Chapter Text
You one day find a very homey café that’s right along the route of your daily routine. The staff is colourful and the café is divinely cozy. You quickly become a regular, and catch the eye of...
Asra:
✪ His specialty is tea, but he can also make some good sweet coffee like frapes with whipped cream and caramel.
✪ If he makes you anything with whipped cream you best bet there’s going to be a cherry on top
✪ While his specialty may be tea, this guy makes the best goddamn coffee art you’ve ever seen. Julian often hands him the coffee he’s just made so that Asra can add his magic touch of artwork.
✪ He’s very hypnotizing as he works, with fluid motions and diligent attention to detail. Every so often though, he might steal a glance up at you to catch you watching him work and grin.
✪ He banters with Julian a lot while working, but nothing too mean or heavy. It actually adds a nice casual vibe to the cafe.
✪ He notices you fancy him quite quickly, and starts to flirt in his own little ways. Making a heart in your coffee art, paying special attention to your order, returning your gaze and locking eyes with you for brief moments - he’s a charmer. It’s in his nature.
✪ You return this slight flirting the best you can while not disrupting his work, but that was a bit difficult. Unlike Julian and Portia, Asra didn’t talk with the customers much. He was so, so charming whenever he did, but it wasn’t too often. You figured you might be able to get him to talk to you more, though.
✪ One day you asked Julian if he could help you talk more with Asra. Julian got this wicked smirk and asked you if you liked him. You said you would neither confirm nor deny this fact. Julian agreed to help you, but you couldn’t help but wonder if you made a slight mistake in asking since you were going to get teased by him along the way.
✪ The next day Julian fake-moped around the café rather dramatically. When Asra finally caved and asked what was wrong, he nearly fainted like a Victorian lady with a frail constitution onto a red velvet couch and said how he wished he could pay customers extra attention - but he was just so tired! He had no energy! He mentioned you in particular, and you were across the café trying to pretend you weren’t watching this ridiculous scene play out. You were regretting this.
✪ Julian asked if Asra could ‘check up on you’ for him. You were internally screaming as Asra came over and sat down across from you at your little booth. He just chuckled with his fox-like grin and said; “So, exactly what are you and Julian up to?”
✪ Oh FUCK, you’ve been had!! found out!! QUICK, SAY SOMETHING! ANYTHING! UHH “We have a secret plan for world domination. We want you as our spymaster.”
✪ ...nice.
✪ Asra burst out laughing. He wasn’t expecting that answer in the slightest. When he was done laughing, he grinned at you and played along. You two bantered for a while about what you would do if you ruled the world, and it actually went over quite nicely. You couldn’t believe that, honestly. Julian’s stupid plan actually went well.
✪ It definitely worked to get him to talk to you more. He would make little quips about your secret plans and you’d shush him and go not here, eagle one!! to which he’d have to stifle a giggle. You two eventually moved on from the world domination jokes to talk more about your lives and hobbies. He even told you about his pet snake Faust, and showed you pictures. It was all very pleasant.
✪ It was not surprising at all when one day, he writes his number on your receipt, with a little scribble of Faust next to it. You went over the damn moon and soon enough went on a date with him.
Julian:
✪ His specialty is coffee, considering how much he makes it to get through his day. He’s stressed often but working at the cafe keeps him grounded and chill.
✪ You swear it’s like he never stops working. Whether you come in the morning or at night, Julian is usually there. He knows all the regulars by name now, which includes you.
✪ He talks with customers sometimes, which again includes you. You two once joked about a secret menu which included a ‘drink’ that was nothing but whipped cream. Now you sometimes walk into the cafe, looking as pretend-shady as possible as you saunter up to the coffee bar and theatre-whisper to Julian: gimme the secret special, Julie. to which, he will give you an entire cup filled with only whipped cream.
✪ Eventually, Julian starts acting weirder around you. He gets clumsier and won’t look you in the eye. He spoke quicker to you as if trying to get the convo moving faster. He even slips while making your coffee once. He didn’t get hurt, physically, but Asra laughed pretty hard. You were worried that Julian might have a problem with you, so you asked Asra - to which, he laughed again, and explained that Julian liked you.
