Chapter Text
===>
You get lost wandering around Capitol Hill just after you move into your new apartment. It’s not really a big deal, you guess. If you’re going to get lost, now is a good time since you still have a couple weeks ‘til classes start. You’ve been meaning to explore a little anyway, and really, you’re only a couple stops past your street. Maybe like, five blocks.
Maybe? You’re not entirely sure. You know you’re only two blocks down but you’re not sure how far over you are. Curse street names that are actual words and also not in alphabetical order. Regardless, you cross Broadway and follow Pike up to Eleventh where you find an actual coffee shop. Not a stand like the one down across from East Thomas, but an actual coffee shop with actual walls and doors and stuff.
You cross the street to peek in; you’d been lamenting the idea of doing your homework in your apartment. It’s a great apartment and all and you’re super psyched to have your own place even if Dad’s paying for it but… it’s tiny. Like, really really tiny. Smaller than your room at home but with an added kitchen small.
You end up actually going in and ordering an iced coffee ‘cause if you have to walk back to your apartment, wherever it is, you’re going to be thirsty. And besides, you get to scope the place out while you wait for the baristas to make your drink.
It’s cushy, full of low, leather couches and armchairs and dark wood coffee tables. A quick look at the wifi connections on your phone tells you that they have their own. Then your coffee is up, the girl who made it giving you a cheeky wink as she calls your name. You walk out with it, back into the late summer heat. Six blocks down eleventh, you find your building and finish your coffee. It’s delicious.
===>
A couple of days later, you stuff your backpack with a bunch of books to simulate the weight you’re expecting once classes start and walk down to that coffee shop again. It sucks mega balls since it’s still somehow eighty degrees, which you really don’t understand. You’ve lived in Washington all your life and yet you still somehow always manage to forget that summer exists. It’s supposed to be raining damnit. Nevertheless, you make it and the A/C is a godsend. Same for your iced coffee.
You collapse into one of the armchairs, sinking deep into its leathery embrace. It’s heavenly. You don’t even care that the backs of your knees are already sticking to the chair. It’s cool against your sweaty skin and so deep and cushy. You don’t think you’ll ever get up again.
ectoBiologist
so i have concluded that coffee shops are the best thing. scientific fact here.
tell dad he doesn’t need to pay my rent anymore. i’m never going to leave this chair.
gardenGnostic
ahahah you better not!!! or i will never hear the end of karkats bitching :(
hes still whining about carrying your fatass mattress up a hill and then a flight of stairs AND THEN through the super weird narrow hallways of your building
ectoBiologist
hehehehe well he shouldn’t have offered to help!
gardenGnostic
i would have made him anyway ;DDD
theres NO WAY i would have passed up watching my smoking hot boyfriends get all sweaty and shirtless while doing hard labour ;DDDD
ectoBiologist
bluh gross!!!
also ew.
gardenGnostic
heeheeh
is it too hot in your apartment though??? i could bring you more fans
ectoBiologist
it’s not too bad. sorta gets really sweaty if i’ve got a bunch of stuff on but mostly it’s alright.
the fan i’ve got already does a pretty good job of circulating air :)
gardenGnostic
good!!
ectoBiologist
though i think i do want to get another fan for the loft so i don’t have to keep moving shit around.
and i’m sort of using the fan to keep my window open >>
gardenGnostic
lol yeah you should probably do something about that you dummy!!
ectoBiologist
well i do live on the second floor! so it’s not like anyone can sneak in my window.
but i think i have too much stuff :T makes moving around kind of hard.
gardenGnostic
i toooold you you wouldn’t have enough room for everything!!!!
ectoBiologist
no i totally will!! i just have to, like, rearrange to get it all to fit.
but! i’ll probably bring my desk back. it’s a pretty little desk but it takes up SO MUCH ROOM and i think i’ll just come to this coffee shop to do most my work anyway.
there’s actual lighting here!!!
gardenGnostic
lol i thought you LIKED the christmas light thing you dirty hipster you ;DD
ectoBiologist
i do. it’s cool and fine for like, regular book reading but it’s going to be a total asspain doing stuff out of a textbook DX
i am way too used to having a nice, big kitchen table to do homework at.
gardenGnostic
eheheheh yeaaaah.
ectoBiologist
so yeah. coffee shops. good job seattle. a+.
