Archive of Our Own ^beta

Faster.

Faster.

He needs to go faster. He won’t make it on time if he doesn’t go faster.

They need him there as soon as possible.

Who?

They.

He can hear the raindrops against the car hood, heavy and loud.

Faster.

Almost there.

Just a bit more.

Almost.

There.

When he first opens his eyes everything is blurry and he can’t see anything. Everything is quiet around him and he the only sound he can hear is a constant beep coming from his right side. He blinks.

He opens his eyes again and this time he can see a little bit better. He can see the white ceiling and the lamp off. There’s a sound so low that he barely hear under the incessant beep but it sounds like people talking. He tries to look to his side in de direction of the beep, but his neck hurt and he can’t move much, and there’s something on his mouth that is hurting his throat. He takes a deep breath, forcing himself to move his head again, because he’s confused and he wants to turn off the beep.

The beep starts to increase in speed and he frowns, trying to move his arm to shut down the weird machine that keeps beeping. But his arm his heavy and it’s impossible to him to move even if just a little. His breathing starts to get heavy as he finds out that he can’t move at all, that his whole body is feeling heavy and useless. The beeping grows faster and louder. He just wants it to stop.

“Keiji?”, someone calls and he turns his head slowly to look at two people entering the room.

They’re two tall men, one with fluffy brown hair and the other with slightly messy black hair, both of them using medical coat. The one with fluffy brown hair approaches, smilling kindly at him.

“Hi, Keiji. Please, blink one time if you can understand me.”, the man with fluffy brown hair asks and he blinks once. “Good, good. I’m Oikawa Tooru, I’m psychologist here at the hospital. Do you know your name?”

It’s a weird question. Of course he remembers his name, it’s his name, after all. He frowns, trying to force himself to think about his name. What is his name? He can hear the beeping increasing again and this doesn’t help him at all. He can hear himself snort quietly and looking again to the beeping machine.

“Is it too loud?”, the man with black hair asks him and he slowly blinks once. The man nods, reaching for the machine and turning the volume down.

He sighs, closing his eyes to think. The man with fluffy brown hair, Dr. Oikawa, had called him something, hadn’t he? What was it? Something with K. He sighs deeply, his head hurting a bit because of the effort. What is his name? K.. Kei…? Keiji? Yeah! Keiji. Also, he has a surname. What is it again? Akaashi. Akaashi Keiji. Wait. It doesn’t seem right. Something is off. But he knows this is his name. Akaashi Keiji.

Akaashi opens his eyes, blinking a few times before looking at Dr. Oikawa again. “So…?”, Dr. Oikawa asks with a soft smile and Akaashi blinks one time. Dr. Oikawa smiles brightly, “Awesome!”

Akaashi tries to smile, but his mouth is dry and is still hard to move his lips. Akaashi’s eyes travel to the other doctor in the room, watching the black haired man checking on the machines by the side of his bed.

“Do you remember him?”, Dr. Oikawa asks softly and Akaashi looks back at him, frowning confused. “It’s ok to not remember. Do you want me to tell you about yourself?”, Dr. Oikawa asks and Akaashi blinks once. “You’re a cardiac surgeon here in this hospital. He is Kuroo Tetsurou, he’s the neurosurgeon… You’ve being in an accident, Keiji… But you’ll be alright.”
The last thing Akaashi sees before he blacks out is Kuroo leaning over him to check on his vital signs.

-

When Akaashi opens his eyes again everything is dark but the beep is still there, even though it’s a little lower now. He looks around, sighing heavily, feeling his body a bit more even thought he still can’t feel his right hand. Someone had taken out the thing that was on his mouth, but his throat is sore and swallow hurts.

“Keiji?”, someone calls and Akaashi follows the voice, seeing a woman sitting in a armchair by the window. When she approaches Akaashi can recognize his mother. “My baby, how are you feeling?”

Akaashi blinks slowly to his mother, swallowing dry and grimacing because it hurts. He wants water, but when he tries to speak it hurts even more so he gives up. Akaashi sigh again, looking at his mother, hopping she will say something because he honestly can’t do anything.

“I’ll call Tetsu.”, she decides, padding to the phone on the nightstand and Akaashi closes his eyes. He can hear her talking to someone, asking to them to call Dr. Kuroo, and Akaashi drifts to a light sleeping state after that.

He opens his eyes again when he hears the door being open, looking the tall black haired doctor entering the room. Akaashi blinks a few times, trying to remember him again while watching his mom hugging the doctor tightly.

The doctor approaches the bed, smilling softly and Akaashi can’t help but think that he looks a lot like a cat. “Hi, Keiji. Remember me? I’m Doctor Kuroo and I’m responsible for your case.”, Dr. Kuroo says, slow enough to Akaashi to understand perfectly. “You had a pretty bad accident six days ago, that’s why everything is confusing right now.”

Dr. Kuroo starts to check the monitors around Akaashi before starting to check Akaashi himself. Dr. Kuroo’s touch is light like a feather and Akaashi wonders if this is right or if his body isn’t functioning properly just yet, because his hand remains useless. Akaashi looks at Dr. Kuroo, sighing and licking his dry bottom lip.

“You’re probably thirsty, right?”, Dr. Kuroo asks softly and Akaashi blinks once in response. “You can’t drink water just yet, but your mother can moisten your lips with ice a bit, ok?”, Dr. Kuroo waits for Akaashi to blink an “yes” before continuing, “You’ve being in coma for the past five days, so it’s normal if your body isn’t feeling right, alright? We’ll going to work on this on the follow days. Ok?”

Akaashi frowns lightly, trying to process all the informations Dr. Kuroo had just given him. So it’s normal to his body to not work properly? Akaashi has so many questions to Dr. Kuroo, but he can’t talk right now because of his sore throat so he decides to wait.

“I’ll keep coming to check on you, but you can ask your mother to call me at any time, alright?”, Dr. Kuroo asks and Akaashi blinks one single time again. “Good. Everything is fine with you. I’ll ask one of the nurses to bring some ice.”, Akaashi blinks again and Dr. Kuroo smiles like a cat again, “You’ll be alright.”

Dr. Kuroo pats his shoulder softly, walking towards his mother. She hugs him again and Dr. Kuroo pats her hair affectionately. “Do you think he’ll be ok, Tetsu?”

“It’ll depend on him, Mieko. But Keiji have always being stubborn and hard-working. I’m sure he’ll be ok.”, Dr. Kuroo smiles and Mieko nods. “I have to go now, but you can call me at any time, alright? If I’m in surgery you can call Daichi, he’ll probably come here later to see how Keiji is doing. “

“Great. I have to thank him too.”, Akaashi’s mother says, finally letting Dr. Kuroo go. “Have a nice shift, Tetsu. Manabu will come later, if you can pass by to say hello.”

“Thank you, Mieko.”, Dr. Kuroo smiles, kissing Mieko’s forehead. “I’ll try.”, Dr. Kuroo nods, looking one last time to Akaashi before walking out the room.

Akaashi is confused now, because his mother said to Dr. Kuroo that his father would come, but how can he come if neither Akaashi nor his mother are talking with his father? Akaashi can understand that his mother probably had talked with his father because of the accident, but Akaashi doesn’t want to see his father after his father decided to leave their house to move in with another woman. The divorce is being hard on his mother and Akaashi can’t help but be mad with his father because of all of this.

“Tetsu said you’ll be ok, so I believe you’ll be ok.”, Mieko smiles, sitting down in a chair near Akaashi’s bed. “He’s missing you, you know? I can tell he’s down because of what happened.”

Akaashi doesn’t understand what his mother is saying, so he just frowns and expects to her to take the clue and explain what she’s saying. But his mother seems to not understand and keeps talking to Akaashi about Dr. Kuroo.

“You two are so impossible glued to each other.”, Mieko chuckles. “I remember when he had to travel to Akita soon after you guys got married and you got insufferably sad…”

Married?! What?! Akaashi tries to voice his question, but his unused vocal cords and his sore throat decide to not and he starts to cough heavily. The machine starts to beep fast and Akaashi hates this so much that if his right arm were working he would’ve knocked it down already. His mother gets up on her feet, trying to calm him down.

“Keiji! Keiji! Breathe, please! Oh my god, Keiji!”, Mieko tries to fan Akaashi with her hand, her eyes wide.

“Is everything ok?”, Dr. Oikawa asks, entering the room and quickly walking to Akaashi after placing the cup with ice on the table. “Keiji, breathe with me.”, Dr. Oikawa asks softly, breathing loudly so Akaashi can focus on this and follow.

It takes a little while until Akaashi can normalize his breathing enough to start coughing. Dr. Oikawa stays with him, caressing Akaashi’s shoulder with his thumb in circular motion. Akaashi starts to relax, his body losing all the tension it had built and he lay down again, blinking a few times.

“What happened?”, Dr. Oikawa asks to Akaashi’s mother, a calm smile on his lips.

“I don’t know.”, Mieko sighs, her hand against her chest. “I was talking to him about the time he and Tetsu had to stay away from each other after the marriage and he freak out.”

Akaashi looks intently at Dr. Oikawa when his mother mentions the marriage again, his frown deep and his lips crisped in a thin line. Dr. Oikawa looks at him for a couple seconds before finally understanding, his eyes lighting up when the confusion flies away.

“Keiji, I need you to blink once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no’, alright?”, Dr. Oikawa asks softly and Akaashi blinks once. “Do you remember you’re married to Dr. Kuroo?”, Dr. Oikawa asks slowly to make sure that Akaashi understands every single word on the sentence.

Akaashi stares blankly at Dr. Oikawa, processing the question, repeating it over and over again inside his head. How the fuck is he married to the doctor with cat smile? Does he even have the proper age to married? How old are he, anyways? What year is this again? What is happening?

Akaashi looks confused at Dr. Oikawa and blinks twice. Dr. Oikawa’s face doesn’t show, not even for a single second, any signs of worry or any other emotion that not patience. “Do you remember yesterday that I told you that you’re a cardiac surgeon here in the Hospital?”, Dr. Oikawa asks and Akaashi frowns a bit because he was way too confused yesterday to remember anything. “It’s ok if you don’t remember, Keiji…”
Akaashi truly doesn’t remember. He tries to remember something, anything. The first thing Akaashi remembers is that he’s supposed to receive the results of the admission test in Fukurodani next week. But… This can’t be right. How can he be waiting for his high school entrance exams results and already be a cardiac surgeon?

He looks around again, his eyes falling on his mother. She seems older than he remembers. Her hair is more grey than black and there’s wrinkles on the sides of her eyes; her age showing in her skin. Akaashi widens his eyes, looking at Dr. Oikawa, hoping he has the answers Akaashi needs.

“Keiji… Do you remember how old you are?”, Dr. Oikawa asks, his voice always soft and assertive. Akaashi blinks twice. “You’re thirty-six years old, Keiji…”

Akaashi widens his eyes again, because how can he be thirty-six years old if his last memory is from when he was fourteen? Did he forget twenty-two years of his life?!

He looks from Dr. Oikawa to his mother and back to Dr. Oikawa, blinking slowly as the information sink in. Akaashi breathes slowly, his eyes losing their focus because his mind is requiring too much of his damaged brain.

“Keiji?”, Dr. Oikawa calls, touching Akaashi’s hand and startling him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to scare you. I just want you to know that it’s normal and that the chances that your memory will be back are high, ok?”

Akaashi blinks a few times before sighing and blinking once. Dr. Oikawa smiles warmly at him, but Akaashi closes his eyes again. He doesn’t want to talk anymore. How can he talk with people if he doesn’t know anything about himself anymore?

He faintly hears Dr. Oikawa talking with his mother, explaining about his memory, apparently. Akaashi know she should listen to what the doctor has to say, but he doesn’t want explanations about what is happening. No, he wants his memory back, the idea of him losing twenty-two years of his life is scary and he just wants a solution.

Akaashi falls asleep without noticing.

-

The first thing Akaashi notices when he wakes up again is a soft music on the background. It’s slow and low, and Akaashi is sure he knows this music from somewhere. He opens his eyes, the bedroom still dark but a faint source of light coming from near the window. When Akaashi looks at the he sees Dr. Kuroo sitting in one of the armchairs, heavy book on his hand and glasses on the tip of his nose.

Dr. Kuroo doesn’t seem to notice that Akaashi is awake, so Akaashi takes his time to analyze Dr. Kuroo. He’s handsome, Akaashi can’t deny. Dr. Kuroo has pitch black hair that is slightly messy, long bang in one side, the tips of the bang brushing against his pointing nose. Even from the distance Akaashi can see that Dr. Kuroo is well shaved not a single hair on his hard chin. Dr. Kuroo is the type of man Akaashi would have a crush if they crossed paths in a station.

Akaashi’s heartbeat speeds up and drags the beep on the machine with it. Dr. Kuroo lifts his eyes from his book, intense golden eyes looking at Akaashi from over the frameless glasses. Akaashi thanks the heavens for the bedroom being too dark to Dr. Kuroo to notice how hard Akaashi is blushing right now.

“Hey, Keiji.”, Dr. Kuroo greets with a calm smile, placing his book on top of the coffee table and getting up, walking towards the bed, lighting up the lamp by the bed in a low light. “Everything ok?”, he asks and Akaashi blinks once, “Want to try talking for me?”

Akaashi looks at Dr. Kuroo thoughtfully, wondering if he can manage to talk because honestly he feels as if he will never be able to do that again. Finally he decides to give it a try and blinks once again to Dr. Kuroo, who smiles at him again.

