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The guy was back, again.
He was sitting in one of the side window tables, hunched over and sipping his regular; a caramel macchiato with extra cream and sugar. A black binder lay on the table in front of him, a red ballpoint pen in his hands as he made circles. He was dressed in his usual garb; a pair of black, denim jeans, and a loose dress shirt, glasses perched on the tip of his nose.
There was something different about him today, though. Keith couldn’t pinpoint what.
Maybe it was the tense posture, or the way his hand shook ever so slightly when he pressed the pen to the paper. Maybe it was how his leg kept tapping beneath the table, or the way his eyebrows furrowed and smoothed our every few minutes, like he was trying to decide something. Maybe it was all of that.
Normally when the guy came in for coffee, he reeked of confidence, despite the dorky side Keith had seen once or twice (it never failed to make his chest feel tight). Even when he tripped over his own shoes when he went to sit down, he had laughed with the lady he had been with. Not once had Keith seen him so... pent up; anxious.
“He looks tired, don’t you think?” He hears Hunk say quietly, mixing together icing for donuts. Keith frowns down at the name he’s writing onto the paper cup and doesn’t answer. “I saw he ordered an extra large today. I wonder what’s up.”
Keith does, too, but he doesn’t say a word. It’s not their business, even though Keith is itching to know why.
”Maybe his girlfriend broke up with him,” Lance hums, absentmindedly, and Keith hears the marker hit the floor more than he feels it fall from his hand. He blinks, eyes wide and wondering why he had just froze up as he grabs the marker and finishes off the name. Why had he reacted like that?
It’s just a girlfriend; something that gorgeous hunk of man obviously had. Any girl would be a fool to pass up someone like him.
”I don’t know, Lance,” Hunk murmurs in reply. Keith turns around to see him leaning against the counter, icing forgotten, with a bemused look on his face. His eyebrows twitch. “He seems more gay than hetero, y’know? The hair, the outfit, the name...”
”Yeah, my gaydar is going nuts around Shiro...”
Whatever Lance says is lost to the wind as Keith goes back to his work, eyes wide with the revelation. There was absolutely no possible chance he was gay; no chance Keith would ever have a shot. The world just didn’t work like that.
Though... he had come in the first two times with a guy, and was holding hands the first time. The second time, also the last, they had a quiet argument before this so called Shiro's friend had stormed out.
No. No, it was probably just a friend. Lance held hands with Matt all the time, so why couldn’t that guy do the same?
Twenty minutes later, and he still hadn’t left yet.
It was odd— at least, to Keith, as he never stayed for more than five or ten minutes before packing up his stuff and leaving. He wasn’t sure if the others noticed.
He shakes his head when he realizes how long he’s been staring and turns back to the cash register, frowning st himself. He shouldn’t get so caught up in a life of a customer— a regular or not.
”Sooo,” Lance wiggles his way beside Keith as he aggressively jabs in the password to put in the few bills that were left in their tip jar. It was nearing their closing time, and a few customers lingered, finishing off coffee and pastries. “Why do you think Shiro's still here? Normally, he’s out the door within five minutes—“
Keith ignores him, shoving against his chest when he sees another customer enter the door. There’s a few of them, and though Keith has never been good with people, he knows how to take an order without being too intimidating.
”It’s none of our business,” he snaps back, shoving again when Lance gets closer. Unlike Lance, he doesn’t like to pry when there’s no reason to pry. He’s just a customer. “We have regulars like him all the time. Why is he so special to you two?”
The question comes without him realizing, but he doesn’t totally regret it. He wants to know why Lance and Hunk keep pushing it.
”Because, Mr. Oblivious,” Lance hums, doing a small spin as he heads back towards the pastry area, grabbing a pair of tongs when he notices one of the new customers looking at them. “He’s only ever here, as a regular, when you have a shift. He specifically asked me when your shifts were when he showed up and you weren’t here.”
Something pulls in his chest. His jaw goes partially slack, leaving his mouth slightly agape, and he feels a bit of heat rise to his cheeks. Shiro had been coming for Keith?
No, no way. There was absolutely no way he came here for him—
“Uh, excuse me,” someone says, and Keith snaps out of his daze.
He turns to the customer with a strained smile on his face, an apology on the tip of his tongue for making them wait for however long they did, and feels his blood grow cold when he sees the familiar, white floof, thick black glasses, and sparkling grey eyes. There's a light blush high on his cheekbones and Keith swallows, feeling heat rise to the same spot on his face. Deep down, he hopes Shiro heard absolute zilch of what was just transpired.
"Uh... Can I, uh, h-help you?" he asks, wincing at the way he stutters through the sentence. As much as he wants to look away, get someone else to deal with the order, he can't find it in him to look away from those gorgeous eyes.
Shiro rubs the back of his neck and offers him a gentle smile, his blush becoming more prominent, staining the tips of his ears. "You can, actually. I'm sorry if this is too forwards, but would you like to go out on a date with me?"
He can feel the blush travel from his cheeks all the way to his ears and neck, burning with such an intensity that he's surprised he hasn't become ash from the heat of it. "...What?"
He blinks again, and begins to look a little wary, but repeats himself nonetheless. "Do you want to go on a date with me? It doesn't have to be anything big or fancy, and I'd be paying for it, but, uh, if you don't want to, that's okay--"
"No!" Keith shouts, immediately wincing at the tone and strength of his voice. He clears his throat, offering an apologetic, small smile, and shakes his head. "No, uh, I mean, I'd love to, I, just... I'd love to."
A genuine smile works it's way onto Shiro's face and somewhere behind him he hears Hunk cheering, but he tunes it out in favour of the dimples: the cute, cute dimples on Shiro's perfect face. "Great. That-- that's great. When are you free?"
He frowns, trying to remember his shifts. Unfortunately, he pulls a blank and can't remember when any of his shifts will be--
"Right now!" he hears Hunk call from the kitchen, then feels hands on his back, untying his apron and pulling off his pink hat.
He fights it at first, then realizes that it's Lance, snickering from behind him as he shoves him out of the counter. He whips around with a scowl, but... Lance looks actually happy. He looks like his kid is going to school for the first time ever, and... the kid is Keith. God, Hunk and Lance are excited for him.
"...Guess right now," he mumbles to Shiro, pulling his hair out of the small pony tail he had put in at the start of his shift. "Are you free right now?"
Shiro is blushing, hard, much harder than before, and nods. "Yeah, I am. Should we get going?"
Keith smiles back at him. "We should."