#markiri

I’ve been without computer for a couple days, but @averymerrymorning mentioned a fishekus coffee shop au and it’s all I’ve been able to think about so

Ashe is a regular customer at a local small coffee shop that’s fairly popular, in part because of its good coffee, but also because of its great service with baristas like Firi and the musician Markus, who comes in every Tuesday and Friday to perform.

Whenever he plays, the coffee shop draws quite a crowd, but Markus only ever pays attention to the reactions of two people

1: The sweet barista who applauds and cheers after every song, regardless of others’ reactions or even whether or not the performance was all that good

2: The regular who by all accounts must have a caffeine addiction, what with how often she’s here and how many cups she goes through in one sitting. She barely seems to register Markus’ playing, which is why it feels like a major victory whenever he can get her to smile or give a polite snap 

Firi is a barista who’s struggling to afford living expenses with her roommate Narn, who most would consider to be strange, but she loves

Despite her hardships, she takes every day in stride and always has a smile on her face

She’s immediately charmed by Ashe, with her messy hair and the eyes of someone who hasn’t seen a good night’s sleep in years 

But Firi also loves listening to the local guitarist Markus play, and finds it endearing whenever he goes out of his way to strike up a conversation with her when he’s setting up or breaking down

She quickly learns just how Ashe and Markus likes their coffee, and is always sure to pay their drinks a little extra attention and fill them to the brim

(This does eventually cause a problem where Ashe and Markus only like the coffee she makes, because it’s never right when someone else does it)

Ashe is a grad student at a local university, working on her M.S. in environmental sciences and was just looking for a nice place to do her work and forcibly keep her body awake 

Then she fell for the barista, resulting in even longer periods of time spent at the shop and even more coffee nervously chugged down because Was Firi looking at me or was that just my imagination

Markus the guitarist is cute too, she supposes, but she’s too stressed about his occasional flirting with Firi to think about it for too long 

She’s pretty sure he’s constantly glaring at her to psych her out

(Spoiler: He was staring, and it wasn’t because he was trying to compete with her for Firi’s attention)

After much flirting and skirting around it, Ashe finally asks out Firi, who responds with a cheery "Yes!“

Markus overhears and congratulates them (“well it was about time”) when Firi invites him along on the date

“I mean, if its alright with you Ashe, of course”

Surprised and a little reluctant, Ashe agrees

And much to her shock they all have a wonderful time! The date is all laughter and compliments and kindness, and she’s pretty sure there isn’t a moment when she’s not smiling 

So they book the next date

And the next