Chapter Text
Ding!
“Welcome!”
Yoongi could recall that day with photo-realistic detail in his sleep.
The friendly phrase came out of him by default, as if he was programmed to say it every time the jingle of the coffee shop's door opening was heard. He never particularly enjoyed running the register during his shifts despite his soon-to-be two years of full-time experience, but he came to terms with it even if a handful of customers had made him want to rip his hair out and set the place on fire. He prayed that whoever had just walked in wouldn’t contribute to that handful. His day had been quite decent thus far, probably because his co-worker Jimin was out doing his weekly summer camp assistant dance teacher job instead of causing chaos in the back with Taehyung and Jeongguk, his other two co-workers. (Not that those two didn't cause trouble of their own.) Maybe Sundays were considered the holy days of the week, but for Yoongi, it was Fridays.
Speaking of the person walking in, Yoongi hadn't even bothered to look up when greeting the person as he was busy rummaging through the register to make sure everything was organized, which of course it was because he had already faced the bills upright and aligned the coins into neat rows ten minutes before the last customer. And the customer before. And the customer before that. Logically, he knew there was no point, but his thoughts kept telling him that if he didn't keep checking, a customer sitting in one of the booths was going to choke to death on her muffin or a truck was going to crash in from the back. Another reason he didn't like running the register.
“Ahem.”
Shit, he was so busy trying to figure out if the coins inside were actually real or if there was any chance he had unwittingly stolen them and replaced them with fake ones that he completely forgot about the customer walking in.
In response, Yoongi quickly cleared his throat and snapped his head up with a nervous laugh. Luckily for him, he had already picked out one of his default customer service pardons; “Ah, my apolo…gies…”
Oh, wow.
Unbeknownst to Yoongi, the person who had walked in and was now standing in front of him across the counter was singlehandedly the most gorgeous human being he had ever been blessed to lay his eyes on.
The first thing he saw was the person's shoulders. Wide. Big, wide, broad shoulders. For a second, Yoongi thought it might've just been the coat's shoulder pads, but he knew better. Coat, huh? He looked over the rest of the person's outfit. Button-up. White button-up. Belt. Was this a businessman? CEO? No, CEOs would never go to a small coffee shop. Maybe they were a more humble kind of CEO. No, “CEO” and “humble” are oxymorons. Ooh, a necklace. Cool, shiny necklace. Oh, they're kind of tall, too. Tall person, with a necklace. On the white button-up. What if something spilled on them and their shirt got wet? Then they would have to take it off. Take it off. Take your clothes off. Clothes. Wait, hadYoongi dried and folded his clothes correctly? Had he turned the washing machine off? Had he locked the door correctly? Could there be a gas leak? Shit, he needed to go home. Someone could be breaking in. His apartment could be in flames. The burglar must be after his family. His parents would be kidnapped and he'd-
“Hyung?”
A tap from behind his shoulder woke Yoongi up from whatever spiral he was going under. A glance revealed it to be Jeongguk, eyebrows furrowed and mouth curved into a frown out of concern.
“You okay?” Jeongguk continued. “You weren't taking the customer's order and he waved me over so…”
Yoongi blinked a couple of times, wetting his dry lips before looking back at the customer, this time to his face. If he didn't feel utterly humiliated and embarrassed over spacing out the way he had, he most definitely would've fallen into yet another catatonic mental state just from the customer's face alone.
Those eyes. That nose. Those lips. That facial structure. Was he blushing? Yoongi would've collapsed to his knees if he wasn't painfully aware of his own dignity.
Instead, he shook his head, wiping non-existent sweat off his burning face. “Aish, sorry, sorry. ‘m fine, Guk, don't worry.”
Jeongguk’s eyes widened slightly as he started taking a step forward, which Yoongi immediately recognized the move as his co-worker not believing him and wanting to make sure he was actually okay. Yoongi shut his advances down quickly, waving a dismissive hand to gesture for him to return to the back and join Taehyung again. Thankfully, Jeongguk listened, giving a quick nod before scurrying away, but not before throwing Yoongi another quick glance of concern.
Now, Yoongi had to deal with the incredibly handsome customer that he had already made a fool out of himself in front of.
“I'm very sorry, sir,” he apologized, giving the man multiple quick bows. “That was severely unprofessional of me.”
Much to Yoongi's surprise, the man simply waved an apologetic hand, shaking his head with a smile as he gave him a small bow back. “Ah, no worries, sir. I am in no rush this morning.”
He had dimples. The man had dimples.
Was Yoongi alive?
Before he could pass out, Yoongi cleared his throat with a small bow, inhaling before looking down at the POS system. “Apologies again, sir. What can I get for you today?”
“Ah,” the man replied, blinking and looking up at the menu on top. “I’m so sorry, could you give me a moment? I had all this time to look through your menu but then I… didn’t.”
The man’s sheepish grin and slight blush triggered something deep inside Yoongi. He couldn't put a name on it right then and there, but the urge to grab the customer's face, squeeze it until his nails were digging into the skin, and shake the daylights out of him like the way a child would shake their pet goldfish in a plastic bag - was very real. The dimples were absolutely not helping.
What if he actually did it, though? He really could just grab the man's face like that. Not even in the weird affectionate way that Yoongi thought the feeling originated from. Did he hate the customer? Is that what it was? He wanted to hurt him. Dig his nails into his eyes. Scratch his skin off. Choke him to death. Kill him. Kill him? Was Yoongi a murderer? Oh fuck. He was, wasn't he? He was a serial killer, he knew it. And now he'd add that man to his body count. What if the man was a detective? The police? Oh God, he was about to be detained and arrested and-
“Sir?”
God damn it.
Yoongi didn't bother to meet the customer's eyes. Instead, he took a deep inhale and released a heavy, cutting sigh. He let his head drop to hide his humiliation from the poor deity of a man in front of him.
“God, I’m so sorry, sir,” he winced out, bringing a hand up to rub his face. “You can submit a formal complaint to our management if you wish to do so.”
A small laugh rang above him. “Sir, I have no issues, I promise. Like I said, I'm not in a hurry. Besides, customer service is quite exhausting, so I understand if your headspace is a bit… messed up.”
“Bit messed up” was a severe understatement, but Yoongi wasn't about to trauma dump on that absolute angel of a customer.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” the man continued after another beat of silence. “I mean it. You're fine. Maybe others have given you a hard time, but I won't. Trust me.”
Did he really have to talk to Yoongi so gently like that? His voice was so nice, too. What was going on with him? Yoongi had never been such a mess over someone in his entire life, not even with his previous crushes and partners. He didn't even know the man's name! He truly could've been a hitman targeting him and Yoongi would’ve happily turned around to let him strike a bullet through the back of his head.
The rationale of Yoongi's catastrophic mind finally pulled through with the suggestion that the faster he could get the customer's order down and out, the sooner he’d be able to stop embarrassing himself and get his mind back together. His nerves were only fueling his obsessions and it was already draining him much earlier on in his shift than usual. He couldn’t risk a flare-up, not at work. The man needed to leave, as gorgeous and kind and patient as he was.
“Have you decided on your order, sir?” Yoongi asked, steadying himself to interact with the POS system, yet still refusing to look up to see the customer’s face.
The slightly surprised noise from the man, unfortunately, made Yoongi’s heart flutter a little.
“Oh, right. Yes, um - a vanilla latte, please.”
“Any special requests or add-ons?”
“Uh, no, sir.”
“Anything else?”
