A/N: Hello! This is my first fanfiction (that I've ever published, that is). I hope it's not disgusting. I thought up this idea when I was at McDonalds drinking a milkshake. Don't ask me how because this story only takes place in a Starbucks, where they sell coffee. Whatever. Enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment or whatever you like! :)

Love at First Sight

Despite her love of coffee, Sumire hadn't been particularly ecstatic to apply for a Starbucks job. It wasn't a glamorous or flattering job, but she had to have a way to pay for her rent while she was in college. There was a Starbucks near campus and that was plenty convenient for Sumire.

If only her parents hadn't stopped funding her! Once they found out she had a B in one of courses, they went insane, snapping and shouting. And now Sumire had to find her own income.

Her confidence and intelligence helped her pass the interview with flying colors and she was welcomed to the Starbucks family.

So there she stood, behind the counter, at goddamn 7:30 in the morning wearing a stupid hat and apron, running through coffee recipes in her head. Not that it mattered. No one had even glanced at the shop.

Wakako had agreed to come and check up on her after her class, but that would be in a couple of hours. For now her only company was some doofus who called himself Kitsuneme (what kind of name was that?) and a scarily shy girl named Anna. Kitsuneme was out cold in the storage room and Anna was preparing herself a hot chocolate.

Sumire sighed in boredom. Wasn't this the life? Standing at the register, eyeing the pastries with a halfhearted lust, waiting for a customer who might not come for an hour at least.

And just when she was considering joining Kitsuneme in his coma in the storeroom, he walked in.

He was wearing a black suit that looked silky and fit his body like a sexy glove (although he looked uncomfortable wearing it; he kept tugging at his tie uneasily). The knotted crimson tie really did succeed in bringing out his - goddamn! Were his eyes red?

Sumire was in heaven. Anna squeaked in acknowledgement to the sexy man and nudged Sumire, muttering to her, "He orders the same simple coffee every morning, so he should be an easy first customer. You can take him."

Don't mind if I do, thought Sumire.

The sexy suit guy bit the inside of his cheek while Sumire ironed out her nonexistent wrinkles with her hands to make sure she looked presentable.

"Good morning," she greeted smoothly, trying to keep her voice low and attractive.

"Hi," he answered, his voice bored and impatient. He inhaled before rushing out, "I'll take a regular black coffee, no sugar, no cream, smallest size… please."

Weren't smallest sizes called "talls"?

"Um," spluttered Sumire. "Yes, sir." She wasn't succeeding in being seductive. She fumbled to grab a styrofoam cup and a sharpie. "Name?"

"Natsume," he said. He spelled it for her and she tried to keep her hands from shaking as she wrote his name as neatly and beautifully as she could on the cup.

Natsume.

Sumire felt chills running through her entire body as she accepted his money and went to prepare his coffee. She hummed to herself as she tried to focus on the coffee and making it as good as possible. However, focusing was difficult when his name was spinning through her head like a top on its axis.

Natsume. Natsume. Natsume..

"Natsume," she called out softly, savoring the wonderfully sweet taste of his name on her tongue.

He turned around and slipped his phone slickly into his pocket. Their fingers brushed when he held his coffee and Sumire held down a gasp for air as though the wind was knocked out of her.

"It's funny," she said, refusing to allow him to simply leave. "Most people your age like at least a bit of cream in their coffee."

Natsume's eyebrows furrowed and he pulled his coffee towards him. "I hate coffee."

He turned around swiftly and walked for the door with his icky bitter black coffee.

"My name is Sumire!" she blurted out.

Her face boiled as Natsume swung open the door and said, disinterestedly, "I know."

It took her a moment to realize that he knew from her nametag and not some crazy superpower. Anna giggled at her "silliness" because she apparently thought it was "adorable" that hard Sumire would turn into pudding at the sight of a hot guy. But he wasn't just a hot guy. He was Natsume.

Her heart beat like a hummingbird's for the rest of the day.

...

