Chapter Text
The radio crackled to life, This little cafe was his mother's pride and joy, and he dealt with it to make her happy. The while it's age gave the cafe a more vintage feel, it was the cause of a lot of trouble for Jean, as he was the one expected to fix it when it was broken. only thing that he hated was the dress shirt and bow-tie that she forced all the waiters to wear.
He switched the station on the old radio to the local college station, and the indie music filled the empty cafe. The sun was barely coming up over the ocean, and the streets were empty with the eerie silence of morning light and Jean felt at peace. Most people would hate getting up as early as he did, but he loved it. The smell of roasting coffee beans and pastries cooking was enough to get him through the long summer days.
To Jean, there was nothing better than listening to his music, with his bow-tie untied and draped over his shoulders, drinking fresh coffee and watching the sun come up, sitting cross-legged on the table next to the door. The sun rose slowly that morning, the sun staining the sky around it a bright red color and giving the clouds a pink and purple color.
Jean heaved a sigh, "Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in the morn' sailors take warn," he whispered under his breath, he knew all too well not than to ignore the blood colored sky's warning. He knew from experience.
Glancing at the clock, Jean jumped off the table. he only had two hours until the cafe's opening at eight, and he had a lot left to do. He had a lot of cleaning to do, which was mostly his own fault for neglecting to do it the night before. He pushed his glasses further up his nose and got to work.
His phone buzzed, alerting Jean from his sleep. He sat up from the counter and rubbed his eyes, picking up his phone to check the time, not concerning himself with the text. The glaring numbers blurred before his eyes before focusing. The time was 7:45 and his mother was going to kill him.
Running to grab a mop from the closet, he hastily cleaned the floor, slipping in his hurried effort. He roughly shoved the dough in the oven and placed the still-hot-pastries in the case. He shifted them so they looked appealing and put their most attractive side forward, hiding their small flaws from the glance of customers. He took one last glance at the clock to ensure that he wasn't opening late and headed to unlock the door.
Flipping the sign on the door and clicking the three locks open, he headed back to his post at the front counter, tying his bow-tie while he sat in the plush cushioned chair. He flipped the radio station to the usual for the cafe and got ready for a long, rainy day.
The first customer to come in to the cafe was the a college professor. Jean didn't know much about her other than she taught science and was extremely eccentric. She was usually followed by two more professors, on their way to morning classes. A small, black haired man with an unusually sharp temper and a larger blonde man who always wore a bolo tie and was constantly laughing at little things the smaller one said, even if he didn't intend them to be funny. Then an older man often came in, with a bald head and white mustache. Jean liked this man, he always was talking about this and that and, over all, seemed like a very genuine person.
This particular morning was different from most others. Two boys and a girl from Jean's high school made their way to the cafe, alive with morning chatter. These three were always together for as long as Jean could remember. Eren, Mikasa and Armin sat down at the booth in the corner, Mikasa scolding Eren for something, but he just laughed, draping his arm around her shoulders.
"What can I get you?' he mumbled, keeping his eyes on his notepad and off of Eren and Mikasa.
Armin chimed in right away, "I'll have a scone and some earl grey. Thanks, Jean!" But Jean could have guessed that, it was always the same. Jean had no problem with Armin, he was a nice guy and would help Jean out with school work when ever he needed it. Eren on the other hand...
Mikasa was the next one to order, "Chai with soy milk, thanks," Jean hastily wrote it down, he has had the biggest crush on Mikasa since she moved here from Japan, her family was close friends with the Jeagers and she had been living with them since the third grade.
"Get me a breakfast sandwich, no cheese and a black coffee," Eren spoke before Jean had even finished writing down Mikasa's order and didn't even look up from the table. Jean sighed to himself and headed over to get the food.
Jean tacked the order to the side of the kitchen door, pouring the already-hot water into a tea cup and throwing a tea bag in. He grabbed a pot of coffee from the first brewer and poured a cup of that, putting both in the microwave to keep the heat in. Mikasa's was slightly more difficult, seeing as she always got the Chai Tea Latte. He threw some of the Chai tea and spices into a coffee filter and put it into the coffee pot, setting it to a three minute brew. Turning the stove on, he put the remaining ingredients in and went to get Armin's scone and Eren's sandwich. Throwing them both on a plate, he headed over to the table, sliding the plates on it so they landed in front of the two boys.
