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Thoma walks up to the coffee shop he always goes to, as it's close to the highschool dorms. One of the students that worked there was his friend Ayaka, for her family owned the store.
The highschooler looks up at the blue sign labeled ‘Kaffee’, the Kamisato’s last name is, well, Kamisato and they’re selling coffee so they wanted to make it mix the product and the name and they ended up with Kaffee (it’s still pronounced like coffee though). Thoma chuckles to himself as one of his favorite songs, Sweater Weather, begins to play through the single air pod in his ear as he lost the other and was too poor to get new ones. Thoma enters the door, a cute bell chimes.
“Hey Ayaka,” He greets, closing the door carefully behind him.
“I think you pronounced my name wrong,” An unfamiliar voice said after a brief second of silence.
Thoma focuses his attention on a handsome man at the desk. The man has light blue hair, long lashes, a beauty mark beneath his mouth and pretty blue eyes.
“H-hi,” Thoma stuttered out, suddenly nervous.
Ayato stands behind the counter at the end of the shop, wearing a boba-themed apron with the shop’s logo hand-embroidered on the breast pocket. He looks at Thoma with a small smile, similar to Ayaka’s, but his was more reassuring compared to his sister’s usual wider, familiar smile. Thoma finds himself trying to look away from the man so he doesn’t embarrass himself by staring at him for too long.
“Well you certainly changed your tone. I’m Ayato, Ayaka’s brother,” The man says, and Thoma shivers at how calming his voice is.
“I’m-” Thoma starts.
“Thoma, yes, my sister has told me a great many things about you,” Ayato says, and Thoma doesn't know what to do with himself around that soft voice.
Thoma can’t respond so he gives a forced chuckle and he starts walking towards the counter, glancing at the dust bunnies occupying a corner of the room to distract himself and the heat creeping up his neck.
“Ah, sorry for the dirtiness, me and my sister are always too busy to sweep in the mornings and afternoons,” Ayato explains.
Okay Thoma, you have to respond like a normal person this time.
“Oh no, it’s fine!” Thoma says, glancing up at Ayato fleetingly.
That wasn’t so bad, but it could be better…
“I- uhm, could actually clean the shop for you, if needed,” Thoma offers, nodding in the direction of the dust-bunny-filled corner.
“Oh? That would be pleasant, but let’s get your order first,” Ayato says.
“I’ll just take a small bancha green tea, please,” Thoma says quickly.
“Okay, one small bancha green tea coming right up… Unless you would like two for another,” Ayato says.
“J-just one,” Thoma stutters.
As Ayato types in the order, Thoma glances around the shop, mind filling with thoughts on how to clean the dirty areas in the corners, how to sweep the dust bunnies, how to wipe the tables. Another song comes to his ears. It was a calming, instrumental song by the name of Devotion of the Keeper.
“How much Windex do you, uhm, have?” Thoma asks.
“I’m not sure, but if you do take the job, we’ll provide the supplies for cleaning,” Ayato says.
Ayato makes the tea quite quickly, and when it's handed to him, he almost drops it at how their fingers brush against each other. It feels like it was intentional as his fingers linger on Thoma’s.
“How much would I pay you each time you come in to clean?” Ayato asks, glancing at the other’s hands with a knowing smirk.
I once made 5000 mora to clean for an old lady, maybe that’s a good price.
“U-uh, 5000 mora?” Thoma offers, staring down at where Ayato touched him.
“7000 it is, welcome to the Kaffee staff,” Ayato says with a charming smile.
Ayato hands an apron to the confused Thoma, almost identical to Ayato’s aside from the tomato designs laid across it.
“Tomatoes?” Thoma asks.
“It’s the only available apron, unless you have one at home,” Ayato says.
Thoma doesn’t know how to react to that, so he just gives an awkward smile and backs away a few steps.
“Are you normally this nervous around new people?” Ayato asks.
Shit.
“I-I don’t know, probably?” Thoma is unsure of himself.
