warning: unbeta-ed

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Minho’s life as a healthy 22 year-old – Korean age – mainly consists of him trying, and failing to convince his friend Seunghoon that no, he had not been dropped on head as a baby and therefore is not suffering from any concussion of some sort that addles his mind in any way.

Sometimes, though, he has doubt about it when he unwittingly hits the trucks or jumps into the water seemingly on purpose when he plays Crossy Road – but Seunghoon does not need to know that.

However, the pressing matter is Seunghoon does not, or simply choose not to, understand every time Minho explains to him that just because he can draw, and he actually majors in Fine Arts in that college they are attending together, doesn’t warrant him to have to choose on being an assistant to a manhwa artist as his part time job instead working a café.

Never mind that the former job pays a little higher, and have more flexible hours as he can take the work home to do as he watches his dose of variety shows – he has his own reason on why he chooses to serve coffee between his classes.

“Manhwa is just not my thing, Hoon,” he probably has repeated enough to last him a lifetime now. “I’m even taking Fine Arts; you can’t expect me to ink a manhwa, or to do lettering.”

Seunghoon probably has shoot him the same blank look enough to last him a lifetime.

“Look,” Minho tries to rake his brain for something else that will bring the light to Seunghoon. “Look, a rapper should never debut with a ballad group, right? Because he raps – and ballad, it doesn’t match, right? He’s not doing it right, right?”

Minho doesn’t think Seunghoon could look more blank, and Seunghoon himself probably is surprised by himself – because he just did.

 

“Look,” sounding weaker now, but Minho has always been too persistent for his own good. “You, if you specialise in jazz and ballet, you, you won’t really take a dougie job, right?”

The door jingles as a customer waltzes in and Seunghoon throws Minho one last look before he makes his way to the cashier.

“I dance everything that gives me money, man.”

 

 

 

 

So Seunghoon can dance to everything, big deal, Minho thinks as he scribbles his name and the time as well as the date on the package of coffee bean he has just opened. It is not a good example, anyway, he has just realized, because Seunghoon works in this café for mere extra allowance, while Minho needs the money to buy brushes and paints and papers for his course as well as saving for his college fee for next semester – because while Seunghoon is comfortably supported by his parents and his two working sisters, Minho’s younger sister, his little Danah is just starting medical school next year and deserves only the best their parents can afford.

 

Working in a café is not too bad, anyway. The supervisor is kind enough to let him leave for few hours for his class, and he gets 20% discount on the food and endless supply of coffee that helps him a lot in process of staying awake to finish his assignments.

Therefore, Minho really, really thinks he makes the right choice anyway, and his mind is perfectly working and fine.

 

That is, until Nam Taehyun comes and strutting into the café for a latte.

 

 

 

 

First of all, Minho doesn’t know his crush of a customer is called Nam Taehyun the first time he comes, or even on his fifteenth time – yes, Minho counts - he drops in.  On the fourth visit, he tries a subtle, “That would be 5800 won, Mr....” but Taehyun offers no name – and no smile - along the money for the coffee and Minho chickens out from trying anymore.

However lady luck finally takes pity on him on Taehyun’s sixteenth visit – because referring Taehyun as ‘the customer who rocks the middle parting like it is meant for him all along and put Leonardo DiCaprio into shame’ gets really tiring after sometimes and Seunghoon tends to cut him with “I know!” before he finishes – as the young man walks in, unimpressed as ever and demands his usual latte and Minho is halfway keying in his order when his well-trained eyes catch the student card attached to his favourite customer’s crisp blazer.

NAM TAEHYUN – aka the most beautiful name Minho has ever seen (ties in with Song Danah, because Minho might or might not have a sister complex.)

 

It is a to-go order, meaning that the hot drink will be in a Styrofoam cup with secure lid but Minho spends extra few seconds crafting a smiley on the foam just because he can. 

 

 

It’s probably because he’s happy, too, or perhaps it’s because he thinks Taehyun needs a smile to go with that pretty face of his – and Minho really wishes to see Taehyun with one.      

 

“He probably looks ugly smiling,” Seunghoon has remarked once, and Minho hits him with dirty washcloth he’s wiping the sink with.

