+++ A Tasse Up Intermission +++

A few months ago...

“And I’m sick of you college dropout hipster wannabe pothead fagg*ts not knowing the difference between a goddamn latte and a cappuccino!”

“... Sir, I’m going to need you to calm down-”

“HOW’S THIS FOR CALM?!” he screamed as he threw his drink at Moonbyul.

The cafe went silent. They all heard it. Louder than the customer’s shrill cry was the pop of the cup’s lid as it connected with Moonbyul’s shoulder, and the splash as she was drenched in 175 degree milk and espresso.

Hyejin was over the counter in an instant, grabbing at the customer’s shirt. “That’s assault, my friend! I dare you to say all of that again when the cops get here, then we can call it a hate crime, too!”

“Get off me you !”

Hyejin pulled him down to her eye level with a vice-like grip on his blazer. “Go on. Give me a reason.”

“Let him go,” Yongsun said sternly from behind the bar, already on the phone. Hyejin released him with a forceful push, though she continued to give him a leveling glare.

“Wheein.” Wheein popped her head up from where she had been helping Moonbyul towel off. She gave the blue-haired barista’s shoulder a squeeze and stepped over to Yongsun. “See if you can get his license plate number,” she growled, though Wheein could see that her hands were shaking.

The man stormed out of the store, not quite so mouthy with Yongsun on the phone with the police and Hyejin cracking her knuckles. Wheein watched obediently and memorized which car he got into and the plate number before he drove off.

The rest of the afternoon was spent giving statements to the police, and playing phone tag with Heechul, as if their daily shifts in the store weren’t already packed with enough activity.

“The one time I get invited to go to the Cape,” he was saying to Yongsun over the phone.

“I know, I’m sorry,” she said, emotionally exhausted. “We’re trying to handle it, really. You don’t have to come back.”

“It’s not exactly the season, and besides, I can tell you’re shaken up from all the way over here.” Heechul’s rare compassionate tone nearly brought Yongsun to tears. “I’ll be there in a few hours if you want to stick around until I get back.”

“Okay, I’ll wait,” she said quietly, watching Moonbyul sitting at the desk, tenderly touching her brow where she had been scalded.

“How is Moonbyul?” Heechul asked.

“She’s quiet.” Moonbyul’s gaze flicked over to Yongsun, sensing they were talking about her.

“Alright. Well, why don’t you stay on the clock, then, and keep her company,” he suggested.

Yongsun had already been planning on doing that very thing, but she felt comforted knowing it was being sanctioned. “Alright.”

“You did good, today. I’ll see you guys in a bit,” he finished.

Yongsun hung up, feeling a little better after such a nerve-wracking day. She walked over to Moonbyul and took her hands away from her face. “Stop touching it.”

Moonbyul looked up at her sullenly. “It hurts.”

“I know, but the oils from your hands will make it worse.”

Leave it to ex-camp counselor Yongsun to know how to treat a burn, Moonbyul thought. Yongsun went to the first aid kit and retrieved the burn gel. She knelt in front of Moonbyul and began delicately applying it to the more obviously injured parts of her face.

“Anywhere else?” she asked as she examined Moonbyul’s face. “...Byuli?”

“U-uh, here, I can do it,” the blue-haired barista stammered, standing suddenly and taking the gel over to the mirror above the back room’s handsink. Yongsun watched her silently. The burns weren’t bad, thankfully, but Yongsun suspected there was more to Moonbyul’s pain than just being scalded.

“Are you okay?”

“My face is numb, now,” Moonbyul said, discarding the rest of the gel packet.

Yongsun smirked. “That means it’s working.”

“Here, poke it.”

“I’m not going to poke it.”

“Come on, just touch it, I can’t feel it!”

“I’m not touching anything, get away from me!”

Moonbyul chased her around the back room, and Yongsun screamed, smacking at her until she retreated.

Wheein stuck her head in the doorway. “Do I need to call the police again?”

“Wheein! Come here and poke my cheek!”

Wheein raised an eyebrow and looked between them. “I… should go check on Hyejin. I’ll clock out on the register…” She ducked back into the cafe to leave the two older baristas to their antics. She was secretly very pleased to see that they were already back to themselves, even if they were being gross.

It only took an hour for Moonbyul to get bored of waiting around for Heechul. She shuffled up to Yongsun with a pout.

“I’m injured. Take me to dinner.”

Yongsun squinted up at her incredulously. She pulled out the earbuds she had been wearing. “Who do I look like, your mother?”

Moonbyul whined and stomped her foot.

