Starbucks is not Joon’s scene. The coffee chain had been a luxury commodity in Korea, and even though his parents made enough to support a healthy Starbucks addiction, he’d never been one to hang around the establishment. So when he moved to America, he was surprised to find that Starbucks wasn’t just for Doenjang Girls here. Still, he doesn’t make a personal habit of it. Actually, he doesn’t drink coffee at all on a regular basis, he doesn’t like the way it elevates his heart rate.
For his birthday, he’d received a fifty dollar gift card for Starbucks from his best friend. The message that came with the small plastic card had said “It is dark under the lamp”, a Korean proverb that was meant to remind him to appreciate what is around him. A kind of equivalent to English’s “Stop and smell the roses”. Joon understands the message to mean, don’t worry so much about others and take care of himself but he isn’t sure what Starbucks has to do with that. Still, he dutifully trudges to the nearest franchise every week like it’s some kind of assignment, “Go and educate yourself, Joon. Take a look at the world outside your window.”
Joon stands around with the rest of the people crowding the counter, thick rimmed glasses on his face, cap pulled low over his eyes, and waits for a barista to call his name. He’d played a pretty crowded show last night, and though he knows the club crowd probably won’t be awake this early, he’s still a little worried that he might run into someone who could recognize him. He’s too tired to rebuff a fan (or worse) right now. Anxiously, he creases and uncreases his receipt until the toner has mostly rubbed off the paper.
“Joon, grande chai latte with soy?”
He shoves the receipt in his pocket before he headed to the counter.
“Hey,” The barista smiles at him, “Aren’t you-?”
Joon feels the familiar prickle of recognition swirl through his own anxiety and takes his drink, effectively cutting the girl off.
“Thank you,” he smiles weakly, though the name on his cup reads J-U-N-E rather than J-O-O-N.
As he stands at the counter with the creamers and sweeteners, he wonders if he’d cut the barista off too soon. Maybe she just recognizes him from his weekly visits, maybe he should be visiting other Starbucks from time to time. He has no interest in becoming a “regular”.
---
Mink’s life was in a state of upheaval. It was a pleasant state, though, a familiar one. He was finally back into the movie business and that kept him so busy but it was also so worth it. They had only sat around and talked about their characters and the purpose of the movie and done formal auditions (even though he’d been asked desperately to fill the part, it only felt right to give them an audition) but it was still enough to make him happy.
He had never realized before that doing all this was such a cathartic release for him. That’s why he’d gotten into acting in the first place, it freed him.
Of course he was a little worried that being so close to all the equipment and the people he would slip up and flux into something or someone he didn’t really want to be in… which was ANYONE or ANYTHING…. but that was a risk he had to take. He needed the break as much as he needed the release and maybe a little piece of him needed the risk, too.
What was life without a little bit of excitement? (thinks the person who hates excitement and just wants to live silently in a cushy room with no responsibilities or problems)
The plane ride back to New Waverly was necessary but not exactly the most pleasant thing, he had to stay awake and alert for fear that he would flux the plane and if that happened…. well…. he didn’t want to short circuit a plane with his powers while he was in it. At all. He didn’t even want to find out if he could do that. So he stayed awake and vigilant...and that meant with his feet firmly planted on the soil he was exhausted.
Coffee was the obvious answer and even though he liked his coffee dripping in sugar that didn’t keep it from fulfilling its purpose. So he donned his big sunglasses and hat and tied up his hair and walked right into a Starbucks.
The nice thing about the official release of his intent to do a movie and leaving NW was that not many people expected to see him back so soon, the few whose heads turned towards him seemed to second guess themselves and that made him more than happy. Freedom to walk the streets was nothing to be scoffed at for someone with a career like his. He had some really strange and invasive fans.
As he was walking up towards the counter he saw a man walking away, towards him, and towards the door. Something caught Mink’s attention. A faint glint of recognition… it took him a moment to place it as he reached for his wallet and let the man keep walking towards the door. But then it hit him all at once like light from a newly opened door.
He turned and called out, just as the man reached to push open the door to leave, “Joon!” It was a risk sure, but another one he was willing to take.
---
Joon startles at the sound his name and his hand jerks so violently that part of his latte spills onto his clean black hoodie. If he has to choose, he’d definitely say that being recognized as “Joon” is way more frightening than being recognized as “DJ Ghost” these days. “Joon” implies one of three things: that they’re a fan who’s followed him as far back as his short career as a model in South Korea, that they’re one of his friends from Los Angeles or the worst yet, that they’re a classmate from Harvard. “DJ Ghost” mostly just implies that they’re a fan who knows how to google “DJ Ghost without mask”.
