#and the shop also had a small talking venom figure too for only TEN dollars brooooo

[clowningaroundmars]

guys i am ECSTATIC abt this kickass find at a cool ass comics and collectibles shop i went to yesterday!!! a venom figure from 1994 for only 25 bucks!!!! you KNOW i had to cop immediately

[onelovewonderwoman]

tater tots and chocolate shop (a.k.a. chen’s convenience store) || eddie brock x reader

listen listen... i know i’ve been gone for a long time and i legit have no excuse but i hope you guys enjoy this unedited excuse of a fic. thinking of doing a smut for this or something smut like for venom/eddie for my other smut blog tho. but we all know we can’t trust me when i say i’m releasing shit anymore smh

tags : @santa-feigh @i-just-wanna-run-hell @munalisax @spiduhgirl @hell-on-cheese-wheels @geeksareunique @violentlybarnes @imissyoualittlemoreeveryday @the-quackson-claxon @curly-haired-holland @courtneychicken @marvel_themed @heycreehere​ @min-amani​ @simonsbluee​ @delicately-important-trash​

words : 4133

warnings : not anything really, just that venom eats someone per usual if ya know what i’m saying... that came off sexual, as sexual as i am, that wasn’t what i meant, he really does just eat a guy sksksksk, also let’s just pretend that chen is single although i’m not sure

“this is venom in eddie’s head”

“this is eddie in his head”

masterlist

-------------------------

Eddie really didn’t expect anything new today - Which is something eerily weird for a man housing a deadly symbiote in his own body. Really, he never actually knew what to expect, but never anything out of ordinary; that is, his ordinary. Then again, he had gotten into the swing of things. Having scored a new job as a journalist, three months prior, spent his days at work, although that meant out and about the city of San Francisco. Then, he’d drop by Chen’s convenience store every couple of days to pick up the symbiote’s, Venom, favourite snacks (and now forcefully his too); tater tots and chocolate. For whatever reason, it made an impression on the creature, so Eddie rolled with it. 

The new thing Eddie didn’t expect, though, was the woman behind the counter. Usually, he would walk in and see Ms. Chen behind these counter, greet her as usual, sometimes even getting an earful from her about how “tense he looked” and how he should start meditating (although, that is why he loved the woman - she felt sort of like a concerning mother figure to him), pick up what he needed then pay and leave. Simple. 

Except this time, there was no Ms. Chen behind the counter. 

No, this was a young woman. Eddie thought she couldn’t be over twenty-two. Sure, the college textbooks in front of her behind the counter made it more likely, but she looked like she was practically still what anyone fairly older would call a girl in place of a woman albeit she was. 

Her head was down when he saw her through the glass doors of the store, holding a pink highlighter in her hand as she read through the open book in front of her, highlighting things ever so often. An earbud dangled from her left ear, the wire of the abandoned earbud bunching up at her front when she brought her arms around her to lean against the counter. 

She looked smart. It didn’t help Eddie that she was beautiful either. Sure, he sees beautiful women everywhere he goes every day in the city, but truth be told, the man became somewhat of a shut in since his break up with his ex-fiancé, Anne followed by the recent presence of Venom. 

Although this time, Eddie figured he wouldn’t be just passing her by like he does other women every day. No, she was new. Obviously, Chen wouldn’t just have her there for the day and leave it at that. Ms. Chen has been there every day since the damn store came to be. She was an employee now - One Eddie was probably going to have to see more often than he’d like to admit. 

Sighing, he opened the door and walked in, bell ringing as he did so. It did a good job at catching the girl’s attention, as her head shot up when it rang. 

He seemed to be the first customer in a while. Although he wouldn’t be surprised; it was fairly late into the night and Ms. Chen did recently expand the hours from 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m. - It was practically only ten minutes until closing. 

The girl gave Eddie a soft smile, welcoming, that he returned briefly, before she turned back to her textbook when she noticed the ease Eddie had walking through the store. It was easy to tell he was a regular. 

When he reached only the first shelf from the counter, he was unable to help himself and spoke indirectly, “So, you’re new?”

“Huh?” The girl looked over before seeing him turn his head to give her a slight smile and nod towards her, as if signalling to her, “Yes, I’m talking to you”.

Yanking her earbud out almost frantically, she stammered, feeling herself flush slightly in his gaze, “Oh yeah. Yeah, I’m… I’m new.” 

Eddie hummed. 

She continued before he had the chance to reply, “I’m assuming you’re a regular here? You know Ms. Chen?”

“Yeah,” Eddie chuckled and shook his head, thinking of the older woman, “Yeah, she’s a…”

“Character?”

