and Zhou Mi greets him happily before Kyuhyun trips him.
"Stop being so happy," he grumbles, and Zhou Mi just smiles.
"No!"
Wednesday means another shift with Sungmin, and Kyuhyun hates apologies. Bane of his existence, because they always sound half hearted and only obligatory, but Sungmin gives him a quick hug anyway.
"It's okay, I understand. Are you going to apply for uni now?"
Kyuhyun manages to drive a hundred metres before Sungmin climbs on the truck and punches his shoulder. It throbs.
"Morning!" Yesung says brightly on Thursday at six am, and Kyuhyun yawns.
"Morning," he grunts.
"You know Donghae? The guy at the mixer on Sunday?"
Kyuhyun pokes his head out of the bathroom, toothbrush in his mouth.
"Mmph? Whai?"
"He asked me to give you his number. I'm just going to leave it on the counter, okay? See you later."
The front door opens and closes, and Kyuhyun approaches the small post-it cautiously, Donghae's name printed carefully with his number, email and a big smiley face. Kyuhyun doesn't know whether to feel slightly sickened, or happy.
Kyuhyun manages to avoid going out with Yesung for the rest of the week, and he actually looks forward to Saturday night when he has a reasonable excuse to avoid him.
"Hello Kyuhyun!" Zhou Mi says, and Kyuhyun grunts.
They drive to the playground across from the museum, slide and all. It's htere that they find a trolley atop the monkey bars, and they both eye it before Zhou Mi starts climbing.
"As if you'll be able to get that down," Kyuhyun says, and Zhou Mi just flashes him a smile.
"It's a safety hazard for the children; we have to move it!"
They climb the structure before trying to lower the trolley to the ground. They try for what feels like the whole night, and Kyuhyun says, "Start working out. If it was Sungmin here, we'd have had it down in ten minutes," and Zhou Mi just grins back. "Maybe you should start working out too."
Kyuhyun eventually just pushes it, frustrated, and it falls to the wood chipped ground, impact absorbed.
"I think you broke it," Zhou Mi says, wide eyed as he stares at it, and Kyuhyun starts climbing down.
"Don't care. As long as we get paid to do this, let's get it on the handler."
At the end of the shift, when they're back at the dock with all their trolleys, Kyuhyun pulls his phone out, the screen flashing.
have you finished work? ^^ want to eat breakfast together? -donghae
Kyuhyun stares at his phone like it's an alien thing, and Zhou Mi looks over his shoulder.
"Donghae? Lee Donghae?" he asks, and Kyuhyun realises he has no idea what Donghae's last name is. "Short, kind of cute with wide eyes?" That sounds right, so Kyuhyun nods.
"Ah, Donghae," Zhou Mi says, grinning.
"Wait, you know him?"
Zhou Mi shrugs. "Friend of a friend. Kind of a whore," he says apologetically, then he freezes. "I mean, not in that way! Just, he knows a lot of people, and. Yeah."
Kyuhyun stares at him, then types in, ok. where do you want to meet? and how'd you get my number? --kyuhyun. He presses send before he realises what he's doing, and furiously jabs at his phone, hoping for some miracle that it'll stop sending.
Instead, he gets Message Sent! and groans. Zhou Mi tries not to laugh at him.
"I got it off Yesung, sorry," Donghae greets him at the cafe, waffles in front of him drowning in syrup. He doesn't look sorry, just happy.
Kyuhyun grunts and stifles a yawn.
"So why'd you want to eat breakfast with me? It's like, six am. No one else is awake at this time."
Donghae grins in his seat, poking a waffle and offering it. Kyuhyun eyes it before ordering his own oatmeal.
"I just finished a paper and don't think I can sleep until like, two. And really, oatmeal? Not pancakes with ice cream, or fruit salad and yoghurt, or waffles with chocolate, or--"
"No sugar, thanks," Kyuhyun says as the waitress brings back the oatmeal.
"Morning Donghae," she says as she leaves, and Donghae gives her a smile.
Kyuhyun stares at him, spoon in his hand. "Oh god you really are a whore."
Donghae looks back at him, fork in his hand. "Sorry, what?"
Kyuhyun digs into his oatmeal. "Nothing."