A/N: So, this is for the december 28 th prompt of the Magnus Appreciation Month: red. I combined with an @ otpprompts prompt that is: Imagine person A walking into the living room and finding person B sitting on the couch before they realise B is wearing an oversized Christmas sweater. And nothing else.
I said prompt like 4 times lol anyways english is not my first language and I’m just having fun writing this so happy holidays and reading bye!
Link to ao3.
Surprisingly, it was still early in the night when Alec arrived at the loft.
It was the day after Christmas, and honestly Magnus thought he was gonna be all night chasing demons. Not that he complained; he rather having his boyfriend here with him.
It was also worth it, by the looks Alexander was giving him. He smiled as he stared to the rather heated look of his companion. The loft was warm and cozy, and Magnus decided to ditch the pants and curl on the sofa in front of the fire, with Chairman Meow and a blanket throw over his legs, drinking a warm cup of chocolate.
“Is that a new sweater?” Alec asked as he approached and sat next to him, kissing him hello.
“It is. Do you like it?” Magnus asked as he put the cup down and got up to swirl around in his new Christmas sweater. It was a deep red, and had white dots all over it and a line of white snowflakes on the top.
Alec cleared his throat. “y-yes, it is very pretty. Is it um, the only thing you have on?” he asked as Magnus went to straddle his thighs and gave him a rather heated kiss.
“yes” he whispered against his mouth. “is there a problem with it?” Magnus asked playfully knowing very well the effect he was having on Alec.
“No, not at all.” Alexander gave him his favorite lopsided smile. “In fact, I believe red is my favorite color. It looks very good on you” he told Magnus with a faint blush over his cheeks.
Magnus beamed at him and kissed his temple. He intertwined his hands in Alec’s hair and stared him in the eyes. “It appears to be the favorite color of your cheeks as well. I might have to wear it more often if this is the result it causes”.
Summary: Based on the prompt: Person A is Person B’s guardian angel. As kids, they used to look out for each other and be best friends, but only B could see them and feel them... (click for full prompt)
Author’s notes: It turned out a bit different than the prompt though, sorry. Haha, please enjoy :) You can also view it in [ao3] and [ffn]. If you like it then please leave comments, kudos on archive and or ffn. Thank you!
Am I Real Enough For You?
“Why am I the only one who can see you?” Kagami Taiga, five-years-old, asks as he chews on the ear of his stuffed rabbit. He turns big eyes towards the light haired angel beside him.
Kuroko Tetsuya looked like a kid but his age was measured differently in angel years. The time in heaven passes differently from earth and it couldn’t be measured in years, not exactly. And angels grew not on time, but based on their experiences and skills. Still, if humans were able to see him, Kuroko physically looked like he and Kagami were close in age.
The young angel hums and leans against Kagami. Though he was light, Kagami still squirms and pushes him away to lean against the wall instead. When the baby angel did so, the red head pushes his stuffed rabbit on Kuroko’s side and then sprawls over his two most favourite playmates. Kuroko didn’t mind, it was warm.
“Why?” Kagami pouts up close, eyebrows scrunched together and Kuroko blinks at him.
“Light,” Kuroko tilts his head. “You’re my light, Shirogane-san told me.”
“Light?” Kagami repeats, eyes wide. “Like the sun?”
Kuroko thinks about that and then speaks, “Brighter than the sun I think? You’re special,” the angel says quietly, “That’s why you can see me. You believe in me and it makes you special. Shirogane-san says our special people are our light.”
“Okay,” Kagami flops on the smaller kid, snuggling closer. Then he asks in a muffled voice, “Does that make you my light?”
“I’m your shadow,” Kuroko corrects, not caring that Kagami was basically smothering him, he was an angel after all. He could take it if it meant he was always warm like this. “I’ll always be beside you and I’ll protect you and I’ll help you be what you want to be.”
“I want to be a NBA player like the one on t.v.” Kagami yawns, eyes closing. “Or… or a fireman.”
“Okay,” Kuroko snuggles in closer, “whatever you want to be.”
