My god I let this linger for too long.
Spoiler
Leonard looked out over his Kingdom and saw that it was good. The smell of freshly ground coffee hung thick in the air, the musical sound of the espresso machine was all around, his branded apron and hat fit snugly, and his worker bees were doing a fairly acceptable job. It had been an amazing first year running his own coffee house, and it had changed everything for the better for him.
He'd been stuck in a career not of his own choosing, office-based and boring beyond what he was able to accept, and had spent most of his time behind his desk daydreaming about what he'd rather be doing instead. Over time, one thought had kept coming back. Make his hobby -- making exquisite coffee -- his actual job.
His parents had called him insane for giving up a guaranteed pay check for the uncertain existence of a service-based business owner with very little experience with it, but he knew he had to do it. No reward without risk, after all.
Leonard had very specific demands of how the coffee should be. He had spent far too much time throughout his life getting both of them exactly right, and he was not about to let the quality slip now that he had people actually pay for it. And he had found out very quickly that good help was hard to get.
Right now, he had decent help. Not good yet, but he could whip them into shape if he had to.
It was important to Leonard to offer not just coffee, but a coffee education. For that reason, his menu had little information sections about the coffee that was on offer. And more specifically, it had a section on it that was a list of coffee that would only be prepared and sold to those who would agree to drink it as provided, without putting milk or sugar in it.
They were listed as the 'pure brews', and they would never be available for things like lattes or white flats, whatever those weird Oceanic drinks were called. Leonard refused to care.
It was a crisp spring day, and Leonard was standing in his regular spot, slightly off to the side of the counter. From here he could see, judge, and correct everything his flawed worker bees would inevitably do wrong. And though his bees were busy, there was no guarantee they were busy doing the right things.
"Kate, clean the counter," he barked at her. She looked up from the boxes of coffee beans she was unpacking, sighed, and walked over to the counter to clean it. She had learned a good while ago that arguing with Leonard didn't get her anything but the argument itself and a load of frustration.
"Dave, refill the napkins," he snapped at Dave, fully intending to make Dave feel like an idiot for not seeing it before Leonard had to tell him. Dave was in the middle of taking a customer's order and halfheartedly nodded at Leonard, clearly planning to first finish what he was already doing. When Leonard stared at him intently, Dave sighed, apologized to the customer, and walked off to the kitchen.
"I'm sorry, can you take my order instead, then?" the customer said to Leonard.
"No," he said without looking at her or acknowledging her any further.
She huffed loudly, stood there for a second longer to see if Leonard would change his mind or if Dave came back, but when neither happened she turned and left, rightfully annoyed. The little bell hanging at the entrance dinged as she pushed through, and she was gone.
Leonard didn't care. He didn't need her. She had been trying to order a coffee that was mostly milk and other adulterants like syrup, so good riddance. They didn't even have syrup. He didn't even want to offer milk and sugar, but he had learned very quickly that he didn't really have a choice. If he wanted to reach people and educate them about coffee, he needed to lower the threshold so any old neanderthal could come in and leave a better human being. So he had swallowed his pride for the greater good, and allowed the crap to remain. For now. To trap the idiots and get them through the door.
Leonard once more looked out over his Kingdom and saw that it was good.
The door dinged again, and a young woman walked in, nodded at him, and sat down at a window seat. Since Kate and Dave were busy doing what he had told them to do, he sighed and decided to take her order instead. He walked over and saw she was checking out the menu.
"Hi, welcome, what'll it be?"
"Hi," she said with a smile. "I'd like a Feriado de Jorge, please."
Feriado de Jorge was a custom blend Leonard had made, and was the only blend on the pure brews menu.
"That's entirely possible," he said, pleased that she picked so well. "You do know it's only served black?"
"I saw that, that's fine," she said pleasantly.
"Alright, I'll go make that for you," Leonard said, and walked back to the counter.
He tapped Kate on the shoulder, who was about halfway through cleaning the counter, and told her to make the coffee. She started to protest, but realized that it wouldn't help, so she let her shoulders droop and just went along with it. She wiped off the counter just enough so she could use it, then started on it.
Kate knew that even though he was an absolute asshole to her, he still wasn't going to accept a sub-par coffee at his place for any reason, so she did her best. The ultra-fine, reddish brown, fluffy-looking crema topped off a well-made double espresso looked delicious to her. As she stopped the espresso machine, she felt pretty good about it. She took the cup, made sure it looked good, and then got ready to bring it over to the customer.
"I'll bring it," Leonard said, as he stopped her and took the cup from her. "Keep cleaning."
He always did this, take credit where he did literally nothing to deserve it, and Kate just shrugged and went back to cleaning the counter. This is who he was, and she had given up hope for him to ever change.
