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“Sir I am telling you, this is the most amount of syrup we can provide for the price” Ritsu says, smiling but it’s just teeth grinding against each other.
“Blasphemous!” he boomed, loud enough for Ritsu to think maybe his eardrums would finally rupture. “I can hardly taste it!” the man flung his cup at him, and sploshed the burning hot drink right onto Ritsu. It stung his hands, and he flinched in pain. It didn’t burn him, luckily, but it might as well have if the man had lost his temper half a minute before. And on top of that, his apron was soiled, so that meant extra time washing that thing off. Splendid .
“Sir” Ritsu said, now strictly, angrily “I advise you be calm”
“And I suggest you employees stop being stingy” he shouted.
“I can give you at most one more pump, but anything after that will cost extra”
“What kind of idio-”
Ritsu could feel his powers act up. He was on the brink of an outburst. He was somewhat relieved that even though his aura was blazing through his veins enough for his brother to notice at school on the other side of town; it wasn’t enough to turn somewhat tangible and give colour. Or maybe that would have been beneficial to scare the man off. But he digressed.
There were two more difficult customers before this man. A mother who, much like the man, demanded more toppings than prescribed, and her kid suddenly started crying by her side because the whipped cream “ wasn’t enough ” in his hot chocolate. The second disaster was a person who held up the line because he couldn’t for the life of him decide what he wanted and that created quite a ruckus in the line behind him. A revolution was about to start and Ritsu had to extinguish it before it went out of hand.
He wanted to unleash his anger and frustration on the man, but that scenario would be demeaning, because ‘the customer is always right’, wasn’t it?
Ritsu had no feelings for that ideology. He threw that misconception out of the window and with all the patience he had left, said
“It’s company policy, sir. Do you want me to show you the guidebook? The papers?”
The man finally stopped fuming. Stopped taking his anger out on Ritsu. Instead he opted to grumble beneath his mustache. It was something along the lines of ‘I am going to sue you’ and ‘first my clients decline now this’; and frankly, Ritsu couldn’t care less of what an awful day he had. He had nothing but hatred for the man.
Ritsu hastily took his drink and gave him a last pump before the man threw him his bills and stomped outside, looking much like a ten year old. That thought would have been amusing if Ritsu hadn’t been on edge from everything.
He gave a long, tired sigh. Days at the coffee shop tended to be tough, unbearable. It was a given, something his family and boss warned him about when he signed the contract; but it never became easier.
Ritsu collapsed on the bench behind him. He sank low enough for his head not to be seen. He wanted to be alone. He hoped the counter in front of him hid his head enough for no one else to see him. Maybe they’d think the cafe is closed.
Of course, Ritsu wasn’t ever that lucky.
The bell's light tinkling was beginning to sound awfully grating to his ears. He wanted to burn them firsthand. He briefly glanced at the lighter poking out of his coworker’s apron hung beside.
He shook his head, and sighed. Pulled his face together, flattened the scowl on his face to something more inviting. More pleasant. More professional. He turned his head back and briskly walked up to the counter, thinking of thoughts about happy places, like his brother always advised him to when jobs became particularly unbearable. It wasn’t surprising his brother had a treasure trove of part-time job advice like this, working with Reigen would definitely be the world’s biggest hassle. Migraine inducing, truly, with all the incessant babbling he does. He wondered why his brother worked with him for 5 years with such wages no more than their pocket money, but he let it go. So…happy places. Like a field, on a warm summer day. Or a library with a blanket thick enough to curl in and read for the entire day. Or the beach, with salty air flowing past him, sand tickling his feet, waves lapping up gently on his skin as he took a dip…
“Is anyone home?” a voice asked, followed by a flick to his forehead.
Oh. He was there. Again.
The scowl he had taken so long to control rolled back again, and he didn’t make a job of hiding it. That customer came in and disrupted his peace too many times for this to be a new occurrence. It’s like he knew the effect he had on Ritsu, with that irking smirk gracing his face, with those eyes glazed with mischief, with that voice laced with snark and sarcasm and his wishes to try the most expensive and ridiculous combinations of drinks because clearly he was some affluent asshole’s offspring.
“What do you want now, Shou?” Ritsu asked, irritated, and he whipped out his phone from his pocket. If Shou truly was going to dawdle around like he always does, Ritsu might as well do something productive. Scroll through Mobstagram, check his friend’s stories, maybe some snippets or articles of international news, perhaps run around his school website to see if any page needed tweaking.
