Chapter Text
"You want that on the rocks or neat?"
"On the rocks."
"Comin' right up, sweets," you smile sweetly at the bubbly little blonde who spends most weekends at your bar.
She's one of those girls you would have avoided in high school, too beautiful and outgoing for you, but she and her friends don't cause trouble and tip the staff well so you treat her well in return.
The place is starting to fill up now, after a fairly slow rest of the day. Thank God, since two people called out sick and you had to step in for a double shift.
Usually you don't mind the extra work, but you had concert tickets for tonight that you had to sell last minute. Sure, the extra cash was nice, but you'd waited over a year for this show and if you dwelled too long on the loss you'd only mope more.
So you continued on with your evening serving patrons, restocking lime wedges, and handling whatever else needed done.
By 11 o'clock the place was buzzing with Friday night energy and the music was thrumming with the noises of the crowd. Even though the city was on the smaller side, the nightlife scene had always been killer.
You and your fellow bartender, Daniel, were slinging drinks as fast as you could make them and yet there was still a line to get up to order.
As you hand off a few bottles of beer to the frat bro who just ordered, you feel your hand towel fall from its place at your waist. You bend to retrieve it with a groan...God your legs are tired...and stand back up to greet the next person in line.
The wind leaves your lungs, in a woosh you can only hope you successfully disguise as a breath, and meet the smiling brown eyes of Bang Chan.
That's right. The leader of one of the most successful KPop groups in the world is standing at your bar.
You harness every ounce of willpower you possess to keep your cool. You've always told yourself that if you ever met a celebrity you would keep your cool and just allow them to live their lives. No obsessive fan-girling. Just polite admiration.
But what the actual fuck!? You never expected said celebrity to be this God of a man standing a foot away from you.
Still, you persist.
"Howdy, what can I get for you?"
You smile sweetly and try to maintain eye contact as you speak.
He smiles that signature dimpled grin and looks your face over once. Coming back to your eyes, his own seem to be looking for something, but you can't decipher what that is yet.
"Hi there, yeah do you have any local beers?," his Australian accent turns the word into bee-yuhs.
"Sure. Got a couple good ones, but this IPA is my personal favorite."
"Yeah, a'right, let's have that," he smiles but looks a little disheartened for some reason. "I need 9 pints please."
When he throws a thumb casually over his shoulder, you glance in the direction and realize the entirety of Stray Kids is huddled around a large table in the back corner of your bar. Only one hulking bodyguard sits with them.
Aside from their stunning beauty, they are dressed casually and hidden well enough under caps, that only a true STAY would be able to pick them out.
When your eyes meet his again he's smiling mischievously. You realize he's been trying to decide if you know who they are. Not one to back down from a challenge, you school your face and give nothing away.
"Cool, 9 pints coming up."
Turning quickly to the task, and giving yourself a moment of respite from this fanfiction-like alternate universe you seem to have fallen into, you catch his reflection in the mirror behind the bar. His brow in wrinkled in mild consternation. Apparently he's use to being recognized and had pegged you, correctly, as a fan.
You grin to yourself as you place the drinks on a tray and turn back to him.
"Here ya go, handsome." Oh come on, you might be playing a little game, but even an idiot would comment on how beautiful this man was. He smiles sweetly at the compliment and a little playful smugness returns to his face.
He looks down at the tray of drinks and back up to you. He stalls for a moment, taking a sip of one of the pints, seeming to try to come up with something to say.
"Wow, excellent recommendation. We're just visiting so it's nice to try something we haven't had before."
"Oh yeah? How long ya in town for?," You realize he's once again searching for the answer to if you know them or not, and you're loving playing with him.
"Just this weekend," from his self-satisfied smirk you know he's decided you're a fan.
You keep your hands busy with little tasks behind the bar as you chat, trying to not look too invested. But then you decide to have a little fun.
"Lots of good stuff happening around town this weekend. Couple of great concerts, if you're into music," You return his smirk, but add clueless, innocent doe eyes.
His smirk falters, you've confused him again.
"Oh? Are you attending any of these concerts?," He's really trying to puzzle you out now. He's tilted his head slightly, like a puppy, studying you.
"I had tickets for a show tonight," You don't have to fake your disappointment as you gesture at the bar around you. "But, duty called."
"Oh no, that's a shame. Was it an artist I'd know?," His grin is sinfully innocent.
You make a show of giving him a lazy once over.
"I assume you probably would."
"Well you know what happens when you assume," he leans forward onto the bar to deliver his cheesy punchline. "You make an "ass" of "u" and "me"!"
You can't help but laugh as you shake your head at him. It's outrageous how big a dork he truly is. And you're loving every second of it. You decide to let him off the hook.
"Woooow, with Dad Jokes like that you'd think that lot waiting for their drinks were all your Kids," You add just enough emphasis to Kids to make it obvious you're aware who they are.
His full smile is breathtaking as he stands up proudly.
"So you DO know who we are!," He points a finger at you accusingly with his eyebrows lowered playfully.
