Chapter Text
"This has got to be the absolute worst summer job ever." Hao frowns, staring at his 'uniform'.
Ricky forces out a smile. "This is a joke isn't it."
"They're character costumes... It's summer... I'm going to smell like someone else's armpit."
"Did you really need to put it like that?" Taerae frowns, staring at the uniforms as well.
"And how exactly do you suppose we could?"
"I don't know I didn't even mean that." He sighs lightly.
"Come on you were begging for a job and I got you a job." Gunwook rolls his eyes. "Suit up and get out already."
Hao puts on his pink bunny costume, furrowing his eyebrows. "It's damp and hot and I think I'm gonna throw up."
"You've eaten stuff that smells worse than this costume." Taerae frowns. "We're doing this for the money anyway." He finishes adjusting his cat costume and sighs.
Ricky just gives an empty stare at himself in the mirror as he adjusts his dog head. "Why am I a dog? Trade me, Taerae. I want to be a cat."
It takes them some time to brave the heat, each given their own route to greet guests coming into the waterpark resort. Hao is taken near the kiddie pools, Ricky is taken to the area near the first aid and nurse offices and Taerae is taken to the area by the waterslides.
The heat is almost unbearable so Taerae tries to stay near the shade, greeting everyone silently. The good thing about this type of costume is that no one would know who it is and he was told he mustn't speak so essentially it was perfect for an introvert such as himself.
And if he made a mistake no one would know it's him!
As day went by they all started daring to be sillier. They'd film TikTok dances, act cute to the guests and play with kids which was something Taerae himself never really saw himself doing.
The resort had a gym and a lane pool for people who wanted to be more active and was one of the areas where he would sneak off to at times because it had the most shade and air conditioning inside the lobby. He wasn't supposed to go there but the outfit really made it hard not to feel tempted.
The only downside was that he'd get really self-conscious when really good looking guys walked by, most making fun of the 'sorry ass loser trapped in that suit with this heat'.
Fair enough comment, honestly.
"Kitty, we're going to get in trouble." Gunwook furrowed his eyebrows.
"Want to wear this outfit yourself then? I really need to cool down."
"We can do that on your breaks in the locker room, not during work." Gunwook nudges his giant head. "Now focus and greet."
That said, a couple of guys walked out of the gym and one of them was very visibly staring at him with a smile.
"Ah, looks like the bully of the day is here." Gunwook teased him. "He's probably happy this isn't his job."
Taerae reached to bonk him with a fluffy fist, looking over at the guy who seems to be saying something about him to his friend. Normally he'd think the best thing to do is to let them go but the costumed character law is universal.
Once you make eye contact, it's an invitation.
Taerae starts walking towards him, pretending to be offended. He puffs his chest and put his arms up in the air as if asking him what his problem was, which only made the guy laugh awkwardly. His friend just pushes him towards him.
"Look Ms. Kitty, I don't have a problem with you but my friend thinks you're cute."
"Hey!" Jiwoong laughs, shoving him.
"Jiwoong loves cats." Matthew nods, pointing at him.
Taerae pointed at himself, then cupped his mask shyly.
"Ms. Kitty is flattered." Gunwook smiles, amused. "She's a he."
Matthew smiles. "Oh he doesn't mind."
"Seriously." Jiwoong whines. "Don't expose me like that."
Kitty decides to make as if he was looking away before holding his paw out at Jiwoong, who smiles awkwardly and holds it.
"Okay he is pretty cute, I don't think it would work out though..."
"Ask him on a date and find out." Matt laughs and starts walking off. "C'mon let's hit the hot springs."
Jiwoong lingers for a moment and smiles again, walking off with Matt. "Bye bye Kitty."
"Well, good news, you just flirted with some gym bros who could have very well kicked your ass and I am getting married."
"Please." Taerae chuckles. "Wait what?"
"Did you see how he smiled at me?"
"He barely spoke four words at you."
Their first day ended rather early since they somehow felt bad about having to have the newbies trapped inside those costumes. Gunwook helped them out of their outfits, smiling a little when he noticed Ricky's makeup was a horrible mess. "Yeah maybe lay off the makeup when you're working, you look like a raccoon."
