in with the New

Jaebeom: That Kind of Commitment

"I have to get going or I'll be late"

"Okay~" Mark singsongs and then kisses him fully, before climbing off his lap. "Have a good day, be safe"

"You too" Jaebeom kisses him again as he stands up, grabbing his wallet, phone and keys and stuffing them into his pockets before he's out the door.

The walk to work seems short, but only because his feet have the path memorized and his thoughts were elsewhere. Like applying for college. How is he going to do that? He's never had to before. And what will he even do there if he can go?

He isn't sure what he's good at or what he would enjoy, what he wants. Just a better job, a career.

He takes the store over from Sungjin who worked the night shift. Like Jaebeom, he doesn't have a lot going for him so he works whenever, overtime if he can. He looks dead tired this morning though.

"Hey, thanks for covering me this weekend." Sungjin nods, barely a smile on his lips. He's going to fall asleep against the counter, for sure. "Long night?"

"Yeah, fucking kids, man"

Jaebeom nods, but doesn't really know what he's talking about. "You want a make a nap in the back before you go home? I don't know if it's safe for you to leave right now."

"Good thinking" He mumbles, propping himself up on one arm.

"Where's Eun?"

"Called in, so it was just me"

If Sungjin wasn't dead tired, he would be ranting about irresponsible kids with no work ethic, which is the general opinion about Eun. But he's not, so Jaebeom just sends him into the back to sleep and gets on with his day.

Always on time, Luna shows up about an hour later and begins to sweep, keeping mostly to herself, except for the basic: How was your weekend? Fine yours? Fine. Do anything fun? Not really. Me neither.

When Sungjin comes back out, he pours himself a coffee, and sits at the counter. He looks only moderately less tired, enough to walk home and then crash again.

"Sungjin?" Jaebeom asks to get his attention and he looks up at him, a questioning look in his eyes. "Have you ever considered going back to school?"

"Like high school?"

Jaebeom rolls his eyes. "No, college, idiot"

"Oh. No."

"Why not?"

"What would I even do with that? Work in an office? Sounds awful"

"So you want to work here for forever?"

That gives Sungjin pause, as he rubs his face, clearly exhausted by the mere though of it. "I guess not. Why are you asking? Are you thinking about going to college?"

"Yeah, but I don't know, would they even accept me?"

"You could look it up, I think they would. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know that either." Jaebeom says. "Do you want to apply together?"

Sungjin looks at him for a long time, silently, before responding. "Sure, man, whatever you need. But for now, I'm going home. Let me know when you pick a school."

"Yeah of course. Sleep well."

Pick a school. He hadn't though of that. College in his mind was kind of abstract. For all he ever cared, only one of them existed in the whole world and everyone attended it, that was about as much as he ever thought about it. Pick a school. Yeah, okay. Research.

"Hey, Luna," He calls through the store and while she seems startled, she does turn and look at him, does not come to the counter. "What school do you go to?"

She sighs, looking like she's in pain. "One you couldn't get into, try the junior college"

And then she starts sweeping again.

"Thanks" Jaebeom says, sounding affronted, but feeling anything but. Junior college. That sounded like exactly what he needed. He may be a little late to the game, but he's starting, and he's okay with starting at square one.

A/N

Hey y'all, sorry, I wanted to update it today so I wrote this chapter in a hurry with little editing, so sorry for any spelling mistakes. Hope you enjoy ❤️