He was a regular by now. She knew his routine almost by heart. He would enter the coffee shop, either a laptop or journal under his arm, fishing crumpled bills out of his pocket. Dark hair, dark shadows beneath dark eyes, dark stubble at his jawline, asking for a black coffee. He would sit at the one table with one leg shorter than the others, the one that other customers avoided. He'd settle in, take exactly one sip of his burning hot coffee, then lose himself staring at either the screen or page. Sometimes he would jot down a few words, occasionally allowing a quiet "fuck" to slip past his lips, but for the most part he was silent and still. When his reverie would break, he'd take another sip of his coffee, only to grimace and find it had gone cold—and that was when she would be there, another hot coffee appearing before him.
She remembered the first time she'd seen him. It was only her second or third day, which of course meant that the shop would be swarmed with customers, all with elaborate orders that included words she had never heard before. The morning rush had just ended, all patrons of the shop collecting their caffeinated beverages and hurrying off to their corporate jobs, in their high-rise skyscrapers. He had been a welcome reprieve, his gravelly voice requesting the simplest of orders. During her down time, she took to watching him in his quiet reverence. He was fascinating to her, a clear outsider in the hustle and bustle of New York City. His stillness contrasted remarkably with the city people passing the window behind him. Every time he was here she watched him, and every day she fell a little more in love with him.
She was well aware of how ridiculous she was. They had only exchanged a few words to each other, never anything of consequence, only little remarks about the weather or comments on his order. She didn't even know his name, and she was pretty sure he had no idea what hers was, as she tended to "forget" her nametag in her locker—really, she just didn't need strangers commenting on how unusual her name is. So day after day, he came in, he ordered coffee, he sat quietly, and she stared.
God, she was such a creep.
Today though, the story changed. His hands flew across the keyboard so quickly, she thought she saw sparks flying from his fingertips. His eyes gleamed, his lips quirked into a strange half smile, his dark hair falling into his dark eyes. He paused momentarily now and again to sip his coffee before resuming his fervent typing. Her shift ended and she didn't notice, because she was enraptured with the work of art unfolding before her. Before, he had never stayed long enough for her shift to end, he usually left at least an hour before she did, sometimes pulling at his hair in frustration. She finally stepped into the staffroom, expecting him to be gone when she emerged, as if he'd never been there at all.
Today, she felt his eyes on her—for a change—as she stepped back onto the main floor. Her apron and hat were hung in her locker, her uniform shirt haphazardly shoved in her bag, having changed into a yellow tank more suited for the warm day outside. Her gaze met his for a moment, and she smiled softly at him, before continuing to walk toward the door. His eyes followed her, noted her hesitation when she reached the exit, and closed when she stepped through the door. She watched him through the window, caught between choices, and saw how his eyes remained closed.
Exhaling heavily, she steeled herself and stepped back inside, slowly making her way to his table. As if he could sense her presence, his eyes opened and caught hers the moment she stepped in front of him. He smiled. She reciprocated.
"Hi."
A/N: As before, based on a prompt I found on Pinterest. "Barista falls in love with a customer". A basic premise, but this one gave me trouble for a few weeks- perhaps it was my attempt to do something not dialogue heavy and to keep it fairly ambiguous. Obviously, it was written with Pyro and Jubilee in mind, but I like to believe you could mentally insert other characters into the situation. I'm fairly happy with how it's turned out. Please let me know what you think.