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For the first time in two hours, the cafe is relatively quiet. People are sitting at their tables and in their booths, talking amongst each other, but the line at the counter is gone and the rush has passed. Seungmin can breathe again without someone coming up to him to order, and he finally allows himself to lean against the counter behind him and slightly rest his feet. They have a stool behind the register, but Seungmin doesn’t really like using it whenever there’s customers in the cafe.
It’s a stupid thing his brain does. Jisung uses the stool all the time and Felix is forced to by everyone considering his back injury that acts up whenever he stands for too long. People give him odd looks sometimes, but one glare from the wolf hybrid hiding away in the kitchen is enough to send even other predator hybrids out of the cafe with their tails between their legs.
Seungmin has seen it. Luckily for him, he’s never been on the receiving end of the glare. Chan is a nice person and a boss people usually dream of having, Felix is his mate and, well, wolves are territorial. Seungmin can only sympathize — he might not be a wolf, but as a golden retriever hybrid, they have similar feelings and instincts. Like their noses being extremely sensitive, making all perfumes in the cafe forbidden for any of the employees.
Jisung complained at first, considering his mate loved it whenever he put on perfume, but he’s learned to live with it. It makes for a better working environment, even when it’s stressful enough to have Seungmin’s tail drooping behind him in exhaustion. He likes his job and his coworkers, and it pays the bills. It’s the best case scenario for a hybrid, really.
The entire cafe is Christmas themed right now, with Santa coming through the fake fireplace and three trees set up around the place. The regular white napkins have been replaced by dark green ones with candy canes on them and little center pieces created by Felix and Hyunjin, another one of their coworkers, really finish the decorations. It pulls it all together, even when Christmas is still a ways away.
“Seungmin!”
Chan’s voice makes Seungmin’s ears perk. He jumps away from the counter, whipping his head around in time to see his boss coming through the door from the kitchen. He stays back there most of the time, baking the pastries the cafe sells. Felix usually decorates everything, and he’s really nailed the Christmas themed frosting on the cookies this year. “Yeah, hyung?”
“Don’t forget that Jeongin is coming in today.”
The name makes Seungmin’s throat run dry. His tail thumps against the counter behind him, giving him away. Chan shoots him a knowing look. Seungmin groans, throwing his head back. His ears flop behind him. “Fuck.”
“Hey now!” Chan giggles, shaking his head. “He’s going to be here for a few hours for training, that’s it.”
“Can someone else do it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I say so.” Chan replies, wiggling his eyebrows. Seungmin growls a little, the sound reverberating in the back of his throat as he throws a balled up napkin at the wolf hybrid. He catches it easily, his animal reflexes kicking in.
Seungmin rolls his eyes. “Fine.”
“Hyunjin will be in front of house too in case it gets busy.”
As if on cue, the ferret walks into the cafe through the kitchen door holding a platter of freshly decorated cookies and a barely cooled down chocolate cake. He grins at Seungmin knowingly before turning toward their display, not even giving him the grace of a greeting. Seungmin crosses his arms. “You guys suck.”
“He’s been in here twice and your heart eyes keep getting more and more obvious.” Hyunjin calls from where his head is now in the display case, words muffled by the mask he’s wearing.
Seungmin looks around for something to throw, pouting when he comes up empty. “He’s — fine. He’s cute.”
Normally, Seungmin likes his job. He loves working with his friends, even though he would never say that out loud, and if he ever loses this job, he’ll probably cry and never work again. He’ll become a luxury hybrid that most humans can only dream of and he won’t have to work a day in his life. He doesn’t want that to happen, though. He wants to keep working here, which is why he keeps agreeing to Chan when he says that Seungmin has to be the one to train Jeongin.
He says it’s because Seungmin is the latest employee to join the team. Hyunjin and Jisung both trained Seungmin, so why can’t they train Jeongin, too? Seungmin is the one with the least experience, it would only make sense! But the thought of those two being around Jeongin so much makes a dark, protective part of his animal side go sour.
“You guys would make a cute couple.”
Seungmin splutters, nearly sending a stack of cups flying with the way his tail jerks. “A deer and a dog?”
Hyunjin raises an eyebrow. “A squirrel and a snake?”
At the mention of Jisung and Minho’s relationship, Seungmin clenches his jaws shut. He glares at Hyunjin. The ferret is right, of course. If there’s one combination that doesn’t make any fucking sense it’s a hamster and a snake, and yet those two are so sickenly in love it’s insane. Their wedding date is scheduled in March, and the cafe will be closed for the entire weekend to give everyone time to enjoy the festivities.
Again, Chan is a great boss.
Seungmin kind of hates him right now, though. “Fuck you.”
Hyunjin chuckles and Chan laughs, shaking his head. “There’s customers, Seungmin!”
“There’s customers Seungmin.” Seungmin repeats with annoyance in his voice, waving Chan off. “No one can hear me over the Christmas playlist anyway.”
“I’m telling Jisung you said that!”
“Please don’t.” Seungmin whines, turning back to the register. “Fine, I’ll train Jeongin. Again.”
“Thanks”! Chan says, like he gave Seungmin a choice. A handful of customers come up to the counter to pay before vacating their tables, and Seungmin is in the process of cleaning them when the bell rings above the door.
He looks up to find Jeongin looking around the cafe with wide eyes. Like the time before that, the deer hybrid completely freezes in the doorway as the door shuts behind him. He holds onto his backpack straps and looks around the cafe with wonder in his eyes, his beautiful antlers glistening in the overhead lights. They have fairy lights on the windows, but Chan doesn’t turn them on until it’s dark outside.