Ricky went to look at himself in the mirror, furrowing his eyebrows. "What if someone saw me without makeup though?"
"Well pick your poison then. It's either nothing or whatever this mess is."
"Just use the basics." Hao said, muffled into his towel. "I just use CC cream and a bit of lip tint."
"Guys why are you even acting like you're going to meet someone dressed like this?" Taerae snorted, getting his bag.
"Well you did." Gunwook added with a smirk.
"Bitch shut up." Hao looked back from his pocket mirror. "You met someone??"
"Thank you, Gunwook." Taerae rolled his eyes. "No I did not meet someone, it was just one of those hot jerks that pretend it's funny to tease me."
Ricky was already sitting by him, adjusting his shirt. "Well...?" He looked up at him curiously.
"Ugh just a couple of gym bros and one of them likes cats or something like that. He said I was cute and his friend said he didn't mind that Kitty is a guy."
"He's bi???" Hao gasped. "Well??? What did you say???"
"We can't speak you moron of course I didn't say anything. His friend just told him to ask me out."
"What did you say?" Ricky tilts his head. "You did nod at least didn't you?"
"No??? Guys come on you're making this bigger than it actually was, he was just kidding."
"What did he look like?"
"Oh he was hot." Gunwook nods. "He looked like a model or an actor or something like that. You know the look."
Taerae snorts, thinking about him. "I don't even think I looked at him too long. I don't remember what he looked like."
"His friend though??? His arms???" The tallest adds. "And his waist was so tiny..."
"Leave your bi-lusions for another day please?" Hao interrupts him. "It's not every day that Taerae actually flirts with someone."
"Bitch?" Taerae snorts. "It's not easy when you have high standards you know?"
"You need options to set standards." Ricky adds with a small smirk. "And to have options you have to actually go out?"
"Damn. He got you good." Gunwook chuckles.
Hao laughs at that, picking his bag up. "Nothing but the truth, sis. Lets go?"
"Oh yeah, you guys don't know the quarters yet." Gunwook throws his backpack over his shoulder and motions the group to follow him. "By the way.. You have unlimited access to most everything except the sauna rooms, those are guests-only. Also the buffet hours for guests and staff are different so they get priority from 6 to 7:30. After that you get to eat normally and all, since you are characters you don't have to wear uniforms or name tags but you gotta keep it professional."
"And that means?"
"Don't dress like a slut or wear stupid stuff like dicks on a t-shirt."
"And what exactly is slut?" Hao looks at them curiously.
"Your rave outfits, definitely."
"Boo."
"Well." Gunwook hands them their card keys. "You can complain all you want about the suits but you're literally vacationing all inclusive in a resort while being paid."
"I guess it's got its perks." Taerae reaches for his card, humming. "Meet you all for dinner?"
"Sure, let's go look for your hot mystery guy on the way. Maybe he'll be eating there too."
"Oh, yeah. And maybe-"
"Yes Gunwook we'll look for his friend too." Hao says without looking at him, taking his own card to enter his room.
Taerae sets his bag onto the small bed in his room, going to the window to open the curtains. "Beautiful view of the wall, yes." He then goes to take a shower and get ready, honestly not too focused on anything other than trying to remember what the hot gym bro looked like. Was he even really hitting on him? It did sound like innocent teasing, maybe it was the friend using that as a weird way to hit on Gunwook? He was weirdly invested in the friend.
He buttons up his shirt, sighing lightly. Maybe it is all in his head, he is horribly aware of his dry spell.
However, during dinner, there is no sign of the gym bro (According to Gunwook mostly, he didn't even remember what he looked like).
"What if he's ugly?" Ricky asks, raising an eyebrow. "Would you still go for that guy?"
"He's not ugly I swear." Gunwook says, pointing at Ricky over his fries. "And you know I have good taste in men, look at Jay Park."
"Yeah, he's hot I guess." Taerae hums.
"When he wasn't canceled." Ricky smirks, sipping his water.