Dr. Kuroo waits patiently while Akaashi concentrates his strength to talk and Akaashi does try, but the first two times nothing comes out. He frowns, licking his own bottom lip and taking a good breathe before trying again. “Hi.”, he manages to screech, swallowing dry after that because it hurts.

“Good!”, Dr. Kuroo says with a grin. “That was awesome, Keiji!”

Akaashi can’t help but blushes, averting his gaze and shrugging softly as if saying that he hadn’t done anything. A small part of Akaashi wonders if this is how a thirty-six years old act, but he can’t control himself.

“Want to try again?”, Dr. Kuroo asks, his cat-like grin still on his lips and Akaashi nods.

“Y-Yes.”, Akaashi answers, his voice cracking and way too low, but at least he manages.

“I knew you would talk soon.”, Dr. Kuroo says, giving him a smile filled with affection.

Akaashi averts his eyes again, feeling his face get all hot. “M-Mom?”, he asks instead.

“She’s having dinner with your father at a restaurant across the street.”, Dr. Kuroo answers and Akaashi frowns. “Oh, right. Your memories stop at fourteen years old. When you went to US to college, your mom and your dad got close again. But you just forgave him when we were about to marry.”

“US?”, Akaashi asks, deciding that he doesn’t want to know about the marriage just yet.

“We went to Harvard together…”, Dr. Kuroo answers softly. “You went a year after I did.”

“We…”, Akaashi starts, swallowing because he needs to force his voice to work, “m-married?”

“You sure you wanna hear about it right now?”, Dr. Kuroo asks gently and Akaashi nods lightly after a while. “Ok. I’ll tell you the short story now… I can tell you everything another day, alright?”

“Al-right…”, Akaashi agrees with a soft sigh.

“We met on high school. I was in Nekoma and you in Fukurodani. We befriended because of Bokuto…”, Dr. Kuroo explains with all the patience in the world. “I went to Harvard when I turned eighteen and you did the same in the next year. Bokuto told me to keep an eye on you and we ended up sharing an apartment two years later. We started to date a few months after we move in together and we got married right after you graduated.”

“Oh.”, Akaashi says, blinking a few times. He doesn’t remember anything that Dr. Kuroo had said, and this makes him self-conscious.

“Of course the story is longer than that…”, Dr. Kuroo says softly and when Akaashi looks back at him he sees Dr. Kuroo looking fondly at his hand. Dr. Kuroo has a golden wedding ring on his finger.

Akaashi lifts his left arm slowly, touching Dr. Kuroo’s hand with his fingertips. Dr. Kuroo opens his hand, allowing Akaashi to touch the wedding ring. Akaashi touches the ring with his fingertips, brushing softly over the golden steel and feeling the small lines decorating the piece. He looks down at his own hand, but he isn’t using a wedding ring.

“Yours is on the nightstand.”, Dr. Kuroo answers Akaashi’s silent question. Dr. Kuroo walks around the bed, opening the drawer and grabbing a small box. He takes a golden wedding ring from the box and hands it to Akaashi. “We had to take it off because of the surgery.”

Akaashi reaches for the ring with his left hand and Mr. Kuroo puts the ring on his finger. Akaashi shivers lightly, feeling the light weight of the ring around his finger. He brings his hand near his face, watching how the gold glints under the lamp light and how the ring fits perfectly on his finger. Akaashi sighs, lowering his hand and looking sadly at Dr. Kuroo.

“Can’t… Remember.”, Akaashi whispers, biting softly his own bottom lip.

“It’s ok. You suffered a pretty bad accident, Keiji. It’s normal to not remember things right away. “, Kuroo assures him, smiling always kind. “You have to give yourself time to heal.”

“Ok…”, Akaashi answers softly. He decides to focus on something else in the moment, looking at Dr. Kuroo and rehearsing a few times before finally saying, “My hand… Can’t move… It.”

“Oh. Let me see.”, Dr. Kuroo says, holding Akaashi’s hand on his. “Try to squeeze my hand, please.”

Akaashi tries to do what he had been asked, but he can’t feel his hand so he isn’t sure if it’s moving. Akaashi frowns lightly, trying harder to squeeze Dr. Kuroo’s hand. “Can’t.”, he finally gives up.

“Your fingers are moving, which means you still has the movements of your hand. I’ll talk to Hajime so you can start the physiotherapy.”, Dr. Kuroo says, placing Akaashi’s hand carefully on the mattress. “Don’t worry too much, ok? You suffered a severe head trauma, so the recovering is slow. But I’m sure you can do it.”

“Thanks…”, Akaashi says softly and Dr. Kuroo smiles. Akaashi bites down his own lip, sighing before whispering, “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about, ok?”, Dr. Kuroo says with a reassuring smile. “Let’s concentrate on your recovering. This is all that matter now. Let’s work together, alright?”

“Alright”, Akaashi smiles softly, nodding lightly with a faint blush on his cheeks.

-

Dr. Iwaizumi, Akaashi finds out, is a handsome doctor with sun kissed skin and green eyes. Dr. Iwaizumi speaks calmly and his smile is so white that Akaashi has to squint every time. Dr. Iwaizumi is surprisingly delicate with his touches for someone so built. He comes every day after lunch to help Akaashi with his hand.

“You’re doing well, Keiji. I’m sure you’ll be able to go back to work soon.”, Dr. Iwaizumi says two weeks later in a Wednesday afternoon when Akaashi is exercising with the stress ball.

“I was a good surgeon?”, Akaashi asks, a mix of curiosity and lamentation on his voice. Akaashi has been doing speech therapy with Dr. Sugawara two times a day too, so he can speak better even though he’s still speaking slowly.

“Yeah. People from all over the country came to be in your care.”, Dr. Iwaizumi answers with an smile. “Tetsu always says you can run a surgery room with your eyes closed.”

“I still can’t remember him…”, Akaashi secrets in a whispering tone. “I try. Every night. But I can’t.”

“It’s ok. Two weeks ago you were in a coma, Keiji. You can’t rush your recovering.”, Dr. Iwaizumi says kindly.

“But he’s so good with me… I feel guilty for not remembering him…”, Akaashi says, biting down his lip.

“He isn’t blaming you for nothing, Keiji. Tetsu, more than anyone, understands what is happening.”, Dr. Iwaizumi says, placing a coin on the table. “Try to pick the coin with two fingers, please.”

“I know he isn’t blaming me. And I think this is the hardest part… Because he’s… How can he be ok with this?”, Akaashi asks, biting his lip again, but this time concentrating in picking the coin.

“You two are together it has sixteen years, Keiji… He’ll be by your side through this no matter what.”, Dr. Iwaizumi says firmly, watching attentively while Akaashi keeps trying to pick the coin.

“But I don’t remember. I don’t even remember meeting him.”, Akaashi says, sighing heavily. He pokes the coin with his index finger. “I can’t...”

“You’ve being awake for two weeks, Keiji. Give yourself time.”, Dr. Iwaizumi begs. “It’s ok, you’re doing well already. Recovering is slow, don’t forget it.”

“Thanks.”, Akaashi whispers, sighing.

“See you tomorrow, alright?”, Dr. Iwaizumi says, getting up.

“See you tomorrow, Dr.”, Akaashi smiles faintly.

Dr. Iwaizumi sighs before catching his things and walking out of the room. Akaashi sighs, lying down again on his pillows. Akaashi grabs the remote control and changing the channel, trying to find something good to watch but it doesn’t have much of an option. Akaashi ends up giving up of the television.

Being in a hospital is a boring thing, because Akaashi is used to be a pretty active person. He likes to play volleyball and to run every morning; he also enjoys biking around the town on the weekends. At least, this is what he remembers liking. Akaashi can’t have sure if his habits remain the same, but he also doesn’t want to ask because he knows Dr. Kuroo is the one with answers and Akaashi thinks it’s unfair of him to make Dr. Kuroo remember all the things Akaashi can’t.

He falls asleep without noticing again, because apparently he had lost all his control over his sleep; and it annoys him a lot. Akaashi only wakes up when he hears the door opening later, watching his mom entering the room.

“How are you feeling, my baby?”, Mieko asks, always smilling.

“Awesome.”, Akaashi answers with a small smile, because he doesn’t want to worry his mother. “How was your walk?”

“Oh, great, great! I went to that shop you and Tetsu love and bought a really nice coat for when you go out of the hospital.”, Mieko says excitedly.

“Mom…”, Akaashi sighs softly, but soon he smiles again. “Thank you.”

“Tetsu said that you will probably be discharged next month, because you’re doing a great job recovering.”, Mieko says, and Akaashi can feel excitement radiating from her.

“Good… Being in a hospital is really boring.”, Akaashi says, sighing deeply.

Soft knocks take their attention and Mieko walks to the door, opening it. There’s a doctor by the door, not too tall but with broad shoulders, short brown hair and warm eyes with the same color.

“Daichi!”, Mieko chirps happily, hugging the doctor warmly.

“Hi, Mieko.”, the man called Daichi greets with a smile. Akaashi knows that he should know the man, but he can’t remember why. “Oh, you’re awake, Keiji.”

“Hi.”, Akaashi greets sheepishly. Akaashi is truly impressed of how every doctor in this hospital is so pretty.

“You probably don’t remember me, but it’s ok. I’m Sawamura Daichi, we know each other since high school.”, Dr. Sawamura explains, walking towards the bed. “I was trying to talk to you, but I haven’t the luck to find you awake yet.”

“Sorry, I really don’t remember.”, Akaashi shrugs lightly, because he is really sorry for not remembering anyone when everyone seems to know him so well. “Oh, I’m always sleepy… I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, don’t worry about it. Memory is a flowing thing, you just need to wait.”, Dr. Sawamura explains with a calm smile. “It’s completely normal because of the medicines.”

“Daichi was the one who operated you!”, Mieko says with a grin.

“Actually, Tetsu was the one who did it, but it’s a secret, alright?”, Dr. Sawamura asks, winking to Akaashi and Akaashi feels himself blushing.

“Oh, the odds of being the owner of the hospital.”, Mieko chuckles and Dr. Sawamura flashes her a toothy smile.

“I knew Tetsu was the right person to do the surgery. We’re both neurosurgeons, but he always dealt with pressure better than me.”, Dr. Sawamura says as he starts to walk around the bed to check Akaashi. “After you passed through Asahi and he sent you to us because we needed to relieve the pressure inside your skull I had no doubt Tetsu should be the one doing it. So I assumed the surgery room, but he was the one operating.”

“You all are really good doctors, right?”, Akaashi asks curious, complying with Dr. Sawamura silent requests through the check up.

“Yes. You included.”, Dr. Sawamura smiles again and Akaashi sighs, his shoulders dropping a bit.

“What if my memory doesn’t come back?”, Akaashi asks, looking through the window.

“You need to keep yourself positive. I’m sure you’ll be able to be back to your life soon.”, Dr. Sawamura assures him. “You seem ok. If everything keeps walking on this direction, we can discharge you soon.”

“I would love it. I don’t like hospitals.”, Akaashi says, but looking to Dr. Sawamura after that. “Do I?”

“I think being a patient and a doctor are two distinct things.”, Dr. Sawamura says, sinking his hands on his pockets. “You can call if you need something, alright? I have to go now.”, he says and then turns to look at Akaashi’s mother. “Mieko, Tetsu is in surgery, he’ll probably be free before midnight. He said he will stay with Keiji so you can go home and rest.”

“Oh, good. I need to water my plant.”, Mieko nods. “Thank you for coming, Daichi.”

Dr. Sawamura smiles and waves a goodbye to Akaashi before walking to outside the room. Mieko decides to organize the closet where her things are, because if she’ll go back to her house for the night she can take her clothes back to wash and make a new suitcase.

“Mom?”, Akaashi calls after a while and Mieko hums in response. “How was for you to find out that I was gay?”, he asks unsure, because he remembers being afraid of telling his mom about his sexuality.

“Hm…”, she hums thoughtfully. “I wasn’t surprised… You came out for me when you and Tetsu started dating when you were twenty. But I knew you liked boys since you had a crush in Bokuto on your first year.”

“Bokuto? As in Bokuto Koutaro, the ace of Fukurodani?”, Akaashi asks with wide eyes.

“Yes! He’s your best friend until today.”, Mieko says and Akaashi can hear her smilling. “He was your best man and you were his… I think Tetsu called him to tell about the accident, but he’s in Italy for the Worlds.”

“I can’t believe I’m friend with Bokuto Koutaro…”, Akaashi whispers to himself, because he wanted to go to Fukurodani after he saw Bokuto playing at the Nationals, even though Fukurodani had lost that year.

“You were his setter for two whole years, Keiji.”, Mieko smiles from over her shoulder. “Tetsu will spend the night with you, he knows the stories better than I do. Ask him.”

“Isn’t it too cruel to ask him about things I don’t remember but are important to him?”, Akaashi asks, biting down his own lip.

“He won’t care, Keiji. Tetsu loves you a lot.”, Mieko assures him.

“I noticed.”, Akaashi sighs, because he feels so bad about everything.

-

Akaashi opens his eyes late at night, sighing heavily. It’s really bothersome to sleep and wake up at weird hours, he feels as if he doesn’t have any self-control now. He looks around, finding Dr. Kuroo curled on the small couch near the television, reading the folder on his lap while chewing on the pencil eraser.

“You will end up swallowing it.”, Akaashi says, startling Dr. Kuroo who looks at him with wide eyes. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping, Dr. Kuroo?”

“Oh…”, Dr. Kuroo smiles, his shoulders dropping a bit. “I’m just finishing reading the reports. How are you feeling?”

“Sleepy.”, Akaashi says with a heavy sigh. “My sleeping schedule is completely crazy.”

