The first time he had come into the shop, Carlos had to call out, "Sir? I can help you now," because he was so invested in his book. Once the customer looked up, he blushed furiously, and stepped forward, ordering a French Roast with one cream, no sugar. Carlos made him his coffee, and the man sat down in the corner of the shop, reading and sipping his drink. He stayed there until his phone started vibrating, and then he left.

The next time the man came in was the next morning. Carlos recognized him, but professionally took and made his order, after which, the man went right to his spot in the back of the shop, pulling out a different book than the other day. He again left after his phone started vibrating.

The next morning when the customer entered the small café, Carlos smiled, and said cheerfully, "Back again?"

The man chuckled slightly, ducking his head and blushing before composing himself enough to say, "Yeah. I work right next door in the bookstore. I just started the other day. I thought that I would stop in before I went in because I'm a mess without my coffee, and I guess that it's starting to become a habit. And now I'm rambling. Sorry."

"Oh, don't be sorry," Carlos said surprised. "I love talking to the customers! And you're especially interesting. . . ." Carlos became flushed.

The man looked as flustered as Carlos, and sheepishly ordered his drink. Carlos got his coffee, and mentally chastised himself for weirding his new favourite customer out. However, when the man went back to his table to read yet another book, Carlos saw out of the corner of his eye that he kept looking over at the counter. Carlos smirked to himself as he realized what the customer was looking at.

This went on for the next week. The customer would come in, chat with Carlos, order, and go sit and read a different book each day. Around the fifth day in a row, he had started coming in in the middle of the day, as well. When Carlos asked him about it, the man said that it was his lunch time, and he couldn't think of a place that he would rather spend his break than the little café. He blushed at his own words, which made Carlos blush as well.

The second day that the man had come in during his lunch, Carlos took his lunch break right after he had served the man his coffee. His own coffee in hand, he sat down across from his customer, who looked up at the man sitting at his table.

"Hello," Carlos greeted with a warm smile. "I'm Carlos. I didn't catch your name."

The man grinned, setting his book down in front of him, folding the cover inside as a bookmark. "I'm Cecil."

"Cecil," Carlos tasted the name. "What a lovely name. And you work at the bookshop next door?"

Cecil nodded, a dumbfound smile stuck on his face.

"What are you reading today?"

Cecil held his book out to Carlos, who took it and read the inside cover's description, careful not to lose Cecil's page. He set it back down.

"So," Cecil said. "You work at this little café. What's that like?"

Carlos smiled. "I get to meet some interesting people, that's for sure."

Cecil blushed, turning away for a minute. Carlos took a sip of his drink, keeping his eyes focused on Cecil's beautiful smile.

This went on for several months. Cecil came in before work and launched into their usual routine. Carlos had remembered his exact order and time of arrival, so Cecil's drink was always ready for him. Then, at midday, Carlos started on Cecil's drink when he saw him enter the café. Sometimes Cecil was a little late, presumably from the customers over at his bookshop.

Carlos always took his lunch break when Cecil had his, and they sat and talked. He always started out by asking what book he was reading that day, letting Cecil give an excited overview of what he had read so far. Somedays he was further along in the book than others, but that didn't stop him from telling Carlos everything he knew so far, about the characters and exposition, and of course what he predicted would happen. Carlos always made sure to ask the next morning if what he predicted had come true.

Everything was wonderful, and Carlos was happy.

They kept their routine for months, always the same. That is, until Cecil didn't come into the café one afternoon for his lunch break. It was a Sunday, but the bookstore remained open since it was privately owned, and Cecil said that he usually ran it himself on Sundays without the owner since no one really ever came then. Carlos noticed that it was almost evening, and he had put off his own lunch break, waiting for Cecil to show up. Now his shift was over, so Carlos hung up his apron in the office, and walked over to the bookshop next door. He hadn't been inside the shop for a while, not since before he and Cecil became . . . is 'friends' the right word?

Carlos pushed open the front door, and turned to the counter. Nobody was there. There was no one else in the store, so Carlos called out, "Cecil?"

