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beomgyu is fuming.
“you did this to yourself you know.” he says as he begins wetting his dog’s fur. “maybe if you didn’t decide to roll around in your own shit we wouldn’t be here.”
you see, it was a sunny saturday morning in may. beomgyu had nothing on his schedule for the day and had thought he would take his beloved dog, aeji, out to the park to play. he made himself a simple breakfast and had a cup of coffee before getting dressed and getting the maltese ready to go. he brought all the essentials for an outing with his dog: her travel bowl, a bottle of water, waste pickup bags, and a tennis ball to play fetch with.
he hooked her up to her harness and they made the fifteen minute walk to the nearest park. they did a quick lap around the park before beomgyu took her to an open patch of grass. they played fetch for about five minutes before it happened.
beomgyu had just taken the ball from aeji but instead of going to wait for him to throw it again, she decided she had to poop. that was fine, beomgyu just had to reach into his bag and pull out the waste bags to pick it up. however, before he could even get the bags out, aeji was sniffing the pile she had left and then, to beomgyu’s horror, the little dog laid down and rolled in it. he had of course scolded her, but the damage was done. aeji’s fluffy white fur was stained with little brown patches.
and then, to make things worse, aeji had the audacity to excitedly jump up on beomgyu waiting for him to throw the ball again. leaving little brown footprints on his jeans.
this leads him to where he is now. thankfully, the pet store he buys aeji’s food at is near the park and they have a do-it-yourself dog wash. he had hurried over as quickly as he could and now here he stood, with a very ticked off maltese glaring at him as he sprayed her back with water.
it was entirely her own fault.
beomgyu puts the shower hose back in its holder just as the door to the dog washing station opens. he glances over his shoulder to see who had come in and sees a tall man with a giant samoyed dog to match him. beomgyu always finds it cute when people’s dogs look like them. he likes to think he and aeji look alike.
the man chooses the tub to the right of beomgyu and begins wetting his own dog’s fur as beomgyu pumps shampoo from the bottle provided by the store into his palm. he starts lathering the shampoo into aeji’s fur, humming under his breath while he does so.
“nuri stay.” he hears the man next to him say. he pays no mind to it until he hears him say it again, this time, his voice much sterner. the dog — nuri, presumably — barks and whines a bit.
“nuri st-” the man begins to say again when his dog suddenly jumps at him, knocking the still turned on shower hose from his hand.
beomgyu feels like the comedic relief character in a sitcom as he watches the shower head fly through the air. the water spraying from it drenches him, literally from head to toe. at least the pawprints on his jeans aren’t as noticeable anymore.
the man frantically reaches for the handle to turn off the water, turning to him and bowing repeatedly. “oh my god! i am sososo sorry. nuri sit!” he says, directing the last part at the decidedly not guilty looking samoyed.
beomgyu waves his hands at him. “oh no, please it’s alright. accidents happen, it’s no big deal.
the other man looks unsure. “can i at least pay for your wash? i feel so bad you’re soaking wet.”
“i already paid for my wash, it’s really okay, these clothes were dirty already.”
“but now you’re going to have to go home in wet clothes.” the man frowns, thinking, then an idea strikes him. “oh i know. how about you let me buy you a coffee sometime? i really feel bad.”
beomgyu doesn’t think this situation is one that requires any form of apology beyond saying sorry, but he’s also getting the feeling that the man is going to insist. so beomgyu nods at him. “sure, you can treat me to a coffee. just not today, besides my clothes being wet my jeans also have dog poop on them and i don’t think any coffee shops would really appreciate me coming in like that.” he says with a smile, hoping it will help the other lighten up.
thankfully, it does. the pair chat as they wash their dogs, beomgyu even sticking around after he is done washing aeji to keep talking.
he learns that the man’s name is soobin and he’s born a year before him. also that his dog is indeed called duri. they part ways outside the store after exchanging numbers, soobin promising to text him about that coffee soon.
beomgyu and aeji head home, all frustration over the poop incident long forgotten.
