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Rain was coming down in buckets as Marco made his way towards the coffee shop early on a Friday morning. It wasn’t even seven am yet, and a bleary-eyed Marco was walking through the still-dark streets. Connie had asked him to take over his early shift and Marco being Marco hadn’t had the heart to decline. His usual hours were in the afternoon, busy with the college kids that had just finished their lessons. Marco shivered as the rain continued to pelt down, glad that he would soon be in the warmth of the small coffee shop down the street of his apartment. As he reached the back door of the building, he saw the small, hooded figure wearing a dark green coat with the already standing there, shivering in the rain.
‘Armin, I’m so sorry! Am I late?’ Marco called when he had almost reached the door. Connie had trusted him with the key to open up the shop, and Marco felt a pang of guilt when he saw Armin standing there alone in the dreadful weather. The figure turned around at the sound of Marco’s voice, and the blond boy smiled back weakly.
‘No, it’s alright, I was early,’ answered Armin, as Marco rummaged through his pockets and found the key to the door. The pair stepped into the dark backroom of the shop, hit by the smell of the already roasted coffee packs that were stored in the room. Marco’s hand hit the light switch and the tiny room was illuminated, showing the clothing pegs with the many aprons of the employees and a few boxes, which contained the coffee beans. Marco shrugged out of his soaked coat as Armin quickly put on an apron and was already heading towards the front of the shop. Marco stopped to grab a box of packages of coffee to refill the machines up front, and then followed Armin.
The café was small, with a counter at the back of the room and about six mismatched tables with equally mismatched chairs had been placed the glass windows at the front. To the right was one large, overstuffed red couch, which really took up too much space in the small room but the couch was so comfortable that nobody ever complained about it. The sign hanging on the door already announced the little shop was open and Armin had switched on the lights and was wiping the tables, but it was raining and dark and Marco had a feeling nobody in their right minds would come here for at least the next hour.
He was wrong; a handful of customers came by but the hour, though the rain was still pouring outside. Armin greeted the customers cheerily and chatted with them, being more familiar with the morning regulars than Marco was. Most customers were college students, up for their early 8am classes. Marco recognized a few from his own classes, but the first hour of being open was so far quite uneventful. A few minutes before eight a hazel-haired guy in a brown leather jacket barged through the door of the coffee shop, looking very out of breath. There were dark rings under his eyes and he looked like he was in the worst mood. He glanced momentarily at his watch, then grimaced and made his way to the counter.
‘Goodmorning, Jean,’ Armin greeted brightly. ‘Doesn’t your class start in five minutes?’
Jean gave Armin a murderous stare in response, before saying, ‘Yeah, and I’ve already given up in trying to make it on time. The usual, please.’
‘One double-shot hazelnut latte coming up!’ Armin called, looking at Marco as he handed him the paper cup before moving to the storage room in search of more supplies. As Jean waited for his latte, Marco couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. He looked exhausted, leaning against the counter and tapping his fingers in impatience. Right before Marco handed Jean the latte, he grabbed the sharpie that was lying on the counter and quickly added ‘smile! :)’ under Jean’s name. He then handed the cup to Jean, who muttered ‘thank you’ without so much as glancing at the cup. As Jean was leaving, he took a sip from his coffee and it wasn’t until then that he saw the message that had been scribbled onto the cup. Marco watched as Jean turned around to look back at Marco, glaring. In response, Marco grinned brightly and gave a small wave. The tiniest of smiles then formed on Jean’s face, and without another word, he left the shop.
That Saturday morning, Marco made his way to the coffee shop. Marco’s next shift wasn’t until Monday afternoon, but he had said he would meet up with Sasha there to look over some of their psychology class’ notes. It was relatively early, and in the back of his mind Marco couldn’t let the thought go that there was a very small chance Jean might be there as well. The coffee shop wasn’t very busy, and Connie and Ymir were working their shifts. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Jean, and Sasha hadn’t arrived either. Marco walked to the counter instead, where Connie greeted him, and Marco suddenly remembered that Connie would be working next Monday morning. For some reason he found himself asking Connie if he could switch shifts on Monday morning before he could even think twice about what he was saying.
‘Why the hell do you want to do that?’ Connie asked in surprise.
‘It’s less busy than in the afternoon,’ Marco answered, shrugging. He wasn’t about to tell Connie that he had seen a customer (a customer he hadn’t even talked to, no less) and really wanted to see him again.
Connie raised an eyebrow, and he replied; ‘It’s way busier in the morning than in the afternoon. But okay, I’m not complaining, you can switch shifts.’
