Chapter Text
“Ah, shit,” Hinata Hajime swore under his breath as he fumbled to untie the green apron strings around his waist. Every day it was the same damn thing; he would get to work late, and in his rush would tie the knot too tightly. And, of course, then he couldn’t get it off when it was time to leave, which ended up making him late to whatever he had going on later that day. “Come on…” with one final tug, the strings came loose, and Hinata let out a frustrated, albeit relieved, sigh as he pulled the apron up over his head and slung it over the hooks by the back door. “I’m leaving!” he called out towards the front of the shop, not really expecting a response. The evening rush at Homebrew, a combination coffee shop and game store, was always crazy, and everyone was most likely too busy to even hear him.
Shrugging his shoulders, Hajime stepped out into the back parking lot of the shop, pulling his car keys from his jeans pocket as he skipped down the steps.
“God, it’s hot,” he mumbled, pressing the unlock button on his key fob as he approached his dinged-up, on-the-verge-of-death vehicle. “Please let the AC work today.” He dropped into the front seat and stuck the key in the ignition, holding his breath as he waited for the engine to turn over. For a few heart-stopping seconds the car merely clicked loudly as it tried to start, but then the engine roared to life and, blessedly, cool air began to pour from the vents. Hinata let out the breath he had been holding and then fastened his seat belt before glancing at the clock on the dashboard. “Oh, shit.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He wiggled around in the seat, trying to get his hand into his back pocket before succeeding, looking down at the screen. One new text message, and he already knew what it would say. He tapped on the screen and opened the message, confirming his own prediction.
Chiaki: don’t forget.
“Good grief,” he huffed. But he smiled as he typed a message back to his best friend.
Hinata: i won’t forget, you big nerd
Her reply was almost immediate.
Chiaki: you said that last time, too
Hinata: i’m going to forget and be late if you keep harassing me
Chiaki: uh huh :P
Hinata laughed and dropped his phone into the passenger seat and put the car into reverse.
Nanami Chiaki had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. They met during their first year of high school and had bonded immediately over their mutual love for classic arcade games, like Pac-Man and Galaga. For the first few years of their friendship they spent nearly every day after school going to a run-down arcade bar downtown, where they had begged the bouncer to let them in just to play the games. Hinata liked to think that the bouncer had let them in because he could see the passion in their eyes, but he knew it probably had more to do with Chiaki, judging by the way the bouncer had eyeballed her chest when they approached. They spent four years visiting the arcade bar, setting a goal for themselves to hold the top two spots on all of the machines’ high score tables. When that was accomplished, they played a little more casually, though Chiaki had found a taste for hustling the bar patrons at the different games, much to Hinata’s amusement. However, once they graduated high school, Chiaki let her true, blazingly nerdy colours show and invited Hinata to try out her real passion: table-top RPGs.
He had been skeptical at first, but Chiaki convinced him to come with her to the local game store that was attached to the coffee shop one evening and just sit and watch a single session. That had been two years ago, and now they met several nights a week to play with a couple of other people from around town. They had multiple campaigns going, and the one tonight was the most recent (today would be their third session) and also the one Hinata was the most invested in. Maybe it was because Chiaki was the dungeon master, and she had written the story herself (which guaranteed it would be fantastic), or maybe it was because he felt more connected with the character he had built for this campaign than he had with any of his others. Either way, he did not want to be late. Especially since Chiaki usually imposed some kind of constitution or intelligence handicap on his character for the entire session whenever he didn’t manage to show up on time.
Not wanting to be at a disadvantage during his favorite campaign for the second week in a row, he gunned the engine, whipping out of the parking lot and making his way to the grocery store, where he was supposed to be picking up snacks for their session. As luck would have it, he hit nearly every red light on his way there, and by the time he hurriedly pulled into a parking spot outside the store it was two minutes after seven, and he knew he would be taking a hit to his character sheet. Again.
In a record-breaking eight minute grocery store run, Hinata was back in his car returning to Homebrew, a plastic bag of Oreos, pretzel sticks, and a jar of Nutella resting in his passenger seat. He knew he could’ve saved himself a lot of time by just buying the groceries that morning, or even the night before, but he had stayed up late last night studying for a test and had barely woken up on time for work as it was. Chiaki might have been his best friend, but she was a ruthless DM and was probably going to penalize him anyway.
