Work Text:
"Chanyeol, you are disgusting," Baekhyun says with a look on his face so irked, it looks like he just smelt the world's Nr.1 fart and did not enjoy the experience.
Well, it's Chanyeol's fault, partly, for being a damn idiot.
Partly it's all Baekhyun being a natural drama queen. Or king. He didn't like being called a girl.
"I'm sorry!" Chanyeol screams back, squating down and covering his head like he were a dog getting scolded.
Well it wasn't that far fetched, really...
"I cannot believe you!" Baekhyun shouts, trying to keep the smile threatening to split his face in half in his mind and off his lips.
"You work in a damn cafe, how dare you bring in a rival's cup on these grounds!" Baekhyun screams at the large body of a curled up Chanyeol. "Are you mocking me?!"
"I didn't think about it! Nobody else ever had any problem with it in the past!" And it's short of being an excuse, so Baekhyun scoffs.
"Probably because nobody ever saw it when you get into the cafe at 5 fucking AM."
"You may be right," Chanyeol says with eyes blown wide, looking up from his hands on his knees, sitting before the large counter.
"Just..." And Baekhyun doesn't laugh, though he wants to so, so much. His heart beats fast and it feels like it's about to burst from something like this happening so early in the morning, and Baekhyun hasn't been awake for more than fourty minutes and this is all just too much.
Though he's the one that started this.
Chanyeol, being the head baker, was forced to get off work later, making pastries for the following day, but he's a devoted worker, damn it, so he gets to work at the ass crack of dawn instead, for the most fresh pie he can possibly make.
And of course for someone like that coffee is a vitamin, so it's only natural for him to find a place to get coffee before getting to work, where without coffee he was a threat, a large disaster waiting to happen, to befall onto anything that's easy to break. Like a window.
But Baekhyun loves talking with Chanyeol, so he wants to mess around with him, and Chanyeol loves talking with Baekhyun, so he lets him.
"Finish the coffee and throw the cup out. If you ever want coffee just get your ass here and I'll make you some," Baekhyun says and Chanyeol reaches out his long arm to take the cup back from the top of the counter.
"I've taken the morning shift for every workday now, so you don't have to buy a different cafe's shit anymore."
And Chanyeol's eyes light up just like Baekhyun's usually do when they talk, at the mention of Baekhyun spending Chanyeol's lonely mornings with him.
"Will you make me your special latte?" Chanyeol asks like a child, afraid of rejection, because he's not sure how it works but Baekhyun works the coffee machines like his hands are magic, pushing buttons and spilling low-fat milk and it all tastes like a dream and he wants that.
"Yeah." Baekhyun sighs, leaning against the counter, terrible at acting annoyed. Chanyeol stares at him from his spot on the floor, legs comfortably sprawled out and feet about knocking into Baekhyun's. "I'll make you my special latte."
"You know, you're really hilariously sensitive about your coffee." Chanyeol laughs, leaning back to throw the awful paper cup into an unlidded trashcan Baekhyun was supposed to fix before getting all on Chanyeol's case.
And really, what kind of cafe works 5 in the morning to sell Chanyeol shitty coffee...
"Of course. I'm not about to let my coworker drink shit."
"And what you make isn't shit?" Chanyeol teases, spouting absolute nonsense, and smiles at the offended look on Baekhyun's face.
"I'll let you know, sir, that my shit is so unbelievable and confidential they aired an episode on X-files about it."
"Right." Chanyeol snorts and Baekhyun decides Chanyeol isn't worth it, so he just walks away to fix the damned metal trashcan that's been staring at him for the past few minutes.
Chanyeol's eyes burning holes into Baekhyun's ass, somehow, go unnoticed.
"Okay. From now I'll run to the cafe as soon as I wake up so you can make me coffee," Chanyeol says, a nice conclusion, and stands up to leave for the kitchen.
"But isn't Junmyeon pissy about you using the cafe's coffee beans on your personal addiction?" He asks, now from the kitchen where Baekhyun can't see him, to his dismay.
