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The fresh aroma of crushed coffee beans and the sight of soft puppies swarms Renjun’s senses as he enters the cafe. He had never been to a dog cafe before, but he always wanted to. He only had to finish one final paper for his Korean class before he was done for the year and could relax. This was his reward to himself, being surrounded by fuzzy animals and the sweet release of coffee.
He tousles his hair and slides into the booth in the corner of the cafe. With his backpack neatly placed on the space next to him, he welcomes any dogs to join his company. A special golden dog plops down beside him, his tail going into light speed the second it sees Renjun’s cheeks lifting in an elegant smile. Renjun’s glasses had been delicately put next to his paper, but he couldn’t resist the gentle look the dog was giving him.
“Do you want to wear them boy?” The dog responds by flopping onto the booth and holding his paw out. Renjun giggles, watching as he snuggles his chin on the table to allow for Renjun to set the glasses on his nose.
They were crooked and it just made Renjun giggle louder. The dog now looked just like Renjun and he couldn’t help the enormous smile that was brought to his face.
“I’m going to call you Injun, is that alright boy?” The dog’s face lit up and he barked, all whilst nodding his head back, accepting all the attention given to him by Renjun. Renjun grabs the dog and hugs him against his body, causing Injun to lick his nose. Renjun couldn’t stop giggling and asking himself why he didn’t come here sooner.
Meanwhile, Jaemin is the only one working a shift in the front today, Mark being the only other worker here at all. He loves dogs and coffee so this job seemed like the perfect one for him, but this was one of the most stressful days he had had in ages.
He was cleaning after dogs, patting their heads and cleaning any accidents they left lying around, when Mark shouted at him from the counter.
“Look man, I’ve got all of the other tables on the left side if you can get the one in the corner started after washing your hands.” Jaemin sighed and checked his watch. His shift ended in an hour but it looked like he might be working overtime today, so much for finishing his paper.
“Sure Mark, that’s fine just get table 8 done please, I cannot handle Mrs. Grabby Hands anymore.” Mark snorted and nodded, grabbing the tray of coffee before heading right over to the issue.
Jaemin was prepared for any situation possible except for this one. Jaemin had prepared for an elderly couple, a screaming toddler, or a teenage girl but what he got left him breathless.
A cute and smiling Renjun was sitting there cuddling Injun when Jaemin came to the table with his notepad and apron.
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Jaemin always approaches a table with a smile, but this time it was genuine, the corners of his cheeks almost hindering his eyesight.
“Hello, sir. What can I get for you today?” Renjun giggles as the dog licks him again and a faint blush brushes against Jaemin’s cheeks. The minute Renjun opens his eyes from laughing, he sees Jaemin smiling and swears an angel is taking his order.
Renjun is yelling at himself to not stutter, praying he doesn’t mess this up and smiles as he sees how perfect Jaemin looks in this lighting.
“U-um I’d like a caramel cappuccino please,” He looks at Jaemin’s name tag, “Jaemin.” Jaemin can’t help but melt a little inside at the way his name rolls off of Renjun’s tongue.
“Of course Renjun.” Renjun’s entire face lights up a light coating of pink. He goes to open his mouth before Jaemin is being called to the back.
“I’m coming Mark don’t worry!” An apologetic smile is given as he mutters that Renjun’s name is on his assignment and that Jaemin swears he isn’t a creep.
When Jaemin comes back with Renjun’s drink, Injun is just as interested as Renjun in the cup with the milky heart pattern on the top.
Renjun struggles to keep the cup away from the dog, Injun taking a huge gulp of the cappuccino despite Renjun telling him no.
Renjun frowns, tugging the mug away from the dog, but Injun insisted and spills the coffee down the side of the table, Renjun jumping up to clean up the mess.
The only problem being that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, and Jaemin happened to be behind Renjun with a tray of coffee when he got up; the tray that Jaemin was holding went all over his shirt, and was replaced with Renjun in his arms.
Both breathlessly connect their eyes as Renjun grips onto Jaemin’s strong shoulders.
Renjun gasps as he realizes the position they are in, his prince literally smiling above him. Jaemin giggles at the situation, getting closer to where the two of their chests touch and whispering in Renjun’s ear, “I guess you literally fell for me, huh?”
The blush on Renjun’s cheeks was incredibly evident now, his entire body reacting to that line in a panic until he realizes the coffee stains on Jaemin’s shirt.
Renjun gasps dramatically, running his fingers through his hair then jumping down from Jaemin’s arms to grab something from his backpack.
“Here, wear this to cover your stains.” Renjun offers his Moomin sweatshirt to Jaemin, the black and white print complimenting his complexion and fabric that was usually oversized on Renjun clinging to Jaemin’s arms.
Jaemin’s contagious smile is once again given, and Renjun doesn’t stop himself from smiling back as he helps clean up the mess that was partly his fault, all whilst Mark is glaring at Jaemin from the counter.
“Whilst you were flirting with that guy, I got a call from Doyoung and he said he can come in and help until closing, but you have to finish cleaning the mess Nana.” An enormous weight was lifted from Jaemin’s shoulders as he swiftly cleaned the rest of the mess and got the cafe back to the order it was in before the spill.
Jaemin was attempting to create the perfect cappuccino art for Renjun and giggling to himself about how cute Renjun was all flustered in his art. He didn’t realize that he was muttering to himself, saying “Man I love Injun” until Mark asked “Which one?” and he was flustered enough to scoff and lie, saying “obviously the dog”, then getting back to work on the cup.
Meanwhile, Renjun was working on his paper and physically jumped when Jaemin set a coffee mug on the table with a shy smile.
Renjun looked with sparkling eyes at Jaemin when he realized the cream at the top formed a Moomin like the one on the sweatshirt.
“I saw you were working really hard but realized that the dog- I believe you called him Injun- had spilled your drink and I thought I could at least give you a new one to repay you for your kindness and patience with me today.”
The light glistened off of the ends of Jaemin’s hair but Renjun knew that he had to look this good in every angle at this point.
“It’s really no problem Nana. You seem to like the sweatshirt anyways-” Jaemin cut him off, ignoring that he overheard the nickname from his conversation with Mark earlier,
“It’s very comfortable, my favorite color white, and you didn’t have to do anything to save me from my own clumsiness but I appreciate it.”
Renjun smiled as he thought of what he could do to talk to this man again and see that perfect smile one more time.
“Oh your favorite color is white? There’s a lot of things we don’t know about each other yet, how about I give you my number and we can talk about if you want to hang out sometime? If you don’t feel comfortable with it, keep the sweatshirt and I won’t pressure you but if you do I’d love to get to know you more Jaemin, especially if I can make you smile like that again.”
The both of their faces reddened and Jaemin nodded, accepting Renjun’s number, and practically drooling over him when he exited, slugging Mark in the arm when he joked about his infatuation with someone he barely knew just because of some spilled coffee.