Work Text:
Another day. Another pile of paperwork that was waiting for him at the office. Jeno sometimes wondered why he had taken the secretary job at the local insurance company because its long hours and several phone calls seemed to always drive Jeno crazy, but then he remembered the paycheck and his favorite coworkers, Jisung and Renjun. They made the job infinitely better just by being in the vicinity, even though they would often make fun of him for a Freudian slip or two. But Jeno gets even with them when they mess up too.
Jeno’s alarm went off, reminding him that he needed to get going or else he’d be late. Again. He quickly grabbed his keys and bag next to the door, slipped on his shoes, and headed out of his apartment. After locking his door, he heard the door across the hall open.
He turned, ready to greet his neighbor, Jaemin, before they both headed to their respected jobs. Greeting Jaemin in the morning always made Jeno’s day even better. Jisung and Renjun like to tease him, calling it a crush, but Jeno just calls it being a good neighbor and a good friend. Definitely not a crush.
“Good morning, Jaemin” Jeno’s voice was light as always and paired with his signature eye smile, but his face quickly fell when he saw the disheveled boy in front of him.
“Oh hi Jeno,” Jaemin was nowhere near the enthusiastic, often energetic self that he normally was in the morning. If anything, he seemed completely drained of all motivation. His hair wasn’t as put together as it normally was, the bags under his eyes seemed more prominent, his normal smile was replaced by a droopy expression. Not to mention that his favorite coffee cup was nowhere to be seen on his person.
Without another word, Jaemin turned from his now locked door and left the apartment building, leaving Jeno to stare at the closed door wondering what could’ve possibly happened to the ray of sunshine known as Jaemin.
~~~
“Good morning lover boy.” Jeno can hear Renjun’s voice greet him as he placed his things at his desk. It’s his normal greeting, but today it just seemed off to Jeno, likely because his own day had been thrown for a loop.
“Yo Jeno, what’s up?” Jisung peaked over the divider to smile at Jeno.
“Hi Jisung.” Jeno greeted, far from his usual teasing of the younger boy.
“Yikes, rough morning Jen?” Renjun peaked up and placed his head on his crossed arms.
Jeno sighed, looking down at the papers spread on his desk and then up at his two friends. “Promise you won’t make fun of me.”
Both Jisung and Renjun’s eyebrows lifted in unison and after a second, they both nodded.
“I didn’t get a proper good morning from Jaemin.” Jeno could hear the light sadness in his voice and really wished that he wasn’t as affected by this. And it sounded so ridiculous once he said it out loud.
He heard a quick snort then an “ow,” assuming that Jisung had elbowed Renjun.
“Maybe he was just having a bad day. I’m sure you’ll get your good morning tomorrow.” Jisung’s smile could be heard in his reply and Jeno felt his face slightly lift at the comment.
“Yeah, either that or you have an actual excuse to talk to him.” Jeno could tell that Renjun was only half joking. He tended to do that a lot.
“Yeah, maybe.” Jeno sighed, daring to feel a little optimistic about tomorrow, and before another word could be spoken, the phone on his desk starting to ring, bringing with it the start of another long day at work.
~~~
The rest of the week passed in a blur as Jeno left every morning at the same time as Jaemin, yet their good mornings turned into nothing more than vague head nods.
Apparently, this was really starting to bother Jeno because, during his break on Friday, when he was allowed to shut his brain off for a few minutes, his best friends strolled into the break room, coffees in hand.
“Hey Jeno,” Jisung placed a coffee in front of Jeno. “We noticed you’ve been down lately.”
“Is it Jaemin?” Renjun asked, sitting down directly across from Jeno. He laid his head in his hands and leaned forward, ready for the drama.
“It’s okay if it is,” Jisung said, but pointed the comment more towards Renjun who just smiled, shrugged, and took a sip of coffee.
Jeno sighed, watching the steam rise from the coffee cup. “Yeah, it is actually.”
“Oh?” Renjun and Jisung said in unison.
“Yeah, he’s been getting worse and worse. I keep thinking that oh maybe today’s the day and he’ll greet me like normal, but it’s like he keeps getting hit by a bus.”
“Oh my god really?” Jisung’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Not a real bus, doofus.” Renjun pushed him slightly, rolling his eyes at the younger, naïve boy.
“And I really want to help him, but I just don’t know how. I want to be a good neighbor and a good friend, if we could be considered that, but I also don’t want to overstep any boundaries. Like I barely know the guy.” Jeno’s head fell as he stared at the lid of the coffee cup. “I just don’t know what to do.” He dejectedly took a sip of the sugary sweet drink. And then it clicked. “Coffee.”
Jisung and Renjun looked at each other with mild concern.
“Um, yeah dude. We thought you knew that though.” Jisung’s eyebrows knit together in confusion.
“No, no, no. Coffee. That’s how I’m gonna cheer up Jaemin!” Jeno seemed to get a bit of his energy back, and it wasn’t just from the coffee.
