#mimobecca

I’ve always wanted to write a Mimobecca fic for a while and I remembered it was BC femslash month and I have free will. You don’t need to know much else other than what’s in the tags but as a personal note, since only three of Rebecca’s siblings have canon names (Luca, Marco, and Pem), I came up with my own names for them and (from oldest to youngest) all of Rebecca’s siblings are > Luca, Marco, Micha, Rachel, and Pem. That’s all you need to know.

“You’re 16, you can’t be tired.” That was a phrase that Rebecca had heard practically every day. It was one of the reasons why she was exhausted. Whenever she let out the complaint “I’m tired,” she’d like to go one day without someone telling her about single parents with kids. She wouldn’t deny that it does sound tiring but she was allowed to be tired too. Being 16 years old, trying to maintain a college scholarship, working for minimum wage until 4 in the morning everyday, and being responsible for her five younger siblings that her parents left behind when they died was mentally and emotionally taxing on her and the only word that was appropriate for it was “tired.” She wished that her only problem was being a single mom who worked two jobs. That would be easier and that way people would take her seriously when she let out a “I’m tired.”

She learned that she couldn’t complain about it, though. It only made things worse and didn’t change anything.

That led to her now. Sitting behind the counter, wearing shoes that were falling apart at the soles, and hoping that her siblings were sleeping in the break room. Out of all the things that went wrong in Rebecca’s life, the fact that her boss let them sit while working was something that made her happy.

It was Wednesday in the middle of the night. Surprisingly, no one was here. Not many people wanted coffee or tea at 10 PM on a Wednesday, especially when there was a bar two blocks down and another high quality coffee shop a block in the other direction. For this reason, Rebecca did most of her homework during this shift time. The few times someone would walk in, it was the odd college student or high school student trying to pull an all-nighter for an upcoming test and was sympathetic to the fact that she was doing her homework on the job and didn’t say anything.

Tonight she had to finish a rough draft of a book she skimmed, look over her biology notes, and plan a meeting time for her group project. It was a lot and people already underestimated her abilities since she was still just 16 years old but with everything else going on in her life, trying to prove herself was at the bottom of her list of priorities.

Two hours had passed and so far, only one person had come in. It was someone who was half-asleep and just needed a small latte to get through the night. They probably didn’t even notice that she had a textbook and notebook on her lap when they ordered. They left and now her watch beeped. It was midnight, meaning it was lunch time.

She quietly walked into the breakroom and looked at the table and saw her siblings all sleeping soundly there. She smiled seeing them together and grabbed her lunch bag from her locker.

She went back outside and sat at one of the tables in silence. As she ate, she remembered that she forgot to hang up the out for lunch sign on the door but it was one of those things she had a tendency to overlook when on her shift. Chances of someone coming in for the next 30 minutes were so low she didn’t even bother doing it now that remembered it.

These 30 minutes was the time she never took for granted. There weren’t many times of the day when she could just live in the moment like this. A moment where she didn’t have to do anything. It’s for this reason why she didn’t even do her homework during this time. This was her time and no one could take it away from her.

Before she knew it, the time had passed and it was back to work. Just as she thought, no one came in and it was time to start working again.

She sat back behind the counter. Just four more hours of this and she’ll be done. She had already finished her draft and now she had to finish her notes. At this point, she’d worry about her group project later. It was better to focus on this than anything else.

A couple of hours had passed when she was too exhausted to keep going. That meant all her homework was done and there wasn’t much time left on her shit. She looked down at her watch, it was 2:14, not much time left.

Only one more person came in that night. Judging by the way they were walking and talking, they had come from the bar two blocks down. They managed to slur out a “one black coffee to go, p’ease?”

Black coffee wasn’t too hard to make and she made it as quickly as she could. She didn’t think this person was dangerous but seeing as how they were intoxicated, anything could happen. When she finished it, she quickly passed it to the customer who took it with a smile before leaving.

She took a breath and waited for her watch to beep again.

Rebecca heard her watch start to beep. It was 3:30, about time to start cleaning up. She first snuck another glance at her siblings. Still sleeping. Good. Since only a few people had gotten drinks, all to-go, it was easy to clean up at this time and if she finished early, no one would mind if she closed shop 10 minutes before closing.

She got to work. The shop was small so it didn’t take long to wipe down the tables and put the chairs on them. She walked to the janitor’s office and filled up the mop bucket and started moping everywhere. Due to the fact that she moped practically everyday, she was quick and good at doing it. Her boss never complained about it so she never thought to double check her work.

She checked the time again. It was 3:45. Not bad timing. She dumped out the mop water in the drain and locked the janitor’s office. She was about to head off to the breakroom to get her siblings until she heard the dreaded sound of the bell ring.

Sure it was still technically their open hours but who the hell wants coffee or tea at 3:50 in the morning?

Rebecca couldn’t help but grimace and refused to turn around, as if that would stop this person from making a purchase.

“Oh thank goodness, you’re still opening.” It was a girl’s voice and very breathy, almost like she just ran nonstop for an hour. Even though she was right, Rebecca couldn’t help but be angry. This had only happened to her once before and she got out of it by saying that it takes half an hour to get everything prepared. People who show up at the last minute love getting what they want as soon as possible for some reason but if she couldn’t do it, they would leave on their own. It was a lie but since it sounded believable and no one could disprove it so she got away with it.

Rebecca finally turned around and saw the young girl face-to-face now. It was a petite young girl, with ginger hair, and green eyes. She was wearing a white polo with a matching plaid bow and skirt. She was wearing an orange cardigan on top of her white polo with the Clover Academy insignia embroidered on her left breast. She must’ve been one of those rich girls and she might not take “no” as an answer.

