Chapter Text
The crunch of snow beneath each step echoed through the quiet morning, startlingly loud against the otherwise sleeping city. Frigid wind whipped through the streets, nipping at exposed skin and turning Jiyong's already pale cheeks a vivid shade of pink. He shoved his hands deeper into the pockets of his puffer jacket and quickened his pace, eager to escape the merciless cold.
Up ahead, the warm glow of the café's windows shone like a beacon through the winter darkness.
Finally.
Jiyong hurried forward and pushed open the glass door. A cheerful chime rang overhead, announcing his arrival. Instantly, warmth wrapped around him, thawing the chill that had settled into his bones. The rich aroma of freshly ground coffee beans drifted through the air, comforting and familiar.
"Sorry I'm late, Soohyuk," Jiyong called out as he tugged off his beanie.
A mess of faded green hair sprang free beneath it, the color dulled after countless rounds of bleach and dye.
Behind the counter, Soohyuk barely looked up from the espresso machine he was preparing.
"I would've been shocked if you were on time, Jiyong."
Jiyong rolled his eyes.
"Good morning to you too."
The machine hissed to life as Soohyuk smirked.
"Just go get changed. Daesung should be here around ten. Until then, it's just us."
Jiyong offered a lazy salute before heading toward the back room.
The storage room doubled as the employee locker area—a questionable design choice, but one neither of them had any control over. The heavy door swung shut behind him with a dull thud, and fluorescent lights flickered overhead.
The room was noticeably colder than the café itself.
Not that Jiyong cared anymore.
After spending thirty minutes trekking through what felt like the Arctic tundra, this barely registered.
He stopped in front of his locker and spun the combination lock.
Nothing.
His eye twitched.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
With a frustrated groan, he kicked the metal locker hard enough to rattle the row beside it.
"Fucker."
The curse left his mouth before he could stop it.
Today was already shaping up to be terrible.
His car had refused to start because of the freezing temperatures. He'd nearly slipped three separate times on the walk to work. His ears still felt numb despite wearing a hat.
The locker was simply adding insult to injury.
Muttering under his breath, he entered the combination again.
Click.
The sound was beautiful.
"Thank God."
Relief washed through him as he yanked the locker open.
Within minutes, he changed into his uniform. The puffer jacket hit the locker first, followed by the sweater underneath. He buttoned up the familiar white dress shirt, exchanged his sweatpants for black slacks, and tied his green apron around his waist.
After shoving his clothes back inside, he slammed the locker shut and checked the time.
5:58 AM.
Perfect.
Two minutes until opening.
The moment he stepped back into the café, warmth greeted him once more. The scent of coffee lingered in every corner of the room, blending with the smell of freshly baked pastries that had just come out of the oven.
Soohyuk was busy restocking cups behind the counter.
"Yah, can you unlock the front?" he called.
Jiyong nodded.
"Sure."
Crossing the café, he flipped the sign to OPEN and unlocked the door.
Another day at Daisybong Café had officially begun.
It started slowly, and the orders came in steadily.
A little later, after the morning rush had started trickling in, Soohyuk leaned over the counter and lowered his voice.
"So."
Jiyong immediately narrowed his eyes.
"No."
"I didn't even ask anything yet."
"You're about to."
The grin spreading across Soohyuk's face was answer enough.
"How was that guy you met yesterday?"
Jiyong groaned.
"There it is."
Soohyuk looked entirely too pleased with himself.
"Well?"
"He was fine."
"Fine?"
"Fine."
"You said that like he looked like a Greek god."
Jiyong scoffed.
"He was handsome."
"Aha." Soohyuk chirped as he got him.
"But not my type."
"Aha." This time, Soohyuk was bumbed that he lost him.
"And he was trying way too hard to act nonchalant."
That finally earned a laugh from Soohyuk.
"There it is."
"Shut up."
The breakfast rush hit right on schedule.
Between nine and nine-thirty, the café transformed from a peaceful morning hangout into complete chaos.
The line stretched nearly to the door. Orders piled up faster than they could make them. The espresso machine hissed nonstop, milk pitchers clattered against counters, and the scent of coffee and baked pastries seemed to soak into every inch of the room.
Normally, Daesung would've been there to help. But, unfortunately, Daesung wasn't scheduled until ten.
Which meant Soohyuk was currently fighting for his life behind the espresso machine.
"Two vanilla lattes!" Jiyong hollered.
"Working on it!" Soohyuk yelled back.
"A caramel macchiato!"
"I know!"
"A breakfast sandwich—"
"Jiyong, if you finish that sentence, I'm quitting."
Jiyong snorted.
Despite his teasing, he stepped away from the register and jumped in to help.
