Chapter Text
“Alright, now lastly, recite back to me what goes in a latte?” Kurapika asks, holding his clipboard. Gon looks at the drink he just finished, and smiles.
“Steamed milk, espresso, and light foam,” he says, counting out the ingredients on his fingers. Kurapika smiles and checks off the last box.
“Okay, perfect Gon. Congratulations you are now fully trained,” he says, smiling at the new barista. Gon gives him a wide smile, and claps softly, happy that his two weeks of training have come to an end. Kurapika checks his watch, and looks around the store. “This is usually around our slowest time, how do you feel about making drinks? Are you up for it?” He asks, and Gon’s eyes widen.
“Yes, of course, I’d love to!” He says, excited that he’d get to be making drinks so soon after finishing training. Kurapika waves Machi over, who was in the middle of creating a swan on top of a latte. Machi nods to her boss, and hands out the latte, before walking over to them.
“Machi, I’m going to have Gon make drinks for the last twenty minutes of his shift. It’s pretty slow right now so I just want him to at least get a feel for what it’s like to make drinks,” he explains and Machi nods.
“Okay cool, do you want me to just ring up customers and prep ingredients for the closers?” She asks, and Kurapika nods.
“Please. If Gon needs help, or you guys end up getting busy, just switch and have him be on register. And seriously call me out if you guys need me, you never let me know when there’s a rush,” Kurapika says, pointing an accusatory finger at Machi, to which she shrugs.
“Because I know you’re busy with your manager tasks, and honestly I can handle it. If I really needed you, I would call you out. It’s just usually something I can handle,” she explains, and Kurapika sighs.
“Yes, but I don’t want any of our baristas to feel unsupported, especially by the manager. So if you get busy, even at all, call me out,” he says, sternly, and Machi nods, before shoeing him away. Machi walks back to the register, and begins to make whipped cream, and brew more coffee.
“How do you feel about your training?” Machi asks Gon, as she pours heavy cream into canisters. He smiles, and while wiping down the counters.
“I think it was good. I got incredibly lucky that Kurapika was the one to train me, so I know that I got the most in depth training I could have gotten,” he says, and Machi nods.
“Yeah, Kurapika usually isn’t the one to train people, but since we just had some people quit due to moving away for college, we were pretty low on barista trainers,” Machi explains, and Gon smiles.
“Well I guess it worked out for me then,” he says, with a bright smile, before remembering something. “Oh, you said that a couple of people quit for college, are you going to leave soon?” He asks, and she shakes her head.
“No, I’m going to college here, so you guys are stuck with me for a while,” she jokes. “What about you?” She questions, and he shrugs.
“I’m in my senior year of high school right now, so I haven’t fully decided on what my plan is after. But I know college debt is a nightmare, and my aunt says she’s more than happy to have me continue to live in the house through college if I stay here, so that’s probably what I’ll end up doing,” he says, and she nods.
“It honestly is a nightmare. I’ve had so many friends that work two to three jobs during college just to be able to support themselves. It’s sad,” she says, in a dejected tone, before the doorbell chimes, and a boy walks in. Gon has to blink a few times, not sure his eyes were processing what he was seeing correctly. A boy, with exceptionally fair skin, and white hair walks in, with his head down. With the way his back was hunched, and his head hung low, he seemed so small, even though Gon could tell that standing up straight, he’d be well over six foot. Machi looks up to see the familiar head of white hair, and smiles.
“Hey Killua!” She says, as she walks over to the register. He doesn’t look at her as he walks over, just mumbling a quiet, ‘hey’ back, and waiting for her to ring him up.
“Medium hot chocolate today?” She asks, almost in a motherly tone, and he nods smally, before handing her a five dollar bill. “Perfect, your total is 2.50, like always,” she jokes, and he nods. She gives him back his change, and he drops it in the tip jar, before walking to the end of the bar where his drink would be.