“That’s because of the medicines.”, Dr. Kuroo says, placing the folder on the couch. “You thirsty?”

“Yeah.”, Akaashi nods, following Dr. Kuroo with his eyes when he walks across the room to grab a glass of water to Akaashi. “Sorry for making you stay here for the night.”

“It’s ok, I basically live here, anyways.”, Dr. Kuroo grins, handing the paper glass to Akaashi and Akaashi catches it carefully. “Hajime said your motor coordination is getting better each day.”

“Doctor life, huh?”, Akaashi asks with a small smile, drinking a sip of the water. “But I still can’t pick the coin.”

“Yeah. We don’t have much problems because Daichi allows us to sync our schedules.”, Dr. Kuroo says before smiling kindly, “You need to me patient.”

“The odds of being friends with the owner of the hospital?”, Akaashi asks, a small smile on the corner of his lips. “I’m trying.”

“Precisely.”, Dr. Kuroo nods.

“I wish I could remember everything. I feel as if I’m not being fair with you.”, Akaashi says, shrugging softly.

“Keiji…”, Dr. Kuroo sighs. “The human brain and mind are amazing things. You just need to give it time. I’ll be always waiting for you.”

“But what if my memories never come back?”, Akaashi asks, a hint of despair on his voice.

“So I will have to win you all over again.”, Dr. Kuroo grins and Akaashi blushes.

“How did you do it the first time?”, Akaashi asks, feeling his cheeks get warmer when he sees the gentle smile on Dr. Kuroo’s lips.

“I took you to dance.”, Dr. Kuroo says, his hands finding place on the pockets of his medical coat. “You hated dancing so much… And we were both awful. But you laughed the whole night…”

“Can we dance better now?”, Akaashi asks softly.

“Yeah… We can.”, Dr. Kuroo nods.

“Take me to dance someday?”, Akaashi asks, his voice as low as a whisper.

“Anytime.”, Dr. Kuroo whispers with a gentle smile and Akaashi sigh softly.

“Can you tell me about me…? About us?”, Akaashi asks, averting his gaze because he still thinks it’s unfair to ask something so personal to Dr. Kuroo.

“What do you want to know?”, Dr. Kuroo asks, walking to the armchairs and grabbing one, placing it by the bed and sitting there.

“Everything.”, Akaashi whispers, biting down his lip.

Dr. Kuroo starts to tell Akaashi about Fukurodani, about how Akaashi made to the team really quickly, syncing with Bokuto easily and Fukurodani soon became a power house. Dr. Kuroo talks about Akaashi’s way of playing and about Fukurodani’s friendly rivalry with Dr. Kuroo’s school, Nekoma. Dr. Kuroo also tells Akaashi how their first meeting went, with Akaashi sarcastically answering Dr. Kuroo’s provocations; he says to Akaashi that from that moment he started to get interested in Akaashi.

Akaashi listens carefully while Dr. Kuroo explains about Karasuno, the school of Dr. Sawamura, Dr. Sugawara and Dr. Asahi. Dr. Kuroo talks about the training camps and how he, Akaashi and Bokuto used to stay training until late because Bokuto is a ball of energy. He tells Akaashi about how they “adopted” two Karasuno first years and one of the first years of Nekoma on their group. Akaashi gets to know about how he leaded Fukurodani to the Nationals on his last year as the captain and how his friendship with Kenma, Dr. Kuroo’s best friend, grew during his third year and that it was Kenma who convinced Akaashi to try Harvard.

Dr. Kuroo notices how sleepy Akaashi is getting once he gets to the part where Akaashi moved to Boston, so he decides to call it a night, saying that both of them need to sleep. Akaashi doesn’t have strength enough to protest, so he just nods and allows Dr. Kuroo to adjust his blankets, sighing softly with the kiss Dr. Kuroo places on his forehead.

-

Akaashi spends the next week focusing on his physiotherapy. Dr. Iwaizumi decided that Akaashi was doing well enough to try to walk again, so they started the walking exercises in the beginning of the week. It’s hard for Akaashi to concentrate all his strength on his legs, but Dr. Iwaizumi is strong to sustain all of Akaashi’s weight when Akaashi’s knees fail.

They start with exercises to get up from the bed and Akaashi goes pretty well on these, being able to get up slowly and stay still for almost a whole minute. But the steps are harder and Akaashi needs to Dr. Iwaizumi to be always holding him or he’ll fall on the ground. Akaashi keeps going, because he wants to go out of the hospital as soon as possible, and he can’t stay in bed anymore, it’s driving him insane.

His sessions with Dr. Sugawara are doing great too; Akaashi is slowly recovering the speed of his speech. He still has problems with some words, the biggest ones, but it’s getting better. Dr. Sugawara is extremely patient with him, helping Akaashi with all small particles of the language that are difficult to him to pronounce. They do a lot of interpretation exercises where Dr. Sugawara brings books and they interpret the dialogues of the characters. Akaashi has a lot of fun with Dr. Sugawara.

But the hardest things to Akaashi are the sessions with Dr. Oikawa. Dr. Oikawa is extremely gentle and calm, never pressuring Akaashi and always willing to hear what Akaashi has to say. Akaashi appreciates a lot, but at the same time he feels guilty for whining so much on Dr. Oikawa’s ear. He knows its Dr. Oikawa’s job to listen to his patients, but Akaashi never liked to drop his problems on other’s people shoulders. Even though Akaashi always decide to not talk everything to Dr. Oikawa in their sessions, there’s something about Dr. Oikawa that it makes impossible to Akaashi to hide something.

Dr. Kuroo keeps coming every day to check up on Akaashi, and every night that he isn’t working he spends with Akaashi so Akaashi’s mother can go home to take care of her plants and to rest on her bed. He always tells Akaashi everything Akaashi wants to know about the twenty-two years of life Akaashi completely forgot. Sometimes Dr. Kuroo tells Akaashi personal things that make him blush and feel as if intruding in something he shouldn’t touch, like when Dr. Kuroo tells him about the time they went to Greece and had picnic under the starry night on the beach.

Akaashi wants to remember everything, but something inside his brain keep preventing him to access the memories he knows are there. Everyone says he needs to give his brain time to heal, but Akaashi wants to remember now, because he feels as if his perfectly amazing life is running through his fingers like thin sand.

-

When the day of Akaashi’s discharge finally comes, he can’t help but feel nervous. Akaashi will go live with his mother on his old house because Dr. Oikawa said that it’s better for his injured mind to be in a familiar place. But something deep inside Akaashi keeps bothering him and Akaashi can’t understand what it is.

“How are you feeling being finally able to go out of the hospital?”, Dr. Kuroo says, rolling Akaashi in a wheelchair through the big corridor.

“Weird, honestly. I don’t know how things will be, I mean… I remember a world from twenty-two years ago.”, Akaashi says, looking up to Dr. Kuroo.

“Well, the music nowadays is awful. Bokuto loves it, but it’s terrible.”, Dr. Kuroo says, entering the elevator with Akaashi. “But internet works better and VR is amazing.”

“I never liked videogames that much.”, Akaashi says thoughtful and Dr. Kuroo chuckles.

“This was until Kenma decided to fund a videogame company and you became the official tester. Apparently Bokuto and I were way too loud while reviewing his games.”, Dr. Kuroo says, walking out of the elevator when it reaches the ground floor.

“Oh.”, Akaashi sighs. “I hate not remembering things.”

“Maybe being at home will make you remember faster, hm?”, Dr. Kuroo says with a smile, approaching the doors.

“Wait.”, Akaashi says, holding his hand and Dr. Kuroo stops a couple meters away from the doors. “You… Will you go see me?”, he asks, looking up again so he can see Dr. Kuroo’s face.

“You want me to?”, Dr. Kuroo asks softly and Akaashi can see more emotions on Dr. Kuroo’s eyes than he can name.

“Yes, I… I’m sorry if it’s selfish of me to want you to be around but… I feel as if I should be near you.”, Akaashi whispers, his cheeks burning hot.

“Ok, I’ll visit you. Your mom has my number, you can call me anytime, alright?”, Dr. Kuroo says, rolling the wheelchair the last meters until it’s finally out of the hospital. He helps Akaashi to get up on his feet, “Well…”

“I-I…”, Akaashi bites down him own lip, because this feels so awkward and bad. “I’ll try hard to remember everything.”

“I know you will.”, Dr. Kuroo smiles. “Oh, your mother is here.”

Akaashi looks over his shoulder, watching his mother parking the car. “Yeah…”, he looks at Dr. Kuroo again. “Well, I’m going.”

“Alright.”, Dr. Kuroo nods and Akaashi can see a soft sparkle of light on Dr. Kuroo’s eyes; he’s tearing up.

“I…”, Akaashi hesitates, sighing. “See you around, Dr. Kuroo.”, he says before walking on his back towards his mom.

“Take care of yourself.”, Dr. Kuroo says and Akaashi nods before turning around and entering the car.

“I will call you later, Tetsu!”, Mieko shouts for inside the car and Dr. Kuroo nods.

“Alright. Drive safely.”, Dr. Kuroo says, waving his hand as Mieko drives away.

Akaashi can see by the rearview mirror Dr. Kuroo crouching on the ground, his face on his hands. Dr. Sawamura runs to Dr. Kuroo, kneeling by his side and hugging him. When his mother makes the turn and Akaashi can’t see the hospital entrance anymore he notices that he’s crying too.

-

“So how was your first week back into your home?”, Dr. Oikawa asks with his always gentle smile.

Akaashi looks almost blankly at him, blinking slowly. How was his first week at home? He doesn’t know how to define it. Because Akaashi is barely sleeping, nightmares had taken his peaceful nights of sleep away from him. Everything seems so out of place, even though there are actually only a handful of things in his bedroom that are different from what Akaashi remembers.

“I don’t know…”, Akaashi murmurs, closing his eyes. “I feel as if I’m not really there…”

“You’re not feeling familiarity with your house?”, Dr. Oikawa asks.

“I-I don’t know…”, Akaashi frowns. “I feel out of place.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”, Dr. Oikawa asks softly.

“Alright…”, Akaashi sighs.

Akaashi starts to talk about how his house makes him feel. How weird it is to wake up every day and see the pictures on his walls of things he doesn’t remember doing. How hard it is for him to fill his days with significant experiences. Akaashi feels void inside and this is driving him insane.

“There’s nothing wrong with the way you’re feeling.”, Dr. Oikawa says, folding his hands on his lap. “Because your memory is gone for now, it’s normal to feel like something important is missing.”

“I want to remember…”, Akaashi whispers, opening his eyes and focusing his sight on the lamp hanging from the ceiling.

“Why don’t you call Koutarou? He was your closest friend back in high school… Maybe talking to him will help.”

“But will he talk to me?”, Akaashi asks, opening his eyes.

“Of course he will.”, Dr. Oikawa answers. “Kou loves you.”

“I… I wanted to call Dr. Kuroo.”, Akaashi whispers, closing his eyes again because he can feel his face heating up.

“Why don’t you call him?”, Dr. Oikawa asks softly.

“I don’t want to be unfair. I don’t remember him, but at the same time I want to be near him.”, Akaashi whispers, shrinking inside his coat.

“Maybe be in touch with you past will help you, Keiji.”, Dr. Oikawa suggests. “Why don’t you try? With Koutarou or with Tetsurou….”

“I think I can try…”, Akaashi says, biting down his own lip. He can try.

-

It takes Akaashi two weeks to finally build enough courage to make that call. He spent a lot of time trying to decide if he should call Bokuto or Dr. Kuroo, but in the end he dialed Dr. Kuroo’s number.

Akaashi waits, sitting alone in the darkness of him room, playing with the blankets between his fingers, his heart is hammering his chest at the pace of the dialing pulse. It seems that ages pass by Akaashi until Dr. Kuroo finally picks up the phone.

“Yes?”, Dr. Kuroo asks and by his voice Akaashi wonders if he was sleeping.

“Dr. Kuroo?”, Akaashi tries, feeling his cheeks hot with no reason.

“Oh, Keiji! Hey!”, Dr. Kuroo greets and Akaashi hears him moving. “Is everything ok?”

“I-Yeah.”, Akaashi sighs, passing his hand through his hair, chewing on his lip.

“You sure?”, Dr. Kuroo asks, his voice gentle but still a bit sleepy.

“Yeah, it’s just…”, Akaashi sighs deeply. “You said we could go dance anytime, right?”

“Yes, of course!”, Dr. Kuroo answers eagerly and Akaashi’s heart does flips on his chest. “Just tell me when.”

“When are you free…?”, Akaashi asks, feeling all his body getting hot because he feels as if he’s setting his first date.

“Tomorrow night.”, Dr. Kuroo says and Akaashi nods to the darkness before remembering he needs to give a verbal answer.

“Tomorrow night is great.”, Akaashi finally says, chewing on his bottom lip again, but this time to try to avoid his smile to grow.

“I pick you up around eight?”, Dr. Kuroo asks and Akaashi can hear people talking around him.

“If it’s a good hour for you.”, Akaashi says before frowning a bit. “You’re working? Am I bothering you?”

“So at eight.”, Dr. Kuroo confirms. “I’m at the Hospital, but not working right now. I’m in the middle of a forty-eight hours shift.”

“Oh! You sure you want to go out tomorrow?”, Akaashi asks, worried.

“Yeah, my shift will end around midday, so I’ll sleep through the afternoon, don’t worry.”, Dr. Kuroo says and Akaashi can hear his smile.

“Alright. See you tomorrow, then…”, Akaashi says, but the truth is he doesn’t want to hang up.

“Tomorrow.”, Dr. Kuroo agrees, his voice holding promises that Akaashi can’t understand, but is eager to know.

