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⇛ Hero's Soup [Café]
7:00am

"Good morning Sir, I'm Christopher," Chan spoke, thinning a smile as the door chimed upon his entrance. "I sent in my application and got word that the interview is today, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes, Mr.Bang, I was expecting you," the manager nodded, arms folded as he observed Chan's overly casual apparel. "Um, from your application I gathered that you don't have much experience, so I'll let one of the more experienced workers give you a guide." He smiled softly, nodding and surprising the boy with the lack of in depth questions.

"S-sir? Will this be after the interview or-"

"You have the job, Bang," the older chuckled lightly at the boy's reaction, motioning his hand to the counter before speaking again. "So go right ahead. Sana will give you the um," he poked at his chest, fighting to remember what the name-tag was called. "The name thingy, and you'll write out your name is marker then attach it to your shirt."

"Yeah, I understand," Chan spread a side smile, giggling lightly at the superior's gesture. "I'll get right to it... and yeah, thank you," he bowed before walking away, only to stop when the man called out again.

"One more thing," the man stretched his hand out, stopping Chan in his tracks. "The hoodie. It's not necessarily appropriate, so do you happen to have a shirt underneath or something?"

Chan nodded hesitantly, lowly grumbling a curse as he continued his walk to the back. The boy wasn't used to wearing just a shirt out in public, and the fact that he then had to do it in a time where he'd be dealing with countless customers was honestly nerve wrecking since it wasn't a norm. "Fuck," he muttered as he pulled his hoodie overhead, observing how the white T-shirt hung loosely over his stomach. "This'll take some time getting used to-"

"Oh you must be Christopher," Sana startled the boy causing him to tighten his grip on the hoodie, only relaxing when he got complete sight of the stranger behind him. "Jae told me that you'd be back here," she fixed her apron overhead, still smiling at the blonde as she attached her tag. "Well I'm Sana, and I'll be giving you a short tutorial for your work here."

Chan arched a brow, eyeing the girl's stretched hand, reluctant to accept the gestured request and shake. "Good," he muttered, forcing a soft side smile, smirking when the female's eyes no longer rested on his, but traced every nook and cranny of his exposed arms. "Could you get me an apron and empty tag?" He released her hand, chuckling teasingly at the slight fright she displayed from the sudden absence of contact. "And where can I leave my sweater?"

-

⇛ M&J Psychology Clinic
1:22pm

"No, guys please don't be like this," Felix pleaded, clutching both Seungmin's and Hyunjin's wrist. "I wanted to tell you but, I thought it'd be better to tell when you came, so please don't be upset. I just have to do this for him."

"Oh it's fine, Felix," Seungmin glared at the boy before looking away, spreading a heavily sarcastic smile. "It's completely fine, ditching your best friends for a guy on not only one, but all of your lunch breaks."

"Seungie," Felix whined, pouting at the couple. "All this is to help him. And besides, you guys will get more alone time. I'll still hang out with you after work and stuff," he tugged on their arms playfully, narrowing his eyes. "Don't be mad, okay? It's all going to be worth it, and maybe the four of us could all be friends one day."

"I was with you until you said that," Seungmin held back a gag, gently pulling his arm from the older. "We don't, need to be friends," his mind traced back to the evident lies of the addict that only he and Hyunjin were investigating. "Look, we know you like him, and you're not only hanging with him for help. Just don't fall in too deep, remember his current issue."

Felix frowned, releasing the other's arm. "I know," he sighed, looking away from the two. "Look, I know how it is. I know that someone like him isn't necessarily capable of liking someone, like that. But that's what I'm helping him with... even though it's not me that he likes at the end of the day." Felix forced a smile, lips quivering despite the fight to keep a fake, happy expression. "Anyways you guys go ahead. I'll make my way to the café, and yeah I'll call to tell how it goes."

"Lixie," Hyunjin hummed, petting the boy's shoulder. "Don't try to hide your sadness, okay? And if he's having such an impact, maybe you should even take a break. How are you even sure he got the job?"

"He texted me..."

"You sure you wanna go?" Seungmin rested a hand on the older's empty shoulder, both boy's faces holding empathy for their friend. "We could all go somewhere else if you'd like-"

"No guys, stop," Felix complained, gently nudging both their hands off. "I made a promise, and I'll keep it. This is a decision that I've decided to take to encourage my friend to make the right decisions," he smiled genuinely this time. "Stop worrying about me and go have fun, just the two of you."

