k-pop; love can be yours (if you step up to the counter)
Title: Love can be yours (if you step up to the counter)
Pairing: Minseok/Sehun
Rating: PG-13
Summary: AU. Frazzled student Sehun sets up camp at a 24-hour coffee shop to finish a term paper on time and Minseok, the cute barista, brings him a drink every hour on the house and makes Sehun fall a little more each time.
Author’s Note: 4762 words. this is for jenn bc who else could get me to write xiuhun tbh lol. inspired by this prompt. title from the song “taylor the latte boy” by marcy heisler and zina goldrich.
ao3 mirror
It’s ten in the evening and it’s raining. Sehun stares out the window of the tiny 24-hour coffee shop he’s holed himself in and watches as it pours down onto the street in waves, the wind whistling through the air and thunder crackling somewhere in the distance. He should probably go back to the apartment but the apartment has his PS4 and queued up episodes of House of Cards on Netflix. There’s also Jongin, who will probably demand to rewatch Haikyuu for the tenth time and Sehun really needs to finish his term paper.
That’s why he ended up here in the first place; the library was getting too stifling, felt too quiet, and Sehun was starting to doze off every few minutes. Exodus is the only 24-hour coffee place near campus with free wireless, so Sehun made the trek over, lugging his laptop and books with him to claim a spot next to the window and order his favorite sugary drink from the cute barista named Minseok.
Sehun doesn’t try to make a habit out of coming here like Lu Han, who probably has coffee running through his veins instead of blood, but he’s been here enough that Minseok knows him by name and genuinely looks interested when he asks how Sehun’s day’s been. And, well, half the reason Sehun’s here tonight at all is because the coffee is good, and the other half is that he remembered Minseok mentioning he works the Tuesday overnight shifts. Sehun can’t help himself from being an opportunist, really.
There’s only a handful of other students in the shop, studying like Sehun is with laptops out and headphones in, and Minseok is behind the counter, meticulously keeping it clean after someone stops by for a drink and otherwise leaning over the tabletop and reading a book quietly. Not that Sehun’s been staring or anything, he’s been working. He’s added three pages in his paper since he’s been here and he doesn’t think it’s all terrible, either. He’s been good. Definitely good enough to get a refill on his drink and maybe grab a cookie while he’s at it.
“Hey,” Sehun says, once he’s at the counter, and Minseok looks up from his book, a smile stretching across his face.
“Sehun! How’s the paper going?” Minseok asks as he tucks one of the shop’s business cards into the pages of the book to save his spot.
“It’s coming along...slowly,” Sehun admits, shrugging a little. “It’s gonna be a long night.”
“You shouldn’t have left it until the last minute then,” Minseok chides, giving Sehun a stern look like the ones Junmyeon gives him when he’s behind on schoolwork but Minseok somehow makes him feel more guilty while Junmyeon only ever looks like a sad attempt as a dad.
“I knoooow,” Sehun whines, pouting for effect. “But at least I’m trying, right? I just need some more coffee to get back into the zone. And maybe a cookie.”
Laughing, Minseok nods, taking Sehun’s mug from him to refill it for him. His fingers bump up against Sehun’s and Sehun applauds himself on not dropping the mug in surprise. Shattering Minseok’s cookware is probably not the best way to make an impression. Minseok hands back his mug after it’s full to the brim and then lets Sehun pick out which cookie he wants, but surprisingly tucks too into a napkin and holds them out for him to take.
“You’re gonna need something more than just coffee to keep you up all night,” he says, smiling, and gives his hand a little shake, prompting Sehun to take the cookies.
“Thanks,” Sehun says, smiling back, feeling a lot more touched than he probably has any right being, and when he returns to his table, he feels entirely energized, cracking his knuckles with purpose before setting off to write.
-
By the time midnight rolls around, the cafe has emptied out save for Sehun. He’s only managed to write a couple of measly paragraphs in those few hours, and his cookies only lasted twenty minutes. Minseok had stopped by sometime after eleven to top off his coffee when Sehun had ducked into the bathroom, and now Sehun has notes open out on his keyboard, a pen in his hand, but he’s watching React videos on YouTube.
“That doesn’t look like studying,” Minseok says, startling Sehun so much he almost tips over in his chair, having been leaning back on the back two legs. Thankfully, Minseok is there to right him before Sehun spills onto the floor, his eyes amused as Sehun feels his face heat up and yanks his his headphones out of his ears.
“Breaks are good, you know,” Sehun says, finally remembering what Minseok said. “They stimulate the brain and--and things.”
Minseok looks seconds away from laughing at him and Sehun deems himself a hopeless case. Minseok probably thinks he’s an awful procrastinating student (he is) who drinks way too much coffee (today is just a special case!) and is too lazy to brush off the cookie crumbs down his shirt (Sehun didn’t notice them, really). Sehun is not making himself look good at all to Minseok who Sehun thinks is pretty much wonderful, with his kind smiles and pretty eyes and not kicking Sehun out of the cafe despite it being open all night.
“Can I join you on your break then?” Minseok asks, and before Sehun can even stutter out a weak, “Yes!” Minseok has tugged over a chair from the neighboring table to sit to Sehun’s left. “What class have you been writing your paper for?”
“Shakespeare,” Sehun says, wrinkling his nose. He shuffles aside some of the papers he’s spread across his table and gently pushes his giant course book towards Minseok. “We have to pick a theme and compare and contrast two of his plays.”
“Sounds interesting,” Minseok says, and then laughs when he catches sight of Sehun’s face. “I’m guessing it’s not your idea of fun, huh?”
“I’m good at math and numbers, not...this,” Sehun says, waving his hands at the mess on his table. “I only took Shakespeare because I figured we’d watch a lot of the movies and remakes, you know?”
“Slacker,” Minseok teases, a little smirk to the corner of his lips, and Sehun just grins, unrepentant. “But I guess I can’t judge, I took the lowest level lit class I could for my requirement, since I didn’t need it much anyway either.”
“You’re studying architecture, right?” Sehun says, and flushes when Minseok raises a brow at him, a little surprised. “I--uh, heard about it, from Lu Han.” That’s not entirely a lie, anyway.
