Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Regardless of what anyone else says, Keiji is having a good time. Sure, the place he’s currently situated in was considered to be creepy by a few locals, but he really is enjoying himself in this cold, abandoned, and quite frankly, gross kitchen. 

He’s too immersed in the things he sees to really acknowledge the slight buzzing of his phone in his pocket, and adjusts his camera to have it pan to the growing mold on the kitchen counter. Every detail is important, and he wants to record everything that will eventually be lost in time. 

The kitchen cabinets are barely holding together anymore, if the way the door is teetering at its hinges tells him anything. It sends a slight thrill down Keiji’s spine, knowing that he was here in time to document it all. After all, it’s only a matter of time before the door is fully torn apart, displaying its inner contents to curious eyes, and before the entire kitchen is scavenged by whatever little critter trying to find the last bits of what is edible in the remaining faded boxes on the counter.  

He’s glad he’s made it in time. The entire area had recently been bought out by a large developing firm, who would definitely not care about the rich history about the small, tiny abandoned home at the end of the block. 

But for people like Keiji, that makes all the difference. 

Each and every one of these places tells a story of what had been. Of people who once lived that life. 

People who bustled through the hallways, cooked in the kitchen, and gathered at the kitchen table that was now covered in dust. The table is large, probably once a rich burgundy, and had an old fraying tablecloth that was carefully placed on top. The objects on top are precisely arranged, most likely for another explorer’s instagram page. Or maybe not, Keiji muses, zooming in on the dusted glass bottle at the edge of the table. The people may be gone, but the objects remain to tell a story that Keiji is set on unravelling. 

“Guys, this is amazing,” he says to no one in particular, and slowly walks over to film the dishes laid out on the table. None of them are broken, and he glances at the half-emptied jars of spices on the end. Nobody has definitely used this kitchen for its purpose for at least twenty years. “You all know how much I love spending time in the kitchen, just emptying out my fridge,” Keiji continues, peering at the pale and faded letters on the boxes. “And here I am, standing in a kitchen and thinking of what I would’ve eaten two decades ago.”

He films the doorway, the quality high enough to see the splinters at the edge, and recognizes the flashes of light from his friends' cameras. They’re probably exploring the other rooms, he muses, and the edges of his mouth twitch upwards. He can’t wait to see them all. 

“Hey, Akaashi! You have to see this!”

The camera displays a sharp turn as Keiji turns towards the voice. He may have to edit this part out later. Maybe not. He angles it towards the speaker, who’s cheeky grin only spells trouble. Konoha imitates a fishing reel, which Keiji rolls his eyes at, because come on , that was hardly appropriate behaviour for exploring abandoned buildings. 

“What?”

At his words, Konoha gets an excited twinkle in his eyes, and Keiji would be worried if not for the fact that Kenma had popped up behind him, rolling his eyes to the point where Keiji wondered if he’d been momentarily possessed. 

“We found something cool in the living room. Come see. It’s actually pretty neat.”

Keiji’s heartbeat speeds up from curiosity and sudden adrenaline, and he bristles in excitement as he sets a quick pace after his two friends. The feeling is familiar, and it’s one of the reasons why he loves doing this. It was moments like these that he felt like he had discovered something golden under giant heaps of trash and dust, and he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

“What did you find?” Keiji asks, schooling his tone of voice to not betray his true excitement when the trio stops in the living room. From off screen, Konoha grins at him in a knowing way. Keiji calms himself down by picturing himself slapping the other senseless, while Kenma rolls his eyes at both of them (again!) and gestures to a dusty glass cabinet that is somehow holding itself together through some magical law of physics. 

“There’s pictures of the family that lived here.” He steps aside to let Keiji see closer. Kenma’s got his ‘KODZUKEN’ hoodie on, and his camera seems almost superglued to his hand. Keiji has no doubt that his Instagram is going to be filled with several pictures from today. Despite seeming so indifferent about it, Keiji knows Kenma’s excited too by the telltale way his eyes keep flickering around the room, absorbing every single intricate detail there is. 

“Look,” Konoha continues, much more obvious in his excitement, crouching down and adjusting his own camera to zoom in on a picture. “They even had a pet bird.”

“We should check the rooms for a bird cage,” Kenma hums, and Keiji nods, zooming in on some different photos. 

“This is amazing.” His camera pans across the different black and white pictures of the family, careful not to touch them. Partly because he’s not in the mood for cross mold-contamination, but also because he’s afraid that the entire house will fall over if he so breathes the wrong direction. The cabinet shelves contain several different photographs and nick-nacks, and Keiji makes sure to film all of them. A pair of broken glasses, some sort of rusted metal puzzle, and a small, decorative candlestick are some of the ones that he focuses on.

“Take a look at this,” Konoha calls from across the room, pointing again to another shelf, or more particularly, another set of photographs. When Keiji draws closer, his camera catches the shine of the glass, before focussing on the subject of one of the photos. The man is pretty young, he muses, and is what people might have considered to be a strange beauty, the type where you couldn't help but look twice at. His gray (maybe silver?) hair seems to be abnormally soft, and Keiji thinks that if he was born in the same decade as him, he might’ve been interested. 

“Look at the details of his kimono,” Keiji mutters, pointing towards some of the more intricate details, “it must have cost him an arm and a leg.” Kenma hums in acknowledgement.

“When my parents got married, my dad bought mom something fancy like this too. Might be the same. A declaration of love maybe? That sounds sweet.”

Konoha snickers, his camera focus alternating between Kenma, the photograph, and Keiji. 

“The two of you have no idea. This guy was part of an illicit affair between another guy and his wife,” he gestures towards a couple in another photograph beside the first, “and this guy was banging the husband. Apparently, the husband loved this dude more than his wife, but acted like they were best friends for sake of appearance.” Konoha's grin lowers slightly, before zooming in on Kenma’s face. Kenma scrunches his nose at the camera, probably off put by the sudden attention, and Konoha snickers before returning his focus to the photograph. “The affair partner,” he nonchalantly gestured towards the first photo again, “ended up dying when he was thirty-five though. So probably a while after this photo was taken, he looks like he’s twenty here.”

Keiji’s lip twists slightly, looking back at the picture, before turning his camera back to Konoha. He doesn’t know how, but the dusty blond always knew of any tragic backstory of the places they were visiting. Konoha always said that he had his ‘Secret Information Network’, (“SIN for short!”, he’d cheered gleefully, before Kenma had kneed him in the back for the pun) and Keiji stopped asking because he was not interested in how Konoha got his knowledge from the internet. They were usually legit, anyway.

Well, not his ghost stories, but Konoha couldn’t excel at everything.

“I think he was sick. The husband never left the house after he died, too distraught after his ‘best friend’ passing,  and practically became a hermit. His wife died a couple of months later, and the dude became more of a wreck than he first was. His kids, all what, seven? Nine? It was a pretty big number, they basically stayed and took care of him until he kicked the bucket too. After that, they just left.”

Kenma frowns. “Couldn’t they have sold the house or something? That’s what I would’ve done.” 

Konoha tsks slightly, wriggling his finger in front of Kenma’s face. Keiji stays silent, though he focuses his camera on his friend's antics rather than the photographs. 

“They can’t. According to the last will, the house can’t be touched as long as any former inhabitants are alive. And apparently, the eldest kid had a grandchild that lived here for a bit too.”

Keiji raises an eyebrow. “So you’re saying that for the next, what, five or so decades, there’ll be a person who owns this place, but they can’t change it? At all?” Konoha nods, shooting a finger gun for the extra annoyance. Kenma’s eyebrow twitches. 

“Bingo. There’s actually a lawsuit going on right now. The developing firm wants to tear down the house, but well, they can’t right now because of that will.” 

“What the hell?” Keiji focuses his camera back to the picture of the gray-haired man, making sure to capture all the details of the photo. “Why would anyone, regardless of their connection to the house and the people that live there, want the family to own a home that’s been taken over by nature and mold?”

Konoha’s face lights up, and his smile turns fox-like. Keiji faintly hears Kenma let out a low curse, and a ‘good going, Akaashi’, to which he subtly flips the other off. 

“Well I’m so glad you asked! It’s because,” Konoha waits a moment for the tension to build, “it’s because they’re still here. The affair partner and the husband, I mean.” 

“Oh, give it up!” Keiji’s mouth twitches at Kenma’s tone. “I thought we agreed that there’d be no ghost bullcrap this time.” Konoha vehemently shakes his head, his grin widening. 

“It’s not ‘bullcrap’, my dear Kozume-kun. It’s real. See these photographs here?” He waves towards the portrait of the gray-haired man, as well as to another photo of the husband on the shelf below it. “They move on their own between rooms in the house, but they’re always within arms distance. I’ve heard from my Information Network,” Kenma snickers, and Konoha sticks out his tongue at him before continuing, “that if you try to separate them, you’ll get cursed. If you look at videos of other explorers of this place, you’ll see that it’s true. These two photos are always in different rooms, but they’re always close together.”

“Yeah, because some self-concerned assholes don’t know what keeping your hands to yourself means,” Kenma argues, “I think that they just manually move the photographs to spook other people or for their aesthetic.” Konoha raises his eyebrows, and Keiji can already feel his own exasperation beginning to build.

“Oh yeah? Then explain the fact that there’s no fingerprints on the photographs. If they’re being moved like you’re saying, then surely there’d be some form of evidence.” Konoha sneers, and Kenma rolls his eyes. 

“Heard of gloves, genius? Besides, unless you’re suddenly a forensic expert with all of those tools and stuff, you can’t really see the fingerprints on the wood. Give me a break.” Kenma retorts, and Keiji can already tell that Konoha had super zoomed in on the other’s face with his camera.

(He always did that to piss people off, saying it was some sort of tactic. Keiji just thinks it’s to annoy him later when editing.) 

“Maybe so. But when my source was here, I can clearly say that these photos were in the master bedroom. And I know for a fact that they’re not one of the assholes you’re talking about.”

Kenma frowns. “Then somebody was here between then and now and moved it. Simple.” Konoha opens his mouth to retort back, but Keiji lets out a grumble and smacks his hand against his mouth. 

“Stop bickering about stupid kids vandalizing these places, and don’t even start on your arguments over the pros and cons of whether ghosts are real or not. Whether or not these two are ghosts, we’re invading their personal property and we will respect it, regardless if they’re currently here or not.” Kenma sighs in response, and Konoha slowly sticks out his hand for a truce. Once they shake on it, Keiji turns his focus back to the photographs of the gray-haired man and the husband, and studies their faces.

There’s an enscripture on the bottom of both of the portraits, he realizes. It’s tiny, and in the corner of both, and Keiji squints and zooms in to see the printing better. 

Suga, 19XX and Dai, 19XX

Could they be ghosts? Was the death of the gray-haired man the reason why the husband supposedly became a ghost as well? It didn’t make sense. But if they were ghosts, there surely had to be a reason why they would roam the place where the husband and his wife had lived and shared a life with kids. 

A soft breeze brushes against the back of Keiji’s neck, causing him to shiver slightly. He doesn’t really remember pulling his hood down, but he must have at one point, as there would be no other reason to feel the sudden chill.

He shakes his head and stops recording.

Nope. Not gonna buy Konoha’s ghost stories today. Keiji is a logical person, after all. He does not believe in ghosts, and needs to see things in person before fully believing in them. 

Keiji feels the faint buzzing of his phone in his pocket again, but ignores it. It could wait until later. After all, there’s still much more to the house, and he’s not going to let anyone else interfere with his explorations. He’s really tempted to search for that master bedroom Konoha mentioned earlier.

“Listen, Kenma. I don’t really care if you believe me or not,” Konoha looks resigned, and perhaps a little put off, “but you have got to admit it’s a cool freaking story.”

“That’s because you wish you were psychic, or something.” Kenma deadpans back, before continuing in a mocking tone, seeming to try and imitate the other, “Ooooooooh, I can see dead people.”

“I don’t need to be able to see dead people or spirits to know that there’s some kind of eeriness to this place. The world is fucked up enough for me to be able to tell that there’s a difference between some supernatural presence versus some lost objects. Capitalistic lifestyles make people go from well, people to people and things, so when we’re in a place like this with so many personalized objects there’s gotta be some type of spiritual remains left behind. Kind of like if you were to die, a part of you would never leave your game console. It’s your material possession, yeah, but it means a lot to you. So spiritually, a part of you is forever gonna be attached to that console.” 

Keiji balks, before pulling his camera up and turning it on again. 

“Konoha, could you repeat that? I want that recorded. I want a good portion of the Internet to see the ever so snarky Konoha Akinori go on a philosophical tangent over the existence of spirits.” On the corner of the screen, Keiji can see Kenma trying to stifle his giggles as he points his camera at him. Of course Kenma’s got the footage. That means that Keiji’s gonna have to buy him that new game as compensation to use it, because there is no way that Konoha is going to willingly say that all again.

Of course, Keiji is right, because Konoha leans right into the camera, to where his entire face is filling the frame. His eyes are open and his tell tale smirk is donning the screen, and his voice is deep and heavy as he tries to imitate some sort of grand storyteller. “Ghosts. And. Spirits. Are. Fucking. Real. Believe. It. Or. Suck. It.” 

And that’s it. Kenma is not even trying to stifle his snickers as Konoha gives Keiji’s camera the finger, and Keiji groans and wonders why he still willingly hangs out with these two. 

“I’m going to get that on a t-shirt and give it to you for your birthday, so you can traumatize your poor mother with your own quote,” he warns, a poor attempt to sound grumpy. It’s a definite fail, though, because Konoha just grins and blows him a kiss. 

“She already knows I’ve got a foul mouth, who else do you think I got it from? And you totally should, I’d wear it everyday.” 

“You should make it an official merch, it’ll be an instant sellout.” Kenma deadpans, and Keiji snorts.

“Really? Who’d buy it?”

“The ghost behind you!” Konoha cackles, before erupting into giggles as Kenma snickers and points his camera to focus on Keiji for his reaction.

This time it’s Keiji who flips off the camera, but when Kenma focuses his camera on Konoha losing his shit laughing on the floor, Keiji gives the space behind him a quick scan. Just in case, he thinks. He still feels on edge for some reason, and the nape of his neck is still cold. But in the end, Keiji ignores it, thinking it to be the late afternoon breeze through a broken window. 

He chooses to ignore the fact that all the windows have been boarded shut.

Chapter Text

They end up spending three more hours in the house, and even end up finding the bird cage, which is rusted and deformed with age. Beside it is an old bag of bird feed that makes Konoha nearly gag at the smell, and Kenma makes sure to film it so he can laugh at it later. A rusted metal name plate delicately hangs from the bottom, and Keiji can only assume it had the pet’s name scribbled on it before, even though it’s undecipherable by this point. Kenma is quick to take pictures of the scene, crouching and almost rolling over as he tries to get the angles and the light just right. He posts the final photo on his Instagram right after.

The little house in the unsuspecting suburban neighbourhood was like a treasure in the sea, or a window back in time, Keiji muses. It’s these types of places that he adores the most, but the large, abandoned ruins excited him as well. Closed down hospitals and schools, abandoned factories and industrial spaces, and the good old deserted amusement parks would send thrills down Keiji’s spine. He and Konoha, back before Kenma had joined their little trio, had visited some old hospitals in the past. But even so, there was still so much more that Keiji itched to document before someone decided to tear them down and build something new and modern, something to make money. Those people all thought the same: that old things needed to be destroyed and new things needed to be built in order for profit to be gained. 

