Work Text:
Working at the Apple Store was mundane for Daeyoung. Most days blurred together with the steady stream of forgotten passwords, cracked screens, device set ups, and dead batteries. He would smile, run some diagnostics, explain the warranty policies for what seemed like the hundredth time, and watch guests leave with either relief or frustration.
“I’m so sorry Mrs. Park, but I took a look at your Apple account and it seems like your warranty has expired. I can go ahead and replace your MacBook battery for you, but you would have to pay for it in full.”
“Okay Mr. Choi, I was able to reset your Apple ID password! You should now be able to update all your apps and download new ones as well. Also, here is a sticky note with your new password. Please don’t misplace it, or you’re going to have to come back if you forget it again!”
Every day had its rhythm, but Daeyoung didn’t mind. He genuinely enjoyed helping people, even if he had to repeat himself. As long as he was able to solve just one person’s problem, then he considered his shift a success. No matter what the day threw at him, he faced it with a bright smile, ready to solve even the most minor of problems.
The Apple Store was quieter than usual for the afternoon. A few customers were wandering around the glowing displays while some children were crowded around the iPads, giggling and doodling on the demo version of Procreate.
Crouched down among them was Daeyoung, showing them how to change brushes and colors. “See? If you tap here, you can change to different brushes, like crayons or markers or even paint! And if you tap over here, you can change the colors! You can draw with any color you want with any brush that you want! Isn’t that so cool?” The kids ooh-ed and ahh-ed while their parents smiled from afar, happy that someone else was keeping them entertained.
The Genius Bar area was quite empty, so one of the shift leads, Sion, was leaning against one of the tables with his iPad in hand, keeping an eye on the floor, ready to check in a guest should one come in.
A young man walked in, looking a bit confused. He made his way towards the back of the store. Sion approached him with a gentle smile, “Hello, do you need any assistance today?”
“Oh, uh. Yes. My AirPods. They aren’t working for some reason.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“I had to make an appointment?”
Sion smiled again, charmed by the young man’s flustered state. “It isn’t necessary but not to worry, I can just check you in as a walk in. Can I please have your name?”
“Yushi. Tokuno Yushi.”
Sion tapped on his screen. “Okay Yushi, I have you all set. Hang tight, I’ll have my buddy Daeyoung come and help you out. And don’t worry. He doesn’t bite.”
Sion looked around and spotted Daeyoung among the tiny heads and iPads. “Hey, Daeyoung!”
From the front of the store, Daeyoung glanced up, mid-art lesson. “Yes, Hyung?” he called, still grinning as the kids waved goodbye.
“I got a walk in ready and waiting for you.” said Sion, gesturing to the boy like he was making a formal introduction. “Name’s Yushi, having AirPod problems. He seems pretty harmless.”
Daeyoung nodded and made his way with that million dollar smile of his. “Hi I’m Daeyoung. Let’s see what’s up.”
Yushi nodded, ears turning pink while handing Daeyoung his AirPods. “O-okay. Um. They were working fine the other day. But now I can’t get them to connect to my phone.”
Daeyoung popped the case open, but no light flashed on. He grabbed the charging cord attached to the side of the Genius Bar table and connected it to the case when a small light turned red. He looked back at Yushi and grinned, who was staring at him with wide eyes.
“They aren’t broken at all! Just needs some charging.”
Yushi’s eyes blinked furiously, groaned, and then covered his face with his hands. “…Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Daeyoung laughed, which made Yushi’s ears turn even more red. “You’d be surprised to hear how often people come in with your exact situation. If you want, you can stay a bit to charge them up. They charge pretty quickly.”
“Ah, no it’s okay. I actually have somewhere to be.” Daeyoung unplugged Yushi’s AirPods and handed them to him, hands brushing together. Yushi shoved the case into his backpack. “Thank you. Sorry for coming in with a really silly problem,” said Yushi sheepishly, bowing slightly at Daeyoung.
Daeyoung bowed back at Yushi, beaming. “Glad to help in any way that I can. If you have any more problems, you can always come back.”
As Yushi shuffled towards the exit, Sion leaned towards Daeyoung with a smirk on his face. “You got that guy so flustered. I have a feeling he actually might be back.”
