The morning was a crisp one, and Taekwoon and Hakyeon were en route to their usual morning hangout. Taekwoon had passed by the quaint coffee shop while taking a different route home from school about half a year ago. When he took Hakyeon there for the first time the man had absolutely loved it. Hakyeon immediately made stopping in the shop for coffee or hot chocolate a necessary part of their Sunday morning routine.

They had returned from Busan the day before and were relaxing on their last free day before work began anew. Minyung and Hongbin were disgustingly in love and had left for their honeymoon in high spirits. Heesun had pouted at Hakyeon, trying to convince them to stay longer, but they really couldn’t. Taekwoon quietly reminded her that Baekhyun, the man in the rumpled suit from the reception, had agreed to a date soon, so she wouldn’t even miss them. Their trip home had gone without incident, and while they were more than happy to see Taekwoon’s family, the couple was a little relieved to return to their routine.

This particular Sunday morning, Taekwoon followed Hakyeon down the stairs toward the shadowed front door. Ravi’s was actually below ground, the basement level of the building that had a scrapbooking store above.                                                       

“Welcome! What can I get for you this morning?” Ken asked pleasantly as soon as he recognized the couple.

Hakyeon smiled in return. “Good morning, Ken! How are you? Can we both get medium hot chocolates, please?” Taekwoon had the exact change ready to go and handed the money to Ken. “Oh it’s the same old around here,” the barista replied, “The boss picks on me, works me like a slave…” Ken took the cash, rang up their drinks, and popped the money into the till.

“Just call for mutiny,” Hakyeon chuckled.

“It wouldn’t really work. There’s only one employee other than me,” Ken sighed. “Two medium hot chocolates, coming right up! Whipped cream?” Hakyeon nodded while Taekwoon quietly declined. He always asked just in case Taekwoon changed his mind. “It’ll just be a minute or two. Go ahead and sit down,” Ken said before disappearing into the back. The sounds of clinking dishware and the whirring of shining machines drifted into the café proper.

Taekwoon and Hakyeon turned to the back of the room toward three sets of high tables and chairs. They chose the table closest to the counter and slung their jackets over the backs of their seats. Settling in, they only had to wait a few minutes before Ken popped back up with their drinks.

He carefully skirted around the counter, eyes on the steaming mugs of hot chocolate in his hands, and made his way over to their table. They were the only customers in the café, so he didn’t mind bringing their drinks out. “If you need anything, just holler,” the barista cheerfully instructed, depositing the mugs and taking a step back. “Thanks,” Hakyeon said, smiling again.

Taekwoon took his mug gratefully, warming his hands on the sides. He glanced up at Hakyeon, who had his eyes closed and was smiling gently. He hadn’t taken a sip yet, unwilling to deal with the inevitable burn on his tongue, but he appeared content. “I love coming here, especially with you,” he said quietly, not wanting to break the blanket of tranquility that had fallen over the café.

“Me too.”

They sat in the quiet warmth of the café, basking in each other and their rich drinks in a world that seemed to run on its own time, separate from the chaotic and cold reality outside.

Suddenly, their tranquility was interrupted by another employee approaching the table. Hakyeon and Taekwoon looked up, a little surprised to see the café’s owner, Ravi. “Hi!” he greeted them, “It’s good to finally see you two again. I think I miss you every time you come in. How’s Ken doing?”

“He hasn’t dropped a plate yet,” Hakyeon replied, not even trying to conceal his chuckles. Taekwoon nodded a little, and surprisingly, spoke up. “The hot chocolate is always good.”

“Oh, a compliment from Taekwoon!” Ravi crowed, “We must really being doing well. Anyway, I’m glad to have you guys come in all the time. It’s good to have eyes on Ken when I’m not around.” Ravi smiled genuinely, looking happy and relaxed. Though he seemed a little young to own his own business, he was outgoing and smart enough to pull it off. Ravi was about six foot tall, a blonde with tight curls contained in a loose black beanie. Though he was technically at work, he wasn’t in any sort of uniform. He was simply wearing a long sleeve white tee with blue stripes, clean jeans, and scuffed black boots.

“Yeah, Ravi’s is kind of like home away from home,” Hakyeon offered, gesturing to the rest of the room. “It’s really unique, and a great place to relax.”

“Thanks,” Ravi returned, looking flattered. “If you need anything, Ken doesn’t work too hard, so feel free to bother him. In fact I almost insist so I can finally get my money’s worth out of him.” He glanced to the back, where they heard a faint offended noise. Hakyeon chuckled while Taekwoon remained blank faced, and Ravi smiled again before returning behind the counter.

