EXO | Tapioca Pearls | PG
Tapioca Pearls
PG
1912w
Yixing-centric, tiny!Joonmyun/Sehun tiny!Chanyeol/Jongin
Yixing is late for his morning shift and A Plus needs a new manager.
Yixing stretches out in bed, working out the kinks in his muscle. He slept late last night after their show and is now paying for it with an aching body. He is about to go back to sleep when a big red 9:48 AM is blinking at him from the bedside table.
‘Shit,” Yixing shouts, struggling to get off the bed but his legs are tangled in the covers and he falls face first to the floor, breaking the fall with his elbows while his legs are still on the bed. He is on the opening crew for today’s shift at his work place and he’s supposed to open the shop at 9:50 a.m. He rushes to get dressed, easily spotting his black pants and shirt from the day before draped over his chair. He calls Jongdae, putting his phone on speaker as he runs the tap to wash his face and brush his teeth.
“Hello?” Jongdae’s voice filters in through the speakers.
“Jongdae, please tell me you have the key to open up shop,” Yixing practically shouts as he dabs some aftershave on his face.
“What are you talking about hyung? I’m on off today and Chanyeol doesn’t start until later.” There’s a shuffle before Jongdae says, “Yupp, he’s still in bed.”
“Oh no, do you remember who is on opening shift with me?” Yixing asks, grabbing his phone before he runs out of the toilet. He’s lucky he never takes things out from his bag so he doesn’t need extra time to prepare his things.
“I’m not sure hyung but it’s the weekend so probably one of the high school kids,” Jongdae yawns and Yixing knows it’s his cue.
“Ok, thank you very much I’m really sorry to disturb you so early in the morning.”
“You owe me a drink. I don’t even know why you take the morning shifts when we have gigs the night before and I don’t know why Joonmyun hyung lets you take the opening shift when he knows how absent-minded you can be.”
Yixing hangs up without even saying goodbye and he knows he won’t hear the end of it later but he’s already struggling to run down the stairs and he doesn’t need to fall flat on his face to add to his what -a-great-morning list. He sees a cab the moment he hits the sidewalk of his apartment building and he quickly hails it, knowing that he’ll still be late. He is mentally calculating how much food he needs to cut back just for this cab ride to make sure he’ll be able to make rent at the end of the month.
Working at the bubble tea shop doesn’t give him much money but the schedule is flexible enough that he can still pursue music without having to sacrifice much. His bandmates Jongdae and Chanyeol are still in university and they share a dorm room but once they graduate in a few months, they’ll move in with him and that will lighten his load on the rent, bills and groceries. The two of them are also working with him at the store, the money they make from their part-time job gets them through school on top of the money they get from their scholarship and like Yixing, they’re planning to continue pursuing music and make a name for their band after they graduate. But their biggest worry now is that they don’t have a manager and they’re suffering because all they get are gigs that don’t pay much and no one pays attention because the patrons are usually too drunk to appreciate their music.
His phone rings and Yixing sees Sehun’s name blinking on the screen. The time reads 10:05AM and for Sehun to call him now means that Sehun has just reached but Yixing is in no position to chastise him for being late.
“Hello?”
“Hyung? Where are you?” Sehun asks and it amazes Yixing how there’s not even an ounce of urgency in his voice.
“I’m on my way, sorry I woke up late today. Is there anyone waiting already?”
“Nope, no one,” Sehun says, chewing loudly and Yixing guesses it’s probably gum. “I’ll just wait out here but hurry up hyung, it is a warm day today and I’m already perspiring.”
Sehun hangs up before Yixing can say another word and he wonders if this was how Jongdae felt earlier when he hung up.
The cab stops by the road just in front of the shop and Yixing rushes, fumbling with his bag to take out the keys as Sehun looks at him blankly, leaning against the wall. Yixing lets out a long whoosh of air at the absence of any customers and it’s because it’s probably a Saturday and people are not out and about yet so early in the morning.
Once the shutters are open, Sehun immediately heads for the cashier and Yixing has to remind him to put on his cap.
“But the cap makes my hair flat,” Sehun complains but he does as he’s told.
“I know Sehun but it is part of the uniform and Joonmyun hyung would be disappointed if you don’t follow rules.”
At the mention of Joonmyun’s name, Sehun quickly straightens his back and gets to work. Yixing knows the boy has a crush on their store manager and he tries to use it against him whenever he doesn’t listen.
“Also,” Yixing starts again as he takes out the syrup from the fridge and places them on the counter, “Let’s keep our tardiness today a secret from Joonmyun ok?”