"Either he hasn't noticed, or he's nice enough not to point it out. If he does, I'll be sure to pay for you." Baekhyun smiles, tearing another trashbag and fixing it into the trashcan.
"Byun Baekhyun, are you treating me to coffee right now?" Chanyeol's teasing voice rings and Baekhyun wants to smile again, or smile still, because he's not sure he's ever stopped grinning like an idiot.
"I might be treating you to coffee." He answers and Chanyeol probably hums in the kitchen, but Baekhyun doesn't hear it. "Depends on if Junmyeon cares about his business or not."
The next two hours are free of conversation, but filled with the songs Chanyeol's suggesting Baekhyun to play through the cafe's speakers in max volume, filled with little tasks Baekhyun has to go through before opening up. Filled with different smells, all nice and welcoming and tired friends slipping into the cafe from the cold outside world, white and comfortable and all the same. Ready, or not, for the morning rush.
"Man, how did that little devil Kyungsoo ever score a man like you." Baekhyun wonders aloud, looking at the fellow barista beside him, puting on a black apron, minutes from starting work.
The man, Jongin, laughs gleefully at him, his smile so bright and skin so dark it all contrasts amazingly to make a beautiful human being.
"It wasn't him that scored. It was me." He smiles, sheepish, brown hair porpusely messy because they know female clients love that.
"Well, weren't you the one, who did all the work and crap?" Baekhyun asks, walking to turn the sign on the window and to unlock the door. "Kyungsoo doesn't look like someone who would do anything at all. He's just there."
"Fuck off." Kyungsoo shoots from the kitchen and Baekhyun cackles.
"Kyungsoo asked me out first. All the work I did was not dying while looking at him." Jongin says, a little shy, a little proud of himself.
Baekhyun nods. Good for him.
And Baekhyun hears Chanyeol's loud laughter from the kitchen and Baekhyun laughs, too, straight at Jongin's blushing face.
"Don't talk about it," Kyungsoo says from the doorway, irritated, though he's always irritated, so nobody takes the tone to heart, and he passes Jongin trays of pretty cakes for him to put on display.
"You two are so disgustingly in love, it's pretty amazing to see," Baekhyun says and Chanyeol peaks his head from the same doorway to nod at him.
And looking at him, Baekhyun almost feels guilty for making fun of Jongin.
They both get off work a little over before 1PM, Chanyeol packing the few owens with pastries Kyungsoo will have the privilage of decorating alone, and Baekhyun waits a couple minutes for him, all dressed up and wrapped in scarves and fluffy gloves dulling the nonexistant cold on his figertips.
Chanyeol runs out the kitchen like a lost puppy, excited and smiley and happy and everything inbetween that makes Baekhyun's heart stutter and brain melt.
They don't walk together for long, turning different ways at the third crossing they walk past together, and they stand there on the corner longer in the cold to talk, because the time before wasn't enough.
They're not worried to run out of topics, because they talk about absolutely nothing and everything and Chanyeol looks as happy as Baekhyun's feeling.
The waves they send each other off with don't seem nearly enough, not nearly as warm as they want to feel, not nearly fine, but it's still okay, because they have all the time in the world to talk about absolutely nothing and everything.
"Chanyeol! Open up!" Baekhyun screams, his lungs about ready to freeze from the cold air gushing in.
It's a little over 5AM and Baekhyun was about ready to open the back door, when he found it locked, so he begrudginly walked up to the main entrance, only to find it locked as well.
And he can't believe Chanyeol can be such an asshole, such a sore loser, he's never been like this for the time they've both worked here, and Baekhyun loves it, like he loves everything about Chanyeol, but it is not the time and it's cold and Baekhyun will cry if he has to.
He imagines Chanyeol's girly giggles escaping past his lips right now, which then escalates into imagining his name slipping past those same lips, which then turns into growls of Baekhyun's name and all of it, all of it Baekhyun, everything for Baekhyun.
And it is not the time for that either.
He uncomfrotably shifts on his feet, annoyed and sad, and everything good and bad, and Baekhyun will kick Chanyeol's balls into shape if he doesn't let him in on the next two minutes.
