Work Text:
Monday was the worst day of the week.
It was a universal agreement, and Eric wouldn’t be the one to disagree.
The worst part of his week was going from sleep ins on a beautiful Sunday, to waking up at 6 by a deafening alarm he would snooze majority of the time.
Yet each time, he still reluctantly got up to face the day.
He stood at the stove, dishevelled hair as he attempted to fry an egg. He was never good a cooking, which was ironic since he worked at a café.
He threw on his work clothes and set off on his trip to work.
He walked down the street, smiling politely to early morning runners and other people on their commute to work. He stopped for some small talk with the lady who always wore pick and owned a shih tzu and waved at the kid across the road heading to school.
It was a normal Monday morning. Everything was just as it usually was.
When he arrived at the café, he inserted the key into the lock, only to find it was already unlocked. Panic shot through him at the possibility that whoever worked yesterday didn’t lock it and someone could have walked in and robbed the place.
He yanked the door open and ran inside, checking the register immediately. To his surprise, everything was fine, the money was a normal amount, and in fact, nothing about the store looked different at all, only the chairs were down off the tables, which he knew he’d scold his coworkers for later.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he headed into the back area, ready to start setting out pastries but was instead met with a tall figure who he had never seen before.
His first instinct was to scream and punch the guy. He’d never seen him before so he must be an intruder.
The tall man doubled over in pain, quite shocked that such a small guy could do so much damage.
“Dude!” The stranger called out, holding the bench for stability as the other hand held his stomach. He looked up to meet eyes with Eric and that’s when Eric realized the guy was quite attractive.
Not the time, Eric! He told himself before getting back to business. He grabbed a nearby broom and smacked it into the intruder’s shoulder, hard enough to leave a lasting bruise.
“Intruder! Return everything you’ve stole you thief!” Eric called, pointing the broom threateningly at him.
“Bro! Stop, stop! I’m not an intruder, I-”
“Yeah right! You literally broke in here! You really think I’ll believe your stupid lies?”
The stranger looked up again and grabbed the broom with one hand, stopping any more attacks and stood up straighter, which only made Eric more intimidated.
“Dude, I work here, you need to calm the fuck down, what is wrong with you?”
Eric felt a burst of embarrassment as his cheeks flushed but confusion came right after.
“You don’t work here? I’ve never seen or heard of you before Isaiah” Eric said mockingly, squinting his eyes at the nametag on the other. “My boss would have told me if there was someone knew working.”
“He did. He told me he warned you.”
“… W-well that’s bullshit because he didn’t.”
“Check your messages”
“What?”
Isaiah sighed as he reached into Eric’s bag that was still hung on his shoulder. Eric yelled at him to stop, throwing out more insults but it didn’t stop him.
Eric snatched his phone back from the other, unlocking it and heading to the messages app to prove that there had been no warning of a new coworker.
Except that wasn’t the case.
A message from 11:04 on Friday clearly stated that Eric would be joined by a new coworker on Monday.
Eric stared in disbelief, convinced that message didn’t exist before 10 seconds ago while Isaiah rolled his eyes in annoyance and walked off to set out the pastries.
Eric stood in the kitchen, extremely embarrassed by the first impression he’s made on his new coworker.
The shop opened and Eric moved to the front counter, taking orders from customers while trying to interact with Isaiah as little as possible. Even just calling out an order for him to prepare was incredibly awkward.
His best friend (and boss) Tyler immediately clocked the tension when he walked through the door that morning. He had annoyed Eric with jokes about how he could cut the tension with a knife. Eric rolled his eyes and begged him to just shut up about it.
The day seemed to drag on for so long that the 5pm closing time seemed to never arrive. Eric slumped down over the register with a loud sigh once the ‘open’ sign was flipped to ‘closed’. When he stood up straight again, he locked the register and grabbed a rag before heading to the front to help wipe tables.
Eric always took charge of the café’s playlist, everyone agreed his music was the most tolerable. He was able to zone out while his favourite music played over the speakers, allowing him a bit of downtime after the long day.
However today, Isaiah had played his own playlist, which definitely threw Eric off. Not that his music taste was bad, not at all. His music was actually better than all his other coworkers. It’s just not what he was used to.
He tried to relax as the swiped crumbs to the floor but couldn’t. His entire routine had been changed, and he wasn’t sure he could function for much longer like this. He just needed to get home, jump in bed and head to sleep.
In his daze, he hadn’t noticed Isaiah was also wiping tables near him. This was, once again, not what usually happened. Eric was always in charge of the front of the store, no one else. Hence why when moving to the next table over without looking up, he crashed straight into Isaiah.
“Ow dude” Isaiah muttered, clearly annoyed by how Eric had been today. Jeez, he was probably the world’s worst coworker.
Eric was so embarrassed he forgot to apologise, which he only beat himself up more for anyway.
After way too long, he finally finished up and bid farewell to his other coworkers, giving Isaiah a sheepish nod as well.
He sighed as the door shut behind him, starting his walk back home. He replayed the events of the day, regretting just about everything he’d done to embarrass himself.
He fumbled with his keys at the door to his apartment, his hands sweating for no reason. Why was he even anxious? Nothing was wrong other than everything that happened at work today.
He made it inside and leaned against the shut door. It took him a minute to gain the courage to move further inside.
Once he did, he headed straight for the bathroom for a hot shower. It was all he felt he needed after such a stressful day.
As he stood under the warm water, he gazed into the foggy glass, zoned out with only one thing on his mind.
