Work Text:
Itto’s work at the coffee-shop is long and tedious. The many hours wreck him on a day-to-day basis. Every morning he sees the regulars, puts on a nice smile, and hope they will leave as fast as they came. He is not a person to be easily irritated – quite the opposite actually. During his free time, he likes to talk to his Gym-Buddies Thoma and Gorou, venture into Trading-Card-Battles with Ayato, and party late into the night. Every time he regrets it, when he has to slide into work, running on four hours of sleeping, eyes falling down with his upper and lower lashes hugging one another.
“What is your name?” Itto asks with a cheery voice, while he wonders when the lunchbreak will start.
“Albedo. A-L-B-E-D-O.” The short blondie spells out. He is a regular and must be Itto’s favourite (He only asked because he has to. His manager told him). He has his macbook with him at all times, gets a coffee early in the morning and sits down at one of the selected tables to do his science work. Itto once asked him what he is always doing here this early in the morning. Apparently biochemistry.
Itto swiftly finishes up Albedo’s order. He is a simple man, only wanting a black coffee, with a small shot of milk. Simple to make.
“Good luck with your biochemistry work!” Itto exclaims, a little bit louder than he should be. He was born with a booming voice and oftentimes has issues regulating it. This time, yet again, was one of those times.
Albedo squints at the noise early in the morning, before he has even taken a sip of his coffee and murmurs a “Thanks” before going to his usual spot, in the far corner of the shop.
A shy girl with bright green hair comes along. Itto likes her as well, although she avoids talking too much and stutters during her orders. Her name is Sucrose and, if Itto remembers correctly, she is a fellow course mate of Albedo. They sometimes do work together.
“Can I have a… uhm… Sweet Vanilla… I mean… Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew?” Itto smiles softly. A very sweet drink. Fits her name.
“Coming right up!” Itto tries to keep down his voice and barely succeeds. His manager Ei has continuously been reprimanding him about the noise he makes.
He sometimes thought about quitting his job. Work is so tedious and exhausting, but he needs the money. For the, less important, rent that he has to pay, and the, more important, Trading Cards he still has to buy.
The little bell, hit when the door opens, jingles and two new customers walk into the shop. Itto has not seen them before. He is delighted to see new faces. Of course, he is grateful for all the people he already knows and sees more often, but he loves to get to know new ones.
The tall, smug looking one, has ginger hair and wears a black hoodie. He laughs as he enters the shop with his, what Itto presumes to be, friend. A rather short, blue-ish haired guy. He is wearing an
annoyed expression on his face. Itto notices his soft features, the slope nose, well taken care of skin, and the piercing eyes.
“Hi there! May I take your order?”
The ginger opens his mouth, faint remnants of his giggle emit before the first words come out: “Hi, yea, can I have uhh… what do you recommend, big guy?”
Itto rolls his eyes and smiles. He appreciates the compliment since his workout routine has been stepped up a notch. His uniform barely fits anymore.
“Well, do you like hot or cold drinks?”
“Hot,” he draws out and winks. What a weird guy…
“Yea, so, uhh,” Itto glances over to the menu on the screen. A bunch of brown beverages filled in cups appear and he analyses them. People oftentimes think that baristas recommend the most popular drinks to the people who ask for suggestions, but not Itto. He pushes his favourites onto other people. He is a reverse-gatekeeper. He will make you like what he likes.
“I must say, the caramel macchiato is pretty dope. You might like it.” Itto keeps himself from adding, that the drink is one of the few that look similar to his hair colour.
“Grand. I will take that.”
“Name?”
“Childe.”
Itto writes the name on the cup, probably misspelling it, and slides it over to his co-worker Sara, who pops open a bunch of different containers.
“And what will it be for you?”
Itto looks at the shorter guy, who glares right back at him. He still seems to be upset about whatever Childe was bullying him for.
“I would like…. The Pink Drink. Please.” He pauses two times, once before the drink name, and once before the please.
