It was a sunny morning in London, something new that Tina Goldstein had come to appreciate ever since she started living here. She was born and raised in New York and being used to the warmth of her hometown, London came as quite a surprise to her. She was pretty convinced the sun didn't exist in London what with the never-ending rain and the cold, damp air. Nevertheless, she has grown to love its wetness and cherishes the few times the sun has come out to bring warmth to this usually damp place.
She was waiting in line at her favorite No-Maj ('muggle', she reminds herself) coffee shop so she could order her usual black coffee with two sugars. She looks back and peaks out the store windows as the woman in front of her was ordering a latte. She smiles before the barista calls her attention and asks her for her order.
"One tall black coffee, two sugars please," she responds happily, blaming the sun for her gleeful mood. The barista smiles at her and punches in her order. Tina gives the exact amount of muggle money to the barista and walks to retrieve her drink. Oddly enough she did well with British muggle money, better than with American No-Maj money she'd say.
She then surveys the packed cafe, wanting to find a seat where she could sit alone and enjoy her coffee and contemplate why in the name of Deliverance Dane she even considered moving to Great Britain. She opts to check the outside tables, since the interior of the cafe was packed with British muggles who oddly enough weren't drinking coffee but tea. She could never understand why people would want to drink something that disgusting. She pushes the door at the entrance of the cafe and searches for a free table where she could hopefully drink her coffee in peace and enjoy the sun as well. As she examines the four coffee tables that have been set up outside the café that she has grown to love, she realizes that there weren't any seats available here either.
"Oh c'mon!" she exclaims exasperated. "Of all the days this place could be packed, it's today when the sun is out."
Tina looks at the tables again, determined to have one, hoping that one of these customers would leave soon so she could have her turn to soak in the warmness from the sun. The first table was occupied by a couple who were enjoying what looked like tea and a couple of croissants, the second table was occupied by a group of friends who didn't look a day older than 20, they had their books out and were obviously cramming for an assignment of some sort, the third table was occupied by an elderly man who was reading his morning paper, fat chance he would be leaving anytime soon. The fourth and last table was occupied by a dashing young man, who didn't look a day over 30. To Tina's surprise the man was drinking coffee and chewing on the end of a ballpoint pen as he was trying to figure out what to write next in his journal. His coffee was already halfway gone, and Tina was pretty sure it had gone cold because he looked like he had been sitting on that table for a while now. Tina finally felt her feet complain for standing too long so she decided to approach the young man and ask him if it would be a bother if she shared the table with him. There's no harm in trying, right?
Tina walks over to the young man's table and taps him on the shoulder, "uhm, excuse me mister. Would it bother you if I shared this table? The cafe's packed you see, and I would really like to enjoy the morning sun while I can."
Her voice was firm and confident. She looked at the young man with anticipation and he looked back up at her with eager curiosity. It felt like they have been staring at each other for a while when Tina finally decided to cleared her throat and the young man awkwardly agreed to let her share his table.
"Yeah, sure, take a seat." he says nervously, immediately ducking his head back to his journal when he realized that he just stared at a stranger whose name he doesn't know for a good 5 minutes. "I'm almost done anyway."
"Thank you," she replies curtly as she sets down her tall black coffee with two sugars and takes the seat opposite his. "I'm really sorry for bothering you. I really wouldn't have had it not been for the warm weather today. It is lovely don't you think?"
The young man peers up at her again, curiosity laced in his eyes. "A-a-are you seriously asking me about the weather?"
Tina was dumbfounded by his reply. She chuckled nervously and replied. "Uhm, yeah? Heh, I know, cliche, sorry."
She ducks her head, slightly embarrassed at how stupid she felt for asking a complete stranger about the weather. She twiddles her fingers nervously under the coffee table as the young man goes back to scribbling something in his journal. It looked like he was drawing a creature of some sort. She sneaked a peek at his journal and noticed that the creature he was drawing was something she had never seen before.
Must be for a story or something. Tina thinks to herself as she picks up her coffee and takes a sip, reveling in the taste of good warm coffee.
"Yes," comes an answer from the young man in front of her. "I do think the weather is lovely today."
