Chapter Text
Jeongguk has a crush on the boy who makes him coffee.
Well, he doesn’t make the coffee for Jeongguk specifically, but that’s what Jeongguk likes to tell himself every time the cute barista at his favorite coffee shop hands him his coffee with a smile. His name is Kim Taehyung and he’s one of the most beautiful people Jeongguk has ever laid eyes upon. Jeongguk shows up at the coffee shop every morning during the week without fail just to watch him work (and for the coffee, of course) so he’s more than a little disappointed when he’s greeted at the register by an unfamiliar face.
“Good morning! What can I get for you today?” the unfamiliar barista asks Jeongguk (his nametag reads Jung Hoseok).
“I’ll have a tall caramel macchiato with extra caramel and a plain bagel with cream cheese.” Jeongguk orders, thinking bitterly to himself about how his barista never has to ask for Jeongguk’s order, because he already has it memorized. Jeongguk’s being petty, he knows, but he can’t help it. Not when it’s 8AM on a Monday morning and he’s being deprived of the one thing he’d been looking forward to all weekend (call him dramatic but the amount of homework he had as a Marketing and Business double major was ridiculous).
“I’ll have it out to you right away!”
Jeongguk thanks the man and pays for his order before going to sit at one of the tables closer to the back of the coffee shop. Normally, he would sit at the counter to watch Taehyung work, but Taehyung’s not here today. Jeongguk decides that today is definitely not a good morning.
~ Ͽ ҉ Ͼ ~
“Hi Jeonggukie!”
Jeongguk winces at the sound of his friend’s voice, raising his head to watch as Park Jimin drags his boyfriend Yoongi over to the table Jeongguk is currently seated at.
“Jeongguk guess what!” Jimin says, unable to conceal his excitement as he sits down across from Jeongguk.
A sense of dread washes through Jeongguk as he takes in the mischievous look in Jimin’s eyes. The last time Jimin had asked him to “guess what”, Jeongguk had ended up on a blind date with some girl who had tried to sell him marijuana ten minutes into dinner.
“No,” Jeongguk says, trying to put an early stop to Jimin’s antics. “No I will not go on another blind date, Jimin.”
“But Jeongguk, I don’t like seeing you lonely!”
“I am completely content with being alone.”
“No you’re not, Jeonggukie, you need someone cute who can cook for you and make you happy.” Jungkook swears Jimin can out-pout any dog.
“And sell me weed?”
Jimin’s face contorts into one of embarrassment, slamming his hands down on the table.
“That was one time, Jeon Jeongguk! Besides, how was I supposed to know she was into drugs? She seemed like such a nice girl ...”
Jeongguk covers his mouth with his hand in an effort to stifle a laugh (in retrospect, it was kind of funny but Jeongguk would never admit it and he certainly didn’t want to go through it again).
“Yah, stop laughing at poor Minnie, he felt really bad about it when he found out.” Yoongi scolds him, reaching out to slap him on the back of his head.
“Hyung!” Jeongguk whines, ducking out of Yoongi’s reach.
“Don’t hyung me, Jeon Jeongguk, Jimin’s just trying to be nice. And when Jimin’s happy, I’m happy,” Jeongguk scoffs, “so you’re just gonna have to suck it up and go out with whoever Jimin decides to set you up with.”
Jeongguk feels a little bit like his personal rights are being taken away at the moment, but he knows better than to argue with a defensive Yoongi. (He ends up going on the date Jimin set up for him and halfway through dinner, the girl asks Jeongguk how he would feel about cosplay during sex. Jeongguk doesn’t ask for a second date.)
~ Ͽ ҉ Ͼ ~
“Good morning Jeongguk!”
Unlike Monday, Jeongguk decides that yes, today is a good morning. Why? Because Taehyung is back.
“Good morning, hyung.” Jeongguk replies, and he can’t help but smile when the older boy is already smiling so brightly at him.
“The usual?”
Jeongguk nods, pulling out his wallet. He already has the exact change ready.
“I’ll have it out to you right away!” Taehyung says, flashing another friendly smile at Jeongguk before moving to the other side of the counter to get Jeongguk’s bagel and coffee.
Jeongguk takes his usual seat at the counter so he can watch Taehyung while he prepares his coffee. He’s learned a lot about Taehyung this way, like how he sometimes likes to talk to himself when he thinks no one is around, or how he must really like music because he’s always humming some song or another. Jeongguk imagines he must have a lovely singing voice.
"You know, I've heard some people say that there might actually be rabbits on the moon."
Jeongguk looks up from an ad he'd been looking at for his marketing class (one of those coke ads where the polar bears are looking up at the moon) and thanks Taehyung as he places his coffee and bagel down on the counter in front of him.
