Finn Haynes (finnigan_h) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-04-19 13:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | #october 2017, alex, alex x fin |
Who: Alex and Fin
When:Tuesday, 17th October, mid afternoon
Where: Joylands Coffee
Warnings: None
Status: Complete
For the first time in a while Fin had most of the afternoon and evening off, he had swapped the later shift with Sally because she had an appointment to go to that morning and he didn’t mind working in around his employees schedules at all, flexibility was the key for a happy workplace. Leaving Books and Beer with a wave he walked down the street towards Joyland Coffee, he had fallen in love with the Cinnamon Orange tea and had used all of the small sample bag of loose leaf tea he had purchased and wanted some more, so might as well drop in and get some before heading home and hoping that little Obi hadn’t made too much of a mess.
The smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted out as soon as Fin started opening the door, he had toyed with the idea of ordering a tea and sitting down for a while before he had even finished his shift and as soon as he saw the large blueberry muffins they had on offer his mind was made up. Walking towards the counter he noticed that Alex was working, the young man had dropped into Books and Beer quite a few times over the past month, enough that Fin remembered his name and that he enjoyed rum and coke. As the customer in front of him moved away he stepped up to the counter. “Hey Alex.” He said with a smile. “Could I please get a pot of the Blood Orange Rooibos, one of those huge blueberry muffins and a quarter of a pound of the Cinnamon Orange tea?”
Alex was into the last hour of his shift and he had one eye on the clock as he served the customers that stopped by. He didn’t really have anywhere he needed to be but it had been one of those work shifts that just seemed to drag along forever. He was running on autopilot but when the next customer cleared the counter, he looked up in surprise at the sound of his name. It took a moment to place who was in front of him; he’d never seen Fin out of the context of Books and Beer before. “Hey man, of course.” He smiled widely in return as he pressed Fin’s order in quickly, keeping up with ease. He read off the total and dealt with the professional parts of the visit before he started getting everything ready. He glanced over his shoulder as he made the tea, “What brings you out from behind the bar?”
Fin hadn’t seen Alex other than when the man dropped into Books and Beer but he had mentioned working at Joylands, it just happened that the few times he had dropped into the coffee shop lately Alex wasn’t working. “I’m not surgically attached to the bar or the store I’ll have you know.” He joked as Alex went about getting his order ready. “Wanted to drop in and get some tea before I went home, I got a sample of the Cinnamon Orange on Thursday and I think I’ve become addicted to it. Saw those muffins and decided I might as well sit down and enjoy a pot of tea, it’s definitely the weather for it.” Fin got his wallet out from his back pocket, ready to pay when his order was finished.
“Well, I didn’t think it was surgically,” Alex replied over his shoulder with a grin. He quickly set about getting the rest of order and after a couple of minutes, set the muffin and teas down in front of Fin. With a couple of clicks on the computer screen, he read out the total to Fin. “It really is good tea weather.” Most people ordered coffee and Alex wasn’t a tea drinker himself but he could appreciate other people who were. “So what’s the plan now, go home and drink up in front of Netflix or something?”
“I've had people think that I live there, that I live in a room out the back or something.” As nice as that sounded at times Fin was glad that he didn't live at the store, he didn't mind the odd overnight stay but more than one night and he started looking forward to his own bed and anything other than the store. “Good weather for any hot beverage, but not quite hot cocoa weather yet, I think it has to be snowing for that.” Fin preferred tea over coffee but if he was somewhere and was offered coffee he wouldn't say no. Giving Alex the money and adding a few dollars as a tip, Fin smiled. “I'm going to sit down in here and let the world pass me by while I enjoy the muffin and tea. After that I'll head home and see what havoc the kitten has caused, he's just reached the playful stage and likes running around my apartment like a mad thing.” Way more entertaining than Netflix!
“No, nothing like that. More like when you see teachers outside of school, it's too weird.” The idea of having a room somewhere in the building had occurred to Alex but the idea seemed like a bad one to him. He couldn't imagine that any owner would get much time away if employees could knock on the door with any problems or if they could hear things going wrong. So much for the work/home separation. Alex nodded as he listened along with Fin’s chatter about the weather and fumbled with the money. “You have a cat? That's awesome, I love cats.” He had always been a cat person and wasn't surprised to hear Fin was too. He seemed the type.
