Chapter Text
Beep. Holding the item scanner with his left hand, Tsukishima Kei reached over to grab the next item with his right. He scanned the item, quickly checked the screen to his side to make sure the item went through, and moved the item along to the woman to his side who bagged everything that came her way. He sighed, grateful that the scanner’s mechanical beep was loud enough to distract himself from the terribly cheesy Christmas music that played from the store speakers above them, but annoyed that the better off two evils was still equally grating on his ears.
Beep. He kept silent as he scanned each item, moving as quick as possible to get the customer out of the checkout aisle as fast as he could. There wasn’t a line of people waiting to be helped or anything, he just hated dealing with customers. At least they didn’t have to sit through an awkward silence as he scanned the items; his coworker to his side cheerfully conversed with them about their day or their groceries or whatever she thought was interesting at the moment. Trying to follow her conversations made his head spin.
Beep. He scanned the last item; after making sure everything was correct, he finally met his customer’s eyes. Putting on his best customer service voice–which sounded painfully uninterested–he gave them their final total. The person across from him paid for their groceries and took off, saying a final goodbye to Tsukishima’s partner before leaving. She gave a goodbye back.
Tsukishima deflated, lifting his glasses to rub his eyes. He was nearing the end of his shift, which would be an explanation for his sleepiness if he wasn’t also sleepy when he started his shifts. Tsukishima’s coworker, Yachi Hitoka giggled, prompting a confused look from the blond.
“I don’t know how you’re always so tired,” she joked, giving Tsukishima a smile. “You barely interact with the customers.”
Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “Just having customers is enough to make me tired,” he explained. He quickly took his phone out from his pocket to check the time; 15 more minutes and he would be free to go home and bury himself underneath his blankets to sleep.
Yachi shrugged. “It’s not too bad. Talking with them makes shifts go by so much faster.”
“That sounds fake,” Tsukishima argued.. “Like you’re trying to justify annoying me by talking to customers around me about things no one actually cares about.”
Yachi laughed. “No, what it really sounds like is you trying to pretend that you don’t care when the real reason why you don’t talk to customers is that you can’t.”
Tsukishima raised his brow. He felt himself get worked up at Yachi’s challenge–if it were possible, there’d probably be a stress indicator on his forehead and steam billowing from his ears. Did she just? “You know that’s not true,” Tsukishima replied, trying to sound cool when in actuality he sounded anything but. “I could if I wanted to. I just don’t want to. Why would I want to talk to boring-ass people about boring-ass things?”
“Riiiight…” Yachi agreed, leaning her body on the table. “Because nothing is more boring than talking about obscure music no one listens to. If only someone with taste at your own caliber would grace us with their presence.” She bowed towards her bespectacled coworker, raising her voice to speak in a sarcastically fancy tone. “Pity the commoner who listens only to pop, for their ears must be suffering!”
If Tsukishima hadn’t known Yachi for years now, his normally stone-cold demeanor would’ve cracked–Yachi was known for being a bit of a class clown, which she picked up from spending time with the “meatheads in the volleyball club” all throughout high school and college. But by now, Tsukishima was used to her antics. With a competitive smirk, he raised his own voice to match his coworker’s energy.
“I do concur,” he replied with a bow of his own, holding his imaginary cape out. “It is terribly draining to lower my intellect and listen to what you peasants call ‘music.’ Very painful on the ears.”
Yachi’s eyes widened at Tsukishima’s willingness to play along with her bit and opened her mouth to respond, but before she could come up with something to say, a third voice appeared from behind them, forcing both Yachi and Tsukishima to crash back to reality.
“Am I… Interrupting something?”
Slowly, Tsukishima turned around, his arms still frozen in place. He gave the customer a pained smile, trying to hide his obvious embarrassment. His cheeks grew a dark red as he slowly dropped his arms to grab the groceries off the conveyor belt in front of him. His eyes immediately dropped down to the cash register as he quickly began scanning items.
Yachi didn’t skip a beat, used to being caught in the middle of embarrassing moments. She laughed shrugging a little as she helped Tsukishima bag his items. “You were, but it’s fine,” she responded jokingly. “It’s not like our newly-formed comedy trope needed this time to practice. Speaking of, what did you think?”
The customer in front of the register hummed in thought for a moment. “It’s a good start, I think,” they answered playfully. “But if you fleshed out your characters, you’d have a real funny bit on your hands.” They paused for a moment before adding, “I liked Glasses’ character though. A+ for you.”
Yachi let out an excited noise, hitting Tsukishima’s arm. “Good for you! You passed with flying colors.”
