Work Text:
At 2 P.M. Shawn walks into his favorite cafe. He goes there every Sunday to drink a cup of his favorite latte while he works on homework. Usually he doesn’t have much left to do, but it’s a routine he started at the beginning of term and hasn’t stopped since.
He’s been at the cafe for about two hours. When he’s taking a break, stretching his arms and fingers, he sees his friend Hailee walk in. He’s about to call out to her when he realizes she’s not alone. The man holding the door open for her wasn’t just being friendly, he knows her.
Shawn takes in the stranger’s appearance. His hair is dark brown, with scruff of the same color littering the man’s jaw and neck. His outfit is simple; white t-shirt, dark jeans, and brown boots. He takes off the sunglasses he was wearing and hangs them on the collar of his shirt. It’s effortlessly cool and Shawn is impressed.
He’s trying to act casual, but he’s curious. Out of the corner of his eye he sees them order, with the man paying for both of their drinks. He hears Hailee say “Be right back,” and start walking over towards his table. Shawn’s eyes quickly snap back to the assignment he had been working on before he was distracted by the handsome man.
“Hey, Shawn,” Hailee greets him, smiling warmly and sitting down opposite of him at the table.
“Hi, Hails. What are you doing here?” Okay, so maybe he’s fishing for information.
“A friend owed me a coffee,” she shrugs, not answering further.
Shawn opens his mouth to reply back when he’s interrupted by another voice.
“Here you go, Hailee. I gotta head out. I’ll see you soon?” The man’s voice is deep and has an accent. Irish .
Hailee takes her coffee while saying thanks and goodbye to him. Right before he goes to leave, he turns his head and looks right at Shawn, giving him a smile. That simple action makes Shawn’s heart start racing. He wants to say something, anything, but he’s nervous. All he can do is smile in return.
As soon as they’re alone again Hailee is smirking at Shawn.
“What?” He knows for damn sure what but he won’t let her know that.
“Nothing, nothing.” There’s a long, dramatic pause while she sips her coffee. “His name is Niall, by the way.”
It catches him off guard. “I- I wasn’t gonna ask.”
“Okay, okay,” she raises her hands up in surrender. “I won’t say anything else.”
They drop the subject but the image of Niall smiling at him stays burned in his memory the rest of the afternoon.
* * * * *
Shawn feels a little silly. It’s been exactly a week since his first (only) encounter with Hailee’s attractive friend Niall and he hasn’t stopped thinking about him. He’s acting like he’s never had a crush on anyone before, pining away after meeting once.
He hasn’t been at the cafe for very long. His latte is still warm, if that’s saying anything. After finishing up one assignment, he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. As much as he’s trying to stay focused, he can’t say he’s not happy for a little distraction.
Hailee: niall is asking me about you
Eyes opened wide in surprise he quickly texts back.
Shawn: he’s asking what about me? right now?
Hailee: yeah right now, he’s texting me. asked who you were
Hailee: he might’ve mentioned you were cute
Hailee: he possibly asked if you were single and interested in men
Shawn’s trying to steady his heartbeat while taking all this new information in.
Shawn: oh... what’d you tell him?
Hailee: i didn’t wanna say anything you might not want me to say so i texted you before i answered him
Bless her for asking him first. She knows the answers to those questions and doesn’t feel comfortable sharing without asking Shawn first, but he’s definitely okay with Niall knowing.
Shawn: you can tell him yes to single and definitely into guys :)
Hailee: gotcha ;)
What an interesting turn of events. He doesn’t get any further texts from Hailee so he does his best to go back to his studying but he might not get much else done at this point.
* * * * *
Another week has passed which finds Shawn sitting in the cafe. It’s been radio silence from Hailee about the Niall situation. He was hoping she’d text him again with more information.
After finishing up a few assignments Shawn finds himself almost ready to leave. His latte is long gone, as is his patience for his schoolwork. As he’s packing his books up the door opens and in walks Niall.
Shit. Should he acknowledge him? What’s protocol on this? They’ve met once and never even directly spoken to each other. He’s still internally panicking when he sees Niall walk over to where he’s sitting.
“You’re Hailee’s friend, right?”
