Chapter Text
It took Tsukishima a few moments to realise where he was and why he was there. He'd never been good at waking up without an alarm. It was as if his mind needed longer to transition from sleep to a state of proper alertness when it wasn't forced to make the shift faster, slowly dredging his consciousness up from a bottomless well of nothingness.
He moved his left arm to grab one of the extra pillows to put over his face to allow him to fall back asleep before he woke up too much, only for his hand to hit a wall.
Right.
He wasn't in his room back home in Miyagi.
He was in his room in his own matchbox flat in Tokyo.
Tsukishima screwed his eyes tighter shut and moved his arm instead to rest over his face to block the invading light from rousing him further. Perhaps if he stayed like this a little longer he'd be able to drop back to sleep. He had the feeling it was much too early to be awake yet, but checking the time would mean opening his eyes and moving and that would definitely make it much harder to fall back asleep.
Unfortunately, his mind was alredy halfway through the process of booting up for the day, and no matter how much he tried to empty his head of thoughts, they kept flitting back in. Today was tuesday. October... 10th? He should send a message to Nishinoya-senpai. Was it this weekend they had planned on getting together, or was it next week? He'd have to check with Yamaguchi later. Today marked two months since moving out to live by himself... He should call his mum. They hadn't talked since saturday.
Finally resigning to the fact that he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, Tsukishima sighed in and opened his eyes to squint blearily at the strip of sunlight that had managed to sneak into his room through the crack between the blinds and the wall, the reason for his waking up before his alarm. It was annoying, really, how sensitive he was to light when it came to sleeping, and even more annoying how he couldn't seem to find a solution to the gap problem in this room (the main reason for this being that he only ever remembered right before going to sleep when he was too tired to do anything about it and in the mornings when the light woke him up and he didn't really have time nor energy to deal with it).
He stretched and rolled over on his side, reaching for his phone on the nightstand to check the time. 06:14. Great. Just great. His first class was at 10 and he usually didn't wake up before 8. Six hours of sleep would feel tough at the end of today, but there was nothing for it now. He sighed again and reached for his glasses this time, so he could see the screen properly and text Yamaguchi a 'good morning' before begrudgingly forcing himself out of bed. He'd try to make use of the extra time rather than let himself waste it by rolling around in bed scrolling his phone.
Tsukishima didn't really have any clear goals for his life, but he had always been one of the top students of his class. Studying just came naturally to him, and he was not going to go easy on university, even though everyone kept telling him to loosen up a bit, that it was mostly attendance that mattered, and that this was the last part of his life before retiring where he was supposed to take it a bit easier and “enjoy life”.
Yamaguchi, on the other hand, had needed a fair bit of help to get the required marks, but through persistent hard work he had managed to land a spot at Waseda university. Tsukishima had barely been able to keep his relief from showing when he heard Yamaguchi had gotten into university in Tokyo too, and it had been even harder to keep neutral when he realised they'd actually be attending the same university.
Not the same classes, but still. Same city. Same campus.
Tsukishima was generally a self-sufficient and fairly independent sort of person, but moving out from home had still been a bit strenous (though he would never admit that to anyone) and he was glad his best friend was still staying well within reach.
Not as close as they'd lived in Miyagi, but still. Same city. Almost same ward. Approximately 30 minutes by the train, 2 transfers.
It was close enough to be a comfort.
It was almost strange to think that it was Tsukishima who seemed to feel this way the most, but then again Yamaguchi lived two doors down from Yachi.
Tsukishima snorted to himself and began brushing his teeth.
It had been infuriatingly adorable watching the two of them dancing around eachother since they met in secondary school (the infuriating bit growing bigger the older they got and neither of them still not showing any sign of making a move) until Yamaguchi had finally gathered enough courage to ask her out their second year of high school. Their friendship dynamic had changed quite a bit from then, going from him and Yamaguchi spending almost all their free time together, to him and Yamaguchi mainly spending time together during club activities, but Tsukishima didn't mind. His friend was happy, and that's what mattered.
