To H-e-double hockey stick With It

Story 1 chp 4: Nobilitea (final chapter)

BEOMGYU & YEONJUN happened to enter the cafe right before their "Blue Hour" started playing. Yeonjun laughed, pulling out his phone to record the coincidence and post it to his Instagram story. Beomgyu saw Yeonjun directing his phone towards him and raised his hand to smack Yeonjun.

"Ya, hyung! You better not post that! We're in a public place!" Beomgyu yelled, acting like he was going to smack Yeonjun but never actually doing so– Yeonjun still flinched nonetheless.

"Too late," Yeonjun pouted playfully, hitting the share button. "I didn't add the location, so I don't see what the big deal is."

Beomgyu stomped his foot and turned to Yeonjun full on. "FIRST OFF, WE LEFT OUR BODY GUARDS AT THE PARK! SECOND OF ALL, WE ARE IN A PUBLIC PLACE WHERE EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG CAN COME AS SOON AS THEY SEE THAT!!!"

A worker chimed in, unable to act like she didn't hear Beomgyu due to his yelling. "Actually, sir, dogs aren't allowed–"

"IT'S JUST AN EXPRESSION!" Beomgyu yelled, cutting the worker off. The worker raised her hands in surrender and went to their spot behind the counter, so the boys could order.

Yeonjun clapped his hands together and waddled over to the counter. "So, what types of coffee do you have here?"

The worker smiled in a way that said what the f*ck but answered politely nonetheless. "Please look at our menu, sir. This is a Nobilitea."

Yeonjun smiled apologetically and somewhat embarrassed. "Sorry. Well, what do you recommend?"

The worker then smiled genuinely. "We specialize in different styles of chai lattes. I have yet to encounter a customer who does not like the chai latte we make them, whatever style that may be. But we also have many house specialty herbal white teas, along with others like limited edition teas and special menu blends, which are all really good, too."

Yeonjun nodded his head. "Can I get a medium chai latte made with almond milk, please?"

The barista got his order down and looked up at Beomgyu. "What can I get for you, sir?"

"Medium caramel matcha chai latte made with coconut milk, please," Beomgyu requested.

Yeonjun fwipped his head towards Beomgyu, giving him an are you crazy?! expression. "Choi Beomgyu! Do you realize that sugar is already in a standard chai latte?! Then you go and add coconut milk, which is full of sugar! Sure, the coconut milk's sugar is mostly naturally occurring fructose, but combined with the rest of the sugar in the beverage, it's a lot of sugar!"

Beomgyu rolled his eyes at Yeonjun. "Like your chai isn't full of sugar, either? Come on, hyung, let me enjoy this! It's our day off!" Beomgyu pleaded.

Yeonjun looked at Beomgyu a moment more, scoffed, but gave in.

"Alright guys your total is $10.35," the barista said.

"Hold up. That much for 1 drink?!" Yeonjun questioned.

"No, sir, that is how much those two drinks + tax total to be. Wait. Are you two not together?"

Beomgyu and Yeonjun shared a look. Beomgyu shook his head. Yeonjun, on the other hand, had different plans. He mouthed "come on, let your hyung treat his dongsaeng". Yeonjun started to pull out his walled. Beomgyu reached out his hand to halt the older, but Yeonjun had already turned and placed his card against the tap reader.

The barista smiled. "Sweet, I'll have your order made shortly."

+x+

Beomgyu was right to be cautious about Yeonjun posting to Instagram. Just as he and Yeonjun were grabbing their drinks, a bunch of people were showing up. The tea shop became really crowded, and it would have become even more so if the store did allow for dogs to enter. Upon seeing all the people holding their dogs on leashes standing outside the tea house, Beomgyu nudged Yeonjun, saying "I told you so" (to which Yeonjun wasted no effort in rolling his eyes). Yeonjun did not take the crowd negatively, though; he knew the consequences of his actions. The hyung wasn't upset about it, either, and rather felt prideful that he could bring so many people to the otherwise quiet tea shop. Beomgyu, on the other hand, just wanted to drink his latte in peace, so he made a beeline for the door. This couldn't escape Yeonjun's eyes, and he wanted to make fun of the moment, in teasing his dongsaeng in front of everyone.

