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Aether just finished his appointment with an assistant lecture in his major. It took more than two hours than expected, moreso he has a shift to attend at the cafe he recently worked at. He walked out of the building hurriedly to the nearest bus stop waiting for the next bus turn.
His eyes glanced at the top left screen that showed time before the next bus arrived. Three minutes left, Aether clicked his tongue, afraid he wouldn’t make it in time.
The continuous vibration from his phone inside his jacket denoting a call has come. After he accepted the call, he quickly kept the phone as far as possible.
“ Aether! Where the hell are you ?!”
He clicked his tongue, again. “ Patient will ya’ ? I’m still waiting for the bus to … arrive .”
Venti—on the other side, snickering with his nose scrunched, “ I swear to god if it takes more than five minutes .”
“ Chill tone-deaf, it should be — oh there it is, see ya’ later .”
Before Venti threw another refutation that may have deafened him, Aether chose to end the call then take a step into the bus. He scanned his card and plopped down on the chair next to the window.
Oh ? It started to rain , His hand reaching out to touch the window surface, I wonder if the regular customer has come .
“What?! Are you serious?!” A shriek escaped his mouth a split second after bad news reached his ears.
He groaned, ruffling his hair in frustration. “Like it or not, we have to start from scratch.”
“Sorry once again, are you busy this afternoon?”
“Can’t you see?” Childe let out a heavy sigh, “what I meant is, yes.”
The boy gives a slight nod and informs Childe that he’ll be doing the first part before parting a goodbye. He convinces Childe this time he’ll keep the data safe and hand over the save part of the task to him. The brunette can only hope everything will be okay, just in case he also kept the data to himself.
After finishing some business, he rechecked his schedule before going to the cafe. There are two assignments he hasn’t finished and the due is tomorrow morning. He then decided to finish them at the cafe accompanied with his favourite mocha.
The bell rang cheerily as if welcoming him when he opened the door.
Childe threw his gaze around the place. Almost all the chairs were occupied, it's natural because it's rush hour now. Many waitresses are back and forth here and there approaching the new or recent customers. This cafe is indeed pretty famous for its cheap prices, comfy place, and good service. At least those three are the most common known to the folk.
The hustle evaporated and filled the air inside the cafe. For some people it can be suffocating but to others it somehow became their source of energy.
Until those lazure eyes landed on a blonde boy smiling behind the cashier table, serving the folk in line. His cloudless persona is like a virus. It spread through the air easily, planting a smile on each individual’s mouth.
He took a step to get inside the line. There are still three more to go before his turn, and it seems he’s the last one who queued. Looks like the rush hours almost got tamed, he can feel it through the less waitresses in the area and calmer atmosphere.
After a few minutes passed, finally it’s his turn.
Childe doesn’t know what happened to him right now. His hands were sweating and his heart beating furiously, fortunate his legs at its steady position.
“Next! Please step forward—oh! We meet again, Mr. Regular!” He said with a delighted voice. “Hot mocha with chocolate topping?”
He cleared his throat, “U-uh no, this time … I would like my hot mocha to be different.”
Aether smiled gleefully,
“Sure! Oh I just remembered, you asked me last time if I could draw a whale, now would you like your hot mocha with whale engraving on top of it?”
“Ah sure, it sounds good.”
“All set! Please wait on the left counter, thank you for ordering!”
Subsequent to Childe moving himself to the left counter, Aether took a peek at him. Messy brunette hair mixed with his usual outfit; ocean blue hoodie paired with blue jeans alongside black converse perfectly suit him. This is the second time in this month Childe came and ordered his ordinary mocha. He usually came once a week and sat at the table at the corner near the window, which Aether concluded it’s his favourite place.
He started to draw a whale, a small one on top of the mocca and adding a little signature ‘A’.
“Ooh what’s with the ‘A’?”
Aether jolted. “For Archons sake, you scared the life out of me!”
“Hehe, ahem you’re not answering my question,” said Venti. The blonde rolled his eyes, “None of your business.”
Venti pouted and tried to keep getting answers while Aether had a hard time finishing the whale. A few minutes later Aether succeeded wrapping the drink and prepared to call Mr. Regular.
“Hot Mocha with a special whale!”
In an instant, Childe got up from his seat and approached the waiting counter. “Here’s your order, uh—”
“Ajax,” Aether blinked once, twice. “Call me Ajax.”
“Oh okay, enjoy your drink and have a great night, Ajax!” said Aether joyfully.
Childe just nodded and mumbled thank you therewith a faint blush spread on his cheek. He didn’t expect the impact of his own name called by Aether would be this big. So he just stands right there and does nothing, whereas Aether continues to serve the upcoming customers.
The brunette cogitated whether he should have spoken up or not. His lazure eyes followed each motion Aether made, which got caught in silence by Venti.
He stopped staring that way when Aether approached him. “Is there anything you want to add, Ajax?”
“Are you free tonight?” ask Childe blurted out.
“Yeah sure, of course he’s free,” said the raven boy, putting his arm on Aether’s shoulder. “Go on Aether, have a date with him tonight, you said you like him, right?”
Aether hisses, “SHUT UP!”
“So?” Aether grimaced, “I can go.”
He let out a light huffing after that, reaching out his hand to ruffled Aether’s hair softly, “Take your time to change, I’ll wait outside.”
19.05
Childe stands not too far from the door. Windy night accompanies him waiting for Aether. And when he heard small steps from behind, he turned around and smiled gently.
“Shall we go?”