Internally, Tsukishima was dying. He knew that Yachi was absolutely loving this scenario–not only only did she get to talk to a customer like normal, but on top of that, they witnessed Tsukishima doing something incredibly embarrassing. He prayed that the world would swallow him up so he wouldn’t have to live in this moment any longer, and then swallow up the two people next to him so they wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about it.
Yachi and the customer talked a little more, mostly about this comedy trope that Yachi forced Tsukishima to be apart of, while Tsukishima continued to scan the seemingly never-ending amount of snacks, utensils, and drinks. He quickened his pace so that he could finish up this transaction faster.
“Shit,” the customer said after their conversation with Yachi died down. “I think I forgot a few things. Would you mind if I go grab them real quick?”
Yachi nodded. “Of course. Don’t get lost!”
Tsukishima heard footsteps walking away from the register and an enthusiastic “No promises!” before finally looking up again.
“You could have said no,” he finally said, staring at Yachi with a pained expression. She looked back with a huge grin on her face.
“And why would I do that?” She asked. “We were having such a good conversation. And it’s not like there’s a line of people waiting to check out or anything.”
Tsukishima sighed. “Because if you had said no, then they would’ve left and then I could clock out early and die from embarrassment in peace.”
“Aw, don’t do that,” Yachi joked. “The poor customer would’ve been heartbroken.”
Tsukishima looked at her confused. What did they have to do with this? “What do you mean by that?” He asked.
Yachi laughed. “You didn’t notice?” Tsukishima shook his head, still unsure of what she meant. With a sigh, Yachi continued. “So there’s a cute guy right in front of you, basically staring at you with hearts in their eyes, and you had zero clue? I knew you were an idiot but this is a bit much, Tsukki.”
He grimaced at the nickname. He hated when Yachi called him that; thankfully, she only used it when she really wanted to get under his skin, like right now. “I’m not–” He started, before going back a few steps. “I mean, what did you say?”
Yachi shrugged, zipping her lips before pocketing the imaginary key. “If you wanna know, talk to them,” she suggested. “You said you could if you wanted to, right?”
Before Tsukishima could say something back, the customer came back holding two 24-packs of beer. They placed the drinks on the conveyor belt and exhaled. “Your alcohol section is far,” they complained.“I almost needed a map to find it.”
“I’m glad your journey was successful, traveler.” Yachi replied. She ran her hand through her imaginary beard, nodding slowly. “May your spoils be bountiful.”
“Bountiful it will be,” the customer agreed.
As Tsukishima scanned the cases, he couldn’t help but notice the pair of eyes to his side staring daggers at him. He turned to Yachi, who had a stern look on her face. From her gaze alone, he could practically hear her egging him on. Tsukishima sighed, finally looking up at them for the first time this whole transaction.
The first thing he noticed was the hair. Tsukishima had been blond his whole life, so he’d thought about dying it before. But for some reason–maybe the nerves, maybe the fear of change–he never did. The person in front of him rocked the army green color incredibly well.
Looking further down, Tsukishima noticed a black tank top cut short, showing off their stomach. They had a pierced belly button with a gold detail, matching with the gold earrings they wore on top.
And their face. How could Tsukishima not notice that? He caught a glimpse of their smile when they talked to Yachi, but even when they weren't talking, they had an inviting look on their face, completely opposite from the RBF that Yachi loved to tease Tsukishima about. With the freckles and light eye makeup they chose to wear, Tsukishima could tell that they were confident in themself and knew they looked good. Tsukishima obviously agreed.
Yachi’s cough forced Tsukishima out of his thoughts. He stopped staring at the customer in front of him and remembered that he had to actually talk to them now if he didn’t want another thing for Yachi to hold over his head. He looked around for anything to comment on, but thought that complimenting his outfit would be too forward. The rest of the customer’s groceries were already bagged and put away, so that left the extra things they brought.
“Lot of beer,” he said noncommittally, pointing to the cases between them.
The customer looked up, slight surprise on their face that Tsukishima said anything at all. They quickly hid their surprise and shrugged. “Guess so,” they replied cooly.
After a pause, Tsukishima continued. “So, do you like… Drink often, then..?”
The customer stifled their laughter and from behind Tsukishima, he could hear Yachi physically slamming her hand onto her forehead. Tsukishima blushed at the response and tried to come up with a way to backtrack his response, but before he could say anything, the customer continued with a shrug.
“Only on days that end in ‘y,’ of course,” they joked. “Any more and it might become a problem.” He paused, before continuing. “I’m actually throwing a party tonight at my house, so I’m buying drinks and things since my housemates definitely won’t.”
