my fic for stephbrwn!! (pharah/mercy, coffee shop au, friends to lovers)
“The Med Student and the Barista”
by Ness (enbydva)
Word Count: around ~2k
From @enbydva to @@stephbrwn
Fareeha “Pharah” Amari’s day was pretty abysmal. The café was busier than usual, a large cup of coffee had been spilled all over her freshly washed apron (thanks to a rude businesswoman who was too busy on her phone to watch where she was going), and there was an ungodly amount of complicated orders coming from customers. Pharah loved the coffee shop her mother opened on a whim a few months back, but sometimes, it was like working in Hell.
That was until she walked in.
At first glance, Pharah wasn’t sure if she was actually seeing her or if it was a fever dream from the one and a half 5-Hour Energy shots she had drank in the break room half an hour ago. It wasn’t until she walked over to the counter that Pharah knew she wasn’t dreaming.
This new customer was like a goddess. She had stunning blue eyes, decorated by perfect winged eyeliner, and light blonde hair pulled into a pigtail at the crown of her head. She was wearing a knitted black turtleneck with a white lab coat and had a large messenger bag slung over her shoulder. Her bag was filled to the brim and Pharah could see notebooks and a large-sized textbook peeking out from the exposed sides. She was absolutely breathtaking.
“H-Hello,” Pharah stuttered out, feeling her cheeks grow pink with embarrassment. “Welcome to Wadjet Coffee. What can I start getted for you? I mean – fuck – what can I get started for you today?”
The woman giggled slightly and Pharah’s cheeks flushed even harder. “I’d like a medium-sized Cappuccino with an extra shot of espresso, please,” she replied with a smile. Pharah thanked the coffee gods that it was an easy order for once and rang her up.
“That’ll be $3.50,” Pharah stated. “Can I get a name for the order?”
“Angela,” the woman answered, handing over the cash for her order. Pharah looked and it was exact change. She smiled slightly before writing the woman’s name on the cup for her order. Her hands were shaking slightly as she got to work on the woman’s order. Keep it cool, Fareeha, she thought. Just talk to her like she’s any other customer.
“So,” Pharah started. “I’ve never seen you around here before. We’ve only been open a couple months, but we usually have the same few customers every day. Did you just move into town or…?” She looked up just long enough to see Angela smile slightly.
“No, but I did start my final year of medical school recently,” the blonde replied. “I’d go to a coffee shop chain, but I’m currently trying to save to pay back at least a fraction of my student loans. Plus, you’re new to the area, cheap enough for a broke college student and had good reviews online. I wanted to give you guys a shot.” Pharah was sure her blush was obvious on her cheeks now as she gave a small laugh.
“Well, thank you,” Pharah chatted. “It’s my mother’s dream to make this place into a success.” She finished making the coffee and quickly stuck a lid and cardboard holder on the cup before handing it over the counter to Angela.
“Thanks so much. This has been lovely,” Angela said, turning around to walk out. Suddenly, the blonde whipped back around to face Pharah. “Oh! I meant to ask for your name.“
“My name is Fareeha, but you can call me Pharah. It’s what everyone calls me,” she stated with a big, goofy grin. And maybe Pharah was imagining it, but she was almost certain she saw a light pink appear across Angela’s flawless, pale cheeks.
“See you next time, Pharah,” she called as she turned and walked out the front door. As Pharah watched the blonde walk away, she sighed blissfully. They had only exchanged a few words but Pharah was head over heels in love with Angela, the blonde medical student.
The rest of the day went by much better than the first half
After her first visit, Pharah noticed that Angela stopped by at around the same time every day during the week and occasionally during the weekends.
From Monday to Friday, Angela would stop by around the same exact time to pick up a coffee – and the occasional muffin or cookie – to take with her to classes or her meetings with esteemed doctors about internships at local hospitals to get hands-on training. Then, on Saturdays and Sundays, sometimes Angela would pop in with her backpack and sit in her favorite spot, (which happened to be this comfy booth right up against the ceiling-to-floor glass window), grab a coffee, and write papers or review information for tests.
Pharah loved to stop by during the slow parts of the day and bring her free refills or a fresh-baked pastry from the oven. As time went on, Angela even began asking Pharah if she could sit down across from her for a second and help her review or read over a paper to make sure it sounded good before she submitted it online. And it was these little things that made Pharah fall even more in love with the blonde medical student.
They got to know each other more. Over time, Pharah learned that Angela was born in Switzerland and had dual citizenship since the majority of her family still lived there. She was also fluent in German and had even tried to teach some simple phrases and words to Pharah during one of her long study sessions at the café. Even though Pharah had barely been able to say anything correctly, Angela still smiled no matter what and told her that she wasn’t half bad.
