Mocha with Marshmallows
Title: Mocha with Marshmallows
Author: xsilentserenity
Pairing(s): Hyukhae
Rating: PG
Genre: romance, angst, fluff, both POV
Warnings: none…
Disclaimer: Such a pity.
Summary: Donghae sees the worst in winter. Hyukjae sees the best. Perhaps what they both need is the proper balance of mocha and marshmallows.
Requested by: lulledbyscreams
Note: Holiday Wish List Requests are still open on my journal.
Donghae POV~
I never really contemplate it. I never questioned it. It’s a habit, a way of life. I was raised this way: the way of redundantly repeating, that is. Change: I want change, I need change. Every day is the same. I wake up, get ready, eat, go to school, work, go home, eat, sleep, and then repeat. There’s no difference. I sit on the ledge near my window, staring outside the glass panels. Flurries of snow are sprinkling down from the skies onto the already white blanketed ground.
Some say it looks pretty when it snows. I disagree. Everything is so dull, so bare and barren, so… blank. The snow is white and empty while the clouds above are gray and heavy. The various colors of Christmas or holiday lights that people have strung across the exteriors of their houses get blurred in the precipitation until they become merely specs in the air. The wondering greens and multicolored flowers from the spring and summer are dead and gone; even autumn’s rusty oranges and reds have fallen to the ground and disappeared. Winter is a desolate season. It’s cold and unforgiving. There’s nothing joyful or festive about it.
My breath fogs the cold, transparent glass and I use my hand to wipe away the ghosted stain. When I look through the newly cleared glass, all I see is the same old, same old. Sometimes I wish that when I take a second glance, there will be some change; some color could have appeared, even if it was far away, but nothing ever changes. I sigh slowly, dejectedly, and my breath covers a small patch of the window again, but I just rise out of my sitting position on the ledge, not bothering to wipe it away. It’s not like anything will be different, anyway.
I walk to the front of my apartment, where my coat hanger stands solidly, holding a heavy, fur-lined blue jacket. I have others: black, grey, and even a white, but blue actually adds some color to the vicinity. I hate leaving without it. I slip into the heavy material, rolling my shoulders to make it fall comfortably around my body. I zip up the zipper and slip a red woolen scarf around my neck, wrapping it twice. I grab my wallet and phone from the table next to the coat hanger and shove them into my pockets before double checking for my key and heading outside.
The first feeling that hits me is the extreme cold of the freezing temperatures. I was expecting it, yet the frigid gusts of wind still take my uncovered face by surprise, always making me flinch. It’s just another reason to despise this season. I shove my hands in my pockets to keep them from getting too numb and I brace myself before stepping out into the open, onto the walkway leading towards the street and away from my condominium. The wind pushes against me, biting my cheeks and making them pink, but somehow, I welcome the blistering pain. It shows winter, it shows the world… It shows me, that this horrible weather will not hold me back. I don’t even care anymore; let it do what it wants.
I scoff slightly and my breath forms in front of me. It disappears into the snowflake filled air like wisps of smoke, but it’s quite the opposite. What do you call them anyways: the frosty, palpable breaths you can see in the icy air? Fire releases smoke… but cold releases… what, exactly? There’s no name for it. It brings mystery and confusion and just another reason to despise it.
There’s a café about a two minute walk from the apartment complex. It’s my favorite place to relax and unravel my nerves during the winter. As I walk there, my feet trudging through the snow with high knee steps, I can’t help my look forward to the quaint, homely setting, with bright lights illuminating the comely building. The smiling face of the cheerful baristas, Sungmin and Ryeowook as I’ve come to know them as, never fails to bring a slight smile to my face too, even as I know I’ll be ruffling the snowflakes out of my brunette hair before they melt and reach my scalp.
When I reach the café, with its dark green sign above the door, I push the door open, reveling in the sound of the familiar bell jingling as it’s moved. Sungmin turns his head at the noise and when he recognizes me, his mouth breaks into a toothy grin.
“Hi, Donghae!” he greets me and I smile and return his greeting with a small wave. Ever since I became a regular, about three years ago when I would order something every day during the winter, he and I have become friends.
