PAIRING: barista!sohyun x f!reader GENRE: fluff, lots of fluff WARNINGS: y/n is a little oblivious but she's trying her best, like one kms joke, one sort of suggestive joke ? WORD COUNT: 4.0k A/N: ik nobody asked for this but i saw no sohyun fics so i had to do it myself!!!!!

The lingering smell of fresh coffee hits your nose as you walk into the quaint, familiar café you’ve been visiting for months now, the bell at the top of the door ringing to signal your arrival. A small display on the counter shows you little cupcakes, cookies, and bagels you’ve all tried. Next to it, a small menu resides that shows off the various coffees and drinks the café serves its customers. You approach the counter, your eyes drifting to the only sound in the café besides the calming music in the background.

The sound of the espresso machine rings throughout the area, the shot of concentrated coffee flowing down into a little white cup made by the girl standing in front of the machine. Her long, dark hair flows behind her as she works. She’s dressed in a simple outfit suited for a barista, the white sleeves of her blouse rolled up as she concentrates on grinding coffee beans. Her apron is slightly messy with hints of coffee and whipped cream smeared onto the brown fabric, but she shows no sign of care on her face as she focuses on her current task. The veins in her hands become visible as she works, and her forearm muscles tighten as she finishes. She tilts her head down as she notices her messy hands, her side profile highlighting her jawline and the soft curve of her nose. The gold writing flashes as the sunlight reflects off her name tag, the bold letters spelling out “Sohyun” against the black background.

Sohyun turns towards you, her eyes looking up from the ground as she makes eye contact. Her lips part in surprise as she finally notices a customer, curling up at the ends when she sees that it’s not just any customer, but you. She brushes her hands off diligently on a clean towel before walking up to the register, flashing you a friendly smile. “Hey, sunshine,” Sohyun greets you, using the familiar nickname she applies only to you as she leans down against the counter with her arms crossed against the cool surface. She looks up at you as she tilts her head, staring for a moment as if to take in your appearance while she smiles brighter at the sight. “What can I get for you today?” she asks you, her sultry and smooth voice causing you to look away shyly.

“I don’t know,” you hum, glancing at the menu next to the register. “What do you suggest?” you ask, meeting her gaze again despite every part of your body struggling to hide the rosy blush currently creeping onto your cheeks.

“Why don’t you get something as sweet as yourself?” Sohyun says, grinning when she notices the soft blush becoming more prominent from her flirtatious words. “Maybe a blue lemonade?” she suggests, standing back up properly from her position leaning down on the counter.

“A blue lemonade?” you say, scanning the menu that offers no such option. “Since when did you start making that?” you ask her curiously.

“Since I noticed you beginning to crave sweeter and cooler things the hotter it gets,” Sohyun tells you with a small chuckle, gathering the ingredients from the cabinets.

You flush in embarrassment as she picks up on a habit you didn’t even know you had, wondering if you were easy to read or if she was just smart enough to figure you out. “Well as long as you make it, I’m sure I’ll like it,” you say sweetly, trying to flatter her while also avoiding processing the fact that Sohyun remembered something about you so easily.

Sohyun’s hand twitches slightly at your words, her back towards you as she begins working on your blue lemonade. “What if I accidentally make it really horrible? My job mainly requires me to handle shots of espresso, you know,” she jokes, preparing the sparkly blue drink.

“I trust you,” you tell her, smiling at her joke. “Ever since I started coming here, you’ve never given me anything bad,” you say happily.

You shiver as you walk down the streets of your neighborhood, the jacket around you doing little to nothing to prevent the cold air from attacking your skin. After walking downtown thinking you’d be fine, you regretted your choice as you walked back up the familiar streets in the freezing cold. Just as you begin thinking nothing could get worse than the 32 Fahrenheit weather you were currently trapped in, snowflakes suddenly begin floating down from the sky.

Letting out an exasperated sigh as the snow falls onto your hair, you look around the empty street. Although you lived nearby, you really didn’t want to be out in the cold after walking all the way here. You could practically feel your legs aching at the thought of climbing up these next few streets to get home. You notice a bright light coming from inside a small store, curious about the store you hadn’t seen previously. You sigh as the snow only begins getting heavier, shivering as you make your way towards the light that would surely offer you some comfort from the snowy weather.

You walk into the small store, looking around at the small plants placed around the space and the pieces of art that still have the price tags on them if you look closely enough. You notice the freshly dried paint on the walls and the lack of actual food or products on display, hinting at the place's newly opened status. The place was generally filled with the colors of white and brown, typical colors for a modern café. However, something about the cute, small café offered you space that differed from the world outside. The warm, golden lights shined down on you and almost instantly melted the snow on your hair, leaving you feeling much better than before. The area felt warm and comfortable, offering a safe space from the harsh weather outside.

