Archive of Our Own

Mornings at the Hammerlocke’s University café were always filled with a scent of hot chocolate, combined with a slightly caramelized hot brew that woke anyone’s spirit in a heartbeat while drowning the place in a beautiful, unmatched show of well-made blends. Fresh bread just taken out of the oven shone in the front counter with a crunchy sound to the touch. Even the bitterness of black coffee was to be expected and alongside the occasional sweetness of a mocha drink with chocolate on top, was also involved in the dance of flavors and smells in a choreography that they knew to the letter.

The door’s bells chimed as they announced the arrival of a new customer: a woman with vivid, orange hair with little traces of white sprinkles from outside, covered in heavy clothing and a huge bag on her bag. In the early morning, only a single employer took care of the café.

“I want a Caramel Macchiato, please,” the woman asked, taking her gloves off and rubbing her hands against each other. As she approached the counter, in front of the freshly-served bread, she shivered in place. “For takeout.”

The barista, who was a tall man, probably two or more heads bigger, stared at her as she took off her coat covered in snow, only to wrap it on her waist. Her nose was as red as a Christmas deer, but it still suited her round face. Not wasting any minute, the barista grabbed a plastic cup and a permanent marker. When they met their gazes for the first time, she smiled and so did he, and his heart skipped a beat. Cute, he thought.

“Your name, miss?”

“Sonia, nice to meet you-!” she replied almost instantly, so fast that her tongue worked faster than her mind, so when she stumbled across her own comment, her cheeks flushed red, as a nervous laugh echoed through the empty café. “I mean-! I didn’t-! That’s not what I- meant-!”

The redness from her cheeks quickly traveled all the way to the rest of her face and even the higher parts of her neck. The barista only chuckled upon seeing those events unfolding in quick succession. Definitely cute, he affirmed. To ease the embarrassment of the moment, he only wrote the name down and then took off the name tag on his shirt, showing it to her. Sonia stared for a whole second, deciding whether to grab it or what. He noticed her dilemma from miles away and chuckled a little more, hiding his mouth with his big palm to hide his own shyness.

“Raihan,” he said after putting the name tag away and breaking the ice. His hand was extended for her to grab. “I’m Raihan, and it’s also nice to meet you.”

Seeing how swiftly and naturally Raihan managed to turn the situation around, turning it from an awkward moment to an actual greeting, made Sonia smile and giggle shortly after. She grabbed his hand, shaking it and adoring the warmth of his fingers. Even if Sonia’s hand was cold, Raihan couldn’t care less as he smiled back at her. Her laughter was cute . Some seconds passed until they both realized what they were doing, and Raihan was the one that separated his hand first and approached the coffee maker, clearing his throat to shake off the sudden warmth that was concentrating on his cheeks.

“Your drink will be ready in a minute.”

Just as he said, in a little over a minute, the sweet scents blending together started to fill the small establishment alongside the amazing sound of pouring hot macchiato in the plastic cup. As Raihan approached the counter where Sonia was eagerly waiting, he took the previously mixed heavy cream and poured it into the top of the cup, and drops of cream that became slightly bigger each time resulted in a perfectly made flower design that made Sonia smile upon noticing.

The first sip left a little white spot on Sonia’s upper lip, and the sigh of relief that she let out was exactly the sound of approval that Raihan was used to. Their eyes met once again in a game of chance, and Sonia’s cheeks turned red - but this time Raihan knew it wasn’t because of the cold. Raihan replied silently with a smirk, showing a little sneak of a pointy fang that was simply too handsome, even for Sonia whose face brightened, and her shy look expressed little signs of light. Gosh, my heart can’t take this, Raihan’s mind fluttered in thoughts as a sweet smile was drawn on his face.

Waving goodbye, Sonia approached the exit after putting on her heavy coat and gloves again - even her hair that got slightly wet from the melted snow had been set right to face the harsh winter outside. The first steps outside came with a strong breeze that caused Sonia to shrug, trying to find warmth and comfort on her own coat; after everything was over, she raised her cup to her lips and took another hot sip, and as she put the cup down, her eyes danced through the name scribbled down on permanent marker.

