Archive of Our Own

It starts innocuously, as all truly dangerous things do.

Higuchi notices that Akutagawa likes tea. This is a known quality. She has been aware of it for quite some time, but it hits her like a bolt of lightning, all at once: she could get him tea. The tea that she could give him would certainly be better than any tea that anyone else would get for him, and then perhaps – perhaps! – he would appreciate her, just a little more.

She does her research. She ends up at a cafe that boasts that it's been there since the founding of Yokohama. It offers trial cups of the drinks it sells, dozens of imported and local leaves lining the shelves. The prices are all steep enough to make her withdraw her fingertips from the carefully packaged tins and glassware full of loose leaf tea.

"Ah," someone says.

Higuchi straightens back up, deciding that the best course of action is not to blow her entire salary on a tea that's been aged for fifty years. She didn't even know you could age tea.

"Gin!" Higuchi says. She brightens. It's an involuntary reaction, because Gin is dressed down in her civilian clothing. She looks like a painting of the Ideal Woman, with her flawless ebony hair and her pale skin and her modest white dress. When Gin is dressed like this, it's easier for Higuchi to think of her as Akutagawa's sister and not as a member of the Black Lizards who could kill me.

Gin, for her part, takes in a breath. She doesn't flee the tea shop, which Higuchi feels is progress, even if the smile she offers Higuchi is thin. Her mouth doesn't quite move in unison: one half can't quite lift into a smile in synchronicity with the other half.

"Hello," Gin offers, carefully.

There's a silence that stretches between them. It's just on the verge of becoming awkward, when–

"Would you like a cup, as well?" one of the waiters asks Higuchi. He's holding a piece of European ceramic, dainty in his hand, as he looks from Gin to Higuchi.

Higuchi thinks quickly. If it's a tea that Gin likes, then presumably, Akutagawa would like it as well? She might not be able to afford an entire pound of gourmet pu-erh, but she can probably afford a single cup… right?

"Yes, please," Higuchi says, as decisively as possible. The man nods, withdrawing another, matching cup from the cabinet. He places them on one of the tables, and gestures for them to sit.

When Gin sits, her attempt at a smile has vanished. Her voice is quiet and melodic when she speaks, fixing Higuchi with a stare no less intense than usual. "I didn't think I would find you here."

"Akutagawa-senpai has mentioned the health benefits of tea," Higuchi says, a little too quickly, raising a finger in the air. "So I decided to learn more about it!"

It's not the whole answer, exactly, but something about her words makes Gin's eyes sparkle with laughter. She raises a dainty hand to cover her mouth, so Higuchi can't see her expression, and Gin doesn't seem too willing to let her in on the joke– but that's fine. Higuchi lets her arm drop.

The water returns, setting down two steaming cups of–

"Coffee?" Higuchi blurts, before she can stop herself.

"I like tea," Gin says, softly, "but I've found that for long missions, a bold coffee brew is the best companion."

"Oh," Higuchi says. She wilts a little. She can't get Akutagawa coffee. She doesn't know anything about coffee. The extent of her knowledge is that sometimes she drinks the coffee her sister makes for her in the mornings, which she thinks involves a large can, and a drip coffee machine. But – maybe this is a chance to become more of a coffee connoisseur! Nodding, Higuchi reaches down, wrapping her hands around the delicate mug.

"It's–" Gin starts, but Higuchi is already downing it. The heat hits, a scalding stripe down her tongue and throat, followed by a strong bitter taste that makes her cough embarrassingly. The waiter gives her a look that can only be construed as withering, and Gin hands her a cloth napkin. "It's hot."

Higuchi wheezes.

In the end, she doesn't buy anything from the shop. Gin covers the cost of her coffee.

Paperwork is the least interesting part of Higuchi's job, but it's part of her job nonetheless, which is why she finds herself at a Mafia-aligned coffee shop, watching the foam art slowly melt into her cappuccino as she twirls her pencil. There's ice coffee next to the cappuccino, and then an entire pitcher of ice water, and they're all equally untouched as Higuchi stares through them.

It's not that she minds this part of her job – it's certainly a safer part than virtually everything else she does – but she knows for a fact that The Black Lizards and a few dozen other subordinates have been sent halfway across the city to quell some minor problem with delusions of grandeur. It sounds more interesting than double-checking all of the last mission's expenses, which is always a more in-depth job than anticipated, given how little Akutagawa cares about property damage.

He'd leveled a small section of stores recently. Higuchi had to find a new place to buy makeup.

Higuchi thinks about nothing with great intensity as she lets her eyes half-focus on the numbers she has written down, all in the appropriate columns. She's focusing so hard on nothing that she jumps when someone sits down across from her.