 

Minho steals some time to make latte arts – flowers with unnecessary details, Hanja character for love, a couple sharing an umbrella, sun among clouds, Taehyun’s face with his eyebrows as the point, Minho’s name - on Taehyun’s to-go orders for five or six visits more, knowing full well they all go unnoticed by Taehyun and ignoring Seunghoon’s every pointed looks at his wasted effort, before revision week comes rolling over for local colleges and Minho, whose course consists on only a couple of final exams, signs up for as many shifts as he dares to.

 

 It later turns out as the best decision he has ever made.

 

 

 

 

Minho believes that a crush should be treated as a crush, thus Seunghoon’s suggestion – out of his exasperation of Minho’s endless chattering about a certain customer – to simply ask Taehyun out directly is dismissed without much consideration. A boyfriend is out of question, anyway, what with his time is tightly divided between school and work and assignments and weekly home visit. He is contented with few times a week he gets to see Taehyun, ordering the same latte – sometimes with caramel, and Minho wonders how something that sweet is unable to make Taehyun’s pretty lips upturn like many others – and the elegant back of his when the customer paces to the door.

 

That being said, Minho doesn’t say no to having Taehyun around to stare for hours, though – the bless revision week has granted him with.

 

Taehyun sits in one of the tables in the corner nowadays, books piled up as he peruses one of them at a time, highlighting a sentence or two before he stares to comprehend them, long fingers tapping on his lips as he does – and that first time Taehyun puts on those frameless glasses, Minho sinks into his knees behind the counters and gets stink eyes from his supervisor.

 

He never got strong enough to serve Taehyun his coffee when the customer has his glasses on and the job falls automatically on his angel in disguise, Seunghoon. If Taehyun is offended any way by the less than amused barista waiter, he does not say anything; though he might have raised his eyebrow once or twice at Seunghoon’s apparent lack of willingness to serve him.

“I swear to god, Song Minho,” Seunghoon spits vehemently through gritted teeth on the third day after Taehyun holds his gaze a second to long, successfully irritating him in the process, when he serves him. “If you don’t man up the next time he orders I’m going to scream your love confession to the whole café.”

 

   

Seunghoon is never mean in general, but Minho doesn’t want to take chances so when the sun slips from the horizon and the shadows get longer and Taehyun orders his second latte of the day, Minho takes it to himself to draw a puppy with caramel drizzle on the foam and tries his best not to spill the drink on his way to the table.

 

“Caramel latte?”

 

Taehyun looks up and Minho swears his heart literally skips a beat.

 

“Yeah, thanks.”

 

Minho’s eyes linger as he skilfully sets the cup on the table. The title of the book on top is in English; something akin to A History of Western Music.

“You study music?” he asks before he could stop himself.

Taehyun stirs his coffee, perfectly ruining the foam art much to Minho’s dismay, before he leans back and take a sip. “Yeah, Applied Music, actually. Do you as well?”

A string of hewantstoknowaboutmehewantstoknowaboutmehewantstoknowaboutme loops around Minho’s head and almost wraps around his throat before he is able to come up with a coherent reply, but Minho is not going to let this chance slips away just like that.

“Ah, no, I’m more to visual arts; Fine Arts, actually.”  But I rap pretty well in the shower, probably better than GD. That comes out surprisingly well, sans a bit high-pitched.

“Oh, I’m not really sure what that is...” Taehyun scrunches up his face for an apologetic frown that would have sent Minho to the floor if he has not noticed the familiar trailing in the end of Taehyun’s sentence. His poor heart that has indeed gone through too much in one day takes a leap in beating and proceeds for double fold speed.

“My name is Minho,” flaming charisma Minho, he adds subconsciously. “Song Minho. Second year in Inha. ”

 Taehyun looks mildly surprised - Minho can’t help to notice how his eyebrows are very expressive – and his lips twitch in a way that they almost form a smile but not quite.

(It drives Minho crazy.)

 

“You’re hyung, then – I’m a first year, in Incheon Uni, though,” says Taehyun in response, forehead forming light wrinkles as if in disbelief. “The name’s Nam Taehyun.”

