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“You know, I think he comes in just for you.”
“Who?” Suguru asks his coworker a bit absentmindedly, as he wipes the dirty counter after a flurry of customers had just left the small ice cream shop.
“Him.” Riko jerks her head towards the tall, white-haired boy who lingers outside, just in front of the store’s large windows. He’s in the midst of devouring a giant, triple scoop cone before it melts in the sweltering summer heat. A girl with short brown hair is next to him, watching with a disgusted look on her face as she sips on what appears to be an iced coffee.
Suguru rips his gaze away from them, trying to focus on his cleaning task instead, but he can’t ignore the warmth that rushes into his cheeks at the mention of said boy. Luckily, the lighting in the shop is rather poor, so he prays Riko won’t notice his blush or he’ll be sentenced to her relentless teasing for the rest of their shift. Clearing his throat, Suguru tries to keep his voice even as he asks, “What makes you say that?”
Riko leans on the counter, holding her head in her hands. “I see the way he looks at you,” she comments with a smug look on her face. “As soon as he enters the shop, his eyes only focus on you.” She sighs and rests the back of her hand on her forehead in a dramatic pose. “It’s like I don’t even exist!”
The burning feeling in Suguru’s cheeks only grows. He hides his face from his coworker, busying himself with tidying up all the toppings containers so she can’t get a good look at him. “That’s not true.”
Riko snorts. She sticks a leg out, giving Suguru a light kick on his calves as a way of telling him he’s being ridiculous. “Oh, yes it is. Don’t bother trying to deny it. He always waits to make sure you’re the one who serves him, not me. And he’s not exactly subtle about it either.”
Suguru opens his mouth to refute her claim, but he falters when he realizes Riko is actually correct. Every time he has entered the shop, Suguru has been the one to serve him. If he was busy with another guest, the boy would step back and look at the menu, acting like he wasn’t quite ready to order until Suguru was free once again. And now that he thinks of it, every time Riko would call him out of the backroom to cover the front end of the shop so she can take a quick break, Satoru was always there to greet him.
Suguru only knows his name because Satoru had told him one busy summer afternoon. It was the first time he had ever stepped foot into the small ice cream shop. Suguru had made the mistake of calling him sir while thanking him for his payment.
“It’s Satoru.”
Suguru blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Satoru,” he repeated with an easygoing grin. “That’s my name.” He leaned over the counter, eying the name tag pinned onto Suguru’s chest. “It’s nice to meet you, Suguru. I’m sure I’ll see you again real soon.”
Satoru hadn’t lied.
Nowadays, he visits the ice cream shop at least three times a week, sometimes even more. He has become perhaps the only regular customer who Suguru looks forward to seeing, not that he would admit to anyone, especially Riko.
Normally, Suguru likes to keep his head down while working, especially during the summer. When the weather is warm, the shop is always bursting with rowdy kids and impatient parents who ask to sample every single ice cream flavor before asking for a single scoop of plain vanilla.
They make his life a living hell.
For this reason, he always prays for an early end to summer, but this year is different. In a strange twist of events, Suguru is quite distraught that there’s only one month left in the busy season.
And just to clarify, it’s not because of Satoru.
It’s because he recently got a raise, and only during the summer can he work more hours.
It’s because a new frozen yogurt store opened nearby, splitting the customer base and easing the amount of foot traffic they would normally receive, meaning that things aren't as bad as prior years.
It’s because he has Riko with him now, the best coworker he could have ever asked for. She’s not only great company but a hard worker who rarely slacks off and is always willing to lend a helping hand towards Suguru.
And once again, it’s definitely not because of a tall boy with bright white hair and even brighter blue eyes who always orders a giant waffle cone with three generous scoops of ice cream. The chosen flavors always vary, but they’re always the most outrageous, over-the-top ones, chock full of brownies, cookies, pretzels, and more. Suguru wonders how this boy’s body can process this amount of sugar multiple times a week. He must have an insatiable sweet tooth to be able to stomach this much ice cream.
