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Aragorn walks into the local coffee shop near his house, Coffee Before You GoGo, and goes to the counter.
“Can I have a chocolate latte with cream and caramel?” He looks behind the counter at the guy taking his order. He is very short, and kind of cute with his long, bouncy brown hair, and stunning ocean blue eyes that look as if they are full of waves ready to crash upon an unsuspecting white sand beach. He snaps out of his trance, pays for his coffee, and goes to wait for his order. He cannot stop himself from repeatedly glancing at the coffee man, noticing that his name tag reads Frodo. Nice name. He watches Frodo get all the elements for his coffee together with such expertise that he can tell that he has worked here for a long time now. He watches him finally package his coffee, and notices that instead of just pouring the cream on top, he skillfully forms a heart on the top, smiles at himself, writes Aragorn’s name on the side, and puts it on the counter, avoiding direct eye contact. He reads his name, and realizes that he wrote Ara with a heart next to it. So sweet. He takes his coffee with a smile on his face, and leaves the shop.
The next day, Aragorn storms into the coffee shop in a miserable mood. He charges towards the counter that he was so happy to be at the day before, and orders the same thing as the day before. Frodo is the cashier again, and rings him up again, and then he goes to make the coffee like the day before. Aragorn goes off to the side, and tries to calm himself before he starts a scene. He looks around, and all the other people in Coffee Before You GoGo are looking at him with varying degrees of concern, including the nice barista who looks so in distress that Aragorn instantly snaps out of it and tries to cheer up. The barista hands him his coffee, and when he gets it, he notices the foam heart on top, like last time. This time, though, instead of writing his name, Frodo wrote “I hope things get better soon. -Someone Who Cares”. Aragorn feels a rush of happiness in his head, smiles at the barista who is grinning from ear to ear, and walks out.
Day eight in a row of going into this same coffee shop, every morning, with the same routine. Aragorn goes inside and makes a beeline to the counter where Frodo is waiting patiently for him. He quickly pays for his usual, and takes the freshly-made coffee from his now-friend barista, and checks the name on the heart coffee that he is now habituated to, and sees that the name is different. It is the one thing that has been different every single day that he has been coming here. His name has read everything from “Big Boi” to “Winter Soldier” since he bears a passing resemblance to Bucky from the Avengers movies, and his personal favorite name, “Gay™”. Today, though, is extra different. It just says, “Cutie.” Aragorn, an honorary Useless Female, panics, since he has no clue what this means. What is happening? Does that mean that the nice barista likes him, or could it mean something else? He grabs his coffee and bolts out of the door, leaving a stunned Frodo behind him.
The next day, he does not go to Coffee Before You GoGo. He goes to the Starbucks near his office. He orders something generic; not wanting to bother the poor baristas being overloaded by the overwhelming amount of people getting last-minute coffee, and yelling when it is not complete within 20 seconds of ordering. He now remembers why he does not come here, and goes to the small coffee shop closer to his house, but he cannot go back there. He is so confused, and does not know what to do. There is a sense of longing ever since he decided not to go near it again, but he is ignoring it. He cannot give in. He cannot go back there, or else what? The barista might ask him out, and then what would he say? He has not thought this through yet. He needs to be in control of everything, and the fact that this was completely unexpected, and the fact that he has not thought of every single solution and outcome in his head, and weighed them all yet prevents him from going back to Coffee Before You GoGo.
He arrives in his office, still thinking of the little coffee shop near his house, and, more importantly, Frodo. He cannot seem to stop thinking about him. Something about him just won’t let go of him. He just can’t resist. So, he spends the rest of the day barely noticing the work that he is doing, but instead trying to figure out what he is going to do.
The next day, and for the next three days, he does not go to the coffee shop, because he does not leave the house. He spends those three days resting home on sick days, but he is not sick. He can’t think. He can’t concentrate. He can’t do anything. He is so caught up in his head with what is happening in his life with the pretty barista, and can’t think about going outside without almost having a panic attack. What is he supposed to do if he does not have a plan? What if something else unexpected happens, and he has no way of avoiding solving it? Spontaneity was never his strong suit, and he actually hates it. So he sits, alone, in his small apartment with his protein shakes, and his exercises to occupy him as he tries to solve all of his problems. He stops occasionally to freak out and cry in the bathroom, but nothing out of the usual for a person. After all, he IS human.
Eventually, he decides that avoiding the problem is no use. He has to go talk to Frodo, and as soon as possible, before the barista hates him and never wants to serve him again, which would completely destroy Aragorn, since he has grown very attached to the little man behind the counter. He shows up to the coffee shop, hesitantly, and slinks in discreetly, trying to avoid any type of eye contact with anyone. He makes his way to the counter, reliving old, fond memories of him doing the exact same thing, but those were better times. Times before he shut himself down. Times before he cut Frodo out of his life. The question is: Will he forgive him for what he did? He bows his head in shame as he approaches the counter on his turn, fearing what is coming next.
“Can I help you?” It is the angelic voice that has haunted his dreams for oh-so many nights. And yet he cannot bring himself to look him in the eyes. He is scared of what he will find there.
“Um, what do you recommend?” he asks, hoping against all odds that the barista recognizes him, and remembers his order.
“Chocolate latte with cream and caramel? It is a favorite here of someone very near and dear to me. I bet it is delicious.” And, of course, he remembered. Aragorn feels a flood of relief, since he remembered, and that he said that he was someone near and dear to him. Oh, how that made him feel good. He pays for the drink and goes to stand off to the side. He feels happy again, as he did all those other times he waited here for his foam heart, since he knew that things would be ok. If he remembered his order, surely he would forgive him. He waits, and waits patiently for his coffee so that he can fix things with the man he has recently realized that he loves, but the coffee won’t come. Aragorn starts to panic. What happens next? But before he does anything rash, the beauty behind the counter comes around to stand next to him, and hands him the coffee. His long, brown floppy hair seems even more adorable than it used to, after all this time apart, and the oceans in his eyes seem to hold all the whispers of affection that he never got to give him since he ran away. He takes his coffee from him, and sees that the foam heart never ceased to be, but there is no name on the side. Instead, it says, “Open Me,” and there is a note taped to the side.
“Go ahead. Read it,” Frodo says, and so Aragorn does. The note contains all he ever could have wished for. It starts with a poem written by Frodo about how they met, and how he felt an instant connection, a “spark”, if you will, and wished he could be with him. It goes on to talk about how heartbroken he was when Aragorn stormed out on him after he tried to profess his love for him, and when he didn’t come back for several days, he felt as though he lost a piece of himself. It says that he would stay up late every night, writing letters to him that he would never deliver, hoping that someday his Prince Charming would come back to him. And he did. And all the unconditional and irrational love for him still stands, if he will take him.
Aragorn looks into Frodo’s eyes and sees all the pain that he put him through, but also all the love that he feels for him, and registers the fact that he can be happy with this man. This man will make his life worth living. Will erase that horrible feeling from his chest that he has been feeling for the past couple of days. He takes the small man’s face in his hands, and tilts his head up so that he has direct view of his gorgeous face, beds down, and kisses him. It is a light kiss, but it holds all the pent-up love that he has been suppressing for so long, and they both lean in closer, delighted by the resolved tension between them. Now they are complete, and the one thing that they have to thank for bringing them together is the foam heart on the top of the coffee.