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There was exactly ten days till Christmas and “The Stuffed Jellyfish” was, as any other store this time of year, open with enough guests to fill up football stadium. or it felt like that, when you stood in the middle of it all. And since this was a toy store, it was also filled with small children screaming and running around. It was a very popular toy store, people came from far and wide to see this huge wonder emporium and it had won many prizes and was known for its “magical toys” that would make every kids squeal with happiness. It had all started with a single man with an idea. Clear had been born into a poor family but had worked himself up and now owned the biggest, most famous toy store in the world. He was a genius when it came to toys and a child's mind. Mostly because he himself also had a childlike mind, he was able to understand what they wanted and this led to profit on his behalf.
Clear would have an idea for a toy and then he would head into the basement of the store where, other than stored toys, there lived a young but smart man. Noiz was young but he prefered the solitude of the basement and didn’t enjoy talking to other people. This was a perfect match and Clear had hired him on the spot to make these special toys.
And since Clear himself was so childlike, he had problems with the practical things that came with owning such a successful shop. Letters, bills and such things. Therefore an old school friend of his had come in his time of need not many months ago. This man from Clear’s past was a tall, native looking man named Mink. He didn’t talk much and often just replied to Clear’s blabbering with grunts of different varieties. He had been given an office in the back, that was filled up with old letters and papers, that probably said important things, but Clear was not known for his tidiness. He spent most of his time in there, but god also only knows he had a lot of papers to look at.
And lastly, to help in the shop, show the kids how most of the toys work, and just generally help Clear in taking care of the shop, he had hired three strapping young men from the street life of the city. All three came from the same environment and it had not been pretty, but Clear had seen something in them and had decided to give them a second chance of a normal life.
The first and most enthusiastic of these workers were Aoba. He was japanese in origin and had natural blue hair. He had had a rough childhood, to put things mildly, and he was never really willing to talk about it with anyone and even Clear had only fragments to go after. Even so he always met up in the morning with a huge smile on his face and he loved playing with the kids in the store. Sometimes he had to take days off or hour long breaks, because he had a condition with chronic headache, though Clear suspected more to it than that. Due to this illness,
Clear had forced Aoba to work at the register.
The second worker, Koujaku, was a very good and old friend of Aoba. Also with a japanese origin, since the two had known each other since they were little, he was a tall guy who looked like he would be trouble, with all his scars and long hair and he gave off a kind of authority aura, but when you engaged in conversation with him, he was the sweetest and kindest man you’d meet. He was the best at handling the kids, they loved him, none were scared away by the scars or the impression he made from his looks. You could often find him with the kids, showing them how the toys worked and playing with them.
The last worker was Mizuki. He was a polite man who often took care of angry parents and managed to shoo them off. He was very kind and also knew Koujaku and Aoba from before. Even if he had all these traits he didn’t do all that well with the screaming kids so he often helped in the back, with stocking up and such, or helped Aoba with the register, and sometimes he felt good enough to help Koujaku with the kids. But most of the time you could often find him in the drawing section, showing the girls there how to work with the different pencils and showing them different ways to color the drawings.
~
Today was a busy day as christmas was coming near and the shop was filled with kids and their parents and everyone working in the big toy store were very busy. Aoba was as always standing by the register, taking care of all the money and requests he was handled by the parents. The line was unimaginably long and Aoba couldn’t understand that people actually agreed to stand in that long of a line voluntarily. Mizuki stood next to Aoba, handling the other register.
Aoba sighed, silently thanked God that Mizuki was here, and continued with serving the customers.
“Excuse me, do you have that toy we saw on tv last night available?” A mother asked and Aoba looked up from the counter.
“Oh, let me ask in the back.” He answered quickly and hurried along as quickly as he could. It was nice to get a little break from all the noise every now and then. They weren’t really allowed to leave the register when it was so busy, but this would only take a few seconds.
He ran across the store and walked through a door that said “employees only” and continued down a hallway.
It was completely insane with so many people here. If it was like this everyday, Aoba wouldn’t have agreed to work here to begin with, but luckily it was only like this once per year. He was walking along the hallway, not really paying attention since he was enjoying the silence, when he accidentally slammed into a wall. Wait, walls weren’t this soft. Aoba lifted his head and realized it was a person. And not just a person but the manager, Mink.
He jumped back and backed away until his back hit the other wall.
“I-I-I’m sorry!” He stuttered, his face undoubtedly red as the Santa hats the Boss had forced them all to wear.
Mink's expression didn’t move an inch and he lifted his big hand and started to move closer. Aoba, having nowhere else to go, couldn’t find a way to escape and simply stayed where he was. Though his arms flailing around like some animal and his mouth was making some kind of noise that Aoba himself didn’t recognize. This was beyond embarrassing for him at this point.
