Another tiring morning. Eiji ended up staying up pretty late finishing an assignment. He barely had the energy to even get out of bed, but had no choice given the fact that class wasn't going to wait on him.
Hair all disarray, he wearily gazed into his bathroom mirror. The stress of college. . . He could already see the developing bags under his eyes. Despite that, he dragged himself into the shower and got himself dressed with a camera hanging around his neck.
Eiji's first stop was the usual cafe he visited to get. He took a seat where the barista usually took orders, and put his head down at the table.
''You look terrible.'' Eiji peered up to see the blonde barista smirking knowingly down at him, ''The usual espresso?''
''Yeah please, I have class in two hours.'' he tiredly stated,
''Righty-o'' Just as Eiji picked up his head, he saw the barista give a little spin before going off to make his espresso.
It put a smile on Eiji's face, to at the very least see someone with energy so early in the morning. This was the exact reason he enjoyed coming to the cafe, to watch the barista.
The blonde peered over at him as he was pouring the coffee, and caught Eiji staring much to the student's embarrassment. Eiji just laughed it off, and looked away clearly flustered. Not that it hadn't happened several times in his previous visits. There was just something about the barista that always caught his interest.
Eiji never did gain the courage to ask for his name. . . But he wasn't actually sure how to bring up the subject.
''Here you go.'' Hearing his voice knocked him out of his thoughts,
''Hey cute white boy, what's your name?'' Eiji ending up blurting out, but immediately regretting it afterwards with the way it sounded to him. In his mind, he pretty much only referring to him as 'that cute white boy from the cafe', but saying it out loud made him realize how weird it was.
''...Uh.'' The guy looked more taken back than anything else, and just chuckled. ''I'm surprised that you've been coming here for so long, and only just now decided to ask for my name.''
Eiji felt unbelievably embarrassed, looking down at his hands at the table with reddened cheeks. ''...Gomen…'' he mumbled,
''That means…. 'Sorry' in japanese right?'' The blonde leaned his cheek into his hand, amusingly watching Eiji, ''You don't have to apologize, also you can call me Ash.''
Eiji was surprised to see that he knew japanese. Most likely limited. Often Eiji would mutter in his own language when he was nervous, or just so overwhelmed he spoke in his own language unintentionally.
''Ash…'' He smiled when repeating the barista's name, ''I'm Eiji.''
''Eiji huh…'' Brows raised with interest, ''You planning on coming here later?''
''Yeah, I always do. College has been quite a hassle, and coming here always perks me up.'' For more reasons than just getting coffee. But Eiji wasn't about to admit that.
''Glad to hear it.'' Ash stood up straight, and stretched out his arms, ''I'll see you then, Eiji.'' He winked before turning to go back to his work. And then Eiji felt his face get a little hot, and his heart skip a beat.
In that little conversation Eiji figured out a few things. One, he sucked at flirting. And two, this guy hadn't the slightest idea of the effect he had on him.
Eiji went to sip his espresso, upon noticing the little heart shaped with cream. ''...Oh god.'' this guy was going to be the death of him. Eiji almost didn't want to drink it, but he really needed the energy.
He decided to take a picture instead, using the camera around his neck.
After finishing his espresso, it was time for him to get to class. It was pretty much the same as usual, the time passed painfully slow, while Eiji had a particular blonde barista on his mind. He flipped through the pictures he took on the camera, occasionally coming back to the picture of the espresso.
Eiji thought that maybe he was overthinking it. An espresso. It was just an espresso. Ash probably made plenty of espressos with cute little designs like that.
But did he make them all with the little heart shaped design, without the customer even asking? If he did, Eiji was a little jealous. For that moment he was somewhat jealous.
''Before the next class, you'll need to take 1,000 pictures of anything you consider beautiful, and if necessary you can take a picture of the same thing in different poses..'' The professor announced, and that was the end of class.
Didn't seem difficult. He's done similar assignments before. But the count never went up to 1,000.
But first he was going to borrow some books from the library on campus. He'll feel more confident if he did some research before just taking pictures randomly.
When he walked into the library, he was grateful not too many people were there. Just two girls checking around the shelf for books, the clerk that checked out the books, and a blonde with glasses sitting quietly, reading at one of the tables.
Eiji did his best not to disturb anyone, and just went to the shelves of books.
''The art of photography….Light, science and magic….'' he mumbled the titles of all the books he planned on checking out. They unfortunately were shelved on the bottom section, which forced him to get on his knees.
It did, however allow him to catch another glance at the blonde at the table. The second time he looked, it allowed Eiji to get a better look at him.
He looked familiar.
Holding up his camera, he tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. Using the shelves to hide, Eiji used the lenses to zoom in on the guy and snap a picture.