✪ You weren’t entirely sure what to do with this information at first. You liked him too, but you were scared of mucking it up. Asra teased you about it in subtle ways throughout the day. Portia, ever the best wingman, caught wind that you liked him from Asra. She was ready for this. She was gonna get her idiot brother a date.
✪ She gave you advice on what he liked, and so did Asra, though he was mostly joking. In the end, you all decided it was best to go with something straightforward and simple. That was going to take courage, but with the best wingman and floofy barista at your side, you could do anything.
✪ After that, you slipped him your number in a folded dollar bill when you paid for your coffee. Seeing his face light up red, but him trying to stay professional because he was at work, was honestly the best thing ever. He had a bright smile for the rest of that entire day.
✪ He also may have went out to the back of the cafe and threw his hands in the air, giggling like an excited schoolgirl, but he will never admit that to you.
✪ As the price for their help, however, Portia and Asra teased you two relentlessly. Nadia even joined in a couple times. Julian was usually able to deflect it with his banter but there were times he was caught off guard and turned red on the spot. It was the cutest thing you’d ever seen.
Nadia:
✪ She’s the manager, and she does a damn good job at it. She’s got this air of authority that makes you stop in your tracks sometimes. Very graceful and elegant. You felt like if you did anything wrong in her cafe, hoo boy. You’d be in for it. She’s very good at directing her staff, too.
✪ She likes to check in on people, make sure they’re doing okay and that their orders are right. This leads to her having friendly conversations with people often. You especially like to talk to her about things in your life. She’s a good listener, and gives great insight.
✪ She was just so kind to everyone, and genuinely listened to people - but you didn’t really know much about her. You found yourself drawn to her, irresistibly so. You had to figure out a way to get closer to her, to become her friend and know more about this enigmatic woman.
✪ One time, you somehow convinced her to play cards with you at the coffee bar. Don’t ask me why you carry random cards, this is your cafe fantasy that I’m writing at 1 am.
✪ She beat you quite easily, with such amazing strategy that you didn’t know one could employ for a mere game of go-fish. From this day forth, you vowed you would dethrone the queen of cards.
✪ It took weeks of training with Asra and Julian, with blood and sweat and tears - but one fateful day on Nadia’s lunch break, you beat her. You beat the queen of cards at go-fish. You threw your hands up in victory, and Nadia chuckled. Soon her chuckle turned into full-on laughter. You asked what was so funny, and Nadia just gave the brightest smile and said she’d never seen anyone so happy to win a game of go-fish.
✪ When you saw her smile like that, that’s when it hit you that you liked her. You really liked her. About a week later you mustered your courage to ask her to a special round of cards. Whoever won would get a favor from the other. You were planning to ask for her number. She agreed - and you were so hype. You were gonna beat her again.
✪ Alas, she beat you instead. However, as you were prepared to sulk in defeat, she leaned in and told you the favor she wanted.
✪ “I would like... to go on a date with you. If you want to, of course. If not, we can just make it a friendly hangout.”
✪ You nearly fell out of your chair. You couldn’t say yes quick enough, and you couldn’t believe that she actually asked you out. Nadia gave you that bright smile again as you two cleaned up the cards.
Portia:
✪ She’s the hostess because of her bright personality. Being greeted like her was like having the sun rise on a rainy day - just to say hi to you. She always wore the cutest headbands and ponytail-bows, too.
✪ Naturally, since she was the hostess, she talked to everyone. You and her especially hit it off, though. Sometimes she’d have to remind herself that she’s on shift and run back to work after getting wrapped up in conversation with you.
✪ Whenever you were having particularly bad days, she’d cheer you up with pictures of Pepi and fun conversation. You jokingly made her promise to let you pet her cat one day, but she seemed serious when she said she would.
✪ One day, you walked in like normal. Nothing seemed out of place. Portia seemed especially excited about something, though. When you sat down with your drink, you heard a little mrra! and nearly jumped when you saw a cat walking towards your table. Not just any cat though. It was Pepi.