--
The Monday morning that followed was a lot more pleasant weather-wise. Marco had had the decency to hand over the key to Armin who would probably reach the shop earlier than he would. The sun was slowly rising, but it was still chilly and Marco shivered slightly in his thin coat. Armin was indeed already busy setting up the coffee shop when he arrived. Putting on his apron, Marco made his way to the front of the shop just as Armin turned the sign by the door to announce that they were open.
‘Early, isn’t it?’ said Armin as Marco yawned and stretched. Marco nodded, before replying ‘I don’t mind though. I think I prefer working in the mornings to the afternoons.’
Armin snorted in disbelief and walked back to the counter to switch on and refill the coffee machines. ‘I’d give my right arm work in the afternoons instead of the mornings.’
Before Marco could reply, the first customers were already entering the café. It was busier than it had been on Friday, probably due to the fact that the sun was shining. Once again, most of them were college students, along with a few office workers who were starting their day early. Connie had been right when he had said that the mornings were a lot busier than the afternoons. Working at a ridiculous speed, Marco soon realized that even if Jean did go the coffee shop this morning, he would have absolutely no time to talk with him if the crowds kept pouring in like they were now. He glanced at the clock as he made three lattes and an espresso at the same time, and then realized that it was quarter past eight. The smallest pang of disappointment hit Marco when he realized that Jean hadn’t come by the shop yet. Or maybe he had, and Marco had missed him in the flurry of customers. Marco shook his head, thinking to himself, you don’t even know the guy, as he poured steaming milk into three disposable cups. The crowd soon started to subdue, and Armin and Marco finally had a moment to catch their breath.
‘This is different than Friday,’ Marco stated, and Armin laughed.
‘Yes, this is what a normal morning looks like,’ he replied with a grimace. ‘Not so much fun now, huh?’
Marco laughed, and proceeded to clean up the tables that were now littered with paper cups as Armin moved to the back to stock up on more coffee beans. As Marco was clearing up the tables, the door opened to reveal a hazel-haired guy with a brown leather jacket. It took Marco a moment to realize it was Jean again. He was smiling, this time, and looked considerably better than he had looked on Friday morning.
‘Oh, hi!’ Marco greeted, and quickly strode back to the counter. ‘The double-shot hazelnut latte again?’
‘Yeah su- wait, you know my order?’ Jean asked, sounding taken aback.
‘Yeah, you came here Friday, right?’ Marco replied with a nervous laugh.
Jean raised his eyebrow, but his smile never ceased to leave his face. ‘But you remembered my order.’
Marco shrugged, and went to work on the latte instead. He could almost feel Jean watching him intently, and looked up to meet Jean’s gaze. Jean looked away quickly, however, and a silence fell over the two.
‘So you’re later than you were Friday,’ Marco noted, in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence.
‘Yeah,’ Jean replied. ‘Class doesn’t started till ten. I have a presentation to give, though, so that sucks.’
Marco replied with a small ‘oh’, and grabbed one of the sharpies that was lying on the counter. He smiled to himself as he scribbled good luck! on the paper cup, before handing the latte to Jean. At this point, Armin had returned from the backroom.
‘Where’s Connie, anyway?’ asked Jean.
‘Switched shifts with him for some reason,’ Armin replied, nodding at Marco before he even had the chance to open his mouth. Both of them looked at Marco as if expecting an explanation. Instead of replying, Marco just smiled and handed Jean the latte.
‘Thanks, Marco,’ said Jean, handing him a five dollar bill. ‘Keep the change.’
‘Thanks- how do you know my name?’
‘It’s on your nametag.
‘Oh.’
With a nod in farewell, Jean headed to the door again. Marco watched as he saw Jean raise the cup to read the small note scribbled on it. Jean turned around to face Marco when he reached the door, gave a final ‘thanks,’ and then headed out of the shop.
--
The next time Marco saw Jean was on Wednesday afternoon. He hadn’t made an effort to switch shifts with anyone anymore, partially because everyone looked at him as if he had gone completely insane every time he offered to take over someone’s morning shifts and in all honesty, afternoon shifts were a lot better anyway. Except for the fact that he wouldn’t see a certain someone now. Today’s shift was with Sasha, who always had enough energy for two people. It was almost five and the shop was incredibly quiet, except for never-ending Sasha’s vibrant chatter. Some days, Marco would bring his coursework to work with him and just sit in the shop studying when there were no customers. He had wanted to do that today as well, but Sasha was far too energetic and full of conversation to let Marco do that.
