skipping heartbeats into tomorrow [1/3]
Title: skipping heartbeats into tomorrow
Author: Anonymous until 1/30/14
For: g_odalisque13
Pairing: Baekhyun/Kris [side: Kai/Kyungsoo, + others]
Word Count: 25,500
Summary: A story about alcohol and a bit of that love thing. Kris found himself working as a host, but that was okay, because being near Baekhyun made it all worthwhile. Host Club!AU
Warnings: drinking, smut (porn with excessive plot), making out against a tree, mentions of smoking, mentions of a form of prostitution, brief mentions of sexual harassment, brief mentions of attempted rape
Rating: NC-17
One
Baekhyun eyed the new host with well-concealed distaste from the corner of the club, rolling his eyes subtly at the way Kris seemed to charm and pluck the attention of all the men and women within a ten meter radius. Already they were crowding around him with hungry faces, prowling, circling him like the new meat he was, raw, delicious, sprinkled with the best sort of seasoning, and put out on an inviting platter. Whether he would allow himself to be devoured, or run with his life intact had yet to be seen.
He swirled the amber liquid in his glass idly as his eyes drifted away from the show. Baekhyun wasn’t particularly worried; the charm and beauty would wear off with time to the customers. The shiny new toy would lose its luster soon enough. It always did. He had been here long enough to see hosts come and go. He’d just have to pay no attention to the new number one and Kris would be gone before he knew it.
A soft, caressing touch to his arm caught his attention, and he had a smile back on his face when he looked at the lady sitting next to him.
“Why aren’t you paying attention to me?” she asked him, red lips scrunching up in a pout. At that, he leaned in close, running fingers under the curve of her jaw. His eyes tracked her shiver, and his smile widened, but he felt bitter. So, so bitter.
“Sorry,” he said, brushing his fingers against her powdered cheek with the grace of an experienced flirter. “I’m just a bit distracted today. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
Her eyes were dazed as she nodded. Seeing this, Baekhyun leaned back and watched as a flush tore across her cheeks as soon as she came to. It was almost odd, really, the way she put her hand onto his knee, resting it there, a weight he’d rather not have imprinting against his skin through his clothes.
“Will you still be walking me home tonight?” she asked hopefully, eyes bright with a burning thirst. It was heated, nearly feverish under its clever disguise. Nothing would be able to quench it but him, her eyes said.
He would not just be walking her home.
He looked at her, took in the way she clung to his arm desperately, and nodded, hard-pressed not to release a weary sigh. He could only close his eyes when she wrapped her arms around him.
÷
Kris had to admit he had a bit of a pining issue. It couldn’t be healthy for him to want to watch someone - a man of all people - all the time, much less center his life around that someone after seeing them for the first time in his life.
Good thing Kris wasn’t into healthy decisions.
After spotting a melancholic-looking man (Kris now knew this man to be called Baekhyun) walking slowly down a sidewalk, his life had dramatically changed. While Kris had yet to have a real conversation with him, he now worked at one of the best bisexually-oriented host clubs in the country just to follow the man. Hopefully he’d find the courage to confess his feelings. And hopefully that’d be sooner rather than later.
As it was, he would have to settle with watching Baekhyun saunter out of the club with a new piece of meat on his arm every night.
“You have it bad,” Sehun snorted as he slid into the seat next to Kris’. Kris ignored him, a frown on his lips as Baekhyun and the woman of the night disappeared into the darkened hallway leading to the exit. He doubted they’d be back. Baekhyun normally never returned after a night out with his customers until the next night.
The sigh he released at that thought made Sehun snort more obnoxiously than the first time.
“Why are you bothering me?” Kris grumbled, shooting the young waiter a glare. Sehun seemed nonplussed by it, instead taking a sip of his sake. Kris rolled his eyes. “Are you even paying for that?”
The fact that Sehun didn’t answer him was answer enough.
“The ladies are clamoring for you,” Sehun said instead with a tilt of his chin. The movement was smooth, and Kris had to wonder yet again why the young man was working as a waiter there instead of as a host. He would’ve easily been a hit with the older women, and maybe some of the younger girls who wandered in here by “mistake.”
“They can live without me,” said Kris as he slunk deeper into the shadows of the staff lounge. There was no way in hell he was going back outside for more women to paw at him. Not tonight, at least. He looked around. A few of the other hosts were sitting in there as well, looking slightly tipsy now that they were away from the limelight. Just because they practically drank for a living didn’t mean all of them were good at keeping the alcohol down.
The former number one, a young man who went by Kai, had his face planted down firmly onto a table, no doubt wrinkling his well-pressed suit while he was at it. He looked as if he was still recovering from the bout of strong alcohol his last customer had bought for them to share, and Suho, one of the club owners, was urging him to take the water and pills he held to no avail.
Kris got up, disregarding the pout that Sehun sent him at being abandoned without a word, and took in the way Suho’s eyes brightened when he saw Kris approaching with slight amusement. He easily handed off the items to Kris’ waiting hands, nodding his thanks and scurrying away to take care of business.
“You should take these before you consume more alcohol later,” Kris told him, and Kai rolled his face around so that he could drowsily peer at Kris even while his head was still stuck to the table. Kai sighed after a moment and finally lifted his head to take the things from Kris’ hands.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, clearly embarrassed at being babied, and Kris was struck not for the first time by the fact that Kai acted nothing like what Kris had expected of a host. In front of the customers he was seductive, bold, graceful. Behind the doors, though, he was different. He was... well, young.
After Kai swallowed down the pills, Adam’s apple bobbing, he wiped his wet mouth with the back of his hand, rubbing at his eyes with his other hand. Then he blinked and smiled. “I’m already feeling better. Thanks again.”
Kris leaned his chin onto his hand, waving away Kai’s gratitude with a simple nod. He watched in silent bemusement as Kai slapped both hands over his cheeks lightly, looking as if he was pumping himself up. He rubbed a fist over his eyes once more and beamed. “Do I look okay?”
In response, Kris reached over to straighten out Kai’s lightly wrinkled tie, and patted Kai’s shoulder with a smile when he finished. The younger host looked leagues better than he had earlier. A little water seemed to have gone a long way. His hair was a bit ruffled, but the women would probably fall all over him after seeing his sleep-rumpled appearance.
“Thanks,” Kai said, and then paused, studying Kris. Something about his expression caused discomfort to bloom in Kris, and he fought not to squirm under Kai’s observant eyes. “Shouldn’t you be heading back out too? I’m surprised you had a big enough break between customers you could come back here. They’re normally lining up for you.”
And that was when Kris became aware of the sharpness in Kai’s eyes as he stared at Kris. He was keener than he normally let on. Kris wondered why he was so surprised in this sudden enlightenment. Their line of work counted on them psychoanalyzing other people to decipher what they liked and disliked, what made them tick and what secrets they held. The fact that Kai had been number one before Kris had come in only meant two things for sure: he was good-looking and that he knew exactly how to read other people.
He was a wolf disguised as a sheep.
It was hard to imagine Kai as a young teenager who became a host just so he could to afford to buy expensive gifts for his significant other. And yet, here that young man stood, a calculating expression marring his face underneath the mask of nonchalance.
Kris would have to be careful.
“It’s not that I ran out of customers,” he said. “It’s more of the fact I’m too tired to deal with them right now.”
Kai laughed at that even as he turned away, moving to go back into the main lounge. “I do know how that feels. Just don’t let them wait too long. You might end up losing some!”
Kris didn’t bother telling him he didn’t mind if that happened. In the end, he just stayed silent as Kai walked out.
It’d been a few months already after Kris met (or “stalked,” according to Sehun, who managed to wring the extra details out of Kris during one of their little talks) Baekhyun and subsequently became a host. Since then, his life had changed drastically - from the food he ate to the clothes he wore. The paycheck for being a host was far better than his past jobs; so much so, in fact, that he found for once in his life, he didn’t need a second job.
It was great.
However, Baekhyun continued to seemingly ignore his existence, even though Kris tried hard to grab his attention in various ways.
That... was not so great.
Even during the monthly meetings the hosts had to discuss ranking, Baekhyun had never once looked at him. Every time Kris had turned to him, Baekhyun was steadfast looking forward, his gaze focused on something far away, something that Kris could not see or reach.
He wondered if Baekhyun was a dreamer.
Or if he was just really good at ignoring other people.
Kris liked to think it was the first one, liked to think that Baekhyun wasn’t as cold as he let on, because the second one was harder to think about, harder to swallow.
He didn’t want to be easy to ignore. Not by Baekhyun.
÷
Kris was entertaining an older businessman for the time being when Suho came to hand him a piece of paper. He took it with a nod, but didn’t look at it until the hour with the businessman was over. Someone had paid to talk to him, so it was his job to give them the full worth of their money.
After he had waved goodbye to the businessman, Kris looked down at the paper curiously before opening it. It was information over a new potential client; the paper held the original email from the potential customer, along with a few notes that Suho had probably made. Kris skimmed through the sheet quickly, and nearly jerked back in surprise when he read the note at the bottom.
TLDR; Client requests joint entertainment from #1 host Kris and #4 host Baekhyun to attend to her and her friends for three nights.
Baekhyun wasn’t looking at him when Kris turned to stare, but he was holding the paper open in his lap, knuckles white on the hand that held it. It was obvious he was annoyed by the request, but Kris tried to cheer himself up by turning away and pondering over what things he’d get to learn about Baekhyun with the upcoming assignment. The thought was enough to send a shiver of delight down his spine.
He finally had a reason to interact with Baekhyun.
Kris’ schoolboy delight couldn’t be contained.
“You’re looking awfully happy. What’s going on?” Chanyeol asked as he took a seat next to Kris. Kris caught sight of Sehun following Chanyeol over and held in a sigh. It seemed it was a crime to be happy without being interrogated about it.
“It’s nothing,” he said with a half-smile.
Sehun laughed as he took a seat next to Chanyeol. “It’s not nothing,” he fake-whispered to the number five host. Kris promptly panicked at the words. “He’s probably mooning ov-”
“I need to start carrying duct tape with me,” Kris said, shooting daggers at Sehun with his eyes. You will cease and desist, he tried to tell Sehun telepathically as he squinted hard. Sehun merely snorted, ignoring Kris as he grabbed Kris’ leftover drink from the businessman and downed it easily. Asshole.
“You’re going to end up an alcoholic if you keep going at this rate,” Chanyeol told Sehun, mouth wide with laughter. “You just had your birthday a few months ago and you’re already drinking as if you’re a pro.”
“One needs to be drunk when witnessing bad attempts of flirting like I do on an hourly basis,” Sehun said solemnly, setting the glass down. “You guys have never seen yourselves flirt, right? Let me tell you right now, it’s all sorts of horrible.”
“Well, why don’t you show us how to do it then?” Luhan asked as he seated himself in their rapidly forming circle. Kai followed along, an easy smile on his face as he watched the proceedings with a tolerance Kris envied.
Kris took in everyone with a stifled sigh. Didn’t these guys have customers to attend to? He looked around, eyebrow raised. Most of the customers had left already. It must have been a slow day. He scratched his chin in disappointment before folding his hands together. All he had wanted was some peace and quiet so he could be all happy and warm feelings by himself after learning he’d be working with Baekhyun for three nights. Instead, these people were crowding around him and ruining the mood. He watched everyone bicker with each other.
