(n.) the rush or the inexplicable joy one feels

after seeing or experiencing something romantic

Word Count : 3463 | not yet edited

As the dawn of day slowly vanishes in the light of daylight and the cafe gradually, but surely, heightens its level of ruckus, Baekhyun’s finding today to be one of the worst. He thinks there’s nothing worse than the fact that he had woken up three hours after the time he had fallen asleep, scanning underneath his pillow for his earphones to, unfortunately, find nothing. He thinks there’s nothing worse than having woken up at such a time and having no music to lull him back to sleep, or to at least keep his mind away from the thoughts that regularly keep him up at night. He thinks there’s nothing worse than the thoughts that happen to creep into his mind at that time of day.

Without his headphones, he has but no choice to put his ears through the terror of listening to other people’s discussions and jokes and complaints.

Quietly trying to mind his own business and wipe down the abandoned tables, previous customers have left to him to clean, Baekhyun finds himself with no choice but to listen to the customers around him, talking about how they feel towards their own problems. He can’t seem to handle one person in particular, though, who is complaining about their partner kissing their best friend; how she can’t possibly leave the man who had two-timed them with her own best friend, how they find no other option but to drop their supposed best friend, how the person sitting in front of her, listening to all of this, undoubtedly agrees to such. Don’t get him wrong though, he knows he shouldn’t be nosey, that he should mind his own business; trust that he would if he could. However, he can’t. And frankly, Baekhyun initially thought today wouldn’t be so bad and that he wouldn’t find himself hearing things to the extent that he is hearing them now… but man, was he wrong.

Baekhyun knows that he’s acting extremely, not even a tad bit, ignorant right now. He’s usually very considerate towards what others think and believe, as he knows he isn’t aware of who they are or what they’ve been through.

Baekhyun thinks that if he had maybe gotten an extra hour of sleep, he would have a higher tolerance level and maybe he would believe he could get through this shift. But, he just had to go out yesterday and just had to be so mindless to the point of losing his one and only pair of earphones; and the fact Sehun had given those to him, made the elder a bit anxious to wake up and encounter certain questions. Strangely though, Sehun didn’t do such and, instead, shook the matter off with an ‘okay’ that the smaller hadn’t sure if it had been a question or just a careless reply. One thing he is sure of is that the other is acting as normally as he does everyday… and Baekhyun thinks that it’d be best if he didn’t look further into it. All he really should focus on is finding a way to work on his shift in peace and serenity, like always, although he thinks it’s absolutely impossible.

An hour or two pass by and Baekhyun has finished the last of the tables that needed to be tended to and is currently taking his break. Actually, the smaller doesn’t believe in calling the breaks he takes ‘breaks’ because it really never is a break if you’re constantly doing someone else’s job, especially if it’s someone you see everyday and most especially if that some turns out to be your best friend. Instead of sitting down and sipping on a satisfying cup of freshly brewed coffee, he opts out of such an opportunity just to help out Sehun at the register as he takes on the task of preparing orders. Of course the duo are well aware of the fact that they’d both be fired if Kyungsoo were to see their little arrangement they have, so they’re cunning enough to be witty and strategic about it all. Then again, Baekhyun has his doubts about the whole situation, having seen Kyungsoo catch them but brush it off and let it slide multiples times. He never mentions this to the younger because he rather let his best friend have some kind of opportunity to use his witty skills somewhere else than to him.

Customers pile in one by one, and already, Baekhyun’s break has reached its end but the elder doesn’t seem to notice; or rather he chooses not to notice as he sees no tables that need his attention.

“Baek! Can you handle the register for a few seconds? I drank way too much water already,” Sehun turns towards him.

“Huh but I-” Before the other could protest, the younger’s already done patting his shoulder and rushes off to the bathroom.

Baekhyun sighs at the sight of the non-existent queue in front of the counter and chuckles lightly while he runs his hand through his hair; something he regularly does after having washed his hair. He lets his mind wander for a few minutes as he plays around with the register.

That is until he hears the cafe’s door chime, to which he then knocks himself out of dreamland and stands up straight to prepare himself to welcome the customer.

He clears his throat and begins to speak, “Welcome,” but the sentence becomes more of a question as he realizes it’s none other than Chanyeol.

Sporting a dark wash jean jacket over a black turtleneck, or at least what Baekhyun thinks to be a turtleneck as it seems to be covering the other’s chin and as its sleeves are still visible under the jacket’s sleeves, Chanyeol stands in front of the other.

He smiles his famous warm and welcoming smile as he replies, “Baekhyun, hi! I was wondering when I’d get to see you again.”

“Aha well, here I am…” Baekhyun’s not sure why he’s acting this way but he does think it’s bit too sudden of an encounter, a horribly-timed one at that, “how may I help you? Today’s special is our Triple Mocha Espresso. The best to keep you awake for decades...”

Chanyeol laughs lightly upon noticing how rigid and robot-like Baekhyun sounds at the moment… just another moment he notes to add to his list of what he finds admirable about the other.

He thens looks up to the cafe’s menu and the way he has to squint to read the finely written, yet bold, print does not go unnoticed by Baekhyun… and he can’t but admire this. Such a strange feeling he acquires around the other. He hesitantly lets go of these feelings for a while, just like he always does, and waits for Chanyeol to reply with his order.

Just as Baekhyun sees the other about to reply, Sehun returns from his little break with a rather strong presence, “Who is this?” His tone matching his usual cold aura around stangers, but it wavers as he sees the elder’s cheek, painted with a light shade of crimson he hasn’t seen for a while, “ Why are you blushing?”

“Blushing?” Baekhyun reaches up to touch his cheeks and notices that they’ve gotten quite warmer than he remembers them to be, “I- I’m not. C- can you take care of his order? I see some tables…” He stumbles upon his words, and Sehun finds this very amusing. And so he continues on with his antics.

Sehun grabs the back of Baekhyun’s shirt collar and drags him back to his previous position behind the counter.

“Now, now…” the younger clicks his tongue, “is that any way to treat a new customer? Byun Baekhyun, have I not taught you well?”

“You haven’t taught me anything,” Baekhyun replies under his breath whilst looking at Sehun with dagger eyes, refusing to look up at the one waiting in front of the counter. If looks could kill... if only they could.

“What was that?”

“Sehun, can you stop it I-I have to-” the elder runs out of energy, takes a deep breath in and out, and mutters a quick fine, “Chanyeol, w-what would you like?”

A moment of silence passes by. It might be because of the heavy presence he feels from Sehun but Baekhyun feels as if this wait could surpass any other times that he had to wait for something, in terms of anxiety levels. Even longer than he had to wait to receive his midterm grades that one year in college. He always felt as if nothing could ever live up to how nerve-wrecked and messed up that wait made him feel. But now he thinks otherwise, as he waits for Chanyeol’s order. Yes, you’ve heard it completely right and Baekhyun clearly understands the situation… he’s freaking out over waiting for a customer’s order. But then again… is Chanyeol really only a customer to him?

“Actually, it’s not really on the menu…”

“The secret menu then? I-I’m not sure of the names everyone’s been making for those items but if-if you tell me th-the ingredients maybe I can-”

“It’s not on the secret menu either…”

“Oh, uhm, then w-what?”

“I’d actually like a bit of your time...”

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