It's Gin. In her normal attire, her high ponytail fanning out and almost all of her skin hidden from view by layers of black. Gin removes one of those layers, slowly unhooking her mask from her face, and breathes out an explosive sigh.

Higuchi scoots the carafe of ice coffee over towards Gin, by way of peace offering. Gin accepts it, pouring herself a cup. She settles back into her seat, posture more relaxed than Higuchi usually sees.

"It's sweet," Gin says, once she's had a sip.

Higuchi hesitates on her answer, because Gin is a coworker and moderately terrifying, but Gin is also a girl only a little younger than her, who likes coffee and white dresses and shopping with her brother.

"I usually drink coffee for the caffeine," Higuchi admits. "So I don't know a lot about the flavor, so I just get it sweet…"

Gin takes another sip. Higuchi can see her let it sit in her mouth for a moment as her eyes rove the room. Higuchi wonders if even now, Gin is fitting the room's occupants into little categories separated by how dangerous they might be if a fight breaks out.

Higuchi hadn't even considered that anyone here could be a threat.

"It's," Gin says, carefully, diplomatically, "not the worst coffee."

Higuchi winces internally.

"Tachihara's coffee is worse," Gin says, and one corner of her mouth tugs upwards into that awkward half-smile again. Higuchi feels like she's being let in on a secret, and she can't help but return Gin's smile.

"His is really bad, isn't it?" Higuchi offers, her tone conspiratorial.

"Sugar can't save it," Gin replies. Higuchi wouldn't say that – sugar can make most things palatable – but she appreciates that Gin is so well-versed in coffee.

"The coffee from that cafe," Higuchi says, "was really good, wasn't it?" Gin's eyebrows raise, and Higuchi hurriedly adds: "I mean – I didn't get to taste it very well, because I drank it when it was too hot, but what I could taste of it was good, because I didn't want to waste it–"

Gin –

Gin laughs. It's a light, musical sound, and Higuchi can't help but break off in the middle of her sentence and stare at Gin. It doesn't suit her at all, when she's all dressed up in Port Mafia blacks.

"I'll make you better coffee sometime," Gin says, once she's done laughing. "If you promise to let it cool off first."

"I promise!" Higuchi chirps, a little too loudly, a little too determined.

Gin smiles again, though, so Higuchi thinks it might have been worth it.

Work picks up the pace for a few weeks, and so Higuchi doesn't see Gin for a while. Higuchi barely manages to see Akutagawa, and he's her direct superior. He's being sent all over on missions that need his particular expertise, and Higuchi is being sent in all the opposite directions to pretend she's just an average businesswoman, to negotiate arms deals, to help this group or that group–

It's exhausting.

Higuchi gets home later than she'd like, most nights. She's used to her sister leaving food packaged in the fridge for her; she's used to the bath being filled and kept warm for when she’s finally ready to slide in to relax her muscles.

She's not used to the little deliveries she starts to get. Packages, set carefully on her kitchen counter. Her sister tells her that she didn't bring them in, but they're wrapped in a very traditional way, all delicate furoshiki.

It's probably not a bomb, so Higuchi unwraps it and finds a small, partially opaque jar, coffee beans partially visible inside. There's a note, penned in a very deliberate and beautiful script, that gives a series of easy instructions on how to brew the coffee – temperatures and times and advice for added sugar.

At the bottom of the note is a little knife, drawn in a style far too cute for a weapon.

"We'll have to get a coffee grinder," Higuchi's sister says, when Higuchi shows her the container.

Higuchi buys one the next day.

The sound of gunfire is loud enough in Higuchi's ears that they're ringing painfully. Her earplugs are gone – she can't remember when she lost them – and the recoil from her own weapon is starting to wear on her. Her entire shoulder feels like it might fall off, and she tells herself it's just the recoil, because she thinks she might actually have been shot, but if she doesn't look at it she can pretend she's fine.

She is not fine. She is categorically, objectively, unequivocally not fine, but if she thinks about it then she won't be able to think about anything else, like how she needs to keep moving and shooting and she's out of bullets she's going to die this is the worst day of her life--

A gunshot goes off right behind her, and Higuchi has just enough time to squeeze her eyes closed in anticipation of the end. Instead of dying, she's jerked backwards by a warm arm looped around her collarbone.

Higuchi tilts her head back enough to get a glimpse of a familiar masked chin and black clothing.

"Gin-chan?" Higuchi says.

Gin grunts in response. She throws her gun away and then throws a knife, and the actions aren't blunted at all by the fact that she's wrestling Higuchi into an area with more cover. Higuchi tries to follow to the best of her ability, but half of her body isn't responding properly.

