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Even after ten years of being married to Miya Osamu and fifteen odd years of dating, Akaashi Keiji has yet to remained unsurprised by his husband’s endeavours. Tonight, they were in the penthouse of a classy hotel in Tokyo overlooking the bay, the moon shining outside as they stood at the balcony. The air was crisp but not cold enough to make Keiji uncomfortable, his tie loosened after dinner time as he held a glass of wine in his hand. The writer hadn’t felt at peace for so long; he had been so busy with his writing and his jump into success in the literary world while Osamu’s business had gone to become an international sensation. Both of them barely even had time to spend with each other these days but just for tonight, they wanted to celebrate something they held dear to themselves.
“You look so gorgeous even for a forty-year-old,” Osamu smirked as he sipped his drink. The chef had a lazy grin plastered on his face, his black hair now streaked with some natural grey strands. Despite now being nearly in his forties, the man still had muscle rippling across his body that Keiji loved to explore when they had the rare chance to do so and his face remained as young and impish as ever. Keiji himself had gotten quite a bit of wrinkles from the years of having to stress about mangaka who couldn’t meet deadlines and trying to meet his own writing deadlines when he first became a writer.
“Stop it. don’t remind me that I am old,” Keiji scowled as his husband laughed. Osamu reached out to cup his hand against his cheek, his thumb stroking his pale skin as Keiji leaned into his touch. His hands were rough from years of cooking and playing volleyball but whenever he touched him, Keiji felt like he was a glass statue that would break at the slightest touch.
Osamu gave a little grin as he set down his wine glass, reaching into his pocket to change the music on the iPod plugged into the Bluetooth speakers in the suite. Soft music filled the air as Osamu held out a hand, his golden wedding ring glistening under the stars as he smirked, “Would you care for a dance, Miya Keiji?”
“Such an imp,” Keiji grinned as he took his hand, Osamu moving to hold his waist before pulling him flush against his chest. Slowly, they began to sway to the music, Osamu holding onto Keiji to lead the way as the music played in the background.
“When I am down, and oh my soul so weary. When troubles come, and my heart burdened be. And I am still, and wait here in the silence. Until you come and sit awhile with me.”
Akaashi Keiji ran through the rain, his briefcase clutched against his chest as he shoved past people, trying to get away from the flat he had called home for seven years. His heart slammed against his chest, the rain doing little to hide the tears streaking down his face as his feet got soaked through. His glasses were so wet he couldn’t even see in front of him, a man letting out a yell as he slammed past him.
“Bokuto-san, why?” Keiji whispered as he stood in the front of their apartment to see Bokuto kissing a man furiously against the wall. Keiji didn’t have to be a genius to recognise the wing spiker of the MSBY Black Jackals, the man’s mask tugged below his chin that was now coated with saliva. His dark hair was clinging onto his nape with sweat, his eyes swivelling to look at Keiji as his heart hammered against his chest.
He thought Bokuto had been weird in not coming home often these days and staying at practice for too long. He thought it had just been Bokuto getting more into practice and just wanting to be on the court more but he never thought he would even cheat on him.
He thought he and Bokuto were practically soulmates, match made in heaven. Everyone thought so as well, and Keiji was even this close to proposing to the man that night. The ring sat heavy in his coat pocket, weighing like lead as Bokuto turned to him, his golden eyes wide as Sakusa shoved him against himself to pull him into another kiss. The wing spiker threw a glare at Keiji as though he was the one in the wrong, his dark eyes making Keiji turn and run before Bokuto could shout after him. He didn’t look back as he ran from the apartment, rain beginning to pour from the heavens as he cried out to the gods.
What did he do to deserve this?
Some way or another, Keiji found himself squatting in an alleyway, ignoring the stares being thrown at him from passerby. The man couldn’t give a damn right now about how society viewed him; he had also just given up his job to be with Bokuto full time now that he was travelling more around the country. He didn’t want his work to get in the way for his wing spiker and now, he regretted having made such a bad decision. His own blood rushed in his ears as he tried to clamp out the thoughts in his mind and the memories of what happened who knew how long ago replaying in his mind.
