Kyungsoo, being Kyungsoo, is practical. He takes pride in that. There's no need to waste energy on goofing around or the type of tomfoolery his friends do day in and day out. Ask Kyungsoo to his face, and he'll defend his position. Ask him in a roundabout way about life and friendship and direction and future plans, and he'll admit he likes his friends' foolishness and open affection and trust. He may even admit to a bit of envy.

He will not admit to liking the “surprise” of coming to Cafe Universe for work one day to find out that not one, but two, of his friends had taken his lecture on finding responsible jobs a step further to applying to the very same place he works. And being hired.

Damn you, Kim Minseok, formerly known as the best manager Kyungsoo’s ever had, for not taking his rants about his friends seriously. “I can always fire them later” is not a good excuse to avoid responsibility.

Kyungsoo's the one who teaches Baekhyun and Jongdae what being a barista entails. Minseok hovers at first, adding his input or offering a different technique. Chanyeol finds a position next door, at a piano store that somehow survives in an economy that doesn't afford a lot of luxuries like vintage baby grands. He takes his breaks in their cafe, so they still see a lot of one another outside of Kyungsoo's undergrad studies, Jongdae’s and Chanyeol's graduate courses, and Baekhyun's gaming schedule.

Sometimes, Kyungsoo wonders if he'd grow up more without the terrible trio.

They'd never allow that, though.

Even Jongdae, who has an intimate respect for Kyungsoo's need for “alone time,” told him everybody needs somebody, Kyungsoo; we need you to keep us from floating away with dreams, and you need us to allow you to look up from the ground and dream. Kind of poetic, but he is a theater major. Kyungsoo's picked up more hours, because Jongdae's starring in a local production of Cats.

At least Minseok makes the schedule with the cafe in mind more than their friendship. Overlapping shifts happen only every few days, when it's slower and the atmosphere needs to be livelier. He can collar the most rambunctious Baekhyun and make him buckle down, and Kyungsoo respects and appreciates that greatly, because it's a tiring job that he takes no joy in.

Jongdae thinks their manager's seriousness and assertion is attractive enough to make passes at him before and after his shifts. He seems to like dangerous men for some reason. To his credit, once his shift starts, he only makes eyes at Minseok and not comments.

Because if there's one thing Kyungsoo hates in the world, it's a shameless flirt. Go forth and be ty as much as you please (read: Baekhyun), more power to you, but understand that it's really awkward to watch.

Kyungsoo faces enough of it working the counter. He prefers the back or the side kitchen area where sandwiches and salads and the like are prepared. There are people in the cafe on dates, with eyes, ears, and words only for one another; there are girls coquettishly fluttering their lashes at him while trying to let their calculated touches linger...

It physically pains him.

And it's not like he can really look away or leave. His job is to be front and center at the counter, taking and even filling orders when his coworkers are on break or goofing off.

Lately, there's a new regular who stands out as being particularly gross. Kyungsoo didn't get that annoying vibe from him, at first, so it came as an unpleasant development.

“Not the usual black today?” The boy—used loosely; Kyungsoo himself looks pretty young, but he really is a high school graduate and has been out of that hellhole for a few years—smiles, and it's a weirdly warm smile for a stranger. His friend, just as tall but much less smiley, hangs back and looks bored. “I like it. White looks good on you.”

“Thanks?” He'd belatedly noticed a pretty sizable hole in his shirt and borrowed one of Minseok's. Kyungsoo recites the boy’s order back to him to confirm it, something he'd never drink with all the added sugar and flavored syrup. If someone wants coffee, then order coffee. “Anything else?”

He looks over his shoulder, and the other boy says he’ll just steal some of Jongin’s. “Your name?” They wear name tags pinned to their black aprons. Kyungsoo automatically pulls at his. “I'm a fan, too, but I don't know if I'd name my kid after a cartoon.”

Kyungsoo turns it to look at it and bites back a curse. Pororo. “Baekhyun.” That little is going to meet an unfortunate end in the storage room.

“Baekhyun?”

“Guy I work with. He probably changed it. He always says how much I look like Pororo.”

“Well,” the boy smiles again, more shy, “there is a resemblance, although your eyes are a lot prettier.” His friend snorts and rolls his eyes.

It's meant to be a compliment, Kyungsoo's sure, but if the kid's looking to get into someone's pants, comparing their looks to a children's cartoon character is not the way to do it. That's not how Kyungsoo's pants work, at least.

“Ah ha...” He finishes the order and accepts a handful of cash—Who doesn't use a card these days?—and turns away to make the kind-of-coffee. “It'll be just a minute. Feel free to have a seat while you wait.”

