Work Text:
"Uh..."
You stared at the man in front of you; well, to the side of you, really. You'd just been minding your own business, pinning up a "roomate wanted" paper on the quad's bulletin board, when this scary-looking, bleach-blonde (with two odd hair stripes of black down the sides? original, you supposed) man stalked up to you.
His hands were jammed into his pockets, and he was glaring at you ferociously. You gulped.
"Um...what?" You articulated, blinking.
"The room, I wanna rent it." He said in a gravelly voice, his unkind demeanor not changing in the slightest. His entire being screamed "hostile" at you, and you couldn't do more than stand there, arms still raised, ready to pin the paper to the board.
"Your paper, it says you're looking for a roommate, right?" He said, faltering slightly as he glanced from the you to the paper and back again. For a moment, he seemed embarrassed, but he quickly reverted back to a more aggressive exterior.
"Hn, forget it." He turned and started walking in the opposite direction. You stared into space for a good five seconds before realizing what happened, and you blinked, turning to face the retreating blond man.
Gulping, you made a quick, impulsive decision. It was either rooming with a scary guy (who may or may not be part of a gang) or being turned out on your ear for missing rent.
You'd take the former.
"HEY, WAIT UP!" You called, sprinting through the quad after the unpleasant blond.
---
So, here you were, standing in your apartment with the man from the quad, whose name you'd come to learn was Kentari Kyoutani.
He held a cardboard box, and had the same backpack from earlier on. You peeked in the box from the corner of your eye, and saw a few meager possessions. Was that all he had? You had brought a whole bunch of crap from home when you first moved in, including several items of furniture, which still stood in your living area, filling the space aesthetically.
"So...here's your room." You said, walking down the short hall and pushing open the bedroom door on the right. Your own bedroom was opposite his, your door the one on the left. A little sign that said, "Y/N's room" was tacked onto it neatly.
Kyoutani narrowed his eyes at the pink sign, wondering why in the hell someone would need a sign declaring the room as theirs, especially if they didn't even live with anyone else in the first place. Weirdo, he thought, rolling his eyes as he followed you into his new bedroom.
The curtains were open, the natural light spilling onto the empty, hardwood floors. There really was nothing in here, no pieces of furniture or paintings or rugs.
"I-I cleared it out before going to post the paper on the quad. Glad I did, otherwise you'd see a whole lot of random crap in here." You said sheepishly, rubbing the back of your neck and smiling at the blond. He did not reciprocate; if anything, his expression hardened further. You gulped.
"Anyway, rent's due at the end of the week. You can give the money to me, or pay the landlord directly, whichever you prefer."
No response. Kyoutani set down his cardboard box, the movement startling you.
"We'll be sharing the bathroom and kitchen, I usually shop for groceries at the beginning of the week, you can write whatever you need on the list and pay me back later."
Still no response.
"You can have girls and friends over if you want, just let me know in advance. Here's my cell number." You passed him a little scrap of paper, with your phone number neatly written on it. A smiley face was drawn next to it, and you grimaced to yourself for including that. Ah well, it's not as though you'd expected getting a scary roommate, you thought they'd be amiable and normal, like yourself.
"As for chores, I'm used to doing all of them myself. It'd be great if you chipped in, but-"
He cut you off, causing you to jump.
"I'll do my share of the chores. I'm pretty tired, can we finish this later?"
You almost felt indignant at his words, scowling at his abruptness.
"Sure. One more thing, though, I bartend for a local brewery at night, and have classes during the day. I don't get much opportunity to sleep, so when I do sleep, I expect it to be restful. So, the basic rule: No loud music blaring between 2am and 7am. Clear?"
Kyoutani nodded, looking at you oddly. This chick's a bartender?
He supposed it was impressive that you took on so much, he thought as you retreated from his room, closing the door behind you.
You, on the other hand, weren't thrilled at the prospects of actually having a roommate. It would be hard to regulate your sleep schedule if he did end up being one of those punks that blasted screamo death metal in the dead of night. Perhaps you could write up a probationary period contract and get him to sign it, if he didn't choke you out first. He hadn't warmed up to you at all on the way to your apartment, and you weren't sure if he would attack you on sight.
Sighing, you went into your own room and closed the door. You flopped on your bed, staring at the ceiling.
It was already hard enough to put effort into your own life, the mundane thrum of daily activities sucking the life out of you. You couldn't imagine trying to look after a roommate.
Truly, it was difficult getting out of bed some days, and at some points you wanted nothing more than to drift off and remain there, in bed, for ever more. It would be easier than naviagating life's intricacies. You weren't even sure why you worked so hard, it was all for nothing. At least that's what it felt like - and your parents picked up on that years ago.
