Title: Hazelnut and Caramel

Summary: A story of how wrong order could end up in something entirely out of topic.

Pairing: Human!Bunnymund/Jack

Rate: T for the shovel talk.

Disclaimer: I own nothin'~! But, well, if you insist, I'll gladly accept Jack and Bunny and Pitch to be my property. No? Okay, still own nothing.

Pointless Rambling: I'm still alive~! If anyone is curious about it.

I'm sorry I havent updated 'You Again' in a long time. It's still in progress, but I got stuck in the middle of the chappie. So… maybe it will be in semi-hiatus? I don't know, I won't put it into my discontinued list, that's for sure. And real life has been taking its toll on me. I'm going into college soon, I'm still taking test for the college, meaning I really have to study, and I have a mountain of fics I haven't updated. Why, now I also have a tumblr to manage~! Wow. I'm going to kill myself.

(My tumblr is shirasaka-konoe dot tumblr dot com, by the way) *shameless ad is shameless indeed*

And, Nathalaia, I'm sorry I haven't replied your PM. I nearly don't have time, and the time I have is used for writing down the stories… I'm sorry… I'll get to it, but not really that soon… TTATT

I hope this oneshot will be enough truce for you. *is crying* If you don't like it… I can always make a new on. Just gimme the prompt, and I'll make it. Not in a nar future, though. *is crying again*

Lovepuppy316, if you're reading this, I'm sorry that I haven't finished your oneshot. It is, too, still in progress.

Now I'll just hope I'd get the time to get a hold of all this.

For the mean time, enjoy~! :D

There were things that Jack liked about working part-time job.

One, it kept him alive, in more ways than one.

Ever heard of people dying of boredom? He was the type that would actually die in such fashion. He couldn't sit in one place for more than five minutes; it was as if he had these extra engines in his limbs. Need someone to spoil a fishing trip? Call him and it would be over in less than one minute because he wouldn't shut up about how boring it was to stay in silence while waiting for some stupid fish to bite the bait.

And with the extra money, he wouldn't have to rely on his monthly allowance. He wouldn't have to starve out to death just because he spent the half of his money to rent some new movies he was dying to watch.

Two, it served as another socializing activity.

He… didn't really have to explain that one, right?

Jack was anything but a loner.

Three, he could take the leftover home when the shop was closed.

And the treats where he worked were nothing but delightful. Who ever knew that the bitter British man who ran this place knew how to make definitely not bitter treats? It was amazing how the cheesecake Pitch made always left this tingling sensation in his mouth after every bite. And the crust and filling from the shop's trademark cherry pie was second to none. And the chocolate cake never failed to coax his mouth in a beautiful mixture of perfect texture and wonderful balance of sweetness of the sugar and bitterness from the high quality chocolate. And don't let him start about the hand-made ice cream he was always given by Seraphina, the man's daughter. It was divine. Enough said.

And the best thing was that Seraphina always forced him a bagful of said goodness before he went home, saying he was too scrawny. He didn't usually let people get away saying that, but he'd let Seraphina because that girl was so sweet (even with her really dry sense of humor).

And finally, four, he got to see that fine piece of Australian ass. Okay… that came out a little bit wrong. But, who cared?

Because, really, Jack could go around the world for all his life and he wouldn't find anyone matching this guy. That light blonde hair giving impression of silvery-gray, thick black eyebrows, lucid green eyes reminding him of spring, firm nose, and thin lips, and strong jaw, and fine muscles that weren't overly developed, and sun-kissed skin, and that sexy accent every time he ordered a cup, and that stern look, and he really should stop before anyone caught him drooling over some Australian guy in the middle of the busy hour.

The truth was… he first thought of taking part-time in the coffee shop because he saw this hot guy entering the place. Thrice a week, on the same time, on the same spot (A regular?), for the same damn thing. Sketching.

Maybe he was majoring in art? Because Jack was sure he'd seen this guy in the campus ground before.

"Guess who I just caught currently staring at the crush of his life."

"Uh… me?"

"Yup," Seraphina replied.

He laughed and took the cups from Seraphina's hands. "I don't think it's merely a crush," he whispered for dramatic effect, "I think we're meant to be forever and after."

"Oh, cut it, will you? Tooth, is the order for table nine ready?"

"In a minute, sweetie," came the answer from the kitchen.

"I'll go help them in there. Can you deliver those cups? The one on your left is hazelnut latte for table five, the other one is caramel latte for table six," Seraphina said as she disappeared into the busy food-producing workshop. 'Was that even a place's name?' he pondered a bit.

He walked to the tables near the windows, where the hottie was sitting. Which one was one again? Oh, right. "Here you go, please enjoy your cup," he said while smiling brightly, trying so hard to leave the best impression on the man, "I mean… not the cup 'the cup', the coffee… uh… you get it? Ah, never mind."