Tina was shocked when she heard a sultry Bristish accent coming from the man in front of her. She obviously knew he was British, but she thought that the weather subject has been dropped after he called her out on the cliche that it was. She wasn't expecting him to speak to her after that. She turned to look at him, expecting him to be looking at her as he speaks. But instead she was met by him still scribbling away in his journal, head ducked as if to shield himself from the world he was currently in.
Tina continues to stare at the young man who was scribbling away at his journal, looking content to be doing so. She couldn't find the right words to say next. Her mouth hung agape as she was trying to figure out what to say when the young man looked up from his journal, placing his ballpoint pen down beside it.
"I'm sorry," he apologizes, giving her a dorky smile as he finally closes his journal and places it in a pocket of his coat. "if I just made you uncomfortable right now. You see I'm not really good with people."
If his answer before about the weather didn't already throw Tina off, this confession would have. Who tells a complete stranger they're not good with people just out of the blue like that? This man apparently.
Tina was still stunned at how bold, yet awkward this young man she was sharing a table with was. She was not unfamiliar with men, even British men, but this one particularly was throwing her off, disarming her in a very unique way she has never experienced with any other guy before.
She grabs hold of her coffee cup, brings it to her mouth and takes in a large gulp of coffee to calm her nerves. After taking a sip, she places her coffee cup on the table and rests her arms on it as she then attempts to open her mouth and give a polite response to this stranger, but her mind was blank, she couldn't conjure up any kind of response to what he just said.
Damn it, Tina. Think of something to say, anything just to stop all the awkwardness you're feeling right now. You're not usually this nervous around anyone. C'mon think!
Tina's mind was racing, trying to find the correct thing to say, anything to say to this man because he was still looking at her intently, with that dorky and somewhat endearing smile of his. The man moves to take a sip of his already cold coffee as Tina was still thinking of what to say. It takes him two large gulps of his cold coffee before he consumes it all. In between sips he gives Tina that endearing dorky smile of his and by the time he has finally finished his drink, he gives Tina one last dorky smile and a glance before he stands and says, "Well, it was nice sharing a coffee table with you Miss - uh - I just realized, I don't know your name. How rude of me."
"It's Tina, Tina Goldstein." she supplies as she offers her hand for him to shake. He takes it in his own hands and gives it a tiny shake before he lets go.
"It was nice sharing a table with you Miss Goldstein," he finally says as he tucks the chair he was sitting on inside the coffee table they were sharing. "I hope you enjoy your coffee, and the weather as well."
One final glance and smile and he turned his back on her, walked to the edge of the block and turned, Tina just staring at the direction he was going, still stunned at what had transpired between them this fine, sunny morning.
Tina moves to take her cup and sip when she realizes something.
"Damn, I gave him my name, but I forgot to ask his." she whispers to herself. "What is up with you today, Tina?"
She shakes her head at herself and continues to take short sips from her cup, reveling in the warm London weather and thinking of Mr. Awkward-But-Cute British Guy.
Tina was surprised that the warm sunny weather decided to stay a little longer than usual in London. Usually when the sun does come out to play it only stays for a day or two at most, but it's been a week since the weather has been warm and not a single drop of rain has made an appearance anywhere in London. This makes Tina extremely happy because she felt like she was back home, with the sun out and enough vitamin D for her body to soak in.
She turns right and walks toward the same muggle (yes, she has gotten used to calling them 'muggle' and not 'No-Maj") coffee shop she met Mr. Awkward-But-Cute British Guy last week. They haven't crossed paths ever since their first somewhat awkward meeting the previous week and that somehow left Tina a little bit disappointed.
Tina pushes at the cafe entrance and surveys the place. Fortunately, the cafe wasn't that packed today. There was no line at the counter, there were a few empty seats both inside and outside the cafe and very few people in the cafe as a whole. She walks towards the counter and orders her usual black coffee with two sugars; the barista smiles at her and takes her payment before Tina turns to retrieve her drink.
Tina has decided that she wanted to enjoy the interior of the cafe this time, instead of drinking her cup of coffee outside, but she also wanted to enjoy the sunlight. She ended up choosing to take up an empty coffee table by the entrance of the cafe which was positioned near the windows, enough for her to get some sunlight in. Just as she was about to take her place in her chosen table, a man bumps into her, nearly spilling her hot cup of coffee over her coat.
