Chapter Text
Aemond couldn’t shake his craving for a steaming cup of coffee as he made his way home from his last lecture of the day. He should head straight home, he reasoned, Vhagar hadn’t been with him for too long and she wasn’t used to staying home alone for so long. But the thought of enduring his long commute without any caffeine or anything warm between his hands made him suddenly turn and head to a new café he’d heard about. It was so close to his school, he knew he would go there very often between and after lectures, there was no point in postponing the inevitable, Vhagar would just have to wait. Hopefully, she wouldn’t take it out on his curtains.
He found the new café fairly easily, it was the only business that featured an adorable outdoor sitting area and was filled with enough leafy plants to be called a botanical garden on that street, it was unmistakable.
“Hi! I’ll be with you in a second!” the barista cheerily told him as he walked in. Her back was turned to him, cleaning up some tables. The café was fairly busy, littered with people typing away on their laptops. In a few days, I’ll be doing the same thing, Aemond thought, he was deathly bored of all libraries around both his house and his university “Sorry about that! What can I get for you?” She finally turned to him, he vaguely remembered her face, had she worked in another café before?
“Hi, just a black filter coffee, please,” he muttered, he hated the feeling of knowing he’d seen her somewhere before but not being able to place her anywhere.
“It’ll be done in a second, that’ll be 2€, please,” these damned overpriced places , Aemond thought.
The barista went to get a cup while he paid and that’s when he remembered, “To go! If you don’t mind, sorry, I forgot,” he mumbled the last part, the poor girl having to walk back and forth because of his idiocy.
“Not at all, don’t worry,” she finished pouring it and handed it to him. “There you go! There’s sugar and such in that station, over there,” she pointed to a table behind him, he nodded at her, with a tight polite smile and was halfway there when she spoke up again. “I’m so sorry, but aren’t you Aemond? From Mrs Smith’s lecture yesterday?” They were still in the first week of classes, how good was this girl’s memory?
“Oh, yes, I am,” he smiled bashfully, at least now he knew where he’d seen her. “I’m terrible with faces, sorry, I thought I recognized you but…” he trailed off, she probably didn’t care at all.
“No problem at all! I mean you spoke up and all, that’s why I know you. And your name,” oh dear was this awkward, she looked as if she wished she could turn back time and never say anything. “I’m Amelie, by the way. Just in case you ever need some notes or anything,” she flashed him a smile.
“Nice to meet you, and thanks for the coffee, Amelie, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he felt his confidence coming back, at least he could exit with some pride.
“Tomorrow? I have no lectures tomorrow,” she mumbled as he pocketed a packet of sugar. His sister collected them, she’d never forgive him if he went to a new place and didn’t save her a sugar packet.
“The coffee is good, I’ll be back,” he flashed her a cocky grin, was it too conceited? Probably, but he didn’t care, she was pretty. And had remembered him. She flashed him an amused when he turned back to her once more before leaving.
. . .
Vhagar hadn’t taken his absence out on his curtains, but she had noticed it and was hell-bent on not letting it happen again. That’s what you get when you coddle a cat through the winter break, you can’t go back to having lectures normally afterwards. He’d tried to exit the flat the night before, just to take his trash out, but she’d screamed so much he had ended up carrying her the whole way there and back. Which hadn’t helped the situation, because he had just missed a class in the morning because she wouldn’t let him leave. But desperate times call for desperate measures and so he tucked Vhagar safely in her travel carrier and he set off towards his new café. His , he was delusional, he thought, he’d gone there once. And he was taking his brat of a cat for the second visit.
He arrived earlier than he had the day before, and it had been a mistake, seeing by the lack of both full free tables and of Amelie. He was standing in the middle of the café like an inept child when he finally saw her emerge from the door to what he assumed was the kitchen, she immediately smiled and walked up to him.
“It’s good to know I have my first regular! I feel like a proper barista already!” She said when she got to him. Without the bar between he finally appreciated the real difference between their heights.
“I was under the impression you were one already,” he responded.
“Oh, I’m still in training! Can I get you anything? Another black coffee?”
“Yeah, in a proper mug, this time. If I find a place to sit…” he trailed off, looking around the café once more.
“It’s been crazy today!” She led him to the bar, walking to the other side of it and started to pour his coffee. “If I find out some famous person posted about us and that’s why this mess happened, I swear I’m finding them and making them come here and work, it’s insane! I’ll ask that guy over there if you can sit with him, he was nice enough while ordering.” She walked to said guy and told him something and at the guy’s nod, she gestured for him to sit opposite him.
“How much do I owe you, though? For the coffee?”