Kagami mumbles and turns sleepy red eyes at the other, “Tell me a story?”
“A fairy tale?” Kagami nods at his side, “What about?”
“About you, about angels…” Kagami grumbles sleepily.
“Okay,” Kuroko thinks and then says, “Have you heard the story…”
Kagami closes his eyes.
“…about an angel who…”
He falls asleep.
“-gami! Kagami!”
Thee redhead flinches and looks up at the first year trio from his basketball team. They had his desk surrounded and were looking at him in various degrees of worry.
“You almost slept through lunch,” Kawahara explains his reason for waking him up, “You okay?”
The red head pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to wake himself up, “Yeah, just couldn’t sleep well last night.”
Furihata frowns at him, “Why? We don’t have any games coming up and from what I saw at training camp, you can sleep anywhere.”
“Weird dreams.” Kagami shakes his head and stretches his arms.
“Nightmares?”
“Nah, just stuff,” Kagami vaguely explains, before he gets up and yawns again. “I’ll go buy something from the cafeteria before the bell rings.”
“You have ten minutes!” Fukuda yells after him. Kagami waves at them in thanks as he makes his way out of the classroom.
Kagami-kun.
The redhead turns abruptly, eyes wide, but the halls were basically deserted since classes were about to start. Kagami shakes his head and slaps his face a bit to wake up. He keeps walking feeling uncertain.
It would’ve been more worrisome if he’d seen something. If he did see something then he was halfway to being crazy.
After all, Kuroko was nothing more than a child’s imaginary friend.
“I’m getting worried. He’s ten, shouldn’t he have moved on from having imaginary friends?” Kagami hears his mother argue with his father out in the living room.
“You’re thinking of booking another appointment, aren’t you?”
“There’re some good therapists in New York.” Kagami’s mother insists, “I don’t want my son to grow up crazy.”
His father sighs, “He’s not crazy, he’s just a kid. He’ll grow out of it. You’re traumatizing him with all these visits to the doctor.”
“That’s easy for you to say when you’re rarely home and you don’t have to pretend with him!”
Their voices were getting louder and Kagami crawls under his bed, covering his ears.
“Kagami-kun,” Came a soft voice from beside him. Kagami sniffles, too sad to be surprised.
“Kuroko, I don’t want to go to the doctor again.” Kagami whispers.
Kuroko doesn’t say anything, blue eyes sad.
“They keep telling me you’re not real. They said you’re imaginary, that you’re all in my head.” Kagami continues, eyes locked on the floor.
Kuroko shakes his head, he seems almost luminous in the dark. He was like Kagami’s own personal nightlight. “You know that’s not true. Remember how I helped protect you from that dog? I’m real.”
Kagami closes his eyes, “But if you are, then why can’t anybody else see you?”
“Because you’re special,” Kuroko explains, eyes sincere. “You’re my light.”
Kagami doesn’t look at him, he turns instead to look at his closed door where his parents were still arguing. “Or maybe I’m crazy.”
“Kagami-ku-”
The redhead starts to tremble, he really wanted his stuffed rabbit back but his mother told him he was too old to sleep with stuffed animals, just like how she told him he was too old to have imaginary friends. Because, maybe that was what Kuroko was all along... Not an angel like he said, but an imaginary friend, something Kagami made up in his mind because he didn’t have any friends back then.
“Don’t think about that right now,” Kuroko tells him, a sad smile on his face. “Let’s play instead or we can tell stories. I can tell you that fairy tale again, you know the one about the angel who-”
“Kuroko,” The tone in Kagami’s voice stops Kuroko’s words. The angel could feel heavy dread weighing on his chest. “Maybe mom’s right.” Kuroko’s breath hitches and he starts to shake his head. “Maybe I just made you up because I didn’t have any friends. But I have a friend now. I’m not lonely, I have mom and dad and- and I even have a few friends now…” Kagami stutters as he breathes, “Kuroko, I don’t think you’re real.”
And when Kagami turns his head towards Kuroko, to see what he thought…
It was dark and no one was there.
