So, I know Coffee Ship (I didn't mean for it to say "ship" but it seems kind of fitting, don't you think?) AU's are so unorganinal but I was just thinking (because people tend to do that occasionally) and this came to me and I just kinda really wanted to write it down (I say as I climb the ladder that leads into my trashcan home) so here you go. It's random longer-than-your-usual-one-shot-that's-actually-more-like-a-really-short-fic-that-I-wrote-in-day time. Buckle up for the ride.

Btw, this features tall!Nico and I'm basing his appearance off of the above art. Carry on!

Nico POV

It seems so utterly stupid now, the way I was hiding in the back next to the espresso machine, praying to God that he, whoever he was, hadn't seen me come within a milisecond of dropping a stack of five plates and then proceed to dash into the back room like my life depended on it. All because he'd been about to walk into my family's coffee shop and order a drink from me, as I was on waiter duty, and there was no way that I was going to make a fool out of myself and become a stuttering mess in front of him.

I could faintly hear my sister, Hazel, taking his order, laughing at something he, or one of his friends, had said, which meant they were sitting at a table nearby. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but that didn't really matter. It's not like eavesdropping on the guy ordering a pumpkin spice latte would be beneficial in any way.

I groaned, leaning my head on my hand at the exact moment Hazel rounded the corner. She was three months older than me, and was actually my step-sister, even though I'd known her my while life and I didn't really think of her as such. She was short, the top of her head only reached my nose, and she had tightly crimped cinnamon brown hair, dark skin, and almost unnaturally golden-brown eyes. "What was that all about?"

I looked up at her, I could feel my cheeks flaming despite the fact that I was intentionally willing them not to. "It doesn't matter. What did they want?"

Her lips started curving upwards, the way they always did whenever she thought she was onto something, and normally, she was right. "Which one is it?"

I turned away on the pretense of grabbing a paper cup from the counter, "What?"

"They wanted it to stay," she corrected, and I dropped the cup back onto the stack and opened a cabinet that housed the mugs instead. "What were they? How many? What sizes?" I was hoping she would forget my strange behavior if I acted like nothing had happened.

"Three vanilla lattes, one iced. All tall." She tapped her fingers against the counter impatiently as I grabbed the three medium-sized mugs and set them on the counter. They were all black with the store's logo on them-- a white outline of a cat lapping at a mug of steaming coffee with the the store's name, The Brim, printed near the bottom inside a white banner.

I set them on the counter and she grabbed two of them, "You do the iced, I'll get the rest."

I nodded and went to grab the milk and ice from the fridge while Hazel measured out the coffee we'd ground that morning. "Seriously, Nico. You didn't just run in here, yelling at me to take the order for no reason at all."

"I didn't yell," I muttered.

She smirked, "Doesn't change the fact that you're blushing."

I huffed angrily, filling the mug 3/4 of the way with ice. "Does it really matter? He's probably not going to come back here anyway."

"'He, hm? So, that eliminates the girl." I groaned, I was bisexual and I'd lost my one advantage, the fact that Hazel hadn't known what gender said person was. "And that's exactly why it matters. You have to snag him before he leaves."

"Did you seriously just say that I had to 'snag him'?"

She shrugged, "Maybe-- Nico!" She reached over and pushed the jug of milk upwards, narrowly saving me from over-filling the mug and making a mess all over the counter. I promptly blushed and muttered an apology before passing the jug over to her.

She shook her head, looking amused, "It's fine, just stop daydreaming about Mr. Hot-Stuff and pay attention."

"I was not daydreaming--"

I was cut off by our twenty-one year-old sister, Bianca, pushing the door open and chiding us for leaving the cash register un-manned, it was nearly closing time on a Tuesday, so the customers were few and far between and it was only us three running the place. Hazel apologized, told me that she would go take care of it so I wouldn't have to worry about him, and then left me to finish up the drinks.

I put the mugs on a tray and pushed the door open, gesturing for Hazel to come and take them over to the table they were sitting at.