He burst through the front door that led to the game side of Homebrew, backpack over one shoulder, shopping bag in hand, the bell tinkling over his head. He startled a thin, pale girl who was straightening out an action figure display a few feet away from him, and she leapt into the air, spinning around, her twin braids narrowly missing whipping Hinata in the chest.
“Sorry, Toko,” he panted, peering towards the back of the shop were several tables were set up and different groups were meeting up to play their own campaigns. “Is Chiaki here already?”
“You know she is,” Toko muttered, adjusting her thick-framed glasses and turning back to the display. “Gundham hasn’t arrived yet, though.”
“Oh, thank God.” Hinata let out a sigh and patted Toko’s shoulder as he walked past her, feeling her stiffen beneath his touch. “Bless you, Toko.”
“Whatever.” He saw the tops of her ears turning red and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. Fukawa Toko was one of three employees of the game store, and she was more shy than anyone Hinata had ever met, and he had gone to school with some pretty awkward people. But despite her timid, slightly sarcastic personality, she also was an absolute powerhouse of fantasy and sci-fi knowledge, which was probably what got her hired in the first place. There wasn’t a single book in either of those genres that she hadn’t read, and her memory was practically photographic when it came to them. There had been multiple times when a group playing through a Lord of the Rings campaign would call her over to their table to settle some dispute over storyline details.
Hinata made his way to the back of the store, passing shelves of board games, the glass door that opened up into the coffee shop side, and half a dozen spotless glass display cases showing off hand-painted mini-figures. Chiaki had tried to get Hinata to take a figure painting class with her once, but he had adamantly refused. He was already forbidden from doing any latte art at work because of the messes he had made in the past; he didn’t want to get banned from the game store, too. He nodded his hellos to the other players that were completely immersed in their own campaigns, enjoying the familiar sound of dice rolling on tabletops and voices arguing about grappling rules. When he made it back to their regular table, he saw Chiaki putting the finishing touches on the wet-erase map on the table before capping the blue marker she had been using.
She looked up and spotted Hinata, and raised a single eyebrow.
“You’re late.” she said, sticking the marker into a cup next to her dungeon master screen that blocked any players seated at the table from seeing her notes.
“So is Gundham,” Hinata pointed out, dropping down into his usual seat, with his back to the front door. “So no penalties, okay?”
“Gundham doesn’t work right next door.” Chiaki smirked, sitting down in her seat as well and reaching for the bag of snacks Hinata deposited on the table. “Did you level up your character?”
“I spent half my shift looking feats up on my phone,” Hinata replied, placing his bag on the floor and unzipping the main pocket to pull out a forest green folder. “Want to take a look?”
“Did you have someone watch you roll your new health?” she asked, already crunching on a pretzel stick she had dipped into the Nutella as she reached forward and slid his folder towards herself.
“Oh my god, Chiaki. I’m not going to cheat!”
“Did you have someone watch?”
“...yes.” Hinata pulled his phone out and opened up a video of him in the backroom of the coffee shop and pushed it towards her as well. Chiaki looked up from the folder and tilted her head to watch the video. It had been filmed, rather sloppily, by the general manager of the coffee shop after much begging on Hinata’s part. On-screen, Hinata, still in his green apron, rolled a d10 and gave a little whoop when the die came to a stand-still with a 9 showing at the top.
“Who was filming?” Chiaki asked, narrowing her eyes as she squinted suspiciously at the screen.
“Maki. You can go verify it with her if you don’t believe me.”
“She didn’t yell at you for asking? Huh. Well, I trust her.” Chiaki pushed his phone back to him and went back to looking at his character sheet in the green folder. “Thanks.”
“I still can’t believe you think I would cheat,” he muttered, sticking his phone back into his pocket.
“Hinata, the entire first campaign we played together, you were using a weighted d20 for all of your rolls.”
“I didn’t know it was weighted!” Hinata crossed his arms. “Kokichi gave it to me and didn’t tell me! You know he did!”
“I did what?” A familiar voice asked from behind, and Hinata spun around in his chair to see the person in question grinning at him. Kokichi Ouma, one of Toko’s other two coworkers, had his hands behind his head and a mischievous look on his face (which wasn’t unusual at all). “Are you still upset about that trick die I gave you?”
“You have permanently scarred my relationship with my best friend,” Hinata huffed.
