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He stood there fiddling with the pen at the small podium meant for bagging fish and doing other minor tasks. Leaning his head down on the surface, he wondered when his shift would be up. It had to be soon, right? He had been scrubbing fish tanks and cleaning hamster cages all morning.
Pulling out his phone he saw the time; 10:22 AM. He had only been there three hours?! No way… He had another five hours in this place.
Why did he have to go to that LOLOL tournament? He sighed, thinking back. He had the chance to intern at one of the most highly acclaimed veterinary clinics. Yet, he chose to put it off for a game and instead landed working a part time summer job at some pet store who needed someone with animal and medical experience.
“Yoosung Kim!”
Yoosung’s head shot up, and he pocketed his phone to turn to his manager, whose hands were up in the air as if to say, ‘ what are you doing? ’.
“What are you doing?”
There it is , the blond thought as he hid his eye roll from the other man. “I was just wondering what I should do next, Mr. Lee,” he lied.
“If you have nothing to do, which I doubt, focus on customer service.” The middle aged man stormed away grumbling something about how kids have no sense of responsibility. Yoosung let out an annoyed sigh. The man wasn’t wrong, if he hadn’t been playing games he wouldn’t be here.
His head dropped onto the wooden surface in front of him with a loud ‘bang’ and he groaned as a dull pain spread through his head. Stupid move…
He heard laughing from the other side of him. The blond turned his head to see another man, a customer, who looked around his age.
Yoosung felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. Sitting up quickly he rubbed at the red mark that was now forming on his forehead. Ah, of course someone would see him when he was pouting to himself.
He gave the man who had laughed at him a once-over, he was rather stunning and had an interesting style about him. His hair was bleached white, with slightly pinked tips, and he sported multiple piercings that included his lip, nose, and quite a few on his ears. His clothing was mostly black, from the tight black jeans to the black leather jacket over his red top that showed just enough of his collarbone.
Yoosung’s cheeks grew darker as he looked the white-haired man over. Their gaze finally met and Yoosung felt his heart jump, taking in the brilliant green of the other’s eyes.
Oh, god, his eyes are beautiful… Contacts? The eyeliner he was wearing really made the green pop.
“I haven’t seen you here before. You new here?”
His soft voice brought Yoosung out of his daze and he nodded his head. “Yeah, I just started last week. I’m Yoosung. Yoosung Kim,” he pointed to his name tag and smiled.
“Saeran. Nice to meet you.” He raised his hand out to him and Yoosung returned the shake. “I’m normally in about once a week to pick up food for my babies.” He retracted his hand bringing his other up shaking the small box of frozen mice.
“Babies?”
“Yup. My snakes. I have three of them.” Saeran let out a chuckle from the look on Yoosung’s face. “Not a fan of snakes?”
“They’re not my specialty.”
The other man cocked a brow at the word. “Specialty?”
“Oh, I’m studying to become a vet. I’m more familiar with, like, cats and dogs. But I know a bit about other pets, too.”
“What are you doing in a pet store then? Shouldn’t you be working at a vet’s office?”
Yoosung let out another groan as he was reminded at what a failure he was for missing his chance. He leaned on the podium beside him, shaking his head at himself. Saeran wore a guilty expression, as if he were trying to say, ‘sorry I brought it up’.
“I was supposed to but I was too busy playing LOLOL and forgot to send in my application for the summer program…” Yoosung answered, to let the other know it was okay.
“And so you got stuck at a pet store?” Saeran laughed again, and the red tint that had been dying off Yoosung’s cheeks, returned.
“It’s okay, my brother also plays that game.” Saeran leaned on the podium as well getting almost too close to Yoosung. The blond would have stepped away but he found that he didn’t mind being this close to the other man. “Speaking of my brother…can I get a dozen large crickets?”
Yoosung nodded and pulled out the plastic bag writing down the amount. He walked over to the cricket bin and swallowed hard; he hated bugs. This job was such a bad idea… He stared at the small window that showed the creepy little buggers jumping around inside and felt his skin crawl.
“Does your brother have reptiles as well?” he spoke up trying to distract himself from what he was about to do. Lifting the lid he took the cup and scooped up some crickets, but as one jumped on his hand he dropped it making a small noise.
“No, this is payback for replacing all my makeup with costume makeup from the party store… Are you okay?” Saeran took notice of the yelps that were coming from Yoosung every time a cricket jumped onto him. “Do you need help?”
Yoosung looked up at him with large pleading eyes. “Please?”
Saeran grabbed the cup, scooped up some crickets, and began counting them into the bag. He shook off the crickets that crawled up his hand without flinching and closed the lid. He tied up his bag and smiled at Yoosung. “This job really doesn’t suit you, does it?”
“Ha, so you’ve noticed.” The blond shook himself off, still feeling the crickets on him.
“It’s kind of hard not to.”
Saeran’s gazed lifted from the boy to just behind him. “Thank you so much for all your help! You’ve been nothing but helpful!” he announced in a louder voice as Yoosung stared at him in confusion.
“Sorry, your manager was watching us.” He explained once the man had walked away. “How about…” he hummed for a moment. “What if I said I could get you a spot as an intern at a clinic?”
Yoosung blinked at him wondering what he was talking about there was no way he could do that… right? “How? All the positions are filled.”
Saeran gave him a sly smile. “Don’t worry about it. I have, uh, connections.” He stepped closer to Yoosung and leaned down to meet the blond’s gaze. Yoosung felt his heart pound in his chest. He really is gorgeous. “Besides, I’d do anything for a cutie like you.” Saeran teased, giving him a wink before pulling back.
“Yoosung Kim, right? I’ll see you around. I’ll let you know about that vet position.” He walked off giving Yoosung a wave before paying and exiting the building.
He had left leaving Yoosung flustered over his words and for the rest of the day, all Yoosung could think about was Saeran. He hoped he’d get to see him again soon.
The next day he lazily dragged himself to work. Getting off the bus he walked up to the doors of the building to see a pair of mint eyes staring back at him with a smile.
“Hey there, Mr. Intern.”