Gon grabs the medium sized cup, and takes a deep breath, as he gets the ingredients together. Chocolate, steamed milk, and whipped cream, one of the simplest drinks on the menu. First I steam the milk. He thinks to himself, as he pours the milk into the steaming pitcher, and steams it. Next, I pump the chocolate sauce. Wait shoot, how much chocolate goes into a hot chocolate. Is it three or four for a medium? Three. Okay yeah, I think it’s three. That sounds right. After a bit of internal debate, he adds three pumps of chocolate sauce into the cup, before pouring the milk on top, and swirling it around. Lastly, whipped cream, and a lid. He adds the whipped cream, caps it with a lid, and sleeves it, before smiling to himself.
“Medium hot chocolate for Ki-llu-a,” he says, enunciating each syllable of the name. Killua walks up to the counter, with his head still hung low, and nods before grabbing the hot chocolate. He takes a sip of it, and immediately makes an unpleasant face, to which Gon’s heart drops. “Is something wrong with it?” He asks nervously, and for the first time, he’s able to see Killua’s face. His eyes were a bright and eccentric blue color, and Gon was positive he would love to get lost in them, if it weren’t for the fact that the eyes were in slits, and glaring daggers at him.
“What the hell is this,” he asks, pale pink lips downturned into a frown.
“A medium hot chocolate?” Gon questions, and Killua’s frown deepens.
“This tastes awful. Did you forget the chocolate or something?” He asks, and Gon feels an urge to step back, because even with the counter between them, he was beginning to feel uneasy with their proximity.
“Sorry, um. I did add the chocolate in, but I’d be happy to remake it for you?” He offers, kindly, and Killua scoffs.
“No, I don’t want you going anywhere near my drink. Have Machi make it, at least she knows how to add chocolate to a hot chocolate,” he says, sharply, and Gon looks to the floor, nodding.
“Of course, let me go grab her,” he says, before turning on his heel, and walking over to Machi who was restocking cups.
“Um, Machi?” He says quietly, tugging at his fingers. She turns to him, and her eyes soften as she notices the uneasy expression on his face.
“Yes, Gon? Is everything alright?” She asks, kindly, and he looks at her, frowning slightly, and nods his head.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. Um, could you make Killua’s drink though?” He asks, shyly, and she looks over to see Killua, with his arms crossed, and Gon’s hot chocolate sitting on the counter.
“Of course,” she says, and walks over to the bar.
“Hey Killua, is everything alright?” She asks, as she begins to steam the milk for his drink. He scoffs, and looks at Gon, who cowered at his unrelenting glare.
“Machi, what goes in a hot chocolate?” He asks, not taking his eyes off of Gon, who was now looking at the floor, trying to contain himself under the harsh gaze. Machi looks between the two in concern, before looking back at Killua.
“Milk, chocolate, and whipped cream,” she says slowly, as she pumps the chocolate into the cup, and pours the milk.
“Oh, shocking? Isn’t it surprising that chocolate is an ingredient in a hot chocolate. I wouldn’t have known had you not told me,” he says, continuing to glare at the new barista, every word making him feel smaller and smaller. Machi gives him a confused look, before adding the whipped cream, and lidding it, knowing he didn’t need a sleeve.
“Right?” She says, carefully, not understanding the situation, and not wanting to say anything to escalate it further. He takes it from her hand, and sips it, nodding.
“Yeah. This tastes like a hot chocolate. Who knew?” He says, before taking one more look at Gon, and walking out the door. Gon’s back was to the door, but as soon as he heard the noise of it shutting, he ran to the back, and covered his face with his hands, forcing himself to take deep breaths.
“Gon, what happened?” Machi asks, walking into the back after him. She brings her hand out to place it on his shoulder, but decides not to, worried that the physical touch would stress him out more.
“I don’t know. I thought I put the chocolate in there, I put three pumps and I thought that was the amount that it required, but then he got mad, and-” his voice cracks, and he stops himself, not wanting to cry in front of his new coworkers, and takes another deep breath.