‘So I heard an interesting story yesterday,’ said Sasha with a mischievous glint in her eyes as she hauled herself into a sitting position on the counter. ‘I heard you had been writing all kinds of notes on some guy’s cups.’
Marco could feel his face turning red and he promptly faced the other way, busying himself with sorting out the paper cups that had already been sorted an hour ago.
‘I wrote one message, like, a week ago,’ replied Marco. ‘It wasn’t a big deal.’
‘A little bird told me it was more than once and it happened this week,’ taunted Sasha.
‘Was that little bird a short blonde guy?’ grumbled Marco. Armin hadn’t said a word when he had seen Jean and Marco talking and yet he seemed to have spilled the entire story to Sasha and god knows who else.
‘What’s his name? Do you think he’ll come by today?’ Sasha continued excitedly.
‘I’ve never seen him come by in the afternoon, to be honest,’ replied Marco, still not facing Sasha. He had barely uttered the words when the door opened, and a familiar face walked in.
‘Good afternoon, Jean!’ greeted Sasha. Marco wondered for a moment how everyone seemed to know who Jean was except him.
‘Hi,’ replied Jean gruffly. ‘Hi Marco,’ he added on a lighter tone when he noticed Marco leaning against the counter.
‘Hey, how did the presentation go yesterday?’ asked Marco as he started making Jean’s latte.
‘Fine, fine,’ Jean replied with a wave. ‘Wasn’t that big of a deal.’
‘What are you doing here now?’ interrupted Sasha. ‘I thought you only came here in the mornings.’
Jean shrugged. ‘I was around. Thought I’d stop by and say hi.’
Marco busied himself with making the latte while he listened to Jean and Sasha chat. It was mostly Sasha chatting, and Jean looking slightly annoyed with the amount of energy she had. When Marco had handed Jean the cup, Jean inspected it carefully, before asking with a grin on his face, ‘What, no motivational message this time?’
Marco could feel his cheeks burn and he didn’t dare meet Sasha’s gaze, but he knew she could put one and one together and realize Jean was the guy Armin had told her about. He looked up to see Sasha staring at him with a sly smile and Jean now standing with a now slightly awkward grin on his face.
‘Wait, I’ll write a message this time,’ Sasha asked with a tone of feigned innocence in her voice. Before Marco could stop her, she took the cup from Jean and took a sharpie out of her pocket and scribbled something onto the cup that Marco couldn’t see from where he was standing. Not trusting Sasha one bit, he was very close to just grabbing the cup out of Sasha’s hands.
‘That’s really not necessary, Sasha,’ Marco started with a nervous chuckle. ‘I mean Jean’s-‘
‘No, no, don’t worry about it,’ interrupted Sasha. ‘Here you go, you’ll thank me later!’
Jean looked equally as flustered as Marco now felt, but took the cup all the same.
‘Uh, thanks?’ he said, glancing at Marco. Marco replied with an apologetic shrug. Without another word and looking slightly confused, Jean made his way out of the store. As soon as the door closed behind him, Marco turned to Sasha, and hissed, ‘What did you write on that?’
‘Your phone number,’ replied Sasha with a matter-of-fact tone. Marco looked at her in shock.
‘Why would you do that?’ asked Marco, sounding flustered. ‘How do you even know my phone number?’
‘Because you two will never make any progress without a little help. And because I have the contact list right here,’ Sasha answered with a smile, while holding up a piece of paper that had been lying next to the cash register. Marco glared at her. This was downright embarrassing, and Jean would probably never come by the shop again when Marco was working.
‘I didn’t need to make any ‘progress’,’ he said while making quotation marks with his hands. ‘I didn’t even know who he was until a week ago.’
‘You’ll thank me when he starts texting you.’
‘He’s never going to text me,’ huffed Marco miserably. ‘If anything, you’ve probably scared him away from the coffee shop forever. I bet Hanji will be pleased to hear you’ve lost yet another one of our customers.’
‘Don’t be so melodramatic,’ Sasha answered. ‘Now come on, we’ve got some customers to serve.’
--
In the middle of one of his morning psychology lectures the next day, Marco felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. The lecture was horrifically boring. Sasha had actually fallen asleep next to him, her head resting on her book while she snored gently. It didn’t help that the professor teaching the class had the most boring, monotone voice that Marco had ever heard. His phone was a good distraction to beat his urge to just fall asleep like Sasha, so he quickly took it out to see who was texting him.
Unknown number
so… is this really marcos number or did sasha just give me a random number?