The both of them let out small laughs of their own together before Eddie found himself turning back to the shelf and the girl back to her textbook, albeit both reluctantly. 

Once again, in true Eddie Brock fashion, Eddie found himself unable to stop and spoke once more, “So, not that I’m exactly complaining, but why exactly isn’t Chen here. I don’t think the woman’s ever missed a fuckin’ day.” 

She breathed a laugh before turning back to him with something bright in her eyes that Eddie felt he hadn’t seen in a long time, something refreshing, “I’m pretty sure she wanted to set aside a little time for who I think is the future Mr. Chen.”

“Wow,” Eddie feigned disappointment, “There goes my shot.”

A bright smile grew on the girl’s face, making Eddie’s heart start beating just a little bit faster as she went along, “There it goes.”

A small smile - a true, genuine small smile - found its way to Eddie’s face. She was cute, really cute. 

“Who is she and why does she make your heart beat fast?”

“Jesus,” Eddie jumped unnoticeably at Venom’s voice in his head, muttering to himself, “Shut up, you parasite.”

The girl’s eyebrows furrowed in both confusion and offense having heard his muttered words. “Excuse me?”

“Parasite!” Venom spoke in his head with anger. 

Eddie’s eyes widened before he took a few steps closer to the counter. “No! No. Not you.”

“O-” She looked him up and down for a split second with a frown; who was he talking to if not you, the only person in the store with him. “Okay.”

They stayed in silence for a few seconds, feeling the awkward tension get heavier with each passing by. Although, when Eddie saw the girl shift back into her leaning over the counter position from before to get back to her textbook, he pulled her away from it once more. 

“Look, I’m sorry,” Eddie spoke sincerely to the young woman, looking from her to somewhere in the store ever so often, “I guess I have this… thing where I… talk to myself. Sometimes I don’t even realize I do it. Could I just- I mean, do you think I could get your name?”

Her frown upturned into a soft smile once more. “Y/N.” 

She then proceeded to add, “I work three days a week here.”

Eddie’s gaze on her felt like the heat from one of those lights on a movie set, and it made her feel flush under it, “I mean, that’s just if you wanted to know. I’m gonna be here pretty often, so I don’t know-”

“Hey, Y/N, Y/N.” He cut her off with an endeared look on his face. “Don’t shit yourself, it’s good to know.”

“Okay,” Y/N laughed nervously as she watched Eddie move across the store once again to reach the desired shelf, “Good- Good to know. Tha-Thanks.”

Once he’d found his desired purchases, dollars over dollars of tater tots and chocolate for his “little buddy”, he took them up to the counter that Y/N sat behind. 

She spoke as she grabbed each product and scanned, eyes looking up from her actions to Eddie, “Hey, I never got your name.”

He chuckled nervously and spoke almost regretfully to the floor, “Yeah, it’s, ah, it’s Eddie.” He lifted his head to, although he didn’t intend to and it just ended up happening, gauge Y/N’s reaction - As if it would set off a bomb, especially after everything with the Life Foundation. 

“No way,” 

And there it goes. 

“I thought I’d recognized you from somewhere; you’re Eddie Brock, right?” Here comes the part Eddie was waiting for, the backlash of having dismantled the Life Foundation - people claiming what the foundation was accused of doing, what Carlton Drake was accused of doing, wasn’t actually real despite the photo evidence he’d provided. Although, when Eddie closed his eyes for a brief second to both calm himself and Venom, the symbiote probably feeling the way his nerves spiked and heart pumped faster, he opened then fairly quickly when he heard Y/N’s excited voice with what could even possibly be admiration, “You exposed the Life Foundation, right? That’s- That’s insane. It was crazy what they were doing, I still can’t believe it. I mean, I kinda can ‘cause I never exactly had a good feeling about that guy. Yeah, he was nice on camera and stuff, but it felt like he was a little too nice, if you know what I mean.”

She paused when she noticed Eddie was staring at her like she grew another head and looked to him nervously. “What?”

“Nothing.” Eddie pushes back a disbelieved laugh, staring at the girl with that same disbelief, except with something lighter that felt like a tiny spark of hope for him, which made him feel like he was getting way too far ahead of himself. “It’s just that, since it’s happened, not a lot of people have good things to say about it.”

Y/N shrugged before she grabbed a plastic bag and began placing the items into it, eyes on that now as opposed to on Eddie. “I think what you did was great. People are probably just still in their little bubbles trying to avoid any type of bad thing. It was only the poor being used during the human trials, so it’s none of their concern as far as it goes - Just like everything else. I read your papers now, they’re amazing.”

