Chapter Text
"hey, yoongi hyung, do you know anywhere i can work part-time? im thinking of earning some extra allowance for myself, y'know"
yoongi stared at jeongguk incredulously.
"you are literally the child of the CEO of one of the biggest companies in South Korea and a lawyer, you could just ask your parents for money and they would give it to you even if you asked for a million dollars, why the living fuck would you need to work for it?"
"... i want to try working?"
"you know what, i'm not even going to ask, i have a friend called kim seokjin and he had just set up this cafe down the road not too long ago... Princely Pink, i should think? don't give me that look, i'm trying to help you out here, you ungrateful rascal. i didn't have any say in the naming so stop judging, okay?"
and so jeongguk found himself standing outside an obnoxiously pink (it sure did live up to its name) cafe just as it was closing, armed with piece of paper yoongi had passed to him to give to this "seokjin" and dressed to kill , which was really just code name for a white shirt, ripped jeans and a pair of Timberlands. (clearly having expected just as much, yoongi had merely grunted when jeongguk came out from his room after an hour of choosing a suitable outfit, "how many fucking copies of that shirt do you have?", earning an wounded look and a snarky reply from a somewhat disgruntled jeongguk, "white shirts are an aesthetic, hyung, you have got to learn how to appreciate them.")
"i'm... looking for a kim seokjin?" he inquired hesitantly, as 4 heads swiveled around to face him the moment he entered through the glass doors.
he wasn't sure what he had been expecting but it definitely did not constitute of a group of hot guys standing behind the counters in aprons because what. jeongguk's vision honed in a particular brunette with the softest looking smile and crinkling eyes and he couldn't help but wonder if he had accidentally walked into a modeling agency rather than a cafe.
"that's me you are looking for," the man who chirped out stepped out from behind the counter, beaming widely at jeongguk. jeongguk took a double take (because shouldn't it be illegal to look this handsome?), before surrendering the piece of paper that yoongi had proclaimed would guarantee him a spot in the cafe.
what he was not expecting was for seokjin to give him a full once-over, scrutinizing his profile so closely that it made jeongguk nervous. he wasn't sure what yoongi had written in the letter to warrant this examination, but surely it wasn't anything bad? jeongguk swore on his ancestors' graves that if yoongi had written something incriminating about him, he would be sure to exact his revenge in the most painful possible way (despite knowing that that would be pretty much be suicide, its yoongi hyung for fuck's sake).
a few more seconds of jeongguk squirming uncomfortably under seokjin's scrutiny ensued, up till seokjin abruptly clapped his hands (jeongguk totally didn't flinch because flinching is for weaklings) and smiled so brightly jeongguk thought he was staring straight into the sun.
"namjoonie, yoongi is actually right!! this boy is cute enough to join our ranks, don't you think?" a befuddled jeongguk stared at the pretty man in front of him. yoongi hyung called him cute?
"i don't see why you had to stare at him for so long – its obvious at one glance. you were just trying to drag his discomfort out longer, weren't you," grumbled the tall, lanky guy staring morosely at his bleeding finger (jeongguk thought he had imagined the small yelp when he entered the cafe, apparently not).
"he really is cute, isn't he? oh right! i'm kim taehyung, and this dork next to me is park jimin, nice to meet you!" a blonde haired boy piped up from beside him. caught completely unaware, jeongguk let out a yell ("it was totally a scream, jeonggukie, stop being in denial" "oh fuck off, you asshole" "its 'fuck off, hyung' to you") and accidentally slammed his Timberland-clad foot into said dork's (jimin?) knee, successfully sparking a chain reaction.
in a bid to regain balance, jimin had grabbed onto taehyung's shoulders while clutching his bruising knee, conveniently forgetting that taehyung had absolutely no sense of balance. taehyung screeched as he toppled forward, hands flailing around wildly, one of which almost caught seokjin in the eye, who backpedalled so quickly he knocked the cup of coffee balancing precariously on the countertop onto namjoon's injured finger.
when jeongguk finally returned to his senses, all he could see was the 4 formerly cool and composed males in varying degrees of distraught (namjoon was still yelling and desperately trying to ease the pain in his finger).
well that was an effective way to make an impactful impression, jeongguk supposed.
"that did not start on the right note, but welcome to the family, jeonggukie!"
"huh, that's it? right, okay, thanks i guess...?"
he was still somewhat mystified by how easily he had been accepted as an employee of the cafe, which according to seokjin ("just call me jin hyung," the older boy had insisted most vehemently) was because of his "good looks and outstanding charisma". "it will help to attract customers," jin had reasoned much to jeongguk's disbelief, "and its always a plus to look at an aesthetically pleasing face if i'm going to be working with you almost everyday."
jeongguk warmed up to the crew quickly enough, with the same-age coworkers, 95z as they had dubbed themselves, taehyung especially, constantly cracking jokes and initiating conversations with the younger boy.
"jeonggukie! let me tell you this joke i chanced upon last night!"
