Cafe Date (Bad Ending)

Paradise Cafe… Azrael stared up at the sign and hummed. He hadn’t been here before, having a preference for making his own coffee at home so that it was just right, but he supposed that this was the perfect opportunity to try something new: it was at the suggestion of The Church of Sulfur after all. Though he had his suspicions that it was just Mercy’s way of drumming up a rapport with the cafe’s owner Beanny.

Regardless, the SlothDoll was here and waiting for this mysterious “Reverie”. Azrael had his hood up and hands shoved into his pockets so that he could mess with his more silent stim toys to calm down. He wasn’t afraid of heights necessarily; but he certainly wasn’t the biggest fan of them either and having to take the elevator up to the Heavenly Embassy had certainly soured his mood with uncertainty. He really hoped whoever the other bun was showed up soon before he slunk back into Burrowgatory proper and forgot about this whole ordeal. 

Seems odd that Primrose would even allow the Church to set up dates here… Ari mused as the elevator carried him towards the Heavenly Embassy. Ari half hoped he’d run into Mr. Prim and Proper while he was up here; judging from the discreet (sort-of) side-eye he was getting from the cherubun in the elevator with him, he could assume what kind of reaction his outfit would draw from Primrose. 

Sure, his shorts were shorter than they needed to be (but they’re high-waisted, so it balances out), and he didn’t have to wear his shirt with the heart cut-out (but it shows off the pink marking on my chest!) and… Well, he had no excuse for the heels, especially since he didn’t really care how tall he was… But his legs sure looked good. Hmm. Maybe that’s what this cherubun is on about. Ari winked at the cherubun, who blushed and stared at the floor for the rest of the ride. 

Finally, the elevator arrived at its destination. Ari immediately made his way over to the Paradise Cafe. A bell chimed above the door as he entered and looked around. Ari was supposed to be meeting a bun with stark white hair, but nobody in the cafe seemed to fit that description.

Azrael was pulled out of his own mind when he heard the bell chime. Blinking at Ari entering the cafe he couldn’t help but think, that had to be Reverie. He’d been told to look for a pink bun and this LustDoll absolutely fit the bill. The amount of eye-catching their outfit was screaming because of their location just felt too on the nose for the name that had been given to The Church of Sulfur for Az to be wrong. He had a feeling this would either go fabulously or burn like the outer biomes of Burrowgatory. He got up from his corner table where he had settled after his little mini-melt, and walked over to Ari. 

“Reverie I assume.” He held out his skeletal hand sans-glove as an introduction “I’m Azrael.” 

“That’s me~” Ari couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this much taller than one of his dates; even without his heels, Ari thought he’d be about a half foot taller than this Sloth doll.  With the height difference and the fact that his date had a hood pulled over his head, Ari couldn’t see if this bun actually had white hair or not, but considering all the other unique traits they had, Ari wondered why whoever from the Church that sent him the description even bothered to mention their hair colour at all. 

Under the watchful eyes of the three spirit motes floating around Azrael, Ari took the other bun’s skeletal hand, pressing a playful kiss to the back of it. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long?” 

Azrael felt himself raise his eyebrow at the theatrics of the other kissing the back of his hand. That wasn’t something he’d had happen very often - or ever actually. “No. You didn’t. I got here early to settle in, I’m not familiar with this cafe.” His tone was level, no surprise nor affection clear in it. “Do you happen to know what you want? I hear they have quite a variety, but I’ve never ordered.” 

He figured he’d take a queue off what the other wanted to deduce what might be good here. He knew most people went for lattes so if he didn’t recognize what Ari was going to order he could always just settle for that if they had good flavors. “And are you expecting to be paid for or-?” He left the phrase open. He frankly didn’t care either way, he could cover quite a large order if Ari preferred, but he wasn’t going to step in and pay if the other had other expectations.