A smile quirked his lips. Honestly, for competitive people in a competitive business, they were awfully cosy with one another.
“Very well,” Sehun said primly, scooting closer to Luhan. He lifted a hand and brushed the back of his fingers against Luhan’s cheek. Kai and Chanyeol snickered to each other, disguising their chuckles as awkward coughs soon after. Which wasn’t obvious whatsoever. Sehun ignored them and told Luhan softly, “You know, I can see myself in your eyes.”
It went deadly silent, everyone staring at Sehun with incredulous faces. Kris’ lips twitched only a second before the rest of the group chortled to each other. Kai had buckled over as he gasped for breath, hunching over a knee-slapping Chanyeol. Luhan was completely bent over, laughing into his legs, and Sehun looked so displeased with their reactions that Kris couldn’t stop a chuckle of his own.
No wonder Sehun wasn’t a host.
Chanyeol turned to Kai, tears in his eyes, and completely wiped his expression down to large, dopey eyes as he placed his hand on Kai’s cheek and said, “I can see myself in your eyes.” The moment dissolved quickly enough, and Kai and Chanyeol fell over each other laughing.
“Fuckers,” Sehun sniffed. He was a little pink. “You just don’t know talent when you see it.”
“It was something alright, but I’m not sure I’d call it ‘talent,’” Kris said, an eyebrow raised in amusement, but then caught sight of Baekhyun heading into staff lounge. He promptly got up and followed, despite the puzzled silence he left behind and the stares digging into his back.
“Where’s he going?” he heard Luhan ask.
Sehun better not say anything, Kris thought irritably as he caught the door before it closed.
And there Baekhyun was, looking perfect and beautiful and handsome all in one. He stood at the far end of the staff lounge, a cigarette dangling from his fingers as he stared out of the window. He was wearing an expression Kris recognized quickly; it was, after all, the same expression he’d fallen in love with months ago: an expression filled with loneliness and longing. It was an empty expression, devoid of light and happiness, and Kris felt his heart ache at the sight. All he wanted was to wipe that expression away and help bloom a new one.
The door slammed shut behind Kris and Baekhyun’s face turned carefully blank as he glanced over.
“Hey,” Kris said, leaning against a table close to Baekhyun’s spot. Baekhyun eyed him for a moment before giving him a brief nod and going back to staring out the window. It was obvious he wanted to be left alone, back rigid and lips pressed thin. Kris floundered for a second, wondering he could possibly say that wouldn’t make Baekhyun hate him. The oppressive silence and the can’t-you-see-I’m-smoking-don’t-talk-to-me signals Baekhyun was giving off made conversation seem rather impossible. Still, Kris forged on, “You got the notice for our joint assignment, right?” When Baekhyun’s eyes slid over to look at him, Kris took that as a sign and continued with a slight smile, “I’m looking forward to working with you. I hope to learn a lot from you, and I hope this assignment will bring us closer together.”
At that, Baekhyun pushed himself off the wall and sauntered over to the table Kris was leaning against. He closed in, bending around Kris to put his cigarette out in the ash tray. He was close, body heat radiating even through their layers of clothing, and he smelled of smoke and citrus, sweet, sour, and biting all at once. Kris inhaled, wondering if Baekhyun would smell any differently after rolling around on Kris’ bed. Just the thought was enough to fuel Kris’ next five shower fun time fantasies.
Baekhyun pulled back a little, but not too much - not nearly enough to take away his distracting scent. Kris felt like his head was spinning. Too much was happening too fast, and he didn’t know what was really going on anymore. All he wanted to do was press their bodies together and feel Baekhyun against him. Kris contained a shudder. Without so much as a touch, and he’d been so easily swept away.
The distance between them was the perfect setup to a kiss, Kris thought almost deliriously. If he leaned in just a little...bit...
Baekhyun was studying him, studying his reactions, and the sudden smirk on his face put Kris on red alert. The temperature seemed so cold it was hot and Kris shivered, staring. What was going on in that head of his?
“Look,” Baekhyun said. “I’m sure you’re a great guy, but I don’t think I can give you the ‘closeness’ you want.” He pulled away and Kris could breathe again. Baekhyun smiled, the action so painfully fake and plastic, before sticking a hand into his pocket. “I’ll see you later, Number One,” he said as he walked out of the lounge.
The door clicked shut behind him.
÷
“You know, Baekhyun isn’t the first host to sleep with his customers, and I doubt he’ll be the last. I happen to know this because a few of the other hosts do the exact same thing,” Sehun told him later that night. Baekhyun had already left with his last client of the night, a wealthy young man in his early thirties. Kris had been caught up in making faces at the door they’d left through; no doubt Sehun had felt pity for him. “You probably didn’t notice though, since all you seem to do is watch Baekhyun like a sucker.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better?” Kris asked, side-eyeing Sehun. “Because you aren’t and I’d say you suck at it like a sucker.”
“Are you taking my insults and tossing them back at me?” Sehun asked, indignant. “You can’t do that. The ‘Basic Etiquette Rules for Insulting People’ says so.” Kris allowed his head to drop back, wondering if it was even worth wasting energy to roll his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling. “Anyway, that’s not my point. You can be miserable for all I care - I’m just trying to say that you making googly eyes at Baekhyun won’t change anything except for maybe my blood pressure.”
“Okay, Sehun, what do you propose I do?” Kris asked. He had no intentions of actually following any of Sehun’s suggestions, but it was always good to keep an open mind. Besides, maybe this would get Sehun to shut up.
Instead of saying anything, though, Sehun just shook with laughter. “I didn’t say I was going to tell you how to charm Baekhyun’s tight pants off. That’s for you to figure out. All I’m saying is for you to stop staring at him with those long, sad eyes of yours and do something already. Watching you pine over him makes me want to burn myself at the stake.”
Kris stared at Sehun incredulously. “You are something else, you know that?” Sehun merely smiled.
“Kris, there are more clients waiting for you outside,” Suho called from the doorway. Kris stifled a sigh and got up.
“Don’t get too drunk tonight,” he told Sehun.
“No promises,” came the dry retort. Kris wouldn’t have expected anything less.
÷
The first night of his and Baekhyun’s collaboration rolled by quickly, and Kris found himself sitting by Baekhyun before the night kicked off. He resisted the urge to fiddle with something and instead took a drink of his water.
Baekhyun was still finishing the rest of his food, pacing his way through each of his bites. He liked to chew slowly, Kris observed. Maybe it helped him savor the taste?
His leg began to bounce under the table.
What else did Baekhyun like to savor?
Kris tried not to think about it. If he got caught with a tent in his pants...
He resisted the urge to groan and bang his head against the table. These next three nights might end up killing him.
÷
Their customer was a famous politician’s daughter, so it was only understandable that Xiumin and Key, the two managers of the club, made sure the only other clients allowed into the club were loyal ones. Still, as they waited to greet the young lady and her friends, Kris couldn’t help but notice just how packed the place was even with all the safety precautions put into place for the night.
He knew that he worked for a popular host club, but this drove that fact home. All of the current customers inside had been coming to the establishment for at least a year.
Most of the hosts, too, weren’t new to the place. The only relatively new hosts were him, Minho, and Jino. Other than that, the rest of the host team had been working here for at least a year.
Kris slid a glance from the door to Baekhyun. He’d learned from Sehun that Baekhyun had been working at the club since he was twenty. It’s been nearly three years since then. The information upset Kris. Had Baekhyun been having sex with all his clients even when he first started out?
He tried to sigh as silently as possible. His crush was rapidly growing by leaps and bounds, and it had recently gotten to the point that when he thought about other people touching Baekhyun, much less in a sexual manner, he began to see red.
It was kinda like how he reacted when people tried to touch his fruit snacks, except about 42% worse.
(Kris generally hated unhealthy foods, but he had successfully deluded himself into thinking the fruity chews were healthy. A man had to have some pleasure in life, after all, and fruit snacks were his.)
At 7:35, a large group of men dressed in crisp black suits appeared before the door. Kris watched with a raised eyebrow as one opened the door, and the rest parted to reveal three girls chatting in the middle. Kris took one step closer to the girls when he caught sight of the bodyguards eyeing him, hands conspicuously reaching for hidden weapons.
Kris purposefully took an exaggerated step back and instead ushered them in.
Baekhyun, however, disregarded the bodyguards altogether and went to stand in front of the girls, a heart-stopping smile on his face that was effective enough to stop their chatter completely. Kris felt a pang. When would that smile be aimed at him?
“Welcome to the club,” Baekhyun said, amiable. “Are you, by chance, Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Jessica?”
“Ah!” one said, clapping. “You’re Baekhyun, aren’t you? You look better in person. Those pictures online don’t do you justice.” She stepped up, a friendly smile on her face. “My name’s Taeyeon, and these two are Jessica and Tiffany, my guests. Nice to meet you!”
Hm, Kris thought. So she was the one who’d requested their services. He’d have to thank her for picking the two of them. She’d given Kris a legitimate reason to hang around Baekhyun, and that warranted some nice treatment. He stepped forward, a smile of his own up and ready, and took her hand.
He brushed his lips against the back of her hand and bowed at the other two. “Nice to meet you as well, Taeyeon, Tiffany, Jessica. My name is Kris, and Baekhyun and I are here to serve you. I trust that your walk down here was safe?” Taeyeon was blinking at him, looking amused and flattered. Kris offered her a smile as he slowly dropped her hand.
“Oh, he’s a sly one,” Jessica said, glossed lips curved up into a small smirk.
“He’s charming, Jessica, charming,” Tiffany corrected, rolling her eyes.
Baekhyun stepped up then, a hand raised to escort them further into the club. “If you ladies would please follow us? We’ll bring you to a more private area where we can talk.”
Kris and Baekhyun brought them over to the back, where the rarely-used private rooms stood. These rooms were normally used for the rich and the famous, though the option for privacy was available to all of their customers. However, a lot of their clients liked to show off who they were with, liked to flaunt which hosts they could afford; there was no need to use the private rooms.
There was a karaoke machine set up next to a large television, and food and a lot of expensive wine had been placed onto the table. Two bodyguards followed them in, and the rest stayed outside to guard the door. Baekhyun and Kris allowed the girls to take the couch and sat respectively on the ground. Kris subtly eyed the bodyguards in the corners of the room. Were they just supposed to ignore them?
Baekhyun fired off the standard question as he tipped the wine bottle to pour the drinks. “So, how did you hear about us, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“A few of my friends recommended this place,” Taeyeon said absently with a shrug. She seemed busy, piling food onto her plate. Jessica and Tiffany were busy stealing tiny bits of Taeyeon’s food, so she huffed and slapped their hands with chopsticks when they tried to do it again. “It seemed like a good idea to check this place out since everyone kept mentioning it.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Kris said with a wink. “All of the good-looking hosts work here.”
“We can see that,” Tiffany said, her lips twitching in amusement.
“So Kris,” Jessica started. Kris made sure to turn and look at her as she continued, “What made you start working here?”
