"you tried on a shirt that was too small in the store i work the changing rooms at and i had to help you out of it and now we're making small talk" au
Julie is a great manager, Sena thinks, considering she is probably the devil. Or a devil, since Hiruma- the owner- pretty much has SATAN trademarked. She's not evil in the way Hiruma is- no: instead she relies on emotional manipulation to bring laughter and amusement to all except for the person bringing the amusement.
Case in point: she's a matchmaker focused solely on having Sena lose his virginity before graduating from college. Every time a cute boy walks in to the store she all but melts into the shadows, waiting to strike and abduct the cute boy and place him in Sena's lap.
And, what with working at a reputable sports supply store, hot guys walk in all the time.
"So, Sena," Julie says as she checks on Sena's section, "there's this guy-"
"Julie I can quit at any time," Sena says, trying to remain firm and look intimidating. "This is for pocket money, remember."
"Oh, honey, oh my sweet summer child," Julie puts down her clipboard and pen to squeeze Sena's cheeks together. "Just try and quit, sweetie."
Sena spends the next five minutes behind the basketball shoes hyperventilating.
…
The store has a particular style about it. Everything is very modern and clean, but Julie has a seventies Americana vibe that draws customers in. Disco's not dead with Julie in charge of the music.
So that's one point in favor for the store.
Another:
They sell really high quality athletic gear. Sena personally buys his track shoes from the store (a beautiful 40% discount facilitating every transaction) and has never had any problems with the products. Julie also gets her specially-made rugby cleats and swears by the store brand.
And, the final point, which surprisingly has quite a bit of influence:
Cute store clerks.
Julie shows her legs off in her tight, flared pants and hypnotizes customers with her twinkling laugh and bright hair. She blows butterfly kisses from her orange frosted lips. Her tip jar is only empty in the morning before work and when it's being cleaned out.
While Julie has vixen down to a t, Sena obliviously plays right into the ingénue role. He's thin with toned muscles, his slender fingers fidgeting distractingly with pens. He's easy to color, pink dusting his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. When he listens to customers, you can't help but notice his wide eyes and thick lashes. Sena's tip jar is never light either.
…
"Sena, I knew you'd be here!"
Sena knows that voice anywhere. He tries to run to the back and hide but Julie trips him. Before Sena can crawl away, Julie steps on his back and pins him in place.
"Traitor," Sena hisses as Takeru approaches. Julie smiles innocently down at him.
"He's so clumsy," Julie says.
"Lies-" Julie digs her heel into Sena's back, "I mean, yes! So clumsy!"
Takeru manhandles Sena up- Julie conveniently moving her foot away- and gives him a bouquet.
"Ah," Sena says, it's the third one this month. "Thanks Takeru."
"And a vase! That way you don't have to fill a shoe with water. Again."
"Yeah that was," Sena thinks back to the pay deduction due to shoe damage. "Thanks, again, by the way," he takes the vase.
Sena pours some water from his bottle into the vase while Takeru watches him like a hawk.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Sena steels himself for what he knows is going to happen next.
"Dinner, dancing. I'll wine and dine you."
"I'm still underage."
"I'll drink plenty for the both of us."
Julie is peeking behind the counter at them and giving elaborate hand signals. Sena squints as he reads them.
Get that dick- Sena has enough of that and focuses back on Takeru.
"We've talked about this, Takeru."
"I know you're not ready for a relationship, but just one date," Takeru sends him a blinding smile.
But, like Sena's said, Julie is a great manager, considering.
"Sena, you're breaks over," Julie says casually.
My savior goddess.
"So… I'll be seeing you," Sena says and runs away.
"I'll pick you up for dinner after your shift?"
"… No…!"
Takeru's eye twitches in disappointment before leaving a twenty dollar tip.
…
And there's the guitar guy, too, that stops by more often than not after shopping at the music store next door.
"Ah, my darling angel," Hayato all but sings, gliding into the store. He puts a rose between his teeth. Sena, having already experienced this plenty of times before, puts his hand out and lets himself be twirled.
"Hi, Hayato," Sena says in that half-happy, half-defeated tone people use when they see a good friend that won't stop trying to get into their pants, as Hayato dips him. Sena places a clipboard between their mouths when Hayato tries to give Sena the rose via a kiss.
"I wrote a song for you."
"Oh, thank you," Sena says, smiling a bit.
