Chapter Text
Fareeha walks into the kitchen and the moment she enters, her nose is filled with the smell of roasted coffee beans and her ears are filled with distant shouting. she knows Jack and Gabe are arguing again. Its one of the regular things that happens in the cafe kitchens. Over time the argument eventually turns to them highlighting each other's insecurities and then degrading to shouting matches, which then leads to Genji throwing them out of the door.
Fareeha hangs her jacket on the hook behind the door. Genji comes around, sighing, drying his hands on the trusty towel he keeps tucked on the band of his pants. The towel used to be soft, but with repeated use, now had the texture of sandpaper. Genji didn’t seem to mind.
"What is it this time?" She asks during the hug, half-apprehensively and half-warily, because she so isn't ready for their argument. She needs a coffee first. Gabe was pretty adamant about them not drinking their own coffee but she had flipped that suggestion off a long time ago. Genji shrugs.
"Didn't catch it in time. They are at the shouting phase, but I just saw Olivia storm to them, so they should be here in three, two, one." Genji says, and on cue, Olivia enters, Spanish expletives and all, ushering Gabe and Jack into the back of the kitchen. Jack and Gabe each croak out a feeble "Hey" to her separately, then go back to glaring at each other. Genji completes the process, pushing them out of the doors, and then coming back sighing.
"Hey" Fareeha greets Olivia. "Some morning, huh?" She smirks a little as Olivia closes the distance between them and engulfs her in her arms. Olivia’s smells of a little sweat, breakfast and oil and eggs. Home, as Fareeha would label it.
"Ayye, chiquita." Olivia sighs. "Did they even love each other in the first place?" She wonders. Genji laughs and Fareeha snorts.
Everyone knew they were bros before they became hoes for each other.
"We all know the answer to that." Genji gives a knowing smile, then goes to the counter to get Fareeha a mug of strong black coffee. Fareeha follows him. She takes the first sip and lets the bitter taste wash over her mouth. Her eyelids lighten like someone suddenly lifted the weight of the world off of them. She keeps them closed just for the sake of it.
"God bless caffeine." Fareeha sighs in a way that almost sounds orgasmic, and Genji chuckles.
"Take care of cowboy there. Did you two even sleep last night?" Genji inquires, but does not wait for the answer, because the endless advice about proper sleep and dark circles seemed to be falling on deaf ears. He disappears behind the aisle in the middle of the kitchen.
Fareeha opens her eyes and registers the slumped figure on the counter. His unkempt hair and the smell of shampoo left behind on his head told her that he was way more sleep deprived than she was. She pours another cup of coffee and slides it to him. It stops by his fingers, sloshing dangerously close to the rim. Jesse's knuckles touch the mug, and then retreat immediately after feeling the heat seep through the ceramic.
"Thanks." he croaks out. Fareeha ruffles his hair fondly. Despite his frantic shampooing, his hair was wiry and rough.
"When did you fall asleep?" She asks
"Halfway through the fifteenth episode." Jesse replies, and Fareeha chuckles.
Yesterday was binge-watch Thursdays she and Jesse religiously followed to the T. Yesterday they had decided to see Community again, because they were either too lazy or too burnt out from the cafe job to be finding something else. Genji had offered millions of times to procure a season or two of other shows(he was especially adamant about Quantico), but both of them almost always managed to conveniently forget about following through. Fareeha was out by the end of the first season, and slept in, whereas Jesse bolted to reach the cafe on time. He had run out of the days he could skip or come late. She was in way better shape than he was, though, who certainly looked like he would drink more coffee than he would serve today.
"Maybe you should take a day off?"
"Gabe gon' kill me." He croaks, then raises his head from between his arms to slurp at the coffee hungrily. Fareeha leaves him to recover and puts on her apron, and then whips out the notepad she takes orders with. She remembers Genji kicking out two people earlier and goes out into the alley to see Jack and Gabe back to groping each other.
"So I see you guys are back to normal. Come back in." She says, interrupting Gabe, who was nibbling at Jack's ear. She rolls her eyes at the frustrated groan and retreats, letting them finish and go back to work. The smell of cooking brings her to the stoves, where Olivia is flipping eggs and bacon at the same time, with perfect precision, because Fareeha knows she's a machine. She's absolutely adorable too, and a god when it came to cuddling, always holding at the perfect spots for maximum comfort, enough to put anyone to sleep.
