Work Text:
Stede didn’t know why he’d agreed to be a “floater,” bouncing back and forth between his friends’ stalls. He had always enjoyed a good farmers market, but at a reasonable hour, not at the ass-crack of dawn like some overly enthusiastic early bird. He would definitely not be doing this again.
He was covering the Swede’s artisanal soap stand, and had just sold a bar of vanilla-citrus, when Lucius dropped by with a large iced mocha for Stede. “Pete’s got his booth handled, so I’m on a break. I know how much you love mornings, so I figured I’d bring you coffee, and maybe some tea.”
Stede frowned, “I don’t need both coffee and tea, Lucius.”
“Oh my god, Stede. Not actual tea. Tea ,” he emphasized the word, “like gossip.”
“Oh, right. Let’s see, I’m supposed to say…” Lucius looked at him expectantly, “uh, ‘spill the tea.’”
“Look at you. Only needed the one reminder this time.” Lucius patted him on the arm, “So, word around the marmalade stand is that Oluwande and Jim finally made things official. Took them long enough.”
“Our Oluwande and Jim? I had no idea they were even dating.”
“Yeah, because you’re oblivious to that sort of thing. Speaking of, whatever happened with the hottie from the orchard?”
“Uh,” Stede was suddenly very interested in the lavender soaps, “nothing.”
“Stede Muriel Bonnet, you never texted him, did you?”
“Well, he never texted me either.”
“Stede! He got called away before he could get your number,” Lucius looked at him, exasperated. “ You were supposed to text him.”
“He was just being nice, Lucius. He didn’t really want me to text him. There’s no way he was interested in me.”
Lucius was staring at him, mouth agape. “You beautiful idiot, of course he was into you. Stede, he spent the entire afternoon helping you pick peaches. I don’t think it’s standard practice for the owner of the business to spend that much one-on-one time with a single customer. He walked you back to the store, carried the basket for you, and I definitely saw him looking at you when you weren’t paying attention.”
“I think you’re reading too much into things, Lucius.”
“No, Stede. I don’t think you’re reading enough into things. I would bet money that he was going to ask you out before that cider press exploded and he had to go take care of that. He told Pete to give you his personal cell number and asked you, asked you , to text him, Stede.”
Stede shook his head, “it doesn’t matter. It’s too late now.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Lucius’ face had broken into a smug smile as he looked at something further down the row of stalls. “Pretty sure that’s him talking to Punya and Vijay at the Everything Pickle booth.”
Stede leaned across the table and followed Lucius’ gaze, his eyes widening, “Ooooh noooo,” he breathed. He whipped his head back around to Lucius, “I can’t do this. You know I don’t take rejection well.” He looked back toward the tattooed peach farmer, “Shit. He’s coming this way. I have to hide.” Stede began frantically looking around for a good hiding spot, settling for ducking down behind the table as Ed came into view.
“Oh, hey. Ed, right? From Queen Anne Orchards.” He was going to kill Lucius. “You probably don’t remember, but I was there a few weeks ago with–”
“Stede,” Ed finished. “Yeah, I remember. Pete hasn’t stopped talking about you. I think he might like you,” he chuckled. Ed’s face turned serious, “Can I ask you something?”
“Is it about Stede being a dumbass and not texting you?”
“I’m just trying to figure out what happened. I mean, did I misread things? I had more fun at work that afternoon than I think I have in years, and I thought he had fun too. But then I had to go deal with the whole cider press emergency, and I never heard from him.”
“You know, it’s really a shame that Stede didn’t think to leave his number for Pete to give to you,” Lucius stretched his arms over his head and started subtly pointing down behind the table, “because it sounds like you two could clear things up if you just had a chance to talk.”
As Stede huddled behind the table, trying to make himself as small as possible, he heard Ed’s warm molasses voice, “Stede? What are you doing down there?”
Stede looked up to see Ed leaning over the table, looking at him. “Oh, hi, Ed. I was just looking for…” he grabbed the first thing he saw under the table, “this Earl Grey tea soap,” he stood up.
The two men looked awkwardly at each other for a long moment. “I’m sorry I didn’t text–”, “I’m sorry if I misread–” they said at the same time.
“Sorry, go ahead,” Stede said nervously.
Ed looked at him for a second, as if considering, and then asked, “D’ya wanna get a cup of coffee, and maybe just talk?”
Stede broke into a smile, “yeah, I’d like that.” His face dropped, “oh, but I promised the Swede that I’d take care of the table until he got back.”
“I’ve got this, Stede,” Lucius nudged him toward the edge of the table. “Go get some coffee. You’re overdue for a break anyway.”
Thank you , Stede mouthed as he rounded the table to join Ed.
Yes, Lucius was work-averse, but he could make an exception for this. Because his weird little friend deserved happiness, and he had a really good feeling about Ed.