Chapter Text
He should be used to it. He’s worked here for almost ten years. And yet.
Tino sighs, shifting his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. He hates being the self-checkout attendant -- and mostly it’s because people can be so ridiculous. It seems that the moment they step up to any one of the machines, their ability to read disappears, along with all their patience and compassion. He’s trying to show the woman in front of him that he’s paying attention, but he can see another customer glaring at him from another bot, and his anxiety is rising. Not seeing an end to this fuss, Tino reaches around the woman and signs into the bot, punching in a code and a price. If it weren’t so busy, and if he wasn’t already doing three jobs at once, he would have gone to verify the price and had a small moment of satisfaction in proving her wrong. But today isn’t the day to win arguments. Today is about compromise so he doesn’t lose his head.
“Okay, all fixed,” Tino interrupts when she pauses for breath. “We’ll take care of you today, and I’ll definitely have someone go adjust signage as soon as I can.” Ignoring the rude grumbling he gets in response, he gives her a final, “Have a nice day” before he moves on to the next customer.
He had to take over both sides of self-checkout so that he could gain another checker on the registers, and he's currently the only supervisor on the floor right now. Mathias doesn't come in for another half hour and Tino already kind of feels like he's drowning. He's been ready for a break for at least an hour. Turning around after helping the third customer in a row that forgot how to read, he almost slams into someone standing unreasonably close. "I'm sorry," he says, when he's not and the person shouldn't have been standing so close. "I shouldn't have turned around so fast."
The man stares at him for a moment, clearly unfazed. He looks like the typical tourist they get in -- he's probably from the busload of people that had flooded the store not that long ago. He's tall and lean, his slightly longer than expected platinum blond hair clipped back, and he's well-dressed in jeans and a suit jacket over a t-shirt. And annoyingly pretty to look at. The only thing that doesn't fit the profile is that he has a hand basket instead of a regular shopping cart filled to the brim with at least 500 dollars worth of groceries. In fact, he only has a few items, mostly just produce. "I was looking for the coffee," the man informs him in a lofty sort of drawl. He has an accent that Tino can't immediately place. "I must have gotten turned around."
Tino hears one of the bots alert that help is on the way and flinches slightly. "Oh, that's aisle three, right behind produce. It's with the cereal and other breakfast items." Another bot alerts and he tries not to appear impatient to move on.
The man hums thoughtfully and glances back over his shoulder. "Thanks," he replies shortly and wanders off. Tino doesn’t have time to think of how strange the man was, as one of the customers from a fussy bot approaches him impatiently. He’s been at work for two hours and he’s more than ready to go home now and take a nap.
It doesn’t seem to slow down, and before he knows it, he hears Mathias shout, “Yo, Tino!” Relief floods him as he walks briskly to the podium. “Where are we at? Has it been this busy all morning?”
“You missed the bus,” Tino replies dryly. “What’s it like sleeping in every day?”
“I do schedule you mids sometimes, you know,” Mathias says, a little put-out. “And I don’t sleep in. Berwald makes me get up at six every day -- even after I close the night before. Can you even imagine that?” Mathias had met Berwald when Berwald had still been the fuel station manager, about two years ago. Mathias likes to tell everyone that they had hit it off instantly, but Tino suspects that he had probably just annoyed Berwald to the point that he had agreed to go out with him simply in hopes that it would shut him up. Unfortunately for him, it only encouraged Mathias and they’ve been dating since. Berwald, however, had left the company a few months ago in favor of starting his own bakery, with full support of his boyfriend.
Tino wrinkles his nose. “You’re talking to the wrong person about not getting enough sleep, Mathias.” For someone who loves sleep, he can’t remember the last time he’s slept longer than five hours. “In any case, we’re caught up because I’m a miracle worker. But I’m watching both sides here and I need a coffee break before I freak out.”
