[14] coffee, tea, and morning rituals; gen; g
title: coffee, tea, and morning rituals
fandom: super junior m
pairing: none, gen
rating: G
summary: some things stay the same, even when everything changes.
ryeowook has always been an early riser. he likes mornings, when the dark gives way to the warmth of the sunrise and everything is quiet and peaceful. he likes shuffling around in the kitchen before the others are awake, because it is rare to have time to himself when he lives so closely with so many others. by the time the first bedhead stumbles sleepily into the kitchen, ryeowook has already finished his own cup of piping hot black tea (no sugar, no milk), and has cups of coffee, oolong tea, green tea, milk, and orange juice lined up and ready to to go.
---
henry drinks oolong tea every morning - the secret to his smooth and milky skin, he brags. he's done it ever since he was little and sees no reason to stop now, especially in china, where tea is more of a default than water.
he drinks milk with his breakfast and he's the only one to do so. the rest of the members are either lactose intolerant or prefer soy milk. henry doesn't pretend he understands - but hey, he's not going to be the one with osteoporosis, he thinks, and he'd tease them if he ever figures out the word for that in chinese or korean. for now he just grins cheekily at them and gulps his milk, making sure to leave a white mustache and taking bets with himself over who will sigh and lean over to wipe it off for him that day.
---
donghae hates the taste of coffee. he will never get over the bitterness, even after dumping in spoonfuls of sugar and too much cream. instead, he drinks oolong tea and water, and leans his head sleepily on siwon's shoulder. he hates the taste of coffee but he doesn't mind the smell, fragrant and stimulating and comforting in its familiarity.
---
siwon drinks coffee every morning, black with sugar. he likes to read the paper when he has the chance, but that's not often when they have such a busy schedule. he makes up for it by turning on the tv - volume low to not disturb the members who are barely awake and doing their best to fall asleep on their breakfasts - and trying to decipher the rapid mandarin of the news anchors. he's improving day by day, which pleases him, even if he still ends up pulling out his phone as he finishes his coffee to check the korean news sites.
---
zhou mi is, somewhat surprisingly, not a morning person. he is cheerful and amiable after he wakes up, but getting him out of bed is a chore. he tends to run late because he spends too much time - an eternity, kyuhyun gripes - in the bathroom and is usually the last one in the kitchen. but he is usually awake and fully-dressed by then, picking up his glass of orange juice with a smiling thanks to ryeowook. zhou mi doesn't like to drink too much caffeine "because it's not good for your health." he always tries to make kyuhyun drink orange juice with him, but rarely succeeds.
henry sometimes pipes up that he'd like a glass of orange juice too and ryeowook will pour him some obligingly. zhou mi shakes his head incredulously at how much food and liquid henry's consumed and wishes he had that kind of appetite. except then he probably wouldn't fit into most of his clothes, so he decides he's quite all right the way he is.
---
kyuhyun doesn't particularly like coffee but he needs at least a cup every morning to be a functional human being. when zhou mi frowns and tells him too much caffeine is bad for his skin, kyuhyun just rolls his eyes and adds some milk to his coffee. "i'm going to have bad skin regardless," he says. "at least make-up can cover it up." not much can be done if he starts falling asleep in the middle of an interview and his dancing is poor enough without adding the lack of coordination caused by sleep deprivation. so he drinks his coffee defiantly in the face of zhou mi's frown and passes time guessing which member will wipe off henry's milk mustache that day. it's never him.
---
han geng is the only one who drinks green tea in the morning. it's not that the others don't like green tea, but they're all accustomed to their own breakfast drinks. han geng doesn't really mind since he has his own personal box of green tea - 西湖龙井, some of the best in the country - that is a gift from his mother. he prefers not having to share it. ryeowook makes it the way han geng likes it, straining the first batch back down the sink and letting the second batch steep with the dampened leaves releasing their full flavor. han geng likes his tea leaves loose and his tea on the edge of bitter - it is just right by the time he makes it into the kitchen before zhou mi and kyuhyun, picking up his cup and taking a sip as henry devours breakfast and siwon furrows his brow at the tv.
this is their little morning ritual in china, even on the days with their earliest schedules. ryeowook likes taking care of the members and they in turn like to share quiet morning moments together before being herded into a van to that day's destination. han geng thinks it makes them feel like family, a piece of normalcy in their otherwise extraordinary lives. it reminds him of mornings with his mother, too rare for his taste, while she smiles at him over her cup and anchors him: this is why i do this.
---
now, when he wakes in the morning, he sees only his mother and his aunt's faces over the breakfast table. his mother sips at tea. his aunt dips her 油条 into soy milk. he stares down at the cup in front of him, the taste of tea bitter on his tongue, and wonders if ryeowook still makes green tea out of habit in the mornings only to realize there is no one to drink it.
