The morning after Angel's episode went by in a bit of a blur. While you'd only missed an hour or two of sleep, the act of reassuring and soothing your poor friend was so draining that you felt about as alert as you would've after pulling a full all-nighter.

You were glad that he'd been able to call out and could sleep in later to combat his exhaustion, but you weren't afforded the same luxury and still had a shop to run. You'd carefully extracted yourself from his slumbering grip, your mind blanketed by a drowsy haze as you trudged through your morning routine, and even once you were ready for the day Angel was still snoozing peacefully in your bed.

You pulled together and hastily munched on a quick breakfast, deciding not to wake your sleepyhead and instead leaving him a serving for whenever he got up before bounding downstairs to prepare your workspace. A caffeine withdrawal headache soon brought you to the dreadful realization that your sleepy self had bypassed your crucial 'drink coffee' task this morning, but it was nearly time to open, so you resolved to power through until you could make a cup on your lunch break. You'd be a bit extra bit sluggish the first half of your shift, but your scheduled employees today were Montell and Maeve, so you felt confident that they would pick up your slack.

Disaster struck again a few minutes before nine when the elderly woman rang your phone to call in sick. You resisted the urge to panic- you were a well-seasoned businesswoman, after all, and considered your options for a quick replacement. Tony and Eloise obviously couldn't come in as it was a school day, and your calling in your few other elderly employees on such short notice was an immediate no-go.

Your final options were either Oakley or Piper, but you found yourself reluctant to call in either. After James' firm insistence that you be more wary of the two men, you felt almost guilty keeping them around. That being said, you still felt you owed Piper an apology for dragging him into that awkward dinner situation, so you decided to call him up first.

He picked up after only a few rings. "(N/n)? What's up?"

"Hey, Piper," you responded softly, suddenly shy about your hefty request. "Um, I know this is super last minute and I'm sure you're busy with your other job and just, um, life in general and stuff... but could you maybe come in today? Someone just called out sick and I- well, it's no pressure if you can't or anything. Seriously! I wouldn't be upset if you said no."

There was a short pause and you prepared yourself for a refusal, but he cleared his throat and surprised you, his chipper voice a sharp contrast to yours. "Hell yeah, I can come in. Won't be able to get there at nine, but I can head over now and-"

"Wait, are you sure? I don't want you to feel like-"

"Hey, I wouldn't say yes if I couldn't. Plus, you sound exhausted, and we can't have Little Miss Grouchy down an employee, now can we? I gotta go so I can look nice and pretty for the customers, but I'll see you soon."

The call ended with a beep, and you found yourself smiling as you pocketed your phone, ever amused by his sarcastic and unserious nature. You were also relieved he didn't seem upset with you after he'd been kicked to the curb by James the other night...

As you awaited his arrival you continued running the shop, greeting Montell with a warm smile when he arrived for his shift. A few minutes later your phone was buzzing again, and you pulled it out to find a few texts from Piper. You braced yourself as you unlocked the device, worried that he'd changed his mind.

9:04 - piper g

- Yooooo I made it in record time

- Best driver in the city amirite ⁉️

- But i'm pretty dead so i was gonna grab a quick coffee down the street

- I'll get you one on me if you pinky promise not to get mad at me for being extra late

- Just need your order 😏

You smiled at his texts (excluding the ones regarding his deplorable driving habits) which had taken you greatly by surprise, and not at all in an unwelcome way. Though you supposed Piper had been pleasantly surprising you a lot these days, so maybe you should get better accustomed to it happening.

You sent him your order and a simple thank you, though you'd be sure to express your gratitude more profusely when he arrived. He was sort of your lifesaver, as you'd begun to doubt you could make it to lunch without your headache progressing into a fully fledged, debilitating migraine.

He strode inside only a few minutes later with a large grin on his face and a coffee in his hand, and you eagerly greeted him to retrieve your liquid gold.

"Piper!" you beamed. "Thank you so much, you're-"

"Wait." He lifted his free hand in a 'stop' motion. "You didn't pinky promise that you wouldn't get mad at me for being late, so this isn't yours quite yet," he teased, holding the cup just out of your reach.

"Of course I won't get mad," you pouted, hand held out expectantly for the drink. "I called you in last minute. You could've been an hour late and I still would've been grateful."

"Hmm. So what I'm hearing is that I didn't need to get you a drink at all. Guess it's mine then."

"No!" you cried, slightly taken aback by your own eagerness. You held your pinky finger out begrudgingly, sulking as he cheerfully hooked his finger around yours. "You're so mean."

"Ugh, I know. I'm so mean for going out of my way to get you a coffee when you sounded exhausted," he rolled his eyes. "I'm starting to understand why you think I'm some bully. You can't tell naughty from nice- that, or you're the densest woman in the world."

