He never actually dated the customers. Thomas wasn’t that caught up in dating, not interested really to Chuck and Teresa’s great displeasure. Those two were the most gossip-obsessed baristas Thomas had ever met, and though he loved the idiots, he was sort of happy he was usually only at work with one of them at a time. It was hard to joke around and act natural when there were two jerks talking loudly about how he’d never date the customers anyway. That wasn’t the point of it – naturally. It was making people happy. Most people liked being flirted with, and if they didn’t Thomas got lost pretty quickly. He could be clueless, but he always tried to respect boundaries. The point was that Thomas didn’t flirt for the tip. He liked flirting, it was fun, but he didn’t want to use anyone. He wasn’t doing it to flatter his own ego or make money of it, he just wanted to improve someone’s day, and no matter how shallow that might be, having a stranger flirt with you was a great way of having your day improved. That was the way he saw it. It was an ego-boost, and he didn’t mind being someone’s ego-boost.
The doorbell sounded and he finished wiping down the counter at the exact same moment. He pressed play on the iPod lying under the counter, and the soft coffee shop music that was always running started. He leaned against the counter, putting on his best good-morning-smile and when the guy looked up from his book to order his coffee Thomas had to suck in a breath. He was stunning. The first thing that stuck with Thomas was how dark his eyes were. They were a brown so rich and deep that they almost seemed black. They were hypnotic, and Thomas took a few seconds to snap out of it. Coffee-brown. He noted to himself, trying very hard (and failing) not to stare.
“Hi, I’m Thomas, and I’m your barista today. What can I get you, buddy?” he asked, hoping he sounded nonchalant enough. He didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of this guy. Usually he didn’t mind being “the class clown” but something about this guy… He didn’t know exactly what it was, but he couldn’t stop staring at coffee-dark eyes and caramel-syrup coloured hair and milky white skin. I’d like me a tall drink of that.
“Anything. Anything please. I just… any bloody thing on the bloody menu with a triple shot in it, please. The biggest bugger you have.”
I’ll show you a big bugger. “No problem, and who’s it for?”
The guy sent him a weird look. “There’s no one but me here.”
Thomas raised a stubborn eyebrow. “Someone may come in.” He needed to get this guy’s name.
The guy cocked his head slightly. “So many people you’ll forget my bloody face? I’m hurt.” He claimed, making Thomas smirk slightly.
“I don’t think I could. I rarely get customers as pretty as yourself.” He said, and the blonde looked like he waited for Thomas to start laughing or announce that he was joking. No such thing was going to happen. This guy, this person, this ethereal being, he was gorgeous and Thomas wasn’t about to treat that as a joke. It was the truth. The truest thing Thomas had thought in a long, long time.
When Thomas didn’t say more the guy’s face slowly morphed into a smile, and he shook his head softly. “Name’s Newt. Nice to meet you, Thomas, though you’re one weird bugger.” He smirked and turned, leaving for his table, but he left his book. Thomas took this as a good sign. The guy obviously wanted him to bring the coffee over together with the book. He picked it up and flipped through it, losing interest pretty quickly. Law-stuff. Not interesting to him at all. He was going to study engineering, and paragraphs and court-etiquette sounded like something that could make a guy stick his head into the steamer.
Thinking about that he started making the coffee while keeping an eye on the guy out of the corner of his eye. He really didn’t want to stop looking at him for as much as a second. He was slim and not very tall, and Thomas was completely lost. He wanted to take the blonde into his arms and cuddle him to his chest. It’s really early, maybe I should get some coffee myself.
He poured himself a big cup of regular coffee and took a long sip, burning his tongue (yet again, he did this every day because he was an idiot, as Teresa kindly reminded him every time.), sticking it out and fanning it with his hand, only to look over and see the guy – Newt – look at him with an amused expression on his face. “Am I disturbing you?” the blonde asked, and Thomas quickly drew his tongue back into his mouth and grabbed a straw, sticking it in his mouth. Chuck always said he had an oral fixation, but that was utter bullshit.
