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“I really hope you are joking”
Shirabu, expression as cold as ice, stood in front of Goshiki, arms crossed and gaze piercing. His bangs fell asymmetrically on his face, almost covering his raised right brow, although they did nothing to soften his harsh look on him. The gym clothes he wore hanged a little loose on his shoulders, although they fitted well enough to hint at Shirabu’s muscles below the clothes.
“I’m not! It’s just this one time just-”
“I’m not doing it” The setter warned. He was careful not to brush Goshiki’s shoulder when he started walking down the hallway.
“Shirabu-”
“Why would you even say that? There were hundreds of other options, just pick Tendou or something” The smaller one said, shooting a glance over his head.
“I already told her your name and-”
“And?” Goshiki mumbled a few words, low enough for Shirabu not to hear without facing the other “And?” He repeated, voice a little harsher than before, as he turned around.
“I showed her a picture of you…”
Shirabu breathed deeply, closing his eyes for a moment. He neared his teammate and looked at him straight in the eyes.
“Why-”
“I don’t know why, it just- sort of- it just came out! And then she asked for a picture, so I sent it to her, and then she told me she was coming and-”
“Goshiki-”
“Please, Kenjirou”
Goshiki looked at him, puppy eyes on display, almost glassy with tears at Shirabu’s continuous rejection. But he wasn’t going to back up now.
A hand found its way to the smaller one’s wrist, grasping it lightly.
The raven-haired boy could swear he had seen the exact moment were the setter’s expression broke into a fond one, however, it could have been his imagination, because an instant later his expression was blank, maybe with a hint of disgust on it.
“Fine, I’ll do it”
“Really? For real? One-hundred percent real?”
“Not if you keep asking”
“Okay! Sure! Thanks! You are the best!”
Goshiki wandered off then, jumping excitedly and, probably, unknowingly down the university hall.
Shirabu just hoped he wasn’t going to regret helping him.
_
Regret hit him like a tsunami as soon as he stepped inside Goshiki’s apartment.
He had agreed to meet him and hour before his mother arrived, so they could make their stories match.
“So, we met last year at university when I was a freshman. This is too hard, I don’t even know if all this information fits into my brain!
“Goshiki, we actually met last year when you were a freshman”
“Right! Sorry! I promise I’ll remember everything!”
“Just…” Shirabu couldn’t believe what he was saying “Let me do the talking, okay?”
“Really? Thank-”
The doorbell rang at that moment and Goshiki didn’t hesitate as he walked to the door. He opened with a big smile and Shirabu swore he had completely forgotten the situation they were into.
“Mom!” He shouted, instantly wrapping his arms around the small figure in front of him “Look Shirabu, this is my mom!” The setter managed to shoot a death glare at Goshiki, without the woman seeing it, apparently, it was enough for the other to realize “Mom you are early”
“I know, sorry if it’s an inconvenience, I was just so excited to see my little boy!”
“Mom!” Goshiki groaned while he was showered with kisses, his face having completely blushed red by now, knowing Shirabu wasn’t missing any of it.
“Oh, and his gorgeous boyfriend too, of course. Pleasure to meet you Shirabu-san”
“Please, call me Kenjirou, Goshiki-san. Pleasure to meet you too”
Shirabu quickly noticed the similarities between mother and son. They had the same nose, little and pointy that made their expression look soft and naive, sort of like a child, and, Shirabu had to say, although Goshiki’s mother was old, she looked juvenile. The dark raven tone of his teammate’s hair was a exact copy of her mother’s, except hers was tied in a bun. If there was anything in which they differed, it was the eyes. Again, they had the same color, however, although warm, Goshiki’s mother’s eyes lacked the innocence of her son’s, apart from the wrinkles on her face, it was the only noticeable feature she had that hinted at her real age.
“So polite too” She said, eyeing the older boy up and down “Oh, what’s this? Tsutomu dear, did you already prepare dinner?”
With that, she made her way to the dining room. Shirabu could swear she was drooling and without noticing, a smile made its way up his face.
“Shirabu?”
“What? Let’s have dinner”
_
Once they were all settled around the table, chatting filled the room. Goshiki’s mother was as talkative as his son, and although she covered multiple topics in the space it took to serve the food, she seemed more interested in hearing her son speak. The topics changed from their studies (she was very pleased to found out that Shirau wanted to pursue medicine as a career) to volleyball (she smacked Goshiki in the arm for not telling her sooner that they played together) to, finally, their relationship.
“So tell me, where did you guys meet?”
Shirabu was about to speak, but Goshiki beated him to it.
“Last year at university, thanks to the volleyball team”
“Oh, you’ve been together since then?”
“No mom, we started dating recently” He said, grabbing the other boy’s hand under the table and giving a light squeeze.
Instead of tensing at the contact, Shirabu relaxed. Goshiki’s hand was soft, not as calloused as he would have first thought. He was always so touchy and affectionate, every time they scored, Goshiki would run up to him, wrap his arms around his shoulder and jump and down.
