Work Text:
Namjoon hangs up the phone with a sigh. It’s always one thing after another. People not doing what they said they would do, or making mistakes. Missing deadlines. Managing such a large project is proving to be a struggle.
He needs a break, needs to clear his head. He peers at the clock. It’s only 11am. It’s a little early but… he could take his lunch now. Go for a walk and relax for a minute, take in some fresh air. He’d been in the office since 6 in the morning and could feel the beginnings of a headache forming in the back of his neck.
He finishes up the coffee that’s been sitting cold on his desk for the past hour and steps out of his office. Yoongi is just in the room next to his, so he pops his head in.
“Hey, I’m taking an early lunch,” Namjoon says. “I really need a break.”
Yoongi barely looks up at him from his computer screen. He grunts something non-committal, which Namjoon takes as an affirmative that he’d been heard, and then the CEO is on his way.
The air outside is crisp and cool, and thankfully, it’s a nice day. Namjoon pulls his coat tighter around him, zipping it up. He appreciates the coolness on his skin, but doesn't really want to get much colder.
Then he turns and walks away from his company building. Away from his stress.
Cities are bustling, as they always are, but he enjoys blending in with the people around him, enjoys not having anywhere to be for just a little while. He takes a look at the shops around him, various clothing stores, a few restaurants here and there.
He stops though, in front of one he doesn't recognise. It's new, obvious from both the fact Namjoon has never seen it and the sign out front. And... well, Namjoon doesn't work in design so really he can't comment. But it stands out amongst the grey cement and sleek black designs surrounding it. It's soft and pastel and / cute/ .
Cake Walk. That's what the soft design in the front says the place is called. Curious, Namjoon peers into the window. There are a few cakes on display, and decadent looking cupcakes surround them.
Really he has no reason to want to go inside. He's never liked sweets very much, preferring savoury and bitter foods. But the place is really empty, despite it's 'brand new' status. Leaning on the counter is...
Well. The CEO is never one to just come to conclusions before meeting someone. But it's definitely one of the most beautiful men he had ever laid eyes on.
Through the window, their eyes meet, and the other perks up. A smile spreads over the baker's features and he waves at Namjoon from his place behind the till. The CEO realises quickly, he's trapped. He can't just walk away now, he doesn't want to look rude.
And he really doesn't want to look rude in front of what he is fairly certain is an angel. So he does what any respectable person would do. He enters the store.
There's a pleasant chime above his head as he does so, and there's soft music playing just barely above audible level, setting a relaxed atmosphere.
"Welcome!" says the angel behind the counter, voice soft yet enthusiastic. "Thanks for coming in."
"Of course." Namjoon smiles at him, eyes finding his name tag tapped on the front of his shirt.
Park Jimin - Owner.
"You're the owner?"
"Yeah," Jimin chuckles. "I've always wanted to open my own cake shop and... I finally got to do it! I'm Jimin, it's nice to meet you."
Namjoon shook his hand, looking around the place. It's been carefully decorated with a minimalistic-pastel style. There's a small section off to the side with white, egg shaped chairs and rounded tables. It seemed nothing in the room had much in terms of sharp edges.
"I'm Kim Namjoon," the CEO drops right into his formal greeting out of habit, then immediately tries to shake himself out of it. This was his time to relax, he didn't need to stress with formalities right now. "I like what you've done with the place."
It was true. He loved the laid-back air of the room, and though he wouldn't eat most of the things on display, he found the layout to be rather aesthetically pleasing.
"Thanks!" Jimin beamed at him. "Please take a look at my cakes! I have individual cupcakes too, if you're more after something small - or maybe a set for the office?"
Namjoon is about to tell the guy that he’s not really a sweets person, that he just stopped by to clear his head and popped in because it’s new -- but he stills when he notices one of the cupcake designs. It just says “hwaiting” on it, but it’s written in his favourite shade of blue, and stands out among the other fancier designs. It’s simple.
“I’ll take one of those, actually.”
--
Yoongi looks confused when Namjoon returns to the office; “Is that a cupcake?”
Namjoon shrugs, holding the box closer to himself. He's not sure why he's embarrassed about it. Except for the fact that Yoongi definitely knows he doesn't like sweets.
"They had a good sales pitch."
Yoongi just starts to laugh. "Please don't tell me that's your lunch for today."
"No of course not!" Namjoon isn't really hungry. He always brought food in for himself though, often eating while working more than anything. He had a sandwich in the company fridge.
He places the cupcake box at his desk and stares at it for far too long before finally opening it up. The blue 'hwaiting' stares up at him. It looked like it had been written carefully, with love, and after meeting Jimin, he was sure that was the case. The boy was far too soft to have anything but love for his craft.
