Work Text:
Finally. It was summertime.
Jungwon was walking home after school when he noticed a small but cozy coffee shop not far from the school gates. It's been a long day and he really wanted something to help him relax after one of his teachers decided that it would be nice to assign them to read books over the summer.
When he entered the coffee shop, he was in awe. It had fairy lights all over the walls, paintings from famous artists all over the world, and a small shelf where a bunch of novels could be read. "This is my type of cafe." He thought to himself as he lined up at the counter to order.
He saw that the person in front of him had ordered a coffee with cat latte art on top of it. "I want that too." But he couldn't, since it would be a waste if he didn't finish it because of his dislike for coffee.
"Hello, my name is Jay. How may I help you today?"
Jungwon froze.
"It couldn't be him, right?” He thought to himself as he looked down, refusing to look into the eyes of the cashier in front of him. When he finally looked up, he saw him.
Right in front of Jungwon’s eyes was Park Jongseong.
The man Jungwon has been crushing on for the past 4 years.
It started off as a little crush 4 years ago when this particular senior helped him get through school when he was still a freshman. He still remembers that day like it was yesterday.
The halls were full of students running around trying to find their respective classrooms. Jungwon was scrambling to find where his classroom was when he bumped into a hard shoulder. “Ah, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Jungwon says while picking up his books from the floor. “No, no, it’s okay. I was like this too when I was a freshman.” The student says with a small laugh.
But Jungwon wasn’t listening.
He was too busy looking at the man he just bumped into. He was amazed by the man’s features like his sharp jawline, blonde hair, sharp eyes, and a lot more that he could go on about. “How can someone actually look this good?” He thought to himself
“Uh.. Hello? You seem to be distracted. My name’s Jay by the way.” He says with a smile on his face.
Jungwon snapped out of his trance. “Oh, my name’s Jungwon! I’m a freshman here at Belift High.” Jay continued to help Jungwon with his fallen books and papers. “I can show you your class if you want? It’s right next to mine.” Jay asks as Jungwon gets the last piece of paper on the floor. “Sure! Let’s go!” Jungwon says with his deep dimples showing evidently on his face.
He skipped through the hallway with Jay a few steps behind him.
Jungwon snapped out of his little flashback moment.
“Oh! I’d like one of those cat lattes and a strawberry cheesecake, please.” Why did I just order that? I don’t even like coffee. Jungwon thought in the back of his head.
“Coming right up! I’ll call you when your order is ready, Wonie.”
Jungwon hasn’t heard that nickname in ages ever since Jay moved to the US for college.
“Ah thank you, Jay hyung..” Jungwon says quietly as he almost runs back to his table.
“He’s back?”
“He still remembers me?”
“Is he back for good?”
“How do I start a conversation with him?”
“Why is he working here?”
All these questions were running through Jungwon’s head as he waited for his order.
His thoughts were cut off when a tray with a cup of hot chocolate (with foam in the shape of a cat) and strawberry cheesecake was put in front of him.
“Jay hyung! I don’t remember ordering hot chocolate?” He scratches his head as he looks at the hot chocolate with a confused look. But Jay was already back at the counter when Jungwon put his head up.
The cup had a small note underneath which read:
“I remembered when you said that you didn’t like coffee :( So I made you a hot chocolate instead :D — your Jay Hyung <3”
═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══
Jungwon found himself in front of the little cafe by his school.
Again.
He had been visiting the coffee shop almost everyday for the past week because they had the best hot chocolate and cheesecake he could find in the whole town. (But, he mostly went to the cafe because of Jay.)
This time, it was different.
The counter had a different cashier. A young boy with almost the same hair as his Jay hyung wearing a white dress shirt and black plants. There was no Jay in sight.
He asked the boy working at the counter “Where’s the guy who works here on the counter most of the time?”
“Oh, it’s his day off today.”
Jungwon eyes the boy’s name tag.
NI-KI
“Hmm, I think he’s Japanese.” He says in his head.
