Hoseok had just finished up with one more customer when the bell to his shop rang and out of instinct he looked towards the door.  Standing there, was his usual customer named Yoongi.  The boy would tend to spend most of his time in Hoseok’s café, drinking black coffee and scribbling down what were assumed to be lyrics.  There were three things that bugged Hoseok about Yoongi.  For one, Yoongi always ordered black coffee and Hoseok could clearly see him cringing when he took a sip.  Who was this guy trying to show off to?  No one cared what kind of coffee he got.  Secondly, Yoongi had a habit of drinking at least three cups of coffee a day from his shop and Hoseok didn’t know how many he had outside of the café, but he was sure it was too much.  Somehow, the boy still managed to carry bags under his eyes and they were seemingly natural, but Hoseok could tell that Yoongi was more tired than usual because the bags had added carry-on and Yoongi had lost all effort he previously had in maintaining regular human acts.  In fact, that was a part of Hoseok third problem.  Lastly, not only did Yoongi fail to treat Hoseok and everyone else nicely, but he had gotten much worse in that his usual silence had become off-handed snarky comments.

Hoseok wanted to push this boy’s ego down to the ground, but then he saw just how tired he was and how cute he was when yawning and Hoseok forgot all about his intentions.  It was a curse, really, how kind Hoseok was.  He now wanted to tuck the stranger into bed and treat him to hot chocolate rather than coffee.  He wanted to wave his finger in Yoongi’s face and scold him for not taking care of himself, but that wasn’t going to happen.

His thoughts were paused when Yoongi came to the counter.

“Good morning.  The usual?”  Hoseok asked, keeping his talking to a minimum in hopes that Yoongi wouldn’t find the need to snap at him.  He wasn’t afraid of what the small boy could do, but he didn’t want him to tire himself out even more by yelling.

Yoongi lazily nodded, and he blinked, his eyes closing for a few seconds too long.  “And, uh, can I have an extra shot along with some food?”

“Sure,” Hoseok smiled.  He hated what Yoongi was doing to himself.  He didn’t need more caffeine and he should definitely be treating his body to better foods than the snacks that Seokjin made every morning. That was hardly good enough for the day.  Yes, Hoseok was aware that Yoongi rarely ate, he had been getting skinnier with every day.  “What would you like to eat?”

Yoongi shrugged, “Anything that isn’t a sweet.  I woke up late and had to skip breakfast at home.”  Hoseok wasn’t sure why Yoongi decided to share part of his life when him, but he was glad and his smile turned to be a little happier.

“Would you be okay with a quiche?”  The smaller boy lazily nodded and pulled out some cash.  Hoseok instantly held his hand up, “This’ll be on the house, Yoongi.”

The boy looked at him for a second and seemed like he was about to insist on paying, but he just glanced down instead.  “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Hoseok smiled, hoping that his smile would brighten up Yoongi.  He had been told a multitude of times that he brought people miles of smiles and though he never believed it, he tried to use that gift for good.  It seemed to work and Hoseok could see a little crack of a smile.  That’s better.

~

Hoseok seemed to have appointed himself the need to help Yoongi and he was currently being scolded by Seokjin for doing so.

“You can’t just meddle with his life,” Seokjin argued.  Hoseok currently had both Jimin and Taehyung working the drinks and cash register because it was the dull hour of the day and so he thought they’d be fine.

“I’m not meddling.  I just want to help him.”

“But you can’t,” He retorted.

Hoseok stood up from his seat, “I don’t know if you’re aware, but I like helping people.  Yoongi always looks like a kicked puppy and I am not going to let that pass.  I don’t care how long it takes, but I won’t let him live like this.”

“You don’t know what’s wrong with his life,” Seokjin countered.

Hoseok scoffed, “Maybe I want to.”

Seokjin scoffed back.  He smiled a little, “Fine, but don’t come whining to me when he breaks your heart.”

“What do you mean?”  Hoseok questioned, eyebrows furrowed.

“You like this guy, and you are clearly not going to relent,” Seokjin spoke before taking the silence as an opportunity to leave Hoseok.