“I’m so sorry, Gon. I forgot to tell you that Killua likes one extra pump of chocolate in his hot chocolates. There also is supposed to be four in a medium, so instead of getting five, he got three,” Machi explains, and Gon groans, before uncovering his face, and wiping any unfallen tears from his eyes.
“Well, that was a good initiation right? Now I know what to expect for future customers,” he jokes, a shaky smile on his lips.
“I promise he isn’t usually like that. He comes in every single day, and he’s been a regular for longer than I’ve been a barista, and I’ve been here for over a year. He’s always nice, quiet, but nice, but sometimes he comes in limping, and I’ve seen a couple bruises on him, and I don’t want to speculate but I think there’s a reason he spends so much of his time here you know? I just wanna say that he had a really bad day, and took it out on the first person that irritated him to the slightest. Don’t take it personally, and I hope this doesn’t deter you from this job, because we love having you here. You have such an upbeat and happy energy that we don’t see a lot of anymore,” Machi says, and Gon is in utter awe of the kindness that she displayed. He was nervous to work in customer service, because as bad as the stories were about customers, it paled to the stories he’s heard about shitty coworkers. He felt lucky to be able to get along with all of them, and even felt like he could develop friendships with a couple. Kurapika finally notices them standing in the back, too immersed in his work to have seen them before, and walks up to them, concerned.
“Hey, is everything alright?” He asks, and eyes widen when he sees Gon’s red ones. Gon nods, and gives him a bright smile.
“Yeah, everything’s fine, Machi was just giving me some advice,” he responds.
“We had a bit of a situation with Killua,” she explains, and Kurapika’s eyes soften in understanding.
“We know he can be harsh. Trust me, I’ve had some people complain, but his heart truly is in the right place, and I just don’t have it in me to ban him. I know what it feels like to have no place to go, or nowhere to call home, and I just have a feeling that that’s why he comes in so often. I want to make this place a safe place for our customers, but that being said, it’s also one for our baristas, so if he made you uncomfortable Gon, I will have a word with him,” he says, with an honest look in his eye. Gon shakes his head.
“I don’t want to form an opinion about him from one interaction, because I wouldn’t want someone to do that to me, especially on a bad day. He’s a regular, and you both agree that he comes here a lot due to feeling safe, and I’d never want to take away the feeling of security from someone, especially if this is the only one they have. I want to talk to him again, maybe it’ll be different tomorrow,” he says, optimistically, and Kurapika smiles.
“Well, I’m happy you feel that way. And I’m relieved that this experience doesn’t make you uncomfortable or uneasy, because I’d never want any of my baristas to feel that way. You can go ahead and clock off now, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Kurapika asks, and Gon nods.
“Bright and early!” He chirps, and Machi scoffs.
“What? You work at eleven, that’s not early,” she digs, jokingly, and Gon sticks his tongue out at her.
“You’re just jealous because Kurapika scheduled you to open tomorrow,” Gon brags, and Machi rolls her eyes, making him laugh.
“Okay bye guys!” Gon says, after he clocks out and grabs his stuff.
“He’s a nice kid,” Kurapika comments, and Machi nods.
“Yeah, we need some more nice people around here, you’re such a sore,” Machi jokes, and Kurapika glares at her playfully.
“Watch it you.” He says, shaking his head at her with a smile.
…
“Hey Gon!” Knuckle greets, as Gon walks into the shop.
“Hi Knuckle! How are you?” He asks, walking over to him.
“Pretty good, we just finished up a rush, so we're cleaning up a bit, and settling down,” he explains, and Gon smiles.
“Oh, was it really busy?” He asks, and Machi groans in response. It’s only then when he notices her, slumped onto the counter, baby hairs all over her face.
“Yes, I’m so tired, and there were so many people,” she says, with her eyes closed, and knuckle laughs at her.
“It wasn’t that bad, you’re overreacting just a bit Mach, haha, get it? Bit Mach? You know, cause her name is Machi, and she’s overreacting a bit much,” he says, laughing loudly, and she turns to glare at him.
