A Christmas Miracle

With a cup of coffee (and some poison)

This thing was so damn long I had to split it into two chapters.

"Ugh.."

Karma hated Monday mornings, especially those which called for a quick approaching deadline. Actually talking of days he hated, there wasn't much desire for him to share the same stereotype of hating Monday mornings along everyone, but in fact, he hated any day when he had a shit load of work to do. A quick cup of coffee with extra sugar wouldn't hurt a man, and Rio had told him about this good cafe around his street.

Running a hand through his hair with a sigh, he ordered one cup of coffee before promptly slumping down on the seat, ignoring how the other customers glanced at him.

He took out his laptop, and immediately set to work.

Jolting out of his typing haze when someone coughed near him, he was so ready to scare whoever it was, as he looked up in annoyance.

What he hadn't expect was a cute barista, clearly out of his depth, smiling at him with all the awkwardness of a fawn stumbling out of the forest as he said, "Your order, sir?"

"...." He continued staring at the man as if he were a figment of his imagination about to disappear.

The cute barista placed the coffee down on his table, "Sir, are you alright?" Even his concerned face looked cute.

"Ah, I'm fine, alright," He waved his concern off, letting his eyes rake up and down the guy's form subtly.

Shiota Nagisa, the name tag read.

Shiota shrugged with a small smile, "Alright then, have a nice day, sir," he exited with a slight bow.

The cup of coffee now forgotten, Karma swiftly turned to his work on the laptop, his mind wandering off elsewhere. Damn, he had never seen a guy like him around this area, and Karma actually lived here, so seeing the cute, inexperienced and genuine barista instead of a trained and chirpy demeanor was definitely like a fresh breath of air.

There was something about the smile he gave him that struck right at Karma's heart.

(Maybe it was the way his cheap work pants fit so snug around his ass-)

Whatever it was, this certainly won't be the only time Karma came to this cafe.

*

Never had Karma felt so compelled to dress up for a simple walk to the cafe. He had checked himself in the mirror three times by now, and after ensuring that everything was okay with his appearance, and fixing his hair for the twentieth time, he set out.

Of course, his destination wasn't just the cafe. The coffee there wasn't as good as Rio had made them out to be. Though he wouldn't be surprised if Rio kept mentioning the cafe just for the purpose of tricking him into buying a cup. He had ulterior motives and said ulterior motives were in the form of a cute waiter wearing that obnoxiously yellow dress code which somehow suited the boy's form very much.

"Yo," what was he even going to say? "You again?" He said instead.

Shiota turned to look at him, his face brightening and god, that smile was so adorable. Approaching his table, that cheerful smile never losing its spark, Shiota stood near him, a notepad and a pencil ready in his hand, "Ah..yeah, I've been working here for a friend," he replied, "And you are..?"

"Akabane Karma," Exchanging their names, that's the first step! "Karma's fine,"

Shiota nodded, "Uh..huh, my name's Shiota Nagisa," He rubbed his head as he gestured to the tag bashfully, "but I'm sure you knew,"