fairytale hell asteroid | l.dh

ten.

The bell Renjun remembered hanging on top of the glass doors chimed. Someone has walked through the doors after almost an hour of a no-customer break. He braced himself for another round of human interaction—he was getting sick and tired of those—by taking a deep breath, and he retreated his hand from the spilled drink on the coffee table before turning around to face an unfamiliar face.

"Hello, welcome to Dream Café! How may I help you?" He recited, smiling the way the manager used to tell him to do until it was drilled into him as an instinct rather than knowledge.

Donghyuck scanned Renjun up and down once. The brown locks that draped over the top of his eyes made his deafening gaze even more violent than it should be, and Donghyuck stood in a rather impatient stance, with his fidgety hands and tapping toes that made Renjun realize he was not in a good mood.

Renjun waited for him to talk first, nonetheless, not wanting to interrupt his train of thought if he had one.

"I, um," Donghyuck cleared his throat as he looked away, suddenly feeling self-conscious. He waved his hand dismissively then, huffing out a silent laugh. "I'm looking for (Name), are they here?"

Renjun hummed with widened eyes. Well, that was new!

He has worked here longer than any employees have worked here, and he worked more shifts than anybody else. He knew practically everyone, and he knew for a fact that everyone else has an intriguing social life except for you. He has never heard you gossip about your friends, neither has anybody ever came into the shop looking for you. As far as he knew, your social circle involved you, him, this Jeno dude he never asked more about, and the middle-aged cashier at the book store you two liked to walk around separately in.

He breathed out a sudden noise of realization then, his hand raising as he pointed at Donghyuck with a dimmed but genuine smile. "Ah! Are you perhaps Jeno?"

Donghyuck blinked slowly, then he rolled his eyes with his tongue sticking against his inner-cheek. Hold it down, he told himself. Snapping at a random employee because he has a short temper from what happened with his circle of friends was the last thing he would waste his time doing. He could scream in his car later, but out here, he needed to keep his cool.

"No, I'm not," he replied curtly, dipping his head as a nod of acknowledgment. Then he faced up again to ask, "Can you just tell me if (Name) is here? It's about something important."

Renjun noticed the anger that was once visible on the stranger's face, and he was smart enough to not drag this out any longer. He gave Donghyuck a nod, pointing behind him and he turned slightly, ready to get you from the staff room where you were supposedly changing out of your uniform.

"Yeah, no problem. They're just inside–"

"Hey, Renjun, I'm going to wear your shirt home so I can clean it..." Your voice trailed off when you looked up from fixing the cuff of your jacket and immediately met eyes with Donghyuck from behind the counter. Flashes of this afternoon ran before your eyes, you churned it down in your chest and gave him a nod.

"Hey, Donghyuck."

Renjun looked between the two of you, his brows furrowing more and more as assumptions clouded his head. He could cut the tension in the air with a shard of glasses if he wanted to, and he wondered why that was. He knew nothing of Donghyuck, but you were never someone uncomfortable to be around. Sure, you had your levels to unlock, but he never felt like he couldn't say anything under your presence.

Where was this awkward tension coming from? Have you accidentally got yourself into some relationship trouble? Was the boy who just walked into the coffee shop not just any other boy?