“What did we tell you, Tetsuya?” Kuroko straightens in his perch. He was standing by Kagami’s window, looking down at the boy hidden beneath his bed and crying because he thought his parents was right. Kagami was crying because he thought Kuroko wasn’t real.
“Akashi-kun,” Kuroko murmurs quietly, “Now is not the time for your lectures.”
Akashi ignores him, as he usually did these days, ever since Sanada replaced Shirogane as their Guide Angel. “We warned you that playing with humans would only hurt you.”
“It’s not his fault.” Kuroko says firmly, “Believing in me was hurting him, it’s only natural that he doubts.”
“You don’t have to make excuses for humanity, they’re below us. We may be ordained to protect them but it’s not necessary to interact with them. It’ll be for your best interest if you distance yourself from this child, Tetsuya.” Akashi proclaims in an imperious tone. “Let him continue to believe that you are a mere figment of his imagination.”
With that, Akashi’s presence vanishes from behind him and Kuroko is left alone to watch over Kagami as he always has.
“Watch out!” Kagami snaps out of his thoughts and turns just in time to see bright headlights and hear a loud honking noise. He closes his eyes on instinct, bracing for impact.
Then…
Then… nothing.
“Taiga,” Kagami grumbles and opens his eyes. He squints at the bright light and turns his head to see Himuro frowning by his bedside.
“Tatsuya…?”
Himuro sighs in relief, “Thank God, I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“What… happened?” Kagami asks, trying to sit up. HImuro grabs him a glass of water and hands it to him when he finally manages to right himself.
“There was a drunk driver who ran the red light. You and your friends were crossing the street when it just came out of nowhere.” Himuro explains. Kagami snaps his attention towards the Yousen player, eyes wide.
“What? Are Furi and the others okay?”
“They’re fine, not even a scratch.” He assures him, “The car was heading your way and thankfully, you don’t seem injured. Just a few scratches, not even a bump on your head. But you lost consciousness, so they called me. I came as soon as I could.” Himuro says an upset look on his face.
Kagami sighs in relief, “All I remember was something bright and a loud beeping noise. I remember I froze…”
Himuro nodded seriously, “Your friends in Seirin were really worried for you, they thought for sure…” He shook his head, “Anyway they don’t remember it clearly, probably from the shock, but the next thing they knew you were by the side of the road, unconscious. You weren’t injured much, so they thought: maybe you were able to jump away.”
“Yeah… maybe.” Kagami agrees absently, a frown on his face. Somehow that didn’t sound right.
Kuroko’s hands were clenched into fists, unable to take his eyes away from Kagami sitting up on the hospital bed. This wasn’t the first time he’d saved Kagami from something. It wasn’t the first time he interfered before the redhead could become gravely injured. He’d lost count how many times he’d protected Kagami, always watching over him, keeping him safe. But he knew this wasn’t the last time Kagami would be in danger. He tried to imagine it, he could see his future laid out in front of him if he continued as he was: invisible in Kagami’s eyes, always watching over him.
Kagami would grow old and Kuroko would remain unchanged. He truly believed deep in his heart that one day, Kagami would be able to see him again.
But that might take some time and maybe, when they meet again, it would be too late.
Kuroko watches silently as Himuro leaves the room and Kagami lies back down, eyes open and turned towards the window where Kuroko stood. It was unnerving to see Kagami’s gaze go through him.
Kagami closes his eyes, drifting off to sleep. Kuroko comes closer to his bedside and places a hand over the redhead’s forehead. He imagines Kagami could see him now and that his touch was the reason the other relaxed further into sleep.
“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko whispers, “Do you remember the story I used to tell you when we were younger?”
Kagami didn’t say anything but Kuroko told him anyway.
Kagami was dreaming. He knew he was, because the person in front of him was Kuroko, his imaginary angel friend. He was amazed by his own imagination, the Kuroko in his memories was a child and he had never been able to picture Kuroko as a grown up, but for some reason he could see it perfectly in his dreams.
