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“A flat white to drink in!” The barista calls out. Sirius grabs his drink, thanking them, and goes to make his way over to the table James is seated at. But just as he turns, he sees a tall man striding towards the exit and they collide, hot coffee splashing across his white shirt.
“What the fuck!” He exclaims.
“I am so sorry,” Sirius puts his drink back on the counter and grabs some napkins to dry his shirt, but it's futile. There is no way that won't stain.
“I have an important meeting! I can't go like this!”
“We can go to Primark; it's just across the street. I'll buy you a new shirt,” Sirius suggests, desperate to make up for his clumsiness.
“I won't have time,” he sighs. “I'll just have to explain that some idiot spilled coffee on me and hope they take my proposal seriously.”
“I'm not an idiot,” Sirius blurts out, feeling the need to defend himself.
The man raises an eyebrow and looks pointedly between Sirius and his shirt. “How stupid are you? You have ruined any chance I have of being promoted. You have no idea how much I need the money.”
“It was an accident…” he mumbles.
“I don't care, I have to go.”
“I'm sorry,” Sirius shouts out to him as he walks away. He makes his way over to James, who's laughing at him, clearly having witnessed what just unfolded. “It's not funny, Prongs! He said he had an important meeting or something and I've probably just fucked that up for him.”
“I'm sure a coffee stain won't fuck his meeting up,” James reasons.
“It could! His meeting could he with really mean or snobby people who would reject him immediately for turning up sloppy. I'm a horrible person,” he sighs dramatically, taking a sip out of James’ caramel latte.
“Mate, it was an accident. Don't beat yourself up about it.”
“Do you know what the worst part was?” Sirius gives the now half empty cup back to James. “He was hot. So unbelievably hot. You saw how tall he was, and the way he looked down at me. His angry gaze with those hazel eyes. Fuck, James, he has a scar across his face.” Sirius’ forehead bangs on to the table while his friend chuckles. Why does he always fuck things up with the people he’s attracted to?
***
A kid zooms around the coffee shop, and accidentally knocks into the table Sirius is seated at, no James in sight - for once he is earlier than him - and spilling some of his coffee. The child skids to a stop and looks at him with big round eyes, clearly apologetic.
“It's okay, mate,” Sirius says reassuringly, remembering the times he was punished for accidentally making a mess as a child. He cleans the spilt drink with a napkin, “There. Good as new.”
“Sorry,” the child mumbles.
“Don't worry about it,” Sirius replies. “Maybe just don't run in here, yeah?”
The kid nods and someone calls him. “What did I say about talking to strangers, Teddy?” And it's just Sirius’ luck that the boy’s father is him.
“I spilt his drink, so I just said sorry. You always say if you make a mistake, you should apologise.”
The child's dad sighs. “Well done for apologising. Now say goodbye to the nice-” he finally looks at Sirius, recognition dawning on him, “man.”
Teddy says bye then sits at a table with his father and a woman with electric pink hair who Sirius presumes is his mum. Of course, he's taken. And has a kid.
***
Sirius sits down opposite James; this time he made it to the table without spilling his coffee or ruining his chances with a hot stranger, however slim they may have been. Two weeks later, he still feels embarrassed about what happened, and like a terrible person. He wonders how the man’s meeting went. Did Sirius ruin everything for him?
He should really stop thinking about him. He's taken, he reminds himself.
“Gods, Prongs. What the hell are you wearing?” Sirius exclaims as he notices his long legs sticking out from under the table.
“What? Crocs are very in fashion right now.”
“I know, I despise it. And with socks too,” he tuts. “What is wrong with some people?”
“It’s comfortable, okay? And they come in lots of cool colours.”
“Whatever. Just don’t leave with me. I don’t want to be seen with that.”
James rolls his eyes, muttering, “Dramatic prick.”
They catch up, as they do every Saturday afternoon, and soon, James has to leave for a date.
“Ditching me for a date? That’s so rude,” he jokes and hugs his friend goodbye.
Sirius goes to the toilet before he leaves, and, of course, it’s occupied. He pulls his phone out of his back pocket and scrolls through Insta while he waits. He steps forward as he hears the door unlock and runs directly into the person coming out.
“You should really start looking where you’re going,” a familiar voice says, grabbing his phone from his hands.
“Hey! Give that back!” Sirius looks up and his stomach swoops as he looks into those eyes. They have little flecks of gold in them, he didn’t notice that last time. Or the time before that, guilt flooding through him as he remembers how he spilled coffee all over his shirt before an important meeting. “How did that meeting go?” he asks, all traces of anger at the stolen phone gone.
“It was fine, my coworker had a spare jumper I could borrow.” Sirius lets out a breath, tension bleeding out of his body. The man raises an eyebrow, “You were actually worried you fucked things up for me, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, I’ve felt awful ever since. I can’t apologise enough, I am so sorry. But I’m glad it worked out for you in the end.”
He smiles crookedly, and Sirius’ heart skips a beat. He notices that he is not wearing a suit today, instead a brown grandpa sweater. It looks so cosy, and Sirius wants to walk forward into his arms, sure he’d feel safe and comfortable in the stranger’s embrace. The man rubs the back of his neck, “Listen, I’m sorry about how rude I was when you ran into me. I was already stressed for the meeting but that’s no excuse. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Sirius says. “I deserved it. I should’ve been looking where I was going.”
“You didn’t deserve that. It was an accident; I see that now. However,” he waves Sirius’ phone, “this was entirely your fault.”
Sirius laughs, placing a hand over his heart, “I won’t walk while on my phone again, I swear.”
“That’s good to hear,” he replies.
“How's your son? He seems like a good kid.”
The man smiles, “Yeah, he's good. He said you were nice to him.”
“I have a soft spot for children,” Sirius shrugs. “What about his mother?” he asks, curious about who claimed this handsome man's heart.
Somehow, he senses what Sirius meant by that. He smiles, “She’s good, and took Teddy to her house for the weekend.” Her house? They're separated?
“What er, what happened? Between you two?” Sirius immediately regrets asking such a personal question.
“Well, it's kinda hard to stay in a straight relationship when we're both raging homosexuals,” he says deadpan and starts typing on Sirius’ phone before giving it back. “I’ve got to go. Remember to look where you’re walking.”
“No, wait-” Sirius shouts after him when he's snapped out of his shock at the man confirming he is gay, but it's too late. He is out of the coffee shop before Sirius could even think of catching up to him. He sighs. How could he let him leave yet again? Sirius looks down at his phone to see what he done on it. His heart starts pounding as he looks at the screen. He gave him his number. Remus, the contact name reads. Sirius loves that name. Maybe this isn’t as much of a disaster as he thought. Maybe first impressions aren't as important as people say. Maybe good things can come from spilling coffee on strangers.