“So…”, Gil was in the middle of cleaning dirty cups, as his co-worker nonchalantly started talking to him “Got any hobbies?”
He didn’t mind. Actually, Gil was normally a pretty sociable type. But he really didn’t quite so much want to get close to this one. In his eyes, Heat seemed a bit… off. Also, he had felt him starring at him the whole time while serving the customers, so there was also that. But of course he was way to polite of a person to actually show his discomfort. So he kept shut.
“Well, playing instruments, I guess.” He felt Heat closing in, his chest almost touching his arm.
“Oh, you play, instruments? Which ones, if I may ask?”
In the beginning, Gil had thought Heat to be a relatively shy person. Someone who would not speak much and not loudly, someone who avoided people. But with him, his co-worker just… seemed to make a 180° turn. He would still speak quietly, but he was actively looking for a conversation. He just acted so much more different around him then around other people. That was exactly what made Gil uncomfortable. Not the spark in Heat’s eyes, but way he closed in on him. Because albeit being an allrounder concerning social behaviour, he had always despised physical contact.
“I once tried playing the guitar but failed immediately. Maybe you could teach me?” He approached even more and Gil didn’t even have enough room anymore, to freely turn around or move his arm without pushing Heat away. The new worker was a nice person, he really was. Until the point where he got stuck in a job he didn’t even want. But sometimes there were just some boundaries even Gil couldn’t accept being surpassed.
Right when he tried to gently push Heat away and tell him to please back off a little, a customer came in. A customer not quite like the others.
“Heaaat! Is your shift over yet?”
“No it’s not. And besides, I told you not to pick me up.” Heat had reverted to his usual personality. Relived to finally have some air to breath again, Gil turned around to see whom Heat was talking to. It struck him like a tornado, like an arrow. What he saw was breathtaking. Almost stunning, even.
He laid eyes on a seemingly frail boy, with eyes and hair in the colors of the dawning sky and a slighty tanned skin, without any kind of blemish. His voice sounded calm but determined.
“Don’t be like that, for how long have we know eachother? Our entire lives? I think it’s only plausible, that I'd want to pick up my chil-”
“Excuse me”, Gil interrupted, his voice trembling of excitement “ But would you tell me your name?”
The frail boy widened his eyes a bit. He looked at him, slightly tilted his head and reached out his hand.
“You’re a new face, no? My name’s Kain. Heat’s beeeeeeest friend. Nice to meet you.”
“Cut the crap, Kain. You’re making me wanna puke.”
“A few warm words sometimes wouldn’t hurt. I have a heart, y'know?”
“If I do, you'll just go ahead imagining things. So no thanks.”
And albeit those two's bickering, Gil took his hand and shook it, enjoying their brief skinship.
“I'm called Gil. It’s a pleasure on my part, too.” The smile he received made him feel dizzy. But a good kind of dizzy.
And so a small, tender spring had begun to grow in his heart. In his, and his alone. And he thought, if it was for seeing this one person from time to time, maybe he actually wouldn’t mind all that much keeping to work in this Coffee shop, together with all it’s quirky workers.