"Fine," Hyunjin whined, noticing how his boyfriend was both mentally and physically fighting the urge to tell Felix what they had found out. "Let's go baby, Felix is all grown up," he teased, already making way to climb into the his and Seungmin's vehicle. "But you sure you don't want a ride?"

"Okay yeah, I think a ride will do."

-

⇛ Hero's Soup
1:45pm

"This is kind of a rush hour," Sana smiled smugly at the new employee, taking a quick sip of water as they stood to the back. "Just keep up with the ethics that I informed you about, and if you have any issue remembering which machine is which, I'll really only be right next to you, so don't be scared to ask," she instructed, earning a light chuckle from the older.

"Thank you," Chan smiled, nodding before walking back to the front. He didn't fancy the idea of being alone with the female for a long period of time as even though it had only been a few hours, the girl was much thirstier than those gold strands on her head tried to sell.

She seemed cute at first, and innocent, but those seductive stares and lip bites that she'd shoot at the addict when she was instructing him was honestly too much for the latter. "I'm more into guys," Chan had mumbled, but the female was too lost in a lustful gaze to properly decipher his words. Chan figured that it was about to be a quite interesting work experience for the him, and hopefully it'd increase his progress instead of pummeling all of the efforts.

"Good afternoon and welcome to Soup Hero- Café Hero- Soup- aish," Chan face-palmed at the embarrassing stutters, shaking his head before looking up to the stranger again, cheeks flushed from nervousness. "Good afternoon and welcome to Hero's Soup, what would you like today?" He asked slowly this time, playfully rolling his eyes at the chuckle from the customer.

"Regular coffee," Jeongin smiled, keeping back a laughing fit to be polite despite Chan's flustered state. "First day?"

"Y-yeah," Chan muttered, fighting to remember how to work the machine, pressing random buttons to act as if he knew what he was doing just to avoid having an exposed conversation with his thirsty co-worker. "Just gi- hold on one second, please."

"Well, Chris-?" Jeongin squinted as he tried to make out the scribbled letters on the name-tag. "-topher? That's not exactly how you work a coffee machine," he chuckled, mind only then tracing back to the first time he heard that unpopular name. "Wait, you're Christopher?"

"Yeah... is there a problem?" Chan was a bit shook at the man's sudden burst of curiosity, and the fact that somebody so unfamiliar was familiar with him. "Do I know you, or am I mistaken?"

"N-no," Jeongin bit the inside of his cheek, internally cursing himself for being such a sell out. "It's not you. I think I mistook you for another person," he lied, averting his gaze from the counter to scan the space awkwardly.

Chan nodded, turning away and finally figuring out how to use the unnecessarily complicated machine properly. "Here you go," he handed the man his drink, accepting the payment in return. "Have a good rest of the day."

Chan sighed before greeting the next customer, all energy and self-motivation from that morning already almost completely dried up. It was only when the addict spotted a familiarly puzzled freckled beauty to the back of the line that a smile reappeared on his face.

He dealt with the first few orders quickly and surprisingly with a whole lot of enthusiasm. His smile grew brighter when he locked eyes with Felix temporarily, smirking at the sudden blush rising along the younger's cheeks.

Felix didn't mean to blush like that. His heart didn't mean to skip like that and his legs didn't mean to weaken like that- but seeing Chan sweater-less with muscles and veins on detailed display while a silver chain hung loosely around his neck was so different- a good kind of different. And not that Felix's eyes were searching for such, but he could have sworn that the outline of Chan's pecs were visible through his slightly see through T-shirt at the sides where the apron didn't cover.

"Ch-Channie," he greeted shyly, body heating up as the older's smile grew in front of him. "I'm so proud of you. How are things so far?"

"Not bad," Chan stretched against the counter, clenching his jaw to keep back a yawn. "I'm just happy that you actually came."

"Of course. So what-"

"Are you going to make a fucking order or what?" One of the customers behind Felix became restless, startling the two with his loud, irritated comment. "It's lunch, not the end of the day. People have to go back to work."

"Y-yeah sorry," Chan stuttered, becoming all shaky from the customer's irritability. "Lix, do you want to order anything? You can go have a seat and I'll bring it to you so we can talk comfortably."

"Sure," Felix nodded, unintentionally blushing from Chan's warmth towards him. "Um, just get me the coconut latte please. My favorite."

"On it," Chan wrote the order down and dealt with a few other restless customers before focusing on Felix's request. "Anything for my Lixie."