Chapter 59: The Fujioka Café!

"Girls, I have an announcement!"

Jin and Haruhi looked up from their plates, a little surprised by their father's outburst. They hadn't seen him this excited or peppy since the construction had started a few months back. They gave each other a questioning glance before setting their chopsticks down.

Ranka leaned forward in his chair, "According to the contractor, the café's renovations should be completed in two weeks!"

As one, all three of them cheered. Ranka was referring, of course, to The Fujioka Café that they ran as a family. Ranka and Kotoko, the girl's mother, had bought the building together almost twenty years ago to start their dream of owning a family-run café. With Ranka's skills from his years of bartending and Kotoko's business law minor from college, they managed to keep the place going for years. Their two daughters, Jin and Haruhi, had been working in the café ever since they could turn on a mixing machine. It was their life.

Last year, however, was when the Fujioka's really got their big break. That was when the community college had finished their expansion. They purchased quite a few of the older buildings downtown and demolished them, building brand new student apartments in their place. There was a bit of a walk between the college and these new apartments, of course… and The Fujioka Café was smack dab in the middle of it.

Business had boomed, so to speak. Unfortunately, they were so busy that it was almost impossible to keep everything running smoothly, even with Misuzu-chi finally agreeing to take up the second managing position. There would be a line leading out the door every day for hours on end in the summer, and during the school year the building was practically overrun with students in the afternoon. The booths and tables were almost never empty, and there was never time to clean them off during the rush, so the café was always trashed by the time they hit a lull. Not to mention with all four of them working the front, Ranka and Misuzu-chi barely kept up with the paperwork. It was… stressful, to say the least.

But, like Kotoko used to say, every cloud has a silver lining. With the sudden increase in sales and customers, and the building beside them being completely empty, Ranka decided to expand. Once everything was completed, the café would be double its original size, which would help with the expected crowds.

Unfortunately, the Fujioka's also happened to live above the café. So knowing the loud construction was almost completed was pretty amazing news.

"That's awesome!"

Ranka beamed, "Of course, that means we should probably start training the new employees sooner rather than later."

"Yeah… I still don't think we need six people."

Jin rolled her eyes, "Just because you didn't interview them doesn't mean they're gonna be bad employees."

Haruhi stuck out her tongue.

"Girls… I know that we only hired boys, so if any of them try anything-"

"Dad! Come on, Haru and I know all of them already! I trained with Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai for most of my life! And Tamaki and Kyoya are respectful students in class."

Haruhi rolled her eyes, "If I had a problem with Hikaru and Kaoru working here, I would've said something when we were looking at resumes."

Ranka hummed, but didn't press the issue any further, "Well, if you're sure about it, then I'm going to give all six of them an email tomorrow. They'll come in on Sunday when we're closed and after their paperwork is completed, we can show them about the shop and start scheduling. I want them to be at least somewhat competent employees by the time we have our Grand Reopening!"

"I… we never closed, so is it really a reopening?"

"Hush and enjoy the moment."

His daughters snickered, but nodded before going back to their dinner. These next few weeks were certainly going to be interesting.

"Come on in, guys." Jin smiled as she opened the door, letting in the six boys currently waiting around outside. The new employees returned her smile as they walked past her.

Jin relocked the door just as her father and sister emerged from the hallway, "Welcome back, all of you. Well, congrats on your new jobs. Oh, introductions, as well. You've already met my eldest daughter, Jin." She gave them a little wave. "And this is my younger daughter, Haruhi. You'll be working alongside either her or Jin every day. They will be your shift-managers. Myself and Misuzu-chi are your managers, but you'll meet him another time. Have you all been introduced to each other?"

All six boys nodded, the one with glasses speaking up, "We all attend the same school along with your daughters, and most of our parents are friends with each other as well."

"Perfect! Then we'll start with the paperwork. Follow me."

The seven boys paraded towards the back office, leaving the sisters in the front of the store. Haruhi sighed as she and Jin made their way into the bakery, "I'm glad we're finally getting this done. Hikaru and Kaoru have been pestering me daily about when we'd finally do orientations."

"Same with the other four. So, what do you think it's going to be like… working with people who aren't family?"

Haruhi shrugged, "I'm guessing we'll be less worried about them getting mad at us because we won't have to deal with them at the dinner table after closing time." Her sister laughed as she began pulling out the flour. Even though they might be closed on Sundays, they had a number of special orders to make regardless. Mostly for teachers or businesses who wanted to treat their students and workers on Monday mornings.

By the time the girls were prepping the doughnuts for frying, their father and the boys emerged from the back room, "Alright, tour first! This is the Bakery, where we make every pastry from scratch. We make a majority of pastries early in the morning before opening, so we'll only need one person back here in the evenings. Oh, except for those who'll be working Saturday mornings and if we later decide to include a few morning shifts for you gentlemen, but we'll go into more detail later. Now, all of our ingredients are delivered about an hour before we open up shop and on Sundays-"

Bzzzzz!

Ranka's cheerful expression fell, "Oh dear, he's early. Um, Jin? Could you finish their tour and start working on scheduling while Haruhi and I unload the truck?"

