Chapter Text
It was only an hour into her shift and Cheelai was already over it.
Not a single soul had come into the diner since she’d started at midnight - on one hand, it meant she could just chill, but on the other, it meant no tips. She sighed, tossed the fashion magazine she had been flipping through onto the counter and stood up to stretch. 1AM on a Tuesday night and the place was deserted - what was the point of even keeping the place open?
Frieza’s was a neighbourhood institution, an old fashioned diner that served all the staples, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for the last 30 years. That was its calling card - no matter what time of day you could always come on down to Frieza’s for a hot meal and a cup of coffee served up with a smile. Well, maybe not the last part, at least not tonight. Cheelai was in no mood. She was late on the rent again. No surprise really, considering she’d been stuck on the weekday late night shift for the last 3 months. A punishment for mouthing off to a rude customer during the breakfast rush - instead of firing her, the boss had exiled her to the land of no tips. Cheelai wondered for what felt like the millionth time why she didn’t just quit. There had to be better gigs out there. At this rate, she’d never get back on the day shift.
She was looking under the counter for a copy of yesterday’s paper so she could peruse the help wanted ads when the bell over the door chimed. Finally, a customer! She stood up quickly and grabbed the coffee pot from the machine on the back counter. Normally, whenever a customer came into the diner, Cheelai would go through her standard routine: cheery greeting, pour them some coffee, hand them a menu, tell them the specials. It was a routine she’d done a hundred times before. This time, her routine went out the window because the man that had just walked in completely threw her off her game.
He was tall, and his shoulders were so broad that she wondered if he had had to turn sideways to get through the door. Despite the chilly fall weather, he was only wearing a long sleeved black crew neck t-shirt that hugged every muscle, cargo pants and work boots. He had long messy black hair and dark eyes, and as he got closer Cheelai noticed a long thin scar on his right cheek. He walked across the diner, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was gaping at him, and sat in the end booth furthest away from the door. Cheelai took a deep breath, grabbed a menu and headed over.
“Welcome to Frieza’s!” she squeaked, wondering what was happening to her vocal cords. The tall dark stranger had been gazing out of the window lost in thought; at the sound of her voice he looked at her, and Cheelai felt her heart rate pick up.
“Here’s your menu, our special tonight is the Monte Cristo sandwich. Can I get you started with some coffee?” If her voice got any higher, only dogs would be able to hear it. Fortunately, her only customer didn’t seem to notice her awkwardness and simply nodded. Cheelai filled his cup and then quickly retreated behind the counter to regroup. What was wrong with her? Men came in the diner all the time! Well, on the day shift. The diner was situated in an industrial part of the city, and during the day and well into the evening they saw a steady stream of factory and construction workers. On the late night shift, hardly anyone came in, as her bank account knew all too well. This guy however? She’d definitely never seen anyone like him before.
“C’mon, pull yourself together,” she muttered to herself. She took a deep breath, smoothed her apron and headed back over to the booth.
“Are you ready to order?” she said brightly, sounding a little more like herself and a little less like Mickey Mouse. The tall dark stranger had been gazing out the window again, and the sound of her voice seemed to startle him.
“Sorry,” he said, “I haven’t even looked at the menu yet.” Cheelai was surprised at how soft spoken he was.
“No worries! I can come back.” she said, in a voice that was almost normal.
He quickly flipped through the menu. “No it’s okay, I’ll have the double stack of pancakes, six eggs scrambled, a double order of hash browns, sausage and bacon, and the cheeseburger deluxe.”
“Do you want fries with the cheeseburger?” she asked faintly.
“And onion rings please.”
“Coming right up!”
Cheelai topped up his coffee then scurried back to the counter wondering how he managed to eat like that. He looked like he was solid muscle, at least from what she could see. She put the order through and heard Lemo give a low whistle.
“Not often that we get a group at this hour,” he said.
“It’s not a group,” she replied. “That’s all for one guy.”
“You’re kidding!” he exclaimed, peering out the pass-through at her. He whistled again. “I don’t know where he’s going to put it all but I’ll get right on it.”
Soon the diner was filled with the scent of Lemo’s cooking. While Cheelai waited for the massive order to be finished, she tried to keep herself busy - wiping down the countertop, filling the salt and pepper shakers, anything to keep herself from staring at her only customer. She had just finished wiping off the napkin dispenser when she heard Lemo’s call.
“Order up! You need help carrying all that?”
“No I’m good, I can make a couple trips” she said quickly. She grabbed a couple of plates and headed over to the stranger’s booth.
