BrandontheLover one shots

Favourite grumpy barista

Word count: 1.818

Last updated: 06-05-2023

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'It is oat milk, like I said five times before. Now leave.' The man glares at him and says, 'If it is actual milk I -' The barista lets out a groan and waves them away. 'It's not. Leave.' It takes a few seconds for the man to realise there is nothing he can say and he finally grabs his coffee and moves out of the line. The barista looks up again and makes eye contact with you. You immediately see his expression change. 'Oh, hi, my favourite customer,' he tells you. It's like he is trying to give you a small smile but instead it looks quite awkward. 'And my favourite grumpy barista,' you respond. You give him a proper smile in return. 'I am...? Coming in to hang out with me so I don't have to work? So nice of you,' he tells you. The cup he had in his hands for the next customer quickly makes his way back on the shelf. Expecting you not to order anything to give him a few minutes of peace in the morning rush. 'I actually do want to order,' you tell him, letting out a little laugh and the annoyed look he shoots you. He rolls his eyes and grabs the cup again. 'Really...? Your usual then?' He does not even wait for you to reply to him, already making his way over to the machine to his left to get started on your 'usual' order. 'Yes, please, and some of that cake.' You point to the cake behind the glass. 'Mine? Sure,' he quickly responds, giving you a spin. A smile spreads on your face but you still roll your eyes. 'Brandon, no.' 'Whatever. They just got out the oven. Sit down and I will make your stupid drink,' he tells you. He motions over to a table next to the window, one of the only empty spots left. You should be lucky that the morning rush mainly consists of people having their drinks to go and not sitting down in the cafe. 'Wonderful service, as usual,' you tell him, adding a wink. 'Shut up.''

'Alright, here you are. In your favourite cup even,' Brandon says. He puts down a cup and a plate on the table in front of you. 'Thank you,' you tell him. 'So, is it good?' he asks before you can even take a sip. He sits down on the chair opposite from you. 'It's the same I order, like, every time I get here?' You furrow your eyebrows, confused at his questions. You've told him enough times that his drinks are good, otherwise you wouldn't be coming back on a regular basis. 'Still, is it good?' he asks again, monotone voice and expression, as usual. The first few times you met him he seemed quite intimidating, but you have come to learn that this is how he always is, and it actually is quite cute. You love it when you can get the smallest of smiles from him with a stupid joke or compliment. You roll your eyes but comply, taking a sip from your drink to judge it. 'Yeah, it is,' you tell him. 'So I made it alright. Good.'

'Dumbass.' Brandon looks at you and attempts to make a fake shocked expression, which only makes him look funnier. 'What? I am just trying to make sure you like it!' he tells you. You stop yourself from rolling your eyes at him again, instead just staring at him with a small smile on your face. 'It is really good, as always, thank you,' you say. He gives you a quick smile before saying, quite loud, 'Great, seems like I get to keep my best barista title for another day.' You shake your head and take another sip of your drink. 'Best grumpy barista more like,' you mumble to yourself. but he catches it. 'Well, you are my favourite customer, so I just want to make sure you will still come in after this.' 'Shouldn't you be going back behind the bar? There are probably some people waiting to order their coffees,' you tell him. 'Trying to get me away from your table? Rude... But ok, I'll leave. For now,' he replies. He gets up from the seat and shoots you another look before getting back behind the counter. You let out a breath and then smile. He really is your favourite barista, no matter how rude or sarcastic he may seem to other people, they just don't know him well enough to realise he is just a very tall dork. 

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A few days later you are back at the cafe for another coffee and, hopefully, an empty table. Usually Fridays are quite busy, so you hope there is still an empty seat waiting for you. 'What brought you here today?' you hear as soon as you take your first step into the cafe. You look up to the bar and see Brandon standing there. 'Day off from work,' you tell him. 'How nice. Then you have another day to spend with grumpy me. Just don't rub it in my face that you have a day off and I don't,' he tells you quickly. 'Very exciting, yes.' You smile at him. 'A good thing you're not intimidated by me,' he says. Not even asking what you want to drink, he gets out a cup and starts working on something. 'Intimidated?' you laugh, 'By what? You?' He looks up from where he is standing at the bar, a few feet away from you. 'Yes, a lot of people are. You know, look at my face. Plus, I am quite tall,' he states. 'Hmm,' you hum, 'You are not intimidating to me.' He shrugs his shoulders. 'Well, everyone except for you then. The resting bitch face doesn't help either.' He turns on the coffee machine, and while it is on, makes his way back to where you're standing. 

