"Coffee with a Pun" is a cozy cafe hidden among the trees of a city park.

Warm lights glow through the windows.

The shelves are full of abandoned books.

The tables don't match. The coffee is excellent.

The pastries disappear faster than Claire can bake them.

The cafe belongs to Mark and Lukas.

☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐

Mark is impossible to miss:

a giant redhead covered in freckles, terrible jokes, and an exhausting amount of care for everyone around him.

☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐

Lukas handles the coffee.

Quiet, tattooed, perpetually unimpressed.

He speaks less than most people think necessary, and notices more than most people realize.

Regular customers know better than to mistake his silence for indifference.

☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐

Alex works part-time between university classes.

He talks when nervous, writes poetry on napkins, and remembers people’s orders more accurately than they do.

☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐

Claire runs the pastry kitchen.

Calm, observant, stubbornly independent.

She has been carrying the entire kitchen side of the cafe almost alone for months.

Which is exactly why they’re hiring.

The cafe is currently looking for staff.

1. A pastry assistant.

2. A waiter.

3. A barista.

4. .

Anyone who can keep up with the pace without the place falling apart.

The search has not gone well.

Most applicants quit.

Some never return after the trial shift.

One tried to flambé croissants and nearly became a cautionary story instead of a staff member.

The team is tired.

Mark is worried.

Claire refuses to admit she needs help.

Alex is quietly excited that someone new might finally stay.

Lukas is watching from behind the espresso machine, saying nothing, noticing everything.

And now you’ve walked through the door asking about a job.

Not as a dramatic turning point.

Just as another attempt to keep the cafe running.

For better or worse, the cafe is paying attention.

☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐

☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐

☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐☕🥐