He honestly finds Chanyeol so courageous for doing something like this to him.
"Chanyeol, I swear to God!" He screams and he wants to kick at the door, but it's glass and he doesn't deem it worthy. "I can see your feet behind the counter, you idiot! Open the door!"
It's his own fault for leaving the shop's key at home.
Chanyeol's always first to get into it, anyway, and they don't have a shift which wouldn't overlap, so he's stopped carying the key at all.
Chanyeol then decides to stand up, hair messy and cheeks red from laughter because he probably finds this whole thing to be the most hilarious thing on the planet.
Baekhyun's breath comes out as angry puffs of tiny little clouds.
"If you don't open the door-"
"You'll what?" Chanyeol's walks to the door to tower over Baekhyun, the glass pane being the only obstacle between his gloved palm and Chanyeol's chest.
Suddenly, Baekhyun's dark and angry squinted eyes glimmer, going wide.
His mouth turns into a bright smile.
At the same time Chanyeol's heart sinks, eyes the size of teacup plates. His lips draw into a surprised O.
They both set off running. Chanyeol's foot gets caught behind a potted plant he'll have to clean up later and Baekhyun slips at the corner of the store, running into the narrow allyway and kicking down an empty trashcan and stepping on it, feeling the weak metal shift under his feet.
He opens the awning window with no struggle and manages to pull up half his body into the room when Chanyeol runs in and stands in the storage room's doorway and looks at Baekhyun.
He runs over and doesn't know what the fuck to do because all of his options are equally as horrible and he's already knew he's an idiot anyway.
He could push Baekhyun out the window and lock it, but that wouldn't result in anything at all.
He could go and run out through the front door, to somewhere safe, but the cookie dough on the kitchen counter is probably already thowed and he needs to go cut it into cute shapes.
So he runs over to catch Baekhyun when he falls through the window, hat lost somewhere on the other side of it, soft scarf caught in the handle of the window and the lock, and all torn, and Baekhyun's laughing and Chanyeol's laughing as well.
He leans against the wall, Baekhyun in his lap, neck secured in a tight embrace and pushed up against Chanyeol's neck.
Because maybe this way Baekhyun can calm down and not hit him, though the position is perfect for biting Chanyeol's ear off, but Baekhyun isn't that big of a monster to think of something like that.
Though he defintely is.
They laugh for a little longer, warm against each other, laughter so soft against the other's ear.
Chanyeol's reminded to never think little of Baekhyun when he feels his teeth graze his airlobe and he hisses, trying to turn his neck away, but Baekhyun lets go on his own.
"What an asshole. Who does that?" He asks. "It's too early for any of this."
Chanyeol lets his arms fall to his sides and Beakhyun pulls back to look at Chanyeol, comfortably seated on his thighs.
"Who does that, Chanyeol?" He asks, cheeks just a little red and Chanyeol doesn't blame him because his are probably a couple shades darker.
"I do?" Chanyeol answers, unsure, because hes not sure what Baekhyun wants to hear.
"That's right, you do." Baekhyun sighs and stands up, regretfully for both parties. "And you better fucking stop or you can forget I've ever promised you any of my amazing coffee."
Chanyeol sits still, back against the wall being the only thing supporting him, he looks at Baekhyun's figure with a soft smile on his face.
He watches Baekhyun take off his coat and walk out the room to go hang it just there beside the same door.
Chanyeol stands up, dusts off his jacket,
(he hadn't had the time after coming into the store to even put on his apron)
and goes to his station, happy that Baekhyun is happy and not mad, because a mad Baekhyun is a scary Baekhyun.
And he's completely forgot about the plant and the dirt and the shards of a large clay pot all over the shop's main area.
It's good that he's reminded, though.
"Park Chanyeol, you motherfuck!"
And the cookies can probably wait for Kyungsoo to take care of them, Chanyeol thinks, as he runs back into the storage room as fast as wind can go in Seoul, slams the door shut and turns the lock.
"What did you do this time, Chanyeol?" Kyungsoo asks with more interest in his voice than it usually holds, as he steps into the kitchen and starts unbuttoning his coat.