Itto bites his lips. For a little guy, who appears to be a little… intense, a Pink Drink order was not something Itto would have expected. Not caffeinated, with strawberries, passion fruit, and good ol’ coconut milk. But he is not one to judge, he loves the Pink Drink.
He stays silent for a second to long, and the short-haired guy sighs heavily: “Are you kidding? Not you as well.”
Childe giggles: “See, I told you, getting the Pink Drink is kinda cringe, lol.” Who says LOL out loud nowadays?
“Just, shut up already!”
Childe raises his hands defensively in front of his chest.
“Alright, alright.”
Itto’s eyes dart between the two of them.
“I think the Pink Drink is great!” he intercepts.
Childe and his friend’s eyes stick to Itto’s face who politely smiles at the both of them, unable to interpret what exactly they are trying to signal with their stare.
“Anyway, what’s the name?”
“Scaramouche. Or, actually, just write down Scara,” he mumbles.
“Alright, then! I can give you some recommendations for toppings and all, if you want me to!”
Childe purses his lips at the word ‘toppings’. Itto doesn’t read much into it.
“Not today. Thank you.”
Itto notes down his name, and pushes the cup over to Sara. He continues taking the orders of the others customers but still feels slightly amused by that dude Scara. His friend was making fun of him for liking his favourite drink! Itto’s family members do so as well! Fuck them, honestly.
Itto stops himself in his thoughts. Actually, no. He shouldn’t be thinking like this about Granny Oni. She is just old, she needs to learn about the better. Itto nods to himself in stealth. Yes, maybe he should talk to Granny Oni about how a big guy or a grim-looking guy can both enjoy their Pink Drinks in peace.
Scaramouche gets his Pink Drink from Sara and moves over to one of the tables near the register. Itto cannot lie to himself, he did try to catch a few glimpses at Scara, as he held loud conversations with Childe. He notices, that Scara is not one to smile. While Childe’s face is solely tainted by smugness, Scara has more… intense-staring eyes. And one time, Scara catches Itto watching him, and his eyes widen.
Childe and Scara eventually left, and Itto sees them pass by the window before disappearing.
“You should be less obvious, when you take a liking to customers’ physical appearances,” Sara scoffs.
Itto stops wiping the counter with the towel he has in his hand and turns towards his co-worker.
“What?”
“If other customers notice that the cashier is publicly watching them, then they could feel uncomfortable, which would be bad for business. Do you understand?” Sara puts down a few cleaned plastic cups, used for mixing of the beverages.
“I do not know what you are talking about!” Itto lies. There is a heavy enunciation at the last few syllables. He is not a good liar.
“Well, then see this as a warning.”
The next day Itto secretly hopes for Scara to return. He knows its not likely. New customers usually come once and never again. Alternatively, before becoming regulars, they usually come in after a week break. In comparison to Albedo, who apparently can’t catch a break from his biochemistry work.
The day goes by and orange light spills over the floor of the small coffeeshop. The wooden furniture that are adorned by the green plant life, scattered throughout the establishment, soak in the new colour of the sunset. He does not have the closing shift and can leave two hours earlier than Sara, who will be closing up with Heizou, a newbie at the shop.
Itto is in their changing room, getting rid of the uncomfortably tight uniform and changing into his normal purple sweater. It has a beetle on it, his favourite insect. He packs his thing, as the sound of work echoes through the walls. People putting in their orders, cashing out, telling the workers their names.
He focuses on those. He imagines oftentimes what kind of lives these people live who pass through here. He constructs small little narratives which are most likely completely off, but at least he is having fun.
As he is prepping to leave, he tries to take in all the names he could make out. Teppei, Yae, Kokomi, Eula, Kaeya, Scara.
He stops in his tracks. He shoves his last things into his sports bag and exits through the staff-door.
The small dude from yesterday is here, ordering another Pink Drink. The ginger is nowhere in sight, and they meet eyes.
Itto scurries over.
