John Doe
Title: John Doe
Chapter: One-shot
Author: kiroyo
Genre: Fluff, Humour
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: I own this page of lies.
Rating: G
Pairing: Aoi x Uruha, Reita x Kai, Hiroto x Ruki
Synopsis: It's been a month and Aoi hasn't uncovered the mysterious customer's name. With his over enthusiastic co-workers help, will he get the answer he seeks?
Comments: A café fic.
“No luck huh?”
Aoi sighed and shrugged off the nudge his good friend cum co-worker gave him. Kai grinned, “Soon Aoi, soon.” The barrister on the other hand, rolled his eyes. “Sure Kai. That’s what you said a month ago.” The said person froze in the midst of refilling coffee beans into the machine. “What!? It’s been a month already!? …You suck.” Aoi scoffed and replied dryly, “Thanks man. Thanks so much.”
At that, a rustic bell chimed and a certain individual - tall, blonde and full of what-made-Aoi-nearly-drop-the-glass-out-of-his-hands came in. Before Aoi could calm his heart racing at full speed, a squeak made his way into his ear and something - or rather someone knocked the air out of his lungs. “HE’S FINALLY ALONE AOI. NOW’S YOUR-“ A large hand clamped over Kai’s mouth and the other pressed him down on his head, shoving the brunette under the cashier till. The subject of their short exchange however, looked over and shot Aoi a wry smile before stepping aside and allowed a much shorter blonde to enter the café.
Aoi released his hold on his friend and sighed once more. Disgruntled and disheveled, Kai flipped him off and headed to the corner of the café where another blonde customer sat. A regular, and at the same time, a particular individual who shared the same problem as Aoi once, but managed to top it off with a happy ending.
“What did Aoi do to you? Your hair’s all stuck up like that.” The blonde man laughed as he ran coarse fingers through dark brown locks in a lousy attempt to smooth them down. “Shut up Rei. He’s being a jerk as usual.” The customer named Reita chuckled, “It’s okay. It makes you look cute like that.” Kai blushed. “No, cuter actually,” Reita grinned. Kai’s blush deepened and suddenly the hairline crack on the wall become interesting by three hundred fold and demanded his fullest attention.
Shoulders slumped, the other barrister looked away from the couple. That was until his ears picked up something and he perked up.
“-ru-“ The shorter blonde’s eyes widened in question as his taller friend stared him down. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just don’t say my name. Do you want to make the orders or should I get them for you?”
“Why? You’re even weirder than usual today. You get them. I wanna get started on my work.”
The subject of Aoi’s attention stood up and walked over to the counter where Aoi was. “2 espressos.” Again, Aoi asked the question he has been asking for a month but never got the answer to, “Alright, name please?”
“Ruki.”
Aoi’s eyebrows shot up. Ruki huh? It did suit him, kinda. And didn’t his friend call him Ru-something before he got interrupted? At that, Aoi grinned. He had won! Victory was his. Grabbing a black marker, he scribbled down the name before telling Ruki to return to his seat until his order was ready.
Once Aoi saw Ruki heading back to his table, he scuttled over to the other side of the long counter and called for Kai. “Kai!” he whispered as loudly as he could, trying to remain out of the uncovered John Doe’s earshot. Peering over, Reita poked the brunette and pointed in Aoi’s direction. Kai skipped over and rested his elbows on the wooden counter, cupping his chin on his palms, “Yes sir? How may I help you?” That triggered off another swipe from the older one but Kai was quick to duck this time. And Reita wondered aloud nightly how Kai got such good reflexes… But Kai’s subconscious told him not to stray to that.
“I know his name!” Aoi said, in a controlled tone and volume between a loud whisper and hushed yell. Kai’s eyes widened. “Are you serious!? Holy cow. Finally Aoi! How?” Aoi grinned so widely he was sure his face would split. “I’ll tell you later. For now, I have 2 espressos to serve.”
A few coffee beans and moments later, Aoi placed two steaming miniature cups of black coffee on the collection counter and he merrily called, “Ruki! Your orders are ready!” Aoi’s eyes gleamed as he heard shuffling from the table near the window. However, his face quickly fell when the person who rose from his seat to collect the drinks was 10 cm shorter than expected. But being an employee of the service line of an F&B industry, Aoi managed an easy smile as he thanked him for the wait.
He had just gotten trolled.
Suddenly exhausted, he retreated a few steps and sat on the kitchen counter where their manager prohibited human asses from coming into contact with the metallic surface but he wasn’t around today and Aoi was too demoralized to give a damn.
“What’s wrong Aoi?” Kai asked, poking his head in front of his sullen friend as he joined him on the metal table top. A soft unintelligible mumble of what sounded like ‘nothing’ came. Pouting, Kai slung his arm over Aoi and gave him a slight squeeze. “Alright then. If there’s anything, just give me a yell okay. You know I’m here for you. Anytime, anywhere. At least, I’ll be right here for the next 3 hours until Pon comes in.” He smiled, and that smile widened a little more when Aoi managed an appreciative grin too.
