Junmyeon’s pride and joy in this life was his baby. And by baby he meant his café. The Flying Cups Café. Even just saying its name gave him the shivers. It was everything he could have ever wished for. Its cheesy 50s themed interior, that Junmyeon actually didn’t really relate to but still loved, and the great selection of homemade pastries and beverages. He even loved all of his employees. It was just one thing he didn’t like. Said employees’ powers.

It was said that roughly 0,01% of Earth’s population was born with so-called superpowers. Powers who could make you do otherworldly stuff. Like fly, or shoot laser beams from your eyes, give people frizzy hair,  bake delicious cakes… Junmyeon’s biggest fear in life was that anyone would accuse him for cheating against competitors by hiring a super chef. This fear would be ridiculous if all his employees were absolutely normal (DNA wise) but even with the odds being extremely low with 0,01% of Earth’s population Junmyeon had somehow managed to only hire super people. Anyone else would probably praise the Gods for this luck and would use it to promote their shop or café but Junmyeon just wanted to be known for his delicious, homemade pecan pie instead of his hot staff wearing spandex in their free time. And although he was quite sure that none of their customers had noticed their powers yet he had to make sure that it would be kept a secret forever. This is why he was now standing in front of his two cashiers, 20 minutes before opening, telling them his reasons for staying normal during work hours.

“So whatever you guys do don't let any of our customers know we have powers.” Junmyeon said as Jongin and Sehun nodded at him. He was just about to conclude the whole thing with a tiny threat when a loud explosion from the kitchen interrupted his thoughts.

“What the hell?” Jongin exclaimed as the door to the kitchen was thrown open and Chanyeol stumbled out, hair and eyebrows aflame and his eyes glowing orange.

“Call Yixing!” He shouted before sinking down on the chair that Baekhyun had sneaked behind counters so he could sit down while making espressos. Said guy had just walked into the main area of the coffee shop when Chanyeol made his dramatic entrance and was already on the phone with Yixing, having him on speed dial for situations like this.

“What happened?” Junmyeon asked trying not to sound too panicky. The explosion had been loud, he was just hoping that his kitchen had survived it all. It was supposed to be Chanyeol-proof but you never know. Chanyeol’s hair and eyebrows were no longer on fire and if it weren’t for the still glowing eyes he would look like any other guy, albeit a bit sooty.

“I think I just killed Tao.” He said, eyes wide and hands slightly shaking.

However, before all hell could break loose the kitchen door opened once again and this time Tao stumbled out, thankfully not dead.

“I’m alive, I’m okay.” He reassured everyone as he put out the tiny fire that was burning on top of his shoulder.

Everyone was completely quiet as they looked at the smoking guy in front of them until Baekhyun couldn’t contain it any longer and started laughing.

“Your eyebrows are gone!”

~ * ~

It was evident that no one had read the email Junmyeon had sent out the previous day about the usage of super powers in the café. This meant that he now had to explain to all of his employees why he had made these rules and why they should follow them. He hoped that his vague threat scared them enough to not break his rules but one look at Baekhyun and he wasn’t too sure. Baekhyun looked far too smug to be considered threaten so Junmyeon guessed that he’d have to call Jongdae soon so that he would have time to prepare himself for giving out punishments. It wouldn’t be pretty but it would be for everyone’s best. At least Junmyeon hoped so.

Junmyeon just wished that Kyungsoo and Luhan had read the email since they had different work hours and Junmyeon didn’t know if he’d meet them today so he could explain everything. The only two guys he could count on to follow the rules weren’t there. Just his luck.

~ * ~

“Want to make things interesting?” Baekhyun said as he casually leaned against the fridge. Chanyeol finished putting frosting on the last cupcake before he turned towards the other.

“What do you mean?” He asked, glancing nervously towards the door. If Baekhyun meant what Chanyeol thought he meant he would hate for anyone to walk in and destroy it all before they could even begin. Tao was with Yixing and he shouldn’t be back for at least another ten minutes but you never knew when Jongin would get a craving for cake and come in and beg for a taste.

“Well, you know these new rules Junmyeon just introduced?” Baekhyun continued, still being too vague for Chanyeol’s liking.

“Yes, what about them?”

“Want to make a bet?” Chanyeol stood back and waited for Baekhyun to continue because they both knew the answer to that question. The day Chanyeol said no to a wager would be the day kittens took over the world with the usage of nuclear weapons. “Want to see who can get the most people caught for using their powers under the span of this week?”

