The first time they meet is 2:36 on a Wednesday morning. Kyungsoo has a 5000 word literature essay to finish that’s due in about 6 hours, or less if he really counted, that he hasn’t done. If anything all Uni has left him is a burning pool of regret from not completing work until the morning of the due date that keeps getting bigger and bigger, and a coffee addiction. And an awful excuse for a roommate, because Oh Sehun can’t sleep without waking the entire building and the town too, probably. If Kyungsoo said he could work under pressure, he’d be lying. If Kyungsoo said that he could work listening to Sehun snoring he may as well throw himself off a cliff. Which is how he finds himself at an all-night café ten minutes from his dorm, a laptop hooked under one arm and the other holding 10 dollars at 2:36am on a Wednesday morning. Needless to say, he feels like complete .




There’s a boy at the counter, his arm slung over the surface and his head resting on his shoulder. Kyungsoo vaguely thinks he’s asleep before the boy looks up sharply and smiles a little. He’s clad in a red pullover and , Kyungsoo realizes, he’s just about the best looking thing he’s seen in a long while. He wonders if it’s too late to turn back—if maybe the boy hasn’t actually seen him yet and he can make a beeline for the exit. The last thing is needs right now is an attractive distraction that will take his mind off the essay. But the boy is still smiling and he has dark circles around his eyes so Kyungsoo gives in.




“Isn’t it a little late to be wandering out here?” The boy rubs his eyes and ruffles a hand through his hair. Kyungsoo watches as a clump of strands stay upright and tussled.

He lifts his right shoulder up to bring his laptop into view. The boy nods understandingly.

“Uni work.” It’s a simple answer but the boy smiles widely anyway and it dazzles Kyungsoo. He tells himself to stop being such a tween.

“That’s rough,” the boy chuckles, “What would you like?”.      

“Macchiato, thanks.” The boy hops off his stool and goes to make it. Kyungsoo wants to sit down and get started with his work but he doesn’t want all forms of communication to stop now. He knows this is probably a one-time fling and he’ll never see the boy again.

What the hell, he figures.

“Isn’t it late to still be working?” He inquires a little longer. The boy nods, laughing a little.

“This is actually my uncle’s shop. The girl who used to work the night shifts quit and my uncle has little kids so I told him I could take over until he found someone else. I work here on weekends anyway and it pays so—“He hands over the warm cup to Kyungsoo. “My uncle has been teaching me this stuff as soon as I was old enough.” He smiles, blinks a few times then clears his throat. “You can sit wherever you like.”

Kyungsoo hands over the correct change and takes his cup to a table and opens his laptop lid, turning it on. It’s going to be a long night, he sighs and takes a long gulp of his coffee. He looks back at the boy to see if he’s watching only to find he’s fallen asleep, head rested on top of the counter with arms at his sides.

When Kyungsoo’s finished everything he makes sure to turn the open sign to closed before he walks back.




The second time they meet is the Saturday after. Sehun had shamelessly dragged Kyungsoo out for lunch, yakking on endlessly about—“This awesome little café that makes these freaking awesome frappes and these tiny little quiches in these tiny little shells, just so tiny and beautiful.”

Kyungsoo promptly punches him in the arm. “Yeah, okay. Sehun I get it,” he sighs. “And if you don’t shut up I’ll cut off your tiny little .”

Sehun shuts up but not without muttering some incoherent sentence Kyungsoo isn’t listening to because he’s finally noticed what exact shop they’re in and standing at the counter again is the handsome coffee boy. Today he’s dressed in proper uniform, his hair is slicked back and the girls fawn over him while they wait for their meals. Kyungsoo finds himself missing the over sized red jumper and flat locks. He tells himself to shut up, he doesn’t own him.

He approaches the counter warily, Sehun blabbing about something behind him and orders. Jongin, is his name, according to the name-tag pinned onto the shirt’s pocket.  Jongin doesn’t smile like last time. He just picks up two cups and asks for Kyungsoo’s name.  So now I know, Kyungsoo thinks he hears Jongin say after. Kyungsoo tries to come up with all possible scenarios where he could have ignored Jongin somewhere or make him mad and can’t come up with one. Once he and Sehun are seated, he looks over. Jongin is serving another customer.

