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10.
Koutarou’s hands were sweating so much that he had to wipe them off on the front of his shirt. He stuck them right back to the corner of the wall and peered around it to get a glimpse of the familiar face that he desired to see every day at school.
He caught sight of his dark and unruly locks as the younger boy laughed with some of his friends: a shy boy with his hair covering his face that he always saw with him and two other boys that he knew were in his class.
Holding his breath, Koutarou turned around quickly and pressed his back up against the brick as the small group of friends walked past him without even glancing in his direction. He watched them leave and relaxed when they didn’t suddenly stop and turn around and question him about why he was staring at them all.
There was that aching feeling in his chest again as his eyes trailed after Kuroo Tetsurou, the boy that had him yearning for even a simple friendship. He wanted so badly to be bold enough to go up to him and say, “Hi! I’m Bokuto Koutarou! Let’s be pals!” It would give him some kind of edge to the situation. He was usually very loud and in people’s faces—always friendly and never caring about how others thoughts of him. But there was just something about Tetsurou that had him acting so out of character, even if no one noticed or said anything about it.
A deep sigh escaped his lips as he bent down and picked up his back pack from the sidewalk. He turned and made his way to leave through the schoolyard. He clutched both straps to his back pack and was lost in his thoughts, not even paying much attention to his surroundings, as he trekked along the sidewalk. He didn’t even realize that he hadn’t looked both ways before crossing the street and had promptly made it to the middle of the road when he heard someone shout out to him. He then felt an arm grip his extremely hard and pull his body towards the other side of the street.
Once he was safe on the sidewalk, he looked startled and peered over at the road where a car honked and drove right through the spot that he’d just been standing in only a few seconds ago.
“Are…” Huff. “You…” Huff. “Okay?”
He turned to his side and saw Tetsurou with his hands on his knees, panting extremely hard.
Koutarou was silent for a second, letting his mind catch up to what had just happened. When it clicked into place on what had just occurred, he grabbed the sides of his hair and looked nearly ready to die. “I COULD’VE DIED!” he cried out in distress.
Tetsurou steadied his breathing and stood up straight as he lifted his brow at him. “Maybe pay more attention next time?” he offered, though amusement etched across his face as he watched Koutarou put a hand over his chest and clench his teeth, looking like a spooked owl with the hairstyle that he donned. Tetsurou smirked at him and held his hand out to him. “Kuroo Tetsurou,” he introduced himself.
Koutarou stared at his hand for only a second before grabbing it more quickly than Tetsurou thought that he would. He noticed the tinge of redness that spread across the other boy’s nose as he smiled back at him and shook his hand vigorously.
“Bokuto Koutarou!” His voice was loud, something that Tetsurou wasn’t used to from any of his other friends. The sudden happiness that filled Koutarou’s body was strangely endearing to him.
He kept his smirk in place and let his hand go.
“Do you like volleyball?” Tetsurou was looking back at his new acquaintance with curiosity while the other boy shifted on his feet.
“I could try to,” he answered shyly. Tetsurou wouldn’t notice how strange that was unless he knew Koutarou enough, so Koutarou forced himself not to beat himself up over acting coy in front of him.
With that statement, Tetsurou threw his arm around Koutarou’s shoulders and began to talk to him about his greatest love affair of all time.
12.
The atmosphere had become grimmer than he’d imagined once the words had spilled from his mouth. He hadn’t given it much thought when he’d run over this conversation in his head before coming over here. In hindsight, he probably should’ve thought things through a little more, but he wasn’t the best at doing that. It was too late now though. He’d dug this hole. Now, he had to lie in it.
The expression that his best friend was staring him down with made him feel ten times smaller than he normally would feel. He wanted to crawl into his grave and die. He couldn’t even look him in the eyes at this point.
God, please say something… Koutarou nearly begged.
He hated this silence that had grown between them. He knew that it’ll only been a few seconds, but it felt like he’d been staring down at the volleyball in his hands for hours on end already.
He knew that he should have really eased more into the topic. Going over the conversation before coming over here hadn’t really helped at all. He had just blurted out what was happening without thinking.
His style, he guessed.
Tetsurou just blinked back at him, processing the information that had just spewed from his friend’s lips only seconds before. It was hard to take in, but he finally opened his mouth to speak, saying, “You’re… moving?”
As if on cue, Koutarou looked back up from the white leather and met Tetsurou’s eyes.
“Yeah…” he confirmed.
