Lead Me to You| RenYang

[Making a Latte-Part 1]

"Good luck by the way...you'll need it." 

Renjun had been thinking about this comment all day, why the hell did a stranger say that to him? 

"Good evening Professor Renjun! I'm here to learn the ins and outs of coffee making, from the most skilled expert in the city!" 

Maybe that's why.

Though probably not, but Renjun still needed the encouragement. 

"Cut that crap and get over here." Renjun groaned, followed by light footsteps on the porcelain tiles. He could feel Yangyang's presence. How his eyes burnt through his skull, and how his smile blinded the corner of his eye. "I'm going to teach you how to make a latte, it's the most important because it's Mr Suh's favourite drink. Only two people have ever mastered it, and you're standing next to one of them."

"So you're some kind of legend?" Yangyang chuckled.

"You could say so." Grabbing his pre prepared cloth, Renjun dropped it on the counter in front of Yangyang. "The first step is to make sure everything's clean."

Yangyang nodded, picking up the cloth. He wiped down the major components of the machine, mimicking the way he'd seen Renjun do it the day before.

"Okay that's enough, step two, heat the machine. This one usually takes 20 minutes, but I've already started it. It won't be long; only a few more minutes." 

Renjun turned his back to the machine, leaning against the counter. Yangyang hoped up onto the counter next to him, immediately feeling a slap on his thigh.

"Hey! What was that for?" He whined, rubbing the sore spot on his thigh.

Renjun crossed his arms, scoffing at how oblivious Yangyang was. "That's a clean surface for a reason, we prepare stuff people eat and drink. I'm sure they don't want your ass anywhere near their matcha."

"I don't see the issue, no ones here right now."

"Didn't your parents ever teach you any manners? I really wonder what your family's like-" Renjun paused, seeing possibly the biggest smile creep onto Yangyang's face. 

The boy leaned closer, and closer, until his face was merely inches from the others. "So you've been thinking about me, good to know."

There it was again, Renjun started choking on thin air. Though, this time Yangyang didn't jump in to save him, which he was very thankful for. A pale pink colour dusted Renjun's cheeks, as he quickly turned back to the machine.

Clearing his throat, Renjun grabbed something from behind the machine. "T-this is a portafilter, you put the ground coffee in here." He passed the item to Yangyang, who took it straight away. Then he watched the boy retrieve the ground coffee, still with those previously mentioned wonders. Of course he didn't actually care for the boy, it was just natural curiosity. "So what is your family like?"

Yangyang scrunched his face, pondering the question. He decided not to tease Renjun, since he was actually showing some interest in him for once. "They're kinda a mixed bag, I guess, but there's a lot of us. I think eight in total."

"Well that makes sense if there's a bunch of you." Renjun commented. "Use this now to level the coffee." He passed Yangyang the tamper.

Yangyang took the tamper, and began leveling the coffee. "Yeah, all of my siblings are really different to me. I have five older sisters."

"I bet that's tough, I only have one and it's a struggle." Renjun giggled. He did love his sister, but she could be a nightmare from time to time.

"It can be sometimes." Yangyang agreed. He placed the tamper down, noticing how Renjun pointed to where he needed to place the portafilter. He slotted the item in place, then pressed the button Renjun pointed at. "I like all my sisters, but honestly there's only two worth talking about. My oldest sister, Da-Xia is 10 years older, so we don't have much in common. Then I have twin sisters called Sui-Hui and Su-Wei, but they're currently studying in Japan. I'm really close to my second oldest sister, Hachi, and my sister Mei-Ling, we're only separated by a year. We kind of have little cliques, It's weird." 

"Not really, my brothers like the complete opposite of me. We were kind of forced to talk at home, but we haven't talked once since I left for university." Renjun said, pouring a half cup of milk into a jug. "Steam this." Yangyang took the Jug, and put it under the steamer. "Tell me about you sisters."

"Well Hachi is the most similar to me, she's really energetic and plays a lot of sports. Where as Mei-Ling and I did lots of stuff together growing up. We danced, learnt the violin, played basketball. She's a lot quieter than me though, so you'd probably like her."

"Probably." Renjun chuckled.

This was weird. He didn't actually mind talking to Yangyang. The conversations were never as painful as he thought they would be, it was surprisingly quite pleasant. 

____

Yet again, I know nothing about coffee, so I spoke to an expert. Which happened to be my mum, so if anythings wrong, blame it on her.