“I love you,” Bokuto smiled as they stood underneath the sakura tree during his graduation, Bokuto with a wide smile as Keiji’s eyes teared up. For so long he yearned to be with his beloved senpai and finally, he was going to be with him forever.
“I love you,” Bokuto yelled as he pointed gun fingers at Keiji from the court, the crowd cheering as Keiji tried to hide his blushing face. Bokuto never ceased to throw him compliments and kisses from the court, the former setter having a hard time trying not to die from embarrassment as the crowd went wild.
“I love you,” Bokuto whispered as he cupped his face with his hand. Keiji smiled at him in the darkness, his eyes glowing in the darkness like the owl he was named after. Keiji pressed a kiss onto Bokuto’s hand as they fell asleep together, fingers intertwined in one another as they fell asleep.
What on earth went wrong?
Suddenly, water wasn’t falling on his head anymore and Keiji saw a shadow standing over him. A maroon apron with the pattern of foxes decorating it as well as a shirt currently being soaked through to reveal a toned stomach held an umbrella above his head. Keiji slowly looked up to see Miya Osamu standing above him, a look of worry on his face as his voice filled his ears.
“Are you okay? What are you doing out here in the rain?”
That was when Keiji began to cry all over again. The store owner didn’t say a word, helping Keiji onto his feet and bringing him into the store without question. Without him realising it, Keiji had found himself in the back alleyway of Onigiri Miya and Osamu had been about to close the store for the day after throwing out the trash when he had seen the sad pile of wet clothes that was Akaashi Keiji.
The food and the smile that Osamu had given him that day was the beginning of a new life for him.
“You raised me up so I can stand on mountains. You raised me up to walk on stormy seas. I am strong when I am on your shoulders. You raised me up, to more than I can be.”
After the break up with Bokuto, which ended with Keiji taking whatever he had left in their apartment and moving in with Osamu, Keiji began to find life cohabiting with the chef to be very interesting from his previous life. He no longer had to go running after someone who had always been too far and good for him to chase. Instead, Osamu built him a new life where Keiji didn’t feel pressurised by what the media thought of him or how he had to carry himself around his boyfriend. He still went to some of the games with Osamu to help with his store but that was about it.
When Osamu found out Keiji was without a home, he offered for the man to stay with him until he could find a place of his own and a new job. Keiji had taken up the offer and moved in immediately, glad he was somewhat of a person who didn’t own much and found it easy to move everything to his new home in one go. Osamu even gave him a job as his Tokyo branch of Onigiri Miya, giving Keiji the chance to see how the food was made behind the scenes and help out in the kitchen.
Keiji ended up nearly setting the kitchen on fire so Osamu put him in charge of accounts and keeping stock for the time being.
As he fell into the routine of working in the restaurant, Keiji couldn’t help but notice the traits of Osamu that drew him closer to him. Osamu wasn’t a loudmouth like his brother, although he could be just as mean or petty as Atsumu if he ever wanted to be. Most of the time, he would send Keiji a smile that he hardly ever showed anyone, one that sent warmth flooding through his body the way an onigiri would when he bit into it.
Osamu was good looking, kind, a clean person, a man who pursued his dreams and created the best onigiri in Japan. What else someone else could want in a man?
Keiji didn’t want to pop the question to Osamu as he felt his feelings grow for him more and more. Osamu was a busy man and would be unlikely to even like a failure such as him. Keiji had yet to find a job as of late even after trying to get back into his editing role. Instead, Keiji would find himself working in the shop, thinking about what life could have been like if he had just kept his job.
Would he still be with Bokuto?
Would he even be able to be this close with Osamu, being surrounded by wonderful people and creating the best onigiri in the world?
As Keiji was filled with new experiences, a story began to spin in his mind that he decided to pen down.
“There is no life – no life without its hunger. Each restless heart beats so imperfectly. But when you come and I am filled with wonder. Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.”
“Holy shit Akaashi! You did it!” Osamu yelled as Keiji beamed from his laptop. Written on the screen was a large congratulations on his manuscript being accepted and now all he had to do was discuss the details on how he was going to go about meeting with an editor and making it into the final product. After so many years, he had finally broken through the literature industry he had wanted to be a part of since he was a child. To be able to create worlds people could fall in love with and be a part of, it made him feel complete.
