Chapter Text
The Daily Grind was a modest coffee shop, quiet and quaint, with exposed brickwork walls and old-timey booth tables that would have looked more at home in a 70s sitcom than a modern inner-city. The stylization made it hard to tell whether The Daily Grind was an endearing take on retro-chic, or just kind of old, but Daichi had always felt it was a cute little place either way.
Daichi had first come here last year, back when he was still a college freshman. The Summer morning had been sticky and warm, his bag holding a few hours' worth of classwork that he needed to catch up on. The Daily Grind had seemed pretty quiet compared to the other coffee shops in the area, and between that and its free WiFi, it was an easy pick for Daichi. He'd ordered himself an iced tea, taken a seat, and gotten down to work. The only problem for Daichi was that he'd ended up late for class that day, having completely lost track of the time while he was there.
Over his next few visits, Daichi found that The Daily Grind often seemed to have that effect on him; it was a mellow place in which Daichi could and often would sign out from the world for a little while without even meaning to. It was calm and quiet and distraction-free, all a welcome change from his student housing, and though all that did make him late for class that one time, Daichi quickly came to appreciate how nice it was to have such a quiet space to study, to think, or to simply do nothing at all.
By the Autumn of his first year, The Daily Grind had become the foundation of Daichi's routine. By the Winter, Daichi started ordering the coffee there rather than the tea, an adjustment made to help him keep up with an ever-increasing workload. He'd felt an odd twinge of pride when he’d started drinking coffee that Winter, as though a mounting caffeine dependency was a milestone in life, one that proved he was now truly on his way to adulthood.
That caffeine dependency was just about the most interesting thing that happened to Daichi in his first year. It had been a deliberately uneventful year, with Daichi distancing himself from anything that might distract him too much from his studies - or as Koushi loved to put it, Daichi was just “making sure he didn’t have too much fun.”
Thanks to the coffee of The Daily Grind, coupled with his rigorous dedication to never having too much fun, Daichi came out of his first year at university with an 85 in his Business final.
Eventually, his second year rolled around, bringing with it a new batch of first-years into his block of student apartments. They were even noisier than Koushi and his friends had been in their first year, and so Daichi had found himself retreating to The Daily Grind more and more to escape them. Within a month, he became the regular to end all regulars, there so often that he noticed every change that happened - every new hire, every new item on the menu, right down to every new regular customer.
The newest regular had been coming for about a month now. He was around Daichi's age, maybe a little younger, fit with piercings and a slightly shabby undercut. He looked completely out of sorts at a quiet inner-city coffee shop, with bleach-blond hair and acid-washed jeans, but that incongruous style meant he caught Daichi's eye all the more. He always looked unflinchingly confident despite, or maybe because of the way he stuck out so much from his surroundings, and between the guy's confident demeanour and sharp features, Daichi couldn’t help but find him attractive. Before he knew it, Daichi was crushing like a high school kid all over again.
Something about the new regular had struck Daichi as familiar ever since he first laid eyes on him, which gave Daichi a welcome excuse to look at him all the more. The more Daichi looked, the harder it became for him to shake the feeling that the two of them had met before.
The blond had seemed to share Daichi’s feelings of familiarity - at least, that was how it had looked at first. When they first saw each other, and every time after that, he had smiled warmly at Daichi, which Daichi took as confirmation that they'd met before. But after a week or so, it became apparent that the blond just smiled at everyone like that; he was a smiley guy, despite his washed-out, grungy appearance.
Today, after a few weeks’ worth of maybe-familiar smiles shared between Daichi and the mystery blond, Daichi was sat in the Daily Grind. He’d come here to work on a hypothetical business plan for class, but it was proving to be about as interesting as it sounded.
If that wasn’t enough to make it hard to concentrate, the blond regular was here again, and he’d given Daichi a cute little wave as he’d entered. That single wave had amplified Daichi’s crush by at least a factor of ten, and Daichi had been trying to find a way to introduce himself ever since, the business plan he was meant to be working on entirely, almost wilfully forgotten.
So much for The Daily Grind being a place free of distractions.
After ten minutes of somewhat addled thought, Daichi settled on a plan of action. It was simple: he’d go over to the blond and ask if they’d met before. Not only would it put the mystery of their familiarity to rest, it would give him a decent excuse to introduce himself. It was the perfect crime.
Daichi made his approach.