“That'll be all, sir.”
Throughout the process of Yoongi confirming the order, he still hadn't looked up. On the surface, he was aware that his body language must have come across as quite rude, even disrespectful. What kind of cashier didn't look at the customer right in front of them? For whatever reason, though, Yoongi didn't feel any real pressure to keep a customer-friendly facade in front of the man. Perhaps it was his reassuring words from before, his patience and understanding of Yoongi's mindset (even if he didn't know the full extent of it). It was nice. Refreshing, even.
“Alright,” he said once everything in the order was correct. “Can I have a name for the order, sir?”
“Namjoon.”
Namjoon…
That’s a nice name.
“Ah, you think so?”
Fuck, he’d said it out loud.
Yoongi didn't even try to fight back and disprove Namjoon's observation. All he could do was let out a sheepish laugh to hide his ever-present embarrassment. Was there really a point in trying to hide it when that was all he had been feeling since they’d started interacting?
So instead, he just announced Namjoon's total, processed the payment, and worked in grueling silence for his order as the tall man stood and waited by the counter. Usually, people would go sit at a table or something and wait for their order there. Maybe Namjoon figured the order wouldn't take so long. Or maybe the last coffee shop he went to required him to wait by the register. Perhaps he had never actually been in a coffee shop before and he thought the tables were only reserved for the customers that were “dining in”.
As Yoongi found himself focusing on the sounds of his two co-workers in the back doing Lord knows what, Namjoon cleared his throat. “Sorry if I'm incorrect since I've, you know, never been here before, but… are you a new employee by any chance?”
There truly could not have been a more humiliating interpretation of Yoongi's behavior. More importantly, it was factually incorrect, and he knew that any smart and well-functioning person would've immediately rebuked the accusation. Yoongi, however, was neither. As a result, all he could do was let out a short sputtered noise and hide his face even more. His fists clenched up at his sides and he was almost tempted to squeeze his eyes shut in the same way. The small chuckle from Namjoon distracted him.
“I take it that I'm right then?” He asked, to which Yoongi could only respond with a shrug. “Hm… well, first days on the job are always quite stressful. New place, new people, new atmosphere. It's a lot, I know. It gets easier, though. What feels scary now will feel comfortable later on. So, I guess… don't worry if you freeze up or mess something up. It happens. All you can do is learn from it, get back up, and keep moving. Mistakes are okay, necessary even, to make early on, so don't feel bad about it, okay?”
Namjoon didn't even know Yoongi, yet there he was dropping words of wisdom and encouragement like it was just another bullet point on his daily to-do list. Yoongi didn't know how to feel or react. In all of his almost two years at the coffee shop, no customer had ever been so… warm. Friendly customers, expected. Kind customers, definitely. Patient ones, for sure. Philosophical ones, maybe one or two. But never warm. Never in the way Namjoon was. Although Yoongi finding him insanely attractive was also probably playing a role in that.
Speaking of appealing looks, he had yet to look at Namjoon directly again. He’d felt embarrassed about their entire interaction since the beginning, but Namjoon's sudden advice from earlier had honestly done something to him, even if it was only a little.
“Order for Namjoon!” Taehyung announced next to Yoongi, Namjoon's latte in hand.
A vanilla latte should not have taken so long, Yoongi noted.
“Ah, thank you,” Namjoon replied, and Yoongi could see him grabbing his drink from his peripheral vision.
Staring down at the counter below him, Yoongi noted two things: Namjoon had gotten his order, and he would be leaving soon. As much as he was praying desperately for him to leave as fast as possible, Yoongi's heart started to clench at the thought, and he very quickly found himself wanting Namjoon to stay. Just a little longer. He wanted the chance to maybe speak to him some more. Wanted the man to give him more advice that he didn't need, but the intention was enough. Hell, as much as Yoongi hated small talk, he would've been more than happy to deal with it if it came in the form of Namjoon's voice.
Who was Namjoon? What was he like? What was his family name? What was he currently doing in his life? What was his life like in general? Yoongi had the ever-growing desire to learn just who that man was. Did Namjoon feel the same? Was he curious about Yoongi in the same way? So many questions that would maybe never be answered as soon as Namjoon walked out the door.
“Hey, sir?” Namjoon's voice echoed, that time coming from right in front of Yoongi. “Can you, uh… can you look at me?”
What?
Why did he…
Yoongi's throat suddenly felt parched. Had Yoongi done something wrong? Maybe he had got the order mixed up. Maybe he had misspelled his name on the receipt. Maybe he was having an allergic reaction to one of the ingredients. Maybe-
No, no. Not right now. No more thoughts. No more thoughts. Later. Thoughts later. Right now, no more thoughts. No more. No more thoughts. No more thoughts.
Taking a deep breath in and out to silence his mind temporarily, Yoongi took the focus away from it and decided to heed Namjoon's request. With a gulp, he slowly raised his head, neck cracking from how long he had held that position.
And there he was.
Namjoon.
God, Yoongi wanted to slap himself for his stupidity in refusing to look at him for so long. Namjoon's sharp facial features looked so soft with his smile, the dimples creating craters that Yoongi wanted to trace. He was about to feel guilty for the shameless observation of his face when he noticed Namjoon also appeared a little spaced out, staring right back at his own face as well. Yoongi couldn't read his eyes, which were just as alluring as every other part of him, yet he couldn't help but feel somewhat flustered under his gaze.
Yoongi had no clue as to how much time had passed throughout their staring. His awareness of time only returned when Namjoon began to blink rapidly, shaking his head and clearing his throat. Another sheepish laugh followed.
“Ah, my apologies,” he said, his dimples glowing under his soft blush. “Just spaced out for some reason. Guess we're both out of it today, huh?”
Yoongi had only meant to chuckle lightly, yet he ended up losing control of it, devolving into a soft fit of giggles. Maybe he was just tired and delirious, but it felt good regardless. His eyes were shut tight from the laughter and he was slightly doubling over against the counter, so he couldn't see Namjoon's face. He still felt his gaze, though, and it felt nice.
“Hey, hey!” Namjoon called out, laughing as well. “I’m trying to say something here and I don't want to hold up the line any longer!”
Yoongi was more than aware that there hadn't been another customer waiting to get their order behind Namjoon, which was a miracle in itself as the last thing he needed at that moment was impatient customers complaining in a line being held up by a Greek god.
He did, however, want to know what Namjoon was going to say. That was important. One only came across people like Namjoon by chance anyway.
Regaining his composure, Yoongi made eye contact with Namjoon again with a small smile. “Right, go ahead. We encourage comments and feedback at our establishment.”
Namjoon released a sharp exhale from his nose, eyes darting down and to the side for a moment before he moved closer to the counter. The front of his thighs pressed against it as he lifted his free hand up, reached forward, and placed it on Yoongi’s shoulder.
“You’re gonna do great, I know you will,” Namjoon said. “Keep it up, okay?”
The steady confidence of Namjoon’s words were in direct contrast with Yoongi’s mental implosion at that moment. He was touching him. Namjoon, the almighty, was making physical contact with him. Willingly.
Now, Yoongi was never one to enjoy physical contact, especially from strangers. Even his closest friends always asked for his consent when it came to physical touch of any kind. He should've just flinched and shoved Namjoon's hand away like he usually would've reacted in such a scenario, yet once again, Yoongi's out-of-character infatuation with the man overshadowed it.
