Chapter Text
It had never really been in Ivan’s to-do list to work at a quaint little cafe, but here he was. Why was he working a minimum wage job, you ask? Well, it has something to do with when one of Mizi’s friends (Hyuna, he’d been told) was opening a cafe and he was invited to go a day before the opening day.
At first, he had no intention of going but his coffee machine had broken down suspiciously that very morning when Sua showed up at his house and demanded that he ‘show his stupid face there’. And well, suffering an entire day without coffee was a prospect he never wanted to experience, however bitter and horrible coffee smelled.
Mizi at least had the decency to ask politely and though he could see that Sua was slowly corrupting the poor girl’s morals (he did not get what she saw in his cousin at all), he went. Even if Mizi was actually trying to distract him long enough for Sua to break his coffee machine, to which he only blamed Sua, of course.
“By the way,” Sua said as they approached the glass doors of the cafe, “we’re a little short on workers, at the moment. So being the kind and generous person you are, you should help out.”
“First of all, it’s not my fault your manager can’t hire workers,” Ivan shot back with a fake smile plastered on his face, “Second of all what makes you think—“
“He’ll be there.” Sua smirked and Ivan’s smile faltered, a terrible feeling of foreboding prickling at his back of his neck but before he could back up, she tacked on, “your cute little crush who you’re absolutely infatuated with.”
“I—“
“Pretty sure he’s only going for Mizi, though.” Sua said as she patted Ivan’s arm in a false show of sympathy. Ivan scowled but went through the doors without further complaint.
And so, he was introduced to Sua’s boss; a tall, tanned woman that he had seen at the gym once or twice before, who assured him that he’d be paid. Not that he actually needed that money, but still.
Then, he was subject to a round of tedious training to make the drinks on their menu, which weren’t hard but the main problem was that his teacher was his ever so lovely cousin.
“You suck at this.” Sua remarked at his fifth attempt of trying and failing to achieve a perfect flat white.
“Shut it. I literally had one day to learn.” Ivan growled before dumping the failed drink down the sink again.
Sua sighed, “Your pouring technique is wrong.”
Well that was just stupid. Fortunately, after a few more attempts, he had miraculously produced a near perfect one, silky smooth with tiny bubbles, no thanks to Sua though.
Sua picked up the cup and sniffed it delicately. “A splash too much milk, but not as disastrous as your previous attempts,” she declared.
Ivan folded his arms as he glared at her, “I put exactly how much you told me to put.”
“While I doubt that, I’d rather not waste anymore time with you here, so that’s that.”
“Great idea. I’ve grown tired of your face too.” He snapped right back.
That afternoon, he dragged himself home smelling of a mixtures of different coffees and found that he probably didn’t hate it as much as he should.
—-
“Is he actually even coming?” Ivan asked Sua as they did a final wipe down of the tables the morning the cafe was first opening.
Sua shrugged, “Maybe, if you stop acting like a love struck maiden pining because this is tenth time you’ve asked.”
“I am not acting like a love struck maiden.” And besides, he’d literally only asked twice before, not ten times.
“Who’s acting like a love struck maiden?” A head full of pink hair popped around the counter.
Mizi grinned as her eyes landed on Sua and she practically bounced over, wrapping her arms around Sua’s waist, nuzzling her head in the crook of Sua’s neck, “I missed you so much~”
Sua stilled in her movements and Ivan rolled his eyes as her ears went pink, “you haven’t seen me for like ten minutes.” She mumbled.
”Still missed you though.”
“I…missed you too.” Sua said quietly, thinking Ivan couldn’t hear.
“Who’s the love struck maiden now, huh?” Ivan muttered.
Sua swiveled around to shoot a deadly glare at Ivan but Mizi beat her to it, “oooh, wait I know! Are you mooning over that guy you sit next to in class?” She asked excitedly, “I remember he was in my music class last year. He plays guitar, right?”
With no other option, Ivan nodded slowly. And he’s also the guy who had a massive crush on you, who worked himself enough courage to give you chocolates for Valentine’s Day but accidentally put it in the wrong locker last year and nearly had a mental breakdown over it, which was pretty funny.
Mizi let go of Sua and sat on the edge of the table that they had just cleaned, though Sua probably wasn’t going to say anything about it; she practically worshiped the ground her girlfriend walked on. It’d be a different story if anyone else dared to though.
“Hmmm…” Mizi hummed, face scrunched up into what she probably thought was a thoughtful expression. Then, there must have been a lightbulb flickering in her head because her face lit up as she turned to Ivan and he knew that this was going to be another one of her inane plans.
“I know what we should do!”
Ivan sighed, but decided to indulge her against his better interest at the glare he received from Sua, “Yes?”
“We’ll help set you up with him!” Yep, that sounded like a disaster bound to happen. The ‘we’ would simply be Mizi unsubtly pushing them together while Sua snickered in the background at his expense.
“There’s really no need—“ Before Ivan even got to finish his sentence, the door swung open with a soft jingle and his breath was completely taken away.
