So tired he was seeing double by the time he entered his squalid apartment, Baekhyun collected the mail on autopilot. It wasn’t until he’d sat down – and realised what a mistake that was – that he even bothered to look at it. Shifting his weight gingerly, he sorted through it. Two coupon packs and five official looking letters that were somewhat scary to look at.
He opened them anyway. Dear Mr. BYUN BAEKHYUN, this is a collections letter regarding your overdue account with HOSPITAL…
Regarding the account at HOSPITAL, a minimum payment of …
Wages will be garnished…
They all said the same thing. He was ninety-thousand dollars in debt to the hospitals and clinics because of his mother’s illness. He’d already lost the house, and the apartment he’d found was only two and a half rooms, with the kitchen more of an alcove off the living room, and a separated bathroom. It was dark and squalid, in a bad part of town – he regularly heard gunfire and sirens – but they were lax about rent, and it wasn’t too high anyway. It reminded him that he needed to talk to Kris about his paychecks.
Feeling grimy, he opted for a shower first. The hot water was sporadic, and he’d learned to clean himself efficiently in the least amount of time to get around it. Most of the shower was still cold, and he was shivering by the time he stepped back out, but he felt more human at least.
More able to deal with a financial discussion with his new boss. He called the office, and Kris picked up on the first ring.
“Sinful Confessions, Kris speaking.”
“Kris,” Baekhyun greeted him. “It’s Baekhyun.”
“Oh, is everything alright? Hush, Tao, it’s Baekhyun. Go away. Sorry, what?”
Baekhyun smiled in spite of himself. Tao reminded him of a puppy when it came to their boss and his lover. He’d spent enough time around them in the last week and a half or so to really appreciate the dynamics of the pairings Kris offered, and as a longtime fan of the company anyway, he was excited to be able to get a look behind the scenes. “I needed to talk to you about paychecks,” Baekhyun said. “Is there any kind of set schedule?”
“Oh, right, I meant to ask you about that,” Kris said. “You still haven’t said whether or not you wanted direct deposit or paper, and because you get paid based on the work you do – even if it’s coming in after hours and helping to clean up, I don’t want to give the impression that you’re only good on camera – there’s no real schedule unless you want one. That’s another thing; do you want it in lumps every week, every other week, or a single check per job?”
Baekhyun blinked at the phone. Kris was by far the most relaxed boss he’d ever had. “Um, weekly, I guess,” he decided. It would mean smaller checks, but he’d be able to begin making payments to the hospitals, creditors, and debt collectors sooner that way.
“Okay. Well, I’ve got your first one here, if you want to come and collect it tomorrow.”
“Already?”
“Yeah, we decided to debut your screen test on the website as a way to introduce you, and of course, you’re signed for the film, so that’s included in this one.”
Baekhyun felt tears well up. It might not be ideal, but he was going to get the collectors off his back and things were going to work out. He blinked them back and swallowed around the lump in his throat. “Thank you,” he said, and embarrassed himself horribly when his voice cracked.
“No problem. Hey, was that it? It’s just that the kids are in the back and I can hear them shouting, I need to go find out what’s going on.”
![Lonely Night [Exo one shots] by kychione](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/107574897-80-k387500.jpg)
“That’s it, thank you,” Baekhyun said again, and hung up.
*
The next day, he wasn’t as sore and felt able to continue filming when he went in. Kris surprised him at the door with his check. Baekhyun took one look at it, and then another.
“Is this…right?” he asked, sure there had been a mistake. There were quite a lot of zeros on that check, and he’d hardly even done anything yet.
“Oh yeah, I told you we’re including the film in this one.”
As tears threatened to embarrass him again, Baekhyun forced himself to put the check in his wallet and put it out of his mind.
“If you’re interested, as soon as we’re done filming Teacher’s Pet, I wanted to see about adding you into an ongoing series we’ve got,” Kris said.
“A what?”
“It’s like a webshow,” he explained. “Kai and Chen are the main players, as friends with benefits who live and work together. That’s actually what we’re calling it, “Friends With Benefits” but as lame as it sounds, it’s one of our biggest hits. Except for anything Chanyeol appears in. For some reason, everyone seems to love him the best. I’ll have Tao show you the numbers someday and you’ll see what I mean.”
On the move constantly as he talked, Kris walked Baekhyun down to the ‘dressing room’ where they kept the costumes and set pieces and props. Since he would be back in character as Choi Jongki for the film, he needed to find his uniform again. But his character would be evolving. Because of the secret relationship with his teacher, “Jongki” was becoming a model student with very nice manners and good grades. The whole idea was patently ridiculous, but as Kris was constantly telling him, just because most people skipped the plot parts and went right to the sex, it didn’t mean everyone did and they needed to have something in between sex scenes.
Back in uniform and character, Baekhyun settled down in his seat while Chanyeol shuffled through papers. The other ‘students’ were talking to each other while the cameras got set up, and Baekhyun let the noise of their conversation wash over him as he considered what Kris was offering him as an extra on “Friends With Benefits.”
Finally, the call from Kris came for action. Since they were supposedly in the middle of a test, Baekhyun bent his head down and pretended to scribble answers on a piece of paper. When they ‘turned it in,’ Teacher Song flipped through them idly and then looked up.
“Choi Jongki,” he said, and Chanyeol was a superb actor – he managed to have just the right tone of voice that would have struck fear into the heart of any student while still maintaining an amused twinkle in his eyes regarding the nature of his illicit relationship with a student. “See me after class about this.” He waved the stack of test papers.
“Yes, sir,” Baekhyun said, and slouched. A bell rang, and the other students gathered their bags and left the ‘classroom.’ Baekhyun tapped his pencil on the desk again, waiting while they cleared out. His ‘gang’ patted him on the shoulder and pretended sympathy for his being in trouble again.
Once the class was empty, Chanyeol came around his desk and hauled Baekhyun out of his seat by the collar. Baekhyun, slipping into character as easily as if he’d put on a jacket, looked over his shoulder.
“Sir, the door,” he said. Chanyeol looked back and swore before releasing Baekhyun and closing it, pulling the blinds down and locking it. He crossed the room again in two strides, snatched Baekhyun up by the back of his head, and kissed him. Baekhyun didn’t need any urging from Kris to melt against him – he couldn’t help it. His body went from zero to sixty in the time it took Chanyeol to plant his free hand against Baekhyun’s ass and draw him closer. Chanyeol bent slightly and ground their hips together, somehow making it seem natural rather than awkward. Baekhyun, who still hadn’t gotten used to Chanyeol’s charisma and his responses to it, was still waiting for the bottom to drop out and his body to go back to not reacting at all.
