A/N: Big thank you to everyone for not lynching me after that last chapter. Last part. Ahem. Enjoy.
Ambrosia
Part III: Pity Dates
Thursday dawns gray and overcast like some cliche out of a damn movie.
Roman, tired and plenty hung over, glares at the clouds as he heads out to his car.
Thick morning humidity hangs blankets the air, and it feels like it wants to rain, but nothing falls on his way to work.
Nothing even falls when he parks his car in the lot opposite of where he usually parks.
His usual parking lot is closer to the office, but parking there also means walking past Ambrosia, and he's not even prepared to face that place - that guy - this morning, so he decides to park in lot that's behind and across the street from his building.
The walk around takes twice as long, but it's worth it if it means avoiding Ambrosia altogether.
Somewhere around the third shot of whiskey last night (or was it the fourth?), he'd come to the conclusion that he'd been a damn fool for letting anyone fill his head with this nonsense about how he'd "so into" Coffee W - into the coffee dude in the first place. For letting them tell him he should go for it, instead of just leaving him the hell alone about it and letting him keep this where it was comfortable.
The whole idea had been stupid.
Usually he's not one to quit, but this was something he just never should have started in the first place.
The sky keeps looking like it wants to spit at him, but he makes it inside dry as a bone, and spends the elevator ride up to the fifth floor mentally rehearsing what he wants to say to Bayley when he gets there.
He finds her in her usual spot in the conference room, already tapping away on her laptop, feet kicked up on an empty chair beside her.
Her sweatshirt is the same plain, muted gray as the sky outside.
Figures.
"Hey," he says, nudging the chair her feet are resting on.
She looks at him carefully over the top of her laptop. "Morning. You're early. How are you?"
"Fine," he lies. "And you?"
"I'm good. You look beat."
Roman decides to ignore unasked the question behind that, and instead pulls a twenty dollar bill out of his pocket. "Would you do the coffee run today, please?"
"The…? Okay?" Her forehead scrunches up as she straightens and slowly reaches for the cash. "Are you sure? Of course I will, but I'm pretty sure it'd be okay if you went. I don't think senpai would spit in your coffee. And who knows? Maybe he's had a chance to think about things."
"Doubt it," Roman says, shaking his head. All he can picture happening is he goes down to Ambrosia and deals with Coffee Wizard in the kind of stiff, awkward silence that would leave him wanting to punch something afterward. "I'm not in the mood to deal with it today anyway. Like I said, I got a lot of work to do."
"Roman," she says, soft and sad.
"Just leave it alone," he says, turning away. "It's fine. Thanks for going."
He beats a quick retreat before she can say the 'no, it's not fine,' he knows she really wants to. But if he has to stand there with her looking at him like she's all heartbroken for him, he probably really will punch a wall.
He's fine.
He is fine.
This is fine.
It is.
(It's not at all.)
And it's clearly going to be one of those days because he's no more than gotten started making some changes to one a set of interior plans than Antonio decides to drop by.
If Roman was a betting man, he'd have bet his life savings Bayley put him up to it.
Because as he leans in the doorway all casual and sharp in a thin sweater and slacks, he's got the same look on his face Bayley had: the one that says he's worried Roman's a bomb about to blow up anytime now.
"Don't think I need to ask how your night was," he comments. "No coffee this morning?"
Roman taps a couple of measurements into the modeling software on his laptop, and waits for them to load. "Bayley's getting it."
"Ah." Antonio eases into the office and closes the door behind him. He sits, crosses one leg over the other, gives Roman a narrow look. "Is that it, then? Or are you just giving things a few days to settle down?"
"I don't know."
"Roman-"
"I'd appreciate it if y'all would just step off my back about it," Roman says over him, short and sharp. "I let you push me into doin' this in the first place, and I'm the one got burnt. I don't want to talk. I don't want any advice. I don't want looks. He said no. It's no. It's over and done."
"But you said he thought it was a pity date," Antonio points out. "Like I said yesterday, this just sounds like a simple misunderstanding. Perhaps if you talked to him, you could clear that up."
Roman shakes his head. "It's done, man."
"It's really not like you to give up this easily."
"I never should've opened that can of worms in the first place," Roman says, turning his attention back to the building on his screen. "I just liked his damn coffee, and I should have left it at that. I'm gonna leave it at that from now on. I don't want to talk about it anymore. No more jokes. No nothing. Just leave it alone."
One of the many things Roman likes about Antonio is that he knows when to stop pushing. "For the record, I think you're making a mistake giving up like this, but if that's what you wish to do, so be it. And if we're done discussing it, perhaps we could talk about the design for the Cage-Copelands? I'm stuck on how I want the back of the building to look."
