After a few more hours of discussion past uneventfully and then the four of them called it a night. Luna and Rachel exchanged numbers and they parted ways amicably. Luna finally felt like the start of next term’s project went well! He was looking for the next brainstorming session to make even more progress with the project. 

The next day Luna was in such high spirits, that he decided to study out at a café for a change. Luna liked to café hop and so he had had an eye on this one café called "Café Clement" that was apparently popular amongst the gay crowd. Everyone online raved about how good the café was, and they often hosted great LGBT events such as open mics, mixers and craft-making workshops. 

“And the manager is so cute,” said one commenter on Reddit about the café with the heart eyes emoji. 

Good coffee and cute managers? Sounded like a place to spend a lovely afternoon studying. 

Luna took a cab down to the café after his afternoon lecture. The drive was about 30 minutes, which was a long way to go just for a cup of coffee, however from what he saw, the café was only about 15 minutes away from his dorm, so it really wasn’t a bad spot. 

Luna he alighted a block down at a taxi stand nearby and walked the two blocks down to the café. It was a small café on the lower floor of a brick shophouse, and the upper story looked to be a small bookstore of sorts. 

Luna pushed open the door and was pleasantly surprised to see that there were a lot of available seats. 

Luna chose a nice bay window seat that was snug next to a bookshelf full of books. There was a sign explaining that the books were available for the customers to read at leisure. 

Luna then took out his wallet and approached the counter, looking over the menu to see what to order.

As Luna turned his gaze on the blackboard that was near a door to a room beyond the café counter, he saw a flash of long blond hair, which immediately grabbed his attention. 

Trying not to be too obvious, Luna pretended to really scrutinise the drink options on the blackboard, however, stole glances into the room that was beyond the blackboard, to see if he could see the owner of the blond hair. 

To Luna’s delight, he didn’t have to wait long, as a tall slender man with long blond hair tied up into a man bun, came strolling out with a stack of papers, a clipboard and a pen in his mouth. He was completely lost in thought reviewing the documents in his hands, that he didn't notice Luna gawking at him like a fish out of water. 

Although his hair was tied up and his eyes were averted, Luna immediately recognised Ryan. The wiry figure and taunt muscles under the office blouse were burned into Luna’s brain and would be fueling his dreams for the next couple of nights. 

Luna’s mouth went completely dry. He wanted to say something, get his attention, maybe crack a silly joke. Something, anything, but instead he just stood there in awe, and watched as Ryan disappeared around the corner of the café counter and up the flight of stairs at the end of the café to the upper level of the store. 

“Hi, do you want to order something? Maybe a Ryan Special with a bit of Ryan on the side?” A voice spoke up from the cash register side of the café’s counter. 

Luna jumped and quickly turned to address the barista who had been watching Luna the entire time.

“I errr…. Sorry about that –“ Luna fumbled, trying to explain himself.

“Don’t worry, everyone’s first reaction to Ryan Lovegood is always the same. Jaw drop, marriage proposals on the counter, love letters at the door of the café in the morning, I’ve seen it all. In fact I have a box back here brimming with love letters to prove it. While you fantasize about getting his number, might I suggest our speciality to soothe your unrequited love?” The barista grinned as they put down the cup that had been drying and picked up another cup to work on. 

“W-What would that be?” Luna asked sheepishly, blushing so hard he wanted to die. There was cringe, and there was being cringe. Luna knew he had ascended into cringe incarnate! 

“Well, the Ryan’s Special of course! A healthy dose of hot chocolate with a shot of expresso with cream on the side. I would also pair that with the Ryan doughnut, a doughnut specially created by the Baker down the road who has been trying to get Ryan to marry him for most of this year” the barista replied and before Luna could answer, had already started preparing the hot chocolate as they spoke,

“Y-yeah that sounds…great, I’ll get that” Luna replied and fumbled around for his credit card.

By the time Luna had fished his credit card out of his wallet, the barista had already served up the hot chocolate, cream and doughnut onto a silver tray. There were several serviettes and a little pot of honey to add some extra sweetness to the hot chocolate if need be.

