Chocolate - Shindong/Yesung
100 THEMES CHALLENGE
Theme: 4 - Chocolate [Yesung/Shindong]
Title: Chocolate
Subpairings: Friends Yesung/Ryeowook
Words: 2,118
Completed: October 4th, 2011
Genre: AU, fiction
Rating: G
Summary: There's a strange man with a pet turtle who frequents the Chocolate shop Shindong works at.
Note: Two Super Junior members I write about the least. It flowwwwwwwed. LOL YESUNG IS SO WEIRD HE HAS SO MUCH PLOT POTENTIAL XDD
Shindong liked his job. Koko Corner was a small, family-run chocolate shop tucked into a street corner, but visited often. There was no fancy signage, nothing loud about the place; all of the advertising was by word of mouth. And there was plenty of that. He could hear it when he went out, was told about it by his little sister when she came back from school, could see the evidence in their customers as he worked behind the counter.
Shindong wasn't creepy, wasn't a stalker or a pervert, but he did like to people-watch. He liked to recognize the regulars who came back, liked to see the types of people who came in, from the grandmothers and grandfathers coming in for coffee somewhere quiet, to the couples, to the first-dates, the kids dashing in for a treat after school, the skinny girls who would never admit to anyone that they frequented a place like this, the skinny girls who were proud that they could frequent a place like that and still keep their figure, the young men buying presents… everyone.
February had begun and sales were up. Two weeks until the day itself, but at this time chocolate was at the forefront of everyone's mind. What to give? What to expect? What to say? How to shake off your friends-who-are-stalking-you-everywhere-trying-to-see-who-you-give-Valentines-to?
Shindong knew most of the regulars, greeted them in a more friendly than formal fashion when they came in, and for most of them, chatted, advised, and gossipped with them.
Except the turtle man.
Dubbed so by the fact that he seemed to carry his pet turtle everywhere, the man came in every two or three, occasionally four days, to kneel by the cabinet, place the turtle on his head and talk to it quietly as they surveyed the chocolates on display.
He would start at the left side of the cabinet, slowly shifting his way right and back again. After much deliberation and consulting with the turtle, he would remove it from his hair, straighten up and order two chocolates which he would pay for with a simple thank-you and then leave for a few more days.
Many times had Shindong wondered if he ate both himself or if the second was, in fact, for the turtle.
He had never spoken to the man much other than taking the order, though if Shindong was completely honest with himself, he'd have to admit he hadn't really tried. He found the other a bit creepy, with his quietness and vacant smile and weirdly strong attachment to his turtle.
He turned up one day, February ninth, and headed right to the counter, crouching down as usual by the left side of the counter in front of the candied peel.
He began considering the choices out loud, but was unheard by the droves of schoolgirls above his head, trying to make their own decisions for what to buy to give for Valentine's day, which of course was much more important than the man with the turtle on his head.
The turtle man continued his little trek across the length of the display, completely oblivious to - or ignoring - the people whose view he was blocking with his somewhat disproportional head.
Apart from fervently hoping he wasn't peeping up their skirts or anything, Shindong was a little worried that the man's turtle would be knocked off his head. He ducked behind the counter opposite him, tapping on the glass case to get his attention.
"You right there?"
The turtle man looked up in surprise, glancing around him as though perhaps the employee were talking to someone else. After ruling out anyone in his head-height, he straightened and met his eyes over the counter. "Sorry, what?"
"Are you alright?" Shindong repeated, "Have you chosen?"
The man blinked slowly. (So did the turtle, which Shindong found quite disconcerting). "Ah… not quite… yet…"
"Well… perhaps you could look at the selections from up here," Shindong suggested politely.
The other looked a bit uncomfortable and reached up to bring down the turtle. "Ddangkkoma can't see so well, though."
Shindong raised an eyebrow then dropped it awkwardly, realizing it was probably impolite. Of course the pet had a name. Not a particularly attractive name, but the man seemed to be fond of the animal.
"Well… perhaps you could-?"
"Oh! Excuse me one moment," the turtle man interrupted, raising his pet to his face and staring intently into its little face. "Oh! Oh, I see. You think so? Okay… so then what? Alright." He lowered his hands and smiled at Shindong. "We'll take one of… those, and one of those."
Shindong turned his back to get a paper bag, smoothing out his expression since without attention he was pretty sure it would be the same as that of the girl now staring at the turtle man, looking highly disturbed.
The man seemed to notice her stare and turned both himself and the turtle towards her. "Hello."
