New house. New housemates. It was as though Atlantis had been being purposefully confusing lately. He supposed he should just be glad that he’d stayed a dude during the round of gender swapping the previous week. Not that his “luck” in that respect had done anything to lift him out of the funk he’d been in since Rebecca had broken up with him on his return to Atlantis. He wasn’t sorry to be back, just annoyed that the timing had made him feel like he was losing two girlfriends in one fell swoop. He supposed the fact that he’d felt like he’d actually had two girlfriends to begin with was exactly what Rebecca had meant when she’d cited his feelings for Casey in her break-up speech. He didn’t blame her for not wanting to be his second best but that didn’t stop him missing her - missing both of them.
Eager for a distraction, Cappie climbed the stairs in his new house and headed towards the white, wooden door to Bedroom 1. He used to live in Bedroom 1 in his old house and it hadn’t taken him long to realise that he’d got the best deal of all his roommates. Now, relegated to Bedroom 4, he was missing the extra square footage and, most of all, the deck. He was curious as to which one of his new roommates had won the bedroom lottery.
Putting his Casey and Rebecca troubles out of his mind, he lifted his hand and rapped, playfully, on the door.
Stretching Charlie looked around her room, and everything looked like it was in place but the window. The window looked different, and it didn't take her long to see on the network that housing had switched, again, apparently.
Getting up she grabbed a pair of sweatpants sliding them on as she heard a knock on the door. Grabbing a sweatshirt, she put it on over . tank top. Opening the door, she pointed at the guy standing there.
"You, you're Cappie," she held out her hand. "I'm Charlie. Do we know who else is here?"
“Me?” Cappie echoed, sounding shocked. “Oh, yes, I am.” He grinned, taking the hand offered to him by the stunning, blonde woman, looking beautifully casual and undone in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, with whom he seemed to be sharing a house with now. He’d seen Charlie around - how could he have missed her? - but they hadn’t officially met before. Despite losing the best room, Cappie couldn’t help thinking he might just have lucked out with this new housing assignment.
“Charlie Weasley and Duke Crocker, according to the notification,” he replied, forcing his eyes back into his head.
“Although you got the best room,” he added, nodding beyond her towards the doors to the deck.
“Oh! Brilliant, Duke is a fantastic housemate, and Charlie’s a big sweetheart, don’t let his dragon loving ways make you think otherwise!” Charlie grinned.
Turning her head to look out she nodded. “It looks like I did win the lottery on the room assignment.” Turning back to look at Cappie she bounced just a little bit. “Is there any coffee in the house, today seems like a caffeine kind of morning.”
“Dragon loving ways?” Cappie echoed, raising his eyebrows. He looked around. “I hope this house has a good fire extinguisher.” The fire extinguishers at the Kappa Tau house were all fairly short lived; someone was always inadvertently setting something on fire - that or having a foam fight. Luckily, that had given a fair amount of experience at using them.
“You know, I don’t know,” Cappie answered, taking the hint that he wasn’t being invited in… yet. “We’re gonna find out though.”
He stepped back, out of the doorway, and gentlemanly ushered her past him so she could descend the stairs to the kitchen in front of him.
“If you’re lucky I’ll make you a Cappiechino,” he added, smirking.
“I’m pretty sure the dragons don’t actually come into the house unless they are little babies, but we should probably ask Charlie about it,” she said, nodding her head thinking about it.
With a playful curtsy as he let her back she had a bounce in her step as they headed towards the kitchen.
Glancing back up and around her she smirked. “What’s in a Cappiechino?”
Cappie’s smirk widened into a grin.
“Why? Do you think you’re going to get lucky?”
Charlie raised her right eyebrow and smirked. “Oh, I’m positive I could get lucky.” She teased back as they got to the kitchen.
Yes, Cappie was positive about that fact too.
“But, I do assume you meant something that involves caffeine in your Cappiechino, unless…” She let the words trail off as she looked him up and down. “You are made of caffeine.” She finished.
He enjoyed the way her eyes roamed up and down his body and he ran his tongue over his lower lip as he waited for her to finish.
