[Dealership]
Title: Dealership
Pairing: Kyumin, Haehyuk, Hanchul, Qmi; ninja Hewook, Yewon, Kangteuk
Rating: PG-13 (gambling talk/discussions)
Genre: AU (Dealer! Hae/ Min, casino setting)
Summary: Kyuhyun kills time while Zhoumi goes on a shopping spree. He meets a cute dealer.
A/N: Personally I enjoyed this piece, even though it could have been a lot more sophisticated and better quality. Nonetheless, I liked it. Dealer! Hae and Dealer!Min makes my knees weak just thinking about how cute they would be. Yeahh, beta'd by genisaurion , but he wasn't very awake at the moment, so it doesn't count. Comments are <333'd.
“Kui-Xian, I’ll be back in thirty minutes. You know what to do if I don’t come back, right?” Zhoumi flashed him the widest grin Kyuhyun ever remembered.
“I don’t care, go away.” Kyuhyun turned around and looked at the face up card, an Ace of Hearts.
“It means I either got kidnapped, or there’s a huge ass line up at either the Prada or the LV store.” Zhoumi reiterated for the third time that day. First time was when they were getting ready to leave their hotel room, and the second was just before entering the casino.
“Okay, okay, just go.” Kyuhyun hissed as he reached for the other card. He rubbed the top left corner twice. Face card, give me a queen, come on baby.
“Have fun, and don’t forget to win more money for me.” Zhoumi bounced his way away from the table as he nearly walked into two younger boys.
HAH. Kyuhyun flipped over his other card. Queen of Diamonds. He nodded and gave a faint smile when an older man from behind patted his back before he walked away to join his family.
“Again? Holy fuck he’s lucky.” Someone grumbled down the table. “See, I told you we should have sat at that spot.”
“Fine, you go play blackjack by yourself then.” A smaller man hissed back as he got up. “Don’t listen to me.”
“Wait, Teukie....” The man put down his glass of red wine. “Fine, leave, see if I care.”
“Any more hits?” The dealer wafted his hand over the cards on the table before collecting his pair and straightening them in a professional manner. “Dealer has 13.”
He flipped a 7 and waved his hand on top of his twenty. “Dealer has 20.”
“Kangin, I’m sure you will care,” the man adjacent to Kyuhyun sneered when the dealer moved onto his hand, revealing the pair. A Nine of Spades and an Eight of Diamonds.
“Shut it, Heechul.” The larger man snarled as the dealer revealed his 18.
“That’s your third one, er, Kuai Sen?” The dealer smiled as he pushed three more purple chips, mirroring his own trio that he had placed in the betting circle. “You’re quite lucky even with a dealer 20.”
“Kyuhyun. The name’s Kyuhyun.” Kyuhyun smiled as he tossed the dealer one of the $25 chips as a tip. Kyuhyun never considered himself as an expert gambler, but having a degree in statistics and probability did swing your favour at the tables, he couldn’t deny that. “My friend is Chinese so he calls me my Chinese name.”
“Thank you.” The dealer bowed politely as he moved onto the next person two seats adjacent. Kyuhyun raised his hand and immediately a young waitress, dressed in a white blouse three sizes smaller and a tight jet black skirt, skidded over.
“A Perrier and two limes, please.” Kyuhyun didn’t bother giving her a second glance despite her seemingly ‘appealing’ attire.
Dressed like sluts and trained to talk in higher pitched, whiny voices, Kyuhyun had enough experience to block out the latter from dealing with Zhoumi.
The waitress came back with his drink three rounds later (he won two and lost one), her eyelashes batting as she purposely sank lower than necessary to put down his drink, flaunting her cleavage. Kyuhyun rolled his eyes as he gave her a red chip.
“Last call for bets.” The dealer patted his gloved hands lightly as Kyuhyun hastily pushed a single purple chip out. Kyuhyun took a peek at the dealer’s name tag: Donghae.
Donghae dished out the cards skilfully before he waved his right hand over the table.
Kyuhyun took his cards, and rubbed the corner of the covered one. 14. Disgusting.
“Hit?” Donghae asked him and Kyuhyun pondered at the decision. Dealer had a pocket 10, and he knew his chances of winning would be low either way.
“Take one,” Kangin hollered from down the table, “shuffle up the order. He’s been consistently hitting 19’s and 20’s.” Kyuhyun studied the other cards, Kangin had a pocket 9 and the other guy, Heechul had a 7.
“Shut it, you raccoon.” Heechul flared his nostrils and pulled out his cell phone.
“Nah.” Kyuhyun flicked his hand across his pair, as did Heechul and Kangin.
“Dealer has...” Donghae flipped his face down card, revealing a 5, bringing his total to 15.
