Chapter Text
The first day of November brought with itself a cold atmosphere, hammering in the fact that winter was getting closer and closer. As a surprise to probably no one, Daichi was on his bike, quickly making his way to the pet shop for his opening shift yet again, trying desperately - and failing miserably - to hurry, freezing his goddamn tits off in the cold weather. However, him speeding down the narrow streets of the neighbourhood didn’t exactly help his case, as the wind was hitting him hard and making him feel like his lips would fall off his face - despite having his helmet on - if he didn’t reach the pet shop soon.
Luckily for him, the pet shop came into view. He floored the acceleration pedal, rushing to park his bike in the back courtyard of the store and get inside as soon as possible. He took off his helmet and adjusted his jacket and helmet hair, making his way to the backdoor. However, just as he was opening it, he heard something coming from the dumpster. ‘What the…’
Daichi rushed over to the source of the noise and, despite the awful smell coming from it, - ‘Well yeah, no duh, Daichi, what did you expect? Honey lavender?’ - opened and peeked inside. There they were, five (six?) adorable kittens in a dirty cardboard box, meowing loudly. They were shivering, being huddled closely together. Daichi reached inside to take the box in his hands and the kittens rushed towards the corners of the boxes opposite from Sawamura, clearly scared of him. They didn’t seem violent, however, so Daichi felt it was safe enough to take the box out without causing too much of a ruckus. And he did, with… mixed results.
Two of the kittens jumped out before he managed to pull the box out in full. They were too tiny to properly run around, but they still managed to get further into the dumpster, shimmying around various garbage. Daichi, slightly annoyed, went to catch one of them and his hand touched something he didn’t recognise nor Wanted to think about. He caught one of them, smirking triumphantly. The kitten tried to bite and scratch him, but there was only so much it could do, managing to tickle Daichi more than actually hurt him. If Sawamura wouldn’t have been on the search for another kitten in Ass Degree weather, he would probably be laughing and enjoying this soft moment.
He put the kitten next to the rest of them and it immediately huddled next to the others. Daichi stared at the remaining kitten who was hissing at him, its fur standing on end and its ears being close to its tiny head. Sawamura squinted at it, lifted his sleeves and went to grab him. The kitten dodged at the last second, adventuring deeper into the dumpster and forcing Daichi to lower himself even more to reach it.
After more Ring around the Rosie, Daichi got annoyed at the prospect of being outsmarted by a tiny, currently freezing kitten who was twenty times smaller than Daichi, who’s been running in circles for the past five minutes. Sawamura finally caught it, managing to confuse the kitten and get it dizzy, twisting and turning and switching directions constantly.
“Gotcha!” Daichi exclaimed, grinning victoriously and being extremely proud of himself. However, in his excitement, as he was already in a precarious balance while chasing the tiny creature, he toppled over into the dumpster. He sheltered the kitten who was clinging to his palm for dear life and pushing its tiny claws into his hand.
Kuroo slammed the back door open, rushing outside to see what caused such a ruckus on a goddamn Monday morning. Again.
“What the fuck is going on here--” Before he got to finish his sentence, a hand holding something fluffy shot out of the opened dumpster, followed by a groan of what could be described as sheer despair.
“I caught it.”
***
After pulling Daichi and his kitten out of the dumpster, - and laughing like the Bastard that he was - Kuroo took the kittens inside, leaving Daichi to change into his work uniform. Unfortunately for him, his jacket and shirt didn’t survive the fall in the dumpster, forcing him to change - although not mandatory, since the uniform’s shirt was ugly as all Fuck , they reeked of cheap detergent and felt awful on his skin. Daichi sighed, wondering what went wrong and what deity he had angered for him to deserve such cruel punishment on a cold, gloomy and very Fucking Cold mind you, Norvember morning.
Kuroo knocked on the bathroom door, leaning against it and catching Daichi’s attention.
“Well, at first glance, they seem alright, but I might have to do a more careful check-up just to make sure.” He pauses for a bit, standing straight and uncrossing his arms. “I will say this though.” Daichi stares blankly at his friend, waiting for him to continue. “Well, what?”
