Kyungsoo makes an okay latte, Chanyeol supposes. He even agreed to add extra caramel one day when Chanyeol asked. His hot chocolate’s not bad, either. But he looks at his large eyes underneath the feathery black ends of his hair and his plush pair of lips and he can’t help but wish that one of these days, he’d greet Chanyeol with something more than a monotone “What can I get for you?”

Today, Kyungsoo asks the question without even looking at him. He’s rearranging something behind the counter and Chanyeol hums to himself as he scans the menu posted up on the back wall above Kyungsoo’s head.

“I’ll have a pumpkin latte, please,” he says eventually.

Kyungsoo wordlessly prepares it for him and Chanyeol watches how his small hands deftly work the espresso machine. He thinks that he’d like to hold one of Kyungsoo’s hands, just to see how tiny it would feel in his own. He realizes that his line of thought is getting slightly creepy and he lifts his eyes back up to Kyungsoo’s face as he hands him his drink.

“Thank you,” Chanyeol says brightly, showing most of his teeth. Kyungsoo nods at him and goes back to rearranging the counter display.

A little disheartened, but not ready to concede defeat, Chanyeol carries his latte to a table in the corner of the library cafe and pulls out his laptop. He mostly concentrates on his homework, but he finds his gaze periodically sweeping back over to the boy behind the counter. He tries to catch Kyungsoo’s eye once or twice, but he never even glances in Chanyeol’s direction.

Eventually, he stands up and shrugs on his jacket. “Bye, Kyungsoo,” he chirps. He recycles his empty coffee cup and sticks in his earphones as he walks outside.

Chanyeol both likes and dislikes routine. Maybe it’s comforting to walk the same path to class every day, to have your coffee at the same time every morning, to know where you’re going next and to never be caught off guard. But Chanyeol doesn’t always order the same drink because he likes to mix it up according to the season and his mood. He likes that he sees most of the same people every day, but he wouldn’t mind being introduced to someone new every day either, or at least to a new side of someone.

That’s what he thinks about when he walks into the library cafe the next morning, determined to get Kyungsoo to brighten up.

“How are you?” he asks Kyungsoo cheerfully, tossing his bangs out of his eyes so he can see the other boy clearly.

“I’m good, thanks,” Kyungsoo mumbles in response.

Chanyeol waits.

“That’s good. I’m good, too,” he supplies when the barista doesn’t ask how he is back. “It’s a nice day today,” he continues, watching Kyungsoo shuffle around as he mixes his coffee. “Not too cold, but not too hot. Just right. Don’tcha think?”

Kyungsoo gives a little nod, almost imperceptible, but Chanyeol’s been squinting at him like he’s trying to read the whiteboard from the back row of a classroom without his glasses on, so he notices. He also notices when Kyungsoo adds exactly three pumps of hazelnut syrup to Chanyeol’s latte, the amount he likes.

“You remembered how much syrup I like!” he says fondly.

“I have a pretty good memory,” Kyungsoo says as he slides the finished drink across the counter. Chanyeol feels like he might be on the verge of a breakthrough.

Chanyeol’s not sure what causes it, or if there’s even any one cause in particular. One day, Kyungsoo asks him, “What can I get for you?” the same way he always does, with that same bored-looking expression that he always wears, and Chanyeol just snaps.

“You’re really cute,” he blurts out, surprising Kyungsoo, who widens his already round eyes at him. “I think your smile is probably really cute, too.”

“Um, thanks?” Kyungsoo says, like he’s unsure if that was really a compliment or not. There’s a long moment in which Kyungsoo keeps staring at him and Chanyeol stares back, waiting for some kind of reaction that’s a little more satisfying.

“So….are you going to order anything?” he asks finally.

Chanyeol feels like jumping over the counter, grabbing Kyungsoo’s face, and kissing that poker-straight mouth right off of it.

“What’s your surname?” Chanyeol demands.

Kyungsoo blinks once. “Do,” he answers.

“I bet I can get you to smile, Do Kyungsoo,” he declares. “I don’t care how long it takes, I’m going to come to this cafe every day, even after I graduate if I have to, until you show me your smile.”

Kyungsoo clears his throat. “Er...I’m really sorry...there’s another customer waiting behind you, so if you’re not going to order anything, could you maybe um…”

Chanyeol turns around slowly and catches sight of Byun Baekhyun, his lower lip scrunched up between his teeth like he’s trying really hard not to laugh.

Baekhyun does laugh once they’re seated at a table far away from Kyungsoo and out of earshot. “Please tell me you didn’t actually say what I thought I heard you say,” he says in between fits of laughter.

Chanyeol groans and buries his head in his arms on the table in response. “Out of all the people who could have witnessed that, it had to be you?”

“I need my coffee,” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol hasn’t lifted his head but he can still hear him snickering.

