Chapter Text
”Does anyone here have an iPhone 4 charger?!” The stranger yelled as he burst through the door of the cafe. ”ANYONE?!”
Junpei looked up from the chai latte he was sipping to see a pink-haired delinquent-looking boy around his age. His dark eyes darted from the stranger to his own iPhone 4 that was charging on the table before him. He sighed. It was only a matter of time before the stranger would spot him and his charging phone anyway, so he might as well come clean now and avoid trouble. Looking back at the stranger he raised his hand in a small wave.
“I have one.”
“Oh, thank god!” The stranger quickly turned and dashed over to him, the hood of his sweatshirt swaying behind him in the process.
An anxious feeling washed over Junpei as the stranger took a seat opposite of him. Junpei had a habit of avoiding confrontations, avoiding people, as it usually never ended well for him. He did his best to hold back the tremble in his hands as he took the charger out of his own mobile and handed the charging end of the cord to the pink-haired boy before him. The stranger happily grabbed it and jammed it into his iPhone with a little more force than necessary. Junpei winced inwardly at the rough handling of his belongings. His trusty old iPhone 4 was practically a relic by now as new models seem to come out every month. And finding a new charger for it could be hard. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration but he couldn’t afford to buy a new charger now.
“You’re a lifesaver,” The pink-haired stranger let out a sigh of relief as his phone beeped to acknowledge that the charging had started. “I’m Yuuji by the way, Itadori Yuuji,” he smiled from ear to ear as he held out his hand towards Junpei.
“Ah, nice to meet you, I’m Yoshino Junpei,” he swallowed away his nervousness and shook the offered hand.
“So, what are you having?” The boy named Yuuji asked, nodding towards Junpei’s cup. “I’ll buy you another one as thanks.”
“Uh,” Junpei tried to find his words. Social interactions weren’t really his forte. “Chai latte, but it’s okay, I’m fine with this,” he still had half his drink left. He didn’t want to cause any trouble and he especially didn’t want to get himself in trouble with this odd man.
Yuuji seemed to mull over his answer before speaking. “What about a pastry then?”
Junpei shook his head; his dark bangs swaying in the process. “No, but thank you.” He tried to smile and hoped he didn’t look too nervous.
Before him, the pink-haired boy sighed. “Man, I really want to make it up to you. You’re really saving me here! You know how many stores I had to rush into before finding someone with this old charger?”
“Uhm, no?”
“Five!” Yuuji exclaimed, and again just for emphasis. “Five!”
“Oh,” Junpei didn’t know what to reply to that. Hell, he didn’t even know how to act around this eccentric stranger. He thought this Yuuji seemed genuine and kind but his past experiences told him first impressions could not be trusted. Therefore, he always kept his guard up and avoided as many social interactions as possible.
“Why do you have an old iPhone 4 anyway?” Yuuji asked, seemingly curious.
He glanced at his phone lying on the table between them. “It still works so…” his voice trailed off. He didn’t want to get into the fact that a newer model would cause too much attention from his bullies, thus probably ending with the phone broken or stolen. He also didn’t see the point of buying something new every year when the old electronics still worked well, so it wasn’t a total lie.
“I see,” Yuuji went on to explain his reason with excitement even though he wasn’t asked. “As for me, I’m too careless to own a new one,” he pondered before continuing. “I always seem to break or lose my phone, this is actually my third one,” he gestured towards the charging phone between them, still not charged enough to restart.
“Okay,” Junpei just nodded. He really didn’t know how to react to this Yuuji character who was so friendly towards him.
“Yeah! So, how can I thank y-“ Yuuji’s eyes suddenly went wide. “Isn’t that phone case from that old horror movie?” He exclaimed with excitement.
With that Junpei eased up a little. Movies were his forte. He even smiled as he replied. “Yes, it’s from Human Earthworm, have you seen it?”
Yuuji nodded. “Yeah, I liked the first two but the third one, not so much.”
“I agree, the third one didn’t have any depth but I guess that’s to be expected from a splatter movie,” Junpei could go on and talk about horror movies seemingly forever but he didn’t as he found Yuuji looking at him strangely. Quickly, he tried to analyze what it was about what he just said that was considered weird or wrong. He couldn’t think of anything tough so he had to ask. “S-Sorry,” he stuttered a little. “Did I say something wrong?”
“On the contrary,” Yuuji grinned, resting his chin in his hand. “You just smiled, you should do that more, it looks good on you.”
“Huh?” Junpei could feel his whole face heating up.
Thankfully that’s when they were interrupted by Yuuji’s phone which suddenly sprung to life and immediately a call came in. “Sorry, gotta take this!” With the phone still charging with the short trademark apple cord, Yuuji bent down to answer the call. “Nanamin! Hey!”
Not wanting to pry or be accused of eavesdropping, but most of all; wanting to hide his reddening face, Junpei turned to look out the window while sipping his chai latte. Even though his eyes were elsewhere his mind drifted towards the stranger named Itadori Yuuji. He thought about how overwhelming Itadori was with his bright personality and loud voice. Compared to him, Junpei must seem like a boring person. Not that it mattered. Itadori would leave soon enough anyway and there was no reason for them to meet again. A strange feeling Junpei couldn’t identify started to form at that thought. Did he want to meet Itadori again? No, why would he? He didn’t get the chance to explore that thought anymore as said stranger chose that time to end his call and call for his attention.
“Yoshino-kun?”
Junpei looked back, surprised to hear his name spoken with a kind voice. “Ah, yes?”
“Sorry, but I gotta go,” he explained while getting up from his seat. “Give me your phone.”
Junpei drew a sharp breath. This was it. This is why he never should trust strangers, or anyone for that matter. Having an old phone wouldn’t save him when his assailant used the same one. He sighed and handed over his phone. He’d rather lose his phone than get beaten up.
But instead of taking the phone and leaving, like Junpei had expected, Yuuji started to type something on it and then he handed it back. Junpei just stared.
“I added my contact info,” Yuuji explained, his smile as bright as ever. “I still want to make this up to you so call me, all right?”
“…Right,” Junpei was still in shock when he looked down at his phone. Above a series of numbers, it said ‘Yuuji’. When did they make it to first name basis?
Junpei must have looked insecure because Yuuji spoke again, “I mean it, call me!” And with a salute he exited the café in a hurry.
Junpei wasn’t going to call him. He really wasn’t. Really.