InsaneJournal

Who: Tim & Conner
What: First meetings
When: September [backdated]
Where: Starbucks near campus
Rating: PG
Status: Complete

Now that he was back at school, Conner required more coffee than he normally did when he wasn’t going to school. He was up early for football practice then attended classes and that was usually all on one cup of coffee so by the time he had lunch another cup of coffee was needed to get him through his afternoon classes and chances were he’d have another cup later when he was doing homework.

It was the need for his second daily cup that he’d him standing in line at the campus Starbucks trying to decide exactly what kind of coffee he was going to order. He could have gotten a regular coffee in the cafeteria, but Conner was one of those people who preferred fancy coffee when given the option; not that Starbucks was super fancy or anything, but it was better than regular coffee.

Tim was three coffees down already but that wasn’t hugely unusual for him. If it wasn’t coffee, it was energy drinks because there was only so many hours in the day and he didn’t have enough of those to get all the things he needed to get done finished. He was glad this was his last year at college, but writing a thesis that would take him the better part of a year was going to test his already fragile sanity.

He glanced up when someone came into his field of vision, tall and broad with dark hair and a chiselled jaw and Tim was very glad he wasn’t actually carrying any books because something in his brain utterly malfunctioned. He swallowed, clearing his throat, trying to place where he’d seen the guy before - from a distance. Tim was really good with faces, and though seeing this one up close made some synapse in his monkey-brain fire in some kind of obscure morse-code that was unhelpful, he did recognise him.

Though, belatedly as he realised that though he hadn’t been carrying books or the precious lifeblood of his coffee, he had been holding a plate with a slice of cake on it which had fallen to the floor with a clatter that was, now he was in the room again, far too loud.

Conner’s attention, which had been on the menu behind the counter was diverted to the sound of the crash and he quickly noticed the plate and cake on the floor at the feet of a guy who he was pretty sure was or had been in one of his classes at one time, but what he found even more interesting was the fact that the guy appeared to be staring at him.

Just to be sure, Conner glanced over his shoulder quickly and upon seeing no one else behind him, a small smirk crossed his lips as he made up his mind to approach the guy, “Having a little trouble there?” He asked as he got a little closer.

Tim looked down at the cake on the floor, more than a little mournful. He felt like that lasagna snapchat meme. Of course the guy was coming over, though, because why wouldn’t he? The world was a cruel place.

“I- uh, yeah,” he managed, putting the now-empty plate up on the side. He was just glad that he hadn’t been given his coffee yet. That would have been the worst thing he could have lost. “Sorry, lack of caffeine makes me even more uncoordinated than normal. Don’t step in the cake, I hear it’s real hard to get it outta the treads of your shoes.”

Conner could definitely relate to the lack of caffeine making one a little uncoordinated, “I totally get that.” He glanced around for some napkins and grabbed a couple out of a nearby dispenser, “If you say something they might give you another piece,” He said, smirking a little as he held the napkins out to the other guy, trying to catch his gaze fully. There was no denying that the guy was cute, but so far he hadn’t really been able to make eye contact because he appeared to be more interested in the fallen piece of cake at the moment.

Tim made the mistake of looking up when napkins came into his field of vision and when he did the world sort of looped again in an unpleasant-but-not-totally way. He offered the guy a smile, forcing himself to quit staring like some kind of uncoordinated creep. “I’m not sure the circumstances under which I dropped my cake warrant a sympathy piece,” he admitted sheepishly, ducking down into a crouch to start cleaning up what he could.

And, because the spirit of a moron had clearly possessed him, a moment later he added, looking up (which was definitely not the view he needed to have seared into his brain but look, there it was), “I’m Tim, by the way.”

While Conner knew he was good looking, he was sometimes just a little oblivious when it came to other people checking him out even if he also thought the other person was cute, so he didn’t quite realize just yet that that might have been what Tim was doing and may have been the reason the piece of cake was now on the floor, “I’m Conner.” He glanced back towards the counter to see if he could spot more cake then turned back to Tim, “Why don’t I replace it for you then,” He smirked as he gestured towards the counter.

Tim blinked dumbly for a moment. His brain fuzzed in and out of white noise and he just nodded twice, clearing his throat and definitely not staring (staring, definitely staring what was wrong with him?) at Conner. Which was a good name it sounded like a good name. Conner had a good name.

“If you’re sure?” is what he said, ignoring the way his heart was suddenly pounding in his ears. “Are you taking your stuff to go or did you… want to join me? Feels like the least I can do after you kindly didn’t laugh at me for dropping cake at your feet like some kind of offering.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Conner smirked as he contemplated Tim’s question, “I’ve got some time before my next class. I can definitely join you.” If there was one thing Conner enjoyed other than football and baseball, it was making new friends and Tim seemed like just the sort that he liked making friends with, “Why don’t I get the cake and my coffee and you find a seat. I’ll be there to join you in a few minutes.” It made more sense than Tim continuing to stand around and wait.

Tim nodded his head and rubbed the back of his neck, hitching the bag up his shoulder. “Probably a good idea. Here’s hoping my coffee doesn’t go flying, too.”

He snagged his own off the counter and took a step back, offering Conner a small smile and then focusing on not making an ass out of himself on the way to finding an empty table. It was a small one by the window, only two chairs, but it was cleared of cups and didn’t have too many sticky coffee stains, so would be suitable for him to set up and work from once Conner had gone back to whatever it was he did when he wasn’t breaking people’s brains in coffee shops.