Hoseok had just finished up with one more customer when the bell to his shop rang and out of instinct he looked towards the door.  Standing there, was his usual customer named Yoongi.  The boy would tend to spend most of his time in Hoseok’s café, drinking black coffee and scribbling down what were assumed to be lyrics.  There were three things that bugged Hoseok about Yoongi.  For one, Yoongi always ordered black coffee and Hoseok could clearly see him cringing when he took a sip.  Who was this guy trying to show off to?  No one cared what kind of coffee he got.  Secondly, Yoongi had a habit of drinking at least three cups of coffee a day from his shop and Hoseok didn’t know how many he had outside of the café, but he was sure it was too much.  Somehow, the boy still managed to carry bags under his eyes and they were seemingly natural, but Hoseok could tell that Yoongi was more tired than usual because the bags had added carry-on and Yoongi had lost all effort he previously had in maintaining regular human acts.  In fact, that was a part of Hoseok third problem.  Lastly, not only did Yoongi fail to treat Hoseok and everyone else nicely, but he had gotten much worse in that his usual silence had become off-handed snarky comments.

Hoseok wanted to push this boy’s ego down to the ground, but then he saw just how tired he was and how cute he was when yawning and Hoseok forgot all about his intentions.  It was a curse, really, how kind Hoseok was.  He now wanted to tuck the stranger into bed and treat him to hot chocolate rather than coffee.  He wanted to wave his finger in Yoongi’s face and scold him for not taking care of himself, but that wasn’t going to happen.

His thoughts were paused when Yoongi came to the counter.

“Good morning.  The usual?”  Hoseok asked, keeping his talking to a minimum in hopes that Yoongi wouldn’t find the need to snap at him.  He wasn’t afraid of what the small boy could do, but he didn’t want him to tire himself out even more by yelling.

Yoongi lazily nodded, and he blinked, his eyes closing for a few seconds too long.  “And, uh, can I have an extra shot along with some food?”

“Sure,” Hoseok smiled.  He hated what Yoongi was doing to himself.  He didn’t need more caffeine and he should definitely be treating his body to better foods than the snacks that Seokjin made every morning. That was hardly good enough for the day.  Yes, Hoseok was aware that Yoongi rarely ate, he had been getting skinnier with every day.  “What would you like to eat?”

Yoongi shrugged, “Anything that isn’t a sweet.  I woke up late and had to skip breakfast at home.”  Hoseok wasn’t sure why Yoongi decided to share part of his life when him, but he was glad and his smile turned to be a little happier.

“Would you be okay with a quiche?”  The smaller boy lazily nodded and pulled out some cash.  Hoseok instantly held his hand up, “This’ll be on the house, Yoongi.”

The boy looked at him for a second and seemed like he was about to insist on paying, but he just glanced down instead.  “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Hoseok smiled, hoping that his smile would brighten up Yoongi.  He had been told a multitude of times that he brought people miles of smiles and though he never believed it, he tried to use that gift for good.  It seemed to work and Hoseok could see a little crack of a smile.  That’s better.

~

Hoseok seemed to have appointed himself the need to help Yoongi and he was currently being scolded by Seokjin for doing so.

“You can’t just meddle with his life,” Seokjin argued.  Hoseok currently had both Jimin and Taehyung working the drinks and cash register because it was the dull hour of the day and so he thought they’d be fine.

“I’m not meddling.  I just want to help him.”

“But you can’t,” He retorted.

Hoseok stood up from his seat, “I don’t know if you’re aware, but I like helping people.  Yoongi always looks like a kicked puppy and I am not going to let that pass.  I don’t care how long it takes, but I won’t let him live like this.”

“You don’t know what’s wrong with his life,” Seokjin countered.

Hoseok scoffed, “Maybe I want to.”

Seokjin scoffed back.  He smiled a little, “Fine, but don’t come whining to me when he breaks your heart.”

“What do you mean?”  Hoseok questioned, eyebrows furrowed.

“You like this guy, and you are clearly not going to relent,” Seokjin spoke before taking the silence as an opportunity to leave Hoseok.