As you look around, you fail to notice the barista behind the counter that was looking at you. Her eyes looked you up and down, bundled up in a warm jacket and a scarf that was too big on you. She smiled slightly at the sight of you, taking in your rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes as you looked around curiously.

“Can I help you?” the barista asks you, causing your head to snap up to stare at the girl. Her voice was low and raspy, causing you to unknowingly blush at the mere sound. As you try and calm yourself down, feeling stupid from being so easily embarrassed, your jaw nearly falls open as you take her in. She smiles kindly at you, looking into your eyes. Her eyes glisten with interest as she looks at you, clearly intrigued by your presence. Her hair is tied up behind her, allowing you to look over her sharp features. Her lips are shaped like hearts as they curl into a smile for you, which in turn highlights the pink on her prominent cheekbones. She had a mole on the bottom of her left eye and on her nose, adding to her already incredible features to make her look sophisticated.

She looked ethereal.

She was unlike anybody you’ve ever seen before. After you walked through the cold weather on streets covered by white snow with the gray sky looming overhead, the girl seemed like an otherworldly being with the way she captivated you with her warm smile and raspy voice. Her eyes crinkled up at the ends as she smiled, making you nearly fall over after noticing the small detail if it wasn't for the sound of her voice interrupting your thoughts.

“Hello?” she asks you, chuckling as she continues to stare at you kindly. You felt your legs wobble at her words. Hearing her low voice and her gentle laugh only made your attraction to her worse, a red tint coating your cheeks at the realization.

“Hi,” you say meekly, trying to offer her a smile you hoped wasn’t painfully awkward. “I was just trying to find shelter from the cold,” you tell her, struggling to meet her gaze for more than a few seconds at a time.

“So you didn’t mean to come here?” she asks you, a soft smile on her lips as she glances at your blushing cheeks.

You flush bright red in embarrassment, shaking your head quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that,” you tell her quickly. “I’ve just never been here,” you explain shyly. “I live in this neighborhood, so I wanted to check this place out.”

“This place is a new café I'm getting set up,” she explains. “It may not look like much right now, but it'll get there,” she tells you, giving you a small wink.

You felt something awaken at the sight.

“You own this place?” you ask in surprise, staring at her as you take in her young appearance. Surely, she couldn't be more than a year older than you, if that.

“Yeah. I worked for it,” she shrugs, rubbing the back of her neck as she smiles bashfully. And if she noticed the way your eyes glanced at her exposed neck, she didn’t mention it.

“That’s cool!” you tell her earnestly, your eyes wide in surprise.

She glances at you, an amused smile playing on her lips as she notices your genuine enthusiasm for a person you had just met. “It’s nothing crazy,” she tells you, chuckling again which causes your heart to race. “Why don’t you take a seat? I’ll make something for you,” she tells you, nodding towards a seat nearby as she disappears off to the back.

As you take a seat, you hear her work in the back. You can hear lots of noises as she moves around, clearly struggling to find the right ingredients as you see flashes of her running back and forth in the back through the doorway. You smile slightly as you wait for her, feeling oddly flustered knowing that she was going through all this trouble just to make you something. You sigh and shake your head, trying to calm down the butterflies in your stomach that suddenly appeared as soon as you looked at the pretty barista. It wasn't like you to swoon over a person just because they're attractive, but as you see her eyebrows furrowing in concentration as you catch a glimpse of her searching for something, you feel your face heat up once again.

After a few moments, the girl walks back into the front of the café while holding a steaming coffee cup. “I made you some hot chocolate,” she tells you, smiling as she sets the cup down in front of you on your table.

You look at the mug in surprise, smiling at the sight of the drink she clearly worked hard to make. “You really didn’t have to,” you say shyly.

“I wanted to. It’s on the house,” she reassures you, smiling as she casually sits down across the table from you. “I hope you don’t mind if I take a seat. Considering the weather, I don’t think any more customers are gonna be arriving soon,” she says, glancing at the window where she could see the snowstorm only getting worse.

“I don’t mind at all,” you tell her a little too quickly, looking down at the coffee cup. “But what’s this?” you ask her, pointing to something on the cup.

“That? It’s a sun, of course,” she tells you, looking at the little sun outlined in sharpie on your cup. The sun is a sharp contrast to the otherwise modern and sleek design of the cup and logo of the café.

“Do you draw suns on most of your coffee cups?” you ask her curiously, taking a sip of the hot chocolate that warms your insides. The sweet taste coats your tongue as you swallow the drink, the soft marshmallow melting on your tongue.