“Oh, thank you..” Jungwon says as he starts to head to the exit of the cafe.
Jungwon froze in his steps as he spotted a tall man with blonde hair wearing a black leather jacket in front of the coffee shop.The man turned around and waved at him. He started walking towards Jungwon and put him in a tight embrace.
“Jungwon-ah! I really wanted to see you and I figured that you’d be here. Here, I found this on the way here and I thought it looked like you.” Jay says as he hands him a pastel blue cat keychain with the letters “JW” on the back.
To say that Jungwon was blushing would be an understatement.
A red tint was evident on his cheeks and on his ears as he held the keychain.
“Ah.. Jay hyung you shouldn’t have..” Jungwon says with a shy smile on his face.
“No, I really wanted to get you something since it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. On second thought, why don’t we go somewhere fun? I miss hanging out with you.” Jay says holding Jungwon’s hand in his.
“U-uh.. sure! Why don’t we go to the new arcade by the mall?” Jungwon stammers as he comprehends the fact that Jay just took his hand into his own.
“I’d love that! What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” Jay says as he runs towards the parking lot, never letting go of Jungwon’s hand.
Jungwon was in a daze as he rode in the front seat of Jay’s car. He couldn’t believe that his long-time crush just got him a keychain saying it looks like him. Even though the gift was small, it was more than enough to fill his heart. He would keep this with him forever.
“We’re here!” Jay says excitedly as he gets out of the car.
“Man, I really missed this place. I remember when we would go here everyday to and go through every store in the mall without buying anything.” Jay laughs as he remembers them getting kicked out of a store for trying every sunglasses they had and not buying anything.
“Yeah, I missed it too..” I missed him more though. Jungwon then leads Jay to the newly-opened arcade at the mall. This was Jungwon’s happy place.
“Slow down, Wonie!” Jay says as Jungwon runs towards the Zombie shooting game.
Jungwon inserts 2 tokens for the both of them. Jay was absolutely sure that he would beat the younger in this game since they have played in arcades before. Boy, was he wrong. Jungwon eliminated almost all the zombies while Jay had only shot about 10 of them. The machine dispensed all the tickets as Jay had his mouth open.
“Practicing while I was gone I see.” Jay, proud of Jungwon as he watches Jungwon run to another game inserting a token. Jungwon had the biggest smile on his face as he reached the jackpot and his dimples showed as he put the tickets into a basket for later.
Cute. Jay thinks to himself.
This continued on for many more games, with Jungwon beating Jay and Jay ruffling his hair as he says he’s proud of him. Jungwon got more shy after every game but decided not to show it.
Jungwon decided that he would save his tickets for next time since he wanted to buy the big bolster pillow as a prize. As Jay and Jungwon walk towards the parking area, Jay stops in his tracks.
He suddenly pulled the younger into a warm embrace.
“I missed you, Wonie. Thank you so much for the date.” Jungwon hugs him back. “I missed you too hyung, thank you for today.” Jungwon smiles.
Jay drops off Jungwon at his house as he waves goodbye and drives off into the distance.
Jungwon lays down on his bed as he just realized what his hyung just said.
DATE???
═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══
The next weeks continued on with Jungwon visiting the cafe on a daily basis. Sometimes ordering or sometimes, not. Truth to be told, he just wanted to see Jay.
He loved the way he worked extra hard to perfect his little cat designs on either coffee or hot chocolate. He loved the way he put a wide smile on his face whenever he greeted a new customer at the counter. He loved that Jay put a lot of effort to make him laugh whenever they hung out after his shift.
I love him.
Jungwon widened his eyes as he realized that he just said those words out loud. He looks around to see if anyone (especially Jay) heard him. Luckily, no one did.