“Oh, come on, it was funny.” Kokichi dropped his arms to his side and went to stand next to Chiaki, leaning an elbow on her shoulder. She rolled her eyes, but didn’t brush him off. “You actually thought you were good at the game for a while.”
“Thanks.” Hinata deadpanned, taking his folder back from Chiaki and placing it in front of him.
“No problem!” Kokichi kept grinning, and Hinata shook his head. He didn’t mind him most of the time, but sometimes it was like Kokichi didn’t know when to quit.
“Why are you here?” Chiaki asked as she noted something behind her DM screen that Hinata couldn’t see. “It’s Thursday.”
“I forgot to complete my time card,” Kokichi rolled his eyes and hopped up so he was perched on the edge of the table, bumping Chiaki’s screen to the side as he did so. “I had to come back to keep Four Eyes from screeching at me.”
“I can hear you!” Toko called bitterly from the front of the store, and Kokichi stuck his tongue out at her childishly.
“See? Imagine that, except even more high-pitched and shrill. Not worth it.” Kokichi jumped down from the table and put his hands back behind his head and smiled at them. “See you guys.”
“Later.” Hinata watched him walk towards the shop counter and duck behind it. Kokichi disappeared through the beaded curtain that separated the staff room from the rest of the shop, the bright purple and silver beads clacking together loudly as he passed them. “He’s still so weird.”
“He is.” Chiaki kept making notes behind her screen, which she had already adjusted after Kokichi’s disturbance. “Is Gundham here yet?”
“I don’t think s-” Hinata turned in his seat to face the door again just in time to catch Gundham climbing out of the passenger seat of a candy apple red Mustang convertible with its top down. “Looks like Sonia just dropped him off.” He watched as Gundham closed the door and walked around to the other side of the car, bending down to give his girlfriend a kiss before she drove away.
“They’re such a weird couple,” Chiaki said, and Hinata turned back around to see her also watching the scene outside curiously. “She looks like a model and Gundham is…”
“...Gundham,” Hinata finished, and they both laughed. The bell over the door chimed as Gundham entered, and soon he was at the table, dropping down into his seat across from Hinata and pulling his ever-present purple scarf off of his neck.
“My sincerest apologies for my lateness, Master Chiaki,” Gundham gave a little head bow in her direction, and Hinata smiled to himself, ducking his head down so Gundham wouldn’t see. Despite knowing him for over two years and being pretty good friends, Hinata had yet to get over how seriously Gundham took his characters.
“It’s no biggie,” Chiaki waved off his apology, and Hinata glared at her. She met his gaze and grinned. “You’re not late nearly as often as Hinata is.”
“Good grief,” Hinata rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time that day and popped the cap off of his dice container. “Let’s just get started.”
“Yes, let us begin!” Gundham slammed his character sheet down on the table, causing a few nearby patrons to jump in their seats. But no one said anything, because everyone here knew--and, fortunately, loved--Gundham and his enthusiasm for role-playing games. “I have acquired some new spells that I believe will be of incredible aid!”
“Oh, awesome,” Hinata looked down at his character sheet. “I don’t have a stat penalty this time, so hopefully I can help out more.” He flashed a look at Chiaki who just smiled cheekily at him.
“Well, do you guys remember where we left off?” Chiaki glanced down at her notes. “You were just recovering from the death of your friend, Sai-”
“ Don’t say his name .” Gundham held up a hand and wrinkled his nose with distaste. “Never speak the name of that traitor in front of me.”
“Fair enough.” Chiaki scribbled something down and started over. “After the-” she paused and looked at Gundham over the top of her DM screen. “-traitorous death of your party member, you were left stranded in the cavern without a guide or a healer. Hinata, you-”
Gundham cleared his throat.
“ Faron ,” Chiaki said, looking pointedly at Hinata as she said the name of his character. “You were the last one to speak with...the traitor, and he gave you a bit of insight into which route to take when you reach the fork in the caverns before he died. Do you remember what he said?”
“I do,” Hinata looked at the other pocket of his folder, where he had super-glued a legal pad to the inside cover. It was covered in scribbled notes and calculations for his health whenever they were in combat. “I wrote it down.”
“Smart.” Gundham nodded slowly, leaning forward with his chin in his hand as he peered at Hinata’s notebook. “Tell me, Faron. What did the scoundrel have to say for himself?”
