I can't believe I'm coming back to this website after years of lurking. This is my first attempt at publishing fanfiction in over 3-4 years I think? I have short stuff on my computer though, that I would never dare put onto a public place such as this or Tumblr. I'm really nervous about this because I have become really shy about my writing recently, but this is the first piece of fanfiction that I've actually felt comfortable posting. Please let me know what you think of it. I'm posting this first chapter as almost a "dip my toes into the water" situation to see how it goes. If it goes well, then it will also being going onto other writing platforms as well. Thanks in advance for reading!

Tamaki sighed tiredly as the door of coffee shop he worked in opened, signaling the official start to his work day. He hated opening shifts, but since he was full time for the summer, he was practically required to. As his boss took this customer's order, he started a fresh pot of just plain, black coffee, as he had ever since he started working morning shifts. His moves were very autopilot, giving him the ability to think freely, though he didn't have much to think about.

Truth be told, he would have preferred it if he didn't have to work at all, but seeing as he was a junior in college with no other source of income, he didn't have a choice. The job itself wasn't bad, the atmosphere was nice and he enjoyed the smell of coffee, but he had awful social anxiety. Despite being at this job for over two years, he still couldn't force himself to interact with anybody save for his co workers and a few select others. On top of this, he also had horrible general anxiety and minor depression, causing him to isolate from others to be able to cope. All of this would account for his lack of friends and his nonexistent social life outside of work and school.

He poured a cup of the coffee for the customer when the pot was ready and put the pot back so it could stay warm. The customer left the shop after receiving her drink and it was empty again. Despite the shop being in a busier part of town, it was still rather empty. Since it was a family run business and there were other shops lining the street, they weren't as busy as they could have been. Tamaki stared absentmindedly outside as he cleaned up a bit from when he was making the coffee. He spaced out so hard that he jumped when he felt his boss' hand touch his shoulder.

"Oh Tamaki, it's just me dear." Tamaki looked down at his boss sheepishly. She was the one who owned the shop. She was a sweet, older woman, and a single mother of two twin daughters, who she tended to brag about often. Tamaki relaxed when he realized that he wasn't being reprimanded for staring into space again.

"What is it, Ma?" He asked. Ma was the nickname one of his co workers had given her. It fit her perfectly as she was practically the mother of the shop. He watched her step back a few steps now that she had his attention.

"I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright, dear. You seem a bit more tired than usual, and I was just a bit worried." She frowned and bit her lip. She understood his history with his mental illnesses, and was always on top of making sure he was okay. Tamaki panicked as he realized he made her worried and quickly shook his head.

"I-I'm fine! Really! It's just been so hot outside recently, that I haven't been able to sleep very well. That's all!" He quickly explained himself. It was partially true. That and the fact that after work, he just goes home to play video games until late. His excuse seemed to win her over though as Ma quickly regained her smile.

Oh good! You should have let me know sooner! I have a spare fan at home you can borrow for the rest of the summer!" She replied and walked off before Tamaki could argue it. She turned around quickly though, as if to add another point. "Oh! And I just want to ask again if you wanted to date either of my daughters. They're going into college this year, you know?"

Tamaki just rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile a bit. She would always ask, despite his answer every time. "I'm still into guys, Ma."

He could almost hear the shrug in her voice as she turned away to tend to a customer that had walked in while they were talking. "Oh well. The offer still stands regardless."

He just shook his head and went back to work. The morning shift dragged on and it started getting busier. Luckily, as it was hitting peak hours, two more employees joined the two already there. Mina Ashido and Tooru Hagakure clocked in quickly and took their respective places either at the register or in the back area making drinks.

