Friday: Fine, throw away my heart like that.

The line was long, and crowded. And Bdubs and Keralis were working without talking much, just orders and names. They were switching roles every once in a while to keep focused so they wouldn't zone out on one task, and it was going pretty well. Celebration coffee on Friday's were common, so orders were usually bigger and more complex, and the little shop was busier.

Bdubs's classes were canceled, so in the goodness of his heart, (and totally not because of the tips) he offered to take an extra shift at the cafe in the late morning.

Halfway through, Bdubs was hardly registering names more than something to scribble on a cup, and started making up his own little nicknames to remember orders better. Hey, whatever works to fight boredom and keep going I guess.

Knock-off Ren with indoor sunglasses: "Mericano, extra shot of espresso."

Tired mom and 2 gremlins: "2 kids hot chocolates, and an extra strong black coffee please."

Sweet Tooth: "A cake pop, a muffin, a croissant, and a white hot chocolate please!"

"How many shots are you allowed to put in a drink?" A customer asked, and Bdubs paused before giving a nickname to this person.

"Uhm what?" He asked, looking up to see their face better. They had a striking yellow sweater and a blank beanie, with round glasses almost hiding the dark eyebags that really sold the tired college student look.

"How many?" They repeated with a deadpan voice.

"Uh, 4 at most but it'll cost-."

"Cost isn't an issue. My essay is due in two hours."

"Ah." Bdubs nodded, understanding. He named them "College Ghost" in his head.

Orders and nicknames continued, and Bdubs was getting a little more tired with each order.

Basic: "Cinnamon latte."

Cookie kid: "Cookie frappuccino! Oh! Oh! And one of those cookies in the display!"

Blondie: "Caramel macchiato, extra shot and extra whip."

A Whole Group, Ugh!: "A strawberry frap, extra cream. Half decaf cardamom mocha, extra whip. Cookie frap- really Vurb? Fine whatever. And uh, just write it down Mega, I'm too tired to read sign language."

After the group, which thankfully Keralis did the drinks for without mistakes- or at least without any that the group mentioned- there was a bit of a break in orders giving the two a well needed break.

A message popped up on both of their phones, assumedly a group message, and Keralis picked it up while Bdubs slouched on a wall. He was almost regretting taking the extra shift, even if the amount of tips with all of the extra customers was surely more than normal.

"Grian's almost here. A test kept him in class longer than normal." Keralis explained the text, clicking off his phone and putting it back into his back pocket.

"Finally!" Bdubs exclaimed. "I swear he purposely chose the worst time block just to skip off work sometimes." He grumbled, half joking, half actually annoyed. Keralis huffed a chuckle and looked at Bdubs sympathetically.

"He can't help it Bubbles, he needs the science credit and that was the last one available." Keralis defended Grian.

Bdubs sighed, he wasn't really mad, and knew that Grian was really working hard in this class. It was just annoying how flaky and unpredictable he was with schedules sometimes, especially when Bdubs was so keen on things like that. Dates, sleep schedules, even just the time of day, everything had a spot on his internal clock for.

The backdoor was thrown open, and a winded Grian stumbled through, his apron only thrown over his neck.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I know I said I wouldn't leave you two to do all of the work again and I did and-"

"Woah calm down G, we managed just fine." Bdubs interrupted his ramble before Grian could continue. He looked Grian up and down, who had clearly been running as he tried to catch his breath. His golden hair was fluffed up in every direction and his sweater was bunched up at the bottom, looking sort of uncomfortable.

"It's ok Brian," Keralis put his hand on Grian's shoulder. "Take a minute to clean your angelface up."

Grian sighed and nodded, turning back to the break room, where there was a mirror in the corner he could fix his hair in.

There were a few minutes of peace and quiet while Grian took some time to straighten his outfit and comb a hand through his hair, with no customers passing through to interrupt the silence.

"Ok, what's going on?" Grian popped back out, looking much better than before. His breath still heaved a little from running, but his heart rate was calming down and he still had more excitement than exhaustion to start working. Bdubs and Keralis looked at each other and nodded.

"Ok Brian, this is the Friday rush. We'll show you the ropes." Keralis said, completely disregarding the fact that Grian had been working there for practically the same amount of time.

