A Difference in Circumstances

Jongwoon made himself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter. It was only 9:53 and the midday rush didn’t start until about eleven, so there weren’t many people inside the cafe. This meant that he, as the barista, didn’t have much to do at the moment so he indulged himself. A sigh escaped him as the warm liquid made its way down his throat. Owning a coffee shop had its merits.

He took in the pristine white walls and mostly wooden chairs and tables. It wasn’t anything special, but he felt comfortable here and thought his customers did too. In was the kind of place whose main attraction was its relaxed atmosphere and detachment in style from adjacent buildings. It drew people in.

Most of those that frequented the cafe Jongwoon knew by name, if not more closely. He was a talkative person by nature, so he tended to chat with his customers while preparing their drinks, unless it was the middle of the rush hour, then he tended to be polite smiles and quick hands. Because of such modus operandi, he had the privilege of having some insight into their lives. He enjoyed hearing about daily troubles and happy occurrences that he himself couldn’t experience from behind the counter, so he was more often than not the one prompting them to talk. Others had told him he was a good listener, so, from his perspective, it was a win-win situation.

Of course, there were people that he didn’t know a whole lot about. Like the ones who accidentally stumbled into his cafe in search of a quick cup of coffee and never came back, or those from neighboring businesses that really only came in during the worst rush hour, so he never had a real chance to start a conversation with them because of the hectic atmosphere. (It made him feel loved, the fact that they experienced such great rush hours) But even about those people he knew something. They were familiar faces with familiar orders that had little quirks of their own - like that one woman who wore a grey suit every day without fail and took her coffee black, but splurged on a vanilla latte whenever she was in an exceptionally good mood; and that clumsy guy who never managed to remember the orders of his friends correctly, even though they practically never changed. Knowing even that little about them erased the feeling that they were strangers.

Still, from time to time it would happen that he regretted talking to a person. A few months back, a woman in a fur coat had walked into Mouse Rabbit and proceeded to complain about virtually everything she’d set her eyes on. The complaints about the coffee and the color of the walls (or their lack of it) he’d taken in stride, but when she went on about chairs, windows and the amount of light, it had taken every ounce of control he possessed to remain calm. He’d gritted his teeth and had his fingers crossed during the whole exchange in hopes she would never walk in again. To this day she hadn’t and he was grateful she had complained about the coffee because that meant it was unlikely she ever would. If she did, he would probably end up tearing his hair out.

Aside from people he never wished to talk to again, there also existed people that he felt uncomfortable talking to. Some of them had a creepy vibe that put him off, while others made him feel too self-conscious of words leaving his mouth for him to turn into the chatterbox he usually was. One such confidence-reducing person was a student currently sitting in a window seat close to the entrance, absorbed by whatever it was he was doing on his laptop. Well, Jongwoon only assumed he was a student because he looked to be around that age and didn’t dress like a corporate worker.

The first time the student in question had walked into Mouse Rabbit, Jongwoon had rambled about the awful weather they were having that week while making his order. The student, who had just barely avoided the storm that was brewing outside, had only given him a look. It had made Jongwoon realize how much he’d been talking so he’d shut up. He’d exchanged the hot chocolate for money and the intense-look guy had left as soon as the weather had calmed. To say Jongwoon had been surprised when he’d seen him walk into the coffee shop again a few days later was an understatement. But he kept coming in so Jongwoon had resigned himself to raising the mental count of people he was awkward with by one.

It wasn’t that they didn’t talk at all, because the other had to place an order somehow, but their exchanges were brief. Jongwoon had still managed to somehow get his name out of him (Kyuhyun) and the reason he came so often (it was close and they had a good internet connection). He felt proud for managing to get even that much information, but he still wanted to know more. He had customers he knew less about, but they were nowhere near as interesting as Kyuhyun.

“Staring at him won’t make him notice you.”

Jongwoon rolled his eyes as he tuned to look at his coworker. He’d had this conversation way too many times. The empty cup he was holding found a new residence on the counter.

“Of course it won’t. It doesn’t need to. I make his coffee every day, he has to notice me.”

Ryeowook chuckled.

“Which is exactly why the only thing you know about him is his name?”

The younger yelped when a kitchen towel hit his upper arm, but laughed anyway.

Jongwoon had met Ryeowook around eight years ago due to strange ways destiny worked, and the two had hit it off immediately. They were three years apart and had virtually nothing in common, at least as far likes and dislikes went, but were both chatterboxes with a penchant for taking selcas and acting cute. Taking this into account, Jongwoon sometimes really wondered how they’d stayed friends throughout all these years. They’d gone to different universities and had vastly different career aspirations, but in the end Ryeowook had come to him for help while he waited for his big break in the business. He’d recently gotten his own place and was a bit tight on money so he’d found himself working as a barista in Jongwoon’s cafe. Not that it was something completely new as - he used to help out whenever one of Jongwoon’s employees got sick or was otherwise obstructed from coming to work. He also enjoyed kitchen work so Jongwoon didn’t have a reason not to hire him (he’d never been good at refusing him anyway).

Still, Jongwoon thought to himself as he reached to ruffle his hair, no matter how cute Ryeowook looked he was actually all mischief; mischief that was currently grinning at him.

“Though I must admit that this was a pretty good tactic,” the menace’s grin got wider, “I would have never figured you were one of those people that would cause a commotion deliberately in order to make someone else notice them.”

Jongwoon would have enjoyed wiping that cheeky grin off his face if he wasn’t busy fighting the color rising in his cheeks. Almost everyone in the coffee shop was watching their little squabble, including Kyuhyun. Deciding that at least some sort of revenge was still in order he settled on rubbing Ryeowook’s pilthrum. He almost laughed out loud at how fast his face fell when the space above his upper lip was molested. Ryeowook, however, was nowhere near happy with the development of the situation and his hand was forcefully pushed away.

“Do you have to do that hyung? It’s so weird,” he pouted. Jongwoon chuckled.

“But you’re so cute Ryeowook-ah, I couldn’t resist.”

The younger took a step back and crossed his arms.

“Well if you keep molesting me, I’m going to quit.”

“Understood. I’m sorry Ryeowook-ah, please forgive me”

Suspicious, the other squinted at him.

“That doesn’t sound sincere at all hyung”

Jongwoon pretended to be offended.

“Of course I’m sincere Ryeowook-ah! Who would spend most morning shifts with me if you left? I’d be lonely. Besides, Jongjin has some big field trip coming up so we’ll be short-staffed for two weeks; I need you here.”

He made the best lost puppy eyes he could muster. He’d never considered himself to be very good at aegyo, but Ryeowook was so weak against all things cute that it would be wrong not to use it against him.

“Aish! Fine, I’ll stay. But if your fingers come anywhere near my pilthrum again that’s the last you’ll see of me,” he pointed a threatening finger at him. Jongwoon raised his hands in surrender.

“Understood”

Ryeowook let out an exasperated sigh and reached for the dirty cup. Now that the play fight between him and Jongwoon was settled it wasn’t like there was anything interesting left to do, and he hated it when dishes piled up, much easier to clean them right away.

“Two weeks, huh? You going to get one of the girls to pull a double shift?”

“No idea. Jongjin’s not leaving until Monday; I’ll figure something out by then.”

“Hyung! It’s Wednesday already!”

Jongwoon shrugged.

“Considering we’re almost next-door neighbors with a university I thought there had to be at least one student that comes in here that wouldn’t mind the cash that working for two weeks could bring them. That’s pretty much how Rayeon started working here anyway.”

Ryeowook gaped at him. That was his plan?! How the hell was he so calm about it? If he didn’t find someone, they would all be dead by the time those two weeks were over. Overtime was something Ryeowook was not looking forward to putting in, and he thought other two girls weren’t either.

“Excuse me?”