“Hm,” Ayato tilts his head at the other, as if curious and interested.
“Well, umm, here’s your money,” Thoma changes the subject.
Ayato takes the money from Thomas' hand with a slight smirk, touching his hand for a second longer than needed. Thoma is quick to turn to leave with his tea, trying to avoid embarrassing himself even further.
“You start at 8:00 AM tomorrow, either Ayaka or I will be waiting and we’ll discuss cleaning supplies,” Ayato calls.
“O-ok!” Thoma says, successfully exiting the shop. Mission accomplished. Ish.
“I need to be able to control my words,” Thoma mutters to himself, taking a sip of his warm tea.
The next morning, Thoma woke up at 7:30 AM with 25 minutes to get ready and 5 minutes to walk to the shop for his new job. Thoma didn’t take much time to get ready, he showered last night before bed and it only took around 3 minutes to walk to the shop.
Please be here Ayaka, please be here Ayaka.
Thoma really didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of the male Kamisato, so he hoped for Ayaka to be at the counter, but when he neared the shop, he saw the same man he saw yesterday talking to a customer. He looked content with his conversation, handing a plastic Kaffee cup to the customer with a brilliant smirk.
Thoma must have been staring for too long, for Ayato looked outside the shop and saw him, a smile replaced the smirk and he waved. Thoma stood there for an awkward second, then waved back, finally moving his feet towards the door.
“Thoma, you’re a minute late,” Ayato says.
A minute late? Did I stare at him for three minutes!?
Thoma glances to where Ayato was looking, a dusty clock that looked ancient in the shop with modern posters and new machines.
“Th-that might be the first thing we need to replace,” Thoma tries to joke.
“Well certainly, I’ve had to climb up there to change its batteries at least three times this month,” Ayato says.
“Well, uhm, where should I start?” Thoma asks, glancing down at the dust bunnies on the floor.
“Hmm, I’d say tables, then floors, then windows,” Ayato says.
“Okay, where’s your broom?” Thoma asks.
“Over here in the closet,” Ayato begins to walk over to a closet against a wall.
Thoma moves over and grabs a simple black broom. With the familiar object in his hand, he let out a smile, not at all remembering that his newest crush was right beside him.
“Are you going to clean or hug that broom for-” Ayato starts, Thoma tenses up.
“AH, umm, I’ll start cleaning,” Thoma says.
Around 40 minutes passed and the floor and most tables were done, he was very thorough with his cleaning.
Thoma approaches the counter to submit his hours for the day. After waiting behind a customer, Thoma finally reached Ayato. The moment Thoma came out from behind the previous customer, Ayato smiled a warm, sincere smile and leaned against the counter in a casual way that sent Thoma’s heart to Snezhnaya and back.
“Thank you, you will get your mora after cleaning in the afternoon,” Ayato nods after accepting Thoma’s hours and writing them down onto a notepad.
“O-okay,” Thoma says, “Can I also get a coffee?”
“Of course,” Ayato stands back up from his casual leaning and looked ready to accept an order.
A few seconds of silence passed, in which Thoma was transfixed with the cashier’s eyes.
“I think the next thing you’re supposed to do is order your drink,” Ayato jokes. “Or are you too shy to even do that?”
Thoma only just then realized he’s been completely blanking on reality.
“R-right! Sorry!”
Ayato finds himself amused at Thoma’s nervous energy. What an interesting guy.
Thoma sits down at a random table and takes out a computer from his backpack after he manages to get his coffee from the elder Kamisato. He starts working on an assignment for his AP Japanese 12 class, sipping his freshly-made Kaffee coffee.
After an hour passes, an alarm goes off.
“Time to go to class…” Thoma sighs to himself.
The boy packs up and begins to exit the coffee shop, but the mission to leave was unsuccessful with a single tap on his shoulder. Thoma turns to see who tapped him.
“Ah, M-Mister Ayato, do you need anything?” Thoma asks quickly, hoping to leave the conversation so he can get to class on time and totally not anything else.
