Work Text:
"one espresso for allen."
allen got his coffee from the counter and paid at the cashier before going back to his seat. it's days like these where allen would really enjoy a cup of coffee while he spaces out towards the horizon. the perfect friday; clear sky, happy mood, chilly breeze; he was really excited about today.
as always, he sits at the window seat. he tells himself about how the scenery of the outside world is phenomenal, how the sight of the park made him smile with the kids playing around.
the people with their pets with them also made allen quite jealous as he wanted to have a dog someday but can't because of his busy job as an architect. the way they run around and play with their owners made allen's heart flutter in excitement.
while he observes the surroundings outside, he notices the newly opened gym just across the street. King Crab Gym, the title said. it made him think about his own state. should i finally start working out?, he thought to himself.
allen wasn't chubby, but he also wasn't fit. sometimes, he would lie down on his apartment bed and look at his own flat stomach and daydream about how the girls would swoon over his body.
heck, he doesn't even know if he would like girls going crazy over him. either it was because of his work making him uninterested or something else. either way, he wanted to try new opportunities for himself.
he looked around more and saw the treadmills on the window of the gym as well. hmm, maybe i could start with the treadmill., he thought. to his surprise, he only saw one guy on a treadmill. huh? i thought this gym was booming with people last week...
all he saw was one man running on a moderate speed and his eyes became binoculars. his dark hair looked interesting and plus, he was obviously sweating, something that allen immediately noticed. knowing his slighty poor eyesight, he squinted as hard as he can to see properly. what allen didn't notice was that the guy already noticed him and stopped running to cross his arms with an annoyed look. allen on the other hand still can't see anything.
after a few seconds, he finally saw the man and knew he was busted. extremely flustered, he raised his hand and waved a "hi", only receiving a look which could only be perceived as "really?".
allen quickly sat back properly, almost tripping on his high stool chair to regain his composure. i have to see that hottie again., allen thought to himself as he covered hisface in embarrassment and excitement for some unknown reason. maybe this will let me exercise for once!
it was the next day and allen woke up a lot earlier than his usual 10am start. he purposely set an alarm to wake up on 8am only to wake up at 7am. he got up and arranged his bed before he went to the restroom to brush his teeth and change his clothes. once again, he looked at his flat stomach and slapped it "you're finally going to be gone!", he said as he smiled with positivity.
he went to the kitchen afterwards to cook his breakfast and packed his stuff like his water jug, his face towel, his extra shirt, and other essentials. after he ate his food, he went back to his room to fix his hair and get his watch to look at the time. it was almost 8am. he got his bag and his phone and went off.
as he arrived at the gym, he looked around his surroundings and as expected the guy was there on a treadmill. he opened the glass doors and went to the receptionist. "how much is your entrance fee?" "oh, we're free until 10am." "oh, is that so?"
allen went towards the locker room and as he looked around, no one else was there except for the guy he laid his eyes on. today must be my lucky day!
he went in and looked for the locker with the key he was given with from the lobby and placed his things in there. he looked around and saw another door which led to the shower room full of stalls for a lot of people to use. woah, so this is what a gym shower room looks like...
he went back outside and immediately noticed that the man moved from his spot. ooh, he's doing sit ups now., he thought to himself. he looked for a treadmill that was far enough for him to not look like a creep, but also close enough for him to see the guy. he analyzed the buttons and found the start button and the mat started to roll. allen started with a slow speed and slowly sped it up. not only did it feel amazing, it also felt like he was running away from his boss when he gave the wrong house report for a client's house.
after a few minutes, he was sweating so bad that it felt like he was taking a bath with his sweat. but still, allen didn't stop and kept on going. he was doing so to prove that he wasn't here just to stalk that hot guy he saw yesterday from across, right?
wrong.
he couldn't count how many times he had already tripped because of stealing glances. one time he almost tripped face first and made a huge racket but luckily he heldon the rails just on time. he stopped for a while to wipe all the sweat coming out of his body.
meanwhile, the man stole a few glances while he did his sit-ups. he knew that allen was coming today because of what happened the other day. even if it made him uncomfortable that he was being looked at, the boy was cute to some extent. he could obviously see allen sweating a lot. he's being so obvious that this is his first time., he said while snorting a little bit.
after around an hour, he finished his session and sat for a couple minutes to see the blonde boy go out of his treadmill and sat at a nearby seat to check on his phone. curious, the guy looked closely and found out that he had an iphone. an iphone, huh., the guy thought to himself.
