Chapter Text
“Will this be everything today, sir?” the devastatingly gorgeous cashier asks Seungmin blandly, eyeing the bag of dog treats. His name tag reads Minho with old cat paw stickers around the edges.
“Uh, yeah, thanks,” Seungmin says, distracted. The way the cashier, Minho’s, brown hair falls into his eyes is entrancing, catching on his long eyelashes like that. His lips are plump and full, shiny like he’d just applied chapstick to them minutes ago. He has a mole on the side of his nose that fits so perfectly on his complexion-
“That’ll be $10.99,” the cashier’s voice startles him out of his stupor.
“What? Eleven bucks for dog treats?” Seungmin blurts before he can stop himself.
“Yup. I don’t set the prices, sir, I just scan the barcode."
“Sorry, sorry, just. Jesus, that’s expensive,” Seungmin shakes his head and murmurs to himself, sticking a hand in his back pocket to pull out his wallet, “I don’t know how Hyunjin keeps up with all this.”
“Hyunjin? Like, Hwang Hyunjin?” the cashier straightens up. Seungmin relishes in the shred of his attention now on him.
“Uh, yeah? Do you know him?”
“Are these for Kkami?” Minho asks, withholding his answer to Seungmin’s question.
“Yeah, they are! How do you-?”
“I’ll take care of these, then, don’t worry about it,” Minho stops him. He enters in some code on the checkout screen then scans the treats. Seungmin watches as the remaining cost needed disappears from the card reader.
“Oh- you didn’t have to,” Seungmin says, flushing a little. He knows it’s not for him, but he can appreciate a kind gesture. Especially from someone so perfect.
“It’s fine. Tell Hyunjin it’s from me,” Minho says. Seungmin wonders how he sounds with genuine inflection in his voice.
“Thank you, um, Minho-ssi,” Seungmin bows and flashes him a smile, as charming as he can make it.
“Sure. Would you like a bag today, sir?” Minho’s voice loses its color once again.
Seungmin politely declines. Minho presses a few more buttons on the screen.
“So, you’re a cat person?” Seungmin asks him, eyeing his name tag, just to keep the conversation going.
“Oh, yeah,” Minho glances down at it, “I’ve got three of my own.”
“Wow, three! Kkami is already quite a bit to handle already, I can’t imagine three cats,” Seungmin laughs. It feels silly to feel accomplished when the smallest hint of a smile appears on Minho’s face again, but he does.
“It’s not so bad, really. Cats are pretty independent, anyway,” Minho explains.
“Do you get a lot of cats coming in for, like, grooming, and stuff?” Seungmin scrambles.
“Mostly dogs, but we get a few kitties every now and then,” Minho tells him.
“It sounds like fun, working here. You get to meet some cute animals,” Seungmin says, not entirely sure where he’s going with this. Before he can stop himself- “some cute employees, too.”
Minho blinks at Seungmin once. Twice. Seungmin would be afraid he’s going to get kicked out of the establishment, but Minho’s tiny grin is back.
“Are you- flirting with me? In the middle of a pet store?” Minho asks, incredulous, brows furrowed. He tilts his head to the side as his smile grows, and Seungmin is so enamored.
“Maybe? Is that okay?” he asks, laughing lightly.
“No. You’re holding up the line,” Minho says simply. Seungmin turns and sees no one behind him. He grins.
“Well, I’ll get out of your hair then,” Seungmin picks up the dog treats, “thank you, again, Minho-ssi. Hyunjin will be delighted.”
“Yeah, whatever. Have a nice day,” Minho hands him his receipt and clears his throat, not meeting Seungmin’s eye. The old, dusty gift cards by the card reader are suddenly much more interesting to Minho than anything else, it seems.
“You, too,” Seungmin smiles when he notices Minho’s ears are dusted a light pink, peeking through the dark brown of his hair.
Seungmin’s eyes catch on the now hiring! sign by the front door. He feels giddy the whole drive back.
