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"Can you fill a Venti cup with espresso?" He hadn't even have time to give the proper company greeting when that sentence reached his ears and it took him all his strength to manage and keep his measured-but-make-it-look-natural smile.
"E-Excuse me?" Usually, whenever Hyukjae asked a customer to repeat their order they tended to get this punchable expression on their faces, as if he was dumb or something and not just an overworked dude trying his best to make ends meet being just another cog in the machine. He hated that.
But the guy in front of him didn't do it. He didn't smile, either, or tried to crack a joke. He just asked again, same inflection in his voice, same gesture upon his face.
“Can you fill a Venti cup with espresso?”
“Yes? It’ll be expensive, though.” He finally came to his senses as his fingers moved around the touchscreen of the register, trying to find how to write down such a hellish order.
“Price is the furthest thing from my mind right now.”
“O..okay.” The price was blinking on the screen and Hyukjae grabbed a cup while trying to keep his hand steady enough to write the order on the side.
He passed the cup to Heechul, who was supposedly in charge of the coffee machine that day but with the sun almost setting and their shifts on a slow point he was just making puppy eyes at their manager. He coughed without breaking eye contact with the only customer in line trying to make his colleague snap out of it.
When the cup finally left his hands there was an audible gasp over the noises of a late afternoon in an almost empty cafe and the lame corporate radio station.
"What the fuck, Hyuk"
"Language!" The voice of the manager could be heard from the small portion of the counter he had claimed at his while trying to balance the weekly stock. For once Hyukjae was thankful for the no cursing at work policy as it kinda broke the weird, dark atmosphere that was forming behind the counter.
The espresso was taking so long. Did it always take so long? Well of course not, no-one ever asked for a full cup of espresso, that was going to take ages. Hyukjae was trying his best to not start tapping his fingers at the register, feeling those dark eyes that looked like some kind of bottomless pit staring at him.
Was he perhaps suicidal? Could people die by having too much caffeine? Was he about to find out? Would they get a couple of free days if the police got involved?
The soft sound of the cup hitting the counter made him lose his train of thought, sending his face back to "corporate approved smile that did not quite reached the eyes because it's impossible to work in a place like this without losing all hope in humanity"
"Your order! Please, enjoy!" The guy just reached forward, gave him a slight nod and left his place in front of the register making his way to the milk bar. He stared at it for a moment, decided to add a dollop of cream, smiled to himself as if that had been the best idea he had had in years and left quietly.
Hyukjae closed his eyes for an instant, sighing as he had just survived a weird encounter with some kind of eldritch entity when he felt an elbow hitting him just below his ribcage.
"Well mark me down as scared and horny."
“You’re insufferable. And we could have died.” Heechul was now leaning over the counter, biting down a straw and checking the clock every few seconds. Only a couple of hours left now until their shifts ended.
“I mean, who the hell orders something like that?” Hyukjae had joined him now, something that earned both of them a glare from the manager followed by a deep sigh. Heechul just laughed.
“Probably a psychopath. Or, you know, a college student. Finals are just around the corner.”
“What do you even know about college anyways?”
“I’ll have you know I took two years at an art school.”
“And you’re now stuck here with me, so I guess it wasn’t great.”
“Well, at least I didn’t major in economics to end up working at a Starbucks, could you imagine that?” The laugh echoed throughout the establishment as his eyes focused back on the figure of the manager, still surrounded by receipts and forms. He just laughed dryly without raising his gaze.
“I really don’t know why I gave you that positive review last semester.” Heechul just blew a kiss in his direction and laughed again.
By next Friday Hyukjae had kind of forgotten about the could-be-a-serial-killer. If someone wasn’t a regular he was not going to put any effort whatsoever into memorizing their faces.
But, more or less around the same time, as the sun was setting, he came into the cafe again.
“Well, I guess you can’t die of caffeine overdose then” He whispered to himself and this once, not being caught by surprise like last week, he took the time to discreetly look at the guy. And okay, maybe Heechul was right after all; he was kinda cute. Even if the dark bags under his eyes made him look like he hadn’t slept in weeks. Which, then again, considering what he was ordering, could be true.
The guy seemed to be looking for something in the small purse he had taken out of his messenger bag and before his order was ready, he left a couple of bills and coins on the counter.
“A tip.” His voice had turned just a tiny bit softer and Hyukjae quickly put the money away on the tip jar, with his brightest smile upon his lips.