“Yes, architecture,” Minseok says, reaching over to pluck the pen out of Sehun’s hand. He starts scribbling onto a corner of one of Sehun’s class syllabi. “This is my last year before I get my masters.”
“Ahh, you’re lucky you’re almost done,” Sehun says, stretching his arms over his head with a deep sigh and slumping back in his seat, kicking his legs out under the table. He tries to figure out what Minseok’s drawing, but can’t tell much apart from a bunch of lines.
“I’ve still got to do a three-year internship,” Minseok says, giving Sehun a look. “I’m far from done.”
“An actual internship sounds way more interesting than having to write papers for classes you hate.”
Minseok laughs, nodding as he leans back, giving his little drawing a proper look. “I guess you’re right about that,” he says, smiling at Sehun. “What is it that you want to do then, Sehun?”
Sehun licks his lips, shrugs a shoulder. “I haven’t decided yet,” he mumbles truthfully, even if it makes him feel aimless, pathetic. “Anything that doesn’t have to do with Shakespeare is at the top of the list right now.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Minseok says softly, and when he looks at Sehun, he doesn’t have the same disappointed expression that his parents or professors do. There’s understanding there, and comfort, and Sehun lets out a relieved breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. Before he has a chance to reply, Minseok is standing, rubbing his hands down the front of his black apron. “Okay, I think that’s a long enough break, don’t you? Back to work, back to work!”
Sehun groans, but knows Minseok is right, so he nods, watches as he disappears behind the counter, then turns back to his computer. On top of his notes is the paper Minseok had taken, and Sehun picks it up to find a little sketched out storefront. The cafe, he realizes, seeing the name printed over the top, and then a little note to the side in Minseok’s cute handwriting: keep working hard, sehun! you can do it!
Sehun bites into his lower lip to keep from smiling too wide, and when he glances back over at the counter, he catches Minseok’s eye. Minseok grins at him, points to his laptop and waves his hand in an insistent manner urging Sehun to work again, and Sehun carefully tears off Minseok’s drawing and tucks it into his wallet for safekeeping.
-
Minseok stops by Sehun’s desk nearly every hour on the dot from then on to offer him more coffee and to sit and chat with him for awhile. Sehun wonders if Minseok does this regularly with people who stay late at the cafe, or if maybe, hopefully, Sehun is special. Maybe Minseok’s just bored, and trying to stay awake, too, by asking Sehun questions about his classes and in turn telling him stories about his undergraduate life, which professors to avoid if he can during his last two years.
The more Minseok talks and pays attention to Sehun, the more Sehun falls a little more. He’s always thought Minseok was cute, the kind barista who made Sehun’s drinks exactly how he wanted them and treated Sehun like a friend instead of just another customer with a caffeine addiction, but they’ve never really spent any time outside of chatting at the counter in the cafe, so this, tonight, is almost too good to be true. This is Sehun learning Minseok would probably have a heart attack if he saw the mess in his apartment (though he should’ve expected that, with how meticulously Minseok keeps the cafe clean), that his dreams of owning his own coffee shop when he was fourteen might have led him toward working here between classes instead of finding something a little more suited to his skillset (though he does proudly tell Sehun his coffee is the best) and that those arms Sehun tries (and fails) not to ogle every time he’s here aren’t just for show, that Minseok likes to stay in shape, that it helps him relax after a long day.
And really, Minseok could probably tell Sehun he kicks puppies around when no one’s looking and Sehun might still be in love with him. Thankfully, though, he tells Sehun instead, “Do you have any pets? I’m thinking of maybe getting a cat.”
“I do!” Sehun says excitedly, and pulls out his phone from where it’s trapped between books, taps at the screen. “I have a puppy named Vivi.” He holds his phone out to show Minseok, who grins down at the screen with a soft look in his eyes. “Jongin--my roommate, I mean--he has two poodles, so we’re just constantly chasing around after them when we’re not working.”
“That’s cute,” Minseok says, meeting Sehun’s eyes, and Sehun flushes as he yanks his hand back, looking down at his laptop. “Do you not like cats then?”
“What--no! No, I do, I think baby cats--kittens! Are really cute,” Sehun rushes to say and as Minseok looks back at him, clearly amused, he sinks a little lower in his seat and wonders if it’s physically possible to melt into the floor.
“I think right now you might be cuter,” Minseok says as he stands, the corner of his lips curving into a smirk, and Sehun can’t do anything but gape at him as he walks away.
-
The next time Minseok comes by it’s three in the morning and Sehun’s fallen asleep on his laptop. There’s an awful crink in his neck and he feels tired and groggy and annoyed at being woken, where he may or may not have been enjoying a dream about holding Minseok’s hand and kissing him and--
“Are you alright?” Minseok asks, and the soft sound of his voice pulls Sehun out of his thoughts because no matter what, real-life-Minseok is better than the dream-Minseok in Sehun’s head.
“Yeah,” Sehun says, grimacing at the cottony taste in his mouth. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?” Minseok says, tilting his head slightly in confusion, and Sehun’s mind is too muddled to even really know what he’s saying. As he grows more and more lucid, he’s distracted by just how close Minseok is, bending over to peer down at him, brows knitted in concern, and Sehun can see the clear almond-shape of his eyes, the curl of his lashes.
“I-I don’t know,” Sehun finally replies quietly, his gaze darting down from Minseok’s eyes to his mouth, and Sehun wants so much to make his dream a reality.
“I think you might need to turn in for the night,” Minseok laughs lightly, straightening up, and the want in Sehun’s gut fizzles out as he remembers just why he’s here, falling asleep at a table in a coffee shop.
He shakes his head quickly, eyes widening as he turns to his laptop and moves his mouse around on the screen to wake it up. Thankfully his work hasn’t magically deleted itself, but he did end up adding three pages of the letter F to his paper, the result of falling asleep on his keyboard. “It’s foreshadowing,” Sehun cries, slumping, and Minseok’s laughs properly now. The sound of it fills up the quiet, empty shop and makes Sehun feel warm despite the fact that it’s the middle of the night and he still has four bullet points left to write about on his outline.
