Jeongguk was beautiful.

And maybe Taehyung didn’t want to admit it, but his new hyung was right. If his assumption that the well-built back he caught a glimpse of before was his, he was indeed hiding an extremely toned body underneath his clothes as Inhyuk said.

Godlike? Check. Mouthwatering? Abso-fucking-lutely check.

His almond eyes were rather gripping — they could easily captivate and melt anyone under them. His cute nose with the round tip that was just the right size for his round-shaped face, damn his jaw that was as sharp as a sword, and his rosy lips, the upper thin and the bottom plump, almost asking to be devoured.

Yes, Taehyung was staring, and he had already been caught three times.

But to his defense, he was just trying to find the courage to apologize to him. He went off on him, and the poor boy just wanted to introduce himself.

Seated on a stool at the bar, elbow placed on the counter and chin resting in his palm, Taehyung was once again engrossed in analyzing Jeongguk’s elegant traits and every move he made as he was making coffee, probably for himself.

What he didn’t perceive was that Jeongguk, after a minute or two, had finished his task and was now leaning against the counter, right in front of his face with a rather amused expression.

Jeongguk was impressed that the still unnamed boy hadn’t noticed him since he was looking straight at him. But as he continued to observe him, he distinguished his glazed gaze, and he could tell that his mind was wandering to a place far away from there.

He’s pretty. This thought traveled through his mind, surprising himself just a bit. He shook it off and copied his stance, cocking his head to the side and waiting until the boy would wake up from his daydreaming.

But that moment never came. Figuring that this could probably drag on for a long, long time, he took matters into his own hands. “Do you need something?”

Taehyung hummed, a sweet and soft sound, still in the middle of crawling back to reality, but when he finally did, his blood turned ice cold. Heat spread on his cheeks in no time, turning them into a shade of pink, the same tinge the tips of his ears had by now.

“Chocolate!” he blurted out with a quite powerful voice, startling the other boy. When he comprehended what flew off his mouth, he made a moue at his stupid self and regretted opening the pitfall of his embarrassment. Again.

“Chocolate?” Jeongguk drawled, gazing at him with his big questioning eyes.

The fluffy-haired boy tossed his head down, still feeling flushed and mortified to the core. “Iced.”

Jeongguk’s lips slowly curved into a smile, his brows raising at his strange but for some goddamn reason cute behavior. “You want an iced chocolate?”

“Yes. Please.”

“Okay. You can go back to staring at me now.” A few insinuations were sensible in his tone, impelling the other boy to groan and hide his flaming red face in his hands.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Taehyung chanted mentally. A few seconds of silence went by, and he peeked through his fingers, wanting to see what the cherry-haired boy was doing. “I w-wasn’t staring?” he murmured with low expectations of Jeongguk believing him since he had clearly caught him, and he was right.

A string of scoffing chuckles burst out of his mouth as he continued making the boy’s drink. “Yeah, okay.”

Completely defeated, Taehyung stayed silent the remaining time until a glass of iced chocolate was placed in front of him. He mumbled a weak 'thank you', not daring to make eye contact with the boy again as he grabbed his drink.

“So what’s your name, anyway?”

Taehyung stilled at his question, his hand stopping midair as he was ready to taste his frozen drink. “Taehyung.”

“I’m Jeongguk. But I bet you know that already.”

The fluffy-haired boy shot his gaze at him when he heard his once again connotative, jeering tone. “Look, I don’t know w-what you’re thinking and I-I don’t really care. I just wanted to apologize to you for—for snapping at you or whatever.”

“Wow, you’re really good at apologizing. Snapping at me or whatever? Nice.” He crossed his arms and gave him a taunting look.

Taehyung looked back at him with knitted brows, his bottom lip peeking out in a pout. “You know, Inhyuk hyung said you weren’t an asshole. I guess he doesn’t know you that well.”

Some of his cocky sauciness fell from his face at his statement. Jeongguk truly wasn’t an asshole to anyone — he just used lighthearted teasing to get to know someone better. Maybe he just crossed the line with that boy. “Are you implying I’m an asshole? You don’t even know me.”

“Better for me then,” Taehyung whispered, still sulking, as he grabbed his drink and crept away from him.

