The New Regular
May. 14th, 2020 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nyanderenekoWord Count: 2,548
Summary: At her friend’s urging, Nova confronts a surprising new regular at the cafe that’s somehow been managing to slip in under her nose. When their personalities collide, her emotions get the better of her, and the exchange doesn’t play out quite as peacefully as she would have liked.
Author’s Note: Another first meeting fic…well I guess my JSHK one wasn’t really a first meeting so much as a gen introduction, but that’s also kind of what this fic is? It shows how Nova/Shirou first met and also lays some groundwork for Nova’s role/situation in BNA verse. So anyway. They may get off on the wrong foot, but they become inseparable eventually, and tbh I love writing tense banter like this (esp when one of the two is already kind of fond of the other so they put up w/ it bcuz they think it’s cute and they want to get to know them…sorry I made you so soft Shirou hfiselfjes)
“Hey, Lulu? That guy’s here again.”
“Oh, you mean Shirou?”
One of Nova’s ears flicked as she quirked up a brow. “You know him?”
“Well, he’s pretty much a regular by now, isn’t he?”
Her friend’s question caught the young woman off guard. She hadn’t really been paying enough attention over the past few weeks--had it been a whole month, or even longer?--to notice anything like the presence of a new customer establishing some kind of routine here. But that was odd in and of itself, considering she worked shifts alongside her friend in order to keep this modest operation of theirs running. It wasn’t the most exciting occupation, but they’d managed to build it up together from scratch. The pride of ownership was obvious in their dedication to their work.
“I can’t believe you didn’t notice him before,” Luna continued with a hint of teasing on her tongue. “When it comes to remembering customers, you’re the one with the near photographic memory. But I guess you haven’t dealt with him directly yet, which is even stranger.” She crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side, idly poking her cheek. “Or it could just be a coincidence, me reading into things that aren’t there. I think that’s much more likely. Anyway, you can take care of him today, if you want?”
“I don’t necessarily want to meet him…” Nova replied, keeping her peripheral gaze trained on the suspicious stranger. “The fact that you know him so well is the really surprising thing here.”
“He’s pretty quiet, but he’s a perfectly pleasant guy,” the chipper young woman took it upon herself to elaborate. “A little gruff, and getting him to talk about himself is like pulling teeth most of the time. But I don’t get the impression that he’s, like, trying to hide anything. Not anything bad, anyway. Plus he tips well, and he’s never complained or given me any kind of trouble. To be honest, it’s kind of nice to have another frequent visitor that I’m actually happy to see when he shows up.”
“I know you said he’s not the most open book, but do you know anything about him other than his name?”
Luna tapped her chin as she racked her brain for an answer. “I know that he’s a wolf Beastman, and he’s been living in the city for a while, probably since it was founded. I don’t really know what he does for a living, but he never stops by in any kind of office attire or uniform. He usually just wears that coat he’s got on now with some kind of plain dark outfit underneath. Not that that really says anything about him, it’s just a trend I noticed. I get the impression he’s not living with any sort of family, but anything’s possible, especially since I’ve never asked him. He’s not the type to volunteer any unnecessary info about himself.”
“A lone wolf Beastman living in Anima City…is he trying to be funny, telling people stuff like that…” Nova muttered, shifting her eyes towards him.
The collar was another amusing detail that instantly caught her attention. Whether he wore it ironically or as a legitimate fashion statement, she didn’t know, and she supposed it didn’t matter. The bulk of her confusion resided in her assumption that he wasn’t the type of person that was interested in visiting a place like this. She knew her personal bias could be blamed for that opinion, and it wasn’t like she had any kind of problem with him, or his style…it was more like his presence was unpleasantly inescapable.
Oppressive. So much more commanding and intimidating than the usual clientele…it was wrong of her to assume anything about him, especially when he hadn’t done anything. He hadn’t even ordered yet. But he also hadn’t approached the counter or made any moves or gestures to do so, like he was content to pass the time looking at his phone or out the front windows of the establishment until someone took the initiative to approach him.