"Seriously, which one is he?" She glanced over at their table, where the back of his head was visable over the top of the booth's backrest. His two friends were sitting across from him, engrossed in conversation with him, and I had the startling realization that one of them could be dating him and I really needed a name to put to his face because simply thinking of him as 'him' was getting really annoying.

"Hazel, just take them their lattes." I attempted to look as exasperated as possible.

She folded her arms stubbornly, "If you don't tell me, I'm making you take those over there yourself."

I glared at her, "Fine, but if you say anything to him I will kill you."

Hazel simply smiled at me expectantly.

"The blonde one," I muttered, and then I jumped slightly, startled by the squeak of delight she made.

"I knew it!" She pulled the tray out of my hands and didn't even acknowledge my hissed warning, Don't you dare say anything.

I quickly disappeared back behind the door, not willing to risk one of them noticing my staring.

Hazel POV

A month later, Will, as I'd found out his name was, had come into The Brim a total of five times and Nico still hadn't so much as let the guy become aware of his existence. He always made sure that he was scheduled to tend to a section of tables that was far away from where they normally sat, he took extra-long routes to skirt around their table, and he made sure to threaten me at least twice every time he came in just to make sure I wouldn't say anything about him to Will.

"Nico, this is getting ridiculous." I said, standing behind my brother as he spied on Will, Lou Ellen, and Cecil through a crack in the door that was barely a half-inch wide. "And slightly creepy."

He jumped back and turned to face me, "Ssshhh."

I rolled my eyes, hoping that he knew how completely annoyed I was with him. "There's no way they're going to hear us, they're sitting at the other end of the room.

He sighed, "Yeah, I know, I'm just being paranoid."

We had to step back hurriedly as someone pushed their way through the door, throwing an apology over their shoulder.

"No way." I made sure that the two words were filled with as much sarcasm as possible.

He glared down at me, "Shut up."

"Why don't you just go up and talk to him? I'm not even saying that you have to ask him out or anything, I just think that it might do you some good to see what he's like for yourself instead of just going off of what I've told you. . . and what you've found out by low-key stalking him. . . or whatever you want to call this."

Nico looked down, shuffling his feet and wrapping his arms around himself. "I just don't want to look stupid. I'd probably freeze up or start stuttering or something and then his first impression of me would be that I'm an awkward loser."

"I'd come in and save you if that happened," I promised.

He shook his head. "No, it's fine. You're right, this is stupid. I should just forget about him."

I shook my head, "Look, I've got to go see if they're ready to order." I said, brushing past him and holding up a hand, "I know, I know," I cut him off before he could even get one word out, "I won't say anything." Except he didn't see that my hands were tucked into my apron pockets to hide the fact that my fingers crossed.

Will POV

"Was it the Caramel Machiatto that I got last time or the Caramel Karma?" Cecil asked, tapping his pointer finger against the menu. His brown hair was falling in his eyes, and his eyebrows were furrowed, as they had been since he'd started looking at the menu. Apparently making food choices was a very serious business for him.

I shrugged, "No idea."

Lou Ellen leaned over to look at the menu over his shoulder, "I think it was the Caramel Machiatto, the picture looks more like the one you had."

Cecil nodded, apparently content to take her word for it, and a second later, our waitress showed up, smiling and holding a notepad ready to take our order.

"Perfect timing, Hazel," Lou Ellen said, pushing her almost-black hair behind her shoulders, and a lightbulb went off in my head, That's her name. Hazel.

"You're ready to order?"

We all nodded, and she gestured to Cecil, who promptly ordered a Tropical Banana Smoothie and blueberry bagel.

Lou Ellen looked exasperated, "What was all of that about trying to remember what you had last time?"

He shrugged, "I decided I wanted something fruitie."

"And you couldn't have done this before we sat here for ten minutes waiting for you to decide?" I asked.

"No, actually, because my thought process just happened to take that long."

"Well, tell your thought process to hurry its ass up." I said, smiling a little to let him know that I was kidding, and we all laughed.

