Nagisa is anxious about an upcoming date. Based off of 'When He Sees Me' from Waitress
Maehara and Fuwa stood behind the counter, completely ignoring their work as they watched Nagisa pace about the shop, their heads moving backwards and forwards in unison as the blunette walked to and fro from one side of the large room to the other, wringing his hands and mumbling under his breath.
"You alright there, Nagisa?" Maehara asked, amber eyes still trained on his frantic-looking coworker slash friend, "you know it's not that big of a deal, right?"
Nagisa paused, swivelling in place so that he could give the blond an incredulous look. He repeated, hands flying everywhere, "Not a big deal?! This is the biggest deal ever! Karma is coming in ten minutes to take me on a date - a date - and you're saying that it's not that big of a deal?!"
"Calm down, Nagisa," Fuwa said, as if she didn't transform into a squealing volcano when she found out that the redhead customer that Nagisa had hit it off with that fateful day had asked the petite pigtailed boy on a date to a local sushi chain and then proceeded to glomp said unsuspecting petite pigtailed boy into a hug as she rattled on about how she was 'so proud of him' and that 'all I'm asking for is to be your maid of honour', "it's not like he hasn't asked you out before. I mean the two of you went to see that Sonic Ninja movie the other day."
"That's completely different," Nagisa exclaimed, "we went to a movie theatre - where you sit in the dark for the majority of the time - to watch a movie that we were too immersed in to actually have a conversation. And then we only spoke for about five minutes before I had to leave because mum called. Now we'll be in a public area where all of his attention will be trained on me."
"Is that a bad thing?" Maehara inquired, ignoring the quiet hiss of 'vile madwoman' that seemed to escape Fuwa's mouth at the mention of Nagisa's mother, "I mean speaking to each other and getting to know each other is one of the best parts of dating."
"You'd know all about dating," Fuwa smirked, "wouldn't you, Womaniser?"
"Former Womaniser," Maehara shot back in offense, "I'll have you know that since dating Isogai, I have become a changed man."
"I sure hope so," Fuwa retorted, pointing a threatening finger at the blond's face, "I swear to god Maehara, if you hurt that lovely Prince Charming of a barista I will hunt you down and end you in ways so bad that not even Ranpo Edogawa would be able to find your body or discover what happened to you."
"Fuwa, if I ever do end up hurting Isogai, you have my permission to end me in any way you wish."
"Guys!" Nagisa yelled, "can we get back to my crisis, please? I mean I've never been on a date before so I wouldn't even know what to expect."
"But isn't that exciting?" Fuwa encouraged, her dark and threatening expression had completely been replaced by her usual starry-eyed adoration of anything that remotely resembled one of her beloved shojou mangas, "finding out everything you possibly could about the other, staring into each other's eyes as you uncover the depths of their soul as you feel yourself falling more and more in love with each other."
They both looked at her as she began swooning with daze.
Maehara raised an eyebrow, "where do you come up with this stuff?"
Fuwa shrugged, "it's not my fault that you two happen to have meet-cutes that are literal shojou material. I mean come on: we're all florists and Maehara's boyfriend works in a coffee shop. At this point, I just hope that I don't get dismissed as a mere side character."
"That makes even less sense."
"It's just - just so scary," Nagisa confessed, head hanging low as he began twiddling with his fingers, "I don't really know that much about him apart from that he likes the same franchise as me. And that he's super smart. It's just so new that I have no idea what to do. I-I like to stick with the things I know, you know, try to minimise the areas where I can make mistakes. When things turn into some big guessing game and you lose control of the situation, things can turn ugly, trust me on that."
"But it isn't a complete guessing game," Fuwa said, "you know that you like him and that he likes you."
"What if he doesn't?" Nagisa argued, "what if he only likes whatever version of me that he thought he saw that day we first met? What if tonight, during our date, he realises that he made a terrible mistake and that I'm really not whatever he thought I was that interested him? What if he's disappointed when he knows what I'm really like?"
"Hey, hey, Nagisa," Fuwa consoled. In the midst of the male's anxiety-driven panic, she had walked towards him and now had the palms of her hands laying flat on his shoulders, their firm grips grounding him in an attempt to prevent him from proceeding further with his emotional tangent, "calm down. You're getting worked up over nothing. Remember he asked you out
"But what if there's something wrong with him?" Nagisa gasped as a new idea dawned on him, "I mean come on, have you met me? I'm not much of a catch and I'm certainly not that interesting. What if - what if he's some sadistic psychopath that is only asking me out to lure me away into an abandoned alley and then kill me so that he can sell my organs in the black market or something? He could've planned this moment from the first day we saw each other. Oh my god, I knew I was being too reckless."
