Work Text:
One
The first time Sasaki saw him was at an early study session with Hanzawa, Hirano and Ogasawara.
When they had first arrived at their usual cafe, the group had been met with a building that was overflowing with students as well as prospective students who seemed to be there on some kind of visit. The more studious of their group then quickly decided that that kind of environment was not conducive to studying and therefore, they would have to find someplace else.
It was after Hanzawa led them through a rather tight alleyway – the group following him under the promise that he ‘knew a place’ – that Sasaki considered ditching them altogether. He would much rather be baking something sweet or browsing new CDs than being dragged (not literally, although Hirano had been rather forceful in his getting Sasaki to actually join their study group) through an area of the city he didn’t know.
The place they ended up in was a much nicer place than the walk there had suggested. It was cosy with a calming mix of soft and natural lighting; clearly thrifted and mismatched stools, armchairs and tables haphazardly littered the floor of the cafe in a way that immediately endeared the place to Sasaki.
Maybe trusting Hanzawa to find them a nice place wasn’t the worst idea, he did always have some sort of trick up his sleeve so really he should have expected it.
The group sat down at an empty table, Hanzawa in a big leather armchair, Hirano on a neat wooden chair, and Sasaki and Ogasawara squished onto a suede sofa.
“Budge up a bit” Ogasawara started the moment he sat down next to Sasaki.
“I can’t, you’re clearly taking up all the room” he replied, the truth was it was not that big a sofa and they were two adult men so they were bound to be a bit squished together. Really they didn’t mind it, they had been fast friends from the first couple days of university as they were in the same dormitory together. It was just the kind of friendship where they would be there for each other when they needed it but the rest of the time they allowed themselves to act a little childish with each other.
“Come on. Go order the drinks while me and Hanzawa set up and then we can actually get started.” Hirano, ever the mother hen, ordered the two rowdy young adults.
With a chorus of “Yes Hirano” and a collection of the other two’s orders, they made their way up to the counter.
This was the first time Sasaki saw him.
The barista.
The very cute barista.
As they approached, Sasaki couldn’t quite work it out. They were short and cute like a girl, but had wider shoulders and a much more masculine stance than he would expect of a girl working at a cafe like this.
As Ogsawara ummed and erred at what drink to order and Sasaki pretended to do the same, he found himself staring more at the barista.
Now Sasaki wasn’t as close-minded to not realise that there was a possibility that he could like guys however he’d never really put much thought into who he liked. He did know, however, that this barista was 100% his type whether or not he even had one of those.
“-saki?”
“Huh?”
“I asked what you wanted?” Ogasawara prompted, and by the confused look on his face, this was not the first time that the question had been asked.
“Oh uh sweet barley tea, please” he tried to refocus on the present. Which worked - to an extent - except that the present thing he seemed to be focused on was the name tag of the beautiful barista.
‘Miyano’
He mulled it over before stepping forward to grab the two drinks that Ogasawara hadn’t picked up.
“Thanks for the drinks,” he looked purposefully, this time, at the name tag, “Myaa-chan.”
“Dude? What was that? Do you know that guy or something?” Ogasawara questioned on the way back to their table.
“What? No. Never met him before.”
“You went silent and started staring at him when we got up there and then you called him some sort of nickname when we left. I just sort of assumed you knew him.”
When they got back to the table, Hirano had already started on some of the work he had to do while Hanzawa was smirking slightly at Sasaki.
As he set Hanzawa's drink down, the man started up, “So, you've met Miyano?”
‘Why does everyone keep assuming I know him’ Sasaki thought to himself, then: ‘Honestly I would be lucky to know him’
“No I just thought he was cute is all” Sasaki shrugged and reached to take a sip of his tea before starting to reach for a worksheet.
“Well, I mean he's quite into BL, and while that doesn't mean anything you might have a shot..Although I wouldn't advise it, he's rather self-conscious I’ve found.” Hanzawa spoke in his usual sing-song voice that always seemed to have a hint of ‘I know more than you do’ to it.
“Me and Hirano know him from the student council group, he’s in the year below us, doing something about creative production I think?” He provided in lew of Sasaki’s confused face.
That caused Sasaki to cough on the last of the drink in his mouth. Luckily he didn't do a full spit-take and was able to regain a little of his dignity, although he still found himself coughing slightly when he gave Hanzawa a half joking stare and turned back to his work. Maybe if he worked, his brain would be too filled up with sums to have the space to think about the cute barista.
Two
As it turned out, doing work did not take Sasaki’s mind off the barista at all.
He was barely struggling through the worksheet they had been given and he kept having to check his calculator for simple addition.
“Sasaki. Focus.” Hirano tapped his pen on top of the worksheet in front of the ginger, trying (and mostly failing) to recapture Sasaki's attention. He was entranced by Miyano, he wasn’t even quite sure what captured his attention so much but he knew that he wanted to know everything about the boy. He seemed quiet and introverted but if he hung out with people like Hanzawa then surely there must be something interesting about him.
