Chapter Text
As a classical literature major, barista, older brother (see: babysitter), and best friend to Nagisa, Makoto had no free time. If he did, the time was spent reading for his classes or keeping said blond best friend out of trouble. Behind on two reading assignments, Makoto let Nagisa man the register with their few customers and opened his book underneath the counter. The Great Gatsby wasn't one of his favorites. He'd read it in high school and loved the writing style, but quickly lost his enthusiam as the book continued. Sighing, he started the sixth chapter.
"Ah, Mako-chan," Nagisa interrupted and Makoto looked up. Nagisa was pointing to the door which twinkled, signalling the arrival of a group of college kids. "Help."
Makoto pushed his book away from the counter they used for mixing and went to his friend's aid. Silently fretting over the fact that he'd probably have a late night tonight, Makoto went on auto-pilot. A coffee-making blur, Makoto and Nagisa floated around each other, passing syrups or cups if they were closer. Within ten minutes, the line died down and every college student was served with one or two extra shots of espresso.
"Finals must be close," Nagisa commented and Makoto nodded, the pit in his stomach growing. "Man, I'm sort of glad I'm in a gap year."
Going into the back kitchen to fetch more clean cups, Nagisa left the counter to Makoto. Feeling anxious, Makoto began to wipe down the counter tops and fill the powdered sugar and cinnamon on the stations around the tables. The door twinkled again and Makoto looked at the front, seeing Nagisa wasn't back yet. Sighing, he walked around to the register, punched in his numbers and watched in slow abject horror as two customers paraded in.
Oh god, he disliked his job sometimes because it always attracted the weirdest people. Coffee cafes were a universal watering hole for all types and Makoto still hadn't gotten used to the cultural melting pot.
The first one to walk up to the counter was ignoring Makoto's stunned expression, opting to look at the menu above his head. He had red choppy hair, black gauges in his ears, and a silver piercing on his already intimidating brows. A tattoo was crawling up his neck, a tribal looking black creation that Makoto flinched away from because he was imagining the pain of going through the process and yeah no freaking way.
"What do you want, Haru?" He asked his companion standing behind him.
Off to the side with his legs crossed, Makoto didn't see him right away. He was shorter and hunched over a thick book. His black hair didn't quite cover his own piercings, four spikes in each ear. His expression spoke levels of detatchment and indecision. He chewed on his lip, which Makoto noticed had a piercing as well, a small silver ring.
"Latte," he answered after a while, short and to the point. He tottered off to a small corner in the cafe and sat, nose immediately glued to the pages of his book.
"Alright, then a mocha latte for him and an Americano for me." The man at the counter finally decided and looked down at Makoto, even though he was shorter. He also put a bottle of water on the counter from the front display.
Still intimidated, Makoto shakily punched in their orders and squeaked out the total.
The transaction was awkward and Makoto had to repeat himself twice. When the man finally left for his table, Makoto let out a breath and mentally shot out an SOS signal to Nagisa who was still puttering in the back.
Makoto made the Americano first, the easiest. Putting a holder around it, he put it on the counter, hoping the man would come get it so he didn't have to go to their table. Next up, Haru's latte. Extra careful, Makoto tried to make the drink his best yet. Taking out the last clean cup, he poured the drink and drew in the foam. He was terrible at art, so he stuck with a basic leaf design anyone could do.
The Americano was still on the counter, so steeling his nerves, Makoto carried both drinks to their table.
"An Americano and latte," he interrupted, smiling with a churning stomach.
Despite their slightly alarming appearances, the red head smiled, thanked him and took a delighted sip. Haru nodded and stared at his drink, eyes soft. Makoto left quickly, mumbling a 'you're welcome'.
Nagisa was back, placing freshly washed cups on the counter.
"They look interesting," Nagisa noted, nodding to the duo in the corner. Haru hadn't touched his drink yet, still reading, ignoring his companion's chatter. "I haven't seen them before, you?"
Makoto shook his head and tried to go back to reading Gatsby, but curiosity won out. He watched, waiting for Haru to sip his drink.