Daeyoung rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Hyung, you’re impossible.”
The cafe was in its usual rhythm of hissing espresso machines, whirring blenders, and baristas taking and calling out orders over the hum of quiet chatter. Frantic keyboard taps could be heard throughout while some patrons flipped through book pages.
Riku sat at a table in the corner, sipping his iced latte while scrolling through his phone. He didn’t look up until the chair across from him scraped against the floor and a slightly red Yushi sat down. “Sorry I’m late.”
“I was just about to call you,” Riku said while staring Yushi down. “What happened to you? Why do you look so flustered?”
“I think I just met the love of my life.”
“…What?” said Riku, almost spilling his drink.
“Before coming here, I had to stop by the Apple Store because my AirPods weren’t working. The guy that was helping me, I think his name was Daeyoung? He was so nice and he had the prettiest smile and he was so tall and when I was walking in I saw him playing with kids on the iPads…” Yushi rambled on with rosy cheeks.
Riku nodded along, listening to his best friend speak faster than he has ever seen him talk before. “So what happened with your AirPods? They were working when I saw you two days ago.”
“Riku I feel like such an idiot! My AirPods were just dead! I came into the Apple Store thinking something was wrong with them only for the tall guy with a pretty smile to tell me that they just had to be charged.” Yushi hid his face in his hands.
“Wow.” Riku leaned back in his chair, smirking. “So you embarrassed yourself in front of a new crush in a span of five minutes. Gotta be a new record.”
From behind his hands, Yushi mumbled, “He even said that if you have any more problems to come back. I don’t think I can ever show my face there ever again.” Yushi was silent for a second. “Do you think he thinks I’m an idiot?”
Riku rubbed Yushi’s back. “Of course I think he thinks you’re an idiot.” Yushi reacted by kicking Riku’s foot from under the table. “But you’re Tokuno Yushi, the cutest idiot I know. That’s part of your charm, you know? He was probably smitten by you.”
“Thanks, Riku. But I don’t think I’ll be going to the Apple Store anytime soon. That’s a place you only visit once in a blue moon.” Yushi said while pouting. “I guess I’ll only be seeing Daeyoung in my dreams from now on.”
Riku rolled his eyes at his best friend while taking another sip of his drink.
Two weeks. It had been two weeks since Yushi’s uncharged AirPods incident and he somehow found himself walking hastily towards the Apple Store’s bright entrance again. The store was quiet, soft music playing in the background. Daeyoung was hunched over the laptop displays, showing a college student the differences between the Air and Pro models when the doors slid open.
Sion looked up and smirked, “Well, well, well. Back again, are we?”
Yushi shuffled towards him, case open, only one AirPod visible. “Okay I actually think I lost one this time.”
“And I’m assuming you don’t have an appointment this time?” Sion chuckled, fingers dancing on his iPad screen.
Yushi nodded in defeat.
“Not to worry. And lucky for you, Daeyoung is also here today so I’ll have him come and help you. Maybe a familiar face will calm you down?” Sion turned his head towards Daeyoung’s direction, “Hey Daeyoung, your new friend is back!”
Daeyoung glanced up from the MacBook display, blinking in surprise. “Oh hi! Yushi, is it? Didn’t think I’d see you here again so soon!” He gave Yushi a big grin.
Avoiding eye contact, Yushi replied, “Hi. Um. So, I was on the bus today when I realized that one of my AirPods wasn’t in my ear.” He held open the half empty case for Daeyoung to see. “And as you can see, the other one… is gone.
Daeyoung calmly leaned towards Yushi. “And you’re sure you checked everywhere? In your bag and all your pockets?”
“Yes! Twice!” Yushi muttered with the tips of his ears reddening.
“Hm… Because what is this?” Daeyoung pulled the missing AirPod from Yushi’s hood, like he was a magician pulling a coin from nowhere.
The redness spread from Yushi’s ears all the way to his cheeks, “Oh my god…”
Daeyoung bit back a laugh, but couldn’t help but smile at the blushing boy. “Looks like the mystery is solved.”
“This is so embarrassing… Even worse than last time.”
