Chapter Text
Blitz resisted the urge to smash his face off of the desk hard enough that he would need to take the rest of the day off. He had conducted three interviews, each one worse than the last, and he was one more stupid question away from just scrapping the whole idea and heading home. How could it be this difficult to find someone who could make a coffee and wasn’t a complete liability?
The first interview had gone reasonably well, until the guy had said he had no barista experience. When Blitz asked him why he was applying for a barista job he said he was a quick learner, and Blitz had said why don’t you learn to read the job advert, and long story short Moxxie had had to break them up and send the man on his way before Blitz bit him. In retrospect, maybe that shit-show had just tainted the next one, because honestly the girl had been fine. She just kept droning on and on about her gap year with a look on her face that said she wished she could go back, and Blitz probably had a look on his face that said he wished she’d stayed there. He didn’t want an employee who had one foot out of the door before they had even started. The last guy showed up ten minutes late and asked if he got a free coffee while they spoke. Blitz told him to fuck off without even asking any questions. He had one last interview, and he wasn’t pinning any hopes on it. The flowery CV had his name as “Stolas Goette”. He sounded pretentious as fuck. What kind of name was Stolas anyway? Blitz was balls deep in the Wikipedia page for some demon that supposedly appeared as an owl when there was a knock on the staff room door.
“Yeah?”
The door opened and Moxxie poked his head around it, his apron in one hand and his car keys in the other. Moxxie was good people. Him and Millie were Blitz’s only two permanent employees because no one else had even held a candle to them so far. But the cafe was getting busier, and it wasn’t fair to rely on them so much. And if Blitz was getting sick of being a third wheel then that was his business and no-one else’s and shut up about it.
“Your last interview is here, sir.”
“Thanks, Mox. Not holding out much hope though. Sure you guys don’t want to just pop out a kid and let me put it to work like, immediately?”
“Still a no. Listen, I know we really do need another pair of hands around here, but just… don’t rush into anything. You don’t need to find someone today. You can hold more interviews if you need to.”
“Wow, this last guy seems that bad?”
“No, it’s not-” Moxxie cut himself off, seeming to struggle with the words. “I just want to make sure you choose someone for the right reasons. I know we are short-staffed but really, we need to find someone who will be a proper asset around here. Just- keep an open mind, and base your decision on his actual skills. Andnotonhislooks.”
The last sentence was spoken all in one go, so quickly Blitz almost missed it.
“What do-”
But Moxxie had disappeared from the doorway, leaving Blitz to pick up his pen and notepad alone, closing the door to the staff room behind him. Fuck, this guy must really be ugly if Moxxie thought he had to slap a disclaimer on him. As far as Blitz was concerned, the guy could have two fucking heads and he’d still hire him as long as he could make a coffee. It was all about the coffee.
So when his eyes landed on the man sitting at the corner table, Blitz almost fell to his knees and fucking prayed that he knew what a cappuccino was.
He was tall; so tall that his legs were hitting the underneath of the table, which was jostling a little as he bounced one knee in a nervous habit. He was well dressed, too; certainly too well dressed for an interview at a coffee shop. He was wearing a ruffled shirt, dress pants and a pair of slightly heeled shiny boots that were catching the light every time his leg twitched. There was a streak of grey in the hair he wore pushed back from his face, held in place by a pair of old fashioned reading glasses, and his heart shaped face was pale. When his eyes met Blitz’s he smiled, a sweet nervous grin that reached his warm eyes, and it was like the sun had come out.
Well, fuck.
Blitz walked over to the table, forcing a calmness into his step that he definitely did not feel.
“Stolas?” He asked, smiling down and holding out one hand to shake.
“Oh!” Stolas exclaimed, standing up so quickly he caused the table to wobble. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. Yes, that’s me. You must be Blitz.” Stolas held out his hand and Blitz took it, noticing how long the other man’s fingers were, and how dainty they looked in his.
“Yep, that’s me,” Blitz replied, popping the ‘p’ in the nervous little habit he had picked up some time ago.
“Your cafe is lovely,” Stolas said, still holding Blitz’s hand and still smiling. Blitz didn’t want to pull away and so he stood for longer than was really necessary, their hands joined over the table.
“Yeah well, we do our best. It was a real shit-hole when I first got it, but we’ve got things running pretty well now. Just getting busier, so we really could use an extra pair of hands.”
