Work Text:
Mo Ran was glancing at the big clock over the entrance of the coffee shop. It was 11:50 already, so just a few more minutes until noon.
This means that the time his favorite customer would arrive was fast approaching today. He had already prepared a cup for the usual order with his phone number on it, so that he wouldn’t make a mistake later. Worst case scenario would be an illegible number if he tried to scribble too fast. Mo Ran’s handwriting was of questionable legibility even when he wasn’t rushed. He could not risk his crush actually saving a wrong number, lest he end up with an unassigned number or, worse, Hua Binan on the other end.
The latter should be impossible but Mo Ran was cross with his co-worker for dumping another double-shift on him without a warning, and the other had thrown an appreciating glance at his favorite customer earlier this week as well. Hua Binan was now in Mo Ran’s mind the Evil of the Week(tm).
His musings about how to get back at the menace of a coworker were cut short when his friend, the younger Mei Hanxue, who occupied a table near the door for studying today, looked out of the window and said loudly “Here he comes!”
Cursing under his breath for being this transparent, Mo Ran mentally prepared himself for Not Fucking This Chance Up.
The bell above the front door jingled when it was pushed open, signaling the arrival of the longed-for customer, who was as punctual as every day. Contrary to most days, today was a slow day at the cafe, so the new arrival was able to go straight up to the counter. Perfect for not making much of a scene if anything went wrong.
Chu Wanning, the target of this operation, was not exactly known for being a docile character. Instead, the rumors on campus where he worked as a professor were quite the different ones. Mo Ran did hear some customers complaining about how strict their otherwise beautiful professor was when he went to buss the tables.
It did take some time to actually make a connection between the rumors about the most harsh professor and his eye candy customer. Mo Ran was currently taking some time off from studying abroad, and was looking into changing his courses to get into the University closer to home. To actually be busy and not lounge around at home until he decided on which course he wanted to chart in his second attempt at studying, he took up some work at his aunt's coffee shop with the name Veggiebuns.
One day, when he was having a slow day at work, idly browsing the available courses at the nearby university and clicking the profiles of the lecturers and professors who gave those courses, one profile picture startled him into almost dropping his phone. Under the name of “Chu Wanning”, he saw a familiar face.
"Mengmeng, isn't that our mystery customer?" Mo Ran exclaimed while shoving his mobile excitedly into his cousin's face.
"Hey, I can't see shit this way, get it away from me," Xue Meng complained while pushing Mo Ran's arm away to get the phone into a position where he could actually see what was on the screen.
"Huh, you're right!" Xue Meng said while squinting at the screen "Chu Wanning, Professor for Robotics and Material Sciences,” he read out loud.
That was the day they not only found out the full name of their mystery customer, but his occupation as well. Mo Ran started paying attention to the students’ gossip in the shop, always hoping to find out more about Chu Wanning.
According to them, no one was able to actually meet the bar Chu Wanning had set for his students. But Mo Ran learned that this was just a front from the daily visits of the professor to Veggiebuns.
He saw the prickly exterior of the professor, but also the small gestures of goodwill that were extended to others. Once, he came into the coffee shop late in the evening, while rain was pouring down outside. There was a group of school girls staying under the awning of the shop, waiting for the rain to subside with no luck so far. Mo Ran couldn’t hear their conversation, but Chu Wanning basically pushed his own umbrella onto the girls so that they were able to make their way without getting completely drenched.
Watching this made Mo Ran‘s heart melt. Not only was Chu Wanning very easy on the eyes, he would also give his umbrella to others without hesitation. This was the moment where Mo Ran decided to get the attention of the other man. He started out with subtle smiles and compliments to test out the water, sometimes earning a sliver of a smile back. Trying for a date might actually work out if the reactions so far were any indication.
Mentally prepared to finally Do It and get on with Operation: Phone Number, Mo Ran smiled brightly and started his greeting: “Welcome to Veggiebuns, how can I help you today?”
“A large caramel macchiato with double vanilla whipped cream and extra caramel sauce on the cream,” came the fast answer.
Not for the first time, Mo Ran was silently wondering how anyone could stomach this much sugar at once. But he dutifully got around to prepare the drink, grabbing the appropriate instruments for preparing the coffee and putting the cup with his mobile number on it on the counter.