"Rabbits?" he asks, giving Taehyung a questioning look. Though it's not one of the strangest things Taehyung has ever said to him, Jeongguk figures it's probably one of the craziest.
"Yup, rabbits. Well, that's my theory, at least ̶ about what's up there on the big cheese."
"So by 'some people' you really just meant yourself."
Taehyung looks at Jeongguk as if he's never been more offended in his life.
"You mean I haven't made a believer of you yet?"
Jeongguk laughs, earning him that box-shaped smile that he loves so much.
"I guess you'll just have to keep trying."
And try he does. The next morning, and the morning after that, Taehyung tells Jeongguk all about his theories and Jeongguk listens with rapt attention because Taehyung looks beautiful when he's talking passionately like this (regardless of how crazy he may sound). In the end, he doesn't manage to convince Jeongguk (Jeongguk confesses to being a skeptic about pretty much everything, so it's okay) but Jeongguk promises to keep an open mind.
This is how most of their interactions go, until Friday rolls around.
Jeongguk's sitting at the counter as usual, working on another marketing project while he watches Taehyung work, waiting for Taehyung to come over with his food so that they can talk. Before Taehyung can hand him his order, however, Jeongguk’s cell phone rings. It’s Jimin, calling him about another blind date.
“Jimin, seriously, this has to stop.” Jeongguk groans, dragging a hand down his face.
“I swear, Jeonggukie, this time she’ll be normal! I actually know her!”
Jeongguk is still arguing with Jimin over the phone when Taehyung places his order down on the counter in front of him. Jeongguk nods at him in thanks watching regretfully as Taehyung walk back over to the cash register(curse you Park Jimin for taking away my precious time with Taehyung) when suddenly he’s struck with a brilliant idea.
“Actually, the reason why I can’t go on anymore blind dates is because I’m already dating someone.” Jeongguk tells Jimin, mentally giving himself a pat on the back. Why didn’t he think of this sooner?
“YOU’RE WHAT?!”
Jeongguk winces, glaring at his phone as if that’ll somehow get Jimin to stop shrieking.
“OH MY GOD I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN? WHO IS IT?” Jimin asks, still yelling.
Jeongguk panics, because he didn’t expect Jimin to actually ask who it was (though really, he should have seen it coming).
“Someone you don’t know.” Jeongguk says quickly, eager to get off the phone with his crazy friend. “Oops, would you look at the time? Gotta go, sorry!”
Jeongguk hangs up on Jimin and throws his phone down on the corner, suddenly regretting his “brilliant idea.” Now Jimin’s going to want to meet this non-existent person that Jeongguk is dating. He’s totally screwed.
When Jeongguk checks his phone again, he realizes that he really does have to get going soon or he’ll be late for class. He gets up to go to the bathroom first, leaving his phone on the counter just in case Jimin decides to call him again while he’s trying to do his business.
~
Taehyung looks up from the cup of coffee he’s currently working on, watching as Jeongguk gets up and heads towards the bathrooms. His eyes drift towards the phone on the counter and his mood drops a little. So he’s already dating someone.
“Tall peppermint mocha?” Taehyung calls, handing over the cup of coffee to the customer who ordered it.
Of course, Taehyung shouldn’t have expected anything less. Jeongguk was tall, good looking, and nice; of course he would already have a girlfriend. Taehyung was stupid to think that maybe, just maybe, the reason why Jeongguk came to the coffee shop every morning was so that he could see him.
Taehyung is startled out of his thoughts when a phone starts buzzing on the counter. Jeongguk’s phone. And Taehyung knows he’s being a nosy bastard when he leans slightly over the counter to take a look but then he sees the name of his roommate flashing on the screen and his curiosity gets the better of him as he watches his hand reach out to grab the phone that doesn’t belong to him.
“Hello?” he says hesitantly, because for all he knew there could be dozens of Park Jimin’s on campus and his roommate just happened to be one of them. Then he would be totally screwed.
“Jeon Jeongguk, you little shit! Don’t just hang up on your hyung while I’m talking to you!” No, this was definitely Taehyung’s Park Jimin. “I swear to god, one of these days I’m going to sneak into your apartment while you’re asleep and cut holes in all of your damn beloved white t-shirts ̶”
“Minnie?” Taehyung interrupts, excited to hear his friend’s voice on the other end of the phone (and not some other Park Jimin).
“Taehyung? Is that you?” Jimin asks, confusion evident in his voice.
“Yea, isn’t this kind of funny? I didn’t know you knew Jeongguk!” (Though technically Taehyung, himself, doesn’t really know Jeongguk, but he would certainly like to.)
“I didn’t know you knew Jeongguk ̶ wait, holy shit, you’re the person Jeongguk is dating???!”
