Coffee Shop (EXO Xiuhan/Lumin)

Always leave coffee-bean arrangements to professionals

A/N: Only two chapters left, excluding this one!

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It was a Wednesday morning when Minseok was almost done with his shift. There were almost no customers at this time of the day, so he had a lot of free time. Their customers usually came in very early, or pretty late. Twelve o’clock on a normal day, this place as almost always empty.

For the fourth time that hour, Minseok washed the surfaces of the tables with a wet cloth to make time pass.

"I think the tables are pretty clean now, Xiumin," Lay said, almost dozing off at the counter.

"Hey, if the boss-lady sees you now you're fired on the spot," Minseok answered, throwing the wet cloth in the sink in the staff room.

"She won't, because she adooores my Triple Caramel Cafe Latte, just like everybody else," Lay grinned confidently, while suppressing a yawn.

Minseok knew he was right of course, but smiled and replied with a sarcastic "yeah, right," anyways. Then he walked into the storage to get some more coffee beans (even though they weren't really running out any time soon), and just as he started to unpack one of the big, brown boxes with beans, someone came in.

Lay pulled himself together and greeted the customer like he normally did, but then became uneasy, all of a sudden. He helped the customer as usual, but something was off. Even Minseok could hear that. Lay's professional tone seemed different, more casual. But it was like he forcefully made it casual, and then overdid it.

"Uh... Looks like there's no more cream. I'll - I'll go get some cream. Yeah, that's right. Cream." Lay stuttered.

'That's weird,' Minseok thought, 'Lay never stutters like this when he's working,' Maybe it was a girl. He smirked, a playful and mischievous grin spreading across his face. Maybe he wasn't the only one confused by love and God-knows-what else, but Lay as well. That would certainly be fun.

As Minseok got done arranging the different packs of coffee beans carefully in his arms Lay came into the room, seemingly upset.

"I'll take those," he said as soon as he entered. He ran over to Minseok, and before Minseok could react, Lay took the coffee-packs out of his arms, destroying the careful order Minseok proudly had arranged.

"Go get the customer! Wants your Chocolate Mocha anyways." Lay said impatient, staggering under the weight of the coffee beans.

"Lay, are you really okay by yourself?" Minseok asked, still unsure. What was going on with him today?

"Mhm," Lay replied and nodded energetic. "Totally okay! Go serve that customer, now,"

Minseok eyed him suspiciously, but got going, heading for the counter.

-

And Minseok understood - it wasn't a girl that made Lay all weird. It was someone completely else.

It was Luhan. It was obvious that Lay had noticed that whatever was going on, the main problem was Minseok/Luhan. Dear, poor, Lay. How Minseok loved that goof.

As Minseok walked over to Luhan wide-eyed, he wondered if it really was Luhan standing there. But his brain told him that it was Luhan indeed, from the way he leant with one arm to the counter, to the way he looked at Minseok.

"Double Chocolate Mocha with cream?" Luhan asked trying. He seemed much more tired then last time. He had a smear of something red across his cheek, and his face looked hollower than it had just a couple of weeks ago. But Minseok couldn't do anything but nod, staring at the boy in front of him. After one month without as much as a word, Luhan was now right in front of him. Minseok hesitated for a moment, but then turned around and started making Luhan his coffee, his cheeks burning. If it had been anything else, he would certainly have messed it up. Luckily he was very used to making the Mocha, so it was like a routine - he just did it.

As Minseok served Luhan his coffee, Luhan cocked his head slightly to the left, like saying "aren’t you going to follow me?". So that's what Minseok did, leaving the front counter to Lay, who was now probably stuck under a dozen packs of coffee beans.