Saturday nights are always horrible for Chanyeol, when Sweet Tooth is the most hectic and he has to run from one table to another while keeping his eyes open for raised hands and his ears to be fully alert to hear the faint calls of 'excuse me's over the loud noise and romantic background music. It's not usually that much of a nightmare because more customers means more tips, but since it’s Valentine’s Day and the dessert cafe he's working for is offering a promo for couples, the place is now swarmed with love birds and Chanyeol has to resist his face from cringing as the customers rub mushy cheesy affections in his face.

It’s only been three hours since his shift started but Chanyeol has already considered drowning his face in a pot of melted butter (salty, geddit?). Now Luhan is waving at him at the counter, nodding at an occupied table near the entrance for him to serve and Chanyeol swears if he has to face another couple throwing corny lines at each other, he’s going to have to rip his face into two.

“Can you at least smile? You’re scaring the customers,” Zitao says when they walk pass each other and Chanyeol rolls his eyes. He has been smiling. And Zitao is definitely the blind one for mistaking his charming and super friendly ear-to-ear smiles as creepy.

“Welcome to Sweet Tooth, what would you like to order?” Chanyeol  says in a monotone voice, although this time he’s a bit relieved because the customers are a group of three and they seem to be normal friends instead of a couple or a couple-to-be.

“I’ll have blueberry waffles with vanilla ice cream please,” the guy in the black varsity jacket says. The menu book in his hands fall with a small thud as he puts it down on the table.

“Chocolate lava cake for me,” the guy in the beige coat says, his nose scrunching in an attempt to fix the position of his glasses, as he looks up at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol quickly writes the orders down on his memo before turning his attention to the third guy on the other side of the table, who has the tip of his nose buried in the menu book as he studies the list of food. “What can I get for you, sir?”

His breath gets caught in his throat when the guy, who turns out to be his crush from the bus, looks up from the menu, his eyes mirroring Chanyeol’s widened ones before breaking their eye contact with a blink. His heart stops when the guy opens his mouth to speak. 

“You.”

There is a pregnant pause as Chanyeol slowly feels his face burning, and a series of scoff is heard seconds after Chanyeol throws his gaze to the ground in embarrassment.

“Oh my god Kyungsoo, I didn’t know you flirt,” one of the guys says.

“I know it’s been dry season for you but please, spare the kid some dignity,” the other guy says in between his laughs.

Chanyeol’s crush—Kyungsoo?—facepalms upon the realization. Peeking from the gap of his fingers, he examines Chanyeol’s blushing face and sighs. “Sorry. You’re the guy from the bus, is what I meant to say.”

And the blush on Chanyeol’s face grows because the guy freaking remembers him. All this time he’s been wondering when he will have the opportunity to talk to his crush again after that night but ever since he’s been hired for night shifts at this dessert bar, he’s been taking a different bus home and using his usual morning rides to college as short nap times. So this must really be fate.

“Oooh, what’s this? How come you never tell us anything about The-Guy-From-The-Bus?” the guy in varsity jacket says as he nudges Kyungsoo’s elbow with a fork.

“Since when did I start telling you guys anything?” Kyungsoo remarks before setting the menu down and looks up at Chanyeol. “I’ll have new york cheesecake, please. And tap water too.”

Chanyeol clears his throat as he fights the heat on his cheeks and writes down the order. “One blueberry waffle with vanilla ice cream, one chocolate lava cake, one new york cheesecake and tap water?”

“Yeah. Also, if there are any more cute tall guys like you, I’d like to have them for takeaway as well please—OW!”

“Please ignore my stupid acquaintances,” Kyungsoo cuts, his eyes shooting daggers at his friends as he stresses on the last word, and ignores the grunts from the glasses guy as he reaches down to grab his foot.

Chanyeol leaves with a nod, his face now hurts from biting down a grin as he walks back to the counter to hand in the order.

. . .

“Why am I even friends with you guys,” Kyungsoo hisses bitterly as he puts away the menu books, his eyes glancing sideways to have a last look of the waiter—Chanyeol, as written on his name tag.

Jongdae just chuckles at this while Baekhyun still pouts over Kyungsoo stepping on his feet. “Well it wasn’t us who was hitting on a waiter just now was it? We’re just observers and victims of secondhand embarrassment.”

“God, this is exactly why I never tell you two anything,” Kyungsoo mutters under his breath.

“He’s cute though,” Baekhyun comments, smiling at him suggestively.

Kyungsoo averts his gaze to the window, only to catch Chanyeol’s reflection walking back and forth between the counter and the tables. The tall guy has discarded his thick glasses now, Kyungsoo supposes it’s not as practical working with them on, but he still looks attractive nevertheless. And there’s something about the way the pink apron hugs his small waist.

“And looks young too. How old is he?” Jongdae asks.

Kyungsoo’s eyes goes back to his friends. “How the should I know?”

Upon this, Jongdae’s lips curl into a knowing smirk as he tilts his head sweetly. “Wow. You know, I noticed Do Kyungsoo is not the kind of person who swears. And when he does, it means his tsundere mode has been .”