Yamaguchi's first text of the day pinged in around 7, right after Tsukishima had gotten out of the shower and was in the middle of making himself toast.
Yamaguchi: Oh, you're up early today! Good morning!
Tsukishima1: Yeah, the bloody light woke me up again.
Yamaguchi: (￣ω￣;)
Yamaguchi: You really should get that fixed, you know
Tsukishima: Yeah, yeah.
They continued texting through the rest of Tsukishima's morning ritual, until at last it was time to go. He stood by the entrance door and mentally checked off the list of things he needed with him. Walkman, headphones, phone, keys, wallet, school supplies, last week's rental CD. Check, check, check.
“Ittekimasu,” he mumbled to himself, a habit he'd not been able to shake despite not living with anyone else for two months, and stepped out onto the landing. It was a beautiful day. The sky was a clear, periwinkle blue, not a cloud in sight, and a soft breeze ruffled Tsukishima's hair as he locked his front door and started walking down the stairs. It was hard to believe it was October already, but time had really flown by since moving here.
“Ah, good morning, Tsukishima-kun!” the landlady, a woman of around 70 with long, grey hair tied back in a bun, greeted him when he passed by her landing where she was sweeping away the first autumn leaves of the year.
“Good morning, Kobayashi-san,” he greeted back, inclining his head.
“Off to university then?” She smiled warmly at him, leaning on her broom. “You're such a diligent child. Your parents are very proud of you.”
“Ah, not at all...” Tsukishima felt his ears reddening. He knew Kobayashi-san was friends with his grandmother and that was partially why he'd moved here, but he did still not know her very well himself and it felt weird being made to feel like a preschooler by someone he didnt' really know.
“Are you finding everything okay with your flat? Adjusting to living alone?”
“Yes, thank you very much,” Tsukishima gave another half bow. “And thank you for the beef stew the other day, it was lovely.”
She laughed heartily. “It was my pleasure, dear! You're tall and skinny, just like my son back in the day. You must take care to get enough nutrients, especially while you're studying so hard!”
“Yes, thank you for your concern,” Tsukishima replied, smiling slightly as he gave yet another bow.
“Always so polite!” she laughed again. “Well, I won't hold you any longer. Have a nice day, young man!”
“You too, Kobayashi-san,” Tsukishima bowed for the last time before continuing down to the ground level, where he put on his headphones and began scrolling for a fitting playlist for today.
"Say, Tsukki, are you free the day before halloween? Wednesday 30th?"
Tsukishima looked up from his book at Yamaguchi sat across from him in the university canteen, frowning a little as he thought ahead. "I... don't think I have anything after Satou-sensei's class, no... why?"
Yamaguchi gave him one of his I'm-about-to-drag-you-into-something grins, which made Tsukishima's frown deepen.
"Great! Do you remember Kageyama and Hinata from middle school?"
Tsukishima snorted. "How could I forget?"
The oddball duo had been a right pain in the rear whenever he'd tried to get some studying or resting - or anything, really - done inbetween classes with their competitiveness in absolutely everything.
Yamaguchi laughed. "Right? Well, remember how they were going on about making it big? Their band just got signed to a major label and are having their last taiban2 event live and Yachi got tickets!" His eyes were shining in the way they always did when he was particularly excited about something.
Back in high school that look had usually meant Tsukishima was in for something annoying, but it had been a while since he'd seen it now, so he hummed and looked back down at his book, pretending to be thinking it over. He would actually love to go, Kageyama and Hinata had always been really talented musicians, and while their music was a bit more energetic than what he'd usually settle for, he'd liked it a lot. On the other hand, it was causing him physical pain just thinking about admitting that out loud, even to just Yamaguchi, so he was waiting for Yamaguchi to do his usual prodding and pushing that they both knew was mostly just for show.
