Chapter Text
TANGO
Tango was working the opening shift at the small side street coffee house. He normally had the shift after he was done with his daily crash out from code at 3pm, but he switched with Scott so the other could study for his audition for a show thing? Tango didn’t fully understand theater and acting and it was quite apparent.
He opened Coffee Corner at 6am on the dot. He had arrived at 5:30 to start up the espresso machine and get everything set for the day. Scar was also on morning shift that Saturday but was in the back when Tango finally flipped the sign to open.
Customers started to trickle in a few minutes later, getting usual lattes and espressos.
Tango went through the motions at the machines making the variety of drinks as Scar handled most of the cash register for the first hours.
At about the 4 1/2 hour mark Scar turned to Tango and told him,” I’m gonna take my break, I’ll be back in 10!”
“Alright,” Tango had told the hyper man.
The business had slowed down when there was a group of college age kids that walked into the shop.
Tango’s brain fired slightly, only slightly! There was a group of about 10 people all in matching jackets that said,’ Riverway Color Guard.’
Riverway was a college a few towns over. As the tallest one out of all of them walked forward Tango greeted with the usual,” Hi! What may I get you today?”
The guy glanced at the menu before saying,” This is going to be a long one,”
Tango's brain immediately added ‘that’s what she said’ but declined saying that thought out loud.
“That’s fine,” Tango told the blond guy.
“Okay,” The guy started,” Can we have 5 medium hot chocolates, 3 small espressos, 2 medium lattes, and 3 large black coffees.”
Tango quickly put the order in offhandedly mentioning,” Honestly that order could have been a lot worse.”
The guy chuckled and Tango asked looking up at the blond,” What’s the name for the order?”
“Oh um yeah, Jimmy.”
“Alright, your total will be $34.57, will that be cash or card today handsome?” Tango asked before freezing. That did not mean to come out, he did not mean to say that, fuck fuck fuck fuck, maybe he could just play it cool.
He looked to see ‘Jimmy's’ reaction. His face was bright red and he had slightly forgotten how to speak it seemed. One of his teammates chuckled from behind him before walking up,” It’ll be card,” They told Tango card in hand.
“Okay I just need you to slide there, and I’ll call your drinks when they’re ready!” Tango told the red haired person.
They swiped their card and walked back with the team and the still red Jimmy. The team waited over away from the counter as Tango started the drinks.
Tango sort of wished Scar wasn’t on his break but knowing the chaotic man he was probably texting the Grain guy he talked about all the time.
Scar almost always had morning shifts so Tango didn’t interact with him too often but any shift together during his break or down time he was almost always texting Grain, Grian? He didn’t know
From what he could gather Scar had a crush, like a major one, and Tango still hadn’t met Grian nor had Scott or Ren. Maybe Tango would meet Scars mysterious crush at some point but he needed to make the drinks.
It took him a while passing out the drinks as they were made but eventually finished them all.
“That should be everything,” he said as he passed the final latte to Jimmy.
“Thank you uh..” Jimmy paused before looking at Tango’s name tag, "Tango.”
The blonde hair man dropped a 20 in the tip jar before the team left the Coffee place.
He watched as Jimmy left, the red hair person from earlier smirked when they noticed him slightly staring at Jimmy as he left. He quickly looked away to see Scar back by the counter again.
“You know him?” Scar asked him as he put his phone back in his pocket.
“Nah, just a customer, his name was Jimmy,” Tango told him, not knowing why he added the last bit.
Scar froze and looked at Tango,” Jimmy?”
“Yeah?”
“Oh that must have been Grian’s brother! Oh I can’t wait to tell Grian later! Jimmy does Color Guard! And he is one of their captains, Grian is so proud of him!”
Tango smiled as the man got excited. ” You talk to Grian often?” he asked as he cleaned some mugs.
“Well not often often, but sometimes, were just friends you know? Like best friends so we talk a normal amount and everything is totally normal best friend friendship amount of things. Yep!” Scar sputtered out.
