It had been a month since Junmyeon joined Milky Way. 

Jongdae didn't even realise time had gone by that fast. Junmyeon could barely pour a cup of coffee when he had first joined, now he was relatively good at making lattes and cappuccinos. Jongdae even dared to say he was actually good at it. There was no doubt Junmyeon spent every waking moment of the past 25 days trying to improve himself. Whenever it was time to lock up, Junmyeon would beg for an extra hour or two so he could practice more. He even spent his own money on ingredients so as to not exhaust the cafes'. 

He was truly something special. 

And with every passing day, Jongdae fell more and more in love with him.

"And then finally, a swish in the foam to make a heart, like....that!"

Junmyeon beamed at his little coffee heart, looking up at Jongdae with twinkling eyes. Milky Way was already closed, and Minseok and Jongin were clearing up. Junmyeon had just perfected his macchiato-brewing skills and was bursting with eagerness to show Jongdae. 

How could he decline?

"Great! That looks wonderful. Now let's see if it tastes as good as it looks."

Junmyeon held his breath and wrung his hands as Jongdae picked up the cup and slowly sipped on Junmyeon's little creation. Letting the taste settle on his buds for a moment, Jongdae judged the balance of flavours and the consistency of the coffee before finally coming to a verdict.

"Ahhh..."

Junmyeon immediately frowned, looking down at the macchiato in worry as Jongdae just let out an ambiguous sigh without saying anything else. Upon seeing this, Jongdae laughed at how sincere Junmyeon was (and was he hot as well when he made that kind of worried expression), and set down the cup.

"It's perfect."

Junmyeon broke out into the hugest grin ever, laughing in relief.

"Really? Oh that's gre-"

Jongdae raised his brows as Junmyeon suddenly froze and looked at him.

"What?"

"You have a bit of...uhm-"

Suddenly, before Jongdae even realised what was happening, Junmyeon's thumb was brushing across his top lip. 

"You had a bit of foam there."

.

Jongdae could have collapsed right there and then, and he was pretty sure his heart had stopped working altogether. Junmyeon laughed awkwardly, or maybe nervously, or maybe even in amusement. Jongdae didn't know, his mind was too busy screaming into oblivion. He knew he was just standing there like a gaping idiot, but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to move. 

Ok, he was going to look ridiculous now. 

MOVE, GODDAMMIT.

"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!"

Junmyeon jumped back with wide eyes as Jongdae suddenly burst into the most bombastic laughter he had ever produced. The look of slight terror in Junmyeon's eyes hinted to Jongdae that he was perhaps being a bit too intense, and quickly toned down the hysteria. 

Great, now he just looked insane.

"W-was the foam that funny?"

Junmyeon was still leaning back a bit, and Jongdae was pretty sure he was on the verge of running away and never returning. Jongdae rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at his feet and wishing the ground would swallow him instantly. 

"I just...pictured myself with a foam moustache and...it was uh...pretty hilarious. Hence the...uh...laughter. Haha."

If there was a curse of coming up with the worst cover-ups ever, Jongdae was pretty sure he had it. Somehow he had managed to keep Junmyeon around for 25 days and not have him call the asylum or the police, but now he may have just screwed it all up.

Jongdae didn't know what he expected as a reply from Junmyeon, but a chuckle was definitely at the bottom of the list. 

"You're right. That's a pretty funny picture."

Oh .

He bought it????

Jongdae snapped back up to find Junmyeon shaking his head and giggling (?) to himself.

"Are you...are you just imagining me with a foam moustache now?" 

"You know the Pringles guy?"

"HEY."

Junmyeon laughed out loud once more, shaking his head as Jongdae playfully glared at him. Picking up the cup of macchiato, he walked away, smile still plastered on his face as he continued imagining Jongdae with a foamy Mr. Pringles moustache. 

As Junmyeon headed into the kitchen, Jongdae leaned against the counter on his elbows and sighed. All he could replay in his head was that little touch of Junmyeon on his lip, how his thumb grazed across it so gently. How his eyebrows were slightly knitted, as if he was focusing as he wiped the foam off. How soft his finger felt...

"Yo."

Jongdae jolted in surprise as Minseok appeared, copying his pose as he leant against the counter beside him.

"Geesh, don't sneak up on me like that."

Minseok had a particular smile on his face, with one eyebrow quirked as he just watched Jongdae silently.

Jongdae knew exactly what that look was.

"Oh no, don't you start..."

"When are you going to tell him?" 

"I don't know what y-"

"Oh don't give me that bull. I'm not blind. I saw what just happened. I saw what's been happening the past month. How long are you going to let this continue?"

Jongdae clenched his jaw as he held himself back from punching himself in the face. The one thing he hated more than uncontrollable feelings, was people knowing about his uncontrollable feelings. Then again, this was Minseok. The guy knew him better than himself or his own mother, which was quite scary honestly. 

"I'm not-"

Before Jongdae could finish what he was saying, Jongin and Junmyeon came back out, making him immediately go silent.

"We're not done here." Minseok leaned in close to Jongdae and murmured, making Jongdae sigh in frustration.

ing hell. 

The next day, Jongdae found himself replaying Minseoks' words over and over in his head. Even as he perfectly brewed a creamy vanilla latte with extra syrup and cream, his mind was still in a frenzy over the events of the previous day.

Needless to say, he didn't really sleep peacefully either. 

Junmyeon was right next to him, taking the order of a middle-aged woman who couldn't seem to decide between a hazelnut mocha or an iced espresso. The whole day, Jongdae was just a bundle of nerves around him, trying his utmost best to be as normal as possible when really he just felt like a frazzled mess. 