Eventually, Baekhyun clears his throat. “Oh come on, it wasn’t really that bad.”

“Yes it was,” Chanyeol moans. Some lint from his sweater gets in his mouth and he splutters.

“Channie,” Baekhyun appeals again, “look at me.”

Chanyeol squeezes his eyes shut even though Baekhyun can’t see them anyway. “No.”

“Don’t give up,” Baekhyun says, with so much sincerity that Chanyeol slowly straightens in his chair again. “Maybe he’ll smile at you so you’ll leave him alone.”

Baekhyun dissolves into laughter again and Chanyeol thinks there’s no way he’s going to get through today without any caffeine.

Nonetheless, it takes more than a poorly received declaration of cuteness and his jerk of a best friend to get the better of Park Chanyeol. He waltzes into the cafe the next morning like a man on a mission.

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow when Chanyeol orders a double shot cappuccino. “Are you sure you need that much espresso?” he asks. “You’re awfully...peppy, for so early in the morning.”

“Yes, I am quite sure,” Chanyeol says. “I’m just happy to see you. Are you happy to see me?” he prods, turning his own smile up to full wattage.

“Seventy-five cents’ your change,” the barista says expressionlessly.

He holds the coins out to him, but Chanyeol gently bends Kyungsoo’s fingers to close back over his palm. “You keep it,” he says. Kyungsoo’s hand really is so much smaller than his, Chanyeol thinks as he takes his own back.

“Thanks,” Kyungsoo says, dropping the change into the tip jar before turning around to make Chanyeol’s cappuccino.

Chanyeol feels his own smile start to slip away more and more until his expression’s bordering on sad puppy territory. He let Kyungsoo keep the change. If that hadn’t gotten a smile out of him, he didn’t know what would.

The next time Chanyeol orders a cappuccino, Kyungsoo asks if he wants a double shot. Or maybe a triple. “No, just a regular one will be fine,” Chanyeol answers, blinking at him.

“You look tired today,” Kyungsoo says. “Just thought I’d offer.”

“Ha. Thanks,” Chanyeol says sarcastically.

Kyungsoo hands him his receipt and maybe Chanyeol’s imagining it but he thinks Kyungsoo stares at him a moment too long. “It’s because you’re not smiling,” Kyungsoo eventually says. “Why aren’t you smiling?”

Chanyeol hesitates, shifting his weight to his other foot. Apparently Kyungsoo thinks he’s not going to answer because he just starts preparing Chanyeol’s order like he never asked any question.

“Because I can’t get you to smile!” Chanyeol bursts out, yelling at Kyungsoo’s back.

Kyungsoo abruptly stops pouring the milk and sets down the pitcher, but he doesn’t turn back around. Suddenly, Chanyeol’s a little scared. Kyungsoo might be small, but he gets the feeling he’s stronger than he looks and he thinks maybe he crossed some kind of line messing with him like this.

Kyungsoo starts to turn around and Chanyeol is running away and out of the cafe before he can consider the consequences of another caffeineless morning.

He finds a secluded place to sit on the upper level of the library, but he can’t concentrate on any of his work for the life of him because he keeps thinking about Kyungsoo and he starts nodding off by midmorning. He wonders when Kyungsoo’s shift finishes. Maybe he could sneak back downstairs and get some coffee when the other barista, Joonmyun, is working. That guy smiles all the time.

It’s somewhere in the middle of these thoughts that he falls asleep for real. He wakes back up to someone gently shaking his shoulder and the scent of espresso. He blinks up at whoever it is, and he must still be asleep because he swears he sees Kyungsoo holding a coffee cup and peering down at him.

“Hey,” Kyungsoo says, setting the cup down on the table in front of Chanyeol. “Um...I just…didn’t want you to pay for your coffee without, you know, actually getting the coffee. There were a lot of customers after you left and I couldn’t get away, so it might not be warm anymore. Sorry.”

“Oh, well, I, wow, um, that’s ok,” Chanyeol stutters. “Thank you.”

Kyungsoo slowly sits down next to him on the ugly patterned library couch and Chanyeol gapes at him. “Want to know the real reason I haven’t shown you my smile?” he asks and Chanyeol just nods dumbly since this totally isn’t real anyway.

“If you got what you wanted, you’d have no reason to come back anymore,” Kyungsoo says. “And...I really wanted you to keep coming back.”

“Am I dreaming?” Chanyeol feels he has to ask.

Kyungsoo rubs his lips together. “I don’t know, let’s test it. Can you feel this?”

Kyungsoo leans forward and Chanyeol feels his eyes widen. “You’re not actually going to pinch me are - oh.” He has no choice but to stop talking when Kyungsoo kisses him full on the mouth.

He knows it’s not a dream, because he definitely feels it when Kyungsoo smiles against his lips.