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bruggle · 9 months

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Calynn day 5 prompt: Modern AU (technically Coffee Shop AU before the day prompts were changed lmao)

3,524 words

If You’re the Coffee

The sound of an alarm clock woke Cali from her dream.

Grumbling to herself at being jarred awake in such a rude manner, she tiredly groped around for the annoying device. It was time to wake up, but that didn’t mean she was going to be super happy about it. Turning the alarm off, she slowly sat up and shook her head. Trying to bring up the memory of the dream that had been interrupted was fruitless; Cali rarely was able to recall her dreams after waking up. It kind of sucked, but was handy for nightmares. After checking her phone for any new messages, she finally swung her legs off the bed and prepared to get dressed for the day. She had the early shift today.

Paying for an archeology degree was by no means easy, even with all the scholarships she had managed to nab. It had always been a dream of hers to find the Lost City of Arkus, but the legalities that surrounded doing something like that demanded at least some credentials, hence why she was going to this school. It was also why she had a part time job at a local coffee shop.

It wasn’t all bad, most of their customers were fellow students who were too wrapped up in their studies to worry too much if she hadn’t given them enough cream. Plus, the owner allowed all employees to have one free cup while on shift, and even gave them a discount when they were off the clock. The tips didn’t hurt either. Well, the tips from the few non-college going customers at least. There was one customer in particular that always gave very generous tips. Probably as an apology for always making the most complicated orders known to mabu-kind.

Most of her fellow coworkers hated taking his order, but Cali found that she never minded. Well, at first she had. The guy never stopped talking about himself, and how great of a pilot he was. Yet, he had managed to get a job with the Skylanders. So maybe all the boasting wasn’t quite all talk and no show; and after a while of serving him, Cali found that she honestly really didn’t mind listening to his tales (even if he exaggerated them on occasion). He was also kind of sweet, never failing to complement whoever was making his drink for him. Thus, Cali slowly came to the realization that she was, in fact, crushing on a regular.

She really didn’t know what to make of it, either. She had always thought that all that silly romance movie stuff never actually happened, and yet here she was. And this week, whenever the guy came in next, Cali was going to shoot her shot. She was going to ask him out.

As she entered the coffee shop, she saw two of her fellow coworkers behind the counter. One that had been hired the week before, and thus Cali was unfortunately still trying to learn her name. In her defense, the girl’s name was rather long and complicated. Cali knew she insisted on going by a nickname instead, but even that wasn’t a super common name either. The other was Tessa, a fox mabu from the Cloudbreak Islands. Tessa had become a fast friend for Cali, since they more often than not shared a lot of the same schedule. She was also trying to pay for college, since with how far out the Islands were, there weren’t quite as many scholarship options. Poor girl wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do, but figured getting the basic courses than any major would require out of the way would be a good idea. Cali couldn’t blame her, she had seen students that had waited a year or two drop out specifically because they had lost their grasp on basic mathematics in their downtime.

“Hey Cali!” called Tessa when she saw her. The new girl nodded in her direction. “Hey guys,” Cali greeted. “Has it been super busy?”

“Not really,” said the new girl. “But, the day is still young.” That was an understatement. The sun wasn’t even up yet. “Go clock in,” said Tessa. “Poor Perry has been here since nine last night.” Cali winced. That was a brutal shift, one she has worked before.

Cali hurried to the employee break-room, quickly checking her phone one last time in case any texts had popped up during her walk to work and putting it in her locker. She then put on her apron, picked up her card and slid it into the time puncher. After placing her card back into its slot, she quickly walked back out to the main room. “Alright Perry,” Cali announced. “I’m in.”

“Freedom!” Perry called, lifting up her arms tiredly. Cali let out a chuckle as she opened the counter door and let the girl out. “So how long have you been here?” Cali asked Tessa. “Since three,” said the fox girl. “I kind of understand why this place is open twenty-four hours, but at the same time, it’s a little ridiculous. We’ve seen maybe two customers.”

“Yeah, but I can’t tell you how many times this place has saved my grades,” Tessa merely hummed in response. They were interrupted by the break room door being shoved open, the brunette stepping out tiredly with her possessions. “Ya’ll have a good day,” Perry grumbled. “I’m going to sleep for five years.”

“See ya, Perry,” Tessa called, while Cali waved to her. Now it was time to prep.

