Chapter Text
Jin packs up the café slowly, thinking. Obviously, he would prefer not to be thinking, but sometimes the situation is dire enough to require it. And the situation is really, extremely, dire. For one thing, Jungkook is on his back about The Hoseok And Taehyung Thing. Jimin is getting involved as well, by watching from the sidelines in a very pointed way. And now Yoongi is dipping his toes in. It’s all a bit much.
The espresso machine beeps as it finishes its cleaning cycle, and Jin looks up from wiping tables. It’s dark outside, and the streetlights sparkle where they hit the raindrops on the windows. A couple hurry past, one of them holding their coat over both of them against the rain, and they’re laughing, and then they’re gone. The dishwasher hums in the kitchen. Jin is struck, suddenly, by how quiet it is, and how dark and quiet it will be upstairs in his flat too, and for a moment, his heart aches. He’d never admit it aloud, but he is lonely.
What was it Yoongi had said? ‘Sounds like bullshit’? It is bullshit, Kim Seokjin, he tells himself. You know it is. You can’t protect yourself from it forever. You’re already in way too deep.
The espresso machine beeps again, reminding Jin he hasn’t emptied the drip tray yet, and Jin shakes his head, blinking the thoughts away. He curses himself once again for buying a stupid fancy contraption that dares to beep at him, and busies himself with the rest of the clean-up. It’s a fun task to stack Yoongi’s baking into jars, to write price labels for the new items, to think about cake what he’ll make on Friday. It’s fun, to run this café, to make it a happy place for others, to experiment in the kitchen. It’s fun! He likes it. He can take the rest of it at his own pace, he tells himself, and locks up.
~
Four hours and three packets of bibimmyeon later, Jin is in bed, playing on his Switch. It is way past when he should be awake given that he has to open the cafe at 7am, but in his defence there’s only two Korok seeds left to find in the whole game, and he’s a completionist. He’s just fighting off his 312th bokoblin of the night when his phone lights up, and he checks it, puzzled as to who could be texting him this time of night given that Jungkook is at Jimin’s place.
Oh, Jin thinks, and smiles to himself. He must have made a good impression on Yoongi in the kitchen, which is surprising given that he didn’t let Yoongi borrow his prized Itzy apron. Maybe they’re buttering him up because Yoongi wants a raise, he jokes to himself, and locks his Switch. He’d better get some rest after all, if he’s going to work all day and socialise with his new friends afterwards. Such a hard life, being popular and successful, he thinks, and texts Yoongi back. This is, honestly, the perfect distraction right now. He smiles, excited to meet the dogs, and falls asleep happily.
~
Yoongi turns up to the café just after lunch the next day, greeting Jin distractedly and getting his laptop and tiny portable keyboard set up immediately in the back corner. He looks stressed, and Jin takes him over a decaf iced americano without being asked, patting him on the shoulder sympathetically and leaving him to it. Later, Yoongi comes up to the counter to get a snack. He’s so distracted he doesn’t even notice the ‘New! Guest Baker! Yuzu Shortbread!’ sign, and Jin ventures to ask if he’s okay.
‘Not really,’ Yoongi says, brow furrowed. ‘I somehow managed to read the requirements for an assessment wrong, and I now only have three days to fit a specific sample into a song I already almost finished, even though the beat is completely wrong and I’m not allowed to distort it for some stupid reason.’ Jin nods along, trying to seem like he understands, but he must be failing because Yoongi takes one look at his face and bursts into laughter.
‘Ah, hyung, just tell me to stop if you don’t know what I’m talking about,’ he grins. Jin blushes, and crosses his arms with a huff, trying not to laugh.
‘Yah! You think I don’t know what distortion is, after all the times you’ve explained it to me?’ He says.
Yoongi raises one eyebrow, grinning. ‘Yes, obviously, hyung.’
‘Well, I’m just glad to see you smile, Yoongi-chi,’ Jin says haughtily, pretending to be offended and plating up an extra shortbread for Yoongi. ‘Here,’ he says, passing it over and waving off Yoongi’s protestations. ‘Hush, don’t be silly. Where’s Namjoon today, anyway?’
‘Labs, all day,’ Yoongi says glumly, as though he doesn’t live with Namjoon and didn’t see him that morning. ‘He’s learning about molecular paint compositions, so you can expect some updates for the study wall pretty soon. But he’ll be here at closing and we can all go home together, if that’s still cool?’ He picks at his cuff a bit, and Jin can’t tell if he’s shy or trying to be nonchalant. Either way it’s cute.
‘Yeah, I’d love to!’ Jin says brightly. ‘Can’t wait to meet the dogs!’
