Popcorn ~KuroKen~

Chapter 2: first day flutters

Kenma Kozume

Aw fuck, I'm gonna get fired already! My first day, and I drop a customer's drink while handing it over. Shoyo had told me that it really didn't matter, as had the customer, but I was still panicking. By the time the father and son came in, I was considering writing a will, leaving everything I owned to Treacle, my cat. But the kind man had distracted me, and his adorable son had such good manners too.

It was a weird job, working at a cinema, since you always saw people enter at different times, up to an hour apart, and then they would all flood out at the same time. It was an impossible place to single someone out to talk to them.

Not that I wanted to, of course. I was terrified of people right now, and wanted nothing more than to snuggle up in my bed with Treacle, playing a game on my Switch. College sucked, cause it meant I had to get out of bed. Just in general. I was studying animal care, so it was kinda interesting, and very hands on, but I was forced to get a job in exchange for my parents helping me pay for tuition, and that meant talking to people, and people weren't my favourite animals. That spot was reserved for cats.

But it turns out single fathers with scars on their eyes are kinda hot. It made it even more awkward when I was serving him that my hand shook, but my nerves were calmed when he reassured me, and the story of his kid being sick on him and him not noticing helped calm me. It felt...familial, despite the fact we'd never met. Maybe just having a kid around made it seem like that?

Kids were something I'd always loved. I took great pleasure in spending time with my cousin's daughter, who was just over two years old. We got along very well, and I'd spend a day with her every week, since my cousin and her husband both worked a lot. It was to me that she'd said her first word, and "Kenma" was familiar to her as well. Maybe because it was simple to say, but she still managed it well.

Seeing the single father had, naturally, filled me with excitement. That weird thing your mind does when you see someone attractive was beginning to happen: make you less attractive. Either way, I'll probably never see the guy again, so it doesn't matter whether he's hot or not.

I was proven wrong approximately 3 minutes later, as I was mopping up the floor. I gave him a tired smile, and he beamed back at me, carrying a sleeping child. His smile lit up the world like nothing else I'd ever seen before, and I found myself missing him already.

My work shift was over, and I took off my uniform in privacy, putting my comfortable loose fitting clothes back on. My thoughts were so clouded by the guy that I didn't even hear Shoyo talking

"KENMA!!!"

"WHAT- er...yes? I'm sorry..." oh goodie, I was fucked out of this job already.

"Jeez, you need to loosen up a little. You did fine, you're not fired, be here by 2pm tomorrow."

"Right....." Damn, I forgot work wasn't a one-off.

"Anyway~. What's on your mind?"

"Oh, nothing...."

"I've heard that a million times over Kenma, and the correct answer is usually girls, boys, or murder. And you don't strike me as a murderer." He said, before mumbling "or straight..." under his breath.

"...." My silence must've given me away, as Shoyo laughed at my blush.

"I knew it! So, which one was it? Was it one of those in the group of fuckboys? Wouldn't recommend, personally, but it's your call..."

"Nope, I'm not that weird..."

"Thought so. Was it the boy who came in with his girlfriend? Setting yourself up for heartbreak, man..."