Shawn runs his hand through his hair self-consciously. “Uh, yeah. I’m Shawn.” He sticks his right hand out for a handshake embarrassing himself right away.
Niall just lets out a laugh and shakes his hand anyway. “I’m Niall. Just wanted to introduce myself and apologize for not saying anything last time I saw you. Realized how rude it seemed after.”
“Nah, I didn’t think it was rude.” Shawn realizes Niall is just standing a bit awkwardly by his table so he blurts out his own apology. “Sorry! I’d ask if you want to join me but I’m actually just about to leave," he rambles. "Now I’m the one being rude."
Niall laughs again; a beautiful sound to Shawn’s ears. “Don’t apologize! I don’t expect you to invite a stranger to sit with you. I was about to leave as well. Just stopped in for a coffee to go.” He lifts up his left hand that’s currently holding his drink. “You can walk out with me, if you’re ready to go now?”
Shawn nods quickly, excited at the thought of getting to talk to Niall more, even if just for a minute or two. He grabs all of his stuff and stands up, realizing for the first time how much taller than the other man he is.
“Shit, you’re a fuckin’ giant.”
Shawn lets out a loud laugh as they make their way to the door. “Yeah, I’m 6’2’’ but I guess you wouldn’t know that since last time you saw me I was sitting down.”
“I would’ve never guessed. No offense,” Niall glances sideways towards him as he says it but Shawn’s not bothered by the comment.
Once they’re standing outside in front of the cafe Niall looks over his shoulder behind himself. “I’m this way,” he says, pointing his thumb in the same direction he just looked.
Shawn smiles ruefully at him, sad at the thought of their conversation ending. “And I’m this way,” he nods his head slightly behind himself, the opposite direction. “It was really great to officially meet you.”
“Yeah, I agree. Maybe I’ll see you around again?” Niall looks hopeful. It makes Shawn’s heart soar.
“I’m here every Sunday,” Shawn tells him, shrugging slightly.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Niall says with a wink. “Have a good rest of your day, Shawn.” With that, he turns and walks down the pavement.
Shawn watches him walk away for a few seconds before calling out, “You too!” Niall turns back slightly, giving him another smile before continuing on his way. The smile on Shawn’s face feels big and goofy. It stays like that all the way home.
* * * * *
Shawn’s positively sweating the next Sunday at the cafe. The last time he saw Niall was the previous week and with the way their conversation ended he had a feeling they’d see each other today. In the half hour he’s been there his eyes have been glued to the door.
Another ten minutes pass and he forces himself to at least get his schoolwork out of his bag. Then if Niall does show up it at least looks like he was attempting to be productive and not just watching the door like a hawk.
He hears as the door chimes, signaling a customer either entering or exiting, but he refuses to lift his head. Even if Niall insinuated that he’d come today it doesn’t mean he actually will. He’s not obligated to come and see me.
“Fancy meeting you here,” a familiar Irish voice says above him. It makes Shawn’s heartbeat speed up and a strangled noise escapes his mouth, clearly caught off guard. He looks up to see Niall standing there, the ever present smile on his face.
“Oh! Hey, didn’t expect to see you here.” But I was hoping you’d come.
Niall shrugs, a bit bashfully. “It’s growing on me.”
“What is?”
“The cafe. The coffee. The people.”
Shawn’s pretty sure they’re both blushing and he’s definitely nervous but he’s not going to let that deter him from asking Niall to sit.
“Wanna join me?” he asks, motioning to the open seat across the table. It’s still early in the afternoon so he’s hoping Niall has more time today.
“I’d love to,” Niall replies, “Just gotta go grab a coffee first.” Shawn didn’t even realize he hadn’t gotten a drink yet. He must’ve came right up to the table when he spotted Shawn.
Once he has his coffee, Niall returns to the table and sits down. The air surrounding them is charged with nervousness. Niall has always seemed completely confident to Shawn but right now he’s acting a bit more subdued.
“So, what were you working on before I interrupted?” Shawn’s actually glad for the question; an easy, safe topic.
