three things hansol is fond of: basketball, rap music, and his summer job; the last of which has been his most recent favorite.

the cafe he works at sits on a quiet road in his neighborhood. he lives only a few blocks away so every morning, he walks over to the cafe with his earphones on and a slight skip in his step. on blessed days, light morning breeze would find its way through hansol’s hair and the sun wouldn’t be as awfully merciless as it would be later in the day.   

but the best part is when hansol pushes the door to the cafe open, the tiny bell chiming overhead, he’s greeted by a smile that he’ll never be able to look away from.

+++

hansol didn't think he’d love his job at first. the only reason he applied for part time work was because his mother couldn't stand the sight of her son lazing around in the house, jobless at 17 and mooching off everything in the fridge. after a day of scouting for jobs, hansol concluded that the cafe a few roads down his apartment would be his best bet, although he had little to no experience in the culinary field.

fortunately, the guy who owned the place offered him the gig without much question and told him to start immediately. seungcheol, his new boss, gave him two options; the front counter or assistant barista. hansol chose the latter without hesitation (he didn’t want his impaired social skills to scare off customers). plus, it looked like the boy handling the register didn’t need any extra help anyway.

seungkwan is loud, chirpy, talkative, and suffering from a slight superiority complex. it’s never a quiet day when he’s around; his voice can be heard from inside the pantry itself. he’s worked here longer than hansol has (an extra summer to be exact) and so seungcheol put seungkwan in charge of the newbie on hansol’s first day.

they had dropped the formalities right away when seungkwan learned they were of the same age. he showed the newcomer the basic ropes of running a cafe (here are the rags, that drawer’s broken so don’t touch it unless you want to pay for the damage, speaker remotes are in that box). for the most part, seungkwan was easy to talk to, but he was awfully straightforward for a person he had just met a couple of hours ago. (damn, you need a haircut, rap music? seriously?, you’re wearing too much white for a person who works in a cafe).

hansol had gotten used to seungkwan’s forward personality a week into working at the cafe. he didn’t see the point of getting hurt over the latter’s remarks; he even thought some of them were pretty hilarious. hansol would laugh it off and sometimes even fight back with an equally sassy retort.

hansol found that seungkwan is great with the customers. he had a way with words that could make customers buy an extra bagel or pack a set of doughnuts to go with. the older customers especially loved him; the tip jar is always filled to the brim if seungkwan handled the register that day.

by then, hansol had already come to like his job. it wasn’t terribly difficult, all he really had to was inform mingyu of the orders, hand him the cups, press a few buttons (in a specific order) on the coffee machine and pray he didn’t accidentally do anything to burn down the entire building. his work hours are flexible and not to mention it paid well for a job that didn’t require skillful thinking and maximum effort.

it’s his second week here and hansol finally decides he wants to learn how to make actual coffee because reading out orders and cleaning the countertop eight hours a day have started to bore him out of his mind.

“here, try this,” hansol says, shoving a small paper cup of his first ever attempt at making coffee with the machine under seungkwan’s nose.

seungkwan eyes the cup suspiciously, hesitantly taking it in his hands. “should i be cautious?”

hansol frowned. “it’s coffee, not poison,” he deadpans.

“well, if you’re making it, it might as well be,” seungkwan says and proceeds to take a tiny sip.

hansol waits for seungkwan’s reaction nervously, his eyes unblinking, looking expectantly at the latter’s face.

seungkwan’s eyebrows furrow and his face distorts into a crippling expression at the first sip, which probably means the coffee could kill a person if consumed in a substantial amount.

hansol huffs an exasperated sigh of defeat and snatches the cup away from seungkwan’s hands. “i’ll go make another one.”

“no, wait,” seungkwan protests, grabbing the coffee back and takes a bigger sip. with a contemplative expression, he dramatically tastes the coffee like he’s reviewing fine wine and hansol has to fight back the urge to roll his eyes. “it’s actually not bad,” seungkwan finally says, downing the last of the coffee in one go.

“you’re joking.”

“i wish i was,” seungkwan says, handing him the empty cup. “i think it was slightly too sweet though,” he offers.

“i’ll work on that,” hansol chirps, walking over to the machine.

a few more cups of coffee and bathroom trips later, seungkwan is convinced hansol’s coffee will be able to make it safely across the front counter and into the stomachs’ of customers without spontaneously combusting or anything cute like that. all hansol needs now is mingyu’s approval.