Hoseok stood there for a few moments, contemplating what his friend had told him, or at least he thought.  He looked down at his watch and saw that much more time had passed and that Yoongi was about to come in for the second time today.  This time, he’d sit down and spend the next couple of hours drinking bad coffee and writing in a notebook.  Hoseok rushed out into the front and pushed Jimin out of the way a couple seconds before Yoongi stepped in.  Hoseok noted that he seemed a little better than earlier though he still looked like absolute trash.  He wondered if maybe the black coffee made him look kind of crappy.  Maybe if he had a better drink he wouldn’t as tired.  Hoseok had personal experience with black coffee and he still hadn’t grown to like the taste, which was weird considering he owned a coffee shop.

“Hello, Yoongi,” Hoseok greeted.

“The usual, please,” Yoongi responded and Hoseok would have been upset that he didn’t say hi back, but he did say please and that was good enough for him.

“Any food?”

“No thanks, I ate earlier.”  Hoseok doubted that, but he brushed it off and shrugged.

“It’s on the house again,” He replied.

“I wanna pay,” Yoongi spoke before Hoseok had a chance to leave.

“But I won’t let you,” He responded, eyeing Yoongi, deciphering him with all his might.  He found nothing; he was never good with body language.

“Why not?”

“Because you look tired and upset and I am ready to do anything to make you happy,” Hoseok smiled and he may or may not have seen Yoongi blush a little and it may or may not have made his heart race, but he would save that thought for another time.

“Why do you care?”  Yoongi questioned.  He had no malice in his voice and Hoseok mentally patted himself on the back for being able to talk to Yoongi without making him upset.

“Anything for a loyal customer.”  Hoseok reached over and pinched Yoongi’s cheek before he could stop himself and he immediately knew that was not the right thing to do.  His assumption was found to be correct when Yoongi slapped his hand away, albeit a bit gentler than Hoseok would have thought. “I’m sorry,” Hoseok rushed, “I don’t know why I did that.”

“Its fine, whatever,” Yoongi said, looking at the floor and walking away.  This time, he did speak with malice.

Hoseok frowned and handed Taehyung the order.  He had wanted to make it himself and put cream and sugar in it, but he would be to save that idea for another time because he had over stepped his boundaries already.  He could see the scowl on Yoongi’s face as the boy sat at a small table and took out various things from the backpack he carried.  Hoseok had previously thought he could be a college student, but he figured it wasn’t true when he noticed that Yoongi never carried any school things in there.

When Yoongi got his drink, Hoseok watched silently as the boy took a cautious sip.  His face scrunched up in disgust and Hoseok laughed a little because he was so cute even though he was always tired and upset.  Though Hoseok hated the thought of how much Yoongi hated black coffee, his disgusted expressions always managed to put a smile on his face.

After an hour, Yoongi came back for another drink and Hoseok quickly rushed down the order, not attempting to make small talk.  Yoongi, on the other hand, insisted.

“You own this place, right?”  He asked while fiddling with something on the counter.

“Yes, with my friend Seokjin,” Hoseok responded, shaking off his surprise from Yoongi actually starting a conversation.

The other bobbed his head up and down and Hoseok could tell that he didn’t really care.  Or maybe he was just more interested in something else.  “So, does anyone else work here?”

Hoseok nodded, “Yeah, these guys named Jimin and Taehyung work here when they can.”

“Are you hiring at all?”  Yoongi asked and he looked too scared of rejection whereas Hoseok looked rather excited.

“Do you need a job?”  Hoseok asked and he was about to slap himself in the face because why couldn’t he have just answered ‘yes’?

Yoongi laughed though, well, it wasn’t really a laugh, but Hoseok counted it. “Nah, my brother is looking for a job.  Jungkook.  He’s in college, but he’s only taking dance classes so he has a lot of free time when he isn’t practicing.”

Hoseok smiled and stopped himself from hiring the boy right away.  “Jimin takes dance classes too,” He pulled out a blank résumé and handed it to Yoongi, “Maybe they know each other.”

“Maybe,” Yoongi offhandedly replied before nodding a goodbye.

Hoseok smiled and nodded a goodbye as well.  “Jimin!”

“Yeah, what’s up?”  Jimin asked, coming up to Hoseok.

“First, do you know any Jungkooks in dance?”

