Chapter Text
“First week on the job and you’re already pining for someone. Really can’t say I’m surprised though.”
The brunette laughed, elbowing the latter.
“Shut up George!” The boy grumbled, throwing the kitchen towel he was using to wipe the counters at him.
George yelped.
“Wilburrr! Sapnap’s being mean to me againnn” He complained to another person who had just given a customer their drink.
Wilbur rolled his eyes, simply unfazed . “Play nice Sapnap,” he said before muttering something under his breath.
“What did you say?” Sapnap eyed the taller fellow suspiciously as he ran the kitchen towel under the sink.
Once again Wilbur sighed tirelessly, either by pure annoyance or his fucked up sleep schedule, who really knows.
“I said George wasn’t wrong about your unrequited love towards a certain someone.” He repeated eyes trailing to his right.
Sapnap’s eyes followed, the amber glow in his eyes returned to the familiar sight of a boy whose caramel brown hair covers his eyes as he shelves stacks of books on the shelves. Something as simple as repeated motion of the boy, who always wears oversized sweaters, this time forest green, taking each book from a brown box and shelving them was what drew him in.
Okay maybe it was also the yellow nail polish and the silver rings. It could also be the first time they had made eye contact. During his first day on the job, the other walked by and took notice of the new employee who gazed at him with great interest. The way he smiled, the way you could see dimples form when he does so, the way his heart set aflame when their eyes met for the first time, and would do so again and again each time their eyes interlocked.
It was everything about the boy that drew Sapnap in, but he wouldn’t admit it.
“Oi!”
His blissful thoughts were interrupted by the snapping of Wilbur’s fingers.
“Oh shit!” Sapnap exclaimed, realising the tap water had been running for a while.
“You’re doing it again.” George said, stifling a laughter.
“Am not.” He glared at the smaller boy, “I’m just...er…”
“Just talk to him.” Wilbur suggested, absentmindedly opening one of the bottom cabinets and grabbing a bag of marshmallows that was meant for the hot chocolate. He grabbed a handful, shoving them into his mouth with no shame, you weren’t supposed to do that . Although, according to Wilbur, “You can do anything as long as you don’t get caught.”
Great motto really. Absolutely fantastic.
“Want some?” The taller boy offered.
Sapnap shook his head, his mind still swirling with thoughts of the boy.
“What did you say his name was again?” Sapnap asked, eyes returning to the boy who had just finished restocking the shelf and was walking away with an empty box under his arms.
“I think it’s Karl or something.” George answered with mouthfuls of marshmallows.
---
Sapnap pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to suppress his frustration.
“Look I’m sorry ma'am but like I said, you can’t use a Starbuck’s gift card here because this store is considered to be under Barnes & Nobles and not the Starbucks company itself. If you want, there's a Starbucks at the mall nearby that accepts gift cards.”
He had tried to reason with the middle aged lady in front of him. However no matter how many times he has tried to explain to her that they don't accept gift cards, still insisted on using it.
“Are you trying to deny a customer of their service?” She raised her voice with her arms crossed over her white cardigan.
“Look, it's just corporate rules. I can’t do anything about it.” Sapnap sighed out annoyingly. No part of his training had taught him how to deal with blonde middle aged white ladies who think they are entitled to everything.
“Corporate you say?” The lady repeated, eyeing Sapnap which the boy found funny being that he towered over her. “Fine then, I want to speak with your manager.”
There it was the seven words that Sapnap had seen in memes mocking people like her. He laughed then at the jokes, but now he wasn't, now there was a rising sense of frustration in him.
They also didn’t have a manager per say, more so a supervisor that looks over the Starbuck since it was a rather small area with only so many people willing to spend money on overpriced coffee.
That being said, said supervisor, Puffy wasn’t around that day and Sam who was the manager of the Barnes & Noble couldn’t give less of a damn of what was going on at the Starbucks, whatever George, Wilbur, Sapnap or any other employee got into, it was Puffy’s problem, not his.
“Sorry ma'am but our manager is currently out right now.” Despite the surging amount of annoyance he has right now, Sapnap found it quite amusing.
“That bitch’s glad Puffy’s not around right now. She would’ve decked her within seconds.”
The lady only furrowed her eyebrows even more narrowly and stepped closer towards the counter. She glared the barista. Sort of like a staring competition with her boring her eyes into his soul while he stared back, trying his best to repress an eye roll. Sapnap expected what happened next, the lady raised her hand and slammed it on the cold granite surface. The sudden interruption catching the attention of some nearby customers
“FINE! Then I am going to approach corporate then and file a COMPLAINT saying that one of their employees, who’s attitude and appearance is COMPLETELY unprofessional by the way, is denying a customer of their service!!”
Attitude sure maybe, but appearance? That was a bit of a stretch. Sapnap didn’t know if she was referring to the white bandana tied around his forehead that kept his hair from falling down his eyes, the chipped black nails, or the piercings on his face. Either way, why would his appearance bother her in any way?
“I’m so deeply and truly sorry that my appearance has affected you in any way ma’am, but how I dress is not my problem.”
The lady stood dumbfounded ,eyes widened and firsts curled up. However, instead of throwing any more tantrums, she stormed off muttering a “can you believe it?!” under her breath.
Once she had disappeared from his sight, likely off to torment another poor Starbucks employee, Sapnap groaned, resting his chins on his elbow indefatigably, eyes boring the granite counter tops beneath.
“You okay there?” A voice called out.
“Yeah George I’m-”
Wait.