‘Ah, they’ll love you,’ Yoongi says, and looks toward his laptop.
‘Go on, it’s calling you,’ Jin laughs, and waves Yoongi away. Something feels kind of awkward, and Jin ducks to tidy up under the counter as Yoongi heads back to his seat. It’s probably just Yoongi being distracted by work, Jin reasons with himself, and before he has a chance to overthink it, a group of students come in and order increasingly complicated drinks. He slowly relaxes, losing himself in the ritual of measuring syrups, scooping ice, cleaning the steam wand, and by the time the students are gone, he’s forgotten, and it’s time for him to start tomorrow’s food prep.
~~
‘Oh my goodness!’ Jin shrieks, kicking his shoes off and crouching down as quickly as he can, letting both the dogs climb onto him, petting whatever he can reach. ‘What handsome boys! So shiny! So smart! Ooof -’ and he falls over backwards, laughing as Moni clambers onto his chest, tail wagging, and Holly takes the opportunity to lick Jin’s face.
‘Ah, boys, behave!’ Namjoon faux-scolds, pulling a still-laughing Jin to his feet. ‘I’m sorry hyung, they love new people.’ He shakes his head fondly as he shepherds them all through to the living room. ‘Hyung, please make yourself at home - would you like to give the boys some treats?’
‘Oh, yes please,’ Jin says, sitting on a very squashy chair and leaning down, offering his hands to the dogs. ‘Treats for you? Yeah? Oh that sounds good, huh?’ he coos to them as they crowd round his legs, tails wagging. Jin looks up smiling as Yoongi pads back in, changed into pyjamas. ‘They love me!’
‘Well duh,’ Yoongi says, grinning at Jin and the dogs. ‘I’ll get the treats, Joonie-yah, you go get changed. Jin-hyung, do you want to borrow some clothes? There are spare slippers but you were maybe too distracted by these terrible, awful, children!’ The last bit is aimed at the dogs, who follow him as he goes through to the kitchen.
Jin hears the rustling of packets, and as Yoongi returns, handing him the treat bag, he shakes his head and smiles. ‘No, I don’t need to change, but thank you! Slippers would be good though?’
Namjoon comes back in pyjamas, holding the slippers aloft. ‘Beat you to it!’ he says, placing them at Jin’s feet and sinking into the sofa with a sigh. ‘Man, labs are so interesting but my shoulders are killing me from being hunched over a microscope for so long.’ Yoongi ruffles his hair and heads back into the kitchen, humming.
‘Ouch,’ Jin says, sympathetically, giving the dogs a treat each. ‘I get the same feeling when I’ve done too much buttercream piping. An equally important and academic task to yours, of course. Hot shower later maybe? Stretching? Hey - did you learn fun stuff for the study wall, at least?’
Namjoon laughs, stretching out his neck. ‘Always focused on the advancement of the study wall, huh, hyung? My pain means nothing to you?’
Jin winks. ‘Well,’ he says, pretending to be aloof. ‘It’s a core part of my business, Namjoon-ah, can you blame me?’
‘Not at all, and you needn’t worry, because - ‘ and Namjoon pulls his phone from his pocket, ‘- I even made a list!’
Jin can’t help himself from pulling what must be a cartoonish surprised face and squeaking a bit. ‘Oh. Well. That’s very nice of you, Namjoon-ah,’ he mumbles, and he gives Holly a scratch behind his ear.
Namjoon laughs, and reaches out for the treat bag. ‘Here, I’ll show you their tricks,’ he says, and Jin makes suitably impressed noises as Holly rolls over, begs, and spins in a circle on command, and Moni sort-of half-sits after much encouragement. Yoongi puts a playlist on in the kitchen, and Namjoon shows Jin his list of facts, and the dogs play, and it’s cosy. The walls of the living room are covered in postcards and prints and doodles and paint swatches, and when Namjoon is called through to the kitchen to help plate up, Jin gets up to look a bit closer. There’s a watercolour sketch of the skyline of Daegu, a postcard of a wire sculpture with a museum ticket washi-taped to the bottom, a photo of a young Namjoon on a beach holding hands with an older woman, ‘Eomma’ and ‘Namjoon’ scrawled into the sand. A beer mat with a dachshund in a pointy hat on it is next, then a photobooth strip of Yoongi and Namjoon and some friends, a receipt from Moonflower, a cool linocut print of Namsan Tower, a long narrow woven tapestry, a pencil drawing of Holly. A necklace chain with two bottlecaps strung on it hangs from a nail, and next to it there’s a framed sandwich wrapper from Isaac Toast with a phone number scribbled on the bottom. Jin smiles when he recognises Yoongi’s signature ‘:]’ under the phone number.