“What does the winner get?” Chanyeol already knew he would agree anyways but the better the prize the more he would actually fight for it.

“The loser has to clean up everything after the other every workday for a month as well as greet the winner every morning with a steaming cup of coffee.” Baekhyun answered with a smirk like he already knew that he was going to win. Chanyeol guessed that Baekhyun must’ve had the prize thought out from long before because it had literally been only 20 minutes since Junmyeon had told them his rules. Or he was just super efficient. The prizes sounded very nice thought. Especially for Chanyeol since his station in the kitchen could get pretty messy after a long day with too little coffee in his system.

“Deal.” Chanyeol said and reached out his right hand towards the other. Just as Baekhyun took it the door swung open and Tao walked in, beanie pulled down over his non-existent eyebrows and a Hello Kitty band-aid on his right cheek.

“What are you guys doing?” He asked but instead of answering Baekhyun just walked past him, lightly his cheek before walking out the door to join his fellow baristas. Chanyeol only shrugged at Tao’s confused look before he turned around to continue with the blueberry pie he was supposed to have made yesterday.

~ * ~

Exiting the kitchen, Baekhyun threw on his apron before lightly pushing Jongin aside from the coffee machine so he could make himself an espresso before the morning rush started. The smell of coffee filled the small café eliciting a small moan from Sehun who was eyeing the cup hungrily. Baekhyun hugged the cup closer to himself (Sehun would have to make his own damn coffee) before taking a small sip of the burning hot coffee. With that tiny sip Baekhyun could feel his brain waking up and start with the task that was now in front of him. He needed a plan. He couldn’t let Chanyeol win this bet.

The worst thing about being a barista was not the angry and stressed customers or Jongin’s horrible jokes, it was the clean up at the end of the day. Baekhyun always kept everything clean during work hours (think of the customers!) but somehow the two youngest in the team, also known as Baekhyun’s fellow baristas Jongin and Sehun, always managed to everything up right before closing to then disappear so that Baekhyun had to clean it all up himself. Oh, how he hated that the two of them were carpooling together. That is if you can call joining your friend while he teleports carpooling. Anyway, Baekhyun really needed to win this bet so that Chanyeol would have to do double the cleaning.

And therefore Baekhyun needed a plan. Seeing as their bet only included quantity and not quality he would have to take out the easiest ones as soon as possible. He needed to get to them before Chanyeol. So an order was the first thing he needed. Taking another sip of his espresso he took out the small notebook he kept in his apron and opened it to a blank sheet of paper. On top of the page he wrote Catch ‘em all and then he proceeded to write his list.

The first name was a given:

• Tao

The amount of times that Tao had accidentally frozen time was unreal so the only thing Baekhyun had to do was to make sure that Junmyeon was in the room when it happened again.

The next person was a bit harder. Baekhyun knew the pair to come next but he didn’t know in which order seemed smarter. Jongin… or Sehun? Baekhyun looked at the pair who were currently fighting over the single croissant that Chanyeol had blessed them with. Or they were playing with it. Baekhyun wasn’t to sure. Either way it seemed like Jongin was winning so Baekhyun guessed that Sehun would get the honors to be the second name one the list.

• Tao

• Sehun

• Jongin

Junmyeon would definitely be the hardest to expose. So he would have to be last. Chanyeol would certainly be on his guard and therefore harder to get than usual but Baekhyun was still fairly certain that Kyungsoo would be more difficult to catch using his powers than the other. Luhan, however, would probably be easier than Chanyeol now, with the other having his senses heightened. So Baekhyun’s list was now complete, with the exception of Yixing, their personal doctor. You could usually see him wandering around the café but never had Baekhyun seen him using his powers if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. And he didn’t exactly want to injure someone just for him to get a point over Chanyeol. So Yixing would unfortunately not make the list at all.

• Tao

• Sehun

• Jongin

• Luhan

• Chanyeol

• Kyungsoo

• Junmyeon

Tao would be the first victim, and Baekhyun already had a plan figured out for that one. However that would have to wait until later since the first customer had arrived and Baekhyun had to focus on making the most perfect hot chocolate for her. He couldn’t mess it up, his chocolate pride was on the line.