While finishing off the drink, drizzling the caramel on top of the cream, he could not resist trying to test the water a bit with a cheesy pickup line he picked up somewhere (possibly from the younger Mei Hanxue during one of his quests for another fling).
“This is a lot of caramel, am I not sweet enough for you?”
Which fell entirely on deaf ears.
Chu Wanning might have been standing right in front of Mo Ran, but mentally, he very clearly was a good distance away, not paying any attention. Sighing softly, Mo Ran gave up on the verbal wooing for the time.
When he slide the finished caramel macchiato over and recited the price, this finally pulled Chu Wanning out of his thoughts.
But patting down his pants in search of his card, it dawned on Chu Wanning that he forgot his coat in the office. With his cards and phone.. Expression growing visibly more horrified by the second, mind working at the speed of light for how to fix this situation, he still did not say a word. Stress seemed to finally have short-circuited his brain and made the mouth hang slightly open
Mo Ran sensed his chance and jumped for it, before Chu Wanning’s brain could properly reboot.
“This one is on the house.”
When the other found his voice again after a few more seconds ticked by, the answer was a simple, “I can’t accept this.”
“Hey, and I can’t be the one responsible for denying a loyal and generous customer their daily coffee here, right? This one's on me, as a thank you for ‘not needing an umbrella anymore’. Mo Ran said with a smile, wiping his hands nervously on his apron. Praying to whoever was listening that he would be able to shove his phone number onto Chu Wanning.
Startled, Chu Wanning looked up from patting down his pants in search for some spare change that might have ended up in a pocket corner somewhere.
“You saw?”
“Yeah, I was manning the counter when you gave your umbrella to those school girls waiting for the rain to stop. That was nice of you!” He did not add that he saw Chu Wanning step out of the shop into the rain without a cover after getting his sugary treat that day, the other already seemed to be embarrassed enough.
Chu Wanning’s eartips actually reddened at this, but his expression was more akin to a ruffled cat. ‘How cute,’ was the thought that came to Mo Ran’s mind. Any protest however was cut short by Chu Wanning actually stifling a yawn.
Looking closer, Chu Wanning did appear to be very tired, even if one would not be able to tell from a casual glance. No wonder that he was spacing out a bit while waiting for his abomination of a coffee to arrive. The amount of sugar in it today would rival any energy drink you could buy at a supermarket any day.
“You know, you look like you could also use something sweet to eat. Our sweetest pastries are our cupcakes, one of them would go well with the coffee.”
“But I already said I forgot my money in the office…”
“And I said it’s on me today, don’tt worry about it.” Working fast so the other did not leave the coffee shop with just the caramel macchiato, Mo Ran grabbed the cake prongs to pluck a perfect looking cupcake from the display behind the counter, putting it into a paper bag for takeout and sliding it across the counter so it rested next to the drink. “Now you’ll have to take it with you, otherwise it’s gonna be a waste, company policy,” which was a blatant lie from Mo Ran, his aunt would never throw away food that was only handled by the employees and would donate it instead.
Chu Wanning certainly did not need to know that fact.
Taking the cup of sugar into one hand and grabbing the paper bag with more sugar in the other hand, Chu Wanning was just about ready to leave.
That was the moment he finally spotted something unusual about his order. In a cramped handwriting, Chu Wanning saw the phone number underneath the recipe detailing his sugar bomb order. Without a further word, but with suspiciously reddened ears, he did decide on a tactical retreat and walked briskly out of the door, not looking back.
“Thank you for stopping by today,” Mo Ran chimed happily at the retreating form of Chu Wanning.
Mo Ran also silently thanked whatever deity was watching over him that he didn’t end up with a cup full of sugary coffee thrown at him as a response, because that was the reaction he expected to receive.
———
A few hours later, Mo Ran received a text from an unknown number.
It’s message was simple:
‘Thank you for the cupcake.‘
First step successfully done, Mo Ran congratulated himself and started to prepare wooing the pretty and mysterious sugar-addicted customer in earnest, now that he got the other’s phone number as well.
‘You’re welcome.‘
Tomorrow he would send a text to Chu Wanning and ask him if he would like to grab a coffee with him this weekend, when Mo Ran was off the clock.
Maybe this could be called their first date.
the end