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the driver has barely slowed down to a stop at the red light overhead when jae lurches across the backseat and over sungjin's lap in a mad scramble for the door lock.
sungjin screams, hits him over the head with his many manila folders as he curses and spits out threats of dismemberment, but jae is relentless in his determination. he struggles and, with one last mighty tug, manages to throw the door open wide and all but flees out of the company car.
“stop!” he hears sungjin shout after him, voice just this side of murderous and laced with enough promise to make him quicken his step. “jaehyung for god’s sake, stop!”
jae does the opposite. he hunches down, drags the ends of his beanie lower so that it covers his shock of blonde hair and hurries away as fast as he can without seeming like he’s running away. which he is, mind you, very much so. but that doesn't mean he has to admit it. he'll defend his last shred of dignity with claws and nails, small as it may be.
seoul’s streets do what they do best after that and swallow him up in their faceless crowd. jae makes sure to look down, hides his eyes and the glint of his golden-rimmed glasses under his bangs. the last thing he needs right now is for anyone to recognise his face and draw attention to him. he knows how that ends.
(spoiler: it ends badly. most often than not with his face splattered all over the papers the day after and sungjin screaming his ears off about the pr mess he just got them all into when he decided to go and play innocuous civilian.)
still, the prospect of another sermon from his manager is not enough to stop him. jae's been passed down like a ragdoll from interviewer to interviewer the whole day long and he's so tired of it all already. his cheeks hurt from all the fake smiling and he's still trying to blink away the bright spots of light from the fans’ cameras away from his eyes. his tongue feels leaden from all the pleasantries, heavy from all the faux-friendliness, and he swears he's going to puke his guts out if he so much as hears another annoyingly polite but still so very demanding smile for the camera, jaehyung dear.
that is, if he had anything inside his stomach to puke. he's been living on a strict diet of rabbit food and some kind of nutrient-heavy smoothies sungjin read somewhere helped with weight loss over the last month. of course, it's all preparation for his comeback. and jae understand the importance of the whole image thing sungjin slaves over as per his job description, he really does, but that doesn't keep him from having wet dreams about sinking his teeth into a meaty burger and gorging himself on greasy fries.
that's why he doesn't hesitate to push his way inside the neon-bright burger king joint a few blocks down main street and inhale the glorious smell of carbohydrates and charred cooking oil that hits him as soon as he steps a foot inside the place.
he makes his way to the front, thankful for the almost emptiness of the fast food restaurant. there's a couple sitting by a window table, too lost in their own world to take note of anything but each other, and a group of rowdy boys talking loudly by a corner booth. no one pays him any mind as he comes to stand by the cash register, where he drums his fingers against the cheap plastic as he waits for someone to show up and take his order.
“sorry, sorry!” a mess of limbs and burger king reds and whites shouts from a door hidden behind the counter. jae squints at the boy - a gangly teen, smiling brighter than he should be for the late hour. he’s slightly on the short side, though jae usually towers over anyone he meets, so he's not that good of a measurement, really.
“sorry for the wait. welcome to burger king, may i-” the boy falters then, eyes growing wide as he takes him in. jae flinches, hears the boy gasp, his jaw going slack as he says, “ oh my god , are you-”
“don't,” jae cuts in before the boy can finish, motioning frantically at him to stay quiet. he sneaks a glance at the other patrons, but thankfully no one seems to have noticed anything. yet . jae sighs in relief, pushes his glasses up his nose as he turns towards the boy again. “i just want a burger. please.”
“oh my god, you are!” the boy shouts in response, grinning so big jae thinks it has to hurt. “can i get an autograph? let me just grab a pen real quick- hyung! hyung, come look who's here!”
jae opens his mouth, to curse or snap at the boy he doesn't know, but just then another person makes his way behind the counter and jae’s jaw snaps shut with an audible click at the sight of him, because wow .
“what is it, wonpil? i was just about to head out.”