"Uh… hello…" her eyes flickered between the two faces, reptile and owner, and shifted closer to her friends.
Shindong opened the cabinet and popped the man's selections into the bag. He fumbled in his pocket for cash, turtle balanced on his other palm, and handed it over smilingly. "Thank you."
"No problem," Shindong smiled back easily, he was an employee, after all, and turned back to the schoolgirls as man and turtle left with their purchase.
* * *
Shindong was sitting at one of the café tables, sipping at his own hot chocolate as he looked out at the sunset over the harbour. He only got to enjoy it like this once a week, since it was Sunday and they'd closed early. Usually the shop would be packed full of people around now, a romantic time at a romantic place.
He went out back, giving his mug to his cousin who was still washing up, and headed back to the front to go home.
Boom, skkhhh
Shindong's head jerked up at the noise. The turtle man bounced away from the door, hand on the knob, clearly not realizing that it was locked as he tried to enter. He shook his mop-haired head and blinked a lot before peering through the glass.
Shindong stood up and opened the door. "Sorry, we're closed."
"Oh." The turtle man looked surprised. Shindong blinked, after being a regular for so long, how could he not know their opening hours?
The man sighed. "Yah, he's not going to be happy…" he murmured to himself.
Shindong slipped outside and locked the door again. His cousins, aunt and uncle lived in a small apartment above the store, but he lived a few blocks away on the harbour. "Not turtle today?" he inquired as the customer started off in the same direction.
"Ddangkkoma? No, not today. He wanted to stay at home."
"…Ah," Shindong murmured.
"He wanted me to get us some chocolate, but I suppose, not tonight," he continued sadly.
"We close early on Sundays," Shindong replied automatically, trying not to think about the man being sent out by his turtle, or being nervous about returning empty-handed.
"I'll tell him." The man stopped suddenly and turned, holding out a small hand. "I'm Yesung."
"Shindong." Shindong shook the hand.
"I know."
"Yesung… that's a strange name," Shindong commented lightly.
Yesung scratched his head and chuckled. "It's a nickname."
"I see." Shindong smiled. "Well, so is mine."
"So… ah, what prompted you to work at a chocolate shop?"
"My aunt and uncle own it, and don't have enough kids to run it," Shindong replied, laughing. Yesung laughed too, hands in his jacket pockets as they walked along the promenade. The light was dimming purple, seagulls lined the edge of the walk and the air smelled of salt and deep-fried fish.
"Do you take your turtle out often?" Shindong asked curiously.
"Oh, yes," Yesung replied brightly. "We often come walking down here, and around the streets sometimes, too." He continued talking, about his turtle, about his family, and Shindong began to think that perhaps the turtle man wasn't quite so weird after all.
* * *
February 28th
"Shindong-ah!"
Shindong looked up and waved as Yesung came in, as usual accompanied by turtle. He also smiled at the man who ducked in after him and quickly finished taking the coffee order for the customer before beckoning Yesung over.
"Is it cold out?" he asked, noting that Yesung and the other customer were thoroughly wrapped up in thick woollen things. Even Ddangkkoma was wearing a knitted jumper, pulled over his shell, a tiny scarf wrapped around his scaly neck.
"Insanely," Yesung responded. "Spring's almost here but… ugh. It's like we suddenly got dropped back in midwinter."
"Would you like a hot drink?"
Yesung nodded. "How about… a chilli hot chocolate for me, and a normal hot chocolate for Wookie." He gestured at the man behind him, and Shindong blinked. He hadn't realized that they were together. His eyes shifted to the shorter man, whose own eyes crinkled in a smile, though the lower half of his face was still obscured by his fluffy purple scarf.
"Sure," he said, taping their order to the coffee machine where his barista cousin would take care of it.
"Wookie-ah is my roommate," Yesung explained, as said man pulled his scarf back down to his neck.
"I se- ohh…" Shindong said, comprehension crossing his face. Yah, he's not going to be happy… He wanted me to get us some chocolate, but I suppose, not tonight… So it wasn't, in fact, the turtle. Ugh, well he could have been clearer!
"Nice to meet you," he said, relieved. "I'm Shindong."
Yesung and his roommate headed off to a table and Shindong didn't get a chance to talk to them again, just spared a smile and a wave as they and Ddangkkoma headed back out into the bracing cold.
* * *
March 12th
"U- wo- Wookie, wasn't it?"