Chanyeol looks up from the pink and blue and white cupcake frosting he's preparing and Kyungsoo's met with white eyebrows, a colorful neck, and white in Chanyeol's hair he's ignored when he first seen it after coming in.
All flour in hair and eyebrows, frosting on his neck, clearly been tried to fix but still left just a little, just a few noticible lines.
It was all Baekhyun, Kyungsoo can guess, and Chanyeol sadly nods at him as if he understood what Kyungsoo was thinking.
"Oh look, your neck's gay." Kyungsoo jokes. "Just like the rest of you." And Jongin comes in, too, to hang his coat by the same storage room which means so much more to Chanyeol now, and he laughs when he sees the state Chanyeol's in.
"Thanks, Kyungsoo." Chanyeol breathes out. "And what's up? Did something else happen?"
"I guess Baekhyun dug up the board where we would write specials and he put it out again."
"Oh, he did?" Chanyeol asks with a surprised look, because he didn't notice Baekhyun looking for it in the storage room. Kyungsoo nods.
He passes Jongin a wet napkin and Jongin tries to drag it across Chanyeol's eyebrows to get the powder out. It does a pretty decent job, so Jongin asks for another one and this time he tries wiping Chanyeol's neck.
Nothing comes off, so Jongin just huffs, angry, and throws the napkins out.
"The frosting we use is really good, isn't it?" He asks, half-joking, a little annoyed that his wholehearted effort isn't enough to help a non-miserable Chanyeol.
"Highest quality, bitch." He says and slips through the doorframe before Kyungsoo has the liberty of chucking something his way.
He passes Baekhyun standing by the counter, counting money in the cash register, and he meets Chanyeol's puzzled look with a smile.
Chanyeol doesn't like that smile, so he sprints to the entrance door, forgets it's locked and slams his body into it, quickly fumbles with the key in it, and steps out of the shop.
The glass door magically stays in place.
He finds the sign there, neatly placed, words written in a cute and bubbly hand writing with white and baby pink chalk, and though he could get offended he doesn't, because he's just all that amazing.
Help our handicapped and mentally-ill pastry chef reach his dreams of being number 1 in Korea! Visit our shop and get a pastry, recieve a nice word and a sense of happiness in return!
It reads.
"Baekhyun, what's with the sign out?" Jumyeon asks when he catches Baekhyun in the back area as he was just about to leave.
Of course today was the day he would decide to visit.
"What's wrong with it?" Baekhyun asks, feigning innocence. "I thought it was pretty straightforward."
"Don't lie to our clientele to earn more money."
"He was hardly lying, really." Kyungsoo chimes in, swirling chocolate syrup onto a cake.
"What he said." Baekhyun nods.
Yixing, who's just come in for his shift, nods as well, though he should hardly have a say in calling anyone an idiot anyway.
"No." Junmyeon places his hand onto his face, the move needlessly graceful, and sighs. "Don't do that anymore."
"Alright, alright." Baekhyun decides fighting with his employer isn't all that good of an idea, so he backs down, even though the employer's hardly taken seriously in the first place.
"And look over the menu, see if you can add something for the spring specials, alright?"
"Okay? Why me?"
"Well, all of you, but you just seem to be full of great ideas, so I thought you had something to share."
"You're right, huh. I am full of great ideas." Baekhyun nods, ego boosted, and Chanyeol walks in, hair clear of white, neck still colorful.
"Why did you have to say that." He sighs, seeing Baekhyun's smug expression.
"And I'd love it if you added a few pastries to the spring menu as well."
"Yup, okay." Chanyeol nods, handing Baekhyun his scarf because he felt bad about completely destroying his just this morning.
The hat Baekhyun's lost on the way into the cafe has been retrieved as well.
Baekhyun takes it and puts it on hazzerdly, so with a dejected sigh Chanyeol walks over and fixes it to look pretty.
Baekhyun looks down, watches long fingers work around his throat, and he's never giving this thing back, he decides.
It's his now.
Junmyeon masterfully ignores the fact that he's probably hired an all-gay staff for his first business.
