Work Text:
1
The bell above the door pulls Jisung from his thoughts. He internally groans when he sees a group of three college-aged guys walking in, knowing they were probably going to make a mess and annoy him to no end. But it’s his job to be nice and helpful, so he grins up at them as they walk in and chirps out, “Hi guys!”
Putting down the piece he’s working on, he stands up and smooths out his apron before walking over to where the new customers are standing. He takes in their appearances - none of them seem like the type to willingly come paint pottery.
The first one is kind of short, but he’s absolutely built. Like, he could probably throw Jisung through the front door if he wanted. The guy in the middle is taller and seems to have the same energy as a puppy dog. But the guy on the end takes Jisung’s breath away. He’s got striking feline features and a mischievous smile on his face, like he’s having intrusive thoughts to smash all of the pottery in this store right now. Hopefully he sees the sign on their breakage policy and refrains from any damage.
“Hello! I’m assuming you guys are here to paint today?” Jisung says cheerily, customer service mode fully activated.
“I was going to smash all this stuff, actually,” the mischievous looking one says. Predictable.
“Shut up," the muscular one snaps at him before turning back to Jisung and answering, "Yes, we’re here to paint."
“Perfect! So, I’ll just walk you guys through how it works: basically, you pick out whatever piece you want to paint. Then, you guys will pick out your colors and paint it here today, and then you leave it with us so we can glaze and fire it. It will be ready to pick up in two weeks, and it will be all nice and shiny. Also, if you paint a dish, it’s food safe so you can actually use it!”
The guys nod along as he speaks. “Alright, well. You guys are welcome to take a look around, you can sit wherever you would like, and just let me know if you need anything!”
Jisung retreats back to the front desk and resumes painting the plate sample he was working on - he’s painting it to look like Howl’s castle from Howl’s Moving Castle, and the details are a bitch to paint. But he’s already too far in to give up, so he has no choice but to power through. At least it will look really cool when it’s finished. Hopefully.
He looks up when he senses a presence and is met with the eyes of the mischievous man again.
“Hi, yes. I have a complaint.”
“Um, okay? What’s up?” Jisung asks warily.
“Why don’t you have a stack of cats? You have a stack of owls, a stack of frogs, and a stack of ghosts, but no cats. None!”
Jisung pouts apologetically, saying, “Sorry. They don’t make a stack of cats. We only have what they make."
“Well, your pottery supplier sucks and I expect them to apologize to two out of my three cats since I can only paint one of them today.”
“I mean, nothing’s stopping you from painting three figurines,” Jisung suggests with a grin.
“I barely have the patience to paint one, that’s what’s stopping me.”
The man turns around after that and goes back to his friends. Eventually, they’ve all picked out their pieces and Jisung gets them started with paints so that he can go back to his own project.
For some inexplicable reason they’ve chosen to sit at the closest table to him, so he’s able to pick up bits and pieces of their conversation. He gathers that they all go to the nearby college, just like he does. He wonders why he hasn’t seen any of them before, especially when he hears the muscular one mention something about music producing.
The mischievous one - Evil Cat Guy, as Jisung has started referring to him in his own head, doesn’t say much. He’s surprisingly focused on painting his cat as accurately as possible, using a reference photo of what Jisung presumes is one of his cats.
The afternoon continues and people filter in and out. Jisung helps some customers here and there, takes some phone calls, but mostly he just paints and tries not to stare at Evil Cat Guy. Listen, he’s attractive and Jisung’s an artist, okay? He appreciates aesthetically pleasing things.
After about two hours, the guys finish painting and bring their finished pieces up to Jisung. The muscular one painted a surprisingly good gnome mug, and Jisung learns his name is Changbin when he goes to write it on the bottom of the piece. The tall guy, Seungmin, painted a dog figurine and wrote the word “MONG” across the back, for whatever reason. And, of course, Evil Cat Guy has a detailed orange cat figurine with a “D" on the name tag. He’s a little shit and opts to put his initials on the bottom instead of his name, so Jisung only learns the letters “LM.” Whatever. Evil Cat Guy fits him better than any name probably would, anyway.
