coffee is bitter (but i think you're sweet) → for EVERYONE
Title: coffee is bitter (but i think you're sweet)
Pairing(s): xiumin/tao
Rating: pg
Word count: 1613
Summary: Minseok makes coffee and tries not to think about the man with really nice eyebrows that's been coming in lately.
Minseok is working the end of his too-long Saturday shift, when a tall blonde with a dangerous number of piercings shoves open the doors of the near empty (to Minseok’s absolute delight) coffee shop. He walks up to the register and stands there staring at Minseok, looking positively petulant. Minseok has never seen him here before, he thinks that if someone with this many piercings had been here before, he would have definitely remembered. He turns to the man and decides it’s high time that he stops gawking and starts doing his job.
“Hello, how may I help you?” Minseok swears he hears the man in front of him scoff.
“Well, considering that I’m standing in front of the register of a coffee shop on a Saturday Afternoon, I think I’ll be ordering a coffee, if that’s alright with you.” The man tacks a saccharine edge onto the end of his sentences, it’s bratty and endearing all at once. It’s the kind of thing Minseok falls for all too often.
“I’ll have a Decaf Latte with extra cream.” The man looks up at him through long eyelashes.
“Can you even really call that a coffee?,” Minseok says, smiling cheekily. The man scoffs, looking affronted.
“Don’t you guys have some kind golden rule about how to treat your customers?” The man glares at him. He has really nice eyebrows, Minseok notices. He’d almost be jealous if he knew his own weren’t just as great.
“Not at this coffee shop.” Minseok turns away from the man and goes to prepare his “coffee”. Minseok is almost offended by this guy’s order. “If you’re going to water it down so much, why not just go to a bakery. You’re basically drinking pure sugar at this point.”
“Maybe I like it sweet,” Eyebrows says, fluttering his eyelashes and grinning coquettishly. Minseok groans in disgust.
“Here’s your coffee, now get out of my shop.”
“Actually, I’ll be staying awhile, I have some work to do.” Eyebrows’ smile almost splits his face in half with its smugness. “Thanks for the coffee...” He leans over the counter, squinting to see something. “Minseok.” He flicks the name tag fastened to Minseok’s apron and almost skips off to the lounge area of the shop. Minseok is very glad his shift is almost over.
As Minseok is cleaning up the shop before the end of his shift, he feels a pair of arms wrapping around him from behind. He’d know those arms anywhere. They’ve invaded his space far too many times for him to not immediately who they belong to upon contact.
“Lu Han, I’m too tired for this. Just let me leave.”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Minseok.” Lu Han tightens his hold.
“Don’t quote A Space Odyssey at me, I’m the one who even introduced you to that movie.” Minseok shivers. “Is nothing sacred anymore?”
“As far as I’m concerned, nothing ever was. Now go home and get some sleep.” He slips something into Minseok’s pocket before he goes. Someone extremely tall walks into the shop and Lu Han beelines straight to him. Minseok makes a mental note to use this against him later on. One can never have too much blackmail to use against Lu Han, because Lu Han is someone that collects blackmail like normal people collect say, stamps. Minseok shudders. He’s fairly certain he even keeps files on people.
****
Minseok boards the bus, reaching around in his pocket for his phone when he feels a piece of paper. He suddenly remembers Lu Han sticking something in there, and takes it out to look at it. There’s a phone number and a message written on it in very sloppy Korean. Minseok isn’t even sure of he wants to text it, seeing as it was provided to him by Lu Han. Just then, he gets a text.
From: Lu Han Oppa~❤
did u text ur new boyfriend yet?
Minseok has a sinking feeling in his stomach… A sinking feeling that he knows exactly whose number this is. Nice eyebrows and lots of piercings flash through his mind.
To: Lu Han Oppa~❤
First of all, he’s not my boyfriend. I don’t even know who ‘he’ is. Second of all, when did you manage to get into my phone and change your contact name… Get rid of it, it’s disturbing.
From: Lu Han Oppa~❤
u should text him, u haven’t gotten laid in forever
nd dnt deny it minseok, u wanna call me oppa… ;~)
Minseok is insulted. He’s gotten laid fairly recently. Even if it was terrible sex. It’s not his fault that Kris had insisted on doing alpaca impressions during and after, and he’d been a bottom, with THAT body. Minseok shudders at the memory. Talk about walk of shame.
