Chapter Text
It wasn’t a busy day that’s for sure. Jeno’s legs rested amongst the cash register serving table as he flicked to the next page in the magazine. With every page, he read the more he questioned as to why people actually shop in this horror of a store. As Walmart was one of the ‘best’ department stores in the US, he wondered why he didn’t just take the job at Target. His older brother Doyoung had warned him about the bore working at Walmart would be considering he was a know-it-all. Jeno had to admit that it was as good as he was going to get. A pair of hands snatched the magazine out of the boy’s hands and was thrown on the floor.
“Just because you’re older than me, does not mean you get to slack off.” The deep voice of his younger best friend echoed through his ears. This kid’s voice hasn’t even fully dropped yet but still, he’s on a better wage? How could that even happen considering they both got the job at the same time?
“And, who said that?” Jeno asked inquisitively, raising an eyebrow for the extra effect.
“I did, you have a problem with it?” The whining boy asked. Jeno shook his head and pulled out another magazine from the stand and started reading it.
“You know, your standup comedy is not getting any funnier Jaemin. It’s just as bad as mine.”With a fake gasp, Jaemin walked off with a strut to the candy aisle. Jeno laughed to himself before hearing an announcement over the loudspeaker.
There has been a new range of stock unloaded in the back of the warehouse, Jeno please help out back. Jeno please help out back. Over.
The boy sighed as he placed his now numb legs onto the floor. With a quick push, he left his register to walk to the back of the warehouse. You see, this store was very large in the sense that Jeno got lost every time he would come back from his 15-minute breaks and would have to ask for help from a senior employee. As he pushed open the bulky doors the smell of cardboard filled the air, the loud beeping of heavy machinery and a small boy sitting in the corner unwrapping a box. He scanned through his head at the familiar workers around the store, but his face didn’t ring any bells. Jeno couldn’t describe what or who the boy made him remember but that he didn’t look like he was from around here. He was pulled out his thoughts by a constant beeping from behind him. Alerted, he looked behind him to see his manager Ten within the forklift clearly annoyed.
“I get that you’re staring at the new guy, but please move?” He kept honking the horn in different patterns to seem like popular songs at the time, specifically that new Drake song everyone was obsessed with. With a huff and a small wave, Jeno moved behind one of the boxes to observe on the boy some more. From what he saw the new boy wasn’t getting along with the box cutter in his hand. It seemed that no one had taught him the basic training that you are permitted to do. The taller boy took a shaky breath in. This was it. He was going to introduce himself and leave a great impression without making a complete idiot of himself. Jeno pushed himself out from behind the pallets of boxes and made a beeline for the boy. He took a deep breath before hearing a slight mutter.
“Hello?” The smaller boy muttered. Jeno’s heart was running at a rapid pace, hell he’d only seen this boy for a literal five minutes and his heart was already beating out of his chest. He thought of all the ways he could introduce himself, in English, Korean, Pig Latin, but he instead accidentally went with-.
“You don’t look like you’re from here.” Jeno blurted out. His hands flew straight towards his mouth. The boy furrowed his eyebrows and let out a soft smile. He placed the box cutter beside him and focused back onto Jeno. The nameless boy shook his head in response.
“You’re right, I’m a transfer student from China.” Jeno thanked the lord internally that he didn’t quite embarrass himself but used that information to try and find out more.
“Ah, that’s really cool! Welcome to the country. I’m Jeno.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Renjun-.”
“And I’m Jaemin!” Jeno looked over at the pink haired boy that now stood next to him. He was definitely not getting that kid a chocolate bar during break time. Within the next few minutes, Jaemin had already given Renjun the low down of the store and the correct ways to do things. The young worker that earns more than him, wins again.
Jeno: 0
Jaemin: 1
It was on.
Assistance needed in Checkout 4, Assistance needed in Checkout 4.
Jeno gave a quick way to the boys and made his way out of the storeroom towards the main store. With every walk not only did he notice that he would get lost, but there were a bunch of weird people that shopped here. For instance, the other day he saw a man shopping with his pet pig inside the trolley. Let’s just say that ended up in a pig sty. By the time he made his way to the counter, he had started to serve someone.