“So…” His words had stopped at the edge of his mouth. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to worry about first. The news had hit him like a freight train. The wind had been knocked out his the second that Koutarou had said, “I’m moving next week!”
How unfair.
How unbelievably unfair.
His best friend was moving away. He may never get to share his jokes with him ever again. He may never get to play volleyball with him ever again. He may never get to talk to him about anything ever again. He may never get to see his wide grin ever again. He may never get to watch that uncontrollable hair swish against the air ever again. He may never get to hear his booming voice ever again. He may never get to see him ever again.
And that thought just about made his heart split in half.
It was a lot to go over, and he had become silent within his own thoughts, something that wasn’t much like him, especially around Koutarou.
Sensing that he needed to step in and say something, Koutarou reached over and touched Tetsurou’s arm, causing a set of golden eyes to peer back at him. “We’ll still see each other though!” he tried to assure him. “I won’t be that far away. I’ll join the volleyball team, and we can play against each other!” Koutarou smiled broadly back at him, adding, “And I’ll come visit as much as I can.”
That promise seemed to ease Tetsurou’s thoughts, and he curled his lips into a smile and nodded.
“Okay, Bo.” He stood up from the bench and gestured towards the ball. “Wanna play for a bit?”
Koutarou returned the smile and stood up with the ball in his hands. “You know it!”
He rushed in front of Tetsurou as his friend thought that maybe he wouldn’t be losing him after all, and he planned on making sure that he never would.
15.
Laughter filled the air as the two best friends sat inside of Tetsurou’s bedroom. The music playing from the stereo was just background noise to them as the two talked about nothing in particular. Each word that they said held no meaning, but it all seemed like this moment meant the world to them anyway.
Everything seemed perfect, and Tetsurou attempted to steady his stifling laughter and lowered his voice to make a snickering sound from his mouth instead. He put his hand to his chest and managed to stop laughing only to smile silently back at Koutarou.
His friend plopped onto his back and held his stomach, laughing so loudly that Tetsurou could nearly feel the vibrations of one of his favorite guilty pleasures that he’d never dare admit to loving.
Koutarou’s laugh was compelling to him. One would think that his laugh would be loud—it was—but also obnoxious at all times. It could get that way, but even then, Tetsurou couldn’t help but admire it in secrecy. Koutarou’s laugh was hearty and loud and one of Tetsurou’s favorite things that he never talked about.
Compared to his own, Koutarou’s was like a golden dream, whereas his was like a rusted passing thought.
He hadn’t even realized that he was staring so long without saying anything when he noticed Koutarou gradually subdue his laughter and peer over at him.
He sat up and pressed his palms into the ground as he lifted his brow at him.
“What?” he asked.
Tetsurou blinked and rubbed the back of his neck. “What?”
“Why are you staring at me?” Koutarou bounced to his knees and placed his hands on his thighs as he looked back at him curiously. “Huh?”
“Because your laugh is too loud, and it amazes me that it is,” he quickly snapped in a teasing manner. He brushed back his unruly hair and stood up from his spot on the floor.
Koutarou scoffed and hopped to his feet. “I am a loud person!”
“Pfft. I know.” Tetsurou walked over to his closet and opened it up summarily. He grabbed his volleyball and shut the door again and faced his friend. “You can be as loud as you want to if you come with me now.”
Koutarou spotted the ball and beamed. “I’m gonna be extra loud today since you’re a jerkass for criticizing me!”
“Jerkass?”
“Jerk plus jackass.”
Tetsurou rolled his eyes but smirked anyway as he raced Koutarou outside.
16.
The air was intense. Sweat clung to the insides of his nostrils. His hair seemed deflated and stuck to his forehead. He moved it away only to barely notice a few sweat droplets hit the gym floor. The buzzer sounded, and his shoulders drooped incredibly as he saw the final score.
| 22 – 25 |
His heart and head were pounding so wildly that he hardly heard the cheers of his teammates echoing throughout the gym. He looked around and took in their damp, smiling faces, and it finally hit him that they’d won.
As his teammates congratulated one another, he took to peering into the stands. He skimmed across all of the faces until he came across a familiar one out in the crowd. The soft grin that he gave him was enough to send Koutarou’s heart into a frenzy. He felt flustered suddenly and waved both of his arms over at Tetsurou, only gaining a simple wave back at him in return.
He knew Tetsurou wasn’t always the one for the largest of gestures. He knew him well enough to not take it hard at all that his friend was less enthusiastic about his win than he was.
“Bokuto! Line up!”
