Chapter Text
Yaz fought with every inch of her body to stay awake. They got home around two am, she barely got the chance to take a quick shower and fell asleep almost immediately before being rudely woken up by her alarm.
Still, there was a small smile on her lips that didn’t go away even after her fiftieth yawn.
The café was already in full swing, the air warm and full of sugar, but Yaz could hear voices coming from the kitchen. One of those voices was unmistakeably Melissa’s.
Yaz didn’t resist rolling her eyes and made her way towards the room, ready to face whatever was going on.
“Morning,” she said loudly just as Melissa took a breath, presumably to continue in her monologue.
Melissa shut her mouth, jaw clenched. Tess stood opposite her, breathing heavily through her nose. Her fingers were tapping out a rhythm on the side of her thighs. Yaz pretended not to notice.
Melissa was the first one to come back to herself. “Good morning Yasmin,” she said sweetly, a practiced smile already in place.
“Hi,” Tess let out, almost inaudible. Her eyes met Yaz’s just for a moment before looking away.
Yaz gave her a small, tight lipped smile before making her way towards the staff room and changing into her apron.
Melissa’s hushed voice picked up for a second. She then cleared her throat and began explaining parts of the days to-do list to Tess as if nothing had happened.
Yaz came out of the staff room and looked at the two women. Tess was doing her best to avoid looking at either Yaz or Melissa and Melissa was doing her best to keep that smile on her lips.
“I need you two to check the storage today so I can order anything we’re running low on,” Melissa continued, then paused for a moment. “And I think that’s all. I hope you two can manage,” she added and turned around to leave, heels clicking loudly.
She paused in the middle of the doorframe and turned around just enough to face them. “Oh, and Therese, darling? Your roots are showing.”
And with that she waved them goodbye and left.
Yaz looked at Tess, unsure whether to comfort, distract or pretend nothing was happening. The blonde was stiff and Yaz could see her catching a glimpse of her reflection in the oven glass.
Yaz looked at the blonde with a small frown. Honestly, the roots weren’t that bad. Sure, there was some growth; it’s been weeks since Tess started working at Oakdown after all, but Yaz had seen worse.
“Do you want coffee?” Yaz asked instead, the tiniest olive branch.
“...no,” Tess said quietly. “I- I’ll finish up here Yaz, you okay to get the front ready?”
Yaz nodded and gave the blonde a single pat on the shoulder before moving onto her tasks. When she turned around, the blonde was standing in front of the oven, examining her hair.
Tess kept on watching herself in every object with a reflection. It was small, barely noticeable, but Yaz couldn’t help but see it.
“I honestly don’t know what her deal is,” Yaz started carefully while Tess weighed a box of Sauvignon Blanc as they did stocktaking.
“Who?” Tess asked absentmindedly as she wrote down the number. Yaz handed her another box, Pinot Gris, and put the weighed one aside.
“Melissa. I mean, there was no need to be a bitch and yet she found a way,” Yaz shrugged.
“ I guess,” Tess replied and wrote down the next number.
Yaz handed her a box of Merlot.
“Also, I would ignore that root comment, Rose had roots worse than yours and lived. Melissa probably just wanted to say something mean for the sake of it.”
Tess handed over the box of Merlot and took the one with Pinot Noir off the floor.
Yaz watched her, unsure how to continue. Apparently addressing the situation wasn’t helping.
“Could you pass the Rosato Yaz? Thanks,” Tess asked as she placed the box of Pinot Noir back on the floor.
At least she was still Yaz, Yaz thought bitterly. So much for bonding at Jack’s wedding.
“So,” Yaz tried again as an idea began forming in her mind. “Jack and Ianto’s wedding.”
“What about it?” Tess turned around fully to face the brunette, expression neutral.
“Did you enjoy it?” Yaz asked as nonchalantly as she could.
“Yeah, it was nice,” Tess smiled briefly. “The cake was good,” she added with a small huff of laughter.
“Not as good as yours,” Yaz blurted out before she could stop herself.
She cursed internally, ready to abort the mission, but Tess’ cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink that Yaz couldn’t help but smile at.
“I’m not as good as Missy,” Tess almost whispered, but there was shy smile on her lips.
“No, you’re better. I don’t eat Melissa’s cakes. Yours though?” Yaz laughed. She should probably stop talking.
“I-“
“-I mean, they’re not too sweet, they have an amazing texture, aren’t dry, the flavour profiles are to die for and they’re always so pretty and-“
“-Yaz, you do know we make the cakes from a cake mix, right?”
Yaz stopped just as she was taking a breath and blinked. “What?”
Tess had an amused smile on her lips and her eyes twinkled. “Yeah, it’s cake mix. It would take hours to make everything from scratch so Missy buys like, huge bags of cake mix for the cake bases.”
“Are you telling me I’m selling everyone a lie?”
“What?” Tess laughed as that confused line appeared between her eyebrows.
“I’ve been telling every single customer the cakes are homemade. From scratch. I’ve been lying for years,” Yaz pretend whined.