The way the guy’s glance trained on his mouth when he did wasn’t, though, and Thomas had to strain himself not to smirk. “No, not disturbing at all.” He drawled, putting as much flirting into his voice as he possibly could. The blonde smiled, lowering his eyes quickly and turned his head to hide the slightly blush that obviously crept onto his cheeks. Thomas definitely saw that as a victory. Now he just had to make sure the guy would go out with him. He was pretty certain it was the most important thing in his life today. Maybe in his life in general.
“Great, would you mind putting some milk in that bugger? I’m not that good with black coffee, I just need the caffeine, got finals tomorrow, need to bloody cram.” He instructed, and Thomas hadn’t known he had a kink for English people until now. Huh. Interesting.
“Sure thing. Like your coffee like you like your men? Strong and pale?” he asked, wagging his eyebrows, earning himself a pronounced eye-roll.
“That one was almost painful to listen to. I’m certain you can do better than that.” The blonde remarked, making Thomas fling the straw into a trashcan and lick his lips instead, effectively getting the guy’s attention. He made his way over with his coffee and his book and put both down.
For a couple of seconds a staring-contest ensued until the guy finally smiled and looked down into his book again. “You’re very hard to flirt with, d’ya know that?” Thomas asked, making the guy look up again.
“I haven’t had my coffee, mate, I’ll get there. Aren’t you supposed to make more coffee?” he asked, seemingly a weird mix of shy and cocky. It was really attractive knowing that he could battle Thomas’ quick tongue but also the way he looked down was sort of endearing. Thomas wanted to kiss him very, very bad, and he wasn’t entirely sure he understood how fast and hard this had hit him. The guy was just the perfect mix of sassy and shy, and Thomas’ mouth was a little dry.
“Nah, there’s no one but you here. It’d get cold anyway. Besides I’d much rather talk to you. So, finals, how old are you?” he asked. The guy looked pretty young. Not young enough for it to be gross, if so Thomas would never sit here staring at his lips this way, but young in a way. He had this sort of sexy innocence that Thomas couldn’t quite grasp. He’d never seen anything like it. Like, Chuck looked innocent and Teresa looked sexy. Never a mix. Never like this. Newt flashed him that smile he’d later come to label the “kiss me smile”.
The blonde cocked his head, that smile never leaving his lips, and Thomas grabbed the spoon that Newt wasn’t using anyway and popped it between his lips without thinking. “How old do you think I am?”
A snort left Thomas and he shook his head. “Nope. I’m not touching that one. Guessing people’s ages is never a good thing. I just wanted to know if I should feel like a complete creep for thinking you’re so damn cute.”
Newt sent him a long, amused look and shook her head. “You’re fine, it’s not high school finals, you don’t study law in high school, you bugger. Stare all you want. You’ll have to do it quietly, though, I really have to study.” He argued, and Thomas nodded, making a zipping movement in front of his lips. He allowed himself about five minutes of studying Newt’s face intently. His jawline, the way his lips moved just slightly when he was reading, the way he’d pull a face when he read something he didn’t agree with, and honestly the only reason Thomas didn’t just lean over and kiss him right then and there was that maybe that was pushing the limits a bit.
The guy seemed to be all around pretty comfortable though. He didn’t seem to mind that Thomas’ eyes were trained on his face, and whenever he flipped a page he glanced at Thomas shortly and sent him a small smile or an incredulous look. When the barista stood up to get to work as the bell of the door rang, Newt looked up, and those big brown eyes almost made Thomas stumble over his chair. “Oh no, who’s going to appreciate my face if you’re leaving?” he asked, looking terribly smug, and Thomas blinked a couple of times before starting to laugh. He shook his head softly and grabbed a pen from the pocket of his apron, took a napkin and jotted down his number.
“Newt, it would be my pleasure to buy you dinner and admire your face when you’re through with your finals.” He stated, lips quirking up as the guy pursed his lips, pondering (pretending to be pondering, Thomas hoped) his answer.
