Echoes of you? / yeonbin ff

The next day at the cafe, Soobin couldn’t contain his excitement. He had so many things on his mind. The biggest one, of course, was Yeonjun’s surprise live session. He’d been missing his idol’s regular live streams, and after almost a month of silence, Yeonjun had finally gone live.

Soobin had been watching eagerly, his heart racing as he saw Yeonjun’s familiar face on the screen. He couldn’t stop thinking about the whole experience—how Yeonjun had been so relaxed, how the fans had missed him, and how, for a brief moment, he had caught a glimps of a coffee from his cafe, he doesn't remember yeonjun coming to his cafe, maybe his manager but for him?

While preparing the coffee for his customers, Soobin couldn’t help but smile to himself. His thoughts kept wandering back to that live session. He had so much he wanted to talk about. He was practically buzzing with excitement.

Just then, as Soobin moved around the counter, he saw the familiar face of Hyunho walk in as usual in his mask and cap. His regular customer. Soobin’s smile brightened when he saw him, and as usual, he greeted him with a warm smile.

“Hyunho! You won’t believe it!” Soobin practically shouted, unable to hold back his excitement. “Yeonjun finally came live! After nearly a month of not going live, he finally did it! Can you believe it?”

Soobin didn’t even realize the irony of his words. He has no idea that he was literally telling about his idol to his idol. Hyunho, who had been quietly listening, couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. He’d been in the cafe enough times to know that Soobin was a huge fan of Yeonjun. It was always endearing to watch him get so excited about his idol.

But Yeonjun, or Hyunho, remained calm and just smiled, still in his disguise, pretending not to know anything. “Oh, really? That’s awesome,” Yeonjun replied with a slight smile inside the mask, trying to keep his voice casual, though he felt a slight warmth at hearing Soobin’s excitement about him. “I bet the fans were thrilled, huh?”

Soobin’s eyes lit up even more as he continued, oblivious to the fact that the person he was talking to was the very same idol he had just been gushing about. “I mean, I’ve missed him so much! He didn’t go live for so long. And when he finally did, I couldn’t believe it! He even had coffee in his hand… It looked so much like the one from here, you know? I’ve been wondering where he’s been going to write his songs. I heard rumors that he likes coming to places like this for inspiration…”

Yeonjun bit back a smile at Soobin’s words. He could tell that Soobin was completely unaware that the person standing right in front of him was, in fact, Yeonjun himself. It was almost amusing, in a way. But there was something else, something more tender in Yeonjun’s heart as he listened to Soobin speak so fondly of him.

“Well, it’s good to see you so happy,” Yeonjun said, trying to keep his tone light. “Maybe one day, he’ll go live again and surprise everyone.”

Soobin chuckled and nodded. “I really hope so. I miss hearing from him. It’s like his fans are always waiting for his next song, his next move. It’s so exciting.”

Yeonjun gave him a small nod, though his heart was beating a little faster at the thought of Soobin speaking so highly of him, not knowing that it was him right there in front of him. For a moment, he wondered how long he would keep up the mystery. But for now, he was content to simply enjoy these moments with Soobin—however they came.

“Well,” Soobin continued, “I’m sure he’ll show up again soon. He’s always full of surprises, right?”

Yeonjun smiled, his heart swelling a little. "Yeah, maybe he will."

Little did Soobin know, he was standing in front of the very idol he admired so much, and their conversations—so natural, so easy—were the beginning of something more.