“You’ll be fine, Sehun,” Minseok says, and, to the excitement of Sehun’s already weak heart, he reaches out to give Sehun’s hair a little reassuring ruffle. “I’ll go get you some more coffee, okay? You should get back to work.”
“Right,” Sehun breathes as Minseok retreats to the front of the shop, turning to stare at his computer screen and feeling doomed in more ways than one.
-
“It’s good, Sehun, really good,” Minseok says as he looks up from the screen. There’s an almost proud look on his face when he hands Sehun his laptop back. “I knew you could do it.”
“You’re just saying that,” Sehun says weakly even as he’s brimming with pleasure.
“I mean it,” Minseok says. “It’s a solid paper.” His smile turns into a little smirk, his eyes sharpening as he looks at Sehun and sits back in his seat. “You might want to get rid of that bit at the end though where you mention how hot I am, not that I don’t appreciate it.”
Heat floods Sehun’s face as he scrambles to check his paper, and he groans as he finds the incriminating message, which was meant to be sent in an email to Jongin about an hour ago. “Oh my god,” he says, hiding his face his hands, and he can only be marginally glad that Minseok’s laughter is amused instead of derisive, his humiliation too strong. This is what he gets for writing papers at four in the morning and simultaneously wondering if Minseok would be into fucking Sehun over the front counter.
At least he didn’t write that into his paper.
When Sehun’s finally calmed down enough to show his face again, Minseok is still sitting across from him, a sort of fond smile on his face. That doesn’t help Sehun’s case at all, and he quickly starts piling together all his notes and stuffing them into his backpack. “Thank you for looking at it,” Sehun says, genuinely grateful, “and you know--for keeping me company. You didn’t even have to and I was probably a bother but--”
“It was fun,” Minseok cuts over him. “Made the night go by a lot faster.”
“When do you get to head out?” Sehun asks, saving his paper three times for good measure before closing his laptop and putting that in his bag, too.
“Just another hour until Chanyeol gets here,” Minseok says, stretching his arms over his head and Sehun has to look away quickly to refrain from staring at the way his muscles shift under his white button-up. He only turns back when he hears the sound of the chair scraping against the floor and Minseok is heading up to the counter again. “Here,” he says, waving Sehun over, and Sehun gives his table one last look to make sure he hasn’t forgotten anything, slings his bag over his shoulder and joins Minseok in the front of the shop. “Take this.” He wraps a muffin into a napkin and then tucks into a tiny brown take-out bag, and before Sehun can say anything, is filling up a to-go cup with more coffee. “On me.”
“Minseok--you’ve already--” Sehun starts to protest, but Minseok isn’t having any of it, pushing the items into his hands.
“Don’t worry about it,” he says with a smile still as bright at six in the morning as it was last night when Sehun walked in, and every hour in between. “Have a good day, Sehun. And get some sleep soon, if you can.”
“You, too,” Sehun says quickly, and then, with nothing else keeping him there, and class in two hours, Sehun gives Minseok a little jerky wave and heads home.
-
Jongin is getting ready for his morning dance rehearsals, tying up the laces on his sneakers in the living room when Sehun walks in. “Did you finish your paper?” he asks, sounding as sleepy as he looks.
Sehun plants himself face-first into the couch and whines, “Why does he have to be so perfect?” and doesn’t even feel any better when Jongin pets his head and Vivi comes out to paw at Sehun’s toes.
-
Sehun doesn’t mean to avoid the cafe in the days that follow his overnight paper-writing, falling-for-Minseok session. He’s just rediscovered the tiny bubble tea shop on the other side of campus and goes out of his way to stop by when he’s in head of something to drink. Taro is just that good, okay. Way better than bitter coffee. Sehun’s probably had more than enough coffee in that one night to last him the next five years and managed to embarrass himself enough in front of Minseok to last a lifetime.
“You know he asked about you,” Lu Han tells him three days later when Sehun drags him out to buy him lunch. “Minseok,” Lu Han adds when Sehun just stares blankly at him, mouth full of fries. “I saw him this morning and he asked how you were, if I’d talked to you.” He smirks a little. “I told him you’re still a brat and you’ve discovered a bubble tea shop that’s way better than his cafe.”
“You did not,” Sehun exclaims, throwing a fry into Lu Han’s face and Lu Han cackles so loudly he gets stares from the other people dining at the McDonald’s.
“Well, he did ask about you,” Lu Han says, shrugging a shoulder and picking up his burger for a big bite. “He seemed really interested. I can’t believe you spent that whole night together and didn’t even get his number.”
Sehun grumbles, “Don’t say it like that,” and pokes another fry into his ketchup. “Nothing actually happened.”
“Something happened,” Lu Han protests. “I think he might like you.”
“He should,” Sehun sniffs, even as Lu Han’s words bubble hope in his chest. “I’m fucking amazing.”
“Eat your burger,” Lu Han laughs, rolling his eyes, and Sehun hides his smile, wondering if maybe he should pluck up the courage to face Minseok again sooner rather than later.
-
Sehun gets his Shakespeare paper returned a week later, and he’s amazed to find the A marked in red at the top of the page. He knows Minseok said it was good, and even Jongin, who is all into literature and writing and shit, had only edited a few things when he’d graciously looked it over once more before Sehun printed it out, but Sehun hadn’t actually expected getting anything better than a C. Maybe a B. Maybe. He thinks he might’ve taken the whole three pages of Fs thing to heart, and he’s gripping his paper in his hands, amazed.
It’s almost on instinct that he ends up in front of Exodus after class, still clutching his paper in his hand and catching sight of Minseok behind the counter, taking someone’s order. He hasn’t seen or talked to him in a week, but there’s no one else right now that Sehun wants to see, wants to share the excitement of his A with more than Minseok. Minseok, who kept Sehun company all night and never once complained, who reassured Sehun when he felt defeated, who has taken over Sehun’s thoughts so seamlessly it’s like he’s always been there to begin with.