All he could do was nod, breaking eye contact to look anywhere but at Namjoon's face. From the new distance, he could actually see their height difference a little more clearly. Yoongi felt dizzy.
With that, Namjoon seemed satisfied enough to retract his hand and back away. “Alright, well, I've gotta get going now. It was lovely meeting you… Yoongi.”
Did he just-
Namjoon gave one final short bow to Yoongi and some other person behind the counter before he turned around, vanilla latte in hand, and made a leisurely way toward the exit. The doors’ jingle had never sounded louder.
Yoongi's initial thought wasabout how the hell Namjoon knew his name when he never even shared it. Then he looked down at his chest and remembered: he had a name tag.
Before he could come up with another thought, he heard a distinct hum behind him, footsteps getting closer until they reached his side. Yoongi didn't need to look. He knew it was Taehyung. Not only that, but he also knew that he currently had his signature douchebag smirk like whenever he believed he had the upper hand in any situation.
“That guy was hot,” was all the wisdom Taehyung was willing to offer.
All Yoongi could do before the next customer came in was give him a wide-eyed stare dripping with mortification.
˚‧⁺ ･ ˖ ·˚ ☕️ ⋆｡˚ ⋆ ˚‧⁺
Last Friday was the one-month anniversary of their meeting (no, Yoongi was not keeping count). Since that fateful encounter, a lot had happened in his life.
Yoongi truly had not expected Namjoon to return for a second time, yet he had done just that on the following Monday. Yoongi had almost had a heart attack at recognizing his face all the way from the back of the store. The good news was that he didn't run the register on Mondays. The bad news was that it was Jimin who ran it.
Well, it didn't have to be bad news so long as Jimin never learned about his newfound crush. Unfortunately, Taehyung had ratted him out almost immediately after Yoongi had finished making Namjoon's order (another vanilla latte, he noted) and Jimin, being the devil reincarnated he was, had never let Yoongi hear the end of it.
The next day, Namjoon had visited again, this time while Yoongi was on the register again. And while he did still take an extra ten minutes to make the same vanilla latte he's made a million times, he thankfully did so without any other embarrassment. However, Namjoon appeared determined to make him suffer and continued to show up the following day, and the day after that, up until the end of the work week.
When Namjoon appeared for the second Monday visit in a row, Yoongi was forced to finally accept that he was likely going to be seeing him or even interacting with him every weekday.
When he had questioned Namjoon about his daily visits, he had simply said that he enjoyed the beverages they made better than the last coffee shop he had frequented. He also noted something about how the atmosphere felt cozier, “less corporate” so he claimed.
As the weekdays passed, things got simultaneously easier and harder. Easier in the sense that Yoongi was able to compose himself and behave like a normal human being when talking to him. On the other hand, the teasing from his heckler co-workers only worsened day by day.
Yoongi was so stupidly obvious with his crush that he was providing them with all of the bait they needed. It got particularly worse when, at some point, Yoongi decided that he felt brave enough to commit to his first attempt at flirting with Namjoon. The so-called “first-attempt flirting” was supposed to be Yoongi teasing Namjoon about his constant visits, something along the lines of, “Is it because you like looking at the employees?”, but Yoongi, being the chronically anxious overthinker he was, stuttered, making his words slip up to where what came out of his mouth was an incoherent jumble of words dissipating into an awkward hum. Namjoon didn't seem to think much of it as he just responded with a soft laugh. Yoongi's Three Musketeer colleagues, however, had many thoughts and opinions, all of which were jokes at his expense.
Childish coworkers aside, Yoongi actually learned a lot about Namjoon, about who he was. His family name was Kim, making his full name Kim Namjoon. He was younger, which surprised Yoongi quite a bit. He kind of assumed from his build that he would've been the elder one. Namjoon was 23, Yoongi was 24. Namjoon was also currently in graduate school for his masters in English.
When Namjoon questioned Yoongi about his educational status, he just shrugged and said he never attended college out of disinterest. In reality, he was a college dropout. He had majored in music composition and had had plans of getting his masters and possibly doctorate once he graduated with his bachelors, but his mental health issues had gotten so bad mid-way through his third year that he couldn't even leave his dorm out of paranoia. Naturally, when you've locked yourself in your dormitory doing nothing but irrational compulsions for hours on end to ease your obsessive thoughts that lasted even longer and wouldn't let you relax ever, your grades never got better. It took a panicked phone call to his parents under the impression that he needed to let them know that the government was probably spying on them and planning their assassinations (“hypothetically,” he had sprinkled in) for him to finally be convinced that he needed to take a break. And after some odd jobs here and there, he had finally settled on his little barista job.
Namjoon didn't need to know any of that, though. Another white lie about Yoongi's life wouldn't hurt.
Alongside Namjoon, Yoongi was also introduced to two new people: Seokjin, Namjoon's roommate who was also in grad school for his masters in film; and Hoseok, Seokjin's boyfriend on his (hopefully) final year of his BA in business, who was also a freelance dancer and was only pursuing a business degree to learn how to promote himself. He and Jimin got along particularly well.
Both of them were quite colorful in comparison to the more mellowed style of Kim Namjoon. They didn't visit as often, but whenever all three came by together, it was quite amusing to see Namjoon sandwiched between the two men, trying to constantly mediate their behavior. Yoongi came to learn that the couple lacked a significant amount of volume control, incapable of controlling their talking and especially their laughter. They would holler over something that wasn't even that funny, and Namjoon would attempt shushing them while hiding his face from the other customers side-eyeing them.
Imagine Yoongi's shock when he found out that not only was Namjoon younger than both of them, but Seokjin was also older than Yoongi himself. Perhaps Yoongi, too, could be as expressive and loud as him if Yoongi's second home wasn't the pharmacy two blocks from his apartment.
As great and entertaining as all of that information was, none of it was the most note-worthy or important for Yoongi as when, during one encounter, the topic of their love lives came up. At first, he treaded carefully, being purposefully vague about his past partners and his overall sexuality. He knew that Namjoon would've had zero issues with him being bisexual, but perhaps it was to save himself the potential awkwardness if Namjoon turned out to be painfully heterosexual and Yoongi had been wasting his time drooling over him. The damage would be minimized so long as Namjoon didn't know that he was attracted to men.
And then Namjoon dropped the bomb that he, too, was bisexual. He also said something about considering the pansexual label but Yoongi's brain stopped paying attention to anything else he said. Labels aside, Kim Namjoon liked men. He was also currently single. That was all the confirmation Yoongi needed to push forward, informing Namjoon of his own sexuality, relishing the slight blush that crept up on his face as he took it in.
Granted, Yoongi hated initiating. Every single past relationship of his was as a result of them approaching him. All of his other crushes typically fell through for the same reason. It was much less taxing on his brain to have the other person be the one making the moves. He spent every waking moment being tormented by his stupid thoughts already, why feed it with even more things to be anxious about?
He also hated it because he was actually pretty damn clueless about how to do it. His first attempt at flirting only occurred because he had read it in some cheesy romance novel a while back and it was more to test the waters than anything. Actually flirting flirting, though? That was scary. Too many potential bad outcomes, way too much room to mess up, and recovering from the embarrassment seemed impossible.