“this ain’t bad for a beginner like you,” mingyu remarks after taking a few sips.

“does that mean you’ll let me make orders now?” hansol asks hopefully.

“yeah, why not?”

hansol jumps out of his chair then and pumps his fist into the air. seungkwan wears an equally ecstatic expression and hansol mindlessly brings him in for a victory hug, jumping around in a little circle.

mingyu clears his throat and the pair in front of him immediately springs apart. “only americanos though. i don't think you're ready for lattes and cappuccinos yet.”

“y-yes, sir,” hansol replies and seungkwan gives him a thumbs up, beaming.

hansol realizes now that he really likes his job.

+++

friday, supply day, hansol’s most dreaded day of the week.

seungcheol has his employees clock in at seven in the morning every friday to unload masses of raw ingredients from the supply van and into the pantry which translates to seungkwan’s unending whines about how heavy the crates are and how cruel seungcheol is to force his staffs into carrying out hard labour.

seungkwan obviously hasn’t seen actual hard labour.

hansol quietly carries in crate after crate of raw poultry, bag after bag of unroasted coffee beans into the pantry. his back and shoulders are already screaming by his fifth load but he doesn’t dare utter a word of complaint (something seungcheol greatly appreciates).

hansol is on his way back to the van for another round when he sees seungkwan struggling with a box of frozen vegetables.

seungkwan balances the box on his upper limb as he’s leaning against the brick wall of the back alley. he looks half-dead and hansol’s pretty sure this is only his second box.

“need some help?” hansol offers, arms outstretched.

“it’s fine,” seungkwan replies, waving a dismissive hand.

hansol raises an eyebrow. “it’s okay, i won’t tell hyung i carried it for you.”

seungkwan pushes away from the wall. “it’s not heavy,” he says, giving the box a small kick with his right knee to readjust his grip. “i’m stronger than i look.”

hansol watches as seungkwan trudges into the cafe with a box almost half his size and barely makes it before throwing the box unceremoniously onto the pantry floor with a loud thud. “see? it’s no big deal at all!” he shouts from inside the kitchen for hansol to hear.

lifting another load, hansol lets out a quiet laugh. seungkwan is really something.

+++

“can i speak to the person in charge?”

“i’m sorry, miss, but our boss is out on his lunch break,” seungkwan politely replies with his default smile. “what can i help you with?”

“i want to know who made my iced mocha,” the customer says, slamming the plastic cup onto the counter.

seungkwan’s eyes widen in shock at the lady’s sudden outburst. “what seems to be the problem, miss?” he asks, trying to keep calm.

“why don’t you try it and tell me yourself?” the lady spits rudely. “it’s bland, diluted and tastes nothing like chocolate or coffee. now tell me who made it,” she demands, tone rising with every word.

hansol, from a feet away, turns his head towards the commotion, tuning in and slowly realizing that the customer is complaining about the mocha he had made.

“i’m so sorry, miss. i’m sure we can get you another one,” seungkwan says, his smile growing more anxious. they're starting to draw unwanted attention from the other customers.

“i don’t want any more of this horrible dri-”

“sorry, miss,” hansol timidly cuts in with a quivering voice, not really knowing how to handle an angry customer. “i’m the one who made it.”

the lady narrows her eyes on hansol. “has no one evaluated what you put out? i’m surprised you were even hired in first place judging by the drink you just served me,” the lady continues on her rampage.

hansol is rendered speechless. he has a bewildered look on his face and he doesn’t know if he should keep his silence or get down both on knees to tearfully and profusely beg for forgiveness. he manages a meek, “uh, i...i, um,” before shutting his mouth again. he grabs onto seungkwan’s apron, turning his head towards the latter in the slightest with pleading eyes. he’s hoping that seungkwan will save him now.

“look, miss, i think you’re being very unreasonable right now,” seungkwan speaks with unshaken confidence.

hansol blanches. he sees the changes in expression on the lady’s face and it’s even more horrifying than it was.

“that’s no way to talk to a customer, boy,” she snarls.

“i’m pretty sure that’s no way to talk a boy who was just doing his best to make coffee,” seungkwan boldly spits back.

hansol feels like he should say something before everything gets out of hand but seungkwan’s hand give hansol’s a reassuring squeeze, as if to tell him that he’s got it under control, that he won’t let it end up in a disaster.

