Chapter Text
“Alright everyone, I don’t want to be one of those obnoxious teachers who actually makes you learn on the first day of class, so I’m gonna let you out early today.”
Baekhyun glanced around the room, none of the students getting up, as if worried he was lying to them. He glanced at his watch before looking back out across the sea of students, each one still staring at him, each one wanting him to confirm is what he was saying was true.
“It’s 2:55, so we are about 25 minutes early-- but I don’t have much more to say besides telling you to read the assigned chapter… and that I’ll see you on Wednesday for our first full lecture!”
Noise immediately filled the hall, it was like a deep breath was finally let out after being held for the entire 25 minutes of class; students were shoving their books into their bags and the ones who had preemptively packed were already heading towards the door.
Baekhyun himself began to pack up his own things, taking his time as he waited for the all the students to file out, wanting to make sure no one had any questions for him before leaving.
After making sure that everyone had left, Baekhyun made his way out of the classroom, flicking off the lights as he did.
----
The department meeting lasted longer than Baekhyun had wanted and by the time he had gotten out he no longer had the desire to go back to his office all the way on the other end of campus. Instead, he opted for stopping at the coffee shop halfway between campus and his apartment. Not only would that save him the time of going back to his office to do work, but he would get some much needed caffeine in his system.
It was around 7pm when he got there, which meant that most of the students had or were going to be migrating to their homes or to the libraries on campus, which meant it was the perfect time for Baekhyun to get some work done.
The bell on the door chimed when Baekhyun walked through and he slowly made his way over to the counter, digging through his backpack in search of his wallet.
“Hi there.”
Baekhyun’s head shot up at the greeting, not necessarily surprised that the employee was saying hello-- but that the person’s voice happened to be so deep.
“Uh--” Baekhyun’s ability to speak seemed to have vanished upon meeting the eyes of the guy behind the counter. Because damn, that was not the face he expected to belong to that voice.
Not only were the barista’s round cheeks deceivingly boyish, but he was practically a foot taller than Baekhyun, which practically caused a glitch in Baekhyun’s mind. How could someone be so tall, have such a deep voice, and yet look like that?
The boy-- man-- male in front of Baekhyun didn’t say anything as he waited for Baekhyun’s brain to return to earth, he just smiled at him-- practically radiating sunshine-- his eyes twinkling in amusement.
Baekhyun finally forced himself to blink a couple times, his face flushing a deep red as soon as he realized what he had done. “Sorry-- that was weird-- my mind kind of just went blank--”
The boy-- man? in front of him let out a soft chuckle, his eyes never leaving Baekhyun’s as he spoke. “That’s alright. I think it’s been a long day for everyone.”
Baekhyun felt himself glancing down at his feet, something he always found himself doing when he was nervous-- because, god, why was he acting like a schoolgirl who just saw a cute boy?
“Anyways,” the boy-- his nametag said Chanyeol, continued, gently tapping his fingers against the monitor in front of him. “What can I get you today?”
“Oh right,” Baekhyun said dumbly, looking up to glance over the list of drinks behind Chanyeol. “Can I just get a 20oz Chai Tea Latte with two shots and some hazelnut?”
Chanyeol nodded in confirmation, typing in the order as Baekhyun spoke. “Sure thing. Do you want anything else?”
The small professor shook his head, deciding it would probably be safer if he spoke as little as possible since this barista was practically making his heart jump out of his chest everytime he so much as looked at him.
“Alright, your total is gonna be $7.75 today.”
Baekhyun quickly pulled out his card, handing it to Chanyeol and fuck did he have some really nice, thick fingers. He cleared his throat softly, looking around the coffee shop as he waiting for his payment to process-- too humiliated to meet the unsuspecting Barista’s eyes for longer than a few seconds.
“Okay,” Chanyeol said, drawing Baekhyun’s attention back to him. “Here is your card and I’ll be ready with your drink in a few minutes.”
Baekhyun quickly took his card back, lugging himself and his backpack over to a table situation towards the back of the coffee shop, one that sat against the large window that overlooked the street.
He busied himself by pulling out his laptop and the textbook for his course, trying his best to not glance up at the very cute boy working behind the counter. He powered on his laptop, trying for the life of him to remember the points he wanted to make sure to cover in lecture on Wednesday.
Baekhyun had barely opened his powerpoint when a large, mint green mug decorated with a very sparkly, pink unicorn was placed in front of him. “Chai latte with hazelnut and two shots. Enjoy.”
His gaze flew up to see Chanyeol-- fuck, he was really tall, to see him smiling down at him before turning and heading back to the counter. Baekhyun watched him walk away, noting his broad shoulders as his eyes unintentionally slid down to admire the way the light blue jeans he was wearing and how they so nicely seemed to hug his ass and thighs.
The inappropriate wanderings of his mind were quickly brought to a halt when Chanyeol reached the coffee counter, his perfectly proportioned body (perhaps not his ears) were quickly hidden behind the counter. Baekhyun quickly tried to look busy, finally picking up the very sparkly mug that Chanyeol had left behind, stopping almost instantly upon seeing the napkin Chanyeol had sneakily slipped below it.
Scrawled in messy handwriting it said, ‘Hope this cures your case of the Mondays ♡’.
The tips of Baekhyun’s ears turned crimson and that was when he happened to the notice the heart shape that Chanyeol had so kindly made on the top of his drink.
