Chapter Text
Taeyang lightly tapped the metal jug against the wooden countertop, then swirled it ever so slightly to make sure the milk inside had the right density. He held up the cup that he had poured two shots of espresso into earlier - it felt so small and delicate in his hand - and proceeded to add the frothed liquid into it, gently swaying the jug. This resulted in a cup of flat white adorned with an intricate leaf design. Taeyang admired his creation for a second or two before a wet towel hit the space right next to it, almost throwing the cup off the countertop if not for Taeyang's fast reflexes.
The boy held his breath and made sure the design was untouched. It still, thank God, looked perfectly fine, so he smoothly pushed the finished cup towards the pick up station. He put on his best smile as the customer took her coffee, muttering a little "thank you" as she headed off back to her table.
Only then Taeyang let out that breath he's been holding for a whole minute. He inhaled shakily and grabbed the unfortunate rag.
"Hyung! You almost ruined it," the boy whined, looking at his manager who just pushed a receipt into his free hand.
"You would've just made another one then," he said in a sing-songy voice. "Get back to work. Mr Chicken Breast is here."
Taeyang threw him a puzzled look.
"Mr Chicken Breast?"
Without waiting for the answer, he skimmed through the next receipt and moved on to make two iced americanos, while Youngbin took a sandwich from behind the display to put it on a plate.
The manager joined Taeyang behind the coffee machine, which was just tall enough to help them look through the room without being noticed.
"Look at them."
He subtly nodded towards two guys sitting near the front window.
Taeyang squinted a little (he really needed to get his eyesight checked sometime soon) to see them clearly. Even now, sitting, slightly hunched over their table, they appeared to be much taller than average. One of them had light ginger hair falling onto cat-like features in loose curls, giving him an almost ethereal appearance, the effect emphasized by an oversized white shirt that exposed his neck. Just as Taeyang managed to notice a long silver earring on his left ear, his observations were interrupted by unusually agitated Youngbin.
“Did you see these? Did you see these?!” the manager screeched hushedly, making grabby motion in front of his chest. He obviously meant the defined pecs of the other guy sitting at the table, whose torso and arms, clad in a tight black turtleneck, were indeed impressive, Taeyang concluded. Despite the ripped build, though, the man had an adorably chubby face and hair bleached into icy white, which, again, fit well into the couple’s ethereal vibe.
“Are they…?” Taeyang asked in the lowest tone possible, careful to not be overheard. They just looked too good together to not...
Youngbin rolled his eyes in disbelief. Then, he put the plate he took earlier on the counter in front of Taeyang.
“Listen to me first. They’re regulars,” he said. “They always take iced americano, extra large for Inseong, since he pretends to be on diet whenever they’re together, and small one for Jaeyoon.”
He peeked from behind the coffee machine for a second, then turned his attention to the sandwich that was now opened.
“Jaeyoon takes the chicken breast sandwich. It has to be opened. He will only eat the meat,” the manager paused to close his eyes and take a deep breath, “You know. That protein.”
Taeyang never saw his supervisor so… excited, to say the least.
“I forgot to open the sandwich once. Trust me, Taeyang. I never want to disappoint him again.”
The boy nodded slowly, taking in all that knowledge he wasn’t sure he wanted to acquire. To avoid going further into the conversation - or maybe just to let Youngbin calm down a bit - Taeyang put everything onto the tray and headed to the table by the window.
Just as he was approaching, he felt himself losing all his cool. Pretty sure it was the tenth hour of his shift getting to him, he brushed it off and reached the couple. For some reason, he decided it would be better to avoid looking at them directly in this state, but his hand gave up a bit when he was handing the extra large americano.
Taeyang sensed a soft touch on his knuckles.
“Careful!”
Inseong, right? That was Inseong. He didn’t sound annoyed at all. Good sign. Taeyang quickly apologized, bowed slightly and let the customer take his cup. He put his best smile on again, and looked up at the guy.