“this is going to be all over social media. be assured that i’m never returning to your cafe again.”

“that’s great news to me,” seungkwan grits his teeth.

the lady opens presumably to fight back seungkwan’s words, but she clamps it back shut. instead, she shoots the two boys behind the counter another glare before heading towards the door. she makes a show with her exit and all the customers have incredulous looks in their faces, hansol included.

seungkwan exhales loudly, releasing hansol’s hand. “what a psycho,” he mutters under his breath. “don’t take it personally. we get crazy customers like her every other day. you’re just the victim this time,” he says, giving hansol an apologetic smile.

“thanks for, um, taking care of it for me,” hansol says weakly.

“it’s no big deal,” seungkwan says before going to attend to a customer at the register.

mingyu returns from his lunch break ten minutes later and hansol asks if he can be excused from making orders for the rest of the day. when he questions hansol’s request, seungkwan sends mingyu a knowing look behind hansol’s back. mingyu nods and instructs him to do kitchen work instead.

“hey, you alright?” seungkwan inquires when they’re both in the locker room after their shift ends.

"swell,” hansol replies albeit a little cynically. he’d be lying if the customer’s words didn’t sting.

“are you still thinking about what that customer said?”

“yes!” he exclaims, exasperated. “we’re both going to lose our jobs when seungcheol hyung finds out.” hansol can only think of the repercussions of seungkwan’s words towards the customer in hansol’s defense in the worst case scenario.

"chill out, hansol!” seungkwan says. “i’m pretty sure she only has, like, 30 followers on instagram. besides, seungcheol hyung loves us too much to fire us.”

there’s a little truth in seungkwan’s last statement, but that doesn’t make hansol any less worried. “thanks again. i wouldn’t have known what to do if you weren’t there,” hansol says as sincerely as possible.

“honestly, what was she even going off about? your mochas are bomb, anyway.”

hansol manages a weak laugh. maybe he isn’t really suited as a barista after all.

“if you’re thinking of quitting all because of one customer complaint, you should just stop thinking altogether,” seungkwan warns.

hansol all but sighs quietly.

seungkwan rolls his eyes. “oh my god, you’re being so pathetic, it hurts my pride. nobody’s perfect, alright? so get your up here tomorrow to make more bombass lattes or frappes or whatever,” he says, arms flailing around. “i’ll see you tomorrow, got that?”

hansol snickers at seungkwan’s forwardness but nods anyway.

hansol returns to the cafe tomorrow morning. seungcheol ruffles hansol’s hair playfully when he enters the cafe. mingyu teaches him a few more techniques to making coffee as patiently as he can. soonyoung asks hansol to personally make him a cup of caramel macchiato and praises him like there’s no tomorrow before the first sip is even down his throat. wonwoo offers hansol a fresh-out-of-the-oven blueberry muffin during their lunch break and flashes him one of his rare smiles and pats his cheek affectionately.

hansol loves his job.

+++

summer is drawing to an end. hansol doesn't want it to.

for starters, he’ll have to return to school which means waking up at an ungodly hour in the morning to be imprisoned in a place for more than half of the day with people he would much rather not be with for extended periods of time.

also, he’s going to lose his job.

seungcheol had made it clear that minors aren't allowed to keep their jobs in the seasons that is not summer. something about focusing on education and side-jobs taking time away from studying for exams and whatnot. but he also said they were welcome to reclaim their jobs next summer if they ever decided to.

it’s hansol and seungkwan’s last day at the cafe. they're both cleaning for an early close-up; hansol behind the counter and seungkwan at the serving area. hansol’s got some rap music on full blast on the speakers and seungkwan tries rapping along in heavily accented english and this cracks up hansol to no end.

they're the only ones left in the cafe including their boss; everyone else had taken advantage of the half-day and took off before seungcheol could say anything, effectively leaving the two youngest employees with the dirty work. but it wasn't like hansol and seungkwan minded, they thought they could use the extra labor anyway since they would be stripped of their employment at the end of the day.

seungcheol bursts from the kitchen door in the middle of seungkwan’s attempt at eminem’s rap god. “guys, i need a favor,” he says, hastily slipping on his bomber jacket.

seungkwan stops mid-rap and turns his head over to seungcheol. “don't we do enough for you already?” he whines.

