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"Do you want peppermint candy cane sprinkles on that?" Aiba asked in a monotone. It felt like the four millionth time he'd asked the question, and he was only halfway through his shift. This was possibly the worst birthday ever.
Aiba's customer raised his finely groomed, slanted eyebrows. "Do I want what?"
The horrified tone of the words made Aiba look at a customer properly for the first time in days. He looked up and his eyes met the steady gaze of a pair of eyes with irises dark enough to appear almost black.
Aiba had only ever seen such a handsome face on television, or in magazines, and for a moment his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Without making it too obvious, he tried to see if his apron was clean, or if he had peppermint syrup stains on his shirt sleeves.
"Um, as part of our holiday promotion, I'm obliged to ask every customer if they would like these sprinkled on their beverage of choice," Aiba jiggled the jar filled with fragments of crushed candy canes by way of explanation.
"And I want to do that because…?"
"It's Christmas? And it's fun?" Despite having a crappy day, Aiba loved Christmas Eve, and not just because it was his birthday.
"Ah. Fun." The man leaned forward to read Aiba’s name tag. The corners of his mouth twitched as he added. "Well, Aiba-san, I'm all for fun, just not at the expense of a poor innocent cup of coffee."
Aiba wondered if he had imagined the flirty undertone of the customer's words, so he decided to stick a toe in the water to test the response. "How about a pumpkin latte then? Very sweet and warm, like a good hug..um..sorry I don't know your name…?
"Sakurai Sho. And I confess to enjoying a good hug, but not in a coffee cup."
This time Sakurai's smile bloomed fully and Aiba had to grip the counter to steady himself. He was determined to not let this Sakurai person see how much he was affected though.
"In that case I recommend a triple caramel mocha with an extra shot of hazelnut, topped with butterscotch whipped cream. It's more like a warm blanket on a soft bed."
This time Sakurai's smile turned wicked. "I'm not a fan of soft, I much prefer it to be hard. Very hard."
"Would you like it straight and vanilla?" Aiba’s heart thudded, as he waited for Sakurai's response. He had never tried flirting with someone quite like this before, but it was turning out to be the most fun he'd had in ages.
"I think you will find that I am neither of those things," Sakurai replied with a straight face.
Aiba couldn't take any more. He dissolved into laughter and had to support himself with his hands on the counter, as he wheezed.
Attractive creases appeared around Sakurai's eyes as he laughed loudly and clapped his hands.
Aiba wiped his streaming eyes on his apron, and straightened up. He was still giggling as he made Sakurai a normal latte. He placed a couple of complementary Christmas cookies into a paper bag, and handed everything over to Sakurai. "It's been a pleasure to meet you, Sakurai-san. Please come back again."
"Is the end of your shift too soon?" Sakurai asked. "We could go to a bar that I know and order drinks for each other that have really rude names."
"Like, A Long Slow Comfortable Screw Up Against the Wall?" This time Aiba’s smile was wicked.
Sho cackled. "Before or after the drinks?"
As he hastily untied his apron and turned the shop sign around to 'Closed', Aiba silently thanked whoever was in charge of the universe for his unexpected birthday gift.