"Sure thing, Dad." Both girls dusted the flour off their hands as best as they could before shucking off their white aprons. After quickly washing their hands and removing the hair nets, Jin approached the boys while her father and sister ran to the back of the store. "So, any questions about the Bakery before we move on?"

To no one's surprise, Honey's hand was up in the air before she even finished the question, "Do we get to eat the mess ups?"

Her eyes narrowed playfully, "No… the only mess ups we don't sell are because they're not safe to be eaten. If something comes out really really disfigured we just put it on the clearance rack. If you want to eat something while you're working, you either have to bring it yourself or buy something." Honey's hand dropped, as did his head. "But Dad's giving you all a 10% employee discount once your employee cards come in. Any other questions?"

Tamaki's hand went up next, "How long have you and Haruhi worked here?"

"Oh boy…" Jin scratched the back of her head, "Well… we've helped out in the Bakery since we were kids… and assisted with inventory adjustments and counting and truck unloading and such, too. But we started "working" when I was maybe… thirteen? Fourteen? And the "working" title was only when we officially became employees and started getting paid for it. In many ways, Haru and I have been working here our whole lives, considering we live upstairs. Anything else?"

"Yeah," Hikaru flicked a sort of half-hearted salute to get her attention, "Where did Haruhi and Ranka go? He seemed worried. And, as a side question, do we have to start calling him Fujioka-san now that he's our official employer."

Jin smirked, "I think he'll still want you to call him Ranka, since there's three of us with the name 'Fujioka'. And they just went to the back room. The truck that delivers our ingredients showed up early. More often than not Suzushima-san gets here around eleven on Sundays. Dad was worried that your orientation would be interrupted since unloading the truck takes a while."

"Will we be unloading the truck at all?"

"Only if you work Saturday mornings. Aaaand maybe eventually if some of you are asked to come in on Sundays or the really early morning shifts on school days, but that won't be for some time, if ever. Now, let's head out to the front."

The seven went out into the main café area. Jin flicked on half of the lights so they'd be able to see, hoping no one passing by would assume they were open. It was awkward when she had to send them away. Honestly, why couldn't people just read the sign on the door? Like, really? They even had it written in English for good measure!

Once the boys were in a semicircle around her, Jin patted the countertop, "So, here's where most of you will be spending your time. We only have two cash registers, but typically we only need one cashier at a time unless there's a big rush. You'll be expected to not only take people's orders and handle cash transactions, but you'll need to interact with the customers as well. In general, be nice and smile and treat them like decent human beings. Simple enough, really."

She walked down to the other end of the counter and tapped the large glass display case that came up to her shoulder. It was empty at the moment. "This is where we keep our goodies to sell to the general public. All special orders will be kept in the bakery until they're picked up, but everything else comes up here. You will notice, it is empty at the moment. Every morning before we open it will be filled up, but when you guys close whoever is cashier is tasked with packaging them away so they stay fresh. You'll be taught how to do that and your other nightly duties as you go along."

"And finally," she gestures for them to follow her around behind the counter, leading them to the wide area that had multiple machines and cups and syrups and anything else you could think of, "this is where all the coffee is made. Everyone who works as a barista will basically live here for a few hours every shift. When the cashier punches in an order, it'll come out of this thing," She gestured to a small screen in the middle of the two largest machines. "Basically, you rip off the first one and make it, and then throw the slip away when you hand off the order. This way no one makes the same order twice and you have the instructions for it with you the whole time. I know it might sound a little complicated, but after a while it just becomes a sort of rhythm."

Some of the boys exchanged nervous glances, which is what Jin was expecting, "Hey, don't worry about it. We've already made cheat sheets for you all, but I promise you don't have to memorize them right away. There will always be two baristas working at once, and one of them will always be either Haru or myself. If you have a question about how to make a certain coffee or about the machines or anything, just ask. And that goes for the cashiers and people in the bakery, too. Haru and I have both worked all three positions for years, and we know all the tricks. We'll do our best to teach you, but a lot of the skills are going to take some time. No pressure."

Once the boys looked a little less uneasy, she went to lead them to the manager's room. It was probably better to start setting up the schedules now rather than later.

"Wait, Jin?"

"Mmm?"

Kyoya was regarding the white sheet that was cutting the room in half with muted curiosity, "What are they building over there?"

"Oh, that? They've been expanding the shop into the next building. It's just to make a bigger sitting area so our customers don't have to stand the whole time. Dad's hoping to expand the backroom and storage space next. Now, about those stairs in the back of the hall-"

"Wouldn't it have been more productive if you'd expanded the area where you make the coffee instead? Or perhaps add more cash registers? Also, wouldn't it have been better to hire other workers who could work midday shifts as well?"

Jin paused, "No, actually. See, a large portion of our customers are students, too. While we're not around, Dad and Misuzu-chi can handle the crowds pretty well on their own, though they are considering hiring more hands later on, once we're sure we can afford it. Besides, when we were going over the designs, Dad realized our biggest flaw with the café was that there was no place for everyone to sit. The more we promote socializing, the more likely we'll get customers who'll stick around and buy additional pastries or bring their friends in to chat. My dad's been running this place for almost 20 years. He's not an amateur."

