Chapter Text
"So, another long day?" Shadow holding a fresh cup of dark brew loomed over the tired figure sitting in front of a dim laptop screen full of multiple tabs of spreadsheets and poorly scanned documents that barely made any sense.
"Just a regular Tuesday," He grunted, looking up from the screen, only to see an orange haired barista smiling brightly, setting the cup on the tiny table. "Thanks, Kunigami."
"Mind if I sit down?" Barista asked, while sitting down without waiting for an answer from a long haired worker.
"Don't you have work to do." He shot back, without looking up this time.
"Nah, Chigiri, you're currently the only one here and Bachira is doing well."
"The new guy?"
"Yeah, he's a good kid. Quick learner too."
The coffee shop in the name of Brew Tavern was very calm. Despite being located in the busy district of Tokyo, the place was able to avoid the main traffic of people during most of the day. Interior was cozy, with plants covering every empty corner, with a floor to ceiling soft brown coloured bookshelves, filled with all different books and trinkets, most of it being gifts from loyal customers and staff. Inside there were two rooms - the main area with big windows, the counter, five tables with four chairs each and three sets of doors. One led to a small staff closet, another was to access the storage closet where food and other necessities were kept. Another door next to the storage was always locked. Chigiri guessed it was just an entrance to the business next door, but he wasn't sure. And the last door wasn't even a door, but a doorway with a thick curtain and that led to another smaller room. This smaller room with only two tables with one and two chairs each, walls still covered in bookshelves, perfect for long cram sessions or for overworked freelancers with dooming deadlines.
Kunigami was once the perfect candidate for this room, spending hours every day there during the first couple years of university. During the time he became close friends with the owner and the barista who worked there at the time. Due to difficult circumstances, the head and the only barista at the time had to take less hours, later quitting completely and thus Kunigami started working part time there. It was a great deal, owners and regulars loved Kunigami, hours were great, due to low traffic he could continue working on his university work while on the clock. After graduation he decided to not look for work in that field but stay working in his current position full time. At least for now, until he figured some things out.
Three years have passed, his coworkers have come and gone, but he fell in love with this place even more and the diploma, covered in years of blood, sweat and tears is collecting dust deep down in the basement of his family home. If asked, Kunigami could not recall anything positive about his studies, the field was not for him. Although there was one thing he's grateful for.
Chigiri Hyoma.
During the last year of studies, Kunigami went on a 6 month long internship in the Sommy company. During his second month, Kunigami's manager hired a young freelance editor, who happened to be the same age as Kunigami, for the finishing tasks on the years-long project. Even while working on the same project in the same office, their tasks were so different, thus they only spoke during afternoon coffee breaks. The two bantered over awful coffee in the office, and ever since that fateful morning when Kunigami dropped by Chigiri's desk with a cup from his coffee shop, the two became closer with Chigiri becoming a regular even after completing the project he was hired to do.
"Is this the data for the Japanese Football Association?" Kunigami looked at his friend, who was basically chugging his coffee with desperation.
"No, the Blue Lock project is already complete. Mikage Corporation is changing their servers, so old data formatting has to change as well."
"Sounds like a hassle." Kunigami took an already empty cup from Chigiri's hands.
"You tell me," he scoffed, fixing his hair in a loose bun. "Try explaining to these old hags in expensive suits that this transfer isn't a simple copy and paste."
"Had any dinner yet?" Kunigami asked, glancing at his watch. It was only 5:37pm, but the outside was pitch black, it was the middle of December afterall.
"Yeah, I grabbed a salad while you were out with the owner," Chigiri stretched. "Are you clocking out at 7pm?"
"Not today, Bachira was supposed to close, but he had scheduling conflicts so he's clocking out soon and I will close."
"Lucky me." Chigiri smiled softly. This place normally closes at 9pm, but with Kunigami being the one to close, Chigiri can stay for until all closing duties are done and the place is locked up for the night.
"Kunigami!" Bachira's voice was heard from behind the curtain.
"Coming!" Kunigami stood up facing the entrance. "Good luck, Princess."
"Don't call me that." Chigiri shoots back in a playfully angry manner.
"You're ready to go?" Kunigami asked Bachira, who was putting away his apron.
"Yeah, Yoichi will be here any second now," Young barista put on his coat. "So have you asked him out?"
"Asked out who?" Kunigami's face was filled with pure confusion.
"The double shot americano every 4 hours guy who's here every single day," Bachira looked over Kunigami with a slight smirk.
