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Yoongi hated mornings. Now, I’m sure no one likes waking up 7AM to go to class, but Yoongi could not, would not, function before 10AM at least. Half of the reason for that were the late nights he would spend trying to write something worth publishing someday. You see, ever since he was a little kid Yoongi wanted to change the world, and when he was about 13 he found a way to do so. He discovered writing, be it books, poems, songs. However, as he got older writing the things he actually wanted became more and more difficult. It was always left unfinished because of a college work or an exam he just had to do really well on. So he started sleeping less, trying to conciliate everything he had to do with everything he wanted to do. That resulted in his newfound hatred towards mornings and his newest addiction, coffee.
Coffee was a gift directly from God, of that Yoongi was sure. He may not function on mornings but all it took was a strong cup of black coffee made by his best friend/roommate Hoseok and he would be able to handle his morning lectures without passing out cold on top of his desk. He likes studying, he always enjoyed knowledge but as time passed it started being more about passing than about collecting knowledge because you actually want to. Hence why it was so difficult for him, even if he loved literature. The problem on this specific day was that Hoseok wasn’t here. He was not here on the kitchen, sitting with a mug in front of him while holding one himself. He was not here at his bedroom, oversleeping. He was not here taking longer to shower, inside the bathroom. What was here though was a note, sitting on top of the table as if mocking Yoongi.
‘Hey Yoongi hyung,
I’m really sorry for leaving before you wake up and not making coffee but Namjoonie called and he needed me earlier today at the studio. Hope you have a good day today, see you when I get back.
- Hoseok'
Now, that wasn’t really that surprising. The two of them had met Namjoon through a writing contest Yoongi once entered and they quickly found out that Namjoon was actually an aspiring musician, and that he entered the contest using some of the lyrics from his songs. Hoseok and Namjoon had clicked instantly, seeing as Hoseok was a music major. They, from that point on, starting working together sometimes, on the little room Namjoon had rented and started calling it his studio.
Yoongi sighed, glaring at the little heart that followed the note. Of fucking course Hoseok wouldn’t be here when he pulled an all-nighter. He looked at the clock, realizing he had about half an hour before his first lecture. Well, here goes nothing, Yoongi thought, getting up to change before going out.
What he didn’t expect was it to become a routine. Yoongi would wake up, find a note somewhere in the kitchen and go out to try and find a good coffee shop. It was starting to get ridiculous, he thought while going inside yet another shop, this one inside the campus. He had been to almost ever single shop in the block yet he couldn't find one, one, that was actually good. The moment he walked inside this one though, he noted instantly just how bright and colorful everything was. It screamed happiness and it was too early to be this happy. He sighed again (he really needed to stop doing that), moving towards the cashier to order and get the hell out of here.
“Good morning!” the person exclaimed happily, “Welcome to Headway Coffee! What can I get for you today?”
“The strongest coffee you have,” Yoongi mumbled, barely looking at the guy behind the counter.
“Ah, trying to stay up right? Early mornings always are a struggle. That’s alright, I know just the thing. And your name…?”
Yoongi finally looked up and the moment he did, he wished he hadn’t. This guy, to put it lightly, was way too beautiful to be working at a coffee shop named Headway Coffee this early (not that he would ever let anyone know that, of course). He was a little bit taller than him, shoulders slightly wider. The guy had extremely full lips which were forming an extremely beautiful smile that would make even Namjoon jealous (I mean, who needs dimples am I right?), not that Yoongi looked too much. His brown hair matched his face perfectly. After taking a second to take in the guy before him, he cleared his throat.
“Name’s Yoongi,” he answered, face expressionless but slightly hotter than before.
“Is that all you’ll have?”
“Yeah, that’s all,” Yoongi answered, lowering his gaze to get his wallet, “How much will that be?”
“₩5000,” the gorgeous cashier answered.
After thanking the guy, he moved to the side to wait, grabbing his phone to see if Hoseok even bothered replying to his angry messages he had sent when he woke up to an empty house again. A couple of minutes later and he heard a voice calling his name, signaling that his coffee was ready to go. Sighing yet again, he put his phone inside his pocket, stepping forward to grab his order. What he didn’t expect, however, was to see a smiley face on his cup, followed by a few words.
“What time did the man go to the dentist? Tooth hurt-y.”
Yoongi let an incredulous laugh leave his lips, not believing how bad the pun actually was. Looking back, he could see the guy who took his order smiling brighter than before and winking ridiculously at him, and he allowed himself to smile back before heading out of the shop.
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After that day, Yoongi found himself back at the little coffee shop every time Hoseok decided to go out before he could wake up, and that usually resulted in a very smiley cashier and a very bad pun written on his cup. It quickly became something that made Yoongi feel lighter, he noticed. The happiness inside that single coffee shop, the happiness stamped on the cashiers face, that was enough to make mornings a little more bearable to him.
