Kim Jongdae has never been one to follow the flow. He creates his own flow, damn it and he prefers it that way. Kim Jongdae, no wait, call him Chen, doesn’t buy the whole crap of following trends and watching MTV. He doesn’t like branded things, and he couldn’t care less for iPods and the much too popularized iPhones. He isn’t fond of the whole going to the salon or spa consumerism for some quote-unquote R and R, either.

Oh, and don’t get him started on that Starbucks .

So yeah, he hates a lot of things, so sue him.

Chen dares you.

***

                Oh, the irony, Chen thinks as he stares at his previously pristine white shirt, now drenched with coffee. He stares at the to-go cup where the coffee came and cringes. Of course it had to be Starbucks.

“I am so sorry!” The boy with (radical, in Chen’s opinion) red hair says, “I wasn’t looking at where I was going and now-”

Chen holds up a hand to silence the frantic boy, “Its fine. Just-“ Chen lets out a deep sigh, “Just make sure to contemplate whether hundreds of won are really worth that crap they serve at Sta- you know what, I can’t even say its name. That’s how much I loathe it.”

“Um,” Red-haired guy gives Chen a gummy smile, “I can pay for your dry-cleaning?”

“No.” Chen shakes his head indignantly, “I want you to reflect.”

And that was how Chen meets Junmyeon, whom he vows to make his disciple. At what exactly, Chen is not so sure.

 But hey, he finds out after a while, hanging out with Suho (that’s what Chen calls Junmyeon now) is not so bad.

In fact, it was pretty safe to say Chen found himself a best friend that day.

***

“Psst, Jongdae.”

“Who is this ‘Jongdae’ you speak of?”

Luhan scoffs, “Wow, such a mature macho man.” Luhan leans in, an annoying smirk now adorning his face, “Whoopsies, my apologies. Junmyeon’s the only one who can call you ‘Jongdae’, right?”

Chen feels his calm demeanor fade away as he takes Luhan’s bait, “Suho and I are not in that kind of relationship, Luhan. So stop using us as the main characters for your BL manga.”

Luhan frowns and murmurs, “How did you find out about that…”

Chen restrains himself from guffawing at Luhan’s downcast face. It was actually a sort-of-not-really accident when Chen discovered Luhan’s little endeavor of creating manga and posting it online under the pseudonym ‘Little Deer’. Chen’s got to admit- Luhan’s works, usually centered around him and Suho (it was so ing obvious it was about them. Protagonist meets love of his life because of a chance encounter with spilt coffee. Seriously.), have garnered much attention over the net because of the amazing visuals. Anyways, he was getting sidetracked because that familiar mop of red hair could only be-

“Jongdae! There you are. Hey Luhan!” Junmyeon cheerily greets the two of them as he grabs the seat next to Chen, “Sorry I’m late. Professor Cho did not want to let us out from IT.”

Chen waves away his excuse, “Serves you right for taking that godforsaken class. And you left me alone to deal with this hobo for twenty minutes. Nice, Suho. Real nice.”

Junmyeon laughs, “Sorry, sorry. Here, let me get you a refill as an apology.” He takes Chen’s cup and proceeds to the counter where Ace, the café’s mascot, currently sat.

Chen looks at Junmyeon fondly as he shakes his head. He was about to resume finishing his homework when he notices the look Luhan was giving him. “What?”

“You are so into him.” Luhan accuses, eyes narrowing, “And he is so into you. So why the aren’t you two hooking up?”

“Okay, listen Luhan. I know you need inspiration for your projects, but you shouldn’t really force two people who are just friends to-“

“I’m back! What were you guys talking about?” Junmyeon asks as he sets down two cups of coffee at the table, “Is Jongdae being sarcastic again?”

Luhan pouts, “When is this bastard not sarcastic? I’m really amazed how you could stand him for so long, Junmyeon.”

Junmyeon beams at Chen as he answers Luhan, “Well Jongdae is- I can’t explain it. He just…vibrates me, I guess.”

