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Shuriken found himself face-to-face with one of those apparent cultists, but she wasn’t looking directly at him.
For someone who hung around enough to be one-on-one with Medkit, she looked awfully Southern and ten times more intimidating than the quiet doctor he’d usually greeted.
“Medkit, I didn’t expect to see you here with someone other than Sword,” he commented, looking at the two of them before saying, “Is there anything specific I could get for you two today?”
“This is just one of my— colleagues, unfortunately.”
Medkit gave an awfully dry answer before the woman chirped up.
“The name’s Scythe,” she grinned as if it were some household name and not one he’d seen scattered on wanted posters, “I’ll take a- how’d ya’ say it, Doc?”
“Mochi.”
“Moch-ee, I wanna try one of those from y’all.”
Right.
He wrote it down on his notepad, giving a small nod to Medkit as a sign he’d already pitched in his order as well.
But the interaction wasn’t over yet, apparently.
“You ain’t tell me she works here!”
Yikes. He hadn’t seen this person around any of them enough to be comfortable with that realization. Besides, this person looked like she’d just bring along a ton of trouble.
Shuriken wouldn’t intervene; he wouldn’t let his protective instincts sway him, absolutely not—
“Do you mean my sister?” He’d spun on his heel the moment he heard that remark, and asking that question only seemed appropriate.
“‘Course I do. Didn’t know she had brothers though.” Scythe seemed content with blaming all of this on Medkit, going, “‘Yer meant to warn someone when you know a pretty person is around!”
“I didn’t think you’d fancy Vinestaff, is all.”
“I got eyes!”
Again, just right. He didn’t want to budge in on some conversation completely unrelated to him with someone like her.
“I didn’t know my sister had suitors, I guess,” Shuriken muttered that last part before walking back up to the counter, looking at his sister standing behind the register with more concern in his eyes.
She wasn’t even looking at him! In fact, she was furrowing her brows and staring at the person sitting down with Medkit.
He didn’t bother with properly pulling her attention away, casually going:
“Two mochi and a slice of chocolate cake.”
And only being answered with a panicked, “Huh?”
This was going to be a problem, wasn’t it?
“Do you need me to kick her out? ‘Cause I will if you ask me to.”
“No, no, it’s nothing like that.”
“Really?”
Vinestaff let out a quiet sigh, still staring at the woman before settling back onto the order he’d shown her and putting it in.
“Did she realize I’m here?”
“She’s been looking at you since she walked in.”
“Oh my God,” he could see how his sister flushed before covering her face, which seemed to accidentally cue up a whole different set of reactions.
“Flowers!” Shuriken flinched at the volume of Scythe’s voice as she walked up to the counter, standing right next to him and honing in on his sister:
“Ya’ didn’t tell me you worked in some lil’ place like this.”
A little place like this? That’s what Slingshot’s hard work was?
He’d almost started glaring at her if it weren’t for Vinestaff’s subtle shooing him off.
“I try not to tell you a lot of things about myself, actually.”
“Ain’t that a shame?”
Shuriken gave a small glare before walking back to Medkit’s table. It was one of those slower hours, so he didn’t bother with trying to force his sister to cut the conversation off early.
But this was still somewhat problematic.
She didn’t seem like the sort to like a wanted criminal.
“My apologies, Shuriken,” was all Medkit grumbled by the time he’d reached the table, handing him at least fifty extra bux before gesturing for him to take a seat.
“We’ll be here a while.”
He was watching their interaction more than replying, focusing on Scythe as if waiting for her to pull out a weapon.
“Who even is that?”
“Like I said, one of my colleagues. She’s technically my boss.”
Even worse.
“And she likes my sister?”
“Apparently so.”
“Shuriken, I wouldn't have brought her here if I knew that.” Medkit was rubbing at the bridge of his nose and staring at the two, clearly having some sort of banter, flirting. “She only insisted on coming because of how much I told her not to.”
“Will she leave anytime soon or—” Shuriken cut himself off, watching as Scythe went behind the counter simply to taunt his sister. She’d slipped through the employees’ gate as she worked there.
“I’m not letting her do that.”
“Don’t-she’s friendly, but not friendly enough for that.”
“And clearly not friendly enough for Vine either.”
He rolled his sleeves up a bit, somewhat prepared for a harder fight than usual. Scythe was taller than him, and sure, she was a little bit bulkier; none of that mattered when Vinestaff was getting bullied in Slingshot’s own café!
“You’re not meant to be back here.” Shuriken had stopped all his polite words, clearly rooting for a fight with the other.
“Ah, seriously?”
His sister was currently somewhat trapped between the woman and the counter, looking completely red before Scythe put her hands up, “That’s my fault then. C’mon, I didn’t mean any harm.”
What was Medkit talking about?
“Shuri, it’s–” He could see Vine fake a little cough, trying to wipe her blush off her face strictly with her hands, “It’s fine.”
“Y’all finished up with my mochi, right, Flowers?” Scythe hadn’t made any motion to leave the employees' area, only looking down at his sister before grinning at him.
“If y’are, I’ll go ahead and take it to go. Don’t need’ta make unnecessary problems with you two.”
His sister’s lipstick was smudged.
He was ignoring that.
“I’ll get that for you.”
There was a no-nonsense tone in his voice as he pointed towards the gate again, ignoring the other’s laughter on her way out. Glaring at Vinestaff while shoving the food in a box didn’t fix much; he adjusted Medkit’s cake to be perfectly fine, though.
The espresso machine hummed in the background as he reached the counter, shooting a slight snarky look before fixing his face.
There were a dozen apologies being communicated to him by Medkit as he brought Scythe the box, adding, “Keep that mochi cold.”
