Title: Tea-house Troubles

For: LemonJongie22

Pairing: Sungyeol/Sungjong

Prompt: It's not all about coffee and lemons

---

 

The bell on the door dings and signals the departure of their last customer for the day and Sungjong sighs. The family's "Royal Garden" teahouse has been quite popular lately, what with the extension of their menu and the flock of cute little spirits that comes to hangout frequently, and all thanks to Sungjong.

 

It was mostly just a happy accident that sungjong discovers the little black beans that he accidentally bought instead of the tea leaves were brewable and although Sungjong himself has gagged at the taste, its fragrant aroma has drawn some people to the shop for a sip. Sungjong still has no idea why anyone would want a second sip, but some visiting rich noblewoman has turned up her nose at him and told him it was a "Sophisticated acquired taste" that no "stick of a child" like him would understand. Sungjong doesn’t really care what she thinks of him, but if his mishap has helped bring "sophisticated" people into their shop then he can go along and brew more of those death-tasting things.

 

According to a travelling merchant, the black liquid is called 'coffee' and it's been popular among the upper class citizens on the other side of the earth kingdom. However, the drink hasn't really reached the people on Sungjong's side of the kingdom, so now it has become one of the unique things about their shop that brought attraction. According to the customer's feedback, Sungjong always manages to brew it within the 'just right' levels that even the pickiest of customers likes as he does his tea. Sungjong prides himself for that.

 

The other is the spirits. It's true that ever since the portal to the spirit world was opened spirits has roamed free amongst them, but for some reason their town in particular has only been visited by giant black spirits that lurks in corners, scaring little children and old ladies and sometimes flies in bunches that covers their town from any sunshine. People say it was to do with their haunted town reputation. They know now that the spirits mean no harm, lurking around and flying in groups are just their normal thing, but it did made most people reluctant to visit, and their town has been relatively quiet.

 

It was another happy coincidence when Sungjong was experimenting with lemons to make some sort of lemon scented tea when he noticed a huddle of colourful little spirits peeking from the window. They dispersed as soon as Sungjong reached out a hand towards them, but came back the next day as he was squeezing more lemon juice for his experiments. It took him quite a while to find the perfect amount of lemon to add for each of their different brews of tea and by then his room is full of the fluttery furball of a spirit. The initially shy creatures made themselves at home in Sungjong's small room and only began to slowly disperse when all the lemon smells have gone from the walls.

 

All except for one bright yellow one who Sungjong found stuck between his jars of tea, probably having fallen in and gotten itself squished. The little fluff seems utterly greatfull Sungjong hasn't ignored his banging on the jars (although in all honesty, Sungjong did and he reached for the jar simply because he wanted some tea but it needn’t know that), and refused to leave him alone, preferring to sit on his shoulders and flutter around his head all day. Sungjong hasn't minded much, but only because no amount of pebble flicking seems to help his aim at the bright yellow flutterball.

 

Sungjong resigned to name it Myungsoo after his childhood friend who is now staying in the Northern Air temple. That is, assuming he hasn't fallen down its steps and is now floating in the dark abyss below the temples, but his clumsy friend has probably learnt how to airbend himself out of situations like that. He had experience after all.

 

But anyway, Myungsoo-the-spirit wasn't alone. His friends came back as soon as Sungjong introduced the lemon tea to their teahouse. They brighten the general atmosphere of the place and customers start to flock to their little tea shop. There wasnt too many of them, but they can now afford the renovation they've been needing for the past decade or so. They've even added little hanging swings around the place for the little furballs to sit and play with, since it doesn’t look like they are leaving anytime soon. Not that his uncle has minded the addition. On the contrary, he seems to love the fluttery things and sometimes even looks a little jealous at Sungjong for having Myungsoo flittering around him all the time.