The next hour slowly ticked by as Aoi spent most of his time moping in the kitchen. Their resident baker, Nao, was outside at where Aoi was supposed to be. However instead of brewing coffee for customers on the floor, he was spinning up concoctions for himself behind the counter. Their manager would throw a bitch fit at the end of the month after stock taking but Nao was too far gone to care.
Meanwhile, at a particular table where 2 little empty cups of espressos sat, the real Ruki asked his friend, “So how’re you gonna spend your vacation? Have you found a job yet?”
“Nah I haven’t.”
Ruki snorted. “You’re hopeless you know that.”
The taller one sighed. “I know.”
Ruki tapped his chin, “How about working here? The uniform will look good on you.”
“The fuck Ruki? Are you enticing me to work here solely because of the uniform!?”
“Of course not! I mean, look around. It’s situated away from the city and not too far from where you live. It’s rarely crowded and you’ll have an easy time here. Besides, the staffs here seem nice enough. Though I think they’re kinda weird, but I think you’ll get along with them just fine. It’s not as if you’re not strange enough yourself too.” At that last sentence, Ruki grinned.
His friend rolled his eyes. However he replied, “I guess… I could give this a shot.”
A week later, Kai and Nao were seated upon the metal table top, swinging their legs merrily while chomping on chocolate cupcakes the chef had freshly baked when suddenly a loud yell rang across the shop.
“WHAT THE- ARE THE BOTH OF YOU -ING DOING!?”
Kai’s eyes widened in horror and Nao choked on the last of his cupcake as they both scrambled off the counter. “We-we are sorry Meevs!”
The tallest man stomped a large foot on the ground and pointed a spindly finger at the offenders. “It’s MANAGER to you and MEEVS outside MY CAFÉ. Why the -ing hell are you guys perched up there again? Get your pruney asses there one more time and I WILL fire you.” Literally, as their Manager lit up a cigarette and pointed the glowing end in their direction.
Tilting their heads at the non-smoking sign behind the tall man, the counter boy and baker ran over to their manager and gave him a tight squeeze, thanking him for his holy graciousness and pranced back to their stations.
Manager Miyavi pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled deeply. Then he turned to the new hire next to him who was almost just as tall, and apologised. “I’m sorry about earlier on. Those two are idiots but I’m sure you’ll get along with them just fine. The cashier guy is Kai and the one who was sputtering and choking on something is Nao, who’s also our baker by the way.” Miyavi started towards the direction of the store. “C’mon now I’ll introduce you to the last guy. Oh no, there’s another one. Pon’s the other barrister around here and he should be in soon. Provided he isn’t late. Again.” Miyavi frowned.
The new employee nodded, and his head started to spin a little when his brain matched his manager’s words with his friend’s from a week before. Right, they were all weirdos.
Miyavi came to a sudden halt in his tracks and the person following him collided into a pillar next to him. “Ah you look confused! Is it because of how I was speaking earlier on? I censor my vulgarities when working and in the presence of customers so you only hear the continuous tense and whatever’s left of it! C’mon now, let’s hurry so you can get started!”
The slightly taller person rubbed his head. He was pretty certain that a bruise would form over the next couple of hours and he had no idea what his superior just rambled. Nonetheless, he still followed him into the store room.
“Aoi!”
The black haired employee turned around. “Oh Meevs you’re in today?”
“Yup! And quit being so informal around me. I AM your employer for god’s sake. What’s wrong with you all!? Anyway this new guy here is-“
“Uruha…?”
Manager Miyavi clapped his hands in delight. “Oh you both know each other already? How great! I’ll leave you two be then!” With that, he skipped out of the room.
The one named Uruha tugged on his name tag and grinned.
Aoi, on the other hand, felt the room closing in on him as he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming after passing out from slight claustrophobia in this small enclosed space full of coffee beans and utensils or if this was reality and John Doe was standing right before him revealing his identity.
“Hi Aoi.”
“… Hi.” Aoi shuffled his feet. “So uh, you’re not Ruki?”
The taller grinned and shoved his hands into the half apron. “Nope. Apparently not.”
“Ah, I see.”
Behind shy grins and unbeknownst to the two of them behind the store room door, Reita smirked as Kai unwillingly slapped a 50-dollar bill into grinning Ruki’s outstretched hands.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Kai groaned.
“You’re a great friend Kai.” Said Reita, as he rubbed his boyfriend’s shoulders soothingly.
“It’s all in networking my friend~” Pon sang, prancing into the shop as he gave Kai a sneaky wink and kissed Ruki on the cheek.
A/N: Sitting draft since February and it's pretty lengthy and long-winded as compared to my usual fics. Share your thoughts people! Sorry for mia-ing for so long. Been too busy with life and vice versa. Xoxo!