Chapter Text
‘Fuck.’ Zee hisses seeing the time on his iPhone’s screen.
7:00 A.M.
His shift at the coffeeshop starts at 7:30 sharp and it takes around 20 minutes by subway to get there.
‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’
He jumps out of bed like someone splashed a bucket of cold water on him and runs to the bathroom. He only has 10 minutes, so he has to plan them out really well. He looks down on the phone tightly clutched in his hand. Fuck, he has 9 minutes now. Okay, all is not lost, yet. He has 4 minutes to make himself look presentable enough to leave the apartment and to actually leave the apartment. Then 5 minutes to get to the subway.
He pushes a toothbrush into his mouth and tries to smooth his hair down, so they at least don’t look like he has just gotten up, even though he did. After rinsing his mouth he opens the closet in his bedroom and grabs the first thing he sees – which turns out to be a regular white tee – and puts it on in a flash. Then he decides on simple dark colored jeans, grabs a jacket from a rack in the hallway and gets out of the apartment. He’s already downstairs when he realizes he feels a little too light. Fuck, his bag. He wants to scream and punch the wall, but instead he climbs four stories back up.
7:16 A.M.
Zee storms out of the building bumping into a few people on his way. The mid-October air’s a little chilly and Zee quickly starts feeling cold. He puts on his jacket in motion while fighting his way through the busy street. He curses the big population of Brooklyn under his breath. The awareness that he’s not the only one who’s late and in a hurry (he guesses it’s every New Yorker’s thing) doesn’t really console him. He really needs to get to the subway as fast as possible. He takes a deep breath, when he sees people thinning out and starts running.
He sprints down the stairs leading underground and he can already see the train on the platform. He panics and wants to speed up so he doesn’t miss this one because he’d have to wait a few minutes for the next one. And that is a luxury he can’t afford at the moment. Zee’s not very athletic, though. He’s already short of breath, sweaty and his cheeks are sure as hell tinted with red. He’s not entirely surprised when his legs refuse to follow his orders. They suddenly get tangled together, and soon the whole world starts spinning for him. Before he’s able to catch his balance he’s already lying flat on the ground, cheek pressed against the cool tiles. He curses every single pair of shoe laces in the world, and promises himself to only buy Velcro shoes from now on. Laced shoes ain’t shit.
‘Fuck.’ He whines.
Can this day get any worse? He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to get up.
‘Oh my god!’ He hears a concerned voice, and quick steps following it. He opens his eyes, and the first thing that he sees is red worn-out Converse shoes. ‘Are you okay?’ The stranger asks.
Zee shifts his sight, and actually has to double take. He blinks a few times. Right there, in front of him there’s an actual angel looking down at him with wide eyes. Woah, Zee thinks. He swears there’s an actual glow to this person, you can’t just make that shit up. He has never seen a boy this beautiful in his entire life. Raven black strands falling on his forehead, chocolate eyes and full lips that surely don’t look like they should belong to a saint. Zee absorbs all of the stranger’s features like a sponge, he desperately needs to remember as many details as he can.
‘Can you get up?’
Zee’s a little dumbfounded, but he nods anyway. He can’t seem to avert his eyes from the boy. Hell, he doesn’t even want to. Ever.
The angel grabs his arm gently, and helps him stand up. Zee wants to thank him, honestly that’s the most appropriate thing to do right now. But then the boy smiles, and his heart starts hurting so bad it actually feels kind of good.
‘Will you be fine?’
Zee nods at the question. Although, he can’t rid himself of the thought that he can only be fine if this angel stays by his side forever. He stops himself from voicing it.
The stranger mouths an ‘okay’, and smiles at him one last time. Then he grabs some other guy’s arm, and only now does Zee notice that they weren’t alone. He watches them both disappear in their long trench coats, and finds himself incapable of moving until they’re out of his sight.
The pain in his chest doesn’t feel so good anymore. His angel is gone as fast as he has appeared. All of the euphoria he suddenly experienced fades away, and leaves him with a feeling of losing something dear to him that was never even his in the first place.
