134340/PLUTO

WORD COUNT 2.9k
OVERVIEW jimin and jin have similar music tastes, love coffee, and live one floor apart. ( look i kno i said yoonmin but this was The Only Thing tht actually came out lmao / coffee shop au, there's no actual romance just hints at a future relationship lmao )

PLAYLIST infatuation / brockhampton, comethru / jeremy zucker, americano / 10cm.

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FLOWER PATTERNED WHITE converse tap a beat into marble stairways and fingers slide down a metal banister as a twenty year old races himself down the stairs of an apartment building. his footsteps echo loudly in the concrete space, all blocked out by the fizzy lemonade track bubbling in his tangled headphones, shoved into pierced ears as soon as he left the house.

"♪picking one lover's just like picking one daisy—i need at least a dozen in my DM's on the daily...♪" his feet skip across the last few stairs, landing smoothly on the ground and whipping his keys out from the pockets of his mom jeans. blowing candyfloss pink locks from his eyes, park jimin fumbles with his key in the lock before entering the outside world, full of the smell of exhaust fumes and wet tarmac from the autumn rain. shoving his keys back in, he adjusts the mint green kanken on his back and sets off away from the apartment complex, waving to a few neighbours he vaguely knows, a new song starting up in his headphones.

"♪you're no good for me, baby you're no good for me, you're no good for me, but baby i want you i want you...♪" a lana del rey classic has the candy boy bobbing his head to the bass, humming slightly. saturday's bring a welcoming morning, a promise of what's to come, and jimin hopes that that's true, because today he's studying for the three upcoming tests he has at college next week—biology, physics (primarily astrophysics related), and mathematics. with the taste of toothpaste fresh in his mouth, jimin pulls his stripy top back into shape, checking his reflection in a shop display window before running across the zebra lines imprinted on the road.

candy boy ducks his head and walks alone on the sidewalk, only one location in mind, the kanken heavy with schoolbooks and stationary; he's craving a nice cup of coffee and a sugar filled pastry, and he promises his gurgling stomach some release within the next ten minutes. turning a corner into an alleyway—shortcut—, he envisions the place he's headed to.

for the past month or so, jimin's been headed to the cutest little indie-aesthetic café he discovered on one of his many walks through his part of town; a hole in the wall place with a glowing red sign reading pluto on the door. jimin had walked in, out of pure curiosity, and fallen in love instantly: vinyl covers hung on the walls with albums both old and new on display, a record player and speaker system nestled together in the corner, retro pictures of celebrities scattered on the walls, multicoloured fairylights turning the ceiling into a spiderweb, and, rather that the usual table and chairs, mismatched armchairs and coffee tables were laid out, all old and cosy and just plain lovely. jimin especially loves the music played in the café, discovering that a barista gets to play their music taste after a game of rock, paper, scissors, and then at lunch they switch over to whoever got second place in the game.

the peachy boy steps into pluto and feels instantly calm, taking out his headphones and letting the sweet, mellow beat of a song consume him whole, the warmth of the café much appreciated after the autumn chill outside. chilly and full of content, jimin sets his things down on a cracked leather spinny chair right in the corner, walking up to the counter.

"♪why do you think i come round here on my free will? wasting all my precious time; oh, the truth spills out... and oh, i've told you now.♪"

the barista who jimin knows as the name written in chicken scratch on his nametag, young k, grins at him from under a ramen frizzy fringe, leaning on the hardwood counter in his usual band merch outfit. today's hoodie is a twenty one pilots blurryface one, red, black and white littering his torso, while his beanie—unnecessary while indoors—is g-dragon merchandise. the coffee boy's bright smile brings a warm feeling to jimin.

"morning, welcome to pluto," he says, straightening up a little. "what would you like?"

"a sweet black tea with lemon and an americano, please," jimin scans their daily specials menu for a cake he could have for breakfast. "...oh, and a cinnamon bun. thanks."

