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Red.
Everywhere he sees red. And green.
Well, it is a given, what with Christmas around the corner. The hype for the festivities sure is high.
Even more so in Poirot Café. It is quite a busy week due to holiday season.
The Master have also come up with the idea of giving out a little treat to every customer, as a part of Christmas gift from Poirot.
Thank God, that basically it. If the master requested for the staff to don a Santa Claus outfit for a day, Amuro might be tempted to call in sick.
Amuro Tooru hates red. Simply because it reminds him the name of Akai. Akai Shuichi. The man who forced his best friend, Hiromitsu, to commit suicide.
RING
A sound of a bell tinkling.
"Welcome to Poirot!" Azusa greeted the newly come customer, guiding them to the available tables.
Amuro watched his co-worker take notes of the customer order from the kitchen counter. His gaze leisurely scan all of the café area.
"It sure is crowded today," he murmured to himself.
"Amuro-san, we got an order of orange juice and signature ham sandwiches," Azusa approaching beside him.
"Coming right up", he responded.
The waitress lean herself on the kitchen counter. Her gaze scanning the café area, much like the way her co-worker had done moments ago.
"Everyone seems like having a good time. Your cooking really is the best, Amuro-san," she complimented.
"You think so? I'm glad."
RING
Another tinkling of the doorbell can be heard, indicating the arrival of another customer.
"Merry Christmas!," boomed a familiar voice entering Poirot Café.
"Ah, Mouri-san. Merry Christmas to you, too!" Azusa cheerily approached the trio from Mouri Detective Agency, and take their order.
"I'm sorry that we come in such a busy time, Azusa-san," Ran Mouri chimed in.
"Oh no, not at all. As you can see, we are pretty much still happily serving."
"Azusa-san, the order is ready," Amuro notified her of the previous order.
Apologizing and promising to come back to take their order, Azusa quickly went to the counter to serve the other customer order.
"Thank you very much, Amuro-san," she added the packaged cookie treats into the serving tray, balancing the serving tray, then went to the customer table to deliver their order.
The customer seems to take a liking to the cookie treats, noted by the way they talk excitedly and Azusa seemed to converse happily as well.
"Can't be helped," he smiled then went his way to the Mouri's to take their order.
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The hustle bustle in Poirot Café has finally dyed down. Until it came down to closing time. The staff and the owner were cleaning up in a comfortable silence.
"Ah that's right!," Azusa suddenly exclaimed, "the customers were positively happy receiving the cookie treats. Christmas cookie as presents is truly a great idea, Master!"
"Well, it's also thanks to you two that bake wonderfully tasty and pretty cookies, Amuro-san, Azusa-chan," the master remarked and beamed proudly.
The rest of the cleaning done with a little bit of chatting over trivial things.
These kinds of mundane tasks sometimes feel surreal to Amuro, but it was a nice thing too.
Hearing the master talked about coffee, conversing with Azusa-san in the café or when they went shopping together, cooking, all of those things came out as a relaxing thing to do. He never expected to be enjoying his infiltration life in Poirot so much. Posing as Amuro Tooru has never been an emotionally taxing job for him to do. Now he wondered how long it was going to last.
"Amuro-san", he snapped out of his musing and found Azusa's face staring back at him.
"What's the matter, Azusa-san?" he asked while donning his jacket, preparing to go home.
"The master had gone home earlier," she started.
Amuro raised his eyebrows. Surely she knew that he already knew that fact. Heck, the master was telling them both that he took off first when they were all in the same vicinity. There seemed to be something else that made Azusa nervous. Though heaven knows what.
He stood silently, signaling for his co-worker to continue what she wanted to say.
She fidgeted, "Merry Christmas, Amuro-san," she said while handing him a small wrapped box.
"I am not sure whether you're the type to celebrate, however I feel like I wanted to give this to you," she continued, "I hope you like it".
He received the package from Azusa's hands, at loss on what to say.
A present? For him? He really did not see that coming.
So that's where Azusa-san nervousness came from, he thought.
He smiled, "Thank you, Azusa-san. May I open it?"
Azusa smiled back and nodded in affirmative.
The rustling of a ribbon and gift wrapper can be heard. He opened the box. There, inside the box, lied a charm covered with a blue cloth.
He looked at her questioningly, "Azusa-san, it's not New Year's yet."
"It's a protective charm for you, Amuro-san. I figured since your job as a Detective can be dangerous, and we are nearing New Year either way, I hope this can protect you from harm."
"So you're killing two birds with one stone?" he chuckled.
"Eh, I guess you could say that."
He clearly did not know what else to respond. This was beyond his expectation. They were just co-worker. Is it normal for co-worker to give gifts? But then again, this is Enomoto Azusa. Her kindness and attentiveness to others are definitely her charming points.
In the end, he settled for a pat on her head, and muttered another thank you. A sweet small gesture. Not overly friendly, but enough to convey how much he appreciated her gift.
The smile she gave him afterwards was positively radiant that he cannot help to smiled fondly as well.
"Let's have dinner together, Azusa-san. After all, tonight is Christmas eve."
"Sure, let me grab my things from the locker. Amuro-san, could you please wait for me in a bit?"
He nodded and went downstairs to wait.
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Five minutes later and Azusa came down, locking the shop's door.
Upon having a good look on Azusa, he froze.
Azusa was wearing a beige trench coat. No, that was not what caught his attention. What caught his attention was the thing that wrapped around Azusa's neck.
A red muffler.
Red.
The color that he hates so much.
Though that was not really what he had in mind.
Azusa-san looks cute in that outfit, with the red muffler, he thought.
"Is something the matter, Amuro-san?" Azusa inquired. Upon realizing his gaze, her hands automatically went to the muffler that wrapped around her neck.
"I am sorry, Amuro-san. I just remembered that you dislike red." Her hands started to untangle the muffler, but Amuro's hand went to stopped her.
"No, it's okay Azusa-san. I am sorry for staring at you like that," he apologized and went to fix her muffler so that it wrapped more securely around her neck.
Azusa-san looks really good with red, he thought while fixing her muffler.
He stole another glance to her co-worker. She looked pretty, it's no wonder that she has few admirers from the police force.
"There. Now where shall we dine, Azusa-san?"
"You know, Amuro-san, let's drink sake as well!" his co-worker responded excitedly.
"Eh? I don't want to take you home in a drunken state."
"I won't get drunk," she protested, "Now let's go to this place," she continued and showed him her smartphone with the info on the place she meant.
"Alright." he acquiesced.
While they're walking side by side, he announced loudly, "Azusa-san, how about making mochi later for New Year?"
"Ah! That's a splendid idea, Amuro-san!"
The Poirot duo chatted animatedly, leaving footsteps trail in their wake.
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He doesn't mind with the color red, not anymore.
As long as Azusa is the one wearing it.
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A/N: My first fic after a long time. Might be a tad late for Christmas theme fic, but eh, who cares. I got this fluff idea and am glad I can write it down.