Welcome to the Exodus Mall
The Kingdome still stands and Ken Griffey Jr. knocks out home runs night after night. Bill Clinton enters his second term as President. Pop music is edging out the grunge scene. The technology boom is taking over. And for the employees of the Exodus Mall, it’s a year of romance, longing, and misconceptions in the Emerald City.
↳ Incredible moodboards made for the first 7 fics in this series! 😍
It’s been two years since you opened the bookstore across from KMS Music. Two long years of falling in love with its sexy and sarcastic owner, never imagining that he might feel the same. You’ve always preferred fiction over reality; books and stories just seemed to be inexplicably better, and safer, than real life. But when an unexpected present is delivered on your store’s two year anniversary, you think you might have found the one person who can tempt you to leave the fantasy world and chase something real.
↳ Bonus: It was a love song, after all - Minseok and Bookworm get ready to tie the knot after two years of mutual pining, a year of dating, and surprisingly soft Christmas Eve proposal.
Cursing yourself for not majoring in something more practical, you struggle to find work after graduation. On the recommendation of a friend you finally take a temporary job working at Sinful, the chocolate store in the mall, for the Valentine’s Day season. You think that the name is perfectly suited to the man who runs it, Yixing. Sensual, talented, and creative, you can’t wait to get to work everyday to see him. You chastise yourself for having these feelings about your boss, but don’t seem to be able to stop. When the season ends he surprises you both, deciding that he wants to keep you in his life, as more than just an employee.
Quiet, observant, and whip smart, Kyungsoo keeps Barada Pizza running behind the scenes. Whether he’s firing up pizzas in the large stone ovens or slaving away over paperwork at night, his focus is on keeping the business going. He’s kept his nose to the grindstone for years, desperate to prove his family wrong, and lately he’s forgotten how to look up and see anything else. When you barge into his life, a wildfire of a woman in disguise as a waitress, he finds that for the first time in ages he can’t look away.
↳ Bonus: Two Left Feet - you and Soo taking dance lessons before your wedding
↳ Bonus: The benefit of longing - An unexpected surge of jealousy while you’re out of town at a conference pushes Kyungsoo to finally ask you a question that scares him more than anything.
When you transferred to the Seattle branch of Starlight Apparel from California you never expected to take such an immediate dislike to one of your co-workers. But to be fair, he brought it on himself by being such an ass to you first. Sparks fly and tempers flare as you clash time and time again, neither missing an opportunity to provoke the other. But one long night locked together in an electrical closet during a power outage forces you and Sehun to reconsider your opinions of each other.
↳ Bonus: Like an old married couple - Sehun and Starlight are ready to head out for a weekend of camping and music with your friends, as long as your arguing doesn’t throw a wrench into things.
If Kyungsoo is the brains behind Barada Pizza, Chanyeol is the bravado. Flirting with customers young and old in his loud and cheerful voice, in between calling out orders. With his ability to seemingly remember every customer’s name and order it’s no surprise that everyone who meets him falls in love. Outside of work he has no problem living up to his nickname of Playboy Park, with his personality and good looks. But beneath his bravado is a heart that he gave away years ago, to a girl who won’t even give him the time of day anymore.
↳ Bonus: Our Firsts/My Lasts - Chanyeol reflects on your relationship’s history while he writes his vows.
↳ Bonus: The Breaking - a prequel to All Our Broken Places. Warning: SAD AF, ANGSTY 😂
The front desk job at the KOKO Exercise Studio was supposed to be your fresh start, somewhere new to escape the past. If only your ex-fiancé could take the hint. When he starts invading your life once again, stopping by constantly, the last person you would have expected comes to your defense. The edgy, brooding dance teacher Jongin is definitely not how you imagined your prince charming, but he might prove to be just the man you need.
They always say opposites attract, but you and Tao are putting that theory to the test. He works nights at Flanagan’s, you work the crack of dawn shift at Starbucks. He wears leather jackets, swears like a sailor, and drives a motorcycle. You prefer Keds to Chucks, study poetry at UW, and ride a pastel purple bike across town. Luckily, he’s not someone who’s afraid of a challenge.
Chen’s Electronics is a mystery, both how the store came to be and the man running it. Some say Jongdae’s a genuis with an IQ of 157, a prodigy kicked out of University for being smarter than his professors. Some say he made his fortune young and got out of the tech industry early. No one knows where he came from, they just know he’s the only one they trust to fix their computers. When you start working as a receptionist for the enigma that is Kim Jongdae you’re determined to be the one who unravels the mystery.
Having a hard time finding a 17th Century pocket watch? An antique Tiffany lamp? A first edition, signed copy of East of Eden by John Steinbeck? Ask anyone in Seattle and they’ll point you to Guardians, a hole in the wall collectables shop known for tracking down anything hard to find. If only the single dad running it could find what he’s looking for; if only he could figure out who he’s looking for. When you start working at the mall daycare and he sees you playing with his son, with your joyful presence and endless patience, he suddenly realizes exactly what his life is missing: you.
You and your best friend Baekhyun have worked at the movie theater for years. Starting in high school, all the way through college, and now on nights and weekends while you work your “real jobs” during the day. The energy, the free movies, and Baek’s entertaining personality make it the perfect escape from the stress of the corporate world. All of your friends marvel at the fact that you two seem to have dispelled the myth that a man and woman can’t be just friends. But Halloween night at the mall turns everything on its head, in more ways than one.
↳ Bonus: New Year, Same Baekhyun Hitch and Baek’s New Year’s tradition is a bit more charged than usual after a challenge issued by their favorite waitress.