Now it’s Taehyung’s turn to be confused, because Jeongguk obviously said that he was dating someone else and Jimin was just jumping to conclusions; Taehyung hadn’t even known Jeongguk’s last name until Jimin screamed it through the phone.
“I am going to kill that kid for hiding this from me! Just wait till I get my hands on him …” Jimin continues (though he never really stopped), and Taehyung tries to get a word in so he can tell Jimin that he’s got it all wrong but Jimin has an endless supply of choice words about his dongsaeng that cut off anything Taehyung tries to say. Then suddenly Taehyung can hear Yoongi calling for Jimin in the background and he doesn’t even want to know what they’re getting up to right now. Taehyung pulls the phone away from his ear when he hears Yoongi whisper something that he was definitely not meant to hear and when he finally brings the phone back to his ear, the line is already dead. And now Taehyung is panicking because he totally just fucked up and now he’s going to have to explain to Jeongguk why Jimin now thinks they’re dating, and Taehyung can’t even gather enough courage to even say hello whenever he sees Jeongguk on campus, and holy shit he’s probably going to think Taehyung is a total freak now, and ̶
“Having fun there?”
Taehyung nearly screams, Jeongguk’s phone slipping out of his hand.
“Oh my god, I am so sorry!” Taehyung apologizes, face heating up in embarrassment as he quickly reaches down to pick Jeongguk’s phone up off the floor. Luckily, the rubber floor mat padded most of the fall so Jeongguk’s phone isn’t the slightest bit damaged (unlike Taehyung’s pride). “I didn’t mean to be rude or nosy or anything, but your phone wouldn’t stop ringing and then I saw Jimin’s name on the screen and I just kind of ̶”
“Wait, you know Jimin?” Jeongguk interrupts.
“Yea, he’s my roommate, we’ve been best friends since, like, kindergarten.”
“Since kindergarten?” Jeongguk is giving him an incredulous look and Taehyung is starting to feel slightly insecure. “How is it even possible that we never met? Jimin and I were friends throughout all of high school!”
“Ah, my family had to move during my final year of middle school because of my father’s job so I went to high school in a different town.”
If only we hadn’t moved back then; I could have had four extra years of this handsome face.
“But, I mean, I go to Jimin’s place all of the time and we’ve still never met.”
Taehyung just shrugs.
“I’m a Physics and Engineering double major so I’m pretty busy most of the time and I spend a lot of hours in lab so … yea.”
It’s silent for a few minutes, the two still figuring out the situation. And in the last few seconds, Taehyung seems to remember his mistake.
“I, uh,” Taehyung starts, unsure of how to approach the awkward topic. “When I picked up the phone, Jimin answered, and, um … there was a bit of a misunderstanding.”
Jeongguk raises an eyebrow at Taehyung’s cryptic wording, giving him a questioning look. Taehyung figures he can’t avoid the subject forever (because he’ll hear about it as soon as he gets home and he’s sure Jimin will be questioning Jeongguk about it too, before the day is over). So he decides to just go for it.
“Jiminthinkswe’redating.” he blurts out nervously, words running together.
“Jimin … wait, what?” Jeongguk asks, confused about how they’d gotten here.
“When I answered your phone, Jimin must’ve thought I was at your place or something and he kind of just jumped to conclusions. I’ll clear it up with him, though, don’t worry. I don’t think your girlfriend would like it if everyone thought you were dating me …”
Taehyung looks down at the ground, unable to keep the tinge of disappointment out of his voice.
“Oh, um, actually ... I’m not really dating anyone. I just said that to get Jimin off my back.”
Taehyung looks up, surprised (and maybe more than a little relieved).
“Oh, that’s nice.”
He doesn't know what else to say. How do you tell someone you're happy they're not dating anyone? (And that you'd kind of like for them to be dating you?)
“But, uh, since Jimin already thinks we’re dating, why don’t we just play along?”
Jeongguk’s words shock Taehyung, because he certainly hadn't expected him to make that conclusion (he’s still getting over the fact that Jeongguk is single and therefore 100% available), but he must have been silent for too long because Jeongguk quickly says, “Not that you actually have to do this for me, or anything, and, I mean, it wouldn’t be for too long, just long enough to get Jimin off my back cause he keeps setting me up on dates with really weird girls and I'm actually kind of concerned for my safety now, but not if you don’t want to, or ̶”
“I’ll do it.” Taehyung says, cutting Jeongguk off. He doesn’t want to seem too desperate, though, so he adds, “It’ll be fun, right?” flashing Jeongguk a bright smile. “It’ll be fun messing with Jiminnie.”
Okay, so maybe it isn’t the smartest idea to agree to a fake relationship with someone you actually have a crush on, but Taehyung decides to just let himself enjoy it now and worry about that part later.