Work Text:
Hartley has never been really fond of coffee shops. Too noisy, too many people.
Today is an exception. Too busy on an important project, he completely forgot to pay the electricity bill like an idiot, and he really needs to finish this paper and send it to his boss in the next two hours, which would be perfectly fine if his computer was not about to die on him.
Going to the library would take too long, so he decides on the small coffee shop next to his place.
Thankfully, there are not that many customers and the music is not too loud. He might even enjoy working there, he thinks. He quickly orders the strongest coffee they have and looks around for an empty plug.
There is one, which is good. There is also a very cute guy busy reading at the table next to it, which is less good.
He is not even using the plug! Couldn't he sit somewhere else and take Hartley out of his misery?
He has two options. Either he sits to the closest table and struggles with his charger, or he simply sits with the stranger.
The choice is easily made, and it has nothing to do with the man's attractiveness. (Although he is attractive. Hartley has always had a weakness for guys with long hair and sweet smiles.)
“Hm, hi?”
The man looks rightly confused. There are at least five empty tables around them.
“I need to plug in my computer,” Hartley explains.
“Oh, okay, sure.”
He seems unsure for a minute.
“You want me to move?” he asks.
“No!” Hartley answers, maybe a bit precipitately. “I mean, no. You don't have to.”
“Cool, 'cause it's the best table for the light here. This place is nice but it's always pretty dark. The name is Cisco by the way.”
“Hartley.”
Cisco's smile is more blinding than a thousand suns, but Hartley thinks would not mind loose his sight if it meant looking at him forevermore.
Alas, he cannot stare at Cisco, he really needs to work and that would be creepy. After one last glance at the other's beautiful face, he starts typing on his computer.
Neither moves for the next hour, Cisco is busy reading what seems to be a book on the mechanics of the universe, and if Hartley was not so focused on his report, he would have been flirting with him senselessly.
“Et voilà !” Hartley whispers in French after sending the damn report. He finally got it over with.
“You still alive, man?” Cisco asks with a smile.
“Oh yes, I am very much alive. So alive I feel bold enough to ask you for coffee. We're already at the coffee shop, so you don't even have to move.”
Cisco laughs and Hartley's heart stop beating at the lovely sound. The exhaustion might be catching up with him and making him frenzied, but he cannot bring himself to care.
“Okay, man, I can do that.”
They end up staying in the coffee shop until it closes.
Hartley has never been this happy he forgot to pay a bill.