powerless - nct, norenmin

⊗ 4 ⊗

"what's with the long face?"

the chinese male lifted his head, meeting eyes with his childhood friend.

"it's nothing, chenle." renjun replied, shaking his head and going back to focus on his work.

"doesn't look like nothing." chenle raised a brow. "you've been sulking since the beginning of the week."

renjun hummed, not wanting to give too much detail. was the fact that jeno and him had gotten the rabbit one week ago and the fact his mood had been awful this past week correlated? of course, it was, but what kind of boyfriend would he appear to be if he told chenle that he had a problem with jeno's rabbit?

"i have this headache since the beginning of the week, and i can't seem to make it disappear." renjun lied, knowing better than to say the truth in this situation.

"oh, sad..." chenle pouted. "do you want a medicine? i think have some stuff for that in my bag!"

renjun blinked a few times. "huh... well... thank you but..." renjun hesitated. "i've already taken one a while ago, so it won't be nece- "

"hey! watch where the hell you're going!!"

both chenle and renjun lifted their heads at the sudden yell and breaking noise that disturbed the peaceful atmosphere of the convenience store they were working part-time in.

the two chinese males immediately identified the problem when they saw a short girl standing a few meters away from them, a bottle of alcohol shattered on the floor at her feet which had been splashed with the transparent liquid. in front of her stood a giant boy, his head hanging lower and lower as he was getting yelled at by the girl.

"i'll deal with it." chenle informed renjun, walking away from the counter to approach the accident zone.

"i-i'm sorry..." the tall male stuttered, fidgeting with his fingers. "i-i tripped..."

"well maybe if you looked in front of you while walking you wouldn't have tripped!" the short girl continued yelling at him. "now you broke my bottle, and you caused me to soak my boots!"

"i-i... i'm r-really sorry..."

"be aware that you'll have to pay the damages!" the girl exclaimed. "and also- "

"hello!" chenle interrupted their fight. "can i help you with something?" he asked with a smile, looking successively at the woman and then at the tall male.

"yes." the girl corssed her arms over her chest. "this young man right here didn't look at where he was going and hit into me and broke the bottle of alcohol i just bought. and because of him, my new boots are full of alcohol and damaged."

"i am very sorry to hear that." chenle nodded. "please grab another bottle of alcohol, this one will be on us for the incident that happened."

"he should be the one to pay. it's his fault after all!" the woman said pettily.

"the bottle is on us." chenle replied on a firmer tone. "he is responsible of nothing; it was an accident."he added. "now, please, grab another bottle and go see my colleague at the counter."

the woman tsked. "and for the damages on my boots?" she raised a brow, surely intending to receive some sort of compensation.

chenle glanced down at the black leathery boots that had an extra shine thanks to the alcohol that had splashed on them. "well, you've got them waxed for free." chenle shrugged. "see the good side of it, you won't need to have them shined so soon."