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“Rose milk tea with mini boba. Light ice, half sugar,” Lorenz rattled off, running through the rest of the transaction without missing a beat.
“Mini boba? Are you kidding me?” Sylvain chimed in afterwards. “I knew you had bad taste-“
“Excuse me!”
“-like with that haircut in high school-”
“We don’t talk about that!”
“-but you could at least order regular boba like a normal person.”
With an offended huff, Lorenz turned, fully prepared to defend his choice. It was a wonder why he tolerated Sylvain, much less spent any free time with him. Perhaps Ferdinand’s usual presence was more essential than they’d thought. The final member of their trio, however, had been too busy to leave the apartment.
Luckily for both Lorenz and Sylvain, the former’s order was promptly called, and he chose to withhold further comment in favor of retrieving it. Once they both had their drinks, they headed back towards campus, expecting to reach their next lecture with ample time to spare.
They were halfway there when they saw a familiar face, stylishly framed by strawberry pink tresses.
“Hey, Hilda,” Sylvain greeted smoothly. “Whatcha got there?” He nodded at the cup in her hands.
Clear, tall, and emblazoned with a deer’s silhouette, the distinct packaging caught Lorenz’s eye as well.
“This new boba place opened pretty recently.” Hilda gestured in the direction she’d come from. “It’s basically just across the street. Goes by The Golden Deer.”
“Part of a chain?” Sylvain asked, appearing interested. The way he eyed their classmate, however, suggested conversation wasn’t his real goal.
Hilda either didn’t notice or didn’t care, taking a long sip of her drink. When she was done, she flipped her hair, smiling sweetly at both of them.
“Nah, I heard a student opened it. Some grad from last year. My friends are practically there all the time now, so I decided to stop by and see it myself.” She then leaned forward, something sparkling in her eyes. “Their stuff is crazy good. You guys should definitely check it out.”
“Maybe you could show me the way? I’d love a personal recommendation.”
Lorenz didn’t even bother hiding his sigh.
“Maybe some other time,” Hilda declined with ease, cheerfully sidestepping Sylvain’s advances.
Perhaps it was a testament to her charm that they still agreed to go the very next day.
“Why am I even here?” Felix scowled.
“Don’t be like that, Fe,” Sylvain chided, and for once the affection in his voice was real.
Meanwhile, watching the two of them interact, Lorenz felt very much like an intruder.
They’d never formally met, but Lorenz knew about Felix. Sylvain had been friends with him since they were children. Despite their polar opposite personalities, they were close, yet conflicting schedules had kept them apart for months.
At least they had, until that afternoon.
“I know it’s a pretty last-minute change, but I hope you don’t mind?” Sylvain had the decency to look sheepish.
Lorenz could hardly begrudge him the opportunity, and so he acquiesced.
“It’s no trouble.”
Finding The Golden Deer took almost no time at all. The shop was close to campus, boasted a stylish facade, and had a line of students stretching right out the door. The three of them grabbed menus to browse while they waited, though Sylvain opted to share with Felix. Standing back a bit to read on his own, Lorenz found himself reeling at the seemingly endless array of options.
“First time here?” asked a voice from behind. Lorenz twisted around in search of the speaker. Coming face-to-face with the most radiantly green eyes, he was momentarily struck speechless, even more so when he saw whom they belonged to.
Warm skin, tousled locks, and the beginnings of a beard. Lorenz instantly knew he’d never met this man. There was no doubt that if he had, he would’ve committed such a visage to memory.
“Um… Come again?” he eventually choked out, flushing when he realized he’d been caught staring. Fortunately, the stranger took it in stride, smiling handsomely before repeating his question.
“Oh! Yes, I learned of it yesterday. A classmate spoke quite highly of it.”
“Would you say you get boba often? Personally, this is the most involved I’ve ever gotten with the whole culture.”
“I suppose so,” Lorenz answered, resisting the urge to check his pocket. The collection of stamp cards tucked inside suddenly felt twice as heavy. “I’m no expert on the matter, but I do enjoy a nice milk tea every once in awhile.” Try every other day. “Ah, but I must admit… this assortment is rather intimidating.”
“Too many options?”
Lorenz nodded.
“Certainly more than I’m used to seeing.”
When his companion didn’t immediately respond, Lorenz looked up to find him lost in thought. Wishing to learn more about this unfairly attractive man, he decided to raise a few questions of his own.
“What about you? It sounds like you’ve been here before, at least.”