No reaction at all? Interesting… 

“I’ve been here before! I don’t usually have time to make the trek all the way up to the Heavenly Embassy, but Beanny is always happy to put up with my drink orders so I’ve never had a bad time.” Ari pulled up the notes app on his phone, tapped the note where he kept all of his usual orders, and showed Azrael his entry on Paradise Cafe. It was one of the longer ones, mentioning two different types of syrup and a type of bean that had chocolate undertones. Iced, of course. 

“And to answer your second question, I’m perfectly capable of paying for myself.” Ari’s tail curled in amusement. “You’re the first bun to ask me that in a long time, actually. Making me work a little bit harder, aren’t you?” 

Azrael had a small panic moment when the other said ‘capable of paying’, the concern about having implied that the other was incapable sinking in his gut. However, when he saw the amused tail curl, he let himself relax and breathed through it. “Not attempting to imply that you’re incapable, Reverie.” He gave the other a small smile and looked him over again. He was… attractive. He just didn’t expect someone quite this high energy from The Church of Sulfur… Maybe Hadron had tampered with the wheel again or switched out cards, Az joked to himself. It was quite possible after all. 

“I’ll make you a deal. If you order for me I’ll pay the bill, whatever you want.” From how Reverie was talking about the cafe owner, it seemed like she would be nice enough; but he had enough on his plate with this flamboyant lustball that he wasn’t particularly up to more interaction. He took his hood down and in the moment his hair was out of his eye from the fabric’s movement, he winked at the other to add a flirtation flare to his ‘deal’. 

A smile, a wink, AND he took his hood down? Now we’re getting somewhere. 

“Deal!” Ari grinned at Azrael, holding his hand out for the other bun’s card. “Iced? Hot? And should we get them to go, or do you want to sit and chat, now that you’re ‘settled’?” Ari’s mind raced as he went through several different options of what he could order for his date. 

Az wasn’t sure what to make of the grin, but he mentally shrugged it off. He could figure it out later. “Hot if you don’t mind, it’s still a bit too chill outside for me to be comfortable drinking something frigid.” His tone while still level and without much inflection could easily be taken as a joke. Which it probably was.

He passed off a pretty large carat-purse instead of a card. “I work with carats not a card, apologies; but there should be more than enough for absolutely anything that you order for the both of us.” He paused and though he figured the other wasn’t likely to go filching he added a small “And while my memory isn’t photographic I’ll probably notice if it’s a little light afterwards.” He did shoot the other a smile just in case any offense was taken. 

“Oh baby, I work for my money.” Ari winked at Azrael. The game’s just getting started. “Go grab us a table and I’ll be right back ~” 

Ari took Azrael’s purse to the counter, idly wondering what the other bun did for work that got him paid in carats instead of the convenience of a card and making a note to ask him about it later. 

“Hey Beanny!” Ari greeted the enigmatic barista as she came over. Beanny was the only cherubun that seemed to enjoy Ari’s sense of style, which was refreshing to see the least. 

“Reverie! Hi! Your regular, I presume?” 

“Yes, but I’m going to order something for my date also.” Ari placed Azrael’s purse on the counter and began counting out the carats he would need as he detailed the concoction he wanted her to whip up for Azrael. “He’s the brooding one with the spirit motes.” Ari turned and gave Azrael a little wave.

The wink was, nice? He simply blinked at Ari because he wasn’t sure what the LustDoll was after, but it felt nice. 

When they temporarily parted ways, Azrael found the furthest table away from everyone conveniently backed into a corner. He sighed in relief and took the chair that kept him in the corner so that his back was covered and he could feel safe despite the new surroundings. And from there he watched as Ari began ordering their coffee from Beanny. His comfort in the area and how he was so casual with the Cherubun set Azrael further at ease, and while his movement was a little jerky he waved back when Ari turned his attention onto him.

The skeletalDoll couldn’t help but be enjoying himself at least a bit. While he wasn’t sure what the two of them would be when this was over, he had a good feeling about it. He clicked some of his stim toys in his pocket until the other was almost done. Then he dug through an inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a deck of cards. He could always ask if the other enjoyed playing games, his attitude through this seemed to indicate it after all. 