~ * ~

Chanyeol needed a plan. Chanyeol had a plan. Chanyeol had two plans if you included the plan on how to make the buttercream for the cupcakes to have the perfect sweetness to it. But right now Chanyeol was thinking about the plan on how to win the bet against Baekhyun (although he would have to think about the other plan soon since the pistachio and marzipan cupcakes soon were cool enough to ice and decorate). Chanyeol’s plan was simple. Win against Baekhyun by making sure that Baekhyun’s plan doesn’t work out. The two of them had been friends for a solid 11 years by now, and Chanyeol could safely say that he knew Baekhyun like the back of his hand. Chanyeol was sure that the other had made a to-do-list that he would follow from top to bottom, thinking way too much about what was the logical order in terms of easiness. So if Chanyeol just managed to take out the easiest target, that would be Baekhyun’s first target as well, he would send the other into panic and he would then most probably try to take out the harder ones instead while Chanyeol could eliminate the rest of the easy ones as well as stealing the harder ones right from underneath Baekhyun’s nose. So, get the first target, and everything else would fall into place.

He glanced over at Tao who was decorating the frog cakes, meticulously cutting out tiny, golden crowns out of fondant. Tao was definitely the easiest target out of all of them and Chanyeol had an upper hand since the two of them worked together in the kitchen. He would surely win this bet. It would be easy.

~ * ~

Junmyeon put down his phone with a sigh. It hadn’t even gone two hours since his announcement and now he had already gotten a text message from Chanyeol only consisting of “SOS”. He just hoped it wasn’t another explosion because Yixing didn’t look like he had any energy left to save anyone judging from how he was asleep in Junmyeon’s ugly couch, half-eaten cupcake in his hand.

Walking out from his office and down the stairs to the coffee shop Junmyeon really wished that no explosion had occurred. As it was still before noon the café was quite empty, most customers ordering to-go on their way to their job or school. The only person there, excluding the couple currently ordering their drinks, was one of their regulars. He arrived almost every day and Junmyeon recognised him easily amongst all of their customers. Not because he was tall (and handsome) and had a very questionable fashion sense (weird hats seemed to be his thing) but because of the pets he always brought with him. More specific, lizards. Lizards with wings. Junmyeon had to give it to him, they really looked like dragons. The guy’s craftsmanship was superb. Today the lizard had the colour of charcoal and was sleeping soundly on the shoulder of his owner. Junmyeon noticed that it didn’t have any sort of leash or collar so the man must really trust the animal.

Seeing how everything was working just as usual Junmyeon happily noted that no explosion could’ve happened. Which meant that Chanyeol’s message couldn’t be that worrisome, hopefully. Walking past the lizard man towards the kitchen they exchanged “Good morning”s and Junmyeon noted how, as usual, the man had a sketchbook with him lying on the table beside his coffee.  He had never been able to see the contents of this sketchbook but one day he hoped he would be able to. To say the least, this stranger intrigued Junmyeon.

However, today was not the day to ask the stranger about his artwork, he had other matters at hand. Even if it wasn’t an explosion this time, everything and anything could happen with Chanyeol in the kitchen, as Tao’s eyebrows knew very well by now.

“How’s everything going?” Junmyeon asked upon entering the kitchen.

Before anyone could answer a loud curse was emitted from Tao from where he was standing decorating cupcakes, one sad cupcake crushed by the evil spatula that had escaped Tao’s grip. Except, wait. No cupcake was ruined. All of them looked perfect and the spatula was lying in the sink now.

“Tao…” Junmyeon sighed and Tao visibly tensed, slowly turning around with a fake smile on his face.

“Well hello there, boss.” He said, smile still in place. “What a pleasure seeing you here! If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been here?”

“Since before you turned back time.” Junmyeon answered shortly, crossing his arms and glancing to the clock on the wall before locking eyes with Tao again. 1 hour 58 minutes was apparently how long his staff could go without using powers. Not even two hours…

“Sorry…” Tao said meekly, lowering his gaze to the floor making Junmyeon feel bad for being to stern towards his young employee.

“Thank you. Now please don’t do it again. Since everything else seems to be under control I will go check on Jongin now and I’ll deal with you later. You know I don’t give out empty threats.” He smiled stiffly and went out the door to his other staff. Neither he nor Tao noticed Chanyeol’s celebratory dance during their whole conversation.

~ * ~

When Baekhyun had handed the frappuccino with extra whipped cream to the young high schooler he had seen Junmyeon enter the kitchen. Right after that Jongin collapsed. Which could only mean one thing. Chanyeol had gotten Tao. This was bad. Sehun had managed to catch Jongin before he hit the ground and together they had had manage to carefully place him down on the chair that Baekhyun had placed for himself behind counters. It was always like this. Tao unleashed his powers and Jongin collapsed. Jongin was the only one who ever reacted when Tao stopped time, none of the others ever noticed. Junmyeon had explained that it had to do with their powers being similar in some ways and then he had continued on with something about the “Space Time Continuum” that Baekhyun suspected he had gotten from watching too much Star Trek.