Yongsun made a big show of rolling her eyes and stood up. “Fine, just stop that. What do you want?”

“If we go to the grocer next door can I pick out whatever I want?”

“What are you, 8?”

“Don’t tease me, I’m injured.”

Yongsun closed her eyes and counted to ten. “No booze.”

“No booze,” Moonbyul promised with a sly grin. She took Yongsun by the wrist and led her out of the store. Hyejin and the incoming night crew didn’t even raise their eyes as the two left.

Even though she was being pulled roughly into the parking lot, Yongsun couldn’t help a small smile. It was hard to show it when Moonbyul was being so annoying, but she really had been worried about the girl being attacked for making a drink incorrectly. It wasn’t uncommon to receive varying degrees of verbal abuse from customers suffering from caffeine withdrawal, but this had been the first incident in her recollection where a customer had actually physically attacked a barista. And for it to be a barista on her team was frankly unacceptable. She had almost allowed Hyejin to have her way with the man. Hell, she had almost joined her, but Yongsun knew that she’d have just gotten the two of them fired if she hadn’t called the girl off.

She hoped the police would actually do their jobs, though she knew a minor assault charge wouldn’t warrant enough punishment to wipe away the embarrassment of being treated like an animal.

Moonbyul walked quickly across the parking lot from their store to the gourmet grocer. Yongsun groaned internally, hoping Moonbyul would stick to the deli and not get anything too far outside the paycheck of a floor manager.

“No truffle oil.”

“I can’t hear you over the pain of my burning skin.”

“NO TRUFFLE OIL.” Yongsun iterated loudly, not buying into the blue-haired barista’s act.

Moonbyul winced as she snickered, rubbing her ear. “Okay, okay. I just want some chicken.”

She led them into the store and straight to the deli. Clearly she had done this before, as she picked up a to-go box and began filling it with various items: pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes - “they’re garlic!” - collard greens, a breadstick. She turned to Yongsun.

“Do you want to share or will you make your own?”

The pink-haired barista shook her head. “I’ll just share,” she said. “After all, I’m paying for it.”

Moonbyul gave her another sly smile and threw on an extra piece of chicken. “Okay, drinks!”

“No beer.”

“I know!” There’d be plenty of time for that after Heechul checked up on them and let them leave.

They grabbed some cans of coke and paid. As they were leaving the store, Moonbyul grabbed Yongsun’s arm, almost making her drop her soda.

“We didn’t get anything for Hyejin.”

“I’m not buying dinner for everyone!”

Moonbyul laughed. “You’re right, I’m the one who owes her for sticking up for me like that.”

Yongsun frowned. Moonbyul didn’t owe anyone anything. “We’re a team. It’s what we do.”

Moonbyul gave her a sideways glance. “Oh? It’s because we’re a team?”

Yongsun colored slightly. “Of course. Why else?” She was getting the feeling Moonbyul wasn’t talking about Hyejin anymore.

Moonbyul stayed silent as they reentered their store and headed to the stockroom.

“-Hey I smell chiCKEN!” Hyejin called after them accusingly. The door to the back room swung shut in their wake.

Even while eating Moonbyul seemed to have boundless energy to annoy Yongsun, but the pink-haired barista kept trying to find a moment to have a serious conversation with the girl.

“No, I’m full,” she protested as Moonbyul waved the breadstick in her face.

“Just a bite?”

“Nooooooo!” she gesticulated, almost knocking the breadstick out of her hand.

“Fine,” Moonbyul said putting it back in the box and closing it up. “Thanks for dinner, by the way.”

Yongsun shoved her. “Stop. I only did it because I felt sorry for you.”

Moonbyul smirked, but said nothing.

Yongsun took the intervening moment of silence as her cue. “How are you feeling?”

Moonbyul shrugged with a small frown, then she willed herself into a cheeky expression. “My face isn’t numb anymore, but I’m fine.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Yongsun intoned, not letting the blue-haired barista get away that easily.

Moonbyul let the act drop. “I’m alright. I think my pride is hurt more than my face.”

Yongsun nodded, having suspected as much. “You didn’t make the drink wrong.”

“I know I didn’t make the drink wrong,” Moonbyul spat, suddenly - finally - feeling the rage at what happened. “It was marked wrong!”

Yongsun nodded again and put a hand on her shoulder placatingly. “It’s no one’s fault. It would have been such an easy thing to fix. You can’t help what kind of mood someone’s going to walk into the store with.”