Jisung’s in the middle of ringing them up when Hyunjin comes up from the back. He has his hair pulled haphazardly out of his face and has green glaze splattered all over his clothes and right arm, and even managed to get a little bit in his hair. He takes one look at Changbin and blushes, immediately redirecting his attention to Jisung.
“I finished glazing. I’m gonna try to load the kiln tomorrow, I think.” Hyunjin turns to busy himself with cleaning the dirty paint palettes in the sink, but Jisung can tell he wants to turn around and stare at Changbin.
Jisung hums in acknowledgement and waits for the transaction to go through so he can get these guys out of here and go the next two weeks without thinking about Evil Cat Guy’s pretty eyes.
Jisung explains that they have to come back in two weeks to pick it up, which Changbin looks positively gleeful about (he’s been not-so-subtly staring at Hyunjin ever since he came up front). The three guys turn to leave, but first Seungmin turns around and asks, “Is this suitable for the elderly?”
“Absolutely! This is an activity for all ages. I’ve seen four year olds and ninety-four year olds enjoy it!”
“Guys, we should bring Bang Chan next time, then!” Seungmin says, and Evil Cat Guy cackles.
2
The days pass by, and Jisung has (mostly) stopped thinking about Evil Cat Guy. But sure enough, exactly two weeks from when he had come to paint, Evil Cat Guy comes strolling in with his friends again. They have a new one with them, and wait - Jisung knows him!
“Chan?” Jisung asks from behind the counter.
“Jisung! Hey, mate,” Chan says with a wide smile. At his voice, Felix pops out from the back room. “Hold on. What are you doing here?” Felix questions suspiciously.
“They asked me to come along and paint with them, and I figured it’d be fun to surprise you.” Chan pulls Felix in and smacks a kiss on his forehead, and god, Jisung is sick to his stomach. He watches Evil Cat Guy fake gag and it draws a giggle out of him.
Felix gets everyone set up while Jisung decides to remove himself from the situation. He goes back to pull their fired pieces from two weeks ago, bringing them up front to show them the finished products. All three seem pleased, so he wraps and bags them up for each of them.
Taking a deep breath, he watches as Felix sits in Chan’s lap to help him paint. Jisung is pretty sure it’s only making the task more difficult, but he knows there is nothing that could get Felix off Chan’s lap. The store could be on fire and Chan still wouldn't make Felix get up if he didn't want to do so.
And truthfully, Jisung tries not to listen in on their conversation. He’s not a weird guy, he’s not going to eavesdrop! But there’s no one else here right now, and they’re not being particularly quiet, so he naturally hears some of what’s being said. He hears Changbin ask about “the pretty boy covered in green paint” from two weeks ago and watches heart eyes grow on his face as Felix explains who Hyunjin is.
He sees Evil Cat Guy is painting a ring holder this time, and he looks so good when he’s focused. If Jisung isn’t careful, he could easily spend an hour watching him paint. Instead, he occupies himself with checking the paint inventory.
It’s when he’s standing at the paint bar that Evil Cat Guy comes up to him and asks for their best red. It’s kind of a stupid question, because they only have two reds: Candy Apple Red and Hot Tamale, and the only difference is really just whether you want a brighter or deeper shade. He tells him just as much, and Evil Cat Guy hums and takes a bottle of Hot Tamale back to his table.
Eventually, they all finish painting and come up to the front. There’s still no one else in here, so Felix had ended up spending the whole time on Chan’s lap. Jisung would complain about the lack of help but frankly, he doesn’t care. And not because he would spend the whole time sitting on Evil Cat Guy’s lap if he was given the opportunity.
Evil Cat Guy sits his ring holder on the counter, and it is downright adorable. He’s painted three cat faces around it, interspersed with small fish and hearts.
“I see you represented all three cats this time instead of picking a favorite,” Jisung jokes (flirts?). Evil Cat Guy narrows his eyes, and it’s a little scary; thankfully, he soon breaks out into a grin and Jisung no longer feels like he’s going to piss his pants in anxious fear.
Again, Evil Cat Guy only puts his initials on the bottom, meaning if he wants to find out his name, Jisung is going to have to ask Felix. And if he asks Felix, he knows he will literally never hear the end of it. But he's a weak man and Evil Cat Guy is really hot, so the minute the group is out the door, Jisung turns to Felix with one question on his lips.