A girl calls out their order. Two caramel frappes and a mini quiche for Sehun. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at him. Sehun shrugs and pops the whole thing in his mouth in one go. Kyungsoo goes to take a drink and sees kyungsoo in Jongin’s writing and above it in smaller font reads hi again.




The third time they meet is in the University’s library. Kyungsoo is scoping out books when he hears someone say behind him, “Hey. It’s you.”

He jerks back, dropping the pile of books on the floor.

“Oh—sorry. I didn’t mean to—“And it’s Jongin. It’s Jongin.

“, sorry, you just scared me,” Kyungsoo says. When he turns around he’s faced with the red jumper again and Jongin’s messy locks flopping from side to side as he shifts nervously.

“Hi. Kyungsoo, right?” Jongin asks. His voice is so deep, yet so small and shy.

Kyungsoo nods. “And you’re Jongin.” Jongin smiles so wide at that it makes Kyungsoo’s stomach flip. “What are you even doing here?” Kyungsoo slaps his hand to his mouth. “I mean—I don’t mean. I’m sorry, that was rude,” Kyungsoo can feel himself all flushed. Jongin laughs and it’s as nice as he thought it would be. (Not that Kyungsoo thought about it…or anything).

“I just started here actually, first year student.” Jongin says.

“You’re what?!” Kyungsoo yelps and cringes. “I’m sorry again. I just—“ He laughs awkwardly, “You don’t look a year over seventeen.”

Jongin’s eyes widen for a second the crinkle in the crescents as he smiles. Kyungsoo had almost forgotten how much he missed it. He can’t believe himself. Hell, he barely even knows Jongin.

Jongin clears his throat. “I just wanted to thank you for what you did the other night. I probably needed the rest too.”

“No problem.”

Jongin shifts his weight, scratching the back of his neck. “So is your boyfriend here?” He asks hesitantly.

“My what?” Kyungsoo asks because he thinks Jongin just asked if his boyfriend was here.

“Your boyfriend.”

Right.

“The one that came with you on Saturday,” Jongin continues, unease laced within his tone of voice.

“Sehun?” Kyungsoo splutters. “Oh, no. No, he’s not my boyfriend. Really, just a friend. Not my boyfriend.” He inwardly shivers at the thought but he thinks it’s cute that Jongin was all worked up about it. He takes him in. Notices how thin he is and how adorable he looks in that jumper. How tired yet relieved he is. Kyungsoo wonders if he still works the night shifts and if he always falls asleep on the counter with his arms nestled by his side.

“Oh, well that’s good because I actually—well, I just came—I mean, don’t think that I—“ Jongin is falling over his words. Kyungsoo thinks if this was a movie it would be the right time to kiss him.

Jongin starts again with a focused look. “I came here because I wanted to tell you—“ In the end, Kyungsoo kisses him to shut him up. He presses his fingertips into Jongin’s palms noticing how much larger they are than his, intertwining their fingers.

When he pulls away Jongin has an unreadable expression on his face. His eyes are wide, mouth slightly agape.

Kyungsoo wants to sink into the floor. “Oh. I’m sorry if that wasn’t what—“ He starts to step back but then Jongin’s grip tightens around his hands.

“No, that’s actually exactly what I came here for,” Jongin admits sheepishly. Kyungsoo laughs until the librarian tells him to shut up.




As Kyungsoo comes to know Jongin he settles on the fact that he is the most normal yet interesting person he’s ever known. Jongin is studying pre-med, his favourite colour is red and he likes to watch Pororo on mornings he’s not at work. He doesn’t even like coffee that much but drinks it anyway when he takes Kyungsoo on dates. He lives in a dorm one floor up from Kyungsoo. His sassy roommate is a Chinese exchange, called Zitao and Kyungsoo thinks he’s the perfect match for Sehun (because maybe he just wants Jongin to move in with him).




“What would you like to order?” Jongin flashes a toothy grin at Kyungsoo and winks. Kyungsoo orders his usual macchiato and waits in line. Jongin usually doesn’t hand out the orders but he delivers to Kyungsoo only. He even leans over the counter to kiss Kyungsoo quickly before anyone sees. “I have my lunch break in five minutes. Will you wait for me?”

Kyungsoo looks at the sight in front of him. Jongin clad in a red pullover with his name-tag stuck on it. Jongin smiling widely.

“Yeah.” he replies. “Of course.”