AN: Hello, hello! It's me, again! This chapter has a special guest, and he will also be starring in my ending author's note. Hope you like this chapter!
Pumpkin Spice Latte
"Ha! I came in without a scratch!" Tanaka bragged. "Try to beat that!"
"I came in without seeing any!" Hinata grinned. "What about you, Kageyama-kun?"
"I also came in without seeing any!" Kageyama growled. He glared at Hinata, whom followed likewise. They locked their menacing gazes.
Hinata lifted his arms up in a position to start a brawl. "Wanna fight?!"
Right then, they boys heard a jingle meaning that someone had entered the building. They turned to the front and found Kai entering the restaurant, a terrified look on his face.
"Hahaha!" Tanaka shouted. "Did you expect to see those crows, Ki-chan?"
"Crows?" Kai muttered. He stared at the boys, fear still lingering in his eyes. "I thought death decided to take me early." He shuddered when he remembered the black haze of feathers fly around him as he walked toward the building.
"Oh, is that Foxx-san?"
Kai looked behind the group of boys to see a girl walk up to him. She had black hair worn in a ponytail and adorned a pair of glasses to frame beautiful dark eyes. She smiled as she found her way to Kai.
"Hello, I'm Kiyoko Shimizu," the girl announced. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Kai studied her quickly, eyeing her from her head to her feet. I'd rather go back out there than talk to her. "Foxx Kai. I'll be in your care." He bowed, glad to look away for just a moment.
Kiyoko made her greetings and left the boys. Tanaka smirked and called Nishinoya over.
"Isn't she a beauty?" Tanaka asked. "Aren't you embarrassed that you share the same light as her from now on?"
"She's as beautiful as the sky on a moonlit night!" Nishinoya added.
The two boys studied Kai's face then growled. Kai might not look embarrassed, but he looked completely scared. How could he be scared of such a beautiful girl?!
"Hey!" Nishinoya shouted. "What makes you think you can act like that in front of Kiyoko-san?!"
"Hey, don't be so mean," Sugawara said, walking up to them along with Daichi. "We don't need you guys fighting."
"Sorry," Kai said. He looked down, feeling embarrassed and upset with himself. "Sorry I'm weird."
"Don't feel so bad." Daichi smiled and pat Kai's head. He saw Kai's flustered face and realized what he had done. "Um, how old are you?"
"I'm turning twenty-one soon," Kai mumbled, face red.
Daichi quickly lifted his hand away from Kai's head and turned red from the awkward situation. What a terrible moment for both Kai and Daichi. The younger-looking twenty-year-old politely escaped the situation and headed towards the back while the older-looking eighteen-year-old went out to scare away the crows.
Tanaka and Nishinoya chuckled at their dilemma, then were told off by Ennoshita. Everybody quickly returned to their stations before they could get in trouble.
"Ki-chan!" Hinata called from outside the break room. "Ki-chan, Sugawara is looking for you. He will show you around."
"O- oh," Kai said, still not accustomed to the new nickname, "thanks, Hinata-kun." Kai exited the break room and went out to the floor looking for Sugawara. Sugawara smiled at Kai, and again Kai rubbed at his eyes. Kai hoped this would end well.
"Ki-kun, you'll be out on the floor with Daichi and Kiyoko," Sugawara explained. "One of them would have took you around, but they're a bit busy at the moment. I'll be showing you around since I sometimes work on the floor." He paused, searching for a response from Kai. Kai nodded and Sugawara continued. "You know how it usually works, right? You find them a place to sit and write down their order. Once you've done that, you go to the kitchen," Sugawara walked to the back where the kitchen was, "and tell them the order. Stick the order here and you can continue orders until the kitchen calls you back. Take the order back to the correct customer and all that."
Kai nodded. He knew how this worked, it wasn't like he always stuck himself in his room. He's been to restaurants before. "I don't know how the cashier works, though."
Sugawara showed him to the cashier in the front and taught him how to work it. After explaining, he smiled at Kai. "Is there anything else you need help with?"
Kai rubbed at his eyes. "No, thank you."
"Well, there are some things I want to ask you first before the day starts," Sugawara said.
"Go ahead."
"Yesterday when we were introducing each other... do you know Tsukishima-kun?"
Kai paused, wondering how to explain. "Some time ago his brother and I hung out together. Not as much now, though. We've both been busy."
"So you know his brother," Sugawara said. The information was new to him. He hesitated before going on. "And yesterday when you were talking to Suzuki-san and today when you were talking to Kiyoko-san... what was that about?"
Kai gulped. He didn't like this topic. "Well, I'm... kind of... weird, I guess."
Sugawara stared at him, suggesting he go on. "What do you mean?"
"I..." Kai absolutely did not like this subject. "I'm not comfortable..." His voice faltered. He was too scared to continue.
"You're not comfortable with...?"
Kai mumbled something, Sugawara unable to grasp it. Sugawara chuckled blandly, saying: "Could you please speak up?"
"I'm not comfortable with attractive people..." Kai mumbled, blushing. "It's not like..." What am I trying to deny? There's nothing I can deny!
Sugawara tried to hide his shock, but it came out in one breath. "Why would you be uncomfortable? Isn't that a bit offensive to others, then? What caused this?" Sugawara clasped a hand over his mouth and looked at Kai worriedly. What would he think of me now?
"I'm sorry!" Kai apologized. He bowed a full ninety degrees. "It's not like I want to inconvenience anyone!"
"No! No!" Sugawara waved his hands in a surrendering way. "It's my fault for asking so many questions!"
