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It's not often that Vanta visits the coffee shop near campus. He doesn't have a penchant for coffee, and he can easily make other drinks at home for cheaper. Besides, he prefers the silence of his own dorm instead of stranger's conversation and whatever music they play inside the coffeeshop.
But when Doppio asked him to hang out with him at the coffee shop, it's not like he could turn it down. First of all, it's Doppio. His bro. His D-bro. His bestest friend since diapers. Whom he hasn't seen in weeks thanks to both their schedules. Between lectures and projects, finding the time to meet each other is near impossible.
So here he is, walking the short distance from his dorm building to the coffee shop, dressed in his usual all black outfit, consisting of black compression shirt and black jeans. Though he does bring his purple sweater, November chill is no joke.
The bell above the door chimes when Vanta opens it, prompting the barista on shift to utter a welcome. Vanta runs his eyes over the entire shop, trying to find a head of magenta hair. But the shop seems to be empty save for a group of girls in the back corner. Well, Vanta did arrive fifteen minutes before the time that they agreed on.
"Hey, are you just gonna stand there?"
Vanta snaps his head towards the voice. The barista.
"Oh, sorry," Vanta rubs his neck as he walks towards the cashier.
"I'm just messing with you, man," the guy said with a smile as bright as his blonde hair, "take your time. It's a slow day."
Vanta doesn't know people working in customer service could be so happy. His smile was practically blinding, second only to Doppio's. The smile was also pretty.
Vanta took a quick look at the menu, trying to remember the drink Doppio always buys while simultaneously trying to find a drink for himself.
"Can I get an iced caramel macchiato? As well as an iced matcha."
"Sure, big guy," the barista punched his order in, "that would be $4. Can I get a name?"
"Vanta."
"Huh, nice name," he tilted his head slightly, and with a sly smile, he added, "sure as hell matches you."
Vanta sputters.
Look. Vanta is well aware that he likes men. But he never really dated men, or even got close romantically to a man. He's a man of many talents, but flirting is totally out of his list of expertise. So when the blonde barista with a pretty smile decides to say that, then promptly eyes Vanta from head to toe—his eyes also definitely linger on his toned upper body—what is he supposed to do other than slam a $5 dollar bill on the counter and sprint to the nearest table?
He can hear the blonde cackling.
—
Wilson is having the best time of his life.
When a guy with bleach blonde hair and a godly body walks into the room, how is he not supposed to check the man out first chance he got?
Maybe the fact that he already has a boyfriend should've stopped him. But his boyfriend is Vezalius, and he would've let him have his fun, in fact, he would give him a thumbs up.
So when Vanta slams the $5 bill and runs to the nearest table, he can't help but cackle.
Adorable.
Wilson still has a job to do, though. He wasted no time in making the two drinks. Vanta doesn't seem like the type to like coffee, especially with caramel, so he wrote a small heart next to the name only on the cup for the matcha latte. His body moved on autopilot as he started preparing everything. Boiling water, grinding coffee beans, preparing the coffee machine. All things that he's done a thousand times over, recipes that have been ingrained in his brain.
As Wilson pours the milk into Vanta's matcha latte, the door opens with way more force than necessary. The bell chimes, but the noise is drowned by the sheer voice of the man coming.
The guy with hair as loud as his voice ran to Vanta and hugged him, exclaiming the words V-bro and D-bro respectively.
Wilson doesn't want to know what's going on, but at least he found out that Vanta's not here on a date.
—
Vanta brought the plastic cup home with him.
It's not weird. He just needs a cup for keeping his pens and pencils, and this cup in particular happens to have his name and a heart next to it.
Okay it's a little weird.
But what's even weirder is, Vanta starts coming to the coffee shop regularly. For the first week, he went there daily, three P.M sharp everyday. The blonde barista's shift is on Tuesday and Friday. So for the next week, he exclusively comes on those days, ordering a matcha latte, sometimes bringing his work with him. The first time they met again, Vanta used up his courage to ask for a name—Wilson. Since then, every time he visits, Wilson throws in a pick-up line, or a wink, or an innuendo, or a little love heart on his cup.