Whoops, Chen’s heart tells him as he pathetically smiles back at Suho, there I go now, mister- falling for your best friend.

***

“Okay, you’re right and I hate you for it.”

“What the-? Jongdae, dude, don’t creep up on me, man.” Luhan moans as he carefully scrutinizes the drawing he was working on, “What if I accidentally give Junmyeon a large nose or something? I have enough problems trying to perfect your dumb lips.”

“Luhan,” Chen sighs, “First of all, how many times have I asked you to stop using us as your characters? Second, I am in love with Suho. And third, I’ll have you know my lips can rival Kim Jongin’s, so you better make sure they look damn good.”

Luhan stops trying to tune Chen out and looks at him incredulously, “Wait, wait, wait. Come again? I thought I heard you say-“

“My lips look just as good as that kid, Jongin’s. So I’d appreciate it if you-“

“, stupid. I meant, did you just totally admit you like-like Junmyeon?”

Chen nervously looks around, “Yes? I mean, yeah. Yeah, yes. I am in love, or as you aptly put it, I like-like Suho.”

Luhan stares silently at Chen. It takes him a while to respond, but he does by off-handedly saying, “Wow, congratulations. Does this mean I can insert scenes in the manga now?”

Chen grabs Luhan’s shoulders and stares real deep into his eyes, “Luhan, I think after all those crappy things you have done to me; it’s time you apologize by helping me out.”

“Uh, okay. Help you with what, though?”

Chen squeezes the reluctant-looking boy’s shoulders, “Help me win Suho’s heart.”

***

                Holy , this isn’t what Chen had in mind. He was currently in front of Sta- oh god, he just can’t say it, but please please get the idea- a “coffee shop”. There was no backing out now. This was Luhan’s great plan, and he thinks it might just work.

“Get him some damn coffee, since he loves that stuff.”

“Okay. I’ll head over to Ace now.”

“No, Jongdae. You just forced unto him that from Ace. We all know which coffee shop Junmyeon loves, no?”

And so here he is, about to face the biggest challenge in his life so far- venturing into the-coffee-shop-that-must-not-be-named. All for Suho.

All for Suho.

Chen takes a deep breath and pushes the doors that lead into the wretched place, the scent of caffeine and the sight of cramming students greeting him.

Huh, this isn’t so bad. Chen thinks, surveying the interior of the shop. But he stops himself short when he sees how much a cup of hot chocolate costs. Jesus mary joseph, does their hot chocolate come with a private Super Junior concert or something? That is expensive!

“Good morning, sir. What would you be having today?” The barista asks Chen, smiling brightly as if nothing was wrong with the world.

Chen thinks back to the very first day he met Suho. “A Caramel Frappuccino. In a to-go cup, please.” He replies, because it was a Caramel Frappuccino Suho spilt on him that day. He was kind of a romantic that way.

“Anything else, sir? No? Okay, that would be-“

Chen tries not to faint when he hears how much the Caramel Frappuccino costs, chanting All for Suho in his head over and over again.

***

“I’ve got the damn coffee, now what?”

“Now,” Luhan says, placing Ace in front of Chen, “You confess.”

“Holy , Luhan!” Chen whispers furiously as his eyes dart around the shop, “Why the hell did you take Ace? The barista’s going to ing murder you!”

Luhan places a hand on Chen’s shoulder as he smiles ominously, “Relax, I already asked for permission from Kris. He’s not a scary guy, you know. He’s just like you actually, an idiot in love.” Luhan claps his hands and continues, “Anyway, let’s get with the program. I want you to practice confessing to Ace, ‘cause I don’t trust your mouth. Go!”

Chen glares at Luhan, but he can’t help thinking that the guy’s right. Even he doesn’t trust his own mouth. Chen looks at the stuffed toy in front of him and shrugs. No harm in going through this ordeal.

