12, if you’d be so good 💕
(12. We dated in high school but then you moved away but now you’re back in town)
“Taako?”
Taako freezes. There’s no way. That voice may sound familiar, but it can’t be. It’s just another customer wanting more fuckin’ Mountain Dew. But his heart threatens to jump right out of his chest and invent an extreme sport no one’s ever heard of before, and he nearly slaps his guest check pad over his ribs to keep the stupid thing in there. And he turns.
And boy, it sure fucking is Kravitz. Taako could die. He might die, in fact. He could be dying right now, and who would know? Not him, certainly.
“Kravitz??”
Kravitz smiles at him sheepishly and waves from his little pathetic table for one. No boyfriend on this little trip with him, not that that means anything. Just a detail Taako’s going to stow away in his fucks piggy bank. He hasn’t ordered yet, probably waiting for Taako to notice him, and Taako uses the excuse to walk over like he isn’t experiencing cardiac supernova and smile an almost-real, not customer service smile.
“In the flesh,” Kravitz says. He gestures at himself, at his nice, sharp suit, at his shoes that cost more than Taako’s made in tips all week. He looks like he’s done incredibly well for himself, and Taako’s still waiting fucking tables at his family’s restaurant. Fuck. “I can’t believe- it’s been what, seven years since I moved away?”
“Seven and a half.” But who’s counting. “I never expected you to come back to bumfuck nowhere. What brought you here?”
“Ah, well,” Kravitz tugs comically at his collar. “Business.”
“Uhuh.” Taako folds his arms and grins. “Did you come here and visit this particular café because you thought there was a snowman’s dick’s chance in hell of seeing good ol’ Taako?”
“What can I say.” Kravitz can’t seem to think of a good excuse. “I was just- passing through, and- and I had hope for that snowman’s sex life, is all, and-” He coughs as he realizes the implications of what he’s just said, and Taako laughs and pours him some ice cold water with no ice, just like he likes it. Kravitz gratefully takes a sip, incredibly embarrassed.
“Well. You found me. Not that I was lost. You’re the one who left.”
“My mama got a job at a different university,” Kravitz protests. “And I didn’t want to break your heart in slow motion, Taako, I couldn’t do that to you.”
“Long distance could have worked out for us, you don’t know that!” Taako instantly feels seventeen again, and he digs his nails into his palm trying not to sound like it.
“Maybe so.” Kravitz’s sweet brown eyes are fully apologetic. “And don’t think I haven’t thought of you every day since.”
“So?” It’s hurt. He can’t keep the pain out.
“So...I moved a little closer for my new job. And, um. Taako, I really hope I’m not distracting you from your, uh, your duties, I don’t want to hold up the process-”
“They can fucking wait. Say what you were going to say.”
“Well.” Kravitz sips his water to stall, and Taako watches him sweat in real time. “What do you think about two full adults with jobs and cellphones trying...medium distance. Say, an hour away?”
Taako fully hits him with his pad.
“Ow!”
“Are you kidding me??”
“No, I’m not!”
It’s hard to breathe.
“Fuck you!”
“Taako??”
“Of course I want to try! Shit! I still think about you every time I make ramen. God, or- or every time I hear our song on the radio- I can’t fucking believe you’re not taken, oh my god.”
“I sort of was,” Kravitz whispers. “But then I had this chance. And he told me to take it.”
“I don’t think I’m allowed to kiss customers,” Taako says as stoically as he can manage. “But I get off in an hour.”
“An hour’s not that much,” Kravitz points out.
“Not that much at all.” Taako can’t stop smiling now. “Shit, what do you want to eat?”
“Maybe just some tater tots and one of those crazy brownie sundaes? To, to. To celebrate.”
“You’re awful, I can’t believe this.” Taako’s on cloud nine, and his ladder is gone, gone, gone. “Coming right up.”
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