“Ah. Smart Jen.” Renjun smiled, reading Jeno’s mind. “Invite him in for some coffee, talk to him, and then boom you’re dating.”
“I don’t know if that’s how that’s exactly how it’s gonna go, but Renjun does have a point. This could be your chance to talk to Jaemin.” Jisung gave a reassuring smile and for the first time that week, Jeno felt himself genuinely smile back.
~~~
For once, Jeno was glad that he had stayed late so many nights and was on top of his work, because he was able to convince his boss to let him have the rest of the day off. He was so excited to see Jaemin and to hopefully help him get over his terrible week.
When Jeno got home, he immediately started to clean up his apartment, making sure that everything was at least pushed into his bedroom or hidden behind the shower curtain. Two places Jaemin hopefully wouldn’t be. He didn’t want Jaemin thinking that he was living in a constant state of disgusting.
He gathered up the dirty dishes and shoved them in his dishwasher, even if they didn’t fit perfectly. That was future Jeno’s problem. The socks strewn around the apartment were thrown into his hamper, which was tossed into his closet. The hoodies were gathered up and thrown on his bed. The wrappers from various candy bars were thrown into a plastic bag and tossed into the shower. It didn’t make sense, but at least it was out of sight and therefore out of mind.
He took a couple Clorox wipes and wiped down the counters and tables in the kitchen and living room. Even going as far as to dust off some of the bigger places on the couch.
After about a good hour and a half, Jeno’s apartment was in a better condition than it had been all month. He quickly got the coffee grounds together for his coffee pot. Yes, he had a traditional coffee pot and everything. It made him feel more like an adult.
With the grounds and water in place, Jeno patiently waited by his door. He’d look through the peephole whenever he heard a noise, hoping that it was his lovely neighbor. But it was always someone else, someone who was not going to get coffee from Jeno.
He was constantly bouncing back and forth on his toes, waiting with bated breath for the black-haired boy. Jeno was almost ready to give up when he heard the familiar clinking of keys and the steps of the apartment groan.
He peeped through the peephole and felt his heart speed up as Jaemin entered his field of view.
Jeno took a quick breath, grabbed his keys, and opened the door.
“Hey Jaemin!” Jeno instantly broke out into his eye smile.
Jaemin didn’t seem to hear him, so Jeno reached out and lightly tapped his shoulder. Jaemin jumped slightly and turned, keys in hand. Jeno stepped back and threw his hands up.
When Jaemin saw that it was just Jeno, he let his guard down and gave him a weak smile. “Oh, hi Jeno.”
“Hey Jaemin, I don’t mean to startle you but, uh, you seem exhausted. Do you wanna maybe come over to my place for a cup of coffee?” Jeno asked, hoping that Jaemin would accept the help and not just turn him away.
“Coffee?” Jaemin’s voice broke, shocking Jeno in the process.
“Um yeah. If that’s okay with you,” Jeno felt his heart start to speed up at the idea of inviting the pretty boy into his apartment.
“Oh my fucking god. I would love to Jeno” Jaemin’s smile had returned to his face for the first time in days, and Jeno felt his heart soar, knowing that he was the cause for such a sight.
Jeno found that he was mirroring Jaemin’s smile as he led the pair into his apartment.
Jeno immediately began prepping the coffee once he and Jaemin were safely in his apartment.
“So, it’s been a rough week, huh?” Jeno asked, making small talk while the coffee machine behind him hissed and whined.
“Oh you have no idea.” Jaemin sighed. “It started off with my phone buzzing obnoxiously loud on my nightstand, pulling me from an incredible dream, but that’s beside the point, I guess. So, when I looked at it, it was my manager calling, so I picked it up because, you know, I need my job to afford to live. And then she was chewing me out and screaming at me for not coming in to work. Well, here’s the kicker.”
Jeno nodded along, letting Jaemin know that he was listening.
“I wasn’t scheduled to work but apparently someone switched their days with me without telling me. Luckily my manager gave me a little bit of leeway to get there. So I quickly started to get my shit together. But that’s not even the worst part.”
Jeno’s attention was solely on Jaemin and his story that he hadn’t realized that the coffee machine was done.
“I was in such a hurry, but I also need my coffee, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” Jaemin said, gesturing at Jeno.
Jeno felt himself blush. Of course Jeno had noticed, but he didn’t think that Jaemin had noticed that he had noticed. God that’s kind of embarrassing. But if he noticed that, what else had Jaemin picked up on?
“So I went to grab my coffee cup after I had started my Keurig right away. And I lunged too quickly and it spilled all over my outfit, so there goes my coffee for the morning and now I have to change, which is such an inconvenience.”
Jeno nodded again, knowing the plight of spilled coffee.
“So I grab my backup cup, because everyone needs to have one of those, and I put it under my Keurig and put in another K-Cup, but then my Keurig had the audacity to start sputtering at me. So now, hot water is spraying at me and I really don’t have time for this, so I quickly unplug the stupid thing, go change, and just decide that I’ll deal with it when I get home.”