And with that, she started leading them down the hall.

Tamaki lightly elbowed his friend, giving him his best ' what were you thinking? ' face. Kyoya ignored him, following the others in silence instead. Internally, however, he was hoping that he wouldn't be scheduled to work with Jin Fujioka all that much. They were already academic rivals in class, no need to jeopardize his first job so soon.

*The Following Saturday*

"Good morning, boys!"

A series of groans were Jin's response as she let the morning shift come in. And no wonder. It was 6 am. Mori padded in first, ruffling the brunette's hair as he went, followed by Hikaru and… Kaoru?

"Hold up, I thought Kyoya had the-"

"It's alright, Jin!" Ranka called out from behind the counter, "He and Kaoru agreed to switch their Saturday shifts around. I've already adjusted the schedules."

The girl hummed, but didn't comment further. She already worked with that jerk on Mondays and Wednesdays. At least this way she technically didn't have to see him at all today unless she wanted to.

Locking the door, she claimed their attention, "Okay, so you all have closed up the shop before, but now I'm going to show you how to open . Kaoru, since you're working cash register you have to sweep up the floors, set up the chairs around the tables, and clean the windows. Dad will get you a till maybe ten minutes before we open for the day. Mori, head to the bakery. Dad will help you and Haru today, but next week it's only you two. You'll also probably need to help unload the truck, and Kaoru? If you finish early you'll probably be asked to help out. Hikaru, you're with me in getting the machines ready for the day and filling the display."

The three boys nodded and immediately followed her instructions. Jin had to admit, it was a little nice having other employees around to help out. For example, an hour later when they opened for the day Jin still had plenty of energy, Haruhi got to go back to bed for a few hours, and Ranka had retired to the manager's room for what would probably be the rest of the day unless of an emergency.

As a steady flow of early morning joggers started trickling into the café, Jin thought over the previous week. It had been a major shift, no doubt, with the new employees and the amounts of training they'd gone through. Well, actually, the mornings were pretty normal, still. She and Haru got up early with their dad, opening the café and started things up in the bakery until Misuzu-chi came in and they went off to school.

After that, however? Totally different ball game.

For one, she and Tamaki talked more in class now, while the academic rivalry she had with Kyoya only worsened. Now they were not only battling for the number one spot, but had started whispering quips back and forth to each other. Taunting almost. She started feeling unnaturally smug whenever she scored higher on a test than he did.

Meanwhile she, Mori-senpai, and Honey-senpai had never been closer. The three of them took Tuesdays and Thursdays off to practice at the Dojo they'd joined when they were younger, so they were now seeing each other almost every day.

On the other hand, Jin and Haruhi never worked the same afternoon anymore. They alternated days now, so they only worked together in the mornings, on Sundays, and Friday afternoons. It gave the girls a certain amount of free time they'd never experienced before… and some time apart from each other.

The biggest downfall for Jin, however, were her Wednesdays. Because on Wednesday, Mori was in the bakery, Tamaki was cashier, and she and Kyoya were the baristas. Ugh! That day she'd wanted to wring his neck! It would've been fine if he'd left it at doing his job, but the smug bastard had to go and memorize that dumb sheet already, and then never let her help! Seriously, he almost burned his hand off before she stopped him and he never even said 'Thank you'! Unbelieveable!

"Jin-senpai? You there?"

She jolted, "Oh, sorry, Hikaru. What?"

"Um, someone just ordered a ristretto. I've never made that before."

Jin whistled and nodded, "No wonder. That's a concentrated espresso. We only get these occasionally… unless it's exam week. Anyways, you use the espresso machine like you might expect," she steered Hikaru over and pointed out the lever, "Now, like I said, it's concentrated so be-"

"Ow!"

"-careful!" Jin shoved Hikaru's hand into the sink, turning the cold water on, "Keep your hand there." He hissed in pain, but nodded.

Quickly, she ran back to the machine to finish the order, handing it to the customer as soon as she could with a small smile, "Have a good day!"

"Hope your coffee is worth it!"

Jin froze, her eyes shutting. Please… please tell me he didn't just say that. Turning around, she saw Hikaru glaring at his hand as the cold water ran over it, Kaoru hovering around trying to get his own look at it. Letting out a sigh, she quietly pulled out their first aid kit and went to his side. The three waited in silence for another couple minutes, Jin keeping her eyes on the front of the store in case someone came in. They didn't.

Eventually she shut the water off, handing him a towel to dry off before offering some lidocaine with aloe vera gel. The redhead applied it without a word. In fact, he didn't speak again until after he took an ibuprofen.

"I messed up."

"Yes. Do you know when?"

The redhead scowled again, "I didn't listen when you wanted me to be careful."

"No." Jin unhappily rubbed at her cheek, glancing at the boy's twin before leading Hikaru to the hallway entrance, nodding at Kaoru to keep him out of earshot, "Hikaru, this job is going to come with it's fair share of cuts and burns. The fact you got a little hurt isn't a big deal, but you can't lash out at the customers like that."

