B L A C K C O F F E E M A G I C
© 2006 Saveage (#444797)
Summary: "I never knew there was magic in Tokyo until he took my order. It was the cappuccino that changed my life." Five mysterious, beautiful gentlemen; a young gay teen who's afraid of men, and a coffee shop where coffee is strangely never made. Yaoi.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading, and I hope you continue to support me. :)
00 » p r o l o g u e
The café was located on a busy street in Aoyama in Minato-ku, Tokyo. It looked like a typical, contemporary coffee shop from the outside: molded wood front with a glass window looking in, and big gold letters proclaiming "Café Ine." It was two-stories high, but to reach it, you had to go down a steep set of stairs to their gilded underground foyer, where crowds would wait if the cafe and gift shop was too crowded. Eventually, you'd be called up another set of stairs – not so steep this time – to the first floor, which was a gift shop of Café Ine mugs, shirts, postcards, and various other little trinkets, as well as packages of their coffee brews and samples of their latest experiments.
The second floor was the actual café, with three counters to order from and the rest of the floor left for table and chair space; the office where the manager spent his time was a small, cubicle, with a door and everything, right in the center of it all. Quiet, gaudy jazz or techno-esque folk music played from hidden speakers. Everything smelled like freshly brewed coffee, steamed milk, and sweet dessert.
The strange thing is, whenever I visited, there was never any customers. Just the five cute employees mopping the floor, cleaning tables, or manning the counter, or, in the manager's case, making sure everything was in order. I went every day before school, after school, and in the afternoons or evenings on weekends. My friends complained that they could never get the popular sweets they wanted because of the crowd, but I never had a problem with getting my order. In fact, no matter what I would order to eat (I tried to eat something different every time I came), the treat would always be presented to me with the same words:
"You came just in time – this is fresh from the oven!"
Sometimes the chocolate or icing would still be oozing down the sides, and the plate would be warm. I thought it was just a coincidence – perhaps they changed it up everyday and I just happened to order the first item to be baked that day. But even back then, before I knew about everything, I couldn't fully convince myself that nothing funny was going on. As it turns out, I was right.
Another thing my friends would complain about is the fact that they weren't hiring. It was a huge place with hundreds of customers a day, buy only five young men ran it. No one ever saw anyone else doing shifts. Even though there was never a "Help Wanted!" sign on the front, girls and boys would always come in asking if they were taking applications. The girls wanted to be near those divine, breathtaking creatures, and the guys knew if they would be allowed to apply, they would be given instant popularity among the ladies. It was a job everyone wanted.
Everyone but me.
Please comment on your thoughts. In the next chapter, I will introduce the five "cute employees" (otherwise known as the "beautiful gentlemen"), and things will get exciting. Thank you for reading. :)