These were the other two co workers that Tamaki associated with, though not enough to really refer to them as friends. Mina was a lot like Ma in that she was loudly passionate about anything she did. She was only a high school senior, but she was already a talented aspiring artist, with vivid pink hair to prove it. Tamaki found that she would talk more to him than him to her. Tooru on the other hand, was much quieter like he was. She was a bit more plain looking compared to Mina's wild appearance, but she stood out enough. What really caught him off guard was that she was a cheerleader. She really was just a quiet worker, and her boyfriend tended to scare Tamaki whenever he came in, so it was a surprise when she told him about it. He would never have noticed anyway, since he never attended any college activities she would attend, such as the football games.

Just as Tooru came in to take over for him at the register, he clocked out for his break. The first thing he did was step outside to the alley next to the shop. He was warm from the coffee, but didn't want to be seen by the people walking on the street. He closed his eyes and leant against the brick wall of the shop as he took the moment to cool down a bit. Well. As much as could for the middle of summer. Just before he went back into the shop, some noises from the generally empty store next door stopped him. He hadn't heard about anybody buying the lot, so it piqued his interest enough to check it out. He looked into the street and noticed a large moving van outside of the empty store. Swallowing his fear, he stepped out a bit more to peek into the open store to see multiple boxes piled up. He backed off quickly, but he hadn't seen anybody in the store. He rushed back into the store.

"Hey, Ma? Do you know who's moving in next door?" Tamaki asked as he sat down across from the counter. The woman looked over as the customer she was helping left. She wiped her hands dry.

"Someone is moving in?" She asked in response, a look of confusion on her face. "Now that you mention it, I do think I remember someone coming in to tell me that. I can't for the life of me remember what store it's becoming though."

Tamaki nodded slightly and sighed out. He couldn't help but wonder who was going to be their new neighbors. The last owners of the shop was a nice lesbian couple who owned a craft shop. They had unfortunately gone out of business and it had been empty ever since. Mina's voice brought him out of his musings.

"What if it's a bakery? Imagine all the sweets they could share with us!" She squealed. Tamaki cringed at the noise and avoided looking at her. Tooru couldn't help but get sucked into the excitement of trying to figure out what the new store was as well.

"What if it's an animal salon? Imagine all the cute cats and dogs we would see!" She inquired and he could just hear the smile in her voice. He wouldn't mind seeing dogs pass the store…

"No matter what it is, though, we will all be very welcoming to them." Ma finished the conversation off with her own comment. The other three of them nodded in agreement and got back to work. Tamaki stared down at his phone, the only thing he had for his break. He couldn't be happier to get back to work an hour later.

The rest of the day went smoothly, which was the norm for them. Tamaki closed the shop up with Tooru and the two of them parted ways. He ended up walking past the new shop on the way back to his apartment, so he stopped to see if he could see anything more. The only thing he could really see were the boxes and a single vase of flowers on the counter in the corner. It didn't really tell him much, so he just continued on to his apartment. Much like any other night, he spend the rest of the evening playing video games until he passed out.

Tamaki groaned as he smacked at his alarm clock the next morning. Once again, he regretted staying up late the previous night. The student got up slowly and got dressed. He grabbed his phone and keys before leaving to open the store. He rubbed at his eyes and made his way to the coffee shop. Being as tired as he was, he almost missed the fact that there were people going in and out of the now occupied store. He paused as he was unlocking the door and looked over at the neighboring shop.

Two men walked out of the back of the moving truck that Tamaki had seen the day before. The first one, and the one that immediately caught his eye, was the tall blonde one with a strong looking physique. He held a box and was talking animatedly to the man next to him. The other man was just as tall, but with darker hair and looked older than the blonde. Tamaki couldn't help but watch them walk towards the door, but he must have been staring too hard as suddenly the two of them had stopped. The blonde suddenly started waving vigorously and Tamaki could feel himself seize up. He mentally kicked himself to quickly unlock the door, not wanting to interact with the two of them so soon. Or without anybody else. He eventually got the door open and he rushed in, locking the door behind himself. The raven haired man ran behind the counter, just in case the blonde man had tried to follow him. Tamaki closed his eyes to try to calm himself down before he got to work opening the store.

