Chapter Text
It wasn’t unusual for Jaina and Vereesa to get coffee or a bite to eat together when the stars aligned and their schedules were clear at the same time. It also wasn’t unusual for said meet ups to include Vereesa’s sister, Alleria.
What was unusual was that Vereesa wanted her to meet her other sister. The one that hadn’t been around in the five years that Jaina had known the elf. The two had met when Vereesa was advertising for someone to take over her spare room while they studied their undergraduate degrees at Dalaran University. Honestly, the elf had been the best friend Jaina could have hoped for and was thankful that they still kept in touch and made time for each other.
The only thing Jaina knew about Sylvanas, was that she was in the Quel’thalas military and was rarely home. And as they walked and talked towards a shop in Dalaran that Jaina didn’t know, she learned that she had been ejected from the military and was now the owner of the coffee shop they were currently on their way to. The career change was a complete u turn and baffled the human, but she understood something serious must have happened for her to be discharged.
As they rounded a corner, Vereesa pointed out the shop to her across the street. From the outside it seemed to be a quaint place but rather larger in size, two small windows with a table in each for customers to people watch. Individual wooden letters each painted as colours of the rainbow attached to the brick face spelling “Welcome”.
When they entered, the rich aroma of different types of coffee enveloped Jaina in a comforting blanket, reminding her that it was early on Saturday and she hadn’t had her morning coffee yet. The place was as Jaina thought: warm and cosy, with twelve tables. Some of them with bean bags for seats. Surprisingly it wasn’t that loud with the amount of people in there, only some soft jazz music playing through some overhead speakers and quiet chatter. Paintings lined the left and right walls. Even a vinyl that she couldn’t see the name of. There was also a notice board of some description on the right with leaflets and little notes tacked on.
As she looked to the north wall, she was practically salivating at the sight of so many jars of different coffee beans and teas on the three shelves behind the counter with little flags of diverse colours attached to rope hanging above them. And if that wasn’t enough, on the counter was a glass cabinet filled with tasty looking slices of cake and sweet treats. It was the most chilled out coffee shop Jaina had ever been to, a far cry from her usual rushed morning Starbucks run.
There was so much to take in that she didn’t notice the elf behind the counter at first. And once she had, she couldn’t look away.
Long striking platinum blonde hair shaved short on the right side and grey eyes like steel rimmed with black eyeliner. Sun-kissed skin with high cheekbones and full lips. Dressed in black skinny jeans that didn’t fit as snug as she thought they would and a buttoned up green and black plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows that hugged her muscular figure, tattoos lining her forearms.
Now Jaina knew that at least two of the three Windrunners were blessed with good looks but neither of them captivated her like this. In fact it had been a long time since anyone had caught her attention like this. Sylvanas was… Jaina thought the word pretty wasn’t a very good description.
Handsome?
Yeah handsome seemed to fit better.
She must of have been staring openly for a while because Vereesa tapped her arm and was giving her a shit eating grin before pulling her closer to the counter.
Jaina was full on blushing and looking anywhere but the elves when they stopped.
“Hey Little Moon, what brings you here today?” Sylvanas asked with an accent that Jaina guessed came from speaking mainly Thalassian colouring her words.
“Hey Sylv. Having a catch up with my friend here and thought we would come try your shop out.”
Jaina tried to ignore the pointed looks that Vereesa was throwing her way and hastily wiped her sweaty palm against her jeans before offering her hand in greeting over the counter, conceding to finally look at the woman, “Uh hey, I’m J- Jaina.”
Sylvanas stared at her wide eyed for a brief moment and Jaina wondered what the hell that was about, but before she could ponder anymore, Sylvanas was smiling softly and a firm hand gripped her forearm, “Sylvanas. Pleasure to meet you.”
Jaina at least had the coherency to grip her forearm back in the elven greeting, trying to ignore the feel of calloused fingers against her skin an how that smile was making her stomach do backflips.
Vereesa cleared her throat and the two let go immediately as if burned. Jaina knew her own face was as pink as a salmon but she thought she could see a slight pink tinge to the top of Sylvanas’ ears that seemed to have shifted closer to the sides of her head.
Stop staring you idiot, you’re going to freak her out!
“So what can I get for you?” Sylvanas asked, thankfully distracting them all.
“I’ll have a caffé macchiato and a slice of black forest gateaux, please. Jaina?”
Jaina hurriedly averted her eyes to the glass cabinet, deciding on the first thing she laid eyes on.
“Could I get an Americano and a fudge brownie please?”
Sylvanas smiled, “Excellent choice on the brownie. Don’t worry about paying, you get family rates. You two go sit down, I’ll bring it over to you.”
She was about to argue when Vereesa began pulling her away.
The two found a table with bean bags and Jaina busied herself with trying to get comfy, putting off her friends questioning looks off as much as possible. As she finally settled, Vereesa dragged her bag closer to her and immediately leaned in as close as possible without making it look too conspicuous, “So you like my sister, huh?” Vereesa whispered, all too aware of elven hearing even over the sounds of brewing coffee.
“No! I mean. I don’t know. She is beautiful I’ll say that.” Jaina replied, chancing a glance at the elf in question.
“It’s a good thing she swings that way then. She’s single but-”
“She is?” Jaina interrupted and cursed herself for sounding so eager. Honestly she was so busy with work all the time she didn’t really have the time for a relationship at the moment, but her mind kept drifting to a slightly fanged smile and how strong that grip on her hand had been.
