Chapter Text
Yet again, the shop looked deserted. The days just kept feeling longer and longer, and Reki had only been there for around thirty minutes for the morning shift.
Crap.
Why did he have to be a barista here? He would prefer to work at Starbucks or somewhere interesting.
Most people would be jumping with joy to get paid for doing nothing, Reki on the other hand— he didn't like it one bit. Honestly, he hated it! He wanted to run around and make drinks for people, scramble, hustle!
Ohh it was pointless... He flopped down, resting his head on the counter. His body still stood, ready and awaiting the arrival of somebody. He danced around a little, still unable to keep still despite the lack of action.
Faintly he perked up when he heard the front bell ring. Probably his boss.
Wait—! A customer? His boss certainly didn’t look like that! Reki quickly stood up and composed himself. His eyes were sparkly at the prospect of serving someone and doing his job! Finally!
A pale and awkwardly lanky man walked up to the counter, looking tired as ever. That was the usual turnout so early in the morning. He was dressed up in a casual uniform, dawned with a light brown jacket. Oh, and how could he forget the most noticeable feature? His hair. He purposely held back from thinking about it. It looked like the sky had come inside.
Reki blinked a couple of times before he could let himself zone out. Jeez— why was he like this...?
“Hello sir, welcome to The Grind! Where the grind never stops… I hope you’re having a wonderful morning! What can I get for you?”
Right after Reki said that he felt puzzled. He could see the gears turning in this customer's head. Lights were on and nobody was home. Oh gosh... Maybe he was high? That wouldn’t be a first surprisingly. Reki looked into his eyes to judge and—
The bags under his eyes were a heavy shade of dark purple, he was certainly not high-! Maybe he ought to be considering he looked dead!
“Oh... U.. Umm...” The man stood there in silence for a bit and Reki interjected to help him out.
“Take your time! Did you want a coffee? We have some snacks in the display case as you can see here— maybe you want a sandwich. I can do anything for you dude!”
“What’s the largest amount of espresso you can give me?”
“Eh-? It can be as large as you want I guess. Your funeral... That stuff is super bitter. You don’t want to balance it out with anything? Sugar? Cream? Chocolate?“
“No... I want the most caffeine you can give me.”
“Eh? Woah! Okay, bud! I can supersize you an espresso, be careful though, alright? Drink responsibly, yada yada, you know the biz!”
“Right.”
Reki quickly went up to the cash register and typed in the order. Jeez, he felt kind of bad for being an enabler for this guy's obvious caffeine addiction. Though he was pretty tired— Hm...
"Who's that gonna be for?”
“Me.”
“I’m gonna need a name, sir.”
“Langa.”
“Mhm... Laaanga...” He muttered, finishing up the order. “Alright, it's going to be six dollars and forty cents. Cash or card?"
Without a word, he shakily brought out the card and handed it over. The exchange was silent. Oh, how Reki wished they played music in this establishment to melt the bitterly cold tension between them right now. Everything about this guy was icy cold. But something about him was also— Hot. He had to admit it. Maybe it was the dead look in his eyes. The sweeter looking man inside was trapped, only to be awoken and saved by Reki’s coffee— well, that certainly was a strange way to think of it. Saving that for therapy!
“Alright, awesome! I'll finish with that in just a minute! Sit tight!"
As soon as Reki ran off, Langa perked up to watch him leave. Something about his disposition and how excitable he was, made him feel a little less tired. It was a stark contrast to the employees at other shops, just praying the person would leave and stop wasting their time.
Loud banging around erupted from the back for a minute; Langa practically jumped out of his skin when he heard the noise. Then out came Reki with a steaming hot cup of espresso in hand.
Reki placed down the cup, Langa reached out to pick it up; he got stopped in his tracks. Firstly, he had to write his name down.
“Right. Here you go, Langa!”
“Thanks, I...”
Langa turned the cup to see his name written out seriously wrong. How did he even— ‘longuhh’ he scrunched his nose up and squinted at it.
“Is something wrong?”
“It’s fine, don’t worry—“
“You look so disgusted and you haven’t even had your drink yet! Does the espresso smell that nasty?”
“No. It’s my name.”
Ah, he noticed... Truthfully, Reki didn’t know how to spell it. Clearly his interpretation was wrong, he knew that. It was just kind of funny to guess so poorly like that.
“Oh-! What’s wrong with it...?”
“It’s...” He paused, unable to deal with this at the moment. Reki must’ve been clueless, at least to him. “It’s nothing, it’s fine. Really.”
Reki chuckled with a closed mouth and rested his arms up casually on the counter. “Alright, if you’re sure... Langa.” His sweet grin twisted up into something more teasing, delightfully devilish. Langa became wide eyed at that, soon came a peachy color to his pale and dead cheeks. Maybe he should say something... Maybe—
“Bye.” He quickly turned away, walking off. Reki blinked a couple times and waved with some uncertainty. Well that was surely quick...
Langa stood outside and immediately let out a heavy sigh. Fuck, that was so stupid! He really just ran out of there like an idiot and looked foolish! He was never gonna go back there again!
Not ever!