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Bianca’s Bistro is one of Carlos’s favorite places on earth.
He’s known Bianca since he was 7; as his oldest sister’s best friend, she’s practically part of the family. When she decided to open a small coffee shop in Austin after college, it became his favorite after-school hangout while he waited for his mom to get off work. The place has its rush periods, typically in the early afternoon when everyone gets out of school and needs a quick caffeine fix, but for the most part it’s calm and quiet. Carlos will sometimes spend entire evenings sitting at a table in the back corner, working on homework while sipping on the best Mexican hot chocolate in the city.
When he finally turned 16, Carlos begged Bianca to let him start working at the cafe, and she easily agreed. Now, after almost a year, he’s totally at ease with his job. He comes in right after school four days a week, immediately jumping up to the barista station to start filling orders as the afternoon crowd floods in. Later, when it’s died down a bit, he’ll work on homework in between serving customers. It’s a routine, one that brings him a lot of comfort.
What he’s absolutely not expecting is a disruption to his routine in the form of TK Strand.
TK is a new student at Austin High this year, and he and Carlos share a few classes. For months, Carlos has watched the New York City transplant settle into the very different world of Texas, finding friends quickly and easily. TK has a magnetic energy about him, one that draws people in, and Carlos is no exception. It doesn’t help that they both play for the same team, a fact that he unwillingly learned while attending Homecoming last fall. While he may not have had a boyfriend to go with, instead tagging along with his co-worker and friend Iris, TK showed up to the late-September dance with his long-distance boyfriend from back home. Carlos still remembers the minor heartbreak that he felt at watching his new crush happily dance with someone else.
Since then, he’s learned a bit more about TK. They worked together on a science project at the end of the semester, spending hours at Bianca’s, their work covering multiple tables as they focused on their notes. Carlos quickly discovered that TK, in addition to being really hot, is smart and funny, and really, really kind. All of their extra time together only enhanced Carlos’s initial feelings, his heart jumping whenever he looked into TK’s bright green eyes across the table, or watched him bite his bottom lip as he thought deeply about a question for their report. It certainly didn’t help when TK mentioned his updated relationship status, casually throwing out how being single was so much easier than trying to figure out a long-distance relationship in between sips of coffee.
By the time January rolls around, Carlos thinks that he may be well on his way to falling in love with TK Strand, and while that thought makes him feel a little ridiculous, he can’t help it. He just wants to be around him all the time, and though he’s too nervous to say it, he also kind of wants to kiss him and hug him and walk him to classes while holding his hand. It’s becoming a problem, one that becomes infinitely worse when TK starts working at Bianca’s a few weeks into the spring semester.
Where the cafe used to be a place for Carlos to feel calm and in-control, he now feels anything but. On days where they’re both behind the counter, he feels TK pressed to his side, constantly moving around to grab cups and pump syrup and restock supplies. The guy, Carlos has come to realize, has no personal boundaries, no notion of personal space. He’s always gripping Carlos’s arm as he squeezes behind him, or sometimes he’ll bump their shoulders together for no reason as he keeps up a running monologue about anything and everything under the sun. It drives Carlos absolutely crazy, and all he wants to do is press closer to TK while at the same time run away and never see him again.
Today is no different than any other. TK is being TK, darting back and forth between the barista station and the register like he’s running against the clock. Carlos stands at the espresso machine, trying hard to focus on the coffee he’s making and not on the way that TK’s tight, mint green t-shirt not only hugs his biceps perfectly, but also makes his eyes sparkle in the soft cafe lighting. He can feel how tense he is as he tries to maintain control of his emotions, so it’s really not a surprise that when TK squeezes past him with a gentle hand on his hip, whispering a quick “behind you” into his ear, he completely overreacts. His grip on the steam tap tightens involuntarily, and suddenly, he’s covered in steamed milk.
“Oh shit,” TK says, quickly grabbing a towel from the counter and pressing it against Carlos’s shirt. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Carlos closes his eyes, breathing deeply as he processes TK’s hands on his chest. “I’m fine, TK, I’m fine. It wasn’t your fault,” he says after a moment, moving to wipe the spilled milk on the floor before a hand on his wrist stops him.
