#coffeefic

Surprise!! Originally begun in 2013 and sent out via email to a few friends and then an increasingly large mailing list, I've now decided to archive my long-running, multi-arc coffee shop AU Fate/Coffee online to make it more accessible. While there are some things I'd definitely do differently now, there's some writing in here that I'm quite proud of, and this piece of work is such a huge part of my creative development that I want to celebrate it. You'll be able to find it all here!

I'm in the slow process of getting everything uploaded, starting from the beginning (going back to zero, you could say...)! At time of posting, the first 6 chapters are up. I've set the (hopefully doable?!) deadline of Christmas 2025, since that's when Act 5 takes place. Can you believe that real life has now caught up to the big timeskip? :,)

first off, I can immediately recognize the influences this has had on my own style of writing. VERY descriptive, lots of establishment of tone and setting

CU! CU IS HERE AND HE'S STEALING CEREAL I FORGOT THIS PART

....How does Cu know that Diarmuid can't cook a casserole? Like, casseroles aren't hard. Was it a FANCY casserole?? With little decorative pie crust pieces or something??? Knowing Sola, maybe.

but also Cu is right she's acting sus.

"Don't accept her food!" LIKE SHE'S SOME KIND OF FAE

also the switch to Waver's POV is fucking delightful, what a grouchy little shit jsdklfsdl

but also now that I've been working retail for the past several years, like, I GET IT. there really is always that one coworker who is disgustingly chipper and put together and it's like. How. Stop that.

MEDUSA AND TINY SAKURA

....tiny Shinji, too?

THERE SHE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD (and Dia seems to think so, too!)

𝗔/𝗡: 𝗜 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗺 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲. 𝗦𝗼, 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲 (𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁)! 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗼 @aomyshin​ 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝘁. 𝗔𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘆𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗼’𝘀 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 @ ka_aeyass 𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘄, 𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆!

𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚? ⇒ 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧?

You place your mug down with a contented sigh, already missing the taste.

“How is it?” Akira asks. There’s a charming smile painted on his lips and a sparkle of mirth in his onyx eyes. You’re just barely at eye-level with him as you sit comfortably on one of Leblanc’s barstools, basking in the pleasant silence that is closing time. The TV is on but it’s just a buzz of noise and a flash of bright lights every now and then. The café has always adorned its warm wood tones and its colorful mosaic accents that would make even the most alert want to close their eyes and fall asleep. Hell, you’re already falling victim to its effects. But not Akira.

He’s staring at you. He’s been staring at you, and the undivided, adoring attention sends your heart fluttering. You can’t help but avert your eyes from his prying eyes and fiddle with the sleeves of his gray winter coat he insisted on you wearing. You were drowning in it, just like you were drowning in his gaze all you can feel is warm, warmth, and warmer. 

“Mmm,” You hummed sleepily, bringing your hands back to the mug to steal some of its heat for yourself. You hear him let out a soft chuckle at your actions, but he makes no move to prompt you for your answer. Akira is one of the most patient people you’ve ever met and it shows. He’s letting you take your time with your answer because he’s drinking in something for himself- your reactions. Every smile, every shift of your attention, every little detail about you is under his surveillance. Monitoring for your comfort, discomfort, safety, and whatever else your mystery of a boyfriend does in his spare time. The thought makes you heavy-eyed with trust and you’re left wondering how you’re going to get home without falling asleep on the train. “...it’s good.”

“Good?” He questions in confirmation, as his smile widens with amusement. You’re flooded with that familiar feeling of warm, warmth, and warmer as you give a sleepy nod. 

“Great. Wonderful… Perfect, even…” You correct, offering a small smile as you bring the mug back to your lips. Tilting your head back, you drink what was in your cup. The masterful blend blankets your taste buds with the sweetness of chocolate and the bitterness of what you could only assume to be expresso. You take one gulp, then another, and another, until you’re down to a third of the drink left. Slowly, you bring your mug back down to rest on the wood once more. “...what did you say the name was again?”

