Disclaimer: I do not own or make money off of Death Note or any of its characters.

The Midday Shift

Mello pushed past the swinging door to the front of the coffee shop, dropping the box of 2% on the counter. "And after that, there's dishes in the back, and you should probably check the garbage," Misa said, leaning against the counter, sipping the mocha raspberry latte she'd made for herself earlier. It was times like these that Mello hated being 'the new guy,' especially when his shift manager was such a stuck-up, lazy bitch.

He gritted his teeth and nodded, bending down to restock the built-in fridge under the counter, pulling the half-empty gallon of 2% milk out to slide the new ones in behind. Just one more hour.

Misa looked around the shop idly and let out a sigh as if she were bored. Admittedly, the midday shift was by far the slowest, but she seemed to have no problem finding things for Mello to do. But as he got back up, she squealed, setting her latte down to clap her hands excitedly. "What is it?" he asked halfheartedly. He honestly couldn't care less what it was that she was so excited about, but if he could get her distracted, she might forget about him taking the garbage out.

"'Cone Guy' is back." She looked at him, eyes wide, as if he was supposed to know what this meant.

"Cone…guy?"

"Watch," she said, and turned to look out the front windows, pointing to the red Camaro that had just pulled up.

A man wearing a long-sleeved black and white t-shirt despite the August heat and a pair of goggles pushed up into his messy auburn hair stepped out of the car, leisurely smoking a cigarette. The man leaned back in and pulled out a small traffic cone. He shut the door, put the cone on top his car, and locked the car, shoving his keys down into his pocket.

It was obvious why Misa was excited: the man was really quite attractive despite his odd sense of fashion or perhaps lack thereof. But that didn't explain the traffic cone. "Why does he-"

"Shh," Misa interrupted. She pulled out the small hand mirror she kept on the top shelf under the cash register and messed around with her hair until she seemed to be satisfied. Mello couldn't tell much of a difference.

The man stood by the door, taking a few last drags on his cigarette before dropping it to the cement and putting it out with his boot. He pulled the door open, and before he'd even taken three steps inside, Misa greeted him with a cheery, though clearly overenthusiastic, "Hello!" He smiled and gave a nod of recognition as he approached the counter, standing back a little ways to look up at the menu. "Is there anything I can get for you, hun?" Misa asked, her tone sugary sweet.

"Uh…just a medium latte. Extra shot."

"Anything else?"

"Nah…I'm good."

"Triple grande!" Misa called out loudly despite the fact that Mello was standing no more than three feet from her and had heard the order just fine on his own. He pulled the shots, having to remind himself again, Just one more hour, and took the 2% pitcher out of the fridge, filling it 2/3 of the way full while Misa finished the order.

"Hey, how are you?" Mello asked the redhead as he came to stand at the end of the counter to wait for his coffee.

"Fine," he replied, engrossed in whatever he was doing on his cell phone. From where Mello was standing, it looked like some sort of video game.

Deciding 'Cone Guy' wasn't the talkative type, Mello finished steaming the milk and poured it over the three espresso shots he had dumped into the cup. With the latte done, he snapped a lid on and sat it on the counter.

"Thanks," came a distracted reply as Cone Guy reached for his coffee.

"Can I ask you something?" The words were out of Mello's mouth before he had the chance to stop them, and he instantly regretted it. He had been instructed during training to make friendly conversation with the customers, not to create awkward encounters by asking them weird questions.

But Cone Guy barely seemed to notice. "Sure," he mumbled, not even bothering to look up from his phone.

"Um…why do you have a traffic cone on top your car?"

This finally got the redhead's attention. He paused the game, pocketed his phone, and looked over at Mello with a smirk on his face. "Why don't you have a cone on your car?"

Surprised by the question, Mello took a moment to think about it. Why didn't he—or anyone else, for that matter—not put cones on their cars? Surely, the first step would be to acquire one. "I don't have one," Mello said, and Cone Guy's eyebrows shot up, a smile widening on his face. He looked excited, almost giddy, from Mello's response.

"Good answer. I don't think I ever got that one before."

"Don't you have work to be doing?" Misa interrupted, her arms crossed over her chest, looking at Mello expectantly. He thought he saw a hint of jealousy in her expression.

"Right…" He started towards the swinging door that led to the back, resigning himself to the dishes. Just one more hour.

"Hey, I…didn't catch your name." He turned back to see Cone Guy giving him a sheepish grin.

"Mihael, but everyone calls me Mello."

"I'm Matt," the redhead said, suddenly having a more suitable name than 'Cone Guy.' "Maybe I'll…see you around sometime."

"Yeah, maybe," Mello smiled and continued to the back room. One more hour didn't seem quite so long anymore.

A/N: I would seriously consider this a crackfic if it wasn't based on something that actually happened. There was really a guy who did this who often parked in front of the coffee shop I used to work at. Unfortunately, he always went into the restaurant next door and never came in to get coffee, so I never got to ask him why he did it…

Review please?