“I kn – see!” Minho amends fortunately quick enough, and he realizes that his brain is not really keeping up with the conversation - probably because his heart is doing a poor job supplying the air, but then his heart has enough on its plate, too – so he excuses himself before he does something to ruin this wonderful progress. “Enjoy your coffee, then, Taehyun-ssi.”

 

Minho is damned to work in the storeroom for the rest of his shift because the inerasable grin on his face is deemed not suited for any customer service.

 

 

Suenghoon spends the next two days swatting away all the hearts and glitters and flowers surrounding his friend as easy greetings and smiles (from Minho) and raises of eyebrows in acknowledgment (from Taehyun) are exchanged. Don’t get him wrong, Seunghoon is all about Minho being happy, and that Minho’s crush is finally going somewhere, but sometimes the gushing is just too much and Seunghoon is sure that he doesn’t sign up for this when he befriends the huge odd boy in middle school.

 

“Really, Seunghoon, I’m not ting on you, it totally feels like he’s flirting with me!” Minho tries to convince him during one lunch.

“Really, Minho, I’m not ting on you, it totally feels like you need your head checked up,” Seunghoon deadpans.

 

 

Minho pouts and calls Seunghoon the harsh weather to his blossoming love life, but the real rival of the Minho’s budding love life comes into the café just the day after with beautiful stride, looking like a chaebol all over, what with his long coat looking like it costs more than what Minho can earn if he takes full shifts for three whole months, ordering a manly cup of iced Americano (“Double shots, please”) as the bangs of his black hair flutters against his pale forehead before his long legs start another stride towards Taehyun’s table.

Minho nearly misses the cup and pours the hot espresso shot onto his shoes instead when Taehyun looks up and greets the stranger with a smile.

 

“Heol, Minho,” says Seunghoon, his voice dropped low, pulling Minho to the corner after he gets back from serving the order. “That’s one hella rival you got there; Kang Seungyoon, out of all people. Tough luck, man.”

 

 

“What, why, who’s that?”

Seunghoon tsk-s, shaking his head at Minho’s lack of knowledge on the Kang Seungyoon. “He’s hailed all over from Busan, on full school scholarship for Incheon Uni’s music program, and now called Voice of Incheon. I heard he has an album in making; and he’s a year younger than us.”

Minho blenches but gives Seunghoon a shaky chuckle in response. “I’m pretty sure he’s no harm.”

 

 

No harm might Kang Seungyoon not be, but Minho can’t say the sight of Taehyun chuckling and giggling in presence of the said man comforting either. Seunghoon would have sympathised with his friend more if Minho is not being so amusing after Kang Seungyoon starts frequenting the café as well, joining Nam Taehyun with his own thick books and his own classy glasses as they huddle close in discussion, unnecessarily touchy-feely at times.

At least, that’s what Minho thinks.

“This is not a library,” the waiter hisses to himself as he wipes the squeaky clean counter for nth time that day, throwing daggers that go unnoticed by certain pair of customer. “There is no need to whisper, let alone sitting so close like that.”

Alas, Kang Seungyoon is a customer nonetheless, and there is nothing Minho can do to stop him from coming to the café for his boring black coffees. It comes in a package with Taehyun’s caramel latte now, and Minho begrudgingly makes them with a scowl on his face, his hands lazily drawing generic patterns nowadays instead of crafty arts he used to spoil Taehyun with.

 

Making their coffees are one thing, serving them with another. Kang Seungyoon has this habit to look at him as if scrutinising every time he comes to their table and Minho definitely doesn’t like the small smile that the customer is sporting; it gives him a feeling of being teased for some reason.

“Thank you, Minho-hyung,” Seungyoon says as Minho sets the cups on the table.

Minho’s lips twitch at the way Seungyoon choose to address him; the latter must have picked it from Taehyun but while it’s okay for Taehyun, it’s definitely not okay for Seungyoon. He gives returns the customer’s smile with a reluctant one.

Taehyun is staring at his coffee when Minho spares him a complimentary glance.

“Hyung, did you make this?” he asks, looking up and catching Minho off guard.

“Yes,” Minho nods, because no matter how disgruntled he is, he always makes Taehyun’s coffees when he’s in shifts.