"You had breakfast, chiquita?" She asked, voice now in mom mode, and Fareeha chuckles, sliding her pad into the kangaroo pocket on her apron. They had close to an hour before the cafe opened and they started the breakfast rush. There was still one person that needed to be here before they could begin.
"Nope. Won't miss those eggs for anything." Fareeha replies fondly and removes a plate from the stack of clean ones. Gabe enters at the same moment, and spots Fareeha.
"Hey, stop!" He says, but Fareeha takes the plate and Olivia scoops some of the eggs and bacon on it.
"I'll wash them, Gabe." Fareeha says irritatingly, and takes a bite. She takes a moment to chew, feeling the texture of the soft, fluffy eggs, and the contrasting bacon with its slightly chewy and crunchy texture. Making her sigh in satisfaction "So, what were you two arguing about?" Fareeha asked mid-chew, placing herself on one of the stools they kept at the corner on the inside of the counter. Olivia continues to make more eggs and for everyone else, because she knew no one was responsible enough to be eating breakfast by themselves. Gabe arrives first, giving Fareeha a strong hug, snug, and crushing. Jack was next, but much gentler, exactly how they were like as people. They start eating after Olivia gives them food.
"Mmmpf!" Jack blurts out in appreciation. "We should weally keep you fo ourshelwes." He interrupts, Olivia laughs, and Gabe shoots him a glare. It was clearly evident who was in control of the relationship here. Gabe buried his anger with a spoonful of eggs and stood quiet while chewing.
"We were wondering if we should add in Turkish coffee to the menu or not." He says after swallowing his first morsel.
"What's there to think about?" Fareeha shot back, and Olivia grunted in approval. Genji came back and asked the same question.
"Exshactly! Fareeha makesh them sho goof!" Jack protests through another mouthful, and Gabe ignores him.
"We cannot find coffee grounds fine enough for it." He says. "The grinder we had didn't make them fine enough."
"Well, maybe that could be a novelty." Genji replies. Fareeha nods while chewing on her breakfast. "And I'm sure pounding will take care of the grounds."
"Well, who has enough time to pound?" Gabe shoots back. Jack looks at him with fuck-me eyes and Genji gets uncomfortable at the implication. Fareeha simply snorts. She won't be surprised if she didn't find them grinding against each other beside the closet sometime in between the rush.
"Well do we need to stock on it? Why can't we pound it fresh?" Olivia says, turning from the pan and giving Genji his breakfast. Olivia collects hers into another plate and digs in. Fareeha imagines the earthy fragnance that would give, which makes her hum in approval
"I'll do it." McCree croaks from behind them, and everyone remembers about his existence. Olivia walks to him and throws her arms around him, crushing his shoulders with affection, going mom mode again.
"Awww pobrecito!" She coos. "Let me get you some breakfast." Jesse groans in defeated approval buried somewhere under her arms. Olivia neglects her breakfast to make McCree some. Fareeha dumps her plate in the sink and waits for others to finish.
"Where the hell is that girl Lena?" Gabe snarls, and Olivia shoots a glare in his direction.
"Leave that poor girl alone, puta!" She fires back protectively. "You want her to bring supplies and expect her to arrive early, and then wait tables all day long! I wonder how she hasn't called human rights activists on you!" She says, stabbing the spatula in his direction, making small chunks of egg fly off it. Gabe seethes silently and murmurs to himself. Everyone chuckles at this. Gabe might have the age advantage and also the advantage of owning the place, but no one fucks with Olivia. She kept the place together better than Gabe could ever hope for. Plus, everyone loves her when she isn't angry. She is the mother hen the staff will never admit they needed. Especially Gabe.
"Fine." He admits in the end, and goes to prepare materials for cooking. Jack takes waiting and Fareeha retreats behind the scenes on the sink, with bubbles and scented detergent. Fareeha waited tables only when the rush was too much to be handled by Lena, Jack and Jesse. Other times she relayed orders, ensured the materials keep flowing in and kept Olivia company at the counter. Olivia brought Jesse his breakfast, and prodded his knuckles with the plate until he straightened and started eating. She then picked up her neglected breakfast, and talked to him until he was awake completely. She takes their plates and dumps it in the sink.
