Work Text:
It was a regular Thursday afternoon for Keiji. Like most Thursday afternoons he was working in a coffee shop close to his college. The air was especially humid today with the sun shining bright after the rainy night. While it was almost unbearably hot outside, it was refreshingly cool in the coffee shop with the AC turned on at maximum level. Keiji has always had trouble with the cold, as his body always seemed to be below a normal body temperature and the AC was not helping his case. But since everyone else seemed to enjoy the cool breeze, Keiji decided to endure the cold in his fingers and toes.
It was 5 pm already when a new customer pushed the door open, triggering the jingle from the bell above the door. Keiji was in front, making coffee while his colleague Konoha was back in the kitchen.
The loud “Hey, Hey, Hey!” that followed the customers entrance stirred Keiji out of his daydream and he turned to serve their new customer.
“Hi. What can I do for you?” Keiji greeted in a very monotone customer service voice.
“Uhh- wow, sorry I just got… Well, one cappuccino with a shot of caramel, please.” The new guy smiled brightly at Keiji who felt like he was looking directly at the sun.
“Sure.” Keiji started making the coffee when he felt the guy staring at him. “Is there something else I can get you?”
“Uhm, yeah – well, I don’t want to be too straightforward or make you uncomfortable, but I think you’re really pretty!”
It was not the first time that someone hit on him at the coffee shop but there was something endearing about this guy that made Keiji not immediately reject him. He looked at him and noticed his shining eyes that seemed to have a golden touch to them. His gravity-defying hair was grey with black roots and a pink hue covered his cheeks. He did look rather… cute.
“Thank you. May I ask what your name is?”
“Bokuto Koutarou. But my friends call me Bo. Or Kou. Or Owl – that’s a long story though, you see that one night we went to a club and-“
Keiji interrupted the story due to the line starting to form behind his admittedly adorable new customer.
“Here is your coffee Bokuto-san. A cappuccino with an extra shot of caramel. I would love to hear more about your friends nicknames for you but sadly there’s a line forming behind you.”
He pointed at the line behind Bokuto, who turned around and put a hand behind his head, rubbing his neck, with a sheepish grin replacing the radiating smile from before.
“Ah right, sorry for holding up the line.” He leaned a bit over to peak at the name tag on Keiji’s apron.
Bokuto’s pout soon turned back into a big smile. “Thank you so much for the coffee, Akaashi. I guess I just have to come back to talk to you again.” With that sentence Bokuto winked at Keiji and turned around to leave the coffee shop. Keiji’s cheeks changed their colour to a light pink at the wink as he started greeting the next customer.
…
At the end of the shift Konoha walked up to Keiji. “Hey, who was that guy today? The one with the crazy hair?”
“His name was Bokuto-san.” Keiji responded dryly.
“Woah, Keiji – you actually remembered his name? You got a crush on him?”
“I don’t even know him.” Keiji said, but the blush from before made its way back to his cheeks.
Konoha just grinned cheekily at him but decided not to push the other too much. They cleaned everything up and went home. Finally, at home, Keiji could focus on some long overdue studying and writing. He loved his literature major, but his fear of failure and his perfectionism often kept him up until the early morning hours, with the sunrise illuminating the dark circles under his eyes and reminding him to go to sleep. Tonight, Keiji felt a bit drained from work, but he had assignments due and papers to write, so as usual he spent the rest of the night at his desk. When he fell asleep on top of his schoolwork, little golden owls filled his dreams.
…
It was a week later that Bokuto showed up at the coffee shop again. Keiji would lie if he said his heart didn’t start beating a little bit faster when he saw the familiar figure entering. Bokuto was wearing a sports uniform and Keiji recognized it as the college’s volleyball team uniform. He was smiling his as-bright-as-the-sunshine smile, and his eyes were piercing through the room straight at Keiji. There were two more customers in line before Bokuto, but Keiji felt a certain pair of golden eyes on him the whole time. After a few more moments of intense, one-sided staring, it was Bokuto’s turn.
“Hey, hey, hey. Akaashi I’ve miss- ah I mean, how are you doing?” The grey-haired boy stumbled over his words.
“Good, Bokuto-san. Thank you. And you?” Keiji answered, with a small smile on his face.
“Hey! You remembered my name! That’s awesome. I’ve been doing great, thanks. We just got back from a week-long training camp in Kyoto. A whole week of Volleyball, it was AMAZING. But, I’m also super happy to be back so I could finally come back to see you again.”
