Coffee Shop
In which Trafalgar Law enjoys spending his free time in a coffee shop with a young woman who likes to write bad pick up lines on a cup.
Trafalgar Law rather enjoys spending his spare time in a coffee shop on his days off from work; if only to simply read a book while sipping on coffee with light cream and a bit of sugar. It's quiet. Most customers seem to be college students or adults like him, hoping to find somewhere peaceful to relax in.
This was certainly a good place to do it in.
He'd picked out a good book from the library today, but he hasn't even read the front page. He's not sure what it's about at all, yet it's opened halfway as if he's read through it already. His eyes look just past the top of the pages and across the room; a small girl with messy black hair jokes around with the owner.
The man himself smiles as the young woman talks to him; she returns to her seat shortly after, her friends welcome her back and he wonders why she was gone in the first place. Had she gone to simply talk to old man? Or was there something he was missing? Seeing as she returned to her seat emptyhanded, it was clear that she hadn't bought anything.
He looks back down at his book and gets caught on a sentence that seems rather out of place. What was the summary again? Why had he chosen this book out of the thousands in the library? "Sir," The barista catches his attention when she gently puts a cup of coffee down on his table; there's mirth in her eyes. "Compliments from the lady to your right,"
Strange, he thanks the woman anyway.
There's a bit of hazelnut that Law picks up immediately; it's a good taste, but there's a bit too much sugar for his liking. He takes another sip and puts the cup down, almost completely missing the black writing on the side of it.
"See something you like?" There's a big winky face next to the cursive writing.
He feels his shoulders stiffen; he's a bit embarrassed.
Choosing not to look up from his book again, he turns the page nonchalantly and tries to understand why some kid was flirting with him in the most childish way possible. Who wrote messages on the side of plastic cups anyway?
How old was this kid?
If anything Law really doesn't want to mess with an underage girl.
She sits with her friends for a couple of extra minutes before the group gets up and disappears out the door; Law watches them go, eyes just barely shaded by the cover of his book.
He huffs, and shortly leaves after.
A part of him never expected to see her again but there she is; sitting in the exact same spot she was in the other day, but this time she's alone. She seems to have ordered a cup of milk instead of actual coffee; which was even stranger than her actions yesterday. Who came to a coffee shop to order milk?
The barista herself comes over and puts a cup down on his table; the taste is similar to the coffee he had yesterday, but there's a hint of something more. Maybe it's chocolate? If Law had to guess chocolate then it was probably white chocolate, not that he minded it. It balanced the sweetness of the coffee itself, so he doesn't complain.
Surly enough, on the side of the cup is a crudely drawn message.
"If you'll be the peanut butter, I'll be the jelly." The attempt at a pick up line makes the corners of his lips turn up slightly, but hopefully not enough for her to see all the way on the other side of the room. There's another winky face on the cup, and on the other side there's yet another message. "Unless you want to be the jelly, then I can be the peanut butter. Or the bread,"
He covers his mouth with his hand.
The next day the same thing happens, only with a different line.
"You're one fineapple,"
"Are you a chicken? Cuz you're im peck able."
"Hi, I'm trying to pick you up."
"Your eyes tell me everything but your name and number."
It was funny in an awkward way; most people who tried to flirt with him did so in other ways. It's fair to say that this is the first time that he's laughed this hard when it came to someone asking him out to do whatever she wanted to do; the fact that she was trying to be flirty only made things even funnier.
He manages to order her a drink before she gets there, leaving a cute little message for his new stalker in response to the eight messages that she's left him. Maybe they're both stalking each other at this point, who knows? She doesn't. Law doesn't either.
But why else would they both start going to this small coffee shop everyday out of the week at the exact same time, to sit at the exact same seats?
Maybe the coffee is just really good.
He sends over a small cup of juice with a lid and a bright orange curly straw; it looks a lot like something a child would drink, which is the joke. When she receives the drink she looks like the happiest person in the world; abandoning her mostly empty cup to the side and bringing the straw to her pink lips.
"You had oversweet coffee and milk yesterday; I thought juice would be appropriate. Most kids like it."