"Mercy Lewis!" Tina exclaims, trying to steady her coffee cup to prevent the contents from spilling all over her."Watch where you're going mister - !"
"I'm sorry," says the man who bumped into her. Tina's head snaps up, as she recognizes from his familiar voice who exactly just bumped into her. "I didn't mean to, I should have been looking where I was going."
Tina's mouth fell open as she was trying to say that it was okay, but he beat her to it. "Ah, Miss Goldstein! I didn't notice that it was you."
Newt glances from Tina to the table and then back at her again as he realizes that he was about to do what she was planning to do. "Let me guess, you were going to sit here?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was." Tina replied bluntly. "And I'm guessing you were too right?"
"My, my Miss Goldstein, we must stop meeting like this." he says and smiles that dorky smile. He motions to the table, offering her to take it. "You take it, I'll try and find somewhere else to sit, hopefully without causing any trouble. Have a nice day."
"Wait!" she calls out as Newt turns away. "Why not share the table with me again? It's not like we haven't done it before."
Tina smiles at Newt as she takes her seat, beckoning him to take the couch opposite to hers. He follows suit and sits down, a bit awkwardly at first, placing his cup of tea on the table.
Tina frowns as she sees his drink and says without thinking, "Oh, here I thought you were one of those British men who liked coffee. Guess I was wrong."
"What would have given you that idea?" Newt shrugs in reply as he picks up his cup of tea and takes a sip. "Of course I'm a tea man, Miss Goldstein. I'm British!"
"I've noticed that," she replies amused. "it's just, you were drinking coffee the last time we met. I just thought - anyway."
Tina ducks her head and pretends to take a sip off of her coffee as Newt says, "Oh that was a one-time thing, I promise you. You see, I lost a bet with my brother and he knew how much disliked the taste of coffee so he thought that that was a good way to waste his win. He bought me the cup of coffee here last week before he headed off to work. That's when you saw me."
Newt takes another sip from his cup and looks intently at Tina.
"So, you were gulping down that cup of coffee just to, what? Get it over with?" Tina asks in disbelief.
"Right you are, Miss Goldstein," Newt replies. "My brother would have found out one way or another if I simply threw away the contents of that cup. So, I just went and, as you put it so finely, 'got it over with'."
This makes Tina chuckle and shake her head. "You're a very unusual man Mister - "
It then hits her, she didn't know his name. Here she was, having what looked like a second coffee date with a man whose name she didn't know. She opens her mouth and attempts to ask him what his name was when the answer to the obvious question came rushing out of him immediately.
"Scamander, Newt Scamander," he says with a smile. "how is that unusual? I'm British, and I can tell you that some of us do prefer tea over coffee."
"It's not that," Tina explains. "it's that I knew more about you before I even got your name. Tell me Mr. Scamander, are you always like this with your friends?"
"Oh no, definitely not," was Newt's immediate response. "you see, I don't have friends."
This shocks Tina even more. Seriously, was there anything this man says or does that won't shock or surprise her at this point?
"Oh? Why not?"
"I annoy people." Newt blurts out casually without a care in the world, as if it was okay for him to not have friends. "I don't know how to act around them."
"I'm people," Tina says, peeking up from her coffee. "And you're not annoying me."
Newt smiles when he hears this.
"Although, it is pretty annoying that you choose to sit at the spot I had my eyes on ever since I stepped inside the cafe this morning."
Tina takes another sip of her coffee, a ghost of a smile on her lips, loving that she finally got rid of all the awkwardness she felt the week before when it came to this Mr. Scamander. Newt on the other hand was looking nervously at Tina, as if he had done something wrong. Tina realizes this and hurriedly reassures him.
"Oh Mr. Scamander, that was a joke," Tina reassures Newt with a smile. "I just wanted to lighten the mood."
Newt let's out an inaudible sigh of relief and goes to wipe a bit of sweat that was already forming on his forehead. "Thank you for clarifying that Tina - I mean Miss Goldstein - I mean Tina, can I call you Tina? It would be okay if you prefer Miss Goldstein, I can call you whatever you want me to - "
"Tina's fine," she replies with an amused smile and a nod. "May I call you Newt then?"