Yoongi ended up venting out his frustrations on an unsuspecting Jeongguk during closing hours when Jimin had already left (Taehyung was at his part-time tutoring job at his community college). If there was any one of his co-workers that he could trust with the topic of flirting, it was Jeongguk. That wasn't to say the other two didn't have their charms, but Taehyung's approach was much too domineering—pinning people against walls, growling in their ears, “you're gonna make me lose control with that ramen hoodie of yours”—and Jimin's was way too submissive—batting eyelashes with a pout, feigning naivety while riling someone up, “oops I dropped something, let me pick it up” (while making sure to show off my fat ass as I do so)—for Yoongi's comfort. Jeongguk was about right in the middle, which was exactly what Yoongi needed.
Despite being the youngest out of all four of them, he seemed to hold the most maturity when it came to anything romance related. Well, maybe “romance” wouldn't be the right word, but “hookup” sounded too derogatory for a sweetheart like Jeongguk. He had a natural confidence to him whether he was taking someone home (“home” as in a university dorm) or he was being taken to someone else's.
Jeongguk had claimed that he could be pretty assertive and dominant, and Yoongi did believe that, having seen it with his own eyes at a couple of night outs, but it was so hard to imagine when he had such big eyes and a pure bunny face. Sure, he worked out and had a good physique, plus a good amount of tattoos and piercings despite only being 20 (he had a strict upbringing, go figure), but he also felt bad about killing flies and got excited over the smallest things. And while the whole team cared about each other, Jeongguk was the one looking out for them the most, always wanting to talk to them and make sure they were okay. His muscles and sex drive were big, but his smile and heart were bigger.
In short, Yoongi would've died for Jeon Jeongguk.
“Hyung,” Jeongguk started, “I think you're overthinking this a bit too much.”
“Am I?” Yoongi asked, mostly sarcastically.
Jeongguk just shrugged. “I mean, yeah? Listen, I understand your concerns and I know how you can get when it comes to new things, but… it really isn't as scary as you think.”
“I know, I know. It's just… I don't know, just talking about it right now like this is making my stomach hurt.”
“And that's okay, hyung. Feeling nervous about something like that is normal.”
Yoongi turned his head to look at him as he had been leaning forward on his forearms against the counter. “But you're so… I mean, you seem so confident. Like it's easy. And I feel kinda stupid right now because, ya know, I'm the hyung here. You should be the one coming to me for advice and not the other way around.”
Jeongguk's eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Hyung, you're not stupid. So what if you're older? Everyone has different levels of experience. There's, like, a ton of people older than you are probably in the same dilemma you’re in right now. Besides, you're barely 24. You have plenty of time, hyung.”
“Bringing up my age like you aren't 20 years old with the body count of a hospital morgue.”
Yoongi chuckled at the playful smack on his shoulder.
“That is not true!” He exclaimed. “Besides, that's different. Correct me if I'm wrong, hyung, but I'm assuming that you don't just want a hookup with Namjoon hyung.”
Just the thought of viewing Namjoon as nothing more than a quick one-night fuck made Yoongi's heart clench. He kept his focus on the present conversation even though he could feel the thought quickly morphing into an obsession that had Yoongi questioning what his true intentions were and if he actually did just have an objectified perception of Namjoon and if he was actually a disgusting pervert taking advantage of his customers and-
“No, you're right,” is what he chose to say. “I… I do want more. Not sure what exactly, yet, but… I really do want something more with him.”
“Right, so stop comparing yourself to me or the other two or whoever else. This is a more personal thing, hyung. If anything, your nerves are just a sign that you care, which is good. You should care about love, hyung.”
“Okay, “love” is a strong word. This is more like a crush or infatuation.”
“Whichever you prefer. Regardless, it's good that you're concerned. Your next move is to turn that fear into… productive gestures.”
Yoongi raised an eyebrow. “What the hell are productive gestures?”
“Flirting, hyung,” Jeongguk deadpanned. “I meant flirting.”
“Then why didn't you just say “flirting”?”
He shrugged. “Thought it would've freaked you out.”
“Mm… yeah, that's fair.”
“Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that you'll feel better expelling your nerves through flirting rather than waiting for Namjoon hyung to make his move while allowing your nerves to build up in your mind.”
“They'll build up regardless.”
“That's what your shitty thoughts are trying to convince you of,” Jeongguk responded quite bluntly. “You're stronger than them, hyung, you know you are. Even if you never feel like it. If your heart wants something, fight for it. That side of your thoughts wants to sabotage you. Don't let it.”
Yoongi exhaled a pathetic sigh. “Easier said than done, Guk.”
Jungkook frowned. “I know, hyung. Doesn't mean you should let it consume you all the time, though. You overcame them before, you can do it again.”
Yoongi wanted to deflect, but Jeongguk was right. Granted, it wasn't easy in the slightest but, like he said, he'd done it plenty of times already. Maybe he had a point. Maybe Yoongi taking control of his love life wasn't as terrible an idea as his thoughts kept portraying it as.
Besides, Namjoon was far too hot for Yoongi to lose. A couple bounces on his dick would probably rid him of his illnesses and change his life for the better.
With a mumble of “okay whatever” from Yoongi, Jeongguk hopped up to sit on the counter right next to him with a little smirk on his face.
“So, what do you wanna know about flirting, hyung?”
Jeongguk’s crash course that evening, alongside hours of Naver searches afterwards, gave Yoongi a surprisingly good amount of confidence. For one, he realized just how simple flirting actually was. It was the subtler things, the smiles, the eye contact, and the lingering touches that were the core aspects. No grand gestures, no exaggerated compliments, and certainly no shameless horniness (outwardly at least). Just enough to have the other person questioning but not too much that it scared them away.
And so, the flirting began. The innocent customer-friendly smiles shifted into far-too comfortable territory, the half-lidded eyes coming into fruition naturally. The touch of Namjoon's hand whenever he was paying with cash lingered just a few seconds longer, Yoongi making a point to drag his fingertips across his palm so gently that it would've been easy to miss. The little remarks about Namjoon's outfits became a bit less socially casual, the rumble in Yoongi's voice as he regarded the outfit with a “makes you look good” apparent. And of course, he'd check him out explicitly just to punch it in, eyes scanning him like a machine.
It was all about the reaction, though. That was the ultimate deciding factor in whether Yoongi was succeeding or making a tragic fool out of himself. He was inclined to believe it was the former judging from Namjoon's nervous laughs, avoiding gaze, stuttered words, and blushes. On the contrary, Yoongi knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of flirting from a person you had zero interest in. He'd react the exact same way, the only difference being that all of those reactions would be a result of awkwardness knowing he didn't feel the same, but he also didn't want to come off as rude or hurt the person's feelings.
With that, every single time he was done flirting with Namjoon for the day, he would immediately begin overthinking every little detail to the point that it would spiral into obsession. Thankfully, his co-workers had known him long enough to know what his symptoms looked like, bringing him to the break room and making sure one of them, usually Jeongguk, was around while he was working. Yoongi found that having a conversation about unrelated topics helped ease him.
(It was nothing short of a miracle that their manager had been on a vacation over in Miami since last week for reasons he did not specify. Something about “needing to lay low for a couple of weeks”. Yoongi had been put as “temporary manager” but he really didn't care and the only time he would pull his manager card was when some annoying customer demanded to speak to the manager about something petty.)
Regardless of the rough flare-ups that followed, Yoongi held his ground. The flirting continued, got even more bold in execution, and he would spend his closing hours venting to his one, two, or three munchkins about how he'd never wanted to suck a man’s dick so badly in his life that he might actually die.