The angel was dressed in some sort of chlemys-type of clothing, colored white and light blue. His wings weren’t visible, just that there was some sort of bright light on his back making him look hazy in Kagami’s dreamscape. His light blue hair was longer, his face had matured, but his eyes were sad.
“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko says and even his tone was sad. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Kagami jumps, “How did you- oh, right, you’re in my head. Of course you’d know.”
At those words, Kuroko frowns, “I know because I was there. I saved you.”
“Right, of course you did.” Kagami plays along, looking away.
“I’m real.” Kuroko says.
“You’re not.” Kagami sighs and crosses his arms, “You’re not real. You’re something I made up when I was a kid. A story I told myself when I didn’t have any friends. You’re a fairy tale and I don’t believe in fairy tales.”
Kuroko looks at him, face carefully blank but his eyes remained sad. He took a step forward and Kagami took a step back. The angel reaches out and brushes Kagami’s bangs to the side.
“Even fairy tales are based on reality.” Kuroko says instead, “One day, you’ll see I’m right. For now, all you have to know is that I’m with you and I’m watching over you like I promised.”
Kagami stands firm in his belief, “But you’re not real.”
“But I am.” Kuroko says and he doesn’t explain further, doesn’t try to defend himself or give proof of his words. Instead he says, “You’ll see.”
Kagami shakes his head but Kuroko merely drops his hands to take Kagami’s into his, “Do you remember that story I used to tell you a lot when we were kids?”
“You told me a lot of things,” Kagami says, resigned, “I don’t remember most of them.”
“I’m glad you’re okay.” Furi whispers to him during their Japanese history class together. “We really thought you were done for.”
“I don’t really remember much,” Kagami admits, “It’s all just a blur.”
“Furihata, Kagami! Face front!” The two athletes straightened automatically as their names were called.
“Right! Sorry!” Furihata apologizes, looking down at his book in embarrassment. Kagami grumbles a half-hearted apology before he turns to the window, getting lost in his thoughts again.
“Hey, we’re heading out for lunch,” Fukuda pats him on the back, “Wanna come with?”
Kagami just hums distractedly. The first year trio exchange looks before they reluctantly left Kagami to his brooding.
I’ll remind you. The words rings clear in his head despite it all being nothing but a dream and Kagami huffs, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
“Angel my ass,” He grumbles. “He’s not real, just some stupid imaginary fri- ow!” Something sharp, like someone elbow poked him on his side. Kagami jumps and startles, turning bewildered eyes at-
“Am I still an imaginary friend, now?”
Kagami chokes, taking in startled breaths, because this was- he was-
It was Kuroko. It was Kuroko in their Seirin school uniform and he looked like how he did in the dream. Sad blue eyes, light blue hair, an impassive expression on his face.
Kuroko’s expression gave nothing away but his eyes seem to be glaring at Kagami anyway. Then he raises his hand and pokes Kagami’s eyes with two fingers.
“ARGH!”
“You’re an idiot.” Kuroko says as Kagami covers his eyes, groaning exaggeratedly in pain. He turns towards the front where the teacher was packing up his things. “Sensei.”
“Wah!” The teacher jumps in surprise, “Oh, Kuroko-san, it’s you. Wait, did you just come in now?”
“No, I’ve been in class the whole time.” Kuroko says patiently and Kagami finally looks up.
“Wait, sensei, you-” Can see him? Kagami wanted to ask.
The teacher gives Kagami an unimpressed look. “If you were paying attention earlier Kagami-san, you’d know that I told the class we were getting a transfer student named Kuroko Tetsuya.” He closes his bag with a snap, “Stop sleeping during class or you’re getting detention.” He said before leaving the classroom.
Kagami turns wide eyes at Kuroko who just looks back at him. “Are you really…?” Kagami asks hesitantly.
“Real? Your teacher can see me. Am I real enough yet?” Kuroko answers quietly.
“But you’re an-”
“An angel? I was.” He verifies, eyes still locked with the redhead’s. It was making Kagami blush and he looks away first.
Then he realizes what Kuroko said, “Wait, was?”
