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Namjoon is leaning halfway inside the refrigerated display case when the cafe door opens. He’s just gotten in a new shipment of the fruit preserves he uses in some of his magic teas: plum and yuja and quince. The forest spirit he gets them from grows the fruit herself, and claims that they’re the best quality you’ll find. Namjoon is inclined to agree. They certainly make excellent tea.
Technically he doesn’t need to keep them in the fridge until the jars are open, but the storage unit in the kitchen is already full to overflowing. His choices were the display fridge or the kitchen floor, and he’d immediately ruled out the floor. The last thing he wants to do is accidentally trip over a jar. He’d break the jar, and possibly his face, and then Yoongi would have to clean both Namjoon and the preserves up off the floor.
The bottom shelf of the display looks nice filled with the colorful jars, anyway.
The bell above the door jingles and Namjoon jumps, bumping his head on a display shelf. “Ow,” he says, rubbing his head as he emerges more carefully from the display and sits back on his heels. “Welcome to— oh, you’re here!”
“I’m here,” Yoongi says, voice amused. He walks to the counter and peers over it at Namjoon. “You doing okay down there?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s all good,” Namjoon says. “It’s just, you know.” He gestures at the jars around him on the floor. “Putting the new shipment away.”
“Would you like some help?” Yoongi tilts his head, expression somewhere between fond and concerned.
“No, it’s okay,” Namjoon says. He stands and rests his elbows on the counter. “I didn’t ask you to stop by today to help me restock the display.”
Yoongi hums. “And why did you ask me to stop by? Your message was kind of cryptic.”
It’s drizzling in Seoul today, not raining enough to need an umbrella but just wet enough to be annoying. Yoongi’s hair is damp and curling slightly at the ends, and his suit jacket will need to be hung up to dry. Yoongi keeps complaining about the chill lingering in the spring air, which is exactly why Namjoon had called him here today.
Namjoon grins.
“Look behind you,” he says.
Yoongi raises his eyebrows in an unspoken question, but turns to face the cafe’s windows anyway— and gasps. It reminds Namjoon of a snowy evening more than two years ago, and the look of wonder on Yoongi’s face that day as he’d caught sight of the snowflakes outside. Today, though, the scene outside the shop is dramatically different: white sand and volcanic rock and pristine turquoise water.
“Namjoon-ah,” Yoongi says with disbelief. “Are we in Jeju?”
“Yes!” Namjoon says. “Surprise!”
Yoongi turns back to Namjoon, eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open. Namjoon can barely contain his glee. Yoongi had a big presentation today, one that he’s been stressing over for weeks. Just a few days ago he had sunk into a chair at one of the tables in the cafe and said, I need a damn vacation— and the cafe had delivered. This morning when Namjoon came downstairs to start opening up, he had found the beach waiting for him.
It had taken all his willpower not to immediately text Yoongi and tell him to skip work and come over immediately. Yoongi couldn’t skip work today, and teasing him about it would be cruel. Namjoon had still texted to tell him to come over after work (after wishing him luck on his presentation), but he had saved the beach as a surprise.
It’s entirely worth it to see the expression on Yoongi’s face now. He’s still staring at Namjoon in shock. “Namjoon-ah,” he says, his voice going gravelly the way it does when he’s emotional. He closes his mouth and clears his throat.
“Why don’t you go get changed?” Namjoon suggests, jerking his head toward the stairs up to his apartment. “Then you can spend some time exploring the beach.”
Yoongi glances down at his soggy suit and his mouth twists into a wry smile. “That’s probably a good idea.” He takes a step toward the stairs, before abruptly turning back. He reaches across the counter and gently grabs the front of Namjoon’s apron, pulling him closer. The kiss he places on Namjoon’s lips is brief but sweet.
“Thank you,” Yoongi says.
“Don’t thank me,” Namjoon says, “thank the shop.”
“Thank you, shop,” Yoongi obediently parrots. There’s a sincerity to the words, hidden beneath their deadpan delivery, that lights a warm glow in Namjoon’s chest.
He pats Yoongi’s damp shoulder and says, “Go change before you catch a cold.”
“Being caught in the rain doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll catch a cold,” Yoongi grouses, but he heads off anyway. In the archway between the shop and the stairs he pauses and places his hand on the wood for a second, giving silent thanks before passing through. Namjoon doesn’t even pretend to hide his smile as he turns back to his jars of preserves.
Not two minutes later the front door is flying open again.
“Welcome—” Namjoon says, again, only to cut himself off, again, when he stands and sees who it is. “Ah, hey Jungkook.”
“Hi,” Jungkook says. He shrugs off the backpack slung over his shoulder and dumps it near the door. “Where are we today?”
