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“Was kann ich Ihnen bringen?” Jarmo had never in his entire life seen a man this beautiful. He looked like an angel had come to earth to decide and bless every being with its presence. Shoulder long brown hair, tied back into a male bun. An effortless smile on his lips, that didn’t just reach his eyes but seemed to get to his entire body, even spread over to Jarmo himself.
But he hadn’t understood a word of what the man had been saying. Well, a few words he had but overall it had been non-sense in his head.
“Sorry?”
“Was sie bestellen möchten. Oder brauchen Sie noch etwas Zeit.”
Fuck, that was Swedish. Jarmo didn’t know any Swedish, he had always skipped the lessons in school and had made out with that blonde girl instead.
“Ich— ja. Ja.”
“Oh? Eh. You speak not Swedish?”
“Nein.”
“Ähh.” The beautiful man blushed. Even though he had appeared so confident a few moments ago now he was just very embarrassed. Very human actually. He turned his head around and yelled something in Swedish, that Jarmo of course didn’t understand. Then he turned back with a groan.
The restaurant they were at was barely filled. The Brot Paradies never being anyone’s first choice. Jarmo was only here as a last resort too. But if he had known such pretty guys worked here, he might have considered getting his ass here earlier.
But how was he supposed to use his Suomalainen Casanova skills on someone not able to understand Finnish at all. Why did he even work here?”
“Okay, wir müssen das so machen, sorry, ist grad niemand anders hier. Also.”
It was spoken so fast, Jarmo couldn’t understand a word if he tried. All words that sounded familiar where then pushed into a different context.
“So”, the man clapped his hand and then pulled the menu between the, “Was möchtest du essen?”
“Essen?”
Oh. Essen. Wasn’t that a city in Germany?
Jarmo groaned, distracted by the waiter’s very pretty eyelashes. “Sorry, I—”
“No no. I had the language better learned must.”
“What?”
“Egal. Es kann doch nicht so schwer sein Essen zu bestellen”, the waiter murmured. Then he pointed at the menu with a questioning look.
Oh. Oh! The gears in Jarmo’s brain slowly started moving. He pointed at the dish he wanted. Various kinds of sea food with some rice and mayonnaise and of course some bread on the side. “Das!”, he declared proudly.
The waiter nodded, took the menu. “Warten”, Jarmo had to shoot his shot now or never. “Name? Dein Name?”
Suddenly the man began blushing fiercely. “Eh. Benjamin named I.”
“Benjamin?”
“Benjamin.”
“Schön”, Jarmo tried his signature smile but Benjamin had turned off every brain cell of him he had ever had.
Benjamin hurried away and Jarmo followed him with his eyes. At the bar, Benjamin sighed and came back.
“What want you drink?”
Whatever Benjamin had left for him, Jarmo would take it all. He was confused how it could be so hot to speak in broken Finnish. He would try it some time if he wasn’t sure that he had finally found his man.
“Whatever.”
Benjamin gestured with his hand. “I know not. Word. Water?”
“Wasser”, Jarmo confirmed.
Benjamin left with a relieved sigh. Jarmo was probably not making his favourite customer. He had no idea how he’d get this guys number. Or how any type of relationship could form with this intense of a language barrier. But love could tear down all walls. He would just need to find a way to get to Benjamin.
There were no words except a Dankeschön when Benjamin brought the water. Jarmo drank a sip and then got his phone out. He didn’t have too much time and needed to act fast. He opened a translator and put in the question for the number. Telefonnummer however seemed impossible to pronounce, even if slightly familiar. Jarmo would just have to come here more often and get Benjamin the old fashioned way.
“Guten Appetit.”
Jarmo knew at least that he would have to come here more often from now on, no matter the quality of that food. Because Jarmo’s eyes had plenty to eat here.