"All right!" Futaba cheered from her place in front of the counter of Leblanc. "Who's ready to see who has the best tasting coffee in the city?"
Sojiro groaned and rubbed the back of his head. "You don't need to be so over the top about this, Futaba," he said exasperatedly. "I'm not even sure why you've dragged me into this."
"Because only a true coffee connoisseur can help us decide who makes the better coffee!" Futaba protested. "And, well... Everyone else is busy..."
"There's no real need for this, we can both make good cups of coffee and that's all that matters to us," Haru explained from where she was standing behind the counter.
"Yeah, you're the only one who really wants to know," Akira chimed in from next to her, before a smirk began to form on his face as an lightbulb lit up in his head. "Although..."
"Hmm?" Haru turned to face her boyfriend, before a lightbulb went off in her head as well. "The one who loses has to pay for the next date?"
"I was going to suggest that the winner gets to borrow Futaba's laptop for a day."
Futaba's face immediately went pale. "Loser pays for the next date! Loser pays for the next date!" she begged in a panic as Akira started to chuckle.
Haru frowned at Futaba. "Akira."
"I'm kidding. No, we won't do that. The loser has to pay for the next date." Haru smiled again as Futaba eagarly nodded.
"Well then, let's make like a game show and start the introductions!" Futaba stood up from her perch on her chair and faced them.
"Make like a game show...?"
"Introductions?"
"Welcome to the Leblanc Coffee Competition!" Futaba announced to a thankfully empty café, Sojiro having closed it earlier "Today, we have two contestants competing to see who can make the best cup of coffee. Standing in the red corner, weighing in at 170 pounds, it's Akira!"
"Futaba, you really don't need to do this, we're literally just making coffee."
"And in the blue corner, weighing-"
The glare Haru shot Futaba's way was enough to shut her up with a squeak before she could finish her introduction.
"Shall we begin?" Haru asked.
Akira nodded, and stepped aside to let Haru have access to the coffee siphon. "Let's go."
"How do you usually take your coffee, Boss?" Haru asked as she worked.
"Usually black, but you make it how you feel is best," Sojiro answered noncommittally. Haru hummed in response as she pulled out a cup and a saucer for the coffee.
"The first contestant is busy with the siphon! What does the other contestant think of how they're doing so far?" Futaba asked, holding an invisible microphone up to Akira's face.
"She's doing well," he said.
Futaba pouted. "You gotta say more than that!" she protested.
He shrugged and walked away to stand opposite Sojiro. "It's all I have to say."
"Easy there, Futaba. Sit down please," Sojiro warned as Futaba opened her mouth to say something else. Grumbling, she knelt back down in her seat as Haru poured out a cup of coffee and brought it over to Sojiro.
"Here you go, Boss."
"Thank you." Sojiro slowly took a sip from the coffee cup, savouring the taste as he did. "Mmm."
"Well...?"
"An elegant taste. Akira, you're up," he said simply. Haru nodded and walked away to allow Akira access to the siphon.
"Hopefully all those hours spent learning will pay off..." he muttered as he began to set about making a cup of coffee.
"So, Haru," Futaba began as she turned to face her, "How do you think Akira will do?"
"I would be surprised if he didn't do well, Boss has been teaching him a lot," Haru admitted as she looked over at Sojiro, who simply shrugged.
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
"Finished," Akira called as he poured the coffee into a cup and passed it over to Sojiro.
"That was fast," Haru observed.
"I've gotten good at making coffee."
Sojiro pushed Haru's cup over to her to drink and took a sip of the coffee Akira had made. "Hmm..."
Uh oh, Akira thought.
Sojiro placed the cup down and pushed it over to Akira for him to try. "Not bad. You're definitely getting better."
"Thank you," he said as he took a drink.
"So!" Futaba turned to look at Sojiro eagerly. "Who won?"
"Give me a moment, I'm thinking about it."
Akira and Haru glanced at each other, sipping their coffees as they waited for Sojiro's decision.
Finally, the man sighed and rubbed his head again. "Akira's was better."
"And the winner is Akira! That's all for today's Coffee Competition! Tune in next time!" Futaba began humming some sort of victory tune as she pulled out her phone to message the group chat while Sojiro stood up to flip the sign back to open.
"I won," Akira said as he turned to face Haru, before offering his coffee cup to her. "You should try it."
A small smile and a faint blush formed on Haru's face as an idea occured to her. "Maybe I will."
And before Akira could say anything else or wonder why Haru was blushing when he hadn't said anything odd, she quickly stepped forward and pecked him on the lips, stepping back just as quickly and licking her lips, the blush now more apparent than before. "It does taste nice. Boss was right."
Akira, for once, was left utterly speechless.
...
Author's note: Apologies if this is OOC, it would not leave me alone. Shout out to NextTrickAnvils and their Tumblr Ficlet Collection for inspiring me with an idea for the Coffee prompt, please go check them out as well.