after what seemed like forever, allen stood up from his chair and went inside the shower room to take a bath. "wow, allen. you did great today.", he told himself as he squealed at how hot that guy was just a while ago. it would be stupid to say that allen wasn't constantly facing his phone towards the guy's direction to steal photos.
after he finished taking a bath, he wiped himself with a towel and changed into his favorite black t-shirt and black shorts and went out of the changing room to get his things. of course, the first thing he did was check on his phone and he saw that he had a notification which was an airdrop. should i accept this?
he opened it and there was a message that said "i know you're always looking at me ;)" with a picture of him sitting down on the chair being busy. "WHAT!?" he just sat there for a minute, processing everything that just happened, not even realizing that the guy already went in the locker room to get his things and go take a bath and of course, he had to take a quick pic of the freaked out cutie in front of him. he's so cute.
allen went inside the café and sat immediately at a nearby chair, signalling the cashier to give him the usual. this week was extremely hectic for him. not only did he have to pass in around five drafts (which were all rejected), he had to join meeting after meeting everyday and he never had time to to anything else. finally, his last meeting with a client happened today and he decided to celebrate his hell of a week by going to his usual hideout.
the work got him so cranky so he decided to take a nap and wait for his order. since his seat was on sight from the counter, the barista can obviously spot him snoozing off. after a while, the barista called him out. "one espresso for allen. one espresso for allen~"
"i'll give it."
allen woke up to the feeling of someone tapping his shoulders repeatedly and he looked up to the person who was kind enough to give his coffee for him. "one espresso for allen i suppose?"
allen blinked. and he blinked again. he closed his eyes shut and opened them again. he even rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "mind if i sit here?", he asked allen. "u-uhm—" "thanks!"
now, that man was sitting on a chair across him. "so, i guess your name is allen?", he asked. "uhm, y-yeah." "you're the guy from the gym, right?"
allen's face was fully red now, and he's trying his best to hide it by acting like he was tired because he just "woke up". "uhm, yeah, that too." "hey, let me introduce myself. i'm serim!", the guy said as he let out his hand for what allen assumed was for a handshake. "i-i'm allen, by the way.", allen responded with his hand out as well and the two shook hands.
"i'm not sure but do you always go here? i think i always see you in this establishment.", serim said as he took a sip of the coffee that he bought a while ago. "yeah, this is where i keep going ever since i started architecture. why?" "i always see you sit by the window.", serim responded, making allen spit his coffee and almost choke. "are you okay?", serim asked as he got some tissues to wipe the table. "i'm fine. i'm fine.", allen responded while he wiped his chin with his wrist.
"anyways, you said you were an architect?" "yup." "wow, that must be so cool!" "how is that cool? i literally feel like dying right now."
allen and serim sipped on their coffee and for some reason they managed to catch each other looking at one another, making the situation much more awkward. allen looked away while blushing while serim cleared his throat and acted like he was checking on his phone.
while allen was enjoying the scenery around him, serim has once again decided to secretly take pictures of him even if they don't even know each other but hey, you can take chances, right?
unfortunately, allen caught him and he forced serim to put his phone down. "hey! stop doing that!" "why not? you look very cute." "i don't even know you! who knows, you might be here to kidnap me or something." serim laughed at what he heard. "and what if i will?" after hearing so, allen's eyes widened and he quickly drank the remaining coffee he had and quickly went towards the door but serim managed to hold his hand. "wait!"
"uhm, if you want, we can take a walk and talk!" "and what? walk towards my doom? nevermind!" "hey! i was just joking! c'mon!" serim was getting whiny which allen did not expect. "fine. but don't kidnap me." "promise!" allen sighed and waited for serim to finish his coffee and they went out together for a stroll around the park.
they talked for a while and even exchanged numbers, with allen saving serim as "weird kidnapper" and serim saving allen as "dumb blonde". they had a couple of laughs here and there, which made allen realize how corny serim actually is.
after what seemed like an hour or so, serim started to babble about his workout life because i mean, allen works out, so he should be interested too right? but what he didn't notice was that allen already left a while ago and he had to find out when he said "don't you agree, allen?"
puzzled as to where the other guy went, his phone buzzed and he received a message from his pal.
dumb blonde
hey uhm sorry i had to go because they called me in for an important meeting and you were so busy talking that i couldn't tell you i had to go so i'm so sorry! you were fun though. thanks for being a new friend of mine! let's meet again soon. teach me how to lift weights next time!
Sent 3:42pm