“The joke isn’t funny when you have to explain it, Knuckle,” she glares, and he puts his hands up in surrender.
“Jeez, kill me for trying to make a joke,” he mutters, before walking to the back.
“You don’t seem chipper today,” Gon jokes, and she glares at him, before her eyes soften as she slumps back on the counter.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that Shizuku left right as we got the rush, and we were supposed to be slow around that time, and Kurapika went to go pick up syrups since we were running low, so it was just us, and I’m really tired,” she whines, and Gon places a hand on her shoulder.
“Ugh, I need to go sit down. Only call me out if someone’s at risk of death,” she says, and he gives her a quick salute. She laughs, and shakes her head at him, before carrying herself to the back. He puts on his apron, and clocks on, before taking a look at the shape the store was in. He grabs a wet towel, and begins to wipe the counters, before the door opens, and the bell chimes.
“Hi! Welcome in what can I get for-” his words are cut short when he spots the familiar flop of messy white hair. He looked more conscious today, the first time he saw him he looked completely out of it, and that was over a week ago. Gon has been picking up more morning shifts, wanting to get used to the rushes, and since Killua only came in during late afternoon, he’s been lucky enough to not have another incident. “you today?” Gon says, finishing his sentence, and Killua walks up to the register.
He noticed the blue plaid flannel he wore, paired with light wash skinny jeans, and a dark blue tank top, and cursed himself for thinking that he looked good. He did look good though.
“Can I just get a medium hot chocolate please?” He asks, and Gon is surprised to hear a pleasant, small tone, as opposed to the snarky one he was expecting.
“Of course, 2.50 is your total today,” he responds, trying to come off as chipper as possible, but voice going small towards the end, just in case that wasn’t his regular total, and he messed up a button on the register. To his relief, Killua slid him a five dollar bill wordlessly, and looked to the side as Gon put it on the register and counted out his change.
“2.50 back,” he says, sliding it back, and to his surprise, Killua puts it in the tip jar.
“Let me go have Machi make your drink, I’ll be right back,” he explains, and Killua’s eyes widen slightly, eyes filled with an emotion Gon couldn’t exactly decipher, before he quickly walked to the back.
“Machi, Machi, Machi!” Gon yelps, scurrying over to her. She looks up from where she was laying face first on the desk in the break room, and he would have laughed at the red mark on her cheek, if he wasn’t scared shitless.
“Is someone at risk of death?” She asks groggily, and Gon immediately nods, which makes her stand up quickly.
“Who?” She asks, concerned, as she begins to quickly put her apron back on.
“Me!” He shrieks, and her hands that were tying her apron come to a stop, as she looks at him, confused. “Killua’s here!” He whisper-yells, and she can’t decide if she wants to laugh or scream.
“I-, okay fine, I’ll handle it,” she says, and walks out, Gon hot on her tail.
“Hey Killua, how you doin’ today?” She asks, grabbing a milk pitcher, and pouring in the milk. He shrugs.
“Fine I guess, I don’t know. I think I’m gonna sit here for a little today,” he says, looking around the store. She nods, smiling.
“Ooh cool, it’s been a little while since you’ve sat in here,” she comments, as she finishes up the drink, lidding it, and sliding it across the counter.
“Yeah, I haven’t really had the energy to be out for long lately, but I don’t really wanna go home right at this moment,” he says, quietly, grabbing the drink and taking a sip. “Thanks Machi,” he says, gratefully, and walks over to one of the couches.
“Okay, Gon. Please let me enjoy the last five minutes of my break in peace,” she begs, and walks to the back, Gon following her like a puppy.
“What! No! You can’t leave, he’s still here,” he whispers, and then looks behind him as if Killua would somehow hop the counter and follow them to the back.
“Yes, Gon. Our lobby is open,” she says, plopping down into the chair once again.
“But-” he starts.
“Gon. Knuckle’s almost done unloading our shipment. You’ll be fine for a couple minutes,” she says, and he whines, before slowly walking out to the front.
