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When Mark first daydreamed about owning his own coffee shop, he was a naive 16 year old who had no idea what the difference between a latte and a cappuccino was. All he knew was that coffee shops were always portrayed as a place to make others happy, where it be by giving people a warm environment to have comfortable discusses at or simply indulging someone in a sugary drink, breaking their week long diet that they’d start again as soon as they finished their coffee. Either way, Mark knew that he wanted to live out his dream alongside people that would encourage and support one another. Or at least something close to that.
Now, during Wednesday’s lunch rush hour he’s regretting ever opening Café Bean. Just slightly.
“Mark can you pass me the white chocolate? And I think Bambam might need change for the register as well.”
“Yeah, give me a sec.” He finishes steaming milk and tosses Jinyoung a bottle of white chocolate, while rushing to the back to get Bambam rolls of change.
“We got 7 more blended drinks.” Bambam says dryly while giving a customer her change with a fake smile.
If there was one thing baristas hate the most it’s having to make frozen drinks. They take the longest to make only because they have one blender and after each drink they have to rinse it out; it’s tedious and annoying. Jaebum usually says “With all the ice used, the drink practically loses its purpose of being caffeinated.” Which for the most part is true, but they’re there to serve the customers not judge them. So Mark works quickly to get them done as fast as he can. Jinyoung pulls the shots, while Bambam tops off the drinks.
“Fuck. That rush lasted a long while.” Jinyoung slouches against the bar counter.
“I know, I had to refill the espresso beans twice!” Bambam says while cleaning up spilt milk from the floor. “I can’t believe I dropped a cup. Sorry, that slowed us down a bit.”
‘It’s alright, don’t worry about it. It happens to us all.” Mark tries to cheer him up.
“Not to the professionals.” Jinyoung playfully smirks, which causes Bambam to refute with “Everyone knows I get my drinks out fast!”
“Alright alright, we’re all the best. Now let’s restock before we get another random rush.”
“You know, we should have a competition among the crew to see who pulls the best shots, or makes the best latte art!” Bambam ignores Mark’s request to clean and jumps excitedly at the idea.
“Mark would win best latte art though.” Jinyoung says. “He doesn’t do it often but when he does they’re literally masterpieces.”
“Seriously?! Why haven’t I been around to see them?” Bambam pouts.
Mark shrugs “You probably weren’t working during those shifts.”
“Aw no fair!”
“I’ll show you before we clock out, but only if we get all the cleaning and restocking done early.”
“Yugyeom, Youngjae and Jackson come in for the next shift, and I think Jaebum is dropping off Youngjae, so why not do a latte art competition after all since everyone will be here?” Jinyoung grins and encourages a cheerful Bambam so there’s no way he can say no now.
“Fine but don’t forget the cleaning.”
“Okay!” Jinyoung and Bambam say in unison and go off to clean their designated sections.
“Hi guys!” Mark hears Yugyeom greet them from the door. Mark was cleaning the inside of the milk fridges, so he just waved his hand up. Jinyoung nodded as he was making a drink, while Bambam dragged Yugyeom to the back to kiss him hello.
Mark wants to roll his eyes but he knows when Jackson walks in, he’ll probably do the same. He hasn’t told the rest of the crew members, but he finally asked out Jackson, officially. It wasn’t a grand confession or anything of the sort, but after cuddling with Jackson one evening in his apartment, he asked him and Jackson whispered a ‘finally’ against his lips.
“Hi everyone, we made cookies!” Youngjae’s voice snaps Mark out of his memory and gets up to greet him. Jaebum is right behind him throwing a peace sign as his greeting.
“We? Oh my god, I really can’t see Jaebum being all domestic and shit. I don’t think I want to taste those cookies.” Jinyoung pretends to gag and Bambam snickers before reaching for a cookie.
“Shut up. I can actually bake and cook very well. Asshole.”
“Yeah, Jaebum did most of the baking, I just mixed.” Youngjae grins and Jaebum assures him that mixing is one of the most important parts. It’s quite obvious that they’re madly in love and Mark can’t help but look around for-
“Jackson is here no need to fear!” Jackson announces his own entrance and Mark laughs while everyone else groans in disgust.
“Talking in first person only makes you seem like a douche- OH MY GOD YOUR HAIR!” Yugyeom screeches and Mark whips his head towards Jackson.
“Your hair.” Mark walks towards him and glides his fingers through Jackson’s now blond hair.
“Yeah, I missed my blond hair and you said it made me look cuter.” Jackson blushes and pecks his cheek before running off to steal a cookie from Youngjae.
Jackson looks beautiful, Mark thinks. Sure, he can be too loud in the mornings and is overly enthusiastic about fitness, but he’s beautiful and Mark wants to nothing more than follow in Bambam’s footsteps and drag Jackson to the back if not for everyone pilled together behind the counter.
“Why does it feel like we’re having a team meeting right now?” Jaebum asks after Jinyoung tells him to stick around a bit longer.
“Well we thought it’d be fun to have a little latte art competition, especially since it’s one of the slowest hours of the day. Plus we get to see manager Mark show off his skills.”
“You’re seriously overselling my abilities. I’ve just had years of practice.”
“I’m in!” Youngjae cheers.
“Me too”
“Same.”
“Sounds fun!”
“I guess.” Jaebum tries to act like he’s not excited to show off his work.
They each were giving 15 minutes to create whatever they wanted and would present their work from youngest to oldest. As a group they decided that the winner wouldn’t have to clean the bathrooms during their shift for an entire week. It got everyone motivated, and Mark was glad to play along.
Mark had wanted to do something extravagant, but after seeing his crew- his friends trying so hard, it made him want to express his feeling through his latte art.
Yugyeom did a simple yet lovely heart. Bambam made a tulip, Youngjae a rosetta. Jinyoung smirked when he one-upped them a combined both a tulip and a heart into a swan. Jackson created a wave tulip, which in Mark’s opinion was the best so far. Jaebum’s, though, was impressive, a phoenix with Youngjae’s initials written is strawberry syrup.
“Now it’s manager Mark’s turn!” Yugyeom drum rolls on the counter. Bambam has his phone out ready to snap a shot.
“Alright, here it is.” Mark places his cup down and everyone stares at it blankly. He hadn’t done anything difficult, in fact it doesn’t take a barista to do what he did. In chocolate syrup Mark wrote out ‘I love you’ with the o’s as hearts. He wanted to let his friends know how much he appreciates them and with only a small canvas to work with, he figured they’d get the message.
Apparently not.
“How lame.” Jaebum laughs.
“I thought you’re supposedly the best latte artist ever!” Bambam whines.
“It was probably meant for Jackson.” Yugyeom says.
“I think it’s the best one, what are you all talking about!” Jackson snatches the cup and declares it his to drink.
“It was meant for all of you.” Mark counters. “I’m glad you’re all here with me.” He smiles which earn a few honest responses in return. And a few sarcastic replies from Jinyoung and Jaebum.
If 16 year old Mark had any idea he’d have a group of employees that he could call his best friends (and boyfriend) he’d say that’s only possible in low budget sitcoms or poorly written fiction. But the Mark he is now, would like to thank his younger self for allowing him to dream of such a reality.
“Sorry, Mark. I guess you’ll be picking up my cleaning shifts for losing.” Jaebum pats his back and kisses Youngjae in celebration.
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” Jackson winks.
Yeah, Mark will never regret opening his own coffee shop, even if he’s on cleaning duty for a whole week.