Stephan didn't actually give Minh the opportunity to prove that he'd understood the deeper meaning hidden behind the brunette's sleep slurred words as Stephan didn't actually go to the coffee shop the next day, as much as he desperately wanted to. The boy did, however, call a doctor for pretty much the same reason he'd been forcing himself to go to bed at a reasonable time the last few days so that had to count for something. Luckily, the guy didn't even make him come in, just told him to ice his burns and try not to move around too awful much for the next few days (Actually, he specifically stated that Stephan should not partake in "intimate relations," but that was entirely beside the point - It wasn't like there was a whole line of hot men in Stephan's yard simply waiting to offer the brunette their bodies like he had the best milkshake in town.)
Stephan managed to convince himself that was why he didn't go to "Just Off Campus Grounds" that day but he had no excuse for the day after that, or the one after that. See, it wasn't like Stephan just wasn't going to the coffee shop, he wasn't going anywhere. The kid didn't leave his house for three days straight, nor his bed for that matter if it didn't involve grabbing cup ramen and a bottle of water or taking a piss - And the first sentence of this paragraph was a perfect example of why: He constantly lied to himself...
Okay, so look, Stephan was actually shitty at feelings, alright? It wasn't that he didn't want a relationship or was more interested in fucking around or anything like that, quite the opposite actually. It wasn't that Stephan didn't want it, it was that Stephan wanted it badly. He wanted to like someone and do cute things with them and have that person like him back and want to do cute things with him. He wanted to hold hands, and kiss, and go to the movies, and have something - But he sucked at it... Or, at least, he was worried that he would.
In short, Stephan was terrified he was going to fuck up; and to avoid this, he had a terrible habit of simply pretending the feelings weren't there, just lying to himself until they went away, thus avoiding the horrible moment he ruined something good by saying something stupid - People always did say he talked too much.
But he was past that with Minh, he couldn't just pretend he didn't feel anything for the befuddling barista anymore, not when his heart decided it had the right to fucking ache the three days he hid himself away to try to work this shit out. Minh was no longer just an attractive, unattainable piece of art for him to gawk at but was an actual person who protected him and cared about him. Stephan had absolutely fallen for the guy as if someone had pushed him out of a damn plane, no denying, but he had to force himself to look that fact in the face and that took some time. Until then, he couldn't just keep going to the coffee shop and leaving the poor guy in suspense while he worked out his own issues, it wasn't fair to Minh.
(There may or may not have been a day devoted purely to curling up and sobbing because he hadn't talked to anyone about his mom in a long time - But that was totally beside the point.)
It was four days into solitude when Stephan decided he missed Minh and was actually able to let himself admit that was the reason he was going to leave his house. The kid got an actual shower, marking the first time he'd taken the shirt the Asian had lent him off since he'd gotten it. The ice cold water stung against his raw flesh, still damaged from the coffee fiasco, but it was bearable and left him feeling vaguely numb and not so achy in the aftermath, plus it was nice to feel clean and invigorated as he set out from the solitude of his own home - Like one of those symbolic fresh starts mushy people always wanna preach to you about.
Stephan lightly jogged the whole way from his house to the coffee shop, not able to get up to a full-on run as he usually did without the salty streaks of sweat making his wounds sting in protest but it was nice - It made the brunette think of Minh and he didn't tell himself some excuse as to why that was the case, simply smiled at the nice reminder and sped up a little as he cleared the last block between him and his destination.
Finally Stephan reached the front doors of his all time favorite coffee shop, where the atmosphere was perfect, the air smelled wonderful, the seating was ideal, and the barista made his heart flutter. The kid pushed open the front door and his eyes instantly locked with those familiar dark ones from across the room, the latter widening slightly as if Stephan were an apparition come to life before his very eyes. For a brief moment, the brunette found himself hesitating, unsure of how his crush would react to him now that they were back in the public arena. He could have misinterpreted the last thing Minh said before he left, or-
"Thank the gods, I thought you died!" Minh cried after a long moment, relief evident in his voice as the tension drained from Stephan and he released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding in before walking to the counter. As he moved across the floor though, the barista held up a cup with the words "stay gone" written across it and stuck his tongue out with a playful smirk, which Stephan returned eagerly before snatching the beverage away from the guy.
A bubble of guilt expanded in the brunette's chest as he clasped the cup close to him and felt the familiar warmth only a freshly brewed cup could offer flow through him at the touch. This wasn't old. Minh had made his drink, even though Stephan hadn't been there for three days. Minh had made his drink for three days and Stephan hadn't been there.
"Whatever you're doing in your head right there, stop it. You look like a puppy that got caught peeing on the floor." Minh teased lightly, leaning across the counter to shove the kid slightly.
"Sorry I took so long." Stephan replied sheepishly anyway, looking deep into his coffee cup as if he expected the beverage to whisper the right words to him, as magic as the brunette believed coffee was, however, the drink unsurprisingly did no such thing.
"I spent nearly half a year writing hate mail on your coffee because I couldn't tell you I thought you were cute." Minh pointed out helpfully, gesturing towards his newest addition Stephan currently held clasped in his hand, which triggered something in he burnette's mind as he immediately lifted his cup skywards so he could get underneath it and read the bottom without spilling any. The words "I missed you," were scrawled across the bottom of the thing in that familiar, thick lined scrawl Stephan had become so accustomed to.
Minh was blushing a wonderfully deep shade of scarlet that Stephan was finally able to associate with embarrassment rather than rage when Stephan finally lowered his cup to gaze at the other boy, though his dark eyes stayed fixed firmly on the burnette's and swam with a deep earnestness that clearly communicated one thing: He wanted Stephan to know he meant it.
"My chest is feeling better if you wanna come show me all that great cuddling you promised." Stephan invited with a slightly shy smile, feeling a similar blush creep up his own cheeks as the barista grinned wildly, looking more like Stephan had just handed him the keys to a new Mercedes Benz than invited him to a snugglefest.
"You think these arms are good at making coffee - Just wait 'till you see how great they are at cuddling!" Minh declared eagerly, flexing proudly as if suggesting that he'd been gifted with the biceps of a god solely for the purpose of brewing coffee and holding Stephan.
"Coffee and cuddles," Stephan mused thoughtfully, trying to picture what a relationship based around those two things would look like. "Sounds like something I could live with."
And he fucking did. He lived with that shit so hard.
~The End~
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