Pouring the rest of the ingredients into the tea cup, Jean grabbed two matching saucers and headed back over to his classmates. He placed each of the three drinks at their respective places and turned to get the next order.
"Jean?" Armin's voice spoke up and he pivoted to look at the blonde boy. "You take photography, right?"
This sparked Jean's interest, photography was his passion. He knew his cameras inside and out and used them whenever he got the chance. Jean planned on going to art college and starting a photography studio to escape the small town in Oregon where he grew up.
"Yeah, why do you ask?" Jean replied, pulling himself out of his thoughts.
"Oh, I need someone to help me make a book cover, I need one for the short stories I'm writing for my advanced writing class,"
"You want me to take the cover photos?" Armin nods, "Sure! I mean, you've help me out with so many essays, its only fair,"
The boy's face lit up, "Thank you so much! I'll send over my favorite three stories and you can pick which one you want to shoot for!" Jean smiled, heading over to the other tables waiting to be served.
The storm started only a few hours later, lightning hitting the ocean and thunder cracking in Jean's ears. After every crack of lightning, he took a few seconds, trying to calm himself down, brushing the memories out of his mind and forcing himself to think about Armin's photo request. He knew he would have to find a model and a good shooting location. And to do that he would need to pick which of Armin's stories he wanted to capture.
Thunder cracks again, shaking Jean from his thoughts. The bell on the door rings as another customer walks in, shaking her umbrella off at the door. She was a senior at Jean's school, pretty, reddish-brown shoulder length hair. Jean thought for a moment, trying to think of her name. Paige? No. Penny? No. Petra? Jean lists the names in his head, settling on Petra, at least, he thought that was right.
Jean heads into the back as she sits down, feeling the need to pull out the "Caution, Wet Floor" sign. He places it by the door, just as another customer. Three guy, all also seniors, walk in and walk over to where Petra was sitting.
"Hey guys!" she said happily, "Do you know when Professor Levi will be here? He did say ten. right?"
One of the guys, Gunther, slides in next to her, while the other two sit across from her. Gunther smirks, "Come on, Petra, it's to obvious that you have a crush on him,"
Across the table, Auruo makes a face, displeased with the fact that she had a crush on the professor they were meeting. Petra, on the other hand, was fuming, her face had gone red and her fists were clenched. "Gunther, don't be such a prick, I do not have a crush on him. Besides, he's like thirty-something and has some issues with germs,"
Jean headed over to their table and took their orders, heading back to the kitchen to make the drinks. The cafe was crowd with people, when ever there was a storm a lot of them liked to watch it from our "prime view of the ocean", which was both good for business and annoying for Jean, it meant more work for him.
Another customer walks in, most likely the professor that Petra and the other guys were meeting, and Jean groans, exhausted from work already. His mother doesn't usually come in until twelve on a good day, she had to work another job to support their family, which left Jean a lot of days alone at the cafe.
Jean headed to the back room, mumbling that he was going on break to Ymir, who was now looking bored now that Krista/Historia had left. She nods, and Jean sends her over to get the Professor's order.
In the back room, which was more of a closet where Jean and Ymir sat when they were on break, held a small desk and Jean's computer and camera equipment in a locker that they got a thrift shop. Jean spun the lock and pulled his computer out, opening his email. All five of the files from Armin lined the top of his inbox. Jean opened each in a new tab and started with their titles.
"'Fall of Wall Maria'?" He asked himself, shaking his head. "'Monster Inside Me', 'Ocean Tides', 'Wings of Freedom'?" Jean sighs, think about how he was going to do any of these without any major photoshopping, which he was usually against.
Finally, he stopped to read the last title, "'The Forgotten Soldier', that I can work with," upon reading through the prose, he learned it was about a solider that returns from the war, only to find his family gone, and no one in his hometown remembered him. "Well, all I need is a soldier and I'm set,"