“Mocha.” He repeats. Short and simple. Straight to the point. “It tastes like hot chocolate, doesn’t it?”

You nod your head. It does taste just like hot chocolate- just with a hint of bitterness. The taste is new, exciting, and not at all what you’d expect it to be. It leaves you feeling greedy for more and more of the taste, and judging by the look on Akira’s face- you could only assume he knows.

“It’s just milk, chocolate, and espresso. I figured this would be the best to start off with since you’re a first-time coffee drinker.” He explains softly, and you can’t but fluster at the memory of the look of absolute surprise on his face when you told him that you have never had coffee before, early today. It was ironic, yes, never having coffee while dating a skilled coffee maker. But it was only a matter of time before he found out and changed that. Besides, it’s December! What better time for a hot drink than now? “I didn’t put as much espresso as it usually calls for in the recipe since you’re new to this. I didn’t want to overwhelm you with the flavor…”

He trails off, a dusty blush coating his cheeks as you look up at him in awe. The absolute care and attention he put into this experience leaves you breathless with affection. It’s such a simple moment- yet it’s a simple moment that you both could just share. Every day with him and every action makes the fondness in your heart grow and grow. 

“Hey...Aki?” You whisper, hands clutching the mug once more.

“Hmm?” He questions, eyes studying your figure with a soft expression.

You don’t respond right away, but you know. There’s no denying it. Every passing moment you spend with him creates that same feeling inside of you. The one you’ve learned with him. The one only he can bring. The one that only he is.

So you tilt your head to the side and give a closed eye smile.

“Thank you.” You whisper out earnestly- as if all the emotions of this moment, your relationship, and your life could be captured in two words. “Thank you.”

But you know that’s not true.

 In reality, it’s three words:

Warm…

Warmth…

it starts out as diarturia coffee shop au (arturia is a police officer, diarmuid the barista at the place where she and kiritsugu get their morning caffeine) but by act 3-ish their relationship arc is over and the focus has moved to things like magus family drama and The Deal With Lancelot. from then on act 4 is a lengthy flashback to kiritsugu’s past and act 5 is the fsn kids navigating young adulthood several years later. 

one of its strongest points imo is that despite starting as a ship thing and pairing up a lot of characters its not afraid to let relationships end too and every character has at least one and often multiple strong loving relationships outside their romantic partner. the mix of initially zero and stay night but later also other fates means there’s a bunch of cool crossover dynamics, my personal favourite being that cu is super close friends with kiritsugu and also dated maiya for a while

Medea and Souichirou’s meeting, from @derpcakes ‘s Coffee Fic (Coffee Sips 1)

Let us tell the story of a certain coffee shop.

Diarmuid is running away, again, leaving a scandal behind and trying to start fresh in a new city where no one except his best friend knows him. But his plans to lay low and not get attached go sideways when he meets a young detective who orders her coffee as "Saber"...

Coffeefic, now on AO3! Originally begun in 2013 and sent out via email to a few friends and then an increasingly large mailing list, I've now decided to archive this online to make it more accessible. While there are some things I'd definitely do differently now, there's some writing in here that I'm quite proud of, and this piece of work is such a huge part of my creative development that I want to celebrate it. So, whether you're a new or returning guest to The Crossroads, enjoy!

A series of short stories - snippets of daily life, as-yet-untold character backstory, and goofy scenes - from across the Fate/Coffeeverse and from various points in the timeline.

Coffeefic, now on AO3! Originally begun in 2013 and sent out via email to a few friends and then an increasingly large mailing list, I've now decided to archive this online to make it more accessible. While there are some things I'd definitely do differently now, there's some writing in here that I'm quite proud of, and this piece of work is such a huge part of my creative development that I want to celebrate it. So, whether you're a new or returning guest to The Crossroads, enjoy!