Kuroo, in a split of a second, shifts his expression from blank to incredibly excited, like a puppy seeing its owner for the first time in ages.
“They’re so fucking cute Daichi can we please keep them.” Daichi, taken aback by Kuroo’s expression - and by his skill to spit out 10 words in a split second without breathing - stops leaning on the wall and looks at his co-worker with the most confused face he’s sure he’s ever pulled.
“What?”
Kuuro, tearing up with pure joy, took Daichi and dragged him into his medical office, pointing at the six balls of fluff, all huddled together in the pet bed Kuuro put them in after the short examination. Daichi would’ve melted at the sight, if Kuroo hadn’t rudely shoved himself in his face, his hands covering his mouth and nose and all but crying now. “Can we please keep all of them?”
Daichi looked at his friend, blinked once, then looked past him at the kittens, shifting in their sleep from the commotion. Then he looked back to Kuroo, who didn’t seem to breathe. Sawamura pushed his friend with his hand away from him to the side, then turned to him to make sure he’s alive. “We’re gonna have to keep them for their more detailed check-up like you said, and then we’ll probably put them up for adoption.”
Kuroo looked personally offended at that, glaring at his co-worker. “What do you mean put them up for adoption?! I’ve made up my mind, I’m adopting all of them myself and no one can change my mind. Not even you, captain.” Daichi laughed. “Are you sure Kenma would be alright with that? Especially since you guys are paying rent? Would they even allow you to keep pets, let alone six whole kittens?” With each word Daichi spoke, Kuroo looked more and more pained - for dramatic purposes, of course. “Why must you hurt me this way, captain? Your best friend of all time and you do this to me, how dare you.” Kuroo was wiping away fake tears, while Daichi rolled his eyes and smiled at his friend’s antics.
“When do you think you’ll be able to do their full check-up?” Kuroo, ending his dramatic reenactment of the most popular drama to date, looked up at Daichi, then scratched his head, thinking. “Hm, I’ll have to talk to Takeda-sensei before I do anything, and see how long it’ll actually take. They seem fine for now, it would probably take about a month.” Daichi hummed in acknowledgement.
“Do we really have to give them all away, though? I think me and Kenma can take at least one of them, even with renting and everything.” Daichi hummed. “I mean, if you think you can take care of a kitten, since I don’t doubt Kenma’s skills with parenting pets, then why not?” Kuroo glared at him, then turned to the sleeping fluffballs. Daichi watched his friend go to the kittens and lower himself to their level, pointing to one of them. The blackest, fluffiest one, sleeping in the middle of the bed, surrounded by five other fluffy creatures, soundly asleep.
“Then this one’s mine. I called dibs and that’s it. I’m sure Kenma will love her.” Daichi huffed at that, yawning and heading back to the front of the store. “If you say so, Kuroo. We should spread the word in advance, just in case someone would like to adopt one of them.” Kuroo snickered at that, making Daichi stop in confusion. “Maybe you can go ask Suga from across the street, I’m sure he’d love one. He seems like a cat person.” Daichi stormed out, shutting the door behind him like he had a personal vendetta against it, blushing furiously at the thought of Suga.
He can barely believe that yesterday happened. Seeing his old friends and rivals from highschool again was a pleasant occurrence on its own, but finding out that they brought someone with them and that someone being the adorable, hot barista from across the street was very, very welcome. Of course, Kuroo hadn’t shut up about it since, endlessly teasing Daichi while they were on their way to his home. Obviously, when dropping his friend off, not forgetting to say “Remember to text him, Daichi. Wouldn’t want to leave your Disney prince waiting, huh?” then smirking his annoying smirk and leaving as fast as he could before Daichi could scream bloody murder.
He felt his heart beat faster when thinking about him, in his soft looking coat, his beauty mark raising slightly whenever he smiled, his hazel brown eyes and his intoxicating laugh, not to mention his incredibly warm and welcome hug, everything just made Daichi feel like he was floating with joy, blushing and smiling like he’s the happiest he’s been in a while. Maybe he is, he sure felt like it.
He made a mental note to drop by the coffee shop later today. He absolutely had to. For coffee, of course.
