Work Text:
Eunbi was pretty sure she was losing her fucking mind. She was no newcomer to late night shifts, had been working late nights twice a week at the same convenience store since she was still in high school, but tonight was going to be the night that cracked her she could just tell. She was practically feeling each tick of the second hand as it moved slowly around the clock, a hoodie string in her mouth and her chin leaning on her arms where she was flopped against the counter as she stared out at aisles of food reflected in ugly plastic flooring. Normally she’d be thankful for a slow moment like this one, customer service is soul sucking and Eunbi could appreciate a good old blank wall stare, but tonight the absolute lack of stimulation left her wishing for anything to happen to break the monotony.
When her wish was eventually granted, the jingle of the bell over the door breaking the silence startled her so much that she bit her tongue and didn’t get a chance to look at her new customer until they were already browsing the instant ramen section, their back to the register. Whoever this new customer was, Eunbi already was a big fan of the way her long hair waved over her shoulders clad in a denim jacket - the jacket, however, made Eunbi frown. Two in the morning, in Seoul, in January was not exactly a time renowned for its warmth and this customer was visibly shivering through her thin jacket and sweat pants. When she did eventually turn to face Eunbi at the register, she saw that her face was red and her lips were blue from the cold and her frown deepened. She was so focused on worrying about this stranger wandering around and possibly freezing to death that she didn't consider that extended lip staring wouldn’t naturally be recognised as concern until said lips twisted sideways into a smirk and she looked up into a laughing pair of eyes.
When she realised how her gaze was being interpreted (Eunbi wasn't an idiot), she froze and managed to get herself caught midway to speaking some inane greeting with her mouth open and eyelids blinking over wide eyes (like an idiot).
The stranger’s smirk somehow managed to twist a little deeper into her face, and she leaned a little over the counter closer to where Eunbi stood hands uselessly by her side as she tried to form some kind of customer appropriate “I wasn’t checking you out you just look freezing now how can I help you” speech. Her eyes flicked down to read her name tag.
“Hi Eunbi. Can I buy some ramen?”
That teasing lilt in her voice was the trigger for Eunbi’s mouth to snap closed and for her to start acting like an actually functioning human again as she rang up her ramen and bagged it for her, clearing her throat before asking if she was paying by card or cash because she wasn’t 100% sure her voice would come out at this point.
When she handed the bag over the counter their hands brushed and Eunbi involuntarily shivered, finally making eye contact for the second time as she forgot to avoid it at the cold touch, only to kick herself when she remembered why ramen girl’s face had left her speechless in the first place. She wasn't sure when looking at her in concern for her health had switched to seeing the cutest little indian dimples in her cheeks and the curl in her hair where it framed her face, but there was no time to figure it out before the customer startled her with a wink and a “Bye Eunbi,” turning around, ducking out of the door swinging her bag as she went and leaving Eunbi speechless again.
Eunbi plonked her head down onto folded arms and groaned to herself as the door bell stopped ringing. What the hell was that? She was Hwang Eun-fucking-bi, queen of savagery and flirting, ruler of all she surveyed and some freezing ramen buying girl with a pretty eye smile and great hair should not have thrown her off her game like that. When she was begging the universe for anything to happen, she maybe should’ve specified anything but total humiliation. Or death. But honestly maybe death would be preferably over the death of her ego - she couldn’t believe it. Knocked down by one flustering mistake in front of a late night customer.
As another minute rolled by however, she found humiliation giving way in her mind to irritation. Who was this girl who assumed that everyone around her was attracted to her? Like there wasn’t a thousand other reasons Eunbi could’ve been looking at her? By the end of her shift Eunbi had built up a healthy scaffolding of self righteous indignation around her wounded ego and found that as long as she could blame a late night and a rude stranger her status as Eun-fucking-bi etc etc could remain perfectly intact.
It was this knowledge that comforted her on her walk home, as she trudged through the hallway and brushed her teeth as quietly as possible so she didn't wake her flatmate Yewon, and as she fell asleep in her mess of a room. It was just a moment gone wrong and if she ever saw ramen girl again she’d be the most put together and unflustered she had ever been.
That resolve was put to the test rather sooner than she had expected, as the next afternoon found Eunbi back at work again, hair tied up in a ponytail behind her with wisps escaping and annoying her as she bickered with her coworker over shelving.
“A little more to the left, it’s still not symmetrical yet.”
“Eunbi, I don’t care.”
“Yuna, you should.”
“Well you're welcome to come out and do it yourself you know.”