Taekwoon and Hakyeon continued to sip on their hot chocolates, mostly silent, but occasionally murmuring an observation or comment. Their beverages were just getting to the point where they could drink without scalding their tongues. Hakyeon finished first, as he always did, and spent a minute or two making sure he’d all of the whipped cream off the rim of the mug. Satisfied, he set his mug to the side and rested his cheek on a closed fist, gazing amusedly at Taekwoon.

Taekwoon always had the most serious look of concentration on his face when he drank his cocoa, like it took all of his focus and then some to drink it just right. He always seemed offended when Hakyeon made a comment about it, but he continued to drink his hot chocolate very slow and thoughtfully, savoring the rich flavor.

Hakyeon grinned, unable to help it when faced with Taekwoon’s adorable serious face. He went to make a smart- comment that would surely get him glared at, arm sweeping out to gesture, and knocked his empty mug straight off the table. It smashed onto the old wood floor with a brilliant crash, startling Hakyeon and making him jump. He immediately scooted back, chair scraping across the floor. Taekwoon stood as well. Embarrassed and glad there were only a few people in the café, Hakyeon gently swept the ceramic debris into a pile with the side of his shoe. He leaned down and placed all of the smaller pieces into the base of the mug, which was still intact. Taekwoon hovered off to the side, unsure of what he should do.

“Ow!” Hakyeon yelped, pulling his finger away and sticking it in his mouth. The warm tang of coppery blood slid across his tongue and he swallowed. Glancing down, he saw a small, razor-sharp ceramic shard tipped in red.

Ravi hurried around the counter with a broom and dustpan. “Are you alright?” he asked Hakeyon, having heard the yelp of pain. Hakyeon nodded, inspecting his finger, which continued to bleed. Ravi turned back and shouted, “Ken, would you grab the first aid kit and bring it out, please?” They heard a vague noise shouted back and took it for assent.

Taekwoon stood next to Hakyeon, who had stepped back to let Ravi move closer. He offered a napkin to his husband to slow the bleeding because he didn’t approve of Hakyeon sticking it in his mouth. Hakyeon took the napkin and looked down, fiddling with it. Taekwoon absent mindedly rubbed this finger with his thumb; sympathy pain made his own fingers ache. Ken scurried around the counter with the plastic first aid kit. Taekwoon gently pulled the napkin away from Hakyeon’s hand as Ken popped open the kit and pulled out the various cleaning supplies and bandages.

“It doesn’t look like it’ll need stitches, but we’ll wrap it up tight. I wouldn’t recommend doing any hard work with that finger,” Ravi stated calmly while inspecting the clean cut across the pad of Hakyeon’s finger. Hakyeon chuckled despite himself.

“Before you hurt your hands again, let us finish cleaning up the mug,” Ken insisted as he grabbed the broom and dustpan and scooted closer to sweep up the mess.

After a rush of high-pitched tinkling, the barista moved away, carefully balancing the heavy ceramic pieces in the dustpan. Hakyeon looked up as if struck. “I have to pay you back for the mug!” he exclaimed. Ravi looked a little taken back and confused for a moment before laughing. “Don’t worry about it,” he assured them. “If that was my policy, Ken would be working for free!”

They heard a shocked and indignant, “Hey!” from the counter where Ken had retreated.

“As long as you’re sure…” Hakyeon trailed off guiltily, his uninjured hand resting on his pocket where his wallet resided.

Ravi patted Hakyeon’s shoulder, nodding at Taekwoon. “I’m very sure. We’ll finish cleaning up, so don’t worry about it. Accidents happen.”

Hakyeon sighed and Taekwoon rested a hand on the back of his neck, providing a measure of comfort. Hakyeon smiled a little. “I suppose we’ll go then,” he said, “Don’t want to make more of a mess than I already have.” Taekwoon couldn’t help but to smile at that. In all truth, Hakyeon was a little bit of a walking disaster. “Thanks for your kindness,” the quiet man addressed Ravi before nodding once and turning to go. “Yeah, thank you very much,” Hakyeon added. He gave a short little wave and turned to follow.

“Hopefully we’ll see you guys next Sunday!” Ravi called, smile clear in his voice.

Taekwoon pushed the heavy front door open and held it for Hakyeon, who followed close behind. A bright grin slipped onto Hakyeon’s face. It was adorable that Taekwoon wanted to take care of him because he got hurt. The pair trotted up the steps and headed down the sidewalk toward their house. Hakyeon was embarrassedly reliving the mug incident in his head when his foot caught a crack in the sidewalk and he pitched forward. He caught himself on the palms of his hands, barely avoiding smashing his nose into the cement.

Taekwoon watched him go down, not fast enough to catch him. His hands burned, as if not being able to help was physically painful.

Hakyeon sat on the cement, even more embarrassed and annoyed, and inspected his scraped hands. Above him, Taekwoon mirrored the action with his own hands. He rubbed his them on his jeans and knelt down next to Hakyeon. Tugging his husband’s hands closer, Taekwoon scrutinized the raw scrapes, looking for gravel. They seemed to be relatively clean. He could wait to wash them until they got home since it would only be a couple of minutes.