I take my usual seat in the back corner of the café, away from the rest of the mingling people and the windows near the front. A mural paints the wall behind me, and the dark green table top lays in expanse in front. It’s a two person table, but I’ve never shared my time with anyone else. Left to my own devices, I’d much rather be alone. No one, save my own thoughts, understands my views on winter, so I’m content with just myself.
Ryeowook brings me my usual drink: a regular, simply cup of mocha. He places it on the table in front of me with greets me with a smile of his own before returning to the counter, where more customers await their turn to be served. I glance down at my cup, a familiar sight in front of me. The steam rises from the hot liquid and dissipates into the air. This time, my mind flicks back to the moments when I was trudging through the snow, when my breath would melt into the air in front of me. Steam is the same, but different. It is hot; it is warm. It is welcome, here, with me.
Hyukjae POV~
I’ve always thought about it. I’ve always wondered. I’ve always pondered my thoughts of my way of life, how I was raised. Every day is a routine, but every day brings something new. Each day, I can wake up and know that I will see a new person walking down the sidewalk, or glance at a new sign, and most of all, see the brand new snowfall layering the ground anew.
I love the winter. I love the snow and the icy crystals it brings. I love the gleaming ice that shines and sparkles as light reflects off the surfaces. I can’t get enough of watching the pretty patterns dance through the frozen snowflakes on the ground, and cast iridescent, almost polar, stars into the air.
I sit on the ledge near the base of my window, staring outside. The flurries of snow stream in and out of my vision from the clouds above, which hang like a comforting, fluffy blanket over our heads. Some people say that that the snow makes the world duller and more dreary, but I disagree wholeheartedly. The snow makes the world twinkle with little refracting stars and flash tiny lights at you when you glance from the right angle. It makes the world a more beautiful place.
My breath fogs up the window and I use my index finger to dot two eyes and draw a small smile in the cloudy section. A smiley face smiles at me for a moment before I notice a figure walking down the sidewalk and I smudge away the rest of the moisture. I recognize him immediately. It’s the classmate of mine who lives next door. His name is Lee Donghae. He hates winter. He and I are complete opposites. While I despise when sweat begins pouring from my pores in the sunlight and summer, Donghae, as I’ve learned over the four years that we’ve been neighbors, basks in the sunshine, like he’s absorbing the rays of light into his skin.
But while I watch him painstakingly lift each leg out of the foot high snow, I can’t help but wonder: why does he put himself through so much pain and work in the middle of all this snow if he doesn’t want anything to do with it. The thought itself intrigues me. I’ve always noticed that while jeans cover his legs and a jacket, his arms, Donghae’s face is always open to the gnawing, icy burns that the snowflakes bring.
I sigh against the window before turning away. Out of my peripheral vision, I know that the window has fogged again, but I don’t bother wiping it again. There are too many changes outside to notice everything. I walk to my kitchen and open up my cabinets and pantry, glancing around the shelves for something satisfying to drink. I sigh slightly when I find that I’ve run out of my packets of hot chocolate. Even I need something to keep warm in this cold weather, after all.
I grab my coat and my scarf and head out the door, making sure that I have everything securely in my pockets. I step outside and wait for a few moments, acclimating myself to the temperature, so different than my artificially warmed apartment. I take a deep breath before taking three steps forward, plunging myself into the wind’s path, where it blows streams of snowflakes caught in its gust towards me. The first steps are easy, since I’m only walking in a slightly covered area, but when I reach the wide open, near the sidewalk, my steps become more laborious, but I find myself stepping in Donghae’s imprints, which are already slightly filled by the continuously falling snow.
I follow my own path to the nearby café, and I’m surprised to see that Donghae’s footprints lead in the same direction. Maybe this is where he disappears off to everyday during the winter. I’ve seen him toil through the snow in his blue heavy snow jacket before.
When I push open the door, I hear the bell tinkle to announce my arrival. The only person to look up at the sound if the barista behind the counter: a short man with a cute smile. He bows his head slightly in a formal greeting and smiles.
“Welcome!” he calls, and I smile broadly in a return greeting before striding up to the counter. “What may I get for you today?” he asks.
