A tinkle of a bell; a door creaking open.

It's been a very quiet winter afternoon. Snow is lightly falling from the sky, blanketing roads and pavement with icy white. The coffee shop is mostly empty, save for Taemin, who is sitting behind the register in boredom, having pulled himself a stool because there were no customers. Soft rhythm and blues fill the silence through a bluetooth speaker strategically placed in the room, while the smell of coffee wafts in the air, warm and inviting in such a cold weather.

With the opening of the door, Taemin finally looks up, to see three tall men walk inside, dusting off the snow on their coats, bringing in some noise into the quiet environment from all their chatter.

They are such a noisy group, he observes as they make a fuss at the door—well, one of them is being noisy and making a fuss, while the other two seem like they're just going along with it, although their laughs are also rather loud.

Finally, two of the three men walk away, grabbing a table at the far corner of the room, while the third, the man who entered the shop first, walks over to the register. He's still trying to school his face into a neutral expression, but the smile and the giggle Taemin caught a glimpse of before was truly gorgeous.

"Good afternoon. What can I get you?" Taemin asks, the customary greeting rolling off his tongue with practiced ease. It's amazing that he can still talk so calmly, because the man in front of him is so tall, tan, and handsome that it would be a lie if Taemin says that his looks isn't throwing him off-kilter.

"Two iced americanos," the man answers, before his voice quietens a notch. "And one hot chocolate, please."

Taemin nods and grabs a sharpie and the coffee cups stacked next to him, starting to write down the order in codes.

"And your name?"

"Jongin."

Jongin. He even has a nice name. How amazing.

Taemin scribbles the name on the cups quickly, but right as he was reaching for the hot cup, the man clears his throat.

"Um. Excuse me," he says, making Taemin raise his head to look at him. "Can I ask for a favor?"

Taemin raises an eyebrow and waits silently. This is not new; he has had many customers asking for favors, like free water, some extra milk on the side for their kids, or sometimes even his personal phone number. He doesn't give the latter out very easily, though.

"Um, you see…" the man's eyes flickers towards his friends at the other side of the room, before lowering his voice almost conspiratorially. "Do you think you can write in the hot chocolate order as a latte? Just on the cup, I mean—I'm still ordering a hot chocolate. And like, call it out as a latte when I'm picking up the order."

Taemin's already raises eyebrow rises even higher as the man continues talking. This is new. He has never had a customer order something, only to want him to call it out as something else.

"...Why?"

He had to ask. It's not like it will trouble anyone—he's the only one taking care of the coffeeshop today, manning the register and making the coffee—but he's curious.

"Why? Um. Well, I'm—" the man cuts off and trails his fingers through his dark brown hair, his already quiet voice turning into a somewhat unclear mumble. "I hate coffee, but they've been teasing me about never drinking coffee today, and I just want to make them stop for at least a day. It's my birthday—why would I want to get made fun of on my birthday?"

A small pout graces the other man's lips as he speaks, and for some reason, that tugs at Taemin's heart a little. He laughs.

"Well, I guess it's fine. It's your birthday, after all," he says with a grin, watching the man's eyes light up in front of him. "Two iced americano, and one hot… latte, coming up."

He tells the man the total and rings him up, before going back to writing the codes on the cup and making the coffees—and the hot chocolate that needs to look like coffee.

A loud chatter comes from the general direction of the only occupied table in the room as the man—Jongin—goes back to his seat, but Taemin doesn't bother deciphering the words. He focuses on doing what he's supposed to do, even though he's a little curious. Just a tiny bit. They look like a fun bunch to hang out with.

"Order for Jongin!" he calls out, watching the group of three raise their heads at the same time.

The odd group suddenly decides to play rock-paper-scissors, and in the end, two of them, including the man who ordered—Jongin, his brain supplies—stand up to get the three cups from the counter.

"Why do I always lose at rock-paper-scissors," the man who isn't noisy and isn't Jongin grumbles as they walk towards the counter, "It's not fair."

Jongin huffs. "Well, I'm paying for your coffee but I still have to stand up and get it—that's not fair either."

The two men finally stop in front of Taemin, and he gives them his best customer service smile.

