Joshua knew he was in for a long day when he awoke at 8:15 AM for an 8:30 AM class. Of course, this was the result of staying up well past 4 AM cramming for an exam. Cursing his luck, Joshua got up from where he was lying on the carpeted floor, scattering pages everywhere as he grabbed his bag. He brushed his teeth in a nanosecond and ran a hand through his hair, grabbing a granola bar off the counter and almost forgetting his bag before running back and yanking it over his shoulder as he bolted out of his tiny flat and towards the campus. 

When he arrived at exactly 8:32 AM, he sank into his seat, thanking his (un)lucky stars that their professor hadn't taken attendance yet. He was falling asleep halfway through the lecture, however, so he decided to stop by a nearby coffee shop in the hopes that it'd help him stay up for the remainder of this godawful day.

He burst into the coffee shop, hoping he didn't look like a lunatic to the barista as he ordered three coffees, french roasted, since he heard those were the strongest and likewise had a more pronounced caffeine content. Consequently, the barista did give him an odd look as he grabbed all three (large) cups of coffee and unceremoniously dragged them to a table nearby. 

"I think I forgot something..." Joshua muttered, scrunching his eyebrows as he stared at the three drinks in front of him. Wasn't something else supposed to go into the coffee as well? With his tired mind, Joshua decided to lift the first cup of straight black coffee and down half of the mug in one gulp. He hissed between his teeth at how bitter it was, but oh well. He finished the cup and moved onto the second. He could finally feel the kick of caffeine working its magic as he was about to start on the third cup, when all of a sudden he heard a chuckle.

"Did you just drink two black coffees in a row?" The stranger asked. Joshua blinked and snapped out of his drunken coffee trance. The stranger smiled and handed him a packet of sugar and those mini cups of coffee creamers. "Here, I don't need this, and it looks like you do, so..."

Joshua thanked him, suddenly feeling self conscious. He opened the creamer and sugar and just stared at the two, his brain suddenly short circuiting. What am I supposed to do with these again? 

In all his ingenuity, he decided the smartest thing to do was to pour the contents into his mouth. So there he was, sitting at a table with one pitch black coffee, and he tipped the creamer into his mouth and then proceeded to pour sugar in as well, savoring the way the sweetness contrasted the bitter aftertaste of the coffee. With a content smile, he looked back only to see the stranger wide eyed and looking like he was holding back laughter.

"Um...that was supposed to go into your coffee..." he said, his entire face amused. Joshua looked at him, confused, until it all clicked.

His entire face heated up until it was about the same temperature as the torrid drink in front of him. He covered his face in his hands, finally coming to his senses. "Oh my god..."

The guy finally burst out laughing, and Joshua felt even more embarrassed, sinking into his chair and peeking out in between his fingers. The stranger had a really nice smile, and he looked around Joshua's age too. He felt adrenaline kick into his system but he wasn't sure if it was from the coffee or the scene in front of him. 

"Hey, it's no biggie. College student too, right? We all have those days," the guy said, moving so he was now in the chair directly across Joshua. "I'm Wen Junhui. Call me Jun. Sophomore." He extended his hand across the table.

Joshua straightened up in his chair, his face still flushed. He reached out and took Jun's hand, shaking it. "Joshua," he replied. "Um, it's my 3rd year."

Jun smirked, putting an arm on the table and leaning into his palm. "Ah. Thought you were younger than me, with how cute you are. You seemed new to college with the whole 'I can't survive without my coffee' type of charade."

Joshua groaned, staring at the remaining drink on the table. He decided to momentarily dismiss the fact that a complete stranger had just referred to him as cute. "I'm drowning in work, okay? It's been a rough week."

"Hey, I get it. But sheesh. Three french roasts? You're something else. How did it taste?" Jun looked at him curiously, leaning towards him on the narrow table.

Joshua took another sip, immediately making a face. "Yuck. I don't know how I did that. It tastes like acid."

"Mind if I try?" Jun got up from his side of the table and pulled his chair until he was right next to Joshua. The latter felt his heart pounding from the closeness. Or was it the caffeine?

Jun took a sip of the drink, shaking his head. "Disgusting. No one should ever have to go through the pain and suffering of having to taste this vile substance."

Joshua giggled at his words. Jun then looked at him, and the laughter died in his throat. Woah, his eyes could shoot somebody in the heart, Joshua thought to himself. 

Jun suddenly leaned in, much too close. Joshua froze in his seat, unsure of what to do. "Huh, you really are cute," the younger said once again, tilting his head. Joshua felt heat crawl up his cheeks. "Th-thank you?" he replied, though it came out more as a confused squeak.