“I'm okay.” His friend meanders to a display of crafts made by some locals while he crosses his arms over the counter, apparently ready and willing to just hover. “You never did give me your name.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. “No, I didn't.” He knows he's being rude, but he just can't with flirty customers today. Or any day.

When he'd first come in, with a couple of friends, all with duffel bags, the boy had been at the back, and Kyungsoo doesn't know what they were talking about, but he'd jumped at a shouty, boisterous laugh and looked up from stacking cups in time to see the boy laughing hard enough to be weak at the knees, whacking his friend's arm like a ditz.

The whole group was noisy and touchy, on some kind of high, but that one kid seemed to be the worst of them, holding someone's hand or leaning over someone's back or resting his forehead against the head of another boy leaning on his shoulder… He didn’t even order anything himself, sharing with a shorter blond.

Too much affection for Kyungsoo's lone wolf sensibilities.

He finishes making the drink and passes it to the boy. “I guess I'll have to get your name another time, then.” He smiles. “I'm Jongin.”

“Pleasure.” Just leave, already. There's a perfectly normal middle-aged lady looking at the board of special. Kyungsoo can handle her. “Have a nice day.”

Baekhyun appears out of nowhere, attracted by the residual essence of tall boys. His ultimate weakness. “Who was that?” he asks, leaning over the counter to watch them leave.

“Customers.”

“You didn't get their names?” Baekhyun whines. He is pretty flirty himself. It's a mystery how they ever became friends, although Kyungsoo's theory is Baekhyun just wears people down until they're too tired to keep pushing him away. He should really work the counter and just let Kyungsoo fill orders, but he's admitted he gets a sick satisfaction and amusement from watching Kyungsoo interact with other human beings.

“Shorter one's Jongin. No idea about the other kid.”

“Talk about a handsome pair...” He trails off, probably imagining gross things that he could get fired for doing with a customer. Or arrested for doing with anyone at all.

Kyungsoo wipes the countertops with a towel. “You're drooling.”

“What?” Baekhyun slaps a hand to his lips, feeling furtively but finding nothing. He smacks Kyungsoo's arm.

Minseok walks around them with stacks of recyclable cups. “Guys, stop goofing around, please.”

“There's no one here, hyung,” Baekhyun says.

“Baekhyun's fantasizing about the customers.” He kicks back when his arm is hit again. Minseok just shakes his head and collars them both until they apologize and get back to being productive as another mini wave of customers trickles in before the rush.

Honestly, he did feel a little bad about his attitude, but that guilt quickly dissipated as the pattern began.

Jongin came into the cafe, usually with friends but sometimes alone, and small-talk Kyungsoo if no one else was in line.

The only other thing Kyungsoo can stand as much as flirting is small-talk. He doesn’t care about what the weather will be doing or how sports teams are playing or what movies are coming out. If he cares, he’ll look it up himself. Right now, at work, he wants to work.

He can’t just say that, though. Minseok would probably whoop his and make him stock early mornings. It would almost be preferable, but he’s not a morning person.

So he’ll suffer and try to heavily hint that he just wants to work in peace, so please take your drinks and leave.

A couple times Jongin comes in, he’s sort of dressed up, if a button-up shirt with jeans and loafers can be considered “dressed up.” He looks nice with his hair away from his face, Kyungsoo thinks. His skin is a pretty, cafe au lait tan, and his eyes are the color of dark roasted coffee beans.

Usually, he comes in wearing sweatpants or jeans with a sweatshirt or T-shirt sporting some comic or anime character. Kyungsoo recognizes most of them.

As long as no one else has the same outfit, he just takes the character’s name and writes it on Jongin’s order.

“Doraemon.”

“The Incredible Hulk.”

“Mickey Mouse.”

“Optimus Prime.”

“Sailor Moon.”

He doesn’t seem to mind, approaching the counter with a grateful smile to get his order. Lately, he looks less amused. Soon, he looks annoyed.

Today, he comes in with his sourpuss friend, wearing a white T-shirt under a fluffy, faux-fur jacket. He orders his sort-of-coffee, his friend, “Sehun,” orders bubble tea, and Kyungsoo politely asks them to wait.

It’s just him and Minseok around now, which is fine. There are only a handful of customers. Jongin and Sehun have taken seats at one of the tall bar tables. It looks like they’re arguing about something; Sehun’s shaking his head and spreading his hands while explaining something Jongin shrugs and denies.

Kyungsoo sets the drink on the counter and calls for “Sehun and Jonghyun.”

Once upon a time, Baekhyun teased Chanyeol bad enough that Chanyeol had gotten up and stormed out of the room. The tension was so bad that both Kyungsoo and Jongdae had stood and put themselves between the two, in case Chanyeol was actually going to take a swing at Baekhyun.

