A/N: I didn't realize how close their birthdays were to each other until recently. So I took the opportunity and wrote a simple fraliech oneshot. Enjoy!
Lilli feels herself deteriorating ever since she started living here. The language she studied for a few years suddenly left her mind whenever she tries to communicate with the people and she constantly sputters out a grammatical mess of sentences. She feels herself melting from her own failures to make a peaceful living in this country.
She's fazed by the idea to get in a conversation with any of these people. She knows they're nice people but their language always confounded her.
She glances at the pile of books on her desk, ranging from French 101 to French cuisine. She purses her lips, a rush of ideas coming to her as she thinks. She thinks that maybe she will go to the café down the street that she always meant to go to. She knew how to order something she wanted. She thinks a waiter will come to her, ask for what she wants, and then the conversation is over.
Lilli breathes in, a fear of language barrier consuming her bit by bit. 'Lilli, you're just going to get a cup of tea. They're just going to ask what you want and then say have a good day, then you're done. C'est facile,' she thinks to herself. She mentally slaps herself for thinking that it's so hard to just order tea at a café.
She exits her apartment and takes the winding stairs to the first floor.
"Bonjour, mademoiselle!" the man sitting behind his desk greets her, a grin adorning his plump face. Lilli nods and smiles weakly. She almost forces herself to say 'hello' back but she already finds herself outside, the door closed behind her. She thinks to herself that wasn't the first time she leaves without a word to the man.
'There are a lot of people here.' is the first thought that comes to mind when she enters.
The café is packed with families, students, and people who came for a small, peaceful drink. Paintings and vintage picture embellish the walls and porcelain tea sets decorate the shelves. She hears muffled laughter and loud talking from the customers sitting outside. Silverware, cups, and plates clink together and loud orders from within the kitchen are head.
A sweet aroma captivates her, a scent that she so quickly enjoys. She seats herself, making herself comfortable at a one person seating area. A miniature menu is already in front of her. She only wanted tea but seeing everyone eating she reconsiders her choices.
In large, cursive writing is 'Les deux macarons' the name of this café. Her stomach growls and she remembers she hasn't had macrons ever since she was little. Her brother always complained how they were always expensive and it was rare when he even bought them. She beams; she can now have actual French macarons.
"Good morning, miss! How are you feeling today?" Lilli jumps a little in her seat. She almost didn't understand him since he was speaking so fast in French. She feels herself shaking and her knees hitting against each other.
"I'm well, thank you." She manages to say. The man blinks and Lilli worriedly thinks if she accidently insulted him. "I'm sorry! I'm not from here-"
"No, no! I should be sorry. We don't usually get foreigners in here." The man chuckles and gets out his writing pad. Lilli hesitantly laughs, almost relieved by the fact that he will speak a little slowly. "Let's start over. I'm Francis Bonnefoy and I'll be serving you today. Any drinks for today?"
Lilli is able to grasp the concept of what he was saying. "I'd like a cup of herbal tea, please," she says. She feels the need to introduce herself. She never did introduce herself to the servers back home since she didn't feel the need, but here it was different. She wanted to meet new people but she is so afraid of messing up. She glances up and her mouth opens.
"I'll be right back with your order, miss."
She now thinks it might not be so necessary. Yet she does feel insecure about sitting by herself. She feels anxiety build up. Not knowing the language well and wanting to talk to people are her only problems here in France. She doesn't even know if anyone spoke German here, she just has that doubt.
"Here is your herbal tea, miss. Enjoy,"
Francis's smile makes her smile for some reason. She thinks that anyone could smile when they see Francis. He has that power and it certainly works on her.
"Anything else for today, miss?"
"My name is Lilli Zwingli," She spurts. Francis's smile swells and he chuckles.
"I'm afraid we don't have Lilli Zwingli on the menu," He jests. Lilli's cheeks flush a faint red from embarrassment. "I'm joking, Miss Zwingli. It's very nice to meet you! Where are you from?" He gushes.
