Chapter Text
The bell jingled as Shuichi practically fell through the door. Kaede looked up from behind the counter and smiled at him. "Right on time, lucky you." she teased.
Shuichi shot her a look as he rushed to the back and changed into his uniform in record time. He came back out and Maki immediately switched places with him on the register. Shuichi didn't really have any room to complain.
"You should really start getting here earlier if you don't want to get fired." Maki scowled, grabbing out more almond milk from the fridge.
Shuichi let out an awkward laugh. "Sorry, I think I slept through my alarm, or it just didn't go off. I promise I'll try to be better."
Kaede slapped Maki lightly on the shoulder. "Hey, lay off him, will ya?" she said. "It's not like we were super busy or anything."
Maki just rolled her eyes and slammed the small fridge shut. "Whatever." she handed Kaede the milk jug. "I'm going on break, Kaito's blowing up my phone and if I don't answer he will sprint here."
Kaede laughed as Maki stormed into the back. Shuichi let out an audible sigh of relief. "She's scary..." he murmured to himself.
"Oh, c'mon, you know she's not that bad," Kaede replied, setting the jug down and drumming her fingers on the handle. "She may seem a little cold, but then again so can you."
Shuichi put a hand over his chest. "I'm offended," he said, barely containing a smile, Kaede's sunshiny behaviour was contagious. "Are you going to say I haven't outlived my emo phase next?"
Kaede raised an eyebrow. "Well, have you?"
Shuichi took a moment to consider that. "Okay, touche, but at least I can ride a bicycle without training wheels."
Kaede gasped loudly and lightly hit Shuichi on the shoulder. "Hey! They're very hard to ride, okay?!"
Shuichi laughed loudly and tried to shield himself from Kaede's tiny punches that barely did any damage. "Okay okay, I'm sorry, truce?"
Kaede let out an exasperated sigh, but she was still smiling. "Truce." she agreed.
The bell jingled and Shuichi straightened. Two people walked in, one with dark purple hair and a platinum blonde. Shuichi smiled at them, but neither of them saw him. They seemed to be engaged in conversation... without talking.
The blonde was rapidly moving their hands in different motions, and the purple-haired one watched them carefully before replying with similar motions. It was... weird. Shuichi blinked, so concentrated on them he barely realized they were right in front of him. The blonde waved and smiled. "Hi," they said.
Shuichi snapped out of it. "Ah, hello. What can I get you two?"
The blonde turned to their friend and did the hand motions again. The boy stared up at the menu intently, before replying. Shuichi was absolutely bewildered, but also fascinated.
"One medium hot chocolate and one large frappuccino with extra expression, cream, and sugar if that's okay." the blonde said with a smile.
Shuichi nodded and typed it in, then handed the order ticket to Kaede, who immediately got to work. Shuichi charged them and went through the normal exchange of receiving money and handing change back, but for some reason, his curiosity got the better of him and he blurted out, "How did you do that?"
The blonde cocked their head, before a look of realization crossed their face. "Oh, sorry that did probably look a little weird. We were doing sign language. My friend here, Kokichi, is deaf so I translate for them."
Shuichi trained his gaze on the newly-named boy, Kokichi. He was staring right back at him as if daring him to ask another stupid question. Shuichi swallowed. "That... that makes sense..."
Kokichi narrowed his eyes. "Keebo, what's he saying?" he asked.
Shuichi looked stunned. He could... talk? And in perfect Japanese as well? His voice didn't sound at all squeaky or even wavered at all. Keebo apologized in sign language apparently and probably described their conversation. Kokichi took a deep breath and looked back over at Shuichi. "Sorry, I'm tired, if you have any questions I'm not in the mood," he quickly explained.
Questions? How did he know? Was this something he got often? Probably... that was so strange.
Kaede presented them with the drinks and Keebo quickly thanked her, Kokichi immediately tearing into what had to be the most sugary beverage Shuichi had ever seen. Keebo waved goodbye and the exited the cafe. Shuichi blinked. Kaede leaned on her hand with her elbows on the table. "Huh... that's interesting," she commented. "You think he'll come back sometime?"
I hope so...
The next day Shuichi had the same shift, and the interaction with the deaf boy was still playing through his mind. He vaguely wondered if he'd come again today. He really wanted to ask him questions, plus maybe when he wasn't so moody he'd be a lot of fun to talk to.
Maki could tell something was distracting him, and she scolded him several times about it. Shuichi apologized a lot that day, but again the cafe wasn't very crowded. That's what Shuichi liked about this job, it was mostly quiet, a place where he could just get lost in his thoughts and relax, and get paid for it.
The smell of coffee and lavender was strong, Shuichi wondered what would happen if he just fell asleep here, until the door jingle snapped him awake. He looked up and really choked on air.
The purple-haired boy was back, dragging Keebo along with him. Kokichi practically slammed his hands on the counter and got right up in Shuichi's face. "Whatever the fuck was in that coffee it was the best goddamn thing I've ever had," he said with a huge smile on his face.
He was so close. Shuichi shrunk down. "Oh... um..." he looked over at Keebo, who signed him a gesture, pointing at him.
Shuichi cleared his throat and signed it back. Kokichi beamed again and sat back on his heels. Shuichi raised an eyebrow. "What did that mean?" he asked.
Keebo repeated the gesture and replied, "It means 'thank you' in sign."
Oh, that made sense. Kokichi giggled and pulled Keebo into him, whispered something in their ear. Keebo signed something back and Kokichi nodded. Keebo sighed with a smile. "Right, anyways can we get the same thing as yesterday, if you remember what that was?"
Shuichi smiled and nodded. "Yeah, here give me a second... Maki!" he called back. "Med Hot Choc and Large Frapp with the works and extra expresso!"
"Whoever ordered that is gonna get diabetes!" she called back but started making it anyways.
Shuichi laughed and looked back at them. "You seemed to be in a better mood today," he commented.
Kokichi deadpanned and Shuichi realized, slapping his hands over his face in embarrassment. He peeked out to look at Keebo. "How do I say 'I'm sorry'?" he whispered.
Keebo laughed and signed the proper gesture, and Shuichi mirrored it. Kokichi laughed and signed as he spoke. "It's okay, I'm kinda used to it by now. But if you want to tell me something just ask Keebo to translate it for you."
Keebo signed something with an offended face and Kokichi giggled. The two had their own little conversation which apparently was a lot of teasing on Kokichi's part.
Eventually, Maki came over with the drinks and handed them to Shuichi, who handed them to the two. Kokichi started drinking on his immediately, a content expression going across his face. Keebo signed a thank you and the two moved to leave, but suddenly Kokichi stopped and looked over at Shuichi. "By the way... what's your name?" he asked.
Shuichi wasn't sure how to answer that. Keebo gave him the thumbs up and he cleared his throat. "Shuichi Saihara..." he replied.
Keebo finger spelt the words and Kokichi nodded once, looking back again to smile at him again, and at that point, Shuichi realized just how attractive he really was, and felt his face going red.
"Nice meeting you, Shumai! Smell ya later!"