^ㅠ . ㅠ^

the brief walk to the cafe enabled your relationship with kamden to grow miraculously—mainly thanks to mackiah and his endearingly boisterous personality.

kamden was like an adorably awkward older brother. it was clear now why mackiah was so fond of him, and why he seemed to like messing with him all the time.

“so, are you gonna make a move?” a cheery voice perked from beside you, breaking your unwavering gaze of adoration on a bickering seungmo, kamden, and mackiah.

it was entertaining enough to simply observe them.

you turned your head, bewildered by the suddenness of kyrell’s question.

“what’re you talking about,” you scoffed. “you know exactly what i’m doing.” you crossed your arms, already knowing that once again, you were never going to hear the end of it.

kyrell’s smile dropped.

“you can’t just keep staring at people and expect them to know you like them.”

“can too,” you retorted childishly. it’s not like you wanted him to know, anyway.

“cannot! you’ve been doing this since fifth grade. it gets to a point…”

“okay, that doesn’t pertain to this. fifth grade me is none of our business. also, i haven’t even met him. you expect me to just confess that… what, his physical appearance is… appealing to me? and then what? let’s put on our thinking caps…”

“at least try a pickup line! like… are you from-”

you closed your eyes and smiled in disbelief. “kyrell…”

“i swear it’s not the tennessee one,” he giggled.

“right… go on.”

obviously, he was going to lead with the horrifically overused tennessee line.

“are you from tennessee? ‘cause you’re the only ten i see~“

you dragged your hands across your face with a groan that was soon drowned by kyrell’s laughter.

upon entering the cafe, you were welcomed with the warm aroma of freshly baked pastries, faint scents of sweet cream and… weirdly, burnt coffee beans remnant in the air.

the verdant greenery hanging from the ceiling and intricately lining the floors provided a refreshing contrast to the dark, hickory accents of the room, along with a bit of cool vibrance to bring life to the seashell walls—which seemed to have been decorated with artistic elements of coffee. hand-drawn cacao beans and latte art speckled the walls in a harmoniously imperfect way. it was sporadic, yet… it seemed intentional in a way...

however, the comforting scents and your appreciation for the scenery were immediately lodged into the depths of your conscience when a practically blinding grin greeted you with a bit of a hearty laugh.

the character was nothing short of remarkable… and all too familiar. with his hair, and the nearly teeth-rotting way in which he carried himself, he easily could’ve been mistaken for another one of the cafe’s specialty delectables.

“jiho,” you muttered under the abrupt wind his beam had managed to knock out of your throat.

“YAY! yes, that’s me! we’ve been waiting for you! welcome in, welcome in!” jiho gestured your group to sit down by a booth along the wall that had clearly been cared for with utmost attention and intricacy.

“best seats in the house,” a new voice chimed; it carried a sort of kindly suave essence, echoing like a shout from a mountain’s peak.

your eyes searched for the source of the sound, eventually landing on a rather tall figure—not much taller than jiho, really, but his physique made his stature ever so prominent.

so that was where you felt the “tower” part from… go figure. through the look on kyrell’s face, you were able to fully identify this new man as-

“BRRRIIIIIIAAAAANNNN HO. my man! it’s been too long!”

kyrell instinctively stretched his arms wide, wrapping them around an utterly confused brian. he hesitantly patted kyrell’s back to indicate some sort of reciprocation to… whatever that was.

“i just saw you a couple hours ago.”

“couple hours too long, dude!” kyrell pulled back and took a seat next to kamden on the booth, who had been silently chuckling to himself while observing kyrell and brian’s rather humorous dynamic.

even though only a few minutes had passed, you felt unreasonably comfortable enough to laugh as much as you did with the amiable strangers. mackiah and seungmo being around likely aided in deteriorating the reserved shield around new faces you usually kept handy.

“you guys should finish up here before you start messing around with them,” a remarkably soft voice called from over the counter. somehow, you hadn’t even noticed the other person’s presence…

yet, as you focused on the visible sliver of his face sandwiched between his bangs and mask, you realized his eyes had been the pair you anticipated seeing the most.

siyun pulled down his mask, a friendly scoff escaping him as jiho’s laughter perished in an instant.

“why do you always need to kill the mood?”

siyun snorted. “you’re the only one who thinks that.” he nudged his head forward to motion towards the party’s inattentiveness.

you realized then that nobody had been mentally jotting this conversation down the way you had. in fact, nobody had even noticed siyun opening his mouth. besides you, apparently.

kyrell was now romantically swaying with brian along the pine flooring. when did they get up from the table? you then registered the horrendous flute coming from your left, playing an all too familiar melody. where the HELL did mackiah get a FLUTE from?

and of course, seungmo and kamden were recording the entire thing.

siyun couldn’t help but notice your reaction. how could he not? jiho was standing right beside you. it was hard to miss the way your eyebrows furrowed. or, how you kept frantically turning your head in distress, processing everything that had occurred within the fifteen seconds of your attention being attracted elsewhere.

he chuckled and flimsily jutted his finger towards you, gaining a chortle from jiho.

leaning over the counter and shifting his weight into arms, siyun cleared his throat, prompting your attention to fall onto him once more.

“hey, y/n, right?”

blink.

HOW does he know my name?

“what? um. uh, yeah?”

he smirked. “…i think you and i are gonna get along well.”

jiho rolled his eyes and spat something derisive as you feebly attempted to comprehend anything happening in the room. siyun’s cute random little remark did not help in the slightest. eventually, a phrase of gratitude left your lips absentmindedly. coincidentally, your gaze had unfocused right on siyun’s face—your features growing infinitely perplexed as you continued to blink sluggishly.

siyun couldn’t seem to withhold his amusement with your cognitive malfunctioning.

he raised a brow, flashing a grin that almost seemed teasing. “do you need a drink?”