They hang up almost at the same time and Akaashi falls back on his bed, looking at the dark ceiling. His heart is still racing and he still feels his body all warm. Is this how a thirty-six years old is supposed to act? And with his own husband? Because it isn’t like this will be the first time he and Dr. Kuroo go on a date. But it feels like it for Akaashi. He doesn’t remember their first date, but he hopes that this one will be as good as that one.

-

Akaashi went out to buy new clothes with his mother on the next morning, because his mother is so hyper about Akaashi finally going out of the house for something that isn’t a medical appointment and she is also very pleased that Akaashi will go out with Dr. Kuroo. His mother, Akaashi found out, loves Dr. Kuroo almost as much as she loves Akaashi. She has a ton of good memories with Dr. Kuroo, like the day they all went to a bee’s farm because she decided she wanted to taste organic honey and Dr. Kuroo bought her idea and they spent the night driving until they found the bee’s farm.

So they went out to buy clothes and Akaashi needed a lot of help because as much as his sense of fashion had always been mature, his fourteen years old mind still didn’t match to his thirty-six years old self. His mother was more than pleased to help him to find the perfect clothes and he ended up with dark colored jeans and night-blue button-up shirt. His mother said he should use the allstar, because apparently Akaashi kept himself very fond of the brand through the years.

“Keiji, sit down, you’re driving me insane!”, Mieko complains, because it’s almost eight at night and Akaashi keeps walking back and forth in front of the door.

“I can’t! I’m anxious!”, Akaashi says, trying to defend himself.

“He’ll be here in a moment, calm down!”, she sighs heavily.

“I know!”, Akaashi says, chewing nervously on his bottom lip.

A black car park in front of the house and Akaashi’s heartbeat speeds up drastically. He checks himself one last time on the mirror hanging in the wall, trying to tame his curly locks but giving up when he hears a knock on the door. Mieko gets up from the couch, walking to the door and opening it, smiling to Dr. Kuroo.

“Tetsu!”, Mieko greets happily, hugging Dr. Kuroo tightly.

“Hi!”, Dr. Kuroo greets, kissing Mieko’s cheek. He hands a small basket full of pastries. “Mom sent it to you. She wanted to come to see Keiji, but she understands that it can be a bit overwhelming for him.”

“Oh, Asuka’s pastries are divine!”, Mieko smiles, grabbing the basket of pastries and walking to the kitchen.

“Please say to your mom I’m grateful for her understanding.”, Akaashi says, a faint blush in his cheeks because Dr. Kuroo is extremely hot in dark jeans and black button-up shirt.

“She keeps complaining about how running without you is boring.”, Dr. Kuroo says with a smile. “You ready to go?”

“Oh. I’m really sorry.”, Akaashi sighs, shrugging a bit. “Yeah. I just… Wait, I need to find my jacket.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault.”, Dr. Kuroo says with a smile. “There’s one in the car.”

“I can’t use your jacket, you’ll get cold.”, Akaashi says, his cheeks warming because of the idea of using Dr. Kuroo’s clothes.

“Oh, no. It’s yours. You always forget your jacket, so you decided to have one in each car in case you forgot.”, Dr. Kuroo says, leaning against the doorframe.

“Oh… Very clever of me.”, Akaashi says, trying to be nonchalant even though the mention of their routines always throws him off a bit.

“I agree.”, Dr. Kuroo nods. “Let’s go, then?”, he asks and Akaashi nods, walking towards the door. “Mieko, what’s my curfew?”

“Aren’t we married?”, Akaashi asks with a frown, but blushes hard when he notices what he just said. “I-I mean…!”

“We are.”, Dr. Kuroo chuckles. “But we have a curfew every time we visit your mom.”

“Exactly. But I guess you can bring him back after midnight today.”, Mieko smiles kindly and Dr. Kuroo nods.

“I can’t believe we have a curfew being both almost forty.”, Akaashi frowns, following Dr. Kuroo back to his car.

Dr. Kuroo laughs loudly, opening the door to Akaashi. “In the first three years of our marriage we had to sleep in separated rooms when we came to visit.”, he says once he’s also inside the car.

“Unbelievable.”, Akaashi mutters, putting the seatbelt. “Hey, Dr. Kuroo, thank you for taking me out today.”

“Ok, first… You can call me Tetsurou.” Dr. Kuroo says with a smile. “Second, it is always a pleasure to go out with you.”

Akaashi bites down his lip, thoughtful. “Kuroo-san, then?”, he asks.

“Oh god, high school all over again.”, Dr. Kuroo smiles fondly. “Drop the ‘san’?”

“Ok. Kuroo.”, Akaashi nods, because ”Kuroo” is easier to say than “Tetsurou”.

“So, I was thinking. Sushi or Mexican?”, Dr. Kuroo, no, Kuroo asks.

“What would we normally chose?”, Akaashi asks curious, because he wants to know more.

“Mexican.”, Kuroo answers without even thinking. “You have a weak spot for tequila.”

“Oh god, I drink?!”, Akaashi asks with widen eyes.

“You kidding me? I drink like a Viking and you still beats me up.”, Kuroo laughs and Akaashi pouts lightly.

“I can’t drink that much.”, Akaashi mutters, because he always thought alcohol was gross.

“You do. You started drinking in college with me.”, Kuroo says, his eyes never leaving the streets.

“So you were a bad influence?”, Akaashi asks with a small smile.

“Probably, yeah.”, Kuroo nods, grinning like a cat.

“What happened with your hair? I have pictures of us in high school and your hair used to defy the gravity.”, Akaashi asks, his curiosity talking loudly than his shyness.

“Well, you happened.”, Kuroo answers with a smile. “I had to change the way I used to sleep when we started to sleep together.”

“Sorry?”, Akaashi asks, shrugging a bit.

“Actually, thank you.”, Kuroo grins and Akaashi feels his cheeks heating up.

They keep chatting about small curiosities Akaashi has about his life. Kuroo explains to Akaashi that the picture where they’re both covered in red ink together with Bokuto and Kenma happened because Kuroo and Bokuto decided to do a scientific experiment that went completely wrong and that the picture of them under the Tokyo Tower was taken in the day before Kuroo left to Boston.

Akaashi asks about the picture of Kuroo and Bokuto wrestling in the mud and Kuroo says they were fighting over which Norse God is the best one. The picture of Akaashi and Kenma at a temple in Kyoto was taken in the end of Akaashi’s third year when he decided to take a road trip before going to Boston and Kenma agreed to follow. There’s a picture of the four of them on top of Mount Fuji, they are older and Kuroo says they climbed the Mount Fuji before their marriage for good luck.

The pictures of Boston are on their apartment, Kuroo says and he also says that he can bring them to Akaashi’s house if Akaashi wants. Akaashi agrees, because the pictures are the only fragments of his life he still has and Kuroo says that he’ll bring the pictures on the next morning before going to the hospital.

They get to the restaurant, a small place with Mexican themed decorations and music. The owner greets them happily, leading them to a table across the small dance floor. Akaashi looks around, curious with the vivid colors of the place, following Kuroo like a puppy because he’s afraid of get lost even though there’s no way he can get lost in such a open space.

“We come here often.”, Kuroo says, handing the menu to Akaashi.

“Really? I like the decorations.”, Akaashi says with a smile, grabbing the menu to read the options.

“I had a roommate that were from Mexico and he introduced us to Mexican cuisine and we got quite fond of it.”, Kuroo says and Akaashi stops to pay attention because he found out he really likes to hear about his memories with Kuroo.

“We seemed to have lived a lot.”, Akaashi says with a fond smile.

“We are still living a lot, Keiji.”, Kuroo says. “We were planning on going to New Zealand in our next vacations.”

“And then I got into an accident and lost all my memories…”, Akaashi sighs. Kuroo reaches out for his hand over the table.

“New Zealand won’t vanish in the air, Keiji. We can go once you get better.”, Kuroo says with an reassuring smile.

“How can you be so sure I’ll get better?”, Akaashi asks, biting down his lip and squeezing Kuroo’s hand on his.

“Because I trust you.”, Kuroo answers simply. “I know you will do everything you can to get better. And if you don’t, I will do everything I can to make you fall in love with me again.”

Akaashi bites down his bottom lip again, smiling shyly because deep inside he has no doubts that Kuroo can actually make him fall in love all over again. There’s something inside Akaashi that makes flips every time Kuroo speaks or looks at him and Akaashi wonders if his subconscious still knows they are together even when his memory had forgotten.

They ask for their foods, neither of them asking for alcoholic beverages because Akaashi is still on medicines and Kuroo is driving. Akaashi asks about Kuroo’s shift at the hospital and Kuroo tells him about the patients he took care. They start to talk about old patients, Kuroo telling Akaashi of surgeries Akaashi had made on people. Akaashi finds himself completely enchanted by the graphic stories, curious about everything and even when the food comes and they start to eat, he has no problem on keeping listening Kuroo talking about those things.

The food is really amazing, but the highlight of the night is when they finish their first course and Kuroo gets up, holding his hand out and asking Akaashi for a dance. Akaashi blushes a deep shade of red, accepting Kuroo’s hand and following him to the small dance floor where a few couples were already dancing.

Kuroo laces Akaashi’s waist with one of his arms, holding Akaashi’s other hand with his free hand. Akaashi chuckles when they start to move, because he knows he has no clue on how to dance. But his feet follow Kuroo without him noticing; even when the rhythm of the music speeds up Akaashi doesn’t get lost on their dance.

They spin on the dance floor, both of them laughing because of the surprised exclamation Akaashi let out. Akaashi loses the count of songs they dance, because it’s fun and his body follows so easily, even when he decides to guide, his body just knows what to do. He tells Kuroo that once they sit down again to finish eat.

“Well, muscular memory can work alone.”, Kuroo says with a smile. He’s slightly out of breath because of the dances and Akaashi blushes when he finds himself thinking about how pretty Kuroo actually is.

“Does that means that I can still be a surgeon?”, Akaashi asks between the bites of his enchiladas.

“Hm…”, Kuroo hums thoughtful, “I’m pretty sure the ability is still there, but there’s all the knowledge you need to have.”

“I want to be a surgeon again….”, Akaashi says also in a thoughtful tone.

“We still have your books at our library. Do you want me to bring it for you together with the pictures? Maybe it’ll help.”, Kuroo says and Akaashi nods at this.

“Yes! I don’t really have much to do through the days…”, Akaashi says, passing his hand through his hair. “It’s freaking me out.”

“Yeah, that seems pretty much like you.”, Kuroo says with a small smile.

“I really want to remember everything.”, Akaashi sighs. “Twenty-two years is a lot to simply forget.”

“Don’t lose your hope, ok? Everything will be ok.”, Kuroo smiles at him and Akaashi can’t help but smile back.

The rest of their night goes easily. They dance a little more before going away, Kuroo suggesting them to stop by a crepe shop to eat dessert. So they walk around for a bit through the streets around the restaurant after buying the crepes, chatting more about things, Kuroo explaining new things of this future Akaashi doesn’t understand.

Kuroo drives Akaashi back a little after midnight, because Akaashi is getting sleepy and Kuroo needs to rest because he works on the next day. Akaashi can’t explain how awkward it was to say goodbye, because the kiss Kuroo gives him on the forehead doesn’t seems enough but Akaashi also doesn’t have the courage to ask for more; he also doesn’t even know what is “more”.

-

Akaashi doesn’t sleep well that night, his nightmares are stronger this time and he keeps waking up. So when he wakes up in the next morning he’s completely restless and tired. But when he got to the first floor of his house Akaashi finds out that Kuroo had brought a box with his books, pictures and videos.

So Akaashi closes himself on his bedroom to see everything. He starts by the books, a lot of advanced medicine books that keep Akaashi’s mind occupied for the next five hours until his mother asks calls him to have lunch.

Once he’s back from lunch, Akaashi sits down to see the pictures. There are pictures of he and Kuroo in a lot of places, Akaashi’s own calligraphy in the back of the pictures specifying the time and the place.

There’s a picture of him and Kuroo in a boat in Florida, hugging and smiling. Another one shows them somewhere in the Norway, a lot of snow and Northern lights in the sky. There’s a picture of Kuroo leaning against a wall in Lisbon, crossed arms and a crooked smile. There’s also a picture of Akaashi’s back while he walked in the streets of New Delhi, holding Kuroo’s hand behind him. There’s also a really pretty picture of Akaashi, Kuroo and Kenma in the benches of a volleyball game in Croatia, the national team of Japan behind them.

Akaashi stops going through the pictures to pay some attention to the videos. He doesn’t know if he’s prepared to what he’ll see, but he’s really curious to see how he was before. So he put the pendrive on his laptop and runs the first video.

-

”So there we have Tetsu and he’s about to fall because he’s an idiot.”, Akaashi says, focusing the camera on Kuroo who is currently walking over a small wall as if in a tightrope. It’s snowing and Kuroo kicks the thick layer of snow as he walks.

“I’m not!”, Kuroo says back, looking over his shoulder and flashing a Cheshire cat grin to Akaashi.

“You’re twenty-four years old, Tetsurou, stop acting like a child!”, Akaashi says, filming Kuroo from a couple steps behind. His voice is annoyed but full of affection.

“And you’re twenty-three, stop acting like an old man!”, Kuroo complains, but jumps back to the ground. “Wanna go to Starbucks to grab something before going back to dorm?”

“Yeah, it’s freezing cold, let’s grab some coffee.”, Akaashi agrees, holding Kuroo’s hand and stepping closer, changing the camera angle so they’re both in the frame.

