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“Tay, check out the floral goth guy who just walked in,” Magnus piped up over the noise of the espresso machines in Dav’s Cafe. Taako looked up from the latte art he’d fucked up three different times and nearly dropped the mug in his hands as he locked eyes with the young man who had come through the door of the coffee shop. The young man had a black floral button up, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and several tattoos that Taako couldn’t make out from the distance across the cafe. And from what he could see, he knew this man was the most beautiful man he’d ever seen with his chiseled cheekbones, long braids, and absolutely adorable slightly nervous expression. He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks and knew the man could see his flustered face. Dear god he was cute. “Holy shit, are you blushing ?!” Magnus’ grin was evident in his tone of voice, causing Taako to turn away from the counter to glare at Magnus, his face still flushed and pink.
“Shut the fuck up,” he muttered, taking a deep breath before scraping off the foam from the top of the latte he was working on, resuming his attempt to make a flower. He heard footsteps nearing and shot a glance over his shoulder to see what the guy looked like up close and nearly lost his mind right there. The tattoos that he couldn’t quite make out before were now clearly multicolored floral patterns wrapping up his arms, and his nervous expression was now replaced by a charming smile as he walked up to the counter.
“Hey bud, how can I help ya?” Magnus walked over to the cash register as Taako tried not to blatantly listen to their conversation. Lup walked out of the back room, a tray of freshly glazed lemon scones in her grasp. Taako looked over to her, then immediately regretted it, realizing she could read his expression like an open book. A small smirk spread across her face as she mouthed “him?” and gestured toward the register. Taako nodded sheepishly and she snorted, elbowing him playfully as she walked past, tray still in hand.
“Mocha with extra whip over here, Tay!” Magnus handed the empty to-go cup to Taako, who turned it over to read the name. The guy didn’t seem like a “Lily,” but Taako wasn’t gonna ask questions. He made the drink easily, making sure not to make any more eye contact for fear that he’d drop the cup and have to start over. He slid it across the counter and gave “Lily” the most charismatic smile he could muster in his flustered state.
“Here you go, “Lily,” I hope that’s enough whip for you.” The man let out what seemed like a nervous laugh as he picked up the cup, their fingertips barely brushing across each other in the process.
“That’s uh… It’s not really my name, I just kinda panicked and gave your friend the first thing to pop into my head.” He toyed with one of his braids, biting down on his lip. “I-I work across the street and I work with flowers, so they were on my mind and lily came out first… Shit, I’m rambling,” he took a deep breath. Taako cracked a genuine smile, leaning against the counter slightly.
“Guess you’ll just have to come back tomorrow morning for coffee to give me the right name, huh?” He saw Flower Guy’s eyes light up as he nodded his head, taking the first sip of his coffee.
“Right, tomorrow. I’ll see you three then, I guess.” He set the coffee down for a moment to fish a few bucks out of his pocket to drop into the tip jar before turning to leave the shop. The second Flower Guy crossed the street, Lup let out a cackle, doubling over in laughter.
“Oh my god Taako, your future boyfriend is the biggest dork I’ve ever seen in my life,” she washed her hands in the sink before pulling her gloves back on to reach into the pastry case. “And I’m dating an astrophysics major who doesn’t know how to act when he doesn’t get out of the lab for a hot sec!”
“I swear I’ve never been this affected by any guy before!” He hopped up onto the back counter, violating multiple health codes in the process. “But then mister flower name just had to walk in and be all handsome!” He covered his face with his hands, groaning at how much of a dumbass he’d been. And even with all of Lup and Magnus’ teasing throughout the day, Taako just couldn’t wait for the next day to see the flower guy once more.
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Over the next week, Flower Guy came back in every morning, but still hadn’t given Taako his real name. It became a game between them, with him giving names like Dahlia, Marigold, Rose, and Azalea. And Taako was growing restless with every day. His weekend was coming up and he was hoping to take this guy out to dinner by the end of it. Magnus, Lup, and Taako were sitting at the tables one morning before the cafe opened, working on his game plan.
“If he doesn’t give it to you today, are you just gonna leave it at that and hope he comes back in two days?” Magnus toyed with the paper straw wrapper in his hands, sipping his iced tea. “Or are you gonna barricade the doors until he gives you his name?”
“That’s some shady serial killer behavior, Mags,” Taako snorted. “I’m just gonna have a napkin in my apron with my number on it that I’ll tuck into the sleeve of his stupid mocha with extra whip.” He stretched out, grabbing a nearby chair to accommodate his feet.
“Clearly the guy’s into you,” Lup chimed in, somehow keeping her balance as she sat on the back of the chair, her feet planted on the seat as if it were a totally normal sitting position for a person also chugging a collection of espresso shots at an alarming rate. “I think he’s just nervous about asking you out and is buying time to make his own plans with the plethora of flower names, y’know?”
