But First, Coffee

ESPRESSO

"I like coffee because it gives me the illusion that I might be awake." —Lewis Black

When Jungkook first started going to Coffee Belters the place had recently opened. It was conveniently across from campus and it didn't take long for it to gain popularity among students. It wasn't Starbucks, of course, but it had a cozy environment, plenty of room and the queues weren't too long even on busy hours. It had been a bold move opening a coffee shop so close to the twin-tailed mermaid's place, but after a couple of months on business it seemed like Coffee Belters would survive. Maybe even thrive.

As someone who only drank caffeine with the purpose of keeping himself awake long enough to finish projects, Jungkook was a frequenter of Starbucks. He hated how he had to wait in line forever, but he had tried to make his own black brew in his small and sorry excuse of a kitchen and had failed miserably. His coffee was something not even a man dying of thirst would drink.

It had been Hoseok who recommended Coffee Belters to him. He was his closest friend in spite of the fact that they didn't study together or share any classes. While Jungkook was majoring in Graphic Design, Hoseok was pursuing a career on Artistic Direction. He was a dancer, and a damn good one at that, Jungkook really admired him. Hobi had been street dancing the first time Jungkook saw him and after classes he kept going to that same spot, wanting to see more. Hobi soon noticed the familiar face in the crowd and approached him after one of his performances. He bought Jungkook an ice-cream and after that they became fast friends. Jungkook appreciate it a lot, his shy demeanor often prevented him from making friends and he had been mostly by himself until then.

Following his friend's suggestion, Jungkook went to Coffee Belters for the first time without knowing he would ditch the mermaid for that new place. It wasn't so much for the coffee being better than at Starbucks. Was it drinkable? Ok, that's all he needed. It was more for practical reasons, Coffee Belters was closer to campus than Starbucks, even if only a block and a half, and he never had to wait much for his order. The first few times he bought take-away coffee but soon he started taking his laptop with him and sitting down for a solid hour to work there. The place was nice, spacious, he felt better than being at his cramped dorm room.

"Do you want me to re-fill it?"

Tearing his eyes away from his computer screen, Jungkook stared blankly at the guy standing next to his table now. He wasn't wearing a waiter uniform and Jungkook was sure he hadn't seen him before. Granted, he usually just saw the girl at the counter who took his order and the waiter who was nowhere to be found that day, and not much more. He never paid much attention, too absorbed in his work. "Huh?", came out of his mouth. He then registered the question and smiled sheepishly. "Can you bring me a double instead?" The sun was going to set soon, but he had a lot to do and wasn't planning on getting much sleep that night anyways.

"Planning to pull an all-nighter?", the guy asked. He had a half smile on his face but even that... Jungkook noticed he looked quite cheerful even with half a smile. His hair was dark and he appeared small of frame, Jungkook thought he would be taller than the guy if he stood up. He realized again he had been asked a question and was spacing out.

"I need to finish this, yeah... hey, you're new here?", he found himself asking.

The "new" guy full on smiled now. Jungkook swallowed hard. Damn. Luckily it went unnoticed as a boy with freckles and ticked-rimmed glasses ran towards them and started apologizing profusely. "It's ok, Sam, you can take over now, don't worry about it." New guy said to Sam and turned to Jungkook one last time. "I'm usually back there making the coffee", he answered. Jungkook nodded and managed a small awkward smile. Then he watched the guy, who apparently had been working there the whole time much to Jungkook's embarrassment, go.

"So... another espresso or...?", Sam asked.

"No, double this time, but your friend took my order, I think", Jungkook answered craning his neck to try and catch a glimpse of the dark-haired guy.

Sam looked a bit amused at this. He pushed his glasses up on his nose while doing a quick take towards the counter. When his eyes went back to Jungkook he got a bit closer and lowered his voice. "That guy's the owner, actually", he said, "and I guess he must be already making your coffee then, I'll bring it right away", he added before leaving the table.

Jungkook thought, a bit embarrassed again, that he hadn't been paying much attention then. So I'm drinking his coffee everyday? The owner's smiley face popped into his mind at that thought and it somehow made him feel a bit restless. He shook his head, willing both the feeling and the thought to go away, and he focused on his screen once again. You're just tired, don't dwell on it . Soon enough he was lost to the world.

~ * * * ~

"It bothers me", Jimin said.

"What does, boss?", Jenny asked.

"Him", Jimin placed the cup of freshly made double espresso on the counter. "He orders espresso all the time. Just espresso. Only espresso. It's driving me crazy".

"Ah...", Jenny tried not to laugh and arranged the order for Sam to take to the customer. Jungkook was his name, she knew because he sometimes had take-away coffee so she had to put his name on the cup. And he was cute too, so of course she remembered. "Well, some people like espresso, you know...", Jenny offered.

"He has no idea what he's missing. Seriously. I make heaven on a cup, why won't he order something more complex? Espresso is good but damn, I want to make a Ristretto, an Affogato, hell, even a Cappuccino would be great", Jimin complained. He had his elbows on the counter and his face on his hands. His eyes were locked on Jungkook, who was typing away on his keyboard with the most adorable —and, okay, nerdy— look of concentration. He barely noticed when Sam left the coffee on the table. Jimin sighed.

Jenny thought her boss was probably bored and that's why he was focusing so much on the cutie. "Maybe next time", she said before turning towards the customers that had just gotten in. It made sense, the last classes of the day had just finished so it was usual that at that time business picked up. They didn't have as much people coming in as they did once the classes after noon finished because dinner time was near, but there was still some movement.

"I doubt it. I think I might need to do something about it...", Jimin commented without paying much attention. His eyes were still on the Espresso customer, his brow slightly furrowed.

"Boss, I think you might need to make coffee for our customers first", Sam said, standing in Jimin's line of vision and finally getting him to tear his eyes away from Jungkook.

"Yeah, sure", Jimin said. As he made his way to the espresso machine to start the new orders he muttered under his breath "you just wait, Mr. Espresso, you just wait". Sam, who had gone behind the counter to help get some smoothies ready stared at his boss and suppressed the urge to laugh. They hadn't known each other for long but Jimin could be really funny sometimes. And when he was feeling determined... better stay out of his way. Sam threw a glance over his shoulder towards Jungkook's table and saw him packing his laptop and leaving some bills next to an empty coffee cup. Poor guy .

A/N

First of all, if you're reading my story: thank you so much. I hope you enjoy it. Second of all, I'm not very good at summaries, but I hope you give it a chance anyways. This AU was provided by a friend of mine, @Yorlenisama on twt (you should check out her art because she's amazing).

The story is being posted on AO3 and I decided to post it here too. It's going to be 7 chapters long.

Constructive criticism is welcomed, as well as any comment you might want to leave, don't be shy. I don't bite ;)

Edit: a friend of mine, IronicEra, made a beautiful trailer video for the story, please check it out ♥