Kuroko smiles sadly and says, “There’s this story-”
Kagami looks startled and then he glares, “This again?”
Kuroko continues, “Do you remember it?”
The redhead shakes his head, “Just that it’s about an angel.” He mumbles and then he jumps in surprise when Kuroko leans in.
“Then let me remind you…” Kuroko says, blue eyes intent and Kagami blushes in surprise. “Because now, that story is my story too.”
OTP Prompt: “Imagine person A trying to tell person B they like them for the very first time in a very cute way. Person B suspects that something is up because A is acting very nervous. A gets so nervous that they dodge telling them entirely. A few days later, B tells A that they actually love them and have had feelings for them for a long time in the most straightforward way possible.
How A reacts is up to you.”
Except it’s less dodging due to nerve and more Jesse being an oblivious ass
AO3: x
~~~~~~~~~~~
"You did what?"
Trust Jesse Custer to make this sound like some awful kind of sin. Cass dithered for a moment before tapping the basket with his foot.
"Did the laundry," he muttered, feeling the squishy sweatshirt against his toes. When Jesse continued to stare Cass adopted a scowl that was so very far from what he'd been aiming for. Couldn't make it go away though. His stomach was in knots and his hands were pouring sweat, but you sure wouldn't know it from his expression.
"What? There's a mat just a few blocks down. Can't a bloke pull his weight once in a while?"
Jesse softened. "You do, Cass," he said—and then the suspicion came rushing back. "But you despise doing laundry. So what exactly is it you’re after?"
He had no spit to swallow with. Cass had to clear his throat twice before getting a word out and when they did come they were raspy with nerves. "Right now all I'm 'after' is someone to help me fold this mess. You up for it?"
Jesse paused.
"Nice try," he said, standing from the motel bed and laughing as he went by, clapping Cass hard on the shoulder. "You started this little chore, you can damn well finish it. Help the vampire fold laundry..." Jesse shook his head like that was the funniest thing he'd heard in years and hell, maybe it was.
He left, closing the door behind him. Slowly, Cass picked up a shirt from the top of the bundle, the one he'd been hoping Jesse would grab for himself.
A pretty gold ring tumbled out onto the carpet.
"Well that didn't fuckin' work," Cass muttered.
***
He tried again the next day, with food this time, though there wasn't much fancy to work with out in Bumfuck Nowhere, Texas. To make maters worse, Jesse's normal munchies were... problematic. Ring didn't fit into the top of a beer can or a bottle. And who the fuck put one under a burger bun? Getting all slimy with ketchup and mustard, to say nothing of the fact that Jesse would probably break his damn tooth on it. Honestly, didn't the man have anything refined in his life?
The answer was no. Cass settled for dumping the ring in a bag of Funyuns.
"Thanks," Jesse said absently. He took the bag between thumb and forefinger and it was like severing Cass' whole arm. "You seen Tulip?"
Cass loved the woman, but he didn't want to talk about Tulip right now. "Nah. Out somewhere."
"Excellent," and Jesse quickly changed the channel to Say Yes to the Dress. "You say nothing."
Cass mimed sealing his lips despite the fact that they were splitting wide with a grin. "Never, padre."
And for a while things were perfectly normal. Jesse watched his chick-flick material as Cass watched him eat the Funyuns, one after another after another until he was sure the goddamn bag was endless. Cass was a pathetic, jittery mess—and Jesse noticed.
"You okay?" he asked. "Aw fuck, Cass. You're not using again are you?"
"No!"
"Well then what's got under your skin all of a sudden?"
His mouth worked. Nothing came out. Again. Cass settled for shrugging until he could say, "Just bored."
"Well then let's go find something fun to do. I’ve seen this one anyhow. A lot."
Jesse popped one last Funyun into his mouth, extended the bag to Cass, and when he could only shake his head dumbly he balled up the rest and tossed it into the trash. Jesse was going on about a shooting range nearby, already heading towards their stolen truck as Cass dived into the basket and fished the bag out.
