"So," Jinyoung begins, cutting through the brownie with the fork, not meeting Jaebeom's eyes because his heart is hammering after such realization, and he needs time to pull himself together "You told your friends about me already."

The younger lifts his eyes to see Jaebeom's reaction, and he does not miss how the older blushes and seems to get very nervous, but it's a different kind. So far Jinyoung has accomplished to startle the other young man and make him hyper aware, but now Jaebeom looks anxious, cornered instead of just embarrassed.

"I have... but Jackson... he's too dramatic and... he's a childhood friend and he's always wanted me to... find someone... and..." Jinyoung furrows his brow as he watches Jaebeom become increasingly more nervous, mumbling and fidgeting in his seat, avoiding eye contact.

"It's okay, if it makes you so uncomfortable you don't have to explain," Jinyoung cuts Jaebeom in. As much as he's enjoyed teasing him till now, he does not like seeing the other having a hard time. "As long as you told them nice things about me," he adds, with a smile to lighten the mood.

"It's just that... it's hard to explain." Jaebeom looks troubled, and the younger really doesn't enjoy that look. "I told them I met a handsome guy and I got so lucky because he agreed to go out with me." It is a bit forced, but the smile comes to the older's lips as he leans a bit closer.

"I wouldn't say exactly 'go out,' I just accepted because you offered coffee," Jinyoung answers, looking away and hoping he's not blushing.

Jaebeom's chuckles don't make it easier.

"I know, I know, I'm trying to seduce you with caffeine."

And it's working, Jinyoung thinks, embarrassed to realize how easily he's falling for the older.

"But the moment I told Jackson I had met someone, he was planning my wedding. That's what I mean he's a bit too dramatic. Plus, he'll be all over you because he can't believe someone caught my eye and he probably thinks of you like an unearthly creature." Jaebeom continues, and although embarrassing, Jinyoung's interests pikes at the last part.

"I thought you were the type to easily fall in love and have relationships," he points out, given how easily Jaebeom manifested his interest. It didn't occur to him it could be the other way around.

"Oh no, not at all," the older explains, shaking his head. "I've dated a couple of times, but not for too long."

"It's hard to believe when you are so forward with me, joking about love at first sight and everything."

"What can I say, you're different," Jaebeom grins but Jinyoung keeps a straight face, an almost dead expression.

"I'm this close to walk out of this café without even seeing the cats. You're too cheesy."

"But it's true!" Jaebeom laughs, for which is hard to take him seriously. "Or at least you make me feel differently. I can tell for sure I've never felt like this before."

"Gross." Jinyoung keeps the straight face, trying hard not to believe any of Jaebeom's words.

"It's your fault, you're just too pretty," the older insists, leaning forward, cupping his face in his hands and watching Jinyoung with such a sappy smile.

"Gross," he repeats, feeling his cheeks burning but deciding to end the topic by just shoving the piece of brownie he had cut inside Jaebeom's mouth, surprising him and successfully distracting him.

Jaebeom laughs and thankfully decides to drop the topic, focusing on his humongous honey bread instead. They stay in silence for a bit, just focusing on the food. Jinyoung asks if Jaebeom has come to this particular cat café before, to which he replies only once and that he liked it because the cats are in a separate room for comfort of the clients and to not risk the cats to consume any of the human food. The conversation stays around that until they finish what they ordered, so they can actually go and play with the cats. Jinyoung smiles when he sees how Jaebeom's eyes sparkle with excitement, and honestly that's more interesting for him than the felines. He can't help his own chuckles when he can hear that little squeal that escapes the older when they walk inside the room where the cats are.

Jinyoung is still affected with all the cute felines, sleeping or playing around and he easily follows Jaebeom to sit on the floor, grabbing one of the toys to get one of the cats' attention. It's one of those extremely fluffy cats that look so fat because of all the fur, with blue eyes and light coloured fur, probably a ragdoll. The cat starts pawing at the bouncing toy, becoming more engaged with the game and Jaebeom's smile becomes wider and wider.

"Do you have cats?" Jinyoung asks, content with just watching Jaebeom play with the cat, but apparently another feline decides his lap looks like a great place to nap and comes to curl between them. It's a black cat white paws like socks, incredibly cute and sleepy.

"No, Father is allergic," Jaebeom explains.

"That sucks," Jinyoung mutters, not knowing what else to add.

"I guess, but there's nothing I can—" the older doesn't finish the sentence, apparently too surprised to find Jinyoung with a sleeping cat between his legs, softly stroking the cat's fur as the feline purr in satisfaction. "It's cuter than I expected. Do you mind if a take a picture?"

Jinyoung assumes it's a picture of the cat sleeping in his legs, but when Jaebeom grabs his phone and snaps the picture, he realizes the shot included him. He feels embarrassed but Jaebeom doesn't notice, staring at the picture he took with such a warm smile.

"Why do you keep staring at the picture?" he asks, curious himself. What if he looks hideous?

"You're more photogenic than I thought," Jaebeom mumbles. "I particularly like that you didn't think that you were in the frame."

"I thought you were going to take a picture of just the cat!" Jinyoung defends himself. "I wasn't prepared."

"I like unexpected pictures, the have a very charming vibe to them," Jaebeom explains. "But okay, now let me take one with you prepared so we can compare. You know, for science."

