Chapter Text
Oscar sighed as he paced back and forth behind the counter for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. He honestly couldn’t stand days like this, when he was forced to stay standing out front even though there were no customers in a 50-mile radius and wouldn’t be until at least 3:30, when people started craving coffee after school.
The café sat wedged between a laundrette and a charity shop, the kind of place students discovered once and then never stopped coming back to.
“Charles!” Oscar called into the backroom, looking for at least some conversation with the only other person in the café.
Oscar rolled his eyes when there was no response and started to make his way into the backroom, finding Charles in the corner hunched over his phone with a grin on his face.
“Could’ve at least called back and let me know you were alive mate,” Oscar said laughing while Charles startled and stared up at him.
“Oh! Sorry Oscar, I didn’t really hear you,” Charles replied while sheepishly running a hand through his hair.
“I’m sure,” Oscar said teasingly while sitting down on the floor next to the other man, “who are you texting now?”
Oscar didn’t want to call Charles a whore… but he kind of was. And the other man honestly seemed to be proud of it. He was a very attractive man, so Oscar wasn’t shocked at all that he was able to pull most of the people their age in town, but it was hard to keep up with who the current ‘situationship’ was.
“Carlos, I met him a few weeks ago at the club we were at, remember?”
Oscar rolled his eyes, “You mean the one you dragged me to against my will?”
Charles just laughed, “You hadn’t left your house except to come here in weeks Oscar! It was an intervention if anything.”
Oscar shook his head, a smile pulling at his mouth despite himself, “I had been talking to Logan! It’s not my fault he’s on a programme in America.”
Charles laughed before glancing back at his phone, an irritated expression flashing across his face.
“Well, tell me about him then, I’m bored, let me hear your romance of the week.”
Oscar settled in beside Charles, leaning on his arm and looking at his phone while Charles scrolled through countless photos and texts from the other man.
Charles had been the first person Oscar had met when he moved to the UK, the other man had kind of taken him under his wing and made sure he was okay. He got Oscar his job at the coffee shop, introduced him to all of his friends, and gave him someone to share rent with so he didn’t end up on the streets.
So even if Oscar didn’t really care about the romance drama Charles had going on every week, the least he could do was listen.
“But then,” Charles said dramatically as Oscar tuned back in to the conversation, “he told me that he was ’going out with his ex but not in a romantic way, just as friends’. I mean who says that to the person they’re talking to! He may as well just say he wants something casual.”
Oscar looked at the screen, the messages were, admittedly, not something you’d want to see from someone you want to end up dating.
“If you want something serious maybe stop trying to date guys you have a one-night stand with at a club Charles.”
Charles scoffed at him, “I’ve seen Carlos multiple times now! It’s so much more than a one-night stand!”
Oscar raised an eyebrow at him.
The other man sighed, leaning his head against Oscar’s, “I really like him Oscar, and I think he could like me too.”
Oscar felt himself soften at the words. Despite the reputation he may have had, Charles really did want to find something real. And Oscar was sure he would, Charles was the nicest person he knew!
“I mean, maybe he isn’t lying Charles. You and Max are still good friends and he’s your ex?”
Charles turned to look at Oscar, sighing, “You really think so?”
Oscar nodded back at him, trying not to laugh at the dramatic expression on his friend’s face.
“Moving on, what about your love life Oscar?”
Oh god.
Charles wasn’t just desperate for himself to get a partner- he was equally determined to find one for Oscar.
And honestly? Oscar couldn’t care less.
He was too focused on his engineering degree that he was somehow juggling between his job and Charles’ overly-active social life that he had become a part of.
As Oscar was about to tell Charles exactly that, he heard the bell ringing at the front of the shop.
Charles and Oscar both turned to each other, each daring the other one to be the person who stood up and served whoever had just walked in.
After only fifteen seconds, Oscar’s nerves got the best of him and he stood up, glaring at Charles who just grinned sweetly back at him. Charles knew Oscar wouldn’t be able to let someone stand there for long without anyone to serve them.
“Hi! Sorry for the wait, what can I get for you?” Oscar said while walking up to the counter, putting on his best fake customer service voice.
He looked up at the man behind the counter and- oh holy shit.
Now, Oscar wasn’t one who would get with someone based on their looks, or even someone who frequently noticed the way someone looked.
But he wasn’t blind.
The man standing behind the counter had brown curly hair that fell perfectly over his face, blue eyes, beautiful golden-tanned skin and a shoulderless top on that did not make Oscar stare at his biceps.
He registered the man speaking but didn’t process a single word until he realised the other was looking at him expectantly.
“Sorry, what was that?” Oscar said dumbly, suddenly embarrassed at how obviously he’d probably been checking the other out.
The man just laughed back at him, “Just a caramel latte please, I’m not too fancy.”