“but hyung, look.”
the newcomer turns around then, roams his eyes over jae in a way that has him shifting on his feet. jae doesn't know what to expect, more fanboying maybe, maybe even some fainting (it's happened before). but what he certainly doesn't expect is for the new boy to open his mouth and say, completely deadpan, “i am looking, brat. i just don't know what the big deal is.”
“ what? ” both jae and the other boy -wonpil - hiss at the same time. the older boy - because he has to be older, what with that shadow of stubble creeping across his jaw and the defined cut of his cheekbones (which jae does not stare at, thank you very much, he's just assessing a possible threat, honest)- raises an eyebrow and snorts at them both .
“you would think i just murdered your puppy with the you're looking at me,” he says as he pushes wonpil away from the registering machine. “may i take your order please?” he asks, locks eyes with jae for a beat that feels entirely too long to him.
“i, uh,” jae stutters, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that this boy doesn't seem to care about who he is. because jae knows he recognised him, saw the telltale glint of oh, it's you flash across his eyes. not to mention that there's a big ass billboard with his face printed all over it looming right outside the restaurant’s window. so yeah, the boy knows who jae is, he just- he just doesn't care. “a burger please,” he manages to get out at last.
the boy nods once, smirks just the slightest bit when he sees jae gaping at him. “you want fries with that?” he asks.
“no, yes, i mean-” jae takes a deep breath. in. out. he’s sang in front of thousands of people, filled stadiums to the brim, he can handle some cocky burger king cashier. “yes, fries. that would be - yeah.”
the boy snorts again, more amused now than anything else, and jae grins a bit back in response, relaxes at the sound even if it is at his own expense.
“coming right up,” the boy - brian, the nametag reads. brian, jae thinks - says. “that’ll be 14000 won.”
“right,” jae says as he digs around for his wallet and hands his card over to brian and very pointedly does not blush when their fingertips brush against each other’s for a heartbeat too long.
“i’m sorry, sir,” brian says after he swipes his card. jae’s head snaps up at that, confused as he looks into brian’s amused eyes. “your card’s been denied.”
“ what? ” jae hisses for the second time that day, completely perplexed as wonpil starts making strangled gasps behind brian’s back.
“your card’s been denied,” brian repeats, voice shaking as if he were trying to fight off a fit of the fucking giggles. which, jae thinks, is very likely just what he’s trying to do.
“hyung,” wonpil despairs, looking up at jae apologetically. “this is park jaehyung we’re talking about here, just let him take the food, ok? i don’t want to get fired because you pissed off korea's most beloved celebrity.”
“no wonpil, i can’t do that,” brian says, chuckles when wonpil pouts his lips at him. jae stares, brian’s deep laugh still ringing in his ears as the boy goes on, “i think korea’s beloved most celebrity can pay for his own burger, don’t you think?”
“hyung, please- ”
“no, no he’s right,” jae cuts in and smiles sheepishly at them both as he tries not to let the humiliation get to him. honestly, why doesn’t the earth just swallow him whole already? “i must have brought my old card instead of the new one my manager gave me, i’ll just, uh-”
before he can figure out exactly what he’s going to do (because he doesn’t think standing here staring at brian is an option at this point) the door to the fast food joint slams open with an ominous crack and a harried sungjin comes stumbling in, eyes alight with murder and foaming white at the mouth.
“oh god, no,” jae moans, tries not to cower and fails miserably. he’s in so much shit right now is not even funny. he should have known sungjin would have gone looking for him into any place that sold greasy, image-threatening food. he’s going to be munching on carrot sticks for weeks, he just knows it . he’s so fucked.
jae has half a mind to just give up and start grovelling for mercy already when a hand comes down on his arm and tugs him forward.
“come here,” brian whispers into his ear, making him startle. he pushes him behind the counter before jae can get a word in, nevermind react, cause holy shit , brian was so close just now, barely a few inches away, and stands before his hunched form the block his blond head from view.