"Two iced americanos and one latte," he recites as he hands them their order, making eye contact with Jongin, who looks very pleased. "Enjoy."

"Thanks," Jongin says to him with a large smile, grabbing his cup of hot chocolate that is masquerading as a latte while the other man takes the other two cups.

When they get to their table, the man still sitting down—the loud one—exclaims in surprise.

"You ordered coffee?" 

"What? Did you think I won't be able to drink coffee all my life?"

"Well, yes! Who are you and what have you done to my best friend? Tell me!"

The men continue to bicker at their table, arguing about Jongin's ability—well, inability—to drink coffee, and Taemin can't help but chuckle to himself.

What an interesting guy. 

-

"Yeah, so he just—" Taemin waves his hands around his head, laughing. "—asked me to say that his hot chocolate was actually a latte. Isn't that funny?"

"Sounds pretentious," says Kibum, one of the friends who co-own the coffee shop with him, as they have a late lunch in the break room the day after Jongin came into the shop. "There's literally nothing wrong with ordering hot chocolate. Hot chocolate tastes good—especially the ones you make."

"Thanks," he grins. "But no, he didn't say it in a pretentious way. It was just… funny. And interesting—but you wouldn't understand because you weren't there."

"Well, think whatever you want, just remember that flirting with your customers while you're on the clock is against the rules."

Kibum grins at him as if he knows everything, and even though there's not an ounce of truth in his words, Taemin still gets embarrassed enough to blush.

"I'm not going to flirt with that Jongin guy. I literally only told you that he was an interesting customer!"

"Oh, so you know his name," Kibum adds in a sing-song tone.

"Of course I do—I wrote it down on three cups!"

"Taemin-ah, it's time," Minho, another one of their friends, enters the back room while taking off his blue apron. "Get out there and man the register—I need to go right now."

"Fine, fine," Taemin says, getting up from his chair. He was already done eating anyway. "I'm going."

Someone was already waiting by the register when Taemin walked over, and he hurries to take their order, completely missing the tinkle of a bell and the door creaking open to let in another customer. The first customer walks away after paying, and the next customer enters his field of vision.

It's the same tall, tan, and handsome man he saw yesterday—Jongin.

He's alone today, bundled up in a coat and scarf that makes him look fluffy and warm, dark brown hair peeking out under the beanie he's wearing.

"Hi there," Taemin greets. "What can I get you today?"

"A hot chocolate, please," Jongin says absentmindedly, his eyes trained onto the bakery display case. "And… the chicken mozzarella sandwich, I guess?"

"Would you like that warmed up?" Taemin asks as he enters the order.

"Yes, please."

"Got it," Taemin nods.

He asks other perfunctory questions, like if he's eating here or taking the food to go, before allowing Jongin to look at the total and pay for his order. After he's done ringing up the order, he reaches out for a coffee cup, lips parting into a grin.

"Do I need to mark this cup as a latte too, or are you okay with just hot chocolate today?"

Jongin freezes in the middle of putting his wallet away, eyes widening.

"You remember me?"

The man in front of him is basically sputtering out his words in shock, and Taemin almost laughs. "Well, of course. You came here barely yesterday—and I don't usually get customers asking me to mark their hot chocolate as a latte, you know."

"Uh. That's so embarrassing, I'm… I'm sorry about that," Jongin says, his ears reddening. Taemin watches as his hand comes up to brush against his own nape. "I'm not much of a coffee drinker—can't stand them, honestly—but I always get made fun of when I come to rehearsal with a hot chocolate."

Taemin frowns. "Well, I certainly don't understand why. Hot chocolates are good."

"They are!" Jongin lights up. The sparkle in his eyes is mesmerizing. "And the one you made me yesterday was actually the best cup of hot chocolate I've ever had—not even kidding. I might just come here regularly, from now on."

"Thank you," Taemin smiles, and he swears he can feel his cheeks heat up just a tiny bit. Very tiny. He's not used to being complimented out of nowhere by a stranger. "Anyway… this cup?"

Taemin shakes the unmarked cup in this hand in front of the other man, a reminder of his earlier question.