‘Dinner, hyung?’ Yoongi says, behind him, and Jin jumps.
‘Ah - sorry for being nosy!’ He says, and Yoongi smiles.
‘We don’t have stuff on the walls for people to ignore, hyung,’ he laughs, putting a bowl of danmuji on the coffee table and pulling floor cushions from under the sofa. ‘Come sit, and I’ll give you the guided tour after dinner.’
Jin smiles as Yoongi retreats into the kitchen again, and makes himself comfy on a cushion, eyes widening as he takes in the food. There’s danmuji, a plate of tteokgalbi patties, a basket of lettuce and perilla leaves, packets of toasted kim, an old jar filled with cucumber sticks and a spoon of ssamjang, a well-loved tupperware of kkakdugi, a wobbly steaming bowl of gyeran-jjim. Jin licks his lips, probably comically, but he doesn’t care. It looks too delicious. He sniffs the air appreciatively, and Namjoon comes though and laughs.
‘Hungry, hyung?’ He says, putting a stack of glasses and a jug of water on the table and sitting down opposite Jin.
‘Oh, you know, a normal, moderate amount of hungry,’ Jin replies, trying to look less like a starving street cat. ‘Like, really normal. I dunno if I even want anything to eat, actually.’
Namjoon raises an eyebrow.
‘Honestly–’ Jin says, and then Yoongi appears in the doorway holding a steaming pot, teddy bear oven gloves on his hands. ‘Oh my god. I can’t even pretend. That smells so good and I am ravenous.’
‘I should hope so,’ Yoongi sniffs, pretending to be offended as he places it down. ‘I slaved for hours over this!’
‘This’ turns out to be kimchi fried rice with a molten puddle of cheese in the middle, and Jin has to consciously remind himself not to eat the entire panful. Yoongi reminds Namjoon to close the doggy gate, because Moni had a criminal record for stealing lettuce, and they dig in.
‘Seriously,’ Jin says ten minutes later, having some water just to take a break and let the others catch up. ‘This is incredible, Yoongi-chi. You made all this yourself?’
Namjoon snorts with laughter. ‘Yoongi-chi?’ He says, giggling. ‘That is - wow. Perfection. Good job, hyung!’ He reaches over to high-five Jin, and Yoongi rolls his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching.
‘I am much too dignified and intelligent to respond to such childish nicknames,’ he says, choosing a cube of kkakdugi. ‘But I suppose I could answer our guest for the sake of politeness.’
‘It would only be right,’ Namjoon agrees, pinching Yoongi’s cheek and winking at Jin.
‘Well,’ Yoongi says, swatting Namjoon away and poking him in the side. ‘Yes, some of it. The tteokgalbi is just frozen, and the kkakdugi is from Namjoon’s grandma. But I made the fried rice and the gyeranjjim and plated the rest of it. It’s mostly assembling, really, hyung, don’t get too blown away by my culinary expertise.’
Jin shakes his head in mock sadness and helps himself to a spoon of egg. ‘Too late, Yoongi-chi, too late. I am already besotted with you and have come to steal you from your devoted partner.’
‘You can try, hyung,’ Namjoon says through a mouthful of rice, ‘but I think he likes me as much as I like him,’ and he smiles at Yoongi.
Yoongi’s ears go pink and he stares furiously at the empty kim wrapper by his bowl, trying not to grin. Jin decides, very graciously, to come to his rescue.
‘Well. However much effort it took, I am very grateful. All my food energy goes into baking for the café, so I mostly eat ramyeon and delivery chicken at home. It’s been ages since I had a proper meal.’
Yoongi tuts sympathetically, and Namjoon gasps. ‘Only ramyeon?’ He asks. ‘Doesn’t your mum make you meals?’
Jin’s stomach tightens, and Namjoon jerks and pulls a face in a way that very obviously means Yoongi has kicked him under the table.
‘It’s not like my mum does,’ Yoongi says, lightly. ‘Not everyone lives near their parents.’
Jin pauses for a second. It’s an easy out - say his parents live far away, and move on. But he really likes Namjoon and Yoongi. He trusts them. This feels like a safe, warm home.
‘They - no, they live in Seoul,’ he says slowly, chasing a single grain of rice with his chopsticks. ‘They just - it’s kind of awkward, with them.’
He looks up, expecting them to be embarrassed, to change the subject, but they just look back, unfazed. Namjoon smiles, encouragingly, and Yoongi nudges Jin with his elbow.
‘Awkward how?’ He asks, and reaches for a perilla leaf to wrap his tteokgalbi in, like it’s a totally chill conversation topic and Jin hasn’t just bared his entire soul to them both.