“Dealer takes a hit,” he said to himself and revealed a jack. “Dealer bust, house wins.” He reached for his stack of chips and began dishing out the wins.
“Good call, kid.” Kangin gave him a heads up and took another sip of his wine.
“Good dealer is more like it.” Kyuhyun flicked his head at Donghae, who flushed and gave a small bow before he stacked the cards and placed them back into the automatic shuffling machine. Kangin threw him a 25 chip and he thanked the man for his generosity.
“Yo, Raccoon, I’m going to go find Hannie at the poker table.” Heechul grabbed his stack of chips and skipped away. “Call you later.”
“So, how old are you, kid?” Kangin placed a $150 bet onto the betting circle. “Come on, Ace, baby.”
“21, just legal.” Kyuhyun smiled at his own 9. “Kangin.”
“You’re a feisty kid, I like you.” Kangin held up his glass and tipped it at Kyuhyun before he took a swig. “Damn right an Ace.”
Kyuhyun smiled as Donghae revealed his own 6 before giving out the second cards.
A skinnier man took a spot where Heechul had sat and placed his stack of chips against the black padding. He nodded politely and gave a rather awkward smile, his gums and teeth rather blatantly visible.
They continued the game with the occasional chit chat. The skinner man was known as Eunhyuk, who was also Korean and was aspiring to become a professional dancer. He overhead their conversation and took a spot. Their dealer was Donghae, who worked part time at the casino to help pay for his dance lessons. The two immediately bonded over their mutual appreciation for dance.Heechul stormed back, half dragging a pleading Hankyung by the collar.
“God, idiots like those two should get shot and hung,” Heechul grumbled as he dropped Hankyung’s collar, letting the man fall to the floor. “Fucking learn poker at home, not in the casino. I hate amateurs. They’re like, a waste of space, and they fucking eat up your time by being slow and retarded.”
“Heechul-ah,” Hankyung opened his mouth before Kangin shot him a stare, shaking his head dangerously.
“What kind of a name is Henry, I mean seriously? And that kid with high cheekbones, he should just go be a model if he was taller.” Heechul grumbled as he grabbed Kangin’s wine glass and emptied the ruby liquid. “We’re leaving.”
Kyuhyun was about to say an English name before he realized Heechul was someone he didn’t want to piss off. Even Kangin looked remotely scared at Heechul’s fury, and Kyuhyun knew for sure Kangin would win in a fist fight.
“But...” Hankyung opened his mouth to protest before Heechul glared at him.
“What, say it Hannie.” Heechul incinerated Hankyung with his stare.
“Nothing. I’m hungry, can we go now?” Heechul softened his smile before he gave him a peck on the cheek. “Okay, ten more minutes then, just for you Hannie.” He left the table and walked away.
He’s so whipped, the poor man. Kyuhyun chuckled before he heard a familiar high pitched voice brought wiped the smile off his face.
“KUII-XIANNNN.” Zhoumi skipped to his table and dropped off three bags. “Oh look, more chips.” He helped himself to a healthy stack of purple ones and went away as fast as he came.
“Cute boyfriend you have there.” Donghae blushed at Kangin’s statement as he handed out the next set of cards. Eunhyuk stifled a cough before Kyuhyun defended himself.
“Best friend, since we were six.” Kyuhyun held his cards. “Dating him would be like dating your twin sister.”
Donghae laughed as he continued tossing out cards. He continued smiling the whole time, particularly at Eunhyuk as the two would make eye contact before shifting their eyes elsewhere.
“Two more hands and my shifts done.” Donghae handed out another set of cards. Kyuhyun noticed another boy standing behind Donghae, probably waiting to tag him off. He was fixing his pink bowtie and straightening the sleeve of his jet black blazer. “It’s been a pleasure dealing for you guys.”
Kyuhyun tossed Donghae a purple chip, which was worth $50, as he concluded his final hand for them.
“Good dealer.” Kyuhyun tipped his head and Donghae thanked him for the generous tip. He turned around and tagged the other man, who came onto pedestal and faced the table.
“I’m Sungmin and I’ll be your new dealer.” The boy smiled and puffed up his cheeks before he patted his hands, front and back, and brushed his sleeves. “I hope you enjoy your hands.”
Kyuhyun noticed the abundance of pink on the new dealer, even his nametag had been customized to be pink instead of the gold one Donghae had. Not that he minded, after all he was best friends with a walking fashion icon. Besides, Sungmin actually worked the pink pretty well. He had a pair of pink gold cuff links that pinned his sleeves together.
He pushed out a single red chip, $10 and the minimum play, instead of his usual $25 and $50 bets.
“Ahh, why the sudden drop in bets?” Sungmin pouted as he fixed the chip inside the circle.