"comin' right up." young k smiles, and jimin nods cheerfully, turning on his heel as the song begins to change, tapping his fingers on his leg to the beat of kevin abstract. taking his seat in the cracked leather chair, jimin takes out his biology notebook and gameboy shaped pencil case, ready to study the immense chapter on the human body and internal organs—what fun for this early in the morning.

"♪a broken heart lead me to ya...♪"

jimin's handwriting slants across the page, notes highlighted with stars and bright neon pens, his raspberry lip between his pearly whites, rain pouring outside and contrasting with the warm atmosphere of the café. jimin wonders who's playing DJ today, because he knows young k's music taste leans toward alternative rather than the american slow rap and love songs jimin's hearing right now. chewing on the end of his pen, jimin looks over a diagram of the respiratory system, taking little notes on each of the system's parts and feeling bored already: it's been five minutes. his flowery self seems to wilt as he bends over the sketchbook with a sigh, deep eyes focused.

a honey dipped voice breaks him out of his writing, a barista singing along to the music playing as he waltzes his way over to jimin's table, a glowing smile on his face. straight brown hair, a flash of silver in his nose and ears and a puzzle of tattoos on his right arm, a yellow t-shirt advertising some band called CBMC and shredded jeans make up the figure walking towards jimin, topped off with a pair of wire rim glasses and a tray with jimin's order. the student shifts his things on the round table and watches the mint tray be set down on the surface, his drinks steaming and smelling heavenly.

"one americano, one sweet lemon black tea and one cinnamon bun," the barista replies, hands behind his back respectfully. jimin squints; his nametag reads jin in pink hangul, someone having drawn a heart next to it which makes jimin want to laugh. "that's six dollars, please."

"oh, 'course," jimin fumbles in the pocket of his blue jeans for a couple bills, smiling politely as he hands them over to jin, their fingers brushing and it's such an unimportant detail but jimin notices it. "thank you."

jin smiles and bows, and walks off, whistling the tune of the song with a sway to his hips—it's endearing.

jimin's seen the brunette around town and around pluto before. he's hard to forget, what with the lily hand tattoo and the piercing and those cherub pink lips with a ball piercing sitting below them, hard not to see in the streets either, with his fashionable outfits and the loud friends jimin's seen him with around the school campus. he's undeniably gorgeous—that's what makes his face linger in jimin's mind.

sweet black tea takes his mind off the barista, though, jimin sipping the hot beverage with precaution, steam rising in the music filled air. young k and jin are talking behind the counter, background white noise for the student, still writing away, occasionally biting at his breakfast which leaves little glossy bits of icing on his plump lips. god, why didn't he just take arts; sciences is the biggest pain in the ass, but jimin still wants to be a doctor or a therapist, and for that he needs degrees.

"♪how long have you been smiling? it feels like it's been too long. some days i don't feel like trying, so what the fuck are you on?♪"

jimin hums along to the familiar jeremy zucker song, glancing over at the brunette barista who's singing along perfectly—must be his pick for the morning. jimin's converse tap the tune into the floor, while his fingers tap notebook paper and his pen glides across the page with ease, eyes dropping to the bottom of the textbook page to read some footnote. the rain outside is somewhat calming, audible from his spot, and jimin could almost fall asleep here if he wasn't rushed off his feet with work.

"everything alright?" jin saunters up about twenty minutes later, collecting up jimin's empty dishes with a half smile on his face. jimin looks up, makes eye contact with this adonis in front of him, and nods, flustered, cheeks turning the colour of his hair.

"yeah... just a couple tests i need to study for. stressful, y'know?" he says, and jin nods. the soft mood of dean's love flows like water through the café, the barista sitting opposite the cotton candy boy. jimin raises an eyebrow.

"you go to SNU, science dept., right? i've seen you, with that tall purple haired guy," jin says, and jimin nods.

"yeah, kim namjoon's the grape head, he's an astrophysics major."

"i go too—i'm getting a catering degree, nothing as grand as the science department," jin laughs, and it's a cute, hearty laugh, true laugh that really fits him, a bit squeaky on the intake, but jimin finds it endearing. "what's your name?"

