boba boy , inumaki

three

today, he doesn't come alone. there's a intimidating-looking green-haired girl by his side, and he smiles at y/n as soon as he sees her.

his friend seems disgusted at his bright smile.

inumaki is a little hesitant about coming here with maki, and it's certainly an embarrassing side to show to your friends—how flustered you get around your crush. he fumbles with his fingers, squirming all over again as he lifts his arm to point at the hot chocolate.

"are you getting your usual?" y/n asks and his hand stops mid-air, and he stares at her, surprised. the girl next to him nudges him, and he jumps and nods at y/n, smiling sheepishly. "salmon," he says, inaudible.

"can i get an americano?" the green-haired girl asks, her voice strict and fierce as she looks. y/n nods, smiling, and they process the payment before y/n leaves to make the drinks. outside, she can hear a little bit of chatter, and she's surprised to see him looking at the green-haired girl with a stoic expression.

y/n goes back out with both drinks in her hands, and slides them over to the duo. "by the way," she says as she hands the drinks over, "i didn't get your name." she's saying this to inumaki, and he looks at her nervously.

"ah... it's just, you said you wanted to be friends, so i thought i should have your name..." she stammers because he doesn't look like he wants to talk. "...inumaki... toge." his own name sounds foreign on his tongue. his friend turns to him to fix him with a surprised look, as if saying, i'm impressed.

"i'm y/n l/n," she says, "my name's already on the name tag, though."

he nods. "y/n l/n..." he repeats, liking the way it rolls off his tongue. "y/n l/n."

and y/n gives him a small confused head tilt.

seeing y/n's confusion, the green-haired girl introduces herself as maki, and begins explaining something to y/n.

it's something about cursed speech that y/n can't seem to understand, but the main points are: he has a particular set of vocabulary that he uses so he doesn't harm others unintentionally. when he needs to say something else, he either uses sign language or traces it out ( for the people who don't know sign language ).

"oh..." she says, and tells them to wait while she goes to get something. she emerges a few moments later with a pen and a small notebook, and she says, "i'll learn this set of vocabulary first. how does that sound?"

inumaki's face brightens and he nods, saying, "salmon!"

"that's—" maki begins.

"yes!" y/n says, cutting her off. "i'm sorry..." she smiles sheepishly, "but it means yes, right?"

maki seems impressed. again. "yeah," she says. "it means yes."

y/n scribbles it down, and as inumaki watches her, the girl of his dreams, writing down his language, putting in effort to understand how he speaks so she can communicate with him, his heart melts and his soul has flown to the moon without him.

"boba," he finds himself saying. "boba..."

and for this one, maki looks at him confused. "i don't know this one. you taught him something?" she asks y/n and she shakes her head no.

inumaki looks at y/n like she'd get it. "boba!" i think i like you!

but she looks at him like she doesn't understand, and his shoulders droop.

"ikura..."

"that means sigh."

y/n writes that down, too, and by the end of the session she has a long queue and a list full of vocabulary. she waves goodbye to them as she apologetically handles the piling-up queue, thanking them for their patience and all that.

when she's done, she sits down on a chair, flipping open her small notebook to begin memorising.

salmon — agree!
ikura — sigh.
okaka — disagree !
tuna — wants you to focus
tuna tuna — look
tuna and mayo — to talk
mustard leaf — concern/worry
kelp — hello, hi / greetings
salmon roe — to get attention
maki said everything else is just gibberish.
boba — ??