BUBBLE TEA [JOHNNY • TEN]

🧋2. barista named... ten?🧋

"Do you want to go inside or sit on the benches, Mark?" Johnny asked, the other boy whining and shaking his head. "Is that a yes for the benches?" Johnny asked again, unsure. This time, Mark nodded, wanting to stay outside and away from the loud plates clattering and people chattering.

The bus pulled away and left them at the restaurant. Mark sat down with his headphones on as Johnny went inside the oddly quiet restaurant.

Johnny peered around behind the counter, not finding his normal barista anywhere. Xiaojun was nowhere to be seen... did he get fired or something?

A man with dark hair and a sharp jawline came from the back. He looked older than Johnny, only by a little bit. His eyes were judgmental, but his face resembled sunshine, beaming and happy.

"Hey, does Xiao Dejun work here?" Johnny asked awkwardly. The man shrugged and stared Johnny dead in the eyes.

"Depends... who's asking?" His face was still smiley and Johnny answered him.

"I'm his friend. Johnny Suh, you must be the owner." He let his hand out for the man to take, shaking it enthusiastically.

"Oh, yeah. Dejun is on a break." He paused, processing the other question. "I am the owner, actually! Hoseok, Jung Hoseok. I shouldn't even be here today, but we're training a-"

There was clattering from behind the wall and Hoseok paused, listening out before hearing a tiny "I'm okay!"

"Goddammit." He mumbled, his smile falling before he remembered it and replaced it again with another grin. "We've been training two new employees and it's been awful. One seems to be getting the hang of it, but there's this kid who just... he's literally 15 and he keeps falling off of things." He whispered that last part to Johnny.

Hoseok sighed and walked to the back, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Ten, cover."

"Yes, sir!" A cute, semi-high voice rang out and Johnny's shoulders unintentionally tensed. The soft stomp of shoes that sounded too fancy for food service walked closer and closer.

What Johnny didn't expect was a five-foot-eight tall man with short black hair and the prettiest smile Johnny had ever seen. He wore an apron that was a little too big for him and walked with such strides that you wouldn't guess that this was only the man's second day at work here.

"Hi, I'm Ten! How can I help you today?" He asked, pulling up the software on his tablet to take the orders. There was nobody else in the cafe line this time of day, only a few tables with people eating lunch. Johnny just stared, happy that nobody was in line behind him.

"Woah... I've never met anyone named Ten before! That's... that's so cool!" Johnny complimented, the guy blushing slightly. "Is it like, a nickname or something?"

"You could say that." He smiled and looked away, a strange emotion flickering on his face for a moment, before his eyes looked up again. "Anyways, what can I do for you?"

"Oh, uh..." Johnny looked at his phone where Mark's exact and meticulous order was written. "Can I have a strawberry tea with almond milk and and strawberry boba? Blended and uh, can I get the cookies and cream thingies in there? The candy pieces? I know it doesn't go together, but Dejun usually does it for me." He added, not wanting the request to sound too out of the ordinary.

Ten giggled and write it down. "Sure thing, anything for yourself?"

Johnny almost continued the order, before looking up suddenly and blinking. "What?"

"Oh yeah, no way you're getting that for yourself. You don't look like much of a 'cookies and cream in strawberry flavor' type of guy." Ten laughed and little bit and leaned over the counter. "Or maybe I'm reading you all wrong."

Ten's eyes were alluring and beautiful, cat eyes that stared almost past him (and not in a spacey, dumb way like Dejun's boyfriend). He leaned over the counter, his manicured and soft looking hands on his chin.

Johnny backed up and laughed nervously. Was this guy... flirting? Nah, ain't no way.

"No, yeah. You read me right, it's not for me." His voice came off as nervous and Johnny wanted to kick himself in the face for it. "Uh, black tea please. Almond milk, but with the mango lychee."

"Boring" Ten shrugged and wrote it down in the computer anyways. "Anything else?"

"An order of shrimp tempura udon soup, but without squid or the green stuff on top or vegetables... or the extra little bits. Please." He added on, finally shutting off his phone.

"So... just unseasoned noodles and shrimp?" Ten asked, clearly amused. Johnny nodded and Ten pointed him to where he needed to pay, a table adjacent to the counter.

When he was finished, he felt awkward. Mark was probably fine outside. Johnny could sit at this table, right next to the counter, and talk to Ten. But not like that, the guy just seemed interesting.

It took everything in Ten's power to not laugh when Johnny came circling back to him, sitting at the table closest to him.

"So... uh, you're new?"

"Yup" Ten was behind the counter, pulling two blending cups from the cupboard under the countertop, eyes scanning jars of powder.

Johnny was never good at small talk, but really he tried. "Do you like it here?" He asked awkwardly.

"I mean, 's okay." He shrugged, not even looking back and turning on a machine next to him. Johnny thought of what to say next as Ten carefully measured out black powders and pink powders in different cups. 

"Do you maybe, uh, know how long the food is gonna take?" Johnny asked awkwardly, pulling questions out of his ass at this point.

"If you don't have anything to say, don't force yourself to speak." The guy shrugged, working the machine and pouring almond milk into two cups, mixing with the black and pink teas. Johnny looked at him, cheeks dusted with pink, embarrassed that he was so easily read. "And by the way, it's gonna be a wait for the food." He suavely retorted, snorting slightly. "So, that gives you more time to make obvious ogling eyes at me."

Johnny's face burned, his complexion now a deep shade of pink. Ten simply winked and went back to what he was doing, measuring powder into the milky drinks.

"I wasn't making eyes..." he muttered, Ten's airy laugh in front of him.

The cafe was quiet again with only the ambience of lo-fi music over the speakers and whispering chatter amongst patrons. After some time, the drinks were done and on the counter, but Johnny couldn't bring himself to grab the food and fumble more words at Ten.

He faked scrolling oh his phone and occasionally looked through the tinted windows to make sure Mark hadn't run off. Thankfully, the teenager still sat where he was tapping his fingers together sometimes hard, then sometimes soft.

"Black boba tea, strawberry boba tea, plain udon with shrimp tempura." Ten's voice rang out, although the didn't have to yell out the order considering he was looking directly at Johnny.

Johnny didn't look Ten in the eyes, too flustered to, and grabbed the bag of food, along with the teas. He was about to leave and Ten grabbed his hand gently, more like laying his on top and holding him there.

"See you. I'll tell Dejun you said hi." Ten winked, his hand lingering for a few seconds on Johnny's. "Take care, yeah?" The older boy nodded and turned away, awkward as ever, and left without saying a word.