Chapter Text
The first time, Takao was lost deep in another world. Headphones pulled over his ears, one hand rummaging through a pile of old vinyls that had been lying in the storage room for days now, the other drumming eagerly to the beat of the music blasting out of the speakers.
After filing CDs into alphabetical order and into the right shelves for an entire afternoon, on top of going to school in the morning, he was slowly losing his focus on the task and since no one was around at the moment, thought that he could just distract himself with his own music instead of listening to the scratchy tootling of the old radio in the corner of the store that made him more tired than he already was anyways. It was a Friday afternoon and he liked the feeling of having control over the entire shop by himself. Though it wasn't big, it was stuffed and there was a cozy atmosphere between the cramped shelves and cluttered boxes on the floor, filled with all kinds of old and new CDs of any kind and genre, and it was the place Takao felt most comfortable at. Even if it was a lot of work keeping the shop in an organized state all by himself, he was glad he could help the owner, an old acquaintance of his dad from school days, restore the run down place after the man fell sick for quite some time a few months ago. Since then Takao grew so fond of the place that he immediately complied when the owner asked him to help out for some extra pocket money in the afternoons. Apparently he trusted Takao enough to leave the store in his hands now and to go out for business for a while.
Just when he thought some dark clouds pulled over his sunny spot by the shop window behind the counter all of a sudden, the left piece of his headphones was suddenly pulled away from his head rather unceremoniously and he jolted up in his seat in shock to be greeted by a tall shadow looming over his seat. A tall man was staring down at him with a clearly visible frown and furled eyebrows.
It took Takao a moment to regain his composure, thrown off by the strange appearance of the guy who had, of all things, green hair and also green, vibrant eyes, which were eying him with annoyance and impatience behind a black pair of half rim glasses and Takao knew he should probably hurry up before the guy decided to snap at him.
"Ah, sorry, sorry, I guess I got distracted", he said with a sheepish laugh and pulled the headphones down to his neck, showing a full teethed smile, whereupon the man quickly straightened himself up to his full length. The guy was tall, no doubt, but Takao knew he was probably just a high schooler like him by the looks of it, maybe a bit older if anything. People his age were usually easier to deal with, so he relaxed, letting out a relieved breath he didn't know he was holding. The guy was impressive nevertheless, his height excluded, he had an aura that made Takao's skin itch underneath and straighten up automatically because he felt like his presence was politely trying to crush him. His stern face looked mature and even though he looked calm, Takao couldn't help noticing the tension in his body.
"What can I do for you?", he asked with a slight cough as the other just continued to stare down at him, unimpressed by his apology and completely silent, and propped his elbow on the counter, resting his chin in his hand. Takao was an easy person to be around and the customers never took it for granted when he had to let them wait because of the amount of people in the shop, a phone call, being in the middle of lifting boxes around in the storage room or when he even dropped and broke something, because his charme, a beaming smile and some feinted interest was enough to take care of it and make them smile along.
"Where is the owner?" The man asked, voice calm but with certain bite and he looked around as if to prove his point.
Straight to the point, this guy. A smile wouldn't do here, Takao figured.
"Out, I'm sorry, I'll have to do for now. I'm rather new interior here so be easy on me. I'm Takao by the way", he tapped the little plate with his name, scribbled in capital letters, attached to his shirt twice "So? What's your issue?"
The green haired guy looked down to his name plate and squinted a bit, then looked up again, opening his mouth like he wanted to say something, but closed it again, looking rather confused.
"I see", he managed after a while of scanning Takao over as if he didn't know what to do with this person in front of him at all.
"I'm, in fact, looking for one particular vinyl", he said in an overly professional manner, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose with a hand that was wrapped in white tape. Takao didn’t miss the strange accent he was using, but was being too confused by the sudden, raging curiosity swelling up inside and the thought of wanting to mess with this costumer for as long as possible.