3
Jisung is in the back when he hears the familiar bell chime, alerting him that a customer has come into the store. He knows Hyunjin is up front, though, so he takes a minute to finish unloading this kiln shelf before walking out to help.
He’s greeted by Evil Cat Guy pensively looking at colors. His name is Minho; Jisung learned this after enduring what felt like nine hundred years of teasing from Felix.
He wouldn’t call it a crush, per se. He doesn’t know enough about Minho for it to be a crush; all he really knows is that he’s attractive and likes cats. He could be straight for all Jisung knows. But regardless, Jisung will admit that he’s walked through Minho asking him out quite a few times in his daydream universe. No one needs to know.
In his hands, Minho holds a pet bowl that has cat paws. It’s one of their cuter stupid items, and he’s surprised it’s taken three visits for Minho to select it. Jisung watches as he studies their different colors closely, comparing them to photos on his phone.
At the sound of a thump, Jisung’s attention is drawn to Hyunjin, who just bumped into one of the tables. He’s blushing profusely and stuttering something to Changbin; Jisung doesn’t know how someone as pretty as Hyunjin can be so fucking bad at flirting.
But then again, who is he to judge? He’s been thirsting after Minho from afar when the guy hasn’t shown any mutual interest. At least Changbin is actively flirting back.
It’s then that Jisung notices that Seungmin isn’t here today. It’s just Changbin and Minho, and he’s pretty sure Changbin is just here to flirt with Hyunjin at this point. He’s painting a rabbit figurine pink, which is an interesting choice, but whatever. Jisung moves his eyes across their table and notices that Minho has three of the cat paw bowls there, which likely means he's going to be here for a while.
Thirty minutes later, Changbin has finished painting and is leaving with Hyunjin’s number in his phone. Watching Hyunjin stammer it out was kind of hilarious, except seeing how disgustingly fond Changbin looked made Jisung want to climb into the kiln and cook himself in the thousand degree heat.
Minho stays, though. In fact, Minho stays for five hours. Jisung knows this because he spends about four and half of them watching Minho’s eyebrows scrunch in concentration as he paints. In the end, he comes up to the front with three immaculate cat paw bowls: two orange and one gray, and they say Soonie, Doongie, and Dori, respectively.
“You’ve created quite the masterpiece,” Jisung comments. He’s not great at small talk or flirting, so he’s in a bad position. Normally there are other people here to take some of the pressure off, but since Changbin left and Hyunjin is in the back glazing again, it’s just Jisung and Minho alone in the storefront.
“I'm assuming these are for each of your cats?” Jisung says.
“Yeah, the ones I couldn’t paint a stack of thanks to your lacking inventory options,” Minho grumbles, but there’s no heat behind it.
“If I could, I would make a cat stack for you myself to make your painting dreams come true.” Jisung silently wishes he had said something less weird, scared he's coming across as desperate.
Jisung fights the blush that’s trying to creep up his face as he rings Minho up, feeling his burning gaze on him the entire time. The whole interaction is quiet and kind of awkward, but not uncomfortably so.
Before Minho leaves, he turns back to Jisung and says, “See you in two weeks, cutie.” This time the blush wins and his face burns hot as he smiles shyly and waves at Minho.
And because the universe hates him, Hyunjin witnesses the whole thing.
4
Two weeks later, Minho doesn’t come back. So far, he has always returned exactly fourteen days later. But now it’s been sixteen days and he still hasn’t come back. Jisung tries not to be disappointed about it.
“But he called you cutie!” Hyunjin argues when Jisung once again whines about getting his hopes up just to be dashed again.
“He called you what?” Felix gasps, stopping his cleaning and whipping his head around to stare at Jisung. He feels put on the spot.
“Cutie,” he mumbles. Felix doesn't look as surprised as he expected from the initial reaction.
“I’m not surprised, actually. He asked about you when I ran into him at Chan’s a few weeks back. I just didn't think he would ever make a move or anything,” Felix reveals, and why is he just now dropping this information?
“And you tell me this now ?” Jisung exclaims. “It doesn’t matter, he’s clearly lost interest, or moved on, or probably has a hot boyfriend of his own and was just being funny.”
The bell above the door chimes, and all three workers look up to Minho standing there with a grumpy Seungmin.
