⠀⠀Who needed food, or water, or social interaction, or light anyways? Not Park Chanyeol, that was for fucking sure.

⠀⠀It was the morning after at 9:18AM, a Saturday, and no classes on that day with little studying to be done. The blinds in the bedroom were drawn shut, and the door to the room was locked tightly. The college student in question was rolled up burrito-style in his black and white checkered blanket, the tips of his toes barely being covered by it as he laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling and considering all of the choices he had made that led up to this point. He was a (self-proclaimed) womanizer, sure, but he did treat the women decently—at least a little better than how Zitao, his Chinese exchange-student of a friend, would, always sassing them and criticizing everything about their physical appearance harshly. Then after work at Lotte World, Chanyeol made a deal with the devil (not literally, but totally literally) and bet on the lives of his loved ones. After that, he found out two things: one, Jongdae was not interested in guys, and two, he had a fucking girlfriend.

⠀⠀Chanyeol groaned lowly and curled into himself before burying his head into his favorite Snorlax stuffed toy—the one that Yura bought for him when he was twelve. Damn it all. Nothing was working out, and everyone he loved was going to be dead in a month—on his 24th birthday, no less. Chanyeol moaned in mental agony, twisting and turning in his blanket shield. Fuck the world, it was his life, and he wanted to take it back. And now I'm nearly quoting All Time Low lyrics, Chanyeol inwardly grumbled as he held his Snorlax plush tight in his arms.

⠀⠀Work. Fuck. He had a ten-hour shift today, and he had half of a mind to go to SleepyLand and forget all of his responsibilities, but when his co-worker slash best friend, Minseok, rang him up and started chastising him about being an adult and all of that bullshit, Chanyeol unrolled himself from his blanket-y warmth and began to get ready for a day at the amusement park. That damn Minseok—even after telling him about the failure of last night, Minseok was relentless. Ugh.

⠀⠀It took twenty minutes to walk at a brisk pace from Chanyeol and Sehun's apartment to Lotte World. It would have taken approximately fifteen if he were to go through the alleyway, but after his encounter with Cupid, he was in no way eager to go back towards that place. Chanyeol had hurriedly pulled on a fluffy black hoodie over his uniform consisting of an orange polo and skinny khakis and also put on his glasses after deciding that he was too lazy to put in his contacts. He sighed as he went through the employees entrance, sliding his badge into the slot before quickly opening the door and putting the badge over his head. After clocking in and throwing his hoodie into a corner, Chanyeol then hurried to his and Minseok's gift shop, Tin Soldier, casting younger kids terse smiles as they pointed at the gargantuan figure that was Park Chanyeol. Fun.

⠀⠀"There's my Yeol!" Minseok cheered as he clamped Chanyeol in his toned arms once the latter burst through the entrance and almost tackled down out a woman and her son. Grunting, Chanyeol let the older man hug him until Minseok was satisfied before taking his place behind the register and desk while Minseok began idly walking around the shop, stopping to crouch down low and talk to little kids with his gummy-smile practically gleaming. Chanyeol decided that it was unfair that Minseok looked so young despite being twenty-six, as well as being hyper and optimistic like the not-kid he was.

⠀⠀Minseok had been a senior when Chanyeol first met him at one of Kim Hyoyeon's dance team after-parties, and they had chatted animatedly in the corner by the snacks as everyone else was dancing. Chanyeol didn't dance—he looked like an oddly large monkey flailing around when he did so—and Minseok, who was quite tired from a soccer practice earlier in the day, had been ditched by his at-the-time-girlfriend, Shin Jimin, who had been currently on the dance floor. So, as the completely out-of-place people they were at that point, they began to mindlessly chit-chat, starting off with common interests and hobbies, then branching out to the type of people they liked and didn't like. By the end of the night, they had each other on speed-dial and Chanyeol had his arms thrown around the smaller, older boy. Boom. Immediate best friends.

⠀⠀Chanyeol smiled politely as he checked out a man's souvenirs and character plush, leaning over the counter to wave at the his daughter holding his hand. "Have fun, guys!" Chanyeol sang, his face lighting up as the little girl waved at him with a cheeky smile. That had to be one of his favorite parts of the job, making little kids happy like that. It made it almost worth dealing with an abundance of idiotic and rude customers, he thought with a tiny sigh.

⠀⠀Three hours in, and it was time for his scheduled lunch break. Chanyeol waited for his substitute, Yongguk, to arrive to take his spot before giving him a curt nod and leaving with Minseok to the break room. A large sigh left his mouth as they walked, prompting an odd look from Minseok and a small giggle. Chanyeol was having an internal conflict: should he tell Minseok about his encounter with the love god or not? Chances were that Minseok would laugh at his face and tell him, "You must've been hallucinating because of your constant fast-food," which Chanyeol would angrily refute because there was nothing wrong with eating Panda Express when you were saving up.

