Title: A pick-up to pick up
Prompt-#: 225
For: Anonymous
Pairing: Taemin/Key
Author: Anonymous
Word count: 2900 words
Rating: PG-15
Warnings: language, terrible attempts of humour
Summary: Taemin can't get that cute guy out of his head and even though his best friend tries to tell him that cheesy pick-up lines are so yesterday, he is determined to try a last coup.

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Taemin groaned as he opened the ribbon of the green apron he had to wear for his part time job here. His shift was finally over and he swore that people tended to get more unfriendly the longer the day progressed.
However, this was not the reason he had let out that sigh.
He pulled the apron’s laces over his head and folded it together neatly before grumbling and just stuffing it into his messenger bag.
Taemin wasn’t in the mood for giving a single .
He knew that this was pointless by now. That every time… he felt completely ed over after it happened. Taemin wasn’t someone to care a lot about people he didn’t know.
But…

This one guy…was different, and held his attention for longer than he had ever thought it possible. Taemin was the kind of guy who usually dated someone he was friends with first.
Far less awkward as you already knew quite about the person and there was a big chance that you would not put your feet into your mouth.
Taemin liked that.
And yet…
This guy, whose name was the only thing he knew, had him spellbound. Maybe it was the way he ordered his drink. Maybe Taemin was just really weak for the way the guys voice dropped when he pronounced words written on the boards in perfect, not accented English.
Perhaps he liked those feline eyes that could look really soft but had a certain glint to them, that spoke of many secrets that Taemin wanted to know off.
To put it into a nutshell, he really wanted to get to know this guy. Kibum. At least that was the name that the guy always gave him when he ordered a drink.
Kibum seemed like a great person, fun, smart… and well, hot. Taemin liked these things – who wouldn’t? – and so he had tried to flirt with the other.
Drop some pick-up lines here and there, added some smileys and hearts to the name that adorned the cup for the other male.
Nothing had gotten him a response.
And usually was Taemin not the type of guy to overdo it. That guy didn’t want to get to know him? Fine. He’d move on. But this time…
Taemin couldn’t.

Stupid tummy and stupid flips and stupid smiles –

“ this!”
He growled and threw the door of the locker shut. He had finally dressed back into his normal shirt, abandoning the coffee shop’s dark one and throwing it into the locker. Next time he’d take it home to wash it. For now he just wanted to leave.
Alone.
Maybe he would finally stop.

“Calm down.” Came a deeper voice and Taemin knew that Jongin was right. He ruffled his own blonde locks, angry at himself for losing his cool so easily.
This guy was definitely rousing too many emotions in him. Not just the good kind.
“I know” he agreed and his heels.
Jongin was there, his green apron still around his body, a milkshake in his hand, straw in his mouth. Taemin’s shift had already ended, but Jongin was just enjoying his break right now.
If he didn’t have his best friend with him, the blonde wouldn’t even be sure that he could do this part time job. It was draining. People could be exhausting and though it was easy for him to put on a smile every time someone stepped up to the counter, did it get harder and harder when you got snarky answers in return.

“I think you should stop, you know?” the straw fell from Jongin’s plump lips before his friend leaned against the nearest wall.
“You’ve tried, Taem. I have watched you … and him.”

“Kibum.” Taemin interrupted immediately and the brunet waved his hand dismissively.
“Kibum. He seems nice and offers you a smile back, but he never said anything. I think… I’m sorry, okay? You’re great. You’re really great but maybe this guy is not for you.”

The elder scrunched up his nose at that.
It had been a while now, yeah. Since he had first started to get Kibum to talk to him that was – yet there was a nagging voice inside his head that told him not to give up.
“Maybe I didn’t try hard enough.” He concluded, shrugging his shoulders as he watched Jongin shake his head at him.
“What?” he inquired, slightly annoyed by now.
“Taem. I saw you writing pick-up lines on the cups. Okay? And not just any pick-up lines… but the terrible kind of pick-up lines. The ones that prove that you’re so desperate and so smitten that you think they are funny.”

The blonde fought the blush that threatened to bloom on his cheeks.
“They weren’t so bad!” he argued, but his best friend only pulled up an eyebrow.
“Oh really?”
“Yes. Just cause you wouldn’t use them doesn’t mean that they aren’t good!”

The brunet pulled the second eyebrow up as well and took a long drag from his milkshake. Judging by the pink colour, it must be strawberry.
Ah. Kibum also liked strawberry flavoured drinks.

“Hi, I’m Mr. Right. Someone said you were looking for me? Seriously Taemin?”
The blonde just scowled. It had taken him a lot of time to come up with those pick-up lines, okay?
“That one is kinda cool, what’s your problem with it?”
Jongin brought his hand to his face, rubbing his eyes.
“What my problem is? My problem is ‘Are you Netflix? Because I could watch you for hours’!”

