Work Text:
"hey."
yoongi looks up from his laptop screen, fingers hovering over the keyboard. standing above him is the most attractive boy he has ever had the pleasure of encountering, never mind that it's - yoongi checks his watch - 1:37 in the morning. the boy stands there with his hands behind his back. he keeps bouncing on the balls of his sandaled feet. he wears an oversized light blue sweater and loose black pants.
"hey," yoongi replies. he looks around the coffee shop that he's made his haven for the past 12 hours. too immersed in his work, he hasn't noticed that only a handful of customers remain. his eyes stray to the far corner of the shop. two tables, one round and the other square, are pushed together by what seem to be a group of male college students. the boys are quick to pretend that they were minding their own businesses when they see that yoongi is looking. twirling their straws in their frappuccinos, tinkering with their phones, whistling, the like.
yoongi thinks he knows them from somewhere.
"what do you want?" yoongi asks the boy hovering at his table. the boy hasn't said another word, and continues to stand there. his eyebrows are furrowed, he’s biting his lower lip, and he bends his knees every few seconds. either his joints are aching or he's preparing to bolt out of the place at the slightest provocation.
"i-" the boy starts, voice cracking a bit. he clears his throat and speaks louder. "i'm taehyung." he spares a glance at his friends sitting by the asymmetric tables. yoongi thinks he sees a few enthusiastic upturned thumbs in his periphery.
"i know," yoongi answers lazily, turning back to his laptop feigning nonchalance. he sees that since the interruption by this taehyung his index finger never left the keyboard, as exhibited by the additional block of text on his paper:
fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
what does this mean, he wonders.
"yes, i know who you are?"
yoongi pats the metal stool to the left of his seat. sit down.
taehyung doesn’t acknowledge the invitation and instead whispers, "hyung, never have i been more thankful of how coldly you treat me on a day-to-day basis. now pretend we're strangers. we have an audience." taehyung smiles faintly, although it looks strained. probably one of his college shenanigans. he looks back at his friends pointedly, and at the twist of his torso yoongi sees that taehyung has been flashing the rest of the restaurant with two middle fingers.
yoongi says nothing, just stares back. taehyung bursts out laughing, but it's the most unusual thing yoongi has ever heard - equal parts self-conscious and frantic. he flaps a hand at the air as if yoongi told a joke and all but scrambles to the seat beside yoongi's.
"uh huh," yoongi says with a distinct intonation, settling into his chair. his large black headphones lay dangling around his neck, even if he hasn’t listened to music for an hour or so. his back aches a bit from sitting in a hunched position for hours. taehyung always tells him to choose a table with a height suitable for typing but he never listens.
"listen boy," taehyung mutters robotically, now getting that damned gee song into his head. "my first love story... fuck."
he clenches his fist. takes a deep breath as if to steel himself and reaches out to delicately touch yoongi’s upper arm. taehyung caresses yoongi’s arm, or at least attempts to: it feels more like he’s scrubbing at the cloth with how harsh he does it - up down up release. yoongi tries not to move, but when taehyung is finished with his weird behavior he reaches for his iced coffee to preoccupy himself. it’s his third one, still cold and sweating, three-fourths full. taehyung finally settles completely in the proffered seat.
"i have a mission, hyung. please just go with it or i'll have to attend jungkookie’s 7 am class for the next four weeks. and if you know me at all, you'll know how early mornings and i don’t agree."
yoongi does know. he will never forget that one time taehyung had an exam scheduled too early and yoongi, forced to act as alarm clock, came out of taehyung’s room with multiple bite marks on his arm. or that one mysterious time that taehyung texted yoongi for help when his foot got stuck in the toilet. taehyung’s default mood in the early morning is anger, and neither close friends nor bathroom fixtures can escape his wrath.
at that moment, a wad of crumpled paper hits the back of taehyung's head before he can continue with his rant about the dare, and he whips his head around. his friends, the three of them, are conspicuously motioning for taehyung to just get on with it. guess they threw their subtlety out the window.
"okay, okay!" taehyung hisses at them. when he turns back to yoongi, he groans miserably. "they dared me to chat up a stranger and give them a kiss on the cheek." taehyung has his hands clenched into fists at his sides, eyes looking everywhere but yoongi's direction.
"o-kay, but i'm not a stranger, tae? i've known you since your diaper days and we just went to a concert two days ago." he takes out and unlocks his phone and adds, "and it's been 30 minutes at most since your last ranting spiel on katalk. dare i say we’re pretty close friends."