"Did Jesse even sleep last night?" Olivia asked.
"I dunno. I was out cold."
"Oh."
"Yeah. By the way, what are you getting for today's dinner?" Fareeha asks, wiping the first plate off.
"I don't know, chiquita. Maybe takeout."
Fareeha shudders. "You know Gabe is gonna kill you, right?" Every friday, the staff had dinner at Gabe's house, something in line with his principles of family and togetherness. Fareeha was pretty sure he was the real-life version of Dominic Toretto. Always yapping about family and stuff. Fareeha had almost asked him once to plan a heist or two for them. She was happy she didn't, though. But she did know that he would have managed to plan and execute one as well, knowing how he was.
"Ah, I'll cook something then and there."
The easiest was to get to their house, because they lived right above the cafe, but the hardest was to go back, because they had the best of mattresses, and she somehow always ended with Olivia, who was the hardest person to break away from. Its things like these that force Fareeha to think that she should get into a relationship soon.
The back door opens and Lena bursts in. "Hiya everyone!" she chirps, barging in with armfuls of groceries. Fareeha was quick to help, setting them at their respective places. "I hope I was on time?" She asks, although her face clearly shows she knows the answer. Gabe rose from making his pancake batter to tell her off but abandons the idea when he spots Olivia glaring at him.
"Nonsense. You are right on time." Olivia answers with a sweetness that makes Fareeha and Lena snicker. Genji notices their expressions behind Olivia's back and gives them a knowing smile. Fareeha goes back to doing the dishes and Lena suits up for waiting the tables.
______________________________________
"Hey." Moira says feebly while slumping into one of the stools, and Fareeha looks up from the newspaper. The afternoon rush had given way to a relaxed evening, in which caffeine fueled teenagers were replaced by responsible, generously tipping individuals from the upper echelons of society. Rich people turned up because of the general air of easiness at the cafe and the fact that Gabe made killer pancakes. Even Olivia's creative expletives were not enough to extract his secrets.
"Hey!" Fareeha beams and gives her a quick over-the-counter hug. Moira put in the minimum possible effort in the hug, using just one arm around Fareeha’s back, long slender fingers spread between her shoulderblades. She notices her exhausted face, and the faint odor of alcohol mixed in with perfume. "Rough day?" She asks, reaching under the counter to fix Moira a cup of coffee. Moira groans.
"You have no idea." She replies. Moira was ridiculously famous and rich, and was a very good friend of theirs (family, as Gabe would say). Why she didn't go anywhere else, was something that eluded Fareeha. But she was thankful, because her appearances here had massively raised their Google ratings.
Someone else sits beside Moira, and Fareeha knew who it is. "Hey, Ice Cold Amelie." Fareeha says and Ice Cold Amelie smiles, they exchange a quick hug as well, Amelie’s hug more earnest, but with less force. Amelie didn’t have any remnants of alcohol in her scent, meaning Moira was the only one who had indulged. She looks similarly distressed, something someone normal wouldn’t notice seeing how neutral her face was, but the staff did.
"I won't ask." Fareeha says reassuringly and pulls out another cup. "What else except coffee?"
"Pancakes?" Both of them ask almost simultaneously. Fareeha chuckles and goes to find Gabe. Olivia appears from the back of the kitchen.
"Moira and Ice Cold Amelie!" she says in her thick Spanish accent. "How have you girls been? I didn't see you around for ever."
"Yeah, we've been busy with the ridiculous conferences and stuff. We actually just came back from London. Couldn't miss Gabe's dinner for our lives, especially if it meant missing his food." Moira says, running a hand through her short, fiery ginger hair and Ice Cold Amelie stays quiet, like she always does. She does smile in agreement, though.
"You girls made a good decision for once in your lives." Jack says, looming from behind, engulfing them in his arms, which the women returned with fond smiles. In his hands was orders from the patrons, which he gave to Olivia. Olivia disappeared into the back of the kitchen to get the orders ready, replaced by Fareeha. Jack takes the counter.
"Pancakes coming in three." Fareeha says. "You ladies were just in time for the dinner though." Fareeha adds, her elbows on the counter, facing both of them. Moira lets out a hungry groan, which Fareeha knows meant I know, right?