“Don’t worry. It happens. My AirPods fall off into my hoodie all the time. At least this time it didn’t cost you anything. Consider this a second win.”
Yushi looked back at Daeyoung, still a bit embarrassed but unable to stop himself from smiling. “Thanks… again.”
“Anytime,” beamed Daeyoung.
As Yushi trudged out of the store, Sion leaned over Daeyoung’s shoulder and whispered, “Third time’s the charm. He’ll be back with a real issue next time.”
Daeyoung only shook his head and watched as Yushi left, ears a bit red from their interaction. Even as the doors slid close, the smile lingered on his face.
“You’re still looking,” Sion said, snapping Daeyoung back to reality.
“Hm?”
“That guy, Yushi.” Sion leaned over the edge of one of the tables with a smug expression. “He’s long gone but you’re still staring at the door.”
Daeyoung shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “I wasn’t staring. I was just making sure he left okay. He was a bit frazzled.”
“Mm-hm, sure.” Sion swiped through the completed appointments, stopping at Yushi’s name. “You don’t care about every customer like that. You barely even remember their names, but when I called you over, you said ‘Yushi’ before I could even tell you.”
Heat crept up the back of Daeyoung’s neck. “It’s just part of providing excellent customer service. I’m just doing my job.”
Sion raised his brow, teasingly. “So staring at the door like you’re waiting for your husband to return from war is now part of your job?”
Daeyoung just rolled his eyes in response and returned to the MacBook display. He couldn’t shake the warmth buzzing from his chest.
Yushi slumped into his desk chair, propping his phone up against his water bottle as he hit call. After a few rings, Riku’s sleep ridden face appeared on the screen, framed by his messy hair and dark background.
Riku squinted at the bright light, “You better have a good reason as to why you’re interrupting my nap.”
Yushi groaned into his face. “I am the biggest loser to have ever existed on this planet.”
“What did you do now?”
“I was coming home from dance practice and while I was on the bus, I realized that one of my AirPods were missing, so I rummaged through all my pockets and in my bag and couldn’t find it so I went to the Apple Store to try and buy a replacement and the same tall guy with the really pretty smile from last time helped me and guess what? My AirPod was in my hood! He pulled it out like it was some magic trick!”
Riku stared at Yushi with his mouth agape. “Wow. And I thought last time was bad.”
“I wanted to disappear right then and there, Riku. I can actually never step foot into that store again for my own dignity.”
“But was he nice about it?”
“Too nice. Like any normal person would be kind of annoyed but he just smiled and said he also loses his AirPods in his hoodies sometimes too… I genuinely think he is an angel sent to Earth. And here I am being the biggest doofus he’s probably ever seen.”
Riku rolled over in bed. “He probably thought you were cute! A bit clueless, but cute! But if you really wanted to see him that bad, you could have bought a charger cord or something.”
Yushi pouted in response. “I don’t even know why I’m friends with you, Riku.”
“C’mon now. You love me. You would probably be more of an embarrassment if you didn’t have me. Anyways I’m gonna go back to sleep. Maybe I’ll dream that you and Genius Bar boy will live happily ever after for your sake.”
As the call came to an end, Yushi stared at his reflection in disbelief.
“So rumor has it that our favorite repeat customer came in the other day?” teased Sion as he was clocking in for his shift.
Daeyoung looked up from his phone, a slight blush forming on his cheeks. “Oh, Yushi? Yeah. But this time it was an actual dilemma. It fell out of his ear and down the storm drain on his way to practice or something.”
Sion huffed in response, “And you sure he wasn’t making that up?”
“Hyung, why would he lie about that? He even showed me a photo of the AirPod that fell down the drain. He looked like a sad puppy.” Daeyoung couldn’t help the small smile tugging on his lips. “So I helped him get a replacement and suggested he buy a more secure case and one of those AirPod strap things.”
“Mm-hm,” Sion replied. “Did you also slip him your number as well?”
“Hyung, be serious.”
“What do you mean? Yushi seems like the type to constantly lose things so when he inevitably does, he can just text or call you directly instead of coming in. It’ll save him the embarrassment.”
