Chapter Text
pov: Itadori Yuji
The coffee shop was, to be honest, in the complete middle of nowhere. The suburbs often housed places like these, but it was by a complete stroke of luck and a bad set of directions that Yuji walked into the place, the bell ringing as the door swung open.
The aroma of coffee was rich in the air, and the case of pastries immediately caught his eye. His eyes danced over the interior as he walked up to the counter, greenery snaking across the windowsills and shelving, the booths by the window a deep maroon.
“Ahem.”
Yuji turns his head to the voice at the register, briefly forgetting that he’s meant to order.
At the sight of the barista, however, his heart jumps in his chest. Despite wearing an obvious scowl, the urchin-haired boy had easily the prettiest face Yuji had ever seen. His lashes were long and dark, framing eyes blue like the ocean. His pale skin and frowning mouth were set symmetrically, a few long and wide but mostly unnoticeable scars trailing across the upper right side of his face. His cheekbones were high and left shadows casting over his cheek as he bit absently at his lip.
“Hey. Are you paying attention?”
Yuji snaps back to the present, face heating in embarrassment. “What?”
The barista rolls his eyes. “I asked if you’re ready to order. Are you lost or something?”
Mentally smacking himself, Yuji pauses in confusion. Bit rude for a customer service job, he thought. But maybe he was just having a bad day. Yuji decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and order anyways. “I am, actually. Might as well get something anyway, huh? I’m starving.”
The barista eyes him expectantly, his long fingers hovering over the keypad. “Sure. What would you like?”
His stomach growls, and Yuji zips up his jacket with a grimace. “A latte with two sugars, please,” to which the barista looks unimpressed. “Oh, and can I also get a chocolate croissant, a banana nut muffin, and a chocolate glazed donut?”
The barista looks over Yuji’s shoulder incredulously, as if checking if he had someone else with him. “If that’s what you want.”
“Yeah, that’s all for me.” Yuji adjusts his backpack to his other shoulder, his search for his college’s other campus all but forgotten as he watches the barista in fascination.
The barista shakes his head a little, hair falling over his eyes as he taps the keypad impatiently. Yuji finds himself watching his slender fingers dart over the screen swiftly. He feels an unexplainable urge to talk to him, wanting to hear his voice again. “You get a lot of business through here? To be honest, I found this place through pure luck. I never would’ve even known it was here if I hadn’t gotten totally lost.”
The barista looks at him tiredly, if a little curious. He waits a moment before speaking, his voice low but not unkind. “I guess so. We have a steady influx of regular customers, the town being small as it is.”
Yuji nods along as he hands over his credit card absently, focusing on the way their hands almost touched. As the dark-haired boy swiped the card and handed it back, he met his eyes and Yuji could swear someone had just shocked him.
“I’ll call you up when everything’s ready,” the barista says, still looking at him. Yuji swallows.
“Uh, yeah! Thanks,” he trails off, looking for a name tag.
The blue-eyed barista followed his gaze to his own uniform, sighing. “Fushiguro.” And then, as if begrudgingly, “Megumi.”
Who is this kid, James Bond? Yuji snickers to himself as he tries to keep himself from smiling. “Thanks, Fushiguro! I’m Itadori. Yuji,” he says, mimicking the barista’s tone.
Megumi eyes him incredulously before grumbling a quick “you’re welcome” and turning around to begin working the coffee machine.
Walking over to a booth by the window, Yuji unzips his backpack and pulls out his sleek metallic laptop, the screen booting to life with a low hum. He decides to try and work on his Ethics assignment, but his eyes keep flickering back to Fushiguro behind the counter. With a tiny smile, Yuji puts a reminder in his phone to come back next week.
pov: Megumi
Well, shit. Itadori sat quietly in a booth by the window, his headphones resting over his fluffy pink hair. At least, it looks fluffy.
Megumi retrieves a few food items from their case, observing Itadori quietly as he bagged them and waited for his coffee to finish brewing.
He looked a little bit like a model, baggy jeans and loose zip-up draped over the lines of his toned figure like it were planned. He had large brown eyes and a million-dollar smile, one that stirred something in Megumi’s chest the first time he saw it. More importantly, he had a scar over the corner of his lips that only added to his presence and pulled focus away from his tongue piercing. A tongue piercing.
Shaking his head at himself, he pours an ungodly amount of milk in Itadori’s coffee and grimaces as he adds the two sugars. Who the hell can drink anything this sweet? And who could eat this much in addition all by themselves?
He sets all four items on the far end of the counter, standing there for a moment before calling Itadori up professionally. Despite his semi-robotic tone, Megumi pointedly keeps his eyes on the ground as the walking and talking ball of sunshine retrieved his items. “Thanks again, Fushiguro!”
This time, Megumi doesn’t answer, only watching him walk back to his booth. He watches him at several different times throughout his shift, watching the way Itadori would bounce his leg to whatever’s playing in his headphones or trace his fingers over his lips in concentration.
Megumi pinches the skin of his arm to pull himself back to reality, grabbing a spray bottle and a cloth as he begins to wipe down empty tables for a distraction. He always found himself cleaning when he needed a break, the already-clean desks often getting wiped down several times more before they even had another occupant.
At the end of his shift, Itadori was still sitting by the window, his presence so incredibly loud despite quietly keeping to himself.
Nobara walked in with a bright smile, walking behind the counter and pocketing her phone. “Am I on ‘till closing again? I hate the closing shift.”
“Yeah, you are. I’ll see if we can swap next week.”
Her smile grows, knocking him hard on the shoulder in delight. “Thanks, Gumi. You’re a total lifesaver even if you do have a massive stick up your ass.”
Megumi crosses his arms after removing his apron, frowning. “Whatever. I’ll see you tomorrow for the double shift at 10.”
She waves him off, blowing him a kiss as he walks towards the door. “Alright, then. Get home alright, man.”
He raises a hand to her in acknowledgement, eyes flickering once to Itadori as his other hand rests on the door. To his complete surprise, the boy is already looking at him. Itadori gives him a minuscule nod, and Megumi swallows before pushing his way out of the door, his breath coming a little too quick for his liking.
He walks in the opposite direction quickly, which doesn’t require too much energy thanks to his height. Confusion and a little annoyance snakes through him as he thinks of Itadori on the way home. Why can’t he stop thinking about him? That little nod on his way out the door had been playing on repeat in his mind’s eye. Mentally cursing, Megumi quickly prays to some higher power that he’ll never have to see him again.
As he walks through his front door, Megumi hopes his prayers go unanswered.