Trying not to laugh, Hinata read his notes out loud to Gundham, who ‘Hmmm’ed in response, writing down his own notes in a small, leather-bound black notebook that he had pasted all of his spell cards into. The “traitor” that had offended Gundham so much was Saihara Shuichi, one of Hinata’s coworkers at the coffee shop and the third member of their party. He had quit suddenly in the middle of their second session after receiving a phone call from a family member about some medical emergency. He had apologized profusely and said he couldn’t commit to the campaign when his schedule was about to become uncertain, and it was a valid reason for backing out, but Gundham was still miffed.
Chiaki had quickly written in the untimely death of their third player for the story, and they had all started putting their feelers out to find someone to take the empty space. While it was possible to run the story with only two players, Chiaki wanted a third, and they had to find one fast before Kokichi found out there was a slot open at their table. Once the scheming shop employee discovered that someone had an empty seat in their games, he would just appear and run the game into the ground with his anti-rules playstyle, something that Chiaki and Hinata both knew would not sit well with Gundham.
“I would like to cast Speak With Dead on the traitor’s corpse!” Gundham declared after he finished writing down what Hinata had said.
“Um,” Chiaki bit her lip as she tried not to laugh. “For what?”
“I would like to determine if the information given to Faron is the truth!”
“I see.”
“After I have connected with his spirit, I would also like to cast Zone of Truth to guarantee he cannot give me falsities!”
“Go ahead.” Chiaki waved him on, and Gundham rolled his check, succeeded, and glared at the empty seat that their recently departed cleric had left vacant.
“The information you gave to Faron, was it accurate?” Gundham had his pen ready to write down whatever came out of Chiaki’s mouth.
“It was.” Chiaki quickly met Hinata’s eyes and they both smiled. “I wouldn’t lie to my friends.”
“Friends!” Gundham huffed in a mocking tone, slapping the pen down onto the table with a crack. “You are no friend of mine, demon. Begone.” He waved his hand at the chair as if he had actually summoned a spirit there, and turned back to face Hinata, eyes serious. “We will forge our path alone, and rest assured that I will never abandon you to a grisly fate.”
“Thanks, Gu-” Hinata stopped and quickly corrected himself. “Thank you, Xeniroth.”
“Your gratitude is unnecessary. I am honor-bound.” Gundham looked over at Chiaki. “We are ready to proceed deeper into the caverns.”
“Oh, good,” Chiaki grabbed something from behind her screen and then dropped it onto the map she had been drawing earlier. Two miniature goblin figurines now blocked the path leading deeper into the caves, preventing them from moving forward. “As you prepare to depart your camp, you spot the two goblins responsible for the traitor’s death coming back for a second attack. One of them is carrying a torch, and the other already has an arrow strung, ready to fire. They haven’t spotted you yet; what will you do?”
“I immediately send out my Invading Black Dragon, Cham-P!” Gundham whipped out the character sheet for his animal companion, which was a gigantic hamster, something that had amused both Chiaki and Hinata to no end.
“Wait, wait, I guess that’ll count as a surprise attack, but then let’s make sure to roll initiative…” Chiaki pulled out her combat tracker, and they started to play.
For the next three hours they continued a slow dungeon crawl through the caverns, searching for the kidnapped son of a village bartender that they had run into during their first session. As usual, the game was made infinitely more fun than their other campaigns purely because of Gundham’s unbroken character role (even a break to use the restroom had him adding flavor text of him disappearing into the last cavern they cleared so that ‘Xeniroth could attend to some private business’) and Chiaki’s easy management of each encounter. When Chiaki glanced at her phone and saw the time, she quickly called them to a stopping point, despite Gundham’s protesting.
“Sorry, I have to work the early shift tomorrow morning,” she grimaced. “I can barely wake up in the mornings as it is; I need to try and get as much sleep as I can.”
“I can’t believe they’ve started putting you on the morning schedule,” Hinata shook his head as he closed his folder and started gathering up his scattered dice. “Didn’t you tell them to not do that?”
“You know how much Maki listens to me,” Chiaki folded up her DM screen and laid it down flat on the table. “She did say it was only for this weekend, though.”
“Should I come and speak with her?” Gundham offered, and Chiaki smiled and shook her head. “I can be quite convincing.”
“That’s okay, but I do appreciate the thought.”
“I would like to resume our regular night-time schedule as soon as possible.” Gundham levelled his gaze at Chiaki, as perfectly serious about this as he was about everything else. “I do not like this change that has been made to the laws of nature and order.”