He finally offered you the drink but you hesitated to grab it, scanning him over curiously as you thought through his words. His other hand was still occupied with holding your pinky, so where was his coffee? Even in your lethargic state, you could recognize that something wasn't adding up. He just said he went out of his way for you, but on the phone he'd claimed he went on the coffee run because he felt dead. Though when you thought about it, he neither looked nor sounded too dead at all. Really, he seemed quite alert, and also... quite suspicious.

"Where's your coffee?"

"Huh?" He blinked at you cluelessly before abruptly averting his eyes with a light chuckle. "Oh, I must've forgotten mine. No big deal."

"What? No." You lightly pushed his hand holding the cup back towards him. "You drink mine, then. You said you were dead. I'll power through."

He looked back at you, a smile pulling at his lips as he shook his head. "Nah, I'm actually good. Feeling super awake now. Besides, I'm more of a tea guy."

You gawked at him, finally understanding. Piper was never going to get himself coffee in the first place. He said on the phone call that you sounded tired, and that's why he stopped for coffee. For you. Piper Greene went out of his way to be kind to you. You weren't sure why, but the thought made your heart stutter, almost like it did with- woah. Nope. You were absolutely not going there.

You belatedly snatched the coffee, only then realizing the two of you were still holding pinkies. Your face got inexplicably hot, and the way Piper was looking at you so warmly wasn't helping alleviate the strange tightening in your chest one bit. His grin then sharpened, and though you knew he was likely gearing up to make fun of your strange and sudden sheepishness, the moment somehow still felt strikingly tender to you. Ick...

"Well if it isn't Mr. Green all grown up!" Montell's voice suddenly sounded from behind you, putting a gracious end to whatever unspoken energy had infiltrated your conversation as Piper's attention shifted to the older man. "Never thought I'd see your ugly mug around here again! Good to see you, son."

Right. Montell had been around back when you were kids, so he knew Piper just like he knew Sarah and James too.

Releasing your finger, Piper excitedly made his way past you to reunite with the old man, leaving you to recuperate still from his conversation with you. You clutched the hand that had made contact with his for a moment, attempting to make sense of both Piper's kindness and the way it made you feel. Now, you weren't thrown because this was a new feeling, but rather because it was an old one- and one you'd only ever felt anything close to when you were around James, at that. You grimaced, deciding to dismiss it as a fluke- a mere symptom of your exhaustion- and you commenced with the workday.

Your coffee did its job as you sipped on it, rejuvenating you as you tackled the morning rush with your employees. An appreciated lull in customer traffic hit the store eventually, allowing you to pull Piper to the back to assist in crafting a few pre-ordered arrangements while Montell manned the front. You got over your earlier awkwardness as you began to pull blooms with him, figuring then was as good a time as ever to apologize for the dinner disaster.

"Hey, so, about last night," you began, twiddling with the leaves on a flower's stem nervously.

"Oh yeah. How'd things go? Did you guys figure it out?"

"Um, yeah, I mean we sorta did," you replied, choosing not to admit that 'figuring it out' was closer to you caving in and telling James that your recent hiring habits might've been major mistakes. That didn't seem like the best addition to your attempted apology.

He remained silent for a few seconds as he inspected his flower choices before sending you a smile, though the expression was devoid of his usual goofiness. "Rad. Must feel gratifying after all these years, right?"

You paused mid-flower-grab, facing him in confusion. "Sorry, what would feel gratifying?"

He squinted at you, equally confused. "He confessed his feelings, right? And you guys got together?"

A few of your flowers tumbled from your hands as you gaped at him. "What? I- no? No! Why would you think that? Did he, like- well, I wasn't gonna tell him so why did you think we'd ever-" You quickly shut up, embarrassed by your anxious rambling. "I'm lost."

He chuckled, crouching down to pick up your small mess. He stood back up and grabbed your limp hand, sending a chill up your arm as he pressed the flowers into it and manually curled your fingers around the stems.

"I thought Jamie was mad at me because he liked you," he said as he retracted his hand. "And he thought I was making moves on you or something. I assumed once I'd left he'd stop being a coward and do something about it. Guess I was wrong."

You snorted at his explanation. "He doesn't like me. Unless he explicitly told you that he does, I don't get why you'd even think that. He's just protective of me- I'm basically just another annoying little sister."

"Annoying little sister, huh?" he repeated dubiously. "I don't know, that's not the vibe I got when I talked to him. It was more of a 'Get the fuck away from us, you homewrecker' type of vibe. Sure, he didn't say it outright, but I've got a sixth sense for these things. I'm like a... well, I guess you could say I'm like a love doctor."