“Oh, I know how to warm you up.”, Kuroo smirks and Akaashi deadpans hard enough to hurt. “I was talking about cuddling under the blankets! What a pervert!”, he says in a fake offended tone.

“Sure, Tetsu, sure.”, Akaashi says, but smiling when Kuroo leans and steals a kiss.

The video ends after this.

-

The video starts with the image of a really pretty beach in a sunny day, filmed from a hotel window. The image turns around to show Akaashi sleeping peacefully in a big bed with white sheets, dressed with a shirt a bit larger than him.

“Let’s wake up the sleeping beauty.”, Kuroo says softly, walking towards the bed.

Kuroo sets the camera on the nightstand before climbing the bed, he’s using only black sweatpants. Kuroo gets over Akaashi, leaning down to spread kisses through Akaashi’s neck and cheeks, whispering things that the camera can’t get. Akaashi starts to move, murmuring things impossible to understand, but Kuroo laughs at whatever he is talking.

Kuroo grabs the camera again, sitting down on Akaashi’s hips and filming him from above. Akaashi stretches out, finally open his eyes to look at the camera.

“Good morning.”, Kuroo greets, chuckling.

“It’s too early.”, Akaashi complains, placing his hands on Kuroo’s thighs and caressing there with his thumbs.

“In Boston, yes. Here in Marseille is already lunch time.”, Kuroo chuckles and Akaashi grumbles something impossible to understand. “What?”

Akaashi lifts his hands, holding on Kuroo’s waist on both sides and in a quick move Akaashi flips them over, knocking Kuroo on the mattress. Kuroo yelps but starts to laugh after that, still holding the camera even when Akaashi leans over him and kiss him shut.

Akaashi grabs the camera from Kuroo’s hand, stopping the kiss and looking at it. “I think we can turn this off.”, he says before hitting the button and everything turns black.

-

”How long it takes since the last time we had been in Italy?”, Akaashi asks, the camera finally coming into focus to show a colorful city.

“Hm, we were in Milan last year because of the congress, remember?”, Kuroo asks off of camera. “But last time we went to Liguria it was on our honeymoon, so… Four years ago?”

Akaashi turns the camera to Kuroo, who is passing his hand through his damp hair. “We’re getting old.”, Akaashi says and Kuroo chuckles.

“We are. But you’re aging like cognac, babe… Getting better every year.”, Kuroo says, winking at Akaashi.

“You’re so ridiculously sappy.”, Akaashi murmurs, but affectionately.

“Have always being.”, Kuroo grins and Akaashi chuckles. “Where do you want to eat tonight?”

“Hm…”, Akaashi hums thoughtful, changing the angles of the camera again so they’re both framed. “Hotel room? No clothes allowed?”

Kuroo chokes with air before starting to laugh, loudly and dorky as always. “Ok! First, yes!”, he breathes out between his laughs. “Second, how can you be such a pervert?”

“I’m married to you, I don’t think I have a choice.”, Akaashi chuckles, forcing Kuroo to stop and pulling closer, kissing his lips.

“Shit, we’re still in the middle of the afternoon…”, Kuroo murmurs pained against Akaashi’s lips.

“Not my problem…”, Akaashi chuckles against Kuroo’s lips, kissing him again.

The camera image slides up until it’s filming them from below, perfect clear sky above their heads. The image turns black after a few seconds.

-

Akaashi needs to stop watching because his heart can’t take anymore. He’s crying and it takes him a while to notice this. He’s also out of breathe, his chest feeling heavy. Why can’t he remember all of this? Why does he need to be a stranger in his perfect life?

He fumbles around his bed searching for his phone and dialing Dr. Oikawa’s number.

“Hello?”, Dr. Oikawa asks once he answers, but Akaashi can’t say anything, so he just keep breathing quickly and trying to stop crying. “Keiji? Hey…. Slow down a bit, ok? Breath with me.”, he asks, once again making his breathing loud enough to guide Akaashi’s.

“I-I don’t think it’s… Working.”, Akaashi says when he finally calms down enough to talk. “I think… I think the exercises aren’t working. What if my memory never comes back? What if I never remember my life with everyone? What if Kuroo stop loving me because I’m a stranger now?”

“Ok, try to relax… Can you explain to me why you’re feeling like this?”, Dr. Oikawa asks gently.

“We-We… We went out yesterday. To-To dance.”, Akaashi says, sniffing. “And we talked about our past… And he asked if I wanted pictures and videos and I said yes, because I’m curious. I wanted… I wanted to know how we were.”, he says while trying to control his hiccups.

“Alright… Did you see the pictures?”, Dr. Oikawa asks patiently.

“I-Yes. I just did… And the videos. Only… Only three. I wanted to watch the video of our… Of our marriage. But I’m afraid because….”, Akaashi’s voice fails as he restarts to cry. “Because that’s not me anymore.”

“Keiji, keep breathing with me, alright, sweety?”, Dr. Oikawa asks again, a little louder so Akaashi could hear over his own hiccups. “It’s great that you’re with your old memories near you, ok? But you have to respect your own limits. If you’re not feeling prepared to deal with certain things, don’t watch it, alright? And if you’re not ready to go out with Tetsurou, you shouldn’t go…”

“No!”, Akaashi exclaims, shaking his head as if Dr. Oikawa could see him. “I want to go out with him. I feel good when I’m with him. I don’t like my bedroom anymore… It’s cold and dark. It gets warmer when Kuroo is around me.”

“Ok… So why don’t you invite him for a sleepover?”, Dr. Oikawa suggests gently and Akaashi widens his eyes.

“You think he would like to come?”, Akaashi asks, unsure.

“I’m absolutely sure he will love to spend the night with you.”, Dr. Oikawa assures and Akaashi can feel he’s smiling. “How are your nightmares going?”

“Worse.”, Akaashi sighs, feeling calmer now. “I keep seeing people without faces and everyone screams a lot… I’m not sleeping well.”

“Do you want me to prescript you some sleeping medicine?”, Dr. Oikawa asks and Akaashi needs a couple minutes to think about it.

“I don’t think so… I can handle it.”, Akaashi says after a moment in silence.

“Alright, then. But if you feel you need some help with this, please give me a call. Ok?”, Dr. Oikawa asks, concern heavy on his voice.

“Ok, thank you. I’m really sorry for calling out of nowhere.”, Akaashi whispers, shrugging a bit.

“Hey, I’m your doctor and your friend. I’m always available for you.”, Dr. Oikawa says and Akaashi can’t help but smile.

They say goodbyes after that and Akaashi hangs up the phone. He takes a deep breath, calming his nerves before grabbing the phone again. He opens the message app, finding Kuroo’s contact.

Me [16:12]:

Would you like to come over tomorrow and spend the night here?

He waits for the answer, but it doesn’t come. Akaashi chews on his lips, checking twice that he had sent the message for the right number. Kuroo is probably working right now, Akaashi says to himself. So after half of an hour without an answer he decides to go take a shower.

Akaashi takes a long shower, because when he’s under the running water everything else seems to disappear. He uses his time alone in the shower to totally calm down and to think about Dr. Oikawa’s words. Everyone seems to agree that Akaashi needs to give time to his mind to heal, but Akaashi wants it now. He wants to remember, to go back to his normal life. But maybe he really needs to give his mind some rest. Maybe time is really what he needs.

When Akaashi walks back to his room, fully dressed with his pajamas, he checks is phone and sees that he has a new message.

Kuroo [17:07]:

Yes! Let me just clean up my schedule!

Me [17:08]:

I don’t want to bother your work. We can set it up for another day.

Kuroo?

Oh my god, please don’t compromise your schedule because of me.

Me [17:10]:

Kuroo?

Kuroo [17:19]:

Hey! Sorry, I was talking with Daichi.

Me [17:20]:

Please, tell me you didn’t change your schedule….

Kuroo [17:20]:

That’s precisely what I did.

It’s everything ok, though. Daichi will cover up for me and I’ll work next Sunday so he and Suga can go hiking.

Me [17:21]:

You shouldn’t have done that…. We could’ve settle for another day.

Kuroo [17:25]:

I always make time for you.

What time should I show up tomorrow?

Me [17:26]:

Stop making me blush!

Around seven so we can have dinner together?

Me [17:27]:

Unless you prefer later…

Kuroo [17:27]:

Seven, then.

I have to go, they’re calling me at the ER. See you tomorrow.

Me [17:27]:

Go save lives!

See you tomorrow.

Kuroo [17:28]:

I’ll try my best

See ya

Kuroo [17:32]

And I love when you blush.

Akaashi gasps when he reads Kuroo’s last message, blushing so hard that his whole body gets hot. He gets up from his bed, running down the stairs to find his mother sitting on the couch watching some cooking program.

“Mom?”, Akaashi calls from the middle of the stairs. Mieko looks over her shoulder to her son with an inquiring look. “Kuroo comes to sleep here tomorrow, alright?”

“Of course!”, Mieko smiles brightly. “What times does he come?”

“Around seven.”, Akaashi says, walking down the rest of the stairs to the kitchen. “What does he likes to eat?”

“Tetsu loves fish.”, Mieko says, getting up from the couch and walking to the kitchen.

“He’s like a cat…”, Akaashi smiles softly and Mieko laughs.

“Pretty much.”, she nods. “Why don’t you two order takeout? There’s this one you two always ask when you come here… Where’s it?”, Mieko hums to herself, walking around the kitchen and searching through the drawers. “Oh, here it is!”, she says, showing him a flyer.

“It’s weird to have habits that I don’t remember.”, Akaashi comments, taking the flyer to read it.

“You’re full of habits. Not all of them good.”, Mieko says, walking around the kitchen and starting to make some tea.

“Really?”, Akaashi asks curious, sitting down on a chair.

“You’re a workaholic, Keiji.”, Mieko chuckles. “I had doubts about your marriage because both of you are workaholics. I thought the marriage would go downhill and you ended up getting divorced.”

“But we’re together it has ten years already…”, Akaashi says softly.

“Yes! Because you two have this thing that you always make time for each other, it’s actually pretty cute.”, Mieko smiles over her shoulder. “And since Tetsu and Daichi work on the same section, they always cover up for each other so he has time with you and Daichi has time with Koushi.”

“I have really good friends, haven’t I?”, Akaashi asks with a gentle smile.

“You do, Keiji. You really do.”, Mieko smiles back, placing the cup of tea on top of the table in front of Akaashi.

Mieko sits down on a chair and they start to chat about a lot of things. Akaashi likes that his mother is willing to tell him about small little things that he is way too embarrassed to ask Kuroo.

-

“Keiji, come here!”, Mieko calls from the first floor and Akaashi stops what he’s doing to go down to see his mother.

“Yes?”, he asks as soon as he steps on the first floor, seeing Mieko dressed to go out. “Where are you going?”

“Oh, your auntie invited me to play cards with her and her friends tonight!”, Mieko chirps happily.

“Mom! Kuroo is coming!”, Akaashi exclaims, widening his eyes.

“Yes! Give him a kiss in my name!”, she smiles, grabbing her purse. “Do the dishes before I come back, alright?”

“But… But.. Mom!”, Akaashi babbles, but his mother is already walking down the front path.

As if by coincidence, as soon as Mieko steps out of Akaashi’s sight, Kuroo parks his car in front of the house. Akaashi widens his eyes, staring at the black car through the open door, his mind really slowly realizing that he spent so much time cleaning his room that he forgot to change his pajamas.

“Oh… My… God…”, Akaashi whispers to himself, watching almost in panic as Kuroo walks towards the house, checking something on his phone.

“Hey.”, Kuroo smiles, pocketing his phone.

“I’m in pajamas.”, Akaashi blurts out, his face heating up quickly. “Shit.”

“Actually, you’re using my clothes..”, Kuroo chuckles .

Akaashi looks down at his own body, to the black sweatpants and the old band t-shirt. “Oh….”, he whispers, blinking a few times. “Oh God.”

“I can wait in the living room while you change, if you want… Although I don’t have problems with you dressed like this.”, Kuroo says, taking off his shoes when he enters the house.

“I-I’ll change.”, Akaashi says, running up the stair to quickly get change.

Akaashi opts for a light colored jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt, nothing too fancy but better than his pajamas. When he gets to the first floor again, Kuroo is sitting on the couch, checking his phone.

“Hospital?”, Akaashi asks, straightening his clothes.

“Hm?”, Kuroo lifts his eyes to Akaashi, shaking his head. “No, no. Suguru wants to know if I’ll go to his house this weekend.”

“Oh. Will you go?”, Akaashi asks nonchalantly, even though it pains him a little the possibility of Kuroo going out with other people.

“No, I have to cover Daichi on Sunday, so I can’t get wasted on Saturday.”, Kuroo says, placing his phone on the coffee table. “Besides, I’m not in the mood of going out to drink…”

“But it’s good to have fun.”, Akaashi says, sitting down beside Kuroo.

“I have more fun when you’re with me, so there’s no use on me going alone.”, Kuroo says with a calm smile and Akaashi blushes faintly because he doesn’t know how to respond.

“Mom said we should ask for takeout.”, Akaashi says instead, playing with the hem of his shit between his fingers. “She said there’s this place we usually call… The flyer is on the kitchen table”

“Oh, right! Omasu Sushi.”, Kuroo grins. “I think I have their number on my phone, but it has a while since the last time we asked something from there, so it’s good to check.”

“I’ll get the flyer.”, Akaashi says, getting up and walking to the kitchen. He’s nervous, but he can’t understand why. They aren’t doing anything weird, they’re just chatting. He wonders if this was how he felt on the first time Kuroo slept on his place sixteen years ago.

“Bo will be back next week.”, Kuroo says from the couch, turning his body to see Akaashi. “He wants us to meet, but only if you’re ok with this.”