“I’ll make sure Maki knows that,” Chiaki replied, just as seriously. Hinata ducked down under the table, pretending to be fidgeting with the zipper on his bag to keep himself from laughing.
Chiaki also worked at the coffee half of Homebrew, like Hinata did, though she usually took the overnight shift that no one else wanted. They saw almost no customers during those later hours, and since the game side closed at eleven, the coffee shop had quickly become the regular hangout spot for them and their friends, all of them packing into the booth closest to the counter, either playing board games or just talking and keeping Chiaki company during her shift. Unfortunately, after Saihara had quit their session, he had also asked to be taken off the schedule at work to deal with his family emergency, and so everyone’s shifts had been traded around to cover up the difference until a temporary replacement could come in. It had only been a couple weeks of the adjusted schedule, but like he said, Gundham did not like the changes.
As they all packed up their things, Toko drifted up to the table, fiddling with one of her braids, avoiding eye contact with everyone as she usually did.
“Sonia’s here,” she said, and then immediately turned on her heel and left.
“The Mistress of Darkness calls me back to the void!” Gundham stood up from his seat. “I look forward to reconvening and continuing our quest, Faron.”
“Back atcha,” Hinata replied as Gundham gave a little bow to Chiaki before wrapping his scarf around his neck and walking out the front door. “Man, I love him.” Hinata said as they both watched him leave.
“He’s a lot of fun,” Chiaki agreed, stretching her arms over her head and yawning. “Will you drive me home?”
“Sure.” Hinata stood up and scooped his backpack up off the ground. “I guess you walked?”
“Yeah, it was nice out.”
“Maybe for you.” Hinata bumped her with his hip, and she laughed. “You cold-blooded freak.” They finished gathering up their things and throwing away their trash before making their way to the front door, stepping around standing clumps of people who had also just finished their sessions.
“Bye, Toko!” Chiaki said cheerfully as they passed the checkout counter. Toko looked up and wrinkled her nose.
“Bye.” She looked back down at the book she had been reading, not acknowledging Hinata at all.
“Always a pleasure,” Hinata murmured to himself, and Chiaki smothered a giggle.
“Be nice to her. She’s just...different.” They stepped out into the warm summer air, and Hinata slapped at a mosquito that immediately flew into his face, trying to get to the light inside the game store.
“God, I hate nature,” Hinata pulled his keys out of his pocket and swung them around, wrapping his red and yellow lanyard around his wrist. “Let’s get in the car before more divebomb us.” They made a beeline for Hinata’s car and hopped in, Chiaki sighing as she had to toss a spare work apron, a pair of sneakers, and an alarming stack of used character sheets into the back seat so that she had room to sit down.
“We’re going to clean out your car this weekend,” she said, once she had settled down into the passenger seat and buckled up. “This is ridiculous.”
“Hey, it’s my car. I never have to sit over there.” Hinata stuck his keys into the ignition, and they both went quiet, each saying their own silent prayer that it would start, as was tradition. Chiaki had ridden in the Death Rattle (as she called it) enough to know that it needed every prayer it could get. It started up normally, and they both let out a sigh before bursting out into laughter.
“That tension never gets old,” she sighed, pushing back her dusty pink hair and slouching down in the seat. “One day our prayers aren’t going to make it in time.”
“Hey, don’t say that out loud. Bad karma.” Hinata backed out of his parking space and left the lot, taking a left and then immediately turning right into a small neighbourhood that was right across the street. “You home alone tonight?”
“Yeah,” Chiaki yawned as she checked her phone. “Probably will be for the rest of the week. Maki is covering the night shifts until the new girl gets trained.”
“She could’ve let you train her and not messed up everyone’s schedule,” Hinata said as he pulled up in front of Chiaki’s house. “Why did she insist on doing it herself?”
“Because she’s Maki.” Chiaki shrugged her shoulders, letting any negativity roll right off of her, just like she did with everything else. It wasn’t really her style to get worked up or upset over little things, especially when it came to the people she cared about. Hinata, on the other hand, was the opposite, always having to work hard to not take things too personally and make everything more complicated than it needed to be. Perhaps that’s why he and Chiaki were such good friends; opposites attract and all that. “You going to come by in the morning?”