 

After making sure he has locked all openings around the shop, he went back to his room, blindly reaching around the shelves for some tea, any sort of tea to nurse his headache. You would think that brewing and serving people tea all day would put him off the liquid, but Sungjong has always had an undying love of the warm soul-enriching drink. Just brewing the stuff makes Sungjong feel better. His uncle has always joked that Sungjong was supposed to be his neighbour's firebending or waterbending son (they are an odd water tribe and fire nation couple somehow stranded in the earth kingdom). Although that would have probably helped his brewing hobbies, anyone who knew Sungjong well, agrees that stubborn little Sungjong is definitely an earthbender by birth and lineage.

 

Sungjong sighs once more, this time in a more contented way and swats at a Myungsoo attempting to drop an entire lemon into his tea by habit more than sight. The little creature made an irritated scoff but sat itself on Sungjong's head, and burrows into his hair.

 

"Urrrrrrgh...", Sungjong groans.

 

The holiday season has brought in a flood of customers recently, but that's not what made Sungjong want to repeatedly bang his head onto the table. It was one single person by the name of Lee Sungyeol.

 

At first, Sungyeol was just another customer who seems to have the "sophisticated" taste for coffee. Sungjong wasn't entirely too surprised since the young man was one of the scholar-type who came to the teahouse with their bunches of scrolls and would sit there examining them while sipping a cup of tea for the longest time. Sungjong has tended to favour them, since they are a quiet bunch who would appreciate his tea the most, and would always be excited about any little change to their brew. He might have even favoured Sungyeol a little more than the rest since he is young and, frankly good looking.

 

But then he introduced himself, and there goes the quiet, tall, and handsome stranger image of his.

 

---

 

"Ah! thanks for the tea... Um..."

 

"My name is Sungjong", Sungjong smiles at him.

 

"Oh! Thank you Sungjong! I'm Lee Sungyeol"

 

"Well then I hope you enjoy your tea Sungyeol"

 

"Yes, well you see that's the problem. This tea.... It's a little.... Undercooked"

 

This was the first time someone complains about his tea.

 

"Undercooked?"

 

"Yes, see here, if you swish the cup clockwise twice and counter clockwise once, you can see the tea leaves are all dark brown and scattered. I know most things are called 'burnt' when they are dark brown, but tea leaves have the property of becoming different colours once you cook them properly-"

 

Sungjong never had any proper education for tea brewing, but he knows he is not dumb enough to believe what this idiot is spewing. Scholar type or not. Luckily for Sungyeol, he remembers just in time that Sungyeol is a 'valued customer' that he is not supposed to flick a piece of earth at.

 

Instead, he cuts the patrons words off with a sentence out of gritted teeth.

 

"I'm sorry about that Sungyeol, but that is how my customers like it, and that is how I will be making them, as always."

 

"Ah, is that so..."

 

Surprisingly, it works as Sungyeol backed off and went back to calmly sitting down and examining his many scrolls. Although it made Sungjong's blood boil the remaining of the day for having thought of Sungyeol as nice and quiet and handsome when he dares to complain about Sungjong's work of art in which he pours his heart into with some sort of bull. That day, even the dogs that would normally bark at him was whimpering pathetically when he walks past them. But that might be the effect of having sharp rocks ready to fire around his hands.

 

For the next couple of visits, Sungyeol is always coming up with different things that Sungjong's tea is lacking.

 

Under normal cisrcumstances, Sungjong would be fine with criticism since it helps him develop his experimental brews. However, Sungyeol's critics are things such as:

 

"I think your tea leaves are artificial"

 

...Or...

 

"I think tea grass would work better in this"

 

...Or...

 

"Your lemon is too raw, you're supposed to cook them first"

 

... In other words, stupid.

 

It was harmless really, but it was starting to really get on his nerve. Lee Sungyeol is a super annoying being and he needs to go. Since Sungjong still cant earthbend rocks to be sharp enough to puncture through skin and isn't really ready to become a criminal yet, he decides that getting Sungyeol banned from the tea shop would have to be good enough.

