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The only thing that could make the day slightly better was coffee. By Yaku’s logic, at least. And his logic is rarely flawed. All in all, it had been a really shitty day, one of those days where you wake up in the morning and just know, today’s gonna suck. Yaku had experienced all the standard terrible day things: running late, having someone spill a drink on him, forgetting his presentation notes for the meeting, and, of course, it was raining. Now add on extra work that Kuroo shoved on his desk so he could leave early and the deadline for his personal reports moved up one week, and you get Yaku’s Worst Day Ever™. And of course, it doesn’t stop there.
Yaku needed his coffee if this day was going to be considered anything other than a complete and utter failure of a day. But his favorite coffee shop, Little Crow Coffee, was packed. The second Yaku walked in, he knew this was a situation where you get lucky and find an open table first thing, or you never do. He couldn’t let this day get any worse. So he scouted out a table best he could at his short stance, peering around legs and arms of people standing around waiting for to-go orders. And then he spotted it.
It was beautiful. A small table with only one chair, right by the window and close enough to the counter that even that shorty employee Hinata could see him. Yaku made his way over to the table briskly, but someone blocked is path. A very tall someone.
“Excuse me, but I am trying to get to that table, so could you move?” Snapped Yaku. He wasn’t concerned about being rude, especially since he would never see this guy again, and just wanted to get to his table. Yaku began to tap his foot, waiting for the guy to respond. But he didn’t say a thing. He just walked towards the table-Yaku’s table-and sat down.
“Hey! I was about to sit there until you blocked my way!” Yaku fumed, trying to look as intimidating as possible.
“Oh, sorry kid. Maybe you can find another table.” The tall guy said. By now Yaku was about to lose it.
“Did you just call me kid? I am 27 years old, asshole!” Yaku said, stamping his foot down.
“Ooohhh haha sorry, you’re just so short!” The stranger responded, an oblivious smile on his face. Yaku clenched his teeth, stomped to the table, and delivered a hard kick to the guy’s shin.
“OWW!!!!” The stranger yelped, rubbing his now bruised shins. “That hurt, shorty!”
“It’s Yaku, you beanpole. Now move, I saw this table first!” Yaku said, standing up as tall as he could.
“But I’m sitting here, Yaku! Better luck next time!” The stranger taunted.
“Move or I swear to god, I will sit on you!” Yaku argued. This was his last resort, and he really hoped this stranger would just move. The stranger’s eyes widened for a second, before his face seemed even happier than before.
“Go ahead, I won’t stop you!” The stranger said cheekily.
What. That was all Yaku’s brain supplied him with. He felt a blush coming up to his cheeks, and tried to form words, but his brain was still in shock. Did he really just say that? Yaku thought.
“I-I yo-you little… UGH!” Yaku sputtered, face redder than before. He turned and stamped off, but not before hearing some last words from the stranger.
“The name’s Lev!”
Lev. So that was the beanpole’s name. Yaku held up the middle finger, but quickly put it down. He doubted Lev could even see it.
The next day was much better than the previous, in Yaku’s opinion. Kuroo didn’t bother him, he gave his presentation smoothly at the meeting, and he got all his work done. He hoped that the coffee shop wouldn’t be so crowded so he could have some peace and quiet, but fate had other plans.
Yaku wasn’t expecting to see him again. But there he was. Lev. The beanpole. Lev had not seen Yaku yet, so Yaku took that time to look at Lev, see what he was dealing with. He had established Lev was tall, but everyone is tall to Yaku. But upon further inspection, Lev was really tall. Too tall, in Yaku’s opinion. He had silver hair and green eyes, something that wasn’t too common around there. The only person Yaku knew with silver hair was his friend Sugawara, who lived in the Condo next to his. Yaku had to admit, this Lev guy wasn’t bad looking. In fact, he looked good, objectively speaking. Yaku was so focused on “gathering intel” on Lev, that he didn’t notice his intel gathering was no longer a secret.
“Yaku! Over here! Look I got you chair this time! Unless you still wanna sit on me!” Lev’s voice was very loud, and many people looked over. Yaku’s face flushed. He stalked over to Lev anyway, not really knowing why.
“Lev! What are you doing, shouting my name across the whole shop!” Yaku said angrily.
“Well Yaku, you’re so short I wanted to make sure you heard me all the way down there!” Lev answered. Yaku could feel a vein in his forehead pop out as he looked up at Lev.
“Stop. Calling. Me. Short.” he growled.
“But you are!” Lev said. And Yaku kicked him right in the shins, right on the bruise he had left the previous day.
“OWWWWW! YAKU THERE’S A BRUISE THERE!” whined Lev, pulling up his legs and pouting.
“I know. That’s why I kicked you there.” Yaku responded smugly, then sat down in the chair next to Lev.
“So Lev, why are you here shouting at me?” Yaku questioned, sitting up tall.
“Well I felt bad for taking your table yesterday, so I saved a seat for you today!” Lev said.
“You didn’t even know I would show up.” Yaku deadpanned, looking unimpressed.
“Well yeah, but I hoped you would! I wanted to talk with you, you seem like a cool guy, so I asked around to see if you were a regular. Hinata says you come here a lot.” Lev said, glancing over at the counter to the tiny ginger employee, who was now arguing with a grumpy looking dark-haired one.
“Hmph. Well, now that I’m here, and I’m waiting for my order, I guess I can stay and chat for a bit.” Yaku grumbled.
A bit turned into about two hours of conversation. The coffee had either been drunk or gotten far too cold by the time Yaku said he had to leave. He had learned a lot about Lev in that time. He was Russian, but couldn’t speak Russian, he played volleyball in high school, he had a sister, he loved cats, he like video games, and he was 25 years old. Lev learned a lot about Yaku too. That Yaku was a libero on his high school volleyball team, that he really like stir-fry and coffee, that he works with a bedhead guy named Kuroo who also works part-time at his uncle’s video game store(which Lev frequents), and that he really hates being called short. Lev only seemed to learn the last fact after his shins were noticeably bruised.
Yaku and Lev continued to meet at the coffee shop almost everyday after that, until one of those days Lev left with a red face and bruised shins, and Yaku left with a blush and a phone number. Now they usually go to other places for their dates.