“No, no, I’ve got this, you go get cleaned up,” TK says, gently pushing Carlos towards the back room. With a nod, Carlos turns, moving away from TK’s soft hands and his sweet, worried face before he does something stupid like hug him or kiss him.
In the back room, Carlos looks down at the mess he’s made. A good amount of his spill landed on his apron, but there are some wet spots on his shirt too. Cursing in frustration, he reaches down to pull both items of clothing off before the smell of milk can soak in; he really doesn’t need to deal with that for the rest of his shift.
Rinsing himself off quickly at the sink, he turns to grab a new shirt from the box against the far wall; they’re normally for customers to purchase, but Carlos thinks Bianca will be fine with him taking an extra home. He’s just grabbing one from the top box when he hears someone behind him. Spinning around, he feels himself flush when his eyes connect with the guy he’s kind of head-over-heels for.
“Oh, shit, sorry,” TK says, and Carlos can’t help but notice the way his eyes move down to his bare chest, locking on to the lines of his torso. It makes him want both to immediately cover up and remain perfectly still, a swell of pride growing in him at the hungry look that has taken over TK’s face. Feeling a little daring, Carlos flexes his muscles, watching as TK visibly swallows at the action.
“I’m sorry,” TK says again, his voice coming out in a rush as his eyes return to Carlos’s face. “I didn’t mean to bump into you back there, I’m just really overactive sometimes and I know I need to slow down and watch where I’m going, but being around you makes me nervous and that just makes me more overactive and talkative and I just—”
“I make you nervous?” Carlos interrupts, staring at TK, who gapes back at him like he doesn't really understand the question. Then, with a scoff, he rolls his eyes, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
“Of course you make me nervous, have you seen yourself?” he cries, gesturing towards Carlos as if that proves his point. When Carlos doesn’t respond, he just groans. “You’re like, so beautiful and so sweet, like seriously, you’re probably the nicest person I’ve ever met and you look like that , how could you not make me nervous?”
Carlos can feel his heart pounding in his chest, his ears ringing. TK stares at him openly, his green eyes wide as he holds Carlos’s gaze. It lights a flame inside of him, one that finally forces his long-kept secret out into the open.
“You make me nervous, too,” he says, taking a step towards TK, wringing his clean shirt in his hands. “I don’t know how to think clearly when I’m around you, I feel so off-balance, but all I want to do is keep being near you, all the time.”
There’s only a few feet between them now, and Carlos can tell that TK is having a hard time keeping still, his hands clenching at his sides. He watches as TK bites nervously at his lip and then, with only a nod of warning, he’s moving forward to grab Carlos’s face in his hands, pulling him down to crash their lips together.
A fire the size of the sun explodes inside of Carlos, every part of his body lighting up as he presses himself to TK, wrapping his arms around him as their mouths move in a kiss that feels way too good to be their first. It’s the culmination of months of longing and want and need that has been building inside of him, and he wonders if the same is true for TK. The other man slides his arms around Carlos’s bare shoulders, his touch dancing across his skin like fissures exploding from the earth. It’s all-consuming, their connection, and Carlos feels like his world will never be the same.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for months,” he gasps when they finally disconnect, his nose pressing against TK’s cheek as he sucks in fresh air.
“Oh god,” TK says, his hands fisting in Carlos’s short curls. “Why haven’t we been doing that for months? That was incredible.”
Carlos huffs out a laugh, pressing his lips against the corner of TK’s mouth. “It’s been so hard to keep my hands to myself while at work. All I’ve wanted to do for weeks is hold your hand and hug you and be as close to you as possible.”
TK pulls back a bit, locking his green eyes onto Carlos’s brown ones. “If that’s what’s been holding you back from touching me, you and I are going to need to start spending a lot of time together outside of this cafe.”
Carlos smiles as he looks down at TK, his heart racing in his chest. “There’s nothing I want more,” he agrees, moving in to reclaim TK’s lips with his own.
He can’t help but to think that this coffee shop, where he and TK get to start something new together, really is his favorite place on earth.