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There were some days when Wind would swear up and down that he was the most intelligent person in Castle Town Coffee Shop.
He would chat up customers, learning countless things about them in the two minutes it took for them to order their drinks. He could sell nearly any product with just a few words and a grin. He recognized most of their repeat customers’ faces and orders, and they recognized him as well.
His brother had jokingly said that he would be a great con man, but it was definitely true.
Wind knew everything about everybody. He knew that Twilight secretly wrote letters to Midna that he never sent, and that Wild would stare off into space for hours, talking to Flora. He managed to learn all of Blue’s brothers’ names, and figured out that there was most definitely something wrong with Legend. He didn’t plan on using those secrets against them; he was above that, instead planning to use them to help somehow.
Wind Knight was an intelligent and talkative person, which is why it made no sense when he was rendered speechless by a single person.
The odds were insanely low, in his opinion. Infinitesimal, in fact.
He loved math, but how could he calculate the possibility that he and his idol would be in the same coffee shop at the same time? What were the odds that he would have to converse with Wind to order his drink?
But despite the infinitesimal odds, here he was, waiting for the Sky Cooper to order his drink.
He was trying his hardest to keep his composure, but it was nearly impossible when the person who had inspired him to keep moving when he was at his lowest, whose content had helped him through the loss of his brother, was talking to him.
“I’ll just have a strawberry milkshake,” he said, his trademark smile shining on his face. “Whipped cream, no cherry, please.”
Wind swallowed, forcing himself to keep breathing. “Of course,” he said, trying to keep his voice from cracking. “Anything else?”
“A slice of red velvet cake would be nice, as well,” Sky said, zipping up his jacket. “It’s a little cold in here, don’t you think?”
Wind slowly nodded, tearing his eyes away. “It can get that way on hot days.”
He finished inputting the order into the system, sucking in a deep breath. “That’ll be ten dollars, nine cents.”
Sky nodded, taking out a twenty dollar bill and handing it to him. “Keep the change,” he said warmly.
Wind took the bill gingerly, staring down at it before putting it into the register. “Thank you,” he mumbled, trying not to embarrass himself.
“Pardon me?” Sky asked. “I couldn’t hear you.”
“Thank you,” Wind said, trying his best to make his voice heard. Underneath his breath, he added, “For everything.”
His mind was swirling with words, a hurricane of thoughts and fragmented sentences crashing through his mind. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he kept his lips locked and nodded professionally.
As he walked off, Wind was seconds away from banging his head on the counter. “You idiot!” he whispered to himself. “He was right there, and you could have at least said something!”
He felt a hand on his shoulder. “You good?” Blue asked, eyebrow raised and head cocked to the side.
“I feel stupid, but I’m fine,” he muttered.
Blue frowned. “What’s up?”
“You know the guy who basically was the reason why this cafe became so famous? Sky Cooper? Yeah, he’s my idol, and he also just sat down.”
“Nice,” Blue said. “Why do you feel bad?”
“I could have at least said something! I was so awkward that I probably made myself look stupid!”
Blue sighed. “Kids these days,” he mumbled. “Here’s an idea.
“Twi!” he called. “Wind’s taking out the next order. Don’t complain.”
Wind looked up abruptly. “Huh?”
“You wanted to talk, there’s your chance,” Blue said.
“I don’t want to be intrusive!”
“I worry about being intrusive the six times I email my brothers’ social workers every day, and they don’t make a fuss. This is one guy, and your second time talking to him. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.”
“Don’t do… what?”
“Never mind,” he said.
“There aren’t any mountains around here.”
“You’re all morons,” Blue grumbled. “I hate it here.”
“Keep saying that!” Legend yelled from off to the side, chuckling. “We all know you’re lying to yourself.”
Wind sighed, grabbing the strawberry milkshake and cake and walking out from behind the counter. He was able to pinpoint Sky’s table instantly, walking over as fast as possible.
“Milkshake and red velvet cake,” he said, keeping his voice steady.
Sky smiled. “Thank you!” he said.
Wind nodded, sucking in a deep breath. Here comes the moment of truth.
“If it’s not too much of a bother… there’s something I’d like to say…”
Sky looked up from his milkshake, raising his eyebrows curiously. “Go ahead! You can sit if you’d like.”