“Can I read it? please?” Osamu whined as Keiji gently pushed his face away, “Not yet. I will give you the book once it's out.”
“Eh?! You have the manuscript in our laptop already! I wanna read it! it looks good!”
Keiji blushed about showing his story to Osamu. He never ever let anyone read his stories; Bokuto was often too lazy to even read anything he ever edited so he never thought of showing his written work to him. The man had had a concentration span of five seconds before drifting off to something else.
Besides, it's not like he wanted Osamu to see that the story was vaguely familiar to what he had gone through with his break up with Bokuto and his life after with Osamu.
“Well then. You just have to give me a signed copy then,” Osamu smirked as he blew into Keiji’s ear, making him jump into the air. He gave a glare to the chef as he grinned, Osamu giving him a stink eye before ducking into the bedroom as a pillow went sailing through the air.
“You raised me up so I can stand on mountains. You raised me up to walk on stormy seas. I am strong when I am on your shoulders. You raised me up, to more than I can be.”
“Happy birthday, Keiji,” Osamu smiled as he set the cake in front of Keiji. The cake was decorated with tiny little owls on top of white frosting, his name having been spelt out in English in swirling letters. The light on the candles made Keiji’s eyes shine in the darkness, reminding Osamu of cat eyes gleaming in the dark as he whispered, “Make a wish.”
Keiji blew out the candles in one go, the chef giving him a smile as he set down the cake. His heart hammered as he thought of the present he had gotten for the man; he didn’t even know why he was so anxious about it. he had been living with Keiji for nearly a year now and had slowly found himself falling head over heels for Keiji. His quietness and gentle demeanour somewhat managed to give himself some of the stillness he needed in his hectic life. Before Keiji, the only thing he had thought about was working until he grew old and maybe going back to Hyogo to retire. He didn’t like staying in Tokyo, the city being too noisy for his liking.
He had been bound to leave Tokyo the night he saw Keiji cowering in the back alley of his store, soaked through the skin as he looked at him with eyes that melted his heart. The man before him was broken, his eyes lifeless as he shivered in the cold.
Osamu wanted to murder the man who had called himself Keiji’s boyfriend and broken his heart over a one night stand.
As Keiji moved into his life, Osamu couldn’t help but notice the tiny things that made the chef fall in love with him. The way Keiji always looked impassive but actually had little tell tale signs that would show his various expressions made Osamu want to tease him to catch a glimpse of those expressions. Seeing Keiji become a part of Onigiri Miya and enjoying eating his creations brought happiness to Osamu. He would never tell him that the main reason Onigiri Miya was even in Tokyo was that Keiji was a regular customer and Osamu needed a little excuse to leave Hyogo to see the setter.
Then came the part where Keiji was so engrossed in his writing. Watching him create a story out of nothing fascinated Osamu to no end, the words flowing across the screen as Keiji typed away. Osamu had never been a fan of reading but seeing how much Keiji was pouring into his work and how the words flowed out of him like a river, Osamu was tempted to see the creation that Keiji had made.
He couldn’t help but feel that there was something familiar in the book when he finally got it in his hands, reading as the protagonist fell in love with a certain chef of a restaurant and began to work with him. Osamu felt himself blush at the various scenes that vaguely reminded him of what happened in his own store, although most of them being told from Keiji’s point of view.
A touch on his hand sent electricity spiking through the protagonist’s body as the chef touched him.
Leaning against him made the protagonist melt into a puddle.
Kissing him in the darkness and melting into him.
Osamu wished he could tell Keiji he wanted him to experience those things in real life too.
So that was why he was surprised when he felt a pair of lips pressing against his, a squeak leaving his mouth as Keiji kissed him. His green eyes were fluttered shut, a blush creeping up his cheeks as he pulled back.
“I’m sorry, I just wanted to… I needed to.. for the longest time I…” Keiji blurted as Osamu captured his lips with his once more, kissing him hard as he whispered against him, “Me too. I’ve been waiting for you to love me for so long.”