At least they realized mental health was a real thing that needed to be mended and treated - so you'd been attending therapy for about three years on a bi-weekly basis. Your parents even found a great program at the university you were staying at, which you'd been attending since you got here. You supposed it helped, but you still just couldn't find the meaning in anything that the typical young adult would find meaningful.
Your phone buzzed, and you opened it to see a text message from an unknown number.
"Can you add hamima chicken to the list" -unknown
Oh, great. He didn't use punctuation in his texts. You were sure this guy was going to ruin your already-empty life, if not through anything but sheer annoyance. You typed back,
"Sure :)"
Clicking on the unknown number, you created a new contact for Kyoutani. You paused after typing in his name as the contact name, before deleting it and putting "Angry Blond" and saving it as his contact. That made you smirk.
Tossing your phone aside, you rose, shuffling over to your closet and picking out your work outfit: black shirt, black pants. Nothing special.
This was your life. Get home from class, get ready for work. Get home from work, go to bed. Wake up, go to class.
It was a vicious cycle, and you were getting pretty fucking sick of it.
Nothing mattered, so why were you trying so hard?
You punched your dresser, sinking onto the floor, still grasping your black clothing.
Unbeknownst to you, Kyoutani was standing outside your door, listening intently. He'd heard a 'thump' from the kitchen, where he'd been checking out what kind of food you had to eat. A minute after he sent that text, he heard that concerning 'thump'.
Shrugging when he heard no further sound, he returned to the kitchen. You emerged from your room a minute later, dressed for work and shouldering your messenger bag.
"I'm going to work. Be back a little around 1." You said, your keys jingling as you exited the apartment without another word, locking it behind you.
Kyoutani glanced at the clock - 6:30pm. From what you said, you worked every night - and if your shift started at 7:00pm, that was six hours of work. And you were a full-time student. He supposed he put the same type of energy into volleyball - Kyoutani was part of the university's club, but even then, he was flaky and didn't commit to it full-time.
Shaking his head, he sat down on the couch with a bowl of chips - turning on the TV and adding himself to your Netflix account.
He was planning on staying for quite a while. There was something up with you that he couldn't put his finger on.
---
The next day, you were laying on the couch after class, scrolling through TikTok and laughing half-heartedly at some of the funnier videos.
You had half an hour before you needed to get ready for work, and you were relishing the time spent doing absolutely nothing. If it was your choice, you'd do nothing every minute of every hour of every day. It would be time better spent.
The door opened, and you twisted around to see Kyoutani come in, but he wasn't alone. Another burly-looking student was helping him drag in a mattress, and you nodded at them. Kyoutani just looked at you before continuing to drag in the mattress, but the other student nodded back, giving you a polite smile. At least his friends had manners.
You had given the blond a key to the apartment that morning, when he surprisingly was up at the same time as you. Feeling foolish, you realized he, too, had day classes.
Now, you returned your attention to TikTok, feeling just as empty as when you'd woken up that morning. This social media void wouldn't make things any better, but it was something to do that didn't completely drain your energy.
"Ahh, is this where Mad Dog-chan lives?" You heard a voice from outside the still-open door, and a purple-haired, handsome man stepped inside. You arched an eyebrow. Mad Dog-chan? Is that what his friends called him?
The handsome man turned and saw you, laying on the couch. His expression brightened, and he rushed over, grabbing your hand and shaking it.
"You must be Mad Dog-chan's girlfriend!"
You went bright red, spluttering as you waved your hands in a 'definitely not' sort of gesture. The intruding man laughed at your flailing, a smirk on his well-proportioned face.
"I kid, I kid. But really, I'm surprised you let someone like Mad Dog stay with you. He can be rather...aggressive."
Your eyes widened. So Kyoutani was part of a gang. It explained the nickname, and his behavior.
"Aha, I'm partially joking. He's really just an angry-looking teddy bear, when you get to know him." The purple-haired man said, beaming at you.
A voice growled from the hallway, "Oikawa."
Kyoutani was marching up to the purple-haired 'Oikawa', and grabbed him by the collar. He was practically seething with rage, and you were truly afraid for the other man. To your shock, Oikawa merely laughed at the shorter blond's actions, patting him on the head.
"Ah, Mad Dog-chan. Sorry to barge in like this, but you skipped yesterday's practice. Is this what you were doing? Moving in?"
The blond huffed, releasing Oikawa's shirt collar.
"Yeah, what of it?" He asked accusingly, glaring at the man.
"I expect you to be at today's, that's all. We're meeting at 7. In the gym." Oikawa said, making his exit with a wave. He had left as suddenly as he arrived, and you were thoroughly confused. Practice for what? Shooting a gun? Setting off a molotov? What kind of practice could a gang-member possibly attend?
"What was that all about?" You asked bravely, and Kyoutani turned to you, still scowling.
"Volleyball." He said simply, returning to his room.
Mad Dog...played...volleyball?