***
Two hours later, his exhaustion seemed to settle in, since the hype and excitement from the early kitten incident died down, minus the consistent “Awwwwh”’s coming from Kuroo every now and again when he’d lay his eyes on them.
Daichi, feeling himself getting more and more restless by the minute, decided that he waited for long enough. All but jumping out of his seat, he went to Kuroo, who was busy with another puppy doing a yearly check-up. “I’m going to get coffee, what do you want?” Tetsurou eyed his friend devilishly, all but beaming up at him. “Couldn't contain yourself anymore, huh, captain?” Before Daichi got the chance to say anything in retaliation, Kuroo continued. “Black coffee, like always. Maybe a chocolate muffin, if they have those.” Daichi took this opportunity to run to his jacket - that he and Kuroo wiped with antibacterial wipes after the Unfortunate Incident of falling in the garbage; he gave it a sniff afterwards just to make sure it didn’t smell bad, and he found it alright, though still haunted by that memory- and bolted out the door to the shop on the other side of the street.
Once the cold air of November hit him in the face and the droplets of water hit his skin, he realised he had to either cross right now or get soaked by the time he got there. ‘ Are you fucking serious.’ He cuddled himself more in his jacket, running across the street and ending up in front of the coffee shop, the strong smell of coffee and pastries already hitting his nose and making him melt at the sight through the windows. Though, he couldn’t see Suga - or anyone, really - anywhere. He frowned slightly and pushed the door open, rushing inside.
Daichi made his way to the counter, noticing a small, silver bell on top of the pastry display. He approached it cautiously, looking from side to side in case anyone showed up, then ringed the bell gently.
“Hello? Is anyone around?” Daichi ringed again, before backing out and waiting patiently to see if anyone could come. ‘I didn’t come in too early, did I? The front door was unlocked, after all.’ A voice came from somewhere from the left, a very recognizable one at that.
“Yes, I’ll be with you in a moment!” Suga sounded like he was struggling with something in the back of the room, accompanied by thuds and a slightly annoyed “Really?” .
Daichi slowly approached the source of the noise, his heartbeat giving him a break instead of shooting him into a mini heart attack whenever he thought about Suga, or heard his voice, or was in his presence--
“Need some help, Suga?” He stopped that train of thought there before it would get worse.
“No, no! I’m fine! Fucking box-- I’ll be there in bit!”
Sugawara came rushing from storage, his apron askew and his hair poofier than expected. He leaned casually on the counter, looking tired and breathing heavily - ‘Smooth, Suga. Very smooth.’ “Morning, Daichi! Sorry, I was just carrying some boxes with Kiyoko from the last shipment, I didn’t get the chance to unpack everything. We don’t usually get customers this early, you caught us a bit off guard.” He laughed, being slightly embarrassed. He tried to fix his apron and his hair, only somehow managing to make it worse.
Daichi smiled at him, almost in a state of trance, before shaking his head and coming back into this reality and realising that, yes, Suga was in front of him and just as pretty as last time. Maybe prettier, with his soft grey hair disheveled and eyes scrunching up with his pretty smile.
“Morning, Suga. No problem, I just came to get some coffee and see if you were around. Sorry about coming in so early.”
Suga shook his hands in front of him, trying to reassure Daichi. “No, no! Don’t worry about it, I probably should’ve paid more attention to the counter. Though, that gives me the idea to swap it to ‘closed’ until we finish, just in case.” He looked up at Sawamura, smirking. “You came to see me, that’s cute.” he teased. “What can I get you? Just like last time?”
Daichi chose to Ignore what Suga said before he imploded then and there. He instead settled for returning the gaze. “Yeah, but add an extra back coffee for Kuroo and two chocolate muffins on the side, they look really good.” Sawamura smiled slightly as the barista turned to the coffee grinder and dropped beans into it, before looking back at him with the slightest bit of confusion. “Wait, you remembered my order from last time?”
Sugawara stopped and turned to him, blushing, yet avoiding Daichi’s gaze as much as he could. “Y-yeah! Since you guys work just across the street I thought I’d make a mental note of your order in case you’ll come back again.” He laughed awkwardly, making Daichi shift in his place and smile kindly to the barista. “That’s very thoughtful of you, thanks.” Suga was glad he was turned to the coffee grinder now, being more than certain that if you put him next to a lobster you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. He definitely didn’t remember Daichi’s order in hopes he’ll come by again and that way he’ll see him more, nope, absolutely not. And whoever says that is a dirty, filthy liar. ‘Not.’
