Monday: This is fine

Etho's body was stiff as he sat up, and so was his neck. Etho groaned and rolled back his shoulders, stretching his stick arms and feeling a pop in his back. He tried to blink out the drearlyness in his eyes by looking around his room, but as soon as he tried to look up, there was a sharp pain in his neck.

"Ow. Stiff neck. Great." He mumbled sarcastically as he threw his legs over the bed and got up. "That's what I get for staying up so late."

The day before had mostly work, which was fine by him and paid off well too, but the awkward sleeping position and eye bags were nothing to celebrate.

The first coding assignment was done, and he and Iskall had planned a date to meet up and finish the science one in person, since over the phone wasn't working as well as they hoped.

"Wait, are we meeting tomorrow or Wednesday?" Etho thought, scrunching his eyes and trying to remember. After a few seconds of nothing, he decided he'd just text Iskall and ask later.

That was two classes with progress at least, and most of his other classes were forgiving with homework, so far.

It was a Monday, the first Monday of the school year technically, so surely he was going to get another pile of homework on top of everything. He couldn't wait.

"Let's get today over with." He mumbled as he trudged over to the living room to make food, where doc was already up and working.

He should be a motivational speaker.

----

Bdubs walked into class again, with his moss hoodie over his head as he avoided the teacher's gaze. She probably forgot about his interruption on the first day by now, but he wasn't about to risk getting glared at by looking in her direction.

Someone else was in his perfect seat now, next to another friend, and he silently sighed in frustration as he looked for a new seat.

"Hey! Bdubs! Over here!" He heard from the back.

"Huh?" He turned towards the voice, and saw a familiar face. She was waving over to him to get his attention, with orange hair sticking out in the crowd.

"Hey! Gem, Right? I didn't know you were in this class?" He laughed, and took the empty seat next to her as she patted the desk in front of it.

"Yup, just sitting here in the back. I knew I recognized you at the cafe!"

"Was it the moss hoodie or the fact I interrupted her on the first day that made me stand out."

"Both I guess," Gem giggled, "But I'm glad I have a friend now. I've heard she's a strict teacher, and now partner assignments will be a breeze!"

"Yeah." Bdubs chuckled, "Got that hint early on." He mumbled. "And hopefully group assignments are only partner ones."

"Alright class! Pay attention now!" The teacher's voice echoed throughout the class, crushing all conversation in 5 words.

Bdubs loved interior design, he was a natural at details and mood in decoration, but even he hoped this would be a short class.

---

Pearl and Impulse both had things to do after class, leaving Bdubs rushing to the cafe alone. Grian was there, but needed to leave, and was waiting for Bdubs to hurry his ass over. Grian's words.

His phone buzzed in his hoodie pocket and he pulled it out, turning off silent now that he was out of class. The message was from Keralis, saying he would be late.

"Great, just gotta run the whole place by myself then!" He thought enthusiastically, sarcastically. He loved his job, but running the entire place alone was going to be a challenge, and on a Monday afternoon with plenty of assignments he needed to finish soon, it wasn't a welcomed one.

His phone buzzed again with a message from Grian asking where he was, and even though he really wanted to type back a sarcastic comment about being in the milky way, he bit his tongue and quickened his pace instead.

"I need some coffee."

He walked in from the back and took his time to put on his apron, slightly peeved he had to do everything himself because Grian was doing who knows what. This was just his way to get back.

"My god could you tie that any faster?" Grian asked when he noticed him.

"If you got out of my face about it, maybe I could remember how to tie a bow." Bdubs smirked and then made a quizzical face. "Does the bunny ear go over the loop or under?" He drew out with a smile, making Grian groan and backup with folded arms.

"You are infuriating; I was supposed to be at Mumbo's 10 minutes ago!"

"What even is your schedule?" Bdubs squinted at him as he finished the bow behind his back, and moved towards the counter. "The first day of classes and you're late because of chem, and now you're here before me every day?"

"Well you had an earlier shift back then." Grian said. "And my schedule can be whoever it wants; Don't judge it BDouble-O." Grian said, his kind way of saying 'Fuck off'.

Bdubs frowned and rolled his eyes.

"Leave me to run the whole place alone then." Bdubs mumbled, easily loud enough for Grian to hear. "To go and make out with Mumbo." He added, and Grian growled with a glare.

"One: I'm helping Mumbo with his photo class and he's helping me with... honestly probably all of my classes. I'm a good student but I don't understand anything in half of them. Second: I wouldn't ditch you if I didn't have 4 tests coming up soon!"

