late night coffee and love notes; seungjin

"is your new york cheesecake good?"

hyunjin asked tentatively, the barista giving him an odd look.

"i mean," she replied, unsure, "it has the word 'cake' in it..?"

"good enough then." hyunjin smiled, and added it to his order.

as he waited for his order to be finished, he kept his eyes trained on the door, eager to see seungmin. it was kinda exciting to have a 1 am coffee friend.

the barista handed his order to him: a steaming cup of black coffee and a slice of new york cheesecake set directly on the white, porcelain plate.
he took it carefully and sunk into his seat, placing his order on the table.
then, begrudgingly, he slid his laptop out of its case and turned it on.

he was going to get points taken off for it being late, but he had bullshit his way through eight pages already, and he wasn't giving up just yet.

he turned the brightness down low and let out a sigh he didn't know he had.

he had just pulled up a citation website (of course his asshole teacher required like, thirty million MLA citations) when the bell rang and he eagerly looked up.

seungmin was scanning the room, and when their eyes met, they burst into smiles.

seungmin placed his order, and hyunjin had to force his eyes back to his laptop.

"can i sit here?"

hyunjin looked up. seungmin was standing by the booth he was in, the words barely a whisper.

hyunjin nodded quickly, bouncing in his seat.

"thanks."

"why are we whispering?" hyunjin asked quietly.

seungmin glances back up at him as he settled on the other side of the table.

"i don't know." he whispered back.

hyunjin laughed softly and turned his focus back to his laptop where he clicked on a random article and pretended to read it with deep interest.

a note was slid his way, but when hyunjin's gaze snapped to it, seungmin was looking like he hadn't even sent it over.

he opened it giddily, much more interested in this than the stupid article he had forced himself to read.

I see you've copied my order of cheesecakes. I'm quite the Influencer.
What are you writing about? You look so bored, even though you try to hide it.
Also, good morning to us, by the way. Ten-Year-Old Me would be so disappointed that this is what I've become.
Work hard!

hyunjin smiled as he penned a note back to seungmin, diligently ignoring his mid-year economics final.

seungmin was getting too excited for these notes but who wouldn't?

you write so prettily its infuriating
everytime i read your notes i imagine a british accent lmao.
i admit, yeah that cheesecake stuff it yum,, you have good taste
unfortunately, im writing my (late) mid-year final paper about some shAt and it's so boring.
happy 1 am amirite. i didn't think i'd end up like this tbh, but now i have a cool coffee shop friend!!!
ok im running out of space on these napkins i'll bring paper tomorrow i swear

seungmin beamed as he read over the napkin, ignoring his studying in favor of writing a note back.

I'm a cool coffee shop friend, now? What an upgrade. Let's look over my resume, shall we? British, Influencer, obviously very cool, has great taste in cheesecake. I believe I'm over qualified.
Oh fudge cakes, am I distracting you from your work? I AM SO SORRY
You can write back on this paper; I leave so much room on it anyway. Those poor trees...

giggling to himself while writing it, he flicked it over and pretended to feign interest in the old textbooks as he snuck glances at hyunjin's reaction, smiling uncontrollably.

seungmin gave hyunjin one last peek before sighing and taking notes. those highlighters were expensive, might as well put them to use.

he had barely written a paragraph when a scrap of paper flew his way, and without thinking, he snatched it.

"woah there, tiger." hyunjin chuckled, and seungmin couldn't help but look away so hyunjin couldn't see his pink cheeks.

are you suggesting youre over qualified for being my cool coffee friend? tsk tsk.
i'll let you know that this is a very prestigious job, only for people who go to this coffee shop at night (and morning lol) until we're told to leave.
i think the barista hates us.
what are you sorry for? you're a great distraction, i don't mind at all.

seungmin never was so easily flustered, but his face was flushed, and he was trying to hide himself behind the piece of paper in a bull attempt to not to seen.

it didn't work.

they made eye contact and hyunjin gave him a smile so wide, seungmin didn't know it was possible.

he wrote back,

You're a great distraction, too.