It was late morning by the time he stopped for a cup of coffee before rushing to his rehearsal. This morning in particular seemed to go by slow and that was fine by him. He took a sip of his coffee, letting the bitter flavor wash over him as he reread the same line for the third or fourth time. He wasn't sure but ever since he had sat down, set up his laptop and ordered his usual coffee he couldn't calm down. He wasn't sure if it was just because he was nervous about the email he had received a few minutes ago or if it was just his head messing with him again. He adjusted his glasses and leaned a bit closer to the screen, but he was still confused about what he was reading which didn't help at all.

“Everything okay, hyung?” He looked up and could only stare at the waiter in surprise.

“Oh yes. I was just trying to.. hum.” He paused while he made up his lie in his mind and instead just ended up smiling at the man and shrugging his shoulders. “Well, I just got an interesting email but I’m having a hard time with it. My English isn't the best.” He chuckled softly.

“I see. My English isn’t all that good too, sorry Joon hyung.”

“That’s fine, Taemin-ah.” He smiled and took another sip of his coffee. The younger waiter probably felt bored at the moment for not having his attention, so he just bowed and went off towards another table. 

Joon watched him for a few moments while he finished his coffee. It was obvious most of the clientele of the shop came here just because of him, most of the girls, young, reckless and always trying hard to impress, but there were a few boys too, that would just watch him from the corner of their eyes while Taemin go from table to table until someone was interesting enough to hold a conversation with, or until he got yelled to go back to work, whichever came first.

He thought it was a bit ironic that the first time he entered the shop he was practically forced in by Taemin. The waiter had seen him from inside when he stopped by their door one morning. He had just stopped for a moment trying hard to find something inside his bag and before he knew it there was a hand around his wrist pulling him inside. Joon could remember feeling dread take over him for a mere second but Taemin’s wolfish smile erased any alarm from his mind just as fast.

Taemin had suggested to him that he could use a table to look through his bag, but while listening to the boy chatter non-stop which was really distracting, he ended up ordering something he read off the menu on the wall just so he would go away and leave him to find his phone that had been ringing for a while now.

He ran his hand over his black hair now wondering how he had ended up coming here every single morning for the last 3 months. He did like the shop, it was quiet even though there was a lot of customers coming and going. The music was always low and he would usually tone it out as soon as he sat down and turn on his laptop or when he brought a newspaper and spent a few hours trying to do the cross-words, even though he was really bad at it.

And then there was the staff. There were only two waiters working in the coffee shop. The cute eighteen year old Taemin, with his mischievous smile and dark chocolate colored eyes, his hair would change color almost every week, if not every three days, apparently it was the other waiter hobby, and he really liked to practice on Taemin hair a lot. The younger always said he really liked it when his hair was colored orange or red and every time he ended up with those colors, he would always swear he wouldn’t let him touch it again, because it was just that great. Of course a few days later a new color would be mixed into his hair and Taemin would sulk for the whole morning about it. But generally Taemin was the type to smile and talk to everyone, he was the kind of person that attracted attention no matter what he did. 

The other waiter was Key and he was also the manager of the shop actually. Though he had weird hobbies, like the hair thing, he also liked to listen to girl groups and would dance behind the counter to some of the songs when he thought no one was looking too. Joon had caught him dancing a few times and one time he had actually joined in.

That was probably when their whole relationship had changed, because Key used to be quiet. He would just welcome him into the shop, make some small talk with him that would last at most two phrases as he ordered and then that would be it. After that thing though he too turned out to be a chatterbox like Taemin, sometimes he would even hug him when he entered the shop in the morning if he was in the floor delivering something to a customer; other times he would actually tell Taemin to work and he would sit with him and tell him all kind of stories that he really couldn’t care much about but would still become curious enough to listen to carefully as he kept going.

Joon used a hand to close the lid of the laptop and took off his glasses, putting them on top of the locked device for a moment as he rubbed his eyes. He was tired but he still had a rehearsal to go to and an email in English about a possible audition to try to understand and reply to. This day wasn’t going all that good so far. He looked up glancing around lazily and met someone’s eyes by accident. The way the other man suddenly blushed and looked down immediately, his eyes stuck now in his cup told him he had caught him staring. Again. 

“Your admirer is checking you out again, hyung. You are so mean though. Why not just go talk to him?” He sighed as Key leaned over his back, breathing down his neck. “It’s kind of sad how he still keeps coming even after all the times you caught him staring. He must really like you, Joonie hyung.”

“You really need to stop doing that, one day I might really be startled enough to dump my coffee on you.” He smiled brightly as he said that though, his smile only growing as he noticed the other man in the corner of the room watch him with wide eyes before he grabbed his newspaper to cover his cute face with it.

“Why do you think I do this only after you finished your coffee, hyung?” He laughed as Key reached to grab his coffee cup, placing it in his tray before he left, though not before he stuck his tongue out and winked at him.

“Key is right, hyung. You should go talk to him today!” Taemin peered down at him as Joon started to sort his things and put them away in his bag.

