Coffee Flavored Angel
Black, No Sugar or Creme
The twenty-two year old college student tried rubbing a kink out of his neck muscles. Toshiro hadn't shown up for classes today, nor had he answered any kind of the texts Ichigo had sent the young teen. The oldest Kurosaki teen took a protective attitude towards Toshiro the first day he met him much to the irritation of the white haired youth. Eventually the child prodigy found out Ichigo's younger siblings would have been in the same school year had Toshiro not skipped grades like he did.
Toshiro wasn't the type to miss a day of school unless something serious happened, and a phone call to Rangiku-san told him the boy wasn't home sick with his mother. The only other place he could imagine Toshiro being was his godmother's coffee shop. The place used to not be the teens favorite place, but then Karin started working there. Ichigo sighed as he opened the door remembering a question he posed of Karin once. "Do you like Toshiro? I don't mean as just a friend."
"As if I'd be so lucky."
His sister stood behind the counter filling out orders, and Nanao was on the phone. A grimace spread across Ichigo's face at the panicked tone in the woman's voice. "No. He's not here."
"Why would Toshiro's dad be calling the shop?" Ichigo shook his head and started to turn his neck to look towards Toshiro's usual spot to see if the fifteen year old was actually there. This action was stopped shot by a girl storming up to the counter with an irate look on her face. Ichigo recognized the uniform for Karakura High and knew she was from Karin's school.
"You got the order wrong Kurosaki. Thus you owe us a refund."
Ichigo's teeth ground together seeing the cups of coffee were almost all the way gone as the girl rattled off the order she and her friend placed. Nanao was to busy arguing with Toshiro's father on the phone. "They're just here to bother Karin."
The older Kurosaki sibling had the mind to storm over and defend his sister despite the fact he knew full well she could defend herself. A rather quiet voice from the corner by the glass window beat the older brother to the bunch. "That's not what you ordered."
"Excuse me?" The girl turned to look at Toshiro who had his usual sketchpad in his lap.
"I've an eidetic memory." The white haired youth didn't look the girl in the eye, but simply stared at the sketchpad. Toshiro loathed bringing up that particular talent of his. "You ordered a mango chocolate espresso smoothie, a white chocolate espresso with mint, and a green tea latte. If she had messed up your order you should have said something before you drank nearly everything."
Ichigo let out a sigh of relief, but couldn't push away the fact Toshiro had purposefully skipped class. The fact the fifteen year old wasn't looking meant he could sneak over without Toshiro seeing him do so. He carefully slipped behind the boy to catch a glimpse at what he'd been drawing as the boy flipped through the pictures. Toshiro was undeniably good at drawing like he was everything else, but there was definitely something there which always bothered Ichigo a bit.
The orange haired college student glanced up at his sister as a smirk spread across his face before leaning over so he was right next to Toshiro's ear so only the fifteen year old could hear. "My sister is pretty, isn't she?"
Ichigo saw the white haired teen's face suddenly flush a deep red, and Toshiro began to stammer. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Of course you don't!" A laugh escaped Ichigo's lips as he sat down across from Toshiro and set his book bag down in another chair. "I told you that I'm fine with you asking her out." The eldest Kurosaki let out a laugh. "Do I need to have her take you on a date for your sixteenth birthday Toshiro?"
"Seriously don't know what you're talking about." The fifteen year old's voice was tight, and something was obviously bothering him.
"Toshiro..." Ichigo took a deep breath. "Why did you miss class today?" His fingers began to tap the table in frustration. "And you do know what I mean. We've discussed it before."
"What's the point of admitting I like her when he doesn't want me dating."
"Your dad again?" Ichigo let out a deep sigh. "You shouldn't let that creep get to you Toshiro."
"He's not a creep. He's..."
"You can't even call the man dad in any form."
"It's not as if I've ever been able to make his expectations."
"Hell..." Ichigo let out a string of curses before continuing. "Any dad whose not happy with their kid graduating high school at the age of twelve and graduating college with a triple major is not worth it." The young man let out a sigh. "Speaking of which, I have to honestly ask if the reason you skipped classes is because you finally burned out like I warned you about when you decided to take on the triple major. You look kind of sick, and I'm surprised you didn't burn out sooner. Hell, I'm surprised the college even let you do a triple major."
Toshiro remained silent and simply stared out the window. Ichigo finally reached across the table and nudged the white haired teen for an answer. Said answer was shocking. "I'm thinking of failing this semester."
The orange haired Kurosaki leaned back as he folded his arms across his chest. "Why? Because you're burned out?"
"No."
Karin came over then with a coffee. Ichigo glanced up with a frown. "I didn't order yet, nor have I payed."
"The store manager says that's for keeping a certain someone company. You always order the same thing, so it was easy to put together."
Ichigo hoped Toshiro would ask Karin out, but the boy simply continued to look down at his sketchpad. The pad was notably closed so Karin couldn't see, and when she left he opened it back up. For once though he didn't try drawing anything. The twenty-two year old let out a sigh. "Give me a reason Toshiro as to why you're wanting to fail this semester, and make it good."
"It's the only way I could think of to tell him to go to hell."
Ichigo felt his facial features soften as he took a drink of his coffee. "Stupid."
"I am not!"
"Yes, you are. For such a genius you didn't think of the most obvious, not to mention the thing I know you want most. Since your dad apparently doesn't want you dating you should just go ahead and ask Karin out. I'm fine with it and, your mother is constantly teasing you about it." Ichigo watched as Toshiro began to worry the inside of his mouth. "What? Isn't it a good idea?"
"I don't know."
"You won't know if you don't try Toshiro."
"She'll just laugh. She'll laugh like she did when I told her I want to go to art school."
"Art..." A silence fell over the room.
"I know I'm not that good, but I know I enjoy drawing." Toshiro kept looking from his sketchpad to the glass window. "You also aren't incorrect in say I've burned out. It's just not a matter of me not being able to do the classes or the class load. I simply don't want to do it. I don't want to be a scientist, I don't want to be a doctor, and I most certainly don't want to be a lawyer. That's what he wants me to do."
"Has he ever praised you for anything?"
"Not that I can recollect. You'd think it wouldn't matter with the fact I'm lucky if I get to see him once a month. Most of the time it's every other month."
"Are you sure Karin laughed at the idea of you going to art school."
"She said, "art school... the child genius who graduated from high school at the age of twelve and can go to any school he wants, wants to go to art school."
"Man. You're really bad at reading the situation." Ichigo watched as Toshiro looked up at him in confusion. "She's just amazed that you're able to go to any school you want, and if you were to choose the one you wanted it would be art school." The twenty-two year old let out a laugh as a calloused hand reached up to rub the back of her head. "It is rather ironic. You have the choice of every school except the one you really wanted. Talk about bad luck kid."
"I'm not..." Toshiro took a deep breath. "I guess I owe her an apology for getting mad like I did."
Ichigo pointed a finger at the fifteen year old. "You owe my sister a date. Use this as an opportunity to ask her out."
"But..."
The twenty-two year old stood up. "I'm going to go and use the restroom, so I would appreciate it if you would watch my stuff."