Chapter Text
There was a war, a war between kingdoms. Both kingdoms knew the secret Princess Catriona, daughter of King Edward of Frevith , had hidden from the rest. She had magic. An imprecation that she was born with. She promised she would only utilize magic for good but King Andrew of Thadrith does not believe her word. His fear of magic had taken over his rational thoughts. He expeditiously sent out his knights to kill the princess for the safety of both kingdoms.
King Edward was terribly worried for his daughter’s safety. He tried consulting King Andrew but the guards would not let him enter the castle. The king then commanded the Knights of Frevith to forfend the princess and ascertain that no one would enter her chambers.
Jackson, leader of all knights, had sworn to protect the princess but failed. Crimson blood covered her chamber floors, leaving a metallic smell that had filled her chambers. The curtains were burning and the glass windows had shattered. As he surveyed the room, the unsettling image of a sword stabbed through the princess’s abdomen distressed him. His eyes glistened with tears as he ran towards the princess. He slowly knelt down beside the princess’s body and cried silently around all his dead friends. He failed his duty. He covered his face with his palms to hide his shame, suddenly sobbing over the princess’s lifeless body
“Jackson, look out!” Max screeched as he rushed to Jackson, shielding him from the knight of Thadrith. As the sword pierced through his back, Max looked at Jackson with a pained expression and whispered his name. His face turned pale as blood gushed out of his chest, staining his polished chain mail. He gradually fell to the side as his legs had weakened.
Jackson caught his arm before Max fully collapsed and placed him on his lap very gently. The knight that stabbed Max had fainted as he had lost too much blood from the fight. Jackson then supported Max’s neck tenderly and looked at him with an agonizing gaze. Max smiled softly as he studied Jackson’s face. His eyes traveled down slowly from Jackson’s shimmering eyes, to his pink and soft lips.
“Jack, I- “
Max suddenly woke up covered in sweat. He placed the back of his hand on his forehead to check his body temperature. He lifted his blanket away from his legs, desperately trying to cool down his body. He kept having the same nightmare where he died protecting a knight named Jackson. However, he had never met anyone named Jackson. All he could remember of Jackson was his name as his appearance in his dream was very foggy. He tried to ignore the recurring nightmare as he stepped out of his bed. his legs slowly dragged his fatigued body towards the bathroom.
“I keep having the same nightmare and I’ve tried taking sleeping pills but it doesn’t help” Max sighs as he added the coffee grounds into the coffee maker.
“Maybe the ghost of Jackson is haunting your house?” Zackery joked as he elbowed Max, causing him to jolt from his touch.
“That’s impossible and aren’t you supposed to handle the cashier?” Kristen asked as she glared at Zackery.
“Maybe you are just too tired from working here all day? I know this is your coffeeshop but you still need rest. I don’t mind switching shifts with you, ya know” she added
Max smiled at her softly to thank her for her concern. He was lucky to have a friend like her. He then handed the cup of coffee to the customer at the counter. As he thanked the customer for visiting, he noticed another customer entered as the bell on the door rang. When he focused his attention towards the customer who was across the shop’s counter, his face turned a light shade of pink and his heart started to beat a little faster.
“Guys, he’s here!!” Max squealed. Max was slightly ashamed for having crush on a regular customer that however, doesn’t buy anything from his shop. That customer would only sit near the glass panel and sketch those who passed by the shop. As he pulled the chair out from under the table, sunlight from outside the glass panel shone on his hair, causing it to look golden brown like some greek god.
Max never interacted with him before and said that he never will. All he could do was admire his facial structure from the counter while he makes coffee or tea because he was afraid that he would embarrass himself in front of the customer.
“You should go talk to him dude! Also, stop drooling, it’s disgusting,” Zackery joked. Zackery knew that Max was gay since high school and he never had a problem with Max being gay. Zackery was really supportive, sometimes a little too supportive.
“Come on, talk to him or say hi at least. Go offer him a slice of the chocolate cake, on the house.”