From there the conversation flows. They talk about university; Niall has graduated already while Shawn is finishing up his last term this year. ( “I figured you were younger than me. You’re, like, the essence of innocence.” ) Shawn asks him how he ended up in Canada, when he’s so clearly Irish. ( “Just needed a change, I think. My family still lives there so I go and visit when I can, but I love living here.” ) They talk sports. ( “What?! You love golf?! I didn’t know there were people who actually love golf.” “I’ll have you know I’m good at it too.” “Whatever you say, old man.” )
As they continue talking, things get flirtier. Niall complimented Shawn’s thick hair so Shawn leaned his head down for him to touch it. Trying to diffuse his awkwardness from that Shawn decided to compliment Niall’s bright, blue eyes which left them both blushing. After Niall came back from the restroom, he decided to take a seat right next to Shawn, rather than across the table from him. When Shawn asked him why he chose to move seats ( “Not that I mind!”) , Niall just shrugged, smiled, and said “I like this spot better.”
* * * * *
Niall glances down at his phone and cringes.
“You alright?” Shawn tentatively asks.
“I’m fine! I just realized we’ve been here for a few hours. I don’t wanna keep you out any longer than you usually stay.” Niall’s voice is apologetic.
Relieved, Shawn says, “Oh! No. I don’t, like, set a time limit when I come here. It’s just how long it takes me to do some assignments.”
“You didn’t do any assignments,” Niall points out.
“Uh, yeah, well. You were here so…” Shawn blanches. “Not that I didn’t want you to be here! I had a lot of fun. Am having a lot of fun.”
Niall laughs his sweet laugh and lays a hand down on Shawn’s thigh. “Don’t worry. I knew what you meant. And since we’re both having a good time, how do you feel about going back to mine? We could order some takeaway and maybe watch a movie?”
“Yes! Absolutely, I’d love that! Let me just-” Shawn quickly jumps up and starts shoving his stuff into his bag. Niall grabs a few papers that were near him and gives them to Shawn, their fingers brushing slightly.
Shawn starts to stutter words out, but Niall doesn’t give him time to get more nervous. Instead he smiles at him and quietly says, “Let’s go.”
As they reach the front door to the cafe they both stop short. “Well, shit,” Niall curses loudly. “I didn’t know it started raining.”
Shawn doesn’t mention the fact they were sitting next to the window and neither of them realized, too engrossed in each other to notice.
Niall continues, “My flat is only a few minutes away. Wanna risk it?”
He doesn’t want the rain to hinder their plans so he nods, “Let’s risk it.”
They walk out into the rain, which isn’t as bad as it looked, and start their way towards Niall’s flat. A comfortable silence falls between them. Their hands bump together a few times making Shawn glance sideways at Niall, whose cheeks are a bit pink. If he was more confident he’d grab Niall’s hand.
“Just another block after we turn this corner,” Niall tells him, breaking their silence. Shawn nods but doesn’t reply. He’s realizing how nervous he is again. His internal panicking distracts him from noticing the large puddle on the sidewalk.
“Woah,” Niall's voice cuts into his thoughts as he grabs Shawn’s hand and pulls them both to a stop. “Probably don’t want to walk in that.” Niall gently guides him around the water and they continue on their way.
Except… they’re still holding hands; a simple cupping on the palms. Shawn, determined to not let his anxiety get the better of him, laces their fingers together. He quickly glances at Niall, only to see a small smile gracing his face.
The rest of their walk goes by quickly. Niall, still holding his hand, leads him up a few flights of stairs until they’re standing at his door. Shawn reluctantly lets go to allow him to use his key. He’s nervously playing with the strap of his bag and he’s pretty sure he’s sweating through his shirt, not that you’d be able to tell after being in the rain.
Niall opens the door and gestures for Shawn to enter first but he seems to be stuck in place.
“You alright?” Niall asks, concerned.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m just-” Shawn takes a deep breath. “I’m nervous. Like, completely nervous.” Niall opens his mouth but Shawn keeps talking. “I know I haven’t known you a long time but I really like you, which makes me get so completely nervous .”
Niall reaches out towards him and gently takes his hand again. “I like you too. You don’t have to come in if you don’t want to. I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. I can always give you my number and we can plan something else when you’re ready.”
Shawn tangles their fingers together once again. “I’m nervous, yes, but I do want to spend time with you.”
“If you’re ready,” Niall says, smiling.
Shawn squeezes Niall’s hand before heading into his flat.
“I’m ready."