Taemin wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
“They aren’t that bad…” he trailed off but Jongin was still looking at him with the same expression. That of utter disbelief.
As if Taemin had just told him that the moon was actually green.

“Look.” Jongin came closer now and patted his best friend on his shoulder
“I just… Taem, you’re my best friend. I don’t want you to go all weird for a guy that you don’t even know. That’s not you.”
The blonde shrugged his shoulders. He knew that.
But…
“I can’t get him out of my head.” He countered, stomping his foot as he was growing more and more frustrated with himself
“I have tried! But every time he comes sauntering into the café… and every time he remembers my name and tells me it’s ‘nice to see you again’…” he used his hands to form quotation marks, “I go back to wanting to get to know him.”
Jongin sighed.
“Have you tried to ask for his number?”

The blonde blushed.
“No. That seemed… you know? So straight forward. What if he really isn’t interested that way?”
His best friend rolled his eyes.
“This guy really got to your head. You’re never this… reluctant.”

Oh, Taemin knew this.
Usually his whole flirting technique worked differently. He approached his target and he pounced. But here? He was dancing in circles for what felt like months.

“I know!” he groaned out and Jongin patted his back.
“Then let’s say you’re trying a last time” his best friend said suddenly.
“It’s pretty easy. You write your own number on the cup and see if he texts you. That way you can be sure that he likes you. As a friend or as a potential date is up in the open. But then it’s up to him and you don’t need to feel bad or whatever un-Taemin-like feeling you are harbouring.” He finished with a big smirk and Taemin whacked him over the head
“You’ve become unbearable since you started dating Sehun!”
Jongin wagged his brows at his best friend and shrugged his shoulders, letting the whole whacking issue slide. For now.
Taemin was already suffering enough for once.
“At least I am getting laid.”

The blonde could only let out a noise of frustration.
“Too much information, Jongin. Please. You’re like my brother I don’t want to imagine you . Or having . Thanks.”
Jongin shrugged his shoulders
“Have it your way. But, do we have a plan?”

Taemin nodded.
Well, what could go wrong?
Nothing really. Either things got better or he should really think about giving up. Jongin was right. Ever since he had laid eyes upon this cat-like smile… he hadn’t gotten laid.
Which proved him yet again, how bad it was.
Kibum really had snatched his heart with just as much as a few words and a smile.

~~

“Hey.”
Taemin’s eyes met dark coffee brown. It had only taken the other two days to come back to the coffee shop. That made sense, seeing as the campus of the local arts university was only a stone’s throw from here.
They had a lot of costumers here. Which made it even more obvious how… unique Kibum was in Taemin’s eyes. He saw throngs of students enter and exit the shop, knew of many that he had seen them before… but Kibum had been special.
Kibum’s name had stayed in his memory.

“Hey.” He greeted back, his smile a little more hesitant today.
“The usual?” he said and Kibum nodded. The brunet seemed to be waiting for something, but Taemin didn’t speak up.
He wrote down Kibums name on the cup and… started to note down his telephone number. What would happen to it?
He didn’t know. He could only hope that Kibum wouldn’t sell it to some creepy people. Though that seemed highly unlikely.
“No pick-up line today?”

Taemin froze when he had finished the last number. He had been quick but it must have been obvious that his writing was far too short to be one of his famous lines of flirt.
“No.” he shook his head.
“Oh.” Came Kibum’s answer and though the blonde hoped that it was indeed resignation he saw in the other’s eyes, heard in the other’s voice… he knew he shouldn’t be getting his hopes up.
This was his last try.
He handed the cup over to Jongin who patted his lower back in encouragement before he started to make the drink Kibum always asked for.
Silence ensued between them. Taemin offered a small smile and Kibum still blinked in bewilderment. Only when the person behind the other in the queue cleared his throat did the brunet snap out of his trance and walked the few steps to the counter where his cup would come up any moment.
Jongin was fast.

“Too bad.” Kibum said when he passed Taemin on his way
“I really liked the Netflix one.”

Taemin stared after him, not sure if the other had been genuine or mocking him.

~~

It was three days after that – during a very boring, but obligatory lecture - that the blonde nearly fell out of his chair. The professor had been rumbling on for a while and flipping through his phone had seemed like the perfect distraction.
However, he had apparently forgotten to activate the silent mode of his phone as suddenly the well-known whistling tone of his Samsung ran through the whole room.
Taemin had jumped to his feet, bowing hastily to the professor and running out of the lecture room in the speed of light, leaving behind his bag and his notes, his phone clutched in his hand.
He stopped when the door fell close behind him.
“…”
Damn. That had really been awkward. And more than a little embarrassing…
Taemin whipped his forehead, his hand ruffling his short locks.