“It would be really great if you'd come with us Tsukki, there's a lot of good bands playing too,” Yamaguchi said, pulling a flyer out of his bag and slipping it over Tsukishima's book. “I know you like a couple of these already, so I've already told Yachi you're coming.” He didn't sound the least bit apologetic.
“How thoughtful of you,” Tsukishima replied dryly. Yamaguchi beamed.
“It's a halloween event so it's perfect for getting in the mood before our party on the 31st!”
Right, the halloween party. Yamaguchi had been trying to persuade Tsukishima to promise he'd dress up with the rest of them, but he'd point blank refused. No way was he going out in public in a costume, even though Yachi and Yamaguchi both kept insisting that most other people would be dressed up as well.
His thoughts must've showed on his face, because Yamaguchi laughed, and said “you don't have to dress up for this event. Though you can if you want to! I'll do it with you!"
“No thanks.”
The bell rang, effectively ending their conversation. “Oh shoot, I'm going to be late!” Yamaguchi scrambled to his feet and started shoving his books haphazardly into his bag. “I'll see you tomorrow!” He called over his shoulder as he dashed for the exit. Tsukishima gave him a single wave without looking up from the flyer, smiling a little to himself now that Yamaguchi was out of sight. Well, this was lucky. He'd already been eyeing this show, but considering the amount of popular bands attending, it had sold out too fast for him to get a ticket at normal price, and not wanting to feed possible scalpers, he'd given it up. Yamaguchi didn't need to know that, though.
Contrary to what one might expect, Tsukishima was actually a big fan of live shows. It might have something to do with the feeling of unity with the crowd, and though he rarely ever screamed nor danced much, there was something reassuring about knowing everyone around him were as much in their own world as he was. He didn't enjoy going to event lives alone, though. The constant change of bands, or rather, their fans, was exhausting to deal with. He had never liked the fandom hierarchy that much, but it was easier to ignore it if he was with another person or at a oneman.
Back in middle school when he'd only just started really getting into music, it had been impossible for him to attend live shows as his parents had forbidden him from attending them alone, and he was still not speaking to Akiteru after the disastrous volleyball fiasco. Going with either of his parents was out of the question – both because he would not have been able to live it down and because they didn't want to go see any sort of show he'd wanted to see anyway. His strict aunt's words of comfort had been he'd best get over his teenage rebellion sooner rather than later and instead focus his free time on something useful, like playing sports like his brother, but as it would seem, Kei did not grow out of his punk fixation. Instead, as he got older, he found himself drawn more towards the sort of music his aunt called “rude and noisy” and his parents asked him to turn down within two seconds if he accidentally forgot to plug in his headphones.
The only person who didn't seem to mind his taste at all, was Akiteru, and that was how they had gradually patched up their relationship as Kei proceeded through high school. As it turned out, Akiteru was actually a big music enthusiast, but Kei had never really gotten to know this side of his brother as he'd been doing his very best to ignore his existence for several years. Now, Kei considered his brother to be one of his closer friends, right up there with Yamaguchi.
Yamaguchi had taken a while to warm up to Tsukishima's taste in music, though upon discovering that Yachi actually was a huge fan of visual kei, had been more disposed to letting Tsukishima show him new things, and now he was just as excited as Tsukishima whenever there was a new announcement from any of the bands they followed. Sometimes he was even the one to bring Tsukishima the news, if it was a day where Tsukishima had been more focused on reading than staying updated with twitter.
The next time the bell rang, Tsukishima packed up his things and left campus. He'd done enough work for the day. While waiting for his train, he texted Akiteru.
Tsukishima: Have you heard about Karasu?
Aki-nii: What's this, my dear little brother?
Aki-nii: You found another band?
Tsukishima rolled his eyes. Akiteru was always so annoying. Before he could reply, however, another message ticked in.
Aki-nii: Isn't that the band of your classmates from middle school?
Aki-nii: That small orange-haired energetic guy
Aki-nii: and the grumpy one
Tsukishima: That's the ones, yeah.
Aki-nii: Well I haven't listened to them
Aki-nii: but Suzuki is really into local bands and he says they're fantastic.
