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It’s becoming a routine now. Nine in the morning on Mondays and Wednesdays are for sleeping in an extra hour since his first class starts at two in the afternoon. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, nine in the morning is for running breathlessly to catch the bus just so he won’t miss his 9:30 class (he’s still late for it though; he’s always late for College Algebra), and on Fridays— well, Soobin loves 9am on Fridays the most out of all of the days of the week, out of all the hours of the day.
His bestfriend, Kai, squints at him in frustration, the curls of his hair still a disheveled mess and the dark circles underneath his eyes brought upon by the all-nighters he had pulled the previous week still clearly visible. “You know I really hate you right at this very moment, right?”
Soobin gives him a sheepish grin before he gets up from the bench he had been waiting at. “I’ll treat you today, I promise. Whatever you want!”
“I want their big breakfast platter and a Mint Choco frappe,” Kai says in between yawns, pulling down the drawstrings of his hoodie. Soobin internally cries at the thought of the remainder of his allowance splitting into half in just one meal but nods in acknowledgment regardless. “Alright, lover boy, lead the way.”
For Soobin, 9am on Fridays is for getting up two hours earlier just so he can pick out a cute outfit and not miss the bus that reaches the university town center at 8:45. 9am on Fridays is for calling Kai, who just lives nearby 13th street, to go get breakfast with him even when the boy would much rather sleep in than wake up this early over waffles. 9am on Fridays is for spending two hours inside the small coffee shop at the corner of 13th street, reading a book he hasn’t even moved past the third sentence of the first page yet and trying to finish a cup of Americano he’s been pretending to like for almost three months now—all of these for the cute blond boy in the black apron who mans the register at this time of the day, on this day of the week.
“Good morning! Welcome to Blue Orangeade Cafe!” he hears the boy say the moment he opens the front door.
He’s here today too. Soobin fights back a smile and just nods, eyes not leaving the floor as he makes his way straight to his usual spot—the window seat three tables away from the counter but has the best view of it regardless. From his peripheral, he can see him facing his direction but Soobin tries not to think too much about it as he takes a seat and Kai does the same across from him.
“Is today finally the day?” Kai breaks into an amused grin, pulling down the hood of his jacket. “Is today finally the day my beloved Soobin hyung have been waiting for?”
“Finally the day for what?” Soobin feigns innocence, pretending to check his phone for imaginary text messages even though he knows Kai can clearly see there’s nothing there.
“Go start a conversation with him today.”
“We’ve...we’ve talked,” Soobin answers, biting on the inside of his cheek. “A few times.”
“Hyung, I’m pretty sure him asking for your order and you answering your most hated drink in existence for who knows what reason doesn’t count as a conversation.”
Soobin slumps on his seat. “I’m trying, okay?”
“Well, try harder.” Soobin quickly sits up properly just to flick Kai on the forehead. “Ow! That actually hurt, you know. Are your fingers made out of steel?”
“I don’t like being pressured, okay? I will talk to him...eventually.”
“Hyung,” Kai lets out a sigh. “That ‘eventually’ has been stretching out for three whole months now. You’ve been buying this guy’s Americano for three whole months, yet you still don’t even know his name, much more have his number.”
Soobin fights back a blush. “I’ll get his name today, okay!”
“His name is literally pinned on his apron! You could’ve gotten it a long time ago,” Kai says exasperatedly. “Please don’t tell me it’s because you got distracted by his beautiful brown eyes that’s why you can’t be bothered to look down on his nameplate.”
“I wasn’t planning on saying that!” Soobin’s face turns even more red. “And it’s actually his voice that’s distracting...” he continues in a whisper.
“God, you’re hopeless.”
Soobin squints at him. “I don’t think you have the right to say that when you have made no progress whatsoever with Tae—”
“Alright, alright! Go order now!” It’s Kai’s turn now to blush.
“Okay,” Soobin gets up and does a small ‘fighting’ to himself. “Alright, Soobin, you can do this. You can do this.”