Ever since he saw him across the net all those years ago at Interhigh, Miya Osamu had been in love with the setter with green eyes and black hair. He wanted to kiss those slender fingers that set the ball to his teammates, to be able to spike the ball out of his hands. He wanted to join a group huddle with him after a well-won match, to cry with him when they did lose a match. He wanted to kiss him in front of the crowd, not caring what others would think of them as he carried him through the air.
For seven long years, Osamu had pined for this one man in front of him.
After they finished kissing, Osamu held onto Keiji as they watched the city lights twinkling from the window. His hand felt big on Keiji’s, enveloping it as he brought it to his lips to kiss it.
“So soft. So beautiful,” he whispered as Keiji chuckled, “Since when were you such a sap?”
“Always,” he smiled as he bent down to kiss him when Keiji pressed a finger to his lips.
“So, does that mean we’re dating now?”
“Heck yeah!” Osamu blurted as Keiji laughed. His voice sounded like an angel’s as he tried to contain himself, hiding the smirk behind his hand as he smiled, “So, what are you going to give me for my birthday, boyfriend?”
That was all it took for Osamu to grab Keiji and toss him over his shoulder, throwing him onto the bed and making him scream his name for the rest of the night.
“You raised me up so I can stand on mountains. You raised me up to walk on stormy seas. I am strong when I am on your shoulders. You raised me up, to more than I can be.”
The two of them stood on the balcony of the hotel, finally able to get away from the business of the event. Keiji reached to loosen his tie, letting out a sigh as Osamu drew some circles on his shoulder. The action made the writer loosen up a little, muttering about wishing they were back in their room for some alone time as Osamu chuckled.
“I never thought a movie release event can be this taxing.”
“Tell me about it. I didn’t know I had to talk to so many people. While it is interesting to be able to meet people from the literature world, I just want to catch my breath once in a while,” Keiji muttered as Osamu pressed a kiss to his temple, “Come on, love. Your book is getting made into a drama! How cool is that? I never thought I would be able to boast for my boyfriend being able to direct a movie.”
Keiji blushed at the comment, still unable to believe how far he had come with his book. “The Lonely Owl” had been an instant hit once it was in stock, becoming one of the best teenage romance stories in Japan. Keiji managed to finally land himself a book publishing deal and he had been writing veer since and never looked back. Osamu, on the other hand, had managed to open Onigiri Miya branches in every single prefecture in Japan and was going to branch out internationally in due time. Already Romero, former spiker of the Schweiden Adlers was begging him to open the first international store in Brazil.
Keiji took in the sight of Osamu in front of his eyes. His black hair was being ruffled by the wind, giving him a boyish look that he hadn’t managed to get rid off since his teenaged days. His smile was wide as he took Keiji’s hand and pressed it against his lips, his lips brushing his knuckles gently as he whispered, “Keiji. I love you so so much. Ever since the day I saw you across the net, I wanted to be by your side. I was so jealous of Bokuto back then for having you all to himself but now, I am so glad you’re by my side. You make my whole world.”
Keiji let out a tiny sob as Osamu took to one knee, his hand reaching into his pocket to pull out a simple ring. Inscribed on the bang were the words “You raised me up”, Osamu’s smile wide as he whispered, “Akaashi Keiji, will you marry me?”
Keiji didn’t care that the press would get wind of this as he pulled Osamu to his feet and kissed him hard, his lips bruising as they kissed. Keiji could hear some gasps and whispers coming from inside followed by claps, not caring that he was kissing Osamu much longer than needed before grinning, “Of course.”
Osamu gently pushed the ring onto his finger as Keiji pulled him into a kiss once more, whispering against his mouth as tears poured from his eyes.
“You raised me up from the wreck I was. I thought I lost everything that night but you picked me back up. You raised me up to walk on stormy seas. I am strong when I am on your shoulders. You raised me up to more than I can be.”
As the song wound to a close, both men stopped to look into each other’s eyes. Osamu’s eyes glinted the same way as they did back in their high school days, never losing their shine and mischief as he pulled Keiji into a kiss. The writer smiled against him as Osamu’s hand reached to his tie, reaching to tug it against him as the chef smirked.
“Now then, shall we get to the main event?”