"What are you doing?" A voice came from behind him and knocked him from his crouching position to the floor. Tamaki grasped at his chest, trying to calm down from his most recent scare. Looking up, he noticed Mina standing above him, offering a hand.

"M-Mina, w-what are you-?"

"I was supposed to open with you this morning, remember?" She hummed in reply as Tamaki took her offered hand.

"Right…"

"Did you meet the neighbors? They're really nice! Apparently they're the ones occupying the store next to us! And get this...it's going to be a flower shop! If you ask me, a cute college kid and his just as cute dad running a flower shop is like something from a romance novel!" The pink haired girl prattled on. Now he remembered why he didn't know Mina was opening with him. He chose to bury the thought of working with the hyper girl. Still, he couldn't help but think about the neighbor shop.

"Flower shop…?" He couldn't help but be intrigued. It was something that none of them had imagined. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I hope it's not too troubling for us…"

"Oh, you need to stop being so pessimistic. I'm sure it's going to be fantastic for all of us." Mina rolled her eyes and walked off to start getting things ready for opening. Tamaki got busy as well, trying to get rid of the thoughts of their new neighbors. He knew he was going to have to meet them someday, but he wanted to hold it off for as long as possible.

Mina made it nearly impossible for him to enjoy the morning quietly. It seemed to drag on for him until Tooru and Ma showed up for the lunch rush hours. He eagerly took his spot making drinks while their boss and Mina took the registers. It was going smoothly until a familiar blonde haired man walked into the shop. Tamaki immediately noticed him, but nervously pretended to be too busy working on a drink to interact with him. Unfortunately, luck didn't seem to be on his side.

"Tamaki? Will you take the register? We have shipment coming in and I need to go clean off to receive it." Ma asked. Tamaki reluctantly stepped up to her post. His face beet red from embarrassment, just as the stranger stepped up to him. His bright smiled made Tamaki's red face go from embarrassment to bashfulness very quickly.

"W-Welcome to the Roast House. W-what can I get you today?" He stammered and forced himself to look up at the man.

"I'll get two small black coffees please! For Mirio Togata!" The man, who now had a name, asked.

Tamaki nodded and put that in, trying his hardest not to be visibly shaking. He started to relax, however, when he realized Mirio wasn't going to bring up that morning's incident. He motioned back towards Tooru the order before letting him know the total.

"T-That is going to be $5.80 today."

Mirio nodded quickly and pulled out the exact amount of change that he needed, which was a rarity for a customer. Regardless, Tamaki took it gratefully and expected the blonde man to move on to get his coffee. Instead, he continued standing in front of the raven-haired student, now leaning on the counter. "I noticed you this morning. I wanted to introduce myself, but you seemed to be in a rush."

Tamaki nearly choked of fear, but forced himself to continue moving, something his therapist had suggested to keep the fear to a minimum. He smiled nervously at Mirio. "I-I apologize for my behavior this morning-"

"It's really no problem! I suppose you have my name now though. I've already met Mina, but I haven't gotten the pleasure of meeting the rest of you guys. That's why I suggested I buy coffee for my dad and I. So I could meet you and see what this place is like!" Mirio seemed to just be radiating happiness as he continued talking.

Tamaki flushed even more, if it was possible at that point. He gulped and unclenched his fists that he hasn't even realized were clenching together. "It's...It's Tamaki Amajiki."

"It's very nice to meet you! I hope we can get to know each other some more in the future!" Mirio grinned at the shorter man. At that point, Tamaki was completely unaware of Ma sneaking up behind him, a devilish grin on her face as she pushed him out from behind the counter.

"As a matter of fact, he's just about to go on break!" She exclaimed. Tamaki bit his lip and tried to keep himself from shaking.

Mirio laughed. "I'm afraid I actually can't stay. My dad is expecting me back anytime now. Maybe tomorrow, okay?"

