Thread by @yn_mints

yoonmin au |

yoongi moved to the city looking for an exciting life and inspiration for his second novel.

he finds jimin instead, a mermaid who gave up his tail for somebody who didn’t stay.

#ymfest22_d19 #yoonminfest

this has been in my drafts for ages, might as well drop it

🌊 short and sweet
🌊 little hurt, lots of comfort
🌊 a little angst
🌊 MERMAID JIMIN
🌊 writer Yoongi
🌊 coffee shop au-ish

more tags:

🌊magical realism
🌊they’re whipped for each other
🌊yoongi’s very scared and confused for a little while but it’s ok
🌊jimin and his color-changing magical hair
🌊siren/mermaid lore is mixed up ok + my own bc why not

🌊

Yoongi has a routine.

It’s quite simple, really. He wakes up, showers, gets dressed, grabs his laptop and finds a place to write.

His place of choice changes day by day, but he prefers to find places that are small and empty, places that stink of coffee and have the owners working behind the bar.

Today, he sets out towards Seokjin’s cafe, laptop bag securely over his shoulder and his comfiest pair of jeans on. He’s ready to sit down, open his latest draft, and write.

Because he’ll actually /write/ now. He knows he will. He had a bout of inspiration last night before bed and he even wrote little notes on his phone, so he knows he’ll manage to write something. Anything.

He might not be able to meet his mediocre daily writing goal, but he’ll manage to write /something/ at least. He knows it.

He arrives at Epiphany (a name that had drawn Yoongi in immediately, hoping to get exactly that, an epiphany, while staring at his laptop and sipping on his coffee) a little past ten in the morning.

Yoongi finds his usual table free, and happily sets his things down in a chair before he shuffles to the register to order.

It’s a little odd that Seokjin isn’t behind the bar like he usually is, greeting customers by name as they walk through the door,

but Yoongi supposes he must be in the back room doing one thing or another needed to run a cafe. So he stands by the register for a moment, looking over the hand-written menu hanging over the wall like he’s considering ordering something new. (He’s not).

The swinging door to the back room opens only a few seconds later, and Yoongi is surprised to /not/ find Seokjin walking through the small space behind the counter. Instead, there’s another person stumbling through the door, a small cardboard box in his hands.

He looks flustered as he notices Yoongi standing there, and his eyes widen for a moment before he drops the box on the counter and takes a spot behind the register.

His name tag reads Jimin in crooked handwriting, and his apron looks a little skewed. His voice is sweet though, a little melodic. It’s pleasant, even if the man looks winded and flushed as he stands in front of Yoongi, as if he’d done some great effort prior to getting here.

It’s… it’s strange.

“Um, I’ll have a large iced americano. And one of the large chocolate chip cookies, please.”
“Alright,” the man chirps, voice swaying with a cheery inflection. He grabs one of the plastic cups and writes Yoongi’s order on it. “Can I get your name, please?”

“Yoongi. Can I get that with extra ice, too?”

“Of course.”

The man looks positively excited as he writes Yoongi’s name down on the cup, the smile that is on his face light and easy.

He looks content, if a little tired, far more so than Yoongi could ever manage to be on a random Tuesday morning.

“Is Seokjin around?” Yoongi asks as he inserts his card into the pad to pay.

“He’s in the back room doing inventory.” The man explains, leaning over slightly to look at the pad as it beeps and prompts Yoongi to remove his card. “Do you need me to call him over?”

“Oh, no, no. I was just wondering. I didn’t know he was hiring.”

Jimin’s smile falters, but it’s just for a second. It’s back in place quickly enough that Yoongi probably wouldn’t have even noticed the shift if he wasn’t staring so intently at the man. “Ah, he wasn’t, but I was looking and he offered.”

“Right,” Yoongi nods as he receives his receipt. “Well, nice to meet you, uh, Jimin-ssi.”

Jimin’s smile grows a little bit at that, although he looks down at Yoongi’s cup like he’s trying to not be noticed.

