Chapter Text
this had been the least busiest day the coffee shop has ever gotten. but, it’s to be expected. it had been pouring since the shop opened, and it doesn’t seem like it will stop anytime soon. there had only been four people inside of the warm and cozy shop. the noises of soft-piano music and rain tapping the windows had been the only thing floating around in the air.. with the occasional keyboard taps coming from a few people. all in all, it was calming.
the man behind the counter prompted his elbows onto the surface. though he was glad there wasn’t much going on, it was still boring. he liked the quietness, he liked the music in the background. but he didn’t like how there was no talking. everyone had been doing their own thing, but it left the dark-haired man to be left to his own devices. his boss, lady bone, was in her office, doing work is what he assumed. so that left a big ‘X’ on his list.
he huffed, his glowy eyes wandering toward the window. as much as he hated getting soaked, he loved the rain. more than anyone. it was calming, soothing, and was also pretty to look at. watching the many specs of water falling down from the sky to the ground had always been something he loved to watch. especially watching the water slowly running down on a window. another huff escaped his lips, a small smile beginning to grow on the man’s face.
but, that was smile quickly died down when he saw a figure running toward the place. he couldn’t make out who or what it was. the only downfall of it pouring like this, is not being able to see who anyone was in the white fog that consumed the whole city. he prompted himself up, squinting towards the window. the figure had gotten closer, stumbling on almost any step that they had taken.
in the blink of an eye, the person who had been running toward the shop was now inside of it. the dark-haired man slowly inspected the person who had just entered. they had pitch-black hair, which had been clinging for dear life on his tan skin. their thick green glasses were tilted on his face. they had worn a long-white lab coat, which had reached up to the person’s knees. along side with the coat, they had worn a black sweater and grey pants, which had been clinging onto their skinny form. the black satchel they had in their hands was dripping with water, along with the rest of their clothes and hair.
the new-person had leaned up against the wall, slightly bent down, holding onto their knees to keep themselves from falling. the man behind the counter looked at them fully, noticing that they had been shaking like a leaf. the man behind the counter quickly made his way to the other person, putting a hand on their shoulder. ‘’’sir, are you ok?!’’ the dark-haired man asked, and all he had received was a nod. the person’s breathing was irregular, and rigid. possibly from all the running. how long had they been running for?
‘’ill go get you some water, please take a seat.’’ the man ran to the back, making his way to the kitchen. the other person had very shaky movements, wobbling at any given step they had taken. they let out an exhale, clenching the bag they had been holding onto. as they slowly made their way towards the nearest seat, they could hear the door from the back open up. they took a glance towards the figure making their way towards them. they had a bottle in one hand and a towel over their arm.
the kind man had placed the things down on the table, slowly guiding the other to the seat. ‘’i’ll be right back to help you, sir. just have to do something quick.’’ even though the person wasn’t looking, the man had given them a reassuring smile, patting their shoulder and wandering off into a different room.
now that the other was left to do whatever until the other came back, they first wanted to check their laptop. when they sat down, they quickly opened up the satchel, snatching out the purple laptop. they crossed their fingers, praying for it to work. when they pressed the ‘ON’ button, the screen was still lifeless. as if to not make their day any worse, this had to happen. they ran a hand through their pitch-black hair, letting out an annoyed exhale.
the person put the purple laptop back into the satchel, that will be a problem they will face with later. right now, though, trying to get warmer and feel hydrated was the first thing on their bucket list. they reached out for the bottle, unscrewing the cap and taking a long chug out of it. they didn’t realize how thirsty they felt until now, and god it felt good to finally be able to consume water that wasn’t from the rain.
the man knocked on the large dark-blue door, fiddling around with his vest. ‘’come in.’’ he reached for the door knob, hesitantly beginning to open the door. now, he loved his boss. she was such a supporting person. she had always been right there for him. always helping him through his breakdowns and supporting him for his sexuality. she was a pleasant person to have around, to have as a great friend. but he wouldn’t be lying if he said that she scared the man shitless.
when he made his way inside, he made sure to close the door fully. ‘’what do you need, mayor?’’ after hearing the satisfying click of the door being shut, mayor turned on his heel, making eye contact with his boss. ‘’i came to make a request.’’ the dark-haired man said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. ‘’and what might that be?’’ letting out a long exhale, he furrowed his brows. ‘’i wanted to know if i can give someone.. something free. like, a muffin, perhaps!’’ the man felt sweat retreating down the back of his neck. before he could give anyone, ANYTHING free, he always had to ask his boss first.
