"Top o' the mornin' to ya!" Irish said cheerfully as ever with a spring in his step. He hopped behind the counter and into the back office of the cafe. Chipper as ever, he hung his coat, punched in his number, and straightened himself up to grab a headset before stepping out onto the floor.

"Why Silver- young lad, haven't had a cuppa today, 'ave ya? You're looking as sick as a box of frogs."

Every day, Silver had to put with this. The same shift, opening at the cafe in Station Square, and every day having to hear the same snarky comments that he could barely understand from his boss. He groaned softly to himself as he tilted his head to give a half-forced grin to his boss. "Come on, Irish. I'm not one for coffee. You know that." He paused, covering his mouth as he yawned. "Just stayed up late studying, was all."

"Well then have yourself a tea. A few drops will wake you quicker than ? and before you know it ? embox ? you know?"

Silver could only stare at Irish with a blank look on his face before giving a slow nod. "Sure thing. I'll get right now as soon as I can." It was the best he could- just pretend he understood and keep working. It wasn't like he hated his boss or even his job. It was just at this point Silver was getting a little tired of the same boring routine every day, same bad jokes from his coworkers, same job at ARKbucks, and same one-track response for it all. College time was something he had thought would be an adventure, where everyone was supposed to try new things, yet so far he was two years in, and hardly anything had changed since graduating high school, minus a dorm room and classes.

He turned back to the next customer who had just walked in and- ah! This person. "Hey there. Uh- nice to see you again," he said, a bit awkward. Though he didn't hate this person, Silver did always find them to be a bit of an odd one by how he spoke. Supposedly he and the manager were good friends. Silver tapped a button on his headset. "Hey, Irish. Uh- Bigg is here to see you."

"Coming!" In a flash, Irish had zipped over to say hello. "Why, how's the big size are yuh, Big? Let me roast up the normal muttonchop for you and get you on your way!"

"Uehhhhh...thANK YOUUuuUU!" he said with a dumbfounded smile on his face before fishing into his back for his wallet.

That was one usual customer that Silver would probably never fully understand. He sighed and shook his head as he wiped the sweat from his brow. When he looked up, another regular was stepping up to the counter. Silver's mood shifted, and he relaxed more. "Hi. Black coffee, dark roast, right?" Silver perked a bit as the customer nodded. He swiped a large cup from a tall stack by the drip-coffee machine and pulled a pen from his apron and scribbled the customer's name on the side.

Shadow.

It hardly mattered since the drip-coffee was passed out immediately when ordered, but Shadow had been coming in every Saturday and Sunday for over a year. It would feel wrong to not write his name like anyone else's. Within seconds the cup was full and lidded. "Will that be all for you today?" he asked as he punched into Shadow's total.

His eyes lingered on the pastry case momentarily before fishing into his wallet, connected by a long chain to his belt. "Could I also have a ham and cheese croissant?"

Silver blinked momentarily before nodding his head and punching it in. "Yeah, sure thing! Do you want it heated up?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Alright. We'll call your name when it's ready. Here's your coffee...Shadow."

Shadow handed him a few dollar bills and stuffed the change in his pocket as he took his usual drink. "Thanks, Silver." He walked off, taking his usual table and plugging in his headphones to his laptop.

Besides the croissant, that had been their routine every weekend. Shadow would order the same drink, give a simple hello, and then sit on the bar by the window, doing his work on his computer with his headphones in. It was hard to miss him, Silver had always thought. Between never wearing anything but black, and having spiked hair with red streaks running through it, well...Silver found him unique. Everyone he had ever met was so bright and colorful. Blaze dressed exclusively in soft pastels and Sonic's hair was a deep blue!

Even himself, with silver locks, combed back under his hat, still had lines of electric blue in his wardrobe.

Shadow? He just seemed so cool to him.

"Silver, me boy! How the tickle are ya? Starrin' off into the asteroids like you got an eighth wonder grog brewing inside ya! Now it's about time for ya to be skipping onto your break." Irish grabbed the tongs and pulled the ham and cheese from the oven, which Silver was quick to snag from him.

"I-it's alright! I'll take it out to him. Heh! Actually lemme get a coffee before I go. Maybe I could use one, after all." A moment later, Silver had poured himself a small black coffee with a few packs of sweetener clutched between his fingers.

"Here you are," he said, holding the small pastry bag out before Shadow. With both hands full and Shadow wearing his headphones, there was little room for him to call his name or tap his shoulder.

It caught his attention, making him lean back on the stool before he removed his headphones and looked over at Silver. "Oh! Thank you," he said with a slight nod as he took the pastry bag and turned his attention back to his computer. The screen caught Silver's eye, noting the color bars and control panel below. Immediately he recognized what he was doing.

He looked around quickly, noting no other space was available to sit in the cafe space and took the empty stool beside Shadow. "You make music?" he asked.

Shadow gave a slight nod as he took a sip from his cup. "Yeah. I'm working on my band's demo CD right now. We don't have any recording space so it's all just pre-generated sounds for the moment."

"What do you mean? What kind of music is it?" Silver sipped his cup and almost immediately wanted to spit it back into the cup. Even with sugar, it was so bitter he couldn't stand it.

Shadow's eyes flickered for a moment as a smirk plastered on his face. "Want to listen?" he offered over his headphones. A quick bite of his food and the second Silver had the headphones on he pressed play.

His ears popped, and his spine straightened. Silver felt the world around him engulfed by shredding guitars clashing with off-beat drums. It was...a little hard to listen to, as much as Silver didn't want to admit it. Still, he couldn't help but think it sounded similar to what Blaze had tried to show him a few times when they were in high school. Unable to see it himself, but Silver had a blank look on his face as if he wasn't sure how he felt about it, nodding slowly and tilting his head from side to side as he continued to take tiny sips from his cup.

"Not bad," he said with a nervous smile when his ears were free. "So you're in a band?"

"Heh. What of it?" Shadow said sarcastically before tinkering with a few colored bars in his program. "There is still a lot of groundwork to be done, but yeah. There are four of us if you count our manager. But she just makes sure we have a timeslot in small local bars and clubs every weekend."

"That's still impressive. I think so, at least! It all suits you well, anyway."

"Are you mocking me?" he leered, turning his head at Silver with eyes aimed to kill.

Silver raised a hand in protest. "What? No way! I just thought that kinda music matched you. I mean," he paused, scanning Shadow over. "You dress really dark. It's kind of cool!"

Shadow's grin stretched into a full-scale smile before he shifted in his seat, crossing his arms. "I'm the coolest!"

They were both silent for a moment until Silver chuckled. A laugh was shared as they eased into further conversation. Music. Work. Hobbies. Time was beginning to slip by then and before they knew it, the alarm on Silver's watch was beeping, telling him that his break was over.

"Alright. I have to return to the counter. It was nice getting to talk to you, Shadow."

"Likewise. If you're free tonight, maybe you should come check us out. We're playing at Metal CD tonight."

Silver thought for a moment. "If I can. I have a test on Monday, so I really should study more than anything but hey! Let's trade LINK IDs. I'll message you if I can make it!"

Shadow crossed his arms and fished his phone out from his jacket's inner pocket. "Heh, you better come, or else I might just have to go to another cafe every weekend." He held up his QR code for Silver to scan and waited for the LINK request to register before putting his phone away, smiling.

"No one would believe that threat. I'll see you here next week no matter what! See you around, Shadow!" he waved as he dumped his trash in the bin and went back to clock in. Every so often between work, Silver would steal a glance over to Shadow's backside, watching him hard at work with his headphones on, thinking.

I could just study extra hard tomorrow, couldn't I?