Chapter Text
MK glanced up for a moment from the coffee as he heard the doorbell ring. As the person walked in, he saw a flash of red clothes, but more noticeably, soft diamond eyes that shone in the light coming through the windows. They stared for a moment before he winked and walked to an empty table next to the window, leaving MK a bit shocked and his face red. His eyes continued to follow him to the table until he was interrupted by a certain someone.
Tang, who had been sitting at the counter the entire time, shoved his head in where MK was staring. “Oooh.. you got a crush on someone?” MK snapped out of his trance and actually continued doing his job, pouring just the right amount of french vanilla cream and caramel syrup into the coffee cup. “H-hey! No, it’s not like that.. someone just..” He paused in his tracks for a moment, “..caught my eye, is all.” Tang had a smug expression on his face, about to open his mouth when MK shoved the cup towards him, “Give that to table 3.”
MK sighed in mild annoyance and grabbed the next cup, brewing in the espresso and adding some steamed milk. Mei, who was taking everyone’s orders, strolled up the counter and nearly made MK drop the hot coffee everywhere. “Mocha latte coming up at table 5 by the window! Oh, and a strawberry tart. Said to add whipped cream to the latte, by the way.”
“..Would you mind writing that down?” Mei sighed dramatically, “It’s not even that much to remember!” She said, as she was already writing it down on an order ticket. She stuck it to MK’s apron, “Oh, and I saw you staring at him when he walked in.” MK’s face flushed up.. again. “E-eh?? I wasn’t staring!”
Pigsy narrowed his eyes at MK as a signal he was being too loud, and he let out a nervous chuckle. “You were literally staring into his eyes, you can’t get any gayer than that! What was his name again, like.. Red.. boy?? Anyways, ithinkyoureforgettingabouttheorderyoureworkingokbyeemk!!” She dashed off again to deal with another order. (Aside from everything else going on, he really hoped she’d start writing down orders before giving them to him.)
MK let out a mental sob knowing that everyone would be teasing him for this sooner or later. He put the order he was working on onto the ordering counter for Tang to pick up and got to work on order after order, making it become a sort of rhythm. Then, it came time to do the one order he was dreading. No, not because it was excessively complicated, or unnecessarily vague, he was just.. nervous. He read the order sticker, which had his name on it; Redson.
“Well.. that’s awfully fitting..” He muttered to himself, grabbing the next cup. He stared into the cup, thinking of his blue eyes, ones that reminded him of sapphire crystals. He shook his head to clear it and got to work on making it an actual latte.
2 ounces of espresso brewed expertly into the cup. and steamed milk put to the side for use. While it brewed, he grabbed the chocolate syrup and a bit of cocoa powder, slowly spooning in one tablespoon of it and stirring. He added in the steamed milk and made hearts on the surface out of it, then swirled the whipped cream. The final touch was the chocolate syrup, drizzled on top with a bit of nutmeg sprinkled onto it.
MK stood proud of his work, glancing over to see that Pigsy had already finished on the strawberry tart. That was the teamwork they did; Mei took the orders, Tang moved the orders out to their tables, Pigsy would prepare the sweets, and MK would work on the coffee itself. If it was a rush hour, like a sunday or monday morning, Pigsy would often help out with the coffee-making so as not to fall behind on orders.
It also made it much easier to get to work considering Pigsy and MK lived together above the coffee shop. It was two floors, one was a higher floor with a balcony with more tables and the bottom was the main area. It still had tables on the first floor, just less of them and it was more chill. Pigsy and MK lived directly above both for ease of access (and also because it was cheaper.)
MK packed the strawberry tart into one of their signature bags and added a sleeve to the hot coffee, sticking the order sticker on both. “Tang, these are for table 5.” Tang’s smug expression came back as he picked up both of them, “The guy you totally have a crush on?” MK scrunched his nose up and walked away. To be honest, he needed a break from all this.
“Hey, Pigsy.. can I go on my break now?” Pigsy glanced up. “Sure, kid, I’ll work with the coffee while you’re doing that. If you’re gonna eat lunch, it’s in the fridge.” MK nodded and walked towards the break room. Once he was in he crumbled to the floor with his back against the wall, hugging his knees and hyperventilating due to the embarrassment. His face was as red as Redson’s hair- well, as a tomato, since he refuses to think about Redson currently.
He climbed back to his feet and grabbed a cup of juice and his sandwich from the fridge. He shoved the cold juice against his face to cool the burning in his cheeks before drinking it, letting out a deep sigh after. “Phew.. I really needed that..” He accidentally said that out loud, but it’s not like there was anyone there to hear it. He ate lunch as quickly as he could, all while trying to balance out his thoughts.
He stepped out of the breakroom and noticed that Redson was still there, sitting at the table. He seemed to be..taking his time to eat? Which was weird. Most people came and went, or stayed but not for very long. “Oh god.” He was hoping that Redson wouldn’t be there when he came out, and that he’d have left by now, but he seemed to have been wrong. No worries, he’d just try to ignore him.. which immediately failed when Tang slid up to the counter next to MK. “Hey MK, that red guy wants to talk to you directly.”
“Can I.. just get you to relay a message back and forth?” Tang scoffed, “Pshh! No, he wants to talk to you , not me. Plus, I’m not your messenger boy. Are you just shy or something?” MK shook his head furiously. “No! I’m not shy! And no, I don’t have a crush either.” Tang chuckled. “Then get out there! Slayy!” “Tang, say that again and I'll kill you.”
So there MK was, going off to talk to a customer. Honestly it should be Pigsy doing this, due to the fact that he was the manager in the first place, but nooo… here he was. He nervously stepped over to table 5, where Redson sat. He was still sipping his coffee, it was kind of a miracle it still seemed to be steaming and hot.
“Ah.. hello? My- er, coworker said you wanted to talk to me?” Redson glanced up, almost surprised like he hadn’t said anything. “I just wanted to say that you make good coffee. And, I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but you are pretty cute as well.” MK’s face was super red again. Why does this keep happening to him? “Oh.. ah, thank you..”
Redson smirked slightly as he stood up, slight fangs making themself known. They both were about the same height, but it was still a bit jarring to MK. “I’ll be back again tomorrow. I hope I’ll see you again, cutie.”
..Cutie?