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Hearing the ding signalling someone entering the store, Hazel looked up from where he had been straightening up an end-cap and waved at the new customer, “Good morning, anything I can help you find today?”
The customer smiled at Hazel, giving a slight headshake before turning their attention to a display at the front of the store. Satisfied, Hazel turned his attention back to the end-cap, righting just a few more things before straightening out of the squat he’d been in and feeling his knees pop. He glanced around to see if the customer was in sight and, since they weren’t, he did a couple of quick stretches to loosen his back and shake out his legs.
Feeling light, Hazel decided to take a bit of time to work on the Black History Month project he was preparing for February next week. Other than Hazel, there were only two other Black employees of Bobbins: A Crafter’s Haven, and both Annabeth and Austin were more interested in working on other projects so they felt comfortable letting Hazel take over for BHM displays.
As Hazel meandered toward the fabric section, he glanced through the aisles to see where his customer had ended up. He found them in the drawing section, looking around. Hazel watched for a moment, but the customer seemed to be perfectly fine so he resumed his walk to fabrics.
Hazel walked through the fabric section, letting his hand gently run down the length of cloth bolts so the fibers slid across the pads of his fingers. Occasionally, he would pull out a bolt and look it over, envisioning how it would look in his final project, and either putting it back, or shoving it in his cart.
Deciding that he had all the fabric he needed, he pushed the cart toward the front of the store, automatically looking through each aisle. He paused when he saw that the customer was still in the same aisle, this time holding a product in each hand.
Hazel felt his eyebrows pull toward one another; he hadn’t been watching the time, but he felt pretty confident that he had been over in fabrics for more than ten minutes. He wondered what was causing the customer to spend so much time in one area, before deciding that he might as well check on them.
Not yet entering the aisle, Hazel tried to keep his voice casual as he asked, “Need any help?”
The customer tensed, body locking while his eyes found Hazel, before relaxing, “Uh, no thank you. I’m fine. Um…” they trailed off, before bouncing their eyes at what they were holding then back to Hazel. “Actually yeah. Could I get your opinion on something?”
Their voice had steeled in a way that made Hazel incredibly curious, but he tried to hide it, instead smiling softly and heading down toward the customer, “Of course. What can I help with?” As he got closer, he read the badge pinned to their shirt. Jason, he/him.
The customer’s lips quirked up slightly, “Thank you.” He held out the things he was holding so that Hazel could see that they were two sets of colored pencils, “Is one of these, uh, better, I guess? Which one should I get?”
Hazel waved his head side to side, “Well, I guess it depends on what you’re looking for. From a purely quality perspective, these ones–” he pointed to the package in Jason’s right hand, “Are super high quality. They’re smooth and blend well. The problem is that they’re way more expensive and, since the color part is so smooth you will also go through it faster. Meanwhile, these –” he gestured to the other set, feeling a warmth as he looked at them, “Are cheaper, but they still do a great job.” Hazel paused for a moment, contemplating the set, before looking back up at the customer, “Honestly, these were the first colored pencils I ever got– I mean it was a different iteration since it was forever ago, but they’re still the same– and I still use them and re-buy them when I run out.”
Just for a moment, he let his mind wander to the day he’d gotten the colored pencils. Hazel had been so young that he didn’t remember it too clearly, instead recalling snapshots like the shock that the stranger talking to his mother, a man that was all glass and triangles– edges– was somehow his father, and how such a sharp man’s hand had still felt warm when he’d patted Hazel on the shoulder.
Mentally, he shook off the memory and refocused on the customer who was staring down at the colored pencils in his hand. Hazel made himself be quiet for a moment to observe the stranger, curious at their intensity at the, to Hazel, seemingly simple act of buying colored pencils.
“Okay,” Jason nodded, resolute, and leaned forward to put the more expensive pencils back in their (correct, Hazel checked) place.
“Okay,” Hazel said, smiling and feeling an odd satisfaction, “Anything else I can help with?”
The customer pondered for a moment, glancing around the aisle then back to Hazel, “Uh, yes actually? This is silly, but could you, uh, pick out a sketchbook for me? Just something simple.” He paused for a moment, and Hazel felt tickled when he noticed a reddening around the stranger’s ears, “I’m worried I’ll just overthink that one too.”
Hazel huffed a laugh and nodded, leading the customer down toward the sketchbooks. He squatted down so that he was at the right level, reaching for one of the books before pausing to look back, “Do you have a size preference?”
Jason tilted his head, thinking, “Hmm, something small to medium I think? Like not tiny but I need to be able to put it in my backpack.”
Hazel nodded, “Would notebook size work?” At his nod he grabbed one of the sketchbooks on the left and stood up, handing it to Jason, “This should be good. Works well with graphite, colored pencil, pen, stuff like that. Plus, it’s got a decent amount of pages for the size.”
The customer took it almost reverently from Hazel’s hand, eyes going soft as he looked down at it and Hazel felt affection growing up around him, echoing that thing deep in himself whenever he created from the soul. Art, he thought, it’s all art.
“Thank you,” Jason said, looking into Hazel’s eyes with a gratitude that Hazel certainly didn’t feel like he deserved from the little he’d done.
“Anytime,” he felt his smile go goofy, “I’m always happy to help someone sidestep a case of overthinking.”
The customer laughed, loud and abrupt, in a way that seemed to shock even him, “Sorry. I know I must seem so odd.”
Hazel shook his head slightly, “I mean, yeah it’s not the most normal, but who cares? You were able to get what you needed and it certainly wasn’t any hardship for me. Being odd isn’t a bad thing.”
Jason nodded, face becoming pensive, before repeating softly, “Being odd isn’t a bad thing.” And Hazel had to restrain the urge to press, question the restraints that he could see Jason wearing. But Jason was a stranger, and Hazel had learned the hard way that his drive to understand couldn’t come before someone’s desire to be understood.
Also, he was at his job, and he doubted his manager would take kindly to a complaint that Hazel had harassed a customer about his life over some colored pencils and a sketchbook. So he opted instead to meet Jason’s eyes and ask, “Any other ways I can help? It’s no hassle.”
He could admit to himself that he was slightly saddened at the shake of Jason’s head, but he took solace in the genuine smile on his lips and the fact that his posture had relaxed. “I think this is everything I wanted to get. Thank you.”
“Anytime, really. I’ll walk you up to the front to check out.”
Hazel snagged the cart he’d left at the end of the aisle as they walked toward check-out, prompting an eyebrow raise from Jason, “Are you buying all of that?” Laughing, Hazel told him that he was just gathering supplies for a display.
At the register, Hazel rang up Jason’s purchases, asking him if he wanted to join Bobbins’ rewards program. As Jason pondered, Hazel silently begged him to join, if only for a sign that Jason would probably be coming back in, and he was delighted when Jason said, “Yeah sure. Could be useful.”
For a moment, both Jason and Hazel’s hands held the bag, both looking at it, before Hazel let it go, “I hope you enjoy these.”
“Yeah, thank you. I definitely will.” Jason nodded, holding Hazel’s eyes for a last moment before he turned at headed toward the exit. He got about half way to the door before he paused, head bowed to look at his new purchase, before he straightened and turned back around, blush bright on his face, “Do you want to get coffee or something?”
Hazel beamed.