Hey all, it's Pandora! Holly asked me for a meet-cute story between Chris and Phichit and this is the first chapter. I really hope you enjoy it.

The coffee shop – a small and out of the way place, called The Coffee Cube, on a small and out of the way road in the city centre – is Chris' favourite. Mostly it's the atmosphere; there's always pleasant music playing, the staff are super friendly and because of where it is there are rarely screaming children filling the place. On top of all that, they always have good cake and make the best mochas Chris has ever had: the ratio of cocoa to coffee is damn near perfect and he has wondered if someone there sold their soul to a demon to get it so good so consistently. Add in some good company and Chris is always happy there – though he hasn't been in a little while.

When Alex suggested meeting here, Chris was obviously delighted, and woke up with the biggest grin on his face this morning. He seemed to float through his day, looking forward to going to his favourite place with his favourite person of the last eight months. Now though, Chris can barely remember that good mood.

He blinks, frowning at Alex across the little table – it's his favourite table as well, off in a secluded corner of the café. "You're breaking up with me?"

Alex gives him a sad half smile. "I'm sorry," he says, caramel eyes soft and sincere. "I just... It's been fun but I don't really see this going anywhere, you know?"

Chris' insides crumble. He doesn't know: in his mind, he could see things continuing for months more, years even. To him, Alex could easily have become endgame, and yes, maybe it was a little premature to be thinking of that after only eight months, but Chris has never been one to do things by halves. When he enters into things, he does so with his whole heart. Maybe that's why he feels like his whole heart is being crushed now. Somehow, he nods – there's no point trying to argue with Alex at this point.

"Don't get me wrong," adds Alex. "I think you're great and we've had a good time together, but it's not really a long-term situation, is it?"

Chris doesn't agree – why should the two negate one another? Or is he being crazy?

"Look, I don't want to make this harder than it needs to be," says Alex, "so I won't stay and drag this out." He pushes back his chair and Chris gazes up at him, vision swimming a little and making it hard to focus. "I hope we can be friends..."

Chris says nothing, still rendered mute with surprise, and with one last half smile and a little awkward wave, Alex leaves. The sounds of the coffee shop continue around Chris, but they seem far away, like he's underwater. Tears start slowly, building up in the corners of Chris' eyes and spreading as he blinks. He bites his lip, trying to hold back a sob and managing only to reduce it to a gasp and a sniffle. His head lowers as he starts to cry in earnest, one hand covering his mouth to try and keep himself quiet and not disturb anyone.

More than anything else, he doesn't understand. Everything seemed to be going well – and from everything Alex just said he agreed – so why did it end like this? Even if there were problems, and from the sound of it Alex was thinking of some, Chris would have thought they would be able to talk things through together. Certainly Chris himself would have felt that he could speak to Alex if he had felt any doubts about the relationship, in the the hope that they could work things out instead of calling it all off at the first sign of a struggle. Unfortunately Alex didn't seem to share that view and now it's too late. All he's left with is half his mocha and the empty cup from Alex's iced latte. To add insult to injury, Chris knows he'll have to pay for Alex's drink, and that knowledge brings a thundercloud into his heart. He presses his lips together, swallowing his sadness for as long as he can. If he can just get through paying without crying more and go home, then –

His thoughts are interrupted when he sees a plate put down on the table in front of him – holding a slice of cake he definitely didn't ask for. Looking up, Chris finds himself face to face with a short young man with neat black hair and wide, dark eyes, wearing an apron. He has the barest hint of a smile and a sweet face; in any other circumstance Chris would probably be struck by how cute he is, but he needs to correct the guy's mistake.

"Uhh..." Chris clears his throat. "Sorry, I didn't order any cake."

The barista's smile widens just a little. "It's on the house," he says. "You seemed like you could use some good news."

Chris looks down, blinking back tears. "Thanks," he says softly. He wonders if the guy might be about to stick around – he's not feeling up to a conversation right now – but mercifully he moves away, going to clean another table nearby.

For a while, all Chris does is stare at the cake in front of him. He feels sick with the effort not to bawl in public and his hands are shaking; he doesn't think he can eat it but he doesn't want it to go to waste – especially when he was given it so kindly. Despite himself, he picks up the fork and takes a small bite of the cake. It's delicious: rich and sweet and filled with the best chocolate ganache he's ever had. The cake has a faint salted caramel flavour to it that plays over Chris' tongue. To his own surprise, he finishes the cake quite quickly, and feels a little better afterwards. When he gets up to go pay, he fully intends to thank the barista once again, but it seems he's gone on his break as Chris can't see him anywhere – all Chris can do is pay for his mocha and Alex's iced latte. He's never understood the whole 'cold coffee' thing; it was a running joke between the two of them where Chris would say he couldn't trust him because he liked iced coffee... Well, maybe he should have been a bit more serious about that. He offers to pay for the cake too but the guy at the register – the assistant manager, a tall man with a goatee called Emil – waves at him with a little smile.

"I'm under strict instructions not to let you do that," he says. Chris opens his mouth to object, but quickly decides to let it go – of all the things that have happened to him today, the cake is probably the best one.

"Can you let him know I'm really grateful?" asks Chris. "The guy who gave it to me?"

Emil agrees and Chris heads home. As he opens his front door, Galadriel scampers up to meet him, fluffy white tail pointing straight up. She mews loudly, gazing up at him with wide green eyes.

"Hey princess," he coos, scratching her behind the ears. Her meows turn to purrs and he can't help but smile at her. "At least you're pleased to see me."

She rubs her head against his leg before wandering off – probably in search of somewhere sunny to nap or some of Chris' black clothes to groom herself on and shed all over. Once he's taken off his shoes and hung up his jacket, Chris flops onto the sofa, letting the events of the day catch up to him. The cake was a pleasant part of the day and he's more than grateful to the barista who gave it to him, but the sting of the break up still hurts. He sighs heavily, feeling tears prickle afresh at his eyes, and lets them squeeze out, giving himself over to quietly sobbing.