It was now ten o’clock in the morning, halfway through Cali’s shift. They had made it though the early morning rush, and were now refreshing their prep work. That was probably the worst part of this job; you could never do enough prep work. Things were constantly running out. Unfortunately for them, however, while they were refilling the coffee grinder, the sound of the bell on the front door sounded. Tessa looked up, and immediately let out a quiet groan. “It’s Flynn,” she grumbled.

“I can get it if you want to finish this up,” said Cali. “You sure?” Tessa asked. “You got the last four customers.”

“Yeah, you just get the next couple, okay?”

“Sure,”

Cali nodded, leaving Tessa to refill the grinder as she walked over to the register. “Hello sir,” she greeted. “Welcome to Lucky Star Café, what can I get for you?” The male mabu didn’t seem to register Cali’s greeting, as he was scrutinizing the menu. He did this every time, but never ordered from it. Yet another point of contention for most of the other baristas. Mentally, Cali was preparing for yet another complicated drink. It really didn’t help that the guy never ordered the same thing twice, either. It was always something new. “I’ll have a- Oh! Why hello there, gorgeous!” Flynn said. “Didn’t know you were working the counter today.” The fact that Flynn was constantly flirting with Cali is honestly what gave her hope to try asking him out. Granted, he was always overtly friendly, but she noticed that he never treated any of the other baristas quite like her. It had been annoying at first, and she had even contemplated complaining to the owner about it. She was now glad she hadn’t.

“Yeah, been here since five this morning,” Cali told him. It wasn’t really professional for her to complain to a customer like this, but she knew Tessa wouldn’t rat her out. She was aware of Cali’s crush on the ‘suave’ pilot. “Oh my,” sympathized Flynn. “Sounds rough. I’ll make sure not to make my order too complicated then. I’ll have a…”

He proceeded to order the most complicated drink Cali had ever heard of.

Cali thanked her lucky stars that he had showed up after the morning rush. This was utterly ridiculous! “He’s lucky you like him,” teased Tessa. She had finished refilling the coffee grinder and was currently helping Cali out. “I’m starting to rethink that,” grumbled Cali. Tessa merely chuckled in response. As Cali set the espresso to brew, she got the cup ready. She hadn’t asked Flynn for his name, he was a regular by this point. But… she had a plan this time. Writing “Flint” on the cup, she then took it over to the all the flavor pumps.

Tessa glanced at the cup, and then gave her a puzzled look. “Uh, Cali?” she asked. “You good?”

“Yep,” Cali beamed.

“Um… Why’d you write Flynn’s name wrong?”

Cali chuckled. “Well, he usually takes his coffee, leaves his tip, and then runs off,” she explained. “So, I’m making sure he doesn’t run off straight away.”

“Okaaaaaay…” Tessa said slowly. “Why is that?”

“Because,” Cali smirked. “I’m going to ask him out.” Tessa gasped. “Oh my gosh,” she gushed. “Cali!”

“What?”

“You’re going to ask him out?!” bubbled Tessa. “Shhhhhhhh!” panicked Cali. “Keep it down!” The fox girl merely waved her off. “Oh please, Flynn doesn’t pay attention half the time you call his name," she pointed out. "But seriously! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!” Cali rubbed the back of her head. “I mean, I didn’t know if he was coming in today or not,” she admitted. “Plus, I kind of just decided today.” Tessa let out an aggravated sigh. “Really?” she huffed. “Cali, you don’t just ‘decide’ that stuff out of the blue.”

“Sure you do,” Cali countered. “People do it all the time.”

“Yeah, in movies,”

“Whatever, let’s just finish this up before anyone else comes in,”

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“Flint? Flint?”

Of course Flynn would choose now as the best time to not pay attention to anything around him. He was literally the only person in the café, yet no amount of yelling from Tessa was getting his notice. And Cali had planned this so well, too! Tessa would call out the wrong name, Flynn would (of course) say something about it, then Cali would admit to making a mistake and offer to make up for it with dinner! Foolproof! Yet here they were, stuck on the very first step. Utterly embarrassing.

Tessa gave a slightly panicked glance over to Cali, mouthing ‘what do I do’. Cali groaned and face palmed. “Just… just call his name,” she huffed. At least she had the foresight to write the name on the cup wrong, so this could still work. “Flynn?” Tessa called. “Ah! That would be me!” answered Flynn. “I sure hope it wasn’t too much trouble for you, I tried to make it easy for ya.” Tessa merely gave a tense smile. If the guy hadn’t been genuine in actually hoping he wasn’t making an inconvenience, Cali knew the fox girl would have gone off on him. “Uh… wait…” he drawled. Cali perked up. Had he noticed? Was it her time to shine? “I uh… I think you’ve got the wrong name on this cup.”

