#vanlui

At first, Evan thought nothing of it. It was just some guy, buying coffee and leaving the shop. It was just another guy paying him, just another guy keeping him working and earning a paycheck.

But Brock just had to point out how frequently he came in. Once in the morning, twice in the afternoon, and sometimes up to three times a night. Everyday. Normally, that wouldn’t matter. For any other Barista, it probably didn’t matter, but Brock owned the place and Evan essentially co-owned so he worked there constantly.

So, he noticed this guy coming in nearly six times a day for their most caffeinated drink and he filled it with sugar. He was going to die of a heart attack or something. But, sure, he can go and live his life.

Evan only served him once, every other time it was a different worker, but he knew his name.

Lui.

Every time the guy said it, it only heightened Evan’s curiosity, because everytime he said it, it sounded more direct. More… up front and open, like the guy wanted someone to know.

Today was slow and Evan was running the front this time around, a rare occurrence actually as he’s usually helping Brock bake- but after last time, and the flour wasn’t his fault, Brock was having Candy help.

He had already gone through his little boredom routine of messing with just about everything, and even fixing himself a drink, when the bell rang. 8:15, the first coffee of the day. His eyes looked to the front and a smile registered automatically. “Hey, welcome to the Moo Cafe!” he stated, fake enthusiasm, but no one needed to know that.

With no response, he finally registered that the guy, the wonderfully curious stranger, was just standing at the door, a surprised look on his face.

“Sir?” Evan asked, tapping a hand on the counter in more of a nervous fashion than anything. “Are you okay?” he inquired. He already had plans to call Brock from the back, but the figure moved. “Sorry,” he got out, “I zoned out- it happens.” He laughed it off, and glanced to the side. “I’ll have auhm,” he paused, thinking. Evan knew he wasn’t. He did this every time and constantly ordered the same thing. “The usual?” he cut his thoughts off instead, “Number 3 with a handful of sugar packets to go?”

The guy nodded a bit, a look of awe tracing his face. “How’d you know?” he asked. “You come in everyday,” Evan stated with a chuckle, “Hard to not figure out a regular.” He turned on his heels, grabbing a cup to write down a name before beginning to fix up the drink. “Don’t you need my name?” he asked. “Nah. You’re Lui right? Again, hard to not figure out a regular.”

He waited a minute for the coffee to brew, messing with the cup before writing a little more down after checking and making sure Lui wasn’t watching.

The drink didn’t take long to fix up, and he poured it into a cup and popped a lid on it before grabbing a handful of the sugar packets. He totaled it up and watched Lui hand over a few dollars and exact change, his hand seeming to shake as Evan collected the funds.

Halloween night was definitely fun. Candy, scary movies, candy, cuddling, hot chocolate, candy, everything fun and everything Lui and Evan didn’t have a limit too, if that wasn’t obvious. Yet, their bodies said otherwise as they laid on the couch, silently cursing themselves for overdoing it on the sugar.

Then, Evan started to move, which disturbed their silence as he whined lightly, nudging Lui off of him. The shorter’s eyes looked at him in a tired pout, not wanting to be bothered with movement. “Don’t give me that look,” Evan mumbled as he slid off the couch, meeting Lui’s tired eyes. Wrappers were scattered on the floor and a cheesy scary movie played in the back. It was actually a calmer atmosphere despite their sugar crashed bodies aching to move into a bed and struggling to stand up, adding some complaints to the calm. 

Evan stretched tiredly and then held a hand out to help out a reluctant Lui, who did take his hand but a complaint left him as he did. “I don’t want to move,” he grumbled as he was pulled onto his feet. “I don’t care,” he responded with a small eye roll. “We just have to walk a few steps,” he added, “You’ll live.”