Work Text:
“Hey Liam!” Hayden whisper yells over the obnoxious noise of grinding coffee, “Liam, look!”
Said Liam, a young man in his twenties with a mess of blonde hair on his head, looks up from stirring the milk for his order and immediately catches onto what his co-worker means.
He is back. Theo.
The prettiest guy Liam has ever seen.
His dark hair looks particularly floppy today and when he smiles and waves in the direction of the counter, Liam just knows that his eyes are sea foam green today (other days they appear grey, then almost blue on the next) even if he can’t see them from the distance.
Theo comes into the little cafe Liam works in as barista and waiter for almost three month now. Every second day, without a fail. And nearly as long Liam knows that this guy is the love of his life. They banter, they flirt, but nothing more happens. It doesn't help that the other barista, Tracy, got a crush on Theo as well. And she surely isn’t shy about showing it.
She always decorates his orders with the prettiest foam art and sneaks the cutest cookies in the display on his plate. Liam himself sucks at those little details, instead he draws sketches on the napkins, little funny pictures or simple scenes playing out on the thin white paper, before he brings Theo his order.
They went on like this for weeks, dancing around each other in a weird three way choreography, but Liam prouds himself in the knowledge that Theo always seemed to smile a little bit brighter when he took his order and always lingered a little longer at the register when it was Liam's turn.
Today is Tracy’s day off and Liam could not be happier about it as he murmurs a quick thanks! to Hayden before making his way over to the table Theo just sat down at. The one he always sits at.
“Hello! What can I bring you today?”
“Hi Liam”, Theo smiles at him once more and as his heart flutters Liam can see that his eyes really are the colour of light green sea foam today, “today I feel adventurous and will take whatever your recommendation of the day is.”
Liam winks at him. “Oh, my personal recommendation for you isn’t really appropriate for this cafe, but how does a slice of cherry pie and a caramel-cinnamon latte sound?”
Theo’s smile widens into a grin “not appropriate huh? Too bad, I would have really loved to hear it... but a cinnamon latte and pie sounds good too, thank you.”
Liam nearly floats back to the counter where Hayden awaits him with a grin.
“Hey lover boy...”
“Oh, shut up!” But it comes out not even half mad, so happy is he with this day.
Taking a deep breath, Liam carries his tray over to Theo’s table, the napkin with his newest sketch securely tucked under the plate.
“Here you go! One caramel-cinnamon latte and one slice of cherry pie.”
“Thank you Liam”, he takes a sip of the latte, “Did you make this?”
“Uhm... yes. Why? Is anything wrong? I can make a new one. Or have Hayden make it!” Liam splutters out, but Theo only laughs “Hey, calm down, I just wanted to make sure I thank the right person for hooking me up with this. It’s delicious.”
Oh... Liam presses his lips together, not risking another wave of rambling, he just smiles and hastily retreats into the kitchen, past a giggling Hayden.
When Liam comes back outside ten minutes later Theo is gone but the napkin lies still on the table, carefully draped over the empty cup.
Just as disappointment starts to well up in him – did Theo not like his drawing? Liam notices the carefully pencilled letters on it.
The pie was good, really sweet. Just like you. ;)
T.
~♤~
Liam doesn’t believe his eyes. How dare he?
All the shy glances, sweet smiles and barely hidden flirtation.
And now? Now he just sits there, smiling at this guy... like nothing ever happened. He shoots another angry glance at Theo and his date.
Half an hour ago they came in, striding though the room as if they own it with those stupid smiles on their faces.
“Hey!” a voice breaks Liam’s spiralling thoughts, “stop looking like a kicked puppy and bring them their order.”
Sometimes Liam really hates Hayden.
“Here we go! A caramel-cinnamon latte and a... vanilla mocha with a double shot espresso?”
That bastard even has the nerve to order Liam's recommendation. And what the hell was a vanilla mocha?
“Actually it was a double vanilla espresso”, the other guy drawls and Liam grits his teeth. Apparently he is one of those customers.
“Of course, I will bring you a new one right away, sir.”
“No, it’s alright, that was quite a difficult order, not many baristas are capable of getting it right.”
Did he just... did he just call me stupid?
Without another word Liam puts Theo’s latte down in front of him and proceeds to grab the second mug, but by now his hands are shaking with suppressed anger. Suddenly everything happens in slow motion and the next thing Liam knows is vanilla mocha guy jumping up from his chair, screaming because his mocha is dripping from his shirt.
Oops... apparently there still is that thing called karma.
“What the fuck?! You are not just incapable of getting customer's orders right but a bad waiter too?”
Theo’s face morphs from the barely hidden almost-smile back to a serious expression.
“Josh. Don’t be rude, I am sure this was an accident.”
“Well then he is just a clumsy idiot – the result is the same. And now come on Theo, I won’t stay here any longer.”
He stands up abruptly, nearly hitting Liam with his chair if the boy wouldn’t have stepped back.
But Theo stays seated. “You know what? No. This date was a bad idea from the start. I only agreed to it because Corey asked me to, but this... We are done.”
“Are you kidding me?”
Liam can only stand there and watch the train wreck that is this conversation, Josh is furious but Theo doesn’t budge, he just leans back in his seat and slowly, almost provokingly slow, takes a sip from his drink, never breaking eye contact with Josh.
“This is delicious, Liam, like always.”
Liam feels a smile forming on his face and Josh let’s out an outraged snort before finally storming off.
~♤~
The next time Theo turns up at the coffee shop is three whole days later (enough time for Liam to panic and overanalyse his last visit). He has a determined look on his face, straight up ignores Tracey smiling at him from the counter and goes straight for Liam who just comes back from a table, caring an empty tray.
“Theo! Hey, what-“ he doesn’t get any further because Theo strides towards him and he doesn’t stop and all but barrels into the unsuspecting boy. He takes Liam’s face into both his hands and then all but smashes their lips together in a searing kiss.
Liam would have loved to say that this is what happened, that he immediately kissed back and that it was a perfectly romantic moment.
The reality looks more like this: As soon as Theo is up in his face Liam’s instinct takes over and he punches the other boy square in the face, sending Theo flying to the ground.
“I am so sorry!” Liam says for the tenth time while carefully patting Theo’s bloody nose with a cold cloth, “you came at me and I just panicked!” They are sitting in the lunch room in the back of the cafe, where Liam all but carried the still slightly dazed Theo (yes, Liam goes boxing in his free time, yes, he is just the tiniest bit proud of delivering such a punch) under the curious eyes of every single customer.
Theo chuckles weakly, grabbing the cloth and Liam’s hand with it, as he holds both against his nose for a moment.
“Its alright. It’s not even broken - see?” he slowly lowers their still combined hands.
“I don't know...I might have to get a closer look...” Liam leans forward, over Theo’s lap until their noses are almost touching and he can see the amusement glittering in Theo’s eyes.
“I don’t think you can see anything from this perspective”, Theo whispers, almost as if he is afraid of his voice to break this moment.
Liam chuckles “No, probably not.” And then he kisses Theo.