He paused, that voice didn’t sound like George. It couldn’t be Wilbur either, he had fucked off to god knows where. Bathroom break his ass, it’s been fifteen minutes.
So if it couldn’t be George or Wilbur, where did the voice…
Sapnap lifted his chin up.
Oh. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He scrambled up from his tireless position, trying his best to straighten his crumpled green apron.
“Yeah I’m fine.” He spoke up, he swore he heard his voice crack.
He’s right in front of him. The boy. Karl. The boy he’s been gazing at for the past week, too much of a coward to talk to. He’s now less than a foot in front of him.
“Who’s George?” The boy in front of him asked.
Sapnap turned his head to see the lanky British boy pouring cold brew into a tall plastic cup and glancing back at him shortly with a smirk.
He sighed, “N...nobody.”
“Are you sure you’re alright though? That lady just now didn’t seem to be very nice.” Karl asked, totally oblivious of the internal panic Sapnap was currently having.
“Well uh nice, is an understatement. And um yeah, yeah you don’t have to worry about it.”
Sapnap heard the latter giggle and god was it fucking adorable. When he witnessed Karl’s face light up he felt his heart palpitate furiously in its ribcage. It was like running a marathon but instead of your legs doing the work, it was your mind, racing frantically in random directions and doing no good in helping you calm down.
“Um anyways can I take your order?” Sapnap asked.
“Oh yeah can I get a…” The latter’s eyes squinted up, reading the chalks of writing above.
“Take your time.” Sapnap continued, “All Frappuccinos are currently at five percent off by the way.”
Karl nodded, though still not taking his eyes off the menu.
He noticed the subtle scent of something sweet wafting through the air. It could be the pastries he thought, but this was different. Something like a mix of fresh tangerines with a slight hint of peppermint.
Looking down on the granite counters once again he studied the other’s hands. The faint blue lines running up his arms, the rings on his fingers with intricate carvings and the lemon yellow polish coating his nails.
His breath hitched with several thoughts running wild in his head.
“Can I please get a uh grande caramel ribbon crunch.”
Being unexpectedly snapped out of his train of thoughts again, Sapnap sheepishly ask for his order to be repeated.
“It’s alright.” Karl brushed off Sapnap’s carelessness and repeated his order with no irritation like most other customers would have.
“Oh can you also add more caramel please?” Karl asked, “I’ll pay extra, don't worry.”
“Yeah sure! But it’s fine, you don’t have to pay extra for it.”
That was a lie. Of course you had to pay extra.
“Really? I thought you had to.”
Sapnap shook his head with a small smile. “Nope!”
Not for you at least
After tapping on the register, Sapnap informed the latter that his total came up to four dollars and twenty cents after discount, which was still stupidly expensive in his opinion.
“Is it okay if I use my employee discount...I uh work at the Barnes & Nobles.” Karl asked, taking his card out of his wallet.
“Of course.” The other responded, taking the card from him. His fingers brushed the cold metal of one of Karl's rings causing shivers up his spine.
He handed the card back along with a receipt.
“Can I also get a name for that?” Sapnap asked. Though of course he already knew his name, George told him. Plus his name tag hanging from his lanyard, stated it.
Stupid question...
The boy didn't seem to mind though. “It's Karl! But with a K, people tend to misspell it.”
Sapnap’s heart returned to its place of warmth upon hearing the other’s ever soft giggles.
He took out a black sharpie from his apron and scribbled Karl's name on a plastic cup before putting on the sticker label. He passed the cup to George who took it with that same stupid smirk on his face.
A comfortable silence between Karl and Sapnap lingered in the air. There were no other customers in line and the only sound that was emitted being George shoving ice into the cup as he made Karl’s drink.
“I really like your nails!” Karl spoke up.
Sapnap felt the blood rush up to his face again upon hearing the unexpected compliment.
“Thanks, I, I mean they’re a little chipped I guess, but yours are way better than mine.” Sapnap replied, scratching the back of his neck with jitter.
Karl once again giggled. Sapnap never understood when people would ask what him what his favourite sound was, he never knew what to say. The birds chirping in the morning? His next door neighbours who get it on every Friday night? Though now Sapnap could confidently answer that question with the answer being Karl’s laugh, or just his voice in general.
“You’ve also just started working here right? I haven’t seen you around till recently.” Karl asked.
“Yep, I just started last week, used to work at the other Starbucks at the mall nearby but the schedule just wasn’t working for me. Plus my co-workers are just the worst and the amount of obnoxiously loud high school kids that come by every time makes my ears bleed.”
“I could only imagine." Karl smiled, "Hope this place isn't treating you badly like your last one was."
"Oh believe me I like it way better here."
A shout had suddenly cut their peaceful conversation.
“A grande caramel ribbon crunch for Karl?!” George asked out, holding out the beige coloured drink.
“Oh that’s me!” Karl replied back. “Anyways hope to see you around sometime...uh…”
“Sapnap.” The barista responded.
“Right, hope to see you around sometime then Sapnap!”
The boy took his drink from the other counter and walked off, though not before grinning back at Sapnap for a split second, leaving the boy completely over the moon.
The way his name rolled off Karl's tongue made Sapnap feel things he couldn’t explain.
“So…”
George walked over chuckling, patting an overjoyed Sapnap on his back.
“The loverboy has finally spoken to his beloved.” George commented snarkily.
“Shut up, I already said I’m not in love with him, I just think he’s an interesting person, plus I like being around him.” Though the blush that crept up his face may tell otherwise
“You sure about that?” George continued to pester.
“Yeah.”
Yeah...