iced caramel latte ➵ yungi

hot chamomile tea

"his name is yunho."

he reminds himself once again when the giant returns to the cafe the following day, looking hyper stressed as soon as he enters the door. but upon seeing hongjoong behind the bar, he loosens up slightly and his previously tense features go soft, an iota of a smile on his pretty face.

mingi was actually manning the cash register that day, to the obvious horror of yunho, who must've been hoping it would be hongjoong or seonghwa. they were the two that immediately latched themselves onto their new regular and adamantly put in the effort to have conversations, even if it meant using a translator app. though, yunho was also yet to meet WOOYOUNG.

"hi! i'm mingi, nice to meet you." he puts on the nicest smile he can and it makes the other relax ever so slightly.

"h-hello mingi." he stutters out shyly with a light pink blush dusting his pillowy, pale cheeks. "umm.. order... what.. recommend?"

"oh! what do i recommend?" he clarifies and yunho nods his head with a grateful smile, eyes scanning over the menu very slowly as if he's struggling to read the words. perhaps they shouldn't have hand written those signs, and paid for the printed one instead, it wasn't just yunho that had a hard time reading through the decorative cursive.

admittedly, mingi had a favourite drink but it was never the one he recommended to customers because it was the cheapest option they had and seonghwa kept scolding him for recommending the cheap menu item. thus he took one look at yunho and his puffy cheeks and round, puppy eyes and figured he'd surely love the most sugary thing on the menu. "our iced caramel latte would be perfect i think!"

"p-perfect?" yunho repeats, and mingi's nods with the brightest smile he could muster.

"yeah..." mingi knew what he sort of wanted to say but didn't know how to phrase it in the best way. he wanted to show yunho that he found him cute, but not be super overbearing and creep the poor thing out. "you look sweet, and the drink is sweet!"

"o-oh." he goes a deep red again, his pale face must've meant it was very easy for him to blush. that had to be the reason of course. "okay."

with the kindest smile the mingi could muster (he had been told on multiple occasions that he had a very adorable and charming grin), he asks for yunho's card to pay for the drink and finishes writing the order on the cup. he takes his time, writing yunho's name in both korean hangeul and english letters, and not forgetting to add little hearts with the black sharpie.

when yunho noticed the extra doodles on his cup, he flushed a deep red and bites his lip, much to the delight of the barista.

"i.. actually ordered iced caramel latte. yesterday." he mumbles shyly, still unsure over his language skills but mingi couldn't help but coo gently to himself at the sight.

yunho was truly irresistible.

"then i guess i know what you like," he doesn't hesitate to add a little wink in before sliding the cup over to hongjoong on the far end of the counter.

"hongjoong-ssi!" yunho smiles at the boss who was calmly working alongside mingi. "ah please yunho-yah, just call me hyung."

they start speaking in english and mingi doesn't really catch more words except for: "hello, how are you?" before he tunes their voices out and concentrates on the other customer in front of him.