panda art

a taoris oneshot by thefeminist

to the black haired beauty

who greets me every morning

with a smile

Wu Yi Fan stretched his arms over his head in a short break time the book store had given him between signings. He had already been sitting in the same chair for two hours, autographing the first page of books and half-smiling at the middle-aged women who seemed to love his books and the giggling teenagers who only bought the books for the picture of himself on the dust jacket.

He was forced to wake up obscenely early today and to miss his regular caramel latte from the café around the corner. Yi Fan had started to frequent the place around a year or so ago when trying to think of a plot for a new novel.

He grimaced while taking a sip of the store-bought coffee that his manager handed him. It tasted like it was from a machine; not with the milk frothed by hand, nor the beans roasted in the mornings. The liquid was bland and the caramel shot, he found later, was sitting unstirred at the bottom of the cup. Ew.

His manager, Lu Han, guided him back to his seat where Yi Fan proceeded to prepare himself for another round of fan girls with his latest book ready to be signed.

ah, the late mornings

when I can spend my time

pretending not to stare at your face

“Yi Fan, is that you?”

He jerked his head up to meet the astounded gaze of his barista, Zi Tao. It was a nice change from all the women trying to get a look at his face to have a male standing in front of him, but then again it was Zi Tao.

The man whom he had had a unrequited love for ever since he saw him grinning at him from behind the counter, expertly pouring the milk from a high angle to make a perfect flat white.

“I was a bit worried when I didn't see you this morning, but I guess you've been here a while!”

Yi Fan managed to stutter out something in the affirmative, while he signed Zi Tao's copy of Caffeine, his new book.

“Oh god, now that I know, I'm going to bring in all my copies sometime to work for you to sign!”

This made Yi Fan look at him in even more surprise.

“You're... a fan of my books?”

Zi Tao nodded, shooting him a wide smile.

“Of course I am! Although, I have to say, I preferred Love Story the most though.” He bent further forward and whispered, “because it has the most in it,” with a cheeky wink, making Yi Fan blush.

Lu Han butted in then, saying that they were going to have to move the line along which Yi Fan secretly growled at under his breath.

As Zi Tao bid him farewell and the next person in line stepped up to get their copy of Caffeine autographed, Yi Fan spotted Lu Han whispering something in the raven's ear which made the barista look back at him with an unreadable look on his face.

Yi Fan just decided to ignore that and asked for the name of the middle-aged woman in front of him.

I wish I had the courage

to say that I love you

but every time I fall short

The next morning Wu Yi Fan walked around to the little café around the corner. There was a book signing scheduled for the afternoon, so he had a few hours to while away in the quaint coffee shop.

Leaving his stuff at his regular table, Yi Fan approached the counter where Zi Tao was working alone and gave him a smile. Zi Tao automatically got out a cold jug from the fridge below to start making the coffee.

Mid-brew, Zi Tao spoke up. “You know, your manager told me something very interesting yesterday.”

Knowing Lu Han, Yi Fan had the right to be scared.

“He said that perhaps I should ask you out for coffee sometime.”

Yi Fan face palmed himself, whilst cursing Lu Han out under his breath. Really, why did he have to interfere in everything?

“So, what do you think?” Zi Tao asked him, adding the caramel shot to the coffee, then placing down the jug of frothed milk to face Yi Fan.

“To grabbing a coffee together?”

“Yeah.”

“I'd have to say no.”

Zi Tao froze and went straight back to pouring the milk to make the usual latte.

“Because I don't want anyone else making my coffee but you.”

Yi Fan could feel the blush rushing across his face at the rate same that he saw Zi Tao's face redden.

“Oh god, I can't believe I said a line as corny as that,” he muttered to himself.

Zi Tao laughed and focused on finishing up the latte art. This was the part Yi Fan enjoyed watching the most, seeing the man concentrate on making a picture of whatever he felt like, normally a cute panda.

“Shall we try the movies or something instead?” Yi Fan offered, starting to get out his wallet to pay.

Zi Tao instead pushed the latte towards him with a bashful smile, saying it was on the house.

There, drawn on the top in coffee and milk, was a little panda in the bottom-right hand corner with a big 'yes!' scrawled across the rest.

to my little panda

you are the best thing to ever happen to me

don't you dare run away with my caramel syrup