Isaiah… How stupid must I have been? I completely embarrassed myself all day long… I need to fix something, I want to be friends with my coworkers, and I really like him-
He cut himself off for a moment, realising where his thoughts were heading. He turned the tap, causing freezing water to spill out onto his back, forcing his brain to focus on that and not whatever else he was going to think.
Eric stared back at himself through the mirror in front of him as if he was waiting for it to gain a mind of its own and start moving by itself.
Of course, it didn’t.
He would know that from the amount of time he’s spent sitting here and simply staring into it.
He didn’t know why he found comfort in it. He often grimaced at his own face when trying to get ready. But here it felt different. There was no one else here in his room, no pressure, no nothing. Just silence in the dark on his own. It was all he needed.
He’d found himself doing this a lot. He wasn’t sure if it was even healthy to be doing whatever this was as much as he did, but he couldn’t stop. It had buried itself deeply into his routine. Sometimes he just needed this time for himself.
He usually let himself zone out, think about whatever it could come up with in the moment, yet today, no matter how much he tried to think about literally anything else, someone kept coming back.
His hair, his clear skin, his plump lips, Eric scolded himself for letting himself think this much. Maybe he should stop his mirror time.
Reluctantly, he got up, pulling back his bedsheets and sliding in. He rolled to his side, then his other side, then his back before giving up and realising that no matter what he did, this one person would not leave his mind.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Tuesday and Wednesday were basically identical days.
Eric woke up and snoozed his alarm. He left for work and arrived on time. He walked in to find the chairs down off the tables and someone else’s playlist coming through the speakers. Eric sighed, chucking his bag down and helping setting out pastries.
The store would open and he’d serve customers for a while before swapping to go work in the kitchen.
The ‘open’ sign would flip to ‘closed’ and he’d wipe the tables with Isaiah.
While he still wasn’t used to it, there was nothing he could do about it. It’s not like he could tell his boss to fire this innocent new employee who has done literally nothing wrong.
Eric would walk home and sit in front of the mirror, wondering what was wrong with him and why he couldn’t just be normal around this guy. Even if they barely talked, Eric would still feel embarrassed just by his presence.
He would fall asleep each night thinking about another man that he’d barely had 10 conversations with.
On Thursday, Eric walked to the café quicker than usual. He had set his morning alarm for 5 am determined to arrive before Isaiah.
He arrived at the door and tugged hard, half expecting it to open. Locked. A wide grin formed on his face as he stuck his key into the lock. Inside, he pulled the chairs off the tables with more joy than he’d ever had while doing that chore. He practically skipped behind the counter to the kitchen and threw his bag down again in happiness.
He was about to cheer out loud when a familiar figure walked out for the staff room.
“You look happy today. And you’re early”
Eric’s smile dropped and was replaced with a shocked look as Isaiah stood in front of him.
Isaiah seemed to notice Eric’s expression, he grinned as he explained. “I usually don’t unlock the doors until before you arrive, same with the chairs.”
“…But why are you here so early?”
“I just like to be prepared.” Isaiah said simply, as if arriving to work an hour or so before it started was a normal thing to do.
The rest of the day seemed to be a lot less stressful for Eric. He somehow felt more at ease after just a few sentences shared between the two earlier that morning. He never knew such a small talk could impact the entire day.
He went home that day with a spring in his step, thinking about how pleasant it had been with Isaiah today. How Isaiah seemed nicer today. How good Isaiah looked toda-
Screw that. Eric needed a distraction.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Friday night was the best time of the week.
Everyone was excited for the weekend and every bar in town was open, leaving Eric with a lot of options.
He ended up choosing a bar that just so happened to be a predominately queer bar, but let’s pretend he didn’t know that.
He walks through the door, trying to act confident but failing miserably. He stood awkwardly at the side, too shy to move onto the dance floor and too shy to go talk to anyone. Half the night was spent hyping himself up to even go up to a pretty girl.
He glanced around the room as a quick way to calm his nerves, but everything only got worse when he saw a very familiar pair of eyes.
Eric’s heartrate spiked as they locked eyes and he quickly looked away. Even if he hadn’t meant to spot Isaiah through the crowd, why was he staring back in the first place? After Eric had finally calmed himself down, this unravelled all his work to do so.
He took deep breaths and tried to instead focus on something else. That something else ended up being self-love. He’d never really cared enough to practice it, he didn’t really love himself, but he would resort to anything just to take his mind off of whatever it was he was feeling.
He mumbled some kind of affirmation softly to himself and shook his head before looking up again, searching for a random girl to approach.
Or rather, a distraction to approach.
Choosing a random one at the bar, he walked up and leaned against the counter next to her stool, nearly slipping but making a (somewhat) smooth recovery.
“Hey, you’re uh, really pretty. I’m Eric.”
“Jaymie.” The women replied with a smile, swivelling around to face him more.
They made small talk that seemed to go very well, seeing as she ended up giving him her number and they agreed to go out sometime.
Eric walked away feeling quite accomplished with himself, yet the second they stopped talking, someone else came straight back to his mind.
Before leaving, he tried to subtly peek over at where Isaiah had been earlier, and sure enough, he was still there and still staring right back at him.
It felt like the world around them paused as they just stood there, looking back at each other.
The music played through the speakers so loud he could feel it in his bones, the song – All the Things She Said – the noise so obviously there yet still faded away in the moment.
Isaiah raised his glass, taking a long sip while still maintaining the heated eye contact over the rim.