She feels herself getting warm from his attention and she doesn't know what to say. She's never thought she'd get so much attention from a man like him. Her mind races with multiple things she could say to him even though he just asked where she was from.
"I-I'm from Liechtenstein but I lived in Switzerland," She says, her pronunciation a bit off. She wonders if his smile even hurts to stay that long on his face.
"Ah, I can only speak a few phrases in German. You'd have to teach me," He says. She blinks, was he suggesting meeting her again? She doesn't mind but she feels overwhelmed yet relieved to be able to finally communicate with someone who is willingly helping her. "I hope I'm not pushing you but you look so young, may I ask how old you are?"
"I recently turned nineteen," She replies, feeling her unease withering away. She expected this question to be asked a lot since she always got the 'baby face' compliment. "And I can teach you German." She's beginning to think her French is sounding like what a robot on Google translate would say.
'Oh god, this is where I fall.' She horridly thinks. She knows he's going to keep asking question and she doesn't want him to stop, she really wants to befriend him. Yet she doesn't know a lot of French and he admits he doesn't know a lot of German. English was a definite no since she barely knew any.
Francis beams. "Recently? When was your birthday?"
'Lilli, he's just asking when your birthday is. You know this.' Lilli swallows. "July 12th."
"Bonnefoy! Get back to work!" Francis turns and raises a hand, signaling to give him a minute.
"Hold on, Miss Zwingli, I have the perfect dish to give you." He winks at her and leaves to enter the kitchen in the far back.
She feels giddy. She's proud of herself for communicating with a Frenchman and hopefully befriended him. She feels her heart skip beats and her cheeks burning. She doesn't want to wait. Trying to keep herself from being impatient, she sips her tea. Her arms are shaking causing herself to shake the cup of tea.
'Pull yourself together, Lilli.'
Minutes pass and Francis comes back with a lid hiding the meal within it. She giggles as he places the plate in front of her. He removes the lid and reveals four different colored macarons. She doesn't know how to respond. Her favorite dessert placed in front of her by a man she wants to consider as a friend.
"I was going to give you two, because of our restaurant name. But since it was your special day two days ago, I gave you four," He says, refilling her cup of tea, "happy belated birthday, Miss Zwingli."
"Thank you so much." Lilli observes him, his smiling face and the blond stubble growing on his chin, his blond hair neatly tied in a diminutive ponytail, but his name tag caught her attention. 'C'est mon anniversaire!' in bright blue, bold letters stood right above his name. She can't believe she never saw that and she feels guilt for not even noticing.
"Also, I've noticed something on your name tag this whole time." Lilli gestures her eyes to his adorned name tag and smiles. "Happy Birthday, Mister Bonnefoy."
Francis freezes. His smile is warm and soft, a chuckle escapes his lips, "Thank you, Miss Zwingli." He hands her another plate with a receipt on top of it, "Here's the check. Have a wonderful belated birthday, Miss Zwingli."
He leaves with a smile on his face. She waits until he is out of sight and she looks down on the four macarons on her plate. An idea comes to her and she feels a warm feeling within her. She thinks to herself that it's a thoughtful idea. Francis must have worked long hours here, she assumes.
She takes a napkin and digs in her purse for a pen. She finishes her herbal tea and eats two macarons. The flavors so rich and creamy, she wants to eat more. She places the respected amount of money on top of the receipt, a note, and the two macrons she didn't eat.
She leaves without another word.
Mister Francis Bonnefoy,
Excuse me for my French here in this note. I'd like to thank you for your time and your service. It's very nice to meet you. Thank you for the tea and macrons. However, I left two for you. It's your birthday and since you work in a café called 'Les deux macarons' I thought 'hey why not leave two macarons for your birthday? '
Happy birthday! Don't work yourself too hard! I will definitely come visit again!
Sincerely,
Lilli Zwingli