Chapter Text
Coffee. Coffee is the only thing Kei needs right now. it was 8:00 A.M. which meant he would be already late for his first morning class. This semester was stressing him out to the point he would be up until 3 in the morning, still working on an assignment. It was extra important to do good this semester since it is the last one of his third year.
Kei was lacking sleep, obviously, and the fact that Bokuto and Kuroo were nagging him the whole time to go out more did not help at all, he didn’t have time. Kuroo and Bokuto considered themselves as Kei's 'best friends' they were his only friends since his first year of college, they met during one of the introduction lectures in the first week. Kei never intended to make friends in the first place, they just stuck to him like glue and now he can’t get rid of them, not that he would want to get rid of them most of the time even though he acts like he does.
Of course, Kei had to study something that was difficult, he insisted he wanted to major in astronomy when he was younger, and he couldn't get out of it now. It's not like he didn't enjoy it, it was just so time consuming.
Right below from where Kei lives there is a Starbucks, a Subway, a Dunkin Donuts, and a Panda Express this is all convenient since he doesn’t like to walk far to get coffee or food. Kei lives in an apartment building near campus, it isn’t part of the university but it’s one of those apartments where only students would live since it’s so close. Kei considered living in a dorm once but having to share a room with someone who would show absolutely zero interest in him and the other way around did not sound appealing to him whatsoever. He imagines his roommate leaving dirty dishes in the sink for him to clean and littering the room with trash. Even thinking about it sends shivers down Kei’s back, living alone in an apartment was the best choice. Normally it was quiet in his apartment, the silence was comfortable though, there would be some music playing that he would normally listen to with his headphones on.
Kei has a secret passion for music, he doesn’t admit it, but he does. If it were possible, he would listen to music for a living. Kei tried learning how to play the guitar once and let’s just say that didn’t go all that well, it was way harder than he thought it would be and he gave up.
Kei also really likes cooking; he doesn’t do it a lot and he isn’t that good at it, but he tries. For dinner Kei orders take out 9/10 times, that one time he doesn’t Akaashi either comes over to cook for him or he brings him food he already cooked at home. Kei thinks it’s sweet, he’s kind of confused on how Akaashi got into his life like that though, well he came with Bokuto. Kei doesn’t know if Akaashi and Bokuto are dating, it seems like it, but they keep denying it. It doesn’t matter it isn’t his business after all, but if they were to be dating, he’d be okay with it he could honestly care less about who is dating who.
Kei’s first class started at 8:30 A.M. he was going to be a little late, but he needs to get coffee first. If only Kei was a morning person, he could actually get out of bed on time instead of waking up half an hour before he has to leave. Usually Kei meets up with Bokuto and Kuroo before class and they’d get coffee together, but since Kei has decided to not wake up on time anymore, they stopped waiting for him.
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Kei left his apartment in a rush almost forgetting his keys. He still had 15 minutes left until his class started, obviously he wasn’t going to make it in time, but he could always hope it wasn’t busy. Kei was on his way downstairs to the Starbucks that was settled in the apartment complex when he heard someone yell something about not letting the cat out again. Kei tried to ignore it, but someone approached him when he tried to walk away.
“Hey! I hope I’m not a bother, but could you help look for our cat?” A male with bright orange hair who is quite a few inches smaller than Kei asked him.
“I’m actually in quite a hurry” He responds emotionless.
“Hope you find your cat though” Kei said directly after his previous comment, just to sound a little less cold.
The shorter man pouted as Kei turned around. Kei walked two flights of stairs down when he finally arrived at the hall that led to the little food places. To Kei’s major inconvenience it was anything but quiet in the over-priced café, there were at least five people in line in front of him and there were still three people waiting on their drinks. By the time there was only one more person in front of him it was already past 8:30 A.M. and to be honest he couldn’t bother to come on time anymore.
When it was finally Kei’s turn to order he already knew what he was going to order, the same old usual thing he always gets, people don’t understand why he gets it but he likes the taste and it has a lot of caffeine in it so that’s another bonus added to the list of reasons why Kei gets this drink every day. He was thinking about switching it up for a change but when he stood at the counter, he decided that it was for the best to order his usual drink.
“Good morning! How can I help you on this fine morning?” A guy with green hair and a few ear piercings asked him.
“Morning” Kei said in a monotone voice. “I’ll take a cold brew with salted cream and cold foam.” He added after that in the same monotone voice.
The green haired boy made a weird half disgusted face before he spoke up. “Alrighty! That will be $5 then.”
Kei shrugged by hearing the price again after he forgot how much it cost and then payed for his drink. He went to sit on a chair while he waited for his drink. Time seemed to go by extremely slow, he still had class and was kind of worried. Would he be skipping class over coffee?!
“Order for Tsukishima?”
Kei stood up when he heard his name being called. The green haired boy gave him a soft smile that could only be described as: I’m new here and I sincerely hope I made your order right. Kei took a sip and chuckled. This was not what he had ordered. Great! Kei thought, he really didn’t have time for this, and he didn’t want to bother the newly found barista. He wasn’t going to waste his $5 though, so he walked back and asked someone to remake his drink. The green haired boy heard his request and turned white as if he were sick.
Kei proceeded to wait for some time before his order was done. It looked like it was the right thing this time, he stood up and walked to the counter and before he could grab his drink it spilled all over the counter. The green haired boy was on the verge of a panic attack what it seemed like, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. Kei was slightly annoyed, but he couldn’t blame the guy, he bet this was at least his first week of working here so he is still in training. Some other baristas came over to help clean up and they made Kei’s drink again, this time he got a free gift card worth of $10 with it as an I’m sorry gift.
Kei got his drink and walked to campus, completely giving up on his first class, he had a massive headache and there were only twenty minutes left. Before he would arrive at the classroom it would be ten minutes left in conclusion it was no use.