Chapter Text
Oikawa hardly does any housework at home, considering the fact that some lovestruck girl will gladly help him with his chores at the snap of his fingers. He rarely needs to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, as he usually gets takeout or goes out for meals with whoever he manages to charm on that day. However, one of his most frequently visited places happens to be Seijou's Grocer, the place where a certain hunk of a shop assistant happens to be working.
Oikawa goes to Seijou's Grocer every day, considering it's location is nearby to the hair salon where he works. Some days, he admires the way his favourite shop assistant's toned arm muscles flex and his biceps bulge as he restocks and arranges cans of Campbell’s soup and packets of spaghetti on the shelves. Other days, he goes to buy a pack or two of grape bubblegum when said shop assistant is on cashier duty. However, he never has the guts to use any of the pick up lines that he has memorised word-for-word to hit on this guy.
Oikawa pushes his shopping cart absent-mindedly along the aisle, eyes scanning the shelves for his favourite brand of chocolate milk. Before he finds it, he hears a man's charming laughter echoing behind him. Hmm, even though he may have a nice laugh, he probably has a face like a gargoyle. God is fair that way, Oikawa thinks to himself as he continues walking forward and pushing his cart in front of him. However, the second time he hears the same melodious noise, he gives in to temptation and curiosity, turning around to look for the source of that laughter.
'Macho' is the first word that comes to mind as Oikawa turns his head to find a tan-skinned young man restocking cereal boxes on a shelf fifteen feet away from him. Apparently, that voice belongs to none other than the hunky shop assistant Oikawa has nicknamed supermarket superboy. Unable to take his eyes off this man, Oikawa continues to stare, awe-stricken at the way that this guy's taut arm muscles bulge as he reaches to arrange boxes of Lucky Charms on the higher shelves. Oikawa can't decide which is more delicious, dehydrated marshmallows or supermarket boy's toned biceps. Damn damn damn, I was so wrong, Oikawa mulls silently while scrutinizing this man's body, pectorals to calves, not once but twice.
"Um, excuse me,"
Oikawa blinks twice before swiftly turning in the direction the voice had come from. Only then does he realise that he has been blocking the aisle while staring starry-eyed at another man.
“Yes sorry, my bad,” Oikawa turns around to check whether superboy is still there (and yes, he still is) before reluctantly peeling his eyes away, pushing his shopping cart further ahead and out of the way to allow a young mother and her two toddlers to pass.
He wants to turn back into the cereal aisle just to admire superboy, but unfortunately for him, the aisle is full with other people and their shopping carts, making it hard for him to navigate.Taking it as his cue to leave, he moves on to the next aisle—the toiletries aisle. Usually, Oikawa gets his super-strong hold hairspray at the drugstore. For convenience’s sake, today he breaks his regular routine and decides to get it here instead. After dropping a can of hairspray into his shopping cart, Oikawa decides to go around the supermarket one last time to be sure of superboy’s location. Oikawa wanders around for another good fifteen minutes without seeing superboy before deducing that he probably went into the storeroom to get another box of chocolate chip cookies to fill up the empty shelves.
Sighing dejectedly, Oikawa proceeds to the check-out counter.
******
Being a Tuesday morning, the supermarket is rather empty. Oikawa doesn’t even need to queue to pay because there aren’t any other customers lining up in front of him. Loading his hairspray and and a carton of chocolate milk onto the conveyor belt, he is greeted by a somewhat-familiar voice of a young man.
“Morning, sir,”
Oikawa whips his head towards the source of the voice, surprised and elated at the same time when he discovers that it was superboy who was speaking to him. It’s you!! I was just looking for you! Where have you been, you hunk? I’ve been running around the entire store just looking for you! Oikawa screams internally at supermarket boy.
Oikawa glances quickly at supermarket boy’s name tag that reads IWAIZUMI in bold letters. Iwaizumi.. Hmm, Iwa-chan.
“Oh,morning,”
“Is this all, sir?” Superboy asks as he bags Oikawa’s purchases. "That will be $45,"
“That will be all. Oh,I almost forgot! Could I also get your number, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa adds casually as he pulls out a fifty dollar bill from his black leather wallet.
Iwaizumi coughs before replying. “Excuse you?”
“Iwaizumi, right? Says so on your name tag. Can I call you Iwa-chan?” Oikawa makes sure to add a beatific smile that would make it difficult for 'Iwa-chan' to resist. He looks on expectantly with his adorable puppy eyes as he waits for Iwaizumi to count his change.
“Here’s your change, sir,” Iwaizumi holds out a five dollar bill without replying any of Oikawa’s questions. “Have a nice day and please come again,”
Taking hold of the five dollar bill, Oikawa holds onto Iwaizumi’s half-closed palm and gazes seductively at him.
“Oh, I most certainly will, if you’d be willing to go out with me,” Oikawa winks at Iwaizumi.
“What? Come on, what’s with this suave-as-hell act, anyway?” Iwaizumi pulls his hand out of Oikawa’s grasp. He tries to be nonchalant, but it’s clear that he’s getting more and more flustered with every word that leaves Oikawa’s (very soft-looking) lips. Just in case, he looks around the supermarket to be sure that nobody is watching them.
“That’s because I’m trying to charm my way into your heart. Isn’t that obvious that I’ve set my eyes on you, Iwa-chan?”
“For someone whom I’ve only just met, you’re pretty damn eager,”
“Well, if you aren’t going to give me your number, I’ll give you mine,”
Oikawa digs into his brown messenger bag and quickly fishes out his business card. He points to Iwaizumi’s messy hair as he continues “I work as a hairstylist, and I can’t just leave your hair like that,”
Iwaizumi is somewhat taken aback by Oikawa’s remark about his hair, but he holds his tongue. He takes the business card and reads it aloud “Oikawa Tooru, junior hairstylist at Snippy's,”
Glancing up at Oikawa, he scoffs, “I’m aware that I need a haircut, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to let you style my hair into a perm like yours,”
“What are talking about, Iwa-chan? There’s only one person who can rock this look, you're looking at him right now. So, what do you say? Will you give me the chance to fix your hair for you?”
Iwaizumi sighs as he stares at the business card in his hand. “I’ll think about it. But I’m not making any promises, alright?”
Feeling satisfied and accomplished to some extent, Oikawa picks up his purchases. He smiles, wide and sincere—a smile that would make a stranger think that he had just hit the jackpot.
“All right, I’ll be waiting for you, Iwa-chan! I’m off on Thursday, but I’ll be at the salon on every other day,”
Oikawa turns around and leaves without so much as saying goodbye, leaving Iwaizumi feeling weird and fluttery inside like a lovestruck teenage girl.
Keeping Oikawa’s business card in the back pocket of his jeans, Iwaizumi ponders Who is this dude, anyway? Striding in and acting smooth as hell. Although he doesn’t want to admit it, Oikawa’s tricks might have just worked on him, if only a little bit.
******
Later that night, Iwaizumi takes Oikawa's name card out of his pocket. Smirking, he recalls the conversation he had with Oikawa earlier today which felt like something that occurred twenty years ago. He feels a strange sense of triumph in getting Oikawa's number, even if he hadn't been the one to initiate it. Referring to the digits on the card, he keys Oikawa's number into his phone. He contemplates whether or not to give Oikawa a call, or a text at least. Whatever, he was probably kidding anyway. I shouldn't bother to call up or check on him. Besides, it's not like I made a promise. He checks his watch. It's 1:37a.m. It's late, and he's probably sleeping. I wouldn't want to disrupt his beauty sleep. Iwaizumi sighs, pockets his phone and makes his way back to his apartment.