Chapter Text
Day 1 - Friday 8th
“Sorry I’m late!” Kise burst into the staff room, wheezing a bit as he went through the motions of getting prepared. Hands rushing to pull off his jacket, he almost missed the look that his boss gave him.
“Kise, you alright?” There was mild concern in Takao’s voice, though Kise could still hear the ever present humour as well. “You’re a whole hour early, and you’re just a temp!”
That made Kise stop completely in his tracks. He whipped his head in Takao’s direction. “What do you mean? Isn’t it past 11?”
Takao blinked. Then a choked sound left him, and he guffawed, wheezing laughter preventing him from saying anything. It was Himuro who answered, poking his head into the room with a smirk on his face. “Someone must have changed your time, Kise-kun. You’re here right at opening time.”
Kise gave a despairing groan, covering his face with his still-gloved hands. “Damn senpai,” muffled curses left him, and though he knew it was payback for something he must’ve done, Kise still couldn’t believe his senpai would do that to him.
He wanted to lie down already, and he was just starting work.
“We’ll give you a moment to get ready,” Himuro said in a calming voice, pushing Takao back, “and we know you’ll do great Kise-kun, no need to worry. You already know how to work everything, and the customers will love you.”
His shoulders feeling less tense after the small pep talk, Kise smiled gratefully at Himuro. “Thanks, Himurocchi! You’re the best!”
Himuro laughed at that. “Keep smiling like that, and you’ll take that title.”
Once Himuro left, Kise let himself slump down a bit. He sighed, rubbing his eyes. There had been no time to fully wake up this morning, so he was still yearning for his bed.
Kise took off his gloves and resolved to send a complaint to Kasamatsu for being a bad senpai. He snatched an apron from the cabinet, an involuntary smile growing on his face when he spots their chibi pear mascot in the corner.
Bolstered by the smiling face of the pear, he puts it on and makes his way to the counter. His usual sunny smile now plastered on, Kise felt more ready for the rest of the day.
“Himurocchi, what should I do first?”
Though he had been uncertain on whether or not he should be calling his coworkers (and boss) that during work hours, Takao had reassured him that he meant for the café to be as casual and comfortable as possible.
“After all,” his boss had snickered, “Shin-chan makes the funniest faces when he comes in and sees someone lounging on the sofa.”
With that in mind, Kise did his best to appear as casual as he could, without seeming too unprofessional. It was a thin line to balance on, but if anyone could do it, it was him.
“Ah, Kise,” Himuro smiled, turning to him with a checklist in hand. “I’m about to look at how the baker is doing now actually, but you could check up on one of the customers for me?”
“Hmm? We already have a customer?”
“We normally get customers pretty early, especially regulars, but this guy…” Himuro glanced away, slight concern etching his face. “Well, Takao let him come in before we opened up because he looked like he was going to collapse.”
Kise’s eyes widened. “No way! Did you call an ambulance?”
Head shaking, Himuro gave a little chuckle. “No no, turns out he was just extremely tired. We told him he should just go home, but he was mumbling about reports or something. Anyways, we gave him a cup of coffee and left him in the back corner booth, but haven’t checked on him since.”
“You want me to make sure he hasn’t died then,” Kise nodded to himself, thinking about how much of an idiot someone like that must be. “Leave that to me, I can look after him!”
“Thanks Kise, just ask Takao-kun what to do afterwards.” Himuro made his way to the kitchen area, and Kise began walking to the back of the café.
Heading to the booth in question, Kise couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person would come into a cafe in such a state. Surely they would rather go home and sleep? Well, it wasn’t his place to scold weird customers, and so he put on his best smile before greeting the customer.
“Hello sir, is there anything you would like...sir?”
Asleep, Kise thought, surprise slowing his brain down, he’s actually asleep?
The customer in question had his face buried in his folded arms, sleeping on the table with a laptop beside his head. He noted the still full coffee mug, which was definitely cold at this point, and the glaring absence of a jacket. All Kise could see was soft tufts of blue hair sticking out from beneath the beanie, and he couldn’t help but raise a brow. The man somehow forgot to bring a jacket during winter, but remembered his beanie. Weird guy.
Kise tilted his head, a small pout on his face as he tried to figure out what to do.
Should Kise wake him up? The laptop was still on, so maybe he fell asleep while he was workng.
He clicked his tongue when he took in the mess of papers scattered across the table. He took a quick peek at the screen, his inherent nosiness taking the lead.
Police officer huh, he thought as he skimmed the title of the report, and wasn’t that a shocker? Saving the document (because who knows the last time the man actually did), Kise tried to put the papers together in a coherent order. He had thought that officers would be more meticulous, but today was just full of surprises.
A bright pink note caught his eyes, and he read it without thinking.
‘Dai-chan,’ the note began, and his lips curved upwards at the nickname, ‘don’t slack off okay! Try to get everything done before you come over, and get some rest!’
It was a sweet message, and clearly was from someone close to the man. Underneath the bright coloured note was a blue one, which only had a time written on it. The man shivered a bit and shifted in his sleep. Kise tried to get a look at the man’s face, but he didn’t want to disturb the man.
Well, he wasn’t waking up anytime soon. Probably better to leave the man to sleep.
Kise hummed as he took away the coffee mug, dropping it off at the sink before hesitating in front of the staffroom. He thought for a second, before shrugging. Why not do a good deed today?
He went in and grabbed his jacket, grateful that the many layers of clothing kept him warm without it. Rushing back to the man, Kise draped the jacket over him, and tidied up the table a bit before walking off. After all, there were other customers besides the poor man.
Kise paid no attention the blue-haired man for a while, walking around to other customers who recognised him, keeping them happy and coming back for more. Then, just as he was listening to old grandma Yamamoto talk about her favourite grandchild (spoiler: she loved her youngest child’s second-born, Yuuta-kun the most, because he always tried to talk to her), a blur rushed past him and out of the door, swearing all the while.
“Shit, fuck, Satsuki’s gonna kill me-”
The bell rung gently as it closed, and Yamamoto-san only gave him a look. He shrugged.
“Some customers can be a bit, ah, busy sometimes.”
Yamamoto-san clucked her tongue, shaking her head. She patted Kise’s hand, giving him a smile that let him see the many missing teeth she (didn’t) have. “If only there were as many nice people as Kise-kun. You’re a good boy, you know, I hope my little Yuuta-kun is just as good as you…”
Kise laughed, indulging the old lady while he thought about the sleepy man and the person that had rushed out.
Ah. His coat.
As soon as Yamamoto-san left, promising to bring Yuuta-kun one day, Kise went back to the corner booth that the man had slept in. And just as he thought, the man, along was his coat, had disappeared.
Kise scratched his head. It wasn’t like he could do anything now, but it was a nice coat that he liked. He sighed, wiping the table down one last time before popping into the staffroom and sending a quick text.
‘SENPAIIII, you were so mean today! (´；ω；｀) I went to work a whole hour early because of you, senpai you know how much I need my beauty sleep!!! (*ﾉω-) But it’s okay, you can make it up to me by picking me up today after my work~ ヽ(＾Д＾)ﾉ don’t wanna walk home today, left my coat at home~ thanks senpai, can’t wait to see you~’
He watched three dots appear after he sent his message, and waited for his senpai to respond.
‘Kise, you’re annoying, go away.’
Kise rolled his eyes and waited a bit longer. The three dots appeared again.
‘Wait outside as soon as you’re ready to go, I’m not waiting for you.’
He laughed at his senpai’s grudging words, sending a reply before heading back to work. Kise put the strange man out of his head, and continued to work as hard as he could.
Maybe he could go shopping and buy a new coat.