Youngjae heavily sighed and leaned on the counter as his latest customer went to find a seat. He flicked his eyes around the café, making sure that nothing else needed to be done. Not surprisingly, there wasn’t anything else he could do besides make the coffee. The morning shift was always horrible, but combined with the fact that Youngjae hadn’t been able to sleep much because of how hard he had been studying meant that when he had arrived at the café at 3am he hadn’t slept for over 20 hours.

                He looked over at the clock on the wall and sighed quietly again, ‘7am; only 3 more hours before I can go home and sleep for two hours and then go to class.’

“How fun being a college student is,” Youngjae groaned as he picked himself off the counter and moved towards the machines that had just dinged, announcing that the new brew of coffee was ready.

                He was in the middle of creating the customer’s custom drink when the bell on the door chimed. “Good morning, I’ll be with you shortly.” Youngjae said as cheerfully as he could.

                “Take your time.”

                Youngjae’s ears perked up at the honey voice. He turned to look and saw it was… ‘Damn what is his name again?? This damn lack of sleep…’ a customer who came in every day at this time. Youngjae hid his small smile, happy to see the man who was about his age at the counter again.

                ‘At least I get some eye candy in the morning.’ Youngjae put the milk back in the refrigerator and returned to the register.

                “What can I make for you?” Youngjae asked. At the slight pause of the other, Youngjae slowly reached for a medium sized cup as a smile started spreading across his face, “Same as usual?”

                The college boy smiled, “That would be great. I always want to try new things, but early in the morning I tend to be a little more cautious.”

                Youngjae nodded as he rung up the customer, “I understand that. $4.50 please.”

                “You look tired, have you been getting enough sleep?” The customer asked as he passed Youngjae the exact change.

                Youngjae groaned, “Is it that obvious?”

                The smile Youngjae got in return about blinded him, “Not really. Maybe I just pay a lot of attention to you—not to be creepy. I just mean… you know you are the first person I usually see in the morning and—and I know it is finals season so you are probably really studying and—“

                Youngjae laughed, “It is okay, uhh…hmmm yeah it is okay. I know I probably look crap.”

                “Wait… did you forget my name?” When Youngjae looked down at the machine without replying, the customer chuckled. “I’ll forgive you this once because you haven’t slept. My name is Daehyun.”

                “That’s right,” Youngjae mentally hit himself for forgetting the name. “Here is your receipt, Daehyun. It will be ready in a bit.”

                “Okay…” Daehyun’s smile faltered a little as Youngjae began to walk away. “What final are you studying for?” He said quickly.

                Youngjae blinked as he looked at the other. It wasn’t unusual for Daehyun to talk to him while he made drinks, in fact he looked forward to it, but he had assumed that because of how horrid he looked today that Daehyun wouldn’t want to talk to him. “I’m umm… I’m studying for my intro to physics class.”

                “Ouch that’s rough. Sounds really difficult.” Daehyun leaned on the counter.

                Youngjae smiled, glad for the company as he finished the earlier drink and Daehyun’s drink as well. They continued to talk for the few minutes it took for the drinks to be made. He passed Daehyun his drink and called the other customer up to the counter.

                “Took you long enough,” the earlier customer grumbled as he took his drink and pastry.

                “Rude,” Daehyun commented once the older customer was back in his seat.

                Youngjae shrugged, “He is normally like this.”

                “Another regular customer besides me?” Daehyun mocked surprise. “I might have to come double just to secure my spot as the favorite regular customer.”

                Youngjae chuckled, “I wouldn’t worry too much about that since you already are.” Youngjae’s eyes widened as he realized what he said. He cursed his mouth filter which was defective due to lack of sleep.

                Daehyun was smiling though, “Is that so? Well you know—“

                “Excuse me!”

                Youngjae blinked and stood straight up as the other customer came back, “Yes? Can I help you sir?”

                With a glare, the man shoved his drink onto the counter, “You did not use the correct milk. Now, with most things I would not complain, but I am lactose intolerant and this could have caused me great harm!”

