cafe prince || jung jaehyun
college student!reader, barista!jaehyun, fluff, lots of nonsense that I tried to edit and fix pffffffft
overview: jaehyun has been nicknamed the cafe prince by the locals because of his handsome looks and charming personality. what they don’t know is that he’s really just a dork with stupid pickup lines that somehow manage to woo you.
The cafe seemed busier than usual. Students at this place wasn’t a surprise; they came here to study, gossip after school, grab a sweet treat, take pictures for social media to look cool, etc. Today, however, an unruly amount of teenage girls were packed inside the small building, giggling and trying to sneakily take pictures of someone working behind the counter. You peeked over the large line to see who attracted such a large crowd.
Behind the counter, carefully adding whipped cream and chocolate to a girl’s frappuccino, was a very good looking barista. Wisps of brown hair fanned in front of his lashes. He finished making the drink and handed it to the girl, flashing her a bright smile. You could feel the entire line of girls, and yourself, swoon. Then you shook your head, embarrassed at being seen acting like a fool. You’re a university student, not a blushing teen in love.
After waiting for what seemed like forever, it was finally your turn to order. The handsome barista returned to the cash register and rested his hands on the counter. He gave you a warm smile. “What can I get you?”
At that moment, you realized you didn’t even think about what you wanted, so to avoid embarrassing yourself further you said the quickest thing that came to mind. “The 127 latte.” You weren’t too fond of the 127 latte, but you panicked. There’s no turning back now.
“Hey that’s my favorite drink, good choice.” The barista winked at you. You fought the bubbly feeling that was making you a bit spacey and handed the money to him. As he was getting your change, you glanced at his name tag.
You noticed he was wearing an IU sweater under his apron. “Hey, I like IU. Her latest song with G-Dragon is good,” you said casually. Jaehyun looked up at you in surprise.
You pointed at his shirt and he looked down for a moment before he started giggling. A shy blush was evident on his cheeks. “Ah, I didn’t realize what shirt I had put on this morning. Yeah I’m kind of a big fan. I went to one of her fan signs and she autographed my album.”
“Did you get flustered?” Jaehyun snorted and got to work on finishing your latte, shy smirk on his face. You noticed deep dimples appearing.
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t,” Jaehyun chuckled, sticking his tongue out at you. He handed you your latte and a napkin. You thanked him and went to find a place to sit. Some of the girls around you, mentioned you a few times in their conversation and you wondered what exactly they were saying about you. Sitting down at one of the booths in the back of the cafe, ready to study for your first exam, you noticed that Jaehyun scribbled something on your napkin.
Are you from France? Because madamn
You almost choked on your spit. You bit down hard on your lower lip so that you wouldn’t burst out laughing. What kind of lame pick up line- and to steal it from th internet no doubt. You couldn’t fight back the smile that stretched itself across your face as you took a sip of your latte.
For some reason, it tasted better than you remembered.
Months had passed since that day, and Jaehyun had earned himself a nickname from the locals. They referred to him as the Cafe Prince for his good looks and charming personality. Sure that was true, but you personally knew that he was also a giant dork with poor pick up lines that somehow managed to woo you.
Every time you came into the cafe, he greeted you with a wink. “What will it be today milady?” Which had you rolling your eyes, but smiling nonetheless. You knew each other’s names by now, and had this weird relationship going on. You started ordering the 127 late more frequently, mostly because it was a drink that took a while to make, which gave you time to converse with him. Within the time span of two to three minutes, you two talked about music, what you did outside of the cafe, where you go to school, etc. Of course only if there wasn’t a long line waiting behind you, then you only got a few words.
Today, however, you wanted something different.
“The Cherry Bomb tea sounds good to me.”
“Hey, that’s my favorite drink!” Jae laughed.
“Really? Because I thought the 127 latte was?” You raised your brow.
Jaehyun motioned for you to come closer. You leaned forward, and it was when you could feel his breath on your ear your realized exactly how close you were to him. Your heart sped up and mentally you told yourself to calm down.
“See, I’m not exactly a coffee person. I prefer tea,” he confessed. You pulled away with a dramatic gasp, covering your mouth to be even more so. Jaehyun laughed.
“You heathen!” You joked. You both laughed it off before he yelled your order over to his coworker, Taeyong, whom you had also became quite acquainted with. He then turned back to you.
“So how did your exams go? From what you told me last week, they sounded brutal,” he inquired. You groaned and started going on and on about how your professor kept adding unnecessary info in your study guides, causing extra stress. When you spoke, Jaehyun always paid close attention, his focus entirely on you when he wasn’t making a drink.
You heaved a sigh. “I think I did okay, but it was a stressful experience.”