Oscar nodded, “Right away, that’ll be £4.50.”
The other nodded, pulling out a £5 note and setting it on the counter before making his way to the collection area and leaning his elbows on it, resting his head in his hands.
It took all of Oscar’s self-restraint to not turn around and look at him again.
He sighed as he realised that they had run out of the caramel syrup they kept behind the counter. He turned around to the other man and smiled awkwardly, “Just a second, I need to run out back and grab some more syrup.”
He just smiled and nodded back at Oscar, eyes crinkling as he did.
Breathe Oscar. He’s just a guy you’ll forget about in two hours.
Oscar made his way into the back, searching through the shelves to find the syrup he needed. Eventually, he saw it at the very back corner of one of them and grabbed it, taking a few minutes to collect himself before going back out to finish making the pretty guy’s drink.
Just as Oscar opened the door to the front of the shop again, he saw Charles talking to the man. Oh god.
To his shock, the other man turned to look at him with a big smile when he stepped back behind the counter.
“Look who’s back, I thought I was gonna be left with a plain latte, it would’ve been a tragedy!”
Oscar went red at the teasing tone in the other man’s voice, chuckling nervously before turning around to finish making his latte. Oscar missed the smirk on Charles’ face as he looked between the two men.
Oscar finished up the latte and turned around, handing it to the man while trying to stop his hand from shaking slightly.
The man just stared at him for a second, a smile on his face, before shaking his head and taking the latte from Oscar’s hand.
“Thank you…” the man looked at him with a questioning gaze.
“Oscar,” he said, grimacing at the way his voice cracked around his own name.
“Oscar,” the other man repeated making Oscar’s heart jump up into his throat.
“I’m Lando.”
Oscar nodded back at him a little too quickly. Of course he had a nice name. Oscar wasn’t lucky enough for him to be called something stupid.
“Well, I have to get going but I hope I’ll see you around, Oscar.”
“You too, Lando!” Oscar called after him as he walked through the door, a cold wind blowing through as he shut it behind him.
Oscar stared at the door for a minute before squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head, running his hands under the freezing cold tap water.
He flushed as he hears Charles clear his throat behind him.
“What was that, Oscar?”
He could hear the evil, teasing tone in his friend’s voice and quietly had to accept that this was his own fault. He should have ignored Charles years ago when he came up to him in the halls. If he had done that he wouldn’t be here right now.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Oscar replied, ignoring the way Charles raised an eyebrow at him when his voice cracked unconvincingly.
Charles let the silence stretch for all of three seconds before he burst out laughing.
“Oh my god,” he wheezed, clutching his stomach, “ Oscar, I have never seen you that flustered in my life. Not even when Professor Wolff asked you to explain your entire design project in front of the whole lecture hall.”
Oscar spun around defensively, water still dripping from his hands,
“That was different!”
“Was it?” Charles leaned back against the counter, folding his arms,
“Because just now you forgot how to speak. You forgot how to breathe. I’m pretty sure you forgot your own name for a second.”
“I did not forget my name.”
“You squeaked it.”
Oscar rolled his eyes, throwing the wet rag he’d used to dry his hands at Charles’ face,
“I did not squeak it!”
Charles’ grin widened as he the rag back at Oscar,
“You absolutely squeaked it.”
Oscar groaned and dragged his hands down his face,
“He was just a customer.”
“Mhm,” Charles hummed thoughtfully, “a customer who you stared at like your whole existence has been leading up to making his caramel latte.”
Oscar shot him a glare, “Shut up Charles.”
“No, no,” Charles continued, pushing off the counter and pacing dramatically in front of him. “Let’s recap shall we! Step one- Oscar zones out while the pretty man speaks to him. Step two- Oscar runs to the back to ‘get more syrup’ and takes a suspiciously long time. Step three- Oscar returns and turns the colour of a tomato when said pretty man so much as breathes in his direction.”
“I did not take that long,” Oscar muttered.
Charles made an offended noise, “You were gone for six minutes!”
“I was looking for the syrup.”
“It was on the second shelf!”
Oscar paused, thinking, “…It was on the second shelf?”
Charles nodded smugly, “Second shelf. Front row. Where you put it yesterday.”
Oscar closed his eyes, “I hate you so much.”
“No you don’t,” Charles said cheerfully, “You love me. I’m the reason you just met your future husband.”
Oscar’s eyes flew open,
“Oh my god Charles, you are unbelievable. I’ve met him one time, for ten minutes, as I was doing my job!”
“I’m serious!” Charles insisted, “Did you see the way he looked at you?”
“He was being polite.”
“Polite people do not lean on the counter and stare at you like that.”
Oscar turned around and busied himself wiping down the already spotless counter. He hated that Charles was right. Lando had been looking at him. Not just casually. Not just in the absent-minded way customers usually did.
He’d looked interested.