The coffee machine beeped behind Jeno, grabbing his attention for a split second. Jeno nodded to Jaemin as he stepped sideways to start pouring them each a cup, signaling that he was still listening to the story being told.
“So I get back after a stupid long shift and I want nothing more than to just crash on the couch. So I let myself do that for a bit. But I know I have to figure out that damn Keurig so that way I can have my coffee in the morning. But oh my god Jeno.”
A light blush crept onto Jeno’s cheeks at the sound of his name falling from Jaemin’s lips. Jeno gently set a cute pink cat mug in front of Jaemin, hoping that the design would put the smile on his face.
“The stupid thing had broken. Like completely. Like somehow during my shift, it had decided to stop working all together. Probably because I accidently left the plug in the small puddle of water on my counter but still.” Jaemin sighed and wrapped his hands around the mug in front of him. “So now I have no coffee machine and no money to get a new one.”
“I see.” Jeno pulled out the sugar and milk for his coffee and set them down on the counter.
“And that’s why I’ve been so down lately. I literally have no way of having my coffee in the morning cause I don’t have enough time to stop for some and the machine at work is just disgusting so I’m definitely not using that one. Like I don’t even think anyone cleans it and it’s been there for at least two years. And I’m not getting up any earlier than I normally do because I value my sleep like any sane person does. So now I have to run on ‘natural energy’ and not my normal caffeine injection, which means that I’m just so drained by the end of the day. And all I want to do is come home and crash on the couch.” Jaemin sighed, dropping his shoulders and inhaling the steam from the coffee before taking a sip.
“Well, I’m glad I ran into you then.” Jeno said, giving his signature eye smile to the boy in front of him.
“Me too.” Jaemin reciprocated the smile and took another sip.
“Wait, hold on.” Jeno said as reality set in. “Do you not need any sugar or milk or anything for your coffee?”
Jaemin laughed. “Nope. It’s perfect the way it is.” Jeno felt his head tilt to the side as he questioned the man in front of him.
“So you don’t put anything sweet in it?” Jeno’s voice rose with confusion.
“Nope.” Jaemin smiled once again, wrapping his hands around the mug and taking a huge drink of it. “Actually, it’s a little on the lighter side than what I’m used to.”
Jeno felt a smile spread across his face despite himself. It’s kinda cute how such a sweet boy could have such a bitter drink. Strange, definitely questionable, but still cute.
Jaemin sighed, bringing the cup down from his lips and pulling Jeno from his thoughts. “But it still tastes perfect.” The smile stayed on his face as he stared back at Jeno.
“I’m glad.” Jeno continued to stare back at Jaemin, both of them entering an almost competition of who would turn away first.
Without realizing it, the space between them was starting to close. They slowly moved towards each other until Jeno could feel the heat from Jaemin’s coffee warming his face.
“Jaemin.” He whispered, not taking his eyes off the younger boy.
“Yes Jeno.” His words were warm against Jeno’s skin.
Jeno was at a loss for words as he swallowed, suddenly aware of how close they were. He felt himself start to shake slightly and hoped that none of the coffee was going to spill onto Jaemin.
“Thank you for saving me.” Jaemin breathed before quickly pecking Jeno’s cheek. He pulled away and took another long sip of the black liquid.
Jeno was frozen in place as he watched Jaemin close his eyes and breathe in the smell of the fresh coffee. Slowly Jeno raised his hand to his cheek, as if remembering what had occurred only seconds before. Maybe this was a dream and he had to pinch himself out of it. This was probably just his mind playing tricks on him. Just another hopelessly romantic daydream. No way Jaemin, his neighbor, his probably friend, his definitely-not-but-totally-is crush, kissed him.
“Is everything okay Jeno?”
Jeno looked at the black-haired boy with wide eyes and a coffee cup held just under his chin. A ghost of a smirk rested on Jaemin’s face. Jeno could feel himself blush.
“Yeah, yeah it is.” Jeno hesitantly smiled at the boy in front of him, suddenly feeling giddy over the fact that his very-much-real crush was now standing in his kitchen and sipping on the coffee that he had made for him.
“So, how would you feel about coffee at my place next time? You know, once I get a new machine, of course.” Jaemin asked, watching Jeno closely.
“I definitely wouldn’t say no.” Jeno stepped closer to Jaemin and took his face in his hands, pulling him up to meet his lips and place a quick kiss upon his forehead.
Jeno made a quick note to thank Jaemin’s busted coffee machine for breaking down and finally giving Jeno an excuse to invite Jaemin over to his apartment. That stupid machine that had caused Jaemin, and Jeno for that matter, so much grief over the past week was responsible for bringing the two of them together, even if it was just for some shared coffee.
Maybe someday Jeno would be able to take Jaemin out for a little bit fancier coffee at the local Starbucks, but until that day, he was perfectly content with just being in Jaemin’s presence. After all, it’s the little things in life that make it worthwhile. And for Jeno, Jaemin makes life worthwhile.