The blond had a laptop with him today, Daichi noted, perched precariously on the table of a window seat. Next to the laptop was an overlarge coffee cup, around which one of the blond’s hands limply hung. His other hand propped up his slumping head, and though from a distance it had looked like he was reading intently from the laptop, closer inspection showed the blond’s almond eyes were glazing over with a mixture of boredom and fatigue that Daichi knew all too well himself.
“Hey,” Daichi said.
There was a half-second delay before the blond roused. He looked up at Daichi, first with surprise and confusion, but then, with warmth.
“Hey,” he said. “Want a seat?”
Tempting though it was, Daichi didn’t take that invitation just yet. “I was wondering,” he said. “Have we met before? You seem familiar.”
The blond laughed a little at that, looking oddly relieved. “I’ve been trying to think of a way to ask you the same thing. I think we have, yeah,” he said. He patted the seat next to himself. “C’mon, sit down and we can figure it out. I could use a distraction.”
Daichi - bored, curious and crushing - accepted the offer.
There wasn’t much room. The window seat was just a wooden table that ran along the front window of the shop, tall and thin. A couple of slender wooden stools were slotted underneath the table, and Daichi took one.
“I’m Daichi,” Daichi said.
So far so good.
“You can call me Yuuji,” came the reply. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Daichi said, taking a moment to nod. “So, any ideas on how we know each other?”
“Nope. Maybe we should just talk about ourselves, see if anything jogs our memories?”
"Better than anything I've got," Daichi said.
“Okay. Well, let’s see.” Yuuji hummed, thinking before he spoke. “I’m a college freshman, double majoring in Japanese and Journalism. I go to the open mic nights on campus sometimes because I have bad music taste and no self-respect. I don’t look it, but I’m kind of a country boy - Torono, originally, back in Miyagi.”
“Huh,” Daichi said. “Me too.”
“Torono?” Yuuji repeated. Daichi nodded. “Huh. Small world. What school did you go to?”
“Karasuno. You?”
“Johzenji.” After a brief pause, a flash of inspiration lit up Yuuji’s face. “You’re a pretty big guy, so I’m guessing you did sports in high school?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you play volleyball?”
“Actually, yeah, I did,” Daichi said. He was about to continue, but Yuuji spoke again before he had the chance.
“You were the Karasuno captain a few years back, right?” Yuuji beamed. He looked proud of himself in a way Daichi thought was weirdly cute.
“That’s me."
Yuuji’s beaming toned down to an awkward smile. “You probably don’t remember me, huh?”
“No, I think I do,” Daichi said, his memory jogged. “You were the Johzenji captain back when I was playing, right?”
“Oh,” Yuuji said. He sounded surprised. “So you do remember more than just my pretty face.”
“Mostly just the pretty face.”
Yuuji smirked at that. “So, what about you then, Daichi? Tell me about yourself.”
“Well, the first thing you should know about me is how bad I am at ice-breakers.”
Yuuji chuckled, and Daichi continued. “I’m a second year Business major, and that’s going pretty well. I bake on the weekends sometimes, and I’m thinking of getting a dog even though my landlord has a strict no-pets policy.”
“Oh my,” Yuuji teased. “A bad boy.”
“The very baddest."
Daichi wasn’t sure what else to say, and in lieu of anything else, he decided to just say that. “To be honest, my life isn’t interesting enough for me to be good at ice-breakers. I like my life boring."
“And why do you like your life boring?”
Daichi paused, momentarily taken aback. “I’ve never really thought about it before.”
Yuuji raised his eyebrows in mock-judgement. “Your life is so boring that it’s never even occurred to you to think about why you want your life to be boring?”
Unsure of what else to do in the face of such a blunt, deadpan question, Daichi just started laughing to himself. "Well, when you put it like that, it sounds worse than it is," he eventually said, eliciting a wry chuckle from Yuuji.
The truth was, Daichi really wasn’t sure about the answer to Yuuji's question. After giving it a little bit of thought, Daichi took a swing at answering it anyway. “If I had to guess, I'd say it's because the people around me are better at being interesting than I am.”
Most people probably would have bombarded Daichi with affirmations if he said something like that to them. Even most strangers would probably say something like, ‘Well, you seem plenty interesting to me.’
Yuuji didn’t, and Daichi wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“I’d be happy to hear more about you though,” Daichi said. He meant it, and he hoped that it didn’t show too much in his voice.