“I’m not the one who was late, you are!” Sehun starts to smirk, realising that he has leverage over Yixing.
“Would you like to take a chance to see who Joonmyun believes?”
It promptly shuts Sehun up and Yixing is thankful that their manager trusts them so much that he hasn’t thought about installing a clocking-in system.
The day goes by smoothly other than the small hiccup of Sehun not wanting to do kitchen duties and Yixing is stuck with cooking the tea and pearl for the first half of the day. It’s not like Yixing hates kitchen duty but he’d rather be making drinks because he has so much fun mixing the syrup and teas or blending drinks.
Chanyeol comes in for his shift after lunch and Jongdae trails along, saying that they should start working on advertising for a band. Jongdae starts working on ideas for a poster and Chanyeol occasionally helps him when there aren’t any customers around. Yixing is more of less stuck with kitchen duty because he can’t leave his post when there’s tea to brew and given that it’s a weekend, their stock runs out faster than usual which means he needs to keep checking the thermoses often to make sure they still have all the different types of tea.
Looking at Jongdae suddenly reminds him of earlier and he concocts a drink, a peach and passion fruit tea to be exact. He rings the drink up and uses his staff discount before placing the cup in front of Jongdae.
“What is this hyung?” Jongdae asks, looking up from the rough outline he has come up with.
“You said I owe you a drink so here.”
“What? Nooooo I meant-“
“You didn’t specify what drink so your loss,” Yixing sing songs as he goes back behind the counter.
Jongdae is about to protest further when Chanyeol takes his drink and drinks almost a quarter of it. Joonmyun walks in to the both of them fighting and he only shakes his head, greeting them all and asking the pair to quiet down in case a customer walks in.
“Jongdae, you’re not working today so don’t harass my staff or I’ll kick you out,” Joonmyun threatens but everyone knows Joonmyun is too nice to do that.
Sehun who has been slouching the whole day and slacking off with his phone is suddenly standing upright and alert, smiling at Joonmyun when the manager pats his back.
“What are you doing here anyways Jongdae?” Joonmyun asks. It is not rare for any of the staff not working to drop by but usually they don’t if it’s a weekend.
“We’re working on our band poster. We still need a manager so we hope that we can attract a manager with a really cool poster,” Chanyeol says, moving back behind the counter since Joonmyun is now here.
“Oh! Remember that friend I told you about? The public relations major? He’s still on a break and has yet to decide the jobs he’d like to apply for but he loves music and if I ask he might consider being your manager. He was the events manager of our club back in university and he is very good at what he does.”
Yixing catches the looks Chanyeol and Jongdae are throwing him, because knowing Joonmyun, his friend will not be much different from him and even if Joonmyun is a great store manager, they’re not sure if they want a band manager just like him.
But Joonmyun looks so hopeful that Yixing can’t bear to turn him down. Someone walks in and Yixing thought he is saved but it turns out to be only Jongin turning up for his shift.
“Ok, we’ll give it a try,” Yixing says nodding his head and no, Yixing definitely didn’t agree because of the murderous look Sehun was throwing his way as though daring Yixing to deny his hyung.
“Jongin!” Chanyeol calls out, and Yixing is glad the focus is off him. “You’re in the photography club right?”
Jongin looks up in surprise, as though not expecting Chanyeol to talk to him. Everyone in the store knows that Jongin is the shyest of them all and it is obvious to anyone who looks that he has a little crush on Chanyeol. It’s not hard to realise when he turns up for their every gig but Yixing guesses if you’re park Chanyeol, you probably won’t realise.
“Umm, actually, I’m in the dance club. But I can take photos too I mean I have a DSLR?”
“That’s perfect! Well you see, we need someone to help us take photos for our band poster and I was wondering if you’d do it for us? We can’t afford to pay a professional and I-“
“YES!” Jongin shouts, shocking everyone in the store and it looks like he even shocked himself with the way he jumps a little. “I means yes I can do it, I’ll help.”
And that is how a few days later they find themselves in the rented studio in Chanyeol’s and Jongdae’s university, Yixing trying put up the black cloth as a backdrop as Jongin sets up the camera on his tripod. Sehun tags along, appointing himself as their own stylist and he can be a little annoying when he frowns and clucks his tongue in a disapproving manner but Yixing knows they should thank him because he made them out to be cooler than they usually look.
The photo taking doesn’t take long because there are only so many angles one can take in a cramped studio and they should really use the rest of their time practising because they did have to pay to rent the place; even if it’s at a discounted student price. They let Jongin and Sehun stay to watch as a form of payment before taking them out to dinner at night.