“And you weren’t surprised or anything when he first showed up?” she asked, crossing her arms as her attention momentarily switched back to her friend. “I mean, I know we don’t have any policies against something that stupid, but it’s still enough to catch someone off guard…”
“To catch you off guard,” Luna corrected with a laugh. “I never knew that wolf men put you off so much. Or is that just a thing with all canine types?”
“It’s not because he’s a wolf,” Nova defended hotly, although she sensed there was an inexplicable grain of truth in her friend’s claim. “He just seems…standoffish. Grumpy. Like the kind of guy you wouldn’t want to mess with.”
“So you’re calling him a thug?”
“No, not like that either!” she huffed with an emphatic stomp of her foot. “I just. I don’t know. It just seems weird to me, okay? And it’s extra weird to me that it didn’t seem to stand out to you at all. Like, a random wolf guy bothering to wander this far into the cat district just for…who knows what? And he decides he likes this inconspicuous cafe that he stumbled across enough to keep making the trek? You’re telling me you don’t think anything about that is off or unusual?”
“I guess it could be,” Luna conceded with a shrug. “But I’ve spoken to him enough that even if it did happen to bother me at all before, it certainly doesn’t now. He genuinely does seem like a nice guy, or just, not a troublesome one. Well, not troublesome for us…look, I get what you’re saying about his vibe, but if you talked to him you’d understand where I’m coming from.”
“Are you telling me to take his order?” Nova sighed uneasily.
“I’m saying at least go say hi to him or something. I won’t make you deal with him alone the whole time, but if he’s going to be a regular, and you’re already so on edge, I think you should try to amend your opinion a bit.”
Perhaps Luna was right; breaking the ice with him might help her shake off some of the uncomfortable foreboding that loomed over her like a chilling specter. It was all in her head, she knew that. He was just another customer, and he hadn’t done anything to warrant instilling this kind of warniness in her. However, it wasn’t unusual for Beastmen of varying species to pick up on the subtle characteristics and notable presence of those they preferred to avoid.
Nova, for example, got along quite well with several types of felines, while small rodents and birds tended to give her a wide berth when they crossed paths. It was instinctual, but not overwhelmingly so. Beastmen of every species happily engaged and interacted with one another on a daily basis without trouble or complaint, just like anyone else. It came up more often in one on one encounters like this, instances where the only thing they had to focus on was the overwhelming presence of the person they were interacting with.
She kept reminding herself that he was just another customer; doing her job was the least she could do. As she slipped around the counter and started making her way to his table, a prick of anxiety made her fur fluff up. Maybe getting his attention was actually a bad idea. As she approached him his eyes shifted to her, piercing her with a sharp, icy stare. She tensed up, stuttering a little as she fumbled to collect her cluttered thoughts.
“Can I help you?”
His voice was deeper than she’d anticipated, and Nova’s face flushed as red as a cherry, her timidity swiftly washed away by a competing wave of shock and embarrassment. She knew her behavior was unprofessional, but the fact that he’d been able to guess that something was bothering her so quickly…well, it must have been written all over her face. She’d never had a very convincing poker face, and she was even more of a failure when it came to disguising her emotions, especially the particularly impassioned ones.
“I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking you that,” she retorted curtly, digging herself a deeper hole as she realized she’d already devolved into copping an attitude with an innocent customer. Gesturing in apology, she readied her pen and paper in an attempt to regain some sense of normalcy. “Look, actually, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by…acting like that. I’m just here to take your order.”
“You’re not the usual one.”
“No, I’m not.”
The stranger observed her silently, eyes seeming to bore through her as she valiantly fought to endure the pressure of his gaze. After a few moments she let out an exasperated sigh, nerves wound too tight for her to deal with this cryptic brand of mind games much longer. “So, do you want me to take your order or not?”
The man glanced around the seating area before offering a reply. “It doesn’t look like you have any other customers to deal with, yet you’re being so impatient. Are you sure you don’t have anything you want to ask?”
Now he was just being annoying, and Nova had half a mind to turn this task over to her softer spirited coworker…but he was baiting her, and she wouldn’t be able to satisfy her irritation by backing down. “Fine then. What brings you to this side of town?”
“You mean what could have possibly inspired a lone wolf to wander this far into cat territory in the first place?”
She was so close to rolling her eyes, and mildly put off by the fact that he’d guessed the subject of her curiosity so quickly. “Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m asking.”