“We're here to paint because someone can’t come alone,” Seungmin complains loudly, and Jisung watches Minho smack him upside his head.
“And that someone is Seungmin, because he is shy,” Minho says matter-of-factly. Felix and Hyunjin shoot Jisung a knowing look.
“Uh, well. Choose whatever you want and sit anywhere! Let us know if you need anything!” Jisung rushes out.
“Oh, trust me, we will!” Seungmin replies with a grin, and Minho hits him again.
Both of them choose mugs and get to work painting. Jisung tries not to make it obvious that he wants to kiss Minho.
About forty-five minutes later, Jisung’s peace is interrupted.
“My dear Jisung, could you come here? I have a question,” Seungmin says with an air of mischief to his voice. It feels kind of dangerous, but Jisung walks to their table anyway. Minho pretends to be really focused on his mug when Jisung lands at the end of the table, standing between him and Seungmin.
"What did you need help with?"
“Do you have a girlfriend? Or boyfriend?” Seungmin asks innocently; Minho looks like he wants to throttle him.
“Uh. N-no. No girlfriend. O-or boyfriend," Jisung answers, flustered by the question. Jisung doesn’t know exactly how Seungmin clocked his bisexuality, but he supposes he isn’t subtle.
As if reading his mind, Seungmin adds, “I noticed your bracelet last time I was here.” Jisung’s fingers find the pink, purple, and blue bracelet Felix had made him when he came out a year ago. He twists it around his wrist nervously.
“Anyway. It's so crazy that there are two single and available men looking to kiss other men in this store at the same time! I, of course, have a devoted boyfriend named Jeongin, and I’m sure you’re aware of Chanlix’s disgustingness. And I’ve heard Changbin and Hyunjin fucking on more than one occasion, so I’m assuming they’re also an item now. Just to establish which people in this store are not single and available, since all of us like to kiss other men.”
“If Jisung wouldn’t have to clean it up, I would dump this bowl of dirty paint water on your head right fucking now,” Minho grits. Jisung laughs nervously.
Hyunjin butts in then with a clarifying question. “Hang on, what did you say about hearing me and Changbin?”
“You guys are not quiet or slick and if I have to hear your whines one more time I’m going to call Changbin’s mom and tell her that her son is a whore,” Seungmin says flatly. Everyone laughs at the sudden escalation, save for Hyunjin who has a face as red as their Hot Tamale paint and looks like he might pass out any second.
“Excuse me for one moment, please. I have some messages to send.” Hyunjin scurries out of the room while Seungmin sits there innocently.
“Well, I don’t know about you, Minho, but I sure learned a lot today! I’m also finished painting, so feel free to hurry up!” Seungmin gets up and walks to the front to pay.
“I guess I’m done, too,” Minho mutters. He turns the mug around and Jisung lets out a startled laugh when he sees what he has done. Minho had selected one of their mugs that says “I <3 Dad” but added his own flair so that it now read “I <3 Hot Dads.”
“A work of art, right there,” Jisung chuckles.
After they pay, Seungmin makes a point to say, “Well, I certainly won’t see you in two weeks. But Minho will!”
“Of course you won’t see him, you will be six feet under because I am going to kill you dead,” Minho says sharply. Seungmin just smiles back and waves as he exits.
5
Two weeks later, Jisung is working alone. Sometimes when it’s particularly slow, they’ll only have one person man the store; Jisung kind of prefers it, because it’s peaceful and he can paint uninterrupted. The bell above the door chimes and a smile stretches across his face when he sees it’s Minho. Except it’s just Minho.
“Alone this time?” Jisung remarks.
“Yeah, I told you it was Seungmin who couldn’t paint alone.”
Jisung nods and chuckles, and leaves Minho to his own devices. To Jisung's surprise, once he has picked his item (a square plate), he pulls a chair up to the desk and sits next to him. He's not sure what to do now; no one has ever done this before. Jisung looks up at the rows of empty tables and Minho follows his gaze.
“Oh, I didn’t feel like any of those tables were right for today.”
Jisung just nods and tries not to word vomit.
“What are you painting?” Minho asks, and Jisung holds up the surfer van bank he’s painting. “These aren't selling, so I’m trying to inspire someone to buy one. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
“It would certainly work on me. It looks great.”
