The café was almost a completely different place once all the minds of perplexed students and tired paying customers had deserted it’s clean swept floors with all of it’s small dents and ridges. The air within the room was now much cooler now that the radiating warmth of people could no longer sustain it’s need. Not so a sense melancholy in any way, but more along the lines of peace and serenity, almost like the satisfying pat on the back for a job well done.

The chairs were all neatly stacked on top of tables while Jihoon was finishing the last of his cleaning rituals so engraved in his mind from working the shift by himself that he had forgotten to even entitle his co worker to any of them.

Seungkwan didn’t complain about it though, unwilling to come between Jihoon and his serious nature towards work. Instead he enjoyed his spot by the cash register splitting up tips while snacking on the leftover baked goods from the glass case, relying on the stale taste of tea cookies and frosting to keep him awake.

A slow sigh escaped past his soft pink lips. It had been an agonizingly slow shift for the both of them, full of almost every possible thing to go wrong. He’d been messing up orders left and right, breaking about six plates in the process. Some were nice about it while others had been seething through their teeth over getting whip in their blended frapp when they didn’t ask for it.

His posture slouched over the counter of the register as the little dark haired barista traced his eyes from the wood planked floor to the glass tinted window front of the shop. Gazing longingly into almost oblivion he stood blankly in his own little world fueled by the underlying disentitlement in his gut churning with displeasure. The exact source of this feeling, he didn’t quite know for certain.

“I know who you’re trying to look for but trust me when I say staring longer will do nothing for you”

The little barista’s cheeks immediately turned twenty different shades of red in that one moment. His throat hitched in surprise trying so hard to speak that it ended up coming out as a choked whisper, “W-what do you mean?” Adverting his gaze with his brown chocolate eyes roaming everywhere that wasn’t Jihoon.

The shorter off-duty barista wasn’t even looking at Seungkwan’s reaction, his head too preoccupied resting on the mop handle looking towards the same area that the other was. His shoulders lifted up and gracefully fell in a long sigh. After a pause he looked back at the flustered barista at the cashier and gave a warm smile.

“How far deep are you in?” Jihoon chuckled, his lips curled in a smile like as if talking down to a kid.

“I…”

He didn’t even give the boy a chance to respond before going off again on his own little train of thought, “Like, are you in kiddie pool deep, or diving end deep,” he paused for a bit regaining the rhythm of mopping the floor once more while waiting for the other to answer, “or maybe even sea deep, like me, where everything feels closed off and you can’t really breathe. All there is are the sound of waves and you wonder how you got yourself in this mess in the first place.”

“Uh…”

“But, then you see them smiling and laughing and all you want to do is cuddle with them on a soft couch with some lame 90s movie playing in the background. And it because they’re radiating like the ing sun while you can only sit back and watch, too doubtful of your own self to get the nerve to even talk to them….”

“Jihoon?” the other asked steadily. It usually wasn’t like his co-worker to talk so much at times like these. If anything a sense of oddness filled the empty café as Seungkwan looked at Jihoon with the most perplexed set of eyes. Luckily, the shorter male fell out of his dream like rant fairly quickly once noticing the other’s concerned face.

“Sorry Seungkwan I’m just sleep rambling. You don’t have to listen if you don’t want to,”

“No, I’m okay with it,” They broke off into silence yet again, the awkwardness hanging heavy in the air. All Seungkwan wanted to do now was to relieve the both of them and get onto a lighter topic. So he let the curiosity get the better of him, “how do you know how deep you’re in love with someone?”

The smaller male simply shrugged his shoulders in reply, “I just do,”

Seungkwan tried to egg on the conversation as best he could, “Is it like a super power?” he asked innocently.

Jihoon scoffed at the proposition, “No offense, but that’d be a ty super power,”

“It’d make liking Seungcheol much easier though, won’t it?”

“I wish,” Jihoon sighed, lost in thought once again. The room started to grow even more awkward and the younger silently cursed at himself for asking something he knew he had no business in. He blamed the lack of sleep he’s had over the past week as well as the less than stellar day he’s been having.

“Seungkwan?” the boy in question raised his head in surprise at the sudden break of silence.

“Y-yes?”

“Don’t fall in love with a boy who won’t love you back”

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A/N Truth be told this has been in my drafts for a really long time before seeing the light of day. Originally I was suppose to include it in my main verkwan fic but then I realized it doesn't really fit the mood? So yea I'm just gonna dump it here. Have a good day @ anyone who read all of this you're the real team players!