⠀⠀They reached the break room and immediately headed to their benches in the corner. Minseok fished out his home-made meal from his backpack, courtesy of his Chinese exchange-student boyfriend, Lu Han, while Chanyeol got his plastic bag filled with Panda Express. Upon the sight of it, Minseok wrinkled his nose and fake-gagged, causing Chanyeol to roll his eyes. "It looks and smells putrid, Yeol-ah," Minseok sniffed before turning away. "How can you even consider putting that into your body?"

⠀⠀"It looks and smells just fine, Min-hyung," Chanyeol scoffed as he took his plastic fork and began shoveling the chow mien and orange chicken into his mouth. "Besides, unlike you, Mr. I'm-going-to-spend-everything-I-have-before-I-graduate-med-school, I don't want to be flat broke when I'm looking for a law firm after college," he snarked, his voice muffled by the food. Minseok jabbed him harshly in the stomach, causing Chanyeol to choke on his noodles. Minseok then slammed his hand onto the taller boy's back with the force of fifty men, an innocent smile on his equally innocent face, before he returned to happily gnawing away at his rolls. Ouch.

⠀⠀Five minutes. Ten minutes. Their lunch break was almost over, and Minseok was putting his containers and water bottle away while happily humming a Disney tune. Should I tell him now, and pray that he doesn't think I've finally lost my shit? Chanyeol pondered to himself as he stood up to throw his Panda Express in the garbage can. He frowned tightly—Minseok was his closest friend. A loved one. In a month, if Chanyeol couldn't figure out a way to turn the bet in his favor, Minseok was going to be dead.

⠀⠀"Yah," the short male suddenly said, sounding like he was holding back a round of chuckles, "you look like you're constipated, Yeolyeol. Why the face?"

⠀⠀"I—uh," Chanyeol began awkwardly, snapping out of his inner monologue, "just—"

⠀⠀"I knew it! It's the Panda Express, huh? It's giving you stomach aches!" Minseok sang triumphantly. He began to dance around, hands high (not that high, in Chanyeol's opinion) in the air as he whooped. Chanyeol fought back the urge to smack the elder, knowing fully well that if he did so, he was going to be thrown at a brick wall. Chanyeol sighed as Minseok did his victory dance, watching with a cocked brow when Minseok smirked and pointed at him, saying, "See? Hyung-nim is always right! Never ever say that I'm not, because I am! Haha!"

⠀⠀Minseok pulled Chanyeol down by the neck, held him down with a head lock, and began ruffling the younger's hair obnoxiously with no mercy whatsoever. Chanyeol wished Minseok hadn't been born with so much natural strength at this point, wincing as Minseok's elbow began to dig into a pressure point.

⠀⠀"Alright, that's enough, you guys!" their supervisor, Jiyong, said. He seemed to be suppressing down his own loud laughter as he pulled the two friends apart. "Chop, chop! Get to work, you fools," he said teasingly, shaking his head at Minseok's bright and lively face coupled with Chanyeol's indifferent, hard one. What an interesting duo, Jiyong thought to himself as he watched them race out the door and back to their posts.

—•—

⠀⠀It was 7:39PM now and the gift shop was empty at the time being. "Only twenty-one minutes left until I can clock out," Chanyeol sighed as he held himself up with the counter. Minseok was busy cleaning stuff up, putting items that had been knocked down by children back on shelves and racks with a face filled with concentration. It was nice how the two went together—Minseok: the hyper, childish 26 year-old with a knack for medicine, patience, and neatness, and Chanyeol: the ruder, snappier almost 24 year-old law student with the tidiness of a teenage boy and little to no patience in the slightest. Like fire and ice. Chanyeol guessed that fate decided he needed someone to balance him out and just threw Minseok into his life eight years ago.

⠀⠀"Chan, I think some kid ripped the head off a plush again," Minseok sighed as he stared forlornly at the beheaded stuffed raccoon. He turned toward the general direction of the trash and chucked the toy, cleanly throwing it into the trash can without a hitch. Expected, considering that Minseok was the sportier one of the two, though Chanyeol still stuck his tongue out at the older man before averting his eyes downward to check his phone.

⠀⠀The bell on the door jangled merrily, signaling the entrance of a customer. Chanyeol looked up with his mouth open to greet the customer politely when he stopped and stared, his eyes blown wide open. Minseok glanced at the newcomer in the room briefly before turning and smirking at Chanyeol mischievously.

