Chapter Text
Mark Lee must be the biggest moron on the face of the Earth. He must be. There’s really no other explanation.
Because if he had any semblance of common sense, he wouldn’t be here: toying with the idea of sleeping with his ex’s roommate. And also his ex is still his best friend and all three of them work together.
Yeah, it’s complicated.
And Mark is a moron, because it’s Valentine’s Day and he’s curled up on his couch with Renjun and a mostly empty bottle of soju between them, and all he can think about is scooting closer to Renjun and taking his face in his hands and kissing him until he can’t breathe.
Donghyuck would probably laugh at him if he could see him right now. But Donghyuck is on a date with someone. He’s moving on, and Mark should too, right?
Probably, he should pick someone a little more distant than Donghyuck’s roommate and their co-worker to move on to, but Mark has a history of making unwise decisions when it comes to his heart. It seems unlikely that’s going to change anytime soon.
He shuffles closer to Renjun. He gave up on pretending to pay attention to the movie they’re watching about two drinks ago, and Renjun has been gracious enough to not mention it. He lets his gaze wander to Renjun’s lips, wonders if they’d taste astringent like the soju they’ve been drinking or minty like his favorite lip balm that Mark has borrowed at work on more than one occasion.
Eyes still on the screen, Renjun reaches for the soju, his hand colliding with Mark’s knee instead. He turns, then startles when he sees how close Mark’s face is to his. His breath ghosts over Mark’s lips as he giggles. “Ah, I thought you were on the other side of the couch?”
“I was,” concedes Mark. He leans a little closer to Renjun, made brave by the alcohol.
They shouldn’t do this. Even without the drinking, there are already so many reasons why it’s a bad idea.
Renjun’s eyebrows leap on his face. He asks, “Are you trying to kiss me?”
“Can I?”
Renjun cups Mark’s face in his hands, makes an encouraging sound low in his throat, and Mark isn’t really sure who makes the next move, but then they’re kissing. And Renjun’s mouth tastes mostly like the soju, though when Mark licks along his lower lip, he can taste his mint lip balm too.
He threads his fingers into Renjun’s hair, pulling him even closer as he deepens the kiss. His attraction to Renjun has been simmering beneath the surface for a while now, but for all the reasons of co-workers, ex’s roommate, yadda yadda yadda, he’d been doing his best to ignore it. He should’ve figured It'd be impossible to ignore when he invited Renjun to come over for drinks and a movie on Valentine’s Day.
For the record, this wasn’t what he had in mind when he asked if Renjun had plans tonight.
At least, he doesn’t think it was.
Renjun’s lips part beneath his, and Mark licks eagerly into his mouth, chasing his tongue with his. He wants to taste every inch of him. When Renjun nibbles on his bottom lip, Mark lets out an embarrassingly loud moan, and suddenly Renjun is pulling away from him.
“We shouldn’t.” Renjun sounds just as breathless as Mark feels. “We’ve been drinking, and I don’t want to do something that either of us will regret.”
“I won’t regret this,” insists Mark.
Renjun smiles softly at him. “Still, we should do this some other time, when we’re sober.”
Mark’s brain latches onto the important thing. “So you still want to kiss me even when you’re sober?” he asks, grinning like an idiot.
“Boy, do I.” Renjun tucks a lock of loose hair behind Mark’s ear, then turns his attention back to the TV.
Mark resists the urge to reach out and take his hand in his, but just barely.
When the movie ends, Renjun tells Mark that he really ought to be heading home now. He pauses in the doorway to press a light kiss to Mark’s cheek. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mark,” he whispers, then he slips out, promising to text when he gets home safe.
Mark definitely doesn’t wait with his phone clutched in his hand until he gets Renjun’s text, and his heart definitely doesn’t flip over in his chest when he sees that Renjun has signed off with a kissy face emoji.
Definitely not.
Oh, he is such a moron.
☕️ ☕️
In the years since he first became a barista, Mark has come to appreciate the taste of straight espresso, but he’s always been a sucker for something sweeter. His life was forever changed for the better when Renjun introduced him to cubano shots. “You layer the raw sugar into the espresso grounds before you pull the shot,” he had explained, demonstrating the method. “It comes out really smooth and a little sweet.”
Mark’s been hooked on them ever since.
Every Wednesday and Thursday, when Renjun works the morning shift and Mark works the afternoon shift, Mark comes into 7DREAM to find a latte already made for him. And he can always tell from the smoothness of the espresso, and that underlying sweetness to it, that Renjun is the one who made it for him, because no one else bothers with cubano shots.
On Mondays and Fridays, when their shifts are reversed, Mark always ends his workday by making an americano for Renjun, no room for cream because Renjun prefers his coffee “black like my soul.” They both work the morning shift on Saturdays, and more often than not, they end up making each other’s drinks because why not? It’s a nice little routine, Mark thinks.
