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Most grocery stores close their doors at 9 pm. This one was still open at a quarter to 12. And of course, Ukai was stuck closing tonight. It wasn’t rainy, but it was cold and Ukai found himself thankful for his hoodie. The heat from the end of his cigarette warmed his fingers. He flipped a page in his book and sighed. No one needed groceries at 11:45, especially not tonight.
At least, that’s what Ukai thought until he heard the door open. Looking up, he saw none other than Takeda, the teacher from the school. His eyes were glued to the ground and his hair was a mess.
“Hey, Specs.”
A slight nod in response.
“Everything alright?” Ukai asked, flipping his book closed. The man ran a hand through his messy hair and nodded.
“Yeah just...Needed some coffee.”
“Well, you know where it is,” Ukai said as he leaned back in his chair. Takeda gave him another slight nod as he walked over to the coffee aisle. Ukai considered his cigarette for a moment before Takeda came into his view again.
“That all you need? Coffee, ten minutes from midnight?” Ukai asked as he rang Takeda up. It’s Thursday, doesn’t this guy have work tomorrow?
“Well...Yes and no.” Takeda responded. Ukai stopped and looked the other man in the face. The shorter man was looking down and off to the side, and biting his lip of all things. Ukai struggled to admit he didn’t hate the look.
“Whaddya mean?”
“I feel drawn to this place, like there’s something else here for me. I’m sorry, that must sound so strange, I’ll just take my coffee and-”
“No, no, it’s okay,” Ukai said. “What do you mean you feel drawn to this place?”
“I just have this feeling that there’s something else big here for me,” Takeda started. “Something huge, but I can’t place it and I don’t know where to start. It was keeping me up and I was hoping coming here would help but it’s only made things worse.”
Ukai looked the man in front of him up and down. Takeda was averagely tall, on the slimmer side, and the poor guy desperately needed a good eight hours in the sack. His glasses were on the verge of crooked, and the hoodie he was wearing looked to be of the old-n-comfy variety. Ukai handed Takeda his coffee and placed his cigarette in his mouth.
“You feel anything now?” Ukai asked as smoke rose to the ceiling.
“No, I’m afraid. I know I already bothered you into coaching Karasuno, but I guess I was hoping for something else big. I’ll take my coffee and go now, I’m sorry to have wasted your time.” The teacher gave a short bow and almost turned to leave.
“Takeda?”
The man stopped and looked at Ukai. “Yes?”
“Let’s get dinner sometime.”
“As a team?”
Ukai laughed. “No, together. You and me.”
“On- On a date?”
“Sure, if you’re into that. I’ll even put on something other than sweats and a hoodie.”
Takeda’s face turned red and Ukai thought he might pass out. Tonight was not the night he had planned on calling an ambulance to his shop.
“I’d love to. I’m free Saturday night.” Takeda finally managed. Ukai cracked a smile and put his cigarette on the ashtray.
“Perfect. Meet here around seven?” Ukai asked as he walked to the other side of the counter.
“Mhmm.”
“Sounds like a plan then,” Ukai said right as an alarm on his phone went off. Time to close up shop, right.
“Oh, is that-”
“Eh, don’t worry about it, it’s just an alarm to close up, but if you want to-”
“No! You need to close up and go home and rest so you’re ready for Saturday!” Takeda said, surprised at his own words.
“Two whole days of rest for one date? You’re gonna kill me.”
Takeda blushed even harder. “I meant, you should take care of yourself. I’ll leave and let you close up.” Takeda said as he started making his way to the door.
“See you at practice, Teach,” Ukai said, doing the most he could to contain his excitement.
“See you, Coach,” Takeda said with nervous excitement as he left the shop. The rush of cold air into the shop
Once he was sure that Takeda was well away from the shop, Ukai let out a loud whoop and punched the air. Finally, after all this time, he had asked the question.
Before the hour was up, Ukai was finally ready to go home. Cleaning had been easy with his mind racing to think up every idea and plan for Saturday night. Saturday night. With Takeda. Alone. On a date. A real, actual date, with none other than Takeda Ittetsu. How did he ever get so lucky?