Stolas nodded, his face serious as he listened. He dropped Blitz’s hand gently as he linked his own together, wringing them nervously.
“Yes, I can imagine it must get quite busy in here,” Stolas spoke, his voice wavering just a little. “And I would love to be able to help with that.”
Blitz gestured for Stolas to sit back down before pulling the chair opposite out for himself. He looked down at the notepad with the now familiar questions scrawled on the page. He really needed to stick to the questions. Going off script was a bad idea.
“Do you like horses?”
Stolas blinked owlishly before he answered, looking a little confused but giving the question serious consideration once he realised Blitz wasn’t joking.
“I do. I grew up around horses, although I never liked to ride them. It never quite felt right. I don’t think the horses enjoyed it, and they are such majestic creatures it felt wrong to subject them to something that they wouldn’t wish to do. Are you a fan?”
Blitz almost short circuited as Stolas spoke. If that had been a real interview question, he’d have the job on the spot.
If this was a date, Blitz would be down on one knee.
“Yeah. Fucking love horses,” Blitz replied, rolling up one sleeve to show the stick and poke tattoo of his childhood plushie that Millie had done on him. It was a little faded now, and more than a little wonky in some places, but she had captured the love he had for that ratty horse toy so perfectly despite the fact they had both been three sheets to the wind. Stolas reached out one long finger to touch the ink gently, as if he was approaching a real horse.
“Oh, that is lovely,” he spoke softly, smiling a little as he took in the design. God, he was cute.
“Thanks,” Blitz replied, his voice quiet to match Stolas’s.He almost forgot they were here for an interview. Stolas seemed to remember that fact at the same time, sitting himself back up and clearing his throat, his hands flat on the table in front of him as if he didn’t trust them not to move of their own accord. Blitz lifted his notepad up again and flipped to a new blank page.
“Can you make a coffee?”
His heart sunk at the expression on Stolas’s face. Of course it would be too good to be true that he was actually qualified.
“I- I’m afraid I don’t quite know how to work a barista grade coffee machine. But I am more than happy to take on any other tasks until I’ve picked it up- cleaning, taking out the bins, washing dishes- anything at all. I’m a quick study, I promise.” Blitz nodded, crossing his arms as he looked down at the table. He didn’t trust himself to look at Stolas because he could hear the edge of desperation in his voice, and if he saw it in his face too he knew he would cave. “I could even manage the till, or help to prepare food. I’ll do whatever it takes to learn so that I can help.”
Blitz made the mistake of shuffling a little in his seat and his gaze caught the other man’s posture, hunched over as if he was in anticipation of a blow. Meeting his eyes he could see a look of steely determination underneath the worry, something that spoke to him more than any words Stolas could have said. Blitz sighed a little, his eyes glancing back down at the empty page of the notepad on the table.
“I’ve had a few interviews today. You’re actually my fourth,” Blitz began, and his stomach did a guilty little flip as he saw Stolas’s shoulders sag. “Honestly, I really don’t fancy doing another one. If you come back here tomorrow morning, 9am when we open, can you do a few hours for a trial shift? Paid obviously, but just before we throw you in the deep end.”
“Really?” Stolas breathed, his whole face lighting up as he began to smile. “Oh, absolutely. 9am, I’ll be here, I can come as early as you need. Oh, I am just so grateful for the opportunity. Thank you,” he said, so earnestly that Blitz almost felt like blushing.
“It’s only a trial shift, don’t thank me too much yet. You have to survive Moxxie during the lunch rush first.”
“Truly, I appreciate the chance. I know I don’t have the experience you would be looking for but I promise I’ll learn. Thank you, Blitz.”
Blitz grinned, scribbling his number down on the pad and tearing it off to give to Stolas. He was glad for something to do with his hands. He wasn’t used to this level of gratitude or, if he was honest, attention. It was a little bit overwhelming.
“I’ll be here to let you in in the morning. Here’s my number, incase there’s any issues getting here. Or if you see a horse before then.”
Stolas laughed, holding the paper in one slender hand before folding it delicately and putting it into his breast pocket, tapping it over his clothes to show he was keeping it safe. Blitz tried not to think too deeply about that.
“I shall see you in the morning. Thank you again for the opportunity. I am looking forward to the trial shift.”
”Don’t sweat it. Get the grannies we serve onside and you’ll have nothing to worry about,” Blitz replied, repressing the urge to wink because obviously that would be super fucking weird. He walked Stolas to the door and waved him off, laughing to himself as he watched him pull out his phone in the car park and call someone, animatedly waving his hands around as he presumably told them he had a shift in the morning. Blitz really hoped he could keep him.