He handed over the coffee to the customer carefully, did his little spiel about how he came up with the blend, and she nodded politely. When he was done, he wished her much enjoyment.
After he had walked away, she put her cup down. She took a wooden stirrer from her coat pocket, which she had brought herself, then rummaged through her bag for a second, before pulling out two cheap-looking paper sticks. A stick of sugar and a stick of powdered creamer. The unbranded stuff you'd find at a truck stop, the stuff that just says 'sugar' and 'creamer' on it with nothing else. She ripped open the tops of both and dumped them in.
Kate noticed, and held her breath for the drama that was undoubtedly about to unfold. Leonard hadn't noticed yet, but when he took up his regular spot again, he looked back and saw she was stirring her coffee. He then noticed the empty sugar and creamer packets and his face turned red in an instant.
"No no no don't you dare," he shouted at her. "Do not!" he then added, even louder, taking a step forward.
The customer looked back at him and looked confused.
"What? You said it only came black, so I added my own stuff to it."
"You're--" He had trouble breathing. "You're not--" He stopped talking and was visibly shaking.
He suddenly pointed at the exit and screamed at her to get the hell out. "Get out! You philistine! You absolute monster! You b--"
Kate gasped. The other customers gasped. Dave stuck his head out from the kitchen and looked at Leonard disapprovingly.
The customer looked at him for a second, then got up, and simply left. Her face had shown her anger and, frankly, disappointment.
Kate walked up to Leonard and stood in front of him. "Did you really just call a customer that word?"
"She deserved it," he answered quietly but angrily.
"Yeah, no, she definitely didn't. You're insane. And you know what? I've taken a lot of crap from you, but I'm done," she said, as she started undoing her apron.
"Done?" Leonard said, his anger subsiding a little, only to be replaced with a sudden fear.
Kate took her apron off and let it drop to the floor, then shouted "Dave! We're leaving!"
Dave walked out of the kitchen, saw Kate's apron on the ground, and started undoing his own. They had been friends for long enough that he didn't need to be told what was happening. He walked over and dropped it on top of Kate's. Then he stood by her side, not saying much but just looking at Leonard, waiting for Kate to say the word.
Leonard looked at the aprons on the ground and knew that if this was Dave and Kate quitting, he was in deep shit. "Kate, Dave, listen," he started, putting on an awkward smile, getting ready to use all of his charisma to smooth this over somehow.
Kate held up a finger to stop him and spoke calmly, though with a barely hidden anger of her own.
"Stop, Leonard. It's not your turn to speak. I'm completely done with your constant complaining, nit-picking, angry outbursts, and just—" she waved at him, "—this whole thing. It's not worth it, and after seeing how you treated that customer today, even going so far as to call her the b-word? No. I refuse to deal with all of this anymore."
"Yeah, you suck," Dave added.
Dave knew that if Kate was this worked up, she was probably right. He definitely only worked here by this point because Kate was there, and he enjoyed working with her.
Leonard looked at them both, and started panicking at the realization that they were definitely quitting and leaving him by himself. But then the part of his brain that knew so objectively that he was definitely right kicked in.
And now Kate was defending the customer massacring his coffee? His blend? And Dave was defending Kate? So they were all in this together, now? 'Oh, no, no, no', Leonard's brain stupidly went.
"Fine. Screw the both of you. Who cares," he said, his spite forcing its way through his building panic. "Leave then."
It was not fine. He absolutely cared. He didn't want them to leave, because he knew he couldn't run this place without them.
"I don't need you," he said dismissively.
Yet he absolutely needed them, but he didn't know where the words were coming from at this point.
Leonard was too far in now. He had made his decision, rational or not. Regardless of the consequences, he wasn't going to let them win. In for a penny, in for the dumbest, most stubborn, most self-destructive pound.
"I can do it alone," he said bitterly, knowing he definitely could not.
Kate just smiled and shook her head. She knew he was lost without them, and none of what he had just said was actually true. She knew him well enough to know he was lashing out, and he'd realize he had screwed up eventually.
But this time she did not intend to be there when that happened.
"Good to know. You can mail us our last paychecks. Anyhoo, have fun doing this without us."
Kate and Dave walked out without looking back.
Leonard sighed deeply with his eyes closed and then opened them again, only to be met by stares from confused and scared customers. He could tell they were nervous, especially the children, some of whom were now crying.
They'd seen all of it.
He knew he'd need his customers more than ever, but Leonard forced himself to ignore that too. He couldn't deal with it right now.
"All of you can get the hell out too," he said to them, as he walked toward the counter and shut down the espresso machine. The customers all scrambled to get to the door as fast as possible, away from the raging psychopath.
One yelled at Leonard that he would leave a bad review.
Leonard just chuckled sadly and shook his head.
"Like that matters anymore," he muttered, as the door closed to his now empty kingdom.