He looks at the tracks. Yeah, that’s what he thought. The train is gone, too. He has no other choice but to wait for another one. He approaches the platform unhurriedly since he’s going to be late to work anyway. During the subway ride he can’t really stop thinking about the angel he just saw. From the boy’s looks, Zee figured he’s probably a university student. Despite being a little embarrassed that the boy saw him wiping out he smiles to himself like a mad man remembering the worry in his gorgeous eyes. However, his smile fades as soon he realizes he’s probably never going to see this angel of a boy ever again. Brooklyn has a population of over 2,5 million people. It’s insane to think he has a chance of meeting him one more time. Hell, the boy might not even live in Brooklyn. A feeling of disappointment settles in his chest and refuses to leave for the whole ride.
Zee slips into the coffeeshop situated right by the subway exit. It’s 7:45, yet the line to the counter almost reaches the door. He wishes to pass unregarded but his business partner and coworker Max notices him right away. The man is alone behind the counter in this chaos and seems to not know whether one is coming or going. He points with his head to impatient people in line constantly checking the time on their phones and watches. Zee mouths “sorry” to him before quickly disappearing in the back and returning in the apron with the logo of MZ Café.
The crowd at the coffeeshop thins out by 9 and only then can they both take a breath. Zee makes himself a double espresso, while Max is leaning his back against the counter and staring at him. Zee raises an eyebrow at his business partner who’s also his best friend of almost ten years.
‘You like what you see?’
Max snorts before reaching his hand to Zee’s cheek. He rubs two of his fingers on the skin there and shows the other how his fingertips turned dark from dirt. Zee frowns and quickly hunches over to see his dim reflection in the silver coffeemaker.
‘Fuck.’ He whines and wipes his cheek thoroughly, ‘You couldn’t tell me earlier?’
‘It was so crazy earlier that I literally just noticed.’
‘Great.’
Max laughs out loud and starts wiping the counter with a wet cloth. The bell above the door signals someone leaving the room. Two tables emptied. Zee takes a tray and approaches them. Max follows him with the cloth.
‘Does you face looking like that have anything to do with the fact that you were late?’ He asks while waiting for the other to gather the dirty glass on the tray.
‘I fell on my face in the subway.’
The sound that comes out from Max’s throat seems to scare a bit a few customers who sit the closest to them. Max doesn’t seem to mind, though. He wipes the tables almost bent in half from laughter and then follows Zee to the counter.
‘Dude, I swear to fucking god.’ He throws the already dirty cloth to the designated basket before continuing. ‘You have got to keep that clumsiness of yours under control. One day you’re gonna kill yourself.’
‘Tell me something I don’t know.’ Zee sighs before actually cracking a smile. He contemplates something for a moment and then stops loading the dishwasher to look at his friend. ‘Uhm..’
Max waits for him to go on. He crosses his arms and makes a questioning face when Zee doesn’t.
‘I think I saw an angel in the subway.’
Max’s hands instantly come up to his head as he starts looking for traces of blood which might imply a head injury. Zee gets impatient and pushes him away slightly.
‘You really hit your head hard, didn’t you?’ He asks and then holds his right palm in front of the other’s eyes, pinky and thumb folded. ‘How many can you see?’
Zee rolls his eyes and resumes loading dirty glass into the dishwasher.
‘It was a really pretty boy, okay? He helped me up and when he smiled, I swear he looked divine.’
‘So you saw a boy and your ass fell in love at first sight. Did I get that right?’
‘Well, maybe not in love-‘
‘But you got infatuated.’
Cogs spin in Zee’s head for a few seconds before he nods hesitantly.
‘I guess.’ He mumbles staring absentmindedly at people passing the coffeeshop through the windows overlooking the pavement. ‘But it doesn’t matter anyway. I doubt that I’m ever gonna see him again.’
Just right after he utters those words, though, his eyes fall on two figures clad in long beige trench coats. He instantly recognizes the raven black hair of the taller one which are now slightly tousled by wind. Zee feels as if he fell into some kind of trance until the two of them disappear from his field of vision.
‘Oh my god.’ He chokes out, ‘That was him. My angel.’
Max quickly follows his sight but he only catches a glimpse of a man wearing a suit and talking on the phone animatedly, who he figures is not the one Zee calls his angel.