“Thank you so much, sir! Please enjoy your order!!” And as he picked it up from the counter he smiled back at him. It was the tiniest smile but Hyukjae felt his stomach flutter for a moment. Okay, definitely cute, and probably still a serial killer but hey, who cared?
As he did once again the same dance through the cafe, added some cream to the monstrosity in his hands, took a sip and left with a tired smile, Heechul crept behind Hyukjae and whispered in his ear “Well mark you down as scared and horny.”
“You really are an ass.”
By next Friday Hyukjae was kind of expecting the visit of their new allegedly friendly eldritch caffeine driven entity and the moment he saw him through the windows he pushed Heechul away from the register and hushed him towards the coffee machine as his friend just rolled his eyes.
“So, same as always?” He said with his best smile which, as far as he knew, was a pretty good one. That sentence seemed to surprise the guy, but a second later he just nodded and smiled back at him. Once again he left a tip over the counter that Hyukjae happily took and, just as he was about to pass him his cup he paused for a second, an idea popping into his mind.
“Are you gonna add cream to this one too?” The guy chuckled nervously and shrugged, and Hyukjae realized his lips made a way too cute heart shaped smile whenever it grew larger. “Definitely cute”
“Okay, give me a second.” He disappeared towards the coffee machine as Heechul leaned over the counter and mouthed a “He’s weird I’m so sorry” towards the customer, who just chuckled again. “We use this one for some of the orders” He came back with a jar in his hand. “It’s… kinda better than the free one”
“Well… thank you?” Hyukjae felt weirdly happy by the way the random guy with the weird order and possibly a corpse in the truck of his car just kept smiling at him as he was adding the cream to his coffee and finally gave it to him. And he also felt his stomach flutter once again as the guy took a sip and nodded back at him.
“Have a nice day… night… whatever!”
When next Friday arrived, he had a plan. Well, he had something that kinda resembled a plan but hey, life behind the counter was pretty boring so.
Thus, as he greeted their resident caffeine addict once again and his hand was reaching for the cup he just blurted it out.
“I know there’s no one else in line waiting for their order but theoretically I’m supposed to ask for a name to put in your cup. You know, company orders and all that.” The guy was rummaging through his purse, looking for the now familiar tip when his hand stopped and his eyes focused on Hyukjae, a sharper look on them, and Hyukjae gulped nervously. “If he really is a serial killer you just fucked up, you know that don’t you?”
“Shouldn’t you have asked before, then?” Surprisingly enough, there was a tone in his voice that sounded as if he was actually enjoying this.
“Well… yeah. But better late than never, right?” Hyukjae's voice betrayed his nervousness but it was kinda hard to focus with that gaze upon him, truth be told.
And, since he was not answering, he tried to reach the sharpie by the counter.
"It's okay, I can write something else if you don't wanna give me your-
"Jongwoon."
"Oh, great, I'll remember it, don't you worry. I'm great with names." He quickly scribbled on the side of the cup, adding a smiley face above it, and passed it to Heechul who was visibly trying to hold back a laugh looking at them.
"So…" He began saying once the coffee machine started making noise. "Finals?"
"Huh? Oh, yes. Last year. Lots to do, not much time to sleep." Hyukjae chuckled. Okay, maybe he wasn't that scary after all.
"Yeah, I figured as much. I mean..." As he replied he left his eyes wander quickly towards the coffee machine and, as his gaze turned back to Jongwoon he was surprised to see that he was blushing. "Oh god, I'm so so fucked." Were scary eldritch caffeine driven abominations even allowed to be that cute? He was sure there were rules against it.
"I didn't mean it in the wrong way!" He quickly added with the biggest smile he could muster. "You should see the kind of weird orders we get sometimes. People are nuts, I swear" And even if he was still blushing, Hyukjae felt himself relax a little once he smiled back at him.
"Same time next week?" He asked as he passed him the cup and, okay, maybe he held on to the cup just a tiny bit longer than necessary, and maybe their fingers touched for a moment, and maybe Hyukjae was sure that his ears were burning. And maybe, just maybe, Jongwoon's blush had come back and he really shouldn't be having a stupid crush over a customer he had just seen a couple of times but.
But.
"Same time next week." And suddenly he was gone, and Heechul's arm was over his shoulders as he shook him.