Tamaki sighed in relief as Mirio turned to take the two coffees and waved goodbye as he left. He stood staring for a moment before making his way back behind the counter. He could feel all three of their eyes on him, and even some of the in-house customers. He wanted to cry of embarrassment, but he couldn't at work. He winced as Mina squealed right next to him.

"Hey, Mirio is super cute isn't he? He seemed like he was real interested in getting to know you, Tamaki!" She giggled.

"I-I'm sure he just wants to know all of us...as our new neighbor and all…"

Mina just rolled her eyes and smirked. "Please, he was only looking at you that entire exchange."

"Mina, leave the poor boy alone." Ma chuckled.

Tooru giggled softly behind Tamaki. "Still you can't help but also notice Tamaki's expression too. Are you crushing already?"

Tamaki felt his face heat up once more as he pushed past them all. "I-I think I'm going to go take my break now."

Mirio had noticed him the very first day. He was getting boxes out of the van, but he saw the curious teen peering into the open store. Before he could make a move, however, the boy fled back into the shop next door. Mirio would have liked to follow him, but his dad caught him with more boxes of supplies, dragging him quickly to the shop..

The next morning, Mirio and his father made sure to get to the store early to maximize their work. His dad wanted to open the store as soon as possible, and he wanted to help his dad do that. However, when they pulled up to the store and he noticed the coffee shop still closed, a sense of disappointment passed through him. He really would have liked to meet the boy from the day before. Instead, he noticed a pink haired girl walking towards them.

As he was carrying a box out of the van he noticed how she had sped up and started waving at them. He and his father sat their boxes down momentarily to greet her. Mirio could tell her cheery demeanor right away and grinned as she jogged up to them.

"Hi! Are you the ones moving into the store? I'm Mina Ashido! I work at the Coffee shop right next door!" Mina introduced herself. Mirio held out a hand and she shook it, along with his father's.

"I'm Mirio Togata, and this is my father. We're opening up a flower shop!" He introduced himself in return. Mina seemed to light up.

"A flower shop? That's so cool! Everybody else will be so excited to know!" She squealed and Mirio couldn't help but chuckle at how excited she seemed to have gotten. Mina skipped back a couple of steps as she put up a hand in goodbye. "Hey, so I need to go and start opening our shop, but you should stop by closer to lunch to meet everybody else!"

"I'd love to." Mirio grinned and picked up his box again. His father had already gone back to working, so as soon as Mina had disappeared, he got back to work as well. They only got a couple more minutes of moving boxes before he recognized a familiar face staring at them. It was the boy from before and he was staring right at them, presumably trying to figure out who they were. He was just standing at the door to the coffee shop, so Mirio started waving at him excitedly to get his attention. The move must have scared the stranger though, as he quickly ducked into the shop. Mirio sighed and stopped waving. "Did I scare him…?"

His father reassured him otherwise and continued into the shop as Mirio continue to muse about what he could have done wrong. He eventually went back to work, but still wanted to find meet the raven haired man. By noon, the two of them had gotten nearly two van's worth of supplies and flowers into the shop.

"Mirio? Why don't you go over and buy us a couple of drinks from the cafe? I'd say we deserve it!" His father suggested as he opened a box of gardening magazines. Mirio nodded and gave him a thumbs up.

"Excellent suggestion. I'll be right back!" Mirio grinned and ran off to the coffee shop next door. Just as Mina had told them that morning, there were now four of them working behind the counter. And just his luck, the raven-haired man from before was stepping up to the register just as Mirio was approaching. He held up two fingers as he spoke his order. "I'll get two small black coffees please! For Mirio Togata!"

The man in front of him told him his order and he promptly got the exact amount of change out for him. He noticed there were no other customers in line behind him so he took that chance to chat. "I noticed you this morning. I wanted to introduce myself, but you seemed to be in a rush."