Jisung blushes. “Uh, what are you painting?”
“A plate. It’s a gift for someone.”
Jisung fights the urge to look and see what the plate looks like. He thinks whoever is going to get that plate is really fucking lucky.
They sit there painting together for almost two hours. No one else comes into the store and it’s so peaceful. Almost like a date.
When Minho stretches his arms and lets out a sigh, Jisung figures he must be done. He turns to see the finished product; Minho has painted the plate to look like a sheet of notebook paper, and ‘Will you be my boyfriend? Circle yes or no” is written sloppily across the surface. Jisung laughs at the creativity, but also feels a little pang of jealousy.
"You know this won't be ready for two weeks, right? You can't actually ask this guy out right away if this is your chosen method." Jisung doesn't like the way the words sound coming out of his mouth, but he figures he should at least remind Minho that there's going to be a wait.
"I know. He's worth the wait, though."
+1
The shop closes in six minutes, and Jisung is just killing time at this point. He's tried not to think about the fact that Minho was here two weeks ago to the day, meaning he's going to be back to pick up his pottery sometime soon. Hopefully tomorrow, since it's Jisung's day off.
He's spent the past fourteen days trying to get over his stupid little crush. He thought it would be easier, considering he doesn't know Minho all that well and he didn't even see him in that time, but he finds it difficult to let go of the fantasy of dating him. For a minute, it had seemed like Minho was also interested in him. He let himself get his hopes up, and that's probably why he's having such a hard time moving on from such a small crush.
The bell above the door chimes and Jisung has to fight an exasperated groan from escaping from his mouth. They close in less than ten minutes! Why would someone choose now to come in?
He takes a deep breath and steels himself, knowing he can't be rude. He's taken aback when he looks up. Minho is there, grinning at Jisung.
"I'm here to pick up," he says easily. Jisung nods wordlessly and goes to the back to grab the finished plate. He had seen it come out of the kiln earlier in the week, and he hated the fact that it looked good. At least if it was a disaster, he could pretend his artistic superiority made him feel better.
"I can wrap this up for you, too, but I just wanted to show you the finished product first," Jisung says, almost robotically. He says this to everyone, and there's no reason for him to treat Minho any differently. He's going to ask someone else out, anyway.
"Oh, you don't have to wrap it," Minho says, running his hands over the smooth plate. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a red dry erase marker and uncaps it, sitting it on top of the plate.
"Here you go," Minho says, almost coming across as shy when he speaks. He slides the plate back over to Jisung and looks at him expectantly.
Jisung is frozen in his spot. He wants this to be what he thinks it is, but he's also terrified to assume it could possibly be what he wants.
"Doing a practice run first?" Jisung tries to joke, but it falls flat since his voice sounds kind of strangled.
"No, the real thing. It's for you."
Jisung gapes. He and Minho stare at each other for what feels like an hour, but in reality can't be more than a few seconds. Finally, Jisung gathers the courage to pick up the marker and circle the 'yes' on the plate.
When he looks back up, Minho is grinning wider than he's ever seen before.
"Oh, thank god. I was starting to get really fucking nervous," Minho breathes out, wiping his hands on his jeans.
" You were nervous? I spent the past two weeks thinking I had lost my shot with you because you were going to ask out someone else!"
"Really? I thought I was obvious! I was scared you were going to try to let me down easily, which by the way, would still have crushed my soul."
"I would have said yes at any point over the past two months, honestly," Jisung admits. Minho smiles at him.
"Well, if I remember correctly, the store is closed now. So, if you're up for it, I'd love to take you to dinner tonight. But also I completely understand if-" Jisung cuts Minho's rambling off by answering, "I'd love to have dinner with you tonight. Let me just set the alarm and we can leave."
Jisung walks to the back room to set the alarm, and allows himself three seconds to be positively giddy with excitement over the events that have just transpired. Then he composes himself and walks back up to Minho.
Minho reaches his hand out, and Jisung gladly takes it, intertwining their fingers.
"So you're telling me I could have asked you out weeks ago and you still would have said yes?" Minho asks as Jisung locks the front door.
"Of course. I mean, have you looked in a mirror before?"
"Damn. I would have saved so much money."