It didn’t take long for Junmyeon to exit the kitchen to check on Jongin and Baekhyun saw his chance to speak to Chanyeol, the lunch rush hadn’t started yet so Sehun should be able survive two minutes alone.

“We should make a list” He whispered as he leaned against the counter where Chanyeol were currently mixing an immense amount of buttercream, different ingredients and recipes all over the place.

“Of what? All the people I’m getting caught while you’re drinking coffee with the kids?” Chanyeol retorted as he turned off the mixer. “Here. Taste this.”

Baekhyun couldn’t do anything else but accept the spoon with buttercream that Chanyeol shoved into his mouth. He carefully tasted the buttercream frosting. It was delicious but Baekhyun didn’t know if it was any different than all the other ones Chanyeol made. He was no buttercream expert, that was a profession he wouldn’t be able to enter.

“Tasty. And we both knew that this one would be easy for you since you’re always together.” Baekhyun tried to play it off as if Tao was never a part of his plan. He hoped Chanyeol bought it. “But we should make a list so that when someone gets one the other doesn’t take that one again.”

“Aw, you’re no good.” Chanyeol looked dejectedly on his frosting for a second before he shifted focus to the other topic, smiling at Baekhyun and putting his spatula behind his ear. “Sounds good. You make one and tell me about it. I trust you.” He patted Baekhyun on the head before he turned back to his mixer, reaching for the lemon zest as he started looking through all the hand-written recipes again.

Baekhyun was almost out the door when Chanyeol called for him again.

“Could you send in Sehun when you’re at it too? He’s the buttercream expert after all.”

~ * ~

"Yo, yo yo!"

Baekhyun didn't have to look up from where he was sitting and reading behind the counters to know that Luhan had arrived. The chair that he had brought there wasn't only for the small breaks between customers but was actually solely for that awkward time period just before closing when nothing happened and they were all just waiting to go home. So Baekhyun always brought a book with him so that he could get some reading done every day. He was currently reading Jurassic Park, something he guessed he would soon regret doing seeing how he's terribly afraid of dinosaurs. So the fact that Luhan arrived even before Baekhyun had had the time to read the first 10 pages gave him the perfect excuse to close the book and go make Luhan's coffee.

It was a routine they had established over the years that Luhan would come about half an hour early and Baekhyun would make him a coffee. Luhan was the guy in charge of the cleaning. Sehun liked to call him 'housekeeping'. Luhan liked to hit Sehun.

"You're early today." Sehun said as he sneaked a couple of croissants into his backpack which everyone pretended not to see.

"Yeah, I couldn't wait to see my favourite three people again!" Luhan answered and reached over the counter to rub Sehun's cheek (which the younger clearly didn't sign up for).

"Translation: he was bored and with no cake in the house" Jongin said without looking up from his phone.

"Hey!"

"We all know it's true. No shame in wanting cake." Baekhyun swiftly added before an argument could break out. He placed the steaming cup of coffee with a dash of milk and two spoons of sugar in front of Luhan who sat down at the bar in front of the three 'hardworking' people.

"Cake is life!" came an excited shout from the kitchen.

As a comfortable silence settled over them Baekhyun took up his phone and quickly sent away a message to Junmyeon saying that he had a question about the coffee machine. If everything would play out as usual Baekhyun would soon get a point in his favour. That is if Luhan hadn't suddenly changed all his habits overnight.

"So have you heard about Tao's eyebrows yet?" Sehun asked as he finally had filled his backpack with a reasonable amount of sweets (3 croissants, 5 peanut butter cupcakes, 2 slices of carrot cake and a quarter of a mud cake).

"I heard that they had decided that Halloween couldn't come too early this year." Luhan answered casually as he started stirring his coffee (Baekhyun made a small victory dance in his head thanking Sehun mentally for starting a conversation with Luhan).

Luhan wasn't one to flaunt his powers. He liked to keep them secret and not for anyone to know. He usually only used them either when he was alone or when they seriously made his life easier. Which made his job here perfect. Having the power of telekinesis made cleaning very much easier. And faster. And he wouldn't feel like showing off as everyone would've left the building by the time he started working.

