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Harry sighs as he pulls the paper out of the tip jar. Someone's been leaving him five pound tips folded into hearts for a month now, and no matter how hard he tries, he can't figure out who's doing it.
It has to be a regular, but there are a lot of regulars. Most of which are teenage girls, but he hopes it's not one of them. Despite how sweet it is, it couldn't make him consider dating a girl.
"Still haven't figured out who it is, Haz?" Niall asks, sounding slightly apologetic.
Harry huffs, wiping down the counter with a white towel even though it's perfectly clean. "It's driving me crazy," he whines. "It shouldn't be this hard, you know?"
"You'll find him eventually," Niall says encouragingly, topped with his brightest smile.
Harry first thought the hearts were for Niall, since he's so bright and eye-catching. But then Louis took over two of Nialls shifts while he was sick, and the hearts still appeared at some point, so he decided they must be for him. Sometimes he still has doubts, though.
- x -
He's just putting the lid on a regular black coffee when he sees the familiar heart land in the jar at the end of the counter. His eyes snap up as fast as they can to see a broad man with a backwards snapback, who obviously realizes he's been caught, if his sheepish grin is anything to go by.
"So it's you," Harry says slowly, handing over the travel cup.
The man looks a little sad. "Sorry, but no, it's not me," he says.
"I literally just watched you put the heart in there!" Harry exclaims, slightly exasperated.
"But I haven't been leaving them," the other boy says. "It's my best friend. He's out of town for a few days though, so he asked me to bring them in, but I guess I'm not ask sneaky as he is." The man shrugs, the corners of his mouth lifting. "He'll probably kill me."
Harry laughs, leaning his hip against the counter and crossing his arms over his chest. "Who is he? What does he look like?"
"I can't tell you that! It'll ruin the surprise," the man says, a frown on his face.
"You're awful," Harry says, pouting. "What's your name? I'm going to put you on my list of awful people who are terribly mean."
"It's Liam," he laughs. "I'm really not awful though."
"I'm sure you're not," Harry sighs. Liam actually seems great, he has an open and friendly face, and Harry finds it easy to joke with him. Usually when he meets new people he's too scared of offending anyone to joke.
"I'll talk to him, though," Liam says with a grin. "Maybe he'll grow some balls and tell you who he is."
"Make him," Harry demands, shoving his finger in Liam's face.
Liam laughs, shaking his head as he backs towards the door. "Bye, Harry!"
- x -
Liam comes in three more days after that, leaving him a five pound note folded in the shape of a heart every time, even though it's not really a secret anymore. Sometime's he stays and chats for a bit, but Harry has to work, so it doesn't last long.
They do exchange numbers though, and Harry constantly interrogates him about who the hearts are from. Liam never let's it slip, though. Harry thinks that one time he was almost there, was starting to break, but then he got a phone call from someone and immediately went back to being stern about keeping his secret.
- x -
"That's three fifty, please," Harry says sweetly, smiling with his dimple in hopes of coming off as completely adorable and charming. This customer is one of his favorites, aside from the cute old couple that come in and sit together giggling at the corner table all afternoon.
He's got tattoo's all up his arms, and from what Harry can see, his chest and collar bones, a fancy quiff that Harry would quite like to ruffle up just to see if he gets a cute distressed look on his face, and said face could kill someone with it's majestic eyelashes of doom and cheekbones so high you could rest a tea cup on them, or something less strange, maybe.
The guy slides a five pound note across the counter and - it's folded in the shape of the heart. Harry looks up wide-eyed, and the guy smiles, flushed.
"Fuckin' Liam kinda screwed it up, so I thought I'd just - tell you," he says, huffing out a breathless laugh.
Harry's heart picks up. "What's your name?" he asks, grinning.
"Zayn."
"You're very cheesy, Zayn," Harry says, laughing. "But I kinda like it."
Zayn smiles, teeth showing with his tongue pressed against the back of them. Harry kind of wants to cry, but instead he says "I have a twenty minute break in fifteen minutes and if you don't kiss me by the time it's over I'm going to wreck your fancy quiff."
Zayn laughs, eyes scrunching up and twinkling in the best way. "I think I can do that."