Kingdom Hearts fic: The Love(s) of His Life

[mistressofmuses]

Summary: Sora is the kind of hopeless romantic who falls in love with just about everyone who crosses his path. But something feels different about the woman who ordered the iced caramel white mocha. And the man who ordered the cinnamon latte. Now if only he could stop tripping over his own words long enough to have an actual conversation with them.

Day 20 of AU-gust: Single Parent Coffee Shop
And even though I just used one yesterday, I'm using my final Joker prompt! I'm not a huge fan of kid fic (though I've seen some that was genuinely adorable), so I couldn't think of anything to do with a Single Parent AU. So instead, the very classic Coffee Shop AU. I've never actually written one before (except for the brief pieces of my Hospital AU from earlier in the month that happened in a cafe.) I actually did have some ideas for a polyship hell of a long KH coffee shop AU, but I've got a ton of stuff that's a higher priority for me to write. This fic doesn't have any real resemblance to that one, but this was fun to write!

---

Sora fell in love at 9:42 on Monday morning.

She had long, soft-looking red hair, and indigo eyes that were so striking he almost asked if they were contacts. She ordered a large iced caramel white mocha, and said her name was Kairi.

While he was making her drink, she was setting her things at the end of the long table, pulling out a laptop and its cord. A student? he wondered, but wasn’t sure if he should ask.

When he called her name for the drink, he wanted to say it over and over, just to hear it. She picked up the drink with a bright smile, and a sweet “Thank you,” and Sora helplessly watched her return to her seat.

She put in a single headphone, and started to work very intently on something.

“Are you just gonna stand there? Come on man, there’s a line!” Roxas nudged him before returning to the register.

Kairi stayed for a couple hours, but there was such a steady stream of customers in and out that Sora barely had a chance to leave the counter, and even then, it was just to refill the napkins and wipe down vacated tables. No chance to get close enough for small talk.

By the time his break came, she was gone, and he hadn’t even seen her go.

“I think that girl was the love of my life,” he said to Roxas, in a quiet moment, wistfully looking at the seat she’d occupied.

Roxas elbowed him sharply. “Everyone is the love of your life, Sora. What about the pretty brunette last week? Or that really buff guy who tipped you a ten that one time? I have faith that somehow, you will survive this heartbreak.”

---

The next time Sora fell in love was 11:17 on Wednesday morning.

He was tall, with impossibly light silver hair pulled back in a ponytail, and eyes the blue-green of the lagoons off the coast. He ordered a medium cinnamon latte and said his name was Riku.

He didn’t stake out a table, but just waited for his drink. By the time Sora even managed to put his thoughts together to ask that most basic of barista small-talk questions, Any fun plans for the day?, the latte was made.

Sora called out the drink, and handed it to Riku. When Riku said, “Thanks. I hope you have a great day,” he thought he might melt.

He stared after Riku as he exited the shop. His heartbroken sigh must have been loud enough to clue in Roxas, who was making another drink just a couple feet away.

Roxas rolled his eyes. “Let me guess…”

“I think that man was the love of my life.”

---

Sora returned to work on Saturday.

As he and Roxas both worked through the pre-open checklist, Roxas said, “Large iced caramel white mocha is a student, it turns out.”

Sora almost dropped the tube of cardboard cups he’d been carrying. “What? She was back!?”

“Yeah, yesterday. She told me she’s working on a paper for a summer class.” Roxas considered him for a moment, and then added: “We must have had that same drink order a dozen times last week. And you still remember the one I’m talking about?”

“Kairi,” Sora said, the name sounding just a little breathy.

“That’s the one. Maybe it really is true love.”

Sora was still turning this new, small confirmed bit of information over in his head when they switched on the open sign and the first customers started to trickle in for their morning caffeine.

And then, in the middle of the busiest part of the morning yet, there she was. Sora watched her walk in and join the line. He kept ringing people up, writing drink orders on cups, but could barely keep his eyes off of her.

When she got up to the register, he blurted, “Goodmorning, largeicedcaramelwhitemocha?”

She blinked a couple times, before laughing. “Um, yeah. Wow, I’m impressed! You remember that after one time?”

For you I do he did not say. “Uh, sometimes.” He tried to say something else, anything to continue the conversation (such as it was), but he couldn’t seem to get any words out.

He rang her up, and as she once again claimed a seat, Sora tried to switch spots with Roxas so he could make her drink. He could think of something to say, and could actually try to hold a conversation with her. Maybe he could even bring her drink over to her…

“No!” Roxas hissed. “I am in the middle of three different drinks, and you will absolutely mess them up. Get back to the register.”

Sora tried not to pout, returning to the register to ring up the rest of the current queue.