However, even if Luhan almost never used his powers he had small habits in everyday life that outed him. Like the coffee stirring for example. Baekhyun doubted Luhan even noticed that he never touched the spoon that he stirred his coffee with. The spoon was just calmly spinning in the cup by itself and for anyone who didn't know Luhan it would be a freakish scene to see.

"You know, Halloween. Ghost. Tao's eyebrows disappeared. Ghosts are invisible" Luhan explained his own joke when nobody laughed at him.

It took two seconds of silence before Jongin burst into a laughing fit.

"Thank you, Jongin, for appreciating good jokes. We need more people like you in this world."

Sehun looked like he had a snarky reply to that but before he could say it a loud sigh was heard from the staircase.

"Okay... there will be a meeting this Friday. Everyone will need to be there." The newly appeared Junmyeon said. "I will send an email, although I doubt anyone will read it." He added with a pointed look at Luhan's coffee.

Luhan took a confused look at his cup and the spoon immediately fell to the rim of the mug with a clink.

"I'm sorry-"

"No, it's okay. Baekhyun, did you need help?" Junmyeon interrupted.

"It's fine. I figured it out." Baekhyun answered with a smile not having figured out a question that wouldn't make him seem stupid.

"Okay, I'll just leave then." Junmyeon waved before turning around and slowly started walking up the stairs again. "Two people in one day..." They could hear him mutter to himself.

Baekhyun almost felt bad for him for a second but then he send his victory message to Chanyeol and when he heard the defeated wail from the kitchen he couldn't help but feel happy. He was going to win this bet.

~ * ~

Jongin was by far one of the most lovable guys in the whole café, but one thing that made Baekhyun like him even more was that he was horribly afraid of spiders. And Baekhyun needed a scream. Not for his own pleasure but for his plan in getting Kyungsoo to use his powers. Or more like, to get Kyungsoo to noticeably use his powers. For the people who knew him there was no surprise that Kyungsoo always used his powers. Having the power of strength almost made it impossible to not use it in your daily life. Which also made it much harder for Baekhyun to get another point in his favor. But he knew that Kyungsoo wouldn’t hesitate to save someone, so if Baekhyun just managed to trick Kyungsoo into thinking that someone needed to be saved everything would go according to plan. Which is why Baekhyun needed a scream. Which is why Baekhyun had a very frightened, tiny spider in a glass jar that he’d caught in the bathroom in his backpack.

He’d sneakily put his phone on voice recording right after Jongin came back from his lunch break and Baekhyun was now only waiting for the moment when Jongin would notice the tiny spider walking beside the basket full of plastic fruits.

It didn’t take long until the coffee shop was shaking by the inhumane scream coming from the usually quite quiet Jongin, and when Baekhyun was looking back from stopping the recording Jongin was very violently slamming a magazine against the counter (Baekhyun hoped the spider had managed to get away).

“KILL IT!!! KILL IT!!!”

Chanyeol, who mistakenly had exited the kitchen to see what the commotion was about, sadly got caught up in it all simply by just being seen.

“CHANYEOL!!! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!” Jongin screamed as Tao hurriedly ran past them covering his (nonexistent) eyebrows with one of his hands.

The whole situation was quite absurd and Baekhyun could only laugh as he edited his recording while Junmyeon and Sehun tried to calm Jongin down who’d started to teleport all over the place out of sheer panic. Not only had he managed to get a perfect scream, but he’d also managed to get Jongin to teleport in front of Junmyeon. Everything was going excellent for Baekhyun.

A couple of hours later Baekhyun found himself outside the building, watching Kyungsoo from behind a trash can. It was delivery day which meant that Kyungsoo was busy delivering and unpacking everything Junmyeon had ordered for the café, and that meant that Baekhyun had set up a trap. Kyungsoo always stacked the cardboard boxes in a huge pile so Baekhyun planned to tip them over, while Kyungsoo looked away, and then to play Jongin’s scream. Kyungsoo would get scared and turn around only to find a disorganized pile of boxes. He would then proceed to think that someone was underneath all of the boxes and therefore in need of saving. Therefore Super-Kyungsoo would arrive.

So now Baekhyun was waiting. He needed to act in the perfect moment. The pile of boxes needed to be big enough to potentially bury a human being and also Kyungsoo needed to look away so that Baekhyun could showcase his amazing bowling skills (aka rock throwing). He was watching Kyungsoo’s every moment. The phone in his hand was ready to scream. The pile was growing. Kyungsoo was entering the truck for another box. Now! Now was the time!

Baekhyun threw the rock. It crashed into the bottom row of the boxes and the whole thing came tumbling down. The recording of the scream rang high and clear in the alley behind the coffee shop and even if Baekhyun couldn’t see Kyungsoo freezing in his movements he could practically feel it.