“Or people out of uniform when you're so use to seeing them in one.” It still made Fin do a double take when he saw his friend Madison in her police uniform. He was glad that he had somewhere other than work to escape to, even the idea of one of those shops with a place above it didn't seem right to Fin, especially given his previous like for physical activity of the horizontal kind, no one should have to overhear banging headboards and the like while shopping. “He's only a five weeks old. Someone dumped him in the alley behind the store on Friday just because he's black… poor thing shouldn't really be away from his mother but he seems to be going okay despite that. I forgot how much energy they have at this age.” The smile on Fin's face showed just how much he liked his new pet.
“Just because he's black, really? People do that?” Alex frowned. He'd had cats growing up, one that had even had a couple of litters before his mom saved up enough to get her fixed. He'd always done whatever was needed to find the babies homes and kept one of the kittens too. Dumping them had never been an option. “That's pretty disgusting.” The sound of the bell over the door caught his attention but it was just another customer leaving. He turned back to Fin, “He's lucky he's got you then. Were there any others or was it just that one?”
“I can’t think of any other reason why someone would dump a barely weaned kitten on that day, other than they thought it was bad luck because of the fur color. But honestly who knows why people do anything.” Fin’s grandparents had quite a few cats over the years, in all colors and varying sizes from the small to the large Maine Coon that ended up going down south with them when they retired. He glanced around at the bell too, well aware that he was taking up Alex’s time and didn’t want to keep any other customers waiting. “He was the only one, and lucky that I heard his meows over the wind, I don’t think he would’ve survived the night otherwise.”
Alex frowned as he tried to imagine any other reasons somebody would dump a single, black kitten but superstitions were one of the few that made any sense. “Unless the mother cat dropped him when she was moving her litter?” he suggested with a shrug. Either way, it was a good thing Fin had found it and it had a better chance than just being a stray in an alley… or worse. “Are you going to keep it or are you just fostering it? Does it have a name yet?”
“It was deliberate, they actually taped it in the box.” Fin had done several checks around the alleys over the days since to make sure there were no other kittens and so far, no more had appeared. “I'm keeping him, I went on a bit of a spending spree on the weekend and a fancy scratching tower is on it's way.” He smiled widely, getting out his phone and bringing up a picture of the kitten before showing it quickly to Alex. “I named him Obsidian, or Obi for short. Though he's blatantly ignoring my attempts to get him to respond to it.” Then again any young animal at that age rarely responded to their name.
That news surprised Alex and he frowned. It was disappointing to realise that it was a purposeful abandonment and not any innocent situation he’d imagined. At least the kitten was safe though and had found a good person to love it. He wondered if the person who had dumped it had left it there, knowing Fin would find it but he didn’t have enough faith in people to really believe that. “Sounds like a cat to me,” he said with a smile. “Do cats ever respond to their names?” He paused for a moment then changed the subject. “So besides becoming a crazy old cat man, how have you been?”
He didn't know if the person who dumped the kitten had hoped someone would find it or not but Fin was just glad he was the one to find it. Even though it was only a few days ago Fin swore he felt so much better than he had in the previous few weeks, like he had real purpose for the first time in ages, even though Books and Beers was his business there was something about taking care of another living thing that work just didn't fill. “Becoming a crazy cat man is honestly the highlight, other than that it's the usual ‘work, home, sleep, repeat’ routine, I live a very boring life.” He smiled, still keeping an ear out for other customers which meant having to end their conversation. “Oh, I bought a house… well in the process at least, in the middle of the paperwork and settlement stage which I swear will drag on.”
Alex raised his eyebrows at that news. A house was a much bigger news thing than a kitten in his mind but it was understandable the more energetic one that wouldn't let you forget it took priority in conversations. “Oh wow, that’s awesome. Please don’t tell me you bought that just for your new kitten kid?” He laughed softly at the idea. That would have been too extreme even for him. “Congratulations anyway, where is it?”
Buying a house was big news but something rather boring as it was something that most adults did anyway, a kitten was more exciting. Fin had filled out his share of paperwork on Monday and now it was just a waiting game for the other party and no doubt he'd have to sign more stuff in the next few days. “No, it's not just for him. I started thinking about it when I was stuck in hospital, leave all the old memories behind and start afresh. It needs some work so that'll keep me busy when I'm not working or wrangling a kitten.” By now he was sure that most of the town knew about his hospital stay, not that it bothered him much anymore, the rubberneckers had stopped coming by and things had returned to near normal. “It's about a third of the way down Oak Street, a little cottage with a white fence and overgrown garden out the front.” That was something he'd soon fix up, when he finally got the keys.