“Likewise, Yoongi-ssi. Take a seat and I’ll have this ready for you in a second.”

🌊

Yoongi is embarrassed to admit that he flinches when a cup of coffee is magically placed next to his laptop.

Well, not magically.

Seokjin stands next to the table, hand still around the new cup of coffee as he stares at Yoongi with a raised eyebrow. “How’s the writing coming along?”

Yoongi stares at the word count at the bottom of his computer—it has increased by exactly eighteen words since he sat down—, and decides to ignore the question. “I didn’t order another coffee.”

“Trust me, you need it.” Seokjin declares, ruffling Yoongi’s hair in a way that makes him huff. “On the house.”

Yoongi would probably argue if this was anyone else but Seokjin, but he supposes he can accept a little sympathy from a friend.

“How will you ever turn a profit if you keep giving away your coffee?” But he’s already sipping on the new cup, pleased at the taste of a fresh cup that isn’t watered down by melting ice.

“I’m the coffee fairy,” Seokjin says with a roll of eyes. “You should take a break. I can almost see the way your brain is starting to melt.”

Yoongi makes some sort of primitive noise that should be an assent, but Seokjin takes it as an invitation to sit on the empty chair opposite to him.

“Really, though. How’s the draft coming along?”

“It’s… coming.”

Seokjin nods like he expected this sort of response, turns around in his seat and calls out “Jiminie, can you pull the cookies out of the oven, please? Yoongi-ah needs some more sugar in him.”

There’s a sweet chime of “on it, hyung!” from the counter, and although Yoongi tries not to turn to look at the new barista, a quick glance escapes him anyway.

Jimin is drying off his hands on a rag as he walks towards the back room, fluffy blonde hair bouncing slightly with every step.

“Stop giving me free food,” Yoongi grumbles, admitting defeat for today by pushing his laptop closed before lunch time even hits. “Sympathy food.”

“It’s an investment. A customer retention strategy.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes. “We’re friends and your coffee is good. Consider me retained. Don’t need free food.”

“Indulge me, okay? I need to sit down for a minute and let Jimin do his thing, I shouldn’t hover and micromanage or I’ll lose my mind.”

Yoongi supposes it must be hard to delegate when Seokjin has been doing most things himself for a long time. It’s a small shop, and Seokjin has been managing just fine on his own, at least as far as Yoongi can tell, but this must be a good thing.

During one of their conversations, Seokjin spoke of a remodeling project that he couldn’t tackle because he didn’t have the time, so Yoongi is glad he has a helping hand now.

“I didn’t know you were hiring.”

Seokjin shrugs. “It was a quick recruiting period. He’s in a tough spot, I’m helping him out. He’s also renting my spare room upstairs.”

“I thought you were turning it into an office?”

Seokjin shrugs. “I don’t really need an office. The back room already has a desk, that’s more than enough.”

“Okay, well—,” there’s a loud crash, and both Seokjin and Yoongi turn just in time to find Jimin

fumbling with a metal tray filled with freshly baked cookies as he slips out of the kitchen. “He seems too clumsy for a kitchen, doesn’t he?”

“It’s okay! Cookies are fine! Sorry about the noise!” Jimin calls, face coloring red up to the tip of his ears,

mouth twisted into a sheepish scowl. He sets the tray down, more gently this time.

“He’s learning,” Seokjin excuses him, only waving a hand at Jimin to show that it's fine. “He’s harmless, and I’m helping out someone in need.

Don’t you remember how hard it was when we first came to Seoul?”

Yoongi grimaces at the call-out. How could he forget his miniature apartment and wandering from coffee shop to coffee shop all day looking for free wifi and cheap food?

Yoongi’s routine started out of necessity, out of the need to stay out of that claustrophobic hole-in-the-wall apartment, until he eventually found his footing in the city.

“I remember you critiquing my coffee order.”

“It’s so boring, Yoongi-yah!” Seokjin exclaims, looking mortally offended once again. “I have so many options, there’s an entire wall filled with fun drinks and you choose /iced americano/?”