No answer. Carlos walked towards the back of the store. There was a door, presumably leading to a back room. Carlos opened it, and called Cecil's name again, but there was still no answer. Carlos pushed the door open fully, and walked down the short hallway. There was a door propped open with a small, orange traffic cone. Carlos pulled the door all the way open and saw that the light leading down a small set of stairs was on. Getting a bad feeling in his gut, Carlos descended the staircase.

Carlos saw him immediately. Cecil was lying on the floor in front of the furnace in the boiler room, unconscious and covered in soot, his clothing slightly singed. Carlos ran to his side and tried to wake him by calling his name and shaking his shoulders. He didn't respond.

Looking at the furnace, Carlos saw that there was a large crack in the pipe protruding from the chamber. It must have burst and Cecil tried to fix it by himself. Things like that should really be left to the professionals, Carlos thought as he lifted Cecil in his arms bridal style, and carried him up the stairs, depositing him onto the couch in the store front.

Carlos checked Cecil's pulse. It was a little thready, confirming what Carlos had thought: carbon monoxide, most likely from the burst pipe. It was lucky that Carlos had gotten there when he did. Quickly, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket, dialled 911, and demanded an ambulance at the store.

Carlos went back to trying to wake Cecil while he waited for the ambulance. Cecil was just beginning to stir when the EMTs arrived, but they quickly loaded him into the back of the ambulance, Carlos requesting to ride along with him.

When they got to the hospital, Cecil was unloaded, and Carlos was left behind in the Waiting Room.

"He is recovering nicely from the carbon monoxide poisoning. Unfortunately, he has received extensive injury to his eyes, and his pupils are not responding correctly. We will not know the full degree until he wakes up."

Carlos just started at the doctor numbly. It was the pipe; when it burst, it must have singed Cecil's eyes, covered them in soot, intense heat—something! And it had caused this. Carlos didn't want to even think about Cecil possibly not being able to see. It would kill him.

"Can I see him?" Carlos asked quietly. The doctor nodded and motioned for Carlos to follow him. They stopped outside of a room, and the doctor pushed the door open for Carlos to silently slip inside.

The room was spacious, but not too big. Cecil laid on the bed with various tubes and wires hooking him up to the machine. He had an I.V. in one arm and oxygen being supplied through a nasal cannula.

Carlos pulled one of the chairs on the side of the room up next to Cecil's bedside. He sat down on the edge of the chair, and leaned forward in order to grasp Cecil's hand in both of his, silently wishing for him to recover. He stayed until a nurse told him that visiting hours were over, and that he had to leave.

Carlos immediately went outside and called out of work for the next three days, taking advantage of his built up PTO. Then, he called for a taxi to bring him back to the bookshop. The store was still open, so Carlos found the keys sitting next to Cecil's book behind the counter. Carlos grabbed the keys, and the book for Cecil later, and locked up the shop. The store owner would be back tomorrow so Carlos would just call and explain. He took the taxi back to hospital and stayed there the rest of the night with Cecil's book sitting in his lap.

The next morning, Carlos woke up and immediately asked to see Cecil. The nurse at the Nurses' Station paged Cecil's doctor, and he came through the double doors a minute later, motioning for Carlos to follow him back to Cecil's room.

"He just woke up less than an hour ago, so he's a little bit groggy and confused," he told him.

"Can—" Carlos began before his voice failed. He cleared his throat and started again. "Can he see . . . anything at all?"

The doctor came to a stop outside of the door, and sadly shook his head. "No, not at the moment. He was pretty upset at first, but the nurses have managed to calm him down without sedating him."

Carlos took a deep, shuddering breath. The doctor continued, "However, we do believe that his vision loss may be temporary. We are working on some remedies. In the meantime, do try to keep him calm and relaxed."

Nodding, Carlos slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside. Cecil was sitting on the bed, propped up on a couple of pillows, with his eyes shut. Carlos stepped closer, and Cecil opened his eyes, though they couldn't seem to focus on anything in particular, so they just started ahead.