Marco gave a small gasp when he realized that this was probably Jean, causing Sasha to stir and look at him sleepily.
‘What’s up?’ she asked with a tired voice. Marco just shook his head, motioning with his hand to Sasha to go back to sleep. There was no way he was giving Sasha the satisfaction of knowing that her little scheme had worked. Instead he saved Jean’s number in his phone and texted back.
To: Jean
Yeah, this is my number! So how are you doing? :)
No, that sounded to stupid. And far too direct. And that emoticon at the end looked so childish. He deleted the entire message and tried again.
To: Jean
Yep, this is Marco!
That was better. He hesitated before hitting send, wondering if he was being too quick with replying. To his surprise, he got a reply barely a few seconds later.
From: Jean
awesome! so r u working today?
If only I was, thought Marco. Not that working was much better than sitting in this lecture, but at least there was a small chance he’d see Jean again.
To: Jean
No, I don’t have another shift till Friday. If you go by the coffee shop today it’s Eren and Armin you’ll have to put up with.
Once again, the reply came only seconds later.
From: Jean
:(
By now, Sasha had regained full consciousness and was looking curiously at Marco and his phone.
‘You’re smiling way too much for such a boring lecture. Who are you texting?’ she whispered, leaning towards him. ‘Is it who I think it is?’
Marco sighed and tried to block Sasha’s view from the phone, which only caused her to grin widely and say, ‘It is, isn’t it?’
The phone buzzed again, and it was another text from Jean.
From: Jean
i’ll come by on friday to say hi. what time do u work?
To: Jean
3-8pm. But be careful, Sasha will be working as well.
From: Jean
cool, i’ll be there.
Marco smiled at his phone and then noticed that Sasha had been reading over his shoulder the whole time.
‘You don’t have to thank me but you’re very welcome,’ she told Marco, her eyes sparkling. Marco rolled his eyes at her, but secretly he was very grateful for doing something that Marco would never have the guts to do himself.
Throughout the next two days, Marco found himself texting Jean as often as he could. There wasn’t a moment when his phone wasn’t in his hand, discussing everything and nothing over texts with Jean. During his lunch break on Thursday with Armin and Connie, he completely missed half of the conversation because he was so glued to his phone.
‘So, Marco, you agree right?’ said Armin loudly as Marco looked up.
‘Huh? Oh yeah, yeah sure,’ replied Marco quickly before smiling at his phone at a selfie Jean had sent of himself and a pile of textbooks he was meant to be reading.
‘You agree that Kansas should introduce anti-gay laws?’ Armin asked with raised eyebrows.
‘Wait, that’s what we’re talking about? Sorry, I was distracted, I…’ Marco started, and Connie snorted loudly with laughter.
‘I heard Sasha gave your number to Jean,’ Connie stated nonchalantly, trying.
‘Yeah, she did,’ replied Marco as normally as he could, but he could feel his face growing hot.
‘So have you two been talking at all?’ Armin then asked and Connie laughed again.
‘Okay guys, give it a rest,’ Marco said with an embarrassed laugh, and then looked at his phone again as he received a text from Jean asking what he was up to.
To: Jean
Having lunch with Connie and Armin who are harassing me about you.
‘You know, I’m sort of surprised Jean actually texted you,’ Connie said as Marco tapped away on his phone.
‘Why is that?’ asked Marco, now looking up from his phone to meet Connie and Armin’s gazes.
‘Well, ‘cause Jean is so… y’know,’ Connie answered, and waved vaguely as if it was obvious what he was talking about. Armin hummed in agreement, and Marco stared at both of them, not having a clue of what to make of Connie’s vague waving.
‘Oh… kay? In a good way or in a bad way?’ asked Marco. Connie and Armin shrugged simultaneously. Marco sighed, slightly irritated at how vague the two were being, and took out his phone again. He didn’t see Connie and Marco exchanging glances, both raising their eyebrows at each other.
--
3.10pm the following Friday, Marco was anxiously looking back and forth between the clock hanging on the wall at the coffee shop and the door. Sasha, who had the same shift as Marco today, sighed loudly when Marco looked expectantly at the door for the umpteenth time as a customer walked in, only to be disappointed by the fact that it wasn’t Jean.
‘Would you just relax, Marco?’ she sighed. ‘Usually you’re the last person to be so nervous about stuff.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Marco replied, concentrating hard on the cappuccino he was making and trying to ignore his burning cheeks.
‘Your shift is five hours long, I highly doubt Jean will show up in the first fifteen minu- Oh.’