Despite his negative afterthoughts, Keiji felt satisfied with the experience. Although he was unable to shake off that cold breeze against his nape the entire time, he had managed to ignore it in favour of discovering the preserved treasures within the home.

It’s nearing 1am when they get back to their neighbourhood, and Konoha has to give Kenma a piggyback ride to make sure he doesn’t topple over when Keiji drops them off at their shared apartment. Even though they both look like they’re three hours past sleep deprivation, Keiji already knows that they would be spending a good part of the night sorting through their footage from today. 

When Keiji arrives back at his own small apartment, he showers, makes himself some coffee, and is curled on the sofa of his living room with his laptop turned on as he uploads all of his camera files. Beside him, his small pet kitten is snoozing against his thigh, letting out satisfied purrs when he brushes her head every once in a while.

This is Keiji’s world.

Some day he will gradually expand it. He and Kenma had talked about going abroad at some point, perhaps maybe Thailand or Malaysia to do some more exploring there. And if that goes well, who knows what else he’ll try to conquer. 

For now though, Keiji is content with going through his pictures of the small abandoned house on the outskirts of the city. 

Keiji’s just reached the point in his camera feed where the pictures of the kitchen counter start when he gets an incoming video request call from Konoha. He accepts it, and is immediately greeted with Konoha’s tired but suspiciously bright face.

“Akaashi! Check your phone!” The unnatural squeak in his voice causes his kitten to startle out of her slumber, and Akaashi can’t stop the twitch in his eyebrow. 

“What’s going on?” 

Although it’s not the first time that Konoha has called him at an ungodly hour, it definitely doesn’t mean he’s used to it. And it also does not mean that it’s any less tiring, either. Keiji mourns his lost opportunity to go to bed. 

“Check your phone!” 

Keiji squints at him, feeling more and more suspicious as Konoha’s bright smile doesn’t diminish the slightest. Sure, Konoha’s online personality was known as being a piece of shit who took pleasure in annoying his friends, but his natural personality was a bit more toned down. This, though… Keiji’s not too experienced when it comes to Konoha looking like he’s about to burst from overexcitement. 

Coming back to reality, Keiji begins to rummage around his supplies, until his phone is finally in his hand. There’s twelve missed calls.

What the hell. 

It’s from an unknown foreign number as well, which makes his brows furrow. And the fact that Konoha seems to know about it doesn’t really settle well in his stomach. 

“Come on, man! Why do you even have a phone if you don’t even pick it up? It was calling you the entire time we were at the house!” Even while complaining, Konoha’s weird excitement doesn’t wane. 

Keiji hesitates. “Was it you?”

“Hey now! Are you telling me that you don’t even have my number saved as a contact? I’m hurt, really. And no, it wasn’t me. Were you even listening? The calls are all from when we were exploring.” Konoha’s excitement has yet to simmer down, but his sentences are more understandable. “K.T Explorations is coming to Japan! And even more, he wants to meet up! With us! ” Keiji quickly lowers the volume of his computer when Konoha’s voice raises a solid ten pitches. “-and really, it was sick! He tried to reach you but then ended up having to call me, because, unlike some people,” Konoha cuts himself off mid rant to stare at Keiji dead in the eye, “I actually answer my phone.”

Keiji rolls his head to the side, hearing the satisfying pop of his bones. “Just, calm down. Who?”

Konoha’s jaw drops, before he’s suddenly moving his hands at a rapid speed as he begins to speak. “You’re kidding! Kuroo Tetsurou! The dude from the States, who did that series on the abandoned hospitals and asylums when you were first starting the channel! Remember? We binged it all in like, two days! Come on, Keiji! You’re the smart one!”

“Kenma wouldn’t appreciate you saying that,” Keiji mumbles offhandedly, before beginning to sift through his memory to find something that matches Konoha’s rapid fire description. And then it hits him and he feels stupid, because yes, K.T Explorations is a very big name in the online urbex community, and not just in the States. From what he can remember, Kuroo and his small crew had also done some exploring in Europe, though he hasn’t watched it yet.

“Alright. So, K.T Explorations is coming here.”

“Yes.”

“And he wants to meet with us.”

On the screen, Konoha is nodding so vigorously that Keiji fears for his neck. “Yes!”

“Did he say what he wanted to do with us?”

At this, the other actually begins to bounce in his seat, and all Keiji can see on the screen are blurs of Konoha’s plaid owl pyjamas that Kenma gave him for his birthday. “He said that he wants to explore! With us! That’s the literal best! It means that he knows about us, well, you, since you’re the main face, but well, us!”

Keiji feels like a bucket of ice was thrown over his head as he shrugs, and tries to suppress his bubbling emotions. Because if someone like Kuroo Tetsurou wanted to explore with him, then that meant his YouTube channel was doing a lot better than he thought. Way better, since Kuroo actually took the initiative to contact him-- ok, Konoha, because Keiji really is asocial despite the fact that his living literally depends on social media.

Keiji can’t stop the grin from spreading on his face, and Konoha, the shithead, immediately notices. 

“I knew you were gonna be excited.”

“Shut up, are you serious?”

“I am!” Konoha laughs, and it’s probably at him. But Keiji can’t bring himself to care, because the situation is finally setting in and he’s absolutely elated. 

“Holy shit!”

“And you almost missed it too.”

At Konoha’s words, Keiji’s mind reels. He almost did miss it. All because he was too obsessed with some kitchen counter mold and decided to ignore his phone vibrating against his ass instead of picking up. He could use the excuse that he had been busy at work, but well, it was more just talking gibberish about the possible existence of ghosts than actual work. 

“Couldn’t he have, like, sent an email?” Keiji wonders outloud, before frowning. “How’d he get my number anyway? Or yours?”

Konoha shrugs, leaning against the back of his chair. Keiji can see the monstrous amount of photographs of the other and Kenma over piling the back shelf, and feels a little tug of jealousy in his chest. “Probably from Bo.”

“Bo?”

“Kuroo’s partner. He tags along with Kuroo on his Abandoned, and in return, Kuroo’s a main participant on Bo’s channel too. He does a variety of different things, it’s like a major shitpost. Oh, I’ve also known Bo for a while too, we met on an online forum about volleyball.”

Keiji snickers, “seriously?”

“Hey, don’t judge. You’ve probably made some online pals on the dark web about your boring movies too.”

“No such thing- you asshole! I’ll have you know I can talk about my ‘boring movies’ with people, not on some weird forum on the internet,” Keiji snorts, “and besides, the dark web wouldn’t even talk about the plot, anyway.”

Konoha wriggles his eyebrows. “Now I’m interested.”

“And I’m distrubed.” Keiji crinkles his nose, and Konoha leans his head back as he laughs. 

“So yeah. They’re gonna arrive in a couple of days, and as their designated tour guides, we’re gonna pick them up from the airport. I’m gonna head to bed now, since Ken’s just finished filtering through his photos. See you then.” 

“See you.”

---

“Bro! Look! We’re in Japan!” Tetsurou’s ears are ringing slightly as Bokuto practically bounces in the arrival hall at Narita, holding his camera on a stick like his life depends on it. Tetsurou can’t decide between laughing at his friend or pretending not to know him in embarrassment. Bokuto’s already infiltrated a solid five gift stores in the airport, and is sporting a “I ❤︎ JAPAN” shirt with absolutely no remorse.

Bokuto’s right though. 

They’re in Japan. 

Turning on his own camera, Tetsurou flips it so it’s filming himself. “Guys! Guess who’s landed in Japan!” His own grin threatens to split his features, and he doesn’t even care about the people who are staring at him and Bokuto. 

They end up filming practically everything they see, from the several restaurants (Tetsurou had to drag Bokuto away from about eight of them) to the architecture (they took way too many selfies to not be embarrassed about), and also end up looking at some offered tours of some traditional sites. 

They might be able to fit them into their schedule, but they’re definitely not the main focus of this trip.

Once they’ve picked up their bags, Tetsurou calls Konoha, who quickly directs them to their location. When first deciding on the trip, he’d initially tried to call Akaashi, but after a lot of unanswered calls he ended up trying to contact one of the other members of the channel. At least one of them didn’t ignore calls. 

This entire trip had been more of an impulse decision after seeing videos of the sites in Japan, (or at least, that’s what he tried to tell himself after instantly being enamoured after seeing Akaashi for the first time), so he didn’t want to waste time sending emails back and forth. Time zones be damned, finalizing details on the phone was the quicker route. 

Right.

They meet Konoha and Akaashi outside the main hall. Konoha and Bokuto greet each other like old friends, which is weird, since they’re really just meeting each other for the first time after communicating on a stupid online chat for muscle heads. As the two begin to talk about things that Kuroo can’t keep up with, he turns towards Akaashi.

The first thing that goes through his mind is ‘Fuck, he’s prettier in person.’, and then, ‘Shit, I should probably introduce myself.’

“Hi. I’m Kuroo. Kuroo Tetsurou.” While he’s internally cringing at himself, Akaashi smiles.

“Akaashi Keiji. Nice to meet you, and welcome to Japan.”

His English has the slight Japanese accent to it, but it’s nothing Tetsurou didn’t know before. He’s done his research and watched Akaashi’s videos (actually, he binged them all in three days), and he can’t wait to see some of Japan’s sites with his own eyes. Unlike the abandoned places back home, most of the stuff in Japan is left clear of vandalism and graffiti, which is probably the one thing more infuriating than time chewing away at objects. It makes Tetsurou want to grit his teeth in frustration, because while a few places look cool with the graffiti styled words over the place, most don’t. 

“Nice to meet you too.” 

They don’t shake hands because neither of them offer first.

Trying to avoid the awkward pause as soon as possible, Tetsurou pulls out his camera and begins to film. “Welcome back to my corner of the internet, my fellow explorers! Bokuto and I have finally arrived in Japan and have met two of our guides, Akaashi and Konoha, though Konoha’s a bit busy reliving his highschool volleyball years with Bo over there. So right now, it’s just me, myself, and Akaashi! Say hi!” He turns the camera to Akaashi, who looks a little surprised at the attention before smiling and giving a small wave.

Tetsurou’s heart does a tiny flip, but he shrugs it off as excitement in being in a new country.

“Now, you’re probably wondering why we’re in a completely different place. Well, it’s because our awesome guides here are gonna bring us to more of those abandoned places that both you and I love so much. Only, Japan edition! Isn’t that right, Akaashi?”

The other nods, “yeah. I can think of a place or two that would be really interesting.”

Tetsurou grins. “One or two? Why not all?”

His enthusiasm makes Akaashi let out a soft laugh, and good, Tetsurou thinks, before he begins to laugh as well. 

“All?”

“Yeah, there seems to be so much stuff here,” he turns to Konoha and Bo, who are still talking to each other. “You two done reminiscing about your peaks in highschool athletics yet? I’d like to see more of Japan than just this airport hall, and Akaashi here just promised to take us everywhere.”

“I did not!”

Konoha’s smile morphs into a grin as he gives Akaashi a knowing look before turning to Tetsurou. “Making Akaashi snipe back at you already? That’s a record.” And Tetsurou just laughs, because he doesn’t really know what that exactly means.

It’s only when they enter the car, Akaashi behind the wheel with Tetsurou beating everyone for shotgun and Konoha and Bokuto sitting in the back, that Bokuto turns to Konoha with an excited gleam in his eye. Tetsurou rolls his eyes, because he already knows what’s going to come out of the other’s mouth. 

“Where’s Kodzuken?”

Konoha blinks, and Akaashi snickers, turning away and pretending to not have listened when Konoha kicks the back of his seat. 

“You mean Kenma? He’s probably recording at home for his other channel.” At this, Bokuto wilts slightly in his seat, and Tetsurou lets out a cackle.

“There you go, you horned owl. I’ll let you guys know that Bo mostly joined me because he’s the biggest Kodzuken fan there is. He’s not that into the abandoned places, which I think is a personal crime.”

“Shut up, you deranged cat!” Bokuto flings an arm forward in an attempt to hit Tetsurou, but he misses by a few centimeters, causing Tetsurou’s wicked amusement to only rise. 

“You should’ve heard him when we were on the plane.” He clears his throat, and only grins when he hears Bokuto’s embarrassed whine from the back. “ ‘What do you think Kodzuken will think of me? Would it be too weird if I said that I was a fan of his gaming channel when he thinks I’m here for abandoned? Wait, would it be too weird if I said I was a fan in the first place? Kuroooooooooo-’ ” This time, when Bokuto flings his hand to hit Tetsurou, he doesn’t miss. 

Tetsurou lets out a wheeze, because for as much as he may tease Bokuto about his strength peaking in highschool, the other could still easily break his arm without batting an eye.

Konoha raises an eyebrow in amusement. “I can call Ken later, if you want.”

“And make all of Bo’s dreams come true~” Tetsurou sings, just because he can and wants to embarrass his friend even further, regardless if he was preoccupied with coughing out his lungs three seconds earlier.

“Shut up, can we just go see some abandoned stuff now?” Bokuto whines, and Kuroo’s smirk turns to a genuine smile as he turns to Konoha, who shrugs and looks to Akaashi. 

“So where we headed?”

The other hums, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as the entire car finally calms down a bit. “Well, let’s see. We could head to your hotel, Konoha and Kenma’s place, or someplace abandoned. Thoughts?”

Bokuto groans and slides lower in his seat, while Tetsurou thinks for a moment. “Hotel first, so we can drop off our stuff and eat, and then abandoned. Maybe Bo’s idol could meet us there? Is that fine?”

It gets nods from everyone, and Konoha opens his phone to text Kenma about the schedule. 

“Now,” Tetsurou’s eyes are sparkling as he turns and faces Akaashi. “What abandoned place are we going to? I’m pumped to see some really cool places.”

It’s silent for a moment as Akaashi seems to think about his answer, before he finally grins. 

“I think I’ve got the perfect place to start with.”

Chapter Text

It’s Bokuto who breaks the silence. 

“I might be wrong here so feel free to correct me, but is that a love hotel we’re headed towards?” 

He’s not wrong. Keiji stares at the building up ahead that is covered with vegetation, his nerves thrumming with excitement. The group had successfully found the hotel that was lost in the middle of a forest, having gotten some instructions from some people from the lazy neighbourhood nearby. They hadn’t even asked why the group of young people were armed with cameras and were filming everything. 

Konoha lets out a hum of agreement, before reaching out and testing the stability of the surrounding gate of the property. He pays no mind to the ‘No Trespassing’ sign, and lets out a huff of frustration when the gates hardly budge as he turns to Bokuto. 

“Could you give these guys a little nudge? They’re a bit stiff.”

The hinges give after a few tugs and pushes, and it only takes one final shove for the gate to push through the overgrown grass. Konoha slaps the back of Bokuto’s shoulder in thanks, before turning back to the rest of the group. 

Keiji lets out a breath before walking forward, biting the corner of his lip as he stares at the scenery in front of him. “I’ve been wanting to do this site for a while now. According to what I’ve read, the inside is super cool.”

From behind him, Kuroo lets out a whoop. “Let’s do this!”

Keiji likes how those simple words managed to set the atmosphere. 

They are doing this.

“Hold on, isn’t Kenma coming?” Konoha asks, and Keiji inwardly curses as he remembers that the group isn’t complete just yet. Odd how Kuroo’s exclamation had managed to erase a good portion of Keiji’s memory. 

Kuroo’s presence is clearly throwing him off, and he has no idea why nor has any idea how to stop it. 

Keiji stops in the middle of the gate. “He is, yeah. We should probably just wait out here for him.”

“Kenma’s coming?” They definitely have Bokuto’s attention now. 

