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Akutugawa often worked late in the coffee shop.
It was often loud, raucous and headache inducing during the day, only slightly better at night.
Slightly.
Not much actually.
It was only ten and he'd already had to deal with a couple of drunks, a screaming couple and a bunch of rowdy teenagers who had harassed Koyouka before Chuuya and Kouyou had stepped in but at least the police hadn't been called in today, and no one had been found smoking weed in the back alley.
Life was never boring but Akutugawa wouldn't mind it calming down every once in a while.
It was storming outside now, which explained the lack of customers, so for the first time in days, no weeks, Akutugawa sat back in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief, rolling his shoulders and stretching, listening to his joints crack into place.
"God, it's quiet," Chuuya commented as he strode past Akutugawa towards the expresso machine. "What a miracle."
"Don't jinx it!" Kouyou called from the back, appearing in her casual clothing with Kyouka behind her. "You know who might just drop by."
Chuuya shuddered and Akutugawa rolled his eyes. Dazai Osamu was a terror and every time he walked into the coffee shop, Akutugawa swore he lost at least five years of his life watching the university professor down expresso after expresso.
And he drank his coffee black.
Who did that.
It was barbaric.
"Anyways," Kouyou adjusted her bag. "See you gentlemen tomorrow."
Chuuya left soon after as well, leaving Akutugawa to man the shop by himself, not like there where many customers at eleven at night but things still did happen.
Robberies didn't faze Akutugawa much anymore, accidents were a common thing, gun shots were something he ignored unless the gun was pointed at him.
No one really came in after eleven anyways.
Akutugawa started cleaning the counters, making sure the machines were still working and such and around eleven thirty, he heard the light tinkling of the bell as someone entered.
He turned around and came face to face with a bedraggled man, dripping wet, a small puddle already forming around his feet.
"H-H-Hi," the silver haired man stammered, teeth chattering. "Uh..."
"I'll get you something hot. Hang up your coat and I'll turn up the heat."
Akutugawa usually wasn't so polite but if another customer complaint came in, Kouyou was going to have his hide and he'd rather not.
The woman was scary.
When he came out and started brewing coffee, the other man had curled up on one of the couches, his shoes by the door, coat, hat and socks dripping wet and drying out over a heater.
He was sorting through his bag, pieces of paper scattered on the table with long, messy scrawl covering them.
Akutugawa concentrated on the coffee, glancing over at the man as the milk steamed.
"Is a latte okay?"
"Oh, yes! Thank you!"
Akutugawa poured in the milk, taking care to make it look decent but nowhere was extravagant as Chuuya or Kouyou during the day.
"Are you a writer?" he asked, setting down the coffee, eyeing the different notebooks he saw within the bag along with books.
The man laughed nervously. "Of sorts. More like aspiring."
Akutugawa picked up a piece of paper, quickly skimming over the writing, intrigued by the writing.
It wasn't much of a story yet, more poetic than story telling.
It wasn't fully formed, still sounding awkward occasionally but Akutugawa sensed a deeper meaning, one that had ways to go.
He didn't read much but he would read something like this.
It was different.
"It's good," he muttered tentatively and the flush that lit up the man's face was almost endearing.
"O-Oh! Thank you!"
Akutugawa harrumphed and said nothing.
Akutugawa continued to clean up the shop as the man waited for his clothes to dry, occasionally typing away on his laptop.
They made small conversation, mostly working in silence as Akutugawa did his own thing and the man kept to himself.
Occasionally, the silver haired would crack a joke and Akutugawa would snort in response but it was pleasant company, the type Akutugawa preferred.
There, but not too prominent.
Akutugawa allowed the man to stay until his coat and shoes were in decent shape and lent one of Chuuya's outrageous umbrellas to him.
"Thanks!" the man exclaimed and Akutugawa watched him dash off into the night.
It was after Akutugawa was washing the dishes he realized he had forgotten to collect the bill from the man.
{::::::::}
Akutugawa's shift started late the next day, around three in the afternoon and as he walked in, he spotted the umbrella he had lent out the night before drying out.
Gin looked up, smiling as she waved him over.
"A customer dropped by to return that," she nodded at the umbrella, "and left a rather sizeable tip for you." Akutugawa grunted, taking the tip.
"Okay."
"My, my, Akutugawa, he's quite cute," Gin continued. "He left his phone number too~"
Akutugawa rolled his eyes and continued into the back, throwing on his apron.
"And?"