“Yeah, I’ll probably stop by for a bit. Maybe complete some homework.” He scrunched his nose up in mock disgust and pretended to gag. “I definitely won’t get anything done at home. The internet went out again last night.”
“Someday we’re going to move you out of that apartment and find you somewhere better to live.” Chiaki unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her backpack off the floorboard, where it had been resting next to her feet.
“Well, you let me know when I’ve suddenly become a millionaire and I’ll get back to you on that.”
“Very funny.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Get some rest.”
“You too. See ya.” Chiaki climbed out of the car, stifling another yawn, and slung her bag over her shoulder. She slammed the car door shut and walked slowly up the porch steps, rifling around in the front pocket of her bag for her house keys. Hinata waited until she had gotten all the way back inside and locked the door behind her, waving through the screen at him to let him know everything was okay. He waved back and then pulled away from the curb and made the loop through the neighbourhood that led back to the main street.
He drove home in silence, going over the events of the session that evening in his head, planning what he wanted to do next and what he was going to change when they levelled up again. Thinking about the games and planning for them was almost half of the fun in itself.
When he got to his apartment building, he pulled into the only empty space that was an entire lot away from his door. He had resigned himself to getting the worst spots every night since he always stayed out so late, and all the other people who lived in his building had kids and 9 to 5 jobs that guaranteed they were back early on the weeknights. Sighing, Hinata grabbed his bag from the back seat and got out of the car, and walked all the way back to his apartment, climbing the steps to the third floor and letting himself inside.
It was dark and quiet, and he didn’t bother flipping on the lights as he went down the hall, dropping his bag on the floor as he went towards his bedroom. Sometimes he wished he had a roommate, like Chiaki did, just so that he wouldn’t have to come home to the emptiness every day. A year ago, when he had first moved out, he would’ve refused to get a place with someone else, instead wanting to celebrate his independence. But now he was feeling kind of ready to not live by himself anymore.
He had asked Chiaki once what it was like living with Maki, someone who was both her friend, but also technically her boss. Chiaki had just shrugged and said that it wasn’t any different from living with anyone else you were friends with; except that Maki was a flawless roommate, and that they never discussed work when they were at home.
When he got to his bedroom he fumbled around for a bit, trying to find a pair of clean pajama pants in the midst of his messy living space, got changed, and then flopped down in bed before reaching over to his nightstand to plug in his phone. As the screen lit up to let him know it was charging, he saw he had a text from Chiaki.
Chiaki: maybe you should consider getting a roommate
It was as if she had read his mind, and he smiled. Sometimes it felt like they were always connected, always on the same wavelength, no matter how far away they were from each other. He quickly typed back a response.
Hinata: i was just thinking that myself :) but i dont know of anyone i could really stand to live with, besides you ofc.
Chiaki: hmmm...too bad im taken ;P
She sent another message right after that one.
Chiaki: but im sure we’ll find you someone. having someone to split rent with would help, and it really would make me feel better if you didnt live in that dump anymore.
Hinata: hey, i personally love this dump. It feels like home.
Chiaki: i get that. eventually we’ll need to find you somewhere new, tho
Hinata: you’re right...but hey, get some sleep! we can talk about this tomorrow!
Chiaki: ok, ok! goodnight hina~ <3
Hinata: night, chia~ <3
Hinata smiled a little at the little nicknames they had given to each other during high school before placing his phone face down on his nightstand. He rolled over and pulled his covers up to his chin, closed his eyes, and let himself drift off to sleep.
The next morning, Hinata got up earlier than he usually did on his days off so he could get to Homebrew and finish his homework before Chiaki got off of work. He couldn’t remember the last time he hadn’t worked on a Friday morning, but if it gave him free time that wasn’t already committed to a shift, classes, or a gaming campaign, he wasn’t going to waste a second of it. He went about his apartment as he gathered up all of his school supplies, stuffing them into the backpack he had left out in the hallway the night before. He knew Chiaki had already started her shift, so he didn’t bother making himself any breakfast, instead shoving his feet into his sneakers and dragging himself out the door.
It wasn’t even nine o’clock, but the air was already thick and humid, the summer sun beating down on the top of his head so heavily that by the time he had walked all the way out to his car he had started sweating. Hinata said his prayers and started up his car, exhaling noisily when the engine finally turned over. Once the air conditioner started pumping out semi-cool air, he pulled out of his apartment complex and drove over to Homebrew, his mind drifting to all of the homework assignments he could complete while he waited for Chiaki to get off work.