“Why not,” he shrugged, everything about his demeanor calm and composed, almost indifferent. “This place looked interesting, so I decided to investigate.”
“And what about it was so interesting to you?”
Although he didn’t smile, there was a glint of mocking amusement in his eyes. “Why do you want to know so badly?”
“I just--” Well, why did she want to know? This man unsettled her in a way nothing and no one else ever had before, and she simply couldn’t understand why. She didn’t know if it was an instinctual sense of warning, or just a collision of opposing personalities. Regardless of the reason, he undeniably unnerved her, but she knew she had no real right to feel that way. She just wanted to know why this disruptive stranger had wandered into her life in the first place, and just what it was about him that had managed to upset her so.
He rested his chin on his hands as he propped his elbows on the table. “Beastmen who present themselves as half beast and half human? You’re telling me you don’t see anything strange or jarring about that?”
“You mean this?” Nova pinched the tip of her ear in emphasis. “It’s just part of the uniform, a gimmick for the job. Well, it is for my partner. For me it’s part of the uniform and a fashion statement.”
“A cat cafe run by cats…I can see the novelty.” She swore she saw his gaze soften just slightly as he spoke. “But walking around like that all the time? That’s something I don’t understand at all.”
“Well, I guess you don’t have to,” she replied, the sting of irritation fading from her tone. “We can just be confused about each other. You can continue to not understand why I choose to present myself this way, and I can continue to not understand why a big burly brooding guy like you would bother coming back here for coffee or whatever it is you order when there are so many other options that aren’t nearly as out of the way or have settings that better suit your demeanor.”
“You’re saying my demeanor should determine which shops I should and shouldn’t get coffee from?”
Like the flip of a switch, he was goading her again; his inflection made that clear. “No! I just…I’m saying I don’t understand it. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. And I don’t have to understand it, there are a lot of things in life I don’t and will never understand--”
“Alright, alright,” he interrupted, raising his hand in a gesture of surrender. “It seems you’ve got a shorter fuse than me, which is fairly impressive on its own. Am I still welcome despite my disagreeable temperament? Because this place has the best coffee I’ve found in the city, and it would kind of put a damper on things if I wasn’t allowed to drink it anymore.”
Before she could even register the action, Nova smacked the blonde on the shoulder with her notebook, a reflexive response to his lighthearted sarcasm. She froze, jerking her hand back and dropping the object as she processed the extreme breach of conduct she’d just committed. He rubbed the spot for a moment, and before she could form a single sound a puzzled expression briefly passed across his face. In his next breath it was replaced by the most passive yet genuine display of amusement and laughter he seemed capable of making. Nova’s face grew flush a second time, and she couldn’t determine which was more to blame, her aggravation or her self consciousness.
“I’ll get you a cup,” she muttered, ears flattening in shame and dismay. “Free of charge, since you’ve been so accommodating, putting up with me.”
“I’m just happy I got to meet the second half of this operation,” he replied, and her ears perked up at the abrupt confession. “You’ve always been too busy or hiding away when I’ve come in, I was starting to wonder if you were avoiding me. I guess, in a way, you kind of were.”
“Not intentionally,” she explained. “I just…I don’t know why I never realized you kept coming in. But it doesn’t matter; I definitely won’t forget now.”
“And are you going to introduce yourself?” he prodded, tilting his head to the side with a smirk. It made her heart flutter, and she certainly wasn’t fond of that development. At least his speech seemed a little less pompous this time.
“You can call me Nova. And likewise, how should I address you?”
“Your friend didn’t tell you my name?”
“Does it matter if she did?” Nova countered, propping a hand on her hip. “I want to hear it from you.”
“Hm. Alright then,” he chuckled. He’d laughed more in the past few minutes than he could recall having done so in quite awhile. It was almost refreshing, in a way. “It’s Ogami. Shirou Ogami. I don’t have a preference for which one you use. But if I’m going to be calling you by what I presume is your first name, I suppose it’s only fair you do the same.”
“What a fitting name,” Nova noted, snickering herself this time. “I’ll be sure to give you more grief about it when I come back with your coffee.”
