"Your highness..."

 

"Shush, Hyukjae." Kyuhyun glares at the guard from behind the menu. He's been hiding for the past hour, merely watching the front barista tending to most of the customers. He doesn't do this often, going out to see the city. In fact, the first time he was allowed out, he didn't even want to stay in a cafe. But one look through the window and he was entranced.

 

The man tending the register was the same man he saw the first time (last week). Kyuhyun just happened to turn his head at the right time, at the right moment. The barista smiled widely, his almond shaped eyes becoming slits and Kyuhyun likes to think his eyes were smiling with him. But for the entire week he'd been sneaking out of the Royal Mansion, this is the first time he sat inside the cafe. He almost had a heart attack when the smile was directed at him. So he panicked and grabbed a menu before sitting at the closest booth near the door. And for the past half hour, had only been sneaking glances from his hiding place.

 

"Excuse me," says his other bodyguard, Sungmin, who seemed tired of watching the prince skittering about because of a man he'd never met.

 

Kyuhyun bit his lip to stop himself from whimpering and fidgeted a bit to refrain from running away. The barista saw Sungmin's raised hand and gestures that he saw and was about to make his way over. God, he wanted to strangle Sungmin.

 

"Hi! What can I get for you today?" Oh god, the man's voice was deep, husky and sounded genuinely happy and excited to be taking their orders.

 

"You wouldn't happen to have anything with alcohol, would you?" Sungmin asks calmly and Kyuhyun can't help but feel only slightly envious.

 

The barista--Jongwoon as written on his tag and god did it fit him--furrowed his brows before looking back at the counter then to his watch. He shrugs.

 

"It's 10AM on a Saturday. I guess I can ask Hankyung-hyung to bring out the champagne for the mimosa. Hang on, let me-- hyung, I know you don't like working on a Saturday, but please don't take it out on the espresso machine?" Jongwoon turns to the other man behind the counter with feline features, hissing at the espresso machine, already with a raised hand about to hit it.

 

Kyuhyun sits up straight, putting the menu down to watch Jongwoon go behind the counter to grab at the man's wrist, struggling to push it down.

 

"Hankyung-hyung! Heebongie's at it again!" He yells to the back before a gentle-looking man emerges from the kitchen, with a resigned sigh and smile. The man, Kyuhyun assumes to be Hankyung, walked over and pets the cat-like man. Jongwoon catches Hankyung's attention again and the man smiles. Jongwoon smiles widely in return (and Kyuhyun wants to hit his heart for jumping too easily) before heading towards them again. Kyuhyun raises the menu to hide his face and Sungmin inevitably hits his forehead with his palm.

 

"Alright, a pitcher of mimosa it is! Anything to eat?" Jongwoon says and oh god Kyuhyun can feel him looking right at him and he can feel himself begin to palpitate and what the hell, he's the royal prince for crying out loud, not some lovesick teenage girl!

 

Hesitatingly, he lowers the menu a bit to catch a glimpse of Jongwoon. He sees warm, almond-shaped brown eyes almost covered by a fringe of black hair. He opens his mouth to answer, but Jongwoon's only slightly visible eyebrows raise a bit and it makes him look like a child filled with curiosity and god his eyes were twinkling and Kyuhyun chickens out, shaking his head as he hopes it didn't seem too vehemently as if he didn't want anything to eat.

 

At the corner of his eye, Jongwoon produces a sweeter smile. "Alright then. Call me if you need anything else." And proceeds to enter the kitchen.

 

Kyuhyun was still staring (the menu back on the table now that Jongwoon can't see him) when the man behind the counter first looked shocked to see him, before glaring. Kyuhyun was busy waiting for Jongwoon to appear again to notice the man had left the counter and suddenly, a plate with a slice of chocolate mousse appeared on their table.

 

"We didn't--"

 

"What's a royal highness like you doing in a less fancy establishment like this?" The man asks, cutting Kyuhyun off as if he wasn't the prince and he didn't have two bodyguards with him. "And more importantly, what's a royal highness like you doing, staring at an idiotic barista like that?"

 

Sungmin and Hyukjae sat stiff, ready to use their bodies to block Kyuhyun from view. Kyuhyun and the man glared at each other (though Kyuhyun, warily) for a while before Hankyung appeared with a pitcher. "Excuse him," he started with a bit of an accent, obviously struggling with his Korean. "Heechul's a bit cranky when we make him work on a Saturday. Here's your mimosa."

 

The pitcher was placed in the center of the table and Kyuhyun can't help but stretch his neck to look for Jongwoon. "The idiot loves working Saturdays, so you're out of luck today, princess." Kyuhyun notices that Hankyung covers his mouth with a very wide palm and begins apologizing. "His bark's literally worse than his bite, so if you'd excuse us..." He bows and Kyuhyun returns it numbly out of tradition more than anything before the two men walk inside the kitchen. Jongwoon, on the other hand, remains blissfully oblivious to his surroundings and concentrated on taking care of each customer.

 

But a minute later, Kyuhyun manages to catch his eye just as he was about to take a spoonful of chocolate mousse into his mouth. Jongwoon tilts his head and smiles oh so sweetly that Kyuhyun forgets the spoonful and his open mouth.

 

"You're definitely whipped," Hyukjae says, smirking at the rim of his mimosa. Kyuhyun turns to glare at him and he adds, "your highness."

 

---

A/N: This has a continuation, it's just a work in progress. I want to expand on this but it can be read as a stand alone, hence why it's marked as complete. Don't expect the continuation so quickly, though, I have other stories I wanna finish and they're kinda lengthy. Feel free to subscribe to this! I can assure you that I'll be uploading the continuation here.

Actually, I wanted to write Heechul trying to hit the espresso bar and cute, flustered Kyuhyun and cool Jongwoon. Yes, those are my excuses.