Alex didn’t actually have anybody he really knew in town yet. At least, not somebody who would share gossip or pass on news with him but he had heard rumours that the “Books and Beer guy” had been sick. He hadn’t heard the details and he hadn’t asked, something he didn’t intend to do now either. If Fin wanted him to know, he would share it. “That’s actually kind of cool. It’d be good to have something that was your own and you put your own hard work into.” He imagined what it would be like to buy a house and for a second, considered using his inheritance to cover a deposit but quickly brushed it away. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with the money yet but buying in Point Pleasant didn’t seem like a good idea. The longer he was here, the more he wondered why anybody even stayed. “I’d personally buy somewhere else but, you know, I’m kind of a fan of not dying from some weird, unexplained horror.” He laughed.
The rumours would’ve been more along the lines of the ‘Books and Beer guy trying to kill himself’ but he had come to terms with it, though it was still hard to tell others that truth. “I’ve rented apartments since I came back to town after college, to have an actual house with a yard and everything is a going to be bit of a novelty for a while. I can make as much noise as I want without worrying about waking up the person on the floor below me or neighbors either side of those thin apartment walls.” Other than his few years at college Fin didn’t really know any other life other than what he had in Point Pleasant, sure it was weird and crazy and bad stuff happened, but it was home. Alex’s comment did make Fin smile a bit. “If I didn’t have the business I’d consider moving away but at the moment I’m happy here, weird horrors and all. It’s not really that bad, well not all the time.”
Alex had heard the details when rumours flew fast in a place like Point Pleasant but he wasn’t sure he believed them. And if he did, he knew it wasn't his place to ask. They were on a first name basis but they didn’t see each other outside of their respective stores. He considered Fin’s reasons for buying and smiled. “Sounds like it’ll work out for you then.” Personally, he’d only ever considered settling down in a city somewhere, probably Portland for his mother’s sake, but now that she was gone, it occurred to him that he could go anywhere now. He was the last of his family. “So what kind of work do you need to get done? I’m pretty good with my hands if you ever need help. I can assemble Ikea stuff like nobody’s business.”
Fin would appreciate it if more people were like Alex and didn’t ask or meddle into affairs that weren’t they own, but that was almost a month ago and things had settled down since, he did get the odd look from some of his regular customers but most of the time people didn’t say anything and he liked that. “It’s mainly replacing the drywall, maybe a few doors and freshening up the kitchen cupboards. And thank you for the offer but I think I’m right for now… I still haven’t actually got the place yet. But if I sort out some sort of working bee I’ll be sure to let you know, I’m hoping to get in and at least get the garden in some sort of shape before the snows arrive but you never know when they’ll make their appearance.”
“I'd like to hear if there's a working bee,” Alex said with a smile. He genuinely meant it too. He'd been the ‘man of the house’ his entire life and though he hadn't taken it very seriously or even really believed in that stereotype, he had learned from an early age to be the one to do many of the repairs around the apartment. Although he was glad he didn't have to fix as much these days without his mother's episode, he did miss that kind of hard work. “It's always really satisfying to be able to look at something you made. Gardens too, though I definitely can't help you with the actual growing.” He chuckled and glanced over Fin's shoulder as a new customer came through the door. He offered Fin a small smile, ”Sorry, I should get back to work. It's good to hear you're doing better though.”
Having spent most of his childhood and teenage years in the bookshop with his grandparents Fin didn’t get to do a lot of DIY and repair work, although he had developed the skills to put together flat-pack furniture and simple things like painting and minor repairs, he was grateful that his friend Brad had fixed the holes he had punched in the wall the evening before he nearly drowned and he hoped that his friend would help out with some of the work in the cottage but Fin had yet to ask him. Maybe he’d ask Brad soon. “I’m going to have to get a lawnmower come spring, or just hire someone.” Isn’t that what guys like Luke - a regular customer and landscaper - did for a living? Fin heard the customer and smiled at Alex. “Thanks for the talk, and the tea. I’ll see you around.” He took the tray with his pot of tea and muffin and went to find a table to sit down at so he could enjoy his drink and snack.