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The Doctor looked up every time the bell rang, looking for one face in particular. Blue Box Bakery was a small shop, but popular with the locals, but luck was on her side today. She tamped down the grin that threatens to spread across her face into only a small smile.
A young woman with brown skin confidently walked up to the counter. Yasmin Khan, her favorite regular. “What do you have for me today?”
The Doctor lost the fight with the grin. She tapped the side of her face for a moment, pretending to ponder, and then nodded. All for show, of course. They had this interaction every time - Yaz asking for a suggestion. “It’s pretty cold out, so a hot chocolate? With a hint of orange zest?”
Yaz considered it for a moment longer than usual before wrinkling her nose slightly and shaking her head. “Nah. Just need a London Fog, I think.”
The Doctor gestured to the door, where a thick mist was obscuring the view of the other side of the street. “Not enough for you?”
“Not enough to change my order, no.”
“One of these days I’m going to come up with something you agree to.” The Doctor sat about making the drink. “Friday, so I guess you’re on your way to prayers?”
Yaz nodded, giving a little hum in response. They didn’t say anything else as the Doctor made the drink, but when she went back to the counter to hand it to Yaz, she had to say her name twice before she got her attention.
“What’s captured your thoughts today?” The Doctor asked.
Yaz sighed and shook her head. “I was supposed to have a date last night but he never showed. I looked so dumb, sitting and waiting at a fairly nice restaurant he told me to meet him at.”
The Doctor swallowed past a lump in her throat. Hearing Yaz was dating someone was always bad enough, but that added he always made it worse. It was worse still that she was a little angry at the bloke for not showing up making Yaz sad. “That’s terrible. I’m sorry.”
“What about you? Any more cute blondes?”
The Doctor blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. They had once talked about types and the Doctor had, rather foolishly, admitted more often than not she liked cute blondes. Yaz had, at the time, joked about the Doctor being her own type. “No I’ve - I really like this one girl, and it keeps ruining it when I go on dates. I’m gonna try to get overher first, I think.”
“Oh, who is the girl? Tell me about her?”
The Doctor shook her head, already feeling the heavy feeling in her stomach. “No, really. She is straight. There’s no chance. I’m just hoping we can be friends.” Because really, that’s all she and Yaz would ever be.
“It’s kinda hard to get over her if you’re trying to keep her around as a friend, isn’t it?”
The Doctor shrugged. “I still really like her. She’s brilliant, and beautiful. Deserves the universe. At least if we’re friends, I can still be there for her.”
Yaz chuckled and shook her head. “You’ve got it bad for this girl, don’t you?”
“You have no idea.”
Their eyes met for a brief moment, and then Yaz reached for her drink. “I really have to go, but I want to be kept in the loop. I think you should take the plunge and ask her. You might be surprised.”
“Yeah. Sure.” The Doctor watched Yaz walk out the door before groaning and putting her hands in her face. Why had she opened her big mouth? She was surprised Yaz didn’t see through her right then.
It was only later that the Doctor decided maybe Yaz was right. She should take a chance. But she could make it seem small and innocuous - she was fully prepared to get her heart broken, but she was afraid of somehow hurting Yaz, too. After all their talks, she knew Yaz struggled to make friends in a way the Doctor didn’t understand, and while their relationship was limited to their interactions at the bakery, it had been nearly a year since Yaz first wandered in.
Worst case was Yaz told her no and never came back, but somehow, she didn’t see that happening. The not coming back, that is. Yaz was almost guaranteed to say no.
Yaz wasn’t a regular that came every day - sometimes it was more than once a week and always on different days - except for Fridays. So Friday was when the Doctor decided she needed to set her plan into action.
She wasn’t on shift, which was actually perfect. Everyone at the bakery knew about her ‘little crush’ and so when she showed up that Friday, she told her coworker her plan and they waited.
And waited.
Yaz didn’t come in before prayers, like she always did. It worried her a little, but she gave her coworker a sad shrug and left.
Much to the Doctor's delight, Yaz was back the next Friday. It didn’t matter that she was behind the counter again, because at least she knew Yaz was safe.
“What do you have for me today, Doctor?”
In her worry, she hadn’t come up with a suggestion. Put on the spot, her mind blanked for a second. She looked at Yaz though and an idea formed.
“You always say no to my suggestions.”
Yaz’s smile faltered. “I mean - I know, I’m sorry I just -”
The Doctor, realizing her mistake, interrupted Yaz to scramble past the issue. “So today, I’m suggesting a London Fog.”
There was a half second of confusion on Yaz’s face before she laughed. “I almost want to order something different just to spite you.”
“I don’t think you’re going to, though.”
“No, I’m not.”
The Doctor sat to work making the drink. “Missed you Friday,” she said, casually, trying to ignore the way her heart rate picked up when she said it.
“How? You weren’t on shift.”
The Doctor looked over and raised her eyebrows. A faint blush colored Yaz’s cheeks. “I um, I noticed you only work every other Friday.”
“Oh.”
What was she meant to do with that information? She continued through the motions of making the drink, putting the lid on, and then, thinking of that small detail that Yaz had memorized her working patterns and hadn’t come in because she hadn’t been there, she took out the sharpie and added a small message to Yaz’s cup.
Then she went to the hand-off counter. Her heart was pounding at her spur of the moment decision, but she passed the cup to Yaz, their fingers brushing momentarily sending tingles up her arm.
“Decided to ask that girl out.”
“Yeah? What did she say?”
“I don’t think she’s realized yet. Still waiting for her to read the message and reply.”
Yaz shook her head. “She’d be an idiot to say no.”
The Doctor wanted to tell Yaz to just look at her cup but she couldn’t get the words out. Instead, Yaz offered a smile of encouragement, taking the Doctor’s silence for disbelief. “I should go now, but I’m coming back later to ask how it goes!”
Yaz turned and walked out the door, the Doctor holding her breath as she watched the entire way. Once Yaz was out of sight she sighed, once again leaning on the counter and burying her face in her hands.
Her coworker for the day came over and patted her back in commiseration just as the bell rang. She didn’t have the heart to look up just yet, though. Out of all the ways she had imagined that going when she wrote the message on Yaz’s cup, that had not been one of them.
“Oh, hello again.”
There wasn’t a reply, just quick footsteps and the sound of a full paper cup being sat on the counter.
The Doctor looked up, ready to deal with whichever unhappy customer she was about to face, and came eye to eye with Yaz.
“Me? You’ve been talking to me about me? ”
The Doctor couldn’t get a gauge on if Yaz was happy or not, so she hedged her bets and offered an uncertain nod. Her hearts were pounding in her chest and her palms were clammy as she waited for Yaz to say something else.
She glanced down at the cup where Have dinner with me? And her phone number were scrawled.
“I’m not just into men.”
“I”m not just into blondes.”
“So, it’s a date?”
“If you say yes.”
“Yes. Of course. I would love to.”
Relief flooded through the Doctor and she gave a small laugh. “Oh, brilliant. Tomorrow, about sixish?”
“Sounds good.” Yaz stood at the counter for a moment, her grin mirroring the Doctor’s. They both broke out into giggles, the tension in the air easing. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Tea with Yaz? Amazing.”