NEFARIOUS - TAEGYU ??

Taehyun puts on his usual apron and starts his work by arranging the books on their respective shelves in the book café. As the hand of the wall clock strikes 4pm, more and more customers begin to flood the café, good thing it's a two-storey café, they can fit that much of an amount and still have space.

"Taehyun-ah, can you send this to table 13?" Felix asks.

Taehyun nods and rushes to the counter to take the tray of beverages and make his way to the table upstairs. He approaches the table full of guys, whom he recognizes as their regulars and settles down the glasses and mugs of their drinks onto their table. At the same time, hearing their exact comments;

"What time do you get off?"

"Aren't you from the Chemistry department?"

"You're cute, do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?"

Taehyun ignores all of their questions and places the plates when suddenly he feels a quick smack on his backside, taking him by surprise. He looks at the guy beside him who starts stroking Taehyun's back, slipping his fingers underneath his shirt, delivering a grotesque feeling to Taehyun.

"Hey-"

Just when Taehyun was about to give him a piece of his mind, he feels the strings of his apron being pulled back strongly, his back colliding with something hard, presumably someone's chest and an arm drapes over his shoulder. The appetising scent of that familiar cologne engulfs his nostrils. He looks up to see his saviour.

Beomgyu.

"Fuck off." Beomgyu scowls at the guy.

"Well if it isn't Mr Smartass from the law department." The guy eyes Taehyun. "How do you guys even know each other."

"None of your business. Touch him again and you're a dead man." Beomgyu warns.

"What are you going to do about it?" The guy tests, and Taehyun feels Beomgyu losing his patience. Taehyun almost forgot about how no one knows Beomgyu's dual life. Taehyun strokes Beomgyu's back, one of the ways to calm Beomgyu down, and he does.

"You don't want to know." Beomgyu says and he leaves, dragging Taehyun along.

And it's true. If you make Beomgyu lose his patience, his temper will blow off, you'll never expect what he might do, all you can do is mention your last prayers before he unintentionally snaps your neck.

"What are you doing here?" Taehyun asks.

"I came here to study. I was searching for a spot upstairs, but that's okay, downstairs' better."

"Upstairs has a better view though."

"I don't need a view when I have you as one." Beomgyu winks, earning an eye roll from Taehyun.

Because Beomgyu has been really, extremely, attractively flirty.

"Get back to work, sweet pea." Beomgyu says.

"Don't call me that!" Taehyun shushes Beomgyu by covering his mouth.

Beomgyu pouts but then chuckles. "Araso. Don't let me get in your way."

Taehyun continues to work, this time he switches with the barista, doing magic with the coffee machine and serving varieties of drinks; lattes, cappuccinos, americanos and not to forget a special treat for himself; caramel macchiato. After a while, Chan approaches Taehyun at the counter and gestures Taehyun to talk to him.

"Yes, hyung?" Taehyun asks, wondering.

Chan looks around and then whispers into Taehyun's ears. "Some of our customers told me that they're scared to order from you because of a certain someone."

"Huh?"

Chan cocks his eyes towards Beomgyu's direction, who was glaring at Chan but darts his eyes back to his laptop the moment Taehyun turns around to see him.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Chan asks.

Taehyun's cheeks flushes a bright red at the mention of that label. "No, no, he's just a friend."

"You wouldn't blush if it's 'just' a friend."

"We're close friends."

"Mhm."

"He's very protective." Taehyun says embarrassingly as he rubs the back of his neck. "I'll talk to him."

Chan nods before going back into the staff's room.

Once the café starts to have little customers, Taehyun decides to take a break and talk to Beomgyu, who's face instantly lights up as soon as Taehyun sits in front of him.

"Sweet pea~" Beomgyu coos.

"Hyung, as much as we appreciate you coming here and attracting some of our customers, some of them too, are scared of you."

Beomgyu looks at him innocently, clueless. "Oh? I'm just sitting here though?"

"You glare at them every time they're taking an order from me." Taehyun says.

"Oop-" Beomgyu flashes his shy smile and scratches his neck. "I don't want something to happen to you like what happened just now upstairs. It's only a glare, sweet pea, not an uppercut to their chin."

Taehyun rolls his eyes. "I appreciate it hyung, but I can take care of it, alright?"

Beomgyu's phone chimes and it's a call from his dad. Taehyun excuses himself first to let Beomgyu talk to his dad on the phone.

"Hey dad." Beomgyu greets the caller.

"Hey son, you're busy?" Sir Choi asks.

"Studying, but I'll stop by the warehouse tonight."

"That's okay, the shipments arrived just now, earlier than expected."

"Oh, why didn't you tell me?"

"You were in class. And Yeonjun's here so there's not a problem. Anyways, I'm calling to let you know that we're holding a small party tomorrow, to meet with the Italian Mafia. We'll be talking business and about the alliance we agreed for."

"I'll be there."

"Bring Taehyun along, I haven't seen him in a while."

"Am planning to, I'll tell him about it, see you tomorrow." Beomgyu ends the call.

Taehyun clears up the counter and hands the keys to Chan before he packs up to go home. Beomgyu does the same and then approaches Taehyun.

"You really stayed here until closing??" Taehyun asks.

Beomgyu nods. "Finishing up my studying took longer than expected. Shall we go?"

Taehyun nods. Taehyun waves a goodbye to Chan before walking out of the café with Beomgyu.

The two stopped by the convenience store as per Taehyun's request.

"Taehyun-ah, do you think you can take another day off tomorrow?" Beomgyu asks.

Taehyun blinks his eyes, perplexed as to the sudden question. "For what occasion?" Taehyun asks.

"Dad's holding a party at the mansion tomorrow, the Italian Mafia is coming, they'll be discussing about their alliance. I, of course, have to be there but, dad asked me to invite you. He hasn't seen you in a while and mom misses you."

Taehyun touched by this, nods and flashes his baby smile, followed by a giggle that never fails to make Beomgyu's heart do a flip or ten. "I'll tell Chan about it. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Great." Beomgyu smiles softly at the latter as he ruffles his fingers through the shorter's hair.

The two continued their walk back to their apartment, just enjoying each other's company under the street lights, accompanied with the moonlight and assisted with small chats along the way.