His flight instinct spikes and he contemplates just continuing to walk, but that would be much too conspicuous in a coffee house filled with people who had seen him grab his drink when “Joon” was called just minutes earlier. Besides, his parents had taught him manners and he would sooner throw himself into a crowd of over-emotional strangers than let his parents down one more time.
Slowly he turns around and locates the source of the voice, a very blonde Korean boy brimming with recognition. He frowns, feeling a spark of recognition ignite in himself. It’s vague and escapes his grasp so he just ignores it for the time being. It’s an understatement to say that Joon doesn’t exactly keep up with movies or television. Though, to be fair, he had spent several years studying pre-med so his lack of pop culture knowledge could probably be contributed to that.
“Hello?” Joon’s brows furrow slightly, “Do I know you?”
---
Frustratingly enough for anyone who spoke to him, Mink was not the kind of guy who ever felt he was in a rush. The world waited for him, and if it didn’t it was severely mistaken. Instead of outright answering the question he took all the factors into account and then put up a hand with one finger raised in the universal ‘wait’ signal. “Wait there.”
He turned back to the barista and ordered a simple latte filled with chocolate and waited for it to be done, luckily the entire affair only took about a minute and a half, they already had most of the material for his drink ready from the previous rush. He grabbed his drink off the counter and turned back to Joon standing awkwardly near the door.
Mink hadn’t changed. “Walk with me” he suggested as he came to stand next to the boy, pushing open the door and breaking out into the crisp autumn air as he took a sip of his wake up cure. It wasn’t until they were outside and he noticed there weren’t a lot of people around that he pulled his big sunglasses off and revealed his face. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”
---
Joon follows the other boy wordlessly, though he wonders to himself if this is the kind of situation that his best friend is always telling him to practice saying “no” to. It turns out that his body kind of works on autopilot when he’s thinking and by the time he makes a decision to say no, he’s already standing outside in the surprisingly warm october sunshine.
There’s a beat of confusion as the other boy pulls off his sunglasses before the recognition hits.
“Ko SangKyu?” He’s surprised but reverting back to default Korean out of innate respect, “What are you doing in New Waverly?”
New Waverly was kind of outside the general radar of where people usually visit on vacation, most of the people he knew here were either in hiding, in transit or born locals. He couldn’t really imagine this particular relic of his childhood doing any of the three.
---
The movie star wrinkled his nose a little like the usage of his birthname had flicked him right in the nose. “It’s just Mink.” he explained, moving on like it was nothing so there wouldn’t be much question. It wasn’t like Mink was just his stage-name or something he’d made up, it had been his sister’s nickname for him when they were little kids, because he reminded her of the animal by the same name. It just felt better than the name his parents gave him since his parents did nothing except call for more money when they needed it. Someone came out of the Starbucks and Mink instinctively slid back on his sunglasses before they could get a good look at him. Joon had seen his face now so there was no reason to keep them off and suffer being recognized by people.
“Didn’t you see the news? I have powers, so I took a break from working.” that didn’t explain exactly why he was here, and even he knew that, but he didn’t intend on shedding any more light on the matter. The buzz around the internet and even the news was indeed that he was in hiding.
“What about you? I didn’t think I’d see you in a boring stupid town like this.”
---
Joon shifted uncomfortably at the mention of the news. In fact, he’d been avoiding the news since his affair with his professor had blown up on him. It wasn’t that he was so conceited to think that something that menial would make the news in a whole other state, he just didn’t want to run into any nasty surprises if he decided to open up the newspaper in the morning. Instead, he focused on Mink’s mention of his work.
“Oh, you’re still acting. That’s great,” He smiled mildly, “Umma will be happy to hear that the little boy she used to work with is a superstar now.”
Shoving his a hand deep into his pocket, Joon pondered for a second if he could sidestep this. Telling the truth with the minimal amount of details was probably the best way to go for this.
“Um well,” He tripped over his words, “I was studying to be a doctor but some things happened and I’m hiding out here now. Boring is kind of what I need right now, believe it or not.”
Joon managed a small laugh, he had always been under the impression that Mink found him boring even as a child. It wasn’t exactly an incorrect image, and he didn’t mind if anyone thought that way but the last couple of years had been anything but boring in his books.
---
Especially when he was younger, Mink had found everyone boring. Now it seemed like he found everyone to be a potential threat, but he still didn’t want to give anyone the time of day to make him feel like that. He just avoided people. He didn’t even know why he’d stopped Joon, it wasn’t like he wanted to reconnect with any part of his past or anything.
