Chapter Text
“What’s your favourite drink on the menu?” he asked, taking Taehyung by surprise. Usually customers muttered what they wanted and stepped aside. “There’s so much to choose from, I don’t know where to start.”
Taehyung smiled. It was true, the café did serve plenty of drinks and he’d seen many people come in and spend a good few minutes figuring out what to order.
Taehyung surveyed the massive list on the wall beside him. It listed countless beverages. Coffee, smoothies, juices, teas… He would like to say he had a favourite, but that was a lie. In truth, he’d only tried a handful of drinks, and that was only because some patrons left their orders behind when they had to hurry off to work, not able to put life on hold to enjoy the simple pleasures. Whenever that happened Taehyung would take a sneaky sip before throwing the drink away.
“The strawberry milkshake,” he said, remembering the sweetness of the drink. But then he remembered who he was talking to.
Whereas Taehyung liked to wear warm browns and dress in artsy shirts, the young man opposite him was dressed head to toe in black. He wore puffy trousers, an oversized t-shirt, and large black boots that must be giving the guy’s ankles a workout whenever he lifted his feet up. Even the man’s tattoo sleeve and piercings were black, including his lip ring he was poking at with his tongue. Taehyung was particularly drawn to his mouth, though he kept telling himself it was because he was fascinated with the piercing and nothing else. All in all, Taehyung couldn’t imagine this customer liking the fruity drink he favoured in the slightest.
“I’ll take two, please.”
Taehyung kept the surprise out of his voice when he replied, “Great. Can I take your name?”
“Jungkook.”
Taehyung nodded to himself as he scribbled Jungkook’s name onto the cup. He added a little smiley face after it.
“I’ll have them ready for you in no time, Jungkook.”
After Jungkook had paid, Taehyung prepared the milkshakes and when they were done, he poked two straws into the cream topping and placed them on the counter ready for collection. He was about to call Jungkook’s name out, a usual requirement to let customers know their order was ready, but he didn’t need to, because Jungkook was already leaning against the counter, his warm brown eyes fixed on Taehyung.
A nervous ripple spread through Taehyung for reasons unknown to him.
“I hope you and your friend enjoy it,” Taehyung said with a smile, sliding them towards Jungkook.
“Thanks, but I’m not actually-“
“Taehyung!” Jimin interrupted. “A little help over here please.” There was a long line of customers forming.
“Coming,” Taehyung said. He turned back to Jungkook and gave him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, duty calls.”
“Of course. Don’t let me keep you.”
“Have a good day,” Taehyung said, his parting words trailing behind him as he went to help Jimin.
Taehyung fell into a monotonous, familiar pattern of taking orders, making drinks and cleaning the tables and people’s messes. When he made circuits around the room, he would often pass Jungkook’s table, who would glance up at him, smile, and look away. Surprisingly, Jungkook sat alone and Taehyung wondered how long he was going to wait for his companion to join him since it had been at least an hour since he’d served him his drinks. Taehyung wanted to say something on his third lap around the room, but he refrained. It was none of his business.
Taehyung went behind the counter again and Jimin practically pounced on him. He looked like he was in the mood to reveal a juicy bit of gossip.
“What is it?” Taehyung said.
“That guy with the tattoos you were serving earlier is still here.”
“I know,” Taehyung said, disappointed. He’d thought he’d been in for a treat. “Have you only just noticed? Come on, Jimin, you have to pay more attention. What if someone came in here and -“
“Shh. I wasn’t finished.”
Taehyung made a show of keeping quiet.
“What I was going to say before I was so rudely interrupted,” Jimin said while playfully elbowing Taehyung, “was that he keeps staring at you.”
Taehyung frowned. “Okay," he said, drawing the word out.
“Is that it? Okay?”
“What do you want me to say? People stare at things all the time, Jimin, it doesn’t mean anything. Besides, he’s waiting for someone. He’s probably just bored.”
Jimin raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think he’s waiting for someone?”
“That’s what he said.”
“He doesn’t seem worried that they haven’t arrived.”
“They must be running late. Anyway, why does any of this matter?”
Jimin shrugged. “It doesn’t,” he said, but there was a glimmer in his eyes that made Taehyung suspicious. Before he could question Jimin, the door opened and in came a group of teenagers.
They went back to work.