"Oh come on, we're just friends," Orange haired barista tried to shut Bachira down right away, making him laugh instead.
"Yeah, me and Yoichi were also just friends." Bachira continues to laugh while putting his gloves on.
"Isagi is here." Kunigami heard the doors opening and Bachira skipped towards the sound waving goodbye. Young barista has been on his back about this ever since day one and Kunigami couldn't understand why.
Yeah, they have known each other for several years, but it's not that they are that close. Ever since Chigiri left Sommy, they've only been hanging out here, at the Brew Tavern, with conversation topics ranging from coffee to work and that's about it. Also even with slow traffic, Chigiri isn't the only regular, and Kunigami acts the same with them too, so why does Bachira single him out?
Another few hours have passed, Chigiri finished his tasks of the day as Kunigami checked off his closing duties list. The two said their goodbyes and Chigiri walked off towards the train station. Kunigami locked up the place and since his apartment is just 5 minutes away from work, he headed there on foot, going in another direction.
**********
After getting off the train, Chigiri stopped by a convenience store for tomorrow's breakfast and a beer for tonight. Tomorrow there's a meeting with higher ups at Mikage Corporation and he's behind the insane schedule. Chigiri lives in a small one bedroom apartment. It's just a slightly bigger shoe box with a bed taking over more than half the space, but at least he has a kitchen and a window to the city. It's not that far away from Kunigami's workplace but it's not that close either. But hey, the food and drinks there are great and Kunigami gives him his staff discount each time, so it is still worth the trouble. And having a familiar face each day feels nice with his career. No other reason.
After putting away the food and washing himself off, Chigiri put his bright pink hair into a braid, finished the can of beer and dozed off. He loves his job, most of the time it gives him the freedom that working at any company could not provide, but at points like this he would rather do anything else.
**********
That night he could barely get any sleep and on top of that, the meeting went just as well as expected. The only thing that saved his situation was Chigiri's delicate work that impressed the managers, only due to that he didn't get fired right on the spot and was given a short extension. A very short one, but an extension nonetheless. He was out before lunch and thought to head home for a nap but somehow on an autopilot Chigiri found himself in front of the iced windows of his favorite spot.
"Morning!" Bright Bachira's voice greeted Chigiri. "Double shot americano for here?"
"Yes," Chigiri closed the door behind him and stepped towards the counter. "And one chocolate chip cookie, please."
"Coming right up!" Bachira started making the coffee. "Oh, and Kunigami had a family emergency, so he's coming later today."
"I see, thanks." Mumbled Chigiri as he walked towards his regular seat.
Morning rush, if you could even call it a rush, was over but it's too early for lunch, so besides Chigiri and Bachira behind the counter, there was only one person, Bachira's boyfriend Isagi, a university student who's morning class got canceled at the last minute. Before Chigiri got here, Isagi was talking with Bachira about the course they take together.
"Say, is this the guy you were talking about yesterday?" Isagi said once Chigiri left the main floor.
"Yeah! Double shot americano every 4 hours guy who comes here every day."
"Huh, so what are they, lovers?'
"Worse, those two are idiots!" Bachira nearly screamed before stopping himself at the very last moment so Chigiri wouldn’t hear him. "You have to see the two interact, you need to see the way Kunigami acts around him."
"Maybe you're wrong, Meguru," Isagi earned himself an angry look from Bachira who finished setting up the order. "Maybe they are just friends. After all, you met them not that long ago."
"You have to see it yourself, it's suffocating." Said a young barista heading to the other room.
Two or three hours had passed, Chigiri continued working on his data and Kunigami was nowhere to be found. "Odd." Chigiri thought to himself. It's not that he didn't work when Kunigami wasn't here, it was fine back then, so why does it feel wrong now? Maybe it’s because he slept wrong, that definitely has to be it. Chigiri thought about taking a nap on his table but that's probably against cafés policy and would definitely inconvenience everyone else. That won't work. He quickly googled the nearest capsule hotel but to Chigiri's disappointment, it was under construction. That won't work either.
Thus Chigiri decided to get another cup of coffee, hoping this would clear his mind. It's lunch time now, so there are a few more people there, most just coming in for a to-go drink, a handful are sitting inside wanting to warm up.
As he finished ordering at the counter, the doors opened, wind breezed through Chigiri's back and he snuggled harder into the pink cardigan he picked up in a rush this morning. It's warm and soft and definitely doesn't help with staying awake.