"That was smooth as fuck, my man. Kudos to you."
"You really shouldn't be flirting with the customers, and you know that" Both of them jumped, suddenly startled by the tired voice behind them.
"Oh, so flirting with the manager is okay then?" Heechul quickly answered back, turning his head to give him a wink.
"You- I mean. Argh" He snorted and Heechul's laugh filled Hyukjae's ears, but he wasn't really paying attention. His mind was somewhere else, trying to think why he had felt the need to just lunge himself over the counter and kiss that dumb smile on Jongwoon's face.
And so, next Friday came, the sun set and there was no trace of their eldritch abomination who perhaps answered to the name Jongwoon.. And it shouldn’t be affecting Hyukjae at all, because people had a life that didn’t include dropping by the same Starbucks every week at the same time, and maybe he had kind of crossed a line last time. And yes, he had said “Same time next week” and Hyukjae was pretty sure he had not misread him, but people gave fake names and numbers all the time. Okay, it was mostly him, but.
Maybe it was karma finally coming to bite him in the ass.
“I swear to god if you don’t stop fidgeting I'm gonna lock you down in the storage room.” Heechul’s voice startled him and realized he had been tapping his fingers against the counter for God knows how long now.
“Is this about that guy?” He joined him while sipping a coffee he really wasn’t allowed to serve for himself but the manager was busy making phone calls so who really cared? It wasn’t as if they were gonna make the company go bankrupt or something. Hyukjae just shrugged.
“I dunno. Maybe? And before you say anything, I know I’m being silly as fuck. But.”
“But…?”
“I said I dunno. He was cute. And weird. Usually the weirdos look like weirdos.” Heechul just chuckled.
“So, you know I’m awesome, right?” Now it was Hyukjae’s turn to chuckle.
“If you say so…”
“You’re supposed to say ‘yes, of course I know, you’re simply the greatest’ back at me. Anyways. I’m awesome. And a goddamn social butterfly and everybody loves me and blah blah blah.”
“Yeah, say that to you know who.” As his elbows rested on the counter he turned his gaze to the office at the back of the cafe.
“That’s a work in progress you brat.”
“It’s been one for almost a year, I’d say it’s a lost cause.”
“These things take time sometimes. As I was saying” he finished his coffee and threw the cup at the trashcan making quite a big deal out of it. “Social butterfly, I know pretty much everyone. And a lot of college students because those nerds seem to grow on trees now or something. Fucking nerds. Anyways, I talked to a friend, who told me there’s a student library he goes to just a few blocks from here. Opens all night apparently, full of college students. Maybe there’s where your psycho killer has his lair or something.” Hyukjae gave him a confused look.
“Yeah, don’t look at me like that you brat, just trying to get you laid.”
“So, what are you saying? That I should just burst in and look for a customer I’ve seen just a couple of times in case he’s there? Like his not gonna put a restraining order against my ass or something after that?”
“Firstly, I’m just trying to help you, you ungrateful brat. Secondly, no.” He went back to the coffee machine and started working on a new order. “So, my friend. You know him, he’s dropped by a couple of times before. Donghae, tiny, looks like a baby, behaves like an actual baby, I love him to bits, would actually stab someone if he asked, not that I need much encouraging” Hyukjae nodded. Sometimes Heechul’s friends dropped by to say hi and get something to go. “Okay, so I told him about this, he laughed at you for like 5 minutes straight and told me there’s a couple of dudes who go there on Friday to cram all weekend for finals. And a few of them who look like a corpse that just stepped out of the tomb. Like most college students, I guess. That’s why I left, actually. That shit does awful things to your skin. Anyways, I digress” He finished the order and wrote Donghae surrounded by little hearts on the side of the cup. “Like an hour ago I told him you needed an excuse to drop by and not look like a fucking deranged person so here.” He passed the cup to him and smiled.
Hyukjae, who had been trying his hardest to follow Heechul’s ramblings, gave him a confused look.
“C’mon, go get him boy, I’m cheering for you, we’ll close down here.”
“... I guess I owe you one?” He finally snapped out of it, grinning while taking off his apron and grabbing the coffee.
“Yeah you do, you’re gonna be cleaning that hellish frappuccino machine for a whole month.”
“How do I look?” He tried to fix his hair and shirt looking at the mirror behind the counter.
