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Chapter Two: It's Not You, It's Him
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Jin had seen many a strange sight in his life, but he didn't know what to make of the lad that worked at the bookshop. He had tried wrapping his brain around it several times, but he never came around to understanding where he had gone wrong. He had hoped to finally hear the lad say more than a quick murmur of his coffee order, but that certainly did not happen. The lad at the bookshop was an odd one, that was for sure.
The next day, Jin went back to the bookshop on his lunch break. The lad was looking down at the item he was scanning as the bell above the door chimed. No doubt intending to greet a customer entering the store, the lad looked up, saw that it was him coming in, and then quickly closed his mouth without saying anything. Jin grinned in hello, but the lad had already returned to completing the transaction.
As he waited for the lad's register to free up, Jin pretended to look through a small cart of heavily-discounted books situated by the front door. They were very old books with nicks and tears on their blank covers. The books weren't worth anything of value, but someone might buy one as a prop or for a craft project or maybe even to read. Jin opened one up out of curiosity, but the sentence he read just went on and on and didn't make any sense, so he stopped reading partway. It was on some nonsense of Man's hubris leading to their downfall. Why breaking a bone in their arm was going to make a man fall down quicker than breaking a leg bone Jin couldn't fathom.
Finally, the lad was without a customer. Jin picked up a book off the cart and made his way up to the counter. The lad had taken two steps away, saw the book in Jin's hand, and reluctantly returned to his place behind the register.
"How ya keepin'?" Jin asked, just as friendly as he could be.
Once again, the lad was silent and stared up at him. The lad's throat muscles clenched as he roughly swallowed his air.
People weren't normally uncomfortable around Jin, and if they were, it was never for long. He wished that he knew how to make the lad not feel that way toward him. Whatever he was doing, he would certainly stop if he knew what the problem was. Just the sight of him seemed to make him nervous though. Some sort of misunderstanding between them had to be it. If they just had a chat, Jin knew that all would be fair and grand, and they'd get on well.
"I'd like to buy this—" Jin realized that he had picked up a 1970's crock pot cookbook. He didn't own a crock pot. He didn't even know what a crock pot was. He had just wanted to break the ice between them. He wasn't asking the lad to do anything more than his job. No jokes, no questions, no fooling around, just the regular back and forth between cashier and customer. It was a better start than nothing.
And the lad hid in the employee-only area again. The lad had hung his head as he hurried past the owner of the bookshop, who stood by the open doorway and observed their interaction. Jin met the redheaded fellow's stare, his too green eyes rapidly figuring out everything about him and giving Jin no hint whether or not he had come to a favorable decision about him. He seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn't give him a straight answer even if he had asked him either.
Jin made his intentions clear. "I'm not meanin' any harm, I am. I just want to talk."
"I know," the bookshop owner said. He turned his head in the direction the lad had went. "Unfortunately, talking can be quite painful for him."
Jin didn't know what to say to that, and he usually had something to say. He left the bookshop full of confusion and sadness, a rare feeling for him. He didn't understand how someone could have any trouble talking to other people. Talking was like breathing to Jin. Talking was something people just did (and in Jin's case, something usually done without much thinking). This was more of a puzzle than he had expected. But sure if it rains, it rains, he was going to figure it out. He just had to, and that was all to it.
For someone who wasn't much of a reader, it was kind of funny that a lad that worked in a bookshop had caught his eye—not that Jin didn't like books, his mind wandered easily, so it took him a lot longer to finish a book. Jin had been on his way to his first day at the cafe one morning, and he had happened to spot him in the storefront window. Jin had stopped dead in his tracks. The lad had been stocking when he had found a book he liked and opened it up to read the dust jacket summary inside.
The lad was small—he barely came up to Jin's chest—and cute, though he looked like the kind of lad that would object to being called small and cute. His hair was very short and light blue, except for four aqua-colored stands that fanned out over his left eye. He had double lobe piercings in his ears—and that day, he had a silver stud and a small hoop on the left, and on the right, another silver stud and a great white shark biting his lobe. So he had to have a streak of something wild in him and a sense of humor, two qualities Jin already liked. And damn, his eyes were pretty. They were prettier and bluer than perfect oceanfront vistas, and Jin wanted to sit down and admire the view.
The lad had kept turning pages and reading when he suddenly looked up. The lad had flushed red, closed the book at once, and went back to work. Whatever had been said hadn't been too harsh because the lad had smiled. His smile had made Jin feel like he was floating on air. He wanted to get to know him. A good air was around the lad, and Jin never had any trouble when he let the wind guide him.