"And?" Gin shrieked excitedly. "Call him! Ask him out on a date!"
"I don't even know his name." Akutugawa glared at Gin, hoping that the conversation would end there.
Of course, it didn't.
"HEY DAZAI! YEAH, YOU!" Gin hollered. "YOU KNOW A GUY WITH GOLDEN EYES AND SILVER HAIR?"
Akutugawa spun around, narrowing his eyes as Dazai swaggered in, binders tucked under his arm.
Dazai thought for a moment before nodding, tilting his head to the side with a smarmy grin. "Hm, yeah, Atsushi Nakajima? He's a good student," he answered, setting down his binders on his normal table and strolling up to the countertop where Chuuya was brewing coffee. "CHIBIIIIIIII!" he sung.
"Get out!"
Gin ignored Chuuya as the ginger screamed at Dazai.
"Well," she wiggled her eyebrows. "Now you know."
"Go away," he grumped.
"O-k-a-y," Gin sang. "But here's the number anyways." She tucked a slip of paper into his hand and flounced off, grinning as Kouyou shook her head.
Akutugawa shoved the paper into his pocket and went to work.
{::::::::}
The number was burning a hole in pocket.
As they closed up, Chuuya nudged Akutugawa with his elbow.
"So," he began and Akutugawa's hand tightened on the plate he was holding. "Have you-"
"No." If one more person asked if he had called yet, Akutugawa was going to throw himself off a cliff.
"Alright, alright," Kouyou stepped in, shooing away Chuuya and Kyouka. "Stop harassing him."
Akutugawa breathed a sigh of relief while Chuuya and Kyouka voiced their protests.
"However," Kouyou rounded on Akutugawa, cocking her hip. "Young man, I certainly hope you do call him-"
"Oh my god-" Out of all people, Akutugawa would have never pegged Kouyou as a type to be interested in something like this.
"-because you should really try."
"I'm not interested-"
"I've seen you type his number in at least three times today, don't tell me you're not interested," Kouyou replied primly. Chuuya made a choked noise and Kyouka snickered.
Akutugawa glared at all three of them, Chuuya chuckling softy while Kyouka smiled, hiding it behind her hand.
He sullenly helped them lock up and sprinted to his car as soon as the lock clicked.
"CALL HIM!" Kouyou called as he raced out of the parking lot.
Akutugawa would have run them over if they weren't some of his only friends.
{::::::::}
Akutugawa was going to regret this.
He pressed call and held the phone to his ear, holding his breath.
Atsushi probably wasn't going to pick up, it was late.
The phone rung once.
Twice.
Akutugawa was about to hang up before a bubbly voice echoed over the connection.
"Hello?"
Akutugawa startled, shocked Atsushi was still up but again, he was a university student.
"Hi," he answered carefully. "It's um, Akutugawa. From the coffeeshop."
"Oh," Atsushi yelped. "Hi!"
"Hi," Akutugawa replied lamely and went to bang his head on the wall.
Smooth.
Real smooth.
"Um, thank you for the coffee the other day and letting me stay for so long. I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you!"
"No," Akutugawa replied faintly. "It uh, was fine."
"Oh, that's good."
There was an awkward amount of silence and Akutugawa spoke up again, clearing his throat nervously.
"So uh, how's the writing?"
Atsushi made a noise that Akutugawa could only describe as cute.
"You remember?"
"Yeah. It was good. If you um, don't mind, could you tell me more?"
Akutugawa lost track of time as Atsushi launched into a conversation.
When the call ended, it was four a.m., what the were fuck sleep schedules and Akutugawa had a date for his next day off, which of course, would not take place where he worked.
{::::::::}
"You're glowing," Kouyou teased the next day. "Positively glowing and I would be lying if I said you don't look ridiculously happy, which is kind of scary but I take you called him and he said yes?"
Akutugawa flushed and Chuuya let out a whoop, finishing the drink he was making with flourish.
"Akutugawa-kun has a daaaaaaate."
"You realize," Kouyou started earnestly. "That it is mandatory that you bring him here right?"
Akutugawa puffed up, ready to tell her he would be having a date in there over his dead body when Kouyou's smile turned dangerous.
"After all," she continued, voice sweet. "Your manager must meet him."
Akutugawa wilted.
{::::::::}
The first date was a disaster, an absolute whirlwind of unfortunate events happening one after another because who said life was merciful, but hey, Atsushi didn't mind and that was a start of a beautiful relationship.