Chapter 1: Your Local Coffee Shop

September, 2014

One late-September morning, a long-anticipated autumn cool-front blew into Brookdon. Mathias Køhler arrived to work while the sun was still down and unlocked the front door to his beloved coffee shop. The gratifying warmness and pleasing smell of sweets and coffee beans of Køhler's Koffee gave him a lovely greeting. Taking a deep breath, he entered and went to the back, where he started his almost-every work routine of making his coffee.

The restful music coming from his laptop occupied the room with a peaceful atmosphere. Mathias hummed along as he worked. He never tired of the early-day job; mornings were very repetitive, but he didn't mind.

Time rolled by and before he knew it, the store was just about ready to open for the day. The coffee was ready and his workers–and life-long friends, excluding Nathan–should be arriving soon. He exited the back room and moved to the front of the shop. The September sun was still down but the occupants of Brookdon were soon to be up.

Knock, knock. Francis Bonnefoy stood at the door, peering through the glass. The older gentleman said something and pressed his face against the window as Mathias glanced at him. "Come in!" Mathias called to him. He slightly tilted his head to the side in confusion. Oh right, he remembered, the walls are 98.2% soundproof.

"Good morning, Mathias," Francis greeted him brightly after the Dane let him in. Arthur Kirkland followed after him with a couple of cardboard boxes nestled in his arms. "You're looking very lively today, mon cher."

"Same to you," Mathias replied. He had forgotten Francis was delivering some samples that day. Since Francis had occupied the building next door only months ago, that was the first year he'd be displaying his autumn-exclusive products. Mathias was more than excited to see what he had brought.

Arthur gently set down the boxes. "Good day, Mr. Køhler." Arthur yawned, looking at Mathias with a sleepy squint.

"Morning, Arthur." Mathias replied. "Go ahead and take a seat." Arthur nodded and sat down.

Francis untapped one of the boxes and pulled out a container. "I brought some traditional pumpkin muffins, Halloween and fall themed cookies…" he started pulling the containers out one-by-one. Mathias observed the foods in awe; and his face brightened even more when Francis revealed an even better-looking dish.

"Lastly, pumpkin pie." The pie was carefully crafted and the perfect golden-brown color. Mathias felt himself almost drool from the sight of it. "Amazing, no? Smell it," Francis removed the cover and held it up to him. The overwhelming harmony of spices and pumpkin instantly hit Mathias and nearly casted his soul away in food heaven.

"Now," Francis eased the lid back on, Mathias snapped out of the daze. "This will more than likely become my best seller when I start selling them next week. It's very important that this is put where your customers can easily see it and want it. Now that school has started, business hasn't been the greatest. I need to make up for this. You don't want my business to die, right?" Mathias quickly nodded. "Good, good. Do I have your word?"

"Yes sir, Mr. Bonnefoy," Mathias answered, just as the bell above the entrance rang as the door flew open.

"Good morning!" Tino Väinämöinen sang upon his theatrical arrival. Arthur, who had been dozing off, stood up so quickly, the chair he was placed in nearly fell backwards.

"Morning Tino," Mathias welcomed him. Tino walked over to the table and observed the several packages of Francis's food that was scattered over the surface.

"We're starting the seasonal food now?" He asked.

"Yes, the first day of fall was three days ago," Mathias replied.

"Indeed, it was. I would stay and chat but Arthur and I should be getting back to work," Francis reached over and touched Arthur's shoulder. "If he's even awake enough."

"I am, I am," Arthur pushed his hand away. After the two had left, Mathias began setting up the display of snacks. Tino helped, but spent more time looking at the food rather than working. His eyes glazed over to the pie he hadn't seen before. It was gorgeous, and Tino instantly fell in love with it. He extended his arm over to the package and brought it closer to him. Before he could even open the lid, Mathias grasped his arm.

"Rule number nine, Tino," Mathias told him sharply. Tino looked up at the fancy-framed list of rules. Mathias had required them to memorize the 'oh so important list' when they had written and rewritten it, but he had to make sure of one thing.

Rule number 9 was, as he thought, the one prohibiting moonwalking, with exception of knowing how to. Tino, jerking his arm away from Mathias and lifting the pie above his head, moonwalked adeptly to the other side of Mathias and set the pie down again. "Yes sir?"

Mathias took a quick glance at the rule sheet and back at Tino, humiliated. "Rule number seven, Tino. Food products less than 2 days old are off limits until after hours."

Tino scoffed and let go of the pie. "Rule number ten, sir," he smiled brightly at him before taking his place at the counter, his eyes still on the pie. "Touching Tino without good intentions is completely prohibited."

"My intentions are very well good," Mathias opened the pie container. "You can get a pie like this from Francis next week."

"Next week?!" Tino gasped.

"Next week," Mathias took out the pie and set it on the counter. "Now hand me a knife so I can cut this thing."

"Thin slices," Tino suggested. "Maybe…"

"Of course," Mathias told him. "Hopefully there will be left overs because I'll be dying until a try this thing." The two nodded in agreement.

Berwald, Lukas and Lukas's younger brother, Emil, arrived together minutes later. Emil didn't stop as he ran to the supply closet. Tino watched as Berwald and Lukas turned their heads towards the display shelves while they walked by. Both their eyes wondered and stopped when the pie came into view. Tino could tell from sense of lust that suddenly came into Lukas' eyes. Berwald was much harder to understand but he doesn't stare in the same spot for that long. Behind that stern look, Tino knew he was dying to have the dish all to himself.

Tino felt himself start to get agitated at the sight of them staring. He had to get their attention away from it. He put on the cutest smile possible and bent over the counter. "Good morning, friends." He greeted cheerfully.

