Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Inej leaned forward in the car. “Where are we going?”

“That nice little diner just a few minutes away from here. You always seem to be either coming from or going there when we call. We thought we’d try that for dinner so your mother and I can try it,” her father said, eyes fixed on the road.

Inej quickly remembered what the day was, then froze. He worked at this time. Which means he could be waiting their table. Oh no. This was very bad. She forced back a blush. “Sounds good to me.” The food was really good, but the real reason Inej liked to go to this diner was to see the very attractive waiter. She wasn’t stalking him, exactly, but she did know when he worked. And he never seemed to take a day off. She hadn’t told her parents the real reason she always came to the restaurant.

Too soon for Inej’s liking, they pulled into the parking lot and were inside the restaurant and quickly seated.

“Welcome to the Crow Diner. My name is Kaz, and I’ll be taking your orders. What can I get you three to drink?” The boy pulled out a pen and notepad and waited for them to answer.

“I’ll have water,” Mrs. Ghafa said after a quick glance at the menu.

Mr. Ghafa nodded. “So will I.”

“And for you, miss?” Kaz asked as he finished writing down the orders.

Inej swallowed hard then said with a slight shake to her voice, “I’ll have the blue raspberry lemonade.” Good grief, she scolded herself. Get a grip.

“Alright,” Kaz said, shifting on his feet slightly. “I’ll have those right out for you.” With that, he turned and walked away.

Inej glanced after him then turned her attention to her parents, who were both grinning at her. “What?”

“Nothing,” her mother said, glancing back down at the menu. Inej’s father likewise turned his attention to the menu, though the grin was still in place.

Dread curled in Inej’s stomach, warning her that something was going to happen that she wouldn’t like. But she too looked down at the menu and tried to focus on what she wanted to eat. She quickly decided on some pasta, so she closed the menu and laid it on the table.

A few minutes later, Kaz came back with the drinks and placed them in front of the correct customer. “Here are your drinks. Do you know what you would like to eat? Or do you want a few more minutes?”

“I think we’re ready,” Mr. Ghafa said, glancing at his wife and daughter, who’s eyes were fixed firmly on the menu on the table.

“Alright,” Kaz said, tucking the now empty platter under his arm and pulling out his pad and pen. He took their orders then left, heading back to the kitchen to give the chef their orders.

“The waiter is rather charming, isn’t he?” Mr. Ghafa said, trying- and failing- to come off nonchalantly.

Inej swallowed then shrugged her shoulders and picked up her drink. “I guess so.” He’s more than charming, her mind thought traitorously.

“I supposed he is also a rather handsome young lad, too.”

“Um, I guess so.”

“Oh come now, Inej,” Mr. Ghafa said, laughing. “It’s obvious you have a crush on him.”

Inej cleared her throat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course not,” her father said, eyes revealing that he didn’t believe her for one moment. But he let the topic drop. The rest of the meal went smoothly. Kaz came by a few times to refill their drinks and make sure everything was to their satisfaction.

They’d been there for almost an hour, and Inej forgot the unease that had plagued her at the beginning of the meal. Now that they had all finished their dinner, Inej had relaxed entirely, simply enjoying being with her parents.

"So, back to our earlier discussion, what do you think about the waiter?" Mr. Ghafa said slyly.

Inej cleared her throat. "He seems nice."

"Your blush tells me you think he's more than nice."

"Fine!" Inej said in exasperation. "I think he's cute, okay? But you cannot- and I repeat cannot- tell anyone about this."

Her father grinned in triumph. "I knew it!"

"Knew what?" Inej asked in confusion.

"That there was a different reason that you always gushed about this restaurant."

"Okay, you got me. But I'm not confessing any more out loud."

But, of course, that’s when disaster struck.

“Excuse me,” Mr. Ghafa said, stopping Kaz as the boy was walking by them. “My daughter thinks you are very cute.”

“Stop!” Inej shrieked, face turning bright red. She couldn’t even look at the waiter in the eyes. So naturally, she did the very mature thing and slapped her hands over her face then slid underneath the table to hide herself. Now she would never be able to show her face around here again! She just crouched under the table, glancing through the legs of the table and chairs to see if the waiter was still there. He was.

