SUGAR & ICE. － lbc

° one °

Something was off that day.

Tin stood behind the register, expression cold and his fingers expertly punching in the costumer's order, much as a robot would. He never really bothered with feigning a smile at the people who came up to him and, admittedly, it tended to bring about a sense of discomfort － but Tin couldn't care less.

Straining a smile was faking happiness, and the boy despised anything that was fake.

The young girl he'd been serving finally left with an air of disappointment to which he paid no mind, and it was then, when he had just carded a hand through his immaculately cut hair that sat upon his eyebrows, that the café door practically slammed open and let in a ruckus akin to that of bickering hens.

The noise only meant one thing, and that was the arrival of the nearest school's football team, which had already dropped by once before.

Tin rolled his eyes and wiped his palms on the black apron tied around his waist, mentally preparing himself for the insufferable presence of the rowdy, not to mention filthy, students.

"I'm so hungry, I swear I'm dying. Gosh, I need food so badly, P'! Please, won't you at least share with me? You know I have no money! I'm suffering from not eating in so long, P'No. I need to eat so ba－"

"I get it, Ai'Can! Stop whining. I'll buy you whatever you want, just be quiet. And stop tugging on my sleeve. You're stretching all my sweaters!"

Tin grunted in scorn.

He couldn't see the boy behind the taller male who had offered to pay, but he instantly knew he probably looked like a little gremlin.

How could one person be so loud but so annoying? It was irritating.

It was at times such as those that Tin was grateful he had no friends aside from Pete; a timid, polite, kind, and best of all quiet, guy he had known for years.

They were basically each other's best friend and Tin appreciated the relationship they shared, more than he would ever let on.

"Hi, could I get a －"

Tin's gaze snapped to his left where the boy, who was being pestered by the other before, had come to order from his colleague abreast him.

He appeared well kept but being from the Thai Programme meant he was not at Tin's level and Tin knew not to trust any of those － any of the poorer people.

"P'! Can I add something to the order?"

That voice. Wasn't it of the gremlin?

Tin pulled his eyes away from the interaction between his friend and the student, and focused instead upon the short male who was jogging up to the counter, dark hair a mess and football uniform stained with soil and grass.

"What is it, Ai'Can?"

So, the gremlin's name is Can.

Maybe it wasn't fair to refer to the boy as a gross-looking mythological creature, seeing as how he wasn't ugly but actually average, yet it was evident with him that he wasn't from a high-class family.

A first glance at Can was all it took to set this strange feeling off in Tin's chest, as if he had been living with a time bomb within it all his life, and it had finally gone off.

Hatred. No, dislike. That's what it was. He didn't like this tiny boy who faintly smelled of sweat and deodorant.

Tin decided it was dislike that he felt.

❁❈❁

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