Chihiro had to admit, she might have had terrible fanfic tropes in mind when she took a job at the coffee shop. It wasn't her main reason or anything. She really did need the money, and when Mondo said his workplace was hiring it sounded better than having to deal with strangers possibly misgendering her. But there was a chance that she'd spent her first few days daydreaming about an attractive customer flirting with her and starting a whirlwind romance.

And it wasn't like she hadn't had any attractive customers. Really, the school had a statistically improbable number of drop dead gorgeous students, even discounting the actual supermodel. But the only person who'd shown any interest in her so far was some creep who flirted with anything with a skirt and was constantly combing his hair. She'd made Mondo deal with him after that.

Weird wannabe chefs aside, it was far from the worst job she could imagine. The customers were mostly decent, and tended to tip well for broke college students. Her boss, Mr Kirigiri, was pretty relaxed as long as no one complained about the service. And she got to take home free baked goods, which was amazing, even if they were slightly stale.

And besides, when it was slow she got to hang out with her friends. For instance, she and Mondo were currently standing at the back of the room engaged in a very serious conversation. "Puns just aren't funny," Mondo was saying. "Like, good job, you found a word that has more than one meaning. Whoop-di-fucking-doo."

Chihiro frowns. "It's the element of surprise, I think. Puns are easy to work into a conversation unexpectedly."

"That's not a good thing," Mondo says. "I don't need to be ambushed by a goddamn pun when I just want to know how when my next class is."

Chihiro is about to respond intelligently when a customer walks through the door. Her well-crafted, pun-filled response is lost as she puts on her customer service mask. "I'll be over to take your order in just a second!" she says, rushing to the counter.

She's halfway there when she sees the customer for the first time, and shit, they're hot. They're clearly an athlete, judging by their arms, but their face is sweet and open. This person could probably carry them across a desert and smile the whole time.

Right, customer, time to stop being creepy and actually do her job. "Sorry for the wait," Chihiro says. "What can I get for you today?"

The customer looks thoughtful for a moment, and wow, that's cute. Then they order a ridiculously sugary beverage and a donut.

Chihiro decided to push her luck a little. "And what name should I put on the cup?" she asks, despite the fact that the store is basically empty and there's no need to call it out.

"Aoi," the customer says. Chihiro writes it down dutifully. The name seems familiar; she thinks she's heard her friends mention it. If she remembers correctly, Aoi is on the swim team, but she's best known for crashing other team's meetings "to stay in shape".

Okay, yes, she is apparently some kind of fitness goddess. For a moment, Chihiro almost reconsiders her regime of spending 16 hours in front of computers each day. Then she remembers how terrible exercise is.

She makes the drink on autopilot, allowing herself to daydream a little longer. Then it's made, and she calls Aoi's name despite the fact that she's like five feet away.

Aoi bounces over to claim it. "Thanks!" she says, grinning, and Chihiro nods back. She clearly can't trust her brain, and right now she doesn't want to risk her tongue turning traitor too.

She turns to go back to her designated slacking position and sees Mondo smirking at her. Drat, had she really been that obvious? She sticks her tongue out at him, and he just laughs. "If that's how it is, you can deal with hamster guy next time he's here," she says primly.

Mondo groans, and the conversation returns to safer subjects. Chihiro can live knowing that she embarrassed herself around a total stranger, but at least they'll never see each other again.

After Aoi's twelfth visit, Chihiro finally throws dignity to the wind and texts Makoto. For someone who claims to be perfectly average, Makoto has connections like you wouldn't believe. There's no way he doesn't either know Aoi personally or know someone who does.

[[hey, do you know an aoi?]] she asks. She'd like to keep it sounding casual, if she can. Naegi probably won't mock her, but there's no guarantee Celes won't win his phone off him in a poker game or something.

[[Yeah, she's a good friend of mine!]] Makoto texts back. Of course she is; Makoto thinks everyone's a good friend. [[Why?]]

[[she's been to the coffee shop a lot recently and i was curious]] Chihiro sends, and immediately regrets it. "I was curious?" She probably sounds like a stalker. She might as well have asked for her complete schedule while she was at it.

Thankfully, Makoto doesn't comment. [[She's kind of competitive, but really nice]] he says. [[I think you'd get along well!]]

[[she's on the swim team, right?]]

[[Yeah]] There's a brief pause before his next text. [[She visits a lot of the other teams too, though. She says she wants to challenge herself]]

[[because swimming wasn't challenging enough?]]

[[Apparently. She likes hanging out with the martial artists the most, though, because that's where her girlfriend is]]

Dammit. This is just Chihiro's luck: the girl she's kind of crushing on is actually gay, but she's already in a relationship. But disappointed as she is, she knows she has to respond quickly or risk Makoto picking up on her motive for asking. [[thats cute]]

[[I know! :)]] Chihiro eyes the smiley face. Makoto almost certainly doesn't intend for it to be mocking, but she can still feel it laughing at her. [[You should try talking to her next time she's there]]

[[maybe]] Chihiro says. Then, because Makoto hasn't actually done anything wrong, [[thanks]]

[[No problem!]] Makoto says.

Chihiro flops back on her bed. This shouldn't change anything; it's not like she was ever going to work up the courage to flirt with Aoi anyway. And yet, here she is, abnormally disappointed.

She stuffs her face into a pillow. "I'd like to file a bug report for my emotions," she mumbles.

She lies there for a moment longer, then forces herself to get up. She probably has a project due at some point in the near future, so it's time to do what she does best: bury her emotions in a flurry of code.