Aki-nii: Are you going to one of their shows??
Tsukishima: Yamaguchi got tickets. Halloween event taiban collaboration between three labels. Seems to almost be a sort of graduation event for bands that landed major contracts lately. He glanced at the flyer he'd just taken out of his bag again.
Tsukishima: There's Majika and Swan Fly High too~ He smirked. Akiteru usually wasn't that into indie bands, but he had high hopes for SFH.
Aki-nii: What???!!! No wayyy!!!
Tsukishima: Well, anyway, if you don't know anything about Karasu, that was all I wanted to ask about, so have a nice day.
Aki-nii: Hang onnn!!!! You need to buy something for me if they have new merch, ok?
Tsukishima: Yeah, yeah.
Aki-nii: Why don't you ask your Tsutaya friend?
Aki-nii: I'm guessing you're headed there now if you have time to text old me.
Tsukishima: I will, thanks for nothing, brother.
Aki-nii: (ノ_<。)
Every tuesday, Tsukishima visited the local Tsutaya on his way home from uni to rent a new CD and hand in the one he rented last week, and every time, the same cashier was there. Usually Tsukishima wouldn't pay attention to that sort of thing, but this cashier (Kuroo-san, going by his nametag) was hard to miss.
Kuroo had stylishly messy black hair partially hidden under a beanie, several piercings in both ears and what seemed like a tattoo sleeve on his right arm – Tsukishima had only seen the bit around his wrist one time when he'd been carrying boxes behind the counter, and sometimes when Kuroo reached for something on a shelf, he could see some ink around the top of his shoulder if he was wearing a low cut sweater. Tsukishima had never seen his face properly as he always wore a face mask, and he wouldn't be surprised if Kuroo was hiding even more piercings under it.
Kuroo looked like exactly the sort of people Tsukishima's aunt called “lawbreaking deliquents”.
Naturally, Tsukishima felt a little intimidated, but also intrigued.
Despite his somewhat scary appearance, Kuroo was, as far as Tsukishima was concerned, a very friendly and sociable guy. They had never met outside of the store, but one day Kuroo had made a comment out of the ordinairy cashier-customer exchange.
“You like visual kei?”
Tsukishima felt a bit taken aback, not used to people in Tokyo talking to him outside of neccessity. “Ah... yes...” he replied, somewhat lamely.
“Do you have any favourites?”
“...Well, I've been listening to the GazettE and MUCC the longest,” Tsukishima said somewhat timidly.
Kuroo smiled at him (or at least Tsukishima had assumed he had, all he could see was his eyes crinking over the top of his face mask).
“Have you heard about MEJIBRAY?”
“No...” Tsukishima shook his head.
“It might be a bit out of my place to say this, but if you enjoyed this,” he tapped the CD lying on the counter between them, “and the one you rented the week before this, I'd recommend you try them. They're pretty good.”
So instead of perusing the rental shelves for a while like he usually did, Tsukishima had picked up one of MEJIBRAY's albums and given it a try.
It was pretty good. He had even forwarded a few songs to Akiteru.
“Thanks for the recommendation,” he said as he handed the CD and his rental card to Kuroo the following tuesday.
“What did you think?” Kuroo asked, scanning Tsukishima's card before putting away the CD.
“They're good. It was nice.” Tsukishima said, painfully aware of how lame he sounded. He'd never been too great with new people, and something about Kuroo made him slightly nervous.
Kuroo smiled at him again. “Ah I'm glad! Was there any song in particular you liked more than others?”
And so it had become a regular thing after that. Tsukishima would deliver the CD he had rented last week, they would chat a bit about Tsukishima's opinions about it, and Kuroo would recommend him something else. If he'd liked it, Tsukishima would sometimes buy it, and Kuroo would beam at him like he was the happiest person in the world for managing to find something Tsukishima had liked enough to want to keep permanently.
