plummet || taegi

04. regular

"today was a busy day!" chanyeol groaned out while stretching. taehyung sighed as he locked the door of the store, jimin and chanyeol behind him. "we should go get some food together!"

taehyung stuffed the store keys back in his small backpack and shook his head. "i don't want to think about food right now. i still can't fully digest my lunch." he sighed, patting his stomach. "my brother packed me too much."

"you ate it, you can't complain," jimin teased, rubbing taehyung's stomach, too. chanyeol pressed his lips together when he saw them both laughing and touching. he tried swallowing his irritation. he knew nothing was going on between them, but jealousy didn't know better. however, chanyeol shook it off to the best of his ability and grinned at them.

"that's right, tae. you ate it all. you're not allowed to complain. but how about we go to the cafe i mentioned a few days ago? i love it there!"

taehyung flinched inwardly. he hadn't been to the cafe since the day he "met" yeonmi in fear of coming into contact with him again, but he had to admit the latte had been amazing. not only that, but he did want to see the pale man again. he bit his lip as he thought it through. the way yooni had spoken to the cashier and the way the cashier had said his name made it obvious he was a regular.

but that was in the morning. it was currently almost seven at night.

"okay, we could go there," taehyung decided, feigning boredom. "i guess."

but inside, his heart was hammering in his chest. what if he did see yuli again?

okay, he had to either forget about him or learn his name.

they walked to the coffee shop, chanyeol and jimin chatting it away while taehyung added something here and there. they didn't bother bringing their cars since it was a short distance, and walking in the crisp december air was therapeutic to taehyung's nerves anyway. when they entered the warm cafe, they were greeted with a line. however it was shorter than anything the starbucks nearby had so they stayed anyway, waiting to place their orders. jimin and chanyeol were talking about the latest internet challenge and taehyung was about to add a safety warning to the conversation when he heard a low sigh behind him.

"i told you i wrote it," a grumbly voice rasped. taehyung held his breath. it didn't sound like he was directly behind him, but he was close enough to make taehyung stop breathing.

another voice piped in. "but this ballad is too... not your style! what inspired it? come on, tell me! or was it a... sinspiration?"

yoongi rolled his eyes at his friend hoseok. "look, horse, i wrote it and that's all you need to know. besides, what the fuck is sinspiration? just be normal for once." he looked up to measure the line, desperate to just get his coffee and sit down soon. hoseok, as much as he loved him, was just kind of draining sometimes. he saw there were more than ten people in front of him (he got too lazy to count after seven) and when he was about to complain, the syllables caught in his throat.

it was him.

it was the tall man with the soft hair and skin resembling coffee with lots of cream. he licked his lips and looked down. he had the urge to ask him for his name, but he decided against it, determined to hear it through the crowd when he placed his order.

"you got suddenly quiet," jimin pointed out, turning to look at taehyung.

taehyung looked up from his hands and nodded. "yeah, sorry, i'm just thinking." thinking of different escape routes, that's what, but he didn't say anything else. chanyeol and jimin shared a look of concern.

"you know, if you need anything, we're here for you," the sweetheart chanyeol offered, smiling at taehyung even though the boy wasn't looking. "we're friends, it's what we do." taehyung nodded, looking up at chanyeol, and then a little down at jimin.

"thank you."

they ordered together, figuring this way they'd get their drinks faster, and taehyung went to sit at a table before someone took it. yoongi hid his disappointment by coughing a little, clearing his throat. a shorter guy with silver hair sat down across from him — after giving him a hug that lingered unnecessarily. yoongi felt his jaw clench, disappointed. of course such a beautiful human would already have a significant other.

but why was he mad at that?

taehyung looked up just as chanyeol returned from the bathroom. he caught yeuldi ordering. he knew it was him, because once again he was clad in all black with the exception of a grey scarf. he had no beanie on today, so his black hair was fully visible. he was upset at how little of his face he's seen, but he decided to hide it from his friends before they began questioning him.

yoobi turned around and looked toward him and taehyung looked away immediately.

yoongi thought the warm stranger was endearing in a weird way, with his loud fashion sense and the blush slowly creeping up his cheeks when he realised he had been caught staring. yoongi was strangely pleased of having caught the guy staring at him. he reached to his portfolio with an almost inaudible chuckle, taking out the same notepad with the ballad from before. hoseok stared at his friend while they waited for the coffees. he looked at yoongi's hand as it edited the ballad and added more to it. he was amazed at how quickly he was jotting things down.

so he had written the ballad in less than ten minutes, after all.

hoseok just wondered who the sensual, yearning words were really for.