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“Why are you following me?”
Sousuke kept his head down, following the sight of Haru’s footsteps.
“Don’t you need to go home?”
He adjusted his bag strap, keeping the weight balanced on his shoulder.
Haru took off sprinting, trying to lose Sousuke down the block. Luckily Haru ran like he was stuck in glue. And Sousuke was a pretty fast runner. He started a slow jog, keeping the other in his sight until the first corner. Sousuke was a bit worried after that, but then he saw the blue of Haru’s swim bag through the window of a coffee shop. He darted in, accidentally bumping into his teammate due to the limited space.
“Oi, Nanase--”
“Hi, welcome!”
Sousuke looked up but didn’t see anyone. Haru was just as confused. And then a hand appeared behind the counter, waving at them.
“Just a second, sorry,”
The cafe was small, narrow like a closet, but brightly lit and smelled faintly of baked goods. Sousuke never took Haru for a caffeine person, although it was hard to associate him with anything besides water.
“Sorry about that,”
Sousuke turned his attention back to the cashier. He was their age, with red hair and a small grin. He wore a black shirt and an apron, complete with a name tag: RIN
“You’re not Makoto,”
The grin quickly disintegrated into a pout.
“Oh wait, you’re that guy that keeps bothering our manager,” Rin said with a glare. Even his pleasant customer service voice fell a few notches as his memory caught up with him.
Haru didn’t respond, he turned to walk away until Rin reached over the counter and snagged the strap of his bag.
“Excuse you, it’s rude to not even say something. Who do you think you are?”
“Is Makoto in today?”
Rin’s grip was so tight his knuckles turned white. He readied the tip jar in his other hand to chuck at Haru’s head until rapid footsteps approached.
“Rin?! Stop! What are you doing??”
Everyone turned.
“Haru! Wait, what’s going on? Rin please put the jar down!”
Rin let go and Haru shrugged his bag and jacket back into place. He calmly walked over to Makoto as if nothing had happened.
“You’re late,”
Makoto sighed. “I was doing some reports in the office. Please try not to cause a scene every time you come in here.”
“What scene?”
Makoto huffed some more, but they spoke in soft voices as they stood off to the side. Rin grumbled about troublesome people and interrupting business as he cleaned up the counter. Then he noticed Sousuke out of the corner of his eye and immediately straightened up, a small frown on his face.
“Uh, sorry about that,” he said, in a tone that seemed much more natural and less scripted. “Can I get you anything?”
Sousuke shook his head.
“No thanks. I don’t like coffee.”
Rin’s shy smile dropped. Sousuke was beginning to think a frown was his default expression.
“Why would you come into a coffee shop if you don’t like coffee? We have tea and juice and shit too, y’know.”
Sousuke stared at him, seriously questioning if he was fit for customer-facing situations as Makoto’s fretting: “Rin, don’t say things like that!” echoed from the back. He took one last look around before mumbling a low, “I'm fine,” and walked over to some empty tables. He wasn’t sure what to do now. He’d initially followed Haru to bother him, but the cashier, Rin, already did that. Haru wouldn't care if he left; it seemed like he had already forgotten that Sousuke had accompanied him.
‘Guess I’ll go home.’
“Here,” Rin said as he came around the counter and slammed a drink in front of him.
Sousuke was taken aback, not expecting the guy to come so close. His eyes trailed to the plastic cup. It was a something iced with whipped cream on it.
“Uh,” he stumbled, bumping into a chair. “I don’t like coffee, or sweet drinks.”
“Neither do I,” Rin responded, and gave him a ‘Don’t ask me why I work here’ look along with it. “This is what I drink when I’m on break. Try it.”
“You can’t just give drinks away,” Haru chimed in.
“One every now and then is fine,” Makoto said. “And it’s for your friend,”
“...He’s not my friend,"
Rin ignored them and pushed the drink closer to Sousuke, intent on getting his point across.
“Why is there whipped cream on it?”
“Oh my God, just fucking drink it.”
Sousuke kept looking at it as Rin gave in and returned to the counter, putting on a smile as customers started filing in. Against his better judgment Sousuke took a sip.
It was not sweet.
-
A few days later Sousuke found himself walking by the cafe again. It wasn't on his way home, but there he was, rounding the corner and approaching the big glass windows and beach-wood benches. He paused near the entrance and peered inside. It was empty. Was it closed already? But then Sousuke caught a flash of red at his next step. He walked in before he realized it.