___________________________________________________________________
Thomas had not been expecting such a busy day, so he’d been forced to call in reinforcements. Both of them. He pulled a face when Chuck and Teresa walked in the door laughing, and glanced at Newt who was still sitting at his table. Thomas had thrown in a few flirty comments while working, taking the long ways around the coffee shop so he could pass Newt’s table as often as possible, but the guy unfortunately seemed to be pretty engrossed in his studies. Boring.
Teresa leaned over the counter and pecked him on the cheek before making her way around the counter, loudly stating “So, Tom, now’s your break, maybe you can go out and call some of the fans you’ve made. How many numbers did you get today?” she asked, making Thomas roll his eyes and shake his head. They’d had this discussion a gazillion times. Trying to argue with her about it was pointless, so instead he just patted Chuck on the shoulder when the pudgy kid made his way behind the counter.
He was going to spend his break talking to Newt if the dude could be dragged from his book. He sort of hoped so, ‘cause as much as he enjoyed just staring at him in helpless admiration, he really wanted to talk to him more. He liked talking to him, they had great chemistry, so when he flopped down in front of him he was sort of disappointed that the guy didn’t look up right away.
“Yo, earth to Newt. I’m back. I’m on my break. You should take one too, flirt with the hot barista, you know, live a little.” He tried, hoping to earn himself another one of those amazing smiles. Nothing came. Newt seemed tense and he wasn’t moving at all save for when he turned a page in the book.
“Erh, did I do something?” Thomas asked, feeling his heart sinking. He shouldn’t care so much about a random guy he’d just met today, but he really liked Newt and he’d sort of hoped they could actually go on a date.
He looked down in the table, finding the napkin with his number crumbled together into a very, very small ball. He grabbed it and straightened it out, pushing it towards Newt. He wasn’t going to give up on this. “I thought you wanted me to admire your face more.” He said, going for casual and light while he raked his brain, trying to figure out what he’d done wrong. He hadn’t botched any of Newt’s orders, he hadn’t been rude as far as he could recall. What the hell?
“You’re not moving until I talk to you, are you? Isn’t stuff like this against company policy? I don’t think you’re supposed to harass your customers and try to pressure them into going on a bloody date with you.” The blonde sneered, finally looking up. His shoulders were squared and there was a fire in his eyes that would’ve been hot if it wasn’t mixed up with so strong contempt for Thomas.
His heart was sinking in his chest. What the hell is happening? “I didn’t mean to pressure you, I thought you seemed interested, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to try to push you into doing something you don’t want to-“
Newt rolled his eyes, and Thomas wished that pretty smile would follow, but it didn’t, and he cringed slightly when a sarcastic drawl made his way over the blonde’s lips, “No, no need to push me into it. I mean, you get plenty of numbers, don’t you? From all your fans? You could go call one of them.” he hissed, making a hand-gesture that managed to spill the rest of the cold coffee in his cup over the whole table. He gave a frustrated groan and pointedly grabbed the napkin Thomas had scrawled his number on and started mopping up the coffee with it.
“Hey, that’s really rude!” Thomas protested, a bit offended but also very focused on keeping his voice low. He leaned closer and frowned when Newt leaned back in his chair, obviously not wanting him to get any closer. Thomas sighed and held up his hands in defeat. “Fine, fine, I’m sorry, I don’t know what I did to make you this angry, but I really didn’t mean to. I’ll leave you alone now.” He said, standing up and making his way to the back room, the wheels in his brain spinning as he tried to make sense of what Newt had said.
He was halfway through his lunch when it hit him. A groan, a face-palm and a couple of minutes banging his forehead against the ratty staff-room table later he stood up quickly, moving out of the room.
“You’re too late, he just left.” Chuck remarked – sometimes the kid was a lot smarter than he seemed, too clever for his own good even – and pointed towards the blonde that was disappearing out of the view from the window. Thomas felt his eyes widen and he shook his head, sensing somehow that if he didn’t make a run for it now he’d regret it. He definitely wasn’t going to see Newt again if he didn’t catch him now, so he started sprinting towards the door, twisting between the maze of tables only to be cut off by Teresa.