He was used to clients asking about this, was used to lying with a smile, but tonight was different. Tonight, the real reason he’d started working as a host was sitting right next to him, listening to the conversation attentively. Sweet pigs on a stick, someone had to be playing a prank on him. This was just unfair.
He forced a smile. “I’m a simple guy,” he said, reaching over to pour more of the wine into Jessica’s glass. “And the only thing I’m good at is talking to people and looking good. So here I am. That’s pretty much all there is to it.”
“For the number one host here, that’s a pretty weak reason,” Jessica thought out loud, a sharp, keen look in her eyes.
“I’m a pretty weak guy with pretty weak reasons,” Kris admitted. “I need strong characters to keep me in line.” He raised his eyebrows meaningfully and smiled when the customers laughed a little at that. And it wasn’t a lie. He shot a look at Baekhyun, who was now conversing with Taeyeon. When he looked back over, he caught a knowing look on Jessica’s face.
That was... not a good look.
“So Baekhyun, what about you?” Tiffany asked, plucking some kimchi off the plate. “Why did you become a host?”
Kris couldn’t have calmed himself down anymore had he tried. Trying to not show how gleeful he was, he turned to look at Baekhyun with what he hoped was a calm expression.
“You know,” Taeyeon said thoughtfully before Baekhyun could start talking. “I heard rumors from some people that you were offered a contract by a popular idol company. What made you refuse that and start working here?”
Baekhyun laughed and waved a hand. “Those are just rumors. It’s true that I tried out, but I was never offered anything. I’m glad I took this job though. How could I not when I get to entertain people such as you three?”
“Ah, he’s a sly one too,” Jessica said, teasing.
“The slyest of them all,” Baekhyun agreed with a grin.
÷
Kris felt worn out by the end of the night. He was used to having multiple people to converse with for a night; having the same clients for the entire night was such a different experience than he was used to that he found himself yawning after he and Baekhyun walked the girls out. The host club was already already closed; most of the hosts and staff had already left, and Kris and Baekhyun were probably two of the last people still in the building.
“Two more days,” he said out loud, sighing. Baekhyun said nothing, but instead loosened up his tie as he led the way back into the room. It was obvious that he was exhausted too, with the way he kept blinking.
It was just kind of sort of maybe just a little adorable.
Kris watched him pick up the mess for a second before shaking his head with a tiny smile. “Why don’t you leave now and get some rest? I’ll clean this up.”
Baekhyun paused and turned to look at him. Maybe it was because Kris was tired, but Baekhyun seemed a little unguarded, wide open to any attack as he stood there hunched over the dirty dishes in his arms.
He was, however, not expecting to get the small reply, “Are you sure?”
Kris walked over and took the plates from Baekhyun with a smile. “Yeah. Go get some sleep. I’ll see you later.”
And the tiny smile that Baekhyun rewarded him with kept him going until his head hit the pillow an hour later.
÷
The next night brought fun times. The girls made Baekhyun sing, which was great since holy shit since when could Baekhyun sing like that? It was simply amazing, Baekhyun’s voice, and Kris joined in the chant for an encore. He could’ve listened to Baekhyun sing for the rest of his life. Quite unfortunately, though, Baekhyun’s singing was cut short when the girls also made Kris sing too.
The embarrassment ran deep that day.
(He made Baekhyun promise never to speak about it again.)
“I could imagine that you sound good rapping, Kris,” Taeyeon had told him thoughtfully, her manicured finger tapping against her chin as she stared at him. “So why don’t you give it a shot?”
So he gave it a shot.
In fact, he gave it multiple shots.
The first time he tried was an absolute mess. Jessica had laughed long and hard, clutching at her stomach as if in pain, and Tiffany had tried to cover up her amusement by politely smiling though it was obvious she wanted to laugh as well. Kris was fine with that. It wasn’t as if he was a rapper or anything. He was an entertainer, and he was okay with making mistakes at things like, well, rapping. He smiled along as the two girls laughed.
However, Taeyeon, in contrast, had a steely glint in her eyes that Kris did not like one bit.
“Again!” Taeyeon said, and nearly drilled him for an hour until he could rap lines without stuttering like a fifteen year old boy experiencing puberty.
He’d apparently let himself forget that she was a politician’s daughter with an on-going major in business management. Boy was he regretting that now.
The one good thing that came out of Taeyeon drilling him mercilessly was that he got to do a duet with Baekhyun. Suddenly, all of the toil that he had experienced in the past hour was nothing, and he felt instead as if he were on cloud nine. He was flying like a G6 and nothing mattered anymore. He even caught Baekhyun dancing along and having a good time as the girls took turns on the karaoke machine.
All in all, it was a great start to a potentially even greater night.
But as the night wore on, and as more and more alcohol was consumed, the actual fun dwindled and entertaining conversations stuttered and turned weird and deep.
Kris and Baekhyun, of course, were not drunk yet. The girls, however, were simply smashed. And that was putting it lightly.
“You know, you are really pretty for a guy,” Tiffany slurred, pointing accusingly at Baekhyun. She had high spots of bright pink on her cheeks. Her finger moved to Kris. “And you! You speak English, and I speak English, but I don’t want to marry you.”
Kris blinked, confused at what was going on in Tiffany’s head, but instead just let her keep talking with a small chuckle. He looked over to Baekhyun, wondering if he was amused by this as well, but the man had frozen up, face bare and blank. Kris bumped shoulders with him, wondering what brought on this change, but Baekhyun just shrugged him off and pasted a smile back onto his face.
And after the night was over, after walking the girls and their bodyguards to the door, Kris tried to start a conversation with Baekhyun, only to be rebuffed and ignored in an icy silence.
He could only stare at Baekhyun’s back in confusion.
Had he done something wrong?
÷
Though Kris had made a little progress with Baekhyun that first night, it seemed to have disappeared after the second night. As the third night drifted closer, Kris wondered what was going on. He swung the plastic bag in his hand idly as he crossed the street, deep in thought. In fact, he was so absentminded that he almost found himself walking out into busy traffic numerous times.
It could only have been described as a miracle that he got to the host club in one piece.
Baekhyun was already in the lounge when he entered, taking small sips of his coffee. Kris made a beeline for the table but hesitated sitting down. What if Baekhyun didn’t want him to sit there? However, when Baekhyun glanced up at him and said nothing, Kris cautiously deemed it okay and grabbed a chair. It wouldn’t be long until the rest of the guys arrived, and he wanted to eat at least a little bit of his food before the others stole it from him.
He was only halfway into his rice when Sehun charged in. The waiter, as if without a care in the world, plopped down in the chair next to Kris and opened his mouth, looking at Kris with wide, pleading eyes. Like a fucking baby bird.
Like hell that would work on Kris. He’d always hated birds anyway.
“Get your own food,” Kris muttered, huddling over his takeout protectively. Sehun eyed him, making a face, before looking at Baekhyun with a pout. Kris tried not to choke.
And when he said choke, he didn’t mean himself. He meant Sehun.
Baekhyun looked at Sehun and shook his head, holding his hands up apologetically as if to say, “Don’t look at me.”
Yeah, Kris thought triumphantly. Don’t look at him.
They were interrupted when Kai came and sat down, his own food placed in a neat little paper sack. He pulled out some fries, and was pulling out what Kris guessed was a hamburger when Sehun began to pick some fries off of his plate.
“Dammit Sehun,” Kai said in outrage, glaring. “Will there ever be a time when you don’t mooch off of me?”
“Where would the fun in that be?” Sehun asked, munching on a fry. “You never finish it all, anyway. And what would happen then? You’d callously throw it away instead of helping to feed the poor Sehun’s out in the world - one of which, might I remind you, is sitting at this table at this very moment.”
“Whatever,” Kai said, unsubtly moving his food away from Sehun. “You aren’t even poor. You’re just being a little ballsack because you’re too lazy to get your own food.”
Sehun thoughtfully chewed on his last fry. “Well, I can’t say anything to that since most of it is true. I did want to correct something, though. I am a big ballsack, not a little one.”
Kris resisted the urge to rub a hand down his face.
Why? he asked to the ceiling. Just... why?
By now, the rest of the hosts had arrived, and the staff lounge smelled of food and sounded eerily similar to a jungle. If only their clients could see them like this, Kris thought with a snort. As hosts, they were always judged as being these perfect guys, but no. They were just regular guys.
It wasn’t long before Suho and Onew, the respective owners of the club, walked in, effectively cutting off all chatter.
“It’s almost time for the customers to start coming in,” Onew said. “Before they do, we wanted to announce the monthly top five rankings.” He nodded to Suho.
“This month,” Suho said, “the number one host who brought in the most amount of money is none other than Kris. Congratulations on holding the first place spot for four months and running.” Kris accepted the pats on the back his fellow hosts gave him with a nod and a smile.
“Coming in second and third,” Suho continued, “are Kai and Jonghyun. Good job, you two.” He waited for the chatter to silence before saying, “And number four and five are Baekhyun and Chanyeol.” He smiled to the hosts. “All in all, we are pleased with not only the amount of people just these five have been bringing in, but with the amount of people all of you as a whole are bringing in. Please continue to work hard and strive to make the clients as happy as possible during their stay here.”
“Of course,” everyone chorused back.
“Now then,” Onew said with a clap. “The club will officially be open for tonight in five. Get in your last minute preparations done. And make sure you don’t smell of food before you go out there, okay?”
“Of course,” everyone said again.
And with that, Onew and Suho exited with a wave.
Kris got up to throw the rest of his food away, and shucked his warm jacket off so that he could straighten out his suit. The other guys were doing the same, though Sehun stayed sitting as he ate the rest of Kai’s burger.
He caught Kai rolling his eyes at Sehun and hid a smile.
Baekhyun went to put away his cup and Kris couldn’t help but follow Baekhyun with his eyes. He looked good, his hair done up stylishly and his normally-lined eyes even more striking than usual. He wondered if Baekhyun had got it done or if he had done it himself. He cleared his throat. He couldn’t deny it; either way, it was attractive.
Resisting the urge to laugh at himself, he straightened up his belt and fussed over the wrinkles in his clothes. Just a year ago, he’d been utterly unimpressed and unaroused by men, and even less for men wearing makeup. Look at him now.
The change was a little bit hilarious. Kris chuckled under his breath. He didn’t regret it, though. He couldn’t imagine not liking Baekhyun anymore. His life had changed dramatically. Life no longer simply revolved around the sun - it revolved around Baekhyun.
To be fair, it wasn’t like Kris went straight from only liking girls to liking both girls and guys. While a lot of the other hosts were fairly attractive in their own ways, Kris never felt anything more for them like he did with Baekhyun. If he were completely honest, he’d have to say he was still straight more than anything, with a sprinkling of Baekhyun-sexual on the side. He made sure to keep that from his male customers, though. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.
“Did you guys hear about the scandal at the Gangnam Host Club?” Sehun asked, picking at his sleeve absently.
“What scandal?” Kris asked, brow furrowing. He hadn’t been taking in any other clients besides Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Jessica so his grasp on any rumors circulating around was tentative at best.
“Two hosts were caught in the act by the manager,” Sehun said, and he darted a meaningful glance at Kris. “Hosts aren’t generally allowed to date or hook-up with each other. Being in a relationship with another coworker in this type of environment is hard because of jealousy. Surprisingly, the manager didn’t fire the two, but now the hosts work on separate days.”