"Can you sing it?" Julie calls from the back.
"Fuu, of course," and Hayato takes out his guitar.
Damnit, Julie.
…
Probably the most awkward is when that really tall guy comes in. He stands by the dri-fit sweatshirts just. Glaring. At Sena.
"He wants your di-"
"Dead, he wants me dead. I obviously killed his family in another life."
Sena doesn't even know if Shun- Sena got the name from a sports magazine; the guy is really good in the football world- realizes how tall he is. It kind of looks like Shun is- hiding? behind the rack, except he's at least three heads taller.
Shun usually stands around, looking like he hates Sena with every fiber of his being, tracking Sena's movements with his blue, blue eyes. Every time Shun stops by the store, Sena accepts his fate and approaches Shun to ask when he is going to kill Sena, but the guy always leaves before Sena can ask what his problem is.
"Go stack the new shipment," Julie says one day when Shun has been standing around longer than normal. She points a manicured nail at the shoe boxes. Sena obliges and bends over to start when there's a coughing fit and a crash behind him. He turns, and sees Shun grappling with the clothes rack, and then Shun stumbles out.
Shun comes back ten minutes later and places a tip in Sena's jar. Like usual. He glares at Sena. Also like usual.
"If I don't show up for work," Sena says to Julie after one almost-encounter, "you know who to question first."
"You're dumb and he's shy," Julie rolls her eyes. Sena scoffs.
…
"You're in the fitting room," Julie informs him, "and your recovery section is the women's tops."
"Got it."
Julie sighs, looking at her watch. "Sena, baby, let's be serious. I'm growing old. I wanna see you settle down with a nice man before I pass away."
"Julie you are literally twenty-one."
"And you're nineteen! Get a cute boyfriend!"
"They don't just drop from the sky and-" he stops as he notices a guy standing with a couple shirts. Jawline for days, Sena thinks. Intense eyebrows.
"I don't mean to intrude," the guy says.
"Uh, no, not at all!"
"I'll leave him to you," Julie whispers and winks at him, dispelling his wandering thoughts.
"I hate you," Sena whispers back. He turns back to the guy. He looks familiar. "Um, sorry, how many items, sir?"
The guy clears his throat a bit before he holds up his shirts, and Sena gives him a numbered hanger.
"He was hot."
"Julie I thought you left to the front."
"Ask him out, he's totally your type."
"Julie."
…
It's been twenty minutes before Sena notices that the guy hadn't come out yet. He'd only had two shirts, and guys were usually pretty fast about changing. Unless-
But, no, that guy didn't look like the type that would… use… a changing room like that.
Oh shit, oh shit, Sena had almost passed last time they caught some random guy in the dressing room, and Sena doesn't want to go through that again because they'd actually had to call Hiruma last time, and Sena never wants to see Hiruma again. So he is going to nip this in the bud before it- the guy- can, er, finish.
Sena speed walks to the changing room. He hears grunting from the inside. His heart stops.
Sena isn't payed enough for this.
"E-excuse me, sir?"
The guy stops grunting. A heavy pause, then: "Yes?" His voice is a bit hoarse.
"Are you… doing alright?"
The guy doesn't respond for a while, and Sena almost leaves to get Julie and the security guard before the guy says, "I seem to have… gotten stuck…"
What?
"What?"
"The shirt I got is… too small. So I got stuck. In the shirt."
Sena stares at the stall door. The guy had been really muscular, now that he thinks about it.
"I… can come in and help, sir?"
"Okay." Sena is very impressed by how the guy seems to be handling everything so smoothly.
Sena unlocks the door, and there's the guy, shirt rolled up and stuck somewhere on his upper back. His arms are at weird angles as the guy struggles not to rip the shirt.
The guy gives him the most stoic look.
Sena's laughing before he can stop himself. "I'm sorry, sorry!" he chokes out between giggles.
…
There's more skin and rippling muscles than Sena anticipated. He tries to be diplomatic but sometimes his touches ghost over the guy's broad back-
"Seijuro Shin!" Sena blurts out. "You're Seijuro Shin! You're so amazing! I mean, you're great- a great football player… uhm…" Sena clutches the now freed shirt to his chest. He wants to asphyxiate himself.
"I still have much to improve," Seijuro is shrugging on his own shirt, muscles looking especially nice. "You go to the games?"