“Welcome,” Rin said. He took a better look at who it was and blinked, clearly surprised that the non-coffee drinker had returned. As Sousuke approached the counter Rin rubbed his elbows, his posture going slack.
“Uh, Makoto’s not working today,”
“I wasn’t looking for him,”
Rin bit the inside of his cheek, his hands smoothing out his apron out of habit. Sousuke stuffed his hands in his pocket, slowly looking at the items around the register.
“What was in that drink you gave me?” he asked. “Was is a latte?"
“No, I made it up,” Rin confessed. “It’s sparkling water, shots, syrup and whipped cream. I threw it together when I didn’t like any of the things Makoto taught me how to make. I didn’t add syrup in yours though," his eyes met Sousuke's briefly. "You look like a coffee black person."
“What about the whipped cream?”
“I suffered through the most boring 20 minutes of my life whipping that shit,” he huffed, although there was hardly any bite to it. “You were going to get that even if you were lactose-intolerant.”
Sousuke hummed in understanding.
“Did you want another?” Rin asked.
“Sure.”
The barista smiled and went to work, fishing out a bottle of sparkling water and warming up the espresso machine. His motions were fluid, not one turn or step wasted. Sousuke caught himself staring, barely hearing anything Rin said until he slid the drink over to him.
“Thanks,” he mumbled.
“No problem. I never got your name the other day; I’m Rin,” he said, taking Sousuke’s idle hand before the other could do otherwise.
“Sousuke,” he replied.
Rin smiled, saying something about being glad he didn’t mentally blacklist him for coming in with Haru, that he seems like a cool guy, maybe he’ll see him again soon...
Sousuke nodded, although his focus was solely on Rin’s warm grip on his right hand and the cold drink in his left.
-
Sousuke returned to the cafe the next day on the premise that he forgot to pay Rin.
“Don’t worry about it. I bring the sparkling water in myself since it’s not on our menu.”
Sousuke shifted his things around, digging out his wallet. “I’ll pay for today’s then.”
Rin charged him for the shots and refused a penny more. He pointed to one of the bar stools nearby and Sousuke obediently sat down, unloading his bag on the adjacent seat.
“How do you know Makoto? I thought you came in because you were friends.”
“Nanase and I are on the same swim team,”
Rin nodded as he scooped ice into a cup. “Is it your school's team? Why are you swimming in the summer?”
“Yeah, we have small tournaments during break. There are weekly practices,” he explained, resting his chin on his palm. “I uh, came in the other day to bother Nanase,”
Rin laughed. “Thank you! I’ve only met him a few times but he always distracts Makoto and it’s always during a rush,” he complained. “This shop does not need more chaos.”
Sousuke smiled behind his hand.
“You normally make this with sugar right?”
Rin paused as he was about to pour the shots. “Brown sugar syrup, none of that artificial crap.”
Sousuke mulled it over. “I’ll try it,”
Rin retrieved a dark bottle from the shelf and poured a little into the espresso. He stirred it slowly, adding it to the sparkling water before dolloping whipped cream on top. He walked around the counter and placed it in front of him.
Sousuke hummed in gratitude and took a sip.
“It’s…better.”
Rin smiled, hands on his hips. “I’ll take that as thanks for improving your life."
“Matsuoka! Sorry I’m late—oh!”
Rin and Sousuke turned around, a flustered boy was tying his apron, his steps stuttering as he approached.
“Yo, Nitori. No worries, there aren’t any customers,”
Sousuke grunted, getting up and shouldering his bag as the other employee, Nitori, apologized again. Rin snickered under his breath, patting Sousuke’s arm as he went back to the bar.
“I-I can do inventory in the back if you’re busy,” Nitori said.
“Nah it’s fine, looks like Sousuke’s on his way. Besides, you have lots of training to catch up on,”
“Yes!”
Sousuke nodded to Rin as he left, receiving a small wave in return. He walked away slowly, his eyes lingering as Rin showed the other employee how to work the espresso machine.
-
Sousuke didn’t return to the cafe for the rest of the week. Those unexpected doses of caffeine had dug into his sleep schedule the wrong way (he was 98% sure it was the caffeine) and he needed to right his body before it affected his swimming.