“Oh yeah, I actually showed up on opening day,” the man explained. “It was pretty hectic. You should’ve seen how frantic the staff was! They completely ran out of boba in the first few hours, and after that-”
They continued to talk for several minutes, naturally shifting from one topic to the next. From drink preferences to majors to countless other tangents, they maintained a steady back-and-forth. Soon enough, they were debating university policies, though neither could recall how they’d gotten on the subject. Lorenz hadn’t been so engaged in a discussion since… really anything in recent memory.
It was in the midst of this exchange, however, that reality came crashing back in.
“Hey, Lorenz! You coming or what?” Sylvain beckoned from halfway across the shop.
Lorenz abruptly realized he’d not only reached the front, but had lingered long enough for the others to wander off. Not wanting to hold them up any further, he quickly excused himself, abandoning his place in line to catch up.
Startled by his conversation partner’s hurried departure, the mysterious man stopped to think. Making up his mind within seconds, he approached the shop counter with confidence.
“So, what’ll it be?” Lysithea asked, though they both knew her real question was why Claude was in line.
“The Golden Deer Special,” Claude replied with a wink. “You know exactly how I like it.”
Ignoring the blatantly fake flirtation, Lysithea rolled her eyes.
“Anything else?” she checked out of habit, not expecting a real request.
“Lavender Dream with the works. Oh, and toss in some mini boba.”
Lysithea’s hand paused over her screen.
“Come again?”
“You heard me right the first time.”
The remainder of the transaction was completed without fuss, until the very end, when Lysithea leaned over. A sly smile graced her lips, and Claude couldn’t help but recall when their positions had been reversed. It almost made him regret teasing her about Cyril.
“Hilda’s going to love this,” she gloated quietly, practically beaming when he began to blush.
Making his way behind the counter, Claude mumbled under his breath.
“Since when have you been chummy with Hilda?”
“My apologies,” Lorenz said as soon as he rejoined the others.
“So, what’d you get?” Sylvain questioned casually.
“Oh, I… uh…” Too flustered to admit he hadn’t ordered anything, Lorenz racked his brain, hoping to remember at least one menu item. “I got the special,” he lied weakly.
“Huh, didn’t think that was your taste,” Sylvain remarked, sending Lorenz’s heart into his throat. Thankfully, he didn’t press it. “I got the Bergamot Bliss myself.”
They prepared to wait for their orders, settling down among a set of empty armchairs. That was until Felix spotted something of interest, squinting towards the back of the shop, where two students were seated.
“Wait, isn’t that…?”
“Dimitri? Dedue? Hey, long time no see!” Sylvain rushed forward to meet them. Felix followed suit without a second thought, and before Lorenz knew it, he was by himself.
‘Goddess, why did I come with them?’
He looked around. Against all odds, everyone seemed to be in a group, leaving him the odd one out.
‘I should have backed out when I had the chance. This was a terrible mistake.’
More out of courtesy than any desire to stay, he waited a moment to see if they’d return. Their bookbags had been cast off beside him, yet even from a distance, it was clear they were engrossed in whatever reunion was occurring.
‘This is humiliating… I should just go,' Lorenz finally decided.
Yet just as he stood up to gather his things, a soft-spoken young woman stopped him in his tracks.
“Here you go,” she murmured, offering him a fresh beverage. Lorenz instinctively peeked at her name tag.
“Thank you, Marianne, but I’m afraid I didn’t order this.”
“It’s, um…” Marianne hesitated, gaze dropping before she caught herself. “It’s on the house.” She smiled sympathetically when he simply looked confused. “There’s a note attached to the side.”
Still bewildered but determined to be polite, Lorenz accepted the drink and sat back down. He recognized the cup from his encounter with Hilda, though no inspection was needed to tell the contents were new. Unlike his classmate's tea, which matched her hair in hue, the one in his hands appeared to be light brown. It had been generously topped with pale violet cream, as well as adorned with a number of small petals. The scent tipped him off to the fact it was lavender.
The sight of mini boba reminded him to read the note.
Pulling off a small bit of tape, Lorenz carefully untucked the folded paper. The message he found was fairly short, yet still nearly shocked him into dropping everything.
Thanks for the chat. Would love to talk again. Call me at ▇▇▇ or ask for the owner.
- Claude
Claude. The owner. The owner of the shop.
He'd spoken at length with the owner, and he hadn't even known.
Not only that, but he'd been treated to a drink... in addition to Claude's number, which Lorenz was still processing.
Mind suddenly racing with far too many thoughts, Lorenz stabbed a straw through the cup’s lid. He took a sip, trying to soothe his nerves, only to falter at the flavor.
It was sweet.
It was floral.
It was perfect for him.
By the time he lifted it for another taste, a new name had made its way onto his phone.