The short man on the other side of the counter nodded and smiled, dropping to a squat to survey the selections, much like Yesung did. It was a quiet Monday morning and there weren't too many other people in the shop while Ryeowook browsed, biting his lip and sighing a lot before standing up, shaking out his legs and looking again.
"White day shopping?" Shindong inquired lightly.
"Yes," Ryeowook nodded, blushing as he smiled. "What would you recommend?"
Aha, White Day recommendations, Shindong's specialty. How many times had boys come in, completely at a loss, for his advice? How many times had he heard it, "Do you even have a girlfriend?" Well, no, but trust me on this one. How many times had the same boys come back; "You were right, dude."
"Well, what did she give you?"
"She gave me…" Ryeowook murmured, toying with a piece of lint in his pocket, "She gave me chocolate, flowers and a bunny plush…" he looked up and smiled at the man behind the counter. "I'm going to make a cake, but I wanted something else too."
"What's she like?" Shindong asked, and Ryeowook blushingly told him, voice quiet and shy. Shindong smiled and listened, and when the younger man was finished, he silently got a White Day box from the shelf behind him and filled it with ten of their chocolates on display.
Ryeowook's eyes followed his movements, considering his selections and nodding in satisfaction when the box was placed on the counter in front of him.
"How did you know?"
"I've worked here for many years," he said vaguely, accepting Ryeowook's money. "Can you do me a favour?"
"Sure," Ryeowook took the box and held it to his chest.
"One moment." Shindong ducked out back and returned with a plain Koko Corner box, handing it to the younger. "Could you give that to Yesung?"
"What is it?" Ryeowook asked as it was passed over.
"New stock," Shindong replied simply, offering no argument when Ryeowook lifted the lid to see the contents.
The younger made no comment, but his face split into a huge grin and he laughed. "I'll give it to him."
"Thank you."
"Thank you," Ryeowook waved the box he'd bought. "I'll see you later!"
* * *
"What's that?"
"Present for you. From Shindong-ssi."
"Really?" Yesung took the box and opened it, blinking furiously. Ryeowook grinned at him as he knelt down in front of his turtle tank and tilted the box to show Ddangkkoma. Each one was about an inch and a half long, milk chocolate turtles with marbled dark and white chocolate shells.
"What do you think?" he murmured to his pet, beaming. "Is that the best chocolate shop in the world, or what?"
Theme: 4 - Chocolate [Yesung/Shindong]
Title: Chocolate
Subpairings: Friends Yesung/Ryeowook
Words: 2,118
Completed: October 4th, 2011
Genre: AU, fiction
Rating: G
Summary: There's a strange man with a pet turtle who frequents the Chocolate shop Shindong works at.
Note: Two Super Junior members I write about the least. It flowwwwwwwed. LOL YESUNG IS SO WEIRD HE HAS SO MUCH PLOT POTENTIAL XDD
Shindong liked his job. Koko Corner was a small, family-run chocolate shop tucked into a street corner, but visited often. There was no fancy signage, nothing loud about the place; all of the advertising was by word of mouth. And there was plenty of that. He could hear it when he went out, was told about it by his little sister when she came back from school, could see the evidence in their customers as he worked behind the counter.
Shindong wasn't creepy, wasn't a stalker or a pervert, but he did like to people-watch. He liked to recognize the regulars who came back, liked to see the types of people who came in, from the grandmothers and grandfathers coming in for coffee somewhere quiet, to the couples, to the first-dates, the kids dashing in for a treat after school, the skinny girls who would never admit to anyone that they frequented a place like this, the skinny girls who were proud that they could frequent a place like that and still keep their figure, the young men buying presents… everyone.
February had begun and sales were up. Two weeks until the day itself, but at this time chocolate was at the forefront of everyone's mind. What to give? What to expect? What to say? How to shake off your friends-who-are-stalking-you-everywhere-trying-to-see-who-you-give-Valentines-to?
Shindong knew most of the regulars, greeted them in a more friendly than formal fashion when they came in, and for most of them, chatted, advised, and gossipped with them.
Except the turtle man.
Dubbed so by the fact that he seemed to carry his pet turtle everywhere, the man came in every two or three, occasionally four days, to kneel by the cabinet, place the turtle on his head and talk to it quietly as they surveyed the chocolates on display.
He would start at the left side of the cabinet, slowly shifting his way right and back again. After much deliberation and consulting with the turtle, he would remove it from his hair, straighten up and order two chocolates which he would pay for with a simple thank-you and then leave for a few more days.