“Is there a policy about that here?” Kris asked, unable to help himself. This was alarming news to him. Why hadn’t anyone warned him? He looked over at Sehun.
Sehun shrugged, looking as clueless as Kris felt, but Kai answered, “It’s in the host’s rule book you should’ve been given after you signed the contract. You didn’t read that, did you?” He was laughing. Kris made a face. Who even read rule books anymore?
“Dating between hosts isn’t allowed here,” Baekhyun answered as he came up behind Kris. Kris applauded himself for not jumping and making a fool of himself. He’d been doing that too much lately. “Since this club has an aim towards both men and women, the chances of hosts hooking up are far greater than that of clubs aimed primarily towards women on the assumption that the hosts working here are bisexual. Suho and Onew didn’t want to deal with that headache so it’s impossible.”
“Unless you keep it secret,” Sehun chirped. Kris felt as if that comment had been aimed specifically at him. He pressed his lips together, glaring down at his lapels. Couldn’t have made it any more obvious, could you? he asked Sehun silently.
“That works too,” Baekhyun said with a shrug.
“Get up and get the alcohol ready,” Kai told Sehun, snatching the rest of the food before Sehun could finish. He threw it in the trash before Sehun could try and grab it. Not that it mattered - last Kris had seen, there had been a pickle and two fries left.
“You aren’t the boss of me,” Sehun said, but he got up and left anyway. The other hosts began to file out after that, chattering along the way, until only Kris and Baekhyun were left.
“Your tie’s crooked,” Kris said to Baekhyun, fingers absently reaching up before his mind caught what his body was doing. He hesitated, his fingers wavering in the air, but Baekhyun slowly tilted his head back, giving Kris silent permission to fix it. So Kris took a breath and pulled at Baekhyun’s tie gently. His eyes darted to Baekhyun’s arched neck, taking in his smooth skin and wondering what it would be like to place a kiss there, before shaking himself out of the trance he’d put himself in and stepping back.
Baekhyun was staring up at him thoughtfully, and Kris felt a nervous sweat begin to break out of his pores. Had his thoughts been written on his face? Did Baekhyun know? However, Baekhyun simply nodded after a moment and said, “Thanks.”
It seemed small miracles happened every day.
Kris breathed out a sigh of relief before following Baekhyun out of the staff lounge.
÷
Taeyeon and the other girls were already waiting for them near the entrance when Kris and Baekhyun emerged. They didn’t have their bodyguards with them, which surprised Kris, but he supposed the girls were probably sick of having them around.
“They’re waiting outside,” Taeyeon told them with a smile, as if she could read Kris’ thoughts.
“Let’s go inside, then, shall we?” Baekhyun asked, his pearly whites shining.
“Lead the way!” Tiffany said happily. Kris had to wonder how she was so bubbly after all the alcohol she had consumed yesterday. Maybe she didn’t get hangovers?
“Did you get any better at rapping?” Taeyeon asked Kris seriously as they walked to the room. Kris smiled.
“Probably not,” he admitted before he grinned. “I think you should show me how to rap. No doubt you do everything well.”
“Don’t you go seducing Taeyeon,” Jessica said, eyes narrowed at him. “You aren’t that good-looking, okay.”
“Ouch,” Kris said with a laugh as they entered into the room. Just like the last two times, the food and drinks had been laid out. There was, however, a note placed neatly onto the sofa. Kris glanced it at curiously before looking at Baekhyun. Was there something going on that he didn’t know about? However, Baekhyun’s eyebrows were furrowed in confusion too.
Tiffany passed Taeyeon the note as the girls sat down. She was already reading it before they made themselves comfortable.
“It’s a new month,” Taeyeon read out loud. Jessica and Tiffany were filling each other’s plates as they listened silently. Kris glanced over in time to see Baekhyun’s expression clear in understanding, and he suddenly understood what was happening. He’d been so busy that forgotten, he thought. “As a customer here at the host club, we are happy to invite you to the monthly performances we offer here as a treat. They begin in the main area at 1 A.M. We hope to see you there!”
“‘Monthly performances?’” Tiffany questioned, turning to look at Kris and Baekhyun quizzically. “Are those any good?”
“They’re pretty entertaining,” Kris said after receiving a shrug from Baekhyun. “The hosts here are quite talented. I definitely recommend you going.”
The monthly performances mainly consisted of Kai, Taemin, Yixing, and Luhan dancing to a mashup of several choreographed songs, though sometimes Jonghyun, Jino, and Luhan gave vocal performances if enough people requested it. Some of his clients complained that he should’ve been up there, singing and dancing like the rest of them, but in truth, Kris was happy he didn’t have to take part in them.
He couldn’t think of anything worse than getting up in front of an audience and dancing and singing. It gave him the chills just thinking about it.
But that reminded him. Why wasn’t Baekhyun taking part in at least the vocal aspect of the monthly performances? Kris slanted a look at Baekhyun. Maybe it had something to do with Baekhyun trying out for the idol company.
A lightbulb went off in his head. Maybe Baekhyun found out he had stage fright.
Surely that was it, right? Baekhyun probably hadn’t told Key or Xiumin about his amazing vocals because he didn’t want to do it in the first place. Kris’ heart ached for Baekhyun. He just wanted to hug Baekhyun and never let go.
He looked down.
Oh. When did he even start drinking?
Jessica refilled his cup, completely straight faced as she stared at Kris. Kris glanced away, trying hard not to freak out.
She definitely knew alright.
And he was so fucking screwed if she decided to spill about it.
After they finished eating for the night, they decided to play a drinking version of the game, “Never Have I Ever.” After half an hour of playing the game, Kris thought it was all fine and dandy, thought that doomsday had been avoided when Jessica didn’t say anything. She was too busy teasing her friends, after all. However, that was not the case whatsoever.
“Never have I ever,” she started, and that awful, awful glint in her eyes sparked. She tossed a glance at him before looking away innocently. Kris looked on in silent horror as she said, “liked someone in this room.”
Kris was internally panicking as he picked up his drink when he saw Baekhyun take a shot. He blinked, mind going blank. What? Slowly following suit, and so very confused, he drank his own shot.
The girls were looking at them expectantly when he glanced over.
“I like you three,” Baekhyun said with a shrug and a charming smile. He didn’t even seem to be feeling the effects of alcohol yet, the lucky, amazing, brilliant asshole. Kris was definitely losing this game. He hoped one in the morning would come quicker. He wouldn’t last if this pace kept up.
“Who wouldn’t like you?” Kris added when they turned on him intently. Crisis averted, he thought with a silent sigh of relief. Jessica seemed disappointed in that, though not enough to stop her from looking amused. Take that, Kris thought. It actually took some physical resisting on his part to not stick his tongue out at her like a five-year-old.
It was all the alcohol’s fault. That was the excuse he was going to use. And it was going to work, dammit. That’s what excuses did. They worked.
“I have never been as tall as a tree,” Tiffany said, and looked at Kris pointedly. Kris slowly drank his shot, wondering why this was happening to him. Was this payback for his answer? Tiffany didn’t even know about his secret crush though.
“I’ve never been a host,” Taeyeon added, and watched gleefully as Baekhyun and Kris grudgingly took their shots.
Baekhyun leaned back and Kris nearly knocked his newly filled shot glass over when their fingers brushed. Kris held still, wondering what was going to happen, but all Baekhyun did was keep his fingers there, as if he didn’t realize he was touching Kris’ hand.
Being giddy while almost-drunk was a very nice feeling, Kris decided.
And so another hour passed like this, with a fine blur of alcohol and barely touching hands.
÷
When the knock on the door came, Kris wasn’t the only one to jump - everyone did. Thankfully no alcohol was spilled. Baekhyun pushed himself up and walked (read: wobbled) to the door. Kris was internally mourning the loss of Baekhyun’s fingers against his when Sehun stuck his head in and politely said, “Sorry for bothering you. The monthly special will be starting soon, if you wish to join in. It will be in the main area.” He pointed before bowing and leaving quickly.
Sehun! Kris thought. Maybe this was all Sehun’s fault, he thought, and it had merit even though it made no sense at the same time. It was definitely Sehun’s fault for interrupting, at the very least.
When he looked away, Jessica was giving him a look that could only be described as irritable pity.
“Should we start going over?” Tiffany hiccuped, and Taeyeon nodded her head loosely. They were all kind of drunk, it seemed. Well, Kris revised, shooting Jessica a face. Most of them were drunk, anyway.
They all stood up slowly. Kris made sure to wait for all the girls to leave the room before closing and locking the door behind them. He watched in bemusement, his alcohol haze draining, as they swayed toward the main area, bare feet pattering against the tiles. Baekhyun had waited as well, and turned to him when they were out of sight.
Baekhyun had a light blush sprayed across his cheeks from the alcohol, and he was looking up at Kris with wide eyes. He pointed at his tie. “Is it crooked?”
Kris smiled as he lifted his fingers to straighten Baekhyun’s tie. “A little.” He let his fingers linger before dropping them to point at his own tie. “Is mine?”
Baekhyun squinted and reached up to pull at Kris’ tie. He fiddled with it a bit before stopping, a dazed expression on his face as he rested his hands on Kris’ chest. Kris felt goosebumps break out on his skin.
Baekhyun’s hands burned him through the fabric of his shirt.
Kris inhaled slowly, and Baekhyun raised his eyes. Kris leaned in, wondering if it was gravity that was pulling him closer, wondering what it was he saw in Baekhyun’s eyes this time, but the moment was ruined when someone cleared their throat at the end of the hallway.
Kris and Baekhyun jumped apart.
Sehun stood at the end of the hall, looking completely unimpressed. He jerked a thumb towards the main area. “You aren’t supposed to leave your clients alone. The managers will be angry if you leave them alone for too long.”
“Okay,” Kris said and turned to look at Baekhyun, but Baekhyun was already hurrying over to the main area without even sparing him a glance.
Kris stared at Baekhyun’s back before it disappeared, feeling strangely forlorn, before following along with a dejected sigh. Sehun gave him an apologetic look before departing through the staff door.
÷
The girls seemed to enjoy this month’s performance. They took to cheering and hollering with the rest of the audience, though they were definitely far more reserved than some of the men and older women.
Kris stood at the back with the rest of the hosts, watching the performance with a slight smile. He joined in when the rest of the hosts began to clap with the beat of the music, tried to have a good time, but all he could think of was that he couldn’t wait to just go home and sleep like the dead. He was exhausted, both mentally and physically, and bed sounded too good to be true at the moment.
They normally closed at around four in the morning, but on the first of every month (meaning, the days they had the monthly performances) they closed at two instead. Performances normally lasted about forty-five minutes, though some ran longer, and Suho and Onew wanted to give those performing enough time to recuperate from all of the running around they had to do.
Baekhyun stood next to him, looking as if he was having fun, but there was no energy being put into his claps. He looked disoriented enough to be as exhausted as Kris was. He wasn’t sure if he was seeing things or not anymore, though, so instead of staring at Baekhyun more, he looked away.
His eyes burned when he went back to watching the performance, so he did the one thing he could do. He closed his eyes.