Hearing his captain call to him, Koutarou waved back at Tetsurou again quickly and ran over to line up. He didn’t feel like himself as he went through the regular motions of bowing to the other team and shaking their hands afterwards. His mind was still buzzing once they’d finished and he was finally on his way to meeting Tetsurou near the exits.
“You weren’t so bad,” Tetsurou teased as soon as Koutarou was in front of him.
“I can’t believe we won…” He was handed a water bottle by his friend and drank from it hastily to give his body some more energy.
Tetsurou clapped his hand onto his back and draped his arm around his shoulders smoothly. “You’re a great player, Bokuto,” he assured him. “Don’t act so surprised.” He clipped the back of his head with the palm of his hand, causing Koutarou to glare at him.
But he softened his expression when he noticed Tetsurou’s genuine smile. No smirk. No lowered eyelids. Just that rare beautiful grin of his aimed at only him.
Koutarou smiled back at him. “Right,” he said.
“Let’s go get something to eat,” Tetsurou offered.
Koutarou immediately became more lively and nodded. “Just let me tell my coach and go change,” he told him. He quickly ran to go tell his coach that he was leaving with Tetsurou—someone that his coach had become quite familiar with since he was around so much. When his coach gave him his approval, he hurried to the locker room and congratulated his teammates in there, telling them that he’d catch up with them later.
“Going out with your boyfriend again, Bokuto?” Akinori taunted in good humor as he pulled his shirt down.
Rolling his eyes, Koutarou started to change his clothes and made a strange noise underneath his breath. “He’s not my boyfriend, Konoha.”
“Yet.” His friend snickered.
Koutarou blushed harshly and grabbed his jacket from his bag and slipped in on once he’d changed out of his sweaty clothes.
“I’m going now!” he called back to his team and hurried out of the locker room. He knew his friend was only playing around, but he’d be lying if he said that he hadn’t thought about Tetsurou in that way before. He’d daydream about what they’d do if they were boyfriends. He’d catch himself staring at him as he talked because he thought he was so attractive. He’d do anything to get Tetsurou’s attention because he liked Tetsurou looking at him, even if his friend just found him annoying in that moment. They teased each other all the time. It was fun, and he knew Tetsurou liked him because they were best friends.
He just didn’t know if he liked him like that.
Sighing to himself, he put on a happy visage and hurried out to meet his friend again.
“LET’S GO GET SOME FOOD!” he yelled over to Tetsurou, running over to meet him at the door.
“Not so loud, you noisy-ass owl.” Tetsurou nudged him and smirked when Koutarou caught up to him. Koutarou scoffed and looked ruffled at the comment.
Even if he was frowning on the outside, he couldn’t help but feel overjoyed when Tetsurou put his arm around his shoulders and walked him out of the gymnasium.
19.
Graduation had come and gone. The high school volleyball season had ended long ago.
The breeze was soothing, but it didn’t help ease the feeling in the pit of Tetsurou’s gut.
He sat on top of the park table and rested his chin against his knee. His other leg was propped on top of the bench, and his arms hugged his shin as he stared out at the scenery before him. A sense of dread had washed over him several times since he’d gotten here. He wanted to feel like his usual self, but it was difficult to do so when he wasn’t around many familiar people.
It wasn’t like Tetsurou found it extremely hard to make friends. He could make friends easily. He was charming and athletic. He wasn’t overly cruel. He teased, but he always apologized if he went too far with it. He was polite that way. He was smart, too. He knew all of this in the most modest sense. He always found is easy to make friends. Ever since he was little, he made friends wherever he went.
He remembered when he made the best friend that he’d ever have.
A smile crept up onto his lips, and he sighed sadly at the fond memory.
Koutarou had been unusually shy back then. Tetsurou had been forward as always. That first encounter between the two of them had had a significant impact on him. He met a new friend, gained a best friend, fell in love, and now, he was experiencing heartache having to be away from Koutarou.
Growing up was hard, and he had been away from Koutarou before, but this time, it was different.
He was too far away. He couldn’t just get to wherever Koutarou was in a matter of minutes. It would take him hours to travel to go and see him in person. Talking to him on the phone and using the computer or his phone to video chat with him and even texting him just didn’t feel enough. He still kept in contact with him, but Tetsurou felt so lonely.
He couldn’t bring himself to make any new friends, which only made him lonelier.
“You’re pathetic,” a voice said from behind him.
He turned around to see the face of Morisuke.
“Yaku,” Tetsurou greeted him mildly.