He pocketed the ring, smelling of cheap, fried goodness.
***
Day three. What was it they said? Third time was the charm? Not bloody likely. Not by that look on Jesse's face.
"You heard me," Cass said. The nerves were gone. "I fucking love you, Jesse Custer, now are you gonna marry me or not? Because I'm getting real sick of this nonsense."
"Getting sick of...?" Jesse went cross-eyed trying to see the ring shoved under his nose.
"Yeah. Not all of us are oblivious assholes. So just give me an answer because romance is way fuckin' dead and I—"
Oh. Hmm. Or not. That kiss felt pretty romantic...
Genre: one-shot fluffy coffee shop au with analogical
Word Count: 556
otppromtps:
Person A is a barista at a nearby coffee shop. They have grown fond of Person B, who they have a crush on. One day, when B orders their coffee, A writes their number on the cup.
Bonus: B sees the number and keeps the cup so they won’t lose it.
2nd Bonus: B has had a crush on A the entire time.
Ann hated this job. Being a barista was not as it was cracked up to be especially when there was a rush. Running all the complicated orders through his head every day made him want to scream—and that wasn’t even the whole of it.
On his first day, two managers and half the staff walked out and never came back. A regular for over a year had a nervous breakdown and ended up crashing on his couch for three weeks before he had to call their parent to come get them. A drug dealer to half the workers came in every morning for a six-shot latte and muffin before slipping his address for the day to the person working at the register.
Just thinking about it was enough to make him want to scream. He barely had enough energy as it was, adding the craziness of this coffee shop on top was draining him.
There was, of course, a moment of reprieve in any tornado of chaos. For Ann, it was a man named Logan.
He came in every afternoon to work to get a plain black coffee to-go and looked as disheveled as a homeless person. He claimed to look well put together in the morning, but the stress of the day caused him to look more and more unkempt.
The few minutes Logan came in were like paradise in a desert.
Like clockwork, he breezed in, only his necktie still place as his blazer hung over his arm. He checked his phone, almost running into a kid.
“You look busy, as usual,” Ann said, sliding over his already made cup of coffee.
“Like you wouldn’t believe.” Logan patted himself down for his wallet. “Marketing is on me again to crunch numbers faster when we’re doing the best we can.”
“Marketing probably doesn’t realize the work that you all put in.”
“Aha.” He pulled his wallet out of his jacket pocket and slid over a five dollar bill. “You know, you’re far too smart to be working in this coffee shop.”
“And far too broke to be working anywhere else.” Ann winked as he wrote his number on the cup. “Have a nice evening.”
Logan smiled and Ann decided working here wasn’t so bad. If he could look at Logan’s brown eyes for even a moment, it was definitely worth it.
-----
Logan tossed his jacket into the passenger seat and carefully set his cup on the roof of the car. He was exhausted from the day’s work and just wanted to relax—not that he could, at first. There was still too much to do to relax yet.
He took down the cup and took a sip before noticing the black marker on the side. He’d been going to the shop for months and they’d stopped writing his name after the first few weeks.
Call me: 521-615-6146
Logan’s heart jumped. He’d been trying to decide whether or not he should make the first move, but Ann had saved him from embarrassing himself.
Through the window of the coffee shop, Ann covered his yawn as he leaned against the counter hair falling into his face.
Logan’s heart raced when he thought of running his fingers through it.
He kept the cup long after he’d finished his coffee.
Rating: T for swearing
Pairing: Carlos/Akane/Junpei
Warnings: none, besides the swearing
Based on this OTPpromps post
contains VLR spoilers
AO3 link
It was just another day at Build-a-Bear™, Carlos giving a resigned sigh as he set up to open the store with his coworker, Akane. He’d taken the extra part time job for a bit of extra cash, and he liked being around kids, but it could be… tiring. Really tiring. Akane was significantly better at dealing with angry parents than him, but even she had her limits.