'Hmm, it's cute,' you tell him. You lean to rest your elbows on the counter, resting your head on your hand. 'You can say that, but I still do scare most of the people that come in here, and most of the ones I work with to.' He really is trying hard to sound intimidating, or trying to get you to feel intimidated, but it is not working. You find it quite cute, actually, how he acts with you. You smile at him as he makes his way back to the coffee machine as he heard it has finished making a coffee. 'You're as scary as a stuffed animal,' you tell him. He turns around quickly, staring you down. 'No, I am not! I am scarier than that, by a lot.'' He tries to argue. 'In your dreams, maybe. You're just cute,' you respond. 'Oh.' Is all the response you're getting. He gets back to you and places the cup of coffee down in front of you on the counter. 'Hmm,' you hum again. 'This mine?' He nods his head as an answer. He has gone awfully quiet, usually he has got a lot to say and will not shut up. 'I am just not used to people calling me cute, I think. Never really happens,' he suddenly says, voice a little softer than it usually is. 'Well, you should get used to it,' you tell him. 'Doubt that.' He gets a small plate from his right and gets over to the glass counter, where all the cakes are. He grabs one, puts it on a plate and also places that down in front of you. Next to the coffee. 

'You're really bad at picking up if someone is flirting with you, huh.' You laugh. 'What?!' he nearly yells. His mouth hangs open a little, too shocked to say anything right away. The sight just makes you laugh more. He really is bad at picking up signals. You've been coming here for so long, and he has yet to notice anything you do. 'You've been flirting with me? For how long?' he finally asks you. 'Every since I started coming here, I think.' Brandon's eyebrows furrow together, he still looks quite shocked, he did not expect this to happen today at all. 'No way it has been that long! I would have noticed,' he tells you. You don't reply, instead you just laugh again.  'Right?' he asks again, sounding almost stressed. He can't believe you have been flirting with him all this time. Is that the reason you come to this cafe so often? He knows there are other cafes closer to where you live, so, it would make more sense to go there multiple times a week. But the fact that you may have gone to this cafe just to see him, multiple times a week, he can't believe that. Doesn't want to believe he hasn't been able to pick up any signs of you flirting with him. He has tried flirting with you, many times even, but he thought it never seemed to work. 

You just nod your head at him, a big smile still on your face. You can feel your cheeks heating up a little, you are happy you finally managed to tell him, even if it wasn't done very smoothly, but you now start to feel a little nervous as you don't know if Brandon actually likes you back or not. 'You've been flirting with me for months?! I kind of thought you were but I didn't want to say anything about it. Ugh. I wanted to flirt back but I didn't because I didn't want to make you uncomfortable... I could have been flirting with you all this time...' he rambles. The expression on his face looks pained. He can't believe he wasted all these month for nothing. He could have asked you out all that time ago and he probably would have gotten a yes. He uses his hand to rub his eyes. 'Oh my god,' he mumbles. You laugh at the sight in front of you. 'Stop laughing! I missed out on so many opportunities to flirt with you! This is not a laughing matter, this is serious!' he nearly yells through the whole cafe. 'Gonna have to make up for lost time then,' you tell him and give him a wink. 'Ok, ok. Uhm... Coffee and cake is on me, IF you want to go out with me after my shift.' You nod your head, smiling. 'Would love to.'

An hour or so later when Brandon's shift is finished and he got changed in the back into his normal clothes he makes his way over to your table. 'Ready?' he asks you. You nod your head and get your stuff. As you're almost out the door an older man stops him and says 'I think every regular customer could tell you two had a crush on each other except you two.'

(I am actually kind of proud of this chapter, kind of wrote it quickly cause I needed to upload something. Hope you all like it! <3 Have a good day)