SUMMARY
Shouyou is being harassed at work, but thankfully Oikawa comes to save the day. And maybe get his number.
Let it be said, Shouyou can take care of himself just fine. He is self sufficient, knows how to do his taxes, practices hard to keep up his scholarship, and pays for all his stuff. He honestly knows how to take care of himself.
It's just that... well, outside of a volleyball court, he doesn't look all that intimidating. Which is a good thing! No one would want to be intimidating, especially if you work as a barista at a coffee shop. But when creeps take an interest in you... well that's a different story.
Like right now, for example.
Shouyou is a friendly person by nature. He makes lots of friends easily, and his passion for volleyball has allowed him to meet wonderful people, some of which are now his best friends. His friendly personality is also good for costumer service, lots of smiles and compliments for the patrons. Shouyou can do that no problem, and the coffee shop he works at has even gained a few regulars because of it, though that may also be because he does good coffee, but who knows.
The regulars aren't the problems. Most of them are good people, and they tip well. The few that are more on the... unpleasant side aren't much trouble as long as Shouyou does his job and gives them their coffee. But there's this specific guy who just... doesn't know how to take a hint.
At first, Shouyou thought the guy was funny. He always asked for a black coffee, straight with no sugar, which later on helped Shouyou realise he probably wasn't there for the coffee at all. The guy striked easy conversations, and being the social person Shouyou is, it wasn't difficult to keep up.
Then the guy asked him on a date.
Don't get him wrong, Shouyou is very much gay, and proudly so, but... well, the guy looks and acts like he's at least twenty years older than Shouyou, so he isn't really interested. And last time he checked, that's not a crime. Apparently, this guy hasn't gotten the memo yet.
When the guy persisted, Shouyou started trying to drive him away. Kuroo, a good friend of his and a fellow barista, offered to act as his fake boyfriend, which was really sweet of him, but ultimately useless because that same day Kenma, you know, the real boyfriend, stopped by. Not that Kenma would have gotten mad or anything, but he didn't know what was going on, so Kuroo and Shouyou had to cut the act.
Somehow, the guy thought Shouyou was trying to make him jealous. Go figure.
The same thing has been happening over and over again. Shouyou tries, politely mind you, to tell him he is in no way interested, and that it's starting to get a little creepy, and this guy just... thinks he's trying to play hard to get. Shouyou doesn't know if he is being faced against a case of serious denseness, or if the guy just doesn't give a fuck about what Shouyou thinks. And honestly? He doesn't know which one if worst anymore.
Which lands him on the situation at hand right now.
He is almost done with his shift, only thirty more minutes and he's good to go. Shouyou goes over his mental list of things to do once he's done here, which isn't much since it's getting dark. But he should have time to buy some groceries and maybe start on that Anatomy I essay he has been postponing for a week now.
There aren't many costumers at this hour, just a few of their resident insomniacs that like it here because it's open the twenty four hours of the day, and the business people who just... hog one of the tables and work at the coffee shop all day and ask for a periodical coffee refilling. Shouyou looks around, trying to see if any of them indeed need a refill or anything else, but ends up looking at one of the tables at the other side of the shop.
Oikawa Tooru is a regular - one of the insomniacs, to be more specific - and the most gorgeous man Shouyou has ever laid his eyes on. His brown wavy hair always looks so soft, and even if Shouyou knows by all the night shifts that Oikawa sleeps an average of three hours a day, he always looks fresh and awake, no eyebags to be seen under those beautiful hazel eyes. He doesn't even have shacking hands, which is no small feat for someone who drinks as much coffee as he does. Shouyou often wonders how he hasn't had a heart attack with all the caffeine. Shouyou also has never talked to him past the usual costumer-barista questions like what kind of coffee does he want, and does he want a refill?
That's fine. Shouyou is content just staring from afar, where he can't make a fool out of himself with a stupid comment.
He is pulled from his thoughts by the door opening. He turns to greet the new costumer, absently thinking this will be the last of today before he can pack and go home. Semi should be here soon to take over, anyways.