 

Sungjong's plan is simple enough. He has been complaining about Sungyeol to Howon a lot, and he is quite sure his uncle is just as sick about his complaining as he is with Sungyeol. And if there is one thing his uncle Howon is, it's that he is a no nonsense, mess-with-me-and-imma-smack-you type of person. All he needs to do is get his uncle around to hear Lee Sungyeol's stupidity. And watch him get smacked. But getting kicked out is good too.

 

The perfect opportunity came when the shop was busy and Sungyeol came to order a cup of coffee. Uncle Howon was there to help him that day because no matter how good Sungjong can brew, he still only have two hands. It didn't stop their customers to ask specifically for Sungjong's tea so Howon was in charge of the coffee. Sungjong had to run around the place because he is very much in demand that day, but the moment his uncle brought out Sungyeol's coffee he stations himself within hearing distance.

 

"Enjoy your coffee"

 

"Ah, thanks. You know...", Sungyeol starts.

 

Sungjong can hear the smack coming already.

 

"... Its a pity that..."

 

Here it comes... hereitcomes!

 

"... You guys don’t have any sweeter alternatives for the coffee so that everyone can enjoy the drink. Some people likes the drink but can't stand the bitterness. You might make more sales if you do"

 

... Aaaaand bam! There it is!

 

Wait, hold on... That actually made... Sense?

 

Sungjong could only stand in confusion, not minding the customers calling out to him because 'Lee Sungyeol actually has logic?'. And to Sunjong's utter dissappointment, no smack or banishments came. Instead, his uncle proceeded to turn around and gave him a meaningful raised eyebrow. That was probably something about Sungjong refusing to have anything to do with the drink after his first sip.

 

"That's a good idea Sungyeol, we'll definitely take that into consideration"

 

"No problems", Sungyeol says smiling his disgustingly handsome smile.

 

"You know....", Howon continues, "Our own tea maker Sungjong over there isn't really that knowledgeable about coffee"

 

Sungjong swears he could hear his uncle say something about him being a little brat under his breath, before continuing his sentence.

 

"How would you like to be our coffee master? Since you seem to know something about them... And as you can see we are a little shorthanded at the moment", he makes a vague gesture to the ladies in one table that has been calling out for Sungjong for the past minute which makes Sungjong jolt to movement again, running over to take their order.

 

He made a couple of mistakes and had to ask them to repeat the order 3 times because did he really just hear his uncle say what he thought he said? To the idiot? Really?

 

When he came back to give the ladies their order, he passes by Sungyeol's table again where his uncle is still at, hoping they are laughing at the terrible joke his uncle attempted to make, but all he can make out was a, "... Your firebending will probably help us out. You can start tomorrow at 7"

 

And as if sensing his lurking presence, Howon turns around to smile at him and say "isn't this great Sungjongie? Now you have someone to help you out!"

 

Sungjong loves his uncle. He really does. He is vey greatful to him too. But this is one of the time he swears his uncle is an evil evil being who loves making him miserable.

 

He can even hear Myungsoo laughing at him from the northern air temples.

 

"Shut it Soo", he says to the little spirit.

 

He gets a lemon in the face for that.

 

---

 

And so the next morning began his torture. Lee Sungyeol broke 3 cups in the morning before they even started anything and as it turns out he cant brew anything. He now wishes he has trained Myungsoo the spirit to throw lemon at annoying people. Or dumb looking people. Or both.

 

"Is there anything at all that you can do?", Sungjong says in exasperation after watching Sungyeol stare at the coffee beans for 5 whole minutes.

 

"I can juggle"

 

"Anything useful"

 

"... Er, I can boil water?"

 

"Thats a start", Sungjong grumbles. For all he knows Sungyeol is one of those firebenders with a weak as fire that won’t even light a toothpick.