However, he was interrupted with twenty packed minutes of orders. Stressed out, Makoto completely forgot about the two and simply filled drinks. Some people wanted skinny lattes, others soy, and one crazy person ordered ten drinks and twelve pastries to go. When the crowd finally died down, an eldery couple waddled forward. Makoto told himself to breathe and genuinely smiled at the two.
The man ordered two hot chocolates, one with a lot of whip cream, and took out a ten. He insisted they keep the change, so Makoto made sure the drinks were perfect and brought them to their table.
"Here you go, two hot chocolates. Can I get you anything else?" They quickly waved him away with a 'no thank you, dear'. Spotting a curling tattoo on the man's wrist, Makoto sucked in a breath.
Looking at their table, Makoto saw Haru's cup was empty. Swallowing, he walked towards them.
"Can I get this out of your way?" Makoto asked Haru, but he only glanced at him and then nodded. Fingers curling around the edges, Makoto finally saw the spine of the book and broke out into a grin. "Oh, that's a great book."
The book was an older, beaten copy of A Tale of Two Cities, which Makoto always read at least once a year. Haru looked him in the eyes for a moment before back to the book, nodding again. Slightly put out, Makoto excused himself and went into the kitchen to pile the latte cup in the sink.
Was Haru mute? No, Makoto remembered, he did order a latte. Maybe he was just shy. But thinking back on his appearance, which Makoto was finding he liked a lot, he reasoned that maybe he was just a private person who liked the detail on his body. Nodding, Makoto walked back to the front, where Nagisa was stocking and numbering how many pastries they were going through. With as much stealth as he could muster, he put the left over change from the ten into the tip jar.
Working at a cafe, Makoto learned his first day, wasn't all making drinks. Nagisa had trained him, explaining the numbering system and register, how to bake this and that, and finally, how to make the drinks. So stressed and nervous, Makoto had messed up and dropped so many things he thought he'd be fired. But Nagisa simply laughed and helped him clean up the spills.
"It's okay, Mako-chan," he insisted and leaned closer, whispering. "I spilled a hot drink on my trainer my first day and burned a dozen cookies my second. Don't worry, you'll get your bearings soon. Just do yourself a favor and admit you're going to mess up, because you always will."
Two months later of intense stress and a few giggle fests, Makoto was fine on his own, put on latte art duty. Nagisa complained he was terrible at it, always ruining the foam. Since both weren't masters of the arts, they stuck to the simple designs of leaves, smilies, and if they were feeling a little bold, a heart.
"Oh, they're leaving," Nagisa complained, waving to the exiting pair. Makoto snapped his head to front and smiled, happy that Haru at least glanced at him, while his companion loudly thanked them and waved back. "Too bad, I didn't catch their names."
-
Tuesdays were usually slow and calm, so Makoto always tried to catch a shift then. Luckily, Ai had a family thing and asked him to switch last minute. Coming in after two o' clock was always the best, and after sleeping in, catching up on his reading, and talking to his family on the phone, Makoto felt good. Nagisa was on shift too, along with a girl Makoto had only worked with a few times. He could never remember her name and she never wore her name tag.
Distracted, Nagisa let Makoto take the register as he filled the orders.
A few business men came in on their cellphones, laptop bags on their shoulders. After explaining they didn't serve decaf until after 5 pm for the fourth time, Makoto rang them up, already zoning out and humming happily.
Two hours passed with ease, and Makoto thought about reading ahead in his Shakespeare class when the door jingled violently. Startled, everyone turned their heads at the disturbance, announcing Haru and his friend's arrival.
"Rin," Haru muttered, turning pink in the face at the attention, and tugged at his friend's sweater. "S-S-Stop."
"No, I don't think I will, Haru. God damn it all! He had the nerve to push you into the fucking pool!" At Rin's language, a few customers glared.
Trapped, Haru burned brighter and pushed Rin to a corner, tugging on his gauges. They sat at a table and Rin whispered feverishly, before calming when Haru put a hand on his arm. Makoto, realizing he was staring, snapped to attention. A new customer was asking for a cookie.
Nagisa put it on a plate, and Makoto apologized, taking the exact change.
"So it's Rin and Haru, huh." Nagisa commented when the line was empty and Makoto glanced back at the pair.
"I guess," Makoto tossed back, trying to seem uninterested. "That was the last sugar cookie, I'll get three more. That should be good right?"