Today, though, was a weird day. He woke up to the smell of coffee and eggs, and instantly marched towards the kitchen, ready thank the heavens for the wakeup call. When he got there, however, the sight was something he was not expecting. He really, really, did not expect to find his spot on the table occupied by no one other than Namjoon, who had a mug full of coffee in one hand while leaning forward to kiss the boy sitting in front of him.
“Of course,” Yoongi almost yelled, finally understanding the situation, startling the couple in front of him, “Of course you didn’t get a call from Namjoon every single day. No, you actually slept there every night. I cannot believe you, Jung Hoseok. You left your best friend without his morning caffeine for weeks just so you could go to Joonies and you didn’t even tell me.”
“Oh my god hyung, you scared the shit out of me,” Hoseok spoke, clutching his heart, “I really thought you had left already!”
“Left? Hoseok, my classes don’t start for another good forty minutes.”
“I know but you started going out earlier these days. To… what was it… Headway Coffee?” the younger asked, looking at his roommate.
“How would even know that? I only go there when you’re not here, Seok-ah,” Yoongi asked seriously.
“Yoongi hyung, you already went there a decent amount of times while I was sleeping for this past month. Did you seriously not realize that? I know what coffee it was because of the cups you don’t throw away sometimes.”
Okay, so let’s say that maybe Yoongi went there even when he didn’t see a note from Hoseok because he wanted to. Nothing wrong with that, right? And let’s say that maybe he didn’t throw some cups away right when he finished them. I mean, the guy behind the counter always made an effort to write a different pun every time Yoongi went there. That was okay, it wasn’t weird.
“Hoseok,” Yoongi hissed, ignoring what the younger said and the now growing blush on his face, “This isn’t about me! This is about you and Namjoon not telling me about… about… this!” he gave up, not finding the right words to describe it.
“Look Yoongi hyung,” Namjoon spoke for the first time, “We didn’t tell you about us because we wanted some time to figure it out ourselves. The first time Hoseokie hyung slept at my place, I called him because some things that I was working at the time weren’t coming out right and things just… happened. We didn’t know what to make of it at first, so we just kept it for ourselves. But he started spending more time over and we decided to give… well, give us a shot. We were going to tell you, tomorrow actually. But yeah, sorry we were keeping this from you hyung.”
Yoongi took a few seconds to look at the both of them, before nodding and sighing a bit.
“But I swear to God, if you start doing the gross couple shit in front of me, I will burn your shit Hoseok.”
He didn’t say it out loud, but he was really happy for them. It was painful to watch them as they continued to be oblivious. Honestly, he thought anyone with a pair of eyes could see the light on their faces as they talked about each other. Hell, anyone with a good pair of ears could hear how fucking fond they were every single time one said the others name.
“As if you would Min Yoongi,” Hoseok scoffed.
“Yeah, yeah. Anyways, I’m gonna change to grab some coffee before lecture. Hope next time I come out, I’ll see something other than you two face sucking.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you go somewhere as much as this Headway place, hyung,” he heard Hoseok mumble, “Almost seem like you go there to see someone. I mean, we have coffee right here if you want yet you’ll actually go there.”
“Please, I’d rather stab myself in the eye than be the third wheel,” Yoongi said, before going back inside his room to get his clothes. Someone to see, right. Hoseok was ridiculous.
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“So, will you have your usual?” cashier boy asked, as soon as Yoongi entered the place.
“I’ll have your name,” he blurted, without thinking. But could you blame him? He came here for weeks, talked to this guy for weeks yet he didn’t even know his name. That was ridiculous, really. The guy giggled (and maybe Yoongi had grown to love the sound more than he should) before nodding and answering him.
“It’s Kim Seokjin,” he said, with a wide smile, “Now, will you actually like your usual?”
He had a usual. A fucking usual, that’s how much he came here.
“Yeah, please.”
After paying he went to the side, ready to take his phone out while waiting but stopping himself. Instead, he turned to look at Seokjin, thinking why exactly he came back all the time here. It didn’t have customers here this early, maybe that was why. Maybe it was because of the jokes. Maybe, just maybe, it was because of the winking cashier. Nah, that’s not it.
“Seokjin,” he called without thinking (yes, again), liking how the name sounded, “Why do you write puns in my cups?”
He didn’t realize how much he wanted to know that up until now. You don’t just do that to any customers, right? He never got any pun cups before. Maybe it was a Seokjin thing. He didn’t want it to be a Seokjin thing though, he didn’t want to think that he gave everyone those smiles and winks after seeing they laugh at whatever he wrote.
“Because you deserve a laugh,” he answered easily, the softest smile on his face, “When you first came in here, you looked like hell. You had horrible bags under your eyes and you kept sighing all the time. You just looked so stressed while waiting for your order. I thought about giving you a cookie or a cupcake, but maybe you didn’t like that or wouldn’t be able to eat it. So, I thought of this really bad pun that made me laugh and hoped it would make your day a little brighter. And when you kept coming back, I just couldn’t help but to want to see that smile again.”
Yoongi looked at Seokjin, a tiny smile at the corners of his mouth. Maybe Hoseok wasn’t ridiculous after all. Maybe he did come here to see someone.