🐾
Hyunjin blatantly laughs in his face when Seungmin brings him the treats, telling him about his exchange with Minho.
“No fucking way, Seung, you flirted with Minho-hyung? You’re lucky you’re not dead in a ditch somewhere," Hyunjin giggles at him, poking his cheek from where he’s lying sprawled across Seungmin’s lap. Kkami is curled up on his bed near the couch they’re sat on, chewing on one of the new dog treats happily.
“How do you know him, again? More importantly, why haven’t you introduced me?” Seungmin flicks his forehead and laughs when Hyunjin goes ack! and attempts to flick him back.
“He’s the leader of the dance team Lix and I joined. And you’re a fucking gremlin, no one wants to meet you,” Hyunjin tells him. They wrestle until Kkami barks at them.
“He seemed nice, though,” Seungmin mumbles.
Hyunjin snorts. “Did he seem nice, or professional? Considering he was at his place of employment, getting flirted with by some greasy uni student buying dog treats."
Seungmin smacks him. “No, he seemed nice. And he was, like, really cute. Do you think I should apply to work there?”
“I mean, sure, Seungie. God knows you need the money.”
Seungmin attempts to smack him again, but Hyunjin quickly dodges him.
Seungmin spends the rest of the day buffing out his (pretty fucking bleak) resume and sending in his application. He gets a response a few days after telling him to prepare for his interview.
🐾
Seungmin finds himself thinking about Minho way more than he'd like to admit. He'll be in the library studying, and the brown oak of the tables will remind him of Minho's eyes. The bunny he sees scamper into the bushes at the park him and Hyunjin walk Kkami at reminds him of MInho's cute little front teeth, jutting out ever so slightly from the rest. When Felix sends him upwards of 30 videos of cats, all Seungmin can think about is the way Minho blinked at him.
He finds himself driving to the pet store before he can stop himself.
Seungmin knows he's due to come to the store again a week for his interview, but he just can't help the draw he has. He walks in, riddled with nerves, feeling like a school girl with a crush. He wanders around the store aimlessly. It's not like he genuinely needs anything from the store, but he does remember Hyunjin mentioning that Kkami ripped up his old chew toy behind belief. He'll just grab a new one while he's here.
"Finding everything okay, sir?" an employee, his name tag reading San ≽ܫ≼, approaches him.
"I'm actually looking for a new dog toy, if you wouldn't mind helping," Seungmin says. It wouldn't hurt to get to know his (hopefully) future coworkers, Seungmin thinks.
San happily helps him, asking him which breed of dog, how old, and so on. Seungmin answers to the best of his abilities, though he's trying to covertly scan the aisles they walk past for any sign of Minho.
"All our toys are in this section, but I highly recommend this one, given Kkami's breed and age," San pulls a toy of the shelf, handing it to Seungmin to inspect.
"Perfect, I'll take it," Seungmin grins at him. "You know, I actually have an interview here next week."
"No way!" San smiles, "you have nothing to worry about. Channie-hyung is super sweet, and Minho-hyung is really good at teaching you how things work around here. What was your name? I'll make sure to put in a good word for you."
Seungmin feels himself perk up at the mention of Minho.
"I'm Seungmin. Seriously, thank you. That means a lot. And, Minho-ssi. Could you, possibly, tell me more about him-"
"Is this going to be a regular occurrence?"
They turn to see Minho at the end of the aisle, holding a mop. Seungmin grins.
"Possibly," Seungmin says. "I'm excited to see you every day." Minho rolls his eyes, but it's playful.
"Minho-hyung, this is-"
"Kkami must be really spoiled," Minho rests the broom against the shelves and props a hand on his hip, "with all these new treats and toys."
"He kind of is," Seungmin chews on the inside of his cheek, "don't tell Hyunjin I said that."
Minho looks at the two of them. "Come to the front, I'll ring you up."
"Oh- thank you, Minho-ssi," Seungmin can't stop himself from brightening.
