roller rink - kamisero

chapter two

kaminari's hands sweat as he held onto the joystick of the shitty arcade game. he needed to win tickets, because he needed an excuse to visit the ticket booth. also, he loved canadian smarties, and they were 200 tickets each.

he switched to skii ball, where he won 205 tickets and decided it was good enough. he skated to the booth, where the boy stood, wiping the counter. his hair was up into a short ponytail, and it made kaminari's heart leap into his throat. as nervous as it made him, he had to talk to this boy. hear his voice, at least.

the boy noticed kaminari walking up, and put the rag in his pocket. "hey there!" he exclaimed, smiling wide. "what can i get you?"

kaminari silently saluted whatever higher power decided to put that face on the earth.

"j-just smarties, please." he said, putting his tickets on the counter. kaminari took the opportunity to look closer at the name tag the boy was wearing.

sero.

"oh, um..." sero said, counting the tickets. "this is only two hundred. all candy items got moved up to four hundred tickets last week."

kaminari's face flushed a bright red. of course this had to happen. of course.

"o-oh, that's okay," he started, immensely embarrassed. "i can just-"

"wait," sero interrupted, reaching down and grabbing two packs of the smarties. he put them on the counter, and smiled. "on me!"

kaminari's heart swelled in his chest. the shade of red that beat across his cheeks didn't falter. "t-thank you," he stammered, barely keeping a hold on himself. "thanks."

he took the candy, and quickly turned to leave the counter, sweating and blushing uncontrollably. how the fuck can someone be so nice? so calm? i need to lie down.

————

sero sighed as he leaned against the counter. it was a slow shift, a tuesday night during a school week for most kids. he watched the few people circle the ring, most of them professional skaters practicing.

one kid caught his eye, a boy about his age with striking blond hair. he wobbled on his skates, and made it about three feet before he gripped the padded wall and caught himself. sero would have liked to skate out onto the ring and teach him how to skate, guiding him with his hands on his hips and-

sero shook his head. he needed to pull his head out of his ass.

he still let himself watch the boy skate off the rink and head to the arcade, trying several different machines and racking up as many tickets as he could, to barely any avail.

sero got distracted with his preparations to close, sweeping and wiping the counter, locking all the registers and turning off the strobe lights on the rink floor.

as he wiped the ticket booth surface one last time, he spotted the yellow-haired boy skating up to the counter. he gulped, beginning to sweat.

the boy wanted canadian smarties, but was short two hundred tickets. sero quickly looked for his boss, and upon him not showing, sero quickly grabbed the candy and tossed it onto the counter. "o-on me!" he said, and cursed himself for being so awkward.

the boy thanked him and left, skating away. sero turned, biting his thumb as his face flushed pink. jesus, he hoped that kid would keep coming around.