Hyacinths

The Boy at the Corner

Alex walked along the sidewalk, watching the cars as they passed by. He was walking to work- a part time job at a small corner coffee shop. And like most other seniors in high school, he needed the money because college, he'd realized, wasn't exactly cheap.

He turned the corner and heard something. He swore he recognized the tune, and the origin of the playing soon came into sight.

A tall brunette boy with a yellow sweater and crooked glasses stood with his back against the red brick wall corner, strumming an acoustic guitar with his eyes closed. A guitar case was open at his feet- by the looks of it, the musician wasn't getting many donations.

"Oh, she knows what I think about
And what I think about
One love, two mouths
One love, one house"

Alex had to admit, he was good. His voice was what Alex could only describe as enthralling, and the sight of his fingers dancing along the guitar strings was almost calming in a strange sense.

As he passed the guitarist he slipped a ten-dollar bill out of his pocket, dropping it into the open case in front of the brunette. He didn't look back at the teenager as he crossed the road, simply going about his business and turning to open the door to go into the coffee shop. Alex opened the door and heard the ring of the bell above the door as he slipped behind the counter, getting ready for a long boring workday.

He could hear the music from here.

"And if I may just take your breath away
I don't mind if there's not much to say
Sometimes the silence guides a mind
To move to a place so far away"

Alex scoffed. If that wasn't the truest thing he'd heard in all his seventeen years, he didn't know what was.

After a little while the music had stopped, which made Alex rather sad- he would never admit it, but it made the boring day just a little bit more entertaining.

He walked back up to the front counter, handing the customer their drink, "okay, that'll be three dollars and fifty-six cents." Alex said in a tone of voice that sounded a lot happier than he truly felt.

The soft sound of a bell rang and Alex looked up to see who had walked through the door. His eyes met the same yellow sweatered musician who was playing across the street moments prior.

He watched as the brunette walked up to the counter, a rather stupid-looking grin on his face. "Hello, what can I get for you?" Alex asked.

"Your number?" The musician smiled as if admiring his own comment. "How charming, " Alex scoffed, letting his voice slip from happy to exhausted.

"Okay, okay-" The man half-smiled, half-smirked. "I'll order whatever your heart desires."

Alex stared straight into his eyes with a blank look and ordered the most expensive item on the menu.

~

The musician (who's name, Alex soon learned, was Wilbur) kept coming every day. Sometimes he came with a friend, other times with a man who looked to be his double, or usually alone. Whenever he came, though, he always ordered the same thing- the $36.99 extremely caffeinated drink that Alex had ordered for him on the first day. What. Why. How.

Wilbur usually tried to flirt with Alex everytime, but he stared straight into the brunette's dark brown eyes with a blank face. He simply had no time for relationships right now- college was taking its burden on him and Alex needed to focus. Focus. Focus...what college does Wilbur go to? Wait, does he even go to college?

Ugh. Alex shook his head and tried to focus on his class. He had a free period after this and then he was out for the day, which was a stroke of luck- he really needed to catch up on some of his classes.

The bell rang and he rushed out the front door and to his dorm, speeding past a person who looked just like Wilbur. Wait, that was Wilbur's double from the coffee shop! He slowed down and walked back to the person.

"Hello? Excuse me, are you Wilbur Minecraft's twin?" Alex said in what he hoped was a casual way. The man turned around.

"Heh? Uh, yeah. Who's asking- oh, it's you." The man rolled his eyes. "The guy from the coffee shop that Wilbur has a crush on."

Alex choked.

After a while of chatting, Alex had learned that the man's name was Technoblade ("Technoblade!? What kinda shit name is that?!") and that he was also enrolled at the same college. Techno was a senior- he was preparing to live with his close friend Clay as soon as he graduated.

Alex waved goodbye to Techno as he made his way to his dorm. Well, that was a problem.
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Word count-846

The song used in this chapter was Sweater Weather by the Neighborhood but considering 90% are probably LGBTG+ you probably already knew that