Jun chuckled once more and pulled out his phone. "Mind if I get your number? Always looking to learn from my upperclassmen."

Joshua finally felt like he could breathe and nodded, exchanging numbers. They finally parted ways, mainly because Joshua wasn't about to be nearly late for yet another class.

Through texts, he got to know Jun a little better. The younger had a resplendent personality that contrasted Joshua's own. He also regularly slipped in compliments and used a variety of interesting emoticons, most regularly the winking face. One of his friends, upon hearing this, rolled their eyes and told Joshua that Jun was blatantly flirting with him. Joshua obviously denied it, because who in their right mind would flirt with a rattled college student who drank two black coffees and then the sugar and cream separately?

About a month later, he was once again operating on very little sleep and returned to the cafe. This time, he had the smarts to only order one large french roasted coffee. He grabbed some creamer and sugar and returned to his table. He then heard the chair next to him scraping and a person occupying the seat. He lifted his head and came face to face with Jun.

"Hey, didn't expect to see you here so soon," Jun said teasingly, watching Joshua pour sugar into the cup. "Glad you remember what goes where now."

At that, Joshua pouted a little, mixing his coffee. "That was a one time thing."

"Okay, okay." He didn't sound very convinced, though. Joshua took a large gulp before lowering his now half empty cup. He yawned, still quite tired.

"Looks like all that work's still getting to you, huh?" Jun asked.

Joshua nodded, rubbing at his drowsy eyes. "Mhm."

"Mind if I try?" Jun asked, motioning for the drink as he leaned in slightly. Joshua raised his eyebrows but handed Jun his drink. Jun took a sip, looking satisfied. "Yeah, this is good. But..."

In one fell swoop he leaned forward and lightly grazed Joshua's lips with his own, lingering for a moment before pulling away. "...this is better."

Joshua sat there, stunned, before jolting in his seat and covering his lips, wide-eyed. "Wh–you–me–lips–kiss—"

"Erm, you might wanna try throwing in some verbs there," Jun chided, though there was nothing but a teasing lilt to his tone. Joshua took a deep breath, heart accelerating, and this time he was sure it had nothing to do with the little caffeine in his system. "D-did you just kiss me?"

"I did. And I'm hoping I can do so again."

Joshua was sure his face couldn't get any redder than this. "Then–are we–are you—?"

"Yeah, I'm confessing to you. Oh wait, let me..." he returned to the counter and asked for something, and returned with what looked like chocolate. He then got on one knee in front of the entire cafe, luckily the only people interested were the one or two people sitting alone in the corners. 

"Joshua, will you—"

"Yes, okay, I will! Now please get off the ground!!!" Joshua squeaked, grabbing the chocolate tart that Jun was offering him and cramming it into his mouth. Jun snickered, smoothly getting back into his seat. "Success!"

Joshua rolled his eyes, mouth still overflowing with the dessert. Jun momentarily frowned. "This isn't as romantic as I'd wanted. You were supposed to take a bite of it and then I'd kiss you to see what it tastes like."

Joshua hid his face behind his hands, a habit he donned periodically to cover up the obvious rosy complexion on his cheeks. Jun sighed and waited for him to finish chewing. "Whatever, you still look cute, so I won't complain."

Joshua bit his bottom lip. "Are you sure you want to–um–be with me? I'm kind of a mess—like all the time—"

Jun shook his head, his hair falling over his forehead. "Oh please. I knew exactly what I wanted the moment I saw the cutie drinking two black coffees in this place a month ago."

Joshua looked up, meeting Jun's flashing eyes. "O-okay then..." The pair left the coffee shop together, rounding a corner before they had to separate. Joshua turned to face Jun, then stood on his tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

"Th-thank you for today..." he said, a faint smile on his face. Jun gaped at him before a wide smile grew on his face as well. "Anytime. But next time, will you let me finish my declaration of love first before accepting? Oh, and also, I need to taste the food with you, you know? So you take a bite and then I kiss you and taste—"

"Okay that's great but I need to go goodbye!" Joshua interrupted hastily with a fiery blush on his face. He quickly took off, paused for a moment, before turning right back around and returning to Jun.

"I like you too," he suddenly blurted out, face still beet red. He then sped away as fast as before, whatever exhaustion he felt from earlier disappearing with the wind.

Jun laughed, feeling his insides flutter at the endearing action as he watched Joshua's retreating figure. "Well, at least he's finally awake."

Hey look who's back with fluffy fluff to fill your fluffy hearts? This time, with Junshua ♡

why did the quality of my cover photo dramatically decrease when i uploaded it? smh

anyway, hope you enjoyed~ don't have to subscribe, but please do upvote if you liked it~

now, back to procrastinating on my other fics...