#aoteru

Takanobu hovered nervously outside the door to the coffee shop, just pouting at his slightly sweaty reflection in the glass of the fancy revolving door. He’d take a few steps toward it, pause, and then turn around to go right back to sulking by the daisies growing in the flowerpots perched on the windowsill. Every time someone exited, they’d give him funny looks; once people saw his hulking frame looming in the window, they’d skirt away to hastily find another table, leaving the right side of the café suspiciously empty. But Takanobu paid no mind, too busy focusing on the counter—more specifically, the handsome blond barista behind it. 

This was Takanobu’s favorite café. He always stopped by in the early evenings after work to get an iced coffee. It helped finally cool his body down from laboring in the sun all day, and the calm, quiet atmosphere did good to banish the pounding of hammers and the thundering of jackhammers that was still echoing in his head though he’d long since left the construction site. He’d been going there ever since he got his job. The barista had been working there for only a few short weeks, and at first, Takanobu didn’t take much notice. It was even a few days before he spied the nametag that read “Yūji Terushima” in nice, neat print. Honestly, Takanobu didn’t really think much of the new hire aside from he made a damn good iced coffee. 

That is until Yūji wrote a cheesy pick-up line on Takanobu’s coffee cup.

Takanobu had thought he’d fallen asleep and strayed into some kind of confusing dream when it had happened. He had just stood there slack-jawed and gaping at the sentence written in nice, swirly script. “Are you a parking ticket? Because you’ve got FINE written all over you.” There were even little hearts drawn around his name. Takanobu had blinked at the cup, then looked up at Yūji, who’d thrown him a suave smirk and a wink. And then, of course, Takanobu did the sensible thing—he hauled ass. He even left the coffee behind. He couldn’t drink it, not with that pick-up line taunting him. 

After stewing on it for a while, he figured that it was just some sort of joke that he didn’t. There was no sense in switching coffee houses over some harmless pick-up line, right? It certainly wouldn’t happen again. 

Except it did. 

“We got a new special on the menu today—me ‘n u!” 

“I’m sorry, I gotta call the cops. You stole my heart!” 

“I think there’s something wrong with my phone. Your number’s not in it!” 

“Are you a broom? Because you’ve swept me off my feet!” 

And every time, Takanobu would turn beet red and look at Yūji like a deer caught in headlights. And every time, Yūji would flash him a grin that made his heart play his ribs like bongo drums. And every time, Takanobu found himself lingering a little longer before running off. Long enough to begin to appreciate how actually drop-dead gorgeous the young man was—silky blond hair styled in an undercut that showed off dark brown roots, perfect white teeth that gleamed in the soft light of the fluorescents, warm brown eyes that lingered on Takanobu as he walked around the café. 

As much as the cheesy pick-up lines caught Takanobu off-guard… He was kind of beginning to like being caught off-guard. 

Enough to linger outside the café trying to work up the courage to actually stay after the pick-up line. The problem was that now he was a little too chicken to even go get the pick-up line. What if he didn’t even get a pick-up line this time? He couldn’t blame Yūji for giving up after Takanobu had bolted the last several times. Takanobu groaned and scratched anxiously at the base of his neck while he lumbered back to the front door. He peered through the glass—

and he almost passed out when Yūji smiled at him from behind the bar. 

Then he hustled through the door so fast that he knocked over the plant that was standing next to the coat rack. He cursed as soil spilled everywhere, and he frantically glanced back at the counter to see Yūji hiding a smirk behind his hand. Takanobu squatted down to feverishly scoop the soil back into the pot, then clumsily righted it. He hastily wiped as much of the soil as he could off on his jeans—they were already stained with sand and other dusts from the construction site—and turned around. Yūji was working with a customer, giving Takanobu the moment he needed to exhale a shaky breath and collect himself. 

Be cool. He must like you, right? Just go up there and… don’t… chicken out… 

Yeah, he liked Yūji, but he was so damn bad at the romance thing. 

Takanobu ran a hand over his hair and exhaled again before he got in line. He started practicing greetings in his head, but before he could decide if he wanted to say “Good afternoon,” or “Good evening,” the pretty redhead in front of him realized that she would not be getting the barista’s number and grumpily shuffled off to go wait for her latte. And then Takanobu was standing there in front of him, and he balked.

“Well, howdy, stranger,” Yūji grinned when he turned around and was greeted with the sight of Takanobu trying to disappear right through the floor. “I haven’t seen you in a few days.” 

“Y-yeah,” Takanobu stammered when his tongue finally decided to work. “I, um… I was out of town.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Yūji grinned. Takanobu’s heart rate spiked as he leaned forward on the counter; the sleeves of his dress shirt were rolled up around his elbows, and it was sinful how good his forearms looked. “I thought I mighta scared ya off, stud.” 

Studstudstudstudstud, the word echoed in Takanobu’s head. 

“Sc-scared me off?” 

“Well, considering you took off like an Olympic sprinter every time I handed ya yer coffee…” he smirked, eyebrow creeping up his forehead. Takanobu felt the blush crawling up his neck, and he tugged nervously at his tee-shirt. Yūji looked him up and down, and when his smirk widened, it took everything in Takanobu’s body to fight that nearly unquashable urge to spring away like a deer leaping across the highway. 

“R-right… Err…” Takanobu stammered and tugged awkwardly at his ear. Ugh, he couldn’t even look at him right now! His smoldering smirk was just setting Takanobu on fire, making him burn from the tips of his toes to the crown of his head. “I, um…” 

“First time someone’s ever written pick-up lines one yer coffee cups?” Yūji teased. 