If Inseong seemed angelic from afar, he was straight up a godlike creature up close. The young barista’s smile faded for a moment; then, he remembered he still had the rest of the order to serve, so he shook his head almost unnoticeably to get back to his senses. After handing the small americano (and doing his best to avoid eye contact), he put the plate on the table.
The other man’s giggle made Taeyang look at him after all. He immediately felt like drifting off again, struck by his features, no less gorgeous than Inseong’s.
Jaeyoon stared into his sandwich, all smiles.
“Look, Inseong! Look, it’s opened!” he exclaimed, “I told you they’d remember this time!”
Taeyang would probably feel better if he didn’t know the reason for his doubt was, most likely, Youngbin’s own mistake he had previously mentioned. Holding in an amused snort, he tucked the now empty tray under his arm and attempted to walk away, when he felt someone grabbing him right above his elbow. That was, obviously, Mr Chicken Breast himself, whose firm grasp made Taeyang turn back in his direction.
"Really, thank you," Jaeyoon said, looking at the barista with a genuine smile, "For real. I'm a bit at odds with gluten."
Taeyang gasped a little, ready to apologize again. If he was allergic and decided to report them after the previous incident…
"No, it's nothing serious! I'm not allergic or anything," Jaeyoon added quickly after seeing Taeyang's terrified reaction, "I'm strictly on low carb. And I'm terrible at… deconstructing sandwiches, I guess." There was a short pause, as if he tried to gather his thoughts. "I prefer to leave it to professionals." Another pause. "Anyway… Yeah, low carb."
"He's deep into that gym stuff," Inseong added.
"But you like the results, don't you?" Jaeyoon whined, bouncing on his seat cutely. Only then he remembered he still didn't let go of Taeyang's arm.
"I'm sorry!" he said, immediately retreating his hand. "And once again, thank you so much!"
"You're welcome," Taeyang replied, rubbing his arm that now felt kind of sore. "Enjoy your sandwich. I mean, the chicken."
Inseong, for some reason, snorted loudly.
The young barista concluded it was the right time to leave. He briefly looked back at the couple on his way back to the counter; it just so happened that Inseong was staring at him at that very moment as well.
Did he just… wink at him?
Taeyang quickly looked away, deciding it was just his poor eyesight messing with him.
The couple spent an obscenely long time at the cafe, giggling and theatrically whispering to each other. They left shortly before the closing hour, not paying any attention to Taeyang, even though he was sweeping the floor right in front of their table.
It wasn't like he should have expected anything. Some people - like Inseong - were just flirty by nature, and that one wink (that could've been a figment of Taeyang's imagination, after all) probably meant nothing. Inseong and Jaeyoon were evidently so deeply in love that they would have no reason to look fondly at anybody else.
Still, deep down, Taeyang wished to enter their little bubble, just to experience this kind of feeling first hand.
After getting back to his tiny rented apartment - the only thing he could afford on the spot - late at night, Taeyang, as usual, planned to only take a quick shower, then fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
Tonight, however, it was different.
Sure, his mind drifted off a bit once he threw himself on the bed, but not far enough to shut down completely. His thoughts swirled, the images from today floating too close to full consciousness. When he grew weary of repeating the same scene over and over again, all he could feel was tingling where Inseong had touched him before --- brief, feather-like sensation on his knuckles that seemed to be getting more and more intense with each passing minute. The memory disintegrated into an abstract visual of silver glitter falling in cascades onto Taeyang's skin, the sparkling particles making a subtle, tingling sound that kept crescendoing until it reached volume that Taeyang could almost hear from the outside, not just in his head.
Finally, the sound would spread from his ears all the way down his spine, tickling his back like the glitter he saw earlier; the shivers he experienced were so intense he had to hold back a moan.
"Not now…", he groaned quietly, feeling a slight stir in his boxers, but before he could do anything about it, his brain had decided to switch into sleep mode.