"Cecil?" Carlos called as he sat down in the chair again.

Cecil's eyes went wide and his hand grabbed the bar on the bed. "Carlos? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Oh, thank goodness." Cecil almost cried.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm alright now," he told him. "Did the doctor tell you? That I can't see?"

Carlos nodded his head before he realized that Cecil couldn't see him, so he answered, "Yes, he did."

Cecil nodded his head, dropping his chin, and fingering the edge of his blanket. Carlos grabbed his hands in his own to steady them.

"You're going to be okay, Ceec," Carlos said, not wanting to tell him about the possibility of his sight loss being temporary in case the doctor hasn't told him yet. He didn't want to raise his hopes only for them to fall again.

"Carlos," Cecil sighed. "I can't see. I'm useless at the store. I won't even be able to walk to work or the café. I can't even read anymore."

"You can learn Braille, if you want to," Carlos told him. "But in the meantime, I can read to you." Carlos placed Cecil's book into his hands.

"Oh Carlos," Cecil said with a smile before it fell again. "I don't want to make you do that."

"You're not making me do anything," Carlos countered. "I want to. And I sure as hell didn't go back to lock up the store and grab your book, and then sleep in the Waiting Room to not get to read to you." Carlos stroked through Cecil's short blond hair lovingly.

Tears formed in the corners of Cecil's eyes, which he quickly wiped away with his hand. Carlos gently took the book back from Cecil and opened to the bookmarked page. "Do you remember where you left off?" he asked.

Cecil shook his head, and told him to start from the beginning of the page on the left. Carlos complied. Cecil leaned back into the pillows as Carlos began to read. They spent the rest of the day like that, only interrupted a couple of times by a nurse who had come in to check Cecil's vitals and mark something on his clipboard.

Carlos had to leave at the end of the visiting hours again, but Cecil was already asleep by then anyways. Which was good, considering they had finished the book. Carlos was stopped by the doctor on his way out of the hospital.

"Carlos," he called. "I'm afraid that it doesn't look like Cecil's condition is temporary, after all. You didn't say anything about it to him, did you?" Carlos shook his head and the doctor sighed.

"Good. We don't want to let him down from such good news. Know that we are still trying to find a miracle, but that it doesn't look so good now."

Carlos nodded, thanked the doctor, and left the hospital. He opted to walk back into town given it was only about 25 minutes or so. He stopped into the bookshop, whose owner was just about to close up. Carlos explained everything to him.

The owner was grateful that Carlos came to talk to him because he was worried that Cecil wasn't answering his cell phone after he didn't show up for work. He thanked Carlos for locking up the store and for taking care of Cecil. He told Carlos to wait where he was for a minute, and then ran into the back room. A minute later, he came back out with a book in his hands.

"Bring this to him, will you?" he asked. "He said that he wanted to read it when we got it in the latest inventory. Will you read it to him?"

Carlos smiled and nodded gratefully since he wouldn't have had the slightest clue as to what to pick up for tomorrow's read. The owner gave Carlos a ride back to the hospital and told him that he would stop in to see Cecil tomorrow around midday.

Carlos was grateful for the ride back, but now he was stuck sitting in the giant waiting room with all of the other families hoping to see their sick loved ones.

Families? Loved ones? Carlos thought. Is that how I see Cecil?

Carlos pondered this thought until he fell sound asleep in the uncomfortable chair with yet another book held firmly in his hands.

Carlos slept a little later that morning. He was awoken by a nurse shaking his shoulder carefully.

"Sir," the nurse called. Carlos sat up immediately. "Is something wrong? Is Cecil okay? God, what time is it?" he asked in a haze.

"Calm down, sir," the nurse told him. "Mr. Palmer is okay, but it is past the beginning of visiting hours, and he was distraught that you were not in his room. Would you like to come up now?"

"Yes! Yes, please," Carlos said, almost knocking the nurse down as he stood up quickly. He motioned for Carlos to follow him to Cecil's room, and opened the door.