Wind nodded and pulled out a chair, his heart hammering in his chest. “I, um… I’ve been a big fan of yours for a while now, and I just wanted to say… thank you. A lot. I know you don’t know me, but your stuff has helped me through a lot of stuff lately, like losing my big brother, and it makes me feel a little bit better because I’ve never really had that many friends before; once again, I’m sorry if I’m being a bother but you’ve had such a big impact on my life and I just wanted to say thank you.”
Sky stared at him for a moment, lips slightly parted, before smiling fondly. “What’s your name?”
Wind widened his eyes. “I’m Wind.”
“Well, Wind,” Sky said, taking a sip of his milkshake, “I’m glad I could help you. I don’t know most of my fans, but I know the impact that things like the stuff I do on YouTube can have on a lot of people. I’m so glad that I’ve managed to help you.”
Wind blushed. “Thank you,” he said, trying his best to keep his voice at a normal pitch. “You’re actually technically the reason I have this job right now… the owners needed a bit of extra help after the post blew up, so…”
“That’s amazing!”
“Thanks,” he said. “I really don’t mean to be a bother-”
“I promise, you’re not,” Sky said. “I love hearing from people like you. It makes me happy to know I’ve made a difference. And I’m sorry for your loss,” he added as an afterthought.
“He’s not really gone gone,” Wind murmured, “he just isn’t around anymore.”
“Still, losing someone hurts,” Sky said, running a hand through his sandy blonde locks. “If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m going to start coming more regularly…”
“Really?”
“Well, I did come here to check out the job offer.”
The job offer.
Wind had completely forgotten about it.
A few days ago, Time and Malon had issued a second job offer, looking for someone else to hire for marketing and advertising. Now that Wind thought about it, Sky would be perfect for it.
“That’s great,” he squeaked, blushing when his words came out in an extremely high pitched voice.
“If I don’t get the job, I’ll definitely start coming more often,” he said, winking. “Until then, it was nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too,” Wind said, finally relaxing as he stood up and walked back to the counter, walking straight over to Blue and pulling him into a hug.
“What are you doing?” Blue groaned, annoyed.
“It worked,” Wind said. “I got to talk to him! And he’s applying for the job, apparently.”
“Don’t freak out,” Blue said. “You don’t know if he’s even going to get the job.”
“Well, I can hope. Plus, he technically meets the requirements.”
Blue shrugged. “People can hope.”
Later that day, when the store closed, Sky knocked on the door. “Hello? Mr. Forester! I’m here for the interview.”
The door swung open, and a tall man came out. He glared down at Sky, his one eye fixating on him, before his features softened. “You must be Sky,” he said. “Come in.”
Sky nodded respectfully, walking through the door and following him to a table in the cafe. “I’d conduct the interview in the back, but most of the employees are still here,” he said.
“Oh, that’s fine,” Sky replied, leaning back. Just take it easy, and act natural.
“So, Mr. Cooper, why did you choose to apply to this job?”
“I wanted a chance to give back to my community. They’ve all done so much for me, and I wanted to return the favor.”
“How did you find this job listing?”
“My soulmate and I were looking for jobs, and I came across this one. I thought it might be a good idea, and then I noticed that this just happened to be the coffee shop I came to about a month ago.”
Mr. Forester nodded. “Do you have any prior experience in the food and beverage industries?”
“Uh, I worked at a deli in Skyloft for a couple years, when I was seventeen. That’s really it.”
“What are your available work hours?”
“Around nine to four.”
“Alright,” he said. “I’m going to move on to some more personal questions now.”
“Okay!”
“What’s your soulmark?”
“I have the distance away from her.”
“Any family?”
“They all died in a car crash when I was four,” Sky said, shoulders drooping. “The only person I really have is Sun—she’s my soulmate. We’re getting married in September.”
“That’s good,” he said. After clearing his throat, he said, “Thank you for taking time out of your day for this interview. You’re hired, by the way.”
Sky softly exhaled. “Thank you, Mr. Forester,” he said.
“Call me Time, please. You can come to the back and meet the rest of the staff if you’d like.”
Sky nodded, adjusting the zipper on his jacket and standing up. “Thank you,” he said again.
“It’s no trouble at all,” Time said, faintly smiling.
