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Kagami’s job at the local convenience store wasn’t anything glamorous or interesting. It was a job. It paid his bills and kept him busy, and the locals were nice enough. There was the pair of old ladies who he assumed were sisters that made him run around the shop to fetch their desired items, and as annoying as it was, they always shared their old-lady-knowledge with him, about cooking and washing and how to get rid of the gross stink from sneakers. There was the group of teenage girls who tried to flirt with him in the way young girls did, with bright red faces and stuttering speech, and despite being both amused and little weirded out by a bunch of fifteen year olds trying to ask him out, he always responded kindly, sometimes throwing in a wink or two just to see them fall over themselves as they rushed out of the store.
There was the weird giant of a man who came first thing after their morning deliveries to almost buy them out of their newly replenished stock of snacks and candy. Several times he’d tried to ask them man if he’d like to leave any stock for anyone else but always got a candy-stick shoved into his mouth and a sleepy “Bye-bye, Kaga-chin” in response.
There was the green-haired doctor who came in ten minutes before close on his way home from his shift to pick up either several cans of red-bean soup, or a whole list of vegetables and meats, muttering about ‘stupid Takao who had all day to go shopping but made him do it at ten-to-midnight’.
His favourite customer, by far, was the single-father who came in every other day with his adorable child who was always dressed up in some kind of costume. The kid's favourite costume was obviously his tortoise costume; it was also his father’s least favourite costume as his son always insisted he was a tortoise, and tortoises don’t hurry up! Kagami was always treated to the child crawling slowly around the shop whilst his father impatiently tapped his foot, urging his kid to hurry up already.
Several months after he started his job, he became quite familiar with the father and his son of many outfits. He’d been chuckling at the way the little boy, who that day was dressed as a rabbit, hopped around after his father, discreetly slipping individual carrots into his basket when the man noticed Kagami was amused and called him out.
“Something funny?!”
Kagami grinned, easily leaning forward on the counter. “Oh, no, but you know, we do provide bags for you to put carrots in, instead of having them rolling around in your basket.”
The man frowned. “What are you even-” He looked down into his basket and scoffed, biting his lip to stop himself swearing as he looked around to find his son. “Koji you put these carrots back right now!”
Kagami laughed out loud at the sight of the man chasing after his son as he hopped away, giggling maniacally. Eventually the carrots were returned and the man kept a firm hold of his son’s rabbit ears as he continued grabbing what he needed before going to the counter. The man scowled at him as he tried his hardest to restrain his grin whilst ringing up their items, but couldn’t help blurting out a laugh when another carrot was slowly pushed onto the counter. His father was less amused.
“You don’t even like carrots!”
‘Koji’ grinned up at his father, hopping up and down in place. Kagami grinned, taking the carrot and putting it to one side.
“But rabbits like carrots.”
The man scowled. “Don’t encourage him.”
“Shouldn’t all kids be encouraged to eat carrots?”
“They shouldn’t be encouraged to drive their fathers to early graves.”
Kagami chuckled and finished bagging the groceries. Koji shouted goodbye to him as they left, waving energetically. Kagami waved back, laughing as the father grabbed the ears again, scolding Koji for being too loud.
The next time they came in Koji was wearing a penguin costume, fully dedicated to his character as he always was, waddling around, flapping his arms at his side. He was less inclined to slip things into his father’s basket however, instead choosing to headbutt his leg, insisting he was ‘pecking’ him. His father paid him no mind, however, going along picking things off the shelves, asking Koji what he wanted for dinner, rolling his eyes at the answer of fish.
“Is that not irritating?” Kagami asked, motioning towards the way Koji drummed his head against the man’s thigh.
“Compared to the way he chews at me when he’s a shark, this is preferable.”
Kagami grinned, resting his chin on his hand as he watched Koji flap and squawk as they neared the cooler containing fish. They finished grabbing what they needed and went over to the counter.
“Isn’t Pengin-chan warm? You’re a long way away from the south pole,” Kagami said, ringing up the items. Koji bounced and flapped, grinning up at Kagami.
“It’s not too bad! Papa promised me ice cream!”
“Oh that’s good, penguins need lots of ice cream.”
“See! Told you papa!”
The man rolled his eyes, scowling at Kagami. “Dude. Come on!”
“Uh, yeah, and penguins also need to go to bed early and brush their teeth.”
Koji stuck his tongue out. “Penguins don’t have a bedtime!”
“Yeah they do, champ, and yours will be soon if you don’t start behaving,” the man said, holding onto the top of the penguin head. Koji pouted, nudging his head against his father’s leg in protest. Kagami smiled, handing over the shopping as the man paid, bidding their farewell as they left.