Jungwon gets up from his seat to the counter so he could order another Cat Hot Chocolate and some Dulce de Leche Cheesecake to go along with it. As he ordered the food, he realized that Jay looked a little anxious. He was looking everywhere trying to avoid Jungwon’s eyes as he handed him his change and ran to the kitchen quickly muttering a quick “Right away.”. Jungwon was extremely confused but tried to shrug it off as he sits back at his table reading a book.
Jungwon suddenly had the urge to pee so he went straight to the bathroom. While in the bathroom, he brushed over the thought of confessing his feelings to the older. He thought about how his hyung looked at him whenever they were together and how those eyes always sent butterflies straight to his stomach.
“Is there a chance that he likes me back?” Jungwon says to himself while washing his hands. What am I even thinking? I’m sure that he only sees me as his younger brother. Yeah, that’s probably it. I shouldn’t be getting ahead of myself. He decided to not think much more about it as he dries his hands and goes back to his table.
He sees Ni-ki set down his tray before running towards the kitchen at full speed.
“Weird” Jungwon thought. He prepares to dig in but then notices a small paper peeking out from underneath the cup of his Hot Chocolate.
Just like the one he got when he first went into the cafe. Except, it had a different note this time.
Meet me at the rooftop of this cafe in 5 minutes. :) — Jay
Jungwon widened his eyes reading the note. He didn’t even know this cafe had a rooftop. He waits for 5 minutes anxiously. After 5 minutes, Jungwon climbed the ladder going into the rooftop (led by Ni-ki).
What he saw in front of him almost made him tear up on the spot.
The rooftop had now been decorated with fairy lights, a small tv in the corner with one big bean bag in front of it, all of Jungwon’s favorite snacks, and a CD of his favorite movie, Ratatouille.
But what surprised him the most out of everything was Jay, who was in the middle of the rooftop holding the big bolster pillow that Jungwon dreamed of getting at the arcade.
“Hyung, what’s all this?” Jungwon asks as Jay leads him onto the bean bag to watch the movie.
“I wanted to prepare something nice for you since I left the US.” Jay says as he leans his head on Jungwon’s shoulder watching the movie.
They didn’t talk much during the movie. They were occasionally laughing and commenting about the characters. The movie finished as the TV went black. The fairy lights also turned off. Only the bright stars in the sky are their source of light.
Jay snuggled closer to Jungwon (at some point during the movie, they mindlessly cuddled each other).
“Won, do you know why I’m here instead of finishing up school in the States?” Jay asks while looking up at the sky.
“I’ve been wanting to ask that too hyung.” Jungwon says as he closes his eyes feeling the cold wind of the night.
“Well, remember when Remy didn’t follow his family to chase his dreams of cooking in Paris?” Jungwon laughs at the sudden question but listens to Jay more intently.
“Of course.”
“Yang Jungwon, you are my dream.”
Jungwon couldn’t believe his ears.
Did Jay hyung just confess to me?
Still not believing it, Jungwon asked him again. “What do you mean, hyung?”
“I’m here because of you. I’ve liked you since the day you bumped into me at school. My family didn’t really want me to go back here when I have an education there in the US. But after 4 years of being away from you, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I love how your dimples show whenever you smile, how you focus so much whenever you do your homework, how you never fail to make me smile whenever I feel stressed, but I just want to say one more thing..
“I love you.”
“And I know you probably don’t like me back and you only see me as your hyu-” Jay continues blabbering but before he could say another word, Jungwon pulls him into a sweet kiss.
It was amazing how their lips fit almost perfectly together. It felt like…
They were made for each other.
Jay was taken aback but then he put his hand on the younger’s nape as he kissed back deeper with tears coming out of his eyes from the happiness he was feeling.
“I love you too, Jay hyung.”
═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══
The two looked at the stars in the sky together, none of them saying a word.
Just them being comfortable in each other’s embrace.
They then turn to look at each other, smiling.
“The world sure is beautiful, isn’t it?” Jay says, staring at Jungwon’s eyes.
“Truly.” Jungwon says as he slowly drifts off to sleep.
Park Jongseong and Yang Jungwon were each other’s world.