Work Text:
Working retail is wonderful for Sid’s routine driven mind.
It’s the same thing day in and day out.
In the morning when he gets in he systematically unlocks all the drawers and pulls out trays of earrings and rings and bracelets. He puts them in the display cases the exact way corporate says they’re supposed to be then he locks up again. He clips the lanyard with the keys on it to his belt and checks twice to make sure it won’t fall off during the day.
He counts the money in the til, making sure he has enough change and receipt tape in the register then he wipes everything down. The cleaning crew does a great job at keeping things clean but there are always going to be fingerprints left behind.
He doesn’t like that.
Then he runs the lint roller over his black pants (he doesn’t have a pet but white hair seems to come out of nowhere and stick to him) then retucks his button down where it’s slipped out and waits for the doors to open and the customers to come in.
They tend to offer some variety but they can all be divided into different groups.
The ones that are in a hurry, the ones that can talk all day, the older women who can never figure out how the chip reader works no matter how many time he explains it to them. The rude ones, the nice ones, the ones that try to flirt.
No customer is unique.
There is nothing about his day that ever stands out. It’s the same thing over and over again.
Or at least that’s the way it used to be before Geno was hired.
Sid gets headaches from heavy perfumes.
Usually it’s not a problem. The jewelry counter and the fragrance counter are far enough apart that the notes of floral and sandalwood and juniper berries don’t tend to travel.
But there is a clear line of sight between the two so everyday Sid gets an eyeful of Geno with his long legs and broad shoulders as he stands in front of his own counter holding a bottle of perfume.
“He’s a pusher,” Kris says as he sits down opposite of Sid in the break room. Kris works at the salon and he always has shiny hair and smells like expensive conditioner and the disinfectant they put the combs in. “He’s worse than those kiosk workers, you know, the ones that are always trying to sell you hand lotion or something.”
Sid pokes at his salad. He personally hasn’t spoken a word to Geno. He hasn’t even stood next to him during morning meetings before the door is unlocked. All Sid knows is that he likes to wear tight black t-shirts that show off his arms and collarbones and the silver chain that hangs around his neck.
“Do you think customers are going to start complaining.” They don’t like to be pushed.
Kris shakes his head and snaps the hair elastic around his wrist a few times. “No, they love him. Fragrance sales have gone up 60% since he started here. I heard Sullivan talking.”
Sid hums.
“Do you think we should invite him out with us?”
Sid shrugs.
“Doesn’t matter,” Kris says. “Valentine’s Day is coming up soon. You’ll have time to interrogate him when he uses his employee discount to buy his girlfriend or whatever some jewelry.”
“I’m not interrogating our co worker. And how do you know he has a girlfriend?”
“He’s got to have something. He has an accent. Everyone loves an accent.”
“You have an accent. What’s your excuse?”
Kris slides a hairband off his wrist and snaps it across the table at him. “So do you, asshole, what’s yours.”
Sid’s not sure what his excuse is.
He’s busy, he guesses. He works full time during the week and on the weekend he plays hockey with a rec league. He doesn’t have time to date or meet people. Plus even if he were to find someone….he’s picky and set in his ways. He’s not the easiest person to be around. On the rare occasion he meets someone they usually don’t stick around for very long.
He settles on, “it’s hard to meet people,” and Kris rolls his eyes. “I don’t really go places.”
“Which is why you should go out with us. We go to a bar. There are people at a bar. You’d probably do very well there. You’re not terrible looking.”
Sid snorts. “Thanks,” he says sarcastically.
“You’d be better if you’d let me just-.” He leans over the table and tries to tug on the ends of one of his curls.
Sid bats his hand away and Kris sits back down.
“I’m going to invite him out with us,” Kris says. “Hopefully he’s not a we blanket like you.”
“Fingers crossed,” Sid says and Kris throws up a peace sign as he walks out the door.
-
Sid’s okay with pining from afar.
From across a department store, more specifically.
Geno’s voice carries so when Sid’s not glancing over at him every five seconds he’s still on his mind.
Geno has a loud laugh and he talks with his hands. The bottles of perfume so small and delicate in his big hands and even the crankiest customers leave the store with a smile after they interact with him.
Kris is probably right. He probably has a girlfriend or a boyfriend or a revolving door of beautiful people that get to spend time with him.
Sid tells himself it’s pointless to pine or hope for more but that doesn’t stop him from blushing hot when Geno smiles at him for the first time across the store.
