“I bet you can’t get a smile from him.” Taemin says as he stares at the guy across on the table, a book opened wide between his hands and a coffee cup on the table. “I bet you I can get his number” Minho answers with a huff, how can Taemin possibly think that anyone would say no to me? Minho thinks as he leans on the table. “I mean, we’ve been staring at him for 10 minutes now and he didn’t even notice.” Minho continues and his lips, maybe he can get him back to his apartment tonight. He suddenly feels cold.

“Stop betting on boys like they are meat and get back to your goddamn work” Key says as he cleans the counter, both the boys chuckle, however, when Key gets his hand up as he is ready to throw a plate at them, they don’t take it as a joke and they duck their heads then crawl back behind the counter.

And with all this mess going around, no one noticed a guy staring wishfully at their “target”. He looks so calm, the boy thinks, He looks like he was in the book, eyebrow knitted and mouth in a thin line as if his whole life depends on one book and Jonghyun is charmed. All he could do was stare at the guy and feel his heart jab with pain at the fact that a beauty like him, as smart as him will never want an idiotic guy like me, he sighs and gets back to work before Key throws a spoon at him.

--

Minho approaches the boy as he asks if he wants a refill and the guy smiles warmly, oh so warmly that Jonghyun from behind the counter feels dazed, he smiles and says yes, Minho tries to gracefully pour the coffee into the cup and Jonghyun chuckles, just how do you do that? As soon as Minho finishes the guy says a thank you and gets back to his book, completely ignoring the pole still standing at his table, Minho coughs and the guy lets his book down, a slight annoyance shown on his face. The younger guy gives him his “handsome” look “How about I show you something hotter than that coffee?” Minho smiles as he imagines the nerds reaction, a smile and a blush for sure, Minho thinks but as he slowly gets back to reality, all the guy does is chuckle as he hides a longer laugh, shakes his head then buries his face back in his book,  Minho is so incredibly embarrassed even without the laugher coming from behind the counter, the tall guy turns around to find Taemin leaning on the counter as he laughs, Jonghyun with tears in his eyes with his usual loud laughter, Minho frowns and tries to get away from this as fast as possible, he walks to his friends hits his fist on the counter then hisses “You think you can do better?!”.

Jonghyun stops laughing but Taemin goes on “Oh god.” Taemin breathes “That was cold, oh so very cold.” The guy keeps laughing, holding his sides then as his laughter dies out, he looks at Minho, raises one eyebrow then says calmly “That’s not how you deal with guys.” He then gestures toward the target then back to Minho “Have you picked up anything but s? How can you know the ways to pick up such a delicate guy?” Taemin finishes as he straightens up, dusting off his clothes and tucks a stray hair behind his ears and before Minho can challenge him, he walks to their target, full of confidence and sits at the table. The guy lowers his book again, clueless to what Taemin wants and as he does, Jonghyun and Minho notice Taemin change of behavior, he puts his hands between his thighs and looks down, looking like teenage girl confessing her love.

“He couldn’t have”

“Oh my god, I think he is”

“H-hey” Taemin “stutters” and looks down at the table in a shy manner “I’ve noticed you since long ago, y-you come in every Thursday and read one of your books” Taemin speaks so softly, the guys behind the counter have to lean in to hear him “And, and I think you are b-beautiful” Taemin continues then raises his voice In the end, in an attempt to fake nervousness. The pretender looks up slowly, expecting to find tearful eyes. anything, he raises his head, but a deadpan stare, Taemin hopes fall and he almost curses himself as the guy speaks “Just because I read a book doesn’t mean I’m a hopeless romantic who thinks he will find his life love in a coffee shop” the guy speaks so calmly and Jonghyun listens well to his voice, he had never heard him speak more than three lines, Jonghyun listens so well to that voice as he wishes he can be as close as Taemin, he wishes he could hear such voice whispering soft comforting words to him.

“Also it doesn’t mean I’m obvious to what’s happening around me.” The guy finishes and once again lifts up his book back up, leaving Taemin shaking with anger and embarrassment, Taemin gets up very slowly and heads back to the counter. Minho laughs a bit but as the rejected guy gives him a glare he goes quiet and as they both look at Jonghyun side, he isn’t there, they shrug and get back to their jobs. Maybe Jonghyun isn’t interested in such a guy.