He didn’t. Baekhyun cried and apologized, and Chanyeol cried and forgave him. It had been over something kind of stupid, but some people can only take so much of the same thing before snapping.

Today is the peak of Jongin’s patience. He stalks up to the counter with such storm clouds in his eyes and tension in his shoulders that Kyungsoo prepares to duck.

But Jongin just takes his drink and passes the tea and straw to his friend, meeting Kyungsoo’s gaze with an uncommon frown. “Do you have a problem with me?”

Kyungsoo blinks once. Twice. He frowns. “Excuse me?”

“Jongin,” Sehun takes his elbow and murmurs, “don't make a scene.” Other patrons are looking at the counter curiously. A couple girls near the back have their phones out.

“I'm not making a scene, Sehun! I just wanna know what's making this guy I've never done anything but be nice to so butthurt that he hates me.” He looks at Kyungsoo again, frown deepening to a scowl. “It's fine if you've had a series of bad days or something, but taking it out on customers is really poor practice.

“If not, I can't think of anything I've ever done to you, but you act like a total jerk when I'm around and never write my name right.” He looks at his cup with a hurt puppy-like pout. “It's not like it's hard to spell... So what'd I do?”

He’s not about to give it up, no matter how much Sehun pulls at him and pleads with him to just leave it. Out of the corner of his eye, Kyungsoo sees Minseok returning from a delivery and taking in the tense scene with concern.

Kyungsoo sighs and removes his glasses, rubbing his eyes. He can feel the throb of a headache. “Okay, look. It's nothing you did to me, personally, but I have this natural, instinctive dislike for people who flirt like they breathe—constantly.”

“I...I don't flirt constantly!” He looks at his friend for backup, but Sehun shrugs and a boba up the straw.

“You kinda do, Jongin.”

“Since when?” He looks legitimately distressed with this newfound revelation.

Sehun shrugs again. “Since always?”

Jongin looks back to Kyungsoo, eyes wide and innocent. “I had no idea! I'm just being nice! But still—Flirting pisses you off?”

“Yes.” He needs an Aspirin. Or a nice brick wall to slam his face into. “Excessive flirting, in particular. There comes a point in time when you should be forward and upfront about your intentions and plans or whatever. Flirting too long just seems like you're leading someone on.” And that ain't cute.

“Oh.” Jongin doesn’t seem to know how to respond, twisting his drink back and forth and staring at his misspelled name. He appears somewhat deflated. Thankfully, a group of tired businesswomen come in, and Sehun takes Jongin's elbow again.

“C'mon. We've got class in fifteen.”

“Yeah...” They both bow to Kyungsoo. “Have a nice day, Kyungsoo.”

Minseok joins him behind the counter, gently pushing him aside to take the women’s orders. Kyungsoo fills them on autopilot, taking each cup from Minseok and not really acknowledging what he’s being told.

The rest of the night is quiet. Stragglers see themselves out and pick up after themselves, so Kyungsoo only has to sweep and wipe down tables while Minseok closes the window shades and powers down the machines and computers.

On the bus home, Kyungsoo frets a bit about a test in his morning class. He usually manages to do well, but he can get another hour or two of studying in tonight and cram before class tomorrow. He lets school anxiety push thoughts about Jongin and his pretty eyes and hurt expression to the back of his mind. There’s no reason to feel bad; he was being truthful. Jongin had asked, and Kyungsoo had answered. They’re effectively strangers, and a stranger’s opinion shouldn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things.

Yet he still feels bad, and after feeding his cat and showering, he packs his textbooks away and turns off the lights just to lie in bed and ruminate over every interaction he’s ever had with Jongin. Maybe he really was just being friendly. Maybe Kyungsoo’s the one misinterpreting it, because he has the emotional capacity of a Vulcan, according to Chanyeol.

“Stupid,” he grumbles. Pulling his pillow over his head doesn’t stop his thoughts, but if he holds it over his face long enough, he may at least fall into a dreamless sleep and forget everything until tomorrow.

a/n: Written for the KaisooOLAO fest. (prompt no.45 "I'm pretty sure the barista at Universe is a jerk who purposely screws up my name because he doesn't like me!"" ""Shut up Jongin, you don't even know the guy..."" ""Have /you/ seen the way he looks at me Sehun?")

This was written more introspective than I'd planned, but it worked, partly because I share Kyungsoo's feelings about flirting and PDA and the like. I guess I'm kinda like both Kyungsoo and Jongin, actually. I've been told I'm flirty a couple times, and I'm...not? Not on purpose, at least. ; w;

This is also a fic that may become a two-parter, since I struggled with it and didn't even have a computer to write on for a while, so there are bits and ideas after the events here that would provide an actual happy ending for everyone (including Baekhyun, who's lusting after Sehun, and Jongdae, who has the hots for Minseok).