It only gets worse when Geno wanders over during a lull and leans against his counter.
Geno’s forearms are on full display and Sid doesn’t even care about the fingerprints that he’s leaving on the glass.
“Can I help you with something,” Sid asks, and mentally prepares himself for the worst- Geno wants to buy an engagement ring for his significant other. That’s the worst thing he can think of.
Instead Geno smiles, open and easy. “Never really introduces,” he says as he holds his hand out. “See you around but you always so busy. Never take breaks at the same time.”
Sid takes his hand. It’s warm and soft and up close Geno smells like citrus and nutmeg and cedar. Sid waits for a headache to form behind his eyes but it never comes.
“Kris and some other guys go out on Fridays.” Geno frowns. He’s still holding Sid’s hand. “They say you never come.”
“It’s not really my kind of a thing.”
“You don’t like fun,” he says, his tongue poking into his cheek.
Sid doesn’t like to be made fun of. He pulls his hand back and Geno puts his palm against the glass.
“I have fun. Just, you know, bars….not really my scene.”
Geno nods. “Okay. Not for everyone. Eating dinner your scene?”
Sid’s mind races and fogs and he’s trying to figure out what exactly he means by that when a young kid standing down the counter clears his throat.
He looks nervous and Sid figures he’s about to guy his girlfriend something expensive for the first time. He’s going to need a lot of help.
“I’ll be right with you,” Sid says before he turns back to Geno.
Geno’s already a few steps away. “Let you get back to work. Don’t want you to get in trouble. Maybe you come out with us next time? Maybe we go somewhere quieter.”
“Okay.” It’s all Sid can say and even after Geno throws him a smile over his shoulder it takes a few minutes to politely and professionally talk the teenager out of buying his girlfriend of four months a five hundred dollar ring.
-
“Geno’s so great,” Kris tells him one week.
“He’s so funny,” he says another time.
“He’s such an asshole sometimes but he is fearless. He sang four different songs during karaoke last night.”
Sid nods along. It’s been weeks since they’d flirted. That might be a generous name to call a forty five second conversation but he’s not sure what else to call it.
He’s pretty sure Geno asked him out but nothing has come of it.
Geno might be waiting for Sid to make the next move. If that’s the care he might be waiting for a long time. He hasn’t even worked up the nerve to talk to Geno again. He can’t imagine taking him up on his offer to go on a date or hangout or however he meant it.
“You should come out tonight,” Kris says as he thumps a first on Sid’s shoulder. “We’re getting sushi.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You do that,” Tanger says. He doesn’t sound like he believes him.
-
He does think about it. Constantly.
Between selling an engagement ring to a guy who’s extremely nervous about popping the question and looking up at Geno each time his laughter floats across the sales floor.
By the end of his shift he’s still thinking about it. He drags his feet when it’s time to leave and Geno has his coat on and his car keys in his hand when he stops by the jewelry counter.
“Thought you were coming out tonight? You staying late?”
Sid shakes his head, suddenly nervous. “I’m just closing up. It’s taking a little longer than usual.”
“But are you coming?”
Sid turns the keys over and over again in his hands. “I don’t know.”
Geno looks disappointed. His lips turn down at the corners and his eyes dim.
“Okay, well. If not tonight maybe next week?”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
Geno tries to put the smile back on but there’s still sadness in his eyes and Sid thinks about the guy with the engagement ring as he walks away.
How he kept waffling back and forth between two different designs and then how he thought maybe he wouldn’t even do it at all.
“I just don’t know what she’ll say,” he had said and Sid nodded. He understood. But he also wanted to make a sale.
“You’ll never know unless you ask.”
It’s true.
Sid will never know if Geno wants to go out with him unless he asks him.
He leans over the counter and calls Geno’s name.
Geno turns and Sid takes a deep breath.
“I don’t want to go out tonight, not with everyone else. But I was wondering if maybe you and me, if we could go somewhere. Together?”
Geno smiles, slow and sweet, and steps up to the counter. He smells sharp and spicy and Sid leans in a little closer.
“I ask you out before,” Geno says, “I thought maybe I overstep because I ask you out at work. You didn’t like.”
“I liked it. I’m sorry. I just…great at this,” he finishes slowly.
“Think you’re doing fine,” Geno says. He’s all smiles.
Sid smiles back. “Let me get my coat and we can go, okay?”
Geno carefully leans against the case and nods. “Be here waiting for you.”