Chapter Text
“He did not!” A guy called Grian exclaimed with a dramatic voice, he was talking to the well known singer, Scottsune Miku, who(for the last half hour) complained about the way her manager scheduled her concerts. Especially when they got scheduled on holidays like Christmas without her consent.
“But he did!” She replied with the same enthusiasm as G, taking the last sip of her pumpkin spice latte. “As much as I want to keep talking to you about these things I can’t, I have some things to do for the new release on Friday-” her phone buzzed ”-and my cab is waiting.”
“That’s a shame, I was enjoying our talk quite a bit.” Grian hummed, he picked up a cup and began cleaning it with a spotless rag. “I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, oh, and don’t let work worsen your sleep schedule!”
She smiled at him. “Thank you, I won't promise anything but I’ll keep your words in mind.”
He waved his hand when she walked out of his café, what should he do now? Grian knew he should write down something about her new song and dumb manager in his book but he didn’t feel like doing that right now. That would have to be a future Grians problem. For once he just stood there not doing anything other than admiring his café. This café is Grians favorite place, he just loved how he had sectioned the building out in two parts with different aesthetics. On the bottom floor or the entrance as you could call it, there was a dark academia section where he had armchairs and short tables. The floor was made out of spruce wood and the walls were decorated with bookshelves, old paintings and every table had a candle on it. This is where the barista area was, aka where he was standing right now.
But he didn’t have to wonder when he saw about fifteen people walk in on his spruce wood floor. It was already lunch time or as Grian called it; The time he has to speedrun a bunch of coffee orders cause there will be more people in five minutes. So he tightened his apron and got onto those orders.
Grian worked swiftly and made a bunch of orders all at once. He was practically running from one station to another to get every order done before more people arrived. And everyone could see how experienced he was, he literally served two coffee orders each minute and when customers tasted their order they claimed that it was spot on. During the lunch rush he didn’t make a single mistake but he was tired when everyone had finally left his café and went back to only making a few orders every once in a while. People often asked him how he managed and if he needed help with anything and Grian was aware that his life would be easier if he got help. But..
It’s way too risky to let someone else work here.
Before he knew it he saw that closing time was right around the corner, so he looked over the fairly empty floor. First at the dark academia section and turned his head to the cottage core area. There was only one person there, sitting on the corned sofa that had a mushroom poster above it and a bunch of hanging plants surrounding it.
There was a bunch of cleaning that was desperately needed but maybe he could go home early today.
He began cleaning and collecting all the empty cups scattered around the café so he could wash them. Just as he crouched down to collect another tray with two cups on it he felt someone touch his back. He just froze for a second but then stood up and looked in the direction he felt someone touch him. There he saw a guy, looking him up and down Grian saw he had short pink hair and semi-casual clothes on. But it was obvious he was a little nervous, this made Grian smile a little. Since it was the person from the cottage core area it meant that he was the last person in the building.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” He asked kindly to make sure the person wouldn’t feel threatened.
“Well, I-.” He scratched the back of his head. “I just wanted to say that you’re really good at making coffee and that you're really pretty.” As soon as he finished his sentence he almost ran towards the door, it was obvious he had a crush on Grian.
And you’d be surprised at how many times this happens to him, literally once a day he will meet someone just like this person. Even though Grian didn’t feel the same way he reached out to grab his hand, stopping the guy. They stood there for a minute when Grian suddenly spoke;
“If you want to we could meet by the alleyway next to Ron’s groceries in an hour.” Then he let go of the guy who looked as red as a tomato, he couldn’t say anything and could only look at Grian. “I trust you to not tell anyone.” He added.
He smiled at this pink haired guy who was just a little taller than himself and picked up the tray as if nothing had happened. Soon enough he saw the guy leave with his hands covering his tomato face. Poor soul, he thought. That guy has no idea what is about to happen and there is nothing he can do about it. Maybe Grian is cruel for taking advantage of others feelings but he also has to survive! Since he happened to be a bird of prey he has to eat different kinds of foods that don't go with the norm. And just because he had the ability to hide his wings doesn’t mean his instincts went away.
As he thought about what to eat for dinner he finished cleaning the café making sure everything was spotless and fresh. Once he was done he looked over the tables and smiled. He had worked hard for this, nothing would ever compare to how much he risked when he bought this place. Not even his villain persona put him in that kind of risk, that's what he thought at least. He was nineteen years old when he bought this place after all. And oh, he’s grown a lot since then, both physically and mentally. Now he knew what he really wanted.
This prompts the question as to what it is Grian wants, well there are two things actually. Both of which are often described as “selfish”, at least by the few people that had the chance to hear them. Not that Grian even cared remotely about their opinion, or the fact that they're dead now.
The thing he wanted the most was power. He never wanted to feel the slightest amount of fear, the only thing he wanted to feel was satisfaction about the things he could cause. Right now he felt like he was close to his first goal, he could do almost anything he wanted. And he just so happened to like his café and wanted to stay, so that’s what he’ll do.
He searched for his keychain as he was about to lock the door just to make sure no unwanted people break in. Just as he was about to give up and search in his other pocket he found it, pulling out the rainbow colored keychain and holding it in front of his face. Then he found the right key within seconds and finally locked the door. With a soft smile on his face he made his way through the quiet city, it was pretty late so he was the only one walking down the street right now. About a ten minute walk later he looked up at a sign and saw that he had reached his destination.