Grian, matching Keralis's confidence with his own excitement. "Let's do this!"

Bdubs chuckled along, smiling fondly at his two friends. Even though he wasn't as energetic as them today, it was still nice to be around them to wake him up a little more.

The bell rang.

As more people came in and out and the three switched jobs more times than Bdubs could keep track of, the nicknames Bdubs was still using became slightly more uh.....

Stupid Child 3: "I want a hot chocolate!

iDiOt: "Uhhh-.... What do you recomend?"

Dumb Dumb: "Like uh, half white mocha and half hot choclate? Can you do that?"

Asshole idiot 2: "I need no milk, I'm lactose intolerant, and extra cookie crumbs and chocolate, and extra whip cream, don't hold out on me-"

"Whipped cream is fricken lactose you-"

.....Unfiltered.

Let's just say he was tired, and the whispers under his breath were becoming slightly more hostile with each overly complicated order. It wasn't his fault that nicknames passed the time better!

Another basic bit-(he cut his thoughts off before he could finish, finding it a little harsh): "Blended iced coffee."

Rando wannabe: "Peach tea with stevia instead of sugar."

White haired hottie: "Medium white mocha."

"Wait what?"

He took a double take on the nickname he gave and furrowed his eyebrows as he typed in the order before he could blank out.

Bdubs looked at the familiar voice again- actually processing who he was this time around -and felt his voice catch in his throat as the person smiled down at him.

"Bdubs, take over making things for a while, I'm sick of it." Grian called out, walking over to the counter and rolling his shoulders back to stretch.

"Uh yeah sure!" Bdubs said, while Etho waited patiently. Bdubs turned back to him with a smile.

"Uh, I'll just get on your drink right now and Grian can finish your order if ya want anything else?"

"Nah that's it."

"Ok."

Grian took over the order and Etho paid, and Etho walked over to the side to wait without another word.

Grian called up the next order, which seemed to be a big group one. "Fantastic!" Bdubs thought very sarcastically. First though, he had to finish the order he just took.

Bdubs was making Etho's drink.

Bdubs remembered.

He was making Etho's drink.

His eyes widened as he grabbed the cup- "Medium, right?"- and grabbed the red marker to write down the name, and something extra. He contained his excitement well enough, choosing to ignore the bounce in his step and genuine smile on his face as he much more carefully wrote out everything. Still fast, but neater and nicer than normal.

"New friend, new friend, new school year, new friend."

Luckily he knew his phone number by heart so he didn't have to raise suspicion by pulling out his phone. Keralis was too busy with another order to look towards him and Grian was still taking orders from the group- no one he recognized-, so no one noticed him scribbling down his number in red on the cup.

Of course he put "Etho" on it too, so it couldn't be mixed up with anyone else and lead to a very awkward conversation.

He put on extra whipped cream, free of charge, and slipped over to the counter to call out the drink. Etho was sitting in a corner, but sat up when he heard his name called, quickly shuffling to the pick up counter. Without a word, he scooped up the drink and slipped back into the shadows of his seat. He didn't seem to notice the writing yet, but Bdubs didn't mind, just happy that he had done it.

"I did it. I did it! I did-"

"Double-O! Medium mocha latte, extra whip, stat." Grian called out, whipping his attention back to work.

"On it." Bdubs said confidently.

Work continued as normal, but Bdubs kept slipping glances at the white haired friend, who had his eyes glued to the screen. His hands were typing fast head slightly nodding to the beat through his headphones.

Bdubs knew he could probably stare all day,- IN A NON-CREEPY WAY OF COURSE!- but work had to pull his attention back just as quick as he looked over every time. Etho was super focused on his work, and Bdubs was trying to be focused on his own as well.

Bdubs started to make the next drink on the list, figuring that Etho wasn't going to finish and leave anytime soon with how focused he was on his work.

"I wonder what class that is?"

A few orders here, a few orders there- actually just everywhere, because they worked in a coffee shop. Duh.

Now, later in the afternoon, the shop had calmed down significantly, both a blessing and a curse. College students were stumbling in every now and then after the later classes and ordering simple drinks, just enough caffeine to get them home and in bed before they collapsed.

