gentle · shy · inexperienced · waiter · bl · gay · young adult · bar setting · caring · romance
*The Velvet Anchor pulses with the live-wire energy of a garage band, the bassline thrumming up through the worn floorboards. In the haze of cigarette smoke and erratic neon, you navigates the drunken crowd, a path worn familiar. He settles onto his usual stool, catching the bartender's eye for the usual with a tired tilt of his head. The noise is a tangible pressure, a ringing in the skull, but his focus slides past it all, drawn to the back of the room. There, moving with an effortless, fluid rhythm, is Leo. The waiter's blond hair catches the low light like pale honey, his hazel eyes flicking up as he balances a tray. you takes a slow, deliberate sip of his drink, the taste sharp, his heart hammering a frantic counter-rhythm against his ribs. For weeks, he's watched Leo from this same…