One | Two
Author: Anonymous until 1/30/14
For: g_odalisque13
Pairing: Baekhyun/Kris [side: Kai/Kyungsoo, + others]
Word Count: 25,500
Summary: A story about alcohol and a bit of that love thing. Kris found himself working as a host, but that was okay, because being near Baekhyun made it all worthwhile. Host Club!AU
Warnings: drinking, smut (porn with excessive plot), making out against a tree, mentions of smoking, mentions of a form of prostitution, brief mentions of sexual harassment, brief mentions of attempted rape
Rating: NC-17
One
Baekhyun eyed the new host with well-concealed distaste from the corner of the club, rolling his eyes subtly at the way Kris seemed to charm and pluck the attention of all the men and women within a ten meter radius. Already they were crowding around him with hungry faces, prowling, circling him like the new meat he was, raw, delicious, sprinkled with the best sort of seasoning, and put out on an inviting platter. Whether he would allow himself to be devoured, or run with his life intact had yet to be seen.
He swirled the amber liquid in his glass idly as his eyes drifted away from the show. Baekhyun wasn’t particularly worried; the charm and beauty would wear off with time to the customers. The shiny new toy would lose its luster soon enough. It always did. He had been here long enough to see hosts come and go. He’d just have to pay no attention to the new number one and Kris would be gone before he knew it.
A soft, caressing touch to his arm caught his attention, and he had a smile back on his face when he looked at the lady sitting next to him.
“Why aren’t you paying attention to me?” she asked him, red lips scrunching up in a pout. At that, he leaned in close, running fingers under the curve of her jaw. His eyes tracked her shiver, and his smile widened, but he felt bitter. So, so bitter.
“Sorry,” he said, brushing his fingers against her powdered cheek with the grace of an experienced flirter. “I’m just a bit distracted today. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
Her eyes were dazed as she nodded. Seeing this, Baekhyun leaned back and watched as a flush tore across her cheeks as soon as she came to. It was almost odd, really, the way she put her hand onto his knee, resting it there, a weight he’d rather not have imprinting against his skin through his clothes.
“Will you still be walking me home tonight?” she asked hopefully, eyes bright with a burning thirst. It was heated, nearly feverish under its clever disguise. Nothing would be able to quench it but him, her eyes said.
He would not just be walking her home.
He looked at her, took in the way she clung to his arm desperately, and nodded, hard-pressed not to release a weary sigh. He could only close his eyes when she wrapped her arms around him.
÷
Kris had to admit he had a bit of a pining issue. It couldn’t be healthy for him to want to watch someone - a man of all people - all the time, much less center his life around that someone after seeing them for the first time in his life.
Good thing Kris wasn’t into healthy decisions.
After spotting a melancholic-looking man (Kris now knew this man to be called Baekhyun) walking slowly down a sidewalk, his life had dramatically changed. While Kris had yet to have a real conversation with him, he now worked at one of the best bisexually-oriented host clubs in the country just to follow the man. Hopefully he’d find the courage to confess his feelings. And hopefully that’d be sooner rather than later.
As it was, he would have to settle with watching Baekhyun saunter out of the club with a new piece of meat on his arm every night.
“You have it bad,” Sehun snorted as he slid into the seat next to Kris’. Kris ignored him, a frown on his lips as Baekhyun and the woman of the night disappeared into the darkened hallway leading to the exit. He doubted they’d be back. Baekhyun normally never returned after a night out with his customers until the next night.
The sigh he released at that thought made Sehun snort more obnoxiously than the first time.
“Why are you bothering me?” Kris grumbled, shooting the young waiter a glare. Sehun seemed nonplussed by it, instead taking a sip of his sake. Kris rolled his eyes. “Are you even paying for that?”
The fact that Sehun didn’t answer him was answer enough.
“The ladies are clamoring for you,” Sehun said instead with a tilt of his chin. The movement was smooth, and Kris had to wonder yet again why the young man was working as a waiter there instead of as a host. He would’ve easily been a hit with the older women, and maybe some of the younger girls who wandered in here by “mistake.”
“They can live without me,” said Kris as he slunk deeper into the shadows of the staff lounge. There was no way in hell he was going back outside for more women to paw at him. Not tonight, at least. He looked around. A few of the other hosts were sitting in there as well, looking slightly tipsy now that they were away from the limelight. Just because they practically drank for a living didn’t mean all of them were good at keeping the alcohol down.
The former number one, a young man who went by Kai, had his face planted down firmly onto a table, no doubt wrinkling his well-pressed suit while he was at it. He looked as if he was still recovering from the bout of strong alcohol his last customer had bought for them to share, and Suho, one of the club owners, was urging him to take the water and pills he held to no avail.
Kris got up, disregarding the pout that Sehun sent him at being abandoned without a word, and took in the way Suho’s eyes brightened when he saw Kris approaching with slight amusement. He easily handed off the items to Kris’ waiting hands, nodding his thanks and scurrying away to take care of business.
“You should take these before you consume more alcohol later,” Kris told him, and Kai rolled his face around so that he could drowsily peer at Kris even while his head was still stuck to the table. Kai sighed after a moment and finally lifted his head to take the things from Kris’ hands.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, clearly embarrassed at being babied, and Kris was struck not for the first time by the fact that Kai acted nothing like what Kris had expected of a host. In front of the customers he was seductive, bold, graceful. Behind the doors, though, he was different. He was... well, young.
After Kai swallowed down the pills, Adam’s apple bobbing, he wiped his wet mouth with the back of his hand, rubbing at his eyes with his other hand. Then he blinked and smiled. “I’m already feeling better. Thanks again.”
Kris leaned his chin onto his hand, waving away Kai’s gratitude with a simple nod. He watched in silent bemusement as Kai slapped both hands over his cheeks lightly, looking as if he was pumping himself up. He rubbed a fist over his eyes once more and beamed. “Do I look okay?”
In response, Kris reached over to straighten out Kai’s lightly wrinkled tie, and patted Kai’s shoulder with a smile when he finished. The younger host looked leagues better than he had earlier. A little water seemed to have gone a long way. His hair was a bit ruffled, but the women would probably fall all over him after seeing his sleep-rumpled appearance.
“Thanks,” Kai said, and then paused, studying Kris. Something about his expression caused discomfort to bloom in Kris, and he fought not to squirm under Kai’s observant eyes. “Shouldn’t you be heading back out too? I’m surprised you had a big enough break between customers you could come back here. They’re normally lining up for you.”
And that was when Kris became aware of the sharpness in Kai’s eyes as he stared at Kris. He was keener than he normally let on. Kris wondered why he was so surprised in this sudden enlightenment. Their line of work counted on them psychoanalyzing other people to decipher what they liked and disliked, what made them tick and what secrets they held. The fact that Kai had been number one before Kris had come in only meant two things for sure: he was good-looking and that he knew exactly how to read other people.
He was a wolf disguised as a sheep.
It was hard to imagine Kai as a young teenager who became a host just so he could to afford to buy expensive gifts for his significant other. And yet, here that young man stood, a calculating expression marring his face underneath the mask of nonchalance.
Kris would have to be careful.
“It’s not that I ran out of customers,” he said. “It’s more of the fact I’m too tired to deal with them right now.”
Kai laughed at that even as he turned away, moving to go back into the main lounge. “I do know how that feels. Just don’t let them wait too long. You might end up losing some!”
Kris didn’t bother telling him he didn’t mind if that happened. In the end, he just stayed silent as Kai walked out.
It’d been a few months already after Kris met (or “stalked,” according to Sehun, who managed to wring the extra details out of Kris during one of their little talks) Baekhyun and subsequently became a host. Since then, his life had changed drastically - from the food he ate to the clothes he wore. The paycheck for being a host was far better than his past jobs; so much so, in fact, that he found for once in his life, he didn’t need a second job.
It was great.
However, Baekhyun continued to seemingly ignore his existence, even though Kris tried hard to grab his attention in various ways.
That... was not so great.
Even during the monthly meetings the hosts had to discuss ranking, Baekhyun had never once looked at him. Every time Kris had turned to him, Baekhyun was steadfast looking forward, his gaze focused on something far away, something that Kris could not see or reach.
He wondered if Baekhyun was a dreamer.
Or if he was just really good at ignoring other people.
Kris liked to think it was the first one, liked to think that Baekhyun wasn’t as cold as he let on, because the second one was harder to think about, harder to swallow.
He didn’t want to be easy to ignore. Not by Baekhyun.
÷
Kris was entertaining an older businessman for the time being when Suho came to hand him a piece of paper. He took it with a nod, but didn’t look at it until the hour with the businessman was over. Someone had paid to talk to him, so it was his job to give them the full worth of their money.
After he had waved goodbye to the businessman, Kris looked down at the paper curiously before opening it. It was information over a new potential client; the paper held the original email from the potential customer, along with a few notes that Suho had probably made. Kris skimmed through the sheet quickly, and nearly jerked back in surprise when he read the note at the bottom.
TLDR; Client requests joint entertainment from #1 host Kris and #4 host Baekhyun to attend to her and her friends for three nights.
Baekhyun wasn’t looking at him when Kris turned to stare, but he was holding the paper open in his lap, knuckles white on the hand that held it. It was obvious he was annoyed by the request, but Kris tried to cheer himself up by turning away and pondering over what things he’d get to learn about Baekhyun with the upcoming assignment. The thought was enough to send a shiver of delight down his spine.
He finally had a reason to interact with Baekhyun.
Kris’ schoolboy delight couldn’t be contained.
“You’re looking awfully happy. What’s going on?” Chanyeol asked as he took a seat next to Kris. Kris caught sight of Sehun following Chanyeol over and held in a sigh. It seemed it was a crime to be happy without being interrogated about it.
“It’s nothing,” he said with a half-smile.
Sehun laughed as he took a seat next to Chanyeol. “It’s not nothing,” he fake-whispered to the number five host. Kris promptly panicked at the words. “He’s probably mooning ov-”
“I need to start carrying duct tape with me,” Kris said, shooting daggers at Sehun with his eyes. You will cease and desist, he tried to tell Sehun telepathically as he squinted hard. Sehun merely snorted, ignoring Kris as he grabbed Kris’ leftover drink from the businessman and downed it easily. Asshole.
“You’re going to end up an alcoholic if you keep going at this rate,” Chanyeol told Sehun, mouth wide with laughter. “You just had your birthday a few months ago and you’re already drinking as if you’re a pro.”
“One needs to be drunk when witnessing bad attempts of flirting like I do on an hourly basis,” Sehun said solemnly, setting the glass down. “You guys have never seen yourselves flirt, right? Let me tell you right now, it’s all sorts of horrible.”
“Well, why don’t you show us how to do it then?” Luhan asked as he seated himself in their rapidly forming circle. Kai followed along, an easy smile on his face as he watched the proceedings with a tolerance Kris envied.
Kris took in everyone with a stifled sigh. Didn’t these guys have customers to attend to? He looked around, eyebrow raised. Most of the customers had left already. It must have been a slow day. He scratched his chin in disappointment before folding his hands together. All he had wanted was some peace and quiet so he could be all happy and warm feelings by himself after learning he’d be working with Baekhyun for three nights. Instead, these people were crowding around him and ruining the mood. He watched everyone bicker with each other.