“yeah.”

within seconds, you found yourself sitting directly on the other side of the marble-top counter. it felt like some sort of… fortification siyun had built with his bare hands, sturdy with the intimidation of his skill level. you had never seen him work before, but you could already feel his abundant experience whilst simply existing in his presence.

or… maybe that was just you glorifying the narrative you had created of him, based on the few words you heard.

you gotta stop doing that.

just treat him as you would anyone else.

“i’m siyun,” he casually announced as he picked up a rather interesting glass from a cupboard to his right. he glided around the brewing area so effortlessly—it was hard to believe that he hadn’t been getting around the cafe for at least half a decade.

right. he hasn’t even formally introduced himself.

“oh, yeah. nice to meet you. i’m y/n.”

he paused his task and chuckled softly. he shifting his body to face you for a moment before responding with a flat, but gentle,

“i know.”

…

“oh, right. you said that before. but… how?”

“well… before you came, you met kamden, right?”

“mhm.”

“he told us a little about you guys before you arrived. mackiah and seungmo were kind of obvious… kyrell is brian’s friend, right… so i figured you had to be y/n.“

“ohhh…”

well, that was simple enough. knowing who he was right off the bat was probably what was making you paranoid.

“mackiah and seungmo are really… lively.”

you shot out an unwarranted snort. mackiah and seungmo? merely ‘lively?’ that was the understatement of the year…

you turned your head to look back at the booth, peacefully observing the chaos. “hm. i think even ‘lively’ is a bit too nice. but that’s the best part about them… and they’re really easy to get along with. they’re cool.“

a small grin graced siyun’s face.

“hah… that’s good, then. they’re not always like this though, right?”

“oh yeah, no. honestly, it just because they’re together, around a bunch of friends. by themselves, they’re really chill. they won’t cause you guys any trouble, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

an amused breath escaped siyun’s lips. “no, it’s not that. it’s just… things aren’t always like what they appear to be. and… people are the same…”

your head naturally rotated back to siyun as his voice began to trail off.

he paused, spectating you for a moment with an unintelligible expression before abruptly pulling back from the front counter and stepping back into the kitchen.

“never mind. i’ll get to know them with time. or at least… when they come to order,” he scoffed lightly.

“what do you wanna drink?”

“what? oh, um…”

as much as you wanted to talk about whatever philosophy siyun was about to spill, the conversation had already moved on… and you definitely needed to quench your thirst after that walk. you took a glance at the menu for the first time. despite being in a cafe, you weren’t the most fond of coffee. naturally, your eyes trailed off to other specialty items. the menu had a remarkably imaginative variety of drinks to choose from.

however, there was one colorful, poppy title that stood out almost immediately…

“hm, what’s… blue orangeade?”

syunet says: i want to write more. i feel like after a month i shouldve written more -_- doesnt help that i wrote all of it while sleep deprived either T-T im sorry everyone… i hope you enjoyed anyway!! also txt ref hehe.. lil horangz action…. and my other fave duos.. dw theyll get more screen time next chapter. i feel like i repeated a buncha words too… hopefully that doesnt bother you guys too much </3 this is just the beginning i swear itll get cuter as the story progresses -3-

tl: @woozarts @keiigoth @softfor-svtptg

taglist open! comment to be added ♪

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as shining specks illuminated the dark tapestry of the night sky, his light footsteps and wired, faint melodies remained as the only thing yoon siyun could truly hear.

music served as a distraction from the oscillating trembles of the world. 

not just for him, but for everybody.

it was just another form of escapism, and some were more addicted than others.

in particular, siyun’s favorite form of escapism was his newborn profession—a barista at SHU CAFE. he had planned for the job to be another thing to add onto his resume as a gastronomy student, but he had ended up falling in love with the concept of it all. the artistry of coffee making, the history behind the cafe, and its deeply family-oriented roots… all while experiencing it with his closest friends. no matter how much he appreciated it, he knew he would forever take it for granted.

siyun took his job seriously.

very seriously.

it was almost concerning how lax kamden seemed when standing beside him. 

after all, mr. na was their BOSS…

you see, siyun had built quite the profile as a barista—thanks to a wonderfully dreadful experience at a chain cafe he worked at a few years prior. he had grown sick of being forced onto the corporate ladder, quitting after a droning 8 months. 

however…

he had mourned the affluent scent of coffee, rushing through his airways upon approaching the cafe’s doors. oh, and how he reminisced so fondly of the warmth of silence, interrupted by small blemishes of imagination. the light tapping of keys, the soft scribbles of ink that scratched the ear in all the right places.

in his eyes, a cafe was a cozy snow globe where everyone maintained their own bubble.

he HAD to go back.

and this time, he needed to do it perfectly.

well…

what was a few louder customers?

it was nothing he hadn’t seen before.

syunet says: yayyy we met the rest of amperssss (not literally tho sorry but i swear thats next chapter), and we got A LITTLE barista!siyun bg info andddd lowk a little bit of horangz hehe (you may find out later on that i am a BIG horangz enthusiast like i do NOT joke about them… even tho this is an x reader im sorry i gotta put me first I GOTTA PUT ME FIRST 😭😭😭😭😭). btw if its not obvious by the way i translated certain things the translations are NOT always direct translations of what is actually said in kor and is localized (as in linguistically adapted) to fit the english-speaking audience!! if ur curious abt what they literally say, feel free to leave a comment and i will explain the translation, nuances, etc etc.

tl: @woozarts

taglist open! comment to be added ♪

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