 

Luckily for them, Sungyeol is actually a very good firebender. He can make controlled fire for Sungjong to warm the cups without ever burning or heating up their tables. And although Sungjong won't admit it, he is actually quite pleased. He did used to wish he was either a firebender or at least waterbender than his lame earthbending abilities. At least now he has a decent firebender he can order around.

 

"Alright Lee Sungyeol, from now on you're in charge of making sure all the cups are warm before I serve anything in them"

 

"But, I thought I'm in charge of the coffee... ?"

 

"Can you actually make a cup? Because staring at the beans isn't going to do anything", Sungjong retorts, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrow the way his uncle does for impact.

 

"Er... Um.... Well... I mean in theory, it’s possible, but-"

 

"So you mean to say that you've never done it before?", Howon says peering in from somewhere.

 

Sungyeol flinches at the creepy sudden appearance, but Sungjong is very much used to it.

 

"Well... Not... Exactly-"

 

"He means no, he has not. This is why we ask questions before hiring people, uncle"

 

"No, this is why I have you around to teach others Sungjongie. You are now in charge of teaching him how to make coffee until he can be in charge of the drink", his uncle replies and patted his back before disappearing once more.

 

How in the world did he know Sungjong was just about to scream at him?

 

Probably from experience.

 

Sungjong turns around to adress the man grumpily.

 

"Well, I'm in no mood to teach anything today so you're still our cup warmer for tod-"

 

"SUNGJONGIIIIE"

 

Dammit. is uncle Howon still here?

 

Sungjong takes a deep breath and swats at Myungsoo who hovered too close to his face before exhaling slowly.

 

"Grab the coffee jar and we'll start and NO not the beans, we do not boil the beans Lee Sungyeol"

 

---

 

It took a bag of beans and a lot of holding himself back from throwing something at Sungyeol's face on Sungjong's part but eventually Sungyeol gets it. Fortunately for everyone, despite his clumsy personality in the kitchen, he is quite charming as he serves their patrons that ranges in a wide spectrum of high-class noblemen to the gossipy old ladies. Especially the gossipy old ladies. It didn't take very long for him to be accustomed to their regulars and asking about their days at work or if their arthritic knee has acted up again or how baby Iroh is doing. Sungjong has taken to act civil around the guy because now he doesn't seem so bad. Especially when he can sympathise about the grumpier customers.

 

Like that one day a regular decided to change his preference to coffee. Sungyeol walks into the kitchen looking worse for wear and hair looking messier than normal, violently dumping a tray full of what seems to be coffee with varying degrees of colour. And Sungjong just snickers at him, knowing full well the exact customer he had to deal with.

 

"Tough day?"

 

Sungyeol made what sounded like a wounded air bison.

 

"HE HATES ME. I SWEAR HE WANTS MY GUTS ON A SERVING PLATE FOR DRAGONS TO DEVOUR."

 

Sungjong laughs a little too loud at that, and missed the way Sungyeol starts at the sound.

 

"Old man Sunggyu isn't that bad...", Sungjong says, still giggling a little.

 

"Ugh... SAYS YOU! He saw me walking to his table and he's ALREADY MAKING THIS EVIL FACE I SWEAR. AND THEN HE GOES AND MADE ME RE-DO THE COFFEE ABOUT TEN TIMES BEFORE HE ACTUALLY TOOK A SIP AND THEN MADE ME RE-DO THEM ANOTHER TEN TIMES BEFORE IT WAS 'tolerable'", Sungyeol rambles, making quotation marks and an eerily similar impression of Sunggyu.

 

Sungjong couldn't stop himself from giggling again as his co-worker slumped to the dirty table.

 

"There there", he comforts the other half-heartedly, more amused than anything.

 

Sungyeol looks up and frowns at Sungjongs back as he starts cleaning up, "You know, how come of all the times he came here he never tells you to re-make his tea ten times?"