She didn't have another morning shift for a week. She struggled to convince her manager that she worked best early in the morning (which was complete bullshit) and since she had proved to be rather decent, he allowed her to have an extra shift for two and a half hours each morning.

Sumire came in for her second morning shift ever, excited to see him. She was tying her apron around her waist when she saw a yawning Anna shiver as she readied herself by the cash register.

"No!" yelled Sumire. Anna looked up, tired and confused. "I mean," annexed Sumire, embarrassed. "You always work so hard, Anna. I should be by the register. You just make yourself some hot chocolate."

Anna smirked and nodded, turning around to move to the machines. What was she smirking for? As if she knew why Sumire wanted to take her spot! Because, to be completely honest, Sumire wasn't sure either.

When the door opened, the bell rang, and a gush of wind flew into the warm room, Sumire exhaled in her daydream to see once again the dark haired Adonis stride into her Starbucks.

"Good morning!"

"Yeah." He looked exhausted but the cold outside had reddened his cheeks so much it was hard to tell if he really did have bags under his eyes. "Coffee," he commanded.

Sumire wrote his name - ever so gracefully - onto a styrofoam cup and got busy preparing his coffee.

"So," she said, blushing as she tried to maintain conversation. "If you hate coffee so much, why do you drink it black?"

He blinked, perhaps out of tiredness, or maybe because he forgot that he told her anything about his lack of fondness for the beverage she was making him. "I have to work for ten hours everyday and I sleep for five, recently three. If I drink my coffee with any whipped cream I'd throw up and pass out by noon."

Sumire nodded in understanding. She was a bit surprised that a sexy man as young as Natsume was working ten hours. He had to still be in college, like her. "What's your job?"

Natsume shrugged. "Interning for a lawyer."

A lawyer? Damn, that's hot. . .

"You work ten hours as an intern?" That couldn't be normal.

"A lot of my work is just doing the shit his dumb secretary can't handle."

Sumire swallowed and her hand shook on his ready cup as she realized that his coffee was done. He could leave now.

"His . . . secretary. . ." He trailed off, his eyes on the ground and his voice soft and subtle as a cloud.

Sumire thought she saw his face redden, but in that moment the door opened and the cold rushed in, so she couldn't be sure he hadn't just turned scarlet from the chill.

She handed him his hot coffee and he walked out, tugging at his tie, as quickly as possible, not even glancing back at her.

"Wait!" she called. But it was too late. He was gone.

Anna chuckled from the back of the kitchen, grasping her hot chocolate cozily. Sumire ignored her.

She turned to see the next customer waiting, staring at the pastries display. He was someone she recognized frequently roaming around campus. He kind of looked like a shaggy dog, messy hair flying everywhere in dirty blond tufts, his blue eyes happy but unfocused, his creepy smile reminiscent of a golden retriever's.

"Yo!" he exclaimed, stepping toward the cash register. "I'll take a venti caramel frappuccino with a shitload of whipped cream." He beamed at her but Sumire was a little annoyed that this moron replaced Natsume.

"Name?" she bit out.

"Koko - spelled Knockout! Knockout!" What. The. Hell.

"Huh?" Sumire cocked her head to the side.

"K.O.! K.O.!"

"Oh, how hilarious," replied Sumire snidely.

She scribbled his name hastily onto the cup and started to prepare his sorry excuse for "coffee".

"Sumire, huh?" Koko leaned on the counter, supported on his elbows, smiling his creepy dog-smile. "You look more like a 'Permy' to me!"

Was he trying to flirt with her? It wasn't working.

"'Permy'? What the hell does that mean?" She glared at him as she applied the whipped cream to his drink.

"Your perms! They hang off the sides of your face. You're a permy perm!"

Sumire gritted her teeth and slammed his coffee onto the counter in front of him.

"Have a swell day," she said sarcastically.

Koko's smile grew even broader. "Can I have your number?"

"Hell no."

Koko winked and scooped up his drink in his gloved hands. "Have a great day, Permy!"

"It's Sumire!" she snapped after the door had already closed.

...

To be continued...