Hazel grinned as she took mine and Lou's orders and then she hesitated for a second. "Can I tell you something?" she asked me, tapping her pen against the notepad nervously.

I blinked at her, "Uh. . . sure."

She bent down, cupping her hand over her mouth so that Lou Ellen and Cecil couldn't hear, and I mentally braced myself to be hit on. Don't get me wrong, Hazel was nice and everything, but she wasn't exactly my type. Except, what I heard was completely different from what I had been expecting.

"My brother thinks you're really cute."

My eyebrows shot up, brother? I turned my head and looked at her, my eyebrows raised. I could a feel a smile pulling at my lips, "Really?"

She straightened up quickly, clutching the notepad and glancing behind her at the door marked 'Empoyees Only,' "Yeah. . ." She looked back at me hopefully.

I cast one quick, pointed look over at my friends. "Uhm. . ."

Her mouth formed an 'O' and her eyes widened a bit, I took that to mean that she understood my closet-related problem. "I'll talk to you later."

My friends were looking at us like we were a really complicated math problem they were trying to figure out. I nodded in understanding, not wanting to give anything away to them, and then she rushed away, grinning from ear-to-ear as she slipped through the door into the back room.

"What did she say to you?" Cecil asked, his brown eyes were wide and excited.

I shrugged, "She wanted to let me know that you have a giant hole in your pants. She didn't want to--"

"WHAT?" He was already up and running to the bathroom, awkwardly attempting to conceal his backside from view as he went. Fortunately for me, he didn't seem to realize that Hazel had wanted to discuss the matter further, which didn't exactly line up with the lie I'd just fed him, and Lou Ellen was way too busy laughing to care.

-

I pulled my phone and the receipt that Hazel had jotted her number down on out of my pocket and punched the series of digits into my contacts before I texted her.

Sent: This is Will.

It was nearly fifteen minutes before she texted back.

Received: Sorry, we're kind of busy rn so I might take a while to reply. My brother would kill me if he knew I said anything to you.

Sent: That's fine

Sent: XD What's your brother like?

I set my phone aside, tried to sit still for a second, and then picked it back up to see if she'd answered. It had been a long time since a guy had hit on me, even if he hadn't directly said anything to me.

I started racking my brain, trying to remember all of the waiters I'd seen at The Brim. That one waiter we'd had a couple of weeks ago had been pretty cute. . . but he hadn't seemed the slightest bit interested in me. I tried to remember anyone else, but it seemed like it had always been Hazel waiting on our table and I didn't make a habit of studying every waiter I saw, although now I kind of wished that I did.

My phone buzzed in my hand and I quickly unlocked it.

Received: His name is Nico and you'll just have to see what he's like for yourself when you meet him.

What does that mean? Is he ugly? Or weird?

Sent: What does that mean?

I spent the next ten minutes fidgeting and trying not to worry too much.

Nico. Nico was a nice name.

I tried to picture what a Nico would look like, which is dumb because people's names don't decide what they look like, but it was something to pass the time. I decided that he would be tall with brown hair and freckles. Maybe a square jawline. . . he'd have have a cute smile, too. And nice eyes.

Received: Idk. I just want you to meet him and form your own opinion about him.

Shit.

Sent: Why haven't I seen him around?

I tried to push away all of my doubts, but it wasn't easy. Hazel was being unnecessarily cryptic and I was having trouble coming up with a positive reason she would be.

Nico.

He has nice eyes, remember? I coached myself mentally.

I decided to look his name up on the Urban Dictionary to pass the time.

Nico
An amazingly sexy, funny, exciting, ambitious, sweet guy. He is a bit of a hard egg to crack, but once he feels close to you, he will open up and allow you to feel his warm heart instantly. He is very loyal and generous. He would do anything for those he loves. If you meet a Nico, consider yourself very lucky because he is a keeper.
That guy is everything a girl could ask for! He's such a Nico.

That sounded nice. Except for the girl part. I wasn't a girl. What if he wasn't the kind of guy another guy would like? Now I was just being even more stupid, it's not like a website was going to know exactly what some random dude was like.