Marco looked up as he heard the door open and almost dropped the coffee cup he was currently holding. Jean walked in, once again clad in his leather jacket and ruffling his hair as he walked in. Their eyes met, and Marco didn’t tear his gaze away even as he was handing the current customer his cappuccino.
‘Hi,’ said Marco, slightly breathless, as the customer moved away and Jean stood in front of the counter.
‘Uhm, hi,’ replied Jean with a slightly awkward smile. Alarmingly enough and despite their frequent texting, both of them were at a complete loss of words. As they stood there, Marco felt something push against his hand, and turned to see Sasha place a cup into his hand.
‘Get to work,’ she told him with a slightly menacing smile. Marco did not need telling twice, and started on Jean’s usual order.
‘Did you manage to finish that essay yesterday?’ asked Jean as Marco started pouring coffee into the cup. Marco was on the verge of asking Jean how he knew about that, but then remembered that they had been texting until late last night as Marco had tried to finish his essay for psychology class.
‘Oh, uh, no, not yet,’ Marco answered with a nervous laugh. He glanced over to Sasha for a moment, who was observing the two of them with an extremely amused expression on her face.
‘Ah, okay, well,’ Jean started. ‘Good luck on that, then.’ This conversation was going a thousand times less smooth than Marco had hoped for. Jean was avoiding his gaze and looked just as uncomfortable as Marco felt. The silence was simply unbearable. Marco handed Jean is latte, who muttered a silent thanks.
‘Well, I’ll probably talk to you soon, then,’ Marco called after Jean as he made his way out of the coffee shop again. In response to this, Jean turned around and gave a small wave and a grin before he stepped out of the shop. Through the window, Marco could see Jean looking at the cup and he saw Jean’s expression turn from a bright smile to a slight frown. Marco knew in an instant that there was probably something written on the cup, something that he had most definitely not written on there.
‘What did you do?’ Marco asked Sasha for the second time that week. He turned to Sasha who had been following Marco’s gaze to Jean with an innocent smile on her face.
‘Come on Marco, it was cringing to watch you two talk just now,’ Sasha exclaimed in feigned exasperation. ‘I was helping you out a little. Giving you the opportunity to get to know each other better.’
‘But what did you write on there?’ Marco asked, feeling increasingly alarmed.
‘I asked if he wanted to go out on a date with you. I thought it was time you guys actually talked,’ Sasha told him, her voice matter-of-fact. Marco groaned loudly and leaned against the counter. This was the second time Sasha was interfering with Marco and Jean, and despite it going very well the first time, he didn’t want this to backfire because of her.
‘Relax, it’ll be fine,’ Sasha said.
‘Well, those two minutes making his coffee weren’t fine, I highly doubt a date is going to be any better,’ sighed Marco. ‘I’m hopeless at this.’
‘I know, that’s why you have me,’ Sasha told him with a bright smile.
--
It wasn’t fine. In fact, it was all really terrible. Marco had texted Jean twice, one text asking him how he was, but when he got no reply in over a day, he sent another text telling him the message on the cup had been Sasha’s work (again). By his next shift on Monday, Marco still hadn’t received a reply. During his shift with Ymir that afternoon, Connie came by the coffee shop.
‘What’s up?’ Connie greeted as Ymir started working on his order. ‘Sasha told me what she did Friday, Marco.’
‘Of course she did,’ Marco sighed. He had been in a horrible mood for the majority of the weekend because of the entire fiasco.
‘So? Did you talk to Jean yet?’ Connie prompted.
‘What’s going on with Jean?’ Ymir interrupted, sounding curious as she handed Connie his coffee.
‘Jean and Marco are really close to dating thanks to Sasha,’ Connie told Ymir proudly.
‘Jean and… wait, I thought Jean had a thing for Mikasa?’ Ymir asked in a surprised tone.
‘Yeah, he did, but Marco and Jean have been texting non-stop, and when I say non-stop I literally mean non-stop for weeks now.’
As Connie started explaining the situation to Ymir, the words ‘I thought Jean had a thing for Mikasa’ rung in Marco’s head. Of course. That explained everything. Marco felt a pang of horror and embarrassment as he realized that this was most likely why Jean hadn’t been answering his texts ever since he (or technically, Sasha) had asked him on a date. He cursed himself for ever starting with the stupid messages in the first place. Jean would most likely never come by the coffee shop again, and Marco had probably ruined all chances of ever talking to him again. Marco wished the earth would just swallow him whole at this point. His stomach dropped when Marco realized he had a morning shift the following Wednesday, meaning he would probably have to face Jean at some point during that morning.
