Funny, how much could change while your life stayed just the same. Like plucking off the shit-coloured glasses and finding the world rosy and agleam. Same old bullshit every day and Casper still smiled with daggers where his teeth should be, but it curdled a new thrill in his stomach where nothing but a waiting grave had been.

"You know I'm pleased you're happier," Jess said, leant against the counter in the late afternoon lull. "I just don't think it's healthy putting all your happiness in one guy. And we both know what these people are like."

Casper glanced over his shoulder from where he cleaned the nozzle of the machine and said, right in chorus with her, "Get some friends, Casper."

She stared at him a little like he'd dumped a coffee over her head for a moment, then burst into laughter, drawing the eyes of a small meeting going on beside the door. "You said it, not me!"

Rolling his eyes, Casper went back to polishing the machine. She'd said it a gazillion times, and fuck knew she was probably right, but Casper hadn't had friends as long as he'd lived. Sure as hell wasn't gonna break the perfect record now. The dancing jazz notes filled the silence, and he swayed a little while he wiped over the surfaces, humming something tuneless under his breath.

Kinda stupid. Just what Cain did when he cooked – either in his stupid posh flat or, more often, lighting up the whole of Casper's scummy kitchenette. And when they hugged sometimes, the long, idle ones where Casper forgot about what he'd been going to do and just sunk into Cain's warmth. If he thought hard enough, he could still feel it like a ghost wrapped around his shoulders and he got a little aching want at the bottom of his lungs.

Not a bad one. Just something between pining and anticipation.

Grinning, Casper shook his head. Café Roach, soft as syrup at the goddamn knees.

Cain hadn't been round to the shop for a while. Turned out the day this had happened, Cain's office had been shut up for renovation, so he'd been working elsewhere for about a month.

"Gave me a kick up the arse," he'd said, arm tucked behind his head and Casper curled up against his chest, skin creamy and bright in the morning sun. "I walked past and saw you working, and it all just hit me that I might come back for coffee in a month and you'd have a new boyfriend—"

"Don't worry. They never last long."

"Lovely, Cas. Thanks. But you know – you might not have even bloody been there and I'd have let this—this feeling I had for you slip through my fingers, and I just couldn't do it. And it was the best decision I'd ever made."

Casper had kissed him, slow and soft and thick with morning, and then Cain had pushed him onto his back and kept kissing him, his fingers tangled up in Casper's hair, while Casper's hand found its way down to his cock.

They hadn't had sex yet. Somehow it didn't really matter.

Jess's voice rung over the music and Casper's budding wet dream. "Don't look now. Our new favourite customer's back."

A little jolt went through Casper's chest, but he glowered at her anyway, throwing the rag down beside the machines. "He was always my favourite customer anyway."

"Yeah, don't I know."

"You were the one telling me to talk to him."

Jess winked, knocking her knuckle against one of the keys on the till to start it up. "I told you I have an eye for it. I did mean don't look though. Lover boy's got company."

The lurch in his chest sure as fuck wasn't a good one that time. His hand spasmed into a fist, nails digging into his palm as he made himself look up. Crowds thrummed through the dark plaza, office workers in the five o'clock exile, and his heart throttled him the whole time he searched for Cain, long coat billowing like a cloak in the wind and company.

Turns out he was looking too far away. Either that or he'd been mentally glossing over that obscene mass of pink.

Cain shoved the door open with his shoulder, the one he didn't have that fuck-off massive bouquet of fucking flowers sheltered against. Like always, his eyes sought Casper through the milling crowd, skipping over the old lady who'd doddled up to the till ahead of him. With dazzling brightness, they landed on Casper gaping at him.

Asshole hadn't told Casper his office was ready again. The flowers must be his welcome back present to himself 'cause Mr Stupid Cute Smile here seemed to enjoy buying Casper gifts more than Casper liked getting them.

Especially flowers.

Cain made gooey eyes at Casper the whole time he stood in the queue, the soft light a halo on the glossy curls in his hair, and seeing as the old lady just wanted one of those nice looking brownies Casper wouldn't let himself try, he had nothing else to do but lean against the counter and probably make gooey eyes back. Shit, but there it was - his heart like a goddamn pufferfish swelling in his chest.

Those flowers really did loose gorgeous nestled beneath Cain's chin, casting a peachy flush through his cheeks and bringing his lips up to pastel delight.

Grinning, Casper shook his head and tore his eyes away. Really tried his hardest not to look at Cain while he yanked levers amongst the hiss of steam putting that latte together but seriously, could anyone in their right mind not look at Cain? Not Casper anyway. The grin had his cheeks aching, a little laugh huffing between his teeth every time he caught sight of Cain and his sappy eyes and those ridiculous flowers.

"Let me guess," Casper heard Jess say while he tipped the shot into the cup, "a latte."

"Did anyone ever tell you that you have dreadful customer service?"

"Complain to the manager."

"Oh, didn't you know? I already bought the place."

