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Tim Drake Wayne did not like coffee, he much preferred energy drinks. But Tim did like the ritual of ordering a drink and watching it be made while being surrounded by relatively peaceful people and settings. Unfortunately, Tim ‘s usual coffee shop was closed due to unplanned renovations and Tim had yet to find a replacement shop that he actually liked. Today he was trying a hole in the wall place called ‘Haunted Grounds’. When he entered the door chime didn’t sound like bells or buzzers or chimes, but a really cheesy and dramatic creaking hinge sound effect.
The space was small, even for an out of the way coffee shop. But the interior was surprisingly well lit, considering the name and theme. There were only a few other people in the coffee shop right now. It was mid-afternoon so there really should be more. But ‘Haunted Grounds’ was small and the location wasn’t great.
Two college students sat across from each other at a long, tall table with mis-matched but sturdy looking stools. They seemed to be either friends or working on a project together. They both had ceramic plates and mugs beside them. The mugs weren’t steaming, one of the plates had a half eaten croissant and the other was empty.
Someone middle aged was sitting in a very comfortable looking love seat and reading an actual physical book with a steaming mug on the tea table beside them. The other two people were doing a job interview. Hopefully it was really a job and not cult recruitment. It’d only be Tim’s problem if they were sacrificing people so he left them alone for now.
The decor was eclectic and very cheesy. There were Halloween decorations up, despite it being January. Surprisingly few of the decorations were made with plastic. The garlands decorating the walls where they met the ceiling were made from all natural materials: dried leaves and flowers, branches, fabric, and different sorts of papers. There were potted trees in the corners by the windows, and plants hanging from the ceiling over walkways. Those two choices were fairly standard for local coffee shops, though not usually in Gotham. Ivy used any plants already around and most insurance wouldn’t cover damages due to indoor plants.
The rest of the decor matched the spooky name of the shop. Though most of the ghosts were green instead of white. Beside the ghosts there were bats. Strings of colorful origami bats and ghosts were attached to the ceiling where there weren’t any plants. Near the front door was a basket with small handmade critters, mostly crochet, and a hand written note that read ‘Take A Friend Home!’ with a smaller note in a different hand ‘we’re free!’. There were bats and ghosts in the basket as well as birds. The silly green ghost must be their mascot, because while the bats and birds were clearly based on the local vigilantes the ghosts were just bright lime green with red eyes and mouths. There were two kinds of black bats, ones with white eyes and ones with black x’s for eyes and the red bats had white eyes. There were three sorts of birds, a purple bird, a red bird with a black head and ones that were obviously Robin but also not standardized at all like the other critters. They were all sorts of color combinations of green, yellow and red and sometimes even purple or black.
‘Haunted Grounds’ was a very dedicated to their theme. Even the pastry selection was in on it. There were iced sugar cookies that looked like bats and chocolate chunk cookies that were cut out in the shape of ghosts with little red icing eyes and mouths. There were scones with vibrantly purple sprinkles of something (or just literally sprinkles maybe) in them, and blackberry tarts, and butter croissants. Their drinks were named ridiculous names like ‘Dead Eye’, ‘Dead Tired’, and ‘Black Death’ but their ingredients were listed clearly and there was nothing particularly alarming about any of them.
“Welcome, welcome, what can I do you for?” The barista asked with a surprisingly genuine smile. Their name tag said ‘Danny’ and ‘He/Them’ and was a shockingly big guy. Bigger than Bruce, bigger even than Jason. His hair was short and black and messy, his eyes a pale blue. His left arm was fully covered with his shirt sleeve and he was wearing a compression glove on that hand. Their shirt’s right sleeve was mesh which showed off their muscles and body hair. That hand was uncovered and nails painted a rich red. Tim wondered what color the nails of his other hand were then looked back to Danny’s face. Their ears were pierced and the left had a row of pretty little cartilage piercings in blacks, reds and golds.
“I’ll have the Caramel Coffee Hunter. To go.” Tim said with his own smile. Tim wasn’t sure what ‘ghost hunters’ had to do with sugary blended drinks but it seemed to be what the whole category was called.
“Great choice! Can I get a name for the order?” Danny said brightly. While his Midwest accent explained his lack of gloomy attitude there was no explanation for being this dang chipper this early in the day.
“Tim,” Tim said, trying to sound as ‘not brusque’ as he could before his next dose of caffeine.
Danny rang him up and Tim paid with a fifty and dropped the change in the tip jar.
“Gosh, you sure? I really apreesh it but it’s totally not, like, necessary.” Danny said.
Tim made eye contact and pulled out and dropped in another fifty.
“Okay, okay! Message received Mister Tim, sir!” Danny said with a warm laugh. Tim firmly ignored the flutter in his stomach at the playful and not at all serious teasing.
Danny’s backside was just as muscled and generous as the rest of him. Tim looked away, no need to be a creep. Danny was just doing his job. It wasn’t Danny’s fault he was good at flirting for tips.
“One Caramel Coffee Hunter for Tim,” Danny said.
Tim brought his attention back to Danny to smile polite thanks as he took his drink. He was not expecting the cute flirty wink as his drink changed hands.
“Thanks,” Tim blushed and sipped his drink. It was good. Sweet without being cloying.
“Hope I get to see you tomorrow!” Danny called as he left.
Tim blushed brighter and hoped his ears weren’t red enough for the barista to notice.