Mink finally made his way to him and placed the hand he had lifted on top of Aoba’s Santa hat. This stopped all movements and sounds from the blue haired man underneath the warm hand. Aoba almost didn’t dare to look up but his curiosity got the better of him and their eyes met.
A faint crooked smile played on the older man’s lips.
“Be more careful, look where you’re going” He said in his low voice and then it was gone. The hand on top of Aoba’s head and the warmth it had brought was gone as Mink continued down the hallway, the way Aoba had come from.
Aoba lingered in the hallway for a few minutes, still feeling the hand on top of his head, the warmth it had left him.
Until he realised he had work to get back to and had probably wasted enough time. He hurried to the end of the hallway and down some stairs and into the room at the end. Noiz informed him that they wouldn’t have the toy in stores until next week and he hurried back and delivered the news to a seemingly very impatient mother.
~
After a few more hours of working nonstop, the employees got a 15 minutes break while the boss took over the registers.
Aoba half-ran into the break room and quickly poured himself a cup of coffee. Behind him Koujaku trotted after him, dropping down in the couch with a tired smile. Mizuki entered last and sat down by the table with Aoba.
“Are… you okay?” Mizuki asked with an amused smile and Aoba looked up from his cup of black coffee and coughed awkwardly.
“I need to talk to you two," he said after a few minutes of silence. The two other men exchanged a look and then moved closer to the younger man. Aoba could feel a heat rise to his cheeks and looked down again to hide the blush. He could feel their eyes on him, Koujaku definitely had one of those grins again, he knew it!
“I… I was in the back… and I…” he started out but he was unsure of how he should say this without it sounding wrong. “And I ran into Mink...”
“Mink? He actually came out of his office?” Mizuki gasped and leaned in over the table. Koujaku rose from the couch and joined them at the table with a frown and leaned in.
“Yes!" Aoba finally lifted his head and faced the other two with a pout. He quickly told his old friends of his encounter with their tall, quiet manager. When he was finished, Koujaku barked out a laugh.
"So he's not completely emotionless!" he snorted and leaned back. "It's good that you finally got to talk to him!"
Aoba flustered four shades of red. Mizuki snorted, but kept an eye on Koujaku.
"Come on!" Koujaku laughed. "You’ve had a crush on him since he came here! At least he didn’t seem mad when you bumped into him. I once saw him completely ignore a customer just because “it wasn’t his job to help them,” as he said.” He huffed out a breath he'd apparently been holding. Mizuki slightly lifted his eyebrow. “What do you even see in that man?”
“I don’t know.” Aoba put both his hands around the cup and rested his elbows on the edge of the table. “... I just look at him and I get these weird, warm feelings in my stomach. Like I look at him, and where other people would be scared of him, I just think he’s misunderstood. I mean, he does these things that only a kind person would do. I think he’s a good man underneath the tough shell.”
Mizuki had his eyes on Koujaku, who still wore an amused smirk, but it had become a little strained.
“Maybe you should invite him to the Christmas festival next week then?” Koujaku said in a weirdly calm manner compared to his previous happy mood. “He obviously likes you as well, judging by his behavior in the hallway.” The last part came out with a slightly bitter tone, but Aoba was oblivious to this. The only one who noticed was Mizuki, who frowned and let his head fall to the side.
“Yeah maybe…” Aoba mumbled and gulped down his coffee.
Before any of the men said anything else, a small toy bell rang, signalling that the break was over. Aoba quickly rose from his seat and started to walk over to the door. Koujaku rose as well and was about to follow the smaller blue haired man out, but Mizuki quickly grabbed his elbow and pulled himself up so they stood side by side.
“Just go on, Aoba. We’ll come later.” He said and Aoba smiled slightly and nodded. He left the two other men alone and went on with his shift.
Koujaku turned away from Mizuki and leaned in over the small sink next to the coffee machine.
“So?” Mizuki said slowly. He approached Koujaku and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked distressed, angry, and for good reason. Maybe today was the day?
Koujaku sighed and shrugged Mizuki’s hand off. He turned again and stood with his back to the other man for a few minutes before turning around and facing Mizuki, still with an angry frown on his face.
“Look, I don’t need you to baby me like this, Mizuki.” He said angrily and crossed his arms. Mizuki’s eyebrows shot up. “I mean, I appreciate it but…”
“Koujaku it-”
“No, obviously Aoba doesn’t feel the same. And I refuse to make a fool out of myself and ruin our friendship like that!” He snapped and stomped out of the room and left his friend behind.
~
“Sooo~” Aoba sang as he ambushed Mizuki on the way home from the toy store. Koujaku had left, not even a second after the boss closed the shop.
Mizuki looked his way and gave a weak smile. Aoba grabbed his elbows and lovingly held on.
“You told him?” He beamed and nudged him with his elbow. Mizuki laughed awkwardly.
“Uh… no.” He looked down at his feet.
“Oh… Why not?” Aoba asked slowly. He wasn’t sure if he was intruding on a restricted area. “I thought you were going to, after I left the break room?”