“Maybe I am,” he said, with a shrug, crossing over to the coffee maker and beginning to open cupboard doors, looking for coffee. “I have been known to keep people up all night.”
He found a bag of fresh ground beans in the cupboard above the machine, which Atlantis had very thoughtfully left waiting for them, and set the coffee maker running before lifting himself up to sit on the counter top.
“So, we’ve got a few minutes,” he remarked, nodding to the slowly dripping, ebony liquid falling into the coffee maker’s glass jug. “Tell me more about you. Who is Charlie Montgomery?”
“Oh, I’m sure you have,” Charlie winked turning to the fridge to find milk. Luckily it seemed there was some.
Looking over her shoulder at him she smirked. “Do you really think I’d give away all the secrets about me with one question?” She teased turning around to face him. “You’ll just have to work to find out more, but one small fact…” She tilted her head as if she were thinking. “I love fresh orange juice.”
Cappie smiled, enjoying the way she was playing along with him. While he would love to know all her secrets, he couldn’t resist a challenge.
“Orange juice, coffee… all we need now is bacon and eggs and I’ll be making you breakfast.” Cappie didn’t often make girls breakfast but he thought he’d probably make an exception for her, especially if he got to take it to her in bed.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, do you know if I even like bacon or eggs?” She smirked as she started to open up different drawers to see what else they had in the kitchen.
“Hmm,” Cappie mused, watching as Charlie explored the kitchen. “How about smashed avocado on toasted sourdough? Or pancakes? I’m pretty sure I can make pancakes.”
“Are you a mess pancake maker or the sort that makes them into shapes?” She asked her eyes getting wide with curiosity, a little teasing though.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” Cappie replied with a grin.
Hearing the gurgle signifying that the coffee machine was finished doing it’s thing, he jumped down from the counter and rummaged in one of the wall cupboards to find two mugs. It seemed that everything in this kitchen was in almost the same location as his previous one, which he guessed was going to be handy until he went to find the one thing that inevitably wasn’t.
“Do you take sugar?” he asked as he began pouring coffee into the mugs.
Charlie watched him carefully, curiously even, oh this living arrangement was going to be a bit mad, she could tell.
“Only if it’s raw,” she answered.
“I’ll find you a cane,” he teased, reaching out for the milk and beginning to stir it into the coffee.
“And harvest it yourself?” She asked.
Cappie laughed, glancing over his shoulder at her. He liked the way she challenged him. He’d always been a sucker for a girl that kept him on his toes. He thought it was going to be fun, living with Charlie.
“What the lady wants…” he replied.
Finishing stirring the coffee, Cappie put the milky spoon down on the counter before handing one of the mugs to Charlie.
“There,” he said proudly. “A Cappiechino. Stronger than a latte but not quite a cappuccino either and nicer than both because it’s made with Cappie love.” He gave her a wide, cheesy smile.
Taking the mug she raised an eyebrow smirking. “Well, I guess we’ll have to see if it can live up to the test!” She teased as she situated herself a little bit very carefully lowering her head and bringing the mug up to sniff it. “The aroma is promising,” she commented before blowing on it and taking a tiny sip.
Cappie smiled, trying not to look too arrogant as he took up his own mug and wrapped his free hand around it, leaning back against the counter. Mirroring her actions, he lifted his cup to his lip and blew gently on the surface of the liquid but didn’t take a sip just yet. He was too busy watching for her reaction. It didn’t matter all that much whether she really liked the coffee he’d made her or not; it was the reaction that counted. She could hate it, for all he cared, as long as she told him so with a teasing, cheeky smile.
Looking down at the liquid in the mug she tilted her head. “Well, here it goes,” she teased as she brought the mug to her lips taking a small sip before blowing on it and taking another sip.
“It’s not Italian, but it is very good,” she offered with a smile. “But no one can beat a good Italian coffee.”
Cappie grinned and gave a smug, little nod of his head.
“I’ll keep trying,” he told her playfully before finally taking a sip from his own coffee.