“How did you know?” Kyuhyun replied back as Sungmin went over to Eunhyuk, who looked half hearted after Donghae had left. A hand later, Eunhyuk got up and walked away, presumably wanting to look for Donghae.
“Oh, I tend to observe the table beforehand, get a feel for things, observe my clients, see how they play.” Sungmin shrugged his shoulder and reached for the freshly shuffled cards. “Am I not worthy enough for larger bets?”
“Quite the contrary. But I tend to observe the dealer as well, get a flow of their cards.” It was obvious Sungmin’s last statement was flirtatious and Kyuhyun caught his drift.
“Last call for bets.” Sungmin smiled at him and handed out another set of cards.
“Okay, this place is weird.” Heechul stomped back and both Kangin and Hankyung looked horrified. “Some guy was sitting at the lobby reading a bible, and his friend was playing with his pet turtle in the pond. Why would you come to a casino for that? You might as well just go to the park or something.”
Kyuhyun had a sinking feeling about the two people mentioned as Heechul continued his monologue about random people.
“Go find Teukie and we can go. Last hand, I promise.” Kangin kicked Hankyung off his chair and made the other two go find their fourth friend. “I’ve been on a winning streak.”
“Oh look, new dealer.” Heechul noted and Sungmin bit his bottom lip. Kyuhyun almost choked on his water when he heard a squeal from behind him. Sungmin looked absolutely adorable when he bit his bottom lip.
A flock of girls around Kyuhyun’s age sat down on the table after Kangin left, who had also tipped Sungmin with a purple chip before he went to cash out. Sungmin smiled warmly and introduced himself to his new clients, even going as far as holding their hand and planting a kiss with his pink lips.
Sungmin was definitely a flirt and he knew how to work his charm on his clients. Kyuhyun continued chuckling at the man working his magic on both the girls and the cards. His skilful hands worked as one with the cards, never missing a certain deal or dropping any card by accident.
“Any bets?” Sungmin paused at him when he realized Kyuhyun didn’t put any chips for the third hand in a row.
“Nah, I’ll pass for a while.” Kyuhyun smiled back as Sungmin shrugged before facing the batch of girls. Kyuhyun knew playing with them would be a waste of money, hitting on a 15 and passing on a 10. They had no idea how to play. Playing with them would mean throwing your money in the ocean. He’d rather feed it to Zhoumi’s shopping spree than lose it to the casino.
Finally, after around fifteen hands, the girls went away, having lost all their money.
“Aww, I’m sorry.” Sungmin frowned as he gathered up their remaining chips. “I still hope you had fun?”
Such a tease. Such a fucking tease. Kyuhyun smirked to himself as he drained the last of his water, making sure Sungmin had seen him lap at the lime resting in the glass. The tinge of lime rolled off his tongue, fresh and fragrant. The table was empty except for Sungmin and himself.
Sungmin opened his mouth when Zhoumi bounced back and took a spot next to Kyuhyun, resting his head on his arm after absentmindedly dropping his four bags.
“God, Kui Xian, the line ups were soooo longgg and it was so stuffy.” Zhoumi rubbed his cheek against Kyuhyun’s arm. Sungmin bit his bottom lip as he continued tossing out cards. Kyuhyun tried shrugging him off, but Zhoumi clung on tighter before he reached out and grabbed Kyuhyun’s cards without his permission.
Sungmin kept quiet for the rest of the hands before Zhoumi finally gave up, his boredom finally kicking in.
“This is so boring. I don’t get how you can stand sitting here playing cards. It’s all the same every time.” Zhoumi tugged at Kyuhyun’s arms while he was about to flip his hidden card.
“If I don’t play, how do you get the time for your shopping?” Kyuhyun continued rubbing the top corner of the card. “Now, be quiet!”
“But Kui-Xian...”
Kyuhyun noticed Sungmin’s impatience by the way he was fidgeting with his cuff links, his normally pleasant smile gone and an irritated fake grin plastered on instead.
“Say, want to get me a pair of pens, you pick the brand.” Kyuhyun grabbed a handful of purple and blue chips and shoved it into Zhoumi’s hands. “Come back in half an hour.”
“Are you sure you want me to pick the brand, cuz you know I’ll pick the one you hate the most.”
“I don’t care.” Kyuhyun turned back to face Sungmin as Zhoumi fixed up his bags and put them with the other three. “I’ll see you later.”
Zhoumi looked at Sungmin and shrugged his shoulders before he began contemplating between LV or Prada, even though Gucci had really smooth, elegant ink.
“You two are cute together.” Sungmin forced a smile. There was definitely something different about his face, it wasn’t fake compared to his earlier pout with the girls.
“Best friend,” Kyuhyun stated the matter-of-factly.
