Full Story Summery

College isn't cheap, or easy, and Annie is learning that the hard way. After spending most of her money on (overpriced) books, (overpriced) food, and—"The elixir of life in the morning." as her coworker Jean refers to it as—(overpriced) coffee, she begrudgingly takes a job at the local Starbucks; she spends most of her time there, anyway—drinking coffee, studying…maybe sneaking a few glances at the blond boy that always sits two tables in front of her…

Hell, maybe now that she's actually working in the place, she'll get a reason to talk to him. With her luck, though, anything could happen.

And with her luck, anything does happen. From awkward first encounters, to even more awkward mishaps, this whole "first job" ordeal sure is working out in one strange way for Annie.


AN: I got a request on Tumblr for an AruAni coffee shop AU, and it was so appealing that I just couldn't say no! I guess I'm going a bit overboard by making this a multi-chapter fic, but- *shrugs loudly*

I'll try to update chapters once a week (if I can), and I'm open to taking advice, suggestions, and all that jazz pertaining to the story.

Enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 1: The Green Eye

"Why do these damn things take so long to fill out," Annie mumbled, mostly to herself, as she typed and clicked away on her laptop, trying to fill out a job application to Starbucks. "I just want to work there, not sell my body and soul to them." Her fingers slammed against the keys especially hard as she said that, and she could feel her patience with the entire ordeal running thin; after a half an hour of answering meaningless questions, filling out countless boxes with information about herself, and complaining about it the entire time, Annie felt as if she was getting absolutely nowhere in this process.

There was the sound of laughter behind her, followed by the clacking of wheels against hardwood floor; none other than her childhood friend Reiner popped up behind her back just a few seconds later.
"Didn't you know?" he asked, an amused expression on his face. "Getting a job is the exact same thing as selling your body and soul," he winked at her at that, obviously amused at his own joke, "you just get paid for it."

"It's true, you know," Bertholdt chimed in, walking up to the other two and wrapping his arms around Reiner's neck. "I'm pretty sure my soul is completely gone after working only a week at McDonalds…"

Annie snorted at that and craned her neck a bit so she could smirk at the tall boy. "I still can't believe you're working at that shit hole."

"H-hey…it's not that bad," Bertholdt replied, ducking his head in the process—he was a bit embarrassed about his job, but he needed the money—"Besides, I need to get through college, and it's not going to pay for itself."

Shrugging in response, Annie turned back around and continued the arduous process of filling out her application.
It turns out that she didn't have much left to do at all, and that she was glad for; a few moments after the trio stopped talking, she was putting the final touches on the last page and then hitting "submit".

"Fucking finally," she sighed in relief.

"I was starting to get tired of watching you," Reiner joked, slapping her on the back in a congratulatory manner. If she wasn't so used to his heavy-handedness, she would have flinched—instead, she simply glared at him, to which he only smiled fondly back at her.

Leaning over Reiner's shoulders, Bertholdt opened his mouth, then closed it again. He looked like he was trying to piece together what he wanted to say, but Annie knew him better than that.
"What is it, Bert," she said, leaving no room for him to back out of what he had to say.

If he wasn't so used to her brash nature, Bertholdt was sure he would have been intimidated by her tone of voice—not that Annie didn't ever intimidate him. Nonetheless, he knew her, and this was her "I'm listening." tone. If he wanted to propose his suggestion to her, now would be the ideal time.

"I was thinking that we could maybe go out to celebrate you getting done with your application," he said with a shrug. "We could go out for coffee…my treat." He ended with a small, genuine smile, and Annie couldn't help but to smile back at him.

"How appropriate," she joked, poking him in the cheek with her index finger; he blushed at that, and Reiner laughed at him. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to me."

Looking pleased with himself, Bertholdt nodded and stood up straight. "Alright then, let's get going!" He started to walk in the direction of the closet in which Reiner and Bertholdt kept their jackets (the two were roommates, and Annie was a frequent visitor to their dorm room), and Annie and Reiner soon followed suit; already having her jacket on her, Annie only had to wait for the other two at the door as they got ready to go out.

Once Reiner and Bertholdt were finished putting on their jackets (which took entirely too long in Annie's opinion; why did they insist on goofing off so much together?), the trio left the room and walked down the crowded hallway to the elevator together. It was around three in the afternoon, and mostly everyone was still in classes, but there were still a few groups of people who insisted on blocking the path of the hallway, because they were too lazy to drag their asses to class.

Annie was having none of that shit.

Shoving her way past anyone who didn't move after a mumbled, "excuse me", the girl was just about ready to explode by the time they reached the elevator. Needless to say, the down button received much abuse within the couple of minutes that they waited.

"You know," Reiner started gingerly, "it wouldn't hurt to learn a little patience Annie. Especially if you're going to be working with people." His eyebrow quirked up as he tried to hold in a smile, knowing that he probably would annoy his friend by saying that.

"You know what else wouldn't hurt, Reiner," Annie replied, keeping her eyes locked on the mirror-like surface of the elevator door. "Minding your own goddamn business."
It took all of her strength not to laugh when Reiner snorted—trying not to let out a laugh of his own.

—-*—-*—-*—-*—-

It took a little longer than usual to get to Starbucks, mostly because Bertholdt insisted that they walk since it was nice weather, but they got to their destination in good timing, anyway, and all three of them could confidently say that it was an entertaining walk—mostly because Annie was in a good mood, and a joking one at that.

