Chapter Text
Iwaizumi sighed as he flipped through the pages of the journal, eyes barely scanning over the words. The heater was broken in his shitty apartment and the coffee he was sipping on wasn't doing a great job at heating him up. Still, he smiled as he shivered, this was infinitely better than prison. Finally, he reached the page of the local journal where people left job offers and other various announcements. He furrowed his brows, focusing intensely on the words.
In need of a babysitter for two kids under the age of 10. Nope.
Looking for someone to help me move out (furniture, boxes…)
Iwaizumi’s eyes lit up and he immediately grabbed his phone, calling the number that was right next to the offer. The phone rang a few times before the person finally picked up:
- Hello?
- Hi, I’m calling about the job offer you left in the journal, to help you move out.
- Oh, that. Yeah sorry I already found someone.
- No worries…
Iwaizumi sighed deeply, his eyebrows regaining their furrowed position as he hung up. There was still one offer left but he didn’t have very high hopes considering the first two. He reluctantly grabbed the newspaper again and slowly read over the words.
In need of a barista at Seijoh Inc, a coffee shop right next to the university. No experience required, you will be trained on the job. Preferably someone under the age of 30 who doesn’t have a problem with cleaning tables, bathrooms and dealing with annoying teenagers.
Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow hesitantly, what kind of job offer was that? It was worded in such an unprofessional way that he actually considered not calling for a second, until he remembered that he was broke and would do anything for a job. As he picked up his phone again, reality hit him. He was an ex-con, a killer. His neck, arms and chest were covered in poorly drawn tattoos, and a single teardrop under his eye let everyone who looked at him know exactly the kind of fucking piece of shit he was. He sighed again and slouched in his chair, was it even worth it calling to ask about the job? No matter how unprofessional this person sounded in the offer, they would never hire someone like him to work at a coffee shop frequented by teenagers. He shook his head and dialled the number anyways, dread pooling in his stomach as the phone rang:
- Hi, I’m Oikawa from Seijoh Inc, what can I do for you today?
- Hi, I’m calling about the barista job off-
Before he could finish his sentence, Iwaizumi was cut off by a sigh.
- Thank god, I thought no one would ever call. You’re hired. Come by the shop now to sign the paperwork.
It took Iwaizumi a few seconds to realise that the call had ended. He stared at his phone, mouth open and eyes wide. What the hell had just happened?
A half hour later, Iwaizumi was standing in front of Seijoh Inc, eyeing the blue facade wearily. He had taken public transportation to get there, and wasn’t exited about having to spend another thirty minutes sitting in the cramped bus barely ten minutes after getting to his destination. He didn’t have the shadow of a doubt that once this Oikawa person’s eyes would land on him he’d be thrown out of the shop, laughed at for even thinking he could get this job. He breathed in a last puff of his menthol cigarette before he walked into the coffee shop, wearing his typical scowl. The shop was surprisingly full, all the tables were occupied by students and there was a small line in front of the register. Even though Iwaizumi had never been the kind of person to sit in a coffee shop while drinking a latte and reading a book (he unfortunately liked doing drugs in shady alleys much more than that), he felt a certain ease as he looked over the room. Everyone looked happy and the atmosphere was warm, a nice smell of coffee lingering in the air. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt someone staring intensely at him. His frown immediately found its way back to his face as he turned to look at the bartender. His hard stare was met by a pair of soft chocolate eyes, tinted by curiosity, amusement and smugness.
- Hi sir, what can I do for you today?
Iwaizumi recognised the voice immediately, it had the same whiny tone as the one he spoke to on the phone. He tried to soften his expression before saying:
- We spoke on the phone, I’m here about the job offer. I’m Iwaizumi.
Oikawa was visibly surprised but regained his smug grin as his eyes roamed over Iwaizumi’s neck, down his arms and back up to his face, eyes lingering on the teardrop.
- Follow me.
Iwaizumi did as he was asked, but he was still fairly certain that he would be turned down. If anything, the smug look on Oikawa’s face was only confirming his fear of being mocked. To his surprise, when he walked in, the employee had sat down at his desk and was pulling paperwork out of a messy pile of documents in a drawer. Iwaizumi’s eyes fell on a little plaque marked Oikawa Tooru Manager and he finally sat down. Oikawa handed him the paperwork silently and watched him with that conceited look again. Iwaizumi felt his brows twitch but his expression remained unchanged as he started flipping through the pages. After a few seconds he spoke up:
- Aren’t you gonna ask me questions?
- If this was a typical job interview I would, but you’re the only person who answered our job offer so I won’t bother.
- The coffee shop looks pretty popular though, I don’t understand what can be so bad about working here.
- I’m apparently not the most pleasant boss ever.
Iwaizumi burst into laughter at the sight of Oikawa’s frown. If his annoying smugness and whiny voice were the only problem about this place, Iwaizumi would be just fine. Oikawa couldn’t compare to the people he had to deal with in prison. He finally managed to catch his breath and when he looked up at Oikawa, he noticed a rosy taint on his cheeks. Iwaizumi was once again hit by reality and regained his seriousness:
- You should probably ask me about my past job experiences.