I glance up at the menu and skim all the choices, looking for my usual. “Ah,” I make a noise of affirmation. “There it is. I’ll take a hot chocolate.” He nods and types in my order to the register, but I continue. “Could you please put the marshmallows on the side, outside the drink?”
He looks surprised at my request, obviously it doesn’t happen often, but nods. “I’ll see that it is done. Thank you, please have a seat.”
I nod in thanks and turn, looking for a suitable location to sit. My first instinct pulls me towards the front of the café, where the windows are located and I can watch the outside change and pass, but in the corner of my eyes, I notice a blue, fur-lined jacket in the quiet back corner that hadn’t received any attention from me at all. I look over to the corner and confirm my sudden suspicions. Donghae sits alone at a two person table, cupping his drink with both hands, but not drinking it. I smile slightly before making my way over to him. It’s not like we hate each other, despite our obvious differences in opinion.
He doesn’t notice my presence until I begin speaking. “Hey Donghae. You look a bit lonely over here by yourself.”
He looks up and shrugs. “It’s nice to have some time to think alone for a few moments.”
I chuckle slightly before taking a seat across the table from him. “Whether you like winter or not, it’s always better to spend it with someone.”
Donghae cocks an eyebrow. “So you want to spend winter with me?”
I open my mouth to reply, but then the barista walks my hot chocolate and marshmallows on the side over to me. He smiles at me before turning to Donghae. “Your friend has weird drink preferences, Donghae-hyung.”
When he leaves, Donghae turns back to me. “Weird drink preferences?” he asks and I nod.
“I like my marshmallows on the side,” I answer sheepishly. “I like drinking my hot chocolate and then eating the marshmallows separately.”
Donghae scoffs. “That’s stupid. There’s no point.”
I laugh. “There’s always a point. We just don’t know what it is yet.”
Donghae chuckles along with me and soon our conversation continues to various other topics. Strangely, Donghae and I agree on so much more than I believed possible, knowing our differing thoughts on the matter of Winter, and I find myself having fun. By the looks of it, Donghae is too.
Donghae makes a noise of surprise and glances down at the cup in his hands. “It’s still warm. I can’t believe it.”
I glance at his insulated cup before looking down at my own hot chocolate, which is empty. Only the marshmallows, in a small bowl, remain untouched. “You haven’t had any of it?” I ask incredulously.
Donghae grins. “It just slipped my mind. You’re a strangely interesting person.”
I laugh amusedly. “I was just thinking the same about you.”
Donghae sighs suddenly and the entire atmosphere changes. “Do you ever wonder…,” he begins, “...why nothing ever changes?”
I looks at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
“There’s no change in my life!” he exclaims, frustrated. “It’s the same snow, the same jacket, the same people, the same music, the same routine. There’s nothing different.”
“Donghae…,” I start, and he makes eye contact. “There’s a lot that changes. You just have to be open enough to see it, to notice it.”
Donghae rolls his eyes. “Like what, Hyukjae? Like what? Even my regular, plain, mocha, that I order every day, doesn’t change.”
A thought occurs to me and I grin. I prop the lid off his cup and watch as the steam escapes into the air. Donghae watches me silently, wondering what I’m up to. I grin as I grab a handful of marshmallows and toss them into his mocha, each landing in the liquid with a satisfying pop. Donghae opens his mouth to exclaim something in surprise, but I cut him off. “See? Now your mocha is different.”
“Doesn’t mean it’ll taste good,” he grumbles with his arms crossed.
I raise an eyebrow. “Then why don’t you try it? That’s the only way to find out.”
Donghae grins, his former happy self returning. “Or you could try it and tell me how it is.” With that, he lifts his cup and positions it over mine before tilting it, pouring the mocha with marshmallows into my empty hot chocolate cup.
The marshmallows give off more sound as they land into my cup this time and we both laugh before simultaneously lifting our cups to our lips. Mocha and marshmallows...actually doesn’t taste that bad.
A/N: for lulledbyscreams, as her holiday fic! Love you Autumn unnie!! And I hope you like it even though it contains barely any neighbor!au, and like… no romance at all. And somewhat angst… LOL, I think I epically failed at this request, but I hope you like it anyways!
