This is a cute thing my friends @steamclouds and @dagoth-menthol requested of their ship, Glaz x Kapkan from Rainbow Six Siege!

Plot: Glaz and Kapkan go on their usual outing to a café near Hereford Base. Love is all around them today, so it seems.

Rating: General.

Word Count: 1003.

Graphite stuck to the empty canvas, blowing away the minuscule pieces of black-lead that tried to remain to the paper with his breath. Timur glanced at the clock, as the darkened sky, which got cloudier with every minute that passed, would not allow him to pinpoint the hour.

It’s past three, where is he?  Timur questioned, glancing at the section of the hall he could see with his door open. The pencil dropped from his hand, bouncing on the sheets as he reached to accommodate the lace of his boots. His finger began to ache, reaching for that scar on his eye until the sound of approaching steps snapped him out of his thoughts.

His worried frown softened, smiling at the sight of his dearest friend standing outside his door. A chuckle from Maxim as he patted Timur on the back, smiling down at the artistic guy.

‘‘Ready to go?’’ Maxim asked, watching as Timur locked his door shut, nodding his only answer.

Hereford Base did not have much to entertain, but both men had become fond of the small café in a village nearby. It was cozy, it was nice, never busy and almost imitating that foreign American diner atmosphere neither had experienced.

The drive there was always silent, Timur focusing on the shapes the clouds were to take while Maxim stared, quiet, at the eyes that stole all the blue of the foggy British sky. Those instants where he could do so, before turning his gaze at the road.

Timur never noticed, for his focus was not always on the clouds that day. It slipped, from time to time, to the mirror closest to him. A tiny smile cloaked by the neck of his winter jacket, as he gazed at the hunter.

His shoulders could ease as long as he was by his side and even if his companion tried to rebuke all claims with his taciturn exterior and too-serious frown, deep down Timur knew, Maxim allowed for his defenses to drop, even if it was for one moment.

Maxim parked where he could, it so happened to be across the café. The streets were mostly empty, it was a tranquil urbanized village after all. The kind where modernity seemed to halt, where everyone knew the regulars and strangers were a sight to marvel at.

They sat down at what was now considered, with how often they came, their table. The scent of brews, coffee and tea, and the pastries displayed for every customer that may enter the store to see. There was no one but the employees, and that old married couple Timur would greet with a smile, while Maxim would simply nod at the older gentleman, and then at his wife.

Walking towards them, a girl with golden locks, sun-kissed and with a smile of summer, the season that never came around those parts. She smiled, hand resting on her hip.

‘‘Good afternoon, you two. Same as usual?’’ She asked, not even bothering to get a pencil and paper out. Her mind had their order saved to perfection, a black coffee with a dash of cream for Maxim, and a vanilla latte for Timur.

‘‘Yes, Amelia,’’ Maxim answered, a scant smile for the young gal. She nodded and returned to her spot, preparing what they would always drink.

Timur chuckled at the sight of the girl skipping behind the counter, turning his attention to the other man. ‘‘I think she finally got inside her dream college, Max.’’

‘‘Is that so? How can you tell?’’ His voice a little husky, Maxim scratched under his recently-shaved chin. Timur pointed at the counter, a little jar that just said TIPS  was gone now.

‘‘She emptied it earlier than usual and,’’ He gestured at Amelia’s messy bun; Maxim squinted a bit, noticing also the bags under her eyes. ‘‘She doesn’t look like her usual self, no braid or anything but she looks quite happy.’’

‘‘Hmm… You seem to be right, though there’s also something you didn’t notice,’’ As Amelia placed their coffees on the table, the pair gave a quiet thanks, awaiting for the waitress to leave back to her spot. ‘‘Our dear Amelia also has a new infatuation, as you may tell from her wandering gaze.’’

Truthfully, Amelia had a different kind of glow. With curious trace, Timur located the object of the blonde’s affection. A new girl, a waitress like her, with hair and eyes as dark as the moment before the sunrise, a pale complexion to contrast. They could tell she was not from around the area, probably a city girl in her summer job, college age too.

‘‘Seems you are right, любимый.’’ Timur thought himself brave enough, for that instant, to reach and touch Maxim’s hand. He resigned to the warmth of his vanilla latte instead.

They watched Amelia glance at them, for a few seconds barely, before initiating a conversation with the raven-haired gal.

‘‘I wonder which of us gave her the confidence, to ask the new girl out.’’

‘‘Us?’’

‘‘The elderly couple, or you and I,’’ Maxim shrugged as if what he said wasn’t causing the other Russian have a silent, near-death experience. His heart could burst out of his chest, even more when Maxim just gave back a silent laugh.

‘‘Love really is… one hell of a thing, is it not?’’ Maxim asked, his lips by now tasting well of black coffee. Timur almost wanted to try it himself, and not from the source.

‘‘Perhaps, many more will find it once this threat is over…’’ The faint blush crept up Timur’s pale cheeks. Maxim snorted, cleaning the bit of coffee that had spewed on his lips; thankfully barely something to be noticed by anyone but them.

‘‘Tim, you’re one sappy shit.’’