Janghyun’s days are usually pretty predictable.  He goes to his classes in the morning, getting up way too early to discuss just what makes satire satire and rushing in between the too close time slots of his other classes.  

Work is at a small shop right outside campus, advertising breakfast all day.  Janghyun’s life is always the same, classes that try to subdue him to sleep and work that requires smiling for far too long.

Now, the shift right after the lunch hour rush, right before the night crowd, Janghyun straightens out the syrups for drinks, cleans the counter where their heat lamps keep waffles and pastries warm.  He carefully peels off the time stickers on their cans of whip cream, refilling them, printing out updated time stamps.

Work is not hard, Janghyun spends most of his time waiting for customers, checking that the batter for ready to make pancakes is not lumping together.  Days pass by without much excitement and Janghyun has become used to it.

The sound of outside foot traffic, beeping cars, seeps inside when the door opens.  Janghyun turns away from the small refrigerator, forgetting immediately the number of milk cartons they have.  He will have to restart his stock count.  He sighs quietly, forcing on his smile as he walks to the register.

“Welcome to Sunny Cake, what will you like today?” Janghyun utters the greeting without much thought, the words familiar, eyes bored.  

The guy across the counter offers him a smile, his cap low over his eyes.  He pushes it back, Janghyun takes notice of the glasses, the round eyes under them, dark brown and bright.

The guy’s eyes scan over the menu, hanging proudly behind Janghyun.

“I’ll take the sweetest thing here,” he says, smile breaking wide, leaning forward.

Janghyun takes a moment to go through their entire menu, unsure of what to say other than to suggest their sweetest stickiest pancake.

“That’ll be our glazed sticky bun pancake,” he says, fingers already punching in the order.

“I don’t think that’s the sweetest thing here,” the boy interrupts, Janghyun looks up, unsure of what to make of the way the wide smile turns a shade playful.

“Um,” he stalls, removing the order he had put in.

“It can’t be the sweetest when you’re here.”

Janghyun can feel the way his face begins to heat up, blush rushing to his cheeks.  The customer in front of him is looking at him waiting for a response.

Janghyun is not sure how to respond besides is this a dare? A joke?  The boy is is cute, attractive.  Now that Janghyun looks at him, taking in the soft curls sticking under the cap, the curve of his eyes, the rise of his narrow nose.  He’s boyishly pretty.

“Are you on the menu?” the customer asks, voice bright, eyes squinting with his pretty smile.

“I-” Janghyun swallows nervously, eyes sweeping over the empty shop, “no?”

“Ah,” the boy’s smile falls slightly.  

Why? Janghyun can’t help but think.

“I came here for something sweet,” the boy takes a step away from the counter, “I’ll just have a medium hot chocolate for now.  Maybe next time the menu will be up to my taste.”

Janghyun’s blush darkens, fingers typing in the order quickly.

“It’ll be 2.15,” Janghyun can’t do anything but ignore the flirtatious words.

“My name is Hyunkyu,” the boy says, “for the order.”  

His smile suggest that’s not the entire reason for supplying his name, but Janghyun writes the name down on the cup, taking the bill Hyunkyu passes him and giving him back some change.

The boy leaves without much of a fuss after he gets his drink, only supplying Janghyun with one last smile before stepping out of the shop.

-

He won't ever admit, how much he's thought of the boy from the cafe.  His smile had been pretty, devastatingly playful.  Someone as bright as that would never look at, settle for someone as dull as Janghyun.

Janghyun thinks of the voice that had delivered the pick up line, thinks of the way his lips were a shade of soft pink.  He takes up more of his thoughts than he would like.  When he wakes up and looks himself in the mirror and sees how lacking he is compared to this boy.

He gets ready for school, packs his uniform into his school bag and starts to walk into his first class, making sure he has his books.

-

“Hyung,” Hyunseok has followed him into the cafe, watching as Janghyun puts on his apron, clocking in.

“Hm?” he asks, ripping off the receipt printing his time in, jamming it into one of his pockets.

“Can I have something to eat?” Janghyun looks up, smiling at the closest the youngest will ever get to being cute.

Even so, his soft spot for the younger boy is enough for him to pull out a plate, “what do you want?”

Hyunseok’s eyes light up, small pout turning into a big smile.

“The chocolate croissant,” Hyunseok pauses, dipping his voice cutely, “please.”

Janghyun reaches for the parchment paper, carefully reaching into their refrigerated case for one of the showcased croissants.  

The chocolate croissants are bigger than average, stuffed with chocolate mousse and topped with chocolate ganache and powdered sugar.  It’s overly sweet and Janghyun always wonders how Hyunseok can find them enjoyable, always his choice of pastry.