Many times had Shindong wondered if he ate both himself or if the second was, in fact, for the turtle.
He had never spoken to the man much other than taking the order, though if Shindong was completely honest with himself, he'd have to admit he hadn't really tried. He found the other a bit creepy, with his quietness and vacant smile and weirdly strong attachment to his turtle.
He turned up one day, February ninth, and headed right to the counter, crouching down as usual by the left side of the counter in front of the candied peel.
He began considering the choices out loud, but was unheard by the droves of schoolgirls above his head, trying to make their own decisions for what to buy to give for Valentine's day, which of course was much more important than the man with the turtle on his head.
The turtle man continued his little trek across the length of the display, completely oblivious to - or ignoring - the people whose view he was blocking with his somewhat disproportional head.
Apart from fervently hoping he wasn't peeping up their skirts or anything, Shindong was a little worried that the man's turtle would be knocked off his head. He ducked behind the counter opposite him, tapping on the glass case to get his attention.
"You right there?"
The turtle man looked up in surprise, glancing around him as though perhaps the employee were talking to someone else. After ruling out anyone in his head-height, he straightened and met his eyes over the counter. "Sorry, what?"
"Are you alright?" Shindong repeated, "Have you chosen?"
The man blinked slowly. (So did the turtle, which Shindong found quite disconcerting). "Ah… not quite… yet…"
"Well… perhaps you could look at the selections from up here," Shindong suggested politely.
The other looked a bit uncomfortable and reached up to bring down the turtle. "Ddangkkoma can't see so well, though."
Shindong raised an eyebrow then dropped it awkwardly, realizing it was probably impolite. Of course the pet had a name. Not a particularly attractive name, but the man seemed to be fond of the animal.
"Well… perhaps you could-?"
"Oh! Excuse me one moment," the turtle man interrupted, raising his pet to his face and staring intently into its little face. "Oh! Oh, I see. You think so? Okay… so then what? Alright." He lowered his hands and smiled at Shindong. "We'll take one of… those, and one of those."
Shindong turned his back to get a paper bag, smoothing out his expression since without attention he was pretty sure it would be the same as that of the girl now staring at the turtle man, looking highly disturbed.
The man seemed to notice her stare and turned both himself and the turtle towards her. "Hello."
"Uh… hello…" her eyes flickered between the two faces, reptile and owner, and shifted closer to her friends.
Shindong opened the cabinet and popped the man's selections into the bag. He fumbled in his pocket for cash, turtle balanced on his other palm, and handed it over smilingly. "Thank you."
"No problem," Shindong smiled back easily, he was an employee, after all, and turned back to the schoolgirls as man and turtle left with their purchase.
* * *
Shindong was sitting at one of the café tables, sipping at his own hot chocolate as he looked out at the sunset over the harbour. He only got to enjoy it like this once a week, since it was Sunday and they'd closed early. Usually the shop would be packed full of people around now, a romantic time at a romantic place.
He went out back, giving his mug to his cousin who was still washing up, and headed back to the front to go home.
Boom, skkhhh
Shindong's head jerked up at the noise. The turtle man bounced away from the door, hand on the knob, clearly not realizing that it was locked as he tried to enter. He shook his mop-haired head and blinked a lot before peering through the glass.
Shindong stood up and opened the door. "Sorry, we're closed."
"Oh." The turtle man looked surprised. Shindong blinked, after being a regular for so long, how could he not know their opening hours?
The man sighed. "Yah, he's not going to be happy…" he murmured to himself.
Shindong slipped outside and locked the door again. His cousins, aunt and uncle lived in a small apartment above the store, but he lived a few blocks away on the harbour. "Not turtle today?" he inquired as the customer started off in the same direction.
"Ddangkkoma? No, not today. He wanted to stay at home."
"…Ah," Shindong murmured.
"He wanted me to get us some chocolate, but I suppose, not tonight," he continued sadly.
"We close early on Sundays," Shindong replied automatically, trying not to think about the man being sent out by his turtle, or being nervous about returning empty-handed.
"I'll tell him." The man stopped suddenly and turned, holding out a small hand. "I'm Yesung."
"Shindong." Shindong shook the hand.
"I know."
"Yesung… that's a strange name," Shindong commented lightly.
Yesung scratched his head and chuckled. "It's a nickname."
"I see." Shindong smiled. "Well, so is mine."
"So… ah, what prompted you to work at a chocolate shop?"
