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He sighs once again. The third one in the last fifteen minutes. He’s exhausted and the fact that he has to cash up after closing for the night just makes his bones feel heavier.
He was starting to regret accepting the promotion to manager of the club. The small increase in his paycheck had been too tempting to reject ,but now, a month in with the extra hours and work… yeah, maybe not the best decision.
And that’s the problem, he was still on the bar, serving drinks as always, even teaching the new bartender about complicated cocktails, but now every time something happened they went to him which already happened before, but now he had to have an answer, he couldn't pass it on to the manager ( he was the manager now, duh) , and he also had to stay behind to count the money every damn night.
It wasn’t even a surprise, since their last manager had to move cities, and therefore quit his job last month, they all knew Jisung was the one their boss would ask.
And it made sense, he had been working in this club for almost six years now, starting just out of college, as a temporary job, but with how good he was at it, he had been promoted in no time.
Their actual boss wasn’t in the club much so the responsibility of everything working smoothly officially fell on the manager, but realistically Jisung was the one everyone sought, from when they had to kick someone for inappropriate behavior or to the DJ’s mixer not working. And now that Jisung is the manager, all the responsibilities fall onto him.
At least now he is getting paid extra for the extra work he does apart from his bartending.
Cashing up is the worst though. It always makes him leave at least thirty minutes later from their normal 10pm to 5am. Today isn’t any different.
Finally, he finishes counting the money from the night and moves to the staff room to change out of his uniform.
As he retrieves his bag Jisung unlocks his phone and smiles, relieved, as he sees the usual two messages from Chaeryoung and Jeongin telling him they got home safe after closing the club at 5am ( I’m home already oppa, goodnight and Just got home, night hyung, don’t stay working too late ).
He sends them a “good job tonight” text on their group chat and locks his phone again.
The first time Jisung saw them he wanted to laugh, these two young kids working night shifts to help pay for their college degree, he didn’t think they’d last.
He was proved wrong though because in no time the two showed how hard they worked and how fast they learned (and Jisung was endeared by them, they reminded him of himself) so in no time he took them under his wing, teaching them how to make the best cocktails, covering for them for any broken glass (there had been many as they were learning) and sending them home early on the slower nights in the club.
Their club isn’t in a generally unsafe neighborhood, but he still rests better knowing they got safe home and with that, not weighing him on his shoulders, he takes his bag and goes towards the exit.
He can’t wait to get home and sleep in his comfortable bed until midday. Nevertheless, as tired as he is, when he turns around as he locks the outside door of the club, his whole body feels lighter than ever as he sees the bakery on the other side of the street.
This was definitely the best thing about his promotion. Staying late a mere thirty minutes had made him discover this incredible bakery and its mouth watering pastries(and its lovely owner and baker). It isstill closed (probably didn’t open until 9am) but he knows he is welcome there.
Unlike most people working at night, Jisung actually likes his job (he wouldn’t be here after so long if he didn’t). He was usually a night owl, even before working nights, so his shifts aren’t a problem itself, his problems with it are what come from it.
The difference from working nights becomes very obvious when he hangs up with people that work “normal” hours. The level of their energies are so different, their moods, and prefered times to rest and be active.
It was a thing that he had to slowly learn to work with his friends and it is fine with them, but not so much with his romantic relationships. They always assumed this was a temporary job, that the odd schedules weren’t going to last long, that soon enough they both would have a “balanced” job with “normal” hours. And as soon as they realized it wouldn’t happen, that Jisung was not giving up his night shift job for them, it became a problem. A problem that couldn’t be ignored for long.
So, yeah, Jisung was tired when closing for the night, but who isn’t tired when they leave work? And if there was something (more like someone) making him look forward to finishing his shift, the better even. So with a tired exhale, he looks up at the sky with the sun already greeting him and tries to brush his hair a bit with his hand before heading towards the bakery.
His first day of being manager, after closing late for the night, he coincidentally met the owner of this bakery as he was bringing in food supplies for his baking. Jisung just saw a thin man around his height trying (and failing) to move an enormous sack of flour inside the bakery, and, ignoring all his tired muscles, he rushed to help the man.
Turns out Felix (the baker) was a lovely person and he invited Jisung to come in and give him a free blueberry cupcake as a thanks for carrying the flour to his kitchen.
They ended up getting along so well, they stayed chatting even after they had to move to the kitchen so Felix could work at the same time, but not long after Jisung started to fall asleep on his feet so they said goodbye to each other.
From then on Jisung couldn’t deny the other’s wide smile as he told him to come the next day too.
He walks up to the door with the closed sign and pushes it open. The bell on top of the entrance announces his entry to the seemingly empty shop, but the enticing smell of the making of baked goods lingering in the air tells him it is not, in fact, empty at all.
“Morning Lix!” He shouts so as to make his presence known to the other person inside the kitchen. Immediately after, he hears footsteps exiting the other room and a deep, but sweet voice “Jisung! You’re early today, how was work?”
