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A jingling of the door rang through the small cafe just barely audible over the hum of coffee machines and soft christmas music dancing in between the tables. Grian stood in line waiting to order, turning around at the noise.
He watched as a tall man stepped into the warm space, brown hair covered in snowflakes. The man pulled down the soft white scarf protecting his lower face from the cold to reveal a scar over his nose.
The barista cleared their throat bringing Grian back to reality. In the time he had been staring, he had moved up to the front of the line.
“Sorry, could I please get a peppermint hot chocolate?” he asked the barista who seemed to lack the holly jolly spirit which the chalkboard outside the cafe had promised.
After paying for his order, Grian moved off to the side and continued his task of staring intently at the stranger who was now placing his own order. If the man had noticed, he didn’t seem to mind.
The barista called out “Peppermint hot chocolate for Green” and again snapped him back to reality. If they hadn't been before, they were now fed up with Grian’s gay distractions. He gave an apologetic smile and picked up the steaming hot chocolate wondering if they would ever get his name right.
Drink in hand, he began to turn towards the door, only to find that the previously empty space behind him was now taken up by the scar faced man. It appeared he had finished taking his order and now stood no more then a foot away from Grian and his holiday drink. Out of pure surprise he tipped the festive paper cup, spilling the nearly boiling liquid all over his red knit sweater.
The taller man gasped and rushed over to the pile of napkins sitting on the nearby order counter. Moving quickly and efficiently he began to dab the spilled hot chocolate. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
The man crumpled up the used napkin, setting it down on the table next to the pair and continued with a second. Grian stood paralyzed in shock, flushing slightly at the other man’s touch. “ No no don’t worry, it’s not your fault” Grian attempted a laugh but had just barely summoned the courage to speak.
They continued like this for a moment, napkin to sweater, the nervous blush spread across both faces. The moment seemed to last a lifetime yet ended far too quick in Grian’s opinion.
Once setting down the final crumpled napkin the tall man looked his company up and down seemingly lost in thought. Grian attempted to think of something to say, desperate to break the silence before he was too late and the stranger was gone.
His train of thought was cut off by a name being called from behind the counter “Order for Scar”. The man, Scar, looked over at the counter and back at Grian. “Hold on” Scar collected his drink and wished the barista a Happy Holiday before returning to the shorter man.
Grian didn’t quite understand why he had come back. He had his drink and up to this point Grian certainly had not been much of a conversationalist. Scar put down his own festive cup and took off the large brown coat he had been sporting and laid it over the back of one of the table’s chairs.
Grian began to wonder if this was his queue to leave, it seemed like Scar was ready to have a seat and enjoy his drink. But Scar made no motion towards sitting down. Instead he began to remove the blue and orange hoodie which had been hiding under his coat. Grian’s face flashed with concern. Stripping in public?! Why did everyone he found attractive turn out to be weird?
It took far longer than it should have for Grian to realize the stranger was not in fact stripping in front of him and was in fact wearing a shirt underneath the hoodie. Grian’s already flushed face was now tomato red from embarrassment (and slight disappointment).
“Here, you can change into this” Scar held out the large hoodie to Grian. “Oh no, it’s okay. You don’t have to do that. You’ll freeze out there.” Grian began talking in circles not wanting to take away the warm sweater from the other man. Scar did not give in though. “It’s fine, I promise. You gotta get that stain out”, Scar shoved the sweater into Grian’s arms ignoring his protests.
The sudden contact stunned Grian to silence, which Scar seemed satisfied with. He took a step back and smiled. “Thank you” Grian shot back a thankful smile still feeling guilty. “Anytime” Scar replied, relieved his companion had finally relented “Now go get that stain out”. The stranger had seemingly abandoned the social etiquette of personal space at this point as he lightly turned Grian around towards the bathrooms. Not that Grian was particularly complaining.
He looked over his shoulder one more time just to make sure Scar had not changed his mind about the sweater, before entering the cafe’s cramped bathroom.
…
Grian changed into Scar’s hoodie and stared at his own reflection for a moment. It was far too large on him, sleeves almost fully covering his hands and the bright blue and orange were far from his typical warm neutral palette. But something about the sweater just felt right. Something about Scar just felt right.
Grian caught himself. Getting wrapped up in some holiday romcom nonsense was the last thing he needed. Though he certainly wouldn’t mind some mistletoe right now. In an attempt to get the owner of the hoodie off of his mind, Grian turned on the tap and began to wash out the chocolate from his own sweater. The stain began to come loose but he would definitely need to clean it later.
He walked out of the bathroom, soggy red sweater in hand, and returned to the table. Scar was sat sipping from his holiday cup, a second sitting on the red tablecloth in front of the opposite chair. He looked up and smiled when he noticed Grian walking in his direction. Grian returned the favour, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach over the stranger he had just met that day.
He wasn’t exactly sure what the protocol was for when a man you just met lends you a sweater. Scar must have noticed Grian’s hesitation as he reached the table, and gestured towards the second drink and grinned, “Uh I got you this. Peppermint hot chocolate right? Try not to spill this one!”. Grian, slightly embarrassed, laughed warmly.