“Suho. When was the last time you dated? Because seriously, you always seem to be available when I call you-“

“Eeeng! Try again. This time, try not to rub it in Junmyeon’s face that he’s single. Geez.”

“, fine. Suho, I dream about you on top of me. No wait that came out wrong.”

Luhan shudders, “Jongdae, no one wants to know about your wet dreams. Be romantic, damn it. Just tell him how you feel.”

Chen takes a deep breath and thinks about Suho- the way he would always take care of him, even though Chen acted like an most of the time. The way Suho doesn’t get angry at him despite his relentless teasing. The way Suho always, always lends an ear to Chen whenever he wanted to rant about the latest from the indie music scene. And best of all, the way Suho had been there for Chen through thick and thin, never leaving his side.

Chen grips the Caramel Frappuccino tightly as he smiles nervously at Ace, “Suho. You…vibrate me, as well. I love you. Please go out with me. Please.”

“Jongdae?”

No, no, no, no, no, Chen is not ready yet, because is that-? Oh. Oh .

Junmyeon looks down at his shirt, now covered with the Caramel Frappuccino Chen had so excruciatingly bought at the-coffee-shop-that-must-not-be-named. Junmyeon looks at Chen and laughs awkwardly, “Ha-ha. Wow, deja-vu?”

Chen gurgles something incoherent and makes a run for it. He hits himself later on in the head for not even apologizing to Suho.

Way to go, Chen.

***

                Chen could give James Bond a run for his money with the way he had been ducking into trees and blending with the crowd for the past few days. It was pretty fun actually, hiding and all. Plus, he was able to annoy that tall kid, Chanyeol, whom he kept on using as shield. That was definitely a bonus. But what made the whole ‘007 feel’ though was that he had no one to share his thoughts of becoming a spy to. Suho was usually the only one who would willingly listen to Chen with crap like this.

Chen misses Suho.

***

“Oh my god, just talk to each other, okay? If he rejects you, then he rejects you. If he accepts your confession, then yay,” Luhan grabs his hair and wails, “Just do something! My readers are waiting for an update. Do not disappoint my fans.”

Chen does not dignify Luhan with a response but moodily drowns his fourth cup of coffee instead. After gulping every drop, he slams down the cup on the table and lets out a startled yelp when he notices Suho sitting next to him. And…is that Ace on the table?

Junmyeon’s attention is all on the stuffed alpaca when he starts to talk, “Jongdae. You are an idiot.” Junmyeon shakes his head and clears his throat, his attention still on Ace, “Jongdae. There have been countless nights where I wake up and it’s your name that’s on my lips.” Junmyeon bites his bottom lip and pets Ace, “Jongdae. Jongdae, you remembered. It was Caramel Frappuccino, right? The first time we met?” He stops caressing Ace and lets out a sigh, “Please stop ignoring me, Jongdae. I miss you.”

Then finally, finally, Junmyeon turns to Chen and gives him a hesitant smile, “And, if it’s not too late, I’d like to take you up on that offer. Because…you still vibrate me, Kim Jongdae. And you probably always will.” Junmyeon shyly takes Chen’s hand into his own, “Is… is this okay?”

“YES! Now make out so I could finally draw something!”

Chen thinks he and Luhan are now connected in a spiritual level because how could he have known that was what Chen wanted to do next? He agrees to the deranged boy’s request and the taste of Suho’s mouth on his? Indescribable.

Someone taps Luhan’s back and it takes Luhan a whole lot of self-restraint not to get livid because hello, too busy drawing his friends who are getting hot and heavy here.

“Sorry for bothering you but could I, like, have Ace back? My friend works here and he says if his manager finds out that that thing’s gone, he’d get fired.”

Luhan nods absentmindedly. It was getting in his way of drawing, anyway. He grabs Ace and s it into the hands of the puppy-boy. “Here you go, um?”

Puppy-boy grins as he stretches out a hand for Luhan to shake, “Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun.”