"Oh come on." Gunwook laughs. "That's not fair!"
"He's too hot to be canceled." Hao furrows his eyebrows.
The moment a familiar figure walks past them, Gunwook immediately turns around and melts into a disturbingly whipped smile. "The hot friend."
"YO BICEPS!" Hao yells in his deepest, straightest dude voice and Gunwook squeaks audibly.
Taerae chokes on his spinach banchan, covering his mouth with a napkin.
"Who was that?" Ricky looked at Hao, amused.
"I was possessed by a man."
Matthew looked back at them, immediately recognizing Gunwook. "Oh, I know you. You're Kitty's friend."
"I- Yeah- Hi."
The others just laugh at the high school girl type of reaction from their youngest, who looks to be seconds away from a giggle.
"Nice to see you." Matt grins and walks off to his table to eat with a couple of guys Gunwook didn't recognize.
"... I'm in love." Gunwook whined, resting his cheek onto his palm. "Did you see that grin? He's so cute. His little twin moles and his little huffs before he says something..."
"Everything about him is little he's like 4ft tall." Hao raises an eyebrow.
Ricky and Taerae cackle loudly. "Didn't know you liked your tops short."
"He likes a good cropped top." Ricky adds and they all just laugh louder.
Matthew and his friends look over at the boisterous table across the dining hall. "He's kinda cute isn't he."
"Which one?" Gyuvin looks over at the table. "The one with the crazy laugh? He seems like your type."
"Nah, the tall one." Matt hums. "He was with the cat character earlier today, he's got a cute smile."
Hanbin looks over at the table, accidentally making eye contact with Hao and quickly looking back down. "Shit they saw me..."
"... The hottie at that table??" Hao gasped. "We just made eye contact."
"Back off from my man." Gunwook pouted.
"Not your micro shirt."
"Cropped top."
"Yeah that." Hao sighs and looks again over at the table. "The one to his left..."
"That one gives off virgin vibes." Taerae sips his water. "Like, serious untouched vibes."
"You'd know about that." Hao snaps.
"Bitch!"
"Anyway, where's Taerae's mystery man?"
"He's not with them." Gunwook shrugs.
"Yeah he's starting to sound fake."
"Collective delusion."
"Forget it, there's no difference between having imagined him and not even knowing what he looked like." Taerae sighs, standing up. "I'm dead so I'll go to bed. See you guys tomorrow and keep me updated if Gunwook makes a fool of himself."
"Obvi." Hao smiles at him.
As Taerae walks by the other table, he tells Matthew in passing that Gunwook thinks he's cute which leaves Matt and his friends rather pleased knowing it's somehow mutual between the tallest guy ever and the tiniest guy they know.
Outside, Taerae takes a deep breath and decides to sing a song to himself as he makes his way back to his room, unaware of the person who was sitting outside not too far from him.
Jiwoong hears a voice and looks up from his phone to realize the person who just walked past had disappeared but the words he was singing lingered heavily in the damp air of the first summer night.
"So I'ma love you every night like it's the last night... Like it's the last night.."
The next morning Taerae and Gunwook go to the same spot, trying to stay as closely to the lobby as possible to feel some of the cool air coming from inside.
"Okay, I have to go quickly to an emergency staff meeting so stay here and don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." Gunwook instructs as he looks up from his phone to stare at him. "And I mean it."
Taerae just shoos him and hangs out by the gym's entrance then, looking around. No one seems to be close by so he starts singing a song to himself, just to help time pass.
"If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you
If the party was over and our time on Earth was through
I'd wanna hold you just for a while and die with a smile
If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you"
What he doesn't know is that the same guy from the day before was coming from behind and quickly ran up towards him.
"Kitty?"
Taerae freezes, slowly turning around to meet Jiwoong. He couldn't exactly remember what he looked like but could definitely remember his velvet voice, and now that he got to see him again he could take in his features a bit better, or at least as much as he could see through his mask.
"Did you see someone walk by?"
He shakes his head, holding his paws out as if to show him there's no one around.