Turning back inside, he straightened up the syrups and double checked all the switches, but Moxxie was always a thorough closer. Grabbing his leather jacket and his cigarettes he locked up, pulling down the spray painted shutters on Immediate Mocha Professionals. He smoked in the car, doing his best not to take it home to the apartment he shared with Loona. She knew he smoked, and in all honesty he knew that she smoked too, but he was trying to be a good dad and coming home and powering through half a pack of Malboro’s didn’t seem like the best example. The whole drive home he tried to stop getting ahead of himself by thinking about Stolas as a new member of their team. Don’t count your chickens before they hatched, or whatever the fuck the saying was. But oh, he bet Stolas would look so fucking cute in the apron.
He let himself into the flat and knocked on Loona’s door to see if she was hungry, but she couldn’t hear him over the music blaring through the wall. He made himself a sandwich and ate half standing at the kitchen island before wrapping the other half up and popping it in the fridge. Just in case she got hungry. Blitz’s phone pinged and he flopped himself down on the couch to check the message, one hand holding his phone and the other scrambling between the cushions for the television remote.
From: Moxxie 👶🏼😭
To: Blitz 💣
8:45pm
How was the last interview?
From: Blitz 💣
To: Moxxie 👶🏼😭
8:47pm
Gd hes cumin in 2moro for tryal
From: Moxxie 👶🏼😭
To: Blitz 💣
8:50pm
Did he have barista experience?
From: Moxxie 👶🏼😭
To: Blitz
9:02pm
Your lack of response is not filling me with confidence
From: Blitz 💣
To: Moxxie 👶🏼😭
9:04pm
Chill out Mox its just a tryal. Hes kl and wants 2 lern
From: Moxxie 👶🏼😭
To: Blitz 💣
9:08pm
What did I say about hiring someone based on their looks and not their actual skills?
From: Blitz 💣
To: Moxxie 👶🏼😭😭
9:11pm
tht rule onli counts if they are ugly every1 knows tht
🖕🖕💦
Blitz sighed and sat his phone face down on the floor, ignoring the chime it made that was presumably Moxxie replying just to berate him. He felt good about his decision. He could see, really see, in Stolas’s face that he wanted his job. Maybe even needed it. And Blitz had been that person so many times. Now he had his own business, one he had built from the ground up, and he was able to give someone the chance he had once needed so badly. If it didn’t work out at the trial shift, there was no harm done. But he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he didn’t at least give Stolas the chance to prove himself. He felt his eyes closing as he settled in on the couch, a warmth in his chest that mirrored the soft glow of the street lamp outside. He felt good. Tomorrow would be good.
That good mood lasted until around half past 10 the next morning. He pulled into the car park at 8:50am to find Stolas already waiting outside, bundled up in a big coat and what looked like hand-made mittens. He was pacing a little, walking slowly up and down the street the cafe was on, and Blitz settled back in the van seat to watch just for a moment. Stolas’s legs were so long that he covered an impressive amount of ground. He was working up a little flush from the exercise, and Blitz held back a smirk as he finally hopped out of the van and headed over to end his suffering.
“Oh! Good morning,” Stolas called happily, waving over at Blitz as he crossed the car park.
“Morning,” Blitz replied, blowing on his hands before pulling out the shutter keys. “Cold as balls today.”
“Yes, it is quite. I would normally pack a thermos for a cold morning, but it didn’t feel right to show up with my own drink. Although I have found I am missing my caffeine hit. I can buy one, once we open. I wouldn’t presume to take anything for free,” Stolas replied, clearly nervous as he ducked under the shutter after Blitz instead of just waiting until it was at the right height for him. Blitz held back a laugh as he opened the cafe door and shrugged off his jacket.
“You can make a drink. Can’t have my staff passing out from caffeine withdrawals,” Blitz said, throwing a wink at Stolas as he waited on the other man to take off his huge jacket. Once he had, Blitz led him through to the staff room in the back, showing him the jacket pegs and the fridge and the employee of the month board, which just alternated between Millie and Moxxie each month. It was a quick tour, and soon they were back out on the cafe floor, Blitz reaching behind the counter for aprons for them both. As he tied up his own black apron and then handed the other to the taller man, Blitz deliberately did not look at how it cinched Stolas’s waist, or how much shorter it was on him than it should be.
