Ao3 Jikook Stories

Order Up by Sweeter_than_Tae

THIS IS ONE OF THE OUTLIERS THIS IS NOT MY STORY

Summary:

Jeongguk is a night-time shift worker at a local fast food place. It's about a couple hours before dawn and a very interesting man pulls up, striking a peculiar conversation not quite common for a stranger to be having.

The frost on the windows represented perfectly how I felt that night. I was nearly certain I would freeze where I sat behind the microphone, dressed in nothing but a skimpy yellow t-shirt from some material most likely derived from sewer moss. It had that stench as well. How was it possible that such a wealthy chain didnt own a heating system-- and I know this for a fact, I looked it up-- in the most visited restaurant in the district? I would have sued them if I wasnt dependant on the miserable weekly paychecks. Not that it was a lot of money, I couldve gotten a lot more in any other place but I didnt have any special abilities, or at least not officially.

I was still in high school back then. I must have been no older than seventeen, too, but I was already in my senior year. My parents wanted me to begin a year early, thinking perhaps I wouldnt be wasting my life away with school. Well they were right in a way.

I remember sitting in that plastic, cracked at the back chair, my teeth chattering uncontrollably when someones voice echoed through the speakers behind me. I wasnt sure what had happened at first since I had been off in my world for a while, probably thinking about some bad grade I wasnt sure how to pitch to my mother. It was only a few seconds later I realized there was a person at the drive-thru calling for anyone in the restaurant to take their order. I leaped out of my chair and took the base of the mic, almost breaking it with my trembling hand that I could barely feel to begin with, then finally managed to answer:

Good evening, welcome to McDonalds. How may I help you today? I deadpanned out, mostly because I was still half-zoned-out, thinking about the next thing Ill munch on. It was already three in the morning.

Hello, I would like a large Pepsi Zero, please.

Will that be it?

Yes.

Alright, drive right through, your order will be up at the next window.

Thank you.

Back then, I didnt make much of the voice on the other side. The only impression it left on me was that it was quite a thin voice, and I couldnt tell through the irking static of the old mechanism whether it was a man or a woman on the other side. I never really bothered with such things anyways but, you must understand, sitting in the cold, damp back room of a McDonalds after midnight was boring; I had to distract my somewhat functioning brain with something. Nevermind that I had an English test the next morning.

My movements were automated then. I remember dragging my feet across the ground because I didnt need to move more than three meters away from my spot and, on top of that, the window was right in front of my chair. I got the cup, put it under the dispenser and waited for a bit, and then headed to the window.

Here is your order, I said dismissively with my arm stuck out into the chilling air. I could feel the few snowflakes landing on my bare arms. Back then, I didnt realize I hadnt even looked at the driver. What caught my attention, however, was the quiet, just as thin chuckle that came from the vehicle by the window. Glancing up from the counter, I met a pair of silvery-blue eyes and a head of pastel pink hair, like cotton candy. It was a man.

Arent you going to ask for the money first? Asked the pinkette with a lopsided smirk, his eyes piercing right through mine. It suddenly got twice as cold.

Excuse me?

He chuckled again, and I could see his eyes shrinking because of his rosy cheeks. I could easily take the drink and drive off without paying, he said as he leaned back in his seat. I was dumbfounded. He was right, he could take his order and just drive off but my arm was still hanging in the air with the cup in my blue-hued fingers.