“I’d just like to inform you that I’ve taken Ayaka’s shifts at the counter. I previously had the job in the kitchen while Ayaka was managing the customers, but we’ve switched due to… reasons,” Ayato says, voice hinting at mischief.
“Oh, ok, well, umm… Bye,” Thoma stutters out, speed-walking towards the door.
Thoma did indeed make it to class on time, but that is not the important part. The important part is the fact that Thoma has to deal with Ayato’s weird half-flirting while trying to clean, study, and finish up schoolwork in the afternoon as well. It is quite annoying for Thoma. But he likes it.
After school, Thoma walks to work, and during his shift he gets quite distracted, was a stuttering and blushing mess whenever Ayato spoke to him, but he made it past his afternoon adventure successfully.
Nevertheless, with all the distraction, Thoma still studies in the shop after cleaning in the morning just to glance at the blue-haired male looking at his phone or talking to Ayaka if she came out of the kitchen- which she normally did not do as it was the perfect place to be alone and be on your phone with literally no distractions (aside from orders from customers).
Ayato was quite a nice person- Thoma would admit that. But… He’s one big heartthrob that would only cause a heartbreak. Then again, there the two were, workers at the same shop, sitting across from each other on the slightly comfortable chairs provided for a seat.
“Here you go Thoma, your paycheck of the week,” Ayato hands a check to the other, fingers brushing against Thoma’s for longer than usual.
“Y-you know, I feel like you’ve been touching my hand for a little longer than needed,” Thoma says, dropping the check in his backpack while avoiding Ayato’s gaze.
“Oh? Have I? It might be part of the fact that your hands are ridiculously soft,” Ayato smirks.
“Wha- if you wanted to hold my hand, you could’ve just asked,” Thoma blurts the first thought on his mind, blushing profoundly.
Hopefully he’ll leave me alone after this, I don’t want my feelings to keep growing. He’s straight after all.
“Well then,” Ayato’s voice interrupts Thoma’s thoughts.
Ayato lifted his hands to gesture to give him something.
“You offered for me to hold your hand, and yet you hide them? Is this some sort of teasing?” Ayato jokes.
That did not go according to plan.
Thoma knew by now that his blush had spread to his toes and there was no hiding it, so he takes a leap of faith and reaches over their shared table to hold the other’s hand.
Ayato knows exactly what he’s doing, and leans his forearm on the table so he’s closer to Thoma’s face. He tilts his head a little bit and examines Thoma’s shining green eyes. With his free hand, he reaches up to his own cheek and leans on his palm, eyes still locked on Thoma. Meanwhile, Thoma is stuck in between getting lost in Ayato’s eyes and full out panicking.
Thoma takes a deep, very necessary breath, his voice shuddering slightly. Holy shit this guy’s hot, and must be a professional flirter. Somehow, he renders him a completely flustered nervous wreck. Thoma, around his classmates and friends, is usually quite upbeat… but around Ayaka’s brother… and this guy isn’t even gay! How is he doing this to him? Thoma tries to calm himself down further, but he can’t.
“I’d better leave you to yourself, then,” Ayato finally breaks the silence. “I’m sure you must get back to your dorm.”
“Yeah,” Thoma breathes, almost not wanting to leave.
Before standing up to depart, Ayato rubs his thumb gently over Thoma’s hand. He smiles, lets go, stands, and heads towards the counter with his back turned to the student. In the short time Ayato is facing away, Thoma puts his head in his hands and tries to stifle a high-pitched noise so the other man can’t hear his squealing.
Frick no, stop, he’s gonna see you dying in a second, Thoma quickly turns towards the door, gripping the strap of his backpack.
“B-bye,” Thoma says quickly, darting outside before the flirt could muster a response.
“So… What was that?” Ayaka asks, coming out of the kitchen.
“I was simply holding his hand,” Ayato replies with a sly grin.
“If you break his heart, I will kill you,” Ayaka threatens.
