I've been tagged by @oh-no-another-idea to find the words orange, change, note, and whiskers. thank!
I chose Cafe Latte because I don't have whisker ANYwhere but I do have whisked, and that's the closest I'm going to get
you can read it for free on Ao3 here, and it's finished! it's a low-key Josselin and Meara coffee shop au. it's pretty mellow, complete self-indulgent marshmallow fluff, lol. but if that's your thing, please think about checking it out! <3
“Can I just get a shot of espresso with one pump of chocolate and one pump of orange? And a little whipped cream.”
“Vegan or dairy?”
“Vegan,” Frankie said. “I can pretend it’s healthy and it’s not like I’m drinking a dessert.” Meara laughed and rang it up.
“That sounds delicious,” he said. “What do you call that?”
Frankie shrugged and handed him her credit card.
“Nothing, really. I had it once at a café in Italy, only they put orange zest in the espresso grounds when they pulled it. They had a name for it but I don’t remember what it was anymore.”
Meara nodded thoughtfully and made a mental note to try it later and see if it was worth putting on the menu.
“You know those dark chocolate oranges they sell around Christmas?”
“Yeah?”
“It tastes like if that were coffee.”
“That sounds amazing,” Meara said.
“Ring up another one.”
Meara paused, about to swipe her card. “What?”
“Ring up another one. Try it on me.”
“You’re sure?”
Josselin chuckled as Frankie said, “I wouldn’t have said it if I weren’t.”
Danny and Josselin’s meeting ran for hours, and Josselin stayed hours late to make up for it to get his own work done. Meara left him alone -- he knew he’d be annoyed if Josselin bothered him while he was trying to work -- but the little interactions still made his day. Josselin ordering a sandwich, a second drink, a third. Only the first was a zombie, thankfully. Meara would hate to have to call an ambulance. Josselin’s little smiles and the way his wrist flashed under the light when he dropped a single in the tip jar and the hitch of his voice when he said ‘thank you,’ like he wanted to say something else, although what, Meara had no idea. The way Josselin caught his hand and kissed his palm when Meara gave back the other man’s change.
By the time Josselin left at 4:00, Meara was head over heels. He hadn’t had many partners in the past, and none of them had lasted long, but he couldn’t remember ever feeling something like this for any of them so fast.
A nagging little voice he’d been able to quell until then murmured, Just wait until he gets bored with you.
Meara’s gaze fell to his feet and darted around the floor. He should sweep.
He will, you know. Eventually. Like they all did.
Then, Sunday morning, Meara woke up at 4:00, as usual. He hopped out of bed and was halfway to the shower when he realized: today was their first day closing down. He still had baking to do, but he had to do some research, first, and really, all that could wait until the more reasonable hour of 6:00, around when Danny would be coming in. But he was wide awake, so why not start some reading?
He poured over his cookbooks and his favorite baking blogs, leaving sticky notes with scribbled reminders and thoughts all through the books and all over his laptop and desk. He’d gotten pretty adept at being able to tell when a recipe would work just by looking at it, and what changes he might want to make and where. He kept an eye on the clock, waiting for an appropriate time to call Josephine, and finally, 6:00 came and Meara heard the front door chime as it opened. Danny was here. Maybe still a little too early to call Josephine, though. He’d wait until 8:00 or so.
Hidden in the dollar bills and coins was a small piece of paper, folded into quarters. Meara unfolded it, expecting a messily scrawled ‘bring me a cupcake!’ or something along those lines. Sometimes Max and Roxie left them little notes.
But this was in neither Max’s blocky, messy handwriting or Roxie’s curly, careful cursive. It was a script Meara didn’t recognize, and the note said,
Call me sometime. On my personal. We’ll meet up for coffee not-coffee lunch? To talk about your advertising.
Josselin.
tagging @willtheweaver @the-golden-comet @delusionisaplace @tamiveldura @solardescension to find the words sun, moon, star, night, and morning!
the list I'm taking names from is kind of old, so if you no longer want to be tagged in games just let me know!