So when Mark comes in on Saturday, the morning after their Valentine’s Day date—Was it a date? It was sure something, and they haven’t talked about it yet.—and finds his favorite blue mug sitting behind the counter with a latte already made in it, he breathes a sigh of relief, because it means that he didn’t somehow manage to fuck things with up Renjun by kissing him. They still have their routine.
Then he takes a sip of the latte, and it’s more bitter than usual.
Panicked, Mark sets the mug down. This was not made with a cubano shot. Renjun is upset with him. Oh fuck. Mark is a moron, and he’s managed to ruin the only stable thing he has left in his life, and how is he ever going to face Donghyuck again because you can only pull stupid shit with your ex’s roommate so many times before he gets fed up with your antics, right?
Before he can spiral any further, Jaemin walks by, glances into the mug, and scowls. “Wow, Mark, way to help yourself to my drink,” he says tartly, and wait, what?
“This is your drink?”
Jaemin looks unimpressed. “Well, it was going to be. I guess it’s yours now.”
“But… but this is my mug, though?” Mark flounders.
“Tell that to Chenle.”
And okay, fair enough. It’s true that the mug doesn’t belong to him or anything, but still. “I always use this one,” he insists.
Jaemin rolls his eyes. “Okay, whatever, point made. Take the damn mug. You already took a sip anyways.”
Mark takes the mug, but the latte isn’t as good as it would be if Renjun had made it because no cubano shot. He tries not to sulk. He tries not to wonder why Renjun didn’t make him a latte, because what sort of spoiled child is he?
His question is answered two minutes later when Renjun rushes through the front door of the café with a frantic “Sorry, I’m late!” His hair is a little rumpled, which is unusual for Renjun, but the moment his eyes find Mark’s, he breaks out into a bright smile, and everything that Mark was freaking out about immediately goes flying out the window.
“Late night?” Jaemin asks, then smirks as a thought occurs to him. “Hot Valentine’s Day date?”
“Jaem, no, I told you I was at Mark’s.”
Jaemin hums, eyes contemplative. “So you say, but I’m not convinced that you aren’t just covering for Mark’s ass while he and Donghyuck take up again in yet another ill-advised attempt at rekindling their romance.”
“Dude, I’m right here?” protests Mark. Determined not to overthink Renjun’s assertion that it wasn’t a Valentine’s Day date, he hastens to take another sip of Jaemin’s-now-his latte.
Renjun looks at the mug in Mark’s hands, and his eyes narrow. “Whatever,” he says to Jaemin. “I have to go put my apron on.” He breezes past them without sparing a second glance Mark’s way.
That’s.
Hmm, that can’t be good.
Renjun spends the first half of the morning all but ignoring Mark, going so far as to make himself an americano before Mark can. He takes a long sip of it and doesn’t even look in Mark’s direction as he chats with Jaemin, the customers, anyone but Mark.
Mark’s skin crawls with anxiety until finally, during a quiet moment in the café, he can’t take it anymore and drags Renjun into the supply closet to demand an answer. “I’m sorry if I misread things last night. I didn’t…” Mark scrambles to find the words. “Look, if you want to pretend we never kissed, that’s fine. I can do that. But I can’t take you freezing me out like this!”
There’s a long silence, agonizing to Mark, and then Renjun finally says, “You made your own latte this morning.”
“What? No!”
“I always make your latte, Mark.” Renjun’s voice is icy. “I know a rejection when I see it, thanks.”
“That wasn’t—” Mark chokes on a strangled laugh. “Jaemin made it for himself, and I thought it was mine, okay?”
Even in the dim light of the supply closet with its lightbulb half burned out, the confusion is clear on Renjun’s face. “But that’s your mug?” he says indignantly.
“That’s what I said!” Mark has never felt so vindicated.
“So you’re not mad at me?” Renjun clarifies.
Mark reaches for his hand, relieved when Renjun lets him hold it. “Definitely not. I don’t regret kissing you last night. I was just worried that I might’ve messed things up there, and I don’t want that at all.”
“Huh, I thought I was one who kissed you,” replies Renjun, and it takes Mark a second to realize that he’s teasing.
“So, about you still wanting to kiss me even when you’re sober…” begins Mark, leaning in.
Renjun stops him with a finger to his lips. “Yes, I do want to kiss you, but no, I do not want to kiss you in the same supply closet that you and Hyuck used to make out in.”
Embarrassment seeps into Mark’s chest. “Not even one kiss?”
“Take me on a date first,” Renjun tells Mark and taps his mouth definitively.
Mark kisses Renjun’s finger, then laughs when Renjun makes a face. “Come on, man, we could create new memories for the supply closet,” he wheedles.