He comes face to face with Harasa Fukai. As in, the guy who has been shamelessly flirting with Shouyou even though he has tried to tell him in all the ways possible that he is not, in fact, interested.
Great.
"Hi there, Shouyou-kun!" he greets Shouyou happily, with a familiarity the redhead is definitely not comfortable with, but cannot complain about.
"Hello, Harasa-san. It's weird seeing you here at this hour, you usually stop by on the mornings," Shouyou certainly has an idea of why it could be. It's not hard to figure out he takes most of his shifts in the morning, just after morning training. "What can I get you?" he asks politely, trying to avoid eye contact and instead focusing on the register.
"You know my usual, honey," he winks flirtatiously, and Shouyou has to keep the grimace of his face, instead nodding.
"Of course. One straight black coming right up. Feel free to wait at one of the tables and I'll bring it to you," Shouyou says, trying to get the man to go away as fast as possible. Maybe Semi would be here early and he would entertain Harasa for Shouyou so he could go home?
The redhead tries to delay the coffee making as much as he can, doing everything slowly and looking around for Semi. He seems to be out of luck today though, because a coffee straight black isn't hard to make, and Semi seems to be taking his sweet time to get here. So, twenty minutes from the end of his shift, Shouyou is standing in front of Harasa with his cup of coffee, trying to make the process as clean and fast as possible before fleeing back to the counter.
Just as he is about to do that, a hand catches his wrist, and Shouyou's eyes close painfully at the failed attempt.
"Hey now, honey. There's no one you need to serve right now, so how about you sit with me, hmn? And then when your shift is over, we can go somewhere more... private," Shouyou's breath hitches as he hears that, eyes blown wide. Hows does he know his shift is about to end?
"I-I'm afraid I'll have to decline Harasa-san," he says nervously, watching around to see if Semi is here yet - he is not, what's taking him so long? - or if he can find something to excuse himself with. It's a small coffee shop, and at this hour he is the only one working it, so there should be something for him to do, even if it's just mopping the floors.
But Shouyou is also a diligent worker - this does pay his bills, after all, and outside of rush hour, there's not much to do around here - so everything is spot on. Damn it.
"Ah, and why is that?" Harasa asks, and Shouyou swallows dry as he racks his head for an excuse.
He has used so many of them it's almost sad, but then... well, it didn't work last time, but it's the only thing Shouyou can possibly think of right now.
"My boyfriend is waiting for me!" he yells out, louder than he wants to, but nothing to be done about it now. Harasa's eyes widen for a moment, seemingly surprised, but then the smirk returns to his face, and his grip on Shouyou's wrist tightens.
"Now, now, Shouyou-kun. We both know you don't have a boyfriend. You don't need to make me jealous, you know?" Harasa says like it's a joke between the two, but Shouyou can't get himself to do anything.
"It seems like you are misinformed because Shou-chan here does have a boyfriend," suddenly, there's an arm around his shoulders, and his wrist is being freed from Harasa's clutches. Confused, because Shouyou does not, in fact, have a boyfriend, he looks up, coming face to face with Oikawa Tooru.
His face, while contorted in a smile, holds no happiness. In fact, Oikawa looks positively murderous as he stares down Harasa, who seems to have the words caught up in his throat.
Oikawa doesn't give him any time to answer, and instead turns around, irremediably dragging Shouyou with him, and directs him back to the counter.
Once Shouyou is safe at the other side of the counter, his shoulders lose up a bit, and he allows a small smile.
"Thank you, Oikawa-san. You really saved me back there," he says with a grateful smile, and Oikawa gives him a blinding smile of his own right back, all the previous rage evaporated from his face.
"No problem, Shou-chan! You looked uncomfortable talking to him," Shouyou blushes at the nickname, realizing it isn't just a strategy to make Harasa believe they are indeed together.
Why is his heart racing so fast? Stop it, Shouyou, control yourself!
"A-Ah, well. He has been trying to ask me out for a few months now, and nothing I try to do to stop him seems to work. And today... he implied he knows my work schedule, which is more than a bit concerning," Shouyou says, not really knowing why he's spilling all of this to an almost stranger. Well, said stranger did just save him from Harasa, so there's that.