“Ohh... I see.” Sungmin tried keeping his composure but Kyuhyun had already seen through his cards. Kyuhyun tossed Sungmin a purple chip as the man looked bewildered.
“Why?”
“Because you’re cute.” Kyuhyun teased back as Sungmin rolled his eyes at him. “Why are you rolling your eyes at me?”
“Thanks. But you’re such a tease.” Sungmin blushed as he handed out four cards, two for himself and two for Kyuhyun.
“Right back at you.” Kyuhyun didn’t care about his hands anymore. “The way you flirted to get those girls to play.”
“No I didn’t.” Sungmin stuck out his tongue. “Stop putting words in my mouth.”
“Do you always flirt with your players?” Kyuhyun mentally punched himself for the innuendo.
“Only the cute ones.” Sungmin pouted and tapped his empty betting circle. Kyuhyun nonchalantly tossed out two purple chips.
“One is for you.” Kyuhyun didn’t care about his pocket ace. He had his eyes set on Sungmin already.
“Thanks.” Sungmin shrugged his shoulders and proceeded with the hand.
“So you think I’m cute?” Kyuhyun asked midway through the next hand.
“What makes you say that.” Sungmin sounded startled at his statement.
“You were flirting with me.” Kyuhyun licked his lips while Sungmin fidgeted with the cards, some of them refusing to go into the shuffler as his hands fumbled with straightening the edges.
“No I wasn’t.” Sungmin flushed a shade of pink.
“Why are you blushing if you’re not?” Kyuhyun pressed on while he denied a hit for his 18. He leaned forward and tugged on his cufflinks, pulling one of them apart and gracefully twirling it in his fingers.
“I...” Sungmin stuttered while he absent-mindedly handed out an extra card to a non-existent player.
“I’m just kidding.” Kyuhyun sat back down on his chair and straightened his navy blue jacket. His index and middle finger held the faintly tinted pink cufflink in his hand before he threw it up in the air and caught it in the palm of his hand. “You’re cute when you stutter.” Kyuhyun opened up his hand and motioned for Sungmin to retrieve it.
“Thanks.” Sungmin regained his composure and reached for the cufflink before Kyuhyun sealed off access as he pocketed the tiny piece of metal. Two hands later, Kyuhyun rubbed his foot against Sungmin’s leg, making the dealer fluster and glare at him with wide eyes.
“I think I’ll be keeping this.” Kyuhyun smiled as he patted his chest pocket. Seeing Sungmin pout made it worthwhile untangling the piece of metal from the small hole.
“Just return it when you leave.” Sungmin gave him a neutral smile before redirecting his attention back to the card machine as it spat out a set of shuffled cards.
“When are you done with your shift?” Kyuhyun asked as his foot continued moving along the man’s muscled calf. Everytime he lost a hand, Kyuhyun probed his foot and tangled it with Sungmin’s. Sometimes he purposely asked for a hit on a 16 or 17 or whenever he placed a small bet.
“Dealers aren’t allowed to reveal information to customers, it’s against regulations.” Sungmin rolled up his sleeves. “I’m sure you know that already. Besides, why do you want to know?” He bit his bottom lip again when Zhoumi bounced back with a small Gucci bag around his wrist.
“Kuii-XIANN. I bought you Gucci because they had better quality ink, but that doesn’t mean I’m admitting Gucci is better than Prada.”
“Okay, sure, whatever.” Kyuhyun continued looking at Sungmin to the point where he made the other man uncomfortable. “Let’s go eat. Do you want to go get Yesung-hyung and Siwon-hyung now? I’ll be done in two hands.”
Kyuhyun snatched the packaging as Zhoumi took three of his bags and walked away from their table.
“So I’m worth two more hands?” Sungmin gave him an infamous pout.
“Maybe. Nah, you’re not worth any more hands.” Kyuhyun smirked and pushed forward his chips, “Can I get some switches.”
“Yeah, definitely.” Sungmin couldn’t mask his disappointment as Kyuhyun scribbled something onto a piece of the wrapping.
“You were a good dealer though. Tell Donghae that too, if you could.” Kyuhyun stretched and began forming stacks of four with his chips, trading them for $100 and $200 chips. He retained two purple ones as Sungmin handed him a smaller stack.
“Thanks.” Kyuhyun tucked the piece of paper with two 50 chips, along with one of the two matching pens, and pushed it to Sungmin before he took the remaining four bags.
Sungmin unfolded the piece of paper while waiting for new players to join his table. He fixed his hair and tugged on his blazer, not forgetting to pout a little to draw in potential players. Three people soon sat down as he began dealing out cards. He snuck a glance at the piece of paper.
I still have your cufflink.
I meant it when I said you’re cute. (:
Call me. 7784 3958.