The first thing that Carlos heard was his name being called out worriedly. Carlos rushed to Cecil's side and grabbed his hand as he said, "It's me, Cecil. I'm so sorry that I wasn't here earlier."

"It's okay, Carlos," Cecil told him. "I thought that you decided not to come anymore." At these words, Cecil's voice broke a little.

Carlos was heartbroken that Cecil had thought that he wouldn't come for him. "I'll always be here for you, Cecil. I mean that." Cecil let out a half sob, half laugh as Carlos leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

"And check this out," Carlos said as he put the book into Cecil's hands.

"Another book?" Cecil asked excitedly. "Which one?"

Carlos told him the title and how he had gotten it from Cecil's employer, who was also going to stop by around midday. Cecil looked overjoyed and immediately asked Carlos to begin reading.

Cecil's employer followed through on his promise, giving Carlos time to head down to the hospital's cafeteria to get something to eat. He also got Cecil some apple slices, hoping as he walked back to his room that he wasn't allergic to apples or anything.

Luckily enough, Cecil wasn't. He actually loved them. Carlos beamed, an ear-to-ear smile, and he, Cecil, and Cecil's employer spent time talking until the latter had to go back to his bookshop. He bid Cecil goodbye, thanked Carlos again, and then left, leaving Carlos to pick up where he had left off in the book.

Cecil was only in the hospital for a few more days. In that time, him and Carlos had gotten through the book given to Carlos by Cecil's employer, and had started another that Cecil had been looking forward to.

Once out of the hospital, however, Cecil was worried about living on his own.

"But what if I want to go to the kitchen to make supper, and I run into the counter?" Cecil said absently as he dressed. "That would hurt badly. I know because I've done it before. Or what if—"

Carlos cut him off by exclaiming, "Cecil! You're not going to run into the counter in your kitchen because you're going to stay with me for a week or two while you get used to your, um, situation. And then, when you feel ready, you can move back into your apartment. Or we can both move in together, so I can keep helping you. But, either way, I'm gonna help you as much as I possibly can."

Carlos finished his rant leaving him slightly flustered at his outburst, but it was bittersweet that Cecil couldn't see him blushing.

Cecil didn't know what to say immediately, but after a minute told Carlos, "Okay. I'll stay with you for a little while. And we'll take it from there, I guess?"

Carlos nodded, but then realized his mistake and said, "Okay. Good. I'm glad." Cecil knew that Carlos was smiling, so he held out his hand for Carlos to take, which he did. Together they left the hospital and drove to Carlos's apartment in his car.

While on their way there, Carlos placed one of his hands on Cecil's which was resting on the man's thigh. Cecil tipped his ear towards Carlos, who said, "This is going to be really good for both of us. And, Cecil . . . I hope that you know . . . I really—I am. . . ." Carlos took a deep breath and said, "I love you."

Cecil immediately sat up a little straighter and fully turned his head towards the direction of Carlos's voice. "Really? You do?"

Carlos wrapped his hand around Cecil's and rubbed his thumb across it. "Of course I do."

This was when Carlos was overjoyed to see Cecil smile again, ever since the last time that he saw him in the café. It was a beautiful, full-faced smile, showing pearly white teeth. "I love you, too," Cecil told him as Carlos pulled into his apartment's parking lot. Carlos quickly took his hand back, shifted the car into 'Park,' and leaned over to kiss Cecil.

Their first kiss, sitting in the parking lot of their shared apartment. It was a sweet solution to a bitter problem, at least for now. And that's what made both Carlos and Cecil happy, despite the recent tribulations.

Character A is an employee at a quaint little bookstore in their town. Character B is a barista at the café right next door. Every day, Character A goes to the café right before they start work and during their break. Character B always work at the same time as Character A, so whenever A comes in, it's B who serves them. Because Character A comes in so regularly and orders the same thing every time, Character B and Character A start to bond. After a while, Character B will have Character A's order ready before they even enter the café. Once getting their order, Character A will sit at the same table right by the window and pull out a book. Every day, it's a new one. And each day, Character B will sit down with Character A and take a little break to hear A talk about their latest read.