The last thing James remembered was reaching for a tub of caramel flavoring – people had been ordering caramel macchiatos like crazy this morning. The next thing he knew he was waking up on the floor of the freezer with a headache and Tony Stark barking his name.
"Yeah," he said, sitting up. He touched his forehead. It was bleeding. "Shit."
While Tony flustered about, worrying about workman's comp, James bandaged up his forehead and puzzled over the clock. Only a couple of minutes had passed since he had entered the big freezer, but it felt like more time had passed. Like a few days, which was ridiculous. Wanda would have noticed if he'd been gone that long, if Tony hadn't been so worried about what James was doing, fucking around on the clock.
"I'm fine," he told Tony. "I don't need to go to the hospital." He hated hospitals, and besides, his favorite customer was about to walk through the door. "Is he here yet?" James whispered to Wanda when he returned from mopping up the blood on the floor of the freezer.
"Not yet—oh, there he is!" Wanda grabbed Clint by the back of his t-shirt and yanked him out of the way.
James stepped up to the cash register and immediately grabbed a large plastic cup and a Sharpie. "Hi," he said with a huge grin. The hot blond guy who wore the tightest t-shirts ever gave him a shy smile. "Your usual?"
"Yeah," Steve said, looking relieved.
"And that's Steve, right?"
"Yeah."
"Great. It'll just be a few minutes." Even though this was their usual exchange, even more than usual, James hesitated before turning away. Something about it felt wrong. Like he knew Steve much better than this.
Back behind the whirring espresso machines, Wanda hissed, "When are you going to make your move?"
"I don't know!" James sighed.
"Just write your number on the cup," Clint said. "That's what I did with the redhead that keeps coming in here."
"You're a genius!" James scribbled his phone number underneath where he'd written Steve. "How did I not think of that in all this time?"
Clint shrugged. "I mean, it was, like, the first thing I did. I think she just threw it away, though, 'cuz she never called me."
Now James stared at the numbers on the plastic cup. What if Steve didn't call him? He finished brewing the triple venti no foam soy latte, but paused. What could he do to make sure Steve called him? He stepped to the pick-up counter and found Steve standing there, waiting.
"Hi," Steve said.
"Hi," said James. "I was just about to call you." He placed the cup down on the counter, and spun it. "Uh... but maybe you could call me?"
Steve stared at the cup. "Oh."
"I mean, if you want to. No big deal. I just..." James took a breath. "Think you're cute."
He waited, hoping he wouldn't see rejection all over Steve's face. The "I'm not gay" face.
But slowly, Steve started to smile.