Tsukishima nodded, silently thanking the stranger that they didn’t tease him like Yachi would as soon as they leave. “That makes more sense,” he said. “Sorry.”
The customer did laugh this time, and Tsukishima was stunned at how beautiful their voice sounded. “Don’t be sorry,” they reassured Tsukishima. “I’m sure that you’ve seen more than a few characters working here.”
Tsukishima chuckled. “That we have,” he agreed. “I’ve seen people bring more alcohol and say it was just for them.”
The customer’s eyes widened. “That’s… excessive,” he commented, laughing a little more. This time, Tsukishima couldn't help but laugh along with them. “I hope that’s not a common occurrence.”
“Only at least twice a week,” Tsukishima replied. They smiled at each other from their shared joke, but once Tsukishima passed the beers to Yachi, who bagged them up, Tsukishima remembered that he had a job to do. He finally understood what Yachi said about talking to customers being a good way to pass the time, since it seemed like their transaction lasted only seconds.
“Anyway,” Tsukishima finally said. “Your total is $115.78. Do you need help bringing your groceries?”
The customer nodded, taking out their wallet from their back pocket. They took their debit card and tapped it on the register before putting everything away. “Some help wouldn’t hurt,” they answered. “Don’t think I can take all of it by myself.”
“I can help you then,” Tsukishima said, almost instantaneously. From the corner off his eye, he could see shock on Yachi’s face. He was shocked himself; normally he’d volunteer whoever he was working with to go with the customer because the thought of being with them any longer than the transaction was made his skin crawl.
The customer nodded with a smile. “I’d like that,” they replied. They took most of the bags, leaving the beers for Tsukishima to carry. Yachi moved over to let the bespectacled boy through, patting his back as he walked away. Tsukishima turned around and rolled his eyes at her before leaving the grocery store.
The car wasn’t far from the exit–after all, the parking lot was small. Karasuno’s was in the main town but far enough from the center of it that made it not a less than popular spot to shop at. Tsukishima didn’t mind that one bit. Since they were out of the way for most people, they got significantly less customers than chain grocery stores in the heart of the city would. But if the customers were like the one Tsukishima was helping out right now…
“Thanks for the help,” the customer said after opening the trunk. They placed the bags inside and moved aside so Tsukishima could place his bags inside too. “I’m Yamaguchi, by the way.”
“Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima repeated. “Nice to meet you. I’m Tsukishima.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
They stayed frozen in the empty parking lot for a moment; Tsukishima didn’t want their conversation to end. Perhaps it was because of how kind Yamaguchi was to him. He knew that he only responded with one-liners and half of the things he said were probably awkward to Yamaguchi, but they were nice enough to respond. It felt nice.
“Well, I should probably get back to work,” Tsukishima finally said, slowly walking back to the Karasuno’s entrance. Yamaguchi nodded, but after Tsukishima made it a few steps, they called out for him.
“Wait!” Tsukishima stopped, turning back to Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi quickly walked over to the blond, phone in hand. “If you’re off soon, you should come to our party. I don’t know if it’ll be your vibe, but it’d be nice to see you again.” They handed their phone to Tsukishima, the device on their contacts app. “You can add your number in, I’ll text you the details. No pressure though.”
Tsukishima slowly grabbed the phone and stared at it. His thumbs hovered over the keyboard as he thought about what he should do. Normally, parties were not his thing. Actually, any gathering with more than a select handful off people were not his thing. The only time anyone would catch him at one was if Yachi dragged him along, and even then, he’d stay in a corner and stare at his phone until Yachi was drunk enough to leave without complaining.
It would be completely unheard of for Tsukishima to have any interest in going. Meeting a bunch of people he didn’t know? Hanging out at a stranger’s house? (A hot stranger, Tsukishima thought, but a stranger nonetheless.) It would be completely unlike Tsukishima to agree to go. But eventually, his fingers started moving by itself and he handed back the phone to Yamaguchi with his number in it.
“I’ll go,” he decided.
Yamaguchi smiled before walking back to their car. “Sounds like a plan!” They yelled, opening the door before climbing inside the driver’s seat. “I’ll text you! Later Tsukki!”
Tsukishima waved back, watching the car drive away; it exited the parking lot and turned the corner, getting smaller and smaller until Tsukishima couldn’t see it anymore. Still, he stood alone in the parking lot, absolutely stunned.
“Tsukki…” Tsukishima repeated. Maybe he did like that nickname.