He took a seat in the wooden chair and then looked back at Scar, “Thank you this is perfect! I owe you one or maybe five at this point.”. “Anytime, uh- Green?” Scar questioned. Grian’s previous tension dissipated and he began to laugh hysterically leaving the other man baffled and mildly concerned.
Grian’s laughter calmed after a few seconds “They never get my name right” he grumbled before turning back to Scar, “Grian, nice to meet you”. Scar, registering his own, or rather the barista’s mistake, began to laugh as well. He reached over the table offering a handshake to Grian “I’m Scar”. Grian accepted once again flushing slightly red at the contact, too nervous to notice his companion had done the same.
…
For the next while the pair chatted and drank their hot chocolates. Grian couldn’t help but think how perfectly the conversation seemed to flow. How perfectly the two seemed to fit together. Scar reciprocated each of Grian’s jokes so perfectly and seemed to always know exactly what to say.
They talked about their love of cats and cactus plants. Discussed christmas plans and wishlists. Grian wished the conversation would never end. If he could choose he would’ve stayed right there in that coffee shop forever talking about perfect nonsense and admiring the man across from him; all that holiday romcom bs that he had earlier wanted to avoid. But the universe had other plans.
Scar’s phone began to buzz across the table, he looked down and gasped as the name registered. “I’m late for work! I’m so sorry Grian but I have to go! It was so nice to meet you!”. Scar quickly put on his coat and gathered his things. “You too!!” Grian called as Scar walked towards the door. The tall man shot him one more grin before answering the phone and beginning to apologize profusely.
Grian began to process all that had just happened. The perfect man who had just walked out the door, the conversation, the spilled drink, the sweater. The sweater! Grian realized all at once that he had no way to get the sweater back to Scar. He didn’t know where he lived or worked. He didn’t even have his last name. It would be too late to chase him now and Grian had not seen which way he’d gone.
All the warm fuzzy feelings Grian had been experiencing just moments before were replaced with guilt, sadness, and fear that he might never see the man with the sweater again. Or rather without the sweater now.
Tired of the barista's glare, decided this was as good a time as any to stop loitering in the coffee shop.
…
By later that evening Grian had resorted to internet stalking. Unsuccessful internet stalking that is. He was sure that he had looked at every existing Instagram account under the name Scar. Nothing. He considered that the man had given him a fake name but why would he?
Grian hugged the blue and orange hoodie, which he had still not taken off, around his body and collapsed backwards onto his bed, nearly knocking down his laptop. One minute alone with his thoughts was enough for Grian to decide he needed to touch some grass. Plus he needed to do some last minute shopping.
Though it did not take long for Grian to regret his decision as he stepped out into the cold. Large snowflakes fell from the sky turning his dirty blonde hair white as he walked towards the Christmas market. Attempting to distract himself with each step.
The market was bustling with people who clearly had not planned ahead for Christmas. Unlike Grian who had definitely already finished his shopping and was not currently scouting out gifts for his friends at all. Definitely.
After crossing the last few items off his list Grian spotted a familiar face across the sea of shoppers. Scar. Grian knew how corny it would be to run across the crowd to the stranger, but after hours of searching instagram, this seemed like the only option.
Moving as quickly as he could through the swarm of bodies Grian made his way towards Scar. The tall man had now turned away and was walking towards the exit of the market. Grian wondered if he had seen him and decided to leave but now was not the time for second guessing.
Grian reached Scar and tapped him on the shoulder just as the pair reached the exit archway. Scar turned around looking confused at first, expression brightening and turning slightly pink when he recognized the shorter man “Grian! Hey!! What are you doing here?”.
Somehow in Grian's dramatic chase he forgot that once he arrived at his destination he would actually have to speak to Scar. His earlier nerves around the man began to bubble up again. “ I was uh just doing some last minute shopping and I saw you and uh sweater” Grian seemed to lose his ability to form sentences which may have been the worst case scenario at the moment.
“Oh yes! I see that you’re still wearing it” Scar chuckled. Shit. Why hadn’t he taken off the sweater? He couldn't give it back to Scar now. “Oh uh yeah” Grian forced out an awkward laugh, “I guess I can’t really give it back yet then, can I?”. He had messed up so bad. Scar was never going to want to talk to him again after this mess.
“Well” Scar began snapping Grian back into the present conversation, “You’ll just have to give me your number then. You know, for the sweater.”. Scar winked and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He opened the contacts app and handed it over to Grian.
So Scar wasn’t upset then. Scar wanted his number. Grian was wrong, like completely wrong. “Right. For the sweater. And maybe to go get some coffee sometime? I mean I do owe you one.” Grian surprised himself with his own words. Scar grinned back “Indeed you do”.
Grian typed his number into the phone and passed it back to Scar. “So let me know when you are free then. For the sweater of course.” “Will do” Scar accepted the phone and placed it back in his pocket. Grian began to take a step back preparing himself to say goodbye. “Oh and Grian,” Scar gently grabbed Grian’s arm, pointing at the top of the archway with his other hand “Mistletoe”.
Grian looked up then back at a pink faced Scar, hesitating for just a second before leaning into his lips. Maybe all that holiday romcom nonsense wasn’t so bad after all Grian thought to himself. This moment under the mistletoe. This was a moment Grian would live in forever.