“Chill, bro. You’ve got the entire trip to fawn over Kenma.” Kuroo smacks the top of his friend’s head before ensuring that he has Bokuto’s reddening face on film. 

“No, it’s just, safety in numbers, yeah?” Bokuto defends weakly, pathetically trying to swat away the other’s camera.

While they wait, Konoha tells them about some particular things to look out for that a follower had messaged him, and Keiji can only feel excitement brimming as he listens. 

After, Kuroo tells them about his explorations in Europe, and how so many of the abandoned ruins in Spain had the perfect mix of decay and still intact interior. He speaks about the mansions and factories with such detail that Keiji feels himself getting lost in the stories, and lets out a sigh when the other finishes.

“Ugh, now I want to go to Spain,” he stretches his arms upwards, paying no attention as the pole he’s leaning against teeters slightly. “There are already so many reason to go-”

“The biggest is food,” Konoha inputs, not even flinching when Keiji turns to glare at him. 

“Like their rich culture and history,” he continues, deciding to pretend that his friend had not said anything.

“And the food,” Konoha repeats, his grin widening as he zooms in his camera to Keiji’s face.

“And their fashion and customs,” Keiji goes on, as Kuroo and Bokuto turn to him, amused. When Kuroo points his camera at him too, though, Keiji knows that he lost. “And yes, maybe the food. But my earlier points still stand.”

They’re in the midst of a heated discussion about Bokuto and Konoha’s unhealthy eating habits when Kenma finally shows up. As soon as he’s recognizable, Bokuto forgets what he’s saying mid-sentence in favour of jumping up and rushing towards him. He’s ignored in favour of Kenma walking right into Konoha’s personal space bubble and jabbing his finger into the other’s chest.

“Why didn’t you tell me K.T Explorations was coming here?” At this, Konoha splutters.

“I told you that we were gonna have more people joining us today! And besides, it’s rude if you don’t say hi to everyone!” It’s then when it seems to dawn to Kenma that they weren’t alone, and as he quickly turns around to greet everyone he flinches when he spies Bokuto’s rather… intense gaze. 

“Hi, Kenma-san! I’m Bokuto Koutarou, and I’m a really big fan of your gaming channel! That probably sounds a bit weird coming from me-- wait, shit, do you know who I am? Oh no, that sounds stuck-up, doesn’t it? I didn’t mean it that way! I’m sorry!” Kenma watches in what Keiji has categorized as his ‘nervous and scared but somewhat impressed’ face, and can faintly hear Kuroo guffaw in the background. He blinks in astonishment as Kenma slowly pats the other on the shoulder.

“It’s fine, Bokuto-san. I do know who you are, uh, and I’m really honoured that you like my content,” he nervously looks at Konoha for encouragement, to which he gets a thumbs up. Bokuto seems to perk up at that, and he looks at the other surprised.

Keiji’s getting whiplash from the abrupt change in emotions.

“Really? You’re really good though! I’ve been watching your videos so I can get closer to beating that guy,” Bokuto jabs his thumb in the direction of Kuroo, who’s camera footage is definitely shaking by the way he’s trying to stifle his laughter and film at the same time, “at Mario Kart! I’ve actually gotten a lot closer!”

“That’s good, Bokuto-san. I’m glad I helped.”

Konoha clears his throat, raising his eyebrow. “As much as I do enjoy the bonding moment, could we get to exploring? Keiji and I have wanted to check this place out for a bit, so if you all don’t mind, I’d like to get started.”

And that sets the entire thing in motion, as they’re all getting their cameras ready as they walk through the creaking gate. They end up separating as everyone finds their own isolated area in the overgrown grass to begin their introductions. Bokuto tags alongside Kenma rather than Kuroo, which causes a raised eyebrow from practically everyone, but they say nothing as Kenma just shrugs and says it’s fine.

Somehow, Keiji manages to finish his intro first, which was not expected with how easily distracted he got from Kuroo’s movement not too far away from him. It irritated him, how every time he heard Kuroo’s commentary, he wanted to know what the other was talking about. Would Kuroo mention that he was doing this with Keiji? It made sense, after all, the online community would usually boost each other up when collaborating on projects together.

“-- and here we have Akaashi Keiji from Owls Explore, ” he hears, and turns around to see Kuroo making his way over with his camera pointed towards him. 

“Hey, ready to get started?” He asks, waving a little to the camera. 

“To an abandoned love hotel? Hell yeah!” Kuroo cheers, and Keiji gives a small smile as he turns his camera back on again. They make their way to a back entrance of the hotel that already seems broken into, and slowly push open the door.

“Holy shit,” Kuroo breathes, and Keiji would outwardly agree if not for the fact that Kuroo was way too close, to the point where he could feel the other’s breathing on the back of his neck. The puff of air makes him shiver, and he blames it on the fact that the rest of the building was so cold in comparison to Kuroo’s warm breath. Keiji quickly shakes his head, hoping to clear his mind.

He’s here to explore, not get distracted by his companion. 

Hopefully. 

They’re greeted with the view of a bathroom of sorts, complete with deep purple wallpaper tearing at the corners, and an obscene painting hanging above a metallic bathtub that’s filled with old rainwater. There’s a huge window off to the side, creating the image that any passerby could have easily seen the risque business that any couple was doing in the bathroom. 

Keiji pans his camera to the obscene picture; a naked woman lying over a naked man, seeming to try and cover him with a thinly veiled cloak. It was like a play on the ever so conservative Japanese society, with the subjects seeming to care about everything but modesty. 

When Keiji voices this out loud for the recording, he ends up catching Kuroo grinning at him. “That’s pretty deep.”

Keiji blinks. “I like to think of the deeper meaning of things, I guess. My English teacher loved me.”

Kuroo nods, “that’s a pretty good skill. You’re really good at reading the atmosphere of the places you visit, a lot of people can’t do that. I struggle with it sometimes.” 

Keiji flushes slightly, turning away so the other can’t see the redness of his cheeks. “Let’s continue.”

They move from the bathroom to the conjoined bedroom, and Keiji can hear Kuroo’s awed gasp from behind him. The ridiculously large bed takes up nearly a third of the bedroom, but the several surrounding mirrors make it have a completely different mood. Some of the mirrors are nothing but shards, but most are perfectly fine save for a few thin layers of dust. 

Keiji watches as Kuroo stops in front of the bed, filming himself rotating slowly as he sees the reflection of himself in all of the mirrors. 

“Wow, this is seriously kinky,” he whistles, “people would just go at it while watching themselves, huh? Well, it’s a love hotel, so I guess that much is justifiable, voyeurism is probably at the bottom of the kink pyramid here.”

Keiji’s brain to mouth filter seems to disappear at that moment, because all he can imagine is the mental image of two bodies on the bed before him. “Sounds hot.”

Kuroo looks at him in surprise, before he lets out a loud laugh, “now I need to know if you’ve got a mirror in your bedroom or not!”

For the second time that day, Keiji has to fight his cheeks from exploding into red. The thing is, though, is that Kuroo’s response to Keiji’s unexpected confession sounded almost… eager. 

Nope. Not going there.

“Nope, absolutely not, let’s just go,” Keiji tries to discard the topic quickly, spinning on his heel to try and escape from the room. “We should check out the rest of the hotel,” he mutters, completely missing how Kuroo’s face is filled with nothing but curiosity and amusement. 

“Sure, sure,” he grins, “I think I’ll get a few more details of the room though.” Keiji lets out an acknowledging hum, not really trusting his mouth anymore as he turns towards the door. 

Keiji is halfway out the door when he hears Kuroo’s startled voice. 

“Wait, what? Hey, Akaashi, did you see that just now?”

But when Keiji turns around, all he sees is Kuroo standing by the bed, pointing towards one of the mirrors and several other viewpoints of the same scene through the various other reflections around the room.

“See what?”

At his response, Kuroo shakes his head, his brow furrowing. He glances over his shoulder before beginning to fiddle with his camera, rewinding and replaying the last recording. He frowns, before shrugging his shoulders. “Nevermind, I’m probably just seeing things.”

“Did you get the footage you wanted?” Keiji asks, not wanting to delve deeper into the matter. 

“I… I guess,” Kuroo purses his lips slightly, looking back at the display of his camera. “Huh.”

Keiji decides to not ask again.

Chapter Text

Usually when filming with Konoha and Kenma, they would split up and end up doing their own explorations, before grouping together at the very end, or maybe coming together if one of them found something worth sharing that couldn’t be missed. 

This time, though, Keiji feels a slight comfort with the way Kuroo is sticking beside him. They move through the hallways of the hotel side by side, trying out different doors to see which ones are loose enough to try and push open. Kuroo’s commentary to his own recording is a slight murmur to Keiji’s, but for some reason, he doesn’t really mind. 

When they reach the receptionist's desk, Kuroo points towards some loose and scattered flyers. “Seems like you could rent a room for just an hour if you wanted,” he hums, and Keiji nods, deciding to film the scenery around them. The wallpapers depict several foxes prancing around the walls, and Keiji can’t really tell what’s been eaten by moths and what hasn’t. 

“There’s 10 themed rooms,” Kuroo continues, and Keiji forgets all about the weirdly posed foxes, “which doesn’t really sound like a lot, but I think that if you consider the fact that people were only here for two hours tops, it’s probably enough. They were in here for a good time, and then they pretended they never knew of this place.”

Keiji nods, “most of the people probably had families too. They’d come here for it’s only purpose, because they couldn’t go to just any hotel; regular ones would ask too many questions and would probably cost a lot more. Plus the chances of being caught by people they knew, a lot of people couldn’t take the chance. Explains the location too, I think. People could come here with multiple partners, men could bring other men, those sort of things that would bring serious attention elsewhere. Here though, I don’t think anybody gave a fuck.”

Kuroo’s nodding in agreement, “yeah. It’s kind of insane though, I mean, look at this!” He’s flipped the flyer to a certain page, and zooms in on a picture of the corner. “I mean, isn’t this the mirror room that we were just in?” Keiji leans over the desk to see what Kuroo’s focussed on, and nearly knocks his forehead against the latter’s when they both peer at the image. 

“Yeah, I think so,” Keiji flips the page, and they’re gifted with more pictures of the different rooms. “This is both cool and creepy. We can literally do a match up with what the rooms looked like then and now.”

Kuroo points towards one of the grainy pictures by the right. “I want to see this one.” It’s a room filled with different depictions of different men and women in various sexual interactions. The picture itself is gray and hard to see, but Keiji is able to piece together the general idea of the room. 

“Do you think people used that wallpaper as like, a manual or something to give their bedroom life a bit more excitement?” Kuroo asks, face completely devoid of any sign of joking, and Keiji watches as he leans forward even more to try and decipher more details.

“Maybe. Or they could’ve made it a bet: see how many positions they can make it through in an hour.”

Kuroo side-eyes him for a moment, “I’d play that.”

“Should I be surprised?” Keiji plays along, giving the other a quick glance. Their eyes meet, and they’re a bit too close before Kuroo straightens up and pulls away. Keiji tries to convince himself that he’s not upset at the new distance.

Keiji flips through the flyers again, taking in all of the tiny gray images that only give a general idea of what each room is. “Anyway. When people visited, they probably wanted to forget about their life outside of this place. Love Hotels like this used to be a play on people’s imagination.”

Kuroo turns to look at him, “used to?”

“Mhm. All the stuff here are things you would never find in a normal home. Older hotels were filled with all sorts of stuff, like rotating beds, tacky furnishings, mirrors,” he makes the mistake of looking at Kuroo, who’s sporting a knowing smirk as they both think back to the first room they were in. “They were the kind of things you’d never find in a normal hotel. Everything changed when a new law in the 80’s was introduced, I think. They were trying to regulate these hotels, so a good portion of them got rid of the weird shit that we’re seeing right now.”

“I don’t know, Akaashi. What’s so bad about the pornography on the walls?”

Keiji shakes his head, rolling his eyes.

“So you’re telling me that places either changed their entire look or were just abandoned like this one?”

“Yeah. The ones that changed went through some serious alterations and continued business for the cover of decency and all, I guess. It’s kind of hard to find solid information about this kind of stuff though. Most of the people who came here came here for the secrecy, and in a society like Japan, sex isn’t something you really talk about in the open.”

Kuroo raises an eyebrow as he looks at him pointedly. “You’re talking about it quite freely right now.”

“And my parents would throw a fit if they heard me, my grandparents too. I think they’d be scandalized, actually.” 

“Really? Maybe they used one themselves,” Kuroo grins, and Keiji feels his face burning as he groans and hides his face. 

“Oh god, please don’t say that. How about we just, uh, go into a different room?” Keiji really can’t think he can be in this room any longer without thinking of his grandparents, and he can officially file this to be one of the most disturbing moments of his life. 

They’re turning the corner to try and find a new room when they hear Bokuto’s voice.

“Whoa, dude! Konoha! Kenma! Come here! Kuroo, bro, get over here, you gotta see this!”

Keiji and Kuroo share a quick glance before Kuroo breaks into a run, and Keiji lets out a small curse before rushing to keep up with him. 

He bumps into Kuroo’s back when the other suddenly throws open the nearest door. Kuroo pauses a bit at the collision, keeping sturdy as Keiji quickly peels himself off the other. 

“Wait,” Kuroo can barely be heard over Bokuto’s laughter, though he’s laughing himself, “why the fuck is there a mechanical horse in here?” 

Keiji peeks over the other’s shoulder to try and see the room. 

It’s not as crazily decorated as some of the other rooms. The wallpaper is a deep maroon with peeling corners, and the bed is taking up the most space. There’s some odd animal patterned duvet thrown over the decaying mattress. But the main attraction of the entire room would be the mechanical horse right beside the bed, with its chipped paint and dead eyes. It was probably a nice shade of tan at one point, Keiji thinks.

Bokuto is laughing by the side, barely keeping his camera stable enough to take a few pictures.

“This is creepy,” Kuroo grins, stepping closer to the horse, “just look at it. Can’t believe someone lugged this thing here.”

“From an amusement park to a love hotel, huh? What a change in scenery for this guy,” Bokuto wheezes, before grinning, “you should get on it.”

Kuroo doesn’t need to be told twice, and Keiji can’t stop the slowly sinking realization of the horse’s purpose. Nobody else seems to realize, though, as Bokuto’s too busy watching Kuroo as he steps closer and takes a better look at the attraction. 

“It’s the insert-a-coin type of thing,” Kuroo realizes, “like those mechanical bulls at fairs. Where do you even get those, anyway? Akaashi, was there some type of big fair near this place before it closed down?”

“Not that I know of. Kuroo-san, I don’t think-”

His warning is cut off when Kuroo and Bokuto both let out whoops of amusement as they prepare for  an impromptu photoshoot with the horse. Keiji, on the other hand, has had enough time to come to a conclusion as of why the horse is here. He’s definitely not an expert on this stuff, but from the things he’s read, he’s pretty sure that horse was not like the mechanical bulls Kuroo was talking about earlier.

There’s a reason why it's here.

Nobody brought it over.

“I can’t believe there was a toy horse here. Like, of all things, this would be like one of the things you would never expect. Oh hey, it probably had a saddle at one point too. See the drill holes?” Kuroo points, and that’s the final key point that Keiji needs to come to his conclusion.

Before he can say anything though, Kuroo slips his feet into the shabby stirrups and sits down on the horse, continuing to film everything. He’s already grinning at Bokuto’s camera, peace sign and all.

