Chapter Text
Aou was never supposed to be in here, he was supposed to be in his room, sprawled on his bed and reading his books. But then he was dragged by his friends to this new coffee shop near their campus.
"Come on, Aou. Just this once, leave your bed." Dunk said as he dragged him inside the coffee shop.
"But I can make my own cof–" He stopped in his tracks when he saw the barista. He was the prettiest person he had ever seen!
"Aou? Aou!" Joong called him out. Aou woke up from his thoughts, and he felt his heart beating faster.
𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨?
"Hi, welcome to Jelly Café. My name is Boom, what would you like to have today?" That was the first thing the prettiest had said to him, to them exactly but this isn't about that.
Joong and Dunk both gave their orders, and the two of them turned to Aou. And they found him dumbstruck staring at Boom.
"The fuck, Aou, your order." Joong elbowed his friend.
"Oh– sorry, I'd like an iced coffee please."
After that Aou became a regular, often choosing a seat where he could see the counter and would often stare at Boom as he work. He had found out a couple of things about Boom. One of those things is that he is actually the owner of the café, and he named it Jelly because he likes eating jelly. He also found out that he is 3 years older than him and he was also an alumni of Aou's university, although in a different faculty.
"Good morning, Aou. Would you like your usual?" Boom greeted him when it was his turn on the counter.
"Yes, please. Thank you." Those were the only interactions they have, while Aou is ordering, and that's it.
He never had the courage to walk up to him and ask him out, even though that was what he wanted. Joong and Dunk wanted to help him, but he cannot ask them to ask him out on his behalf, that would make him sound like he's taking him half-heartedly.
"Aou, you're here again?" It was another day, and Aou was working on his laptop inside the café on his usual spot when he was approached by Louis, another one of their friends.
"Yeah, I like the quietness here and the coffee. You here for your shift?" Louis was one of the baristas
"Yep, the boss said Elle had to go home to her mom today so I have to cover her shift." Aou nodded and Louis went ahead to clock in.
Aou was in his usual spot, the table near the register and beside the window, from where he's sitting he could clearly see the baristas making coffee. And his favorite view was of the owner making his coffee. Aou doesn't know why but he always felt special because the owner, without fail, would make his order even if there are other available baristas around.
But what he doesn't like about it at all is that he's not the one who would serve him the coffee. He knows that the owner makes coffee, but he never serves them. It's either he makes the customer come get their order, or he lets the employees serve them.
Behind the register, Louis eyed his friend who became a regular these last few weeks even though he knows for a fact that Aou is not an avid coffee drinker, nor does he like going to coffee shops, always saying that he could make his own coffee at home.
"You okay, Louis?" Boom approached his employee when he noticed that he's been spacing out. Luckily it was quite slow today.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just wondering what's with Aou nowadays."
"Oh, him?" Boom pointed at Aou discreetly.
"Yes, he's my friend since highschool. And for the longest time I had known him, I know that he doesn't really drink coffee. At least not almost every day like this." Louis explained still looking at his friend who was staring at his laptop, doing his essay that was said to be due tomorrow . Unbeknownst to Louis tho, that it was inky an excuse for Aou to stay in the coffee shop and the essay is not due until next week.
"Oh, really?" Boom smiled, and since Louis is still looking at his friend he missed the sweet smile that his boss displayed. "Well, maybe he really liked my coffee?"
"Maybe," Louis sighed as he glanced at his boss. "Why are you smiling like that, P'Boom?"
"What's wrong with my smile?" Boom turned around to hide his wide grin. "Go back to work, Louis."
A couple of hours went by and Aou is still working on his paper, and it has been an hour since he had looked up from his laptop. He had plugged his laptop to charge an hour before and ever since he had his eyes glued on the screen with a frown on his face. That is until a cup of his usual coffee was set beside his laptop.
"Oh, I didn't or—"
"That's one on the house." It was Boom.
For the first time since he had came to this coffee shop, the owner served a drink.
"Thank you." Was the only thing that could come out from Aou's mouth. Boom chuckled.
"What are you doing that your frown is as deep as the mariana trench?" Aou was frozen because of the wonderful music that was Boom's chuckle.
"Aou?"
"Oh, yeah. It's my essay for this one course. I'm kind of running out of words."
"I can help you with that."
𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵...
𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵...
𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵...
𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵...
"Aou?"
"Oh! Yes, please, hehe." Aou nervously laughed. Why didn't anyone informed him this would happen today?! He's not ready!
"You're kinda spacey today..." Boom said before asking about the essay.
Louis eyed his boss.
"Why is the boss sitting in one of the table and helping someone?" Love asked, one of the baristas.
"I don't know too, Love. One moment he was making clffee, the next he was already there sitting and laughing!" Louis cannot believe his eyes.
Usually their boss was stoic and always had his poker face on, and when asked by the baristas why, he would always answer that since he's the eldest around the cafe (not regarding the customers, of course) and being the owner, he had to be serious for the sake of their business.
This is the first he saw their boss smiling like a kid in a candy shop.
"Are you sure that's him and not some alien who abducted our real boss and replaced him to study us humans?" Love asked, still confused to see their boss smiling while sitting in one of the tables.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's him. He's all serious earlier until that customer arrived." Prim said, another one of the baristas who was about to leave as Love had taken over the shift. "Yeah, I'm gonna go before I poke my eyes for seeing hearts in his. Bye!" And then she walked out of the café.
"What do you means hearts?!" Louis shouted at Prim but got slapped in the abs by Love for being loud enough that Boom looked back at them.
"Is there something wrong?" The owner of the café asked his employees.
"Nothing." Love smiled at him, Boom eyed them for a moment before sitting back properly and looked at Aou.
"Should we continue?" He smiled sweetly that made Aou nod absentmindedly, admiring the way his eyes disappear when he smiles.
They were like that for another half an hour before they finished the essay, which Boom was a great deal of help, and Aou started to pack his things to leave (unfortunately).
"Hey, are you busy tomorrow tonight?" Boom suddenly asked when they were at the booth, and that made Aou's heart beat faster.
"Uhm... Why?" Aou gripped his shouldee bag hard trying to calm himself.
"Well, I got tickets for this band's show tomorrow tonight that was gifted to me and I got no one to take with, so are you free? The tickets are a waste if I can't use them..."
"Wait, is the band Chinzhilla?" Aou eyes was blown wide. He liked Chinzhilla since they released their Just Friends Cover. Ever since they became famous, their tickets became more and more hard to get.
"Yes, do you know them?" Boom walked towards the register, got the tickets from under the booth, and handed them to Aou.
"YES! How did you get these tickets?!" Aou said as he admired the tickets. And they are not just some other tickets, they are VIP!! They'll have a chance of taking a picture with the band!
"Well, I know someone who works with the vocalist's boyfriend."
"No. Tinn is a husband now, they got married last February." Aou said, still admiring the tickets.
"So, will you come with me?"
"When is it again?"
"Tomorrow night, entry will start at 5PM." Tomorrow is Friday and his last class would end at 2PM so he has atleast 3 hours of preparation. That should be enough, right?
"Yeah, I could come with you." Aou said brightly that made Boom smile at him. And then the bell on top of the door rang indicating that someone just walked in.
"It's a date then," Boom said.
"What?" But the newly entered customer already got Boom's attention, and that left Aou seeing his way out still in a daze.
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯
Is it a DATE?!
Aou doesn't know how he got home or how he got out of his out clothes but the next thing he know is that he's already in his bed, in
his pajamas, and staring at the ceiling replaying what had happened earlier.
"It's a date..." Aou whispered to no one.
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦.