Work Text:
Nothing was better than doing your work while drinking a steaming hot cup of coffee and being seated at the corner of a café. Right next to the window, where you could get a good view of the streets is what Shinobu would always think of as soon as she took a seat at the café which she frequented at ever since her college days.
This day, in particular, however, is probably one of the days where those words she thought of were at its peak. Due to the fact that it was raining, it was ten times more pleasant than it initially was.
She sighed after taking a sip of her coffee, her mouth slightly curved upwards, forming into a small smile as soon as she felt the hot liquid go down her throat pleasantly.
Slowly and gently placing her cup down onto the table, she looked outside the window as she decided to take a short break from her work. Her small smile gradually gets bigger as she watched a young girl and boy, probably in preschool, play in the rain with amusement.
Her amusement was later then cut short as the children turned to a corner and was no longer in her field of vision.
No longer having interest in the streets anymore, she slowly turns to look at her left, watching a group college students whisper amongst themselves as they discussed about their group assignment. Oh how she missed her college days.
"Is that all sir?"
She immediately diverted her attention from the college students to the owner of the voice.
'Ah, it's the barista who has been working here for quite a while now.' She thought with a dreamy expression on her face as she continued to stare at the said barista.
Undeniably, she had found him quite attractive.
It was quite funny now that she suddenly thinks of it. They had known each other for years now, as she would frequently come to the café and order her usual. But, they had never actually spoken to one another, aside from when he had to take her orders.
She giggled at her own thoughts, though, she had quickly stopped when her purple eyes had made contact with blue ones. The barista which she had just thought of was staring right back at her.
'Had he noticed her staring?'
Immediately, she turned to look away as she felt her cheeks, up to the tips of her ears heat up. Thats when she had decided that break time was over and that she should get back to work.
Unfortunately for her, she hadn't noticed that the barista was staring at her the whole time as she worked.
.
A strong wind breeze blew right past her as soon as she exited the café. She inwardly cursed, she had usually appreciated the rain as it gave her this weird sense of tranquility whenever she was indoors. But now? Not so much as she wasn't even indoors.
She had just managed to finish up her work right when the café was closing. But what was the point? She was now left stranded outside of the cafe, having no choice but to wait for the heavy rain to stop since she had forgotten her umbrella.
She would've called her sister, Kanae to pick her up since she actually had a car, but she was currently on a date with a certain white haired feral man right now and she didn't want to interrupt it.
She was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she hadn't realized that there was someone standing right beside her. Well, not until she felt a tap on her shoulder, causing her to tense up.
Mustering up the courage, she slowly turned to look at her left and to her surprise, it was the attractive barista that she never had an actual proper conversation with.
She squeaks in surprise as she backs away from him.
There was no lie when she thought that he was undeniably attractive, but now that she had seen him not wearing his usual work uniform, her thoughts on him being attractive skyrocketed out of the charts, no words could even describe how he looked.
His black hair was more tousled than what she was used to seeing— no, she had never actually gotten a proper look of his hair. After all, she had never seen him not wearing his cap, nor has she seen him outside work up until now.
His eyes, she realized, was probably one of the most outstanding features he had that she thought of. It seemed as if it were glowing under the lights that the café somewhat emitted.
"Um..." he started awkwardly, snapping her out of her stupor.
"Y-yes?" she stuttered as she felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment after realizing that she had been staring at him for far too long.
She inwardly cursed once again, was their first ever and probably their last proper conversation going to end up like this?
"Do you need an umbrella?" he quietly muttered, stretching his hand out and offering her an umbrella.
"Ah, yes I do, thank you." she replied as she awkwardly reached out to take the umbrella before her eyes widen in realization, "Wait..." she trailed off before continuing, "You have a spare one for yourself to use as well, right?"
He shook his head sideways as an answer before he offered her the umbrella once again.
She frowned, "I'm sorry." she apologized before retracting her hand back to her sides. "I can't accept it. You should use it instead as it is yours."
Silence was the reply that she had gotten as she turned to look away, the sounds of the rain falling, hitting the rooftop of the café, or the road ahead of her could only be heard, aside from the occasional low rumbles of the thunder.
She felt herself sweating, despite the cold weather at the awkward atmosphere. 'Why is he still here?' she thought to herself a few minutes after she had turned down his offer.
"I won't leave until you take it." he replied, as if answering to her thoughts while holding the umbrella out to her once again.