‘Go after him!’ He exclaims, a little too loudly and tries to force Zee out from behind the counter. ‘I bet you can still catch him!’
But Zee doesn’t move from his spot. Instead he yanks his wrist out of Max’s grip and gets the dishwasher started. The thought of chasing the younger boy down the street makes him uncomfortable, mainly because he’s sure as hell that chase would only make the boy feel uncomfortable. What would Zee even tell him? Well, I could thank him, he thinks but quickly abandons that thought.
‘Come on, I’m probably a decade older than him. I’d only creep him out.’
Max doesn’t say anything more and his excitement fades as quickly as it appeared. He pats Zee’s shoulder in a comforting manner, before excusing himself to use the toilet and asking the other to watch the coffeeshop.
A sigh leaves Zee’s mouth as he watches the digits on the machine change as it counts down the time. He feels quite pathetic. He has had a lot of stupid ideas in his life, but honestly, getting infatuated with a boy who looks so much younger than him must have been the worst one. Was he at least rich and successful enough to become a sugar daddy but he has nothing to offer except free coffee and his undying love.
A sound of the bell echoes through the room as the coffeeshop door opens. Once again this morning Zee’s eyes fall first on red converse shoes then climb up the trench coat and finally fall on a round face adorned with a soft smile. When their eyes meet the boy’s smile widens. He takes a few steps forward until he can rest his palms on the wooden counter. He’s alone now, the other boy he saw him with just minutes ago for some reason gone.
Zee blinks a few times unable to assess whether he’s only daydreaming or the angel from the subway actually stands in front of him in all of his glory.
‘Hi.’ The angel says and Zee realizes it’s the second one. He’s actually here. ‘I see you’re fine?’
Some weird sensation settles in his stomach because one, the boy remembers him and two, the boy was clearly worried about him. This certainly won’t help him get over his infatuation.
‘Yeah.’ Zee responds eloquently. Cut him some slack, it’s really not easy to think clearly when a literal divine creature stands in front of you.
‘That’s good.’ The boy nods, ‘I was kind of in a hurry earlier so I couldn’t really- you know.’ He scratches the back of his head timidly.
That seems to break Zee out of his little trance because how dare this sweet boy think he hasn’t done enough when in fact he did way more than others would in his shoes.
‘I didn’t get to thank you, yet. So, uhm, thank you.’ He smiles and the boys reciprocates.
Max comes back from the bathroom with his eyes glued to his phone. He leans against a cabinet with clean glass and only when he finishes tapping something out on the screen and raises his head does he realize the situation. Two pairs of eyes are watching him in silence. The atmosphere is way too thick for the person by the counter to be a regular customer. Max looks like a deer caught in headlights and if Zee wasn’t so out of it he’d probably laugh about the way he instantly disappears in the back again without any additional word leaving Zee alone with his angel.
‘So can I get you anything?’ He asks half embarrassed and half amused.
The boy’s eyes scan the menu board behind Zee.
‘Maple Latte, please.’
Zee smiles and nods his head. Of course such a sweet boy has a liking for sweet things.
He grabs a maple syrup and squeezes some into a big paper cup without even asking the boy whether he wants it to go. When he’s grinding up the coffee beans he’s 90% sure the boy eyes his biceps, yet he’s afraid to take a look at him in case he’s wrong. He adds the espresso and then fills the rest of the cup with steamed milk.
The boy’s mouth almost salivates when the cup is placed in front of him and the sweet smell of maple syrup reaches his nose.
‘How much?’ He asks while rifling his black bag in search of what Zee assumes is his wallet.
‘It’s on me.’
‘Oh no, I can pay-’
‘Don’t worry about it.’ Zee smiles ‘Take it as a ‘thank you’.’
A smile way sweeter than the Maple Latte blooms on the boy’s face. His eyes fall to the level of Zee’s chest where his name tag is pinned before he says “bye, Zee” and leaves the coffeeshop with the cutest giggle Zee has ever heard in his life. His heart grows twice its original size. He was supposed to get over this infatuation, but damn, he’s so fucking gone over this angel of a boy.