Tango smirked slightly, "I didn’t think of anything else.”
Scar laughed nervously,” At least I didn’t fall in love at first sight with a random customer today.”
Tango quickly turned to Scar,” I did not fall in love! Even if-”
He was interrupted by the door’s bell ringing. Keralis walked in waving to the other 2 employees.
Tango quickly shut up and waved back.
“Hi Keralis!” Scar said out.
“Hi Scar!” The other responded equally as enthusiastically.
“You should be good to go Tango!” Keralis told him.
Tango smiled. ” Thanks, See you guys later!” He said his bag was already on his shoulder ready to bolt.
“Wait!” Scar called,” I think this was meant for you.” Scar passed him the 20 with a paperclip he hadn’t noticed before with a slip of paper on it.
Championships MAIN FIELD Saturday, November 12, - 7:30 a.m. ALL DAY TICKET ALL FLIGHTS General Admission. It was a competition ticket, it was Jimmy's final competition ticket to go see.
“Thanks Scar, see you later!” He managed to sputter out.
He left the store with the paper in hand re reading it over and over. He had plans that Saturday he guessed.
To say Tango was overthinking was an understatement.
As he walked home he must have read that paper 50 times over. He’s going to a cute boys Championship competition.
When he got home to his cruddy apartment he quickly checked his calendar and put the date in it. He then called impulse, his roommate that wasn’t home.
The call was answered on the second ring. “ What did you do?” Impulse immediately asked.
“What makes you think I did something?” Tango exclaimed. “I have called to inform you that I have some great news that I am totally not over thinking at all!”
“What happened?’ impulse quickly asked.
“So…You know how I switched shifts with Scott today?”
“Yeah.”
“Well I accidently called a really pretty customer handsome and then he gave me a 20 Doller tip and a ticket to his championship he has this Saturday,” Tango sputtered out at the speed of light.
“He has a championship?” Impulse asked.
“Yeah, he came in with his Color Guard team and they ordered a lot of drinks, "Tango explained.
“What was his name?”
“Jimmy.”
There was an awkward silence. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing is wrong! I was just thinking if I know him at all, "Impulse said quickly almost to quickly
“Do you know him?” Tango asked, passing around their apartment.
“I don’t think so,” Impulse said.
“Alright, but what should I do? I don’t know relationships Impulse and that if like it was meant for Scar or like what if it was all a misunderstanding and he already had a partner ad-”
“Tango calm down, it wasn’t meant for Scar. Go to the championship It wasn’t a misunderstanding he gave you a ticket to his show, it will all be fine,” Impulse soothed.
It did not work but Tango tried for impulse sake,” Alright, thanks, see ya later!”
Tango hung up and flopped backward onto the small couch like the main character of some soap opera.
He checked his watch. He had his courses in 25 minutes. He groaned. Maybe it would at least get his brain off of whatever had just happened at the Corner Coffee.
He grabbed his laptop and headphones and went to the kitchen table. He didn’t do traditional college classes. He had different curses online to become a full-stack developer. He had already done a few different courses and knew a lot of it but it was nice to look back on to remember things.
He did the workshop and listened to a few lectures, taking notes and making a few simple codes.
He then switched to his current project he was working on. He had a company that had hired him for a website design, it was simple enough but he couldn’t get the link to work how he wanted it to.
He had it connected but wanted it to be able to go to different places depending on what you choose, sort of like a drop down menu. He learned how to do this years ago! He should remember how to!
He crashed out at the code more times than he was willing to admit.
Impulse got home around 4 and Skizz got home about 4:20.
His living situation was with 3 other roommates, Impulse and Skizz who had known each other since high school, and Zedaph who was a nursing student and had extremely long shifts and classes and everything Tango didn't know too much. Impulse was in a degree for Software engineering, which put simply is designing and testing software. Skizz was in a local trade school working in electricianing. They also called themselves Z.I.T.S because they did.
