AN: I'm eating my late b-day cake as I write this.


Chocolate Cake

"Foxx-san."

Kai turned to Asahi and gulped. It would be mean to say that he wasn't attractive, but it would be a lie to say that he wasn't scary. He had stubble for crying out loud! Kai wasn't even close to looking like twenty. "Yes?"

"Do you need help with those?"

The young man looked down at the plates in his hands and shook his head. "Thank you, but I've got it. You have work, too." Kai continued to the dishwasher. He quickly placed the plates in the sink.

"Hey!" Noya jumped over to Kai. "You need help? I'm all done for the day."

"I'm fine," Kai answered with a small sigh, "really."

"I'll help, anyway," Noya invited himself. "You'll get done quicker."

Kai nodded hesitantly and let Noya take over the water shower. Kai moved over to the operation lever to load the wet dishes into the washer.

"Hey, Ki-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you get a job here?"

His hands stopped, and Kai searched for an answer. He couldn't say that he was being forced to by his mom. It would make him sound pathetic. "I just needed the money."

Noya looked at him and grinned. "You're poor."

Kai reddened slightly. "It's close to my apartment. I didn't like going outside a lot when I was younger."

"Do you like it now?"

He almost answered immediately: No. But... it wasn't the truth. It wasn't that he particularly hated going outside in general. Actually, when he was younger he would love going outside to play in parks whether sun or rain. He also loved going outside shopping even if what he was going out to get wasn't for him. He loved going out to a restaurant to eat with his family or friends. Kai loved the outside. Saying that he did like going outside when he was young, though, would arouse suspicion and more questions. How come he didn't miss going outside when he shut himself in? "...Sorry."

A confused look clouded Noya's face, and he turned his head to Kai who lowered the operation lever. "What do you mean?"

"Aren't you a cute boy!"

Kai shook his head and smiled reassuringly at Noya. "I guess I like going out now." He could tell that Noya didn't really buy it. But his answer was enough as the boy grinned and washed the excess food and sauce off another plate.

"Just a couple more plates and we can dry them off," Kai said.

Noya nodded.


Kai sighed out of relief, leaning on the broom and dust pan he was holding. He finally finished cleaning up for the night. He dragged the broom and dust pan over to the back of the building towards the closet of cleaning supplies.

He blushed when he remembered what had happened earlier that morning. He really needed to forget that moment. Every time he came close to the closet, Hinata and Kageyama's shocked reaction would replay in his until he found something to distract his mind. He would take over washing the dishes to forget. Kai tried to shake away the embarrassing thought. But more importantly... those two were going out?

Were they? It would be a logical assumption. After all, neither of them looked like they were hesitating or provoked. They looked very... passionate. Kai almost hit himself for thinking that way. At least Hinata and Kageyama were happy together. The thought of them together didn't sound too out there. Though they argued a lot, they were good friends. Kai chuckled when he remembered what Hinata had said to Oikawa earlier.

Kai was now really curious. Is dating your co-workers allowed here? How long have Hinata and Kageyama been together? Who confessed? Where did they confess? Who knew they liked the other first? Do they really enjoy dating the other? How much did one like the other?

He stopped the questions from overflowing. Kai didn't want to come off as rude the next time he could talk to them. He opened the door to the closet.

Then he closed it.


Kai slouched in the bathroom stall, hoping no one would find him. Hoping he wouldn't have to face anybody. Hoping that he would die of hypothermia since the air conditioning worked too well in the bathrooms. And if that didn't work he could just flush himself down the toilet.

"Ki-kun! Come out! Please! We need to talk!"

Fists banged against the stall door. That was what happened the entire five minutes Kai sulked in the bathroom stall. More absurd thoughts about dying. More yelling and coaxing out the stall.

"If you don't get out, I'll kick the door down!"

"You can't do that..."

But immediately after the last sentence was said, the door opened and slammed against the wall of the stall. There stood Kai's death.

Kai sobbed. "DON'T KILL ME!"

"We're not going to kill you," Sugawara said.

Kai looked up and sniveled when he saw Daichi in front of him. "What?"

Daichi extended his hand and helped Kai stand up. Kai gulped when he stood face to face with Daichi.

"I'm not going to kill you," Daichi said.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so terribly sorry," Kai whispered. Suga walked up to try and console him. "I'm so sorry I interrupted." Suga tried to hold the laughter back, but erupted in fits of it.

"That's what you say when we were obviously making out at the wrong place and time?" Suga continued laughing, holding his stomach.

"It's not your fault you didn't know it was the wrong place and time," Kai whispered.

"Su-" Daichi wanted to stop Sugawara from laughing, but turned his focus back to Kai. "We just want to talk."

"Actually, we're to blame since no one here can date co-workers," Suga explained. "We were dating even before we had a job here, but when we found out that this place prohibited it, we pretended we weren't seeing each other."

"Why couldn't you have chosen a different place to work?"