‘Ah - well, they are nice, and they supported Jungkook when he came out and his parents disowned him, and they helped me through college - they aren’t bad people,’ he starts, and then stops, feeling his ears turn red. Namjoon passes him the water jug, unnecessarily, and it helps, for some reason. He takes a deep breath. ‘It sounds stupid, but they just expect so much of me, and I am always a constant disappointment. Even though they pretend I’m not, they can’t really hide it. I left my corporate job to buy the café, and that was a huge blow to our relationship. Because even though I wasn’t married and giving them grandchildren, I had the career excuse and I could distract them with talk of bonuses and promotions. But, now that’s gone, and I will not be finding the daughter-in-law they want me to give them, and probably no kids either, and - well. There just isn’t much left to talk to them about.’
‘I see,’ Namjoon says, gently. ‘That must be really tough.’
Jin blinks, feeling lighter suddenly. ‘Ah, you know,’ he starts, and catches himself again. Stop deflecting, he tells himself. ‘Yeah, it’s a bit of a bummer. I wish I could just be myself and not feel bad about it.’
Yoongi nods. ‘I get you. My parents were super disappointed when I told them I’d applied for music at university instead of like, economics or business or something. But,’ he reaches for another packet of kim, ‘I don't think I would have ever finished my undergraduate degree if I had to sit through years of lectures on management - and now I’m doing a postgrad and hopefully will be able to help people with it. So it was worth it in the end.’
Jin smiles ruefully. ‘I hope my parents eventually come round. They’ve never even been to Moonflower.’
‘I’m sure they will, hyung,’ Namjoon says. ‘With time.’
Jin nods slowly. ‘Hopefully.’
There’s silence for a moment.
‘When you say “be yourself”, hyung,’ Yoongi says, tentatively, and exchanges a glance with Namjoon. ‘Do you mean only about the café? Or is this maybe part of why asking Hoseok out would be “complicated”?’
Jin squeaks in affront. ‘Yah! What’s this? Ambushed! Over a nice dinner! At my most vulnerable!’
‘Sorry hyung,’ Namjoon says, smiling, very obviously not sorry. ‘Blame Yoongi-hyung. He’s a sucker for match-making.’
Yoongi huffs. ‘I am not!’
‘Are too!’
Jin giggles as they argue, but eventually Yoongi looks back at him expectantly, and Jin sighs.
‘No, Yoongi-chi, I am not out to my parents. Happy now?’
Yoongi pulls a face like he’s considering a quadratic equation. ‘Not happy, but I have all the information now, and I can weigh the options.’
Jin raises an eyebrow. ‘I do not like where this is going.’
‘Well,’ Yoongi says, leaning back against the sofa and nibbling on a piece of danmuji thoughtfully. ‘Having looked at it, academically, logically, emotionally, I have come to much the same conclusion as I believe Namjoon has - and, for that matter, as I think Jungkook has, though I can’t be sure.’ Jin opens his mouth to argue and Yoongi lifts a finger. ‘And,’ he continues, ‘most importantly, I am sure it is also the conclusion that Hoseok and Taehyung have come to. And that conclusion is that you should date Hoseok and Taehyung.’
‘You’re so smart, hyung,’ Namjoon says to Yoongi, adoringly, and Jin throws himself sideways dramatically, groaning.
‘Guys,’ he says, rubbing his hands over his face. ‘How did finding out I’m not out to my parents not make any difference?’
‘Nothing to lose,’ Yoongi says, matter-of-factly.
‘I - fine,’ Jin says through his fingers. ‘What about my no-dating-customers rule?’
‘That’s a thing?’ Namjoon says, incredulously. ‘Sorry, hyung, but that seems kinds of stupid. If you were already dating when you had opened the café, would you ban them from coming in?’
‘What?’ Jin asks, and then sits up suddenly. ‘Wait. What?’
‘Well, what difference does it make whether you start dating someone before or after you opened?’ Namjoon explains, slowly, and Jin blinks in astonishment.
‘What difference does it make?’ Jin repeats. ‘Oh my god. I- what difference - wow. You’re right. It makes no difference.’
‘Exactly,’ Namjoon says, triumphantly. ‘So in my academic opinion that rule is not serving you well.’
‘Well,’ Jin says, feeling a bit blindsided. ‘Well! I don’t know! What if I’m misreading things and I lose a customer and an employee?’
Both of them roll their eyes at him, in tandem, and Jin turns and buries his face in the sofa. ‘Yah!’ He yells into the cushions. ‘Disrespecting your elder!’