A woman - ‘Presumably Kiyoko,’ Daichi thought - came to the counter as well, looking like the polar opposite of Suga: instead of looking disheveled or tired in any way, her hair was done up perfectly into a tied bun, with her apron tied just as perfectly around her waist. Daichi was as gay as the next person, but even so he could admit she was incredibly pretty. She reminded him a lot of Suga.
“Shimizu, can you please pack two chocolate muffins for Daichi?” Kiyoko looked at her friend and co-worker, who looked like said lobster, then at Daichi. Her eyes shot wide open, then she smiled softly. “Sure, no problem. These ones, right?” she asked, turning and pointing at the display, and Daichi felt like he was seeing double. “Uh, yeah, thank you.”
Daichi glanced one more time in Suga’s direction as he was grinding coffee and preparing two cups for it, admiring him - read: checking him out, - then made his way to the register. Kiyoko neatly packed the muffins in a small, pink bag and put them on the counter in front of Daichi, then smiled up at him and turned to her right. If she noticed Daichi glancing at Suga every chance he got, she didn’t say or mimic anything. “I’ll go unpack the vanilla and sugar left from last time, can I leave the rest of this load to you?” She looked at Suga, who mirrored her expression and nodded solemnly. “Sure, I’ll take care of those. Thanks, Shimizu.” She glanced at him and daichi again, smiled and went into the storage through the other way.
A few minutes later, as Suga finished the coffees and put them on the counter, Daichi thanked Suga for the coffee, but paused and looked at the barista with a questioning gaze. “You sure you don’t need some help back there? I can take a bit of time off, since the shop is pretty quiet this early and Kuroo’s in the back with patients.”
Suga looked back at him, feeling like he was sinking deeper and deeper into those chocolate-coloured eyes every time he looked into them, trying his best to not break eye contact and/or combust on the spot. He then glanced into the storage at the boxes left to unpack. There weren’t that many left, but it would probably take him another hour or so to unpack them properly, especially now that he was one person short. He paused and looked back at Daichi. “Are you sure it wouldn’t be a problem? I don’t want to bother you or anything, I can handle them.”
Daichi got closer to the counter, - and, indirectly, Suga - looking kindly into his eyes. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have offered otherwise. I’ll deliver these to Kuroo before he gets pissy that his coffee got cold and I’ll be right back. Would that work?” Suga shifted from one foot to the other, seeming to consider the offer for a bit more, then nodded and smiled softly at Daichi, putting his hand over his customer’s on the counter. “Yeah, it really would. Thank you, Daichi.”
The latter froze at the touch with his wallet in his hand, blushing from the soft, gentle contact. ‘His smile is so pretty, it feels like I’ve been staring at the sun for too long.’ Suga, realising what he did, took back his hand like he burnt himself on the stove, and flushed furiously. But, as Daichi pulled out his wallet to pay up and get coffee for his friend, the barista stopped his hand before he could pull money out.
“These are on the house, since you wanna come and help me.” Daichi looked ready to protest, but Suga was quick to stop him before he did. “No buts. If you want to come help me then this is what I want to do in return.” Sugawara smirked. Daichi relaxed his shoulders and put his wallet in his back pocket, took the coffees and muffins and went towards the door, not before turning to Suga and doing finger guns with the muffins in his hand, a promise to return written on his face. Suga laughed, and waved back at his companion.
“You must really like him, if you said yes to him offering to help. You barely let me help you and that was because we work together.” Suga yelped when Kiyoko’s head popped from around the right door of the storage. His face reddened. “It’s not nice to listen in on people’s conversations, Shimizu. I would’ve expected something like this from Asahi and Kageyama, but not you. I feel betrayed.” He crossed his arms and pouted jokingly. Kiyoko laughed. “My bad, my bad. I mean it, though.” Suga looked at her with a confused expression. “You really seem to like him. And he seems to like you back. I’m happy for you.” Suga looked at his feet, smiling to himself. “Is it that obvious?”