“Aww, so you’ve already figured out my favourite pass-time: talking about myself.”
Daichi couldn’t tell if Yuuji was joking. Either way, Yuuji went on.
“Well, I took a gap year before I came to uni. It was meant to be so I could work and save up, but...” Yuuji laughed. “I didn’t do much working, and I definitely didn’t do much saving.”
Daichi smiled at that. “I took a gap year too,” he said.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Same reason as you, to work and save up.”
“A little more successfully than I did, I assume?”
Daichi chuckled. “Yeah. I actually did some working, and some saving.”
“And I’m guessing everyone you know asks you for money all the time now?”
“Yep.”
“And do you give it to them?”
“Only when I can afford to.”
Yuuji bit his lip. “Fiscal responsibility. That’s kinda hot.”
Daichi laughed. “I thought so too, man. No idea how I’m single.”
“Oh, so you are single?” Yuuji asked, the glint of interest in his eye completely undisguised.
That was a good sign.
“Yeah, I am. Does that surprise you?” Daichi asked, half-joking.
“Nah, not really. I had you pegged for single, doesn’t get out enough to meet someone worth dating.”
“I get out plenty,” Daichi protested.
“As wonderful as this place is, coming here doesn’t count as getting out, you know,” Yuuji teased.
Daichi laughed. “Okay. Yeah, in that case, I don’t get out much.”
“Fair enough,” Yuuji said, giving a small nod.
It was just about the last response Daichi was expecting. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting - maybe a lecture on the local club scene - but definitely not, ‘Fair enough.’
When Daichi didn’t reply, Yuuji filled the silence back up with ease. “I’m not huge on nights out and stuff myself. Not any more, anyway. ‘Staying in is the new going out’ and all that crap.”
Daichi would have had no difficulty picturing Yuuji going out to clubs and parties. Much harder was picturing Yuuji doing anything else. He really didn’t look like the kind of guy who, as he put it, thought that staying in was the new going out. That being said, Daichi knew appearances could be - and in this case most certainly were - deceiving.
“So, what were you working on before I got here?” Daichi asked.
“Just some stuff for class.” He sighed before elaborating. “Some stuff for class that I should probably get back to, if I’m being honest.”
“Oh, I see. Want me to leave you to it?” Daichi asked, hoping Yuuji would say no.
“No."
Everything was coming up Daichi.
Yuuji continued, looking Daichi in the eye. “The work sucks, but maybe it’d suck less if you stuck around?”
“Sounds good,” Daichi said, allowing himself a small smile and trying not to grin. “Let me get my stuff and then I’ll be right back.”
Daichi turned around and headed back to the table on which his things for class were still laid out. The instant his back was turned to Yuuji, he started grinning like an idiot, no longer feeling the need to stop himself from looking quite as pleased as he was. Yuuji seemed cute and witty and funny and, if Daichi was being honest with himself, Yuuji was kinda hot. And sure, he seemed somewhat odd, but it was in a good way - a way that made him fun, and made Daichi want to know more about him. It was with a strange and new-found sense of contentment that Daichi gathered up his things for his stupid business plan outline and went back to Yuuji’s window table.
When Daichi sat back down next to Yuuji, he noticed that even though he was sitting up straight and Yuuji was slouching, their heads were about the same height. Daichi guessed that Yuuji must have been a couple of inches taller than him, but it was hard to get a good estimate because Yuuji was sat so weirdly. He kept crossing and uncrossing his legs, tapping his leg against the legs of his stool ever so slightly.
The two of them started working in relative silence, and though Daichi’s attention was fixed on his own work, he couldn’t help but notice that there was a weird rhythm to Yuuji's typing. He could hear Yuuji pressing keys in little bursts; ten or fifteen seconds of rapid typing, and then Yuuji would slump just slightly, pausing for another ten or fifteen seconds before getting going again. It came in an odd, janky kind of ebb and flow, but Daichi didn’t find it distracting. On the contrary, he found it kind of nice, another soft and subdued sound amid the white noise of The Daily Grind.
After about ten minutes working like that, Yuuji paused. At first Daichi didn’t think much of it, given his stop-start style so far, but the pause went on for about a minute. Daichi was about to ask Yuuji if something was up, but Yuuji was already turning to face him.
“So Daichi, tell me, do you know many people from around here?”