PG
1912w
Yixing-centric, tiny!Joonmyun/Sehun tiny!Chanyeol/Jongin
Yixing is late for his morning shift and A Plus needs a new manager.
Yixing stretches out in bed, working out the kinks in his muscle. He slept late last night after their show and is now paying for it with an aching body. He is about to go back to sleep when a big red 9:48 AM is blinking at him from the bedside table.
‘Shit,” Yixing shouts, struggling to get off the bed but his legs are tangled in the covers and he falls face first to the floor, breaking the fall with his elbows while his legs are still on the bed. He is on the opening crew for today’s shift at his work place and he’s supposed to open the shop at 9:50 a.m. He rushes to get dressed, easily spotting his black pants and shirt from the day before draped over his chair. He calls Jongdae, putting his phone on speaker as he runs the tap to wash his face and brush his teeth.
“Hello?” Jongdae’s voice filters in through the speakers.
“Jongdae, please tell me you have the key to open up shop,” Yixing practically shouts as he dabs some aftershave on his face.
“What are you talking about hyung? I’m on off today and Chanyeol doesn’t start until later.” There’s a shuffle before Jongdae says, “Yupp, he’s still in bed.”
“Oh no, do you remember who is on opening shift with me?” Yixing asks, grabbing his phone before he runs out of the toilet. He’s lucky he never takes things out from his bag so he doesn’t need extra time to prepare his things.
“I’m not sure hyung but it’s the weekend so probably one of the high school kids,” Jongdae yawns and Yixing knows it’s his cue.
“Ok, thank you very much I’m really sorry to disturb you so early in the morning.”
“You owe me a drink. I don’t even know why you take the morning shifts when we have gigs the night before and I don’t know why Joonmyun hyung lets you take the opening shift when he knows how absent-minded you can be.”
Yixing hangs up without even saying goodbye and he knows he won’t hear the end of it later but he’s already struggling to run down the stairs and he doesn’t need to fall flat on his face to add to his what -a-great-morning list. He sees a cab the moment he hits the sidewalk of his apartment building and he quickly hails it, knowing that he’ll still be late. He is mentally calculating how much food he needs to cut back just for this cab ride to make sure he’ll be able to make rent at the end of the month.
Working at the bubble tea shop doesn’t give him much money but the schedule is flexible enough that he can still pursue music without having to sacrifice much. His bandmates Jongdae and Chanyeol are still in university and they share a dorm room but once they graduate in a few months, they’ll move in with him and that will lighten his load on the rent, bills and groceries. The two of them are also working with him at the store, the money they make from their part-time job gets them through school on top of the money they get from their scholarship and like Yixing, they’re planning to continue pursuing music and make a name for their band after they graduate. But their biggest worry now is that they don’t have a manager and they’re suffering because all they get are gigs that don’t pay much and no one pays attention because the patrons are usually too drunk to appreciate their music.
His phone rings and Yixing sees Sehun’s name blinking on the screen. The time reads 10:05AM and for Sehun to call him now means that Sehun has just reached but Yixing is in no position to chastise him for being late.
“Hello?”
“Hyung? Where are you?” Sehun asks and it amazes Yixing how there’s not even an ounce of urgency in his voice.
“I’m on my way, sorry I woke up late today. Is there anyone waiting already?”
“Nope, no one,” Sehun says, chewing loudly and Yixing guesses it’s probably gum. “I’ll just wait out here but hurry up hyung, it is a warm day today and I’m already perspiring.”
Sehun hangs up before Yixing can say another word and he wonders if this was how Jongdae felt earlier when he hung up.
The cab stops by the road just in front of the shop and Yixing rushes, fumbling with his bag to take out the keys as Sehun looks at him blankly, leaning against the wall. Yixing lets out a long whoosh of air at the absence of any customers and it’s because it’s probably a Saturday and people are not out and about yet so early in the morning.
Once the shutters are open, Sehun immediately heads for the cashier and Yixing has to remind him to put on his cap.
“But the cap makes my hair flat,” Sehun complains but he does as he’s told.
“I know Sehun but it is part of the uniform and Joonmyun hyung would be disappointed if you don’t follow rules.”
At the mention of Joonmyun’s name, Sehun quickly straightens his back and gets to work. Yixing knows the boy has a crush on their store manager and he tries to use it against him whenever he doesn’t listen.
“Also,” Yixing starts again as he takes out the syrup from the fridge and places them on the counter, “Let’s keep our tardiness today a secret from Joonmyun ok?”
