Chapter 1: A Can of Cheer
Chapter Text
On nearly any other day, the sight of her alarm clock blinking: 7:00 AM would be a dream come true for Noelle Holiday, and she’d pull her covers up and go back to sleep for a short while longer. However, as a pit of dread started to gnaw at her stomach and she slowly opened her eyes again, she realized that today was in fact Saturday and if it was indeed 7 o’clock in the morning, she was nearing being late for work.
She quickly threw her blanket off as she bolted upright and checked her phone to indeed confirm that her alarm clock was not playing tricks on her, only to be greeted by the warm light on her phone displaying the same exact time. With a heavy sigh, she hustled over to her closet and grabbed the first sweater and pair of pants she spotted and hastily turned her light on so she could get dressed.
“Noelle, honey, are you not awake yet?” Carol Holiday’s voice boomed through her door as she heard the tell tale sound of her mother’s heels on the wooden floor outside of her bedroom. “You’ve been insisting on getting to open the cafe all by yourself for weeks now, just to be running behind when I finally allow it!”
“I’m almost ready, Mom!” Noelle yelled back with a voice that she felt was firm and strong but knew was still too polite and passive as ever while she put her other leg through her jeans. The cafe didn’t have a strict dress code by any means, but it was owned by her parents so of course It’s theme and attire were both more jolly and festive than most monsters ever got near Christmas time itself! Her jeans were a dark emerald color that didn’t quite go all the way down to the ground so they wouldn’t get in the way of her work, and a maroon sweater adorned with snowflakes. She took the time to make sure she tied her hair up with a couple of ribbons and then with one final glance in the mirror, deemed herself ready to head downstairs.
She ran out her door just to almost directly collide with her mother who was headed back to check on Noelle’s time management yet again. Carol shook her head as she watched her daughter scramble to splash water on her face and brush her teeth. “We really need to get a move on Noelle, at this point I’m almost going to need to cancel my morning meeting to open up the shop instead.”
“N-no, no!! I’m ready now I swear!” Noelle plastered on a (somewhat) real smile to Carol as they descended down the stairs together. Her mother chose to ignore her rebuttal and simply ushered Noelle out the door while barely looking up from her cellphone until she had to climb into the driver seat of the car.
“Now Noelle,” she started as she quickly maneuvered the car into reverse and got them down the driveway and through the gate before switching gears “What are the most important things to do at the start of the day to open up the store?”
“O-oh, right!” Noelle stopped fussing with her hair and wracked her brain for the answer that her mom would find to be right “W-well, first I’ll need to start the hot coffee brewing so that could warm up while I do other things!” She dared a glance over and saw her mother nodding along so she quickly continued with more confidence, “Then, I’ll check over the bake case and see what all we have on hand so I can call Toriel with our baked goods order! And then-“
She was cut off by the sharp click of Carol’s tongue tutting at her. “What have I said about starting a sentence with ‘and’?”
Noelle couldn’t help a heavy sigh at the interruption. “Yes, yes I know! I’m just trying to run through all of this with you as quickly as possible before we get there!”
Almost comedically on cue, the car came to a stop and parked neatly into a spot in front of the cafe. It was such a short distance that truthfully Noelle could have walked (or ran even) had she managed her time better, but her parents weren’t very fond of her being out by herself in the dark even for such a short distance. She squinted her eye up at the sign on top of the building that stated: “HAVE A CUP OF CHEER! THE HOLIDAY CAFE!” In red (and green) neon lights that seemed especially blinding with her lack of full nights sleep. She took a deep breath and silently steeled herself to get out of the car- she HAD been waiting for a long time to get a chance to do this on her own and today was finally the big day!
“I know you feel like I’m nagging you, but at the very least you still need to treat me with respect! I’m only trying to help you be the best person you can be,” her mom continued through the small gap in the drivers window she had left down as Noelle was already outside of the car. “It’s never okay to walk away to someone when they’re still speaking to you, especially your own parents!”
Noelle stifled back another sigh as she turned to give her mom an apologetic look and a small smile “I’m sorry Mom, I’m just a little tired this morning from studying too late last night! I know you’re always looking out for me, and I really am sorry-“ She was trying to give her mom the most sincere apology she could manage while also trying not to look panicked as she one hundred million percent could not find her keys anywhere on her body. They weren’t in either of her pants pockets, or in their usual spot in the front pocket of her sling bag. She silently tried to pat around more and willed them to appear as she heard a familiar jingle of keys and trinkets as her mom held out her heart shaped carabiner out the window. They must have fallen out of her pocket in the car, which makes sense, but still. Oops.