Maybe if I come up with something good, I’ll write you another! :)
Author: xsilentserenity
Pairing(s): Hyukhae
Rating: PG
Genre: romance, angst, fluff, both POV
Warnings: none…
Disclaimer: Such a pity.
Summary: Donghae sees the worst in winter. Hyukjae sees the best. Perhaps what they both need is the proper balance of mocha and marshmallows.
Requested by: lulledbyscreams
Note: Holiday Wish List Requests are still open on my journal.
Donghae POV~
I never really contemplate it. I never questioned it. It’s a habit, a way of life. I was raised this way: the way of redundantly repeating, that is. Change: I want change, I need change. Every day is the same. I wake up, get ready, eat, go to school, work, go home, eat, sleep, and then repeat. There’s no difference. I sit on the ledge near my window, staring outside the glass panels. Flurries of snow are sprinkling down from the skies onto the already white blanketed ground.
Some say it looks pretty when it snows. I disagree. Everything is so dull, so bare and barren, so… blank. The snow is white and empty while the clouds above are gray and heavy. The various colors of Christmas or holiday lights that people have strung across the exteriors of their houses get blurred in the precipitation until they become merely specs in the air. The wondering greens and multicolored flowers from the spring and summer are dead and gone; even autumn’s rusty oranges and reds have fallen to the ground and disappeared. Winter is a desolate season. It’s cold and unforgiving. There’s nothing joyful or festive about it.
My breath fogs the cold, transparent glass and I use my hand to wipe away the ghosted stain. When I look through the newly cleared glass, all I see is the same old, same old. Sometimes I wish that when I take a second glance, there will be some change; some color could have appeared, even if it was far away, but nothing ever changes. I sigh slowly, dejectedly, and my breath covers a small patch of the window again, but I just rise out of my sitting position on the ledge, not bothering to wipe it away. It’s not like anything will be different, anyway.
I walk to the front of my apartment, where my coat hanger stands solidly, holding a heavy, fur-lined blue jacket. I have others: black, grey, and even a white, but blue actually adds some color to the vicinity. I hate leaving without it. I slip into the heavy material, rolling my shoulders to make it fall comfortably around my body. I zip up the zipper and slip a red woolen scarf around my neck, wrapping it twice. I grab my wallet and phone from the table next to the coat hanger and shove them into my pockets before double checking for my key and heading outside.
The first feeling that hits me is the extreme cold of the freezing temperatures. I was expecting it, yet the frigid gusts of wind still take my uncovered face by surprise, always making me flinch. It’s just another reason to despise this season. I shove my hands in my pockets to keep them from getting too numb and I brace myself before stepping out into the open, onto the walkway leading towards the street and away from my condominium. The wind pushes against me, biting my cheeks and making them pink, but somehow, I welcome the blistering pain. It shows winter, it shows the world… It shows me, that this horrible weather will not hold me back. I don’t even care anymore; let it do what it wants.
I scoff slightly and my breath forms in front of me. It disappears into the snowflake filled air like wisps of smoke, but it’s quite the opposite. What do you call them anyways: the frosty, palpable breaths you can see in the icy air? Fire releases smoke… but cold releases… what, exactly? There’s no name for it. It brings mystery and confusion and just another reason to despise it.
There’s a café about a two minute walk from the apartment complex. It’s my favorite place to relax and unravel my nerves during the winter. As I walk there, my feet trudging through the snow with high knee steps, I can’t help my look forward to the quaint, homely setting, with bright lights illuminating the comely building. The smiling face of the cheerful baristas, Sungmin and Ryeowook as I’ve come to know them as, never fails to bring a slight smile to my face too, even as I know I’ll be ruffling the snowflakes out of my brunette hair before they melt and reach my scalp.
When I reach the café, with its dark green sign above the door, I push the door open, reveling in the sound of the familiar bell jingling as it’s moved. Sungmin turns his head at the noise and when he recognizes me, his mouth breaks into a toothy grin.
“Hi, Donghae!” he greets me and I smile and return his greeting with a small wave. Ever since I became a regular, about three years ago when I would order something every day during the winter, he and I have become friends.