"Two Macchia- howdy ladies!" Jesse appears, pinching an order between his index finger and thumb, but promptly forgets about it when he spots the women. He hugs them from behind, and snuggles his face between their shoulders. "And to think I was not gunna see you for dinner again. It would have been lonely for the movie, and Lena picks the shittiest ones I have ever seen. She doesn't have Ice Cold Amelie's taste." Moira chuckles at the distant, offended "Hey!" that Lena let out from somewhere behind them.
"When was the last time you actually slept?" Amelie asked, speaking in a complete sentence for the first time in the evening. "And when was the last time you had shaved?" Moira asked, clearly distressed by his stubble, which was digging into her shoulders, through the fabric of her expensive linen shirt. But she had no intention of throwing him off her. Amelie didn't notice. She never noticed much anyway.
"Maybe last year." Gabe emerges, each hand holding a stack of pancakes, dripping with maple syrup, and Jesse twitches at the tone. "I have never seen him do anything responsible with his free time." He snips again. He sets down the plates and swats the order pressed between Jesse’s fingers to take a look. "Genji! Two Macchiatos!" He turns back and shouts. He realizes that he did not tell Genji about the newest entrants and turns to shout back again. Genji appears some time later, clutching two Macchiatos, that Jesse took and sped away. The two women dig into their pancakes, and revel in how excessively sweet the maple syrup made it. Fareeha was never able to eat it that way, waste the slightly sweet taste with a tickle of saltiness here and there.
"Hey! Amelie! Moira!" Genji chirps cheerfully, and gives them an over-the-counter hug. "I missed you! You didn't tell me the trip to London would be this long." He says, hurt. His expression is one-fourths teasing and three-fourths kicked puppy.
"Sowwy." Moira and Amelie offer. But their apology loses most of its effect when their faces are stuffed with pancakes. Amelie's mouth had syrup dripping from the corner. Olivia laughs. So does Genji.
Fareeha was distracted from their conversation by a booth, which was housing a harrowed blonde woman, papers, journals and stationery strewn about the table like the place had just been ransacked. Her glasses were askew, so was her hair, and so was everything, but the blonde was too absorbed in work to notice anything at all. Fareeha noticed with small shock the number of cups that were circling the booth.
"She has practically drunk her bodyweight in coffee since she camped there in the morning." Lena appears beside her at the edge of the counter, and Genji us at the other side, elbows on the counter just like Fareeha, all three of them looking at the booth. "She's tipping really nice, though." Lena adds.
The woman in the booth raises her eyes to meet theirs, goes pale, and with a small jump of fright, returns to the sheaf of papers she was perusing. Genji and Lena's eyes are flitting between the blonde and Fareeha, because Fareeha's expression was telling them too much right now. Their eyes meet and they share a knowing glance.
Fareeha's face is neutral, her mouth is slightly ajar, but her eyes give her away. They were flickering up and down the blonde's form, taking in every little bit of information like she was about to give a test where every question would be related to the blonde's appearance. She continues staring blankly, absentmindedly running her fingers along the worn, smooth wooden surface of the counter until most of the patrons are gone, and the rest were close to leaving. Everyone else joins Lena and Genji to see how she was practically stripping the blonde with her eyes. Fareeha doesn't realise what she is doing, but the rest could see, and their amusement is unparalleled.
"Did she eat anything?" Fareeha asks, prompting everyone to go back to cleaning. Moira and Amelie continue to look on, over the plates they just demolished the pancakes in. Olivia swoops in, swipes the said plates off the counter and disappears behind the aisle.
"I don't think so." Genji replies. "I don't think Olivia had any order from that table for the whole day." He leans back, so that his head clears the aisle. "Olivia! Did we have any food orders from table eight the whole day?"
"No!" Olivia answers from behind the aisle.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she exploded from that much caffeine not fifty metres from the door." Fareeha says disinterestedly, straightens and walks to the fridge. She extracts the breakfast leftovers and microwaves them.
"Hold it a little longer, chiquita! I'm going upstairs to make dinner after this!" Olivia says.