He doesn’t wait for a reply, instead turning to the window. He immediately lets out a gasp and whips his head back around to Namjoon, eyes comically wide.
“It’s the ocean!” he exclaims, pointing out the window as if there’s some chance Namjoon hasn’t seen it yet.
“It is,” Namjoon agrees.
“Ocean! Beach!”
Jungkook is off like a shot, back out the door and bounding toward the waterline. Namjoon watches through the window as Jungkook shucks his shoes and socks and barrels straight into the waves. The water must be freezing, but Jungkook frolics through the shallows anyway. Namjoon laughs and shakes his head fondly before going back to his display case.
A few minutes later, he finishes stowing everything away and moves on to cleaning the inside of the shop’s windows. A family of weasel spirits had come through earlier, and the curious kits had pressed their noses to the glass. Namjoon doesn’t mind. The windows were due for a wash anyway, and the kits were awfully cute.
Through the window, he watches Jungkook continue to romp through the surf. He can’t hear Jungkook’s laughter from here, but he can imagine it all the same. The building that the cafe has taken up residence in today is a rental shop, currently closed for the season, that has a sign driven into the sand outside advertising surfboards and bodyboards. Namjoon wishes that he had a surfboard to give Jungkook— he has a feeling Jungkook would have a blast.
Alas, all he has to offer is a towel and a cup of warm tea whenever Jungkook makes his way back to the shop.
Footsteps coming down the stairs distract Namjoon from his thoughts. He turns just as Yoongi comes into view, and nearly does a double take. Yoongi has changed into a comfy pair of joggers, probably pulled from the stash of his clothing that has taken up residence in Namjoon’s closet. He’s paired them with something that is definitely not from Yoongi’s personal stash: a sweater that is a bright, sunny yellow and so cozily oversized Yoongi practically drowns in it.
Namjoon’s heart gives a pathetic thump. It’s one of Namjoon’s favorite sweaters, because it is just so darn comfortable. It’s also ridiculously adorable on Yoongi.
“What?” Yoongi says, scrunching his nose, and oops— Namjoon hadn’t meant to stare. He’s seen Yoongi in his clothes often enough that it shouldn’t affect him anymore. And yet there’s no denying that Namjoon is, in fact, very definitely affected.
Namjoon clears his throat and says, “Nothing, you just look cute.”
Yoongi scrunches his face even further. It makes him look like a disgruntled cat. “I thought I heard Jungkook’s voice,” he says, blatantly changing the topic.
“Yeah, he was in here for all of about two seconds before he noticed the beach,” Namjoon says. “He’s down by the water now.”
“Guess I should go join him,” Yoongi says. His voice is nonchalant, but there’s an excited sparkle in his eyes.
“Be careful, if you get too close to the water he might try to pull you in.”
“I’d like to see him try,” Yoongi mutters ominously before pushing through the door.
Namjoon goes back to wiping the windows, watching through the glass as Yoongi makes his way across the beach. When Jungkook spots Yoongi, he starts waving his arms wildly and runs out of the water to go meet him. Yoongi accepts a rather soggy hug, then deftly avoids an attempt to rope him into the waves.
The ensuing scuffle has Namjoon biting back laughter. There’s something about Jungkook that brings out Yoongi’s childish side, and as Namjoon watches them play around on the beach he does a decidedly sloppy job of actually cleaning the windows. Eventually he gives up and pulls out a chair at the closest table. His cleaning supplies are discarded in favor of his phone, which he uses to film an overly-zoomed-in video of Jungkook picking Yoongi up and spinning him around.
He sends the video to his group chat with Taehyung and Seokjin, and immediately gets back a string of angry emojis from Taehyung. Namjoon may not have sent Yoongi any teasing Jeju photos today, but he most definitely has been sending them to Taehyung and Seokjin, who are stuck in Daegu cooking up the latest batch of products for their skincare brand. Namjoon grins and sends a heart back.
The bell on the door jangles, and an old man with impeccably upright posture and bushy eyebrows steps inside. “Namjoon-ah,” he calls out in a raspy voice, “why couldn’t you make your damn shop come closer to Seogwipo? I had to drive halfway around the island to get here!”
“Sorry, seonsaengnim,” Namjoon laughs, already standing and heading to the counter. “I can’t really control where it goes.”
“Damn nuisance,” the old man grumbles, although he pats the counter with a fondness so reminiscent of Yoongi thanking the shop earlier that Namjoon has to suppress a giggle.
“You helped me make the location spells,” Namjoon points out.