Jeongguk was left staring at the boy’s back dumbfounded. “Did he just really...” He let out a heavy sigh as he shook his head and went to his friend who was sitting at the other side of the bar.

“Kook—wait, what’s with the face?” Namjoon narrowed his eyes on him as the cherry-haired boy sank down onto the stool next to him.

“I think I screwed up.”

“Did you gum up the coffee machine again?”

“No, Joon.” He tsked with an eye roll. “I think I was an asshole to that guy Taehyung and I didn’t even realize it.” He saw a wordless question in his eyes, and so he narrated what happened a few moments ago.

“Hmm, he’s been through a lot these almost two hours and we haven’t even started working yet. Maybe he was kind of short-tempered with everything.”

“Are you talking about when his sleeve was caught at the door handle?”

“Yes, he was really embarrassed and probably still is. And every person he met today commented on that and kinda mocked him, you know?”

“Oh.” Jeongguk then registered why the boy snapped at him before and why he indirectly called him an asshole. “Now I feel bad for teasing him. I should apologize—“

“Everyone!” Dohwan’s loud exclamation echoed in the whole cafe, attracting everyone’s attention. “We are opening the doors in five minutes. Go to your posts now. Let’s do our best to make our customers happy, okay?”

Everyone cheered, clapping and yelling uplifting exclamations as they went to their posts. Jeongguk couldn't subdue his urge to peek at Taehyung who stood with the other servers beside the bar. He darted another glance at him and allowed his eyes to rest on the boy.

He fidgeted in his spot, unable to stay still without a doubt, chewing his bottom lip and twiddling with the hem of his shirt. He couldn’t help but cast his mind back to his first day of work two years ago. Although he did a great job overall, he still made some mistakes because he was so nervous.

He didn’t want the same to happen to that fluffy-haired boy, but he didn’t have a good feeling about it.

The doors opened after a few agonizing minutes and the first set of people filled half of the cafe. The newcomers were surprised at the immense number, but knowing that Mr. Ji had a big name around the town it made sense.

It wasn’t Taehyung’s first time working as a server, but it was definitely one of the most high-pressure days of his life. His spot in that team was at stake, and he couldn’t afford to lose that job in no event.

Against his horrifying expectations, he got through the first two hours without a single mistake. But since Kim Taehyung was, you know, Kim Taehyung, the moment he let his guard down and relaxed, he dropped a fresh-made banana milkshake that was placed on his tray when he veered off at the call of his name.

And that happened right in front of Kang Joon, who was also the one who called his name since Taehyung forgot to take a glass of water with him.

Horror-struck, his heart pranced at what just happened and continued beating at an animalistic pace. He threw his head down and chanted apologies as he grabbed a wet cloth with shivery hands, wanting to clean his mess.

“Forget it.” Kang Joon snatched the cloth he was holding with a vicious glare. “Can you serve a glass of water to your customer without screwing up?”

Taehyung swallowed the lump that in an instant formed in his throat, his eyes twinkling with the unshed tears he endeavored to choke back. “Y-yes.” In the depths of despair, he took a clean tray in his hand and set the glass of water on it.

“And tell to that customer their order will be late because you fucked up.”

“Yes,” was all he could say with a heavy heart before he slouched away.

“Kang Joon.” The said boy turned his head to the one who called him as he started making another banana milkshake. “That was too much. You can’t talk to them like that just because they're new here.”

“Give me a break, Kook,” he scoffed with a sneer. “The kid is a disaster. This is his first and last day in here, anyway.”

Jeongguk’s gaze darkened with disapproval at his caustic reply as he took a step closer. “You’re not the one to decide that. And if you don’t want the boss to know that you take a break every fucking hour to smoke, you’ll keep your mouth shut.”

His movements ceased for a second, his jaw clenching in annoyance. “I’m a few years older than you, Kook. You better watch that tone with me.”

“I’m not scared of you as most of them are. If you want to be respected for your age, act like you’re supposed to and not like some teenage bully.”

“Back off, Jeongguk.”

“Gladly. If you do the same.” Jeongguk smirked, feeling victorious when he saw the steamed-up expression on his face, and stepped away as the other stayed silent.