"Yes, Newt's fine," he replies, ducking his head nervously, and then looking at her again and ducking his head again. "I mean, it's my name. So yes, call me Newt."
"Are you always this nervous, Mr. Scamander?" Tina inquires.
"Newt - " Newt interjects before he realizes that she was taunting him again. "Ah, you were trying to lighten the mood again."
"I'm glad you got that, Newt," she replies playfully, using his name to get the conversation back on track. "So? Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"Are you always this nervous?"
It takes Newt a while to answer Tina. He thinks back to the few human interactions he has had in his past and realizes that the answer was no. Sure, he wasn't really comfortable with human interaction, he preferred being alone with his creatures and with the few (actually one, just one) friends that he had, but he has never been nervous this way. There was something about this Miss Tina Goldstein that made him act like a complete idiot.
"No," he finally replies. "I'm not always this nervous."
"Huh," Tina says, raising an eyebrow at Newt, as if challenging him.
"I mean that you know," Newt says in defense. "You can go ahead and ask the people who know me. I mean, I don't interact with people that much, but when I do, I don't act like a completely nervous idiot the way I do with you."
"It's nice to know that it only takes a coffee loving American girl to get you all jittery." Tina says with a smirk.
Newt ducks his head, his curly hair hiding the smirk he was making out of amusement.
"Why don't you interact with people then?" Tina asks, trying to change the subject and make Newt a little more comfortable in her presence.
"It's not a matter of me not interacting with them but them interacting with me," he answers her keenly. "I've told you before, I annoy people. So, most people choose not to talk to me and I see no reason for me to talk to them either."
"That's an interesting way to look at things Mr. Scamander," Tina replies, taking another sip of her coffee. She notices how he immediately goes to correct her, but she beats him to it and says, "Newt, I meant to say Newt."
"That's quite alright." He replies with a smile.
The two of them continue to converse in their little corner in the cafe, exchanging small comments about the weather (a bit of a surprise for Tina considering what happened the week before), a little debate of coffee versus tea and what not until both their drinks have been consumed. Newt finishes his cup of tea before Tina finishes hers. When she finally took the last sip of her coffee, he leans forward to ask Tina one final question before they part ways.
"Tina," he begins, a hint of a question in his voice. She looks at him with curiosity, saying nothing and just waiting for his question. "Do you know a place here in London called Diagon Alley?"
He knew that this question was enough to determine if Tina was a witch or not. Muggles have never heard of Diagon Alley simply because it was the only place in London that didn't exist to them. It only existed to wizards and only wizards and witches know how to get there or where specifically in London it is located. It has become a sort of center for the wizarding community in London.
This question comes off as a little of a shock to Tina. She wasn't expecting to meet another wizard in a muggle coffee shop, especially since she knew practically no one here in London. Ever since she moved here she has stuck to her neighborhood, which was heavily populated by muggles. She hasn't begun her work at the Ministry of Magic yet, so she didn't have wizarding friends yet in London, all the witches and wizards she knew she left behind in New York. So, when Newt asks her quite subtly if she was a witch, she was shocked.
"You're a wizard?!" she hissed in a hushed tone, leaning forward to make sure no one else heard them.
"And you're a witch." he says, stating a fact. He smiles and lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He stood up in front of her and offers her his hand to help her up from her chair. "Well, I'm glad I met you Miss Tina Goldstein, the American witch in London."
He was smiling at her and waiting for her to accept his help. She places her hand in his and allows him to help her up before she says, "I'm glad I met you too Mr. Newt Scamander, the British wizard in a muggle coffee shop."
They walk towards the entrance of the care, Newt holds the door open for Tina and they both exit the cafe, happy to have found a friend in the most unlikely place either of them thought they would.
A/N: So this Newtina Coffee AU has been stuck in my head since forever so I just had to write it. Let me know if I should continue it because I obviously have more to tell about this story but I ended it the way I did just in case I won't be able to, at least it had some sort of closure. Please let me know what you think in the reviews. Thanks for reading! (Also if there are any mistakes they are all mine, this was unbetaed and just something i typed out and posted immediately I apologize for any mistakes. I don't own Fantastic Beasts or Newtina, all the credits to the Queen JK Rowling.)