“Jongin?” Came a small voice from Kyungsoo who peeked his head out from the truck. Then he saw the pile. “Jongin!”

And just as Baekhyun had planned Super-Kyungsoo came to the rescue, starting to throw the boxes away with a herculean strength.

There was only one fault in Baekhyun’s plan. He hadn’t contacted Junmyeon to come to the scene. Hurriedly he unlocked his phone to type in a text message but before he managed to form an understandable message, Junmyeon arrived all by himself. Lucky, Baekhyun thought as he deleted the message and started on another one to Chanyeol. However, he didn’t even type two words before he received a text from Chanyeol himself. A text claiming that he’d just gotten Kyungsoo caught.

Baekhyun couldn’t believe it. How could Chanyeol..? It was his..? How..? He looked up from his phone in disbelief only to see Chanyeol wink at him before entering the coffee shop again. Chanyeol had used Baekhyun to get to Kyungsoo. Used him and his masterplan. Baekhyun felt rage entering his bloodstream (or maybe it was just the feeling of standing up after being cramped up in a small space for a long time). Chanyeol would not get away with this. Baekhyun would get his revenge.

He looked back at where Kyungsoo was getting a scolding from Junmyeon. Baekhyun would get his revenge. And he knew just who to help him.

~ * ~

Being friends for 11 years had its benefits. One benefit of course being having a very close and dear friend in your life but another one was knowing who your friend have a soft spot for. Who they can’t say no to. Who they always felt the need to help.

For Chanyeol Kyungsoo was one of those people. Actually, if Baekhyun was being honest, Kyungsoo was like that to both of them. None of them could say no to him and even though they might annoy him at times they both loved him dearly. Which is why Baekhyun knew that he’d get Chanyeol now.

It didn’t take much to convince Kyungsoo to help him out with his plan. Baekhyun only needed to say that Chanyeol was the reason for Junmyeon to chew him out and Kyungsoo was onboard. The plan was fairly simple. It wasn’t nearly as intricate as Baekhyun’s former plan but that was because it wasn’t necessary. Having Kyungsoo in on it, everything was simple. And it was actually Kyungsoo who had come up with the revenge plan.

Kyungsoo was going to borrow Baekhyun’s bike and pretend to not being able to unlock it. Since it’s below zero degrees Chanyeol would immediately come to the rescue with a tiny flame and then Junmyeon would show up and the revenge would be theirs. The sweet, sweet revenge.

~ * ~

The vibration of Chanyeol’s phone only made him more irritated as he listened to Junmyeon’s rant about not using powers during work hours, not even if those work hours end in five minutes. He knew that the vibration was from a text from Baekhyun containing his very own beautiful name and it was making him pissed. Not that Baekhyun had gotten him to use his powers in front of Junmyeon, but that Baekhyun had used Kyungsoo for him to do it. That was cheap. And a cheap shot like that could only result in one thing. Revenge. Chanyeol would get his revenge on Baekhyun. And he knew just who to help him.

~ * ~

Baekhyun not-so-gently elbowed Sehun in the side when he saw him. The customer who Baekhyun didn’t understand. The customer who baffled Baekhyun in every way possible. The customer who had Baekhyun lie awake at night (thinking of his beautiful cat-like eyes). The customer who somehow knew Chanyeol. The customer whose name was Minseok, aka the customer who could drink Baekhyun’s hot tea the second after getting it. And by drinking Baekhyun didn’t mean ’taking small sips as to not burn oneself’ but to ’take big gulps, downing one cup in two minutes flat’. Baekhyun couldn’t understand how he did it. Nobody should be able to drink tea that hot but somehow this guy could.

And now he was back in the coffee shop. Ordering tea as usual. Making Baekhyun’s life much harder. But no. Today was the day that Baekhyun would figure it all out. He really couldn’t live any longer not knowing the secret of this tea-drinking guy. It was too stressful.

Baekhyun put the Earl Grey tea bag into the steaming cup of water and handed it to Minseok who grabbed it as if it weren’t hot enough to burn your hands on. He walked across the café and sat down across another regular customer of theirs, the guy with the great eyebrows who always had a sketchbook and a lizard with him. Minseok didn’t even place the cup down on the table for a second before he took a huge mouthful of the hot liquid, not batting an eyelid.

