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right at the end of the school year, sehun's dad offered him a job at his mattress store.
his employees were moving on to other jobs, and it seemed his dad was quite desperate to fill the positions.
so, without any hesitation, he had accepted his offer immediately.
he just wanted some money in his pocket and something to do over the summer.
sure the responsibility his dad went on about was cool too, but money and not dying of boredom were his main concerns.
later on, by some stroke of luck, he also told him to ask his best friend jongin if he'd like a job as well.
something about him being a "dependable, honest, and sensible young man" made him consider jongin for the job. it wasn't a lie though; everytime they needed a housesitter it was always jongin who got the first call.
a few weeks later, the two began their summer job as bumbling, awkward, and somewhat incompetent employees.
with the patience of sehun's dad and countless hours of training, they improved greatly, the long days with minimal customers that once had them wanting to quit now had them wishing there were more to attend to.
today was a regular day. not that there were any irregular days, but its nice to note.
sehun had been taking inventory all morning, and when he finished, he joined jongin on the sales floor. jongin saw to greeting customers and informing them of any ongoing promotions as they entered the large store.
the flow of customers was steady, probably no more than 10 people in the store at any given time. hard to believe the two couldn't handle that at one point.
they were so good at their jobs now that the owner left them have more control, no longer watching their every move. he still drops in from time to time (sometimes with lunch) to greet his son and his best friend.
the rest of their shift was spent quietly, they only stopped to conversate when there was no one in store and had completed whatever they had to take care of for the day.
sehun was in the process of ringing up a customer, probably the last one judging by the lack of people browsing the store, and since it was 15 minutes before closing.
"excellent choice. i have this mattress myself, it feels like a dream. it pays to work at a mattress store." sehun says as he walks his customer to the checkout station.
"okay, that'll be $408.12 including tax and the added delivery fee. debit or credit?"
"debit, please." she replied.
"alright, i.d please?" he checks the names on the debit card and i.d card to see if they both match up. after confirming, he prints out her receipt and delivery ticket for the mattress she just purchased.
"thank you for your purchase here at cloud 9 mattresses, your mattress will be delivered to your home in 2 days around 4 in the afternoon."
just as she begins to walk away he adds, "and feel free to come back anytime to check out our lovely comforters, pillowcases, and bedsheets! what's better than flying up on the highest cloud in the sky? not only will your mattress make you feel like you're on cloud 9, but it will look like cloud 9 too! no mattress is complete without them!" the middle-aged woman laughs, and assures him that she will take a look at their sets another day.
he waves goodbye as she turns to leave.
nothing like shameless promotion to net some extra sales. he grins at his ability to make people spend a little bit more than they intended.
job well done, oh sehun, he tells himself.
he checks his watch for the time. 7:30.
closing time.
as if on cue, jongin walks up from the backroom to sehun. he's in the midst of closing the registers for the night.
"hey. how was inventory?"
he turns to face jongin, "eh, same thing everytime. count the massive stacks of mattresses and account for new arrivals." he pauses to finish the last register before continuing, "how was greeting duty?"
"easy. not much to do when people hardly walk in here. too bad there's no mattress season where people go ham with buying 'em."
"true that. good thing my pops owns the place and he's not paying rent. mattresses are good for like maybe 5 to 10 years tops depending on the quality. of course it's rare to see hoards of people shopping for mattresses."
jongin laughs. "seems i've been hanging around the mattress expert now."
"you know it, honey." he snaps his fingers for added effects. "you should do your research sometime, nothing like lookin' up a good mattress, jongin."
"you're dumb. oh, and i forgot to ask you, but do you need a ride home?"
"nah, my dad's got me. you should go home, i'll lock up tonight." he says, keys for the front doors already in hand.
"you sure? doesn't your dad come to pick you up super late?" jongin asks, reaching for his car keys and jacket.
"yeah, but it's not too bad. maybe if i'm lucky he'll come 2 hour after closing."
he seems unwilling to leave sehun by himself, but gives in, knowing that sehun is more stubborn than most. "alright then. see you tomorrow, stay safe."
"see you." he waves as jongin leaves through the back door.
sehun begins to walk towards the front, key im hand, and humming the tune to some pop song that's being over-played on the radio.
he stops walking about halfway through the store, when he hears a sound. it seems too close to have come from the bustling traffic outside the door.
he can't brush the noise off because he hears it again.
a snore?
he looks around the empty store, starting with the right of the store, where it was just mattresses themselves without any covering. the bright white walls mingling with the multitude of white mattresses there.
nothing.
he turns to the left side of the store where all the comforter sets and bed displays were. the brand, model, and style of the mattresses and bedding could be seen here by the customer. if a customer didn't know what they wanted exactly, sehum and jongin took them to this side first.
the comforter sets in their plastic packaging still remained intact and organized, courtesy of jongin.
when he turns to the bed displays, however, he bites his cheek to prevent any loud noises from escaping.
now, he's had countless ordinary days while working, that's a given. there's not much that can possibly happen in a damn mattress store. the number of days with somewhat interesting events can't compare at all to the amount of normal days they've had.
this probably takes the cake, though, seeing as there's literally a guy wearing shades sleeping in one of their bed displays. he looks kind of scary, despite his pretty thin build, but sehun thinks if push comes to shove, he can maybe take on the guy if things get of hand. maybe.
sehun doesn't get paid enough for this.
he silently sprints to the backroom to grab an old, dusty broom. he doesn't have many potential weapons to choose from in a mattress store. for pillow fights, yeah. for actual fights? best bet is the broom. (he has a lot of time on his hands to think these things through)
he peers out to the sales floor, the figure in the same place as before, unmoving and still lightly snoring away. he gives a shaky breath and slowly approaches him, broom in hand and ready to strike. any sense of time it feels like a lifetime before he bites the bullet and pokes the sleeping boy (?) in the head, his blonde fringe having fallen in front of his face at the movement. this is a really bad idea.
the mystery blonde lets out a louder snore and mumbles something sehun can't make out. fear virtually gone now, he pokes forcefully at the other's head. this seems to do the trick.
