Welcome back to smart people are bad at feelings!
Ema seriously regretted sending that text. She brushed her teeth with deep frustration and a heap of cinnamon toothpaste. She couldn't fathom why any human would wake up so early to send a complete stranger such odd and annoying messages. Ema was not a morning person, and if that Chemistry Idiot was, in fact, a morning person, that just gave her one more reason to dislike him.
Her meeting with her advisor, Dr. Takeda wasn't until 10 that morning, but Chemistry Idiot's text had woken her up several hours before her alarm clock, and now she had time to kill. In dire need of caffeine, Ema set out for her favorite café near campus. The tinkling bell of the door felt like coming home as the strong scent of coffee and cinnamon hit her nostrils, her favorite scents.
"Em-chaaaan!" A familiar voice called out. She couldn't help but smile. Sips Café, outside of her office, was where Ema spent the majority of her waking hours, and her favorite barista was poised and ready to make her day brighter, or at least more caffeinated.
"Oikawa, thank god it's you this morning." She walked over to the counter and pressed her face directly into the cold marble.
"Rough morning?" He cocked an eyebrow at her behavior before giving her hair a quick fuss. "I'll get your regular going, babe." Ema mumbled a groggy 'thank you' and moved to her favorite table by the window. She was barely cognizant of the world around her before the much stronger scent of coffee flitted past her face. "One large Americano with an extra shot of espresso. And of course, cinnamon." The barista had removed his apron and plopped himself down in the seat across from Ema. Oikawa Toru was Ema's caffeine god and here he was once more to save the morning. "Now, tell me about those bags under your eyes. Another late night with that pretty nose in a book?"
"I wish." Ema snorted. She took a long pull of her drink, letting the heat and bitterness wash over her. No matter how many times Ema tried to replicate his work at home, Oikawa could not be beaten in the coffee game.
"Oh? Has my little Em-chan spread her wings and left her library for another man's bed?" He waggled a finger at her.
"If you're implying what I think you are, I'm not sure Iwaizumi would be happy to hear you say that. Besides, I don't have time for that shit. This is my comps year and I need to be laser focused." She was met by two annoyed brown eyes.
"This is why you'll end up alone with fifty cats, Em-chan." Oikawa warned. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."
"Oh please. I can think about that again once I'm settled with a job." She huffed at his mother-hen attitude and took more sips of her coffee. Eyes closed, focused on the warming sensation of the drink, Ema missed his sharp eyes giving her a thorough and calculating sweep.
"Never mind all that, time for a palm reading. You're due." He gave her a feverish grin and snatched her right hand and held it, palm up, in his own hands. Ema rolled her eyes but indulged him nonetheless. She couldn't say that she actually believed in Oikawa's latest fascination (when they first became friends, it was aliens) but always gave him an attentive ear because that's what friends do.
"Now, I've been practicing with Iwa-chan, but he doesn't have a lot of patience so I haven't done a lot of work on deciphering much past the head and heart lines." He traced the creases in Ema's palm with his long elegant index finger, humming as if her entire past, present, and future were now his for the appraisal. "Deep head line, which explains your need to be buried in books at all times...hmmm have your hands been itchy lately Em-chan?"
"Er, maybe? It's spring and I have seasonal allergies." She shrugged, thinking that Iwaizumi actually did have a lot of patience to put up with this nonsense.
"Oh! That explains your heart line, then. I see big romantic changes." He moved his finger back and forth along the crease directly underneath her fingers, his eyebrows dancing up and down. Ema quickly pulled her hand back and wrapped it around her coffee cup, palm still buzzing from the movement of his finger.
"That's the last thing I need right now." She grumbled. "I don't know how Iwaizumi puts up with you."
"Boyfriends come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and temperaments, my dear Em-chan." He winked and rose from his chair. "My break is over, but if you need a second cup, I'll be here until late afternoon." Oikawa blew her a kiss and sauntered over to the counter to help his co-workers as another rush of students passed through for their morning buzz. Ema sat and enjoyed her coffee for as long as she could spare before heading out for her meeting. Hopefully her exam preparations were progressing to Dr. Takeda's standards, otherwise she was in for one awkward meeting.
She gave absolutely no thought to Oikawa's palm reading. Not one single thought.
Kuroo checked his phone once more. No response. He wasn't entirely surprised that History Girl had ignored his texts, but he had hoped to get at least one reply. Just one would be enough for him to carve out space for a conversation, to wiggle his way in and to get her to open up; the strange books on her desk, the carnivorous plant, the stuffed owl were all puzzle pieces that he was trying to fit together without a reference picture. She was too damn intriguing to just give up on. He thought about going back to her office, but worried that would be too forward. Instead, he opted to mope on a bench in the humanities quad. He flipped through the pages of his lab book, scanning absent-mindedly over the highlighted sections. Part of him wanted to fade into the background and just observe her in her natural surroundings.
He had little time to make his choice as movement from the department entrance caught his eye. It's her, he thought gleefully. Excitement fell by the wayside as he observed her red, bleary eyes and slightly quivering bottom lip. Kuroo watched as she took deep breaths and clenched and unclenched her fists. He knew damn well that grad school was hard and it wasn't uncommon for people in any department to shed tears, whether it was over work, teaching, or never-ending pressure from a mentor. He wasn't immune, either. Kuroo thought back to a particularly painful memory from his first year, receiving the lowest grade he'd ever gotten on an exam. It felt like the end of the world, especially since his fellowship was directly tied to academic progress.