To: Lu Han Oppa~❤
...I’ll text him. Just please, promise to never use that emoticon ever again.
He hurriedly changes Lu Han’s contact back to it’s old name. He hopes to never have the image of Lu Han Oppa ever enter his head again. He takes out his phone and texts the number.
The next few days are filled with text messages to this stranger, who, to Minseok’s blind fury, still refuses to tell him his name.
***
Byun Baekhyun, in a word, is loud. Minseok has only just arrived to work, and he already feels like his ears have been subjected to a hoard of Dong Bang Shin Ki fans at one of their concerts. Baekhyun, for reasons that will be forever lost on Minseok, is his superior, which means that Minseok is subjected to his too-high-decibel voice sucking up to the manager as he tells the other workers to bow to him each morning when work begins. Minseok feels like a priceless vase that has just been accidentally knocked to the ground by some clumsy guest (he'd picture Chanyeol, if he had to put a face on the daydream). He imagines all of the things he has learned over the years gushing out of his aching head and flooding the floor of the shop, drenching everyone and eroding the tables where several extremely attractive men are lounging into small, wooden nubs.
After Baekhyun has finished delivering the morning announcements, the team breaks for a brief recess prior to the start of the day's shift. The minute Baekhyun is done talking, Minseok lays his head on the register and shuts his eyes, hoping to have a cool down period from hearing Baekhyun's voice, as well as a quick nap. He spends about two minutes in complete peace, the only sounds entering his eardrums are the sounds of the useless chatter of his coworkers and the whirring of ventilation. He feels his veil of relaxation shatter as a large, clumsy hand reaches down and ruffles his hair.
He looks up to see the tall, gangling figure of Park Chanyeol, whose lips are stretched into a dopey smile as he leans down and gives Minseok a bone-crushing hug. "Good morning hyung!"
"Chanyeol, what have I told you about personal space?," Minseok says, voice strained due to the fact that his neck is still being constricted.
"Sorry hyung!" Chanyeol releases his neck at record-breaking speed and doubles back, tripping over a leg of Minseok's desk and stumbling to the floor. He stares up at Minseok with the expression of a confused child. Baekhyun dashes over to help him up.
"Are you alright bro?," Baekhyun says. The distress on his face is almost comical. His uniform is too long on him, and it bunches up as he bends over and pulls Chanyeol up by the arms.
"I'm fine," Chanyeol says, shooting Minseok a wounded glare. "I was just saying good morning."
Baekhyun looks at Minseok warily, smoothing out the wrinkles in his trousers. He and Chanyeol quickly become wrapped up in some conversation about some shitty American rock band that they both like and forget about Minseok's presence, leaving him to try and nap for the last five minutes before their shift begins. It's hard though, with the both of them still flitting around his desk like a pair of over-caffeinated fairies.
It’s going to be a long day, Minseok thinks. His only condolence is that the man with the nice eyebrows has been texting him nonstop. But, he won’t tell Minseok his name, he’s about to drop contact completely, he’s so infuriated.
He’s working his the end of his shift again when the man comes in for a second time. He walks straight up to the register and grins at Minseok.
“I see you’ve been enjoying my texts.”
“I don’t think enjoying is the right word, suffering through is a little more accurate.” Minseok grimaces at the man, but stifles a smile in spite of himself.
“How dare you? I’m a fantastic conversationalist. I was ranked towards the top of my speech class.” The man’s lip curls in disgust. “Anyway, I assume you know what I want to order.”
“Ah, the imposter coffee, how could I ever forget?” Minseok turns around to make it, when he hears a voice from behind him.
“You’re just mad because you can’t appreciate sweet things.”
“I’m just mad because I kind of like you and you won’t tell me your name.” Minseok looks over at the stranger’s face and sees something he didn’t expect to, surprise, remorse, maybe.
“My name is Zitao.” Minseok feels his stomach clench involuntarily. No, there’s no way someone as irritating as Zitao, apparently, could be having this effect on him. He simply refuses to believe it. “And I like you too.”
Author’s note: thanks so much to m for lots and lots of reasons, but most of all for being patient with me. also thanks to l and j for being flawless and amazing.