Luckily, Junmyeon didn't really notice anything was off. Jongdae credited his third-grade drama teacher for his excellent acting skills. 

Once the lady finally settled on an Americano (wise choice), Junmyeon cashed in her order and politely asked her to wait at the side, greeting the next customer. 

, his voice was so smooth and calming. 

It was getting so ridiculous that Jongdae was actually imagining himself falling asleep to "please wait at the side for your order Ma'am, thank you", the grammy-winning single by angel-voice Kim Junmyeon. 

Jongdae scanned the screen for the specifications of the next order, though he already knew what it was as his ears were very much paying attention to whatever Junmyeon was saying. Grabbing an empty cup, Jongdae proceeded to fill it with hot water when a very tall, handsome man approached the counter. 

"Hi, what would you like today?" 

Jongdae couldn't afford to continue looking at the man as he had to keep up his speed, but even from the corner of his eyes, he could make out his slender, long physique.

This man was really hot, no doubt.

Suddenly, a pang of guilt hit Jongdae just as that thought entered his mind. 

Of course he wasn't Kim Junmyeon. Junmyeon was hot as well. Junmyeon was perfect. This was definitely not him cheating on his crush? Wait, can you even cheat on someone you're not even with? Is it considered cheating if it's just a thought? WHERE'S THE LID FOR THE- oh there it is. 

Jongdae mentally slapped himself for being so flustered over practically nothing. He was getting distracted from his number one priority- serving the customers as best as possible. Jongdae finally finished up the lady's drink and passed it to her, flashing an apologetic smile.

"Sorry for the slight delay. Please enjoy your drink Ma'am." 

The lady was nice enough to thank him and reassure him that it was no problem, making him relieved to say the least. As he was about to read the screen for the next order, his ears tuned back in to Junmyeon's conversation just in time to catch something rather odd.

"Uh, by the way, is there another barista who works here?"

The screen read 'small iced chocolate', which Jongdae assumed to be the tall man's order as he was the only one at the counter, still in front of Junmyeon. His voice was not as deep as Jongdae thought it would be, which made him believe despite his looming height, the man was pretty young.

"Sehun-ssi?" 

Jongdae turned to find Jongin stepping out of the kitchen, wiping some flour from his hands. 

The sound of an awkward chuckle made Jongdae turn back to the stranger, who had a shy smile on his face as he tugged on his earlobe absent-mindedly. 

"Oh, hi. I was wondering why you weren't here."

Jongin had a small, reserved smile on his face. As Jongdae watched his little (though not-so-little, the man was huge but at the same time a baby, it was a paradox) employee walk up to the counter, Junmyeon turned to aforementioned employee and raised his brows. 

"You know him?"

"Yeah, he's the one who found Toben last time."

"Ahhh..." Jongdae remembered the hellish day that was Toben's Terror, and how Jongin was telling him about Toben running loose in the cafe until some stranger picked him up and returned him to Jongin. 

So this was that stranger.

"Oh, you really saved my cafe that day, thank you so much!"

Jongdae stepped forward and reached out his hand, shaking Sehun's enthusiastically as the latter just chuckled once more.

"It's alright, it was no problem. I have a puppy myself so I know how difficult they can be."

"You have a puppy too, Sehun-ssi?"

Jongin suddenly interrupted,  his eyes lighting up the moment Sehun had said those words. Junmyeon suddenly cleared his throat, turning to Jongin. 

"Can you take over counter duty for now? I have to use the bathroom real quick."

Jongin looked a bit taken aback by Junmyeon's sudden request, but nodded nonetheless. Just as Junmyeon slipped away , he discreetly turned and flashed Jongdae a knowing smirk, which Jongdae of course understood. 

Wise, sneaky Junmyeon. 

As Jongdae went forth to prepare Sehun's iced chocolate, his sharp ears and sneaky glances still allowed him to observe how Jongin and his new friend interacted. 

"So, you really have a puppy?"

"Yeah, his name's Vivi. He's about a year old."

"Aaaah, that's adorable. I have 3 dogs too, but they're back home with my parents. I don't see them much now because of university. I really miss them."

Jongdae didn't even have to look to know that Jongin was pouting again, he could hear it in his voice. 

"Ah, that sounds tough. Wh-"

"Oh no, look at me getting carried away. I'm so sorry. I'm supposed to ask you if there's anything else you would like with your drink!"

Jongdae bit the side of his cheek as he stifled his laugh, shaking his head slightly. 

Oh Jongin.

"Uh...I don't really know. What would you recommend is good here?" 

"Oh, try the strawberry tart! It's a new dessert we introduced and it goes really well with iced chocolate!"

Jongdae glanced up to find Sehun smiling like an idiot as he watched Jongin excitedly talk about the tart.

"Oh really? Okay then, one strawberry tart as well please."

"No problemo."

Jongin registered his order, took his payment and handed him his receipt. As he prepared Sehun's tart, Jongdae had just finished his iced chocolate.

"Here you go. I made it extra chocolatey to thank you for that day." Jongdae handed Sehun his drink with a large smile, making the latter grin.

"Extra chocolatey? Fantastic, I love chocolate. Thanks a lot."

"Here's your tart! Oh you're going to love it so much."

Jongin placed Sehun's tart on a tray, while Sehun placed the iced chocolate on it as well. This was the part where the customer usually went away, but Sehun and Jongin instead began an intense discussion about their dogs. Jongdae just watched the 2 youngsters talk brightly with each other and couldn't help but smile as well.  The look in Sehun's eyes was painfully obvious, and the excitement in Jongin's voice was too familiar. He knew just what both of them were feeling as they animatedly talked about puppy-grooming methods. 

It was exactly what Jongdae felt.

Every.

ing.

Day.