===>
carcinoGeneticist
IF YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT ASKING ME TO COME REMOVE SHIT FROM YOUR APARTMENT YOU ARE COMPLETELY ASSBATTY.
ectoBiologist
assbatty? ahahahah
carcinoGeneticist
SHUT THE FUCK UP. HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS ARE ON SALE AT SAFEWAY. I AM ALLOWED TO BREAK OUT THE SEASONAL INSULTS.
ectoBiologist
eheheheh
but no it’s only one thing. i think me and jade can handle it ourselves :)
or maybe me and dad. idk who’s going to come down for it.
carcinoGeneticist
THANK GOD. I THINK I DEVELOPED A FUCKING HERNIA LAST TIME.
ectoBiologist
eeeew karkat i totally don’t need to know about your butthole.
carcinoGeneticist
WOW YOU’RE A COMPLETE MEANIE FACE.
ectoBiologist
pffft ahahaha wow nice comeback?
carcinoGeneticist
OH EXCUSE ME. I FIGURED I MIGHT AS WELL SPEAK IN A VERNACULAR YOU ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND, CONSIDERING YOU SEEM TO HAVE REGRESSED TO THE AGE OF FOUR.
ectoBiologist
lol i know you are but what am i?
carcinoGeneticist
OH MY FUCKING GOD DID YOU ACTUALLY DO THAT?
PLEASE TELL ME YOU DID NOT ACTUALLY DO THAT AND MY EYES ARE DECEIVING ME.
ectoBiologist
;B
===>
“Wow, you’re, uh, sure in here a lot recently.”
The barista (barister??? you think it’s French so it should have a male version, right?) grins at you from behind the counter, sharpie in one hand, cup in the other, poised to take your order. He’s the one with the mohawk and cool gauges who walks with a bit of a limp. You grin back.
“My apartment’s really close and also really tiny, plus you have A/C.”
“That totally makes sense,” he laughs, “You get iced coffees, right?”
You answer in the affirmative as the girl behind the espresso machine whines, “No, get something else. Iced coffees are lame.”
“Oh, uh, surprise me then?”
The girl cackles and snatches the cup out of her co-worker’s hand, who raises his eyebrows at you. Then he shakes his head sadly, sighing, “Protip dude, never let Terezi choose your drink. She’s uh. A little strange.”
Terezi sticks her tongue out at him while she pours some strange concoction into your cup. “Wow, Tav, way to kiss my ass.”
“Sorry, Terezi, but you don’t, really, you know. Have much of an ass for me to kiss.”
She cracks up laughing at that, throwing a.. a muffin? at him in retaliation. He flinches behind raised arms to block her muffin-y assault, squawking as it bounces off him. You snicker as you shuffle off around the counter, leaning against it.
“So should I actually be worried?” you ask.
“Nope!” Terezi promises, her wide grin a little sinister, “My concoctions are always awesome. Only the best colours are involved!”
You grimace, “That sounds really ominous.”
“No, no. Trust me.”
“No, don’t trust her.”
“Dave trusts me.”
“Well, uh. Dave’s crazy.”
Terezi cackles again. You shoot her a grin in return as she hands you your… drink. It’s kind of worrisome how… teal it is, but it tastes pretty good, like mint and some sort of fruit.
You claim one of the armchairs and conclude that yeah, you totally like it here.
===>
There’s this guy. You don’t see him at all until September hits, when it starts cooling down. Then, you see him three times in a week, every week, every time after five.
Terezi draws your attention to him in the first place, perking up when he walks in while you’re ordering. It’s kind of scary considering Terezi’s base personality is manic perky, but this dude walks in and eyebrows start wiggling everywhere. She teases him, “Wow, finally gracing us with your presence again?”
Your cup gets passed down to Nepeta and you scoot along the counter to follow it, trying not to stare at the dude. You don’t do so well. His exchange with Terezi is pretty quiet on his end, while she laughs her ass off in response and then Nepeta’s handing you your coffee and you promptly busy yourself with school work.
And if you check your watch every time you notice him walk in, well, it’s just coincidence.
===>
There’s this guy. He’s taken over your spot at the counter, casually chatting TZ up as he orders until you actually walk in. Naturally, you attract the attention of all the ladies, even though it’s mostly just her snarking, “Wow, finally gracing us with your presence again?” as she passes her previous order down.
You lean in, letting your shades slide down your nose a little to fix her with the Strider Stare, and croon, “My balls are no longer dripping with sweat. I am finally fit for polite company.”
She does the gross snort that grows into her obnoxious, crowing laughter. You smirk back and, when she finishes scrawling out her barista shorthand for whatever it is she’s forcing on you this time and that guy goes to sit, you ask, “So who was that?”
“Jealous are you, Mister Strider?”
“Naw, just looking out for my main girl is all,” you shrug and she fixes you with a sardonic stare. You shrug again and add, “And maybe I’m a gossipy bastard and he’s pretty. Just fill me in on the deetz, babe.”
“Just a new regular. Moved out here to go to Yew-Dub. He is pretty cute though,” and off her eyebrows go.