“Fucking prince charming right here. I sent the address to your cell phone. Don’t forget to text me if you get laid!” He practically screamed as Hyukjae rushed out of the door, cup in hand.
He turned back, almost grinning, to find Jungsoo standing behind him. God he could be sneaky sometimes.
“Did you just…?”
“Shhh, don’t say anything, give the man a break. Also, it’ll be fun. You, me, dim lights, late at night, a whole floor to sweep. That’s almost a date.” He gave him a wink and went back to the register.
When he arrived at the library not even 10 minutes later he had to stop and check himself on the windows. He didn’t look much like a creep, did he? And he did have a nice excuse, thanks to Heechul. And, worst case scenario, he wouldn’t be there but at least he had left work early so it was actually not a bad scenario after all.
Okay, the worst case scenario was actually seeing him there and him kicking the life out of him or something for being kind of a creep but he hoped it wouldn’t get to that.
He was mustering his strength by the door when suddenly he felt someone behind him and he turned around, startled. And there he was, a look of surprise in his eyes and Hyukjae was pretty sure he was going to meet his maker in less than a minute now. Or the cops. Whomever could reach him the fastest. Could he still work at Starbucks with a criminal record? Probably yes, those guys hired anyone.
“I thought I recognized you.”
“Oh. Oh. What a fancy meeting you here!” Smooth. Reeeeeeally smooth. “Jongwoon, right?” “As if you could forget it you asshole” He hadn’t said anything more but Hyukjae could feel his eyes focused on him, a pensive look on his face. Well, that was definitely better than anger. He could roll with that. “I’m supposed to give this to a friend, he comes here on the weekends” He finally managed to say, shaking the cup he still held in his hands in front of him.
Jongwoon was just about to say something when a voice startled both of them.
“Hey, there you are!” A group of college students had just appeared out of nowhere and one of them, Heechul’s friend, was walking towards him, trying and failing to hide the coffee cup he already had in his hand behind his back. “Is that my coffee? The coffee I needed to survive? The coffee I’d give my life for right now because I’m dying in here? You are a life-saver, an angel, 100% boyfriend material, no one deserves you, really” As he spoke he winked at Jongwoon and took the cup, walking backwards towards his friends, who were not really trying to hide their chuckles. Hyukjae wanted to die. Maybe if he jumped really quickly towards the road…
“Best dude ever, I swear!! There’s no one better than him in this whole city!!” He screamed before finally turning his back towards them as the whole group burst into laughter.
Silence fell over them and Hyukjae was now pretty scared to raise his gaze. After a full minute like that he finally sighed and decided he had nothing else to lose.
“So...huh… sorry about that. Wanna... go grab something? I’ll pay.” Jongwoon's loud laugh filled his ears and for a small moment he decided he was laughing at him. Which was a possibility after all, and better than getting beaten up. But by the way he looked at him once he had managed to stop laughing he was kinda sure that wasn’t it. And then he pointed at its own cup in his hand which Hyukjae had failed miserably at spotting. He really should stop looking at his face like that.
“I did stop for a coffee on my way here. You weren’t there though.” Perhaps he was imagining things now, but he could swear his voice had turned just a pinch softer when that last sentence left his lips.
“Well it’s two hours past your time.” He just blurted out, and realized just what he had said once it was too late to stop himself. Bloody mouth of his. But again he didn’t seem to mind, as he chuckled under his breath, tilting his head sideways as he looked at him.
“I didn’t know I had a time now. Had you been keeping track?” Hyukjae wanted to die, right there, right at that precise instant. And he really wanted to say something back, a nice excuse or just about anything to save his ass but Jongwoon just chuckled again and held down his free hand towards him. “You didn’t give me your name, though.”
“Hyukjae, it’s Hyukjae.” He thanked the heavens for this as he shook his hand and his stomach started doing its thing again the moment he felt his fingers on his skin.
“Nice to meet you, then, Hyukjae.” That heart shaped smile was back on his lips now as he said his name and oh god, what had he gotten himself into. And he was also holding his hand for just a bit more than it was necessary and Hyukjae was pretty sure now that after all that begging he must have finally died and went to heaven or something like that.
“So… if not coffee… Dinner, maybe? I’m still paying, though.”
“So that's where my tips go?” Hyukjae could feel his cheeks turning red but found himself chuckling anyways. They were still holding hands, were they? He couldn't care less.
“Well… yeah?”
“Then sure, let’s go grab something.”