Though the two had become good friends and Pharah had even told Angela about how she lived in Egypt for a couple of years and how she once worked at a private firm that supplied security officers to high-profile clients, there was one thing she hadn’t told the beautiful blonde. She hadn’t said a word about her sexuality and how she strictly was into women. It was a thing all her friends and family knew and she knew it most likely wouldn’t affect their friendship, there was a small voice inside of her that stopped her from ever bringing it up, the fear of losing her crush and new friend too great.
There were so many days where it was on the tip of Pharah’s tongue, just seconds away from blurting it out in a moment of silence when they were spending time together at the café. But her throat seized up instantly and it was never brought up.
Finally, a little over four months after Angela’s first visit to Wadjet Coffee (with much additional goading from her friends Jesse and Lena), Pharah was ready to make a move.
When Angela came in for her daily coffee before class, the dark-haired woman tried her hardest to keep her heart from beating so hard it flew out of her chest and not to let the panic set in.
“H-Hey, so, uh,” Pharah stuttered as she began to make Angela’s daily coffee. “A-Are you free this coming Saturday night?” Angela looked taken aback, but not in a bad way.
“Yeah, I’m not busy. How come?” the blonde questioned. Pharah thought she was going to spontaneously combust on the spot. Every fiber of her being was set to high alert and was bracing hard for rejection. Hell, she didn’t even know if Angela was into girls the way Pharah was. But this is what she needed to do and she could learn to live with the consequences.
“I, um, was wondering if you, maybe, would wanna, like, g-go on a date sometime,” Pharah replied, her words stumbling and spilling out of her mouth. Once they were out there, immediate regret came upon her. I can’t believe I just fucking did that, she thought. I must look like a fucking lunatic. In what universe would she even want to go out with me?
Before Pharah could even finish chiding herself about how much of a dumbass she looks like, Angela spoke up.
“Y-Yeah sure,” the blonde said sheepishly. “How about I meet you here after your shift that night?” Pharah’s heart almost stopped. She couldn’t believe this. She was seconds away from pinching herself to make sure that she wasn’t just dreaming or this was some sort of coffee fume-induced hallucination. But that could wait until later.
“That sounds perfect!” Pharah blurted out. “I-I’ll meet you here! After work! I’ll buy you dinner! I mean, you give my mom and me enough money weekly to almost pay our rent for this place but, yeah, that’ll be amazing!” Angela giggled and took her order from off of the counter. After the blonde had left the café, Pharah tried not to break out into song and dance with how happy she was.
Pharah felt like an eternity had passed before Saturday night rolled around. She couldn’t wait to meet Angela after work. During her shift at Wadjet, Pharah was on cloud nine. And even though she was extremely anxious, she was more happy than afraid of something going wrong.
Right before closing time, Angela showed up. Her hair was in her usual high ponytail and she was wearing a cable-knit sweater and black jeans with ballet flats. Pharah thought she looked even more stunning than usual and felt her heart flutter in her chest.
“Go ahead and go,” a voice said from over Pharah’s shoulder. She turned around to see her mother, Ana, smiling kindly at her. “I can close tonight. Go ahead and have fun.” The younger woman’s heart swelled with love and she wrapped her arms around her mother in a giant hug.
“Shukraan, lak al'umm,” she muttered in Arabic into Ana’s ear before untying her work apron and jogging across the café towards Angela with a big smile. As they walked outside towards Pharah’s car, Angela spontaneously reached out and grabbed Pharah’s hand. The dark-haired woman flushed red and squeezed the other woman’s hand slightly.
The date went perfectly. Pharah took Angela out to dinner at one of the best Japanese restaurants in the area and when it came time for the check and Angela went to reach for her wallet, Pharah held up her hand.
“Like I said the other day at work,” Pharah had murmured across their table with a smile. “You give me and my mom enough money and you make me happy. Let me treat you, okay?” Angela blushed hard and immediately thanked Pharah several times over.
When they had finally gotten back to Wadjet Coffee, the place closed down already thanks to Ana’s benevolence, and both women had gotten out of Pharah’s car, the date was at its close. As much as the dark-haired woman didn’t want the night to be over, it had to end eventually.
“Well, I guess this is goodnight,” Pharah uttered. “I had a great time. I really, really wanna do this again with you, if that’s cool with you.” Angela smiled gently and Pharah felt her heart skip a beat. Suddenly, without warning, the blonde leaned in and gave Pharah a quick, chaste kiss on her lips. And as quickly as it happened, it was over, leaving Pharah breathless and feeling ready to pass out.
“I’d love to do this again. I had an amazing time too,” Angela said, pulling her car keys out of the purse slung on her shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow when I come in. I have more studying to do and I’d love for you to help me.” Pharah grinned and nodded as Angela got into her car.
Pharah watched as she drove off and, once the blonde was out of view, she pinched herself hard on the arm.
“Nope,” Pharah muttered to herself. “Definitely not dreaming this.“
