windfall | 01 — i know that it's your soul, but could you bottle it up?

[with thirty minutes to closing and few customers in the past ten minutes, akira is inclined to believe it's safe to start cleaning the back, too. he's been making his way through some of the opener prep and sweeping and mopping the back, where one of their coworkers had spilled something right before she was scheduled to go off shift and it had dried and congealed into something nasty. he stares hard at the stain on his mop before dunking it back into the bucket of now-dirty water.]

Think we still need to clean and restock the condiments... [he trails off, making his way through the mental checklist again.] I'd clean up the brewers, but we might get someone five minutes before closing again.

Mm, okay. I'll... crack down on that, I guess. [moves behind the counter, crouching down to one of the bottom cabinets to grab a box containing packets of sugar and non-sugar substitutes, but doesn't find anything there. pauses for a second, before feeling around some more.

zilch.]

Akira? Do you know if someone moved them?

Hm? No one should have... Did we run out? I'll check to see if there's anymore stock in the back...

[lo and behold, some of the supply shipments from that morning are still in their boxes stacked up in the storage room. looks like the people from morning shift hadn't gotten through unpacking stuff... could it really have been that busy this morning? but if they leave it for tomorrow morning, there's no way the others will finish unpacking this and the following day's shipments too.]

...so, uh. Sunny, I think we have a situation.

[intense internal facepalming ensues, but akira's expression remains as placid as usual.]

...that's a lot. [aside from the small crease in her brow, she remains mostly stoic, not even betraying a hint of annoyance]

We'll be here until midnight, at least, and I'm sure you didn't plan on filtering through boxes the night of New Years Eve. [already moving past him, taking a box cutter out from her apron pocket and slicing through the seal of one box in a single fluid motion] I'll handle this. Go ahead and clock out at the time you were supposed to.

[in spite of his fatigue, akira manages a reassuring smile, one of his better ones; the one they'd praised him for, back when he was on the cusp of his debut, back before luminous had decided that the assault charges leveled against him, false or not, were too much to deal with. they had thousands of pretty faces to choose from. trainees are expendable.]

It's fine. I don't have any plans for New Year's Eve, to be honest. And misery is less suffering if there's someone to suffer with, right?

[then, in utter deadpan:] Who knows, maybe two people working will mean we'll get out before midnight. Just in time to make sure we're not trapped in a coffee shop when the ball drops.

[she goes still for a small, imperceptible second, a bit surprised to hear him volunteer to stay. akira is around her age, maybe even a bit younger; she'd assumed that he'd be out partying, ringing in the new year with some good ol' underage drinking. sunny shoots him an uncertain glance, and then shrugs.] If... you're sure.

[it's tiny and barely there, but her mouth curves slightly into a tiny smile] Before we get too deep into this, we should double check and see if the customers are all gone. I've already taken out the garbage, but I didn't have the chance to clean the restrooms, since... uh, you had our only mop.

[ahahaha underage drinking. what are you talking about, akira kurusu is a law-abiding citizen who wouldn't put a toe out of line... criminal record and all... jeez, how'd he even get hired at all his different part-time jobs anyway? Sorcery.]

Wanna flip coins for who gets to clean which bathroom? [there's the time-old debate of whether the women's bathroom is more filthy or the men's, and sometimes it isn't what he expects, depending on the location.]

I'm almost done getting this stain off the ground though, so I can change the water soon.

[...for some reason, the suggestion of a coin toss makes her laugh a little] Don't worry, I'll just take which ever one you don't want to do.

[her eyes shoot to her wristwatch annnd — five minutes 'til closing now] Alright, good hustle. I'm going to go flip the sign real quick, but holler if you need anything.

Maybe I'll pick randomly so you have a decent shot at cleaning the less-gross one. [or maybe they'll both be Utterly Disgusting and both akira and sunny have to suffer.]

Sounds good. [the floor is looking pretty good now, so he tries to rinse most of the residue off the mop into the bucket of dirty water, then he sets the mop aside to haul the bucket off to the bathroom to dump its contents in one of the toilets.]

[as luck would have it, before sunny manages to make it to the door and flip the sign, there's a customer strong-arming the door open, clearly in a bit of a Mood. it's a younger middle-aged woman, and she appears to not notice sunny as she treks some snow into the coffee shop and goes to stand at the counter, bouncing impatiently. still, she seems a little distracted by the wall television playing from the side—the channel has just transitioned from a game show to a talk show, and the host is starting a discussion about some of the recent scandals with MDS entertainment and luminous studios.]

[against every instinct in her body telling her to duck her head, to turn around and let akira handle this one, sunny slides behind the counter and logs into the register, an especially warm smile at her lips.] Hey, what can I get for you? If you want something hot and steaming and really good, I'd recommend —

[the woman, her eyes still trained on the television screen, interrupts her, "i'll get an iced peppermint mocha, extra syrup, 5 shots of espresso." and then, as an afterthought, she adds, "skim milk only."]

