Lay has an exam the next day and he wakes the entire apartment up while making breakfast. Luhan, rocking a serious bed-head, crawls off his futon and goes to pretend-strangle the noisy guy with a dish towel. Yixing puts his hands up “I’m sorry!”

Luhan laughs, dropping the towel and sitting down at the small Formica table “Can I steal some of your eggs?” he asks, referring to the plate of scrambled eggs that Yixing just set on the table and is now eating, rubbing his neck. “No,” is the reply “People who strangle me don’t get breakfast.”

“You’re such a meany, Yixing. You’ll never get married.”

Lay laughs, almost choking on his eggs “Shhh...!”

Luhan gets up and goes to the fridge to investigate before-class breakfast options. It’s mostly empty save for a lonely looking container of miso paste and an unappetizing lump of something that might have been a sandwich three months ago “You finished the carton of eggs?” Yixing nods and Luhan groans “Damn it. Well, I’ll just go pick up something at the coffee shop.”

“Right. So you can see your boyfriend.”

 “I- No!” Luhan hits him with the discarded towel and dashes off to go brush his hair and teeth, almost colliding with Tao in the small hallway  “Whoa, Luhannie. Where are you going so early in the morning?”

“It’s not early, it’s seven. We’re out of food.”

“Well you’re not going to find any more food in the bathroom.”

“I’m going to get ready and then buy something for breakfast,” Luhan snorts “Why is everyone being so dumb this morning?”

Tao shrugs and continues on his way to the main room, giving Luhan a chance to escape and freshen himself up. 

A tablespoon of mouthwash and one shower later, Luhan slips a sweater over his head and checks his fly. All ready to go, and no peaking underwear. Good. Before he leaves the bathroom he practices his signing a few times in front of the mirror.

I want

One

Small

Coffee

(L-A-T-T-E)

Please

One he’s pretty sure that he has it all down he turns off the light, sweeps his papers into his bag, and tries to avoid talking to any of his sleepy roommates on his way out the door.

The morning is clear and sunny without a hint of yesterday’s rain and several neighbors wave to him on the way to the coffee shop. Mostly elderly people live around here, since everything’s within a block or two and the hospital is just around the corner, but a few groups of students from the University who don’t live on-campus are here as well. It’s nice, and old people don’t tend to have wild summer parties late into the night so it’s also relatively peaceful and quiet.  Plus, the housing is cheap. Luhan wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

He rounds the corner and peeks through the big glass window of the café before entering. There ar no other customers but Minseok is already behind the counter, arranging the pastries that have just arrived from the bakery down the street in the glass case with slim, quick fingers. He doesn’t look up when the other enters, but once Luhan has walked within a few steps of the counter he raises his head, his mouth forming a happy ‘o’ at the sight of Luhan who smiles and gives a little wave.

He’s ridiculously nervous, and he fidgets. Minseok raises his eyebrows slightly in an ‘what now?’ kind of gesture, and Luhan is at a loss, automatically forgetting what the hell he’s doing here. His eyes scan the counter and then focus on Minseok’s immaculately ironed black apron, taking a moment to collect himself, before he looks back at Minseok’s patiently waiting face and signs his message with nervous fingers.

The pink haired boy’s face breaks into an almost blinding smile and he leans on the counter a moment in the most adorable display of excitement that Luhan has ever seen before grabbing a perfectly-shiny white mug from the shelf and starting the espresso machine. Luhan sits down in one