Then again there was always that little red flag about Joon that told Mink he could be walked all over. If it hadn’t been for that friend of his, it would have been easier. Mink wasn’t a bad person by any means he just gravitated towards people he thought he could dominate and control. It was just easier that way. Maybe that’s why he was having such a hard time keeping friendships like Eddie’s….she was too strong for him.
Truth is he didn’t know Joon well enough to know if the boy was strong, too, but that was never the impression he’d gotten. Especially now with everything going on he was willing to take a chance to control something, anything. He’d mostly been expressing that need in one night stands with men he would ruin if he saw again… but maybe dominance wasn’t something that could only be found in the bedroom. Of course he wasn’t acutely aware of any of this, to him he just didn’t know why he’d called out to Joon, it was just an urge to do so.
Still, talk of the past soured him some, almost as much as Joon not knowing who he was. He had a big fanbase, he was in a super popular movie and people paid thousands for his breath on ebay. Seriously, he was disappointed. He probably shouldn’t be since a lot of people in New Waverly weren’t exciting enough to know the finer details of who he was, he’d only had one fan in the whole city to date and who knew where she was now. In jail most likely.
He was a little more snide than he meant to be when he returned “I’m sure she already knows.” and took another sip from his drink. Later perhaps he’d blame his mood on the jet lag when in fact he was always like this. “A doctor? Really?” now that was a little bit more genuine, his surprise. He never paid attention to what Joon wanted to do when they were younger but he hadn’t pictured that.
There were a couple women across the road pointing at him and whispering to one another and he groaned, “Let’s walk, I’ve been standing here too long” and he started to do so without waiting for approval of the idea.
---
The annoyance was rolling off Mink in waves and Joon could only guess that it was from his lack of recognition. If he was honest, he hadn’t seen a Hollywood movie in years he’d been busy with other things and he’d never really been too interested in that kind of thing in the first place. He’d watch things his family and best friend had worked on in Korea but beyond that he didn’t really know how to navigate the American entertainment industry. There was too much disorder and he had too much of that already in his life.
He wondered if he should explain why he didn’t recognize him at first glance (Yes, Mink had billboards and posters everywhere but he looked different in real life! No, he didn’t go to the movies Harvard kept him pretty busy. Yes, he recognizes him now.) but he remembered the reason they’d drifted as children and kept his mouth shut. Mink had been less than a good friend when they’d known each other but he’d endured it until his best friend cornered him and told him he had to step letting people use him like a doormat. If Mink wanted to be annoyed with him, that was fine. He shouldn’t engage.
“Yeah,” He looked down at the lid of his cup and picked at it distractedly when he felt the other man’s surprise, “It wasn’t really what I wanted to do but it was interesting.”
Another half truth. Well, that one was leaning towards three-quarters of a full truth.
Joon could feel the surge of recognition from some people across the street and nodded in agreement when Mink suggested to start walking. Oddly, it made him feel a little safe to know that the recognition was not directed at him though the undertone of anxiety remained. It wasn’t until they’d walked about half a block back towards his apartment that he remembered he’d only meant to leave his apartment long enough to grab a drink.
“Um, where are we going?”
---
Mink didn’t know where he was going. There wasn’t really a place for him to go other than his apartment and that wasn’t really nearby, he’d dropped in here cause it was closer to the airport and he’d needed a quick caffeine fix. His apartment was in the rich district, obviously not down here. He wasn’t surprised to hear that Joon didn’t want to do that medical stuff first, only because he assumed no one wanted to do a job like that, they just felt obligated. “Your parents?” he asked from a place of recognition and not judgement, for once. He was slowly learning to be a better friend and conversationalist, he just hadn’t had much practice.
With his uncertainty boiling under his skull he decided not to answer the question of where they were going. He wasn’t the type to trip over his words or say things he was uncertain of. Being in the limelight taught him better than that.
---
Joon blinked in surprise, he didn’t speak with many people on a regular basis so it often surprised him when people didn’t quite make the correct assumptions about his family. Though it was especially surprising in this case, because Mink had known his family at one point.
“No,” He laughed lightly but not derisively, “I’m pretty sure that their proudest moment was when I stopped being a med student to ‘follow my dreams’. You know them, they’re a big advocate of the arts.”
His parents hadn’t exactly heard the full story of why he left school and he’d been avoiding the subject since. The only person back in Seoul who knew why he quit was his best friend, and he trusted her not to blab. It wasn’t the homosexuality that would throw his parents, he’s fairly certain that they wouldn’t care much about that. It was the infidelity involved in the whole affair, they’d taught him better than that. Even if he’d been serious, he shouldn’t have done something that would hurt someone else.