"it was your concert, hyung. wow, i’m still so proud of how-"
"taehyung, that wasn't my point." no new messages on katalk. figures, since the person he usually talks to is right in front of him.
"yeah, well my stupid friends don't know that we know each other."
"what, are you ashamed of me or something? you’ve never mentioned me?"
"no, of course not! i mean, yes of course i’ve mentioned you. you’re my best friend."
"then why was i chosen to be the unfortunate victim of this dare? what's the penalty anyway?"
taehyung looks one second away from pulling at his hair. "yoongi hyung, look at what you're wearing. you were hunched over that small table with a black cap and your black hoodie up. i know you uphold that dark and mysterious persona, but i need to be able to see your face for me to know it's you. from across the room you were just a small brooding man sitting by himself in a coffee shop at turd o’clock.” taehyung massages his temples. “and i already told you, the penalty is that i have to attend jungkook’s 7 am classes."
taehyung shifts in his seat, hands clutching his knees, back rim rod straight: a feat yoongi thought impossible from taehyung. he was, by nature, a leg sprawler and fellow bad-posture enthusiast.
"relax, kid. my back hurts just looking at you," yoongi murmurs with subdued affection. he reaches for his coffee, to give his hands something to do. nodding toward the friends’ table, yoongi says, “jungkook’s that muscle kid with the red hat?” he remembers hearing that a jungkook likes both red and gyms. 1+1=2. or a window, as taehyung would insist.
taehyung nods and doesn’t say anything, still massaging his temples.
"so, ask me out then."
taehyung takes a deep breath and looks straight into yoongi’s eyes, looking a bit manic with how wide his eyes are. "min yoongi. hyung. my wise older friend... will you have a grand romantic dinner with me sometime?"
yoongi shrugs. "yeah sure, we always have dinner on thursdays. i’ll cook for you."
and with that said and done, yoongi stands up. with his hood still up and unnecessarily hiding his face, he walks over to the barista at the counter who is reading a thick hardbound book. murmurs something, the barista nods, and proceeds to the bathroom.
taehyung, on the other hand, sits there looking at the chair his hyung vacated. his mouth hangs open rather stupidly. a few beats later, one of his friends stumbles over.
“how did it go? did he reject you?” he looks eager as he interrogates. taehyung resists the urge to kick his shin.
“it went fine. i got a date. on thursday.”
“aw man, that sucks.”
“thanks.”
“i mean, congrats on not being humiliated and all, but that means i still have to attend my morning classes… unless…” he cackles, a creepy smile appearing on his face. “jimin hyung!” thankfully, he goes away.
“excuse me, sir.” someone warily says beside taehyung a second later. he still hasn’t looked away from the empty chair. “i was instructed to look after the frightening man’s things. are you his friend?”
taehyung looks up and sees a tall beanie-wearing man staring down at him. there’s a thick book stuffed into his armpit and what looks like an apron wrapped around his neck like a scarf. probably not standard. it’s such an odd thing to see that taehyung forgets to reply to the question and just stands up and walks to where his stupid friends are.
“- all right?” he hears someone say behind him.
taehyung sags into the chair pulled out by his dear friend jimin. he’d have been okay with laying on the floor too. holy shit, he just asked yoongi hyung out on a date.
he comes out of the bathroom, unbeknownst to taehyung who is catatonic. yoongi wears a blank expression on his face but his back is straighter than usual. his phone burns in his pocket, suddenly so vital. he’s made up his mind about something.
but before that...
he walks over to his seat and promptly smacks the barista on the back of the head. “yah, care to explain what you’re doing?”
“ow, that hurt, man.” he starts, clutching at his head like a big bespectacled baby. “i was just - you’re agust d, right? i couldn’t help but look through your open laptop...” no remorse to be seen whatsoever for being caught tinkering with a stranger’s - no, a customer’s! - belongings.
yoongi just raises his eyebrow as he waits for a proper explanation. his hand is already poised to flick the barista on the forehead if he isn’t satisfied soon. he lets it hover threateningly above his glasses.
the barista raises a hand in surrender. “all right, please don’t hurt me again. you see, i’m rap monster.”
yoongi can’t help but notice that his other hand’s index finger is still pressing a key.
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
yoongi slaps the stranger’s hands away from his keyboard.