                Youngjae paled as he remembered putting the right milk away to take Daehyun’s order and then how he grabbed the wrong one when they were talking. “I am so sorry for—“

                “Sorry does not fix everything in this world, son. I need to talk to your manager about your lack of professionalism in the workplace.”

                ‘Lack of professionalism in the workplace?!’Lack of professionalism in the workplace?!’ Youngjae tried not to show how annoyed or frightened he was getting. If he lost this job then he might not be able to afford rent.

                “Sir, I can—“

                “Your manager, now. And if they are not here then I want their number.”

                Youngjae’s jaw fell.

                “Sir,” Daehyun spoke up, “This is my fault.”

                “No, this kid made the drink wrong and let you distract him.”

                “Actually,” Daehyun took a long drink from his cup and cringed, “I was the one who made the mistake. I picked up the wrong drink.”

                “Huh?” “What?”

                “Yeah,” Daehyun shook his head sadly, “It was an easy mistake since there were no names on the cups. Which makes sense since there are only two of us here,” Daehyun added the last bit in quickly.

                “Oh… so—“

                Daehyun cut off the grumpy customer, “Obviously, you won’t want this one since I drank from it already, I am sorry about the mix up. How about I buy you a new one?”

                “Well… I suppose that will work…” The customer replied since slightly flustered from the outcome.

                “How much?” Daehyun asked Youngjae who was also stunned from what was going on. Youngjae was not usually this spacy, but due to the lack of the sleep his brain was working slowly.

                “It… its $5.00,” Youngjae finally spit out.

                Daehyun nodded and pulled out his wallet only to freeze when he looked inside. “I…”

                Finally getting ahold of himself, Youngjae pleasantly smiled at the men before him, “It was my mistake for not making sure you grabbed the right cup. Sir, the drink will be on the house and I will give you both a gift card for $5.00 for the trouble I have caused.

                Before either customer could say anything, Youngjae rushed around making the drink correctly and loading two gift cards. He passed the new drink to the customer along with the gift card as he once again spouted apologizes. The customer briskly took the items, grabbed his pastry from before, and walked out of the shop.

                Once he was gone both Youngjae and Daehyun sighed in unison. They looked at each other once they realized what happen and laughed.

                “Thank you for helping me back there,” Youngjae smiled.

                Daehyun shrugged, “It was partly my fault since I wanted to talk to you.”

                “I should have known better though,” Youngjae scolded himself.

                Daehyun shook his own head, “You are tired. It could happen to anyone. Honestly, I’m just embarrassed that I didn’t have enough money to cover his drink.”

                Youngjae chuckled, “Life of a college student, right?”

                Daehyun smiled sheepishly, “I suppose, but you know… for causing you problems… how about I take you to dinner.”

                “Dinner?”

                “Well…” Daehyun scratched the back of his neck, “or maybe lunch and we could study together or—or ummm….”

                “Youngjae stopped him with a chuckle, “I’d love to hang out with you outside of work.”

                Youngjae grabbed a pen and wrote his number down on a coffee sleeve which he handed to Daehyun. “I can’t guarantee I’ll be awake later today, but if you text me I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

                Daehyun beamed as he saw Youngjae’s number, “I’ll try messaging you as soon as I can.”

                Youngjae laughed and Daehyun turned red, “I mean—thanks… I’ll—I’ll talk to you later. Thanks for the gift card!”

                Youngjae was still quietly laughing as Daehyun walked out. “Of course I would give him a gift card… as long as it was an excuse for him to come back another time.”

                Youngjae couldn’t stop smiling as he wasted time in the shop, waiting for Daehyun’s text, hoping it would come soon. He didn’t have to wait long before the awaited message came. With no one in the shop, when Youngjae noticed the message he opened it. With a bright smile he answered Daehyun back and suddenly he wasn’t tired anymore, only excited for that night when they would grab dinner and study at the library. Not the greatest of dates, but the best Youngjae could have asked for during finals season.

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Thanks for reading~~

Happy Holidays