...and what size would you like? [interest waning in the talk show, the woman finally meets sunny's gaze with her own, of which were dark with impatience. "a large," she says, unnecessarily enunciating each syllable. sunny motions to akira with a quick nod of her head to get started on the order.] Alright, one venti iced peppermint mocha, extra syrup, 5 shots of espresso, and skim milk only coming right up.

[for a second, the woman looks almost impressed, but the moment passes as soon as it comes, instead replaced by something sunny would have never expected — recognition. "wait. i know you, you're that girl who — "] That'll be $5.25, ma'am.

[sunny can't resist breathing a soft sigh of relief for the momentary distraction, the woman forced to dig through her purse for her wallet. that's the thing about moments, though. they don't last. as soon as the woman fishes her card out, and inserts it into the card reader, she starts right back up again. "you're that druggie, yeah? or, well... if you're working here, that means you're out of rehab, huh. not much of a step up, though, if you know what i mean." it's meant to be a joke. sunny forces out a weak chuckle.] Here's your receipt.

[he'd heard the bell at the door jingle to indicate another customer, and akira finishes washes his hands just in time to get back to the counter and catch the order. he hears the whole exchange so far but remains quiet for a while as he quietly prepares the woman's drink with a brisk efficiency. there's a temptation itching in the back of his mind to sabotage the woman's drink in some minor, petty way—four pumps of espresso instead of five—but it would be inconvenient for sunny as well if he were called out on something like that.

instead, he finishes her drink perfectly. it's the best goddamn iced peppermint mocha he's made in his life. maybe when she drinks it, she'll taste his spite, all compressed into sugary kidney failure.

just when it seems like he's not going to say something, it's as he's passing the customer her drink that akira finally speaks, voice soft but steely.]

Hey, you know next to nothing about her life. Lay off, would you?

[hey, it's new year's eve, man. may as well end the year having pissed off at least one customer, right?]

Akira.

[visibly bristling, the woman's clutch on the drink is so strong, sunny can see indention lines beginning to form. it'd be a shame, she thinks, if the woman spilled the drink akira had just made for her on the floor he'd just mopped. squeezing herself between the two, sunny brandishes her brightest smile.]

I'm sorry about that. It's been a long day. [strokes her chin in feigned thought for a second or two before suddenly clapping her hands together, as if an idea has just occurred to her] Oh! Let me get you a small treat! On the house. Just to help you start the year off on the right foot, you know?

[sunny briskly moves toward the pastry case, takes a still-warm chocolate chip cookie out, and returns with it in a small plastic bag, tied closed with a festive ribbon. the woman eyes the two of them reproachfully, a dash of confusion in her eyes, before reluctantly taking the gift. "hm. i suppose that's the least you could do."

as their last customer flounces out, sunny makes a show of leaning over the counter and waving with exaggerated enthusiasm.] Happy New Year's Eve!

[well, he supposes that could have gone worse. sometimes, akira ruminates on what it means to have a criminal record even in spite of having done nothing close to assault—did he regret trying to stand up for that woman, when she was being assaulted? no. but if everyone's so determined to make him out to be a criminal, maybe he might as well prove them right. give them a real reason to dislike him, other than how much he doesn't belong.

objectively, he knows that's not a productive train of thought. he could sink deeper into this self-pitying spiral. he really could.

instead, he drags himself out of it, and turns to start cleaning the coffee brewer. sometimes, he forgets—that maybe it's a cultural difference, how customers in the service industry can get more outspoken here in aurozora compared to what he remembers of his small hometown in japan.

it's past closing already. on the television, the host is discussing luminous studios' latest idol group, a male cohort, and how one of the original trainees slated to debut with them was knocked off the roster at the last moment. without missing a beat, akira grabs the remote, switches it off, and sets the remote aside gently, looking perfectly placid.]

...Sorry for the inconvenience.

[notably, he doesn't apologize for having said anything.]

Edited 2018-01-01 04:55 (UTC)

No. [she says immediately, her voice hot and tight. the longer she stands there — hands still on the counter, eyes still following the woman's back, even as she ducks into her car and drives away — the heavier she feels. slowly, her fingers start to curl inward, into fists, and if her nails weren't so finely trimmed, she would have surely left scratch marks deep into the wood of the counter.]

It wasn't. It wasn't an inconvenience. [and then the feeling is gone — just for the moment. just until sunny can find a better time to sit and stew in it at her leisure. with that said, she leaves the counter behind, passing akira by without really looking at him, and heads to the door of the coffee shop, flipping the sign from OPEN to CLOSED. there.]

Could you hand me one of the boxes? I'll refill the condiments station.

[akira isn't tracking the woman's movements keenly like sunny is—it seems he isn't quite as affected as his coworker—but he does notice the way her nails are digging into the counter, knuckles white. tactfully, he says nothing for the time being, instead bringing the removable parts of their main coffee brewer to the sink.]

