It was lunchtime on a Wednesday at Tea and Potions. Lunchtime on any day tended to be a bit hectic but Loki found Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to be particularly bad. These were the days where people wanted a treat either to get through the day or for making it through the week. Wednesdays brought about customers who were celebrating half a week of work done. Wednesdays brought people who wanted to celebrate hump day. It brought about grumpy people who needed to get out of the office for even a few minutes. His pieced together shop filled with busy people looking for a quick bite to eat and large coffees to drink. The place swelled with people itching for the weekend.
Loki served, counted money, and sent customers on their way as fast as he could. If anyone looked a bit too closely they would have noticed the plates, mugs, and a few utensils seemingly shift into his outstretched hands.
On this particular Wednesday there was a line of people which almost reached the front door. Rain pitter pattered off and on throughout the day as cups were filled with mint, chocolate, and blueberry coffees. Currently the rain was closer to pouring then drizzling. Hot chocolate was simmering on the back burner of the oven. There were trays of lemon squares, chocolate espresso bars, peanut butter cookies, blueberry crumb bars, and apple pies. The kettle was almost constantly screeching in the background. Loki's music swirled in order to attempt to hide any too loud uncomfortable sounds.
The door slammed open. Rain seemed to rush in as a waterlogged man slightly skid his way into Tea and Potions. He stopped. He glared at the people in front of him in line. Minutes passed, the line moved forward a bit, and he dripped water onto the wooden floor.
Eventually the man was at the counter. "Coffee. Black. Large to go cup. And throw in an espresso bar."
"Um, sir, we don't have to go cups here. Typically people enjoy sitting and taking even a few moments to enjoy their purchase. In the future you can bring-"
"You expect me to waste my time! You think I'll come back here. This is a coffee shop isn't it? It's your job to sell me coffee any damn way I ask. I work hard. I do more in one hour then you'll do in your entire life. It's not that difficult to make some fucking coffee and hand it to me in a large cardboard or styrofoam cup."
Loki froze as the room fell silent. Subconsciously he made the music stop mid note. The man was still standing before him with fire in his eyes. Loki began to tremble. He could barely hear the words over the rush of past voices. A chair creaked and Loki would have sworn that it must have been one of his bones instead. The man reached out a hand and Loki stumbled backwards as if he was still naive enough to believe space could prevent confrontation and pain. "Please," he breathed as he curled in on himself. He didn't know what he was asking. In fact he barely realized he had said anything. Loki didn't know why he was cowering before this man. Some small part of his brain knew this man didn't pose the same threat so many others had before but he could not find it in himself to stand tall and fight back. Instead he wanted to make himself as small as possible. He wanted to focus on remembering to breathe.
The man, Vincent, just wanted his coffee. He really didn't understand why it could be so damn difficult to do that in a place as busy as New York City. And who didn't have cups in a place that sells coffee? He shouldn't have even had to leave the office but some new hire had to go and break the coffee machine on his first try. So Vincent had to leave in the middle of the day, on one of the few rainy days October could dredge up. And now the server was scrambling around. "Oh come the fuck on!" His voice seemed to reverberate throughout the cafe.
Loki had backed up as much as he could. He took in shuttering breath after breath, each one rasping louder then the last till it felt as if his chest would burst. He forced himself to close his eyes, block out the angry man in front of him. Instead he focused on the jingle from the bell at the front door as a few more people left to escape the unease that had settled upon Tea and Potions. He forced the air to flow in and out of his lungs. He made sure to make note of the slightly bitter coffee smell in the air which mixed with cinnamon and crust from the apple pies. After a few moments he opened his eyes. Without looking he reached up, grabbed the largest mug he could reach, took a few cautious steps closer to the coffee machine, and filled the cup.
Taking the steps necessary to reach the counter seemed like a triumph. He put the cup down in front of the man. "I...I understand you must be having a...a difficult day. I am sorry about that. Have this cup of coffee on the house. And please just leave." He didn't notice that he was giving away his light blue mug with a garden of lavender flowers painted across it. Loki barely noticed the smile that flicked across the man's face. The only thing that mattered was the ding from the bell when the man finally left.
Once the man was gone Loki felt as if he could breathe again. His joints didn't seem quite so painful as they had moments before. He was still shaking but he had made it through. Some part of him knew he survived and he would continue to be alright. Loki smiled, took a breath, and went back to the kitchen. He had some three pepper bread he had to punch into existence.