The boy looked up in shock, eyes widening. "You could've lost us a customer with that outburst. It wasn't their fault, in fact it was entirely your fault you got hurt, rushing into a job you didn't fully know how to do yet. Now… I'm afraid I'll have to write you up. Which means you're gonna have a similar conversation with my Dad after your shift today."

Hikaru swallowed, looking like he was trying not to cry, "I… I didn't mean it. Please don't fire me."

"Who said anything about firing you?" Jin laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, "It's your first week of your first job. We can cut you some slack this time, but please… it's not easy, especially when you're stressed or the customer is being rude, but consider this: If Kyoya Ootori can be nice to the customers, so can you."

Her joke pulled a half-hearted chuckle from the boy, who nodded in understanding. Thankfully before they had to continue the conversation, another customer came in. After that, the two lost themselves in their work, Jin slipping away to write the report, but otherwise never speaking of the incident again. And while Hikaru occasionally winced whenever something brushed too harshly against the back of his hand, Jin was pleased to note he kept a smile on his face whenever he spoke with a customer.

Of course, by the time the evening shift came in and Hikaru finished his talk with Ranka, the smile was gone. Jin couldn't help but feel bad. From what Haru had told her, the twins were some of the most popular guys in her class, but only because of their looks. They didn't really talk to anyone else, besides Haruhi on occasion. No wonder Hikaru was taking the reprimanding so personally.

The brothers were almost out the door when she called out, "Hey! Hold on, you two." She beckoned them back in and felt a twinge in her stomach when Hikaru didn't even meet her eyes. Gently steering them to get in line with her, she pulled out her debit card, "Pick whatever you want."

That got his attention.

"Jin-senpai, you don't-"

"I want too. I know how rough you can be on yourself when you make a mistake on the job. I once ruined an entire batch of muffins and cookies because I didn't pull my hair back. Safety regulations and all that. We lost a lot of supplies because of that. And I was younger than you are. I can't give you special treatment while we're working, but off the clock? Consider me your friend."

Hikaru stared at her, as if deciding whether to believe her or not, all the way up to the front of the line. Kyoya raised his eyebrows at them all, but Jin decided not to explain. He didn't need to know.

Instead, she nudged Kaoru's arm. "Whatever you want," she repeated.

After another brief moment of hesitation, the boys ordered two green teas and some cookies. Jin ran her card through the reader, which make their cashier look even more confused, but she once again ignored him.

The three waited together until the twin's orders were fulfilled, Jin occasionally prompting them with questions about school and homework. Kaoru was the more talkative of the two, or maybe that was just because of the day Hikaru had been having. Either way, both boys were smiling and waving as they left. Jin nodded and was about to head upstairs when-

"Why did you do that?"

She glanced at the ravenet, "Why not?" And she left.

"Three… two… one!" The large sheet that separated the old café from it's extension was pulled down to a chorus of 'oohs' and 'aahs'. Jin bounced on her toes excitedly. The new area looked so shiny! And there were so many new booths and tables!

Internally she groaned at the idea of more sweeping and table washing, but for now she decided to ignore that thought.

She caught Haruhi's eyes through the crowd and smiled. About time, don't you think?

Yeah, maybe we'll actually get some good sleep tonight!

Jin snorted and inched closer to her sister until they were both leaning against the countertop. The noise of the crowd was loud, like... ' rush hour ' loud, which is part of the reason the sister's silent conversations came in handy so much.

What's the weirdest part for you?

The fact there are customers here on a Sunday. You?

The extra floor space.

When do we start selling stuff?

Mmm… Jin regarded the clock hanging above the front entrance, 5 minutes. We should probably get everyone into position.

Haruhi nodded and ran off to find Mori and Honey. Since their father had wanted a grand revelation party for the end of construction, he'd decided to have the café open for a full 5 hours that Sunday, not to mention putting out a whole lot of advertisements around campus and downtown.

Oh, and the 15% off all items sale. That was there, too.

So, naturally, with so many customers expected and a shiny new place to attend too, all ten employees were there that day to work. Ranka and Misuzu-chi were going to be walking around, taking most of the attention for the new renovations - there was even some talk of an interview for the local paper - and the teenagers would be running the shop.

For once, there would be two cashiers running at the same time, Tamaki and Kaoru. In the bakery would be Mori, Honey, and Haruhi. And Jin, Kyoya, and Hikaru would be the baristas. It felt kinda crowded behind the counter with five of them standing around, but so long as Tamaki and Kaoru didn't move too suddenly and the baristas managed to communicate like usual, then there shouldn't be any big accidents.

Hopefully.

Jin sighed as Tamaki and Kaoru put their tills into the registers at the exact same time, prompting half the people in the café to line up and start placing orders. It was the beginning of a crazy busy day...

"Jin-senpai? We just got three- no, four -mocha orders. Do we have enough chocolate syrup?"

And so it begins.

