chanyeol's sleep crisis and his inevitable gay thoughts.

Park Chanyeol couldn't wait to get home and blast TVXQ!'s Mirotic album on repeat.

Not only did he leave his earphones at home, but he's left to suffer at some ungodly hour (by that he means around 23:00) in a make-up store breathing and running on nothing but air and cheap convenience store coffee. Yes, he is absolutely enjoying his time behind the counter with the occasional human interaction. In the words of SHINee's Ring Ding Dong, everything's just so fantastic.

So, when is he gonna get himself an Oscar?

A buzzing warmth continues to tickle his fingertips, like the adrenaline rush he gets when he realizes that a cockroach he stepped on is still alive. His pupils have probably dilated to give him the harassed appearance of someone on drugs. Then again, when do I not look haggard, he thinks as he adjusts an askew lipstick display. The caffeine does do him good by keeping his blood pumping and hot against the freezing chill of winter.

After a quick check on the product placements, Chanyeol idly strides back to the counter, mentally preparing himself for any night buyers that stop by for the late-night deals. There are people out there who took their beauty products very seriously. He shudders.

The familiar sound of the doors opening rings in his ears. Chanyeol proceeds to straighten his back and busies himself in rechecking sales logs and receipts.

He can't get fired for incompetency now. There is just a little bit more before his shift is over, then he can go home and fawn over idols and sleep for ten more centuries.

The numbers he's staring at looks like English to him (readable but completely indecipherable, where are the subtitles when he needs them?), his eyes skimming over information about buyers and tax free gibberish. He scribbles a few equations on the sales report and pokes his calculator, pleased that he has a chance of higher pay with the sales goals exceeded.

SLAM.

"Hi, hello, good evening. I'm, uh, Byun Baekhyun, nice to meet you. Please check this all out because I am in the middle of an eyeliner crisis."

Chanyeol startles at the sudden drop of a basket in front of him. He watches dumbfounded as the guy in front of him (Byun Baekhyun, his mind reminds him) places a few more of the tiny makeup baskets on top of the counter, arranging them to fit on the space.

They're all filled to the brim with rectangular boxes. It takes the cashier a few moments to realize that all the baskets held one single product.

Eyeliner.

Chanyeol blinks slowly, What the actual holy fuck.

He looks up, believing that the gods above are deceiving him and that this is just his mind's crazy way of telling him to go home and stop reading bizarre manga. This Baekhyun is actually really, really cute. He eyes the unholy amount of eye products, wondering what sort of crisis this guy was going through.

Shaking his head and deciding to go with the flow, the cashier prepares the largest paper bag he could find and goes on to painstakingly scan every item in the baskets. Fascinated, he watches the total bill go higher and higher. Those won signs scared him, thus he briefly wonders if this guy has some rich mom to fund his beauty escapades.

"My friends have a habit of stealing my eyeliner and using them up and then returning them back to me," Baekhyun's voice makes him look up to meet the other's eyes, "so I thought, why not help fund a make-up store by buying all their eyeliner? I have no idea why they target my eyeliner and not my lipstick or eyeshadow or foundation, though..."

Chanyeol hums in agreement as the other continues to ramble, feeling a bit more at ease as his hands did all the work to beep and tuck away the products.

Unconsciously, he studies Baekhyun's features. He could be ulzzang with his striking eyes and unique lips, and the make-up enhanced his already attractive features. No wonder he's an eyeliner hoarder, he knows exactly how to use it and has, most likely, mastered the art of stabbing a bitch with one.

Looks like you've been caught by some gay thoughts, Chanyeol. Keep the gay to a minimum, be professional. PROFESSIONAL—

"...Why are you staring, oh my God, do I have something on my face? I'm sorry if I'm annoying you"—Baekhyun's rambling begins to slow down as he glances at Chanyeol's nametag—"Park Chanyeol-ssi." He finishes quietly, nervously wringing his hands together and fidgeting in an unexpected shyness.

The cashier's face heats up a bit at getting caught ogling a customer. Words are suddenly becoming hard to remember. Reply in a not-obviously-homo way, Chanyeol, he internally screams at himself, don't fuck up, you gay son of a—

"It's just that you're really, really pretty."

Immediately, Chanyeol's life flashes before his eyes as he contemplates jumping off a tall building. Baekhyun freezes, swallowing deeply and eyes widening in surprise. The cashier looks down and hurries to speed-scan the make-up, feeling his blush deepen thirty shades darker. "Um, s-sorry, that was out of the blue, I'm sorry for staring and—"

Baekhyun buries his head in his hands, saying, "No, no, it's okay— like, uh, thank you for the compliment and, yeah."

You had one job, Chanyeol.

His hand twitches and he nearly drops the last eyeliner in a display of his endless poise and grace, all while praying to the heavens above that he did not forget to check out anything. If a higher up ever sees him like this, he's sure he'd get fired on the spot. He's more grateful, though, that his co-part-timer, Jongdae, finished his shift earlier because if that camel-dinosaur human ever sees Chanyeol being more of a mess than usual, the taller is honestly going to burst into flames on the spot.

"...So, um, will you pay in cash or ca-credit?" he asks, taping the paper bag shut and testing its durability. It takes miraculous willpower to ignore the weird fuzziness in his stomach that was definitely not from the coffee. He still can't look at Baekhyun in the eye, so he keeps his gaze low and attention on the register.

The shorter reaches into his pocket and takes out a sleek black wallet. "Cash, please." He places a few large digit won bills then rummages for spare change.

Ka-ching, Chanyeol can almost hear the sound effect in his head as he carefully counts the money, surprised to find exact payment.

In the distance, his wallet weeps in its abyss-like emptiness.

After tucking away the cash and watching the long, long receipt print out, he takes out the customer copy and hands it to Baekhyun together with the paper bag. "Thank you very much, please come again." Please do, his mind telepathically begs the shorter.

Finally mustering the courage to make eye contact, he watches as Baekhyun takes his things with a polite bow. "Thank you, I will." The reply is soft, but makes Chanyeol softer at hearing it. His voice is beautiful; I could listen to it all day.

Baekhyun drops something onto the tray, coughing slightly. "It's nice meeting you, Park Chanyeol-ssi."

With that, he turns on his heel and exits the store in a fast pace.

Chanyeol feels a pang of emptiness watching the shorter leave. Shaking his head, he takes the discarded receipt, discarding it to the trash when a different piece of paper left behind catches his eye. He picks it up and exhales.

"Oh my God."

The business card is light in weight but feels heavy in his hands, like a treasure bestowed upon him by the gods. Neatly printed Hangul stares at him and he stares back.

Byun Baekhyun
Student
[email protected]

Underneath the email is an unmistakable set of digits.

"He left me his number."

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hello, thank you for clicking on eyeliner crisis !!

i'm so obsessed with exo it's not even healthy oops i spiritually relate to chanyeol tho, what a panicked gay

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