“Fair enough.” Mathias signs onto one of the monitors. “Go get yourself some coffee, then. And I’ll try not to burn the place down while you’re away.”
“Mathias, you’re the manager,” Tino hisses, punching his shoulder lightly as he passes behind him. “And the man on twelve needs your help. Good luck!” With absolutely no regret, Tino beelines it to the in-store coffee shop for his caffeine fix.
He and Mathias have been friends since high school, and have both held various positions within the company until they both made it to the front end. It’s actually shocking that they’ve been allowed to work in the same department together -- never mind both of them as supervisors together. When Tino had been in the service counter, he and Mathias had too many ridiculous closings together and he’s still very grateful that their security guy has never ratted them out. As supervisors, they’ve found that they work really well together, which has been a little surprising.
Tino pulls his headphones out of one of his front pockets and puts them in, plugging them into his phone that he slips out of his back pocket. He sets a timer for his break and then picks a song to listen to for the duration. He has a really bad habit of playing songs until he can’t stand them anymore, and he hasn’t been able to break it, no matter how many times he tries. His current obsession is a song that has a really satisfying mix of techno and hard rock, and he likes how the beat drowns out the chaotic sounds of the grocery store.
There are two other people in line and Tino wrinkles his nose, debating whether or not it’s worth waiting for, when he catches sight of the man he’d directed to the coffee earlier standing in line ahead of him. His Customer Service persona surfaces rather quickly and he grimaces. He hadn’t bothered to ask him what kind of coffee he’d been looking for. Almost out of habit, he pulls one of his headphones out, taps the man on the shoulder and waits for him to turn around before he says, “I’m sorry -- I didn’t realize you meant coffee like this.”
Though his expression doesn’t change too much, somehow he manages to convey amusement, which is actually pretty fascinating. Tino has a hard time keeping his expressions quiet. “I didn’t, not explicitly,” he answers, and he can hear the humor in his tone. “But I will never say no to a good cup of coffee.”
Relief floods him, followed quickly by embarrassment. Did he really just take time out of his own break to work? “Well, it looks like Alfred is working today, so triple your espresso count because he’s heavy-handed on his syrups,” Tino tells him, a little uncomfortable now that he’s out of his Customer Service persona. At work, he’s good at being outgoing and friendly because it’s been drilled into his head. The moment he hits the “punch in” button, he’s in the persona and he often has a hard time shaking it until he punches out for the day and leaves the building. But outside of work, he doesn’t really like people, never mind socializing with people.
“Good to know,” the man replies and smiles at him before turning back around to order. Feeling his face flush, Tino shoves the earbud back into his ear and turns up the volume as loud as he can handle. When he’s just Tino, he can be pretty awkward. He checks the timer and mutters a curse under his breath, wondering how mad Mathias would be if he took a slightly longer break. He glances back over his shoulder at the mess that is the front end and huffs, stepping out of line to go get a bottled ice coffee. It’ll have to do for now.
He misses the interested look the man throws his way when he leaves.
“I think you’re lying to me,” Mathias says, somewhere between cringing and trying not to laugh. “Can you put that as the reason on that return receipt please? Because I really want to see Lovino’s reaction to it. Like, more than anything else.” Mathias leans against the counter behind the service desk, trying to determine whether Tino is actually angry or not.
Tino snaps the drawer under the register shut, sighing dramatically. “I don’t get it. I really, really don’t. How do you not notice that there is poison in a product that is clearly marketed as a rat poison?” Mathias loses it, breaking into a fit of laughter as Tino braces himself against the edge of the counter. “I’m going insane, Mathias. I don’t know how many more years I can do this.” Their opening service counter clerk had called in that morning, and as Tino was opening supervisor again, he’d been stuck behind the counter pretty consistently since he’d gotten in. He doesn’t usually have a problem working behind service counter -- for all the horror stories he’s heard from others, he tends to get pretty lucky and doesn’t get a lot of fussy customers. And then, every once in awhile, someone stupid comes up and tests his patience.