This seemed to wake Eric up as he finally realised what he was doing and looked away, moving before his mind could even realise he was practically running out of the building.
He made it home in record time, slamming the door shut so loudly he probably woke up the whole complex.
He trudged to his bedroom, not even wanting to see how much time he’d wasted hanging around alone in the corner of the club.
He slumped down on his bed, across from the mirror. When his eyes focused on his face, he noticed how insane he looked. He hadn’t even noticed he’d been crying on the way home, yet his cheeks were streaked with the black mascara he’d applied earlier. And how did his hair end up sticking up like that…?
It didn’t matter to him anyway as the tears kept falling regardless. He felt pathetic, he could barely hold eye contact with him- not even just that, he could barely talk casually with a girl! And he liked girls!
He examined himself carefully, tearing himself apart in his mind for everything wrong with him.
Why can’t I just think normally? What have I done? What’s wrong with me?
He stood and took a few steps closer to the mirror, as if getting closer would allow him to see his flaws better.
His hand touched the cold reflective metal, slightly stinging his fingers. He didn’t notice, his thought had shifted to a certain someone.
How could he not think about them? How could he not think about the one person that had caused him so many problems? How could he not think about how absolutely gorgeous that person wa-
This was becoming a really big problem.
He stared into the mirror, deeply enough to finally let his mind free of the restraints he’s forced on himself. He could be vulnerable and immature just this once, right? No one would know anyway…
He leaned closer until his lips pressed up against the cold surface, moving without mulling over the consequences. He moved slowly at first but quickly picked up the pace, imagining the sweet, desperate kiss. He slid his hand along the side of the mirror, picturing himself running his fingers through that brown hair, curling his fingers as if he was tugging lightly at it. He imagined them there in front of him, no mirror, just another body reciprocating their desire for him.
A thought crossed his mind, despite being so deep into his fantasy, he let it come. The girl at the bar, Jackie or something? He thought about how he would be much better off imagining kissing her, but he just couldn’t. While she was one of the most beautiful girls in the bar, Eric realised that no girl’s appearance would ever get his heart racing like the one he truly loved. He wasn’t afraid to admit it to himself anymore, admit the rush he felt when he looked at him was more than just embarrassment.
He loved him.
He loved Isaiah.
He opened his eyes, wanting to look at him as he kissed him but was hit with reality when he saw his own reflection staring back at him. He jumped a bit, completely forgetting Isaiah wasn’t actually there.
Embarrassed, he quickly attempted to wipe the wet marks off the metal and dragged himself to bed.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Monday rolled around again and Eric snoozed the alarm and slowly recited his morning routine.
He crossed the street to the café and took a long, deep breath. After finally admitting to himself that he was crushing on Isaiah, he’d been worrying all weekend about actually having to face him again. He’d gone through just about all of the scenarios in his head, but now it was finally happening.
All he had to do was act totally normal. Nothing was different, nothing at all.
He pulled the door open and stepped inside, Isaiah’s familiar music softly spilling out of the speakers. He headed back to the staff room, rushing past Isaiah in the kitchen and ignoring his greeting.
He sat his bag down by his locker and tied his apron around his waist before scurrying by Isaiah again on the way back to the counter.
While he was setting up the register for the day, Isaiah walked out from the kitchen with a tray of pastries for the display cases which just so happened to be directly next to where Eric was.
It was clear Isaiah was trying to lighten the mood with some small talk but became dejected after Eric only replied with a simple “hm?” or “yeah”.
While Eric was so worried about screwing things up and accidentally displaying his feelings, he was actually screwing up by being a complete bitch straight to Isaiah’s face.
By the time the end of the day rolled around, Isaiah looked… sad? Eric decided it was just a coincidence, it couldn’t possibly be because they hadn’t interacted nearly as much that day.
Eric half-assed the clean up and said a simple “Bye.” before he was out the door.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Eric tried to rush the cleanup the next day too, but Isaiah had come out to help.
He could practically feel his eyes burning into him but he tried to ignore it.
He couldn’t ignore it for too long though, as Isaiah finally decided to come over.
“Hey, are you good?...” Isaiah asked, seeming worried about Eric’s new way of acting.
“Y-yeah! Of course!” Eric answered, way too happily, giving it away.
Isaiah gave him a look and he sighed, knowing he was done for.
“You’ve been messing up orders, you dropped 5 pastries on the floor today alone, and I don’t know, you’re just… not you.”
Eric was worried maybe he’d caught on. He definitely had not dropped those pastries because he was busy looking over at him. Was he being to obvious?
The only way he knew to save himself was to get extremely defensive.
“Uh, so what? People make mistakes dude! I-it’s just one of those days!” He explained angrily, cringing slightly at his own lies.
Despite his little fit, Isaiah stayed calm and continued on. “I feel like I don’t know you too well, maybe I’m making things awkward. What do you say we go out for drinks one night? I’m pretty free most of the time.”
Eric thought he must have misheard him, why did he think he was messing things up? It was clearly Eric!
“I don’t drink.” Eric replied before he could even think. Of course he drank, why would he reject him!
“Oh… I saw you drinking the other night at that bar…”
Eric mentally facepalmed, how could he forget that night? He was becoming increasingly embarrassed by the conversation, he was practically begging God to save him.
“Well, we could always just talk here… When the shop closes and it’s just us?” Isaiah suggested, clearly trying to figure something out for their friendship.