Roman closes his laptop, sets it aside, and smiles tiredly across the desk. Antonio's a great mentor and an even better friend, and it's times like this Roman remembers he's also a damn decent dude. Work is just the thing Roman needs to take his mind off everything.
"Fire away."
They're elbow-deep in trying to figure out whether a flatter, longer building would fit the neighborhood better or if a taller building would when Bayley brings them their coffee.
When she holds out Roman's cup, the only thing he sees scrawled on it is a sharp "R."
Antonio's cup similarly only has the letter "A" slashed onto it.
"I think he was disappointed you didn't come in today," Bayley says from beside Roman's desk. She's got the most painfully earnest look on her face. "He didn't ask where you were, but I think he wanted to. And he sure looked tired. Like you do."
"Bayley." Antonio shakes his head. "Roman's said he doesn't want to discuss this any further. It's over and done. Let's please respect that."
"But if you guys would just talk to-"
"Bayley, that's enough," Antonio says gently, firmly. It's his version of Boss Voice, and it's damn effective. "Roman says it's done, and we need to leave it alone. That's the end. We need be focusing on work right now, anyway. Have you finished the changes on the Colter plans?"
Bayley looks like she wants to say something, but in the end, she shakes her head and says, "Not yet. Most of them are done, but I ran into a snag with how we laid out the rooms that I wanted to go over with you when you had a chance."
Antonio nods and sips his coffee. "I'll come talk to you as soon as we're done here."
"Thanks, boss," she says with a forced-looking smile.
As much as Roman likes Bayley, it's a relief when she pulls the door shut behind her.
And that's just how it goes for a while.
("It's just not like you to give up this easily.")
Bayley doing the coffee run becomes the norm in the days and weeks to come, Roman handing her some cash each morning and doing his best to pretend he doesn't see how sad it makes her look.
Even worse than that, he can't seem to adjust to not going to Ambrosia every morning.
Every damn morning, he makes it a point to remind himself to park in the far lot, but habit has him pulling into the near lot way more often than he'd like.
The one day he's fed up enough to just say screw it and leave his car where it is, he spots Corey lounging out in front of the shop, Marlon Brando cool with his a rolled-up sleeves and slicked hair and cigarette in hand.
Not wanting to be seen, Roman turns away so fast he nearly mows down a little old lady.
After that, he tries to be more careful about where he parks.
("It's just not like you to give up this easily.")
He's careful about where he parks the way he's careful not to make a big deal about checking his coffee cups every morning to see what's written there, the way he's careful not to react at only ever finding an "R" there in place of his name or-
(BIG DOG)
-anything else.
What's funny is that before the whole BIG DOG thing, he almost never looked twice as his cup. Never really had a reason to, since that surly, slouchy dude working the espresso machine never wrote anything but ROMAN in his half-assed, sloppy capitals.
If Roman's honest with himself, it's really damned disappointing to never even see his name on the side of the cup. That curt, sharp "R" feels too much like a period at the end of a sentence, like a door slammed in his face, like the end.
He's not honest.
As the days pile up into weeks, he tells himself he doesn't miss any of it.
He doesn't miss it in the same the way he doesn't miss Ambrosia's quirky dive-bar charm with all its battered street signs and flattened barbed wire on the walls, that stupid jukebox he'd almost tripped over at least once a week, the mismatched dark tables and chairs.
He doesn't miss it the same way he doesn't miss leaning against the pastry case watching Coffee Wizard do his thing, his soft tee shirts riding up and his jeans sagging a little low and his hands confidently working their magic.
Every morning, the coffee is always perfect.
But Roman tells himself he isn't curious about where the beans come from anymore.
He makes Bayley do the coffee run every morning, and sits in his office not missing it at all.
("It's not like you to give up this easily.")
But Coffee Wizard had said no in a way that sounded like no, and don't ask again.
Roman, watching the traffic rush by in the street below his office one morning, just wishes he could make his stupid brain accept that.
When the deep-in-the-closet coworker he'd been dating for over a year at the old firm coldly broke things off and revealed he'd had a girlfriend most of the time he'd been "fooling around" with Roman, letting go had been easier than this. Roman had been head-over-heels for that guy, too, and the initial heartbreak of finding out that he'd only ever been considered a fuck buddy had made breathing painful for a while.
This isn't that painful.
It's just wedged in his brain the way Ambrosia itself is wedged between the two big office buildings: a sharp rock caught in between the treads of his shoe, jabbing his damn foot with every step.
A rock he can't seem to dislodge and kick away.