"Bold of you to "assume" I didn't," You give him a reproachful look of your own, if only to cover up how his scowl made your stomach flip.
He shakes his head with a chuckle and smiles.
"I like you, you're different from the fans we usually deal with."
"Different? No, I'm unique," you sing-song the line from their song Comflex.
He throws his head back and laughs.
"God, your quick!," He says, and the compliment is so genuine you feel your whole face heat up. He definitely notices. "So, did you really have tickets for our show tonight?"
"Sadly, true," You nod and pout out your bottom lip.
His eyes flick to your mouth and he licks his own full lip absentmindedly.
"That's a shame, I'm sorry," He looks genuinely upset for you. "Wanna come back to the table and meet the guys to make up for it?"
God, you'd love nothing more, but you've already spent far too long talking to him and ignoring the other patrons. Best to leave this as the single best conversation you've ever had, and get back to work.
"Ah, sorry, the owner doesn't allow table service," you opt for a little more sarcasm and flirting to soften the rejection.
He sobers slightly, realizing he's being turned down.
"But what if we need another round and can't decide what to order? Surely, your boss would want the guests happy?"
"Good thing you'll know right where to find me," You wink saucily and nod at the bar between you.
He chuckles and sets his jaw, with what you read as reluctant resignation. He doesn't like being told no, but God is it fun to rile him up.
"Ok, ok," He lifts the tray full of drinks with ease. "I guess I have monopolized enough of your time already, but if you do get a break, please come over and let me introduce you to the fellas. We love meeting STAY."
"Yeah, thanks, will do."
He pauses just long enough to shake his head and laugh at you.
"You have absolutely zero intention of taking me up on that, do you?," He tisks softly. "You really are something else. I'm almost offended, but I enjoy a challenge too much to give up yet."
Before you can rebuttle he turns around and wades back to his group mates, the queue at the bar filling in his vacated spot quickly.
As you're sucked violently back into reality and your work, you turn to Daniel down the bar and nod towards where Chan just sat.
"Keep that tables drinks filled, I'll take care of the tab," You don't give him time to argue before you turn back to the customers waiting in line. If you don't have to interact as much it won't be so hard to watch him leave at the end of the night.
You fill a couple more orders and eventually lose the struggle to not look over where he sits. Your eyes immediately catch his, as if he'd already been looking at you. Embarrassed you grin and shake your head. He grins, equally as embarrassed to have been caught.
"I'm going to buy a lottery ticket on the way home tonight," Daniel says from his side of the bar to your right. "'Cause in 6 years working with you I've NEVER seen you act like this."
"Oh, shut up," You snap your towel in his direction.
"No for real, is he someone you know?"
"Said he was visiting town for the weekend," You deliver your non-answer carefully. "I recommended a beer and we chatted a little. Just regular customer service."
"Yeah...sure," He rolls his eyes and leans a hip against the bar. "And I'm the Queen of England."
"Well Your Majesty, it's time to get your eyes checked. You're imagining things."
"So is it my imagination that he's barely paid any attention to his buddies because he can't keep his eyes off you?"
You want to look again so badly. Confirm what your friend is saying. Make certain THE Bang Freaking Chan is looking at you again, but you don't. It's safer that way, in the long run. You're trying to make the smart decision.
"You may imagine anything you like, I'm gonna carry these dishes in the back and get started on restocking the fridges."
Daniel just shakes his head disappointedly. There's no one on this Earth who wants you to get laid more than him, as he says it'll make you easier to deal with at work.
You're no monk, but it has certainly been a while. Your last relationship was in college and hadn't amounted to much, and aside from a couple of casual hook ups since then, you'd been too busy with the bar to focus on a relationship. Physical or not.
Eventually you'd meet the right person and it would all work out the way it was supposed to. Or not. You really just liked living in the moment and dealing with things as they arise.
Brushing your hair out of your face, you lug the rack of dirty dishes onto your hip and head for the kitchen. You don't look over to the large table in the back, but you can feel his eyes on you as you disappear through the door.
- - - - -
You load the dishes in the steam cleaner, pulling out previously cleaned glasses to take back up front with you.
The walk-in fridge is refreshing to your overheated nerves when you go to grab a few cases of beer to restock the bar fridges with. You didn't realize just how taxing your little repartee with Chan had been. On top of back-to-back shifts, the post-adrenaline crash has you leaning back against the closed door as you shut it and throwing a mini-tantrum.
"Ugh! I just wanna go home, get in a hot bath, watch videos from the stupid concert, that I didn't stupid get to go to, cause of stupid work, and forget about how stupid I am for not going over there when he asked. Stupid, stupid, stupid."
You stomp your foot for good measure, before lifting your head and bending to grab the first case of beer. Only to stop dead in your tracks when your eyes land on Bang Chan leaning against the exit out to the bar. Arms crossed across his broad chest, his smug smirk makes your heart flutter.
"What's really stupid is that you're even cuter when you're angry."