Looking into the dark and littered alleyway he saw the pink haired guy leaning against a wall. Usually he’d do this in his villain persona but because the amount of heroes partoling here had increased he wanted to see how this would work out if he didn’t hide behind a mask. And at first he felt a little nervous, just like the first time he did this with a disguise on. He had a few butterflies in his stomach but he tried to ignore them, he had to stay cool unless he wanted to get caught.
“Sorry for the wait.” Grian said with that charming smile of his. “Someone spilled their drink all over a table, it got on the floor and I had to bring the mop out, just… sorry for the wait.”
“It’s alright!” The guy replied with a high pitched voice. “I’m just happy you actually showed up, I nearly thought I heard the wrong time or something.” Grian walked up to him and grabbed his gloved hand, pulling it to the side of his face. The result was instant, the guy’s face went beat red as his hand touched G’s cheek.
“You didn’t.” For a moment he let the silence hang in the air. ”Is it just me or did it get dark out really fast?” The two of them looked up at the sky and were met with a beautiful full moon.
“No, you're right.” The guy said and scratched his neck with his other hand.
“Why don’t you come with me to my apartment? It’s much more comfortable than this nasty alleyway… Gosh, how could I pick this place?” As he spoke he saw the dude’s cheeks turn a deeper shade of red than before.
A minute later he and this guy walked through the dark alleyways back to Grians apartment. His home was strategically chosen to be above the cafe, making it easy to take care of victims such as this guy. It’s way too easy! He thought. Honestly, people are so naive, don’t they know better than following a stranger home?
In a city where kidnappings were at an all time high you’d think people would be careful. But nooo, just follow any stranger that promises to give you an- a good time.
“Soo, how’s your day been?” The guy asked, his voice drenched in… awkwardness.
“It’s been alright, the lunch rush was hard but I’m used to it.” Grian admitted, and then before he forgot he decided to get some basic information on this guy. “Oh! What about an icebreaker?” The guy nodded, seeming relieved about the offer. ”I have an odd one, what’s your blood type?”
”That’s really random, it’s uh- B positive.” He looked to be thinking of a question to ask back but Grian didn’t give the chance to ask it.
”Out of curiosity, do you have a power of sorts?” The guy looked at him for a second too long before speaking.
“I do. My power is called zoolingualism.” Grian tilted his head in obvious confusion. “It makes me able to talk to animals.”
“Ooo, that's so interesting.” He said, making sure to sound honest as he walked up the outside stairs to his apartment, that was a pretty useful power.
“What about you?" “Do you have some sort of power that increases your stamina or some flashy sort of power?”
He giggled. “Why do you think I have stamina related power?”
“Because of the way you handled the lunch rush today, I could see how you ran back and forth to make everyone’s order.” What a stalker.
“I don’t.” Grian opened his apartment door, letting his ’guest’ in first and quickly locking the door as he got inside. “I have the ability to copy others powers”
“That's so cool, how does it work?”
The smile on Grians face went from soft to stiff. “In order to copy a power…” He opened a drawer and took out a dagger as well as two sleeping pills. “…I need someone’s DNA.” Grian turned on the lights and instantly saw how the guy became more nervous than before.
“As in a strand of their hair..?”
“It’s either that or their blood.”
The guy turned around to look Grian in the eyes. He found the barista staring right back at him with unblinking eyes. An outright horrifying smile carved on his face.
“But it’s an easy choice for me.”
“...”
“Don’t you think a cannibal prefers blood over a strand of hair?”
The guy froze, his body was unable to move. Did he hear that right? His eyes widened and were met with Grians uncanny smile. Grian moved closer to him, right as he was about to scream he saw limbs growing on the man's back with sick, twisted sounds echoing through the room. There were suddenly an inky black set of wings on his back and it seemed as if they made their way through Grians skin. But then the winged man ran forward using his wings to gain more speed. He was tackled to the ground with a cold hand on his neck, before he could fight back he felt something being shoved down his throat. The only thing he could hear was sinister cackles as his vision became blurred and his body stopped responding to his commands.
Grian dragged the person down the stairs (The ones that were on the inside of the building and only could be reached from the staff only area) to the basement where he kept his meat freezer. Since the basement trapdoor was located in the barista area he needed to make sure someone walking by didn’t see something they shouldn’t. Once he opened the trapdoor he carefully climbed down the ladder with the sleeping person in one hand. As he reached the bottom he let go of the person and let him fall to the ground not caring when he heard them breaking a rib or something. Stepping over the body he walked to the freezer to see how much space he had left.
While he opened it he felt the cold air coming out of it, he ignored the cold and looked inside it. He had a bunch of frozen meat in different labeled containers in it, he had more than enough space for this person so he closed it and looked in the direction of the guy. Since this person had a unique power he wanted to label it and then put it in the special freezer. But first he wanted to extract as much blood as he could, and since he was still alive it would go smoothly.
The next day he stood behind the counter like he always did, he had circles under his eyes but that was not unusual. No one asked him about it, which he was thankful for. He was a good liar but right now he didn’t have the energy to talk about it right now. There were still six hours left until he could close the cafe so he might as well talk to someone. As he looked around the café he noticed that a well known reporter sat in one of the bar stools looking like he wanted to die. So Grian smiled, he was always up for talks. Especially when he could get some highly valued information out of it.