Chapter Text
Oliver sat in a small café, the afternoon glow coming in through the window next to which he sat. The smell of freshly baked bread, coffee, and tea wafted through the air, filling the small shop with the mouthwatering scent.
Oliver smiled to himself as he looked over the rim of his mug; this was his favourite way to end his afternoon.
“And like I was saying, there’s this new app that matches people together based on their search history; it’s been very highly rated,” James, Oliver’s coworker, said as he took a bite of his croissant.
“It sounds very interesting,” Oliver said as he sipped his brown sugar tea, relishing in the sweetness of the mixture.
“I think you should try it, since you’ve been single for so long,” James chuckled as he smiled at Oliver; they had known each other for multiple years now, and Jason had never seen his younger coworker ever go on a date.
“I’ll give it a try; what’s it called?” Oliver said as he placed his mug on the table, pulling out his pale green phone.
“It’s called History Matches. I’m glad to see you trying it; I’ve been worried that you’d be single for the rest of your life. Your fictional book men don’t count as boyfriends, you know,” James teased with a smirk, leaning back in his chair and staring at Oliver as he downloaded the app.
“Ha ha, very funny,” Oliver said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. Once the app was done downloading, he opened it up to see more about it.
“Do you want me to help you set up your profile?” James asked as he smiled at his younger colleague; he had a terrible picture of Oliver that he wanted to put on his profile.
“Nah, I’ll do it once I get home. I have a chapter of my book that I owe my readers, and I still have to finish it,” Oliver said as he put his phone back in his pocket, picking up his messenger bag and putting his laptop into it.
“Alright, I’ll see you later then,” James said as he waved goodbye to Oliver.
-———-
Oliver was lying on his stomach, a pillow tucked under his chin, his phone in his hands as he lay on his small bed in his apartment. He had just finished writing the chapter for his book and published it online for his followers, so he had some time on his hands before he went to bed.
He opened up the dating app that James had told him to get and he filled out the information the app needed to make his account. Then he needed to add a profile picture. Oliver hated taking pictures of himself but he didn’t want to be one of those people who put pictures of their dog or something on their dating profile.
Oliver tried not to overthink the picture as he just snapped a photo of his face while the pillow he had tucked under his chin covered the bottom half of his face, so that it mostly only showed a photo of his eyes and hair. Oliver didn’t care though, he could change it later.
After the profile was set up, the app read through his search history, finding him a match based on what he had recently looked up.
Oliver swiped through the profiles of potential matches, not really vibing with any of them. Then one man caught his eye.
The man’s profile picture was of him sitting on a rooftop, a sunset behind him. The picture was cropped so Oliver couldn’t see the man’s face, but he could tell the man was handsome. Oliver couldn’t help but blush at the hot man. His profile said that his name was Jason, and he liked sunsets, dogs, books, and coffee.
Oliver smiled uncontrollably as he read Jason’s profile, he sounded really cool. Oliver quickly sent Jason a text.
Oliver: Hey! I like your profile picture! Where’d you take a picture like that?
Oliver, blush still on his face, quickly threw his phone onto the pillow next to him. He was far too nervous for Jason’s reply and couldn’t bear to look at his phone.
The buzzing sound of a text coming through made Oliver freeze. Jason had gotten back so quickly.
Jason: Thanks! I took that picture from the roof of my apartment the other day. It’s one of my favourites. I like your picture too, you’re so cute! ^v^
Oliver’s whole face turned bright red. Jason called him cute! Oliver’s little brain couldn’t comprehend such a compliment from anyone.
Oliver: Thanks, it was just a quick photo, I was going to change it later.
Jason: Well, I think it’s adorable.
Jason: Would you like to go to get coffee with me sometime?
Oliver was kicking his feet as he texted Jason, no one had ever asked him to go on a date before.
Oliver: Sure, when would you like to go?
Jason: How about tomorrow afternoon? There’s this small coffee shop in the city by the park.
Oliver: Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then! :3
Jason: ^v^
Oliver couldn’t sleep that night. All he could think about was this mysterious man he’d met online. Of course, he didn’t know what the man looked like since the picture on his profile didn’t have his face, but Oliver knew he would be handsome.