“is- sorry, are you not agust d? i’m so embarrassed, oh my god-”
“nah, i am,” and yoongi promptly shoves off rap monster from his seat and plops down with a sigh. he doesn’t look at what happens to the man, but hears a dull thump and quiet curse. he’s a bit pleased. “rap monster, kim namjoon from ilsan, fellow underground rapper. can’t say it’s a pleasure to meet you. with the invasion of privacy and all.”
“ha ha, please don’t get me fired.” namjoon at least looks slightly sheepish at his antics and infinitely relieved that yoongi isn’t too angry.
yoongi can be very amicable when it suits him. he feels like he’s on cloud nine, considering. “sure, just give me your details and we can talk another time. buy me a coffee and cake slice, whatever.”
he waves a hand around, dismissing him. “i’m a bit busy right now. i’ve been meaning to contact you anyway, your stuff is pretty good.” yoongi looks up at where namjoon is standing still, reaches for the iphone he sees stuffed precariously in the pocket of his work shirt, grabs namjoon’s thumb, presses it into the home button, scrolls around a bit, and types in his own number.
“mind if i-?” he asks namjoon, looking up and gesturing towards the phone in his hands. he doesn’t wait for an answer and presses the call button.
somewhere in his bag a muffled 8-bit version of gee plays.
yoongi locks the phone and hands it back to namjoon.
“i’ll text you or something. have to ask hoseok. by the way,” yoongi says, hands already busy gathering his things into his bag. without looking up, he adds, “there’s a line at the counter.”
namjoon rushes off to his post. he struggles with his apron-scarf.
yoongi rips out a page from his notebook and uncaps his pen.
taehyung shoves his phone into his pants pocket, hands shaking a bit.
“tell me again what we’re doing at a coffee shop at 2 a.m. on a saturday when i could be in bed sleeping?” asks seokjin, the oldest of their quartet.
“we definitely should be doing that right now,” jimin starts. “but then jungkook here forced taehyung to finish his dare before the weekend even started.”
“you do know classes don’t start for another two weeks, right?” seokjin says, takes a sip of his remaining coffee and blanches when he forgets it’s been sitting there for a couple of hours now. oddly enough given the hour, there’s a queue at the counter, so he waits before asking for a refill.
“wanted to clutch my victory early and gloat my free mornings over taehyung hyung. is that so wrong?” jungkook is in a bad mood now. his attempts at daring jimin next are a no-go. but without a computer and printer in sight, jimin won’t budge.
“you can’t underestimate taehyung, bro, even if it took him two whole hours to get the nerve to do it,” jimin says, ceremoniously taking out two immaculate pieces of fancy paper from his bag. he shoves them into jungkook’s face with a grin. “a deal’s a deal.”
“whatever. where do i sign again?” jungkook uncaps the pen he’s handed and looks over the document. he ticks the box that says Kim Taehyung Is V, for Victorious and shades the box that lists the details of Jeon Jungkook’s Penalty , deliberate because he knows how jimin likes consistency in the documents. he ignores the Jeon Jungkook Is JK, for I Never Lose? Just Kidding I Lost Again I Am Loser.
“upper right hand corner, left margin, then bottom of the page above your name. you know the drill.” jimin says, like he’s done this a dozen times. and he has. he’s just thrilled it’s jungkook who’s lost again this time. he claps his hands, remembering something and goes through the stuff in his bag.
jungkook can feel the start of a headache coming. jimin produces a framed certificate stating jungkook’s loser status and pretends to find a place in the shop to hang it up.
"i wonder if hoseok hyung will let me put this up on the board..."
seokjin stood up from his chair a few minutes ago to get his coffee refill but is still at the counter, talking animatedly with the barista, squeaky laughter overflowing.
taehyung is slumped in his chair, vacantly staring at the far corner of the room where he finished the dare of asking someone out for dinner. he keeps staring at yoongi sitting in his chair and scribbling something. his distinct black hoodie with the patch on the back. taehyung had given him that patch for his birthday, was there when yoongi ironed it on. he smiles a bit at the memory, at how yoongi gave him a big smile when he showed it off proudly.
taehyung is so distracted that it doesn’t register with him that yoongi has faced his direction and is moving towards him. his friends notice, of course. jimin elbows him and taehyung jolts, coming back to himself.
taehyung looks around, trying to find a way out, and only sees jungkook and jimin (where did seokjin hyung go?) staring at yoongi as he approaches. jungkook is pretending to eat from a box of popcorn, huge grin on his face. ever the annoying friend, he even pretends to toss up a kernel and catch it with his mouth.
yoongi stops right in front of taehyung, smiling down at him. taehyung thinks he gapes a bit, especially because from this angle it looks like yoongi has a halo on top of his blonde head and wow when did he put down his hood and lose his cap? has his hair always been that soft-looking? wait, is that a new ear piercing?