—
soobin texts him a on tuesday afternoon. beomgyu is at a photoshoot when he feels his phone vibrate in his back pocket. he takes a few more shots before letting the models go change outfits. as they walk off set, beomgyu pulls his phone out and smiles when he sees soobin’s name pop up on the top of his notifications.
he quicky opens the message and sees soobin asking if he would he free to get coffee on saturday. he says he is and asks what time. soobin is quick to respond, asking if 11am was okay. and so, their date is now set.
date? beomgyu wonders to himself. when did i start thinking of it as a date?
beomgyu shakes it off, putting his professional face back on as the models come back in their new outfits. saturday is not a date, but he can still look forward to it anyways, he kind of wants to keep talking to soobin.
—
saturday arrives much quicker than beomgyu expects it to. his week was packed with both paid shoots and personal projects. as a freelance photographer he got a wide variety of requests from shooting for fashion magazines to photographing someone’s dog. he’s not picky about the jobs he takes, he has bills to pay and a dog to feed.
but nonetheless, despite being his passion, sometimes beomgyu’s work gets mundane and tedious. going out with soobin will be the perfect thing to change up his abysmally average week.
he decides to go simple with jeans (minus the stains) and a cardigan as it’s a bit chilly for mid may. he feeds aeji and then he’s off, double checking the location as he walks there.
it turns out, soobin lives quite close to him, their apartments only a couple blocks apart. so they had opted for a café about a five minute walk from each of their homes. beomgyu has never been there before but soobin vouched for it.
he takes in the decor as he arrives, the café has a cozy feel to it with warm, off-white walls and fairy lights stringing across the ceiling. there are many shelves spread throughout the room, lots of leafy plants and old looking books making their homes upon them.
cookies and creamer is the name of the café, soobin had told him they specialize in baked goods as well as coffee.
he texts soobin that he has arrived and he instantly receives a text back saying soobin is already here. beomgyu looks up from his phone glancing around the the room to find soobin before his eyes finally land on the man. sitting at a table in the far corner of the café is soobin, wearing a light blue button down shirt and black pants he looks very handsome. beomgyu feels his heart flutter a bit in his chest.
he pretends he feels nothing as he walks over and sits down across from soobin.
“good morning.” beomgyu says, smiling.
“good morning to you as well.” soobin replies, smiling back.
he has dimples. beomgyu’s brain points out. beomgyu’s heart flutters annoyingly again.
“we should order. oh and i’m definitely making you try one of their cakes, they’re to die for and it’s my treat. i won’t take no for an answer.” soobin says.
beomgyu huffs, he had expressed that he feels bad that soobin is spending money on him to apologize for such a minor accident. they had gone back and forth over the issue, beomgyu saying he didn’t have a chance to get out much so soobin going to get coffee with him was repayment enough and soobin saying he would feel bad if he knew he had not repaid him for thr inconvenience. in the end, soobin had win and not only that, somehow, he had gotten beomgyu to agree to let him buy him food at the café as well.
beomgyu still feels bad, but if soobin wants to treat him that badly he guesses he shouldn’t turn down free cake.
“i’ll get an iced americano and whatever cake you recommend.” beomgyu decides.
“strawberry shortcake it is. i’ll go order, i’ll be back in just a minute.”
beomgyu watches as soobin walks up to the cashier to order. he finds the older man to be very pretty. he still carries samoyed energy even without nuri by his side.
when soobin returns after ordering, they begin talking. soobin asks how aeji is doing and beomgyu in turn asks how nuri is doing. it feels like a little game of twenty questions as they trade questions and answers back and forth.
“so what do you do for work?” soobin asks him.
their drinks and cakes had arrived already and beomgyu takes a sip of his americano before answering.
“oh, i’m a freelance photographer.” beomgyu answers.
soobin then engages beomgyu in a lengthy conversation about his career. he tells him about his schooling and the ins and outs of his job. he even tells him about his dream of being hired by a big fashion magazine full time, that his current work is him trying to build up his portfolio while making money.
he then turns the question around on soobin. “what about you? what do you do?”
“i’m actually the manager of this café.” soobin answers.
“really?”
soobin smiles, dimples appearing once more. “yeah, i’ve worked here since i was in university. i hope to own my own café someday.”
“this place is lovely, thank you for bringing me here.”
“i’m glad you like it. i helped the owner redecorate a bit. she’s an older lady, she wanted to modernize the place a bit to attract a younger crowd.” soobin takes a bite of his cake after speaking, a tiny, unconscious smile gracing his lips as he enjoys the sweet flavor.