“what seungkwan meant was: anything for you, boss,” hansol corrected.

seungcheol pats hansol on the shoulder appreciatively before handing him a bunch of keys. “jeonghan called and there seems to be an emergency. i’m gonna need you guys to lock up the place for me, alright?” he smiles with fondness in his eyes, giving hansol a pinch in the cheek (he can't help but to express his adoration for the younger) before heading towards the exit.

“will we get paid for overtime?” seungkwan asks.

“for this, i’ll bank in double time for the both of you,” seungcheol says, walking so fast he almost slips on the freshly mopped tile floor.

hansol and seungkwan both have matching grins on their faces at the mention of extra payment. “oh my god, you're the best,” hansol says, already mentally calculating the number of 20 dollar itunes cards he can buy with the money.

“thanks, guys! good luck in school!” seungcheol shouts and he's out of the door.

“you know how to lock up, right?” hansol asks, fitting the keys into his pocket.

“yeah, yeah,” seungkwan nods, going back to mopping the floor. “god, we’re not even halfway done.”

“it's not like we’re in a hurry though,” hansol points out. he’s got absolutely nothing planned for the rest of the day. when he gets home, he’ll probably spend his last hours of freedom lazing around the house, jobless again at 17, and mooching off everything in the fridge (much to his mother’s dismay).

“you’re right,” seungkwan shrugs. “better put on some of drake’s 2009 mixtape then.”

hansol laughs heartily before reaching for his ipod at the dock to comply. seungkwan’s totally into rap music now but hansol knows he’ll never openly admit it.

they’re in the middle of an inventory check when it starts pouring outside. it comes suddenly; one minute the sky’s clear and bright and the next rain falls ceaselessly from grey clouds, thunder and all. soon enough, nicki minaj is buried under the sound of the rain deafeningly crashing onto the windows and roof.

after the inventory check, they play a game of rock, paper, and scissors to decide who gets the honors of taking out the trash under the heavy rain. needless to say, hansol lost and while he runs ten feet towards the garbage bin with two fully loaded trash bags in tow, seungkwan locks up the pantry after pulling out a slice of the cafe’s finest chocolate cheesecake from the fridge.

“don’t think we’re gonna be going anywhere anytime soon because of the rain,” hansol says as he’s shutting the door behind him but trails off slightly when he sees the plate of cake seungkwan has in his hands. “what are you doing with that piece of cake?” he asks, pulling a few squares of tissue from the wall dispenser to wipe the rain off his arms and face.

“we deserve it, don’t you think?” seungkwan smiles innocently at him, grabbing two metal forks from the drawer before heading out of the closed kitchen.

hansol follows suit. “hyung’s already paying us double time,” he reasons with seungkwan.

“shut up, hansol, it’s just a chunk of frozen cream cheese,” seungkwan snaps, sitting down at one of the tables, handing him the other fork.

taking his seat across seungkwan, hansol apprehensively accepts the fork, but finally decides it, he’s getting fired anyway, and shoves a sizable amount of cake into his mouth before he can change his mind again.

“does wonwoo hyung have hands of a god or something? it tastes so damn good,” hansol mumbles with a mouth full of disgustingly half-chewed cake in his mouth.

“probably,” seungkwan shrugs, cream off his lips. “you ready for another ty year of school?”

“don’t remind me,” hansol mutters, taking another bite of the cake to wash down the bitterness that is public high school.

“at least it’s going to be senior year,” seungkwan offers.

“ughhhhh,” hansol grunts, smacking his palm onto his forehead. “how does anyone figure out what to do with their lives after high school?”

“good thing i go to a prep school so i can have professionals tell me what to do, huh?” seungkwan says bitterly, scraping off the last of the cheesecake from the plate.

“so is it political science or medicine?”

“business, actually,” seungkwan replies, rolling his eyes. “my mom said it’d be good for the family to have a businessman in the house.”

“you don't sound too keen.”

“that's because i’m not,” seungkwan said as-a-matter-of-factly.

hansol keeps his silence for a while, internally debating if he should ask seungkwan a question that may or may not be too personal. but he does anyway because he feels that their friendship has passed that certain level of comfort. “what do you really want to do, then?”

seungkwan’s shoulders slump. “i don’t know, really,” he sighs. “for lack of better term, i’m lost.”

hansol understands. “if it makes you feel any better, you’re not the only one,” he says admittedly. “we’ll figure it out soon enough. if all else fails, we’ll just have hyung hire us full-time.”