Her good mood only increased as they entered the coffee shop; the smell of freshly brewed coffee, tea, and other heavenly things wafted in the air, traveling straight to her eagerly awaiting nose.
"God I've missed this place," she mused, the beginnings of a smile on her lips.

"Annie, you were just here this morning," Bertholdt commented, not able to help the affectionate roll of his eyes.

"That is completely irrelevant."

Walking up to the order counter, Bertholdt and Reiner contemplated on what they wanted, while Annie—once again—waited for them. She, of course, knew what she wanted before she even got here; she rarely ever changed what she got. It was almost always a Green Eye: a simple triple shot of espresso in regular coffee that kept her going for most of the day.

This morning was one of her irregular mornings—one of those mornings where she felt like switching things up a bit—and that's why she was ordering this now. She wasn't crazy enough to get it twice in one day. Turning around and nonchalantly looking towards the tables by the window, she found the source of this morning's routine-break.

Eyebrows furrowed together in deep concentration, a pencil in one hand, his drink in another, and a notebook set on the table in front of him, a blond boy—whom Annie didn't the know the name of—sat.

This guy came to Starbucks everyday at almost the same time as Annie, ordered the same thing everyday, and sat at the same table no matter what. In a way, that made the two of them very similar. But they weren't the same; not at all.
The difference between them was that sometimes, although the occurrence was rare, the boy would have company with him: a boy Annie knew vaguely from her high school days named Eren, and his friend Mikasa.

Anyway, this morning, Annie decided to try the drink that he always got—something called a "Dirty Chai". She had never been a big fan of Chai, but she supposed that it wouldn't hurt to try this specific variation just once; it had to have a somewhat different taste to it than normal Chai. And if that kid liked it so much, then it couldn't be all that bad.

So, against her better judgement, she found herself standing behind him in line that morning, hanging on to every word he said to the barista, then copying his order word-for-word once it was her turn. Lo and behold, she ended up not feeling any type of way towards the drink. She didn't like it, but she didn't dislike it; it was similar to how she felt towards this stranger who completely captured her attention.

Shaking her head at the memory, Annie turned around quickly before she got caught staring. Much to her relief, it seemed as if the two lovebirds were just finishing up on deciding what they wanted. Smiles on their faces, they asked if Annie was ready to order, and she curtly replied that yes, she was, in fact, born ready to order.

Placing their orders quickly, the three made their way to Annie's normal table: two tables behind the blond boy's. Not that she really cared that she sat so close to him…it's just that he wasn't too bad to look at, and she thought that she deserved something nice to rest her gaze upon after hours of staring at the back of the asshole's heads in her classes. Sitting down in a chair, she immediately let her eyes wander in his general direction (she didn't want to be too obvious), and her head sit in the palm of her hand as she rested her elbow on the tabletop.

Reiner and Bertholdt followed her lead, holding a conversation she didn't really care about following, until their names were called and the two got up to grab their drinks. While she waited, Annie took to memory the way the strange boy bit his lip when he was thinking hard, or the—dare she say—cute way he sipped his drink with such blatant concentration.

"Here you go, Annie." The sound of Bertholdt's voice in her ear brought her out of her thoughts quickly, and she mumbled a quiet, "thank you", before taking her drink off his hands.

A few minutes passed in comfortable silence after that exchange, and the three friends sipped their caffeinated beverages. The silence was soon broken, though, by Reiner.

"Just so you know, his name is Armin. Armin Arlert."

Pausing mid-sip, Annie looked up from her drink and raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"We're not stupid, Annie," Bertholdt chimed in, smiling at her a bit mischievously, "We saw the way you were obviously staring at him back in line."

Shit.

"I was not staring at him." She flinched a bit right after she said that—a bit too quickly, a bit too angrily; she was being way too defensive about this. Keep it cool, Annie, she thought to herself, taking another sip of her drink, and trying to to play off her prior words.

"Of course you weren't, sweetie," was Reiner's sarcastic reply.

"Fuck you," was Annie's half-hearted comeback.

Leaning in closer, Bertholdt gave Annie a serious look. "Why don't you just talk to him some time?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck, a bit sheepishly. He wasn't used to giving advice like this, but Annie was his best friend, and he had her best interests in mind. "He's a pretty nice guy."

Leaning back in her chair, Annie huffed out an annoyed sigh. "I'm sure he is, Bert," she deadpanned, averting her eyes from him. "But I'm sure, for one thing, that he wouldn't find interest in a boring girl like me. And secondly," she paused to look back at the two sitting in front of her, "I'm not very good at starting up friendly conversations…but I'm sure you two know that very well by now." Smirking at that, Reiner shrugged, and Bertholdt laughed quietly.

"Still," Bertholdt continued, gaining a bit more confidence, "it wouldn't hurt to at least try."

"Au contraire mon cheri, it can…and knowing me, it probably will. A lot."

"You're so silly," Reiner said, rolling his eyes. "Bert's right, though. You should at least try."

Scrutinizing her two friends for any traces of insincerity (which she knew she wouldn't find), she heaved out a sigh, and threw her hands up in defeat.

"Alright, alright, you win." She rolled her eyes at the looks of triumph on their dorky faces. "If I get this job, I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to talk with him, right?"

There was mutual agreement about that statement, and Annie was pleased. She knew in her mind that she would probably have to talk to the kid at some point in her career here, if she got the job. What she didn't know, though, was just how much talking she'd actually do.

If she did know at this moment in time, she probably wouldn't believe it.


Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Comments, follows, favorites, constructive criticism, and all that jazz is very much appreciated.

Hope to see you again in chapter two~!