Years of working together meant they barely needed to communicate. Soohyuk called out drinks, and Jiyong assembled them. Coffee flowed. Pastries disappeared. Customers came and went.
For a brief moment, it felt like they were actually catching up.
Jiyong returned to the register after helping Soohyuk catch up on drinks, only to find an irritated customer waiting for him. Wonderful.
Even so, he slipped easily back into his customer-service persona, putting on a pleasant smile as though he hadn't spent the last twenty minutes fighting for his life during the breakfast rush.
"Welcome to Daisybong Café. What can I get started for you today?"
The man barely spared him a glance. "Yeah, whatever. Just get me my usual."
Jiyong's smile didn't waver, though internally he sighed.
"Of course. What would that be?"
The customer looked genuinely offended by the question.
"Seriously?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but we serve hundreds of customers."
The man's expression immediately soured. "Why can't you be competent for once in your minimum-wage life? First, you leave me standing here while you run off to do something else, and now you don't even remember my order? I want to speak to your manager."
A muscle in Jiyong's jaw twitched. Years of customer service had taught him many things, including how to keep smiling when customers tested every ounce of his patience. Fortunately, he'd also learned how to be just passive-aggressive enough to remain technically professional.
"Certainly," he replied pleasantly.
Leaving the register, he disappeared into the back room and waited just long enough to sell the illusion before walking back out. The customer immediately straightened, clearly expecting victory.
Instead, Jiyong folded his hands politely in front of him and lowered his voice.
"Hello, I'm the manager. What seems to be the problem?"
The man's confidence evaporated so quickly that it was almost impressive. His mouth opened, then closed again, as if his brain had suddenly stopped functioning. Jiyong had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling.
Before either of them could say anything else, a deep voice sounded from further back in the line.
"Stop holding up the line."
The words immediately drew everyone's attention. Jiyong glanced over the customer's shoulder and found himself momentarily distracted by the speaker. The man standing there was tall, handsome, and dressed in a dark coat that somehow made him look even broader. There was nothing particularly flashy about him, yet he carried himself with a calm confidence that naturally commanded attention.
The customer, meanwhile, was less impressed.
"The hell did you just say?"
The stranger didn't seem remotely intimidated.
"I said stop holding up the line."
A heavy silence settled over the café. Several customers openly watched the exchange, and Jiyong had to look away to stop himself from laughing. The angry man glanced around, perhaps realizing that nobody seemed particularly sympathetic toward him. His face reddened before he finally muttered something under his breath and stormed out of the café.
The moment the door slammed shut behind him, the atmosphere lightened considerably.
Jiyong released a quiet sigh and straightened his apron before turning his attention to the stranger.
"Sorry about that," he said with an apologetic smile. "Welcome to Daisybong Café. What can I get for you today?"
The man's gaze dropped briefly to the nametag pinned to Jiyong's chest before returning to his face.
"Hi, Jiyong. I'll have an Americano."
For reasons Jiyong couldn't explain, hearing his name in that deep voice was unexpectedly distracting.
For reasons Jiyong couldn't quite explain, hearing his name in the man's deep voice felt oddly personal. He quickly shook the thought away and focused on entering the order into the register.
"Was that hot or iced?" he asked.
The man glanced briefly toward the snow-covered streets outside the café windows before looking back at him.
"It's freezing outside, so hot."
"Good choice," Jiyong replied with a small nod as he selected the option on the screen. "Anything else?"
The man rested one hand on the counter and tilted his head slightly. "Actually, yes. I'm starving. What do you recommend?"
That caught Jiyong off guard. Most customers either already knew what they wanted or spent five minutes staring at the menu before ordering the exact same thing everyone else got. Very few people actually asked for recommendations.
Thankfully, he'd worked at Daisybong long enough to have sampled practically everything on the menu.
"I'm a little biased," he admitted, "but the banana cream-filled donuts are probably my favorite thing we sell."
The man's smile widened slightly.
"Then I'll trust your judgment."
Jiyong added the donut to the order and looked back up. Unfortunately, this required making eye contact.
A mistake.
His eyes were ridiculous.
There was no other word for them.
Warm brown, almost honey-colored where the sunlight hit them, and focused enough to make Jiyong feel like he was being studied. He quickly looked back at the register before his brain could embarrass him further.
"Can I get a name for the order?"
"Seunghyun."
The name suited him.
Simple. Strong. Memorable.
Jiyong repeated it back as he finalized the order. "That'll be—"
A thick wad of cash landed on the counter before he could finish.
For a moment, he simply stared at it.
Then he stared a little harder.
There was absolutely no way that amount matched the total displayed on his screen.
Seunghyun either hadn't been paying attention or genuinely didn't care.