In the beginning it had made him feel a bit abashed being at the receiving end of such an obvious display of delight, but he'd learned that Kuroo was just very passionate about music and was happy to help anyone discover new bands and genres.
“So how did you find Jiluka?” Kuroo asked as he was handling the CD Tsukishima had just returned to him.
“They're pretty good. A bit too heavy for me though, I think,” Tsukishima replied, absentmindedly pulling on the strap of his bag.
Kuroo laughed. “Yeah they can be. I took a bit of a risk with that one I guess, but you enjoyed Nokubura, so I thought you might enjoy them.”
“I guess even you don't have a 100% accuracy rate,” Tsukishima smirked.
“I guess not,” Kuroo replied, eyes twinkling under a tuft of hair sticking out from under his beanie. “So what are you looking for this week? We have a couple of newcomers that might interest you, or some oldies you might not have heard of before.”
“Actually I'm looking for something by Karasu this time,” Tsukishima replied. “A couple of classmates from middle school are in there, so I thought I should check out their sound.”
“Karasu, huh,” Kuroo repeated, looking slightly surprised. “They just got signed to a major label, right? I guess your middle school friends are doing alright,” he smirked. Or at least Tsukishima assumed he was smirking, all he could judge from was the way Kuroo's eyes moved over the top of his face mask and the tone of his voice.
“I wouldn't exactly call them friends. We were just in the same class.”
“Well, attending the same class for years and getting along alright enough for you to check out their music counts as middle school friends in my book,” Kuroo replied, walking around the edge of the counter and signalling to his coworker to keep an eye on the counter while he helped Tsukishima around the store.
“If you say so,” Tsukishima shrugged and fell in step behind Kuroo, taking the familiar route to the visual kei section.
“Karasu... Karasu... Ah, here,” Kuroo stopped walking and ran his finger along the row of CDs. “They're still fairly new so they don't have too many things out yet, but I think their second mini-album is pretty good,” he said, pulling out a black and orange CD jacket. “You will probably find them a bit too pop-y for your taste, but it's catchy.”
Tsukishima grimaced. “Well, I'd expected as much. It was the same in middle school.”
Kuroo laughed again. “By the way, may I ask who you know from them?”
“I think they play guitars. Kageyama and Hinata,” Tsukishima replied. “I don't know their stage names.”
“Ah, I see,” Kuroo said, leading the way back to the counter. “I've seen them a couple of times, orange-haired and energetic, black-haired and sort of broody, right?”
“Sounds like them at least,” Tsukishima nodded.
“Must have been a fun combination with puberty,” Kuroo's eyebrows rose slightyly and his eyes crinkled at the corners again, telling Tsukishima he was being teased.
“You think?” he deadpanned. Kuroo laughed.
They were quiet for a bit while Kuroo scanned Tsukishima's new CD and registered his point card, Tsukishima quietly glancing around the store. As usual, it was pretty quiet at this time. He'd deliberately chosen tuesday as his designated music day, knowing it was less likely to be crowded early in the week and around the time most people were just leaving work.
“Here you go,” Kuroo's voice said, calling Tsukishima's attention back to him. “That's 250 yen.”
Tsukishima touched his suica to the card reader and put the CD carefully into his bag.
“Do you have time?” Kuroo asked. “It's a lot more interesting talking to you than sorting and pricing these singles for the foreign pop section,” he waved towards a big stack of CDs behind the counter.
Tsukishima snickered. “What, sneaking away from work Kuroo-san?”
Kuroo placed a hand on his chest and made a dramatic immitation of being hurt. “You're so cruel Tsukishima-san~” he whined. “How can you say such a thing? All I want is some conversation with my favourite customer.”
Tsukishima felt his ears go red. “Don't let anyone else hear you saying that,” he mumbled. Kuroo grinned.
“Well, there's nobody else here right now, so I dare say I'm safe.”
Tsukishima rolled his eyes. Kuroo laughed.
Tsukishima stayed another twenty minutes just talking about music while Kuroo sorted through the stack of CDs.