Both of them turned around to face the figure on the other side of the counter and Ryeowook bit back a grin.

“Would you like to order again?”

It was amusing to watch his hyung spew out a sentence on autopilot when he was faced with the person who’d captured his interest lately. Ryeowook personally didn’t find him all that interesting. In fact, at first glance he looked quite boring, but he’d managed to throw his hyung off so he got points for bringing in some entertainment into their daily lives.

Jongwoon, on the other hand, was quite confused. Kyuhyun had never ordered twice during his visits to the cafe, and he had already paid for his coffee that day (not that Jongwoon really classified it as coffee considering how much nougat was in it). He just hoped he hadn’t overheard what he and Ryeowook were squabbling about earlier, that would make things between them even more awkward.

“No. I caught a part of your conversation from where I was sitting,” Oh hell, “and you mentioned needing a temporary worker?”

That was quite anticlimactic. And relieving.

“We did,” he nodded “you’re interested?”

Kyuhyun looked like he wanted to roll his eyes and say ‘obviously’, but settled for saying yes instead.

“That’s great! Yesung-hyung was going to leave us to die if you hadn’t showed up.”

Jongwoon rolled his eyes at Ryeowook’s dramatics. Of course Kyuhyun would find that of all things amusing.

“Have you got any prior experience?”

“Ah, no, not really.” He flashed them a small grin. “But I’ve been told that I’m a quick study.”

Jongwoon contemplated his answer. It was true that they needed a temp, and he definitely wanted to find out more about Kyuhyun and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. Just, he didn’t want to put his coffee shop on the line to do it.

“I guess we could work with that, couldn’t we hyung?” Ryeowook also looked thoughtful, but if he thought it could work out then Jongwoon felt like it was much less of a risk.

“Are you free Friday morning Kyuhyun-ssi?

Jongwoon kind of knew he was, since he almost always came in at that time.

“We could show you the ropes then and see how it goes. If you do okay we’ll discuss the working hours and payment.”

“Yeah, Friday’s fine.”

“Great!” Ryeowook clapped his hands. “Then it’s settled. Welcome to Mouse Rabbit Kyuhyun-ssi”

Jongwoon looked at him funny. Nothing was settled.

“Oh, we should introduce ourselves, I’m Kim Ryeowook and this here is Kim-“

“Yesung-ssi.”

Both looked at Kyuhyun surprised. Jongwoon blinked. Right, Ryeowook had called him that earlier. Still, quite bold of him to use his name before they were properly introduced.

“Please take care of me.” Kyuhyun bowed a little.

Jongwoon honestly felt like punching him. It seemed like he was laughing at them all this time with his bold speech but polite actions. However, seeing that there would be nothing to gain from punching him, except maybe momentary satisfaction, he only sighed.

“Just make sure you’re here on Friday at eight”

If that was too early for Kyuhyun, too bad. He’d simply have to deal with it, or forget about working here. He had unknowingly stepped on a particularly sensitive nerve of Jongwoon’s and this was the price for such an action. Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow at him.

“I will be.”

“We look forward to working with you!”

Trust Ryeowook to be so cheerful and pretend to ignore the tension.

“See you then.”

Jongwoon watched him walk out, and only tore his gaze away when he registered that Ryeowook was snickering next to him.

“What?”

He swore to himself that if Ryeowook brought up his inability to talk to Kyuhyun properly, there’d be consequences.

“Do you realize what this means hyung?

His right eyebrow went up. He couldn’t wait to be enlightened.

“You are one step closer to having an actual conversation with him.”

Jongwoon grinned back at him, and for a second Ryeowook was confused, but then the kitchen towel met his bare arm for the second time that morning and he was yelping again.

“And you obviously wish to hang out more with Lucy here,” it was a running joke of theirs to give foreign names to their kitchen towels, though he no longer really remembered what had started the practice, “and I really don’t mind fulfilling that wish of yours.”

Ryeowook inched back.

“Ah, hyung, I didn’t mean it like that-!”

All in all, that morning had gone by pretty well.

***

Jongwoon and Misun were serving their morning rush line when Kyuhyun walked into the cafe on Friday. The coffee shop owner was the first to notice him, so he waved him over, signaling for the other end of the counter. Kyuhyun nodded to show he understood and Jongwoon turned his attention back to an obviously sleep-deprived student and served her the coffee she’d ordered, sending her off with a good luck wish for her exam and a smile. Afterwards, he scanned the rest of the line. Mostly regulars.

“Can you take over? Our possible two-week hire just showed up,” he nodded towards the other end of the counter where Kyuhyun was waiting. Ryeowook grinned. He usually didn’t work this shift, but there was no way he was missing this.

“No problem. Just don’t blow this. He is kind of our last chance, you know?”

Jongwoon shook his head and walked over to let Kyuhyun in behind the counter.

“Hey.”

He smiled and tried to look as friendly as possible, despite the annoyance from their last encounter still lingering. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Kyuhyun really was their last chance. They’d tried to recruit during the last two days, but apparently exam season was coming up and no one really had time for a job, and he doubted that anyone who walked in during the weekend to relax would be willing to take on an extra responsibility. Therefore, he had to be nice since it would be bad if their last chance ran away before they managed to trap him with a contract.

“Morning.”

Seeing Kyuhyun look around the space he usually didn’t have access to made him relax a little.

“Let’s familiarize you with the surroundings first.”

Kyuhyun smiled.

“Sure.”

Judging by how nervous he actually seemed now that he was here, Jongwoon got the impression that he was also glad they were taking things slow. It made him seem more approachable, which in turn dispelled some of Jongwoon’s annoyance by reminding him he’d always been a little put off by the way Kyuhyun acted.

By the time Ryeowook had finished serving all the customers Kyuhyun pretty much knew where and what everything was. The way he was eyeing the espresso machine still made Jongwoon apprehensive, but he tried to shake it off. No sense in worrying about potential catastrophes before they’d even started this probation thing.

“How is it going?”

“We just finished going through the inventory.”

“Oh, then we get to make him serve the next customer that walks in?”

Kyuhyun looked confident enough to take on the challenge, but Jongwoon wasn’t so sure.

“Don’t you think we should first show him-”

All three heads turned when the front door opened. It seemed like luck was on Jongwoon’s side this time.

“That’s my father’s friend. Sorry Kyuhyun-ssi, I’ll be taking this one,” Ryeowook pouted in the background, “but why don’t you make a cup of coffee as you usually do while I serve Junkyung-ssi and we’ll take it from there?”

Jongwoon walked away not waiting for a reply. They’d barely avoided that potential catastrophe. He was going to strangle Ryeowook for suggesting that later.

Some minutes later when he’d finished catching up with Junkyung-ssi, served him and another student that had walked in in the meanwhile, he turned to see what those two were doing. Kyuhyun was walking towards him and holding a steaming cup of coffee, while Ryeowook was stifling his snickers in the back of his hand behind him. He raised an eyebrow at Ryeowook who just shook his head and continued laughing. Even though he was really sceptic now he still accepted the cup Kyuhyun gave him and brought it to his lips. He tried to keep from making a face, but judging from the way Ryeowook had practically fallen to the floor from laughing, he hadn’t been very successful.

He looked at Kyuhyun, who grimaced briefly, his ears red, and offered a weak “It hasn’t finished coffeemeltizing?” 

Jongwoon’s eyebrows shot into his hair.

“Coffeemeltizing?”

“Melting and turning into coffee?”

Jongwoon snorted. Ryeowook tried to catch some air in between laughing. He couldn’t decide if Kyuhyun was a genius for coming up with such a term or just a major fail. Either way, he was cute. He reached over for a spoon and stirred it in the cup, scraped the bottom and brought it out. It was full of the brown substance that had nowhere near finished melting. He couldn’t help but wonder just how much coffee Kyuhyun had put in the cup, and why for the love of God Ryeowook hadn’t stopped him. He set it aside to be tasted later (when it finished ‘coffeemeltizing’), or more likely, be thrown in the toilet.