The bell over the door rang as Eunbi geared up her next response, distracting her thoroughly and leaving her hesitating as ramen girl herself came in looking a lot warmer (Eunbi didn't care, obviously) in a long padded jacket and pigtails. Yuju turned back to look at Eunbi quizzically when she didn't respond and Eunbi snapped into action, putting one of the strongest scowls she had in her repertoire on her face as the customer walked brightly towards the counter, laying down a packet of gum and a cash note, beaming as Eunbi scanned the barcodes and handed the items back to her with a handful of change.
“Aren’t you supposed to ask if I want a bag Eunbi?”
Eunbi didn't know why she had ever thought this girl was cute. She was annoying is what she was, coming and making wholly unreasonable requests of her when she was clearly putting out leave me alone vibes with her whole body. Again Yuju’s look, this time of consternation pulled Eunbi out of her irritation bubble and she gritted out a “Paper or plastic?” from between her teeth.
“Oh neither, I just thought you had to ask - bye Eunbi!” she turned and skipped her way out the door with her gum in one hand and a significant proportion of Eunbi’s patience in the other.
“Did you know her? That was not exactly stellar customer service right there so I can only assume she’s tried to kill you on at least one prior occasion, because otherwise what was that stare?” Yuna had completely turned from her stacking at this point, folding her arms across her knees where she crouched.
Eunbi shifted uneasily under Yuna’s questioning “I don’t like, know her know her but she came in last night and was a total dick.”
“Really? She seemed sweet, what did she do?” Yuna tilted her head a little.
Eunbi continued her foot to foot shuffle as she replied, “She smirked at me the whole time she was in here, she said my name like, twice… and she wasn’t even wearing a proper coat even though it was fucking freezing, she could’ve dropped dead of hypothermia at any moment and permanently emotionally scarred me.”
Eunbi kept up her full on eyebrow furrowing frown even through Yuju’s disbelieving stare.
“You’re insane Eunbi."
“Whatever, I’m right, besides you didn't hear the way she said my name. It was all smug like she was using it against me or something.”
Some part of Eunbi recognised she was being a little crazy about this whole thing, and not only was blowing it way out of proportion but also blaming ramen girl for things totally out of her control, but a much larger part of her stuck firm to her explanation, ramen girl was a dick because if she wasn't then Eunbi was a flustered mess, and Eunbi was not a flustered mess, not even for a very pretty girl, which ramen girl also definitely totally obviously wasn’t. So there.
And besides, it’s not as if Eunbi had hurt her feelings or anything, if at all possible she had left the store more brightly than she had come in despite Eunbi’s best efforts to quash her enthusiasm. It almost wasn't surprising when ramen girl returned the next afternoon, this time for a packet of cookies and a comment about Eunbi’s hair, and it definitely wasn't a surprise when she returned the day after that too. At that point Eunbi was getting fed up and she snapped back full of sarcasm when ramen girl made a comment about what a lovely day it was as it poured with rain.
“Sure, as lovely as it is to see you in here again.”
Despite the venomous reply, ramen girl seemed absolutely delighted to have received any response to her conversations outside customer-cashier interaction, and her elated smile made Eunbi swear she wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of replying again. When she returned the next day however, her response was faster than her self awareness and she found herself replying before she could stop.
It carried on for weeks, ramen girl coming in nearly everyday and saying the fluffiest things with her big smile and Eunbi hating it with every ounce of her being and doing her best to express that, ramen girl never so much as flinching at her bitter replies. She always came in the afternoon though, at around five when Eunbi had started her shift at four after finishing her afternoon business classes at uni, so it was a shock when Eunbi was on her late night Friday shift alone, at one in the morning to hear the bell ring and see none other than ramen girl stumbling though the doorway, hair drenched through sticking to her forehead and her equally soaked through hoodie, teeth chattering and for the first time in memory not showing in a stomach churning sweet smile.
She made a valiant effort when she saw Eunbi behind the register though, gritting her teeth in a poor imitation of her usual grin, and panicking Eunbi as she realised just how cold the other girl was, arms wrapped around herself and knees knocking like a cartoon as she shivered. Before she knew it Eunbi was out from behind the counter yanking her coat out from where it was stuffed under the register, pushing the shivering girl further into the store and pulling at her hoodie to get it over her head at the same time.
“What the fuck are you doing you idiot, why the hell would you go out with a coat? You think you're smarter than the weather huh?” Eunbi successfully wrestled the jumper off of her and pulled her coat over her shoulders, pulling it close around her at the front as her arms remained wrapped firmly around her waist. Eunbi looked back up at her face, took in how pale she had gone, skin almost see through compared to her dark eyes looking at Eunbi widely, and pulled her by the collar of her coat through to the minuscule break room at the back of the store. She pushed her down on the couch and ramen girl sat with an oof that seemed to startle herself a little.