The CEO tentatively takes a bite near the bottom, not wanting to ruin the icing on top. He's pleasantly surprised. The cake itself is moist and delicious, not too sweet, despite the implication of being a dessert. When he tastes the icing on top, he's happy to find the flavour to be smoother than he expected. Perhaps since he'd never had a cupcake from a real bakery before. But the taste was richer than he'd been expecting, more of a true milk flavour, instead of just pure sugar.
He enjoyed it.
That afternoon is one of the most productive afternoons he's had in a while. And he's pretty sure he knows why.
--
Cupcakes.
Honestly, Namjoon almost never eats sweets. Yet day after day he finds himself in front of the little store called Cake Walk. Day after day he finds himself coming back to the office with another cupcake in hand. Chocolate. Vanilla. Strawberry filled.
He doesn't dislike them. He thinks they're really well done. He imagines if he was a cupcake person he would really be addicted to them. Sort of like how his brain can't get the man who bakes them from his head.
Jimin's little bakery had started to gain some traction. People were now there when he went on his lunch break. He didn't often get to speak to owner like he had the first time, even though he'd hired an extra person - a nice boy named Jungkook - to man the cashier area in front.
Namjoon probably needs to admit to himself at some point that he’s not going to Cake Walk for the cupcakes at all, but definitely for the person who makes them. And he really wants to spend more time with him.
The shop opens at 9am every morning. Namjoon can't get himself out of the office that early. Not without some valid excuse, of which he has none. And weekends were no good either, the store was closed on Sundays, and Namjoon often had many meetings on Saturdays. That or he was required to fly out to meet with another company head to discuss matters. Really he had no time to relax in those times, one of the many sacrifices he had to make for being such a high rank within the company.
So he's shocked when, on a regular Friday morning, he finds himself finished his overseas conference call early. They were finally wrapping up an arduous project and everything was ready for launch. The call was smooth, simply verifying all the finals and the release dates, and he finished up just before 9am.
"You should take a break," Yoongi says, peeking into Namjoon's office. "I know you were here arranging things until midnight last night."
Namjoon rubs his eyes. He's tired, yes, but not overly so. Or perhaps he was so used to feeling exhausted that it didn't affect him as much anymore.
He reaches for his coffee, about to tell Yoongi not to worry, it isn't a big deal, he's still got project eagle to work on -- when he realises he doesn't have any coffee. He'd completely forgotten to pick some up that morning.
Okay, maybe he did need a break.
"I guess I’ll head out and get some coffee," the CEO stands up, stretching his arms as he did so. "Do you want anything?"
"Nah," Yoongi shrugs. "I still have mine from earlier."
So Namjoon heads down, heading towards his usual coffee shop. Then it hits him. He's never out this early. He won't be at the office too late today either. He pulls out his phone and checks the time. 9:03am.
He immediately knows what he wants to do. He pivots on his heel and redirects himself toward the little shop he's fallen so in love with. With the cute little cakes and the angelic looking owner.
He peeks in through the window, and sees Jimin inside. He looks to have just finished setting out the display for the day. He closes the case and turns around to see Namjoon at the window.
The owner immediately recognises him, waving him in. He's left with no choice. He's not sure he wanted a choice. He's going to do it today.
"Namjoon!" Jimin is positively radiant. "You're here so early!"
"I had some free time this morning so I wanted to stop by," Namjoon smiles, trying to quell his nerves. There's nobody else in the store yet, now is the perfect time to ask. Maybe the only time to ask.
"I'm really happy to see you, we've been so busy recently it's been pretty hard to chat!"
"Yeah..." Even breathing, totally normal. This is totally normal. Fuck - what if he's not into guys? "Actually I.. I wanted to ask you something if that's alright?"
"Sure!" Jimin chirps, waiting patiently for the CEO to continue.
"Do you..." Namjoon stills. What exactly does he want to ask? How does he phrase it? "When do you close today?"
Fuck, that was... was that too bold? Or not bold enough? Was that even the right way to start it off?
"6 o’clock!" Jimin chimed. "Do you need something before I close today?"
"N-no, actually I..." Deep breaths Namjoon, deep breaths. "I was wondering if you were free for dinner?"
"Huh?" Jimin's head tilts, face scrunched up in confusion. "I don't really make dinner worthy food, I can bake but I'm not much of a chef..."
"I mean... no no no. Ahhh! Why is this so hard?" The CEO turns around and takes a deep breath, then swirls back around, looking a perplexed Jimin right in the eyes. "I meant. Let's go out for dinner. Together. To eat."
Jimin stares at him with comically wide eyes, red flushing up into his cheeks. His lips part carefully as the man attempts to come up with some sort of graceful response. "U-um yup, sure. I'm free. Yeah. That's -- yup. I'm. Let's do it."
Namjoon swallows thickly, heart hammering in his chest. "Right. So... 6:30 I'll be here to pick you up, alright?"