“Let’s start with something easier, yeah?” he couldn’t help grinning. His life was going to get really ridiculous if they kept Kyuhyun around. He was kind of looking forward to it, even if it meant he would have to say goodbye to what was left of his nerves.

“And Ryeowook? Get off the floor, it doesn’t need further polishing.”

Kyuhyun snickered.

---

By the end of Kyuhyun’s probation shift, Jongwoon and Ryeowook believed they had stumbled upon the world’s worst coffee maker. Kyuhyun had somehow managed to keep messing up even though both Jongwoon and Ryeowook, and Misun when they were occupied, had showed him how to do it step by step. This meant that Jongwoon kept grimacing when tasting his concoctions and Ryeowook had ended on dishwashing duty because he wouldn’t stop snickering.

He’d been really concerned about how they were going to survive next two weeks, but thankfully their cashier seemed to favor Kyuhyun, so they’d settled on him taking the orders while others prepared them. At first, Kyuhyun had been very uptight, but by the end of the shift he’d relaxed and wasn’t so awkward anymore. He now also openly scowled at the espresso machine when it didn’t do what he wanted it to. Never in his life had Jongwoon seen someone at war with so many kitchen appliances at once. It was both concerning and amusing.

He was also relieved that Kyuhyun had asked about coming back again. Misun had looked at him like he was crazy when he’d drafted a contract for Kyuhyun to sign, but hadn’t said anything. Jongwoon, in all honesty, was just glad he wouldn’t have to find someone new by Monday. All he had to do instead was somehow reconcile Kyuhyun and all the stuff he was at odds with. It could have been worse (he hoped).

***

By Wednesday he’d more or less given up and assigned Kyuhyun to permanent cashier and dishwashing duty. As amusing it was to watch him grumble at stuff when things weren’t going his way, it would have been an economic suicide to keep letting him try, at least unsupervised. His two female employees were delighted by the new development, which in turn made Kyuhyun pout and him grin. He and Ryeowook were the ones who still took time to try and show him how to make simpler brews of coffee and tea when they weren’t crowded, while Rayeon and Misun made it their mission to take everything that wasn’t a finished order, money or dirty dishes out of his hands.

Kyuhyun turned out to be a cheeky thing (unsurprisingly) once he felt comfortable enough in his surroundings and it wasn’t unusual to see him grab things he wasn’t supposed to on purpose so others would try and get them back and put them somewhere safe and out of his reach. Most of the time Jongwoon didn’t mind this, at least he hadn’t until the carton of milk he needed was being waved in the air by Kyuhyun while a very annoyed Rayeon tried to get it back. Luckily for him, Jongwoon was tall enough to reach and grab it back. The troublemaker at least had the decency to look sheepish at his unamused look, which made him sigh.

“Don’t annoy your coworkers Kyuhyun.”

“Neh, Yesung-hyung.”

Somewhere between Saturday (because there had been no way they were letting him work on Monday armed only with the skillset he’d acquired on Friday) and today they had worked out that Kyuhyun was Jongwoon’s junior by four years after he had continually addressed Ryeowook informally and the other had snapped. He was now required to address both of them with hyung. He complied where Jongwoon was concerned, Ryeowook not so much. Jongwoon was just glad he’d gotten rid of the stiffness of addressing each other with ssi.

That aside, some rules had to be reinforced, so after contemplating it for a moment Jongwoon’s finger moved and settled above Kyuhyun’s upper lip. It was his favorite method of punishment. Misun laughed behind Kyuhyun’s back. He the spot until Kyuhyun finally pushed his hand away, scowling.

“It’s not nice to do things that annoy other people, even if you enjoy it.”

Kyuhyun gave him the stink eye, but didn’t protest otherwise. Jongwoon returned to his order.

He honestly hadn’t expected he would get so comfortable with their temporary addition considering that at first he couldn’t get two sentences out of him and had gone through a short period of being really annoyed with him afterwards. Still, he did, and he supposed it was largely due to Ryeowook assuming his position of the resident chatterbox, which had quickly dispelled the awkwardness between them. Jongwoon was still a little miffed that Ryeowook had managed to do it so quickly when he’d obviously been struggling with it, but their newfound amiability wasn’t without consequences. Jongwoon was sure that by the time Kyuhyun left they would all be suffering from rolled-back eyes. Kyuhyun’s jokes were simply that bad (but the dork still made him smile).

Another thing he was glad for was that aside from being playful with the staff, Kyuhyun had gotten more comfortable with their customers too. Which was extremely good since Jongwoon didn’t know what he would have done if Kyuhyun’s post at the cashier had also fallen through.

Earlier that morning a neighborhood ahjumma that owned a tacky little flower shop and adored Ryeowook had come in, immediately asking where ‘her sweet boy’ was and why Kyuhyun was there instead. Jongwoon had expected a disaster, but Kyuhyun had just grinned and replied that he’d been attacked by the villainous coffee machine and that Ryeowook was bravely fighting to defend his honor (he was actually in the back, checking up on the next batch of pastries). The woman had gushed about her ‘brave little boy’ all the while Jongwoon had been preparing her tea. He’d had to bite back a laugh when after paying for her order she’d pinched Kyuhyun’s cheek and called him cute too. All in all, their confusing and snarky, but utterly lovable addition had fit right in.

“! Goddamnit!”

Except for the whole not-able-to-make-coffee thing. Jongwoon threw a kitchen towel in the general direction of Kyuhyun’s shout.

Once the latte was served, Jongwoon had Rayeon man the counter while he checked up on Kyuhyun. He was surprised to see Ryeowook with him, since his shift had ended a while ago, but apparently he didn’t have anything important to do and had stayed to try and make Kyuhyun’s skills less miserable. Kyuhyun had managed to master instant coffee, so Ryeowook had, as far as he could discern from the chaos, tried to teach him how to make a frappuccino. Seeing as there was crushed ice and coffee everywhere, it hadn’t gone quite the way they’d expected it to. He patted Kyuhyun’s shoulder in consolation.

“Your kitchen hates me.”

“Just one and a half week more and you’ll never have to see it again. At least not from this side of the counter.”

Kyuhyun frowned.

“This is why I’m a music major and not a barista.”

“Music major? Really? Where?”

He looked at the suddenly chirpy Ryeowook, confused.

“Kondae, why?”

So Jongwoon had been right about him being a student.

“Kondae! I went there!”

“Really?”

And about his life being ridiculous. He took the towel from Kyuhyun’s hand and proceeded to clean the mess they’d decided to ignore.

“Yes,” Ryeowook laughed, “though I majored in composition.”

“I’m majoring in postmodern music, but we’ve had some basic composition classes with Park-seonsaengnim.” He made a face. Ryeowook laughed again.

“He can be a bit demanding,” the look Kyuhyun shot him expressed how he felt about that, “but he’s not so bad. Seo Minhee-ssi, now her classes were just awful.”

“I haven’t had her so far. Does she hold any undergrad courses?”

Over by the sink, Jongwoon shook his head amused. His cafe seemed to attract people in the art industry. Ryeowook was a pending composer, Misun was a makeup artist and Rayeon was into graphic design, though she only did that on the side since she was majoring in marketing because of her parents’ wishes. He was the only one that didn’t fit the bill at all, having a degree in business management. He would have gotten annoyed by this, but he couldn’t since it meant they all got along.

A group of people walked in and Jongwoon threw the kitchen towel back at Kyuhyun (poor John was being thrown around a lot lately), who turned, unamused, but then noticed the people and walked over to the cashier. Ryeowook took this as his cue to finally go home.