"mm, stop poking me. give me five more minutes." a drowsy voice whines.
"mm, stop sleeping on my bed displays." sehun imitates the boy's whiny tone.
"no. 'm sleepy and 's comfy here."
well, that wasn't expected. the fear sehun felt beforehand has certainly evaporated into annoyance at this point.
"if you like it so much, then buy the mattress."
a groan. "do i look like i'm made of money?"
sehun's too tired to deal with this standing up, he takes a seat on the edge of the bed display and makes himself comfortable. "i dunno, do bums usually have a pair of gucci shades at the ready? you seem capable enough."
the other, no longer sleepy, sits up against the pillows. he takes off his shades to rub at his eyes and lets out yet another yawn. sehun notices the dark circles surrounding his eyes, he looks a lot like a panda.
before he can stop himself, he asks, "do you not get enough sleep or something? those are some mad eye bags you got."
he receives an offended look in response to the sudden comment. "mm, for a mattress salesguy, you're really rude. they're not eye bags. i was born with them like this."
"are mattress salespeople supposed to act a certain way?" he pauses before adding, "and, uh, sorry. i didn't mean it like that. i guess."
a hum in response. it's silent for a while.
"i'm zitao, by the way. i'm 17."
"sehun. i'm 17 too."
"cool. i figured you were somewhere around that age. i usually get mistaken for being older."
it's silent again. its comfortable, though, just like the silence that often falls between both jongin and sehun. he doesn't mind it.
sure, he's sitting on a bed display with some random kid past closing, but he just marks it on his mental calender as yet another "odd day".
zitao speaks yet again. "sorry about, you know, falling asleep here. it was just too comfy. i'm just checking out a mattress for my pops and next thing i know i'm knocked out on one of them."
sehun laughs. "it's cool, i guess. i don't blame you, i mean we only have the best here." closing time or not, sehun always has a mind to shamelessly promote their products.
"hm. considering i fell asleep on one, i guess i can't disagree with you." he chuckles.
"you know, i find it weird how i'm sitting on the same bed as some dude i figured to be a bum, just chatting it up all casual. you looked kinda scary and serious. not gonna lie, i was ready to get my ass kicked when i saw you from afar."
"the world's weird, man." he reclines back onto the pillows clad with intricately designed silk pillowcases, their dark ruby red color contrasting with the light grey bedding. "i probably could though." he adds.
sehun tilts his head in confusion. "do what?"
"kick your ass." he says simply. "i do wushu. so don't challenge me." his tone slighty playful, his eyes lit with an emotion sehun couldn't quite identify.
sehun's feeling quite bold when he says, "and what if i did, zitao?"
before he knows it, he's pushed down onto the bed, his back right up against the bedding under him. okay, so he might be scared for his life yet again.
zitao has sehun's wrists pinned down and is hovering over sehun's stiff form. he leans down to whisper in sehun's ear, "still wanna know, sehunnie?"
sehun can't reply. not with the hot breath against his ear making him feel some type of way. he's not sure if the light press against his ear is a figment of his imagination. he's still struggling with his reply, not knowing what to say. thankfully, he doesn't have to.
zitao lets off of him, now covering his face and laughing. his laugh is loud and high pitched, and sehun just can't get enough of it.
"i'm only kidding, sehun!" he giggles, his cheeks tinged with pink. "but i must ask, do you like being under me, sehunnie?" he wiggles his eyebrows at sehun.
who would've thought the guy could be so awkward and childish, yet so...flirtatious. it's driving sehun nuts.
sehun doesn't know what he did in his past life to deserve this embarrassment, but whatever it was, he regrets it. "i, uh, i-" he stops himself because he's stammering so much.
"you're cute."
"shut up." he checks the time on his watch. it's 8:30. his dad should be here soon. he turns to zitao, "hey, you need to go."
"what? am i too much?" zitao pouts. he seems upset.
"no, no, that's not it. my, uh, my dad's probably gonna show up soon. pretty sure he'd flip if he saw you here, sleeping on one of his precious bed displays."
"oh. i see. yeah, i should probably get going." he slips of the bed and stretches.
"i can let you out of the front doors. i haven't locked up yet." sehun offers.
"okay." zitao replies.
the walk to the front is short, much to sehun's disdain. they both stand in front of the glass doors awkwardly, not quite wanting to say goodbye just yet.
zitao breaks the silence, "considering i didn't buy anything this time around, i suppose i'll be coming back."
sehun laughs, "and i'll be here. you better come to me though. can't let jongin have my commission sales now."
zitao giggles and opens the door. "i'll consider it." he looks outside before giving sehun his attention once more. "goodbye kiss?"
sehun groans, "are you always this flirty?"
"yeah, but only around hot mattress salespeople." he winks at sehun.
ignoring the other's antics, he waves zitao out of the store with a, "bye, zitao!", and slam of the glass door. through it, he can see zitao pouting.
"go home." he mouths through the glass, shooing him away with his hand.
zitao relucantly turns away, but not without blowing a kiss to sehun.
he snorts at his antics, locking both doors.
he feels his phone vibrating against his pocket, he knows it's his dad calling him.
he flips the flips their open sign over.
with more energy than usual, he makes his way to the backroom, anticipating the days to come at work.