A smile quirked his lips. Honestly, for competitive people in a competitive business, they were awfully cosy with one another.
“Very well,” Sehun said primly, scooting closer to Luhan. He lifted a hand and brushed the back of his fingers against Luhan’s cheek. Kai and Chanyeol snickered to each other, disguising their chuckles as awkward coughs soon after. Which wasn’t obvious whatsoever. Sehun ignored them and told Luhan softly, “You know, I can see myself in your eyes.”
It went deadly silent, everyone staring at Sehun with incredulous faces. Kris’ lips twitched only a second before the rest of the group chortled to each other. Kai had buckled over as he gasped for breath, hunching over a knee-slapping Chanyeol. Luhan was completely bent over, laughing into his legs, and Sehun looked so displeased with their reactions that Kris couldn’t stop a chuckle of his own.
No wonder Sehun wasn’t a host.
Chanyeol turned to Kai, tears in his eyes, and completely wiped his expression down to large, dopey eyes as he placed his hand on Kai’s cheek and said, “I can see myself in your eyes.” The moment dissolved quickly enough, and Kai and Chanyeol fell over each other laughing.
“Fuckers,” Sehun sniffed. He was a little pink. “You just don’t know talent when you see it.”
“It was something alright, but I’m not sure I’d call it ‘talent,’” Kris said, an eyebrow raised in amusement, but then caught sight of Baekhyun heading into staff lounge. He promptly got up and followed, despite the puzzled silence he left behind and the stares digging into his back.
“Where’s he going?” he heard Luhan ask.
Sehun better not say anything, Kris thought irritably as he caught the door before it closed.
And there Baekhyun was, looking perfect and beautiful and handsome all in one. He stood at the far end of the staff lounge, a cigarette dangling from his fingers as he stared out of the window. He was wearing an expression Kris recognized quickly; it was, after all, the same expression he’d fallen in love with months ago: an expression filled with loneliness and longing. It was an empty expression, devoid of light and happiness, and Kris felt his heart ache at the sight. All he wanted was to wipe that expression away and help bloom a new one.
The door slammed shut behind Kris and Baekhyun’s face turned carefully blank as he glanced over.
“Hey,” Kris said, leaning against a table close to Baekhyun’s spot. Baekhyun eyed him for a moment before giving him a brief nod and going back to staring out the window. It was obvious he wanted to be left alone, back rigid and lips pressed thin. Kris floundered for a second, wondering he could possibly say that wouldn’t make Baekhyun hate him. The oppressive silence and the can’t-you-see-I’m-smoking-don’t-talk-to-me signals Baekhyun was giving off made conversation seem rather impossible. Still, Kris forged on, “You got the notice for our joint assignment, right?” When Baekhyun’s eyes slid over to look at him, Kris took that as a sign and continued with a slight smile, “I’m looking forward to working with you. I hope to learn a lot from you, and I hope this assignment will bring us closer together.”
At that, Baekhyun pushed himself off the wall and sauntered over to the table Kris was leaning against. He closed in, bending around Kris to put his cigarette out in the ash tray. He was close, body heat radiating even through their layers of clothing, and he smelled of smoke and citrus, sweet, sour, and biting all at once. Kris inhaled, wondering if Baekhyun would smell any differently after rolling around on Kris’ bed. Just the thought was enough to fuel Kris’ next five shower fun time fantasies.
Baekhyun pulled back a little, but not too much - not nearly enough to take away his distracting scent. Kris felt like his head was spinning. Too much was happening too fast, and he didn’t know what was really going on anymore. All he wanted to do was press their bodies together and feel Baekhyun against him. Kris contained a shudder. Without so much as a touch, and he’d been so easily swept away.
The distance between them was the perfect setup to a kiss, Kris thought almost deliriously. If he leaned in just a little...bit...
Baekhyun was studying him, studying his reactions, and the sudden smirk on his face put Kris on red alert. The temperature seemed so cold it was hot and Kris shivered, staring. What was going on in that head of his?
“Look,” Baekhyun said. “I’m sure you’re a great guy, but I don’t think I can give you the ‘closeness’ you want.” He pulled away and Kris could breathe again. Baekhyun smiled, the action so painfully fake and plastic, before sticking a hand into his pocket. “I’ll see you later, Number One,” he said as he walked out of the lounge.
The door clicked shut behind him.
÷
“You know, Baekhyun isn’t the first host to sleep with his customers, and I doubt he’ll be the last. I happen to know this because a few of the other hosts do the exact same thing,” Sehun told him later that night. Baekhyun had already left with his last client of the night, a wealthy young man in his early thirties. Kris had been caught up in making faces at the door they’d left through; no doubt Sehun had felt pity for him. “You probably didn’t notice though, since all you seem to do is watch Baekhyun like a sucker.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better?” Kris asked, side-eyeing Sehun. “Because you aren’t and I’d say you suck at it like a sucker.”
“Are you taking my insults and tossing them back at me?” Sehun asked, indignant. “You can’t do that. The ‘Basic Etiquette Rules for Insulting People’ says so.” Kris allowed his head to drop back, wondering if it was even worth wasting energy to roll his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling. “Anyway, that’s not my point. You can be miserable for all I care - I’m just trying to say that you making googly eyes at Baekhyun won’t change anything except for maybe my blood pressure.”
“Okay, Sehun, what do you propose I do?” Kris asked. He had no intentions of actually following any of Sehun’s suggestions, but it was always good to keep an open mind. Besides, maybe this would get Sehun to shut up.
Instead of saying anything, though, Sehun just shook with laughter. “I didn’t say I was going to tell you how to charm Baekhyun’s tight pants off. That’s for you to figure out. All I’m saying is for you to stop staring at him with those long, sad eyes of yours and do something already. Watching you pine over him makes me want to burn myself at the stake.”
Kris stared at Sehun incredulously. “You are something else, you know that?” Sehun merely smiled.
“Kris, there are more clients waiting for you outside,” Suho called from the doorway. Kris stifled a sigh and got up.
“Don’t get too drunk tonight,” he told Sehun.
“No promises,” came the dry retort. Kris wouldn’t have expected anything less.
÷
The first night of his and Baekhyun’s collaboration rolled by quickly, and Kris found himself sitting by Baekhyun before the night kicked off. He resisted the urge to fiddle with something and instead took a drink of his water.
Baekhyun was still finishing the rest of his food, pacing his way through each of his bites. He liked to chew slowly, Kris observed. Maybe it helped him savor the taste?
His leg began to bounce under the table.
What else did Baekhyun like to savor?
Kris tried not to think about it. If he got caught with a tent in his pants...
He resisted the urge to groan and bang his head against the table. These next three nights might end up killing him.
÷
Their customer was a famous politician’s daughter, so it was only understandable that Xiumin and Key, the two managers of the club, made sure the only other clients allowed into the club were loyal ones. Still, as they waited to greet the young lady and her friends, Kris couldn’t help but notice just how packed the place was even with all the safety precautions put into place for the night.
He knew that he worked for a popular host club, but this drove that fact home. All of the current customers inside had been coming to the establishment for at least a year.
Most of the hosts, too, weren’t new to the place. The only relatively new hosts were him, Minho, and Jino. Other than that, the rest of the host team had been working here for at least a year.
Kris slid a glance from the door to Baekhyun. He’d learned from Sehun that Baekhyun had been working at the club since he was twenty. It’s been nearly three years since then. The information upset Kris. Had Baekhyun been having sex with all his clients even when he first started out?
He tried to sigh as silently as possible. His crush was rapidly growing by leaps and bounds, and it had recently gotten to the point that when he thought about other people touching Baekhyun, much less in a sexual manner, he began to see red.
It was kinda like how he reacted when people tried to touch his fruit snacks, except about 42% worse.
(Kris generally hated unhealthy foods, but he had successfully deluded himself into thinking the fruity chews were healthy. A man had to have some pleasure in life, after all, and fruit snacks were his.)
At 7:35, a large group of men dressed in crisp black suits appeared before the door. Kris watched with a raised eyebrow as one opened the door, and the rest parted to reveal three girls chatting in the middle. Kris took one step closer to the girls when he caught sight of the bodyguards eyeing him, hands conspicuously reaching for hidden weapons.
Kris purposefully took an exaggerated step back and instead ushered them in.
Baekhyun, however, disregarded the bodyguards altogether and went to stand in front of the girls, a heart-stopping smile on his face that was effective enough to stop their chatter completely. Kris felt a pang. When would that smile be aimed at him?
“Welcome to the club,” Baekhyun said, amiable. “Are you, by chance, Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Jessica?”
“Ah!” one said, clapping. “You’re Baekhyun, aren’t you? You look better in person. Those pictures online don’t do you justice.” She stepped up, a friendly smile on her face. “My name’s Taeyeon, and these two are Jessica and Tiffany, my guests. Nice to meet you!”
Hm, Kris thought. So she was the one who’d requested their services. He’d have to thank her for picking the two of them. She’d given Kris a legitimate reason to hang around Baekhyun, and that warranted some nice treatment. He stepped forward, a smile of his own up and ready, and took her hand.
He brushed his lips against the back of her hand and bowed at the other two. “Nice to meet you as well, Taeyeon, Tiffany, Jessica. My name is Kris, and Baekhyun and I are here to serve you. I trust that your walk down here was safe?” Taeyeon was blinking at him, looking amused and flattered. Kris offered her a smile as he slowly dropped her hand.
“Oh, he’s a sly one,” Jessica said, glossed lips curved up into a small smirk.
“He’s charming, Jessica, charming,” Tiffany corrected, rolling her eyes.
Baekhyun stepped up then, a hand raised to escort them further into the club. “If you ladies would please follow us? We’ll bring you to a more private area where we can talk.”
Kris and Baekhyun brought them over to the back, where the rarely-used private rooms stood. These rooms were normally used for the rich and the famous, though the option for privacy was available to all of their customers. However, a lot of their clients liked to show off who they were with, liked to flaunt which hosts they could afford; there was no need to use the private rooms.
There was a karaoke machine set up next to a large television, and food and a lot of expensive wine had been placed onto the table. Two bodyguards followed them in, and the rest stayed outside to guard the door. Baekhyun and Kris allowed the girls to take the couch and sat respectively on the ground. Kris subtly eyed the bodyguards in the corners of the room. Were they just supposed to ignore them?
Baekhyun fired off the standard question as he tipped the wine bottle to pour the drinks. “So, how did you hear about us, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“A few of my friends recommended this place,” Taeyeon said absently with a shrug. She seemed busy, piling food onto her plate. Jessica and Tiffany were busy stealing tiny bits of Taeyeon’s food, so she huffed and slapped their hands with chopsticks when they tried to do it again. “It seemed like a good idea to check this place out since everyone kept mentioning it.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Kris said with a wink. “All of the good-looking hosts work here.”
“We can see that,” Tiffany said, her lips twitching in amusement.
“So Kris,” Jessica started. Kris made sure to turn and look at her as she continued, “What made you start working here?”