He turned around and frowned. Way to go, his mind cheered mockingly. His mood just broke after that, though he managed to smile when he handed over the order for table five. Frowning wouldn't do his reputation (and the shop) any good.

Once he was behind the counter, he noticed that the Australian stood and walked to his direction.

Not once in his wildest imagination he thought this would be happening. That lame joke was actually working?

"Excuse me," the man said.

Oh, yes! This was actually happening!

"Yeah? How can I help you?"

"Ya brought me the wrong cup."

"Huh?"

"Ya heard me! Ya brought me the wrong cup!"

Jack blinked a few times as reality sunk in. It really was not happening.

"Uh… I'm sorry. Let me get a new one. No need to get all worked up about it," he said, nervously laughing in hope to lighten the heavy mood.

"No need ta get all worked up? I almost gulped down tha' thing!"

"W-well… there's nothing to it, right?"

"What d'ya mean by 'nothin' to it', mate?"

"No harm done, okay? Would you please go back to your seat and I'll—"

"Yea, no harm done, but there coulda been!"

"Alright, Aster, please do tell me what he's done wrong," that voice, oh, Jack could never be more grateful to hear that voice. Pitch was standing behind him with a thin, polite smile.

"It's hazelnut latte. I ordered caramel latte."

Pitch sighed and looked at Jack. "My apologies, he's a bit… careless. But I do think you're a little harsh on him," he said, voice smooth and from the look of it, it really lighten the mood because the Australian's face soften a bit.

"I'm allergic ta nuts, Pitch."

"Oh, then I assure you it won't happen again. I'll tell you what… uhm, I'll give you five free cups?" the British said while still smiling. "You are a valuable costumer; I wouldn't like the idea of you leaving because of this little slip. Well, it might've been dangerous, but…"

"Ya don't hafta do this. It's a'right."

'Seriously?' Jack thought. He got all the screaming and Pitch just cleaned that mess over just like that?

"No, Aster, it doesn't feel right not to give you anything as apology."

"Now I feel bad…" the Australian—apparently, his name was Aster—said while looking at the cup in his hand. "Five cups aren't cheap, ya know," he gave a half smile.

"Don't be. Besides, I'll take it from Jack's paycheck," Pitch replied with even wider smile.

"What?!"

"Your mess, you clean up."

"B-but, I thought…" Jack sputtered the words. He couldn't believe this! How was he supposed to buy the new jacket he was drooling over for two weeks?!

"If tha', I'll take the offer."

What. The. Hell.

If he knew anything was going to turn out like this, he wouldn't have gotten the job in the first place. Alright, he would've, but he also would've tried really hard to just forget about his crush. It wasn't worth it!

'Well, not really,' his mind decided as he set down a cup of caramel latte in front of the-used-to-be-crush-of-his-life-and-might-still-b e. He got to talk to him for the rest of his shift because Aster came at five minutes before his shift over. And Seraphina always said that he could spend the last five minutes to just slack off. She really did spoil him, huh?

It turned out that Aster really was majoring in art! The young man (although begrudgingly) told him himself that after his series of 'what are you—' question. Hey, he lost a lot of money to this guy. It was only fair, right?

He was joined by Seraphina who actually knew this man (why didn't she say so earlier?) because she and Tooth had same class with him occasionally.

"I can't believe I lose my money to you," Jack said to the already-annoyed-Aster.

"Well, yer lucky Pitch didn't fire you."

Then Seraphina chimed in. "Oh, he wouldn't. Ever"

"What makes you so sure?"

So Seraphina told both of them a story. Apparently, Jack was like a son Pitch would never have. Well, would've had, but didn't. She would've gotten a twin brother, but didn't. Died in birth, she said. And now that her parents were divorced because Pitch found out that he wasn't really into woman—again, Jack's mind shout; 'Seriously?'—he had to bury his desire to have a son. His ex-wife recommended him getting an adoption—yes, they get along very well to a questionable extent—but he didn't want to because of some reasons.

It was quite a sad story until Pitch slapped Seraphina in the head lightly and told her to cut the joke. "I don't think of Jack as my son. It's just really such a waste to fire the number one attraction from this place. And, no. Sera never really had a twin."

"Dad, you should've seen their faces when I told them about my non-existent twin brother!" she protested with an impish smile on her face. "He said that, but I'm sure he'll give the world's number one shovel talk to whoever Jack's going to end up with," she added when her father was out of earshot.

"Sheila, yer humor is really dry," Aster said, half-disbelieving that he really bought that story.

"Dry as the desert," Jack added. That got him a nod from Aster.

"Wow, it's nice to see you both agreeing on something."

The second and the third cup actually brought them closer.

At least now Jack knew that Aster's last name was really embarrassing and now he had a blackmail item. "Nah, don't bother 'bout tha', mate. Lotsa people know tha' already."

"What? Not fair!"