“Coffee time,” Blitz exclaimed, setting up the machine and doing a few empty runs to make sure everything was working correctly. He filled the hopper up with beans and set them to grind, slowing his movements more than usual as he felt Stolas’s eyes on him, watching each step like a hawk. He pulled two mugs out from under the counter and set them under the filters. “What’s your poison?”
“I-um,” Stolas stammered as he looked up at the board.
“Don’t tell me you don’t drink coffee,” Blitz replied flatly, his hands frozen half way to the buttons.
“No! No, I do like coffee, I just… tend to drink tea?” Stolas said the last part like a question, as if he wasn’t sure if this was a test he was about to fail. Blitz shrugged.
“No skin off my dick. Do you wanna just watch me make my coffee and then I can show you where the teabags are?”
Stolas nodded enthusiastically, looking too relieved, as if he had expected Blitz to be pissed about the tea thing. Weird. Blitz stood to one side as he filled the filter with the ground beans, tamped it down, and attached it to the group head. The coffee came out of both spouts under the filter, because Blitz needed as much caffeine as possible to start his day. He poured milk into the silver jug and expressed the air from the milk wand a few times to test it, causing Stolas to jump. Biting back a laugh, he frothed up his milk, the sound of it echoing through the empty cafe. Once it was all foamy he gave it a few taps on the table and then retrieved his mug, pouring the hot milk in at an angle and giving some expert flicks with his wrist to manipulate the foam into the shape of a little swan. Stolas practically hooted with delight, clapping his hands as he watched Blitz finish with a flourish.
“Oh, you’re very talented. A swan! I’ve never seen that before,” Stolas gushed, leaning in a little to look over Blitz’s shoulder at his creation. It suddenly felt much hotter in the cafe than it actually was.
“Hey, you’ll be doing that in no time,” Biltz replied, nipping over to the door to switch the sign to open and definitely not to put a little bit more space between them. “Moxxie will be in soon, he doesn’t start until half 9 but he’s always early. And then Millie will be in about 12 to help cover lunch, so we can let you go about 1pm. That okay?”
“More than,” Stolas replied, nodding as he fiddled with his apron strings. “I am just really grateful for the chance.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine,” Blitz replied, shooting Stolas a grin as he headed back over to pump three caramel shots into his coffee. “Our teabags are up on that shelf behind you- honestly, I’m glad we have someone tall now because it was getting embarrassing that I had to jump to reach them.”
Stolas giggled as he reached up easily to pull down the jar of teabags, and Blitz was glad Moxxie chose that exact moment to walk in, or he might have committed an HR violation.
“Good morning, Moxxie,” Stolas called cheerily from where he was now adding hot water to his mug.
“Morning, Stolas. Hi Blitz,” Moxxie replied as he unwound his scarf from his neck. Blitz decided that he would only mention the hickey he could spot high on his colleagues pale neck if Moxxie really pissed him off today. Blitz waited with Stolas until Moxxie came back out from the staff room, not wanting to leave someone on their own on their first day. He sat on the counter swinging his feet and watched as Stolas looked in all the cupboards, ducked down to check the shelves behind the till and opened all the drawers to learn where everything was. It shouldn’t be cute, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t. He heard Moxxie clear his throat as he came back onto the floor, and Blitz jumped down from the counter before he got chewed out for sitting up there. It was his fucking cafe, he could sit where he liked, but it wasn’t worth the lecture.
“Right, I have an order to chase up so I’m leaving the store in your capable hands,” Blitz said, stretching his arms above his head in order to crack his back. “Try not to burn the building down, at least until the insurance is sorted.”
Grabbing his coffee, the swan now melted into an amorphous blob, Blitz skipped through to the staff room which doubled as the back office. Their computer was so old that every time it took a little too long to load up, he thought this time it would be a goner. Once it finally loaded he checked his emails to see their order was delayed again, and only after calling the company and politely (at least by his standards) explaining that funnily enough, their coffee business cannot run without fucking coffee, did he get an assurance that it would arrive tomorrow morning. Hanging up the phone he leaned back in the chair, exhaling all of his annoyance in one long breath. It was fine. It was sorted. He ran his fingers through his hair to smooth it away from his face and forced himself to head back out in the cafe. Maybe another coffee would fix him. There were a few customers in now, two sitting at a table in the corner giggling at something on their phones, and a man with a paper who had a drink in front of him already. Blitz saw there was a mug ready on the tray at the pass and headed over, but he stopped short when he looked down at it.