***

When the composer walked into the cafe for his shift two days later, Jongwoon felt weight settle in his stomach. He knew that grin. “Hyung~!” that followed only reinforced the feeling.

“What is it Ryeowook-ah?”

Whatever it was it wouldn’t be good. Although it wasn’t unusual for Ryeowook to aegyo his way into anything he wanted, using it on Jongwoon before he’d even made his request was. It made him anticipate a whole new level of mischief, since Ryeowook knew as well as he did that Jongwoon would let him do almost anything.

“Me and Kyuhyun have been talking and,” this really, really wouldn’t end well. They were both devils on their own, but together, “we think you should hold an open-mic night.”

That, that he hadn’t expected.

“A what?”

Ryeowook batted his eyelashes at him and explained, even though he knew full well that Jongwoon knew what an open-mic night was. They’d attended enough of them in their youth, before the karaoke places had taken over.

“An open-mic night. You know, you have a mike and everyone is allowed to step up and sing. Kind of like karaoke, but without the screen with lyrics.”

Jongwoon rubbed the bridge of his nose. Someone please tell him this wasn’t happening.

“I’ve talked with Misun and Rayeon and they think it’s a good idea too.”

“Ryeowook-ah, it’s not that the idea is bad, but,” it actually wasn’t, but it was something that Jongwoon wasn’t going to admit to himself just yet, “I just don’t think it suits this place, and even if it did, organizing such an event would be hell.” He willed the other to understand (Ryeowook of all people should know why Jongwoon would be against this), but the composer just kept smiling at his excuses.

“The music, the space, a different set of drinks, not to mention we would actually have to be sure that people were going to come in a large enough number for it to be profitable at all.” Even if he wasn’t against the idea, those were still things that would pose as a problem. “It’s not that simple.”

“But it is!” Ryeowook wasn’t giving this up.

“Me and Kyuhyun can get people to play the instruments and sing when no one else is brave enough to, that corner in the left is good enough of a spot for them to occupy,” Jongwoon glared at him even though he could picture that working out, “Rayeon said she could probably make some flyers for us and we could all advertise!”

He was suddenly aware that he was most likely the last to hear about this plan, which would in retrospect explain why he felt like everyone was walking on eggshells around him since yesterday.

“Ryeowook-ah, it’s still...”

“Please,” that tone of voice was unfair, “Kyuhyun felt that was the only way he could contribute.”

He’d almost forgotten the other brat was also involved in this. Still, the reasoning confused him. Ryeowook looked like he was battling with himself over what to say. He worried his lower lip between his teeth for a few seconds before he looked up at Jongwoon with big pleading eyes.

“He feels bad, since he’s only a temp and he’s caused us so much trouble,” his soft smile showed he didn’t agree with their maknae’s sentiments at all, “so he thinks this could be something he could do for you.”

Jongwoon didn’t remember ever hating Ryeowook as much as he did in that moment. There was no way he could say no to that and Ryeowook knew it.

“You two are working your asses off that night.” He glared for a good measure, but Ryeowook’s grin threatened to swallow his whole face anyway.

***

The following week was a chaos of organization. They’d settled on Thursday being the open-mic night since it was the only day Kyuhyun worked the late afternoon shift, so everyone was in a hurry to get things done until then. Flyers along with a bigger poster were finished first and were frantically spread around, which meant that Jongwoon was mostly dealing with curious customers and worrying over their inventory and whether to make a special menu for the night. Everyone else just kept randomly popping up with things they could do for the event.

True to Ryeowook’s word, Kyuhyun had found them some live music as Jongwoon had discovered when two guys, whose names he’d later learned were Siwon and Sungmin, had walked in to check the place out. Jongwoon had showed them the basement since that was where the event would ultimately take place. It provided for a much better atmosphere than that dingy left corner on the ground floor, and the two musicians agreed, visibly approving of the place. Jongwoon had been so nervous about them finding it inadequate, but they’d just asked about the placement of the instruments and the play hours. When they’d left with most of the specifics worked out Jongwoon felt like a weight had been taken off his chest. He was starting to hold this whole thing much too close to heart.

***

When Thursday finally rolled around, Jongwoon was a bundle of nerves. He was frantically triple checking everything, moving around haphazardly with people jumping out of his way. The night of the event and he was convinced everything was going to fail more than ever. He only really calmed down a bit when he saw Siwon and Sungmin along with two other guys enter the cafe. They’d brought instruments in earlier, but he’d still been afraid they would cancel on him at the last minute.

The basement had gone through quite some rearrangements. Aside from instruments and the place they’d designated as the stage, it now also sported a makeshift bar in the corner that only served alcohol and soft drinks; the tables were differently arranged to allow for a better view of the ‘stage’, and people that came in larger groups shamelessly dislocated them further by pushing them together. The number of people already present was baffling; arrows and lavish decorations on the stairs that led to the basement steering them in the direction of the event. Despite all of this, Jongwoon was still convinced it was all going to fail (or maybe he was hoping it would, he couldn’t tell; he was too nervous).

Ryeowook kept trying to reassure him everything would turn out just fine and Kyuhyun kept awkwardly poking fun at him in hopes it would make him forget the nerves and relax. Neither really worked. Rayeon glanced at him worriedly from time to time, but said nothing, while Misun, who’d come as a customer with a group of friends, kept close to Ryeowook, ready to offer to work in case they needed her.

The band members settled downstairs and Kyuhyun served them their drinks (he was more proficient at things that didn’t contain coffee or require thermal processing), chatting away and laughing. It was obvious that he thrived on the atmosphere.

Some minutes before nine, the four musicians left the makeshift bar and settled into the place designated as the stage. They introduced themselves and explained they were really only the music, but were going to sing too until someone mustered enough courage to take over the stage. The guy on the bass, whose name Jongwoon didn’t really catch, but that sounded close his own, directed them towards the bar in case someone thought liquor would help. A few people laughed at the shameless advertising and Jongwoon willed himself to stop being so jittery.

Sungmin took over and informed everyone in the room that they had a book of songs they knew and that people could choose any song in it to perform. He added they were open to additional requests, but promised nothing. With that they launched into the first song of the night and the event officially started.

For the first part of the night Jongwoon and Kyuhyun manned the basement counter with Rayeon covering the ground floor by herself since they were expecting a lesser influx of people there. Ryeowook ran between the floors, going where he was needed (which in the end meant taking dirty dishes from the basement up, since their makeshift bar wasn’t equipped for washing of such).

Around the band’s fourth song, the atmosphere relaxed and people started to sing along freely. Jongwoon even caught a few people shyly flipping through the song book. It was starting to settle in that everything might actually be alright.

Some songs later, a girl braved to step onto the stage and was met with a round of applause. Jongwoon couldn’t help smiling at the enthusiastic response; and seeing him finally relaxing, Kyuhyun smiled too. The whole thing had been his idea; an idea that was ultimately about him giving something to his hyung, not making him chew his nails to bits in worry.

The girl wasn’t anything exceptional. Her voice shook from the stage fright and she went off-key a few times along with missing the cue, but that was to be expected, since this was, after all, an open-mic night. Her performance however spurred some other brave souls to try, and the basement was soon practically crowded. The band was still doing most of the singing, but no one really seemed to mind. Jongwoon guessed that if the open-mic event fell through, they could at least keep the live music as a theme night.

At some point Kyuhyun had gone up (they were experiencing a glasses shortage) and Jongwoon was left alone in a crowded room, suddenly feeling out of place. It wasn’t something he experienced often, especially not within his own cafe. He’d been about to start wallowing about things he usually avoided thinking about, but he caught a sight of a man coming to the bar so he temporarily pushed those thoughts aside. The man was tall and dressed for the event, his leather jacket immediately catching Jongwoon’s attention. (He’d been eyeing a similar model just a few days ago.) Yet, his shy smile set him apart from the crowd. As a seasoned barista, it wasn’t hard for Jongwoon to pick up that he was feeling out of place too. In order to offer some comfort he flashed him a friendly smile.