“Is it?” asked Tessa.

“Yep,” Flynn said. “I get it, you’ve got a lot on your mind. It’s not everyday the great Captain Flynn stops in your store.” Sometimes Cali wondered why he was the guy she liked out of the entire world. “But, you gotta learn your customers! It makes them feel appreciated!” It was now or never. “Sorry! That was my bad!” Cali jumped in. “I just… I was in such a rush to make sure you wouldn’t wait too long for your coffee.” The red scarfed mabu let out a chuckle. “That’s quite alright,” he soothed. “That’s not even the worst way I’ve seen my name spelled before. Heh, you should have seen the name the last guy I got coffee from put on my cup! It wasn’t even close!”

“How about you tell me about it over dinner?”

“…Pardon?”

Cali took a deep breath. “I said, how about you tell me about it over dinner?” she reiterated. Flynn stared at her in shock. She was now holding her breath. Why wouldn’t he answer already? Instead, he slowly looked away…

And then left the building.

And Cali’s heart shattered.

“Oh, Cali,” Tessa consoled. “It’s fine,” Cali blurted. “It’s… It’s fine.” She was not going to start crying in the middle of her shift. It was… It was just a rejection. She could handle it. It didn’t bother her.

It didn’t bother her.

It was way too early to be up.

Well, not really. It was closer to lunch than it was morning, but Hugo was still utterly exhausted. There had been an emergency curtsey of Kaos trying to, yet again, use a harebrained scheme in order to take over Skylands. Hugo really wished the guy would give up.

This particular plot had involved the use of ancient technology written in a multitude of dead languages. Dead languages Hugo had been required to be on the scene to translate. Thus, he had been forced to tag along with Flynn, and a handful of Skylanders. They had been successful in beating back the would-be tyrant, of course, but it had taken the entire night (stupid moon glyphs). And Hugo would love nothing more than to be back below the deck of Flynn’s ship and be asleep.

Unfortunately for him, however, Flynn had decided he needed some coffee. Why he chose Hugo as the best choice to watch the ship while he was gone, was anyone’s guess. So here he was, struggling to stay awake, waiting for Flynn to come back onboard.

At least he had a bagel to look forwards to.

Footsteps on the plank alerted Hugo to the fact that someone was coming onboard. After a second of panic, he realized it was only Flynn. …With a star struck expression on his face. …And no bagel. Dang it. “Hey Flynn,” he called. “Uh… What’s going on?” The self proclaimed ‘Greatest Pilot in All of Skylands’ didn’t answer right away. Instead, he simply began to pace on the deck. “…Flynn?” Hugo called.

“She asked me to dinner,” Flynn said in bewilderment.

“Uh… what?” asked Hugo.

“She asked me to dinner!” he reiterated.

“Who, Flynn?”

“Cali!” Flynn stressed. “You know, that girl I told you about?”

“Flynn, you have never told me anything about any girl you have been speaking to,” Hugo deadpanned. “Well, she asked me to dinner!” Flynn said, ignoring Hugo’s comment.

Sighing, Hugo rolled his eyes. “Good for you Flynn,” he said. “Now where’s my bagel?”

“And she looked so adorable while asking!”

This was going nowhere fast. Not that Hugo expected anything less. Once Flynn had his mind on something, it did not detract very easily. “Alright,” Hugo huffed. He was happy for his friend. He really was; but he was running on too little sleep, and the broken dreams of a nonexistent bagel. “So when is your dinner date?”

“Uh…” Flynn faltered. “What?”

“You’re date,” Hugo deadpanned. “When is it? What time?”

Flynn hesitated, looking more and more panicked as the seconds ticked on. Oh no. “Flynn,” Hugo began calmly. “You did agree and set up a time, didn’t you?”

“Uh…”

Oh by the Ancients.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Hugo exasperated. “What, did you just walk out without saying anything?!” Flynn gave another panicked look. “FLYNN!! I can not believe you would do that to the poor girl!”

“What do I do?!” screeched Flynn. “Well don’t just stand there!” barked Hugo. “Go back and apologize every single last way you know! And then get a time and date set up! Geez!”

“Right!” said Flynn, heading back down the plank. “Oh wait, can you hold this?” He held out the …concoction that he had previously ordered. “Fine,” Hugo sighed, taking the drink in his hand. Flynn then immediately turned around and ran off back into the town. “AND GET ME MY BAGEL!” Hugo yelled.

He doubted he would get it, though.