“She must have been on self-scan first,” Mathias jokes, grinning. “Forgot how to read for a minute there.” Tino snorts and shakes his head. “Listen, five more years. Then we’ll both have our lives together and we’ll ditch this place. But you cannot leave me to run this shit-show alone.”
“I’m tempted,” Tino mumbles stubbornly. “The longer I work here, the less sane I am and I’m starting to get annoyed by that.”
Mathias rolls his eyes. “You have lived your life on spite alone, Tino. You being annoyed is nothing new.” He’s, unfortunately, right. Tino hadn’t had the greatest support system growing up, and most of his accomplishments have been made with the lingering thought of They didn’t think I could do this in the back of his head. While he’s pretty proud of where he is in life, the motivation does sometimes leave a little bit of bitterness in his outlook of things. “Okay, I’m going to see what I can do about Belle’s break, because she looks like she’s about to have a meltdown…”
As Mathias walks off, a customer approaches the counter. But not just any customer. It’s the man from a week ago that he “helped” with the coffee. Normally, Tino is pretty bad with remembering people. He sees so many people filtering in and out on a daily basis, he has a hard time keeping track. He often feels guilty when customers can recognize him on the street, but he has no idea who they are. This time, though, he remembers. He remembers because he was so embarrassed, and every time the memory had surfaced, he’d felt like puking. Seeing the man before him, the familiar knot of anxiety settles in his stomach and the tips of his ears heat up. He greets the man anyway and is about to ask what he can help him with, but is cut off when the man says, “You were right about the barista being heavy-handed with the syrups. Even with six shots of espresso, it was still a bit much…”
Six shots of espresso. A man after his own heart. Tino cringes. “Yeah, he can be pretty bad about it, despite being talked to. He doesn’t seem to see the problem.” The man hums, smiling, and Tino asks, “What can I do for you today?”
He seems a bit uncertain before answering, “I need to send money to Iceland.”
Tino doesn’t miss a beat, gesturing down to the computer. While sending money is nothing new, the country is. He always finds it so interesting when people come in and send money to countries that he doesn’t hear about very often. “Have you sent before?” he asks as he logs onto the computer. The man shakes his head. “Do you know the person -- like, are they related to you or they’re a friend?”
“He’s my brother,” he informs him, rolling his eyes. Snickering a bit, Tino starts zipping through the process fairly quickly, only stumbling slightly when he has to check the passport as identification. He’s not mad about it, though. It gives him an excuse to find the man’s name without having to ask and he makes a mental note of his birthday. It’s the little perks of the job that make it endurable. "Are you just visiting?" he asks conversationally as he fills out all the required information. It’s almost an automatic question, just to break the awkwardness of him quietly tapping away on the keyboard.
"No, I'm here for the foreseeable future," the man -- Lukas -- replies airily and Tino is torn between feeling some sort of relief and also dread. "Getting proper identification here takes an unnecessarily long time, though." He taps a finger against the counter and inquires, “How long have you lived here?”
Tino pauses, his brain attempting to switch gears and landing about halfway. “Er, I’ve lived in the US since I was around thirteen, but I’ve lived here for around ten years,” he answers distractedly, clicking through a few more things on the computer. He hands back the passport and asks for more of the required information before wrapping it up. The whole process is just tedious because he can work faster than the computer most days. Lukas pays and Tino passes him his copy of the receipt. “So this is the number you’ll give to the receiver,” Tino explains, circling the number at the top of the receipt. “And they can pick up anywhere that has this kind of service.”
Lukas snaps a picture of the number before taking the receipt and folding it up so he can fit it into his wallet. “Thank-you,” he says with a glance over his shoulder. There are two or three other people waiting, and Tino’s fairly sure that they’re just there for lottery. “I think I’ve taken up enough of your time.”
“I don’t mind,” Tino answers, maybe a little too quickly, and he grimaces. “Have a good rest of your day!”