She nearly chokes in attempt to spit the juice out and swallow it at the same time; it's interesting to say the least when her eyes pop and then narrow in his general direction with a playful glare. Somehow this has become a game that even the barista seemed to be a part of; was she ever trying to be secretive in the first place?
Without breaking eye contact, the raven chugs down her cup of juice with motive. She stands and cleans up her table, turning back towards him as if only to tell him how old she was. "I'm twenty two!"
This girl was interesting, to say the least.
Law seems to be coming to the coffee shop everyday now.
Everyone knows why.
Law pretends that they don't.
"I want one cup of black coffee!" It's the same girl from yesterday; she has her hair brushed back neatly today, and a headband to help keep the bangs out of her face. She's loud enough to catch his attention; eyebrow raised as she watches her boast. "No sugar or crème or nothing!"
The barista herself seems to be in on whatever this was, exactly. She winks at the younger woman clad in a black shirt with blue jeans, followed by what seemed to be her favorite red jacket. "No sugar of crème? That's very 'adult' like of you, Miss Luffy."
'Luffy' stands proudly with her hands on her hips as the drink is made. "Of course," She boasts; Law does his best to hide his smile with his hands as she takes the drink with two hands. "Thanks!" She bounces back to her seat with enough energy to make him wonder if she even needed all of this caffeine that she seemed content on drinking every day.
The barista's eyes flicker towards him and she winks.
Then a redheaded girl who's sitting a couple of seats away winks too.
A green haired boy looks up from his phone and huffs.
The shopkeeper nods in approval.
Law ignores them.
Luffy orders the same drink the next day. A small cup of black coffee without a trace of sugar or crème whatsoever; there's a stubborn pout on her face as she sits down and forces herself to take a small sip. Watching her face scrunch up like a child who just ate something they didn't like makes his lips curl.
Did she think that it made her an adult?
Cute; he thinks, his lips curl a bit further.
She's not there on time the next day. Law simply buys himself a drink and sits down in his normal corner; it's normally best for people-watching because most don't pay attention to it. People watching and stalking were two completely different words, and actions, he reassures himself.
He waits patiently; eyes shifting around the room and finally landing at the door when it opens and a familiar raven walks through the door. She's ten minutes late today, but that doesn't stop her from ceremoniously dropping in to the table that's right next to his.
Usually she sat all the way across the room; by the window, she seemed to like looking outside. Today however; her actions include nothing more than forcing her coffee down, and then making the most unattractive faces she can manage every time he looks over at her.
Disturbed by his lack of response, she stands again and plops into the seat straight across from him.
They're sitting together now. "Black coffee?"
Dropping both of her elbows onto the table and leaning forward; she nods, though if anything it's more of a repeated head bob. He can see her much better than he could before; messy black hair, a scar underneath her left eye, thin shoulders, and bright brown eyes.
She smells like the vanilla creamer that he liked to mix into his drink.
"Cause' I'm an adult." She proclaims.
Law's lips stretch. This behavior was a refresher from what he was used to whenever it came to people who decided to approach him. "Do you think that drinking black coffee makes you an adult?"
"Yeah! I don't… even like juice."
She's a bad liar. "You don't like juice? I enjoy it."
What. She stares at him for a good minute. "I do like juice!"
"But you just said that you didn't like juice."
She pouts. "You confused me."
He laughs, finally extending his arm towards her. She reaches out to him as well and takes his hand in hers; they're a bit calloused, her nails are short, but Law has never been one for long nails anyway. "I'm Law. Trafalgar Law."
"You can call me Luffy! That's my name and since you know it, you have to go out with me."
"And if I say no?"
She pouts. "You can't. I said that you have to."
The barista smiles as she rests her elbow on the counter; chin tucked into her palm as she watches without even thinking to hide herself.
An orange haired girl who's been watching since Luffy walked through the door has a smirk on her face and approval in her eyes.
A green haired boy with gold earrings huffs, and returns his attention back towards his phone.
"I might just have to take you up on that." He winks.
She winks back, with both eyes.
"What are you doing?"
"Winking."
"…"
A/N:
Hey! Long time no see.
Coffee shop AU that I've had in my head for a while; I've never really wrote anything like this so please let me know how it was. Did you like it?
Hopefully more to come, seeing as I haven't posted in forever.
~Crimsy