"Whatever gets you out of here faster," Minho mutters, grabbing at the mop and walking away.
"Thank you, again, San-ssi. I'll see you around soon, hopefully," Seungmin says to San, bowing.
"'Course! Good luck," San tells him, winking. Good luck with the interview or with Minho, he doesn't specify.
Seungmin just about skips to the front, meeting Minho at the register.
🐾
“Seungmin-ssi?”
Seungmin looks up from the pet magazine he’s nearly dampened by his sweaty hands to see a friendly man with curly brown hair and dimples smiling at him, beckoning him to the office.
“Yes, that’s me,” he says, neatly placing the magazine back on the stack on the table and following after the man, who introduces himself as Chan, the one he’d been emailing with.
He’s a bit saddened to not have spotted Minho at all since he arrived to the pet store for his interview, but he’s prepared so much that Hyunjin confiscated his note cards to get him to shut up, and he won’t let that disappointment ruin this opportunity.
So, he does his best to answer Chan’s questions and mentally pats himself on the back when Chan tells him he’s happy with Seungmin’s answers.
Chan is showing Seungmin out when Minho walks by the office carrying a small, white kitten in a crate, talking to it gently. Seungmin’s breath is cut short when he sees him, in all his pretty boy glory. Minho catches sight of them, and greets Chan gleefully, eyeing Seungmin.
“Minho-yah, this is the prospective new hire I was telling you about, Seungmin-ssi,” Chan introduces them. Minho tilts his head, eyes knowing as they scan Seungmin. He shuffles on his feet nervously under Minho’s scrutiny.
“Oh, Snowball, look,” Minho says to the kitten, gesturing to Seungmin, “that’s the guy who was hitting on me at the register."
Seungmin’s face flushes red. "I-I didn't-"
"He was really bad at it though, so it doesn’t count," Minho says to Snowball, scratching at her head through an opening in the crate.
“Be nice, Minho-yah, he's new,” Chan laughs, pretending to slap him.
Minho smirks, somewhat evilly, at him before walking away, cooing at the kitten.
Seungmin is afraid he’s lost his chance as Chan leads him out, but he’s relieved when Chan tells him he’ll get back to Seungmin in a week or two to confirm whether or not he's hired.
Really, though, all he’s thinking about is the next time Kkami needs treats during the next week or two. Any excuse to see Minho again, he’ll take.
🐾
"Did Kkami eat the entire bag of dog treats in a week?" MInho says to Seungmin in lieu of a greeting a few days after the interview.
"Yup. He really loved those treats, so I thought I'd get him so more. You know, incentives for good behavior, and stuff," Seungmin says, willing the flush on his face to go down.
"And stuff," Minho echoes, scanning the treats.
"I'm supposed to start in a week, you know," Seungmin informs him, rocking back and forth on his heels. He'd been so excited when Chan emailed him his on-boarding paperwork, signed off with a congratulations!
"Great. Can't wait to see you every day," Minho responds dryly, punching his code in before Seungmin even gets the chance to pull out his wallet.
"Hyung," Seungmin whines, "I could've paid for that-"
"Hyung? Where'd you get that from, Seungmin-ssi?" Minho blinks up at him, face neutral and eyes piercing.
Seungmin opens his mouth to speak before Minho beats him to it, "Minho-ssi is fine, 'kay? I'm your boss, in case you already forgot."
"Right, yes. Sorry," Seungmin apologizes, sheepish.
Minho stares at him for a few, long, seconds before he scoffs. Seungmin feels a bit relieved to see he's biting down a grin.
"Receipt or no receipt?" Minho doesn't give him a chance to answer before he's shoving the receipt and the new bag of treats into Seungmin's hands.
Seungmin goes to thank him, but it seems that Minho is already in tune to when Seungmin speaks and talks over him. "Now get out of here, and don't come back until you're legally obligated to be here."
Seungmin winks at him, and thinks about how red the tips of Minho's ears were all the way home.