As predicted, it's crazy from the get-go. Every fifteen minutes or so Haruhi is running out of the bakery to refill the display case, both Tamaki and Kaoru have already gone through at least one full roll of receipt tape each, and the customers just kept coming. But otherwise… it's not as bad as Jin thought it would be.

Despite having only worked together for two weeks, and never all eight at once, they were doing pretty well. Jin was… kinda proud of them.

But something was still bothering her. It had started almost a week ago and took her an entire day for her to realize what it was, but when she did her knees nearly buckled. It was Kyoya. He was being… kind to her.

Or, well, kind er . It had started last Monday in class, when their most recent test had been graded and passed back. Jin had smiled at her 100% and glanced at Kyoya's desk to see what he got… only to find he had already put his away. She had, at first, assumed his score was lower and had hidden it out of shame.

But then the girl that sat on Kyoya's other side whispered congratulations to him for getting a perfect score.

Jin hadn't known what to think of it. Was he trying to make her feel guilty for being smug? No… that didn't seem like something he'd do. But the strange interactions didn't stop there. Even during lunch time when all eight co-workers sat together and talked, there hadn't been any bickering between them. Some of the others noticed and gave Jin odd looks, but she was just as lost as they were.

Her Wednesday shift wasn't immune to the changes either, it would seem. Sure, the two bickered somewhat still, but it was nowhere near the usual amount and didn't have any heat behind the words. Not to mention the moment when Kyoya actually admitted that he was unsure about how to make something and allowed Jin to show him the proper method. He even tacked on a 'thank you' and a small smirk at the end! Even Tamaki had stared at the two in shock afterwards.

Jin was reeling at this point. She hadn't outright asked Kyoya what was going on, but she couldn't deny she liked Kyoya a lot more when he wasn't being a self-righteous prick all the time. Finally, the friendship between her male classmates made sense. Except, she still had no idea what had set off the change. Or if it would last.

"Behind you." Jin stiffened as Kyoya gently touched her mid-back as he passed her, a grande mocha in his other hand. It took her a moment before she could return to her own order, nerves on fire. Hikaru raised an eyebrow at her before tossing his gaze to Kyoya and back. She shrugged and shook her head in response.

Returning to her work, she expertly filled another cup with hot chocolate. She spotted a little boy and his older sister watching her with interest, but before she could carry the drinks over to the toppings, both cups were gently plucked from her hands.

"I'll finish these for you," Kyoya nodded to a small slip of paper he had just set on the counter beside her, "Another hot chocolate was just ordered."

Jin opened her mouth, ready to argue when she paused. That's… exactly what Haruhi would've done if she had been up here instead. Kyoya had… done a very smart thing. She shut her mouth and turned back to the machine, gears churning in her head.

Nibbling her bottom lip, she peeked at the ravenet as sneakily as she could. He was finishing up with the chocolate drizzle… what was he doing with the sharpie?

Her head snapped to the side fully as he sneakily drew a little smiley face on one of the cups. Jin watched with wide eyes as he handed the order to the two siblings, the little boy giggling with glee at the smiley face on his cup.

She looked away as Kyoya turned around, but Hikaru nudged her side with a smirk, " You're blushing. "

" Shut up! "

Hastily piling a small mountain of whipped cream and chocolate drizzle on the hot chocolate she was working on, Jin handed the drink off and checked the baked goods display. To her relief, one of the slots was empty. And, like fate-

"Um… could I get a blueberry muffin with that? I don't see any in the display, but…"

"Don't worry, we're bound to have more. I'll go check in the back." Jin's eyes were probably comically wide as Kyoya gave her a smirk before disappearing through the door to the kitchen. She and Tamaki met eyes, both equally surprised. Then the blond shrugged and returned to his customer.

Which was good. He was doing his job... which is what she should be doing right now. But it was a little hard when she felt like she was dying. The brunette tried to ignore her warm face and the way her stomach was playing jump rope around her insides. She stared at the new order in her hands.

Latte. Easy. Good.

Despite how her brain wasn't functioning properly, her hands acted on autopilot. Even the little fern design in the foam looked perfect, despite the fact her eyes were glazed over in thought.

Someone tapped her shoulder and she jumped, just barely stopping herself from dumping the whole container of milk into the drink.

Surprise, surprise, it was Kyoya. "Your face is a little red. Is something causing you stress today, Jin?"

"Yeah, I have to do both your job and mine. Who trained you?" Her response is out of her mouth before she could really think it over. Meaning, she responded like she would have if it were Haruhi.

Because there had been no heat behind her words. Or his.

Kyoya even managed a small laugh, "I believe you did? I was unaware you associated with self-deprecating humour."

"How long have you known me?"

Another laugh, "Right."

"Oi! Quit flirting and do your jobs, we have customers! "

Both Jin and Kyoya flushed when they noticed how everyone from both sides of the counter were pretty much staring at them. Kyoya grabbed another order while Jin hurried to the pick-up counter, handing the latte to a woman in a business outfit.

"Here you go! Have a nice day!"

The woman smiled, "Thank you. And it's so nice to see a young couple working together. You two seem very close."

