More Short Stories!- Kai Ships Only

🦁Tyunning- Volunteer Work

Taehyun laid in bed while texting his friends about how upset he was that he had to work at the homeless shelter. His church group was on a mission trip to the southern part of the state. His friends got the ideal project. Painting houses. He didn't want to work at a soup kitchen. Especially not in a group where he barely knew anyone. This was going to suck.

The group was lead into the large cafeteria first. It had high ceilings. All of the walls were a light gray color. No windows were to be seen. Taehyun assumed it was for privacy reasons. The lights that hung in the ceiling reminded him of his school lunchroom. The longer the tour went on, the more it really did remind him of his school lunchroom. Apparently windows do make a huge difference in appearance.

After the tour was over, they were assigned sections. He got vegetable prep for the salads. Taehyun didn't mind chopping lettuce, onions and tomatoes. He minded the amount of produce that was set next to him. His brain shut off after the 10th onion. He began to wonder what his friends were doing. Probably laughing about something stupid. Surely one of them painted a penis on the wall before it was covered with more paint. They were probably listening to hip hop music too. The kitchen had a radio playing country in the background. Not his preference.

The group had the chance to eat after all of the prep was done. They only had 20 minutes before the doors opened to the community. His group leader, again, gave him a section that he did not want. Serving. He'd much rather do dishes, prep desserts or even clean than do that. The idea of pretending to smile at hundreds of dirty people, killed him inside.

12:00. The doors opened to the community. Elderly people, in many layers of clothing, came through the line one by one. Taehyun did his best not to cringe at each unwashed smile. Several of the ladies told him he was cute. He took the compliments then quickly served the next person.

Another person came through the line. Taehyun didn't even look up until the light voice declined his salad. His brain broke. This guy looked like he was his age. He was clean. His clothes weren't stained. He was... attractive. The man arched his eyebrow. His tone became annoyed. "Can I get my fruit cup please?"

Taehyun snapped out of it. "Sure. Sorry." He watched him walk away as he blindly placed scoops of salad onto trays. An elderly woman got mad when he accidentally placed it where her snack was supposed to go. He apologized then grabbed her a new tray.

When the line was over, they were told to clean up then mingle with the community. Hear their stories. He heard some in his group talk about the cute boy sitting with an elderly man. That was who he couldn't stop staring at and Taehyun would be damned if someone got to him first. He practically ran over to the table to sit across from him.

The elderly man, next to the boy, started to chuckle. "Ya got another one kid. I'll leave you two alone."

The boy protested "you really don't need to!"

The man only winked as he walked away.

The boy turned to look at Taehyun. "I'll save you the trouble of asking my story. Here's the short version. Abusive ex. Nowhere to stay. Ended up here. I'm single. I'm not looking for a relationship. I'm not your charity project. Did I miss anything?"

"I'm sorry, did I do something to you?"

"I'm sick of you guys coming here and patting yourselves on the back when you really didn't do anything! They have actual staff here who care. All you guys did was give them a week off. Then you'll forget about us. Our lives are a feel good vacation for you. It's always the same."

Taehyun couldn't even argue back. He did treat this like a vacation. He didn't want to be here. The helping part was just something he had to suffer through until he could hang out with his friends in the evening. He was about to give up until he remembered he needed a testimonial. "What's your name? I just need-"