Work Text:
There was a silent barista at the college coffee shop who was always put behind the counter making drinks. His coworkers didn’t seem to mind him not talking, they went on with other tasks and talked to their other coworkers.
The silent barista’s name was Conroy as stated by his nametag, and everytime he made someone coffee he made art on the top of it, and if he couldn’t due to the type of drink, he would draw a small sketch on the cup. He worked fast, no one ever complained about the wait time and they’d get free art as well.
One regular customer, Morgan, came in on a slow night before closing and saw Conroy standing at the counter alone. He gave a wave and a smile to Morgan before grabbing a medium sized cup and wrote her name on it.
“You alone tonight?” She asked as Conroy typed her usual order into the register; a hot chocolate with whipped cream and caramel. He nodded while Morgan swiped her card into the machine.
“You know, I’ve been coming in and ordering the same thing for almost two years, but I’ve never heard you say a word.” Conroy chuckled as he whipped up the hot chocolate.
Morgan hesitated before talking again. “Can you talk? Like, are you mute or do you just not like talking?” She nervously fidgeted with her bracelet.
“I...I can t-talk. I just ha-have a...a bad stut-tter.” He said quietly.
“Oh, well, hey, there’s nothing wrong with that! And you have a nice voice.” She said with a warm smile on her freckled face. Conroy’s eyes went wide in a brief moment of shock before fixing them on the drink he was making.
“T-tha-thank you.” He mumbled as he drew something on the cup.
“Well, now that I know you can talk...what’s your major?” She asked excitedly, bouncing on her toes.
“Art, you?”
“Teaching! Specifically math.”
She kept asking Conroy questions and waited patiently for his answer every time with the same excited kid look on her face. By the time she stopped asking questions, Conroy had finished drawing something on her cup.
It was a small sketch of a dragon with its tail hanging low, pointing to his phone number. Morgan gasped and looked up with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Hold on! Hold on! Where’s my phone!” She rummaged through her purse for her phone, Conroy watching as he cleaned the machine he just used. “Found it!” Quickly, she began typing the newly acquired number into her phone and sent a text to her newest contact.
“There! Now you have my number too! Now you can let me know when you’re free so I can help ya with math!” Conroy smiled and nodded, happy to have finally gotten to know the cute girl that ordered hot chocolate in the middle of summer.