“Yeah, okay sure, I just gotta go now, see you tomorrow then!” Eric said, walking off to collect his bag as quick as he could and giving a small wave as he left.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Isaiah placed down a tall chocolate milkshake and an éclair on the table in front of Eric before grabbing his own and taking a seat across from him.
The two sat in awkward silence as they ate, waiting for the other to start the conversation.
They were both free that afternoon and agreed to hang out in the café.
“… So… Why do you come to work so early every day?” Eric started, the question something he actually did want to know.
“I just like to be prepared.” Isaiah replied, as if arriving to work over an hour or so before it started was a normal thing to do.
“Still, it’s really early.”
“I don’t mind.”
The conversation flowed nicely and they both learnt things about each other. It was nice. Eric couldn’t remember the last time he actually hung out with his friends, or made a new one.
Eric did notice Isaiah talking a lot about his favourite bands. It made sense he’d want to play his music in the mornings before anyone else came in.
He listened intently, finding Isaiah’s experience with music intriguing. He would’ve never guessed he used to be in a band, or that he’s seen his favourite artist live 5 times.
Eric wanted to share his experiences related to music, but he didn’t have any. He just smiled and nodded along to Isaiahs lengthy explanations of references and secret meanings as if he understood exactly what he was talking about.
Their meeting ended once Isaiah’s alarm went off, mentioning he needed to be home to feed his dog.
They said their goodbyes and headed home.
Eric felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
The next day after work, instead of taking his usual route home, Eric turned the other way, heading down to the local library.
Inside, he scavenged the shelves for what he was looking for.
“Perfect…” He muttered to himself, sitting at an empty desk tucked away at the back of the building. In front of him sat around fifteen books, each on various bands Isaiah had brought up in conversation before.
Eric wasn’t much of a music guy, his favourite song was probably Tiki Tiki phonk or Turks and Caicos. He knew absolutely nothing about these niche bands like Green Day.
He also had never been the type of person who would read much, he couldn’t actually remember the last time he held a book. His attention span had always been too short for that, he could never focus on stupid words long enough to take in what he was reading.
Yet now, he felt motivated, he wanted to learn, he wanted to read, he wanted to spend his free time in a freaking library.
Because it was all for Isaiah.
Eric knew he’d look like a poser anyway, but if he even knew just a bit about these bands, he would get along better with Isaiah, and who knows what might happen next?
Eric sighed, knowing he shouldn’t be getting his hopes up about this. It was stupid anyway. As if Isaiah was gay, he’d noticed how the ladies would look at him as he took their orders while he was definitely doing his job and 100% not staring. And even at the tiny, miniscule chance that he maybe was gay, why would he like his annoying coworker who had been a bitch to him on multiple occasions? After all, he was just Eric. Being himself was weird. He couldn’t name a single lady who liked him. Except maybe that girl at the bar who he couldn’t bother to remember her name anymore, but he’d blocked her number after his realisation that maybe girls weren’t his preference.
Maybe girls weren’t for him at all. Maybe guys weren’t either. His sexuality didn’t matter right now and he couldn’t be bothered to go down the rabbit hole of figuring that out. All he wanted was Isaiah.
Just Isaiah.
He opened up his notebook next to the first of many band books and simply took notes on things that might come up in conversation and things he might be able to show off knowing to seem cooler to Isaiah.
As motivated as he was, it was boring and he was itching to just grab his phone and sit there, doomscolling. He fought the urge and kept going, reminding himself this was for Isaiah.
Isaiah, Isaiah, Isaiah.
He kept moving on autopilot and wasn’t doing to bad, but by the time he was finally getting into the flow, his eyes started to become droopy.
It was 7pm, which was actually late for him. He’d definitely be in bed by now if he was at home. Early mornings deeply affect him.
Back when he was a teenager, he’d stay up into the early hours of the morning and sleep in until midday. He learned the hard way that he can’t do that when he has a full time job.
Now he prioritizes sleep more than ever. He made a strict routine so he could get a good 10 hours of sleep each night, and he’s surprisingly followed it most days, with the occasional late night that he’d regret the next day.
He couldn’t process much more because two second later, someone was rapidly shaking his shoulders and yelling jumbled words at him. He sat up straight and opened his eyes to see the librarian he walked past on the way in saying something about ‘closing time’ and ‘leave!’
He quickly put two and two together and grabbed his stuff to run out, hearing the librarian’s angry mumbles as she grabbed his abandoned books.
He shoved his notebook and pen into his back as he descended down the steps at the library. Looking at his watch, he was shocked to see the time was 10pm. He could’ve sworn it was 7 a few moments ago.
He shook his head to fix his hair that had become messy from his uncomfortable position on the table and tried to navigate his way home.
He stopped to check his reflection in a car, wanting to look somewhat presentable despite the fact that no one would see him anyway.
He noticed movement in his peripheral vision and look to the side. A tall man in a black hoodie was walking towards him. His face was covered by the hood, and his hands were shoved in his pockets.
Eric shit his pants when he finally realised a few moments later that the guy was getting closer. He turned to keep walking, legs moving faster than before. He decided to give the guy the benefit of the doubt while still moving fast. He peeked over his shoulder to see if the guy was still there, and sure enough, he was matching Eric’s pace, maybe even going faster. That’s when he knew the night might not end so well. He squeezed his eyes shut expecting the stranger to catch up any second now and grab him.
