Chasing Cars || *＊✿❀ Kaoru Hitachiin x Reader ❀✿＊*

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Some days had passed, and (Name) had thankfully heard back from the gas station job he applied for. They asked for an interview, and he got the job offered to him pretty much on the spot. Thanks to his family business, he had quite some knowledge of automotive technology, but it didn't hold enough weight to take up the entirety of his new job. The pay was minimal, but it would be enough to survive rent and let him be able to eat daily, so he would make do. He knew the commoner life wasn't glamorous, which drew him towards it. Not many wealthy people got to experience such humbling moments in life. He deemed himself lucky to be a part of it.

The gas station job was pretty dull, save for some weirdos asking him strange automotive questions (no, you should not insert the fuel hose anywhere but the fuel tank of your vehicle) and the slush machine he was given free rein to operate at his discretion. Although most customers were people paying for fuel and coffee, some came through for snacks, slushes and discount to-go meals. One of these customers was a lovely girl about his age. He was sure he'd be into women if he were into her. He never caught her name, but she was always so sweet (and somewhat blunt) and dressed in adorable little outfits that he wished he could own—one day.

There was this one girl who wouldn't leave him alone, though. She always asked him weird questions and wanted his attention a lot. She was a little older than him, and never paid for fuel, so she didn't have a car or motorised bike that would bring her back as a frequent customer. One of the older employees at the gas station, Hiro, said she was a regular for the last boy his age. She tended to 'boy-hop', as Hiro called it, not that it made any sense to (Name). Why would you try to find boys at a gas station, of all places?? Regardless, he had no interest in the girl, but that seemed only to encourage her to try to befriend him.

School was going to start soon, too, so thankfully, his shifts were going to change, and he wouldn't have to see this annoying girl anymore. It would just be a shame that the nice plain girl in the cute clothes wouldn't be seeing him anymore. At least he still had the slush machine, so not everything was going horribly for him. Speaking of the machine, they explained that they swap the slush flavours every month. The only ones that didn't change were their best sellers—the cola and the sour lime. This was good because both became his favourites very fast, and he found he couldn't get through a shift without a giant slush cup of both layered in it anymore.

Things were going swimmingly for (Name). His parents hated that he succeeded in just a week of moving out. But a deal was a deal, and they weren't allowed to interfere—plus, he knew they would never go out of their way to come down to some 'grimy' little gas station in a commoner part of town to spy on their only son. That would be low, even for them, and also really sad. He was pretty sure they'd lose their minds if they found out how much of the pure sugar in the slushes he drank, anyway, so it was for the best that they never make an attempt to visit him at work.

Honestly, the nerves about going back to school were setting in. He knew some of the kids in his class already, as they had been peers throughout Elementary and Middle School, but he didn't get along with many of them. (Name) was the kind of boy to sit around on the side of a busy road having deep conversations about life or pouring hours into optimising his skateboards for park use. Those were all eclectic interests the kids at Ouran never seemed to have.

He would be alone and outcasted for as long as he was an Ouran Alumni. But that was okay. He didn't need anyone before now, and he certainly wouldn't be needing anyone any time soon.

Except maybe Hiro. Hiro was cool.