Chapter 1
You would never forget the first time you met James Buchanan Barnes.
You had just started to close up shop and start putting the puppies to sleep when you noticed a man standing outside of your cafe. You were alarmed to say the least when you saw the very shady man just standing there for a second when it was almost 8 o'clock at night. However, when you waved your hand towards the closed sign, his eyes seemed to suddenly clear up and before you knew it, he was gone. Deciding to ignore it, you doubled and triple checked that everything was locked and finally headed upstairs to get some rest.
The next morning you woke up to the sound of your dogs howling. They were your alarm clock, always going off at 7 o'clock, rarely ever missing a day and you practically lived your entire life by their schedule. You could hear the cages being opened meaning that Angelo, one of your five employees was taking them out for their morning walk and breakfast. The cafe doors would open at 8am on the dot so you took a quick shower and headed downstairs after getting dressed in comfortable clothing.
You were able to catch Angelo with five dog leashes in hand and managed to give him a quick good morning. "By the time you finish walking all the dogs I should have some muffins and eggs hot and ready for ya."
Angelo was already out the door so all he could respond with was a yelled "you're the best!" and he was gone, pulled away by excited animals.
Your cafe was called Puppies & Pastries and it had been running for about two years. It was a puppy cafe with two rooms: the first room for eating of course, and the second room to spend time and play with the puppies. There are 10 puppies in total and the goal was to get a puppy adopted by a family . You started it because of your love of animals and loved seeing the different faces come in to enjoys the dog's presence.
Today was just another day and it passed by just like any other. Rush hours were always 8am to 12pm and 4pm to 8pm so during the midday there wasn't much to do. Until today that is. You, Chelsea, and Angelo - your coworkers - had just finished cleaning up after rush hour when a hulking figure entered the cafe, seemingly sucking out all the light with his entrance. He took a seat at one of the round tables which was closer to the corner and sat so his back was towards the wall.
Chelsea, your waitress with bright pink hair and an even brighter personality seemed intimidated by him. So of course, since you were the boss, you decided to take his order instead of making your obviously uncomfortable waitress do it. She mouthed a "thank you" your way and you smiled back.
Time to work some magic on the scary old bastard. You donned your best smile and walked up towards the table, holding out the menu to him. "Good afternoon, sir. What can I get you today?"
His face remained cold and blank, not even bothering to glance at the menu before responding, "Whada-you suggest?"
"Well all the foods good if you ask me," I gave him another smile, "but I recommend our chicken salad sandwiches, or if you want something light we have plum muffins or-"
"The muffin. With black coffee"
You were startled with how he cut you off but kept your smile as you went to deliver the order to Maxine and Raphael. You couldn't lie and say that you weren't interested in the man in the corner. You'd never met someone with such a cold and lonely way about themselves and damn if you weren't curious as a cat. Soon enough you were heading to the table with two plum muffins and one cup of piping hot coffee.
"Here you go! Is there anything you'd else you'd like?"
"How much is it for the dogs." His question was so rough and quiet, you're not sure you would've heard it if you weren't so interested in every move he made.
"They're five dollars for 30 minutes and if you ask for a specific dog it's an extra two dollars."
He looked at the glass window that led to the puppies and dug into his pocket, placing a 20 dollar bill.
"Alright sir. I'll be right back with your change-"
"Keep it." He left no room for argument. In fact, after he said those last two words, he looked back out the window, signalling that the conversation was over. You sighed and headed back to the counter and started to clean. Chelsea was helping another customer and Angelo had gone on break so the cafe was quiet aside from the occasional pot in the kitchen. So when you looked up you were surprised to see that the mysterious man had disappeared without a trace.
You went over to clean off the table but stopped dead in your tracks when you noticed that the man was in the puppy room. He'd gotten in there without a sound, but what was even more alarming?
He was sitting cross legged with Nappy in his lap.