That was unusual. He’d been going to that café for over a year and not one of the baristas ever greeted customers on their way in. (Okay, so maybe he visited the café a little too often. Their coffee was really that good! …or so he told himself.)

He put his phone away and glanced up: at the register was a handsome man. Possibly the most handsome man he’d ever seen. Kakyoin was pretty sure his jaw dropped at just how goddamn fine this man was – he’d never seen him there before, and he was a little, ahem, older; definitely too old to be working as a barista. Kakyoin found himself patting down his cheeks to keep the blush away, but it was no use. He couldn’t stop staring.

The new barista was literally a personification of the phrase silver fox. Most of his hair was white with some shining grays here and there that gave off an opal effect. His jaw was square and lined with a neatly cut beard, save for some strays sticking out at the mustache and on his chin. His pink lips offered a bright smile directed at Kakyoin himself. He swallowed nervously and headed straight to the back of the line.

Only two people were ahead of him so it didn’t take long, but that also gave him less time to come up with something smooth to say. Something natural. Other than what immediately came to mind: “Oh my god you’re so hot excuse my manners.” Kakyoin stepped up and cleared his throat, tapping his toes on the linoleum as he waited for the man to finish the previous customer’s order. When the man finally returned he wiped his hands on an apron and said cheerfully in a deep, raspy voice, “Good morning! What’ll it be? Doppio, perhaps?”

Kakyoin immediately noticed something off, that the man wasn’t wearing a uniform. No plain black collared shirt, no slacks, though he did have an old apron tied around his waist. Without thinking Kakyoin asked, “Why aren’t you in a uniform?”

The man looked confused for a moment before glancing down at his clothes and letting out a boisterous laugh. He dusted his hands off on the apron again and held one out for a handshake.

“Good eye, I like that,” he said. “How rude of me! You must be one of the student regulars. I’m Joseph Joestar, I own this café.”

“Oh my god,” Kakyoin said aloud. “I get it now. I get why the shop is called Cup of Joe’s but the apostrophe is a star.”

“You got it, kid. So what’ll it be?”

“Uh—um—“ Fuck, fuck, fuck, what do I say? Holy shit he’s even hotter up close. Wait, why am I so attracted to him? He’s probably more than twice my age and—

“Your next line will be, ‘How are you so hot but so old?’”

“How are you so hot but so old? –Wait, what the hell!”

“Ha, it’s a thing I do. I guess you could say I’m psychic.” Joseph laughed again. Kakyoin pinched the bridge of his nose. Yep, it felt hot, which meant the rest of his face was cherry red just like his hair. “Though I didn’t take you for the type to like old foxes like me!”

“I… uh—I usually don’t?” Kakyoin glanced behind him but no one was there. He cursed under his breath. If there were a line starting to form he could weasel his way out of this mess, but it didn’t seem like Joseph was going to let him off so easy.

“Ah, shame. Well, I’ll be here the whole week. So what’ll it be?”

Kakyoin swallowed thickly and ordered his usual. He took it to go, however, because he knew if he stayed any longer he would just keep staring.

The rest of the week went much smoother. Kakyoin reintroduced himself the next day and apologized for being so forward and rude, but Joseph wasn’t upset at all. In fact, he seemed to be flirting. He even gave him a free drink. A free drink! Kakyoin stupidly insisted that he had to repay him in some way, to which of course Joseph suggested a date on the last night he’d be running the café.

Kakyoin tried to calm down as he prepared for the night. They had nice conversations. Talked about school and home life. Joseph never mentioned a wife but he talk a lot about his kids. His grandkid. Who was Kakyoin’s age and attended the same school as him. Luckily Joseph was a great conversationalist so Kakyoin didn’t have time to think about the likelihood of him running into Joseph’s grandson, or about how he had probably already run into him at some point and didn’t know it.

He took another deep breath and eyed himself in the mirror once more. Green sweater, ironed khakis, shined shoes and his long, curled bang shaped to a perfect spiral. He removed his glasses and put in contacts before heading out with an extra coat and clammy hands.

When he arrived at the café Joseph was just locking up. “Almost finished—I’ll be back in a few minutes!” he said, rushing into the kitchen. Kakyoin sat down at the single table available by the window. All the others had their chairs sat on top to prevent last-minute customers from overstaying their welcome.

Joseph reemerged fifteen minutes later in a charming button-up and clean, pressed pants. He dabbed at his face with a handkerchief and brought over two cold pastries and iced lattes in mugs. He smiled sheepishly and gestured to their ‘feast.’

“Sorry it’s not much,” Joseph said, “But my usual place was booked.”

