[Fic] Turtle Cafe
Carte 2
“Good evening, Sir! Order a coffee and you get a free kiss from the man behind the counter!” a cheery and loud voice echoed in Jin’s ears. A frown creased Jin’s forehead and he looked down to check his watch. It was ten-thirty in the evening. Why do the guys here in this particular café have to be so loud even at this time of the night?
The hyper-bunny guy walked to him and tapped his shoulder. “You again?” he asked in a friendly manner and Jin nodded his answer. “Cool! Is it our coffee or the turtle owner of this café?” Junno asked in a teasing manner.
“The what?” Jin asked, confused. Why was he given a choice between the coffees and the owner?
“Ohh~~someone’s playing innocent. Me likey~~” the tall man seemed to bounce off as he walked away from Jin. Junno…the hyper-bunny guy has a name after all, Jin thought rather smugly.
“…and I told you to never touch any of those! How stupid can you get?!”
“But it’s so good~~~”
“Do I look like I care?! For this café’s sake, stop eating the pastries, Koki!!! They aren’t free!” the black-haired man looked like he wanted to punch the other guy who kept on reaching for the pastries.
“But Kame-chan makes a lot of them!”
“He does. But those are for the customers not for some glutton gangster wannabe guy named Koki!
“Mou~~ so mean, Tat-chan!” the man named Koki whined, his eyes almost pleading. The man, Jin remembered, called Tat-chan snatched the yummy-looking glazed, cream puffs away from the gangster wannabe boy.
A rolled newspaper made its way to Koki’s head as he begged Tat-chan on his knees and the gangster-man rubbed the affected area on his head. Koki looked behind him and Jin saw that another man was there, looking amused and irritated at the same time. Koki gave the man who dared hit his head a pained look and acted as if his heart was clenching inside his chest before he settled for sniffing, which was quite an effort since Jin can actually see Koki’s eyes watering.
All those effort for the cream puffs? Jin shook his head. He would never want to do that…
“Koki-kun, you really should stop eating them.” Jin heard the man with the newspaper say. “Kame-chan sells them, they aren’t for free.”
“But, but…Maru, not you too!” Koki looked defeated and in despair when Maru shot him a ‘stop-being-whiney’ look.
“Yeah, whatever.” were all Maru said before going behind the counter and settling himself down on the chair.
Jin then remembered something before walking up to the counter and had ordered two cream puffs instead of the intended cappuccino. He won’t dare risk getting a free kiss from that man behind the counter if he ordered coffee.
“Kame-chan, we have customer!” the man behind the counter yelled and Jin had to frown at that. This café proved to be rather interesting.
The man Jin saw the other night came out of the staff room and Jin was amazed at how good the other looked. Kame was in their all-black uniform and the crème apron but his eyes were lined with the blackest of eyeliners and there was a bit of some silvery-black eye shadow accentuating his eyes. Jin was sure he was straight, but seeing Kame like that made him unsure of his preference.
“Why didn’t you just punch my order?” Jin had to ask Nakamaru who just remained behind the counter, busy reading something in the newspaper he has in his hands.
Nakamaru looked up to the customer and smiled. “Kame-chan loves seeing customers. It’s like a ‘meet and greet’ kind.” The other gave a small shrug, ignoring Jin.
“That’s not quite a logical reasoning…” Jin answered back before Kame slid in place and smiled sweetly at him.
“Kame-chan, he wants two cream puffs.” Jin heard the man with the name Maru on his nameplate say.
“Is that all?” Kame turned to him and Jin nodded. Jin watched Kame punch in his order and he gave Kame the exact amount to pay for his cream puffs. Jin walked to his favorite seat in the café and watched the five men go around the café. Jin saw the man with eyeliner walk towards the glass shelf and got some cream puffs, heating them first before the hyper-bunny guy got the plate and put it in a tray. The hyper-bunny guy spotted him and Jin thanked the man when his order was placed in front of him.
“You’re welcome. Enjoy your puffy puffs!” came the man’s cheery reply before walking away.
“You should have ordered a coffee to go with that.” Jin heard a voice from behind him. He turned to see who it was and realized it was the man who snatched the cream puffs away from the gangster-man named Koki earlier. Jin checked the man’s nameplate. Tatsuya…
Tatsuya looked rather feminine too but not quite as pretty as Kame.
No. Jin doesn’t check out feminine boys.
“Why do you think so?” Jin asked instead.
Tatsuya smiled at him and pointed to the counter. “Aside from the fact that you’d need a drink to swallow the sugar then I’d have to say that it’s Saturday night. Kame-chan gives free kisses on Saturday nights.”
“Why would he do that? Not all customers are easy…” Jin wanted to know as he eyed the youngest of the crews. Kame was playing rock, paper, scissors with Koki and Kame seems to be always on the losing end. The pout on Kame’s lips never faded. On the other side of the counter, there was the man named Maru and he was currently busy talking to Junno, the hyper-bunny.
“It’s just a tradition. Well, not really.” Tatsuya looked thoughtful. He eyed Jin for a little while before he smiled. Tatsuya looked less scary when he smiles, Jin concluded. “It was just an idea to attract customers during the first year of this café. It worked and we always get busy every Saturday night because of that. You should have come here earlier to see the queue. It was crazy but it’s really fun though. We all have our ‘kiss-for-free’ days.”
“That’s…interesting.” Jin said. He wondered if he should order a coffee now to have that free kiss…
“It is.” The other male nodded as he moved to wipe a spot clean in the window behind Jin. “I met my boyfriend because of that.” Tatsuya laughed as an image of one certain Osaka man crossed his mind.