Jimin nods viciously. "Yup. 6:30."
Namjoon nervously licks his lips. "Cool."
"Cool."
Namjoon can't walk out of there fast enough, face burning.
After running almost a full block from the bakery, he stops and leans against a wall, catching his breath. Thinking.
He'd done it. He'd asked Jimin out. And... going off of the reaction... Jimin knew what kind of outing this was intended to be. Holy fuck. He was going on a date with Jimin.
He was going on a date with Jimin .
It was all he could do to keep focused for the rest of his day. Yoongi must have noticed something was up, because he came and took nearly half of Namjoon's workload. He was grateful that it was the end of the project, so everything was mostly just tying up loose ends and making sure everything was in the right place, things that were simple enough to pass on. He just couldn't focus. His heart constantly jumping into his throat when his brain flitted to the image of the cute bakery owner... that he would be taking out to dinner .
6 o'clock rolled around much too slowly, and as soon as it was there, he took off. Barely saying goodbye to a bewildered Yoongi. He stopped in the bathroom and fixed his hair, immediately grateful that he had to go to work in a suit. It helped his tired features look just a bit more professional and he prayed that Jimin didn't notice how exhausted he looked. He was really looking forward to it, despite the consistent thrumming in his chest.
He'd picked out a nice place (not too nice, just in case he'd misread Jimin). He intends to pay for the whole thing - he was a CEO after all, and Jimin was a small business owner. He wants to treat him, to make a good impression.
On his way over, he wonders if maybe he should’ve picked up some flowers or something. Then deciding that would be entirely too much. It's a first date, and sure, they kinda know each other, but he wants to get to know the real Jimin first, and for him to get to know the real Namjoon. The romantic inclinations can wait, at least for today.
He arrives about ten minutes early, knocking on the window of the shop. Jungkook is in there, cleaning up. He immediately pulls the door open for Namjoon.
"Hey!" he says. "Jimin is just changing in the back if you don't mind waiting for a few minutes."
"Nope," Namjoon tries not to stutter. "Not at all."
Jungkook smirks at him as he sweeps the floor, eyeing him up and down.
"What is it?" the CEO pulls at his collar, feeling a bit sick to his stomach.
"Nothing," Jungkook shrugs, returning to his work. "Jimin's just been talking about you all day. I think he's excited to be going out."
"O-oh." Namjoon flushes at that, staring at the ground. All day? He watches Jungkook finish up his sweeping.
Jimin walks out a minute later and... it occurs to Namjoon that he'd never seen him in anything except the uniform he wears in the bakery. He's dressed all in pastels, a clear reflection of his tastes. He’s got faded, ripped jeans, a fluffy yellow sweater and a cute jacket on top. He looks like one of his own pastel creations, fitting right into the decor of the shop, and it takes Namjoon's breath away.
Jimin shies when he sees the older.
"Kookie.. you didn't tell me he was here already!" he whispers to the employee.
"Oh, right. I forgot." Jungkook smiles innocently.
"Are you ready?" Namjoon asks, eyes not leaving the man in front of him, who’s nervously looking down, playing with the hem of his sweater.
Jimin smiles at the the floor, muttering a quiet 'yes'. He wraps a scarf around his neck and reminds Jungkook to lock up after he leaves. Namjoon opens the door for Jimin and notes that while the other isn’t short by any means, his own height is still well above the baker’s own. A fact that makes him oddly giddy. It’s cute . Way too cute. The door closes behind them with a small jingle.
And then it's just them.
"I uh, have a place picked out, if you don't mind." Namjoon gestures towards the sidewalk. “It’s pretty close, if you’re okay walking.”
“Sure!” Jimin smiles, following him along the pathway.
Jimin tells him about the customers that came in that day, how he just got a really large custom order for a party and he’s really excited because it means the store is really gaining traction and business would be picking up. They’re so close that they nearly touch, walking beside each other. Namjoon can’t remember a normal distance to hold between people. It never feels this awkward when he’s walking beside Yoongi, yet somehow he feels both too far and too close to Jimin at the same time. Their fingers gently brush against each other a couple of times, and Namjoon’s face warms up despite the cool air. Should he hold his hand?
He fits his hands in his pockets instead, and after a moment, Jimin does the same. They walk nearly shoulder to shoulder, and Namjoon starts sharing what he can about his current project, explaining that it’s near completion.
He doesn’t get far though, because they’ve reached the restaurant. It’s located on the second floor of the building, right above a flower shop. It’s a place he knows will deliver good service, have good food, and not be too overwhelming for a first date. His insides coil because he’s once again reminded that this is a date . Though Jimin is making it feel easy despite how nervous the younger looked when they’d left the store.
They take a seat, nestled nicely in a corner by the window. A good mix of privacy and view. It’s cozy, Jimin fits right in, looking comfortable.