He takes a deep breath and pushes the door open, stepping instead and striding purposefully to the counter. His heart is beating loudly in his ears as he’s holding onto his paper so tightly that it might actually be in shreds by the time he even shows it to Minseok, but whatever, he doesn’t care. Minseok, when he looks up from the counter, is surprised when he sees Sehun, and a slow smile crosses his face. For a moment, Sehun thinks he looks almost relieved, like he’s glad that Sehun’s back, has stopped avoiding him, and Sehun, filled with thoughts of wanting to kiss him, of how it’d felt when Minseok had ruffled his hair, told him he was cute, blurts out, “Will you go on a date with me?”
The cafe turns almost deathly silent and Sehun feels humiliation smack him in the face and he rushes to say as everyone in the shop starts to dither around him and Minseok is standing on the other side of the counter, somewhere between frozen and horribly entertained, “Fuck, wait--no--I mean--well, I do want to go on a date with you, but that’s not why I--oh god, I’m so--”
“Sehun,” Minseok interrupts, and it’s a little amazing that even the soft tone of his voice sends shivers up Sehun’s spine, makes him clamp his mouth shut like Minseok’s spoke with authority. “What can I get for you?”
That’s...not what Sehun was expecting. He deflates, his shoulders slumping, and mumbles out his usual order. He stares at the countertop as Minseok rings him up and he pays, thinking this is what he gets for being so reckless, so stupid that Minseok doesn’t even feel the need to deign him with a proper rejection.
He stuffs his paper into the back pocket of his jeans, wonders if he could just bolt out of here without anyone noticing. That’s highly unlikely, because Sehun can feel people staring at him for his outburst, and it’ll probably be all over campus later. This is a popular cafe. Minseok has a lot of friends. Did you hear about that kid who asked him out? they’ll say. In the middle of the shop, too! So tactless.
Sehun can never show his face here again.
“Hey,” Minseok says, cutting through Sehun’s terrible thoughts, and when Sehun forces himself to look at him, he’s surprised to find Minseok smiling at him, holding out his drink. When Sehun takes it from him, he adds, “Yes, by the way.”
“Huh?” Sehun says blankly, and Minseok’s smile turns sly.
“Yes, I will go out with you,” he says and Sehun is so dumbfounded he just stands there, gaping, and almost drops his drink all over the floor when someone bumps up into him as they pass to leave.
“What?!” Sehun exclaims, feeling his face heat up again, except this time it’s in excitement, wonder.
“I get off in an hour,” Minseok says, still smirking. “If you want to wait?”
Sehun’s pretty sure his reply is just gibberish, but Minseok seems endeared by it anyway, smiling and shooing him off to sit down and stop holding up the line. Sehun goes, sitting down at the same window table he did a week ago, and tries not to stare too much at Minseok as he works through the next hour.
By the time Minseok slides into the seat across from him, Sehun’s drink is long gone and he’s smoothed out the corners of his paper, set it aside on the table to do some homework. Minseok sees it first though, eyes widening and a proud smile on his face, the same one he’d given Sehun the last time he’d seen him, when Minseok had read through his paper and told him it was good.
“See? I knew you could do it,” Minseok says and Sehun beams, still reeling from the fact that Minseok is sitting there, talking to him, that he said he would go on a date with him.
“You helped, a lot,” Sehun tells him honestly, but Minseok just waves a hand.
“You’re the one that wrote the paper,” he says. “I just gave you a lot of coffee.”
Minseo has no idea how life-changing that coffee really was, to be honest. Sehun decides to keep that to himself, and instead closes his accounting textbook and says, feeling bold, “Fine, then you should give me something for the good grade, too, don’t you think?”
“What do you want?”
Sehun shrugs nonchalantly, even though he’s anything but, and pushes around the straw in his empty cup. “A kiss, maybe?” he says, hopeful, and Minseok laughs outright, getting to his feet.
“How about that date, first?” he says, holding out a hand, and Sehun puts his things away quickly in his backpack, and slips his hand into Minseok’s. Their fingers naturally lace together, and Minseok despite being much smaller than Sehun, has a strong, confident grip that makes Sehun feel warm.
“You really want to?” Sehun asks, still amazed. “Go on a date, I mean.”
“I wanted to ask you like that next day,” Minseok admits with a little shrug as they leave the cafe. “But you never stopped by while I was there and I didn’t have your number. I figured you might’ve not been interested.”
“I’m interested,” Sehun says quickly, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to look at Minseok seriously.
“Good,” Minseok says with a little quirk of his lips. “I like you, too.”
Sehun must be dreaming, but the heat of Minseok’s hand in his keeps reminding him that he’s not. He smiles back, his cheeks hurting from how it takes over his face, and wonders how he could’ve gotten so lucky. “So, lunch, maybe?” Sehun asks, when he’s gotten control of his overwhelming feelings, starting to head down the sidewalk again.
“Sure,” Minseok says, tugging at Sehun’s hand, “but first--” He pulls enough to have Sehun stumbling into him, and Sehun’s brain catches up just a second before it happens, Minseok drawing him down with a firm hand to the back of his neck and kissing him gently on the mouth.
Sehun melts into it even as he grips Minseok’s hand tighter, and he’s laughing a little incredulously when they break apart a few minutes, maybe hours later. Sehun’s lips are tingling, his whole body feeling like it’s on fire, he’s so happy. “I thought you said after,” he says, trying to sound amused but probably just coming off as elated as he feels.
“Are you complaining?” Minseok asks with a raised brow, challenging, but laughs when Sehun quickly shakes his head. “Then let’s go, I’m starving. Unless you want our first date to be on the sidewalk.”
“I’d be okay with anything,” Sehun answers honestly and Minseok eyes him for a moment, eyes darting down to Sehun’s mouth like he wants to kiss him again. Sehun would be okay with that, but instead Minseok just squeezes his hand again and pulls him along down the path, and Sehun follows, okay with this, too. They have plenty of time, he thinks with a smile, and he’s looking forward to whatever it will bring.
note:i really had a lot of fun with this despite xiuhun being a very new ship for me lol i hope i did them justice and they weren't ooc or anything D:
thank u for reading~~ ♥♥
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Pairing: Minseok/Sehun
Rating: PG-13
Summary: AU. Frazzled student Sehun sets up camp at a 24-hour coffee shop to finish a term paper on time and Minseok, the cute barista, brings him a drink every hour on the house and makes Sehun fall a little more each time.