“Oh, really?” the boy replied, laughter seeping into his voice. He let out a small laugh then glanced one more time at the family before continuing on his way to give another customer their food he was carrying.

“Dad!” Inej hissed, slowly coming out from under the table. “I told you that in confidentiality! Why did you have to go and actually tell him that to his face?! I’m never going to be able to come back here again!”

Mr. Ghafa only laughed at his daughter’s embarrassment. “How was he supposed to know if you weren’t going to tell him?”

“That’s the point! He wasn’t ever supposed to know!”

“But you come here so often that I thought it was time to make sure he knew.”

“Now I will never be able to come back! This is so embarrassing!”

“Now, meja,” Mrs. Ghafa said, chuckling slightly. “Your father is only teasing.”

“It was teasing until he went and told the cute guy that I thought he was cute!”

“Maybe something will come of it.”

Inej laughed in disbelief. “As if! Can we go now?”

“As soon as I pay the bill, we can go,” Mr. Ghafa said, pulling out his wallet.

“Can I go to the car before he comes back?” Inej pleaded. “Please!”

“We can all walk out to the car together if you just be patient.”

“You are determined to ruin me forever.”

Mrs. Ghafa rolled her eyes. “This is hardly going to ruin you, darling. Don’t you think that’s a little dramatic?”

It was, Inej had to concede. But that didn’t make her face any less red. “No, it isn’t! And now of course I’m going to see him all over town and I won’t even be able to look him in the eyes!”

“So you won’t be able to gaze into-” Mr. Ghafa got cut off when his wife smacked his arm.

“Enough,” the lady chided. “You’ve embarrassed your daughter enough.”

Just then, Kaz came back. “Can I interest any of you in dessert?”

“No thanks,” Inej said quickly, cutting off her father who was probably going to say yes. “We were just about to head out.”

“I’m assuming you will want your check then?”

“Yes please, young man,” Mr. Ghafa said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Kaz nodded, picked up their empty plates, then left for the kitchen after one quick glance at Inej.

Inej sighed and once again buried her head into her hands. “Can we never bring this up again?” She felt so humiliated, but she wasn’t really irritated at her father. One day she would be able to laugh about this, she knew, but right now, all she wanted to do was melt into a puddle.

“But it’s a story now! One that your cousins will be very interested in, I should think,” her father said, clearly holding back laughter.

“Absolutely not! Not a word of this will get back to anyone back home.”

Soon enough, Kaz came back and handed the bill to the older man, who handed over his credit card. Kaz then took it and left for the register.

“Here you are,” Kaz said, handing the card and receipt to Mr. Ghafa. “I hope you three enjoy the rest of your night."

Inej stood up and picked up her things, avoiding eye contact the whole time. But as Kaz walked by her, she felt him press something into her hand. She quickly slipped it into her pocket so that her parents wouldn’t see it and make her read whatever it said out loud.

It felt like forever, but finally Inej’s parents bid her goodnight and took their leave. As soon as she closed the door to her apartment, Inej let out a heavy sigh. Hesitantly, she pulled out the folded up piece of paper that had seemed to be burning a hole in her pocket. She quickly opened it, but blinked at it in shock. On the paper was written ten digits and two words: text me. Kaz had given her his phone number. Inej let out a laugh of disbelief. There was no way this was actually happening. She swallowed but opened up messages on her phone.

Inej: hi, this is Inej, the girl from the restaurant :)

Unknown number: This is Kaz, but you already knew that

Inej quickly saved the number into her phone.
Inej: well yes, but one can’t assume that you didn’t give me a random number just to mess with me
Inej: and I’m really sorry about my dad
Inej: sometimes he just says whatever he wants to

Kaz: I’m glad he did tho
Kaz: you don’t have to say yes, but would you be interested in getting coffee at the Silver Six? Like as a date?

Inej grabbed her pillow and squealed into it for a few seconds before picking her phone back up.
Inej: I would love that!
Inej: I’m free after two every day, so whatever works best for you

Kaz: what about Thursday at three?

