Chapter Text
Peter was never really a fan of coffee. He was restless enough as it was and with it he felt as if he could bounce off of buildings.
But it was raining that day and he forgot his umbrella and his laptop was in his bag and he could really not risk it getting wet because May would kill him if he broke this one too. And all of it pointed him in the direction of a small coffee shop on his way to the library. He could wait there and do some work until the rain stopped.
Besides, he didn’t have to order coffee.
But , even though ordering a drink is a simple quest for most people, for Peter it came with more than one complication.
***
Michelle decided to work in a coffee shop(and the one called Destiny at that, gah) out of sheer necessity. Her parents’ allowance seems to be smaller with each passing month and the list of books that needed to be bought only seemed to grow. She has started college four months ago and even though her parents haven’t cut back on it, her expenses have increased and as she noted already the list of books that needed to be bought has only become longer.
And Michelle wasn’t lazy. And she was most definitely not against working in college. In fact, she encouraged it, it brought discipline in people’s lives and taught them responsibility. But working in a coffee shop? Not for her.
She had trouble with dealing with people on good days and when you’re in college with a crazy schedule and lacking sleep because balancing school work and reading poses a challenge, well then even good days aren’t the best.
Her mom laughed when she told her she would be spending her days behind a counter with a practiced, staged, polite smile on her face. Her father, on the other hand, frowned and expressed his concern with her ending up behind bars for throwing coffee in someone’s face. She ended the face time with a stealthy glare and a mumbled I love you too.
She has been working at Destiny(gah, again) for four weeks. She stopped smiling after two and after three she’s replaced the practiced ‘Hello, my name is Michelle. What can I get you?’ with ‘Coffee?’ or ‘Yes?’ or simply nothing but a raised eyebrow. So far there weren’t any complaints. And it’s not like she’d be frowning at people or scowling or something, she’d smile sometimes and her face wasn’t naturally cemented in an expression of annoyance. It’s just that this job took more of her energy than some other where she wouldn’t have to deal with people.
It’s a Saturday morning and she’s spent last night working on her seminar. It wasn’t due for two weeks but she couldn’t make herself stop working on it until it was finished. That meant she’s had only three hours of sleep. She always worked mornings on a Saturday. She liked dealing with responsibilities first thing in the morning and then having later in the day to do what she wanted. It’s been like that since she was a kid. Fist homework, after she came home from school, and then playing.
So, it’s a Saturday and she’s dead tired and the morning rush has just finished and she’s used up her quota of smiles and “Hello, my name is Michelle what can I get you”’s. She has just wiped the floor because it has started raining outside and a couple of customers have brought in the rain with them.
The bell rings then and she looks up and there’s a guy standing in the doorway, dripping wet, clutching what seems to be a laptop bag to his chest.
His hair is plastered to his head and his grey coat is sodden with water, the color almost black. He looks as if he’s absorbed all the water that’s fallen that day and is determined to release it in her coffee house.
Well, it’s not hers, but she’s the one cleaning it and so in a way it is hers! She frowns and has to bite on her lip to stop herself from yelling at him that they’re not a drying room and that he should get a dryer and an umbrella and there are some other words stuck on her tongue that she wants to throw his way, but aren’t suitable for two kids sitting in the corner booth with their mom.
So she says nothing and waits for the confused look on his face to drop.
He looks around as if he didn’t know where he’s walked in and is trying to figure it out. He shakes his head a little, squeezing his eyes for a moment before lightening the grip on the laptop clutched to his chest. He runs a hand through his hair and makes his way towards the counter.
“Hello.”
Michelle only raises an eyebrow in an answer. He’s not really looking at her. His eyes are dancing over the board on the wall right of her head that has daily specials written on it.
And then his eyes settle on her. He blinks fast a couple of times and his mouth drops, just a little, enough so that she can see tips of his upper teeth.
And then he doesn’t say a thing. He closes his mouth and looks at her.
Michelle feels her other eyebrow rising to meet the other one in the ultimate ‘what-do-you-want’ stare down.
“Coffee?” she asks after another second passes.
He nods, stutters out a weak ‘Yes.’ and nods again. She can see his cheeks reddening with blood rushing to his cheeks.
“To go?”
“Yes.”
“Name?”
“Peter.” This time his voice is a bit louder.
She squints at him before turning away and grabbing a black marker to write down his name, but then she looks at him again and as the marker touches down on the cup she changes her minds.
Poseidon
She chuckles, shakes her head and goes over to the coffee machine to get his order ready.
She looks over at him and sighs as she sees him shuffling on his feet.
“I swear, if he’s a nut job and goes rogue on this place I’m moving.” She mumbles to herself before walking to the counter and giving him his order.
“There you go.”
“Thank you.” He nods at her before taking a step back. He looks down at his cup for a second and then does a double take. He looks at her sheepishly before looking around for a table.
“The one under the window has a radiator next to it. You can dry your jacket on it.” She speaks, her voice almost startling him.
“Thank you.” He looks a bit surprised that she said anything. “Sorry for the mess.”
“It’s just water. Don’t worry about it. But next time they say it’s gonna rain on the forecast, bring an umbrella with you.”
He just smiles and raises his cup a little before taking a seat under the window.
***
He comes back the next Saturday.
“Hello.”
“Coffee?” she asks and when she does she thinks she sees blush covering his cheeks as he nods in yes.
He becomes a regular.
Every Saturday he’s there at nine on the dot.
And every Saturday she asks: “Coffee?” and he nods. Somewhere along the line he loses the blush.
They never speak more than a couple of words required for him to place his order. But she always writes anything but his name on the cup. And he always smiles at her after reading it.