"Oh. Yes, right," Jongin looks like he finally remembers that he hasn't answered him. "I'm here alone today, so there's no need. But, you know, in the future, if I ever come with someone else, or if I have to take it to go…"

Jongin gives him a look, a secretive one—and this time, it actually makes Taemin laugh.

"Got it. I'll try to remember that."

"Thanks, um…" Jongin trails off, eyes darting downwards.

It doesn't take long for Taemin to figure out that the other man is searching for a nametag, but he doesn't wear one—nobody in the shop wears one—so he just smiles and offers his own name.

"Taemin," he says. "My name is Taemin."

Jongin smiles back at him. "I'm Jongin. Nice to meet you, Taemin… and thanks in advance for all the help."

"You're welcome," Taemin grins.

With that, Jongin stalks off to find a seat, and Taemin watches him settle at the long communal table in the middle of the room, before he sets out to do his job. He manages to zone out a little while making the first customer's order along with Jongin's hot chocolate, until a voice snaps him out of his reverie.

"We got a sandwich order?" Kibum asks. Taemin didn't even realize that he already came out from the back room. "Did you heat it up already?"

"No, but I already took it out," he answers. "Can you help me with that? I'm occupied."

Kibum says nothing, but from the sounds of a microwave beeping, he knows that the other man is doing it. He finishes the other customer's order before Jongin's, so Kibum takes it upon himself to call out the order, while he finishes up with the hot chocolate. A few seconds later, the sandwich is done too, and he brings both the cup and the sandwich to the pick-up counter.

"Order for Jongin!" he calls out, smiling when he sees Jongin look up from his phone to his direction. He waits for the other man to approach, trying to ignore the fact that Kibum is suddenly watching with interest after hearing him call out the name Jongin. 

"Thanks, Taemin," Jongin says as he picks up his order. "Hope the hot chocolate will be as good as yesterday's."

Taemin chuckles. "Well, feel free to let me know if you have any complaints, but compliments are always accepted, too."

Jongin laughs as he saunters back to his seat, and Taemin goes back to the register before any other customer could walk in.

"That's your latte boy?" Kibum whispers, sidling up to him and nudging his side. "He's hot. You have good taste."

Taemin glances in Jongin's general direction, before looking away. "Has nothing to do with me. I'm not trying to hit on him."

"Yeah, right."

"I'm being serious."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll believe you."

-

Jongin really does end up turning into a regular at their coffee shop.

He comes in almost every day—if not every day, then at least two or three times a week—and he always comes in during Taemin's shift, which is always in the afternoons, everyday except Sunday.

"Aren't you bored of drinking hot chocolate every day?" Taemin asks, a week after Jongin started coming regularly.

"Nope," Jongin answers him, a grin settling on his lips. "I love hot chocolate, and you make the best ones."

-

Sometimes, Jongin comes in when the coffee shop is empty.

Without any customers to tend to, Taemin can get away with talking to the other man for longer than the time it takes to ring his order into the register—and he has to admit, those afternoons were some of the best he's gone through in his life.

It's not like they do anything special, either. Taemin would join Jongin at his table, and they would talk, talk, and talk over a cup of hot chocolate until they can't anymore.

Over the span of two weeks, Taemin has learned many things about Jongin. He is a dancer who just got a contract at the ballet company across the street—a principal dancer, Jongin had emphasized, because apparently that means he's the main star, or something like that. Jongin also happens to  loathe the taste of coffee, hating it so much that he can't differentiate between coffee and fish sauce, claiming they both taste terrible. Taemin had laughed pretty much his whole body off when Jongin told him the story.

It's not a one-way conversation, so naturally, he also told Jongin many things about himself.

"I'm actually a lyricist—and an arranger, sometimes. For music, you know," Taemin told him, one afternoon. "My friends and I co-own this shop—and since I work mostly nights, I take care of the afternoon shifts and close the shop." 

"Aren't you busy, then?" Jongin replied, an inquisitive expression on his face. "When do you sleep?" 

Taemin laughed. "I sleep in the mornings, and wake up in time for my shift. That's why I pitched in for this coffee shop—to get free coffee, because I literally can't function without them." 