Today is no different. Vanta comes in with a turtleneck and thick coat, but he ditches his coat the moment he enters the coffeeshop, hanging it on the coat hanger near the door. And Wilson immediately whistles. Leaning on the counter and unashamedly staring at Vanta, "do you need my help taking off your other layers?"
"Wow, at least buy me a drink first," Vanta quips back, although his face still turns red.
"Sure, a matcha latte?"
Vanta nods, pulling out a $2 bill, but before he could hand it to Wilson, the barista already sidesteps the drink-making station.
"It's on the house," Wilson said with a wink.
If Vanta could melt on the spot, he would.
—
There are times when Vanta stays in the coffee shop for a few hours, usually focused on his laptop, or textbook, clearly trying to finish an assignment. But he never stays later than 5PM
Today, though, Wilson could see that Vanta's clearly stressing about something. His hair is disheveled and his eyebags are darker than usual. He went in, ordered, and didn't even banter with Wilson before he chose the table on the corner of the shop, turned on his laptop, and put on his headphones.
So Wilson, being the nice guy that he is, slides a cookie on Vanta's table as soon as the clock hits 5 P.M.
"You seem stressed," said Wilson, standing near Vanta's table.
"You could say that," Vanta rubs his eyes, "between the papers and the group project which is done single handedly by me, gets a bit annoying, you know?"
Wilson hummed, "you should rest a bit. I mean, it's no fun if your work break you before I do."
Vanta closes his laptop and stares back at Wilson, "who says you're the one that gets to break me?"
"Oh, I mean, we could switch," Wilson answered, then with that innocent eyes of his continues, "or are you not into the whole rough treatment thing?"
"Not really, but I'll consider it if you ask nicely."
Tired and stressed Vanta have more game than usual Vanta it seems.
The bell chimes, "get some rest, big guy," Wilson turns and greets the customer.
—
When Wilson told Vanta to get some rest, he didn't expect him to actually fall asleep on the table. It's almost half past six, Vanta has his arms folded on the table as a pillow, and he hasn't moved for thirty minutes.
Seeing as the store is quite empty, Wilson walks to the back, grabs a small blanket that his co-worker has left, then goes over to drape it over Vanta's hunched over body. The store isn't cold, by any means, but, well, a blanket never hurt anybody.
Wilson lingers for a moment. Just staring at the boy snoring away in front of him. Wilson's hand moves to push Vanta's bleached blonde hair back, revealing his furrowed brows. By reflex, he rubs his thumb softly over the spot, smoothing the skin between his eyebrows. And his thoughts wander.
About the past month when Vanta never fails to visit the coffee shop during his shift.
About their banter that's bordering on flirting.
About the conversation he and Zali had in their apartment at 3 A.M, about a certain blonde boy that caught Wilson's eyes.
About the way Zali comforts him as he cries over his crush when Zali is right there.
The bell chimes. Wilson's hand falls back down to his side as he turns towards the door.
"Zali!" Wilson speedwalks to the door, immediately wrapping his hands around his boyfriend's neck as they meet for a kiss.
"Hi baby," Vezalius greets him, his hands finding their way to Wilson's waist, "missed you."
The two share another kiss, melting into each other embrace as if they're never meant to be apart. And when they broke the kiss, a soft smile was found on both of their faces. Eyes filled with nothing but love and adoration towards the other.
"Ah, we should probably step away from the door," Wilson broke the silence.
He took Zali's hand and walked towards the counter, going into the back room so that Zali could put his bag and sit down. Totally not so that they could kiss again.
"That's the guy?" Zali asked as soon as they both sat on the mini sofa meant for the employees.
Wilson hummed as he took two bottles of soft drink from the fridge, handing one to Zali, who smiled softly at Wilson and took his hand to hold.
"You like him, yeah?"
"I do."
"Well, as long as you still love me as much, I don't mind," said Zali, his thumb rubbing circles into the back of Wilson's hand, "introduce us, maybe I'd end up liking him too."
Wilson smiles back.
But when they came out of the employees only room, the table where Vanta once sat was empty, save for the blanket folded neatly near an empty plastic cup.
—
Vanta felt stupid.
He's currently in Sonny's dorm, curling up in Sonny's bed, wrapped in Sonny's blanket, as Sonny sat at his chair and Doppio sat on the floor next to the bed.
