Eva walked into The Den with the usual exhaustion that accompanied a grad student. She stifled a yawn before throwing her bag down behind the counter and grabbing her apron. Jo yawned in response, covering her mouth before turning around to grab Eva an espresso.

It seemed winter was on its way. Those far too excited about the cold were eagerly bundling up in jackets and scarves. Eva, who was more a summer person, grumbled as she switched into an old hoodie and proceeded to yawn for the rest of the day. She'd had a lot of coffee to make up for the cold, and something about caffeine always made her yawn.

"Hey, can you go grab the new trays from Mike? I can't stand to go down there right now."

"Some people just can't handle the heat," Eva said. Jo poked her in the arm. Eva raised her hands in surrender and skipped down the stairs. Mike waved a hand in half-hearted salute, though he had a smile on his face.

"New trays are over there," he said with a limp gesture.

"You seem exhausted."

"I'm nearly dead. It's one of those days where everyone just feels lazy and tired and can't help dying all over everything."

"I know how you feel," she said before placing a hand over her mouth to cover a yawn.

"I think it's boredom," Mike said after a few seconds of puttering around the kitchen. "I'm busy all the time, doing something with my hands. And I'm good at that. It's just, I don't think about anything. My brain doesn't do anything. It just sits and molders away, mashed in into submission and thrown into an oven." He wiped his brow with his ever-present towel. "I guess I'm just tired and I don't know what to do about it." They were silent for a moment, though Mike continued to knead bread.

"You have given me a problem I don't know the answer to," she said simply. He scratched his head.

"This just got awkward, didn't it?"

"Just remind yourself how cute you are."

"Ever helpful with your advice. Take your trays upstairs," he said, beginning to smile again.

"I know when I'm down in the dumps, I like to make out with the cute English student holding a pile of scones."

"Goodbye Eva." He heard her laugh cackling up the stairwell and chuckled to himself, strong hands kneading bread.

Eva had another coffee and felt better, at least briefly. Jo was working on some sort of something for some unnamed company, so Eva gave her a scone and told her to go sit in the back and actually accomplish something. Jo acquiesced. The shop wasn't too busy anyway. She grabbed a book from the small library Vi kept under the register and began to read. The Stand, excellent. She'd always liked Stephen King. Appropriately grim and foul to offset the existence of a normal life. She turned pages eagerly. It was calm for a few hours.

She heard someone cough above her. Given the circumstances of her novel, she was appropriately concerned. She looked up with a roll in her eyes and, dear God this had to have been the most beautiful man she had ever seen in her life. He had dark hair that was slightly too long for his face and stuck up in weird angles and lips that wouldn't quit. He wore a pink button-down under a cranberry sweater with an orange pea coat. She stood on her toes to get a look at the rest of the outfit. Blue chinos cuffed at the ankles and boat shoes, no socks. And he was tall as hell. She took a quick look. No ring. Excellent.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for someone." His voice was soft and smoky, quiet. His breath smelled like wintergreen.

"Unless it's a broke and single grad student who likes long walks on the beach, I'm afraid I can't help you." She cursed herself silently. Or, maybe not. His face had stayed firm, but there was a glitter in his eyes that hadn't been there before. Maybe a twitch of the lip? Dare she think, a fledgling smile? She cleared her throat.

"Everyone here sits over there," she said, gesturing to the motley tables and chairs.

"Mind if I look around?" he asked. She shook her head. He turned from her. His eyes. She couldn't stop thinking about his eyes. She missed them, but settled for looking at his ass instead. No, that was wrong. She shouldn't do that. She forced herself to quit staring and go back to her book. He was probably here for a girlfriend, or perhaps a boyfriend. He was wearing an orange pea coat, and had an awfully tight a—no, she wouldn't think about that. No, she was content in singledom. She closed her eyes and went back to reading. She made it through a page before she heard a throat clear above here.

"He's not here," he said simply. Damn, it was a boyfriend. Shame.

"Shall I round up a search party?"

"He isn't worth it. You do coffee, yes?" she couldn't help turning to look at the espresso machine. He took that as a response. "An Americano, the biggest size you have. "

"You need room?" she asked, hopping off her stool.

"No."

"Anything to eat," she asked, going back to pull the espresso.

"No."

"2.08," she said, handing him the coffee. He threw a fiver at her and went to sit down. Persnickety little bastard, she thought to herself. And she'd given him the big mug. At least he tipped well.

She cast him from her mind for the time being, though she may have gotten a bit over enthused thinking that she could afford two cup o'noodles tonight. She'd always been good at disappearing into a book, though she figured she should probably start one of the monsters lurking in her backpack. Still, she procrastinated in her favorite of ways, and progressed through the book for another ten minutes or so when she was interrupted by the man she had come to know as Charlie.

"Hey Charles."

"Hey Eva. Jo in today?"

"She's out running errands. Anything I can get you?"

"Erm, just the usual, I guess."

"One chai, coming right up. Want me to bring it to your table?"

"That'd be great."

"I'll put it on your tab, you get comfortable. Cranberry muffin, yeah?"

"You know me well, Madam." She gave him a smile and he went to sit down. She puttered around behind the bar, going about the preparations. He was a nice guy, one of those that you knew was too nice for his own good. He'd be good for Jo. She needed a distraction.