Baekhyun felt his right eyelid twitch. He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to know. Disregarding Sehun’s “What the hell are you doing, man?” he stormed out from behind the counters (almost knocking over his good old chair in the process) and stomped over to the table with Minseok and the lizard dude. The two of them looked up in surprise when Baekhyun came close enough to grab the cup of tea out from Minseok’s hands. He took a big gulp of the tea, and almost had a heart attack.

“How?” He asked as he looked down in the cup (eyebrows guy was spluttering something about ’rude waiters’ and Minseok was busy typing away at his phone). Baekhyun had prepared himself for completely burning his mouth out but had instead been met with lukewarm tea.

“I just made it half a minute ago?” Baekhyun didn’t understand. The lights started flickering in the coffee shop. How could the tea be cold? “What did you do to it?” He asked looking at Minseok with big eyes. The wheels in his head was spinning. A lamp in the ceiling out. This Minseok guy must have some sort of power, but what? Baekhyun wanted to know.

“Baekhyun!” Before Baekhyun could get the answer he so desperately needed Junmyeon interrupted his thinking process by his shout. “Kitchen, now!”

No matter how much he needed answers, now was apparently not the time. Baekhyun just hoped he hadn’t lost the shop two of their regulars but he guessed that Junmyeon would be able to win them back with offers of free food and beverages. And if Junmyeon didn’t succeed they always had Yixing.

~ * ~

It was Friday morning and they were all gathered in Junmyeon’s office since he had called them for a meeting. They were sitting in silence around the huge table in the middle of the room as Junmyeon was looking sternly at them all.

“You know why I’ve called you here today.” He said, gaze sweeping over all of his employees stopping for a second on the one without eyebrows before continuing down the line. “It’s not even been a week and all of you have displayed your powers for the world to see. Even with my disapproval of it.”

“I don’t think that many people noticed us.” Sehun muttered but quickly shut up when Junmyeon turned his eyes on him.

“Luckily enough no. But you still did it even though I made it very clear that you were not allowed to.”

“Wait, what did Sehun do?” Baekhyun asked. Neither him nor Chanyeol had managed to get him to use his powers but judging from what Junmyeon had said Sehun had done it all by himself.

“Let’s just say that it involved two cupcakes and housekeeping.” Sehun smirked while Luhan looked like he wanted to disappear from the face of this Earth.

“You know, there’s a reason for why he is called the buttercream expert.” Jongin added, gaining a high-five from Sehun. Before anyone could ask whatever that was supposed to mean Junmyeon cleared his throat.

“Enough about that. If you all remember our little talk I did tell you about the consequences you would face in case of power usage, and I’m not one for empty promises. And since all of you, except Yixing, went against my words I want all of you here first thing tomorrow for getting your punishment.” Junmyeon was standing with his hands on hips, daring anyone to argue with him. To everyone’s surprise it was Yixing who slowly raised his hand, silently asking for permission to speak.

“Junmyeon?”

“Yes?”

“This punishment you’re talking about, it’s for using special powers during work hours right?” Yixing asked and Junmyeon nodded in response.

“So why is everyone except us getting punished?” Yixing continued. Silence ensued. Junmyeon looked uncomfortable, Yixing looked angelic and everybody else was just super confused and trying to understand what the hell Yixing was talking about.

“What do you mean?” Tao asked when nobody else did, quickly slapping Chanyeol’s hand away when the other tried to poke his hairless eyebrow.

“Well, we both know-” Yixing began, pointing between himself and Junmyeon. “-that Junmyeon used his powers to water his beloved plants to then call me in the next day to get them back to life since he accidentally killed them. Which meant that we both used our powers during work hours and should be punished.”

“And should be punished.” Kyungsoo echoed as all the employees suddenly turned to look at the now highly uncomfortable Junmyeon.

“Okay, okay, you’re right. We should also be punished.” Junmyeon quickly said before the situation could become too hostile. “So that’s decided. We all meet here first thing tomorrow to face our punishment. Great. See you guys tomorrow.” Junmyeon concluded as he grabbed his bag and started walking towards the door.

“Wait.” Baekhyun called after him and he stopped in the doorway looking back at his employees. “If you also broke the rules, why not just skip the punishment and just tell us to do better in the future?”

“I already told you. I’m not one for empty promises.”

~ * ~

6:42. Junmyeon’s office. Eight tired young men were spread throughout the office. Some occupying the couch and chairs, some simply lying straight down on the floor, all of them waiting for their boss while trying not to fall asleep.