Inej glanced at her calendar. Today was Tuesday, she reminded herself.
Inej: that works! I guess I’ll see you then?”

Kaz: great! I’ll meet you there :)

Inej laughed in delight. Nina was never going to let her live this down if Inej told Nina that the waiter boy that Inej had gushed over had just asked her out on a date.

Chapter Text

Kaz sighed as he strapped on his fabric-made knee brace and got ready for yet another day at the restaurant. He’d been working there for a few years now, but he was considering quitting since the constant walking around was not doing anything for his knee, which he had broken years ago when he was a child and fell out of a tree he had been climbing. His family wasn’t well off, so Kaz’s father had attempted to set it instead of getting the surgery to fix it. So Kaz was left with a poorly healed joint and constant pain that he had learned to ignore. But being on his feet at the restaurant for hours never failed to worsen the pain.

Kaz sighed and massaged the scarred joint in an effort to loosen up the muscle and prepare to walk around for hours without the use of his cane or the hard knee brace that supported his knee better since they didn’t fit under the pants of his uniform. All of this added up to what Kaz was assuming would be a very bad night for him. But school was expensive, and so was rent, yet both needed to be paid off if he had any chance of a stable life in the near future.

When Kaz walked into the kitchen, his mood turned even more foul. He hadn’t planned on Sandal being the chef for the evening. The old chef was good, but he had a way of always snapping at people that made Kaz want to yell at him and wring the old man out. But he needed the job, so Kaz refrained. For now. It was a good two hours into his shift when Kaz felt himself ready to snap at the chef, but then the door opened, and he smiled ever so slightly.

His night had just been slightly brightened when he saw the beautiful Suli girl walk in. She’d been coming around more often, and Kaz tried to always make sure that he was her server. She was polite, sincere, intriguing, and quite intelligent, though Kaz had yet to have a conversation with her outside of the typical greetings and taking her order. He’d sort of developed a crush on her ever since he had started to see her around on the school campus or even just around the city. She seemed to be trying to blend in with her surroundings, but Kaz always seemed to be able to pick her out in a crowd. Through entirely ethical means, he’d found out that her name was Inej Ghafa and she was studying social work.

Kaz paused slightly when he noticed she was accompanied by an older couple who could only have been her parents; the resemblance was unmistakable. But then he snapped out of it and finished carrying a tray of drinks to a group of students.

Finally, Kaz had the rest of his tables settled and was able to make his way over to her and her family. “Welcome to the Crow Diner. My name is Kaz, and I’ll be taking your orders. What can I get you three to drink?” He pulled out a pen and notepad and took the orders of the two older adults. “And for you, miss?” He didn’t miss the way her voice slightly shook as the younger girl asked for a blue raspberry lemonade. He wrote it down then made his way towards the kitchen, his mind bringing up a thousand reasons why her voice had been slightly off. Maybe he was just imagining it.

Trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible, he filled up the three drinks and brought it back to their table. He found himself wanting to make a good impression, and he had to admit to himself that it wasn’t for the restaurant’s sake. “Here are your drinks. Do you know what you would like to eat? Or do you want a few more minutes?” He noticed that Inej did not once take her eyes off of the menu but continued to stare at it more intensely than the situation required.

After taking their orders, he left again for the kitchen. He had to bite back his distaste as he stopped in front of the stove and clipped the new order up with the rest, though he may have bumped their order in front of a few others. No one was going to tell the difference, and it only meant some people would have to wait an extra few minutes for their order. His knee was throbbing, but he was determined to make sure it didn’t affect his interactions in any way. He needed to make a good impression, though he almost despised himself for it. Why was he trying to impress people he didn’t even know?

The family stayed for an hour, and Kaz made sure to stop in to refill drinks and make sure they were satisfied with the food. Part of him hoped they would complain so that he could take some form of revenge on Sandal for being a complete jerk. But alas, they had no complaints, which he supposed was a good thing.

Kaz was expecting the rest of the night to go smoothly, but as he passed by Inej’s table with drinks in hand, her father stopped him.