“What is that?”
“That’s one of the lattes for table four.”
Blitz stared down at the mug full of pale, watery liquid in front of him. It looked shit.
“It looks shit.”
“Don’t take it up with me,” Moxxie replied, pursing his lips. “I didn’t make it.”
Blitz looked over to where Stolas was standing in front of the coffee machine, pressing buttons from a foot away as if he thought they might electrocute him. He watched as the coffee poured out too quickly and the man scrambled to find a cup, letting all of the best brewed liquid swirl down into the waste tray and only catching the end of the cycle. He started to pour cold milk from the carton into the mug and then realised his mistake, turning instead to a jug of milk he had heated already and which probably now wasn’t much warmer than the milk from the fridge. The result, Blitz knew, would be a cold and watery coffee, much like the one sitting on the tray currently. Yeah, that was going to be a problem.
Just then Stolas looked up to see Blitz watching him and beamed, his face lighting up and a small blush dancing across his cheeks as he waved a hand that was covered in coffee grounds.
Yeah, that was going to be a problem too.
As soon as Stolas turned away from his finished drink to start on the dishes in the sink, Blitz stuck one finger into the coffee on the tray.
“Blitz, what are you doing?!”
”Whoops, finger slipped. You’ll need to make a new one,” Blitz said loudly, sticking the wet finger in his mouth as a reflex and then grimacing. “Might as well make them both fresh.”
“At least wash your hands,” Moxxie muttered as he grabbed two fresh mugs. Blitz wandered over to the sink to check in on his new employee. New trial employee, he told himself. This was just a trial. But watching Stolas do the dishes, the marigold gloves looking impossibly stretched on his long hands and a small smile on his face, Blitz couldn’t imagine him anywhere else.
“How are you finding it?”
”Oh!” Stolas started a little to find Blitz at his elbow. “Oh, it’s been good so far. I’m not sure I fully have the hang of the coffee machine yet, but Moxxie showed me the till and now I can print off the orders. And practice makes perfect with the coffees! I’m sure I’ll pick it up very soon.”
“Nice,” Blitz replied, leaning against the wall and smiling up at Stolas. His positivity was infectious, although not quite infectious enough to remove the taste of that god-awful latte. Moxxie gave him a pointed look as he passed with the two fresh drinks and Blitz glared back at him, pretending not to understand what it meant. They still had a few hours left. Things could turn around. Blitz pretended to busy himself with the pastries in the cabinet as an excuse to hang around near Stolas. He watched as a customer entered and approached the till to order and Stolas stepped in quite confidently, chatting away and pressing the right buttons until there was the gentle whirr of an order slip being printed. Blitz felt himself smile. See, he knew there was a reason he had taken a chance on this guy. Aside from the obvious.
“Oh- I’ve printed this order upside down somehow,” Stolas said, holding the slip up to the light and then spinning it around. Blitz glanced over his shoulder to look at it too.
“Huh. Never seen that before.” As he scanned the paper he suddenly lunged forward to grab it out of Stolas’s hand, startling him a little. “Why don’t you take a quick fifteen, get some air? Before it gets busy in here,” Blitz spoke quickly, stepping into Stolas’s space to force him out of the way of the coffee machine.
“Oh! Yes of course, that would be lovely. I’ll just step outside for a moment,” Stolas said, smiling as he untied his apron and folded it neatly, leaving it on the counter. Blitz waited until he was outside before he ran over to their last customer, card machine in hand, to awkwardly apologise for charging him $45 for a coffee instead of $4.50. Blitz made the guys drink and chucked a pastry in for free to make up for it. Moxxie stood behind the till giving him a Knowing Look that Blitz was doing his best to avoid.
“Blitz.”
“Save it Moxx.”
”You don’t even know what I was going to say!”
“You were going to say I told you so. Or that you were right. Something smug and annoying.”
Moxxie sighed, moving out of the way as Blitz stormed up to the coffee machine to make himself another drink.
“I like him too, sir. He’s a nice guy. But he can’t make a coffee and that’s pretty much the only requirement for the role.”