“This is clearly not my day,” Hakyeon complained. “I feel like I should sit in a really soft chair in an empty room and not move,” he added morosely.

Taekwoon stared at Hakyeon blankly, not disagreeing. After a minute he tugged on Hakyeon’s arm, pulling him from the sidewalk so he wouldn’t push himself up using his hands. Hakyeon tried to continue walking, but Taekwoon barred him with an arm. “Check for cracks,” he said, voice carrying the subtlest hint of mocking. Hakyeon huffed, but dutifully checked the sidewalk for dangerous cracks, bumps, unevenness, and debris. Once the way was clear, the pair continued toward home.

Back in the café, Ken was sweeping up the last of the tiny shards of broken mug that were sprinkled across the tile. He tapped the dustpan into the trash, making sure none of the pieces bounced back out. Ravi had disappeared not a minute ago claiming, “I need some fresh air.”

Ravi leaned against the rough brick of his building, arms crossed. The afternoon air was cool on his face and neck. He watched as Hakyeon and Taekwoon straightened themselves and continued down the sidewalk. A second later, he was gone.

***

It was close to closing time and Ken just wanted to go home. He really didn’t mind spending a quarter of his day in this lovely little cave nestled into the ground, but sometimes he just wanted to go home, cuddle in his blankies, and embrace glorious sleep.

He stopped sweeping for a moment to settle his hands on the end of the broom handle and rest his cheek on them, smushing his face. He could fall asleep right there, he was sure. Ken heard the rattle of a door opening, but decided to ignore it in favor of immediate sleep.

“Are you slacking off again?” Ravi called out, a smile in his voice. He stood by the front door, knuckles white around the not insubstantial weight of the chalkboard sign that announced his café.

Face still disfigured and left eye practically gone behind a flab of cheek, Ken just groaned.

“I know you want to go home, but you have to finish sweeping, you lazybones.” Ravi leveled a look at Ken, who couldn’t see it anyway.

The barista released an overly dramatic sigh and his thin body slumped. The broom handle did a surprisingly good job of supporting his dead weight. Ravi set the signboard down next to the front door with a clatter and plodded over to Ken’s sad figure.

Lips twitching into a smile, Ravi nudged the bottom of the broom out from under the center of Ken’s weight. He kept a keen eye on Ken, whose eyes were fluttering as he desperately pretended to be awake. The man jerked and almost fell over when the broom shot out from under him. He let out an undignified yelp as he caught himself and regained his balance.

The bang of the broom crashing to the floor was obnoxiously loud in the quiet space of the café and to Ken’s sleepy ears. Trying to hide his smile, Ravi tried his best to glare at Ken, who scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and laughed awkwardly.

Without warning Ravi straightened, shoulders tense and face serious, and looked past his employee. Eyebrows furrowed, Ken twisted around to see if Ravi had seen something terrible that he was going to be blamed for, but there was only the rough red brick of the wall. He turned back around and his slight frown deepened at the sight of Ravi’s almost vacant stare.

Ken slowly put his hand in front of Ravi’s face, waving slightly. “Are you okay?” he asked tentatively.

There was a few seconds of silence, but Ravi eventually responded, still staring at something only he could see with back and shoulders rigid.

“I need to get some fresh air,” Ravi said, sounding distracted and like he hadn’t even thought about the words spilling from his mouth. “Uh, I’ll be back in bit. Keep working, okay?”  He spun around and made a bee line for the front door.

Ken stared at Ravi’s back as the door thumped closed behind him. “Again?” he asked the empty café. Despite how clumsy and silly Ken could be, he wasn’t a complete idiot. He knew something was up with Ravi. This wasn’t the first time Ravi had gotten that weird off-in-the-distance look for a moment then ‘went out to get some air.’ Ken’s limp hand still hovered in the air, formerly in front of Ravi’s face. It formed into a fist as he solidified his resolve.

“Fighting!” Ken whispered, and did a small fist pump while looking incredibly determined.

Ken slipped out of the café as carefully as he could, gliding up the set of concrete stairs that led to the coffee shop. He took care to make his steps quiet and smooth so he wouldn’t be heard by his target. His face was pinched in concentration, hyper aware of every limb and its placement to ensure silence and stealth. Ravi would never see him coming, and answers would be discovered tonight.

Ken slowly peeked above the top step, almost lying down so only a sliver of his head was visible from the sidewalk above.

He zeroed in on Ravi’s bright striped shirt in the darkness and watched as he hustled around the corner of the building. Ken could feel his pulse pounding in his throat. The air felt electrified, pregnant with potential, as if the night was watching over his shoulder, eager to see and consume whatever Ravi had in store for them. Grit pressed into Ken’s anxious hands.

