Work Text:
The idea of workers falling in love with customers only worked in fiction, or so you thought. Then again, you didn’t work in a very realistic place to begin with.
Although your family was only descendants of mages and had no powers, they had continued the family business. By now, it had become a coffee shop for magical humans and mythical beings.
Instead of working at the popular shop, though, you opened your own shop, a small place with a homely atmosphere. You didn’t have as many customers as the main branch, but the ones you had enjoyed their favorite drinks and treats with time and peace and sometimes just have a relaxing break from their busy lives.
For the past couple of months, one such customer had been Isaac, a very reserved vampire. It took a while for him to accept any friendliness from you, let alone for you to actually become friends.
A turned vampire, Isaac seemed afraid of what he was and what he could do to others. At first, you didn’t understand, but a small incident one rainy afternoon brought up the fact that he wasn’t a normal vampire but an aberrant.
That didn’t keep you from reaching out to him, from trying to make friends with him, and, in the end, from falling in love with him.
That was where your current nervousness came from. After a while of stalling, you decided to tell him.
You doubted he felt the same or that he would dare cross the boundaries your relationship seemed to be built around. The private talks you had away from work had shown you how Isaac was afraid of hurting or being hurt, so your friendship had a certain distance to it. But you believed you could get closer without hurting each other. Isaac wasn’t the monster he made himself out to be.
You spent the day quite anxious, waiting for the perfect opportunity to talk to him. But Isaac was also acting strange.
After not showing up for about a week - not like he had a schedule, since he came mostly to escape the chaos he claimed his house to be - he showed up quite fidgety, having difficulty concentrating on his current work, blushing so easily when you approached, and most of the times you caught yourself staring at him, you et his eyes looking back. That kind of behavior gave you a little hope that he could be interested as well.
Unlike most of the other days, when Isaac went home before evening, he stayed until closing time. Your co-worker encouraged you to leave the rest of the closing work to her when Isaac prepared to leave.
You caught up to him outside, realizing he had left to take a call. You chuckled at how annoyed he sounded towards the person on the other end. Likely Arthur, the flirty guy who had come with him a few times and was quite keen on teasing Isaac.
“Hey!” You called when the call was over.
“How long have you been there?” Isaac avoided your eyes, blushing.
“Not long. I brought you something for the trip home. On the house.” You offered the cup you were holding. Would he think it too strange?
“Thank you.” Isaac accepted the gift with a shy smile. “Can you walk with me? Or do you still have work to do?”
“No. I mean... I can go with you. I was hoping we could talk.”
Smiling, you accompanied him in silence for a while, before gathering your courage to ask."
“Isaac...” You stopped when he also called your name at the same time, and you two exchanged an awkward smile.
“You can go first,” he offered.
You nodded, taking a deep breath.
“I know we agreed to keep some distance, because you don’t believe we can get too close without one of us getting hurt, but I love you. Love you so much that I can barely stand it.” When he looked away, a faint dusting of pink, not unlike the color of his eyes, coloring his cheeks, you stepped back to give him space and sighed. “Sorry if I am crossing the line. I just couldn’t hold on to this anymore.”
The following silence made you even more tense, but Isaac finally looked at you, a fire in his eyes you had never seen before, despite his face looking redder than before, and took one of your hands in his free one, pulling you back closer.
“I... I love you too. That’s what I wanted to tell you before, too. And that’s why I haven’t been coming here for a while. I thought it was better for us to keep our distance. A part of me still thinks that was the best decision. But a part of me hopes we can make this work.”
Hope was all you had, and maybe you were hoping for the impossible, but with both of you willing to try, you had a great chance of making this work.
Isaac smiled sweetly at you before closing the rest of the distance to kiss you. It was a gentle, hesitant kiss with a faint taste of apples, but it was also a promise of a future to come, but it was enough for your heart to overflow with happiness and hope. Hope you would never let go of.