“Something simple, today” he mused.
Ritsu momentarily looked at him with an arched eyebrow “You sick today?”
“I’m healthy, don’t worry” he smiled heartily to prove his point “In fact…I have pressing matters to discuss with you”
Ritsu rolled his eyes. The tone wasn’t serious at all, so he assumed his matters would be trivial things like animal facts he learnt that day, or a test he was on the verge of flunking, or any other overdramatized part of his day.
“Okay then, go on”
Ritsu didn’t look back up to him, nor did he start making his drink. Instead he scrolled down further to see a classmate’s post about karaoke. And with that Shou snatched Ritsu’s phone from his hands slickly.
Ritsu gasped horrifically, astonished at what had just happened.
“You little-” Ritsu grunted, leaning over the counter to reach for Shou’s outstretched hand, determined to get it back.
“Give it back you idiot!” Ritsu cried.
Shou kept it increasingly out of reach as Ritsu tried parkouring over the counter in a way that was professional enough. Though after a few attempts he realized that one, Shou wasn’t going to give it back until he had his ‘pressing affairs’ in order and two, Ritsu looked absolutely ridiculous clambered over the counter.
With a defeated sigh, he slumped back, with elbows propping up his head.
“So, what are these ‘pressing matters’ you speak of?” he snapped.
“Make my order first, lovely barista” Shou teasingly ordered. “A latte, no toppings”
Ritsu gave him the hardest glare he had to offer, a glare so intense it could burn into his retinas and damage his eyesight for good. The customer, however, was unflinching, as he gestured towards the coffee machine and mouthed ‘go’ to him.
Ritsu wondered how much fine he’d have to pay if he spit in his drink. Or poisoned it.
He strutted to the back of the shop and adjusted his apron. He could feel Shou’s eyes on him. He always knew Shou had a fascination with observing his work. He didn’t know if it was the functioning of the workplace that fascinated him or was it…Ritsu. Ritsu working. Ritsu tying and untying his apron and pressing buttons and holding cups and clicking on the counter. Sometimes Ritsu liked to think it was the latter, because that just made him feel flattered. A little powerful.
He didn’t have to shuffle about ten different work stations that day, so the order was done relatively early and once he was done taking out the brownie with a pair of tongs, he slapped the bill on the counter. While Shou scrambled about scraps of change, Ritsu sat back down at the chair behind him.
He sighed. The previous customer’s experience was still buzzing through his head unpleasantly, and the exhaustion was starting to seep in.
“You want a sip?” Shou asked, when he finally gathered enough money to pay.
“It’s against policy,” said Ritsu sternly.
“But you’re-”
“Don’t worry, I don’t want to drink this anyways”
“Suit yourself” Shou shrugged, as he took the first sip. Ritsu kept looking at him, waiting until he spent away merry time consuming his stuff before going to that ‘pressing matter’ he talked of. Shou licked his lips after a bite of brownie, still leaning on the counter, essentially making it into a makeshift table. There wasn’t a person in the queue, though, so maybe he could do that.
“So, anyway, do you know your coffee shop has a crucial label missing? It would really affect sales”
Ritsu’s eyebrow knot as he leaned down and checked the display. He read all of them one by one…brownies, cupcakes, sliced cake, strawberry pastry, vegetable wrap, chicken wrap…yeah, everything was labelled in bold black in legible handwriting. He looked back at Shou tiredly.
“What imaginary condiment in his place has no label, sir?” Ritsu asked, with a smile and voice dripping with sweetness; perhaps a bit too much of it, in a manner that was borderline terrifying.
“Oh, you know” Shou suddenly leaned forward, and with narrowed eyes and a voice dropping an octave lower and a tone huskier, answered “the cutie pie”
There were so many things Ritsu could react with. The instinctual one was a face scrunch to show the obvious cringe he felt. But he also felt annoyed, because he already had a godawful customer and he wasn’t going to risk his job because another one decided on flirting with him, right in the middle of working hours. He also wanted to roll his eyes, because this was such a dumb pickup line.
But he made no such expression. He just looked at Shou with blank eyes and a deadpan face, for he knew if he showed anything that would make him feel like he got a reaction out of Ritsu, he would go on the entire day until he accomplishes who knows what with him.