“hey,” yoongi says.
“hey,” taehyung replies.
“you asked me out for dinner, but i think there’s was something about a kiss on the cheek too?”
(“i knew i was forgetting something!” jungkook seethes beside taehyung, suddenly grabbing at jimin’s bag. “give me the documents, jimin!”
“L-O-L, you wish. i already scanned them and posted them online, so you can’t take it back.” jimin stands up and starts moving away from the table, one hand holding his backpack and the other clutching at jungkook’s arm, dragging him away. “i’m so happy right now, i’ll forgive you for not calling me hyung.”)
“yeah, there was… but it’s fine, that- it’s okay,” taehyung stutters. he thinks his palms are sweaty.
“oh, sorry. i thought with the messages a few minutes ago…” yoongi backtracks, slumping a bit and looking down at his shoes.
“no!” he shouts. taehyung raises his hands, as if that would stop yoongi from misunderstanding. yoongi looks back at him in alarm. “i meant what i said. fuck, sorry, i’m so awkward.”
“hey, that’s my line, kid.” yoongi takes a few steps forward until he’s just a foot away from where taehyung is still seated. he stretches out a hand and tentatively puts it on taehyung’s shoulder, is this okay?
taehyung isn’t saying anything, but he isn’t moving away either, so yoongi steels himself and bends down to kiss taehyung on the lips. he feels taehyung automatically grab at his forearm and he smiles when taehyung kisses back.
just as yoongi starts to move away, taehyung’s other hand grabs the back of his neck to stop him and kisses him deeper. yoongi tries not to laugh, but he’s so happy that he does it anyway.
when yoongi opens his eyes and leans away a bit, taehyung is smiling at him. yoongi feels warm all over. taehyung’s fingers card through the hair at the back of his head.
taehyung surges forward to kiss yoongi one last time, before he turns towards where he knows his friends are watching. well, his three idiot friends and the barista. they’re all standing at the counter. taehyung calls out “jungkookie!” before he leans to his left and kisses yoongi’s cheek, loud exaggerated “mwah” almost echoing inside the empty shop. “have fun with your penalty, you loser!”
yoongi is glad that the next laugh to come out of taehyung sounds like it should, bright and carefree. when taehyung lets him go, yoongi clears his throat and dusts off invisible dirt from his pants and hoodie when he straightens up. they’re still smiling at each other, radiating happiness.
yoongi takes out a piece of paper from his back pocket and hands it to taehyung who thinks he hears a murmured “thanks” before yoongi turns and power-walks out of the shop.
taehyung tamps down the urge to suddenly dance or scream or both in favor of putting the piece of paper between his lips so his hands are free to gather his things into his bag. when he glances at the counter, jimin seems to be wrestling with jungkook while the barista is handing seokjin a small fork for the slice of chocolate cake that they’re about to share. a thick hardbound book sits temporarily forgotten by the barista’s elbow.
he glances at his watch and sees that it’s almost 3 a.m. he looks out the window and isn’t shocked that it’s dark out. his bag prepared and secured over his shoulder, he stands up and finally reads the piece of paper his hyung handed to him.
“what does it say!” seokjin shouts from his place at the counter, sitting primly on a stool, fork with cake halfway to his mouth.
“none of your business, hyung!” taehyung shouts good-naturedly, still rereading the note. “i’m heading out, guys!”
“okay, safe travels, my friend!” jimin screams, arm still wrapped around jungkook’s neck, not a hair out of place. guess the wrestling match isn’t finished.
the kid in the headlock doesn’t bother to say goodbye.
“i’m namjoon, by the way!” the barista adds to the yelling fest. “congrats on the date and the kiss with mr. scary guy!”
noise pollution is a real issue. taehyung gives them a thumbs up and heads for the door. he slips the paper into the back of his phone case, readjusts the strap of his bag, and leaves the coffee shop.
a small bell rings above the swinging door. his eyes adjust to the darkness. two cats lounge across the street, one using the other as a pillow.
“taehyung!” he hears yoongi call out a distance away. spring in his step, he walks over.
T,
see you at home.
xoxo love,
your favorite hyung