04 ; iced caramel macchiato

Minhyuk and Changkyun had watched their best friend become brighter in the past three days. It was not like he wasn't already bright, but only having his two best friends took a toll on him, he didn't have anyone else. But now, he was exceptionally bright now due to the brunette male that worked at the café, along with the other two brunette hotties. "This is so unfair" Changkyun complained randomly, breaking away from their connected thinking "You too actually talk to your crushes— well I don't know if Hyungwon has realised his feelings or not, but he's pretty obvious" Changkyun continued before branching off into expressing his thoughts, a common habit from the chaotic male. He really was 12D. "I don't talk to Hyunwoo, he just orders expresso macaroons and brings me my cinnamon tea" Minhyuk pouts as he thinks of the minimal interactions between him and the tall brunette who had captured his heart completely. 

"Stop lying to yourself — he buys the macaroons to be around you. If he didn't have some inkling of feelings for you, he wouldn't bother with being the one to bring you your precious cinnamon tea every day at noon" Changkyun practically ranted, his 12D character giving way to his deep-set intelligence. "Meanwhile, I'm here with no interactions whatsoever and Jooheon is so cute. Man, the struggles" He complained again, ruffling his hair annoyedly although internally saddened because he desperately wanted to get to know the seemingly-y dimpled male. 

It was just after Changkyun had finished ranting about his precious Jooheon, again, that Hyungwon had made his way down the stairs with a smile on his face. "Morning, upset about Jooheon again?" Hyungwon questioned when he saw the torn look between annoyance and sadness in the conflicted male's dark brown eyes. "Gah yes, I just wish he knew my name or would talk to me" Changkyun whined like a little puppy, clinging onto Hyungwon like a leech which was opposite to the way that the customers usually saw him. Luckily the store was empty currently, not opening for another twenty minutes or so. 

Usually he was calm, still managing to crack jokes and be charismatic with the customers. Behind the scenes however; he was extremely clingy, protective, loyal and had a naturally strange humour which alway led to him expressing his thoughts (usually with no-filter). Minhyuk and Hyungwon didn't mind the split personalties, neither did the customers when they were lucky enough to catch glimpses of the true Changkyun, not the persona he put on. 

"It'll be fine, Christmas is coming up soon. Maybe Jooheon will kiss you under the mistletoe" Hyungwon tried to reassure the male, however he was swatted away "I have a feeling you or Minhyuk will be the one to get kissed, I'll be all alone again" Changkyun joked, but his friends noticed the twinge of sadness in his eyes. "Minhyuk can you unlock the door please?" Hyungwon asked over his shoulder as he determinedly pulled on his favourite pair of shoes.  Minhyuk, understanding his thought pattern, nodded quickly, and went to unlock the door.

Hyungwon walked out determined, much to the confused questions of Chnagkyun who had no idea what just happened. He quickly made it to the café, knocking briefly on the door which scared the living daylight's out of the four males that were preparing the shop to be opened in the next twenty minutes also. Hyunwoo, also known as Minhyuk's little crush got up to answer the door and let the annoyed boy inside. 

"Sorry to intrude but.." Hyungwon started before abruptly turning around to face the male that reminded him of a teddy-bear "Minhyuk likes you and ..." He said to Hyunwoo before once again whirling around and stalking up to Jooheon, who was easily frightened by the tall male. "Changkyun likes you. Both of you need to hurry up, my bestfriends are getting impatient" Hyungwon scolded before walking out quickly. The four of them were in shock, until Kihyun jumped up and slapped the table excitedly. "I called it! Pay up" He cheered as the other three reluctantly placed the bills on the table. 

Hoseok was more in shock than the others, the usually shy male had just stalked into their café wearing that, being confident and y as hell as he told two of his best-friends that their crushes weren't one-sided before walking back out. His mind halted, did he just call Hyungwon y?

Hell, looks like the other bet with Kihyun was finished also

Hoseok placed more bills onto the table, the other three laughing at his late realisation and joining in on congratulating him.

Hyungwon re-entered the patisserie, feeling lighter knowing that he had just solved his two overdramatic male's relationship problems. "Done. I told Hyunwoo too Minhyuk, have fun with that one" Hyungwon said easily, making his way upstairs to change out of his pyjamas to get into his uniform, having less than ten minutes until the patisserie was opened for another packed day. "Ahh Hyungwon, I'm gonna kill you. Just a question, do you realise you walked into the cafe with only sweats and shoes?" Minhyuk teased before questioned Hyungwon, who desperately wanted to laugh at his question, why would he be stupid enough to—

Hyungwon cursed loudly, causing the two males in the patisserie to laugh. He had just walked into a café bare-chested, with only a pair of grey sweatpants and black shoes on.

-:-:-

The time had once again reached one o'clock, Hyungwon's lunch break. However the male was reluctant to enter the café again, after unknowing and blatantly showing off his thin chest a mere three hours earlier. He was embarassed, the lenses of his glasses fogging up due to his own breath, his racing heart making him breathe hard. He had seen Hoseok's open mouth when he had abruptly entered, he was probably disgusted with what he saw. Hyungwon whimpered with the stabbing pain he felt in his chest when the thought those words, although he pushed the pain aside. 

Mustering up the last of his diminishing courage, Hyungwon gave a small watery-eyed smile to his friends, the pain in his chest still causing him discomfort. Changkyun and Minhyuk were worried, but they also knew that Hyungwon was self-conscious about himself which had only been heightened due to the incident being around his self-unknown crush, Hoseok. 

He entered the café, heading to a different table as his usual had been taken up by young schoolgirls clearly fangirling over the handsomeness of the four— now five males that were currently in the shop. He buried his head in his arms, willing for the dull throbbing in his heart to go away, without even knowing the cause of the pain. Hoseok once again noticed that something was up with the male, and this time it wasn't sleepiness. Having already prepared the drink in mind, a favourite of Hoseok's that he could have created blindfolded, he headed over to the male. Pushing the plastic cup with the light caramel-brown liquid inside closer to Hyungwon, Hoseok poked at the younger's forearm gently. 

Hyungwon roused, feeling the instant comfort that came with Hoseok's prescence. "T-Than-ks" he shyly stammered, before taking a small sip. It was intoxicatingly sweet and Hyungwon sighed, as sweet treats usually perked his mood back up. Suddenly throwing his arms around the older-but-smaller male, he instantly felt better as Hoseok's scent of roasted coffee beans and flowers wrapped around him. He missed Hoseok's heartbeat however, which had skyrocketed due to the skin-ship initiated by Hyungwon willingly. He was trapped between the boy's warmth and the cinnamon-strawberry scent which had become like an addiction for him. Hyungwon pulled away, almost unwillingly as he continued to drink the incredibly sweet caramel drink.

"You are welcome. By the way, you looked incredibly y this morning" Hoseok complimented, although never thinking that he would have ever called someone y. Hyungwon suddenly choked on his drink, a bright red blush coating his cheeks as his heart-rate skyrocketed much like Hoseoks had earlier.

Everything was back to normal

♡✘♡

hey guys, 

i know this is a lot longer than you are used to on the caffeine chapters but i thought it might be better to have insight on what the two groups of friends are like, also especially what our precious hyungwon is like when he isn't stuttering and blushing in hoseok's presence. i will also be including a christmas chapter which will be published on christmas day, with a christmas themed drink as a heads-up. 

secondly, i have hinted at a possible spin-off for this book which will be named 'cinnamon tea & macaroons ; showhyuk'. please do read the spin-off if i ever get around to publishing it. lastly, thank you for all the reads, subscriptions and comments. it really brightens me up.

bailee