He was used to clients asking about this, was used to lying with a smile, but tonight was different. Tonight, the real reason he’d started working as a host was sitting right next to him, listening to the conversation attentively. Sweet pigs on a stick, someone had to be playing a prank on him. This was just unfair.
He forced a smile. “I’m a simple guy,” he said, reaching over to pour more of the wine into Jessica’s glass. “And the only thing I’m good at is talking to people and looking good. So here I am. That’s pretty much all there is to it.”
“For the number one host here, that’s a pretty weak reason,” Jessica thought out loud, a sharp, keen look in her eyes.
“I’m a pretty weak guy with pretty weak reasons,” Kris admitted. “I need strong characters to keep me in line.” He raised his eyebrows meaningfully and smiled when the customers laughed a little at that. And it wasn’t a lie. He shot a look at Baekhyun, who was now conversing with Taeyeon. When he looked back over, he caught a knowing look on Jessica’s face.
That was... not a good look.
“So Baekhyun, what about you?” Tiffany asked, plucking some kimchi off the plate. “Why did you become a host?”
Kris couldn’t have calmed himself down anymore had he tried. Trying to not show how gleeful he was, he turned to look at Baekhyun with what he hoped was a calm expression.
“You know,” Taeyeon said thoughtfully before Baekhyun could start talking. “I heard rumors from some people that you were offered a contract by a popular idol company. What made you refuse that and start working here?”
Baekhyun laughed and waved a hand. “Those are just rumors. It’s true that I tried out, but I was never offered anything. I’m glad I took this job though. How could I not when I get to entertain people such as you three?”
“Ah, he’s a sly one too,” Jessica said, teasing.
“The slyest of them all,” Baekhyun agreed with a grin.
÷
Kris felt worn out by the end of the night. He was used to having multiple people to converse with for a night; having the same clients for the entire night was such a different experience than he was used to that he found himself yawning after he and Baekhyun walked the girls out. The host club was already already closed; most of the hosts and staff had already left, and Kris and Baekhyun were probably two of the last people still in the building.
“Two more days,” he said out loud, sighing. Baekhyun said nothing, but instead loosened up his tie as he led the way back into the room. It was obvious that he was exhausted too, with the way he kept blinking.
It was just kind of sort of maybe just a little adorable.
Kris watched him pick up the mess for a second before shaking his head with a tiny smile. “Why don’t you leave now and get some rest? I’ll clean this up.”
Baekhyun paused and turned to look at him. Maybe it was because Kris was tired, but Baekhyun seemed a little unguarded, wide open to any attack as he stood there hunched over the dirty dishes in his arms.
He was, however, not expecting to get the small reply, “Are you sure?”
Kris walked over and took the plates from Baekhyun with a smile. “Yeah. Go get some sleep. I’ll see you later.”
And the tiny smile that Baekhyun rewarded him with kept him going until his head hit the pillow an hour later.
÷
The next night brought fun times. The girls made Baekhyun sing, which was great since holy shit since when could Baekhyun sing like that? It was simply amazing, Baekhyun’s voice, and Kris joined in the chant for an encore. He could’ve listened to Baekhyun sing for the rest of his life. Quite unfortunately, though, Baekhyun’s singing was cut short when the girls also made Kris sing too.
The embarrassment ran deep that day.
(He made Baekhyun promise never to speak about it again.)
“I could imagine that you sound good rapping, Kris,” Taeyeon had told him thoughtfully, her manicured finger tapping against her chin as she stared at him. “So why don’t you give it a shot?”
So he gave it a shot.
In fact, he gave it multiple shots.
The first time he tried was an absolute mess. Jessica had laughed long and hard, clutching at her stomach as if in pain, and Tiffany had tried to cover up her amusement by politely smiling though it was obvious she wanted to laugh as well. Kris was fine with that. It wasn’t as if he was a rapper or anything. He was an entertainer, and he was okay with making mistakes at things like, well, rapping. He smiled along as the two girls laughed.
However, Taeyeon, in contrast, had a steely glint in her eyes that Kris did not like one bit.
“Again!” Taeyeon said, and nearly drilled him for an hour until he could rap lines without stuttering like a fifteen year old boy experiencing puberty.
He’d apparently let himself forget that she was a politician’s daughter with an on-going major in business management. Boy was he regretting that now.
The one good thing that came out of Taeyeon drilling him mercilessly was that he got to do a duet with Baekhyun. Suddenly, all of the toil that he had experienced in the past hour was nothing, and he felt instead as if he were on cloud nine. He was flying like a G6 and nothing mattered anymore. He even caught Baekhyun dancing along and having a good time as the girls took turns on the karaoke machine.
All in all, it was a great start to a potentially even greater night.
But as the night wore on, and as more and more alcohol was consumed, the actual fun dwindled and entertaining conversations stuttered and turned weird and deep.
Kris and Baekhyun, of course, were not drunk yet. The girls, however, were simply smashed. And that was putting it lightly.
“You know, you are really pretty for a guy,” Tiffany slurred, pointing accusingly at Baekhyun. She had high spots of bright pink on her cheeks. Her finger moved to Kris. “And you! You speak English, and I speak English, but I don’t want to marry you.”
Kris blinked, confused at what was going on in Tiffany’s head, but instead just let her keep talking with a small chuckle. He looked over to Baekhyun, wondering if he was amused by this as well, but the man had frozen up, face bare and blank. Kris bumped shoulders with him, wondering what brought on this change, but Baekhyun just shrugged him off and pasted a smile back onto his face.
And after the night was over, after walking the girls and their bodyguards to the door, Kris tried to start a conversation with Baekhyun, only to be rebuffed and ignored in an icy silence.
He could only stare at Baekhyun’s back in confusion.
Had he done something wrong?
÷
Though Kris had made a little progress with Baekhyun that first night, it seemed to have disappeared after the second night. As the third night drifted closer, Kris wondered what was going on. He swung the plastic bag in his hand idly as he crossed the street, deep in thought. In fact, he was so absentminded that he almost found himself walking out into busy traffic numerous times.
It could only have been described as a miracle that he got to the host club in one piece.
Baekhyun was already in the lounge when he entered, taking small sips of his coffee. Kris made a beeline for the table but hesitated sitting down. What if Baekhyun didn’t want him to sit there? However, when Baekhyun glanced up at him and said nothing, Kris cautiously deemed it okay and grabbed a chair. It wouldn’t be long until the rest of the guys arrived, and he wanted to eat at least a little bit of his food before the others stole it from him.
He was only halfway into his rice when Sehun charged in. The waiter, as if without a care in the world, plopped down in the chair next to Kris and opened his mouth, looking at Kris with wide, pleading eyes. Like a fucking baby bird.
Like hell that would work on Kris. He’d always hated birds anyway.
“Get your own food,” Kris muttered, huddling over his takeout protectively. Sehun eyed him, making a face, before looking at Baekhyun with a pout. Kris tried not to choke.
And when he said choke, he didn’t mean himself. He meant Sehun.
Baekhyun looked at Sehun and shook his head, holding his hands up apologetically as if to say, “Don’t look at me.”
Yeah, Kris thought triumphantly. Don’t look at him.
They were interrupted when Kai came and sat down, his own food placed in a neat little paper sack. He pulled out some fries, and was pulling out what Kris guessed was a hamburger when Sehun began to pick some fries off of his plate.
“Dammit Sehun,” Kai said in outrage, glaring. “Will there ever be a time when you don’t mooch off of me?”
“Where would the fun in that be?” Sehun asked, munching on a fry. “You never finish it all, anyway. And what would happen then? You’d callously throw it away instead of helping to feed the poor Sehun’s out in the world - one of which, might I remind you, is sitting at this table at this very moment.”
“Whatever,” Kai said, unsubtly moving his food away from Sehun. “You aren’t even poor. You’re just being a little ballsack because you’re too lazy to get your own food.”
Sehun thoughtfully chewed on his last fry. “Well, I can’t say anything to that since most of it is true. I did want to correct something, though. I am a big ballsack, not a little one.”
Kris resisted the urge to rub a hand down his face.
Why? he asked to the ceiling. Just... why?
By now, the rest of the hosts had arrived, and the staff lounge smelled of food and sounded eerily similar to a jungle. If only their clients could see them like this, Kris thought with a snort. As hosts, they were always judged as being these perfect guys, but no. They were just regular guys.
It wasn’t long before Suho and Onew, the respective owners of the club, walked in, effectively cutting off all chatter.
“It’s almost time for the customers to start coming in,” Onew said. “Before they do, we wanted to announce the monthly top five rankings.” He nodded to Suho.
“This month,” Suho said, “the number one host who brought in the most amount of money is none other than Kris. Congratulations on holding the first place spot for four months and running.” Kris accepted the pats on the back his fellow hosts gave him with a nod and a smile.
“Coming in second and third,” Suho continued, “are Kai and Jonghyun. Good job, you two.” He waited for the chatter to silence before saying, “And number four and five are Baekhyun and Chanyeol.” He smiled to the hosts. “All in all, we are pleased with not only the amount of people just these five have been bringing in, but with the amount of people all of you as a whole are bringing in. Please continue to work hard and strive to make the clients as happy as possible during their stay here.”
“Of course,” everyone chorused back.
“Now then,” Onew said with a clap. “The club will officially be open for tonight in five. Get in your last minute preparations done. And make sure you don’t smell of food before you go out there, okay?”
“Of course,” everyone said again.
And with that, Onew and Suho exited with a wave.
Kris got up to throw the rest of his food away, and shucked his warm jacket off so that he could straighten out his suit. The other guys were doing the same, though Sehun stayed sitting as he ate the rest of Kai’s burger.
He caught Kai rolling his eyes at Sehun and hid a smile.
Baekhyun went to put away his cup and Kris couldn’t help but follow Baekhyun with his eyes. He looked good, his hair done up stylishly and his normally-lined eyes even more striking than usual. He wondered if Baekhyun had got it done or if he had done it himself. He cleared his throat. He couldn’t deny it; either way, it was attractive.
Resisting the urge to laugh at himself, he straightened up his belt and fussed over the wrinkles in his clothes. Just a year ago, he’d been utterly unimpressed and unaroused by men, and even less for men wearing makeup. Look at him now.
The change was a little bit hilarious. Kris chuckled under his breath. He didn’t regret it, though. He couldn’t imagine not liking Baekhyun anymore. His life had changed dramatically. Life no longer simply revolved around the sun - it revolved around Baekhyun.
To be fair, it wasn’t like Kris went straight from only liking girls to liking both girls and guys. While a lot of the other hosts were fairly attractive in their own ways, Kris never felt anything more for them like he did with Baekhyun. If he were completely honest, he’d have to say he was still straight more than anything, with a sprinkling of Baekhyun-sexual on the side. He made sure to keep that from his male customers, though. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.
“Did you guys hear about the scandal at the Gangnam Host Club?” Sehun asked, picking at his sleeve absently.
“What scandal?” Kris asked, brow furrowing. He hadn’t been taking in any other clients besides Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Jessica so his grasp on any rumors circulating around was tentative at best.
“Two hosts were caught in the act by the manager,” Sehun said, and he darted a meaningful glance at Kris. “Hosts aren’t generally allowed to date or hook-up with each other. Being in a relationship with another coworker in this type of environment is hard because of jealousy. Surprisingly, the manager didn’t fire the two, but now the hosts work on separate days.”