Author’s Note: 4762 words. this is for jenn bc who else could get me to write xiuhun tbh lol. inspired by this prompt. title from the song “taylor the latte boy” by marcy heisler and zina goldrich.
ao3 mirror
It’s ten in the evening and it’s raining. Sehun stares out the window of the tiny 24-hour coffee shop he’s holed himself in and watches as it pours down onto the street in waves, the wind whistling through the air and thunder crackling somewhere in the distance. He should probably go back to the apartment but the apartment has his PS4 and queued up episodes of House of Cards on Netflix. There’s also Jongin, who will probably demand to rewatch Haikyuu for the tenth time and Sehun really needs to finish his term paper.
That’s why he ended up here in the first place; the library was getting too stifling, felt too quiet, and Sehun was starting to doze off every few minutes. Exodus is the only 24-hour coffee place near campus with free wireless, so Sehun made the trek over, lugging his laptop and books with him to claim a spot next to the window and order his favorite sugary drink from the cute barista named Minseok.
Sehun doesn’t try to make a habit out of coming here like Lu Han, who probably has coffee running through his veins instead of blood, but he’s been here enough that Minseok knows him by name and genuinely looks interested when he asks how Sehun’s day’s been. And, well, half the reason Sehun’s here tonight at all is because the coffee is good, and the other half is that he remembered Minseok mentioning he works the Tuesday overnight shifts. Sehun can’t help himself from being an opportunist, really.
There’s only a handful of other students in the shop, studying like Sehun is with laptops out and headphones in, and Minseok is behind the counter, meticulously keeping it clean after someone stops by for a drink and otherwise leaning over the tabletop and reading a book quietly. Not that Sehun’s been staring or anything, he’s been working. He’s added three pages in his paper since he’s been here and he doesn’t think it’s all terrible, either. He’s been good. Definitely good enough to get a refill on his drink and maybe grab a cookie while he’s at it.
“Hey,” Sehun says, once he’s at the counter, and Minseok looks up from his book, a smile stretching across his face.
“Sehun! How’s the paper going?” Minseok asks as he tucks one of the shop’s business cards into the pages of the book to save his spot.
“It’s coming along...slowly,” Sehun admits, shrugging a little. “It’s gonna be a long night.”
“You shouldn’t have left it until the last minute then,” Minseok chides, giving Sehun a stern look like the ones Junmyeon gives him when he’s behind on schoolwork but Minseok somehow makes him feel more guilty while Junmyeon only ever looks like a sad attempt as a dad.
“I knoooow,” Sehun whines, pouting for effect. “But at least I’m trying, right? I just need some more coffee to get back into the zone. And maybe a cookie.”
Laughing, Minseok nods, taking Sehun’s mug from him to refill it for him. His fingers bump up against Sehun’s and Sehun applauds himself on not dropping the mug in surprise. Shattering Minseok’s cookware is probably not the best way to make an impression. Minseok hands back his mug after it’s full to the brim and then lets Sehun pick out which cookie he wants, but surprisingly tucks too into a napkin and holds them out for him to take.
“You’re gonna need something more than just coffee to keep you up all night,” he says, smiling, and gives his hand a little shake, prompting Sehun to take the cookies.
“Thanks,” Sehun says, smiling back, feeling a lot more touched than he probably has any right being, and when he returns to his table, he feels entirely energized, cracking his knuckles with purpose before setting off to write.
-
By the time midnight rolls around, the cafe has emptied out save for Sehun. He’s only managed to write a couple of measly paragraphs in those few hours, and his cookies only lasted twenty minutes. Minseok had stopped by sometime after eleven to top off his coffee when Sehun had ducked into the bathroom, and now Sehun has notes open out on his keyboard, a pen in his hand, but he’s watching React videos on YouTube.
“That doesn’t look like studying,” Minseok says, startling Sehun so much he almost tips over in his chair, having been leaning back on the back two legs. Thankfully, Minseok is there to right him before Sehun spills onto the floor, his eyes amused as Sehun feels his face heat up and yanks his his headphones out of his ears.
“Breaks are good, you know,” Sehun says, finally remembering what Minseok said. “They stimulate the brain and--and things.”
Minseok looks seconds away from laughing at him and Sehun deems himself a hopeless case. Minseok probably thinks he’s an awful procrastinating student (he is) who drinks way too much coffee (today is just a special case!) and is too lazy to brush off the cookie crumbs down his shirt (Sehun didn’t notice them, really). Sehun is not making himself look good at all to Minseok who Sehun thinks is pretty much wonderful, with his kind smiles and pretty eyes and not kicking Sehun out of the cafe despite it being open all night.
“Can I join you on your break then?” Minseok asks, and before Sehun can even stutter out a weak, “Yes!” Minseok has tugged over a chair from the neighboring table to sit to Sehun’s left. “What class have you been writing your paper for?”
“Shakespeare,” Sehun says, wrinkling his nose. He shuffles aside some of the papers he’s spread across his table and gently pushes his giant course book towards Minseok. “We have to pick a theme and compare and contrast two of his plays.”
“Sounds interesting,” Minseok says, and then laughs when he catches sight of Sehun’s face. “I’m guessing it’s not your idea of fun, huh?”
“I’m good at math and numbers, not...this,” Sehun says, waving his hands at the mess on his table. “I only took Shakespeare because I figured we’d watch a lot of the movies and remakes, you know?”
“Slacker,” Minseok teases, a little smirk to the corner of his lips, and Sehun just grins, unrepentant. “But I guess I can’t judge, I took the lowest level lit class I could for my requirement, since I didn’t need it much anyway either.”
“You’re studying architecture, right?” Sehun says, and flushes when Minseok raises a brow at him, a little surprised. “I--uh, heard about it, from Lu Han.” That’s not entirely a lie, anyway.
