hot chocolate | maxiel

3

Max decided to go back to the cafe the same day. He'd finished his classes for today and wanted to go home to study, but he figured out it would be more fun to go to the cafe. Maybe Daniel was still there.

The bell rang again and Max immediately looked at the desk. A small smile formed on his lips when he saw the same man standing there.

"Maxy!" Daniel greeted when Max reached the desk. "The usual?"

Max shook his head. "No cheesecake though." He said, grabbing his card out of his wallet when Daniel spoke up again.

"It's on the house Maxy, take a seat." Daniel told him, walking away before Max even had the chance to protest.

Max smiled to himself and sat down at the table that was the closest to the desk. He dropped his bag and fished his laptop out of it. He immediately got to work, opening the document he was writing his essay in.

After a few minutes Daniel stood next to the table, placing the cup next to the laptop. "What you working on?" He asked, leaning down on the table next to him, his eyes fixing on the laptop screen.

Max sighed. "Some essay." He simply replied.

"Hmm." Daniel hummed. "Glad I don't have to do that anymore." He sat down on the opposite of Max.

Max just smiled before focusing back on the screen in front of him. He flinched when Daniel closed his laptop, pushing the screen down. "Hey!" He protested.

"It's not very nice to look at your laptop when someone tries to speak to you." Daniel explains, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Max scoffed. "Maybe take the hint." He fired back, trying not to actually sound rude.

"That hurt." Daniel placed a hand on his chest.

Max rolled his eyes. "Don't you have a job to fulfill?"

Daniel shrugged. "Nah, Mick got it." He pointed at the desk. There were barely any customers and it was clear Mick was indeed handling it well. "Right." Daniel said. "Is the essay urgent?" He asked, almost in a whisper.

"Not really." Max replied. "I'm almost finished." He really wasn't 'almost finished', but he just wanted to know what Daniel was implying.

"Cool, so we can hang out?" Daniel offered.

Max frowned. "During your shift?" He snorted. "I don't think that's possible."

"I know." Daniel replied, grinning. "I just want to talk with you, that's it."

"Alright." Max spoke, leaning his arms on top of the table. "Go on then, talk."

—

Max wasn't planning on spending three hours at the cafe. He wasn't planning to stay until closing time, but once he started to speak with Daniel he couldn't stop. The man listened, someone listened to him for once.

The thing is, Max couldn't stop staring at Daniel, specifically his hands. The tattoos pulled his eye every time. It was actually embarrassing how much he was looking at Daniel.

But the cafe was closing and Max had to go home. "Here." Daniel crouched down and grabbed Max's backpack from the floor, handing it over to him. "I expect you to come back."

Max chuckled, grabbing the backpack from Daniel, swinging it around his shoulder. "Of course." He breathed out.

"Great." Daniel smiled. "Come on, let's go." Mick had done all the cleaning already so all Daniel had to was close the store. Daniel placed a hand on Max's lower back, leading him over to the door. "Wanna get some dinner?"

Max's eyes widened while he turned around to face Daniel. "I-."

"You don't have to." Daniel rushed to say. "I get it if you have something planned." He added, smiling softly.

Max's lips formed into a small smile, trying not to spoil his reply. "I would like to come with you. What are you thinking of going to?"

Daniel held up his finger, motioning to give him a moment. He turned around, locking the door before turning back to Max. He took a hold of his wrist. "I'll lead the way." He announced, pulling Max along with him.

—

They ended up at an Italian restaurant. Max had never been there before but he could tell Daniel loved it. They were just seated at the table when Max's phone rang, it was Lando. Max excused himself and picked up.

"Max!" Lando immediately shouted. "We were gonna play when you were done with school, remember? Did you forgot about me?"

Max could hear the sadness in his best friend's voice. He frowned. "No, well... yeah I didn't meant to forgot though. I went to this cafe and ended up staying way too long." Max bit his lip, hoping Lando knew what he was implying.

"Wait a second, are you with him? Right now?" Lando squealed.

Max chuckled lightly. "Yeah." He replied.

"Wait. I hear sounds that sound like a restaurant." Lando commented. "Are you out for dinner with him? Oh my god Max I'm so sorry for interrupting." He rushed.

"No worries Lan, I'm sorry about tonight." He mentioned, looking down in embarrassment. He could've at least sent Lando a text about not being enable to play tonight.

"No worries, have a good time, but not a too good time."

Max could hear Lando laugh at his own joke before the boy hang up. Max smiled to himself and put his phone back down on the table. He looked up, and found Daniel looking at him.

"Who was that?" Daniel asked, curiously. "Boyfriend?" He wiggles his eyebrows.

"Best friend." Max replied. "He lives in England, so I haven't really spoken to him in real life yet. He's the best person ever though."

"That's sweet." Daniel commented, folding his arms on the table. "You've never seen him before?"

"Nope." Max said. "I met him online, we got along really quick. Which usually doesn't really happen with me and other people." He explained before taking a sip of the water the waiter just put on their table.

Daniel hummed. "Do you think we get along?" He suddenly asked.

Max almost spit out his water. He quickly swallowed it and coughed. "Yeah... I mean I think we do." He blushed.

"Great." Daniel smiled satisfied. "I think we get along really well too! Glad we're on the same page."

Max blinked. He never said really well, but he wouldn't disagree. He mumbled something as an answer.

"Are you in the mood for pasta or pizza, the bill is on me tonight so take whatever you want." Daniel announced while he grabbed the menu from the side of their table.

Max blushed before doing the same as Daniel and whispering, "Pasta."