“Excuse me,” the man said. Kaz stopped and faced them to check in. But he was shocked when the older man continued, “My daughter thinks you are very cute.”

If Kaz hadn’t trained himself to be composed no matter what, he would have blushed furiously at that. Did she really think he was cute? Kaz would never have considered himself handsome, especially with his almost too sharp features and crooked nose. But he was even more shocked when Inej shrieked and slid under the table to completely avoid making any sort of eye contact with him. He was really glad he had drinks to deliver to another table, which gave him an out of the uncomfortable situation. But he couldn’t leave without saying anything, so he said the first thing that came to his mind: “Oh, really?”

He glanced one more time at them, then left, mentally kicking himself. Oh, really? That’s the smart and suave response he gave? He couldn’t have thought of anything else to say like thank you? No, he had to go and give an awkward response that he would never forgive himself for. However, now that he knew Inej at least thought him attractive, maybe he could do something about it? But what? And would she even say yes if he could get her alone and ask her out? No, he needed to start small and get a better idea of what she thought of him. He mindlessly placed the drinks at the correct table and, after checking on them, left to collect plates from a table that had recently been vacated. He decided that he would give her his phone number and let her text him if she wanted to. Yes, that would work. But it would be very weird and unprofessional if he just went up to her and asked her for her number. Besides, he wanted to give his phone number to her, not the other way around.

Kaz glanced over at the Ghafas and noticed that Inej- whose face was bright red- was arguing with her father, who was simply grinning at the girl’s distress. He noticed that the older man pulled out his wallet, so Kaz took his cue and checked on them. “Can I get you any dessert?” He wasn’t sure whether he wanted them to stay or if the tension was now noticeable and it was best for them to leave. He was slightly amused when Inej piped in and politely yet quickly declined and made the excuse that they needed to get going. He left to get the check, but inside he was panicking. If they were going, how was he supposed to give his phone number to her and possibly get hers in return? He had to act fast, though.

He picked up their empty dishes, took the credit card the man offered him, and went over to the kitchen’s register. Could he put his number on one of the papers? No, the receipts would be going to the man, not Inej. But… thinking quickly, he picked up a small napkin and wrote down his number. He then tucked it away in his pocket as he walked back to the table.

“Here you are,” Kaz said, handing the card and receipt to Mr. Ghafa. “I hope you three enjoy the rest of your night.” He noticed that Inej immediately got up and collected her things, so he brushed past her and slipped the napkin into her hand. He felt more than saw her hide the napkin in one of her pockets. Now the ball was in her court, and he’d just have to wait and see what she decided to do.

For the rest of the night, Kaz had to avoid looking at his phone to see if Inej had texted him yet. It wasn’t until he got home that he finally allowed himself to look at his phone. A grin broke out on his face when he saw a text from an unknown number

Unknown number: hi, this is Inej, the girl from the restaurant :)

Kaz quickly saved her number in his phone.

Kaz: This is Kaz, but you already knew that

Inej: well yes, but one can’t assume that you didn’t give me a random number just to mess with me

Inej: and I’m really sorry about my dad

Inej: sometimes he just says whatever he wants to

Kaz: I’m glad he did tho
Kaz: you don’t have to say yes, but would you be interested in getting coffee at the Silver Six? Like as a date?

Kaz waited anxiously as the bubble appeared, disappeared, then appeared again. He didn’t know what possessed him to ask her out when he thought he’d decided against asking her out so soon.

Inej: I would love that!
Inej: I’m free after two every day, so whatever works best for you

Kaz thought for a minute. He couldn’t seem too eager and do it too soon, but he had to make it soon enough so that he didn’t chicken out and cancel just because he was nervous.

Kaz: what about Thursday at three?

Inej: that works! I guess I’ll see you then?”

Kaz: great! I’ll meet you there :)

He sighed in relief. He’d actually been able to ask her out! It felt like a bizarre dream that he wished he would never wake up from. How had he actually gotten the courage to ask her out? It was a miracle that he would never take for granted. Now he just had to make sure he was able to go on the date and not be stoic like people claimed he was. He had to make a good impression yet still be natural and genuine. He sighed. It was going to be a long next few days.