“Insolence!” the man declares with a mock-stern glare from under his bushy brows. He manages to look fierce for about a second before he relents with a sigh. “I still want to know where the spell went wrong. We were so meticulous when we calculated the probabilities—”
“But it turned out fine in the end, even if it’s not what we had planned,” Namjoon quickly interjects. The what ifs of his shop are a familiar topic, one that he and this man — Go Yongyul, an expert in magical probabilities who helped Namjoon craft the spells that were meant to control where the Halfway Cafe traveled — have gone over countless times. There’s no need to rehash it again just now, especially since once they get into it they’ll likely keep going for hours.
“Hmph,” Yongyul says. “Well, as long as you’re satisfied. Now, can I get some tea for arthritis? I need it to go, though. I promised my granddaughter that when she gets home from math academy I’ll help her film a video for… what is it… Tik Tak? Tok Tok?”
“TikTok?” Namjoon offers, barely managing to hold back a smile. “Sure thing. Have a seat and I’ll bring it out when it’s done.”
Yongyul claims the chair by the window as Namjoon gets started preparing the tea. The tea ingredients have properties on their own, but the brewing process is where Namjoon infuses the magic that gives his teas their potency. He steeps the tea carefully, making sure the anti-inflammatory properties will last as long as possible. When he’s done he carries the tea to Yongyul’s table, taking extra care to make sure he doesn’t trip and spill it everywhere.
“Thank you, Namjoon-ah,” Yongyul says when Namjoon sets the tea down on the table. He nods out the window to where Yoongi and Jungkook are crouched to investigate something in the sand. “Those are your friends, aren’t they? When I arrived I assumed they were overenthusiastic tourists, but that’s Jungkook, isn’t it?”
“Yes, seonsaengnim,” Namjoon says.
“Why aren’t you out there having fun with them?”
“Someone needed to be here to make your tea,” Namjoon points out. “Besides, I went for a quick walk earlier.”
Yongyul harrumphs. “You should go for another walk. There’s no such thing as too many walks on the beach.”
Namjoon laughs. “Okay, I promise I’ll go for another walk later.”
“Don’t wait too long, the sun will be going down soon,” Yongyul says, giving Namjoon a stern look.
“Yes, seonsaengnim.”
Appeased, Yongyul nods in satisfaction and takes a long, appreciative sip of his tea. When he’s done, he pulls his phone out of his coat pocket to check the time. “I should get going,” he says. “Come back to Jeju again soon so we can have a proper chat.”
He grabs his tea and stands as Namjoon promises to visit soon. On his way out the door, he’s nearly run over by Jungkook heading in from the beach. After several apologetic bows and a warning to be more careful that only just barely manages to sound gruff rather than amused, Yongyul is gone and Jungkook is shedding sand all over the cafe floor.
“So,” Jungkook says sheepishly, looking down at the pile of sand around his feet, “I may not have thought this through.”
The door jingles again as Yoongi comes in. “You forgot your shoes,” he says, holding out Jungkook’s sneakers.
Namjoon snorts. “Stay here, I’ll go grab some towels. Hyung, would you mind grabbing the broom and dust pan?”
“Sorry,” Jungkook says.
“It’s fine,” Namjoon says. “But as punishment, you get to watch the shop while I go for a walk on the beach.”
Jungkook’s guilty puppy dog expression immediately brightens. “Oh, sure, no problem. I’m happy to babysit the cafe while you go on a date.”
Namjoon feels like he should protest that interpretation of his intent, but… well, it’s not like Jungkook is exactly wrong.
“You’ll want to grab a jacket, the wind is picking up,” Yoongi says from behind the counter where he’s looking for the broom. He meets Namjoon’s gaze and gives him a small smile. “I’ll help Jungkook clean up in the meantime.”
“Thanks, hyung,” Namjoon says. He leaves Jungkook in the entryway and heads up the stairs to the apartment. He grabs some towels for Jungkook, and two jackets from the closet, then hurries back down to the shop. By the time he gets back, Jungkook and Yoongi have wrangled most of the sand.
“You should head out or you’ll miss the sunset,” Jungkook says as he takes the towels from Namjoon. True to his word, the light coming in the windows has turned distinctly golden.
Namjoon hands Yoongi one of the jackets and shrugs on the other one as Jungkook ushers them out the door. The door swings shut behind them, and Namjoon finds himself stepping out onto the beach for the second time that day.
“Let’s go,” Yoongi says. The jacket Namjoon gave him, like the sweatshirt he borrowed, is too large on him. He looks cozy, and Namjoon doesn’t even bother trying to suppress the urge to reach out and wrap an arm around his shoulder.