 

"That's because I'm his favourite employee"

 

"You were the only employee"

 

"Yep"

 

Sungyeol groans, "Life is so unfair"

 

Sungjong starts laughing again, but decides he can be a little nicer to the pitiful soul.

 

"Okay, the thing is with old man Sunggyu, his tastebuds are halfway gone already, so he judges his drink from the smell. Tea doesn't have a very strong smell unless they're strongly flavoured, and it's easy to make it smell like a garden of roses, but coffee smells really strong in general, so you'd want to do something about that for him"

 

"Like how?"

 

"Dunno, drop some mint leaves into it or make it really light or something. You're the coffee expert here"

 

Sungyeol sighs, "I guess I am huh? Alright. I can do this!"

 

Sungjong snorts at him, but wishes him a good luck nonetheless. It took a while because old man Sunggyu is both incredibly picky and very stubborn, but on a nice saturday morning, he deems the first cup Sungyeol made for him 'satisfactory'.

 

Sungyeol ran back to the kitchen to tell Sungjong the news looking equal parts relieved and happy as he shook a laughing Sungjong.

 

"Even when he said it was ok he's still looking at me with his evil squinty eyes"

 

"That's just how he is on daily basis"

 

"Lies! He never squints at you!"

 

Sungjong laughs, because Lee Sungyeol doesn't seem that bad now.

 

"I told you, I'm his favourite employee"

 

"I think he just likes you better because you're pretty"

 

Nevermind. Lee Sungyeol is an idiot.

 

Since then, Sungyeol has taken a liking to mess around in the kitchen to 'experiment' to give the customers a 'better experience of coffee'. Sungjong would have cared less (because he did manage to make Sunggyu happy), if not for the fact that he conveniently forgets to clean the kitchen and left it in the state of a dumpster every damn time.

 

And by dumpster, Sungjong also means that it smells exactly like one.

 

Of course, his uncle would make Sungjong do the cleaning up, because apparebtly, that is what senior employees do. This leaves Sungjong with a terrible mood and a conclusion that Lee Sungyeol should die a death of burning to crisp by his own fire so Sungjong can smash him to bits with his powerful earthbending abilities and scatter whatever remains on a garden for everyone to prance around on.

 

Today was one of those days of terrible mood that Sungjong found himself on. His uncle has just chewed him out for not having enough coffee beans for the day when it was Sungyeol who has been using them for his 'experiments' and Sungyeol who has been using it, but for some reason he was the one who needs to know the appropriate time to get more. Not to mention there are customers a-plenty and all demanding for him, and Myungsoo decided to steal the last couple of lemons to hide in a corner somewhere and he needed them for a grumpy old man Sunggyu today. In other words, if Sungjong was a cartoon character, he would be red and steaming around the head, ready to boil.

 

He was walking around with a grimace-like smile waiting impatiently for the sun to fully set so he can get a close on this horrible day when Lee Sungyeol called out for him.

 

"Sungjongie!!"

 

Who in the world let the idiot call him that?

 

"Hey Sungjong! Look here!"

 

Sungng was planning on ignoring him but then he heard an uncertain 'ooooh' from the customers and so he turns around just to make sure Lee Sungyeol isn't doing anything idiotic to them.

 

And he comes face to face with an idiotic grin and a full tray, complete with three sets of cups, placed on a tall head.

 

"Told you I can juggle things on my hea-"

 

"LOOK OUT!"

 

CRASH!!!

 

Okay, that was IT!!!

 

Sungjong can feel the burning rage going through his body as he imagines flipping Lee Sungyeol and everything near him upside-down. Then a second crash was heard from outside the shop.

 

"SUNGJONG WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY NICE GARDEN!!"

 

And here Sungjong thought his earthbending .

 

He really just wants to cry right now.

