Work Text:
December 5, 2016. Today was the 6 month anniversary since Poe started working at Coffee and Kisses. Don't ask why or how he remembered it, he just has a knack for remembering dates, anniversaries, names and the like.
This winter has been especially cruel. Snow is falling like there was no tomorrow, noses are red and fingers are frozen.
Poe hates the winter. He prefers to lay on the beach listening to the water ripple and feel the warm sand beneath his skin.
But summer is over, and he is still stuck with what he thought would be an easy summer job.
It turns out, Poe is better at this job than he initially thought. And his boss, Ben, ended up giving him raises and a promotion. Not a big one, but it was more than he could get paid at any other job available for him now. It was enough to make him stay for a while longer.
He's now power walking to get to the quaint coffee shop, mostly just to get out of the harsh weather.
When he finally makes it he is immediately greeted and rushed in by his co-workers and friends, Rey, Han and Leia.
"Christ, Poe, we thought you weren't coming in today. Not that I'd be surprised, the weather is absolute shit." Rey spoke as he got settled in in their "chill room" which is what they call the staff room. "It just sounds cooler" as Rey would say.
"l was thinking about it but I didn't want Ben to flip shit." Poe responded as he took his jacket off and put on his apron and name tag. Rey laughed, "True, true. Remember last time he broke a table and two chairs when I took a few days off for personal reasons?"
Poe was looking in the mirror fixing his hair. "How could I forget? He then made me order a replacement and got mad when it wouldn't come on time. Like I could control that shitl" He shook his head at the reminder.
Leia rushed in and whisper-yelled, "Hurry up, Ben is coming for his daily rounds." Poe and Rey groaned in unison as they all walked out together. Han was already sitting in a chair looking bored until Leia walked in. He ushered her over and patted the seat next to him. Poe and Rey sat on the opposite sides of them.
Immediately after, Ben came down holding his head tall while looking smug and acting superior as usual. The twat. "So, is this all we've got here today? What happened to Luke and Hux?"
"Luke came down with a nasty flu and I don't know where Hux is." Han was the one to answer him.
Ben rolled his eyes. 'Well, nonetheless, you must work as hard as ever. I suspect we wont get much business considering the weather, but I expect you all to stay focused and on your best behavior. Now, open up shop and get to it." Ben looked them over and walked back to his office.
Han was already up to flip the 'close' sign to say 'open' while Leia was cleaning and fixing the tables.
"Better get to your stations, soldier! It is a mighty busy day for us, filling cups with sub-par coffee to give to entitled college students and business men!" Rey stood up and gave Poe a salute. He laughed and smiled at her cheeriness. If it wasn't for her, he'd dread coming here everyday. Well, more than he already did.
He walked to the back kitchen to clean dishes before customers started coming. It would be a very slow day.
~~~
Poe and Rey were behind the counter working together to give people their orders. Han and Leia were now in the kitchen cleaning. Or, if his speculations were correct, just kissing and cuddling. Cute old couples make him sick.
Poe hasn't had a boyfriend in months. His last one ended up cheating on him with a girl. Seriously, what the hell. Now, he's given up on love and even one night stands and rebounds. It's just him and his hand now.
Nobody else came in for a while. It's just some people sitting at tables with their coffee and laptops. Now Poe and Rey could relax for a bit.
"So. Tell me. Are you maybe possibly looking for a little romance or fling or whatever this weekend? Because I met this girl at a bar that I thought about bringing home until a guy sat next to her and I was like 'Oh fuck shes got a boyfriend' until I asked and he said in this beautiful voice, 'haha, no I play for the other team'" (Rey had tried imitating a males voice and failed miserably)
"You interested? I got his number and everything. Trust me, he's fucking gorgeous. I would've snapped a quick picture but that's too creepy, even for me."
Poe smiled empathetically and sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just not ready or in the mood for that. I'm sure he's great, though."
Rey was about to respond until the door swung open and a large coat walked in. Wait. That's not right. This coat had a face. Oh no. This coat had a beautiful face. A beautiful, man face. The man took his hood off and was breathing like he had just ran a marathon.
He walked up to the counter and said in this deep, breathy voice, "Do you have a bathroom or anything? It's an emergency."
Poe was just staring and he suddenly didn't know how words worked. Rey glanced at Poe with furrowed brows and then responded "Uh, yea, to the right there." She pointed him to a door.
The man sighed in relief. "Oh, thank you so much" and he hurried off.
Poe was still in shock but tried to brush it off. "So, what were you saying?"
Rey scoffed and smirked, "l wasn't saying anything. But I am now that I see how quickly affected you are by a pretty face."