And Aster only glanced at him from the corners of his eyes, the corners of his lips twitched slightly upward, and he quickly covered that with his cup.

It was the fourth cup already. Jack didn't even realized the previous three cups.

"What will happen after this?" Jack asked while sipping the—actually—first cup he ever paid for himself (he usually got them for free and when he actually paid for it, it was for Aster, end of story).

"After what?"

"I mean… we go to the same uni, right?"

"M-hm."

"And… even after we meet kinda often here, you've never really talked to me until the whole hazelnut latte incident."

"Yup," Aster answered, taking a sip from his now lukewarm latte.

"So… after the fifth cup, is it going to be just that? You know… are we just going to be…" he pondered for a moment. Friends? Acquaintances? Chatting friends? "Uhm… whatever we are now?"

"Why ask?"

"Well… I know too much about you to be considered just a mere acquaintance, and vice versa. And we don't really spend enough time to be considered friends… and—"

Aster raised a brow. Obviously, that wasn't what he was asking.

"I mean… we know each other a lil' bit too much to be just mere acquaintances, and I think it would be such a waste if we go back to how we were… like before the latte incident."

"So… 'latte incident' is an idiom now?"

Jack punched Aster lightly on his arm while the other laughed. "Like I was saying…" he continued while ignoring Aster's rich laughter. Oh, he could've melted if he didn't. "What will we become? I-I know it's really not my place to ask, after all, I'm just a waiter here. Part-timing one, also. And… I understand if you don't want to answer. Yeah. Yeah, I understand, it was stupid for me to ask," he blurted out.

"Hmm… why don't we just wait and see how things turn out?" Aster answered, this time letting his smile visible for Jack.

"Yeah…"

"Though I doubt I'll come here tha' often anymore."

That made Jack frowned. "Why? You find a coffee shop better than this one?"

Aster laughed again. "Nah, mate. My script isn't goin' ta finish itself. And I'm thinkin' of goin' back ta Australia once I've finished college."

"Oh… that's… too bad," Jack replied numbly. There was a pang of pain in his chest and by then he realized it wasn't really a crush.

"Ya really shoulda seen your face, mate. Come on, lighten up. I was only kiddin' about the 'goin' back to Aussie' part," Aster added, now laughing softly in front of him.

"You call that a joke? Hello, Sera, meet Aster."

"Is tha' some kinda new form of pot meeting kettle?

"Yup. Damn right it is."

The fifth cup was done faster than he like it to be. And it reached the Australian's table even faster. And he quickly rushed to change when his shift was done, ordering a cup of hazelnut latte and sat on the same table with Aster. Just like what he'd been doing for the last four cups.

"You haven't drunk yours? I always thought you like it scalding hot," Jack said when he noticed the surface of Aster's latte was still smooth, undisturbed.

"I don't really enjoy havin' ta suffer burnin' tongue."

They sat in silence, spoon in hand, stirring the content of their cup. Until Jack pointed out the window, exclaiming he saw a kangaroo. Aster's eyes followed the finger, out of reflex. There was no way a kangaroo was running around the town, now that he regained control of his mind. "Jack…" he called.

The blue eyed young man only grinned cheekily. "Gotcha…" he said, grin still not wavering.

"I'll get back at ya someday. Keep tha' in mind, Frostbite."

"I'll wait patiently," Jack answered. "Now, are you going to drink your latte? It's not getting any warmer, you know."

The green eyed man scoffed and raised his cup to his lips. And, luckily, he stopped before something really bad happened. "Jack… this is hazelnut latte."

Jack took a sip from his cup and put it down. "Hmm… I think it got mixed with mine. This one's caramel."

Aster raised a brow at him.

"I guess I owe you five more cups, don't I?"

The taller of the two smiled and set down his cup. "Nah, a kiss and your number should do it."

Jack mused over whether he should or he should not ask Aster of what happened inside the coffee shop when he saw the love of his life came out with tense shoulder. "What happened?" slipped out before he finished considering. Oh well…

"Nothin'… just good ol' Pitch gave me the mother of all shovel talk."

"What did he said?" Jack snickered at the thought of Pitch giving shovel talk with that polite smile of his.

"Nothin' big. Just… he said he'll drown me into a tub full of hazelnut latte and let me die either of drownin' or allergic and then he'll bury me at the small garden at his backyard and use my grave ta plant coffee beans. If I hurt you, that is."

"Well, let's just make sure he won't find the reason to, alright?" Jack said while leaning to the Australian, hands on bothe shoulders, tiptoeing to kiss Aster.

"A'right, love," Aster answered before kissing Jack fully on the lips.

And guess what. Seraphina was right!

END

And that's it. Okay, I'll just go back to my room and write again. Maybe.

Hope you all like it, Nathalaia especially, because this is her prompt.

Love and latte,
Shirasaka Konoe