--
Luckily, Jean didn’t show up on Wednesday morning. In fact, he didn’t show up for any of Marco’s shifts, which was a sharp contrast to the previous week when Jean had come by three times. Marco hadn’t tried to text Jean again, and Jean had made no effort to talk to Marco, either. It was as if they had never even met in the first place. During his shift on Monday a week later, this time with Armin, Marco casually asked if Armin had spoken to Jean at all.
‘He hasn’t come by the coffee shop during any of the morning shifts in over a week,’ Armin replied, which confirmed Marco’s worries.
‘I spoke to him after class yesterday, and he seemed a little off,’ Armin continued. ‘Have you two been talking?’
‘No, not at all,’ Marco replied, sounding slightly sad. Armin noticed Marco’s fallen expression, and quickly added, ‘It’s probably nothing. I bet you two will be talking again in no time.’
Marco nodded glumly and avoided Armin’s gaze. At the moment, it was quite obvious that Jean was avoiding him. He had good reasons, Marco supposed, but that didn’t take away the miserable state Marco was currently in.
--
More than a week later, there was still no sign of Jean. Marco knew that his friends managed to talk to Jean every now again, but it didn’t look like Jean was interested in Marco at all. It was raining again on a Friday morning as Marco made his way to the coffee shop for a morning shift. The streets were quiet as everyone was trying to avoid the heavy rainfall and Marco was quickly walking down the street, cursing himself that he had forgotten his umbrella again, when something caught his eye. In the middle of the sidewalk was a paper cup, standing quite forlornly and overflowing with rainwater. Usually, this wouldn’t be a reason to stop and look at the cup, but Marco noticed that there something scribbled on the cardboard. Marco looked around to make sure there wasn’t anybody around, and then hesitantly leaned down to pick up the paper cup.
The text on it simply stated ‘I’m sorry’, scribbled on the cup in a barely readable handwriting. Marco frowned. He had no idea what to make of it, not knowing if it was purely coincidental that there was a cup with ‘I’m sorry’ written on it on the middle of his way to work. He put the cup down again and had barely walked a few meters when he spotted another paper cup in the middle of the sidewalk. As he reached it, Marco saw that this one read ‘I’m a real idiot’. There was no way this could be a coincidence anymore, but Marco kept walking as the rain was starting to soak through his jacket.
A few feet ahead stood yet another cup, this one with a longer text written on it. Marco stopped to pick it up. I acted kind of dumb after you asked me out on that date, it read. And sorry it took so long but I just wanted to say, I would really like to go out on a date with you. Marco felt his heart leap and he stood up, looking around the street to see if he could spot any sign of anyone (or more specifically, Jean). There was absolutely no one, however, and without knowing what else to do, he turned a corner and headed towards the coffee shop again.
He almost missed the last cup that had been placed around the corner. Meet me at the coffee shop. xJean, it read. A smile spread across Marco’s face as he read the texts, glad that this had in fact been Jean’s work and not some kind of cruel coincidence. He practically ran the last block to the coffee shop, and was thrilled by the site before him. Standing outside of the shop in the middle of the rain stood a very disgruntled Jean, completely soaked in his leather jacket. When Jean saw Marco, however, his face lit up. Despite everything, Marco felt incredibly nervous as he walked up to Jean.
‘Hi,’ Jean greeted. He sounded considerably less awkward than the previous time the two had spoken, much to Marco’s relief. ‘Did you find the cups?’
‘I did,’ replied Marco with a smile.
‘I really am sorry,’ continued Jean, not meeting Marco’s gaze and rubbing the back of his neck. ‘I was kind of… uh… confused about the whole situation.’
‘You and me both,’ Marco replied. ‘I sort of missed you. I… really enjoyed talking- or well, texting with you. And seeing you at the coffee shop.’
‘So did I,’ Jean replied, and he now took a few steps closer to Marco. ‘Should we… try again?’
‘Or pick up where we left off,’ Marco replied, now taking the last small step so that he was barely a breath apart from Jean. He wrapped his arms ever so gently around Jean’s neck and felt Jean’s arms around his waist. Jean leaned in slightly and closed the space between them, his lips finding Marco’s. The kiss was soft and Jean tasted like coffee and hazelnut, and Marco didn’t want to break the kiss but the fact that they were being completely soaked by the rain forced him to do so anyway.
Jean grinned widely, and Marco smiled and leaned his forehead again Jean’s before softly saying, ‘Shall we go inside?’