What makes it worse is how quiet the phones get.
It's like Chris Jericho turning them down has turned everyone off of them.
Rationally, Roman knows that's not true: even in a city where the weather's decent enough to support construction projects year-round, there are lull periods where budgets are being redone and holidays and times when nobody's really looking to build.
Even in a city that seems to be growing like a weed, there's only so much building to do at any given time, and with their firm as new as it is, with them being relative unknowns compared to the more-established firms, they haven't developed much of a presence outside of their own back yard just yet.
Which would be fine, but rumor has it their old firm has so much business right now they're actually hiring other firms to handle their overflow.
Meanwhile, nobody but telemarketers seem to be calling for Antonio and Roman; with their other projects starting to wind down, no new clients in the office whatsoever, and three consecutive weeks of barely any phone traffic, it's hard for Roman not to trade worried looks with Antonio over lunch.
"We're fine," Antonio tells him, but the way he's just pushing his salad around his plate tells Roman otherwise. "With what we've got in the bank and our line of credit, our accountant estimated we're set for the next three months. And if we were to make a few cuts here and there, we'd likely be able to stretch that to four. That's with keeping Bayley on. And that's assuming we get no business at all. I don't think that's likely."
It's mid-October.
Roman swallows a bite of his sandwich, does the math in his head. "A few cuts."
Antonio's gaze slides away. "If we stopped the morning coffee run, we'd save a hundred dollars a week. That alone would cover our monthly utility costs - and then some. Or," he rushes on, "we might find a smaller office. Or you can put your name out there to do some engineering work. That sort of thing. As I said, I don't think it's likely no one will come in, but just in case, it never hurts to be thinking ahead."
"Just in case," Roman echoes. That's not very reassuring.
Bayley spent most of her time in the conference room doing her homework this week, and Tyler worked his way through what had to be a two-foot stack of fashion magazines.
"Right," Antonio says, "but that's just to think about." He clears his throat. "If we did have to stop the morning coffee run-"
"It's fine," Roman cuts him off. He can already see where this is going. "If it comes down to a damn caffeine fix or keeping the lights on, I'll keep the lights on. Worse comes to worse, I've got a coffee pot at home I never use I could bring in."
Leave it alone.
Fortunately, Antonio does.
But as October slips into November, the damn phone stays quiet.
More days than not, he absentmindedly pulls into the wrong parking lot when he makes it to work, and has to spend an annoyed five minutes driving back around the block to get into the right one.
He winds up playing a lot of solitaire at his desk, jacket and tie discarded on the file cabinet behind him, music on in the background, and the slashed "R"s on his coffee cups glaring at him across the desk.
In his more down moments, he finds himself wondering how old Coffee Wizard is doing, if the dude flashing those killer dimples at anyone, or if he's still the same don't-talk-to-me jerk to the customers he was for the first eight months Roman went in there.
He never asks, though, and the most Bayley volunteers is that Corey asks about him all the time.
She hints it's for Coffee Wizard's sake, but Roman refuses to let himself believe it.
Two weeks before Thanksgiving, though, Antonio marches into Roman's office and says, "We have a consultation in fifteen minutes."
Roman, busy trying to unbury a jack so he can move a stack of cards onto it, looks up from his laptop. "New client?"
"Possibly," Antonio tells him. "Have you heard of the Rhodes family?"
"Mm." Roman reaches behind him for his tie as he searches his memory. He's never been somebody who stays up much on local news, but the name is familiar. "As in the senator? The one who, um, passed away last summer?"
Antonio nods, adjusts his jacket. "I think this I just talked to his widow. She asked for a quick consultation - didn't say what about - so I told her to come up."
This has potential.
Mrs. Rhodes turns out to be a stately lady in her early sixties, short hair, and a big smile. She has a pair of guys with her - one older than Antonio and one who looks to be about Roman's age - that she introduces as her sons Dustin and Cody.
Once they're all seated in the conference room, she looks around the table and finally settles her attention on Roman and Antonio. "My reason for coming to you today is threefold: one, I want to give back to the people of the community here for the kindness they showed my family after my husband passed away. Two, there's a community college that really goes out of its way to try to serve underprivileged students that is in dire need of some help. Three, I want to do something to honor my husband.
"We're in talks right now with the college board to expand the campus, update some of the current buildings, and add at least one more building," she says, pulling a folder out of her portfolio. She slips a campus map out of it, and points to an area marked in red. "We'd want it right here.
"But really," she goes on, "what we're after is a design for the entire campus - all the buildings updated, more parking, and so on. We'd like your firm to actually create that design. Once we have something in-hand, we can start working on the funding. I know it's a lot to ask, but we're looking to have something to present to the college board by the first of the year. Would this be something you're interested in?"