⠀⠀"Chanyeol-ah? I didn't know you worked here!" Jongdae exclaimed jubilantly, a wide smile on his face. Heat rushed to Chanyeol's face, and he hurried it shove his phone back into his pocket before he turned back to Jongdae and shot him a rushed, embarrassed smile. Jongdae then looked over to Minseok and greeted happily, "Hi, Minseok-sunbae! Nice to see you here too!"

⠀⠀The Park boy felt like his tongue had grown in the past few seconds, making it impossible to get any of the cool, suave words he needed at the moment out. He was struggling to even find the words to say when Minseok waved and said nonchalantly, "Why, hello, Jongdae! Sorry that the cat's got Chanyeollie's tongue—he gets this way around you." In that moment, Chanyeol wanted to throw the cash register directly at Minseok's babyish face, but Jongdae was there, and he wanted to be on his best behavior in front of Jongdae. Instead, Chanyeol shot an evil eye at Minseok and mouthed a vehement, "I hate you," to the older man.

⠀⠀Jongdae, with his kittenish lips, was laughing hard, clutching his stomach as he doubled over. He stayed like that for a few seconds before straightening and shooting a teasing wink at Chanyeol, seemingly relishing in Chanyeol's reddening face and ears. Fuck, this is embarrassing, Chanyeol thought with gritted teeth as he covered his face with his large palms. He was going to be teased nonstop by Minseok after this, wasn't he? Jongdae wasn't exactly helping either.

⠀⠀"So, Jongdae," Minseok began easily as he leaned on a shelf stacked with plushies, "what brings you to Lotte World? Are you here alone?"

⠀⠀Jongdae shook his head, and Chanyeol immediately had a creeping feeling as to who had come along with Jongdae. His heart clenched, and his grip on the counter tightened as Jongdae genially said, "Nope! I brought my girlfriend along for a date. She wanted to get a few plushies to send home to family in Chengdu, so here I am! Liyin's in the bathroom right now, but she should be arriving any minu—"

⠀⠀Ding!

⠀⠀Speak of the fucking devil, Chanyeol mentally growled as a girl walked through the door, immediately caugh in a hug by Jongdae. Chanyeol grit his teeth together as he glared at the couple, unfortunately unable to get a good glance at the girl until Jongdae released her from his embrace and started holding her hand instead. "Minseok-sunbae, Chanyeollie, this is Liyin, my girlfriend!" he sang, and Liyin shyly waved at the mentioned men in the room.

⠀⠀Fuck, she's gorgeous, Chanyeol swore to himself as he forced on a hopefully natural-looking smile and waved back at Liyin. Along with the fact that she has a great fucking personality too like Jongdae, he huffed. They matched each other perfectly. If only Liyin had ended up being a horrible girlfriend, Chanyeol might have had a chance. Nope—that chance was gone.

⠀⠀Jongdae and Liyin spent fifteen minutes in the store, picking a variety of stuffed animals and toys from the shelves before handing them to a stiff Chanyeol to ring up and bag. Chanyeol smiled (it was more of a grimace at this point, to be honest), and waved at the the departing couple before slamming his forehead down onto the counter multiple times. Stupid, fool, idiot, dumbass—he was a dead man. And he also now had a headache.

⠀⠀Minseok strode over to Chanyeol and patted him on the back reassuringly. "Don't worry, Yeol. You'll get into Jongdae's pants one day."

⠀⠀Chanyeol visualized Cupid's taunting face and words, and his emotions instantly began getting worked up. He slammed his fist down on the counter, wincing at both the pain in his hand and head. It felt like he was being backed into a corner with no where to go, no choices he could consider. Chanyeol felt trapped and blinded by his own stupidity and hubris. Yet, somehow, Chanyeol tightened his lips and narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular.

⠀⠀When I get backed into a corner, that's when I'm going to fight back the hardest.

—•—

a/n : lol idek what's going with this story, then again, it's 2AM as I write this so that's my excuse!

pls tell me what I should strive for in my writing okay? okay love y'all

bTW VOTE FOR EXO FOR CHOICE INTERNATIONAL ARTIST FOR THE TEEN'S CHOICE AWARDS!!

and I think I'll start doing dedications. My first dedication, I think, will go to @jongdaeslayyy for always commenting and spamming me! You're the shit~ tell me if you want a dedication, alright?

btw the all time low reference is from missing you (sorry for the typo earlier! I was literally passing out at this point bc it was almost three XD)

UPDATE: apparently this is now a Wattys story bc my good friend nominated me and I'm already low key freaking out ;;