“Sorry?” Tess gave her an awkward smile and Yaz burst out laughing.
“This isn’t happening. My whole life has been a lie,” Yaz continued dramatically. The blonde continued laughing, her voice gradually getting louder. “I mean, first I’m underpaid and now I’m a liar as well? What’s next, don’t tell me the plates are store bought as well.”
“No, I made those just this morning,” Tess snickered.
“Ah, good, crisis averted,” Yaz let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.
Tess shook her head, body still shaking with laughter as she wrote down the final number. “We’re running a bit low on the Rosato, could you please check the back to see if we have more? I’ll finish up here,” she asked as she took the box off the scale.
“Sure, be right back, don’t miss me too much,” Yaz joked with a small wink, finger-guns at the ready.
Tess rolled her eyes with a smile before turning her attention back to the task at hand.
Yaz’s smile didn’t leave her face even as she entered the storage room and begun browsing the shelves. She was surprised just how much stuff was there. Said cake mixes in big, ten kilograms to be exact, bags.
Yaz definitely wasn’t imagining Tess picking them up to prepare her (pre-mixed) cakes. Nope.
She continued looking and found everything except boxed wine. With a sigh, Yaz decided to continue her search in the staff room. Sometimes they stored extra bottles of coke and sprite there, there was a chance her hunt would be successful.
Yaz turned on the light and sighed loudly upon seeing the mess. Of course no one was keeping up with the room. There were several extra pairs of shoes all over the floor along with seemingly empty boxes. Several bottles of perfume and deodorant lined up precisely on one of the shelves.
Kira’s extra apron was thrown over a chair. Melissa’s own hung delicately on one of the hangers (the first one, her designated one).
Yaz began her search and regretted her choices almost instantly. Empty bottles of coke clinked against one another as she picked up one of the boxes and moved it aside.
Jackpot, there it was. A box of Rosato as well as all of the other wines each. “Found it!” Yaz called out, hopefully loud enough to be heard up front.
She decided to take the Rosato with her since the one up front was running low. It was better to do it now than to fight her way through all that clutter later. The box was heavy and she let out a grunt as she picked it up.
Behind it was a familiar looking backpack.
Yaz eyed the thing before turning her attention back to the task at hand. The box of wine was quite heavy and she was struggling. Maybe she should take a page out of Tess’ book and visit the gym one of those days.
The blonde in question ran up to Yaz almost immediately upon noticing her struggle. She picked the box up with ease, knuckles whitening just a bit, and carried it over to its designated space.
“Is that done or do we have more work? Please lie to me if we have more work,” Yaz whined as she followed after Tess. She shook out her sore hands and bit back a sigh.
“I think it’s done,” Tess answered with a small shrug.
“Am I allowed to sit down?”
“I don’t see why not,” Tess replied with an amused smile.
Yaz assumed her position on her chair and buried her face in her hands. No way was dragging heavy objects a part of her contract. Well, neither was half the shit she was doing for not even a ‘thank you’.
Tess stood behind the counter and wrote down numbers that they would later have to send to Melissa. Yaz sighed loudly enough for the blonde to notice and patted the seat next to her as their eyes met.
Tess raised an eyebrow and continued writing.
Yaz cleared her throat to get her attention once more.
The blonde didn’t look up, but the corners of her lips curved into a coy smile.
“I am trying to get you to sit down,” Yaz complained.
“I have noticed that, yes,” Tess commented, pen still in hand.
“Are you going to?”
“Am I going to what?” Tess asked innocently.
“Stop bullying me and sit down,” Yaz almost demanded.
The blonde huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes as the pen clicked shut. She made her way to the empty spot next to Yaz and sat down, expression filled with amusement. “Happy now?” she asked with no real bite behind the words.
“Very,” Yaz nodded with exaggerated seriousness.
They fell into silence and Tess started tapping her fingers against the table almost immediately once the conversation stopped. Yaz refused to look at her hand.
“You’re very strong,” she said after an agonising minute of keeping her eyes anywhere but the woman sat next to her.
“I am?”
“You really must like going to the gym,” Yaz continued, feeling betrayed by her tongue.
“I guess?”
“Do you go after work as well?”
“What?”
“I saw your backpack,” Yaz explained. Smooth.
“I- yeah?”
“Nice. I wish I had your determination. Couldn’t be me,” Yaz joked.
“Okay?”
“Rose and I went like two times but you need a gym buddy that motivates you to work out and not a gym buddy that motivates you to go get chips after a session.”
“Sure?”
“I could go with you sometime,” Yaz blurted out and immediately bit her tongue afterwards. She singlehandedly invited herself to the gym. Nothing depressed her more than the idea of spending one of her free afternoons at the gym.
For the first time since opening her mouth Yaz dared to look at the woman next to her. Tess had confusion written all over her face but there was a small smile on her lips. That wrinkle was starting to form between her brows and one of her dimples was barely showing.
“Sure,” the blonde answered and her smile widened ever so slightly.
There was no fucking way she was getting out of that one, was there?
Stars did she hate herself sometimes.