“Hello, Sir, how are you today?” Jeno asked with his brightest (fakest) smile he could ever pull. The man looked up underneath his glasses and shrugged. Jeno nodded his head just hoping that this man would hurry up. Jeno basically had 3 minutes until he was finished for the week and this man was going to try and make sure that this poor young boy wouldn’t leave. Washing powder, shaving cream, pancake mix, and a bouncy ball later, he was finally done 15 minutes after he was supposed to leave. Within the distance he saw a co-worker starting his evening clean up, of course, that had to be Mr. Lee Donghyuck. Now, Donghyuck wasn’t a regular cleaner he just casually danced wherever he went whether that be with a mop or vacuum. Although when he slipped over and hoped to the skies that no one saw him, that made Jeno’s day.
As his shift came to a close, he changed out of his uniform and waited in the parking lot for Doyoung in his beaten-up Ford Focus. He was asked to stay back to clean up but considering he had a busy day at school the next day, he decided to just go straight home for the better. His brother arrived quicker than normal and drove him home without a word. The youngest’s dinner was on the table with foil over the top to keep it heated. His mother must’ve already left for work. He sat down and started to eat.
“How was work? Anything good happen?”Doyoung mumbled from the kitchen behind him. Jeno quickly placed a piece of pork into his mouth and shook his head.
“We have a new kid from China,” Jeno mumbled with a hand in front of his mouth. Doyoung gave a hum in response. He heard shuffling from behind him and looked back.
“Ah, what’s his name?”Jeno shuffled his chair to face sideways so that he could continue the conversation without his neck cramping up.
“Renjun. He seems nice.” Doyoung’s eyes lit up with the mention of the name. That made the poor boy confused how Doyoung knew the new transfer.
“Sicheng’s younger brother is named Renjun. That might be him because he said he was moving over at the end of last month.” Jeno dropped his fork at the mention of Sicheng. He was the Senior Dance Captain and most importantly apart of the school leadership committee. If Renjun was his brother than that meant he was either creative or born to be some type of leader due to that whole family being talked about how talented they were. Jeno picked his fork up back up and placed a carrot into his mouth.
Like Dong Sicheng’s younger brother? I didn’t know he had any?”Doyoung gave a small chuckle.
“His entire family lives here. Sicheng has two younger brothers and two cousins. The ones you know all go to our school, didn’t you know that?” Jeno shook his head before clearing his plate.
“No, I just thought that it was only him. By the way, he was kind of reminding me of Sicheng’s shyness.”
“How would you know he’s shy? He could be like Chenle for all we know.” Jeno and Doyoung laughed together while starting to wash the dishes.
“Jen, it’s nine. You should probably head to bed.”Doyoung pressed a kiss to the top of Jeno’s head and waved him off. He watched as his younger brother ran up the carpeted stairs two at a time. He smiled to himself before sitting on the couch to watch re-runs of his favorite shows.
The darkness of the room scared him, he quickly ran a hand under his pillow until his pajamas were within reach. After getting changed he sprinted towards the bed and jumped onto it. He watched as the older teenagers were lining up at each other’s houses for parties of such and the street lamps that glowed from a distance. His phone was lighting up beside him as he took a peek at who they were from. Typical, it was Jaemin. He swiped his phone open and replied to the series of memes and gifs the younger boy was sending him until he finally fell asleep from exhaustion.
The sun was blinding the poor boy’s eyes as he woke up, smart one to leave the blinds open last night. A hand was running through his hair as he adjusted his eyes to the light.
“Do you want to go to school today?” Doyoung asked trying to see his brother’s reaction. Jeno let out a small hum and pushed himself up. His older brother was already dressed in his blazer, white dress shirt, black pants, and a tie. The younger of the two got himself ready before reading a text from Jaemin asking if he could borrow his notes for the Calculus exam for the next week. Jeno typed a quick ‘ok back’ and was out the door within seconds. The school wasn’t far away from the family lived, but there was a lot of traffic to overcome. The boy looked out at the window which showcased the buildings and stores flying past. His thoughts became scattered as he disconnected from reality. Doyoung and his senior friends were in their final year. Jeno only had three years left, but it seemed to be going by so fast. In all honesty, Jaemin appeared within his thoughts. He’d known the boy since he was born with both of their father’s being co-workers, they were best friends who didn’t exactly act like friends. Jaemin and Jeno did everything together and even became competitive for what they did, even during work. Currently, Jaemin was infatuated with soccer and no longer had time to be around Jeno at school, although he’d always been around on weekdays or weekends. The slam of a car door made the boy jump in his seat. He got himself out of the car and brought his bag onto his shoulder. The school wasn’t big nor was it the best school in the district, something about it just made everyone scared. Probably because of the notable alumni that had turned their childhood dreams into reality.
He took the first step into the building, and that’s when he saw them.