“Is there a policy about that here?” Kris asked, unable to help himself. This was alarming news to him. Why hadn’t anyone warned him? He looked over at Sehun.
Sehun shrugged, looking as clueless as Kris felt, but Kai answered, “It’s in the host’s rule book you should’ve been given after you signed the contract. You didn’t read that, did you?” He was laughing. Kris made a face. Who even read rule books anymore?
“Dating between hosts isn’t allowed here,” Baekhyun answered as he came up behind Kris. Kris applauded himself for not jumping and making a fool of himself. He’d been doing that too much lately. “Since this club has an aim towards both men and women, the chances of hosts hooking up are far greater than that of clubs aimed primarily towards women on the assumption that the hosts working here are bisexual. Suho and Onew didn’t want to deal with that headache so it’s impossible.”
“Unless you keep it secret,” Sehun chirped. Kris felt as if that comment had been aimed specifically at him. He pressed his lips together, glaring down at his lapels. Couldn’t have made it any more obvious, could you? he asked Sehun silently.
“That works too,” Baekhyun said with a shrug.
“Get up and get the alcohol ready,” Kai told Sehun, snatching the rest of the food before Sehun could finish. He threw it in the trash before Sehun could try and grab it. Not that it mattered - last Kris had seen, there had been a pickle and two fries left.
“You aren’t the boss of me,” Sehun said, but he got up and left anyway. The other hosts began to file out after that, chattering along the way, until only Kris and Baekhyun were left.
“Your tie’s crooked,” Kris said to Baekhyun, fingers absently reaching up before his mind caught what his body was doing. He hesitated, his fingers wavering in the air, but Baekhyun slowly tilted his head back, giving Kris silent permission to fix it. So Kris took a breath and pulled at Baekhyun’s tie gently. His eyes darted to Baekhyun’s arched neck, taking in his smooth skin and wondering what it would be like to place a kiss there, before shaking himself out of the trance he’d put himself in and stepping back.
Baekhyun was staring up at him thoughtfully, and Kris felt a nervous sweat begin to break out of his pores. Had his thoughts been written on his face? Did Baekhyun know? However, Baekhyun simply nodded after a moment and said, “Thanks.”
It seemed small miracles happened every day.
Kris breathed out a sigh of relief before following Baekhyun out of the staff lounge.
÷
Taeyeon and the other girls were already waiting for them near the entrance when Kris and Baekhyun emerged. They didn’t have their bodyguards with them, which surprised Kris, but he supposed the girls were probably sick of having them around.
“They’re waiting outside,” Taeyeon told them with a smile, as if she could read Kris’ thoughts.
“Let’s go inside, then, shall we?” Baekhyun asked, his pearly whites shining.
“Lead the way!” Tiffany said happily. Kris had to wonder how she was so bubbly after all the alcohol she had consumed yesterday. Maybe she didn’t get hangovers?
“Did you get any better at rapping?” Taeyeon asked Kris seriously as they walked to the room. Kris smiled.
“Probably not,” he admitted before he grinned. “I think you should show me how to rap. No doubt you do everything well.”
“Don’t you go seducing Taeyeon,” Jessica said, eyes narrowed at him. “You aren’t that good-looking, okay.”
“Ouch,” Kris said with a laugh as they entered into the room. Just like the last two times, the food and drinks had been laid out. There was, however, a note placed neatly onto the sofa. Kris glanced it at curiously before looking at Baekhyun. Was there something going on that he didn’t know about? However, Baekhyun’s eyebrows were furrowed in confusion too.
Tiffany passed Taeyeon the note as the girls sat down. She was already reading it before they made themselves comfortable.
“It’s a new month,” Taeyeon read out loud. Jessica and Tiffany were filling each other’s plates as they listened silently. Kris glanced over in time to see Baekhyun’s expression clear in understanding, and he suddenly understood what was happening. He’d been so busy that forgotten, he thought. “As a customer here at the host club, we are happy to invite you to the monthly performances we offer here as a treat. They begin in the main area at 1 A.M. We hope to see you there!”
“‘Monthly performances?’” Tiffany questioned, turning to look at Kris and Baekhyun quizzically. “Are those any good?”
“They’re pretty entertaining,” Kris said after receiving a shrug from Baekhyun. “The hosts here are quite talented. I definitely recommend you going.”
The monthly performances mainly consisted of Kai, Taemin, Yixing, and Luhan dancing to a mashup of several choreographed songs, though sometimes Jonghyun, Jino, and Luhan gave vocal performances if enough people requested it. Some of his clients complained that he should’ve been up there, singing and dancing like the rest of them, but in truth, Kris was happy he didn’t have to take part in them.
He couldn’t think of anything worse than getting up in front of an audience and dancing and singing. It gave him the chills just thinking about it.
But that reminded him. Why wasn’t Baekhyun taking part in at least the vocal aspect of the monthly performances? Kris slanted a look at Baekhyun. Maybe it had something to do with Baekhyun trying out for the idol company.
A lightbulb went off in his head. Maybe Baekhyun found out he had stage fright.
Surely that was it, right? Baekhyun probably hadn’t told Key or Xiumin about his amazing vocals because he didn’t want to do it in the first place. Kris’ heart ached for Baekhyun. He just wanted to hug Baekhyun and never let go.
He looked down.
Oh. When did he even start drinking?
Jessica refilled his cup, completely straight faced as she stared at Kris. Kris glanced away, trying hard not to freak out.
She definitely knew alright.
And he was so fucking screwed if she decided to spill about it.
After they finished eating for the night, they decided to play a drinking version of the game, “Never Have I Ever.” After half an hour of playing the game, Kris thought it was all fine and dandy, thought that doomsday had been avoided when Jessica didn’t say anything. She was too busy teasing her friends, after all. However, that was not the case whatsoever.
“Never have I ever,” she started, and that awful, awful glint in her eyes sparked. She tossed a glance at him before looking away innocently. Kris looked on in silent horror as she said, “liked someone in this room.”
Kris was internally panicking as he picked up his drink when he saw Baekhyun take a shot. He blinked, mind going blank. What? Slowly following suit, and so very confused, he drank his own shot.
The girls were looking at them expectantly when he glanced over.
“I like you three,” Baekhyun said with a shrug and a charming smile. He didn’t even seem to be feeling the effects of alcohol yet, the lucky, amazing, brilliant asshole. Kris was definitely losing this game. He hoped one in the morning would come quicker. He wouldn’t last if this pace kept up.
“Who wouldn’t like you?” Kris added when they turned on him intently. Crisis averted, he thought with a silent sigh of relief. Jessica seemed disappointed in that, though not enough to stop her from looking amused. Take that, Kris thought. It actually took some physical resisting on his part to not stick his tongue out at her like a five-year-old.
It was all the alcohol’s fault. That was the excuse he was going to use. And it was going to work, dammit. That’s what excuses did. They worked.
“I have never been as tall as a tree,” Tiffany said, and looked at Kris pointedly. Kris slowly drank his shot, wondering why this was happening to him. Was this payback for his answer? Tiffany didn’t even know about his secret crush though.
“I’ve never been a host,” Taeyeon added, and watched gleefully as Baekhyun and Kris grudgingly took their shots.
Baekhyun leaned back and Kris nearly knocked his newly filled shot glass over when their fingers brushed. Kris held still, wondering what was going to happen, but all Baekhyun did was keep his fingers there, as if he didn’t realize he was touching Kris’ hand.
Being giddy while almost-drunk was a very nice feeling, Kris decided.
And so another hour passed like this, with a fine blur of alcohol and barely touching hands.
÷
When the knock on the door came, Kris wasn’t the only one to jump - everyone did. Thankfully no alcohol was spilled. Baekhyun pushed himself up and walked (read: wobbled) to the door. Kris was internally mourning the loss of Baekhyun’s fingers against his when Sehun stuck his head in and politely said, “Sorry for bothering you. The monthly special will be starting soon, if you wish to join in. It will be in the main area.” He pointed before bowing and leaving quickly.
Sehun! Kris thought. Maybe this was all Sehun’s fault, he thought, and it had merit even though it made no sense at the same time. It was definitely Sehun’s fault for interrupting, at the very least.
When he looked away, Jessica was giving him a look that could only be described as irritable pity.
“Should we start going over?” Tiffany hiccuped, and Taeyeon nodded her head loosely. They were all kind of drunk, it seemed. Well, Kris revised, shooting Jessica a face. Most of them were drunk, anyway.
They all stood up slowly. Kris made sure to wait for all the girls to leave the room before closing and locking the door behind them. He watched in bemusement, his alcohol haze draining, as they swayed toward the main area, bare feet pattering against the tiles. Baekhyun had waited as well, and turned to him when they were out of sight.
Baekhyun had a light blush sprayed across his cheeks from the alcohol, and he was looking up at Kris with wide eyes. He pointed at his tie. “Is it crooked?”
Kris smiled as he lifted his fingers to straighten Baekhyun’s tie. “A little.” He let his fingers linger before dropping them to point at his own tie. “Is mine?”
Baekhyun squinted and reached up to pull at Kris’ tie. He fiddled with it a bit before stopping, a dazed expression on his face as he rested his hands on Kris’ chest. Kris felt goosebumps break out on his skin.
Baekhyun’s hands burned him through the fabric of his shirt.
Kris inhaled slowly, and Baekhyun raised his eyes. Kris leaned in, wondering if it was gravity that was pulling him closer, wondering what it was he saw in Baekhyun’s eyes this time, but the moment was ruined when someone cleared their throat at the end of the hallway.
Kris and Baekhyun jumped apart.
Sehun stood at the end of the hall, looking completely unimpressed. He jerked a thumb towards the main area. “You aren’t supposed to leave your clients alone. The managers will be angry if you leave them alone for too long.”
“Okay,” Kris said and turned to look at Baekhyun, but Baekhyun was already hurrying over to the main area without even sparing him a glance.
Kris stared at Baekhyun’s back before it disappeared, feeling strangely forlorn, before following along with a dejected sigh. Sehun gave him an apologetic look before departing through the staff door.
÷
The girls seemed to enjoy this month’s performance. They took to cheering and hollering with the rest of the audience, though they were definitely far more reserved than some of the men and older women.
Kris stood at the back with the rest of the hosts, watching the performance with a slight smile. He joined in when the rest of the hosts began to clap with the beat of the music, tried to have a good time, but all he could think of was that he couldn’t wait to just go home and sleep like the dead. He was exhausted, both mentally and physically, and bed sounded too good to be true at the moment.
They normally closed at around four in the morning, but on the first of every month (meaning, the days they had the monthly performances) they closed at two instead. Performances normally lasted about forty-five minutes, though some ran longer, and Suho and Onew wanted to give those performing enough time to recuperate from all of the running around they had to do.
Baekhyun stood next to him, looking as if he was having fun, but there was no energy being put into his claps. He looked disoriented enough to be as exhausted as Kris was. He wasn’t sure if he was seeing things or not anymore, though, so instead of staring at Baekhyun more, he looked away.
His eyes burned when he went back to watching the performance, so he did the one thing he could do. He closed his eyes.
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