  
Taehyung stood beside his customer’s table with downcast eyes. “I’m really sorry, sir, but you have to wait a few more minutes for your milkshake.”

“Oh, no problem. Thank you for the water. And these cupcakes are delicious. Can you tell Seokjinie to make me some more?”

“Seokjinie?”

“I mean the chef.” The boy let out a hearty laugh, his whole face beaming with his contagious grin.

“Oh, right! Sure, I’ll tell him. You know the chef?”

“Yes, we’re friends for years. Just like with the two baristas, Namjoon and Jeongguk.”

“That’s nice.” Taehyung smiled a bit awkwardly when he heard the second name. “Again, I’m sorry for the wait, sir.”

“Please call me Hoseok. Sir is too much. I’m not some thirty-year-old guy,” the affable boy chirped with another bright chuckle.

Taehyung showed him a genuine smile this time as his blithe persona managed to enliven his crestfallen state. “Okay, I’m—I’m Taehyung.”

“First day, huh?” He got a few timid nods from the boy. “How’s it going?”

“Don’t ask,” Taehyung said with a bitter chuckle. “Sorry, I have to go.”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry for keeping you.”

“I’ll bring your milkshake as soon as possible.” Taehyung scuttled to the bar then as he was already late for his next order.

When the fluffy-haired boy jumped in Jeongguk’s vision, he subtly contemplated his movements as he placed three glasses of water on his tray and two coffees and wandered away again.

Another hour passed with everything going well, and Taehyung’s whole face lit up upon seeing his best friend walk towards the bar. “Chim!” He gave him a big hug, smiling from ear to ear. “Why are you alone?”

“Hey, Taetae.” Jimin caressed his back. “The guys wanted to rest since tomorrow we have a ten-hour practice. They were pretty much hammered.”

“And you came alone for me?”

“Of course, you dummy.”

“I love you so much!” Taehyung whisper-yelled, and he would have engulfed him into his hug again if a certain someone hadn’t called his name.

“I’m sure your boyfriend can wait. You have work to do,” Kang Joon said with an idle, apathetic look as he filled the boy’s tray with drinks.

Wordless, Taehyung flashed a wan smile at his friend and took care of the order. Although Jimin was pissed off at the way that barista talked to his friend, he chose not to comment anything and talk about it with Taehyung later. He sat at the bar away from him, thinking there was no reason to occupy a whole table alone. “Excuse me.”

“Yes.” As the only one free at the time was Jeongguk, he turned to the customer, ready to take his order.

“Can I have an iced Americano?”

“Sure,” Jeongguk said with his kind smile and began making the customer’s drink.

Soon enough, he finished his task and went to the other side of the bar to take a small break. Or he did that because he saw a certain fluffy-haired boy head there and wanted to ease his curiosity about something.

He eyed him in silence for a spell and cleared his throat. “So you have a boyfriend.”

Unaware of the barista’s presence, Taehyung flinched at his nonchalant voice close to him. “That’s not really your business.”

Jeongguk could tell that he was still bothered about his teasing behavior before and sighed. “Look, about before—“

“Taehyung, they want the check at table sixteen. It’s your table, right?” Inhyuk peeped out from behind and placed his tray on the counter.

“Yes, thank you.” The said boy shot another glare at Jeongguk and smiled at Inhyuk as he shuffled off.

The barista traced with his eyes Taehyung’s figure that was getting further and further away. Another sigh emitted from his mouth as he lost sight of him and cast his head down. He noticed Inhyuk’s piercing gaze on him before he fully dropped his head, and his brows drew together. “What?”

“Why were you staring at him like that?”

“I-I wasn’t staring!”

“Did you... Damn, did you just check him out?” Inhyuk’s lips stretched into a smirk, his brows rising in amusement.

“What!? No, of course not. I just—we were just talking and you interrupted and—never mind.” Jeongguk waved him off, not even bothering to finish his lame excuse, and went back to work.

Did I really check him out? I mean, he has a nice thick a—get it together, man! Jeongguk shook his head at his random thoughts and focused on his job.

⚜✳⚜

 
This is officially my ultimate favorite hairstyle on Kook, I'll never get over it, I'll never shut up about it🙂