"Now what are you on about? Can't a man find another man attractive without it being a big deal?" he responded.
"Why, of course. Who says I'm making a big deal? I'm just happy that I've finally figured out your type. You like 'em muscular, deep voice, nice hair, full, kissable lips and bulging biceps—" "Okay that's enough. And besides, how can you even tell hes muscular, he is wearing a fucking coat." Poe laughed.
"Sometimes, you can just tell." Rey smiled innocently and walked away to clean some tables.
~~~
It had been around 20 minutes and the mysterious, pretty boy has yet to leave the bathroom. Not that anyone was counting of course. Poe was just.... Curious.
He had thought about nonchalantly entering the bathroom just to clean, of course. But he wasn't in the mood to get caught and teased by Rey. So, he waited while his mind was running in circles. He was stuck between wanting to get to know this boy and just staying comfortably by himself. It was working well so far, why change?
Besides, he knew next to nothing about this man. He could be straight! Or even worse, be really creepy and weird and totally un-fuckable. But, it might be worth checking him out, right?
Poe didn't have more time to ponder this when suddenly he came out of the bathroom. Poe's head has never shot up so fast.
This man's coat was now off and he just had on a varsity sweater from a school he never heard of, black jeans and boots that were mildly wet and untied. He had a sort of boyish, messy charm to him. His skin was glistening and he was no longer out of breath or hunched over like before. He just looked confused and curious about his surroundings. Or maybe himself.
"Hey, did you give that latté to the gu- what are you doing?" Rey stood beside Poe looking smug yet amused. "Now, I know its been a while since you got laid but can you please stop ogling our customers and do your job, sweetums?"
Poe was brought out of his thoughts and immediately shot her a glare that said "Do you mind fucking off, sweet cakes?"
She was now holding back some more embarrassing retorts and laughter.
When Poe looked for the boy again, he was sitting down at a table at the far end of the shop, scrolling and typing quickly on his phone. Looks like he is pretty busy. Maybe he works at a big corporation or is a college student that's late for a lecture.
Rey shook him and waved her hands in front of his face obnoxiously.
"Okay, okay, relax. I'm alive." Poe responded, unamused.
"Oh, thank God! I thought your soul was being sucked out of you." Rey smirked. "But seriously, whats this all about." She nodded towards the boy in the back. "You havent stopped staring at him with dead eyes since he came in. And I thought I was the creep."
Poe looked over at her, "Don't you have a job to do? And besides, its nothing. He'll probably be gone soon and I'll never see him again so I might as well admire him from afar while I still have a chance."
"Okay, okay. But can you at least go tell him he has to order something before we kick him out?"
Poe looked appalled. "Wha- We are NOT kicking him out, I only just got to see him!"
"Ben will have my head on a spit roast if we keep people in here that aren't paying customers."
"Fuck Ben, I just want to look at cute boys." He pouted.
Rey smiled gently, "It'll be okay babe, this gives you an excuse to talk to him. Now go." She shoves him forward.
"But w-" "No excuses, now go." Rey interrupts him.
Poe groaned but stood tall and nonchalantly walked over to the boy. This was it. He was going to talk to him.
"Excuse me, sir, but this shop is for paying customers only. We were nice enough to let you use the bathroom, but you must buy something if you wish to stay."
Poe was sweating. He knew it. This would never work. This guy thinks he's a fucking asshole and is gunna punch him in the face and he'll get fired and become homeless oh my god his life is ov- "Okay, yea, no problem. I'm so sorry."
His reckless train of thought came to an abrupt end. Poe was utterly dumbfounded. The boy wasn't mad....? What is happening.
"Just tell me whats on the menu and I'll get something." The boy smiled yet he still looked embarrassed. Why was HE embarrassed? Poe was the one that made an absolute ass of himself!
Poe cleared his throat awkwardly. "Oh, right, no problem. Well lets see we have plain coffee, all assortments of teas, mochachinos, frappechinos, mochafrappe, lattés-" "A venti caramel latté would be nice." The boy interrupted him again, but Poe wasn't about to complain.
"Good choice, sir. I'll be back with your order right away." Poe smiled and walked back to the counter.
"Rey, one venti caramel latté, stat." Poe ordered, while Rey smirked and gave him a salute.
~~~
Rey finished preparing the latté and was about to hand it to Poe when she suddenly got an idea.
"Okay, now, please hear me out for a second. I may be a genius. So, before you hand it to him, ask for his name to write on the cup and-" "Sorry to interrupt you dear, but if you haven't noticed we aren't Starbucks. We don't do that."