"jimin," the candy boy says, reaching a hand out to shake jin's own. the taller boy's hand engulfs jimin's own stubby fingers with his slender, tattooed fingers, fingernails painted a lilac purple, hands warm and strangely soft. jimin's not sure why he notices little details. "medical major at SNU."

jin smiles, crossing his legs, left ankle on right knee and bare skin poking out of his ripped jeans. "i'm seokjin, but call me jin," he says, throwing his arm over the back of the chair. "so, what kind of music do you like?"

jimin blinks; the question is sudden, unexpected, and he lets his pen fall from his fingers as he breaks a smile. "oh boy... i'm really obsessed with brockhampton and kevin abstract, rap-wise, as well as like dean, zico and stray kids... i'm not too into k-pop like every other guy, y'know?"

jin nods, a pleased smile on his face. "so what k-pop artists do you like? or are you into more foreign guys?"

"hmm..." jimin leans his chin on his palm. "i like dean, the boyz, ikon—mostly their recent stuff, like killing me—, zico and stray kids like i said, and suran is also pretty sweet. western artists, my favourites are jeremy zucker and blackbear, as well as what i've said before."

jin nods, as if in approval. "wow, we've got similar tastes!" he takes his iphone from his pocket—jimin notices the tokyo ghoul case with a giggle—and taps around on the screen, the music suddenly changing to sweet by brockhampton. jimin smiles widely, his whole face lighting up. "you like this, huh? what's your favourite brockhampton-slash-abstract song?"

jimin laughs. "rental and papercut are definitely the ones that stand out most. i love kevin's lyrics in junky, though. how bout you, what do you like?"

the rest of jimin's supposed 'study time'—he'll catch up later at home—is spent chatting to the very interesting barista, who basically gives himself the morning off just to talk to jimin. jin's full of amazing music taste and less known artists, funny quips and cheesy dad jokes—jimin cringes more than once at the terrible puns—, and by the end of their talk, jimin's sure the barista is made up of cream, sugar and cinnamon, he's so sweet. jin's slender fingers rest gently on the table as he speaks, tapping beats out or drawing patterns, and his glossed lips form words so prettily that jimin's quite entranced just by how he looks when he speaks.

"kim seokjin!"

a voice comes from the back and interrupts their very engrossed conversation about tokyo ghoul, making jin whip his head around—jimin notices briefly the japanese tattoo on the back of his neck—and call a 'what do you want?'.

a head pops out of the door to the kitchen, a head of caramel macciato hair with a slightly disgruntled expression. "hyung, unless you want to lose your wages, it'd be good for you to get your ass back here!"

"oh for fuck's sake, seungkwan," jin mutters under his breath, making jimin laugh quietly. "dude, the place is empty! what am i supposed to fuckin' do?" he laughs breathily at the end, and seungkwan rolls his eyes.

"stop flirting with the customers, perhaps?" he says sassily, and jin gasps dramatically, a hand on his chest, faking being appalled.

"boy if you don't shut your goddamn mouth—" he says, making seungkwan burst into laughter. "bitch, i'm not flirting!"

jimin goes pink again, laughing. "aren't you? i'm offended, jin, i thought we had something!" he wipes fake tears from his eyes, and they're all laughing over the sound of sappho by frankie cosmos, jimin covering his mouth with his hand as loud chuckles spill out. jin smiles at him, all shiny teeth and scrunched eyes.

"cute," he says, making jimin's ears burn pink as well as his cheeks. "anyway, seungkwan, i'm staying here bitch, i know you and hansol are totally watching haikyuu back there so shut up."

seungkwan goes back to the kitchen after shooting jin the middle finger, making jin laugh. "he's our head baker," he explains to jimin, who nods. "anyways, biology boy, can i walk you home? i'm officially taking the rest of the day off."

jimin considers it, rolling his bottom lip into his mouth. "well..." he does barely know the guy, but they go to school together and seokjin seems like the last person to do anything bad to jimin. plus he's super hot and jimin really, really wants to get to know him even better—preferably over a cup of iced coffee and a queer eye marathon on jimin's couch. "yeah, why not? it's raining like hell outside, though, have you got a coat?"