He evened out by the weekend and felt very confidant about his times as practice drew to a close. He ducked a lane and moved over to where Haru was floating, staring off into space.
“Nanase, let’s have a race,”
Haru’s eyes sparked, but it wasn’t from Sousuke’s suggestion. He climbed out of the pool and quickly padded over to the stands. Makoto was at the entrance gate, holding the door open as he spotted Haru. Sousuke rolled his eyes, but then saw that he wasn’t alone, Rin had tagged along, sneaking by the gate before it closed. He lifted himself out of the water and grabbed a towel.
“Hey,” Rin greeted Sousuke as he walked over. “Sorry we’re crashing your practice,”
“S’fine, we’re...done for the day,”
Sousuke was ashamed of how distracted he was by casual Rin. The coffee shop’s black polo wasn’t really a uniform, but that combined with the apron helped him keep the redhead in a customer service mindset. Now he’s wearing a fitted shirt with a jacket that’s falling off his shoulders, a black fedora (‘Who looked good in fedoras?’), skinny pants and some kind of bracelet around his ankle. Sousuke rubbed the towel over his face; he may have been staring at that last item for longer than necessary.
“Nice time,”
He jerked his head up as Rin motioned to the time keeper on the wall.
“Makoto talks about his boyfriend's times every fucking day, but yours are really good too,” he praised. "You must be a shark in the water.”
Sousuke knew he was fast, but still wasn’t comfortable receiving compliments, especially from someone other than a coach.
“I’ve got a ways to go,”
Rin sighed, muttering about how Sousuke would be the modest type. But the swimmer's attention fell to the whipped drink. It was half gone and there were noticeable bite marks indented in the straw.
“No,” Rin warned. The redhead caught him eyeing his drink and pulled it away. “Don’t get addicted to this stuff,”
Sousuke pressed closer anyway. “Just a sip?”
“Hell no. I woke up at an ungodly hour to learn how to open the shop today; I’m only standing because of this.”
“Rin! Rin!” Makoto called him over. “We should get going!”
“Sure!” Rin took another sip, chewing on the straw even after he swallowed. “Makoto’s giving me a ride home. That’s why I came,” he explained. “But it’s cool to see where you guys do your thing.”
Sousuke wanted to tell him to stop by anytime. But he hesitated as Rin finally noticed how far his jacket had fallen and tried to shrug it up. Sousuke grabbed the collar, dampening it a bit as he pulled it over the redhead’s shoulders.
“Ah, thanks. I’ll see you around, Sousuke!”
“Yeah,” he stayed until Rin and Makoto said their goodbyes to the team and left.
“Yamazaki, Coach wants to talk to us.”
Sousuke wordlessly followed Haru and the others to the locker room. The bite marks haunted his thoughts the rest of the day.
-
The week passed in a blur. Sousuke tried not to go back to the cafe, but somehow he’d always end up in the neighborhood. So he figured it would be fine just to walk by and wave, he didn’t need to go in (and he wasn’t sure how his body would respond to more caffeine). Except the times he did carry out his plan, Rin wasn’t there. Twice he ended up waving to Makoto and the third time there was also an energetic red-head who nearly tripped over a table in his enthusiasm.
Sousuke decided to wait until the following weekend before trying again, which, as luck would have it, coincided with a small outdoor festival. He’d never seen so many people around the cafe before. They were mostly parents trying to catch a reprieve as their children ran around outside.
He peered through the large glass windows and spotted Rin at the bar with the employee he’d met before and the energetic kid at the register. Sousuke was through the middle of the line by then, but he was ready to leave. He didn’t want to bother Rin if business was this chaotic.
Sousuke caught the redhead’s gaze and instead of a courtesy nod, Rin motioned for him to come in. It was easier said than done as the shop was essentially a closet and Sousuke didn’t have a petite build.
When he got through, Rin pointed to a bar stool and didn’t take his eyes off Sousuke until the swimmer was seated. A minute later he slid a whipped drink over.
“Now that you have a drink, you should stay,” Rin said.
Sousuke grinned, more than happy to oblige. They conversed lightly during the rush (“Makoto’s siblings are sick so he’s at home taking care of them. Did you know he has a kid brother and sister?”). The festival ended the next hour and customers slowly dwindled. The shop stayed open to accommodate the extra guests and officially closed its doors at 4PM.