For the beautiful Sonia.

The letters were written by a hand that was clearly shaking, and as far as she could remember, there was no way that Raihan was freezing cold like her inside of that cozy café. She turned around and looked across the glass to see Raihan checking the payment, but soon enough, his face also tilted in her direction and their eyes met once again. For a solid minute, silence reigned and their hearts skipped a beat, even from afar.

On a usual morning, Raihan would lean over the counter as his eyes dwindled across the empty café, the tickling of the clock being the only sound echoing around. His head would rest on his open palm, sighing from boredom as no one frequented the place, since everyone else had their own shifts to attend.

Or at least that’s how he USED to spend his mornings.

A fateful encounter with a certain redhead, who quickly became a regular, changed his way of preparing the shop in the mornings. She had been coming to the café for over two weeks now and always ordered the same drink, so before she even got there that morning, Raihan was already putting the ingredients in the coffee maker to prepare her usual Caramel Macchiato, only waiting for her to put the cream on top.

When she arrived, her bright expression didn’t fail to lit up the place, and that smile only became more cheerful when their eyes met. Raihan’s ultramarine eyes mixed with Sonia’s turquoise sight, only resulted in a beautiful ocean of happiness shared by the friendship that came to be thanks to Caramel Macchiatos on a cold morning.

She approached the counter and Raihan had already put her drink on the table, smiling as he grabbed the cream mixture. “Raihan! You did this in advance?” Sonia hid her face with her open hand, teal nails decorating her face. “You’re just so sweet. But, actually, I wanted to ask if you knew how to make latte art.”

Latte art?, Raihan thought. That request was not too far fetched - many people wanted special images on their drink to post on their social media. Gosh, even him enjoyed taking a selfie with something nice once in a while (or a little too often).

“Sure, what kind of barista I would be if I didn’t know, right?” he chuckled, stirring the cream mixture as he leaned over the table to be closer to the plastic cup. Before doing anything else, he looked at her, “What do you want me to draw, Sonia?”

“Um, a puppy?” Sonia leaned over to the counter to not lose sight of any detail. She had also taken out her phone to record every second of it, her phone case was of a corgi that looked soft to the touch. So adorable.

“A puppy it is!” Raihan’s voice cracked for a second as he tried to keep it cool. Sonia’s face was so bright, and being that close to her, he could smell her perfume - it was probably vanilla, but the sweetest kind. He raised his hand where he held the frothing pitcher and put it on top of the cup. Still, no cream came out at first, because everytime Raihan tried to start the illustration, he saw how the mixture was shaking and the cold sweat ran through his temple. He couldn’t do art like that—how could he maintain his hand still if the girl he liked was looking right at him? He gulped, his throat was even drier than he had ever imagined.

Sonia tilted her head after waiting a little too long for Raihan to start, her eyebrows curved up as she extended her hand to him. “Are you okay, Rai?”

“Y-yes-! Of course I am-!”

Raihan took a final, deep breath and moved his wrist over in different directions and poured cream from time to time. He was a trained barista, but no matter the years of experience, the nervousness of messing up in front of the woman who was shaking his heart was still winning over him. Even if his technique was flawless, his shaky hand didn’t do his job and the result was a vague-looking dog. The intention was there, however, it would have been a lot better if he hadn’t been trembling the whole time.

“I’m actually good at this, I swear!” Raihan exclaimed, letting a shaky, cracked laugh escape his lips, trying to mitigate his nervousness needlessly. A forced smile from him was trying to fake some pride on his creation. Still, after staring at his failed attempt of making a dog for so long, he ended pressing his head on the counter in defeat. “Agh, it’s bad, I know… I’ll give you another one for free.”

Just when he grabbed the cup to throw it away, Sonia interceded, taking his arm and preventing him from taking it. The warmth of her fingers made Raihan raise his head and saw her beautiful face again, smiling at her with her cheeks slightly blushed. When their eyes met, he smiled too, and touched her fingers with his.

