Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Jaejoong sighed as he finished arranging the sweets display, barely resisting the urge to eat some of it. Today wouldn’t be busy, as it was the day after Christmas, but that was the whole problem. Without the distraction and noise brought by customers he really felt like he would fall asleep standing up. Stifling a yawn, he decided to try thinking of all the parts of a cell and their functions to stay awake.
“Hey, how was your family?” a familiar voice asked to his left, interrupting his list at “mitochondria”.
He smiled, remembering last night, “They’re good! I met my new brother-in-law, too.”
Yuri nodded and finished arranging the mugs. She opened her mouth as if she was going to ask more, but then she shut it and instead pulled out her phone.
“My turn today?” Jaejoong nodded, and Yuri frowned a little in concentration as she chose a playlist. Soon, soft, lilting music wafted from the speakers into the morning. Jaejoong started cleaning the counters, but Yuri put her phone in her pocket and walked towards him, her hand out.
“No, I can do it, you should sit down.”
Jaejoong quickly moved the towel out of reach. “I’m just tired, I’m still gonna work!”
Yuri put her hands on her hips before giving up and getting the broom, “If you say so. I didn’t even travel anywhere and I feel like falling asleep.”
Jaejoong put the towel away and started checking the coffee machines. Turns out a skincare routine and BB cream were useless for hiding exhaustion from coworkers. Still, he figured he didn’t look too bad for someone who had taken a one and half hour bus home, celebrated Christmas with his family until 3am, then slept until 7 and bussed back. It wasn’t his fault he had winter classes and rent to pay. It wouldn’t even have been that exhausting if he hadn’t had an exam right before.
A customer opened the door, briefly letting in the cold winter air. They glanced at the chalkboard menu hanging somewhere above Jaejoong and Yuri, then walked up to the counter.
He was tall and his sweater looked really nice and soft, even if it was the cousin of an ugly Christmas sweater. He was probably also a student, since he looked young enough and this 24-hour café was really close to the university. Jaejoong’s brain snapped into barista mode and he focused on pronouncing his words properly. Nobody needed to deal with him blurring his words out of exhaustion and possibly letting his dialect slip out.
“Hi, what can I get you?”
The stranger’s deep brown eyes met his. Jaejoong’s brain decided to sleepily muse about how handsome he was, and he almost missed the order.
“Oolong tea, please.”
“What size?” Jaejoong had heard eyes described as “warm” before, but he got the feeling he hadn’t understood what that meant until now.
“Medium.”
“Name?” Jaejoong decided to look at the register computer instead.
“Yunho.” He had his wallet in his hand now. Jaejoong finished typing in the order, then turned the credit card reader around to face him. Jaejoong had worked here long enough to have accidentally memorized where all the onscreen options were, and he could tell that Yunho had tipped him. He put his wallet back in his pocket and gave Jaejoong a courteous little half bow.
“Thank you, I’ll call your name when it’s ready.”
“Thank you.” He walked to a table near the bookshelf, away from the door. Jaejoong started preparing the tea, and Yuri took his spot at the register.
Maybe it was because it was a slow day, or maybe it was because he always became a little bit of a romantic after visiting home, but he hoped that meant Yunho would stay a while. Normally he was too tired balancing his barista job, tutoring, school, and hanging out with friends to entertain dating. He was kind of a serious relationship guy, and it seemed he’d only have time for casual dating which was a stressful concept to him. But when he went home and spent time with all his sisters, he started fantasizing about it. Especially now that his oldest sisters were married and even discussing having kids.
Across the café, Yunho was pulling what looked like a notebook and a pencil case out of his black backpack. Jaejoong felt the small vindication of being correct.