"I used to play football, when I was younger, I mean. Still like it I guess." Sena bites his lip, feeling shy about talking so much. It's just… Seijuro's so cool. "We, uh, both go to Enma." Ugh, that sounded pathetic. Was that pathetic? He glances up at Seijuro.
"I know. You're on the track team." Seijuro looks at Sena, from bottom to top, analyzing him, intensely. "You're the fastest."
Sena's head is light, airy, whirling. He wants to be humble and polite and say I don't know about that, aha, but he can't bring himself to say it. "Thanks. I've trained hard." Seijuro doesn't say anything, but his expression seem to soften. He's a lot closer than Sena thought- he's just so big that he's cramping up the changing room.
"How many games have you been to?" It's a quiet sort of question. They're pretty close together. Don't have to speak much above a whisper.
"Almost," Sena gulps and he's sure Seijuro hears it, "almost all of them."
Seijuro waits while Sena gets his breathing back in order.
"I'm coming to the one tomorrow."
"Good."
Good. Good? What does that mean?
"I need to get back to, um," Sena points out of the room.
"Right," Seijuro nods.
…
Sena walks Seijuro back to the register- thank god it's closing time and there's no one around (including Julie… suspicious).
"I'll ring you up," Sena says, bagging the shirt, a couple sizes bigger than the one that almost got destroyed. He hands it over, bag crinkling. Seijuro looks over the receipt, flips it over to examine the blank back, but then puts it away.
"Is it totaled correctly?"
"Yeah, and," Seijuro clears his throat before plucking something out of his wallet. A white ticket. "It's- just show it to the admissions people at the front," he slides it across.
"Oh, thanks," Sena says, quiet. It looks different than the tickets the general public can purchase. As a student, home games are free admission.
Seijuro drums his fingers against the counter lightly before slipping a note into Sena's tip jar.
"Thanks again," Sena says brightly.
"No problem," Seijuro says, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
…
"He wants the dick!"
"No he doesn't!" Sena burrows his face in hands. They cleaned the store and are counting tips.
"Hundred dollar tip. And he's older right?"
"Ah, yeah. He's… I think twenty? Maybe older."
"You got a sugar daddy!" Julie envelops Sena into a bear hug. "I'm so proud, hon!"
"That's not- you're squishing me with your! hulk! strength!"
…
Sena basically misses the first half of the game. He made honeyed lemons, but they ended up taking longer since he didn't have honey. Or lemons. As broke college students do. And half the time he was trying to convince himself that this is a normal gift friends give. Even though his roommate, Taro, kept thumping him on the back about finally finding someone… and even though all the treats given to him at track meetings had been from girls… and all he had was a cutesy bento box with hearts and kittens on it... it had been an impulse buy okay?
And anyway! The lemons are a gift! A friendly gift!
The players are just heading back to their sides when Sena finds the special seating area, right behind the Enma bench. They're only leading by fourteen points which is unusual. The seating area is small, mostly filled by what looks like family members. A group of girls look at him and start whispering.
Even on the field, Seijuro cuts an imposing figure. He's looking at the bench area, but he's too far away for Sena to tell what he's looking for. He walks over. Sena meets him half-way.
"You came," and Seijuro sounds- satisfied, maybe? He takes his helmet off and brushes away the beads of sweat.
"Yeah sorry I'm late, I," now's not the time to feel self-conscious, "um, I made you some, uh, honeyed lemons." He opens the box, and Seijuro hesitates only a bit before taking off his gloves and popping one in his mouth.
Behind, Sena can hear the group of girls giggling. He knows exactly what this looks like. It's happened to him a few times-
Sena side steps and bends away from Seijuro. A football flies by his nose and imbeds itself into the chain-link fence.
"Ah, my bad," Sena hears. His stomach starts to roll. The voice is like sugar venom.
"Agon," Seijuro says.
The guy, Agon, strolls up to them. His mouth is set to some cruel looking smile.
"Is this why you were so distracted?" Agon turns to Sena. "What the fuck is that?"
"It's, um," Sena's whole body is saying leave, leave, leave.
Agon takes his helmet off in a giant flourish, knocking against Sena's hands. Some of the lemons topple off.
"That's enough," Seijuro says.
"Chill the fuck out, man," Agon says. "Just a mistake." Agon picks a lemon slice and eats it before Sena can say anything. He spits it back out, and it lands by Sena's feet. "The fuck? Don't try to feed us shit like this. Get out-"
"Calm down," Seijuro looks even more serious than his default.