Antonio and Roman exchange disbelieving looks across the table, and Antonio nearly falls all over himself in his haste to tell her, "Yes, of course! Of course we are. We'd be honored."
"Great," Mrs. Rhodes says, smiling herself. "So you know, we were asked to let you know you're the first and only firm so far we've approached with this. You came highly recommended."
"By whom?" Antonio asks.
"Chris Jericho," Mrs. Rhodes replies. "He's an old family friend. When I mentioned we were planning to do this, he couldn't recommend you fast enough. So! Shall we get down to it, then?"
Roman grins at Antonio - How about that? - and says, "You bet."
The next morning, Bayley is smiling her big troublemaker's smile when bounds into Roman's office to bring him his coffee.
As he slides his laptop out of the way and reaches for the cup, he can see why:
Right above the Ambrosia logo, it says, Congrats Big Dog! in clear, careful writing.
Congrats Big Dog!
He leans back in his chair and runs his thumb over it, mind racing.
What the hell was this? Six weeks of cups with just a pissed-off looking "R" on them, and now this?
Eventually, he realizes Bayley's still there grinning at him. "You put up him to this?"
She's wearing her Challenge Accepted hoodie - the one with the big, round-headed stick figure crossing its arms - today, so he wouldn't put it past her.
But she shakes her head. "I didn't even see it until just now. And anyway, I didn't actually talk to him. I never do. He must have been listening in when I was talking to Corey." She pauses a beat, and adds, "I'm pretty sure he always does when I talk about you. I think he misses you."
"Bayley-"
"I'm just saying," she says over him, "that I bet you if you went down to get coffee yourself one of these days, he'd be really happy to see you."
Roman shakes his head. "You're assuming I want to see him. I don't. Not after last time."
"Because he told you no one time," Bayley says. She doesn't roll her eyes, but somehow her voice makes it sound like she does. "Even if maybe he realizes he made a mistake and wants to apologize, you're just - you're going to cut him off like that?"
"You don't know any of that," Roman snaps. "You're making this out to be some big thing when the only thing that guy ever did was pour my damn coffee. We weren't friends. We didn't even know each other. I don't even know his damn name. All I ever really wanted to know was where the hell he got his damn beans, but suddenly y'all wanted to turn it into some big thing, and I let myself get sucked up in it. I made a damn fool out of myself because of that. And I'm done, Bayley. I'm done making a fool out of myself. It's not happening. End of-"
"Roman," Antonio says sharply from the doorway. "That's enough. There's no need to take her head off."
When Roman looks up, he finds Bayley standing in front of his desk, on the verge of tears. He breathes out heavily, guilt a hard pit in his gut. What an asshole. "I'm sorry Bayley,," he says quietly. "I didn't mean to yell. I'm just - I don't want to go there again. I just want to move on - not keep getting sucked back in. But I shouldn't have yelled, and I'm sorry."
Bayley nods, and says, "I'm sorry, too. You just looked so into each other that day Antonio and I saw you at Ambrosia, and I guess I just really wanted to see you make it." She smiles sadly. The sight of it makes something in Roman ache. "Guess some things aren't meant to be, huh?"
"Guess not," Roman says.
Behind Bayley, Antonio just shakes his head and walks away.
The next day, Bayley brings him a cup that has BIG DOG written on it.
She looks at him like she wants him to say something about it, but when he doesn't, she leaves his office.
After he finishes his coffee, he rinses the cup out, dries it, and sticks it his bottom desk drawer with the other BIG DOG cups.
Every cup she brings him that week is labeled BIG DOG.
He keeps all those, too.
On Friday, when Antonio catches him sticking his cup in the bottom drawer, he raises his eyebrows, but doesn't say a word.
It's as much a relief as it is a disappointment.
On Monday, he and Antonio take Bayley to meet the Rhodes family and several members of the community college's board for a walk-through of the campus.
They spend the entire morning touring the buildings, taking pictures, making notes, and generally just getting a feel both of the current layout and trying to get a feel for what they can do with it.
It's not a huge campus - just half a dozen buildings and a library - but there is a big empty lot behind it and an empty grocery store beside it, so there's room to grow.
It's a project, is what it is; it's just exactly what they set out to do.
As much as he wants to spend the whole day there, they have to pack it in and head back so Bayley get make it to her afternoon class.
Unusually, Antonio has Roman drive, while he himself sits in the backseat messing around on his phone, leaving Roman and Bayley up front to go start throwing out some ideas for ways to improve how some of the buildings look.