“Nope,” she tells you, shaking her head. “I just thought it suited you, sunshine,” she says casually, smiling at the sight of you enjoying the drink she’s made for you.

You freeze at the sound of the nickname rolling off her tongue, hoping your face isn’t as red as it seemed. “‘Sunshine?’” you question quietly, glancing up at her from your drink.

“Well, I don’t know your name, and ‘sunshine’ seems to suit you,” she shrugs, smiling as she confidently meets your eyes. “You’re a warming presence, especially considering the state we’re in right now,” she hums, motioning toward the outside weather. “But if you don’t mind me asking, what is your name?” she asks you.

“My name’s Y/n,” you tell her shyly, your mind still reeling from her words. “What’s yours?”

“My name is Sohyun.”

“Yeah well, I wouldn’t wanna give my favorite customer a bad drink,” Sohyun says, smiling fondly at the memory of seeing you for the first time. Ever since then, you’ve been coming to her café multiple days throughout the week.

“So I’m your favorite?” you ask, teasing her as you lean over the counter to watch her make the drink.

“Isn’t it obvious?” she retorts back, turning her head to smile at you before continuing to make your drink. You two had gotten quite close in the past few months of seeing each other, making you comfortable enough around her to joke around and tease her, but you still couldn’t help the way you nearly folded just from seeing her throw you a smile.

“Well if it helps, you’re my favorite barista,” you tell her, trying to maintain a cool demeanor.

“I’d hope so,” Sohyun tells you, her voice low and calming as she mixes your drink for you. “I’d get a little jealous if I found out otherwise,” she mumbles out, causing your knees to buckle and your cheeks to flush yet again in her presence.

It’s words like these that affect you. From the way she calmly addresses you like you could be her lover to the way she smiles with her pretty lips, you can feel your crush on her growing worse and your heart growing heavier in your chest. In moments like this, it seemed like you hadn't changed at all from the first meeting where you had met Sohyun. However, no matter how wonderful she might make you feel, figuring out what she might really mean always drove you insane.

“I don’t even know if she likes girls!” you cry out for the millionth time, flopping onto your best friend’s bed.

“And for the last time, just ask her!” Xinyu groans, throwing a pillow at you.

You groan as you easily catch the pillow, staring up at her ceiling. “It’s not that simple,” you sigh, already blushing as you picture Sohyun’s face on the clear canvas of Xinyu’s ceiling.

Xinyu sighs, helping you sit up as she takes a seat next to you on her bed. “Okay, picture this,” she says, grabbing onto your shoulders for dramatic effect. “Imagine you’re walking into that café,” she says, painting a vision for you. “You’re wearing something pretty and you look smoking hot, and everybody is looking at you,” she says dramatically while ignoring the disgusted look you give her. “You stroll in and say to the cute barista girl ‘Are you gay? If you aren’t sure, wanna come over to my place and find out?’” she suggests, winking at you.

Xinyu groans as she gets pushed away, frowning at your disapproving look. She huffs as she straightens up, holding her hands up to show she’s just joking. “Okay, okay,” she sighs. “But honestly, it sounds like she does like you. I mean, what straight girl looks you dead in the eyes and refers to you as her ‘sunshine?’” she deadpans.

“I don’t know,” you sigh. “But as much as it may seem like she’s flirting, how do I know she’s being serious? She may call me sweet things and tell me I’m pretty, but she’s never asked for my number or anything like that,” you tell her.

“Maybe she’s waiting for you to make the first move,” Xinyu tells you, shrugging casually. “It sounds like she’s consistently doing things for you ever since the two of you first met. Maybe she’s just waiting for you to initiate something for once,” she suggests, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

“Why can’t she just do it?” you whine, placing your head in your hands.

Xinyu snorts at your words, smiling at your hunched-over figure. “No offense girl, but you’re not exactly a walking pride flag,” she sighs, patting your back to comfort you. “She probably has no idea if you’re gay or not. You just gotta ask her to find out.”

“What if she punches me in the face and tells me to kill myself,” you mumble out, visibly distressed.

Xinyu rolls her eyes, groaning loudly. “I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you two get married and I include this in my maid of honor speech,” she chuckles out, sighing as she looks around her room aimlessly.

She raises an eyebrow when she sees the now empty coffee cup you had just gotten from visiting Sohyun at her café. She picks up the cup, looking at the scribbled writing on the side before she throws it down and turns to you dramatically. “I swear to god if you don’t just ask for her number already,” she groans as she throws another pillow at you, the cup rolling around on the ground with the words ‘for the prettiest girl i know’ written on its side.

Sohyun turns back around as she finishes making your drink, smiling at you once again. “Here, try it,” she tells you, handing you your blue lemonade. You swear you feel the electricity flowing between you two as her fingers brush against yours.