"way ahead of you, 10cm." seokjin winks, walking off to the back and leaving jimin to wonder what he meant by the 10 centimeters comment. yeah, jimin's not exactly packing in the height department, but would jin really poke fun at that? he spends two minutes packing up his things with his eyebrows furrowed until he hears the barista walk back over, dressed now in a very big hooded army jacket.

"back!" he says, hands in his pockets. his hair fluffs up a little under his hood and jimin finds it adorable, paired with his grecian statue features and cute peachy cheeks. he jokingly takes jimin's arm to lead him out the door, the smaller now noticing their large height difference as he lets seokjin hold the umbrella, seeing as he's much taller.

"hey, what did you mean by the 10cm comment, jin? i'm not that short!" jimin huffs, breaking jin out of his humming of king princess.

"ah, you didn't get it," jin says with a chuckle. "10cm is a band, and they have a song called americano. you know, you're short, you ordered an americano—i dunno, it was funny when i thought of it."

"oh wow, that's cute," jimin says, feeling seokjin's hand slip around his waist. he's pretty touchy, the barista, but jimin can't say he minds it, the feeling of slender fingers against his side actually rather pleasant. "i should'a come up with something for you."

"we only met today, we have plenty of time for nicknames, 10cm," jin says, making jimin smile. he's insinuating a long friendship—maybe more if jimin's numbers come up—, and that feels nice and bubbly in jimin's stomach, because the taller boy really is quite the sweetheart he's been dreaming of. "alright, where are we headed?"

jimin leads him through backalleys he knows are covered, so they end up not needing the umbrella until they sprint to the door of his block of flats, screaming dramatically. jin laughs, breathless, once they're inside, back against the wall with a goofy smile on his face. "oh my god, this is my building! you live here?"

"unless i've gotten the directions wrong, yeah," jimin says, making seokjin laughs again. "seriously? we lived this close the whole time and i never spoke to you? wait, what apartment are you in?"

"24," seokjin says, the two of them beginning to the lift because they don't fuck with stairs unless the lift's broken. "you?"

"i'm in 34! oh my god, we're a fucking floor apart? what the fuck?" they both laugh as jimin presses the elevator button for his floor, looking in the mirrored walls of the lift to sort out his messy hair. jin checks himself out, messing with his long earring and checking his painted nails for chips, which makes jimin smirk. maybe now he can invite seokjin in, and they can talk and connect more. he hopes.

"well, here we are," jimin says once they're outside his door. seokjin awkwardly taps his doc martens on the floor, hands behind his back. "um... oh fuck, there's no un-awkward way to say this, but do you wanna come in? i was gonna make ice coffee and watch queer eye and maybe study a bit, so if you fancy it...?"

seokjin laughs loudly, echoing in the small space, and jimin's anxiety peaks, but the soft smile forming on the barista's face calms it. "i would love that, 10cm. i make a mean iced caramel macciato, you watch."

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAMJOON I LOVE U SOSOSOOS MUCH U DESERVE THE WORLD AND MORE BABY 💓💞💕💗❤💗💜💖💟💓💟💘💓💗💟💗💘💖💟💓✊❤💗💓 PAPIIIIII 😥😥😥😫😫 AMO TE COM TUDO MEU CORAÇÃO

i'm high on coffee and tokyo ghoul lmao anyway sorry for no yoonmin my writer's block kicked my ass the whole of last week.... HhHhhHHuuuu i kinda wanna add like a "a few months later" part 2 to this so probs will

( songs in this oneshot: infatuation, brockhampton / diet mountain dew, lana del rey / i've told you now, sam smith / papercut, kevin abstract / all the kids are depressed, jeremy zucker )

—LOVE, JACE