“Please don’t embarrass yourself. I will not hesitate to bolt out of this building immediately.” Soobin ignores Kai’s remark and heads his way towards the counter, heart beating just a tad bit faster than the time when he was presenting in front of a huge audience for choir.
Soobin remembers the first time he came up to this counter three months ago. It was an unprecedented event really. He woke up after a rough sleepless week thinking it was Thursday instead of Friday and got ready for a non-existent 9:30am class when his supposed first class of the day was still at two in the afternoon. Every other coffee shop on the block that he frequents in was packed for some reason that day, and while looking for a place to pass the time in, he stumbled upon Blue Orangeade Cafe by chance.
Two things made him choose to stay around that day: the place blasting his favorite singer, Bebe Rexha’s ‘Meant to Be’ and the blond boy with pretty eyes manning the counter who had been the first to ask him if he was okay all week, and Soobin just felt the need to see him again after that day.
It’s just a small harmless crush, that’s all—is what Soobin chants in his head all the time. Crushes are supposed to be like that, a small but certain happiness that helps you get through the day. A little warmth in your chest that gives you that fleeting feeling just right until it slowly burns out naturally all on its own.
But for some reason, every glimpse of the boy’s smile just seems to make the fire burn even brighter, and this might just be the one fire Soobin wants to get closer to as much as the fact that he barely knows anything about this fire scares him.
The boy lifts his head up to look at him as Soobin is three steps away from the counter.
“Finally thought of what to order?” His tone is as friendly as always.
“Uh, yeah,” Soobin barely squeaks out. “I’ll have—”
“The usual?”
By usual, Soobin knows he means their special Belgian waffles and the Americano, and just the thought of drinking that again is enough to make Soobin’s head spin. “Yeah, I’ll have the usual.” Goddammit.
“What about your boyfriend?”
Soobin blinks in confusion. “What?”
The boy nudges his head towards Kai’s direction, and Soobin almost screams.
“The one in the blue hoodie who looks like he needs three weeks of sleep, what will he be having?”
“Oh my god, no! Kai’s not my boyfriend!”
The boy is quiet for a moment, clearly taken aback from the sudden rise of tone in Soobin’s voice. “He isn’t? You look cute together, though?”
“He really isn’t, oh my God,” Soobin shakes his hand frantically. “He’s just a friend.”
“A friend...that you secretly like...?” There’s a smile creeping on his face and Soobin can tell he’s clearly enjoying the sight of him flustered. He feels the strong urge to dig up a hole on the ground and just hide there until he’s out of sight.
“Not that either! He’s only just a friend.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Not even a crush?”
“Definitely not.”
“For real?”
“Yes.”
“So you’re not seeing anyone right now?”
“Uh, no.”
“No one at all?”
Soobin has no idea where this is going.
“Alright,” the boy grins. “That’s good to know.”
Soobin barely hears the last part so he asks again just to be sure. The boy doesn’t answer and just shrugs, punching in Soobin’s order on the register. “Alright, one order of Belgian waffles and an iced Americano for Soobin. What will Soobin’s friend be having?”
Soobin tries not to think too much of the fact that the boy just said his name even before he had told him, when he usually still asks for it before he takes his order even though he’s been here for twelve straight Fridays now.
“The big breakfast platter, and a Mint Choco frappe.”
The boy repeats his order and tells him the fee. Soobin hands him the exact amount, trying hard to avoid eye contact. He’s not sure if he’s imagining it but he thinks he hears a slight chuckle.
“I’ll ring the bell once your order is ready.”
Soobin nods. “Alright, thank you.”
“Beomgyu.”
Soobin’s head lifts up in confusion. The boy’s smiling at him.
“My name is Beomgyu. I just thought I’d let you know if I’ll be seeing you around more often,” The boy—Beomgyu—lets out a nonchalant shrug before going inside the kitchen, and Soobin doesn’t need a mirror to see just how red his face is, or Kai comparing his face to a stop light when he got back to his seat.