“Hey, we really need you here, Tom, you can’t just run off, your break is almost over.” She pointed out, looking confused. She obviously hadn’t put two and two together like Chuck had, and Thomas took a deep breath and spoke quicker than he had in his entire life.
“I met a guy, he’s amazing, I think I might be a little bit in love with him already. When he smiles it’s like the sun breaking free through the clouds on a rainy day, he’s really smart and he’s very British and blonde, he’s also very angry with me and I’ll explain later, okay?” he rambled, gasping for breath and when he noticed that Teresa looked utterly unimpressed he threw in the last ace he had up his sleeve. “I’ll invite you to tag along on our first date so you and Chuck can gossip until you die if you cover for me right now and let me go.” It worked like a spell, and she instantly sidestepped and let him through. I should get new friends.
And with that he twisted around her and sprinted out the door, heart beating a lot faster than it had any right to. He felt slightly panicky, scared that Newt had turned a corner more than the one on the end of the street. When he turned left he saw a blonde mop of hair disappearing around yet another corner, and he looked from side to side, deciding that he could make it and sprinted across the street. His feet hit the pavement hard and he jumped out of the way of a guy on a bike, getting flipped off in the process, only just managing not to get run over. “Newt!” he called, and the guy turned his head, rolled his eyes and set off into a run. Was he seriously chasing a guy to make him go on a date with him? Yes. He couldn’t stop now, he’d already made an ass of himself, so he kept running, putting in as much speed as he possibly could, turned a corner that he’d seen the blonde disappear around and—- ran straight into said blonde, managing to send them both crashing to the ground.
“Newt,” he started, gasping for air and frantically feeling the soft hair to make sure he hadn’t managed to crack the other guy’s head open. “No no no, are you okay?” he asked, worriedly fussing over the other guy as Newt was shoving at him.
“Get the bloody hell off of me you manwhore!” the other guy yelped, making Thomas freeze in shock. No one had ever called him anything like that before, and he blinked confusedly, unable to move. This was not the way I imagined our bodies pressed together.
Newt finally managed to shove him off and Thomas stayed on the ground, thankful that the street wasn’t that crowded. Being called a manwhore in public was embarrassing enough even without that many eyewitnesses. Speaking off… “I’m not a manwhore! I’ve only been with one other person in my life.” He muttered indignantly, making Newt snort and roll his eyes.
“Well you bloody hell aren’t going to be with me so you can quit that “other” thing! No bloody wonder no one else wants to shag a stupid bugger like you, collecting phone numbers like you’re some sort of-“
“Yeah, about that.” Thomas said quickly, sitting up and brushing off his shirt, watching as Newt did the same. He hadn’t even noticed before how good the tight-fitting black button-shirt looked on him. It would probably look great off him as well. Focus. You have to convince him you’re not some weird sex-addict douchebag first. “I don’t save the numbers I get. I like to give customers a feeling of being welcome, but I didn’t mean to- you’re the first one I’ve asked out.” He ended lamely, knowing that he was doing a shit job of trying to explain himself, but he was getting sort of desperate, because now Newt was standing up. He was rubbing the back of his head and Thomas felt really bad for knocking him over like that, but he also couldn’t let him leave. So he quickly shuffled closer and grabbed both of Newt’s legs and wrapped himself around them so the other guy couldn’t walk away from him. This earned him a look of disgust that made him wince slightly. “Pleasebelieve me, I don’t-“
“Shut your trap.” Newt huffed, trying to free his feet from Thomas’ grip, “I’m not going out with someone who flirts with anyone who walks in the door. I really don’t need that sort of drama in my life, okay? I don’t have time to fool around with you. I have stuff to do with my life. You’re not all that.”
Thomas looked down at the feet that were trying to free themselves from his grip and pouted at the ground, mind grasping desperately for anything that could convince Newt. “Okay okay, just give me a chance, just go back to the Greenbean with me-“
“That’s a bloody stupid name for a coffee shop by the way,” Newt shot in, making Thomas smile just a bit.