“Thanks.” Eddie smiled, practically mesmerized with this girl for reasons unfathomable to even him. 

After he handed her cash, she leaned over and handed him his bag. Taking it, he felt his fingers brush against hers, feeling adrenaline rush through his body at the mere contact…

Which alerted the symbiote. 

Knowing, Eddie turned away from Y/N, moving his head down as his eyes flashed an ominous grey, trying his damn hardest to keep Venom at bay. 

Beginning to walk out, he shouted, “Thanks, Y/N. See you.”

Y/N’s smile faltered at his sudden leave, only replying with a sigh after the bell chimed again and Eddie was no longer in the store, “No problem, Eddie.”

Outside, an argument was taking place inside Eddie Brock’s head with his symbiote. 

“She makes you heart beat fast like Annie.”

Shaking his head whilst he walked, Eddie thought to Venom, “No, she doesn’t.”

“Yes, she does.”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Yes, she does.”

“No, she doesn’t!” Eddie practically shouted in the middle of the street, stopping his movement to see that he’d gained weird looks from others on the street with his outburst. Shaking his head once more, he went onto walking home again. 

“Look, I just met her-”

“We.”

“We! We just met her, and it doesn’t mean anything. She was pretty, and new, thought I was cool, and I haven’t gotten any for months now. We just got excited. That’s all. We’ll see her every once and a while, and that’s it. She’s a good girl, wouldn’t be surprised if she had a boyfriend.”

“We can eat him.”

“No-” Eddie cut himself off when he realized he spoke aloud again, frustrated with the symbiote’s quote on quote “solution”

Huffing he continued to speak with the symbiote, turning the corner and getting closer to his apartment building. 

“No, we cannot eat him. We don’t eat people, at least not good ones, and you know, there are a lot-”

“A lot of good people. Yes, yes, I know.”

“Exactly. So get over it. I will.”

———————————————

“So, Mondays and Wednesdays.” Eddie walked into Chen’s convenience store that Wednesday to be greeted with what he thought was possibly the most beautiful smile from Y/N. “You wanna let me in on what the third day of the week you work on?”

Y/N laughed, taking her earbud out and giving her full attention to Eddie, almost looking at his shyly and bit her lip, driving him insane in a way he didn’t expect from you. “I don’t know… Maybe you’ll have to figure that out for yourself, Ed.”

“Oh, it’s Ed now,” Eddie challenged with a smirk, walking past her to the first shelf. 

Her eyes followed, taking in his broad frame. “Mhm.” She nodded confidently. 

“Mhm,” Eddie mimicked her with a chuckle before nodding towards her textbooks. “What are you studying?”

“Uh,” Y/N looked down at her textbook, like she had forgotten what the textbooks were even for, eyes fluttering before she looked back up at the man. “Mostly English stuff.” Y/N shrugged and placed her elbow onto the counter, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. “I’m an English major - It’s my third year.”

Eddie gestured towards her, his front still facing the shelf and his side to her, his head still turned looking at her. “Any idea…”

Y/N snorted, voice straining as she told him, “Nope.”

Eddie turned away with a laugh when he saw her smile lazily at him. 

She sighed, “But,” Eddie’s attention turned back to her, “I am hoping to figure it out by the end. Granted I have this year and the next to figure it out, but here’s to hoping, right?”

“Yeah.” Eddie gave a weak smile. “Here’s to hoping.”

Y/N hummed then deciding to leave Eddie be, turning back to her textbook and putting an earbud into her left ear, as she always does. 

“Pussy.”

Eddie huffed, speaking underneath his breath, “Alright, you know what?”

Forgetting what he’d come to the store for, Eddie found himself marching up to the counter and planting himself in front of it, right where Y/N was seated behind. 

Obviously hearing his movement, Y/N looked up with her eyebrows furrowed and a confused smile on her lips. “Is everything alright, Eddie?”

“Let me take you to dinner,” Eddie said abruptly as to not chicken out, attempting to smile through all the nerves he was feeling in that moment, “Let me- Let me take you out on a date, sweetheart.”

Panic shot through his chest right through his heart when he saw Y/N’s confused smile falter into a frown and her face grow solemn. 

“I’m really flattered, Eddie.”

“Please, no but. Please, no but.”

“But,”

“And there it is.”

“I’m already seeing someone. I-” Y/N paused and looked at him almost regretfully, biting her lip with her eyes filled with sadness. “I’m really sorry, Eddie. You’re really cool and stuff, but-”

“No.” Eddie shook his head before giving a weak fake smile as he chuckled, attempting to not make it sound as bitter as he felt so he wouldn’t make the girl feel bad. “Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault. I should’ve asked-”

“No, it’s okay, really.” Y/N shook her head and attempted a smile to show him it was fine, really. 