"What the fuck is your problem?" Almost faster than Sena can register, Agon swings his fist, but Seijuro's forearm blocks it, and he shoulders Agon away. For a moment, Agon doesn't do anything. He straightens himself back up and smiles.
"Sure, man," his voice sounds pleasant but now Sena's body is saying LEAVELEAVELEAVE as he watches Agon's retreating back.
"He's arrogant," Seijuro says. "You okay?"
"Fine," Sena can feel his eyes sting and he realizes his blinking back tears. He wipes at his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Seijuro sounds panicked and Sena's heart double-times it.
"Nothing," this is pathetic.
"Stay after the game," Seijuro says after a while; it comes out like a question.
"Okay."
It's when Sena sits down that he notices that Seijuro took the lemons with him.
…
Seijuro is amazing, Sena thinks as Seijuro knocks down player after player. Even after all these games, Sena is always impressed by how fast Seijuro is, how strong he is, how he's the perfect player.
Throughout the game, the group of girls get closer. They exchange names quickly: Shige, Jin, and Tora, all apply named. They give him an Enma flag to wave around. They take pictures with him. They hug whenever there's a touchdown. Finally, one of them speaks up and asks, "So, you're with Seijuro?" during Enma's winning touchdown.
And Sena's so hyped up that he says, "Yeah!"
…
"You've met my sisters," Seijuro says, back into casual clothes and freshly showered. The teams already left and so have most of the people.
"Sisters?" Sena turns around. He kinda figured the girls were related, they all had dark hair and lightly tanned skin and steely eyes- "Oh, actually I guess there is a strong family resemblance."
"Seijuro, you were so good! This was the best game ever, oh my God!" Shige yells and jumps onto her brother. At eleven, Shige is has more energy than Sena's had his entire life.
"You say that every game."
"You didn't even make a single touchdown," Tora says, arms crossed. Her hair is short and spikey and Sena is already terrified of her even though she's only sixteen.
"I'm a linebacker," Seijuro says pointedly, as Shige does some gymnastic off of his extended arm. He tosses tiny Shige at Tora, who catches her easily.
"True, but looks like you still have a chance to score," Tora says with a toothy smile. She shoots Sena a look and then raises her eyebrows at Seijuro.
"Ignore them," Jin, Shige's twin sisters, says, but even she has this weird look in her eye, like she knows more than Sena does. "They're just teasing."
"Ah," Sena still feels his face heat up for whatever reason.
"Our parents are waiting," Seijuro looks pointedly between the stadium entrance and his sisters.
"And?" Tora smirks.
"We'll be going then," Jin tugs on Tora and Shige, "but we'll be wanting details afterward."
Seijuro waits for his sisters to leave, staring intently at Sena the whole time. The looks sends goosebumps down Sena's back.
"Usually after a good game the team celebrates. I would like your company instead."
Sena blinks. Control yourself. Don't go assuming things. Don't- "Like… like dinner? Like a…?"
"A date, yes."
"N-now? Tonight?"
"That would be preferable. But if you're busy today, I would like to move the date to another time."
"No, yeah, I mean," Sena takes a deep breath when he sees Seijuro's white-knuckled grip on the bento box. "Tonight works great."
"Perfect," and then Seijuro does this- this sort of up-quirk of his lip, the lightest, faintest smile. Sena feels lightheaded. "But first I would like you to show someone something."
"What's that?"
"What size cleats do you wear?"
…
"Fuck!" Agon shouts as Sena beats him to the other side of the field.
"Was that what you meant?" Sena asks, untying his cleats. His blood is still pumping quickly through his veins.
"I felt it would be appropriate for other players to realize that there is always room for improvement. Dinner?"
"Dinner."
…
"And then what did you do?" Julie asks, eyes wide like saucers.
"None of your business," Sena is feeling bold today, maneuvering thermal leggings on to mannequin. He's standing up against Julie's foolhardiness. He won't be bullied into divulging any of his sexual habits. Not this time.
"So how many rounds did you go for your six months?"
"Seven months, actually," it's Seijuro, deep voice grumbling behind Sena. "And four."
"Really?" Julie asks.
"He's joking! That's a joke!" Still, Sena can't muster any anger, beaming up at his boyfriend.
"Are you ready to leave?" Seijuro asks.
"Ready."