Work Text:
“You know…” Santana sidles up to Kurt as he’s clocking out for lunch, “baristas can date other baristas.”
“Um… ok? I don’t know what this has to do with lunch, but thanks for the information,” Kurt answers. He doesn’t understand Santana most of the time, even though she is one of his favorite shift supervisors.
“I just thought you would want to know, ya know, since you spend half your shifts staring at Blaine instead of doing your job,” Santana smirks. “I thought it would be helpful.”
Kurt’s eyes widen and his cheeks start burning, quickly turning around to make sure Blaine can’t hear them. Blaine’s in the middle of a conversation with one of their regulars, the one who doesn’t stop talking unless the barista is literally dragged away by a shift, so Kurt thinks they’re safe. Blaine turns toward the bar when he hears a sticker printing, maintaining his conversation (or really, keeping up his “mmm’s” and “yeah’s” while the regular keeps up the steady stream of words). His head turns while grabbing a steam pitcher, catching Kurt’s eye. Blaine flashes a small smile, less enthusiastic than he uses with customers, but, as Kurt’s learned, much more genuine. Kurt smiles back, his blush returning. Santana clears her throat next to him, smirking harder than before.
“I’m going on my lunch, I’m not on the clock, leave me alone,” Kurt says as he brushes past. Sometimes Kurt decides to grab lunch from one of the food carts near the store, but Santana already took up part of his thirty minutes, so he picks up the last chicken caprese panini and walks up the register where Mercedes is waiting.
“Hey Kurt, anything to drink with that?” Mercedes scans the sandwich’s barcode, looking back up to Kurt.
“I think I’ll just have water right now, thanks.” Kurt recites his partner number, thanking Mercedes and walking to the back of house.
“Kurt!” Kurt stops, looking over at Blaine, who has been freed from his conversation. “I have that water for you.” Blaine hands over his water and a straw, their hands brushing as Kurt grabs it.
“Thanks so much,” Kurt says, hoping his swooning is unnoticeable.
“Of course, have a great lunch!” Blaine smiles, lingering for just a moment. As Kurt smiles back, he sees Santana grinning at him from where she’s refilling the espresso beans. Kurt continues to the table in the back, sitting down with a thud. He has a moment of peace before Mercedes walks back with his sandwich.
“If you don’t make a move soon, I might have to make a move just so something happens in this damn store,” Mercedes laughs, picking up her water cup and taking a sip. “Really boy, you two going out isn’t gonna happen on its own. Somebody’s gotta make a move, and I nominate you.”
“Number one, why do you have any say in ‘nominating’ me, and two, why is everyone suddenly so invested?” Kurt rolls his eyes, taking a bite of his sandwich and immediately regretting it because how do these sandwiches get so damn hot? He gingerly chews, taking a sip of water once he’s done.
“Because we’ve had to deal with this sexual tension for months, and we just want you both to be happy! This place can take it out of you, but we’d all be in a better mood if we knew you guys were together.” They both turn when they hear Santana call for Mercedes, telling her there’s someone up front. “You should do something soon, I have a good feeling about it,” she says as she pushes through to the front of house.
Kurt shakes his head, trying to clear his head enough to finish his sandwich with the fifteen minutes he has left on break. I guess I could try to ask him out tonight, we both close. But it’ll be midnight by that time, that’s so late, Kurt mulls. We both work tomorrow, I’ll ask him then. Kurt nods his head, taking a deep breath and promising to himself that tomorrow is the day.
———
At 11:30pm, Santana follows the last customer to the door, telling them to have a good night. She pulls out her keys and locks the door, letting out a large sigh once it’s locked.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I work a mid shift tomorrow and I want enough sleep tonight, so let’s get out of here fast.” She starts opening the registers, stacking them up. “I’m gonna start all my money shit, you guys know what to do.”
“Do you want to do dishes, or work out front?” Kurt asks, dumping the last of the brewed coffee.
