black coffee | soonhoon

One

Kwon Soonyoung sighs – a deep, painful sigh that you'd only hear someone make when they're being faced with the greatest and worst task of their lives. Surely, for our protagonist, it must be a difficult task? Apparently not. Soonyoung looks with disdain at the newly appeared black coffee satin on his cream jumper.

"Hey Soonyoung, can you get the order for table twelve please?" Soonyoung groans after hearing Kihyun's voice call through the back.

"I'm a bit busy!" he says, frantically trying to scrub at the sleeve with soap and water.

"Fuck! This is new, as well!" He complains, drawing the attention of a few customers sitting close to the counter.

As much as Soonyoung likes his job, he can never afford to wear anything nice. The moment he does... this happens. He gives up, and instead stares out of the front window of Café 200°, where he can see the bright sun shining onto the boardwalk, where families stroll along with sand coating their feet, fresh from their adventures at the beach. Beyond that, the ocean surface ripples in the blinding like, shimmering like a thousand specks of glitter.

And yet, as much as Soonyoung wishes he could spend every single day of his life wandering the coast, swimming in the sea, or dancing along the boardwalk, he's confined to the café, where he spends most of his week doing the same old routine.

Although, I'm making it sound like he hates his job – he doesn't. Soonyoung is content with the breath-taking views when the sun hits the exact point in the sky to send orange hues through the wide glass, and he loves messing around with Kihyun and gossiping about customers in the back room, where the two of them make every panini, cake and pastry by hand.

Soonyoung loves it, but he feels like he could have so much more.

Every moment he gets away from his job, Soonyoung mostly spends it in the dance studio that conjoins to the university – pushing his body to the extreme and feeling like he's in another world.

"Soonyoung!"

A hand clicks in front of his face, instantly breaking the boy from his reverie.

"Stop zoning out, idiot! A couple just walked in and I need you to go take their order," Kihyun scowls, "And be quick because they have some pretty questionable ideas on what looks cute to match with each other."

Soonyoung takes one look in their direction and grimaces, "Ouch. Who the fuck thinks it's a good idea to wear that? They're barely even trousers! And they're neon green," Soonyoung pretends to wretch, bending out of sight of the couple when they glance over. Kihyun smiles awkwardly to them before dragging Soonyoung back up.

"Right, serious now. Go."

Soonyoung scoffs, "Serious? When am I ever serious?"

Kihyun coughs, "Whenever Changkyun walks in." Soonyoung whirls around to the door and immediately spots their boss, standing with his arms crossed and watching them with an eyebrow raised.

"Shit."

Kihyun chuckles, "Might want to get to work now."

Trying to put on a completely innocent face, Soonyoung grabs a pad of paper and quickly walks around the counter, heading straight over to the hideously dressed couple. He greets them politely, although on the inside he's trying not to crack up from laughter. Seriously, who dresses like that?

He barely pays attention to their order, only listening enough to write it down. He notices they both order the same thing, though, and proceeds to mentally gag when they start acting surprised about it. Seriously, get it together, it's just a fucking drink.