“Yeah, I do!”  Jimin perked up. “He’s really good so he got to be in my class even though he’s younger than me,” Hoseok saw Jimin start blushing, “Cute too.”

Hoseok hummed, “Well, he might start working here.”

Jimin beamed, “Oh my god, please hire him!”

“He hasn’t even applied, yet.  His brother just came to get an application,” Hoseok laughed.

“Well, if he does, will you please hire him?  And then maybe put our shifts together?  Like closing shifts?  Alone?  Just the two of us?”

Hoseok snorted, “Maybe.  I need you to cover the register for a bit, okay?”  Jimin nodded and went to the register.  Hoseok grabbed Yoongi’s drink and filled the cup with partial coffee.  He then put in some creamer and sugar with how he’d think Yoongi would like it.  Sweet, but still with a kick.  He smiled and put on the styrofoam cap so Yoongi couldn’t see it.  Hoseok found the need to deliver the coffee personally, but he dismissed that plan and simply put it on the counter.  “Black coffee for Yoongi.”  Hoseok rushed away afterwards and hid in the perfect place so he could see the blond haired boy.

He watched the older boy rush to write down one more thing before he went to go get the coffee.  Yoongi picked up the drink and began walking to his table.  He took a sip and Hoseok watched his face turn into pure bliss before confusion and the former felt the need to giggle.  He walked out of his hiding place just in time for Yoongi to grab his attention.

“Uh, Hoseok,” The boy called and Hoseok stopped mid step.  “This isn’t what I ordered.”

“It isn’t, but,” Hoseok smiled, “I thought you’d like it better.”

“I do, but I need stronger coffee,” Yoongi replied, holding out the drink for Hoseok to take back.

“I put a couple shots of espresso in there so it’s as strong as before, but it tastes better,” Hoseok grinned, knowing that there was no way Yoongi would give it back.

“Oh, uh, okay.  Thanks then,” Yoongi awkwardly replied, looking down at the drink.

“No problem,” Hoseok smiled before busying himself with something else.  This time he clearly saw Yoongi blushing and he knew for sure that it made his own heart swell.

~

It was around 10 pm and Hoseok wouldn’t be closing for another hour, but the only person left was Yoongi.  He had been sitting at his table for four hours by now, has ordered three drinks, and only gone to the bathroom once.  Hoseok could see the frustration on the boy’s face and he was starting to worry.  After Hoseok served a late night customer who didn’t bother staying, he began making his way to Yoongi.  Silently, he sat down in the opposing chair and watched as the other wrote.  As if natural, Yoongi covered his papers and looked up with a scowl at the boy before noticing it was Hoseok.  His expression changed to a bit gentler after the realization.

“Are you closing soon?”  He asked.

Hoseok gave him a kind smile, “No, you still have an hour.  I was just wondering why you’re still here.  Usually you’re gone by now.”

“Oh,” Yoongi mumbled, looking down at his paper for a moment.  “I just really have to finish this.”

“Are you a lyricist?”

“Composer.”

Hoseok nodded, “Do you like it?”

“It’s my dream job,” He replied, sounding slightly dreamy.  “Sorry if this is rude, but I really have to finish.”  Yoongi looked down at his paper once more and began scribbling words that Hoseok couldn’t see.  His face was so close to the paper that Hoseok wondered if he was cross eyes due to it.

In retaliation, Hoseok placed his hand on Yoongi’s arm, knowing that Yoongi would turn red at the contact.  “Why do you have to finish?”

Yoongi shrugged, “I have my reasons.”

“Can I know your reasons?”  Hoseok asked, his voice dripping with kindness and care.

Yoongi leaned back in his chair and sighed.  “One, I need to finish these by tomorrow so my business partner can check them.”

“Why do you have to do it here though?”  Hoseok interrupted and Yoongi glared at him and so he sent the latter a sheepish smile.  “Sorry.”

Yoongi sighed again and Hoseok hoped he really wasn’t that annoying to the other.  “This place gives me inspiration.”

Hoseok looked down at the lyrics and quickly noticed it was a love song, “How does my coffee shop give you inspiration for a love song?”  Yoongi looked down at his lap and refused to reply.  Now, Hoseok wasn’t that good at understanding body language, but this was so completely obvious and he began blushing and looked down at his lap as well.  “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Hoseok couldn’t stop himself from grinning so wide and he knew that Yoongi saw him, but he couldn’t stop.  He almost started giggling too, but luckily, he had more self-control than that.  “What are the other reasons?”

