#then it was decided that Rud's mom is alive in like a nursing home so he just swings by to talk to his mom

[sqlmn]

So as one does with their OCs........... (shoves them into an AU).

Cafe AU where Clifford is a younger new hire and the person who's supposed to train him is just kinda. Apathetic at first. But quickly melts and decides they would die for this little guy. This is their new favorite person. It's totally normal to demand to be on as many of the same shifts as possible as a coworker. And every shift the mentor tries to Be Normal (aka just uh huh's when Cliff talks to him and not prod and pry into his entire life). And mentor is just super good at latte art so they love to show off to Cliff.

Which pays off when Clifford's mom shows up one day and is talking to him while mentor stands at a slight distance (to be normal) and hears "and this is my best friend!" and welp. That sealed it. They will now commit a murder for their favorite coworker if required.

(Katale and Rudyard also exist but they're not coworkers so they're not here. Also in the AU, Clifford just has a name tag for Cliff and mentor doesn't use their real name on their tag but writes Maverick..... based on a tumblr post someone linked me.)