“Oh, I… I don’t know if I can meet Bokuto Koutarou…”, Akaashi says, because he doesn’t remember being friends with him, he only remembers being his fan.

“Keiji, it’s just Bo. He’ll yell your name completely wrong and cry when you say he can’t eat more or he’ll throw up. Nothing new under the sun.”, Kuroo smiles lightly. Kuroo’s phone buzzes but he ignores.

“I know, but my memories of him are from before we met… When I was his fan.”, Akaashi says, walking back with the flyer and handing it to Kuroo.

“Please, never tell him this or his head will explode.”, Kuroo chuckles, reading the menu. “You want sushi or ramen?”

“Sushi.”, Akaashi says, sitting on the couch again, this time a little closer of Kuroo than before. “Why his head will explode?”

“Because…”, Kuroo is interrupted by his phone again, but he just glances over the flyer before turning his attention back to the menu. “Because Bo is like an overexcited puppy. If you compliment him, he’ll get super exciter and Kenma said that if we make Bo pee, we’ll be the one cleaning.”

“Oh my god.”, Akaashi chuckles. “I’ll try to remember it.”

“Good.”, Kuroo smiles. Kuroo’s phone buzzes again but this time is someone calling. “I can’t believe it.”, Kuroo breathes out. He picks up the phone, not even giving change for the person to say something before gritting out, “I’m with my husband, so can you fuckin not?!”

“Fuckin God. Can’t you chill, Satan?”, someone says on the other end.”I didn’t knew you were with Keiji, sorry.”

“I told you I was coming to his house, Suguru…”, Kuroo sighs and Akaashi slowly slides closer, an foreigner possessiveness taking an hold of him.

“Will you come on Saturday?”, Suguru asks.

“No. I’m fine. Stop worrying.”, Kuroo sighs, allowing Akaashi to play with his fingers when Akaashi touches his hand with his fingertips.

“We won’t let you escape after Bokuto gets back.”, Suguru says. “Send Keiji a kiss.”, he says before hanging up.

“Is everything ok?”, Akaashi asks once Kuroo hangs up too.

“Yeah. They just want me to stop moping inside our house, but I’m fine. Jabutsukki and I are having a lot of fun.”, Kuroo answers with a smile.

“Jabutsukki?”, Akaashi asks with a soft frown.

“Yeah, we have a tortoise we named Jabutsukki to piss Tsukishima off.”, Kuroo smirks, opening his photo gallery on his phone to show Akaashi the pictures of the tortoise.

“Oh. He’s cute.”, Akaashi smiles, leaning his check against Kuroo’s shoulder to see the phone screen. Kuroo had told him about Karasuno back in the hospital, so he knows who Tsukishima is.

“He’s ridiculously grumpy. Oh and he shit all over your carpet last Monday, but I already take it to the laundry.”, Kuroo absently says.

“The white one?”, Akaashi asks without thinking.

Kuroo looks at him with wide eyes. “Yeah…. The white one…”, he whispers and Akaashi blinks slowly.

“I don’t… I don’t know how…. How?!”, Akaashi asks, confused, because there’s no way he can know about the white carpet.

“Because your memory is still there.”, Kuroo smiles softly, his shoulders visibly relaxing.

“Oh…”, Akaashi whispers, a small smile taking place on the corner of his lips.

After that Kuroo decides to call the sushi place so they can eat while watching something on TV. Akaashi starts to feel more comfortable around Kuroo, because now he doesn’t feel like a completely stranger anymore. Maybe he can have some hope.

When the food comes and they sit down together on Akaashi’s bed to eat while watching some old movie, Akaashi leans against Kuroo’s side, relaxing inside the side hug Kuroo involves him in. Akaashi is surprised by the fact that he can actually watch an American movie without subtitles, and Kuroo seems to find it extremely interesting that Akaashi’s english ability remains the same. They end up chatting in english for the rest of the night.

It’s already past midnight when they finally decide to sleep, Kuroo walking to the bedroom to get change while Akaashi does the same inside his room. Akaashi’s heart is racing like crazy, because he’ll be sleeping with Kuroo on his bed and he’s feeling anxious about that. Kuroo walks back to the room, wearing black sweatpants and red loose tank-top.

“So, I’ll sleep downstairs, ok?”, Kuroo asks, stretching up and letting out a heavy sigh.

“What? No!”, Akaashi says, widening his eyes. His cheeks get flame red when he coughs embarrassed. “I mean… Stay here… We… We’re married, there’s no reason for you to sleep downstairs…”

“You sure..?”, Kuroo asks, a small smile on his lips.

“Yes, I’m sure. Stop.”, Akaashi mutters, turning his back to Kuroo and walking to the bed.

“I’m not doing anything.”, Kuroo chuckles, turning the lights off before walking to the bed.

Kuroo lies down on the mattress, Akaashi lying beside him, but since the bed isn’t really big Kuroo pulls Akaashi’s closer and Akaashi instinctively snuggles against Kuroo’s chest. Kuroo starts to caresses Akaashi’s back slowly with his knuckles and Akaashi sighs heavily, closing his eyes, feeling all warm and safe.

“Good night, Tetsu…”, Akaashi whispers, already sleepy.

“Good night, my love…”, Kuroo whispers back.

-

Kuroo [08:43]:

”Bokuto is back. Do you want to go out with us?”

Me [12:02]:

Sure!

Kuroo [12:10]:

Tonight? I can pick you up at nine?

Me [12:10]:

Ok! See you later.

-

Akaashi is nervous, of course he is. Even with Kuroo telling him over and over again that he will be ok and everything will go well, he can’t help but feel anxious. Bokuto and Kenma, for what Akaashi knows, are pretty close friends of them and this makes him so anxious because he’s afraid of doing something wrong.

“Keiji, you worry too much.”, Kuroo says as he opens the car door and helps Akaashi to get out.

“But what if I say something wrong?”, Akaashi asks, holding Kuroo’s hand as they walk towards the restaurant.

“I doubt it.”, Kuroo smiles, opening the door.

They’re not even two steps inside of the restaurant when someone collides with Akaashi, making him yelp like a scared cat. “AKAAAASHI!!!!”, the person yells, squeezing Akaashi in a tight hug.

“B-Bokuto-san..”, Akaashi breathes out, blinking a few times and patting Bokuto’s back lightly.

“Koutaro, what have I told you before we got out the house?”, a small blonde guy says from behind Bokuto, sighing in annoyance.

“Oh, right!”, Bokuto jumps back. “Sorry, Akaashi! Kenma said I should hold back, but I was so worried about you!”

“It’s ok.”, Akaashi smiles sheepishly.

“Sorry for that.”, Kenma sighs, approaching and hugging Akaashi lightly. “We got our usual table.”

“Good.”, Kuroo smiles, hugging Bokuto by his waist as Bokuto jumps on him, and they walk like that towards the back of the restaurant.

“How are you feeling?”, Kenma asks, walking beside Akaashi.

“Fine… I mean..”, Akaashi sighs, watching Bokuto and Kuroo playing together. “I’m ok when I’m with him.”

“Kuroo told me your memory stop before you entered high school, so you don’t remember us. But you can call me at any time, ok?”, Kenma says, big golden eyes gentle.

“Thank you, Kenma. I’m sure I did something really right in the past, because I have really good friends.”, Akaashi smiles, sitting on the chair beside Kuroo.

“You are a good friend.”, Kenma gives him a small smile.

“Akaashi is the most amazing friend in the world!”, Bokuto chirps happily. “Like, you’re super amazing, Akaashi.”

Akaashi blushes softly. “Thank you, Bokuto-san.”

“Oh! Bro, what if we call everyone to play? I’m sure Fukurodani can reunite for a game.”, Bokuto says thoughtful.

“Hm, I don’t know… It depends if Hajime thinks Keiji can play already.”, Kuroo says also thoughtful. “And, of course, if Keiji wants to play.”

“I don’t know…”, Akaashi says, chewing his bottom lip lightly. The idea of meeting his old team without remembering anyone isn’t something he’s really looking forward.

“It’s ok if you don’t want to. It’s just an idea.”, Kuroo says with a smile and Akaashi smiles back.

“I think I’m not ready… At least not yet.”, Akaashi says, shrugging softly.

“So we let the game for another day.”, Kenma says, putting an end on the subject.

“So how was the Worlds, Bo?”, Kuroo asks, smoothly changing the subject.

Bokuto is more than happy on telling them about the Worlds. Bokuto talks a lot about the places he visited, showing pictures of him and his team in places around Europe. Akaashi knows that he probably know everyone on the pictures, but he can’t remember. Kenma and Kuroo supply him with names and quick informations about the members of the National team.

They keep chatting about easy things as they eat, Akaashi getting to know more about his past, Bokuto more than happy to talk about high school days. It’s warm to be with them. Bokuto’s energy glows over the table, making everyone laugh. Kenma’s quietness acts like a perfect anchor to Bokuto and Kuroo’s explosive energy. Kuroo is like a heater, radiating warmth over their table. They make Akaashi feel less like a stranger and more like part of the group.

“Can we go eat ice cream now?”, Bokuto asks as they walk to outside the restaurant.

“Won’t you end up throwing up, Bokuto-san?”, Akaashi asks worried.

“But, Akaashi!”, Bokuto pouts lightly, holding Kenma’s hand as they walk on the sidewalk.

“Keiji is right, Kou…”, Kenma sighs, leaning against Bokuto because of the wind.

“Why don’t we walk a bit and then we go eat ice cream?”, Kuroo suggest, passing his arm around Akaashi’s shoulders. Akaashi blushes, but leans against Kuroo.

“You spoil him way too much.”, Kenma mumbles.

“It’s because I’m his best friend!!!”, Bokuto grins, hugging Kenma closer.

“You two are both terrible.”, Kenma rolls his eyes and Akaashi chuckles softly.

“Well, at least they’re the ones who will get sick…”, Akaashi says, holding the hem of Kuroo’s jacket.

“I’m a doctor, I can take care of us.”, Kuroo says with a smirk and Akaashi snorts.

“How can you take care of you two if you’re sick too?”, Akaashi asks with one of his eyebrows arched.

“I’m a really awesome doctor.”, Kuroo pokes his tongue at Akaashi.

Akaashi laughs at it, shaking his head because he couldn’t have imagined that Kuroo could be such a goofy. Kuroo grins at him and they follow Bokuto and Kenma as Bokuto happily points out at a huge amount of things in the stores showcases. Bokuto seems extremely happy to be back in Japan, and Akaashi imagines that it’s probably hard to Bokuto to be away from home for so long.

They walk around for a while, chatting about nothing in particular, Kenma and Akaashi just following as Bokuto and Kuroo enter in stores from time to time to see things that seem interesting. Akaashi ends up dragging them all to inside a bookstore because he can’t resist books. Bokuto runs to the comics sections and Kenma sighs, following his husband because he needs to control Bokuto’s impulsiveness.

Akaashi walks around the aisles, bringing Kuroo with him by his hand, reading the titles on the book’s spine. He doesn’t know what he’s looking for, but Akaashi always loved books so he’s sure he’ll find something worthy to buy.

“Oh!”, Akaashi exclaims when he finds a special version of The Lord of the Rings. He grabs it, caressing softly the golden drawings on the black cover. “So pretty…”

“Wanna buy it?”, Kuroo asks, watching as Akaashi flips the pages extremely carefully.

“No… I already have this one…”, Akaashi comments absently, closing the book. “Bu it’s beautiful.”

“It really is.”, Kuroo nods.

“Babe, please, just two more comics!”, Bokuto cries out, following Kenma as a lost puppy as Kenma approaches them.

“No. You won’t even read these three.”, Kenma answers, flipping the three editions of the X-Men he has on his hand.

“I swear I’ll read this time!”, Bokuto pouts, grabbing the comics back.

“Tetsurou is the only person who opens your comic books, Koutaro.”, Kenma deadpans and Bokuto’s pout triples in force. “No.”

“I just got back from a trip, can’t you be less mean?!”, Bokuto asks, poking Kenma’s back with the comics.

“Why am I even married with you?”, Kenma asks with a pained expression.

“Because you love him…”Kuroo says with a smirk.

“It’s you two fault. You two decided to live in Boston and left me alone with him and he lured me like a goddamn mermaid.”, Kenma grumbles and both Kuroo and Akaashi chuckles.

“I’m not a mermaid, I’m a merman!”, Bokuto says, puffing his chest.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go pay for the comics, Ariel.”, Kenma rolls his eyes, walking towards the cashier and Bokuto happily follows him.

“They are cute together…”, Akaashi says with a small smile.

“Yeah. They match.”, Kuroo agrees, smiling fondly. “Will you buy something?”, he asks when he turns to Akaashi again.

“Hm…”, Akaashi hums, looking around again. “Oh!”, he exclaims, walking towards a roll of books with black covers. Akaashi takes a book from the shelf, “It’s the fourth book from The Dark Tower. Mine is missing.”

“So let’s buy it.”, , Kuroo says and Akaashi nods, so they walk together towards the cashier.

They stay in line for a little more than five minutes before Akaashi can finally buy the book and they walk to outside the bookstore where they meet Bokuto and Kenma. They decide to go eat the ice cream because Bokuto still wants it. They find a cute ice cream shop a few blocks down from the bookstore and decide to stop there to eat.

Bokuto and Akaashi sit at a table while Kuroo and Kenma go to the counter to buy the ice creams.

“You know…”, Bokuto starts and Akaashi turns his head to give Bokuto his full attention. “When Tetsu called me to say that you go into an accident I almost took a fly back to Japan…”

“Oh…”, Akaashi whispers, sighing softly. “I’m sorry, Bokuto-san.”