HE could pick up his things after the lecture that wouldn’t be a problem, but…
Who…?

The student ignored the fact that he had been too dazed to check if his phone was muted. That… happened more often to him. He had to admit that he was of the forgetful type…
And no he totally hadn’t forgotten his wallet in Jongin’s fridge once.
Nope.
Not him.

But now did Taemin finally check his phone and saw an unknown number appearing on his screen.
He unlocked it and opened the message he had received, his eyes nearly bulging out when he saw that it was signed with ‘Key from the coffee shop 'ㅂ' ‘
The blonde swallowed, re-reading the message at least twice to be entirely sure that he was not imagining things.
The other simply thanked him for the coffees that he always prepared. (Though that wasn’t entirely true, Taemin wasn’t always the person whipping up the drinks as well. Only if there weren’t a lot of costumers)

But he actually saved Taemin’s number.

He couldn’t quite process that yet, his tummy doing a weird flip when he typed out a reply with clammy hands.
>>Anytime. I actually didn’t expect you to text me… strange pick-up lines and all. Taemin <<

Another hour later, he could pick up his things from the lecture hall, avoiding the glare of his professor and making his way to the café for his shift.
He didn’t get another reply until he made it there though and Taemin wasn’t really sure how he should describe that nervous feeling he was experiencing.
The thing was…. as his best friend had so neatly described before, that he wasn’t used to pining after someone. To chase after someone.
But… this time the roles were reversed and he found himself anxious and nervous about this whole thing.
It was almost annoying how this affected him.

>>I wasn’t sure if you were serious. There has never been a guy who used… these kind of pick-up lines on me, you know? I thought you were joking most of the time… Guess you weren’t after all? Interesting flirt technique 'ㅂ' ㅋㅋㅋ<<

Oh gosh… Taemin kind of wanted to die.
He had really tried, okay? He hadn’t known how else to flirt with someone at this kind of place and he never saw Kibum outside of work so there really wasn’t another way or place to do it.
Maybe he should have listened to Jongin though.
Maybe the younger had been right… for once.

Perhaps a simple ‘I think I like you, let’s go out sometime?’ would have been better.

But well, they were talking now, weren’t they?

>> You’re right, I wasn’t. Sorry I have a shift now… >:C <<

He pocketed his phone – after switching it to silent as his boss was even pettier than his professor – and left the employee room to get behind the counter.
It would be a slow day, in the middle of the week in mid-afternoon but it would get busier as the day progressed. It was easy to foresee that after a while.

“Hey. Can I order a pick-up line and a date?”
Taemin’s heart skipped a beat, before hammering painfully against his ribcage. He barely dared to lift his gaze from where he had been preoccupied to stare at the plastic cups and determining which needed a refill first.
He did though and his soft brown orbs met coffee brown.
And a breath-taking smile.

Words failed him and for the first time in his life did the blonde find himself gaping in front of someone. But Kibum was…
Worth every damn embarrassing and awful pick-up line he had ever came up with.

“If it’s you, then yes, you can.” He finally answered
“Grande or Venti?”
Kibum chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.
“Whatever you recommend.”
“Venti then. The usual?”
Kibum nodded. Taemin started to scribble down the abbreviation for the drink before he started to come up with a pick-up line for the other.
It was strange this time…
Felling Kibum’s eyes on him like this.
“Yeah, but don’t forget my toppings.”

Taemin felt his tummy do a weird flip.
“I won’t” he smiled back, getting his confidence back in check and handing the cup to the next worker after he had finished writing down everything.
Luckily the Venti cup offered lots of space to write.

“Good” Kibum said, not moving from his spot.
“So… I’m the only one you write those lines to?”
That… wasn’t really what the blonde had seen coming, but he found himself nodding anyway. It was the truth.
“Yeah. Special service just for … a special someone”
The other snickered at that, a grin adorning his perfectly shaped lips.
“Fine then. Friday 5 pm, is that any good?”

Oh.
Oh. For the date
Taemin swallowed the lump in his throat. It didn’t even matter that he had a class scheduled for then.
“I’m free. No problem. Let’s meet up here?”
Another nod and Kibum finally had to move when his name was called from the person adding the whipped cream and handing out the drinks.

Taemin had no idea how he would survive a whole date if his stomach was behaving like that when they were barely talking.
Damn.

But he hadn’t spent countless of hours looking up pick-up lines only to mess this up. Kibum would end up as his boyfriend and he could tell Jongin to go love himself.
(Though Sehun did that for him, in both that and that sense.)
Sometimes it seemed like a “You must be a very important textbook passage, because seeing you is the highlight of my day.” was just what was needed.

Kibum picked up his cup, reading the words written there and flashed him a small smile along with a wink.

Damn.
He was so whipped.

And he didn’t regret making a fool out of himself with those corny lines even once.