“Ah, and yet another fault spotted,” Shou feigned disdain “your name tag. It’s incorrect”
“Oh really now?” he spoke with feigned shock and curiosity himself.
“Yeah, see, because I always thought you were Mobgle”
“Mobgle?” Ritsu asked, confused, because how…? Mobgle was a browser, a software, and Ritsu was a human…
“Yeah, because you’re everything I’ve been searching for” Shou spoke in awe and delight, like he had just unearthed a treasure, and ok, maybe it wasn’t as horrible as the abomination of the last pickup line. Ritsu spared a small chuckle at that. It didn’t mean it was good, still.
And Ritsu not finding that line particularly impressive, showed through the half hearted chuckle, because Shou immediately threw another shot.
“Pardon me, wonderful barista” Shou continued in a rather posh accent. Like he was living in some old dynasty and Ritsu was imperial royalty. “I am making too many mistakes with my vision today. I knew there was something wrong with them the moment I found out…I couldn’t take my eyes off you”
Ritsu took a few seconds to actually realize this pickup line was actually over with. Usually things like these had a question-pause-answer kind of formula. Once that line sunk in, he simply offered Shou a small grin, and stepped to the side to wipe the cups fresh out of the dishwasher. Not too much reaction for Shou to celebrate, but enough for Shou to satiate his needs.
There was silence for the next few seconds, and Ritsu thought maybe Shou had finally run out of his ammunition. Pity, it wasn’t really good in the first place. Ritsu could search on the net for there. Heck, even Mobstagram would garner better results.
It wasn’t as if Ritsu hadn’t been flirted with. No, quite the opposite; he’d been flirted with a lot. Boys and girls alike. And there was an amusingly vast variety of flirting techniques he had been victim of. The classic kabedon (a girl shorter than him did that, if he recalled, and after doing so she completely forgot what she had to say, apologized, and left) ; the playful touching (a boy once ran his fingers on his arm when he was tutoring him in English); the flattery (he lost count on how many people did that). But no one dared use such cheesy dialogue with him, because at that day and age, everyone in his age demographic knew that it was cringeworthy and just plain awkward to say it out loud.
Then again, Shou never really had any shame did he? Ritsu at least gathered that from the amount of time he knew him. If he were to think about topics as frivolous as this, he supposed Shou would be the type to unabashedly use something like that.
On further thought, maybe, just maybe, it was endearing. Ritsu turned back to keep his cups back in position and to hide his face from Shou as a small, playful smile adorned his face. It was a bit adorable, him trying to get his attention like that, especially since-
“Hey Ritsu” Shou asked, and when Ritsu looked back at him; he was typing something on his phone. He looked frustrated. “Is the wifi working?”
“Yeah” Ritsu replied, trying to peer over what he was trying to do on his phone.
“But I can’t seem to locate the airport nearby”
“Because there is no airport nearby. It’s almost an hour away”
“Oh” Shou’s eyes widened in realization “Then maybe it was right in thinking that because there is no airport nearby…it’s just my heart that’s taking flight”
“This one was the worst,” Ritsu snorted. Not with Shou, but at Shou; because oh my gosh what on Earth even-
Ritsu was not even going to ask.
Shou muttered something on the lines of ‘goddamnit’, and maybe Ritsu should take back what he just said about that pickup line being the worst, because that just powered him to shoot another one right off the bat, again.
“You must be a heck of a wonderful artist because you’re drawing me in”
Ritsu pressed his lips together as he tried his best not to giggle at that one.
“Can you still drive or is your license suspended from driving me crazy all the time?” he asked, his smile growing bigger and bigger because he might just have noticed that Ritsu doesn’t hate this. And that he’s trying not to burst into smiles and laughter.
Ritsu couldn’t decide if he wanted that to stop or continue. It was a weird conundrum.
“Are your legs tired, because-”
Bullseye. Ritsu knew of that one. He’d heard it in a sitcom show once…or was it a romantic drama? Regardless, he spoke with the most triumphant grin on his face and an unimpressed drawl
“You’ve been running through my mind all day. Right .”
Shou went silent, mouth agape and then closed like a fish in water. Even his eyes were as big as those of fish. Maybe Ritsu shooting back was very unexpected. So unexpected, that Shou perhaps completely lost track of any other pickup line in his arsenal and went silent and blank for good that time.
