late night coffee and love notes; seungjin

"a black coffee, please."

[set the page on that soft cream tone : for wattpad app users]

hyunjin drummed his fingers against the counter, patiently waiting for the transaction to complete. the cafe smelled like vanilla and roasting coffee beans and soft biscuits.

"thank you for visiting this cafe." the barista droned, tiredly, before handing the steaming coffee cup to him.

the rich smell of coffee and the thick plumes of steam that framed his face calmed him, taking the hot cup with the tips of his fingers.

he took a tentative sip, before sputtering and leaving the cup to cool a bit. he turned on his laptop and pulled on word documents so he could finish his paper.

shitty classical music played in the background, and hyunjin recognized it as für elise, the pettiest of beethoven's musical work.

he rolled his eyes to himself and jammed his earbuds in, desperately trying to finish his mid-year final for his economics class about the recession or something.

the bell on the door rang and hyunjin looked up, surprised to see someone coming in. it was 1 am for fuck's sake.

the other person's face was covered by a mask and a black snapback.

when he passed hyunjin to get to the counter, whispers of citrus passed over him.

the person was wearing a backpack and a thick black hoodie. the soft, buttery lighting made him look like a dark shadow, surrounded by coffee house decor.

"iced coffee with cream and-" his voice was raspy, and mystery boy cleared his throat to reveal a more melodic voice, "and a slice of new york cheesecake."

"that will be 7,340 won." the barista replied in a dead-inside-kill-me-now tone.

hyunjin jolted in his seat, reminding himself that he had a ten page paper due tomorrow and it was already 1:30 am.

he turned back to the wikipedia page he was skimming so quickly that he didn't notice mystery boy had noticed him.

seungmin peered at the boy, who was clearly having an internal mental breakdown, wondering where he knew the face. he was obviously one of the most attractive people seungmin had ever seen.

"your order is ready." the barista informed him in her soon-becoming signature monotone tone.

seungmin thanked her quickly and softly, carrying the coffee and cake quickly to a table in the back.

he settled into the booth, the seat cushions worn and easy to sink into.
he quickly arranged his order, setting the new york cheesecake to the side before taking a sip of his iced coffee. the ice clinked against the clear, plastic cup as he sipped the drink, beads of moisture already gathering on the cup.

then, he unloaded his backpack.
thank god for this cafe, he thought to himself as he unloaded textbooks and notebooks and a handful of pens and highlighters.

midterms were coming up and his parents promised a trip to la over break if he passed all of them.

seungmin prided himself on his meticulous studying, with fancy highlighters and filled notebooks, but he couldn't help but get distracted by pretty boy.
(who was currently keyboard smashing and looking at the ceiling as if to say, why is this happening to me?)

seungmin giggled to himself before going back to his notes.

skimming decades-old textbooks and scribbling down a paragraph, hoping it will make sense in his words, sipping his coffee.

in exactly seven minutes, he became exhausted and quit so he could eat the cheesecake he ordered.

his gaze drifted to pretty boy without thinking, and seungmin watched pretty boy crack his knuckles and type at sonic speeds for a minute until he gave up.

they made eye contact. seungmin looked away quickly, trying to get himself interested in his textbook but to no avail. it also didn't help that pretty boy was coming over his way.

"h-hello." he mumbled quickly, tripping over words.

pretty boy had a lip ring.

the other then dropped a napkin onto his table and walked back to his spot.
seungmin frowned at the napkin, not sure what to make of it.

he took it gently, and flipped it over. aha! letters! that made words! that formed syntaxes! his brain cells were finally useful.

well hello, mystery boy!
by the way are you okay its 2 in the morning
im hyunjin and yes, the lack of grammar is part of the charm :-)
anywhoo, we're the only two (other than the dead inside barista) here so what's up?
also im writing this on a napkin because
a) i did not bring paper
b) i cant seem to properly talk to you like a normal human being
lol ok bye

seungmin smiled at the little note, and ripped a sheet of paper from his notebook to write a note back.

Hi, Hyunjin!
Yes, I'm fine, I just need to study, but it's okay! Your note didn't distract me so it's cool!
I'm Seungmin, and my skills with grammar are part of the charm.
Okay, other than that, I'm just trying not to fall asleep.
Oh God, what do I say next
Well, bye (even though you're within ten feet of me)

seungmin tried to suppress the smile on his face when he dropped the folded sheet of paper next to hyunjin's laptop, letting it flutter and perch onto the side of the keyboard.

hyunjin shot seungmin a huge grinning and he'd be lying if he didn't say his heart didn't flutter like the note.

imagine if someone actually read this ha