“Taehyung, can you please hurry and grab me more large cups from the back?”

“On it!”

Jin sighed, running his fingers through his hair and resting his elbows on the front counter. It had already been a long day and it was only one thirty. He didn’t know if he was going to make it through this shift.

He actually loves his job at the Peak Café; he had been recently promoted to assistant manager, and all of his coworkers were great. Taehyung and Jimin were quite the duo, his left-hand men, always doing their best to help (even if they may leave a trail of destruction behind them and getting on Jin's last nerve while they do it). Jungkook, the youngest worker they had, didn’t share Jin’s shift as often but when he did Jin loved it—the kid could actually lift heavy stuff, and he was really good at making frappes.

Yet, as much as he loves his job, today had been stressing him out. A multitude of customers had been extremely snooty, demanding ridiculously specific additions in their orders, and they had run out of the special dark roast, and the espresso machine had broken down once already—he prayed it wouldn’t happen again.

“Jin?”

“Yes Tae?”

“There’s no more large cups.”

“WHAT?”

“The—there’s no more large—,”

“I HEARD YOU!”

“Oh. Then why’d you say what?”

“This is a disaster. A disaster!” Jin screeched, anxiously fretting with his apron. “We can’t be out of large cups! Like, everyone orders large!”

“That’s probably why we’re out.”

“Tae, just—please go check again, check everywhere!”

“Gotcha!” Taehyung his heels, his purple hair bouncing as he practically skipped into the back room.

At that moment, the doorbell dinged.

“Christ’s sake,” Jin muttered, glancing at who had just walked in.

His…well, crush was such an adolescent word, wasn’t it? He was nearly 25, a grown man, he didn’t have crushes. (Taehyung and Jimin would disagree.) His…object of affection, his…potential soul-mate had just walked in, looking even more tired and grumpy than usual.

And Jin didn’t even have a large cup for his usual order. And the espresso machine could blow up at any moment.

He remembers the first time the man walked into the café, his stature so confident and manly, an air of “I know what I want, and I’m going to get it”, his sharp eyes piercing Jin. He had fallen instantly, making the best damn iced Americano he had ever made in his whole career, to be rewarded with a grunted ‘thanks’ and a 25 cent tip.

****

“Hyung, can you get that customer? I’m trying to get this damn machine clean!”

“I got it, Chim. Also, no cursing with customers in the lobby!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever mom.”

“You’re lucky I like you!” Jin lightly smacked Jimin on his with his dish towel as he passed by to the front counter.

“Hello, welcome to the Peak Café! What can I—uh, what can I…make for you?” Jin stuttered as he locked eyes with the customer.

‘Holy . He’s beautiful,’ Jin internally squealed, trying to keep it together.

“I’ll have a large iced Americano. Extra shot,” the guy orders, not even paying attention to Jin’s mild freak out, already pulling a card out of his wallet.

“Okay, I’ll get that fixed right up! It’ll be $4.75,” Jin chirped out, charging the credit card and handing it back, making sure to brush his fingers against the guy’s—“accidentally”, of course.

Jin ignored Jimin’s suggestive eyebrow wiggling and chuckling as he started making the coffee, being extremely meticulous and making sure he made it just right.

“Hyung’s got a cruuuush!” Jimin sing-songed, not loud enough for the handsome man waiting for his coffee to hear, but Jin hushed him and smacked him on the arm anyway.

“Shut it! I swear, Jimin, I’ll make sure you get fired!”

“You’re so dramatic Hyung, chill,” Jimin laughed.

Jin rolled his eyes and finished the coffee, adding the extra espresso shot and placing the lid.

“Here you go, Sir, iced Americano!”

“Thanks,” the guy mumbles, leaving a quarter on the counter behind him as he sauntered off towards the door.

As soon as he left, Jin squealed out loud.

“See! He left a tip, this is a sign!”

Jimin huffed, shaking his head. “Whatever you say, Hyung.”

After that day, the guy kept coming back, almost every day, sometimes with a couple of other guys that Jin never really payed much attention to (one seemed to be as hyper as Taehyung, and the other very awkward and nervous-looking—interestingly, on those days he ordered something different. Jin didn’t question it, though. He tried his best to always be the one to take the order, but sometimes Jimin would have to if Jin was extremely busy.

“The usual?” he would ask, immediately ringing it up if he got a grunt in return. He kind of felt bad, the guy—Namjoon, as he had occasionally been told to write on the cup—always looked so tired, which is why he didn’t fault the guy for not being very talkative.

Jin was definitely head over heels.

Of course, this development meant that Jimin and Taehyung were relentless with their teasing—as they always were, when it came to Jin’s ‘antics’, as they had taken to calling it.

Okay, yeah, so maybe he had a bit of a thing about classic romance stories? So what, it was CUTE. The idea of falling in love at a coffee shop, the overworked employee and the customer who isn’t so nice at first but actually has a heart of gold—the two meant to be together, brought together by fate and love of coffee. It was so sweet. So sue Jin if maybe he sometimes flirted with the cuter customers, hoping one of them would end up being his awaited coffee prince.

“Jin-hyung, what if your ‘special soul-mate’ doesn’t like coffee?” Taehyung had asked teasingly, “what if they avoid coffee shops like the plague? How will you ever find him?”

“Shut it, Tae, this guy—he’s the one! I’m sure of it! I can feel it in my heart!”

“More like you feel it in your di—”

“HUSH Jimin! No in the lobby!”

“Aw come on Hyung, no one’s even in here!”

****

Jin cursed to himself as Namjoon walked up to the counter, his wallet already out and ready to go.

“Uh, hello! I, um—,”

“The usual. Quickly, please, I’m running late.”

“O—oh, well, we…we’re out of large cups, at the moment. Would you like medium?” Jin asked, flinching at the glare he received in return.

“Ugh, whatever. Medium, then. Extra shot.”

“Uh, yes! Of course! $3.15 for the medium,” Jin rushed out, swiping the card before handing it back and hurriedly fixing the coffee.

Jimin was still tinkering with the espresso machine, looking at it suspiciously and fiddling with the settings.

“I don’t know about using this, Hyung.”

“Too bad, I can’t just not add the extra shot, I already had to downgrade him to a medium cup,” Jin whispered, anxiously looking back at the disgruntled customer.

“Your call. I’m not fixing it if it explodes.”

Thankfully, the machine didn’t explode, but it gave a very worrying mechanical groan and puff as it did its job. Jin made a mental note to mention this to the others, and the shift manager.

“Hyung, you should write your number on the cup!”

“What?” Jin paused as he added the ice, not sure what Jimin was referring to.

“Your phone number! Write it on the cup! That’s how it always goes in the books and the movies! Mr. Perfect will see it, and it’ll cheer him up from his crappy day, and he’ll call you and you’ll date and get married and live happily ever after! Isn’t that what you want?”

Jin considered it; Namjoon did look quite put out today, but maybe…maybe Jimin was right, maybe if Jin’s hunch was right, Namjoon would be surprised, but a little thrilled at seeing Jin had made the first move.

“I’ll do it. Wish me luck!”

Jimin grinned, giggling as he went back to the dishwashing. Jin cocked his head in confusion, but thought nothing of it as he quickly grabbed a sharpie from his apron and scrawled his number onto the cup under ‘Namjoon’ with a winky face.

“Here you go!” Jin said, flushing as he handed over the coffee.

“Thanks. Get more large cups.”

And with that, his “Mr. Perfect” had walked out the door, not even glancing at the cup.

Jin deflated, but didn’t let this phase him. He would eventually see it, Jin was sure. Then he would contact Jin, and they would have a good laugh, and go on that date, and live happily ever after.