It took a moment for Daeyoung to process what Sion had said to him, a slight blush forming on his cheeks. “What—? No, that’s not— But what if—“
Sion smirked and wrapped his arm around Daeyoung’s shoulders. “Relax, I’m just messing with you.” He leaned closer to Daeyoung’s ear and whispered, “But judging by your reaction, you aren’t completely against that idea.”
“I just like helping people. It’s just who I am.”
“Okay sure,” said Sion, removing his arm from Daeyoung’s shoulder and making his way towards the storefront. “Helping people. Got it.”
Daeyoung tried to scoff, but Sion’s words lingered in his mind. Maybe he was onto something.
The once quiet and peaceful Apple Store had taken on a new energy. With the release of the new iPhone triad, customers crowded the display tables with the new models, checking out all the new features for themselves. The store was definitely more busy, but that didn’t stop a familiar face from being noticed as he walked in.
Yushi was not one to hop on the newest tech releases. He typically waited until his current phone was on its last life before he even considered buying a replacement, let alone upgrading. But it’s been a couple years since he last upgraded. So after some contemplation, he decided that he should just go ahead and jump the gun.
Sion spotted the boy walk in and nudged Daeyoung. “Your little AirPod magnet is back.”
Daeyoung sighed, a smile tugging at his lips as Yushi approached him. “So which AirPod is it this time?”
Yushi scratched the back of his neck, “I actually want to upgrade my phone. To the newest model.”
Daeyoung stared at him with wide eyes. “Oh!”
Yushi nodded sheepishly with pink cheeks, “Is that possible to do today?”
“Of course,” said Daeyoung with a bright grin and even brighter cheeks. The pair made their way over to the iPhone display, where Daeyoung walked Yushi through the available models, colors, and storage plans. Yushi nodded along, eyes more focused on the man before him rather than the phones. And those glances didn’t go unnoticed.
“Okay, I will be right back with your new phone,”Daeyoung said as he stepped away momentarily. He emerged from the back with Yushi’s new device in hand. He opened the box and powered it on. “Would you like me to help you set it up and transfer your old data?”
“Yes please,” replied Yushi.
After what seemed like an eternity of awkward staring, Yushi’s new phone was finally set up. Daeyoung walked through the new phone features and warranty one more time.
“Oh and one more thing.” Daeyoung opened up the Contacts app and hesitated only a second before adding in his own phone number and saving it as “Genius Bar 💚”. He slid the phone back to Yushi, smiling. “Just in case you lose another AirPod or have any questions. Otherwise, you’re all set.”
Yushi looked down at the screen, then back at Daeyoung, his face still warm. “…Thanks. This time, for real.”
For once, Daeyoung felt more flustered than his customer.
EPILOGUE
Riku was sitting on Yushi’s couch, flipping through TV channels. “Took you long enough,” he said as Yushi returned from the kitchen with two cans of soda. “Did you get lost on the way?”
“Haha, you’re so funny,” Yushi replied, handing Riku one of the cans. He plopped down next to him, new phone in hand catching the light.
Riku looked down at the small device cradled in Yushi’s fingers. “Wait a second. Is that a new phone?”
“Hm? Oh yeah. I upgraded last week.”
Riku sat up to get a closer look. “No way. You’re not the type to upgrade your phone until the screen is falling off. So what’s new about this model? Better camera? Any fancy buttons?”
Yushi smirked, swiping his thumb across the screen. “It’s faster, longer battery life, there’s some new camera features…”
As Yushi was showing off his phone’s features, a notification popped up from the top of the screen.
[Genius Bar 💚: Hope you have a great day today 😊]
Riku’s eyes widened as he almost choked on his soda. “Genius Bar? Is that who I think it is or is that another new feature?”
Yushi’s ears went pink as he quickly swiped up the notification and locked the screen. “It’s just—he helped me set it up. That’s all.”
“The world works in amazing ways for you, huh. I can’t believe you turned multiple tech mishaps into a love story. I can’t even get customer service to answer my questions most of the time,” exclaimed Riku.
Yushi just laughed, the blush on his face refusing to fade. The world really does work in crazy ways.
And after a moment, Riku suddenly asks, “So, does Daeyoung have a friend or something?”