“For Instagram!” He cheers, which Bokuto eagerly echoes as he snaps the pictures. The duo begin to repeat the phrase in a loop as Kuroo begins to hit all sorts of poses, and god, Keiji can’t wait to drop the bomb on them.

“This is actually pretty comfortable,” Kuroo notes as he sways back and forth, the horse following his movements with stilted ease. 

Keiji decides that now’s the perfect time for his reveal.

“The saddle that you’re missing probably had a dildo on it,” he states, and relishes in the moment that the room freezes. 

Bokuto chokes on his spit. “What?”

Kuroo has stopped rocking on the horse, and vaguely looks grossed out. But he hasn’t jumped off, which makes Keiji a little disappointed in his reaction.

“It’s like, a sex toy? So a vibrating horse,” he clarifies, “there was a dildo attached at some point. Probably, uh, probably where you’re sitting right now.” He stops himself and clears his throat, trying not to meet Kuroo’s eyes. “Somebody would stick some coins in the coin slot, sit on the saddle, and the horse would start vibrating and the dildo would uh, move with the increasing frequency, and well, the person was in for a wild time.”

Keiji swears that he’s not an expert on these things.

Bokuto lets out a wheezing laugh and there’s tears in his eyes, “Kuroo, my bro, my man, you-- you just got fucked by a horse!”

Kuroo, who ever since Keiji opened his mouth has stopped moving and is now staring at the ceiling in what appears to be dread. “I feel violated.”

They begin to mess around with the room a bit; Kuroo poking around to see where other add-ons could have been attached, and Bokuto trying to figure out how the entire machine had worked. Keiji stays out of it, deciding to mostly just record the duo’s antics. He’s amused by the sheer amount of dick jokes that Bokuto can come up with, and the ease that Kuroo can bat them off as he still sits on the horse, looking as though it’s the most comfortable thing he’s put his ass on in his entire life. 

“What’s going on?” Kenma’s voice brings him back from his blank state, and Keiji rubs his forehead.

“We found a vibrating horse.” At this, the other raises an eyebrow. 

“Right.” They turn to see that Kuroo has (finally) gotten off the horse, and both him and Bokuto are looking at them with matching smiles that spell nothing but mischief.

“All the fun parts are gone, unfortunately.” Kuroo sighs, and Bokuto snickers before throwing an arm around his shoulder. Keiji tries to not think of the slight jealousy (where did that come from?) bubbling in his stomach at the action.

“Your ass is saved for another day, bro.”

Kuroo chuckles, before looking back to his camera, “lucky me, huh? My ass is saved for another day.”

They’ve begun to bicker over the pros and cons of actually riding the horse when they bump into Konoha ten minutes later, when they’re headed towards some rooms near the back of the hotel. Apparently, while they were occupied with the giant mechanical sex toy, Konoha had found the room that Keiji and Kuroo were interested in earlier. 

Unfortunately, though, there’s not much remaining. 

Kuroo’s not too happy with it either. “Man, and I was excited to see all of the sex positions on the walls,” he sighs, “it even looks like some of the demolition was on purpose too, which makes it that much more terrible.”

Keiji nods, looking at his own camera recording, “for as shiny and extravagant the furnishing looked on the flyer, the decoration level is a bit low.”

Konoha, who’s leaning on the doorway, shrugs. “People weren’t in it for the decoration job.”

“The decoration would have helped set the mood though,” Kuroo counters, to which Konoha nods. At least they can agree with that. 

Now, though, Konoha’s got a mission. He points his camera to Kuroo, and he’s got this look on his face, one that Keiji’s all too familiar with. He’s got three good theories on what’s going to come. So when the other opens his mouth, he’s not surprised at what comes out. “So, Kuroo-san. Would you like to come to a place like this for fun times, or nah?”

Much like all other times Keiji has lost control of his reactions around Kuroo, he can’t help but dart his eyes over. It’s a joke, he reminds himself. There’s no need to be so curious about his answer. 

He can’t feel himself breathe when he realizes that Kuroo’s looking directly at him when he speaks. “I’d definitely pay the price listed for being in that mirror room.”

Keiji looks away.

“Oh!” Konoha cheers.

“Ohoh?” Bokuto asks, and Kuroo, not seeming to want to be left out, continues the chain. “Ohohoh?” The three expectantly look towards Keiji, who sighs and grumbles, “Ohohohoh.”

Kenma looks at them all with a deadpan expression, seeming absolutely done with everyone.

Kuroo shrugs. “Cut me some slack. I sat on a dildo horse. Don’t shame me for joining in or on mirrors, thanks.”

Konoha openly laughs, “I would never!”, and then he’s got that face on again, and Keiji and Kenma simultaneously groan. The other two look at them in confusion, and Keiji lets out a 'tsk' as Kenma leaves the explaining part up to him. 

“That’s the face he gets when he’s about to go off on a ghost story. Prepare yourself,” is all he says. Kuroo’s eyes grow wide while Bokuto perks up.

“Ghosts? Now that’s something I want to hear,” he smiles, before looking at Kuroo slyly. Keiji decides that Bokuto looking at anything slyly does not mix well with his stomach. 

“According to the legends, there’s a ghost of a young man in the mirrors. His name is Atsumu,” Konoha begins, and his eyes flit from Keiji to Kenma to Bokuto, before finally settling on Kuroo. He’s perceptive enough to know who’s the most affected by his stories, and it appears like he’s found his target for today. “I’ve spoken to someone through my Network who they saw him in the mirrors, and they tried to communicate with him. They could read his lips, although no sound came out.”

Bokuto’s eyes are sparkling. “That’s so neat! What’d he say?”

Konoha shrugs. “He was waiting for a lover that never showed up. He’s still waiting, actually.”

“Did he die there?” Bokuto asks.

“Bro, really?” There’s a hint of panic and hysteria in Kuroo’s voice, though Keiji realizes nobody else notices. Maybe he’s just overanalyzing it. Overanalyzing Kuroo. Dammit. “I liked that room, don’t ruin it.”

Both Bokuto and Kenma make a face at him. 

Konoha snickers, “if it makes you feel better, I don’t think he died there. He’s there cause he had a strong enough emotional connection to the place. And Atsumu met his partner there in that room multiple times, actually. Might explain why.”

Kuroo groans and attempts to comb a hand through his extremely messy hair. “I don’t like that room anymore, it’s official. Point taken and discussion closed.”

“Oh, don’t worry bro! It’s still a perfectly kinky room! Sure, there’s no animal sex toys so I get that you can’t fully appreciate it, but-”

“Shut up, Bo!”

Keiji decides that it’s weird to see Kuroo on the teasing end of the duo’s banter. 

Kuroo groans. “Let’s just agree that there’s no ghosts, how about that? In the mirrors, in this hotel, nothing.” With that, he quickly turns away and leaves the room, and Bokuto snorts. 

“I want to see the room now! Atsumu-kun!” 

Konoha raises an eyebrow. “Do you think that this is a joke?”

The other shakes his head, an easy going grin spreading across his features. “Nah, it’s just that a dead boy in the mirrors is nothing. Kuroo’s just a scaredy cat, he’ll jump at everything. Makes you wonder how he’s able to do this as a job. Oh yeah, that reminds me of this time where we went to an asylum back in America. He was so scared, I thought he was going to cry at the sight of his own shadow-”

While Bokuto laughs loudly at the memory, Keiji hesitates. Normally, he’d want to listen in on Bokuto’s story-- he’s one of the first to dismiss ghost stories as nonsense, after all-- but there’s something about the way Kuroo had stared at the mirrors in absolute shock that makes him falter.

Chapter Text

When it’s time for the group to separate in the evening, Tetsurou somehow manages to convince Akaashi to come to the hotel with him. It was good and they could collaborate ideas, he’d said. 

It’s only when he’s about to open the hotel room door that he suddenly remembers how much of a mess it is. After first coming to the hotel with Bokuto, Tetsurou had just messily torn apart his suitcase and had thrown things around where he thought they would fit, as he was too focussed on trying to tame his hair in the bathroom mirror in the half hour that Akaashi and Konoha had left them alone. Not that Tetsurou cares too much, though he’s pretty sure that Akaashi’s wondering how he made such a mess of the room in such a short period of time. 

Schooling his features into what he hopes is a nonchalant expression, he turns to the other. “Want something to drink or something?”

Tetsurou can hardly keep still; the adrenaline and excitement from today is still running through his veins. He’s not looking forward to putting an end to it either, wanting to to ride out this feeling for as long as possible. Especially when he has company over. 

“We could also check and compare our footage, if you want,” he offers, turning around to look back at Akaashi. Or maybe they could vlog. That would be nice. Tetsurou’s been filming short little blurbs since his decision to come to Japan, for as much as he’d like to upload content of the abandoned buildings, he would still like to sightsee too. But now that he’s got company, he’s kind of tempted to tell the world that Akaashi knows all of the best abandoned spots in all of Japan. 

Akaashi shrugs (to which question, Tetsurou’s not sure), “sure. Kenma’s probably beating both Konoha and Bokuto at games right now, anyway. I won’t be missing much.”

“Ouch, are you saying that you’d rather spend time with them than me? I’m hurt, Akaashi. I thought we shared something.”

“Well maybe you’re just assuming things, Kuroo-san,” Akaashi deadpans, but Tetsurou catches the teasing lilt in his eyes. He just grins in response, watching how the other straps off his backpack and places it on the floor.

They do end up getting drinks from the mini-fridge, and end up settling on top of the bed with their backs against the headrest as they first plug in Akaashi’s camera into Tetsurou’s laptop. 

The SD card that he used still has a few photos from Akaashi’s other explorations, and Tetsurou can’t help but get curious and click on the folder dated around a week ago. 

They sift through the photos in a calm silence. The laptop, a large, kind of bulky thing, sits on Tetsurou’s thighs but is angled so Akaashi can see the monitor without too much distortion. Sometimes, though, Akaashi presses his shoulder against Tetsurou’s to get a better look at the footage, and it crosses Tetsurou’s mind that the easiest way to do this would be for Akaashi to just permanently rest his head against his shoulder. At some point Akaashi ends up doing just that, without seeming to realize it. Tetsurou doesn’t flinch since he’s too interested in the photos as well. 

(There’s also the fact that he doesn’t mind the action at all)

“I’m still editing the video for this one,” Akaashi explains when Tetsurou asks about the place. 

Honestly speaking, Tetsurou wouldn’t mind seeing the raw footage, either. He’s got firsthand experience about the importance of all of the smaller details, and it’s hard to always pick and choose the best moments to squeeze into a twenty minute video.

“Maybe add some of the old photos alongside the footage.” Not that Akaashi needs any tips on editing videos, anyway. From all that Tetsurou’s seen, Akaashi’s nothing but professional, all smooth cuts and clean blends of film. “Old photos just add this kind of, I don’t know, eerie-ness? Like it just makes it that much more real. You get a real vision on who actually lived there, it’s no longer just a setting.”

Akaashi stares at the picture on the laptop screen, a shelf with a couple of the photographs of the family. He’s quiet for a moment, before letting out a huff of laughter. “Konoha would tell you it’s because of the ghosts there.” He points to the screen, “apparently, there’s these two ghosts that continuously move the photographs between the rooms.”

“Really?” Tetsurou  zooms in on one of the picture frames. It’s a picture of four young children, although two of them seem to be arguing with each other (one is glowering while the other, taller one with glasses is smirking back) instead of smiling like the other two. “Did you see any movement?”

Akaashi rolls his eyes, “‘course we didn’t.”

“You sure? Seems kinda freaky.” At his teasing, Akaashi rolls his eyes as he nudges Tetsurou in the shoulder, this time on purpose. Tetsurou pushes back, and they share a moment of laughter before going back to the photos.  

“I should keep you away from Konoha, he can get a bit too convincing when he gets invested in his nonsense-storytelling.”

Nonsense, huh.

“So you don’t believe in that stuff.” It’s not a question, Akaashi’s reactions in the hotel were enough to tell him that. In response, the other hums as he opens the folder of footage from today.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

He leans in closer to take a look at the love hotel photos, and Tetsurou can faintly smell the lemony scent of Akaashi’s shampoo.

Not like he’s sniffing it on purpose, mind you. It’s just right there, in his personal space. Kind of hard not to smell it. 

As they continue looking through the photos, Tetsurou’s mind takes a sharp turn away from Akaashi’s hair and what it might feel like brushed between his fingers, and towards the adventure they went on today. 

“I honestly still can’t believe how preserved the entire place was. I’ve never seen something as natural as that before in the States, with how vandals like to absolutely cover everything in graffiti.” He launches into a story of how he and Bo had gone to find this tiny village in the mountains one time. It had initially seemed to be locked in time, with nothing but the mountains and the forest around it, but when they finally neared close, they saw it was covered in graffiti. Someone must have hiked for hours on end just to ruin the place.

“I’d still love to see it someday.”

Tetsurou looks at the other, and his mouth is opening before he even thinks. “Then you should come visit! We could go on roadtrips and see all sorts of cool stuff!”

Tetsurou has to remind himself that he’s the spontaneous type. This trip was a prime example of that. But he’s already planning all sorts of different trips to go on once Akaashi arrives in the States. It’s no longer a matter of if but rather of when. If Akaashi were to suddenly call him out of the blue to tell him that he’s boarded a plane to America, Tetsurou would be more than happy to pick him up at the airport.

“Seriously?” Akaashi asks, and Tetsurou preens at the underlying joy in the other’s voice.

“Yeah! It’s a fair trade, isn’t it? And Kenma and Konoha could join you too, though I’m not so sure if I’ve got enough couches.”

“It’s fine, we’ll probably book a hotel.” Tetsurou shakes his head. 

“We’re friends now, and I’ll always have the option for friends to stay at mine instead of staying at  overpriced hotels.” His apartment isn’t big, per say, but it’s fit three people just fine before. Sure, one of them was his ex-girlfriend who didn’t need an extra bed at the time, but that’s a detail that’s not worth mentioning. If Akaashi were to come with Kenma and Konoha, he’s confident they’ll be able to figure something out. 

Akaashi gives him a smile, and now Tetsurou has no excuse for the things that smile does to his heart. “That honestly sounds great. You’ll have to show us some of the supposedly haunted places, Konoha will have the time of his life.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Why’s everyone so obsessed with ghosts?”

He gets a shrug in response. “Because it’s fun?”

Tetsurou hums. “Konoha seems to think it’s real, though. I mean, moving pictures?” 

“It’s a pretty well known place. People may not write all over the walls with spray paint, but they still want to leave a mark.”

Tetsurou is still not convinced, even though he’d like to be. “Maybe. What about that ghost in the mirror today? Atsumu, he said? People have seen and tried to communicate with him.” 

Akaashi turns to him with a raised eyebrow. “People have also said all sorts of things before.”

Tetsurou hesitates, before leaning over to unplug the other’s camera and connect his own. He opens the folder from today and begins to flip through the photos, slowing down when he reaches the footage of the mirror room. “Uh, don’t judge me, but I think I saw, I dunno, something. Like, before Konoha opened his mouth and began babbling about spiritual connections and all, I thought I saw something in the mirror.”

“Like what exactly?”

A good start. At least Akaashi’s not outwardly laughing at him or something. Sure, he probably doesn’t believe him, but at least he’s not admitting that out loud to Tetsurou’s face. Because a big part of Tetsurou thinks it’s stupid as well, but he’s still slightly shaken by what he thinks he saw. 

“It’s kind of… weird, I guess.” He’s reached the video file he was searching for, and hits play as he tries to explain. 