Kiyoko shot him what he assumed was a deadpan look. “You fidgeted with the coffee grinder for five minutes and asked me to pack his muffins because you were a smiling, flustered mess. I’d say so.” Suga laughed. “You caught me.”
***
Daichi swung open the pet shop’s door, tripping and almost falling on his ass and risking to cause a ruckus among the animals. A parrot from one of the top cages that hung from the ceiling looked at him funny and flapped its wings in greeting. “Hello! Hello!”. Daichi looked up at it, feeling confusion and bafflement at the same time. He paused for a bit, looking at it, then rushed into Kuroo’s office. He found his friend sat on a chair next to the kittens, scrolling on his phone. He looked up at Daichi, barely acknowledging him, then widening his eyes when he noticed his friend was out of breath.
“Holy fuck, captain, I get that you want Suga to leave you breathless in a manner of ways but you look like you ran a marathon, then ran another marathon in celebration of the first marathon. You alright?” Daichi put his finger in front of him, crouching and breathing heavily. He then bolted upright, handing Kuroo his coffee and placing the bag with muffins on the table next to them, getting one out for himself and handing the bag to Kuroo. “I got your order.” As Tetsurou went to get his wallet back to pay Daichi back, Daichi stopped him. “They were on the house.”
Kuroo stared blankly. “What?”
“I’m going right now to pay them back. Or rather, I’m going back for the reason they were on the house. I offered to help Suga unpack something from their last shipment.” Kuroo smirked. “Offering your help like this and leaving poor me alone with the store, whatever will I do, Daichi? So inconsiderate.” Daichi shot him a deadpan look. Tetsurou looked back at his muffin, ready to dig in. But not before taking the chance to dramatically point at Daichi.. “Don’t worry, captain. I’ll cover for you, as your dear best friend. Don’t take too long, though.” Daichi smiled. “Thanks, Kuroo. I owe you one.”
Kuroo was already all but moaning with pleasure from eating his muffin, seeming lost in delight and going on a vacation with his taste buds and the taste of sweet chocolate. Daichi just. Looked at him, not knowing how to react. He barely found some time to say “Thke chre, chpthn, mmph.” And with that, Daichi left.
He rushed out the door, but not before the parrot from earlier screeched again. “Bye! Bye!” Daichi smiled and waved at it this time. “Bye bye, buddy.” He closed the door behind him and made his way back to the coffee shop.
.
***
Suga stared absentmindedly at the wall decor they had put up just a few weeks before the shop’s opening, when he was helping Ukai-san with renovations. It’s crazy to think that the coffee shop just opened last week, and there’s already exciting things happening. Asahi told him over the phone the evening prior that he met someone while he was filling in for him, and he seemed particularly excited about it. Of course, Suga, like the good friend he was, teased him and tried to get any details he could. And, hearing that Asahi seemed happy while talking about him, he settled for listening to whatever Asahi wanted to share about that experience Especially since hearing his friend being giddy over someone he met was incredibly nice. And not like he could talk, considering… him .
Speaking of him , Suga was snapped out of his short trance by hearing the front door opening, and seeing Daichi, in all of his glory, coming in and waving again. Suga felt like time slowed down as he saw Daichi approaching the counter, and he took this time to really, really look at him. His short dark brown hair, his big yet cuddly-looking arms, his inviting presence. Everything about him was just so… ‘ lovely.’ Yeah, Suga settled on lovely, for now. He straightened up as time resumed its tempo, and smiled as Daichi reached the counter, both hands in his pockets, trying to look as casual as possible. He then guided Daichi to the storage room, and upon entering all Daichi could see was boxes. Just… lots of boxes, stacked on top of each other, and on the right a shelf and a table where coffee bags sat, presumably placed there earlier by Suga and Kiyoko.
Daichi took his jacket off and hung it on the coat peg, rolled up his sleeves and turned to Suga who was sitting behind him. And all Suga did was stare. Daichi’s work uniform was a bit… tight. And thus Suga, trying his best not to melt and be absorbed into the goddamn ground, stared at Daichi’s defined figure. He figured he might’ve been… built well , but this was something else entirely. ‘Holy fucking shit.’