“Uh… yeah, no… He was a little distracted so I… couldn’t.” He said quietly.
“But why not?”
“Why haven’t you talked to Mink yet?”
Aoba let go of him and jumped ahead.
“I guess we both kind of suck at talking about our feelings, huh?” He said with a sad tone to it and Mizuki tried to force out a laugh but it came out as a angry puff of air.
The young men walked the rest of the way in silence until they had to separate. They said their awkward goodbyes.
Mizuki walked in silence. His apartment was still a few meters away and he didn’t really feel like being home in an empty apartment right now, so he walked as slowly as he could.
~
“Come on, guys! We’re going to be late for the Santa parade!” Aoba proclaimed and pulled his two friends along the horde of strangers.
Mizuki had been hesitant to come as well. He and Koujaku hadn’t really talked after the incident in the break room and the masses of last-minute Christmas shoppers and Aoba’s jolly personality had made it possible for them to not exchange a single word. Koujaku had seemed like he wanted to say something but Mizuki had always tried to change subject. He always chickened out. It’s easier to ignore ones problem than to confront it.
“I think Boss said he’d wait by the fountain with Noiz and Mink!” Aoba smiled wider and pulled harder. They sawed through all the people and approached the fountain and saw Clear half-standing, half-jumping around. He held Noiz’ arm, who stood with three boxes of some sort of food. Mink sat on the bench behind them and observed the people that passed him. The three young workers joined them.
They agreed in union to go down to the parade together. Clear dragged Noiz along first, the boy complained but the Boss wouldn’t hear about it. Mink got up and began to follow the two.
Aoba fiddled slightly with the hem of his jacket at the sight of Mink. They had exchanged few words in the week leading up to the Christmas festival, but no real conversation had happened and it was a little discouraging, but the fact that Mink hadn’t rejected him completely yet made him happy. He looked over at his friends who gave him encouraging hand movements. He smiled and skipped ahead. He got up to Mink's side and they started casually conversing.
Mizuki smiled. He was happy for Aoba.
“Finally.” Koujaku sighed with a half-smile and began walking with them. Mizuki followed. there was a really awkward silence between them. Koujaku looked at him.
“Can we talk? Because I know you’re mad at me about what I said, and I am very sorry about it, but I think we need to be there for Aoba and be good friends for him. I mean you know how he gets when we fight," he laughed slightly at past memories. “Like, I want to make up with you, but I can’t if you don’t want to talk…”
“I do want to talk…” Mizuki said quietly. “I mean, we’ve been friends for so long… It’s just you’ve been hurt so many times and over and over. And I hate to see you like that.”
Koujaku huffed out a short laugh. “Yeah...” He pushed a hand down in his pocket and fished out a cigarette and lit it. He puffed out a tiny cloud of smoke and it seemed to smooth out the wrinkles between his eyebrows. “But I’m a big boy, you know... I don’t need you to tell me to tell him, I already know that myself.”
“Yeah… but it hurts me to see you like this.”
“It does?”
Mizuki looked up, but Koujaku didn’t meet his eyes. “Of course it does! I’m your… friend” He quickly looked down again. Don't mess this up. Please don’t notice, please don’t notice.
Koujaku looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
Fuck.
“Uh I mean…”
“Mizuki?”
“I know you love Aoba, but he obviously isn’t interested or he would have… done something I guess!” Mizuki blurted out. It didn’t matter anymore, Koujaku deserved to know. He needed to know. “And maybe you should stop focusing so much of what can’t be and more of what might have a chance.”
Mizuki kept looking at his shoes, he had never been good at confessing. Koujaku looked incredibly confused. What was happening?
“Mizuki?” He asked. He found himself getting nervous for no reason, he thought.
“You never get the hints” Mizuki laughed bitterly. “It’s teasing me, Koujaku. It’s really… exhausting… and it’s becoming really annoying.”
He stopped walking and grabbed the other's arm. Koujaku was even more confused now. What was Mizuki saying? Is it what it sounds like? But they were friends… just like him and Aoba…
“You… care?”
Mizuki smiled and let out a breath he had held from the start.
“About?”
“... Me?”
This time he laughed.
“Yes! Yes I do!” He laughed so hard he had to hold his stomach. Koujaku first looked at him like he was crazy, but then eventually let out a small laugh that grew bigger as well.
“Oh my god, how could I never notice?” He laughed and put a hand to his forehead. “Well… I’m flattered”
“Yes?” Mizuki grabbed Koujaku’s hand and pulled him onwards.
The others had already made it to the parade, which had just started. Aoba had also made some progress, it seemed. He was resting his hand on Minks arm, as they looked to be in deep conversation.
“Yeah!” Koujaku said with a wide goofy smile. He squeezed Mizuki's hand.
“Yeah.” He repeated, more calmly, and no more words were exchanged between the old friends. Until the parade was over, at least.