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mudmanworld · 8 years ago

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Dirty Chai

My entry for the KidLaw vs. KilGuin Event, thanks for hosting the event @kidlawproject

Week 2 theme: Summer Job

Summary: This was a nice coffee shop. But there were lots of nice coffee shops around, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world if Kid were to be banned from this particular one (2.2k).

AO3

Thud. Thud. Thud.

“Maybe you need to bang your head louder to get his attention?” Bonney reached across the table and slammed Kid’s head down hard enough to make the bowl of sugar sachets jump.

“Bitch!” Kid snarled as he jerked his head up to scowl at Bonney. The centre of his forehead had already reddened a little.

Bonney looked right passed Kid’s glare, unaffected, and towards the counter of this tiny packed-out coffee shop. “Nope. Didn’t notice,” she confirmed.

Kid leaned back in his seat and rubbed his forehead. “You were not the right person to bring on this operation,” Kid said coldly.

Bonney let out a loud burst of laughter. “Yeah, well. I’m all you’ve got. Killer is sick of waiting for you to make a move.”

Kid resigned with a defeated sigh, slumping back in his seat. It was true. This was Kid’s fifth day in a row here and he had made zero progress.

If the start of summer break wasn’t a glorious enough thing in itself, to make it even better a new barista had also just started working here, and he was exactly Kid’s type. So much so that every time Kid went up to the register to hit the guy up, it was like someone clicked delete on the folder in Kid’s brain titled ‘smooth pick-up lines’. And then in a moment of nervous fluster he would order the first beverage that came to mind, and then walk off kicking himself.

It was definitely the eyes. They were so light brown they were practically golden. The dark shadows under the man’s eyes and the thick black lashes only made the irises seem to glow more. Whenever they looked at Kid while they waited for an order to be placed Kid felt as though they were staring into his soul. It felt equally invasive and addictive. And then there was also the smooth caramel coloured skin which made the man look downright exotic, like a god trapped in human form. The way the man’s hair bordered his face complimented his angular features. He had thick sideburns, black as soot, which went all the way down to his jawline, complimented with a neat goatee.

Bonney idly rolled an empty take-away cup back and forth using the tip of her finger. Even though there were four tiny tables inside the coffee shop, it was always so busy that they only served in take-away form.

“Alright, so. You’ve bought me a blueberry muffin, a chocolate muffin, a protein ball, and three cups of coffee. I would say we have about fifteen minutes before all that hits the bottom. So that’s how long you have to make your move.”

Kid laughed. It was these crude and unladylike comments that made him adore Bonney.

Bonney rested her chin on her hand and smiled at Kid, the type of smile that she knew something he didn’t. Because she did: earlier Killer had described to Bonney which barista Kid had his eye on, and then Bonney had taken it upon herself to come in and speak to him. Turned out his name was Law. When Bonney questioned whether Kid stood a chance with him, the man hadn’t given a clear yes, but certainly didn’t say no either.

“What?” Kid asked.

“Oh, nothing. You’re just a bit cute when you’re nervous. Not to mention extremely frustrating. Since when do you have confidence issues, anyway?”

“I dunno. Every time I order he still asks for my name, like he doesn’t remember me at all.”

Bonney couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes. “Oh gee, not like he would serve hundreds of people…can totally understand how you would take personal offense to that, you poor thing,” she said as she patted Kid’s hand in false empathy.

“Thanks,” Kid replied with an equal dose of sarcasm. “But like…it’s different in stories: the coffee shop is never this busy…they have time to talk–”

“Okay, what on earth have you been reading?” Bonney asked, eyeing Kid with the same level of concern as a parent questioning their child about drug use.

“Nothing. Just talking about ‘in general’, y’know.”

“No, I don’t know. Nor care. Now stop being such a goddamn pussy and go over there.”

“I don’t really get why that’s an insult, it’s one of the tougher pieces of anatomy.”

“You’re changing the subject,” Bonney pointed out with growing irritation.

Kid shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He looked over his shoulder back towards the counter. He could see the black peaks of hair poking up over the coffee machine. Aside from him there were two other staff: a girl with short orange hair, and another with long blue hair. They all rotated positions, so the person who took your order would also be the person who made it. Meaning every time Kid lined up he had a one in three chance of getting served by the hot tattooed piece of ass. Kid’s mind wandered off, thinking about if the dark haired man had more tattoos hidden under his clothing, aside from the ones on his hands and forearms which were nicely revealed by the way his sleeves were rolled. Damn, that was Kid’s weakness.

A nudge from Bonney’s foot under the table stole Kid away from his thoughts, and he turned to face her.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” she began, after regaining some of her patience. She crossed her arms on the table, perched her breasts upon them and leant forward. But before she could continue she was cut off by Kid’s snort of laughter.

“Get your boobs off the table, you know they have no persuasive power over me.”

“Habit,” she admitted, and leaned back slightly. “No shame in using what you’ve got.”

“True.”

“Seriously, though,” Bonney picked up where she had left off. “Stand your ass up, walk over there and pretend you have a single ounce of confidence in you, and ask for his number.”

Kid contemplated for a moment. Bonney’s words were meant to be motivational and yet somehow they were having the opposite effect. “Maybe we should leave,” Kid suggested, sounding defected. “I don’t want to be ‘that annoying guy’ who asks for his number while he’s trying to work.”

“Then wait ‘til his shift finishes to talk to him.”

“I’m not a stalker,” Kid said with outrage.

“Gee, not at all. Not like this is your fifth day here in a row.”

“Yeah…we should definitely leave.”