Pan-he’s wearing a green jacket and a green hat
Snow White-he’s carrying a bag filled with apples
LEGOlas-he’s got a box of Legos under his arm(he snorts at that one)
He keeps sitting at the booth next to the radiator.
She comes to expect him on Saturday mornings.
A month and a half after his first visit a couple comes in at 8:50 and go over to sit where he usually does. There are three people standing in the line, waiting to order, but when she glances at them and sees where they are going she asks the first person in the line to wait(“Just a moment, please.”) And she walks around the counter and reaches the table just as they are taking of their jackets and are getting ready to sit down.
“I’m sorry, but that table is taken. Can I ask you to, please, sit somewhere else?”
The girl looks at her with raised eyebrow. “There’s no one sitting here.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s… reserved.”
“Well, I don’t see the plate saying it is.”
And it grates on Michelle’s nerves that this girl is ready to fight her on this. And it irks her even more that the girl is right and Michelle doesn’t even know why she’s doing what she’s doing.
She opens her mouth to say something, not even sure what, when the girl’s boyfriend speaks.
“C’mon, honey, we can sit over there, next to the window.” He turns to Michelle then, “We’re sorry to inconvenience you. We didn’t know it was taken.”
Michelle breathes out in relief as they go and takes a second before going back to the counter. She apologizes to the woman in front of her and thanks her for waiting.
Half an hour later, when the couple is leaving, the girl shoots Michelle a look at that tells her they won’t be coming back. She almost regrets doing what she did, but then her eyes find Peter and as she looks at him hunched over the spread papers on the table with a frown on his face and a pen between his teeth, she feels content with what she did.
And if she considers getting a RESERVED plate, no one has to know.
***
One time he comes in with a Harry Potter book under his arm. She sees it while he’s still outside, through the window and a grin spreads over her lips. She doesn’t let him see it, of course. By the time he’s standing in front of her, she’s got the look of boredom on her face.
The marker is already uncapped on the counter next to her hand and only her foot, that’s tapping in an irregular rhythm is an indicator of her excitement.
He’s already turned his back before he stops and turns to look back at her.
He’s grinning and she can’t help it when her eyebrows rise on her forehand and her lips stretch in a small smile.
“Yes?”
“Clever. ”
“Clever is my middle name.” she retorts and he chuckles.
“You’re a fan then?”
“I’ve read all books four times already.”
“This is my fifth.”
“I guess I’ll have to catch up then.” She shoots back and he smiles widely. He opens his mouth to say something, but then a customer comes up to the counter and he goes to sit at his booth.
He waves at her when he leaves that time and she can’t explain the heat at her cheeks as she watches the door close behind him.
At the end of her shift when she’s taking out the trash, his cup catches her eye and she can’t help but smile as she reads her own handwriting.
Pettigrew
***
Pettigrew
Peter doesn’t really know whether to take it as an offence to his, well, everything or as a compliment to his reading choice. But then he turns to look at her and she’s standing there, biting her lip and he sees the expectance in her eyes. So he decides to take it as a compliment and grins at her.
He’s been looking for ways to talk to her, to start up a conversation.
He couldn’t really explain, if anyone asked him, why he kept returning to that cafe at first. He woke up next Saturday, took materials that he needed for studying and was on his way to the library when he passed the café and decided to come in again. The cute girl from last time was working again and he inwardly groaned when he remembered all of his blushing and stuttering from the last time.
She took him by surprise, the first time he came here. He was studying the menu next to her head, not even noticing her at first. And then his eyes flicker to her and he can’t help that his mouth drops a little, because she is gorgeous. Her hair is curly and a couple of strands fell out of the bun on the back of her head. She’s looking expectantly at him, her eyebrow is raised and when she asks if he wants coffee, he just nods, only later, when he’s sitting down and takes a sip, does he remember that he doesn’t like coffee. Still, he drinks all of it and next week, when she asks him the same question, he nods again. And so does he the week after and the week after and the week after.
It turns out Saturday mornings are her shifts and if that has anything to do with prompting him to go there, you can’t hold it against him. The name tag on her uniform says Michelle and he think it fits her, that name. It’s sweet, but at the same time has a sharpness in it. He likes it and judging from the looks she sometimes gives him, it fits.
The week after he comes in reading Harry Potter instead of greeting him with ’Coffee?’, she says: “I caught up.”
He thinks he probably looks a little shocked, surprised she’s talking to him about something other than his order.
“You know, it only counts if you read all seven books.”
“As I said, I caught up.”
He looks at her, squinting a little, doubtful at her statement.
“You’ve read all seven books since last Saturday?”
“What? Like it’s hard?”
He snorts: “See you’re a fan of Legally blond.”
“Not really. I haven’t even seen the entire movie, just the clip.”
“Wow. I think that’s an actual crime in some states.” Maybe it’s the way she’s looking at him, a raised eyebrow, lips pursed, but only a little, but curiosity in her eyes instead of annoyance that makes him say: “I think I might get arrested if I don’t make you to see it.”
“Let me guess, you have it on DVD.”
“Blu-ray but, yeah. Are you free tomorrow?”
“It’s not a date.”
He doesn’t know where he gets the confidence to say what he does instead of blushing furiously, but he manages to say: “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He grins widely and when she turns around to make his coffee, he’s 99.9% sure he sees something akin a smile.
***
He gives her a paper with his address written on it and tells her he’ll see her around 6.
He smiles so wide his cheeks hurt and in return she glares at him and doesn’t stop even after he’s left.
Michelle is pretty sure the funny feeling in her stomach is just hunger.
***