On that closing Monday, after Jimin and Taehyung had taken their leave, (Jeongguk was, you guessed it, at his other part-time job as a… professional cuddler. “The pay was good,” Guk insisted.) Yoongi walked out from behind the counter and was making his way to the door when he stopped. He didn't know why, but he had the urge to turn around and look up at the shop's menu for just a moment. As he did, his eyes instinctively found the “Vanilla Latte” listed, the letters popping out when they never had before. It made Yoongi reminisce on the last month, the memories more vivid than ever, and they felt so overwhelming that he didn't know what to do with them.
He took a couple steps towards the counter again, subconsciously standing in relatively the same spot that Namjoon must've been standing in the first time they met. He was looking up at the menu like this, wasn't he? The same menu he had forgotten to look at before Yoongi was actually able to take his order. He still remembered that little smile, those adorable dimples that sent him into orbit. And right then and there, a switch flipped in Yoongi's heart.
Forget the flirting, forget the unproductive yearning, forget the fantastical scenarios he would fall asleep to. One way or another, Yoongi was going to do something about it, even if his brain kept holding him back. That man was not going to run away from his grasp, not on his watch.
Yoongi was going to ask Namjoon out on a date. This Friday. No ifs or buts about it.
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Next Tuesday morning, Seokjin and Hoseok once again accompanied Namjoon on his daily coffee shop visit. Everything seemed to be going as expected. Hoseok took some time chatting with Jimin, while Seokjin stayed alongside Namjoon for his “friendly” conversation with Yoongi at the register.
“You want anything, hyung?” Namjoon asked Seokjin.
He politely declined as per usual. He was never much of a coffee person, nor a morning eater. Hoseok got on his ass about the latter quite often, but Jin just never had the stomach for it.
Namjoon just nodded and went about his regular order: a vanilla latte, surprise surprise. When Yoongi questioned if he wanted anything else, he shook his head. But then, the moment where Yoongi would've been typing the order in, confirming it, and giving Namjoon his total didn't happen. In fact, Yoongi wasn't doing anything but staring at Namjoon, almost as if he was lost in thought like the first time they met.
“Hm,” Yoongi began, “Namjoon?”
Namjoon blinked. “Yes?”
“You know… you've been quite the loyal customer here, haven't you?”
Only Seokjin heard Namjoon's gulp. “Ah, well… I suppose I have been.”
Yoongi nodded slowly. “Right, right… so, I've been thinking. Your dedication to this establishment is impressive, to say the least. Personally… I think you deserve a reward, don't you think?”
Yoongi was leaning over the counter slightly, naturally moving in towards Namjoon. His half-lidded gaze was nothing short of piercing, sending some sort of time-stopping rift to anyone within earshot of his words. Seokjin looked over to one side to see Hoseok and Jimin abandoning their conversation to gawk at Yoongi, with Jimin looking more amused and Hobi looking somewhat terrified. Jin turned back to look ahead, seeing Taehyung with his back turned completely as he was working on an order, yet seeming to have frozen whatever he was doing, head turned slightly back. He couldn't see Namjoon's face, but the bright red lighting up at the tips of his ears said quite enough.
After what felt like an eternity of everyone holding their collective breaths, Yoongi licked his lips quite explicitly and leaned back behind the counter, tilting his head. “How about… I make your latte on the house, hm? What do you say, Joon?”
Just like that, everyone could breathe again.
“O-Oh!” Namjoon pathetically stuttered, his nervous habit of fidgeting activating immediately. “U-Um… haha, uh- yeah that's- yeah, that would be, uh, I-I mean you really don't have to, I-”
“But I insist!” Yoongi interrupted.
Before Namjoon could protest, Yoongi was already turning around, shoving Taehyung to the side, and getting started on his latte. Taehyung didn't even try to fight back, too stunned at his hyung's behavior to do anything except gawk. Jimin and Hoseok shared wide-eyed glances in silence, though Seokjin swore he could hear Jimin whispering to Hobi about how out of character this was for Yoongi. As for Namjoon, Jin didn't need to see his face to know that he was probably just as dumbfounded as everyone else.
Before any of them could actually do something, Yoongi was already finished with the latte and was spinning around on his heel and walking back over to the counter, a teasing smile painting his face. He held the drink up over to Namjoon, who had yet to react to anything.
“Go on,” Yoongi tempted, gesturing to the beverage he was holding out. “It's free. Just for you, Joon.”
The nickname seemed to knock Namjoon out of his trance as he stuttered and cleared his throat, a nervous laugh being pushed out. “R-Really, hyung, you don't- you didn't need to do this. A-And I wouldn't want to get you in trouble with your-”
“I'm temporary manager, Namjoon,” Yoongi interjected, almost deadpanned. “I can get away with this. And even if I couldn't, I'd still do it, so take it.”
There's another moment where nothing happened, and it went on long enough for Seokjin to believe that Yoongi was going to have to give up eventually. Namjoon was quite the stubborn guy, something Jin knew far too well. Maybe Yoongi was doing something out of character, but was Namjoon going to match the atypical behaviour? He doubted it. Joon was a resilient guy when it came to his morals and ethics, even with the people he was closest to. Seokjin was already prepared for when Namjoon would insistently decline, until Yoongi eventually gave in and let him pay for it as usual.
Until Namjoon actually reached out, albeit hesitantly, and grabbed the drink with a small thank-you and timid bow.
Oh?
Just to make sure he wasn't crazy, Jin looked over at Hoseok, who seemed to be looking back over at him for the same exact reason. The conversation they were sharing in silence and with nothing but their wide eyes was simultaneously coherent and utterly bewildering.
Their silence remained, even after Namjoon announced their departure and they followed him out of the coffee shop. It remained while they waited by the crosswalk for the traffic light to turn red so they would be able to cross the street. It remained when they turned the corner and continued the rest of the way to the local park. It even remained when they made their way to their signature picnic table and settled onto the metal seats, and it continued to remain until Seokjin couldn't take it any longer.
“Joon?”
Namjoon had just put his latte down after taking a sip, the plastic cup hitting the metal as he looked up. “Hm?”
Seokjin let his eyebrows furrow. “What was that?”
Namjoon blinked, confused. “Uh, what was what?”
“Don't play dumb, you know what I'm talking about.”
“Uh… no, I do not, hyung. I really don't.”
Before Seokjin could respond, Hoseok jumped in. “The thing with Yoongi, that's what we're talking about!”
Namjoon still didn't look any less puzzled. “Wh-What thing with Yoongi? I'm very lost on what you guys are referring to.”
“Dude,” Hoseok huffed. “Hello? Was he not literally flirting with you over there?”
A choked noise left Namjoon's mouth as his confusion mixed with bewilderment. “F-Flirting?! Hyung, what are you talking about?”
“What do you mean what is he talking about?” Seokjin cut in this time. “Come on, even you're not that slow, Joon.”
“Slow?!” He exclaimed, blinking rapidly. “Guys, come on! You two clearly got the wrong idea.”
Seokjin passed the baton back over to his boyfriend. “Joonie, did you not see the way he was acting? The way he was leaning on the counter?”
Namjoon just shrugged. “O-Okay, so what? Everyone leans on counters, it’s not a crazy thing to do.”
“Joon, he was giving you bedroom eyes!” Seokjin cried out in frustration.
“B-Bedroom eyes?!” Namjoon repeated, beat red blush quickly spreading on his face, mortified. “Hyung, you're crazy! T-That- oh my God, how can you even say that?”
He rested a hand over his eyes, pitifully flustered over Seokjin's words, yet Jin didn't let up. “Namjoon, I'm not blind. I was right behind you, believe me. I know what I saw. For fuck's sake, he was checking you out! Did you see his eyes looking you up and down like a damn hyena?”