He was on the second to last of the customers when he heard Roxas call, “Kairi? Your drink is ready!”

When she approached the bar, Roxas asked, “Still working on that paper?”

“Yeah,” she said. She made a face. “The AC in my apartment barely works, and it’s so hot I just can’t focus when I’m there. I hope you don’t mind me working from here.”

“Not at all,” Roxas assured. “Please, stay as long as you want to.”

Sora tried to shoot Roxas a look that somehow conveyed absolute gratitude for telling her to stay and deepest betrayal for talking to her more eloquently than Sora had managed to.

The customer at the register cleared his throat.

Sora turned back and felt his face flush. He’d been in the middle of handing the man his change when he’d stopped to eavesdrop. He counted back a wildly wrong amount of change, then fixed it, then fixed it a second time, and finally moved on to the next customer.

The day stayed busy, though Sora had one opportunity to pass next to her seat at the end of the table so that he could wash the window.

She smiled up at him as he passed, and he did not pass out. He even managed to ask a coherent, if short, question: “How’s it going?”

“Good so far. For some reason, I decided to take a local history course over the summer. It’s pretty interesting, so I’m not entirely consumed with regret.”

Then a group came in and he had to return to the register, so he didn’t get to say anything else.

He’d turned around to refill one of the big coffee makers behind him when he heard the bell over the shop door and a customer stepping up to the counter.

“I’ll be right with y-” he started, glancing over his shoulder. His mouth went dry as he locked eyes with the other current love of his life.

“Mediumcinnamonlatte?” he asked, though it was hard to say if anything had come out sounding like real words.

Riku cocked his head to the side just a bit, ponytail swaying. Then he seemed to parse it. “Oh, yeah. Good memory! But yes please.”

Roxas did not poach Sora’s opportunity to make this drink, and Sora actually managed to force out the question he’d failed on before. “Doing anything fun with your Saturday?”

“Have to get some work done,” Riku said. “But I’m actually staying in a hotel right now, and their wi-fi is terrible.”

“We have wi-fi!” Sora said, just a bit too loud.

Riku laughed, and hefted a computer bag off of his shoulder. “That’s why I’m here. Well, that and the cinnamon latte.” Sora pushed the drink at him across the counter. “Please stay as long as you want.” He was almost proud of how smoothly he’d said that, even if it was almost the same thing Roxas had said earlier.

“Thank you. What was your name?”

Sora froze.

“His name is Sora,” said Roxas from behind him. “He even probably knows that. And I’m Roxas.”

Sora did not step on Roxas’ foot, no matter how tempting it was. “Sora. Yes. Hi.”

“I’d introduce myself, but you remembered my drink and my name.” He tipped the cup towards them in a sort of toast, showing where Sora had written his name. And not dotted the “i” with a heart. “Nice to meet you, Sora, Roxas.”

There was very little space available, all of the smaller tables by the windows taken up by individuals or small groups. Even the bigger table was almost full. One of the only spots was across from…

“Hi, do you mind if I sit here?” Riku asked.

Kairi looked up from her computer and then shifted it closer to her to make more room. “Oh, feel free! It’s a busy day in here today.”

“Thank you. I guess everyone realized this is where to get the best coffee.”

Sora glowed a little, despite the fact the comment hadn’t actually been made to him.

Roxas nudged him again. “Come on.”

The loves of Sora’s life sat together even after some of the other customers started to trickle out. They also started to talk, rather than just putting in their headphones and pretending isolation. Sora tried not to eavesdrop. He wanted to, but Roxas shot him a pointed look and mouthed Don’t be creepy.

Just as they reached the late-afternoon lull, both Riku and Kairi closed their laptops, and put them away. Sora watched helplessly as they left the shop together, still engaged in conversation.

Roxas patted him on the shoulder as he slumped over the counter.

---

Roxas was gone the following two days, and Sora shared his shifts with Xion.

“Have your future wife and husband been in?” Xion asked before they opened.

Sora groaned. “Roxas told you.”

“Of course Roxas told me! Your future wife is pretty, I saw her on Friday. Haven’t seen your future husband yet.”

“He’s pretty, too,” Sora mumbled. “And they were both here yesterday, and they met and now they know each other.”

“Ooh, what drama.” She laughed as she flipped on the open sign.

The morning was busy, and Sora didn’t fall in love with anyone new. By the time lunch had come and gone, he’d mostly given up on Kairi or Riku coming in.

He was in the stock room, trying to reach a new package of napkins on the very top shelf, when he heard Xion say “Oh,” from the register. “Would you hold on for just a moment? Hey Sora!”

“One sec!”

He abandoned the napkins for now and headed up, expecting a huge group to have come in.