“I know, I know, it’s ridiculous, but please, just go back and ask my colleagues, you know the small one with the curly hair, I think he’s literally incapable of lying, he’ll tell you. They always complain that I never take any of the people who slip me their numbers on dates, I swear it’s the truth, I’ve never really wanted to date anyone at all since my first girlfriend, you’re literally the first one I’ve wanted in at least two years.”
The blonde snorted and stared down at him, making Thomas hope that the fact that he wasn’t rejected immediately meant that he would at least consider it. “No.” he said, and Thomas gave a defeated sigh.
He ran a hand through his hair and finally let go of Newt, knowing that he looked completely defeated and not really doing anything to change it. He was genuinely sorry that he’d upset Newt. He hadn’t even realized that he’d heard what Teresa said, and he felt bad that maybe the guy really thought that he was lying.
He wished he could make Newt smile again, but he was pretty certain that ship had sailed. “I’m really sorry. I really didn’t mean to upset you.” He muttered. Watching Newt leave hurt more than it should have, and he sighed to himself, disappointed that the other guy wasn’t even answering him.
Defeated he made his way back to the coffee shop, sulking for a couple of hours until Teresa rolled his eyes and told him to go home.
___________________________________________________________________
The following day was depressing. Thomas could feel his smile looking strained but could do nothing to change it. He was annoyed with himself. So, he’d struck out with a cute guy? That happened to people all the time. He didn’t really know Newt, so feeling so down over it was totally ridiculous. Just because they’d hit it off didn’t mean it would’ve worked out between them, and since the guy wasn’t part of his life anyway so it wasn’t even a real loss. He hadn’t had Newt in the first place, so losing him wasn’t really a thing anyway. Somehow that thought just made him feel even worse.
So maybe Thomas formed connections with people quickly. Maybe he cared a lot about what people thought of him, maybe he wanted to be the good guy to everyone, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, was it? Only when it made you pine for stupid, beautiful blondes and mess it up. He sighed and frowned, wiping off the countertop for the umpteenth time that day. The second sigh earned him a pat on the back from Chuck, and the third made Teresa roll her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry, Chuck explained what happened and I didn’t mean to botch it up for you, okay? It sucks that he got mad, Tom, but maybe he’s right. Maybe flirting should be reserved for people you actually want to date from now on.”
Thomas let out yet another long-suffering sigh, prompting Teresa to just point at the door. “Go home.” Thomas shook his head, his features setting in a stubborn, grim expression. “You’re not being a very good barista anyway, you’re more bitter than the coffee and it’s not a good look on you.” She argued, and Thomas opened his mouth to answer, but ended up just groaning and taking off his apron.
“You’re the worst friends I have.” He stated, leaving the place.
Ten days passed this way, each day more miserable than the other. The two first days were the worst. He had to pick himself up at some point, though, and he felt bad about doing a shit job at work. So when the second day came to an end he pulled himself together. He pushed the thoughts of Newt away from him. He decided to get on with his life. On the fourth day it was time to wash the floors at closing time. Finding the napkin that he’d written his phone number on wasn’t particularly fun. How it had even been allowed to lie on the floor for so long was a wonder in itself. This caused another three days of sulking before Teresa threatened to call the university, find Newt’s address through them and hunt him down. The prospect of being humiliated further in Newt’s eyes was motivation enough to get Thomas to get himself together again. Maybe he was never going to see Newt again, but he didn’t want to look like an idiot. Newt already thought he was a jerk, but an embarrassing jerk? Yeah, no thank you.
___________________________________________________________________
Soft country music playing on the speakers and the third cup of coffee of the day had brought Thomas to 10:30. Which said a lot about how little sleep he’d gotten last night, seeing as they opened at 10. So basically he felt like crap and he needed the caffeine to get through the day. He took another long drag of his cup.
“You look bloody awful.”
And that’s how Thomas choked to death. No, not really, but he was pretty damn close and sort of wished he had when Chuck ran up behind him and started pounding him on the back so hard he almost coughed up his lungs. After that, when he looked at Newt red-faced and out of breath he wanted to die even more. “Yeah. I don’t sleep so well these days. Someone informed me that I’m a complete idiot.”
Newt shrugged. “Maybe you are. What did you do?”
