Tapping the toe stop of his one of roller skates against the floor, Hachin waited for his order to be up.

He was relieved to be back working inside, as he no longer had to freeze his ass off working night shifts at a construction site as an errand boy. This was a place he was far more comfortable at.

He’d never thought he’d be working here for so long when he lied about his age to get a job at the tiny restaurant back in his second year of middle school, but he liked it here. The boss was a kind quoll myumon who worked mostly in the kitchen, but helped out on the floor when needed. Then there was the tall woman with horse ears and the thickest hair Hachin had ever seen aside from Sojun’s. His last coworker was a waitress a few years older than him, a moth with fluffy wings that reached all the way to her feet, though she generally worked while he was at school. Every time he saw her he longed for the sky.

As he served a couple and their children, the bell above the door jingled, signalling the arrival of customers. Turning around with a shining customer service smile on his face, the bumblebee froze.

This time it took him no time to recognise the drummer from the band he’d met in Aryaska. His hair wasn’t ridiculously flat and ugly, as he’d called it the last time they met, and he wore the clothes he’d worn the first time they met, though he

Rom opened his mouth to say something, when he met Hachin’s eye. Surprised, he blinked for a moment, the short redhead behind him crashing right into his bandmate as he didn’t seem to realise the taller man had stopped walking.

Great, that annoying guy was here too. He was so getting fired tonight if he wasn’t careful.

Forcing the smile to stay on his face, he led Rom and his friend to an available table, handing them their menus. When he shakily asked them if they wanted water to drink while they ordered, the red headed singer seemed to finally remember who he was. With a loud “aaah!” and an accusatory finger, he stood right back up in his seat.

The boss came to the front at the loud yell, spotting her stiff waiter clutching the menu he hadn’t had the chance to hand out yet tightly to his chest.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. Then, she lit up. “Crow-chan! It’s so nice of you to come, but will you please not startle my employees?”

The redhead, Crow, lowered his finger, obviously embarrassed as he sat back down, rubbing the back of his head. “Yuri-chan, uh, sorry, my bad.”

Hachin’s boss, Yuri, patted Hachin on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about Crow-chan, he’s always been a bit on the rude side, ever since middle school.” She gently plucked the menu out of Hachin’s hands, handing it over to Crow. “That’s right, you’re in a band now. Do you know Hachi-chan?”

Crow made a face like he wanted to say something excessively rude, but with a stern look from Rom he settled down. “We’ve met once. Rom’s met him more though.” Hachin wanted to point out that he’d only met Rom one more time after Aryaska, but honestly, the less he had to talk to that annoying hedgehog the better.

He felt Rom’s eyes on him, and he shot a bashful look back at him. He liked his uniform, but he’d never had anyone he knew see him in it, so it felt weird. The uniform consisted of pink three-quarter length hakama, a white button-up and a red apron. Instead of shoes he wore roller skates, and if you asked him, at this point he could move in the skates like a pro. Right now he felt like he would fall over if he tried to move though.

Rom held out his hand to Yuri, looking away from Hachi for the moment. “I’m Rom, the drummer of our band. It’s nice to meet an old friend of Crow’s.”

She accepted the hand, giving it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you too. I hope you’ve been nice to our Hachi-chan, he’s a very valued employee to me.”

Crow choked on his saliva, coughing into his arm. “Hhhg, yeah, sure, of course.”

“Crow-chan, you shouldn’t bully children.”

“I’m not- I- Rom, tell her!”

The grin on Rom’s face was sharp as he looked at his beloved bandmate. “I’m with her.” He handed his menu back to Hachin, who fumbled and almost dropped it, much to his embarrassment, but he managed to save it in the end. “I’ll have the udon, please, and a beer,” he said to Hachin with a smile that seemed to be trying to calm him down.

“And Crow-chan will have the curry. And milk to make you grow tall and strong.” Crow sputtered, looking ready to burst into flames from how red his face was. “Hey, that’s not why I like milk, okay!”

Yuri gave a warm laugh, ruffling her old friend’s hair. “I know, I know. We’ll be right back with your drinks, okay?” Ushering Hachin with her, she held him by the shoulder once they were out of sight. “I’ll be catching up with Crow-chan for a bit while they eat, so you don’t have to worry about taking care of them. Just focus on the other customers for now, okay?”

Awkwardly, Hachin nodded, biting his lip. He caught himself before he punctured his skin though, instead heading toward another table that was flagging him down. Hopefully Crow and Rom’s presence wouldn’t distract him too much.

As luck (or misfortune) would have it, Hachin got off his shift around the same time as Crow and Rom were standing at the cash register. Having changed into his regular clothes, he spotted Crow and Yuri talking, the hedgehog leaning against the counter after having paid for dinner.

He wanted to slip away without being noticed by the other musicians, but it would be rude to not say good night to his boss. After all, she allowed him to store his guitar there so his mum couldn’t sell or break it while it was left at home. He hadn’t told her why he didn’t want to keep it at home, but he’d worked at the small restaurant for so long she had figured out more than he’d ever be comfortable outright telling her.

So, feeling terribly out of place in a building he was usually very comfortable in, he stepped up to his boss. “Um, I’ll be going now. G’night, boss.”

The woman reached up and ruffled his hair, bidding him a good night, and he hurried toward the exit, face flushed as he tried to ignore the eyes of the other musicians following him.

He only managed to get a few steps away from the restaurant when he heard Rom call out to him, this time by name rather than just ‘bee kid’. He looked over his shoulder, noticing that Crow wasn’t with him. “Uuuh, what’s up?” Hachin tried to play it cool, like he wasn’t at all nervous about being called out to so personally.

“I thought you worked in construction. Was it just temporary?”

Oh, it was just small talk based on their last meeting. He could do this, no problem. “Yeah, boss and chef were on their honeymoon so I got another part time job while they were away. They brought back a lot of foreign snack for the staff when they came back.

“That’s pretty cool. I’m glad you’re out of the cold then, you looked pretty miserable.” That made Hachin bark out a quick laugh, before they lapsed into silence. Hachin didn’t realise there was something else on Rom’s mind, too, until the man spoke again.

“I wanted to give you this, but figured you wouldn’t want Crow to be around when I did. Don’t worry, he’s still talking to your boss in there.” He pointed over his shoulder at the restaurant with his thumb as he held out a card with his other hand. Confused, Hachin accepted it, turning it in his hands. A business card…? “It’s got my personal number on the back. Get in touch if you ever need to, okay?”

Brows knitting together, the bumblebee blinked at the man in front of him. after a few seconds it clicked that Yuri must have said something that tipped the man off about his home situation. His face went furiously red with embarrassment. “I, I, I don’t need your pity, it’s not, it’s not that bad!”

He gripped the card tightly between his fingers, feeling the paper crumple beneath his touch. “I! I don’t know what you- what you think you know, but you’ve got- I’m not- sh-sh-shut up!”

The door opened and Crow came out at the same time as Hachin stomped away. The hedgehog man looked between Rom and the retreating teenager. “Whazzat about?”

Rom shook his head, staring after the kid as he disappeared around a corner. “I’ll tell you later.

Still, he had kept the note. It was something.

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