"That makes no sense, in, so many ways!" Bdubs argued. "You're passing, but don't know anything? And 4 tests? We're only in our second week of school!"

Grian shrugged. "Hey, I don't make the rules of this place, and I'm not happy about it either. You can last until Keralis comes, right?"

"Keralis is gonna be late."

"Oh."

"Remember when you said to remind you of the lunch rush, literally yesterday?" Bdubs asked.

"If it gets as bad as the lunch rush I'll drop my things to help, but I'm really behind on some assignments due soon. I think I took too many hard classes at once." Grian admitted, "Can you please try to run it alone?" He pleaded.

"Yeah." Bdubs sighed. "I can handle it for a bit I guess." He said unsurely.

"Thanks Bdubs." Grian waved again before slinging his bag over his shoulder and rushing out, presumably towards Mumbo's place.

Customers came in and left, and the ones who had stayed to work had already left now, emphasizing the mood of the Monday afternoon after most classes.

It was slow, boring, dull. Bdubs swore he would fall asleep if he could, letting the bell ringing waking him up when-

Wait, it was ringing?

Bdubs perked up, and caught sight of the customer coming in. Striking white hair covered half of his face, and his red eyes looked right at Bdubs, then fell into a slight smile.

"Hey could I get a black coffee, 1 extra shot." He asked.

"U-uh yeah, coming right up!" Bdubs said typing it in as quickly as he could. He spun it around so Etho could swipe his card while he made it, since it was a really easy order.

There was a calm quiet as the two stood in the coffee shop alone.

Etho took a peaceful breath in, letting him take a break from the stress of the day, when his phone buzzed in his pocket and snapped him out of it. He furrowed his eyebrows as he picked it up, but smiled a little when he saw the contact.

"Hey whas-up Beefers?"

Bdubs could hear the other line, and shook his head as he focused on the coffee instead. It wasn't his business anyway.

"Really? Ok I'll be over there in 10. I'm grabbing coffee right now." Etho said casually.

"Heh, yeah right." Etho continued.

"Ok, see ya." He hung up and put his phone back in his pocket.

Bdubs slid over the cup with a smile, and flipped the tablet back around towards him.

"Uh, Beef says hi." Etho said.

"Oh uh, if you're going to see him, say hi for me?" Bdubs said, cringing a little at his awkwardness, and the fact he admitted to hearing the conversation.

"Yeah sure. Thanks, see ya around."

"Bye!"

Bdubs watched as Etho left, and held the door open for more customers coming in, that when he realized-

"I forgot to write my number!"

And mentallly hit himself in the head for his stupidity.

"There's always tomorrow." He sighed, and helped the next customers in line. Attention to the cafe was starting to pick up now, so he had to focus on that now.

"Hey Angel face!" Someone chirped from the back room.

"Hey Sweetface!" Bdubs smiled, and turned around to his friend giving him a hug.

"You were ok all alone?" Keralis asked, looking a little guilty for being so late.

"Yup! Just a slow day here."

"He'll be back tomorrow probably. There's always tomorrow." He repeated more confidently, turning to Keralis as more people came in.

"That's good, looks like the rush is coming now."

They both nodded, ready to make coffee for the crowd of people making their way to the shop.

"Perfect timing you got here then." Bdubs said.

"Yeah. xB needed help with a last minute assignment, sorry to leave you."

"Ah, it's fine Ker."

Three people stepped in.

"Uh, Sapnap, I can't read that, order for me."

"You're colorblind not blind blind-" A guy in a white t-shirt started, and then paused with a smug look on his face. "Actually yes, uhm, this little baby here would like a kids hot chocolate please with extra whipped cream and a whittle baby straw so he can dwrink it."

"Sapnap!"

"Oh my god I can't take you two anywhere." A third sighed, stepping in front of the two.

"We'll take a mocha latte, strawberry frappuccino, and a cold brew, 1 extra shot." He said clearly, and Bdubs typed it in. "Oh and uh, two cake pops." He turned around, and looked at the two behind him. "Whichever one of you two behaves better gets the second cake pop."