Rebecca had gotten quite good at hiding anger and disappointment in her face so she kept up a stoic face and didn’t let it show that her patience was dwindling by the second, even though she really wanted to.

When the girl had finally caught her breath, she said “I’m sorry to do this to you but umm, can I get a water bottle?”

Suddenly all of the anger dissipated from her. A water bottle was easy. It would take less than a minute to ring up and there wouldn’t be anything to clean afterwards.

Rebecca walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed the first water bottle she saw and started putting in her total. As she was doing that, the young girl had drunk nearly half the bottle, like she hadn’t had any water to drink in days.

“Your total is 100 yul.”

The girl had finally stopped drinking and pulled out her wallet. It was a cute and fancy leather wallet that probably cost more than Rebecca’s monthly salary. The girl pulled out 1,000 yul instead and said “this is the lowest bill I have on me. You can keep the change.”

On a different day, Rebecca would let this go but not today. This girl was interesting. How many other times would she meet a rich girl that comes busting in a coffee shop at this hour, asks only for water, and overpays for it? Besides, she technically still had 8 minutes left on her shift, no harm in asking a question. “What happened to you?”

The girl had just swallowed another gulp of water and took a breath. “It’s really dumb.” She exhaled harshly. “I have a friend who does sports, I don’t remember which one it is, and he had a game last until midnight and I didn’t realize how long it was going to take. When it was over, I realized that I still needed to finish one of my school projects so I worked on that nonstop until an hour ago. When I’m done with school, I usually just ride home on the bus but none of the buses have shifts this late so I decided to run home instead! So I’ve been running nonstop for about an hour just trying to get home before it’s too late.”

Seems like Rebecca’s guess wasn’t too far off. This girl was so scatter-brained, it’s a miracle that made it this far.

It was supposed to be an inside thought but Rebecca accidentally asked it out loud, “who runs nonstop for an hour?”

The girl had just finished her water bottle and put the bottle away in her school bag. “That friend I mentioned who does sports can. I just learned that I can’t.” She giggled at the thought. “Well, I guess I should get going. Thank you so much. You’re a lifesaver.”

If she was running nonstop for an hour, “lifesaver” might not be an exaggeration.

The girl left and Rebecca was about to get back to packing up but she noticed something else as she left. “Where are your shoes?”

Store policy dictates no shoes, no shirt, no service but Rebecca didn’t care about that right now. From the little she knew about her, she probably lost them as she was running around and now she was worried.

The girl looked at her pink socks almost in shock then looked back up. “Oh right, that. When I saw that you put the chairs on the tables, I realized that you must’ve moped already and my shoes were covered in mud from running, so I took them off because I didn’t want to get any on your floor and make you mop again.”

Rebecca couldn’t fight back the blush on her face. That one act of kindness was one of the most thoughtful and considerate things that a stranger had done for her in a long time.

The strange girl left but not before Rebecca wished her safe travels home.

Rebecca went back to close everything. She recorded the money in her till and walked to the breakroom. All of her siblings were still sleeping, good. She looked at the time, it was now 4:01, she took a small sigh of relief. She didn’t have to serve anyone else for the rest of the day.

Now her issue was getting all five of her sleeping siblings back to their apartment. Rebecca would carry the three youngest kids, who would always stay asleep at this hour, while she’d wake up Luca and Marco to carry their bags. This part was a pain in the neck but it was their lives and there was no use in fighting it.

She first shook Luca and Marco awake, she hated doing this but that’s how it was for them. They were half awake when she explained it was time to go home. They both groaned but listened. She wished she didn’t have to do this to them but she didn’t have the ability to carry all of them and all their bags at the same time. It was also better if they were half asleep while doing this. It gave them an incentive to go home as quickly as possible and go back to sleep soon.

While Luca and Marco were grabbing everyone’s bags, Rebecca was grabbing her other siblings, who she hoped would stay asleep. She put Pem on her back, Rachel under her left arm, and Micha under her right arm. It was uncomfortable to say the least but it was the only way to carry them. By the time she was done, Luca and Marco had also finished. They stood near the exit, eyes half shut, holding their school bags, diaper bags, and Rebecca’s second work bag. They had everything, it was time to go.

The Scarlet family left out the back of the shop and Rebecca locked the door behind her, a skill that wasn’t easy when with two sleeping children in tow, and then they made their home.

Another reason why Rebecca liked working at this coffee shop is that it was close to where she lived. Only a ten minute walk and since it was 4:10 in the morning, the streets were empty, making it easy to walk home but the tradeoff was fear. Fear of a stranger seeing them and wanting to “help” them. Luckily, today was fine and they made it back to their complex easily.

The elevator might’ve been out of order but they were lucky that they only lived on the second floor. They walked up the steps and made a slow and gradual beeline to their apartment. Rebecca opened the door and they all lazily made their way in.

Luca and Marco dropped their bags at the front and took off their shoes before walking to bed. It was bad manners but she told them that they were allowed to do this, those two getting to sleep mattered more than a little clutter at the front door.

While those two went to bed, Rebecca took off her siblings shoes and tried her best to keep them organized but she was tired too. When she was done with her siblings’ shoes, she lazily toed off her own shoes and put them to bed. Her siblings all shared a room while Rebecca got her own. It wasn’t a permanent solution but it was the one that worked for them.

As she went to her room, she crawled under her covers, not even bothering to change into her pajamas, to get a few hours of sleep. She had to be up at 7:30, meaning if she fell asleep now, she’d get three hours of sleep. This was fine.

She pulled herself under the covers, waiting for exhaustion to take over her body, tomorrow was another day.