And Shirabu didn’t want to say, didn’t want to acknowledge how much those little touches meant to him. How touch depraved he was and how much he ached for Goshiki to touch him. Maybe that’s why, without realizing, he rested their joined hands on the table. Displayed for Goshiki’s mother to see.
He noticed he had missed some of the conversation, that Goshiki was rambling, and his face had gone red.
“...It’s just him”
“I see” She said bringin the chopsticks to her mouth and chewing a little. The topic of their relationship didn’t pop up again, and Shirabu felt somewhat guilty because he knew he had left Goshiki alone even though he was going to be the one doing the talking.
But Goshiki held his hand all evening through, he didn’t let go, and maybe, Shirabu didn’t either.
_
The end of the night came before they knew it, and Shirabu felt a little sad that Goshiki’s mother was leaving, she had been nice, funny and caring. She even had shown him tons of Goshiki’s pictures as a baby, which he would have been sure to use to blackmail him if the photos hadn’t been precious.
“Tsutomu dear, give me a kiss first”
“Come back soon mom, I’ll miss you”
“Me too love, me too… Kenjirou, could you walk me to the door, please?”
“Of course, Goshiki-san” He said, a little confused by the request but willing.
“I’ll go do the dishes then”
Goshiki disappeared in the hall then, turning right to reach the kitchen. Shirabu extended a hand pointing to the main door, and opened for the woman to walk through.
“Kenjirou” She said, eyes piercing and fixed on his “I didn’t get to ask you before, what made you fall in love with my Tsutomu?”
Shirabu found himself shocked by the question, perhaps a little more by the wording of it. Could you fall in love in the span of months that they had been supposedly dating? He hadn’t prepared to answer, although now, it seemed obvious to him that he should have. He knew he was taking too long to answer, but he hoped it came off as wanting to give an honest and elaborated answer rather than being embarrassed and afraid of messing up.
“I guess there are lots of things…”
He started, expecting not knowing what to say, however, as soon as the first seven words came out of his mouth, he couldn’t stop.
“I… I like how passionate he is. There was this one time at last year’s final when our former ace had injured himself and Tsutomu had to take his place. It looked like his legs were going to fall off by the fifth set and each time he jumped tears drop out of the corner of his eyes, but I… I had to set to him, because I trusted him to win, and he was confident on his ability to score and I- I think I was too because he always works the hardest out of everyone” He breathed, a little embarrassed when he felt his hands shake “He is caring and kind and helps everyone without a second thought, and every time he enters the room he’s beaming with happiness and always lights the mood… I don’t know if…” He pinched his nose, finally realizing how much he was rambling “I don’t know if it makes sense… It’s just him”
The old woman just smiled, the look on her eyes much more fond and gentle now, and patted his shoulder.
“Shirabu?” A voice behind his back said.
“I’ll go now dears, I hope you have sorted things out when I come back next time”
The door closed then, in front of the boys’ faces, both too stunned to even complain. There was only silence filling the room, Shirabu didn’t know how long they had been there, speechless, as if saying a word would break the spell upon them.
It wasn’t a surprise that Goshiki was the one to talk first.
“Shirabu… was that-”
“I think I’ll go too” He interrupted, already picking his jacket and heading to the door, hiding his face from the taller one.
“Kenjirou!” Goshiki shouted, wrapping two of his fingers around the other’s wrist. Shirabu knew he wouldn’t be able to leave then, and he hated himself for it “Kenjirou what you said…”
“It’s true” He mumbled, low enough that he knew Goshiki wouldn’t hear it. After a moment, however he spoke again.
The wing spiker’s other hand mimicked the way his right was holding Shirabu’s wrist as he got closer. He felt small with Goshiki towering over him and having to look up to meet his eyes. Then, the taller one spoke, voice gentle.
“You zoned out at dinner”
“I know I just-”
“Hey” He said, tucking a lock of the other’s hair behind his ear “Let me finish. You zoned out at dinner, so I guess you didn’t hear what I said, right?”
“I barely heard the end”
“Kenjirou, I know that I should have sorted this out sooner and honestly I was hoping you could meet my mom in another way, a real one I guess” Goshiki intertwined his fingers with Shirabu’s, rubbing circles over the back of his hand with his thumb as he spoke “Your name slipped out because I like you, Kenjirou. Even more so, I love you,ever since my freshman year at university… So what do you say?”
Shirabu stood there, startled by Goshiki’s maturity and how he had handled the issue. Not only did he not hate him but… returned his feelings? Was he dreaming? Surely, he was, right?
“Kenjirou?”
“Does that mean we are dating?” He said, an amazed ring on his voice, a childish one even, as he looked up to the other.
“I-I mean if that’s… if that’s what you want then yes! Of course!”
Then Shirabu threw himself in Goshiki’s arms, letting go of the anxiety he had been feeling and happy to finally, having opened up about his feelings. He rested there for a while, enough to get sleepy after the rollercoaster of emotions that he had experienced today, and, simply fell asleep on the other’s shoulder.
“Oh, Kenjirou…”
Goshiki wrapped him up on his bed, and sitting besides him snapped a pic. With a smile on his face and his hand massaging the brunette’s scalp, he sent it to his mother.
We sorted it out already