cafe au lait - l.juyeon
Pairing: lee juyeon x gn!reader
wc: 1.5k
: weekly study dates at your favourite café turn into something more when the owners nephew joins in your routine
hidden cafe’s where the warmth of sunlight radiates throughout the entire space, where voices flow with the wordless tracks are perfectly blended and the smell of fresh coffee beans mixes with the taste of sweet icings.
that was the small hidden away cafe that you had stumbled across during a sudden sun storm, the day was still ever so fresh in your mind.
the sweetness of the owners was something that kept that little bit of faith in strangers, the husband offered to take your books out into the kitchen in hopes of drying them without ruining them too badly and the wife sat you down with a towel promising a hot drink to help you warm up.
you had been visiting the cafe going on two and a half years now, it was a place where you felt the world made sense, as did your assignments. without fail you came every tuesday afternoon, on friday mornings you would sit and wait for the world to wake up with you and every sunday you sat there from open to close.
so the initial feeling of shock when you arrived on friday morning, albeit around ten minutes later than what you normally do and you weren’t able to open the door to the cafe had you stumped. Mr Lee always had the door unlocked, even though trade didn’t start for another half hour, it allowed you to catch up your past week before the morning rush started.
knocking on the door you were met with the face of someone who definitely wasn’t there normally...
as he walked to the door he motioned to the little clock that indicated opening times, when you didn’t budge he simply turned and walked out the back. you had no idea who he was, tall and extremely cute but you would much rather be sitting inside the cafe as the air was beginning to grow extremely crisp of the morning as winter began creeping its way through.
knocking once again and shifting foot to foot, the guy appeared again this time yelling out to someone and turning his back to you waiting at the door. hurried footsteps headed your way as Mrs. Lee rushed to open the door, much to his confusion.
“..feel being out there at this time! honestly juyeon where are your manners. hello my dear, sorry about that, we did tell him to unlock the door if you arrived and we weren’t out here” ushering you into the warm room, she closed the door behind you.
shaking your head, as you placed your things on the table in front “it’s fine really. i guess he just isn’t used to being disturbed before open. where’s Mr. Lee i haven’t seen him this morning, normally he’s talking my ear off by now.”
a smile graced her face as she thought of her husband, ever as in love as the day they met they claim.
“he’s away actually, off with his brother for a small holiday. that’s why my nephew is here, you must be craving that drink - i’ll get it started. we also got a new recipe that i wanted to get you to try so i’ll grab you one of those too!”
as she left your side, you pulled your books closer to you, opening all of the notebooks you brought immediately getting started with your study schedule and organising what you needed for your afternoon classes.
you barely noticed the guy who turned away from you earlier, walking over with your coffee, “i’m sorry”
jolting from your thoughts you looked up, silently you made a space for the drink, holding it in your hands you felt the warmth begin to spread through your fingertips, it made you smile
“it’s okay, you didn’t know. if you’re still here sunday then hopefully you won’t be too shocked when i appear so early again” sending him a smile of reassurance you turned back to your books as you got a notification from your phone.
running your hands down your face you quickly began grabbing your things, “Mrs. Lee! I have to run, my professor changed our class to an early slot, I’ll be back later on today okay!”
staring at the drink you never got to taste, you were quick to rush out of the café barely remembering to drop the money for your drink and rushing out the door
It just had to be the day a cute boy is working…
thanking every possible higher power that getting through the class easy, as you went to enter the café seemed a lot busier than what you remember it normally is. tables were completely packed and life was loud and buzzing through the glass windows.
noticing that Mrs. Lee was currently clearing the table you normally sat at, you hurried through the somehow large crowd to speak to her, “is it just me, or is it insanely full for an early afternoon?”
smiling she grabbed your books placing them on the table before someone else could, she nodded her head, “apparently my nephew is quite the people person, take a seat my dear and I’ll get you your things as soon as possible, but it might take a little longer with mister popular over there working the machine.”
trying to get through your days work felt like it would be an impossible task, especially with what felt like a hundred eyes staring you down after barista boy came to bring you your drink and the pastry you were promised early morning.
fingers crossed it died down on Sunday…
much to your luck, it hadn’t, if anything it was like it got busier. It definitely didn’t help by the tight white shirt that he had been wearing. its not like you could really fault the busy cycle that had been going on, but you did happen to notice the work or lack thereof that you were able to get through by the time the lunch rush began to quiet down.
“hey, I’m just letting you know that we’re going to close the doors for a little bit to try and get on top of everything. you don’t have to leave but we won’t have any coffee for the next thirty at least” broke through the smooth voice of the boy you still hadn’t learnt the name of. nodding you’re a head you closed your eyes as the last dawdling customers made their way out.
it finally felt quiet, if you listened close enough you could hear the mixer turning at the back, and the rustling of bags being moved around. glancing around the café you noticed how much traffic had actually gone through the doors, closing your books you walked to the counter reaching over to pick up a spray and a clean wipe, you moved silently to the tables wiping them down and straightening everything back up.
it was funny, you didn’t even know his name but you moved in complete harmony, every time he tried to reach out and grab the cleaning supplies out of you grasp you would bump his arm away and shoo him towards the counter.
in the blink of an eye the café was cleaned up and ready to reopen for the afternoon, sitting back down you stared at your books. with an upcoming test you hoped that somewhere someone was listening to your prayers of a quiet afternoon.
a glass was sat in front of you, but for the first time the boy sat down to, “thank you, for your help. I didn’t think it would be so busy for a Sunday…” he looked genuinely exhausted,
Poor thing…
“it’s no issue really, it’s not like I was getting much work done anyways. I barely made it through half of what I normally do”
as his eyes wandered through the open books, he couldn’t help the small smile that grew looking at how everything was set out in the books.
“you know, I don’t think I ever even caught your name, I’ve been serving you drinks and food all day and it isn’t the first day we’ve met… it feels kind of weird asking for your name now though, I was hoping that someone you knew would come in and say it so I didn’t have to ask” his hand reached behind his head as he looked away with a hint of pink growing in his cheeks
smiling you flipped through your past notes, “[name]”
his eyes snapped back to you, a pretty smile graced his face, “[name], it suits you. Well [name] its been an honour to serve you your coffee’s today, hopefully the afternoon is more quiet for you”
he quickly got up and moved away from you, and made his way to the door to open it again for trade, “hey wait! You never told me yours…”
sending you a wink, he welcomed the next customer into the store, guiding them to the counter to place their order.
almost two hours later you were getting ready to pack up your books, when a pastry was placed in front of you, as you went to comment you just saw the back of his head as he headed to the table across from you.
shaking your head, you waved to Mrs. Lee and headed out, opening the pastry bag all that sat inside was another pastry that you had sampled the other day and a note
it’s Juyeon – I’ll see you next week x