"My aunt and uncle own it, and don't have enough kids to run it," Shindong replied, laughing. Yesung laughed too, hands in his jacket pockets as they walked along the promenade. The light was dimming purple, seagulls lined the edge of the walk and the air smelled of salt and deep-fried fish.
"Do you take your turtle out often?" Shindong asked curiously.
"Oh, yes," Yesung replied brightly. "We often come walking down here, and around the streets sometimes, too." He continued talking, about his turtle, about his family, and Shindong began to think that perhaps the turtle man wasn't quite so weird after all.
* * *
February 28th
"Shindong-ah!"
Shindong looked up and waved as Yesung came in, as usual accompanied by turtle. He also smiled at the man who ducked in after him and quickly finished taking the coffee order for the customer before beckoning Yesung over.
"Is it cold out?" he asked, noting that Yesung and the other customer were thoroughly wrapped up in thick woollen things. Even Ddangkkoma was wearing a knitted jumper, pulled over his shell, a tiny scarf wrapped around his scaly neck.
"Insanely," Yesung responded. "Spring's almost here but… ugh. It's like we suddenly got dropped back in midwinter."
"Would you like a hot drink?"
Yesung nodded. "How about… a chilli hot chocolate for me, and a normal hot chocolate for Wookie." He gestured at the man behind him, and Shindong blinked. He hadn't realized that they were together. His eyes shifted to the shorter man, whose own eyes crinkled in a smile, though the lower half of his face was still obscured by his fluffy purple scarf.
"Sure," he said, taping their order to the coffee machine where his barista cousin would take care of it.
"Wookie-ah is my roommate," Yesung explained, as said man pulled his scarf back down to his neck.
"I se- ohh…" Shindong said, comprehension crossing his face. Yah, he's not going to be happy… He wanted me to get us some chocolate, but I suppose, not tonight… So it wasn't, in fact, the turtle. Ugh, well he could have been clearer!
"Nice to meet you," he said, relieved. "I'm Shindong."
Yesung and his roommate headed off to a table and Shindong didn't get a chance to talk to them again, just spared a smile and a wave as they and Ddangkkoma headed back out into the bracing cold.
* * *
March 12th
"U- wo- Wookie, wasn't it?"
The short man on the other side of the counter nodded and smiled, dropping to a squat to survey the selections, much like Yesung did. It was a quiet Monday morning and there weren't too many other people in the shop while Ryeowook browsed, biting his lip and sighing a lot before standing up, shaking out his legs and looking again.
"White day shopping?" Shindong inquired lightly.
"Yes," Ryeowook nodded, blushing as he smiled. "What would you recommend?"
Aha, White Day recommendations, Shindong's specialty. How many times had boys come in, completely at a loss, for his advice? How many times had he heard it, "Do you even have a girlfriend?" Well, no, but trust me on this one. How many times had the same boys come back; "You were right, dude."
"Well, what did she give you?"
"She gave me…" Ryeowook murmured, toying with a piece of lint in his pocket, "She gave me chocolate, flowers and a bunny plush…" he looked up and smiled at the man behind the counter. "I'm going to make a cake, but I wanted something else too."
"What's she like?" Shindong asked, and Ryeowook blushingly told him, voice quiet and shy. Shindong smiled and listened, and when the younger man was finished, he silently got a White Day box from the shelf behind him and filled it with ten of their chocolates on display.
Ryeowook's eyes followed his movements, considering his selections and nodding in satisfaction when the box was placed on the counter in front of him.
"How did you know?"
"I've worked here for many years," he said vaguely, accepting Ryeowook's money. "Can you do me a favour?"
"Sure," Ryeowook took the box and held it to his chest.
"One moment." Shindong ducked out back and returned with a plain Koko Corner box, handing it to the younger. "Could you give that to Yesung?"
"What is it?" Ryeowook asked as it was passed over.
"New stock," Shindong replied simply, offering no argument when Ryeowook lifted the lid to see the contents.
The younger made no comment, but his face split into a huge grin and he laughed. "I'll give it to him."
"Thank you."
"Thank you," Ryeowook waved the box he'd bought. "I'll see you later!"
* * *
"What's that?"
"Present for you. From Shindong-ssi."
"Really?" Yesung took the box and opened it, blinking furiously. Ryeowook grinned at him as he knelt down in front of his turtle tank and tilted the box to show Ddangkkoma. Each one was about an inch and a half long, milk chocolate turtles with marbled dark and white chocolate shells.
"What do you think?" he murmured to his pet, beaming. "Is that the best chocolate shop in the world, or what?"