"Holy hell, man," Maehara rolled his eyes, "I can't believe I'm saying this because you're like the most chill person I know but you're acting worse than Fuwa. You really need to reel back on those crime dramas - not everyone's some crazy unsub from Criminal Minds. He's a high schooler just like us. I really don't think he's planning on killing you."
"You never know," Nagisa shot back, "I mean with the TV shows and current media we've got nowadays anything's possible. He could be some sort of heartless sadist. He - he."
Nagisa cut himself off when his eyes caught onto the bunches of sunflowers that stood proudly next to the pink cala lilies by the window. Walking up to them, he carefully picked one up and gently traced the circumference of the disk florets, his mouth curling upwards at the memory of Karma entering the store the next day.
"I got your bouquet," he had said, blushing furiously at the wide grin on the other's face.
"Really?" Karma asked, "I didn't get a text so I thought it might have been misplaced."
"I don't really text people I don't know that well."
"Hmm, I see. Well, what if I told you three things about myself? Would that be enough for us to have a textual relationship?"
Nagisa's blush deepened, both at the redhead's words and at the way his heart seemed to beat faster. The redhead placed his elbows on the counter and leaned forward, "what kind of three things?"
"Well, one, I want to study Economics in University so that I can become a bureaucrat. Two, I wasn't kidding about the offer to the movies. Or with maths. Or about those flowers because Asano's face was the funniest thing I saw all week. And three, I think that you really know your flowers."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It's just what I meant when I sent you that bouquet with the forget-me-nots," Karma smiled, "there's just something about you that's pretty unforgettable."
"He could be the most amazing person I've ever met," Nagisa whispered, "which is weird because I've never felt like this about someone. Especially not someone I barely know."
"But Nagisa," Fuwa said, "you're like really good at reading and analysing people so shouldn't you trust your instincts. They've never been wrong before, right?"
"I don't know. He's just so amazing and smart and brilliant and he makes me feel things I can't even explain even though we've only known each other for like a week and he's like a straight A student and I'm just barely passing my tests. I'm not used to not understanding my feelings and I'm just so scared that I'll drive him away. He's funny and knows how to make me laugh and I feel like - I don't know - like I don't need to be scared. I barely know him but I want to know more and there may be a chance that he does too but what if when he knows more he doesn't want to know more anymore. When you're on a date you're supposed to be open, but what if the only way I can be open is if I get broken and then he realises that I'm a complete mess and by that time it's too late to put me back together," he tucked the bright yellow flower back into the basket with the rest of its species, "I always look at things rationally, I try to get as much information as possible but right now everything seems irrational and I don't know what to do."
Fuwa walked up to him and pivoted him around so that she could stare right into his eyes, "you be yourself. Your usual kind, loving amazing self that me and Maehara and Sugino and everyone else knows and loves. You go there and you have fun and if Karma suddenly develops insanity and realises that he doesn't like you - which will not happen by the way - then I will kick his redheaded butt, you hear me. I'll even steal one of Sugino's baseball bats so that I can beat him to death, if you want."
"I'll help," Maehara piped up, "so will Isogai and Yada and Kurahashi and everyone else at The Busy Bean."
"Wait," Nagisa turned to him, "the coffee shop knows about this?!"
"Yep," Maehara nodded with no hint of shame, "they were interested in their favourite customer's love life and I was only too happy to provide. They ship you guys by the way but will kill Karma if he decides to hurt you."
"You know what," Nagisa shook his head, "I'm not even going to question it."
"Just have fun," Fuwa reiterated, brushing his shoulders, "you'll be fine."
"Looks like you calmed down on time," Maehara quipped, "because I see a little silhouetto of a man."
Nagisa and Fuwa turned their heads towards the giant transparent double doors to see Karma sauntering up to the store whilst texting on his phone. Readying himself, Nagisa took a few deep breaths before straightening himself and walking towards the front of the counter. With a look behind him so that he could see his coworkers' thumbs up, he stared straight at the door as he waited for it to open. The bell rang as Karma walked in.
"Hey, Nagisa."
"Uhh, hi, Karma."
"So, you ready for dinner?"
"I sure am."
And so the two of them left the store, side by side.
Fuwa turned to the boy beside her, wiping away a fake tear, "Ahh, they grow up so fast."
"They sure do."
"We should go follow them."
"Fuwa, no."
"Fuwa, yes."