Morisuke stepped up onto the bench and sat down beside him. He set his stuff down at his side and leaned down to take a look at Tetsurou’s face. He pursed his lips together and shook his head in disgrace.
“You’re a mess,” he straight up told him.
Tetsurou rolled his eyes.
“Why don’t you just go see him?”
“Only to come back and feel even worse? Yeah, right…”
Morisuke rubbed his temples and sighed hotly. “You two need to talk. You should’ve done this before you both went off to different colleges… but you should still talk.”
Tetsurou was silent as he mulled over his friend’s advice. He knew what he was getting at. He should talk to Koutarou about his feelings towards him and discuss it with him because he can’t just keep letting these feelings eat at him. He was miserable. He needed closure.
But he was afraid. He didn’t want Koutarou to reject him. If he liked him back, they’d have to discuss what to do. But if he didn’t…
The thought was enough to send his stomach into a fit. His insides bubbled, and he put his other leg down onto the bench below and dug his nails into the edge of the wooden table.
Morisuke softened his eyes as he looked at him. He patted his back and rubbed it in support. “You’re worried, but you’re only going to continue feeling miserable if you don’t talk to him, you know.”
“I know…”
“I’ll see you when you get back.” Morisuke gave him one last pat on t he back and hopped down from the table. He picked up his stuff and smirked at Tetsurou’s blinking expression. “We both know you’re going to go see him today.”
Tetsurou smirked back at him.
“See you later, then, Yakkun.”
Morisuke waved to him as he walked away.
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Koutarou stared up at the ceiling of his room. The room was dark and cold, just the way he preferred it whenever he was thinking to himself and feeling self-pity.
He turned over onto his side and sighed heavily.
“Bokuto, stop breathing so loudly,” Akinori complained sleepily from his side of the room.
“Sorry…” Koutarou whispered. He stayed as quiet as he could as his mind wandered. He picked up his cellphone and checked it for messages.
I should text Mom back, he thought to himself as he cleared her messages from his notifications. He cleared Akinori’s message and missed call because he’d already let him in without even answering either earlier. He cleared Kenma’s message as he sighed and finally tapped on Keiji’s message and read his response.
He sent him a simple response of, “I hope so Akaashi”, before placing his phone onto his nightstand and sitting on the edge of his bed. He ran his hands over his face and sighed heavily. It wasn’t like Tetsurou to just not say anything back to him all day. Sometimes, he’d even just send a simple emoji, but it was like he was ignoring him.
He opened up his messages that he’d sent to Tetsurou throughout the day and read back over them.
With a dejected sigh, he put the phone back onto the night stand.
Akinori groaned and sat up in his bed. His hair was unkempt, and he looked about ready to kill Koutarou with just the glare on his face. He softened his expression when he took in Koutarou’s demeanor and sighed as he reached over and turned his lamp on.
“Do you wanna talk about something?” he offered, knowing something was bothering his usually perky and loud roommate.
Koutarou looked over at him and sat criss-cross on his bed.
“It’s Kuroo,” he said.
“Of course it is.” Akinori rolled his eyes. “Are you still moping around because you can’t see him as often as you used to?”
Koutarou slumped against the wall as he stayed sitting on his bed and nodded over at him.
“Look,” Akinori said firmly, “I know you used to see Kuroo a lot back home, but you still talk to him just about every day. You need to suck it up.”
Koutarou plopped down onto the messy sheets and buried his face into the bed. He turned to face Akinori from his side of the room and gave his friend a very pitiful and childlike pout. “But Konohaaaa,” he drawled out, “I really miss him!”
Akinori hummed in annoyance but tried to sympathize with Koutarou.
“I know that,” he replied mildly. “But you’ll see him again. It’s not the end of the world.”
“But it is!”
“No, it’s not.”
“But it is, Konoha!”
“No, it’s not, Bokuto.”
“But—!”
“BOKUTO, OH, MY GOD.” Akinori rubbed his temples and sighed in aggravation. He looked squarely back over at him as he was lying down on his stomach and looking over at Akinori with such a sad expression that it nearly made him feel sorry for him.
Then, he looked at him longer and suddenly felt sorry for him.
Damn him, Akinori cursed.
“It may feel like the end of the world,” he started out, “but it’s not. You will see him again. I promise.”
“You do?”
Rolling his eyes again and nodding, Akinori said, “Promise. Now, please go to sleep!”
Koutarou sat up again and fixed his blankets as Akinori waited for him to crawl into bed to turn his lamp off. He snuggled into his covers and closed his eyes, drifting fast off into a much-needed rest, when a knock at the door made his eyes fly back open.
