A bottle of stardust (SVT)

Job hunting

Boogyu

"YOU ARE FIRED!" The cafe manager splutters out as he wipes the tea from his eyes. Mingyu was getting really tired of hearing those words. This was the fourth cafe he was fired from and the tenth job he was fired from. It wasn't his fault that he was clumsy, and mixed up orders, giving a peanut-filled desert to a man allergic to peanuts, or tripped and fell, dousing customers in water and ice. There was also the fateful incident where he printed 300 posters instead of 30, making the company lose way too much money over paper. Then there was another day were he was supposed to paint a wall white but somehow managed to mess the colours up so bad it became rainbow-coloured. (That was quite an accomplishment, is Mingyu could say so himself. He couldn't paint at all.) Today, he had successfully drench his manager in a customer's iced tea. Well, he was rather hot-headed, at least he would cool down. He gathered his things and tossed his apron over the counter of the cafe grumily and stalked out of the cafe. Mingyu turned his head up to the grey messy sky. Sighing, he murmured, "I really need to find a good job and stay in it."

He decided to visit his friend Soonyoung, and trudges in the direction of his workplace.

"Oh, look who's here again, trying to find a job."

"Soonyoung you are by far the worst career counselor."

"Hey, I'm doing this for you for free. I'm doing this from the goodness of my heart-"

Mingyu snorted, but slumped in his seat. "Really, though, I need to find a new job." Soonyoung spun around in his chair and cocked his head at Mingyu, wiggling his eyebrows at the other. "Well, my dear sweet friend, it just so happens that this guy from, you know that pet shop and grooming place over there?" He gestures vaguely in the direction out of the window. "-quit, 'cause he was scaring all the customers and their pets. So...you like animals don't you? It's quite a chill place, would be perfect for you-"

"THANKS SOONYOUNG YOU'RE THE BEST!"

"Yeah. well, I heard, so, you know, I could really use some bubble tea-"

Mingyu had long dashed out the door.

"Damnit Mingyu."

Mingyu had gone for the interview for the pet shop immediately the next day, and was accepted in the first ten minutes the moment the workers looked at him and giggled like idiots. (And also because the last person was so scary that they were dying for new blood, that preferably looked friendly.) He was suddenly very aware that everyone working there were girls. "So, dear, which time slot would you like? Full-time, part-time, and which days and times? We're open from nine in the morning to ten in the evening everyday." The overly-endearing elderly manager asked, and after all the arrangements were made, she smiled and said, "Well, then,you'll be working with Seungkwan, Seungkwan's a student very much like you, I hope you get along well, the other time..."

"Jihoon was a dic-"

"Now, now, Lisa-"

"No, seriously-"

"Mingyu's cute-"

"Wow yeri-"

Mingyu managed to extricate himself from the heated debate and left with a happy smile on his face. He had a job. Now all he needed was to keep it.

Seungkwan was a really, really nice guy. He was bubbly and cute, and Mingyu could see why animals loved him. He had a calm and loving aura, when he was grooming the frightened pets he would speak to them soothingly and they would relax. He was so helpful and friendly, all the pet owners simply adored him. When he first saw that Mingyu was the new staff, he said, "Oh! Hello, I'm Boo Seungkwan, nice to meet you!" He had led the older around the shop and told him what to do and how to help the customers. Mostly the shop was rather peaceful, so the two boys would spend the time getting to know each other.

One time Mingyu was telling Seungkwan that he was unhappy that his friends wanted to eat at Soonyoung's house instead of going to the restaurant that Mingyu took months to book.

Seungkwan pondered for a while then said, "Hey, what we're trying to say is that it doesn't matter where or what you eat, it's who that matters."

"WHO YOU EAT?"
"WAIT WHAT NO WHO YOU EAT WITH!"
"GODS PLEASE MAKE THAT CLEAR NEXT TIME!"

"I'M SORRY."
"WHY ARE WE SHOUTING."

"I KNOW WE SHOULD STOP WE'RE SCARING THE ANIMALS."

Needless to say the animals we traumatised by all the shouting.

Another day Seungkwan was teaching Mingyu how to cut a dog's fur and Mingyu shaved off an entire patch of fur. The older had panicked and Seungkwan was rolling on the floor laughing, and the poor animal named Chan (AN:yes let's pretend it's Wonwoo and Soonyoung's) looked terror-stricken at the fact that he was bald on one side. After Seungkwan had gotten up and wiped his tears of laughter away, he assured Mingyu that it was fine, the fur would grow back and no one was planning to buy that dog yet. Mingyu pouted at that. "I wanna have a dog." Seungkwan patted him on the shoulder and said, "Well, I did so too, but I've been working here for a solid year and I asked the owner if I could buy one and she was like, 'You can't even take care of yourself, how would you take care of a dog?', and I thought 'that's valid', so, no puppy." "Aw..." Mingyu said sadly. "It's fine!" Seungkwan clapped Mingyu's back, startling him, "We will grow more responsible one day! And one time, I..." They only realised Chan was still there when the dog whined for attention, still perched on the high table with his collar attached to a pole. (Chan didn't look at Mingyu for an hour after that)

One night, after closing hours, Seungkwan was about to lock the door for the night when his phone rang. He took one look at the caller and hastily shoved the key into Mingyu's hands and looked at the other apologetically before accepting the call. Mingyu tried not to eavesdrop, but he heard Seungkwan say, "You want to break...O-oh. I...I see. I'm sorry, I'll...I'll call you back later. He took a shaky breath and tilted his head to look at the sky, then remembered Mingyu was there was awkwardly rushed off. Mingyu vaguely understood that Seungkwan has...had a girlfriend, he could tell his friend was heartbroken. He wished he could do something. Longingly looking at Seungkwan's retreating silhouette, he wondered what that strong, attractive feelings he had towards the younger was.