“Oh don’t you worry, I find him quite attractive, he’s cute, and easily flustered. Quite the catch,” Ayato explains.
“Is he your type then?” Ayaka asks, all seriousness gone now that they were talking about crushes.
“Yes,” was the reply.
“I’m guessing you don’t want me to tell him about that?” Ayaka asks with a snicker and a smirk.
“No, but did he say anything about liking me? You two speak to each other a lot at school,” Ayato asks.
“Oh no, he’s not only talking about you, but he’s also freaking out. He even had a few meltdowns where I had to bring ice cream,” Ayaka is amused.
“I guess I have my chances, then,” Ayato smirks, not even noticing the customer entering the shop.
“Ayato, customer,” Ayaka reminds, walking towards the kitchen with a nod toward the door.
…
It’s fine that you were too late to work in the morning, you still made it to class. You literally just overslept, you totally weren’t questioning life. Thoma tries to encourage himself throughout the day. He’s already attended three classes, he is onto his fourth and last now.
Is that… Ayato? I’ve never seen him here before... He must be a senior.
Indeed it is Ayato, talking amongst all the popular Inazuman kids with a confident smirk. In seconds, most of the group was laughing along with the one who produced the joke.
Are they talking about me? I sure hope not. Ugh. Now I have another thing to keep me up at night. :(
Thoma groans as he passes the group with a quick step, he hunches his shoulders to try and be smaller as he tries to avoid eye contact with the group of people that never recognises him other than an ordinary student and hopefully still would avoid him.
“Hey, Thoma!” A sweet, smooth, relaxing and familiar voice calls. Just the voice he didn’t want to hear.
Shit.
“H-hi..?” Thoma questions awkwardly.
“Is this the boy you were talking about?” A purple haired girl asks.
“Let’s not go into that, but this is my good friend Thoma,” Ayato wraps an arm around the hunched-over boy. “That’s the Raiden Shogun, Yae Miko, Ayaka- your bestie, Yoimiya, Kujou Sara, Kokomi and Gorou. Oh! And Itto, we don’t know why he’s here.”
“So, Thoma,” one of the girls, Kokomi, starts, “are you dating Ayato?”
“E-eh?” Thoma instantly flushes red.
“What would the ship name be again?” Yoimiya asks Ayaka.
“Either Ayatoma or Thomato, we agreed on Ayathoma last time, right?” Ayaka says.
“Well the Thomato one would surely fit Thoma’s face right now,” The energetic girl giggles.
“So now we talk about ships when it’s about me, hm?” Ayato starts with a smirk, and Ayaka looks at him with wide eyes.
“Don’t you dare-” Ayaka starts.
“Ayaka went on a date with Lumine last weekend,” Ayato exposes.
“HEY!” Ayaka complains.
“OoooOOOooo~” Most of the group oooo’s.
In the oooooing, Thoma tries to leave the area, but Ayato’s arm keeps a grip on him so he can’t escape. Even if the arm wasn’t there, the lingering feeling of Ayato touching him would most likely leave him unable to function.
…
Throughout the next month, Thoma had been brutally teased by the Inazumans and his own friends, where they just happened to pass by on the incident of being shipped. His own friend group were of mostly Liyueans, who basically adopted Thoma when they found out he only had one friend. But they were kind, because it was a complete friend group.
The group went as such:
The friends being shipped: Xingqiu and Chongyun
The friends shipping: Xiangling, Yun Jin, Xinyan
The one grumpy one that everyone questions why he’s still there: Diluc
Xiangling was Thoma’s second closest friend (Ayaka being his closest friend), the two had something in common: Cooking. Cooking was a major part of Xiangling’s life, she knew everything, strived to be a chef and sold meals at lunch for mora, even if the lunch people would yell at her. Thoma, meanwhile, spent a lot of time cooking for himself and was taking a cooking class alongside Xiangling.
“So! Thoma, you’ve been really blushy when leaving school lately,” Xiangling observes.