"Good morning, Tino." They both replied at once. Berwald lightened up but Lukas's eye twitched; he saw Tino was up to something.

The shop was unusually quiet; as Lukas and Tino stood at the counter, they could hear Mathias's music. There was a very uncomfortable tension surrounding the two.

Matthew Braginsky was the first customer to arrive, as usual. In one hand, he had the ends of the leashes that were connected to two very large dogs. In the other, he had the hand of his eldest daughter, Vera. She promptly let go of her dad's hand and ran up to the counter with her long ponytail and purple backpack bouncing behind her.

"Good morning!" She told the two, her brown eyes shined. "We're here for coffee!"

"Are you?" Lukas asked. The five-year-old said that every morning, it was better to play along. He knocked on the window to the back where Mathias was. "The usual for the Braginskys." He turned around. "Anything else?"

"No thank you," Matthew managed to pull the dogs over to the counter. "I'll take a couple glazed donuts; Claude wants a banana muffin and three cinnamon buns for Ivan, please."

"And I want a chocolate donut!" Vera added.

"Say please, Vera," Matthew told her.

"Please, mister Lukas!"

Matthew glanced down at the snacks display. "Wait, there's new things?" He quickly pushed his great white Samoyed out of the way to see.

"Is that one of Francis's pumpkin pies?" he asked. Tino and Lukas both held in a gasp.

"Have you tried it?" Tino asked.

"Of course, he's made them since we were in high school!"

"How does it taste?"

"Amazing," Matthew let out a sigh of merriment. "I think I'll take a slice."

"Alright," Lukas forced a smile.

"No wait, the slices are awfully thin…" He noted. "I'll take two." Lukas internally screamed and typed in the orders to the computer. It was just two slices, he told himself, there's plenty more left. "Your total is 11.67."

Matthew paid before grabbing the bag and a mug of coffee. "Vera, carry the food and your dad's coffee, okay?"

"Can I hold yours instead, papa? Daddy's coffee is too strong." She complained.

"Okay, just don't drink all of it. You'll drive your teacher crazy again." Matthew took the other mug and handed it to her. "Thank you guys again, I'll bring the mugs back in a little while."

"No problem, Matthew," Tino told him.

"See you later," Lukas said as the four left. It's going to be a long day, he thought to himself.

The day lasted longer than he had initially thought. Several customers had come, many had bought themselves a slice, and left, driving the two workers at the counter mad.

The tension between Tino and Lukas had spread among the others, too. Berwald would glance at the pie, then Lukas and Tino every time he would pass during his cleaning routine. Emil caught on and even tried getting Tino to save him a slice. He refused and told him to stop being greedy. When Nathan arrived, he appeared to be oblivious to everything going on and minded his own business. Tino, Lukas, Emil and Berwald were on to him anyway.

"Come on, come on," Lukas muttered. It was almost closing time and there were only two pieces left. Tino was closest to the snacks and almost breathing on the last of the pie, Emil and Berwald sat at a nearby table and waited in muteness.

One last customer came in, and after ordering a latte, took one of the last two slices and left. Everyone in the room, except Nathan, held their breath as they watched the clock count down the seconds to closing time.

Just seconds before the deadline, Mathias stumbled out of the back room. He crept sluggishly to the display shelf, turning to give everyone in the room a stern look as they stared blankly at him. As the hourly music from the wall clock played, in a very low voice, Mathias whispered the words. "It's mine."

After that, it was every man to himself. Tino instantly jumped over the counter and attacked Mathias; obviously their set alliance was over. Before Lukas can make it past the two, Emil and Berwald grabbed both his arms and tried bringing him to the ground. Lukas bit Berwald on the shoulder and pinched his brother's cheeks. Nathan shoved past everyone but was pulled by his scarf and jerked away from the prize by Mathias and Berwald.

"Okay, this is ridiculous!" shouted Mathias, standing in the way of the shelf. Everyone stopped fighting at once. "We're acting like a bunch of barbarians. We could have simply negotiated, but no, we went straight to violence!"

"You started it," Tino pointed out.

"I don't think that's right,"

"You want another bruise on your arm?"

"N-No," Mathias rubbed his arm. "I probably should have been civil at first but I think we all can agree that Francis's pie was too much for all of us. We're a family, and we could have easily split that thing among all of us, even though…"

"Uh, Mathias," Emil spoke up.

"Not now, Emil, I know the slice is very small…"

"Mathias," Lukas began.

"Let me finish! We can make this work…"

"No we can't," Berwald answered.

"Wha–"

"Turn around," Nathan suggested. Mathias stopped speaking and slowly turned to see something he didn't quite expect. A puffin, with a fancy little red bowtie, sat perched in an empty pie tin with crumbs lining its beak.

"I'm so sorry!" Emil whined. "I thought he would have stayed in the closet.

"Emil!" Lukas yelled at his brother. "What did I tell you about bringing Mr. Puffin here?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't–" Emil was broken off by the loudest, most agonizing scream that had ever come from Mathias Køhler.

Meanwhile, next door stood a newer building; one occupied by a family-run bookstore with an upstairs home. Ivan Braginsky lay in bed after working all day, reading a new book. His husband, Matthew, opened the bedroom door; his two dogs dove into the room and jumped up onto him. "Plushenko! Isabelle!" He set down his book and rubbed each on the back and head. Matthew sat down onto the side of the bed.

"Did you hear that sound?" He asked. Ivan looked at him, confused.

"No, what sound?" Ivan looked up from the dogs.

"A scream," Matthew replied. "It sounded like it was coming from Mathias's place."

Ivan laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, there's no way. Their walls are 98.2% soundproof."

Author's Note: Happy Leif Erikson day!