"It isn't for me." Fareeha replies, and walks out front. She retrieves the keys to Jack and Gabe's house, and passes them to Moira. "You people get cooking, I'll deal with her." Fareeha says, and walks to the booth with a plate of food, which was now the only table that was occupied. Everyone followed her with their eyes. Olivia leans from behind the aisle to see.
"Ten bucks says they will be banging on that floor in three months." Gabe appears out of nowhere and wagers. There is a smirk on his scruffy bearded face, Now carrying the atmosphere of the bakery, laden with flour like he had become a pancake rather than make them.
"Three months? That is too optimistic, don't ya think, love?" Lena replies. "I wager ten against. But they will bang on that floor alright."
"Do we even know if she's straight or not?" Genji asks, the only voice of logic presently.
"Oh, I know Fareeha. Trust me." Gabe growls proudly, the smirk deepening.
"Ah, good for Chiquita!" Olivia appears, wiping her hands dry with a hand towel.
"Put me down for a thousand." Moira replies. "Me too." Amelie chimes in. Everyone looks at them. Lena looks positively alarmed.
"Calm down. Pay us ten if we win." Moira replies. Amelie grins in agreement.
"Rich people and their wagers." Jack mutters under his breath. "I'll wager fifty." He says aloud.
"I'm calling fifty too." Jesse calls out. Gabe glares at him.
"I'll take that off your cut." Gabe growls, prompting everyone to look at him disbelievingly. "What?" Olivia shakes her head on this.
Genji looks at everyone incredulously. "Why are we even betting if everyone is wagering on the same thing?"
Everyone struggles to swallow their laughter as they make their way upstairs, leaving Fareeha with the harrowed blonde.
______________________________________
Fareeha approaches the blonde carefully, taking slow steps, like she was a terrible alligator, and one wrong move would send Fareeha to her doom. She notices that the papers are now spilling onto the floor and the bird's nest that her head has become, no doubt from the endless fidgeting. Her clothes have definitely seen better days, and she looks one wrong spelling away from a nervous breakdown. Fareeha stops at a safe distance of four steps. That gave her plenty of time to react, in the event that the blonde did explode.
"Hey, you alright?" Fareeha says, feeling the terrain in front of her.
The blonde, true to eight cups of caffeine, shoots bolt upright and looks at Fareeha with alarm, blue eyes blown impossibly wide. "What happened? Are you closing?" She squeaks.
"Calm down" Fareeha drops opposite to the blonde, setting down the hot ceramic dish on the cold wooden table, and starts collecting the papers off the floor. She taps them straight on the table and starts collecting the rest.
"Wh-what are you doing?!" the blonde squeaks again, her pitch higher with ever rising alarm. Fareeha doesn't stop. The blonde is too alarmed to do anything except squeaking anyways.
"Look at you. You are one spelling mistake away from a nervous breakdown. And one drop away from caffeine overdose." Fareeha says, not raising her eyes. Once done with the papers, she sets them aside and puts the plate in front of her. "Eat. You have been living on coffee since the morning." Fareeha commands.
"B-But I don’t have any money left. "
"Its on the house. Payback for ordering so much coffee and making the waitress rich" Fareeha says, remembering Lena’s smug face.
"Th-Thanks." The blonde says softly, being adorably self-conscious. She looks at the eggs, bacon and pancakes on the plate and gingerly lifts the fork. Fareeha smiles when she hears an appreciative moan escape through the closed lips.
"I admit we don't limit the cups of coffee, but it would be really great if you didn't die from too much coffee. Its kinda bad publicity for a cafe." Fareeha says nonchalantly, trying very hard not to focus on the blonde’s lips as she chewed.
"A person cannot die from too much coffee. Not under normal circumstances" The blonde says, suddenly brimming with confidence, sounding like she knew the fact better than anyone in the world, or it could be the way she reeked of nothing but coffee and books and highlighter fluid. She chewed slowly, taking small measured bites.
"Oh. How do you know?" Fareeha asks, striving to continue talking.
"I'm a doctor." She says, Half proud, yet self conscious.
"Nice." Fareeha whistles. "That explains all these papers and you being a mental car-crash." Fareeha says, and she swears she saw a faint blush creep on her cheeks.
"The eggs are nice." The blonde speaks again, Appreciating the smooth taste of the eggs.