“Maybe,” Eddie paused, looking around then back to Y/N, “Maybe I should go. I’ll just go. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you, okay?”

“Yeah,” Y/N eyebrows furrowed in concern before she called out as he began to walk away, “Didn’t you need to get some stuff?”

“Uh, no.” Eddie looked back briefly, then tucked his hands into his pockets before he opened the door with his shoulder and heard the bell chime as always. “Not today.”

As Y/N watched him walk away from the store through the glass, she couldn’t help the words that came out of her mouth despite a mother now walking in with her small child, “Fuck,”

——————————————————

Despite saying everything was fine, Eddie found himself not going back to the store for the next week, too, and as stupid as it sounds, scared to face Y/N after what had happened. He felt stupid; after everything, she was too good to be true - Way too good to be true. 

Although, ten days later, he found himself on his way to the convenience store on a Saturday night, half past eleven. 

Taking a deep breath before entered, he pulled the door opened and heard the damn bell again, catching, none other than, Y/N’s attention. Although, this time - This time, she saw him of course, but she didn’t take out the earbud always in her left ear, didn’t take her focus off her textbook and highlighter in hand to shoot Eddie the biggest, most beautiful smile. She didn’t give him any type of greeting. 

At first sight, Eddie would think that obviously she’s pissed. He probably made her feel bad about it, despite how he said it’s okay. Completely contradicted himself and made her feel like an ass.

As he got closer to the girl, though, he heard a sniffle she tried hard to cover. 

It sent a rush of rage through his body, and he had to try his hardest to fight against Venom’s want to make an appearance. 

“Stop it, you’ll scare her.”

“I will scare whoever did this to her. I’ll bite their head off-”

“No. Biting. Heads off. Right now, we’re focusing on her… We might be the ones who did this to her.”

Eddie then felt a flush of shame before Venom spoke to him once more. 

“You.”

“You? What do you mean you?”

“You did this to her. I had nothing to do with it.”

Eddie rolled his eyes subtly at the symbiote. 

“So now it’s just me, huh?”

The symbiote didn’t reply, and that when Eddie decided to walk closer to the counter and the upset girl behind. 

He spoke up, “Y/N?”

Eddie heard Y/N suck in a breath before shooting her head up to face him, quickly wiping away any tears that may be running down her beautiful face, and shooting him a weak smile in attempts to cover up she’d been crying. “Hey, Eddie,” She gave a forced chuckle, “Guess you figured out what the third day of the week I work is.”

Eddie stared at her, concern littered all over his face with a mix of anger, his eyebrows furrowed. “What’s going on, sweetheart?”

Her nose was running and she looked drained, her eyes faintly red rimmed from crying. 

“Nothing, Ed, I’m-” Y/N let out a shaky sigh. “I’m fine. It’s stupid, anyway.”

“Hey,” Eddie spoke softly to the girl, leaning himself as close as he could with the counter separating them, “I won’t think it’s stupid.”

Y/N shrugged before she let out a sad laugh, “It’s just the guy I was seeing.”

Eddie hummed, already knowing where this was going. Nonetheless, he let her continue. 

She crossed her arms in front of her, placing them onto the counter and leaning forward. Closer to Eddie. 

“I thought we made it clear we weren’t gonna see other people,” Y/N smiled sadly, her voice soft and light, weak, “But I guess it wasn’t clear to him. I, uh, I caught him with some girl, and I know it’s stupid ‘cause we’ve only been together a few months, but it just hurts-”

Eddie shook his head and stopped her, “It’s not stupid, Y/N. I promise you it’s not. That guy’s an asshole - Doesn’t even know what he’s missin’”

“Let’s bite his head off.”

Although Eddie chose to ignore him this time, he couldn’t help but consider the idea. 

Y/N gave a weak laugh, “Thanks, Eddie.”

“Any day.”

Y/N shook her head and looked at him regretfully, “Listen, Eddie, about the other day - I’m sorry. I really like you too, I just felt like an ass about it and wrong ‘cause I was already seeing somebody. I mean, but now I don’t feel so bad about it anymore, I guess. If you’d still want to, I’d like to take you out on a date to make up for, well, all that and the past ten days.”

“Got nothing to make up for, Y/N.” Eddie smiled softly at her as he reached over to grab her hand on the counter. “But yeah, I’d really like that.”