When Hinata graduated high school, the first thing he had done was gather up all the money he had been saving since he started working in his sophomore year and put a deposit on his own apartment. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his family, because he did, but he had been desperate to have some sort of independence after having to adhere to their strict rules for his entire life. Once he moved out he had started taking classes--mostly online ones, so as not to interfere too much with his work--at the local community college, wanting to get a degree in business or something else equally generic that he could take with him anywhere if he decided to move. Not that he ever really thought he would; he would miss Chiaki and Homebrew too much. But Hinata liked to keep his options open.
He arrived at the shop right as Maki was leaving, her dark hair pulled up into a messy bun with a blood-red scrunchie and her regular look of grim exhaustion on her face. She walked out the front door, still in her green apron, and leaned against the wall, pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her apron pocket. Hinata slammed his car door shut and traded his bag to his other shoulder, putting on his most inoffensive smile as he approached her.
“Good morning, Maki. It’s hot out, huh?” She was lighting the cigarette between her lips, her shoulders hunched, and she looked up at him through her lashes, unimpressed with his attempt at conversation. Once her cigarette was lit, she straightened up, slid the lighter back into her apron, and looked him square in the eyes.
“Is it?” she asked, discreetly blowing a puff of smoke out of the side of her mouth. At least she hadn’t blown it into his face.
“Maybe it’s just me,” Hinata laughed nervously, stepping away from her and towards the door. “See ya.”
Maki didn’t reply, and instead took another long drag of her cigarette before she started walking across the parking lot, heading back to her house. Hinata shook his head and pulled the door open, relishing the feeling of the ice-cold air that rushed out onto his face. He stepped inside and looked around, trying to find a spot where he would be as out of the way as possible.
“Hinata!” Chiaki’s voice interrupted his search and he looked towards the counter. His best friend was leaning her elbows on the counter, chin cupped in her hands, smiling at him. “You’re here earlier than I expected.”
“I wanted to get an early start,” he explained, walking up to the counter and peering into the display case of baked goods to the right of the register. “Can you make me a breakfast croissant?”
“Bacon?”
“Please.” Hinata watched as Chiaki gathered up the ingredients for his sandwich and looked over his shoulder, scanning the rest of the shop for a seat. He didn’t want to sit in the booth they usually sat in during their night time gatherings just because customers loved to sit there while they waited for their drinks to be made. He also needed an outlet to plug into just in case his laptop needed to charge. He heard the ding of the toaster oven and turned around as Chiaki pulled his breakfast out, wrapping it in wax paper and sealing it with a Homebrew sticker, which featured an angular, minimalist-design d20 with a cup of coffee on it instead of numbers.
“Here you go.” She passed to him and started lifting a size medium plastic cup off the stack next to the register. “Do you want a drink?”
“Uh, sure. Thanks for the sandwich.” He grabbed it off the counter and glanced over his shoulder again. “I’m going to find a place to sit.”
“I’ll bring your drink over when I finish it!” Chiaki said, cheerfully. She turned around and started to make his regular drink (iced white chocolate mocha with extra white chocolate, so sweet it made your teeth hurt), humming to herself as she did so.
Hinata finally picked a spot, choosing a booth that was close to the door leading into the game shop, hidden mostly from view of the coffee store entrance, and just out of the way enough that he wasn’t taking any prime seating. The morning rush was about to start, and Hinata wanted to be settled down and focused before people started flooding in. By the time he had unloaded his backpack and spread all of his stuff out across the table, Chiaki had brought him his drink and he was ready to get to work. The only assignments he had were some word problems he had to do for his Entry to Accounting class, and two essays for both of his required humanities courses. It wasn’t a lot, but Hinata had never been a particularly good writer.
He had just cracked open his laptop and started looking at potential essay topics when the morning rush started, filling the air with voices ordering and the loud grinding of the coffee machines. Hinata liked doing his homework at the coffee shop; it smelled good, he was comfortable there, and he got free food and drinks. But even though he wasn’t there on a shift, it was hard to break the habit of looking up every time the bell over the door rang and opening his mouth to greet a customer. Twice now he had looked up, automatically ready to greet whoever had just come in, and caught Chiaki making faces at him, laughing at his involuntary response.
