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Coffee. It was Satan’s brew. The stuff was black and bitter and no amount of cream, sugar, or how you flavored it could make up for the awful taste. Not to mention the horrible after taste that seemed to linger hours after you’ve taken your last sip. Plain and simple coffee was disgusting and no matter how you argued your case Keith was never going to change his mind on this.
So today, Keith trudged through the cold streets bundled in a layer of thick scarves, hoodie, coat, gloves, and hat for coffee. He truly did despise the stuff but he was exhausted. He had been working non-stop for the past week at the hospital in the children’s cancer ward. The kids were all fighting off horrible colds from their already weakened immune systems and several nurses were out with the flu. He had been pulling double shifts for the past five days to help cover the open shifts on less than five hours of sleep at night. And it seemed as if coffee might be his only hope. No matter how many 5-hour energy shots he took, no matter how many monsters or red-bulls he drank, no caffeinated cola was giving him that much needed boost of energy.
Keith stopped in front of a small coffee shop aptly named “Mama’s coffee”. The outside was cutesy and it looked like the typical cookie-cutter version of every other coffee shop on every other street. But several of his co-workers swore that this was the best place in town and it was on his way to work so he decided to brave the elements and the horrible taste of coffee in the hopes of finding something, anything really, that would get him through this last 12 hour stretch before he was off for three glorious days.
The first thing Keith noticed when he walked into the coffee shop was blessed warmth. It was welcomed after the two block trek in the -10˚ cold of Boston. The second thing he noticed was the menu. It was like a whole other language on the board with weird combinations and words that he had absolutely no idea what they meant much less how to pronounce some of it. What the hell was a Venti Mocha Chai Latte Swirled Espresso supposed to be anyway?
Keith was pulled from his intense study of the menu when there was some muffled conversation from the back of the store. Keith was never one for foreign languages but he thought he heard a few words in Spanish and then English. That last part was definitely English as a door swung open and a loud voice, “Yes Mama! I heard the bell. I’m going right now!”
Keith felt his stomach swoop as if it was going 100 miles an hour on a roller coaster, his heart began beating at an irregular beat and, his face began to heat up as the person that the voice belonged to emerged from the back. Keith felt his mouth go dry because the guy in front of him was beautiful. He was the epitome of summer with his tanned skin and ocean blue eyes. He even smelled like vanilla and sea salt. And then the bronzed god turned and blessed Keith with a 1,000 megawatt smile and Keith’s body betrayed him. He could only watch as Mr. Beautiful’s voice became muffled and his face shifted into one of concern and then alarm. He wasn’t aware of what was happening as the guy launched himself over the counter or the fact that his own knees had turned to jelly and his vision was going spotty. And then everything went black.
Keith came to in a state of confusion. There was some shouting going on, an incessant ringing and vibrating from one of his pockets, and he was resting against a very nice smelling chest. Keith tried to peel his eyes open but it took a large amount of effort. When he finally managed to focus on his surroundings he was staring into the blue eyes of the bronzed coffee god and his mind caught up to his predicament; he passed out and was being cradled in the arms of a very handsome guy. He felt heat creeping onto his cheeks and he was being shifted as a woman’s voice came from nearby.
“Lance, take his coat off. He’s getting over heated and we don’t want him passing out again.”
Keith’s brain was malfunctioning. He wasn’t even able to help take off his own coat but it seemed like he wasn’t expected to help. He tried to move when he heard his phone ringing again but he could only watch as the woman who had been speaking fished around in his coat pocket and promptly began speaking to whoever was on the other end of the phone.
Keith just stared at her retreating form, “My phone.”
Cute coffee guy, whose name seemed to be Lance spoke, “Hey it’s ok. Mama’s just gonna talk to whoever is on the other end and find someone to come get you.”
Lance’s mom came back with a wet cloth that she handed to Lance and a calculating look on her face, “You know Adam? He says he’s one of your guardians. He says your work called because you didn’t show up.”
Keith sighed as the coolness of the cloth touched the back of his neck and nodded, “Yea he’ll probably call Shiro.”
Keith watched as Lance’s mom walked away still talking on his phone to Adam apparently. He didn’t even care that she mentioned his work. Instead he slumped bonelessly against the nice smelling chest and tried to close his eyes, until he felt a hand carefully push his hair from his forehead and the vibrations against his face as Lance began to speak, “Hey, you doing ok there?”
Keith shifted a bit to look up and his embarrassment hit full force once again, “Oh god, I fainted.”
“Hey! No! It’s ok. Look we didn’t have any other customers and mama locked the door and closed up. She won’t let anyone in unless it’s someone coming to get you. I promise no one else saw you faint.”
Keith looked away. At this point his cheeks were probably going to be a permanent flush after today, “No one except you.”
Lance just shrugged but Keith noticed a smirk on his face, “I won’t tell anyone you fell for the cute guy in the coffee shop if you don’t want me to.”
Keith choked on air. He couldn’t deny it because the truth was he would bet his life that he actually swooned over some Greek Adonis like a little Disney princess and promptly passed out after. There was no redeeming himself from this. And once Adam and Shiro get all the information his life was going to be doomed. He would never hear the end of it.
Lance was helping Keith to sit up and concernedly patting his back in an attempt to ease his coughing when Adam came in. He knelt next to Lance and gently grabbed Keith’s face with his hands, “You okay kiddo?”
Keith nodded, “I’m fine Adam.”
He let Adam pull him into his arms, “You scared me. I didn’t know what to think when some random lady answered your phone and said you passed out. Shiro’s on his way as well. We’re gonna take you to the hospital to make sure you’re okay.”
Keith huffed against Adam’s chest. He knew better than to argue with him when he got all protective. Instead he just mumbled against the soft fabric of Adam’s sweater, “I told you I’m fine.”
Two hours later Keith was being shuffled into bed by an overprotective Shiro and Adam. The prognosis was exhaustion, over exertion from work and too much caffeine. He would be fine after a good night’s sleep which meant neither Shiro nor Adam would let him out of bed for his entire time off. He was almost asleep when he sat straight up in bed. Shiro was next to him in an instant, “Keith, you need to sleep. Whatever it is can wait.”
“No, I just remembered I left my coat and my phone at that coffee shop.”
Shiro pushed him back into his bed. “I know. Adam is going back for them now.”
With that Keith finally allowed himself to succumb to sleep. When he woke up many hours later his phone was on the night stand next to his bed. He grabbed it and saw a text from an unknown number.
Lance M: I hope you’re not mad but I hacked your phone. I’m the cute guy from the coffee shop and wanted to know if you maybe wanted to go out sometime. If not it’s cool. Either way I hope you’re feeling better.
Keith promptly dropped his phone on his face and felt his heart threaten to beat out of his chest. His first thought was to chuck his phone across the room but that meant he would have to eventually get out of bed to get it from wherever it landed. He stared at the message for several minutes before he finally got his shit together.
Keith K: I would like that. What did you have in mind?
Not even seconds later Keith watched as three dots appeared on his screen to let him know Lance was texting back.
Lance M: Well there’s this great coffee shop….. ;)
Keith turned and buried his face in his pillow. Maybe, just maybe, coffee isn’t so bad after all.