Caffeine Constellations
“Fucking rain,” mumbles Regulus. Despite having lived in England his whole life, Regulus Black can’t stand rain. Sure, he loves watching it from his window, cozy in his room, sipping on a hot beverage, but he hates looking like a wet cat. To be fair, anyone who knew Regulus would tell you that his temper was closer to a wet cat’s than a human’s.
Naturally, he doesn’t have his umbrella on him. His curls are stuck to his forehead, and he can’t see shit through the heavy buckets of water falling from the sky. Naively, he decided to buy a present for his brother’s birthday after class. Now he stands there, under the pouring rain, with his bag tucked under his jacket to avoid getting soaked, drops dripping from his hair.
The metro station is too far, and the train would be packed, so he decides to try looking for a shelter until the downpour subsides. That’s when he stumbles upon a small coffee shop. He takes a look inside through the glass door, and by some miracle, it’s almost empty. There are a couple of customers sipping on their mugs, comfortably seated in dry chairs that look heavenly comfortable.
It doesn’t take long before Regulus decides to push the door. The door hits a small bell, and the little ‘ding’ drowns in the soft music that’s playing. Regulus walks to the counter. He can hear rattles behind the curtain, which is probably hiding some sort of kitchen or backshop. He looks around, waiting for someone to come serve him. The shop is fairly small, with a few movie posters harmoniously plastered on the walls. Before he can look more closely, someone walks through the curtain, and he turns his head—Oh.
* * *
“Hello, what can I get you today?” says James as he leaves the tiny backshop. He lifts his face, and oh. His eyes rest on the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen. His cheeks are flushed due to the cold air outside, and his big green eyes are teary, thanks to the wind. The color of his lips contrasts with his pale skin, matching his rosy cheeks, and they move so elegantly… Oh shit, he’s talking.
“Sorry, can you repeat that?” James smiles, hoping he doesn’t look too thick.
“A black coffee.” The man says. And, damn, does he have a nice voice. James’s smile gets wider, if that’s even possible.
“That I can do.” Regulus goes to sit down, choosing a comfy chair and pulling a notebook out of his bag. He immediately starts scribbling on the pages.
James tears his eyes off and gets the coffee machine started. It spurts out a simple plain espresso. The barista gives the man another glance before letting a pinch of cinnamon fall into the cup. It couldn’t hurt, could it? He passes his hand through his hair and walks to the man, holding his cup.
“There you go. Need anything with that?”, the barista asks. The other looks at him, his stare so intense that James almost lets out a nervous giggle. Almost. He shakes his head and lets James put the coffee on the table, thanking him quietly.
James can almost feel the wind entering his right ear and coming out of his left as he tries to come up with something to say. A little spark then catches his eyes. A very small silver pendant, shaped like a star, is resting right above the hem of the man’s shirt.
“Nice necklace.” are the words that then come out of his mouth. The man frowns, surprised, before looking down at his own chest; “Oh, well thank you.” There’s a shadow of a smile there. James mutters a “you’re welcome” and puts the cup down on the little table.
* * *
James is still mad at himself for not asking for his number when the mysterious man steps into the shop again, a couple of weeks later. The sun is shining so the rain isn’t responsible this time, he did it deliberately. James has to bite the inside of his cheek and remind himself that the man probably only liked the coffee to not smile. He tries to focus on the order he is working on as the brunette inserts himself in the queue.
When his turn comes James’s back straightens by his own will.
“Hi”
“Hello”
A heartbeat (just one)
James clears his throat (when did it get so dry?)
“What can I get you?”
“an espresso please. Take away.”
“It’s busy today, I’m gonna need your name.” Please, please, please. James simply needs to know.
“Oh. It’s Regulus.” The other - Regulus - says softly.
James nods. “Okay, Regulus, just need to pay and you’re all set.” James’s brain feels like it’s going to explode. He doesn’t know if it’s the noise, the people, the generally overwhelming environment - even if he is used to it - or the man in front of him.
Regulus taps his card on the reader, gives him a last glance, another ghost of a smile and goes to sit while waiting for his order.
James almost forgets what he was doing. Coffee. Orders. He makes a couple of drinks that were waiting and calls for the customers before coming to Regulus’s coffee. His body is kind of working on its own, his mind is focused on only one thing - exceptional for him - and it’s the new knowledge he just acquired. The pretty man’s name is Regulus. He never heard such a name. What origin was it? It has ancient sonorities, he keeps dissecting it in his head over and over again. Re-gu-lus. Seven letters. Three vowels. It is enough to fully occupy James’s brain apparently. He is still thinking about it when he writes names on cups before pouring coffee in them and putting them on the counter.
Regulus approaches again. James’s colleague - his only colleague, they should really hire a couple more people - is taking care of the never ending queue now.
The brunette snorts.
“Is that my coffee?” He asks, pointing at a tiny cup that obviously holds an espresso.
James almost has to physically shake himself out of his trance.
“Uh yeah? isn’t your name on it? It’s 5pm, we don’t have many people ordering espresso anyways.”
Regulus takes the cup - so delicately that James thinks he is going to die - and looks at it.
“You wrote ‘Rigel’” another faint grin.
Oh, James knows he is going to die now, of embarrassment.
* * *
Regulus isn’t typically one to burst into laughter easily. However, the sight of that tall, handsome guy squirming and blushing with embarrassment before him is too amusing to suppress a chuckle.
It worsen things, now the tanned skin of the guy’s - James, Regulus can read it on his name tag - face turned crimson. He looks like he is trying to find somewhere to hide and Regulus doesn’t know what is so hilarious about it but he smiles again before taking a sip of his espresso.
“See you soon..” He glances at the name tag. “John.”