Moonbyul clicked her tongue. “A violent mood? I’d hate to think how many of our other customers walk into our store a latte short of scalding me.”

Yongsun sighed resignedly. “It comes with the business. All we can do is hope he gets a misdemeanor that he’ll have to explain on every job application for the rest of his life.”

Moonbyul had to admit there was some small satisfaction in that, but she still had to go back into the cafe tomorrow and face all those customers again who saw her get doused. She just thanked whatever beverage god watched over them that she hadn’t cried. Yongsun took her hand and gave it a squeeze, seeing the stormy look on her face.

“How’s the invalid?” Heechul asked as he peeked his head through the door. He had a grocery bag in either hand as he came into the back room.

Yongsun dropped Moonbyul’s hand and they scooted a little ways apart.

Heechul rolled his eyes. “Oh, please, you guys. As if I didn’t already know.” He set the bags on the desk and started rummaging through them. When he heard silence, he turned around and saw them both staring at him in wide-eyed confusion. “What?”

“Already know?”

“Already know what?” they asked nearly in unison.

Heechul blinked at them. “Already know that… you know. About you two. I’ve known for years,” he explained, as he turned back around.

Yongsun sputtered, “What about us?” She looked at Moonbyul with mild alarm.

Heechul paused again and looked at them. “You’re a thing, right? An item?”

Blank stares.

“... You’re dating.”

“WHAT?!” Yongsun practically shrieked as Moonbyul turned a shade of red brighter than when she had been soaked in cappuccino.

Heechul covered his ears. “What do you mean 'what'? Are you both really going to sit there and tell me you’re not dating?”

Yongsun squinted up at him like he was speaking another language.

“Look!” Heechul gestured at them both. “You even dyed your hair matching colors!” He didn’t bother to point out how dying one’s hair an unnatural shade was against company policy.

Moonbyul tugged at her ponytail. “But mine’s blue?”

“And I’m pink,” Yongsun added, pointing at herself.

Heechul’s eyes were shaking. “And together they make violet. They match; they’re triadic! ... Never mind. It's a thing, trust me.” The girls continued to look at him and each other with confused expressions. “Listen, what I’m saying is IT’S FINE.”

“But we’re not-”

Heechul held up a finger demanding silence. “It’s fine because I’ve been thinking, Yongsun.” She fell silent at being addressed. “I’ve been thinking this for a while, and talking to the other managers. The way you acted today confirms how I’ve been feeling. If you want it, I’m going to recommend you for the store manager training program.”

Yongsun jumped out of her seat and clapped her hands. “Really? When?” She started doing a little dance.

Moonbyul was delayed in scrambling up to join her. “You did it! Store Manager Yongsun!”

They joined hands and jumped up and down chanting “Store Manager Yongsun! Store Manager Yongsun” together while Heechul seriously reconsidered what he had just said.

“Okay, okay. OKAY!” he raised his voice to get them to calm down. “Don’t make me regret this. You’re going to go to the Drivethru store for your training. I’m not sure what store they’ll put you in after that.”

“Do they need a barista?” Moonbyul asked, waggling her eyebrows before wincing in pain.

“Not a chance. With Yongsun gone, I’ll need a new floor manager to replace her,” he said with a pointed look. “Besides, with whatever… this is,” he said gesturing between them, “it’s better if you two don’t work in the same store.”

The two girls looked at each other in muted shyness. Whatever this was, indeed.

Heechul clapped his hands startling them both. “Okay, well now that I’ve said what I wanted to say, I brought snacks for my good girls.” He turned back around to his bags and started fishing out the treats he had bought.

“Snacks?” Hyejin asked from the doorway. The other members of the night crew were gathered behind her.

Heechul rolled his eyes again. “Yes, snacks, come on in and help yourselves,” he muttered as he walked into the cafe to cover for them. He watched them through the stockroom door window for a moment, seeing Yongsun with her arm around Moonbyul’s shoulders while the latter had her arm around the former’s waist. They were excitedly talking to their other team members, presumably telling them the news.

He shook his head and idly walked over to the espresso machine. He deftly snatched up a demitasse from the rack where their ceramic cups were kept and drew a couple of espresso shots. He leaned back against the counter as he brought the tiny cup up to his nose to smell the acrid aroma. This job wasn’t for everyone, and truly there were few people who applied for it knowing what they were in store for. But it was always satisfying to see his crew treat this place like a home and watch them take care of each other.

It was nice to know that every once in a while he seemed to get it right.

((a/n This is also a true story, as with all of the major events that have taken place in Tasse Up, but this did not happen at my store.))