“That’s not the point…”, Bokuto shakes his head. “It’s just that… I was so afraid that something serious could have happened with you. I felt like I failed. Because I’m always travelling and being away from you three and I can’t protect any of you properly.”

“Bokuto-san…”, Akaashi sighs again, watching as Bokuto’s shoulders slowly start to drop. “Don’t say such nonsense. I’m fine. I mean… I’m in the best state I could’ve been giving the situation.”

“But you got hurt! And lost your memory!”, Bokuto says, looking pained. “You don’t remember meeting me… Or Kenma… You don’t remember Kuroo! You don’t remember that you were planning on giving him your second button but you never did because he was in Boston already!”

“Bokuto-san, I-I…”, Akaashi takes a deep breath. He doesn’t know what to say.

But fortunately Kuroo and Kenma walk back to them with the ice creams in hands and Bokuto’s mood seems to light up quickly when he has a small pot of ice cream in hands. Akaashi concentrates himself on eating his cookies ‘n cream ice cream, falling into silence and just listening to Bokuto and Kuroo bickering about what ice cream flavor is the best; Kuroo swears it’s mint and Bokuto says he’s insane because strawberry is the best flavor ever.

They part ways a couple hours after that, Bokuto and Kenma walking them to Kuroo’s car before saying goodbye. Kuroo drives Akaashi back to his mother’s house, keeping a light conversation through the ride. Kuroo gets out of the car to say goodbye to Akaashi once he parks in front of Mieko’s house.

“It was really good to go out with you today.”, Kuroo smiles and Akaashi smiles back.

“Yeah. I had a lot of fun.”, Akaashi agrees, standing in front of Kuroo, fidgeting a little.

“Bo won’t travel for a while, we can do this again…”, Kuroo suggests, sinking his hands on his pockets.

“I would love to…”, Akaashi smiles.

“Good.”, Kuroo smiles back. They keep looking at each other, as if waiting for something to happen, but neither of them seems to have courage enough to do something. “Well… I’m going now…”, Kuroo says, leaning towards Akaashi and kissing his cheek and Akaashi can’t help but sigh. “Have sweet dreams, babe…”

“You too...”, Akaashi whispers, holding Kuroo’s shirt through the kiss and slowly letting it go as he steps away from Kuroo.

Kuroo bites down his own lip and for a split of a second Akaashi thinks he’ll do something, but Kuroo seems to think better and just smiles, walking around his car again. He waves a final goodbye to Akaashi before getting inside the car and turning it on. Akaashi waves a goodbye and walk to his house door, getting inside so Kuroo can go.

Akaashi watches Kuroo go with his heart on his hand.

-

The nights start to get worse to Akaashi, alone in the darkness of his room he has way too much time with his bad thoughts. He can’t stop blaming himself for worrying everyone, for not being able to remember, for not being himself anymore. He wishes he could just snap his fingers and all his memory would be back, but that’s not his reality and he can’t do anything about it and this is driving him insane.

Dr. Oikawa keeps saying he needs time, that his brain suffered a deep injury and that it would take a while to him to go back to normal. But Akaashi can’t understand why almost six month aren’t enough for his brain to heal. He needs to remember, he can’t let his life run through his fingers like thin sand.

As much as Akaashi wants to be with Kuroo every time, he also feels guilty for being there without being the Akaashi Kuroo had married and loved. Akaashi doesn’t think its fair with Kuroo to keep going out with him when he can’t even remember their important memories. He had gone through all the pictures and videos of the box over and over again, trying to remember something, but nothing comes. The only video he still can’t watch is their wedding video; he feels this is a too personal video he shouldn’t be allowed to watch.

Akaashi spend more and more time outside his house, on the garden, because his bedroom feels like a cage, a dark and cold cage that is slowly suffocating him. He doesn’t know what this means, because he hadn’t had courage to talk with Dr. Oikawa about something as silly as being afraid of his own bedroom; because it’s ridiculous to a grown man to be afraid of his own darkness.

-

There’s almost two months since the last time Akaashi ventured himself out of his house limits. One day he asked Kuroo for a time alone and Kuroo stopped calling, but he knows Kuroo keeps constant communication with his mother, because Akaashi can hear Mieko talking to Kuroo even when she starts to whispers on the corner of the living room.

Being alone is taking a toll on Akaashi. He doesn’t feel hungry anymore; he barely has energy to go out of his room, his afternoon at his mother’s garden completely forgotten by now. Akaashi cries a lot, in the silence of his room, because feeling like a stranger on his own skin is a strong feeling and he doesn’t know how to handle it. He stopped seeing Dr. Oikawa, ignoring all the calls and pretending being asleep when Dr. Oikawa showed up by his mother’s door.

Akaashi takes long showers where he sits on the bathtub and cries, because he wants his life back, he wants to go out with Kuroo, Bokuto and Kenma, he wants to go play volleyball with everyone, he wants to sleep while cuddling with Kuroo, he wants to be inside an surgery room again. His hands don’t tremble anymore, he had already swallowed all his medical books, he wants to be a doctor again.

-

Akaashi pads out of the bathroom, cold damp skin shivering because of the wind coming from the open window in the end of the corridor. He is a mess. The bags under his eyes have a deep shade of purple and his skin is translucent under the cold light of his room. He sighs, turning around to lock his door, his tired mind miscalculating the distance from the desk and he hits it with his thigh strong enough to knock some things on the ground.

He sighs, defeated, not even bothering to take the things out of the floor, just dragging his feet towards his bed instead. He steps in something hard and a shock of pain travel through his body, waking him up a little. He looks down, lifting his feet. It’s a small golden button and Akaashi grabs it between his fingers.

“You don’t remember that you were planning on giving him your second button but you never did because he was in Boston already!”

Something snaps inside Akaashi, because he knows that button. He walks to his closet, opening it and throwing some of the clothes on the ground until he finally finds his old Fukurodani uniform. There’s a button missing on the blazer, the second one. The one he was supposed to give to Kuroo, but Kuroo was already in Boston it had a whole year when Akaashi graduated. Akaashi planned to give it to him once he got to Boston, but Kuroo was dating a girl from his prehospital care class.

Akaashi widens his eyes, looking at the button as if the small golden metal thing had told him some sacred secret.

He sits down on his bed, suddenly fully awake, and pulls his laptop closet, opening the folder named “Kuroo’s pendrive” and clicking on the video under the name of “So we got married”.

-

Akaashi wakes up in the middle of night with his heart racing like crazy, punching his ribcage mercilessly. It’s hard to breath and he needs to use all his strengths to sit down to prevent suffocating. Everything is spinning around him and there’s a sense of urgency screaming inside him, screaming that he shouldn’t be here, screaming that he needs to go somewhere else.

He gets up from his bed, still having a hard time breathing, but fighting against his own panic while dressing up. Akaashi grabs his phone, wallet and keys and marches to outside the house, almost running down the stairs before remembering something. He runs up to the second floor again, entering his room and fumbling through his blankets until he finds the golden button, pocketing it and making the path to outside the house again.

It takes almost twenty minutes of walking under heavy rain until Akaashi finally crosses paths with a taxi, quickly giving the address to the driver and shrinking against the door heater searching for some heat. The heavy drops of rain fall over the car, the noise almost too loud.

The phone rings, an old rock music from the 90’s echoing on the silent room. Akaashi soon finds the damn thing, answering sleepy.

“Yes?”, he grunts.

“Dr. Akaashi, we need you in the hospital. One of your patients situations got worse and he needs to get under surgery now.”, a woman say from the other side of the line and Akaashi jumps awake.

“Get him ready, I’m going.”, he says before turning off the phone and opening his wardrobe to find clothes.

“What happened, babe?”, Kuroo asks from the bed, his voice rough with sleep.

“I need to go to the hospital. Emergency surgery.”, Akaashi explain while slipping inside his jeans.

“Want me to drive you there?”, Kuroo asks, sitting on the bed.

“No, love, I’ll drive.”, Akaashi says, grabbing his shirt and pulling over his head before walking to Kuroo and kissing his lips. “See you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you too. Go there save lives.”, Kuroo murmurs against Akaashi lips with a smile.

Akaashi runs to outside the apartment after grab his keys, completely forgetting phone and wallet, because Kuroo can bring it to him later. He get inside the car, turning it on and driving to out of the building.

“Shit.”, he groans when the heavy rain hits the car.

Akaashi steps heavily on the gas pedal, checking the time on the watch on the car panel. They live at thirty minutes away from the Hospital, but he can make it into fifteen. He can hear the drop of rain on the car hood, heavy and loud. He’s almost there. He can already see the lights of the hospital behind the turn.

But the car brakes don’t hold through the turn and the car slides to the side of the road at high speed, hitting the guard rail and flipping over the flowerbed.

Akaashi blacks out before the last flip.

Akaashi jumps awake when the taxi brakes in front of a tall granite colored building. He looks around, still startled, before paying for the ride and running outside the taxi towards the building. He enters the place, the cold air conditioner hitting him and instantly making him shiver. Akaashi looks around, completely lost again, because he doesn’t know what he’s doing there.

“Mr. Kuroo!”, the doorman greets, a big smile on his lips. “You’re back!”

“I… You know me?”, Akaashi asks, his eyes wide both with curiosity and confusion.

“Of course, sir! You and Mr. Kuroo have been living here for the past ten years.”, the doorman smiles. “Mr. Kuroo told me about your accident. I’m so happy you’re fine, sir. I was really worried.”

“Oh… Oh!”, the information finally sinks in on Akaashi’s mind. “Can you please tell me which apartment is mine?”

“Of course, sir.”, the doorman nods, pointing to one of the elevators. “It’s the 1508.”

“Thank you so much”, Akaashi breathes out, running to the elevator and jumping inside it as soon as the door opens.

Akaashi walks out of the elevator at the fifteenth floor, being greeted by the heavy silence of the dark granite corridor. He walks slowly, breathing deeply at each step, counting the doors one by one until he stops in front of the 08. He lifts his hand to knock at the dark wood, but stops midair. Akaashi sinks his hand on his pocket instead, fumbling inside until he finds his keychain.

He looks at the keys, frowning lightly until a light turns on inside his head and he chooses one of the keys, putting it on the keyhole and unlocking the door. He push the door open carefully, staring at the silent apartment.

Akaashi tries to call Kuroo’s name, but his voice is caged inside his throat.

He doesn’t count how minutes he stays standing outside the apartment until something pushes him on stepping inside the living room. The place smells like freshly made coffee and chocolate candles and Akaashi feels all warm inside.

He keeps walking to inside the place after taking off his shoes and closing the door, stepping inside the dark gray and white living room. There are books over the glass and dark mahogany coffee table; The Lord of the Rings Special Edition with black cover and seven of the eight Dark Tower series books, the fourth one missing. On the wall, hanging over a white couch, is a blue and green painting.

”What are you doing?”, Kuroo asks without taking his eyes from the television where he is currently playing Devil May Cry.

“I’m painting.”, Akaashi simply says, holding his brush over the canvas, drops of navy blue dripping over the white canvas.

“Jabutsukki’s artistic ability is better than yours, Keiji.”, Kuroo says, leaning against Akaashi’s back softly.

“First, get out of me, it’s hot and you’re gross.”, Akaashi complains, but without making a move to actually take Kuroo out of him. “Second, fuck you, I can paint.”

“You love me gross and all.”, Kuroo says, brushing his sweaty arm on Akaashi’s naked back. “Alright, Picasso, but we’re gonna hung this shit up don’t matter how bad it is.”

“It’ll be great, you asshole.”, Akaashi grumbles, painting a few lines with turquoise.

The painting is awful, but Kuroo kept his promise and hang the painting on the living room.

Akaashi walks across the living room and towards the stainless steel kitchen, his fingertips brushing the counter tops slowly as he walks around. He looks around, his sight falling over the two mugs by the sink, a set of couple mugs of a black and a white cat.

”Houston, we have a problem!”, Kuroo yells from the kitchen and Akaashi sighs heavily, placing his book down on the bed and getting up.

When Akaashi reaches the kitchen, Kuroo is staring at the floor, smithereens of his black kitten mug all over the floor and green tea everywhere.

“What the fuck?!”, Akaashi asks slowly.

“We need to buy another one! Identical to this one! It was a gift from Bo, Keiji, he’ll fuckin cry forever and he’ll stop talking to me! Keiji! We need to go out and buy a new one!”, Kuroo says in high speed, his voice high pitched because of the despair.

“Calm down, Tetsurou!”, Akaashi sighs, placing his hand on Kuroo’s arm.”It’s snowing, babe, we can’t go outside now. Let’s clean this up and tomorrow we can go search for another one.”

“No, Keiji, you don’t understand. What if Bo shows up? What if he calls me and asks about the mug? I’m such an horrible friend.”, Kuroo cries out and Akaashi sighs heavily.

“Alright. Clean this mess, I’m going to change my clothes.”, he says, walking back to the bedroom.

Akaashi pass through the kitchen, walking deeper through the apartment. He places his hand on a closed door.

”You're everything I need and more. It's written all over your face. Baby, I can feel your halo. Pray it won't fade away. I can feel your halo halo. I can see your halo halo”, Kuroo screams from inside the bathroom, loud enough to Akaashi to hear from the kitchen even with the water of the shower running.

“Hey, Beyoncé, sing lower!”, Akaashi knocks on the door, his free hand on his hip.

“HIT LIKE A RAY OF SUN! BURNING THROUGH MY DARKEST NIGHT! YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE THAT I WAAAAANT!”, Kuroo turns his voice even higher, completely turning out.

