[fic] Theme 007 "Coffee Cup", for 100_wangsts {遊☆戯☆王: 'Atemu'/Yuugi; PG-13}
All right, I promised. I'm sorry for the spam that's about to follow after this post. ^^;
I'm sorry this theme isn't that Hallowe'en related...but! Theme 011 is, so maybe you'll all get a very belated Hallowe'en theme. xDD
Written for 100_wangsts. This is theme 007.
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: ‘Atemu’/Yuugi
Story Type: Drabble/one-shot
Summary: This is where and how they met.
Disclaimer: ...no I don’t own Yuugiou now leave me alone.
Spoilers: None. AU.
Warnings: My usual fluff things.
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It was a simple object that held so much significance.
Atemu blinked at the menu, trying to decipher all the different kinds of coffee.
“Hello and welcome to Sanki! Can I take your order, sir?”
He gritted his teeth; what in the world was the difference between latte and mocha?
“Hello and welcome to Sanki! Can I take your order, m’am?”
And why the heck were there so many flavours to choose from for a single cup of coffee?
“Hello and welcome to Sanki! Can I take your order, sir?”
Why was this so complicated?!
“Sir?”
Atemu pulled himself from his thoughts and focused on the person in front of him. He barely contained a sharp intake of breath in his surprise at the sight; the similarities were astounding, but the differences were what caught his attention even more.
Silencing the gasp that threatened to escape, the young man behind the counter prompted, “Sir?”
“...I’m not sure, actually...”
“Ah, first time here, are we?”
Atemu stole a glance at the name tag; it read ‘Motou Yuugi’. He nodded. “In fact, my first time trying coffee, period.”
‘Yuugi’ laughed. “In that case, I’ll help you out in a sec; I have my break in a few minutes... Would you like to sit at one of the booths and I’ll come over to help you out with your choice?”
“Oh, I don’t want to be a bother!”
“You won’t be, it’s our job to help anyway,” ‘Yuugi’ smiled warmly, easily. “Make yourself at home; I’ll be with you in a moment.”
Atemu walked over to one of the booths and heard again, “Hello and welcome to Sanki! Can I take your order, m’am?” But this time he thought the repetitiveness wasn’t so bad after all.
He propped his chin up with his hand, staring out the window; the leaves were swirling outside, and he could hear several children scream in delight as they rampaged through the collage of colours.
“Ah, there you are,” a voice piped up suddenly, jolting Atemu’s attention back to the present. “Here’s a menu for you,” he slid in the seat opposite of him.
“...Yuugi, is it?”
“Yep,” he grinned slightly. “So what’s this about trying coffee for the first time? On behalf of the entire staff I’d like to say we’re honoured to have you here for your first try!”
Atemu’s lips tugged upwards at the young man’s enthusiasm. “Then you can help me figure this all out, I have no idea what they mean at all.”
“Of course,” Yuugi reached over for the menu and flipped it open to the first page for him. “There’s brewed coffee, which is just plain roast, with milk and sugar if you want. Nothing too fancy schmancy about brewed coffee.” His attention shifted to the opposite page. “If you want to look at it differently, our coffee’s divided into regions, as in where our coffee beans come from. They’re from all around the world, and each flavour is unique to their respective continent.
“Don’t be confused with the complexity of their names; we just name them like that to appeal to customers.” Yuugi laughed. “There are other types where we understand even if you don’t indicate what roast you want.” He flipped to another page, index finger sliding down a list. “Latte, mocha, cappuccino, espresso, double espresso...”
“You know, I was wondering about the difference between latte and mocha earlier when I was in line.”
“I’m not surprised, they’re all quite similar. They’re both espressos, but that’s about all they have in common. Lattes have hot milk and on top of it, there’s froth - some people take extreme care in putting a design in the foam. As for mocha, it’s served with hot chocolate and steamed milk. There’s usually no fancy stuff on that.”
“What about those funny flavours I see listed on the menu? Green tea with coffee?”
Yuugi laughed again. “There are some pretty adventurous people out there who don’t mind trying new combinations instead of the good, boring taste. We try to have our target audience as wide as possible; these aren’t what you call ‘morning boosters’. Many young people refer this new mix instead of the traditional flavours, but it’s not as strange as you think, really.”
“Hmm,” Atemu pondered, leaning in closer to the menu. “I think I’ll try the latte then,” he finalized, looking up to see twinkling amethysts.
“Right you are, your order will be ready in a few minutes!”
He smiled. With Yuugi, everything came naturally; the sincere eagerness and interest the young man held for his job amused Atemu.
“Here you go!”
Atemu fished in his pocket for money, but Yuugi waved him off. “Don’t worry about it, it’s on me!”
“But-!”
“Just take it,” Yuugi grinned, placing the cup in his hands, carefully insulated and protecting the new owner’s hands from being scorched. Their fingers brushed lightly against each other, and that slight contact left Atemu a little more wide-eyed than he should be. Yuugi gave Atemu a quick wink, cheeks lightly coloured, and hurried back to his post, his break having just ended.
Pleasantly flushed and hands clutching the steaming cup with both hands, Atemu walked out of the store and decided to visit every day possible.
Now he sat on one of the bar stools, fingers playing absently with a stirring rod as he waited for Yuugi’s shift to end. His presence was well-known in two short months, having been seen sitting with his ‘twin’ sharing small talk over a drink, and spending his after school hours studying away in a booth. Yuugi would occasionally come about asking if he needed-wanted-anything; they were nice distractions.
Atemu secretly hoped the other had forgotten his gloves somewhere so he’d have an excuse to warm his hand - his alternate explanation for holding hands - in the winter cold today.
- Owari -
Story Word Count: 980
Authoress Notes: Yep, new style/format yet again, I don’t think I’ve done it before. At least, in theme 006 it was only partial flashback. This was entirely in flashback mode, except for the first and ending lines. xD
Japanese term:
sanki: mountain air - what the coffee shop is called. I was originally going to call it “Blue Mountain” (a coffee), but in the end decided against it.
As for the coffee explanations (which I don’t think I’ve done great justice to them...I glazed over too many details and I didn’t spend a particularly long time digesting it all), they were adapted from Crema-The Café Lifestyle Magazine - Types of Coffee.
HAPPY HALLOWE'EN GUYS! Hope you all had a wonderful time trick-or-treating/in general!