I take my usual seat in the back corner of the café, away from the rest of the mingling people and the windows near the front. A mural paints the wall behind me, and the dark green table top lays in expanse in front. It’s a two person table, but I’ve never shared my time with anyone else. Left to my own devices, I’d much rather be alone. No one, save my own thoughts, understands my views on winter, so I’m content with just myself.
Ryeowook brings me my usual drink: a regular, simply cup of mocha. He places it on the table in front of me with greets me with a smile of his own before returning to the counter, where more customers await their turn to be served. I glance down at my cup, a familiar sight in front of me. The steam rises from the hot liquid and dissipates into the air. This time, my mind flicks back to the moments when I was trudging through the snow, when my breath would melt into the air in front of me. Steam is the same, but different. It is hot; it is warm. It is welcome, here, with me.
Hyukjae POV~
I’ve always thought about it. I’ve always wondered. I’ve always pondered my thoughts of my way of life, how I was raised. Every day is a routine, but every day brings something new. Each day, I can wake up and know that I will see a new person walking down the sidewalk, or glance at a new sign, and most of all, see the brand new snowfall layering the ground anew.
I love the winter. I love the snow and the icy crystals it brings. I love the gleaming ice that shines and sparkles as light reflects off the surfaces. I can’t get enough of watching the pretty patterns dance through the frozen snowflakes on the ground, and cast iridescent, almost polar, stars into the air.
I sit on the ledge near the base of my window, staring outside. The flurries of snow stream in and out of my vision from the clouds above, which hang like a comforting, fluffy blanket over our heads. Some people say that that the snow makes the world duller and more dreary, but I disagree wholeheartedly. The snow makes the world twinkle with little refracting stars and flash tiny lights at you when you glance from the right angle. It makes the world a more beautiful place.
My breath fogs up the window and I use my index finger to dot two eyes and draw a small smile in the cloudy section. A smiley face smiles at me for a moment before I notice a figure walking down the sidewalk and I smudge away the rest of the moisture. I recognize him immediately. It’s the classmate of mine who lives next door. His name is Lee Donghae. He hates winter. He and I are complete opposites. While I despise when sweat begins pouring from my pores in the sunlight and summer, Donghae, as I’ve learned over the four years that we’ve been neighbors, basks in the sunshine, like he’s absorbing the rays of light into his skin.
But while I watch him painstakingly lift each leg out of the foot high snow, I can’t help but wonder: why does he put himself through so much pain and work in the middle of all this snow if he doesn’t want anything to do with it. The thought itself intrigues me. I’ve always noticed that while jeans cover his legs and a jacket, his arms, Donghae’s face is always open to the gnawing, icy burns that the snowflakes bring.
I sigh against the window before turning away. Out of my peripheral vision, I know that the window has fogged again, but I don’t bother wiping it again. There are too many changes outside to notice everything. I walk to my kitchen and open up my cabinets and pantry, glancing around the shelves for something satisfying to drink. I sigh slightly when I find that I’ve run out of my packets of hot chocolate. Even I need something to keep warm in this cold weather, after all.
I grab my coat and my scarf and head out the door, making sure that I have everything securely in my pockets. I step outside and wait for a few moments, acclimating myself to the temperature, so different than my artificially warmed apartment. I take a deep breath before taking three steps forward, plunging myself into the wind’s path, where it blows streams of snowflakes caught in its gust towards me. The first steps are easy, since I’m only walking in a slightly covered area, but when I reach the wide open, near the sidewalk, my steps become more laborious, but I find myself stepping in Donghae’s imprints, which are already slightly filled by the continuously falling snow.
I follow my own path to the nearby café, and I’m surprised to see that Donghae’s footprints lead in the same direction. Maybe this is where he disappears off to everyday during the winter. I’ve seen him toil through the snow in his blue heavy snow jacket before.
When I push open the door, I hear the bell tinkle to announce my arrival. The only person to look up at the sound if the barista behind the counter: a short man with a cute smile. He bows his head slightly in a formal greeting and smiles.
“Welcome!” he calls, and I smile broadly in a return greeting before striding up to the counter. “What may I get for you today?” he asks.