Jaehyun patted your shoulder in sympathy. Today he was wearing a fitted black long sleeve shirt and jeans. A pair of rounded glasses rested perfectly on his nose. He always looked so incredibly good, it wasn’t fair. You couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles flexed when he worked, the tight material of his shirt only allowing you to see them even more. He could make even the slightest gestures look unbelievably hot, and the already attractive gestures become knockouts. For example: when he wears dress shirts and rolls the sleeves up.
The whole plan of you not becoming attracted and falling in love wasn’t working so well.
“I hate when professors do that, luckily I haven’t had anyone like that this semester,” Jaehyun said, adding a tiny bit of sakura syrup to your drink. He finished his work and handed you your drink. He leaned forward again and motioned towards Taeyong. “Hey look, this drink almost matches perfectly with Teayong over there.”
You placed your hand over your mouth to stifle your incoming laugh knowing very well that if Taeyong heard you, both you and Jae would get a slap upside the head. Taeyong had earned a nickname from the locals as Sakura Teayong because of his bright pink hair.
Taeyong placed his metal pitcher of steamed milk down and turned towards you two. “Are you guys making fun of me?” He leaned on his elbow and raised an eyebrow.
Both you and Jaehyun gulped and returned to your previous position and giggled.
You cleared your throat. “Aside from pinky over there, have you seen the others recently?”
There were also times where some of Jaehyun’s friends would come into the cafe and whole place always got ten times louder whenever they were around. It disrupted your study sessions. One time, you watched as a really tall boy ruffled Jaehyun’s hair while speaking in a cooing voice, causing Jae to laugh so hard he almost knocked over a pot of coffee. Then Taeyong came over and told them to quiet down or leave. For someone who appears as soft and gentle as he does, he sure wasnt someone to mess with.
“Nah I haven’t. But I overheard some girls talking about some really weird coffee that we don’t sell. What did they say? Lulu coffee?” His nose scrunched up as he tried to remember. He looked like a cute, confused puppy.
“Foofoo coffee?” You asked.
Jaehyun looked at you, even more confused. “Foofoo coffee?”
“Yeah, it’s what people call coffee with lots of syrups, sugar and whipped cream,” you explained. Jaehyun nodded before a dumb smile appeared on his face.
“Heh. Foofoo coffee.” Then he burst into a fit of giggles. He turned towards Taeyong. “Hey Ty?”
Taeyong turned around again. “What?”
Jaehyun could barely get the words out without snickering. “Foofoo.” Then he threw his head back and laughed so hard he had to brace himself on the counter as he slowly sunk down to the floor.
Taeyong sighed before pushing Jaehyun to the back. “This is why people don’t come here often, you’re too obnoxious and disrupt the peace I try so hard to preserve” he muttered under his breath. Jaehyun was still laughing in the background.
It had been almost eight months since you first met Jaehyun. Summer came and left, and now you were starting a new semester at college. Fall colors were everywhere and you were so happy to start wearing sweaters and sweatpants again. You and Jae had become so close, people at the cafe were wondering if you two were dating. You laughed at the thought.
“You’re the first person today to not ask for a pumpkin spice latte, it’s kind of refreshing,” Jaehyun sighed as he handed you your caramel iced latte, also known as the Yestoday Latte. You laughed and paid Jaehyun for the drink and went to your usual spot in the back. This time, you were upset to see that he hadn’t included a napkin with a terrible pick up line. You sighed, you were really looking forward to it, as much as you hated to admit it.
You can’t date the cute barista Y/N, you never engage in activity outside of the cafe. Just stop thinking about it.
As much as you tried to push down your silly feelings, they just resurfaced, growing each time. You couldn’t even focus on your homework because your thoughts kept distracting you. You let out a groan of frustration, slammed your textbook shut and gathered your things. Jaehyun watched as you leaved the cafe in a storm.
“Hey! Y/N, are you alright?” He called out.
He got no response as you hastily left the cafe and made your way home. Upon reaching home, you stormed up the stairs and into your room. You flopped onto your bed and let out the loudest and longest groan possible. You can’t keep hanging around the cafe, Jaehyun was too big of a distraction.
Since then, you ordered your drinks to go and left as soon as they were finished. Jaehyun was sad that you didn’t stick around, your presence always put him in a better mood. At first he wondered if you stopped hanging around because he forgot to write a pickup line for you on a napkin. It wasn’t that he forgot, he just couldn’t think of anything at the moment. Did you suddenly lose interest in him?
Days turned into weeks, which turned into a month. He only saw you when you ordered a drink and then left.
You thought that your life would get easier by not hanging around much, but you were wrong. You missed Jaehyun and his silly pick up lines. You missed watching him work from afar and engaging with his friends. You missed watching him getting smacked by Taeyong whenever Jae made fun of him, you missed his deep dimples and catching him looking at you or vice versa. You missed your conversations over your common interests and your lives at university.