This kind of casual touch was something they’d had to work at— it’s something they both enjoy, but which neither of them were used to initiating. Namjoon has always felt too large and gangly and awkward, and it’d always been easier to let others around him, like Taehyung, be the one to hook a chin over his shoulder or wrap him in a hug. He’d had to teach himself how to reach for Yoongi, but now it feels as natural as breathing.
Yoongi leans into the touch and lets Namjoon guide them down closer to the water. They stop a safe distance from the waves, then set off following the beach to the west. The sky deepens to shades of pink and purple, and bobbing spots of light appear on the water as boats turn their lights on. The wind ruffles their hair and makes Namjoon glad that Yoongi had suggested jackets; he pulls Yoongi closer.
“How did the presentation go, by the way?” Namjoon asks. After it ended Yoongi had sent him an emoji of a Kakao Friends character lying down on the floor, which Namjoon had replied to with a cat holding a heart, but that had been all Yoongi said on the matter.
“It was fine,” Yoongi says. “I mean, objectively it went well. But I’m very glad it’s over.”
“Well then congrats on being done, and on doing well.”
Yoongi tips his head back so he can give Namjoon a quick smile. “Thanks.”
He’s windswept, hair messy and nose and ears starting to turn pink. He’s beautiful, and he’s wearing Namjoon’s clothes, and Namjoon is struck all over again by how much he loves him. He’s so glad that Yoongi found the cafe — or the cafe found him — and that he chose to come back over and over and over. That he chose Namjoon. And now they’re standing here on a beach in Jeju, and the sun may be fading from the sky but Namjoon’s chest feels like it’s full of light.
The emotions must be showing on Namjoon’s face, because when he leans down Yoongi is already turning so that they can kiss more easily. Yoongi’s cheeks are chilled from the wind, but warm quickly under Namjoon’s fingers when he places a hand along Yoongi’s jaw. Yoongi wraps his arms around Namjoon’s waist and sighs into the kiss. Namjoon feels like a beacon in the twilight, full of light that glows more brightly with every brush of their lips.
When they finally pull apart, Yoongi gives Namjoon an amused look and asks, “What was that for?”
“Nothing,” Namjoon says. “I’m just really proud of you. And I love you.”
Yoongi huffs, but he’s smiling the small, quiet smile that means he’s pleased. Namjoon kisses him again, because he can. Yoongi laughs, and then they’re both laughing, and Yoongi leans his forehead against Namjoon’s shoulder as he regains his breath.
“Let’s come back here again,” Namjoon says. “Not with the shop, but as a proper vacation.”
Yoongi straightens and looks at Namjoon. “Sure, I’d like that,” he says. Then, “I love you too, just so you know.”
“I do know,” Namjoon says with a grin. “You’ve told me many times.”
“Well, it doesn’t hurt to say it again,” Yoongi grumbles, even though he’s still smiling. His eyes flicker away from Namjoon and up to the almost-dark sky. “Do you need to head back? The evening customers will probably start coming in soon.”
Namjoon hums as he considers, “Mm, yeah, there will probably be some night-dwelling spirits coming in soon, but Jungkook can handle it for a little longer.”
“Good,” Yoongi says. “I bet we’ll be able to see the stars from here.” His look turns sly, and he adds, “I bet I can find more constellations than you.”
Namjoon knows exactly what Yoongi is trying to do, and he happily falls for the bait anyway. “No way. I used to go stargazing with my dad all the time, I’ll definitely find more than you.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Yoongi says. He points toward the ocean and says, “Look, I already found one: pisces.”
“That’s not— those are fishing boats, hyung, not stars!”
Yoongi scoffs. “Shows what you know. Those aren’t boats, they’re starfish.”
“They’re— hyung—” Namjoon is stuck somewhere between fond and indignant, unable to speak clearly through his incredulous laughter. “Starfish don’t even glow.”
“How would you know, have you ever seen one at night?”
“You’re the worst,” Namjoon whines. “Why am I in love with such a loser?”
“Because I’m handsome and charming?” Yoongi suggests. He flattens his lips into a deadpan frown and wiggles his fingers around his face in a flower pose.
Namjoon grabs one of Yoongi’s hands and laces their fingers. “That you are,” he says, bringing Yoongi’s hand to his lips so he can press a kiss to his knuckles. He feels horribly cheesy, but Yoongi doesn’t seem to mind. His eyes go wide and his lips part, and his fingers tighten around Namjoon’s. For a second Namjoon thinks Yoongi is going to kiss him, but instead Yoongi tips forward until his forehead is resting against Namjoon’s shoulder once more.
“Hurry up and start looking for constellations,” he mumbles against the fabric of Namjoon’s jacket. “I’m winning, you better catch up.”
Namjoon laughs and holds him close. Above them the stars come out one by one, and Namjoon’s heart glows brighter than any of them.