“I know you like him too.”
Riko’s words leave Suguru speechless. His heart thumps loudly in the chest as his mind reels, wondering how he should respond. Should he laugh it off? Vehemently deny it? Ignore her existence?
“I’ll take your silence as a yes.”
Suguru blinks. “Huh? What? Wait. No, I was just—”
Riko holds up a hand, signaling him to stop talking. She sighs in exasperation, shaking her head. “Suguru, you can’t hide it from me. I can see the way you look at him too,” she points out. “Your eyes always brighten when he steps into the store, and I know you always give him extra-large scoops.” She winks at him. “But don’t worry. I won’t tell the other customers.”
Suguru stands there, mouth open, completely dumbfounded.
Is his crush on Satoru that obvious?
Wait.
Is it actually admitting he has a crush on Satoru?
“By the way, I approve of him, but mostly because he’s a generous tipper,” Riko jokes, fiddling with her hairband. “We need a plan to get you two together.” She hums in thought, tapping her nails on the counter when she suddenly straightens up and bounces lightly on her feet. “Oh, Suguru! I have a wonderful idea! You should slip him your number on a napkin when you’re giving him his order. Wouldn’t that be cute?”
Suguru inwardly groans.
Okay, maybe he does have a tiny crush on Satoru, but there is no way he’ll do something as embarrassing as writing his number on a napkin.
“Riko, this isn’t like one of your cliché romance novels or TV shows. Stuff like that doesn’t happen in real life.”
“What’s wrong with cliché? Maybe you’re just a boring anti-romantic!” she accuses him with an irritated huff. “Falling in love in an ice cream shop sounds like such a sweet love story. The only way you could make it sweeter is if you added whipped cream and a cherry on top.” She clasps her hands together with a happy sigh, eyes shimmering with emotion.
Suguru rolls his eyes at her theatrics, but he can’t suppress the amused grin that grows on his face. “You’re insufferable.”
Riko waves a hand at him. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Just make sure I get an invitation to the wedding.”
“You’ll be the first,” he jokes.
It’s a cold, rainy night when Suguru works the closing shift for the shop. He’s alone for once, Riko out sick with a summer cold that’s been going around town. He normally wouldn’t be able to handle running the shop alone, but since the weather is so awful, it’s a slow night. Few people are out and about looking for a cold treat with such a terrible chill in the air, so Suguru is quite surprised to hear the chime of the front door, signaling the entrance of a customer just an hour before closing. But he isn’t shocked to see that it’s Satoru.
If anyone would want to get ice cream on a cold, rainy night, it would be him.
Satoru closes his umbrella, leaving it at the door to not track in too much water into the shop which Suguru would then have to clean up. His hair looks wet, flat and plastered to his forehead, like he wasn’t able to put up his umbrella in time for one of the many sudden downpours throughout the night. It makes him look different, but not in a bad way.
Suguru knows he’s staring, but he can’t quite help himself.
“Suguru!” Satoru greets in a chipper voice, approaching the counter with his hands in his pockets. His footsteps echo loudly in the shop, just over the lull of the soft serve machine running in the background and the noise of the rain still pouring outside. “Where’s Riko? Is she in the back?”
“She’s sick with a cold. It’s just me tonight.”
“Oh.” Satoru looks at the ground, shuffling his feet. “I see.”
The atmosphere in the shop abruptly changes. For some reason, it makes Suguru nervous. There’s a jittery feeling in his stomach that he can’t quite shake off, and it doesn’t help that the air is too quiet, too tense for his liking.
“Bad weather for ice cream, huh,” Suguru comments, feeling the need to say something to disrupt the awkward silence. He winces at the slight quiver in his voice and hopes that Satoru doesn’t pick up on it. “I think you’re only the second customer to show up tonight.”