“It was this young guy who had blond hair, and was wearing a kimono. He was reaching his hand towards me, and I just kind of froze.” He saw him as clearly as he can see Akaashi right now, but there’s nothing in the video file. He slows it down a couple of times, squinting to see if he can perhaps see even a flash of what he saw in the mirrors, but sighs and rubs his nose when there’s nothing. 

He’s surprised when he notices Akaashi leaning forward to try and see as well.

“Maybe you saw me and didn’t recognize me from all the different angles and shadows?”

As with all ghost sightings, that’s certainly a possibility. But Akaashi was already halfway out the door when he saw him, meaning that he couldn’t have been reflected in the mirror to the right of Tetsurou. There’s also this, “unless I’m mistaken on what one looks like, you weren’t wearing a kimono today either.”

Akaashi shrugs. “Maybe not today.” He nudges Tetsurou’s shoulder again. “I could tomorrow though, if you ask nicely.”

“Seriously?”

Although he wouldn’t admit it out loud, Tetsurou does want to see it. No more ghosts, but Akaashi in serious and traditional clothes. 

In response, the other shrugs. “My parents insisted I have some in my closet, and I don’t wear them super often. Obviously not the most comfortable for exploring abandoned buildings though.”

“Now I want to see.”

Akaashi rolls his eyes, but there’s the lightest blush on his cheekbones. “I look stupid.”

“That’s very unlikely.” Tetsurou cracks his neck as he reaches upwards and stretches, before turning to look at Akaashi. 

Who is staring right back at him. 

Whatever words he’s about to say dies in his throat. They were talking gibberish about ghosts and had completely lost track of the conversation, but now Tetsurou can’t get the image of Akaashi in a kimono out of his mind. That’s usually not something he thinks about often. 

He carefully steers the conversation over to Akaashi’s family, because that seems safer than the eventual gutter that they’re currently headed towards. And he’s curious too. Curious about Akaashi, who he is and what he likes. Sure, he could always infer things from the other’s videos, but Akaashi’s got this certain thing to his voice when he speaks in English that Tetsurou is just inevitably attracted to. 

The conversation leads from Akaashi’s family to Tetsurou’s, and suddenly it’s past midnight and they’re drowsy enough for Tetsurou to recount about this one time in highschool when he went down on a guy at a party, because he was still lost on whether he was into girls or guys. 

Akaashi chokes on his bottle of water at the tale, and he gets into a coughing fit when all Tetsurou does is grin and says, “it was a disaster, to put it lightly. No amount of online research could tell me what it’s like to have a dick in my mouth. Haven’t done it since then.”

Akaashi peers at him through his tousled hair, and it’s probably his exhaustiveness that’s talking when he asks, “would you though?”

Tetsurou shrugs. “Haven’t thought about it, really.” Then he narrows his eyes. “Have you?”

Akaashi’s face bursts like a bright red flame, and Tetsurou doesn’t laugh because he’s too busy looking. 

Akaashi turns his head back towards the laptop screen, which has long gone to sleep after they got lost in conversation. He mumbles, “definitely haven’t had a dick in my mouth,” and the words are hardly audible, but Tetsurou hears them anyway. 

He hasn’t laughed this hard in a long time.

When Tetsurou wakes up, he’s momentarily disoriented as he blearily tries to blink himself awake. He’s wearing yesterday’s clothes, and he can hear the heavy breathing of someone else sleeping beside him.

His joints pop as he turns his head to see what’s going on. 

Akaashi is sprawled on the other side of the bed, dark and messy hair covering most of his face as his lips are parted slightly. He’s still wearing the loose shirt and jeans he was wearing yesterday, though the shirt is a bit rolled up to expose his stomach. Tetsurou finds his sleepy eyes being drawn towards the strip of skin and the line of the other’s hips to his waist. His stomach does flips, and he shouldn’t be ogling Akaashi like that. For many reasons.

But he can’t help it. 

He flicks his gaze back to Akaashi’s face, which is scrunched up the slightest as he hugs one of the many pillows closer to his chest. 

Tetsurou’s mind reels back to the conversation they had last night, and he flushes when he realizes that he sounded as if he was offering when he talked about his sexual encounters with the other.

He groans quietly and hides his face in his hands, before making the mistake and looking back up, seeing how his noise had woken up Akaashi. The other yawns slightly, before blinking back at Tetsurou. 

“Morning.”

“G’morning. I think that we’ve got the sleeping arrangements settled for when you come to America.” Tetsurou doesn’t know what he’s saying. Akaashi’s eyes are closed again, and he hasn’t made much attempt to move. One arm is thrown over his stomach, covering the sight that Tetsurou was so drawn too earlier, while the other hugs the pillow closer to his chest. 

“Huh?” He murmurs, not seeming to comprehend what Tetsurou’s stupid mouth is babbling about. 

“Well, I’m saying that you and I fit in the bed just fine. You didn’t even kick me.”

“Maybe it was you who did the kicking,” Akaashi grumbles, before flinging out a leg to Tetsurou’s half of the bed, hitting his shin under the blanket. 

For someone who’s barely awake, Tetsurou is able to roll over pretty quickly. He lands on his side and traps Akaashi’s leg underneath his own, though that ultimately brings them closer as well. They’re practically squished together now.

Akaashi’s eyes are now blown open as he stares right back at Tetsurou, who grins. 

Internally, he’s screaming at himself. 

Akaashi coughs slightly, jabbing Tetsurou in the waist while he makes his quick escape from the other’s hold. While the latter is hissing in pain, he quickly hops out the bed. 

“I’m going to need a shower.” Then he hesitates, scratching his nose in what Tetsurou deems as embarrassment. “And I’m going to need some clean clothes and a toothbrush, if you don’t mind.”

Tetsurou’s grin doesn’t falter as he sits up on the bed. “They probably sell some toiletries downstairs. And you can borrow one of my shirts.”

“Thanks.”

An hour later, they’re both showered, packed with their exploration tools, and dressed in matching hoodies. 

(Tetsurou couldn’t help himself)

He  gets a text from Bokuto, who apparently slept over after a gruelling night of getting absolutely pummeled by Kenma during an intense MarioKart session. They’re meeting at the nearby train station, and are to buy coffee for Kenma because Akaashi apparently owes him for some footage. 

When getting there, they’re not surprised to see that all three other people are there as well, with Bokuto stretching out one of Konoha’s largest hoodies. 

All raise an eyebrow at the pair looks, to which Akaashi just shrugs. 

“We were looking at footage together and lost track of time, so it was better for me to stay the night than go home. Kuroo-san was nice enough to lend me some of his clothes.”

They all seem to sense that there’s more to that, but the topic is dropped.

“So,” Tetsurou breaks the silence, “where are we headed today?”

It turns out they’re headed towards an abandoned amusement park. 

Tetsurou loves it. He loves the eerie atmosphere of a place that was so lively at some point, but is now quiet and forgotten. Every abandoned place carries the imprint of the lives that once touched it, from the people who built it to the people who once gave it life. The remnants of when these places were once so closely entwined with the people makes him bristle in anticipation.

Tetsurou is alone and taking pictures of the broken carousel when he spies Bokuto walking towards him. Walking is putting it lightly, actually, as the other seems to be intent on cornering him into talking in the ‘no pressure, but I’d really like to know what’s going on because I really do care about you’ kind of way.

They’re silent for a moment, just the soft click, click, click of Tetsurou’s camera as it captures the carousel. Bokuto’s standing right outside of the frame, because for all he is nosey, he knows not to interrupt a good photo. 

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” 

Tetsurou’s fingers slip at the sincere tone of the other’s voice. He tries to cover it up by messing with the zoom feature, but already can tell the attempt was in vain when Bokuto just looks at him with more concern. 

“Nothing to tell.”

Bokuto’s silence is deafening, and Tetsurou can already tell that he’s not going to get the picture he wants without talking to him. So he puts the camera down and looks towards the other, and his stomach twists at the knowing look that he’s given.

“Did you sleep with Akaashi?”

“What? No.”

Bokuto steps closer. “Seriously? There’s a lot of sexual tension between you guys.”

Tetsurou laughs it off, shaking his head as he looks down at the display on the camera. “I didn’t, Bo.”

“Do you want to, though?” Bokuto’s giving him a look that Tetsurou can’t decipher. “I wouldn’t judge.” He shrugs, and his eyes drift behind to something behind Tetsurou. A short glance over his shoulder reveals Akaashi walking closer, camera in hand as he talks on the recording. He laughs at a painted drawing on a large panel nearby, and Tetsurou feels his heart thump against his ribcage. 

He shakes his head. “No.”

Chapter Text

The following days are filled with travelling and visiting new spots. Tetsurou can hardly get enough of it. 

They visit so many places that his head spins. From the old, practically untouched highschool in the high hills, to empty factories, to a newly closed hospital that’s practically left in perfect condition, to spots with dark, creepy, or bloody pasts that Konoha finds utter joy in reciting to all of them. 

Tetsurou learns that not only is the blond’s knowledge about the supernatural and backgrounds of the ruins excessive, it’s practically limitless.

Practically every place they visit seems to have some sort of haunted history that makes him queasy and sends chills to his bones, yet he can’t help but listen closely every single time. 

There’s two days left in his stay in Japan when Kenma has to excuse himself to a gaming convention, and Konoha drags Bokuto away to Nara to a famous abandoned amusement park. Tetsurou and Akaashi were supposed to go as well, but he’d managed to convince the other to take him north to a western-styled theme park in Tochigi. 

He’s read and seen videos from other explorers of the place, and now that he’s in the same country he absolutely needs to see it firsthand. 

The day is bright and sunny and absolutely perfect for filming. 

He’s getting along great with Akaashi too, which is just an added plus. Tetsurou’s going to miss the guy when he heads back home, and the thought leaves a sour aftertaste in his mouth. They’ve been inseparable, really. When they weren’t in abandoned buildings, he had gotten a personal tour of Japan’s historical sites, and had eaten so much food that he’s absolutely certain that he gained a few pounds. 

His drafts of his explorations in Japan, with Akaashi’s sense for detail and knowledge combined with Konoha’s ghost stories, all exceed his usual 30 minute videos. He’s not so sure he cares, though. One can break their own rules.

One of those rules, as it turns out, might also be to always act professional while filming on location. 

The park might possibly be one of the coolest places that Tetsurou has ever been in. There are so many attractions there, and it seems like a wrinkle in time with how untouched a lot of it seems. Akaashi had somehow found an old visitors guide with a map of the place, and Tetsurou can’t wait to see everything, from the saloon to the prison to the mayor’s office.

“Fucking unbelievable,” is what he breathes when they step inside.

The entire village is built with wooden planks and stone slabs, and there are life-sized automatons and teddy bears that are dressed in all sorts of uniforms all over the place. 

They go from one building to the next, exploring the bank, the sheriff’s station, an old casino, and so much more that he fears that he may run out of camera space. 

Tetsurou finds a giant bear-shaped ride in another building, and it doesn’t take much for Akaashi to prod him into getting in for a silly picture. 

“If you tell me that there’s some type of dick on this bear, I’m seriously going to kick your ass,” he warns, but he’s already clambering into the cockpit. 

Akaashi laughs as he holds up his camera, “none that I know of. Are you sure you aren’t getting war flashbacks from the horse, Kuroo-san?”

Tetsurou loves the place. 

Ok, he may love more than just the place. It’s the company too, because he can tell that Akaashi is just as excited as he is when they enter each building they find.

When they’ve visited most of the buildings and are casually walking on the cobblestone path, Tetsurou watches as Akaashi stretches his arms into the sky. 

“This is definitely one of my favourite places.”

“Same here,” he agrees instantly. Then falters. “Damn, I’ve said that for practically every place I go.”

Akaashi shrugs, “well, you’ve been to a lot of pretty neat places. I’m not surprised.”

Tetsurou’s smile spreads into a smirk as he nudges the other’s shoulder. “I think you mean we’ve been to some pretty neat places. Man, I’m gonna miss this when I go back.”

His time in Japan is soon nearing its end. He’s got two more days until he has to be seated on a plane, and he’s completely dreading it. It’s been a long time since he’s had so much fun in one setting.

There’s a grin spreading across Akaashi’s face. “I’ve saved the best for last.”

“Really? You’ve set the bar pretty high, I’m not sure what can top this.” To display his point, Tetsurou slowly turns around while he gestures to all of the tall, wooden buildings around them. 

Akaashi has been the best guide.

“How about more ghosts?”

--- if you're not comfortable with the abandoned pictures, please skip over ---

Chapter Text

Somehow, in the midst of Kuroo’s busy visits, Keiji had managed to watch a good portion of the other’s videos. Although he didn’t binge in a random order like he’d initially wanted, he instead watched the playlist on Kuroo’s adventures in abandoned asylums. After all, it’s a pretty interesting topic and Kuroo seems like he’s seen them all.

But Keiji knows one particular place that the other has definitely not yet filmed. 

It’s been on his bucket list for a while now, but for some reason he had kept putting it off. Though now he’s glad he kept on postponing it despite his follower’s constant requests.

Perhaps it’s because he was waiting for it to be the finale for Kuroo’s visit. Probably not.

Ok, maybe. Bokuto and Kuroo would be boarding a flight bound back to America the next day, so maybe it was the cherry on top for their trip.

“Unlike many other countries, Japan doesn’t have a lot of large and abandoned mental asylums. While countries like the United States and the United Kingdom built massive structures meant for caging ‘socially wrong’ people under the cover of treating them; Japan expected these individuals to be kept at home, even if their way of healing these people were to trap them in small, dark and dirty sheds with no way of escape. However, based off of what’s known about the ‘treatments’ that occured in both types of asylums, no country can claim they were morally better than the rest when it comes to handling the situation.” Just saying these words into a camera makes Keiji feel sick to his stomach. “However, there is one place here that is quite similar to it’s Western counterparts.”

This is not an easy subject, he’s got to tread lightly.

He steals a glance to his right, where Kuroo is saying his own intro to his camera. The other isn’t as exuberant as he usually is, though he still seems excited to venture into the building. 

They are currently situated in front of Asakura Hospital, located in Saitama and an hour away from Tokyo. The air around them is gloomy and foggy, and Keiji feels nerves building in his gut. 

“Welcome to the most haunted place in Saitama, and second most haunted place in Japan. This place is probably only second to Aokigahara, or better known as the suicide forest,” Konoha states to his own camera, before turning to grin at Kenma. “This is gonna be awesome.”

The other nods. “Do you want to say your ghost story now, or later?” 

Bokuto straightens and quickly rushes over, “I want to hear all of it!”

“Nope, not now. Trust me on this, you should see the inside first before hearing about this place.” This time it’s Konoha who’s leading the group up to the entrance, and the rest of them trail behind him in varying states of excitement. 

Keiji falls in step beside Kuroo, who’s looking more and more pale as they get closer. 

“I can’t believe I’m willingly walking into another asylum.”

“Don’t let Konoha’s stories get to you. He was way too excited when I told him we were coming here.” Keiji can already tell that the blond had spent the entire night hunched over his laptop as he searched for all of the creepy stories about this place. There was no doubt that his Information Network had gladly pitched in on helping, too.

Kuroo sighs, and runs a hand through his hair. (And curses when it gets stuck)

“Unfortunately, I’ll have to say that’s easier said than done.”

The first thing they see when entering the building is the mess of sharded glass and ripped medical papers scattered across the scratched pavement floor. 

“Holy shit,” Bokuto breathes, “this is insane.”

Unlike many of the other places they had visited, the walls are absolutely wrecked with graffiti. There’s an assortment of coloured scribbles, horrified faces, and thousands of anguished messages that overlap each other. 