The next morning Baekhyun calls Chanyeol, tells him he's sick, and that Chanyeol should feel guilty about breaking him, and Chanyeol nods, morning suddenly darker.
The quiet, rare chirps of the first birds that have come back after the winter aren't as fun anymore either.
Baekhyun tells him that everytime he blows his nose and sees a green bugger he will think of Chanyeol.
And Chanyeol laughs.
The day goes way boring, way too slowly.
Kyungsoo curses at Baekhyun because without Baekhyun to recieve Chanyeol's endless attention it all goes to him, because he's sure, tragically so, that he's Chanyeol's second favorite person on this planet.
But Chanyeol has the pleasure of chatting with Yixing for an amount of time for the first time, as he's been called in to help Jongin with the morning rush, because Chanyeol has no idea how the fuck the large coffee machine works and Kyungsoo is generally allergic to people.
Yixing seems delightful.
The next day Baekhyun is back, cold gone so quickly, and everything's back to normal again.
And this time Yixing is working instead of Jongin!
That's double the happiness for Chanyeol!
And since Jongin wasn't here, that meant that Kyungsoo was more sulky than usual and Baekhyun and Chanyeol loved bothering him even more so.
It's one of the things that brought them closer together.
Not counting the other seven dozen of things that brought them closer together.
And it's all great!
Chanyeol's happiness bar was about ready to explode!
"Bring Chanyeol out." Jongdae, Baekhyun's best idiotic friend, to the moon and back, his most recent and most frequent customer asks as Baekhyun hands him a cappuccino.
Baekhyun hesitates for far too long for Jongdae to find it nice, so he stomps his foot like a kid in a candy shop.
"I don't want to..." Baekhyun says slowly, because Jongdae is Jongdae and he's full of shit and he's dangerous, and he hasn't heard of shame and has the impulse control the size of a peanut.
There's something terribly foul in Jongdae's eyes and Baekhyun wants to stop that something from getting out.
"Chanyeol!" He screams at the top of his lungs making Jongin's body jerk by his station, making a couple people gasp and look up.
"Don't disturb the clients!" Baekhyun hisses and slaps the man's head, but it's completely fine because Jongdae gets one in on Baekhyun as well and they might as well start a fist fight right here and now.
"Someone rang?" Chanyeol peaks his head out through the doorframe and walks out.
Baekhyun slaps his own head, Chanyeol looking at him like he had a nipple on his face.
"This is him?" Jongdae asks and Chanyeol turns to look at Baekhyun, almost asking for an explanation. "This is the hot piece of hunk that you couldn't shut the fuck up about for... not that recently?"
Chanyeol still doesn't seem to get the whole situation, so he just turns to look at Jongdae.
"Oh, uh, well, I certainly hope so." He says and Jongdae screeches up an amused laugh while Baekhyun doesn't know how to feel about any of this.
"This is my friend, Jongdae." He introduces, because that's really the only thing he can do.
"His father, thank you." Jongdae corrects. "Well, Chanyeol, you certainly seem like a fine gentleman."
Baekhyun checks Chanyeol and Chanyeol doesn't seem uncomfortable. Great.
"Thank you, Jongdae." He answers.
"If you want to date Baekhyun, just a tip." Jongdae says and leans over the counter, signaling for Chanyeol to come closer as well.
Chanyeol creeps up to Jongdae and leans down like Jongdae just promised to share a very juicy secret.
"He's already wetting our apartment thinking of you, so all you gotta do is just ask him out." Jongdae says, very unsecretive, and Chanyeol laughs awkwardly. "He's that easy." He adds and nods.
For good measure.
Baekhyun steps closer to smack Jongdae again who jumps back, predicting every breath Baekhyun takes.
"Just please leave, Jongdae." Baekhyun asks, all hope lost, life drained from his eyes.
Jongdae decides there isn't anymore good he can do here today, so he walks himself out.
Jongin standing there, quietly sniggering in the corner, Chanyeol stalking back into the kitchen with stuttering movements.
Baekhyun's filing a restraining order.