Yoongi continued to look at his lap.  “I like the coffee.”

“Yeah?”

“And it’s really nice here.”  Pause.  “And it kinda feels like a second home by now.”

“Yeah?”

“A-and there’s a really cute barista that works here that is always super sweet to everyone and even though it’s kind of annoying and I’m sure he does this with everyone, I can’t help but really like him.”  Yoongi finally looked up and his face was beat red and Hoseok was smiling bigger than he ever has and he was leaning so close and wow Hoseok was just really happy right now.

“I don’t do that with everyone . . . I mean, I’m a nice guy, but I have a favorite customer.  It’s this really cute guy that tries to act all tough by drinking black coffee and he spends hours in here writing lyrics and I’m subconsciously trying to help him take care of himself and though it’s annoying that he rarely lets me, it also makes me want to help him even more.

Yoongi pouted, “I should really beat that guy up if he’s my competition.”  His pout turned into a smile when Hoseok began laughing and Yoongi momentarily thought that he was so blessed to be able to make him laugh like that.

“Apparently he’s also not that smart, but I think he’s just funny enough to pass,” Hoseok corrected after laughing for quite some time.

Yoongi hummed at that in response and they stayed there in silence, staring into each other’s dark eyes, soaking in the relief each other felt when they weren’t rejected.

Hoseok, obviously, was the one to break the silence, “You know, maybe you’d get more inspiration if you actually went on a date with this guy.  Not that he doesn’t appreciate you lingering around his store and staring at him while he isn’t looking, but I bet you’d get even better songs with actual experience.

Yoongi smiled, “You think?”

“I’m like 50/50 on it, but yeah.”

Yoongi laughed and leaned back in his chair again and Hoseok felt the same as Yoongi had when he had laughed.  It was a weird cycle of blessing that neither knew about, but the smiles never left their faces and so they could hardly care.  When his laughing stopped, Yoongi sighed and looked at Hoseok once more.  “Hoseok, will you go out on a date with me?”

Hoseok’s eyebrows furrowed. “Wait, you mean I was the guy?” He mocked stun by putting his hand on his chest and gasping.

Yoongi laughed, “Don’t play with me like that.  Yes or no?”

Hoseok calmed down and placed his elbows onto the table, making sure not to hit any of Yoongi’s papers, resting his chin on his palm. “I would be honored.”

Yoongi smiled and looked at his papers and he was ready to forget his entire song and spend the night with Hoseok, but then the little bell rang and some chick walked in, looking just as tired as him.

“Is this place still open?”  She asked.

Hoseok plastered a smile on his face and that was when Yoongi noticed how different it was to the one he received.  This one was full kindness and Yoongi was pretty sure the one directed to him was full of love and care.  He felt special.  “Of course,” Hoseok spoke, ushering the girl to the counter to take her order.

Yoongi was tempted to continue staring at Hoseok, but this new interaction was begging to be written in a song.  His fingers flew over the paper, writing about how wonderful the butterflies in his stomach felt and how a smile could turn him upside down and what was hidden in every smile shared.  Yoongi never considered himself sappy, yet here he was.

When the woman left, Hoseok looked over to Yoongi and was about to sit with him once more, but he saw the determined expression on his face and so he left the boy to his writing.  Hoseok cleaned up the shop while thinking utterly and only of Yoongi.  He flipped chairs and couldn’t help but think about how all of those lyrics are for him, about him.  Hoseok wondered if he had ever heard a song by Yoongi before, a song about him that he didn’t even realize.  He made a mental note to ask Yoongi more about it.

For Yoongi, the twenty minutes before the store closed passed by rapidly and for Hoseok, it passed quite slowly.  Yoongi looked down at his watch when he finished the song enough to stop for the day.  “Are you closing up now?”  He called to Hoseok, though not completely sure of where he was.

Hoseok came out of the back.  “I am changing the sign to closed, but I still have more cleaning to do.”

Yoongi nodded and packed all of his things into his backpack.  “I’ll help,” He smiled while Hoseok turned off the open sign and flipped a card that had some dumb pun on it about being gone for a coffee break.