He barely registered what Daichi had asked him. “Where do we start?” Suga snapped back, looked at him, flushed furiously and looked anywhere But At Daichi, pointing to his left at some boxes left open - yes, in that order. He tried to at least keep himself from looking like an absolute disaster, and he had no idea if it worked or not. He hoped it did. “T-there, I didn’t finish unpacking those.” He gave himself a pat on the back for getting a sentence out with his brain cells leaving this reality for a hot minute. Daichi headed towards the open boxes, and Suga followed suit after hanging his apron next to Daichi’s jacket.
As they were unpacking, Suga decided to break the silence. It didn’t feel uncomfortable, if anything it felt peaceful. It was almost like they were in their own little bubble, and Suga felt a sense of safety, in a way. It was… nice. They even had a system worked out: Suga pulled the bags out of the boxes, handing them to Daichi so he could arrange them on the shelf.
“Thank you again for offering to help, it means a lot to me.” Daichi turned to him from the shelf, smiling kindly at him. “Of course, anytime.” And it felt like time had stopped for just a moment.
A moment when their eyes met each other. A moment when Suga wanted to ask if he really meant that. And a moment where Daichi almost convinced Suga that he can read minds. “And I mean that. If you ever need anything, I’m right across the street.” A moment when Daichi’s smile was as blinding as ever, and a moment when Suga couldn’t stop looking at the man in front of him. “Thank you, Dai. Same goes for you, by the way. If you ever need help, or if you wanna talk to someone on a break, let me know.”
Daichi froze with his hand mid-air. He swore he almost dropped the coffee bags he was holding on the floor.
‘Did I hear that right?’
“Dai?”
Suga must’ve just realised what escaped his mouth without thinking, because he instantly flushed red in the classic crustacean style. “Fuck, sorry! It must’ve slipped, I didn’t realise--”
“It’s fine, Suga.” Suga paused and stared at Daichi. “What?”
“It’s fine, I… I like it.” Sugawara could’ve sworn he saw the faintest hint of a blush on Daichi’s cheeks in the dim light of morning. Suga wanted to see it again. And he fucking smikred . Where he gets these bursts of confidence, no one will ever know. He just Does that sometimes. “I’m glad to hear then, Dai.”
Daichi blushed profusely this time. If Suga saying his name wasn’t exciting enough, this was way beyond that. The way it rolled off his tongue, paired with his expression, it rendered Daichi defenseless. All he could do was smirk back.
***
They spent the rest of the unpacking session talking about little things. Suga would tell Daichi stories about Oikawa and Iwaizumi’s shenanigans - “Is Oikawa still that bad at cooking?” “If he offers you something he made, Do Not Accept. He managed to burn chicken nuggets, Daichi. Fucking chicken nuggets.” “Noted.” - and Daichi would in turn tell him stories from highschool, either from volleyball matches - “Ohh, so that’s why Kuroo called you ‘captain’ yesterday?” “Yeah, and he won’t Drop it.” “I think it’s cute. It suits you, captain.” Mysteriously, Daichi didn’t seem to have a problem with it anymore. - or about stuff happening at the pet store. Which prompted Daichi to take into consideration Kuroo’s idea.
“I found some kittens when I arrived to work this morning. They were in a dumpster, in a box. They were shivering, poor things.” Suga seemed sad to hear that, almost angered when he responded to Daichi. “Who would do such a thing? Leave kittens in a dumpster in this weather.” Daichi hummed in agreement. “I don’t know. I really don’t.” He paused, then shot Suga a small smile. “But it’s alright for now, me and Kuroo took them in and he said that they seemed fine. We’ll keep them for about a month and then maybe look for people who’d want to adopt them.”