But no, just a party of two.

“There he is. I know that Sora would be happy to ring the two of you up,” said Xion with a smile, before she darted into the storeroom.

“Hi,” Sora said, forcing himself forward to the register. Seeing both of them at once was more than he could handle.

“Hi Sora,” said Riku.

He knows my name, came the inane thought, because of course he did; Roxas had told him, and Xion had just said it.

“Usual drinks?” he asked.

“Yes please,” Kairi chirped.

“Can I get a large as well?” Riku asked. “But otherwise, yes. And you can ring them up together.”

“O-oh, yeah.” Are they on a date?

Sora rang them up, and then went to make the drinks, since Xion still hadn’t returned.

The café was mostly empty, and neither of them rushed to claim a spot at one of the tables.

“So, doing anything today?” Sora asked as he pulled shots.

“The new usual,” Kairi answered. “Coming in here for some coffee and some AC.”

“Coffee and wi-fi for me,” said Riku, raising a hand. “Apartment hunting is hard enough without having everything time out on the lousy hotel internet.”

“Apartment hunting?”

“Yeah, moving to the area. I thought I’d found a place, but it fell through.”

“Well, welcome to the island,” said Sora. He was actually talking. It didn’t keep his heart from racing, but it was an improvement. “And how’s the summer class going?”

“Good! I think I’m almost done with my paper.”

The disappointment was unexpectedly crushing. If she finishes the paper, she might not come in and stay anymore. “That’s good,” he said instead, though it sounded weak.

And then the drinks were done, and he handed them over. “You two enjoy.”

Riku and Kairi retreated to the table again, but this time sat next to each other with their open laptops.

Xion returned. She’d successfully retrieved the napkins, too. “How are the future spouses?”

He glanced over, but Kairi and Riku were talking, and definitely hadn’t heard Xion. Sora’s shoulders slumped. “I think they might be each others’ future spouses.” That was probably exaggerating. Or maybe not.

Xion shrugged. “The more the merrier.”

The next hour was painfully slow, only a couple customers coming through.

Xion started making a pair of drinks, which Sora ignored. Free coffee on the job was one of the main benefits of working there. He was watching Kairi looking at something on Riku’s computer, pointing to the screen.

“Oh, look at that,” Xion said, handing him the two drinks. “Silly me, I accidentally just made an iced caramel white mocha and a cinnamon latte. I meant to make myself a chai. Oops.”

Sora took the drinks and stared at them for a second.

“And look at the time!” she added. “I think you’re overdue for your break. I wonder if there’s anyone you could give those drinks to? So they wouldn’t go to waste.”

“Um… thank you.”

“Of course. Invite me to the wedding.”

Sora stumbled over several things he wanted to say as he walked toward the table, but there wasn’t much rehearsing to be done in the time it took to cross the room.

He gently set the drinks down on the far sides of the laptops when they looked up.

“On the house,” he said. “Just glad to see you in here.”

“Wow, thanks,” said Riku.

“Thank you,” said Kairi. “That was really nice of you. Sora, isn’t it? I don’t know if we were every really introduced.”

“Um, yeah. I’m Sora,” he confirmed. “And I’m glad you’re almost done with your paper. And Riku, I hope that you find an apartment soon! But just so you know, I’ll miss you when you don’t have to come in anymore.”

He could feel his face heating up, and couldn’t believe he’d just said it. It could have been worse. At least he’d kept the love of my life thing to himself.

Riku and Kairi exchanged a look. Kairi nodded.

“Actually,” Riku said, “We were going to go to a movie later. What time are you off work? Do you want to come with us?”

“I’d love to!” Sora said, probably a little too loud and too quick. “I’m done at 4.”

“You can be done at 3:30!” Xion called. “I can close up. It’s been slow, and we’re practically done with everything.”

“If that works, then we can just head out together,” said Kairi. “It’s almost 3:00 now.”

“Great!” said Sora. “Um… as long as you’re sure it’s okay.”

“Definitely!” said Kairi.

Riku enthusiastically nodded.

Sora returned to the counter to make sure he got as much done as possible before leaving, and he profusely thanked Xion.

When 3:30 rolled around, he took off his apron, and headed over to the table where Kairi and Riku were packing their laptops away.

“Ready to get going?” Kairi said. “Want to carpool? My car can fit everyone.”

“Sure. No danger of getting split up,” said Riku. “Though still, Sora, can we both get your number?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” said Sora, fumbling out his phone.

All three were moving toward the door, and Xion called out, “Have fun on your date!”

Sora was trying to figure out how to say it wasn’t a date when he also wished it was a date, when Riku called back over his shoulder, “I’m sure we will!”