Chapter Text
Jeonghan shoved himself past the huge crowd of people and managed to snag himself a seat at the bar. He's lucky he was able to get a seat this fast. Usually they were all taken, or had puke on them. The big city was no joke, it seemed every bender and nonbender from the ages 18-26 was in this bar.
The bartenders were busy too, whirling around, preparing drinks and conversing with customers and somehow managing not looking overwhelmed at the same time. Jeonghan could never, which is why his job back at home was at a bookstore. Nobody was in a rush at a bookstore. Not that it mattered now, though. He'd quit because, hey, who knew how long they'd stay in the city? Besides, the owner was a nice old family friend who'd promised Jeonghan a spot anytime he wanted. Not like there were much people signing up for them.
But he'd need to get a job here sooner or later. Money didn't last forever, unfortunately. And Jeonghan's beer didn't pay for itself.
He was dazing off for a little bit when a familiar face appeared in front of Jeonghan. He snapped to attention, and smiled lazily. "Hey, Jisoo."
"Hi again, Jeonghan!" Jisoo grinned at him. "The usual?"
"Yep, thanks." Maybe Jeonghan should be worried that he'd lived in Republic City for a whopping total of eleven days, but the guys at the local bar remembered his face, name, and favorite drink, but he decided to ignore that and focus on Jisoo mixing his drink instead.
Jisoo was cute. His hair was gelled up today, and Jeonghan could clearly see all his piercings. He was wearing the standard uniform of bartenders; a black button-down with black pants and a black apron-like thing. It was cute on Jisoo, which Jeonghan thought was extremely unfair, because uniforms shouldn't look good on anybody.
Jisoo handed him his drink and Jeonghan took a sip. "Thanks, Jisoo." He expected Jisoo to leave to go help the other million customers waiting, but to his surprise, Jisoo leaned forward a little and smiled at him.
"I was wondering, what do you do? Like, besides come here and drink and turn down people who flirt with you. Like, as a job?"
Jeonghan coughed. So Jisoo had seen him turn down gross strangers? He hoped Jisoo think he was taken, or worse, a prude. "Um. I'm like, freeloading right now?" Jisoo raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I used to have a job back home, but then I moved here and now I don't. I have money saved up though. I'll be fine for like, maybe the next month if I don't go on a drinking spree."
"Oh." Jisoo looked disappointed. "Sorry, it's just that there's a few free spots here, and I was wondering if you wanted to work here? I mean, we're friends and all so it'd be fun to work with you and also, staff members get free drinks."
So, Jisoo considered them friends. And he liked Jeonghan, as a friend. And Jeonghan would get free drinks.
Well that sealed it.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Jeonghan stood up and chugged down the rest of his beer. "I'm hired."
***
The door slammed open and Mingyu flinched from where he was listening to the radio on the couch (it worked the best in the living room) and Soonyoung came from the kitchen. "What was that?"
"That" was Jeonghan. He looked drunk. He was holding a bunch of black clothes in his hand, and was brandishing his set of keys like a sword. "What's up bitches, I just got a job."
"Dude, nice!" Soonyoung said while Jihoon, who was coming down the stairs, said "No way!"
"Rude, Jihoon." Jeonghan rolled his eyes and flopped down on the couch, almost tripping on the chair leg. "But I did. It's at the bar downtown, called Andromeda. Have you heard of it?"
Mingyu snorted. "You mean, the one you go to every single day? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have an inkling of what it is."
Jeonghan chose to ignore him. "They had spots open cause one of their workers got married and another moved and whatever else happened, and one of the staff is my new best friend, Hong Jisoo. He recommended me and shit, they didn't care as long as I could pour drinks and look pretty. Both of which I'm fabulous at."
Jihoon was the one to roll his eyes this time. Mingyu found it funny how they'd known each other for less than two weeks and yet had gotten into this friendly cat and dog fight relationship. Sharing a bathroom sure did wonders for friendships. "You couldn't have just agreed to get off your lazy ass and work just for money, right? There has to be some incentive."
"That's what I was thinking," Soonyoung nodded along. "Is this Jisoo guy cute?"
Jeonghan glared at them. "Yeah, he's cute as fuck. Also, I get free drinks."
***
"How much money does your job make a day anyways?" Seokmin asks him curiously.
Wonwoo thinks about it. "Um, minus all the bills and taxes, about $30,000. Then divide that by twelve. Then divide that by six. Then divide that total by the thirty days of the month. Wow, it's almost like minimum wage isn't it?"
Seokmin laughs, and the sun is shining, flowers are blooming, Wonwoo's favorite team has won the probending championships. Except it wasn't really a joke, because it's true.
Well, not anymore. Once he started flying his very own airship, he'd be making bills. He felt giddy just thinking about it. It had been Wonwoo's dream since he was a tiny kid to be a pilot, and now here he was with his very own license and guaranteed ship.
He should actually be training right now, going in the flight simulators and practicing for actual lift-offs (which he sucked at) and landing (which he sucked even more at), but his flight level was passing and he was already guaranteed and Seokmin was much more fun to hang out with than a chunk of metal, although Junhui would probably say otherwise. And it's not like he was bothering anyone (except maybe Seokmin), because the pharmacy was empty but them.
"What about you?" Wonwoo asks Seokmin in turn. "How much does the best doctor in the city earn?"
