pet shop ✰ kagehina

he began to learn

little things about shōyō as the boy kept returning to the shop throughout the week. saturday reached them now, and tobio had a long shift to work for the weekend. he wondered if the boy would stop by some time during the day, but he dreaded the wait, as he was opening the shop at 8 a.m. today.

as he sat behind the counter and spent the slow saturday hours reading a new book- this one was called "the things not seen"- his thought process forgot about the words on the pages and floated towards captured moments of the orange-haired boy. the way he smiled brightly when tobio told him about playing volleyball at kitagawa; the way he caught him staring off into space with a plush blush; the way his eyes shone like chocolate stars every time they parted at closing time; there were too many to think about, and tobio found himself still thinking about him a half hour later.

"jeez, what am i doing?" tobio said aloud to himself as he shook his head in a frazzled haze.

you like him, don't you? a small
voice in the back of his head asked.

"no. there's no way."

"no way of what?" a familiar voice piped up as the golden bell rang out, startling an anxious tobio thoroughly.

"uh, nothing! nothing," tobio slammed his book shut and smiled at shōyō shortly, "hey. it's early."

"yeah. i was bored, so i thought i'd come see if you were working, and- well, here you are," he scratched the back of his head nervously with a keen little laugh.

"here i am."

"tobio...can i play with the kittens?" he pouted, sharing his best puppy eyes. he had absolutely no clue of how persuasive they truly were.

tobio swallowed thickly and pulled the stuck "sure" out of his throat.

the boys hurried to the back where tobio went behind the glass compartments and unlocked one with a brown and black maine coon kitten, the fluffiest one he had in the shop. he carried her out in his big hands and placed her into shōyō's fragile arms, feeling his heart race as the boy squealed with joy.

"she's so beautiful!" shōyō whispered, letting out happy sighs as the kitten licked his fingers with her sandpaper tongue.

"she is."

"how long are you working today?"

"until three. i have a break at noon."

"i'll stay then,"

"the whole time?"

"yeah, why not? i have nothing better to do!"

"o-okay," kageyama nodded, gulping audibly.

•••

the hours passed faster than kageyama wanted to admit. one father had come in around 2:30 with the wish to adopt an older dog to surprise his wife with, and he left with a three-year-old chocolate lab at closing time.
over the course of the day, shōyō just sat and watched tobio do his work, occasionally helping him out if it meant they could speed up the process. tobio taught him how much food each animal gets, how to clean their cages, and where they liked to be pet the most; they worked in a comfortable silence, and when they weren't working, shōyō retrieved the maine coon and sat behind the counter with tobio as he read his book.
he liked to sneak long glances at the boy when he was engrossed in his pages. he noticed how when something intrigued him, his eyebrows would furrow in interest and he would bite his bottom lip gently; how he tended to let his hair fall into his icy eyes and would have to swat it away; how he tilted his head to the side and hummed softly to himself when flipping through the blue book, and even sometimes looked up to sneak a glance at shōyō himself, but was too slow to catch his eye.

shōyō felt so warm when he knew tobio was
looking. he felt like he was under a spotlight, left for speculation, nervous and jittery- but somehow he wanted the boy to keep looking at him. his chest twisted and turned every time the two were near- and that urge, that want, that need...
well, it terrified him, to say the least.

i think i like him, he thought. and then he began to panic.
wait! no! i can't! we're just friends! i've never liked a boy before!

but, with each flip of a page and each smile he showed and each laugh he composed, shōyō knew something was different. he felt tingly and uncontrollably flustered, like he couldn't get all of himself together, but calm and content all at once. he felt something too odd, too complex to pinpoint, but he was getting it now.

oh, god. i like him , don't i?

"what's on your mind, shōyō?" tobio asked, taking notice of the boy's cherry red complexion as they stood outside the shop. tobio had just switched shifts with a high school girl, a pretty one with dark hair and glasses.

"n-nothing!"

"you sure?

"mhm. i'm sure!" shōyō asmwered quickly, staring at tobio's helplessly clueless face.

"okay then. well, i'm sure you have somewhere to be, right?"

"not really. volleyball is over, so i don't have much to do."

"well, i have to go home and change out of my work clothes, but- well, uhm, i..."

"what is it?" shōyō could nearly see the steam and grinding gears inside the taller boy's head working.

"uh... do you wanna meet up later and hang
out? maybe?"

shōyō smiled so wide he worried his face would rip in half. "yeah! totally!"

"okay, cool. i'll- um, i'll text you then." tobio smiled shyly, staring at his sneakers.

"okay! see you later, tobio!"

tobio waved goodbye and they went their separate ways, trying desperately not to scream out loud and jump away their internal excitement.