"Will you give Akutagawa-senpai," Higuchi starts, coughs, and then continues: "the flash drive?"

"No," Gin snaps. Higuchi frowns a little. "You can give it to him."

"Right," Higuchi says. This makes perfect sense, actually. Higuchi can't think of why she was going to have Gin do it in the first place. It had something to do with… gunshots…? "I'll give it to him. Thank you."

"You can call me Gin-chan again," Gin says, "when you're better."

Higuchi tries to agree, but her mind clouds over at the question of what Gin means by 'better'-- Higuchi is fine– Higuchi only has a minor gunshot injury– Higuchi is–

Higuchi is passing out.

Gin does not visit Higuchi while she's on temporary medical leave. Higuchi is important enough to keep alive, but not so important that they need her feet on the ground while she's wounded, so she spends a lot of time at home bothering her sister. It's made worse by the fact that Mori has informed her she shouldn't drink any caffeine while she's healing.

Higuchi stares, morose, at the delicate containers of coffee that are lined up on her counter. She stares, bleakly, at the coffee grinder that she hasn't used in days. She stares, depressed, at the herbal tea that her sister has brewed for her instead.

Then Higuchi stares in confusion at the next delicately wrapped delivery that appears on her counter. She opens it, and the note slips out –

It's decaffeinated, so it should be okay.

The daily deliveries of coffee to her counter – she still doesn't know how Gin is getting inside without being noticed – consist of gourmet decaffeinated blends, for a while after that.

"Are you dressing up for work?" Higuchi's sister asks. "That's not what you usually wear."

"No," Higuchi says. "I'm going back to work tomorrow. There's something I have to do first."

Higuchi's sister eyes her, speculatively, and then nods. "If it's for a date, then that'll do."

Higuchi adjusts her hair for the fourth time, just to be sure.

Gin sits across from Higuchi in the cafe, dressed in one of her airy, white dresses. Her hair is pulled up into a high ponytail, but it's allowed to fall free down her back in waves.

"Thank you," Higuchi begins, a little awkwardly, "for all of the coffee."

"Mm," Gin says.

"And for saving my life again."

"Mm."

"And," Higuchi continues, fiddling with one of the complimentary little cookies they were served when they sat down, "for agreeing to come on a date with me."

Gin crushes her own cookie reflexively, and then stares down at the crumbled bits of cookie in her hands with quiet dismay. Higuchi stands up, and – as gallantly as she can manage – holds her cloth napkin out so that Gin can gently sweep the crumbs off of her lap and into the napkin.

The tips of Gin's ears are pink.

"I ordered for us," Gin says, quietly. Her gaze is as steady and calm as ever, once Higuchi sits back down. "It's a dark roast. You'll want it with extra sugar."

"I'll try it black," Higuchi swears, because Gin has told her it's important to try coffee without any additives.

Gin nods, approvingly. "You're taking this very seriously."

"Yes," Higuchi says. It's a multi-layered declaration, and Higuchi can read into it. She tries not to, though; Higuchi can be a bit of an idiot, and she knows this about herself. It's better for her to take what she can at face value so she doesn't run away with erroneous assumptions anymore. "I'm taking it very seriously."

Their coffee is delivered: Higuchi blows on hers before she takes a sip, this time.

She still coughs when the bitter taste bursts across her tongue.

"I'll take the sugar," Higuchi says, meekly, but she isn't sure she needs it at all, when Gin is laughing at her so quietly, her mouth in that halfway grin and her hand raised.

Gin passes over the sugar, and Higuchi mixes it in. Her second sip goes much better than the first. Higuchi can't help but think that Gin is stronger than anyone could imagine, with the way she drinks her coffee scaldingly hot and black without flinching.

"We'll try a lighter roast on our next date," Gin says, after a moment.

This time, it isn't the flavor of the coffee that makes Higuchi cough.

"I never did find a good tea to buy for Akutagawa-senpai," Higuchi realizes, some time later, when she's pouring water over the coarse grounds in the french press.

"He has enough tea," Gin says. "We can get him a table."

"A table?"

"You know. For all the teas."

Higuchi isn't too sure about getting her boss a table as a gift, but–

"There's an antique store near that new cafe," Higuchi offers, and Gin smiles. Higuchi watches her, entranced, for a moment.

"You're overflowing," Gin says, mildly, and Higuchi yelps as she jerks her hand back, hot water and coffee grounds spilling all over the counter.

It makes Gin laugh as she moves the sugar out of the way, though, so Higuchi doesn't mind the clean up too much.