Vanta hoped the bed would swallow him whole.
"First time I had a proper crush," Vanta spoke from his blanket cocoon, "a crush that I thought I had a chance with, that I thought would be reciprocated."
"And he fucking had a boyfriend already!" Vanta wailed.
"My guy fucking flirts with me, bought me a drink, got me a cookie—"
"Your standards are scarily low," Sonny cut him off.
"Shut up!" Vanta whined, "drape a blanket over me when I fell asleep, then he kissed another guy!"
Doppio's hand went up to pat Vanta's head, or at least the approximate location of his head.
"I think you're the other guy in this situation, Vanta," Sonny muttered as he stood up and went towards the door.
Vanta poke his head out of Sonny's blanket, staring at the guy with neon yellow hair in indignation until Sonny came back with Alban in tow, holding a store plastic bag. Clearly Alban had just finished his shift in the convenience store.
"Alban!"
"Vanta! I got you ice cream!"
Vanta sat up, pulling his hands out of the blanket to give a grabby motion. He can hear Sonny sighed from behind Alban, muttering something about grabbing a spoon. The next thirty minutes is spent by Vanta retelling the same story he told Sonny and Doppio to Alban, pausing every other minute to stuff his face with chocolate ice cream that Alban has graciously brought for him.
"Wilson, huh," Alban hummed, "we take the same course, you know?"
Vanta stares at him in disbelief.
"He's majoring in communications, we share most of our lectures," Alban explains, "Vezalius—his boyfriend—is a med student. He's French, his accent is so fucking hot. He's also here fully on scholarship, one of the top student."
Vanta groaned. Pulling himself back under Sonny's blanket.
"Alban, maybe you shouldn't have praised his crush's boyfriend that much."
—
It's winter break.
Which means today is Wilson's last day working for the year. So he's really hoping a head of bleach blonde hair would just come into the shop like he would've done a few weeks ago. Vanta completely stopped visiting the shop after the day he accidentally fell asleep, and Wilson would be lying if he said he didn't miss his presence.
He also wants Zali to meet Vanta.
Speaking of Zali, the man is currently sitting, reading a book on the table nearest to the counter. Wearing a blue turtleneck and black pants underneath his thick coat, wavy black hair pulled back into a half ponytail without even a strand out of place, and he's wearing his glasses.
"Hey handsome," Wilson calls out, "come here often?"
"Only when you're around, my dear," Zali flashed him a soft smile.
"Bringing out the pet name already? Unfair, man."
Zali laughed. It's the prettiest sound Wilson ever heard.
"Alright lovebirds," Kyo's voice was heard before he even came out of the backroom, "get your shit and get the fuck out, be lovey dovey somewhere else."
"Look Kyo, just because Ren isn't here to give you attention doesn't mean you could be mean to us," Wilson protested. He does take off his apron to put away as he did, though.
Wilson and Zali exited the coffeeshop hand in hand. The two decided to take a detour to the park before going back to the apartment. Wilson mentioned something about wanting to get ice cream despite the near freezing temperature.
The ice cream shop was closed when they arrived at the shop. However, they did find a head of bleach blonde hair with a slumped shoulder in front of the shop, glaring at the closed sign at the door.
"Vanta," Wilson calls out, "fancy seeing you here."
Vanta jumped at the voice.
"Hey, Willy," he finally replied after a few awkward seconds, "and, uh,"
"Oh, this is Vezalius," Wilson said, "Zali, Vanta. Vanta, Zali."
"Vezalius," Vanta said tentatively, "nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Zali smiled, "I heard much about you."
Vanta's eyes widened in surprise, but before he could get a word out, Wilson cut him off by asking if Vanta would like to hang out at their place and eat some instant ramen. Maybe it's the free ramen, or the smile on Wilson's face. Vanta can't find it in him to turn the offer down.
Vanta totally should've turned the offer down.
As soon as the three enter Wilson and Zali's apartement, Zali took off his coat and tosses it at the sofa. And now Vanta could see his slender waist clearly without the added bulk of his coat, and, oh, how his waist would look wonderful with his hands around him. Wilson ushers him to the kitchen, where they sit at the kitchen island, silently watching Zali prepare the instant ramen. Vanta had never seen someone look this attractive while preparing instant ramen.