✪ Portia runs up to you all happy and giggly, “I asked Nadia if I could bring in Pepi and she said yes!!” She squees and holds Pepi for you to pet. Pepi very much seems to like you and nuzzles your hand. You nearly die of cute. Cute Portia + cute Pepi was a recipe for your heart just leaping out of your chest.
✪ She was always there for you no matter what, and even brought in her cat just to fulfill a promise that you didn’t ever expect to be kept. It was entirely a joke. You knew it was her job to be nice to people, but it was clear she was extra nice to you. You quickly realized, you liked her. A lot. Oh boy.
✪ Julian took quick notice of this and after giving the quick “if you hurt my sister I’ll kill you” brotherly speech, he determined that you weren’t a heartbreaker and agreed to help you.
✪ He told you Portia’s favorite flower, and you got her a very small bouquet of them - sweet pea flowers. When you gave them to her, you could see that she was surprised - but her face lit up in that familiar smile you had come to adore. You made a quick flirt/pun about how the flowers fit her, because she was such a sweet pea herself. She laughed, but also lit up with the cutest pink blush. She gave your arm a playful hit. Didn’t hurt, of course.
✪ When she asked about how you knew sweet peas were her favorite flower though, you were caught off guard. You blurted out Julian, and she blurt out another laugh. She said she appreciated the honesty and you swore you could feel Julian smirking from somewhere in the café.
✪ “Alright, alright, I can take a hint Romeo. Meet me on my lunchbreak and we can work out the details.” And of course, she had that cat-like grin as she said this. You could tell she was very flattered though. You two then set up a very lovely date.
Muriel:
✪ He actually doesn’t officially work at the café, but Nadia hires him to draw artwork for events and such. He designed the logo for the café. He’s a very talented artist, but terrible with people. Asra brings Muriel to the café because it provides a quiet enough environment so that he’s able to be around people without being overwhelmed.
✪ He likes to sketch the poses of people in the café, sitting in the corner and only glancing up occasionally to make sure the form is right. He’s often worried about drawing the exact person he’s looking at in case they’re uncomfortable with it, so he instead just leaves it as an unfinished person with no features.
✪ That is, until he noticed you.
✪ You caught his eye instantly, and he wanted to draw you so badly, sitting and drinking coffee with a tired smile as you gazed out the window into the bleak morning - but how would he ever ask you for permission? He didn’t want to seem like a creep or scare you.
✪ Eventually he asks Asra for advice, and Asra introduces you two. Muriel thinks it’s not going to go over well, but to his pleasant surprise you’re always open to meeting new people.
✪ “I was actually wondering.... If you’d.... let me draw you...”
✪ You were taken a bit by surprise, but you were very flattered he asked. You agreed, but only if he let you see it when it was done. You thought he’d ask you to pose or something, but he told you to just drink coffee like you always do. You could do that.
✪ He was shy to show you the finished product, but you were so glad you made him promise to let you see it. The sketch was so detailed and fine. You didn’t know you could look so elegantly candid. You smiled very very wide when you saw it, and thanked him. He was surprised that you thanked him, when he was the one who awkwardly asked to draw you, but you just laughed and said you’d love for him to draw you whenever he wanted.
✪ You two got to hanging out at the café. He would draw you and you would look through his sketches. At first you two didn’t say very much to each other, and only sat in a certain comfortable silence. As time went on, though, he became more talkative and happy around you. His smile brightened your day, and you had a feeling that yours did the same for him.
✪ Eventually you mustered your courage, and asked if Muriel would like to hang out, outside of the café. Just them. Possibly as a date. You’d never seen a man turn so red and hide in his hoodie quicker than Muriel did.
✪ He was quiet for a while, and you were worried you crossed a line. That is, until he very quietly said yes. You were so damn happy you could have jumped on the table and did a jig. You knew that was a terrible idea though. You settled for giggling and setting up the details of the date with him.
✪ But little did you know that Asra saw the whole thing, and that you were both about to be teased for all eternity.