“This is quite lovely, actually,” Kakyoin said, offering a shy smile. Joseph chuckled and laid out his napkin across his lap before rubbing his hands together.

“Then let’s dig in!” Kakyoin laughed and followed Joseph’s example, rolling up his sleeves first. The baked goods were warm and fresh. His croissant was particularly flaky. Kakyoin took a sip of his latte, finding it a bit too sweet for his taste; he glanced at Joseph and cracked a smile. He barely knew him but the overly sweet drink fit him perfectly.

“You know, I was supposed to be paying you back but here you are giving me free things again.”

Joseph waved his hand around. “Nonsense! You agreed to go on a date with me, that’s repayment enough. Thanks, by the way, I didn’t think you’d really say yes.”

“Well… I blurted out my attraction to you, so what was the harm?” They shared a hearty laugh. Joseph finished his pastry and downed his drink. Kakyoin snickered – he cleaned up well but his manners were terrible. He took the last bite of his pastry and cleaned his fingers on the napkin.

When he looked up again, Joseph was staring at his mouth. “Oh, do I have--?”

Joseph reached forward with a mischievous smile, leaning a little far over the table – Kakyoin worried he might get his shirt dirty – but before he could say anything Joseph ran his thumb along his bottom lip and cupped his sharp jaw in a warm palm.

“Nah, there’s nothing there. I just wanted to get a little closer.”

“Geez, and I thought I was the forward one. How’d you do that anyway? You can’t just predict people’s lines.”

“Yes I can! Watch. Your next line will be, ‘So do you wanna kiss, maybe?’”

Joseph did a little wink and straight from Kakyoin’s mouth came those exact words. He blushed bright pink and pursed his lips, convinced that Joseph was pulling some sort of hypnotic trick to get him to say what he wanted. But he did want to kiss him. He wanted to kiss the older, foxy gentleman sitting right in front of him, whose rough beard would probably scratch his lips and chin but he wouldn’t care. He leaned forward a little and closed his eyes as their lips met. Joseph’s lips were thinner than his but smooth, and his mustache was quite soft on his skin.

Kakyoin’s heart stopped beating. Joseph smelled like coffee, which made sense, but the aroma invaded his sensitive nose, and was that also—cologne? A subtle hint which gave Kakyoin tingles. His stomach flipped as Joseph’s fingers stroked his hair, and all too soon, the warmth was gone. His lips sunk into a frown.

“Ah—sorry, Kakyoin,” Joseph said. He rubbed the back of his neck and sat back in his seat, glancing down at the crumbs in his empty plate. “I don’t normally do things like this, actually.”

“I mean, I would’ve punched you if I didn’t want to kiss too.”

“Good point.”

“But I do want to ask—“ Kakyoin twiddled his thumbs and gnawed on his lip. His brows furrowed as he tried to find the least uncomfortable way to ask the question. “—Um, you’ve talked about your kids a lot… and your grandkid, so I… I just want to know what kind of ground I’m treading on, here.”

Joseph rubbed his neck again. A nervous habit, Kakyoin thought. Hoo boy. He prepared himself for the worst and ignored the tightening in his chest.

“Well, it’s—complicated. We’re separated but not divorced. It took a lot of work but we’re on good terms now, relatively speaking. I understand if you don’t want to pursue this, but—but I’d really like to take you out again, Kakyoin.”

Kakyoin leaned on his elbows and sighed. He never took his eyes off Joseph, trying to gauge the man’s sincerity from his beautiful aquamarine eyes and the crow’s feet growing out of them, and the wrinkles in his dimples that showed all the joy that had already partaken in his life. Kakyoin smiled a little.

“I don’t trust you completely.”

“Understandable.”

“But I doubt I’m just a booty call.”

“Also correct.”

“Alright, you can take me out again. But aren’t you leaving tomorrow?”

“I’ll be back in two weeks. Trying to relocate somewhere out here so I can be more involved with the business.”

“…sounds good.” Kakyoin tapped his chin and eyed Joseph warily. That grin was much too wide. “But I swear to the heavens above if you predict my next line again—“

“Alright, alright. I won’t do it.”

“Good. Then, another kiss?”

Joseph grinned again with the preexisting knowledge that Kakyoin was going to ask for another kiss. And then they did kiss again, small little pecks that lingered longer here and there. Joseph liked to nibble on Kakyoin’s bottom lip and he didn’t mind it but their open-mouthed kisses were not sloppy. They spent the rest of the night walking around the campus until Joseph’s yawning became more prominent. He walked Kakyoin back to his apartment and kissed him goodnight, tempted to flirt his way in for the night but knowing that he shouldn’t.