‘Save yourself before it’s too late’ one message reads. ‘There’s nothing you can do but die’ reads another. These were definitely written by prior explorers, or those ghost hunters who wanted the extra effect in their videos. Regardless of that fact, they still make Keiji shudder.

“Although it’s pretty obvious, you can tell that this is a very popular site,” Kenma murmurs. “When this place closed down in 2001, hundreds of people took the test of bravery to see if any of the souls who died here due to ill treatment still remained.”

“And the conviction?” Bokuto asks, sending a meaningful wink to Kuroo, “do we have the chance of greeting any spirits tonight?”

Konoha nods. “Yep, there’s several. There’s been lots of reports of nurses and patients wandering the halls. One of the more famous ones is the nurse who was killed by two patients just before the hospital closed, and there’s an old man in a wheelchair who likes to race with anyone who enters the upper floor hallway.”

Bokuto rummages through his backpack to find a flashlight and grins. “Let’s find the wheelchair racer. I want to see if I can beat him.”

Kuroo blanches, “Our focus isn’t provoking ghosts.”

“I’m not gonna provoke him! I’m just gonna beat him at his own game!”

“That’s gonna provoke him, Bo.”

“But the worst is the basement,” Konoha interrupts their squabble before it can erupt into something massive. “If there are any spirits in this place, they’re definitely gonna be there. People have heard several thuds from down there, where patients would commit suicide by bashing their heads into the wall.”

Bokuto turns on his flashlight, lighting the nearest hallway with an eeriness that makes Keiji’s insides squirm. “Then let’s head to the basement first. I can beat the wheelchair guy after. Do you know where to go?”

A shiver up Keiji’s spine makes him think twice about following Bokuto into the basement, but everyone else is already moving forward. 

He should probably take his own advice on not letting Konoha’s stories get to his head.

Kuroo, a couple of steps ahead, glances over his shoulder and gives Keiji a reassuring smile. It’s like he can read Keiji’s thoughts, and a wave of calm rushes over him. This is just another adventure, and this isn’t the first basement he’s ever entered.

Only it’s unlike any of the other basements that Keiji has entered.

He thinks that there is absolutely no reason for a hospital basement to look like a dungeon of all things. The only source of light is from their flashlights, and when combined with the narrow corridors they make all sorts of shadows dance against the walls. The cells, Keiji horrifyingly realizes, are lined with creaking and rusted metal bars instead of the chipped walls and doors that he had expected. There are broken wheelchairs littered all around the place, from the middle of the hallway to several being pushed against the walls.

“Wow, this is creepy.” While Bokuto may not have been loud (for once), his voice ricochets off the walls and echoes throughout the entire place.

Konoha is the one to wander off first, seeming enthralled by the details of the place and wanting to document the entire thing. 

They begin to split up one by one, treading the narrow hallways with an unease that Keiji isn’t used to. Although it’s inevitable that they would run into each other at one point, whether it’s accidental or not, there were ways to avoid most interactions. The place was best suited to be recorded in its empty and quiet beauty.

Keiji begins to take pictures and record short little clippits.

He trails his finger along the rusted bars of the cell to his left, pausing and looking at the inside and swallowing tightly before beginning to walk again. 

When in service, the hospital had several ‘unwanted’ residents, and he didn’t want to think of how broad that concept was. Anybody could have been unwanted. Patients who were denied from other hospitals, regular people from uncaring families, homeless people, or people who just didn’t fit society’s cookie cutter shapes.

A shiver runs down his spine.

He stops in front of another cell, biting his lip as he peers at the inside. It’s a tiny and cramped area, with hardly enough room for a tiny bed. Keiji doubts if the residents were even given a bed in the first place. The atmosphere is gloomy and cold, and when he shines his flashlight on the wall, there’s dark mahogany smudges.

“That’s the blood of a person who tried to kill themselves by slamming their head into the wall. Given the darkness of the stain and the sheer amount of blood, I think they were successful.” Konoha’s voice appears out of thin air and right by Keiji’s ear, shocking him and causing him to bolt forward as a tactic to get away. Unfortunately, though, the only thing that’s in front of him are the cell bars, and he’s lucky enough that he was able to cover his face with his forearm. 

“Fuck,” he groans, rubbing it as he glares at the intruder. 

“Sorry,” Konoha says, though judging by his smirk, he’s not sorry. “I thought you heard my footsteps.”

Keiji sighs. “I was just thinking, I guess.”

Konoha hums, his camera zooming in on the stain that Keiji was looking at before. “There’s records saying that people died in the basement due to severe traumas.”

Keiji’s fingers curl against one of the bars. “That’s terrible.”

Konoha’s quiet for a moment, but when he next speaks, it’s hardly above a whisper. “I don’t say this very often because it goes against the point of our job, but this place should’ve been torn down. It’s like a prison, and even though it’s been years since it’s been at use, there’s still this air of suffering and torment. If,” he gives a pointed look at Keiji, “there are any ghosts, they’re trapped here forever.”

Although Keiji doesn’t believe in ghosts, the concept of being trapped in a place like this forever seems like a living nightmare. He’s barely tolerating one night.

When Konoha leaves him, his footsteps echo against the floor. Keiji stands motionless for what seems like both an eternity and a second, before finally turning his camera back on. 

He slowly opens the cell door, which creaks heavily at the action of being used after so long. Filming in one of the cells seems like a good idea. 

“Hey guys, welcome to a place out of literal nightmares. This is one of the cells in the basement, and as you can see,” he turns the camera to the metal bars, and then towards the mahogany stain, “it’s like a jail. People would get so desperate to get out of here that they would rather bash their head against the walls.”

Another shiver runs down his spine, but not because of his nerves.

He turns the camera back onto himself. “You guys can’t really tell, but it’s freezing in here, kind of feels like it’s winter.” He turns in a circle, flipping the camera again, “if you look around, there’s nothing in here that shows any form of a heat source that may have been in here. That’s sickening.” The only thing in here are the dark stains on the walls. 

As he continues to film, he slowly begins to feel more at ease. Keiji continues to capture details of the tiny cell as he continues his narration, and although he’s unsure of what will actually make the final cut, he wants to film it all. It’s an immoral past, but it’s something that shouldn’t be forgotten for the sole reason of being so immoral. He hopes it serves as a lesson learned to not repeat the same things again.

Keiji’s so engrossed into his filming that he misses the sound of footsteps against the tiled floors again, and only notices Kuroo at the doorway when he turns around to film the bars. 

The other is standing there silently, face voidless of any emotion. 

Keiji lets out a gasp, staggering backwards as he grabs his chest to calm his frantically racing heart. “Fucking hell. Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Tooru?

Kuroo tilts his head to the side slightly, his gaze never leaving Keiji.

“What?” He frowns. “Who?”

Kuroo tilts his head to the other side, unblinking.

Tooru.

Something’s wrong. “Tetsurou?” Keiji asks slowly, because something about the situation tells him that calling Kuroo by his last name isn’t the best choice.

It happens fast.

Kuroo takes two long strides towards the spot where Keiji is standing, and he feels like he can’t move. 

Suddenly, there’s hands on his cheeks, holding him in place, and then Kuroo is kissing him. His lips are pressing with such urgency that Keiji freezes in shock, unable to comprehend what’s going on and unable to protest. Then all of a sudden, he feels his body moving against his will as he’s returning the kiss. His arms curl around Kuroo’s waist, pulling him closer until they’re pressing against each other, and he feels like his heart is on fire in the dead-cold cell. The kiss is all teeth and tongue and swallowed gasps, and Keiji can’t control his limbs as they desperately thread through Kuroo’s mess of a hairstyle.

Tooru…

Keiji feels his body arch against the other, and feels Kuroo’s fingers gripping his hair with heavy desperation and longing.

He feels mildly horrified when his teeth suddenly bite Kuroo’s lip.

Hajime…

The voices are barely above a whisper, yet they crash against Keiji’s mind like angry waves. He struggles for control over his own body, and somehow manages to bring his hand against Kuroo’s chest before he pushes him away.

Kuroo growls at the loss of contact at first, before something seems to snap inside of him as all of a sudden his eyes are wide and he’s taking a step backwards. His lips are swollen and red with an unspoken question, and Keiji already knows he looks the same as he finally begins to feel in control of his body again.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t having any problems, though, because he’s finding it hard to breathe. 

He doesn’t recognize his own voice when he speaks. “What the fuck just happened?”

“Uh…” is all Kuroo says in response, looking as confused as Keiji feels. Something is definitely not right here.

Keiji bites the corner of his lip. Kuroo’s taste is still there, on his lips, in his mouth, and the feeling of Kuroo’s hands desperately clutching his hair still pulses against his head. 

Kuroo rubs his forehead with the back of his thumb. “I’m sorry. I’ll just, uh, leave.” He’s already facing the other way and is about to step out of the cell when he turns back, a confused pinch in between his eyebrows. “Who’s Hajime?”

--- if you're not comfortable with the abandoned pictures, please skip over ---

upper floor beds:

outside view:

basement cells & hallway:

Chapter Text

Tetsurou has no idea what to say, what to think. Akaashi’s lips have burned into his own, and he’s not really sure how the events leading up to that situation even occurred.

That being said, it’s not like he regrets it, because he doesn’t. At all. If he wanted to kiss another guy, actually, another person, it would definitely be Akaashi. The idea of kissing the other may have subconsciously crossed his mind once or twice in the past couple of days, but he hasn’t acknowledged it seriously yet.

But then again, he wasn’t even thinking at all, hell, he wasn’t even in control of himself. He just… did it.

“I don’t know. Who’s Tooru?” Akaashi breaks the heavy silence that’s beginning to spread between them.

Tooru?

“Dunno, never heard of him,” Tetsurou shrugs. His eyes keep flickering back to Akaashi’s lips, and he has to force himself to look somewhere else. 

Akaashi bites his bottom lip as he hesitates, and Tetsurou can’t stop himself this time as he glances at the other. 

“That’s… odd.”

Tetsurou nods, because really, what else can he do? “We should probably--”

“--find the others. Yes. Let’s go.”

Akaashi seems just as eager as him to get out of this cell that seems almost suffocating, and when Tetsurou steps out into the hallway, he can literally feel the air filling his lungs.

When Akaashi joins him outside, there’s a noticeable distance between them.

Tetsurou is both thanking and hating it.

They end up finding everyone else in the nurse’s office at the end of the hallway, crowded around a desk covered in patient’s information and x-ray scans.

“Where have you been, lovebirds?” Bokuto pesters, eyes flashing playfully.

Akaashi’s fingers curl around his camera tightly, and Tetsurou lets out a dry laugh that’s hardly convincing. The others couldn’t have known. Right?

“Did you find anything interesting?” Akaashi asks instead, deliberately ignoring the teasing. Probably the best solution.

Kenma sifts through some papers. “Interesting is one word. Sickening is another.” 

From beside him, Konoha wordlessly hands Tetsurou a thin stack of stapled papers, who quickly shines his flashlight to see the contents while Akaashi steps beside him to film. It’s an x-ray scan of a human skull from the side, and as he flips through all of them, Tetsurou comes to the sinking theory that they’re of all the residents who were in here. When he reaches one of the last, he freezes.

There’s a dark spot on the forehead, and there’s several running cracks that are wide and thin leading towards it. The nerd part of Tetsurou’s brain thinks it looks like a plasma ball. But unlike a plasma ball, it looks horrifying, and Tetsurou feels sick knowing that his theory was probably correct.

There’s a small identification tag in the corner of the scan, reading Patient #0720-OT. An identity number that no longer means anything.

Tetsurou quickly hands the pile back to Konoha, who throws it back onto the table.

“This place is actually freaking me out,” Bokuto mumbles, and Tetsurou would be surprised at how serious the other sounded if he weren’t so shaken by earlier events. “Hate to admit it, but I don’t think I want to find the wheelchair racer right now.”

Kenma nods. “Me too.”

If even Bokuto, who was perfectly fine in all the other asylums in America was feeling like there was something wrong with this place, then that was instant red flags for Tetsurou. 

Luckily, everyone else seems to share the same sentiment as they all straighten up and begin to shuffle towards the door. From the corner of his eye, Tetsurou can see Kenma softly patting Bokuto’s back in reassurance. 

“We should go,” Konoha speaks, “we’ll leave the ghosts at peace.”

Tetsurou feels something cold brush against his shoulders and nape, but doesn’t dare look behind him as they clamber up the stairs from the basement. He’s a bit too afraid to look, because maybe, just maybe, he saw something real.

Chapter Text

Keiji can’t sleep.

It’s past 1 in the morning, but he’s been laying on his bed for the past hour and a half without being able to just close his eyes and fucking sleep. The events in the cell keep replaying in his head, and he feels his hands shake as he remembers feeling so detached and out of control of his own body as it had practically eaten out Kuroo’s face. 

He’s already tried to distract himself with other thoughts, like the fact that Konoha’s birthday was coming soon and he needed to buy him a present, or that he had to go grocery shopping soon since his fridge was looking embarrassingly bare, but his mind kept on wandering back to that moment. 

Keiji can still distantly feel Kuroo’s hands from when they had desperately pulled on his hair, as if the other was ensuring that Keiji would never be torn away from him again. 

And then there was the matter of the voices.

There was no way that Keiji could explain to himself that he was imagining them. They were too distinct, too full of passion and personality for him to just say that they were fake; and they had thundered so loudly through Keiji’s mind that he couldn’t hear anything else. 

It didn’t make sense.

He closes his eyes again and takes a deep breath, trying to lull himself back to sleep. And groans in frustration when he realizes he can’t, because he’s replaying that moment in the cell for what has to be the fiftieth time. 

Keiji counts to ten, and when he’s done and is still thinking about the damned kiss he gives up and throws off the duvet. 

If he can’t solve this problem on his own, he’ll just take it up to the only other person involved. He has to remind himself to change out of his sleepwear and snatches his backpack and laptop from off the table, where they had laid untouched from when Keiji had thrown it earlier. He hails a taxi, not quite trusting himself to not lose it on public transportation, and soon finds himself knocking on Kuroo’s door hoping for nothing short of a miracle.

When Kuroo opens the door, he’s wearing sweatpants and nothing else while he towel dries his hair. 

“Oh.”

Keiji has to remind himself to breathe and not to stare. “Kuroo-san.”

“You okay?” The other asks, and there’s a tinge of worry in his voice. Which isn’t the best sign, because that means that Keiji looks the way that he’s feeling: disoriented and an entire mess.

“To be honest, I’m not sure.” He hesitates, and brushes his tongue against his bottom lip. It’s cracked, he realizes. He probably looks exhausted. “Can I come in?”

Kuroo steps back, gesturing towards the room. “Go ahead.”

Keiji waits for the door to close before he turns back to Kuroo, who’s pulling on a ratty shirt of a band that Keiji doesn’t recognize. That’s good, he thinks. Now he won’t get distracted by the bare skin, and can now focus solely on the thing that’s kept him distracted all night.

He tries to ignore the fact that he’s disappointed with the loss of view.

It’s not helping his dilemma.

“Hey, you good?” Kuroo asks, and suddenly he’s in front of Keiji, molten gold meeting steel blue. “Is this about… is this about earlier?” 

Keiji nods, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. “Yeah. Well, no. Yes.”

He takes off his backpack and pulls out his camera and laptop, and he doesn’t realize that he’s shaking until Kuroo is gently rubbing circles into his back and leading him towards the bed to sit down on. “Are you sure you’re fine? We could,” he hesitates, “we could talk about this tomorrow morning if you’d like. Or we could pretend it never happened if that’s what you prefer.”