Nagisa stared at Makoto for a searching moment before nodding. "Get out some blueberry muffins too, just four. They need to thaw for an hour, remember?"
Snatching the timer, Makoto nodded and went to work, going into the freezer, careful not to touch the frozen goods. He had done that too many times with his big hands and had to throw them away. The cafe had a strict policy, but Makoto was almost sure Nagisa ignored that rule, usually juggling six or more cookies in his hands.
When he came back out, Rin was at the counter with Naigsa talking to him. Looking away when Rin glanced at him, Makoto took out a sheet of wax paper and put down the cookies and muffins. Punching in the time, he set it on the counter. To keep himself busy, he made another brew of coffee and wiped the counters.
"Hey, Mako-chan," Nagisa called to him and reluctantly, Makoto looked to him. "I need another latte for Haru and a drip for Rin."
Envious because he was already on a first name basis, Makoto nodded and went to work on their drinks. He finished Rin's first, simply filling the cup with coffee from the maker. Rin stayed by the counter this time and smiled at Makoto when he passed him his drink.
"Thank you," he looked at his name tag and then back up. "Makoto. And sorry for the outburst earlier." He rubbed his neck.
Shocked, Makoto hastily waved his hands, nearly knocking over the cup he set out for Haru's latte. Rin sniggered, smirking.
"No, not at all! Don't worry about it."
Rin simply nodded, and headed to his table. Shrinking, Makoto sighed. He'd have to walk to their table with Haru's latte.
Face burning from making a fool of himself, Makoto worked on the latte, ignoring Nagisa's looks. Drawing a smiling face in the foam, he paused to push down his embarrassment. Deducing from their last encounter, Haru was shy and didn't talk much. Ok, Makoto told himself, then just don't say much.
Walking to their table, Makoto grinned and put down the latte. "Here you go, enjoy."
He didn't wait around for the thank you he knew wasn't coming and walked back to the counter, set on not embarrassing himself any further. Picking up his previously abandoned dish rag, he went back to cleaning the counters. He had spilled a little milk making the latte and busied himself with mind numbing tasks. Checking the clipboard on the wall, he marked another pot brewing and turned around into Nagisa.
Yelping, Makoto righted them before they could fall.
"You seem flustered." Nagisa pressed and put his hands on his hips after they disentangled, "You didn't mess something up and not tell me, right? Are you being threatened by a gang again?" Makoto was seriously contemplating those few questions (he been threatened by a gang before?) before Nagisa gasped, "Oh I know!" He leaned in, trying to be quiet, but that just wasn't Nagisa, "You had that kind of dream, amirite?" He pushed his elbow into Makoto's ribs as he sputtered.
Rin snapped his neck towards them, suppressing a snort. Haru further inched down in his seat.
"No!" Makoto hissed and then quieter, "No I didn't, I'm just a bit swamped right now." It was a half-truth and Nagisa knew it, watching as Makoto rubbed his nose.
"Uh-huh," Nagisa's mouth steadily dropped in mock affirmation. "Well my shift ends in half an hour. You alright to lock up?"
Makoto pursed his lips and said he was fine, ignoring Nagisa for the rest of his shift, only speaking to him when making drinks. He mixed a few he'd never made before, taking out the recipe binder, reading closely. Absorbed in the instructions and muttering to himself, he didn't notice Nagisa leave as he waved. Most of the customers offered their goodbyes before returning to their laptops or books.
A stool scrapped against the floor and someone sat at the side bar. Makoto promised he be right there and finished off his final new drink.
"What can I get you?"
The customer was someone new, and obviously nervous. He pushed up his red glasses.
"A peppermint tea, please." He handed him a credit card, but Makoto didn't look at the name, swiping it quickly and assuring the man he'd have his tea ready shortly.
"Thank you." He replied and Makoto went to work, getting out the right tea bags.
A clink of dishes alarmed him of another customer and he nearly dropped the box of tea bags in surprise. Haru was standing at the counter, pushing the empty latte cup towards Makoto. He nodded politely and left with Rin.
"Bye!" Makoto nearly shouted and Rin laughed, waving. Haru paused and decided to wave himself, if lazily.
For the rest of his long shift, Makoto couldn't stop smiling.