“Hi, uh, Scara. Right?”
Scara bites his bottom lip.
“Yea, uh, that’s me. What’s your name again?” Scara should have been able to read his nametag yesterday but probably didn’t remember the name. I mean, who does of workers? Right?
“Oh, yeah, my name is…” Itto trips over his own feet and stabilizes right in front of Scaramouche. “I am Itto. Nice to meet you!”
Scara nods slightly.
“Likewise.”
They stood, in front of each other. Awkwardly, not knowing where to go from here. Itto studies his face and notices a slight blush on his cheeks. It isn’t that hot outside, right? He switches the cold drink to his other hands, due to the sting of the temperature. It is only a few seconds but it feels much longer than that.
“So, uhm.” Scara breaks the silence. “You said, you knew a few more toppings? Are you saying that this drink is not good as it is?”
He sounds awfully serious, for a beverage with strawberries in it.
Itto waves in front of his chest. “Oh, no! Not at all! The drink is great! It just sometimes need that little spice to be perfect.”
Scara raises an eyebrow.
“I mean! It already is perfect, but like, it can be perfect in a different way, you know? Like, there are many ways to be perfect!”
“How would you make this perfect in a different way?” he scoffs, but Itto thinks that this is more of a light-hearted scoff. Is that a thing?
“Let me show you. Hey, Heizou!”
“Yo!” Heizou calls, and waves at Itto. “What’s up?”
“Pink Drink for me, real quick? Would that be cool?”
“Sure do. It’s on the house!”
Itto gives Heizou a thumbs-up and draws his attention back to Scara. His height up close, without a counter in between, is very endearing to Itto. He has to properly bend his neck to look into his face. A warm feeling spreads through his chest.
“Yeah, so, take a seat. I will show you how one can improve this drink.”
Itto pours in a bit of the vanilla-drink into his order.
“So, the sweetness of the Vanilla mixes very well with the coconut! Let me tell you, it tastes A-MA-ZING! Here, have a try!” Itto pushes the cup to Scara, who carefully grasps the cup and moves it close to his mouth, not yet taking a sip.
“Are you sure? I don’t know if this is a good combination.”
“Bro, trust me. This will be great!”
Scara rolls his eyes and the corners of his mouth move upwards. Itto hasn’t seen his smile yet and although it was just a slight smirk, he cannot help himself but feel pride by making his new acquaintance show a different emotion, than annoyance.
That feeling of achievement quickly fades away, as Scara takes a short sip, and immediately coughs up. Itto pulls out a tissue as the pink fluid runs down his chin.
“Oh my-“ Scara coughs, “God. This is. This is awful.”
Itto’s eyebrows are pushed together and he apologetically looks at him. “Oh no, sorry. Are you allergic to vanilla? Is that why? Shit, wait. Hold still.”
Itto dapples the tissue onto his chin, getting rid of the milk before it can drip down to the floor. Scaramouche does not move an inch, as Itto wipes it away.
“Perfect!” he puffed.
Scara’s face turns into a red balloon and he seems to be concentrating on his cup.
Itto realizes. “Oh. Oh my god. Sorry. Was this invasive? I didn’t mean to-“
Scara gets up, grabbing his cup and picking up his jacket.
“I have to leave anyways, it is pretty late.
Itto’s shoulder sack down and he pouts. “Oh, man, I am really sorry. But hey, it was fun.”
Scara looks to the side, muttering: “Well, you haven’t shown me the other ‘perfect’ variants. I will be back.”
The sun appeared in Itto’s eyes, and he clenches his teeth. He fishes out a pen from his bag and notes down a combination of numbers on a tissue.
“Message me! I can tell you when I am in for work!”
Itto holds the tissue up to his face, while Scara looks down at him. He is not much shorter than Scara, even though he is sitting down.
With his other free hand, Scara reluctantly takes the tissue. “Don’t make me regret this.”
Itto beams. “I guarantee you, you won’t! Just message me your allergies beforehand!”