“Got’cha.”
“I’ll keep it in our freezer.”
He didn’t say anything outright to Shuriken, but there was an extra thirty in his pockets before the healer was out the door. He didn’t even realize it’d gotten there!
“Care to explain that?” He narrowed his eyes at Vinestaff, unable to do any bit of his sibling teasing in a situation like this.
She gave a small hum before letting out a high-pitched “Nope,” pretending to wipe at invisible stains on the counter instead of confronting him.
Man, his siblings were the worst, and he didn’t even know the full extent of it.
—
Filling in for Vinestaff on one of her lazier days was fine with him. She’d been coughing herself up all day, and he would hate the idea of them getting in trouble for having a sick employee on the job.
So Shuriken had taken her place at the register, giving awkward smiles to each raging customer, and attempting to fill in with all the small talk his sister did while on the job. Asking questions about someone’s day only felt good once, and he was beginning to dislike it more and more.
That was until one of Slingshot’s regulars walked in.
Coil.
His brother had insisted on never letting their shifts align for something like this, according to Vine. Her exact words were:
“It’s not that Sling doesn’t like working with you! He loves it; he just has this one guy who he gets caught up with.”
He’d take her word for it; her explanation left too many words up for consideration. Would it be some angry regular who’d insist he’d gotten their order wrong, or some sweet elderly man who’d pay extra for the bare minimum?
Either way, this mystery guy had brought down his brother’s mood before entering the establishment.
“Shuri— Shuri, say I’m not on shift.” he was counting money when he felt his brother behind him, peeking over his shoulder before heading into the back office.
“Hah?”
Shuriken didn’t get an opportunity to properly question it, only surprising himself more upon being met with Coil.
They were chill! If this was who Vinestaff meant, it didn’t-
“What’s good, Shuri?” He gave into the handshake before Coil’s eyes analyzed around the room, going,
“Is your brother on shift?”
“Haven’t talked to him today other than getting ready in the morning.” Shuriken gave a small shrug, trying to play off the convincing act for a second longer.
It worked by a miracle.
“Cool, cool then. Call me whenever he’s here.”
Why’d he say that sentence so loudly?
No, never mind; he’d figured out what Coil was doing in an instant, seeing how he wouldn’t move; he said those words loudly enough that Slingshot had to hear that from the back office.
By the time he’d turned around to try to tell his brother to stay put, he was walking out the door and letting Coil see him.
Slingshot’s face had dropped in an instant before he tried fixing it with a customer service smile.
“Sling, are you getting people to lie to me?” He’d never seen someone as big as him try pulling off puppy-dog eyes, but now that his brother was out, his whole attitude had changed.
“I thought our relationship was special! But no, fine, have your brother lie to me.”
That smile lasted less than a minute.
There was no shot his brother would take that seriously; in all the time Shuriken had hung out with him, he’d never fall for something so easily-
“No, no, it’s special, fine,” Slingshot pushed him out of the way while saying that, and he had to pause and consider what he was seeing.
This wasn’t as bad as Vine’s ‘regular’, who’d barged herself behind the counter. The only difference was that the one getting on his nerves was the regular, not his own sibling!
“Can I at least take his—”
“No, Shuri, never mind. I’ve got it.”
He went quiet for a second, blinking at Slingshot before saying, “I’m literally the waiter?”
Shuriken looked at him, confused, watching something in his brother die before going:
“He sits up here most of the time.”
“Is that not normal?” Coil didn’t even bother hiding his ‘flirting’, not even bothering to look beyond Slingshot’s eyes.
This must’ve been the only person he’d watched move a chair up to the counter without getting ridiculed.
How absurd he thought that was must’ve shown on his face.
Coil only seemed to grin harder at his brother’s embarrassment, going, “Oh, Slingshot, I didn’t know you enjoyed my presence this much.”
“Don’t describe it like that.”
“I don’t know any more fitting words. It looks like you’re enjoying me.”
“Loathing fits better.”
Shuriken was stunned into silence. Now what he wanted to do was the same thing he’d done with Vine— ask if Slingshot needed him to kick the client out, or if this was something manageable.
Yet when he opened his mouth, his brother made a small ‘shoo’ motion towards him while beginning to ask Coil for his order.
No words left his mouth, only little gestures and exclamations that sounded like bits of air. Coil was clearly laughing at him, but Slingshot didn’t mention a word.
Not even when he made a nonsensical order!
“You already know how flour makes my allergies flare up, and try to keep it light on the butter. I’m on a diet. Not too many eggs either.”
“No flour, and hardly any butter or eggs?”
“Mhmm.”
His brother would deny simple altercations for others, but instead of saying anything this time, he went:
“And the name for your order?”
“Sling—”
“Shuri, I can handle everything up front for a second.”
The smile he got was almost passive-aggressive, but he understood what it meant. He was interrupting Slingshot’s little ‘date’.
Shuriken reluctantly listened, both to save himself from third-wheeling and to let his brother shoot his imaginary shots. But the walls in the back office weren’t thin, and he could still hear the conversation.
He tried to escape it with some music. He really did.
Except his brother had no shame and didn’t bother telling Coil to quiet down.
“And what name do I put this under?”
“The Beast.”
“Really?”
“Yup. It’s my new name.”
All he could do in the back room was sit in a chair and put his face in his hands.
Both of his siblings— both of them chose to do this odd flirting style with their crushes in front of them.
He didn’t know whether or not he’d tease Slingshot for willingly calling Coil ‘The Beast’ when giving him his food, or die inside at witnessing his brother’s form of affection.
Either way, the whole conversation had affirmed one thing in his head.
He was blackmailing both of them into doing his chores next week, and he’d hold this over both of their heads.