Kai straightened up, a pink cloud of embarrassment flooding his cheeks. "I never knew this kind of thing would happen... I never wanted it to happen, either. I can get really nervous around people who... sparkle."
"That explains a lot, actually," Sugawara chuckled. He looked at Kai with his beautiful amber eyes and smiled.
Kai blinked and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. Sugawara looked at him strangely and Kai tried to explain. "Well, you are kind of... too."
Ah. So that's why... He thinks I'm attractive. That's kind of nice- Wait a minute! I can't grow conceited from this! "Thanks, I guess," Sugawara said. "Are you sure you can handle being on the floor? You might encounter those kinds of people."
"I can always work in the kitchen," Kai said. He put on a hardworking face. "But I'm fine on the floor if most of our customers are average looking!"
I understand why he wouldn't want to tell anyone about this, Sugawara thought. It sounds pretty offensive whether or not you know of his condition. "As long as you can continue working, Ki-kun."
"Thank you, Sugawara-san," Kai said.
"Just Sugawara is fine," Sugawara said. "Even Koushi is fine!"
"Thank you, Sugawara," Kai mumbled.
"So that's why," Daichi said. "But it sounds offensive when you think about it."
"I know," Sugawara added. "He even said—well, implied—that I was attractive, too."
"Ah! I get it!" Tanaka let out a strange laugh. "He was entranced by Kiyoko-san's beauty!"
"You really aren't listening, are you?" Tsukishima muttered. "He said that he was uncomfortable not entranced."
"You guys do realize," Noya pointed out, "that it means he doesn't see most of us as attractive, right?"
A dark wave of depression spread throughout the group until Sugawara spoke up.
"But it's only towards people who 'sparkle', I guess. That's what Kai said." Sugawara tried to lighten the atmosphere. "So you might be attractive, but you don't... 'sparkle'?"
"Thanks, Suga," Daichi mumbled. "But we're fine."
Sugawara joined in the dark wave of depression and walked to his station. The jingle from the door rang out, and Sugawara welcomed them to the restaurant. He led them to a table next to a window and received their order. He went over to the kitchen and told the chefs what the order was.
The morning was slow, despite it being a weekend. Only a few groups of customers came for the first few hours. Usually the place would have more customers, but not too many that it would be overbearing. Some of their usual customers were here: an elderly couple sat in a booth close to the entrance, a young woman sat at a table working as she drank a cup of coffee, a middle-aged man sat in a booth looking over papers, and two mothers sat at a table discussing their families.
"Hey, Ki-chan," Hinata called, "can you take care of the next customers coming in?" Kai nodded and headed towards the entrance.
Just as he arrived at the door, two boys shuffled into the building. One was a teenage boy with spiky black hair wearing a blue t-shirt and gray sweatpants. The other was... oh no.
Kai made a full-on inspection on the other boy. He was definitely around eighteen, about the same age as the other boy. He was taller than Kai by almost exactly ten centimeters, and Kai could see that he had a well build. His hair was swept upwards and a beautiful chocolate brown. His eyes were a corresponding color and were happily shining as his mouth was turned up in a smile. He wore a grey short sleeve showing off toned muscles. He had one hand in the pocket of his shorts, fishing out a wallet. He turned to the other boy and spoke to him. "It's on me, Iwa-chan."
"Good," the other boy said. "I don't want to be paying for you today."
Kai realized he was staring and shook his head. "W- welcome! Follow me to your seats, please." He walked over to a booth next to the window. He gestured to the teens to take a seat and handed two menus to them. "What would you like to start out with?" He watched as the boys looked through the menu quickly.
"Can I have a pumpkin spice latte?" the boy going by "Iwa-chan" said. Kai wrote down the order.
"Can I have the same thing?" the sparkling boy said. "Also, can I have the strawberry cake?"
Kai put a number two beside the latte and added the milk bread. "Alright. Is that it?" The boys said no, and Kai made his way to the kitchen. Once he entered, he sighed and yelled out the order. He placed the order in a clip and helped Hinata wash some dishes.
"How's it going, Ki-chan?" Hinata asked.
"Um..." Kai remembered the good-looking boy and glowered. He clicked his tongue. "Fine," he said sharply.
Hinata let out a nervous laugh. "What happened?"
"Nothing happened."
Hinata could practically feel the menacing demeanor from Kai. Did something happen with one of the customers? "You can always tell me."
"No, it's fine," Kai mumbled, trying to block the boy from his mind. He felt annoyed by the boy's aura. It oozed with popularity. He heard the order being said that it was finished and cleaned off his hands. He brought the order out to the boys.
"So Tobio-chan is here, huh?" the good-looking boy muttered. "I wonder where he is. Do you think I can-"
"No," the friend immediately said.
"Eh?"
"Don't even think about spying on them."
They seem like nice friends, Kai thought. He placed the two cups down and a plate of cake down on the table. He left, still thinking about the two friends. What was the brown-haired boy up to? Was he planning on doing something to Kageyama-kun?
Kai looked back and clicked his tongue before entering the kitchen again. What am I getting myself into?
AN: I really wanted to update this earlier, but I'm really lazy... -_- Oh well. Have some fresh cookies Yamaguchi baked! 🍪ヽ(´ω)ﾉ.+ﾟ*｡:ﾟ
I kind of lost all motivation to write, but I hope I feel better.
What will happen with Oikawa? Will I ever get to writing up some ships? Maybe you'll find out in the next chapter: Blueberry Muffins.