“Apparently I flirt too much.” Thomas stated, pushing at Chuck’s face when the kid opened his mouth and started talking. “Not right now Chuck, yes it’s him, now go away.”
“Aha, and why was the flirting a problem?” the blonde asked, and Thomas felt his heart pounding harder and harder.
Why is he here? And why is he so pretty? He swallowed hard and shrugged. “Maybe that person was right. I kind of get why someone could get the wrong impression, but it’s hard to just change your personality from one day to another.” He noted, smiling softly as a new customer came up and Newt politely stepped to the side so Thomas could serve the cute girl in front of him – no flirting. Just politeness and a smile. When she’d left Newt stepped back, immediately cut off when a group of girls came in. He huffed and moved to stand in line behind them.
When Thomas was finally done making coffee for the huge-ass-group (one of them winked at him and all he could do was look over at Newt, trying to communicate with his eyes that he hadn’t tried flirting with her because honestly the hope that filled his chest made it very hard to focus and he was trying very hard not to screw up) and Newt stood in front of him again he bit his lower lip. “Look, I’m really sorry, okay? I honestly, genuinely don’t want to go out with anyone I’ve ever flirted with in here. You’re the only person I’ve ever sat down and talked to, usually it’s just a nice comment, I swear. I didn’t know that it was such a problem. Teresa told me that I should maybe-“
Newt held up a hand and Thomas felt his entire face grow beet-red. He’d screwed up. Oh God, he’d screwed up again. “Maybe that person over-reacted a bit. Maybe that person has visited the coffee shop a couple of times and couldn’t make himself go in because there was this really cute barista that he sort of wanted to flirt with, but he was scared to make a bloody arse of himself. So he waited and then when he finally got the chance, he got really disappointed when he thought that the cute barista didn’t like him that much anyway. Getting your hopes up can be pretty heart breaking.”
Thomas opened his mouth to answer just as Chuck, who seemed to be pretty done listening to them, shoved him away from the counter. “Jesus, this is like watching the worst chick-flic ever, I’d rather watch The Ugly Truth with Teresa again.” He grumbled, making Thomas swat him over the unruly mop of curls and move away, shooting Newt an apologetic look.
“You have a pretty great insight into this hypothetical person.” He noted, allowing a smile to creep onto his face.
Newt nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty clever when I’m not being a melodramatic bugger.”
Thomas shrugged, smile growing. “Lucky for you melodramatic buggers isn’t a particularly horrible turn-off for me as long as they’re really blonde and pretty.”
And there it was. The kiss me smile. The one that made Thomas’ heart pound so hard he feared it was trying to make its way out of his chest. So though it was most definitely against company policy and Frypan would definitely murder him if he ever found out, he went for it, leaning over the counter as far as he could and tangled a hand in blonde locks as he brought their faces closer. He waited for just another second, just long enough for Newt to look up. When his eyes were met by those coffee-brown ones he didn’t doubt himself for a single second longer, just closed the distance between them and pressed an insistent kiss to the pink lips that were definitely way softer than they had any right to be.
It went on and on and on in an eternity of soft, languid movements, as though they had all the time in the world – which Thomas guessed they had if he didn’t screw up again, and he almost didn’t feel the strain to his neck because honestly he couldn’t bring himself to care the slightest bit, because Newt was a brilliant kisser who tasted like mint and the promise of something great.
“Wow, I’ll take it I’m forgiven then. Mind getting your disgusting drooling off the counter so I don’t have to sterilize it later?”
Thomas stuck his middle finger up in the general direction of Teresa’s voice, but he couldn’t really get a venomous comment out because he really didn’t want to let go of Newt’s lips. Besides, her comment made Newt snicker against his lips and the sound of it sent shivers down his spine.
“Did he tell you that I’m coming with you guys on your first date?”
“What?!” The kiss was abruptly interrupted and Thomas had to blink a couple of times to bring Newt’s incredulous face into focus.
He smiled sheepishly. “Yeeeaaah, that a problem?”
Newt’s stern glance told him that maybe he’d have some making up to do later. Maybe making up can turn into making out?
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