BL - that was a type of manga right, his sister had been reading some of that he’s pretty sure, maybe that would be worth asking about? He really should be focusing on the fact that he needed to get this work done for his class after the weekend. However the cute black hair, that he had now adorably been pinned across his forehead, was incredibly distracting.
“Sasaki, you should really stop staring at him. It’s a bit weird…” Ogasawara cut through his train of thought about how soft he thought Miyano’s hair would be to run his fingers through.
“He’s right, you could at least be useful and go get us more drinks, I’ll take an ice tea.” Hirano added, and who was Sasaki to say no to having another chance to speak to Miyano.
So he found himself gathering the drinks that had been finished and bringing them back to the counter. It was a bit of a struggle but he managed to make it without dropping any, however it didn’t look quite so gracious when he dramatically put them all down on the counter - making a few loud glass noises.
“Thank you, makes my job a little easier” Miyano smiled at him.
Miyano smiled at him! He was so so cute.
“So you’re Miyano? Hanzawa said he and Hirano knew you?” Not the best way to start up a conversation but he would improve from there for sure.
“Oh uh yes, can I help you with anything?” Sasaki found himself understanding why Hanzawa said that he was self-conscious. He chuckled a little.
“Well I know that we’d like to order another ice tea and I think some tap water. I think I’ll have whatever your favourite drink is? Get to know you through that.” he tried to smirk but he could feel it turn into more of a dopey grin. Oh well.
“Uh my tastes aren’t really to many people’s but I know a much more popular drink that I quite like to make so I, uh, hope that works for you? It’s sweet because it has a variety of our syrups in.” He explained, smiling in relief when Sasaki said he would be happy to try that one instead.
Admittedly he had wanted to get to know Miyano’s taste, not the rest of the university student body however, being able to watch Miyano enjoy making a drink was also a pleasant experience.
The care he put into the drinks whilst also managing to do it at a speed that would allow him to serve other customers (had there been any in line) was a skill that Sasaki could never have imagined having.
“You’re really good at making the little pictures in the drinks” he said with awe as he watched Miyano carefully push the frothed milk forward across the cup finishing off the fern shape.
“Oh, I’m just good with my wrists.” He smiled innocently for a moment before blanching as Sasaki was quick to retort with a: “Care to show me?” and a smirk.
“No I really didn’t mean it like that, I’m so sorry, I just enjoy doing different designs which involve a lot of practicing wrist movements to get the right amount of milk in the right places” he hurriedly tried to explain, putting the mug down on the counter and covering his face as he moved over to the till to ring him up.
“You’re all good,” he chuckled, “but I really would like to try the drink you like, maybe that will have to be my next drink. And if I don’t like it well then I’d say opposites attract.”
With that, he grabbed the tray of drinks and walked back to their table, trying incredibly hard to look calm. He was in fact, decidedly not calm.
Three
With a fresh hot drink and a whole conversation with cute barista Miyano under his belt, Sasaki was actually able to do a bit more of his work the second time around. He managed to get his worksheets for his upcoming class done and a start on one of the online tests he had to do before his focus ran out again.
The cafe had gained a few more students in the time that they had been working, it was now only a little over an hour until the first classes of the morning started. This had also, however, meant that there were more baristas who had come in for their shifts to help with the pre-class rush. For Sasaki, this meant a lower chance of getting to speak to Miyano again.
This was apparently a distracting enough thought that he was hit over the head by an annoying fake blonde of a friend.
“Stop making an ugly face, you’ll scare people. Get back to your work idiot.” If Sasaki had been an idiot, he thought to himself, then he would have missed the almost affectionate nature that Hirano instructed him with. However, he was not an idiot, so he simply smiled at him before deciding that he should instead get another drink before Miyano was completely unreachable or finished his shift.
“Was just thinking of getting another drink-”
“-thinking about Miyano more like” Hirano muttered under his breath.
“Would you like anything Hirano, was going to be the next part of my question, but now I think you don’t need anything.”
Although Sasaki said he was going to get another drink, he did decide that he should probably finish up the test he was doing, and then he would be able to get a drink and maybe talk to Miyano while he finished his shift. Maybe he would be able to walk him to a class or his dorm or something – it was here that Sasaki got fully entranced in his daydreaming before quickly snapping out of it when he let them go a bit too far.
He slowly packed up his stuff after he finished his test; Hirano also happy to let him go after deciding that he had done enough work to be considered reasonable.
“So, finished the last drink you made me, very good by the way I see why it’s so popular. Now I was wondering if you would please make me the one you like, even if I don’t like it.” He asked, hoping that this time he would win the younger man over.
Miyano chuckled a little bit, it was a sweet sound, Sasaki thought. “Fine, I’m happy to make it for you, but you have to pay for it, I can’t make it just for you to try it and not like it and give it back.” He looked serious and so Sasaki tried to keep his face a serious as possible to match the energy. (Turns out that was quite difficult when all his brain could think was “He’s so cute. He’s so cute. He’s so cute.”)