Daichi took a couple of seconds to reply, finishing the sentence he was writing first. When he looked over to Yuuji, he was embarrassed to find himself caught off guard. It was getting late in the afternoon, and the light streaming through the window was a few shades darker now than it had been before; that darker, deeper orange of the late afternoon held Yuuji’s features in a disarming way, a way that blind-sided Daichi entirely.
But after a second or two of blind-sided staring, Daichi’s faculties returned, bringing with them a slight blush as he realised he’d been staring in the first place. “I moved here with some friends,” Daichi finally said, a sheepish note in his voice.
“That doesn’t count,” Yuuji said. “I mean like, locals. People who can show you around the place.”
“I’ve lived here for a year and a half. Don’t I count as a local?”
“As much as it pains me to say no to that face,” Yuuji said, chuckling to himself, “that’s a definite no. You said it yourself. You’ve barely gone out since getting here, right?”
“So, what? Are you offering to show me around the city, Yuuji?”
“Maybe. Would you like me to?”
“Yeah, but aren't you a first year? Doesn’t that mean I’ve lived here a year longer than you?” Daichi pointed out. “Surely I should be the one showing you around.”
“Even if you had lived here longer than me, let’s be real, I’d probably still have seen more of the city than you,” Yuuji said, his tone both comedic and matter-of-fact. “But no. I spent my gap year here too.”
“Oh,” Daichi said. “How come?”
“I had a friend who’d moved here from Torono, and he said I could live with him for a while, just in the run-up to my entrance exams. I failed them the first time around, which meant no student housing. He didn’t want me moving back in with my parents, so he offered to let me stay.”
“And let me guess: you and him partied right the way through your gap year?”
“Yep,” Yuuji said, grinning with pride.
“I thought you said that staying in is the new going out?”
Yuuji snorted. “Believe me, nineteen-year-old Yuuji did not feel that way.”
Daichi gave an understanding smile. “Yeah, I can think of a few friends of mine with similar stories.”
“So you do have friends!” Yuuji cried. “It’s a miracle.”
“I don’t get out much - that doesn’t mean I don’t have any friends,” Daichi said. He rolled his eyes as he said it, but he was smiling.
“Sure, sure,” Yuuji said, waving his hand nonchalantly. “Anyway, tell me about them. If they went out a lot last year, maybe I’ve met them?”
“Well there’s my roommate, Sugawara,” Daichi said. The name seemed to pique Yuuji’s interest. “Grey hair, brown eyes, an inch or two shorter than me.”
“Sugawara?” Yuuji repeated. “Sugawara Koushi? Weird laugh, birthmark right here?” He said, pointing under his left eye.
“That’s the one,” Daichi said. He smiled, having no trouble picturing the two of them getting on like a house on fire.
“Wow, it really is a small world,” Yuuji said. “How’s he doing?”
Daichi was about to answer, but Yuuji spoke again first. “Actually,” he said, dragging out the word in a way that oozed mischief, “don’t tell me. Why don’t I just come over some time? That way me and Koushi can get all caught up again face to face. Plus, I’d get to spend more time with you. It’s two birds with one stone.”
“Sure, sounds good,” Daichi said, perhaps a little too quickly.
“Then it’s a date,” Yuuji chimed. “But before we do any dating, maybe we should finish our work?” Yuuji nodded to his laptop.
‘It’s a date.’
‘Dating.’
From the smug tone in his voice, Daichi knew Yuuji had worded that specifically to get a rise out of him. Knowing that didn’t help though, and Daichi could feel himself blushing bright red.
When Yuuji spoke again he was smirking, his voice sing-song and infinitely smug. “Is something wrong, Daichi?”
Daichi shook his head and laughed lightly, both actions taken in disbelief. “No, nothing’s wrong. You’re right, we should get back to work.”
Yuuji’s smirk only deepened as he turned back to his laptop and started typing again.
After that exchange, the two of them chatted while they worked. Not about anything in particular - one minute Yuuji was asking Daichi about what Koushi was like when he was younger, and the next they were talking about TV, or the weather - but they didn’t need to talk about anything in particular. Jumping from topic to topic, talking about everything and nothing, just felt so inexplicably right.
The conversation came sweetly and smoothly. It was lifting Daichi's mood, and Daichi could see it was lifting Yuuji's too, the ease of their conversation helping to take the boring edge off of their college work. Yuuji was still typing in the same janky rhythm Daichi had picked up on before, but he didn’t slump when he paused any more - he just turned to Daichi, smiling and chatting before getting back to work.