Lukas gives him an odd look but nods. “You as well,” he murmurs before he takes his leave. He doesn’t have to be so cool and collected and attractive, but he is, and Tino’s heart rate takes its time slowing back down as he helps the next customer. He has to silently berate himself for even thinking along those lines. Nobody has taken a serious interest in him in years. And does he really want to date anyway? He shies away from the thought and that seems to help him refocus for the time being.
It becomes a sort of normal thing to see Lukas at least once a week after that. He almost always has something he can't find and somehow manages to always seek Tino out for assistance; once or twice, he even gets Tino to walk him to the product and they make idle chit-chat along the way. Slowly, Tino finds that he's easily switching from his work persona to himself whenever Lukas comes around. He doesn’t send any more money to Iceland, though, which has him curious. “Can I ask what your brother is doing in Iceland?” he asks one day as he walks him to a product.
Lukas rolls his eyes. “He’s doing some sort of endurance adventure thing,” he replies, unable to keep the sarcasm that drips from every word at bay. “He’s really into nature and getting himself fit, so now he’s testing his limits or something like that. So he’s out in who knows where. I only had to send him money because he needed some extra supplies he hadn’t accounted for. If he lasts another week, I’ll be shocked.”
Tino snorts in amusement. “You have so much confidence in him.”
Lukas glances at him, hesitating slightly. “I actually do… I’m just worried…” Catching a glimpse of that side of him just adds to his intrigue, in Tino’s opinion.
While overall, they don’t do a lot of talking, they do learn enough about each other that Tino can’t help but be interested. He’s usually of the opinion that if someone is pretty to look at, they’re not someone he wants to bother with. But Lukas seems to be an anomaly, and there is a little bit of internal panic at that idea. He doesn’t want to like someone that he sees now and again, who probably has absolutely no interest in him.
“Hey, Tino,” Mathias starts slowly one evening. He’s about to go to lunch but hesitates. Tino is covering service counter while the clerk is on lunch, and he’s using the opportunity to catch up on some paperwork. It’s a slower night, and he’s glad that he’ll be going home soon. He looks up at his friend, a little surprised by how sheepish and uncertain he is. “I was hoping you could do me a favor…”
Tino sets down his pen and gives him his full attention. “What’s up?”
Mathias rubs the back of his neck nervously. “Well… I’m going to ask Berwald to marry me…”
“What?” Tino perks up, grinning widely. “Really? Mathias, that’s so exciting! When is this happening?”
“I’m not sure,” Mathias admits weakly. “I haven’t even figured out the how yet. But I have the ring, so there’s that taken care of.” Tino does his best not to laugh; Mathias reminds him very much of a puppy at the moment -- very lost and confused. “I was just hoping, when I actually do ask… Maybe you could be the photographer?”
Tino stares at him, startled. “Are you sure?”
“I think that’s the one thing I am sure about,” Mathias says shakily. “You’re my best friend, so I want you there. Plus, free photography.”
Tino laughs at that. “Okay, so the truth comes out. I see now.”
Mathias grins, a little more at ease. “You’re the best photographer I know, Tino. But, yeah, that’s where the favor comes into play. I’d appreciate it…”
“Of course,” Tino answers with a roll of his eyes. “When you figure out the when and the how, let me know. I’d be happy to be there for you guys.” He lets Mathias hug him before he rushes off to lunch. He honestly is happy for Mathias and Berwald, but he also feels a pang of disappointment. At 28, he had thought that he’d at least be in a relationship by now. But he’s still very single, and he’s a little jealous of what his friend has. He tries to focus on the paperwork, but his focus is lost. He puts it away and steps back out onto the sales floor to keep an eye on the checkers and courtesy clerks in an attempt to redirect his self-pitying thoughts.