The employee froze for a split second, but Mirio noticed it. "I-I apologize for my behavior this morning-"

Mirio smiled in confusion. Why was he receiving an apology? "It's really no problem! I suppose you have my name now though. I've already met Mina, but I haven't gotten the pleasure of meeting the rest of you guys. That's why I suggested I buy coffee for my dad and I. So I could meet you and see what this place is like!"

It was a couple moments before the flustered man in front of him spoke up again. "It's...It's Tamaki Amajiki."

Tamaki Amajiki...I like that name

Mirio grinned as he walked over to get his coffee. It was clear that his presence was causing Tamaki to feel uncomfortable. "It's very nice to meet you! I hope we can get to know each other some more in the future!"

He, along with Tamaki, hadn't noticed the older woman start to push the kid out from behind the counter. She had a devilish look to her expression. "As a matter of fact, he's just about to go on break!" She exclaimed.

Mirio laughed, not wanting to overstay his welcome. "I'm afraid I actually can't stay. My dad is expecting me back anytime now. Maybe tomorrow, okay?"

He watched Tamaki visibly relax. Mirio waved goodbye as he stepped back outside. He couldn't help the grin that quickly spread across his face as soon as he felt the summer heat hit his skin. The blonde haired man smiled up into the sky.

Tamaki, huh...I hope I can be your friend!

Tamaki sighed as he turned the lock to his apartment, both alarmed and upset that it was already unlocked. He opened the door, expecting the worst, but a shock of red hair quickly eased his worries. It was just his cousin, Kirishima, watching TV on his couch. As the door opened, however, the TV was turned off and Tamaki quickly found himself in the arms of his family.

"Tamaki, you're finally home! I was waiting to eat dinner with you, but I forgot you worked late into the evening. Are you hungry? I brought takeout!"

Kirishima's quick rambling was giving Tamaki a headache, but he couldn't help but smile slightly and nod. He followed the redhead into the kitchen and grabbed a container of takeout while Kirishima took the other and the two of them sat in the pathetic excuse of a dining area that Tamaki had. They barely had started eating before his cousin started grilling him about his day.

"How did it go? How are your coworkers? Is everything still going well?"

"Ah...It was fine. Everyone and Everything is fine...We're actually getting new neighbors…" Tamaki explained, a light blush forming as he thought about the flower shop's new owners. Kirishima was quick to notice it.

"What about these new neighbors? Who are they? Are they cute?" Kirishima asked, and smirked as Tamaki's face grew completely red quickly. The college student tried to keep from choking on his food.

"W-What? N-No way! It's just a father-son duo opening a flower shop next door...I literally just met Mirio today!"

"Ohoho, so you already know his name?" The redhead grinned. He found great pleasure in teasing his cousin, but knew when he was taking things too far. This wasn't too far yet. Especially since he could almost tell by the look on Tamaki's face that this Mirio guy could become a big part of his life. Tamaki fell silent as he ate, but his face was still completely red and flustered. Kirishima didn't say anything more so they could eat, but he wasn't done teasing quite yet. As Tamaki got up to throw his empty container away, the teen spoke up again. "Was it love at first sight~?"

Tamaki froze at the question, but more out of shock. He forced a sigh through his teeth. "You're lucky you have to travel to get here…I get the shower first tonight."

Kirishima wasn't fazed at the passive aggressiveness and just laughed as he cleaned up as well. The two of them turned to video games for a couple hours before Tamaki decided to get up for a shower before he went to sleep. After their nightly routines, and after making sure his cousin was comfortable, he went to lay down himself. One thing still ran through his mind, however.

Why can't I stop thinking about Mirio?

The ending is a bit cheesy and a bit rushed, but it's 1 am and I wanted to try to get this story posted before I went to sleep. I was hoping to make it over 5,000 words, but oh well. If this goes well, I'll see about trying to increase word count. I really would like your feedback, like whether or not you actually like it. I said it before, but I'll say it again: Thank you for reading this!