Jin was once again frozen as the lady walked away. A few of the other patrons snickered at the look on her face, secretly agreeing but deciding to cut the poor girl some slack.

"Tamaki, could you please refrain from flirting with the customers?" The voice of her sister snapped Jin out of it. She turned around just in time to see Haruhi disappearing back into the kitchen, an empty tray from the display in her hands and a pout on her lips.

Jin smiled, amused. Haruhi seemed to have no clue why she found Tamaki's flirting so irritating, even when she came downstairs on Wednesdays just to scowl at the blond at the register. Jin found it cute, wondering when she'd figure it out.

*Months Later*

"Jin-chan!"

The brunette and her two classmates stopped in the middle of the hallway, turning around at the sound of Honey's voice. Tamaki called out a greeting to the small blond running towards them, which makes Jin almost unreasonably happy.

She and the rest of the Café Club (Hikaru and Kaoru had picked it out, and refused to call them anything else) had grown into a rather close friend group… which actually wasn't all that surprising. After all, they all hung out with each other about twice a week without fail, not to mention how most were either classmates or old friends or related to each other. After spending so much time together, it didn't take long before they started hanging out even when they weren't forced to.

They ate lunch together and spent their free periods chatting around the school grounds or lounging around in one of the unused school music rooms. Even Sundays were spent together. There was no shortage of things to do in town, and even when they had mountains of schoolwork or upcoming tests, the studying almost wasn't half bad with such a large 'study group'.

When Honey finally reached the trio, he wasted no time in wrapping a hug around Jin's waist, "Jin-chan! I'm glad I caught you!"

"What's up?"

"It's Takashi! He's sick!" Jin's eyes widened, exchanging alarmed looks with both Kyoya and Tamaki. Mori was supposed to work today with the three of them! "He had to go home early, but tried to say he couldn't because he had to work! Jin-chan, you won't make him, will you?"

The brunette crouched down, "Of course not! But if Mori-senpai isn't working in the bakery…" Honey gasped, the beginnings of a smile appearing on his face before Jin interrupts him, "No, you can't cover for him. You and Mori have a mountain of homework to get done, and he's going to need your help. And I know Haru and the twins have a big project due tomorrow…"

The three boys wait as Jin starts muttering quietly to herself, her brown eyes now trained on the floor. Occasionally the group would get a weird look from someone passing by, but they just ignored it. It was becoming more commonplace for them to be the center of attention. Only a fool would claim that they weren't a good-looking group, and the fact they were always around each other seemed to make it more obvious.

It took a full minute before Jin straightened up, her brown eyes regarding her classmates curiously. Even Kyoya squirmed a little in her intense stare.

"Hmm…" she tilted her head, "Maybe… since Wednesday afternoons are a little slow… I could work in the bakery myself. Kyoya? Can you manage making the coffees by yourself today? If it gets too busy you can always call me up to the front."

Kyoya hesitated. He had to admit, Jin offering to let him work alone, without her assistance, was more than a little fantastic. Not that she hadn't displayed trust for him before, but this was making it that much more obvious.

He could hardly contain his smile, somehow managing to keep his typical smirk instead, "Of course. If you believe I'm ready, I will do my best."

"Great! Thank you so much!" Jin's entire body relaxed before she quickly wrapped the ravenet in a hug. Kyoya barely had time to reciprocate before she was pulling away, her phone now in her hands, "I have to call my dad and let him know. See you in the music room!"

Kyoya watched as she walked away, dialing the phone number for the café in the hopes someone would be able to pick up. And he probably would've continued to watch if it weren't for the snickering from behind him. Rolling his eyes, he continued walking down the hallway, trying to avoid the upcoming teasing.

But it was not to be.

"Awww… your face was so red, Kyo-chan!"

"I'm surprised you let her go! Don't your hugs normally turn into vertical snuggling? I'm surprised you didn't just sweep Jin off her feet!"

"You were like her knight in shining armor!"

"Oh, Kyoya~ My Kyoya~ You're the absolute best~! Thank you for agreeing to do the job you would've had to do anyways unless you want to be fired~!"

"Tama-chan, look! His ears are turning red!"

The two boys were cracking up as they followed their friend, but the kind smiles on their faces were genuine. Every member of the Café Club knew aaaaaall about Kyoya's giant crush on Miss Jin Fujioka… except for Jin, of course. Similarly, only Kyoya seemed unaware that the feeling was reciprocated. Most days, the rest of their little 'club' teased and lightly shoved at the two, trying to gently encourage them into a relationship. But other days… they had to really restrain themselves from not shouting the secret out for everyone to hear or locking the two of them in a dark closet until someone finally confessed.

Tamaki sighed when Kyoya refused to react to their teasing, "Ah… Mon Ami, come on. We all know you like her, and you make it pretty obvious to anyone who comes into the café, too. Why are you taking so long to confess to her?"

"I have a proposition, Tamaki." The ravenet turned around, casually pushing his glasses back into place before glaring daggers at his best friend, "The moment you successfully ask out Haruhi, I'll consider taking your relationship advice seriously."

Once Tamaki's face was a sufficient shade of red and he had gone quiet for a full fifteen seconds, Kyoya nodded and walked into the music room.

