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Kuroo stood leaning against a pillar as he watched the various trains pull up to the blinking lights, stopping and spilling forth commuters before moving on their way again. He watched as tourists and those not use to the Tokyo area stepped onto the solid ground almost as if in a daze, glancing left and right before shuffling out of the way as those just trying to go about their normal routine moved past them. Some people were already bundled up tightly while others didn’t seem to get the message that it was well into October already.
Kuroo was slightly wishing he had gone for a little more comfort than style because his fingers were feeling the cold. He couldn’t help it. He was nervous and he couldn’t remember the last time he had actually planned out an outfit then promptly tossed it aside to try on what seemed like every article of clothing he had only to find it all left wanting. He had thought he had a sort of casual sense of style but he couldn’t wear any of it, not a single thing.
It was ridiculous really. This fluttering nervous feeling, the sense that time was moving at a snail's pace and yet everyone around him was flying by.
Kuroo had known Sawamura for years. Sawamura had seen Kuroo in his school kit, in sweatpants and overly large sweaters. There had even been that one horrendous night when Sawamura had found Kuroo sprawled on the bathroom floor, someone’s bathroom floor and covered in his own sick. That was a night Kuroo was particularly glad he didn’t remember much of.
But on the other hand it was Sawamura, who Kuroo had known for years. The same Sawamura with the soft eyes and wide shoulders. The Sawamura who hid his craftiness underneath layers of stalwart country boy attitude.
The Sawamura who had asked Kuroo out on a date only a week prior, stating he would be in Tokyo visiting with Sugawara and oh hey, do you want to catch that new superhero movie? Maybe get something to eat afterwards. My treat.
And Kuroo had laughed into his phone as he shuffled through his microbiology notes, had jokingly asked Are you asking me out Sa-wa-mu-ra? When Sawamura had replied that if he was, would it change Kuroo’s answer Kuroo’s brain had stopped.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t realize he flirted with Sawamura, and yes, he had noticed that sometimes it seemed like Sawamura didn’t completely hate him and maybe, just maybe, he flirted back with Kuroo sometimes too. They had exchanged numbers after their first practice match, had really started texting each other on a regular basis after the training camp, and had somehow become pretty good friends in college despite the fact that they were separated by about five hours.
Up until rather recently Kuroo would have spent a typical Friday night hopping from party to party, or party to bar. He had dated around but nothing had stuck. Within the past year he found himself spending more time in his dorm, having skype calls with an old Karasuno captain while they watched whatever one of them had picked for that night. Sometimes it was Spanish soap operas, other times Korean dramas, and even a few true crime shows managed to slip themselves in there. More often than not Kuroo would find himself drifting to sleep under the glow of his laptop and listening to Sawamura’s deep, warm chuckle.
Kuroo had even spent last Christmas with Sawamura and his family after he learned Kuroo would be home alone for the holiday since his mother was going on a cruise with her two sisters. Kuroo had been planning enjoying the mostly empty dorms and finally having the kitchen, which the whole building shared, to himself. He could take hours to do his laundry and no one would take his clean clothes and put them on the dirty dryer top. But Sawamura had demanded he come to Miyagi, and Kuroo hadn’t met a person yet who would say no to Sawamura Daichi when he put his mind to something.
So go to Miyagi Kuroo went. He spent the holiday with the Sawamura’s, a huge family whose shenanigans put a certain understanding about why Sawamura Daichi had so easily been able to control his trouble maker of a team with such ease.
Kuroo could admit that he liked seeing Sawamura right in the morning, ruffled from sleep and blearily looking for food. Kuroo liked a lot of things about Sawamura actually but he had thought it had been an unrequited crush. That had been fine with him. Friendships were rare and to be treasured, Kuroo would never despair that he couldn’t hold Sawamura’s hand or kiss him when he was able to text him daily, to get snapchats of him and Iwaizumi at the gym or practice, to receive care packages simply because Sawamura had heard a catch in Kuroo’s throat when they talked the previous night.
Kuroo pulled at the bottom of his shirt, wondering if he should have gone with something with a bit more color. Why was everything he owned black? When did he become that person?
