Work Text:
The strong brew of coffee beans hits your senses as you push open the entrance door. The usual chime rings above your head. The familiar face behind the counter drops. Your friend is already rolling his eyes at your presence.
“Aren’t you supposed to greet me nicely?” You ask and immediately imitate his voice, walking to the register, “‘Welcome to Beans ’N Cream.’”
“I’m not in the mood,” Hongjoong deadpans.
“I’m guessing you’ve seen the assigned groups for the online store project,”
“Unfortunately,” he sighs, “I don’t even know the people in my group.”
“Maybe you should show up to class then.”
“Maybe I won’t serve you.”
“No, I need caffeine,” you whine.
“Your order has barely any caffeine,” he says as he prepares a glass.
“I don’t tell you how to drink your coffee,” you counter, watching him check on the other barista.
“San, get back to work!” He yells over to the guy working the drive-thru.
San turns around saluting, “Aye, aye, Captain!”
An exhausted sigh leaves Hongjoong as his eyes meet yours again, “I hate it here.”
“Why don’t you just fire him?”
“I can’t… He brings in a lot of customers.”
“Then quit.”
“You know why I can’t. Now I’m screwed since we’re not in the same group.”
“You’ll live. Maybe it will be good for you to actually do your own-”
“Take your liquid sugar with a splash of espresso and go.” He places your usual iced macchiato on the counter with a clink.
“Love you, Joong,” you coo as you take it and head to your regular spot at the corner table.
Friday nights at the coffee shop are chill with the fairy lights glimmering through the wooden rafters above and soothing live music being played across the cafe. It’s the perfect place to work on some projects and papers.
A plate lands next to your textbook, and you look up to find San.
“Another anonymous blueberry muffin.” He smiles.
“Again? Why can’t you just tell me who it is?” You sigh.
“Because I’m here for the secret admirer cliche… and they said not to tell you.”
“San-”
“You sit here for hours not eating, and they want to make sure you do. So eat up, buttercup,” San says and begins to walk away before you can pry any further.
“Is it Hongjoong?” You call after him.
“I’m not telling, but no!”
Your eyes scan the cafe for clues, but all you find is other customers engrossed in their own lives. The music has stopped as the next open mic performer sets up. Conversations continue, and you resume studying symbolic consumption, self-image, and personality while nibbling on the muffin. A couple of popular songs fill the air, lulling you back into concentration.
The performer clears his throat before strumming the intro of the next song. The first few words sang sound familiar; the title on the tip of your tongue. It brings a warmth over you as your fond memories embrace you, but you can’t quite remember them. With each lyric that flows out of his mouth, you fall a little more in love with his voice.
“Forever is a long time, but I wouldn’t mind spending it by your side.”
“I Wouldn’t Mind” by He is We. Someone else actually knows this song? Your eyes shoot up to finally see the performer. His dark fringe hangs over his eyes as he focuses on his fretting. He looks familiar; you’re pretty sure he’s a regular here. His group of friends usually sit at the table next to the window, and sometimes they laugh loudly but are never a disruption.
You’ve become used to the routine sounds of the coffee shop. It’s your favorite background music. Right now, it comes in a soothing voice singing an old favorite song of yours. The atmosphere feels like home, and you wouldn’t mind staying like this.
When the song comes to an end, you watch him put his guitar away. One of his friends says something to him that makes the rest of them laugh. The guy glances back at you with curious eyes, and when he turns to his friends, they seem to tease him.
With your laptop snugly under your arm, you walk inside the coffee shop, ready to settle in to do school work. It’s a Monday night, and the cafe is a little more crowded than usual. The normal chatter is slightly louder with excitement.
As you head to the front counter, your eyes wander to the table by the window, making contact with the guy from open mic. He quickly averts his gaze to the table, hiding his eyes under his fringe. It flusters you for a moment before you greet Hongjoong.
“For that online store project, my group decided to sell our own brand of sustainable clothing,” you inform Hongjoong as you sit on a barstool, “One of them was talking about how difficult it would be to do that in our group chat. I don’t think they realize this online store is just practice and that we’re not actually going to make or sell any products.”
“The amount of stupidity that gets into college astounds me.” He wipes down the counter in front of you.
“Has your group figured out what you’re selling?”
He glances up at you pointedly, “My group hasn’t even responded to my emails.”
“Oh… I’ve already done research on hosting websites, different merchandising tools we need to implement, and established competitors in the market. I’m about to look into new technologies our brand can exploit to stand out from other sustainable clothing retailers.”
“You need to spend your time doing something else. This is a group project, and you’re doing all the work. You are wasting your crazy college party years being here and doing more work than you should.”
“You’re one to talk.”
“I have no choice but to waste my time here. You should be out with friends or dating or something.” He argues as a coffee machine beeps behind him.
“You’re my friend.”
“Yes, but I’m working and you just sit over there in the corner doing extra random research that professors don’t even ask for.”
Ice clinks into the glass in Hongjoong’s hand before he pours coffee and creamer.
“But I like doing that.” You try to defend yourself.
“You tell yourself that, but you’re so stressed that you’re stressing me out.”
You lower your eyes to the counter in defeat, but you’re not going to admit he’s right.
“Look, I think I might know someone who’s interested in you. He’s over there,” Hongjoong gestures with his head to the table by the window where those few guys are sitting, “The one in the brown sweater. His name is Seonghwa. He’s a communications major with a minor in public relations. He sings at open mic most weekends.”
Your heart beats faster when your eyes land on the guy. He’s the one who sang that He is We song you like. “Him? There’s no way.”
