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There is something strangely intimate about meeting someone in the same place multiple times, yet never closing the distance between.
It happens to Yamaguchi every Wednesday at 6:17 PM, when his Starbucks shift is almost over but not quite, and the hustle-and-bustle has died down significantly. The door opens with the chime of a bell and a gust of wind, crisp fall air wafting into the cafe for a few moments before it leaves. A boy walks in, blond head a few inches from hitting the top of the doorway. He has a pair of headphones slung around his neck and a backpack over his shoulder, and he moves with the importance of someone who thoroughly enjoys entering quickly and disappearing just as fast. Leaving no footprints, no marks. Soon to be forgotten.
But Yamaguchi is tired of looking at him from oh, so far away. Surely astronauts were created with the same motive; they got tired of only looking at the stars, and never being among them.
There has always been something separating the two of them, though, a barrier of sorts—the front counter, a queue of people waiting for their daily dosage of caffeine, Yamaguchi’s own cowardice. Or maybe it’s a selfless, noble kind of sacrifice that stops him from going any further.
“Whatcha doing, Yamaguchi?” a familiar voice chirps, shaking him out of his daydream gone downhill. He turns his head to see brown eyes staring at him, and orange hair bright enough to be mistaken for a Halloween decoration. A jack-o-lantern, he thinks. Definitely a jack-o-lantern.
“Not much,” he sighs wistfully. Because Jack-O-Lantern-kun has a name, he adds, “Hinata, um, you know that tall guy? He comes in every Wednesday and Friday?”
“Which one? Everybody’s tall to me,” Hinata says, so seriously that Yamaguchi feels a twinge of sympathy for the poor guy.
“Um, he has glasses, blonde hair that’s messy but it looks really soft, these, like, golden-honey-colored eyes, and he always sits at a window seat in the corner after ordering something strawberry…” he trails off after noticing Hinata’s silence. “Um. Yeah. Him.”
“Holy crap,” Hinata says. “Wait. You don’t mean Tsukishima, right?”
“What? I thought his name was Tsukki!”
“No way! He never lets me write that on his cup. I always put Stingyshima instead,” Hinata pouts. Yamaguchi contemplates this, mainly because Tsukki is the only thing he’s ever written on his cup. Huh.
“Don’t tell me you like him,” Hinata says warningly.
“Umm…”
“Why?!”
“I don’t know,” Yamaguchi groans. “I mean, why do you like Kageyama?”
“Wha—okay, first of all, I don’t, and second of all, that’s not something you can just explain!”
“Exactly,” Yamaguchi points out. He sighs again. “I’m just, you know, really bad at this sort of thing.”
“No, you’re not, you’re pretty good at making espressos.”
“Not what I meant, but thanks! I mean, like, love and all that.”
“Oh,” Hinata says. “Ohhh.”
“Yeah,” Yamaguchi says sheepishly. “Have any advice?”
“Ummmm. Be cool? Maybe ask him out for coffee, or-oh, wait you work at Starbucks, nevermind. Uh, you could go to the movies!” Hinata pumps his fist in the air enthusiastically. “Oh, I know! You gotta be really bold, too. Like this!” He cups his hands around his mouth and shouts across the room, “TSUKISHIMAAA!”
“Oh my god, what are you doing?” Yamaguchi yelps, yanking Hinata’s arm back in desperation.
“Trust me, it’ll work,” Hinata says confidently. Baseless confidence, in Yamaguchi’s opinion. Tsukishima frowns in their direction from his window seat, but strides up to the counter anyway.
“What?” he says flatly, giving Hinata a masked look of disdain.
“Oh, crap, I totally forgot what I was going to say,” Hinata says cheerfully. He glances down at a watch on his wrist. “And it’s time for my break! That stinks. I guess you’ll just have to order off Yamaguchi! See you guys!” And then he leaves, opening the door to the backroom and disappearing behind it. Yamaguchi is going to have some words with Hinata later.
But before that, he has to face the more pressing issue at hand. Deep breaths, Tadashi, deep breaths. You can do this. Today, he will finally close the distance.