Hoseok stood there for a few moments, contemplating what his friend had told him, or at least he thought.  He looked down at his watch and saw that much more time had passed and that Yoongi was about to come in for the second time today.  This time, he’d sit down and spend the next couple of hours drinking bad coffee and writing in a notebook.  Hoseok rushed out into the front and pushed Jimin out of the way a couple seconds before Yoongi stepped in.  Hoseok noted that he seemed a little better than earlier though he still looked like absolute trash.  He wondered if maybe the black coffee made him look kind of crappy.  Maybe if he had a better drink he wouldn’t as tired.  Hoseok had personal experience with black coffee and he still hadn’t grown to like the taste, which was weird considering he owned a coffee shop.

“Hello, Yoongi,” Hoseok greeted.

“The usual, please,” Yoongi responded and Hoseok would have been upset that he didn’t say hi back, but he did say please and that was good enough for him.

“Any food?”

“No thanks, I ate earlier.”  Hoseok doubted that, but he brushed it off and shrugged.

“It’s on the house again,” He replied.

“I wanna pay,” Yoongi spoke before Hoseok had a chance to leave.

“But I won’t let you,” He responded, eyeing Yoongi, deciphering him with all his might.  He found nothing; he was never good with body language.

“Why not?”

“Because you look tired and upset and I am ready to do anything to make you happy,” Hoseok smiled and he may or may not have seen Yoongi blush a little and it may or may not have made his heart race, but he would save that thought for another time.

“Why do you care?”  Yoongi questioned.  He had no malice in his voice and Hoseok mentally patted himself on the back for being able to talk to Yoongi without making him upset.

“Anything for a loyal customer.”  Hoseok reached over and pinched Yoongi’s cheek before he could stop himself and he immediately knew that was not the right thing to do.  His assumption was found to be correct when Yoongi slapped his hand away, albeit a bit gentler than Hoseok would have thought. “I’m sorry,” Hoseok rushed, “I don’t know why I did that.”

“Its fine, whatever,” Yoongi said, looking at the floor and walking away.  This time, he did speak with malice.

Hoseok frowned and handed Taehyung the order.  He had wanted to make it himself and put cream and sugar in it, but he would be to save that idea for another time because he had over stepped his boundaries already.  He could see the scowl on Yoongi’s face as the boy sat at a small table and took out various things from the backpack he carried.  Hoseok had previously thought he could be a college student, but he figured it wasn’t true when he noticed that Yoongi never carried any school things in there.

When Yoongi got his drink, Hoseok watched silently as the boy took a cautious sip.  His face scrunched up in disgust and Hoseok laughed a little because he was so cute even though he was always tired and upset.  Though Hoseok hated the thought of how much Yoongi hated black coffee, his disgusted expressions always managed to put a smile on his face.

After an hour, Yoongi came back for another drink and Hoseok quickly rushed down the order, not attempting to make small talk.  Yoongi, on the other hand, insisted.

“You own this place, right?”  He asked while fiddling with something on the counter.

“Yes, with my friend Seokjin,” Hoseok responded, shaking off his surprise from Yoongi actually starting a conversation.

The other bobbed his head up and down and Hoseok could tell that he didn’t really care.  Or maybe he was just more interested in something else.  “So, does anyone else work here?”

Hoseok nodded, “Yeah, these guys named Jimin and Taehyung work here when they can.”

“Are you hiring at all?”  Yoongi asked and he looked too scared of rejection whereas Hoseok looked rather excited.

“Do you need a job?”  Hoseok asked and he was about to slap himself in the face because why couldn’t he have just answered ‘yes’?

Yoongi laughed though, well, it wasn’t really a laugh, but Hoseok counted it. “Nah, my brother is looking for a job.  Jungkook.  He’s in college, but he’s only taking dance classes so he has a lot of free time when he isn’t practicing.”

Hoseok smiled and stopped himself from hiring the boy right away.  “Jimin takes dance classes too,” He pulled out a blank résumé and handed it to Yoongi, “Maybe they know each other.”

“Maybe,” Yoongi offhandedly replied before nodding a goodbye.

Hoseok smiled and nodded a goodbye as well.  “Jimin!”

“Yeah, what’s up?”  Jimin asked, coming up to Hoseok.

“First, do you know any Jungkooks in dance?”

“Yeah, I do!”  Jimin perked up. “He’s really good so he got to be in my class even though he’s younger than me,”