AN: Hey y'all! I'm back with another chapter. This time I got it on the week mark! Aren't ya proud? xD Just some light slow-burn fluff this time around, so it's a bit of a shorter one. Maybe hit some more Prank bromance next time, maybe some more fluff. Depnding how I feel, I might throw an Annabeth pov in. Idk, we'll see. Also, just minor side note, this chapter deals a little bit more with the anxiety that Percy deals with, so here's a very minor trigger warning just in case. It's not explicit at all, but I felt myself just grow a little anxious writing. So, just the heads up. Anyway, here y'all are!
Percy sighed to himself. Wednesday afternoon. Again. Time was passing about as quickly as that last bit of honey out of the jar. Which he knew about. And also hated to deal with because… well… when a customer really wants tea with honey, but the honey just won't pour fast enough… yeah, you learn to hate that last bit of honey. He stared at the clock, watching the second hand slowly tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Laying his head on the counter, Percy mentally tried to remember his cleaning list. However… once he went down the list, he suddenly got that burst of energy that every student whoever thought they forgot an assignment gets. Jumping out of his seat, Percy dashed around the café like a madman, checking everything off the top of his head that could use a quick clean.
Tables wiped. Espresso machine brushed off. Grinders brushed off. Sink water clean. Soap added. Syrup bottle cleared of any excess syrup. Aight. I think that's everything. Wait, did I wipe the tables?
Percy began reaching for the bleach water rag again, when the blonde from the week before walked through the door. She smiled slightly when her eyes rested on him (which he definitely did not get a warm fuzzy feeling from) before a smirk crossed her face.
"On your own two feet this time, I see."
Percy's own lips twitched with the effort to not smirk back and reply with a sassy comeback. Luckily, the teen had tons of self-control. Ah who was he kidding? He had zero self-control, "Well, I'm sure you'd just love for me to fall for you, wouldn't you?"
The blonde rolled her eyes, "Someone's feeling a bit extra confident today."
Shrugging, Percy allowed the smirk to grow bigger across his face, "What can I say? I'm 'on my own two feet this time, you see.'" Luckily… that would be rather embarrassing if I fell again… Dang, I hope I don't fall again… Feet, please work with me today. If I fall again, I don't know what I'd do… Percy's jaw clenched slightly under his smirk before he cleared his face and gave his best customer service smile, "But anyway, how may I help you today?"
The blonde tilted her head ever so slightly, her grey eyes flashing with an analytical look that made Percy feel like a computer program. Not that he noticed her eyes, nor was he so boyish to notice how a cute girl's head tilted. A small smile crossed the blonde's face again before she answered, "I think that Irish Cream Latte again would be lovely. Could you maybe half the syrup this time though? I like to taste my coffee."
Making a note in his mind to half the syrup, Percy rang her up at the register, repeating the same money exchange as last week. "For here again?"
The blonde simply nodded before turning and walki-
Oh. Tight jeans this week. Well then… Percy felt the blush rush through his skull and he was so glad that the blonde had walked away from the counter, not noticing his blush… hopefully. What he failed to notice, as he turned to make the drink, was the small smirk the blonde allowed across her face as she sat down at her chosen table.
Attempting to clear his head, Percy ran through the steps of the latte. Pull the shots. Medium, so go with two. Bam. Bam. Niiiice color there, Perce. You the man… also, took you long enough. Finally getting that color consistently. Pretty sure Calpyso had it on point her first day. Why you gotta be so slow at everything… Percy's teeth ground against themselves as he shut his eyes for a quick second. Breathe, Perce, breathe.
His hands shook slightly as he poured the shots into the cup. His movements were slower, less confident than last week. Everything moved methodically and robotically as he made the drink, none of the flair that normally accompanied his coffee making. No latte art this time either. Didn't want to make the wrong impression on the customer.
As quickly, yet politely as he could, Percy brought the latte out to where the customer sat with her computer. He put the coffee drink down on the dark wooden table before quickly spinning on his heel and making his way towards the counter. However, he had to freeze and turn back to the customer when she called out to him, "Hey! Might seem weird, but are you doing alright?"
Percy took a moment before answer, his trademark anxiety hiding smirk spreading across his face, "My butt's doing just fine, if that's where you were staring."
The customer's stormy grey eyes rolled, "Whatever you say." With that, she turned back to her laptop and continued doing whatever she was doing before.
Peryc quickly spun around, breaths coming slightly shallow. He needed to get back behind the counter. Quickly occupying himself with cleaning the dishes, Percy tried to focus his thoughts away from his anxiety spiral. However, it felt like trying to lasso a hurricane. Or, more accurately, it was exactly like that feeling where you try to pick up a huge handful of marbles, but there's too many marbles for the hand and so at least one goes rolling away, and when you chase after it, you drop a couple and then you finally find the marble and try to pick it up and two more fall out of your hand while you pick up the first original marble.
Finally sitting back down at the register counter, Percy dried his hands off on a paper towel and shot it into the trash can, murmuring a quick "Kobe!" to himself out of instinct. His hand wormed its way into the pocket of his black jeans, pulling out a blue fidget spinner.
Yes, it was childish. Yes, it was a fad from years ago, but Percy enjoyed playing with it. It gave him something to focus his attention on and ignore the thought coursing through his head. It wasn't much, but it helped. Like using a second hand to pick up the marbles you kept losing.
Breathing slowly, or trying to, Percy focused on the spinning of the blades for a while, just letting himself calm down. He looked up at one point, to see the customer still there and a brief smile crossed his face when he noticed her biting the side of her lip as she focused on something intently. Well, that's pretty cute. Dang it. That's a customer. Don't you even think about it. But it still is cute. Yeah, but customer. But cute. But customer. But cute. But cus- oh, maybe stop staring.
Blushing again, Percy dropped his gaze to the fidget spinner, totally missing the smile/smirk the blonde customer gave him when she saw him drop his head. He also missed the tip she dropped in his jar when he went into the back to find a broom and sweep the café about an hour later. However, he definitely did not miss the sight of her curly blonde hair reflecting the sun and bouncing with each step her jean clad legs took back into the parking lot.
AN: Hope y'all enjoyed! Favorite, follow, drop a review, all that jazz. Gotta say, I love the reviews. Catch y'all next week!