‘’hm…’’ lady bone broke the eye contact, starting to scribble away at the documents that were piled in front of her. ‘’does it have to do with the man that had just came in?’’ bingo. mayor nodded, slowly taking his hands out of his pockets, beginning to fiddle around with the nameplate he had on his vest. ‘’yes, boss.’’ letting out an exhale, he looked right at his boss. ‘’i know we don’t do this. but, just this once. he doesn’t seem to be in a very good state right now an—‘’
‘’ill allow it. just this once.’’ she glanced up at the nervous man, giving him a stern look. ‘’we won’t be doing this again, UNLESS it were to be an emergency.. do you understand, mayor?’’ she squinted her eyes, still keeping the cool gaze she had on mayor. ‘’y-yes, ma’am. understood.’’ he briefly made eye-contact with her, giving lady bone an determined look. ‘’you may go now.’’
they fiddled around with the towel. it was a kind gesture to give them one, but it most certainly wouldn’t be able to dry them off, especially with how soaked they had been. the click of a door was what made them go out of their trance, their pointy ears slightly perking up at the sudden noise that was made. they looked over to the side, watching the well-kept man speed-walking back to the kitchen. mayor had given the pitch-black haired person a nod and a smile.
the person raised their brow, confused on what the barista is doing. they shook it off. they work here, probably just going right back to work… is what the pitch-black haired person had thought.. that is, until, they were snapped out of their daze when a muffin was placed in front of their field of vision. glancing up at the dark-haired man, they gave a look of confusion.
‘’it’s on the house.’’ the barista gave the person a smile, slowly making their way across from them. ‘’but… why?’’ the person’s voice was raspy, speaking of dehydration still. after taking another swig of water and clearing their throat, they spoke once more. ‘’i..i’ve never been here before, either. i’ve done nothing to deserve this.’’ the person looked in front of them, the man had taken a seat across from the pitch-black haired person.
he chuckled, slowly tapping his fingers on the table. ‘’i thought of giving you something nice, sir. you seemed to be in rough shape earlier, so i had thought giving you something on the house would take away your worries.’’ the man said, slowly sliding the muffin right in front of the other. the person slowly reached out, grabbing the muffin and examining it.
the color was a dark-brown, with tiny black dots scattering all over it. in the middle of it, there was a smiley face in the middle that was drawn in whip cream. an amused smile spread across the others face and they slowly took a bite out of the chocolate muffin.
it tasted amazing. it was warm, and the flavor of chocolate was whirling around on their taste buds. they took their time on chewing it, savoring the flavor. the person had never regularly had food, or had time to remind themselves that they need to eat. since it had been so long, eating the food that had been presented in front of him was a whole game changer. they looked up at the other, eating in front of others was always such a nerve-wracking thing. they slowly set the muffin back down, their gaze falling down to the ground.
‘’thank you….’’ the person slowly looked up, trying to meet the other’s gaze. the barista could sense that they were trying to refer to him by name. the barista chuckled, splaying their hands out on the table. ‘’..mayor.’’ the man lifted one of those hands to the other, hovering right above the muffin that was just giving. ‘’syntax.’’