For a second Jinyoung thinks of refusing but instead he just sighs and this time he looks into the phone's camera, not smiling but knowing Jaebeom's taking a picture of him. The older lowers the gadget but continues staring at the screen.

"Are you not showing it to me? I'm the model after all," Jinyoung pouts, playing with the ears of the cat. The one that Jaebeom was playing with decides to join them, realizing there's more attention and affection with the other young man. Jinyoung ends up with two cats snuggling together on his lap.

"Here," Jaebeom replies, sliding closer to Jinyoung to show him not two but like twenty pictures he didn't think the older had taken.

He's surprised and believes it's such a waste, they all are practically the same and he doesn't think he looks great or anything. The bags under his eyes for the lack of sleep and all the exhaustion he carries with him are evident. It also shows how he's not being able to recover the weight he lost during the coma, the skin still hugs tight the bones of his face, giving him sharp features that do not look healthy at all.

How can Jaebeom say he looks beautiful when he actually looks sick?

"I look like a zombie that was just turned," Jinyoung points. "The cat looks adorable, though," he points out to just not sound so pessimistic.

"I accept you look tired but you have no idea how special it is that you're there, in this picture," Jaebeom explains, swiping between the pictures with no visible difference.

"It's no magic, you just aim and snap the picture. I'm sure even the cat could do it," Jinyoung shrugs, not understanding why Jaebeom is so fascinated with the bad pictures.

"I guess you can't see what I do," Jaebeom whispers, before turning his head and looking at Jinyoung, and just in that moment he realizes how close they are, a few centimeters apart after leaning closer to see the picture.

Jinyoung's breath gets caught in his throat, mostly surprise because they are so close. From this distance he learns that Jaebeom's eyes, although narrow, they are so intense and they are a warm dark brown, although at first he thought the older's eyes were black. Jaebeom's skin is pale and smooth, with the exception of certain tiny scars, the sub and more small moles in other places, like between his eyebrows that Jinyoung had not noticed before. The twin moles under his eyebrow are the most noticeable ones and they are even cuter up close.

Overall, Jaebeom is even more handsome up close and Jinyoung is surprised this man is courting him when he looks half dead. Actually, he gets shy and looks away, putting distance between them because he doesn't want Jinyoung to see his eye bags or how dull his skin is. Self-conscious, the younger focuses on the cats on his lap instead.

"Hey," he whispers, sounding too close and Jinyoung is too nervous to look up. "Are you avoiding me?"

"You're too close," Jinyoung mutters, playing with the ears of the fluffy cat, and the feline stirs and climbs closer to Jinyoung, looking for more affection.

"Does that make you nervous, Jinyoungie?"

Why does Jaebeom sound even closer? His heart is going crazy, his hands are even shaking a bit. It makes no sense!

"No, you're just invading my personal space," Jinyoung tries to save it, but he can only hear Jaebeom's chuckles next to him.

"You look adorable when you blush," Jaebeom speaks, in a lower tone which is nothing but annoying, the older shouldn't be allowed to act like that or sound so captivating. "I guess the caffeine seduction is working."

Jinyoung snorts, just because he did not expect it. The cats get startled and leave his lap, and Jaebeom laughs at that.

"You made me scare the cats!" he complains, glaring at Jaebeom as angrily as he can, but the older is grinning so widely and he surprises the younger when he just lays down and rests his head on the now empty lap. Jinyoung is shocked and he doesn't move, just staring at the young man that slowly closes his eyes, too comfortable already.

"Ya!" Jinyoung wants to sound angry, but it barely comes out like a whisper, too out of breath as if had ran five floors up. "What do you think you're doing?"

"It's comfortable," Jaebeom answers, looking up and meeting his eyes, having a warm smile that makes the younger almost forget they shouldn't even be doing this. They are there to play with the cats, not with one another.

"People are staring at us," Jinyoung points out, taking side glances around, and indeed people are watching them, and not with kind eyes.

"Does it bother you?" the other man asks, eyes intent and serious expression.

Jinyoung blinks. No, he doesn't care. He rarely cares about anything and especially people he doesn't know, but he is embarrassed nonetheless. Jaebeom is acting like a cozy boyfriend while they sit on the floor of a cat café. That's a bit too much even for him.

"I don't care what they think, but I think you're being a bit too close." He replies, honestly, yet it does not seem like the older will move anytime soon. "And my legs are cramping"

Jaebeom laughs but understands and sits straight, although his bucket hat falls and stays on Jinyoung's lap. "I guess it's too soon for that," he mumbles, more to himself than anything.

Jinyoung picks the hat and for a second thinks of trying it himself, but instead puts it back on Jaebeom's head, carefully. The older meets his eyes, a question in his eyes that he does not need to say out loud.

"Too soon," he states, although he cannot say he hated having Jaebeom on his lap. It felt comfortable, familiar and warm but definitely, it was too soon to behave like that.

Jaebeom nods, smiles a bit sadly but rises to his feet, in search of another cat, and for some reason Jinyoung has this feeling in his chest: guilt for making Jaebeom disappointed. Shaking his head, he shoves that feeling to the dark corners of his mind and just decides to focus on the cats for now.

Just the cats.