If Eddie Brock was a fourteen year old girl, he’d he felt his insides melt and butterflies in his stomach as you gave him the sweetest smile, but Venom would never let it go. 

The sweet moment was all too quickly interrupted. 

In came a hulking building of a man, angry and red faced. Red faced not cause he was angry, but ‘cause he was pretty fucking ugly if the three of them (mind Venom) do say so themselves.

The gun in his hand made it clear what his intentions were, and sent a jolt of protectiveness through Eddie’s body over Y/N and her safety.

The man’s voice was aggressive as he directed Y/N to put all the money in the bag, gun still at his side. She did what he said, obviously, her hands shaking unlike how Ms. Chen was usually more collected because she was unfortunately too used to it. Although, Eddie hadn’t moved when he told him to. 

“Move,” The man boomed, then expressed almost nonchalantly, “I can shoot her if you want, if that’ll make you fucking move.”

The man then proceeded to direct the gun towards Y/N’s head, making her breath hitch and stop her actions of shovelling the cash into the bag to stare at Eddie with eyes filled with frightened tears to mouth, “Move.”

This time, when all he could see was red, Eddie didn’t stop Venom. 

Surely, Eddie form became Venom’s; black covering Eddie body as they shifted. Venom stood huge and towering over everyone and everything. Tongue slid across sharp, menacing teeth as he smiled ominously at the man who now dropped his gun and looked like he was shitting bricks.

There was no speech this time like with the one guy who would continuously harass and rob Ms. Chen. No, this time, he simply grabbed onto the struggling man’s shirt, lifted him with ease to dangle him in the air before simply using him as his next meal. 

Y/N stood watching frozen, scared to make any type of movement, even breath, as to catch the attention of the terrifying creature in front of her that used to be Eddie. 

It didn’t seem to work for her though, because the creature’s head snapped around to her, making her let out a shriek and duck underneath the counter, not knowing what else to do other than cry and expect potential death coming her way. 

Although, that didn’t seem to happen. She heard the creature… talking; like he was arguing with himself. 

“No!” It said, “I want to meet her!”

She heard a final growl before she heard something else, something… slimy, then footsteps coming around the counter to where she hid underneath. Her whole body tensed as she awaited the huge creature, terrified. 

Before she knew it, she faced with not huge, inky black feet (?), but Eddie’s shoes. He crouched down for face her huddled form, arms wrapped around the legs that were right against her chest. 

“Hey,” Eddie said softly, bringing a hand to her arm and pretending he didn’t feel her flinch, “I’m sorry for scaring you. It’s okay. You can come up now.”

Y/N looked at him in disbelief before she spoke fearfully, “No, fuck you, it’s waiting for me.”

Eddie chuckled, genuinely, as his head fell to his chest for a brief second before he looked back up, into her beautiful, [eye colour] eyes. “Sweetheart, I promise, he’s not waiting for you. At least, not to eat you.”

“Okay.” Y/N nodded before exclaiming, “So then it’s to just kill me! He’s probably just full, that’s why. Ate a whole man.”

“Alright.” Eddie placed a hand on either side of Y/N’s face and directed her focus solely onto him. “I promise I’ll explain everything, okay? Just know you’re safe with me. You’re safe, you don’t have to worry.”

Y/N’s mouth opened and closed as she debated in her head, Eddie frightful of what decision she may come to. 

“Okay.”

“Yeah?” Eddie smiled. 

She rolled her eyes weakly in distress. “Yeah. Just- Just help me up now.”

Releasing her face, Eddie grabbed her hands and pulled her up with him, although the movement made lose her footing and bump herself into his chest. His arm wrapped itself her waist and there wasn’t anymore space between them, faces barely centimetres apart.

“Hey,” Y/N smiled cheekily at him, her arms wrapping around his torso. 

“Hey,” Was all Eddie said back impatiently before his hand reached up to cup her face and guide her lips onto his.

Here’s to hoping. Oh, and those damn tater tots and chocolate that gave him a reason to be there in the first place.

[kawaiikichi]

Macchiato Kiss (Iwaoi)

Hello! This is kawaiikichi with the first out of five (yes, I have five of them) Iwaoi one-shots in celebration of Iwaoi Day! These are actually from my Fanfiction Amino account. I figured that I’d revisit these particular one-shots, edit them, and post them here, seeing as I’m not really on Fanfiction Amino anymore.

I hope you guys like it and happy Iwaoi Day! 

Title: Macchiato Kiss

Summary: One day, Oikawa encounters a male at the hole-in-the-wall coffee shop that he works part-time at and instantly falls in love with him. However, an ex from the past comes back to haunt him, determined to get back together with Oikawa...