Beanny glanced over at Azrael as Ari waved to him, then went back to finishing up the order he’d placed. “He’s not your usual type, from what you’ve told me.” 

“It’s a blind date, Beanny.” Ari supposed that being a cherubun, she might not know about the annual heat wave that took over Burrowgatory and the antics that accompanied it. “He seems sweet though. I’m keeping an open mind, though I’m not sure he’s after the same thing as the rest of them.” He pushed the small pile of carats closer to Beanny’s side of the counter, and took the drinks she handed to him. “Thanks again~” 

“No problem Rev!” Beanny grinned widely at him. “Don’t forget you promised to bring that coffee-loving benefactor of yours here sometime!” 

“Benefactor,” Ari laughed. “His name is Sebastian, and I will next time we’re together, I promise!” 

Ari turned and took a second to find Azrael. He’d positioned himself as far away from the door - and every other bun in the cafe - as he could get, and had his back against the wall. Ari wasn’t necessarily surprised to see it, considering the body language he’d already observed from him. Ari headed over, carefully putting Azrael’s drink in front of him. “I got them in take out cups, in case we decided to go for a walk.” Ari stirred his own drink before taking a sip. Perfect, like always. “I’m not telling you what it is until you try it~” 

Azreal couldn’t overhear the conversation, but it seemed rather animated and gave him a chance to see Ari in action. The LustBun was charming for sure, and he seemed to know it. So when he walked back to the table Az had chosen and sat right now with the same smooth attitude, the SlothDoll wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep up, but he tried. Picking up the drink, Az popped off the lid and sniffed the liquid inside. “It’s definitely chai.” He grinned at the other immediately onto his tricks. But he popped the lid back on the coffee and took a sip. The spices of the chai came through with nuttier notes that weren’t bitter like almonds, but it was sweeter than expected, smooth almost. “Definitely oat milk from the nuttiness since it’s not almond, but… I can’t tell what the rest is.” He grinned. “Care to fill me in, peach?” He chewed lightly on the mouthpiece of the cup  while he waited for the answer. 

Peach? That’s a new one. Ari had been called a lot of things that weren’t his name - some a little more, shall we say, situation-specific than others - but never ‘Peach’. His first thought was about how people used the peach emoji to symbolize a butt, however Azrael seemed like the type to compliment him outright if he was going to do it at all. 

Regardless, Ari smiled, taking it as a good sign. I definitely thought this one was going to take a lot more work. “It’s a chai tea latte with oat milk, but with half the syrup swapped for caramel, and with a pinch of cinnamon sprinkled over top~” Ari prattled off the details of the drink easily; it was a lot less complicated than his usual. Ari pulled the carat pouch out from where he’d haphazardly stuffed it so he could carry the drinks, pushing it over to Azrael’s side of the table. 

“What do you do for work anyways, that they pay you in physical carats?” 

The little bit of reaction that the nickname "Peach" got out of Ari was wonderful, and he loved the slightly puzzled look. To be fair, the other did seem to have a nice ass with how those short shorts hugged it. And the way his face lit up as he told Az the rest of his order was actually kind of sweet. He couldn't help but smile as he took back the carat pouch. But that smile immediately dropped when Ari asked about his work. Working with the Shadow Syndicate wasn't something to publicize, or spread to those that he didn't know he could trust. He bit the inside of his lip and took a breath trying to calm the part of his mind racing trying to keep his life a bit more private without directly lying.

"I'm..." He started hands tightening on the coffee mug breathing again, "I'm a medic, I prefer dealing in carats so there's less reporting on people who come in preferring not to be noted down." He pulled out his phone and scrolled over his texts. "Oh shit speaking of... I actually may need to go. Yeah, sorry I've got to cut this short. Here, uh, my number. Thanks for the coffee. Text me sometime." And he immediately left even though, he absolutely did not have a text from any of his so called patients at that time.