(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

A Brewtiful Beginning - Chapter 1

A while back, someone requested a coffee shop AU. After giving it some thought, this is what I came up with. Buckle up because this turned into a long story. Hope you enjoy~

Also, I'm not sorry for the title.

***

The door opened in a cozy caramel tinted cafe on a Monday afternoon, the bell set above the doorway tingling gently to alert the staff of another customer. The customer looked around in curiosity before taking one of the two-seater tables by the door.

"Goth, you got a live one," a woman with blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail named Claire called out from behind the counter, handing off an iced berry mixer to the customer waiting at the counter.

"On it," the hooded skeleton popped up from where he'd been restocking below the counters. The customer was a male skeleton with starry eye lights in a green and yellow gradient and a magenta splotch in the vague shape of a star along his right jaw.

Noting the monster wasn't a familiar face, Goth snagged a menu on the way through the half door separating the lounge from the staff area. Approaching the table and its occupant, he put on his best smile as he greeted them, "Welcome to Mona's, I'll be your server today. Is this your first time with us?"

The skeleton seemed relieved for some reason as he said brightly and loudly, "Yeah, I just got into town this afternoon!"

Goth blinked at the monster, wondering where they got so much energy. Regardless, he disregarded the volume and handed over the menu, "Alright then, all of our drink and food options are labeled on this menu. We also have a list of specials on the board above the register. My personal recommendation is the Apple Cider Macchiato."

"Oh, I can't have coffee," the skeleton grimaced, quickly trading it for a hopeful look seconds later, "Do you have any tea or fruit drinks?"

Once more, Goth was puzzled. Who comes into a coffee shop when they can't have coffee?

Well, it wasn't really his business unless there was an allergy involved and they did have alternative options. Since the customer was willing to come in despite the aversion, he figured it was more of a preference than a danger.

Flipping over the menu, the hooded skeleton pointed out, "This side lists all of our teas, fruit mixers, and food options."

"Cool," the taller skeleton grinned.

"Take as much time as you need deciding what you would like," Goth stood up straight, gesturing to a stand in the middle of the table, "Once you've decided or if you have any questions, you can raise the red flag on this stand and I'll be right over to help you."

"Okay, thanks," the taller skeleton chirped, his eye lights roving over the menu as Goth returned to the staff area to continue his restocking task, peeking over the counter every so often to check for any raised flags.

The bell chimed again, followed by a low-pitch female voice, "Miss me?"

"Welcome back, Tamara," Claire called out as the woman made her way into the break room to retrieve her apron from her coat cubbie while pulling her curly black hair back with a headband.

"Anything interesting happen while I was on break?" Tamara asked as she came back out, knotting the apron strings into a bow at her waist and pinning on her name tag as she went over to the computer to clock back in and take over the register.

"Unless you count the cappuccino machine acting ornery, no," Claire sighed, adding a shot of espresso to the order she was currently prepping. As she put the lid on she added, "Oh, Mona mentioned something about a new hire."

"Really? Did she say what they're like?" Tamara questioned as Goth noticed the flag on the other skeleton's table had been raised.

"Nope, just said it was a friend's son from out of town. They're supposed to be coming sometime today. Haven't seen anyone so far, but I hope they get here soon. Having only three people manning the front is kind of rough," the blonde replied, handing off the drink and wishing the customer a good day.

"Remember, we're probably going to need to train them first," Goth reasoned as he pulled the notepad and pencil from his apron while walking away. Reaching the table, he lifted the notepad with the pencil poised above the paper, "Are you ready to order?"

"Yeah, can I have the White Peach Tea and a Ham and Swiss Wrap?" the monster asked with a smile.

Jotting down the order, Goth mirrored the smile, " One White Peach Tea and one Ham and Swiss Wrap, coming right up."

"Thanks," the monster replied as Goth gave him a friendly nod and left to go prepare the drink and food. He pinned the order to the board and opened one of the lower cabinets to fish out the requested tea canister.

"White Peach Tea and Ham and Swiss Wrap, huh?" Claire commented slyly as she walked past the order board and opened the fridge to pull out an assortment of berries.

"Yup," Goth confirmed as he checked the steeping chart next to the hot water dispenser, filled the small pot, and doled out the tea leaves into the infuser.

"He's a skeleton like you," she grinned while mixing the berries in the blender.

"He's also a customer that's waiting on his lunch," Goth pulled out the ingredients from the fridge to make the sandwich while the tea steeped, refusing to indulge her matchmaking attempts, "He's probably just passing through, so there's no point in anything past pleasantries."

Tamara decided to join in at this point, "You never know unless you try, he looks like a nice guy."

"Sometimes, I regret discussing my preferences with the both of you. If you two keep trying to pair me up with every guy that comes in here, I might just get Mona on you," Goth huffed, finishing the wrap and placing it, the teapot, a tea coaster, and a cup on a round tray. The girls snickered at the idle threat as he carried the tray out to the lounge and over to the table.

"Here's your tea...," the hooded skeleton set out the coaster, teapot, and cup followed by the plate, "And here's your wrap."

"Wow, that was fast," the taller skeleton stated, reaching for the cup and pouring some tea. Taking a sip, his grin widened, "This is really good!"

"Oh... thank you. I'm more familiar with preparing coffee, but I'm glad you like how it came out," Goth felt his soul flutter at the compliments and immediately berated the traitorous organ and his coworkers. Even if this monster was a nice guy and he was kind of cute, it would never go anywhere. He'd walk out the door once he paid, never to be seen again. Taking a breath to calm himself, he asked, "Is there anything else I can get you?"

Swallowing another sip of tea, the question seemed to spark something, "Oh yeah! I'm supposed to talk to a lady named Miss Mona about a job."

"Job?" Goth parroted, quickly putting the pieces together, "Wait, you're the new hire?"

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be working part-time around my college classes, so I guess that means we'll be working together," the skeleton chuckled, setting down his cup to hold out his hand, "I'm Palette, by the way."

The smaller hesitantly took the offered hand, cursing his co-workers for the way he mumbled, "M... my name's Goth. Nice to meet you."

***

Word Count: 1,234 (lol)

Also, we're anticipating a pretty nasty storm here sometime later today, so if I don't update around noon tomorrow, it's probably because the storm knocked the power out. My queue on Tumblr should post automatically at 5pm EST though, so it'll still be up there, albeit later than here.