“We’re out of glasses. You’ll have to wait if you want to order.”

The man leaned closer and Jongwoon only understood he was asking him to repeat what he’d said by reading his lips.

“No glasses! Wait to order!”

The man smiled and shook his head, indicating it was okay and shouted back.

“Nice event! Good music!”

He had a slight accent, but Jongwoon ascribed that to him accentuating profoundly in order to be sure he’d be understood over the music.

“Thank you!” though really, the man ought to be thanking Kyuhyun. (Definitely not Jongwoon who’d been against the idea in the first place.) Still, he was friendly enough and probably the only person who felt anywhere near as awkward as Jongwoon in this situation so the barista gave him another smile. He could really use some companionship.

It was somewhere near the end of another song when Kyuhyun reappeared with Ryeowook in tow, no glasses in sight. Jongwoon narrowed his eyes at him and was about to lecture him when Kyuhyun shot him a conspiratorial grin and dragged Ryeowook towards the stage. He could guess what the troublemaker had in mind, but that didn’t really excuse him from abandoning his duties.

Sungmin, who was the one behind the mike at the moment, caught sight of them and grinned back. He let the last few chords wash over the crowd before speaking.

“Now, we have a special treat for you tonight.” That got everyone’s attention. “He may not be famous, but his voice will ensure you never forget him. You know him as your cute barista, we know him as one hell of a singer. Let’s hear it for Kim Ryeowook!”

The crowd applauded as Kyuhyun pushed Ryeowook towards the center of the stage and Sungmin handed him the mike. He was confused for all three seconds it took for the song to start and the keyboard guy to start singing the back up.

“Love U more~”

By the self-satisfied grin on Kyuhyun’s face, Jongwoon was sure this was all part of the plan. If for nothing else, he had to congratulate him for getting his friends to learn the song for Ryeowook. It was, after all, the only song Ryeowook had composed that had gotten to see the light of day by taking a spot on an album tracklist of some big name contemporary group.

“He’s good.”

He turned to face Kyuhyun who’d made it back behind the counter. He was practically talking into his ear in order to be heard.

“He is,” but that came as no surprise to Jongwoon. “That was very nice of you to do for Ryeowook.”

He pinched Kyuhyun’s cheek and found it warm to touch. His hand lingered.

“Unfortunately, we are still out of glasses.”

It was fun watching the other realize he’d forgotten why he’d gone up in the first place. The guy in the leather jacket must have thought so too, because he was hiding his laughter behind his hand. But it really didn’t matter much, Jongwoon thought as he turned to look back at the stage. Ryeowook had coerced the crowd into waving their hands in the rhythm of the song. It was quite endearing how much fun his dongsaeng was having. For that too, Jongwoon would have to thank Kyuhyun properly later.

That feeling of gratitude dissipated quickly when he realized that Kyuhyun was looking at him like he was the next dish on the menu.

“No.”

Kyuhyun face fell at the sudden refusal.

“But hyung-!“

“No buts.”

The music student looked put off so Jongwoon softened his glare.

“The night has been great so far. You and Ryeowook did especially well,” he wanted to ruffle his hair, but fought the instinct “but I am not getting on that stage.”

Kyuhyun looked more confused than anything and was opening his mouth to protest, but Jongwoon just couldn’t bear to listen to that again, not from Kyuhyun too, so he cut him off again.

“I don’t know what Ryeowook has told you, but I don’t sing Kyuhyun, not in front of people. Especially not in front of a crowd as big as this one.”

The younger was still frowning, but at least his mouth was closed. They stared at each other, waiting for the other to give up. Kyuhyun looked away first and sighed.

“It’s okay hyung.” But his face implied that he really wished the situation had played out differently, and Jongwoon couldn’t help but wonder what kind of face he’d made that Kyuhyun had given up so easily.

Another customer came by and Jongwoon dutifully informed him they were out of glasses. Kyuhyun winced and scrambled off when the man grumbled at Jongwoon, who in turn told him he could get liquor if he was willing to pay for a whole bottle. The response he got was more grumbling and a view of a receding back. He knew he should have planned better. Then the next song started and Jongwoon forgot all about it. The leather jacket guy quirked an eyebrow at him when he smiled, but he just shook his head. He knew the song and it was special to him. Strangers, no matter how nice, didn’t have to know why.

“Huh, I thought Ryeowook-oppa had said you would be singing this one Yesung-oppa.”

He turned to see Rayeon behind the counter with him, holding a box full of clean glasses, which he relieved her of quickly. God bless her. The inquiry hit him a moment later and he heard the glasses clink together from the force with which his hands were shaking.

“M-me? I was supposed to be singing that?”

Rayeon nodded in confirmation.

“But that irritating kid has a pretty good voice too.”

Now that he paid more attention to it, the voice behind the song did sound familiar, so seeing Kyuhyun behind the mike didn’t come as a surprise. He had to agree with Rayeon’s statement about his voice being pretty damn good, but for the moment he was more amused by the prospect of Rayeon calling Kyuhyun a kid when she was two years younger than him. Prideful brats, both of them.

Kyuhyun’s voice built up towards the refrain and Jongwoon, feeling reverie strike again, closed his eyes to fully enjoy the moment. When he opened them again he found himself locking eyes with the singer. At first he didn’t think that Kyuhyun was really looking at him, but then he smiled and “It has to be you~” well, Jongwoon couldn’t help smiling back, simply because it looked like his snarky dongsaeng was serenading him. He caught Ryeowook grinning in the corner of his eye and felt his vision blur around the edges.

He was glad that Rayeon had come down because for the rest of the song Jongwoon wasn’t aware of anything other than Kyuhyun and his melting voice, his eyes that were still holding Jongwoon’s and the small smile that seemed to play his lips when it had a chance to between forming the words that Jongwoon knew by heart. Even when the song finished and Kyuhyun was making his way over to him smiling sheepishly, he was still the sole focus of his attention. Everything around him just seemed to fade until he was right there and Jongwoon’s arms were wrapping themselves around him and he didn’t have to look at him to know where he was. He didn’t realize he was whispering “thank yous” into Kyuhyun’s neck until lanky arms encircled him and squeezed back.

***

Next morning had three zombies serving coffee at Mouse Rabbit. They had only closed the cafe at around three a.m. last night. The band, which had only been supposed to play until one, had kept on going for an hour and a half longer with Kyuhyun and Ryeowook behind the mike multiple times. When the band had left, taking most of the crowd with them, they had started to clean up along with politely shooing the customers still lingering about. It wasn’t like they really had a choice, the cafe opened at seven a.m. which had left them a little more than four hours to get the whole place presentable. Misun had stayed to help them and while that had seemed as a great idea at the time, it looked like the worst decision ever right now.

Jongwoon was used to functioning on very little sleep due to a slight insomnia so he was more or less his usual self, and while Kyuhyun was also faring remarkably well (consequences of university life, he supposed), Misun was practically sleepwalking. Nevertheless, they’d gotten through the morning rush relatively painlessly with only two misplaced orders and had received ample compliments about the prior night. This meant he sometimes got stuck at the counter thanking them and shielding Kyuhyun from his newly earned fans, (not that the dork knew how abrasive they could get, but Jongwoon was willing to suffer as a thank you just this once) while the other two made the orders.

Considering how tired they were and that Kyuhyun was dealing with coffee, he was pleasantly surprised that no one had complained about the taste being off. They only grumbled when orders took longer than usual to be completed. It seemed that Kyuhyun was being unusually meticulous that morning, and since the results were more than satisfactory Jongwoon was seriously considering keeping him sleep-deprived for as long as he worked with them.

