Chapter Text
Patton had always been a bit clumsy, even more so when he was tired. So, he might have been able to predict what was about to happen. At least, he might have if he had been in control of all his brain cells. However, his night at the hospital had been busy and he was dead on his feet. So, after using 90% of his remaining energy to smile at and thank the barista at The Hideout, he turned a bit too quickly without thinking and smacked straight into someone. His coffee left his hands. He looked up at the person he’d just dumped coffee all over, and what passed for a brain in his head short circuited.
Pretty. Pretty boy. Woah. The lights of the coffee shop seemed to twinkle around him like stars... though that may have been due more to Patton’s current state than anything about the man in front of him. He had a shocked look on his face and was staring back at Patton with gorgeous dark brown eyes and his lips just slightly parted. Is this what falling in love felt like or was Patton just about to pass out from exhaustion? Gosh, Patton really needed caffeine.
Wait.
Didn’t he just have coffee in his hands?
He looked down, horrified, expecting to see coffee all over the man’s shirt, but instead he just saw a coffee cup held securely in the other man’s hands.
“Good catch,” he said.
“I...” the man said. “Thanks?”
“Patton Sanders,” Patton said offering a hand. The man looked down at the offered hand and then at the drink in his hand. Oh right. He had to shift the cup to the other hand to shake Patton’s hand. Wow he had a nice forearm. Was that a normal thing to notice about a person? “Do you come here often?” Patton asked. He was surely going to be embarrassed about that line after a full night’s sleep.
“This is my first time in this establishment,” he replied. “I was looking for a coffee shop far enough away from the university to reduce the risk of running into my students.”
“You’re a professor? Wow you must be smart.”
“I am currently only a graduate assistant, but I appreciate the sentiment considering that is my career goal."
“You should totally come here more often. I come here all the time and they have really good coffee. I came here to get some.”
“Er. Yes, I know,” he said and motioned with the cup in his hand awkwardly.
“Oh! Right,” Patton said, taking the coffee back from him. He took a sip of it. “Thanks! Sorry I almost poured hot liquid all over you. Though it probably would have felt cold to you since you’re so hot.” Oh god. Patton took a longer drink of the coffee, uncaring of how it burned his tongue.
The man just looked confused. “I assure you; the coffee would most certainly burn me. I don’t have fire powers.”
“Uh, yeah. Right,” Patton said a couple of brain cells waking up enough to shriek at him. “I’m really tired and should probably go home. I’ll see you around.”
“Yes, er. Yes, I suppose you will,” the man replied.
Patton turned to retreat from the coffee shop. He realized two things when he finished walking back to his apartment. One, he had driven to work so his car was still at the hospital. Two, he hadn’t gotten the cute boy’s name.