“Hey Jeongin!” Seungmin greets quickly, rushing to throw away the last bits and pieces off of the tray he’s holding. He walks to the front and waves. “You came!”
It’s a stupid thing to say. If the ground could swallow Seungmin whole, he’d quite like that. In fact, he’ll start digging the hole himself. There’s parts of his DNA that are specifically good at that, after all. He could probably dig a hole in less than an hour, big enough for himself to fit in and slowly wither away.
If Jeongin agrees, he doesn’t say so. “Yeah! Chan-hyung scheduled me, so.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Seungmin nods like a broken record. He tries — and partially fails — to keep his tail at bay. He can’t do anything about his ears, though, as they’re perked up and ready to go. “I’ll be training you again.”
“Oh!” Jeongin’s eyes go a little wider. His cheeks go a slight red, and Seungmin’s heart skips a beat. Not only is Jeongin a rare hybrid, he’s fucking gorgeous, too. He’s got brown eyes that make Seungmin want to kiss him, and a nose and jawline that are simply to die for. Normally, Seungmin thinks he’s quite nonchalant about people he finds attractive. He can’t seem to help it with Jeongin, though. “That’s nice! I’m glad.”
Is he, though? Is he glad about being coupled with Seungmin again?
Seungmin swallows the words on his tongue, eager to ask. Instead, he allows Jeongin to go into the back to get changed into their signature aprons. Once he’s gone, Seungmin places a hand over his heart. It’s like it wants to beat through his ribcage — break the bone there to pieces and tear through muscle until it can burst through Seungmin’s chest entirely and fall directly into Jeongin’s hands.
Hyunjin walks back into the cafe and grins at Seungmin. “You okay?”
“Go clean the tables.” Seungmin grumbles, pointing at the last few he hasn’t gotten around to yet. “I hate all of you.”
“No you don’t.” Hyunjin sing-songs, all smiles as he moves between the tables.
The first few hours go fine. Jeongin is quick to pick up on things on his first official shift as front of house, and after three hours or so, Seungmin goes to the toilet without asking Hyunjin to supervise the deer hybrid. He comes back to the cafe still standing, which Seungmin counts as a win, and with a heavy heart, he delegates himself to making drinks and bringing customers their orders as Jeongin rings everything in.
In between customers, Jeongin talks. He talks about his college classes — he’s a sociology major in his last year — and about how, in a few weeks, his antlers will shed again. Seungmin has to bite back the question that surges up his throat, has to stop himself from asking whether he can have them. His teeth ache with the need to chew on them, to smell them. Instead, he asks Jeongin about whether it hurts or not, and that’s the end of that.
“Hyung,” Jeongin clears his throat just as Seungmin locks the front door. It’s eight pm, and Seungmin is beat. He wants to go home and crawl into bed and not get out until he has to get ready for work tomorrow. “Can I ask you a question?”
Seungmin nods, leaning against the door. “Sure, shoot.”
“What are — what are the cafe’s policies about dating your — your coworkers?”
Seungmin’s eyes widen. He chokes on his own spit that pools in his mouth, coughing. “Excuse — Jesus — what?”
Jeongin is on him in a second. He pats Seungmin on the back, hits him a few times. “Hyung! Are you okay?”
“Fine,” Seungmin coughs again, shaking his head. He pulls away from Jeongin, swallowing down the irritation in his throat. “Christ — yeah, fine. Why do you — why do you ask?”
“Well,” Jeongin shrugs. “I don’t know. I was curious? I guess?”
“Curious?” Seungmin raises an eyebrow. “You do know that Chan and Felix are mates, right?”
“Yeah,” Jeongin huffs, “But they’re the owners. That’s different.”
“Jisung has a mate and Hyunjin does, too.” Seungmin adds, mentally counting his fingers. “They might not work here but they’re not single, either. Sorry.”
“I know all of that.” Jeongin squeaks, cheeks bright red again. There’s a joke in there somewhere about a reindeer with a red nose during Christmas time, but Jisung made the mistake of making that joke on Jeongin’s first day and no one has said such a thing ever since. Jeongin doesn’t like it, and Chan gave them all a stern talking to. “I just—”
Seungmin’s eyes widen as the puzzle pieces fall into place. “Hold — hold on—”
“You’re not mated, right?” Jeongin interrupts, looking down at Seungmin through his bangs. “I was — god, I’m awful at this.”
“Well,” Seungmin chuckles dryly, heart rapidly beating. “You’re better than I am. I was planning on not saying a word.”
“Hyung!” Jeongin calls, making Seungmin wince. He looks behind him quickly — if any of the others walk through the door right now, he’ll die. “You wanted to ask me?”
Seungmin barely manages a nod. Jeongin chuckles again, reaching to take Seungmin’s right hand. Instantly, heat shoots up Seungmin’s spine. His tail swishes with vigour, thumping against the chair right next to him. “I did — I did, yeah.”
“Do you want to grab a drink after we close up?”
“Yes please.” Seungmin replies easily, uncaring that he has to get up at seven in the morning to make it to work on time. Chan can kiss his ass for all he cares. “I — I’d like a drink with you.”
Jeongin’s smile is blinding and beautiful and everything Seungmin wants and more. “Good. It’s a date, then.”
“A date.” Seungmin affirms, nodding. He doesn’t want to let go of Jeongin’s hand. His stupid dog brain wants to herd Jeongin close until they’re alone and safe from the outside world, but he pushes that down.
“Your tail is—”
“Shut up.” Seungmin says, chuckling. “I can’t get it to stop.”
Jeongin grins again. “That’s cute.”
“Your tail is the cute one, it’s so small.”
“Have you been looking at my ass, hyung?”
“Oh fuck off.”