“$17.30. Nets?” the barista said, brushing red hair out of their face as they keyed the order into the cash register. Luna nodded and when the amount flashed on the screen, tapped his card on the payment receiver machine.  

“Is this set meal really popular?” Luna asked as he put away his credit card and picked up the tray.

“Oh no, it’s only recommended to Ryan lovers” The barista said a winked, making Luna blush beet red scurry off back to his table. 

He had to admit to himself that so far, no one on Reddit mentioned that the Barista was pretty cute too, with their short cropped red hair and their black-rimmed glasses. Maybe it was cause everyone was looking down so much after all the burns they had been served on the side of their order!

Luna sat down and stared at the spread in front of him. Not only had he not expected to see the boy of his dreams again, but he also hadn’t realised that he was so popular, and already a working adult? When he first saw him, he looked so young, maybe around Luna’s age? Even now in his office wear, he didn’t look like he was in his late twenties. So, to think that he was already a manager, running this beautiful café downtown….it was no wonder so many people came to admire him from near and far. 

Luna added some cream to his hot chocolate and took a sip. It was so good! Creamy and rich, and yet deep flavour tones, it was the best thing he had tasted in a while. 

“DIP THE DOUGHNUT IN THE CREAM” The barista suddenly yelled out from across the room, making the other patrons look up, and then look back down to their work when they realised that the barista was looking at Luna. 

Luna shyly nodded and broke off a piece of the doughnut, and dipped it into the cream. The doughnut was a chocolate doughnut with a chocolate cream filling and a chocolate frosting. It was the most decadent pastry he had ever seen in his life. 

Luna raised the doughnut to his lips and took a bite. Immediately a rush of chocolaty goodness burst forth and Luna found himself on cloud nine. His eyes drew to a close as he wondered if Ryan ate this. He wondered if Ryan tasted like this….

“Hey, Luna was it?” 

As Luna’s eyes fluttered open from his chocolate reverie, he saw a hand reach out to him, and a hand caressed his cheek. Large green orbs gazed down at him as a thumb wiped off the cream from the corner of his lip and brought it up to thick lips that sucked away the cream that had been removed from Luna’s face.

Luna’s eyes were like saucers, gazing up at Ryan as Ryan smiled down at him. 

“Thank you for ordering my special. The boss had it specially designed it based on my favourite flavour; chocolate. It’s, also a pleasant surprise to see you again” Ryan beamed “ I hope your cousin is well?” 

Luna, speechless and feeling like he was melting inside, only could nod in response. 

“Well, I’m glad. If you ever need help again give me a call, when I’m not here most evenings I’m DJ-ing at the clubs in the area, so I just might be able to pop by. In fact, I have a gig this weekend” Ryan said and pulled out a crumpled but still legible pamphlet with details of a rave happening downtown “Sorry this is the last flyer, the rest have been pasted outside the café and other places around town. Anyway, if you’re free, bring a friend and come enjoy the music” 

Luna took the pamphlet with a shaky hand, trying hard to hide his excitement and also embarrassment at how happy he was to see Ryan again. 

“I’ll come if I can” Luna finally managed to blurt out. 

“Sure thing! But studies come first so if you need to study don’t push yourself ok? Come if you’re free” Ryan smiled and turned, but then turned back and made an apologetic face “ Again, I apologise, I shouldn’t have just gone and kissed you like that, forgive me?” 

Luna nodded “ No it was fine, I umm, I’m cool with it. I guess it was like a spur-of-the-moment thing?” 

Ryan made a sigh of relief “ Yeah, I mean you’re kind of cute and, I think I had too much to drink that night. I walked all the way home in a light buzz so, it was really only the next day that I realised how silly I had behaved. I promise I won’t be doing something like that again anytime soon” Ryan explained, running his hand through his hair nervously. 

“Oh, I see! That explains it. You are a really charming drunk person, I didn’t really mind it” Luna replied shyly. 

“Ryan! Boss is looking for you! Stop flirting!” The Barista suddenly shouted out across the room.

Ryan whipped his head around to the barista, then back to Luna, and gave an apologetic smile.

“Ok I’ve got to go, looking forward to seeing you again” Ryan smiled and strode off, leaving Luna with his hot chocolate.

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