Around the end of fall, Tino realizes that he hasn’t seen Lukas for almost two weeks, which is actually fine because he's been too busy to even think about him. The flu has made its rounds at work and they're desperately shorthanded. Tino knows how badly Mathias is handling the stress when Berwald starts showing up for his lunch breaks -- most people would think that was almost silly, but Mathias has been working ten or more hours a day and Berwald is probably missing him more than he'd care to admit. Mathias has told him that he's usually so tired when gets home, he tends to just crash. Tino can relate. To help take the pressure off Mathias, Tino has been working longer shifts as well, and has even forfeited one of his days off so Mathias doesn't have to. But that means he's working a ten day stretch and he's on day eight, rapidly losing patience. Why can't the general population also get sick and stay home?
Tino is once again stuck on self-checkout, absolutely hating life, and muttering under his breath in Finnish about how stupid everyone is as he helps customer after customer with obvious problems. He tries to keep upbeat -- he's had one too many complaints about him being rude when he's actually just stressed and short-fused. But after explaining to the fifth customer in a row that they need to weigh their goddamn vegetables before they can scan anything else, he's losing his head a little. He needs to get off of self-checkout quickly before he accidently snaps at someone.
"Long day?" someone asks from behind him and he starts, looking around at Lukas. He has a handbasket again, and it's fairly full. Tino's not sure if he can answer without being scathing about it so he shrugs. If Lukas were a different person, he would probably be offended. Instead, he goes to the next free bot and checks out his groceries. Tino thinks to apologize a couple of times, but he doesn’t get the chance. He misses Lukas’s departure because of a customer who won’t stop arguing with him, even though he’s already helped him solve his problem.
By the time Mathias gets back from his break, Lukas suddenly resurfaces. He steps in front of Tino, securing his attention, and passes him a coffee cup from the shop. “You look like you need a pick-me-up,” he says by way of explanation as Tino accepts the cup cautiously. “I hope your day gets better.”
Tino barely gets a “thank you” past his lips before Lukas is out the door and Mathias is next to him, grinning broadly. “I feel like you’ve been holding out on me,” he says and Tino is mildly annoyed by the tone in his voice.
“It’s just a coffee,” Tino argues, glaring up at him. “You’ve bought me coffee on a bad day, and I’ve had other coworkers buy me coffee as thank-yous!”
“Yes, both are true,” Mathias agrees too easily. “But, first of all, we’re your coworkers. And second, we’re not writing our phone numbers on your coffee cups. Or at least, I hope not.” He gestures to some writing on the cup that Tino hadn’t noticed, as it’s facing away from him. “He must have been a bit nervous, not handing the cup to you with the number in your face.”
Tino inspects the cup more carefully. The handwriting matches Lukas pretty well, and he’s just a little jealous of the way he writes his twos and fives -- the angles and curves are amazing. Then he glances back at Mathias with a bit of surprise. “Have you done this before? The number on the cup thing?”
“A few times, pre-Berwald,” Mathias admits with a shrug. “And don’t tell him that because I actually didn’t try it on him. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would appreciate it.”
“No, I don’t think he would have,” Tino can’t help but agree. He runs his thumb over the writing on the cup.
“So, are you going to text him or do I have to take your phone and do it for you?” Mathias inquires, giving him a mischievous look. “I know the code to your phone, ya know. And since I’m taller than you, I’d like to see you attempt to stop me.”
Tino instinctively wants to argue, ask how the hell he knows what the code to his phone is, but he also believes Mathias. “I’ll text him on my lunch,” he grumbles and hopes that he’ll drop it.
“Ah, but that doesn’t work for me,” Mathias quips, shaking his head. “I know you better than that. I’ll watch self-scan and you text him. Besides, I need to know if he asks you out. A little cowardly to do it over text, but I wouldn’t be too mad as long as you said yes.”