“Oh, my Gooooooooooood,” he groaned in irritation, grabbing his pillow and putting it over his head. “Bokuto, get the damn door!”
“On it,” Koutarou said quickly as he hopped out of bed and made his way to the door. He opened it and widened his eyes when he saw his best friend looking back at him with those golden amber eyes of his that he adored so much. “Kuroo!”
Akinori sat straight up and looked over at the door.
“Go!” he demanded. “Go with him!”
Koutarou looked back at his roommate in confusion but slipped his shoes on and grabbed his jacket before walking out into the hallway to talk to Tetsurou properly.
“What’re you doing here?” he asked him. His eyes were still wide, and Tetsurou had to fight the urge to stare back at them fondly.
“I wanted to see you.”
So blunt. So genuine. So… confusing?
Koutarou furrowed his brows. It wasn’t like Tetsurou to just travel all the way up here without talking to Koutarou first, and it definitely wasn’t like Tetsurou to just be so blunt about his answer. It made Koutarou nervous, but his insides were burning at the same time from being able to see Tetsurou in person after many months of not being able to see him except on a screen.
He couldn’t help it when he put his hands on Tetsurou’s cheeks and stared at him like he couldn’t believe that he was actually here.
“What’re you talking about?!” He watched Tetsurou smile and grab hold of his wrists when he put his palms onto his cheeks. “You just wanted to see me?”
“Is that a crime?”
“No! But it’s not like Kuroo Tetsurou to just come up here without telling me first.” He put his hands down and removed his wrists from Tetsurou’s grasp. “I’ve been texting you all day! I even called you! I thought something was wrong!”
Tetsurou’s face flushed with guilt.
“I put my phone on Do Not Disturb. I didn’t want anyone distracting me while I was traveling here.”
“Why did you come?”
“I already told you.”
Koutarou blinked. He was still confused. Then again, Koutarou wasn’t always the first one to understand or get things. But he did know his best friend, and this was certainly new to him.
“There’s more to this…” Koutarou said skeptically with an arched brow.
Tetsurou smirked at him and nodded.
He stared back at him. “Wait. I’m right? There’s more to this?”
“Yes, Bo.”
“Well, what is it?! Tell me!”
“Let’s go outside,” Tetsurou simply said.
Just giving him a puzzled looked, Koutarou didn’t respond and just walked past him to lead him outside. He knew a quiet place where they could talk. It was nicely lit and close by the building but also out of the way so that they wouldn’t be disturbed. Something was definitely up with Tetsurou, and Koutarou was determined to listen and figure out what exactly was going on.
The butterflies in his stomach were dancing as they neared the place. Tetsurou was walking briskly right next to him, and their hands kept brushing up against each other delicately. Koutarou had missed being so close to him, and he wanted to badly to reach out and just hold his hand, but he forced himself not to.
He stepped into the gazebo out in the yard of the dormitory. It was away from the parking lot and had a swing hanging from some hinges on the ceiling of it. The wind blew gently against it, making it rock back and forth in a relaxing fashion.
Koutarou forced a wide grin and threw his hands into the air.
“Here we are!” he announced. “This is a good place to talk.” He lowered his arms quickly and put on a drastically different face as he became rather serious. “Now, tell me what the hell is going on.”
Tetsurou seemed surprised by his change in demeanor but quickly shook off his expression and sat down on the swing. He waited for Koutarou to join him before responding.
“We’ve been best friends for a long time, Bo,” he began.
Koutarou nodded.
“And for a long time, I haven’t said anything about this, but I really think I should say something now.”
“What is it, Kuroo?” Koutarou pursed his lips and waited anxiously. He was afraid of what was coming. Was Tetsurou going to tell him that he didn’t want to be his friend anymore? If he didn’t, then why did he tell him that he wanted to see him? Was that why? Did Koutarou actually do something wrong?
He wasn’t used to being this nervous, so when Tetsurou noticed that he was flicking the zipper of his jacket up and down anxiously and looking at him with such round eyes, he did something without thinking and slid his hand over to Koutarou’s and squeezed it.
Koutarou looked down at their hands and blushed madly as he trailed his head back up to peer back at Tetsurou.
“Wha…?”
“It’s okay,” Tetsurou whispered. He looked back at him. “Bokuto, you know I love you, right?”
“Y-yeah…” Koutarou cleared his throat and nodded. “I mean, yeah…”
“But do you know that I’m also in love with you?” Tetsurou asked.