“that doesn’t sound too bad,” seungkwan says, head ducked in laughter. “y’know, i’m glad you took a job here,” he quietly adds, fiddling with his fingers.

hansol raises his brows questioningly.

“oh, don’t look at me like that!” seungkwan bursts. “it’s just nice to have someone my age to talk to around here. everyone here is just so…old.”

in his head, hansol can’t think of a single employee over the age of 23, but he’ll let this one slide because for once seungkwan is being sentimental and showing actual emotion that isn’t aggravation or sardonic disgust.

truth be told, hansol has come to find a friend in seungkwan this past summer. he knows that past the unruly boisterous front seungkwan puts up, he is a good person at the very core. in hindsight, his experience in the cafe would’ve been undoubtedly dull if seungkwan wasn’t already an employee. and for that, hansol is, too, quite glad he took the job.

“i had no idea you were in love with me,” hansol gasps, feigning surprise.

“don’t make me hit you.”

hansol offers to do the dishes after the rain dies to down a slight drizzle. he hands over the keys to seungkwan so he can start locking up all the doors to the cafe.

“hurry up, hansol!” seungkwan calls impatiently from the front door.

“alright, alright!” hansol shouts back, placing the dishes back into the drawer. he hastily grabs his backpack from the staff lockers and slams the kitchen door behind him as he exits.

seungkwan holds the door open for hansol, huffing a “took you long enough,” at the latter. “hold this,” he instructs hansol, handing him the metal chain for the front door.

hansol almost drops the chain (he didn’t anticipate its weight) and this earns a snicker from seungkwan.

turning the key, the door clicks shut and seungkwan nudges it a few times to make sure it's locked.

“i can’t believe summer’s over,” hansol says, wrapping the chain around the door handles.

“i’m gonna miss working here,” seungkwan admits, hooking the padlock through the chain.

“we can always come over on the weekends. as customers,” hansol suggests. it wouldn’t be a problem for him considering he lives in such close proximity to the cafe.

“it’s senior year and i go to a prep school. how does that translate?” seungkwan flatly replies and sighs the loudest sigh hansol has ever heard.

hansol gives the shorter a light squeeze on the shoulder as unawkwardly as possible in attempt to console him. seungkwan flashes him a tight smile after closing the padlock and tugs at it, making sure it isn’t loose.

“so i guess this is it, then?” hansol says, biting his lower lip.

seungkwan rolls his eyes all way to the back of his head (hansol didn’t think it was possible). “don’t be so dramatic. this isn’t the last time we’re hearing from each other,” he says, handing the keys to hansol. “there’s such thing as the internet remember?”

“right, right,” hansol mumbles, but he knows virtual interaction isn't entirely the same as talking to the person in flesh and bone.

seungkwan looks up at the rain with a wistful look on his face (hansol wonders why). “gotta get going,” he announces, turning his head towards hansol again. with the corners of his lips tugged slightly upwards into a smile and says, “see ya when i see ya.”

“bye,” hansol replies, lifting his hand to give seungkwan a pathetic wave.

seungkwan turns on his heel and walks on the path that takes him to the bus stop. hansol walks the other way so that he could return to his life that is as monotonous as it is uninteresting. his heart feels heavy for some reason, and it’s a ridiculous feeling. he knows he’ll visit the cafe more often than he used to before this summer, but it wouldn’t be the same as spending an entirety of a day in the quaint ambience of the cafe and its employees making somewhat decent coffee and scrubbing the countertop spotless.  

or maybe it’s because he’ll miss seungkwan.

right before the bend, hansol stops at his tracks to turn his head around. he sees seungkwan’s back as he’s trudging along the roadside, swinging his arms back and forth. to hansol’s surprise, seungkwan turns around and looks over his shoulders.

hansol gives him an enthusiastic wave, grinning widely. with his other hand, he curves it beside his mouth and shouts, “BYE, LOSER!” crazy loud.

seungkwan laughs (although hansol can’t hear it), not minding the stares they’re garnering from random by-passers. he waves back equally as frantic with both arms. “SO LONG, STUPID!” he shouts back before disappearing behind the building when he makes a turn.

hansol drops his arms to his side, his smile still lingering on his lips. he can't wait for next summer.

+++

a/n: thank you so much for reading until the end! leave a comment (they’ll be greatly appreciated) ❤️❤️❤️