"I'm fine, really. I don't mind staying here for a while," Shinobu said, letting out a nervous laugh, "I'm not in that much of a hurry anyways."
He nodded in response, she inwardly sighed, satisfied that he had finally left as she watched him open up the umbrella and walked away without another word.
She stretched her hands out, thinking of ways to go back home as she continued to watch the downpour alone silently.
Though, it was cut short when she saw the barista walking back to her, this time with another umbrella on his hand. She watched, with a raised brow as he silently closed his umbrella and stood right next to her, scratching his neck before turning his body to fully face her.
"Here." he said while offering her an umbrella once again, "I bought you one."
She felt her cheeks flushed and her heart fluttered at his words, he was doing this for a person that he had barely knew of.
"H-how much did it cost? I'll pay you back for it." she slightly stuttered after taking her wallet out of her bag and fumbling with the money in the wallet.
"You don't have to pay me..." the barista said with a frown as he unexpectedly took her hand in his, ignoring the tingling feeling and his slightly heated up cheeks upon contact as he quickly placed the umbrella onto her hand, retracting his own once he was done.
Shinobu clutched the umbrella onto her chest, trying to calm the rapid beating of her heart. "I-" she paused, taking a deep breath to try and calm her nerves down, "I insist,"
"Please?" she begged, staring at the barista's blue eyes with her shimmering purple ones.
"Maybe you could repay me with something else other then money?" the barista said unsurely while letting out a fake cough and averted his eyes away from her ones.
She felt herself tense up at his words. Maybe it was because she had watched way too much dramas. But she had silently hoped that he wouldn't say "Repay me with your body." she sure as hell wouldn't agree to that even though he was attractive.
"Ah, that depends... What would you like me to repay you with?" she said as she fumbled with the umbrella's price tag nervously, 500 yen.
"Um..." she watched as the barista trailed off, nervously scratching the back of his head with slightly reddened cheeks. She thought that he was really cute right then and there.
"ber..."
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "could you speak up? I couldn't quite catch that."
The barista looked at her in disbelief before nodding and looking away from her once again.
"I said," he nervously clears his throat. "Can I have your number?" he muttered so quietly, that she had to strain her ear to hear him.
After realizing what he had said, she stepped back as she felt a blush blooming across her cheeks, dropping the umbrella and her wallet in the process.
"I-I'm sorry," she stammered, "What did you say?" she said while quickly bending down to pick up the things that she had dropped and to hide her overly-heated face.
"Please don't make me repeat what I said again..." the barista said, looking as equally nervous as she was. Maybe even worse.
"Um..." she trailed off before standing up and nervously clearing her throat behind a closed fist, "Sure."
The barista gave her his phone and without further delay, she took it away from him and typed down her contact number. Though, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as she felt his gaze piercing through her.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked while tilting her head sideways in confusion and handing him his phone back, "Do you need anything el-"
"Would you like me to give you my number as well?" he suddenly said rather quickly, cutting her off.
Her eyes widened in surprise before it softened at the sight of his reddening cheeks as she felt her own heating up as well. She thought that it was quite brave of him to ask that question in person instead of texting and telling her who he was instead.
"Sure!" she replied rather enthusiastically to hide her nervousness while taking her phone out of her bag and passing it to him.
There was silence between them once again as he typed in his number, though this time it was rather pleasant. She watched the rainfall once again, the sound of the rain thrumming the cafés rooftop suddenly made her felt at ease, contrary to what it had made her feel before.
"Here." she heard the barista say quietly, making her divert her attention from watching the rain to him.
"Thank you." she said with a small smile before taking her phone back, their hands slightly brushing against the other, causing the both of them to shiver upon contact.
"Well, I'll get going now, see you." the barista with red cheeks croaked out nervously before opening his umbrella up and taking his leave.
Shinobu lets out a breath that she hadn't known that she was holding in and felt her shoulders relax. She turned her phone on and scrolled through her contacts, looking for a new saved name and once she found it, she smiled with slightly flushed cheeks.
Tomioka Giyuu.
So that was his name.
"Giyuu." she said to herself, testing the way his name felt on her tongue.
What an interesting guy.
.
The next day, and many more months after that, whenever she ordered a coffee, she would find her name written down in bold letters and a smiley face right beside it. Gradually over the years though, the smiley face beside her name would eventually turn into a heart.