As Eunbi turned around to the shelves behind her and started their electric kettle boiling ramen girl found her tongue, her annoying, irritating tongue.
“Are you looking after me right now?”
“No.” Eunbi rolled her eyes over her shoulder in her direction even as she felt worry grip her again at the tremble in her voice. She shook a couple hot packs awake and took them over to her where she looked so small in the corner of the couch, tucked them firmly into her hands.
There was nothing left she could do until the kettle had boiled so she settled for fastening her face into the most impassive mask she could manage and looking down at ramen girl as she shivered with a smile Eunbi hadn't seen on her before, small and hopeful. She didn't over think it though, instead beginning her inquisition into why exactly this girl was wandering into her store soaked and freezing in the middle of the night.
“Why are you here dying of hypothermia? If you decided to take a late night stroll in the pouring rain why in the name of fuck were you not dressed for it?”
“Well it wasn’t raining when I left,” ramen girl replied, “and I left in a bit of a rush. My roommate brought her girlfriend back and those two are far too loud to deal with without headphones - mine broke.” She paused to pull Eunbi’s coat tighter around her. “ I got out of there as soon as the slamming against the bedroom door started.”
“You risked your life over loud sex. You’re an idiot.”
Ramen girl’s smile turned a little rueful, “You’re probably right.” At this point the kettle started to whistle from behind Eunbi and she turned around to pick out a mug, relieved at the chance to escape from having to formulate a reply to an agreement.
“Ooh can I have the red one?” ramen girl said leaning over the arm of the couch to see around Eunbi. Eunbi purposefully picked her a blue one, closing the cupboard and noting from the corner of her eye that the girl behind her had recovered enough feeling in her face to successfully pout.
The worry left her a little as she stirred chocolate powder and milk into boiling water, but she was somewhat surprised to find that the feeling replacing it wasn't irritation at this intrusion on her evening, it was instead relief that the girl was warming up safely. As she turned around to her over her hot chocolate, she even caught herself being thankful that she had ended up walking here and not anywhere else.
The feeling wasn't fading either, as ramen girl cupped the mug between her hands and turned her face down to let the hot steam hit her with closed eyes Eunbi found herself looking at her round cheeks for traces of the indian dimples she had grown used to over the past weeks. She was so engrossed in her study of her face that she almost missed the quiet whisper that came from her.
“Thank you.” It was unusually subdued from the girl that had a seemingly infinite supply of pep and energy, and so Eunbi found herself replying softly in return.
“That’s ok. Don’t die please.” The unexpected genuine response startled the other girl into turning her face towards Eunbi, and Eunbi continued to look at her despite how close they were, heartbeat evening out as she settled from her panic earlier. Ramen girl turned and put her hot chocolate down on the little coffee table in front of them, and then Eunbi found her heartbeat racing again as a hand found the back of her neck, the other resting on her knee as a pretty, pretty face leaned into hers, eyes closing as their lips met.
Eunbi’s hands clenched hard where they lay on her thighs while the softest kiss she had ever had was happening, right that second, in the break room at work, with her least favourite customer. The other girl’s lips were still a bit cold but were quickly warming up where they pressed against Eunbi’s, and when she pulled back a little to change angle Eunbi closed her eyes, opened her mouth a little and tasted hot chocolate.
The other girls tongue was suddenly seeming a lot less irritating and annoying when she used it to gently tease and flick against Eunbi’s lower lip, and Eunbi let out a little half whimper in response. It took a while for Eunbi to realise that she had two perfectly good hand that were doing no good resting on her own thighs, but once she noted it she made good use of them, one cupping a cheek while another rested on ramen girls hip, thumb stroking at her waist under her shirt and making her shiver.
Eunbi realised at this point what she was still referring to the other girl at in her head, and inwardly scoffed at herself, pulling back to ask “What’s your name?”
“What?” The other girl’s eyes reluctantly pulled open, her cheeks flushed and breathing hard, lips plump and a little wet.
The image almost distracted Eunbi from her question but she shook it out and returned to the matter at hand - “I keep calling you ramen girl in my head and that’s not going to work if we’re making out.”
The other girl laughed and rested her head against the juncture between Eunbi’s shoulder and neck.
“Right, right, I’m Jung Yerin.”
She pulled her head back up and looked straight at Eunbi with her pretty eye smile, still giggling a little, giddy with kisses.
“Can we get back to making out now?”
Eunbi answered by pulling her in with a hand on the back of the neck, and as they took up where they left off the two percent of Eunbi’s brain that wasn’t totally focused on the kissing smiled a little.
Yerin was a really good name. She liked Yerin.