iced caramel latte ➵ yungi

hot cafe latte

"wait really?" hongjoong looks at the taller with stars shining in his eyes. yunho could tell that the owner was really stressed out, his eyes a worryingly bloodshot red and this sounded like the first piece of good news he'd heard in too long of a while.

another employee had decided to quit before the last vacancy could be filled and now it's only hongjoong, seonghwa, mingi and wooyoung left to run the store as owners, managers and employees respectively.

to say that hongjoong and seonghwa were stressed was an understatement, having to work significantly overtime so that they keep the business running.

"yes! i need money and want help you." the smile on his face reached his eyes, his soft and squishy cheeks and pearly whites on full display to show his passion and eagerness to begin as a barista.

"you can work with mingi then starting today. he will do the talking if you're still not comfortable," he gestures towards the barista that was busy talking with a customer. "and here is your uniform."

he's handed the cafe's signature black beret and black apron, hands almost shaking as he takes the items and gingerly puts them on atop the knit sweater and cream pants hongjoong told him to wear that day (something comfortable but presentable, clean and neat like the interior of the cafe.)

hongjoong gives him a little thumbs up before disappearing behind the employee only door.

he shyly goes behind the counter, feeling uncomfortable on the other side of the cafe. everything was so unfamiliar, the machines that he had never even come close to touching with a million different buttons that did god knows what. but mingi is right there beside him only moments later, grinding up some of the coffee beans with the machine and smiling at yunho with pride. "you look really nice in that beret."

thankfully the awkwardness between them (or at least the awkwardness that yunho felt around mingi) had been quick to disappear. like sound waves travelling through a hurricane, the sinful thoughts were thrown out the window every time yunho glimpsed at mingi's twinkling eyes. it only took one more awkward encounter the following day to completely ease yunho's mind and to set him straight. he just couldn't avoid the younger and he didn't want to either.

yunho found himself purposefully repressing any uncomfortable thoughts so that he could spend more time with mingi, feeling carefree and relaxed, enjoying his company.

and for the past month, they kept hanging out together every weekend, initially only at the café, but then it became group outings. like when hongjoong wanted to go on a date with seonghwa but didn't want it to seem like a date so he invited everyone he knew to the bowling alley. or when hongjoong had invited seonghwa out to karaoke but panicked and ended up bringing all their employees along with them.

and every time, despite the main attraction being hongjoong and his idiocy, mingi and yunho always managed to find space and time for themselves. even in the cramped karaoke room, they managed to make it work.

like clockwork, mingi finishes making the customer's drink. it was a simple americano, and it was obvious that mingi had made many of them in the time that he's worked at the cafe, it made yunho terrified at just how good he was at the skill. obviously mingi was a barista for far longer than yunho had been, but it still daunted him to work alongside someone so comfortable in their profession, even if it was just mingi.