“You are very focused on coffee today Kyuhyun-ah.”

If Kyuhyun could hear the laughter in Jongwoon’s voice, he chose to ignore it.

“Of course Yesung-hyung. It is my second-to-last day, it has to go well.”

Ah right, Jongjin returned to work on Sunday, he’d kind of forgotten that meant Kyuhyun wouldn’t be working here anymore.

“With how stingy you are, you might not pay me if I screw up today.”

No matter how snarky his dongsaeng was, he couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed with him, not after what he’d done yesterday.

“Maybe I’ll just pay you in free coffee instead of money.”

Kyuhyun scowled at him and he laughed, hoping that Kyuhyun didn’t realize this was his pathetic way of asking him to keep coming around. He’d been a regular before working with them, but Jongwoon was irrationally afraid that even if he did come back it would go back to the way it used to be, namely them not talking. Whether or not the music student had anything to say to that he didn’t find out because a group of customers walked in and Jongwoon, recognizing the leather jacket guy from last night (though he wasn’t wearing the jacket at the moment), made his way to the cashier.

“Hello!”

He got a smile in return.

“That was pretty good entertainment last night.”

Ah, it seemed like he really did have a bit of an accent.

“Thank you. This morning, however, I can offer you a whole array of clean glasses and mugs instead. Filled with a beverage of your choice, of course.”

They both laughed.

“In that case I’ll have a double espresso, a cup of white coffee and a strawberry frappuccino.” He contemplated over what they had on display. “And a slice of that blueberry cheesecake.”

“I’ll get it hyung.” Kyuhyun put a hand on his shoulder in passing to grab a mug.

Jongwoon nodded and keyed the order. Those things were now included in the realm of things that Kyuhyun could do without them turning into a complete disaster. That, and Misun had apparently fallen asleep on the other end of the counter. He chuckled to himself and passed the milk to Kyuhyun to speed along the process.

“Your employee has a really good voice.”

“He does,” unlike with the tiring encounters that morning, Jongwoon didn’t mind showing Kyuhyun off to this almost-friend, “but that’s not surprising since the whole open-mic night was his idea.”

“Really?”

He grinned.

“Yes. More than a half of my workers are artistically inclined. Sometimes I feel like I’m running a shelter and not a coffee shop.”

“Here you go.”

Kyuhyun pushed the mugs along with the cake towards the man. His friends walked over to take their drinks, while he forked over the money.

“Thanks. Maybe next time I’ll dare to step on the stage too.”

One of his friends snorted, but the man just smiled and left to climb to the upper level with them.

Another open-mic night. Were they really going to have weekly entertainment?

***

It seemed like they were.

Once informed of what had been going on in his absence, Jongjin was positively in love with the idea of having one night a week reserved for the open-mic event. Everyone was actually pretty excited at the prospect of it becoming a regular thing (Misun had only moaned when she realized that if they kept the day, she’d be a zombie every Friday if she wanted to attend it) so they settled on it.

Kyuhyun, who’d kept coming to the cafe and hadn’t stopped talking to him as Jongwoon had feared he would (he actually complained more about his professors than he made any real traffic), had upon hearing the news called up his friends and Jongwoon had found himself with Thursday nights booked for a foreseeable future. He’d also squished the life out of Kyuhyun when the deal for the upcoming Thursday was made, since it was on such short notice.

***

Kyuhyun walked into the coffee shop the day before the first repetition of the event and was mildly disappointed he couldn’t see his favorite hyung anywhere, but not at all surprised. Considering how well he had (not) fared last time, he was probably already panicking somewhere. He made his way towards the counter only to be met with a guy that looked enough like Yesung that Kyuhyun could conclude it was his brother.

“Hello. What can I get for you?”

Amazingly enough, considering how often Kyuhyun was at the cafe, they hadn’t officially met yet.

“Yesung-hyung if possible.”

Jongjin looked at him funny.

“He’s not on the menu.”

Kyuhyun grinned back.

“I know, but-”

“Kyuhyun-ah!”

Jongwoon emerged from the back room carrying a well-worn piece of paper and a pen.

“Doing inventory already?” not that he hadn’t expected him to.

Jongwoon shrugged.

“Easier to see if anything’s missing today.”

“You mean work yourself into a heart attack a day early?”

Jongjin laughed.

“I like you.”

An epiphany seemed to have struck Jongwoon.

“Ah, you two haven’t met yet,” he joined them by the counter. “Kyuhyun-ah, this is my brother Jongjin. Jongjin-ah, this is Cho Kyuhyun. He’s the one that temped for you and came up with the open-mic event.”

“Oh? Nice to finally meet you Kyuhyun-ssi, my brother keeps talking about you.”

“Oh really?”

The look on Kyuhyun’s face prompted Jongwoon to take any action that would get him as far away from his brother as possible. He had enough to deal with without the mortifying embarrassment that  that conversation was sure to bring him.

“Go sit somewhere Kyuhyun-ah. I’ll bring you something with the least amount of coffee in it.”

Kyuhyun laughed.

“It’s okay hyung, I’ll just go bother Rayeon instead.”

As Kyuhyun dragged himself away, Jongwoon turned towards Jongjin only to have an eyebrow raised at him.

“What?”

“Kyuhyun-ah? Hyung, I was only gone for two weeks; you couldn’t have gotten that lonely.”

“Shut up.”

In all honesty, he hadn’t even noticed he’d begun to refer to Kyuhyun so familiarly, though it was strange that no one had pointed it out until now.

“Seriously though hyung, what is he even doing here if he doesn’t like coffee?” Jongwoon opened his mouth to protest. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s nice, but...”

He had an inclination what his brother was trying to say, but he had no answer himself.

“I don’t know, but it feels good having him around.”

Jongjin looked at him for a long moment before nodding, still pensive.

“Go make his drink hyung.”

Jongwoon looked at him surprised and got a grin in return.

“Best make profit of him if he’s going to be around.”

Jongwoon grinned too, and made to ruffle the younger’s hair, but Jongjin had anticipated the movement and ducked away from the affectionate assault.

---

“Your coffee flavored milk.”

Kyuhyun blinked up from where he’d sprawled himself over a table at the smiling Jongwoon. He dragged himself up and accepted the drink, while Jongwoon slid into the seat across him.

“Thanks.”

Compared to a few minutes ago Kyuhyun was a lot more sluggish.

“Bad day at uni?”

Kyuhyun shook his head negative and swallowed a gulp of the warm substance.

“Not really. It just seemed to drag on and nobody was saying anything new, so,” he shrugged.

He got a sympathetic smile in return.

“There are days like that. It’ll be better tomorrow, and if not, you can always come here to moan about it, or sing it out considering tomorrow’s Thursday.”

“Yeah...” He was staring at his mug like it contained answers to world’s biggest mysteries, but didn’t wish to reveal them. “How’s inventory going anyway?”

“Nothing is missing so far, so if no one orders fifty bottles of alcohol by tomorrow we’ll be fine.”

Kyuhyun smiled a little.

“Or if you don’t run out of clean glasses anyway.”

“Yah!”

Even though he’d yelled, he made no other move to reprimand the brat. He didn’t want to add to his bad mood right after he’d made him smile.

“You think you won’t?”

The lack of trust in his organization skills was still becoming rather annoying. Kyuhyun wasn’t the first one to say something along those lines to him today.

“Yes, Kyuhyun, I think we won’t run out of clean glasses.”

“You’re sure?”

Was he purposefully trying to piss him off?

“Yes, I’m sure,” he gritted through his teeth.

 Kyuhyun smirked.

“I bet you will.”

The familiar urge to punch the annoyance was creeping up on him at full speed.