Suga shrugged. "By the time we figured out that we weren't allowed to go out, it was too late. We were already hired."

"You have to promise not to tell Suzuki-san!" Daichi pleaded. "Or anyone else!"

"We even had to pretend we broke up just in case students from our school visited someday," Suga added.

"But..." Kai wondered, "why didn't one of you get a different job? Or quit once you thought it was a good time Or-"

"You don't know what we've been through!" Daichi yelled. Suga and Kai stared at him before Daichi cleared his throat and continued. "If we left now, do you know how much chaos this restaurant would be in? We're the only ones besides Ennoshita that can actually handle these guys!"

Kai gulped and considered the story. "I guess I understand," he replied.

"Thanks, Ki-kun," Suga said.

The three walked out the bathroom in awkward silence. Sugawara and Daichi made their goodbyes and left before Kai. He waved to them as they exited the building. Once they left, Kai sat down at a table.

Twice! In one day! He couldn't believe it. He almost wanted to quit. But that would seem selfish of him. How many of these guys are actually dating? How many of them will he walk into during this job? Kai wanted to give up. He really did. He never liked the idea of keeping secrets, though he was a natural at doing so. No one asks too many questions if you're usually a quiet and polite person. Well, Kai couldn't exactly describe himself as quiet.

Okay, he thought. It won't be that bad. It's not like I'll end up in a jail cell for keeping this a secret. And it's not like it will kill someone. I can endure this.


"Ki-san?"

Kai looked over to the group of kids. It was the usual group of high school first years which included Kageyama, Tsukishima, Hinata, Hitoka, and Yamaguchi who called out to him. "Yes?" Kai realized how many times people have asked for him ever since yesterday. They all asked him different kinds of questions like what he did at home or in his spare time.

"When's your birthday?" Yamaguchi asked.

"July seventeen."

"A summer birthday," Hinata said with a grin. "What do you usually do on your birthday?"

Kai pondered over his birthdays when he was a kid. "Well, when I was a kid my dad would come to Japan with a strawberry shortcake and celebrate." He then thought about when he got a bit older: birthdays eleven, twelve, and...

"Would you like to play a game of soccer with us?"

He skipped thirteen and went straight to fifteen. "When I was in high school, I would go out with my family and buy the cake at a bakery and eat at home. Now, I just go out to buy a single piece of strawberry shortcake for myself but..." He grumbled at the thought, "last year they ran out and I had to settle with the only cake they had: chocolate."

"You really don't like chocolate, huh..." Yamaguchi commented.

"I just don't like chocolate in a cake," Kai said. "That's why I ended up giving it to a friend."

"Tsukishima likes strawberry shortcake, too!" Hinata added. He pointed to the taller boy who scowled at him.

"What cake do the senpai like?" Yamaguchi asked. "I don't think they ever told any of us."

"Maybe we should ask Tanaka-senpai," Hitoka suggested.

Kai almost laughed. The entire time they were talking, Kageyama had just stared at Yamaguchi, Hinata, Hitoka, and Kai, looking for a suitable time to add his own opinions. "I think," Kai said, "that Tanaka-kun looks like he would only eat meat. He seems like he'd rather eat a meal full of barbecue than eat something sweet."

"He does look like it," Hinata said, laughing. "But even Kageyama likes sweets. He always drinks milk and eats yogurt!"

Kai chuckled. "Ever since I've started working here, the only questions I've been getting revolved around food somehow. Is that all you guys talk about?"

"What else is there to talk about?!" Hitoka and Hinata shouted.

"They're... very enthusiastic about food," Yamaguchi explained to Kai.

The young man looked at the high schoolers strangely. "You guys are in high school. Surely there's something else to talk about like what college you'll be going to or what job you want."

"We do," Hinata said. "But we don't care what will happen because we'd rather talk about our favorite food right now."

Kai shook his head. "So you'd rather talk about food than your worries, huh?"

Hitoka and Hinata yelled again. "It's not that!"

The blonde girl continued. "It's just that the future only takes up the rest of our lives, but for the entirety of our lives we need food!"

Kai almost retorted back, but he didn't see a reason why. "That's a very sound motto."

"Isn't it?" Hinata grinned. "We came up with it on our own."

The group of first year high schoolers continued talking about their special food. Kai smiled. It was almost as if he could relive a lot of memories with these guys, but make even more. Making more memories and being able to smile with friends... Well, if Kai could call them that. Honestly, he didn't want to embarrass himself and ask. But he knew that this would be a fun yet tiresome experience.

A ring of the bell echoed, and the group turned to the entrance. Tsukishima's face contorted into one of annoyance. Hinata gasped enthusiastically.


AN: EAT SOME CAKE WITH ME, YOU GUYS. 🍰 Oh, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Who just entered the restaurant? Is it another pair of troublesome high schoolers? Find out in the next chapter: Apple Pie.