Suga smiled kindly at him. “I’m very glad to hear that. If you want, I can ask around and see if I can find anyone. Maybe Iwaizumi and Oikawa would like one.” Daichi smiled widely. “Really? You’d do that?” Suga got up with the last bag of coffee, getting closer to Daichi and brushing shoulders with him as he put it on the top shelf. “Of course, Dai. Why wouldn’t I?” Daichi didn’t seem to find a response, his every sense hyper fixated on Suga and ‘oh my God he’s so close we touched I--’ Suga broke that trance, putting his hands on his hips and looking at the now empty boxes spread across the floor. “Thank you again for helping, we finished it in record time. I couldn’t have done it without you.” Daichi scratched the back of his head shyly. “Of course. Again, anytime you need me, I’m one text or one street away.” Suga put his hand on Daichi’s shoulder, both settling in the warmth of each other. “I’ll make sure to remember that.” And both of them would’ve liked to stay like that for longer.
Unfortunately, both of them were still At Work, and Daichi, as disappointed as he was, made sure to curse every deity in the universe for the passage of time. He felt Suga’s hand leave his shoulder, leaving behind a ghost feeling that made his skin tingle. He grabbed his jacket and Suga grabbed his apron, making sure to put it on properly this time. They both left the room, Suga closing the door behind him and seeing Daichi to the door, turning the sign to ‘Open’ again.
Before Daichi left, however, the barista lightly hugged him. Daichi, like last time, lagged behind and hugged him a bit tighter in return. Suga eased even more into the hug. ‘I wish time would stop.’ “Make sure to send me a pic of the kittens, alright? I’d love to see those little fluff balls,” said Suga, as he pulled away. Daichi smiled brightly in return. “Of course! I’ll make sure to do that. See you around, Suga.” He waved as he left, and Suga winked at him and waved back.
His heart felt content. He hadn’t been this interested in someone in the longest time. Suga considered he was happy. The happiest he’d been in a while.
“I’m taking you guys finished back there too?” He barely registered Kiyoko’s voice coming from behind him, only to turn and see her leaning on the counter, smirking. Suga sighed, smiling. “Yeah, we did. I kind of wish we didn’t.” Kiyoko laughed softly. “It’s written all over your face, Suga. You really like him, huh?”
Suga paused, and smiled to himself. “Yeah, I do.”
***
Daichi closed the door behind him and hung his coat in the pet shop’s coat peg. He found Kuroo at the counter, reading something on his phone and seeming very absorbed into it before realising his friend and coworker came back. “Hello, lover boy. How was your little unpacking session?” Daichi leaned against the counter, his back turned to Kuroo. “God, Kuroo, you have no idea. I kind of wish we never finished.” Kuroo shot him a questioning gaze, but seeing Daichi being this happy made him happy in turn. He’s aware his friend hadn’t had the best of luck when it came to relationships, and seeing him basically enamoured with this man was a new sight to him. A welcome one.
“You like him this much, huh, captain?” Kuroo smirked, no bite behind it. “He called me Dai, Kuroo. He legit called me Dai. No one does that.” Kuroo’s eyes shot wide open, sitting upright. “Because you never let anyone call you Dai. Like, ever. Not even back in highschool.” Daichi huffed. “Yeah, I guess that was part of it. But it felt… special.” He paused for a bit. “I even told him about the kittens and he said he’d ask Iwaizumi and Oikawa about it.” Kuroo smiled. “Seems like I have some good ideas sometimes, huh, captain?” Daichi turned to lightly punch him in the shoulders, smiling. “Yes, yes, take all the credit and glory. Speaking of which, I have to take a photo of the kittens.” Kuroo watched Daichi go towards the office in the back, and yelled at him. “You’d better send it to me too, captain!” Daichi waved him off without looking at him, pulling out his phone and looking at the kittens, sleeping peacefully.
He took a photo, making sure to have every kitten in frame. Probably the best photo he’d ever taken, considering he didn't exactly pride himself with his photography skills. He remembered one time when Kuroo and Kenma wanted to take a picture together when they went on a hike with Daichi and the rest of their team, and Daichi almost dropped the phone twice , took about three crooked photos and then asked the team’s libero, Yaku, to take it from there, admitting defeat. Kuroo laughed at him, obviously.
He made sure to send it to Kuroo - ‘Bastard’ as he was saved in his phone - and to Suga. He thought if he should write anything extra to Suga, but he ended up just sending it with a smiley face attached to it. It took about 30 seconds for Suga to answer back with
‘!!!!!!!’
. Daichi smiled widely. He was happy. He was really, really happy.