Satoru blinks slowly like he wasn’t quite listening to Suguru’s words, but then the strange look in his eyes clear and he lets out a quiet chuckle. He rubs the back of his neck before leaning on the counter. “Nah, it’s always the perfect weather for ice cream.”
Suguru smiles at the answer.
Of course he would say that.
“So,” Suguru says, grabbing the nearest scoop. Satoru is now close enough that he can see the slight twinge of pink on the boy’s cheeks, even in the dim lighting of the shop. He wonders if the flush is from the cold outside. “What can I get for you?”
Satoru’s eyes sweep over the numerous containers of ice cream in the display. “I’ll get a scoop of rocky road, salted caramel brownie, and chocolate chip cookie dough in a waffle cone, please.”
“Got it.”
It’s quiet as Suguru scoops the ice cream, but he doesn’t mind the silence now that he can focus on something else other than Satoru. He has just finished plopping on the last scoop on the cone when Satoru says, “Oh, and one more thing.”
“Yeah?” Suguru wonders what it’s going to be this time. Hot fudge? Rainbow sprinkles? Crushed up Oreos?
Satoru fiddles with his hands. He’s shifting his weight back and forth on his feet, eyes flitting around the shop like he couldn’t just focus on one thing. He looks unusually nervous, and Suguru racks his brain trying to understand why.
It’s just an ice cream topping. What is there to stress about?
“Can I get your number?”
Suguru almost drops the ice cream cone. With shaky hands, he manages to place it in one of the cone holders before he can create a mess. A million thoughts race through his head as he stands there, eyes wide in surprise. He wasn’t expecting Satoru to ask him for his number so out of the blue on such a random night, but he also isn’t complaining. A tingle of excitement shoots through his body. “Oh, um, yeah,” he stutters out, cheeks burning.
A look of relief crosses Satoru’s face before it melts into a bright expression that lights up the entirety of the small shop on such a cold, dreary night. His big, toothy grin causes Suguru’s heart to flutter in his chest.
“Great, lemme—” Satoru pulls his phone out of his pocket and taps on the screen repeatedly, only to find it unresponsive. “Shit. It’s dead.” He presses his lips into a tight frown. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, I’ll just—” Suguru pats his pants pockets, only to find them empty. Of course he had accidentally left his phone in the back when organizing the supply closet just before Satoru had arrived. He’s about to run back and search for it when an idea pops into his head.
In any other situation, Suguru wouldn’t have entertained the idea, but perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures. He grabs a pen and a nearby napkin and scribbles his number down before handing it to Satoru. He can already hear the sound of Riko’s squealing in the back of his head. “Here you go.”
Satoru raises his eyebrows like he’s a little surprised at the gesture, but he accepts it without comment. He only thanks Suguru and carefully folds the napkin, putting it in his wallet for safekeeping. “I’ll be sure to text you when I get home.”
Suguru vows to never let his phone leave his side ever again.
As soon as Suguru’s racing heart calms down several minutes after Satoru had left the shop with his ice cream and Suguru’s number, he runs in the back to find his phone and call Riko, unable to keep the exciting news to himself.
She picks up on the first ring.
“Riko,” he gasps into the phone, still a little breathless. “You’ll never guess what.”
“You gave Satoru your number on a napkin.”
Suguru’s jaw drops open. He looks around the store, wondering if she had been spying on him somehow. “Wait. How did you know?”
An excited squeal comes through the phone, so loud that he has to pull the device away from his sensitive ear. It’s then followed by a fit of violent coughing that causes Suguru to wince in sympathy. He hoped he didn’t catch her cold. “Oh my gosh, I was just kidding. I can’t believe it’s actually true!” Riko replies, her voice still a bit scratchy. “You have to tell me everything!”
“I will,” he promises with a soft smile. “I’ll call you after I close the shop.”
“Alright! But I guess I have to take it back. Maybe you aren’t a boring anti-romantic, after all. Do you want me to lend you some of my favorite romance books? You might learn a thing or two.”
Suguru shakes his head with an amused snort. “Maybe.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”