Oh if only they knew, if only they knew Jonghyun was at the back, completely terrified of them coming through the door and saying that it’s his turn to talk to the guy, because, god, he couldn’t, he couldn’t possibly go near something as wonderful as that guy.

“I thought you were into these betting games” Jonghyun jolts his head back and looks at the source of the voice, it was Key, “I’m… Just not in the mood” Jonghyun lies and tries to calm his heart down since Key scared him. Key lets a small laugh “Not in the mood? Since when Kim Jonghyun isn’t in the mood to pick up some guys?” Key approaches and Jonghyun feels a big pressure being pushed on his chest, so he lets it off and sighs “The guy, he’s the kind of guy who would have someone so equally amazing, someone who’s smart and someone that would make him happy…anyone…but me.” Jonghyun finishes as he bites his lip as he thinks hard “He’s so…” Jonghyun looks dreamily at the wall in front of him with a longing face but it soon falls “Out of my league.”The frustrated guy laughs after this and reaches to scratch his neck as he looks back at Key, and Key stand there, staring blankly at him “Idiot.” Is all what he says as he gets back in.

----

Jonghyun shivers from the cold as he shoves his hands in his pockets in a fail attempt to warm them up, the bus is late today, he thinks, then curses the cold once again, he looks behind him to see if there’s a place to sit on on the waiting place, but it was metallic and he could feel the paralyzing cold that the metal would give him, so he growls and looks ahead, only to notice someone beside him, maybe as cold as he is, but as he slowly looks up he founds a familiar face smiling at him “Hey” the guy says and Jonghyun heart start to beat fast, almost warming up his whole body and with a pause Jonghyun squeaks a hey back, because, oh my god, the gorgeous guy is talking to me, he’s actually talking to me, Jonghyun panics but keeps a poker face on.

“I’m Jinki.” the guy speaks again and Jonghyun raises his eyebrows and stares for a second, in sheer amazement, the guy is talking to him” I’m Jonghyun” he nods and wishes it wasn’t so cold so maybe they could’ve shook hands or kissed or something. “You work at the diner down the street right? I noticed since I go there every Thursday” the gu- no Jinki says a bit lower maybe he isn’t proud of that fact, “Yeah.” Jonghyun prolongs it then notices he isn’t saying much so he jumps up a bit “Yeah, I’ve been working there for a while, my friends family owns that place so we all kinda work there.” the nervous guy thinks he said too much, but it was all for the sake of this awkward feeling to go, however, it got thicker and Jinki didn’t reply so Jonghyun curses himself in his mind thinking he has ruined it, his one chance and he ruined it.

“You were with this lame pick up lines guy and the terrible actor bet right?” Jinki says again voice completely stable so it baffles the poor guy “Y-yeah, I mean, it’s just, stupid” Jonghyun stutters and wishes his vocabulary would not be so limited when this guy is around and he thinks, this is the end, they just exchanged names but it’s over.

Jinki laughs softly, almost to himself and Jonghyun feels his body shaking from everything then he sees Jinki as he slowly turns to face him, smiles and Jonghyun is gone, his head start spinning slightly.

“No, it was fun actually, I was just waiting for you to come” His crush says and holds his gaze for an extra fraction of a second that makes his body almost give up on holding itself, but he hears the screech of the bus brakes and the door opens precisely in front of Jinki, who doesn’t give him a second look and gets on. The charmed guy stands and watches as Jinki gets on, walks to the end of the bus. Sitting at the window, then a moment of clarity hits Jonghyun, a moment of joy where he realizes, this isn’t the end.

He gets on the bus and goes to the back to sit next to Jinki, they look at each other and smile, some kind of emotions bursting through their hearts.

This isn’t the end, this is the beginning.

_________________

*Throws confetti at you* how sweet is this? I always write angst and this is the first time I mix so much fluff in it, so congratulation to you!

On second note, I'm sorry, I know I should update the Genie fiction but I'm having no motivation for it right now.

I think this is story is one of my best, but I will forever feel like it will never be enough for Jongyu feels.

[Edit]

I feel like I was half asleep when I proofread this. But you're still stuck with this so yeah.