-———-
Oliver had picked out a white button-up shirt and a sage green sweater vest with a pair of black dress pants for his date with Jason. This was an outfit that he wore pretty much every day, but it still took him three hours to decide on. At first, he thought the whole ensemble was too dressy, then it was a horrible shade of green, and lastly, it just fit all wrong.
“I’m not a prissy girl, I should be able to pick a simple outfit,” Oliver sighed as he grabbed his brown messenger bag from his bedside table, dropping his phone into the bag before he walked to the door of his apartment.
He nervously fixed his fluffy golden blond hair in the mirror before opening the door, and closing it softly behind him as he left. Oliver’s heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest as he walked to the subway station, taking the subway into the downtown area of the city where he and Jason were going to meet.
As he stepped off the subway and climbed the stairs up to the streets of the busy city. People pushed past him as he walked down the street. Oliver flinched as someone grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.
“Hey cutie, you’re Oliver, right?” A man said as he smiled at Oliver. The man had straight black hair that fell into his eyes, and his face had sharp features that highlighted his face. The man was wearing an all-black outfit, that quite frankly scared Oliver a little bit. He looked like some sort of criminal.
“Y-yeah… who are you?” Oliver said nervously as he clutched the strap of his bag, his hands dinging into the rough fabric harshly, making imprints on his very pale skin.
“I’m Jason, we talked online yesterday,” Jason said with a smile as he looked into Oliver’s big, scared, green eyes.
“Oh,” Oliver breathed in relief as he realized that the man was Jason. “I thought you were going to rob me or something.”
“I would never do that,” Jason said with a chuckle as he gently reached his hand out to Oliver’s hands that were still clutching his bag. “Better not hold on so tightly to that bag, don’t want you to hurt your delicate little fingers now, do we?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah,” Oliver said as he realized how tightly he was holding his bag.
Jason just chuckled and gently took one of Oliver’s small hands into his own, bigger hand, holding it gently.
“Let’s get going, yeah?” Jason said with a smile as he led Oliver down the street and to a small café that blended into the background of the busy city streets.
“I’ve never seen this place before,” Oliver said as he and Jason walked into the café, a small bell chiming as they walked through the door. The smell of freshly baked pastries and coffee hit them like a wall of sweetness.
“Most people don’t notice it, but I grew up in the apartment above this place, so I know the owners,” Jason said as he led the smaller man over to the counter.
“Hey Jay, the usual?” A man with far too many tattoos and a very deep voice that didn’t match where he was working stood behind the counter wiping down a cat mug.
“Yeah man, what would you like, Oliver? Kris here makes a mean cup of coffee and chocolate biscuits,” Jason said as he looked down at Oliver with a gentle smile on his face, his hand squeezing Oliver’s reassuringly.
“Um, I’ll have a cup of tea if you make tea,” Oliver said in his usual quiet voice as he looked at Kris with a slightly uncertain expression. Oliver would not be surprised if this was a front for money laundering.
“‘Course, pretty thing, you want green or peppermint tea?” Kris rasped despite the smile on his heavily tattooed face as he started to make Jason and Oliver drinks.
“Green, please,” Oliver said as he nodded his head and smiled politely at Kris.
“This is your little boyfriend you met on that dating app you told me ‘bout?” Kris said as he boiled the water for the tea, getting out two mugs in the process.
“Yes, but this is our first date, we’re not boyfriend and boyfriend just yet,” Jason said with a shrug of his shoulders.
“Hopefully, you’ll get there soon, I wanna see the grandbabies before I die,” Kris said as he chuckled a deep, gruff laugh that seemed to fill the small café.
“Hopefully,” Jason said as he glanced down at Oliver who was flushed a bright red colour out of embarrassment.
“Let’s not get too hasty,” Oliver said uneasily as he nervously laughed, his eyes anxiously looking everywhere but at Kris and Jason.
“Sorry, cutie, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Jason said apologetically as he took both of Oliver’s smooth hands in his own much larger, calloused hands.
“It’s okay,” Oliver said as he looked up into Jason’s gray eyes. They were like storm clouds, something you could get lost and not come out of until they cleared up.