“And giving you shit for free on his behalf?” Hoseok added. “Oldest trick in the book. That man is whipped for you, Joonie, I'm telling you.”
Namjoon groaned, the blush reaching his ears. “Hyungs, seriously, I think you guys are getting the wrong idea.”
Seokjin quirks an eyebrow. “Oh, are we now? We'd love to hear what the right idea supposedly is, then.”
With a sigh, Namjoon dropped the hand from his face, looking down through the holes of the metal table. “I mean, is it not obvious? Hyung, he works a customer service job. He's a barista.”
“And?” Hobi replied. “So what?”
Namjoon sighed again, exasperated as he pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment. “Hyung, everyone wants to believe the cute barista is flirting with them, but they never actually are flirting. It's just their job to be nice. I should not have to spell it out for you two.”
As much as Namjoon potentially had a point, Seokjin didn't give it time to process. His mind got stuck on one word in the whole spiel.
“The cute barista? Is that what you said?”
A teasing smirk grew on his face as Namjoon reacted just as he expected, his fluster only growing as his eyes darted around in panic.
“I-I-I mean, uh- like, well- like, objectively speaking, you know? I mean, he's, uh- he is objectively attractive. That's what I was trying to say. N-Not that I think that he's cute. W-Well I do, but i-it's not like- he's- objectively! I meant objectively, hyung!”
“Objectively?” Hoseok feigned a pondering frown, eyebrows dipping and eyes darting to the side. “Hmm, I don't know. I didn't think he was all that cute.”
Namjoon's eyes snapped to him, his expression hardening slightly. “What?”
“You heard him,” Seokjin chimed in, catching wind of the game Hobi was trying to play. “Yoongi’'s looks are… okay at best, Joon. “Objectively cute” is quite the strong label.”
Namjoon ran a hand through his hair, a nervous habit, his blush morphing into one of frustration. “W-Well, of course you two wouldn't think that. You're both taken with each other!”
Seokjin chuckled dryly. “Namjoon, we're taken, not blind. We know cute guys when we see them.”
“I think if any of the employees there deserved the title of “objectively cute”, it would be that Taehyung guy, don't you think so, babe?”
“Hm, I think that Jeongguk fellow is quite the contender himself.”
“Yeah, strong and buff. Ooh, but Jimin shouldn't be ruled o-”
Hoseok’s sentence got cut off with a sharp kick to the shin from beneath the table. Both him and Seokjin look ahead to see Namjoon's face twisted in frustration and humiliation. They had to hold their grins back at Namjoon having taken their bait so easily.
“Joonie?” Hobi titled his head with a slight pout. “What's wrong? You look upset.”
“Yeah, Joon,” Seokjin continued, leaning on the table. “Was it something we said? You can tell us, it's okay.”
Namjoon only seemed to grow more and more flustered by the second, almost like he was regretting his initial reaction. He looked over to the side, pursing his lips, eyebrows furrowed. The older two knew that look: he was thinking. Hard. That face only really manifested when Namjoon was struggling on his research or was emotionally conflicted over… well, anything.
Oh Namjoon, Seokjin thought. You're just too easy to read.
Beats of silence passed, and Seokjin was tempted to break it with some witty remark towards Namjoon's reaction, but Namjoon then sighed and looked down at his watch. His gaze darted up and down between the watch and his two hyungs before clearing his throat.
“I-I should go now,” he rushed out, already gathering his belongings. “Need to, uh, get ready for my class.”
Seokjin gave him a confused and shocked expression as Namjoon was already up on his feet. “Joon, your class doesn't start until three hours from now!”
“I know!” was all Namjoon could reply with as he scooped up his drink and turned on his heel to walk away, chugging down the latte like he always did.
Hoseok instantly tried to get up on his feet with a “Joonie!”, but Seokjin reached out to hold him back by his arm. His boyfriend looked over in confusion, to which Jin gave him a hushed response.
“Let him go.”
Hobi's expression turned hesitant, but one glance over at Namjoon's figure darting away ultimately made him let out an annoyed sigh, plopping back on the metal seat with a slight hiss at the impact.
Both of them continued to watch Namjoon leaving, seeing him approaching the signature trashcan where he would always throw the plastic cup away once he chugged down the rest of the latte. He began to slow down, slower than he usually would when it came to throwing his trash away. Almost like he was… hesitating. Or maybe Seokjin was just overthinking.
Until Namjoon suddenly sped up and continued walking again, clutching the empty cup in his hand.
Ah.
Seokjin and Hoseok's brains had always been strangely connected, even back when Jin was just a lonely single man drooling over Hobi's street dancing any chance he could. As he turned to look at Hoseok with shocked eyes, Hoseok was already turning to look at him with the same exact eyes. They both knew what they saw.
“Did you see that?” Seokjin still decided to ask, purely as an excuse to say it out loud.
Hoseok nodded. “Yeah, did you?”
“Did I see Namjoon not throw away that cup for the first time?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, I did.”
Hoseok let out a deep, long sigh, resting an elbow on the table and running his palm over his forehead in disbelief. “He's keeping stuff he doesn't need now.”
“Yup,” Seokjin nodded. “He only does that when he's utterly love-dumb.”
“Precisely.”
“He's head over heels for that Yoongi guy.”
“Oh, absolutely.”
“And he's being stubborn about it.”
“Of course.”
It was Seokjin's turn to sigh deeply, letting his lips buzz as he did so, a habit of his whenever he was deep in thought.
“Ugh!” Hoseok groaned. “It's so obvious that Yoongi's into him, too! Why is he doing all these mental gymnastics to deny it?”
Jin just shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. Sure, Namjoon was a stubborn guy, but he wasn't one to be purposefully obtuse. It would've been one thing if Namjoon just denied his own feelings, but he was denying Yoongi's as well. It was especially odd considering it wasn't Namjoon's first rodeo with being flirted with by someone he was into.
That last thought unlocked a memory in Sepkjin's mind, and it wasn't a pleasant one. He visibly cringed.
“You know what?” He started, seeing Hoseok's glance dart over to him. “Babe, do you remember that one barista girl that worked at the school's library cafe?”
Instantly, Hobi frowned, slight mortification coloring his eyes. “Oh. You mean the one that…?”
Seokjin knew his boyfriend didn't have the heart in him to recount the story himself, so he took the reins. “The one that Namjoon had a crush on and believed was flirting with him only for it to turn out that she not only wasn't flirting with him, but she already had a boyfriend?”
After every word, Hoseok's face twisted into a wince, teeth clenched and eyebrows dipping more and more at the recollection. “Ah… yeah, that one. Yeesh…”
“Call me crazy,” Seokjin began again, “but I have a feeling that that incident months back has… probably stuck with him.”
“Maybe he doesn't wanna get his hopes up?” Hoseok offered back, to which Jin nodded with a slight shrug.
“Most likely. I can't think of any other reason for his behavior.”
“Yeah, me neither. Poor guy.”
A small pause before Hobi continued.
“If I may,” he dropped his hand from his face and began tapping his nails on the metal, “that girl's so-called “flirting” was honestly pretty easy to debunk as Joonie just being too whipped to rationalize anything. Yoongi’s, though? There's, like, no innocent way to interpret his behavior. Am I crazy?”
Seokjin shook his head. “Oh, no, not at all, dear. You put my thoughts into actual words.”