“H-have I?” Thoma asks, unsuccessfully keeping his stuttering to a minimum.
“Well duh,” Xinyan says, “do ya have a new hallway crush or somethin’?”
“No, of course I don’t!” Thoma opposes.
“Mhm,” Yun jin says sarcastically.
“Finally, we won’t be the only ones shipped,” Chongyun sighs in relief.
“Yeah, I feel like we avoided the fact that Xinyan and Yun jin totally have the hots for each other,” Xingqiu complains, standing in a very gay way while reading a book.
“What are you talking about? We are merely friends,” Yun jin says with an innocent smile.
“I’m sure you’re only not blushing because of all the acting in theater you’ve done,” Thoma says, glad that the conversation was avoided by another ship.
…
The next day, Thoma arrives a little late to his afternoon shift, but Ayato doesn’t seem to mind. However, he still wants to know what his employee was up to.
“I was just shopping,” Thoma reasons when Ayato asks.
“For what?” Ayato questions, walking over to Thoma from where he stood behind the counter.
“Um,” Thoma blanks for a second, unable to keep his eyes off the nearing Ayato.
“Um?” Ayato questions, somehow making it sound sexy.
“Airpods,” Thoma lifts a small, white, rounded container from his pocket.
“You’re a music person?” Ayato smirks.
“...Yeah,” Thoma distracts himself by tying his tomato-themed apron around his waist.
Thoma then opens his new airpods and takes one out, bringing it up to his ear. Trying to avoid Ayato’s gaze, which is still aimed at him, he then lifts the other pod to his other ear, but he is stopped halfway.
Ayato’s soft hand gently takes the other airpod from Thoma’s hand. Thoma watches as the blue haired man places it into his own ear. There’s a moment of silence.
“Go ahead,” Ayato gestures to Thoma’s phone.
Thoma hesitantly takes the phone out of his pocket and opens up his Spotify playlist. He was about to start it when he realizes he has embarrassing songs on there, so he tries to find something he thinks Ayato would like.
After panicking and literally sweating over trying to find a good tune, Ayato insists he should just play his regular music.
“You wouldn’t like it,” Thoma insists.
“If you like it, I’m sure I’ll love it,” Ayato winks, then turns toward the door as a customer walks in.
Shivering as he recalls the feeling of Ayato’s hands on his from a few moments ago, Thoma hits the play button.
Throughout the rest of the afternoon, the two listen to Thoma’s playlist. It’s all over the place. Mixes of 80’s rock all the way to a few K-pop Ayaka added to his playlist without his permission, and yet… Ayato seems to enjoy each and every one.
When the close sign is hung up and Thoma is just finishing polishing the counter, Ayato surprises the other by humming along to Late Night Talking by Harry Styles.
“...wish I was around, I just wanna make you happier baby…” Ayato sang in a quiet, pleasant, soft way.
Thoma gets flustered and tries to ignore Ayato, who stands across the counter from him, sorting through today’s tip jar. His face is half hidden by the cash register, but Thoma can imagine Ayato absentmindedly singing, and it sends butterflies through his chest.
“Now you’re in my life, I can’t get you off my mind,” Ayato continues, his voice still barely above a hum.
While singing, Ayato glances over the cash register at Thoma, who was watching him sing. The two stare at each other for a few seconds.
Maybe those lyrics were accurate to Thoma’s reality.
…
Unfortunately, throughout a month of school after his first day at work with Ayato, Thoma is teased and pestered often about Ayato and his relationship;
“Hey Thoma!” A voice called.
Thoma turned to see who it was. It was Yae Miko with Xingqiu.
“Bye!” Thoma shouts, quickly trying to escape the two authors.
“Oh no you don’t,” Xingqiu says, grabbing the handle on Thoma’s backpack, halting his stride.
“Tell me about your relationship with Ayato,” Yae Miko interviews, notepad in hand.
“Why, exactly?” Thoma asks, his face already feeling hot.