It was a pretty slow season at the mall for bear building, that fact clearly emphasized by their completely and utterly empty store. It was the middle of the day, kids had school… who on management had thought it was a good idea to bring the both of them in? Well, at the very least, they could talk to each other…
They were deep in a conversation about alien conspiracy theories (a topic Akane seemed to rather enjoy), when a man walked in. He looked about the same age as them, mid to late twenties, but… well, he looked like he was going to rob the place. He had disheveled brown hair and dark circles under his eyes, with all black clothes and a thick leather jacket.
Clearly, not the type of guy you’d expect to come in to meet you “fur-ever friend”.
His eyes scanned the room until they landed on Carlos and Akane, and he made a beeline for them. There seemed to be a permanent glare on the man’s face, and he continued to look around like he expected someone to catch him- were they actually going to get robbed? Why would a guy like this want to rob a Build-a-Bear™?
“You. Blond.” He pointed at Carlos, making him swallow a bit nervously. The man’s other hand was still shoved firmly in his jacket pocket, and Carlos was waiting for him to pull out a gun. “D’you… dammit. You guys still have those like, little white dogs?”
Carlos looked to Akane, the both of them blinking in shock and confusion.
“Uhm… yes, we do. Would you like me to show you where they are?”
“Yeah.”
The bin was very easy to find, and the man looked almost embarrassed by that fact. Carlos was about to say something, anything to alleviate this awkward atmosphere- when the man cut him off.
“This isn’t for me, by the way. So don’t fuckin’ judge me.”
“O-Oh, sir, of course I wasn’t-“
“I’m not a goddamned idiot, it’s plain on the both of your faces. I’m not the ‘cute stuffed animals’ type.”
“Eheha….ha….”
“It’s for my kid. His birthday’s next week, and he really wanted one of these. Now, are you gonna tell me what to do next, or do I gotta ask your coworker over there?”
“R-right. Of course.”
Carlos led the man through what to do, but he couldn’t help but he surprised. Despite his… coarse… attitude, it was clear that he cared about his kid. He even took the time to dig through the little fabric hearts until he found one that he liked enough, whispering something for a ‘wish’ that Carlos wasn’t able to overhear. He let the man go to pick out clothes for the dog, walking over to Akane with a surprised look still on his face.
“Kinda cute, isn’t he?”
“Wh-what?!”
“Just saying.”
“Akane… he’s got a kid, he’s probably-“
“He’s not mine, actually.” The man set the dog down on the counter, placing a set of robot-themed clothes beside it. “I adopted him when he was a baby.”
Again Carlos found himself blinking in surprise, but Akane only nudged him with her elbow.
“That’s really admirable of you, sir.”
“Junpei.” There was a hint of a blush on his face, and he attempted to hide it by looking down at his wallet. It was… cute. “Junpei Tenmyouji. Don’t call me sir, it’s weird.”
“Alright then, Junpei!” Akane winked, pointing to her and Carlos’s name tags. “I’m sure you could figure it out, but I’m Akane, and he’s Carlos.”
“Y-yep.”
“Not gonna say anything more than that, Carlos? Really?”
He was blushing too now, eyes going back and forth between Akane and Junpei. What could he possibly say?! As if sensing his hesitation, Akane swooped in for the save.
“You know, sometimes Carlos and I hang out after we’re off work, and we’re only in for the morning today. So long as you don’t have to go anywhere, would you want to meet up for coffee?”
Junpei wouldn’t look her in the eye, but he did nod in agreement. His face looked as red as Carlos’s felt, and he seemed fidgety…
“Great! Let’s meet up at one, at the shop here in the mall. That sound good for you?”
“Y-yeah…”
“Alright then, it’s a date.”
“!!!”
“Not a date, Carlos. Just, like, a date on a calendar.” She laughed, before giving him and Junpei both a sly grin. “Unless you want it to be a date date…”
Neither of them responded to that- eventually Junpei just squeaked a quick thank-you, practically sprinting from the store while Carlos watched him with a blush on his face.
“Well, I bet you can’t wait for break now, huh Carlos?”
He didn’t respond- he was too caught up in wondering just what more could possibly happen.
Well, at least this was a good way to make a day interesting…