Renjun gags. “Sorry, Mark, but I’ve got standards. You’re just going to have to get used to that.” He flashes Mark a grin that looks exceedingly smug, then exits the supply closet.
Standards, huh? That’s a new one.
☕️ ☕️
Mark can’t believe it’s come to this.
It’s just that after all of the messiness that was him and Donghyuck breaking up for the second time, it’s been forever since he’s thought about impressing a prospective romantic partner. So here he is, using Naver to search for “fun date ideas” and “what to do on a first date.” It kind of make Mark feel like a bumbling preteen again, but he’ll suffer it through it for the sake of making sure his date with Renjun goes well.
He kind of wants to ask Donghyuck for advice, because, well, Donghyuck is still his best friend, even after everything. But he’s a little hesitant to tell his ex that he’s trying to woo his roommate now. Plus, Donghyuck is pretty caught up in his own romantic endeavors right now, a fact which Mark does his best to not feel bitter over.
Maybe it’s possessive, but Donghyuck was his best friend before he was his ex, before he was ever even his boyfriend, and watching him spend all his free time on this Jaehyun dude kind of feels like Mark is losing him all over again. Not in a romantic sense. That ship has long since sailed. But just as his best friend.
Mark misses him.
Also yes, it would be nice to have someone to talk to about whatever’s unfolding right now between him and Renjun. He’d talk to Jeno about it, except he knows that Jeno is incapable of keeping anything from Jaemin, and Mark would only tell Jaemin about it if he wanted literally everyone and their mom to know about it, so.
So Mark talks to no one and just stews in his own worries just like he always does. One of the things that had initially drawn him to Donghyuck was his propensity to leap into action, his go-getter attitude that Mark always admired and envied in equal turns. Mark had spent years telling himself that if Donghyuck was the sun—and he was—then it was best for Mark to stick close to him, clinging to any bit of that shine that might rub off on him.
Renjun isn’t shiny the way Donghyuck is, per se, but there’s still something about the way he carries himself that’s deeply compelling to Mark. Like maybe he’d sit with Mark and let him stew in his feelings for a few minutes before kicking his ass into action.
The fact that Mark is putting this much thought into what he should do for his first date with Renjun is telling. He wants to get it right. He wants it to go somewhere.
Unfortunately Naver keeps suggesting that grabbing coffee together is the perfect first date activity, even when he amends his search term to, “What to do for a date when you’re both baristas?” Worst of all, Mark actually contemplates it for a second, before determining that Renjun would laugh him right out of the coffeeshop if Mark tried to take him to one.
In the end, he takes Renjun to a bowling alley and hopes for the best.
Renjun is fiercely competitive—a fact which Mark is well aware of—but absolutely terrible at bowling—a fact which Mark did not know. Also the moment Mark picks up a bowling ball, Renjun warns him that if he makes a single crack about putting fingers in holes, “I will be out of here so fast that you will have to pay the alley back for my unreturned bowling shoes.”
Still, he seems to have fun. He grumbles when he rolls a gutter ball, but he cheers when Mark gets a spare. And when he manages to knock down seven of his pins in one go, he turns to Mark with a pleased smile that’s dazzlingly bright.
Then, as the lane resets the pins, he springs a serious conversation on Mark: “This isn’t about Donghyuck, is it?”
Mark nearly drops his bowling ball on his foot. “Believe it or not, Renjun, not everything in my life revolves around Donghyuck.” He can’t believe that Renjun could even wonder about that.
Renjun rolls his eyes. “Forgive me for asking, given your track record.”
Okay, maybe he can believe that Renjun could wonder about that.
“And, like, if you were mad at him about Jaehyun, you have to admit that trying to get with his roommate would be a pretty efficient way of getting back at him,” Renjun continues.
“Yeah, been there, done that, and never again.”
Renjun’s eyes grow wide. “Oh, Mark.” He smacks him on the shoulder. “Mark, you didn’t.”
Rubbing the offended spot, Mark explains, “It was between the first and second time we dated, and I was a worse person then.”
“Mark, if this is about Donghyuck, at all, I need you to tell me. I’m serious when I say that I have standards, and my standard is not being used as a tool of cruel pettiness between exes.”
Mark really hates that Renjun even feels the need to ask, but, like, he gets it. He gets why Renjun is wondering. “It’s not about Donghyuck,” he says firmly. “I just… fuck, dude, I just like you. That’s all there is to it.”
His sincerity must show in his tone because Renjun’s face relaxes into a smile. “Good, ‘cuz I like you too,” he tells Mark, then leans in quickly to drop a sudden kiss on his lips. “For luck.” He nudges Mark towards the lane. “Go bowl me a strike.”
Mark grins. “Aye aye captain, I’ll do my best.”