It was the next time they came in that Kagami learned the father’s name. Koji was dressed up as Rapunzel and skipping around with a toy frying pan and lizard. He noticed the way a couple who were browsing fruit looked at them in disdain, muttering to themselves. Kagami frowned, hoping they’d at least be decent enough to not say anything to Koji. The father, however, had noticed their staring and looked ready to start a fight. Kagami slipped from behind the counter and made his way over to Koji, crouching down in front of him.
“Wow, I love Cinderella! She’s my favourite!”
Koji laughed, playfully bopping Kagami on the head with the frying pan. “I’m Rapunzel, baka!”
Kagami laughed too, pretending to be embarrassed. “No way! I’m sorry I didn’t recognise you! Is Rapunzel a good princess?”
“The best! She has a pet lizard and hits people with frying pans! Like this!” Koji hit him on the knee, adding in his own sound effects.
“Okay, okay! I surrender! Please don’t hurt me, princess!”
Koji grinned, completely oblivious to the fact his father was currently in a heated discussion about the right way to raise a child with the judgemental couple. “You’re forgiven, baka-san.”
Kagami chuckled, bowing his head. “Thank you. But you can call me Kagami, if you like.”
“Baka Kagami! Bakagami!”
“Hey, words can hurt, y’know.”
“Not as much as frying pans!” To emphasise his point, Koji hit him with the frying pan again.
“Oi! I said not to hit anyone!”
Kagami and Koji looked up to see the man marching over, obviously flustered from his argument. Kagami smiled, pulling himself up, holding his hands up to placate the man.
“It’s fine, honestly, we were just playing.”
Koji began tugging on his father’s hand. “Papa! Bakagami didn’t know I was Rapunzel! He thought I was Cinderella! So silly!”
“Bakagami?”
“Ah, I’m Kagami, and I’m a baka, apparently, so…”
The man smirked, tipping his head to the side. “That makes sense.”
“Oi!”
The man laughed, holding out his hand. “I’m Aomine, by the way… thanks for looking after Koji.”
“No problem, I didn’t think it was a good idea for a kid to see his dad chew out some judgemental couple.”
Aomine looked down at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, sometimes I can’t help myself when stuff like that happens. He’s not hurting anyone, why can’t he dress up as a princess?”
“I agree. It’s cool that you’re okay with it.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I hated when my parents said I couldn’t do something, I’m not going to tell my own kid no when there’s no good reason to.”
Kagami smiled, enjoying the way Aomine had suddenly become quite bashful. “Anyway, I should get back to work. And I think your princess is in danger of hitting someone again.”
Aomine whirled around to see Koji with his frying pan raised, sneaking up on a man scrutinising two pears. “Koji don’t you dare!”
After that encounter, Aomine would always make time to chat to Kagami as he shopped, and Kagami made sure to encourage Koji with whatever he was doing, especially if it drove his father insane. For example, the day Koji was wearing a bee costume, laughing as he threw himself backwards at Aomine, ‘stinging’ him. Aomine seemed thoroughly stressed out by it, confiding in Kagami that he was actually terrified of bees and his friend had bought Koji the costume as a joke. Kagami took pity on Aomine and knelt down in front of Koji, resting a hand on his shoulder.
“You know, Koji, bees don’t like to sting people.”
Koji frowned. “Why?”
“Because once they sting someone, they die.”
“What?!”
“Their stinger gets stuck in the person they stung at it kills them, so it’s not very nice for either of them. Bees are actually really fluffy and nice.”
Koji bit his lip, wracking his brain to try and understand. “So why do they sting?”
“Because they’re upset, or angry. They only sting people when people have been mean to them.”
“Oh. So bees are nice?”
“Bees are really nice. They help the flowers to grow and they make honey.”
“I like honey!”
Kagami smiled. “I bet you do… Hey, did you also know, your papa doesn’t like bees. He’s afraid of them.”
Koji gasped, whipping his head around to look at Aomie. “Really?!”
“Yeah, and you’re really stressing him out stinging him all the time. So, I think you should be a little nicer to your papa.”
Koji’s lip wobbled as he looked between Kagami and Aomine, before rushing over to his father, wrapping his arms around his leg. “I’m sorry, papa! I won’t sting you anymore! I’m a good bee!”
Aomine smiled, prying Koji from his leg and knelt in front of him, letting Koji throw his arms around his neck instead. “Hey, it’s okay buddy, you’re alright.”
“I didn’t know you were afraid of bees, papa, I’m sorry.”
Aomine pulled the hood from Koji’s head, ruffling his deep blue hair and pressed a kiss against his temple. “Apology accepted, kid. Don’t get upset now, come on. You want to get some candy?”
Koji nodded into the crook of Aomine’s neck, clinging on to his father. Aomine smiled, pulling himself up and looked around to find Kagami, mouthing ‘thank you’ before making his way to the candy.