Keiji frantically shakes his head, his eyes wide as he struggles to find the right words to say. “That’s not it. It’s just, that happened.”

“It did, yeah. Look, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I should’ve realized it when Bo and I were making all those dick jokes and everything, and yeah it was one hell of a kiss, but it really doesn’t need to mean anything if you don’t want it too.”

Keiji lets out a breath, opening his laptop. Kuroo doesn’t understand yet.

It already means something.

Something he’s not willing to give up, not when it’s literally right in front of him.

“You need to see this.”

Then they’re watching the footage from Keiji’s camera.

They watch the zoom out from the mahogany stain on the cell wall, and listen to Keiji’s voice talk about the horrible history of the place. When the camera pans back to the bars and shows Kuroo at the doorway, they see it. The soft blue glowing outline of a male right behind Kuroo’s shoulder, and he is definitely there because there’s no other light source. 

And then they hear it.

It's a low rumble, and Keiji has to raise the volume to its maximum level for them to hear it properly against the stilted breathing of Keiji’s mouth so close to the recorder.

“Tooru?”

Keiji feels the mattress dip as Kuroo startles, his breath catching as he stares wide-eyed at the laptop screen. “Are you serious?”

“You heard it, right?” Keiji bites his lip.

Kuroo nods. “Yeah. Just now. I,” he takes a slow breath, looking just as distraught about the thing as Keiji feels. “I heard it then, too. Down in the basement, I mean. I wasn’t in control of myself at all, but I could hear the voices. One of them was saying ‘Tooru’ and there was another that was responding ‘Hajime’. It freaked me out and I thought I was hallucinating, so I didn’t mention it.”

The video continues, even though it’s shaky and ends up pointed towards the ground as Kuroo had swept Keiji into his arms and they had gotten preoccupied with the kiss. The repetition of the two unknown names are breathed between the thick air around them, and it makes Keiji’s insides squirm. There’s panting and stifled gasps, and a moan that neither remembers making, and in the middle, a faint, deformed voice that makes both of them falter.

“Hajime, you came for me.”

By Kuroo’s side, Keiji is frozen, and his breathing is erratic as he tries and calms himself down without succession.

“I think Tooru died down there. That cell, I think it was his. The,” he hiccups, “the blood stain on the wall, that x-ray in the office with the cracks, that was his--”

He’s cut off as Kuroo places the laptop off to the side and wraps his arms around him in a tight hug, and Keiji feels his carefully put up resolve instantly crumbling. 

The helpless feeling that he had been storing for hours on end explodes at the surface, and Keiji can feel himself panicking as he grips onto Kuroo like it’s the only way he can stay sane. 

In a way, it kind of is.

For so long he had tried to convince himself that none of Konoha’s stupid ghost stories were real, that ghosts weren’t real, but here he is loosing his entire goddamn mind.

There’s at least two ghosts that are fucking real, and he was possessed by one of them.

What a goddamn day.

He buries his face into Kuroo’s shoulder, curling his fingers around the thin fabric as he shakily breathes in Kuroo’s scent, which is all dewy and warm from the shower he probably just got out of before Keiji began knocking on his door like a madman. It’s a bit weird given how calm Kuroo is about the entire thing, but at the same time Keiji is glad that at least one of them can keep their composure. Because even if it is a bit selfish, he needs someone to hold onto. And if Kuroo needs it at some point too, Keiji would be more than willing to return the favour.

“I think they’re together now,” Kuroo’s voice is a mix of soothing and warm, and Keiji feels the tenseness of his shoulders slowly beginning to melt away. “I don’t know why it took so long for it to happen, maybe because nobody actually opened that cell door or if they needed temporary vessels to get back together again, but they’re fine now. I’m sure of it.”

Kuroo’s hand stops moving in comforting circles, but remains a warm presence against Keiji’s back.

Keiji feels his racing heartbeat slowing back down to normal, and he looks up to meet Kuroo’s warm eyes. His voice feels scratchy when he speaks. 

“Konoha said that ghosts remain in places or with people they had the strongest emotional connection with, regardless if it was good or bad. So if this Tooru person was stuck in that basement, that cell with no way out, I can’t imagine what he went through.”

Kuroo brushes a calloused hand against Keiji’s cheek, and his usually smug face is filled with nothing but care. “Then imagine the emotional connection he had with Hajime for his ghost to stick around and finally find him.”

That’s infinitely better, Keiji thinks. It’s still surreal to think about ghosts like they were regular, normal people, but Keiji thinks that it’ll get better with time.

“Thank you,” he whispers, and Kuroo stiffens a little before relaxing.

Now that Keiji’s no longer panicking, the closeness between him and Kuroo is overwhelming.

So he takes it into his initiative to close the distance between their lips. This time there’s no ghosts or creepy asylums, and he can’t hear anything except for Kuroo, no, Tetsurou’s soft breath and gasp when Keiji’s tongue gently brushes over the other’s bottom lip. 

It’s soft and slow and exploratory, and it’s everything that Keiji thinks a first kiss should be. They’re testing it and it’s nice, and there’s no rush or desperate urgency like there was last time. There’s no rough biting or expectations, and he’s filled with euphoria as he slips his hands into Tetsurou’s hair. He’s not pulling or commandeering anything, but rather just feeling.  

Tetsurou’s hair is slightly damp from his shower but Keiji doesn’t mind, and instead savours the feeling of the soft strands between his fingers. He’s wanted to do this for a while now, not that he’s really acknowledged it before. The various strands of hair tickles in the best of ways, and he finds himself smiling as he rubs the pads of his fingers between the various lengths. 

Tetsurou changes course to nip at Keiji’s jaw and down to his throat, and Keiji’s heart begins to speed up again, although this time it’s much more welcoming.

“Oh fuck,” he groans, and tilts his head back, “I can’t believe we’re doing this right now.”

Tetsurou lets out a puff of laughter against Keiji’s neck. “You better believe it. Today we’re just gonna do this, but I’m going to be the first dick in your mouth when you come visit me in America.” The dirty words are a complete 180 from everything that’s happened so far that Keiji just tips his head back and laughs, and he feels like he’s about to burst with unbridled joy.

“Wow.”

Tetsurou straightens from underneath him. “Too soon?”

Keiji shakes his head, his smile coy as he brushes the other’s hair out of his eye. It falls right back to where it was, but he doesn’t readjust it again. “Nah. It’s just… This is actually happening, right? It’s not a dream?”

He needs to know that, because after today, he doesn’t know what’s real anymore. It’s like the world that he had so carefully moderated before had crumbled into dust, and now has to be put back together, piece by piece. But with Tetsurou at his side now, he’s assured that he won’t be alone during this task. 

“Definitely not a dream,” Tetsurou mumbles into his hair, and Keiji glows.

When he had ignored the buzzing of his phone in his jeans pocket back at the abandoned house in the countryside, he had no idea that it would only be the beginning of an entire rollercoaster of events, all a mix of terrifying and exhilarating.

He doesn't regret it.

On the contrary, he's excited for what's to come. 

For now, though, Keiji just wants to bask in the moment.

So he curls his fingers in Tetsurou's wrinkled t-shirt, and kisses him again, and again, and again. 

Chapter Text

When Keiji steps into the airport’s arrival terminal, he’s beyond exhausted. The flight from Japan had been long and dreary, and he can feel his ears pop as he stands at the waiting area, luggage  in hand as he scans the crowd for any sight of the now oh-so-familiar face. 

He sees blond, chestnut, and red coloured heads everywhere; there’s a family reuniting with joy in the back, a girl holding a large sign as she hugs her boyfriend with elation, and a group of Spanish tourists who seem lost as they wander from one end of the terminal to the other. He even saw a group with neon suspenders and sunglasses. 

No Tetsurou. 

He sighs, triple-checking the crowd again for any hint of the atrocious bedhead belonging to his boyfriend. 

Boyfriend .

The thought makes his cheeks warm, and his chest thrums with excitement as he twists his fingers. Right, they were officially dating now. Long distance was something that neither of them were particularly familiar with, but Keiji was determined that they’d make it work. 

He sighs when he comes to the conclusion that the other wasn’t there. Apparently, Tetsurou had thought that Keiji had been joking when he’d given the other the sporadic five minute call right before he had boarded the plane, saying that he was going to be visiting him very soon. (Then again, it had been 3am for Tetsurou, so maybe he was just too sleepy to really register Keiji’s message.)

Keiji continues walking through the huge airport, before finally stopping when he reaches the small row of payphones lined against the wall.

Bingo.

He pushes some coins into the slot, tapping his foot with thinly veiled nerves as he waits for the other to pick up.

“Hello?”

The other’s voice brings Keiji back to reality, and it makes any words get stuck in his throat. Even through the static of the old phone speaker, there was no mistaking the voice on the other end. It sounded so close .

“ Hello? Is this a prank?”

And the fear of being hung up on (Keiji didn’t have a lot of coins left) makes him quickly rush, “It’s me, Tetsurou!”

Silence, before, “wait, Keiji ?”

He feels his lips curl against his will, and he huffs with unmasked endearment. “Yeah.”

“What… Where are you calling from?”

Keiji raises an eyebrow in amusement at how Tetsurou’s voice raises a couple of pitches. 

“I called you earlier, didn’t I? I’m at the airport.”

“I was half asleep! You know how I am with mornings,” there’s no mistaking the whine in the other’s voice, and Keiji snickers. There’s a pause, before Tetsurou speaks again. “That was totally your plan, wasn’t it? Tell me when I’m super out of it, and then shock the hell out of me when you tell me you were actually serious.” 

Keiji’s silence is all Tetsurou needs to continue his tirade. “I can’t believe I’m dating a savage .”

He rolls his eyes. “That was hardly savage-like. Besides,” he hums, curling his fingers with the phone cord, “can you pick me up? I don’t exactly have a ride.”

He gets a garbled response, before there’s a thud on the other end. He bites his lip to prevent himself from laughing.

“You’re seriously at the airport right now? This isn’t some weird post-dream thing that I’m having in the middle of the day?”

“Yeah.”

Keiji gives the gate number before hanging up, and can’t stop the content smile as he lounges by the door, scrolling through his phone as he tries to pass the time. It’s been at least twenty minutes when he looks out the window, and spies a red car speedily weaving between the lanes filled with cars and taxis (there’s a few screeches of tires and a couple of blares from several different car horns, but the driver doesn’t seem to care). 

Keiji feels his heart thump against his chest as he watches the car screech to a halt by the curb, and recognizes Tetsurou’s messy bed head as he emerges from the driver's seat. He looks adorably disheveled and a bit stressed out, no doubt from his haste to get to the airport.

They make eye contact, and Keiji can’t move as he watches Tetsurou’s face split into the widest grin he’s ever seen. Not like he would’ve moved if he wanted to, anyway, as moments later he’s got handfuls of soft black hair and a fluffy hoodie covering a lanky body right on his lap.

He feels his face flush in embarrassment, realizing that there were several witnesses to Tetsurou just throwing himself onto Keiji in the middle of a busy airport.

But he doesn’t care.

Once Tetsurou has apparently decided that he’d smuffled Keiji long enough, he takes Keiji’s face between his hands and stares. Keiji suddenly feels self conscious, and mentally berates himself for not going to the bathroom to check his appearance after the horribly dreary flight. 

“You’re here,” Tetsurou mumbles, and his eyes roam over Keiji’s slowly warming face. He looks like he still doesn’t believe it. “You should’ve told me.”

“I did,” Keiji reminds, but there’s no bite to his tone.

Tetsurou pouts. “I thought you were kidding. It was 3 in the morning!”

Keiji smiles.

---

Keiji’s barely a step into Tetsurou’s apartment before he’s spun around and Tetsurou’s lips are on his, and when combined with his hands cupping his face Keiji can’t stop the content sigh from escaping him.

“You’re very excited,” he mumbles once they’ve separated, before twisting out of the other’s grasp. He walks further through the apartment, drinking in all the details before getting pulled into another embrace from behind. 

Tetsurou hums, “well, of course I am. My boyfriend has finally come over to my humble abode, and I fully intend to make sure he enjoys his stay.” He lets out a small snicker, before nosing his face into Keiji’s neck, “But my boyfriend also has a promise he has to fulfill. Hm, what was it? Something about a dick in the mouth…” 

Keiji slips out of his grasp again and shoots the other a disbelieving but amused look. “Really, Tetsurou? At least let me take a nap.”

Keiji already knew he was going to get his nap, even if the other seemed reluctant to let him out of his sight. So he takes the bite and accommodates for a massage instead, because wow , he really needed it. Sitting on that airplane made him feel like the most stiff thing in the world.

Tetsurou hums in approval as he runs his hands across Keiji’s back, and Keiji feels himself sighing in relief as he hears his joints pop and crack. 

“Stiff much?” Tetsurou snickers, and Keiji grumbles as the other works through a particularly knotted muscle. “Let me work my magic, and then you’ll be begging me for more. More massages, of course.”

The innuendo doesn’t go unnoticed, and Keiji rolls his eyes as he catches Tetsurou wiggling his eyebrows in the window reflection.

“You’re dirty.”

“And you love it.”

“You got me there.”

---

Tetsu Wetsu  @thatcatexplorer

Look who’s visiting!!! :DD [image attached]

Akaashi @kaaaaaashi

@thatcatexplorer ew

Tetsu Wetsu @thatcatexplorer

@kaaaaaaashi you wound me. Accept my love, edgelord.

Akaashi @kaaaaaaashi

@thatcatexplorer no

Tetsu Wetsu @thatcatexplorer

@kaaaaaaashi If youre not gonna accept my love how are you supposed to fulfill your promise? :(

Tetsu Wetsu @thatcatexplorer

HE BIT ME

Tetsu Wetsu @thatcatexplorer

Not in the place I wanted tho ;))))

kenma @kodzuken

@thatcatexplorer @kaaaaaaashi gross. I can hear your thirst from Japan, Kuro

Boku no Kou ;) @bokubokukou

@thatcatexplorer @kaaaaaaashi Guys dont screw in an abandoned place again the ghosts don’t deserve it. But more importantly, I DONT DESERVE IT EITHER

akinori! @kokonohahaha

@bokubokukou are u tellin me theyve screwed in abandoned before

akinori! @kokonohahaha

@bokubokukou WAIT IT WAS AT THE ASYLUM WASNT IT I KNEW THEIR ST WAS FISHY

Boku no Kou ;) @bokubokukou

@kokonohahaha @thatcatexplorer @kaaaaaaashi i just realized i never asked but was that ghost in kaashis vid real

Tetsu Wetsu @thatcatexplorer

@bokubokukou real, duh, doya think that keiji can draw or animate something that realistic lmao he can barely draw a stickman

Boku no Kou ;) @bokubokukou

@thatcatexplorer im sorry what now

Trends for You

#Kurooaka

Dogs

YouTuber

#Theghostsdontdeserveit

#Abandoned

#Wheredidhebitetho

#Sundayvibes

#Ghosts

Long distance

---

“Alright, so we should totally visit Cooley High School. I’ve heard the ruins are amazing,” Tetsurou grins, and Keiji hums as he rests his chin on his open palm. 

“Really? You sure you don’t want to go there just to infiltrate the science labs and steal whatever beakers they have there?”

Tetsurou huffs at him with his mouth full of salad, “You and I both know it’s explorer’s code to not take from a site. Don’t tempt me. Science is my weakness.”