Flynn quickly made his way back to the Lucky Star Café. He could not believe he had just left Cali like that. Of all the times for his brain to flake on him! Why did it have to be at such a crucial moment?!

As he rounded the corner, the café came into view. At least it was simple; all he had to do was walk in, apologize to Cali, and set up their date! Easy as pie! And with that, he opened the door…

And nearly walked into the back of a large badger type mabu. “Pardon me,” the stranger said, moving forward just a hair. Ah. It got a lot busier since he left. Looking over at the counter, he saw a molekin woman and her daughter, patiently waiting for whatever it was that Tessa was grinding up. What Flynn didn’t see, however, was Cali. That made his heart sink. Had she… Left? He would just have to ask the fox girl whenever she was done serving the current patrons.

Looking back at the badger man, Flynn saw that he was scrutinizing the menu much like he had earlier that day. It would probably take him a good while to be ready to order, so Flynn started making his way around. “Oy!” called the badger. “What do you think you’re doing? Line starts behind me!”

“You’re not ordering yet, though!” argued Flynn. “Doesn’t matter!” the stranger snapped. “It’s poor manners to cut in front of people!” Flynn sighed. “Look, I’m not going to order anything,” he said. “I just need to speak to the barista.” The badger seemed to consider what he said for a second before sighing himself. “Oh, very well,” he muttered. “But no orderin’!”

“Thank you,” Flynn said, stepping in front of the badger man. As he did, the molekins were handed their drinks and happily made their way out of the building. “Hello sir, and wel- What do you think you’re doing here, Flynn?” hissed Tessa. “You have a lot of nerve!” Flynn swallowed thickly. He knew he wasn’t that popular with the fox girl, and his latest mess-up obviously hadn’t made that any better. “Look,” he started. “I need to talk to Cali. Has she left?”

“What’s it to you?” Tessa sneered. “You’re the last person she needs to see!”

“I need to apologize!” he reasoned. “That’s great,” she huffed. “But don’t you think it’d be best to at least give it a few days beforehand? She doesn’t need that wound reopened the same day it was left!”

“What?” Flynn sputtered. “You made it clear you weren’t interested, Flynn,” she exasperated. “Give it a few days before you hurt her again!”

“Tessa, I wouldn’t-“

“Wouldn’t what?”

Both Flynn and Tessa turned to see Cali standing there with her arms crossed. “Uh…”

“Tessa, I appreciate the sentiment, but I can take care of this,” she said, and then turned to Flynn. “So, what is it you wanted to say?” He took in a deep breath. “Cali, I wanted to apologize to you,” he started. “I appreciate it,” she said, preventing him from finishing his thought. “Now I got to get back to work.”

“No!” Flynn yelped, startling Cali and causing Tessa to narrow her eyes. “I mean, that’s not all that I wanted to do.” The mabu girl turned towards him. “Alright,” she agreed. “What else?”

“I wanted to say I accept,”

Cali opened her mouth as though to protest, but Flynn stopped her. “Not out of pity, or anything like that,” he assured her. “I do genuinely like you. I just…” Now everyone was starting at him, making him self conscience. “Sometimes my brain doesn’t work that great and I get ahead of myself,” he finished. “When you asked me out, I was so, SO excited, I had to go tell my best friend! And I guess I just… forgot to give you my answer first.

“So will you go out to dinner with me?”

The anticipation was killing him.

Was she going to answer?

It would probably be best if he-

“Yes,”

“What?” Flynn gasped. “I said ‘yes’, you goofball!” Cali exasperated. “I accept your apology and agree to go to dinner with you.”

“You do?!”

“How many times does she have to say yes?” Tessa deadpanned. Cali waved her off. Flynn was completely at a loss for words. How did he proceed? What should he say now?! “Asking for a time and date would be a good idea, youngin’” chimed in the badger man. Flynn had forgotten he was there. “Right,” he said. “What would be a good time and date to pick you up?” Cali tapped her chin in thought for a second. “Well, I’m free this weekend,” she mused. “So maybe Saturday night?”

“It’s a date!” he winked. Tessa scoffed. This was by far the cheesiest thing she had ever seen. It was kind of sweet though. Made her wish she could find someone like that.

“Alright, I’ll see you there,” answered Cali. “Now I really need to get back to work.”

“Oh yeah, me too,” mused Flynn, turning to make his way out the door. However, the display case of pastries caught his eye. “Wait!” he exclaimed. “I need to get a bagel!”

“I TOLD YOU NO ORDERIN’!”

#skylanders #fanfic #calynn week 2023 #calynn week

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