As you put your lips on the edge of the cup, her eyes flicker between you and your lips as she watches you swallow the smooth drink. “Is it good?” she asks you curiously.

“Yeah, it’s really good,” you tell her happily, the smooth liquid running down your throat. The blue lemonade is refreshing and light for your taste buds, offering you a cool refreshment fitting for the hot weather.

Sohyun smiles brightly at your words, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. Her cheekbones become more visible as her lips curl up, a soft blush painting her face at your compliment. “I’m glad,” she mumbles shyly, clearing her throat as she glances between you and the drink in your hand.

Her eyes flicker as she stares at the cup, suddenly realizing something as she hastily grabs the sharpie nearby. “Wait, let me see that,” she says, reaching for the cup that you willingly hand to her.

“What is it?” you ask curiously, staring at her as she sets the cup down on the counter and leans down again.

“I forgot your sun,” she mumbles out, focusing on the cup as she draws on it. Her fingers move carefully, taking longer than normal as the black ink stains the side of your cup. She turns it back to you after she’s done, standing back up as she hands you your drink back with a satisfied smile.

You smile at the signature sun gracing the side of your drink, turning the drink when you notice another drawing on the other side. “What’s this?” you ask curiously as you point to the new, small drawing of a heart. “You don’t normally do this,” you mumble out, gently touching the little detail.

“It’s my heart,” Sohyun says quietly, smiling shyly as she glances at the drawing before looking at you. “I guess you could say I’m giving my heart to you,” she chuckles out, trying to hide her blush under her joking tone. Normally, you'd laugh it off with her or try and hope your heart wasn't beating loud enough for her to hear, but as you notice her expectant gaze, you feel your heart racing in a way it hasn't ever done before.

You stare down at the little heart carefully drawn onto your drink, thinking about everything Sohyun has done for you in the past. From the times she’s given you free drinks and desserts to the little discreet touches of her hands against yours, you feel your cheeks heat up at the memories. You could practically hear Xinyu screaming at you to get it together and say some cheesy pickup line to the girl standing in front of you.

“Do you really think I’m the prettiest girl you know?” you ask her quietly, looking up from the cup to look into her eyes.

Sohyun’s eyes widen at your words, her breath hitching as she recalls the note she once wrote for you. Her eyes stare into yours, the blush on her cheeks matching yours as she fumbles with the sharpie still in her hand. She stares at you intensely, her glimmering eyes darting from your eyes and your expectant gaze to your parted lips coated with a pretty gloss. She stares at the drink in your hand that she had spent days working on to make sure it would match your taste and include only high-quality ingredients.

Slowly, she nods her head. “The prettiest in the world, actually,” she mumbles out.

Your cheeks heat up at her words, fumbling with the drink as you quickly set it down on the counter to avoid spilling it. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding, your mind going blank as you think of what to say.

“Are you gay?” you blurt out, staring at her as you feel your cheeks flush in embarrassment. “If you aren’t sure, wanna come over to my place and find out?” you stammer out before you can stop yourself.

You feel your face burn hot and your hands tremble as you stare at her, suddenly feeling like you shouldn’t come back to this café ever again. You try to think of an excuse, anything to get you out of this situation. However, you suddenly hear Sohyun burst into laughter.

Sohyun throws her head back, laughing loudly as her eyes turn into crescents and her cheeks puff out from how hard she’s smiling. Her lips part as she laughs, struggling to contain her fits of laughter as she smiles brightly at you. “Shouldn’t you be inviting me out to dinner first?” she asks between the angelic sounds of her laughter.

You nod quickly, trying to save face as you play with the pendant on the necklace around your neck. “That would probably be better,” you mumble out, shyly glancing at her smiling face.

Sohyun smiles fondly at your obvious embarrassment, grabbing your drink as she writes her number on it. She hands your drink back to you after doing so, writing it boldly so that you can’t miss it. Her fingers touch yours firmly this time, lingering for a moment before pulling away. “But maybe I’ll take you up on that offer after a few dates?” she suggests, grinning when she sees your face heat up more at her simple words.

As you hold onto the drink tightly, you glance at her number before looking back up at her. “Maybe,” you mumble out sheepishly, struggling to think properly. “I’ll text you,” you tell her, dying to get out of here before you can embarrass yourself anymore.

Sohyun watches as you walk away from her, glancing at your ears that are bright red from the lingering embarrassment. She smiles as she admires you, calling out to you before you go. “Be careful with my heart,” she calls out as you leave, her gaze never leaving your back as you hurry out of the café.

You stare down at the cup as you walk out of the café, your thumb gently caressing the heart Sohyun drew on the coffee cup as you go about your day with a smile on your face.

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