“Eh?! B-boyfriend?” Jin seemed like he was about to fall from his seat and Tatsuya had to hold the man in his shoulders to stop him from causing an accident.
“What, you’re homophobic?” Tatsuya looked amused. An idea hit Tatsuya and he leaned forward to Jin, closing their distance.
“E-err…”
“It’s always fun to try things you haven’t tried yet. Have you kissed a boy?”
Jin tried to move away but it seemed that Tatsuya isn’t fond of that act. The older of the two had his hands around Jin’s nape the next instant and Jin had to hold his breath. Jin swallowed as he grew anxious. If his ex-girlfriend ever finds out about this, then for sure, she’d think that she made the right decision of leaving him.
“Tat-chan, don’t scare him like that.”
Tatsuya immediately let his prey go, not that he actually intended to pull through with his act. A smirk made its way to his face and Jin sighed in relief when he heard that voice. He was saved. Kazuya smiled at the man who looked startled.
“You alright?” the pretty male asked.
Jin nodded. “Yeah. I was just caught unaware…”
Tatsuya laughed and ruffled Jin’s hair. “It’s always fun to tease homophobic guys.” He said before he went away, leaving Jin and Kazuya behind.
“T-that was unexpected…” Jin broke the silence between them and tried to calm himself.
Kazuya nodded. “I know. Forgive my friends. They’re all crazy but you’ll love them once you get to know them. I’m closest to Tat-chan though. Koki, Maru and Junno have their own places inside my heart but Tat-chan is special.”
“Is that so?” Kazuya shrugged in a cute manner before giving Jin a smile. “Wait! You still owe me your name!” Jin almost shrieked.
“I do?” Kazuya asked, frowning a little.
“Yeahp.” Jin nodded. “You said I’d get to have your name if I come visit your coffee shop again, so here I am and what’s your name?”
Kazuya felt his heart beat fast when he saw the smile the Akanishi Jin gave him. Kazuya licked his lips, nervous for the first time since he and Jin met. “Ah! It’s Kamenashi Kazuya.”
“Kamenashi Kazuya…nice name.” Jin had to admit that the name rolled out of his tongue in a pleasant way. Kazuya…
“So my parents say.” The younger man laughed.
Jin liked the sound of Kazuya’s laughter. “Should I call you Kamenashi or Kazuya?” the older of the two asked. He was starting to like Kazuya; in a nice friendly way though. Romance isn’t exactly what he’d seek out from another boy. Friendship. Right now, he wanted to be Kazuya’s friend.
“You can call me Kame-chan. It works just fine. Everyone calls me that anyway.” Kazuya then placed a glass filled with cold ice tea down on Jin’s table. “Here you go.”
“But I didn’t order-“
“I know. It’s for free. It’s Saturday night anyway.” Kazuya looked amused while Jin looked like he was now a living question mark.
“We give free treats on Saturdays.” Kazuya informed, a smile never leaving his lips.
“Ah! But they said Saturday nights are meant for free kisses?”
“Ehh?!” that wasn’t the best response, Jin noted.
“Well, your friends said that you give free kisses on Saturday nights.” Jin started and watched Kazuya’s forehead crease. The pout that Jin found to be very adorable formed on the other man’s lips again.
“Mou~~ those guys!” the younger whined. “Don’t ever believe any word that comes out of their mouth. Those ‘kiss-for-free’ days are non-existent. But we do give free iced teas or whatever to our customers on Saturdays. I really should consider changing my crew.” The younger pouted once again, much to Jin’s entertainment.
“They’re quite fun. Those guys’ are cool.” Jin said. He felt entertained by just watching those guys fooling around the café. Even though today was his first time of seeing/meeting the whole crew, Jin found himself enjoying their company. Mr. Hyper-bunny was easy-going; Tat-chan is unpredictable, the man with a big nose and gangster-wannabe screams of fun, fun, fun. And Kazuya? Jin sees the youngest as someone who keeps the others sane and together. He was like the glue to their friendship.
Deep in his heart, Jin wished for people who can be his friends; Friends with the real sense of the word and not because of some hidden agenda.
“You haven’t seen the real them though. They tend to get a lot crazier when we’re alone!” Kazuya’s voice made Jin pull out of his own thoughts. “Anyway, Akanishi-san, thanks for gracing our café again. It was really nice to see you.”
“You can call me Jin, Kame-chan.” Jin offered before he sipped some of his iced tea.
Kazuya’s eyes lit up and his face brightened. “Really?! Cool! I never thought I’d get to call you Jin, Akanishi-san!”
“It’s Jin, Kame.” Jin looked amused. Kazuya is way too cute for his own good.
Kazuya blushed and settled in giving Jin a grin which Jin found quite adorable too.
A grinning turtle. How awesome!
“KOKI!!!!! I told you to get your hands off of those treats!! I am so gonna make you my personal punching bag!!! Come back here!!!”
Jin and Kazuya turned their heads to the counter and found the four other guys to be in a ruckus. It seemed that Koki had managed to steal a whole box of pastries again and Tat-chan got pissed. Maru was trying to hide Koki behind his back while Junno was trying to hold the feminine looking guy, keeping him away from the gangster-like male who was still busy eating and had some crumbs messing his face.
Kazuya couldn’t hold back anymore and he ended up laughing loud, much to Jin’s amusement. Jin watched the scene displayed in front of him. It was the first time his heart started to beat so fast and loud that he wondered if Kazuya was able to hear it.
The next morning, Jin found himself wishing for day to become night. He wanted to go visit the café again. He needed to see Kazuya once again.
~*~
Carte 3