the bells could be heard ringing as the couple stepped into the Café, it's air filled with the smell of chocolate and coffee beans.
while the smell of beverages filled the noses of the boys, barking and meowing filled their ears up just as much.
seungmin began to hit hyunjin's shoulder various times to catch his attention. he pointed towards the crowd of puppies in the far corner.
" look hyung, they're so adorable oh my god," seungmin eyes became big, sparkling as the chandeliers reflected across his irises.
hyunjin chuckled as he listened. he took a hold of seungmin's hand to stop him from hitting him even harder.
" min, thats enough," he said as he smiled fondly at the other. seungmin threw him an apologetic expression back.
" the puppies look just like you," he proceeded to say as he stared at a small golden retriever within the crowd of other puppies.
seungmin's cheeks flashed a rosy pink pigment.
" they do not," he puffed out his chest to make him seem much buffer as opposed to the soft, cute vibes he usually radiates.
hyunjin nodded his head although he disagrees mentally.
" sure, minnie, whatever you say," he replied. he continued to observe the cafe carefully, taking in the bright colors and images that hung on the walls.
little paw prints from various animals grazed the walls, going up and down as you walked through.
the cafe was absolutely adorable.
" why don't we go order first, then play with the animals," hyunjin once again suggested, pulling slightly on the sleeve of the younger.
seungmin adverted his attention to hyunjin and nodded in agreement.
and so they walked up to the counter and smiled politely at the cashier.
they were about to speak up when the cashier spoke first.
" hello! welcome to animal kingdom, I'm your cashier, jiwoo," they voiced as they prepared the screening to record the upcoming orders.
seungmin loved to socialize, especially when the person came off as rather polite.
" hello! it's our first time here, do you happen to have any recommendations?," seungmin bounced on the heels of his shoes, hoping to hear about something delicious.
jiwoo nodded and turned to view the board behind them.
" well, our most popular orders are the caramel frap with a side of cranberry cheesecake, and the oreo mix that comes with mochi," they easily spoke, turning back to the boys,
" what do you think, hyunjin?," seungmin asked.
" well she said-,"
the cashier quickly interrupted. " I'm sorry, I don't mean to seem rude but I happen to be non-binary," they said quietly as if fearing that the couple would lash at them like previous customers.
hyunjin stood in silent before speaking up again.
" ahh," he said, showing that he understood. " is they/them better?,".
jiwoo slowly nodded as they looked up.
hyunjin smiled. " I'm so sorry, I should've asked," he quickly apologized, feeling horrible for not being aware.
" thank you for understanding," they grinned, happy to be accepted.
hyunjin flashed them one more smile before turning back to seungmin.
" well they suggested the caramel frap, I think I'll go with that," he replied to seungmin.
seungmin nodded before making up his own mind.
" I'll go with the oreo one and comes to worse, we'll just switch our orders or share," he offered as he turned back to jiwoo.
" alright! so we'll take both orders,".
jiwoo quickly noted that down on their screen and calculated the total cost.
" alright, so that will be $12.43 please!,".
seungmin was about to take out his wallet before hyunjin stopped him.
" I got it," he said as he pulled out a freshly new wallet, plaid printed.
he removed the bills from it before handing them over to jiwoo.
" here you go,". he placed the money gently in the cashier's hands.
" thank you! And here-," they carefully counted the money, " -is your change,".
hyunjin took it back and put it in his backpack, too lazy to bring his wallet out again,
" alright, we'll have your orders ready in about 5 to 10 minutes, is that alright?,".
seungmin nodded. " of course, we'll wait,".
they went on and placed their things down at the nearest available table. it had napkins and a beautiful, flower printed cloth on top of it.
seungmin eagerly took off his coat and beanie as he wanted to see the small animals already. once he was ready, he turned to see if the older was as well.
" hurry up jinnie, I want to see the babies before they go to sleep," he said as he pointed to a nearby sign that read,
" Young animals are to be put to nap at 4:00 pm."
as hyunjin scanned the sign, he sped up, removing his jacket quickly and nodded as approval that they could go see them now.
they skipped to the playroom where the puppies and kittens were kept safe.
hyunjin and seungmin both spent some quality time together with the animals. even after they received their drinks and desserts to go, they continued to sit and pet the animals as they chatted amongst themselves.
" felix just kept going on and on about him, I felt like my head was going to explode," hyunjin exaggerated as he spoke, telling seungmin about what it was like sharing a room with felix.
seungmin listened as the other spoke before commenting. " oh c'mon! give the boy a break, he's in love! It's beautiful, think about it hyung. are you in love?,"
seungmin realized then that maybe the timing of the question had been a bit off as hyunjin started to choke on his drink. seungmin scooted closer so that he could pat the back of hyunjin well enough.
" sorry jinnie," he shrugged and moved back to his position. hyunjin waved his hand as to reassure the other.
" it's alright, it just got stuck," he simply put his drink down as he got his ability to breathe properly again.
seungmin poked his knee again to grab his attention.
" well, you still haven't answered my question! have you ever been in love?"
hyunjin had to think about his response before saying something stupid that he would regret later on.
" hm, I'd say twice,".
seungmin widened his eyes. he sat up better so he could listen more carefully.
" twice? with whom may I ask?"
" nothing crazy, just a girl I used to like and a boy who I happen to like a bit too much," he said slowly, making sure it wasn't obvious about who he was talking about.
seungmin hummed as he focused on the straw that he kept rotating in his drink. he never knew hyunjin has been in love. why did the thought suddenly bother him?
" well that's nice," he replied back. " I've had occasional crushes but I've never labeled any of them as being in love. I have a feeling it'll happen soon though," seungmin said more to himself than anyone else.
hyunjin eyed the other as he wondered if the younger had anyone in mind already.
'should I ask him if he likes anyone? would that seem too obvious? you know what, maybe I will,'.
hyunjin took a deep breath before speaking up. " hey seungmi-".
the conversation had been interrupted by a buzzing sound coming from seungmin's phone. he lifted his index finger towards hyunjin before pulling it out of his pocket.
his eyes slowly scanned his screen as he read the message.
as he did so, he placed it back into his pocket before removing the small puppy the laid on his lap.
he patted his pants down and offered his hand down to hyunjin for him to take.
hyunjin blushed as he placed the kitten down on the ground before gripping the other's hand. once he was on both his feet, seungmin began to speak.
" we need to get going, jeongin wants to talk to me about something right now," seungmin told the other as he showed him the message. " something about it being an "emergency", whatever that means,".
hyunjin felt like his heart was set on fire with jealousy but kept it to himself. he hoped the obvious twitching of his eyelid wasn't too obvious to the other.
" okay, that's fine I guess. I need to get started on my essay for literature anyway,".
seungmin smiled softly at the other. " great! I'm sorry this had to be cut short, but maybe we could come by again soon, yeah?"
hyunjin nodded in response.
" perfect, let's go!," seungmin said as he packed up the last of his things.
" thank you, jiwoo!," they smiled back at the couple as they waved goodbye.
" what a cute couple," they mumbled to themselves.