‘There, there,’ Yoongi hums soothingly, patting Jin’s knee.
Namjoon clears his throat, evidently about to make a speech, and Jin can’t help but smile into the sofa.
‘Hyung. I haven’t really met Hoseok properly, but I’ve been around when Taehyung is working, and wow. That boy adores you, for some reason - ow, Yoongi-hyung, quit kicking me,’ and Jin giggles. ‘Anyway, Taehyung thinks you’re smoking hot, and I know that for a fact because he told me.’
Jin whips his head up to look at Namjoon, who is grinning triumphantly. ‘What?’
‘Bingo,’ Yoongi whispers, smirking, and Jin throws a piece of lettuce at him.
‘What?’ Jin says, losing all sense of restraint. He grips the edge of the table. ‘He said what? When? Did he say anything else?’
Yoongi is beside himself, laughing silently and only half-trying to hide it. Jin throws another piece of lettuce at him. Namjoon is tapping his chin, looking into the air, pretending to have forgotten the details.
‘I don’t quite remember… Was it last week, hyung? Or before? Maybe it was in a dream…’
Jin feels like he might explode, or climb over the table and shake Namjoon, or something. ‘I swear, if you don’t answer me, Namjoon-ssi, I will make all your cake double-price for a year!’
Namjoon giggles and holds his hands up, relenting. ‘Okay! I had a couple of questions about a specific kind of water beetle because I was wondering if they could be used to create dyes like the ones I’ve been analysing in the manuscript I’m studying, but they - the beetles - they’re only found on Jeju, so -’
‘Joon-ah,’ Yoongi interrupts.
‘Oh yes,’ Namjoon says. ‘Anyway, I texted Taehyung and we got chatting and when I had to go I said I’d catch him next time we were both in Moonflower, and he said I would have to physically catch him because he’d be swooning over you and then he sent me a weird sticker that was a frog cry-laughing.’
Jin gapes.
Yoongi raises an eyebrow in an I-told-you-so kind of way, and Jin threateningly reaches for the entire lettuce basket.
‘Swooning,’ Jin says, and then stops pretending to throw lettuce at Yoongi. This is a lot of revelations for one evening. ‘Swooning. Okay. What? Wait when was this? After he and Hoseok started dating?’
Namjoon thinks. ‘I think so? It was only a few days ago. A week, at most. I would check but my phone died on the way home.’
‘Charge it then, you goon,’ Yoongi grumbles good-naturedly. He gently takes the lettuce basket out of Jin’s hands and places it out of reach. ‘Hyung. I promise, I would not encourage you if I thought there was the smallest chance of rejection. But we both sit in the café and watch Taehyung moon over you constantly, and -’ he pauses, biting his lip in thought. ‘Okay. I met Hoseok last night, right?’
Jin nods warily.
‘I messaged him today,’ Yoongi says, still biting his lip. ‘And I’m sorry, but it wasn’t just about music for his patients.’
‘Yoongi-chi!’ Jin whines, falling backwards and staring at the ceiling. ‘Why am I being so hounded by my patrons about my love life! I just wanted to make cakes and sell coffee!’
‘Because we like you, hyung!’ Namjoon says, throwing some lettuce back at Jin. ‘We like you and you deserve to be happy!’
‘And we deserve to study in a café free of suffocating sexual tension,’ Yoongi adds, unnecessarily.
‘Well then, you’ll need to break up Jimin and Jungkook,’ Jin says, pouting.
‘Uh-huh,’ they both say, sounding unconvinced.
Jin sighs, and looks up at the lampshade. He knows, really, deep inside, that Hoseok likes him. He knows that Taehyung likes him. They flirt with him, and having that validated does make him feel marginally less insane. He knows that they haven’t made a move because they know about his rule, his special no-dating-customers rule that has obviously made things so simple and not at all stressful on him or anyone else.
‘They both do really like me,’ he says to the ceiling.
‘Yes,’ Yoongi and Namjoon say in unison.
‘My not-dating-customers rule is stupid.’
‘Yes.’
‘Okay.’ He does still want to argue that it’s not stupid, because it feels like it should be sensible and the right way to do things, but every way he turns it’s just causing more problems and getting more people involved. He sighs again.
‘So,’ and there’s a hopeful pause. He can feel Namjoon and Yoongi glancing at each other. ‘So, what? I should just ask them both out?’
‘Yup,’ says Namjoon.
‘Mhm,’ says Yoongi.
‘Heck,’ Jin says. The ceiling is still very interesting. ‘Hm. I’ll think about it?’
‘Thank fuck,’ Yoongi says, and Namjoon laughs. ‘Shall I get us some ice cream?’