Keiji could see the enthusiasm on the boy’s face and found it hard to hold back a bigger smile at the excitement that was visible in Bokutos eyes.
“That sounds great. Since you’re back now, what can I do for you?”
“Uhhh, can I get an iced mocha, please? And also, I wanted to ask-“
Suddenly a loud noise emerged from the kitchen, accompanied by a high-pitched scream. Keiji turned around to see Konoha picking up freshly baked cookies from the floor, after dropping the tray.
“Don’t worry, I’m not hurt. I just forgot the gloves but it’s all good. I can handle it” Konoha stated, while smiling apologetically. Keiji quickly apologized to Bokuto to check on Konoha and brought him an ice pack from the freezer. After handling the situation in the kitchen, he returned to the counter, apologizing again for letting Bokuto wait. Thankfully, he was still the only customer in line, so Keiji did not have to rush through his order. Again.
“I’m sorry, Bokuto-san. One iced mocha, and what else where you saying?”
Keiji turned to the machine to prepare the iced mocha, while waiting for Bokuto to make his second request. When he was done preparing the drink, adding a little bit more cocoa than usual, Bokuto still hadn’t said what he wanted to say. Keiji hoped that he was not upset, that he had to wait so long for his drink. He quickly grabbed a cookie from the cookie jar and handed both the Mocha and the cookie to Bokuto.
“Sorry to keep you waiting so long. I hope this cookie is good enough to make up for it. Otherwise, I feel, you might never come back here.”
(Was he flirting? No, right? Keiji did not flirt. Never, especially not with a customer. But Bokuto had this spark in his eyes that made his face look especially cute. Cute? What was happening???)
Bokuto smiled brightly at him, leaving behind the slightly insecure look he wore before the cookie tray incident. “That is very nice of you, but you don’t have to give me a cookie to make me come back here. With you working here, I’ll come back every single day.” Keiji flushed brightly, his cheeks turning two shades darker. Bokuto continued, encouraged by the other’s reaction to his confession. “Actually, what I wanted to ask you before was … would you maybe like to go on a date with me?”
Keiji’s eyes widened as he looked at the other, who smiled at him with hope in his eyes. He had never before considered actually saying yes to someone asking him out at the coffee shop. All the guys (and girls) before, seemed rather boring (especially compared to Bokuto). Keiji would’ve liked to go out with him, he really would have, but his logical mind reminded him that he did not have time for a romantic life besides school and work. But … maybe just this once, Keiji would be a bit selfish. Maybe just this once he would try something other than studying and working and just enjoy college like most other students did.
He suddenly realized that due to his tumultuous inner dialogue he still had not answered Bokuto’s question. The other was still smiling at him, but the hope in his eyes was now accompanied by something else. Insecurity? Fear? Before he could figure it out, Keiji decided to finally answer him.
“Yes. Yes, I would like to go out with you.” Immediately, the smile on Bokuto’s face widened, now shining even brighter than the sun (how was this even possible?) and Keiji even thought he saw the other jump slightly in excitement. It was adorable.
“Great. That’s great! I- I can give you my number so we can text after you’re done here?”
“Yes, that sounds good, Bokuto-san. Just write it down here.” Keiji offered him a block and a pen and Bokuto eagerly wrote down his number and drew something underneath.
“Alrightttttt. I- just text me later and we can decide when to meet up.”
Keiji nodded and gave Bokuto one of his own, rare smiles. “I will, Bokuto-san.”
“Ok, gotta go back to training now, Akaashi. Thank you for the Mocha. And for the cookie!”
He exited the store with the radiating smile plastered on his face. After he left, Keiji expected to feel unsure and anxious about this possible dating situation but somehow all that occupied his mind were the bright golden eyes and that smile that seemed to calm him more than 10 years of therapy could.
Konoha peaked out from the kitchen, grinning at his colleague. “So are you gonna get laid ton-“
Before he could finish this sentence, Keiji threw a broom at him telling him the clean up the mess in the kitchen. Konoha kept grinning but obeyed and started cleaning the floor. Keiji himself was looking for the piece of paper with Bokuto’s number on it, so he could save it in his phone. When he found it, he saw the little scribbling below the number and recognized a tiny owl sitting on a tree branch. He smiled to himself and put the number in his phone, adding an owl emoji next to the name. This was going to be a good day.