“No, we won’t.”

“I’d still bet you will.”

“And I’d bet you we won’t. We’re much better organized this time.”

The previously subdued brat was grinning from ear to ear.

“Really, you’d bet on it? You’re that sure hyung?”

“Yes,” came the exasperated answer.

“It’s a deal then.”

“Huh?”

“I bet that you’ll run out of clean glasses, you bet you won’t. Loser has to do one thing the winner asks of him.”

Jongwoon snorted. Kyuhyun could be so childish sometimes. Still, this could serve as his chance to prove them all wrong. He was sick and tired of everyone doubting his organization skills.

“Fine. It’s a deal.”

“Good.”

Kyuhyun pulled out some money from his wallet and pushed it towards Jongwoon.

“It seems that the afternoon rush is starting, so it would be a hassle to pay for my drink later.”

Jongwoon turned in his seat. There really seemed to be a line forming, which meant that their little chat was pretty much over. He accepted the money and smiled.

“You’re right,” he got up. “I’ll see you tomorrow night, Kyuhyun-ah.”

“Tomorrow night, hyung.”

Kyuhyun’s eyes twinkled behind the mug.

***

Second time around Jongwoon was a lot more relaxed; partly because he was much better organized, and partly because it wasn’t a novelty anymore. The first time there had been moments when he’d felt a bit out of place, while now he could truthfully say he was enjoying the atmosphere. There were a little less people present, but more of those who were willing to take up the stage. Also, the crowd now didn’t feel any need to restrain themselves, so the whole cafe was a lot livelier. People sang along with the person on stage, loudly and often off-key, and nobody really cared.

Hangeng, as Jongwoon had finally learned the leather jacket guy’s name was, had taken the same spot as he had the previous week and they exchanged impressions of the singers every so often. It amused Jongwoon that Hangeng was probably the only person in the basement that openly cringed when someone’s singing inability made itself known. He shared his sentiments, but viewed all the different sounds they were exposed to as good fun. What impressed him, however, was that none of the band members were anything short of professional. He would have to give them a round on the house when they took a break.

The person currently behind the mike was one of Hangeng’s friends that was singing some popular OST song that the crowd was more than happy to be overzealous back vocals to. He couldn’t say he was surprised that the leggy man could carry the tune correctly. It was an added bonus that he had a voice that was nice to listen to and loud enough not to be drowned out by the crowd. Not that anyone really cared at that point. It was nearing one midnight and he was under the impression that a pig could have been behind the mike and the people would have been happy as long as it produced sounds relatively close to the rhythm of the song.

“Whiskey on the rocks, please.”

Jongwoon absentmindedly reached for the correct bottle and pulled the can with ice closer. Years of working at the cafe enabled him to stay focused on the song and make the order on at the same time. It wasn’t like making that particular one was anything complicated. Having gathered the ingredients he reached for a glass, but instead of grabbing one, his hand hit the tray where they held them.

“I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait for a moment, we seem to be out of-“

Kyuhyun was grinning at him. And from the way Hangeng was trying to hide his grin behind his own glass he got the feeling that the brat had been lurking around, waiting precisely for this moment. He scowled.

“What did you bribe Rayeon with to get her to stop washing glasses?”

Kyuhyun looked mildly affronted.

“I didn’t do anything; this was all your poor planning hyung.”

His face must have betrayed his feelings because Kyuhyun was grinning again.

“Luckily for me.”

Jongwoon rolled his eyes. Only a brat would be amused by something like this.

They were joined by Ryeowook in the next moment and Jongwoon’s face fell when he noticed he was bringing him a new batch of clean glasses. Kyuhyun laughed out loud this time. The confused composer raised an eyebrow at their reactions.

“You’ve got great timing.” Ryeowook grinned, catching on.

Jongwoon let a sigh escape him. These idiots would be the death of him.

“You still want that whiskey?”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Kyuhyun shrugged, “but you might need it more.”

Jongwoon set the glass he’d grabbed from Ryeowook on the counter. The menace was grinning once again.

“I’m collecting.”

Jongwoon stared at him for a moment before opening the whiskey bottle. He had an idea what Kyuhyun was going to ask for; actually, he was pretty much sure. He didn’t like it. The now full glass was pushed towards Kyuhyun who looked at him surprised.

“You might as well tell me what you want me to do first and I’ll decide whether I need a drink afterwards.”

Even though he knew what he would be forced to do, he didn’t feel as annoyed as he felt he should be.

“I want to hear you sing.”

Asking someone to do something they didn’t want to shouldn’t really sound like that, like an offering of warm tea on a rainy day. He guessed it was the side-effect of them both being aware that Kyuhyun was offering him a way out. Letting out another sigh, he walked out from behind the counter.

“I’m not drinking then. I’m bad at remembering lyrics as it is; under influence of alcohol it could only turn out catastrophic.”

Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow. Ryeowook snickered.

“Yesung-hyung is an unfathomable lightweight.”

The younger stored that piece of information away for future references as he watched the older man make his way towards the song book.

“What do you think he’s going to sing?”

Ryeowook looked thoughtful for a few seconds before answering.

“Something old that he knows the lyrics to,” he paused, “that probably means some heart-wrenchingly sad love song. He’s good at those.”

Opening notes of Boohwal’s The More I Love that followed Jongwoon taking his place behind the mike confirmed Ryeowook’s speculations. Kyuhyun smiled when his eyes caught the way he held the mike. He wasn’t gripping it in his fist like most people did, but was instead holding it between the tips of his fingers. Kyuhyun made a mental note to about his small hands later.

Jongwoon started the song off a bit shaky, his voice a little weak, but after the first verse he visibly relaxed and his voice resonated through the room. Kyuhyun had never heard someone relate the emotion of a song so effortlessly along with executing the technical side of it almost perfectly. Since he had so adamantly refused to sing at first, Kyuhyun hadn’t expected him to be so damn good once his initial nervousness wore off. The barista’s voice broke a little on the first high note, but he pushed on as if it hadn’t happened and delivered the rest of the song flawlessly. Kyuhyun had still been bracing himself for the last few high notes, a bit apprehensive of how they would turn out, but whatever had made Yesung’s voice waver the first time didn’t make a reappearance. Instead, Kyuhyun felt his jaw drop at how powerfully he belted those notes out. That was incredible. He couldn’t help but watch entranced as Yesung’s throat constricted around the last note, letting the music carry it away.

“He’s good, huh?”

He could practically hear the smirk in Ryeowook’s voice, but he was too much under the impression of Yesung’s performance to be put off by it so he just nodded.

“He’s incredible. I don’t get why he didn’t go pro; he obviously has more than enough talent.”

Ryeowook seemed to be amused by his comments.

“You do know that ‘Yesung’ is just a nickname?”

That was the first he heard of it. The look on his face must have said as much because Ryeowook went on.

“It is derived from the phrase ‘yesulgaui seongdae’”

“Vocal cords of an artist.” Kyuhyun finished. “It suits him.”

His eyebrows furrowed.

“But why didn’t he tell me?”

Ryeowook smiled conspiratorially.

“You will have to ask him that yourself.”

Kyuhyun nodded. He would definitely do that, but he wouldn’t do it tonight, he thought as he watched his hyung make his way through the awed crowd. The question could wait until a more appropriate moment; now was the time to shower him with compliments and smother him with heartfelt hugs (and maybe a bit).

***

Friday mornings were proving to be hell for Jongwoon. He was again the only one of the present staff that was functioning properly (Jongjin had insisted on being present during the event since he’d missed the last one, and Misun really needed to work on saying ‘no’ to her friends) so he was alone in fending off what admirers he’d acquired last night. Kyuhyun was so lucky he hadn’t been behind the counter last time. This was very tiring, no matter how humbling.

