Work Text:
Soobin is a loser.
It doesn’t have to be said to his face for him to know. After all, he had been sitting in the cafe for close to an hour, all by himself, having told the waiter he wasn’t going to order yet because he was waiting for someone.
So stupid.
He could have just said he wasn’t ready to order, he could have ordered a coffee fifteen minutes in, he could have ordered a croissant at the half-hour mark and he could have paid his check right now. But no, he had to be even more obvious that he had been stood up.
In his defense, this had never happened to him before, so he had been wholly unprepared for a worst-case scenario. To be fair, he had never been asked on a date before, so he really was just as clueless as everyone should be thinking he is.
He wonders what is worse, to have been stood up or to have everyone in the cafe know he has. Just a couple of minutes ago, he had seen a table leave the cafe and throw some pitying glances at him, they knew how long he had been sitting there and he just wanted to hide under the table and crawl away in defeat.
He is thinking about going to the bathroom and making his escape, if need be he is going to try to jump out of a window.
Which is such a shame because he actually really likes this cafe, he is never going to be able to come back here again.
He checks his phone one more time if only to see that the girl who asked him out here still hasn’t replied to any of his messages, leaving him on read. He stopped messaging her after he realized she was probably having a field day with whoever she was with, laughing at looser Soobin, thinking a girl had actually liked him.
God, he feels more pathetic by the minute and he is just about to throw it all to hell and leave, defeated and publicly humiliated when someone bursts through the door.
He is tall, lean, and handsome. He is scanning the place like he is looking for someone and, nonsensically, his eyes meet Soobin’s and he beams.
“Hi there!” He greets, approaching Soobin’s table quickly. He pulls out the chair across his and slumps down, hanging his tote and a light coat on the back of the chair. “I’m so sorry, the gig went on for longer, and the traffic was stupid slow, there was a crash; I swear some people just shouldn’t have a license”
Soobin is looking at this Adonis of a man dumbfounded. He has never seen this guy in his life, and even if he had, this man is so out of this world that Soobin would remember having admired him from afar, a safe distance to admire someone you know is way out of your league, even to be friends with.
“Uh, what?” Soobin asks, he thinks this man must be confusing him with someone else and it feels like a kick while he is down, as soon as this man properly looks at him he is going to stand up, apologize, and leave and it will be even more pathetic if Soobin tries to make his escape right after.
“Oh, right! I never told you what I did, I am a model. I had a photo shoot today and the agent insisted on getting a couple of stupid shots, made my makeup totally not date appropriate”
Soobin’s hands are starting to sweat, this man totally has him wrong. Soobin is not the person he is looking for. This man is a model, a successful model who just finished a job and is looking forward to having a date with some charismatic dude who is definitely not Soobin!
But.
He is sitting there, now with Soobin and not his intended date.
And if Soobin just pretends, for a moment, that he is not a looser who has been stood up and that he actually met and planned a date with this handsome man, that he was late because of his job, that Soobin hasn’t been left on his own devices… maybe, he can.
“That is, uh, that is very impressive” Soobin hesitates, he wonders if this man’s original date was someone who had some knowledge of the fashion or entertainment industry. Aside from following a couple of streamers and YouTubers, Soobin actually has no clue.
“Ah, it’s nothing. But thank you. Hey, what are you having?” The man crooks his head, blinking at his empty hands with an expectant look.
“Oh, I… haven’t ordered yet, actually” Soobin reddens.
“How sweet, but you didn’t have to wait for me to order” The man smiles and waves over a waiter before taking the menu in his hands and quickly going over it.
The man looks younger than them, with a baby face and platinum blonde hair.
“Welcome, what can I get you?” The man says in a monotone from someone who has spent too much time in customer service without proper compensation, someone who is actually looking forward to being fired.
“I’m getting a croissant and a chai latte” The man orders, barely seconds after looking through the menu, and glances at Soobin with a kind smile. “What about you?”
“Hot taro with almond milk and a chocolate muffin, please,” Soobin says, almost automatically because he had spent nearly half an hour looking over every item on the menu like he was reading a super interesting book instead of a mildly limited collection of items.
“Chai latte, hot taro with almond milk, one choco muffin and one croissant coming right over” The waiter reads their order and returns behind the counter.
The man doesn’t let silence settle, instead looks at Soobin while making himself comfortable. “So… you’ve been waiting long, huh?”
Soobin looks down at his lap, heart in his throat. Did this man finally realize he was totally wrong and confused Soobin with someone else?
“I’m sorry that happened to you, being stood up fucking sucks” The man keeps on the conversation.
Soobin snaps his head up to look at him, brows furrowed in confusion. “How did you…?”
The man smiles. “The waiter is actually a friend of mine, his name is Kai and he is perpetually bored at work. He likes to chat me up about everything that goes on in the cafe and a while ago he happened to text me the picture of a guy who was sitting by himself for quite some time, seemed like he had been stood up. I didn’t like that.”
Fuck.
Fuck.
Okay so, on the surface this situation seems to come out of a fairy tale but the reality is far worse. The waiter took a picture of him -without his permission- and sent it to his handsome friend in second-hand embarrassment and the friend felt so bad to see his stupid sad face that he decided to pity-date him.
Holy shit, Soobin wants the ground to swallow him whole.
“That- that’s rude,” Soobin says, feeling offended.
The man nods his head and agrees. “Rude as fuck, but when I saw that picture I thought to myself, how could someone do that to such a good-looking guy? I was free after work and I thought I would have myself a blind date with the shy guy at the cafe”
“You… felt bad for me and decided to come have some coffee with me to make me look less pathetic?” Soobin asked, trying to make the man see that it wasn’t such a nice thought.
“Oh, I did feel bad for you, but that is not why I came” The man clarifies. “It wasn’t out of pity… you have a BigBang pin on your bag”
Soobin frowns, he does have a BigBang pin on his bag, from the Fantastic Baby era. Among other silly pins, he likes them because they are cute or because of their aesthetic. He likes to personalize his things like that.
“You came because of a BigBang pin?” Soobin is confused.
“I came because you are all dolled up for a date and have amazingly good music taste if you like BigBang. It would be a waste to have used this outfit for nothing, I felt that we might get along and I wanted to see if I was right” The man smiled.
Oh.
Oh.
This man saw a picture of him, his pathetic stance, and his silly pins on his bag and liked him.
“So… what is your name?” The man asks, patient and kind.
“Choi Soobin”
“Nice to meet you, Choi Soobin. I am Choi Yeonjun”