Though it was very likely that Sawamura would show up in sweats and a hoodie. Not that it didn’t look good on him but it was his usual wardrobe.
Kuroo looked up when he heard another oncoming train, the train that should be holding Sawamura who had asked him, Kuroo Tetsurou, out on a date.
When Sawamura stepped off the train Kuroo’s first thought was he definitely was not wearing sweats and a hoodie. It was just jeans, a sweater, and some white converse but Sawamura looked good. It had to be the sweater, Kuroo thought, it was the only logical explanation. It was a dark orange, green, and yellow. Simple fall colors that should have clashed in an ugly way but seemed to warm up Sawamura’s deep skin tone.
Sawamura was looking around before he spotted Kuroo still leaning against the pillar, a smile warming up his sometimes far too serious face as he made his way through the crowd towards Kuroo.
“Hey.” Sawamura greeted, his tone even. Kuroo couldn’t tell if the redness in his cheeks was from the cold or because Kuroo couldn’t seem to stop staring.
“Nice sweater.” What the hell! What the ever loving hell was that Kuroo? Sawamura glanced down at the sweater, running a hand over the soft looking fabric before looking up at Kuroo with a quirked eyebrow.
“Really?” Sawamura asked before a grin slowly carved itself into his handsome features. “You bought this for me for my birthday.” Kuroo let out an indignant squawk as he looked over the sweater, which now that he was looking at it up close and not taking in the full picture of Sawamura Daichi in the sweater, he did feel like it was familiar.
“I sent you ugly sweaters!” Kuroo cried in mock outrage. “It’s got to be your shoulders. Or your shoulder to hip ratio. It’s ridiculous.”
“Well, this was a nice experiment but I’m going to go back to Suga’s and we can just pretend this never happened.” Sawamura motioned behind him to the trains before taking a step away from Kuroo, who let out a real cry as he leaned forward to grab a handful of that traitorous sweater.
“I’m sorry.” Though he really wasn’t and it was clear that Sawamura had no plans to go anywhere else.
“No, this is about how I pictured it going.” Sawamura let out another grin as he stepped forward. “Your fingers are freezing.”
“I know, they are like icicles, I’ve lost all feeling you’ll have to help me.” Kuroo then got a brilliant idea.
“Kuroo I swear if you-” Sawamura let out an indignant sound as Kuroo pushed his fingers underneath that lovely sweater to press against Sawamura’s warm skin. “Unbelievable.”
“You said something about a superhero movie?” Kuroo reminded him.
“Now it’s a horror movie, and you’re paying for the popcorn.” Sawamura grumbled. His cheeks were red but he wasn’t forcing Kuroo away from him, which Kuroo counted as a win.
“Mean Sawamura.” Kuroo wasn’t good with horror, he hardly could stand the true crime shows Sawamura sometimes wheedled into their weekly movie night. Kuroo let his fingers fall away from Sawamura, he had regained some feeling back in them and he knew when he was pushing Sawamura too far. “Don’t act like you didn’t know what you were getting into.” Kuroo reminded him as they began walking together towards the cinema. Kuroo casually, or as casually as he could which meant it wasn’t casual at all, reached down to take hold of Sawamura’s hand. His fingers weren’t as long as Kuroo’s but his palm was wide and warm, their fingers slotting together nicely.
“I claim temporary insanity.” Sawamura grumbled, but there was a smile playing at the edge of his lips.
“Claim denied! Case thrown out of court! Order!” Kuroo shouted until Sawamura pulled on their entwined hands, shushing him through his laughter. “You are sentenced to a lifetime of me.”
“I’ll take the jail time.” Sawamura deadpanned but when they got to the cinema Sawamura paid for the popcorn and they ended up seeing the new superhero movie.
Right before the previews Kuroo managed to get them in a picture together, claiming that he needed to send it to all their friends to prove that this was happening but mostly he just wanted a picture of Sawamura in that fall colored sweater, the one Kuroo had bought for him for his birthday nearly a year ago. The one Sawamura had purposely worn to please Kuroo.