He felt the hand on his shoulder and jolted, but the touch was surprisingly soft. He slowly opened one eye to see another person with his arm around him, looking back at the guy that was chasing him and yelling something like ‘leave my boyfriend alone!’. It took Eric a minute to realise that he was safe, and this new, good stranger was saving him from the bad stranger.
He was about to profusely thank the kind soul that protected him, but all the words disappeared when he saw his saviour was the only and only Isaiah.
“Are you okay? He was totally creeping on you. Thank goodness I was here” Isaiah spoke first, worry in his eyes as his gaze raked over Eric’s entire body, looking for any injury.
“…Y-yeah.” Was all Eric could say. Why was Isaiah even here! What the hell! He couldn’t even think straight and could barely even remember what happened as he just stared into Isaiah’s eyes, completely gobsmacked.
“Come on, let’s get you home.” Isaiah muttered, keeping his arm around Eric’s shoulder and guiding him down the path. Eric relaxed in his arms, the feel of his arm wrapped around him making him feel relaxed and comfortable. He didn’t even know where they were walking, just following wherever Isaiah guided him.
Lost in a daze, he hadn’t heard Isaiah trying to get his attention.
“Yo! Dude?” Isaiah snapped his fingers in front of his face, bringing Eric back down to earth.
“H-huh? Yeah?”
“Which one is yours?”
Eric looked up to see Isaiah pointing towards the apartment buildings ahead. He pointed to his building Isaiah took him inside.
At his apartment door, Eric thanked Isaiah so much he thinks his lips might’ve fallen off. Isaiah brushed it off as simply keeping someone safe from danger.
Eric shut the door behind him and slid down to the floor with a loud sigh. Resting his head in his hands, he thought about whatever that was.
How did he find me? Why was he there? What the fuck?
A sudden thought rushed into Eric’s head.
Was he… following me?
He quickly stood, yanking his front door open to confront Isaiah, but he was already gone.
Shutting the door again, Eric walked inside and sat on his bed, staring at the mirror.
He was conflicted. Isaiah had protected him, saved his life, but was he some kind of stalker or something?
Eric thought about it but realised he didn’t really care. Isaiah saved him, and that was the most important part.
When the prince saves the princess in fairytales, they always deserve a kiss, no? They did all that hard work to protect the one they love…
Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but regardless, Eric’s lips connected with the mirror.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Eric arrived at work the following morning.
The doors were unlocked and the chairs were down as they always were when he arrived, yet he sighed, something deep in him just wanting to spend some more morning time alone.
The door’s bell dinged loudly as he stepped through the door, and that’s when he realised Isaiah’s music wasn’t playing.
Just thinking of Isaiah must’ve summoned him because he appeared in the doorway right after, walking out to the main area with a worried look on his face.
“Are you okay? You know, after last night? Did you sleep well? You look tired. Was there any trouble getting here this morning? You should have slept in more, I have the morning handled you know.” He rambled, giving Eric too many words to process all at once.
“I-I’m fine” Was all he could stutter out. He was overwhelmed by the sudden ambush of questions and simply couldn’t be bothered using his brain right now to figure out answers to all of them.
He brushed passed Isaiah, leaving him standing there as he walked back to the staff room, sighing as he tried to get rid of the blush from his cheeks.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Eric was quiet that day.
As usual when he was feeling awkward about something, he was messing up orders the whole day.
Isaiah knew. They might not be too close yet, but he knew. He noticed when things were off. He claimed it was just a talent, it’s not like he actually cared about the people he could read so easily or anything!
After the shift Isaiah pulled Eric aside again.
Eric sighed, getting ready for another load of questions. Why did Isaiah have to care so much! It was getting annoying.
“Are you okay? Seriously, you’re acting weird again. Did something actually happen that’s making you... I don’t know, act off?” Isaiah asked with that same genuine worry he had expressed earlier.
“Can you just stop?” Eric replied before he could think, sounding ruder than intended. He saw Isaiah’s expression change but he didn’t stop.
“I would tell you what was wrong if I wanted to, stop being so nosy and stop pretending to care so much.” He gritted his teeth angrily and went to turn around and walk out but the hand now on his shoulder stopped him.
Isaiah pulled him back around to face him, sadness now all over his face. Eric wanted to turn away, he wanted to turn away so badly and leave so he could go home and wallow in despair rethinking his mistakes, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t find it in him to turn away from Isaiah. He was his one and only weakness.
“Stop, please” Isaiah practically whimpered, clearly fighting back tears. Eric suddenly felt horrible for how he’d spoken earlier.
“You’re… You’ve been acting so weird around me all day today, and… I’m not pretending to care... I really do care, as much as I hate to admit it. I want… I put a lot of effort into trying to become friends with you, but it just seems like you’re the one who doesn’t care. You act like you do, but then go ignore me for a whole day and- it hurts, okay? It hurts really badly.” Isaiah explained, the pain in his voice clear.
“Do you even like me at all? Because it feels like I’m the only one trying to get to know you, trying to be friends with you. This whole thing feels one-sided and I ca-”
Eric couldn’t take it anymore, seeing Isaiah break down like this over something he thought he was being obvious about. He cut him off, again more aggressive than he intended, but he’s pretty sure he got the point across.
“Of course I like you, you idiot! I’ve been trying so hard to seem cool and likable to you and I’m sorry if I screw up and get embarrassed some days, it’s not easy! You’re being such an idiot, you really think I didn’t like you?! I really fucking like you, I love you!”
Everything fell quiet and it felt as though the entire world went still. Eric had once again messed up by blurting something out before thinking about it.