 

---

 

After another earful from his uncle, and a massive clean up of Sungyeol's mess, plus a huge apology to the patrons who was unfortunate enough to be nearby (thankfuly nobody got hurt), Sungjong gets to close the shop doors to their last customer. He slumps on the nearest table, not even bothering to sit on the chair properly and sighs. Lee Sungyeol was already in the kitchen, probably making another mess and is probably hearing his weird noises of pent up frustration, but for once Sungjong can't bring himself to care.

 

He was so so tired. So emotionally drained. He misses his parents, misses his brother and curses once more at the way they left him far too quickly. He loves uncle Howon, but he is far too busy a man to cuddle and pet and appreciate him. Sungjong is old enough not to need them anymore, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't miss them nonetheless. He misses Myungsoo, who loves his tea, and eats his horrid cooking and tell him they are actually quite edible. His best friend, his only friend really, and when he told Sungjong he wanted to go, Sungjong wishes he could tell him to stay because Sungjong needs him, but he couldn't do that to his best friend even though now he has no one. All he can do now is sit slumped on the table and allow himself a moment to miss the people he loves the most. He'll be okay. It's just that right now he wishes they were here, if just for one moment.

 

Something round hit Sungjong's head and he wanted to just ignore it for now, but then something small and fluffy is slipping through his forearm and settled on the space next to his cheek, rubbing on the spot gently and Sungjong thinks this is quite nice. He smells lemons and he knew who it was.

 

"Thanks myung", he mumbles.

 

He hears the familiar clinking of cups nearby and steels himself before pushing his face off the table to face whatever havoc Lee Sungyeol made this time.

 

Instead, he was greeted by a heavenly aroma of his favourite brew and an apologetic looking Sungyeol. He settles the tray on the table between them and sat down.

 

Sungjong contemplates the tea. He noted how they are differently coloured and smells a second, fainter but just as good aroma and thinks that he can detect what could be cinnamon and wonders how well this would go with the other brew and he can probably-

 

"I'm sorry"

 

Sungjong looks up and sees that Lee Sungyeol does indeed look sorry. His forehead creases and he looks back down at the tea.

 

"Is this your attempt to bribe me into forgiving you?"

 

"...Yes?"

 

"Is that so. Well then, if the tea is bad, you'll have to be my slave for a week until I forgive you", he says sternly, picking up the suspected-cinnamon cup but he cant help the slight lift of his mouth.

 

Sungyeol looks relieved.

 

"Of course the tea is not bad"

 

Sungjong chokes on his first gulp. He tries not to gag at the burning feeling at the back of his throat.

 

Sungyeol grimaces, "...... Sorry... Here, try this one instead"

 

Sungjong took a more careful sip this time, but immediately sighs.

 

"Much better"

 

"But can you taste the cinnamon there? I tried a really small amount and I wasn't sur-"

 

"Its perfect"

 

"Thats good"

 

Sungjong sighs once more. His hands are warm with the cup in between them and there is another kind of warm that is slowly spreading around his body as he takes his sips of the tea.

 

"You know, you're a pretty good brewer Sungyeol"

 

"Ah... Thanks"

 

They exchange a few more curt words, but somewhere between the cups of tea, the warmth of a company and the fluttering wings of a certain spirit, Sungjong thinks that really, Lee Sungyeol isn't that bad at all.

 

"Myungsoo, please don't ruin the moment and my tea with that lemon"

 

---

 

In the weeks that follows, Sungyeol still messes around in the kitchen, but he tries to keep the mess (and smell) to a minimum, and even washes the cups afterwards without breaking them, so that was a huge improvement.

 

Of course, it didn't stop them from getting at each other once in a while, but what used to be hostile grounds now turns into old-lady bickering which would end with a viciously aimed punch that lands like feather. As their favourite old lady customers have said, it was mostly very cute.

 

Or in the words of Woohyun ahjumma herself, "You two are such a cute couple"

 

To which Sungyeol replies, "why, yes I knew I picked a good boyfriend" and proceeds to make kissy faces at the younger.

 

Before Howon came along and smacks his head.

The end.