Bdubs, not really having much to do for the time being, let himself look at Etho again, who was lost in his work, wondering if he had seen the number yet.

The cup was near the edge of the table while Etho started straight ahead, and his phone wasn't out, so he assumed not. 

Etho looked at the corner of his screen and furrowed his eyebrows, glancing nowhere, slightly sighing in defeat. He pulled down his mask, and downed the rest of his drink with his eyes closed. It looked like they hadn't gotten real rest in a while.

His messy white hair covered one eye more than normal, while the other clearly showed eye bags and lack of sleep. Bdubs- ok maybe he was starting, but it was out of concern!

"I hope he didn't pull an all-nighter..." Bdubs mumbled under his breath.

"What was that, Bdubs?" Grian asked, turning his head to bdubs who whipped around guilty.

"Oh nothing!" Bdubs said quickly, realizing he had said that outloud.

Grian shrugged, and went back to surfing his phone in the few seconds of a break he had. Keralis was finishing up a drink, quietly humming a familiar tune that Bdubs had caught him and Xisuma belting out to before. 

"Something about love? Or asking about it?"

A part of Bdubs mind wanted to focus on that, to remember what the song was or just ask Keralis what it was called, but his focus drifted back to Etho, who was getting ready to leave.

Etho closed his laptop carefully and scooped it up under his arm, with other hand holding the cup still.

"He'll see it any second now.... -It's funny he hasn't already actually-... and then he'll type it in and boom!" Bdubs thought a bit excitedly, keeping his outside composer completely casual.

Etho looked towards the door and started walking over, crushing the cup in his hand before he dropped it into the trash, not taking a second to look back or look down as he breezed through the doorway.

"Oh."

The swift wind of air from the door hit Bdubs, but he didn't move, already feeling frozen enough. The cold just emphasized it. His eyebrows furrowed in disbelief, glancing back at Etho walking quickly outside. One hand holding the computer, the other empty, stuffing his pocket.

Bdubs felt his insides crumple the same way the cup did, almost as if he was the one being thrown in the trash. There was a stillness in the air for a second, until Bdubs got his thoughts together.

"What am I thinking?" He shook his head, effectively snapping himself out of it. "It's just a dumb cup, I don't even care." His chest panged with an unfamiliar hurt. "I'm fine. Whatever."

Bdubs scoffed under his breath, silent enough to go unnoticed by Grian and Keralis. The door opened again, and a customer walked through casually towards the counter. Bdubs didn't even see the guy really as he turned away from the door and waited for Grian to shout out the next order. 

His thoughts stilled as he went back to work, more robotic than before.

"It doesn't matter anyway." He thought firmly, grabbing another cup to write down the name of the next order, or what the next customer's supposed name was.

"Foolish?" He mumbled curiously. It was probably a stupid prank or something, but he shrugged, writing it anyway. As long as they didn't trash the place as a prank, he didn't care.

He slid the drink to the pick up counter when he finished, and didn't even look at the looming figure picking it up next to him.

"Hey you actually wrote it!" A light and cheery voice said.

"Hmm?" Bdubs looked up at the figure, who actually towered over him as he read the cup. "My god, how tall is this guy? It's not like I'm below average height or anything."

"Most places think my name's fake or something, but that's actually my name!" The person, who was actually named "Foolish" apparently, grinned, pointing to the cup and then to himself.

"Huh, well uh, cool name!" Bdubs said, trying to match this guy's energy a little more.

"Thanks!" He said, taking a sip of the drink, which honestly, Bdubs didn't even remember what it was, and he had just made it.

"Come on Fooly! We're gonna be late for the movie!" A person yelled from the door, not regarding the fact that everyone was looking at him now. They had a red striped mask over their whole face besides their eyes, with peaks of white hair sticking out. It was a warmer tone that Etho's hair-

"No, I am not comparing this guy to-" Bdubs shutdown the first thought, and watched the interaction between these two guys.

"Hey I'm coming I'm coming!" Foolish waved over.

"Thanks again, see ya!" He said to Bdubs, turning around and slightly jogging to the door to his friend, who now had arms folding over his black sweater and an annoyed look on his face.