They nodded with lips creased into lines, and then glared at each other behind his back.

~~~

Tuesday: but tomorrow could be worse!

Iskall and Etho walked into the coffee shop, and warmth flooded over them. The weather had gotten significantly colder in the week and Etho had already teased Iskall for wearing a vest over a tee-shirt, as if he wasn't also wearing a vest himself.

"Well, I'm wearing long sleeves under it." Etho argued, and it was true. He looked way more comfortable in his attire than Iskall, who was already getting goosebumps.

"Fine dude. Give me a sec, I'm grabbing a hoodie." Iskall said, shutting the door and running out a few minutes later with a hoodie under their vest.

Etho set his stuff down at a table to reserve it.

"I'll order, what do you want?" He asked Iskall, who gave him a weird look, and a confused smile.

"Since when has introvert-Etho wanted to order?" Iskall chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

"Well if you want to pay...." Etho drew out and Iskall rolled their eyes. It was an effective strategy to get them to lay off.

"Nah, I'll let you do the honors." Iskall said. "I'll take a cinnamon latte. Ren said those were good last time we talked."

"They were so-so." Etho said, and turned towards the counter. "He convinced me to get one last time."

"Oh, hiya again!" Bdubs perked up.

"Hey, could I get a cinnamon latte and a white mocha?" He asked, and pulled out his card while Bdubs typed it in.

Bdubs scrunched his eyes and bit his lip, but Etho didn't notice as he started off towards a random wall. "Right, uh- here." He flipped the tablet around so Etho could see the total and pay.

Keralis jumped up behind Bdubs and looked at the screen. "Ok Bubbles, I can make the white mocha since you like the cinnamon ones so much. It seems like everyone's ordering them now." Keralis wondered out loud.

"Oh, Ren is convincing everyone to get them now." Etho explained and shrugged.

"We should hire him to advertise the shop." Bdubs chuckled. "He has the style for it."

"Instead of "ladies get in line", he could get people to get in line here." Keralis said, wiggling his eyebrows a little.

"Keralis!" Bdubs scolded, laughing along too.

Etho chuckled quietly, a subtle smile in his eyes. The afternoon light reflected in his eyes from the window and made his hair glow, and he was comfortably suited for the colder weather.

Bdubs was not staring.

"Well we won't keep ya waiting," Keralis said. "Bdubs! Cinnamon latte stat!" He yelled in Bdubs ears.

"You don't have to yell when I'm two feet away!"

Etho chuckled and nodded, turning around and walking back towards his table.

"You were talking quite long for just ordering two drinks." Iskall mentioned when Etho sat down, not looking up from their laptop. It had stickers of trees mostly, a feather sticker from Grian, moustache one from Mumbo, and a purple flower from Stress. Etho had a snowflake sticker waiting at home for them when the next holiday rolled around, as the little tradition called for with Iskall's friends.

"Yeah, well they said they might hire Ren to attract customers here."

"HA! That's hilarious dude." Iskall cackled, "He'd do it for free just to boost his ego if he could."

"Boost it? It's already higher than the ceiling." Etho chuckled.

"True." The swede said. "Well let's get through this assignment," They sighed. "We can't sit here talking the whole time again."

Etho nodded, "Yeah." and flipped open his laptop.

20 minute of working in this environment proved way more efficient than in bed on the phone, and they were making way better time than they thought they would. Etho had grabbed the drinks and now they were sipping away on them, having let them cool off after they quickly ate the whipped cream first.

They had been ignoring the bell ringing each time someone came in, but when a familiar tall figure stepped in, he and another caught their attention.

Ren bowed as he opened the door for Doc, who scoffed and rolled his eyes, a genuine smile on his lips.

"My prince." Ren said smoothly, looking Doc in the eyes as he walked by.

"Pfft- You'd be the royal one~" Doc shoved his arm lightly.

Doc stopped short as he caught sight of Etho, and Iskall who had looked up too.

"Uh Etho, you're here?" The German spoke slightly quickly, replacing his lopsided grin with a more neutral face.

"Yeah, good place to study." Etho shrugged. "Doing the plant homework with Iskall."

"Environmental science-" Iskall corrected.

"Well good to see you dudes!" Ren waved with one hand, jumping from behind Doc.

"Oh! Remind me to invite you guys to the party I'm planning soon. Probably in a week or two, maybe a month if my teachers keep slamming me with work. It's gonna be a bomb! "

"Uhhh...." Etho trailed off and glanced away.

"No alcohol planned, my dude. Just a get-together with everyone."

Etho visibly relaxed and nodded, turning back to his computer.

"Cool, can't wait man!" Iskall said. "Sleepover party or no?"

"Not sure yet, but if we can get Stress to come then she can do our nails again, sleepover or not." Ren said.

"I'll convince her when you have it set up. Text me the date and time."

"Will do."