“We’re doing an interview, obviously,” Xingqiu says like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“But, why?” Thoma asks.
“Because we ship him with you so we need details, bish,” Xingqiu sasses.
“What..?” Thoma was surprised, his ears tinted red.
“Heh, cute,” Yae teases, “Xingqiu, we’re writing a fanfic on this.”
“Yes ma’am,” Xingqiu salutes and scribbles on his own notebook.
“Why did you guys have to team up?” Thoma complains.
“Because you’re basically already dating Ayato,” Xingqiu says, still taking notes.
“We aren’t, though,” Thoma informs, his blush spreading.
“Well you are now,” Xingqiu says, closing his notebook.
“B-but we aren’t even dating!” Thoma protests desperately.
“Aww, he’s so lovestruck,” Yae Miko coos.
“No, I’m not!”
…
“How’s your boyfriend, doin'?” A classmate asks Thoma before class.
“What boyfriend?” Thoma says.
“Ayato, obviously, unless you’re cheating on him,” The classmate gasps.
“He’s not my boyfriend!” Thoma instantly turns red but tries to focus on his classwork.
…
After three months of getting used to his job, Thoma gets into the hang of things. It’s routine to head to the café early, work until finished, try desperately to avoid and (if possible) hide his blush from Ayato, study there until school starts, and then leave for school.
Today, Thoma can’t help but wake up earlier than his alarm. The past few days had shown an increase in teasing about him and Ayato, even though Thoma saw the other at school basically never.
He’s been trying to figure out why exactly everyone’s been teasing him about dating the Kamisato for a while now. In an attempt to distract himself from the constant anxiety surrounding the rumor mill, Thoma heads out for a walk and finds himself arriving early to work.
“Thoma, you’re a little early for work,” Ayato notes, glancing at his watch, “come here for something other than your job?”
“S-stop suggesting things like that!” Thoma huffs, face already flushed red, “I just wanted to study for an extra 10 minutes, the vibe here i-is better than my dorm, and my roomie’s an idiot.”
“Ah, I see,” Ayato says.
“It seems like the dust bunnies really like that corner,” Thoma notices, glancing at one of the corners in the shop, trying to change the subject.
“It also seems that the Kamisatos really like Thoma,” Ayato says, somehow managing to bring the topic back around while breaking Thoma’s brain simultaneously.
“I-I’ve already got enough teasing at school, can you please stop?” Thoma asks, gripping his trusty broom as support.
“At school, you say?” Ayato raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah, Xingqiu and Yae Miko even came up to interview me for a fanfic… multiple times…” Thoma explains, turning a little redder than he already was.
Thoma starts brushing the floor with his broom, pausing to think.
“Can I ask you something?” Thoma asks.
“Of course,” Ayato leans onto the cashier counter, staring into Thoma’s eyes in an engaging fashion.
Thoma looks up at Ayato to make a conversation, but when seeing the other’s stare, he turns red and flustered at the intensity.
“Why is everyone teasing me about us dating?” Thoma asks, nervous for the answer as Ayato chuckles.
“I told my friends how you and I work together late at night. Ayaka took it to gossip town and it turned out as ‘Ayato and Thoma make out after dark alone in a coffee shop’,” Ayato replies as if it was a casual, normal thing.
“That’s ridiculous,” Thoma manages.
“Is it?” Ayato asks.
Thoma blushes more and turns around, hiding his face and sweeping the same floor tile he’s been sweeping over for at least five minutes.
Ayato chuckles, but Thoma pretends not to hear.
As Ayato begins readying the shop for the day, he starts humming to himself. Thoma can’t help but think it’s endearing. Then, with a pause to listen, Thoma realized what song Ayato was humming.
Sweater Weather. A romantic song basically about making out… also happens to be the song Thoma was listening to when he entered Kaffee on the fateful day Ayato greeted him instead of his sister.