By the time his shift was nearing its end, he was as tired as the others. Luckily for him, the others had livened up a bit and were taking care of the customers while he took a little break. He slumped in a chair next to a window and stared into nothing, letting his mind wander.

“You look like hell.”

Jongwoon didn’t even have enough energy to feel annoyed by that statement. That, and Kyuhyun looked like he’d gone a week without sleep and a comb, but was still offering him a steaming cup of coffee, so he straightened himself in his chair and smiled, accepting the cup.

“You don’t look much better.” His voice was extra raspy from singing last night and perpetually talking the whole morning. Hopefully the coffee would help soothe the faint ache he felt in his throat. He really shouldn’t have sung such a demanding song without any warm up.

Kyuhyun snorted and settled into the chair across from him.

“No,” he ran his fingers through his hair in order to smooth it down at least a little, “but you were nowhere near this worn out last time.”

“He didn’t have an impromptu fan meet that lasted through the morning last time.”

Both turned to look at Jongjin who was cleaning the table next to theirs.

“That bad?”

Jongwoon grimaced and brought the cup to his lips. The warm liquid felt like heaven. Kyuhyun frowned.

“I don’t remember there being such a commotion after the first night.”

“That’s because you were half-dead and I fended off your fans.”

“Ah.”

Kyuhyun leaned into his chair and directed his gaze at the window. Jongwoon took another sip.

“Did you ever think about singing professionally, hyung?”

He blinked before setting the cup on the table and smiling wishfully.

“I did.”

Kyuhyun tore his gaze away from the window.

“Really?”

He couldn’t help but laugh a little at how excited Kyuhyun sounded.

“Yes. I was a trainee at an entertainment agency for about a year when I was younger, but then money became a problem so I quit and helped my parents at their restaurant. I liked the business enough, so when I had a chance I opened this little place. I’m much better at making coffee than cooking.”

Kyuhyun was looking at him like he didn’t know what to do with that information, so he smiled and returned to the topic he’d tried to stray from.

“The song you sang last time,” Kyuhyun perked up a little at this, “before it became an OST, it was mine. I don’t think the company ever planned for me to become a solo singer, which is good because I’m still not good at dealing with larger crowds alone at the stage, but it was the song I was given to sing alone.” He smiled at the fond memories. “That’s why it’s special, and why it meant so much that you’d meant for me to sing it, but hadn’t forced me to in the end. Your rendition was quite lovely though, Kyuhyun-ah. I liked it far better than the one the official singer did.”

“Hyung.”

“Well, I did meet Ryeowook at SM so at least something good came out of it, even if it’s just cheap workforce.” He grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

“SM? Really?”

He was kind of annoyed that that was the bit Kyuhyun had gotten stuck on.

“What, can’t believe that someone like me got scouted by such an agency?”

Kyuhyun shook his head at the raised eyebrow.

“That’s not it.” He smiled. “I have a contract with SM.”

“What?”

Kyuhyun laughed.

“I was also scouted by them, some four years ago, but my parents were against a singing career so I’d never formally gone into training.”

“But you have a contract.”

“Yeah, they offered to pay for my music education in exchange for me doing demos for them. My parents had relented under the condition that I finish law school first.” Jongwoon’s eyes widened at this. “That’s the reason why I’m only finishing my undergrad studies now.”

Jongwoon leaned back into his chair and stared at his empty cup feeling a bit lost.

“Surprised that I’m so smart?”

Jongwoon smiled. How very modest.

“No, not at all. Even less that you do demo recordings.” Kyuhyun’s ears went a bit red at this. Dork. “I just realized how little we know about each other.”

“Hmm, in any case, you know more about me than I know about you.” Surely that couldn’t be true. “I mean, I don’t even know your name.”

The barista blinked at him before smiling and getting up. Kyuhyun watched him walk behind the counter and begin washing the cup before he frowned and followed.

“Hyung, why don’t I know your name?”

Jongwoon grinned and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Because you didn’t let me introduce myself when you asked to temp.”

He laughed at Kyuhyun’s face when the realization set in. Served the brat right.

“Jongwoon.”

“Huh?”

How adorable could this idiot get.

“My name. It’s Jongwoon, Kyuhyun-ah.”

“Jongwoon.” Kyuhyun nodded to himself, satisfied with getting that answer.

“Yesung was actually supposed to be my stage name, back when I was at SM. I may have never debuted, but Ryeowook had kept calling me that so it stuck. Now it’s more or less a nickname.”

“But why wouldn’t Ryeowook tell me that?”

Jongwoon raised an eyebrow.

“Shouldn’t it be Ryeowook-hyung?”

Kyuhyun waved him off.

“He’s not even a full year older than me and I don’t really view him as my senior.”

“It isn’t because he wouldn’t tell you my name?”

“It didn’t help his cause.”

Jongwoon laughed.

“As much as I like him, he can be really meddlesome. He probably didn’t tell you my name because he wanted you to ask me. He’s been trying to set us up since he knows I find you interesting.” He could feel heat rising to his cheeks. “Thankfully, you started working here before he could tease me to death about being unable to hold a conversation with you.”

Maybe it was best he didn’t tell Jongwoon he’d only started working here because he’d been a bit short on money and a new instalment of his favorite game had just come out.

He snorted.

“Yeah, that sounds like Ryeowook.”

Jongwoon turned away to put the cup in its place.

“Say, Jongwoon-hyung, you don’t work Saturdays?”

Kyuhyun was staring at him in the way he had that first time they met when Jongwoon had been babbling about the weather.

“Yeah, it’s my day off.”

Kyuhyun nodded to himself.

“And that won’t change by next week?”

“It shouldn’t.”

The music student bit his lip.

“We are having the end-of-the-year showcase next Saturday, do you want to come?”

He looked at Jongwoon hopefully.

“Yeah, sure. Seeing you perform outside the cafe will be nice.”

Kyuhyun beamed at him.

“It’s a date then!”

Jongwoon watched him, stunned, as he made his way back to where they had been sitting and pick up his jacket before waving at him and leaving the cafe.

“What are you smiling at hyung?”

He hadn’t even realized Ryeowook had come in for his shift.

“Just happy that my shift is over.”

Ryeowook snickered.

“Had to fend off ahjummas all morning?”

Jongwoon sighed theatrically.

“Teenage girls too.”

“Oh poor, poor you.”

Jongwoon nodded.

“Poor me.”

Ryeowook laughed as he put on his apron.

“Luckily they couldn’t smother you to death or there’d be no one left to make their drinks.”

“Yes, and you’d have to do it instead. The horror.”

“Yah!”

Jongwoon grinned.

“My parents are coming next week for a visit, I’ll complain.”

“That’s okay, your mother loves me. She’ll protect me if you and your father decide to gang up on me.”

He thought he heard Ryeowook mutter something that sounded like “I’ll make her favorite dish to guilt her in” but dismissed it as his overactive imagination.

“They asked about you since they evidently don’t trust me to tell them the truth about how I’ve been doing on my own, so you are invited to come over for lunch on Saturday.”

Jongwoon stopped halfway into putting his jacket on.

“Next Saturday?”

“Yeah, the 16^th.”

“As much as I like your parents, I can’t.”

Ryeowook frowned.

“What do you mean you can’t?”

Jongwoon smiled to himself as he inched towards the door.

“I mean that I can’t.”

Ryeowook was obviously not happy with that explanation.

“And why not?”

He had his hands on his hips as if what Jongwoon was doing deserved a severe scolding. Jongwoon grinned at him over his shoulder as he pushed the door to the cafe open.

“I’ve got a date.”

 

word count: 12386

A/N: Misun, Rayeon and Junkyung-ssi are all OCs. I thought about using K-pop idols, but considering the type of the AU, I didn't think it would work out, so you're stuck with them ^^;