He doesn’t bowl a strike, but nine pins out of ten ain’t bad.
When the game ends, they walk around the city—Renjun pulls Mark into an art supply store to fawn over oil pastels, and Mark shyly holds his hand—before ending up outside of Mark’s apartment building. Mark, loath to let go of Renjun’s hand, finds himself asking, “Would it be cliché if I asked you up for a nightcap?”
Renjun pulls him close, kisses him for the second time that night, and Mark can feel him smiling against his lips. “Yes, but ask me anyways.”
☕️ ☕️
Mark fucks up. He cries in the supply closet at work, and Donghyuck has to come cheer him up. Then, after work, Donghyuck treats him to dinner and he gets drunk and cries some more. Old habits die hard. It’s not even about Donghyuck. It’s about Mark needing the reassurance that he still matters to his best friend even as things seem to be getting serious between Donghyuck and this Jaehyun dude.
It isn’t his best moment.
As he lies in bed the next morning, regretting everything—Did he really puke on Donghyuck’s shoe?—Mark realizes that he’s tired of this stupid dynamic he and Donghyuck have gotten themselves into. It’s exhausting, and Mark would rather put his energy towards this thing developing between him and Renjun.
So he figures it’s time he tell Donghyuck that there’s something happening there. The conversation is easier than Mark had worried it might go. They hash out the whole “we’re still best friends even though we’re seeing other people” thing, and Donghyuck teases him about Renjun, and Mark’s chest feels lighter than it has in a while.
He and Renjun continue to take each other on dates. At work, they continue with their ritual of making drinks for each other. It’s funny how little has changed, how easy it is for them to slide from friendly co-workers into something more.
How much more? Mark isn’t sure. The time they spend together is fun, and the sex is good, and Mark really likesRenjun, but he doesn’t know how exactly to label what they’re doing.
Sundays are nice because neither Mark nor Renjun work that day. They can spend the morning in Mark’s bed, cuddling lazily after a night out together, before Mark reluctantly pulls himself away from Renjun’s warm embrace in order to put on a pot of coffee.
Look, he makes espresso drinks for a living. Mark is more than happy to make do with a simple drip coffee maker at home. Still, he asks Renjun, “If I mixed sugar into the grounds, do you think it would infuse like a drip version of a cubano shot?”
“Just dissolve the sugar into the brewed coffee like everyone else does, you doppio.” Renjun’s voice is full of affection. He’s been calling Mark a doppio since they first began working together and Mark accidentally spilled a whole pitcher of half and half all over the floor. It’s never felt mean-spirited, and today especially it sounds fond. “I never would’ve introduced you to cubano shots if I’d known you were going to get so fixated,” he pretends to grumble.
Mark grins and hands Renjun one of the coffee mugs in exchange for a kiss. “You know, you’re kind of like a cubano shot yourself. You might look bitter, but you’ve got that sweetness hiding inside of you.” He pauses, pleased with himself for the metaphor. “Also I really fucking like you.”
Renjun presses a hand to his face, laughing helplessly. “Oh my god, you’re so embarrassing!”
“You like me anyways,” replies Mark cheekily.
“Yeah,” agrees Renjun. “Yeah, I do.” He takes a long sip of his coffee, then sets it aside. “Hey, Mark, do you want to be my boyfriend?”
Mark, regrettably, drops his own mug in his shock. Coffee goes splashing all over his bed.
Renjun squeaks as the hot liquid splatters on his legs. “Mark Leeeeeeeeeee!”
“Shit, fuck, my bad!” Mark rushes back to his kitchen to grab the roll of paper towels. Way to go, he berates himself. At least his clumsiness isn’t exactly a surprise to Renjun, who has witnessed him spill many a beverage over the years.
“So…” says Renjun conversationally as they work to clean up the mess. “Is that a yes, you want to be my boyfriend, or a no, you don’t?”
“Oh, it’s a yes.” The coffee is probably going to stain his mattress, but Mark can’t help but grin goofily at Renjun. “Definitely a yes.”
Renjun nudges him with his hip. “You have to admit that getting hot coffee tossed on you would be a pretty brutal form of rejection,” he teases.
“Top ten worst ways to get turned down, for sure,” Mark agrees. He folds the used paper towels into a ball and tosses them in the trash. “But I’d be a fool to turn you down, you know, because I like my men how I like my coffee…”
“Don’t.” Renjun’s tone is firm even as he grins into his mug. “Don’t you even fucking think about finishing that joke.”
“Come on, don’t you want to know how I like my coffee?” Mark wheedles.
“I know how you like your coffee, you doppio!”
A pause.
“Well, don’t you want to know how I like my men?” asks Mark slyly.
Laughing, Renjun leans in to kiss him. “I think I know that one too.”