Hoseok just hummed as a response, and another silence fell upon them. The sound of fallen leaves being swept by the wind across the pavement felt louder than before. A couple leaves from the tree next to them landed onto their table, one leaf getting stuck in between the metal holes. Seokjin took notice and stared at it, not thinking about anything in particular as he didn't really know what to think about.
Hobi, however, seemed to have been thinking throughout the entire silence because, out of the corner of his eye, Jin saw an uncontained smile appear on his face. It was more of a smirk, if anything. As expected, Hoseok turned over in his direction and Seokjin immediately saw the mischief in his eyes.
“Babe,” Hobi dragged out, titling his head. “I have an idea.”
Seokjin met his gaze and quirked an eyebrow. “An idea for what?”
“An idea for how to get Namjoon and Yoongi to actually make a move on each other.”
“Hm… is it a crazy idea?”
Hoseok’s smirk became far more apparent, a slyness to it. “Maybe?”
Seokjin already knew the answer. He always left it up to his boyfriend to come up with the insane ideas. Sometimes they worked, most of the time they didn't.
He wouldn't have had it any other way.
“Oh?” Jin responded, leaning in closer to his face, mirroring his mischievous expression. “Well, do tell, babe.”
˚‧⁺ ･ ˖ ·˚ ☕️ ⋆｡˚ ⋆ ˚‧⁺
Namjoon didn't show up for his latte on Wednesday or Thursday.
Yoongi wanted to die.
He remembered exactly why he never enjoyed falling in love, which was that his brain's cruelty suddenly became a thousand times worse and a million times more crippling to his self esteem. The only thing that would get his mind to shut up would be if the person themselves stuck around and unintentionally reassured Yoongi that he wasn't a complete idiotic failure of a human being.
So when Namjoon suddenly vanished for two days straight, his mind broke down.
The panic attack he had had that Tuesday once Namjoon and his friends had left was nasty, with him immediately regretting his attempt at flirting and having to be comforted by Taehyung in the back that, no, he wasn't a disgusting slut and, no, he had not scared Namjoon off forever.
Guess his thoughts were proven correct. Wonderful. Just what he needed.
Yoongi barely managed to get through Wednesday. Halfway through Thursday, he was forced to retire to the break room for the rest of the day because he was about five seconds away from having a public meltdown and trashing the entire place. So by the time Friday rolled around, he didn't even want to show up for work.
The only, only reason he clocked in was because Jimin dragged his ass out of his apartment insisting that Namjoon hadn’t actually dumped him and that he had just gotten busy. When Yoongi questioned how Jimin could possibly know that, he just pulled out his phone, unlocked it, and showed him Hoseok's saved contact profile.
After that, Yoongi sat in the passenger seat of Jimin's car feeling a little stupid. Well, he had been feeling stupid for the past few days, but it was a different kind of stupid right now. The better kind, if that was even a thing.
Speaking of stupid, about halfway through the car ride, while they were waiting for the red light to switch to green, Yoongi realized something.
“You don't work Fridays,” it dawned on him as he looked over to Jimin, who was looking straight ahead.
He continued to look forward as he shrugged. “So? I don't clock in for a couple hours. I had the time to pick you up.”
Yoongi's confusion didn't waver, an eyebrow arching up. “You always brag about not having to wake up early on Fridays. Not sure why'd you sacrifice that for my sake.”
All Jimin offered as an answer was another shrug as the light turned green.
Surprisingly, once Yoongi walked inside, Taehyung and Jeongguk were both already inside. Jeongguk was expected, as he always opened on Fridays, but Taehyung? He always clocked in at least five minutes late, which was only an hour from now.
The two of them also began to stare at Yoongi as he walked in. Okay, something was going on and Yoongi's mind did not like it. They all knew what weird cryptic silence and behavior did to him. The Namjoon situation was only heightening his insecurities. Dear God, could someone just say something?
As Yoongi did his best to casually settle behind the register, a ding was heard of the door opening. Huh, really early customer, Yoongi assumed.
He looked up, his customer service friendly greeting up and ready to go. And then, he saw him.
Namjoon.
Seokjin and Hoseok, too, for some reason. They never showed up on Fridays either.
…
Oh, who gave a shit? Yoongi was currently experiencing a once in a lifetime miracle. Perhaps there truly was a God, a loving one at that.
And as the three of them approached the counter, Yoongi didn't bother hiding his big, stupid smile that made his cheeks hurt. He didn't bother with the standard default greeting. He just looked at Namjoon with so much fucking love and adoration that he probably looked crazy.
Namjoon probably hated him. He probably thought he was disgusting for what he had pulled on Tuesday. He had probably been forced to come back by Seokjin and Hoseok. He was just showing up to formally reject Yoongi and tell him to fuck off. He was going to report him to management for inappropriate behavior towards a customer. His life was going to be ruined. Yoongi would have a criminal record attached to his name. Fuck, Namjoon was gonna file a police report and he'd be charged and arrested for sexual harassment and-
“Welp!” Seokjin suddenly spoke up, clapping his hands together loudly. “You two have fun now!”
Before Yoongi could verbally ask, Jeongguk and Taehyung were suddenly scurrying out from behind the counter and rushing towards the exit alongside Seokjin and Hoseok. At the very least, Namjoon seemed just as confused, asking his friends where the hell they were going. Nobody answered, though, and when Jeongguk was the only one still inside, he pulled out the building's keys from his pocket and dangled them out in front of him with an evil smile.
No, Yoongi thought. They wouldn't.
Jeongguk slipped outside and neither Yoongi nor Namjoon needed to check to see that Jeongguk was locking the door. From the door windows, they could also see the others, including Jimin, standing in front of the entrance like some kind of barricade, blocking the door from anyone else. It was just Yoongi and Namjoon inside now.
What the fuck?
“Oh God,” Namjoon sighed out, turning around with a hand over his eyes to Yoongi. “I am so sorry, I didn't know-”
“It's fine,” Yoongi quickly responded. “I didn't know either.”
The silence went on for a beat too long, giving room for awkwardness to settle in. God, this was so humiliating. What was he supposed to say? He hadn't spoken to Namjoon since Tuesday, when Yoongi had left them on a weird flirtatious note.
A part of him wondered if Namjoon walked in expecting that same version of Yoongi to be taking over. If that were true, then Namjoon was going to have to lower his expectations significantly because Yoongi was certain that he wouldn't be able to channel that image ever again. Not after it had led Namjoon to vanish for two days straight.
“So,” Namjoon spoke up again after clearing his throat, noticeably avoiding Yoongi's gaze, “I, uh… not sure if you noticed, but… I kinda stopped showing up for a bit and… I don't know, I guess I… want to apologize?”
Yoongi couldn't help the blush on his cheeks at Namjoon's naive assumption that Yoongi might not have noticed his absence.
He shook his head. “Ah, no no, it's- it's fine, Namjoon. I just figured you were… busy or something. Ya know, life happens.”
Namjoon only frowned. “Yeah… I know.”
A tense silence.
Yoongi wondered if Namjoon could hear how fast his heart was beating.
“So,” Yoongi bit the bullet this time, “I should probably also… apologize to you.”
Namjoon gave him a puzzled expression. “Huh? For what?”
Yoongi's face was burning at this point as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, for the, uh… my behavior on… Tuesday. That was… completely inappropriate of me and I really apologize for making you feel uncomfortable.”