“Yes, architecture,” Minseok says, reaching over to pluck the pen out of Sehun’s hand. He starts scribbling onto a corner of one of Sehun’s class syllabi. “This is my last year before I get my masters.”
“Ahh, you’re lucky you’re almost done,” Sehun says, stretching his arms over his head with a deep sigh and slumping back in his seat, kicking his legs out under the table. He tries to figure out what Minseok’s drawing, but can’t tell much apart from a bunch of lines.
“I’ve still got to do a three-year internship,” Minseok says, giving Sehun a look. “I’m far from done.”
“An actual internship sounds way more interesting than having to write papers for classes you hate.”
Minseok laughs, nodding as he leans back, giving his little drawing a proper look. “I guess you’re right about that,” he says, smiling at Sehun. “What is it that you want to do then, Sehun?”
Sehun licks his lips, shrugs a shoulder. “I haven’t decided yet,” he mumbles truthfully, even if it makes him feel aimless, pathetic. “Anything that doesn’t have to do with Shakespeare is at the top of the list right now.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Minseok says softly, and when he looks at Sehun, he doesn’t have the same disappointed expression that his parents or professors do. There’s understanding there, and comfort, and Sehun lets out a relieved breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. Before he has a chance to reply, Minseok is standing, rubbing his hands down the front of his black apron. “Okay, I think that’s a long enough break, don’t you? Back to work, back to work!”
Sehun groans, but knows Minseok is right, so he nods, watches as he disappears behind the counter, then turns back to his computer. On top of his notes is the paper Minseok had taken, and Sehun picks it up to find a little sketched out storefront. The cafe, he realizes, seeing the name printed over the top, and then a little note to the side in Minseok’s cute handwriting: keep working hard, sehun! you can do it!
Sehun bites into his lower lip to keep from smiling too wide, and when he glances back over at the counter, he catches Minseok’s eye. Minseok grins at him, points to his laptop and waves his hand in an insistent manner urging Sehun to work again, and Sehun carefully tears off Minseok’s drawing and tucks it into his wallet for safekeeping.
-
Minseok stops by Sehun’s desk nearly every hour on the dot from then on to offer him more coffee and to sit and chat with him for awhile. Sehun wonders if Minseok does this regularly with people who stay late at the cafe, or if maybe, hopefully, Sehun is special. Maybe Minseok’s just bored, and trying to stay awake, too, by asking Sehun questions about his classes and in turn telling him stories about his undergraduate life, which professors to avoid if he can during his last two years.
The more Minseok talks and pays attention to Sehun, the more Sehun falls a little more. He’s always thought Minseok was cute, the kind barista who made Sehun’s drinks exactly how he wanted them and treated Sehun like a friend instead of just another customer with a caffeine addiction, but they’ve never really spent any time outside of chatting at the counter in the cafe, so this, tonight, is almost too good to be true. This is Sehun learning Minseok would probably have a heart attack if he saw the mess in his apartment (though he should’ve expected that, with how meticulously Minseok keeps the cafe clean), that his dreams of owning his own coffee shop when he was fourteen might have led him toward working here between classes instead of finding something a little more suited to his skillset (though he does proudly tell Sehun his coffee is the best) and that those arms Sehun tries (and fails) not to ogle every time he’s here aren’t just for show, that Minseok likes to stay in shape, that it helps him relax after a long day.
And really, Minseok could probably tell Sehun he kicks puppies around when no one’s looking and Sehun might still be in love with him. Thankfully, though, he tells Sehun instead, “Do you have any pets? I’m thinking of maybe getting a cat.”
“I do!” Sehun says excitedly, and pulls out his phone from where it’s trapped between books, taps at the screen. “I have a puppy named Vivi.” He holds his phone out to show Minseok, who grins down at the screen with a soft look in his eyes. “Jongin--my roommate, I mean--he has two poodles, so we’re just constantly chasing around after them when we’re not working.”
“That’s cute,” Minseok says, meeting Sehun’s eyes, and Sehun flushes as he yanks his hand back, looking down at his laptop. “Do you not like cats then?”
“What--no! No, I do, I think baby cats--kittens! Are really cute,” Sehun rushes to say and as Minseok looks back at him, clearly amused, he sinks a little lower in his seat and wonders if it’s physically possible to melt into the floor.
“I think right now you might be cuter,” Minseok says as he stands, the corner of his lips curving into a smirk, and Sehun can’t do anything but gape at him as he walks away.
-
The next time Minseok comes by it’s three in the morning and Sehun’s fallen asleep on his laptop. There’s an awful crink in his neck and he feels tired and groggy and annoyed at being woken, where he may or may not have been enjoying a dream about holding Minseok’s hand and kissing him and--
“Are you alright?” Minseok asks, and the soft sound of his voice pulls Sehun out of his thoughts because no matter what, real-life-Minseok is better than the dream-Minseok in Sehun’s head.
“Yeah,” Sehun says, grimacing at the cottony taste in his mouth. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?” Minseok says, tilting his head slightly in confusion, and Sehun’s mind is too muddled to even really know what he’s saying. As he grows more and more lucid, he’s distracted by just how close Minseok is, bending over to peer down at him, brows knitted in concern, and Sehun can see the clear almond-shape of his eyes, the curl of his lashes.
“I-I don’t know,” Sehun finally replies quietly, his gaze darting down from Minseok’s eyes to his mouth, and Sehun wants so much to make his dream a reality.
“I think you might need to turn in for the night,” Minseok laughs lightly, straightening up, and the want in Sehun’s gut fizzles out as he remembers just why he’s here, falling asleep at a table in a coffee shop.
He shakes his head quickly, eyes widening as he turns to his laptop and moves his mouse around on the screen to wake it up. Thankfully his work hasn’t magically deleted itself, but he did end up adding three pages of the letter F to his paper, the result of falling asleep on his keyboard. “It’s foreshadowing,” Sehun cries, slumping, and Minseok’s laughs properly now. The sound of it fills up the quiet, empty shop and makes Sehun feel warm despite the fact that it’s the middle of the night and he still has four bullet points left to write about on his outline.