Baekhyun lets out a dramatic gasp as he puts a hand over his heart. “Is that why you always tell me I’m a piece of ? Does that mean you actually adore me? Aww!"

Kyungsoo’s expression remains flat before he sighs in defeat. “Remind me to write a resignation letter to hand on Monday because I’m so ing done working with you.”

Jongdae’s cheshire smile only widens as he reaches out to cover Kyungso’s hand with his. “And we love you too.”

The topic about Chanyeol doesn’t continue after that, much to Kyungsoo’s relief, because their orders then arrive, served by a different but also tall waiter (does this cafe considers height when hiring staff?) whose name tag spells Sehun, who completely ignores Baekhyun’s attempt to flirt with him. Kyungsoo’s eyes darts over Sehun’s bent back to see Chanyeol watching him from another table and the guy immediately ducks his gaze back to the memo in his hands when their eyes meet. He almost catches the tinge of red across Chanyeol’s face before Sehun blocks his view.

“Anything else I can help you with?” Sehun asks and Jongdae manages to shove Baekhyun’s face away before the other gets to have a say. He returns to a spot next to the counter after Jongdae responds with a wave of his hand.

Their food looks unbelievably appetising and they made loud clinking noises as they immediately grabs the spoon. Kyungsoo winces a little when his spoon dips past the delicate surface of the cake, creating a damage to the perfectly shaped cube, and scoops a bite.

Baekhyun is sighing over his lava cake and Jongdae’s lips are smacking as he tastes the ice cream on top of his waffle. Kyungsoo just shuts his eyes, clasping his spoon with his lips as his tongue relishes the incredible taste of the cream cheese melting between his teeth. Kyungsoo is not a fan of desserts, but this cheesecake actually tastes celestial and he is silently thankful to his friends for bringing him here to celebrate the wrapping up of the finalized storyboard of their sequel series.

Tasting pure delight, Kyungsoo can’t help the small moan escaping from the back of his throat as he pulls out the spoon from his mouth. When he opens his eyes though, Baekhyun and Jongdae are exchanging glances, their expressions clear that they’re trying to muffle a laugh as they point at something with their eyeballs.

Kyungsoo wants to punch the soul out of himself when his eyes follow his friends’ gaze; Chanyeol is standing by their table, holding a bottle of tap water in his hand and three glass cups on his other one, staring down at Kyungsoo with a blush even more furious than before.

“…Here’s your tap water,” the guy says as he places the items in his hands on the table, not sparing a glance at Kyungsoo as he quickly makes his way back, followed by a loud guffaw of Baekhyun and Jongdae.

Kyungsoo wishes he could die right then as he plants his face on the table, creating a loud thump when his forehead and the wooden surface collide. His face is red, he can tell, but he’s not sure if it’s because of utter embarrassment or because the waiter’s reaction just now was too adorable.

When they finish their dessert, their plates clean and slick from any crumbs and cream, Jongdae and Baekhyun resumes with their chatting, talking about how they should think about deciding on voice actors soon for their new animation series. Meanwhile, Kyungsoo keeps his eyes at the window, subtly watching Chanyeol’s reflection fleeting from one table to another, serving trays after trays, offering bright smiles that Kyungsoo remembers so well from their first meeting, and catching him stealing glances at his table.

Kyungsoo realizes he is not the only one charmed by Chanyeol when the guy accidentally bumps into a girl customer, managing to bow for an apology and offering another brilliant smile before continuing his way back to the counter. The girl then rushes to her table, her friends welcoming her with a hug as they turn their attention to her, one of them nodding at Chanyeol and the other giving her a wink of encouragement. And it grows him a sense of pride and excitement when he knows Chanyeol’s staring at him is the reason why the guy runs into her.

So when Chanyeol is standing at the counter behind the register as the three of them decides to leave, Kyungsoo insists himself to pay, which Jongdae and Baekhyun gladly complies. His steps are steadfast and in sync with his heartbeat when he walks over to the counter.

“Cash,” Kyungsoo flicks him a glance, noticing how Chanyeol’s voice cracks nervously, “cash or card?”

He waves his card at Chanyeol and the guy prepares the credit card terminal, punching the digits with his thumb and asking for Kyungsoo’s card.

“You kept staring at me,” Kyungsoo speaks, noticing how Chanyeol’s hand freezes as he slides the card down the slot of the machine, creating an error.

“…I’m truly sorry,” Chanyeol replies, voice full of remorse as he starts over the transaction. He hands back Kyungsoo’s card with a print of the receipt as well as a copy of the completed transaction.

“I’ll consider forgiving you,” Kyungsoo says as he signs on the transaction copy before returning it, along with the receipt, “if you apologize via phone.”

Chanyeol just blinks at him as he receives the receipt back from Kyungsoo. He checks the piece of paper again, noticing the numbers Kyungsoo just wrote at the bottom of the receipt, before snapping his head up and stares at Kyungsoo with eyes full of hope. Kyungsoo only responds with a smile.

“Call me.”