Thoma forces his blush to go away (he thought he did, anyway. Really, as Ayato glanced at Thoma for the 100th time, it could be observed that he was as red as communism) and tries to distract himself by continuing his sweeping of the same tile as before.
Suddenly, Thoma felt a pressure on his left shoulder. The one and only Kamisato Ayato is leaning on Thoma’s shoulder by support of his own right arm. Thoma, surprised by this sudden action, flinches and lets out a small yelp in surprise.
“I’m pretty sure you’ve already swept there,” Ayato uses his free hand to casually point at the tile Thoma’d been sweeping.
Thoma can’t respond. He opens and closes his mouth in an attempt to speak. His throat’s gone dry and, even in the colder atmosphere of autumn, he feels like the room’s boiling.
“You’re quite cute, you know,” Ayato chuckles, tilting his head closer to Thoma’s.
Thoma.exe has stopped working.
“I can help you learn how to sweep again, it seems you’ve forgotten,” Ayato gently laces his hands over Thoma’s, now standing behind the shorter.
Ayato, basically hugging Thoma from behind, leans forward so that his head is poking over Thoma’s shoulder. Thoma can feel Ayato’s breath on his neck when the other breathes.
Ayaka chuckles from behind the door to the kitchens, holding out her phone through the crack between the door and wall. She takes a few pictures and then retreats into her dark layer of the kitchen, where more giggling can be heard as she displays it to her friend group, who’d been trying to teach Raiden how to cook in the mornings for a while now.
“Instagram, success,” Yoimiya smirks, posting Ayaka’s evidence on her Insta.
“Got Facebook, Twitter, and all the other old people apps,” Lumine contributes.
“TikTok, already twenty likes,” Ayaka adds. “Make sure you all added the caption: The rumors are true! New official couple.”
“Gotcha,” Yae confirms. “I put it on Reddit, my Discord server, and texted the whole school groupchat.”
“Wait, but Thoma and Ayato are in that chat?” Ayaka glances at Yae’s phone.
“Exactly,” Yae snickers.
…
“Hey, hey, THOMA!” A manly voice shouts.
“Ugh.. Itto, I already told you to not wake me up to show me another beetle of yours…” Thoma grumbles, hugging his pillow tighter.
“You gotta wake up man! You’re late for work!” Itto exclaims.
“Wait- what?” Thoma shoots out of bed. “I’m late?”
“Yeah man, but not only that-” Itto starts, voice still as loud as usual.
“Don’t tell me. I’m fired?” Thoma sighs, slumping onto his bed while rubbing his eyes.
“Naw man, it’s that people have been textings you for like- five hours!” Itto says, “my impressive, manly ears can’t handle the repeating sound!”
Thoma sighs in relief at the fact that he wasn’t fired, and he glances to see the time just in case he really was late. 8:06. He’s fine, he wasn’t too late.
“Wait, Itto, you just said that people have been texting me for around five hours- right?” Thoma asks.
“YEAH!” Itto grins for no reason.
“So they’ve been texting sinse 3:00 AM?” Thoma asks.
“Uhh, no,” Itto says, confusion clearly expressed in his facial expression.
“But you literally said that. 8 - 5 is 3. Since- wait, why am I getting so many texts?” Thoma asks himself.
To answer his own question, Thoma opens his phone with a yawn.
You missed 157 texts
You got 31 new followers on Instagram
You got 53 new subbs on Reddit
“Wait what? I’m barely on Insta and Reddit..” Thoma questions to himself, “better go to the group chat..”
Thoma taps on the ‘You missed 157 texts’ to enter the chat. The annoying part was scrolling up to what happened at the top so he could read in order to understand what people were saying. At the beginning, he was calmly scrolling then soon became inpatient as more texts were sent and was flinging his finger across the screen to get to the top quicker.
Then he found it. The first text to the huge chain (ft. Ayaka, who sent the text)
It was a slightly unfocused picture of Thoma himself and Ayato. Ayato was holding him from behind, a smile and slight blush gracing his face as he held Thomas' hands over the broom. Thoma was embarrassed to look at himself, because he was completely red, clearly flustered, and looked like shit. But the real question was this: who took the picture of them? And why does the picture have 126 reactions and replies?!