“Hi,” he smiles nervously, awarding himself a point for not stuttering. He was never good at talking to pretty girls in high school. Maybe the same goes for pretty boys, too. “I’m sorry about Hinata, I-I have no idea what he was talking about.” Okay, well, he has some idea. “Um, another strawberry shortcake frappe today, Tsukki?”
Tsukishima shakes his head. “Vampire frappucino, please.”
“Okay, coming right up,” Yamaguchi nods, scribbling it down on his notepad. His eyes widen, and he drops his notepad on the counter. It lands with an anticlimactic plop! “Oh, sorry, you just reminded me—” He digs through a drawer, finally pulling out a black and orange-striped jar filled with individually wrapped pieces of candy. “—trick-or-treat!”
Tsukishima blinks, staring at him like he’s mildly insane. “Sorry?”
“Trick-or-treat? You know, for Halloween?” Yamaguchi elaborates. “It’s really western, I know, but my manager said we should do it with all the customers today, so take your pick!”
“Thank you,” Tsukishima says, reluctantly taking out a pink starburst.
"You're welcome," Yamaguchi says cheerfully. "Are you doing anything for Halloween tonight?"
Tsukishima shrugs. "Just staying in."
"Oh, well, that's alright," Yamaguchi smiles. He glances down at the watch on his wrist. "Okay, I'll call you up when your order's ready!" Tsukishima nods, and then makes his way back to his quiet corner seat. Yamaguchi turns around when he leaves, heading for the coffee machines.
After a few minutes of adding varying amounts of chocolate cream and strawberry syrup, he screws the lid on Tsukishima's cup and slides it across the counter. Shoot, he's done. He wishes time could stop, if only for a minute or two. Just enough to think of some sort of plan.
No, he can do this. I can do this. I got this.
"Tsukki," he calls out, surprised the name doesn't get choked up in his throat. Tsukki strides up to the counter again, his fingers wrapping around his frappucino.
"Thank y-"
"HeyTsukkisoIknowyou'renotdoinganythingtonightsodoyoumaybewannawatchamovieorsomethingifyou'refreeit'stotallyokayifyou'renotbutjustwonderingandit'dbereallycoolifwecouldhangoutsometimebecauseIlikeyoualotsowhatdoyouthink?"
"...What?"
Yamaguchi flushes. "Sorry, um, if you're free tonight, I was wondering if you—you wanted to go watch a movie or something! But it's totally okay if you can't! My shift is already over in almost two minutes, so-"
"I know."
"Kn-know what?"
"Your shift is over," Tsukishima says quietly. "You always walk out at 6:27." He clears his throat. "Jurassic World 2 just came out today."
"Ah," Yamaguchi says meekly. "Were you thinking of watching it?"
"With you, maybe," Tsukishima says, twisting the paper wrapping of a straw in his hands. "Yes, I mean. Yes."
"Oh." Yamaguchi blinks, trying to process this. And then he feels a smile form on his lips, stretching across his face. It feels like he'll never stop smiling. "Great. Great!" Tsukkishima's lips twitch at the corners ever-so-slightly.
"Okay, um, my shift just ended, I'll go tell my manager I'm signing out," Yamaguchi says quickly. "Be right back!" He swivels around and jog-sprints into the staffroom He feels bouncier than usual. Is that normal? To be bouncy?
"Hey, Hinata, I'm going-"
"YAMAGUUUUCHI!" A bright orange blur pounces on him. "Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, did ya ask him? Did he say yes? Or was he stingy?"
"Woah, okay, h-he said yes, so can I-"
"HOLY CRAP!" Hinata exclaims. "This is so crazy, I can't believe you and him are-"
"Hinata!" Yamaguchi interrupts in exasperation, a smile still plastered on his face. "We're going. Right now."
"Okay, so, whatchya waiting for?"
"You! You're the manager, remember?"
"Oh, right. Yeah, go ahead! And text me all the updates, except, like, the really juicy stuff, because I don't really need to know about Tsukishimas business!"
"Got it," Yamaguchi grins, already heading for the door. "Thanks, Hinata!"
"No problem!" he calls back. "Have fun on your daaaaate." Yamaguchi rolls his eyes, but he can feel his cheeks heat up anyway.
"Thank you," he says wryly. "I will!"