Roman's head is so full of ideas for the campus that it barely registers Antonio has him park in the closer parking lot.
It barely registers they'll have to walk by Ambrosia to make it back to the office.
As they round the corner, Roman can see a couple guys sitting out on the planter in front of Ambrosia, but even that doesn't really get much than a passing thought. People sit out there all the time.
It isn't until he hears Bayley say, "Oh, hey guys!" that he bothers to actually look at who's there.
Turns out, Corey's the dude closest to them, lounging back on one hand and just as cool as ever in his tight jeans and tight tee shirt.
Coffee Wizard's slouched beside him, rumpled like always, a Mountain Dew bottle frozen halfway to his mouth. He's wearing shades, but even so, there's no question where he's looking.
Roman stares right back at him.
It's like someone upended a five-thousand piece jigsaw puzzle in his head for all that he can make heads or tails of how he feels about this, but what he does know is he probably couldn't look away if his life depended on it.
With those shades on it's impossible to tell when Coffee Wizard's thinking, but after a second or two, he lowers his drink and flicks his chin in what's probably a greeting.
As he follows Bayley and Antonio over to the planter, Roman nods back.
"Hey, Roman!" Corey says easily. Everything is so damned easy with him. "Shit, man, long time no see. How you been? Heard you guys just landed a big job."
"Yeah, we just came from there," Roman says. He can't decide what to do with his hands, so he ends up shoving them into his pockets. "Half a dozen buildings to redesign and at least one new one to add. It's a project, all right. You? How've you been?"
He doesn't look over at Coffee Wizard, but he doesn't need to: he can feel the guy watching him.
Corey says, "Upright and breathing. Boss is a slave-driver-" he nudges Coffee Wizard's shoulder "-but I guess I can't complain. I mean, I could, but he'd just tell me to get my happy ass back to work."
Coffee Wizard shoots him a look, kicks his heel against the planter. "Doubt I'd use the term 'happy ass'."
"Oh, I know exactly what you'd say, boss," Corey tells him. "I'm just trying to make it a little more PG. Not everyone shares your love for all things swear-y."
"Eh," Coffee Wizard says. "It's an acquired taste."
"Just like you," Corey nods.
"Shut up," Coffee Wizard mutters into his Mountain Dew. "I'm fucking awesome and you know it."
Roman's quiet chuckle surprises even him, and man, the dimpled smile Coffee Wizard sends him for it has something all kinds of warm and pleasant curling through Roman's stomach.
It's still a great smile.
Dammit.
He was supposed to have let this go by now.
"See?" Coffee Wizard says, pointing at Roman. "Someone agrees with me."
"I agree you're a jackass," Roman says, embarrassed and way too aware that Bayley and Antonio are smiling slyly at him.
Coffee Wizard just shrugs. "A fucking awesome jackass, then."
"Well, I guess if you gonna do it," Roman says, trying to stifle a smile, "might as well be best you can."
Yeah, he might be in trouble here.
"Thank you!" Coffee Wizard says. He looks over at Corey. "And here some people think I need to not be so awesome at things."
Corey clears his throat, glances over at Antonio and Bayley, says dryly, "It's not that some people don't appreciate your, um, talents, boss. We're just just trying to keep you from getting arrested or - worse - sued. Best interests, you know?"
"You say 'best interests,'" Coffee Wizard tells him, "but I'm hearing 'I don't want you to have fun.'"
"I just want you to have the kind of fun that doesn't end up in me raiding the tip jar for bail money at three in the morning," Corey says.
"But that's the best kind of fun," Coffee Wizard says. He sighs. "You just don't understand."
Roman bites down hard on the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing again.
"Oh gosh!" Bayley suddenly says. "I need to get going or I'll be late. Class," she adds apologetically.
"Yeah, we prolly oughtta get started closing so you can get outta here, too," Coffee Wizard says to Corey. When he stands up, Roman's struck by how lean he is, all broad shoulders and a crazy narrow waist. They're not standing all that close together, but it's the first time Roman's had a view of him that didn't involve a counter between them.
It's a nice view.
And not something he's supposed to be noticing.
Corey makes his way to his feet. "Well hey," he says, "good to see you all. And Roman? Don't be such a stranger, buddy. Stop in one of these mornings. Seriously."
The worst part is they all know why he's been staying away, so all Roman can really do is nod awkwardly and murmur, "Yeah, I'll try to do that."
He's not sure if he means that or not, but Coffee Wizard smiles again, and…
...maybe.
"Then I guess we'll see you around." Coffee Wizard pauses, though, slips his shades off and folds them up. Blue eyes find Roman's across the sidewalk. "It was good seein' you again, Big Dog. Congrats on the job."