"Please understand that there's no such thing as fat-free whipped cream." Baekhyun explains patiently to the teenage girl thinking she knows coffee better than him.
"There's fat-free milk, so there's fat-free whipped cream, also! Don't try to hide the menu from me." The girl argues and it takes every muscle in Baekhyun's body to keep himself from groaning.
"I'm not hiding anything." Baekhyun sighs, trying to keep a professional smile on his face, half hoping it would woo the girl and she'd calm down.
It doesn't.
Sadly.
"Get the pastry chef out, then, if you don't know. They'll know."
"Don't you mean the manager-" Baekhyun tries because he hasn't had the pleasure of doing the whole 'but I'm the manager' thing, because Junmyeon let him call himself that if customers were being difficult and he really wants to do it.
It would be the peak of his career.
It always looks cool in movies.
Well, as cool as a coffee shop barista can look while lying to a customer.
"Fuck the manager." The girl's snarl is more amusing than anything and Baekhyun just smiles because hitting girls is unmanarly.
And not that he could hit her. She could probably sock him in the face way better.
"Okay, fuck the manager." He repeats with a chipper tone because the whole situation is ridiculious and he's in a particularly good mood today for one reason or the other.
"Chanyeol! Come out here for a sec." He calls out and Chanyeol walks past the doorway behind the counter in seconds time.
The girl is clearly intimitated by the big structure and Baekhyun smirks at her, conciously or unconciously leaning into Chanyeol's side when he stands beside him.
Look at my future boyfriend. Big, isn't he? Pretty, isn't he?
"Did someone need me?" He asks Baekhyun, puzzled, and eyes the girl, quickly upturning his lips into a friendly smile. "Hello. Did you need help?" He asks, polite.
"Uh, yeah." The girl stutters and Baekhyun turns his head so she wouldn't see him smirk.
Because that might make him lose his job while he hasn't even reached the peak of his career.
"This man refuses to put in fat-free whipped cream in my coffee. He says you don't have it." She talks and Baekhyun turns to look up at Chanyeol's expression and he looks taken aback.
Then he looks a little calmer, chill and swag and Baekhyun can't believe him.
"What a terrible person," He says, faking his voice to be dramatic, and Baekhyun curses under his breath. "Hold on for a minute."
He goes back out the door, Baekhyun's side suddenly cold and alone, and the girl is looking at him as if he were a cockroach in her kitchen.
This bitch probably has a few of those crawling around her dumpster. All her family.
Chanyeol comes back with a can of whipped cream, the label off, and Baekhyun rolls his eyes and wants to laugh, because he recognizes the can.
It was the one he and Chanyeol shared just this morning when they finished drinking Baekhyun's special coffee, made with love, and Baekhyun was craving something tragically fat.
They shared it lips to lips, tongue to tongue and secrets to actions, and Baekhyun knows for a fact the whipped cream is no way fat-free.
"Here you go." He hands the can to Baekhyun with a mocking smile. "Put it in her coffee."
Baekhyun grits his teeth, closes his eyes and puts on a little white hat on the girl's drink with Chanyeol's shit-eating grin just by his side.
Perfect, isn't he?
"You're a terrible human being, Chanyeol." Baekhyun comments when his last customer leaves to take a seat at one of the homely tables.
"She asked us specifically for fat-free whipped cream and you just shat on her wishes like that."
And he doesn't add that he was humiliated more by him than the girl, but Chanyeol knows this himself, so he just smiles at him, leaning against the doorfame.
"She was being mean to my Baekhyunnie." He answers, eyes soft. Baekhyun turns to lean against the counter, to see those soft eyes.
Jongin's working diligently, offering his personal regular a charming smile that would probably make Baekhyun weak in the knees, if the boy wasn't claimed by what Baekhyun was sure was the Devil's incarnate, and Baekhyun's everything was long Chanyeol's.
"Then shouldn't you have been on my side?" Baekhyun pouts childishly.
"The customer's always right." Chanyeol smirks, mocking, and Baekhyun wants to get rid of the expression one way or another.