“I don’t have a preference, so whatever you’d like,” Blaine says, dumping the sanitizer cubes from the bar.
Kurt smiles, “I really don’t care, I’m fine with either.” Blaine is about to respond when Santana yells from the back, “I’ll chose for you if you guys don’t start in the next five seconds!” They both smile sheepishly, Blaine ducking his head for a second, before looking back up at Kurt from beneath his eyelashes.
“I’ll go start dishes,” Blaine says, taking two tea pitchers with him. Kurt starts to round up everything that needs to go back, taking a few trips to hand it all to Blaine. Once that’s done, Kurt realizes he needs the vacuum, which is on a shelf right next to Blaine.
“Um, I’m just gonna-I gotta get through, sorry,” Kurt mumbles, brushing past Blaine as he shuffles over to the shelf. He grabs the vacuum, trying to shuffle back with the new bulk in his hands. As he transfers the vacuum between his hands, it bumps up against Blaine’s leg. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Kurt says, placing his hand on Blaine’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it,” Blaine says, his eyes slightly wider than usual. Kurt takes his hand back, shuffling away faster than before. As he vacuums the beans out of the espresso machine, Kurt thinks about how nice it was to touch Blaine’s back, how warm he was under his black polo. He doesn’t realize he’s been vacuuming the same machine for minutes on end until Santana walks out to open the safe.
“You think that’s clean enough? You might want to start pilling the machine,” Santana deadpans, that damn smirk settling on her face. Kurt comes back to himself, turning off the vacuum and inserting the cleaning pills and pressing rinse. Blaine walks out of the back, holding the clean pour-over gear.
“Dishes are done, I just have to put them back and that’s done,” Blaine says.
“That’s great, I’m just finishing this up, and then I’m gonna drop tips and we can go,” Santana says from the floor in front of the safe.
“Here, let me help you finish that up,” Kurt says following Blaine to the back.
Once all the dishes are put back and the safe is closed, the three head to the back to pick up their bags and aprons. Santana leads the way out, setting the alarm and corralling Kurt and Blaine out of the store before the alarm goes off.
“Well, I’ll see you boys tomorrow,” Santana waves and makes her way to the subway, winking at Kurt before turning the corner out of sight.
“That was a pretty good close,” Kurt says, not quite willing to walk away yet. “I think we work well together.” He looks up from where he’s staring at the sidewalk to see Blaine’s cheeks start to redden.
“Yeah, I really like working with you, Kurt… I’m glad we both work tomorrow, too,” Blaine says, that small but genuine smile brightening his face.
“Yeah….” Kurt thinks back to his lunch break, when he said he was going to ask Blaine out tomorrow. But now that they’re standing here, he doesn’t want to wait. He’s spent months mooning over Blaine, and now his head is finally catching up to his heart. “Bla—“
“Kurt, do you want to go on a date with me?” Blaine blurts out, smile gone, nervousness radiating from him. “Not right now, of course, it’s midnight and we work tomorrow. Or yes right now, if that works for you, I don’t mind. And of course, you can say no, we do work together and it could get awkwa—“ His nervous rambling is cut off by Kurt, who’s mouth is now on Blaine’s, giving him a chaste but hopeful kiss. They pull back from each other, both with silly grins on their faces.
“Blaine, you took the words out of my mouth. I would love to go on a date with you. Dinner, tomorrow after work?” Kurt can barely talk, his smile taking up so much space.
“That’s sounds perfect,” Blaine smiles, leaning up and meeting Kurt halfway for another small kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yes, tomorrow,” Kurt squeezes Blaine’s hand, waving as Blaine walks in the opposite direction of Kurt’s subway station. Once Blaine is around the corner, Kurt turns, pressing his hand into his cheek. He knows Santana and Mercedes are both going to be ecstatic when they figure out, but for now, Kurt walks home, a smile on his face and Blaine’s smile on his mind.