He shrugged, a small smile still tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I guess I can’t argue with that.”
Summary: At her friend’s urging, Nova confronts a surprising new regular at the cafe that’s somehow been managing to slip in under her nose. When their personalities collide, her emotions get the better of her, and the exchange doesn’t play out quite as peacefully as she would have liked.
Author’s Note: Another first meeting fic…well I guess my JSHK one wasn’t really a first meeting so much as a gen introduction, but that’s also kind of what this fic is? It shows how Nova/Shirou first met and also lays some groundwork for Nova’s role/situation in BNA verse. So anyway. They may get off on the wrong foot, but they become inseparable eventually, and tbh I love writing tense banter like this (esp when one of the two is already kind of fond of the other so they put up w/ it bcuz they think it’s cute and they want to get to know them…sorry I made you so soft Shirou hfiselfjes)
_____
“Hey, Lulu? That guy’s here again.”
“Oh, you mean Shirou?”
One of Nova’s ears flicked as she quirked up a brow. “You know him?”
“Well, he’s pretty much a regular by now, isn’t he?”
Her friend’s question caught the young woman off guard. She hadn’t really been paying enough attention over the past few weeks--had it been a whole month, or even longer?--to notice anything like the presence of a new customer establishing some kind of routine here. But that was odd in and of itself, considering she worked shifts alongside her friend in order to keep this modest operation of theirs running. It wasn’t the most exciting occupation, but they’d managed to build it up together from scratch. The pride of ownership was obvious in their dedication to their work.
“I can’t believe you didn’t notice him before,” Luna continued with a hint of teasing on her tongue. “When it comes to remembering customers, you’re the one with the near photographic memory. But I guess you haven’t dealt with him directly yet, which is even stranger.” She crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side, idly poking her cheek. “Or it could just be a coincidence, me reading into things that aren’t there. I think that’s much more likely. Anyway, you can take care of him today, if you want?”
“I don’t necessarily want to meet him…” Nova replied, keeping her peripheral gaze trained on the suspicious stranger. “The fact that you know him so well is the really surprising thing here.”
“He’s pretty quiet, but he’s a perfectly pleasant guy,” the chipper young woman took it upon herself to elaborate. “A little gruff, and getting him to talk about himself is like pulling teeth most of the time. But I don’t get the impression that he’s, like, trying to hide anything. Not anything bad, anyway. Plus he tips well, and he’s never complained or given me any kind of trouble. To be honest, it’s kind of nice to have another frequent visitor that I’m actually happy to see when he shows up.”
“I know you said he’s not the most open book, but do you know anything about him other than his name?”
Luna tapped her chin as she racked her brain for an answer. “I know that he’s a wolf Beastman, and he’s been living in the city for a while, probably since it was founded. I don’t really know what he does for a living, but he never stops by in any kind of office attire or uniform. He usually just wears that coat he’s got on now with some kind of plain dark outfit underneath. Not that that really says anything about him, it’s just a trend I noticed. I get the impression he’s not living with any sort of family, but anything’s possible, especially since I’ve never asked him. He’s not the type to volunteer any unnecessary info about himself.”
“A lone wolf Beastman living in Anima City…is he trying to be funny, telling people stuff like that…” Nova muttered, shifting her eyes towards him.
The collar was another amusing detail that instantly caught her attention. Whether he wore it ironically or as a legitimate fashion statement, she didn’t know, and she supposed it didn’t matter. The bulk of her confusion resided in her assumption that he wasn’t the type of person that was interested in visiting a place like this. She knew her personal bias could be blamed for that opinion, and it wasn’t like she had any kind of problem with him, or his style…it was more like his presence was unpleasantly inescapable.
Oppressive. So much more commanding and intimidating than the usual clientele…it was wrong of her to assume anything about him, especially when he hadn’t done anything. He hadn’t even ordered yet. But he also hadn’t approached the counter or made any moves or gestures to do so, like he was content to pass the time looking at his phone or out the front windows of the establishment until someone took the initiative to approach him.
“And you weren’t surprised or anything when he first showed up?” she asked, crossing her arms as her attention momentarily switched back to her friend. “I mean, I know we don’t have any policies against something that stupid, but it’s still enough to catch someone off guard…”
“To catch you off guard,” Luna corrected with a laugh. “I never knew that wolf men put you off so much. Or is that just a thing with all canine types?”