One-Shot Notes: This was written for the Classic Trope Challenge in Fanfiction Amino; the classic trope I went with for this was the coffee shop trope; there will be some past Ushioi in play here; Oikawa and Iwaizumi didn’t go the same school together (they’re basically strangers when they first meet); I tried to keep them as IC as possible, but in some instances, they might be OOC

One-shot is under the cut!

"Sandra, I've got a medium iced green tea!"

Oikawa slid a cup of iced green tea across the counter as a girl with blond hair in a messy bun and green eyes made her way up to the counter.

He smiled at her.

"Have a nice day." he said before winking at her.

She blushed furiously as he went back to work. A sigh was heard from behind him.

"Why do you always flirt on the job, Oikawa?"

"What? It's my nature, Suga-chan." he shot a glance over at the silver haired guy fixing up a caramel cappuccino. "Plus, how do you think we bring in customers to this small hole-in-the-wall coffee shop, anyway?" he asked as he went to tend to a customer.

Suga rolled his eyes.

"First off, Sugar and Spice Cafe is not a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop. It's just an ordinary coffee shop in a college town. Also, the only customers you bring in are the girls." Suga explained.

"That's because I have the face of the hottest man in all of Japan." Oikawa said.

"Ah, how I wish everyone had the same train of thought as you." Suga drawled sarcastically as he finished up the cappuccino and he slid it across the counter, calling for a guy named Aone.

"Cut your sarcasm, Suga." Oikawa wrote on the cup he was holding and he swiftly turned, handing the cup to Suga. "Fix this caramel apple spice latte up for me." he said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get to it." Suga said as he took the cup.

Oikawa ran a hand through his hair as the cafe door opened.

"Welcome to Sugar and—" he then stopped, seeing who had stepped into the cafe.

The person was a male with lightly tanned skin, spiky dark brown hair, and deep green eyes. He wore a light grey hoodie with a denim jeans jacket, black jeans, and black Converse sneakers.

"Holy hell..." he breathed out as the guy approached the counter.

"Um...can I get a caramel macchiato and an apple streusel muffin?" the guy asked.

Oikawa could only stare as he ran his eyes over the attractive male's features.

Damn, he looks so hot! Was there ever such a hot guy like him in the area, he wondered to himself.

"Um...hello?"

Oikawa blinked his eyes twice, snapping back into reality.

"Um, yes?" he answered.

"I said I wanted a caramel macchiato and an apple streusel muffin." the guy asked.

"A-Ah, yes!" Oikawa felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment as he quickly typed in the order. "What size do you want for that macchiato? We have short, medium, tall, and extra tall." he said.

"A medium size, please." the guy said.

"Okay..." Oikawa grabbed for a medium sized cup and he whipped out a Sharpie from one of the pockets on his apron. "Can I have your name?" he asked.

"Iwaizumi." he replied.

"Iwa..." Oikawa rolled his eyes up to meet those stunning deep green eyes. "Iwa what?" he asked.

"Iwaizumi." Iwaizumi stated.

"Okay. So, your total is going to be $6.50." Oikawa said.

Iwaizumi handed him a ten dollar bill and he gave him his change along with his receipt.

"And here's your receipt. Your name will be called once it is ready." he said.

"Okay." Iwaizumi answered as he took the change from Oikawa. The light brush of hands made sparks shoot through Oikawa's hand. He nearly dropped the cash as Iwaizumi took them and he walked off.

Oikawa sighed dreamily as a blur of orange hair bounded over to him.

"I'm here! And please don't tell Shimizu that I'm late."

Oikawa looked over at the short orange-haired male, who seemed like he had sprinted a marathon in order to get to work.

"I'm not going to." he then handed the cup to him. "But, if you want me to keep quiet, then I suggest you get to work on this macchiato for me, Chibi-chan." he said.

"First off, my name is Hinata! And also, if it means that I don't have to deal with Shimizu's crazy long rant, then I'll gladly do it!" Hinata declared before walking off.

Oikawa let out another dreamy sigh as he went over to the pastry display case, where Suga was stocking it with cupcakes and other pastries.

"Suga-chan, I think I'm gay." he stated suddenly.

"Not surprised there." Suga replied nonchalantly as he placed a couple slices of lemon pound cake into the display case.

"Huh?! I thought I was being subtle about my sexuality!" Oikawa exclaimed with a dramatic gasp.

"Not exactly. I mean, when you and Ushijima were still a thing—" Oikawa cut him off.

"Don't you dare mention him." Oikawa reached and pulled out an apple streusel muffin. "He's in the past. I don't need scum like him in my life anymore." Oikawa bit out.

