Valentino

Fourth dawn, part one

Fourth dawn, part one

Julien can't keep his eyes open. He's parked in front of a small café (or a diner, he's not focused enough), and all he can think of is: coffee, coffee, coffee. Need it now. In a moment of weakness he leans his head onto the steering wheel and closes his eyes, but then he straightens with a sigh and steps outside his car.

As he walks in, he notices that there are actually some people scattered around—either behind a counter or at tables—and he realizes that he's in the middle of a public place and he looks like crap. Sleep-deprived crap. He pretends to be cool and shit and brushes a hand through his brown hair but he's sure it's too obvious that he's only doing that because his lazy self didn't find it in him to brush then properly before leaving home.

He chooses a table near a window and plops down on the chair, shoulders hunching forward like this is his body's default posture. The hard wood of the table hurts his elbows where he's pressed them but he can't pull his face off his palms right now.

Only until someone taps his shoulder, gentle and tentative like they're scared of triggering an explosion.

"Sir?"

"Caffeine," Julien blurts as he forcefully straightens. "Literally anything with caffeine, I don't care—" His expression drops. Brows furrow. "Valentino?"

Valentino nods. "Are you okay? You look exhausted."

"I'm fine." Julien breathes out a laugh. "Did you just call me sir? Dude, we know each other."

"Work ethics."

Julien opens his mouth to speak but he's cut off by an impatient customer grumbling a bit too loudly about how he's been waiting for the damn waiter (aka Valentino) to head over and take his order.

Valentino maintains a straight expression but he looks a little annoyed. He glances back at the customers and says, "Wait a sec, please, sir," with a tight smile.

"It's alright." Julien gives Valentino's arm a dismissing pat. "Go get the dude first. I can wait."

"No. He can wait. You're my friend, you get special treatment."

Julien laughs. "That's sweet. Cup of coffee, please. No sugar."

"Huh, healthy. Got it."

Valentino leaves the tables and attends to the grumpy drunk dude in the back. He goes into the kitchen area and disappears for few seconds, then he comes back with a cup of coffee in his hand. He places it on Julien's table.

"Super hot. Careful," Valentino says. "My shift ends right now if no one comes—"

Before he could even finish, a small, obnoxiously noisy group of teenage boys and girls stumble into the shop reeking of laughter and youth and passion, and they take a seat a few tables in front of Julien.

They raise their hands and call for Valentino. Valentino goes to them. He smiles and takes orders. This far, Julien can't exactly hear every word they say but he picks up the general ambiance. They say something and make Valentino blush. Valentino says something and makes them laugh.

And this entire interaction makes Julien sigh quietly. He holds his cup and moves it around in tiny circles. The coffee inside splashes gently onto the edges. A drop splutters out, lands on his finger. It stings. Just like reality sometimes. And this thought, this comparison, it's so petty, so dumb that Julien wants to slam his head into the wall. That's why he can't be charismatic and charming. Because he's busy being Julien. Bitter Julien. Quiet Julien.

He probably stays like that for a while, until he hears someone breathless beside him. It's Valentino and he's smiling, nudging Julien's shoulder.

"Are you done with your coffee, Julien? I finished my shift. Now to our place?"

Julien lifts his head, then glances at his coffee again and realizes he's finished it during the mindless trance. "Yeah," he says and straightens. "It's my place, but yeah."

Valentino laughs. "Used to be yours. Now I've invaded it."

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a/n: this chap obvi still needs editing and tweaking but tbh it's been so long since i updated i decided to publish this anyway lol Is anyone even still reading??? bruh i should really stop impulsively publishing books