*Time Skip*

"Thank you! Have a good day!" Kyoya nodded to the girl as she took her coffee and hurried towards the booth with her friends before turning around. "I think the caramel-"

He stopped short, a small wave of embarrassment washing over him when he was reminded that Jin wasn't behind him. I'll just… replace the jug myself. Silently he went about getting another jug of caramel sauce out, keeping one eye on the front door. But no one came in. Jin had been truthful earlier; Wednesday afternoons weren't well known for their large crowds.

The lack of friendly chatting and banter was starting to get to Kyoya. He had already started working on ways to kindly request that Mori-senpai never miss another Wednesday shift ever again.

Tamaki offered no form of companionship, either. He was far too busy pouting whenever he thought no one was watching. With their big school project due the next day, the twins and Haruhi were at the public library to double check and add as many possible references as they could. Meaning there was no possibility of Haruhi wandering downstairs to chat with Tamaki. It would seem as though both of their Fujioka's were not where they wished they were.

Beeeep!

The sudden noise caused both boys to jump slightly. Frowning, Kyoya walked over to the coffee grinder, eyes narrowing slightly as he observed it. The light bulb in the upper right hand corner was on. He'd never seen that before.

Kyoya regarded the machine for a few seconds more before turning to Tamaki, "Call for me if someone comes in." The blond smirked and winked at his friend before nodding and pretending to shoo him along. Kyoya decidedly ignored him and quickly slipped through the doorway that separated the front of the café from the bakery.

He spotted Jin immediately. She stood at the large table in the middle of the room, humming softly along to the radio playing nearby, her hands gently kneading the large pile of dough before her. For a few seconds, Kyoya just watches her. She looked undeniably adorable with her apron all covered in flour and her hair tied back in a simply ponytail. She looked very relaxed.

Clearing his throat, Kyoya walked closer, "Jin?"

"Yeah?" She didn't even appear startled, smiling up at Kyoya as he approached the table, "What's up, Glasses?"

"Um… the coffee grinder. One of the lights just turned on. I'm not sure what it means... it was in the top right corner?"

"Oh, that! Don't worry, it just needs to be cleaned. Haru must've forgotten to do that last night. I've shown you how to clean all the machines before, right? I know it's not exactly ideal to do that now , but if you've got the time that would be great. And if you don't, it's fine, too. Shouldn't be a big deal until we close."

Kyoya's shoulders deflated a little. In all honesty, he had almost hoped that it would've been a big enough problem that Jin would've had to come up front and fix it. Quickly thanking her, he began walking back towards the doorway when Jin called after him.

"Hold on!" She hastily dusted her hands off on her apron as she ran around the table, pulling a sheet of parchment paper off of a tray completely covered in miniature cherry pies before picking it up, "While you're here, could you take these out to the display? I would've done it myself earlier, but then I realized we had no muffins!"

"Of course."

Kyoya gently grabs the tray, his fingers brushing against Jin's as he did so. There was still a faint dusting of flour coating them, making her skin look paler than usual. Kyoya didn't even notice something was amiss until he realized Jin had yet to pull away. In fact, neither of them made any attempt to move away at all. Kyoya raised an eyebrow in question, but Jin was staring at the pies.

Until she inevitably pulled away, clasping her hands in front of her, "Ah… thank you." Was it Kyoya's imagination… or was Jin blushing?

The brunette glanced up at her friend briefly, hastily brushing a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. Kyoya's gaze immediately trained on the light trail of flour that now traced from the girl's cheek to her ear, some of it now in her hair, even.

Having realized her mistake, Jin's blush darken, "Oh, shoot." She hastily scurried towards the nearest sink and turned it on, scrubbing the flour and spare pieces of dough from between her fingers.

A small part of Kyoya wanted to leave. Actually, a more accurate term for the action would be 'run away'. Something about this precise moment was absolutely terrifying Kyoya, but it was only a small part. A small part that he ignored as he set down the tray and walked back over to Jin, who was now drying her hands and still not looking at him.

Eventually, though, she did have to turn around. This time she managed to meet Kyoya's eyes, even as he quietly asked her if something was wrong. She didn't answer. She didn't have an answer. Heck, she wasn't sure if what Kyoya had asked was even the right kind of question. Wrong? Either everything about this situation was wrong or there was nothing at all and she honestly couldn't decide which one she wanted at the moment.

As she hummed and stumbled over her response, which was going over brilliantly , she couldn't help but notice that Kyoya was getting a little closer. She stuttered to a complete stop when the boy actually smirked down at her, his hand reaching up to brush at the flour she'd wiped across her cheek.

Swallowing harshly, Jin looked away, trying to catch her breath. But Kyoya's hand was still on her face, and now it was on her chin… and now he was gently steering her back to face him.

Jin felt like she could breathe, " Kyoya? "

" Don't look away, Jin. Please. "

" Kyoya, I… I… "

"JIN! SWEETHEART? COULD YOU COME HERE FOR A SECOND?"