It took Vanta a couple minutes before he asked if he could help with anything. Zali pointed out the cans of beer in the mini fridge, asking Vanta to take them out.
Vanta have to agree with Alban, that French accent is really fucking sexy.
Surprisingly, the meal went on without a hitch. The awkwardness dissipates after a few minutes, replaced by conversation and lighthearted banter between the three. It felt so easy for Vanta to find his footing as they interacted, as if they had known each other for ages. It's only when Wilson casually kissed Zali on the cheek that he realized the fact that he's the outsider here. And his heart breaks all over again.
—
They exchanged numbers. Wilson wasted no time in making a group chat for the three of them, naming the group 'Krisis', because apparently Vanta looks like he's constantly having a crisis, or something like that.
After that, invitations to hang out and come over are thrown around more often than not. Mostly by Wilson, but sometimes by Zali. Vanta tries to turn down the invitation at first, but ultimately gives up, thinking that surely a hangout wouldn't affect him that much, right?
Wrong.
After the first time, Wilson is back to casually flirting with Vanta. At first, Vanta was wary, afraid of crossing the line, but when he flirts back once on accident, Zali doesn't seem disturbed. Instead, he even smiled at the two as if Vanta didn't just flirt with his boyfriend. So the flirting disguised as banters continues. Zali never joined in on the flirting, but all his reactions seem to be positive, as if encouraging them to continue. So they did. Vanta decidedly turns a blind eye to the way his heart flutters with every flirt Wilson throw his way, or everytime Zali laughed.
—
In what feels like the blink of an eye, new year eve comes around. Vanta had spent the whole day hanging around Wilson and Zali's apartement. Doing anything to pass the time, from baking brownies to playing uno.
It's currently half past eleven at night, the three are piled on the apartment's sofa, with Vanta in the middle. The TV in front of them is playing a random movie in low volume, but nobody is paying attention. The three are nothing less than tipsy, the near empty bottle of vodka and abandoned shot glasses in front of them are proof. Although Zali is still mostly sober, not wanting to be too drunk for the night.
"Vanta," Wilson calls out softly, "I think I like you."
"Yeah? I'm glad, man. I like you too!"
"No, as in, like, like like," Wilson then added, in a small voice, "as in, I love you."
Vanta choked on thin air.
Vezalius pat his back a few times, then starts rubbing circles when Vanta's just barely coughing. That totally did nothing to ease Vanta's panicked mind.
"You can't say that, Wilson. Your boyfriend is right here—you can't, that's fucked up."
"He doesn't mind, though."
"No, you can't say that, Wilson," Vanta exhaled, "I don't know if you found this whole thing amusing or something, I don't care. I'm okay with the flirting and innuendo and shit, but don't say that. Not unless you mean it." His voice wavers towards the end, coming out as whispers.
It's Wilson's turn to sputters this time, "you thought I was joking?"
"You weren't?"
"No!" Wilson wailed, "I liked you! Since the first time we met!"
"You have a boyfriend!"
"The boyfriend is right here," Zali cuts the two of them off, "and I'd like to speak, please."
Zali patted Vanta's back one last time before withdrawing his hand, "I really don't mind when Wilson flirts with you, Vanta."
"I do know he likes you in a more than friend way, I believe you feel the same," Zali paused, "I'd like to give us a chance, if you're okay with it."
The room is quiet. Wilson looked at Vanta with hope, his hand fidgeting on his lap. Vanta avoids looking at both Wilson and Zali's direction.
"Us?" Vanta asked.
"You and Wilson, me and Wilson, you and me," Zali answered without missing a beat.
"Does it— can it work like that?"
"We can try, no?" Wilson answered.
Vanta rubs his face with his hand, "I don't want to ruin what you guys have going on."
"You won't." Zali reassured him.
"You don't have to say yes," Wilson added hurriedly, "we can forget about this and just move on."
Nobody spoke for the next minute. The apartment is silent save from the faint sound from the TV and the clock ticking towards midnight.
"Okay," Vanta finally broke the silence, "we can try."
The fireworks outside went off.