He dared himself to glance up at the barista, completely humiliated at how flustered he was by a cute message and bit of coffee art. Chanyeol wasn’t even looking at him, but Baekhyun could swear the taller male had a small smirk on his face, knowing exactly the effect he was having on Baekhyun’s heart.
The flustered professor quickly took a gulp of his drink, forcing himself to flip open the textbook he had gotten out, willing himself to think of something besides the flirtatious barista.
Thankfully, Baekhyun was able to make some progress on his work without getting distracted-- the coffee shop had gotten a little busier for an hour or so and Baekhyun found it easier to keep his mind from drifting to the barista when there were various different things happening throughout the room.
“Did you enjoy your drink?”
It was the guy again-- Chanyeol-- and Baekhyun looked up, glancing around not having even realized that the coffee shop was once again empty with just the two of them.
“Yes, thank you,” Baekhyun answered promptly, not wanting to make a fool of himself once again for staring blankly. “The mug was very… unique.”
The barista laughed, jesus why was his smile so mesmerizing, picking up the now empty cup from the table, examining it. “Yeah, we don’t use this one a lot.”
“But you used it today?”
Chanyeol looked at him, holding Baekhyun’s gaze. “I only bring it out for special customers.”
Baekhyun choked on air, his face flushing for what felt like the millionth time that night as he tried to think of something to say. “O-Oh--”
“Do you want another drink?” Chanyeol was smirking as he asked, his eyes intentionally giving Baekhyun a once over.
He coughed awkwardly, his face still on fire as he quickly looked away from Chanyeol, glancing down at the time displayed on his phone. “I should probably be heading out actually, but thank you.”
The barista nodded in understanding. “No problem.”
Baekhyun watched as Chanyeol moved away, cleaning off some of the other tables nearby.
How old was Chanyeol anyways? He clearly was still in his twenties, but was he a student? A teaching assistant perhaps?
Chanyeol glanced back at him and Baekhyun quickly diverted his gaze, moving to shut off his laptop off.
Baekhyun knew his fascination with the barista was unwise, especially as he wasn’t even sure if he was a student-- imagine just how foolish he would feel if Chanyeol was a new freshman or something, and here he was, 30 years old and blushing profusely over the cute, flirtatious comments from a near child.
He quickly finished packing up his stuff, shaking his head at himself as he pulled on his jacket and made his way to the front door.
“See you next time!” Chanyeol called after him as he opened the door.
He glanced back, raising a hand in a parting wave as he stepped out into the cold night. The last thing that Baekhyun planned to do was to go back there-- he did not need to get a bigger crush on this guy-- it was silly and not something Baekhyun needed.
He decided then and there, in front of the coffee shop waiting for the crosswalk light to turn green, that this would be the last time he saw Chanyeol.
Unfortunately-- or fortunately, depending on how you look at it-- plans change.
---
“Alright, everyone. How do we feel about the topic so far?”
It was Wednesday, 3:15pm, five minutes from the end of class, and no one raised their hand. Baekhyun smiled at them, already expecting this to happen. He found that college students tended to be pretty timid about asking questions until they grew comfortable with the atmosphere of class. This quarter was no different. “Alright. Does anyone have questions about my expectations for class or about the syllabus?”
Baekhyun glanced around the room before catching sight of a hand shooting up out of the corner of his eye.
“Ye--” Baekhyun froze upon seeing the student raising his hand, his entire mind wiping blank. It was that guy. The guy. It was Chanyeol. As in, the adorable barista from two nights ago. As in, the boy Baekhyun could not stop blushing over.
Fuck.
“Y-Yes…?” Baekhyun left his response open ended, waiting for Chanyeol to properly introduce himself-- trying act as though he hadn’t just completely froze up in front of hundreds of students.
“Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol.”
“What’s your question, Chanyeol?”
“You told us on Monday that your office location was going to be changing and that you would let us know today where it’s actually going to be. Did you find out where?”
“Ah, yes,” Baekhyun replied smoothly, trying very hard to ignore the heat that was rising to his cheeks. “My office hours will now be held in Smith 310. Thank you for reminding me, Chanyeol.”
Baekhyun saw the smirk, he saw it and determinedly did not look in Chanyeol’s direction again, instead scanning the other half of the room as he continued. “Anyone else?”
The room was silent once again except for the few students already putting away their things.
“Okay, well. Don’t forget to submit your responses by Friday and to do the readings. I’ll be up here for another few minutes if you have any questions, but if not, have a great rest of your week.”
Noise broke out throughout the room and Baekhyun quickly began to shut down his laptop, hurriedly putting away his notes-- as if trying to get out of the room quickly despite promising to stay a few extra minutes.
He glanced up a few moments later, pretending to see how many students were left, but in reality he was just wanted to know if Chanyeol was still there.
And he was. The twit was taking his own sweet time to pack up his bag-- and his gaze was fixed on Baekhyun, a knowing smile on his lips when Baekhyun met his eyes.
Baekhyun’s cheeks were burning but he didn’t look away, instead he cocked his head to side as if daring Chanyeol to try and say something about what had happened two nights previously.
“Professor Byun?”
Baekhyun’s gaze was instantly pulled away from the smug barista and to one of his other students who had a question about one of the readings. By the time the student had been helped and had thanked Baekhyun for said help, Chanyeol had left.
Baekhyun tried to pretend he wasn’t disappointed.