Tino narrows his eyes at him but goes to the podium and sets the coffee cup down, pulling his phone out of his back pocket. He opens his messages and starts a new message, typing in the phone number. And then he hesitates. What is he supposed to say? Maybe he really should just let Mathias send the first message. But that thought kicks his spite instinct into full gear and he taps out, Hello. This is Tino. His face flushes, and he hits send before he can second-guess himself but he feels absolutely awkward and dumb. “There,” he huffs, flashing the message at Mathias who meanders over to sign into the register. “Happy?” He tucks his phone into his back pocket again.
“I forget how awkward you actually are…” Mathias mumbles dryly, but he’s smiling and Tino knows he’s just teasing him. “Keep me updated, but can you go get Antonio for his lunch break? Mr Sunshine is slowly losing his cool and I’m not game to hear him yell at me about forgetting it.”
“Yeah, I can do that,” Tino agrees almost gratefully as he snatches his coffee and heads to the register. He can handle the register, and it will definitely provide him with a distraction. His mood improves greatly being on the register, and an hour passes easily before one of the regular checkers replaces him so he can go to lunch. His heart rate increases when he pulls his phone out to set a timer and he sees two messages waiting to be opened. He groans, sinking into a chair in the breakroom and curling into himself as he unlocks his phone and opens the messages. Oh, good. You saw it. Tino smiles at the first message; he can hear Lukas’s voice in it. I asked for the coffee that you usually get but the barista was useless. Was it alright?
Tino gnaws on his lower lip as he saves the number and then moves to reply. Well, I didn’t have to pay for it, and it came with this cute guy’s number, so I can’t complain. He feels his face flush. He’s not really feeling all that confident, but he also doesn’t want to come across as awkward again. His stomach rolls as he taps the send button and locks his phone. He hesitates and then unlocks his phone, adding a second message. I'm sorry that I was rude earlier. I hate being on self-scan and people have been extra fussy today. The coffee did help, and so did seeing you. He punches send before he can chicken out and closes his eyes. Hopefully he's not sounding too forward.
His phone buzzes in his hand and he tries not to be as eager as he is to read the message. I could tell you were stressed. Glad to be of service. Feel free to vent.
Tino considers it but he has a different thought that he voices instead. What do you do for work? I don't think I've ever asked.
While he waits, he does consider going to find something to eat. But his stomach is in knots and he decides that he'll deal with the regret later. Ah, I'm a manager for the escalations department of a call center. It's why I moved out here, actually. My company asked if I would be willing to help open the call center. His answer is actually a little intimidating. Tino hasn't been able to get a management position yet, though he's tried a few times. While he's made himself invaluable by learning as much as he can and taken on as much responsibility as he can handle, he can't imagine his boss ever asking him to move to another country to help open a new store. Lukas must be really good at his job, and Tino tells him that, attempting to sound impressed and not small. I suppose. Might have just been that I was willing to leave the country, though. Not many people were.
And that's also brave. Tino sets his phone down in his lap for a moment. Assuming that Mathias is right and Lukas is interested like that, Tino can't figure out why. He's not particularly attractive, he isn't in a management position so it's not as if he has a lot of money, he's not clever or outstanding in any one way. He's average and awkward, a little on the clumsy side. Maybe his only interesting qualities are that he's stubborn and he can catch onto new things fairly quickly. He suddenly feels sick for a new reason, and doesn't really want to answer Lukas. He shouldn't have messaged him. He should have let him think he wasn't interested and he would have moved on to someone better suited to him. But he did message him, and he started a conversation, and it would be rude to just ignore him now.
He picks his phone back up and is a little surprised to see another message. It wasn't something I was convinced about, but I'm glad I decided to. Probably wouldn't have pushed myself the way I have, or met you -- and that would have been a shame.
Tino feels his face heat up and a grin spreads across his face. Okay, he's not going to sabotage this with his anxiety. He can do this. Lukas is clearly interested, whether or not Tino thinks he should be. I'm glad you decided to, too. Cause I'm happy to have met you.