Kagami was close to the end of his shift one Thursday when the door was flung open and a three-foot bear ran in, crying his eyes out. Kagami shot out from behind the counter and went to comfort him, pushing the hood back to reveal a very overwhelmed Koji. Koji recognised Kagami and threw his arms around his middle, sobbing into his shirt. Kagami frowned, rubbing his back, making quiet shushing noises.
“It’s alright Koji, you’re okay. Want to tell me what’s wrong?”
Koji continued crying, only able to hiccup out the words ‘scary dog’, ‘chased’, and ‘bite’. Kagami managed to piece together what had happened and let out a sigh, hefting Koji into his arms, carrying him over to the counter. He grabbed some tissues and wiped his face clean, letting Koji have a couple of sips of his water.
“You’re safe here, Koji, no dogs allowed.”
Koji frowned, his eyes red and puffy. “It was really scary, Bakagami. It’s teeth were huge and it almost bit my leg and it was barking really loudly.”
Kagami nodded in understanding, rubbing his thumb over Koji’s shoulder. “I understand. I’m afraid of dogs too. I run away every time I see one.”
“Really?”
Kagami nodded solemnly, reaching across the counter to grab a strawberry sucker, unwrapping it for Koji. “A dog bit me when I was little and I was just as scared as you were.”
Koji hummed, his lips pursed around the hard candy. Kagami managed a smile, ruffling his hair.
“Where’s your papa? He must be worried sick.”
Koji suddenly gasped, almost dropping the sucker on the floor. “Oh no! What if the dog got him! Bakagami what if the dog bit papa?!”
Kagami began fretting, trying his best to calm Koji as he panicked, tears forming in his eyes again. Before he could start crying, Aomine burst through the door, looking just as panicked as his son, panting heavily. He spotted Koji sat on the counter and hurried over, sweeping him into his arms. Kagami finally let himself relax, watching the scene in front of him as Aomine comforted his son, whilst Koji wailed about being afraid that Aomine had been eaten by the dog. Eventually the pair calmed down and Aomine deposited Koji on the counter before grabbing Kagami’s hand.
“Thank you, so much, for looking after him!”
Kagami smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. “Uh, no problem?”
“I was so fucking scared he’d been run over or taken or something. I’m so glad he found you.”
“It’s okay, really.”
Aomine lifted his head, looking directly into Kagami’s eyes. “When does your shift end?”
“Uh… five minutes ago, actually.”
“I’m taking you to dinner.”
“Hah?!”
“Look, you’re so good to Koji, and he really likes you… and I… kinda like you too, so… yeah. Can I take you to dinner?”
Kagami felt his cheeks burning as Aomine continued to make eyes contact. “Uh, just us, or Koji too?”
“Well, I think it’s a bit short notice for me to get a sitter, so, do you mind if Koji comes? I’ll take you on a proper date another time.”
Kagami shook his head, slowly easing his hand out of Aomine’s. “That’s fine, uh… I mean, yes… Yes, I’d like to go on a proper date with you… I guess.”
“Papa what’s dates?”
Aomine snorted, pulling Koji against his chest. “It’s where grown-ups go out to dinner and fall in love.”
Kagami spluttered at Aomine’s words, feeling his heart suddenly thudding in his chest. “W-what?!”
“So papa and Bakagami are going to fall in love?”
Aomine grinned up at Kagami. “Yeah, we are.”
Kagami had managed to score the early shift on Koji’s first day of school, making sure to be ready for when he got home. He’d been upset he wasn’t able to see him off to school in the morning, but Aomine had assured him it’d probably be more hassle than adorable, knowing Koji hated the idea of wearing a uniform.
He’d just hung up his apron when the door flew open and Koji bounded inside, shouting Kagami’s name repeatedly. Kagami laughed, kneeling down to let Koji throw himself into his arms.
“Hey kid, how was school?”
Koji began rambling about how much fun he’d had and all the new children he’d met and the games they’d played. Aomine casually strolled into the shop, smiling down at Kagami trying his hardest to keep up with Koji’s rapid-fire speech. Kagami noticed him stood over them and smiled, propping Koji on his hip and pulled himself to his feet. Aomine leant over, pressing a quick kiss to Kagami’s cheek.
“You tell Kagami about the hamsters?”
Koji gasped, bouncing about in Kagami’s arms. “We have class hamsters! They’re so small and fluffy and every week someone gets to be in charge of looking after them and next week it’s me and another girl and they’re really small! They have a wheel that they run really fast in and a bottle with all their water and they’re really funny when they sip from it!”
Aomine chuckled to himself, loosely twining his fingers with Kagami’s as they made their way out of the shop, heading home.