“You don’t get it. It’s not just about making coffee, it’s- it has to be someone who fits in here. Someone who actually wants the job, and not someone who’s just tolerating it until something better comes along. You should have seem him at the interview Moxx, he really wanted a chance. And he’s good with the customers, he’s enthusiastic, he’s polite- that’s already miles better than anyone else I interviewed. You can teach people technical skills but you can’t teach them how not to be a cunt. He’s got the easy stuff down, we just need to show him how to brew a coffee and we’ll be fine.”
Before Moxxie could respond the bell at the entrance jingled and Stolas stepped back inside the building, holding the door open for Millie who was right behind him. Millie was talking animatedly and Stolas was beaming and Blitz knew right there he would win. If the sigh Moxxie let out was anything to go by, he knew it too.
“Hey Moxx, hey B!” Millie called out as she approached the counter, deftly catching the apron Blitz threw her way mid-air.
“Hey Millie-Billie. I see you’ve met Stolas,” Blitz said, feeling the smirk spreading over his face and being unable to stop it.
“I did,” Millie gushed, turning back to Stolas and shooting him a grin. “He’s a peach. Where did you find him?”
“Just got lucky I guess,” Blitz replied, glancing at Stolas who flushed prettily at his words.
“Let me just dump my stuff and I’ll be right back,” Millie said as she blew a kiss to her husband and headed to the staff room. Blitz slunk after her, hoping to corner her without Moxxie and make sure she was on side.
“So, new hire,” Millie said as soon as the door was closed, hanging up her jacket and turning to Blitz with an amused expression on her face.
“Millieeee, I’m fucked,” Blitz whined, sitting down heavily in the computer chair and spinning pathetically. “He’s so pretty. He made the most dogshit coffee but he was just so happy about it I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. Please let us keep him, please please please.”
“He’s not a dog, B,” Millie chided, slapping her boss lightly on the back of his shaggy head. “And it’s not me you need to convince. It’s your business, you hire who you like, but you gotta think with your business head. Is he gonna be an asset?”
Blitz bit his lip like he was thinking.
“I hope you’re thinking about my question and not about an ass pun.”
Blitz cackled, leaning his head back as he spun the seat again with one foot on the floor. “You know me too well.” He did think, as the room circled around him. “I just have a good feeling about him. Outside of the obvious stuff. I feel like we’re similar, somehow, and he doesn’t have all the barista stuff down yet but he’s really trying. That’s more than most of our temporary hires have done. Remember Dennis?”
“Yeah, fuck that guy,” Millie muttered, tying her apron string and pulling her black hair up into a spiky little ponytail. “You know I trust you, B. If you think he’s worth a shot I say we give him it. But!” She said, raising her voice as Blitz threw his arms around her waist from his chair. “You have to trust us, too. If we tell you it’s not working, you gotta promise you’ll hear us out.”
“I promise, I will, pinky swear. Aw Mills, you’re gonna love him. He’s so funny, he printed an order upside down this morning and he was looking at the paper so confused, his nose was getting all wrinkled and-”
”Geez, you’ve got it baaaad,” Millie said laughing and dancing away from Blitz as he tried to push her. “Sounds like you love him already.”
“Don’t be weird,” Blitz said, pouting a little as he felt himself blushing. He hated how easily he blushed, his face lighting up even under the pale scars threading across his cheek.
“I’m not making fun, it’s nice. Just be careful, that’s all.” Millie leaned down to pat his cheek once, a move that would leave anyone else with a broken arm, but he leaned into the touch a little. “Let’s get out there and see your boy at work.”
The next few hours passed in a hectic blur. Having an extra body should have been a help but honestly the four of them crashed into each other more times than Blitz could count. There just wasn’t quite enough space for them all, and while Stolas was still learning the ropes he seemed to spend most of his time under their feet and apologising profusely. Once Blitz stepped in to delegate, sending Stolas out to the tables to clean and collect the empty mugs and plates, things ran a little smoother and he escaped to the office to finish the last of his paperwork as the lunch rush began to die down. Blitz hated the paperwork. The words all swam around the page and the numbers always seemed to be on the verge of making sense to him, but one small noise would shatter his concentration and he’d lose it. If he wasn’t so proud he’d ask for help with it, but he didn’t want to just give in, and so he chewed his pen absentmindedly while he tried to make sense of the sheets in front of him. He didn’t hear the knock at the door and when it opened he jumped a little in his seat, the pen falling from his mouth and rolling away under the desk somewhere.
“Fuck,” he muttered as he missed stopping it with his foot by a few seconds.
