Work Text:
Chanyeol paced in front of the store doors while his two new employees watched nervously from the cafe bar.
“I can’t believe the new pastry chef is late on opening day. Boss is so going to fire him,” Sehun whispered to Minseok.
“No way, Chanyeol-ssi has the biggest hard-on for Jongdae. There’s no way he would cut him loose this soon,” Minseok whispered back.
“You know, I can hear the two of you no matter how softly you whisper,” Chanyeol shouted.
Minseok and Sehun jumped and looked at each other confused.
Sehun suddenly nodded his head in understanding, “The ears.”
Minseok snorted and hit Sehun on the head.
“You better shut up or it’ll be us who get fired next. Come on, we need to start getting the coffee ready. Besides, I can’t stand here any longer watching him brood.”
“I’m not brooding!” Chanyeol yelled.
Sehun and Minseok bowed and scurried off to the back.
Chanyeol was definitely brooding. It had been four stressful months since his grandmother passed away and left her bakery shop to him. Jongdae knew how important this day was to him. Chanyeol began to pace again. Hiring Jongdae was a bit of a risk since he’d just moved to Seoul from the United States and Chanyeol wasn’t completely confident in Jongdae’s ability to bake Korean desserts yet. Fortunately for Jongdae, Chanyeol was desperate and Jongdae was his only applicant. It also helped that Jongdae was just his type. He was small and had an affection for eyeliner. He kept his hair in a messy bun most of the time and had a smile that could make any man weak in the knees. It really wasn’t his fault he developed feelings for him. Although, it was definitely his fault for kissing him after their supposedly platonic dinner date last night.
Chanyeol shook his head hoping the memory would go away. It didn’t.
Running his hands through his hair, Chanyeol groaned, “Ugh, what a fucking asshole!”
“I hope you’re not talking about me.”
Chanyeol spun to see Jongdae sitting on the counter with the biggest grin on his beautiful face.
“Jongdae! How long have you been sitting there? I’ve been trying to call you! We have so much work to do and you’re late!”
Jongdae just sat there and smiled.
“Why are you smiling like that? God, you’re insufferable! I knew I shouldn’t have hired you! Now I am going to have to close the shop and resch-”
Chanyeol was interrupted by Jongdae leaping from the counter and grabbing him by the hand.
“What are you doing?! Let go of me!”
Jongdae was surprisingly strong for such a small guy.
“Do you ever shut-”
“You are so fir-”
“-up? No? Okay, well hopefully you can walk and talk. Follow me, Boss,” Jongdae said as he pulled Chanyeol towards the kitchen.
He opened the door and swung Chanyeol inside.
The kitchen was filled with sweets and desserts. Every table was covered. For a moment, Chanyeol thought he was dreaming he woke up in Willy Wonka’s factory. He slowly walked towards the oven and opened the door. Inside were three trays of bungeoppang. On the table there were trays of chapssaltteok and chapssal donuts. Next to the trays were boxes of desserts he had never seen before.
“What are these?” Chanyeol asked.
“They’re mini cinnamon and apple pies. I know you said to focus on only Korean desserts right now, but I noticed a lot of foreigners live here and figured we could sell some of these. It’ll be like having a small bite of home. Plus, the name of your shop...figured we should have at least one pie.”
Chanyeol nodded remembering his grandmother telling him about all the pies she tried when she visited the United States.
He looked into Jongdae’s eyes and asked softly, “How in the hell did you have time to make all of this? I thought you were late.”
“I couldn’t sleep after our...dinner last night so I showed up early this morning to start baking. I must have fallen asleep back here because I woke up to find you pacing and cursing my name.”
Chanyeol banged his head on one of the nearby tables.
“I’m so sorry, Jongdae. I shouldn’t have called you an asshole. I...I am just so nervous about this grand opening and after last night I was worried you weren’t coming because I kissed you,” Jongdae took a step towards Chanyeol, “and...and I know kissing you was a mistake. I shouldn’t have done that! It was so unprofessional of me and I really wouldn’t blame you if you sued me or just quit.”
Jongdae grabbed Chanyeol by his waist and pulled him closer.
“Wow! You really don’t ever shut up, huh?”
Jongdae stood on his toes and leaned in to kiss Chanyeol. Chanyeol closed his eyes and kissed the small man back. He was breaking so many rules, but he didn’t really care; Jongdae tasted like powdered sugar and smelled of flour. He was warm and sweet and perfect.
Suddenly, they heard clapping behind them. They pushed each other and apart and turned to see Sehun and Minseok clapping like seals. Jongdae took off his apron and threw it at them.
“We hate to break up this adorable moment, but it is currently 7 a.m. and we have people waiting in the cold for us to open. Boss, I think it’s time to open the doors.”
Chanyeol nodded at Minseok and headed out of the kitchen. He looked back to see Jongdae smiling while grabbing some trays to bring to the front.
He walked towards the door and saw a large group of people huddled outside. He released a heavy sigh.
“No turning back now, I guess.”
He turned a switch on and a sign outside started to buzz. He unlocked the door and welcomed his guests.
Sweet Pies was officially open for business.