The third time he looked up, Chiaki just straight up started laughing at him, and Hinata stuck his tongue out at her before turning to his backpack to find a pair of headphones to block out the noise. As he was digging through the front pocket of his bag, the bell over the door rang again, and Hinata had to fight the urge to lift his head.
“Good morning!” Chiaki’s happy greeting made her sound more chipper than he knew she was feeling. Chiaki was not a morning person, no matter what face she put on while she was at work. “What can I get for you?”
“Oh, um, you’re not…” the voice sounded vaguely familiar, but then again, so did most of the customers’ voices. Lots of them were regulars, and some of them Hinata even knew their cars and would have their orders ready before they came in the door. “I mean, um…” the voice continued, and Hinata looked up, the headphones he had been looking for clasped in one hand.
The guy standing at the counter was one of their newer customers who had started showing up a little after Saihara had taken leave for his family emergency. For the last couple of weeks Hinata had seen the guy almost every single day, always coming in and ordering something a little bit different, as if he were testing out everything on their menu. Hinata had him figured as a coffee junkie kind of regular (Homebrew had several of those) as he fit the ordering habits of one and had the look, to boot. He was super skinny, was always wearing this long, green hipster-looking jacket, and had some of the most wild hair Hinata had ever seen. It was wispy and white, stuck out in every direction, and had Hinata’s coworker Himiko dubbing him ‘Whipped Cream Head,’ though she had never said it to his face.
In fact, Himiko was working with Chiaki today, and Hinata watched with interest to see if she would come out and try to use the nickname on him. He had dared her to so many times that he secretly hoped she would just do it to get him off her back about it.
“There’s no rush!” Chiaki said, tilting her head to the side as she stared at Whipped Cream Head, waiting for him to order. He was still looking at Chiaki, and while Hinata couldn’t see his whole face from where he was sitting, the bit he could see looked very, very confused.
“I’m sorry,” Whipped Cream said, giving his head a little shake as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his wallet. “I’ll just have a, um, small iced Americano?”
“Sure!” Chiaki chirped, turning around and grabbing a small plastic cup to start his drink. Hinata watched as Whipped Cream switched his body weight from one foot to the other, almost nervously, and shook his head to himself. Caffeine junkie people were always wound up so tight, and no amount of coffee was going to change that. “Here you go!” Chiaki was back; the simple drink took less than a few minutes to make, and Hinata expected Whipped Cream to just down the whole thing in one go, desperate for a fix, but he didn’t. He just paid Chiaki quietly, picked his cup off the counter, and turned around to go back out the door.
Shrugging his shoulders, Hinata turned back to his laptop and plugged his headphones in.
“Hinata?” Right as he was about to put the buds into his ears, he saw Chiaki hanging over the edge of the counter, waving her arms to get his attention.
“Yeah?” he dropped the headphones down onto the table and raised his eyebrows at her flailing.
“You have an extra apron in your car, right? Could I borrow it? I spilled caramel syrup all over myself while I was trying to change out the bottles.” Chiaki fluttered her eyelashes dramatically, and Hinata laughed, getting up from the booth seat and grabbing his car keys.
“Sure. Let me go grab it. Try not to make a bigger mess.”
“Pffff.” Chiaki scoffed at him as he pushed open the front door and stepped back out into the summer heat. A single hour’s difference from when he had been out here last had raised the temperature almost ten whole degrees, and Hinata immediately broke into a sweat.
“God, I hate summer,” he muttered to himself as he walked over to his car, swinging his lanyard as he went.
He was bending over to unlock the passenger side door when he noticed movement in his periphery, and he looked up.
Whipped Cream was standing in the shade at the side of the building, next to a trash can, his iced Americano in hand. With the clear plastic cups that Homebrew used, Hinata could see that there hadn’t been a single sip taken out of the drink yet, which struck him as pretty weird for the caffeine addict stereotype Hinata had labelled him as. As he wondered what Whipped Cream was waiting around for, he saw him lift up the cup as if he were going to finally take a drink…
...and then instead tossed the entire cup, completely full and untouched, straight into the trash can.
“Wh-...” Hinata blinked a couple times, his hand still frozen on his car door handle.
Then he watched as Whipped Cream pulled some car keys from his jacket pocket, walked over to a brand new, sparkling silver Volkswagen Beetle, climbed in, and drove off.
Hinata stared after his car until it disappeared around a corner, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
“Huh.”