...All right.

[he disappears into the storage room for a bit to dig through some of the shipment boxes, then reemerges after a few moments with one of the boxes containing condiments. it's as he's approaching sunny again with it that he stops for a moment, as if mulling over something to say. the fact is this: he knows sunny phongsavath, but not in the way she thinks. they're coworkers, certainly, and he'd never given any reason for her to think he'd recognized her, but he's followed her career with mds a bit, back when he was a trainee with luminous.

he has cds of some of her early roles, even.

akira doesn't really believe the authenticity of the drug scandal—the photos of it don't look shopped, but who the hell would really pay for drugs with a check? he knows what druggies look like, even the ones on the cusp of recovery; he's seen them in juvie, when he served his brief sentence before his parents negotiated something so he could serve an extended probation instead. sunny doesn't look like them. she probably never did, at all.]

...Don't let it get to you. People can be cruel, especially the less they know.

[akira sounds like he could be referring to how oblivious people can be of other people's circumstances. or, you know, he could just be calling that woman Stupid In General.]

[she's ironed herself out by now, her face clean of any trace of agitation; she even looks a bit amused. it's just easier this way.]

She mistook me for someone else. It happens. [she lifts the box out of akira's hands, but doesn't leave yet, her eyes scanning its contents in a way that might imply that she's counting. or just stalling, looking for the right words.] Sometimes, though, I feel like... the less people know, the better it is too, you know?

Anyways, thanks. Try and look alive, Akira. It's almost 2018.

Edited 2018-01-01 18:43 (UTC)

[he knows that feeling—the less people know, the fewer ways they know how to hurt you. there's safety in anonymity. he used to take blending in for granted, but in class, rumors have been circulating around him because of his assault charge, and it's not really the kind of limelight he was going for. at least they didn't publicize the name of luminous' dropped trainee. then people really wouldn't shut up.

hearing sunny's last few words, akira looks up at sunny, right in the eye, and offers, in the blandest, most deadpan voice he can manage:]

Haaaaappy new year.

[there should be an exclamation at the end of that sentence, but, uhhh...]

Ah, ah, ah. We still have an hour's worth of 2017 left to enjoy. Let's make the most of it.

[it takes a bit of elbow grease to get the restrooms looking spick-and-span, but, once they've gotten the weird fungus growing from the ceiling taken care of, all that's left to do is turn on the security system and close up. and they've got 5 minutes left 'til countdown.] ...I have to say, an extra pair of hands really did make a world's difference.

Feels like it's the cleanest this site's been for years... Just in time for 2018, right?

[akira's running through the mental checklist of things to do during closing again, but it really does seem they've hit every item on the list. he's finally untying his apron and taking it off, shaking out his hair after he pulls the apron over his head.]

Any plans?

Hm? [her apron is draped over her shoulder as sunny balances the cash drawer, flipping through the same stack of bills for the third time, just to make sure she hadn't miscounted. finally satisfied, she pushes the drawer back into the register, and then throws him a wry look from over her shoulder.] Plans? Good joke, Akira.

You said that didn't have any, right? Earlier, I mean. [releases her hair from its ponytail, combing her fingers through the tangles] Are you just going to head home?

Yeah, probably...

[he glances at the clock again.]

But I might stop by at the city square for a bit, since we wrapped up early. I figure they'll probably have performances and fireworks going off over there, so it can't hurt to catch a few before I head back. Since it's not far.

[he does have a guardian for the duration of his probation, but it's a distant family friend who doesn't particularly like him. anyway, they're out of town for new year's, so it's not as if akira has someone waiting for him to get home. he studies sunny a bit, then says:]

Wanna come?

[the truth is, sunny has no real reason to refuse. it's an innocent enough question; they've already spent most of the night together anyways. plus, it'd suck to end the year on such a low note, their last customer's presence having sobered them some. what did she have to lose?]

Uh, well... sure. Okay. Let me just grab my things and, um, lock up.

Take your time. I'm sure the performances are going to last for a while.

[akira doesn't have much aside from his coat, phone, and wallet, two of which are in a pocket anyway, so he just hangs up his apron, puts on his jacket, and goes to wait near the door, idling on his phone as sunny gets her stuff. in hindsight, maybe going to the square isn't the best decision; inevitably, some of the top artists from mds and luminous will be performing for the new year. still, maybe the vibe will be upbeat enough that they can enjoy themselves anyway... the fireworks in aurozora are in their own special league.]

Edited 2018-01-02 03:11 (UTC)

[unable to remember the last time she really hung out with anyone or hit the town, sunny finishes everything in a flurry, despite akira's reassurance, fueled by a mixture of excitement and nerves. once she's hastily zipped up her jacket, she approaches, nodding her head in the direction of the door.]

Ready. I don't know if we'll make it in time for the ball drop, but... maybe we'll see something interesting in the distance.

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