“I’m not the one who was late, you are!” Sehun starts to smirk, realising that he has leverage over Yixing.
“Would you like to take a chance to see who Joonmyun believes?”
It promptly shuts Sehun up and Yixing is thankful that their manager trusts them so much that he hasn’t thought about installing a clocking-in system.
The day goes by smoothly other than the small hiccup of Sehun not wanting to do kitchen duties and Yixing is stuck with cooking the tea and pearl for the first half of the day. It’s not like Yixing hates kitchen duty but he’d rather be making drinks because he has so much fun mixing the syrup and teas or blending drinks.
Chanyeol comes in for his shift after lunch and Jongdae trails along, saying that they should start working on advertising for a band. Jongdae starts working on ideas for a poster and Chanyeol occasionally helps him when there aren’t any customers around. Yixing is more of less stuck with kitchen duty because he can’t leave his post when there’s tea to brew and given that it’s a weekend, their stock runs out faster than usual which means he needs to keep checking the thermoses often to make sure they still have all the different types of tea.
Looking at Jongdae suddenly reminds him of earlier and he concocts a drink, a peach and passion fruit tea to be exact. He rings the drink up and uses his staff discount before placing the cup in front of Jongdae.
“What is this hyung?” Jongdae asks, looking up from the rough outline he has come up with.
“You said I owe you a drink so here.”
“What? Nooooo I meant-“
“You didn’t specify what drink so your loss,” Yixing sing songs as he goes back behind the counter.
Jongdae is about to protest further when Chanyeol takes his drink and drinks almost a quarter of it. Joonmyun walks in to the both of them fighting and he only shakes his head, greeting them all and asking the pair to quiet down in case a customer walks in.
“Jongdae, you’re not working today so don’t harass my staff or I’ll kick you out,” Joonmyun threatens but everyone knows Joonmyun is too nice to do that.
Sehun who has been slouching the whole day and slacking off with his phone is suddenly standing upright and alert, smiling at Joonmyun when the manager pats his back.
“What are you doing here anyways Jongdae?” Joonmyun asks. It is not rare for any of the staff not working to drop by but usually they don’t if it’s a weekend.
“We’re working on our band poster. We still need a manager so we hope that we can attract a manager with a really cool poster,” Chanyeol says, moving back behind the counter since Joonmyun is now here.
“Oh! Remember that friend I told you about? The public relations major? He’s still on a break and has yet to decide the jobs he’d like to apply for but he loves music and if I ask he might consider being your manager. He was the events manager of our club back in university and he is very good at what he does.”
Yixing catches the looks Chanyeol and Jongdae are throwing him, because knowing Joonmyun, his friend will not be much different from him and even if Joonmyun is a great store manager, they’re not sure if they want a band manager just like him.
But Joonmyun looks so hopeful that Yixing can’t bear to turn him down. Someone walks in and Yixing thought he is saved but it turns out to be only Jongin turning up for his shift.
“Ok, we’ll give it a try,” Yixing says nodding his head and no, Yixing definitely didn’t agree because of the murderous look Sehun was throwing his way as though daring Yixing to deny his hyung.
“Jongin!” Chanyeol calls out, and Yixing is glad the focus is off him. “You’re in the photography club right?”
Jongin looks up in surprise, as though not expecting Chanyeol to talk to him. Everyone in the store knows that Jongin is the shyest of them all and it is obvious to anyone who looks that he has a little crush on Chanyeol. It’s not hard to realise when he turns up for their every gig but Yixing guesses if you’re park Chanyeol, you probably won’t realise.
“Umm, actually, I’m in the dance club. But I can take photos too I mean I have a DSLR?”
“That’s perfect! Well you see, we need someone to help us take photos for our band poster and I was wondering if you’d do it for us? We can’t afford to pay a professional and I-“
“YES!” Jongin shouts, shocking everyone in the store and it looks like he even shocked himself with the way he jumps a little. “I means yes I can do it, I’ll help.”
And that is how a few days later they find themselves in the rented studio in Chanyeol’s and Jongdae’s university, Yixing trying put up the black cloth as a backdrop as Jongin sets up the camera on his tripod. Sehun tags along, appointing himself as their own stylist and he can be a little annoying when he frowns and clucks his tongue in a disapproving manner but Yixing knows they should thank him because he made them out to be cooler than they usually look.
The photo taking doesn’t take long because there are only so many angles one can take in a cramped studio and they should really use the rest of their time practising because they did have to pay to rent the place; even if it’s at a discounted student price. They let Jongin and Sehun stay to watch as a form of payment before taking them out to dinner at night.