When Felix comes out of the kitchen, is with a toothy grin and smiley eyes, already expecting him. He has flour on the front of his hair, as always, probably from trying to get it out of his face while baking. It makes Jisung smile back.
“It was a pretty slow night. We only had to kick one guy out because he was too drunk, the new waiter only broke two glasses and the one speaker, you know the one” he waits for Felix to nod at him ”only stopped working for a little bit once .” He starts to walk towards the other.
“I tell you, that speaker is cursed. It’s so weird how it starts making weird sounds out of nowhere” Jisung laughs at that, like he always does when Felix warns him of the cursed speaker, and as he stops in front of him he delicately tries to get the flour out of his blond hair. “It was one time that it made weird sounds. It is not hunted.”
Felix’s cheeks have a pretty pink blush as he looks down from his hair, but he still glares at him teasingly “Sure, don’t believe me. When a ghost starts talking through that thing during a party you’ll think of me and how you should have gotten rid of that thing”
He turns around to enter the kitchen again as Jisung lowers his hand and snorts at his reply and says “But I already think about you so much!” cutely as he follows the blond further inside.
Felix stops next to a metallic table with some cupcakes on it and turns to look at him with a smirk “I sure hope you do, seeing as I feed you every day after work, and for free, might I remind you!”
He knows Felix wouldn't let him pay him even if he wanted to, but he likes joking about it and Jisung likes playing along.
“And I am forever thankful for it.” And he bows jokingly when he has walked closer to the baker.
Felix rolls his eyes at him, but he can’t stop the smile growing on his face. Being here with Felix makes Jisung so warm inside that he doesn’t know what to do with himself, his hands rest on the table and in an attempt to ignore the butterflies on his stomach, he looks at the pastries and says “Are these a new invention? Am I your test subject?”
At the mention of the treats Felix’s whole face lights up and starts “They aren’t exactly new, but I haven’t had them before in the bakery and I wanted you to try them” with hopeful eyes.
Jisung doesn’t think about it twice and takes one of the cupcakes “I'm excited to try them then. What flavor are they?” But the question dies on his tongue because right as he bites into it the cheesecake flavor invades his taste buds and cannot help, but moan as he closes his eyes at how good the food is.
He hears the baker laugh at him “Knew you’d like ‘em” and Jisung opens his eyes to find the biggest kindest smile yet on Felix’s face. He swallows the bite he took and asks “How did you know cheesecake is my favorite?”
“You mentioned it a couple weeks ago. I don’t usually bake cheesecakes unless someone ordered it specifically, but I thought you’d like it.”
“I absolutely love these, woah, thank you so much.” And Jisung finishes the cupcake in his hands with a single bite because he doesn’t know what else to say when his heart is so full.
Between wholehearted laughs and quick glances they stay like that talking a while more.
Jisung has always been a reserved guy, some would call him mysterious, but in reality he would define himself as more of an introverted nerd.
With people he cares about though, he becomes excited, eager to talk and share his thoughts, not afraid of what other people might think. And with Felix, he can never filter what comes out of his mouth, and still, the other always answers with the same excitement and energetic laughs. He always looks forward to their chats.
Jisung can’t believe the joy that these little bits of heaven in between his shift and the rest of his day has brought to his life. That’s why it isn’t really a surprise the crush that he quickly developed for the baker.
He couldn’t help it, Felix is just charming like that. But Jisung isn’t going to do anything about it. Of course he isn’t. He sees this little time almost as a bubble, outside of reality. It’s too good to be true. Felix is too good to be true.
He doesn’t want the bubble to burst, so he sure as hell won’t go around poking it.
(Also he knows how hard it is to live around his work schedule so why bother mess up this dear friendship they have for a foolish one-sided crush?)
He doesn’t realize he’s drifting off until Felix shakes him by the shoulder lightly. Jisung opens his eyes which he hadn’t realized he closed and as he sees the other’s pity eyes he knows it’s time to head home.
The baker accompanies him to the door, they say goodbye and Jisung starts walking towards his car. Right as he is opening his car door he hears a deep “Wait, Jisung!” and as he turns he sees Felix running towards him with a plastic container in hand.
“I forgot to give you the rest of the cupcakes.” Jisung reaches out with an endeared smile and says “You didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to” he responds with a small smile that still reaches his eyes “Also, want to hang out some time? Outside the bakery I mean. Preferably when we can both talk, not rush getting out of work to sleep or about to start working” and giggles at himself.
“I would love to, but… My schedule is a bit hard to work around. I don’t think it’s going to be very easy to match our free time”
“Well, maybe not, but I would really like to see you more. If that’s what you’d like too, of course!”
Jisung thinks about it for a few moments, but he can’t help himself with the other looking at him with hopeful eyes. “Okay, yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. When do you finish work?”
“I work until midday, we could hang out in the afternoon.” Felix says excitedly.
Jisung smiles at him and nods. “Great, can’t wait!” And Felix leans in to give him a kiss on the cheek.
They both wave goodbye at each other with blushing faces as Felix walks backwards the twenty steps there are from Jisung’s car to the bakery.