AN: Hey! This is just a quick note. As of tonight's upload of Chapter Five on Holy Ground, this fic is officially tied into Holy Ground. This can be read as a standalone, but if you guys want to know what happens in Percy and Luke's relationship, I suppose you'd want to read Holy Ground. Thanks!
Again, this was inspired by a post on tumblr.
Disclaimer: Not mine!
TODAY YOUR BARISTA IS:
1. Hella fucking gay
2. Desperately single
FOR YOUR DRINK TODAY I RECOMMEND:
You give me your number
It took Luke a total of twenty-three minutes to notice the sign, and in the time it took, he'd gotten the numbers of three admittedly attractive men who undressed him with their eyes as they took their orders.
The sign was always propped up in front of the counter at Olympus Café, and from Luke's position manning the coffee machine, he couldn't actually see it. So it was only when the green eyed teenager with the sex hair pointed out the sign that Luke found out what it said.
"Does that actually work?" the boy asked, glancing down at the sign, a smirk twisting his lips.
Luke filled up the boy's cup-coffee, black-and looked over his shoulder, following the teenager's gaze. "The sign?"
The boy looked back up at him, his green eyes alight with amusement. "Yeah."
Luke eased off the lever, smacking a plastic lid over the Styrofoam cup as he turned back to the counter, handing the customer his cup before crouching down to take a blueberry muffin out of the display case.
"I guess," Luke said, shrugging as he stood. "I mean, people don't usually take any of the suggestions, but we get mostly regular customers who don't need me to tell them what's good. Why?"
The teenager glanced down at the sign, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "Do you know what the sign says?"
Luke thought back to when he'd entered the café that morning and scribbled his name and favorite muffin on the board.
"It says that my name is Luke, and I think you should try the Sea Castle Cupcakes?" Luke offered, frowning.
The boy with the insane green eyes laughed. "No, it doesn't," he said, looking between Luke and the sign.
Luke folded his arms over his chest, leaning his hip against the counter. "Doesn't it?"
The boy pointed at the chalkboard, then pulled his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans (which, Luke couldn't help but notice, hugged the boy's ass nicely). "See for yourself," he said, tossing a few bills on the counter.
Frowning, Luke got the boy his change, and then-with a quick look around the café to make sure no one was watching-he hoisted himself up over the counter to stand beside the boy.
He twisted to look at the sign, and groaned when he read it.
"Fuck," he muttered, squatting down to pick up the eraser and wipe the words off. "I'm going to kill Thalia."
The words were definitely scrawled in the hasty handwriting of his coworker/best friend, Thalia Grace. Luke was going to give her hell for this.
"It's actually a good idea." The boy above him was speaking again, and Luke sat down the eraser to draw in his name and recommendation for the day.
"Thalia's a bitch," Luke retorted. He stood, wiping the chalk from his hands onto his apron, and finally turned to survey the boy properly.
He was a couple years younger than Luke, eighteen or nineteen, with messy, tousled black hair that looked like he'd just rolled out of bed (or had sex), eyes that reflected the color of the sea on a hot summer day, and a sharp jaw line. He was muscular and athletic, but lithe and wiry, and he had a mischievous smile. He wasn't Luke's usual type, but even Luke had to admit he was pretty attractive.
The boy was grinning at Luke. "Probably."
Luke shook his head, climbing back over the counter. "Well, enjoy your coffee," he sighed.
The boy smiled, a mischievous glint in his eyes, then handed Luke a crumpled McDonald's receipt and turned, walking out of Olympus Café.
Luke watched him go, greedily taking in the swing of the boy's ass, before looking at the receipt.
It was old and stained with coffee, but freshly inked on it was a phone number and the request to call the boy with the sex hair, whose name, according to the receipt, was Percy Jackson.
Luke grinned. Okay, so maybe something good did come from Thalia's meddling.