Jin and Yusuke were a part of the closing crew cleaning up the cafe at the day's end. They got the annoying little jobs out of the way first before they tackled the real dirty work. Tasks like dusting around the flower paintings and wiping down the lily-of-the-valley glass lights that hung from the ceiling over every table and then wiping down every table and chair. It was no secret that their boss had redecorated the cafe to mirror Kurama's aesthetic in an effort to finally convince him to merge their businesses. It didn't work, however. But the redesign had given a much needed freshness to the cafe, and the change was popular with the customers.
At least the closing crew only had to do the usual cleaning duties. Jin had been a part of the seasonal transition crew a little over a week ago and helped switch out all the cherry blossom décor for their summer florals and foliage. It was so class to finally see something other than cherry blossoms every damn day. Cherry blossoms were gorgeous, but Jin had been dreaming in pale pink hues for two weeks now. It was getting so bad that even his nightmares were rosy.
Finally, Jin and Yusuke were done dusting and wiping everything, and they moved onto flipping chairs over and placing them on the tables. Yusuke had won their game of rock-paper-scissors, so mopping the floor was his task tonight. Jin was on trash and restroom duty. He didn't want to do those tasks, but a loss was a loss.
"I can hear the gears in your head grinding from here," Yusuke said, staring at Jin. "What's wrong? You get chewed out because you called that guy an eejit? Because that's bullshit."
Jin had to admit that his head had been in the clouds today, and not in the way it usually was. "Nah, it's the lad at the bookshop. The one in the front. He won't speak to me at all. Runs away when I try talking to him."
"Oh boy..." Yusuke said, pausing as he leaned on the chair he had just put onto the table. "That sounds like Touya."
"Touya," Jin repeated. So that's the lad's name… Jin liked the sound of his name. It made his ears perk up.
"Keiko and Kuwabara have mentioned him a time or two. He's never been rude to them, and he does his job, but he won't talk to them if it's not about work. He's got the personality of a glass of water, so don't sweat it."
"Is that so?" Jin said. "So it's not just me the lad gets all tight-lipped around?"
Yusuke nodded. "You'll get a warmer welcome standing the walk-in than you'd get from him." He headed over to the next table. "Customers are always telling Keiko they like her better than him. Supposedly, he's really shy. I think he's stuck-up. Maybe it's just the way his face is, but he always looks to me like he's glaring at people from a distance."
"I want to get to know him," Jin said.
Yusuke snorted. "I'm not shocked."
Determination sparked in Jin's eyes. Nothing motivated him to do something more than someone believing that he couldn't do it. "Think I can't, do ya?"
"Oh, I know you'll try. I just don't see him letting you get very far," Yusuke said. "The only person he'll talk to is Kurama. If you wanna know anything about him, he's your best bet."
"Every once in a while you say something useful, Yusuke, and I thank ya," Jin said. Yusuke looked back at him over his shoulder and smirked.
With the chairs out of the way, Yusuke rolled the yellow mop bucket out into the dining area. "You and I got along since day one. I can't imagine what it's like to deal with you trying to earn my friendship. It's gotta be terrifying." He squeezed out the excess water in the top press and started broadly streaking the mop across the floor. The quicker they did their tasks, the quicker they could lock up and leave. "One more piece of advice: If he's not into you, quit bothering him before he petitions the court for a restraining order."
"That's gas. A regular comedian, ya are," Jin said, humorlessly.
Jin headed on to reluctantly to complete his task, only to find out that another employee had already taken care of the trash and the restrooms. Yusuke called Jin a lucky bastard. Jin grinned back at him. He wasn't wrong, of course. Most things did tend to turn all right for him in the end.
Which was why he had certain hope that he'd somehow get the lad at the bookshop to talk to him.
-o-
Keiko was manning the register that afternoon when Jin entered a busy Nine Tales Books and, after a bit of light jabber between them, he asked to talk to Kurama. After a quick pop into his office and back, Keiko let Jin into Kurama's office.
Jin knew Kurama mostly through Yusuke, who surprisingly enough was actually friends with him. For a time, and at Keiko's behest, Yusuke had went with Kuwabara for tutoring from Kurama back in high school. Kurama didn't have as much success teaching Yusuke as he had with teaching Kuwabara, but the two had remained friends.