Suddenly, it was like Koutarou couldn’t hear or see. He blanked out and just sat there paralyzed. His heartbeat picked up pace, and he became hyperaware that he was holding Tetsurou’s hand. Blinking rapidly to get himself to snap out of it, he pulled his hand from Tetsurou’s and laughed nervously. It was a new thing to do. Koutarou didn’t do that. He got nervous, but he didn’t get like this.
The look on Tetsurou’s face was something new to him, too. He looked guilty and hurt and confused all at the same time, and Koutarou put his hands up in defense.
“No, no! Wait!” He waved his hands at him and then, put one palm onto his forehead. “Just give me a second to…” He trailed off and looked at the ground for an answer that he knew that he wouldn’t see. He didn’t know how to respond, but he needed to assure Tetsurou that everything was okay.
But as he searched for the words, he didn’t know if things would be okay.
He was in love with Tetsurou, too, but if he admitted that, what would happen? Would things change? They live far away from each other, and he already couldn’t stand being apart from him. Wouldn’t being in a relationship with him make it even more unbearable? Did he really want to put himself in that kind of position?
As he turned to face Tetsurou again, he looked back at that face that he awaited to see every time he drifted into a dream—the face that he fell in love with more each and every time he saw it.
He got lost in his eyes in that very second and saw all the times that he’d hoped that a moment like this would occur. He’d dreamed of being able to be together—dreamed of his feelings to be reciprocated and have an opportunity just like this—and suddenly, all of his concerns were pushed aside.
It was worth it.
“If you don’t feel the same way, I can just—”
Koutarou grabbed Tetsurou by the face and pulled him in to give him the most fulfilling kiss that he’d ever given or received. He closed his eyes and took in this moment before releasing to say, “I’m in love with you, too.”
There was shock written across Tetsurou’s face. His nose was red, but he didn’t seem to care that he looked ridiculous that way. Koutarou couldn’t remember ever seeing Tetsurou blush so hard before, but he found it cute and grinned back at him.
“You came all this way just to tell me that you were in love with me?” Koutarou asked.
Tetsurou nodded.
“I was worried all day!”
“Sorry.” Tetsurou smirked.
“I hate you,” Koutarou teased. He let his smile drop before asking, “So… what now? How is this going to work?”
“I did a lot of thinking on my way here. I have a plan…”
22.
Tetsurou’s boyfriend gave him a tender and loving kiss against his forehead before he turned around and allowed Tetsurou to wrap his arms around him from behind and pull him closer to him on the couch that sat in their new apartment. The place still smelled new, but he knew that would change in no time. He and Koutarou were good at messing things up.
He felt content and puffed his chest out and sighed happily to himself.
This prompted his boyfriend to look up at him from his slouching position against him.
“I’m glad we’re done with college,” he told him. “It was hard having to meet up every weekend and doing all that we could to see each other.”
Tetsurou ran his hand along Koutarou’s arm. “It was worth it though.”
Koutarou grinned and slid more into his boyfriend. “Yeah…” he replied happily. “Now, it’ll be easier because”—he sat up abruptly and turned around again to tackle Tetsurou into a hug—“we have our own place now!”
Tetsurou gave off that distinctive guffaw of his.
He put his hands onto Koutarou’s back and puckered his lips to invite his boyfriend in. Koutarou took the hint and kissed him sweetly, holding his face in his hands.
“Thanks,” Tetsurou said as they pulled apart.
“For the kiss?”
“For being my boyfriend and loving me,” he corrected.
Koutarou softened his eyes and leaned his forehead against Tetsurou’s. “Then, thank you, too.”
“You should be thanking me. You’re a handful,” Tetsurou teased.
“Way to ruin the moment, Kuroo!” Koutarou got off of him and sat beside him instead, causing Tetsurou to lean over onto him and laugh loudly. Koutarou pouted but couldn’t stop himself from smiling as Tetsurou wrapped his arms around him and laughed into his shoulder. “I hate you. Akaashi’s right. You’re a pain in the ass.”
Tetsurou’s laugh subdued slightly, and he smirked at Koutarou as he lifted his head up to say, “I love you, too, jerkass.”
Koutarou snapped his head towards him.
“Don’t use my own words to describe me!”
“Fine. I love you, too, you noisy-ass owl.”
Koutarou groaned but grinned and kissed him again. “I love you.”
Tetsurou smirked. “I know,” he said and curled up against his boyfriend as they sat there on their very own couch in their very own apartment, content and happy that they had actually come this far together.