"Oh hi, Chigiri, you're here already!" A soft familiar voice called on the guy who had just picked up his cup, "Mom's car froze up, so I had to run some errands for her and then pick this little one from school.
"Hi.." a girl who could not be older than 12 smiled shily, her cheeks were frosted pink. She looked just like her brother. Chigiri remembered one time the two talked about their sisters once, but he didn't remember any more of that.
"My older sister lives closer to home, so she'll pick her up soon," Kunigami said, helping the girl to take off her coat and putting it away in the staff closet. "Chigiri, do you mind if she sits at the table next to you?"
"Sure, why not." Chigiri shrugs, without putting any thought into this.
"People are coming in and out, I don't want to risk her getting a cold, or else mom would kill me," Kunigami laughs softly, unexpectedly making Chigiri feel much more at peace. "Don't worry, she won't bother you, right?"
“No, I won't!" Now much more confidently said the little girl.
And thus, the two left Kunigami taking over some of Bachira's workload and sat down at their own separate tables. Chigiri went back to his neverending spreadsheets and the little girl took out some books and other things presumably for homework, but Chigiri didn't care to look.
Another few hours goes by, the café emptied out again. The two sat in silence doing their own things without bothering each other until a spiky orange head peaked out the curtain carrying 3 boxes of something smelling very good. That smell reminded Chigiri about the passage of time.
"Bachira just came back from his break. He said he saw this new place open up nearby recently and brought us something to try out," Kunigami said and put two of the boxes on each table, keeping one for himself, sat next to Chigiri and turned to his little sister. "She will show up at any moment, so eat fast."
"Thanks." Chigiri said while moving his laptop out of the way.
"Bachira mentioned you've been here for a while," Kunigami continued. "How did the meeting with old hags in fancy suits go?"
"I'm still employed," Chigiri laughed, his voice felt heavy and Kunigami noticed that right away. "Other than that, everything went as expected."
"You look tired." Kunigami's voice became filled with worry.
"Isn't that how I always look?" He tried to smile, but the weight has been crushing Chigiri from the inside.
"Dig in, it's getting cold." The worry in the barista's voice was still there, but questioning his friend more would only prevent him from eating.
The group ate their lunch, Kunigami's older sister came to pick their youngest one soon after but before the two could leave, little one whispered something into her brother's ear while handing him a small bag. Then said goodbye to everyone and the place became silent again.
"Little one liked you, you know," Said Kunigami, when he sat back down next to Chigiri who was already neck deep in his work tasks.
"Oh really?" Questioned Chigiri, not looking up.
"Yeah, she said your eyes were pretty, so she made this," Kunigami pulled out a bracelet out of the little bag he was given, it was made from plastic beads that were in the shade of Chigiri's deep pink eyes.
"She made that while being here? I didn't even notice."
"She did," continued Kunigami, pulling out another bracelet made from the same beads, just this time they were orange, just like Kunigami's eyes. "She even made one for me so I wouldn't feel left out."
"How thoughtful," Chigiri smiled. "What are you planning to do with these?"
"Well, one belongs to you and the other one belongs to me," Kunigami shrugged awkwardly. "You know, I thought maybe it would be fun if we exchanged them?"
"What? Are we five?" Chigiri laughed, making Kunigami feel embarrassed by his own suggestion. "Also, you don't even like pink, what would you do with this?"
"If you don't want to, we don't have to do that." Kunigami felt his face turning red. Lucky for him, Chigiri did not notice that, or at least he hoped he didn't.
"No, that could be quite fun, pass me the orange one!" Chigiri extended his hand forward.
"Here," He dropped the bracelet into his friend's palm, receiving a grateful nod. "No, but for real, man, you look drained, have you gotten any sleep last night?
"Not really, to be honest," Chigiri put the orange bracelet into his bag and scratched the back of his head as he yawned. "A lot has been going on and one couple in the apartment building were fighting, you know.. thin walls..."
"Why didn't you go home after the meeting?" Concern grew in Kunigami's face once again.
"I wanted to but somehow ended up here," Chigiri just shrugged. "It didn't make that much sense to go back then."
"I'd say you should go home now, but you obviously won't make it."
"Don't look at me like that, I'm fine," Chigiri sounded defensive. "I can take care of myself."
"Still, you should rest up," Kunigami said as he stood up, making Chigiri look up at him. "We have a staffroom, it's small, but it should work."