"Ya, Choi Beomgyu!" Yeonjun hollered, with no response from Beomgyu. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"Away from you!"

Yeonjun wouldn't back down. "In front of all these people? Come on, don't upset MOA. Show them how much you enjoy your drink, ya?"

Before Beomgyu could respond in any way, some one interrupted. "Choi Yeonjun does Nobilitea sponsor you?" Someone from the crowd hollered in question.

"No, but they should. Would you please do so, Miss Barista?" Yeonjun tried, turning to the barista.

The barista should her head. "No can do, Mr. Choi Yeonjun. You thought we were a coffee house. Ask the next time you come in and attract everyone, we'll see then."

Yeonjun tsked. "Still holding a grudge, I see. Stingy," he mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

Yeonjun turned back to find Beomgyu. Beomgyu was trying to get out the door but couldn't due to the hoard of people grabbing him. Again, Yeonjun decided to have fun. "MAKE WAY BICHACHOS I'M COMING TO RESCUE MY HUSBAND!"

Beomgyu froze. Almost everyone (save a few homophobic "MOA") in the tea house squealed. They made a path for Yeonjun to reach Beomgyu in a very cliche manner. Beomgyu could feel his face heating up. He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts on what to do next.

Come on, Choi Beomgyu. Yeonjun acts flirty all the time. This is nothing new. Let's be flirty back. This way, it will give MOA something to talk about, along with get right back at Yeonjun. With a determined mindset, Beomgyu then turned around to face Yeonjun. He instantly acted overly bashful. "Oh, my dear Yeonjun! I'm so shy! How could you...," Beomgyu looked all around the cafe then back at Yeonjun for effect, "...expose our marriage so openly like that?!"

Yeonjun grinned as he finally got to Beomgyu, glad they were playing along. He couldn't let Beomgyu carry on this performance alone, though. "Oh dear, I was just so worried about you," Yeonjun said, leaning in with the word "worried". He glanced around and saw some MOA with their phones out, undoubtedly recording the scene. "Besides, why can't we go public with our love?" Yeonjun finished with a fake pout.

Beomgyu put on a sad expression before caressing Yeonjun's cheek. The action somewhat startled Yeonjun, but he tried not to let it show. "We can, babe, I just wasn't ready yet," Beomgyu pouted with a bit of aegyo, using another hand to caress Yeonjun's hair. When he finished the sentence, Beomgyu was starting to feel the conversation. It was in a more than in just a playful way which he started to feel. If one day they shared mutual, romantic feelings of love, and they decided to start a relationship together, Beomgyu wouldn't want Yeonjun to out them carelessly. While acting fruity for Kpop members with the rest of their group is/was accepted, actually harnessing romantic feelings for your group member(s) is/was frowned upon by many conservative people in the Kpop world.

Yeonjun could see Beomgyu's eyes change focus–he could see Beomgyu actually thinking about the conversation as if it weren't just a play. Beomgyu looked to be a bit upset. This in turn upset Beomgyu, and he wanted to wish it all away. So he decided to be bold, and turned his face to kiss the hand that was pressed against his cheek. Beomgyu instantly snapped out of his thoughts, and all around them squeals started to emerge. "And that's okay," Yeonjun said genuinely. "We can take all the time we need. I won't go anywhere without you."

Later at work that week, one of the managers came in to the practice room as Tomorrow By Together was practicing choreography for their upcoming album to announce that Nobilitea had decided to officially sponsor Tomorrow By Together.

A/N: I actually have no idea how much the Nobilitea drinks cost, but I think when I got a large caramel matcha chai latte recently it cost a little over $6.00. And their larges are vERY large. There also aren't any Nobiliteas in South Korea, it's just a Texas + Oklahoma + 1 Kansas location in the USA tea shop. But they are building some in Arizona, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, and Colorado, and another 1 in Kansas. If you happen to live near one, I recommend going. No regrets😎. Also, regarding the 3rd to last paragraph's usage of "is/was", that's because that stuff is taboo in the Kpop industry and probably still will be in 2024 around the time of TXT's 5th year anniversary.