Thankfully the flash wasn't on when he did it, so it killed all chances of him being found out. When Eiji went to check the picture, he was surprised.
This was the guy from the Cafe. He had no idea Ash also went to the same college as him. It was the first time seeing him on campus, so it was likely they studied very different majors.
Truthfully… he couldn't help but think Ash looked really stunning with those glasses.
''Like what you see?'' The voice caused him to shield a squeak that would've inevitably come from his mouth. A grinning Ash was crouched beside him, staring at the picture Eiji sneakily took of him. Eiji just kind of wished he could crawl into a hole somewhere, he wasn't expecting to get caught so quickly.
''I felt someone staring at me, so of course I had to come and check. Who would've thought, right?'' Ash teased, ''It's a nice picture though, I gotta admit.''
''I did get an assignment to take pictures of 1,000 things I considered beautiful, so….'' That was the only excuse that came from Eiji's mouth, gaze fixated on the camera as he pouted, since he knew he would die from embarrassment if he looked over at Ash.
''In that case, give it here.'' Ash took the camera from Eiji's neck, much to the photography student's confusion, seeing him stand up.
''Wait, what are you-'' Just when he realized, Ash started taking pictures of him. ''No, no, stop!''
''Oh but the assignment is to take pictures of beautiful things, right? Isn't this helping you?'' He slyly retorted with a smirk, taking another picture that Eiji tried to shield himself from.
''I don't really consider myself 'beautiful', so I'd prefer if you didn't waste all the space on my camera with photos of me.'' He tried reaching for the camera, but Ash held it up higher. Eiji glared, standing up and continuing to reach for it.
''I happen to think you're really cute, so if I was doing the assignment I'd just take 1,000 pictures of you alone.'' Ash admitted boldly, holding back Eiji as he flipped through the pictures. The blonde quirked a brow,
''...You're horrible…'' Eiji mumbled as he shielded his reddening face with his hands,
''That's mean of you to say,'' Ash pouted, bringing the camera down. ''Wanna make a deal then?''
Eiji peaked through his fingers, staring skeptically at the barista. ''Depends on the deal…''
''I'll give the camera back on one condition. . .''
''Do I really want to hear the conditions. . .?'' Eiji brought down his hands with a frown,
Ash cleared his throat, ''Get a cup of coffee with me?''
The offer had him at a loss for words, blinking as he tried to grasp the words that left the barista's, ''...Nani…'' Eiji's face was flaming hot, looking down. ''E-Etto… Shira… nai.'' there he went, blubbering in japanese.
''Umm… mind speaking in english?'' Ash ended up softly laughing at Eiji's reaction, but then deviously used that a chance to snap another picture.
He backed up to shield his face with his arms, ''Yame-'' then paused, ''I-I mean, stop it!''
''So, is that a no?'' The way Ash pouted, tilted his head a little to the side when Eiji put down his arms.
''Is this like….'' Eiji averted his eyes, blushing like an embarrassed teenager ''A date?''
Ash dramatically gasped with a hand over his mouth, ''Really?'' then just smiled, ''You've been coming to where I work at for as long as you have and think I wouldn't-''
''Shhhh!'' An older woman was behind them, with a look of disapproval. ''If you two need to talk, please do it somewhere else. This is a library, not a social gathering.''
They both ended up flustered by the interruption, all of Ash's confidence vanished for that split second. ''Sorry, it's my fault.'' He was the first to apologize, with a rather sympathy inducing look. Meanwhile Eiji looked down, to the side, anywhere else except at the librarian who clearly wore a look of shame. He only hoped she didn't hear any of the embarrassing things they were discussing earlier but he had his doubts.
The librarian just huffed, and went back to her work. The look on Ash's face defaulted into his usual sly look, grabbing Eiji's wrist, looking back at him. ''Come with me for a sec? I have to leave in a few minutes.''
The real question was whether Eiji had a choice, but he nodded anyway. The two hurried silently out the library, further away into the halls. ''Well?'' He released his grip on Eiji's wrist, turning to face him.
''Eh?'' Eiji played stupid, acting like he didn't know what Ash was referring to, averting his eyes again.
A sigh erupted from the barista's lips, disappointment filling his features. ''If you don't wanna, just say so.'' Ash held out the camera, ''Having me busting my ass, getting in trouble…''
''Didn't you say you wouldn't give the camera back unless I get coffee with you?'' Eiji stared curiously down at the camera Ash was trying to give back, then up at Ash.
The blonde blinked a few times, then chuckled. ''I only said that to persuade you, but I'll give the camera back now since you need it for an assignment.''
''No.'' Eiji softly glared at the other, ''Only when we meet up again, then you can give it back.'' He had plenty of time to finish the assignment, so he wasn't worried.
''At least now I know I won't be stood up.'' Ash then winked, ''See ya then.''