Seokmin grins. "Stop saying that. And actually not much? It's all uneven. Flu season gets a lot of people coming in, but of course there will be times when there's only the occasional help-my-kid's-finger-is-stuck-in-the-drawer call."
"And us, right?" Wonwoo fiddles with a package of band-aids. "Don't the policemen call for your aid all the time?" Stupid question, because Wonwoo clearly already knows the answer to that.
Seokmin just shrugs. It's clear that he doesn't like the way this conversation is steering, so Wonwoo shifts the topic away. "Wanna go check out the airships with me?"
"I would love that."
***
Seungcheol's in a good mood today. Jihoon can tell, because he's humming, and Seingcheol only sings when he's happy or drunk. Or both. Jihoon wants to ask if anything special happened, but Chan beats him to it.
"You're pretty happy today, captain," He comments while stretching his arms. Chan's the only one of them who can't touch his toes for five seconds straight, so he's been trying for the past few weeks with little to no success. He has determination though, which Jihoon can admire because he hardly has any himself.
"Shut up and practice, you small human." Seungcheol replies, but his smile only widens. "Jisoo has a crush."
Jihoon drops his gear, and Chan's mouth forms an O shape. "For real?"
"He hasn't liked anyone since that weird on-off Junhui thing," Chan reminisces. "And that was in high school."
"Yeah, I know." Seungcheol's glowing. Jisoo had been his best friend for years, and gave them funding to start their little pro-bending thing when he wasn't even rich himself (although he definitely wasn't struggling). He was close to everyone in the group. "It's a guy named Jonghyun, I think. Jeonghee. Jeonghan? Uh, he has like, long hair."
"Long hair, huh." Chan nods thoughtfully. "Jisoo does like pretty people."
"Wait a second," Jihoon said. Jeonghan? Long hair? "I think I might know who this guy is. And by might know, I think he's like, living in my house. Right now."
***
Minghao was late to practice, and he was running. It was sort of ironic, seeing as practice was at his house/training room/dojo? fusion, but he'd lost track of the time with Junhui when they were sampling every single food in the food district. So now here he was, running to his house and praying the rest didn't do much yet.
He reached the apartment, and slowed down his steps to catch his breath. He tugged at the doorknob, but it was locked. This is new, Minghao thought, staring at the handle. They usually left it unlocked during training. He pulled out his keys and unlocked it, then peered inside to see nobody there.
"Um. What the fuck," Minghao said out loud. Was there no practice today? Did he really just run to here from downtown in nine minutes for absolutely nothing? He was certain there was, though. They had a game next week, they usually trained every other day in game season. I've finally snapped. Minghao poured himself a glass of water and sat down on the couch.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Minghao raised his head. Maybe there was practice, and it was just him that got the time mixed up. That was probably Seungcheol and the rest. "Get it yourselves, you rotten banana peels!" Minghao yelled at the door. "You all have your own keys!"
There was silence. Minghao wondered what was wrong with them. "Um, Cheol? Jihoon? Chan?" He walked over and peered through the peephole.
Oh fuck.
Standing in front of Minghao's door was not Seungcheol or Jihoon or Chan or whoever. It was a stranger, looking profusely confused. He was a hot stranger too. Minghao had just yelled at Hot Stranger and called him a rotten banana peel. He wanted to curl up in a ball and set himself on fire. Maybe he should just pretend not to be home?
Which wouldn't work, because he heard Minghao's yelling.
He cursed himself in his head and cautiously opened the door. The stranger gave him a small smile. "Um, hi. Sorry I yelled at you. I, uh. Thought you were somebody else."
"That's okay," Hot Stranger said, and his voice was sweet. Higher than expected, but still rather low. He was much taller than he appeared in the peephole, too. Minghao wasn't short at all, but reached his forehead. "I guess I was pretty unwarranted if you were expecting people, appearing out of nowhere."
Minghao's awkward in social niceties, so he's torn whether to say It's okay or Oh no, not at all when the stranger speaks again. "So! Uh, why I'm here. Well. First off, I'm the Avatar."
Minghao opens his mouth and then closes it. The stranger gauges his response, and getting nothing, he continues. "And like, I'm a firebender, right? Originally, I mean. And I should be good at earthbending too, but I'm not. At all. So I need help, and I heard you were like really good at earthbending and stuff! I even know your name. Xu Minghao. You're famous and everything! So like yeah. Please help me."
Minghao's mom never taught him how to react to things like this. "Um, I'm sorry?" His voice squeaks. "I, uh. Don't really have time for things like helping people." That made him sound like a douchebag. "Like, I have my own life, and I'm really busy, and..." His voice trailed off. "I'm sorry." He finishes lamely at the stranger's disappointed face.
"No, you're right. I shouldn't have tried to just barge in." He says sadly. "But! I will try again. Because I really need to learn. Good day! I'll be back tomorrow!" Minghao watches him bewilderedly as he marches away.
"By the way!" He yells when he reaches the beginning of the staircase. "My name is Kim Mingyu!"
Minghao just nods a bit. He's more than a little confused. Then, he hears a bunch of footsteps, and suddenly his team is surrounding him.
"Dude. What the fuck, you never told me you had a hot friend." Jihoon shakes Minghao's shoulders.
"I don't? He's not a friend." He manages to let out through his confusion. "By the way, where were you guys? I thought we didn't have practice or something."
The guys exchange looks. Minghao doesn't like being left out. "We were meeting my future brother-in-law," Seungcheol says solemnly.