"Thanks, Coffee Wizard," Roman says. "See ya sometime."
Maybe.
Antonio and Bayley give him approximately thirty seconds' peace before they drift back to flank him, all big grins and raised eyebrows at him like, Well, THAT was intersting.
"Don't," he says. "Just don't."
"I wasn't going to say anything," Antonio says. Always so damn smug. And a liar, because he does say something: "That was nice, wasn't it? Talking. Together. That went very well. It's amazing what happens when people actually try to do that. Just talk."
Roman doesn't answer.
He honestly doesn't have anything to say.
It was nice.
But it had been nice last time, too, and everything blew up in his face.
He just doesn't know.
After a restless night, Roman dawdles over his drive to work, debating with himself over whether or not he should just bite the bullet and go get the coffee or make Bayley do it.
It's not that he doesn't want to - he actually does - but in the end, he just can't make himself do it.
Not today.
He's just got too much to do this morning.
Yeah, that's it.
Way too much on his plate.
He finds Bayley up in her usual spot in the conference room, her sparkly rainbow pen flying over her notepad so fast it's just a blur of color.
"Good morning, Bayley," he says when it becomes apparently she doesn't realize he's there.
She actually squeaks when she jumps. "Oh! Crap. Jeez, Roman, you scared me. I didn't even hear you come in. What-?" Her gaze shifts up to the clock over the door. "How come you're here already?"
"What are you talking about?" He fishes a twenty out of his pocket and sets it on the table for her. "This is when I always get here."
"No, I just…" She eyes the twenty like it's a snake about to bite her. "I thought you'd be doing the coffee run today, is all."
Roman shakes his head. "Why would I be doing the coffee run today?" he asks, aiming for casual and probably just sound guilty. "Ain't got time today. I got a lot on my plate."
"Oh, for God's sake!" Bayley snaps, throwing her pen down. He's the one who jumps now, startled. "Roman, you are not that busy! Did you not notice how happy senpai was to see you yesterday? His tail was practically wagging because you noticed him. You seemed pretty happy, too. And don't think I don't know you've been keeping all those coffee cups, either. I know you want to talk to him. So just put on your big boy pants, suck it up, and go down there. Go say hi. Stop being hardheaded. Even if you guys don't end up dating, maybe you'll make a friend. You need those too. Just - God, do something. You're driving us all crazy, the way you're acting right now."
It takes Roman a good five seconds to collect his jaw off the floor.
She has never once spoken to him like this before.
From the frustration in her voice, this is something she's probably been sitting on for a while.
And considering what an asshole he was to her last week, it's probably something he's had coming.
Maybe she's even right.
For about the millionth time in the last couple weeks, he doesn't have a damn clue what he's supposed to say, and while he's standing there like a jackass trying to think of something, Bayley heaves a sigh so deep it practically rattles the windows.
"Fine," she says, flinging to her feet and grabbing the money. "Go pretend you're busy. I'll go get coffee."
She leaves him standing there feeling slapped down and small.
Considering how much bigger taller and heavier he is, that's saying something.
He's at his desk staring at his notes from yesterday when Bayley makes it back.
She seems calmer, her smile relaxed and friendly as she passes his drink across the desk. "Make sure you look at this, okay?"
On one side of the cup, it says BIG DOG.
On the opposite side is a bad stick-figure drawing of a dude with a pointy hat, a sad face, a wand in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the other. Beneath that, it says, Sorry for being a dumb ass.
"Huh," he grunts.
Bayley leans over the front of her desk, the corner of her eyes crinkling. "I told you he wanted to apologize."
Roman runs the ball of his thumb over the drawing. "...yeah."
"Well, look," she says, straightening, "I actually brought you something else. Kind of a surprise. So, hang on. Let me go get it."
"I don't like surprises."
"Oh, hush." From the doorway, she flashes him that big troublemaker's grin. Inwardly, he braces himself. "Everybody likes surprises. Even grumpy big dogs like surprises. Trust me." She leans out the door and calls says, "Hey, you can come on in."
Roman leans forward in his chair. "Who are you-?"
Oh.
Who else would it be?
Coffee Wizard shuffles into Roman's office, a black-and-white Ambrosia pastry box in his hands, and his lower lip caught between his teeth. He's wearing a battered leather jacket over a wrinkled tee shirt, coffee-stained jeans, and his hat pulled so low over his eyes it's hard to see his expression.
Bayley clears her throat from the doorway. "Surprise! And for the record? This was his idea - not mine. So! I'll, uh. I'll leave you two crazy kids to talk."