"Keep the change," he said casually.
Before Jiyong could protest, the man had already turned and begun walking toward one of the tables by the window.
Jiyong looked down at the money again.
Then back at Seunghyun.
Then back at the money.
"...What?"
He quickly counted it, just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
Nope.
It was real.
The tip alone was worth more than the order itself.
Still slightly stunned, he placed the correct amount into the register and dropped the rest into the tip jar.
Across the café, Soohyuk happened to glance up at exactly the wrong moment.
Or rather, exactly the right moment for him.
His eyes immediately narrowed with interest.
Jiyong pointed a warning finger at him.
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I wasn't."
"You absolutely were."
A grin spread across Soohyuk's face.
Jiyong groaned.
Years of friendship had unfortunately made Soohyuk impossible to fool.
Thankfully, several incoming orders distracted him before he could continue the conversation.
A few minutes later, after Soohyuk finished preparing the Americano, Jiyong picked up the drink and donut and carried them over to Seunghyun's table.
The man had chosen a seat near the large front windows where sunlight spilled across the floor in golden patches. Outside, snow continued to drift lazily from the sky, coating the streets in white. Inside, the café felt warm and inviting, filled with the soft murmur of conversations and the occasional hiss of the espresso machine.
Seunghyun seemed completely at ease sitting there.
One arm rested against the table while the other loosely held his phone. He wasn't scrolling or typing. If anything, he appeared to be simply watching the snowfall.
Jiyong hesitated for half a second.
Then immediately scolded himself for hesitating.
He was delivering coffee, not proposing marriage.
"Here's your Americano and donut," he said, setting them down carefully. "Enjoy."
Seunghyun looked up from the window.
The sunlight caught in his eyes again.
Unfair.
Completely unfair.
"Thank you."
The smile he offered was small and genuine, and for some ridiculous reason, it lingered in Jiyong's mind long after he'd walked away.
By the time the breakfast rush finally died down, the café had settled back into its usual rhythm.
Customers occupied scattered tables, some working on laptops while others chatted quietly over coffee. The overwhelming chaos of the morning had faded into a comfortable calm.
Jiyong leaned against the register and stretched his sore shoulders.
Almost immediately, Soohyuk appeared beside him.
There was a very specific expression on his face.
Jiyong hated that expression.
It was the expression that meant he knew something.
"You like him."
The statement was delivered so casually that Jiyong nearly dropped the cup he was holding.
"What?"
"You like him."
"I do not."
Soohyuk's eyebrows rose.
"You do."
"He's attractive."
"Aha."
"That doesn't mean I like him."
"Aha."
"Lots of people are attractive."
"So you've been thinking about how attractive he is."
Jiyong opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
"...Shut up."
Soohyuk's grin only widened.
The worst part was that he wasn't even trying to hide it.
Before Jiyong could continue defending himself, the front door chimed.
His head snapped toward the entrance so quickly that his neck nearly protested.
A tiny spark of hope flared before he could stop it.
Maybe—
It wasn't Seunghyun.
It was Daesung.
Just Daesung.
The spark died immediately.
Daesung paused near the entrance, bag hanging from one shoulder as he looked between the two of them.
"Did I miss something?"
The question was innocent.
Unfortunately, it was also the funniest thing Soohyuk had heard all morning.
His shoulders began shaking with laughter.
Daesung looked even more confused.
Jiyong lowered his face into his hands.
"Please don't."
"Don't what?" Daesung asked.
"Ask questions."
That only made Soohyuk laugh harder.
Eventually, Daesung wandered over, still completely unaware of what was happening. Being the physical embodiment of sunshine, he immediately wrapped his arms around Jiyong in greeting.
Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem.
Today, however, Daesung had just come inside from the freezing cold.
Jiyong realized this exactly one second before icy fingers slipped beneath his shirt.
The resulting noise that left his mouth was neither dignified nor human.
"DAESUNG!"
Daesung immediately burst into laughter.
Soohyuk nearly collapsed against the counter.
Jiyong attempted escape.
Unfortunately, Daesung had the grip strength of a determined golden retriever.
After several failed attempts, he finally surrendered.
"I hate both of you."
Neither looked remotely concerned.
In fact, they seemed delighted.
Traitors.
Absolute traitors.
As their laughter echoed through the café, Jiyong found himself glancing toward the window.
The seat Seunghyun had occupied was empty now.
For some reason, that disappointed him more than it should have.
He quickly pushed the thought aside.
It wasn't like he'd ever see the guy again.
Customers came and went all the time.
There was no reason for this one to be any different.
Across the room, Soohyuk caught the look on his face and smirked knowingly.
Jiyong groaned.
Something told him this was going to be a very long week.