Pairing(s): xiumin/tao
Rating: pg
Word count: 1613
Summary: Minseok makes coffee and tries not to think about the man with really nice eyebrows that's been coming in lately.
Minseok is working the end of his too-long Saturday shift, when a tall blonde with a dangerous number of piercings shoves open the doors of the near empty (to Minseok’s absolute delight) coffee shop. He walks up to the register and stands there staring at Minseok, looking positively petulant. Minseok has never seen him here before, he thinks that if someone with this many piercings had been here before, he would have definitely remembered. He turns to the man and decides it’s high time that he stops gawking and starts doing his job.
“Hello, how may I help you?” Minseok swears he hears the man in front of him scoff.
“Well, considering that I’m standing in front of the register of a coffee shop on a Saturday Afternoon, I think I’ll be ordering a coffee, if that’s alright with you.” The man tacks a saccharine edge onto the end of his sentences, it’s bratty and endearing all at once. It’s the kind of thing Minseok falls for all too often.
“I’ll have a Decaf Latte with extra cream.” The man looks up at him through long eyelashes.
“Can you even really call that a coffee?,” Minseok says, smiling cheekily. The man scoffs, looking affronted.
“Don’t you guys have some kind golden rule about how to treat your customers?” The man glares at him. He has really nice eyebrows, Minseok notices. He’d almost be jealous if he knew his own weren’t just as great.
“Not at this coffee shop.” Minseok turns away from the man and goes to prepare his “coffee”. Minseok is almost offended by this guy’s order. “If you’re going to water it down so much, why not just go to a bakery. You’re basically drinking pure sugar at this point.”
“Maybe I like it sweet,” Eyebrows says, fluttering his eyelashes and grinning coquettishly. Minseok groans in disgust.
“Here’s your coffee, now get out of my shop.”
“Actually, I’ll be staying awhile, I have some work to do.” Eyebrows’ smile almost splits his face in half with its smugness. “Thanks for the coffee...” He leans over the counter, squinting to see something. “Minseok.” He flicks the name tag fastened to Minseok’s apron and almost skips off to the lounge area of the shop. Minseok is very glad his shift is almost over.
As Minseok is cleaning up the shop before the end of his shift, he feels a pair of arms wrapping around him from behind. He’d know those arms anywhere. They’ve invaded his space far too many times for him to not immediately who they belong to upon contact.
“Lu Han, I’m too tired for this. Just let me leave.”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Minseok.” Lu Han tightens his hold.
“Don’t quote A Space Odyssey at me, I’m the one who even introduced you to that movie.” Minseok shivers. “Is nothing sacred anymore?”
“As far as I’m concerned, nothing ever was. Now go home and get some sleep.” He slips something into Minseok’s pocket before he goes. Someone extremely tall walks into the shop and Lu Han beelines straight to him. Minseok makes a mental note to use this against him later on. One can never have too much blackmail to use against Lu Han, because Lu Han is someone that collects blackmail like normal people collect say, stamps. Minseok shudders. He’s fairly certain he even keeps files on people.
****
Minseok boards the bus, reaching around in his pocket for his phone when he feels a piece of paper. He suddenly remembers Lu Han sticking something in there, and takes it out to look at it. There’s a phone number and a message written on it in very sloppy Korean. Minseok isn’t even sure of he wants to text it, seeing as it was provided to him by Lu Han. Just then, he gets a text.
From: Lu Han Oppa~❤
did u text ur new boyfriend yet?
Minseok has a sinking feeling in his stomach… A sinking feeling that he knows exactly whose number this is. Nice eyebrows and lots of piercings flash through his mind.
To: Lu Han Oppa~❤
First of all, he’s not my boyfriend. I don’t even know who ‘he’ is. Second of all, when did you manage to get into my phone and change your contact name… Get rid of it, it’s disturbing.
From: Lu Han Oppa~❤
u should text him, u haven’t gotten laid in forever
nd dnt deny it minseok, u wanna call me oppa… ;~)
Minseok is insulted. He’s gotten laid fairly recently. Even if it was terrible sex. It’s not his fault that Kris had insisted on doing alpaca impressions during and after, and he’d been a bottom, with THAT body. Minseok shudders at the memory. Talk about walk of shame.