“It’s fine Noelle, but also I mean truly, you need to clear some stuff off of this thing. It’s so cluttered I have no idea how you didn’t feel it come loose.” She sighed at her chaotic child as she dangled the keys out the window and into her daughter’s hand. Even though her words were not particularly kind, there was a maternal undertone present even if she didn’t know how to properly express her love towards her child. “Give me a call if you need anything or something goes wrong. I’ll be in a meeting for the next hour or so, and your father will be asleep as he got home late last night from a test they had to run over at the hospital.” She paused for a beat. “I am sure you’ll be just fine. Update me later when you can, I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom!” As she gave a small wave and turned to unlock the big front door, she allowed herself a deep breath. Underneath her bundles and bundles of nerves, she was so excited! Working at the cafe for the last four years had created some of the best memories she could have ever hoped to make. Granted at fourteen and fifteen she didn’t “work” at the cafe as much as herself, Kris, and Asriel “taste tested” all of sweet treats their mom started to make for the shop. She still enjoyed being here more than anywhere else. Everyone in town stopped by regularly or at least every now and again, and she had grown close to a few monsters from near and far towns too that have traveled and stopped by their cafe.
Yeah pretty much everyone except Susie comes to see me here
Noelle thought as she turned her key in the door and heard the lock click open. Well, it’s not like you’ve ever invited her directly either though. Her brain so unhelpfully provided in response to her other train of thought.
You should just invite her sometime to come with Kris! Angel knows they’re already here pretty much every day to the point where Mom made them agree to work at least once a week to make up for their sweet treat addiction.
She giggled slightly at the thought of Susie coming by to see her hard at work behind the line. She had seen so many romantic comedies where they start in a coffee shop, maybe this could be her “in” to getting to take Susie on a date! Or at least get to know her better! She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it before!
However, as she had turned and flicked the light switch on next to the door and then pivoted around to head to the back she immediately froze in her tracks as she saw a shadowy figure sitting at the countertop stools area and heard the familiar spray sound of a can. She quickly turned around to turn on the rest of the light switches and saw an all too familiar human being sitting (arguably laying down) with their feet sprawled out on two chairs at the counter and at least 3 empty canisters of whipped cream on the floor- NOT counting the one in their hand.
Noelle felt herself shriek involuntarily and with a slight note of hysteria “KRIS?!?!”
Chapter 2: Cookies, Caffeine and Chaos
Chapter Text
“…Sup?” Kris nodded back at their friend unceremoniously, still continuing to spray the can of whipped cream in their mouth until it was sputtering and empty.
Noelle blinked twice and willed her eyes not to twitch as she took in the scene. This wasn’t the first time Kris had hung out here after hours, but it was just about the last thing she needed today as she was gearing up to open the store alone for the first time.
Kris was always causing some type of mischief like this! They were simply a bottomless pit that craved endless cookies, caffeine and chaos. Carol had said some odd years ago that if Kris was going to hang out around the store all the time and continuously eat their products, they’d need to get a job there too to make up for it (which was more than fair in Noelle’s book! If she even did half of what Kris had done, her mother would have had a meltdown).
The cafe already had a generous employee discount of unlimited free drinks while working and up to 2 free baked goods per shift. There used to not be a limit on that either, but after Kris’s insatiable sweet tooth kept running the store out of baked goods before the end of the day more often than not, her mother had to implement some type of stricter guidelines.
Shaking her head and willing her thoughts to disappear for now, she stared at her childhood friend who now had a potential hint of remorse in their expression.
“Kris… haha… Kristopher…..fahaha…. What! Are! You! DOING!” She was shocked by how much her own voice boomed at the end of her sentence as she tried to mask her annoyance with as much kindness as possible.
Kris flinched slightly as they finally sat up and onto one chair, ignoring the (annoying) childhood nickname and setting the whipped cream down with a small clink! “Okay fine, you caught me I guess,” Kris said with a small sigh before they continued.
“I couldn’t sleep and sort of thought it was Sunday and I was supposed to be here so I just came in early…. Finally checked my phone to see it was actually Saturday, and then was mad at myself for messing that up so-“ they gestured around at the cluttered counter. “I may have consumed 5 cans of whipped cream and a small hot cup of mocha.”
Noelle, choosing to ignore where the 5th one may have ended up as she had only spotted 4 cans said: “Kris, I thought you HATED hot drinks- should I be worried about you?” She couldn’t help but giggle slightly at the situation. Not waiting for a response as she didn’t want to waste any more precious time, she ran to the back to hang up her keys and purse and headed back to the front of house with the drawer full of cash for the day.
“Oh, I didn’t make a drink with it,” Kris started, slowly and sluggishly cleaning up their mess. “I one hundred percent just filled a cup with mocha sauce and took turns eating the chocolate and whipped cream.”
Letting out a huge breath she didn’t realize she was holding, Noelle thought to herself that there better at least be more whipped cream already made. After making sure her drawer was stocked and ready, she peered into the fridge below the espresso machine and was pleasantly surprised to find it fully stocked.
“I wouldn’t do you like that, Noelle!” Kris huffed as they walked by. “I only ate stuff I knew we had extra of!” Without another word, they headed to start doing some dishes for her.
Pulling out the checklist and clipboard from under the front counter, and ran through it as quickly as possible and initiated all the other necessary tasks.
- [ ] Start to Brew Hot Coffee? Check!
- [ ] Drawer and Register Set Up? Check!
- [ ] Fridge Fully Stocked? Check!
- [ ] Espresso Machine On and Shots Pulled? Check!
- [ ] Turn On All Lights? Check!
