"Me falling in love with you was unavoidable. I needed you like the desert needs rain."
✱
Shin Hoseok, a highschool drop out, has three jobs to pay for his life.
Chae Hyungwon is a socially awkward and shy kid with family issues.
No one could have k...
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Hoseok was offered a job at the 'Moonshine Bar' more than once but he had always declined.
The night club had a bad reputation with drugs and shady deals. The bar keepers were mostly young adults like Hoseok, too poor and too desperate.
"Are you sure about this?", he asked Youngjae for the nth time that night.
Hoseok had called Yoo Youngjae out of pure desperation. The younger boy had told him about this job a few times, but also warned him to only consider it when absolutely necessary. Hoseok had already tried almost every available job in Seoul, the café was his last chance. By now all jobs would be gone and the rest wouldn't hire him because of his already bad precondition. No one wanted to hire a highschool drop out.
That's why he stood in front of a large mirror now, in the back office of a shady night club, staring at the choker around his neck suspiciously.
Youngjae had lend him a few clothes that the younger thought suitable for Hoseok.
He stood beside him at the mirror, furrowing his eyebrows.
"You will be fine. Just don't let anyone give you a drink and most importantly, don't go outside with anyone."
The two boys were wearing similar clothes with tight, black pants and a white tank top that revealed more skin than Hoseok thought necessary. To say he felt out of place would be an understatement.
"Ready?", Youngjae asked and Hoseok only nodded, following the boy out into the buzzing crowd.
The loudness was overwhelming. Hoseok didn't know where to look first. People were dancing, wearing clothes even more revealing than himself. Skinship was everywhere and Hoseok found it hard to avoid looking at all the couples who were standing in the dark corners, lips locked.
He thought about backing out, but what other options did he have?
_______
Luckily the job wasn't too hard, like Youngjae had promised. Most people were too drunk to notice when Hoseok messed up a drink or too busy trying to undress him with their eyes.
Much to his discomfort, both Girls and Boys tried to flirt with him. Youngjae had warned him about that, but also said the boss considered it part of the job. So Hoseok smiled cheekily, leaning over the bar and whispering sweet things back at everyone who wanted him to.
At the end of his shift he had his pockets full of napkins with phone numbers and couldn't count how often he was asked to 'go outside real quick'.
Hoseok felt terrible.
Hoseok felt ashamed.
But most importantly, Hoseok missed Hyungwon more than ever.
______
In the middle of the night, Hoseok opened the door to his apartment as quiet as possible.
He hadn't told Kihyun about his new job yet and he honestly didn't come up with an idea what to tell his best friend either.
All he had done was leaving a note that he'd come home later today.
Much to his relief, Kihyun was laying in bed, fast asleep.
And as if his day hadn't been bad already, he checked his phone for any missed messages or calls and read something that caused his shoulders to slump.
From Hyungwon - 8:23 pm: _______ hyung, my parents are home for a few days. I won't be able to text you as much but let's talk at work!
_______
"Hoseok!", Hyungwon called him the next day at work as soon as the younger boy entered the building. Hoseok had already a few hours of work done and felt relieved when he saw Hyungwon's smile.
The whole day Hoseok felt even more ashamed than yesterday. He felt as if everyone could tell just by looking at him what he had been doing last night. For sure the parents wouldn't be happy to know that a bar keeper from some shady club was near their children.
But thinking about it and seeing Hyungwon now resulted in something Hoseok hadn't thought about yet.
His usual fast beating heart was now accompanied by guilt. What would Hyungwon think of him now? Didn't the boy deserve someone better than Hoseok?
"Hey", he greeted the boy quietly, "how are your parents?"
Hyungwon stopped packing his stuff away and looked at Hoseok surprised.
"What's wrong?", he asked, looking worried.
"I just slept bad, it's nothing", Hoseok cursed himself for not greeting the boy more cheerfully.
Hoseok could already see the suspicion grow in Hyungwon's eyes and quickly turned away, trying to find something to do.
"I- I won't be seeing you for a few days", Hyungwon said at his turned back and Hoseok looked up. He had thought that much already.
"My parents don't like me working here. I just came today to talk to you. They think I'm taking an extra afternoon class at school", he chuckled lightly and Hoseok wished he had turned around to see his lips widen as he did so.
Hyungwon had changed so much since he met him and Hoseok would make sure not to ruin his life too.
Maybe not seeing him was a good thing.
But why did his heart ache so much at the thought?
