limerence + various

my pleasure : io

a coffee shop at seven am.

+

the doors are heavy. they're glass, stained with fingerprints and - is that lipstick?

hajime finally, miraculously pushes the doors open after a few seconds of embarrassing struggling and trudges over to a table in the middle of the dining area, pulling out a chair with a horrendous screech and plops himself down.

on the center of the table sits a skinny, red base with a single sunflower in it - he reaches out and strokes a petal to see if it's real. it is.

heels clack against a once black and white tile floor (it's quite grey looking now) and halt in front of him.

"here, darlin', your menu," a lady chirps and sets a menu down in front of hajime.

the background of the menu is a bright, obnoxious pink and the print is as yellow as the single sunflower on his table. he finds himself struggling to read it.

"just give me whatever the most popular coffee is," he says casually, picking up the menu and discovering with distaste that the plastic covering on it is sticky.

"of course, dear. would you like a pastry to go with that?" she asks. hajime decides her voice is annoying.

"ah, no, i'll pass-"

"i'll give it you free, no worries!" she whispers.

he shrugs, and her heels clack away.

she comes back all too soon with a mug that says "NASA" in bold print on it and a small plate with a much smaller pastry on it.

hajime recoils from the coffee, wondering how exactly this is the most popular. it's cold.

he looks around, observing the calm yet also lively coffee shop.

there's an old jukebox in the corner, neglected looking and the colors no longer bright and vibrant like maybe they would have been some years ago. a man stands in front of it, shoving his money in, or attempting to anyways. hajime observes with a small smile resting on his face.

a woman in business attire sits near the front of the coffee shop, downing mug after mug of coffee. he wonders how she does it - the coffee is far from great.

a tired looking father chases a rambunctious group of children. one has a shaved head and is obnoxiously loud. another has very loud red hair. the other is much shorter and hajime is sure his hair is adding to his height.

somewhere to the left of the coffee shop, a loud splash gains his attention. a horrified looking waitress apologizes profusely. she is blond and her hair is short, pulled to the side with a hair tie that has small blue stars on it. another woman, black hair and face as red as the waitress' keeps saying "it's okay, it's fine, don't worry". he notices that the black-haired lady's lap is soaked in coffee.

an elderly couple yells at another waitress with very short brunette hair, who looks just as angry as the elderly couple put together look.

"i said i apologize, sir," she says with a patronizing tone. "it's not like i meant to mix up your stupid order!"

hajime directs his attention to a man sitting by himself. he is sitting by the fogged up window. a waitress, the same one hajime unfortunately had, hands him a cup of coffee which he eagerly wraps his hands around - hajime guesses in an attempt to warm his hands. he sets the cup of coffee down and rummages through his pockets, coming out empty.

hajime is sure he knows what's going on.

he gets up, the chair squeaking once more and walks across the dining area to where the man sheepishly laughs as he tries to explain why he is unable to pay.

"listen, give me your number and i'll meet you up some time, i'll pay you then, please just -" he stutters.

hajime sits down and pulls out hopefully enough to pay for the coffee, and surprisingly he gets it exact. it's the same one he got.

the waitress leaves and the strange man heaves a laugh of relief.

"ah, i really owe you! you saved me there. i'm internally grateful!" he says, a bit too loud.

"don't you mean 'eternally' rather than 'internally?" hajime chides.

"you know, for us just now getting acquainted, you sure are rude," the man says, cocking his head, locking his chocolate brown eyes with hajime's.

"hey, idiot, i just payed for your coffee! be nicer."

the man jumps a bit, snapping to attention. "oh, i owe you, don't i?"

"no, that's okay. consider it a random act of kindness," he says with a small smile.

"thanks," the man replies. "what's your name, by the way?"

"iwazumi hajime, you?" hajime says, placing his elbows on the table.

"oikawa tooru! it's a pleasure to meet you, iwa-chan," tooru purrs.

"iwa-chan? we just met! plus, we're both adults, are we not?" hajime exclaims.

"sure, but what's wrong with some child-like fun?" tooru says. hajime shudders at his tone.

"yeah, okay," hajime says.

"i like you," tooru says, leaning back and crossing his arms, observing hajime.

"well, i'm flattered, oikawa."

"of course! who wouldn't be?" he says triumphantly.

"perhaps a less friendly stranger would find it obnoxious," hajime says. his tone is teasing.

"nobody could be less friendly than you!" tooru shouts, earning startled glares from other customers.

hajime does nothing but roll his eyes at him. "i payed for your coffee. that has to count for some friendliness, right?"

"oh, sure," tooru says, raising a hand to his mouth to hide a giggle. his eyes crinkle as he laughs.

"by the way, um, about that coffee," hajime begins, hoping his face isn't as red as it feels. "you owe me, right?"

tooru nods.

"well, ah, there's this weird movie about aliens on netflix," hajime says. his stomach churns when tooru's eyes light up in excitement. "and, well, movies aren't fun by yourself, so, um," he stutters.

"so iwa-chan really isn't a smooth guy, is he?" tooru muses. hajime simply glares at him. "sorry, sorry! but, yeah, i get what you're saying. hand me your phone," he says, extending his hand.

hajime skeptically reaches in his pocket and hands tooru his phone, watching as tooru hurriedly types something in.

his phone is handed back to him, and he recognizes the contacts app now holds a new contact called "oikawa tooru" with six sparkly emojis beside it.

"so whenever you want to watch that alien movie, just text me," he says smoothly, gulping down the rest of his coffee with a grimace. he stands and waves a peace sign at hajime.

"see ya, iwa-chan!"

"bye, oikawa."

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thanks for reading!
see if you can find all of the hidden characters in this chapter. :)