“Actually…” Sonia said, grabbing the cup. “This one is perfect!” When she took a breath on the cup, the hot steam blurred her glasses, and as she took them off (just for a moment, she wasn’t going to plan on tripping on her feet that day), Raihan noticed how her cheeks were gleaming in a soft red - an actual blush! Did he cause that?! Standing up, Raihan saw pride in his attempt at latte art for the first time as Sonia took a sip from it. The way her lips were covered in cream was always cute. After licking the excess of cream, her face lit up and her eyes shone brightly. “It’s so good, too!”

She was really saying that a shaky, fuzzy attempt at drawing a dog was cute and perfect. Even if she could have gotten another one for free, she decided to keep that one just because he made it trying to impress her. Raihan’s heart was going places just for thinking about that.

I want to kiss her.

“Aren’t you going to class today?”

Raihan’s voice became a little louder as he was trying to confirm what he just heard. He was already handing Sonia her usual Caramel Macchiato (this time with a decent puppy drawing on it). Sonia only nodded and took a seat on the nearest table, taking out her laptop.

“Finals are around the corner, I need a quiet place to study…”

“And what about your dorm?”

“Nope.”

“The library?”

“Nope.”

“The park?”

“Nope.”

“Can you say something else?”

“Raihan, do you really not want me to study here? I even ordered a drink.” 

Sonia shook the cup in front of him, who was only leaning over the counter, head resting on his palm and staring at her with the most tender eyes, even sighing from happiness from time to time. “It’s not that, it’s just that it is difficult to concentrate with this view.”

“So, should I move to another table?”

“Please, don’t.” Raihan chuckled as he walked out of his place, sitting by Sonia’s side. There was no one else in the establishment, so it wouldn’t hurt to take some time to relax. Peaking over the laptop, he skimmed over the texts on screen. “What are you studying again?”

“A major in history,” Sonia replied, stretching on her seat when Raihan sat by her side.

“Wait, really?” Raihan tilted his head to the side, eyes more than open. “Then I guess you’re not the only one with a major in history here. I study in the night shift, though.”

“Are you serious!?” Sonia’s eyes were gleaming with excitement, also turning to see Raihan. From up close, his blue eyes were deeper than she ever imagined, and his soft smile melted her heart with ease. “Then I guess we’re a pair or nerds.”

“But we all know who’s the bigger nerd here,” Raihan pointed, poking Sonia’s nose with his finger. “And she has a corgi phone case.”

“Raihan!” Sonia laughed, feeling her cheeks becoming warmer after feeling Raihan’s finger on her face. He laughed too, and put his hand on Sonia’s shoulder as they looked at the screen. “You’re pretty good at latte art and making drinks, even for a historian.”

“Are you implying that historians don’t know how to make drinks?”

“I’m not! You should try my tea, it’s amazing.”

“I want to.”

Even if Raihan’s eyes were half-closed, and a curved smile decorated his face, Sonia could see he was dead serious. Blinking twice, Sonia twirled the strand of hair on the side of her face. Raihan had never seen her that nervous, and it was actually cuter than ever.

“I mean-... If you want to, maybe we could…”

“Have a date?”

Raihan finished the question for her, and Sonia turned her eyes to him. Noticing a faint red blush on his cheeks, she nodded, and every second painted her face in a more intense, more reddish color.

“I’d be glad to go on a date with you…” he added, extending his arm to take some hair off her face, revealing a smiling expression coming from her. “You also feel it, don’t you?”

“Feel what?”

“That there’s something brewing between us.”

“Oh, you didn’t…” Sonia bit her lip, doing a great effort to contain a laugh but, unluckily for her, it was simply not possible. 

Her laugh was contagious, even for Raihan who soon joined her, giggling at his own joke. “You didn’t like my joke?”

“It’s not that… It’s just that I also feel the same. Saturday sounds good?”

“Sounds amazing.”