"no, hyung, just don't. please spare me from your horrible sense of humour"
"i told you, tae, i told you. no one likes your jokes"
"RUDE"
it was a commonly known fact that jeongguk was multi-talented and excelled in pretty much everything, but it soon became clear to everyone that 'pretty much everything' did not apply to his love life. jeongguk was dense and he knew it, but he would be lying if he said he did not notice the way his heart would give a little flutter every time jimin smiled at him, or the way all his worries would instantly disappear when jimin sidled up to him and flung an arm over his shoulder (with much difficulty due to the height difference), or even the way he would find himself subconsciously gravitating to jimin the moment he entered the cafe for his shift. hell, he was so whipped that a dark cloud would loom over his being whenever jimin called in sick or busy from his other commitments (he never noticed the glances being exchanged amongst his coworkers).
he was dense enough to miss the subtly flirtatious physical contact (slightly lingering touches on his arm) jimin initiated from time to time but not dense enough to not miss jimin's burning looks of appraisal that were directed at him. don't overthink it, he probably just likes your choice in clothing or something. when he had confided in yoongi regarding this later on, yoongi had choked on his saliva so hard jeongguk felt the need to call for an ambulance. "you literally wear the same clothes everyday, unless he had very bad taste, i don't see why he would be staring at your clothes"
chummy as he was with all his new coworkers, he felt inexplicably and especially drawn to the shortest of the bunch. jeongguk blamed it on the soft lilt of jimin's voice, on the way he would scrunch his nose in distaste every time taehyung made a bad pun and on the way he would rake his hand through his fluffy black hair whenever his fringe fell over his eyes as he worked.
as if jimin's presence was not enough to distract him from his job, there were days when jimin would wear a certain pair of skinny jeans that were tight enough to seem more like his second skin than an article of clothing, hugging his ass in a way that made jeongguk's mouth dry. it were these days that jeongguk would have the most difficulty trying to pry his eyes away (he got caught staring by a very knowing seokjin on multiple occasions) and it definitely did not help that jimin kept swaying his hips as he walked (little did he know that jimin only ever did that when he knew jeongguk was watching).
soon enough, Princely Pink became well-known in the vicinity to sell heavenly looking food that blessed your taste buds and heavenly looking staff that blessed your eyes, successfully attracting people of all ages, especially young female students unsurprisingly. as someone who had received compliments and confessions on a weekly (almost daily) basis back when he was in high school, jeongguk did not think much of the attention from the customers but he would find himself tensed up whenever he caught an attractive individual (both sexes applied) hitting on jimin, only to relax and brighten up considerably when jimin rejected them politely. the first time it happened, he did not notice that a frown had taken over his face until jin patted him on the back, almost consolingly, and looked at him with so much pity in his eyes he would have thought someone had passed away.
he was walking back to the counter after serving coffee to a kindly old man (a regular customer who absolutely adored the cookies and thought of jin as his grandson) when yet another group of giggling teenage girls cornered jeongguk. "jeongguk-ssi, do you mind taking a photo with us?" one of the girls, with a pretty face and killer figure, batted her eyelashes (jeongguk thought she had overdone it and her eyelashes were way too thick to be real) and pressed her curvaceous body flat against his arm, and jeongguk's eyebrow twitched a little. as much as he had someone else (a shorter black-haired boy) in mind, he had hormones and the feel of a warm body against his was pretty tempting, if he were to be honest. he sucked in a breath and was about to lightly nudge her away when said someone in his mind appeared, face flushed (with something that looked akin to jealousy and fury but jeongguk couldn't understand why) and lips pressed into a thin line.
"sorry girls, but he has work to do so if you don't mind, could you please kindly take a seat and wait till his shift is over before taking a photo," jimin forced out through gritted teeth, tone bitingly polite, polar opposites from his usual bubbly and cheerful self.
at that, the girls deflated noticeably and scurried out of the cafe, one of them grumbling, "god, i would have slapped him if he wasn't so cute," too quietly to attract attention but loudly enough to be heard by the two boys. as the girls' figures disappeared out of the door, jeongguk cocked his eyebrow questioningly at the smaller boy, who garbled something incoherently in return and ducked behind the counter, cheeks flaming. maybe he was having a bad day, jeongguk reasoned to himself.
"hey yoongi hyung, here to visit your favourite dongsaeng?" jeongguk flashed his brightest smile at his high school senior as the other strolled into the cafe, followed closely behind by another boy. "i was actually here to see jin, what are you doing here again?" yoongi shot back, lips twitching upwards at the sight of jeongguk pouting.
"hobi hyung, you haven't come in a while!" jeongguk watched blankly as the object of his affections barreled straight into the boy behind yoongi, wrapping his arms and legs around his torso. forcing the jealously stirring in his stomach back down, jeongguk turned back to face yoongi robotically, smile borderline terrifying. yoongi looked back, face completely devoid of expression.
"so you and him, huh?"
"..."
"don't even try denying it, he looks exactly like your type"
"i have no idea what you are talking about, hyung"
hoseok, the boy who had entered the cafe with yoongi, as jeongguk had learnt, was a literal ray of sunshine – no fuck that, he was the literal sun. if jimin was considered hyper, hoseok was exuding energy (and puppies and rainbows) from every single pore on his body. jeongguk quickly decided he liked this hyung the moment hoseok had detached himself from jimin to sling himself over yoongi and land a smooch on the grumpy boy's cheek, which flared bright red, much to jeongguk's amusement as jimin cooed from the side.
"honestly hoseok hyung, what do you see in him? he is so short and scary," he snorted as he leaned over the counter to hand the couple their orders.
hoseok merely beamed back at him and ruffled yoongi's hair, and jeongguk started praying internally because he was so sure yoongi was going to explode and unleash his fury any time now but the latter only grunted in displeasure, batting hoseok's hand away half-heartedly.
jeongguk widened his eyes in amazement. miracles do happen.