It happened without Kuroo even realizing it. His body rose from the bench as if it were controlled by someone else, and before he could think clearly about what he was about to do, he walked over to a still-distraught History Girl. Her eyes seemed far away, and she didn't notice how he easily fell in stride with her while walking.
"Need a coffee?" He offered, forcing her eyes to focus and come back down to Earth.
"Fucking hell." She grumbled after realizing who was sticking their 'idiot rooster-haired' head in her face. "What do you want?" Ema had been guarding her tone throughout her meeting with Dr. Takeda, but now, out in the open air of the humanities quad, she let the disappointment and venom course through her.
"You look like shit. Thought you might want to get a coffee." He shrugged.
##
Ema wasn't entirely sure how her day could get any worse. It had started beautifully with a perfect coffee from Sips, but had taken a nosedive in her meeting with her advisor.
"Your progress is far too slow. In order to be ready for the comprehensive exams in three months, you need to be farther along into your reading list."
Even though Dr. Takeda was generally affable and encouraging, he also never minced words when the situation called for it; her advisor's words had stung. Ema knew she was falling behind. With classes, teaching, and exam reading, it seemed impossible to not fall behind. The new semester had barely started, and Ema knew things would only continue to get more intense as spring moved into summer. So when she finished her meeting, all Ema wanted to do was crawl into her bed and shove a pillow into her face.
Kuroo standing outside of the history department building was a most unwelcome sight.
But, he promised coffee. Coffee. If there was anything that Ema could think of in this world that might make her feel slightly better, it would be coffee. So, begrudgingly, she agreed and led the way on the well-worn path back to Sips for a second time that day.
The pair walked in silence, Ema still attempting to regain composure from her meeting, and Kuroo doing his best to give her the time and space to do so. She slowly came back to life as the scent of her favorite spot permeated the air even in the open street. Kuroo held open the door as she all but plowed her way into the café, on a war-path to the counter where Oikawa stood, grinning like a fool.
"Oh? Twice in one day? Em-chan, you really are testing my stamina." He cooed, eyeing Kuroo up and down, who gave a confused but cheerful smile back. Ema rolled her eyes, hoping he missed Oikawa's blatant insinuation.
"Shut it, Trashykawa. I'm here so often I practically pay your rent." She retorted. He waved her off, continuing to ogle over her shoulder. "I need a usual. Oh, and uh, are you going to get anything?" She asked Kuroo, who was standing behind her. Quite close to her back, actually.
"Whatever her usual is, I'll try that." He purred in Oikawa's direction. He definitely picked up what Trashykawa threw down, Ema reasoned.
"You have good taste." The barista winked, leaning heavily over the counter.
"If you two are done flirting, I'm going to sit down."
Ema and Kuroo sat at a small table by the window, and he smiled at the sight of her coming back to life with a few sips of her drink.
"wie schmeckt der Coffee süße, Lieblicher als tausend Küsse."[1] Ema hummed into her to-go cup, her eyes closed in order to better savor the bittersweet smell of coffee and cinnamon. Oikawa really knew what he was doing with espresso.
"Uh, is that even Japanese?" Kuroo laughed, unable to make heads or tails of what she had just said. Ema's face grew pink as she realized that she had actually spoken out loud.
"U-uh it's German."
"You know German?" He asked, astonished.
"A bit. Though my language exam for the department is in French. German is actually really pretty." She sounded as if she had had this argument before, and it made Kuroo laugh again.
"So how many languages do you know?." Kuroo was ready to slot another puzzle piece into place.
"Including Japanese, four."
"You're pretty impressive, you know." He replied, earning another dusting of pink across Ema's cheeks. Kuroo was impressed at just how quickly the coffee allowed her to open up. Definitely making a mental note of that. "So why were you freaking out earlier?" Ema sighed deeply and stared at her hands.
"Normal grad student breakdown." She looked away and shrugged, hoping to quickly move on from the meeting. Besides, Kuroo was still practically a stranger and she wasn't about to go blabbing her entire life story.
"Mmm." He pursed his lips and gave her a knowing look. "Well, anyway. I'm still mad about that grade you gave me." His tone was lighter, more playful as his long index finger poked the air in Ema's direction. Were his hands always that big? she wondered.
"You should have read the prompt better. You had no thesis statement." Ema responded dryly. "People tend to forget that the core of historical writing is to have an argument. You need to convince the reader why the claim you're making is solid. You just regurgitated facts."
"So it's more like an experiment than I realized. In the lab you need a hypothesis, that's basically a thesis, right?"
Before she launched into a full diatribe over the differences between different styles of academic writing, Ema stopped. What am I doing? Alarm bells rang in her ears.
She cleared her throat and looked down at the table. This man was a stranger. Even if he were the kind type of stranger (he had bought her coffee) it was not in her nature to open up so easily to someone brand new. The realization that she had, in fact, begun to do just that made her feel uneasy, a feeling not unlike dread pooling in her stomach.
"Erm, I should go. I have office hours." Ema rose from her seat with a start while nervously laughing. Quickly, before Kuroo could make a retort, she had her bag slung over her shoulder and was walking out the door.
Pairs well with: Coffee Cantata - Second Aria, (Ei! Wie schmecht der Coffee süße…) by Johann Sebastian Bach
[1] "How sweet coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses," Lines sung by Liesgen in Bach's Coffee Cantata (Second Aria), 1732-5
Next chapter is heavy on introspection and idiots struggling with feelings.