“Nitori, Momo, you two can leave. I’ll finish cleaning up.”
Nitori protested, but Momo’s constant tugging and pulling eventually got the pair out the door. Rin turned the “Open” sign over and sighed, running a hand through his hair as he slowly walked back to the bar.
Sousuke smiled at Rin’s work ethic. Rin replied by flipping him off as he tied his hair into a short ponytail. Sousuke bit his straw.
“Are you sure you don’t need help?”
“No, I’m ok. Momo and Nitori actually cleaned up a lot more than I thought they would,” he said. “They’re good kids.”
He grabbed the broom and started sweeping grinds off the floor.
“Wow, you’re almost done with that?”
“I guess my body’s getting used to it,” Sousuke honestly hadn’t noticed. He took a mouthful every time Rin had made a witty comment or flashed a toothy smile in his direction. Ok, maybe he wasn’t too surprised. He nudged Rin as the redhead passed. “It’s your fault for always giving them to me. You should take responsibility."
Rin laughed. “No way! You’re way too old for me to take care of. Even if you are a little cute.”
Sousuke nearly fell off his chair as he caught the tail of Rin’s apron.
“…Only a little?”
Rin pulled away and then came back around to dig Sousuke’s calf with his knee. “Yeah, you never smile, your voice barely comes above a whisper and you’re so awkward when you stand around it’s embarrassing,”
Sousuke swallowed. He knew he wasn’t socially adept, but he thought he’d made a good effort around Rin. Maybe he’d over-exaggerated this thing he thought he had with the redhead.
And then Rin rested the broom against the counter. He folded his arms and started pushing at Sousuke’s foot with his own.
“But I kind of like all those things,” he said softly. “I kind of like you... even if you don’t like coffee,”
Sousuke exhaled slowly, his expression warming. “Glad we got that sorted out,”
Rin shrugged, matching his grin. “Same here,” he said before leaning down and pressing his lips against Sousuke’s forehead.
He was having none of that though. Not after days of caffeine-induced restless nights and mindless waving at random employees. Sousuke tugged Rin closer, cupped his cheek and kissed him properly. Rin smiled, situating himself between Sousuke’s knees, running his hands through messy dark hair. A soft whine escaped as strong arms dropped to his waist, pulling Rin flush against him. Rin’s so warm, his hands a gentle brand trailing his neck, his jawline. Sousuke tried to return those soft affections, but his grip was bruising from days of waiting and wanting. He grinned as his fingers snuck under Rin's polo, eliciting shivers.
"S-Sousuke..."
He could definitely get used to hearing that. It was a good thing he followed Haru over after all.
“R-RIN??! W-What’s going on??”
Rin tensed, breaking their kiss and lifting his head despite Sousuke’s protest. Makoto was caught between staring and not staring, fussing over his own timely arrival.
“Oh, Makoto,”
“Yamazaki?? AH! I’m sorry for interrupting—no wait! RIN! You shouldn’t be doing that on the clock. Although the store’s closed now…but you know better! How long has this been going on?!” Makoto drove himself up the wall as Sousuke made sure to keep a solid hold of Rin’s hips so he didn’t stray.
“Where are Nitori and Mikoshiba?? Did they leave early? Were you by yourself during the rush? Ughhh Rin…”
Rin sighed, refusing to meet Sousuke’s eyes because he knew it’d be that much harder to let go. His hands slid down to Sousuke’s chest and he brushed a kiss over pouting lips before firmly stepping back.
“Sorry Makoto,” Rin apologized. “I got a little distracted,” he readjusted his apron and pulled the tie out of his hair. “How are the twins?”
Makoto walked over to the counter, meeting him halfway. “They’re better, my parents are home so I thought I’d stop by to see if you were ok.”
Sousuke swiveled around and rested his elbows against the counter. The cold stone instantly drew away the warmth of Rin’s touch. He frowned. But the redhead was very considerate, walking past him more than necessary as he cleaned, brushing up against him for no reason... half an hour had come and gone before he knew it.
"Ready to go?" Rin asked, patting the grinds off his clothes.
"Yeah," Sousuke said, a bit sleepy from the wait. Rin gave him a light kick, keeping his hands visible as Makoto was still there. Sousuke didn't care; he locked his fingers with Rin's, nuzzling a very sensitive neck. "M'ready."