“But it’s not as pretty as you always make them before?”

Minho almost swears because heol, Taehyun looks like pouting for once and so cute. He has to grip the serving tray with both of his hands to make sure it doesn’t slide down to the floor, brain whirling to come up with an intelligent reply that doesn’t reflect the mess Taehyun has caused in his head.

Seungyoon, however, chooses to snort at the very moment, disguising it with a cough quickly but it doesn’t go unnoticed by Minho.

“I am upset recently.”

He offers no more explanation after, merely bowing slightly before turning his heels from the table. Taehyun most probably won’t understand, but he most probably doesn’t care that much anyway. Minho doesn’t know why Taehyun bother to ask at all, but he knows he doesn’t like to be ridiculed by Kang Seungyoon in any way.

 

 

He slaves away his shift more subdued than ever; doesn’t even look up when Taehyun and Seungyoon leave – opting only to watch them from the corner of his eyes.

Seunghoon rolls his eyes at the dramatics air Minho is putting, and goes off to clean up the table.

He returns with something else other than dirty cups, though – which he slams lightly on Minho’s chests with a drawl of “Stop moping, you fool.”

Minho takes the crumpled napkin in confusion because while he has to acknowledge what he feels for Taehyun is perhaps no longer a simple crush, he is quite sure he has not crossed the line to obsession yet; thus he definitely has no use of Taehyun’s used napkin. He is about to throw the trash away when he noticed the black ink scrawled on the paper.

Cheer up and make pretty latte arts for me again, hyung! – NamTae

 

 

“You’re blocking the way, idiot,” Seunghoon kicks him as the other barista passes his unmoving, huddled figure behind the counter.

 

 

Minho is all cheered up the next time Taehyun comes in – the very next day. His eyes are puffy, having stayed up browsing Youtube for extensive latte art tutorials, but even the presence of ever posh Kang Seungyoon cannot deter his smile as he welcomes them in.

He is already pouring shots of espresso into two cups when the cashier passes him their order and he only needs a glance to make sure it’s the usual.

 

No other words are exchanged when he delivers the coffees except for polite “Here’s your drinks” and “Thank you” – but as he walks away from the table, Taehyun breaks into a loud, delightful laugh that trigger a smile of his own.

 

 

As he walks home after the end of his shift that night, Minho thinks being in a relationship is perhaps plausible, after all. Time will still be tight, and he might not have much money to spend on dates – but if he wants to, perhaps he can make it work.

If Taehyun wants to, perhaps they can make it work.

Minho kisses the scribbled napkin - this one picked by himself earlier today – after reading it for nth time.       

 

All cheered up now! Thank you!

p.s if this is pretty then leave your number ;)

 

085xxxxxxxxxx ;)

 

 

 

Epilogue

 

“I still can’t believe you fall for a barista at the café you always go – how cliché you can be?”

Taehyun slaps his friend, the sound his palm makes as it makes contact with the surface of Seungyoon’s back loud enough to make a passer-by winches.

“He’s cute, okay? There’s this one time he stares at me for 6 minutes straight, I timed it,” he says giddily, completely unaware of the look of pain on Seungyoon’s face.

Seungyoon scoffs at the amusement laced in Taehyun’s voice, already feeling sorry for Song Minho’s future endeavour. “So I don’t have to go with you anymore right? I really don’t like being glared on, you know. Plus the thought of people assuming I’m going out with you make me sick.”

That earns him another slap, and a tinkling laugh that does nothing to the pain.

“I paid for the coffees, anyway and you get to revise with me so you lose nothing, mister.”

Revising with Taehyun actually doesn’t amount to much but Seungyoon thinks his back has had enough for the night so he keeps the thought to himself.

A mischievous notion comes crossing his mind instead. “After all these troubles, it would be funny if you left my number instead of yours, don’t you think?”   

“Who says I didn’t?”

 

 

“NAM TAEHYUN!”

“I’m kidding!”

 

 

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It’s really Taehyun’s number, guys; don’t worry. I’m sorry this comes off not as good as you expected but I think I’ve kept you guys waiting enough lol Tell me what you think!