“He stares at you every time he’s here. Trust me. He’s into you.”
“Well, I can’t just go over there. He’s with all his friends.”
“You don’t have to. Seonghwa, your order is ready!” Hongjoong calls out.
Daggers shoot from your eyes while Hongjoong just smirks at you. You hear footsteps come up next to you, but you’re too scared to even glance over.
Hongjoong looks at the drink in his hand and tsks, “One moment, didn’t put the extra vanilla.”
As your friend leaves you, you can feel Seonghwa’s eyes on you. Against your anxieties screaming at you, you look over and smile, “Hi.”
“Hi,” he says and smiles back a bit shyly.
A clank pulls your attention back to Hongjoong returning with a glass. “Seonghwa, here’s your order. Y/N also drinks creamer with a milligram of espresso.”
“Strong coffee is nasty,” Seonghwa laughs and grabs his cup.
“Exactly!” You chime, giving Hongjoong a look.
“Thanks, Joongie.” Seonghwa nods to your friend and heads back to his table.
“What was that?” Hongjoong immediately scolds you.
“Shut up, ‘Joongie.’” You mock and slouch back onto the barstool.
After a few hours of writing a paper on Millennial and Generation Z coffee consumer behavior, you wander back up to the counter and plop onto a barstool. Noticing your presence, Hongjoong sits a blueberry muffin in front of you.
“From anonymous?” You question, and he nods.
“I saw you watching Seonghwa sing. Did I plant a seed of interest?” He teases, making your cheeks burn.
“Shut up,” you mutter, “Make me another of my usual.”
“San, you heard the order.” Hongjoong looks to his coworker.
“Aye, aye, Captain!” San salutes before grabbing a glass from the back counter.
“If you don’t stop calling me captain…” Hongjoong’s threat fades to the background as you notice Seonghwa out of the corner of your eye.
“You did really good,” you compliment as he passes by and stops at your words.
A sweet smile pulls at his lips. “Thanks.” His voice is quiet and a bit shy.
You try to suppress your smile and nod before he grabs some napkins from the dispenser next to you and leaves to go to his table of friends.
“I felt something there,” San says, snapping you back to reality.
“Shut up. Shouldn’t you be actually working?” You give him an annoyed pout.
“Yeah, he should be,” Hongjoong says, lifting a heavy box of new glass cups onto the back counter, “But also, why did you let Seonghwa walk away?”
“Yeah, exactly.” San crosses his arms next to Hongjoong.
“Where is my drink?” You bitterly ask San, igniting Hongjoong’s wrath once again.
You can hear the blood rushing in your ears; your whole body is on fire. The documents in your hands are clenched tighter. These circumstances wouldn’t be happening if you had just checked your email. For the past week, you’ve been too busy doing research and writing a small case study that checking your email slipped your mind.
Your group for the online store project is already inside Beans ’N Cream, and when you spot them, they begin to stand and collect their things. Panic sets in.
“Wait, I just got here,” You say, breathless from your anxiety-ridden journey.
“The meeting started over an hour ago, and we have finished the first part of the proposal,” the group leader speaks with a hint of annoyance.
“But I have my research and notes. It’s a group project, and I should have a contribution.” You feel so small and dumb. Why can’t you just do things right?
“Then you should have been here on time,” she retorts, “We’ll make sure your participation evaluation reflects that.”
The other group members avert their eyes away from the scene and awkwardly stand there.
Your vision starts to blur, and with a blink, a tear falls.
“Are you seriously crying?” The leader almost laughs.
“Hey,” A deep voice comes from behind you.
Before you even see who is interrupting, your documents are being slipped out of your grasp and held out to the group leader expectantly. When she hesitantly takes them, you realize who came to your rescue: Seonghwa.
“Find a way to use those.” Seonghwa’s eyes are locked on her face with his jaw tense.
“O-Okay,” she agrees but seems very intimidated by Seonghwa.
The group quietly leaves, and he turns to you. You can’t even form words to thank him as he instinctively wipes away your stray tear with his sweater sleeve.
“I know you work hard on your school stuff and couldn’t listen to her talk to you like that,” he says, offering a sympathetic smile.
“Thank you… for that.” You lower your head.
“Hongjoong kind of introduced us the other week, but, um, I’m Seonghwa.”
“Y/N.”
“Do you, um, want to get coffee together?” He asks nervously.
“Yeah.” You sniffle and pat under your eye with your own sleeve.
“About time!” Someone calls out from the table by the window.
You both glance over at Seonghwa’s friends.
“Yeosang, shut up,” Seonghwa says, cheeks turning pink, “Sorry, my friends are embarrassing.”
“I can probably do you one worse.” You already know what’s coming as the two of you approach the front counter.
“Wha-”
“About goddamn time!” Hongjoong yells, coming out from the back and successfully interrupting Seonghwa, “Would you like two iced coffee flavored milks?”
You and Seonghwa stare at him blankly.
“Alright, I’ll get them right out.” Hongjoong takes the hint and begins getting your usuals.
Seonghwa’s hand gently lands on your lower back as he leans closer. “Let’s go sit at your table.”
As you guide him over, his touch doesn’t leave, and you feel giddy. Stress no longer hovers over you while you settle into the chair you’re so used to with a closer view of the guy you have found so charming.
“Have you ate today?” He asks with a curious gaze.
“Um, no. I-I didn’t really have time,” you stammer out of embarrassment.
“Do you want a blueberry muffin?”
You watch him suppress a grin as you make the connection. A soft laugh escapes through your smile. “Yes.”