Everchanging

Pastries and Pinky Swears

!!TW!! Talk of attempted rape, bullying, and prison

Kotoha hummed along to the music that echoed through the modern cafe, glancing around at the decor while her son led her to a seat to wait for his friends. Now that things were finally settling down with the young Shinazugawa boy, his friends were eager to start organizing more get-togethers. So far the proposed ideas were; camping, amusement attractions, hiking, and others that Kotoha hadn't been completely paying attention to. All she knew was that she would be more than glad to help them plan them, if they needed her to. And on today's agenda was a calm itinerary, a cafe and going to the Kamado's bakery as a group for their bake sale.

"Genya said that this opened not that long ago. He likes their hot cocoa; he brought it to school a few days ago." Inosuke rambled, tapping his fingers on the table while he looked around. There were a few men milling about, obviously staff working the post-lunch rush shift. A man with long rust-colored hair that kind of reminded her of Tanjiro's hair, wiped down the counters while a blond man talked his ear off. His eyes were a beautiful rainbow color and Kotoha swore they had to be contacts of some kind, she had never seen a color quite like them. "Oh, hi Tenjuro!"

"It's Senjuro, for the billionth time." Kotoha turned to see the small Rengoku, his older brother smiling behind him. A big man with white hair accompanied them and she remembered him as her son's art teacher, Tengen Uzui. "I'm surprised you're the first one here."

"I'm great at being punchual."

"Baby, the word's punctual ." Kotoha chuckled at her son.

"Yeah, what my mama said." Inosuke laughed, pulling out a seat for the younger boy as they both looked at the menu that was placed on the table.

"Order whatever you want, you two." Tengen ruffled both boys' hair as he glanced over the sheet. "You too, Ms. Hashibira. My treat."

Once again, Kotoha was eternally grateful that her son became surrounded by such good people. After the betrayal Miyano put them through, Tengen's friendly kindness gave the mother hope for her son's future.

"No need, I budgeted for this." But still, she would feel guilty if she had her son's teacher pay for her.

"It's only fair. We made you take the day off of work for this, the least I could do is buy you a coffee and breakfast."

"No no, you didn't make me do anything. I took off work because I wanted to come with you all." She wouldn't ever put her son behind her job. Inosuke always came first, even if it made her income a little shorter. "It sounded fun."

It looked like Tengen was going to say something else but one of the men behind the counter spoke up, his rainbow eyes pinching with a bright grin.

"No need to worry. Beautiful women don't pay here." His blond hair rested on his shoulders as he tilted his head, the other man scoffing as he walked into the back. "It's on the house."

They all went quiet for a moment and Kotoha smiled at the man, unsure whether this kindness was transparent or not. But, it wouldn't hurt to humor the worker this once. It was better than having her son's teacher foot the bill, and it meant that the budgeted money could go to her savings.

"Thank you, sir."

"No need. It's Douma, by the way."

"Hashibira um– Kotoha." Before her son could snap something, Kotoha pointed his attention back on the menu. She could see how his bright green eyes slimmed at Douma, the teen scoffing loudly before speaking even louder.

"Hey, Mama , look, they have a strawberry matcha crepe." He glanced at his mother before looking back at the man then smiled back at Kotoha. "You like matcha, right? Mama ?"