"Sure you are," you laughed, leading the way to the back to begin arranging. "You definitely act like you have tons of romantic experience."

"Ouch. I'm a total ladies' man. And I'm always right about these things. I've only been wrong once," he sighed.

"Wrong how?"

He shook his head mournfully, though his poorly suppressed smile threatened to spoil his bit. "I was convinced that you and Sarah would end up together, but then I find-" your laughter interrupted him, and he stopped maneuvering his flowers for a moment to glare at you. "Alright, alright. I'm right about all the other people that like you, though."

That halted your giggling quick enough, and you groaned at the tired topic that was your love life. "What? No one likes me like that."

"No fucking way you think that, (N/n) C'mon. There's Oakley-"

"Just a passing crush, he doesn't know me enough to actually like me."

"Okay, sure. You're wrong, but those are still feelings either way. And then there's that Angel guy, he's down as bad as-"

"What? No, he's not," you laughed. "You're actually really bad at this, like, you're probably the worst self-proclaimed 'love doctor' I've ever spoken to."

Despite your adamant denial, you did mull over his words for a moment. Angel hadn't developed real feelings for you, had he? Yeah, he was still pretty touchy with you and strongly attached to you, but he'd said he agreed you'd be better as friends, and you believed him. Besides, he came to you with every question, doubt, and concern he had about pretty much everything, so if he hadn't brought up potential romantic feelings, you strongly doubted they existed at all. James had been acting similarly to Angel lately, too, what with the cuddling, the compliments, and the terms of endearment- and he pointedly did not like you, so logically that meant that Angel didn't either. Yeah! Piper was wrong.

He still seemed pretty self-assured, though, and largely unimpressed by your words. "Wow. I don't know who is further in denial- James about himself liking you, you about Angel liking you, or Sarah's husband about you and Sarah belonging together."

"Damn, you may be right. I should call her."

You looked to him in dismayed silence, realizing his terrible sense of humor was beginning to rub off on you, and you both burst into fits of laughter. When you managed to regain your composures, a comfortable silence fell over the backroom as you both resumed your tasks, broken occasionally when one of you'd ask opinions on your arrangement placements. As unexpected as it was that you'd found it with Piper, this was the kind of easy fun you'd been missing lately.

Things with James had been off for a while, and time with him felt confusing more than anything. And though you adored your sweet, loving Angel, the friendship could sometimes- like last night- feel so emotionally taxing on you. Both of these friendships were ones you cherished deeply, but you were starting to recognize the unhealthy patterns that were forming larger cracks in the dynamics- like how failed communication and a severe lack of boundaries led to last night's mishaps.

Everything surrounding the two men was so unnecessarily difficult, and having never experienced any major relational conflicts before, you were pretty lost on how to resolve things. You quickly glanced at the man beside you... maybe you could bring up your worries to Piper? Not that you bought his 'love doctor' claims, but you knew now that he was far more thoughtful and wise than you'd initially let yourself believe. He was also one of the three people who knew of your feelings for James, and the only one presently available, so...

You tentatively peeked at him again to find him engrossed in his arrangement, tongue barely poking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration as he shifted around flowers and filler. He was kinda cute, honestly. Well, no, wait- his expression was cute. Not him specifically! Not that he was ugly or anything! Definitely not ugly- he had pretty eyes and cute freckles and a dorky yet charming smile, but that wasn't- you didn't-

"So, um. Hey again," you said, quickly bringing your unwanted thoughts to a halt. He looked up, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, another logic-defyingly cute action. You blinked furiously, trying to remain on course amid the monstrosity that was your faulty hormone response- because that's all it was, obviously: faulty hormones. "Can I talk to you about something? It has to do with Jamie and Angel."

"Aww, little (N/n) needs some love advice? Well, luck lucky for you: The. Doc. Is. In."

You laughed despite yourself, attempting to cover the sound with a sad cough. "You're so unfunny it hurts me sometimes."

"Yet you still laugh. Now, go on"

"Okay, so- this is so embarrassing, ugh- okay. I've noticed that I feel a lot less... flustered, I guess, when I'm around Jamie. And when I'm around Angel sometimes everything feels like a bit much? He just wants so much from me and I feel like I don't have enough to give to him."

"This isn't really embarrassing,, but... hmm," he began thoughtfully as he stood up straight and stretched for a moment, evidently finished with his bouquet and ready to focus on you. "I don't really know the situation all that well, so I'm not a hundred percent sure, but... maybe the problem is that the guys are sending you different signals than what you're expecting from them."

You pursed your lips, not fully tracking with him. "What d'you mean?"