Their apartment was on the first floor, Skizz's and Zed’s room were in the left hallway on the right and Impulse’s and Tango’s were on the left. The entry was into the dining room and kitchen area with a couch on the other side. The bathroom was a door on the right side of the room opposite the bedroom hallway.
He loved his roommates but they are absolutely no help at all in relationships. There was one person he knew that was good at relationships, Scott.
That night after the rest of Z.I.T.S had fallen asleep Tango stayed up holding his phone, maybe he shouldn’t, Scott wouldn’t care what if it ends badly what if, what if, what if, kept going through his head.
Tango liked Scott a lot more than he should have for someone who was a coworker he didn’t see too often. But, Tango wasn’t going to dig into that with the Jimmy situation.
He texted Scott
Hey Scott! How did your audition go today?
The response was almost immediate
I think it went well, I messed up the one line but it should be okay, the directors probably will only base my entire role on that audition it’s fine!”
I think you did great! I’ve seen you act, you phenomenal, honestly it’s almost scary how in character you get!
They texted for hours into the night about auditions and their days. Tango told him about the Color Guard guy situation but left out his name, he didn’t need more people trying to track down his new crush.
SCOTT
Scott was extremely happy that Tango had agreed to cover his shift that morning. Before his audition he talked to Martyn.
Scott and Martyn were both auditioning for the play Clue.
They both did their scenes and did some dancing from the Choreography they had to learn. Scott hoped he got a good part, he needed a good part. Martyn said he did well, the directors said he did well, but what if he didn’t. What if they all are lying.
He was spiraling waiting and refreshing the page for the cast list that was going to be posted that Saturday the 12 when Tango texted.
Scott's nerdy coworker who was a code developer making big things in the world already. Scott liked Tango, he was nice, most of the time quiet but he was good at his work even if he was in his head a lot. He wasn’t expecting a test from Tango at 1 am asking how his audition went.
He rambled about his mistake spiraling to another person rather than just to himself. Tango told Scot about his day and about the cute boy that did Color Guard and left him a ticket.
That cute boy reminded Scott of someone. He didn’t tell Tango that. He let the other talk and he talked. They talked until Tango finally went to bed.
Scott sat there in his bed. Jimmy had finally moved on hadn’t he?
Of course Scott wanted him to, they were only high school sweethearts after all. They were still friends, slightly, but it was always awkward. They broke up because of some
stupid miscommunication and Scott will never forgive himself for that stupid, stupid fight. Of course it was his fault. It was always his fault.
Scott didn’t lose his feelings. Not when he was with Martyn, though the feeling was mutual they were better of friends. Not at any of the parties he had been to, not any of the first dates that failed spectacularly.
And of course it was Grian’s Brother he was still stupidly hung up on after all those years. Grian probably still wanted to murder Scott for what he did to Jimmy. Scott didn’t blame him. If he had listened to when Jimmy said they needed to talk more, he should have listened when he thought he shouldn’t have stayed as long as he did.
Jimmy and Tango would be great together, they would love and comfort each other, they would be amazing for each other. Tango hadn’t said a name but Scott knew, he always knew.
And that’s the story of how he ended up calling Cleo at 6am on a Tuesday.
Scott went to work at 6:30, 10 minutes later than usual. He put on his act in front of Scar and all the people who came through the doors that dreary November morning, hiding all his emotions when the very person he had tried not to think about walked through the door.
Jimmy and his team, Cleo was there, so was Gem. Cleo was the one who walked to the counter but started talking to Scar, Jimmy walked up to order to Scott.
Scott took the order and started making the familiar drinks when he got a tap on his shoulder.
He turned to see Scar, ”Take your break I have this one.”
Scott was not confused for long when Cleo dragged him outside to the frigid air.
“Cleo! What the-”
Cleo pulled him into the same hug they gave him previously that morning.
They quickly pulled away and handed him a slip of paper,” I think you’ll need this.”
They walked off when Scott read it. It was a ticket to Jimmy’s championship.
The same kind of ticket Tango had gotten.