“Even if he was,” Oscar said, grasping for logic, “he was just being friendly. And he’s probably not even from around here.”
Charles’ eyes lit up, “Oh trust me, he’s from around here.”
Oscar froze, “…What?”
Charles tried- and failed- to suppress a grin.
“What do you mean?” Oscar demanded, “How do you know that?”
“Oh, we just… chatted.”
Oscar stared at him in horror, “You actually talked to him.”
Charles nodded, smiling sweetly at Oscar, “Briefly, yes.”
“Charles.”
“What?” he said innocently.
“What did you say to him?”
“Nothing bad!” Charles held his hands up defensively, “I just asked if he was new in town. I know most people around here, kill a man for being curious Oscar!”
“And?”
“And he said he moved here a couple of months ago for work.”
Oscar’s brain short-circuited slightly, “For work?”
“Mhm.”
“What kind of work?”
Charles shrugged dramatically, “Didn’t ask.”
Oscar blinked at him, “You didn’t ask.”
“I was distracted.”
“By what?”
“By the way he kept looking at the backroom door waiting for you to come back.”
Oscar’s heart did something deeply inconvenient in his chest.
“You’re lying,” he said weakly.
“I am not! Well, that and the fact that I felt like he looked familiar from somewhere.” Charles replied.
Oscar suddenly turned round to face Charles, embarrassed by how interested he was, “Where did he look familiar from?”
“Well,” Charles said, getting out his phone, “I didn’t know at first. I couldn’t pin-point it and by the time I was pretty sure I knew he’d already left, but…”
Oscar rolled his eyes as Charles scrolled through his Instagram feed, liking some of his exes posts as he did just to ‘stir the pot’ as he liked to put it.
“There!” he exclaimed as his eyes landed on a post from George, one of Charles’ friends that Oscar actually quite liked, “See?” Charles said while turning the phone to Oscar. And there he was, Lando, smiling wide with one arm around George and the other around their other friend Alex.
“I thought the name was familiar! He’s like childhood best friends with George and Alex!”
Oscar sighed, “That doesn’t mean I’ll ever see him again Charles. He probably has someone already anyway.”
Charles looked at Oscar, when he spoke his tone was suddenly a lot softer, “Oscar, I flirt with people for sport. I know what it looks like when someone’s interested.”
Oscar leaned back against the sink, staring at the ceiling, “He doesn’t even know me.”
“Exactly,” Charles said, “Which means he was interested without knowing you. Imagine how doomed he’ll be when he finds out you’re secretly the biggest nerd alive.”
“I’m not a nerd.”
“You colour-code your lecture notes.”
“That’s efficient.”
“You cried when your favourite calculator broke,” Charles deadpanned at him.
Oscar pointed at him accusingly, “It was discontinued!”
Charles dissolved into laughter again.
Despite himself, a reluctant smile tugged at Oscar’s mouth. The embarrassment was still there, sitting warm and heavy in his chest, but underneath it was something else.
Excitement.
Hope.
Which was ridiculous really. It was one customer. One latte. One name.
Lando.
Oscar swallowed,
“He said he hoped he’d see me around,” Oscar murmured, more to himself than to Charles.
Charles’ expression softened knowingly. “And?”
“And… that’s it.”
Charles slowly reached into the tip jar and pulled out a 50p coin, holding it between two fingers like it was priceless treasure.
“He didn’t wait for his change,” Charles said.
Oscar stared at the coin like it might explode,
“That means nothing,” he said quickly, “there are plenty of people who don’t wait for change. It’s 50p Charles.”
“Mhm. And plenty of people don’t say your name like it’s their new favourite word.”
Oscar’s cheeks burned all over again.
Charles stepped closer, bumping their shoulders together, “Relax. If he meant it, he’ll come back.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
Charles shrugged, “Then he doesn’t. His loss. But something tells me he will.”
Oscar glanced toward the café door again, half-expecting it to swing open like in some dramatic film moment.
It didn’t.
The shop was quiet. Still. Ordinary.
But it didn’t feel quite as dull as it had that morning.
Charles nudged him once more, “So. About your love life.”
Oscar groaned immediately, “No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes,” Charles insisted, “Because I think we just found your new project.”
“I already have a project,” Oscar shot back, “It’s called ‘passing my degree.’”
Charles grinned wickedly, “You can multitask.”
Oscar rolled his eyes- but this time, he couldn’t stop the small, helpless smile that followed.
Somewhere under the teasing and the embarrassment and the cold tap water, one thought kept repeating itself.
‘I hope he comes back.’
Oh fuck.
Oscar wasn’t forgetting him any time soon.
Oscar barely noticed the subway journey home. Charles was going out on a date, so he walked the ever-familiar route down the street, down into the station, and onto the train.