My phone buzzed again and I about dropped my phone in my rush to read the text.

Received: He's kind of been purposefully avoiding you since the first time you came in. He's worried he'll make himself look dumb, which is stupid because he's a really great guy.

I had a vague memory of someone running into the back as we walked in, and then Hazel coming out shortly afterwards, looking completely bewildered, which had seemed weird at the time, but I hadn't given it much thought.

Sent: Does he have black hair?

I could've sworn the person had had black hair. . . I adjusted my mental image of Nico to fit this new information and decided that I kind of liked him better this way.

Hazel texted back a couple of minutes later.

Received: Yeah. Why?

Nico. Black hair. The only solid bits of information I had about him. I considered asking Hazel for a picture, but I thought she might be uncomfortable sending a picture of her brother to some stranger, so I discarded the idea.

Sent: I just thought I saw someone there who had black hair and I wondering if it was him.

Her reply was much quicker this time.

Received: Were you hoping it was him?

Sent: Idk, I only saw his back.

Recieved: Did he have a nice back?

I laughed, and typed back, What?

Another eight minutes went by.

Received: Nevermind. Look, I have a plan, could you come by around 8 tomorrow?

Received: A.M.

I bit my lip, I had planned to meet some of my friends at nine, but it wouldn't hurt to stop by The Brim beforehand.

Sent: Yeah, I could come by, but what kind of plan?

Received: Yay! It's nothing drastic, don't worry. I just have to trick Nico into talking to you. I really have to go. Lots of costumers. Bye, Will!

I laughed at this and sent her a quick goodbye before I slipped my phone into my pocket and leaned back, gnawing at my lip and trying to get my mind off of the boy I would be meeting for the first time tomorrow.

Nico POV

I pushed the door to the back room open, hurrying to go tend to a table that Percy had just informed me was now occupied, and I stopped in my tracks.

It was Will. And he was alone. And he was sitting in my section.

"Hazel!" I quickly changed my course and bee-lined over to where she was manning the cash register.

She raised an eyebrow at me, "Yes?"

"Will is here."

She nodded at me slowly, "Yeah. . . I saw him come in."

I gestured wildly at where he was sitting, "And he's in my section."

Hazel shrugged, "There weren't any other tables open."

"And he's alone," I rushed.

She raised an eyebrow at me, "Yes, he is. . ."

"Aren't you going to help me?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder like someone might be sneaking up on me.

"No," she said simply.

I gaped at her, "No?"

"I think it would be good for you to talk to him. Now, are you just going to leave him sitting there, or are you going to do your job?" She looked much too amused at my predicament.

I glared at her and then turned around and made my way over to his table slowly, feeling like I was walking into a shark tank.

I froze about three feet away from him. He was facing away from me and I could only see the back of his head and part of his face, but still, this was the closest I'd ever been and he was even more attractive up close. I swallowed and forced myself to take the last couple of paces.

Will POV

I glanced up from my menu as I saw someone approaching from my peripheral vision and my heart skipped a beat. I glanced at his name tag for confirmation and my hands tightened on the laminated pages. He was gorgeous. Gorgeous and nothing like I had been imagining.

His skin was not tanned, but pale, and the all-black clothing he was wearing contrasted his complexion starkly. His eyes were soft and brown, not green, and his jawline was sharp, but not square like I had pictured, his face was narrower, framing lips that made his whole face seem soft and relaxed. The closest my mental image came to him was that he was tall, but I had not pictured him lean and lightly muscled. His hair was black, yes, but it wasn't straight and carefully combed, but slightly wavy and tousled, not like he was actually trying to make it look that way, but like he just hadn't really bothered to put thought into his appearance, and it was styled in a back cut.