“Sorry!” Stolas said, his face flushed as he closed the door behind him. “I didn’t mean to startle you, it’s just that it’s now 1pm and…”
“Oh shit, so it is,” Blitz replied, looking up at the clock to see it was actually ten past the hour. “Geez, that went in fast. How did you find it?”
Stolas smiled, looking a little shy as his hands starting twisting together again in that little nervous habit he had. “It was good. I mean- I enjoyed it. I hope I was helpful, I feel like I have a lot to learn and I worry I was rather in the way at times, but I really like the cafe. You’ve done a very good job. And your employees are lovely too. And you, of course,” Stolas replied, the sentences almost tripping over each other in the race to leave Stolas’s mouth.
Blitz grinned, scooting the computer chair over to the table to grab his notepad and a pen. “Nice. If you write your number down here, I’ll give you a call soon about the job. Gotta run it all past M&M first, you get it. “Aaand,” Blitz continued, wheeling over to the safe in the corner and punching in the code before stuffing some notes into an envelope as Stolas wrote down his number, “here’s your pay for today. This afternoon got real busy, so thanks for coming in. I won’t leave you waiting long, scouts honor, just got to tie a few things up.”
“Of course. Thank you, for the trial today, and for the opportunity. I would love to be part of the team, but regardless, this has been a very good experience. I appreciate it,” Stolas said earnestly, holding the envelope in his slender hand like it was something delicate.
“No probs. It was nice to meet you properly,” Blitz replied, feeling himself smile in an attempt to hide the unfamiliar shyness that was creeping over him.
“It was nice to meet you too,” Stolas said softly, smiling as he fiddled with the paper in his hands. He took his coat from the peg gently and wrapped it around himself, putting the envelope into one pocket and pulling his mittens out of the other. Blitz almost had to bite his lip to stop himself from squealing. So fucking cute.
“I hope I will see you soon, Blitz. Please enjoy the rest of your day,” Stolas spoke finally, once he was all bundled up for the outside world. He bent his head in what seemed almost like a bow, making Blitz giggle a little before he could stop himself.
“Yeah, you too Stolas. And feel free to take a coffee with you on the way out,” Blitz replied, trying to smooth over the laugh with what he hoped was a polite smile, and not a hungry one. Stolas smiled back and headed out, closing the door behind him so softly it didn’t make a sound. Blitz covered his face with both hands and let out a silent scream.
The rest of the day seemed to be on fast forward; Blitz finished the paperwork just in time for the closing down process to start and he still needed to clear a space at the back door for the delivery in the morning. By the time everything was done he was sweating, going for a smoke outside more for the fresh air than for any actual nicotine craving. The shock of the cold reminded him of the number folded up in his back pocket, and he took it out to inspect it in the dim light. Stolas’s writing was flowing and loopy on the page.
Stolas Goette
(010) 201-2228
Blitz looked back in at Millie and Moxxie who were at the table nearest the counter, Millie lying flat along the couch with her heavy boots hanging over the armrest and Moxxie sitting opposite her, fanning her with a menu. Dorks. Blitz snorted to himself as he headed back in, holding the slip of paper in his hand.
“Team meeting!”
“You don’t need to call it a team meeting Blitz, we’re the only ones here. It’s literally just us talking,” Moxxie said, grunting as Blitz threw himself down onto the couch next to him.
“Team meeeeting!”
Millie giggled as Blitz grabbed Moxxie by the shoulder and started shaking him. Moxxie batted him away but not before Blitz caught him trying to fight back a smile. He was lucky he found these two before some corporation snatched them up. M&M were smart enough to do anything, but they stuck it out here with him and he appreciated it, even if he didn’t always know how to tell them.
“What do we think about Stolas.” Blitz turned to Moxxie first, knowing the answer already but wanting to start with the cons. He was counting on Millie bringing the positives.
“He’s very nice,” Moxxie said, his eyes fixed on the table.
“But…”
Moxxie sighed, leaning back in the couch and rubbing his freckled face with one hand. “Don’t make me say it. He’s nice. I like him. But he can’t make a coffee, and he’s clumsy, and honestly it seems like this could be his first job. He asked me for permission to use the bathroom. Where has he been for like, his entire life?”
Blitz hummed in consideration. “Okay, so he has a certain childlike whimsy that Moxxie hates- ouch Moxx, the fuck-”
”I don’t hate whimsy, whimsy just doesn’t make coffees!” Moxxie huffed, crossing his arms and sinking further into the couch. “If you were asking if he could join our pub quiz team I’d be on board. You’re asking me if he should be allowed to handle hot beverages, and that’s where I’m saying maybe it’s not the best move.”
