Chapter Text
When we last saw our hero, he had moved in with his former captain, gotten a job at a small cafe, gotten a date, and later on had some sick ass party planning skills. Things change, some things stay the same.
Daisuke's intership days were long past him. He hadn't quite gotten the career in art he'd wanted when he was in his 20’s, but he was very content with what he had gotten. He had a job he loved, time for his hobbies, lots of great friends, and was in a long term committed relationship. Pretty cool, if you asked him.
In the thirteen or whatever years since the whole ‘Jimmy waaaay losing the plot’ or whatever you'd call it, Daisuke had kept working at the same cafe. It had turned over all its staff several times, gone through a major renovation, but it was still technically the same cafe. Same owner and same building even if all the parts were different. There was a ship like that, right?
He'd never really got a handle on driving himself places, and this place was within walking distance from his apartment when he felt like it, and close to a bus stop for most days. Sure, he'd interviewed at a couple other places over the years, gotta ‘explore all your options’ and blah blah blah, but he’d never heard back from them. It was probably the scar. It had never faded much. But whatever. He was happy enough here.
And now he had even made upper management! That meant he basically managed stock, hired new employees, and well, managed them, ect.
Pretty sweat gig, really.
Daisuke had gotten the promotion through a combo of seniority and sassing off the owner about the prices compared to employee wages. Apparently the guy found standing up to him more impressive then annoying and he'd gotten the upgrade later that week. They were still fighting about wages though.
Swansea had busted a gut the day Daisuke had told him the owner basically trusted everything but the money to him at this point, although the clap on the back he got after was probably a sign the old man was proud of him. Anya and a few other friends had taken him out for dinner to celebrate. Curly had video called him from his cabin with his congratulations, suggesting a meet up for drink some time to catch up.
Daisuke didn't exactly need the extra money of being manager, what with his family money and living in an apartment that Curly had paid off ages ago. The guy had gifted their shared apartment to Daisuke after he’d expressed interest in moving in with his partner. Curly had then promptly taken his own interest in moving out to a cabin by the lake, so he'd probably been thinking about it for like ages. Ever since his writing career made the public a little too intense to handle very often.
It wasn't even a surprise that Curly left, he'd already taken a lot of 'fishing trips,’ or whatever the dude did when he disappeared off the grid all those times; sending a few pictures of random bugs and Tulpar eating grass to let them know he wasn’t, like, dead.
Daisuke really was proud of himself. Heck, he’d even sent Jimmy a letter. He never got a proper response but he still felt the guy needed to know, regardless of the restraining order. Maybe he thought Daisuke was rubbing it in. He occasionally stalked Jimmy's art blog, and the drawing of the pink flower on fire he posted shortly after felt targeted.
Poor dude (well, his attempted murderer) had been turned down for another gallery appearance last he heard, maybe it hadn't been the right time?
It just felt… nice, to have accomplished something mostly on his own, and that people were happy for him! His partner, Chie, had rewarded him with a kiss, and he was still living off the high of her smile. Chie had certainly helped in the early days of him working here, fighting off customers and coworkers long gone, mostly over his scar. She was at a drag show this week and he missed her already.
All of this brought him to now, coming back from his lunch break. At least he had work to distract him from how much he missed his partner. It was 3:45. Koralia would be leaving at 4, and Eden was here until 4:30. He had a student employee coming in to cover the rest of the night with him.
4 to 8. Daisuke could do this, even as he yearned for a bowl of popcorn and a b-movie on his television.
He left his (You heard that right! His) office in high spirits, twirling as he grabbed his apron off a coat wrack. There wasn't anyone at the till, just a few people sitting at the tables throughout the cafe, so the two employees there were chatting away as they wiping things down.
"Daisu!" Koralia waved at him as he snuck back behind the counter, jabbing a thumb at her companion. "You just missed a lady who asked for the manager until Eden-"
Eden crossed their arms and shook their head, cutting in, “I simply told her that was a seasonal item and she left."
"She grabbed her cross and ran out, bro!" Koralia's tone was barely hiding her laughter.
Daisuke snickered along to Koralia's merriment, which encouraged her to finally laugh as well. "Well, I'm glad you two had fun. I trust you guys to handle things."
He certainly wouldn't have bowed down for anyone harassing his employees. He was pretty chill with all of them. Most of the regulars were okay but there would always be people who just wanted to have a miserable day.
Which is why he was here, to spread more cheer.
"Oh yeah," Koralia snapped her fingers, “The kiddo never responded to my question in the group chat and I really gotta leave on time today so if we're dealing with 'the great lateness' again today, make sure to get an answer for me."
"Totally."
The student could often be late. No huge deal. Daisuke had set up the schedule around the idea.
Despite how proud he was of himself, it would turn out work would just give him more worries as the day unfolded.