He notices Killua sipping on his drink, and writing something on a piece of paper. He would've thought that he looked serene, as he calmly jotted down, what he assumed were notes for school, but remembering their incident last week, he can’t help but feel on edge. He promised himself, and Kurapika, that he wouldn’t let one interaction dictate his entire opinion of the boy, but he couldn’t help it. He began making more whipped creams, and white mocha, before the chime of the door sounded. He almost laughs, the sight of Kurapika holding such a big box of what he assumed to be their new shipment of syrup very amusing, and he quickly wiped his hands with a clean towel, and ran over to him.
“Here, let me help you with that,” he offers, and takes the box from him. Kurapika sighs in relief, as the weight is lifted off of his chest, literally, and he takes a second to catch his breath.
“You wouldn’t believe how many damn syrup bottles are in that box. They had to have given us two weeks worth of syrup, because that was the heaviest thing I’ve ever carried in my life,” he says, and grabs a water. Gon laughs, as he sets it down in the back, and grabs a box cutter. “Gon, be careful with those, they’re very sharp,” Kurapika warns, and Gon waves him off.
“I know how to cut a box Kurapika,” he jokes, and the older man laughs.
“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he shrugs.
“Kurapika, I’ll have you know I’m an expert with box cutters,” he jokes, and begins to cut the box vertically. As he reached the middle of the box, he realized the cardboard was a bit thicker than the other parts, and had to apply a bit more pressure. He pushes his hand into the side of the slightly open slit, to create more of an opening to cut, and before realizing that that was the most idiotic thing he could have done, he slices the area between his thumb and forefinger. “Oh fuck,” he mutters, watching the blood quickly start to seep, and Kurapika gasps.
“Oh my God, Gon!” He yells, concernedly, and runs to the back. “Shit, oh my god, how have we run out of band aids?” He shouts to himself, rummaging through the things in the back. “Go get a towel from the front, and apply pressure, quickly!” He says, hurriedly, and Gon nods, scurrying to the front, and grabbing a towel.
“Ow, ow, ow,” he mutters, as he applies pressure to the wound. At that exact moment, four different people walked into the store, and the volume in the store increased exponentially in a few seconds. Machi and Knuckle both walk out, and Knuckle immediately runs over to the register, ringing down the line, as Machi darts over to Gon.
“Shoot, Gon, what did you do?” She asks, watching as the blood seeped through the towel with concerning speed. Kurapika walks out, and runs over to them.
“Machi, please start making the orders, I’ll take care of this,” he says, and she nods, walking over to the bar. Kurapika removes the towel on his hand, throwing it into the trash, before pressing a fresh one onto the wound. He looks up, and notices the line of people quickly go out the door, and he curses quietly.
“Oh my god, what is this timing? Why are they all coming in now?” He mutters to himself, stressed, before looking back at Gon. “I don’t have any bandages or band aids to stop the bleeding, shit, I swore I had some,” he says, worriedly, and bites on his lip, in thought. “There’s a drug store right across the street, but I don’t want to send you alone, and we just got a rush,” he says, and closes his eyes for a moment to think.
“Kurapika, I can go by myself, seriously,” he says, and he shakes his head.
“Absolutely not, at the rate you’re losing blood you run the risk of dizziness, or fainting. I need you to be accompanied by someone,” he says.
“I can go with him,” a soft voice offers, and Gon looks to the side to see Killua, behind the counter, with his hands behind his back. His eyes widen slightly, as he looks back to Kurapika. His boss seems torn, and is about to decline for Gon’s sake, when he notices blood seep through the second towel, and sighs.
“That would be wonderful Killua, thank you,” he says, kindly, and Killua nods. Kurapika hands Killua a twenty dollar bill, and lightly pushes Gon to the door. “Please buy all the band aids that’ll get me, and Gon has my number, so text me if anything goes wrong,” he instructs, and Gon wants to scream at how Kurapika is giving all the directions to Killua, because as far as he’s concerned, he’d rather bleed out in the cafe, than go somewhere alone with the boy.