“Here you go!” she said brightly, placing the heavy plates on the table in front of him. “I’ll be right back.” She returned in a moment with the rest of his order.
“Thank you Cheelai,” he said quietly.
It was a good thing she had already put down the plates she was carrying, because if she hadn’t she certainly would have dropped them in surprise.
“How do you know my name?” she exclaimed.
He looked at her as if slightly confused by her reaction. “Your name tag” he said simply. Cheelai cringed inwardly. Duh! She always wore a name tag. It was part of her uniform.
“Of course! I…forgot it was there!” She could feel her cheeks burning. At this point the only way she could make a bigger fool of herself was if she were to trip over her nonexistent shoelaces and fall headfirst into his plate of eggs. She quickly retreated behind the counter before she said or did anything else idiotic. To distract herself, she resumed her search for yesterday’s paper behind the counter. She found it behind a canister of coffee and after halfheartedly scanning the help wanted ads she started on the crossword puzzle.
She had just been mulling over a particularly tricky clue when she heard a small cough. She looked up to see the tall dark stranger standing across from her on the other side of the counter.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry—I should have been checking in to see if you needed anything!” she exclaimed, kicking herself. How could she have gotten wrapped up in a stupid crossword puzzle for so long? She looked at the clock and realized that only about 15 minutes had passed since she brought out his order. She looked over at the booth and saw that the plates were empty. How? There’s no way he could have finished all that food that quickly.
“It’s okay,” he said.
Not much of a talker, Cheelai thought. She wondered again how he could eat like that and look the way he did. Maybe he lived in the gym? She realized she was staring at him and snapped back to attention.
“Would you like anything else? More coffee? The dessert menu maybe?”
He seemed to be contemplating dessert for a moment but then shook his head. Cheelai felt a pang of disappointment for a moment but then pushed it away. That was it. When she got home she was finally going to bite the bullet and create a dating app profile. If tonight was any indication, she had definitely been alone for too long. Imagine getting flustered over a random guy like this! Well, she didn’t know if random was the best way to describe him—she couldn’t picture a random guy looking the way he did—but either way she was annoyed with herself.
“Okay well…I’ll get you your bill then.” Cheelai rang up his order and placed the bill on the counter. He paid—leaving a very generous tip, she noticed—and turned to leave.
“Thanks! Come again soon!” she said. He turned to her and nodded, then headed out into the night. She exhaled a long slow breath and slumped against the counter. Could she have been any more cringe? Ugh. She went over to his booth and started clearing the table, taking a mental inventory of which pictures of her would work best for her dating profile. She was stacking the last of the plates when she noticed a glint of metal on the leather banquette seat. It was a key ring with a cat-shaped charm and a couple of keys dangling from it—the tall dark stranger must have dropped them. She grabbed them and dashed for the exit, pausing for a second to let Lemo know that she’d be right back.
Once she was out on the street she looked around to see which way he’d gone, hoping that he hadn’t gone too far. Fortunately, he was hard to miss on a deserted street, and he was only a couple of blocks away. Cheelai started running after him, or rather, jogging—her work flats weren’t really suited for chasing people down the street. Once she got a bit closer she called after him.
“Hey! Excuse me!”
Thankfully, he heard her and stopped walking. He turned and looked at her in bewilderment as she jogged up to him.
“You forgot your keys!”
She held out the key ring to him and his eyes widened. His fingers brushed hers as he took the key ring, and Cheelai noticed—much to her surprise—that he was blushing slightly, which made him go from intimidating to adorable in the blink of an eye. They stood on the pavement together in awkward silence for a moment until Cheelai couldn’t take it any more.
“Well…I’d better get back to work,” she said hesitantly, turning to head back up the street to the diner.
“Wait!”
She turned back and looked at him inquiringly.
“Thank you Cheelai.” He was still blushing. It was still adorable. Cheelai could feel butterflies start dancing around in her chest.
“You’re welcome…what’s your name by the way? Since you know mine it’s only fair I know yours,” she said, wondering where her sudden bout of boldness was coming from.
“Broly.”
“You’re welcome Broly,” she said.
He smiled at her then, and she could feel the butterflies intensify. They exchanged good-byes, and Cheelai walked back to the diner in a daze. She entered, let Lemo know she was back, and then slumped against the counter with a sigh.
She knew had plenty of things to do—she needed to finish clearing the booth, help Lemo with the dishes, maybe give the help wanted ads a second look—but at that moment the only thing she could do was picture a pair of dark eyes, a long thin scar on a blushing cheek, and a smile that made her heart melt.
Maybe the late night shift wasn’t so bad after all.