Shou could very well see that Ritsu felt proud of himself for throwing him off his game. It took Shou all of thirty seconds to gather his bearings back. Well, he wasn’t going to let Ritsu claim that small victory now would he?
“Oh really? I have been running on your mind all day?” Shou asked, with a smirk mirroring the one previously on Ritsu’s face “Mind your words or I might actually think you like me or something”
Ritsu scoffed and rolled his eyes playfully. He glanced at the wall clock. Only twenty minutes till his shift ended. Ritsu probably should start on the dishes as well. He looked at Shou’s tiny plate, and there was but a small chunk of brownie left.
“Are you done with that?”
Shou looked down, seemingly having forgotten about that altogether. He shoved the remnants into his mouth quickly.
“Yeah, here you go”
And with his dishes now back in Ritsu’s hands he had enough reason to ask Shou to leave the cafe. Policy said they couldn’t sit there just to while away time.
“You must be busy, I won’t interfere” he said, standing up, “But before I leave for good, one last question”
Ritsu looked at him completely aghast “Haven’t you asked enough questions already?”
“I swear this is the last one”
“You’ll be doing the dishes if it’s not” Ritsu glared. Shou grinned,
“Deal. So. Before I leave” he heaved in a long breath and asked in one go “Kiss me if I’m wrong, but dinosaurs exist, right?”
Ritsu raised an eyebrow. Gosh, he was not pulling back punches was he? And so bold! When Ritsu was supposed to be working. There could be people coming here any minute! There might be people there currently. (There really weren’t, but the point remains). And such a diabolical, incredulous request, Ritsu nearly dropped the ceramic cup in his hands.
Ritsu took in a breath. Well, there was something Ritsu needed to tell Shou before they went forward with that conversation. He turned back, put the cup on the dishwasher, and walked up to the counter; where Shou was there with a victorious smile. Jackpot. Ritsu leaned forward just enough to think Shou might be making good on that trick, and then stopped
“I have a boyfriend,” he admitted, smile only growing wider, more sinister.
“Really now?” Shou asked, with a raised eyebrow of his own, with a smile unwavering, unbothered. In fact, it only grew as Ritsu answered
“Really. So I can’t really kiss you” he spoke with faux regret and sorrow.
Shou didn’t lean back. Or advance. He just remained there, at the same proximity from Ritsu. He nonchalantly shrugged
“That sucks. Well then, I hope your boyfriend is lucky enough to get a kiss from your lovely looking lips” Shou said, tilting his face up with two fingers so that their eyes locked.
“Should I be so kind as to give him one?” Ritsu asked playfully.
“I don’t know, he’s your boyfriend, not mine. Though I think he probably deserves a kiss or two, seeing as he is dating you and all”
Ritsu clicked his tongue “You know what, I think so too” and he cupped Shou’s face with one hand and brought their lips together.
Shou giggled into the kiss as his hands crawled behind Ritsu’s neck, pulling as close as he physically could. Ritsu realized only after a while that his arm was getting sore and his neck ached from being craned over the counter separating them, so he broke the kiss off.
They had their foreheads pressed together and soft smiles on their faces which often made way to bubbling chuckles. Shou ran a thumb across Ritsu’s cheek
“Rough day?”
“I don’t want to talk about it” Ritsu replied hoarsely, his grin not fading even in the slightest.
“Good thing I noticed the spike in your powers”
“Maybe” Ritsu snorted, “Your tactics were so awful though”
“I’d disagree. I mean, look at you, smiling and all. I’d say they worked”
“Only because we were a thing before. If you had tried that as a means to court me, I’d never look at you twice” he said well naturedly.
“I have to use these treasures somewhere, now” Shou retorted, pulling back just enough to see Ritsu’s face properly.
“Alright” Ritsu surrendered.
“Wanna close up ten minutes early?” Shou asked “We can catch the bus and go out dinner somewhere nice”
Ritsu eyed the dishes on the sink. He looked back at Shou, smirking “I did tell you if you asked me another question you’d be doing the dishes”
Shou’s gaze trailed behind Ritsu, and suddenly his eyes widened and he said no repeatedly.
“Ritsu, that was not-”
“It still was a question” he pointed out “And if you help me we can reach the stop before time”
Shou answer to that was him parkouring over the counter, pressing a gentle kiss on his lips again, turning on water and scrubbing the topmost plate on the pile.