“hi, sir. welcome to burger king,” brian begins, unfailingly polite, as if jae weren’t digging his nails into his calves in an effort to keep himself quite. “may i-”
“have you seen a man around here,” sungjin asks without preamble, slams his hands on the counter and makes the pockets of ketchup and mayonnaise shake from the force of it. “more like a child really. blond, tall, kinda looks like a chicken. big hit soloist of the moment, park jaehyung?”
“who?” wonpil aks from behinds brian’s shoulder, grinning even brighter than jae thought it was possible to.
“his face is plastered all over your window,” sungjin sighs, jabs a thumb in the billboard’s direction where a giant-sized jae is advertising whatever product did the best sucking up and got a contract with his firm.
“i’m sorry, sir,” brian answers, tone apologetic enough to appear sincere, just that little bit lilting for jae to tell he’s enjoying this. “i’m afraid he hasn’t been here, maybe you got confused with the window.”
“i thought for sure he would,” his manager sighs, doesn’t remark on the comment that had jae biting his on lips not to laugh aloud. “honestly, he's worse than a hound when he smells grease.” sungjin deflates, straightens up his rumpled suit like he just realise the picture he painted. like a fifty-something businessman who just got laid off. or a parent whose child just got called into the principal's office. the latter, mostly. “anyways, thank you,” he says, smiles just this side of guilty, “i’m sorry for the trouble.”
“no problem,” brian calls after him, even though sungjin is already off, probably going to look for jae in the mcdonald's down the corner.
“thank you,” jae breathes once he sees sungjin’s silhouette disappear down the block. “really, thank you. you just saved me from a whole month of lettuce and the occasional tomato.”
“that bad, huh?” brian asks as he reaches out for jae and heaves him up, smiling down at him like jae’s something strange. well, not strange , jae corrects himself when he sees the quirk of brian’s smile, almost surprised, but maybe like jae’s something he didn't quite expect him to be.
“yeah, that bad,” jae agrees, grinning back at brian before it fades when he sees the couple at the corner staring at him, no doubt because of sungjin’s appearance. they’re both squinting at him, trying to figure out if it’s really him or not. “i uh, i should get going,” he says, tries not to show how much he doesn’t want to do what he just said.
“thanks again.” jae waves at brian, who looks like he’s in the middle of making a decision, of the big kind at that, before he turns on his heels and heads for the door.
jae’s just about to step out, reluctant as he may be, when a shout comes his way. “hey! wait up!”
jae turns around to find brian barely a few steps away from him, holding up a burger king paper bag and smiling up at him from under his burger cap. and honestly, the sight should not be as pleasing as it is, with the way the hot red shade of the hat clashes horribly with brian’s pastel orange hair and the bit of mustard dusting his cheek, but it is. it is and jae’s far too tired, (maybe far too enamoured too. maybe) to deny it.
“one burger with fries, right?” brian asks as he hands jae the bag, who takes it numbly in turn.
“didn’t you say korea’s celebrity should pay for himself?” jae questions for a lack of anything better so say, relishes in the bark of laughter brian lets out.
“i did,” brian says, grins brighter and bigger and better. “but i’m not giving it to him, i’m giving it to the awkward, still somehow cute guy who kinda looks like a chicken and is broke enough to not be able to afford food from burger king of all places.”
“oh. oh, ” jae starts to say, doesn’t really get to finish because his face keeps getting redder and redder and wow, was brian always this close?
“i hope to see you soon.” brian laughs, murmurs a quiet cute under his breath that has jae flushing even deeper, in embarrassment or satisfaction he doesn’t know, before he slips a strip of paper into jae’s hand and disappears behind the counter, where wonpil is gaping at him and making a sound that’s half astonishment, half horror high on his throat.
“right,” jae says, nods once for himself before he exits the restaurant and goes in search of sungjin, who is most certainly going to chop his head off for this little stunt of his.
(spoiler: he does. sungjin screams at him for hours on end when his bare-faced (and admittedly quite ugly) photo appears on the tabloids the day after. he rants about public opinion and idol standards, but jae doesn’t care - can’t bring himself to, not when he has brian’s number written on a burger king napkin and plans of calling him very, very soon.)