“God, I sure hope so bc seeing his dumb grin every morning is sending me through the fucking roof,” Taako picked a few pieces off of his vanilla scone, which was perched precariously on his lap, and sprinkled them into his mouth, blatantly ignoring the pile of crumbs on his chest as he sunk lower to lounge across the two chairs. “I know he’s unbuttoning his shirt more and more every day on purpose.” Taako sprayed crumbs from his mouth before Lup’s phone went off, the alarm signaling that they needed to open up the shop. The three of them cleaned up their respective messes, Magnus yelling out a famous nba player’s name as he threw his empty cup into the trash and missed. As Lup unlocked the door and flipped the sign to signal that the shop was open, Taako climbed up onto a ladder to fill the dark roast machine with more coffee beans.
“Oh, hey flower guy!” Lup called out, causing Taako to nearly fall off the ladder as he spun around, then glared at his sister as she cackled over the empty coffee shop.
“Not funny, Lulu! Your sweet twin brother almost died over here!” He climbed off of the ladder, his brows furrowed in annoyance.
“You gotta admit, that was really good.” Lup grinned before sticking her tongue out at him as she vaulted over the counter. “Relax, ‘Ko. He’ll probably be by at eight like he has been the last five days,” she washed her hands, then adjusted her apron. “And it’s six am. You’ve got some time before he heads in.”
The next two hours felt like an eternity of Taako nervously writing and rewriting his number on various napkins, trying to make it the most legible for when the flower guy came in. Every time the bell above the door rang, Taako’s head snapped up and he was disappointed at every person that wasn’t him. Even Lup’s boyfriend stopped by, and Taako had to explain why he made intense eye contact with him when he came into the shop while pulling out the almond milk for Barry’s usual coffee. Around 8:30, the bell above the door rang once more and Taako looked up to finally see Flower Guy walking in looking more casual than he had the rest of the week. Even in a black tee and a yellow jacket with his braids now pulled up into a bun on his head, Taako was still floored by his appearance. He waved a little, cracking a smile as he walked up to the counter.
“Hey, great to see you! Normal order, mocha with extra whip?” Magnus had already pulled out a to-go cup, his sharpie prepped to write another flora-related name on it.
“Yeah, funny you remember after only a week,” he chuckled.
“What’s on your shirt, Flower Guy?” Magnus gestured to his black tee, where words were forming the shape of a bird.
“Oh, it’s uh… It’s really stupid.” He laughed nervously. “It’s the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe, but it’s in the shape of a raven… Like in the poem.”
“Nerd alert!” Lup called out from the back in a singsong voice, causing Flower Guy to let out a laugh.
“The name for it is Kravitz, by the way.” He shoved his hands into his pockets somewhat nervously. “Truth be told, I don’t even work today. I just wanted to stop by and see… You all.” He made eye contact with Taako, looking slightly flustered.
“Kravitz… What the fuck kinda flower name is that?” Taako took the cup as Magnus handed it over. Flower Guy laughed a little, walking over towards Taako’s side of the counter after paying for his drink.
“That’s uh… Actually my name.” He grimaced slightly. Taako immediately felt the heat rising in his cheeks in embarrassment, ducking his head down to put the whipped cream on top of the drink.
“Oh, right. Um, here you go, Krav.” Taako handed him the cup, scrambling to pull out one of the napkins from his apron pocket. He took a deep breath, regaining his confidence as he slid it across the counter. “Here’s this too.” Kravitz picked up the napkin, scanning it before grinning and tucking it into his own pocket.
“Well, there goes my next question. I’ll text you later so we can discuss dinner tomorrow, okay Taako?” Kravitz gave him a small wink, sending Taako’s heart racing. “What’s your favorite type of flower? I can swing by work and make you a little bouquet beforehand.”
“What about… Lilies?” Taako smiled at him, calling back to the beginning of the week.
“Sounds perfect. I’ll see you all later!” Kravitz waved to them all before walking out of the coffee shop. Taako let out a deep breath, then was taken aback as Lup tackled him into a hug, punching his arm playfully.
“You fucking did it, Taako! Now you can actually focus on your job so Dav doesn’t fire you for being too lovestruck and incompetent.” Lup snorted.
“C’mon, Cap’nport would never fire us.” Magnus piped up. “One, we’re good at covering up our bad work habits, and two, he loves us.”
“You gotta agree with Magnus,” Taako pointed out, laughing a little. “I’m gonna go scream in the fridge for a sec to get this pent up gay energy out, then I’ll be back to be the most kickass barista this little shop has ever seen.” He shot them a few finger guns before running to the back, quickly scrambling to pull out his phone to see if Kravitz had texted him in the last five minutes. The notification on his phone caused a grin to spread across his face as he leaned against the wall to begin texting, relieved to at least know his name this time. Lup was going to torment him for the rest of the day, but Taako wasn’t bothered in the slightest. He got a cute guy’s name and number after a week, and this was all he needed to be happy until their date tomorrow.