He watched as Isaiah’s face shifted into something of shock and he froze up, mouth open like he wanted to reply but couldn’t find the words.
Fair enough, it wasn’t everyday your coworker confessed their love to you.
Before Isaiah could do anything else, Eric grabbed his bag that was on the table next to them and practically sprinted out of the store, throwing the rag in his hand onto the counter and leaving with his apron still on too.
He ran home, tears welling in his eyes, but he forced them back.
He ran past the concerned lady with her shih tzu and didn’t wave back to the kid on his way home from school.
He slammed his apartment door shut and let all his feelings out as he slid down the door. He sobbed and sobbed and every time he thought he was done, another wave of tears hit him hard.
At one point, he finally had it in him to stand up and head further inside. He yanked his apron off and threw it on the floor of his living room.
He walked through to his bedroom, past the mirror with countless chapstick stains that he wasn’t sure if they could ever be cleaned off.
He fell down into his unmade bed and yanked the covers over his head. He laid there facing the wall so that if anyone walked in, they wouldn’t have to look at his miserable appearance.
Not that anyone would come to see him anyway, all his friends were his coworkers, and they had their own lives anyway.
He cried and cried and cried until he finally fell asleep.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Eric stayed in bed all weekend until finally, it was Monday again.
He still hadn’t gotten over himself.
He barely even left his bed the last two days, only getting up when necessary.
His alarm went off at 6am, somehow seeming louder than any other time it had ever gone off. It was almost like it was mocking him.
He rolled over and grabbed his phone, snoozing the alarm as quickly as he could before unlocking the device.
The bright screen blinded him and while he adjusted to the light, he opened his chats with his boss, Tyler.
He typed out many different messages explaining the situation in great detail, but in the end decided on a simple “Not coming in today, sick.”
He realized after he sent it that it might’ve been too obvious that something was wrong. He never texts like that, he hates sounding so dry and anyone who’s ever met him would know that.
He dropped his phone next to him and sighed, staring at the ceiling and for the millionth time rethinking everything he’d done over the last few weeks, specifically everything he’d done on that day. He was usually the kind of person who was confident in everything he did and never regretted anything. He told himself that it was okay to be weird and seem crazy sometimes because that’s who he was.
That was until Isaiah came along.
Everything had changed since that day. He found himself trying to act cool or seem like a person he wasn’t in order for Isaiah to like him. Not even romantically, he just wanted Isaiah as a friend.
That didn’t seem to be happening any time soon. After all, he’d literally confessed his love just 3 days ago, what kind of person could just move on from that and just keep being friends with him?
Eric knew he couldn’t avoid his job forever, after all he did need to pay rent.
He just needed a bit more time to get over himself.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
A bit more time ended up being the whole week, and by Tylers responses to his boring texts, he knew something was wrong.
Eric heard a knock on his door from where he was in bed and sighed, still not really wanting to interact with anyone.
It was Friday and half an hour before the mysterious knock, he had sent his daily ‘sick’ text. Now he was dragging himself out of bed, not even looking at the mirror to see if he looked presentable.
He hated looking at that mirror.
The reflective metal still had stains from where he’d pressed his lip up on it, imagining something he knew would never be real. It was stupid of him to let himself fall into those dumb fantasies. Look where it’s got him now.
He opened the door a crack to see who could possibly be knocking at 7 in the morning, only to find Tyler staring directly back at him.
He opened the door further, wordlessly letting him in and mentally preparing himself for whatever he was going to hear from him.
The sat in silence for a bit at the kitchen counter before Tyler finally spoke up.
“Tell me what’s happening”
Only silence followed, he spoke again.
“You’re not like this, what’s happening. You’ve been weird for so long and I want to know what’s happening. I’m you best friend, right? You usually tell me everything, you’ve been quiet. What’s wrong?”
That was all Eric needed to hear to start crying and rambling on about everything that had happened over the last few weeks, Isaiah, his crush, the confession, everything.
“Oh Eric.” Tyler muttered, rubbing his hand comfortingly on Eric’s back. “If you’re avoiding work because of him, I can put you on another shift so you don’t have to see him? I’d have to do a bit of shuffling with everyone else, but I can make it happen.”
Eric was grateful for the offer but turned it down in the end. He’d already been such a horrible coworker these last few weeks because of Isaiah, how shitty would he be if he made everyone swap shifts? He’d caused so much trouble already he just needed to get over himself and go back. His bills don’t pay themselves.
Maybe he could ignore Isaiah and things would be chill. Maybe Isaiah would have forgotten everything, or will decide to be civil and not bring it up for his sake.
Or maybe Isaiah will address it immediately and embarrass him in front of whoever happens to be around at the time.
Either way, he knew he couldn’t wallow in sorrow in bed for the rest of time.
“I’ll be back Monday” He sighed, giving a little head nod along with it. Tyler patted him on the back and gave a small, sympathetic smile.
He left and now Eric was left alone with his thoughts for the rest of the weekend. He sighed and headed straight back to bed. He’d deal with all these thoughts and feelings another time.
Soon.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Beep, Beep, Beep.
Eric rolled over in bed and snoozed his alarm. He got ready for the day as usual and made a simple breakfast before heading out for the day.
This Monday might just be the worst Monday of his life.
Yet he still stopped for a chat with the lady with the shih tzu who was worried about his disappearance for a week, and he still waved to the kid across the road who was heading to school.
It was these little things that made him rethink everything. It might seem like a small insignificant moment to chat with a random lady or wave to a random kid, but seeing them after a while made him realise how much he valued these moments.