Hoseok scoffed, “You are not going to help me.”

“Why not?”

“Because you have way too much caffeine in you and you have work tomorrow. You are tired, the bags under your eyes give that away easily.”

“I wanna help though,” Yoongi pouted.  “And anyways, the buses and cabs are all done for today.  I have to walk home so I have nowhere to be.”

Hoseok whipped his head to Yoongi, “You don’t have a ride home?”

Yoongi shrugged, “I like buses.  I live right by my work too so I usually walk there.  Your shop is a little farther out though so I take a bus.”  Hoseok furrowed his eyebrows and Yoongi noticed he had been doing that really often.  “It’s so worth it though.”  Yoongi took a step closer to his crush and the boy blushed and he felt so proud of himself.

Hoseok groaned, “Go sit on the couch and I’ll give you a ride home when I’m done.”

“We’ll be done faster if I help you,” Yoongi protested but Hoseok stuck his hand up.

“You are going to sleep and you are going to like it,” Hoseok scolded and Yoongi reluctantly made his way to the couch.  He sat down and Hoseok smiled before going back to work, a hop in his step.

Yoongi didn’t end up sleeping, but that was only because Hoseok started singing and though he was off-tune, Yoongi couldn’t stop listening.  His voice was so melodic and he seemed to not care if he didn’t hit the note perfectly and Yoongi admired that quite a bit.  His brain racked with ideas of how he could phrase Hoseok’s voice and the differences in them.  For some reason, Yoongi wanted to catalogue everything about Hoseok into songs, just in case the boy left him or in case Yoongi wouldn’t be able to see him again.

When Hoseok finished cleaning, it was almost midnight and he was tired, but he knew he wasn’t as tired as Yoongi who hadn’t slept and had dark circles under his eyes.   They silently walked to Hoseok’s car and didn’t speak until they were on the road.

“Where do you live?”  Hoseok asked.  Yoongi told him his address and Hoseok nodded before exiting the parking lot.  “Why didn’t you sleep?”  He questioned.

“I like your voice,” Yoongi answered and Hoseok was too busy blushing to respond and so Yoongi continued the conversation himself.  “Doesn’t your shop open at like 5:30 in the morning?  Are you going to get enough sleep?”

“I don’t open tomorrow.  I don’t come in till 10,” Hoseok corrected.

“That’s still early.”

“Says the guy who over works himself at all times.”  That silenced Yoongi and they stayed silent for a minute before Hoseok spoke again.  “So, are all the songs you’ve written about me?”

Yoongi looked up at him in mock disgust, but then he blushed and looked down.  “You are the root of them, mixed with imagination.”

“What kind of imagination?”

“Just what I think breaking up with you would be like, or something of the sort,” Yoongi awkwardly told him.

Hoseok smiled, “But we aren’t even dating yet.”

“The key word in your sentence is ‘yet’.  Don’t forget, we have a date,” Yoongi told him.

Hoseok laughed, “How you do you know I’ll even like you.”

He shrugged, “I don’t, but I hope you will.”

Hoseok turned and looked to Yoongi, “I think I will.” There was another comfortable silence and once more Hoseok broke it with a question.  “So what songs have you written?”

Yoongi looked at him and Hoseok could see the giant blush on his face causing him to laugh.  He looked too scared.  Yoongi pulled out a piece of paper and a pen as Hoseok pulled up to his apartment complex.  He scribbled down something before handing it to Hoseok.  “That’s my website, all my songs are on there.  Thank you for the ride, Hoseok, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” He smiled as Yoongi got out of the car.  It was an awkward goodbye, but neither of them cared.  He waited until Yoongi was through his door and safely in his house before looking down at the paper.

MinYoongiMusic.com

555-1603

Call me.  ;)

Hoseok laughed at the winky face and made his way home.  When he got home, he was tempted to look at Yoongi’s website so he could listen to all the music he had written, but he forwent the idea and went to bed instead.  Today was a very good day.

A/N: So this is the first part. Again, it was taken from my collection of yoonseok fics called: Blue Skies are Calling (yoonseok fics).  I hope you enjoyed this first part.  Please subscribe and comment because I love that so much!