Coffee Wizard flinches a little when the door clicks shut behind him.
He doesn't move any further into the office, and it doesn't even cross Roman's mind to invite him in.
Nothing crosses Roman's mind right then.
And when he does manage to say something, it's an amazing, brilliant, articulate, "Um."
What are you doing here?
It's enough to make Coffee Wizard at least look up. "Hey, big dog. Sorry to just, y'know. Show up like this. I know you're busy."
Roman closes his laptop. "I'm not that busy, actually. Come on in. Whatcha got there?"
Coffee Wizard carries the box over to the desk and sets it down. "It's for you," he says gruffly. "I heard a rumor you really like my coffee beans. Figured you'd might like those more than flowers. You seem more like a flower-giver than a flower-getter, anyway. 'S a grinder in there, too, in case you don't have one. So."
Coffee beans.
He brought me his damn coffee beans.
It suddenly feels about ten degrees warmer in the office.
As Coffee Wizard sits down, Roman opens the box and peers inside.
There are half a dozen small sacks with what look like hand-written labels on them, things like "FRENCH ROAST" and "MEDIUM ROAST", sandwiched between instructions and - strangely - a list of countries.
Roman pulls one out and points at Brazil, the first of four country names scrawled there. "What's this?"
"Where I get the beans," is the shrug of an answer. His knee's bouncing like crazy. "It's - they're from farms all over the world. I mix and match based on things like acidity of the soil they were grown in or whatever to make the flavors. It's not like an exact science or anything, but you try this thing from here, add that from there, see how it tastes. Mean, honestly it's probably more work 'n I need to do - people will drink mud out of a bucket if it gives 'em a caffeine kick - but I dunno. The whole point of opening Ambrosia was just to be better 'n the assholes across the street."
"Hmm." Roman carefully tucks the little sack of beans back into the box. "I think given a choice between crappy coffee and good coffee, the good coffee wins. That's why you always got a line outside your place. They never do. I'd say you succeeded in your goal. And - damn. Thanks for the bean. This is really cool.. You didn't need to this."
It might just be the light, but it looks like there's a little red in Coffee Wizard's cheeks. "I wanted to. Been tryin' to think of how to de-fuck things between us here, and - look, I'm terrible at shit like this, but I'm sorry about before. About, y'know, turnin' you down."
Roman's gaze travels over to the little stick figure on his cup. "You thought it was a pity date."
"Yeah, Corey snapped my head on straight about that."
"Why did you think that?"
"You see how Corey is, right? Treats me like a dumb kid half the time. Like I can't do shit for myself. I don't, like, date. Ever. If I want company, I go find someone at the bars. That kinda thing. It's fine. But he's, like, convinced I'm all lonely 'n shit, so he keeps throwing people at me. Gettin' friends of his and people he knows to, like, try to go out with me. Drives me fuckin' crazy, you know? It's not that he thinks these people are a good fit for me or anything. He just feels sorry for me. I hate that. And when he said, y'know, we should go out, I immediately went, 'Oh. So he put you up to this.'"
Roman shakes his head. "He didn't, though."
"I know that now," Coffee Wizard sighs. He flips his cap off, scratches his head, and settles it back in place. "But at the time, I didn't. Mean, I know me and you don't know each other that well, but you're like the first person who's come into my shop I've wanted to know. You know? So you're in there flirtin' back with me, and I'm thinkin' 'Well, shit, maybe I did get lucky.' But then Corey acted like he was in on it, and I - mistakenly - assumed you only asked me because he asked you to - not because you wanted to."
It halfway makes sense, anyway. As much as something like this can. Roman props his chin on his palm, letting that settle another long beat. His pulse feels like it's doing all kinds of crazy things here.
You're the first person I've wanted to know.
That…
...is something.
That is really something.
"I'm hopin' maybe this isn't so fucked up I can't talk you into another shot at it," Coffee Wizard steamrolls on, in his blunt, headfirst way. "That's what I'm tryin' to get at. Dinner or whatever some night."
"Hmm." Roman smiles again, indulgently, and sits back in his chair, "This wouldn't be a pity date, would it?"
"It's absolutely a pity date," Coffee Wizard says immediately, those damn dimples flashing again. "I feel so sorry for your incredibly hot, successful ass that I gotta take one for the team and ask you out. What a hardship. I feel sorry for me. Really."
The guy can even take a joke.
Roman likes that a lot. Likes him. "Incredibly hot, huh?"
Coffee Wizard rolls his eyes. "Yeah, like you don't see the way you turn heads in my shop, big dog. Jesus Christ. Some days it's so bad I feel like grabbin' the hose. But whaddya say? Wanna let me take you out on a pity date?"
