The Rise of the Brave (college AU Hiro x reader x Varian)

CH 1 - It's Not Booze, I Swear!

Hiro sat at his usual table, eating breakfast with his friends Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Gogo, and Fred, before they'd all have to go to class at SFIT. It's been a particularly slow morning for the cafe, so he notices when a (tall/med/short) individual enters the Lucky Cat Cafe and looks around. Most of the patrons that enter the Cafe go unrecognized in Hiro's eyes, it's not his top priority to learn everyone's names. He was almost certain, however, that this individual was completely new to the Cafe. How did he know? Same as every newcomer, the (h/c) looked around in preparation of routes to tables, found the counter where aunt Cass was taking orders, and proceeded to stand there and watch what other patrons did first. Not wanting to create more pressure for the obviously new patron, Hiro looked back to his food, half in his conversation with his friends, half interested in this newcomer.

-

You've been in the San Fransokyo area for a while now, but you've been busy settling into your new apartment, new job, and new environment. Life has been a whirlwind after graduating college. You've finally settled into a pace here, and wanted to treat yourself this morning. You usually love cooking, but not the 'waking up early in order to do it' part. Today you decided to check out a nearby cafe that had great reviews online. As you got inside you paused to check everything out, watching what others did to ensure you didn't mess up the natural flow of the locality, and then followed along to the register to order. A chipper brunette woman greeted you with a warm smile and you gave her your breakfast order

"I'll have a (fav breakfast) and a hot cocoa with two shots of espresso and some cinnamon if that's alright?" You said, gradually getting more-and-more quiet as the strange request came out.

The woman smiled brightly as she wrote down the order

"That's completely alright honey, don't worry. It's nothing too out of the ordinary!"

The woman, who's name tag read simply "Cass," was a bright ray of sunshine for such a tired morning. You were grateful and went to your table, where you didn't have to wait too long for your food and drink. Now that you could relax a bit without the social pressure of interaction, you noticed the place wasn't too packed this morning. You lucked out it seemed. You smiled to yourself noticing the pun in your mind what a Lucky cat cafe indeed. When your food and drink was served, you reached into your work bag, pulling out a small vial of cayenne pepper oil. Back at your old Uni you would always order a "Dragonfly." Dragonflies consisted of Hot chocolate, espresso shots (the number depended on the student ordering), cinnamon, and a few drops of cayenne pepper oil. It was a beautiful combination of spicy and sweet, and the bitterness of the coffee brought out the chocolate flavour of the cocoa. It quickly became your favorite drink, and after you had graduated you needed to buy some pepper oil to make the drink yourself. You unscrewed the lid and dropped a few drops in, but as you did so, someone approached you from another table. A deep but stern voice pulled you from your concoction

"Excuse me, I'm sorry, but this is a dry establishment..."

......

From across the way, Hiro watched as the newcomer settled in with their food - this was his favorite part. He enjoyed watching people light up as they ate Aunt Cass' cooking, or photographed her artistic creations (tea, coffee, whatever it was Cass would find a way to decorate it). Instead, he noticed this person take out a little vial, were they seriously going to drink alcohol this early in the morning? Not on his watch, Cass could get in trouble! He immediately got up and approached the table, "Excuse me, I'm sorry, but this is a dry establishment, I'm going to ask that you not do that here"

-

You looked up (e/c) locking with dark chocolate eyes. A man about your age, maybe 6 foot, with unkempt shaggy dark hair stood before you with his arms crossed in what (you thought) was too obvious of a power pose. You were surprised to say the least, and then laughed awkwardly "

I'm sorry?"

and then it registered, your bottle of pepper oil looked like you snuck in booze.

"Oh! No, I am sorry. This isn't alcohol, this is cayenne pepper oil," you started,"you can smell it if you want to confirm?"

You offered. The man in front of you raised his eyebrow quizzically as he reached out and smelled the bottle,

"why would you...?"

You quickly, and very nervously began to explain about your old school and how it served your favorite drink. You gave him the brief version and he started to laugh.

"Okay, my bad, but you definitely looked suspicious with that thing!" He half joked/half chided you.

"Alright, next time I'll warn a random guy who looks potentially related to one of the servers-"

"That's my Aunt Cass, she's the owner."

"Next time I'll warn the owner's nephew, who I can totally spot off-hand, that I have a bottle of pepper oil that looks like it's booze but totally isn't booze. Next time" you laughed out, the adrenaline from confrontation leaving your body with each sarcastic statement.

"Promise?"

You both laughed

"Promise" You said, looking him in the eyes and reflecting the same ridiculous grin he had on his face.

"(Y/n)"

"What?"

"That's my name," you said, sticking out a hand towards him "(F/n), (L/n). What's yours, Lucky Cat Nephew?"

"Hiro, Hiro Hamada"

"Nice to meet you Hiro...." You glanced behind him, movement catching your eyes. ''As fun as this has been, it looks like your squad is trying to rush you away" You stated, gesturing behind him to his friends, frantically pointing at their watches to get him to leave.

"AH I'M LATE FOR SCHOOL!" He yelled, running back to his group. He glanced back sheepishly to you with a wave, you just laughed and waved back smiling. Your dragonfly was barely warm now, but still delicious. As was your meal. You're going to have to come back here again sometime.