She rolled her eyes, "Well, obviously not, but he doesn't know that. Its a simple way to learn his name. Now, before you rudely interrupted me, I was going to say that while you're writing his name on the cup, try to subtly write your phone number on there as well." Rey smirked and stood proud.
"It's kind of genius, right?"
"More like incredibly risky. I could lose my job- or even worse, he could punch me in the face for being gay or something!" Poe exclaimed.
"Now, now, calm down my child. That only happens in anti-bullying ads. You're overthinking this. The worst thing that could happen is he ignores you. But, if he doesn't, you may have just landed yourself a hot date. I hate seeing you mope. You need a satisfying fuck to get your sanity back." Rey gave him a friendly pat on the back.
Poe groaned. "God, youre embarrassing."
"But you love me for it." She kissed him on the cheek. Poe pulled away and looked around quickly. "Stoppppp, he could see you and think we're dating and never want to love me-" "Youre overthinking again, babe."
Rey pushed him forward, "Now go, win his heart (and dick) and stop being an angsty teenager."
Poe grapped the cup and flipped her off as he walked towards the boy again. He stops to take a deep breath and then once he reaches him he says, "I'm sorry sir, but I'm going to need your name for this cup."
He looked up and Poe felt his knees buck but he quickly composed himself. "Oh, um alright. My name is Finn."
Poe was writing that down, including his phone number. Thanks Rey.
"I Got it. Nice name, your parents must be creative people." Poe just internally slapped himself. Why in the hell did he even open his mouth? That is quite possibly the dumbest thing he's said in a while. He' probably confused and hates him and he'll never talk to him ever again oh my g-
"Thank you, I would say they are." Finn smiled up at him.
Poe could breath again. But that didn't last long when he looked at his bright, pearly white smile. Why was this man so beautiful?
"Well, I hope you enjoy your latté." Poe smiled, handed him his drink and casually walked away. Even if he was actually dying inside.
Rey squealed and clapped when he came over. "Holy shit I can't believe you actually did that."
"I can't believe it either. You bring out something wild in me."
She giggled, "Okay now I couldn't hear everything, so whats lover boy's name?"
"Its Finn." he sighed whistfully. "Gourgeous, right?"
"Gorgeous name to fit a gorgeous boy."
"Alright, lets wait for his reaction to our little stunt."
Poe looked around the café, but he was no where. He wasn't at his table, or any other table. Rey seemed to have noticed too.
"Um, where is he?" Rey said, sounding fairly worried. "Quickly, go check the toilets." Poe nodded and rushed the bathroom. When he burst in, it was empty. He checked every stall and it was all barren. Was he really gone? He walked back out to Rey.
"He.... He wasn't in there." Rey cursed under her breath. "Well, I checked the chill room and the kitchen. He's no where." Poe groaned, "How did we not notice him leave? This is bullshit."
She rubbed his back to soothe him, "Well, we were kind of excited. Its easy to get distracted here. But please don't be sad babe, maybe he just got an urgent call or something, ya know?"
He sighed, "Yea, maybe you're right. And he seemed to have taken his cup so maybe not all hope is lost?"
"See, that's the spirit babe!" Rey smiled, even if it was a pitiful one.
She was going to talk more when suddenly Ben came out of his office. Oh no. Han and Leia must've heard him as they rushed out of the kitchen too.
Ben stood tall and spoke formally, "It's getting late, no customers are here and this blizzard doesn't seem to be ending any time soon. So, I want you all to finish up, clean the place and then close up. I'll be leaving now so I expect you all to do this quickly." He walked out without another word.
Leia spoke first, "Well, that's that. I thought he was about to lecture us. Anyway, it appears that Han and I have plans so we gotta go." She smiled and kissed Han on the cheek.
"Of course you do, lovebirds." Rey rolled her eyes fondly. "And as it turns out, Poe and I have plans too. So get home safe, guys!" She hugged them both before going to clean. It was their turn to close up, anyway.
After the couple left, Poe gave her a confused look, "Okay, what 'plans' do we have? I just wanted to go home and eat my feelings, please"
"No. You absolutely won't do that, I won't allow it. Instead, we are going to get drunk, watch stupid movies and pass out together without even thinking of \him\. And you don't have a choice, so enjoy my hospitality."
Poe shook his head and smiled, "Okay, but only for you, sweet cakes. Now hurry up, I wanna get out of here."
~~~
After Poe and Rey went back to his house, they did exactly what she said they would. But Poe broke one rule. Finn would not leave his mind the whole night, and on the other side of the city, the mysterious boy held the same fate.