Oikawa’s eyes slid to the teardrop tattoo once again as he asked Iwaizumi about said experience.
- I don’t have any. I spent the last ten years of my life in prison. You’ve probably guessed by now why I was there. I just want you to know the kind of person you’d be hiring, I don’t want any problems later on.
- It’s fine, you did your time and I’m desperate for help. It won’t be a problem. Please start filling in the paperwork, I have to get back to work. Come see me when you’re done. All the information about the pay and your work hours are in the documents.
Oikawa stood up and left, visibly avoiding Iwaizumi’s strong eyes.
As Oikawa was making drinks for the customers he couldn’t help but think back to his conversation with Iwaizumi. When he first saw the man walk into the shop he was surprised because he was a world away from the typical clients they got. He had immediately caught Oikawa’s attention, who of course gave himself the challenge to get his number. Oikawa wasn’t really interested, he just liked to pass the time this way or else the coffee shop could get boring quite fast. Probably because of the lack of coworkers, the last two having quit a few weeks ago because of Oikawa’s “attitude” and “lack of respect”. He huffed at the memory, they were exaggerating. He finished his design on the latte and handed it to the customer with a smile. His thoughts shifted back to the tatted up man in his office. He had technically gotten his number, just not the way he expected to. He sighed audibly as he thought back to their conversation. Oikawa wasn’t the type to get flustered easily but when Iwaizumi had laughed in his office, a genuine unapologetic laugh, he felt his cheeks heat up. He wasn’t particularly attracted to him at first but Oikawa had to admit that the man was good looking. Strong jaw and cheekbones, piercing green eyes, smooth lips and white teeth. That and the tattoos and the jail sentence. He was ridiculously stereotypical, like he had just walked out of a stupid teen romance where the bad boy falls in love with the nerd. But under all his annoyance, Oikawa felt intimidated. The way Iwaizumi had talked so openly about his crime, the strength in his words and his stare had left Oikawa feeling small, something that didn’t happen often. He had momentarily considered refusing to give him the job, but Oikawa couldn’t afford to work alone anymore. Iwaizumi and his scary past and scary tattoos would have to do for now. Oikawa looked up as a deep voice called his name, only to be met with the sight of the man who he was just thinking about.
- Here are my documents, I filled everything out. I’ll be going now.
Before Oikawa had the time to recollect his thoughts, Iwaizumi was already halfway through the shop but he stopped in his tracks when Oikawa yelled his name a bit too loud. A blush crept up his neck as he realised everyone in the shop was staring at him.
- Can you start working now? Thursdays are always busy, students come here to finish up all the work they have due this weekend before Friday so they can party.
- Sure. What do you need me to do?
- You don’t know how to make drinks yet so you’ll be on cleaning duty tonight. Giving drinks to the clients and cleaning up after them, Oikawa said as he handed Iwaizumi an apron. You can leave your stuff in my office.
It was only a few hours later, at 1pm that Oikawa and Iwaizumi finally took a break. As Oikawa had predicted the morning was a very busy one and his hands hurt from making so many drinks. He was pretty sure he burnt himself twice on the coffee machine from rushing and winced when he looked at his hand. There were indeed two red marks there. He sighed and brushed it off, he would worry about it later tonight after closing. He looked over to the other side of the shop where Iwaizumi was cleaning up the last tables. He had been surprisingly good at his job from the start, not spilling anything or messing up the orders. He did lack social skills, always frowning when serving people and not saying a word when they thanked him, but Oikawa wasn’t too worried, that could all be fixed easily. What he was worried about though, was having to sit through his lunch hour with Iwaizumi. It’s not that he disliked the man, he just had no idea how to address him and what to talk about. Oikawa sneaked off to his office and grabbed the paperwork, scanning through it fast. Iwaizumi Hajime, 29. Oikawa sighed as he realised he was a few years younger than Iwaizumi. He had never been good at using formal speech, his whole personality pretty much relied on being an annoying disrespectful brat. He would have to be more careful around Iwaizumi, Oikawa had a tendency to fall back into his habits and he didn’t really think it was a good idea to call the other Iwa-chan, even if it was just an accident. He stepped back out of his office to find Iwaizumi sitting at one of the tables, basking in the sun that seeped through the tall windows of the coffee shop. Oikawa realised he had probably stared a bit too long when Iwaizumi glared at him. He walked behind the counter and grabbed two sandwiches and two water bottles. He sat next to Iwaizumi in silence and handed him one of each. He was unwrapping his sandwich with great focus when Iwaizumi started speaking:
- So is this place yours?
- Oh no I’m just the manager. I started working here a few years ago when I started university. I had a volleyball scholarship and was practicing to join the national team but it all fell apart when I hurt my knee badly. I was only in school to play volleyball so after the injury I dropped out and started working here full time.
- I see. So who owns the place?
- This sweet old lady. She used to make drinks too but she got too old to work, since I had already been here for a few years she made me manager and basically left the place to me. It’s still hers technically but I do everything around here.
Iwaizumi simply hummed in response, munching down on his sandwich like he was starved. Oikawa realised this dry sandwich was probably a thousand times better than whatever they served in prison and felt a little tug in his heart. He looked away from Iwaizumi and bit into his sandwich too…