“Thank you,” Hyunseok sing songs, shuffling to the table closest to the window just as the door opens.

Janghyun can already feel the way the blush starts to creep up his neck, watching as Hyunkyu steps up to the counter, wearing a white shirt and jeans.

Will he know, would it be obvious that he has been thinking about him, wondering bitterly if he's a joke, letting himself fantasize about the stranger actually having an interest in him?

“Hi, Hyunkyu smiles at him.

The weather outside is cloudy, the spring weather still uncertain, hot on some days, stormy on others.

The clouds are dark and threatened rain all day.  Janghyun notices Hyunkyu has no umbrella.

“What will you have today,” Janghyun asks quietly, hoping Hyunseok’s focus stays on pastries.

“Are you an option?” Hyunkyu asks, voice teasing.

This does nothing to squash down the feelings Janghyun has grown too quickly.  He feels silly, just how easy it is for him to fall as soon as someone shows interest.  He knows it can't be true, someone like this boy and someone like Janghyun.  It can't and won't happen.

“Anything realistic?” Janghyun tries to push past his blush, trying to get the conversation into something he can deal with.

Hyunkyu looks at him, surprised.

Janghyun hears the way thunder rolls far away, voice catching in his throat, waiting for an answer.

“I actually just came to look at you,” Hyunkyu starts again, “I needed a little bit of sunshine on this day.”

Janghyun blinks at that, past Hyunkyu’s shoulder he can see Hyunseok beginning to get up.

“Are you going to get anything?” he asks, trying to move the conversation along before Hyunseok catches onto what is going on.

Hyunkyu’s eyes wonder to look at the sounds Hyunseok makes with his movements before answering, “Ah, ok,” he looks at the menu again, smiling softly, “just a medium hot chocolate.”

-

“Who is that?” Hyunseok asks once the rain begins to fall heavily, Hyunkyu long gone, “you were really red when he was talking to you.”

Janghyun looks away from the rain outside, hoping his blush isn’t so obvious in the low light.

“He’s a customer, he always asks for things we don’t have,” Janghyun settles on his answer, “don’t worry about it.”

-

Janghyun has a day off from work.  His last class finishes five minutes early and Janghyun feels like his day will be alright.

He decides to make a stop to the pastry shop, thinking something sweet would make a good day better.

When he steps into the shop he sees Chandong working the counter, smiling prettily at the customer who is leaning close.

Even from the back Janghyun knows it’s Hyunkyu, the curling brown hair gives it away.

That makes sense.  Someone like Hyunkyu and Chandong, yeah that's probably what is really meant to happen.  He can't compete with boys like Chandong and he can't ever even begin to think about boys like Hyunkyu who glow and shine almost ethereally.  

“Janghyun,” Chandong calls as he looks up to see him, “this guy was asking about you.”

Hyunkyu turns to look at him, eyes curving with his smile.

“Hello, Janghyun,” Hyunkyu says, Janghyun realizes this is the first time Hyunkyu says his name, “do you want to drink something with me?”

He ends up sitting on a table near the windows, watching the clouds roll over the blue sky, turning it gray.

Hyunkyu sits across from him, holding on to his cup of hot chocolate.

“So my friend says maybe I have been coming off too strong,” Hyunkyu breaks the silence, “or that maybe you aren’t really interested,” Hyunkyu takes a sip of his drink, careful not to burn his tongue, “if you don’t like boys...I’m really sorry.  Even if you’re cute I should have been less...well me.”

Janghyun listens to this, his cheeks undoubtedly turning red.

“You think I’m cute?” Janghyun asks quietly.

Hyunkyu looks at him for a moment, small smile showing, “Isn’t it obvious?”

Janghyun lets that settle before he speaks again, “I thought it was a joke.”

“It can’t be a joke, not with how much I really like you.”

Janghyun watches in awe as a soft blush rises to Hyunkyu's cheeks, it fades into his golden skin and it's so fascinating it catches Janghyun off guard.  

"You like me?" he asks after a minute of silence, aware of the fact that Chandong could be watching.

"I saw you from outside and I had to talk to you," Hyunkyu confesses quietly, "then I realized maybe you were with that other tall guy...I was going to ask the new guy if you two were together before you walked in..."

"Hyunseok?" Janghyun lets out a small laugh, "he's just a friend."

Hyunkyu shrugs at that, his eyes falling shyly.

All his thoughts, all the wondering about Hyunkyu start to revolve around this new side of the boy who had so brazenly spoken to him.  In a rush of confidence Janghyun finds himself asking,

"Do you want to go out with me?"