“Oh please, it’s just black coffee, you’re not making the owner any poorer, don’t mind it, I promise,” she said in a half whisper near his ear.
“I don’t think you’ll ever leave training if you’re already doing that,” Aemond replied with a small laugh.
“I will if you don’t tell. You’re a student as well, I know how much you deserve the caffeine, seriously, don’t worry. I have to get back to work, though, I’ll see you on my break?” he nodded at her with a smile as she headed back to the bar.
. . .
As the afternoon went by, the café got quieter and quieter and he’d even gotten the whole table to himself after just half an hour. Vhagar was being surprisingly patient, he had half expected her to turn murderous right on the train. She’d always been one of those cats that just acted up in front of him, with anyone else, she was a perfect angel.
After a couple of hours of pretending to go over his notes (and ending up in a Wikipedia rabbit hole, of course) he saw Amelie go into the kitchen and return without her apron and bundled in a heavy coat. He pondered leaving Vhagar in the chair in front of him where she had been snoozing away, but he knew that’d be pushing his luck. So with his cat in one hand and his cigarettes in another, he strutted to the door to meet his… barista? Classmate?
In the train he had prayed to whatever deity overlooked felines that she wasn’t allergic, and only when she let out a gasp and huge smile at Vhagar did he breathe freely again. Now behave, you old brat , he hoped Vhagar knew how to communicate telepathically.
“Have you had a cat with you this whole time? And you didn’t tell me? We’re not friends anymore!” she exclaimed, crouching down, right in the middle of the door, to look at Vhagar more closely.
“Yeah, she’s Vhagar,” he laughed a little at her reaction. Thank you feline deity . “We’re going through a bit of separation anxiety.” He shrugged. She finally got up and went outside, sitting on the deserted patio. He should have brought his coat.
“I get that, I mean, if I had such an adorable cat I wouldn’t want to leave her either,” he looked at her for a moment while registering the sarcasm, before opening the crate with another easy laugh, clipping Vhagar’s leash to her harness. She didn’t know how to walk on a leash, but it prevented her from running away. “Oh you are the prettiest little baby, aren’t you? Aren’t you, baby?” Amelie cooed at the mass of black fur in his arms.
“I haven’t gotten much luck with a response yet, but maybe she’ll take to you, I guess.”
“She’s looking like she’d rather be eating glass shards than be dealing with the two of us,” she said while stroking Vhaghar behind her ears.
“Don’t you happen to have a lighter,” he asked her. She’d been the one coming outside, after all.
“I don’t smoke, actually… I just wanted some fresh air… and I saw your cigs and I kind of assumed you’d want to,” she cringed at him.
“Well you were right, I’ll just go get, yeah? Do you want to…” he gestured for her to take Vhagar and she immediately rushed to pick her up. “Just hold on to the leash, I’m scared she’ll forget she gets good meals in my flat,” he left the two girls to get to know each other and practically ran inside for his jacked and lighter. “I’m wasting all your break time, sorry,” he said sitting next to her. Amelie already had Vhagar purring, warm inside her opened coat.
“Wasting? I’m cuddling a cat at work, I’ve never been better! Though I have to ask, do you have a job other than uni? You seemed awfully busy for the first week of the semester,” she said, never looking up from Vhagar in her arms. She really was only bratty towards him, Aemond thought, taking a drag of his cigarette.
“I like to have all my notes neat after every class, but I was listening to this podcast,” he paused to exhale the smoke, and he saw her looking at him and nodding as he did so. “They mentioned the Battle of Tours, and since I couldn’t remember what that was…”
“You’re now on the Wikipedia page for the Ben Hur film, right?” she gave him an amused smile.
“UFO sightings in the USA in the 80s, actually,” he said laughing. He finished his cigarette and looked around for an ashtray, but she quickly reached for one at another table.
“I have to get back inside, but thanks for Vhagar. I’ll never stop giving you free coffees if I get cuddles, I’ll tell you that,” she said this but made no move to get up or pass him Vhagar.
“Come on, this café just opened and you’ll get fired if you stay here,” he extended his hands to get Vhagar.
“It’d be worthed…” she pouted a little at Vhagar as he put her back in her carrier. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow in class, right?”
“I’d usually say yes, I don’t skip this early in the semester… But if Vhagar tries to claw my eyes out for leaving I might not be able to go…”
“That’s about as good an excuse as «my dog ate the homework», mister. But I’ll pretend to believe it, I’ll try to take notes for you… See you tomorrow, Aemond, Vhagar is always welcome here.” She flashed him a smile while walking inside. Vhagar was never getting over the separation anxiety, Aemond supposed.