Namjoon blinked at him, looking taken aback, before his own blush started to deepen. “O-Oh! Um… I mean, no, it's fine, I… I didn't really…”
He trailed off and Yoongi's own worry wasn't quelled.
“You didn't really, what?”
Yoongi couldn't help but admire just how bright red Namjoon was turning. How he was avoiding eye contact once again, fidgeting with the long sleeve of his button-up shirt. God, current context aside, he looked adorable.
Namjoon eventually cleared his throat, staring down at the floor, ears just as red as his face.
“I, um… didn't really mind… it.”
He hadn’t minded Yoongi's behavior.
That's what he knew Namjoon meant, but something about how shy and timid he was acting activated something in Yoongi's brain. The urge to tease him, make him stutter over his words more, see how much he could say before his ability to form coherent sentences betrayed him. Yoongi wasn't much of a dom, as far as he knew, but man, he was certainly learning some new things about himself today.
“Didn't mind what?” Yoongi decided to entertain the feeling, subconsciously placing his hands on the counter and leaning in slightly. “What didn't you mind, Joonie?”
Oh, him using that nickname did something to Namjoon, if the way Namjoon choked on his air and the way his body physically shivered was anything to go by. God, Yoongi just wanted to pinch those stupid dimpled cheeks of his until they were bruised.
“U-Um… God, um… th-the… f- the… flirting?” Namjoon's sentence trailed off into just a barely audible whisper.
Yoongi's heart skipped a beat at him saying the not-so quiet part out loud. So he knew? He knew what Yoongi was doing? Well, at least his obsessions about whether Namjoon had noticed or if Yoongi had just made a fool out of himself were cleansed. For now.
He must've been quiet for too long, though, because Namjoon did a quick 180 with his attitude and began rambling in a way that was far too familiar for Yoongi.
“I-I-I mean- oh God, y-you weren't flirting, were you? Shit, God, I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed. I don't know why I thought you were doing that, I am so so sorry, oh God, I'm such a mess, I-”
“Namjoon!”
Yoongi's heart clenched at Namjoon's expression, the way his eyes were wide with so much fear in them. He then noticed the way his entire body was shaking. God, he was shaking. He'd never seen Namjoon so utterly terrified before, over thinking he had misunderstood Yoongi's intentions, thinking he was getting his hopes up for nothing. Yoongi saw himself reflected way too much in those eyes and it tugged at his soul.
Kim Namjoon, you are so, so precious.
“Namjoon,” Yoongi repeated, smiling softly. “I… you're right. I… I was flirting. For a good while, actually.”
He could physically see Namjoon relaxing, a small smile forming on his face as well, the hints of his dimples creeping in. “Ah… ah, okay… sorry, I just- I thought-”
Yoongi lifted the palm of his hand up, giggling lightly. “Stop apologizing, Joon. It's okay. I get it.”
“Right,” Namjoon replied with a faint laugh.
Another silence. A little more comfortable than before.
Yoongi took the moment to look out the door's windows, catching the others staring right at them from the outside. As soon as they caught his eyes, they all immediately scrambled back and turned around stiffly, acting like he hadn’t just caught them peeping in. He let out a soft laugh, one that Namjoon either didn't notice or didn't feel the need to ask about.
Speaking of Namjoon, Yoongi looked back at him. He was currently staring at the ground, kicking his feet back and forth, fidgeting with the watch on his wrist. He looked so cute, Yoongi didn't know what to do about it.
Or maybe he did.
He looked up. He couldn't see the coffee shop's menu from where he sat, but he knew it was there, always. Even if it was decorated for holidays or certain items were added or taken off, the menu itself never moved, never left. That menu had seen all kinds of people, witnessed all kinds of stories and events within this little shop. Some had been good, but most of them had probably been rough or unpleasant to view from such a high, unchanging place.
Perhaps Yoongi could provide it with one special memory.
“Hey,” he finally spoke up, holding back the giggle that bubbled up at Namjoon's immediate reaction, “are you… are you doing anything this Saturday?”
Namjoon blinked, eyes darting up in thought before shaking his head. “No, I don't believe I do.”
Yoongi smiled at his formal response. “Well… if that's the case… what do you say we… have the day for ourselves? Just the two of us?”
All he could do was keep smiling as Namjoon flushed, stuttering out a couple of noises in an attempt to speak.
“O-Oh! Oh, like… l-like, uh… a, uh… a-a date?”
Yoongi casually shrugged. “If you want it to be a date, then sure.”
“Yeah!” Namjoon replied oh so enthusiastically, Yoongi unable to hold back his chuckle at his immediate embarrassment towards his outburst. “S-Sorry! Sorry, I mean- uh- y-yeah, I wouldn't- I wouldn't mind, yeah. I-If you wouldn't mind, of course!”
“I would not mind, Joonie.”
Seeing one of Namjoon's hands out in front of him as a result of his flustered gestures, Yoongi took the risk of gently grabbing it with his own hand, bending it in a way that would allow his thumb to caress his large, bony knuckles. Oh, he would never get over how his hands felt, and now that he wasn't just leaving a lingering touch to tease him, he could truly take the feeling in.
“I would not mind that at all.”
His heart did multiple somersaults as he admired Namjoon's record-breaking fluster. He was clearly trying to say something, but all that was coming out of him were tiny, choked out noises resembling vowels. His hand was also pretty sweaty, though Yoongi didn't mind. Right now, at least. Maybe he'd wash his hands aggressively afterwards.
Aware that Namjoon had officially lost his ability to speak, Yoongi took the initiative and used his free hand to pull his phone out, unlocking it to his contacts and showing it to Namjoon.
“This is the part where we swap numbers, right?”
And they did just that, Namjoon struggling a little more thanks to his shaky and sweaty hands, but he got the job done. As he did so, Yoongi also took the next initiative in making Namjoon's vanilla latte, knowing he didn't have to ask. As soon as Namjoon was finally finished, he snatched up his latte with a quick bow and “thank you” and sped his way straight to the door. He must've forgotten they were locked inside, though, much to his horror as he desperately tried to push his way out. Yoongi didn't bother holding back his laugh, tears building in his eyes by the time Jeongguk showed mercy and unlocked the doors for Namjoon.
Yoongi wished he could see his reaction at the realization that he hadn't even paid for his drink. Not that Yoongi wanted him to.
Yoongi wasn't sure if he had ever had a better Friday, practically singing and twirling around the entire day, not caring for a single second about the teasing from his coworkers. He didn't even have a nasty flair up, too deep in his euphoria from finally bagging the man of his dreams, even if it was temporary.
By the time he got home to his apartment, he almost forgot about his compulsion of unlocking and relocking the door at least six times as soon as he entered. He didn't even think he had to check the back of his closet for a murderer or dead body.
When he hopped out of the shower, he saw the first texts from Namjoon.
Joonie❤️: hey
Joonie❤️: sorry for not texting earlier
Joonie❤️: how was work? ☺️
For the first night in a long time, Yoongi did more than just doom-scrolling through Reddit or contemplating the end of the world or wondering when he would die. He spent his entire remaining energy texting Namjoon as they told each other about their days, deciding on their date plans, and complimenting each other like the sappy losers they both seemed to be.
After sharing their “good nights”, Yoongi plugged his phone in and placed it on his bedside table, curling up under his bedsheets. Just as he was about to drift off, his phone buzzed. With a small groan, he picked it up again, only to see one final message from Namjoon.
Joonie❤️: btw sorry for not paying for the latte today. I kinda forgot lol. Gn <3