She gathered his order and began to walk to his normal table, though she realized he wasn't there. Odd. She scanned the mish-mosh of rickety tables and college boys in suspenders before finding him huddled in a corner next to…oy. She stirred herself for battle and proceeded forth. She didn't know why she was quaking in her Converse, but that man had seemed an…ominous presence, like he controlled half the universe with an iron fist and one wrong step from her could cause the Earth to be consumed with hellfire, though it could have been that he was just an ass. Yeah, just an ass. For Christ's sake, he was wearing a cranberry sweater. She would be fine.

"Here Charlie, the usual," she said, placing the plate and mug on the table. "Anything else I can get you or your friend here?" The friend looked up at her. His eyes were blue, really blue, with a sapphire ring around the outside and little streaks of rust running through them. She realized she was staring, and he was staring back. That little twitch in his lip, it was definitely there. She couldn't be imagining that.

"I'm good, thanks. This is Darcy, a…friend of mine. Darce, you want anything?"

"No."

"Then I guess we're all good," Charlie said with a grin.

"Of course, Monsieur." Eva gave a curtsey for an unspecified reason and flounced back to the bar, grabbing a cloth. No one was waiting in line and she felt the unspeakable need to eavesdrop. She began to wipe down the tables near them.

"Charles, if this is what this place has to offer, I'm sadly disappointed."

"Oh Darcy! They're impossibly pretty."

"From what I've seen, you must have found the only pretty one in the damned place."

"Oh, she is an angel, but I must say that, if it were not for Jo, Eva would be worth…focusing on."

"Eva? The brunette thing in the sweatshirt?"

"Phenomenally pretty." Eva couldn't help but smile. Jo had picked a good one, even if they weren't technically…well…anything. He looked at his friend. "You can't be serious. You aren't even remotely intrigued?" Darcy mumbled something and took a sip of his coffee.

"I'd agree she makes magnificent coffee, but she's only tolerable? Tolerable my ass." They continued, but Eva had lost the heart to listen. She giggled to herself at the preposterous nature of it all and proceeded back to the bar, poking her head into the back room.

"Jo, honey. Charlie just walked in with some snot of a friend. I told him you were on a supply run, so if you wanna roll with my lie, you're welcome to have just gotten back…if that makes any sense." Jo looked up at her.

"I got none of that, if I'm to be honest." Eva rolled her eyes.

"Charlie, who is boyfriend man, is outside with nasty man. Go say hi." Jo looked up at Eva with confusion in her eyes, but blinked it away.

"Do they need anything?"

"No."

"Why do I need to go say hi?"

"I don't know, he asked you to. Say you need to replace the saltshakers or something. This place is falling apart, there's gotta be something to do." Jo nodded and walked outside. Eva leaned against the supply shelves.

Tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt him. Asshat.

She went about neatening the shelves.

"Bingley, you can't be serious," he said as he left the shop.

"I don't know what I'm to do." He looked up at the dark-haired man beside him. "You're not mad I invited them to dinner… you are. I can always cancel."

"What are you hoping to gain from this relationship? There are plenty of women, plenty of beautiful women."

"You're a writer, Darce. You believe in love, don't you?"

"I was a writer."

"How I feel when I'm near her—"

"Have you been on a date with her?"

"…No."

"Have you even talked to her outside of that damned coffee shop?"

"Darcy, there's something inside me that flutters when I'm near her. I don't feel like me, I feel as if I've ascended. I, I don't know how to describe it except by calling it love. I love her."

"Love is a children's tale. Surely you've learned that by now. You're old enough."

"You've grown a cynic in your aged nature. Besides, I can still tell Caroline your new address if you truly refuse to help me." Darcy chuckled under his breath.

"If you need me to go to dinner, then I think I'd be able to muster that. Just—

just be reasonable with yourself. Don't expect anything more than what is reasonable." Charlie couldn't help the smile spreading across his face.

A few more hours passed, Mike and Vi went home, and Jo and Eva stayed to clean up the place. The miscreants were neat for the most part, though they had a nasty habit to ferret their trash away. No one was sure why, though perhaps Roseanne was trying to save her scone for later.

"Hey, how was Charlie?" Eva asked.

"Fine. The guy he was with was pretty cute."

"Total asshat."

"Really? He went to go to the bathroom, and Charlie suggested we all go out to dinner."

"He really needs to check his choice in friends."

"I mean, he did have a nice pea coat."

"Who wears an orange pea coat? Either he's gay or European or both. And not that I'm judging, but—"

"You seem a little defensive."

"Why would I seem defensive?"

"Because you seem defensive."

"Well that's dumb and stupid."

"Did he say something to you? Offend your honor?"

"He called me 'tolerable'. Ass."

"You are tolerable, I suppose."

"Son of a bitch."

"Why, is that a bad thing?"

"In connotation, yes."

"I haven't taken an English class in how long?"

"Like, he meant it in a bad way. Based on words he could have used and the words he did use."

"He said it to your face? Harsh."

"No, but he mumbled something."

"Eva, you understand how ridiculous you sound, yeah? Just come to dinner with us."

"Only because you're excellent."

"Knew it would be worth it someday." They locked up and walked to the subway.

Author's Note: Yay Darcy whoot. Yeah. As always, you guys are lovely. Feel free to review, it gives me warm fuzzies.

Much love and best wishes,

Zoe