"Only if it's a pity date," Roman says. "You gotta show me you feel sorry for me the whole night."
"I'm just sayin', I might be willing to take my clothes off. That's how far I'm willing to go to show you how sorry I feel for you. I'm willing to get naked with you. That's pretty far."
Roman laughs quietly into his hand. He's got a feeling he's gonna have his hands full here. "That it is."
"So, are we on then?" Coffee Wizard asks. He's still slouched back in his chair. Both knees are bouncing now.
"You had me at the coffee beans," Roman says. It's true. "So yeah. Just - yeah. When do you plan to take me on my pity date?"
"Well, I got a thing I can't get out of tonight, but what about tomorrow night? I could meet you somewhere."
"Tomorrow night's fine by me."
Just that easy, like slotting right into a groove.
"Cool," Coffee Wizard says. His knees have stopped bouncing. "Be thinkin' then. And stop being an asshole. Come down to the shop tomorrow. I miss seeing you check out my ass every mornin."
"I will," Roman says, and this time he means that. "I kinda miss checking that out, too. Also watching you work your equipment back there. You're good at it."
"Well, yeah," Coffee Wizard says, eyes twinkling. "Best at everything, remember?"
Roman gives him a narrow look. "You ever get any better on the register?"
"What are you talking about? I was already a genius on the register. Now I'm like tenth-level genius or something." He pushes to his feet. "I should probably get running. I left Corey in charge. He might know how to run the register, but he can't work the equipment for shit. I don't want him breaking anything."
"Yeah, nobody likes their equipment broken," Roman says, standing himself. "Hold up. Lemme walk you out."
But instead of making his way over to the door, he moves to stand in front of Coffee Wizard, close enough to touch, close enough he can see they're nearly the same height.
"Thank you for the coffee beans, man," he says quietly. "That - that was nice. And thanks for coming up to talk to me."
Coffee Wizard smiles. "I think if I hadn't told Bayley I wanted to come up, she would've dragged me by my ear. She kind of scares me."
"Should have seen her this morning," Roman mutters. There's that dimple again.
This time, though, there is no reason on Earth for him not to reach over and drag a light knuckle across it.
No reason not to maybe lean in a little, since Coffee Wizard's not really acting like he wants to pull away, either.
They meet somewhere in the middle, in a kiss that's feels like it's been a long damn time coming, cool and sharp with the mint of Coffee Wizard's gum, and a little badly-angled until Roman moves one way and Coffee Wizard moves the other and they find this groove, too. Until it's an easy press of lips, a smooth slide together, and not at all tentative.
It's over almost as soon as it began, though, and that's fine.
There's no rush now.
Maybe it'll work out, and maybe it won't, but at least he'll have a chance to figure it out on his own.
Although it hits him that they've just had their first kiss, and he still doesn't know this guy's real name.
He lets his hands fall on Coffee Wizard's shoulders, huffs a laugh, and says, "You know, this is gonna sound terrible what the hell is your name? All the time I've been calling you Coffee Wizard because I don't what your name is."
Coffee Wizard snorts. "Keep calling me Coffee Wizard, Big Dog. That is the coolest fucking name I've ever heard. And you gave it to me, so I'm keeping it. I am Coffee Wizard."
Before Roman can even gather himself to protest, Coffee Wizard's dipping in to kiss him again, just as slow and easy as before, his hands sneaking under Roman's jacket to settle on his waist.
Roman completely forgets he even asked a question at all.
He walks Coffee Wizard to the front door, and sends him off with one last peck on the cheek, and a quiet, "See you tomorrow, Coffee Wizard."
"See ya, Big Dog," Coffee Wizard says, bouncing away.
And, yeah, yeah, that happened.
When looks around, Bayley and Antonio are standing together by the reception desk, smiling, with a revolted Tyler behind them.
Bayley and Antonio look like they're winding up to heap a bunch of shit on him - with a good helping of 'I told you so's on top.
He probably has it coming, but it doesn't stop him from muttering, "Don't."
They do.
For hours.
They're assholes.
But he wouldn't have it any other way.
Feels like they're finally on their way.
The next morning, he discovers a downward-pointing arrow on his coffee cup.
When he checks the bottom, he finds a name written on there.
Dean Ambrose.
It's no Coffee Wizard, but Roman has to admit he likes the sound of it.
He keeps that cup, too.
[THE END]
A/N: So there's that. This was never meant to be anything but a fluff piece. But thanks to everyone who read it and reviewed it. Also, there is an epilogue. Because why not?