Till walked through the door, slouching as his glanced around the interior of the sparkling cafe, eyes sweeping past Ivan and landing on Mizi, who obliviously smiled and turned to Ivan, “Our first customer!” She exclaimed, then pushed him towards the counter, “You can take his order! I’ll check how they’re doing at the back.” She then gave him a huge, obvious wink and pulled Sua into the far corner behind the counter with her, leaving Ivan standing there helplessly while Till stared after Mizi.
“Hello, how can I help you today?” Ivan asked in his usual monotone drawl, not bothering to fake a customer service voice because it was Till and oh god did he look pretty. He looked pretty everyday, actually, even if he slouched like an old man and his shoelaces were still undone like always because the idiot never properly learned how to tie them.
How adorable.
Till’s eyes snapped to Ivan’s and he did a double take, “it’s you?”
Ivan smiled and he leaned onto the counter, “What, missed me?” He teased, laughing as Till’s face dusted with a faint pink.
“No way in hell!”
“Heh, if you say so. Is there anything you want?”
Till took a moment to scan the menu seriously, his brow furrowing in an adorable concentration that Ivan could stare at for days without getting bored. If he had the chance, he would never look away from Till, greedily committing every blemish, every freckle, every part of his face to memory.
“I’ll have a hot chocolate, then.” Till said, raising his teal eyes back up to meet Ivan’s. God, he looked so beautiful. Even the ugly oversized white shirt that looked as if it had been spray painted on could look good on Till, because he could make anything and everything look pretty. Maybe it was the way the collar was far too big for him, falling below sharp jut of his collarbone and showing the smooth skin of his neck. Ivan stared for a moment, forgetting to speak until Till waved a hand in his face.
“Hello? Don’t tell me you suddenly went brain dead.” Till said impatiently.
“Hm? A hot chocolate, was it? That’ll be 4000 won.” He stated, smiling as Till paid. He was still staring after Till as he shuffled off and dropped into a close chair at a window table.
“Psst! Ivan!” Ivan turned to see Mizi grinning at him, eyes bright as she whispered very loudly, “I’ll take over the counter. You make him his drink and take it his table. You can even sit for a while and talk to him, get his number or something.”
Ivan gave Mizi an amused smile, “I already have his number. I get ghosted, though.” He said with a casual shrug.
Mizi ooh’d and gave him a look of pity, “that’s a shame. Well, he can’t ghost you if you go talk to him now!” And with that, she pushed him away with another obvious wink.
Ivan approached Till’s table with a steaming hot chocolate in hand and set it on the table with a soft clink. Till, who was scrolling on his phone with a pair of headphones on his head looked up, blinking. Ivan smiled, then slid into the seat next to him.
“What the hell are you doing?” Till asked irritably but still slipped his headphones off and moved over to give Ivan space. Or maybe he was trying to get away from him, but Ivan would rather believe the former.
“Taking a break.” Ivan said easily as he nudged the hot chocolate towards Till. “Your hot chocolate. Try it.”
Till scowled at him, then picked it up but Ivan held out a hand to stop him before he could take a sip.
“What?”
“It’s too hot. You’ll burn your tongue.” Ivan said, then leaned in and lightly blew across the surface of the drink, lips accidentally brushing the rim of the cup as he did. “There, much better now.”
“It literally makes no difference.” Till said obliviously as he eyed the steadily rising steam with no small amount of skepticism.
“Sure it does. It’s cooler now.”
Till rolled his eyes but took a small sip anyway, exactly where Ivan’s lips had very accidentally brushed previously.
Ivan grinned, “How is it?” He asked, eyes fixed on Till’s hot chocolate stained lips. Till stared the glass of hot chocolate in contemplation for a moment.
“Did you make it?” Till turned to Ivan, expression scarily neutral. Ivan nodded, the smile on his face never faltering, though it was completely opposite of what was going on in his head.
Oh no. Don’t tell me I messed it up.
But then, “…It’s good.” Till admitted begrudgingly.
Ivan’s smile widened and he leaned in, wiping the chocolate stain from the corner of Till’s mouth with his finger. Till blinked, not registering what happened before he realized and his face promptly turned all pink again.
Cute.
“I—you—Ivan!” He stuttered, jabbing a finger at Ivan, who lifted his shoulders in an innocent shrug.
“You had chocolate on the side of your mouth.”
Before Ivan could burst out laughing at Till becoming an adorable stuttering mess, he turned in his seat to see Sua staring at him at the counter, a disgusted expression on her face. Meanwhile, Mizi was flashing him a thumbs up next to Sua. He returned a smile back at her before he spun back to face Till.
“My break is over now. See you later.” He said cheerfully before standing up and walking off, leaving Till sputtering and pointing after him.
—-
“That. Was disgusting.” Sua said as soon as he got back to the counter.
Ivan shrugged, “I’ve seen worse from you and Mizi.”
“I think you’ve been watching far too many cringe romance dramas. I resisted the urge to vomit for the sake of not having to clean it up afterwards.” Sua said as she side-eyed him with a mixture of disgust and disdain.
“ I think it was super cute!” Mizi chirped from behind Sua, “you did great!”
Ivan chuckled, “Thank you, Mizi. Sua does not deserve you at all.”