TOUCH || Hyungwonho

IX

Miss Boo gave Hoseok all the work she could find the next day and the boy hurried to do as much as he could before Hyungwon arrived. He wanted to help him with the kids later.

But the work seemed endless and all Hoseok could do to greet Hyungwon was nod and walk past him with his arms packed.

Thank god that Hyungwon knew what a witch Miss Boo was, so he understood that Hoseok had to do his duties before they were able to talk. The kid just smiled at him, putting his stuff away and began to greet all the kids.

Another two hours passed away and Hoseok was almost at the end of his shift when he was done with everything. He walked into the room with the kids, almost going deaf with their loudness.

He bowed to everyone, smiling at the kids who just looked at him curious or frightened.

His eyes found Hyungwon's and the boy smiled. Hoseok recognized the kid from last time on his arms. Hyungwon walked over to him, the small boy immediately hiding his face in his shoulder.

"Look Seojun, that's Hoseok. He's a friend of mine", Hyungwon encouraged the boy to look up and Hoseok tried to coo him out of his shell.

The two were obvious to the people around them looking at the pair with wide eyes, whispering among themselves. No one knew those two were friends and everyone asked how that happened. Usually Hyungwon would only talk to the children.

Slowly but surely Hoseok was changing Hyungwon and everyone noticed it but themselves.

_______

"How are you today Hyungwon."

"I'm good. I have a friend now."

"That's great, tell me about him."

"His name is Hoseok. He works at the Kindergarden with me. I used to watch him at work, wanting to be friends with him but I never had the courage. One day I overheard our boss talking about checking up on him and I knew he'd probably be asleep. I found him passed out on the table and woke him up. I was surprised by myself.
He asked for my number and we already met up at the same night.
He said we're friends now."

"What changed? What made you want to talk to him?"

"Hoseok is bright like the sun. I thought he could bring light into my life."

"And did he? How does he make you feel?"

"I feel warm when I'm with him. He makes me feel wanted. I really like him."

______

Hoseok hated his shifts at the café. He just sucked at making coffee and the boy had given up on learning it. But the biggest problem was his short attention span. He tend to zone out while he cashiered the customers.

And the day got even worse as his friends decided to pay him a visit.

Kihyun and Minhyuk would order the most complicated drinks on the whole menu, embarrassing him in front of the other workers as he tried to make them. Changkyun gave him less money on purpose so he had to ask for more and Jooheon just was his usual self, embarrassing him enough with that. The only normal one was Hyunwoo but he'd usually just smile.

As he placed the order on their table, they greeted him with big smiles and a lot of laughter. The whole café looking at them.

"You guys will get me fired", Hoseok hissed, placing the tray down rather rudely.

"You complain how much you hate this job everyday, you should thank us", Changkyun said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"The kid is right", Jooheon agreed, "I don't know why Yoongi hyung even got you the job."

"I don't know either but Kim Seokjin is one hell of a boss and I believe he is slowly beginning to hate me", Hoseok whined, stealing a gulp of Kihyun's drink before placing it in front of him.

"Ew, why'd you do that?", Kihyun frowned, looking at the cup as if Hoseok had spit in it.

"I can't lose this job", he muttered under his breath, leaving the table of friends behind before his boss could lecture him for letting the other customers wait.

Much to Hoseok's surprise his next costumer was no other than Chae Hyungwon.

The shy boy stood in the line, quietly ordering his iced americano and Hoseok only recognized him because he didn't fully understand the order. He looked up and was greeted by Hyungwon's large, brown eyes.

"Hyungwon", he smiled, greeting the boy, "what are you doing here?"

"I heard the best barista of Seoul worked here", the boy replied and Hoseok laughed.

"Right, let me get someone else who can make your drink-", he joked but Hyungwon seemed to believe him because he began waving frantically.

"No, no Hyung! Everything you make will be fine!", he blushed as usual, trying to hide his mouth.

"Alright, I'll be right back!"

Oh please let me make just one decent iced americano!, Hoseok thought.

He began to work and much to Hoseok's dismay his boss decided to stop by and watch him.

For the first time, Hoseok actually tried to get it right and at the end there stood a perfect iced americano. His boss grinned at him, patting his shoulder. "There is still hope for you", he muttered, "go and take a break. Your friend came just to see you."

Hoseok smiled from ear to ear, grabbing the drink, handed it over to Hyungwon and took his cash (and gave him the right change).

He took his green apron off and guided Hyungwon to a free table, the eyes of Hoseok's friends following them the whole time.