“It’s not because he’s a wolf,” Nova defended hotly, although she sensed there was an inexplicable grain of truth in her friend’s claim. “He just seems…standoffish. Grumpy. Like the kind of guy you wouldn’t want to mess with.”
“So you’re calling him a thug?”
“No, not like that either!” she huffed with an emphatic stomp of her foot. “I just. I don’t know. It just seems weird to me, okay? And it’s extra weird to me that it didn’t seem to stand out to you at all. Like, a random wolf guy bothering to wander this far into the cat district just for…who knows what? And he decides he likes this inconspicuous cafe that he stumbled across enough to keep making the trek? You’re telling me you don’t think anything about that is off or unusual?”
“I guess it could be,” Luna conceded with a shrug. “But I’ve spoken to him enough that even if it did happen to bother me at all before, it certainly doesn’t now. He genuinely does seem like a nice guy, or just, not a troublesome one. Well, not troublesome for us…look, I get what you’re saying about his vibe, but if you talked to him you’d understand where I’m coming from.”
“Are you telling me to take his order?” Nova sighed uneasily.
“I’m saying at least go say hi to him or something. I won’t make you deal with him alone the whole time, but if he’s going to be a regular, and you’re already so on edge, I think you should try to amend your opinion a bit.”
Perhaps Luna was right; breaking the ice with him might help her shake off some of the uncomfortable foreboding that loomed over her like a chilling specter. It was all in her head, she knew that. He was just another customer, and he hadn’t done anything to warrant instilling this kind of warniness in her. However, it wasn’t unusual for Beastmen of varying species to pick up on the subtle characteristics and notable presence of those they preferred to avoid.
Nova, for example, got along quite well with several types of felines, while small rodents and birds tended to give her a wide berth when they crossed paths. It was instinctual, but not overwhelmingly so. Beastmen of every species happily engaged and interacted with one another on a daily basis without trouble or complaint, just like anyone else. It came up more often in one on one encounters like this, instances where the only thing they had to focus on was the overwhelming presence of the person they were interacting with.
She kept reminding herself that he was just another customer; doing her job was the least she could do. As she slipped around the counter and started making her way to his table, a prick of anxiety made her fur fluff up. Maybe getting his attention was actually a bad idea. As she approached him his eyes shifted to her, piercing her with a sharp, icy stare. She tensed up, stuttering a little as she fumbled to collect her cluttered thoughts.
“Can I help you?”
His voice was deeper than she’d anticipated, and Nova’s face flushed as red as a cherry, her timidity swiftly washed away by a competing wave of shock and embarrassment. She knew her behavior was unprofessional, but the fact that he’d been able to guess that something was bothering her so quickly…well, it must have been written all over her face. She’d never had a very convincing poker face, and she was even more of a failure when it came to disguising her emotions, especially the particularly impassioned ones.
“I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking you that,” she retorted curtly, digging herself a deeper hole as she realized she’d already devolved into copping an attitude with an innocent customer. Gesturing in apology, she readied her pen and paper in an attempt to regain some sense of normalcy. “Look, actually, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by…acting like that. I’m just here to take your order.”
“You’re not the usual one.”
“No, I’m not.”
The stranger observed her silently, eyes seeming to bore through her as she valiantly fought to endure the pressure of his gaze. After a few moments she let out an exasperated sigh, nerves wound too tight for her to deal with this cryptic brand of mind games much longer. “So, do you want me to take your order or not?”
The man glanced around the seating area before offering a reply. “It doesn’t look like you have any other customers to deal with, yet you’re being so impatient. Are you sure you don’t have anything you want to ask?”
Now he was just being annoying, and Nova had half a mind to turn this task over to her softer spirited coworker…but he was baiting her, and she wouldn’t be able to satisfy her irritation by backing down. “Fine then. What brings you to this side of town?”
“You mean what could have possibly inspired a lone wolf to wander this far into cat territory in the first place?”
She was so close to rolling her eyes, and mildly put off by the fact that he’d guessed the subject of her curiosity so quickly. “Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m asking.”
