The tall, intimidating - but not that intimidating anymore since he seemed nice - guy didn’t come back the next couple of days. Perhaps he had gone home? His Korean had been a little off and he had made some grammatical errors, so he must’ve been foreign. Maybe Japanese? He did look like he could’ve been Japanese. 

"Hey, Junmyeon." He looked up from the table he was currently cleaning, but he did continue rubbing at a coffee stain that was being really stubborn, refusing to go away. "Yes?" He eyed the wet paper in the student’s hand and looked at him with furrowed brows. "What’s that?"

"I found this on the ground outside. I think it’s the poster, or what's left of it anyway," Jongdae replied, tossing the ruined poster into the bin by the door. "I could go make a new one if you want?" he offered, ping his coat as he walked through the shop towards the back.

Junmyeon shook his head. "No, it’s fine. I’ll do it."

"Wow. Your handwriting is so pretty." Junmyeon looked up from the paper. "Is it readable?" he asked and Jongdae nodded. "Yeah. How are you so good at this? It looks so nice. Now I'm sue no one will be able to resist working here."

"I don’t think a nice poster is going to convince anyone to work here, Jongdae, but thanks." He looked back down and continued writing. "I did a lot of arts and crafts as a kid."

"I can barely draw a circle, let alone make a poster this nice. You’re talented."

The guy came back just a few minutes past seven the next Tuesday. Junmyeon and Chanyeol were the only ones at work, while Jongdae was most likely in class, or at least on his way to class. 

Chanyeol was the one by the counter this time as Junmyeon was busy cleaning a table. He picked up the abandoned mugs, placing them on the trolley along with the plates and wiped the table down before he moved on to the next table. It was on his way to the back that he noticed who Chanyeol was talking to. He stopped for a moment, taking a look at him; the tall guy with the angry eyebrows. He was at least a few centimetres taller than Chanyeol. His posture was perfect and he almost looked like a model where he stood. 

Maybe he was a model? He certainly had the face and body for it at least. 

Realising he was just standing there and staring, he continued walking, pushing the trolley to the back of the coffee shop. He did steal a glance at the tall guy’s face, though. Yeah, he had to be a model, he concluded. There was no way he wasn’t.

A few minutes later, Chanyeol entered the back as well, followed by Jongdae. "Hey. How was class?" Junmyeon asked when he noticed the two. "Pretty great actually," the student replied, taking off his coat and replacing it with his apron. "Wrote a paper on musical history the other day. Got an A."

"Really? That’s great!" Junmyeon exclaimed, very happy for the younger. "I know. First A of the year in that class and probably the last as well." 

"Don’t say that. I’m sure you’ll get many A’s this year." Jongdae flashed him a sweet smile. "Aw. Thanks, mom. You’re always so supportive," he teasingly said and Junmyeon rolled his eyes and chuckled. 

Chanyeol placed the nearly empty tray of chocolate chip cookies down and proceeded to get started on a new batch. "That guy was here a little while ago," he said, rolling up his sleeves. "The tall, angry looking one?" Jongdae asked. 

"Yeah. He didn’t ask for Jun’s specialty though." Jongdae let out a laugh. "Aww. Was it that bad?" Junmyeon looked at him with an eyebrow raised, placing the pen down. "I’m kidding. It tastes great. He probably didn’t want Chanyeol to make it."

"What did he order then?" Junmyeon couldn’t help but ask. He could swear he saw a cheeky grin on Jongdae’s face, but he didn’t say anything about it. 

"A sandwich and a regular coffee to go," Chanyeol said. "He said his name was Kris."

"Kris?" Jongdae leaned against the door frame, arms crossed and a thoughtful expression taking over his face. "Doesn’t sound Korean." Chanyeol shrugged. "Could be a nickname, but he didn’t sound Korean. He could be American? Kris is an American name, right?"

Kris. That was a nice name. A nice name for a nice face. It didn’t sound Japanese. Maybe he was American like Chanyeol said? It did sound American. 

"Do you guys wanna go do something after work?" Jongdae asked after a while of just standing there and waiting for Junmyeon to return from hanging up the new - dry - poster. "We never hang out."

Chanyeol looked up and nodded. "Sure. What about you, Jun?" 

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" 

Junmyeon closed the coffee shop earlier than he would that day. Around an hour earlier to be exact. Chanyeol and Jongdae stood under an umbrella and waited for him to lock the door. It was going to rain a lot that week and he hoped he’d put enough tape on the poster so it would stick and not blow away.

"Ready to go?" Jongdae asked and Junmyeon nodded, shoving the keys into the pocket of his raincoat. Chanyeol started walking, and as he was the one with the umbrella, Jongdae was left in the rain. "Hey! My hair!" He quickly walked after him, using his hands to protect himself from the rain. 

They arrived at the restaurant, a Chinese one to be specific, just a few minutes later. Jongdae’s hair was wet as Chanyeol had purposely walked faster so the student had to run after him. Once Jongdae had started running, Chanyeol had as well, laughing as Jongdae followed, cursing at him for being such a mean person and telling him he was regretting asking him to come. 

Junmyeon had to run after them, not wanting to be left behind. He had no clue where this restaurant was after all. It was pretty funny to watch the two, though, and he was regretting not having asked them to hang out earlier. 

"They have really good food here. You’ll love it." Chanyeol walked inside, Jongdae and Junmyeon following right after. "You’re so mean," Jongdae whined, running a hand through his hair. "My hair’s all wet. If it drips and I get hairspray in my eyes now, I’m hitting you with that umbrella."

"How about we just go and order?" Junmyeon suggested, walking past the two bickering. "What do you recommend, Chanyeol?"

"Everything really. Everything they make here is good. I think the owner is Chinese." Chanyeol led the two over to a table. "Let’s look at the menu and I’ll show you some of my favourites."

They sat and chatted for a moment before a waiter showed up with three menus. Chanyeol pointed to a few dishes that looked really good and Junmyeon wanted to try them all, but he ended up just choosing one. "So, this is like a legit Chinese restaurant?" Jongdae asked, looking through his menu. "Yeah. As far as I know," Chanyeol replied. "The food is good at least."

The waiter returned a few minutes later once they had decided what to get. He took their orders and left with the menus to go get them drinks. "I’m starving," Jongdae complained, "and my hair is still wet." He turned his head towards Chanyeol, glaring at him. "Thanks for that, Chanyeol."

"No problem. The wet look suits you." Junmyeon chuckled, taking of his raincoat as he released he was still wearing it. He was really regretting not hanging out with the two before. 

As they waited for their food to arrive, they sat and listened to Jongdae complaining about school again. "I have like five tests next week and several papers due Friday. They don’t let us breathe for two seconds before they give us something else to do." 

Chanyeol wasn’t really paying attention. He had his chin in his palm and was looking at his phone. He had nothing against the student, as far as Junmyeon was concerned, but sometimes when he started talking it seemed like he never stopped. 

Junmyeon was listening though, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. "And our English professor-. Finally. Food’s here." 

"Oh, thank God." Chanyeol placed his phone down. "You’re just jealous I have an interesting life," Jongdae said. "Sure."

"Oh! You got soup dumplings? Can I have one?" Jongdae asked, looking over at Junmyeon’s food. "Yeah. Go ahead," he replied with a smile. "Thanks." 

The next two hours were spent eating, talking about anything that came to mind and just having a good time out of work. Junmyeon definitely considered Jongdae and Chanyeol as his friends.