"No need," Chigiri firmly refused. "Plus, I would just get in the way."
"It's fine, we don't use it anyway." Kunigami held firmly.
"Ugh, fine." Chigiri begrudgingly agreed but inside he was delighted by this suggestion.
"Good, pack up, I will let Bachira know." Kunigami went off, leaving his friend alone.
As soon as Kunigami left, Chigiri's head felt 10 times heavier, he couldn't do anything but put it on his keyboard, most definitely deleting something very important. But that's a problem for another time. The current issue here is much more prominent.
To put it very short, Chigiri loves Kunigami. He has loved him for a while. Since when? He couldn't tell. Was it when he brought Chigiri that coffee on a gloomy morning in the office? Or was it all the nights Kunigami purposely took longer to close? Or maybe it's just how well Chigiri is treated by him on a daily basis. None of it mattered, he simply loves Kunigami. That was enough of a realization and that didn't impact the way their friendship worked up until now. But for some reason this feels so wrong and he couldn't put that into words. Maybe it’s the stress from work or seeing all the couples during the colder season or simply Chigiri pushing the feelings deep inside himself until it was too late, but none of it really mattered.
“I set up the makeshift bed, if you could call that bed.” Kunigami laughed as he held the staff room door open for Chigiri.
“Thanks.” Chigiri dropped his stuff in the corner.
Kunigami didn't lie, the place was tiny. It looked like no one had used it in years, there were a couple of broken chairs, looking like the ones in the main café floor and several unlabeled boxes. The makeshift bed was an old bean bag covered in a handful of blankets and pillows that Chigiri also recognised seeing in the café.
“Get comfy, Princess.” Kunigami smiled.
“Shut up,” Chigiri was too tired to react otherwise. “Also, question-”
“Shoot.” Barista looks down on Chigiri who has just layed down.
“Why don't you use this space?”
“Well,” Kunigami ponders. “We only have two employees, before Bachira it was just me for the last few months. Even now, soon there will only be one of us here at the time, so we have our breaks either outside or on the main floor and–”
Chigiri fell asleep before Kunigami could finish. Kunigami continued to speak for a while before noticing he was left all alone.
And then a wave of regret suddenly hit. Why did he suggest the bracelet exchange? He didn't have alternative motives, but now he sees why anyone would be weirded out but that. Especially since the two are just friends and even then not that close friends.
But then again, it's just a bracelet. Chigiri is very attractive, anyone can see that, Kunigami is not an exception. Chigiri is a hard working person. He is also simply gorgeous, the way he puts effort into styling his hair each day, whether it's for meetings or for a full day at the computer. The way his eyes shimmer once he smiles- oh, his smile. It's the smile that makes the world turn. And his laugh? Each time Chigiri laughs, Kunigami's heart starts racing uncontrollably. But then that's Chigiri, it would be odd not to feel like that around him, right? Even now, Chigiri looks like an angel sleeping. Maybe angels do have pink hair?
Quickly Kunigami's thoughts were interrupted by Bachira's head peeking out the doorway. There was an issue with their coffee maker and Kunigami was the one skilled enough to fix it. Kunigami turned off the light and closed the door behind him, leaving Chigiri alone.
**********
Chigiri woke up in the dark room. As he sat up, for the moment he couldn't remember how he got there. But once he did, he fell back down and covered his face with the pillow in a mixture of anger, embarrassment and confusion. This is wrong.
As he tried to stand up and gather his things and find the lightswitch, Chigiri accidentally kicked his own bag over and heard the soft drop and sliding sound of something small and made out of plastic. Once he managed to turn on the lights without dropping anything else, he noticed light reflecting an orange ray from the floor, it was the bracelet from earlier today.
"Ugh, why did I make it awkward?" Chigiri expressed, being annoyed at himself. He was caught off guard, but was that reaction necessary? Kunigami was obviously joking around. Who would take any of this seriously, it was just a bracelet. And now he's here, in the staff room. Phew, great.
Chigiri gathered all his things, put on the winter coat and was ready to leave. He's still at Kunigami's workplace and seeing him now would just be too awkward. Luckily, the main floor was empty, and he was able to leave silently and without dragging any attention to himself.
Everything about this situation felt odd and wrong and he just wanted to go home.
It was late, both the train station and his train were empty. As he sat down, Chigiri held onto the bracelet tightly, trying to understand the situation and think of options on how to move on from this until his phone rang.
"Hello?"