"Hi." His voice was deeper than I'd been expecting, but quiet and shy. "I'm Nico and I'll be your server today." He met my gaze for the first time and there was a brief hitch of silence, but he didn't look away. His hair fell over his eyes, due to the way he tilted his head downwards a bit to look at me through his bangs, not flirtatiously, more like he was trying to conceal himself, and his lips worked themselves gradually into a smile. "If you need anything, I'll be around. . . uh. . . Do you. . . need anything right now?"

I grinned at him, "No, I'm fine. . . Is that a Disturbed shirt that you're wearing?" I could only see the top of the logo beneath his apron, but I was pretty sure that I was right.

He glanced down at himself and immediately grinned back at me. I noticed that there was a faint hint of pink in his face now. "Yeah. You like them?"

I nodded enthusiastically, "My favorite album is Indistructible."

He bounced on his heels excitedly, "Mine too! Do you have a favorite song?"

I shook my head, turning so that I was sitting sideways in my chair to face him, Nico took a step back so I didn't have to crane my head to look at him. "No, I can't ever decide. I've been listening to Deceiver a lot lately."

He nodded enthusiastically, "I love that song. I can't really decide on a favorite, either."

"Understandable."

He stood there, smiling at me cutely, for a couple of seconds before he said, "I have to get going, I can't keep everyone waiting." He bit his lip nervously, tapping his pen on his notepad like I'd seen Hazel do the day before.

I nodded, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, sorry."

He nodded back at me, still with that smile, "No, it's fine. I'll just. . ."

"Yeah. . ."

He backed up a step, nearly crashed into someone, stuttered a hurried apology, and then made quickly his way to the next table.

He has a nice ass, too, I thought, grinning to myself.

Nico POV

I made my rounds and then ran over to Hazel, practically gushing with excitement, "He likes Disturbed!" I exclaimed.

Hazel grinned at me, "I think he likes you too."

My eyes widened, "Wait, really?"

She nodded, "Did you see the way he looked at you? And I could have sworn he was staring at your butt when you walked away."

My cheeks flushed, "Oh."

She punched me in my arm. "Nico, if he hasn't asked you out by the time he leaves I will give you ten bucks and let you off dish duty for a week."

I would've done dish duty for the rest of my life if Will would ask me out, but I didn't say that to Hazel, of course.

I grinned, "You're that confident?"

She nodded, "I'll even ask Bianca to take over your shift so that you can talk to him."

"You think she'd do that?" I fidgeted with my apron, trying to find an outlet for all of my pent-up nervous energy.

Hazel nodded again, "I told her about your huge crush on Will and--"

"Hazel," I complained.

She put her palms up, "Just hear me out. She thinks you two would be cute together and I bet she'd be more than happy to do this."

I shifted from foot to foot and then bobbed my head, "Yeah, okay."

"Stay at the cash register for a second while I go find her. I think she's in back."

I nodded and waited anxiously until Hazel came back with Bianca in tow. My older sister was basically an older, tanner, female version of me, and she was grinning at me like she'd just been told I'd found the cure for cancer.

"Nico, go wait on his table again and casually mention that you'll be getting off in five minutes and then I'll take over."

I grinned at them both, "You guys are the best."

"We know," Hazel said, "Now go."

I turned and made my way over to Will's table, my heart going nuts and my palms were clammy, I rubbed them off on my apron.

Will smiled at me broadly, showing off a set of dimples that made my chest crumple in on itself. "Hey."

I smiled back, shifting nervously. "Sorry I took so long."

"No, it's fine," he assured me, "I know you guys are busy right now."

I nodded gratefully, "Yeah. Do you know what you want yet?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I decided on just getting a bagel."

"Blueberry, strawberry, or original?"

"Original with strawberry cream cheese," he answered. I noticed that his fingers were tapping restlessly on the table.

I wrote down the order and then glanced back up at him, "Just so you know, I get off my shift in five minutes, so Bianca will be taking over."

His fingers froze above the table's surface for a split second, and then he pulled his hand into his lap. "Do you think anyone would mind if you got off a few minutes early?" I thought his voice might sound a tad bit strained, but I must have been imagining it.

"No," I said quietly, "I don't think they would mind."