“Here’s your order, why don’t you go sit over there? That’s the only table I’ve cleaned in the past month,” Kris said as he pointed his fake, prosthetic, hand at a table near the window.
“Thanks man,” Jason said as he paid and walked over to the table carrying his and Oliver’s drinks.
Oliver sat down across from Jason and carefully took a calculated sip of his tea, making sure Kris didn’t put a dead rat in it or something.
“You like tea?” Jason asked after a while of comfortable silence, the only other sound in the shop besides Kris being the sound of the two of them sipping their delicious drinks.
“Yes, my mother used to make it for me when I’d had a rough day at school. It was her way of making the day slightly better and easier for the both of us,” Oliver said as he closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, reminiscing on those warm cups of tea that his mother made for him.
“She sounds like a nice lady. Do you see her often?” Jason asked as he smiled at Oliver, this corner of his mouth seemed to always be turned up into a smile when he looked at the smaller man.
“No, she died a few years ago, someone kidnapped her and killed her. Tragic story,” Oliver said uneasily as he nervously chuckled and stared down at his tea, his green painted fingernails wrapping around the mug tightly. “But that’s not exactly something we should reminisce on, I’m sure you don’t want to hear about it.”
“I’m so sorry, let’s talk about something else. Hm, how about you tell me what your favourite flower is?” Jason said as he reached his hand out, his fingers brushing against Oliver’s gently, causing him to loosen his grip on the mug.
“My favourite flower is a carnation. Specifically the white ones with the red edges, I think they’re so pretty,” Oliver said with a smile, his face lighting up slightly as he smiled at Jason.
“Hm, my favourite flowers are heather. I like the pink ones the best,” Jason said as he leaned his head against his hand, staring at Oliver with a look of pure adoration at Oliver’s little smile.
“Ooh! I love heather! It’s so pretty!” Oliver said as he smiled at Jason over the brim of his mug before taking a sip of his tea.
“So now I know your favourite flower, now I need to know your favourite colour,” Jason said as he sipped his own drink, his head still resting in his free hand.
“Green. Spastically sage green, like the colour of my nails!” Oliver said with a smile as he held out his painted nails for Jason to look at.
“Such a pretty colour, I like dark navy blue or black personally,” Jason said as he looked at Oliver’s nails before gently kissing Oliver’s knuckles. His lips brushing tenderly across Oliver’s smooth, pale skin.
Oliver blushed heavily, the colour spreading down his cheeks and neck out of embarrassment as he quickly redrew his hand, not expecting Jason to kiss his hand.
“What’s your favourite food?” Jason asked with a slight smirk at Oliver’s bright red face. He was loving getting Oliver flustered.
“I like the packaged ramen from the grocery stores. Mind you, I don’t really eat anything else since ramen is cheap, which means more money I can put towards my rent,” Oliver chuckled quietly as he smiled thoughtfully at Jason.
“You live off of ramen and tea?” Jason said in a slightly concerned and appalled tone as he looked at Oliver with worry.
“Well… yes. But I do eat vegetables when I go over to my coworker’s house for dinner sometimes,” Oliver said in a slightly embarrassed voice as he nodded his head, his eyes avoiding Jason’s.
“I might just have to take you back to my place and make you a proper dinner sometime then,” Jason smirked as he looked at Oliver.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” Oliver smiled as he looked up at Jason’s grey eyes.
-———-
“Well, this is my apartment building. I’ll talk to you soon, yeah?” Oliver said as he stood on the steps of his building, Jason having insisted on taking him home, mentioning something about keeping him safe as he ushered Oliver out of the busy streets of the city.
“Okay, darling,” Jason said before he leaned closer to Oliver, his breath fanning over Oliver’s freckled cheek.
“W-what are you doing?” Oliver said as his heart picked up its pace. He could feel Jason’s body heat through their clothes due to their proximity.
“This,” Jason mumbled as he pressed his lips against Oliver’s cheek.
It was a brief kiss, but it was something that got Oliver feeling as though he was on another planet. The lingering heat from Jason’s lips stayed ever after Jason pulled away slightly and smiled that adorably cute smile.
“Night, Oliver. Sleep well!” Jason said as he turned and walked down the street, leaving Oliver standing there in shock.