"I just... Last night I heard the prettiest voice... And I think I heard it again..." He furrows his eyebrows. "Are you sure no one was here?"
Fuck.
Kitty shakes his head furiously, shrugging, then he holds a paw to his own head to let Jiwoong know he's imagining things.
Jiwoong hums, looking around. "Am I hearing things now though? Because I could have sworn it was you."
Taerae shakes his head again, visibly panicked.
"Are you hiding something from me?"
"Oh come on we're not even allowed to talk!" Taerae whines, quickly bringing his paws up to his mouth.
Oops.
"It was you wasn't it." Jiwoong smiles widely. "You're not allowed but... Do you think you could sing for me again?"
"... Are you going to pay for the show at least?"
"Kitty's got bite." He says, amused. "Come on Kitty, I really want to hear your voice... Please?"
"You sound like a pervert, you're aware, right?"
Jiwoong just spaces out for a few seconds as he replays his words in his head. "I am aware now, thank you. But seriously I. just want to hear it... It's can't describe it but it sounds like... It's like I can hear you sing through a smile."
Taerae blushes lightly, sighing as if this request was going to physically hurt him.
"Ooh, lost, lost in the words that we scream
I don't even wanna do this anymore
'Cause you already know what you mean to me
And our love's the only war worth fighting for"
Jiwoong's expression remains unreadable and Taerae has no idea of what it means. Is he disappointed? Is he impressed or shocked, even?
"So..."
"I... Wish I would have looked your way on time." He shrugs lightly. "I'm sure the face will match the voice."
"Please it wasn't that bad."
Jiwoong snorts, shaking his head. "You're funny and you can sing too?"
"Full package, I know."
"And you're not some 40-year old creep underneath are you?"
"What? No! I'm barely 23!" Taerae gasps. "I'm just stuck in this job for the summer because my friends and I need money."
"Really? Do we know the same people? My cousin is working here for the summer too, as a life guard."
"We don't really know the lifeguards honestly, the popular crowd doesn't share with us freaks and geeks. So you don't work here?"
"Yes and no." The eldest winks at him. "I'll tell you a few dates in."
"So your boyfriend is back already." Gunwook smirks as he walks up to them. "Sorry but mascots aren't allowed to date."
"What a shame, I was looking forward to getting to know Kitty better." Jiwoong hums, just looking at Taerae who is holding his gaze through the mask. Somehow it got hotter inside the costume. "I just wondered what kind of person could be inside..."
"An old, gross, bald ma-" Gunwook couldn't even finish, receiving a successful smack from Kitty.
"Hard to believe. If you manage to get an exception though, I'd love to meet again tomorrow." Jiwoong smiles a little, turning to walk off then.
"He was too hot, he had to be weird." Gunwook comments once Jiwoong was far enough. "I think he has a costume kink."
"You can't be serious." Taerae sighs lightly. "You're right though... He was too hot to be hitting on me."
"Oh come on." Gunwook reaches to drag him away to the waterslides. "Let's see if your boyfriend hangs out later by your area. Maybe his tiny friend will be with him."
"He can't be serious about asking me on a date, he doesn't even know what I look like and- What if I disappoint him..."
"Taerae you aren't ugly come on. The thing is that you can't talk to him and you can't take off your mask at any time whenever a guest is around so..."
"Okay I know I'm not ugly, I'm boring. And I get it, I can't accept the date."
"No I mean... Maybe you could but it'd literally have to be a standing date where he can talk to you but you can't talk back and I'll have to stand there all the time with you."
"That's the longest no I've ever heard."
"Taerae I really want this to work for you." Gunwook furrows his eyebrows. "And we can't even trade places because our manager would kill us if he found out."
"I think I prefer to stay anonymous anyway, I know that under normal circumstances I wouldn't stand a chance but... Being Kitty I guess gives me a bit of hope."
"Why are you suddenly the most pathetic guy ever?" The tallest hits him over his plush head. "But fine, next time I'll tell him where our actual assigned area is so he can come see us. Hopefully the Taerae I know grows a pair by then."