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The door of the cafe chimed as it opened and you shook the sleep out of your eyes.
“Hi! Welcome to Musutafu’s only 24-hour cafe! Feel free to seat yourself but place your order up here, please!” You forced a smile on your face and activated your customer service voice. They murmured their assent and went to sit down. You sighed and checked the time. Twenty-four minutes after three mocked you from the blinking counter clock. You started wiping down the counter and machines just to do something because as much as you love this job, these are not your regular hours. Between school and this, your social life was uneventful so when your coworker called out on a ‘family emergency’ you couldn’t turn your boss down.
You finally looked at the people that walked in and your jaw dropped. Sure you lived in Musutafu and you saw your fair share of heroes in action, it wasn’t every day two of them sat in a booth in your cafe. Trying to compose yourself, you turned around and rearranged the perfectly stacked cups.
“It’s fine, you can do this! It’s just Rabbit-Hero Miruko and Winged-Hero Hawks. They’re just regular people right now. So what if you started having a bisexual crisis watching her biceps flex as she laughed. And so what if the warm light of the cafe is reflecting off of his face and making his wings shine? You can do this!” your internal monologue was nothing but mild panic.
Your panicking was cut short by the espresso machine dinging at you reminding you that you were making yourself a drink. You added a nearly lethal amount of sugar then went to set up in the chair tucked behind the cold drink fridge. From here you could see Miruko playing on her phone. Something as simple as her typing a message made her arms ripple in the cut off tee-shirt and you flushed bright red. That didn’t stop you from staring, you couldn’t look away if you tried. Something about seeing her so relaxed in casual clothing made your brain go wild, imagining her looking at you with that softness.
“She truly is a sight to behold, isn’t she?”
You jumped, almost spilling your drink all over yourself, “Um, she-I, it’s just- I m-mean, yes?”
“Good answer! Sorry to startle you, I just wanted to order,” Hawks laughed at you, the sound cutting through the silence of the cafe. He looked across the counter at you with sparkling golden eyes, still wrapped in eyeliner despite the hour. You found yourself staring a little too intensely and noticed it was a little smudged around his right eye. It looked like he was still wearing his hero costume minus the jacket. Yep, definitely staring too long without saying anything.
“Oh! Um, go ahead! Although, I do have to warn you, we can’t do any blended drinks because the lady upstairs claims she can hear the blender despite us sound-proofing the ceiling, but everything else should be fine!” you found yourself rambling and tried to curb it before it got out of hand.
“Um, she wants a hot chocolate and says that you can add some sort of protein thing to it? She said the guy that’s normally here does that and if you don’t know what I’m talking about then just a regular hot chocolate. And I’ll take one of the energy drinks from the cooler.”
“You’re getting an energy drink from a cafe?” You wanted the floor to open up and swallow you whole, in what world is that appropriate to ask a customer much less a famous powerful one that could crush you like an ant?
“Oh? And what would you recommend, Madame Caffeine Goddess, since you’re too good for what the rest of us plebeians drink?” his eyes shone with interest as he took in the embarrassed flush on your face.
“W-well for cold drinks we have an Iced Blonde Flat White or the Iced Blonde Caffè Americano? They both have 225 mg of caffeine? The Pike Place Roast is just black coffee and it has 310 mg. If you want something sweeter there are the macchiatos, they can be hot or iced? Sorry, you can get an energy drink, I’m talking about this for way too long! And energy drinks are good! I just usua-”
“I’ll take the first one with an extra pump of vanilla, it’s okay I’m just joking with you. Didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers,” he winked. You rung up the purchase and he went to sit down.
“Fuck I didn’t even think about the weird protein chocolate thing. I was too busy shoving my entire foot in my mouth to ask,” you muttered to yourself. You eventually found a note from the usual night shift person and made the drinks, “Now just time to walk it over, you can do that. You’re an adult, you got this.”
“Iced Blonde Flat White with an extra pump of vanilla and Hot Chocolate with protein… stuff. Sorry, I don’t usually work this shift. I just followed what the note said. If it’s not the same, feel free to bring it back up! Anything else?” You smiled as you placed their drinks in front of them.
“That’ll be good darling, thanks for going out of your way for me,” Miruko smirked, leaning her elbows on the tables and gave you a sweeping look. You felt the flush climb from your ears and down your neck. You started to stammer out a response as she just let out a loud laugh, “You’re more fun than the regular guy, nicer too. Wanna come sit with us? From what the pigeon said, it sounds like we owe you.”
“Oh I couldn’t! I’m okay, enjoy your drinks though!” you gave a shallow bow and turned away. As you walked back to the safety of the counter, you heard an indignant squawk and let out a small giggle at the thought of the number two hero making genuine bird noises.
~
They sat there drinking and catching up and you cleaned up the bar. While it’s technically a 24-hour cafe, there is a closed hour from five to six and you were rapidly coming up on it. You looked at your sole customers and saw something surprising. Hawks was slumped into the corner of the booth and Miruko was nodding off into her hand. You walked over making your steps a little louder than normal and made sure to approach from straight on so they could fully see you when you reached the table edge. Miruko looked kind of dazed when you reached her but mostly awake. She gave a small smile when she saw you and a little wave.
“I’m sorry to wake you but I do have to close up shop. Are you guys okay to get home?”
Miruko looked over at Hawks, appraising his dark circles and peaceful face, “Can you watch him for a second? I have to piss like a racehorse and cannot make good decisions right now.”
You nodded and she walked toward the store bathroom. You gently slid into her spot and lightly knocked on the table, “Hey, Hawks-san, I kinda need you to wake up. Hawks~, hey, Hawks-san,” you watched his eyes flutter open and he looked at you sort of dazed and smiled. Then his eyes sharpened as he took in the closed shop, the darkened signs and the silenced music.
“Don’t worry, she’s in the bathroom, she’ll be right out. I’m probably intruding, I’m sorry, I just didn’t want you to wake up alone,” you said it all in one breath, afraid of his response but were saved by a warm hand on your shoulder.
“Thank you, we’ll get out of your hair now,” Miruko smiled down on you, gently squeezing your shoulder and the butterflies in your stomach went wild. You stayed pinned in that spot as they waved and disappeared into the dark. A piece of paper fluttered down onto your lap,
Call me! Or him! Or, better yet, both! XXX-XXX-XXXX and XXX-XXX-XXXX