Neither of them finished the work they’d set out to do, but neither of them seemed to care - both of them were spending far too much time talking to actually get much done, and as the afternoon wore on, the work-chat ratio only skewed further in favour of chatting. They stayed in their seats all the way up to closing time, when a waitress had to prompt them to leave.
“Hi,” she said. “It’s eight, so I’m afraid we’re closing now.”
Yuuji gave her a funny look, one that plainly said he didn't believe her. He took his phone out of his pocket to check the time, ready to correct her, but when his phone only confirmed what she’d said, Yuuji stopped. He gave her an apologetic look, complete with an embarrassed smile.
Daichi stifled a laugh. He had to admit, he hadn't realised how late it was, either.
“Okay, thank you,” Daichi said to the waitress. “We’ll be going then.”
The waitress left. Daichi and Yuuji gathered up their things, smiling to themselves about each other.
They were walking out of the door together when Yuuji spoke next.
“So, that was fun,” he said.
“Yeah,” Daichi agreed. He meant it, too. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had as much fun as he'd had today.
Daichi couldn't tell whether today had been so fun because of the strength of his crush on Yuuji, or if his crush on Yuuji was so strong because of how much fun he'd had today. Either way, Daichi could feel himself falling pretty hard for Yuuji already. He was almost embarrassed by quite how quick and strong his crush had grown, but the feeling seemed to be mutual. That in itself was a lot more than Daichi had been expecting when he'd introduced himself today, and though part of him wanted to play it safe and quit while he was ahead, Daichi couldn’t stop himself from wanting more.
And so he decided to be bold. He decided to ask for more.
It took Daichi a moment to find the words with which to ask for more. He bit his lip in thought, and Yuuji gave him an inquisitive look. Daichi looked Yuuji in the eyes, and when he saw the interest and expectancy in Yuuji's gaze, he steeled himself.
"This probably wasn't what you were thinking of when you asked to come over some time, Yuuji, and I know it's such short notice, but do you want to come over tomorrow?"
“Yeah," Yuuji said. His voice was refreshingly plain, as though his answer had taken no consideration. "Yeah, actually, I do." Though Yuuji's words sounded calm, the way his face lit up made it clear that he was just as excited about all this as Daichi. “Pass me your phone? I’ll give you my number.”
Daichi did as Yuuji asked, and Yuuji entered his number before passing the phone back.
“I’m free all day tomorrow, so just text me a time and address, and I’ll be there,” Yuuji said, making it sound like the simplest thing in the world.
Maybe it was. Maybe things like these were supposed to be simple, and that was what made them so sickeningly sweet.
In that moment, Daichi didn't think it felt particularly simple - his mind was already racing through a list of all the things he’d need to get ready for tomorrow; his and Koushi's apartment would need some work before he'd feel comfortable telling his newfound crush to come over.
But in spite of that, Daichi was grinning, smiling wider than he had in years. “Will do.”
“My place is this way,” Yuuji said, jerking his thumb left from the door.
“Mine’s this way,” Daichi said, pointing right.
“Good night then, Daichi.”
“Good night, Yuuji. See you tomorrow.”
As Yuuji turned around and began to walk away, he gave Daichi another cutesy little wave. It was like the one he’d given Daichi when he’d come in to The Daily Grind earlier today, but this one was far more meaningful, with the force of several hours’ worth of flirting backing it up. Where that first wave had set Daichi’s heart aflutter, this second one had set his whole body blushing.
Now that Yuuji was gone, Daichi let out a deep breath. He hadn't even realised he'd been holding in a breath until it came tumbling out of him as a longing, dreamy sigh. It was the kind of sigh usually reserved for lovesick teens on silver screens, light and innocent and honest, all motifs shared by the spring in his step and the smile on his lips.
On any other day, Daichi's mind might have turned to more pragmatic thoughts as he walked back to his apartment; he might have started to weigh up all of the chores he'd need to do in preparation for tomorrow, or try to think of a way to balance any potential relationships with his schoolwork. Much to his surprise, and indeed, to his delight, that more pragmatic side was being quashed by his inner romantic. The romantic in Daichi knew that he could put off thinking about the boring and nitty-gritty stuff for later, and that for now, he could afford to turn his thoughts to the only two things he wanted to think about: to Yuuji, and to the touch of whimsy that Yuuji had already brought into his life.