"Ugh," Jongin's face scrunched. "I can't imagine living like that. Coffee is literally disgusting." 

Taemin only laughed back then, but now that he thinks about it, this is actually something unusual. He has never gotten along with someone so well in such a short time—let alone tell them personal details about himself. It took months for him to open up to Moonkyu and he's his best friend, while Jongin is practically half a stranger because he's only a customer. 

"Are you sure you don't have a crush on this guy? You talk about him all the time, you know," Moonkyu asks, lounging on Taemin's couch like he owns it, while Taemin is sitting on his carpet, munching on pizza as he mentions this… change in socializing patterns.

"I don't."

"Liar," Moonkyu quips. "Your face literally brightens up every time you go on about him. You have a crush. A huge one."

There are no secrets between him and Moonkyu, so naturally, he also told him about his newfound friendship (if he could label it as one) with Jongin. They are so comfortable with each other that they share everything, maybe even to the point of oversharing, but that is why Moonkyu knows him best, better than anyone else.

"I don't. I really don't," Taemin shakes his head, although he doesn't know if he's doing it to deny Moonkyu's statement, or to shake the thought of a  crush out of his head. "I'm just excited to have a new friend—though I don't even know if he thinks we're friends."

"You guys talk a lot. You should at least be friends, by now."

"I guess," Taemin shrugs. "But you never know, right? Maybe he thinks I'm just the weird guy from the coffee shop who happens to make good hot chocolate."

"Well, it's a pretty accurate description. You are the weird guy from the coffee shop after all," Moonkyu grins. "The amazing hot chocolate is your only saving grace, seriously."

Taemin rolls his eyes and throws a swat at his best friend's belly.

"Shut up."

-

Two more weeks pass by. It's all the same, do his job at night, sleep, wake up for his shift at the coffee shop, repeat. Jongin comes by to order hot chocolate regularly, sometimes alone, sometimes with his friend Sehun, who always complains about losing rock-paper-scissors to the other friend, whose name Taemin doesn't know.

One day, things became a little different.

-

A tinkle of a bell; a door creaking open.

Jongin appears behind the door, but instead of being alone or with his friend, he brings a girl with him—a strikingly pretty girl, in fact. He has an arm around her shoulders, and they are walking so close together that there is barely any space between them. The sight strikes the wrong chord, like a sharp feeling tugging in his chest, but he puts on his best smile and greets his customers anyway.

"Hey Jongin," he says. "Hot chocolate again, today?"

"Two, please," Jongin grins. "And she's paying, because it's Valentine's Day."

Taemin frowns.

That's right, it's Valentine's Day.

He never bothered to count the days or remember, because his love life is nonexistent. Literally everyone is dating, except for him, so he almost always just spends it alone in his apartment, working.

No wonder Moonkyu said he couldn't get dinner tonight.

In his daze, he misses the girl arguing about something, but he doesn't miss the way Jongin's face softens, eyes crinkling as he laughs and lightly her hair.

"Just kidding. I promised already, haven't I?"

The whole transaction flies by hazily, Taemin not paying much attention to anything else. He makes two cups of hot chocolate, calls out the order, lets Jongin pick it up and smile at him, before going back to the cash register to ring up orders for other customers.

Sometimes, he hears Jongin's familiar laughter ringing above the background noise, but then he remembers that he has that girl sitting in front of him and he thinks that she's probably the one making him laugh. 

The sharp tug returns.

Then, while looking in their general direction, he catches Jongin's hand drift forwards, to rub his thumb against the girl's lips, seemingly wiping whipped cream off of her. Jongin smiles at her tenderly—and Taemin has to force himself to look away.

Ah. That hurts. 

Looks like Moonkyu was right, after all. As always.

Taemin was falling.

No, he probably has already fallen. He fell a little too hard for this regular-slash-friend with weird requests—and the man just had to be straight and  unavailable.

He really wants to rip his own head off. At least then he wouldn't have to feel all the embarrassment welling up inside him at the thought of his idiocy.

How stupid. 

-

A tinkle of a bell; a door creaking open.

Taemin's head turns towards the door from where he's wiping the tables, not expecting any customers. With the short daytime of winter, the sun has set long ago; the coffee shop is pretty much closed, although Taemin hasn't locked the door.