"Huh. That does sound troublesome," Oikawa takes a peak at Harasa, who is staring at their general direction with a dark aura around him, and then looks back at Shouyou. "Say, would you let me walk you to the station? I would feel better knowing he isn't following you," Shouyou has to process his words for a moment before they sink in.
Oikawa Tooru, arguably the hottest person on Earth, wants to walk him to the station. Him, Hinata Shouyou.
Has he died and gone to heaven? Shouyou won't discard the possibility.
"That's... very nice of you. Thanks," Shouyou gives him a sincere smile, and Oikawa just waves him off, a smile of his own in place. It's different than the blinding one he gave him earlier, and definitely not like the one he gave Harasa. It's softer, more... genuine.
Shouyou's heart flutters.
"It's no problem. I don't live far from the station so it's on my way anyways, and I prefer to walk my cute favorite barista to safety rather than let him to fend for himself," Oikawa winks boldly at him, and Shouyou can feels his cheeks reddening. "Cute."
"Am not..."
"Whatever you say Shou-chan. What time are you off?"
Shouyou checks the clock, and a relieved smile makes it to his face.
"As soon as my replacement gets here," he tells Oikawa, and the brunet hums in consideration before leaning in.
"Then, how about you make me another coffee for takeaway while I pack my things?" Shouyou nods happily, and the brunet turns around back to his usual corner as he gets on with the Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino with three extra shots of coffee.
It makes Shouyou's blood pressure go up just by looking at it. How does Oikawa manage to take more than five of this every day?
Semi gets there just when Shouyou is finishing with the whipped cream, and the silveret apologizes for the delay. Shouyou assures him that it's no trouble, but to watch Harasa because he's in a bad mood.
"Finally got your point across?"
"Oikawa-san acted as my fake boyfriend," he points at the brunet, who's finishing with his packing.
"That's... really nice of him."
"Yeah..." Oikawa makes his way to them, waving in a friendly manner when he spots Semi.
"Ei-chan, it's good to see you!" he cheerfully says, and Shouyou hands him his frap. "Oh, this looks delicious Shou-chan! Let me get my wallet—"
"This one's on me," he stops the brunet, who looks at him with a puzzled expression. "For helping me with Harasa-san."
"Oh. Thank you," Oikawa looks at the beverage with a strange expression, but it's gone before Shouyou can figure out what it is. "Well, are you ready to go?"
"Let me take my apron off."
Five minutes later, he and Semi have swapped places and Shouyou is getting out of the shop with Oikawa Tooru by his side. When they walk past Harasa, the man starts to exude some sort of creepy aura, and Shouyou unconsciously sticks closer to Oikawa, who slings an arm across his shoulders protectively as he directs them to the exit.
"Honestly, how could you stand him for so long? He gives me the creeps and it's not me he's after," Oikawa says once they are out of the shop and walking to the station. Shouyou laughs nervously, trying to ignore the tingling feeling that Oikawa's arm, still around his shoulders, does to his poor heart.
"That's life when you work costumer service. And most of the time Kuroo or Semi are with me when he comes by. This is the first time I see him on an evening shift."
"So he really learned your schedule."
"Seems like it," Shouyou can't help but feel anxious about that. Oikawa saved him this time, but who's to say Harasa won't do anything next time, when Oikawa isn't there to keep up the fake dating charade?
"Well, then I guess that means I'll have to be around to protect you again, ne?" Oikawa's cheerful reply makes Shouyou stop thinking for a moment, thoughts going overdrive.
Again?
They are doing this... again?
His cheeks turn a deep crimson, and Oikawa laughs, happily pulling him closer to him.
"How about you give me your number, and when that creep comes at you again, you shoot me a text and I call you?" Oikawa must be the smoothest person in the planet, because that's the first time someone has asked for his number without outright flirting.
"I... I would like that," and Shouyou finally smiles back, thinking that at least, he got something good out of this harassment situation.