Everyone has their own special time in life. Some people look forward to what’s to come, and others cherish the memories of what’s gone by. Eric doesn’t know what the future holds, but he knew that right now he needed to get through the day without causing too much trouble at work.
Wasn’t being a barista supposed to be easy? How did he manage to make it so complicated?
He turned the corner and now the coffee shop was in sight. He took a big deep breath and kept walking towards it. It took everything in him to finally open that door for the first time in a long time.
The little bell rung out and footsteps immediately followed, getting slightly louder until finally a person was coming out from the back rooms and out to see Eric.
Isaiah.
“Eric! Are you okay? Where have you been, what happened?”
Eric almost wanted to laugh. What happened? This guy must be crazy.
“’m fine” Was all he replied, walking straight past him and hoping he could just get through this day without any more questioning from Isaiah.
Of course, he could never have what he wanted.
He felt Isaiah’s hand on his shoulder, weakly trying to make him stop. Eric shrugged it off and kept walking as if no one was actively trying to get his attention, and that’s when Isaiah broke.
He was fed up and grabbed Eric’s shoulder again, harsher this time. Eric stumbled a bit, caught off guard at the sudden movement from the other. He was used to Isaiah’s soft touches, when it was rare and comforting.
Isaiah held his shoulders tightly, grip not wavering as he once again explained his annoyance with the other. Eric figured the words must have been harsh, yet he couldn’t tell because all he felt was the guilt inside of him.
He’d ruined their friendship, what could’ve been a great one. He felt the tears forming as he thought back over it, everything. He tried his hardest not to cry but was failing with every coming second. The man he truly loved was yelling at him, who wouldn’t cry in this situation?
He felt he had a genuine connection with Isaiah, they had so much in common with each other and Eric loved talking to him, he loved him.
But in doing that came the worst mistake he’d ever made in his life.
Isaiah’s face seemed to change the moment he saw Eric’s watery eyes. He immediately stopped yelling and a worried expression replaced his angry one, guilt also being evident.
The next thing Eric felt was arms wrapping tightly around him, suffocating him in a hug.
He peeked his eyes open to see if his body was deceiving him and was met by the sight of Isaiah’s head buried in his shoulder as he mumbled soft apologies.
Eric froze up for a moment, completely not expecting the sudden switch, but soon relaxed in his arms and embraced him too.
They stood there behind the register for a while, mumbling soft apologies while trying to stop the tears from flowing. Eric felt safe in his arms, and he was almost sure the other did too. There was some kind of unspoken oath that they both understood.
Ding!
Both boys jumped in surprise, heads snapping up to see a poor lady standing right there at the register waiting to order, annoyed and clearly in a rush.
They practically flew off each other and Eric immediately headed back to the kitchen to prepare pastries while Isaiah sincerely apologised and took the customer’s order.
As the café busied and Eric carried out trays of pastries, he couldn’t help but sneak glances at Isaiah. He was almost sure Isaiah would try to talk to him again, but after this rollercoaster of emotions he’d been on, he wasn’t sure how he’d approach it. He hoped that this time maybe there would be a calmer approach. He hoped they’d be able to talk out their feelings without yelling or getting mad.
He hoped this would all just be over and done with. He was sick of feeling whatever emotion it was that he was feeling.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Just as expected, before Eric could leave that afternoon, Isaiah asked him to hang back.
As much as Eric was tired and wanted to leave, he knew this conversation had to happen, so he reluctantly decided to stay.
“Look Eric, I’m sorry for this morning, I really am. I shouldn’t have yelled or got mad or said any of the things I said, I was being rude and petty” Isaiah explained, remorse clear on his face.
Eric nodded, not too sure what to say. It’s not like he actually heard any of what Isaiah had said, but he definitely didn’t want to know.
“…I’m sorry too. About what happened last week. I shouldn’t have said what I said, now things are weird...” Eric looked down to play with his hands, waiting for what Isaiah had to say next, but when a reply didn’t come, he slowly looked up.
Isaiah was staring right back at him, sitting there in what seemed to be shock, leaving Eric confused what had happened to make him react this way.
“Maybe…. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough…”
Eric only became more confused at this, eyebrows furrowing as his mind worked to try and figure out what the fuck he was talking about. It was pretty clear Isaiah was annoyed at him.
Isaiah noticed his confusion and rolled his eyes, becoming increasingly annoyed as Eric didn’t understand what he was trying to say.
He looked away as if he was preparing himself for something and Eric leaned a bit closer as if the small movement was enough to understand him better. He wasn’t sure why Isaiah thought he could understand so easily, he wasn’t a mind reader.
When Isaiah turned back to face him, Eric could only see his expression for a split second before he realised Isaiah had closed the distance between them and connected his lips to Eric’s. He moved his lips fast a desperately, his hand coming up to rest on Eric’s jawline.
Eric was frozen in shock, unable to move and quite clearly not expecting Isaiah to do something like this. This was actually probably the last thing Eric expected Isaiah to do.
While Eric was internally freaking out and trying to figure out how to work the muscles in his body to do something, Isaiah pulled back, a worried expression falling onto his face again.
Eric hated that expression. Hated that Isaiah felt he had done something wrong as if he wasn’t some divine being who had stepped into Eric’s life to bless him with his presence. Isaiah had never done anything wrong to Eric, ever. It was Eric who’d done everything wrong to Isaiah. He didn’t deserve this kiss, but knowing the one he loved might love him back made him forget everything he’d ever done to mess up their whatevership and only care about the fact he’s now pulled back after the best kiss of his life like he was the one who ruined everything.