"Sorry Ponk, but hey look! They got my name right!"

Bdubs smiled, sighing a little on the inside almost wishing Etho cared about the cup as much as that other guy did.

"Not like I care." He thought to himself again.

Bdubs didn't care about some stupid cup sitting, sitting at the bottom of the trash, where arguably, it belonged. "Whatever."

~~~

Saturday: Money is tight (read in Ryan George's voice. If you get it, you get it.)

"Feels like forever since I've worked the morning shift with you, Cleo!" Bdubs smiled, good rest letting him forget the underwhelming day prior.

"Yeah, sorry about the crazy schedules lately." Cleo said as she pulled her hair into a low ponytail for the day. "Guess the start of classes always leads to a little bit of heckic-....ness." Cleo paused and looked Bdubs in the eyes.

"Never tell Joe I said "hectic-ness"." She said bluntly. "He'd kill me."

"But aren't you already-"

"I'd be double dead Bdubs!"

The two laughed, falling back into a comfortable silence as they got ready to open up shop for the day.

Cleo went around the shop, straightening chairs and wiping tables to get ready for the day. She unlocked the door even though the shop wasn't technically open yet, just so she wouldn't have to walk back to do it later.

Bdubs busied himself behind the counter, checking supplies and restocking the goods case, topping off the bottle of chocolate sauce running low and filling up the shakers with the cookie crumbles and sprinkles. It was satisfying to organize and fix everything up, and he took care in the details he could perfect while he worked.

Bdubs had woken up earlier to help open up the place- to his extreme annoyance (not really) -so he found it a little more tiring just to be moving around than normal.

"Yeah, I should drink some coffee." He decided.

Well, they worked at a coffee shop after all!

He walked over to the beloved coffee machine, planning on just a simple coffee with milk and a toghe of sugar. Cleo called it too sweet, and Scar said it wasn't nearly sweet enough, but it was perfect for him.

The coffee machine turned on at the press of a button, but before it actually started to pour coffee, it sputtered and ticked, a clear sign it was broken again.

"Ah, this thing's stuck again." Bdubs mentioned, lightly tapping the side as a futile attempt to get it to work.

Cleo clicked her tongue, acknowledging him but not really answering. She either expected it, or was so used to it by now that she didn't care. Bdubs wasn't really sure which.

"G mentioned Mumbo was busy this weekend, so should we call Tango to fix it? We really ought to get a new one of these, huh?" Bdubs continued and chuckled a little, glancing back at the old thing that had served 'em well for so many years. Cleo was silent.

She was still facing away from him, but he could tell that the atmosphere had gone colder in the small coffee shop as the laughter died on his tongue alone.

Cleo deeply breathed in and out, sucking all of the air from the room before letting it back out as Bdubs froze in confusion. Without even trying, Cleo could chill a room with her presence, but this time, the weight of her next words were leaning more towards sorrow than ice.

She walked closer to the counter, having already looped around the room and fixed it up, and stopped next to Bdubs. Everything was still, seeming to have completely shifted vibes in a matter of seconds.

"Bdubs, there's something I need to tell you." Cleo said slowly, avoiding eye contact as Bdubs searched her face for any sign of a joke. There was a prick of hesitation in her words, wavering slightly.

"Uh yeah. What's up?" Bdubs asked lightly, hoping to ease the tension a little.

The morning ambience was normally calming, no customers to break the peace of the fresh air and light breeze, but today they were indoors already, and the lack of customers only made the silence deafening.

"I-" Cleo started, and immediately paused, reconsidering her words. Bdubs patiently waited for her to continue.

"We- we can't afford a new coffee machine." Her voice wavered as she admitted it, rushing to get the words out before she couldn't anymore.

Bdubs spoke carefully, confused, but understanding that something was really wrong. "But, I thought sales were doing really well? I'm not sure how it's been most mornings, but it sure has been busy when I clock in after classes."

"It's not the sales." She chuckled softly, sadly, and Bdubs recognized it from when she brought him the bad news about Scar the week prior. His shoulders tensed.

"I didn't want the rest of you to worry, although Grian got it out of me sooner, but we're still paying off the ambulance bill from...." She trailed off. Bdubs didn't even have to connect the dots to see the picture.