He waited, trying to leave enough time so Ravi wouldn’t see him scuttle around the corner. After what felt like years where Ken counted every thumping beat of his heart, he gingerly padded up the stairs and glued himself to the outside wall of the building. He spread his arms in an attempt to become flatter and less visible in his position crouched in the shadows. As he slowly crept to the edge of the wall, the concealing shadows brightened and the edges fell into sharp relief. There was a bright source of light around the corner.

Odd. There are no new streetlights over there, Ken thought. What could possibly going on? He thought Ravi had disappeared to have a smoke and was too embarrassed by the bad habit to admit it to his employee. Or maybe he’d scheduled a secret rendezvous with some attractive older woman. Heck, Ken would probably believe that Ravi had gone to practice some secret dance moves in private. Approaching the origin of the curious light, Ken poked his head around the corner much the same way he’d peeked over the top of the stairs. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. Ken’s mind was blown.

An orb of pure white light was hovering a scant few inches above Ravi’s open hand. It bobbed gently in an invisible wind, its glow almost affectionate. The café owner himself smiled gently at the white orb and slowly drew it closer. It followed Ravi’s movement, resting at a constant distance of about three inches above his flat palm as if repulsed like the opposite ends of a magnet.

Ken continued to stare in shock, eyes squinting at the brightness, as Ravi brought the light closer to his chest. As it drifted closer to his body, the light grew brighter until it resembled a miniature sun and Ken’s eyes started to water. The side of Ravi’s hand bumped into his chest and stopped, but the light continued on, slowly vanishing into Ravi’s body.

The light sank further and further into Ravi’s chest, close to his heart, encouraged along by the man until his palm was pressed firmly against his shirt. Ravi gasped softly and his chin tilted up. He began to glow, lit up from the inside. Ravi’s eyes were sightless, trained at the sky and glowing a hot, pure white as if the sun had dripped down and filled his human form like an empty glass.

It felt like some unknown tension finally snapped because the light within Ravi started to dim. Ken realized he should get as far away from the scene as possible before Ravi caught him. Swiftly pulling his head back from the corner of building, he stealthily made his way back into the café. He stooped over to pick up the broom that remained on the floor and continued sweeping. He put his back to the door as he worked in an attempt to contain the blown-away look that he knew was plastered across his face.

Ravi stalked into the café, heavy front door opening as easily as if it were made of paper. He didn’t say anything at first, but shot Ken an unimpressed, knowing look. Neither of them were stupid and that look had told Ken loud and clear that his presence had been noticed. As subtle as Ken tried to be, he had still been an entire head poking out from the corner. Instead of confronting the barista, however, Ravi decided to let it be.

“Did you take another mini nap while I was gone?” he asked instead, poking at Ken’s side. Ken jumped a bit more that he usually would, mind still buzzing and attempting to get over the unbelievable scene he’d stumbled upon. He tried not to look in Ravi’s eyes, afraid he’d find an inhuman glow or just as bad, anger and disappointment.

Grateful for the excuse provided, Ken stuttered something, he wasn’t even sure what. “Yeah. I’m just so tired,” he whined, letting his arms flop to his sides. His heart was still pounding and he was almost sure that Ravi would be able to hear it.

Ravi chuckled. His teeth were bright white. “Well, since you’re so tired, you big baby, I’ll let you go.”

Ken instantly perked up at the news and threw his arms in the air with a cheer. Removing of his apron with a flourish, he smiled as he walked to the back to throw it in a hamper and fetch his coat. Ken borderline skipped out of the café with a cheerful smile and bouncing hair, coat in hand to combat the lingering cold. Yanking the door open and throwing Ravi a jaunty wave, he jovially called out, “Bye!” and hastily beat it.

Ravi couldn’t resist calling out a smart comment to Ken’s retreating coattails: “Make good decisions! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

After the door softly thumped closed and the hush of the night settled on his shoulders, Ken’s mind instantly shot back to what he had seen. As it stood, he had no idea what the hell he’d seen. That light wasn’t natural; it wasn’t anything he’d ever seen in real life. Heck, the only things that came close were fantasy movies. The entire event raised questions that Ken didn’t want to risk asking. Ravi would have told Ken if he wanted him to know.

There was one question on his mind: what is Ravi, if he can do that? Is he even human?

Ravi seemed like a normal person. He consumed things, went to the bathroom. He had feelings and expressions like any other person Ken had ever met, except for the whole I-absorb-light-into-myself thing.

Ken, with all of these thoughts whirling in his head, hurried down the deserted streets. He pondered the entire situation and decided when he went back to work and Ravi acted like a normal human being, he wouldn’t confront him about it.

Overall, the night had been alright. Ken always enjoyed a bit of espionage.