Takanobu looked down at his feet while a bashful, lopsided smile bloomed on his lips. Well, at least he had progressed past freaking out and running out. He was beginning to lament how much money he had spent on wasted coffee. And, of course, not staying long enough to actually talk to the handsome man that was flirting with him. He forced himself to lift his head and meet his eyes, though it was only for a few seconds and then he was back to blushing at the counter. 

“Y-yeah, um… I-I’m not used to being flirted with in general, actually.” 

“What? But you’re a catch!” Yūji cried. When Takanobu looked up at him in surprise, Yūji was staring at him with wide, owlish eyes. Yūji picked up a pen and began using the end of it to draw abstract patterns in the smooth surface of the counter. “I mean, look at you! Tall, dark, and handsome! Who wouldn’t want you?!” 

Takanobu’s skin turned even darker, and he reached up to nervously play with the hair at the back of his neck. Sure, he tanned well working on the construction site, but he’d never thought much about it. It was an… attractive factor? He wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that. He also wasn’t quite sure what to think about the fact that Yūji found it an attractive factor. 

Talking. He needed to keep talking. He wanted to keep talking, yes. Words. What were words?

He managed to fill the silence with a nervous laugh before he just mumbled a shy, “Yeah.” 

“Awww, look at you,” Yūji crooned. “Don’t even know how handsome ya are.” When Takanobu hid his bright red face behind his hand, the barista barked out a laugh. “I gotta say, I’m impressed! You haven’t bolted yet!” 

Still hiding his face, Takanobu muttered, “Well, I wanted to stick around this time to um… um…” 

“Ummmmm?” Takanobu could tell that Yūji knew exactly what he wanted, but he was quite enjoying flustering Takanobu, apparently, and wanted to do it some more. 

“I, umm… I wanted to stick around to, um… actually talk to you. Because I, um, I like your pick-up lines,” Takanobu finally managed to say. 

“Oh, thank goodness for that,” Yūji smirked. He slid the pen behind his ear and leaned his cheek in his hand, Takanobu’s heart stopped. “I was beginning to feel like I had lost my touch!” He then seemed to process what Takanobu had actually said, and a cheeky grin pulled onto his lips. “...So, you like the pick-up lines, eh?” 

Talking. We’re talking. This isn’t so bad. Takanobu thought with an eensy smile. He played with the little fringe of ribbon tied around the tip jar as he uttered a quiet, “Yeah. A-a-actually… I’ve got one for you.” 

Yūji straightened up, the smirk on his lips turning into an absolutely elated grin. Takanobu wasn’t sure if it was because he was really excited that he was being given a pick-up line or if he was extremely amused; either way, Takanobu took it as a good sign. He cleared his throat, rubbed his hands on his jeans, and then looked up at Yūji with a nervous cinch in his eyebrows. 

“A-a-are you an earthquake? B-because, uh, y-you rock my world,” Takanobu slowly bit out. The words came out awkward and disjointed, but at least he got them out. He immediately felt like an idiot, though, and he hid his face in both his hands this time. He couldn’t help but crack his fingers apart to peer at Yūji when he began to chuckle. 

“Gotta say, that is a cheesy one,” Yūji snickered. Takanobu momentarily panicked, thinking that maybe his hours of looking up pick-up lines had led him to the wrong one. However, Yūji was looking at him like he’d just stolen the moon from the sky and held it out to him. Eyes shining, smile dreamy, smirk roguish. Hell, it made Takanobu feel like stealing the moon and holding it out to him if he would just keep looking at him like that. 

“Hey, ya know what?” Yūji said suddenly, straightening up. Takanobu was so shocked by the sudden shift in the conversation that he dropped his hands. “My phone is still having that problem. I was wondering if you could help me with that?” 

Takanobu was about to agree, but he stopped in the middle of saying it. When Yūji looked quizzically at him, Takanobu flushed and admitted, “I’m… kind of going to miss the pick-up lines.” 

“Tell ya what, stud,” Yūji said with a wink. “Gimme that number and I’ll text ya new one every day.” 

“O-oh, there’s gonna be an every day?” 

“If you want there to a be,” Yūji grinned. His tongue flicked out to lick his front two teeth, and Takanobu almost fainted on the spot. He managed to avoid losing consciousness so he could grab a napkin. Instead of handing him the pen, Yūji leaned forward and raised his eyebrows meaningfully. Takanobu swallowed thickly, feeling like his tongue immediately swelled up to fill his whole mouth, and then reached out to shakily pluck the pen from behind Yūji’s ear. He scrawled his number down, and when he looked back up, Yūji was smugly waiting for him to slip the pen back behind his ear. Takanobu did so with a shy smile. 

Damn, Yūji even made taking the napkin from him breathtakingly sexy. 

“All right, then,” Yūji smiled charmingly as he straightened up. “You will get a pick-up line tomorrow morning.” 

“Tomorrow morning?” 

“Yeah, because I’ll see you when I get off, right?” Yūji chuckled, throwing him another wink. 

“D-definitely!” Takanobu nodded so hard that it was a wonder his head didn’t fall right off. Yūji laughed, and Takanobu felt himself go weak in the knees, it was such a lovely laugh. “I get off in thirty minutes, actually. You want your usual while you wait?” 

Takanobu smiled sweetly back at him. Huh. Maybe he could do this romance thing after all.