"Olivia's eggs are the best. So are Gabe’s pancakes" Fareeha replies proudly, gesturing toward them. The blonde takes a bite and confirms it with an appreciative hum. "So, are you from around?" Fareeha asks again, tapping her finger lightly on the stack of papers.
"Yes." the blonde replies. "The med school. I never noticed this place earlier." her sheepishness increases. She finishes the food.
"Let me get you a glass of water." Fareeha says chivalrously, and shoots off the booth. By the time Fareeha returns, the blonde was clutching her head, no doubt from too much studying. She registers Fareeha and takes the glass of water, washing away the bitter taste of coffee that was still lingering in her mouth. Fareeha takes the empty glass from her twitchy fingers after she is done.
"Thanks, I'll get going." the blonde starts to rise.
"Whoah there. Its way too late to go out half sleepy and still jumped up on coffee." Fareeha says, softly, gingerly placing her palm on the blonde’s shoulder and steering her back down. She knew this because Moira is famous for being up to all kinds of shenanigans with too much coffee and a filled stomach late at night (once, she had jammed the café with reporters following a fiasco the night before). They often need to keep someone up to watch over her. Usually it is Amelie, because she was the best at waking others up if things went out of control. It seemed rich people could afford to have weird tendencies. "Sleep here. I will let you out in the morning."
"No. Thank you so-"
"Oh no. Not taking no for an answer."
"I have to-"
"No."
"Tomorrow is my-"
"No use if you lose your mind, trust me."
The blonde considers it, and her expression is a cocktail of unsure and thoughtful. "Is that safe?" she asks, looking around.
"Much safer than wandering out there so late and alone. I’ll lock the place, if that’s what you’re worried about."
The blonde now looks much more convinced. "I hope I'm not bothering you people. You seem to be having a family dinner upstairs." She says like she is the biggest burden on this earth, her face carrying an apologetic expression.
"Oh I don't think anyone will notice if you sleep downstairs. They will be too stuffed to check." Fareeha says. "Don't worry." She winks.
The blonde relents, but Fareeha suspects it’s the wink that sold it to her. "What's your name? Just in case I run into someone else in the morning?" The blonde says.
"Fareeha." She says. "Yours?"
"Angela." the blonde replies. Her cheeks color briefly, from question or something else, Fareeha doesn't know.
Moira, Ice Cold Amelie, Lena, Jesse, Olivia and Genji were leaning on each other on the massive sofa Gabe had found at a garage sale, eating bowls of rice pilaf that Olivia had whipped up in a surprising time, and still was perfect with salt, the spices and the rice was cooked just right as well. Jack and Gabe were nowhere to be seen, and Fareeha knew exactly what they were up to.
"Gosh, these guys are worse than two horny teenagers." Fareeha mumbles, announcing her arrival to the house.
All of them followed Fareeha with their eyes, turned backwards, and watch her pull out a comforter and a pillow. She freezes when she spots the others looking at her.
"What?" She says, eyes darting from one pair of eyes to the other, going left to right.
"You're being late. We are waiting for you to begin the movie." Ice Cold Amelie, of all people, replies, big amber eyes and all, before stuffing her mouth with a spoonful innocently.
"Sorry." Fareeha breathes out, and quickly walks downstairs, grabbing the keys on the way down. They turn back to the TV, all of their faces wearing smug smiles, except Lena. Fareeha returns soon after, and joins the gang on the sofa with her bowl. Amelie had done the movie selection today(thankfully) and they were watching The Rundown, a cheesy Dwayne Johnson action flick. Fareeha leans into Olivia, and Olivia takes the chance.
"Did you put her to sleep, chiquita?" Olivia whispers, and she knew everyone else was listening beside her. But Fareeha did not need to know that. Fareeha hums in response, chewing and watching intently.
"Did you get her name?" Olivia asks, tenderly.
"Angela." Fareeha whispers, and snuggles tighter against Olivia, who wrapped her free arm around Fareeha's shoulder. Everyone smirks again, especially Moira, who looked like she could break out any moment bragging.
"Might as well give me the money now." Moira whispers victoriously to Lena, who had her head on Moira's shoulder, inner arm looped around hers.
Lena smacked her arm hard enough for it to hurt.