Congratulations Y/N. You really like this dork.
You couldn’t deny that fact anymore. Looking over at your calendar, you decided to go to the cafe on Saturday. You had to talk with him.
Saturday morning, you woke up earlier than you wanted. Your body seemed to be anxious. You took a shower and put on a casual yet nice looking outfit of jeans and a sweater. Standing in front of your bathroom mirror, you desperately tried to hype yourself up and at the same time tried to calm your nerves.
You can do this, just casually invite him to go see that new movie you both were talking about. Not that hard.
If only it were that easy. The moment you stepped into the cafe, you were shocked to see that Jaehyun wasn’t there at the cash register. Taeyong was there instead. Did his work schedule change? You walked up, trying to not to look surprised or upset. However Taeyong could read you like an open book and gave a soft laugh when you walked up to the cash register.
“Jae isn’t here today, it’s his day off.”
You nodded and all hope flew out the window. I guess you would have to do it another time. You thought about going back home, but you didn’t want Taeyong getting suspicious, even though you’re sure he’s been onto you since day one. “What makes you think I’m here to see him? I just want a 127 latte please,” you huffed, crossing your arms.
Taeyong snorted. “Right away your highness,” he teased.
You rolled your eyes and waited for your drink. Taeyong made it faster than Jaehyun did. You unzipped your purse and got out your wallet to pay, but Taeyong stopped you. “It’s already taken care off,” he said, giving you a smile. Your eyes widened but you didn’t say anything. You were about to leave the cafe when Taeyong called out. “Hey what are you doing? You can’t leave with that cup!”
You looked down and realized he made your drink in one of the cafe cups, meaning you had to stay inside to drink it. To be fair, you never said to make it to go. Giving him a suspicious look, he just shrugged before winking at you. Before you could say something back, two costumers walked in. You went and sat at your usual spot in the back. The table had a bunch of napkins on it, the previous customers must’ve grabbed more than they needed. You reached for one and just stared at it, before you reached into your purse and pulled out a pen.
The napkins made you think of Jaehyun and his pick up lines.
Your hand moved before you even processed what you were doing. Two minutes later, the napkin was covered in doodles and Jaehyun’s name written in different ways. Soon you had gone through five napkins, each covered in doodles and Jaehyun’s name. You were busy working on the sixth one, forgetting all about your latte.
“Wow, you write my name nicer than I do.”
You shot up in surprise, the pen flying out of your hands. Jaehyun was leaning on the table, a mischievous smile on his face. Your heart did triple flips. “H-how long were you standing there?” You stuttered before words started to form properly. You made a move to scrunch up all the napkins you doodled on before he could see any more, cheeks flushed.
“Not long. Can I sit?” Jaehyun pointed to the spot across from you. You nodded and he slid in.
“So, I haven’t seen a whole lot of you. What’s up?”
This is it. This is your chance, right here, right now. “I’ve been kinda busy, I really want to do well in my classes. I’ve been studying more at home because I felt kind of distracted here.”
Jaehyun nodded. “I see. What was so distracting?”
You gulped. Was he on to you? Did he figure it out? Were you that obvious about your crush on him? Jaehyun was staring at you, his lips twitching into a smile. Jerk, he was totally doing this on purpose. You justed want to crawl into a hole and hide.
“Hey,” he said softly. You looked at him and tried to stay focused, but it was really hard to do that when he was looking at you so endearingly. This was so unfair.
“Hmm? Anyways, I uh was wondering if you’d like to- well it’s because we talked about it and you seemed really interested in it so I kinda figured-”
You stopped babbling. Jaehyun had leaned in super close to you, resting his chin on his hand. “Ye-yes?” You held in your breath.
“Would you like to go out sometime?”
Was it your heart that exploded? You felt like your could rocket out of the building in excitement, and yet your body relaxed, your nerves calmed down and you felt yourself melting under his gaze. You gave him a smile, probably the biggest one yet. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Jaehyun’s dimples never looked deeper as he gave you a big smile as well. The two of you sat there smiling at each other until Jaehyun gently took hold of your hand and softly rubbed the back of it with his thumb. Your heart speaks up at the gesture. You were so tempted to close the gap between the both of you, his lips looked so soft and inviting.
Jaehyun seemed to know what you were thinking, because he started to slowly move in. Then a hand shot between your faces and you both jumped away in shock.
“Ew, not in public please. I have a pda-free, friendly atmosphere to preserve,” Taeyong huffed.
You laughed but Jaehyun was glaring at Taeyong. You poked his cheek to get his attention. “Weren’t you going to take me out anyways, Cafe Prince?” You teased. Jaehyun grinned and took hold of your hand.
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