“well you certainly have an eye for design. when you have your own café i’m sure it’ll be even nicer.”
they float from topic to topic, the two of them getting on like a house on fire. they completely lose track of time, talking for a long while after finishing their coffee and cake. they would’ve kept going had it not been for one of the employees approaching the table.
“soobin hyung, it’s almost one, your shift starts soon.” the boy says.
soobin’s eyes widen and he checks his watch. “thanks, kai. we kind of lost track of time.”
“i could tell. congrats on the date by the way, taehyun and i thought you were going to be single forever.” the he boy, kai, says, winking at them when he mentions the date.
soobin’s cheeks turn slightly pink. “thanks again, kai. now, back to work, i’ll stop being your friend and start being your manager in,” he pauses to check his watch again. “fourteen minutes. i sure would hate to clock in and find the sink piled with dishes.”
kai rolls his eyes and mumbles something about soobin being a buzzkill as he walks back behind the counter, him and another boy with large eyes frantically whispering to each other while staring at them. beomgyu and soobin pretend to not notice them.
“a date, huh?” beomgyu teases but he feels that same fluttering of his heart as he says it.
soobin sputters. “kai is just being annoying. him, taehyun,” he nods his head towards their audience behind the counter. “and yeonjun, another manager here, never leave me alone. they make it their life’s mission to annoy the living hell out of me. please, just ignore everything he said.”
beomgyu can feel butterflies stirring in his stomach. he hopes he’s reading soobin right. “but what if i don’t want to forget?”
soobin looks at him, surprised. “you mean… you wouldn’t mind if this were a date?”
“no. and if you’re up for it, i’d like to see you again.”
soobin gives him a blinding smile. “i’d love that.”
one year later
beomgyu yawns as he wakes up, tiredly curling further into the warm body next to him.
“good morning, beautiful.” soobin’s voice rumbles, still deep and raspy with sleep.
he feels the older press a kiss to his hair. beomgyu grumbles a good morning back which is almost incomprehensible as he buries his face in soobin’s chest. he almost falls back to sleep but then is startled awake by the sharp, high pitched barks belonging to aeji. he groans, pulling away from soobin and flopping back onto his pillow.
“why must she do this so early?” beomgyu sighs.
“it’s almost noon, gyu.”
“early to me.”
soobin chuckles. “i’ll go take care of them. you stay here and finish waking up.” his boyfriend plants a kiss on his forehead as he gets up to deal with their dogs.
beomgyu lays there blinking blearily at the ceiling for another five minutes before deciding to get up. he’s wearing one of soobin’s shirts which is large enough on him to reach the middle of his thighs, so he doesn’t worry about pants right now. he shuffles out of the bedroom and after using the bathroom, he makes his way out to the living room where soobin is in the midst of feeding their dogs.
soobin is standing by the kitchen holding two dog bowls of very different sizes, nuri and aeji obediently sitting in front of him. soobin is giving both dogs a stern look before the facade breaks and he smiles at them excitedly wagging their tails, setting their bowls down. beomgyu sits down as he disappears into the kitchen for a moment, coming back with two mugs. he passes one to beomgyu before settling in on the couch next to him. beomgyu leans his head on soobin’s shoulder.
domestic mornings like this had become the norm for them. they hadn’t moved in together yet, they both agreed they wanted to wait a while longer before making such a big decision. however, the couple and their respective dogs have been taking turns spending the night at each other’s places since early on in their relationship. last night, beomgyu and aeji had slept over at soobin’s apartment. the two dogs got along well, nuri was a gentle giant and aeji was quite fiery for her size and the two balanced each other out well.
beomgyu loves being with soobin, he loves soobin. they hit it off after that not-date date. they went on five more before soobin asked beomgyu to be his boyfriend. things were going well, beomgyu was integrated into soobin’s friend group and they have both met each other’s families.
as they drink their coffee they talk, deciding to go to the park with the dogs today. they shower together and get dressed before getting the dogs ready to go. they walk to the same park beomgyu had taken aeji to on that fateful day when they met.
beomgyu watches contently as soobin throws tennis balls for both dogs to fetch. he doesn’t think he can get much happier than this. he looks at aeji who is bringing her ball back to soobin. maybe her rolling around in her own poop was a blessing in disguise.
his train of thought is interrupted by a shout. “aeji what are you doing? aeji no!”
well maybe he takes back that last thought.