Casper choked on air and nearly sent the whole fucking cup flying. Jess's gritted teeth peeked white between her lips, and some sallow undertone of steamed milk had come to her skin. Bought the fucking place? Dickhead looked the picture of coy innocence above that over-sized bouquet, but Casper had gotten to know that that innocent was anything but. Wasn't even looking at Casper – he had those shark eyes all for Jess. What was he playing at?

"Of course," Cain said, tilting his head a little with a smile, "the old manager was an absolute twat and apparently of a mind to imminently fire the both of you, so he's gone as well. I had been going to give the job to Cas, but honestly, he's a disorganised little twat so I'd only ruin my new business—"

"Hey!"

Cain cast him a withering glance, a flush of brightness going through his features. "I might be soft on you, Cas, but I'm not thick."

Casper stuck his tongue out, and a loud laugh burst from Cain's lips before he turned back to Jess. "That means you're Branch Manager now." Jess's face went slack. "Congratulations on the raise. Also, I'm not paying for the latte."

With that, he swanned down to the other end of the counter like some fucking majestic money bird. Some weird mixture of itching against bubbly heat curdled in Casper's stomach when he met Cain there.

"What the fuck do you call that?"

None of that shark playing on his face now. Cain only pouted and dipped his head to watch the way the rose petals slipped between his teasing fingers. "Only thinking of your job security, love."

An incredulous sort of laugh burst from Casper's lips and he crossed his arms over his chest. "You're babying me!"

"But it's impossible not to indulge you."

"Oh my god." Casper planted his elbows on the counter and rubbed his hands over his face. Fucking Corporate Scumbag. This definitely wasn't okay. One hundred percent under all Jess's talk of 'get a friend, Casper' and 'don't put all your hopes in one man, Casper'. Sensible stuff.

But Cain looked so fucking puppy-dog eyed that it was impossible to glower at him. But Casper was a persistent little roach, so goddamn, he fucking tried. "What if you break up with me?"

"Why would I do that?"

Idiot. "What if I break up with you then, nutjob?"

"Then you can have the coffeeshop." Cain wrinkled his nose and glanced behind him at the sparsely filled tables. The crowd outside had died a little, and the dark plaza was only scattered by small figures huddling against the wind. "I do recommend you leave someone else in charge of the daily business though. You're very good at a lot of things, love, but customer service isn't one of them."

"You're fucking unbelievable." Casper straightened up and snatched the cooling coffee shot off the side, forcing the wide grin off his face. This guy was a fucking idiot, but Casper had never met a single person who meant what they said more than Cain. Or at least what he said to Casper.

"Cas?"

Idiot had his big, sad eyes on again, but the expression broke into a grin as soon as he caught Casper's eyes. Not even Casper jabbing his finger at him while he steamed the milk dented it. "I'm gonna get fucking sick of this when you aren't making me a pool of goo, you got it?"

'Cause right now his fucking knees were about to give, and his chest was nothing more than a mob of butterflies up in flames.

Cain leant his shoulder against the machine, his lips almost lost behind the huge bouquet. A soft curl fell into his face and if Casper didn't have his hands full, he would've reached up and tucked it back. Fingers itched to anyway. He bit his lip as he turned off the milk steamer.

"I suppose," Cain said, "that I'll have to make sure I keep you at most at Newtonian fluid consistency for the rest of your life then, won't I?"

Warmth burst in Casper's throat, a fuzzy one full of laughter. "You're such a fucking nerd."

"I bought you flowers."

Casper picked up the coffee cup and held both it and the milk jug out in front of him. Could he actually do this right? "If they weren't for me, I was gonna have to go punch someone."

Tentatively, he poured the milk into the cup, starting it high up and then easing it down like Two-Dates Barista Boyfriend had done for him once. Casper had thrown that coffee in the asshole's face before the end of the cup, so fingers crossed Cain didn't wind up latte-swilling him in some sticky form of karma.

A scuff and a rustle of that paper wrap, and Cain's voice sounded a little closer. Casper didn't take his eyes off the stream of milk. "Do you like them?"

With a flourish that splashed the whole counter with milk, Casper wicked the stream through the middle of the cup. A grin broke across his lips and he held it out to Cain, cupped between two hands like some little kid showing off the bug he found. "I like you."

A latte with a big wonky heart wholeheartedly splooged across the top, and Roach Boy syrup-soft at the goddamn knees.

Cain looked at it, and then with a grin so wide it must ache, he looked up at Casper. The soft light caught his eyes so bright they looked like stars. "Sometimes I think I've fallen in love with you already, Cassie."

And literally nothing in the entire world could compare to that syrupy warmth that burst through Casper's entire body. The cup clattered when Casper set it down, coffee splashing across the side and burning through his apron as he leant across the counter and grabbed Cain by the collar of his shirt and kissed him.

Totally ruined the latte heart, but it didn'tmatter. There'd be plenty more