“You’ll be fine, Sehun,” Minseok says, and, to the excitement of Sehun’s already weak heart, he reaches out to give Sehun’s hair a little reassuring ruffle. “I’ll go get you some more coffee, okay? You should get back to work.”
“Right,” Sehun breathes as Minseok retreats to the front of the shop, turning to stare at his computer screen and feeling doomed in more ways than one.
-
“It’s good, Sehun, really good,” Minseok says as he looks up from the screen. There’s an almost proud look on his face when he hands Sehun his laptop back. “I knew you could do it.”
“You’re just saying that,” Sehun says weakly even as he’s brimming with pleasure.
“I mean it,” Minseok says. “It’s a solid paper.” His smile turns into a little smirk, his eyes sharpening as he looks at Sehun and sits back in his seat. “You might want to get rid of that bit at the end though where you mention how hot I am, not that I don’t appreciate it.”
Heat floods Sehun’s face as he scrambles to check his paper, and he groans as he finds the incriminating message, which was meant to be sent in an email to Jongin about an hour ago. “Oh my god,” he says, hiding his face his hands, and he can only be marginally glad that Minseok’s laughter is amused instead of derisive, his humiliation too strong. This is what he gets for writing papers at four in the morning and simultaneously wondering if Minseok would be into fucking Sehun over the front counter.
At least he didn’t write that into his paper.
When Sehun’s finally calmed down enough to show his face again, Minseok is still sitting across from him, a sort of fond smile on his face. That doesn’t help Sehun’s case at all, and he quickly starts piling together all his notes and stuffing them into his backpack. “Thank you for looking at it,” Sehun says, genuinely grateful, “and you know--for keeping me company. You didn’t even have to and I was probably a bother but--”
“It was fun,” Minseok cuts over him. “Made the night go by a lot faster.”
“When do you get to head out?” Sehun asks, saving his paper three times for good measure before closing his laptop and putting that in his bag, too.
“Just another hour until Chanyeol gets here,” Minseok says, stretching his arms over his head and Sehun has to look away quickly to refrain from staring at the way his muscles shift under his white button-up. He only turns back when he hears the sound of the chair scraping against the floor and Minseok is heading up to the counter again. “Here,” he says, waving Sehun over, and Sehun gives his table one last look to make sure he hasn’t forgotten anything, slings his bag over his shoulder and joins Minseok in the front of the shop. “Take this.” He wraps a muffin into a napkin and then tucks into a tiny brown take-out bag, and before Sehun can say anything, is filling up a to-go cup with more coffee. “On me.”
“Minseok--you’ve already--” Sehun starts to protest, but Minseok isn’t having any of it, pushing the items into his hands.
“Don’t worry about it,” he says with a smile still as bright at six in the morning as it was last night when Sehun walked in, and every hour in between. “Have a good day, Sehun. And get some sleep soon, if you can.”
“You, too,” Sehun says quickly, and then, with nothing else keeping him there, and class in two hours, Sehun gives Minseok a little jerky wave and heads home.
-
Jongin is getting ready for his morning dance rehearsals, tying up the laces on his sneakers in the living room when Sehun walks in. “Did you finish your paper?” he asks, sounding as sleepy as he looks.
Sehun plants himself face-first into the couch and whines, “Why does he have to be so perfect?” and doesn’t even feel any better when Jongin pets his head and Vivi comes out to paw at Sehun’s toes.
-
Sehun doesn’t mean to avoid the cafe in the days that follow his overnight paper-writing, falling-for-Minseok session. He’s just rediscovered the tiny bubble tea shop on the other side of campus and goes out of his way to stop by when he’s in head of something to drink. Taro is just that good, okay. Way better than bitter coffee. Sehun’s probably had more than enough coffee in that one night to last him the next five years and managed to embarrass himself enough in front of Minseok to last a lifetime.
“You know he asked about you,” Lu Han tells him three days later when Sehun drags him out to buy him lunch. “Minseok,” Lu Han adds when Sehun just stares blankly at him, mouth full of fries. “I saw him this morning and he asked how you were, if I’d talked to you.” He smirks a little. “I told him you’re still a brat and you’ve discovered a bubble tea shop that’s way better than his cafe.”
“You did not,” Sehun exclaims, throwing a fry into Lu Han’s face and Lu Han cackles so loudly he gets stares from the other people dining at the McDonald’s.
“Well, he did ask about you,” Lu Han says, shrugging a shoulder and picking up his burger for a big bite. “He seemed really interested. I can’t believe you spent that whole night together and didn’t even get his number.”
Sehun grumbles, “Don’t say it like that,” and pokes another fry into his ketchup. “Nothing actually happened.”
“Something happened,” Lu Han protests. “I think he might like you.”
“He should,” Sehun sniffs, even as Lu Han’s words bubble hope in his chest. “I’m fucking amazing.”
“Eat your burger,” Lu Han laughs, rolling his eyes, and Sehun hides his smile, wondering if maybe he should pluck up the courage to face Minseok again sooner rather than later.
-
Sehun gets his Shakespeare paper returned a week later, and he’s amazed to find the A marked in red at the top of the page. He knows Minseok said it was good, and even Jongin, who is all into literature and writing and shit, had only edited a few things when he’d graciously looked it over once more before Sehun printed it out, but Sehun hadn’t actually expected getting anything better than a C. Maybe a B. Maybe. He thinks he might’ve taken the whole three pages of Fs thing to heart, and he’s gripping his paper in his hands, amazed.
It’s almost on instinct that he ends up in front of Exodus after class, still clutching his paper in his hand and catching sight of Minseok behind the counter, taking someone’s order. He hasn’t seen or talked to him in a week, but there’s no one else right now that Sehun wants to see, wants to share the excitement of his A with more than Minseok. Minseok, who kept Sehun company all night and never once complained, who reassured Sehun when he felt defeated, who has taken over Sehun’s thoughts so seamlessly it’s like he’s always been there to begin with.