The incoming texts appeared on the top of his screen as he looked at the replies, trying to contain his emotions from exploding, his face blooms in red.
“Do you know what? I’m silencing you and avoiding this, I’ll just ask Ayaka about this at work,” Thoma says to himself, pushing the silence button so his phone doesn't make too much noise.
Thoma arrives at work around 10 minutes late, tying his apron clumsily, he heads to the supply cabinet to grab a washcloth to clean the tables. Once set up, Thoma mentally prepares himself for social interaction.
“I know I’m late, I’m sorry,” Thoma apologizes, face colored red as he faces Ayato sitting at the counter.
“You’re fine...” Ayato replies, most of his attention aimed at his phone laid delicately in his hands.
Ayato doesn’t look up to make conversation or flirt like usual, so Thoma keeps a close eye on the Kamisato, who is focused on his phone. Thoma, who is watching Ayato, is embarrassed when Ayato’s eyes suddenly went to Thoma’s, catching him in the act.
“Thoma, have you seen the group chat?” Ayato asks nonchalantly.
“Y-yeah, I have but I decided to avoid it in the moment. I wanted to talk to you about the picture…” Thoma’s faced bloomed in many shades of red.
“Let’s chat then,” Ayato says, walking over to the table they first held hands at.
Thoma was quick to drop his job and maneuver over to the other boy.
“S-so what should we say? That it’s not… True?” Thoma offers, looking off to the side to avoid his intense eye contact.
“But is it true or not? That is my question,” Ayato says.
“W-well, yeah, It’s true, it’s not ph-photoshopped or anything,” Thoma says, confused at what the other was getting at.
“That’s not what I mean, cutie. What I mean is to ask if our relationship matches the photo,” Ayato asks with a small smirk.
“O-our relationship?” Thoma thinks on what the other said, trying to make sense of it.
Thoma takes a few seconds, he was thinking that Ayato was just flirting, but the look Ayato gave him… was there more to it?
“Do you mean to tell me that…” Thoma doesn’t finish his sentence as Ayato nods, smirk growing.
Thoma focuses his attention to the table, his ears dusted pink. Ayato waits for a response. Thoma’s brain, meanwhile, has done an entire gymnastic’s routine and also flew to mars and back. Was Ayato really asking Thoma if he wants the rumors to be true?
While Thoma was staring blankly at the table, Ayato decides he feels like bringing Thoma’s attention back to him. Lightly kicking his foot forward, Ayato boops his toes against one of Thoma’s ankles, which were crossed over eachother.
Thoma looks up at Ayato hesitantly, and Ayato shoots him a thin smile. Thoma could almost see a cute nervousness in Ayato’s grin, like maybe he wasn’t joking around, and genuinely cared about the outcome of the situation.
Thoma realizes he should probably respond, so he swallows deeply and fully takes Ayato head-on.
“I- um,” Thoma tries to form words. “I wouldn’t mind if… this… relationship would progress. I mean- Only if you wouldn’t mind, I like spending time with you! I would like to do as much after work hours and maybe see each other more at school but I don’t want to take up your time. That sounds selfish, I’m sorry, maybe I should just-”
Ayato shushes Thoma by reaching over the table and putting his pointer finger over his lips. Thoma immediately flushes and mumbles a muffled ‘sorry’.
“I’d love to see you more,” Ayato grins. “At school, work, free time, whenever. It’s not selfish to want to hang out. If it was, I’d be far more selfish than you.”
Thoma’s dysfunctioning brain takes a moment to catch on to what Ayato is saying, and when he does, he’s more of a tomato than the ones on his apron. Ayato gently removes his finger from Thoma’s lips and in a fluid motion, he uses the same hand to reach for Thoma’s, which is resting on the table.
Ayato holds his hand, and Thoma accepts it.