"Well, you have feelings for Jamie, but in your mind you've already been rejected, so when he does romantic shit maybe you're subconsciously not allowing yourself to get too excited over it. That make any sense?" You nodded slowly. "Okay, and then with Angel it seems kinda similar, minus the 'you having feelings for him' part. Like you expect and want him to just be your friend but then he's all over you and acting super couple-y with you."

"He acts super couple-y with me?" You really didn't think so... yeah, there were the aforementioned cuddling and pet names- but you also regularly cuddled and had pet names with Sarah, so it wasn't necessarily romantic at all.

"I mean, I thought you guys were dating when I first saw him with you, remember? Maybe the things you do aren't strictly romantic, but it looks and sounds from an outside perspective like your dynamic is closer to that kind of relationship. That could be why you're feeling drained, because that's not what you want with him. People get tired out when they're expected to give more to something than they committed to. And the best solution, in my opinion at least, is to make sure you're implementing and communicating strong, healthy boundaries in all of your relationships. It's easier said than done, but it's important, y'know?"

You hummed in agreement, very much able see where he was coming from now. His words helped explain the degree of Angel's attachment to you and his emphasis on being each other's top priorities.Maybe he still really only understood the dynamics between an exclusive couple, mistakenly operating as though friendships were similarly monogamous. Piper would probably attribute this to Angel having real romantic feelings toward you, but that was just because he didn't know Angel's fucked up background regarding the subject.

"That makes sense. The stuff with Jamie is so frustrating, though. I hate it, and I hate the way I feel so... well, I just so much less, in general, when I'm around him, I guess," you frowned, balling your hands into tight fists as you fought off the strange guilt that'd been following you every time you thought about James lately. Why you felt like you were betraying or letting him down, you weren't even sure, but it felt awful regardless "I just don't get it. I've never felt like this before."

"Are you sure you're not just losing feelings?" Piper asked. "You've been chasing him for years, so maybe your feelings are shifting and changing. That's how the human mind works sometimes, y'know."

You faltered at the question, and the way Piper was scrutinizing you as he awaited your answer only made you more nervous. "N-no, of course I'm not losing feelings. I couldn't. It's him- it's always been him."

Piper's eyes narrowed for a moment before he smiled widely at you. Sorta a strange time to smile, but you supposed you appreciated the support...?

"Okay, then," he finally said with a strained chuckle. "Uh, well you're probably just desensitized to the stuff he does because of Angel or something! Like, you're used to his touchiness so it makes Jamie's less special!"

"Oh, okay. Right," you nodded, a bit thrown by his new, almost nervous demeanor.

"So, that's all? Cause- uh, great talk. Hope my advice works out. Hope you find love. With Jamie, if thats what you really want. Which you do. So, uh, cute."

"Thanks," you smiled amusedly as he returned his attention to his arrangement.

Despite the odd conclusion to your chat, it was pretty beneficial in helping you sort out your confusion with your friends, and at least one thing was glaringly clear: you needed to create some firmer boundaries with Angel. Then everything else should click back into place. Easy!

Well, it probably wouldn't aid you in not getting so unintentionally flustered by Piper's mere existence... but that didn't matter because you were in love with James. Very much so, for as long as you could remember, and probably for forever, too.

You focused back on Piper who was looking at his finished arrangement pensively- too pensively, for flowers at least. You nudged him playfully with your elbow. "What about your bouquet's got you thinking so hard, Mr. Philosophy?"

He snapped out of it and cracked his regular, goofy grin at you. "I'll have you know- soon it will be Doctor Philosophy. Which is basically just another way to address me as the love doctor, actually, so thank you for finally admitting it."

You scoffed light-heartedly before sending him a genuine smile. "Thank you, Piper. I was honestly pretty skeptical of you at first, but you're a nice guy now. And a really good friend."

"Eh, I don't know if I'm all that. Maybe you're just easy to be good to," he mused, ruffling your hair. "Shall we move on to our next orders?"

"Mhm. You lead the way."

He complied, and you trailed after him only to pause when your phone buzzed. You pulled it out quickly, worrying slightly when you saw it was Angel's contact lighting up the screen. You had almost forgotten about the slumbering hero, honestly, but you just hoped there wasn't another emotional emergency.

10:27 - sunshine ☀️

- good morning precious 💗☀️😄

- thanks for letting me sleep in💤

- had to go in to work after all so i'm sorry i didn't say goodbye

- i love you and i'll text you when i'm off! 💖💘💞💝💕

You texted him back promptly, not repeating last night's mistake and echoing his final sentiment. He seemed back to his normal self, which was good! It was slightly jarring how fast he had recovered, but hey, you weren't complaining. Maybe his extra sleep had just been that restorative.

You resumed your course following Piper, and as your regular bantering and back and forth resumed and continued over the rest of your shift, the other men in your life, for better or for worse, went momentarily forgotten.