such a tea-se ; sou hiyori

4

"Ah... Hiyori...?"

A little voice spoke up, making Sou shift his gaze from his phone screen to the younger boy across from him. Gulping from the sudden eye contact, he spoke again. "U-Um... I-I was just wondering if... you were okay," He paused, feeling sweat build up on his forehead from the way Sou stared at him. Shin looked away.
"Whatever do you mean?" Questioned the green man. Shin frowned and fiddled with his hands, trying to ignore how clammy his palms were getting.
"You just seem really fixated on your phone recently, that's all..."

Sou's eyebrows raised ever so slightly before his phone was switched off and placed on the desk. It made a pretty loud thud, which made his friend jump. "Shin... I was simply looking at some wonderful photos in my gallery," He grinned, tilting his head curiously at the beanie wearing man, "When did you get so nosy...? Hmm?"

Shin was quick to apologize. "Ah, sorry...! I didn't mean to be..." He stole a glance at the phone and smiled softly, slowly lifting his head to face his scary friend's gaze once again. "Umm... So, what photos were you looking at...?" But he knew he made a mistake when he saw the frown form on Hiyori's face.
"What did I just say, Shin? Stop being nosy."

"S-Sorry!" Shin instantly hung his head in shame, feeling embarrassed for being so rude. He could feel Sou's eyes boring into his skull, and he found himself wishing he'd never opened his mouth in the first place. He absolutely did not miss this feeling. After taking in a deep breath, he tried to ignore the stare that was still on him and turned to the monitor in front of him instead. He looked down at the email icon in the corner of the screen when he heard a small notification sound for it. He clicked. One new email from Sou.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the person in question lean back in his chair and put his arms behind his head, watching for Shin's reaction. With caution, he opened the email to view the contents. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. There were easily over 20 photos of one person, and in each photo they were doing the same thing - drinking coffee and reading in what seemed to be a coffee shop... which made sense. Is this what Hiyori was looking at? How strange...

Shin was about to question the existence of the photos, but distracted himself with the fact that he actually recognized the person who was in them. "Ah... I think I delivered pizza to them the other day!" He thought out loud without really thinking. Hiyori's head snapped back in his direction, and Shin looked up just in time to see the all-too-familiar creepy grin form. He shuddered.

"Is that soooooo? Perfect!" Sou leaned forwards, "That means you know their address, right?"
"I..." Shin broke away from his gaze and bit his lip, unsure what to answer, "... I mean, yeah... I think I have it written down somewhere..."

"That's great, Shin! I see you aren't completely useless after all." Sou sat up straight and stretched his arms over his head before getting up. "I want you to bring me the address immediately, okay?" Shin tried to brush off his friend's harsh words and stood up as well.
"U-Um, well... It's really late... It's dark out," He stole a glance out the window and looked at the dimly lit street, "My notepad with all the orders and addresses is at home, I think... Can't it wait?"

Sou sighed dramatically in response and hung his head unnaturally low. "Fine, fine. You probably shouldn't go out at night anyway, Shin. You'll probably be murdered." He lifted his head back up and grinned playfully. "Get me the address first thing tomorrow." He instructed, then turned on his heels and began to walk down the hall towards his bedroom.

"O-Okay...!" Shin called back, waiting until Sou's footsteps could no longer be heard before sighing in relief. I guess I'm sleeping here tonight... He thought, trudging his way over to the couch and flopping onto it. He often found himself sleeping here when Hiyori forced him to visit. Shin removed his beanie and placed it on the arm of the couch, then attempting to get comfortable; but that was never easy at Sou's house. It felt like even the walls were watching him.

***

You had gotten home late that night and immediately collapsed into bed after getting changed. Geez, only the first day on the job and I'm already exhausted. You thought, rolling onto your side and getting comfortable. You were too tired to even wind down with some reading, so you instead went to sleep a few moments after your head hit the pillow.

The next morning went by normally. You got dressed and made yourself look presentable for your long day. You knew you'd be getting home late again, so you made yourself some morning coffee to keep you going. Soon, you grabbed what you needed and unlocked the door. You were about to walk out but immediately stopped when you realized you nearly stood on something that had been placed right in front of your doorstep. You brought your foot back and tilted your head curiously. It was a bouquet of roses. Who on earth left these here?

Upon closer inspection, you noticed a small note attached to the flowers. You reached down and grabbed it, bringing it up to your face so you could read the fancy writing.

"Thanks for the coffee."