“I want divorce!”, Akaashi exclaims, but he can’t help but laugh because Kuroo is completely ridiculous.

Akaashi’s heart is hammering his ribcage so hard that he can feel the pulse inside his head, and it hurts. He takes a deep breath, opening the bedroom door.

The bedroom is dark, the curtains closed, but Akaashi can walk around without knocking anything. He sits down on the mattress, turning on the reading lamp on the nightstand, the yellowish light allowing Akaashi to see the bedroom better now.

The bedroom is simple, a big bed with burgundy sheets, a television hanging on the wall and a desk with the tortoise tank. Jabutsukki is currently asleep inside one of the lodges inside his tank.

Akaashi breathes deeply, his chest feeling lighter than in the past six months. He grabs one of the pillows, squeezing it between his fingers and feeling how soft it is, the cold fabric of the pillow case contrasting against Akaashi’s now warm fingers.

”I can’t believe you actually took my name.”, Kuroo whispers against Akaashi’s lips, a small and fond smile on his lips.

They’re laying on the bed, naked and sweaty, Kuroo between Akaashi’s legs. Akaashi smiles, pulling him closer and kissing his lips again. Kuroo still smells like sun and sea, his skin still sun kissed from their honeymoon in Italy.

“I like the sound of “Kuroo Keiji.”, Akaashi whispers against Kuroo’s lips, nipping on his bottom lip.

“I like it too.”, Kuroo whispers back, trailing kisses down Akaashi’s neck. “I love you so much.”

“I love you more.”, Akaashi says fondly, pulling Kuroo up and kissing him deeply again.

Akaashi can feel the tears rolling down his face, but he doesn’t care. It’s a lot for him to handle, a lot of informations to assimilate. But he remembers. His eyes fall over the wedding ring on the nightstand, his wedding ring.

He should be somewhere else.

-

Keiji push the Hospital doors open, running inside, not caring that he’s dripping water for having runned all the way from his build to the hospital. He looks around, his eyes wide as he tries to find the person he needs to see.

“TETSUROU?”, Keiji calls, his voice echoing on the Hospital atrium.

He is probably at the doctors’ room, Keiji thinks, so he runs up the stairs, ignoring the nurse calling his name. Keiji spins around once he gets to the first floor, a little lost before he finally finds his way and runs towards the doctor’s room.

“Tetsurou?!”, he calls once he push the door open, but Tetsurou isn’t there.

“Keiji?”, Tooru asks, but Keiji ignores, turning around and running to the stairs. The neurology floor is the fifth one.”Keiji!”

Keiji runs up four flights of stairs, making use of his remaining breath to get to there. “Tetsurou?”, he calls loudly again, walking through the corridor but Tetsurou isn’t there either.

“Keiji? What is happening?”, Daichi asks, poking his head out of his room.

“Daichi! Where’s Tetsurou?!”, Keiji asks between his gasps. “Where’s my husband?”

“I don…”, Daichi’s voice is interrupted by the loudspeakers.

“Dr. Kuroo Tetsurou, please present yourself urgently at the reception desk on the ground floor.”, Tooru’s voice echoes through the hospital

Keiji doesn’t even think twice before running back to the stairs, jumping down two steps at time, his long legs allowing him to not roll down the stairs. He gets to the ground floor and the only person there is the nurse, who is standing still behind her desk, looking around completely lost.

Keiji spins around, looking at the elevators and at the stairs, waiting for Tetsurou to appear from somewhere.

The elevator at Keiji’s left opens and Tetsurou steps out of it, his expression heavy with worry about being called at the reception desk. Keiji doesn’t even think twice before running towards Tetsurou, hugging him tightly and making him yelp.

“W-What…?”, Tetsurou asks confused, but his body starts to relax once he realizes it’s Akaashi whom is hugging him, and he finally hugs back. “Keiji. What happened?”

By this time Keiji is crying again, hiccupping softly against Tetsurou’s chest. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It took me so long… So fuckin long.”, Akaashi babbles, his voice heavy with cry. “I remember you.”, he whispers, “I love you so much.”

Tetsurou doesn’t say anything, but he hugs Keiji tightly, hiding his face on Keiji’s soaked hair and Keiji can feel Tetsurou hiccupping against him. He squeezes Tetsurou between his arms, holding on his clothes as if he’s afraid that Tetsurou will vanish in the air; and Tetsurou holds him with the same amount of despair.

Keiji lifts his face just enough to kiss Tetsurou’s lips, deepening the contact because he wants Tetsurou to know that he is here and he won’t go anywhere. Tetsurou almost doesn’t manage to answer the kiss, his hiccups and tears getting in the way, but Keiji manages to lead him through this.

They part lips softly, Tetsurou touching his forehead against Keiji’s, breathing heavily, still holding Keiji so close that Keiji can feel every single muscle on Tetsurou’s body fidgeting.

“I missed you so much.”, Tetsurou whispers, his voice broken and Keiji feels his heart sink.

“I’m here now. I won’t leave your side. I’m here.”, Keiji assures him, kissing him again, slower and lighter this time.

“Hey, Tetsu!”, Daichi calls and Tetsurou lifts his face.

Keiji looks around, just to see all their friends and grand part of the nurses around the place watching them. He doesn’t even blush, because he’s way too happy with Tetsurou between his arms to get embarrassed.

“Take the week off.”, Daichi says, a calm smile on his lips.

“But… I have work to do…”, Tetsurou says almost dumbly and Keiji nuzzles fondly on his neck.

“Take the week off.”, Daichi repeats, giving Tetsurou the look that says that it’s better to not go against him. “Keiji!”, Keiji turns his head to look at Daichi, who smiles, “Welcome back.”

“Thanks.”, Keiji smiles softly.

“Oh god, you’re really back.”, Tetsurou whispers, hugging Keiji again, his face against Keiji’s hair.

Keiji smiles, turning his head up to look Tetsurou in the eyes. “Let’s go to New Zealand.”

-

”Is this shit on?”, Bokuto asks, the camera filming almost inside his nostrils. “Oh, I think it is!”, he zooms out the camera, smiling brightly. “Today is the big day! Akaashi, today is your big day!”

“Bokuto-san, please, refrain yourself.”, Akaashi says outside the frame, fake annoyance on his voice.

“But you’re getting married to Kuroo!”, Bokuto chirps happily, finally turning the camera around and filming Akaashi in a white suit with a light-blue tie. “And you’re gorgeous!”

Akaashi smiles to the camera, but soon he frowns. “God, I think I’m gonna throw up again.”, he says, walking quickly to the bathroom.

“Oh my god, Akaashi!”, Bokuto exclaims, walking to the window to film the landscape.

It’s snowing lightly, the green garden around the hotel slowly turning white. The place where the ceremony will be held can be seeing by the window, the white benches divided in two sides by a long white carpet; the Gazebo decorated with white tulips and lily of the valley. The guest are already gathering on their seats.

“Konoha is here!”, Bokuto exclaims happily and the sound of the toilet flush can be heard at the distance.

“Why the hell aren’t he here yet?”, Akaashi asks, walking back into the bedroom while adjusting his tie.”And where’s Oikawa?!”

“You need to stop freaking out, Keiji.”, Bokuto says in a serious tone.

“I’m getting married, Koutaro, I can freak out as much as I want.”, Akaashi retorts with a pout and Bokuto laughs loudly.

The image goes dark and when it goes back its another room. Daichi is fixing Kuroo’s light-pink tie while Kuroo runs his hand through his own head over and over again.

“Stop this shit, your hair will be a mess.”, Kenma says from out the frame.

“I’m nervous, give me a break.” Kuroo cries out. “Suguru, are you filming?”

“Yes. You’re having a break down, I have to have it on video.”, Suguru says from behind the camera.

“You know what? I won’t give your number to Tora.”, Kuroo grumbles, turning on his heels to see himself on the mirror, straightening the lapel of his also white suit. “How am I?”

“A mess.”, Daichi answers. “Exactly how Keiji loves you.”

“I can’t believe I’m really about to marry Keiji.”, Kuroo whispers, his eyes wide.

Kenma holds out his hand and Kuroo takes it. “You two will do good, alright?”, Kenma says, a small smile on his lips and Kuroo smiles back.”You’re amazing together.”

The image turns black again and once it’s back, both Kuroo and Akaashi are standing in front of each other in the Gazebo, holding hands. Bokuto, Daichi and Suguru ugly crying while Konoha, Oikawa and Kenma cry more discretely. The minister holds the microphone near Kuroo so he can say his vows.

“Keiji, my guide star…”, Kuroo starts, smiling when Akaashi sniffs.”I can’t believe we’re actually getting married. I think not even in my wildest dreams I could’ve set up this scenario. Not even in my wildest dreams I could’ve imagined that one day I would be standing on an altar, about to make you my husband. You’re my light and I love every single part of you… Even your cold-ass feet that you love to put under my shirt when I’m sleeping. “ Akaashi half-hiccups and half-laughs and Kuroo squeeze his hands softly. “I promise to do everything I can and more to make you the happiest man in the world, because you surely make me this too. I love you and I know I will love you more each day.”

The priest smiles and directs the microphone to Akaashi and a loud hiccup echoes through the open garden.

“Oh my god, I can’t even speak properly.”, Akaashi mumbles and Kuroo chuckles, lifting one of his hands to Akaashi’s face and cleaning the tears. “Ok…”, Akaashi takes a deep breath, smiling brightly. “When I first met you, I thought you were a pain in the ass… And God how right I was!”, Akaashi chuckles and everyone laughs with him. “The biggest pain in the ass was that you made me fall in love and left to Boston right after…And I went after you! Because my life doesn’t feel right if you’re not by my side, Tetsurou. Because you are everything I need, everything I want. You showed me a new way to see life, you helped me to be more like myself and less like people wanted me to be. You’re every important part of my life, my best side, the part of me I love the most. I want to be with you until the sun explodes and we die dancing together under the most amazing asteroid shower ever. You’re my partner in crime and I wouldn’t choose anything different. I love you.”

The priest brings the microphone back to himself, asking in a calm tone “Kuroo Tetsurou, do you accept Akaashi Keiji as your husband?”

Kuroo grins, leaning slightly towards the microphone, his eyes never leaving Akaashi’s. “Hell yeah, I do.”

The priest speaks on the microphone again “Akaashi Keiji, do you accept Kuroo Tetsurou as your husband?”

Akaashi beams, speaking at the microphone while keeping his eyes on Kuroo. “Of course I do.”

The priest smiles at them, “By the powers given to me by God and the state, I declare you married. You may kiss your husband.”

Kuroo leans to Akaashi at the same time that Akaashi pulls him closer by his lapels. They meet in the middle, kissing passionately, Kuroo lacing Akaashi by the waist with one of his arms while Akaashi hugs Kuroo by his neck. Bokuto yells in joy and everyone gets up from their seats, yelling and clapping. The place turns into a chaos while they couple kiss, white rose petals falling over them. The image turns black again.

Bokuto appears on the screen, his smile shining more than the sun. “Bro! Akaashi! You two are awesome! The BEST couple! I love you two so much! You’re amazing! You’ll be so happy! Oh my god, now I can sleep at your place and be with both of you AT THE SAME TIME!!”, the filming cuts.

“Hey, Tetsu-chan! Kei-chan! I can’t believe you two are finally married! I hope everything goes awesome to you two!”, Oikawa smiles brightly, “And I can’t believe Tetsu-chan managed to marry the only person prettiest than me! So lucky! I love you two!”. The filming cuts again.

“Hey, guys. I hope you two have an amazingly happy marriage. I’m sure you two can make it work. Actually, if there’s a couple in this group that can work a marriage is you two. My best wishes! And, Keiji, don’t let Tetsu become a lazy fat cat.”, Daichi says smilling before the screen turns black.

“Guys, I’m so happy for you two! Tetsurou, you better take care of our pretty setter, alright?!”, Konoha chuckles, a glass of champagne on his hand. “You guys are amazing together!”, and the filming cuts one more time.

“I can’t believe Tetsurou actually managed to become a person good enough to deserve Keiji as his husband.”, Suguru says, but without heat. “I’m sure you two will be extremely happy together. I wish everything good in the world for you two.”. The screen black out again.

“Tetsurou, Keiji… I know I don’t need to say how much of an amazing couple you two are and how much I wish for your happiness. I love both of you and I know for fact that you will be an amazing couple, because you’re perfect for each other.”, Kenma smiles openly at the camera for once. “I’ll be always by you guys side.” The screen turns black for a couple more seconds.

“My son! I can’t believe you’re getting married! How old am I, Tetsurou? I can’t be that old, can I?”, Asuka, Kuroo’s mother, grins like a cat to the camera, “Now, I’m so happy for you two. You two are perfect together. Keiji, welcome to the family! I love both of you more than everything. Tetsu, mom is so proud of you.”

Mieko appears smilling when the filming turns on again, she’s crying a bit. “I’m so happy! So, so happy! Oh, Keiji, I’m so happy you found someone that loves you as much as Tetsurou do and that you love the same amount! I’m awestruck. Everything will be so perfect for you two, I’m so sure of this, because I know you love each other so much. I love both of you. Oh my god, I need a kerchief.” And the screen turns black.

When the image comes back, Kuroo and Akaashi are together on the dance floor, dancing together to the slow song playing on the background. Kuroo is hugging Akaashi by his waist with both arms, a glass of champagne in one of his hand. Akaashi is hugging Kuroo by his neck, holding his glass of champagne with his fingertips by the glass mouth. They’re both with their eyes close, dancing alone on the dance floor as if the world had stopped spinning just for them on that moment.