Young Like Us

Notice me, Senpai!

Berwald ran his hand over the surface of the end table at the IKEA he worked at, admiring the quality of the wood and the way the pieces came together. It was so perfect, so elegant. He knew he would be dreaming of this table for the rest of the week.
Never had he felt this way before.
"Excuse me," a tiny voice spoke up and the swede felt anger pooling deep in his gut along with those meatballs he had eaten earlier. He turned around, ready to serve this customer despite the interruption of the moment he was having with this end table.
"Mm?" Berwald was about to jump right into work mode, but he stopped himself. This guy, this customer, he was beautiful.
The table was long forgotten. This man was just too wonderful. He was quite a bit shorter than him and had dorky blond hair and violet eyes that were, for some reason, unafraid of the tall swede.
"I'm looking for the lamps." He stated, more bored than anything. Berwald felt his heart flutter in his chest. What was this? A heart attack? Should he see a doctor? A vet?
"Oh...yeah...they're this way, sir." He felt so weird calling this precious sinnamon roll "sir," but it was protocol. He walked toward the section where they kept lighting, constantly checking over his shoulder to make sure this angel was still following.
"They're right here," he gestured to the aisle, feeling something shatter inside him. If he left the cute boy here than he couldn't talk to him anymore!!!!
"Can you help me find the perfect one?"
Oh sweet table lord in heaven! Thank you for granting this one wish.
"Yah. What do you like to see in a lamp?"
"I want my lamp to be a floor lamp...but I don't want it to be too serious! If you could help me find a Christmassy one, that would be just great!" The cutie patootie's eyes sparkled brightly.
"I think we have Christmas lamps in the stockroom." Berwald stated. It was a lie. He didn't think he had seen Christmas lamps. He knew that he had. The dude knew every piece of furniture in this store down to the last screw.
"Really?!" The other man's eyes lit up like fairy lights even more than they already were. He must really like lamps. At least they had something in common.
"I can show you."
"The world."
"Huh?"
"Haha nothing." His laugh was stunning. Beautiful. The swede wanted to laugh along but he lost that ability in a tragic accident when he was young.
"Come on." Berwald beckoned the man to the back of the store where he grabbed the perfect lamp and set it into the blond's arms.
"Thank you!" He chirped happily.
"I'll give you a discount if you go out for coffee with me."
Holy shit.
That was smooth.
Where the hell did that come from?
"Well...I do like coffee."
"So that's a yes?"
"Uhhuh! Here, I'll write my number down for you!" He grabbed the pen out of Berwald's front pocket and took his hand, writing the number down on his palm. The warm touch of this guy's flesh made his pants tighter than they had been in the wardrobe aisle.
"Anyway, I'll head to the checkout. See you later..." He squinted to read the name tag on the front of the swede's shirt, "Berwald."
The taller of the two was speechless. The only dates he had ever scored were ones in his daydreams with that nice dresser in aisle four.
He looked down at his hand as the customer walked away, lamp in hand. Right above the number was a name that made his heart pitter patter.
Tino Vaïnamöinën.

I did not spell that correctly.
Hey look a meme!