“So you’re telling me, you’ve made me sit here for over half an hour and it was all for nothing? No one wastes my time, Kid, not even you. Don’t make me blackmail you.”

“Pfft, blackmail me with what? I’m clean.”

A sinister smile came over Bonney’s features. “If you don’t do it…I’m going to yell ‘I can’t believe you cheated on me with my mother’ loud enough to get all eyes on you, forever ruining any chance you might have with Mr. Sexy Tatts. You’ve got five seconds.”

“You wouldn’t,” Kid said, more hopeful than certain.

“I’ve got nothing to lose here. Five…four…”

“Don’t.”

“Three…”

Kid abruptly stood, but made no other move.

“Twooooo…” Bonney drew the word out, giving Kid his final chance before she screwed her best friend over.

“I hate you,” was all Kid had to say before turning and walking to join the queue.

With each step closer to the register his heart raced faster. It didn’t help that Bonney was staring like a hawk the entire time.

He arrived. And against the odds, it was the man with golden eyes who faced Kid on the other side of the counter. Every time Kid saw him up close he noticed something new about his appearance. This time it was the double golden rings in each ear. The thought of taking them into his mouth, and running the tip of his tongue between them…

“What would you like?”

Kid swallowed thickly around the saliva that had built up in his mouth. “Uh…I’ll have…a surprise?” Kid said out of nowhere, offering a nervous grin.

The dark haired man raised an eyebrow. “You want me to choose your beverage?” He asked, just to clarify.

“Yeah,” Kid laughed, trying to ignore the way his cheeks were getting hot.

“I get paid to mindlessly make coffee and you are asking me to use my brain,” the other murmured through a slight smile as he contemplated the options displayed on the register touchscreen. A wicked smirk appeared when he selected something. “Alright. That’ll be four dollars. I’ll call you when it’s done…Eustass, was it?”

“Yep,” Kid confirmed with a huge grin.

Kid walked back over to Bonney, clearly beaming. She picked up on his excitement and returned it in the form of a full face smile.

“How’d it go?!” She asked before Kid even arrived, squirming in her seat.

“Great.”

“Did you get his number?”

“No…”

“His name?”

“Ah…no,” Kid answered, his smile beginning to fade. With Bonney’s interview it suddenly didn’t feel like such an achievement.

“Then what?” She asked, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

“I saw him smile.”

Bonney’s face went deadpan. She felt like it was her turn to bang her head on the table. Neither of them had anything to say until Kid’s name was called out a minute later.

As Kid approached the section of the counter below the ‘Collect Here’ sign, he noticed the barista had his long slender fingers resting upon the lids of two separate take-away cups.

“Pick one,” he said, offering a smirk.

“Hm, this one,” Kid said as he pointed to the one on the right.

For a split second the barista almost looked disappointed with the decision, before quickly disguising it with another smirk. “Enjoy,” he said as he slid the chosen cup over to Kid’s waiting hand.

“Thanks. What’s in the other one?”

“I suppose you’ll never know,” the dark haired man said slowly, teasingly.

“Law! We need you to serve,” the girl with orange hair called out impatiently, ruining the suspense of the moment.

Law broke away from Kid’s gaze to drop the other cup in the bin, before taking his place at the register.

Kid stood there for a moment while the hot cup warmed his hand. He recognised what this moment was. It was one of those irritating occurrences when you only had one chance to find something out, and if you didn’t take it you would be left wondering, sometimes forever.

This was a nice coffee shop. But there were lots of nice coffee shops around, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he were to be banned from this particular one.

Kid placed his cup down. He laughed with the sudden surge of confidence that came with being spontaneously ridiculous.

The following seconds were all a blur as Kid not-so-gracefully jumped the counter, knocking over a ton of stacked up coffee cups on the way. He salvaged the cup from the bin; cracked up laughing in response to the orange haired girl who was currently yelling at him; jumped back over the counter; collected his original cup; and then ran for the door. He was so glad he had thought to glance back on his way out, because Law’s shocked face was even better than his smirk.

Caught up in the moment he had completely forgotten Bonney was there with him. However she was quick to catch up, laughing as much as Kid while she demanded an explanation.

Only once the coffee shop was out of sight did Kid realise how strangely light the second cup was. He opened it, and inside found a napkin which read ‘Law’ followed by a mobile number. It was difficult to tell who was more excited out of Kid and Bonney who were both grinning like they were mad.

Now Bonney could brag to Killer that she had succeeded where he hadn’t. Funnily enough Killer was Bonney’s favourite person to be competitive with, despite him not having a competitive nature at all.

Kid took a sip from the other cup, sucking off the content that had spilled around the lid from the running. It tasted awesome, but he had no idea what it was. He passed it to Bonney to determine.

“Dirty chai,” she confirmed.

“Like a chai latte mixed with coffee, or something?”

“Exactly. This one’s good. If they screw up the ratio it’s kinda sickly.”

Kid snorted at that. Someone would have to really screw it up for it to be bad enough for Bonney not to consume it.

She took two more large gulps and Kid had to practically pry her fingers off the cup to get it back before it was finished.

XXX

Meanwhile back in the coffee shop Law was eagerly awaiting an opportunity to sneak a look at his phone.

When the chance arose he found two new messages from the same unknown number. The first read ‘best dirty chai’ and the second read ‘also sorry about the mess.’

Law smirked to himself. Funny to believe this was all Eustass-ya had to say after jumping over the goddamn counter. There were forty minutes left until Law’s shift finished, and he was counting them down until when he could reply. He already had something in mind.

#KidLaw #kidlawvskilguin #eustass kid #trafalgar law #jewelry bonney #coffee shop #sfw #barista law

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