“Yeah of course I’ll pay for it Myaa-chan, I wouldn’t want to cause you any trouble.” He feared it sounded a little disingenuous, but with the little smile that pulled across Miyano’s face, he relaxed.
After that, Miyano got to work making the next drink. As he did so, they talked. Miyano explained the process of making the drink, the flavours that went into it and even a couple pieces of history and trivia about the drink. It was enthralling to listen to the passion in which he talked about the drink like he’d spent time perfecting it even though it wasn’t to many people’s tastes, in the hope that someone would come along and ask for it.
Sasaki hoped he would be allowed to be the person Miyano could open up to about those sorts of interests and snippets of information.
“Here you go, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to drink it, I know it’s not to everyone’s taste,” he murmured a little more than he had in their other conversations that morning.
Sasaki took a first sip and was hit with the bitterness of the drink, he almost wanted to spit it out but the desire to try it and fully decide and try and understand why Miyano through this drink was much stronger. He swallowed the first sip and went in for another.
This time he was prepared for the bitter flavour and it didn’t shock him as much so he was able to taste the other flavours that were hidden the first time.
On his third (and decidedly final) sip, he felt like he could understand why someone would like a drink like this…as well as definitely understand that he was someone who needed a whole lot more sugar in his drinks.
It was interesting.
“So…your thoughts?” the barista asked tentatively.
“Well, I mean, it’s not my kind of thing you were right, but I’m glad I tried it because I can understand why someone would like it, I think.”
Truthfully, Sasaki thought that it was all worth it for the smile leading into a whirlwind of words that exploded out of Miyano after he processed the ginger’s words.
Yeah totally worth it.
Plus One
“You’re welcome to have it by the way, I don’t want it so consider it a gift for actually following my weird requests,” he chuckled, “Give me a minute and I’ll be back.”
He gathered up the rest of the empty cups from the last round of drinks they had bought and again brought them back to the counter to ease the job a little for Miyano (and obviously his other co-workers but Miyano was the primary focus).
“I think we’re all just packing up to go so I thought I’d bring these over for you”
“You really didn’t have to do that Sasaki-san” he smiled shyly.
“How did you know my name? I know yours from your name tag but I don’t think I told you mine?” he tilted his head a little trying to see whether he could work out where Miyano had gotten his name from.
“Oh, uh” Sasaki could almost see some red blooming on his cheeks and found himself wanting to stare at it much more than he had when other people, like the girls in highschool that thought he looked like a delinquent and would give him confession letters. “Hirano-senpai has talked about you before and so when you mentioned him, I sort of made an assumption? I’m sorry if that was rude, it was just he had talked about his friend who-”
He watched as the barista cringed at his own thought process that he was rambling about and laughed, interrupting him.
“You’re cute Myaa-chan, I promise you’re all good, just a little shocking is all.” he smiled sincerely, he really did mean it, seeing Miyano so flustered was incredibly cute, if the reason behind had been a little surprising to say the least.
“I just wanted to say thank you for telling me about the coffee, even if I didn’t like it, I’d love to hear more about the things you know about, Hanzawa said you were into, uh BL I think it was so I’d like to listen to you talk about that some time.”
Miyano physically crumpled a little at that, “Sasaki you can’t just talk about BL so openly! What if someone hears you! But, uh well if you really want, I could lend you some manga at some point? No pressure though! I know it’s not to everyone’s taste.”
Sasaki beamed.
This was exactly what he had wanted when he asked Miyano about the things he had seemed interested in, for him to be willing to share them with Sasaki and get to know him more through his interests.
“I’d love to do that some time for sure, I’ll probably keep coming by here if you don’t mind, I like the cafe and I really like seeing you.”
“Sasaki-san you only met me today, how can you know that” he still laughed a little bit which Sasaki considered a solid win on his part. “I won’t keep you anyway, but thank you for listening to my ramblings, and sorry that you had to buy a drink that you didn’t like, and I then drank.” So here, have this instead but of course you don’t have to take it.” he looked away from Sasaki’s eyes as he slid the receipt, clearly written on, across the counter before he busied himself with taking the used mugs through to the kitchen.
The receipt was Sasaki’s receipt but it had a little note written in blue highlighter that say:
‘Hope this isn’t to forward but here’s my number if you want it for anything, coffee or maybe a date. No pressure. :))’
Oh…Oh
This was very very good, this was better than he would have imagined for the first day. Sasaki was expecting to wait a while to bring up that possibility and then expecting to be let down gently. He was definitely not expecting Miyano to be the forward one.
“Myaa-chan! Uh I know you probably wanted this on messages, but uh I would yes defiantly like to take you out on a date at some point if you, uh, wanted” he shouted slightly at the beginning, trying to catch Miyano’s attention as he sped out of the kitchen.
Miyano looked back at him, like an animal that had just been caught, and then smiled.
“Okay Sasaki-san! Text me!”
Then he ran off to continue carrying glasses back and working the till.