Suga said nothing as Oikawa pulled out a brown paper bag and he put the muffin in it. He quickly wrote Iwaizumi's name on the bag in Sharpie as Hinata came up to him with the finished macchiato.

"Finished with the macchiato!" he declared.

"Good. Now, this is also for the same person, so take that and go over to the pick up counter." Oikawa said.

"Okie dokie!" Hinata chirped as he made his way over to the counter. He then looked at the writing on the cup and bag, his large brown eyes slowly narrowing.

"Um...I've got an apple streusel muffin and a caramel macchiato for...um...Iwa...Iwa...chan?" Hinata questioned uncertainly.

Nobody came up to the counter. This made Hinata frown.

"Um...Iwa-chan? I have your caramel macchiato and apple streusel muffin!" he called out a little louder.

However, there was still no response. Hinata's cheeks puffed out into an annoyed pout.

"Did they seriously just lea—" that was when someone walked up to the counter.

"Did you say that you have a caramel macchiato and an apple streusel?" the person asked.

"Oh." Hinata blinked his eyes twice at the guy standing before him. "Um, yes, I did." Hinata said.

"My name is Iwaizumi, though." Iwaizumi said.

"Oh, is that so? But, on your cup and bag, it clearly says Iwa-chan." Hinata said.

"What?" Iwaizumi questioned as he took the cup from Hinata and he looked at the writing on it.

Just like Hinata had said, the words Iwa-chan was written in swirly cursive along with a heart at the end of it.

His head shot up to glare at Oikawa, who had glanced over in his direction.

"Why in the world did you write down Iwa-chan? I told you that my name is Iwaizumi." Iwaizumi said.

"Iwaizumi is too long! I couldn't even remember it! So, I just wrote down Iwa-chan!" Oikawa whined.

Their staring contest ensued for a few more minutes before Iwaizumi huffed out an annoyed sigh and he marched off towards a table with his muffin and macchiato.

"Oh my god, Iwa-chan looks absolutely dreamy when he's irritated!" Oikawa gushed as he watched Iwaizumi sit down at a booth by the window.

"Geez, Oikawa, you are so gay." Suga stated as he added whip cream to an iced mocha.

"Not as gay as you and Daichi, Sugar-chan."

"First off, Daichi and I are not that gay. Also, stop calling me sugar. It sounds disgusting."

☕️☕️☕️☕️

Iwaizumi kept coming to the cafe every day after that. He would order a caramel macchiato and an apple streusel muffin, sit at a booth by the window, and silently work on whatever he had to do on his laptop for about an hour before scurrying out and rushing down the sidewalk.

The more Iwaizumi showed up, the more Oikawa fell for him. And the more Oikawa kept writing Iwa-chan on his cup and hopelessly hitting on him, the more Iwaizumi was able to tolerate him and even get along with him.

Iwaizumi was a junior currently studying biology at the same community college that Oikawa (who is also a junior) was studying psychology at. After college, Iwaizumi planned on going to medical school in hopes of becoming a surgeon. He also used to play volleyball back in middle and high school, which was something him and Oikawa had in common.

It was currently cram week and Iwaizumi had come to the cafe to study, demanding he have at least two cups of caramel macchiato as he studied.

Oikawa was reaching for an extra tall cup as he heard footsteps making their way over to the counter.

"Iwa-chan, this is seriously your third cup of—" he looked up from the cup and his eyes widened upon seeing who was up by the counter.

"You..." he trailed off.

"Tooru." the person stated.

"Ushijima." Oikawa bit out, venom laced in his voice.

"I never thought I'd find you in such a drab place like this." Ushijima commented.

"Same to you." Oikawa replied.

He looked back at the cup.

"So? Are you ordering anything or did you just come here to bug the living hell out of me?" he asked.

"I came to talk to you, Tooru." Ushijima said.

"Look, stop calling me Tooru. We are on last name basis n—" Oikawa looked back at Ushijima and his eyes grew wide like saucers at the silver ring in his hand.

"What the—?!" Oikawa was at a loss for words as Ushijima spoke.

"I've thought about this for a while and I have come to the conclusion that I think you should marry me." Ushijima said.

"What?!" Oikawa nearly choked. "Where the hell did such an assumption come from?! I never said that I wanted to marry you!" he exclaimed, his voice raising an octave.

Iwaizumi looked up from his computer screen, seeing the exchange between Oikawa and Ushijima.

"What the hell...?" he muttered as he listened in on the conversation.

"Look, I know I have done you wrong—" Oikawa cut him off.