Vereesa laughed and shook her head. “As I was trying to say. She is single. But get to know her first. I think she would appreciate a friend. She doesn’t have many friends because she’s a bit abrasive.”
“Who is abrasive?” Jaina jumped and looked up towards Sylvanas as she leaned down and placed a tray with their order down on the table.
“You are. Now go away and bother someone else.”
“How rude. If she bothers you too much Jaina, I’ll throw her out,” Jaina was convinced her heart skipped a beat when Sylvanas winked at her with a devilish grin before wandering off to tend to cleaning a table.
Coffee. Caffeine. That’s what she needed. The first sip of coffee seemed to touch her very soul, warming her up from the inside. She couldn’t remember a time when she had had coffee this good. A small bite of the brownie confirmed that was amazing also, rich and gooey with the occasional crunch of hazelnut.
“Oh wow, this is amazing. Think your sister has found a repeat customer,” Jaina said around another bite of brownie.
“Are you sure it’s just the food you’re coming back for?” Vereesa winked over her cup.
Jaina nearly choked on the brownie and levelled a half-hearted glare at Vereesa.
“This place at least has personality unlike Starbucks. Shame it’s a little out of the way for a morning run on the way to work,” and yes, I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to see that smile again.
Vereesa rolled her eyes and asked how work was going. The two settled into their normal conversations. How was life? How was work? How was Rhonin doing? How was Jaina’s dog, Anduin doing? The latter currently being in trouble for chewing a pair of Jaina’s favourite shoes which Vereesa found a little too funny.
It was good to see Vereesa again. Even if nothing really changed in the month they hadn’t seen each other, it was good to catch up. And Tides Jaina had been working for most of that time. Research was a field that never ended up staying at the workplace. Deadlines and lack of sleep seemed to take up most of her life and apart from looking after Anduin, she didn’t really see anyone else. Not anyone she would call a friend anyway. She was more than happy to just do something rather than sit in her little one bed house in silence.
As their mugs emptied and the conversation drew to a natural close, the two began to stand and leave. Jaina looked around for Sylvanas to thank her for the food but she appeared to busy talking to two women sat in one of the window seats and Vereesa was pulling on her arm to get her to hurry up so they could make it to her favourite clothes shop before closing.
Jaina didn’t like the idea of leaving without saying thank you, but she also wasn’t a fan of interrupting what seemed to be an animated conversation. As the two left, Jaina peered in through the window and Sylvanas looked up just in time to see her give a little wave and a shy smile.
She tried to ignore the toothy grin she got in return.
XXX
As Sylvanas closed shop for the night and set off on her short walk home, her phone went off in her pocket. Without looking she knew it would be Vereesa. There weren’t many people that text her anymore, especially not in the evenings.
So, what do you think about Jaina? I haven’t seen you smile like that for a while ;)
Sylvanas groaned. Her younger sister always had to meddle in stuff. Even if said meddling included a beautiful human woman with the most fascinating hair and eyes she had seen, it was still meddling. Best not to give her anything too leading.
She seemed nice
And she did. Slightly shy with an endearing blush that highlighted her freckles. Brilliant azure eyes that seemed to grow impossibly brighter when Sylvanas had smiled at her. But they had hardly spoke to each other beyond necessity. She didn’t know the first thing about the woman and a part of her, the one that wasn’t brooding in loneliness, wanted to find things out about her. Even in a just friends way. But she wouldn’t get her hopes up. Her shop and the charity that shop helped fund was her priority.
She tapped out the message and no more than 10 seconds later came a reply.
Annnndddddd?
Vereesa, does she even know what kind of shop it is?
No, but she’s bi. Since it seemed like you were interested, I thought you could explain that.
Sylvanas paused midstep and frowned down at her phone.
Being bi doesn’t mean she is okay with me, Little moon…
Sylv, I’ve known her years. She is accepting about all this stuff. We went to Dalaran pride together last year and she loved it. Really got into the spirit with everyone. Give her a chance?
You know what happened last time.
I do. And I am confident Jaina wouldn’t do that to you. Even as friends. She cares for personality more.
She sighed and continued on home, not bothering to turn on any lights as she made her way up the stairs of her spacious two bed house. The one that she had bought for Vereesa to live in while at university. Which then Jaina had also moved into. Idly she wondered which bedroom Jaina had slept in before stamping on that train of thought immediately. No use dwelling on such pointless topics that would only make her feel worse off.
She stepped into the bedroom and for a long moment just stared into her floor to ceiling length mirrored wardrobe at herself in the moonlight filtering in through the window. She sighed and began unbuttoning her shirt, tossing into the laundry basket beside her bed before gazing at the compressive crop top she had underneath.
Something so small and simple and yet it caused so much hurt in her life. It was why the woman she met before had left her. Months of building up to something. Months Sylvanas couldn’t find the words to say in fear of being rejected. The fear hadn’t been misplaced. And everything came crashing down around her.
They are wrong. Not you she thought to herself, fighting back the sting in her eyes and tugging off the rest of her clothes before slipping into bed. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of herself. It just sucked that others couldn’t accept her.
That was what made her work. What made her get up six days of the week and do her part in helping people that felt like she did. She sighed and curled up in a ball, knowing tomorrow would be a hard day without work to keep her occupied.