SOMA COFFEE SHOP AU

LET'S DO IT

Chapter 1: Soul Evans

It was the same thing every day. Or at least that was how it felt to him. He would wake up at an ungodly hour just to have people make demands of him for the entire morning. Working at a Deathbucks in the middle of the city wasn't the most desirable job, but it paid well enough, and he wasn't bad at it. His boss did keep telling him that he could stand to be more cheerful though. Bite me. He stifled a yawn and plastered on a tired smile when a man walked through one of the glass doors.

"How can I help you today, sir?" he asked with fabricated friendliness.

"Yeah. I'll have a large vanilla latte," the man tapped his fingers on the counter, "Make it quick." He added seemingly as an afterthought after he handed over a crisp five-dollar bill.

The man's eyes roamed to the nametag that sat proudly on the left side of his black v-neck. It was nothing he could be blamed for. Soul. What had his parents been thinking when they had named him that? Soul was not sure if it was due to his impatience or due to some hidden generosity that the man had not asked for change. He decided not to say anything. He checked his watch. 6:30 AM. Great. 20 minutes into the morning shift.

The rest of the morning went similarly (as it always did) with Soul serving customers ranging from polite to explosive. None of their feelings towards him were really justified, but he wasn't too fond of any of them either, so there was a mutual understanding of sorts. There were some faces he recognized, as well as some orders that he knew by heart. One small coffee and a blueberry scone for Martha! Everything else was mostly a blur. At some times he would be at the cash, talking to customers and grabbing baked goods from the display. His break from interaction with anyone who wasn't a coworker would be spent mixing drinks that he knew by heart and calling out incorrect names scrawled on the sides of paper cups.

Once all the nine-to-fivers were in work things would finally calm down. There would be the occasional student from the city college in the area or a writer who could nurse a single espresso for hours as they typed steadily away at their dreams and overdue papers. Soul stood absently at the cash staring out the window onto the street, not really taking in anything or anyone who passed by. How had he let it get like this? He had been sure at one point that he was going to amount to something. When had he forgotten that and allowed himself to be content with allowing dexterous fingers press cash register buttons and mix various drinks? Soul jumped at a hand clapping him firmly on the back.

"What's got you so down today?"

Had he been acting different than usual? He hadn't noticed.

"I'm fine, Kilik. Just had to wake up fucking early."

His coworker smiled toothily.

"Must be a bitch to be on the morning shift."

Soul scowled tiredly, not gracing the other man with an immediate response.

"Don't you have something to mop?" He finally sighed.

"Sure thing, sure thing," he agreed good-naturedly, the grin still on his face, "I'll leave you alone to brood, just don't scare away any customers with the mug of yours."

Soul shooed him off. He wiped the counter absently with a rag though it was already clean. He allowed himself a full yawn and again checked his watch. 10:30 AM. Time was crawling more than usual today. He drummed his fingers on the counter. Tick tock. He refrained from glancing at his wrist again. He actually preferred when the shop was busy. Then he could actually do his job instead of actually being aware of how he was doing nothing with his life. At least he could appreciate the Adele that was playing right now. He would die before he admitted that to anyone else. Some things were best left a secret. And it was at that thought that she walked in.