“Why not,” he shrugged, everything about his demeanor calm and composed, almost indifferent. “This place looked interesting, so I decided to investigate.”
“And what about it was so interesting to you?”
Although he didn’t smile, there was a glint of mocking amusement in his eyes. “Why do you want to know so badly?”
“I just--” Well, why did she want to know? This man unsettled her in a way nothing and no one else ever had before, and she simply couldn’t understand why. She didn’t know if it was an instinctual sense of warning, or just a collision of opposing personalities. Regardless of the reason, he undeniably unnerved her, but she knew she had no real right to feel that way. She just wanted to know why this disruptive stranger had wandered into her life in the first place, and just what it was about him that had managed to upset her so.
He rested his chin on his hands as he propped his elbows on the table. “Beastmen who present themselves as half beast and half human? You’re telling me you don’t see anything strange or jarring about that?”
“You mean this?” Nova pinched the tip of her ear in emphasis. “It’s just part of the uniform, a gimmick for the job. Well, it is for my partner. For me it’s part of the uniform and a fashion statement.”
“A cat cafe run by cats…I can see the novelty.” She swore she saw his gaze soften just slightly as he spoke. “But walking around like that all the time? That’s something I don’t understand at all.”
“Well, I guess you don’t have to,” she replied, the sting of irritation fading from her tone. “We can just be confused about each other. You can continue to not understand why I choose to present myself this way, and I can continue to not understand why a big burly brooding guy like you would bother coming back here for coffee or whatever it is you order when there are so many other options that aren’t nearly as out of the way or have settings that better suit your demeanor.”
“You’re saying my demeanor should determine which shops I should and shouldn’t get coffee from?”
Like the flip of a switch, he was goading her again; his inflection made that clear. “No! I just…I’m saying I don’t understand it. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. And I don’t have to understand it, there are a lot of things in life I don’t and will never understand--”
“Alright, alright,” he interrupted, raising his hand in a gesture of surrender. “It seems you’ve got a shorter fuse than me, which is fairly impressive on its own. Am I still welcome despite my disagreeable temperament? Because this place has the best coffee I’ve found in the city, and it would kind of put a damper on things if I wasn’t allowed to drink it anymore.”
Before she could even register the action, Nova smacked the blonde on the shoulder with her notebook, a reflexive response to his lighthearted sarcasm. She froze, jerking her hand back and dropping the object as she processed the extreme breach of conduct she’d just committed. He rubbed the spot for a moment, and before she could form a single sound a puzzled expression briefly passed across his face. In his next breath it was replaced by the most passive yet genuine display of amusement and laughter he seemed capable of making. Nova’s face grew flush a second time, and she couldn’t determine which was more to blame, her aggravation or her self consciousness.
“I’ll get you a cup,” she muttered, ears flattening in shame and dismay. “Free of charge, since you’ve been so accommodating, putting up with me.”
“I’m just happy I got to meet the second half of this operation,” he replied, and her ears perked up at the abrupt confession. “You’ve always been too busy or hiding away when I’ve come in, I was starting to wonder if you were avoiding me. I guess, in a way, you kind of were.”
“Not intentionally,” she explained. “I just…I don’t know why I never realized you kept coming in. But it doesn’t matter; I definitely won’t forget now.”
“And are you going to introduce yourself?” he prodded, tilting his head to the side with a smirk. It made her heart flutter, and she certainly wasn’t fond of that development. At least his speech seemed a little less pompous this time.
“You can call me Nova. And likewise, how should I address you?”
“Your friend didn’t tell you my name?”
“Does it matter if she did?” Nova countered, propping a hand on her hip. “I want to hear it from you.”
“Hm. Alright then,” he chuckled. He’d laughed more in the past few minutes than he could recall having done so in quite awhile. It was almost refreshing, in a way. “It’s Ogami. Shirou Ogami. I don’t have a preference for which one you use. But if I’m going to be calling you by what I presume is your first name, I suppose it’s only fair you do the same.”
“What a fitting name,” Nova noted, snickering herself this time. “I’ll be sure to give you more grief about it when I come back with your coffee.”
He shrugged, a small smile still tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I guess I can’t argue with that.”