The first time that Heeyeon goes to the coffee shop where Junghwa works, she’s running around half blind because she broke her glasses again and she has half a cream cheese bagel stuffed into and probably looks utterly deranged.

Luckily, she manages to find an old pair of glasses tucked into a compartment of her bag and she jams them on triumphantly. The prescription is lower than her current one, but it’s worlds better than barely being able to make her way around.

The first thing that she sees is that the barista is gorgeous. She has an innocent face and long hair dyed a bright shade of pink that shouldn’t work but somehow does.

“Hi,” she says brightly. “What can I get you?”

Heeyeon squints at the name tag pinned to the front of her shirt and realizes belatedly that it probably looks like she’s trying to check out her s. “Jeonhwa?”

“Junghwa, actually, and that’s not an order?”

Heeyeon is mortified; her face probably matches Junghwa’s hair, but Junghwa is smiling and doesn’t look offended.

“Do you want a recommendation?”

“Sure,” Heeyeon says, latching onto the question even though she usually gets the same order at coffee shops: a latte with an extra espresso shot.

“Our pumpkin spice latte is perfect for the fall weather,” Junghwa chirps, “but if you don’t like pumpkin, we also make a great caramel macchiato.”

“I’ll get that.”

“The caramel macchiato?”

“Yeah,” she says, barely taking in the words. If Junghwa offered her dishwater, she’d probably drink it. “That.”

“Do you want anything to eat with that?”

“Uh.” Heeyeon glances at the half-eaten bagel in her hand, and then at Junghwa. “Do you have anything to recommend?”

“Our banana bread is baked fresh every morning. Our brownies are also really good. Or do you feel like something savoury?”

“I’ll have anything you’re offering,” Heeyeon blurts out.

She worries instantly that she sounds like a sleaze, but Junghwa just laughs again. “Both then?” she says, and Heeyeon is reduced to dumbly nodding.

“That’ll be $7.28,” Junghwa says, and Heeyeon hands her a ten. As Junghwa is counting out her change, her tongue peeks out of and Heeyeon finds herself staring at her. “Here’s your change, your order will be ready soon.”

Heeyeon accepts the handful of coins Junghwa hands her, counting them without meaning to. “You gave me too much,” she says, handing a dime back to Junghwa.

“Oh. Thank you.” Junghwa drops the coin back into the register. “Wow, you count money much faster than I do.”

Heeyeon gives an embarrassed laugh. “It’s just force of habit.”

While Junghwa turns away to make her coffee, Heeyeon slips the rest of her spare change into the tips jar, which is actually just an empty coffee cup with a post-it note on it that says “PLEASE FEED ME SOME CHANGE :( I’M HUNGRY.” She wonders if Junghwa wrote the note.

Heeyeon takes some napkins and wipes away the cream cheese from her fingers. If she were at home or even at a friend’s house, she would just them clean but she doesn’t want to seem like more of a slob in front of Junghwa.

“Your coffee and food are ready,” Junghwa says cheerfully, sliding over a steaming mug and a plate with a slice of banana bread and a brownie with what looks like crushed pecans on top. “Oh sorry, I didn’t ask if you wanted it for here or to go.”

“It’s okay, I’ll just have it here,” Heeyeon says, even though she had been planning on grabbing a cup of coffee on her way out.

“Okay, just let me know if you want me to pack it up for you.”

“Thank you,” Heeyeon says, smiling at the latte art of what’s probably supposed to be a heart but is decidedly lopsided.

“Sorry about that,” Junghwa says sheepishly. “I’m really new at this and I’m not very good.”

“It’s okay. I’m sure I can’t do any better.”

“I hope you like the flavour. And the food too.”

“I’m sure I will,” Heeyeon says. “Thanks again.”

“No problem! Have a nice day,” Junghwa says, before turning to the next customer with a smile.

Heeyeon wonders if she’s deluding herself when she thinks that this smile isn’t quite as bright as the one she gave Heeyeon.

“I’m so lame,” Heeyeon groans, grabbing two fistfuls of her hair. “And embarrassing. And awkward.”

“Not that I disagree with any of those things, but what happened?” Hyojin asks as she takes a seat on the couch next to Heeyeon.

“Unnie, you’re supposed to make me feel better, not worse.”

Hyojin waves that off. “What happened?” she repeats. “Did you break another pair of glasses again?”

“No – well, yes, but that’s not the point.”

“You can probably keep your optometrist open just by yourself.”

“I’m a loyal customer,” Heeyeon says. “Anyway, so I ended up trying this new coffee shop I passed and I met the cutest girl.”

“That’s all?” Hyojin sounds bored as she examines her nails like they’re more interesting than Heeyeon.

“What do you mean that’s all?” Heeyeon says indignantly.

“You think every other girl you run across is cute. Like your optometrist’s daughter—”

“Taeyeon unnie was really helpful to me!”

“And that freshman I tutored once—”

“Arin had a great attitude towards learning!”

“My point is,” Hyojin emphasizes. “It’s not exactly a rare occurrence that you saw quote unquote the cutest girl. She’ll probably be demoted by some girl you meet next week.”

“No, she really is cute,” Heeyeon says insistently. “Plus, she was really nice to me even though it seemed like I was checking her out.”

“You mean, you weren’t checking her out?”