Isaiah, clearly worried he had overstepped, opened his mouth to apologise, but Eric shut that down quickly by lunging forward to close the gap again, finally being able to make his numb limbs move and saving the moment.
Now it was Isaiah’s turn to be shocked. He was stunned for a moment before he also realized what was happening here and the mutual feelings they shared. It’s almost like he forgot Eric literally confessed his love in the same spot just a little over a week ago.
Now he realized what was happening, and they both knew they wanted this more than ever.
Their hands came up to rest near each other’s faces, one of Eric’s sneaking back behind Isaiah’s head to run his fingers through his hair.
The whole thing felt familiar to him, a sense of déjà vu even when knowing he’d never done this before.
That’s when he remembered.
The mirror.
The mirror facing his bed that was stained with the wet marks where Eric had made out with it, imagining Isaiah was who he was actually kissing.
The mirror he hadn’t been able to look at for the past week.
A blush came across his face as he thought about how stupid and delusional he’d been to let himself indulge in those fantasies. He’d never felt this way about anyone else, everything about his connection with Isaiah was a new experience.
He faltered a bit, remembering the other boys he’d had a crush on at school. None of them ever made him feel the way he did with his crush on Isaiah.
His big fat crush on Isaiah. The one he thought would never come true. The one who would be in all his daydreams and fake scenarios.
Except this wasn’t fake. This wasn’t something he’d imagine while kissing an inanimate object.
This was real. So real he almost couldn’t believe it.
He was pulled out of his thoughts and back to reality when he felt Isaiah’s tongue slipping out of his mouth and prodding at his lips, asking for entrance.
Of course, Eric allowed, opening his mouth to make the kiss that much more intimate. He never thought this would ever happen, now that it actually is, he wanted to go as far as he could.
Their mouths moved in sync, connected like two pieces of a puzzle made to fit. If he hadn’t known this before, he knew now that by the warmth of Isaiahs breath panting into his open mouth that this was one hundred percent, definitely real.
There was no cold metal that would sting his lips to touch and no reflection of himself when he opened his eyes, just the warm wetness from the mouth of the man he loved.
The way their body’s fit together as they made out made it so much better, even the small places where they were touching stimulating him more than enough, allowing Eric to remember this moment forever, even if he was unfortunate enough to never experience this again.
Knowing his luck, he bet this would all come crumbling down after they stopped kissing. Boys seemed to like to lead him on before switching up last minute and running off, saying they never meant it.
When they finally did pull away from each other, Eric prepared himself for the worst, expecting the rejection to come any second now.
When nothing happened, he peeked up to see Isaiah staring at him, his mouth twitched up with a giddy smirk.
They kept their eyes locked as they both panted for air and Eric slowly became more reassured by the way Isaiah was staring at him with the look of love that he truly meant what he did and wasn’t messing with him.
Eric shyly slumped forwards, resting his head on Isaiah’s chest and sighing happily when he felt Isaiah’s arm wrap around him with a comforting squeeze.
They stayed like that in silence for a while before Eric finally found the courage to speak up.
“Isaiah...?”
“Hmm?”
“…Go out with me?”
Isaiah’s hand guided Eric’s head to face his before leaning his to place another soft kiss of his lips.
“Of course.”
Both boys shared happy grins as they softly discussed details of what they wanted to do for their very first date.
They slowly closed up the store together and stood outside, Eric waiting patiently while Isaiah locked up the door. When he turned back, he still had that same giddy smile.
They said small goodbyes and gave each other a kiss farewell before they both headed on their ways.
🪻˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗🍊
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Eric groaned as his 6am alarmed woke him abruptly. He immediately snoozed it and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep, however something else was keeping him awake. An amazing smell drifted through the room, past the mirror and through Eric’s nostrils, making his stomach growl. He sighed, sitting up and rubbing his eyes before finally deciding to face the day.
He walked out to the kitchen like a zombie and slumped down onto the stool at the counter. A plate of eggs and waffles with ice cream slid across the bench toward him. He was half asleep but the sight of the delicious breakfast in front of him sure woke him up. “Thanks, babe” he grumbled, quickly picking up his cutlery and taking big bites of the waffle. “Anything for my beautiful husband” Isaiah muttered as he pecked Eric’s temple and took the seat next to him.
Their wedding had been perfect. Their family and friends all attended, ecstatic for the couple to finally tie the knot. They cried at their first look of each other and cried at the lengthy vows, laughing too as the inside jokes slipped in. The reception might have been the most fun they’ve ever had at any party. They danced and sang and got wasted before 9pm. They woke up the next morning with the worst hangover ever, but it didn’t matter because they woke up next to each other, finally as newlyweds.
It’s been 3 years since they met at that coffee shop and they’ve lived together for several months now. Eric still can’t believe it – can’t believe he found someone so perfect for him.
They got engaged on a Monday after a playful banter about their future.
“Marry me and then I’ll think about it”.
Isaiah asked if Eric had meant it and told him he already bought the ring. Eric already had one too, and both boys rushed to dig it out. Maybe they’d always bicker over who proposed first.
They only fell in love more each day, and sometimes they’d stop to reminisce those times when they were younger, embarrassing, awkward encounters with each other. But they’d still smile and think about how far they’d come now.
And neither of them would ever change a thing.