Ren saluted them and walked off, Doc following after.

Before Ren could finish scanning the menu, Doc ordered for both of them, even as Ren protested about the cost.

"Chill dude," Doc waved it off. "It's what friends do."

"I didn't even say my order," Ren chuckled.

"I already know it."

While they were ordering, Etho looked up towards the counter, presumably staring at the wall.

Iskall waved their hand in front of his face with slight amusement. "Hey dude, don't space out on me now."

"Oh uh, sorry."

They kept working, mostly to themselves after they assigned a few slides to each person for the second half of the assignment. Etho couldn't remember if they had to present this or not, but it desperately hoped not. Oral presentations were not his strong suit.

"If we have to, I hope Iskall does the talking. I could be the slide clicker or something. Yeah I'm a good clicker." Etho thought as he squinted at the screen.

Ren waved at them while munching a cookie and Doc nodded.

"Nice to see you, Iskall. Thanks for keeping this slacker in check on work." Doc chuckled in a low voice, and Etho rolled his eyes as Iskall stifled a laugh so as to not offend the Canadian.

"See you at the apartment Doc. Thanks for keeping this rebel in check, Ren." Etho jabbed right back, getting more full hearted laughter from Ren.

Doc scoffed, but didn't really look that annoyed when Ren swung an arm around his shoulder casually.

"Well I'll see you around!" Ren winked and sauntered over to the door confidently.

Doc simply waved, following Ren, who was once again, holding the door open, waiting for him to walk out first. Doc glanced away, but not without tinted cheeks and a held back smile.

Etho wasn't paying attention as his eyes were glued back to the screen, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Everyone once in a while, Etho spaced out again looking past his screen, but once he started to drink his cooled down coffee, it was less frequent. Damn was Etho addicted to the stuff?

Iskall noticed him glance to the side one more time and decided to follow his gaze instead of snapping him out of it so quickly. Keralis had taken a break in the back while Bdubs leaned on a counter, surfing his phone.

He was bathed in the afternoon light, with the dust settling around them, sort of making him glow. He chuckled at something on his phone, his palm resting on his cheek, and Iskall had a sly grin.

The cold hearted Etho, soft for someone? Iskall chuckled out loud at the stupidly hiliarius thought, effectivly snapping Bdubs and Etho out of their respective dazes.

Etho tensed and blinked his eyes a few times, giving a small and totally not awkward wave to Bdubs, who politely waved back before turning back to his phone and typing something.

"What's so funny?" Etho asked.

"Oh just, something Mumbo sent." Iskall lied through their teeth, quickly turning on his phone under the table to show that the phone was on to Etho, before shoving it back in their pocket.

"Uh ok, well just let me finish this slide so I can beat you-"

"Dude I finished like 10 minutes ago."

"What? Really!" Etho exclaimed, drooping his shoulders in defeat.

Iskall cackled as Etho sulked, and closed their laptop just to emphasise it.

"Well it's sort of late." Iskall said as they stood up. It was true, the light was starting to fade outside, earlier than normal.

Etho finished typing something quickly and triumphantly stood up. "Alright, finished," He said. "And I have a new coding assignment soo..."

Before Etho could turn around, Iskall grabbed his arm and looked him in the eye. "No nighter's. One month. That was the deal."

"Yeah yeah, I know." Etho said. "Plus Doc would kill me if I did that during the school week again."

Iskall turned towards the counter, and waved over to the lone employee. "Thanks for the coffee dude."

"Yeah, thanks Bdubs." Etho echoed.

"Uh no problem! Come again soon!" Bdubs waved excitedly, grinning a little nervously.

Etho titled his cup, "For this stuff, always."

Iskall gave him a weird look but Etho didn't notice as he left without another word, the bell signalling their departure.

"What was that about, Slab?" Iskall asked when they were outside. They stuffed there hands in their pockets as the cold wind bit at them, very thankful they changed beforehand.

"It's good coffee." Etho said nonchalantly with a shrug.

The road parted, and Iskall dropped it. Etho was a mysterious guy, and sometimes that was all that explained his weird dialog.

"See you in class, iceman!"

"Bye, knock off iceman!"

And they split their separate ways. 

---------

(3385 words above the line!)

Ask, and ye shall receive!

So uh, I was gonna make this a montage, giving each day like a page, but I'm really bad at compacting stuff, so you guys just get more overall! The whole week was just gonna be one chapter, but I think I might just have two days a chapter or somethin'. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Vote or comment maybe?

(also please tell me if I screw up grammar or use he/him pronouns for Iskall, because I'm trying to write Iskall with them/them pronouns but sometimes I miss type and don't notice while editing, thanks!)