Keiji raises an eyebrow. 

“What, and I’m not?”

“Oh no baby, you’re my strength.”

Keiji can’t stop the flush from rising in his cheeks, and can distantly see Tetsurou’s broad smile as he hides his face.

There were still a lot of details that they would need to work out, and there were a lot more challenges on the road up ahead. But in the meantime, life was happening and Keiji’s not going to let it pass by.

Especially when he could explore it with someone else.

Chapter Text

Hello everyone! Hope you enjoyed this work!! (*´꒳`*)

I like to do this thing where i do a full analysis on my stories, so things about the characters, their dynamics, little hints, etc, are all revealed! 

So let's get started!!

Akaashi Keiji

Ok, so here’s one of our main protagonists! I had a lil bit of difficulty trying to catch the essence of his character, since he’s commonly portrayed as so emotionless and bland when he’s really not, just a bit more subdued. 

• When he was first introduced, the first thing we noticed is that keiji really does love what he does. Urban exploration is kind of a dangerous job, with the trespassing and all. People can easily get thrown in jail and fined, not to mention the physical dangers of being in old buildings. (ie- toxic mold in flooded areas, or fragile architecture that can easily fall apart). This means that he’s always super cautious of what he’s doing, making sure that he’s focussed on not getting caught or anything. Which means that he’s oblivious to anything else lmao, like his phone buzzing in his pocket (ch 1) or well, his feelings towards Tetsurou.
• Keiji is the type to bottle all of his emotions in until he’s on the brink of exploding. Which is what we see in chapter 9, when he does freak out and latches onto Tetsurou like his life depends on it. I also think he’s the type to want to act strongly on his emotions, but his strategic and overthinking mind is what stops him from acting so rashly. But when his mind is still caught over the existence of ghosts, his impulsive side manages to break free and kiss Tetsurou out of his own will. Good thing it worked out, huh?
• This boy is the binding glue of his Japanese urbex exploring group. We only really see their dynamic in the first two chapters, but I tried to emphasize the fact that he really does care for Konoha and Kenma a lot. Exasperatingly so. He shows his love for them through little quips and comebacks. I think that he only shows this side to people he’s close to, or if he’s living out the online persona he’s got for himself. Which explains Konoha’s surprise when Keiji’s so quick to quip back at Tetsurou when they meet at the airport. Despite not knowing each other so well yet, I wanted to hint that their dynamic was going to be something more, and that Tetsurou would be someone that Keiji would definitely trust a lot.
• Keiji’s initial disbelief in ghosts is something that comes with his logical mindset. He’s very evidence-based, so he needs proof in order to even try and understand something, since he’s such a stickler for small details. That’s why he so brushes over Konoha’s ghost stories, but doesn’t dismiss them completely. Fake or not, he finds them enjoyable and they’ve got to mean something, but it’s just not enough evidence for him to wrap his head around yet. 

Kuroo Tetsurou

Ah, the fandom’s resident sexgod. Yeah, no, I obviously didn’t focus as much on his physical appearance rather his nature. Not so confident on how his character turned out in the end, but oh well, I hope it was as close enough to canon as I could try.

• Tetsurou’s extremely spontaneous. He does several things on a whim, and it’s what makes him so exasperatingly likeable. The way he doesn’t really care about what other people think about him is shown through the way he carries himself and doesn’t ponder too heavily on things, like how he made a mess of his hotel room in such a short amount of time (mentioned briefly in chapter 5), or how he openly makes so many sex jokes with Akaashi (the entire love hotel part, basically, ch 3&4)
• His friendship (broship lol) with Bokuto is something that wasn’t heavily emphasized, but it’s something that he treasures deeply, and is something that Bokuto treasures with equal enthusiasm. They complete each other in a way that usually only long time friends have, and the trust they have is indescribable. Despite being utter chaos with each other, Tetsurou trusts Bokuto on his instinct. Like when Bokuto admits his unease being in the asylum (ch 8) Tetsurou literally says that that it’s instant red flags. This blind trust that they have with each other is something that makes their dynamic special, and it’s obvious that it’s reciprocated when Konoha and Tetsurou reveal that Bokuto tags along with Tetsurou’s abandoned despite not being an avid urbex explorer himself (ch 2). 
• Tetsurou is the most fucking dense person on this planet when it comes to his own feelings. He knows that he feels something for Akaashi, but refuses to admit anything for some reason. I’d say it’s because of his spontaneous and non-thinking nature. He’s so used to doing things without thinking, that when he’s suddenly faced with situations where he does have to do a little bit of digging on what he actually feels, he pushes it away altogether (ch 5)
• Tetsurou’s belief of ghosts is the exact opposite of Keiji’s. It’s solely because he has no idea what's out there that he believes in it. He’s afraid of the unknown, and the supernatural world is a part of it. But when he grows accustomed to something and realizes that it's real, he calms down. This explains why he was so much calmer than Keiji in the asylum. Because of his personal exposure to ghosts (Atsumu, ch 3, referenced again in chapters 4&5), he’s had more time to come to terms with the existence of ghosts. This is why he’s described to be so much calmer than Keiji after the asylum, since he’s already personally dealt with their existence before. Although it wasn’t as much of a personal experience than being possessed by Iwa, it was enough for him to realize that hey, it’s nothing to actually be so scared about. Which also explains why he’s not as nervous about the nature of asylum when they first enter, and is able to calm down Keiji’s overthinking mind (ch 7)

Konoha Akinori

Our wonderful little shithead, who definitely deserves more (i wuv konoha so damn much someone stop me). I wanted to incorporate him more into the series, but whoops, my hand slipped--

• Nori’s the mischievous type. He sees that Tetsurou is the most affected by his ghost stories, so he’s the constant target. It’s what he’s known for, so he delves into it and makes it his strength, his selling point. Nori doesn’t want to be a jack of all trades, so when he’s given the opportunity to sell his talents, he does it with no hesitation. That’s why his main point as a supporting character is to provide the ghost stories, and absolutely loves it when he gets a reaction. It also explains why he’s so defensive over them, since he feels like if you take away his ghost stories, he won’t have a strength (throughout all chapters, most explicit in ch 1&4)

Bokuto Koutarou

Owl!! I'm not gonna lie, Bokuto's character was actually the hardest to write. I felt like I was making him too much of a comedy relief character, and I’m not so sure if I was able to steer away from that route. 

• Despite being known as the more eccentric of the duo (ch 2, where Konoha says that his channel is basically a giant shitpost), we can see that he cares a lot about Tetsurou. He understands how important urban exploring is to Tetsurou, so he doesn’t hesitate in calling Tetsurou over when he finds something that thinks that Tetsurou would like to film (ch 4)
• He’s also very perceptive when it comes to emotions. But he doesn’t push too much, because he can tell that Tetsurou is struggling himself for an answer on his emotional stance with Keiji. So he waits until they’re alone and together before asking, and doesn’t pressure him into answering when Tetsurou falters. It’s what makes him an unreliable force, as he’s always seen as dense and happy-go-lucky when he’s really perceptive and caring towards the people he cares about.

Kozume Kenma

I’m really upset at how I didn’t give Kenma enough attention to fully display his character. I might edit this later to give him more attention, but for now here’s how I perceived him.

• Like I said, out of all of our urbex characters, Ken was given the least room to grow. However, he’s very important. He’s the one who keeps Konoha from flying off the rails when he goes on his ghost tangents, and is able to give quiet comfort and support to everyone when they need it (most evident in ch 1&8)
• He doesn’t ask questions, but is there for our protagonists (and Bokuto) when they’re afraid or unsure of themselves. His presence is enough to calm everyone down from becoming too overbearing, and he does so in a way that everyone can feel comfortable. (ch 8)

Dynamics

Oh gosh, this was kind of difficult. I tried to make these as similar to the anime/manga as possible, though without leaning too much into stereotypes.

Bokuto and Kuroo

The two are most obvious in their friendship. They have unlimited support and care for each other, which is mostly hidden underneath the premise of being the gasoline to the other’s fire. They think of what’s in each other’s best interests, and indulge each other in ways that they can’t with others. They’re chaotic, they make too many dick jokes, and if something bursts into flames you know it’s the joint effort of both of them. But when it matters most, they’re on each other’s side no matter what.

Kenma, Konoha, and Akaashi

This trio was made for self indulgence, because I love them, their dynamic, god, can you imagine it? They would be absolutely ruthless . Their conversations are full of each other making fun of things and teasing, and there’s so much snarky undertones that it makes BoKuro’s heads spin. I live for it. Their support and trust for each other is much more lowkey, and it’s more like a silent and unspoken alliance than anything. They don’t directly say it, and they don’t need to either, but they all know it’s there and that if they need support, they’ll find it in the other two.

Kenma and Bokuto

An unlikely duo, I know. I’d say that their friendship is something unexpected and very new, and they’re still learning about each other. They’re just breaching the friends territory. But they both can tell (or maybe just Kenma right now), that if they put in the effort, they’ll be able to make a good solid friendship. (most evident in ch 8)

Konoha and Kuroo

The s n a r k. Their acquaintanceship is solely based off Konoha teasing Kuroo, whether it be ghosts (basically the entire work), ‘sexy times’ (ch 4), or anything, really, they’ve got the teasing dynamic. They’re not necessarily ‘friends’, per say, but they’re friendly with each other. 

Konoha and Bokuto

Dumbass muscleheads, basically. They met on an online forum about volleyball, for fucks sake, they like to brawl with each other. I’d like to say while Keiji and Tetsurou were eye-fucking each other and suffocating everyone with their UST, these two would meet up and rant to each other while smacking a volleyball around. 

Akaashi and Bokuto

Looking back, I realized I never made these two interact directly. What the fuck, me? How the hell--

I’d say that off-screen (is that correct terminology? idk), these two would reach an understanding like they do in canon. Two opposite personalities that just gravitate towards each other, because although they’re not so sure yet, they can tell that they’re destined to be good friends. 

Akaashi and Kuroo

Here we go, here’s our main pairing. We first start off with a not-so-good start, with Keiji ignoring Tetsurou’s calls. It makes the latter frustrated, because hello, he’s called twelve fucking times? But Keiji’s just stuck in his own world to really realize anything. It makes things awkward, especially with Tetsurou’s physical attraction (that he blatantly ignores). It’s proved when they don’t shake hands, because both of their stubborn minds are going ‘if he’s not gonna make the first move, I aint gonna do anything’. 

However, through chapters 3-5, they begin to learn more about each other. Especially in chapter 5, when they delve into more, ah, personal experiences, and begin to learn more about the other’s personality outside of work and exploration. I’d like to say this is where the attraction towards each other really grows.

Chapter 6 is a filler, really, and like the title suggests it's the calm before the storm. It’s where the two are alone when exploring, and it causes them to suddenly realize that wait, I kinda like this dude, but is it gonna last? They realize that they live in completely different time zones and countries, so it’s a little bit of covered up doubt. They’ve realized that they do feel something towards each other, but are still unsure if they’re gonna pursue it or not.

Chapters 7-8 are where their feelings kind of exploded with the help of our resident angst pairing iwaoi. They’re like what the hell is going on, and it’s kind of the final pushing point to indirectly realize that they actually like each other. They’re not in control of the possession, but they can feel their bodies and are aware of what’s happening. They’re getting a taste (literally) of what could be , and they’re scared. Keiji’s afraid because this is his first time kissing a man (and its a possession, of course he’s afraid), and Tetsurou’s afraid because his fantasy that he’s never really thought about is suddenly coming true. It also explains why they’re so awkward in the beginning of chapter 9.

Chapter 9 is basically just the aftermath of their emotional revelations. They’ve realized that they like each other earlier, but don’t really come to terms with it until the very very very end, when Keiji’s spontaneity suddenly breaks free and he kisses Tetsurou. It’s then when they realize that hey, I actually really like this guy. A lot. And I need to take this chance that I’m currently experiencing, or else I’ll forever regret it. 

So bam. 

Kissy kissy.

I didn’t really delve into the actual relationship-making, but we can all assume that it was kind of a mess, knowing these two. Instead, we fast forward to the epilogue, where we see these two lovebirds meeting each other again. It’s sort of a peek into their future, little snapshots of what their relationship is like. (Meaning, I got fed up with how emotionally stupid they were and allowed myself to write about dumb and happy dorks in love)

Extra

• Each haunted place they visited had connections to a team. I think that’s kind of obvious. I initially chose character(s) to be the ghost, and then tried to build the setting to fit that team said character belonged to. Here’s the basic rundown.
• Haunted home in the countryside: Karasuno! I couldn’t help myself, country bumpkin crows were too much of a temptation. 
• The hints: 
• Suga and Dai’s portraits, obviously. The two are infamously characterized as parents, so I took that alongside the characterization that parents like taking pictures of treasured people (idk but mine sure do)
• The birdcage. It’s a simple way to reference their team, as you know, crows.
• The kitchen/living room setting. I would never trust any karasuno boys in the kitchen (save for suga and kinoshita) but I personally think that the kitchen is one of the most homey places in a home. And given karasuno’s dynamic as a very close-knit team, I thought this would work best.
• Broken glasses: tsukki/shimizu, I think that’s obvious?
• Metal puzzle: idk, something just tells me that asahi, yama and yachi would be really into physical puzzles like that? It’s kind of based off my own personal experiences with these types of toys because I use them to fidget when I’m nervous and all, and as they are some of our most anxiety-ridden characters, I just kinda did it
• Decorative candlestick: Rather than the candlestick itself, I put it there for more or less the light that it emits. And well, light and hinata are basically synonyms--
• Love Hotel: Inarizaki. Bc the foxes are one of my favourite teams, I couldn’t stop myself
• The hints:
• The wallpaper in the room with the flyers. It’s foxes, need I say much more?
• Idk, if I’m being honest. I wasn’t really too sure how to really get all the foxes into the story, and ended up not adding much at all. 
• The Asylum: Seijoh. As it’s an actual place, I couldn’t really change the setting. But well, the dungeon metaphor that I briefly used alludes to the use of rocks and stones, and Seijoh is a very grounded team that is very put together and supportive of each other.
• (the western village did not have a haunted persona, and therefore is not included)
• There were a lot of hidden meanings. A lot. But here are the ones that I can come up from the top of my head.
• Ch 3, the gate doors: when having difficulty pushing open the doors, it’s kind of like how closed off Tetsurou and Keiji were towards each other, as they had difficulty truly opening up to the idea of having another person beside them. So when an unknown force (Bokuto, or love) comes forcing it open, they trip through the grass (insecurities/worries) before finally getting comfortable (when filming intros)
• Ch 5, when Tetsurou says that ‘it’s not a matter of if but rather a matter of when’ when speaking about Keiji coming to America, it actually happens in the epilogue. Once more, when he says “If Akaashi were to suddenly call him out of the blue to tell him that he’s boarded a plane to America”, he doesn’t account for it to actually happen. 
• Ch 7, I wanted Bokuto to race against a wheelchair ghost, yes, but it also serves to show that they’re going, or racing, against supernatural forces. Later in the chapter, when our two protagonists are possessed, it shows a battle of control over their own bodies. The use of language/banter between Kuroo and Bokuto is also referenced, as the mere presence of Akaashi and Kuroo were enough to provoke the spirits into coming out of hiding. They didn’t necessarily mean to, either. Both had thought that they were just going to brood quietly and let go of their feelings, but the spirits had other plans.

That’s pretty much it! There may be more that I add later, but my brain is currently fried (it's 2am when I’m writing this, oops).

Thanks for reading! (◍•ᴗ•◍) <3