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”Here comes trouble~” Baekhyun lowly singsongs while organizing coffee cups and glasses on the back shelf and then proceeds on humming I got a boy a bit too loudly and enthusiastically, making Minseok roll his eyes by the counter. It’s an early Thursday afternoon and the café is quiet with only a couple of customers. It’s during slow times like that when Baekhyun usually starts humming and singing by himself out of boredom. Minseok doesn’t usually mind that much but Baekhyun has a bad habit of getting stuck to certain SNSD songs.
The café they work at is relatively close to the university and thus pretty popular with the students. Minseok has been working there since his first year; he loves coffee and being a barista has always been one of his dream jobs. On the contrary, Baekhyun hates coffee, basically got the part time job thanks to Minseok and is only doing it for the money. Or so he says. In Minseok’s opinion, Baekhyun is a natural at customer service with his easy-going and chatty personality and charming smile that seems to make many customers come back again and again.
There’s particularly one person who comes exceptionally often. He’s there at the very moment, sitting at the table by the window with a laptop, pile of books and a coffee, a slightly bored looking friend sitting across the table. Minseok throws glances at the tall, silver-haired boy over the counter while wiping it for the fifth time. Park Chanyeol seems to reside at his usual table always when Baekhyun has a shift. While Minseok definitely doesn't mind regulars, he does find the way Park Chanyeol sometimes curiously glances or stares at Baekhyun a bit creepy. The guy never tries to chat up while or after ordering (which most of the other regulars do without a fail), just always orders Americano, always sits at the same table, always stares, and for some reason fills Minseok with uneasiness. When he’s tried talking with Baekhyun about it, the other has just shrugged it off, completely unconcerned.
But Minseok thinks it’s weird. There’s something weird in general about the trio that consists of Park Chanyeol, the guy sitting across him right then (Kim Jong-something, Minseok doesn’t remember) and the tall popular kid with pink-ish hair. He doesn’t believe all the headless rumors he hears around but he can’t help feeling slightly wary around them.
The phone buzzing in his pocket snaps Minseok out of his thoughts, and when he looks, he sees a message from Sehun.
Meet me at the café. I have something totally creepy and crazy to tell you.
Minseok raises his brows at his phone. Talk about weird. He glances over at Baekhyun, who also has a phone in his hand.
”Did you-?”
”Yeah,” Baekhyun answers right away and snorts. ”I wonder what’s up this time.”
When it’s Sehun, it’s usually about girls and how many he’s managed to hook up with that week and then ditch the next day; lots of TMI stuff that Minseok could easily live without.
Baekhyun sends a couple of anticipating and questioning stickers on their group chat and they start waiting for their younger friend to make an appearance.
At the table by the window, Chanyeol is sipping his Americano and pretending to work on his essay but over and over again finding himself being distracted by a Youtube video, gossip article or some music forum post. Opposite of him, Jongdae is fiddling with his phone, his whole being radiating boredom.
“You don’t have to keep me company,” Chanyeol finally says. “I just really need to get this damn thing finished.”
“It’s okay,” Jongdae answers and pushes himself up to sit a bit straighter. “I’d just we rather hang out on some other café…”
“I like it here,” Chanyeol shrugs.
“You like to ogle that waiter,” Jongdae deadpans and then yelps when Chanyeol throws a balled up napkin at him. “It’s true!”
“Shut up,” Chanyeol mutters and tries to hide behind his laptop screen with little to no success. Jongdae may be right, partly, but Chanyeol doesn’t really want to talk about it, especially since he hasn’t been able to muster enough courage to actually talk to the guy other than when ordering his drinks. They even have a couple of same courses, but while Chanyeol sits at the far back by himself (or with Jongdae), Baekhyun is always surrounded by other people, often the center of attention and clearly very popular with everyone. The gap between them feels enormous, too big for someone like Chanyeol to ever even try crossing. So he’s settled for sitting at the café, buying coffee from Baekhyun and trying not to be too obvious with his staring, which he clearly fails at.
“Anyway,” Jongdae says after a moment, “it feels like the other barista is glaring at us all the time, it makes me feel uncomfortable.”
“Why? You don’t give a fuck if people glare at you at school.”
“I don’t knoow,” Jongdae pouts and throws a quick glance at the dark-haired worker, who’s talking with Baekhyun behind the counter right then.
“I said that you don’t have to keep me company,” Chanyeol sighs.
“I don’t have anything better to do right now, to be honest,” Jongdae admits. “Jongin is still in class and I don’t feel like going home…”
“Well, then you can help me with this essay?”
“Hell no.”
“If I buy you coffee?”
“Um... Maybe?”
“Okay!” Chanyeol grins, grabs his wallet and stands up.
He’s taken a couple of steps towards the counter when the door to the café suddenly flies open, the bell tingling, and a tall student that Chanyeol recognizes as Oh Sehun barges in. He looks like he’s run all the way to the café, out of breath and hair a total mess. When he notices Chanyeol, he twitches slightly, eyes widening in horror and then he half-runs to the counter, almost tripping at his own legs on the way.
Chanyeol just stands there, dumbfounded, and looks back at Jongdae, like expecting his friend to explain the situation. Jongdae looks from Sehun to Chanyeol and just shrugs.
“And they think we’re weird.”