“Why? Even though he is a regular customer, he doesn’t buy anything from here.”
Zackery forces the plate into Max’s hands and pushed him towards the table of the regular customer. Before Max could deny the cake, he found himself stumbling closer to his customer. Max was grateful for having a helpful friend but Zackery is too helpful.
Thoughts suddenly filled his mind. ‘What if he doesn’t want company? What if he is straight? Wait, my hair is in a mess. I don’t want him to see me like this!’
When he cleared his thoughts to mentally prepare himself, he found the customer staring right at him.
“Hi?”
“Uh hi, I- I’m Maxwell...but you can call me Max. My friends call me Max, unless you don’t want to be my friend... Umm my parents named me Maxwell because it m-“
“Hi Max, I’m Jackson.” Jackson smiled. Max’s heart pounded harder at Jackson sweet smile. His hand was trembling slightly as he tried to place the plate onto Jackson’s table. He was nervous to make eye contact with Jackson’s deep blue eyes. After placing the plate on the table, he fiddled with the hem of his apron, shuffling his feet while he waited for Jackson to take bite of the cake.
“I didn’t order this.” Jackson pointed his finger towards the cake, wondering if he actually did.
“It’s on the house, for being a regular customer!” Zackery noted from behind Max. Zackery poked Max’s back before he walked back to the counter to help Kristen. Max looked towards Zackery and frowned, mouthing ‘fuck you’ to him. Zackery just gave him a thumbs up for wishing him good luck.
Jackson picked up his fork and used it to cut off the little corner piece of the cake. When he took a bite, his eyes widened in awe. The cake was moist, rich in flavour and the chocolate cream between the cake layers compliments the fluffiness of the cake. While he was enjoying the delicious desert, he noticed that Max is still standing in front of him. As he looked up towards Max, the sunlight from outside the glass panel shone on his face perfectly, pointing out the freckles on his face.
Max was still looking at his feet, unable to comprehend the situation. He tried to think of sentences to say but his words were stuck in his throat.
“This is really delicious! I can’t believe i didn’t buy anything here!” Max looked up from his feet, staring at the chocolate cake. He didn’t reciprocate Jackson’s gaze because if he did he would have fainted. As he processes Jackson’s compliments, his face glowed red scarlet in a subtle way. He slowly brushed his wavy brown hair towards the back of his head with his scrawny fingers as he gained courage to face Jackson.
“T-thanks.” He huffed out his appreciation, relieved that he didn’t manage to make a fool of himself in front of Jackson. As he stood in front of Jackson, he did not know what to do at that moment. He couldn’t choose between staying with Jackson to chat with him or help Zackery an Kristen at the counter. He snapped out of his thoughts when the bell on the door rang as more customers step into the coffee shop, alerting him that he needed to attend other customers and assist his colleagues.
When he turned to look at the door behind him, he saw a group of rowdy teenagers stroll into the shop, blasting music from their speakers that was dangling onto a backpack. Max hated teenagers even though he used to be one, maybe he really just hated the ‘teenager phase’. Teenagers had such weird fashion sense where one wears a long sleeve striped shirt under a black large t-shirt with an old rock band’s name, tucking it in their black ripped jeans and chains dangling from it’s denim pocket.
“Oh shit, i sound like a boomer” He whispered to himself as a realization hit him. He sighed and shook his head slightly at the disappointment of his own thought. He hated boomers. Their ignorant trait annoyed him badly because boomers always say that millennials have an easy life as compared to theirs.
“I’m sorry i have to go and help my friends, we can chat later? If that’s what you want, i mean i don’t mind if you don’t want to chat cos you are busy sketching stuff and being beautiful as al-...” Max’s eyes were wide all of a sudden when the word ‘beautiful’ played in his head repeatedly. He stared at Jackson’s startled face as Jackson grin from ear to ear, glancing back at Max with twinkling eyes and dilated pupils.