Next to you, Next to me

4. Coffee Shop AU + 60. Poorly Timed Confession 

Flowershop owner!Taeyong x Cafe owner!Reader

Warning(s): language

~~

“So what do you think?” You passed the cup over to Taeyong. 

A frown settled on his lips as he looked down at your creation, “You’re sure you’ve done this before?” He watched you skeptically. 

So latte art wasn’t your forte, that didn’t mean that he had to make it seem like you had just done a crime against humanity, “I swear, I have,” you leaned over the counter, pushing the cup a little closer to him, “I know it’s not the best looking, but I promise you that it is going to be the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had.”

He hummed, pushing his open laptop to the side to grab the cups with both hands and bring it to his face. There was something so nerve racking about watching the man take a deep breath of the hot drink before taking a large swallow. His face puckered slightly and he yanked the cup from his mouth. 

Had everyone been lying to you before?! 

Your mom swore that it was good, and though your brother didn’t drink coffee, he liked your tea and pastries. 

“I’m so sorry, you don’t have to drink it. I’ll work on it. Here give me the cup,” you reached across the bar to grab the cup that he pulled from your reach.

“NO!” he yelled, “No, it was just hot. I didn’t think about that before I took a big drink.” And you thought that you saw a faint smattering of red on his cheeks. He quickly took another drink, “I love it.” He smiled at you and you tried to believe it, but it was hard when you could see how hard he was trying to make everything seem okay.

“You don’t have to lie to me. Even if my coffee isn’t good, I plan on still opening the café. I put in too much time and money for this to fail.”

Taeyong frowned again, “I’m not lying to you. You’re going to be great. And hey, you’ve already got one customer.” He pointed to himself, “You know I’m right next door, that’s why I came over, because I’m nosy. I’ve seen you here the past few weeks and curiosity finally drew me over.” The smile on his face eased your nerves and you were starting to trust the truth behind his words.

“Right,” you looked across the road to where the small flower shop sat. Taeyong shuffled his feet and you remembered that he probably just stopped by to say hello, not sample your sub par coffee. “If you want I’ll get you a lid for your coffee and you can be on your way.” He was probably busy and didn’t want to be gone long.

“Oh- yeah,” he tucked his hands in the flower shop logoed apron he wore, “I’m sure you’re busy getting ready, didn’t mean to pull you from your work.”

“You didn’t,” you pressed the plastic lid on the cup. Taeyong grinned shyly at you as he made his way to the door, “Feel free to stop by anytime.”

He tipped his head at you, “I will, thank you for the coffee, it’s delicious.”

Yeah, maybe it wasn’t so bad.

~~

“Wait, wait, wait, you went to SSU too!” you grinned at the man across from you. Taeyong had become your first regular customer. Well, your only customer, considering that you weren’t open yet. Every morning since that one two weeks earlier he stopped by like clockwork.

7 am, he knocks on the door and you unlock it for him,

7:02 he hands over the menu you were working on and orders something new, 

7:05 he takes one sip of his drink gives you his first thoughts

7:06 you chat with him about whatever is on his mind as you go about setting up tasks you have to do for the day

7:15 he goes back across the street and you only catch peeks at him through the window until you leave or he closes 

 The same thing for almost two weeks. You couldn’t even be upset that the man was getting free coffee and pastries off of you. He was good, attractive, company that you grew closer and closer to inviting to dinner with every passing day. 

“Yeah, I got my degree in horticulture and botany. I wanted to stay close to home, but branch out some. I graduated about four years ago.” 

Delight and shock lit up your face, “No way, me too. I bet we passed each other on campus or maybe even had a class together.”

Taeyong watched you calmly, a somewhat knowing smile on his face, “We may have had a business class together once.” He shrugged. 

“It would be like fate,” you pushed the chocolate croissant he ordered with his tea over to him and took his dirty cup. 

He chuckled softly, “Yeah.”

“Speaking of fate,” you checked the notepad you had sitting next to a cash box on the counter. “I have finally set a date for the grand opening.” A small squeal left your lips and you jumped in place. “It’ll be next Friday!”

Taeyong blinked owlishly at you before a grin crossed his face, “That’s amazing! And so soon, but amazing! I’m so happy for you.” You thought that he was going to jump over the bar and hug you. You wouldn’t have been complaining, if he had. Instead he ripped the croissant in half and offered one part to you. “This calls for celebration!” You would have rather had dinner with him, but he was still here and happy for you, so you couldn’t complain. 

“Thanks, Tae.” You said through a mouth full of bread and chocolate.

He raised his half in toast, “Just doing duties as a friend and neighbor.” 

And maybe something more? You had thought about it a lot over the past few weeks. He seemed to like you. There was nothing stopping both of you from just exploring whatever chemistry there was between you both. Still that little niggling of fear crept it’s way in and no one likes to be rejected. Plus, you are so busy with the store opening, it’s just not a good time to ask him.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” You watched him open the door, letting in a cool breeze that smelled of clean air and fresh cut grass.

“Not if I see you first,” he took a bite of his croissant and strolled across the road, taking your heart with him.

~~

He wasn’t there. 

It was the day of your grand opening and he wasn’t there. 

T-1 minute until everyone around you watched as you cut the small ribbon that crossed in front of your café. Taeyong literally worked across the road, how could he not be there?

You needed to try to get rid of the hurt. If you didn’t, then no one was going to think you were very happy about opening the shop you had spent weeks working on. 

“You ready, darling,” a stout old lady who was a part of the city board stood next to you.

You gave her a grim smile, “Of course.”

“Oh dear, I know that there are a lot of emotions that come with this, but try to focus on the happy ones.” She shoved a pair of scissors in your hands that had to have been made for giants. “You’ll be busy enough with the new cafe, don’t worry about having too much time on your hands,” she laughed good naturedly.

“It’s not that, it’s-”

“Wait!”

Your head snapped up as the voice met your ears. A car door slammed and you saw Taeyong round his small pickup truck. In his hands was a large bouquet, along with a picnic basket. There was a grin on his face, but you could sense the urgency of his steps as he got shuffled up to you. 

“Shit,” his glasses were skewed on his face as he finally stood toe to toe with you. “So, I totally meant to be here before now.” He set down the basket and held the bouquet out to you. “These are for you. Um- congratulations on opening your shop and I’m so proud of you.” He patted around his pockets. “I have something to say to you. I wrote it down. Well, you see, I was wondering if- You know I have been wanting to do this for weeks, but was nervous and then this morning it hit me that I could ask you here.”

“Taeyong,” you stopped his rambling.” Thank you for the flowers. I appreciate them, but I don’t have enough hands to hold them and cut the ribbon.” 

“Right,” he grinned sheepishly, “I’m holding you up, sorry.”

You grinned back as the crowd started counting down, assuming you were finally ready to open shop. 

Hesitating a second after they said one, you threw another glance at Taeyong, “And I like you too. So yes, I will go on a date with you.”

The ribbon split in two just as his mouth did and you laughed as he wrapped you up, spinning you around in a circle. “Now?” He looked hopeful.

“How about after we close tonight?”

“But the wine will get warm.”

“Lucky for you, I know a nice new café that has the perfect industrial fridge for that.”

“I may have to check it out,” Taeyong linked a hand through yours. And you tugged him to follow the people that had started to trickle in. 

“I think you may just like it.”

“I think that it will be my favorite place to be”

“Oh really,” you raised an eyebrow at him. “Why is that?”

“Cause I’m next to you, standing next to me.”

Yeah, your heart was in good hands.