"Well, duh, you've done me wrong. You chose your volleyball career over me and tried to get me to leave Seijoh and come to Shiratorizawa because you wanted complete control over me! You knew I loved my volleyball team and yet you tried to rob me of that!" Oikawa snapped.

Ushijima opened his mouth, but Oikawa continued talking.

"You screwed me up! I was so in love with you that it ultimately ended my volleyball career! Now I'm here, making coffee and studying psychology so that one day, I can become a sports psychiatrist and help athletes overcome emotional hurdles like the ones I had, but couldn't overcome because of you!" Oikawa snapped.

Ushijima sighed.

"This all wouldn't have happened if you had just come to Shiratorizawa." Ushijima said.

"Come to Shiratorizawa, come to Shiratorizawa, I've had enough of hearing you say that! I never wanted to come to Shiratorizawa! Hell, I was doing just fine at Seijoh before you came into my life!" anger flared in Oikawa's eyes. "You and your damn Shiratorizawa can both go to hell!" he shouted.

He then flinched, seeing the anger bubble up in Ushijima's eyes.

"U-Um...Okay, I know that the whole "you and Shiratorizawa should go to hell" bit was a little harsh and I definitely should not have said it. I am so, so sor—" he let out a yelp as Ushijima grabbed his wrist roughly and yanked him closer to the counter. The cup fell to the floor as a hiss escaped Ushijima's mouth.

"You better take those words back, Tooru." he threatened.

Fear flashed through Oikawa's eyes, his lip trembling slightly. He could feel himself slipping back into the way he used to be back in high school, when he would cower in fear because of Ushijima's very controlling behavior.

"I...I'm sorry...I promise I won't do it again, so please..." he trailed off.

That was when he saw someone smack Ushijima's hand away. Oikawa looked to see Iwaizumi.

"Iwa-chan...!" he exclaimed.

Ushijima narrowed his eyes at him.

"And just who at you?" he asked.

"Oh, I was just sitting over there and studying for my finals when I heard your conversation and saw you trying to be rough with him." Iwaizumi explained.

Ushijima looked at Iwaizumi, then at Oikawa, who looked like he was pleading for Iwaizumi to help him, and then back at Iwaizumi.

"That's not what it looks like to me. What exactly are you to Tooru, anyway?" Ushijima asked.

"How about I show you?" Iwaizumi said before reaching for Oikawa's arm and pulling him towards him.

Oikawa could only gasp in shock as Iwaizumi's lips pressed against his own. Iwaizumi's lips were warm and tasted of the caramel macchiato that he loved to drink so much.

Iwaizumi pulled away from the kiss and he looked at Ushijima.

"He's the guy that I like, so I suggest that you leave him alone." Iwaizumi said.

Oikawa's eyes were wide as he stared at Iwaizumi.

"Iwa...chan...?" he whispered out.

Iwaizumi continued to stare at Ushijima until Ushijima let out a sigh.

"Whatever." he said before turning on his heel and walking off.

Once the cafe door closed, Oikawa quickly whipped his head to the right to look at Iwaizumi.

"Iwa-chan—" Iwaizumi cut him off.

"Come around on the other side." he said.

"O-Okay..." Oikawa trailed off as he went around the counter and he walked up to Iwaizumi.

"Sorry that you had to get caught up in that. But really, you didn't really have to go so far as to pretend that you have a crush on m—" Iwaizumi cut him off.

"I wasn't pretending. I really do like you." he said.

"You...do?" Oikawa asked.

"I do. The more I came here, the more I fell in love with you." he said, taking Oikawa's hands in his.

"So...you love me?" Oikawa asked.

"I do." Iwaizumi said.

"Even if I keep calling you Iwa-chan?"

"Yes."

"Even if I flirt with you and drop cheesy pick up lines on you?"

"Yes."

"Even if I have a rocky past?"

"Yes."

"E-Even if...even if I screwed up my knee during my last volleyball match in high school and I'm such a failure at everything and—"

"Oikawa, I love you no matter what happened to you before." Iwaizumi said before moving in and kissing him again.

Oikawa eagerly kissed back, tasting more of the macchiato on Iwaizumi's lips. His hands moved to play with Iwaizumi's hair as the employee door swung open.

"Oikawa! I heard from Hinata that Ushijima ca—" Suga stopped, seeing the scene before him.

"Oh." he said as Hinata barreled into his back.

"Ack! Suga, why did you stop so sudden---" Suga shushed him, bringing a finger up to his lips.

"I think it's best we leave them alone for right now..." he trailed off before closing the door, leaving Oikawa and Iwaizumi in their own world.