The two of them walked to the back, seeing a small group of people conversing in the room. A woman with red hair and a boy with long blonde hair were baking something in an oven, while a tall man with blue-streaked blonde hair and a shorter boy with light brown hair discussed something with the kid he had met earlier—Wind, if Sky remembered his name correctly. Next to them, a boy with short, wavy strawberry blonde hair was tapping on his phone screen.
“Everyone,” Time said, commanding the attention of all the occupants, “meet our newest employee, Sky Cooper.”
They all looked over, waving at him. Time walked him around the room, introducing him to everyone. Everything seemed to be going a little fast, but it was enough for him to handle.
A few minutes later, the oven beeped, and Malon and Wild excused themselves to go pull something out. The two of them took out a small tray of cookies, which smelled heavenly.
“Cookies are ready!” Wild yelled, placing them onto a plate with gentle hands and bringing it over to the coffee table. “Be careful, and don’t eat them just yet. They’re really hot.”
They waited for another minute for the cookies to cool down, Legend being the first to taste one. “Tastes good,” he mumbled through the food in his mouth. After swallowing, he added, “Really good.”
“It was a new recipe,” Wild admitted, and the look of shock on Legend’s face sent everyone into laughter.
“You used me! I’ve never felt more betrayed,” he said, though he was clearly joking. “Am I just some sort of guinea pig to test out all your new recipes on?”
“Yes.”
“Ouch.”
Wind giggled, until he felt something in his pocket. “My brother’s calling,” he said excitedly. “I haven’t talked to him in ages! I was worried I’d done something wrong.”
He pulled out his phone, swiping to the right and holding it up to his ear. “You finally called me back!” he cheered. “I can’t believe it’s-”
He stopped talking for a second, his face entering a more neutral expression. “What are you doing with his phone?” he asked, in a voice that sent chills down everyone’s spines.
After a second, his brows pinched in anger. “That’s not your choice to make!”
Sky was suddenly glad he could only hear one half of that conversation.
“No, he’s my family, not yours. Plus, it’s our mom paying the bills, not you, so it doesn’t belong to you.”
Another second passed, and Wind was about to scream in frustration. “Is it really that hard to have a productive conversation with someone? Goddess, just give him back his phone and all of this will be fine.”
Silence.
“I absolutely hate you, you know that? I hate you.”
Silence.
“I don’t care about ‘being careful with my words.’ You’re not the boss of me.”
Another beat of silence.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
At this point, they were all getting concerned.
“You can’t do that.”
They could see Wind biting his lip, face twisted in concern.
“No, I mean you literally can’t do that. It’s illegal.”
Time sat up straighter in his chair, narrowing his eyes.
“You’re threatening a fourteen year old! Goddess, Cia, do you have anything better to do with your time?”
Everyone else was staring, concerned.
“Oh my goddess, you’re serious.”
There was a barely contained gasp of shock as they all saw the pure, unadulterated fear in his eyes.
“Fine,” he spat, hanging up the phone.
After a moment, he asked, “Hey, Time? If I murdered someone, I’d be fired, right?”
“Yes, why?”
“There goes Plan A,” he muttered. “What if I just severely maimed them?”
“What’s going on?”
Wind looked around, putting his phone behind him. “I think my brother’s girlfriend just threatened to kill me.”
There was complete silence in the room for a moment.
“You’re not kidding, are you?” Legend murmured, eyes wide.
“She’s actually going to kill me, oh my goddess,” he said, looking down at the ground, as he reached out and grabbed a cookie.
“Why, exactly?” Malon asked, fingers threading through her hair.
“Because she feels like it,” he said, venom in his voice. “I’m pretty sure she’s a psychopath. Like, an actual psychopath. Warrior says he saw a diagnosis for antisocial personality disorder in her glove compartment in her car.”
“That’s really concerning,” Blue commented.
“Concerning doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Wind agreed. “She took his phone, too—trying to keep him from talking to anyone.”
“Honey, I don’t think you should go home tonight,” Malon said, her light blue eyes filled with concern.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I’ll text my mom.”
After everything quieted down, Legend walked over to Wind, placing a hand on his shoulder. As soon as his younger coworker looked up at him, he said, “Don’t worry, Wind. It’s gonna be okay.”
They both knew it wasn’t true, but it was okay to pretend.