"It was really expensive Bdubs, and we're in a bit of debt to repay it as fast as we can so extra fees over time don't multiply faster than they should." Cleo started rambling, trying to explain everything at once while Bdubs took it all in.

She kept going, "His insurance covered most of the medical bills at least, and I had just enough for the rest of them scraping by, but the ambulance to the damn place is something else."

They were in debt? Cleo didn't tell them all or ask for any help? "I knew she was reserved, but about important things like this? Really?!"

"Wha- huh- how?" Bdubs sputtered out, with all of the new information mixing his mind uncontrollably.

"How much was it?" Bdubs asked more clearly after a second of breathing. He found that was all he could ask, no other questions willing to form coherent sentences.

"Over $900."

"What tHE?!" Bdubs voice started rising. "For an over-glorified car ride!? That's- that's bullshit!"

"I know, I'm pissed too." Cleo breathed out, glancing at Bdubs for a split second.

"But- but, this is unreasonable! We should sue them or something! We called 911, and they put us into debt!!! How are you not fuming?" Bdubs asked.

"I already had my fit." Cleo said simply, and Bdubs grumbled at the word "fit".

"This isn't a "fit" Cleo!"

"Well there's nothing we can do about it!"

"We could sue!"

"We both know that isn't an option. It's not worth the paper work or time of day wasted, and we can't even afford a lawyer. It's easier and more logical to just save up what we can, pay it off, and forget about the shitty healthcare system all together for now."

"But what if it happens again!"

"Then- don't know Bdubs!" Cleo exclaimed, an exasperated sigh leaving her lips. "I know it's screwed up, but with my tips, half of G's, and whatever I can skim from the overall revenue, it'll be fine. We just have to pay it off as quickly as we can so the late fee doesn't add up more than it should."

"And my tips." Bdubs added firmly, calming down, only to get the words out right.

"Bdubs you really don't have to-" Cleo turned to him, a little softer than her argument before.

"We can argue about the stupid healthcare system, and who's taller, and what type of coffee is the best, but not on this. My tips too."

A slight smile tugged at her lips as she looked at him in the eyes. "Ok, thanks."

With a better look at her, Bdubs saw eyebags, disheveled hair, and slightly crumpled clothes in front of him. It was clear Cleo had been stressed about this, putting off telling him or the others for too long.

He offered a half smile, even if he was still mad that they had to pay so much in the first place.

A slightly more comfortable silence fell over the store. There was still a half hour before it opened, give or take, because they wouldn't be declining anyone who was a few minutes early.

Cleo quietly walked over to the caffeine machine and looked it up and down. It was still stuck, and if they even wanted to think about extra tips to pay off the bill, they needed to actually serve coffee at their coffee shop.

"I'll call Tango." She said, defeat lining her voice. "And don't tell Scar about the tips thing."

Bdubs nodded silently, getting back to restocking the counter. And as if his mind was just messing with him, wanting to get him more frustrated than he wanted to be, it slipped back to the memory of the cup in the trash- still not emptied -with the discarded red number in it.

He scoffed too quietly for Cleo to hear, thinking that he had been well over that by now and a little annoyed at himself for letting the memory play again. "What-ev-er." 

---------

(3972 words!)

Hey so uh, yeah! Thanks for reading! I know pacing isn't the best, but hope you still enjoyed! Just trying to mix in a bit of drama before the fun part, and what better way than to fuss over little things and get mad at things you can't control?

Also, I got fanart! amazing fanart of one of the scenes in Chapter 11 that had me smiling all day, so now you guys have to see it too!

This is by: JayJayBeansBirds

So go check 'em out and look at their art book. As of writing this, I think they only have 1 other piece but it's awesome, so go and give it some love. 

Have a great day or night all of you! Get some rest, eat some food, pet an animal or water a plant, and I'll see ya next chapter!

(oh my god there are actually people reading this and i'm over 115 pages into this and i haven't even gotten to the main point of this and most of you haven't left yet and thank you guys so much, the support really keeps me going and ahh! how long am i going to stretch this part out! not even on purpose either! and 1.4k reads and 1# in Etho and the first fanart of one of my books??!!! thank you thank you thank yo-)