He has been moping around since yesterday, feeling even worse every minute he spent in the shop, because Jongin didn't come today—at least, not until now.

Jongin is standing blankly at the door, bundled in a scarf and beanie as he always is. For some reason, though, he seems very down; his mood much more somber than usual.

"Hey, Jongin," Taemin decides to greet him first, putting the cleaning cloth on the counter before approaching Jongin. "Are you okay?"

That is when Jongin's head snaps up, eyes struggling to focus on him. Now that Taemin can take a good look, Jongin's eyes are puffy, his very dark circles a pretty good evidence that he hasn't had a good sleep.

Jongin looks confused; it's as if he doesn't know where he was, and how he got there.

"Jongin?" Taemin tries again.

"A-ah. Yeah, hi," Jongin smiles—or he tries to smile. The smile doesn't reach his eyes. "I'm fine."

Taemin frowns. Something is obviously going on here—Jongin has a gloomy atmosphere surrounding him, even though he looked so happy yesterday with that girl he brought with him. The difference is too stark; it doesn't make any sense.

"Are you sure you're fine?" he asks, worried. "You look terrible."

"I'll live," Jongin says. It's obvious that he's trying to make a light joke, but Taemin doesn't buy it. "Can I still get something to drink, or are you closed already?"

"We're closed, sorry."

"Ah. Well, then."

There's a pause in the conversation, neither of them knowing what to say next. If Jongin was just a regular customer, perhaps Taemin would have asked him to leave by now—but he isn't, and he looks horrible, like he just went through hell, and Taemin has never felt more worried about anything in his life. It simply doesn't feel good to see this face, the face that usually holds a sunny smile, setting into a cloudy expression like this.

"Hey. I know that we haven't known each other that long," Taemin starts, and pauses to bite his lip. He's not sure if this is a good idea. "But you can talk to me about anything, you know. If you want someone to listen—I'm here. If not, well, I'm still here, and I'd be happy to help any way I can."

The words bring up another silence, Taemin only waiting for Jongin to say something, anything. Jongin could leave, too, if he wanted.

"I…" Jongin's voice is hoarse. Tired. "I don't know if I want to talk."

"Okay. That's valid."

Another pause.

"I'd rather have a cup of hot chocolate." Then, Jongin sighs. "But then again, you're closed."

Taemin smiles. Hot chocolate. He can make hot chocolate.

"I need to close the shop, but if you don't mind waiting, I can make you some at my place? It's literally just upstairs," Taemin doesn't realize that he might come across a little too forward until the words have left his lips. Thankfully, Jongin only looks surprised, not appalled.

"You don't mind? If I come over, I mean."

"Of course not," Taemin shakes his head, smiling in relief. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"I guess we are, huh," Jongin says, a small smile gracing his lips before disappearing like a phantom.

-

Jongin hasn't talked since he entered his apartment.

Taemin had led him in, told him to sit wherever he wanted and pick a movie if he wanted to watch something, and went to his kitchen to start making the hot chocolate he promised. He ordered some food too, mostly because it's pretty much dinner time. They drank the rich chocolate drink and ate the Chinese food Taemin ordered together, but now, long after their stomachs are full, Jongin still hasn't talked, the only noise between them coming from the movie playing on the television.

He already gave Jongin hot chocolate, took out the pillows from his bedroom to make the couch more comfortable, and wrapped the other in blankets because the room doesn't seem warm enough, but he's no good at taking care of people. He doesn't know if he's doing it right, and Jongin not talking is making him more anxious, worried that all he's doing is just making it worse.

It's not like Taemin wants to force Jongin to talk to him. Maybe Jongin isn't that comfortable with him yet—they have known each other for only a month, after all. That's barely enough time for anyone to open up and trust someone else with their issues.

Maybe he just made everything more awkward by asking Jongin if he wants to come up to his place.

Just as he was thinking about that, Jongin starts talking for the first time in a while.

"Thank you."

That's all Jongin says. Taemin tilts his head.

"For what?"

"For letting me come here," Jongin smiles wryly, not looking him in the eye. "