At Ranka's shout, Jin yelped and jumped a good foot in the air. Kyoya was no better, his entire body jolting like he'd just been struck with lightning. Hastily stepping away from each other, Jin didn't say another word as she bolted from the kitchen and into the adjacent hallway.

Kyoya watched her leave for the second time that day, but this time he couldn't help but feel like he'd just been smacked across the face. Now what was he going to do?

Down the hallway, Jin hastily attempted to steady her breathing. Ridiculously, it was like her brain had forgotten how. Hoping she could play off the undoubtedly gigantic blush on her face as a result of the heat from the ovens, Jin pushed open the door to the office with a big smile.

"Hi, Dad! You called-"

"Sit."

The smile vanished and Jin hastily sat down. Her father did not look to be in a good mood. She nibbled her bottom lip, not daring to hope or assume or even guess. Her emotions were a bit too much of a mess to do so and not cry out of frustration or fear.

Her father stared at her for a few moments more before spinning his computer monitor around with one hand. Jin's face went immediately pale.

Security monitors.

"I take it you know what I saw."

"Dad… listen, I-"

"Do you like him?" Jin swore she was going to faint. "Because if you don't and he's trying to come on to you and you don't want him to-"

"No! Dad, no, please! I like him! I wanted him to… I like him a lot."

Jin's blush was back and she stared into her lap, shuffling her feet. She couldn't see it, but her father looked both extremely and not at all surprised at the same time… if that were possible. He tilted his head, raising an eyebrow, "Just… 'a lot'? Or a lot 'a lot'."

"Um… a lot a lot."

"Well, then. I suppose I have no other option."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Afraid not."

Tamaki threw his hands over his head, "You're kidding? You were right there and you didn't kiss her? You've gotta be…" the blond started pacing, raking his fingers through his hair, "And here I thought you two would finally stop pining over each other! Dang it! Now I owe Hikaru 200 yen! He said you'd chicken out the first time!"

Kyoya's back straightened, ready to inform Tamaki that he had mos certainly not 'chickened out', when he noticed the blond had gone incredibly silent. Tamaki was staring over his shoulder, and sure enough when Kyoya turned around Jin was standing at the entrance to the hallway.

Please don't let her have been standing there for long.

There's a short moment of tense silence before Jin lets out a deep breath, "Um, Kyoya? Could you come here, please?" Well, there was no way for him to get out of it, so the ravenet quietly followed.

They didn't walk far, only getting about halfway down the hallway before stopping. Kyoya found himself noticing the smallest details. One of the lights that illuminated the staircase at the end of the hallway was flickering every couple seconds. All of the chatter from the café's sitting area had been reduced to a few shapeless sounds. The manager's office door was shut.

"So…" Despite the situation and how his heart was hammering away inside his chest, Kyoya couldn't help but note how cute Jin's little pink blush was. Perhaps this wasn't going to be about anything bad? "Um, I guess there's no gentle way to say this, but… my dad… he has security cameras in the bakery."

Nevermind.

Welp, congratulations, dimwit. You're about to be fired. Oh, did you think that you could just… try to kiss your employer's daughter in the workplace and you would get off scot free? You must be the biggest moron on the planet! Why couldn't you just ask her out on a date and kiss her there like any NORMAL person would do?

Jin kept quiet, like she was waiting for Kyoya to react, but he looked pretty frozen. Which, she supposed, was a reaction in of itself. But she still allowed the boy to internally wig out for juuust a little longer. As payback for what he pulled in the kitchen.

Drumming her fingers against her pant leg, Jin carefully weighed her following words, "Yeah… and we noticed that you forgot something in there."

Kyoya doesn't respond still, but the clear panic that had been in his eyes faded slightly. Now he was more confused than anything.

"What?"

Jin let him wait for all of two seconds before answering. Hands on his shoulders and popping onto her tiptoes, she pressed their lips together. Neither of them knew how long they stood there. What felt like hours might've been only milliseconds. They weren't exactly coherent enough to pull out a stopwatch.

In fact, it's not until Jin pulled away that either of them could think properly at all. And even then, it takes an embarrassingly long time before Kyoya could think up a response that wasn't Uh… or Wow .

"I believe you are mistaken… I definitely did not forget that. But thank you for giving it to me regardless."

Jin couldn't help but giggle at the cheesy response. Or… well… cheesy for Kyoya , but still. And she couldn't resist a smile as the two looped their arms more comfortably around each other, hers around his neck, his at her waist. "Well, I'm pretty sure you forgot something right here, too, but I'm afraid all the cameras for the hallway have been turned off."

"Oh, I think we can manage."

After that the two teenagers became mysteriously quiet up until Tamaki called out, "Kyoya! Please get out here, there are customers and I don't know how to make the coffee!"

*The Next Day*

Hikaru was the first to notice.

"Oh, finally , you two!"

At his words, Kaoru, Honey, and a very tired looking Mori followed the redhead's line of sight. Most of them cheered as well when they spotted Jin, Haruhi, Tamaki, and Kyoya walking down the hallway towards them.

Kyoya's right arm was wrapped around Jin's waist, and the two had never looked happier.