---
Later that evening, Kyoutani returned to the apartment from practice.
Oikawa had given him a hard time for skipping out yesterday, in front of the entire team, no less. Bastard.
Unlocking the front door, Kyoutani stepped inside, locking it behind him. The apartment was dark, but your door was open, oddly enough. You had said you liked keeping it closed when you were away. And you weren't supposed to be back for another few hours, it was only 9:15.
The lights were off inside your room, Kyoutani found when he approached cautiously. Maybe you just forgot to close the door, he thought to himself, starting to close it for you.
And then he spotted you, curled up in the corner of your bed, utterly silent but staring right at him with your large eyes. He could see tear tracks on your face, though your expression was blank.
Feeling extremely uncomfortable, he made to close the door completely, but you spoke up before he could.
"Do you ever feel like nothing really matters?"
What an odd question. Kyoutani narrowed his eyes at you, thinking.
"Not really." He finally said, and you blinked at him.
"Oh."
Kyoutani's eyes went from you to your pile of clothes. Your bartender's uniform lay tossed aside, crumpled. You were currently wearing a very oversized hoodie, but your legs were bare.
"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" He asked. You shook your head.
"They let me off early."
You resumed staring at the wall, and then spoke once more.
"I feel empty all the time."
Kyoutani had absolutely no idea what to say to that. His hand was still on the door, ready to close it. He almost snapped the door shut, but fought the urge. Instead, he entered your room, clearing his throat. Maybe he could help, after all.
"I...understand. That feeling." He said, unsure. Your eyes flitted to his profile.
"You do?"
He nodded.
"I do. There are ways of lessening the emptiness, and not by simply filling the time. Friends are a good place to start."
He paused, looking at your face, which seemed interested in what he had to say, and continued.
"Friends force you to think about others just by being there, and when you think about others, you realize that they're your reason to live."
Your face fell.
"I don't...really have any. Friends, I mean."
That sort of made sense to Kyoutani. You spent all of your time chasing after success, even if it wasn't really what you wanted.
"Well...you have me." He said dumbly, feeling flustered by that. Part of him wanted to bolt and never speak to you again, for making him feel this way and spew this crap. It was hard to open up.
You sat up, staring at him.
He turned and left, leaving the door open.
---
It wasn't a surprise that you two were a lot friendlier after that night.
You would walk to class together, hang out in your apartment watching Netflix, and even make dinner together. It wasn't what you'd expected from the hostile man, but he'd really warmed up to you. You felt a lot more comfortable with him, ever since he was there for you like that. Not many people knew about your issue with apathy, but it was reassuring to know he was there.
Kyoutani would even hold doors open for you, much to the shock of all of his friends. They had never seen such behavior from the angry man before, but the more time he spent with you, the more considerate he was of you.
One day, you got home from work really late at night, but Kyoutani was waiting up for you.
"Kyou, it's almost 2am. Why are you up?" You whisper-shouted at him, and he shrugged.
"I felt like waiting up for you. How was work?"
You smiled, sitting down next to him at the kitchen island. You told him about how more guys than usual flirted with you at the bar, and you shot down all of them, as usual.
"It's pretty rude hitting on someone at their place of work." You said, dumping out all of the paper slips with guys' phone numbers on them onto the island. Kyoutani's eyes widened. Were that many guys really interested in you?
"Looks like I've got competition." He said seriously, and you blinked. Competition?
"But yeah," you continued, "it wasn't the best shift. Got hella tips though." You dumped those out on the island next to the small mountain of guys' numbers, the bills forming a slightly larger mountain next to them.
Kyoutani arched a brow, whistling.
"That's a lot of tips. Is your bar hiring?"
You laughed, and his face softened. Swinging your legs to the side, you hopped off the stool and walked towards your room, bag trailing behind.
A hand caught yours as you went, and you jumped.
Kyoutani had grabbed your hand, and was now looking at you, rather flustered.
"Are you alright?" You asked, putting your free hand on his forehead. "You're burning up."
"Hn, I'm fine. Just...close your eyes, for me."
You blinked, before obeying. Darkness obscured your vision, and you waited for something to happen. After a minute, when nothing happened, you opened your mouth to speak.
"What's-"
Lips covered yours, and you were cut off. Your eyes flew open to confirm that Kyoutani, your angsty blond roommate, was indeed, kissing you. His lips were soft, to your surprise, and you couldn't help but kiss him back. Now it was his turn to be surprised.
He broke it off, staring at you.
"You..." He started, a pink tint covering his cheeks. You smirked, wrapping your arms around his neck and kissing him once more.
The next time you broke apart, it was unwillingly.
"This could work." You said playfully, slipping your hand into his and giving him a grin.
And for the first time since you'd met the man, a smile broke across Kyoutani's face.
It suited him, you thought to yourself, before bringing him in for another kiss.
You could get used to this.