To: Lu Han Oppa~❤
...I’ll text him. Just please, promise to never use that emoticon ever again.
He hurriedly changes Lu Han’s contact back to it’s old name. He hopes to never have the image of Lu Han Oppa ever enter his head again. He takes out his phone and texts the number.
The next few days are filled with text messages to this stranger, who, to Minseok’s blind fury, still refuses to tell him his name.
***
Byun Baekhyun, in a word, is loud. Minseok has only just arrived to work, and he already feels like his ears have been subjected to a hoard of Dong Bang Shin Ki fans at one of their concerts. Baekhyun, for reasons that will be forever lost on Minseok, is his superior, which means that Minseok is subjected to his too-high-decibel voice sucking up to the manager as he tells the other workers to bow to him each morning when work begins. Minseok feels like a priceless vase that has just been accidentally knocked to the ground by some clumsy guest (he'd picture Chanyeol, if he had to put a face on the daydream). He imagines all of the things he has learned over the years gushing out of his aching head and flooding the floor of the shop, drenching everyone and eroding the tables where several extremely attractive men are lounging into small, wooden nubs.
After Baekhyun has finished delivering the morning announcements, the team breaks for a brief recess prior to the start of the day's shift. The minute Baekhyun is done talking, Minseok lays his head on the register and shuts his eyes, hoping to have a cool down period from hearing Baekhyun's voice, as well as a quick nap. He spends about two minutes in complete peace, the only sounds entering his eardrums are the sounds of the useless chatter of his coworkers and the whirring of ventilation. He feels his veil of relaxation shatter as a large, clumsy hand reaches down and ruffles his hair.
He looks up to see the tall, gangling figure of Park Chanyeol, whose lips are stretched into a dopey smile as he leans down and gives Minseok a bone-crushing hug. "Good morning hyung!"
"Chanyeol, what have I told you about personal space?," Minseok says, voice strained due to the fact that his neck is still being constricted.
"Sorry hyung!" Chanyeol releases his neck at record-breaking speed and doubles back, tripping over a leg of Minseok's desk and stumbling to the floor. He stares up at Minseok with the expression of a confused child. Baekhyun dashes over to help him up.
"Are you alright bro?," Baekhyun says. The distress on his face is almost comical. His uniform is too long on him, and it bunches up as he bends over and pulls Chanyeol up by the arms.
"I'm fine," Chanyeol says, shooting Minseok a wounded glare. "I was just saying good morning."
Baekhyun looks at Minseok warily, smoothing out the wrinkles in his trousers. He and Chanyeol quickly become wrapped up in some conversation about some shitty American rock band that they both like and forget about Minseok's presence, leaving him to try and nap for the last five minutes before their shift begins. It's hard though, with the both of them still flitting around his desk like a pair of over-caffeinated fairies.
It’s going to be a long day, Minseok thinks. His only condolence is that the man with the nice eyebrows has been texting him nonstop. But, he won’t tell Minseok his name, he’s about to drop contact completely, he’s so infuriated.
He’s working his the end of his shift again when the man comes in for a second time. He walks straight up to the register and grins at Minseok.
“I see you’ve been enjoying my texts.”
“I don’t think enjoying is the right word, suffering through is a little more accurate.” Minseok grimaces at the man, but stifles a smile in spite of himself.
“How dare you? I’m a fantastic conversationalist. I was ranked towards the top of my speech class.” The man’s lip curls in disgust. “Anyway, I assume you know what I want to order.”
“Ah, the imposter coffee, how could I ever forget?” Minseok turns around to make it, when he hears a voice from behind him.
“You’re just mad because you can’t appreciate sweet things.”
“I’m just mad because I kind of like you and you won’t tell me your name.” Minseok looks over at the stranger’s face and sees something he didn’t expect to, surprise, remorse, maybe.
“My name is Zitao.” Minseok feels his stomach clench involuntarily. No, there’s no way someone as irritating as Zitao, apparently, could be having this effect on him. He simply refuses to believe it. “And I like you too.”
Author’s note: thanks so much to m for lots and lots of reasons, but most of all for being patient with me. also thanks to l and j for being flawless and amazing.