He takes a deep breath and pushes the door open, stepping instead and striding purposefully to the counter. His heart is beating loudly in his ears as he’s holding onto his paper so tightly that it might actually be in shreds by the time he even shows it to Minseok, but whatever, he doesn’t care. Minseok, when he looks up from the counter, is surprised when he sees Sehun, and a slow smile crosses his face. For a moment, Sehun thinks he looks almost relieved, like he’s glad that Sehun’s back, has stopped avoiding him, and Sehun, filled with thoughts of wanting to kiss him, of how it’d felt when Minseok had ruffled his hair, told him he was cute, blurts out, “Will you go on a date with me?”
The cafe turns almost deathly silent and Sehun feels humiliation smack him in the face and he rushes to say as everyone in the shop starts to dither around him and Minseok is standing on the other side of the counter, somewhere between frozen and horribly entertained, “Fuck, wait--no--I mean--well, I do want to go on a date with you, but that’s not why I--oh god, I’m so--”
“Sehun,” Minseok interrupts, and it’s a little amazing that even the soft tone of his voice sends shivers up Sehun’s spine, makes him clamp his mouth shut like Minseok’s spoke with authority. “What can I get for you?”
That’s...not what Sehun was expecting. He deflates, his shoulders slumping, and mumbles out his usual order. He stares at the countertop as Minseok rings him up and he pays, thinking this is what he gets for being so reckless, so stupid that Minseok doesn’t even feel the need to deign him with a proper rejection.
He stuffs his paper into the back pocket of his jeans, wonders if he could just bolt out of here without anyone noticing. That’s highly unlikely, because Sehun can feel people staring at him for his outburst, and it’ll probably be all over campus later. This is a popular cafe. Minseok has a lot of friends. Did you hear about that kid who asked him out? they’ll say. In the middle of the shop, too! So tactless.
Sehun can never show his face here again.
“Hey,” Minseok says, cutting through Sehun’s terrible thoughts, and when Sehun forces himself to look at him, he’s surprised to find Minseok smiling at him, holding out his drink. When Sehun takes it from him, he adds, “Yes, by the way.”
“Huh?” Sehun says blankly, and Minseok’s smile turns sly.
“Yes, I will go out with you,” he says and Sehun is so dumbfounded he just stands there, gaping, and almost drops his drink all over the floor when someone bumps up into him as they pass to leave.
“What?!” Sehun exclaims, feeling his face heat up again, except this time it’s in excitement, wonder.
“I get off in an hour,” Minseok says, still smirking. “If you want to wait?”
Sehun’s pretty sure his reply is just gibberish, but Minseok seems endeared by it anyway, smiling and shooing him off to sit down and stop holding up the line. Sehun goes, sitting down at the same window table he did a week ago, and tries not to stare too much at Minseok as he works through the next hour.
By the time Minseok slides into the seat across from him, Sehun’s drink is long gone and he’s smoothed out the corners of his paper, set it aside on the table to do some homework. Minseok sees it first though, eyes widening and a proud smile on his face, the same one he’d given Sehun the last time he’d seen him, when Minseok had read through his paper and told him it was good.
“See? I knew you could do it,” Minseok says and Sehun beams, still reeling from the fact that Minseok is sitting there, talking to him, that he said he would go on a date with him.
“You helped, a lot,” Sehun tells him honestly, but Minseok just waves a hand.
“You’re the one that wrote the paper,” he says. “I just gave you a lot of coffee.”
Minseo has no idea how life-changing that coffee really was, to be honest. Sehun decides to keep that to himself, and instead closes his accounting textbook and says, feeling bold, “Fine, then you should give me something for the good grade, too, don’t you think?”
“What do you want?”
Sehun shrugs nonchalantly, even though he’s anything but, and pushes around the straw in his empty cup. “A kiss, maybe?” he says, hopeful, and Minseok laughs outright, getting to his feet.
“How about that date, first?” he says, holding out a hand, and Sehun puts his things away quickly in his backpack, and slips his hand into Minseok’s. Their fingers naturally lace together, and Minseok despite being much smaller than Sehun, has a strong, confident grip that makes Sehun feel warm.
“You really want to?” Sehun asks, still amazed. “Go on a date, I mean.”
“I wanted to ask you like that next day,” Minseok admits with a little shrug as they leave the cafe. “But you never stopped by while I was there and I didn’t have your number. I figured you might’ve not been interested.”
“I’m interested,” Sehun says quickly, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to look at Minseok seriously.
“Good,” Minseok says with a little quirk of his lips. “I like you, too.”
Sehun must be dreaming, but the heat of Minseok’s hand in his keeps reminding him that he’s not. He smiles back, his cheeks hurting from how it takes over his face, and wonders how he could’ve gotten so lucky. “So, lunch, maybe?” Sehun asks, when he’s gotten control of his overwhelming feelings, starting to head down the sidewalk again.
“Sure,” Minseok says, tugging at Sehun’s hand, “but first--” He pulls enough to have Sehun stumbling into him, and Sehun’s brain catches up just a second before it happens, Minseok drawing him down with a firm hand to the back of his neck and kissing him gently on the mouth.
Sehun melts into it even as he grips Minseok’s hand tighter, and he’s laughing a little incredulously when they break apart a few minutes, maybe hours later. Sehun’s lips are tingling, his whole body feeling like it’s on fire, he’s so happy. “I thought you said after,” he says, trying to sound amused but probably just coming off as elated as he feels.
“Are you complaining?” Minseok asks with a raised brow, challenging, but laughs when Sehun quickly shakes his head. “Then let’s go, I’m starving. Unless you want our first date to be on the sidewalk.”
“I’d be okay with anything,” Sehun answers honestly and Minseok eyes him for a moment, eyes darting down to Sehun’s mouth like he wants to kiss him again. Sehun would be okay with that, but instead Minseok just squeezes his hand again and pulls him along down the path, and Sehun follows, okay with this, too. They have plenty of time, he thinks with a smile, and he’s looking forward to whatever it will bring.
note:i really had a lot of fun with this despite xiuhun being a very new ship for me lol i hope i did them justice and they weren't ooc or anything D:
thank u for reading~~ ♥♥
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