“Noted. Mills, what do you think?”
“I like him,” Millie replied, still lying on her back on the couch but turning her head to face them. “He’s sweet. And he isn’t good at making coffees yet, but he really did try to help. He cleaned the tables and took the bins out, he even got in behind them to clean. I like that. He’s a team player,” she finished, smiling ruefully at her husband who knew he was outnumbered.
“Okay, I’m hearing 2 to 1 on Stolas.”
“You didn’t say anything!” Moxxie protested, but Blitz had already pulled out his phone and began typing in the number Stolas had left on his notepad. The phone rang twice before it was answered.
“Hello?”
”Hi Stolas, it’s Blitz.”
There was a clattering sound, as if Stolas had just dropped whatever he had been holding. The cafe was so quiet that the sound seemed to echo out from his phone, causing Moxxie to cover his eyes with his hands and Blitz and Millie to stifle a giggle.
“Oh, Blitz, hello! So sorry for the noise. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”
“No problem. Yeah, thought there was no point in dicking you around. Thanks again for the help today.”
“You’re welcome,” Stolas replied primly, his voice soft and polite in a way that sounded like he was preparing for bad news.
“We’re covered for staff tomorrow, but could you start Wednesday?”
There was a beat while the other man took the sentence in. Blitz could feel himself wanting to giggle again and squeezed his eyes shut.
“I got the job?”
”Yep, unlucky for you, we wanna keep you.”
”Oh! Oh, this is great news. How exciting! Yes, absolutely, I am free Wednesday, any time at all. Thank you so much, Blitz. All of you. I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t,” Blitz replied, self conscious at how easily his face had broken into a genuine smile. “If you can do 12-5pm on Wednesday we can get you sorted for the rest of the shifts, check any holidays, yadda yadda.”
“That would be wonderful,” Stolas replied, and Blitz could hear his grin through the phone. “Thank you so much. I shall see you on Wednesday.”
“See ya then,” Blitz said, hanging up on the call and tossing his phone down onto the couch next to him. His face hurt from smiling.
“He said that would be wonderful. Fuck, that’s so cute.”
Blitz and Millie dissolved into good spirited giggles, and Moxxie watched with an exasperated fondness. It had just been the three of them at IMP for so long, anyone who did join just a temporary fixture for busy periods or work experience. For Blitz, this felt like more than that. He couldn’t explain it, but something in his gut just told him this was the right decision. For all of his bravado, he was really fucking proud of the business he’d built up, and of being able to provide for the people he cared about from it. And now he was able to give someone else a chance when they needed one. It was more than worth drinking a few shitty lattes for that.
Blitz was still giggling a little as he entered his building. He opened the door to his apartment, whistling to himself as he jostled the two cups of coffee he had made for coming home.
“Hi Loonie-toonie!”
Loona poked her head up over the couch to see her dad strutting into the room, placing a coffee down on the table and breezing into the kitchen.
“You’re in a good mood.”
“It was a good day,” Blitz answered noncommittally, peering into the fridge and sighing. He pulled out his phone, browsing nearby options before settling on their usual. “Pizza?”
“Sounds good,” Loona replied, swinging her legs off of the couch to let her dad sit down. He landed heavily, melting into the cushions as he finished their usual order and placed his phone back down.
“We hired someone newtoday.”
“Oh yeah?” Loona replied, glancing up from her phone. “What are they like?”
“He’s nice,” Blitz replied, shrugging.
Loona was silent for a moment, staring at him over her phone with her eyes narrowing slightly. “Hmmm”. She went back to scrolling, but Blitz was unsettled.
“What? What does hmmm mean?” His daughter didn’t reply, just shrugged her shoulders and smirked a little. Blitz huffed, but he didn’t fight it. He knew better; he’d never win that fight with Loona. His phone pinged and he flipped it over, expecting pizza, but instead there was a text message waiting.
From: (010) 201-2228
To: Blitz
7:30pm
Thank you very much again for the role. I’m looking forward to Wednesday :) - Stolas
Blitz felt himself smile before he could catch it. Of course Stolas signed his name on his texts.
Fuck, he was doomed.
From: Blitz
To: Stolas 💫
7:33pm
Np. Welcum 2 the team lol
c u Wed :)