It was crowded enough that Oscar couldn’t get a seat and he was stuck standing awkwardly between two men.
“Oscar!” a voice called out from the seats behind him.
Oscar turned around, stumbling as the train jolted him to the side. Oh god. It was him again.
“Hey, come sit, you can have my seat!” Lando smiled up at him while getting out of his seat, quickly ushering Oscar down into it before some exhausted commuter could snatch it up off him.
“Are you sure?” Oscar said, still a little dazed by the other man’s energy.
“Yeah! I’ve been sitting for a while now. My job is quite a while out and honestly, I’m pretty happy standing up. I like standing, it’s kind of exciting on the tube, like a game, you have to try and not fall sideways while not holding on to anything…”
Lando kept talking as Oscar tried to nod along, barely following the other man as he spoke faster than anyone Oscar had ever heard. Lando seemed to be able to jump from topic to topic like it was nothing. Usually, Oscar would’ve been overwhelmed but… it was kind of charming from Lando.
The other man caught a glare from one of the other passengers and immediately went red, realising he was rambling on.
“Sorry,” Lando said, scratching his head as he ran a hand through his curls, “I can get carried away talking sometimes.”
Oscar just smiled up at him, “Hey, it’s okay I don’t mind. I’m not much of a talker but I like listening.”
Lando looked at Oscar, his eyes wide and shining before he smiled back, “Well okay then.”
Just as Lando’s mouth opened to say something else the train jolted violently and before Oscar could react, Lando stumbled forward- one knee knocking between Oscar’s legs as his hands shot out to brace on either side of him against the seat.
For a second, Lando was half-straddling him, weight caught awkwardly between Oscar’s knees.
Oscar already knew his face was bright red, but it only got worse when Lando looked up at him.
From between his knees.
It was like something out of a ridiculous romance film.
The kind he would’ve rolled his eyes at.
And yet…
He was absolutely going to think about that later.
He grimaced. That sounded bad, very bad. Lando was still basically a stranger and he was imagining him…
“Oops! Sorry Oscar, at least you were here to catch me huh?”
Oscar made a high-pitched, “uhhuh” noise as he grabbed Lando’s hand- very deliberately not looking anywhere below his shoulders- and helped him stand.
Lando, who now had a sheepish smile on his increasingly red face and was nervously chuckling at him.
…
“What’re the chances of that huh?” Lando said, very clearly trying to fill the uncomfortable silence that seemed to surround them despite the noise filling the carriage.
Oscar cleared his throat, shifting his legs slightly, “You said it was a game. I think you just lost a round,” Oscar laughed, trying to alleviate the tension.
He sighed when he saw Lando’s eyes shift up to look at him instead of the ground where he’d been very pointedly staring since he stood up. He saw a smile pulling at the other man’s lips and cursed himself at how happy it made him feel.
The woman sitting beside Oscar stood up to get off at her stop and Lando wordlessly shoved his way into the space, sitting down beside Oscar.
His eyes nervously darted between the floor, almost as if he was nervous to even be there.
All Oscar could do was offer him a soft smile and put a hand on his arm, noticing the way the other man’s leg bounced up and down a little less as he did.
They talked as the stations blurred by, every time Oscar was half expecting Lando to stand up and this little daydream to snap in two. But it didn’t.
The tube screeched to a halt at Oscar’s stop. The final one on the line in some run-down neighbourhood that him and Charles just about managed to afford between the two of them. Honestly, Oscar half expected it was why Charles had so many one-night stands, just to get out of the shithole they lived in.
Oscar turned to look at Lando, confused that he was still here, even though ‘still here’ was a generous way of putting it. Lando was clearly struggling to keep his eyes open, head continually dropping dangerously close to Oscar’s shoulder before snapping back up.
“Is this your stop too Lando?” Oscar said as the other man blinked blearily back at him.
“Huh?” Lando said, exhaustion clear in his voice.
His eyes drifted over to the announcement of the next stop that was on the screen and Oscar could almost swear he saw Lando’s eyes widen in shock momentarily.
“Oh!” he laughed nervously, “Yeah, I’m getting off here too..! Just like you!”
Oscar nodded slowly, “Okay…”
The doors opened and Oscar grabbed his bag and Lando followed him slowly out of the doors where the handful of people left on the train shuffled out into the station.
Oscar mindlessly walked up the steps that had become like the ones in his own home at this point, giggling at the way Lando tripped on the one that was slightly higher than the rest.
Oscar turned to Lando as they got to the top floor of the station, just outside of the exit.
“Well I guess this is where I’ll say goodnight then,” Oscar said, shocked by how sad he was to say goodbye to the other man.
Lando nodded at him, “Goodnight Oscar.”
Oscar turned around and smiled, walking down the streets he knew so well.
What he didn’t see was Lando rushing back down to the trains so he could get to his house, which had been ten stops prior.