His face broke into the most amazing grin I'd ever seen. "Great." The word was breathy and relieved, "Would you sit with me?" He was looking at me with this cute, hopeful expression and his golden hair was falling into his face.

"Y-yeah. Yes, I just. . . I should go put your order in." I waved my notepad in the general direction of the kitchen.

Will smiled easily, "Bianca can get my order when she comes by."

"Okay." I took a moment to be proud of myself for not stuttering, and then I pulled out the seat across from Will and perched on the edge of it.

Will leaned back in his chair casually, folding his arms, which made his biceps look that much more fantastic. "My name is Will, by the way. Will Solace."

I smiled at him, "My last name is di Angelo."

"Di Angelo. . ." he repeated, "Of the angel?"

I looked down at the table, swallowing down my embarrassment. "Yeah, that's what it means."

"It suits you." His tone was soft and silky, almost teasing.

I looked up at him sharply, but his expression didn't give anything away, so I cleared my throat, cursing the way flames of heat were creeping up my neck, "You speak Italian?"

He shrugged, "I took two years of it in high school, I know a little."

I nodded, feeling my muscles relaxing gradually as I grew more comfortable with him, I hadn't realized how tense I was. "My family is Italian and my dad taught me and my sisters the language."

His eyebrows shot up, "Really?"

"Sì," I replied, smirking at him, "e lei é molto attraente."

His eyebrows furrowed, "What did you just say?"

"That I like your shoes."

Will laughed, "Thanks?"

My lips twitched, barely holding in laughter, "You are very welcome."

He huffed in amusement, and then seemed to remember something suddenly. "Nico, what time is it?"

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked. "8:40, why?"

He cursed quietly, standing up. "I have to meet my friends at nine." His tone was apologetic, but I felt my heart sinking all the same.

"Oh."

He sighed, "I'm really sorry."

"That's okay. You barely know me, you're friends are much more important." I was being sincere, but it didn't change the fact that my chest was tightening and I was silently berating myself for ever thinking that someone like him might like me.

"I'll see you around, Nico." He looked at me like he was trying to soak in my appearance, like he didn't want to forget. That didn't make sense, I wasn't anything memorable anyway, and it wasn't like he couldn't come back to the shop.

I nodded at him, "Bye, Will." I liked the way his name felt in my mouth, the 'W' was a soft whoosh, prolonged by the "I" and then cut of by the soft click of the two "L's."

He turned and started walking away, and then almost as if he could feel my eyes trained on his back, he turned around and covered the distance between him and the table in a few short steps and braced his hands on its surface.

"Nico. . ." He leaned forward fractionally, almost eagerly. "Would you even consider going on a date with me?"

My mouth dropped open, "You're gay?" I didn't even try and hide the shocked delight in my voice.

He smirked, "Pansexual, actually."

My eyes widened. Out of all of the boys and girls and everything in between, Will Solace had picked me. Saying that I was flattered would have been an understatement.

"I'm bisexual," I said quietly, feeling myself blush yet again.

Will grinned at me and pulled out his cell phone, "So, can I get your number?"

"Yes, definitely." I reached out to take the device from him, and then hesitated, "But only if you promise to actually use it."

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

I shook my head, "That phrase has always creeped me out." I told him, putting my number into his contacts.

Will took his phone back, crinkling his nose at me, "You're cute."

I blinked at him, "Thanks." My voice sounded minuscule.

He sighed regretfully, "I wish I could stay here, but I really have to go. It wouldn't feel right to cancel on them."

"I get it." I told him, studying his face, trying to find anything that might suggest that he wasn't serious, but he looked completely honest.

"Bye, Nico."

"Bye, Will."

And then he disappeared out the door and down the street, leaving me to sit alone at a table with an insanely huge grin on my face.

K, I know this isn't my best work, but I literally wrote the whole thing Saturday so you have to cut me some slack (also, I was going to post it yesterday but I completely forgot.)

I kinda want to add onto it, so if you want me to do another chapter/one-shot thing that continues this then comment!