“I think you two should work more and talk less.” He saw the younger pouting at him. “And by the way, I know I should talk to him, but he is so cute when he is blushing, I can’t help teasing him.” He chuckled and stood up putting his bag around his shoulder.

“One day he will be so embarrassed and you won’t see him again, hyung. Aren’t you afraid of that? It’s been what? Two weeks?”

 Joon paused to think about Taemin’s words seriously for the first time. It really had been a while since they had started this game.

The first time he caught him looking at him he had thought he was just being paranoid, so he had just nodded at him and went back to doing whatever he was doing before. He had soon forgotten about it and about the blond haired man that sat every morning in the corner table of the coffee shop.

The second time had been a bit different though. Joon was looking around for Key or Taemin to say he was going because he had got a call from the studio and was in a hurry to go back. Their eyes had met for just a few seconds but the way the man was looking at him, so intently, made him hold his breath for a moment before Joon himself had turn his gaze away confused. If he had looked back he would have seen the way the other had just grabbed his things, thrown some money in the table and left the shop blushing bright red. Key had been the one to tell him all about that later.

The third, fourth, fifth time had been really similar though. He had met his eyes coldly, almost threatening, though in truth he just wanted to see what kind of reaction the other one would give him this time. The way he just looked back at him surprised him a lot. There were few people in the world that would ever look him in the eye that way, especially when he was glaring at him the way he was doing at the time.

The game had continued for a few more days, more often than not Joon had been the one to look away. Not because he didn’t want to play the game, but because he got bored with it, he couldn’t understand why the other continued to watch him the way he did and that really irked him a little too. However, Taemin and Key one day told him not to scare the customers away so he had tried to just ignore him all together, but now that he knew he was there, looking at him, it was almost impossible not to take notice of him.

And then that had happened.

It had been at the end of last week, he had just been lazily looking back at him, his mind was away actually and he wondering what could possibly be so great about him that the other man just wouldn’t quit, but instead he would still be here every day, getting caught by him.

Wouldn’t this be the time to give up or had he fallen for him at first sight? As the thought entered his mind he had started laughing loudly and the blond now was just looking surprised and confused back at him.

And then Taemin had stopped by his table, told him something, whatever it was, that made the blond male smile so brightly that Joon had abruptly stopped laughing and could only watch him quietly as he talked with the waiter, smiling at him in a way he hadn’t smiled at him, not even once. That day Joon was left with a bittersweet taste in his mouth and it hadn’t been the flavor of his favorite black coffee.

The next day, a very busy Saturday morning, that he should have spent at the studio practicing, but instead there he was. When he entered the first thing he did was look to the corner table of the coffee shop, sighing in frustration when he didn’t see him sitting there like usual. One of the waiters, he couldn’t recall who, had told him a later, a few hours too late, of course, that his creepy not-so-secret admirer didn’t come during the weekend.

He had spent the whole weekend thinking about that smile he had witness and by Monday he was sure of one thing only. He really wanted to see that man’s smile directed at him.

When Monday had arrived he had woke up earlier than usual and dressed faster than ever, even though for some reason he had picked his best clothes that day, as if he was getting ready for a date.

Before he had entered the shop, he had looked into the glass window using it as a mirror for a moment; and he had also brushed his hair away from his eyes in a very exaggerate move when he noticed a few people looking at him, one of them being a very perplexed Key. He would swear until he died he wasn’t making himself look pretty in their shop window, no matter how many times Key and Taemin accused him of it.

Though none of that really matter because when he had entered the room the first thing he saw was the blond man, with his dark honey eyes and sunshine bright smile in the corner table of the shop. Joon had just smiled in delight at seeing him and he wouldn’t even deny the way his heart skipped a beat the exact moment the other one had looked up to meet his eyes before he smiled back at him.

The faint blush that had stained his cute face had just been an extra treat, one he had enjoyed more than he probably should, because he couldn’t stop this game of theirs now, every day he aimed to see that smile and be the cause of that blush again.

Back in the present, Joon grabbed hold of his bag strap as he walked towards the man. This would be the first time he ever talked to him and for some reason he was really nervous, which was news to him too. He was confident, proud, sometimes to a fault to the point that others often used words like ‘arrogant’ and ‘conceited’ to describe him. If there was something that never made him nervous was talking to other people, male or female, they didn’t really matter enough for him to care what kind of impression he left them with, but here he was feeling like a little kid that was about to confess his never-ending love for to his first crush.

He laughed out loud at how silly that thought was as he approached the other one, the small smirk that had claimed his lips being replaced by his brightest smile as he leaned over the table. He watched the other man put his newspaper down with trembling hands, and now that they could look into each other eyes again Joon almost forgot what he was going to say, but suddenly he chuckled and leaned even closer, his eyes narrowing at the pretty blush growing in the other’s face.

“Your newspaper is upside down.” He grinned playfully at him suddenly and with a grace only worthy of a dancer, he straightened his back and took a few steps back, while chuckling he turned his back on him and sauntered towards the door of the coffee shop.

Tomorrow he would try the ‘talk to him’ thing all over again. However, Joon knew it would be difficult to stop teasing him, because he might possibly be the most beautiful and cutest person he had ever seen.