Kurama's office was rather small with no windows. Everything was highly organized and had its place. The room was decorated similarly to the rest of the store in dark wood floors and trim, white walls, and many plants. A few fox figurines and personal effects dotted his office. Everything that Jin had overheard about Kurama had painted a warmer, kinder picture in his head than this cold, photo shoot-perfect office projected.
At Kurama's invitation, Jin rolled the other office chair up to his desk and sat down. Everything on his desk was as organized and minimal as the rest of his office. A clear glass fishbowl filled halfway with water was on his desk. No fish was inside the glass, just moss balls of varying sizes.
"You're here about Touya, I presume?" Kurama said. His tone of voice was all business. Kurama sat at his desk with one leg crossed over his other and his interlaced hands resting atop his knee. He had a princely air about him. He wasn't a very old fellow—in fact, Jin guessed he was in his mid-twenties, like himself—and yet the air around him felt so much older than that.
Jin nodded. "I am."
"I apologize for his behavior, and I assure you that this is an ongoing matter we are working to correct," he recited from memory. "If you wish, I can speak with him about—
Jin shook his head and waved his hands. "I don't want to cause him no trouble. But I don't want to be playing hide and seek with him either. Yusuke says no one but you knows him better, so I've come to talk."
"You're not here to complain," Kurama stated.
"I'm surely not here to give out. Haven't you been listening?" Jin said. "A little chat with some coffee is all I'm after with him. I think that he and I would get along well if we talked."
"What makes you think that?" Kurama asked, his too green eyes once again watching Jin, reassessing him at every word and blink. Jin had never met someone so unreadable before. Kurama was a good man to have keep all one's secrets, that was for sure.
"I don't know. Not for sure." Jin's hand floated up to his heart and hovered over it. "But I know it to be true all the same."
Kurama's tone had changed. This was no longer a matter of business regarding a complaint against his employee's behavior. This was now a personal matter regarding his friend who he wished to protect. There was a bit more feeling, a dash of concern in his reserved tone. "I hope you have a goal in mind. Social interactions cause Touya a great deal of distress until he comes to trust you. If you come across too strongly, he'll flee. And his trust will only be harder to gain."
"I don't think I was coming across strongly. I thought I was coming across the same way I always." Though it wouldn't be the first time that someone had told him that he was too much to handle. "Why is it hard for him to talk to people?"
"Touya..." Kurama paused and looked off to the side briefly as he considered his words. "That is a matter he should divulge to you."
Jin was a tad annoyed that Kurama refused to explain why, but at the same time, he respected his choice to keep the lad's personal matters to himself.
"Are you seeking to become friends? Or are you intending for something more to develop between you two?"
Jin rubbed the back of his head. "I can't really say, because that's not all up to me, now is it?" Jin said, with a grin. "Being friends will be a mighty grand start. From there, what's meant to be will be."
"Why him though?"
"What sort of question is that?" Jin asked, taken aback. Kurama did not answer him or provide any sort of hints as what he was looking for. Not to mention that Jin had no idea if his replies were passing or failing. He guessed that the only good sign he had to go on was that Kurama was still asking him questions.
Not knowing what else to be, Jin was honest. "You ever see someone you don't know and get the feeling that you have to go over and say hi?"
"But you have said hello to him. Twice actually. And neither instance produced positive responses, so why keep pursuing him?"
"Because we haven't talked with each other," Jin said. "All the time, people come in for coffee dates. Two people that don't know a lick about one another leave together knowing a tad more and grow a little closer. Not every date goes well, but the ones that do… You can see it on their faces. How they're lost in the other person, when they're just drinking in the sound of their voice and admiring how they look in that moment."
A warm smile stretched across his face as Jin thought about some of the folks he had waited on and imagined what it would be like if it were him and the lad having a little chat, getting on right off the bat, and at long last seeing the lad smile at him and gazing into those blue eyes that reminded him of the most lovely winter mornings.
"See enough day after day like I have and I can show you the ones that are having a grand time. The ones that are falling in love. Whatever the end may be, I want us to have a chance to make a connection and see where it goes."
"It won't be easy, and you cannot rush or overwhelm him. You have to be able to read his responses and adjust your plans accordingly," Kurama said, the stern edge in his voice highlighting those particular details. "But he will open up to you if you are patient."
Jin felt a great wind open his sails and send his stalled ship on its way. "I will be," he said with an emphatic nod.
"Very well then," Kurama said, a small smile finally making an appearance. "Explain to me how you plan to go about not scaring him off, and we'll proceed from there."
