Chapter Text
The coffe shop was one of those small places tucked between a bookshop and a small business shop dedicated to clothes, all amber lights and scratched wooden tables, the sort of place that tried very hard to look effortless. Outside, rain tapped tirelessly on the sidewalk. Inside, the air smelled of coffee, something sweet and the slight scent of the cleaning product the staff used on the tables.
Markus was halfway through telling a story about one of his classmates getting a negative mark on a mock test that it almost seemed intentional, but knowing the guy it was totally legit.
Crunch.
He stopped mid-sentence.
Connor, seated across from him, looked up from his drink with the expression of someone who had done absolutely nothing unusual. His cheeks lifted in a small smile as he bit down again.
Crunch. Crack. Shatter.
The sound was startlingly loud between the soft clink of glasses and the low murmur of other conversations.
Markus blinked.
"You're eating the ice"
Connor tilted his glass toward him as if presenting evidence.
"Well," he said, "I paid for the whole drink"
Markus laughed, a burst of sound he couldn't quite contain.
"That doesn't mean you're obligated to consume everything"
Connor grinned, pleased with himself.
"It would be wasteful not to"
He tipped the glass again and caught another cube between his teeth. There was a sharp crack, then the rhythmic crunching that followed. Connor chewed with the easy concentration of someone snacking on potato chips, entirely unbothered by the cold.
Markus felt a sympathetic ache in his molars.
"Doesn't that hurt?"
Connor swallowed and shrugged one shoulder.
"No"
"No," Markus repeated, incredulous. "No?"
"No"
He said it lightly, with the same tone in which people stated that they preferred winter over summer or they were more into sweets than into salty food. Matter-of-fact, uncomplicated, as though the world were full of people who happily reduced ice cubes to glittering fragments between their teeth.
Markus leaned back in his chair and studied him.
Connor was smiling, the corners of his eyes crinkled with amusement. His dark hair was a little longer than usual and kept falling over his forehead and Markus would have easily lost himself in those curls that Connor hadn't hide today.
There was something endearing about the complete lack of self-consciousness. Connor wasn't performing eccentricity, he wasn't waiting for a reaction. He simply seemed to consider this a perfectly ordinary way to finish a drink.
Markus shook his head.
"You're a menace"
Connor's smile widened.
"You like me."
"I do" Markus admitted. "Despite your alarming disregard for dental science."
"Thank you. That means a lot"
The waiter passed by to clear their plates, since they had ordered a couple of toast as breakfast too, and Connor politely shifted his glass out of the way. There were only three sad cubes left, floating in a shallow pool of diluted juice.
Markus watched him eye them with unmistakable intent.
"Are you saving those for later?" Markus asked.
Connor rested a hand over his chest in mock offense.
"I'm being mindful with my money"
"Of course you are."
The waiter disappeared with their dishes, and Connor immediately tipped the glass back.
Crunch.
Markus laughed again.
It was ridiculous, objectively. Here they were on a date, the sort of morning that still carried a small, secret thrill even after months together. Breakfast, conversation, lingering over drinks because neither of them wanted to be the first to suggest going home. And Connor was sitting across from him, cheerfully devouring frozen water as if it were dessert.
Yet Markus found himself storing the moment away. Not because it was alarming but because it was so distinctly Connor.
The little things were accumulating in Markus' mind slowly.
The way Connor needed to keep his notes meticulously ordered by lesson when they studied together.
The way he tucked his hands into his sleeves when he was tired.
The way he lit up when talking about a topic he loved, sometimes words fumbling against others because the mind wanted to be faster than the mouth.
The way he ate ice cubes with the seriousness of a connoisseur.
Connor finished the last cube and set the empty glass down with a satisfied clink.
"There" he said.
"There what?"
"Mission accomplished"
Markus smiled.
"And what mission was that?"
Connor turned the glass in a small circle, watching how empty it was now.
"Complete utilization of available resources"
"You sound like a robot"
"Efficient and unstoppable"
Markus snorted.
"I think unstoppable is exactly what worries me"
Connor laughed, warm and bright, and some invisible knot in Markus' chest loosened just hearing it.
For a moment they sat in comfortable silence, the kind that had become easier over time. Rain tapped softly against the window and, somewhere behind them, a burst of laughter rose from another table.
Connor reached across the table and touched the back of Markus' hand. His fingers were still cold from the glass.
"You're staring" Connor said.
"I'm appreciating"
"That sounds suspicious"
Markus threaded their fingers together.
"You're cute"
Connor looked away immediately, the faintest flush coloring his cheeks.
"I just ate a cup of ice"
"Yes," Markus said. "That's part of the package."
Connor ducked his head, smiling into the table.
Markus felt a small rush of affection so sudden and sharp it nearly stole his breath.
He liked all of Connor's unexpected edges. The dry humor, the careful thoughtfulness, the habits that seemed strange until they simply became part of the landscape of knowing him. There was something deeply intimate about learning another person's oddities, the harmless little deviations that made them unmistakably themselves.
The waiter returned with the bill, and Markus reached for it automatically.
Connor was faster.
"I've got it"
"You paid last time"
"And this time"
Markus narrowed his eyes.
"Are you bribing me so I won't report your crimes against ice?"
Connor considered this.
"Yes"
"That's fair"
They split the bill anyway, after a brief and theatrical argument that ended with both of them laughing too hard to maintain their positions.
Outside, the rain had slowed to a mist that silvered the streetlights. They walked side by side, shoulders brushing.
The morning was cool and Connor shoved one hand into his coat pocket and reached for Markus' hand with the other. His fingers were finally warming and Markus squeezed them gently.
"I'm serious" he said.
"About what?"
"You're cute"
Connor groaned.
"You're impossible"
"And yet," Markus said, lifting their joined hands, "you continue to date me"
Connor smiled, soft and unguarded. Then he pressed a kiss on Markus' cheek.
"I suppose I do"