"You're not even a barista, the rule doesn't apply to you." Baekhyun huffs and turns around when the bell above the door rings again and a handsome man walks in.
"It doesn't?" Chanyeol tilts his head and eyes the man who's politely asked Baekhyun for an americano with an extra smile.
And Baekhyun complies because he's a sucker for beautiful people, taking the money and going to get the drink ready.
"No, it doesn't." He answers when he steps to get a cup lid that are stacked on the table besides Chanyeol. Chanyeol hands him one, his eyes never once leaving the man eyeing Baekhyun's pretty butt.
Baekhyun takes it and fixes it onto the cup, handing it to the man.
The man turns the cup around in his hand, clearly looking for something.
And Baekhyun isn't stupid, and it's not the first time, so he knows exactly what the man wants.
"Sorry." He smiles, politely, and the man shrugs, sending a glance Chanyeol's way and almost getting offended by the proud expression plastered on his face.
Baekhyun then turns to walk to the fridge to check on how they were doing on milk, when Chanyeol turns to walk back into the kitchen, only to hit his forehead against the low doorframe.
Baekhyun hears the sound so he turns to look, and he finds Chanyeol holding his forehead, standing there.
He doesn't laugh, because the action has been so frequent, there's an ice pack reserved in the fridge just for this purpose.
Baekhyun takes it and hands it to Chanyeol who wastes no time placing in on his forehead.
"You've worked here for a year, haven't you? You'd think that after so much time you'd have gotten used to the low cut, friend."
Chanyeol doesn't raise his eyes before talking, because he already knows what reaction his answer would get.
"Yeah, well you've been working here for only half a year, so."
"Chanyeol!" Baekhyun gasps scandalously like he's just been told his third sideman was cheating on him. "Have you been looking at my ass?!"
And the way Baekhyun says it, carelessly loud, turns the head of a couple of people seated nearest to the register and of Jongin who looks over from his client who's clearly flirting with him, and laughs awkwardly at a shameless Baekhyun.
A shameless Baekhyun whose cheeks are steadily turning an ominous shade of pink.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Chanyeol says, his hands raised in defense, one holding the small bag, and he walks back to the kitchen, this time not forgetting to turn his head just a little to the right when passing through the frame.
Baekhyun looks up and bursts out laughing when he finds the paint chipping right in the middle of the top of the frame.
Chanyeol dyes his hair.
It's bright red now.
Baekhyun is ruined.
And Chanyeol knows this, so he let's Baekhyun have a closer looks and it's all that much more intimate than either one of them imagined it to be.
"Taste it." Baekhyun places a cup in front of Chanyeol who's working hard at rolling a large piece of dough.
"What?" He asks, hands still working.
"Taste it. It's a sample for a drink." Baekhyun explains and Chanyeol doesn't look as hesitant.
"Oh. If so then you taste something of mine, too," Chanyeol says and Baekhyun eyes light up like they do when he has one of his ingenious thoughts. "No, it's not my cum." Chanyeol shakes his head, catching on Baekhyun's train of thought too quickly, but Baekhyun still looks happy after being figured out like this.
So it's fine.
Chanyeol goes to the fridge and comes back with a plastic box, a pie slice, so prettily decorated, under the lid.
Chanyeol takes the cup and Baekhyun opens the box, taking the fork Chanyeol offers him. Baekhyun takes a bite of Chanyeol's pie, while Chanyeol nervously closes his eyes and gives the drink a try.
"It's a bit tasteless," Baekhyun says. "And too stale. Add a little sugar or vanilla extract, more milk or cream or something." He offers and Chanyeol nods.
"It's way too sweet, what did you put in there?" Chanyeol asks after he's taken a couple of sips.
"I mixed three different teas, put in honey and added a couple of different syrups."
"Uh-huh. I guess that explains that." Chanyeol nods, his mouth feeling abused by all the different sugars. "But the taste of it is nice. Just too sweet."
It's 6AM and it is way too early for this.
"Yeah, well, where do you think I can get sugarless syrups."
"Order some."
"It's expensive." Baekhyun groans, forehead against the metal counter.