With a bang said boss suddenly opened the door as he entered the room followed by someone Baekhyun could only describe as suspicious. He was simply wearing far too many layers and colours to be normal and his green fringe and everlasting smirk could mean no good. Also, whoever could wear a fringed jacket over a sweater vest and still look good was extremely suspicious in Baekhyun’s book.

“Good morning, dear friends. I want to introduce you to Jongdae.” Junmyeon greeted them with a blinding smile and a wave of his hand towards said ‘Jongdae’.

“‘Sup.” Jongdae said with a slight raise of his chin as a greeting.

“Ooh, I know who he is!” Jongin whispered excitedly to Sehun. “He’s the weird dark arts dude my sister always talks about.”

“The one who always tried to sell his potions to unsuspecting children?” Sehun whispered back, the two of them not realizing that everyone could hear their conversation.

“That’s the one!”

“But I thought he was called Chen?”

“Chen is my street name.” Chen/Jongdae interrupted. “But you may call me Jongdae.” He smiled at Jongin and Sehun. Or at least Baekhyun thought he smiled, it might just be that his mouth had that form naturally and in reality he wasn’t smiling at all but secretly planning all of their deaths. Baekhyun didn’t trust him.

“You probably wonder why I’m here today.” Jongdae continued, getting a few nods from different people as response. “My good old friend Junmyeon called me yesterday telling me about all of you breaking his rule, including Junmyeon himself, and how I needed to brew a certain potion for all of you to consume today. He said that he needed me to brew something that would make you unable of using your powers for at least three days, and, tadaa here’s my newest creation!”

Jongdae snapped his fingers and suddenly there was a vial filled with a bright pink liquid in his hand.

“I call it the Exo’luxion elixir” He dramatically pronounced as he snapped his fingers again and tiny fireworks exploded around the vial. Junmyeon was watching him proudly.

“Try saying that fast ten times” Chanyeol whispered to Kyungsoo who immediately started trying.

“And that, my dear friends, is what we’re all taking now.” Junmyeon said happily as Jongdae swiftly made shot glasses materialize out of thin air.

“One shot each and you won’t have your powers for three days.” Jongdae explained as he poured everyone a glass. “Isn’t it amazing.” He sighed as Junmyeon signaled for everybody to take their shot.

~ * ~

Junmyeon’s pride and joy in this life was his baby. And by baby he meant his café. The Flying Cups Café. Even just saying its name gave him the shivers. It was everything he could have ever wished for. Its cheesy 50s themed interior, that Junmyeon actually didn’t really relate too but still loved, and the great selection of homemade pastries and beverages. He even loved all of his employees. It was just one thing he didn’t like. Said employees’ powers.

But now he wouldn’t have to worry about those powers since Jongdae so skillfully had made them go away for three days. Junmyeon happily walked down the stairs to the coffee shop closely followed by all of his employees. Chanyeol and Tao both walked to the kitchen to start the first batch of cupcakes as Jongin and Baekhyun walked behind the counters to start preparing for the day (or to sit down on the chair to catch his breath since the potion had made Baekhyun slightly lightheaded). Kyungsoo, Luhan and Yixing were all leaving to go home since they weren’t needed at the coffee shop yet and Sehun was slowly walking towards the kitchen muttering something about really needing a cake with lots and lots of buttercream after this whole ordeal. Jongdae had simply vanished after they had all taken their shot. Junmyeon hadn’t even had had the time to thank him.

But nothing could disturb Junmyeon now. Everything was good. Everything was normal. Everything was exactly as it should be. Nothing could ruin Junmyeon’s mood.

Except for maybe the loud explosion suddenly coming from the kitchen.

“What the hell?” Jongin exclaimed as the door to the kitchen was thrown open and Sehun stumbled out, hair and eyebrows aflame and his eyes glowing orange. Half a second later Chanyeol suddenly materialized beside Baekhyun who shrieked loudly and accidentally shot a jet of water at Jongin’s back.

“Call Yixing!” Sehun shouted. “I think I just killed Tao!”

Junmyeon didn’t understand. Jongdae had said that they wouldn’t be able to use their powers for thr-

“Oh, damn that weird dark arts dude.” Junmyeon sighed before running to get all three of Kyungsoo, Luhan and Yixing back to the coffee shop. It seemed like neither Junmyeon nor Tao’s eyebrows could catch a break.
 

AN:

So this was my story, hope you liked it~

I'm just gonna very sneakily promote my other mamaau Supressed, it is also ot12 but slightly kaisoo centered so beware in case you want to check it out~

If you've made it this far: Thank you for reading~~