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“Here’s your drink! Be careful, it’s hot.”
Kei takes the cup, confused. “I ordered an iced latte.”
“And I wasn’t talking about the drink.”
After a hard few seconds of staring at the smirking barista in disbelief - and ignoring the fact that he’d been referred to as an “it” instead of a human being - he promptly grimaces and walked out of the cafe, hoping that the heat in his cheeks wasn’t too obvious on his relatively pale skin.
And that was the beginning of Tsukishima Kei’s endeavours with the campus coffee shop’s part-time barista, Kuroo - as plated in black and clipped over the man’s apron.
(Or, as insisted by the man twice or thrice over their brief encounters, Tetsurou.)
It was a struggle at first, since that the universe seemed to have aligned itself in such a way that all of Kei’s free time to study was perfectly coordinated with the guy’s shifts.
At one point he’d tried to find away around talking to the barista, namely bringing Yamaguchi along and ignoring the knowing look he got whenever he asked him to order for both of them. However, the bastard must’ve caught on because next thing he knew there were orders for “Yamaguchi and Tsukki” being called for at the pick-up counter.
Eventually, he deemed it too much of a hassle to avoid, deciding to subject himself to a minute or so of small talk and watching Tetsurou add some extra flair to making his drinks by spinning and tossing a thing or two every now and then - not that he was impressed by any of it.
Kei sighs into his scarf, making his daily trip to the coffee shop with his laptop and a couple of new paleontology textbooks to crack open that probably really are worth their weight in gold.
As he walks into the blessed heating of the campus cafe, he reflexively listens for the unabashed welcome back from his favorite barista.
Nothing.
He doesn’t even spare a second to scan the area before heading straight for the cashier. It feels a little weird to be ordering from someone that isn’t Kuroo for once, but he quickly brushes the thought aside.
In no time - getting a drink is significantly faster when the one preparing it isn’t trying to impress you with party tricks every few seconds - Kei’s sitting on a nice seat in the corner of the cafe, ready to get straight to work on his godforsaken paper.
“Your boyfriend not with you today?”
Shit.
Kei stares intently at the time in the corner of his screen, making it a point to not meet the figure that’d just walked right in front of his table. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Oh?” He feels the hairs at the back of his neck prickle at the way Tetsurou draws the vowel. “Does that mean you’re single?”
Kei chuckles, bitterly. “How do you know that I’m not just straight?”
It’s the other’s turn to laugh this time. “No straight guy on campus would let me pester them for this long without giving me a black eye.”
Tetsurou seems to take the conversation as an invitation to take the seat across from him and begins to pull the chair back - a move Kei immediately objects to.
He tears his eyes away from the time and finally looks over at Tetsurou. “Hey, I never said that you could sit down—”
He gets cut off as he finally gets a good look at the man - an action he will later deny and play to the fact that he’s only ever seen Tetsurou in his barista getup before.
Kei takes in his entire appearance within a breath of time - stonewashed jeans, checkered red flannel over a black shirt, a thick black jacket slung over his shoulder, and a pair of silver dog tags slung around a pair of frighteningly defined clavicles and neck muscles.
All beneath that signature smirk and a bedhead that definitely doesn’t look as bad as it did stuffed under a barista cap.
Christ, the uniforms here really don’t do anyone any justice.
“Oh.” To his horror, he sees Tetsurou’s eyes blink a couple of times before widening - god, is he blushing? “Well I’m glad you think so, Tsukki.”
So he said that out loud. Fuck.
“Is there something I can help you with, Kuroo?”
Before replying, Tetsurou gestures to the seat, which Kei promptly (and reluctantly) nods at and sighs as the man moves to occupy the seat across him. Looks like he won’t be getting to that paper anytime soon.
“So you never answered my question,” Tetsurou states, continuing when Kei raises an eyebrow. “Are you single?”
Heat prickles at the back of Kei’s neck and one of his hands moves down to rest on his thigh. “Yes, why is it of any concern to you?”
Tetsurou lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck. “Listen, I’m gonna be blunt with you. Do you wanna go catch a movie or something tomorrow, maybe a bite to eat? You know, since it’s a holiday and all.”
“A movie?” Those two words feel almost foreign coming out of him.
“Well, I would ask if you wanna get some coffee sometime, but since we’re already doing that—”
“We are not already doing that,” he corrects firmly.
“Oh.” Tetsurou seems to take a few seconds to process something. “Then do you want to get some coffee first before watching a movie? I mean I can probably swing back there for a minute if you want.”
Kei fights off the itch to rub irritatedly at his temple. “That’s not what I meant atall.”
Ever astute, it takes a couple more seconds for Tetsurou to continue with: “So is that a yes or…”
Kei’s long fingers clutch uselessly at the fabric of his jeans. “Yes, okay? I’ll go out with you - coffee, movie, whatever you want, all right?”
“Whoa, no need to get all excited on me.” Despite the remark, it’s Tetsurou that looks absolutely ecstatic. “I’ll meet you here tomorrow at four, ‘kay? Iced latte on me.”
“It’s the middle of winter.”
“It’s always hot when you’re in the room, babe.”
Kei does his best to give the man across him the most venomous glare he can muster.
“Ouch, harsh. I take that back.”
“Good,” Kei mutters in reply before taking hold of his much ignored drink, frowning when he notices that it’s lost most of it’s warmth. Typical. After looking over to find Tetsurou staring at him, he raises an eyebrow. “Don’t you have a class or something?”
That seems to get him to snap out of it. “Shit you’re right, I just came here to get coffee. Hopefully Kazuya’s stick isn’t too far up his ass today.” He gets up, slinging a backpack Kei didn’t notice beforehand around one of his shoulders. “Oh by the way, Tsukki.”
“Don’t call me that, and what?”
“You’re really cute when you don’t know you’re blushing, you know?”
“What? What do you mea—” He cuts himself off at the look of Tetsurou’s own somewhat flustered, yet cocky grin. He buries his face into his palms. “I take it back. I refuse to go out with you.”
(Which is a lie, but Tetsurou knows that and laughs anyway.)