"Then get the taste powders or something. Not like it makes a difference." Chanyeol shrugs.
"I guess you're right," Baekhyun says, voice muffled by the counter top. "I made this while thinking of you, too. Too bad it's fucked." He turns his head to the side, smushing his cheek into the cold surface, and looks at Chanyeol.
Chanyeol looks back, a strange expression coloring his face.
"I was thinking of you while I made the pie, too," Chanyeol says and Baekhyun smiles.
Smiles at the ridiculiousness of the situation and smiles at how welcome it is to loiter around Baekhyun and Chanyeol.
"Am I really that sickeningly sweet?" Chanyeol asks, curious.
"Yeah, well am I really that stale and boring." He comments and Chanyeol wants to hit him because nobody offends his creations this way.
Chanyeol understands where they're both coming from.
"Got it." He nods. "More sugar."
"Less sugar." Baekhyun says with a thumbs-up.
They both nod, comically in sync.
"Speaking of which. I've got something else." Baekhyun lifts himself up from the table and walks back out into the main area, only to come out with a tray filled with different cups, all with different recipes written on them.
Chanyeol nods, going back to the fridge and taking out a tray one of his own, filled with platters and boxes of cakes, cookies, cupcakes and everything inbetween, and places it beside Baekhyun's.
They both look at the full table in awe, the dough Chanyeol was working on forgotten.
"Amazing," Baekhyun says in disbelief, Chanyeol copying his expression.
"This might be a problem," Chanyeol says and Baekhyun agrees with a slow nod.
"Or we could leave it for the others. Not like Yixing's busy during the lunch hours."
That's a bunch of bullshit but who cares.
They look at each other and nod once more, placing the trays on a table by the wall where it wouldn't be in the way of Chanyeol's and Kyungsoo's work.
So Baekhyun decides there's something better to do, and goes to wrap his arms around Chanyeol's neck and suck himself into Chanyeol's parted lips.
He lets himself be picked up and sat down on a counter dirty with flour, all forgotten, and lets himself be elevated to the moon and higher, to a whole new dimension.
Minutes, hours, forever later Jongin walks into the room with Kyungsoo following behind, only for the two to walk right out again.
And that's when Baekhyun can't keep himself from laughing so hard, and Chanyeol finds Baekhyun's laugh to be the most beautiful thing in the known universe, so he smiles and laughs too, and they let go.
Baekhyun's neck holding a hickey or two, Chanyeol's lips swollen and red and blaring and they're both estatic.
"Is Chanyeol in?" Jongdae asks, decided today was the day due for a visit to Baekhyun's personal heaven again.
"Chanyeol!" Baekhyun calls out on his own because he knows it's useless to fight the force that is Jongdae.
Yixing comes into the store then, greets Jongdae with a quick peck because they're apparently dating now, and Chanyeol walks into the room, apron littered with flour like it were snowing inside the coffee shop.
Though snow doesn't fall anymore, as spring has come, but Baekhyun's already bloomed way back.
"Oh, Dae. Hey." Chanyeol greets because apparently they're friends now, too.
"Baekhyun." Jongdae turns from Chanyeol to Baekhyun and Baekhyun hums for him to talk. "Are you two dating? Because if not, there's someone I want to introduce to either one of you."
"Is this the Hunger Games? Are we gonna fight for somebody to the death?" Chanyeol asks and Baekhyun shrugs. "Because if so then I'm way down."
"I don't know." Baekhyun turns to Chanyeol who's now standing comfortably beside. "Are you my boyfriend?" He asks.
"Sure." Chanyeol nods and shrugs, a different answer not even passing his mind, and Baekhyun nods again, turning to Jongdae. He tips his head to the side of Chanyeol.
"You heard him."
Just then Chanyeol slaps Baekhyun's ass and runs out through the doorframe, remembering to duck, and giggles all the way like a highschool girl.
Baekhyun turns around to look through the door to see what that was all about, when Jongdae barks up a laugh.
And when Baekhyun asks what's up, Jongdae doesn't mention the white imprint of a large hand decorating his cute butt.