Chapter Text
It was dark in Esgaroth, and Bard’s coffee shop was pretty much empty. Bard was wiping the counter when a bell rang, signaling a last customer’s arrival at the coffee shop. A rather well-kept hobbit walked through the door, and Bard smiled in recognition. “Mr. Baggins! What would you like?” he asked, though already preparing the anticipated order. Bilbo Baggins was a regular at Coffee By The Lake, the coffee shop that Bard’s family owned. He would come in every day at 8, morning and night, for a drink. It currently happened to be evening, so Bard was preparing a large hot chocolate for the esteemed hobbit.
When he finished, he passed the drink over to Bilbo. “That’ll be $4.99. How’re things going with Thorin?”
Bilbo blushed at the mention of his boyfriend. “Oh, things are going pretty well. Could I have an extra straw, please?”
“Bilbo Baggins is sharing his drink?” Bard smirked, handing over the straw. “Things are going well indeed.”
Bilbo rolled his eyes. “Oh, shut up, Bard. Can’t a hobbit share his drink every now and then?”
“Of course you can.”
“There’s another side to that sentence, and I know it.”
Bard shrugged, feigning innocence. “Who knows?”
“Hmph. Anyway, I’d better get going. Wouldn’t want the drink to get cold.” Bilbo walked towards the door.
“Bye, Bilbo, have a nice night!” Bard waved.
The coffee shop was completely quiet after the interaction. Figured. No one would be coming in for coffee at 8 pm in September. It might be best to close early.
Bard hung up his apron and took to cleaning up the rest of the shop. Dang, some customers were filthy.
Ding!
That was the door again. Bard rushed back behind the counter, slightly annoyed at whatever asshole decided to show up at this hour.
This specific asshole was a tall, blond elf in a navy blue suit. He had sharp cheekbones, skin like alabaster- basically all the features needed to be the male love interest in a dark romance YA vampire story. He was lacking the ‘dark as midnight’ hair, but his smooth platinum locks more than made up for that. He was a vision. Bard shook himself internally. Yes, he’s handsome, but he’s still some rich asshole who entered my shop at 8 pm. Bard glanced back at the elf, who appeared to be arguing with someone over the phone. This gave Bard plenty of time to put his apron back on before he heard a finger jab at a screen, and the voice on the other end disappeared.
“What would you like today?” Bard asked the elf, who was still frowning at his phone screen.
The elf looked up, seemingly surprised at the interruption, before regaining his composure and answering. “A medium-sized black espresso, please. Under Thranduil.”
Bard started preparing his order, and the espresso was halfway through brewing when he realized what the elf had ordered. Who the hell orders a heavily caffeinated drink at 8 pm? Who, other than Bilbo, even comes in at 8 pm? What is wrong with this Thranduil?
Bard wasn’t able to mentally complain about the elf for longer, as his order was finished brewing. Bard poured the coffee and placed it on the counter. “That’ll be four dollars.”
“Thank you.” The elf paid and walked out the door.
Bard let out a breath once the elf was gone. Now he could close early.
*****
When Bard got back to his apartment, he went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. He took a glance at his oldest, who was at the dinner table doing her homework. “How was school?” he asked.
“It was fine,” Sigrid answered. “Ms.Woodstock yelled at the boys again, but they deserved it, so I don’t really care.”
Bard raised an eyebrow while washing the rice. “And why did they deserve it?”
“They stuck a speaker in the roof,” Sigrid explained. “They kept playing Despacito. It was kind of funny, though. How was work?”
“Average,” Bard replied. “Except that there was this asshole who came in when I was closing.”
“Ooh, drama at the coffee shop,” Sigrid hummed. “What did he look like?”
Bard rolled his eyes, putting the rice into the rice cooker. “The coffee shop doesn’t have drama. He was just some rich elf.”
“Oh, so he was an elf, I see,” Sigrid said. “What type of braids were in his hair?” she asked. Elves typically wore different types of braids to symbolize different things, but for some reason, Bard couldn’t remember the strange elf having any.
“I don’t think he had any,” Bard answered. “His hair was pretty long, though.”
Sigrid’s eyes widened. “ He didn’t have any braids? Da, what color was his hair?”
Bard smiled in amusement when his daughter started to interrogate him, but decided to play along. “Blond. Like, really pale blond.”
That seemed to shock her even more. She was so shocked, in fact, that she had to call her brother over. “BAIN! DA SAYS HE SAW THE GREENWOOD CEO!”
A head poked out from behind a door. “What?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure Da saw him!”
“The CEO of Greenwood? Da, what did he look like?”
Bard was looking at his children with confusion at this point. “Who is he?”
“You don’t know him? Thranduil Oropherion?” Sigrid asked, apparently puzzled.
“Wait- his name is Thranduil?” Bard asked, even more confused.
“Yeah, was his name in his order?” Bain quizzed.
Bard nodded. “I thought it was a pretty weird name. Anyways, who is this guy?”
“The CEO of Greenwood,” Bain answered. “Like we said. All the girls in my class are wearing that brand. I’m so tired of it.”
“Hey, I’m wearing Greenwood right now!” Sigrid argued.
Bain looked at his dad helplessly. “See? All the girls. Even Sigrid’s been infected.”
“I haven’t been-”
“Calm down, guys, it’s just a clothing brand.”
“It’s not-”
“Bain, go get Tilda. Dinner will be ready in 10 minutes. Sigrid, you can go finish your homework.”
Sigrid let out a huff of breath. “Fine, but if Thranduil Oropherion shows up tomorrow, you have to take a picture for me.”
“Sure,” Bard said, pretty sure that the CEO was not showing up tomorrow.