I glance up at the menu and skim all the choices, looking for my usual. “Ah,” I make a noise of affirmation. “There it is. I’ll take a hot chocolate.” He nods and types in my order to the register, but I continue. “Could you please put the marshmallows on the side, outside the drink?”
He looks surprised at my request, obviously it doesn’t happen often, but nods. “I’ll see that it is done. Thank you, please have a seat.”
I nod in thanks and turn, looking for a suitable location to sit. My first instinct pulls me towards the front of the café, where the windows are located and I can watch the outside change and pass, but in the corner of my eyes, I notice a blue, fur-lined jacket in the quiet back corner that hadn’t received any attention from me at all. I look over to the corner and confirm my sudden suspicions. Donghae sits alone at a two person table, cupping his drink with both hands, but not drinking it. I smile slightly before making my way over to him. It’s not like we hate each other, despite our obvious differences in opinion.
He doesn’t notice my presence until I begin speaking. “Hey Donghae. You look a bit lonely over here by yourself.”
He looks up and shrugs. “It’s nice to have some time to think alone for a few moments.”
I chuckle slightly before taking a seat across the table from him. “Whether you like winter or not, it’s always better to spend it with someone.”
Donghae cocks an eyebrow. “So you want to spend winter with me?”
I open my mouth to reply, but then the barista walks my hot chocolate and marshmallows on the side over to me. He smiles at me before turning to Donghae. “Your friend has weird drink preferences, Donghae-hyung.”
When he leaves, Donghae turns back to me. “Weird drink preferences?” he asks and I nod.
“I like my marshmallows on the side,” I answer sheepishly. “I like drinking my hot chocolate and then eating the marshmallows separately.”
Donghae scoffs. “That’s stupid. There’s no point.”
I laugh. “There’s always a point. We just don’t know what it is yet.”
Donghae chuckles along with me and soon our conversation continues to various other topics. Strangely, Donghae and I agree on so much more than I believed possible, knowing our differing thoughts on the matter of Winter, and I find myself having fun. By the looks of it, Donghae is too.
Donghae makes a noise of surprise and glances down at the cup in his hands. “It’s still warm. I can’t believe it.”
I glance at his insulated cup before looking down at my own hot chocolate, which is empty. Only the marshmallows, in a small bowl, remain untouched. “You haven’t had any of it?” I ask incredulously.
Donghae grins. “It just slipped my mind. You’re a strangely interesting person.”
I laugh amusedly. “I was just thinking the same about you.”
Donghae sighs suddenly and the entire atmosphere changes. “Do you ever wonder…,” he begins, “...why nothing ever changes?”
I looks at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
“There’s no change in my life!” he exclaims, frustrated. “It’s the same snow, the same jacket, the same people, the same music, the same routine. There’s nothing different.”
“Donghae…,” I start, and he makes eye contact. “There’s a lot that changes. You just have to be open enough to see it, to notice it.”
Donghae rolls his eyes. “Like what, Hyukjae? Like what? Even my regular, plain, mocha, that I order every day, doesn’t change.”
A thought occurs to me and I grin. I prop the lid off his cup and watch as the steam escapes into the air. Donghae watches me silently, wondering what I’m up to. I grin as I grab a handful of marshmallows and toss them into his mocha, each landing in the liquid with a satisfying pop. Donghae opens his mouth to exclaim something in surprise, but I cut him off. “See? Now your mocha is different.”
“Doesn’t mean it’ll taste good,” he grumbles with his arms crossed.
I raise an eyebrow. “Then why don’t you try it? That’s the only way to find out.”
Donghae grins, his former happy self returning. “Or you could try it and tell me how it is.” With that, he lifts his cup and positions it over mine before tilting it, pouring the mocha with marshmallows into my empty hot chocolate cup.
The marshmallows give off more sound as they land into my cup this time and we both laugh before simultaneously lifting our cups to our lips. Mocha and marshmallows...actually doesn’t taste that bad.
A/N: for lulledbyscreams, as her holiday fic! Love you Autumn unnie!! And I hope you like it even though it contains barely any neighbor!au, and like… no romance at all. And somewhat angst… LOL, I think I epically failed at this request, but I hope you like it anyways!
Maybe if I come up with something good, I’ll write you another! :)