“Well…” Heeyeon busies herself with a loose thread hanging from her sleeve.

Hyojin rolls her eyes. “Is she the reason why you bought those pastries in the fridge?”

“No,” Heeyeon lies. “I was just hungry, that’s all.”

“So hungry you didn’t eat them? Plus, I thought you don’t like banana bread.”

Heeyeon is hardly going to say that she was too distracted by Junghwa to notice minor details like the food she was buying from her.

“Anyway, if you don’t want it, I’ll give it to Solji unnie. She loves banana bread.”

“Aww unnie,” Heeyeon croons, seizing her chance. “You and Solji unnie are so cute. When are you going to get married?”

Hyojin flicks her on the forehead. “Watch your tone, brat. We’re not dating.”

“Uh huh,” Heeyeon says, supremely unconvinced. “You just act like an old married couple. Hey, when you do get married I want to be invi—”

Hyojin tackles her and sends her sprawling. Heeyeon still tries to get in some teasing, and Hyojin tries to smother her with a cushion.

There’s an ominous cracking sound, and they both freeze. Great, there goes her last pair of glasses.

“You’re back,” Junghwa says brightly.

Heeyeon smooths back her hair. She looks much more presentable today, as she isn’t eating anything and is wearing her new pair of glasses. “You remember me?”

“Of course,” Junghwa says. “Not a lot of people come here, and even less buy three things at once.”

“Ah, I think I’m only going to get one thing this time. A latte, with an extra espresso shot.”

Junghwa pouts. “Does that mean you didn’t like the food last time?”

“No! No, I loved it. Well, I gave the banana bread to my friend because she loves banana bread but I had the brownie and it was really good. Really moist, I like my brownies moist.” Heeyeon is fully aware that she’s blabbering, but she can’t seem to control around Junghwa.

“I like moist brownies too,” Junghwa says, and oh god, has the word ‘moist’ always sounded so appealing? “It’s the worst when they’re dry.”

“Dry brownies are terrible,” Heeyeon agrees.

“Are you sure I can’t tempt you into a brownie today?” Junghwa asks with a head tilt and a sweet smile.

Heeyeon’s mind blanks out, which is a blessing because otherwise she might have said something like “you can tempt me into anything” or “I’m tempted already.”

“We also have blondies if you prefer those,” Junghwa adds.

“Do you have a pinkie?” Heeyeon blurts out, her brain to mouth filter breaking down again, if she even has one.

“A pinkie?” Junghwa repeats. “No I don’t, unless you mean the finger.” She holds out her hand and wiggles her pinky finger uncertainly. God, she’s so cute.

“Ah, never mind,” Heeyeon says hurriedly. “I don’t really feel like anything too sweet right now. I’ll have—maybe a muffin?”

“The fruit explosion one isn’t too sweet. Or maybe the lemon poppyseed? We also have a pumpkin spice one right now.”

Heeyeon chuckles. “You really like pumpkin spice, don’t you?”

“It reminds me of fall,” Junghwa says earnestly. “I like that.”

Heeyeon only realizes how long they’ve been talking when the customer behinds her, a middle-aged man holding a newspaper, clears his throat pointedly.

“I’ll try the pumpkin spice latte with the fruit explosion muffin then.”

“Coming right up!” Junghwa says. “I’ll be right with you, sir,” she says politely to the man, who grunts and turns to his newspaper, and then she winks at Heeyeon, like they’re sharing a secret.

Heeyeon’s heart thumps embarrassingly loudly. She feels it all the way in her fingertips and hopes that Junghwa can’t hear it.

“Your latte and muffin are ready!”

Her pumpkin spice latte has a fairly well-drawn foam clover on top. At least Heeyeon thinks it’s a clover; it has five leaves.

“This looks really nice,” Heeyeon says sincerely.

“Thanks! I’ve been working hard on my latte art,” Junghwa says proudly.

“I can tell. You’ve improved a lot.”

“Thank you,” Junghwa says, before hesitating.

“What is it?” Heeyeon asks, picking up on her lapse.

“Well, you know my name but I don’t know yours.”

“It’s Heeyeon. Ahn Heeyeon.”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Park Junghwa.” She holds out her hand, and Heeyeon shakes it. Junghwa’s nails are painted a pink a few shades lighter than her hair. “Are you in university?” she asks, eyes wandering to Heeyeon’s backpack.

“Yeah, I’m working towards my Master’s.”

Junghwa’s eyes widen. “Wow, I’m just in second year and I’m more than ready to be done with school.”

Heeyeon chuckles. “I know the feeling.”

“I guess that means you’re older than me?” Junghwa gives Heeyeon a smile that almost makes her drop her muffin. “I hope to see you around more, Heeyeon unnie.”

For the rest of the day, Heeyeon carries around the sound of Junghwa calling her “Heeyeon unnie” inside her, like an espresso shot, a warm breeze, something to lift her spirits and propel her through the tedious minutiae of a long day.

She wants to see more of Junghwa too.

A/N: I just got into EXID like, three days ago. It's been quite a ride. (You could say that I've gone up and down. *ba dum tss*.) I'm filled with such affection for them!! Please come scream about them with me. And don't forget to stream DDD!

ETA: I did want to finish this but it's been almost 2 years and I've had no inspiration so I've decided to mark it as complete. I think it can stand as a oneshot.