---
ryeowook does.
fandom: super junior m
pairing: none, gen
rating: G
summary: some things stay the same, even when everything changes.
ryeowook has always been an early riser. he likes mornings, when the dark gives way to the warmth of the sunrise and everything is quiet and peaceful. he likes shuffling around in the kitchen before the others are awake, because it is rare to have time to himself when he lives so closely with so many others. by the time the first bedhead stumbles sleepily into the kitchen, ryeowook has already finished his own cup of piping hot black tea (no sugar, no milk), and has cups of coffee, oolong tea, green tea, milk, and orange juice lined up and ready to to go.
---
henry drinks oolong tea every morning - the secret to his smooth and milky skin, he brags. he's done it ever since he was little and sees no reason to stop now, especially in china, where tea is more of a default than water.
he drinks milk with his breakfast and he's the only one to do so. the rest of the members are either lactose intolerant or prefer soy milk. henry doesn't pretend he understands - but hey, he's not going to be the one with osteoporosis, he thinks, and he'd tease them if he ever figures out the word for that in chinese or korean. for now he just grins cheekily at them and gulps his milk, making sure to leave a white mustache and taking bets with himself over who will sigh and lean over to wipe it off for him that day.
---
donghae hates the taste of coffee. he will never get over the bitterness, even after dumping in spoonfuls of sugar and too much cream. instead, he drinks oolong tea and water, and leans his head sleepily on siwon's shoulder. he hates the taste of coffee but he doesn't mind the smell, fragrant and stimulating and comforting in its familiarity.
---
siwon drinks coffee every morning, black with sugar. he likes to read the paper when he has the chance, but that's not often when they have such a busy schedule. he makes up for it by turning on the tv - volume low to not disturb the members who are barely awake and doing their best to fall asleep on their breakfasts - and trying to decipher the rapid mandarin of the news anchors. he's improving day by day, which pleases him, even if he still ends up pulling out his phone as he finishes his coffee to check the korean news sites.
---
zhou mi is, somewhat surprisingly, not a morning person. he is cheerful and amiable after he wakes up, but getting him out of bed is a chore. he tends to run late because he spends too much time - an eternity, kyuhyun gripes - in the bathroom and is usually the last one in the kitchen. but he is usually awake and fully-dressed by then, picking up his glass of orange juice with a smiling thanks to ryeowook. zhou mi doesn't like to drink too much caffeine "because it's not good for your health." he always tries to make kyuhyun drink orange juice with him, but rarely succeeds.
henry sometimes pipes up that he'd like a glass of orange juice too and ryeowook will pour him some obligingly. zhou mi shakes his head incredulously at how much food and liquid henry's consumed and wishes he had that kind of appetite. except then he probably wouldn't fit into most of his clothes, so he decides he's quite all right the way he is.
---
kyuhyun doesn't particularly like coffee but he needs at least a cup every morning to be a functional human being. when zhou mi frowns and tells him too much caffeine is bad for his skin, kyuhyun just rolls his eyes and adds some milk to his coffee. "i'm going to have bad skin regardless," he says. "at least make-up can cover it up." not much can be done if he starts falling asleep in the middle of an interview and his dancing is poor enough without adding the lack of coordination caused by sleep deprivation. so he drinks his coffee defiantly in the face of zhou mi's frown and passes time guessing which member will wipe off henry's milk mustache that day. it's never him.
---
han geng is the only one who drinks green tea in the morning. it's not that the others don't like green tea, but they're all accustomed to their own breakfast drinks. han geng doesn't really mind since he has his own personal box of green tea - 西湖龙井, some of the best in the country - that is a gift from his mother. he prefers not having to share it. ryeowook makes it the way han geng likes it, straining the first batch back down the sink and letting the second batch steep with the dampened leaves releasing their full flavor. han geng likes his tea leaves loose and his tea on the edge of bitter - it is just right by the time he makes it into the kitchen before zhou mi and kyuhyun, picking up his cup and taking a sip as henry devours breakfast and siwon furrows his brow at the tv.
this is their little morning ritual in china, even on the days with their earliest schedules. ryeowook likes taking care of the members and they in turn like to share quiet morning moments together before being herded into a van to that day's destination. han geng thinks it makes them feel like family, a piece of normalcy in their otherwise extraordinary lives. it reminds him of mornings with his mother, too rare for his taste, while she smiles at him over her cup and anchors him: this is why i do this.
---
now, when he wakes in the morning, he sees only his mother and his aunt's faces over the breakfast table. his mother sips at tea. his aunt dips her 油条 into soy milk. he stares down at the cup in front of him, the taste of tea bitter on his tongue, and wonders if ryeowook still makes green tea out of habit in the mornings only to realize there is no one to drink it.
---
ryeowook does.