“A longtime friend of mine owns this place,” Namjoon explains after they are seated, not wanting the conversation to lull. “Kim Seokjin. He kindly fit me in for a reservation.”
“Is this place pretty busy then?” Jimin asks, looking around. About half the tables are filled.
“It can be, yeah. I just wanted to be safe, you know?”
Jimin smiles at him fondly; “That’s really cool, Joonie.”
“Joonie?”
“You don’t like it? I thought it suited you. It’s kinda cute right?”
Namjoon turns his gaze to the menu in front of him, face reddening. He’s cute ? Him ? “Y-yeah I guess so.”
The server interrupts, taking their drink orders. Namjoon encourages Jimin to get whatever he likes and then they’re alone again.
“You know, I was so glad you came in the first day we met,” Jimin is still looking at the menu, but it’s clear his focus is on Namjoon. “It was so dead. You were the first customer of the day besides some lady who only came in to look.”
“Oh, really?” Namjoon shifts in his chair. “I… actually went in because we made eye contact. I didn’t expect to buy anything.”
“Oh?”
“I’m not that fond of sweets, actually.”
Jimin blinks, surprised; “You come in every day and get a cupcake though?”
“Yeah I do that, huh?” Namjoon lets out a nervous chuckle. Their server returns with their beverages and asks if they’re ready, Jimin’s not.
"So uh... what do you like?" Jimin is swirling the straw in his drink, looking anywhere but Namjoon's face. "Since sweets aren't your thing."
“C-crabs,” Namjoon mutters. Jimin tilts his head.
“Crabs?”
“Y-yeah, I really like crabs. Not to eat! I just-- they’re cute.” God, his face is so unbelievably hot right now. Crabs were really the first thing he thought of? Jimin’s laugh rings out into the air and the tension dissipates. Namjoon allows his shoulders to relax, and laughs with him.
After that, it goes smoothly. Really smoothly. Jimin keeps smiling at the CEO, delicate fluttering eyelashes and nervous giggles. Namjoon’s cheeks flush a bit when the other boldly reaches across the table to taste some of his bibimbap, the burn even more so when the younger’s hand finds a way to hold onto Namjoon’s own as they chat for the evening, even once their plates are cleared. An hour passes easily. Talking with Jimin is simple, endearing.
Namjoon encourages Jimin to order a dessert, since they’d been seated there for so long, content to just watch the younger enjoy himself. He even steals a bit of the all too decadent cake that is ordered. He’s rewarded with a playful remark of an indirect kiss. It’s not as if he’s hoping to kiss Jimin for real or anything. He just feels like he’s in a cloud. Dreaming.
Dreaming right up until the moment they step outside again, bellies full and crisp air biting at their cheeks. Jimin pulls his scarf tighter around his neck, and the two awkwardly stand outside the doorway for a moment.
“I don’t suppose you’ll want to walk me home?” Jimin suggests, cheeks pink.
“Of course,” Namjoon smiles as he tucks his hands into his pockets, trying to ward off the cold. “Lead the way.”
They fall into a comfortable silence, walking side by side, bumping shoulders. Finally, Jimin links his arm with the taller, arm snaking around and back into his own pocket, the result leaving their arms nestled together like a pretzel. Namjoon slows his pace, but the younger continues to pull him forwards, carefully avoiding looking at his face.
It’s adorable.
They stop in front of a tall apartment building, just a few blocks away from Jimin’s store.
“T-this is my building,” the baker murmurs under his breath. They unlink their arms, and Namjoon just holds Jimin’s hands in front of him, staring at the other. They remain like that, unblinking, for several moments.
“This…” Namjoon clears his throat, “was a date, right?”
Jimin bites his lip, “y-yes. I mean. If you wanted it to be. Then I think so.”
“Yeah. I do. Thanks for letting me take you out.”
“I had a good time, thank you, really…”
Neither of them move.
“Do you maybe wanna go on another date sometime?” Namjoon finally plucks the courage to ask.
“Yes.” Jimin answers without question. They finally release their hands as Jimin attempts to fish out his phone from his pockets. “Here, let me give you my number so we can text.”
They exchange contact info, Namjoon’s heart thudding in his chest the whole time.
“Thank you for a great evening, Joonie…” Jimin smiles sweetly at the older. “Call me anytime, alright?”
“Sure thing, Jimin.”
Jimin hesitates only slightly before pulling Namjoon into what could only be defined as an incredibly awkward hug, the taller slouched over as he tries to wrap his arms around the smaller frame. It only lasts a moment, but their touch lingers slightly, leaving tingles that run down Namjoon’s back.
Then Jimin is running inside, quickly looking back with a wave. Namjoon stands there gaping for far too long before he composes himself, tucking his hands in his pockets.
Another date, huh?
Another date sounded perfect, actually.