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mayor huffed, running a hand through his hair. today had been one of the most tiring days for the coffee shop. and it was boring, oh so boring. mayors’ favorite customer, syntax, hadn’t shown up all day. it made the man-behind-the-counter to worry, maybe he was sick? his eyes flickered over to the window. it was pouring out, grey fog had surrounded the entirety of the city, making it impossible to see anything outside of the windows.
he could see the silhouette of a few cars driving by the window, and a few people walking by with umbrellas hovering above their head. mayor tapped his fingers on the counter, his eyes scanning around the entirety of the coffee shop. there would usually be around twenty to twenty-five people in the place, but there had only been ten. he was glad though, no stress would be put on him for the day and he can relax.
his eyes then flickered to the clock, the place was going to close in an hour. the dark-haired man started to prepare for closing time. putting away the leftover food, drinks to keep them well and refrigerated, and cleaning up the unoccupied tables. he started off with the first one, seeing that as the easiest since there hadn’t been much food left out this time.
or, that’s what he was going to do. that is, until, he could see a figure running right towards the door, gripping onto their soaking wet back, having a few books tucked into the nook of their arm. their hair was damp, blowing back in the fierce wind. the barista could recognize that person from anywhere, and that person was the one who hadn’t shown up today.
syntax.
the soaking man ran right inside of the place, letting out heaving breaths. mayor had quickly ran to the man’s side, guiding him towards the front counter. ‘’syntax, are you alright?’’ the man in question had his head hung low, his hands were preoccupied in his hair. ‘’ye-yes, yes im alright.’’ he sounded exhausted and out of breath. the pitch-black haired man looked right into the blue eyes, mayor could see the glasses were crooked, barely on the college student’s face.
‘’i’ll go get you some water and a muffin, please have a seat syntax.’’ syntax could only nod, giving the barista a warm smile. ‘’thank you.’’ the college student made his way to a chair, letting out a deep breath. he had been running in the pouring ran for 20 minutes, it would have gone faster, if his car hadn’t just stopped working out of nowhere.
mayor walked to the back, opening up the fridge and grabbing two water bottles, just in case the man was extremely dehydrated. since, knowing the student, they tend to forget to take care of himself. the barista knew it was hard for him to remember, especially with the extreme work-load he had gotten every single day. the barista wish he knew how to do syntax’s work, he would love to help the student out. but whatever syntax had been learning now, was extremely foreign to the other.
the barista made his way to where they keep the muffins, grabbing the usual chocolate-chip one syntax had always ordered. instead of just getting only one thing for the man, he had taken a few cookies as well. the dark-haired man grabbed a plate, placing the food down on the center of it. mayor put the plate on a tray, placing the two bottles on-top, beginning to make his way out of the back.
syntax had his laptop in front of him, the same purple laptop he always carried around. the man looked distressed, constantly tapping the ‘ON’ button but nothing was appearing on the screen. mayor could hear a sorrowful sigh escape the man’s lips and he can’t help the frown that spreads across his face. ‘’i’m sorry about the laptop, syn.’’ the barista carefully placed the tray down, putting his unoccupied hand on the man’s shoulder.
another sigh left the pitch-black haired man’s lips, his dark-brown eyes locked onto the sky-blue ones. ‘’it’s fine, really. i’ll have it fixed up again.’’ the barista raised a brow. again? ‘’this had happened more then once?’’ syntax nodded, breaking the eye-contact he had with the other, his gaze falling back down to the laptop. ‘’remember when we first met?’’ something seemed to click into the barista’s head, remembering the sad-expression on the man’s face.
‘’do you think the rain affected it? maybe some water had gotten inside of it.. it could possibly be the case because, the uh..’’ water began dripping out of the laptop. the pitch-black haired man ran a hand through his hair, his brows were furrowed and a long frown spread across his face. ‘’…i-i’ll try and get it fixed.’’ syntax looked at the man, adjusting the green glasses that were slowly slipping off of his face. ‘’it’ll cost a lot, b-but i can try and find a way around it.’’ the mayor’s brows went in a sort of u-shape.
‘’if you ever need help with that, im always working.’’ the barista suggested, giving the man a warm smile. ‘’i’ll be happy to help with whatever.’’ the smile on the barista’s face grew when he saw syntax having his own sort of smile forming on his face. ‘’thank you.’’ the college student looked away, a light pink dusting his tan face.
‘’anytime.’’
mayor came back to the present, realizing how much this situation DID seem similar to when they first met. ‘’hey, think about it this way! we can go somewhere together and get it fixed.’’ mayor paused, a light blush spreading across his face. ‘’unless, you’re ok with that.’’ syntax locked his eye’s with the other, pushing his green glasses right back on his face. ‘’i don’t mind at all.’’