The only thing she still had to do was turn the open sign on and check over the bake case. Flipping her wrist over to check her watch, she saw it was 7:29 so only one minute to go! How she had only been awake for less than an hour baffled her, but things seemed to be on a much better track already! She went to head over to the front door to switch on the open sign, checking on Kris on her way and asking them to check the bake case and shoot their mom a message with how many new items the cafe would need.
As she reached the front door and found the switch below the open sign to bring it to life, she almost thought she saw a dark shadow outside the door. The lights flicked on quickly, displaying the word: “OPEN!” With bright sparkly letters against a black background, she headed back to her post behind the counter.
Kris was lounging against the wall, and Noelle saw them popping their phone back in the pocket after (hopefully!) texting their mom the baked goods order. She had looked over just in time to see them shoot her a glance that she couldn’t quite read the meaning of.
“What is it?” She giggled quietly, as she started making herself a mocha to wake up with. “Kris, I promise I’m not actually mad at you. I’d love if you hung out for a couple hours anyways, I was a little nervous about this morning as is so it’s honestly amazing to have company!” She started stretching the milk for her drink and pulled a set of espresso shots in the meantime.
“Well, I have a feeling you might feel nervous all over again and I’m only slightly sorry about it,” she heard Kris say quietly behind her and just as she went to whip her head around with a reply, she heard a jingle come from the front door. They must have their first customer of the day!
“Hi, welcome in!” She said with cheery smile and cast her gaze upwards to look at their guest.
Standing just in front of the doorway was a dark and brooding dragon who looked uncharacteristically awkward. Her dark hair was covering her eyes, and her clothes were baggy but Noelle would know who that was ANY day of the week.
“S-Susie??” She stuttered out as she dropped the halfway steamed hot milk pitcher onto the floor out of surprise. It almost didn’t register to her that she had spilled at all, as the gears in her brain started to turn and tried to solve why her long term crush who had NEVER come into the cafe before when she was working, had to come in TODAY of all mornings.
“Hey Noelle,” she said in her soft but unmistakably rough around the edges voice.
Truth be told, that was one of the things Noelle thought was just so great about Susie- she was such a walking contradiction of what everyone else assumed about her. Everyone assumed that she would have a deep voice with more of a masculine energy, but in reality her’s sounded way more feminine than you’d think but still sharp and assertive. Except for her laugh that is. Susie had one of the most unique laughs ever! It was somehow super hoarse and loud, but it made Noelle want to giggle too whenever she heard it- even if she hadn’t heard what was so funny in the first place. And-
She heard the dinging of the bell by the cash register thats used to alert them to someone walking in the store if they got busy in the back, and snapped back to reality. She saw Kris standing in front of her, evidence of a smirk on their lips, and also an amused looking Susie who was now standing directly across the counter from her.
Oh! That’s right! Susie is here!! Her brain so unhelpfully provided as she tried to act casual about the whole thing and definitely not distracted in her own thoughts that have definitely nothing to do with her crush being at her work!
“S-so, what are you doing up so early on a weekend!” Noelle attempted to lean casually with one arm on the counter as she asked the question, but really only succeeded in making her stance look more awkward.
“Couldn’t sleep,” She grumbled back in response “Texted Kris to see if they wanted to hang out, and they insisted I come by here to see you two at work.” She paused as she took in the surroundings of the coffee shop and cast Noelle a mildly toothy smile. “It’s actually kind of cool in here Holiday, I didn’t realize what I was missing out on all this time.”
“Well, I sure am glad you stopped in!!” Noelle exclaimed cheerfully. “That means I get to make you a fun drink to try, right? O-of course, it would be on the house! For u-um training purposes and making new customers happy!”
Susie blinked a couple times at the kind offer, but soon also grew slightly excited at the idea. “I mean, I’m not going to turn down a free anything! Make up whatever you want, and I bet it’ll be pretty decent!” Which, in Susie’s words, meant she was sure it would be the most amazing drink she’d ever or will ever have.
“Right!” Noelle quickly locked into barista mode, cleaning up the spilled milk and racking her brain for a good drink idea to try.
Susie looked right at Kris with one of the most nervous expressions she had ever given them, which only made Kris laugh to themselves. They were honestly pretty tired of hearing about each girls crush on the other, and had no choice but to put themselves into matchmaker mode.
Every time they hung out with Susie, at some point the girl would bring up her confusing feelings towards Noelle and then repeatedly deny that it was anything other than the urge to be closer friends; While every time Kris stopped by Noelle’s house, they had to hear Noelle gush and dream over what it would be like to spend more time with Susie one on one and get to know her better. The only difference was that Noelle was fully embracing her crush, whereas Susie seemed to: A) have no idea of Noelle’s (mutual) crush on her and B) what a crush even is.
Regardless of the reason or context, Kris had grown BEYOND tired of hearing about crushes all the time, and so they left them no choice. If this didn’t start to work, they’d have to come up with even more drastic measures- but it was too early in the morning and into the plan to even worry about that for now.
But, they were never one to shy away from a scheme if need be.
Notes:
Chapter 2 = done!!
I’m not sure how to edit the end note to change it from chapter 1’s so please let me know if anyone knows how to fix it lol