It’s no longer Beomgyu who manned the register and called out his name when their order was ready, but Soobin’s heart is still on his throat for that to matter. He just had an actual conversation—even though it wasn’t really that much—with the boy he’s been crushing on for a while now, as well as a name to hold on to.
Beomgyu, Beomgyu, Beomgyu. Soobin can’t help but break into a smile.
“You know,” Kai starts before stopping abruptly and then bursting into a fit of laughter.
“What’s the matter with you?” Soobin asks after a mouthful of waffles.
Kai points to the plastic cup holding his iced Americano. “Is your name a South Korean phone number now?”
Soobin’s eyes widen as he immediately grabs the cup to check. There, written with shaky marker ink are digits to a phone number as well as a small ‘B’ right below it. “Oh my God.”
“Aren’t you gonna save it?” He hears someone say behind him, and before Soobin can even turn around, an outstretched arm blocks him from doing so. Beomgyu puts down another drink.
Soobin feels his ears turn red as he points to the cup of iced Caramel Macchiato “I didn’t order this.”
“It’s on the house,” Beomgyu tells him, tone clearly amused. “For putting up with all those cups of Americano even though you don’t like them.”
Soobin blushes even harder, and quickly turns to face him. “It’s not that I don’t like them—”
“Please. Every time you take a sip, you look like you’re about to cry!” Kai cuts him off exasperatedly.
“Kai, shut up!”
“No, I won’t shut up. Please, it’s so obvious.”
“Kai!”
Beomgyu bursts out laughing. “I’ve been waiting for you to order something different honestly, but you seem like you’re up for the challenge all the time.”
“It’s because he thinks it makes you happy if he orders Americano since that’s what you recommended to him before—” Kai almost falls over when Soobin immediately covers his mouth shut.
“Kai, I swear to God—”
“I don’t even like Americano that much,” Beomgyu blurts out and Kai bursts out laughing. Soobin melts in his seat.
“Why did you recommend it to me before then?” Soobin almost cries.
Beomgyu holds back a laugh, “It’s what the boss tells us to recommend to customers.”
Kai bursts into another fit of laughter. “Three months. Twelve Fridays filled with Americano. Hyung, you really outdid yourself this time.”
“Kai, please stop talking,” Soobin whispers, steering clear from looking at Beomgyu’s face even though he can clearly see from his peripheral that he’s looking at his direction.
“Anyway, I better get back to work before Yeonjun hyung yells at me for leaving the counter too long,” Beomgyu tells them. “I’ll see you two around?”
“Yeah,” Soobin barely lets out. He finally looks at him this time. “Thanks for the macchiato.”
“No problem,” Beomgyu grins. “Also, you forgot your receipt earlier,” he hands him a piece of paper before slowly walking back to the counter.
“But I didn’t..?”
Beomgyu shrugs, a good distance away. “Better double check and come to me if you have any concerns.”
Soobin turns his eyes on the small slip of paper on his hands.
Hi. My name is Beomgyu, and I’m currently in a second year in university. I part-time in a small coffee shop at the corner of 13th street every Friday morning. No, not really. My shift is actually every Thursday evening ‘til Friday 6am, but I like extending until lunch just so I could catch this cute tall boy that I took the order of the one time I substituted for Yeonjun hyung. He’s been coming to the shop every 9am on Fridays for the past three months, and I’ve been wanting to talk to him for a while now. I just gave him my phone number today, so I hope he contacts me if he’s down to have dinner later tonight. I’d like to get to know him even more.
Soobin holds back a smile as he looks up to see Beomgyu already looking at him from the counter, mouthing “So?”. He picks up his phone and dials the number written on his cup.
“My class ends at 6pm. Where should we meet? -S.”
Soobin hears a loud ‘yes’ from his direction and sees Beomgyu getting scolded for using his phone at work. Soobin lets out a laugh.
Yeah, he definitely doesn’t mind letting this little flame on his chest spread slowly into a wildfire for now.